Round I: Kurushimi [Deidara] vs. Auron [Null]

[Island of 1,000 Condiments]

Good Luck & Fight!

[Kurushimi]

The warrior stepped on to the scene. His black cloak rustled in the light breeze as it swept across the arena. He remarked to himself at how plain the design was, simply a square of equal sized tiles. His opponent hadn't shown up yet and Deidara was becoming impatient. "Is he gonna show up at all, hmm?" he said to himself.

[Null]

Auron waited patiently in the tunnel which lead out onto the arena floor, where the tournament officials had told him to wait until he was told to enter the arena. He wasn't usually one to partake in such events, but things had been slow of late.

Boring, perhaps he thought, as he shrugged off the left sleeve of his jacket. The sleeve fell limp, resting loosely around his waist where a belt held the dangling section of the crimson garment aloft. Auron paced, holding his large sword in one hand, the blunt edge of its blade resting on his shoulder.

"Auron?" Said one of the attendants, and the warrior turned to him, a gust of wind licking at his hair and ruffling his clothes. "You're on, against..." he paused for a while, flicking through sheets of paper which detailed the match-ups for the first round. "Deidra? Deidara?" He muttered, unsure of the pronunciation of the Akatsuki member's name.

"Alright." Auron muttered, as he walked out of the tunnel. The sun hit like a punch in the face - it was mid day now, and the heat was almost unbearable. Slowly making his way up the steps, the crowd in the arena were going ballistic, cheering for the fight to begin. Few knew who Auron was, and he suspected that the same could be said for Deidara.

He took his place in the middle of the white-tiled arena and took up his battle stance, bending at the knees slightly, supporting the full weight of his weapon on his shoulder, gripping it with one hand. His expression was untellingly neutral - his features were calm as ever yet stern, confident eyes would meet any who tried to oppose him in battle. The samurai held himself well in his stance - he did not waver, or shuffle on his feet, and his posture was terrific.

A gong sounded, echoing throughout the stadium. There was a crisp, eerie silence for but a moment. The match started.

Auron was built like a powerhouse, and many in the crowd were therefore surprised by the speed at which he advanced upon Deidara, leaping towards him with what seemed to be minimal effort, his cloak flowing behind him like a pair of crimson wings. Auron swung, using both hands to cut horizontally towards Deidara. The blade sliced through the air at a blistering pace, and Auron's aim was almost always perfect.

Still, there was one thought shared by all in the stadium - would Deidara dodge or block in time?

[Kurushimi]

The blade came down on Deidara with amazing force. His body was sliced clean in two. The crowed watched horrified at this gruesome sight. They covered their eyes in horror and disgust. Then, upon peeking through his fingers, a member of the noticed that what was once Deidara's bisected body had turned into a mound of melting clay.

On the other side of the arena an arm shot up from beneath the ground, tearing through the tile like paper. Deidara pulled himelf back up above ground.

"You studied the art of the blade, hmm?" He said. "Let me show you my art."

Upon saying this he reached into the pouch that he kept at his waist-side. The mouths on his palms chewed vigorously on the clay he took out, molding it to the shape of a divine bird. A smoke cloud appeared around the sculpture and Deidara. Upon clearing the once palm sized bird had grown to enormous size. Deidara boarded he creature which proceeded to take off high into the sky.

"He can't reach me from this height...hmm?" He said to himself as he prepared to launch his next attack.

[Null]

Auron smirked a little, although the gesture was barely visible underneath the mask provided by the collar of his red coat. His eyes snapped to Deidara, who had taken flight above the stadium atop a massive clay bird.

"Strange party trick, but nothing more!" Auron roared. His voice was so loud it would have certainly reached his opponent, despite the dizzying heights at which he soared. Raising his blade high above his head, Auron then plunged it into the ground, sending shards of earth up into the air, the fist-sized rocks shooting upwards before landing once more on the ground, separated from the tiled floor.

