[IC] A Hero Tale {Complete}

[Necrophage]

Oz entered another side of the courtyard and yawned. Morning usually started with normal exercise and food for him but this week had been a little more strenuous than he was used to, even with the chaotic life thrust upon him in the last few months. He'd heard they were meeting in here today and that they would finally get a chance to work together instead of punching one another. This is where their work should really shine. Should. He was hopeful they could eek out something great that had been hidden until now. "Morning." He greeted from below. He frowned at the platform. "Is there a reason we're starting in the middle of the air?" Oz questioned.

[SuperFlash]

Jeff followed shortly behind the other two heroes, not long after finishing a quick conversation with some of the scientists working in the other room.

"Morning" Jeff said back before letting out a loudly placed yawn which showed he was quite one hundred percent awake just yet. He then proceeded to take a few more sips of the coffee he brought into the room with him before downright guzzling down the rest quickly so that he may focus on today's training. He then let the cup disperse into nanobots which then in a few moments flew back into his bag. It wouldn't be a lie to say Jeff was pretty darn interested into today lesson as being able to fight as a team properly would be necessary, and frankly he was getting tired of all these one on one fights.

[tex]

Luke smiled at each and every individual who arrived, promptly. "Perfect, I'm glad you're all here. Especially happy to see you in high spirits, Jenso," Luke tacked on, walking to the opposite end of the floating platform. He looked up at the roof and nodded. "Today we're gonna work on teamwork, obviously. But, for this training, I've asked Mikey to sub in for a while." Suddenly, Mikey hopped up from below the panel. Was he hiding? How the hell was he hiding? "He'll explain the parameters. I'm only here to teach, once you've demonstrated your current finesse."

"That's right," Mikey started, "I'm gonna fight you guys, 3 on 1!" He seemed a little more energetic today, getting into a combat stance and smiling at the three trumps. "Of course, I don't stand a chance if the three of you work well together. Hell, I probably don't stand a chance in a 1v1 situation if we take power into account, so I've decided to limit you three significantly." Mikey rose his hand with 2 fingers extended. "I need you to fight at about a fifth of your power, two out of ten. No using anything above that, alright? No wide-scale attacks, no magic of high calibres, and no super forms. I on the other hand, will be using my full power." Suddenly the floating arena's edges began to glow, signalling that the four of them were sealed inside. "If any of you use anything too strong, I'll let you know. But, your goal as a team, is to land a single blow on me." Mikey shrugged his shoulder and lowered his stance, "Use the lessons Luke taught you, and try to work together. If you don't work together, well... You won't really stand a chance."

[SuperFlash]

"1/5th huh?" Jeff asked as his interest peaked with this exercise. "So obviously that meand super forms are banned, but what about regular wind bursts or tech? Any limits with those?" To be frank, he couldn't help but wonder the exact extents on what he could and couldn't do. Otherwise he was excited to see how they would fare against Mikey in such a situation.

[Necrophage]

"Alright, hold abilities back and work on teamwork. No problem." Oz stretched out his arms and entered his wide fighting stance. "I don't exactly view my power with numbers so I'll stick to the basics instead." He concluded.

Oz glanced to the other two and then settled his focus on Mikey. " Since this is a trial to test our current teamwork I suppose we should get started and take a lesson later. Give us the go ahead and we'll begin." He suggested to Mikey.

[Jensoman]

Jenso smirked at Mikey, while getting into a combat stance as well. "Eager to fight, huh? Well, bring it!" He called out, sounding excited. He was glad that he could fight Mikey again. He kept a close eye on him, waiting for him to start the match. "Let's do this, guys!"

[tex]

Mikey nodded to Jeff. "You can use magic, but keep it small-scale," Mikey explained briefly, "Oh, and we're starting- NOW!" On his last word, he dashed forwards, coating his arms in brightly lighted water and waiting to see how the three would react.

