Esteros: The Dancing Dragons

[Mizagium]

"I'll humanoid..creature...you..." Xeltyr struggled with composing a snappy retort. Hey, he wasn't trained for this. They slapped a watch on his wrist, called it a time machine and kicked him through a time portal. 'Fix it' they told him. And here he was. Already things were playing out differently, just by his being around. In his time, Leon entered himself into the fight after CETIS embarrassed him, filling the previously vacant spot that he now occupied. Trosdan's defeat was complete and utter.

Not one to dwell on the past...future...Xeltyr revealed a previously hidden cape, which flourished in the wind he generated. "There's a lot of magic in this story," he quipped, rising up into the air. "Not that I don't like it, I'm just pointing out a fact here." He notched an arrow. "Here we go: Sonic Arrow!" The projectile created a sonic boom when it fired.

Let's see the Elf dodge that.

[Damien]

Trosdan pulled more vines from the ground and caused them to wrap around each other, creating a thick wall of them. He finished weaving them together with his magic as the arrow struck them. The amount of force from the impact caused shockwaves as it continued to burrow into the wall. When the dust from all the shockwaves settled, Trosdan could be seen standing behind his wall, the point of the arrow protruding from his side of the wall and only a mere fraction of an inch from coming into contact with his forehead.

"Well," remarked Trosdan, "that was quite the display of marksmanship. I think I'll return the favor." He smirked.

He stomped one foot on the ground, and shards of stone flew up from the ground in front of his wall, each one as sharp as a dagger. With just the force of his will and a wave of his hand (purely aesthetic, of course), he sent the stone daggers careening for Xeltyr.

I don't mean to kill him, thought Trosdan, only maim or seriously injure...

[Mizagium]

Xeltyr avoided the projectiles rather artfully. "Ah," he inhaled deep, and exhaled slowly. "I forgot how good it feels to do this." He inhaled deeply again and held it, releasing the breath slowly. "Yeah...That's it. I remember."

He dragged a hand through the air, as if feeling the currents, the flow, the winds. Then he made a fist and snapped it forward--gale-force winds obeyed his command and slammed into Trosdan's location.

"The four winds are mine to command."

[Damien]

"OOF!" Trosdan grunted. He then smiled. "If you wanted to blow me, all you needed to do was ask. And how did you know I liked it rough?"

He then pointed his staff (his wooden staff...the one he...gods dammit...) to the sky and then brought it crashing down to the ground. At the same moment, bolts of lightning fell from the storm clouds he had created before and began to strike the area around Xeltyr. Between flashes, Trosdan thought he saw that some had connected with Xeltyr, but he couldn't be sure. The flashes were too bright, and he couldn't blink away the after-image quickly enough.

Oh well, he thought. He tapped his staff around the ground in various areas while Xeltyr was busy with the onslaught of lightning, causing grass, vines, flowers, and other plants to grow. That'll help me out later, I'm sure.

[Mizagium]

One bolt knocked him out of the air. He groaned and rolled over, his hair smoking. "I hate weather magic," he muttered. "I can do that, too, you know. Just cause enough friction in the air and blam! But now that you've done it, it feels like a ripoff."

So instead, he threw himself forward, catching the wind and flying toward Trosdan. "Not just a bowman!" He brought his fist down, then another than another, each cracking in the air with the force of a sonic boom. "Sonic barrage!"

[Damien]

As Trosdan attempted to dodge the blows, a few connected, knocking the wind out of him (no pun intended...wait, no...pun TOTALLY intended). With a simple push of his will, he pulled roots from the ground to wrap around Xeltyr, giving him enough time to fall back a bit and start pulling nutrients from the ground, healing his internal wounds (a few broken ribs and maybe some internal bleeding, he couldn't be certain).

"Now then," he said. "Let's make sure you stay that way."

He began to pull moisture from the air and plants around him, creating a sphere of pure water around Xeltyr. He then formed his thumbs and index fingers into a triangle shape (the rest of his fingers balled into a sort of fist), and blew through it. The water surrounding Xeltyr froze, encasing him in a sphere of water and ice. As he continued blowing, the ice continued to form and encroach upon the center where Xeltyr floated. If he didn't do something, he would be encased in an icy tomb, unable to breathe, and eventually he'd die.

