MOCK BATTLE: Ash, The Storm Demon VS. Ian Sylvester

[Ash]

Arena style, Ash appears on one side of the stage through a pixelization animation she materializes in a typical battleground with breakable platforms in the form of crates, giant stone statues of some power figures scattered around the 120-foot radius arena, the height of the figures ranged from 4 to 12 foot tall. To one side of the area, a few broken tiles, apparently water damaged to the otherwise temple-like stage as a puddle of clear water sets in the slightly indented floor undisturbed. Otherwise, they stood on stark white floors that reflect their images.

Before Ian stood a slender, fragile, but attractive figure, her purplish-blue skin looking more like a deep bruise than flesh, ebony horns that grow from above her pointed ears around her temples to almost meet each other in front of her forehead; and a devil's tail swaying behind her with a rough arrow head heart at the end. Her opponent knew it was her skin that was the strange color because she showed an awful lot of it. Wearing skin tight jeans with holes all the way down her leg until the combat boots cut it off mid-calf. Her shirt was just as tight and as holy but was some crop top tee. Her medium length-hair, black as the raven's feathers, was half-braided up the middle of her head, the rest all gathered in a messy bun.

She looked mostly unarmed, he could see a slim handle poking out of the dagger sized sheath strapped to her left thigh, and... A red colored grapple hook in her right hand, hanging casually from a black rope for a moment before she loaded it into the contraption that was on her right forearm. The woman looked blind, her eyes sheets of white, but she grinned at her oppunent, one of many piercings being the silver ring on the left side of her lip catching his attention under the natural light. "Go easy on me, kay?" She then winked at him.

[Ian Sylvester]

Now, I know what you're thinking. and no, I'm not using bendy and the devils swing again, and I'm not using SirensCeol's devils swing either.
try this out

I simply walk through a door from the other side of the arena, start up my song, and grin. "Now, I'd call you a bearcat, but the purple skin is kinda a turn down." I take a moment to summon up 5 amethyst purple blades (in the neon sign outline of course, that part isn't optional) I put one above my head and 2 at either side, for symmetry reasons. "alright, let's do this."

[Ash]

Ash heard the muffled noise of music approaching the door, suddenly it snapped open only for one of the hippest guys in her life to waltz in casually. The music much louder and funkier than before filled the air with a color other than white or pale sand as it both bounced and swung through the air. If anyone was going to appreciate his musical train that followed him along at will, it was going to be this woman. That was going to have to wait, as the terminology of this man was ... dated.

"Do you take requests, DJ?" Ash asked, grinning harder as a blue holo-screen wrapped around her eyes with just a thought. Another thought later and she was searching 'bearcat'. He was either calling her a fierce opponent, as the image of a Bearcat, popped up on her commlink and looked like a faked taxidermy attempt at a hybrid; or he was implying she was hawt. She downloaded an App to translate his terms for her during the fight and left it at that while she picked up on the context clues of the rest of his statement. He didn't like her skin color. This didn't offend her, but it brought an inkling of desire to change his mind about that being a negative factor.

It was odd, wasn't it? Having a casual conversation when you were supposed to be fighting, but Ash has never been about traditional anything. One look at her could tell you that, although one look at her wouldn't be able to tell her whole story unless one was familiar with Morality Mirrored Humanoids. To him, she must just look like a demoness here to ruin his day.

Her hips began to sway, it became too hard to stay still while in the presence of something danceable. As an exotic dancer in the past, she was frequently exposed to music that had a great beat but very rarely was it actually enjoyable outside her own song choices. Besides those without a sense of individuality, and her snobby 'co-workers' she had actually loved that job. There were very few places that you could enjoy the same way as that place. She hadn't been very good at dancing when she started, but that had changed very quickly. Her biggest draw, other than looking like sin, was her gravity defying moves.

Flashing neon lights were nothing new to her, but she came back to attention when the blades were summoned. That's right, this was a fight. And not a Dance Battle either, or was it? She brought her weapon of choice up into view, and let her slender fingers play with the sharpened arms of the grapple hook while her tail danced in the air behind her. This was no toy, and it certainly wasn't just for climbing up large buildings. He would soon find out, as she was very proficient with the exotic weapon. "Let's." She said, running her finger across the flat bit of her blade as if she was debating on where to stab him first.

