[Freezair]

Like a bar on the wrong side of town, this place looked tough. Not that Marion knew that much about bars on the wrong side of towns--the world she came from, Can World, was rather small and, on the whole, generally respectable. While it had its ups and downs, no place in it--not even in Olive Town--was quite this run-down. It looked like a place for thugs and ne'r-do-wells. A perfect place to brush up on her sparring techniques, then!

In bright daylight, of course, she was not as likely to encounter any real malcontents as she would in the dead of night. But maybe she could find someone else loitering around to practice with! She darted toward an unfortunate slip of trash that had just happened to look at her wrong. With extended claws, she swiped it to tatters. Her eyes began to glow as she looked at it, and her paws sparked. She threw a blast of plasma-like energy at the paper... barely scorching it. Well, that was why she was here to work on things.

If only there were someone around to practice with...

[1]

[Shieba]

Luna liked and hated the cathedral at the same time. It was a dark place, full of evil, and while Lord Sui usually liked to have her around to counter any attacks, Luna was glad he allowed her to come here sometimes. It was an amazing place to train; full of hidden dangers and creatures. Normally, Luna came here during the time where the sun was about to set, but since almost all Felloxes were currently at the Chateau, Luna disliked being not able to serve her Lord during the time the most fighting took place and so she had opted to come here during the day for once.

There was a distinctive lack of dark energy this time and she sighed inwardly. It wasn't that she liked to get hurt by the creatures in here, but she had grown used to the challenge they posed and now found herself almost...bored. Just when she was considering to leave, however, she heard some noises coming from a bit away. Unlike the shadowlike creatures sneaking around this place, this sounded like someone actually not caring about hiding themselves. Still, Luna was careful and stayed behind a pillar which had fallen down and shattered.

There was a Kuhna, attacking some worthless trash on the ground and casting, what, a magic spell? Well, not very successful. Luna left her hiding place, sensing no danger or intend to harm from the Kuhna, and simply sat down and observed from a few meters away. She didn't want to interrupt any training session, but it was rare to meet someone else here and she was curious.

[zapdragon555]

Zoom!

Wind flew through the Kuhna's snowy white fur as he bounded from wall to wall of the crumbling ruins. He dug his claws in as he jumped, sending small showers of rocks down on whoever was below him. More speed, more speed! he urged himself, tails acting as a rudder as he pivoted around to run back the other way. This was an odd place to run; it was full of ruffians and dark stone alleys he could easily be yanked into by some frightening creature with ill intent. It kept him on his toes, so to speak.

Huh? The Kuhna slowed down when he caught sight of two other bright-colored beings, a Fellox and a Kuhna not unlike himself. He sat on his haunches as the Fellox was doing, and watched the scene below him. He carelessly brushed his tails along the wall, sending a few small pebbles tumbling down toward the two. Well, at least they didn't look too dangerous... Two against one would be difficult, he figured.

(1)

[Freezair]

Clack!

The sound of the pebbles shifting met Marion's ears. Her hair went up in bristles all along her spine as she whipped in circles. She stood, looking behind her, with her chest heaving.

Two strangers.

One of them was a--Kuhna, that was right. The same thing she was in this world, wasn't it? Of course. The other thing, she didn't know by name just yet. It looked to her a bit like a Tricky--it was as large as one, with the long tails of one, and the same sort of sly face. But it was much larger--larger than her by far--and its face was a mask. She breathed heavily.

"I--I don't have any money!" she shouted. She lifted a paw, and plasma energy cackled within. "Stop! If you mean to do me harm, I can and will fight back! Rawr!" She put on her best fighting face. She had power! She knew she did. She'd had it before. She intended fully to use it in her defense, if need be.

[2]

[Shieba]

Luna looked at the second Kuhna that had arrived shortly. It seemed interested as well, but kept to itself for the moment. Her attention returned to the one that had spoken; obviously a female.

"I don't intend to rob you." Luna was unsure how to treat this one - was she brave, venturing into here? Or just naive and unaware of the dangers? The fighting display hadn't been the greatest one and really, 'Rawr'?, but the Kuhna seemed determined enough. "I am but a traveler stopping by here quite often to hone my battle skills against the dark creatures roaming this place." She came a bit closer. "You do know this place is dangerous, don't you? Are your skills great enough to fight the darkness in this place?"

