[Saldin arrives in front of Breaker and Warlow on the oil rig. At the moment Eris is walking away from a man in fatigues kneeling on the ground looking quite dazed.] [Start] What happened there? * Saldin is wearing his monk's outfit, and his arms... don't seem to be in his arm sleeves. Strange. He takes in the scene. * Eris grins. "Style dear, style." Welcome Saldin. It would apparently be your turn. * Saldin smiless very slightly, then looks over at Eris. "I would suppose it is." He looks down at the man, then at Eris. "I will just say well done and leave it at that?" Thank you. * Breaker looks vaguely amused. "Eww.. tentacles." * Warlow breaks out a phone, clicks on speaker phone, and calls up Volt. * Eris looks at Saldin oddly. "Tentacles?" * Saldin shrugs slightly, and helplessly. His robe wriggles a little. "Well, it is not like you haven't seen them before." * Volt speaks up over the phone. "Yo. Lamb ready to be sent to the slaughter?" * Eris thinks for a bit and nods. "Good luck." * Saldin nods at Eris, then idly responds, "I prefer to think of myself as more of a fish... or perhaps an octopus. So... how will this work?" The two of you decide on a location. And then it begins. * Eris nods at the seafood comment and then rubs a hand against her forehead for a moment. Ah, less icky more tasty. * Saldin smiles in amusement at her. "I do try. Hrm, a location..." Do you need any specific location, Volt, to fry this poor fish? Hardly. Just make it somewhere interesting, the fight will be fast and I don't want to waste a day on travel. * Saldin blinks, and says, "Oh, well, then. There are some beautiful mountain landscapes in the Gobi Desert?" Huh, well, if that's your battlefield of choice it'll make it a better victory. I'll bring a water bottle. * Saldin nods. "That would probably be a good idea. I hope to see you there." I'll make the relevant diplomatic arrangement. Will you need a? [Saldin when he next walks disappears, has adventures somewhere, and then shows in the Gobi at dusk, still in full health and energy.] * Saldin is in the Gobi at dusk! He finds himself a place to look off at the setting sun, or what's left of it. [Saldin appears on top of a rock outcropping in the desert, there's a tent at the base of the outcropping and Breaker, Warlow, and Volt look like they're about ready to start.] [Reference image: http://www.chinaexpat.com/cityguide/gobi-desert.jpg] [So, there's a watch room setup in England. We'll say the same as the Maggie fight room, as it's still setup up. There's an Indian buffet style dinner spread.] * Tim teleports onto one of the couches and is wearing a lovely bandages/hospital gown/blanket ensamble, "Finaly free again... sorta." * Eris is lying on the floor, well, floating about half a foot above the floor and reclining. She's drinking a Mango Lasse. "'ey." * Tim waves at Eris, "Just the two of us huh? Weird. I wonder where everybody else is." * Eris shrugs and sips at her Lasse. "I'm sure it's being broadcast to a Paragene lab somewhere and undergoing extensive analysis." I guess so, but, unless things have gotten really screwy while I was in the hospital, I doubt the rest of SAB is watching from there. Well he's Saldin. Less than the usual amount of warning. * Saldin looks down at the people and yells, "Hello!" [Saldin's about 40 feet up. There's a path leading up that the others start up once Saldin shouts.] Well, he does show on time. Told ya. * Kahlya opens the door carefully in her normal outfit and peeks in, looking about a bit fidgetty. She blinks as she looks around. "Huh.." And speaking of Saldin, what's up with his sleaves? Arm shrinking curse today? * Saldin shrugs off his backpack and looks at Volt with those blank white eyes. [The group makes there way up fairly quickly.] Any questions before we start? * Saldin steps out of his shoes and smiles at Warlow. "I do not believe so." * Volt, who isn't wearing his leather jacket, rolls up his sleaves. "Nope." [So, up top, you can see the flat of the dessert around you with some dunes at greater distance. There's a line of rock outcroppings, yours does meld with a larger one some fifty meters away. There are a few small standing rock pillars on this sections, they get progressively larger and well over two meters farther away.] This place looks cool. They should make movies here. * Warlow gets walking away. "We'll call it in a minute. And they do." * Volt cracks his knuckles and keeps his eyes on Saldin while smirking. * Saldin