[Mizagium]

Xeltyr didn't struggle. He knew better. Times like this, struggling would only make it worse. Instead, he calmed himself, and sucked in as much air as he could, filling his lungs until his chest strained against the vines that held him. They creaked; his ribs creaked. Any second now and they would crack--either one. He didn't wait to find out which. He expelled the air from his lungs violently, with enough force that it superheated the surrounding air. Some of the vines combusted. The ice became water and evaporated rapidly. Steam clouded the arena.

Xeltyr angled his heat breath down and burned away the constricting vines, but he didn't let up with the breath. He was breathing in through his nose while breathing out through his mouth. Circular breathing, bitch! His heat breath cut through the steam, vaguely angling where he assumed Trosdan remain. He notched an arrow and let it fly, touching enough of the hot air that it, too, caught fire.

Heat breath and fire arrows, what couldn't this man do?

[Damien]

As Trosdan watched his quickly-constructed plan fall apart, he closed his eyes and accepted his fate. Xeltyr's superheated breath washed over him, and he stood there taking like the elven druid that he was. He caused a block of stone to rise from the ground to block the arrow, but that's all he could manage at the moment. When Xeltyr stopped his blowing (if he ever does), Trosdan was nowhere to be found.

[Mizagium]

Xeltyr ceased his breathing and lowered his weapon. He glanced around suspiciously. "Did...did I kill him?"

[Damien]

The arena was eerily quiet. Trosdan was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, trees began to grow from the ground at an alarming rate. Oaks, redwoods, maples, all sorts. The trees were so dense that it was hard to see the audience anymore. Xeltyr could see flashes of shadow running between trees at random.

Trosdan's voice echoed through his magcially-created forest. "Very nice trick," he said. "I thought I was a goner there for a bit." He began to chuckle, and it reverberated through the forest, creating a creepy cacophony of laughter. "One of the good things about being a druid is that I've learned to withstand elemental attacks, whether it be extreme heat or cold, earth and stone, wind and lightning. You name it, I can resist it a good bit. The best thing about being an elven druid is that I have natural stealth on my side. Not to mention THIS!!!"

His exclamation caused limbs to fall from all the trees. Upon hitting the ground, each one flashed a brilliant green and, in its place, a snake appeared. There was now a nigh uncountable multitude of snakes of various venomous species surrounding Xeltyr. To add to this, Trosdan called various deadly species of spiders from knot holes in the trees. The spiders and snakes then swarmed Xeltyr, sinking their fangs into any exposed skin they could find, some even trying to bite through his armor...

((Sorry for somewhat taking control of Xeltyr twice now. I couldn't think of any other way to word those things. Also, have fun with the cobras, black mambas, coral snakes, rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, black widows, wolf spiders, and brown recluses. > ))

[Calefrun]

Despite the fact that there was an actual fight going on for real this time, Cetis still did not awaken. He had partied a little too hard the night before, and a squid as illusive as he needed his beauty rest. "Don't worry," he suddenly mumbled in a tone of voice that made him sound rather unsure of himself, "I won't be gone forever. I promise I'll be right back as soon as this 'squid' business is over, and then you and me can go on adventures again. After all, we're bestest friends, aren't we?"

[Mizagium]

Xeltyr managed to shake off most of the snakes, but a few did manage to get him. Hopefully they weren't too poisonous. He flew up above the arena again, dropping the remaining snakes. A fierce wind whipped up, filling the arena with circulating winds. The snakes blew around, trees were uprooted, and spectators were tossed about.

"You don't know what you're messing with," Xeltyr shouted over the roar of the wind. "I'm a damn hurricane crammed into this tiny body. Watch what happens..."

He reached out and began sweeping a cyclone across the edge of the arena.

"...when you feel the might..."

He extended his other hand, creating a twin cyclone and rotated in the air, sweeping the stage clean with the tornadoes.

