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( ooc: I was kinda waiting for Duke to post again. I have PMed him to asked if he's stil posting at the moment or just waiting until we've finished in the Temple. But, since there was no post by him and no PM reply, I guess I'll just go on with the Aeon grabbing... )
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They were finally here, the place Kain was waiting to visit. He was so excited, yet particularly nervous too. His stomach felt strange and he was even shaking a little. But, here it was, the moment of truth. The little fluff ball took a few steps forward before bouncing up the steps until he stopped at the door to take a few deep breaths. He stood there for a few seconds before turning back to his Guardian.
“You’ll have to wait here for me, kupo. Look after this for me, okay, kupo?”
Kain said with an anxious smile as he tossed his staff to Laroth. He wouldn’t be needing his weapon inside, only a clear mind and his full concentration. As he turned back towards the entrance, it lifted up to open before him ready for his arrival. He took one more glance over his shoulder towards his companion before marching in. The door slide back down to close behind him…
He was gone for quite a while. Laroth was probably bored outside waiting, alone. Kain was, presumably, praying for the full four and half hours that he was gone.
Suddenly, and most likely to Laroth’s surprise, the door finally opened once more. Kain stumbled out, looking drained and not his usual self. He could barely walk, and simply fell back into a sitting position at the top of the stairs, knowing he wouldn’t make it down without falling. He didn’t know the process was going to be so exhausting.
“I did it… They entrusted me an Aeon… kupo.”
Kain said, his fatigue showing in his unenthusiastic and slow voice. He would have to sit for a second; there was no way he was going to be walking out of here in his current state…
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As Kain gently threw his weapon to Laroth a look of fear sat in his eyes, yet a smile sat on his little face. Laroth reached out and caught the small staff in his right hand, moving his arm back to his side he looked down at the tiny stick that the Moogle carried with him. Laroth pressed his back against a wall and watched Kain enter through the doorway leaving him alone. Laroth quickly became bored and slid his back down the wall until his sword hit the floor; he couldn’t even sit down with his weapon put away. Standing up straight again Laroth placed Kain’s twig in his pocket then folded his arms, before he then unfolded them again; he became very fidgety and restless.
After about 3 hours Laroth had taken his sword from his back and rested it against the wall, sat on the floor and taken off most of his armour except his mask. Laroth was now sat with his legs crossed in front of him and tossing Kain’s staff up in the air then catching it again. His eyes followed it up and down back to his hand. Eventually Laroth just dropped the staff then looked over at the door, then back to Kain’s staff, and back to the door again. Laroth sighed with boredom.
After another hour and a half Kain emerged from the door, Laroth slowly stood up and grabbed his weapon. Laroth placed is gigantic sword on his back then picked up his armour as Kain spoke. Re-arming himself Laroth then tossed Kain’s staff over to him as he began to sit down; Kain probably didn’t even notice Laroth throw it to him…
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As Kain popped down on his bum, his staff came flying back at him. Luckily, as he dropped down, the weapon whizzed over his head and bounced off of the door that closed behind the tiny Moogle, rolling to a stop just behind him. His head just lifted up to glance at Laroth, but he didn’t say anything. Not at first anyway, not until something popped into his head! Kain gasped as he realised…
“That guy’s still waiting for us, kupo!”
Kain exclaimed as he pulled himself back to his feet and grabbed his staff. He began using it as a sort of walking stick to keep him in his exhausted state. The little ball of fluff then stumbled back down the stair set to stand at Laroth’s side. Taking a quick look up to his Guardian, Kain explained;
“When we get out, I’ll give you something to do, kupo. I think I’ll test Duke by having you two having a little brawl, if that’s okay with you, kupo?”
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What guy? Laroth thought, then remembered the well dressed man with the group of cute little Moogles that they had met not long after getting off the ship. Kain struggled down the stairs with his weapon as a walking aid; as he reached the bottom he looked up at Laroth. With the promise of battle Laroth soon perked up and became more alive than his previous self filled with boredom. Moving towards the lift Laroth stopped regularly to let Kain catch up; becoming agitated Laroth moved over to his small companion and wrapped his clawed gauntlet around the Moogle’s torso and lifted him up. As he stepped onto the lift Laroth released Kain on the floor and waited for the lift to start is ascent up to the top.
