Match of the Millennium

Description: Rhythm Renegades takes on Knights of the... Might and Magic to see who moves on in the tournament. Hey! When did Albert get that armor?

[RODRIGO]
As the vehicles arrive to the beach, the peace of the area is disturbed by the hum of the jeeps. They park, one after another and the camera crew pour out of the vehicles as they rush to set up the cameras and directional mics to pick up the action.

Rodrigo, on the other hand, isn't in nearly as much of a hurry as the crew. Clad in a mustard yellow button down shirt and khaki shorts steps out of the designated team jeep before moving to the trunk to pull out a duffle bag. He digs into it and pulls out his espada ropera and cape. The bag is gets zipped back up and stored in the trunk. He left it open in case Sarah has anything to take out of the trunk.

Once Rodrigo is sure there is nothing left to grab, he closes the trunk and casually strolls to the stone combat ring. He takes a moment to stretch and then perform a few testing slashes. It felt odd for Rodrigo to fight with no audience aside from the crew.

[SARAH]
Just like her teammate, Sarah isn't in much of a rush either. She takes her time getting out of the jeep, but unlike Rodrigo, she doesn't have anything she needs to get out of the trunk. Aside from her trading in her jeans for a pair of blue shorts with white stripes on the sides, Sarah still wears her trademark baseball cap and orange t-shirt with red trims. As is usual for her, she's also barefoot.

"What an interesting place," Sarah says with her trademark smile as she makes her way over to the stone fighting ring. Once she's there, she proceeds to do some light acrobatic techniques to warm herself up before doing a few stretches. After that, she proceeds to practice her techniques to get herself ready to fight. "This is gonna be a great fight, I can tell already!"

[IRIS]
A FEW DAYS BEFORE HURRICANE JUNKO:

The engineering department of a cruise ship is surprisingly big and complex, because the various mechanical systems that power such an immense vessel range from boilers and diesel engines to HVAC to plumbing and pipe fittings. While a crew can prepare for eventualities by carrying supplies on board, on some level, there also needs to be at the very least a small machine shop for more complex, ad hoc repairs.

Of course this is all happening below decks, meaning that the average cruise ship passenger will never see or talk to the engineering crew, a situation that they likely find entirely to their liking. After all, the stereotype of the cruise ship passenger as a whiny, entitled customer service nightmare probably has some basis in reality.

This is perhaps why Asst. Engineer Greyson, on duty at a relatively late hour of the night, hears a knock on the door and is surprised, upon answering it, to find a passenger giving him a little wave.

"Can I borrow an anvil and some scrap steel?" Iris Osterlund asks, as if she were here to ask a neighbor for a cup of sugar. "I'm good for the cost."

NOW:

The jeep ride -- wisely keeping the two teams in two separate vehicles -- gave Iris plenty of time to present her handiwork to Albert, presumably riding next to her. "This is just from scrap steel they had about," the Brit says to her protege(?), handing him the results of her handiwork: a steel breastplate, as close in appearance to the plastic cosplay one the wannabe knight had BEEN wearing as she could get, given the circumstances. "And I'm still learning the craft, so this isn't exactly a masterwork... but it might be better protection than what you were using."

As for the rest of it, though... a lot is on Iris's mind, ever since the trip to Zack Island went amazingly, unbelievably wrong. The wizard never met Junko during the first NFG, but everything about that situation spells Trouble to the magus; when audience complaints about a seemingly demonic-possessed entrant appeared toward the end of the quarterfinals and semifinals, Iris had too much on her own plate to give them much mind. Once it was all over, however... yeah. Some pretty good questions, there!

She's been debating whether or not to share her misgivings and concerns with Albert, but in the end has chosen not to. Really, Iris knows nothing about Junko save whatever the hell is going on NOW, and survival after being stranded at sea is a considerably more important concern.

And then, of course, there's the tournament, which...

"Sarah and I were teammates, actually, toward the end of last season," Iris observes, as their jeep pulls up to the ring and comes to a stop. "But we never met. I think she had some sort of personal thing that kept her away? And I don't know anything about Rodrigo except 'bullfighter', so..." She pauses, then grins at Albert. "Maybe just don't run in screaming at any red capes?"

[ALBERT]
Albert is, indeed, riding with Iris and sat right next to her in the jeep. In the prime position to be handed over... THE GIFT.

For all the modest footnotes Iris might give about the breastplate, the faux-knight's eyes are still sparkling and wide open while looking over the piece of armor. And when he takes the piece into his own hands, he even whispers, "It's amazing..." with sincere glee and. He's quick to start readjusting his own clothing to prepare for switching to this new armor, too, while listening to Iris explain what she is able to tell him about their upcoming opponents.

"Mmm... I never figured myself to be like a bull anyway..." He mumbles, seemingly taking the more joking part of Iris' words at face value too. "But..." He taps one finger against his lower lip, before flashing an infectously wide grin. "Maybe I just need to be like the kind of bull that bravely charges through and breaks free from the unfair shackles of the bullfighting ring?! Yeah!"

You can definitely tell there is nothing wrong with this plan in his mind.

By the time the jeep rolls into the site with the stone ring built along the ground, Albert is ready and well pumped up! The instant the jeep stops, the back door on his side swings open practically so hard it threatens to fly off of it's hinges.

"BEHOLD! WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!" a voice *booms* out, preceding a figure leaping out through the now-open door, making the jeep visibly jostle on it's suspension from the recoil of the motion that sends the figure sailing across the air, landing onto the ground just short of the edge of the stone ring with a weighty enough of a landing that sends dust and sand billowing theatrically into every direction from around his feet.

Yes, that's Albert. Crouched down for a few seconds post-leap, with his (still-fake) sword held out to the side in one hand, with sunlight glinting off of his newly-provided armor with brightness that still doesn't quite match the star-like intensity of his own grin.

He springs upright from that crouch, though, and swings the sword up from his side to point it directly up to the sky in what is a clear attempt at recreating any given number of book covers or film posters depicting heroic knights.

"THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND ARE HERE!!!!"

...The knights of the what now? That wasn't the team name listed for them, was it?

It *definitely* isn't anything he talked about with Iris prior to arriving here, much less something she agreed to.

COMBATSYS: Rodrigo has started a fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Rodrigo          0/-------/-------|

[RODRIGO]
It's probably fortunate that Rodrigo wasn't privy to Albert's strategy for bullfighters since it would give the Spaniard a huge opening for a taunt.

Instead, Rodrigo can only watch as Might and Magic arrives behind them and Albert's dynamic entry into the location. The almost matador slides the cape back, exposing his off hand so he can clap it on the heel of the palm of his sword hand in a modified applause for a few moments.

"Pretty nice entrance. Shame there isn't a live audience aside from the camera crew to enjoy it."

He pauses for a moment as he slightly lowers his sword.

"Knights of the Round? I thought we were waiting for Might and Magic," is said with a bit playfulness. "Let me know when they arrive."

One of the production assistants say, "That is Might and Magic." This causes Rodrigo to let out a sigh before responding with, "I know that already. It was supposed to be a joke. Since we don't have an official to start us off. How about you take this pebble and toss it up. When it lands, we'll start fighting."

Rodrigo hands the pebble to the PA and takes his stance. The PA then holds it until each of the fighters show themselves in a visible state of readiness. The pebble hits the ground and Rodrigo is off in an instant, launching himself sword first towards the German swordsman.

COMBATSYS: Albert has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Rodrigo          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Albert

COMBATSYS: Albert blocks Rodrigo's Velocity Flash.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Rodrigo          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Albert

[ALBERT]
"Huh? We *are* Might And Magic..." Albert notes, apparently getting the joke sailing over his head just as badly as the poor PA did.

"But!! We are also the kni-eeeehh..."

That is the sound of Albert sending a glance back over to the way of Iris right in the middle of his words. His eager grin quickly makes way for a sheepishly guilty look.

"A-ah, nevermind..."

He taps his sword against the stone covering over the ground while he watches the small little rock being handled, in the preparation to be used as a signal. Eyes narrowing, watching Rodrigo more than the pebble in question -- more listening for it.

But then comes the tiny signal of the sound of the thing landing, and the faux-knight finds the bullfighter charged in almost all the way through to him already.

"Whoawhoawhoa!"

Thankfully, Albert does manage to snap his own sword up into the way ahead of him, smacking his broader, blutn sword against the side of Rodrigo's blade, grunting a bit as his body bends back a bit from the impact soaked up into his sword.

"You're fast!" Albert promptly concedes with a bright flash of a grin. "And you've got guts! I gotta show you some too!"

The instant Rodrigo's blade is fully knocked away, the german's weight abruptly shifts. His feet practically kick their way ahead of him both at the same time, sending the young man's whole body suddenly sweeping forward along the ground -- now, *sliding* across it, feet, first, the undersides of his leg guards somehow managing such a thing instead of simply scraping into the stone, blowing through along the ground in a path towards knocking into and through Rodrigo's legs like a human-sized bowling ball!