turns his head to Breaker, then turns to look at Volt. Flat eyes. Flat white eyes. Isn't this place... picturesque, is the word? Yeah, I'll be sure to commune with it and ponder life's mysteries after I kick your ass. [Breaker and Warlow get a safe distance away.] Ready... * Saldin's eyes cotinue to stay looking at him as Saldin replies, "Hopefully that will make the trip worth it." Time will tell. ::he puts his hands together:: Go! * Saldin 's tentacles, yes, green tentacles, pop out of his robe, amulet in, er, tentacle! A low hum fills the air and a brigh golden flash lights up the darkness! Apparently more like an octopus. ::she extends a hand and a serving of chicken vindaloo picks itself up, puts itself on a plate and floats over to her. A fork and knife soon follow:: Oooh, the tentacles again, that's gotta suck, can't he delay for another day or something? * Kahlya looks at the screen and quirks her brow before she walks in. She seems confused. * Saldin has also started walking backwards. Very... very... slowly... * Volt looks up and chuckles. Electricity shoots out from his hands and shoots around his body, lighting up the rapidly darkening dessert. "Don't suppose that's a thunderbird?" * Saldin chuckles very slightly and shrugs off his robe, as he continues to back away. "Sadly not. But perhaps it carries a greater threat." * Volt stumbles slightly and falls back a pace as the charge level around him drops substantially. "Won't be that easy monk." * Volt then rushes for Saldin. Maybe, but he probably listens to those powers of his. I wouldn't trust the universe that much, but that's just me. ::she takes a bite:: Mmm... they didn't skimp. True... Oh! Hey... uh... Kahli... no that's not... Kahlya! Grab some food and take a seat, the're just starting. * Tim gestures at the buffet and the chairs. * Kahlya looks at Tim for a moment with a strange gesture then smiles nervously. "Right. Um...oh, it's already started?" * Eris blinks. "Kali? Where... Oh, greetings." She keeps eating. Yep, we're in the opening flashy parts. * Volt ducks seems ready to throw a punch but spins at the last moment shifting his momentum into a roundhouse kick. Saldin isn't quite able to back away in time because he's concentrating on his offensive. [Saldin's even not actively defending abilities were almost sufficient, for the record. Volt just made it.] [The hit however is still knocks Saldin back slightly and seems far more solid than a standard kick should be. A brief surge of electricity runs over Saldin's body, but nothing huge.] * Kahlya regains her composure and walks right in. "Come to think of it, maybe you could help me...I'm trying to decide what sorta outfit for round two...any ideas?" She picks up a small piece of bread and munches. * Kahlya then looks at Saldin and makes a face. "Ewww...I mean...I know some...with...but still...eww..." * Eris watches Kahlya. "Ooh, Nan." She brings some bread over herself and uses it to scoop some of her vindaloo. * Saldin gets smacked and says, curiously, "My, you are strong." His tone gets a little more serious. "I wonder how much of that is indeed... you..." his eyes begin to catch the glow from his amulet. * Volt looks rather surprised by that and the energy surrounding him dulls more, leaving only a small bands of electricity around his forearms and the lower parts of his legs. * Tim shrugs and then winces a bit, "I dunno. Yvonne, would probably be happy to make you something that would get you arrested in nine out of ten countries around the world." * Kahlya smiles kindly at Tim. "Make?" Make, steal, summon, I don't actually know where she gets her stuff. Depends on your personality really. * Kahlya pats Tim on the head. "Silly boy just doesn't understand..." She steps back, hand on her hips and snaps fingers in one hand. A fine dark mist appears around her for a moment and she's in a grunger T and jeans, with a skull dagger earring on her left ear. * Kahlya then poses in it, holding her hand out and looking at her outfit. "I was thinking of this...what do you think?" Hmm, very punk... spikier hair maybe. Mmm...well, I pretty much like my hair the way it is...it's a style thing, ya know? Quite retro, although I've always thought skulls were overdone. There's so many other good ways to say death. * Kahlya waves it off. "You're thinking too much into it...I'm not trying to say "death" really..." She shifts her hips and looks at Eris. "What do you suggest?" The outfit poofs and she's back to normal