"...of Hurricane Xeltyr Mambutoo O'Malley!"

[Calefrun]

"Dude," Cetis said, waking up at the sound of someone else revealing their secret Awesome Land identity, "waht."

[Damien]

"I concede," came Trosdan's voice from somewhere above all the chaos. As the audience looked up, they could see him standing on the air, complements of his wind walk spell.

[Monika]

"Wow. How am I not aware of these things?" Hioma tapped the cover of her notebook with the Pen of Love! and began poring through its pages. "Hmm...Mambutoo O'Malley...Johnny...Cassandra...Oh, no way! Awesome!" Hioma waved toward Xeltyr and shouted "Hey, when you return to your time, say congratulations to your parents for me, alright?"

Completely unaware of what Hioma was talking about or of the significance of Xeltyr's last name, Zelmon merely pressed his megaphone to his helmet and spoke. "I suppose, then, that this match's winner by what would technically be a technical victory...is Xeltyr, ah, Mambutoo O'Malley, was it?" What an absurd surname.

Despite having witnessed yet another technical end to a battle, those remaining spectators clapped on in appreciation. It had thus far been the first fight that had been both exciting and not drawn out. It had also been the first real fight that hadn't directly resulted in the death of one the audience members, and that was reason enough to applaud.

"If Xeltyr and Trosdan will depart from the stage, we may move on to our-

"Hold on, Zelmon!" Hioma waved frantically at her knight, holding the Notebook of Fate! up at him and pointing at it.

"I'm afraid I don't understand, milady. What are you trying to say?"

"If we're going to keep Leon's job safe, then we'll have to do things as he would. He wouldn't merely announce the final battle of Round 1. He wouldn't have two of the most dangerous combatants fight on a recycled game show stage...No, he would do something far more extravagant, Zelmon. Far more extravagant." Hioma thoughtfully tapped her finger against her lips and, in Light Yagami fashion, started furiously writing in the Notebook of Fate! Ominous chanting accompanied each stroke of her pen.

"Lady Hioma, I am not so sure that we need to-

But his words were lost on Hioma. She was engrossed, entranced by every word she had begun to pen. "Despite announcer Leon Veralice's disappearance from the D.W.A.R.F. tournament, his will persisted in the form of Hioma. She, Zelmon, and everyone in the game show arena were transported to her home dimension's planet Jupiter, the only stage suitable enough for the ensuing battle. The laws of physics temporarily subsided to allow those present to survive on its surface with minimal effort.

"What in the world?!" Zelmon, having never been outside of generic fantasy land (let alone another planet and dimension entirely), was rightfully confused. "Milady, where are we? Are-are those stars?!" He nearly choked as he observed his surroundings and saw darkness. Darkness and enormous rocks, illuminated by the occasional burning sphere of light.

"Whereas epic final battles on Earth would be characterized by rainstorms, this one was blessed by the Great Red Spot, Jupiter's perpetual anticyclonic storm. Wind speeds of 400 miles per hour greeted the party as they made their way toward the storm's center.

"MILADY!" Zelmon could barely make his voice heard above the deafening roars of Jupiter's winds. "YOU HAVE TO STOP THIS RIGHT NOW! YOU'RE GOING TO GET US ALL INJURED, OR WORSE!"

But it was of no use. Hioma looked absolutely maniacal now, her hair waving wildly in the wind, her eyes widened and her mouth ajar as she continued to speak the words that littered the Notebook of Fate! "Lightning cracked the night sky in anticipation of this most glorious battle! Incapable of producing rain with its own atmosphere, Jupiter answered Hioma's call by using its immense gravity to pull forth a hail of meteors!"

Asteroids, comets and any other nearby celestial bodies positioned themselves near Jupiter, allowing its mass to pull them down to (and through) its gaseous surface. Zelmon just barely managed to dodge one when another hit him directly in the chest. "It's...a good thing...I'm armored," he panted, having never run for his life in three times Earth's gravity before. It was unsurprisingly exhausting. "Milady...please!"