Leaving his weapon firmly lodged in the ground, Auron picked up a couple of rocks – one in each hand – and closed his eyes, concentrating power and channeling it into his fingertips. Bright orange embers of spread along the rocks like glowing veins , as the warrior poured magic into them, a playful smile etched across his tightly shut lips. Within a few moments, each of the shards ignited, a huge orange flame encompassing the broken pieces of arena floor which Auron held in his hands.

“Now.” He barked, as tossing the two blazing rocks up and down in each hand, juggling them a little first, before catching them once more, tightening his grip on them. “This ends, now!” he roared, pitching the first of his improvised projectiles at Deidara with blistering speed. The flaming rock hurtled towards the clay bird and its rider, spinning as it did so, yet the inferno showed no signs of being extinguished, and Auron’s aim looked like it was going to be dead on, too.

The warrior smirked as the rock came just a few feet away from Deidara, and had traveled all that way in what was probably less than five seconds – it had been quite the throw, after all. Retrieving his blade from its resting place in the ground of the arena, Auron smirked, holding his weapon ready, preparing to throw the second rock should the first one be dodged by the insane bomber.

[Kurushimi]

Deidara was quick to react, and was wise to do so. He threw his head quickly threw his head back to dodge the scorching projectile launched at him. The blazing fireball came within inches of his head as it whizzed by at deadly speeds. Deidara watched the fireball as it continued fly up into the sky with undiminishing speeds until flew to far to be seen. His gaze shifted back to his opponent who was preparing to launch a second attack.

"You're very resourceful...hmm?" Deidara remarked.

He proceeded to reach into his pouch to pull out a clump of clay. He split the clump in two, using one hand to mold each piece. Upon opening his hands he revealed his strange creations, twin birds that each bore not one but two sets of wings. Deidara thrusted his sculptures down twoards his target. Again, his creations were encircled in a cloud of smoke and as they smoke cleared it revealed them to have grown several times insize, though this time only about the size of a dove. The birds flew circles around each other, as though drawing an invisble helix in the air, as they darted twoards their target at frightening speeds.

[Null]

“Hm.” Auron said simply, as the two sculptures twisted towards him, zooming through the air and accelerating. With each moment that passed, the twirling helix came closer and closer to the warrior. Auron readied the second of his enflamed rocks, tossing it almost lazily at one of the clay birds, which exploded upon impact in mid-air, demolishing the other clay projectile with it. Auron’s lips twisted into a smile, as he became wise to one of Deidara’s battle tactics. And it’s a coward’s way of fighting! He thought to himself, clenching his fists before returning to his standard battling position.

Auron’s stance did not waver. The crowd roared in excitement, and had been doing so for quite some time - after all, there was some crazy guy flying some distance above the stadium atop a giant clay bird, and a warrior monk throwing enflamed shards of the arena.

“You do not fight, Deidara, you flee and attack from afar. I do hope you don’t consider yourself a warrior.” Auron remarked. It had been a direct insult towards Deidara and nothing more.

Perhaps it would get the mad bomber’s attention – provoke him, maybe?

A gust of winded shifted his clothing, but Auron made no reaction to the weather. Deidara was still soaring above the stadium, and the warrior shook his head. “Your ‘art’ as you called it is nothing more than cowardice!”

Even as he shouted, Auron began moving. He sprinted forwards, dragging his sword along side him, the sharp blade biting into the arena floor, cutting a clean path through the tiles as he moved.

Launching himself upwards with inhuman strength, Auron began hurtling towards Deidara. There were many gasps of excitement and cheers of praise as Auron came close to where Deidara’s clay bird had ascended to. He reached the artist in mid-air, calmly floating as he did so.

“As a warrior monk of Bevelle, I have picked up quite a few tricks in my time.” Auron announced calmly, and it would have been easy for Deidara to note the flowing golden aura which wrapped itself around Auron. Although low in opacity and almost see-through, the translucent tendrils of energy were quite easy to spot, due to their somewhat supernatural appearance. Below Auron’s feet, their appeared to be a floor of magic glowing gold beneath him which allowed him to be supported as though walking on air, high above the stadium.