again. [The diminishing electricity was accompanied by a pulse of light, apparently reflecting that of Saldin's amulet.] * Saki arrives, leathers and all. She takes a seat and watches the monitors, already looking bored. * Kahlya glances at the new arrival and stares hard at her for a moment before walking over and leaning towards her, extending her hand. "Hi? I don't think we've officially met." * Eris frowns for a moment at Saki's arrival but then drops it and takes another bite. "Well, not a skull, not an ankh. Choose something meaningful to you but not to others." * Tim looks at Saki as she enters, but then gets distracted by something actually hapening, "And Volt one ups Saldin on the light show." * Saki half-waves to Kahlya. "Hey." * Kahlya looks at the unshaken hand, then at Saki, then smiles and turns it into a wave. "Hey yourself." She swivels towards the monitor. "Ooo..something's happening?" You missed it. * Kahlya snaps her fingers. "I did? Drat...although with that old coot fighting..." She taps her cheek. "Do you really think it could get interesting though or no?" * Saki props her head up with her arm. "I hope so." Not bad, trouble is my abilities go down to the bone. He rushes forward again, this time following through with his punch. With Saldin like that... probibly not much from him, "Volt" on the other hand sounds like a nice and flashy fighter... and if I hear back from Ari before he demonstrates one way or the other, I'll be able to tell you for sure. * Kahlya snorts. "Volt"...what a cliched name, "Volt"." ... Yeah... Saldin is definatly going to be anti-flashy today. Why not name yourself Shocker or Blitz or...Zap or something? Maybe he likes it, side's I'm not going to argue with a living bugzapper about his choice in names. I would...bet he's all show against a real fighter... [Saldin gets hit again and receives a much smaller electrical shock, the hit still seems quite solid though.] * Volt's moves, for the record, show a slight edge of wear and tear, as if he's starting to tire but it doesn't yet really effect his performance. I'd say that qualifies him as a real fighter... or at least as someone who's good at looking like one. Ow. Who? Volt? You don't think so? * Saldin lets the amulet drop as his tentacles snake out to grab Volt and do what would be a judo toss, if a judo toss were done with two long tenatcles. * Saldin manages to get hold but Volt has the wherewithall to slip away. * Eris chuckles. "Don't use skulls and complain about cliche. Shockers a bit much like static shock and Blitz had been used by one too many Nazi-type strawmen villains. * Kahlya sticks her tongue out at Eris. "It went with the outfit, okay?" * Saki yawns. "Everyone's cliche. Or else they have stupid powers." * Kahlya looks at Saki. "Yeah?" Seems like it. * Kahlya smiles as she looks Saki over. "Which are you?" * Saki shrugs. * Eris snickers at Saki's comment. Well, from my seat over here in the stupid powers camp I'd say Saldin's trying something that may or may not turn out to be flashy. Flashy's unimportant. Effective is. I say you need a lot of the second, and a good part of the first, one without the other gets boring and short. * Volt smirks. "Not a bad idea." And he bullrushes Saldin with his arms out, trying to push him off the edge. * Kahlya watches the fight and mmms. "A viable strategy...the only problem is so he drains him of his power...then what?" I mean, I don't think the powers can tell him how to guide a kick. Well, I know Saldin was practicing with his bow last time his arms wound up like that, so now that he doesn't have to worry about getting zapped he might just shoot him. * Saki shrugs. "Should pack a gun for cases like this." A bow...huh. Somehow, I doubt Paragenes premier product line is defenseless against guns. Probably. But it never hurts to have one. I can attest that it hurts like hell when you don't. True, they are a great equalizer. Not my style really, but you have to respect a weapon that makes a warrior caste obsolete. * Kahlya makes a face at that. * Eris continues eating her Vindaloo. She gestures and gets a bit more nan. * Saki watches. [Saldin takes the hit and gets knocked back as Volt keeps up his drive with considerable force. The impact itself obviously hurts the monk.] [Saldin does however manage to break the hold in time to avoid going over the edge. However, he doesn't quite do so with enough skill to send Volt overshooting to the ground some forty feet below. Instead