A few minutes later the pair emerged into the bright sun light that shone down onto the village of Besaid, raising his arm Laroth shielded his eyes with his forearm and hand; blocking the light. Looking down to his side Laroth spoke,
“So where is this guy going to be?”
He asked Kain rather eagerly and impatiently; as he asked his question his hand moved from blocking to light to grabbing the handle of his weapon and a little smile stretched across his face.
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Duke looked up at the his arm covered in red rags where he had been in battle with that crazy maniac of a sword fighter. He looked up at them examining their features. The big husky guy by the name of Laroth look somewhat excited, for what reason was not known to Duke though. The little moogle Kain looked dazed and tired. Duke didn't know what he was so tired for, but he was guessing that this pilgramage was a wear down on the little moogle. He walked up the stairs to meet them.
"Well, well, well, I thought you all would never come out of there. It was a frightfully long time though."
He noticed they both looked at the blood stained bandage on his arm.
"Ah well, so you all noticed my arm. Well it seemed I had a little spat with some crazy Al-Behd killing maniac. I had heard this in the bar, and perseved it to be an Al-Behd killing other people. I tracked the little devil down into the jungle. I tried speaking Al-Behd to this man, and he went as crazy as all let out. This man was crazy! And a expert swordsmen at that. He managed to nearly take of my arm."
Duke laughed.
"Only a minor flesh wound though."
Duke stopped at that point. He felt like he had talked to much. Maybe it was the immense amount of pain killers that were making him hyper. He looked back down at the moogle.
Kain scampered along with his little legs, but in his current state, had no chance of keeping up with Laroth as they headed back through the Temple of Besaid. Until, suddenly, he was scooped up in his Guardian’s hand. He wriggled for a second, before giving up and letting his limbs hang loosely as he swayed back and forth in Laroth’s hand. He couldn’t blame his companion though, a tired Moogle tends to take a while when travelling.
It wasn’t long before the two came out of the Temple, this time with Kain walking again, still relatively slowly and without his usual bounce in his steps. He was feeling a little better, but still not great. Unlike Laroth though, Kain barely noticed the brightness as they were exposed to the sunlight, his eyes were half close and he was looking down. Well, until he heard Duke’s voice. At that point, he raised his head and the light blurred his vision. It was only after his eyes refocused that he noticed Duke’s wound. Kain listened carefully to his new acquaintance without interrupting, it was only when a question was asked that he spoke;
"…Exhausting, kupo. But I did it, kupo!"
Kain said, perking up a little as he finished his sentence, hearing himself say it was a confidence boost. He was a fully fledged Summoner now! That reminded him, Duke was here to try out for a Guardianship position. So far, Laroth was more of a friend to keep him company than a Guardian, but he couldn’t help but think that this journey would get much more dangerous as it went on. Perhaps another Guardian would be helpful. To tell the truth, Kain hadn’t seen Laroth in a real fight yet, it was a chance to see his skills too. But, in fairness, they had a little training on the ship here, and Kain was definitely going to try out a technique that the two had come up with on the way.
“Duke, for your chance to become my Guardian, I ask that you fight Laroth, to prove your strength, kupo. I just hope your injury won’t hold you back, kupo. We’ll do this just outside the village to avoid breaking things or disrupting the peace, and I’ll stop the fight before anyone gets too hurt, okay, kupo?”
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Laroth stood silently and stared at Duke’s arm as he spoke, not even listening to what was said until Kain mentioned the words “fight” and “Laroth”. Looking up at Duke’s face Laroth smiled in a sinister way, before walking down the steps and towards the village entrance. Laroth’s arms swung by his sides lightly as he strolled past the huts of Besaid; Laroth faced forwards at all times as he prepared himself mentally for the battle with the well dressed stranger. Laroth had no idea what this person would be like in battle, no idea about his tactics or his strengths and weaknesses; but that was no matter, Laroth was confident enough in his own skills.