Auron darted forwards, running on nothingness, approaching the clay bird and its insane rider with great haste. Slicing horizontally, Auron’s blade was aimed straight for the clay bird’s head, however considering the sheer size of the weapon, it would not have been surprising if Auron’s weapon were to bite into Deidara’s flesh as well, though Auron hoped that an illusion of the bomber wouldn’t take the fall for him once more, his weapon instead finding it’s true target – the real Deidara.

[Kurushimi]

“Your ‘art’ as you called it is nothing more than cowardice!” As Auron's words reached him Deidara's once smug disposition had instantly transformed into anger. How dare he insult his art? How could a fool like him ever understand it? As he thought these things Auron rocketed up into the air. "As a warrior monk of Bevelle, I have picked up quite a few tricks in my time." the swordsman spoke. With that he dashed at Deidara, his blade drawn and ready to attack. Deidara quickly jumped backwards and off the bird in an effort to dodge the oncoming assault. He, however, was not quick enough. The blade tore through the coal black cloak and into Deidara's flesh. Though it was a shallow wound, blood streamed from Deidara's chest as he fell backwards off the giant bird.

"You...how dare you look down on my art!" Deidara said gritting his teeth. He formed a hand seal as he was falling through the air. As he did this a smile appeared across his face. "My art...is a bang." His signature words would be the last thing the swordsman would ever hear for, as he spoke these words, the clay bird, now sliced clean in two, exploded into a glorious blaze, surely engulfing the warrior within it.

[Null]

Auron shifted his position, a grin spreading across his lips as the sharp edge of his sword sliced into Deidara’s flesh, spilling warm blood which fell in droplets back towards the stadium floor, the crimson beads leaking from the bomber like precious jewels. The warrior monk took a proud stride along the magically created floor amongst the clouds which he had created. Deidara’s bird was hovering still, as the man who had once ridden the clay sculpture fell towards the ground. Auron smirked, looking at the bird.

“Humph!” he grunted - the closest attempt at laughter he seemed willing to make. In truth, he had expected Deidara to put up a little more of a fight than that. After all, his tactics had been second to none – although Auron had dismissed the ranged attack as cowardice, it was a smart move nonetheless.

“Never mind.” Auron stated, as he took a few lazy steps on air. It was nice and quiet up there, now that Deidara had fallen. In fact, it was so quiet, he could even hear the descending ninja, who had almost reached a distance at which he was invisible.

“…is a bang.” Was all that Auron heard. He didn’t even have time to curse. The clay bird exploded in a fantastic display of smoke and shrapnel, pieces of which scratched across Auron’s body and face.

With his concentration lost, so was Auron’s levitation spell. He fell quickly – faster than Deidara had, unsurprisingly, considering he probably weighed a great deal more than the scrawny Akatsuki member. In fact, he was so much faster, he reached the floor some few seconds before Deidara, who continued to plummet as Auron landed in an awkward somersault which continued for several meters, before he came to a clumsy halt, sliding on his side just inches away from the edge of the ring which would have caused his disqualification. The crowd was whooping, cheering and booing, all at the same time. It seemed that Auron’s speed had not been due to weight alone – had he propelled himself using magic? It certainly seemed so, his movements were now unnaturally speedy, each body motion seeming jerky and somewhat hastened. Looking closely, one could have seen the faintest of orange auras wrapped around Auron.

The monk spat blood, cracking his neck once or twice as he jogged towards his sword which lay on the ground – he had dropped it during his flight.

“You want to stay in the air, Deidara?!” Auron screamed. His very voice shook the stadium, or at least it seemed to.