Volt manages to find his footing again by the edge.] * Saldin crouches, then makes a superhuman leap up and away from (or over, we're not sure) Volt! [Volt is in fact leaped over. He snickers and turns to walk towards Saldin, clasping his hands together. A charge builds but rather slowly. He doens't seem to have nearly the power gathering ability he used to. "My, I suppose you're the fast jumping sort of monk."] * Saki watches blankly. "...As opposed to the slow jumping sort of monk. Ugh, these fights take too long." * Saldin smiles at him, obviously looking a little beat up. "I find a balanced set of talents are a useful thing to have in life," then he makes another leap. [Saldin gets closer to the edge to the next closest plateau, bouncing between the pillars. He *almost* makes it into a solid landing, but instead loses his footing as he hits lands on the loose rocks near the edge of that steppe.] ...Or he could just go to the hand to ha...er tentacle combat. * Kahlya winces at that and rubs her temples, looking at Eris a bit oddly. * Eris glances over as she snacks. "What?" I don't suppose I could get you to stop that, hmm? Oh come ON Saldin, you had him! Hmm? Oh. ::she waves a hand:: Better now? * Kahlya looks up at Eris, taking her hands away. "Maybe.." * Eris frowns at that but keeps eating. * Kahlya tilts her head at Eris but eats something. [Saldin manages to make one more leap and stabalize his position. ALthough he took enough time that he'll be badly positioned to do another jump next turn.] * Volt smirks again. "Careful, if you fall without pants the chafing would be terrible." The charge slowly builds to envelop his arms once again. Not huge, but still rather dangerous looking. He then sticks a hand in his pocket and draws out a handful of something. [Saldin sees that Volt has a handful of metal rods.] Well, if you don't count the stareing at each other and glowing bits at the begining they haven't been at it long at all. What, you've never seen Crouching Tiger? They had a Gobi Desert fight. * Saki shrugs. She's right...I mean, if something's going to happen.... * Eris stands up and walks over to fill her glass. "Yeah, it's annoying when things require attention spans." The amazing bouncing monk beats out 99% of daytime TV. Not that that's hard to do. Watching grass grow requires an attention span. Doesn't mean it's enjoyable. * Saldin stays where he is and grasps his amulet in both tentacles, staring right at him as the hum and amulet glow start again. * Eris drinks her refilled Lasse. And back to glowing vs glowing, which even I admit can get fairly boring. * Kahlya lets out a yawn. "That glow better do something.." * Volt loses his charge back to his original level. Back to the small arm and leg charge level that is. * Volt loses his smirk. "Time for old fashion means I suppose." He rushes down the path towards the tent at the base of the steep, switching between sliding on the rocky slopes and jumping down. [He's able to get essentially to the bottom.] * Saldin mms thinly and the glow fades from his eyes. Of course, the amulet continues its very familiar dance. * Saldin whispers, "Nature itself rises against you..." [Volt walks along the desert floor at a surprisingly slow pace, shielding his eyes with his hands from the unmoving desert around him. He reaches his leather jacket by the tent but seems to be tired and moving slower as he does so. He pulls something out from it. Visual awareness roll!] And Volt gets grounded... yay... Hit him this time Saldin! So what does that glow DO exactly? I mean how does it work? * Saki shrugs. "Maybe they're playing laser tag." Looks like it messes with other peoples powers to me. * Kahlya hmms and watches the fight. [Saldin notes that Volt pulls out a pistol and a clip from his jacket.] * Saldin 's white eyes widen, and he crouches down slightly. The amulet continues to glow. "And its champion comes..." * Volt cringes again and picks up his jacket with one hand and a charge spreads over it's interior. With the other he takes fires a shot at Saldin. However, his arm is shaking slightly as he does so. [Saldin is sufficiently consumed by his telepathy he doesn't get a chance to dodge.] * Saldin takes the gunshot and drops his amulet casually, before jumping his way to good cover from Volt. ...And bullets win over glowing, 'cmon Saldin do something! * Eris fold her hand, places her elbows on the table, and rests her chin on her hands. She watches Saldin for the