As he reached the parting in the walls, Laroth turned around to see where Kain had gotten to; presumably he was still a little far behind Laroth. Drawing his weapon and holding it by his side Laroth then placed his back on the wall outside of the village. The tip of the blade rested on the floor and reflected a little sunlight off; the rest of the sword was in the shadow of the wall. Laroth’s head then peered around the corner and watched Kain shuffled along the dirt path. Laroth’s eyes then moved to Duke, a rather odd individual with an easy target. Even though this was just a spar Laroth wasn’t intending on holding back, that wounded arm would be Laroth’s main target; if he could make it worse then Duke would have to forfeit or fight on with a useless limb. But that wasn’t Laroth’s only plan of attack…he had many thoughts on how to defeat Duke…
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((OOC: I wont be on for a week, but as soon as I am back on I will do my next post,))
"If a duel you is what you desire, than you will have your duel. I agree to your terms."
One of his moogles comes up to Duke, kupoing away. He then asks him to give him something. The moogle hands him a thing of pills for the pain and extremely quick healing developed by his moogle crew. He took two of them. and grabbed his rifle out of his holster. When they were out of the way of damage from the village Duke looked at the swordsmen suspiciously.
~No, he is not as good as that other maniac, but still at least as lethal. I think I shall try the same strategy. No holding back Duke... theres treasure on the line.~
Duke rolls out his shoulders, and then rips off the bandage revealing a scar, but no wound. The pills had worked. He absolutely loved moogles, and their knowledge. Te whole crew of moogles had come out to see their capt'n fight. Kupos were ringing off the air. They all crowded around Kain, the moogle summoner. Then they all looked at the bulky Laroth. They seemed a little intimidated, but they believed in their Captain. Duke gave them a smile and loaded his gun smirking at Laroth. Duke was biding his time. He would not make the first move. No he would allow the swordsmen to do all the fighting and then take him out when he was tired. If that didn't work, well he could adapt.
"When your ready Laroth, please don't hesitate to begin."
Now just outside of Besaid Village, the two competitors stood ready to fight whilst a gathering of Moogles, including Kain, stood as a cute little audience. They were a short distance away, not so far that they were out of sight, but not so close that they would be likely to be struck by wildly swung swords or stray bullets.
Kain remained quiet now, not wanting to distract the two fighters, Laroth and Duke. He politely hushed the other Moogles to make sure that nothing would distract the two from the fight at hand. He didn’t want anything to disrupt this now. It was quite an important moment for Kain. One that made him feel quite important, to be honest. These two were about to fight, all in the name of protecting him, a tiny little Moogle.
The two were now prepared and ready to begin, well, almost. From within the small crowd of Moogles, Kain raised his staff, the wings sticking up and the gem atop them beginning to glow a pulsating purple. With a sound similar to that of a match lighting, Laroth’s blade began to glow orange with a few small flickers of flame upon it. This was magically created flames from Kain’s Elemental Binding technique, and so, would not be put out via normal means; only magic could dispose destroy it, a Water or Blizzard spell being an obvious choice. Perhaps that would make the battle a little more… Intersting.
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( ooc: Okay, I won’t need to be posting all the time at the moment. I’ll just let the two of you fight away and only post if I have something useful to add, no need to wait for any posts from me until the battle is over. )
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As soon as the Moogles started to surround Kain, Laroth looked around; all the little Moogles stood perfectly spaced and if it wasn’t for Kain’s staff Laroth would have no idea which little Moogle he was. Laroth’s eyes then were drawn back to Duke as he began load his gun. Laroth grabbed the handle of his large sword and drew it from his back slowly before he slammed the blade into the ground. Kain’s magic then began to weave around the blade as fire was bound on the hard and darkened steel, this was one of their tactics Kain and Laroth had practiced on their journey; Elemental Binding.