An unnatural hush fell over the crowd, with the occasional shout of “Kill him!” or “What next?” littering the silence. Auron pushed one of his arms out in front of him, every muscle in it bulging as he did so, supporting his sword on his shoulder with the other hand. Small tufts of dust and stone began swirling around him as he gathered power, concentrating it into his blade, and the floor around him. Slowly, the twister intensified, until after mere moments it had begun blistering around Auron, and the rest of the stadium. Hats flew off the heads of old women, drinks and burgers flew from hungry spectator’s hands, and even a pair of women’s undergarments could be seen in the magical tornado, yet nobody seemed to notice or question why they were there.

Auron himself began spinning, clutching he blade with each hand, spinning in a circle. Too busy to see whether or not Deidara had landed, or even if he was still in the air.

If not, then where else? Auron thought, as he rotated at inhuman speeds. That bastard ninja is a crafty one, after all…

Eventually, once he had reached his maximum circular speed, Auron stopped moving abruptly. As a result, the tornado lifted off into the air, tearing numerous tiles of the arena floor up with it. The monk smiled as it lifted into the sky, twisting and turning, growing ever bigger. Dust and smoke littered the arena, causing his vision to suffer.

“You had better not be lurking in this smoke, Deidara.” Auron snapped, praying to no God in particular that he had been caught up in his tornado.

[Kurushimi]

Deidara's smile widened upon seeing the warrior monk plummet to the ground. He readjusted his position in the air so he was right-side up to prepare for the imminent landing. It was at this time that he noticed that Auron had already landed and, on top of that, was launching his own attack. Deidara felt a light breeze swirl around him, though with each second that passed it gained strength.

"What the hell? Fuuton jutsu,hmm?"

The twister picked up dust from the arena floor, sending it flying through the air. It encircled Deidara, completely blocking him from view. The audience faces were painted with shock, horror, and amazement. The twister raged on for several more seconds before finally settling down. The air was laden with a thick cloud of dust. The tiles of the arena floor had been dug ripped off their bolts and sent flying through the air.

"You had better not be lurking in this smoke, Deidara" Auron said in his low booming voice.

It was at this moment that a strong gust of wind blew across the arena. The dust cloud was instantly disperesed, making the arena as clear as day. The audience were puzzled at the cause of this occurence. They searched wildly for what could have caused the powerful gale of wind. Then one of the audienced pointed towards the sky, "Look!" All heads turned upwards to see what the man pointed at. In the sky flew a creature not one of them had ever expected to see in their life, and certainly something they would never want to see again. Its wings spread out were the size of buildings. It's long tail was a like a tree trunk. The monster the flew over them was none other than the famed beast of myth, the dragon.

"I don't care how quick you are. This time, it's over! Hmm!" Deidara spoke from atop the dragon's head, at the same time forming a hand seal. The dragon responded by opening his mouth wide. Out of it flew another dragon, a small replica of the titan that flew over them. The dragon flew like a bullet. Even from such a great height it would only take a few seconds for it to hit the arena, and destroying Auron along with it. The question was what the warrior monk could do in that short time.

[Null]

Auron’s lips curled into a frown as he spotted Deidara who had once again taken flight above the stadium which was now close to complete ruin. A chill breeze swept the area, causing small chunks of rock and debris to scuttle along the wrecked arena floor, scuffing what remained of the white tiles in their wake. Auron grunted again, casting his glance towards the airborne bomber. Shuffling one boot clad foot across the dusty floor, Auron rotated his shoulder, as if shaking off the aches of an old injury.

The cold shadow of evening-time had draped the stadium quickly, casting the once crystal blue sky in an eerie orange and red glow which brightened up the horizon. Auron’s cloak fluttered gently in a sweeping breeze, causing clumps of dust and earth to fly from the garment as it moved. Deidara’s dragon flapped its wings, and the warrior monk of Bevelle grimaced as he realized the true origin of the sudden gust: Deidara’s newly conjured dragon was truly a colossus.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the mad coal clad ninja acted, as his dragon’s mouth opened up like the gates to hell itself. Auron swore under his breath. This was it.

Time to act, and fast. The tactician thought hastily, readying himself for whatever fire would stream from the clay dragon’s throat. If I hit it, it will explode. Just like the bird, and just like his missiles He reasoned, gripping his sword with both hands now.