moment. * Saki blinks at the gun. * Volt tosses his charged jacket, apparently at nothing and begins to make all due haste to get back to the top of the orginal plateau. [However, Volt only gets about halfway up due, his steps are increasingly heavy and tired and the loose sediment makes a poor ground for running.] * Tim watches Volt fail to climb the mountain, "...Ahha... Saldin's plan is to bore him to death, and seems to be working." * Saki snickers. Isn't...I mean...Bre--isn't she judging this tournament or something? She is. Yeah, she was on for a bit at the very begining, but you missed that bit. Well, I'm meaning...she seems like someone who's easily bored too...so at this rate, even if he wins, he isn't doing himself any favors... Which one of them? True, and my fight probibly didn't help my team much like that either, but she did seem to enjoy killing Angel's snake. * Saldin turns back and says, forcefully, his amulet lighting up one, hopefully last time, "You are too weak, now. The darkness itself stands in your way. * Volt begins shivering as he walks and he slows yet more with a look of grim determination on his face as he raises his pistol in the general direction of Saldin. "Don't. Like. Mind games." He then switches it so that it touches his own temple and pulls the trigger. [Volt meanwhile is out of sight, so I'll describe in watch for a bit.] * Tim blinks, "What's he ta... HOLY SHIT!" * Kahlya blinks. "Now that's...desperate." * Kahlya unfolds her arms and walks towards the monitor. * Saki stares. * Tim tries to sit up and get a better look at the monitors, but immediatly gives it up as a bad idea. [Volt, not surprisingly falls to the ground after that.] Can't say I saw that coming. I don't believe it. No corporate lackey would pull that for real. * Saki nods. ... Maybe they've got his brain backed up somewhere or something... he just shot himself in the head. ...Maybe he just really doesn't like being taken over....sheesh, I can't imagine that... * Saki shrugs. "If he isn't faking, he just lost the match." * Saldin falls against the pillar that he was hiding behind, wincing, but not dropping his amulet immediately, even though the glow fades. His teeth are gritted and his eyes wide. Quite a strong will. [Volt, twitches for a bit and then slowly pushes himself up and keeps starts crawling up the ramp, he's about a quarter of the way from the top and is slowly regaining his footing. He leaves a trail of blood and scattered white material behind him, but the head wound seems to be healing.] Thought so. Still's gotta hurt... ... And he's walking again... man, maybe Saldin's glowy does a lot more that I thought it did and he's just been shrugging it off. [Saldin hears that there's movement on the ramp again.] * Saldin takes a deep breath. * Saldin takes his amulet and looks over to near the ramp. [Saldin sees Volt slowly rising from a crawl and about three quarters of the way up the ramp. He's clinging to his gun with one hand.] * Saldin's amulet flashes and hums! [Volt doesn't quite manage to dodge the rock, however he does brace himself sufficiently to avoid getting knocked off the ramp when it hits and knocks him to the ground. Apparently unconcious.] Nice one! Let's see how long it lasts. ... A bit longer it seems. * Saki shifts her weight uncomfortably. My he does have range. * Saldin takes another deep breath and lets his amulet continue to glow. [Saldin discovers that Volt is still alive and healing, but getting cold.] * Saldin's amulet glows while a much smaller rock picks itself up and streaks down at Volt to hit him in the head. [Volt continues to stay down. Although his self-inflicted head injury is steadily healing.] * Saldin says, a little wearily, "How long does he have to stay down?" * Breaker over a loudspeaker. "These directional mikes are.. Count of ten, starting now!" She starts counting down. * Saldin drops the rock he had on his chest and takes another deep breath. He picks up another one, but doesn't hit him with it yet. 7.. 6.. 5. [Saldin notice that Volt seems to be trying to push himself up again.] ...Oookay.... there's a point where a sane person stops trying... and that was the first rock, but then again this guy shot himself in the head. * Saldin rocks him! With a rock! [And Volt is once again knocked down.] So in the end, tentacle man's strategy was to throw rocks at him. * Saki yawns. Guess this will teach him not to shoot himself in the head. Mmm....looks like it took a lot out of him.. Yes, that was the whole of his strategy. 