"As no song played on earthly speakers could reasonably capture the splendor of the battle that was about to commence, this music started to play from around the group, each of Jupiter's moons acting out a different instrumental or choral part. At long last, the stage was complete."

As she had wanted, from each of Jupiter's 67 moons came the thunder of percussion, the soft strokes of a piano, the roar of eerie chanting. In a matter of seconds the moons had all united into a (literally) massive orchestra for which the word 'epic' was not enough to describe.

With one long, sweeping glance around the solar system to admire what she had just written into existence, a satisfied Hioma smiled and collapsed onto Jupiter's surface, held there only by the lack of physics she had written to ensure everyone's survival, exhausted from the sheer amount of energy she had channeled into her book. As she faded out of consciousness, her only thoughts were Leon and the D.W.A.R.F. staff would be so proud...

Zelmon, thoroughly perplexed and unable to fathom what had just occurred (and, more importantly, why) shrugged and opted to carry out his duties as announcer. He was sure a conscious Hioma would want that. "Well, without further delay..." He unfurled Leon's combatant list, cleared his throat and read. "Two characters who need no introduction: The dimension crossing, unimaginably powerful sorcerer who has lived countless lives and held innumerable positions throughout the ages - Magnus! And the eternally royal newlywed prince whose full name could never be uttered by a commoner - the Dayman! When the two are ready, they may take their places...anywhere on the planet. It is time for the final fight of the first round to begin!"

[Mizagium]

Xeltyr retreated from the stage, settling in near Jeff and (presumably) Perish, if she hadn't slinked off to necromantize somewhere.

"Well," he said rather excitedly. "That went well. All those breathing exercises Cha Cha gave me paid off, huh?"

Jeff raised an eyebrow. "Cha Cha?"

"The Trumpet Hero of Ausum Land, duh. He helped save Awesome Land a few times."

"I don't even know what that is. Stop talking to me."

Xeltyr sighed. "I guess you were always this grumpy, huh?"

Jeff rolled his eyes initially, then, "Wait? Are you saying you know me in the future?" But Xeltyr had disappeared. He was flying around the "arena" playing in Jupiter's Great Red Spot.

[Damien]

Trosdan used Jupiter's winds to carry him towards Jeff and the other PCs members of the audience and took a seat by him.

Just before Xeltyr left, Trosdan spoke to him. "Very nice match. No one has survived my mass sticks to snakes spell, and since I knew you were no mere aeromancer, I knew I had to have some insurance there, so I called in the spiders. You thoroughly bested my best spells, and I am honored to have been defeated by one such as yourself."

After he had said his piece, he entered his meditative trance to regain his strength and heal any current wounds.

[blazinvire]

Perish hadn't really been paying attention for the most part as an epic battle of trees and hurricanes went on the arena, as she was busy attempting to conjure all the energy she could and futz with it -somehow even able to ignore the spontaneous teleportation to somewhere she hadn't even the inkling of a hope of knowing, and even managing to ignore the thrice gravity.
What she couldn't ignore was a giant meteor that squashed her with a resounding crunch, completely enveloping her from sight with naught but black symbols floating in the air to speak of her former presence.

[Calefrun]

"Oh," Cetis said to nobody in particular, and apparently not bothered by the change in scenery, "Perish got squished." He yawned. "That's probably not good."

[Sariel of Tevet]

The Dayman looked around the chaotic landscape of Jupiter and smiled a dazzling royal smile. It was the perfect place to host such a battle. Afterall, Magnus almost had the respect of The Dayman (something that even I am not graced with), so he would be taking this match up seriously. He no longer felt the need to compete on grounds of his royal stature, high ranking social appointments, or his intoxicating and stylish genital covering. He no longer needed to fight to wipe away his horrendous ousting from the last tournament. Actually, he wasn't even fighting for the Ridley's right to true love anymore. The Dayman no longer felt that he had to fight for true royal love, the most prominent and perfect love in all the omniverse. The Dayman simply fought for himself and his new wife, free of burden and the weight of failure.