She didn't mean to ridicule the Kuhna, but it was a creature smaller than her and Luna didn't really counted attacking trash as training. Lord Sui had told her often enough to stop mocking others, so she hoped it hadn't shown in her voice.

[zapdragon555]

The Kuhna's ears perked at the other Kuhna's words. "Rob you? Never," he said, springing down from the wall and landing behind the Fellox. "I just came here to work on my speed." He unsheathed his claws and studied them. "And since I love a good fight, this seemed like a prime place to practice," the Kuhna purred. He looked down at the other Kuhna's paw, which was sparkling with some kind of energy. "You're of the Energy element as well?" he inquired, his eyes suddenly lighting up with a similar display of color and light. "How interesting." He shrugged nonchalantly and arrogantly licked a white paw. "Name's Speed, by the way. Speed Racer."

(Failish post, forgive me~ D8;;)

(2)

[Freezair]

She flattened her ears back and hissed. That foxy-critter wasn't here to rob her, she wanted something far worse: To make fun of her skills! "You think I can't take a little old punk?" she spat. "I'll have you know, in my old world, I'm a fighter! A prize fighter!" She lifted her paw again. Once more with the plasma, and this time, get it right! She strained her focus into pooling her internal energies into that sphere.

Ah-ha! This time, the sphere truly crackled to life. Nothing like a threat to one's toughness to spur you into success! She considered lobbing it directly at the Fellox, but she had to admit she was out of practice. She didn't want to get into a serious fight here unless she knew she could take this person. She instead threw the ball off to the side. It rattled an old trashcan, putting a deep dent in the side, and sending the can spiralling off in the distance.

A human would've been decked. But these pets seemed to be made of stronger stuff.

The other Kuhna seemed cheerier, though. "Oh! A fight, huh? Wanna have a practice fight?" She grinned. "I came here to fight thugs and stuff to get stronger, but if you wanna have a friendly fight, I'm all for that, too!" She seemed to have entirely forgottoen the Fellox like that! She had strengths, but "attention span" didn't seem to be one of them.

[3]

[Shieba]

Luna perked up her ears. So this Kuhna wasn't from this world as well? "Interesting." She watched the trashcan fly away. "I, too, am not from this world, though I am just here for...a job." No need to get into the details. "I have you know, in my homeworld I am companion to the first servant of a god." Well, that had sounded arrogant. But she was proud to serve her Lord, after all. Now came the part where she should admit that her powers were limited when she was in this world, since the Kuhna seemed to have at least implied that hers were, but... Luna sighed. "Well, I take your powers are lost or sealed away as well in this world then?" Close enough to admitting, for her taste.

And then...she was ignored. Rather then insulted, Luna was more amused and decided to watch for now. It was hard to estimate the strengths of these two; the sphere shot had been more impressive, after all. She wouldn't mind a training match at all, but she also didn't want to lose and maybe embarrass herself like that. So the short attention span of the Kuhna worked rather in her favor right now.

[zapdragon555]

Speed froze in mid-lick as the trashcan flew off. "Impressive, I suppose," he said with a sly smile. Speed's lavender eyes shined at the other Kuhna's suggestion. "A practice fight, eh?" The white Kuhna stood up and unsheathed his claws. He glanced over at the Fellox, who appeared to be observing for now. Good! An audience! he thought, a toothy grin crossing his face. He always seemed to do better when someone was watching. He bent his legs a bit and stared at the other Kuhna. "Ready when you are, then!"

(So are we really going to fight like you do in tournaments, or RP like normal?)

(3)

[Freezair]

((Just RP, for now. It looks like the battle system is still being sorted out, and I only know the old system.))

"Cool!" Marion snarled, but more playfully. Then she flicked back to the foxy-thing. She was finally remembering that they were "Felloxes," now. Something the purplely-white critter had said had caught in her. Hopefully she wouldn't forget the battle, too!