[Necrophage]

Oz charged head-on at Mikey. "I'll test the waters. You two keep him from submerging or bubbling me." He commanded. Mikey's specialty was the resilience and flexibility of the water he used. Regardless of how flexible he would be able to function they would likely be able to overwhelm him with just their basic abilities and brawling. "Jenso, go high." He blurted out as he crouched into a leg sweep to knock Mikey down.

[Jensoman]

Jenso nodded at Oz as he aimed a low sweeping kick at Mikey. He jumped forwards into the air and heated his body up to an extremely high degree. The heat in the immediate area rose up as well. 'I can't use my flames carelessly here, he'd be able to extinguish them quickly...' He thought, aiming a quick left hook at Mikey's chest area. He didn't put all of his strength behind it, though, while keeping his right arm hanging at his side. At the very least, if Mikey did a simple hop to avoid Oz's attack, he hoped he'd still be struck by Jenso's fist. And at the same time, give Jeff an easier time to flank him. 'I'll try to keep the area heated up to try to evaporate his water...' He thought.

[SuperFlash]

"Small scale huh? I wonder if that move would count or not..." Jeff muttered to himself as he debated showing off a new technique he'd been practicing. Jeff decided against it for the moment shrugging the idea off as he dashed around to Mikey's right side when he then prepared himself to close in with a burst of wind which he timed to have him strike the second Mikey would react to Oz and Jenso's attacks. Here he planned to aim a swift kick towards Mikey's head, but he also prepared a wind sphere to act as a shield which he planed to throw at anything Mikey would launch at him before swiftly jumping over said attack.

[tex]

"Think I'll dodge?" Mikey huffed, crashing his right arm into the ground on his right side to block Oz's leg. The reverberations from his gauntlet fought back against the strike, going as far as pushing back with an equal amount of force, despite not moving from where his arm landed. "You gotta think a little.." Mikey paused and looked up at Jenso, then to Jeff, and then to Jenso again, "A little more than that!" His eyes darted around the battlefield quickly, registering everything in just a few seconds and formulating a response with his sheer battle focus.

His second arm moved under Jenso's gracefully. The shockwaves from his Geyser gauntlet pushed Jenso's swing just above Mikey's right shoulder, leaving the hero's own chest open for a strike. But rather than use the split second opening to strike Jenso, Mikey's left hand opened and grappled Jenso's left elbow from below his arm. Using Jenso's momentum, as well as the force from Oz's initial kick, Mikey spun his body to the right, pulling Jenso into the path of Jeff's wind burst. Mikey's left foot quickly let off a burst of water afterwards, propelling him away from Oz and Jenso, and much farther away from Jeff, who was now at the opposite side of the arena. While midair, the water user's body spun around counter-clockwise, still abusing the momentum from the attacks that he'd redirected, until he landed on his right hand, and flipped his body upright. He stood steadfast and re-shaped his geyser-gauntlets into a sharper pair of weapons. "Did you learn anything about my style?" Mikey asked, reeling his right arm back, "I hope so!" Without further delay, he began launching a series of glowing water bullets towards Oz and Jenso from his gauntlets, with repeated punches.

[Jensoman]

Jenso dashed at Mikey after Jeff's wind shield caught him, zig-zagging through the water bullet barrage while constantly moving left and right to change his position constantly, to make himself harder to hit. He coated his body in flames as he did this, hoping to reduce the damage that he would take from any water bullets that he might fail to avoid, and possibly evaporate those that passed him to keep them from reaching Oz while making the area around him even hotter. 'He'll make sure to keep his distance, so the most obvious approach here is to overwhelm him...but, if we all keep using close ranged attacks, we might keep hindering eachothers.' He thought, not the least bit surprised at how incredibly fluid Mikey's movements were.

Right when Mikey stretched his right arm forwards to fire another water bullet, Jenso ducked low and thrusted his own right arm forwards, feigning a punch at Mikey's stomach with his right hand. Instead, he suddenly lunged towards Mikey's right and quickly moved beside him, aiming a kick with his left foot at Mikey's right side.