He breathed in the night air of Jupiter, heavily laced with helium, and took his wife's hands as he faced her and the cherubim squeed in the background. And in the most unfortunately high pitched voice he began to ramble, "My love-" He dropped his hands and stood back, shocked at the disrespect of Jupiter! The shear wanton disrespect for someone who was so superior in wealth and social prowess! Jupiter didn't even have a codpiece for God's sake! How dare i...

I'm...yes I am sorry m'lady. Yes, yes I understand. It is ok to be angered when someone disrespects our lord but I mustn't ramble so. Yes I understand that only royalty has the right to ramble since I must take multiple breaths. I am sorry m'lday.

Diane, after berating me, gave a disdainful look at the metallic hydrogen fused core of Jupiter, needing no words to shame the Jovian giant into submission. Surely if Jupiter had a tail, it would be tucked between it's metaphorical legs. The planet, with the assistance of Diane's eternal grace and beauty, converted the area around the couple into a comfortable Earth like atmosphere with air that had an acceptable density.

His lungs now filled with a respectful composition of air, The Dayman once again took his wife's hands and started, "My dear, now that I have everything, and we share the codpieces of royal matrimony, I have nothing to fight for except that of the honor of our union. I shall win this fight, I just wish I could have you with me. As a royal couple, our adventures should be taken together.

"Ali, I will be with your. I promise. Here, just for luck..." Diane took The Dayman's hand and plunged it into her pants...I..oh goodness. I apologize everyone. I was standing at the wrong angle. She thrust his hand into the infinity belt to help with the draw. Well...well this is embarrassing...I don't quite know how to handle...oh look! Yes look something is happening!

A giant form began to protrude from the grandiose space contained within his royal infinity belt and then stepped forth in front of the couple, and the hiss of hydraulics were heard as a cockpit began to open.

"My words! Hobotron! Old friend! My my I haven't seen you since you stole my clams ages ago!" He hopped into the vagrant robot, still clean and royal both inside and out, and the minicon dumpster babies blew spit bubbles and cooed at The Dayman. Now nestled in the warm embrace of Hobotron's innards, he noticed a slot that had escaped his royal glances before. Above it was a button, which he pressed.

His infinity belt was taken by a pair of vagabond hands that lept forth from the slot and they immediately receded with their prize. The belt then appeared around the waist of Hobotron and the dumpster babies began to reach towards the shiny new object, to no avail.

"Ah ha! I suppose after my cleaning during our first meeting you became royalty and are now able to wield my grandfather's belt! Good show Hobotron! Now let us get this battle started.

The Dayman took control of the homeless mech and shot a glance at the 67 moon orchestra.

Ah! I am sorry my prince, that is the cue. Moon orchestra if you please, start the music now! Just..just click the link The Dayman presented you..yes. Yes I know this is silly. You are moons, you cannot click. Just..just do it. Please.

Dayman Battle Transformation.mp3 (1021.67 KB)

The music began to blast throughout the solar system and The Dayman smashed a royal finger onto yet antoher button of the mech, and his appendages began to transform. Rocket boosters appeared beneath his feet and the massive metallic monstrosity shot into the upper atmosphere of the gas giant while small rudders began to take form upon the calves and forearms of Hobotron. His bearded and ski capped head became more shapely, clean shaven, and aerodynamic, and a sharp v shaped set of wings protruded outwards from his back.

"Oh how glorious! My love you are so beautiful!!" No..no this wasn't a squee from Diane, it was in fact Prince Elton. Who, in his moment of joy, raised his hands to the sky and shot a blast of rainbows behind The Dayman and his mechanical partner.

"Now! Let us see what this thing can do! Magnus! Let us do battle!" As the music climaxed The Dayman took his signature royal pose, and thrust Hobotron's royal finger into the air, which inadvertently caused a quite powerful energy blast to cannon out of the appendage, traveling outwards through the solar system, and colliding with Pluto....destroying the dwarf planet on impact.

The Dayman winced and tensed his shoulders. "Well, atleast that wasn't the important dwarf for this story", he chuckled to himself.