"You ain't from this world, either? What're the odds!" The Kuhna flicked her tails thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess you got it right. My powers ain't what they used to be here. Back in my world, everybody gets their strength from gems! Magical ones! Heck; I've got a gem in my heart too, you know. A kickin' gem! A gem that never goes down for the count! But I think when I came here, my body still remembers the gems I used for my powers, see? And I think I can find 'em without 'em nearby, 'cuz they're always in me, really! Nice to meetcha, fellow nomad!"

She hadn't forgotten, and whirled back to the Kuhna named "Speed." She liked that name! It was promising. "I'm Marion!" she shouted proudly. "C'mon! Let's have a good run-around! We're gonna throw down like they do in show town!"

[4]

[Shieba]

Luna stepped a bit away to give the fighters more room; there was enough rubble around to hinder them already, no need to be in the way as well. She hummed under her breath, feeling more sympathetic towards the Kuhna. Marion's world sounded a bit strange - gems in the hearts, really? - but Luna supposed her own world would appear rather strange to others, too. "Nice to meet you, too. My name is Luna", she called back. "Your powers sound interesting! Mind if I watch the fight?"

Maybe she could challenge the victor? Well, she was in the lucky position right now that she could watch and learn about these two and their powers, to determine without getting hit how well she would fare against them. She sometimes trained with some of the other Felloxes at the Chateau and had never had another opponent who wasn't a demon besides them. The Kuhnas were smaller than her, but that didn't have to mean anything. Interested, she watched how the battle unfolded.

[zapdragon555]

(Gotcha~)

All of this talk of other worlds was foreign to Speed, so he shrugged it off. This world was the only one he knew about, and that was just fine with him. "Nice to meet both of you," he said, bunching his muscles. "Let's get going!" The white Kuhna sprang high into the air, shooting for the ruin wall he had jumped down from before. He ricocheted off its surface and aimed for Marion, rather dull claws outstretched, intending to attack without truly hurting the other Kuhna. It's not like I want to kill her or anything, he thought. A simple attack will be fine for now.

(4)

[Freezair]

"Awesome! Talk atcha in a sec, Luna--first, we gotta do this!" She saw Speed coming toward her already! Deftly, she moved out of the way, but Speed topped her reflexes. She felt his claws graze across her.

"Wow! You're fast!" she remarked, even as she whirled away. "Your Heart Gem must be a speed gem!" She decided she would try and use her own Heart Gem for this--she could always count on it. Her legs lashed out fiercely, aiming for Speed. She thought she might catch him in the side and throw him off-balance. That was one way to deal with speedy enemies--trip them up and catch them when they had to get their inertia back together!

"Feel free to comment!" Marion called out in the middle of her attack, to Luna. "I appreciate con-crit!"

[5]

[Shieba]

"Very well." Luna nodded more to herself than to Marion, seeing as the Kuhna was busy. She liked to watch a species completely different from her own fighting; it was very interesting, though Luna didn't really know if she could offer constructive criticism well when she was looking at a power system unknown to her and a different species as well.

Speed was fast. There was no doubt about it and he seemed to know to use it to his advantage as well. There was no great strategy to his approach so far, but that was not needed if the technique worked well.
Marion seemed pretty clever in her moves as well, though Luna would have personally aimed specifically for the legs instead of the side in general, but since this was just a training battle and not a true fight and she didn't know how fragile Speed was, Marion's idea was probably for the best. "I'd not stay rooted to the place", Luna therefore just suggested, "but would try to use the terrain more. There's so much rubble here which should work as obstacles. Not good for someone depending on speed, so try to shift the battle position? That goes as a warning towards you, too, Speed. I won't play favourites here."

Luna jumped up onto the fallen pillar behind her to watch from a higher position. If they wanted her comments, she would gladly talk indeed.

[zapdragon555]

Speed whirled around to face his opponent, a look of surprise crossing his face as she flung herself at him. He leaped backwards immediately, but not quick enough not to feel Marion's claws scrape his side. "Speed gem?" he said, panting. "I like the sound of that."

He turned to Luna and nodded. "Obstacles, huh?" he said, looking around at the fallen pillars and ruins. "I'll watch out for those." Speed ran at Marion, zigzagging back and forth, all the while spewing a steady stream of fire from his mouth at the Kuhna.

(5)