[SARAH]
When the two opponents arrive, Sarah looks at them and she smiles as she recognizes Iris. "Long time no see," She says with a giggle. "Looks like we're opponents this time, but it's all good. Win or lose, we still have a positive bond!" She then looks at Albert and says, "You must be Albert, right? Sarah Kuzumi, a.k.a. DJ Supernova." She takes off her cap and tips it before twirling it on her finger. "I look forward to having a good fight here, so let's give it our all!"

After that, Sarah tosses the cap into the air and catches it with the same hand before putting it back on her head securely and then nods. "All right, let's get this started!" She gets into the ginga, watching as Albert and Rodrigo go at it and nodding. "Looks like the two lads have started things up." She looks to Iris and smiles. "I'm ready when you are!"

COMBATSYS: Sarah has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Sarah            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Albert
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Rodrigo          0/-------/-------|

[IRIS]
"No we are *not*," comes a voice from behind Albert as he Dynamic! Entry!s his way onto the battlefield, with his only slightly older but relatively responsible-older-sibling-sounding teammate, Iris Osterlund, wearing a facial expression that clearly conveys 'we discussed this'. Rodrigo's deadpan joke about the team names brings a slight smile to her face; opponent or not, the matador made a good first impression.

As for Albert, when he turns to look at her, she merely puts a hand to her temples. "I will *personally* take you to Plymouth to see Tintagel when this is all over, if you promise not to keep doing that," the magus says. Apparently she's not above outright bribery.

Plus she's always kinda wanted to go herself and never had a reason, but that's not info Albert needs to know.

And then the boys are off into their own world of combat, as dictated by the structure of the match, which leaves Iris to cross the distance and square off with Sarah, her former... well, 'teammate' is maybe overselling it, because:

"I suppose 'long time no see' applies, because we never actually met in person," the Brit says, somewhat guardedly, at the DJ's introduction. "Still, nice to meet you, and good luck to us both."

When it's clear Sarah is ready, Iris takes the initiative; extending her hand, there's her trademark rainbow-colored flash as a simple warhammer appears in her palm, which the Brit swings in a horizontal arc as she closes the distance with Sarah, attempting to swing it almost like a baseball bat right into the DJ's stomach.

COMBATSYS: Iris has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Sarah            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Albert
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Rodrigo          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Iris

COMBATSYS: Sarah just-defends Iris' Medium Strike!

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Sarah            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Albert
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Rodrigo          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Iris

[SARAH]
"OK, so maybe I got a wee bit mixed up, eh?" Sarah says with a shrug and a giggle. "Regardless, let's get this show on the road, shall we?" With that, Sarah does a brief backflip before getting back into the ginga. "Let's rock and roll!"

Sarah watches Iris carefully, knowing each opponent has many different capabilities and to never expect the same thing twice. She's keeping her focus stable and her sight on Iris, waiting to see what comes first.

And then there's the rainbow colored flash, followed by the warhammer(!) which seems to come out of nowhere! Magic? Who knows! What is known is that it's coming at Sarah's stomach fast. Instinctively, Sarah brings her arms down to block that incoming hammer.

Sarah ends up blocking just at the right moment, causing the hammer to be deflected away harmlessly without even the slightest hint of a scratch. "Did I do that? Well, no rest for the wicked I guess!" With that, Sarah attempts to deliver a swift kick towards Iris's stomach as if attempting to return the favor.

COMBATSYS: Rodrigo fails to interrupt Gutsy Slide! from Albert with Rising Blade.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Sarah            0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0           Albert
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Rodrigo          0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0             Iris

[RODRIGO]
As the wannabe knight slides feet first into the matador that almost was, Rodrigo crouches low to meet the attack head on. As he attempts to thrust his blade towards the torso he finds his blade glancing off Albert's new chest plate and just as he is about to take off, Albert plows into him. Instead of the controlled roll he was going for had he timed the thrust and jump properly, he goes into a flailing flip before landing on his back.

"Ugh..."

With a bit of a grunt and grumble, the Spaniard rolls onto his stomach and then rises to his feet. He takes a breath and then slides back into his stance with a smile of a performer.

% It's poor form for me to let you make me look so clumsy so easily. I have to make sure that you earn it."

[ALBERT]
Albert clearly did not think terribly much about how someone else's weapon might interact him mid-slide. There's just enough time for him to widen his eyes as Rodrigo's blade comes plunging down before--

*tink!*

The sword is deflected off the slight curve of the breastplate, and Albert's slide goes on to slam him right through the matador's leg's.

After bowling through, the faux-knight's weight shifts to his side with the further support of his foot and hand landing over the ground to both adjust his trajectory and brake him in the same motion as he turns his body to facing Rodrigo all over again after the impact, and easily bounce himself fully up on his feet. His hand presses to his chest, too, right where Rodrigo's sword had impacted seconds earlier.

"IRIS!" he yells out suddenly with utter glee. "YOUR ARMOR'S AWE--"

...Right as Iris' conjured warhammer clashes into Sarah's guard over there.

"...R-right, later, later..." he mumbles, deciding to leave further gushing for later.

"Hah! You have speed *and* confidence!" he declares to Rodrigo then, sweeping his own sword in a chopping motion from above to bring it pointing at the matador in challenge. "You're going to need more than confidence and showmanship for this bull, though!"

Cue Albert immediately stamping one foot forward with enough force for a thundering soumd to echo out, with his forwaed-stomped foot used ad the pivot point to sweep him forward and for Rodrigo's personal space! Rsther than trying to swing his blunted blade at hil, though, he spins the sword around in his hand to a downward grip so he can shove the pommel of the handle for the matador's midsection!

COMBATSYS: Iris blocks Sarah's Light Kick.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Sarah            0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0           Albert
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Rodrigo          0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0             Iris

[IRIS]
In most of her fights in the first season of the NFG, Iris let the weapons she'd conjured vanish as soon as their job was done. Partly this was so she didn't have to concentrate on keeping them 'real'; partly it was out of a genuine fear that someone would try to grab them and use them against her. In the interim, however, she's learned that letting them stick around a bit has a tactical advantage all its own.

Case in point: when her strike doesn't land the way she'd hoped, the Brit anticipates a counterstrike, and absolutely gets one. Letting the hammer's weight swing it back around, she grips the haft with both hands, letting Sarah's kick slam into the magically-conjured wood instead of, say, her own shoulder. The impact still sends a little jarring jolt up her arms, but as the hammer finally disappears, she seems none the worse for wear.

"I'd complement your defense," Iris says dryly, raising an eyebrow at the DJ, "but you went ahead and did that all on your own, I suppose. A bit early to be coyly smug, don't you think?" Taking a step back, the magus puts some distance between herself and Sarah. She spares a glance over at the newbie fight; a little too dangerous to split her attention while she's still got an opponent in front of her, but she DOES catch Albert's enthusiastic appraisal of her smithing work, which brings the curve of a slight smile to her lips as she refocuses on Sarah. "Pardon the interruption," she says, bringing a hand up, fingers trailing violet-blue as she traces a shape in the air. Iris has no more words to add, but when the rune she traced vanishes, she DOES have something electrifying to throw in: namely, a lightning bolt arcing out of the sky to strike an unlucky Sarah if she doesn't take steps to defend herself!

COMBATSYS: Iris successfully hits Sarah with Thurisaz - Mjolnir's Echo ES.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Sarah            0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0           Albert
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Rodrigo          0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0             Iris

[SARAH]
"Perhaps so," Sarah says as she returns to the ginga. "I shouldn't get ahead of myself now should I?" She smiles a little, keeping an eye on Iris, watching to see what she's capable of. And apparently she's capable of conjuring up lightning bolts! Well, she's seen other things, so why not lightning bolts?

"Didn't know there was a storm today," Sarah says as she attempts to twist herself out of the way, but unfortunately, she misjudges where she's going and winds up being electrocuted by the lightning bolt. "Yaah!" The blonde-haired capoeirista gets hit and stumbles backwards, almost falling on her back. Fortunately, Sarah recovers in time to get herself going steady again. "Now that was a real shocking surprise!" She doesn't laugh at her joke but she does look at Iris again.

"I always love seeing what my opponents are capable of, just not up close and personal," Sarah says as she moves her arms around her in a unique circular manner as she tries to focus her chi. And then she reaches back briefly before throwing forth a butterfly shaped projectile aimed at Iris. "Here's one of mine!"

COMBATSYS: Rodrigo blocks Albert's Quick Strike.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Sarah            0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0           Albert
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Rodrigo          0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0             Iris

[RODRIGO]
Rodrigo displays the poise and footwork that had gotten him so far in the Odyssey stepping off at an angle using the cup hilt as sort of a miniature buckler to deflect Albert's pommel to the side and away from the targetted midsection. Once he deems himself safe once more takes a step back to reposition.

"If was still looking to fight bulls, I'd still be in a Bullring in Spain and not here."

The Spaniard lashes out with a front kick delivered to the hip. It's less to hurt and more to push Albert back into blade range rather than the close in range he would he require to even attempt a pommel strike.

