Little Bird

The Key of Twilight (Kingdom Hearts AU)

The last split second of the short match came and went through Zack's notice like a flash of lightning. In what might as well have been a simultaneous instance, his thrust met Seifer's abs, and Seifer's blade, now in its owner's left hand, struck Zack comparably on his side. To the competitors, the result was clear enough: Zack's thrust had just barely connected ahead of Seifer's swing; the feeling of his baton pressing against its intended recipient coursed along Zack's arms like a grace note ahead of Seifer's landing against his obliques.

On instinct, Zack rebounded and retreated from his hit; the rules of the Struggle dictated that after each point scored, a match was put on a quick pause, during which the point was declared by the referees (if not contested for review), and the combatants reset to begin another bout. This was, in the name of the spirit of the competition, a measure to dissuade participants from simply swinging endlessly at their opponent after landing a hit, and allowed both sides to refocus.

Zack, like Seifer, was left shocked and dumbstruck. He hadn't expected the match to end the way it did; he had conditioned himself to leave his expectations of victory behind him when he entered the ring for a match. His heart pounded, racing from the sheer adrenaline of that last instance. It was a feeling which, for any other competitor, would have given way to elation and celebration. Even in the context of a training session, the average combatant would be joyous in their success... But Zack and Seifer weren't average combatants... To that extent, Zack had come to see at least shred of respect from Seifer's end, even if he didn't always verbalize it, and in turn, he respected Seifer as a competitor.

Zack, just like Seifer, was leaving this spar knowing full well the score that would have to be settled in the Tournament.

In the shocked disposition of his mind, still processing the match, Zack was unaware of either Seifer or his lackeys as they commented and quipped about the match. His gaze, thoughtful yet detached, drifted off to the far corner of the sandlot, where something peculiar caught his attention: a familiar, stern-faced visage, half-shrouded in the shadow of far alleyway, stood, glaring towards him with narrow eyes through a solitary bang of auburn hair. Perplexed, curious, somewhat nervous, and perhaps even afraid of the seeming apparition, Zack edged toward the alley. He took a handful of steps forward, hoping to get a better look. He rubbed his eyes; he couldn't believe them... It couldn't be him... not after the years since...

He opened his eyes only to see that the figure in the alleyway had seemingly vanished without trace or notice from anyone else. Disparaged, Zack breathed and sighed, and then took a knee to gather himself up. "No. It couldn't have been," he whispered. "I'm just stressing is all. Seeing things."

@Double, @Stylobilly, @Spectral, @Bright_Ops

The Key of Twilight (Kingdom Hearts AU)

I'm guessing this is where the misunderstanding is rooted; from my opening move.

Provided that his move created the opening he sought from it, he would follow up on his parrying motion with a swing towards Seifer's chest.

@Wayward

The swing that Seifer is countering didn't actually happen. Rather, it was framed in terms of an if-then; the "if" being Seifer committing to the thrust, and Zack parrying it, neither of which ended up resolving. All that my first move amounted to was Zack getting his baton up to prepare himself to parry the thrust if need be (and also putting it into a somewhat better position to react if the conditions changed), and a small reorientation of his stance.

The Key of Twilight (Kingdom Hearts AU)

@Double

I suspect I didn't quite convey Zack's response to Seifer's opening move as I intended for it to be interpreted.

I'll address it more thoroughly once I'm back home; it'll be easier once I'm at a computer.

The Key of Twilight (Kingdom Hearts AU)

@Double, @Bright_Ops, @Spectral, @Stylobilly
((I've decided to play this out for one more pass))

A moment... a second... a fraction of a second...

The time in which a Struggle could sway momentum was fleeting, every instant thereof precious if a contestant sought victory.

Zack had banked, somewhat, on a hope that Seifer, as others before him, would sell him short, and as a result be less on his guard than normal; perhaps, Zack wondered, if he hadn't secured a spot going into the final rounds, that would have been more the case. But Seifer was in as good of form as ever, and his ego remained, obnoxiously oversized as it was, far less of a detriment to his sensibility.