In an instant, she seemed to vanish. Despite what it appeared though she was simply too fast, twice as fast as he could manage at that moment, and if he blinked he missed her image as it zig-zagged through the area like a lightning bolt. One moment she was gone, the next she was crouched on the side of a heavy statue horizontal to the ground but face still trained on him, then the next she was on the ground again. Finally, she was behind him on one of the doors he kicked open, hanging off the top with one arm and aiming the very sharp spike of her grappling hook at his back. She lingered there long enough for him to turn to see where she landed, only for her to vanish again. Moments later he'd feel her extremely light form pressing her back to his, she felt almost feather light compared to any other girl, but she indeed put all her weight on him. Nothing threatening, just a cheeky 'hello' while she stroked her weapon.

"You're not that bad of a looker either, how about we make this interesting? If I win, I get a kiss~!" She taunted, her eyes looking straight up at the vibrant colored blades before she twisted her head to look back over her shoulder, at him. He could tell she was beyond relaxed. Sure, he could attack her, but at the risk of her dodging and him hitting himself. She was curious enough to do it just to find out what kind of damage the unique weapon would do, especially to its master.

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The Storm Demon is just toying with Ian, using her Burst Movement/Master Acrobatics combo to jump around the room. No damage done, yet. Trying to intimidate and seduce him, guess a kiss is incentive enough not to kill him. xD

[Ian Sylvester]

I am even more glad I picked this song now.

As the demon lady went behind me, I moved the blades in a close circle around me with the blade tips pointed inward. And then I spun the circle as fast as I could, and I'm twisting and turning with it. I am spin/dancing around this succubus cutting her with each pass, however I can't go as fast as I normally could because I need to keep up the blades.

after a few passes I end up behind her, I ditch 2 blades and make a cobalt blue cube (again, it looks like a neon sign) and shove her over it (if she is still there, it takes me about a second to make something while I already have the move going). 

I then sink the cube into the ground and send the remaining 3 blades after her, wherever she may be, stopping the blades if they reach my 30 foot threshold. "you should probably know, I'm very thematic with my music."

real shame the song is over (so here is a new one)

with the song change the blades change from purple to black, one of them turning white. the cube is now a sand color, but it's in the ground so you can't see it

234 words, didn't feel like pulling up a slang thesaurus for a post with very little dialog

the radius of the circle is 1 foot, and since I can move these at 15 f/s the rpm is 143.23911382735 (a lot slower then it sounds, but it's fast enough for what I'm doing here, and yes, I did use a calculator) 

me dancing around like this might be pushing it since I haft to go at "walking speed", but it might not since I have 3 speed....just testing my limits here instead of a real battle.

[Ash]

Ash was nothing if she was not fast on her feet. Literally and physically. She was waiting for him to answer but expected his denial in the form of attacking her. As he swung out from under her she put her weight on her feet again. As if they had rehearsed this prior, without skipping a beat, she joined his dance. As if the song had been carefully picked months prior as if they'd practiced for countless hours to get the moves so precise like their lives were simply consumed by this one song.

She wasn't a swinger, but she picked up on it as fast as he could throw it at her, likewise, he dodged her just as beautifully. Each swipe of his blades caught empty air as it nearly crashed into the polished tile under them, only to spin in place and try to attack her again. The blades only seemed to match the beat as well as they did. He'd notice her foot work was also her most common attack on him, and each time she'd swing her foot high to kick him the head he'd duck under it, sliding under it like it was always a part of their choreography before going back to his own moves. He would change up his tactics, bending over to send two blades her way, but she took the awesome opportunity he presented her to roll over his back, narrowly avoiding both blades. She was enjoying it, and she hoped it didn't frustrate Ian too much to become the guy in his song; admittedly she felt like the singer.