COMBATSYS: Albert blocks Rodrigo's Light Kick.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Sarah            0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0           Albert
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Rodrigo          0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0             Iris

[ALBERT]
The kick from Rodrigo, in turn, sees Albert snapping his free hand down low -- and actually simply posing his palm right into the heel of that incoming foot. With a full-force kick, that probably would have been *very* ill-advised! Not that Albert seems the type who would be conscious of such tings anyway. But even so, contact does have it's intended purpose in the end -- in the way of urging the german to back away in the same motion.

"We don't always get to pick our fights! Counts all the more for how we respond to them!"

Though some distance was regrown between the two, Albert's still stubbornly pushing on forward, with another thunderous stomp while his sword hand rises up overhead, before getting swung down in a slightly diagonal angle for Rodrigo. Fast and hard. Only for his body to continue to lean his weight further forward after that step and swing, and him to continue swinging his sword wildlly in varying angles for Rodrigo -- the overhead chop turning to a sideward swing after a recoil from either hit or a miss, another back to an overhead swing from the opposing side. Again, and again, six times in total--

"DORARARARARARA!!!"

COMBATSYS: Iris parries Sarah's Flash Butterfly!

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Sarah            0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0           Albert
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Rodrigo          0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0             Iris

[IRIS]
"Oh, that's a pretty move," Iris says, in response to the butterfly coming her way, which is almost certainly not here to teach her the love of reading. "I imagine I'd rather not see how it *feels* compared to how it looks, though..."

Sarah had mentioned she wanted to see what her opponent was capable of. Well, the Brit can oblige her. Iris might not be super strong, super fast, or super tough, but she does have one thing going for: adaptability. As she found in the first NFG, thinking on the fly -- or perhaps flying by the seat of her pants -- is often when she shone the brightest.

Problem: Sarah's not playing around and said butterfly is getting closer. Hmmm.

Suddenly the magus's blue eyes open wider, and she starts doing furious calculating in her head. If she does this exactly right, it's going to be fascinating.

We won't consider what happens if she does it wrong.

Extending an open hand, a slim spear appears in Iris's grip, as she's often used in her documented fights so far. Setting her foot back, the Brit suddenly... well, charges, lance held horizontally behind her, like a quarterstaff.

Is she going to just charge through the butterfly?! That COULD work, but that doesn't seem--

And then, as soon as the butterfly would connect, Iris -- spear and all -- vanishes.

Before reappearing, no momentum lost, coming at Sarah from UP and BEHIND her, the *opposite* direction, looking to thrust the spear diagonally down-forward in a single, tactical strike made all the weightier by gravity.

COMBATSYS: Sarah dodges Iris' Raido - Solstice Journey EX.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Sarah            0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0           Albert
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Rodrigo          0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0             Iris

[SARAH]
One moment, Sarah's butterfly is flying at her opponent, and the next moment Iris is gone? "Oh blimey!" Sarah exclaims before instinctively looking behind her. Apparently Iris has pulled off another trick on Sarah and is trying to get the better of her. Unfortunately for her, Sarah's not one to be caught off-guard so easily.

"Nice trick!" Sarah says as she somersaults forwards, away from Iris and avoiding her attack completely. The spear winds up getting nothing but air, which is a good thing since had it caught Sarah, it would've ripped her flesh... but even moreso her shirt. "It seems I've got a lot to learn about you." Sarah sounds quite intrigued by what Iris capable of doing.

But she's not about to stand around waiting for Iris to make the next move. Sarah is going to seize the opportunity to come in fast with a diving somersault at Iris, rolling forwards, before popping up swiftly with an uppercut.

COMBATSYS: Rodrigo blocks Albert's Gutsy Swings! EX.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Sarah            0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0           Albert
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Rodrigo          0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0             Iris

[RODRIGO]
Up until now in the NFG, Rodrigo was the one who puts pressure on his opponents. Albert is the first one actually to put the Spanish swordsman on the back foot. Slash after slash gets deflected the blade or batted aside with the cup hilt, the final slash hits the reinforced cape forcing a grunt from Rodrigo's lips.

"Honestly, the fights I've been getting here are more interesting than bulls. If you're comparing yourself to bulls, you're condemning yourself to the less interesting fights catagory. You don't want to do that now, do you?"

Rodrigo uses the caped arm to Albert's sword a shove as he uses a step and pivot to move to the outside of Albert's outside. Once there, Rodrigo performs a trio of quick thrusts with his blade before taking an angled step backwards.

COMBATSYS: Rodrigo successfully hits Albert with Random Strike.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Sarah            0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0           Albert
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Rodrigo          1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0             Iris

[ALBERT]
"All the more reason for it to be cool when the bull charges up from being the underd-AGH!"

Perhaps trying to keep up the mid-fight banter was a bit too much multitasking for Albert's brain. The thrust's from Rodrigo's blade seem to come at him before he's even braced himself to be able to fully react to any offensive. And though the new armor does prevent the first two hits from piercing anything, the german is quickly reminded of Iris' lesson on how force focused onto a single point has much more weight behind it -- and he feels it now, too, in the way the blunt force of the hits still carried in a whiplash past the plate and forces him to stagger back.

And leaves him open for the thirs thrust to slip through into an exposed spot at his right shoulder.

"Hrrgh!"

He staggers back another step after that, instinctively slapping his hand against his shoulder after the full seperation between the two, with his eyes narrowing slightly.

"That stings..." he mumbles with a wrinkly of his nose, only to suddenly go scrambling his way in a slightly sideward dash, running along Rodrigo's perimeter for a second before sweeping in closer again, trying to aim a quick, low kick for the other man's ankle; less in an effort to damage and more to trip him up momentarily.

COMBATSYS: Albert successfully hits Rodrigo with Light Kick.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Sarah            0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0           Albert
[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Rodrigo          1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0             Iris

COMBATSYS: Iris blocks Sarah's Roll With It.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Sarah            0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0           Albert
[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Rodrigo          1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0             Iris

[IRIS]
There's a loud but dull-sounding wooden *CLNK!* as Sarah's uppercut attempt finds a conjured wooden buckler interposed in its path, the rising punch turned aside by the small shield just in time. "That's me," the British magus says, with perhaps only the vaguest trace of irony, letting the shield vanish back into the ether from which it emerged. "Just full of surprises."

She can spare a brief glance over at Albert and Rodrigo; feeling slightly bad, in so doing, as she hasn't been able to focus on fighting Sarah *and* watching her mentee's fight at the same time. Thus Iris is relieved to find the young German giving as good as he gets.

Turning back to her opponent, the DJ, Iris shakes out both hands, then extends one in the clear gesture she uses for weapon summoning. What the rainbow sparkles produce this time is a length of firm but slim chain, which the Brit twirls slightly before swinging it in a horizontal arc; rather than trying to snag Sarah with one end, she keeps most of the slack in hand, instead attempting to effectively whip Sarah across the stomach. Not the best weapon for this, but that's still metal and it's still gonna sting!

COMBATSYS: Sarah parries Iris' Random Strike!!

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Sarah            1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0           Albert
[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Rodrigo          1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0             Iris

[SARAH]
It pays to know how to handle a situation well, especially when you're in a defensive situation. Even moreso when you've got a weapon coming at you. One that could hurt quite a bit if it makes contact with you.

Sarah is watching and waiting to see what Iris is planning, knowing that her weapon could easily inflict a great deal of pain on her if it hits her. Of course, Sarah is still a formidable fighter even without any weapons of her own. So when Iris comes at her, Sarah reacts quickly.

With a swift kick, Sarah knocks Iris's chain away quickly and effectively. Iris may be surprised, but Sarah definitely is too. "Whoa, I didn't think that would actually work!" Sarah says with widened eyes before returning to Iris. "But I'm not here to comment on my fighting skills."

Adjusting her cap slightly, Sarah gets back into the ginga, seeming to go slightly faster than before. "I must say, you're giving me quite the unique challenge with your style. I'm truly impressed with it." Sarah smiles a little as she drops onto the ground and props herself up onto the palm of her hand and proceeds to spin around rapidly, before attempting to strike twice as she comes around each time, the first time with her upper leg and the second with her lower leg.

[RODRIGO]
There's a bit of frustration on Rodrigo's part. It was as if Albert was determined to miss the point. He was here to fight those who can think on the level of humans or higher. Who could adapt to human weapons on the fly. While some of the things he learned as a matador inform his movements and his fighting style, he was in the NFG to become a better fighter, not a better matador.

"Well... If you're so determined to compare yourself to a bull, I have no choice but regard you as boring no matter the outcome. You have no value to me in refining my swordsmanship."

The angled backstep he had performed was supposed to give him some room to manuever but the angle Albert takes cuts off his escape before he even attempts to make it. The foot connects with his leg, causing the Spaniard to let out a slight hiss as he stumbles backward.

As Rodrigo had shown in previous fights, his cape is as much a weapon as a form of protection for him. He swings out the cape for Albert's head aiming to connect with the weighted end of it for some bludgeoning damage.