“Nice choice Kain. Fire should be a nice little improvement,”
Laroth mumbled to himself with the flames wrapped around his blade, he then grasped the handle in both of his clawed gauntlets. His eyes stayed fixed on Duke and a little smile sat on his face as he moved his sword to his right side still in both hands. Dust was then kicked up from the floor as Laroth lunged towards Duke. Attempting a devastating uppercut on Duke, Laroth rips his blade through the air with great speed; especially for its size and weight. The uppercut was then followed by a crushing downwards blow that would hopefully have lifted Duke into the air then slammed him down into the ground........
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Duke quickly sprung into action. He jumped back to avoid the large uppercut of fire.
~Hmmm now thats not very fair is it?~
Then as the great sword was swung downward he rolled to the side avoiding it. Duke quickly grabbed Laroth's arm and pulled him down to the ground, with all of his strength. Trying to pull him was like trying to pull a large wagon of boulders but he was able to. Duke's wound began to sting a little considering that was the arm in which he had his wound. However he quickly shook this off. He quickly got up and finished loading the final bullet into his gun. After he was some distance away. Duke turned around fast. He quickly took aim of Laroth. Laroth himself appeared to be covered mostyl by armor. To cause any pain, he would need to find a weakness or unguarded spot on his body. He quickly scanned, then took aim, and fired at Laroth, not really sure if it hit him or not. If it did, it would surely do some damage considering Diabolos had alot of power in it's shots. ((Post Word Count: 193)) ((Thread Word Count:3295))
As Laroth’s attack smashed into the ground, his arm was gripped tight by Duke who then dragged Laroth to the floor. Rolling sideways, Laroth quickly pushed himself back to his feet to see Duke with his gun’s barrel pointed straight at him. Without hesitation Laroth placed the flat his blade in front of himself with the tip a few centimetres from the floor. Charging towards Duke, the bullet simply smashed into the iron leaving a small dint and pushing Laroth’s sword back towards him an inch, knocking the other side of large iron sword into his shoulder pad. Luckily the flames from his sword didn’t hit Laroth; they merely warmed his face with their magnificent glow as he ran.
Bringing his large weapon to his right side Laroth now focused on his attack; now with a few steps between them Laroth jumped up and lifted his weapon over his head; the fire around the blade then gathered at the tip creating a ball. Laroth then slammed his giant sword into the ground, burying the end. A beam of fire elemental energy then ripped across the floor for five meters tearing up the ground; the earth began split beneath the sword’s crushing power. The fire then shot up two meters high with a scorching heat and devastating speed. This was Laroth’s ‘Tearing Judgment’, his shattering and overwhelming combat ability that would surely end this battle quickly if Duke wasn’t fast enough to evade the attack. With this attack used Laroth tore his sword from the dirt with the fire no longer wrapped around his blade, as the flames died down and the dust settled Laroth hoped to see Duke on the floor in pain…
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Duke was expecting something of the sort. This Laroth was no slow beserker type though he was covered in armor. Now he was even more dangerous with that magical bindin on that sword.
Duke didn't have much time to think much more. A huge fiery attack emanated from the ground below him. He escaped most of the damage in time but caught some of the flames on his left arm. He patted out the flames that were burning his expensive shirt. He was luckily surrounded by dust the attack had made. He quietly would use this to his advantage. He maneuvered himself keeping a constant eye on Laroth behind him. From there he looked through the scope at Laroth who was looking the direction of where he was last seen.
~Perfect.~ Duke thought.
He was out of the cloud now and in the trees. He looked through the scope once again and aimed at a weak spot or exposed part in his armor. He waited a moment and fired 5 times at Laroth. He then moved quickly and silently through the brush so that Laroth would not know where he was. He hid be hind a nearby tree and kept a watchful eye on Laroth, keeping a good eye on his movement and what he was going to do next. It was time to play the waiting game.