“Away with you!” he commanded, as he began channeling energy into his sword. It was as though time seemed to stand still, for just a moment. The dragon was just now producing the miniature bullet-dragon from its mouth, threatening to annihilate Auron with the insane technique.

If there was anything that Deidara should have learned by now, it was that Auron was not an easy man to kill.

His blade suddenly began to glow with a deep scarlet aura which resembled some sort of ghostly illuminated blood. Within moments, a black circle had wrapped itself around the weapon, with a translucent sheet of purple energy filling the middle of this spinning ring, the velvet aura pierced only by Auron’s weapon. A brilliant yellow light erupted from Auron’s sword, engulfing the blade and adding to the creepy light show which had now started to twist around the weapon, engulfing every inch of the tall blade. Demonic letters began appearing in the illuminated aura, spinning ever faster, twisting with the energy which rotated faster than any human eyes could follow. Eventually, every droplet of the energy culminated at the center of Auron’s blade, spread evenly along its length like a natural glow which would rival the fires of Hell.

Auron swung the blade downwards in a vertical arc, his strained, difficult movements proving just how heavy the demonic force field was. The weapon crashed into the ground with insane strength, completely demolishing every scrap of the floor, creating a large circular crater amongst the ruined white tiles.

Coal black energy leaked into the hole, before quickly separating almost unnaturally into four equally sized obsidian orbs which shot into the sky, just as Deidara has released his second dragon.

The identical spheres took flight, darting towards Deidara and his pair of dragons. The second, smaller clay creation was at least half way between the two now. If it were to explode now, the blast would most likely have equal effect on each warrior. Auron bit his lip as he directed the spheres with some sort of telekinetic force.

A pair of them headed straight for the bullet-dragon, whilst the other two shot off at differing courses, one of them dipping under the dragon, whilst the other shot around the side. The remaining two were headed straight for the small dragon, it seemed.

The collision between clay beast and obsidian energy was of epic proportions. The flash of blinding light occurred seconds before the sound of the explosion, which rocked the very stadium, shards of clay and dark energy striking the floor which was now beyond destroyed. Auron grimaced, moving one dirt covered hand to where a large piece of the clay dragon had cut almost perfectly diagonally across his torso, piercing the sleeveless black armor which he wore under the red cloak. Blood seeped from the wound like a warm, steady river from a most likely permanent wound now etched into his cold flesh.

Despite his injury, Auron remained concentrated. Although the path of his remaining two orbs had been jittery at first, they were now back on their deadly course, shooting through dust and debris which saturated the air now, making vision of Deidara and his dragon impossible. Auron felt out the life force of the pair, sending one of the orbs at each: one at Deidara, the other towards his steed.

“I won’t go down without a fight.” He said, gruffly.

[Island of 1,000 Condiments]

Voting begins.


My Thoughts: Amazing, simply amazing. Two new members going at it, & bringing shame upon the RPG Team. Both of you were great out there, but I believe Null wins by a margin. (Keep in mind, I don't have a physical vote.) Kurushimi, you did exceptionally well, & I believe if you replied to Null's previous post w/ something matching or exceeding, you might have won. Null's last post was just that good. I'm also a Final Fantasy X fan myself, as well as an Akatsuki one - Battle between two great members & characters. Good job to both of you.

Feel free to reply.


Edit: Oh Shi- Bleeding Star, is that you!?!?!?

[Shirogetsu]

... Null GMV. No questions asked, he's clearly superior, though Kurushimi, your RPing is good, if you just had as much as Null it would've been you, you had the same detail level, just needed to put more into it. ;X

[Kei]

Shiro said what was on my mind, exactly.

Null.

[Amerowolf]

...So I opened this topic and was pleasantly surprised. I'd have to say this was the most enjoyable fight I've looked at thus far.

I shall go with Null for a variety of already stated reasons, but just know that I was thoroughly impressed by both.