4.. 3.. 2... * Saldin picks up another rock. And places that one on him too. Gently! It's just... a little heavier than the others. 1. Match, Saldin! Uhm... yay we won... * Saki gets up and stretches. "Grats." * Saldin's amulet glows one last time, pushing all the rocks off of him... and then Saldin coughs and drops the amulet to hang around his neck. That... certainly was... challenging... * Volt stirs again from under the rocks. * Kahlya shakes her head. "Got to be one of the strangest fights I've ever seen..oh well.." Well, there'll be more, and hopefully the'll contain more than glowing and flying rocks. * Eris smiles. "In a fight that was much more conventional Saldin would have lost. But perhaps if you tell him you were bored he'll adapt his tactics." She then finishes her drink, puts it down on the table and walks over to a window. * Kahlya thumbs at Saki. "They'd better...or Miss silence over there'll decide to stop coming." * Saki shakes her head. "No more fights for me. This whole tournament is stupid." See? Well, I'd like to say I'd like to stick to winning, but the whole point of this is to show off to Breaker, right? * Saki wanders off. * Kahlya watches her go. "She never did introduce herself..." Her name's Saki. And yes, she's always this charming. I've heard stories of her being worse. * Kahlya smiles. "Saki...mmm...last name doesn't happen to be Morikawa, does it?" That it is. * Tim blinks at Kahlya, "You've heard of th...her?" Oh...well, maybe a little. * Kahlya eyes the door. "I was curious though.." Well, I must get going regardless...*waves* See your next match, Timmy! *heads out the door!* Seeya Kahlya! Good luck with your next! * Eris vanishes while Tim is looking over at Kahlya. * Tim looks around the suddenly empty room, and then glares at the buffet, "Next time." * Tim also vanishes. [Warlow and Breaker come walking back from their observation point, still about a half minute away.] * Saldin walks over to where he left he clothes and begins to put them on. He looks pretty beat up. * Volt manages to push himself up a little. "Mind cutting off that power suppression trick?" * Saldin closes his eyes for a second, letting a tentacle brush the amulet and it glows for a split second. "I apologize. It... did not cross my mind." * Volt then slowly staggers up, his rate of healing markedly improving. He rubs at his head wound with one hand. * Saldin tries to tie a knot in his robe with the tentacles. It's probably funny. * Saldin looks at Volt with the flat white eyes while he continues the tying and failing patiently. "You have a very strong will, Volt. It is a good match to your body." [Saldin manages to successfully make the first part of the knot, only to have it come undone when part of the robe sticks to the tentaclees.] * Saldin looks down at the robe and smiles weakly. "... if only I could say the same for myself, todady." * Volt stands. "But in this case, it was not enough. Perhaps I will take advantage of this location after all." * Volt snorts. "I doubt your arms would have done you much good." * Saldin nods. "Probably not, but at least they can tie a knot." * Saldin continues trying to tie the knot idly. * Volt approaches. "I'll assist." He walks up and ties the know. "Oh, perhaps you could continue your telepathy for just a moment, for some reason I have quite a migrane." * Saldin blinks. "You... want me to cure a migrane?" It beyond your abilities? [Breaker and Warlow do show now.] Oh, I... I just don't usually... * Saldin 's tentacles slither out, pendant in hand. "Well, it is my fault." Whatever the hell you did Saldin, you did it well. * Saldin's amulet glows. * Warlow nods, seemly more comprehending but also impressed. * Saldin's amulet fades and he nods slightly, before saying, "There, that should feel better." He nods again, afterwards. * Volt nods. "Thanks." He then reaches a hand out towards his jacket which flies up to his hands. He puts it on and then walks off towards the plateau. * Saldin then turns over to Breaker and Warlow and bows. Blood from his gunshot wound is starting to appear on his robe as he says, "I thank you for your compliments. My experience has served me well." * Breaker returns the bow. * Warlow puts a hand on Saldin's shoulder and he feels better, but only a small amount better. "Shoot, that was largely natural damage." * Saldin looks at her curiously, for a second, then nods. "He is very strong." Apparently. [End!]