David chuckled a bit as he watched Keith and Casper interact. A little bit of pre-battle banter between them that also served as a psychological goading match to get the other person to hit first. Personally, David wasn't very good at that kind of thing, but it was always pretty cool to see someone else do it, especially if he succeeded. Here, it looked like Casper was the one who got the better of Keith, as the mercenary struck first, which may have been exactly what Casper was waiting for; the young man suddenly transformed and after narrowly dodging all of Keith's strikes, left some deep gashes on his chest.

David took stock of the newly transformed Casper. A [i]werecat[/i]? David was just seeing all sorts of new things today.  As for Keith . . . David narrowed his eyes. It looked like his regeneration really was top class. With an ability like that, it made sense that he would be the one testing them; if he could heal from roughly any injury, then going all out wouldn't be a problem, not for him, anyway.

That aside, the cavalier way that Keith acted despite being hurt led David to suspect that he wasn't even taking them seriously. He wondered exactly how good Keith really was. 

Suddenly, the battle turned in Keith's favor as a sudden jolt from his electric whip paralyzed Casper, leaving him open to a nasty knee to the face. David frowned as Casper got up, looking completely enraged. It looked like as far as keeping your cool goes, Keith was definitely the better man.