COMBATSYS: Albert interrupts Cape Whip from Rodrigo with Gutsy Headbutt! EX.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Sarah            1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0           Albert
[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Rodrigo          1/-======/=======|====---\-------\0             Iris

[ALBERT]
"Can't you feel it, though?" Albert insists, still, seemingly just as intent on maintaining his own good cheer just as much as he is in missing the - the frankly pretty reasonable - point from Rodrigo. "The drama of a a good story! The tension of a themed encounter!"

Wait, wasn't Albert the same guy who was confused about the concept of *chlorine*? Where's this narrstive theory coming from all of a sudden?

Whatever the case with *that* is, Albert's footwork proves to be surprisingly dextrous despite the rest of his fighting style seeming to rely mostly on straightforward force. The instant after his foot collides with Rodrigo's angle, it sweeps right to the side again before plantong down to provide an anchor to sweep himself closer with, and keeo giving chase even as the spaniard staggers backwards. Unrelenting in his movements with barely any pause in between.

Though he does instinctively plant his feet down to lean his body slightly back when he sees Rodrigo moving back forward again in turn, with his sword brought up ahead of his middle to brace for--

An attack he misread.

He was expecting another thrust for his chest again, only to now see, instead, his opponent's cape sweeping straight towards his face, in a trajectory that is bringing it over the guarding sword.

There's no time to readjust his guard, nor is there to sway to the side. So instead...

The wannabe knight lets momentum continue stubbornly carrying his weight forward instead. The slight backward lean suddenly turned back forward again instead, swinging his head forth to where his forehead collides with that weighted edge of the cloth with a loud but dull sound.

And he just keeps going forward. His weight continues to swing, and with his feet joining in underneath, the end result is a sight that looks almost akin to a bull rush that bowls his head into whatever solid matter is weighing the cape to knock it forward -- and further still to bring his forehead all the way to colliding with Rodrigo's own with a sharp grunt from the faux-knight before he *finally* recoils back.

"Gaaaahh..." he groans out faintly with the staggering backward step that follows, one eye lidded slightly with some lingering ache -- but still with an energetic smile on his face. "Sheesh... I thought that thing was just cloth and nothing else. Do you have weights sewn into it? That's pretty cool!"

COMBATSYS: Iris just-defends Sarah's Tornado Warning EX!

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Sarah            1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0           Albert
[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Rodrigo          1/-======/=======|====---\-------\0             Iris

[IRIS]
Say what you will about Sarah, but she appears to be quite nimble indeed. Such is the way of things in pro fighting, however, and Iris has been at this long enough, now, to know that she can't sit there puzzling it out; her opponent's next move is sure to come swiftly. The chain winks out to wherever chains go when they die (probably an Ace Hardware), and Iris does her best to graciously accept a compliment while simultaneously preparing not to get kicked in the face: "Why thank you."

Capoeira is not a fighting style that Iris is poised to understand very well; it looks cool, but her upper crust British education featured more flower arranging and fencing than it did dancing or street music. More the loss for her in more ways than one, as the style seems pretty fun... but also, knowing it better would probably help mount some sort of defense against these extremely swift kicks!

Back in the season 1 days, Iris would have likely summoned something in a panic, working on pure instinct and praying the result would be helpful rather than useless or worse. But now, this is season 2, and she's more experienced, wiser.

Which means she's going to summon something in a panic, praying it's useful, but trusts that perhaps there's some intuition at work here rather than blind, stupid luck.

This is why, when she extends her hands and there's a rainbow flash of light, she ends up with a rather large, traditionally painted... matryoshka doll.

There's a moment of bullet time where Iris's blue eyes track what she called up and the words 'oh what the bloody HELL' seem to write themselves on her... well, irises.

But here's the thing: a handstand kick is fast and strong, but not particularly maneuverable; once you've committed to the position, that's where you stay until the handstand is over. MEANING, you can theoretically interpose something into the space and defend yourself fully without moving.

There's more wooden impact noises as each of Sarah's kicks takes off the lid of the doll.
DOWNSIDE: There's multiple kicks.
UPSIDE: Do you know how a matryoshka doll works?

As Sarah's technique ends, an unharmed and extremely surprised Iris looks down at the ground, where a successively smaller series of decapitated Russian folk doll heads roll around, before the entire thing winks out of existence.

Tilting her head somewhat, the magus blinks once or twice, before extending a hand and tracing a green rune in the air between herself and Sarah, which then detonates into a bursting swirl of green-white wind, intending to separate the two fighters and create some distance!

COMBATSYS: Sarah just-defends Iris' Eihwaz - Storm and Stress!

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Sarah            1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0           Albert
[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Rodrigo          1/-======/=======|====---\-------\0             Iris

[SARAH]
It seems Sarah's attack was easily avoided by Iris, which puts a slight frown on her face. But Sarah's not about to let this get her down for long. She knows that even the best of the best make mistakes here and there. Which is why she's back in the ginga in the blink of an eye.

Speaking of blinking...

When Iris attempts to cause that bursting swirl of wind, Sarah seems to be on top of her game. As soon as the burst occurs, Sarah instinctively twirls away at the very instant it should've hit her! Apparently, this young lady is quite a capable one!

"Seems we both have some tricks up our sleeves, which is saying something considering my sleeves are short!" Sarah comments with a laugh before advancing towards Iris quickly, and then attempts to deliver a backwards flip while bringing her bare foot upwards as she does so.

[RODRIGO]
Rodrigo came into the fight expecting to be fighting another swordfighter he ends up somewhat getting tilted by the fact that he was dealing with a bull in a human's body made all the more clear when Albert's head slams into him.

"I reject your fictional narrative and will substitute my reality. I object to you dismissing my reasons for being here for the sake of your story."

If the faux-knight wants to play the bull in this story, Rodrigo will treat him as such. Modified somewhat for the humanoid form of course. First, use the cape lead the bull around by the head. In this particular case though he'll do so by demonstrating the other purpose of the weights in the cape. Getting some weight to assist in wrapping around the head or the neck. With a strong tug, he would yank on it to pull him off balance. Where the head goes, the rest of the body follows.

That brings Rodrigo to the second part of bullfighting strategy. Make it harder for the bull to fight back. In this particular case, Rodrigo chooses to stab Albert in the shoulder aiming specifically for a location not armored that would also make it harder for his opponent to swing his sword.

COMBATSYS: Albert dodges Rodrigo's Armed Combo.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Sarah            1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0           Albert
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Rodrigo          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|====---\-------\0             Iris

[ALBERT]
Now, Albert does actually appear to frown, amidst it all. Enough so to ward off the smile from his features altogether.

"...I see."

That much he has time to let out before his body is forced to weaving it's way backwards and away with a retreating half-step, sweeping his form - and most importantly, his head - just out of the reach of the cape as it comes swinging in again. A pivot on the heel of his backstepping foot, and his body bobs over to the side next, in a motion equal of a boxer dodging a straight punch from another to turn away from the thrusting sword.

He doesn't come advancing in this time. No, instead, there's another retreating step, to create a bit of distance between the two.

"I haven't considered your feelings. I apologize."

The german boy takes in a slow, steadying breath -- and then, his stance shifts. THere's no real training behind him, not even slightly so, but the way his feet shift and his knees bend slightly, while his sword hand shifts to be held at the level of his opposing shoulder, blunt tip pointed towards Rodrigo while his narrowed eyes peer over the blade, his posture actually, if only for just a moment, actually resembles that of a knight rather than a farmboy who picked up a cheap sword on a whim.

"Come on then. Ser Braendel awaits."

COMBATSYS: Albert focuses on his next action.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Sarah            1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0           Albert
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Rodrigo          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|====---\-------\0             Iris

COMBATSYS: Iris fails to interrupt Flip It Good from Sarah with Uruz - Gandrekr.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Sarah            1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0           Albert
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Rodrigo          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=====--\-------\0             Iris

[IRIS]
The comment about sleeves gets a look from Iris that cycles from 'blank' to 'quizzical', but there's no time to be trying to puzzle that one out for the Brit, who now has to deal with Sarah's renewed assault. The back and forth so far has been one of defenses, but it appears as if Iris is about to break the streak, as it were. As the DJ comes in for her strike, the magus summons the silvery chain from before once again, setting her jaw.

Sarah's kicking leg comes up, and Iris makes as if to wrap the chain around it, but mistimes her swing, the chain slicing through thin air instead of entangling its intended target. At the last second, however, in a burst of inspiration, Iris yanks her hand, bringing the chain back up the way it came and letting it loop around her own fist, which she manages to slightly interpose between Sarah's foot and her own clavicle. Not a full defense by any means, but it does spare her some of the pain of taking the blow full on.

[SARAH]
Isn't it amazing what happens when you put your mind to something? Namely when you focus on your attack and landing it where you intend it to land? That's what happened with Sarah, and she's now back on her feet once again. "You gotta keep your eyes open," Sarah comments with a slight smirk. "You never know what your opponent is capable of!"

She's not trying to taunt Iris, she's just making some commentary on the whole thing. Continuing to move in the ginga, Sarah doesn't waste any time in advancing on Iris. She moves in a manner similar to skipping, before going into a handstand. From there, Sarah attempts to grab Iris with her legs. If successful, Sarah will spring upwards and forwards off of her hands, attempting to land on her feet while bringing Iris down.