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As the dust cleared Duke was no where in sight, Laroth turned his head looking around for any signs of his opponent. Laroth barely moved to avoid his armour clanking as he listened out for footsteps or guns being reloaded. Suddenly five shoots came flying from within the trees, two whizzed past as Laroth turned and moved to the side, one of the bullets then hit against his armoured shoulder pad. Unfortunately for Laroth the other two shots hit him in his abdomen area; a thin armour that the bullets easily pierced through causing a great deal of damage and pain to Laroth.
Dropping to one knee Laroth dug his sword into the floor and leant on it for support, looking down he watched his blood trickle out into his armoured claw. Laroth then looked up and closed his eyes, using his clawed gauntlet he dug around in the wounds to find the bullets; groaning and gritting his teeth as he did so. Pulling out the ammo Laroth then held up his left arm, opened his hand and let the bullets fall to the floor before clenching his fist. A green aura wrapped around his hand then travelled down his arm before engulfing his entire body, green lights then glistened as Laroth used Cure on himself. Though this didn’t completely heal his wounds it stopped the bleeding and started the healing natural process by closing them up a little.
Climbing back to his feet Laroth looked into the trees as he watched for Duke’s movements or even a little rustle in the bushes. Watching carefully Laroth then tore his blade from the earth and slammed it down in front of him, reflecting the sun’s bright rays into the trees. Now if Duke planned on using his rifle it would become difficult for him to aim at Laroth,
“Hey! Come out here and fight like a man! Stop hiding in the trees like a coward!”
Laroth bellowed at the top of his voice, trying to lure Duke out from his cowardly hiding place. Laroth then sat behind his sword and waited for his opponent to emerge: also shielding himself from anymore incoming unwanted bullets that might cause more bleeding on Laroth’s part which wasn’t particularly good for his health and ridiculously painful.
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Duke stayed quiet and moved very stealthy like careful not to move or startle anything let alone let any noise come from me. He eventually maneuvered himself near a boulder to the left of Laroth. He silently chuckled to himself. There Laroth was shouting aloud into nothing. Duke had the upper hand..... at the moment. He aimed again.
Five shots rang out again. One towards his sword arm, 1 towards his torso and the other three aimed at his legs. He quickly dived down behind the boulder to avoid detection. He wondered if Laroth saw him at all. It could've been likely. But he wasn't sure he sat there for awhile awaiting Laroth's next move.
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Laroth waited as he watched ahead of him, with his back against the flat of his sword. Laroth’s attention was then caught by sunlight reflecting from his left. Quickly realising that it could only be Duke aiming at him, Laroth pushed himself off his sword and lunged forward into a roll; leaving his sword behind. Unfortunately a shot hit Laroth in his abdomen again, cutting through his armoured shirt and settling underneath his flesh. Landing on his left shoulder Laroth rolled over his back onto his feet and into a crouched position, with his weapon a few meters away Laroth was virtually unarmed and no doubt if he went for this sword then Duke would take a few shots at him before he reached it.
Running towards the rock that Duke was hidden behind, Laroth then skidded to a halt before pressing his back against the rock; hoping that Duke hadn’t seen Laroth’s charge he moved slowly round the boulder. Tilting his head round the rock slowly Laroth looked for Duke, spotting him Laroth moved back quickly so not to be noticed. Laroth then rushed around the corner and attempted to grab Duke around the neck with both of his clawed gauntlets. If he managed to grab him, Laroth would then try to slam Duke’s back into the rock and begin to choke him.
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His head was slammed against the boulder behind him. His vision was dizzy for several seconds, he was disoriented. It wasn't long before he realized he couldn't breathe either. He struggled for breath as his vision cleared revealing Laroth to be chocking him. He struggled against him, however Laroth was about as strong as he looked and Duke's slender body was no match to struggle against Laroth. He could feel burning at his neck where the claws of the gauntlets cut him slightly. The situation was dire indeed. Duke could see a glint of silver to his right. His gun Diabolos was sitting there a couple of feet away, fallen from where he was surprised attack by Laroth. The man was sneakier than Duke thought.