They were quickly back to back again, as the music came to its final words she expected him to answer her about the kiss. Sadly he did not, she felt him push her butt bump her towards a solid brightly colored block. Which she flipped over expertly using the momentum he'd give her, even doing a little spin on top of it and pushing off of into a few back flips. Landing so she was facing him again, grinning. "I guess that means we're getting serious?" She taunted, watching his visuals change while the music began to build.

She turned and ran up the face of some kind of bird god statue, leaving boot prints over its gorgeously sculpted face as she jumped off it as quickly as she jumped onto it, throwing her light weight at another within range. Really quickly she escaped his range while showing off her limber body and its moves. As if the taunt him, she did this all in beat with his song. Eventually, she began to take flight, or at least very close to it. There was no warning, no sound, no way to predict it, but the sound of metal impacting old stone was loud enough to be heard over his music and he would see her body swinging via the rope. She twisted in the air to land on the wall she hung from, only to run in a big circle on this very tall wall to a wooden pole sticking out of the wall and a light hanging at the end.

She yanked the grapple out of the wall like it was nothing, and began to gather it while perched there. With the distance between them, she could observe what he was about. It has been a long time since she found someone who could match her basic speed. The demon latched the grapple hook back into the launching mechanism after resetting it and considered her options. They were limited.

With only a simple grasp of his abilities, it would seem he could manipulate them expertly, but that they had range. That range was twice as big as her's, but she had twice the speed in movement -  roughly. They could make a great team, it was a shame they were fighting each other or she'd offer such a deal. Head back in the game, she needed to pull something out of her ass to win. Good thing she was also proficient in bullshit.

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Matching Ian SPD for SPD leaves Ash with only once choice... OUT DANCE HIM!! (Maybe?)

[Ian Sylvester]

I ditch a couple more blades in trade for another cube and I raise the other one from the ground. I stagger them to make a set of steps, then after I get on the upper one I move the lower one to be the new upper step, I repeat this until I am within range again. I ditch the cube I currently am not standing on and take a moment to summon the blades again. I move the white blade strait to her, but I move the other 2 neon signs of chip damage to  position on the left and right, lower to the ground, ready to attack the punk of a teens wet dream.

same song is still playing.

117 words

I did this in between monster hunter fights so I couldn't give it my all

reading it back over this is bland as hell, screw it, it conveys what I'm doing, even if I'm getting points deducted.

I know climbing up these stairs are slow as all hell, but it's my only upwards mobility I have. and yes, I am stranded on this cube unless I take some fall damage (or ditch all my blades and cubes to phase) either way getting down is gonna cost me.

also I'm swinging for chip, making it next to impossible to dodge at cost of doing less damage (you're only gonna take 1 blade, 2 if you play your cards wrong)...I'm just tired of you dodging everything despite having less tech then me, I mean I understand dodging like 3/4ths of it because you out speed my blades, but come on, ALL of it.

[Ash]

Track Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eco4z98nIQY

It was time to end this.. The neon blades began to spin around, as they did the colors changed, gold and other's silver while the tempo of his phantom music picked up and a horn could be heard. Looking like ninja stars that spun in the air the lanky man pockets his hands in his dancing pants. She had given him a run for his money, but she had no wear to go.  He watched her unlatch the blade on her thigh and spin it in her fingers before catching Devi's Quill in her hand as if she was ready to fight him face to face.  Good, he didn't like this chasing game he lowered his chin as he mentally commanded the weaker blades to attack.

As expected she dodged in a flavorful flip, backwards onto the wall where briefly she hung there. As she looked up with those colorless eyes a line opened up on her cheek before dark blue blood oozed down the side of her face. Her hand was already up when the other blade came towards her, it blocked the gold neon blade, its light and the sparks of the two weapons meeting brightened her face so he could see the eager smirk she wore. She was not afraid of him.

Ash knocked the neon blade into the wall with her's before she launched her light body through the air and towards him. After chasing her for so long this left the DJ somewhat surprised, but he re-summoned the blades she'd destroyed against the wall an brought them to guard against her speedy attack. The crossed like scissors and threatened to cut the blade in half.  More importantly it stopped her in mid-air, leaving her without a platform to save her from a 30-foot drop. As gravity began to pull her down she used it in her advantage, instead of falling to her doom she used her caught blade as a pivot point and swung under them. Momentum carried her up high enough that when she came down she landed on the cube as her dagger clattered against the tile. "You never answered me." She addressed the wager but he still didn't respond.