[Necrophage]

Oz leaned into the attacks, his personal shield shimmering as each bullet hit. Regardless each bullet staggered him, pushing him slightly back. He had no opportunity to drive the attack against Mikey but he was going to help regardless. Still bracing with one arm he extended the other toward Jeff and twisted it through the air. A glowing circle of spinning glyphs appeared in front of him. Oz's acceleration gate. "Throw an attack through it Jeff, give it volume so he can't dodge." He turned his attention back to Jenso. "Jenso, keep him on the defensive." Mikey was able to snuff out voluminous attacks with his bubble. Oz had seen it being used as a test dummy before so it certainly had its place in his arsenal but what else was Mikey going to pull out.

[SuperFlash]

"Volume huh? well, might as well see how this plays out." Jeff responded to Oz as he nodded to him as he then spun around and formed a body sized twister of wind around himself which he then proceeded to kick into Oz's acceleration gate at an angle so that when it hit the gate it would curve and launch itself at Mikey's left side while avoiding collision with Jenso.

[tex]

Mikey's right hand didn't fire a water bullet as it extended, moments before Jenso reached him. Instead, he curved his punch downwards, towards Jenso's body, while taking a step backwards with his right foot, to better respond to whatever he might've done. Jenso dodged to the right, but Mikey's right hand was already in position to respond, and he was able to see the wind-burst coming from a great distance away, easily. He continued pulling his right foot around, pivoting on his left foot until his back was facing Jeff's attack. With his right forearm, he deflected Jenso's kick, throwing him off balance with the direction of his attack, and the momentum of his pivot. The defensive maneuver forced him to lean to his left, perfectly angling him to propel himself out of the way of Jeff's attack, and towards Oz, at the very last second. He felt Jeff's winds slice at his clothing, but no damage got through. As Mikey launched away from Jenso, he feet coated themselves in bubble-like boots, and allowed him to make short, fast hops. He bounced around the battlefield, circling around Oz, and making his way towards Jeff. Luke suddenly slammed the side of the force field repeatedly.

"Read his style! React accordingly! Remember what I taught you!" He shouted, "Reflex, Force, Withdrawl! Damage, attitude, knowledge!"

Mikey ignored Luke and changed the composition of his gauntlets once again, until they were rounded like blunt weapons, with slightly more bulbous fists, as he approached Jeff.

[Jensoman]

Jenso narrowed his eyes at Mikey as he approached Jeff, listening to Luke's words. Jeff was probably the fastest out of all of them, and seemed to have the most chance to land a blow on Mikey. Jenso dashed at Mikey from his right side as he faced Jeff, launching a flame ball at him, right above the right side of Mikey's waist with his left hand, and then launched a second fireball at Mikey's right leg with his right hand, above the coated area of Mikey's bubble boots. He was unsure if this would do much, but right now he was more concerned about clearing the distance between him and Mikey.

[SuperFlash]

As Mikey approached, Jeff smirked and held his hand out towards Mikey as the wind stirred around him quickly. "Let's see how you like this one my friend!" Jeff said as the stirred up wind expanded outwards and Jeff seemed to split appart into three different people, each who seemed to give the exact same energy output and were identical in every single way.
The three then charged Mikey side by side with the left one charging a wind blade with his right hand which aimed to swiftly strike Mikey's side while the Right did the same with his left hand execpt he aimed to slash at his side while boosting past to reunite with Oz and Jenso. The middle one prepared wind blades around both of his arms and prepared to leap over Mikey and slash at both of his sholders.
Given, if Mikey was to try and counter the left or middle Jeffs, he would quickly come to discover that they were fakes which attacks would merely phase through him and vice versa.

In off case Mikey would prepare a big attack in order to take out the three Jeff and his mirages would instead take to three different directions and dodge out of the way using wind bursts.