[RODRIGO]
The fact that Albert doesn't press his already sizable advantage places Rodrigo in a predicament. On one hand, the Spaniard was playing for time in an attempt to swing the momentum back in the other direction. On the other hand, going in to attack while doing so felt like it was presenting an opportunity that he just couldn't afford to give.

The apology however does soften his reaction to Albert himself. He no longer looks irritated but rather somewhat focused.

Where Albert seems more stationary, Rodrigo is a bit more mobile. He circles around the German with footwork carrying a strong influence from baguazhang's circle walking.

COMBATSYS: Rodrigo focuses on his next action.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Sarah            1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0           Albert
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Rodrigo          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=====--\-------\0             Iris

[ALBERT]
Albert's feet take to motion soon after Rodrigo's do, at least. Not quite in the matador's manner, but still -- slowly strafing himself to keep his facing mirroring that of his opponent's. Weapons held at the ready on both sides. Eyes staring down. Watching, studying, waiting for the right moment.

Like two gunfighters of old waiting for their right moment to draw.

Albert is, finally, the first to make a move. His weight subtly shifts forward as the first sign of him snapping into advancing motion -- and then, in a sudden further shift, his feet launch off of the stone beneath them. Sending the german flying through the air in a forward-flipping somersault, quickly carrying him across the distance left between the two swordsmen -- and with his own (blunt) sword sweeping from up high down towards Rodrigo amidst his landing arc.

"Raaah!"

COMBATSYS: Iris parries Sarah's Medium Throw!

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Sarah            1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0           Albert
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Rodrigo          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|======-\-------\0             Iris

[IRIS]
If Sarah's intent wasn't to taunt Iris, then she appears to have missed the mark entirely, given the suddenly flat expression on the Brit's face at the comment the DJ offers, let alone the smirk on her face as she says it. "Yes, thank you," Iris says in curt response, wincing a little at the ache in her shoulder. "I'll just keep that in mind, shall I." Flexing her fingers a bit, the magus watches Sarah carefully, obliging her advice on one level, at least.

To an outside observer Iris's ability to blink around the arena in a fight seems effortless, but as she's explained to a few people, there's a lot going on under the hood to make that happen, so careful observation IS pretty important. Blue eyes track the fighting DJ until she tries for a leg grab, and then Iris is gone in a literal flash, appearing not behind Sarah as before, but rather from an oblique side angle, lunging forward with the glistening silver of her truesilver rapier in one hand, the slender blade's tip crackling with purple lightning. Whether she hits home or not, however, the magus repeats this two more times, teleporting and then striking from two additional angles, complicating defense attempts against this multi-vector assault!

COMBATSYS: Iris successfully hits Sarah with Teiwaz - Prism Blade EX.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Sarah            1/--=====/=======|=======\-------\0           Albert
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Rodrigo          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0             Iris

[SARAH]
Unfortunately, Sarah's luck seems to have hit a flat note, as not only does Iris effortlessly deal with Sarah's attempt at a throw, but now she's got the upper hand. Attempting to move out of the way turns out to be rather fruitless, as not only does Sarah zig when she should've zagged, but she gets hit rather hard.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Sarah cries out as each blow hits her. When the attack ends, Sarah grits her teeth a little, wincing at the pain she's feeling right now. "Seems I've lost the beat there, but what can you do?" Sarah takes a deep breath and then blows it out. "Gotta keep rockin' and rollin'!" She gets back into the ginga once again.

This time, Sarah doesn't attempt to attack just yet. Instead, she keeps a strong eye on Iris, watching and waiting to see what she'll do next. It appears this young lady is quite the unpredictable one.

COMBATSYS: Sarah focuses on her next action.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Sarah            1/--=====/=======|=======\-------\0           Albert
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Rodrigo          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0             Iris

COMBATSYS: Rodrigo dodges Albert's Gutsy Lunge!.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Sarah            1/--=====/=======|=======\-------\0           Albert
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Rodrigo          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0             Iris

[RODRIGO]
Rodrigo's circle walk suddenly stops the moment Albert makes his move. He pivots and takes a step the other direction in a hybrid of the Chinese martial art, and his matador training. Albert's attack finds his cape and not the body behind it much like a charging bull.

After that, Rodrigo then draws upon the influence of the retiarius gladiator by utilizing the cape like a net, those weights assisting in wrapping up the legs. With a quick yank, he attempts to take the wannabe knight's legs from under.

As long as he's not impeded, he'll pull his cape back holding it at the ready to attack or defend with it.

COMBATSYS: Albert blocks Rodrigo's Quick Throw.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Sarah            1/--=====/=======|=======\-------\1           Albert
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Rodrigo          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0             Iris

[ALBERT]
Albert's feet and sword both land upon the ground - and the cape in between - with a thunderous THUMP.

"Hmh?!"

Albert at least has enough sense to not stay focused on the cape after the fact like a bull would, his gaze snapping instead to the side to try and follow the man it's attached to. His eyes quickly widen with the realization of what's about to happen.

"Wah!!"

The yelp comes in time with the cape sweeping from underneath him -- but in the same motion, his free hand has reached out to grab onto Rodrigo's arm for makeshift support. It's not enough to keep both his feet steady, but enough that he's left bouncing on one foot for a second instead of falling over instantly -- and so when he does go down, it's to one knee instead of all the way down onto his butt.

And for that matter, his hand makes a yank at Rodrigo's arm on the way down, top, to try and leverage him right down alongside him.

[IRIS]
Say what you want about Iris's actual record in the ring -- which is worse than the 50/50 average you'd expect from a typical fighter -- but at the very least, her style and abilities mean that fights she's in make for good theater. As the Brit reappears after landing her triple blow, there's a brief, fencer-like flourish with her rapier before it vanishes in her typical burst of rainbow light.

She finds, however, that rather than facing Sarah's counteroffensive, the DJ appears to simply be taking stock and watching. Iris is no fool; past experience says these moments are when fighters are typically gearing up for something complex, meaning it's in the Brit's best interest not to let Sarah make the next big move. Eschewing any sort of fancy trick, spell, or weapon, Iris simply ducks forward and attempts to snap a kick into DJ Supernova's stomach in an effort to blunt her momentum before it even begins to take shape.

COMBATSYS: Sarah fails to interrupt Light Kick from Iris with Fast Throw.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Sarah            1/-======/=======|=======\-------\1           Albert
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Rodrigo          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1             Iris

[SARAH]
Sarah's got a nicely toned stomach as part of her keeping in shape. She's also got good reflexes.

Unfortunately, she's also got a bit of bad luck.

Her attempt to grab Iris's leg and take her down backfires as she gets hit in the stomach and goes stumbling backwards. "Owww... that wasn't supposed to happen," She mutters.

COMBATSYS: Rodrigo blocks Albert's Quick Throw.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Sarah            1/-======/=======|=======\-------\1           Albert
[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Rodrigo          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1             Iris

[RODRIGO]
The Spanish duelist's arm gets grabbed as the German pseudo-knight drops to one knee. It takes a struggle but Rodrigo maintains his posture. He then shakes Albert off and takes a step to the side while drawing his cape and arm back to prevent his opponent from getting a hand hold on.

He takes a breath as he attempt figure out where to attack next. He then sends a sword thrust to the thigh. The body is armored, the arms hadn't met with a lot of success. And with Albert kneeling, in theory, he should have difficulty with defending an attack to the legs. Then again, Albert had been giving him trouble all fight so it isn't like a defense against the sword strike is an outlandish prospect.

COMBATSYS: Rodrigo successfully hits Albert with Medium Strike.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Sarah            1/-======/=======|=======\===----\1           Albert
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Rodrigo          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1             Iris

[ALBERT]
It did, in fact, prove quite difficult to protect one's legs while down on one knee. To Albert's credit, he did make an effort to snap his sword in the way, but the position doesn't leave him with much maneuverability to keep up with Rodrigo's sword when it inevitably adjusts it's trajectory to slip past the guarding blade.

"Augh!" comes Albert's yelp of pain in turn as he gets cut across one leg-- and by the time he forces himself into a backwards roll away from his kneeling position, it's only serving to get away in case of any followup attacks.

The roll does bring him to where both his feet are bracing to the ground, leaving him momentarily on all fours. But only for a brief two seconds before he's scrambling across the stone arena, posture kept almost low enough to meet the ground itself for the first few steps before he springs up suddenly, blade held in a reverse grip as it's swung from low to up alongside his body as it leaps directly upwards, the blunt sword aimed to smash against Rodrigo on the way.

[IRIS]
Pulling her kicking leg back, Iris hops a step backwards and seems about as surprised at the outcome of that exchange as Sarah is. The magus isn't exactly a martial artist in the traditional sense, though she knows enough of the basics so that she's not helpless without a weapon. Things could have very easily gone the other way. "Been there plenty of times myself," Iris says, genuinely sympathetic.