He reached his arm out, coming just a couple of inches away. He was groping at grass and moss. He could harldy breathe, he might die soon, though the duel might end before then but Duke did not feel like losing. He reached out again his fingers just being able to grasp it. He finally got a good grip on it and bashed the gun against Laroth's head cauing him to let go. Duke quickly got up and ran, stumbling a little abit, and grasping his neck and breathing heavily. Laroth would likely be following behind him. He quickly looked back to see Laroth getting up.
Duke ran toward his sword, and picked it up. Lifting it upwards, a little awkwardly, he then threw it boomarang style at Laroth in the hopes to either harm or distract him from getting to Duke. After doing that Duke swiftly jumped in the bushes and sat hidden away from Laroth. He lowered his heavy breathing and salved the wound on his neck with the magic spell "Cure". He sat where he was hidden from view.
Watching as Duke struggled to breathe, Laroth’s claws sunk into his flesh causing blood to trickle down from his neck. All of a sudden from nowhere a blunt instrument hit Laroth in the side of the head, knocking him to his right; he staggered as he moved away before Duke got any ideas about another hard blow to his head, unfortunately he fell to the floor in a heap. Watching as Duke quickly stumbled away, Laroth climbed to his feet using the boulder to aid him.
Moving towards his opponent, Laroth noticed that Duke now had his sword in hand. Duke then swung the sword, then letting go of the handle it flew towards Laroth. Spinning as it was pelted towards Laroth, the sword cut through the air creating a whizzing sound. Seeing his giant weapon being thrown at him, Laroth dived to the side, rolling upon impact and landing on his knees. The large sword smashed into the rock and buried itself halfway up the blade. Laroth took his eyes off Duke for a second to locate his sword, but when he turned back Duke had vanished again. Laroth stood up and rapidly ran over to his sword, grabbing it by the handle he tried to pull it out, but it was no use; it was firmly jammed in the rock. Laroth then quickly positioned himself at the bunt side of the sword and slammed his foot into it; this cracked the rock and made the blade easier for Laroth to drag from the large stone.
With his weapon in hand Laroth hid behind the rock, it was strange, no shots had been fired and Laroth could have sworn when he was kicking his sword free he heard the sound of healing magic. Poking his head around the corner Laroth looked for any signs of Duke; that guy loved to hide. Laroth’s eyes scanned the trees and bushes quickly before he moved back behind the boulder.
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Duke promptly got up with his healed wound and climbed the treebehind him silently showing very little movement. It wasn't long before he had positioned himself very high above the branch camoflouged by the brush and had a nice vantage point of Laroth hiding behind the boulder.It appeared the sword had not skewerd or injured him like he wanted it to. However it seemed the mammoth Laroth was more nimble than Duke had thought. He made a note to himself not to underestimate the speed of large people. He grinned with pearly white teeth at the silly thought as he took his rifle Diabolos and looked through the scope towards the cracked boulder apparently weakened by Laroth.
His scope zoomed in at the crack that Laroth had made when cracking the boulder. This was the perfect opportunity to try and finish this little spar.He silently reloaded his gun with more bullets, using his time wisely before Laroth might spot him. Duke looked through again, and shot a perfectly aimed bullet at the crack in the boulder. The bullet made a really strong impact with the weaked boulder. It hit with enough strength to actually shatter the boulder.The impact sent stone flying everywhere.While Laroth was dealing with that he then took two more aimed shots toward Laroth.
With that he stood up, very well balanced, and with his excellent acrobatics, flipped off the tree branch and nimbly upon his feet. He looked through the scope again and shot 3 more carefully aimed shots at Laroth. Unable to reload his gun again he then gripped his rifle like a bludgeon ready to take on a charging Laroth at any moment. Diabolos was strongly made, harder than Orichalcum, and would be able to withstand a hit from a sword or against Laroth's thick skull. Though close combat fighting was not normally his forte, he would try and see if he could out maneuver amd take him down that way.