[Necrophage]

Oz watched the other two zip around and try their hands at landing a telling blow on Mikey. He assumed that very soon Luke might stop the fight but perhaps there was more he could do before all of this was done. Oz walked toward the center of the platform and knelt upon one knee. There was very little risk of him being Mikey's next target with everything the other two were doing to impede him. That considered, it was time to stand back and plan for the further parts of the fight. Mikey wasn't so far being aggressive. He was making himself defensive and distant from harm when possible. That meant he would likely go flying across the stage of their fight given another chance. "Right.. let's do this." Oz muttered under his breath.

The Fist of Kario placed a palm against the ground. Two thin veins of energy spread across the platform to form a cone, effectively separating that portion of the platform into a quadrant. They were difficult to see but not totally imperceptible. He would activate a force wall for Mikey to run into depending on what direction he went if he tried to leave the quadrant.

[tex]

Mikey landed hard on his right foot and rose his left knee up high. Clones? Against him? Clone techniques usually weakened one's overall attack power significantly in exchange for agility and options. But Mikey's battle-bubble was built to counter abilities like that. Jeff had to know about it. Was he baiting it out? One of those had to be the real Jeff. If he was baiting out the battle bubble, then his other clones might have been weak enough to the point where his main body could still cut through his bubble with a piercing attack. Mikey didn't like the ruse affect his decision. Just before the Jeff clones approached him, he heard the distinct swooshing of Jenso's fireballs, and turned his head briefly. Two sides? Well, what was Oz doing? Mikey glanced at him long enough to notice him kneeling down. Something to do with the ground? There wasn't enough time to investigate it right away. Mikey knelt down on his right leg, and launched himself into the sky, leaving behind a small bubble of water where his right foot touched the ground. It was his bubble boot, detached. As the three Jeffs came towards him, he let it explode into a relatively harmless burst of water with only barely enough force to push the average person back. Jenso's fireballs passed under him, and Mikey was now high in the air. Jenso had seen this before, it usually prompted one of Mikey's signature techniques...

"Battle Bubble!" Mikey called out, spreading his legs and arms outwards for a moment, dispelling his gauntlets, and creating a bubble around himself that allowed him to float in the air, high above the battlefield, like a trailing balloon. Straight afterwards, he aimed towards Oz, who looked like he was preparing himself for something. Mikey had already made plans to investigate Jeff's new abilities, and knew nearly everything about Jenso. Oz was the only fighter he had never seen in action for more than a moment. With a clenched fist, Mikey unleashed a stream of pressurised water towards Oz from the surface of his bubble, nearly two feet in diameter.

While he was doing this, the surface of his bubble seemed to ripple. No, not ripple. The water.. Bounced? It bounced as if there were droplets hitting every single inch of it repeatedly. It looked more spiky then smooth. That was new. How far did Mikey's control go?

[Necrophage]

Mikey used his notorious bubble but went up instead of away. The bubble launched a stream of water straight at Oz. Hydro power was known for cutting through mountains and making man-made valleys. Used by a person with superhuman abilities that wasn't something to scoff at. He raised his arms up, ready to use an angled force wall to deflect the water to the side instead of taking it full on when the single ruling thought hit him. Twenty-percent. Only a fifth of his power should be used. He limited the size and the water splashed around him regardless, knocking him off his feet and sending him sliding to the edge of the field.

Oz sputtered water free of his mouth and wiped it away from his face. Though he managed to defend himself from the water he was scratched up from the push across the ground. Plus now he was wet. Fighting in wet shoes is just as squishy and obnoxious as it gets. He wiped more water off his arms. "I kind of suck at holding back don't I?" He asked himself.

Bubbles were a strange thing. A liquid encasing a gas with nothing more than surface tension keeping it together. Mikey's bubbles were made of tougher stuff of course but Oz had a hunch it would function similarly. It might block a ton of damage but was likely to float about just as carelessly. A totally defensive skill. He had likely just given up nearly all his mobility to block attacks. And attacking from it must open it up to a counter given proper timing. How else could you shoot water from a bubble unless you messed with its surface tension? Oz raised his hand over the floor and a pillar of energy rose out of it to meet his grasp. He drew it back like a javelin but did not throw immediately. He waited so he could time it with Mikey's next jet of water.