But the fight's not over yet for either of these competitors, and that means there's only so much time for polite conversation. Shaking out her hands, Iris spares a moment to glance over at Rodrigo and Albert, finding the two young men fully engaged in their own battle. She notes with a smile that her teammate is giving as good as he's getting... and, with some small amount of selfish pride, that his breastplate is holding up.

"Right. Let's keep it moving, shall we?" the Brit says conversationally, before a quick gesture causes two pieces of equipment to manifest in her hands: the previously-used silvery chain, and a parrying buckler on her left arm. Lashing out with the chain, Iris tries to snag Sarah's arm with the chain, then yank her forward just enough so that the British mage can do a quick shield bash with the buckler.

COMBATSYS: Sarah parries Iris' Armed Combo!!

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Sarah            2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\===----\1           Albert
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Rodrigo          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1             Iris

[SARAH]
After goofing up in such a major manner like she just did, Sarah's a bit more alert this time. She's watching carefully as Iris moves in for another attack. This time, she apparently wants to snag Sarah's arm with her chain, but Sarah's got other plans.

The moment the chain makes contact with Sarah's arm, the blonde-haired disk jockey knocks it away like it's nothing. "Nice try!" Sarah says as she twists to the side after deflecting Iris's incoming attack. "But I'm afraid you'll have to do better than that!" The girl stretches her arms over her head from behind her back before getting back into the ginga. She steps back a little as if trying to give herself some space, but in reality, she's setting up for what comes next.

"I think it's time to show you one of my personal favorites!" Sarah says as she adjusts her cap to make sure it's on nice and tight. "You're gonna love this one!" Sarah then attempts to deliver a cartwheel into Iris, intending to stun her by bringing her bare feet down at Iris.

If that succeeds, Sarah will drop down and perform a faster version of her double spin kick from earlier while balancing on one hand. From there, she'll roll in and perform a rising uppercut infused with chi.

COMBATSYS: Albert successfully hits Rodrigo with Gutsy Leap!.
Glancing Blow

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Sarah            0/-------/---<<<<|=======\=====--\1           Albert
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Rodrigo          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1             Iris

[RODRIGO]
Rodrigo delivers no follow up attack after the strike to the leg. He allows Albert to roll and scramble but then he sees the German spring up.

As Albert launches himself blade first at him, Rodrigo takes a step back and to the side to avoid it. He isn't exactly successful. The sword partially catches his cape taking some of brunt of it while the rest of the impact catches the Spaniard in the shoulder as he spins with the impact.

Rodrigo slides back into his stance once more and then he moves in a sudden blur, delivering a rapid fire series of stabs to the arms and legs. His blade moves so fast that it looks like he's attacking several places simultaneously to the untrained eye. When the blade stops Rodrigo steps forward to drive his foot through Albert's breastplate in the form of a front kick.

COMBATSYS: Albert interrupts Frenzied Barrage from Rodrigo with Mighty GUTSY Headbutt!.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Sarah            0/-------/---<<<<|>>>>>--\-------\0           Albert
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Rodrigo          1/---<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1             Iris

[ALBERT]
Albert's landing after the leaping, upward swing comes surprisingly gracefully. Prepared and ready to defend himself. But still...

Rodrigo is fast. That fact just can't be avoided. He doesn't even get a chance to try to properly bring his sword in the way of the first stab. And come the second stab just fraction of a second after, Albert's staggering backwards.

But then he halts that backward sway with a stubborn, powerful stomp of his foot down while his upper body is still leaned far back from the recoil. The stamping of his foot is actually powerful enough that the stone underneath cracks and shatters while it's being used as the leverage point to force his body swinging back forward instead--

"GUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTSSS!!!!!"

--and with that outright *roar* that echoes damn near across the island, the faux-knight's body - and head - swings violently all the way over to where his skull smashes right into Rodrigo's face even amidst the couple more stabs that make their way into him through the motion. But still, hard enough to at least encourage the matador to cease with following through with the assault all the way, if not outright knock him back away out of attacking range while Albert himself staggers back a couple steps again, swaying just a little after the dizzying motion -- and admittedly the bit of ringing left into his head after the impact.

COMBATSYS: Iris blocks Sarah's My Favorite Remix EX.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Sarah            0/-------/---<<<<|>>>>>--\-------\0           Albert
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Rodrigo          1/---<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=------\1             Iris

[IRIS]
Something about 'you'll have to do better than that' brings a Certain Expression to Iris's face; the Brit's features harden ever so slightly, the tension in her stance becomes tighter and more visible. "If you say so," she responds, in a dull tone of voice. Bracing a foot back behind her, she takes Sarah's moment of windup to shake out her arms and mutter a spell under her breath.

Every time the DJ's said something like that in this fight, after all, the result has been a particular kind of attack. This time, Iris is ready for it: as the kicks from before come roaring in, there's a flicker of light around -- of all things -- Iris's *wrists*. It's a trick she's tried before, and is slowly beginning to appreciate more for its usefulness: it's not just weapons she can pull out of the ether, but armor too.

In this case, metal vambraces, which she uses to block the kicks and the uppercut that follows. The impacts still register; bone-jarring numbness traveling up each arm, but 'a bit sore after' is a considerably better outcome than a kick in the face, much less multiple kicks in the face.

The Brit wastes no time on her counterattack, either; a hand comes up, tracing multiple runes in the air, different parts of the runic 'word' glowing with different shades of violet, blue, and green, before the entire lightshow disappears... and the sky above Sarah's head is suddenly FULL of weapons: swords, spears, hammers, you name it, almost all of them swaddled in the elemental force of the storm: lightning, frost, and howling wind.

With a gesture, Iris sweeps her hand down, and the weapons... well, fall. If Sarah wants to avoid some serious hurt, she's gonna need to come in out of the rain.

COMBATSYS: Sarah dodges Iris' Laguz - Rain of Blades.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Sarah            0/-------/--<<<<<|>>>>>--\-------\0           Albert
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Rodrigo          1/---<<<</<<<<<<<|=------\-------\0             Iris

[SARAH]
It seems Sarah mistimed her attack, as Iris was able to defend against it effortlessly. How unfortunate... and embarrassing! "Oh dear, that's not cricket!" Sarah says while shaking her head. "I must work on that." She gets back into the ginga, knowing Iris is going to go on the offensive almost immediately.

Apparently, it's starting to rain... weapons that is! Unfortunately, Sarah forgot her umbrella, and that hat of hers isn't going to do much good! So she'd best get inside fast... or perhaps maybe outside? Whatever you call it, Sarah's not in the mood to get caught in a storm of weapons.

The girl rolls out of the way and then resorts to twisting and turning effortlessly to avoid Iris's incoming attack. After avoiding the incoming rainstorm of attacks, Sarah gets back into the ginga. "Well, talk about raining on someone's parade. Fortunately, I can always reschedule mine." The disk jockey giggles at her joke before attempting to move in fast and deliver a simple Capoeira styled punch, twisting sideways as she does so.

[RODRIGO]
It's probably for the best that none of his fans are around. The moment that Albert's forehead connects with his nose there's explosion of blood as his vision goes white.

When his vision clears he finds himself on one knee with a pool of blood forming under him. The Spanish swordsman suddenly launches himself at the other fighter partially out of rage and frustration.

Rodrigo's sword moves once more in a blur seeking out Albert's arms and legs with a multitude of cuts and stabs. Then he hooks the sword under the armpit to pull in Albert. Should Rodrigo manage that, he'll spin around him and slash the back of the legs sending him down onto his back. Since the torso was unavailable to stomp, he stomps his nose.

COMBATSYS: Albert blocks Rodrigo's Merciless Dance.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Sarah            0/-------/--=====|>>>>>>>\-------\0           Albert
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Rodrigo          0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0             Iris

[ALBERT]
Albert's backward stumble is once more halted by a stubborn stomp forward. This time his whole body doesn't go swinging over though. Instead, with a determined grunt he swings his sword in -- colliding straight into Rodrigo's own to knock it's trajectory away from him. Another swing to intercept the second cut, then a third swing to knock aside another stab. Matching the matador's speed, for once, even if the continued defense starts to force his feet to shuffle back slowly.

"Gh?!" He grunts with surprise when the matador's sword suddenly slips underneath his armpit, however., not having been able to notice the trajectory guiding it for such an indirect advance. So instead, he reacts differently--

He actually snaps his free hand down and *grabs* onto the blade. Even in spite of the underside of the blade digging and cutting into his palm, his grip is tight and leverages that hold to move with Rodrigo's spin at first, and then force him to sway aside further with his absurd strength instead of letting him get a chance to go for his legs.

At the end of the swaying swing, he lets go again si he can seperate fully with a retreating backstep -- during which he swipes his sword horizontally for the matador's side before he is fully out of range.

COMBATSYS: Sarah successfully hits Iris with Medium Punch.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Sarah            0/-------/--=====|>>>>---\-------\0           Albert
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Rodrigo          0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0             Iris

[IRIS]
That would ALMOST have gotten a comment about how impressive it was from Iris... had Sarah's threading the needle of those attacks not been followed by one of Sarah's vaguely self-aggrandizing non-sequiturs. As she stands back up straight, the Brit dusts off her arms and brings a hand up to her neck, working out a tight spot in it. "You really seem to have an inexhaustible supply of those," the magus says cryptically, leaving what 'those' are a little ambiguous for the moment.