As Zack had kept in his awareness, Seifer had gone for the feigned thrust, swiftly diverting his course. He caught the quick shift his opponent's grip. Difficult as it may have been foresee a swing with a back-handed grip, once one was started, there was a brief window in which the defender could adjust for it. Zack took as much advantage of that window of time, in which Seifer's baton needed to make up the slight spatial difference. He abandoned his idea of swinging for Seifer's shoulder; the change in his {Seifer's} stance and relative position rendered that impractical. Zack, despite his best efforts to avoid it, put himself on the defensive.

He swung his baton down, angling it so that his blade avoided the attempted hooking tactic, and instead met his adversary's blade. The distinctive thud of the hard foam blades striking each other resonated between the two for a short span. Not missing a step, Zack made another, minor adjustment. He shifted just enough to put himself in position to keep his opponent in front of him. While doing this, he used his baton to push Seifer's into a twist, rotating counter clockwise from Zack's perspective, or clockwise from Seifer's. The move would serve to disadvantage Seifer's backhand grip by way of pushing his wrist into a less flexible position.

Zack's follow through would be a thrust of his own, pushing the end of his blade towards Seifer's abdominals, while then ducking down a short distance to avoid taking a baton to the face himself.

The Key of Twilight (Kingdom Hearts AU)

@Wayward Sure. If I had to guess the others are waiting for the finish playing out.

@Double

Yeah. In the interest of brevity and getting the show going I'm figuring I'll just use my next post to throw the spar; I was gonna try to draw it out a bit longer but I'd rather get the story moving.

Gifted Freaks - Teenagers with Powers

Aiyana rounded her head around the corner just in time to witness... well, she wasn't entirely sure of what she was witness to. The parking lot was veiled by a curtain of smoke and dust from the fighting that had broken out. However, what Aiyana was able to see clearly enough to discern, told her that she was exactly where she needed to be, and where she'd need to go next: Agents buckling under the assault of an unseen, unheard force; a moped zipped, seemingly of its own accord, from the cloud, careening into several more agents; a boy materializing from somewhere or out of something Aiyana hadn't had a chance to properly see throwing a hard fist at yet another. Now or never, she told herself, drawing a deep breath.

"YOU! HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM."

As if on an instinct, Aiyana turned to the shout of several more BSI goons approaching her from the gymnasium exit. Now, it is then. Painting herself into a nervous, apprehensive exterior, she abided the agent's command and raised her hands.

"Now, stay where you are." All of the agents now had their guns trained on her as they advanced.

Aiyana's fingertips began to tingle with a static buzz. "Fools," she whispered, as her face broke into a subtle smirk. The static at Aiyana's fingers crackled. Small bolts of electricity pulsated around her hands; her hair rose upward. "Adios chicos!" Her arms waved downward in front of her, fingers splaying out as her hands leveled with her chest. The electricity first fell with a a whip-like lash, followed by streaking bolts shooting out from Aiyana's fingers. In little more than a second, the BSI agents were on the ground, in a trembling of near-paralyzed, mini-seizures as the jolt acted as several, strong taser shocks coursing through their nerves.

Aiyana didn't lag behind to observe her handy work though. As soon as she could see that her attack had struck as intended, she tore away, making a sprinting beeline towards the parking lot. There, she saw, through the settling dust, several people, including the boy that had punched the agent, piling into one of the black SUVs that BSI had arrived in. "HOLD UP!" she shouted, noticing the vehicle beginning pull out.

@Kenshi

The Key of Twilight (Kingdom Hearts AU)

@Double

You feeling good to keep going?

Gifted Freaks - Teenagers with Powers

What's my best option for getting Aiyana in with the rest of the group?

Gifted Freaks - Teenagers with Powers

Edited an intro post into the one that I accidently made on the IC. Bit rushed and not my best work, but whatevs; it gets the job done.

Gifted Freaks - Teenagers with Powers

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