He reached out to simply push her off, and succeeded. Only she didn't fall, instead she caught his hand. Not to drag him with her but to pull herself up. Seconds later she'd forced his arms around her in a common romantic dance way. Apparently she was paying attention to the song as well. He could appreciate that, but this was a fight. He followed her lead and flung her out of his arms in another easily accomplished move. She dangled delicately on the corner of his cube but was persistent. Well then, why not have some fun?  As a man who can literally carry a tune around with him, he had moves to impress. His feet were as fast as the beat. Holding his hand she mimicked him as best she could in her less than dapper dance shoes, combat boots weren't for dancing. Still she managed.

Both parties, however, weren't exactly done fighting, while Ian distracted her with his fancy foot-work he positioned his blades in the air around them while she came up with a much faster way to end this. In her hand, electricity crackled. It was like pulling the trigger on the starting gun, as soon as he realized she was attacking he sent the blades crashing down while trying to lead her into the attacks with their twirling dance. She was none-the-wiser and most of them hit, the first one making her drop Shocking Grasp. The dark blood from her wounds left splatter marks on his polished brass cube but she continued to follow his lead even as she felt the pain radiate through her.

He lifted her hand over her head for a classic spin, and she followed; spinning twice before their hands met again. Where he was going to push, she pulled, and swooped between his legs. As she did she let go to slide off the cube. Ever the master of falling though she managed to land on the tallest statue that was near him, grabbing whatever hold she could as fast as she could, then the Storm Demon turned and launched her Devil's Claw at the man, the spear head aiming to pierce through his chest.

Final Post
Word Count 750 (Site Counter)
((Changed some minor details because Ian didn't like my song.))

Ash used her usual strategy but offensively instead of defensively after knocking back one of the two blades, she launched herself towards Ian. Ian guarded using two blades but found his cube a little crowded with the two of them. Trying to push her off he found himself dragged back into a dance. Ian was clever though, he sends the bladed to rain down on the Storm Demon and finally lands those hits he desperately wanted. 

Unhappy about loosing blood all over his cube, Ash escaped the dance of death and retaliated by launching Devi's Claw at the very fleshy Ian.

Red Devil's Claw 
Requires Range Prof
The Claw is unique but roughly a basic looking Grapple Hook. The arms, however, are sharpened like a blade on the outside, implying it can be used in other ways that just a means of movement. The type of metal is unknown, but it is crimson in color, and carries ruins are typical for resisting flames. This does nothing for the wielder, just the grapple. The 'rope' is also strange, in the fact that it is hair. Most likely from a human or humanoid. It's true length is unknown as it has been braided in some places. But Ash has access to 15 ft, if she so chooses to use all of it.
Ash has had this weapon for a long time, and knows it inside and out, allowing her to use it while moving around and is generally using it to do so.
-Modifications: Grapple Shot 
Ash paid a blacksmith to come up with creative way to allow her to shoot The Claw, and he came up with a system similar to a crossbow. Loading the hook into the firing mechanism that is attached to her arm with a heavy duty brace, Ash can then shoot the hook in any direction she can aim it. The rope remains free of the device upon launch, if ever the target's position exceeds the hair's length, Ash will have to give chance in whatever fashion it takes. Ash can use The Claw with this device, or on its own as a regular normal Grapple Hook.
-Modifications: High Power
The Claw shoots from the device on Ash's arm with the power and speed of a harpoon gun. Able to pierce a limb of a giant, without taking her own arm off. The 'rope' is in no way attached to her arm, but the recoil of firing the hook is very real.

In short, Ash is aiming to stab through you.

[Ian Sylvester]

I use phasing to dodge the claw, even if I can't maintain anything else

as the cube disappears I fall through the ground and begin to climb back up

as I resurface I collapse, exhausted from using 2 exhausting maneuvers back to back.