She doesn't go on the counteroffensive, at the moment; rather, recognizing some internal spring being misaligned -- and not in a physical way -- given her reactions to ongoing events, the Cantabrigian instead takes a play out of Sarah's book and merely watches her opponent carefully, biding her time. "Maybe this whole 'stranded in the tropics by a crazy person' thing is having more impact than I thought."

COMBATSYS: Iris gains composure.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Sarah            0/-------/--=====|>>>>---\-------\0           Albert
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Rodrigo          0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0             Iris

[SARAH]
Iris can take as much time as she needs to check things over, but Sarah's not going to stand around and wait for her to figure things out.

Or is she?

Sarah takes off her hat and wipes her forehead off, whewing as she does so. "Wow, this is one heck of a workout, I'll say!" The girl is still smiling as she says it, apparently enjoying the challenge of a good fight.

The girl takes her water bottle, which she's clipped to her pants, and uncaps it long enough to take a swig of water and quench her thirst while she watches Iris, preparing for the next attack.

COMBATSYS: Sarah gains composure.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Sarah            0/-------/---====|>>>>---\-------\0           Albert
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Rodrigo          0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0             Iris

COMBATSYS: Albert successfully hits Rodrigo with Evasive Strike.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Sarah            0/-------/---====|>>>>>--\-------\0           Albert
[                          \\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Rodrigo          0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0             Iris

[RODRIGO]
Rodrigo's eyes widen in horror as Albert grabs the rapier. It's a complete shock to see him manage that when most of his previous opponents had to struggle to keep up with his swift bladework. Being swung around was just insult to injury.

The Spaniard tries to regain his balance but Albert's retreating slash manages to catch him right in the liver causing his eyes to bulge open once again as he falls to his knees in visible agony. He takes a deep breath and looks at Albert as if considering whether or not to make one more attack. He has superior positioning and managed to disrupt two of his strongest moves. He honestly can't see a point in making yet another attempt to attack him. And so Rodrigo falls to the side and curls into the fetal position. He's not getting back up.

COMBATSYS: Rodrigo takes no action.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Sarah            0/-------/---====|>>>>>--\-------\0           Albert
                                  >  ////////////////////          ]
                                  |===----\-------\0             Iris

COMBATSYS: Rodrigo can no longer fight.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Sarah            0/-------/---====|>>>>>--\-------\0           Albert
                                  >  ////////////////////          ]
                                  |===----\-------\0             Iris

[ALBERT]
Albert's retreating hop leaves him into a defensive posture, to watch Rodrigo carefully... only to blink several times over when the spaniard more or less crumbles down on the ground. For just a moment, the german boy seems uncertain of how to react, but...

There's something else he has to focus on for the time being. Taking a quick, steadying breath, he turns himself to run across the other way of the stone ring instead. Now, he *could* try to be all sneaky about things, but...

"I AM HERE!!!"

...That just wouldn't be chivalrous, would it?

The faux-knight even makes a point of circling himself into view between Sarah and Iris, before his trajectory is turned towards Sarah specifically. Of all things, his final few steps in his sprint to bring himself between the two turns into a dance-like spinning motion that carries him along Sarah's perimeter in close range, along with a a sweeping swipe of his blunt sword that carries the metal bludgeon to giving a good thwack for her hip if she doesn't manage to avoid it, only for the farmboy's spinning step to end into a slide along the stone, before he shoots a grin back over his shoulder to Iris.

"Sorry I kept you waiting!"

[IRIS]
"Is it?" Iris asks, quizzically, in response to Sarah's suggestion this is a workout. "I suppose it is." Apparently the DJ is planning on chilling out for now, but that seems to suit Iris just fine. She makes no move to attack Sarah, instead rubbing a crick in her neck again and watching her opponent. I suppose this standoff COULD go on forever...

...until Albert makes his appearance. "Let's call it fashionably late," the Brit says with a faint smile. She's glad to see the fight against Rodrigo went well enough for the German youth to join her. "If anything, I guess I should be apologizing for not wrapping this up sooner, myself."

It seems like the right thing to do TACTICALLY here would be to double-team Sarah, but in truth, Iris feels a brief pang of conscience about that. One that will probably not last very long, but it means she chooses another route entirely for what she does: as Albert twirls in to attack Sarah, the magus brings up a finger, tracing a rune -- Raido, the vaguely R-shaped rune of travel and overcoming obstacles -- that makes Albert's body suddenly glow faintly with a green-gold color. A simple enhancement spell, one to boost his speed and reflexes. Is it a huge buff? No, but it might just be a helpful edge... and is a way to contribute without necessarily dogpiling Sarah.

COMBATSYS: Iris assists Albert.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Sarah            0/-------/---====|>>>>>--\-------\0           Albert
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                  |===----\-------\0             Iris

COMBATSYS: Sarah blocks Albert's Gutsy Sweep! EX.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Sarah            0/-------/--=====|>>>>>>-\-------\0           Albert
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                  |===----\-------\0             Iris

[SARAH]
It seems that Sarah's on her own now in a two-on-one battle. One that she doesn't look like she has good hopes of winning. But win or lose, that's the way of the fighting world sometimes. In an attempt to keep herself going, Sarah takes a defensive stance and attempts to absorb the incoming attack from Albert as best as she can. The blonde-haired disk jockey winces a little as she absorbs the attack, but she doesn't let it get her down.

"All right, you want to dance with me? I'll dance with you!" Sarah says as she comes back onto her feet into the ginga. She then throws forth a butterfly shaped projectile at Albert, like the one she showed to Iris a while ago.

COMBATSYS: Sarah successfully hits Albert with Flash Butterfly.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Sarah            0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1           Albert
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                  |===----\-------\0             Iris

[ALBERT]
Albert's feet skid along the stone ground after the swirling swing of his sword that ended up colliding against the Disk Jockey's arms. AT least it was a blunt implement instead of a real sword, if nothing else.

After the halting of his motion, the faux-knight makes a couple curious bounces on his toes, blinking with surprise at how smooth his weight feels on his feet. "Hey, what was that?" He calls over to Iris with a wave of his free hand. "I feel real limber now! Did you magic me up? That was super cool!!"

Yes, Albert really is feeling that impressed and gleeful over the fact that his teammate/coach/big sister basically magic buffed him. Unfortunately, this puppy-like show of joy does also come with a pretty obvious diversion of his attention. The kind of immense hit to his attention that actually results in him not actaully seeing that Sarah's all primed up to throw a butterfly projectile at him. And even when he *does* notice that she is doing something, it's already at the point taht when he turns to look...

He gets a faceful of Chi-BUtterfly.

"BLRBLGH?!"

And gets knocked over to rolling across the stone ring for his troubles, all the way to landing basically right in front of Iris' feet.

"....Buuuugh..." He groans, with his eyes spinning for a couple seconds before settling to staring up at the wizard standing above him. "...When'd you get so tall?" She didn't get *any* taller, Albert!!

Swinging his legs up while he's still laid out, and then back down to snap himself right back up onto his feet in a kip up motion, he gives his head a good shake with an announcement of "I'm okay! I'm okay!" that is probably meant to try to convince himself more than anyone else. And before Iris might have even a *momentary* chance to offer any kind of discussion on strategy... the faux-knight is already bounding forward, to stubbornly swing his weapon at the DJ.

[IRIS]
Perhaps it's best for everyone involved that Iris's little enchantment is temporary; considering that he got sent rolling from Sarah's ay-ay-ay-it's-a-chi-made-butterfly, we probably don't need Albert zooming around like he'd been coated in grease or anything. The Brit can only really watch as all of that goes down, blue eyes tracking the German knight until he grinds to a halt right at her feet.

"Just, ah... hang in there, Albert," she offers. Strategy! That's why SHE'S the tactician.

But to her brief surprise, he's up and bouncing back at Sarah with a... it's hard to credit Albert with the word 'vengeance,' but certainly with fervor. There's a moment of indecision while Iris seems to agonize over this, before sighing and shaking her head. "Can't just sit here doing nothing," she mutters. "Besides, this is all in the rules, isn't it?"

Taking off at a low run, Iris also drives toward Sarah, trailing behind Albert by a reasonable margin. Once the German's swing has swung, though, she's right there, attempting to reach out and grab Sarah's wrist. If she gets her grip, there's a flash of rainbow sparks and both magus and DJ disappear, then reappear in midair... with Iris having captured Sarah and headed toward the ground in a mystical twist on the piledriver.

COMBATSYS: Sarah dodges Albert's Random Strike.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Sarah            0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1           Albert
                                  >  ////////////////////          ]
                                  |===----\-------\0             Iris

COMBATSYS: Sarah dodges Iris' Nauthiz - Accursed Comet.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Sarah            0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1           Albert
                                  >  ////////////////////          ]
                                  |===----\-------\0             Iris

[SARAH]
If there's one thing that can be said about Sarah, it's that she's good at avoiding incoming attacks when she's under pressure. (No jokes about Queen, please!)

Sarah dodges this way and that, avoiding both the attacks incoming from Albert and also from Iris. "Keeping me on my toes, are you? I like that in a fight!" Sarah says as she claps her hands together a couple of times. "Always enjoy a good challenge in a fight!"

Sarah doesn't take any more time to speak though. Instead, she attempts to leap atop Albert and plant her hands on his shoulders, going into a handstand. If she's successful, she'll do a one-eighty somersault, and kick at his back to push off and give herself a bit of distance.

COMBATSYS: Sarah successfully hits Albert with Jaguar Ambush.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Sarah            1/-------/=======|=======\=====--\1           Albert
                                  >  ////////////////////          ]
                                  |===----\-------\0             Iris

[ALBERT]
"Neh?" is about the extent of the wit Albert is able to provide when Sarah more or less disappears from in front of him. Which is pretty unfortunate, because he doesn't much seem to catch on quick enough to what she is doing while she's using him as a pedestal to swing herself into kicking his own back from (damn his own sturdiness!).

"Ghh!" AT least he seems to soak up the kick to the back much better than the energy projectile to the face, though. He does stumble forward a bit, but he doesn't fall over this time.

"Alright..." The faux-knight grumbles, narrowing his eyes once he's turned to facing post-landing Sarah, and... he reaches his free hand to grasping the hilt of his sword now, to hold it with both hands for the first time since everyone got to this fighting arena in the first place.

"Now I'm..." A deep breath, and the german boy pushes his weight forward to chase after Sarah, with his sword wound far back behind himself and one foot hoisted up high off hte ground before stomping it down onto the ground-- and of all things, with such force that the stone actually shatters again, and to the point that pieces are even sent off flying up high into every which direction!

"FIRED UP!!!!"

In comes the swing straight for Sarah, with about as much strength as the improbably strong farmboy can muster -- which, as it turns out, is actually enough that the swing is accompanied by a blast of wind pressure that carries all the way to the trees far behind Sarah, bringing the plants and foliage even all teh way over there swaying violently!

Heaven forbid he actually hits her with that.

[IRIS]
Right, well. The longer this goes on, the less guilt Iris is feeling about the resulting 2-v-1, here. Despite the seeming eternal pace of this fight, the Brit herself is feeling pretty okay; the blows she's taken aren't that bad, and if she learned anything training in the first season of the NFG, it's how to properly pace herself. So, let the DJ keep trying to bob and weave through two different sets of attacks. They've got all day.

It's not like they're leaving the island.

"Alright. Then we try something else," the magus says, calmly, watching Albert's movements and trying her best to be in sync with him, or at the very least to stay out of his way; her impression of Albert's gung ho fighting style with its broad sweeps of the kinda-a-sword suggests letting him go in first, after all.

But hey, Iris can do gung ho too, when she wants. Case in point: extending both hands, there's a flicker as she summons... well, a big honkin' two-handed war hammer. All but sliding across the ground, her hair and clothes billowing in Albert's shounen-y wind, Iris steps toward Sarah's blind spot, shy of Albert's swing arc, and just... swings for the fences, herself.

COMBATSYS: Albert successfully hits Sarah with The Strongest GUTSY Swing!!.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Sarah            1/--=====/=======|=------\-------\0           Albert
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0             Iris

COMBATSYS: Sarah interrupts Crushing Strike from Iris with The Swarm Is Coming.

[                        \\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Sarah            0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0           Albert
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                  |======-\-------\0             Iris

[SARAH]
Heaven forbid indeed...

But he does hit.

Albeit after Sarah's just launched a flurry of butterfly shaped projectiles at Iris.

Which means Sarah is hit badly and left bruised and battered...

But still standing somehow. (Yeah yeah yeah!)

"Unngh... did the pandas drop off my homework yet?" Sarah babbles as she struggles to keep her focus steady. "Nnngh... why..."

[ALBERT]
Albert's swing is hard enough to send him stumbling forward with a few bouncing steps on account of the overextension with an akward "Awawawa..." Though thankfully, Sarah appears to be a bit too busy dealing with the aftermath of it all to take advantage of his own lost balance before he's setting off into a sprint towards her again.

"Not done!!" He calls out, before jumping feet first and low to send himself sliding across the stone ground towards Sarah, and hopefully knock into her legs with the Legally Distinct From Stun Dipper attack!

[IRIS]
There are... butterflies? The situation does not appear to be entirely clear, but there's a metallic clatter as the summoned hammer drops to the ground, then vanishes. The Brit staggers a bit, but is far from knocked over; she shakes out her hands a bit, staring at Sarah, and then looking at Albert, who can hopefully see the mounting exasperation in her eyes.

"Right, that's about as much bloody patience as I have for the afternoon," the wizard mutters under her breath, before crossing an arm diagonally up and across her chest, a round wooden shield appearing on her arm as she does so. "And there are definitely, absolutely, no pandas present."

You can tell that she is not exactly firing completely on all mental cylinders at this point because she DOESN'T, in fact, wait for Albert, this time. Instead, Iris simply takes off at a run and attempts to crash right into Sarah, Captain America-style, smacking the shield right into the DJ's chin like a round, wooden uppercut.

COMBATSYS: Albert successfully hits Sarah with Gutsy Slide!.

[                            \\  < >  /////////                     ]
Sarah            1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0           Albert
                                  >  ///////////////               ]
                                  |=====--\-------\0             Iris

COMBATSYS: Iris successfully hits Sarah with Algiz - Shieldmaiden's Burden.
- CRAZY Hit! -

[                                < >  /////////                     ]
Sarah            1/---====/=======|==-----\-------\0           Albert
                                  >  ///////////////               ]
                                  |======-\-------\0             Iris

[SARAH]
There's no way Sarah can avoid those attacks, try as she may. She gets hit both times and is hit quite hard. She goes down to the ground...

And she doesn't get back up.

Not even a non sequitur comment.

It's obvious she's been hit rather hard. She's out.

COMBATSYS: Sarah takes no action.

                                  >  /////////                     ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0           Albert
                                  >  ///////////////               ]
                                  |======-\-------\0             Iris

COMBATSYS: Sarah can no longer fight.

                                  >  /////////                     ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0           Albert
                                  >  ///////////////               ]
                                  |======-\-------\0             Iris

[ALBERT]
It's probably been mentioned before that Albert more or less goes full steam all the time. He's gotten better at pacing himself, sure, but there's a *reason* he seems to be constantly pulling of feats of strenght and pain tolerance both. And that reason leads up to here, with the end of Albert's sliding kick seeing him flumping down against the ground for a good moment before springing up to his feet like usual. It's been a much longer fight than he has been used to. He's not quite figured out how to go on this long at a reasonable pace yet.

But thankfully, there's no one left conscious who could come take advantage of that. Something Albert himself realizes only a few seconds after.

"...We won?"

He's pushing himself up slowly with that question, up to one knee first, and then blinking at Sarah's prone form, and then Rodrigo's, and...

"We won!!"

He's springing up to his feet right after with a laugh filled with more energy than he should rightfully have, only to end up stumbling on his very-much-spetn legs on the way to Iris, where he claps his hand companiably onto her shoulder (and may or may not partially use her as a leaning post too for that matter).

"You were SO COOL!" He promptly declares with laughter, still managing to flash his trademark sun-bright smile to his partner. "You were like a comic book hero at the end there! And the flying swords earlier-- going all swoosh swoosh swoosh--"

COMBATSYS: Albert has left the fight here.

                                  >  ///////////////               ]
                                  |======-\-------\0             Iris

[IRIS]
By contrast, it feels like that fight seriously wore Iris down, if her countenance once the fight draws to a close is any sort of indicator. It felt like even before Albert got involved, the back and forth with Sarah was going nowhere fast for either fighter. In truth, it was Albert's presence that appears to have broken the proverbial stalemate. For a moment after both she and her teammate make contact -- and Sarah is definitively out for the count -- the Brit just sort of stands there, taking deep breaths. The shield she summoned clatters to the ground as she lets go of it, blinking out of existence.

Then she gets a nice, bracing faceful of Albert, as it were, which seems to snap her out of whatever daze she was momentarily in.

Smiling a tired little smile, she companionably recognizes the German's need for support, standing up a little straighter and attempting to lever him into position so that they can walk off together. "Whoa, whoa, let's not go overboard. I feel like you're the hero of the day, here," she observes, glancing over at an unconscious Rodrigo. "I'm looking forward to seeing how your side of the things went down. I'm, uh..." A pause. "Sorry that I wasn't more help."

Grimacing a little -- I guess her own muscles are protesting now -- she nods a head to the jungle. "Why don't we go try and find some coconuts the phoenix lady hasn't burned to a crisp?"

COMBATSYS: Iris has ended the fight here.

Log created on 17:06:59 05/30/2024 by Rodrigo, and last modified on 09:34:15 06/16/2024.