I call upon thee oh Green one

[Grega]

As agreed, this be a practice match. So dont be to harsh on little ol' me ^^

I ask only for an interesting venue that would suit both our characters

Id allso ask to keep the fatalities and XP out of this practice match XD

 

[DiebytheSword]

I agree to these terms. Let our sparring match begin.

 

[Grega]

So i guess now we need a ref.

 

[DiebytheSword]

Indeed we do. Any fight club refs out their still active? Some of you are staffers, so I know there are some around!

 

[Damaera]

I just thought I'd pitch in and say I'll be at your funeral, Grega.

 

[DiebytheSword]

Still need a ref. And its going to be hard for him to have a funeral at a sparring match.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I'm looking forward to this.

 

[DiebytheSword]

Are you reffing? If so, we need a venue.

 

[Deathshot]

If you teach me I could Ref. I mean I really wanna see this go.

 

[DiebytheSword]

Optimus Prime is the ref, as he explained in a PM to me. He just has to come up with a venue and the practice fight can start.

 

[Grega]

Great.

Time to warm up and get ready for an asskicking then

 

[Optimus Prime]

Imagine if you will, tropical paradise. A rich island, filled with jungles, miles of white sandy beaches, all surrounded by crystal clear blue water. But don't let this island fool you, it is as treacherous as she is beautiful. Her waters are inhabited by deadly poisonous jellyfish and man-eating sharks. While her jungles are filled with poisonous snakes, and spiders as big as your head.

And just off in the distance, once can see, breaching through the waters, the legendary 'millenius volcanis', said to go off roughly only once every one-thousand years. The last time it erupted, the very island you find yourselves on was created. And if I am not mistaken, I believe that this very island is just about to celebrate it's 1,000th birthday.

Have fun gentlemen.

 

[DiebytheSword]

Skyrider hurried to the halls of Mount Noobus. There was a lot of work to be done, and this was high on the forum defense initiative list of things to do. Its not that there was tremendous pressure from the Developers, it was that there was tremendous pressure from the community to protect Forumscant. He knew that he was supposed to meet Grega and Cucumba shortly with his newest plug in for the Forum Software, and neither liked to be kept waiting.

Grega and the Green Devil stood, arms akimbo facing each other impassively. The Verdant Leviathan stood like a stone statue, while Grega tapped his fingers on his own folded arm impatiently. Sky skidded around a corner and looked at them both, quickly checking his watch to make sure he wasn't late. Three Minutes, he thought to himself. I hope they haven't been here long.

Grega looked at Sky and smiled, "Ah, you're here."

Cucumba spoke as well, "Did you bring the new plug in?"

"Of course," answered Skyrdier, "Since we've upgraded to the new forum software, I thought we could use this little gem."

Skyrider moved to a door way locked with key card access. He swiped his badge, allowing the door to open. Inside, the staff was greeted to a wondrous sight.

"Breathtaking," stated Grega. "Is that the beach from the southern shores of Forumscant?"

"Its actually a deserted island due south of it," beamed Skyrider. "We've managed to make a holographic danger room for the forum staff. If you recall, this is very near the Millenius Volcanis, the volcano that caused a great deal of panic not too long ago. Majin You identified a number of needs for training areas within Mount Noobus. So I developed this. Everything you see here is real enough, emulations of other situations that you can interact with . . ."

". . . and be challenged by," stated the Jade Juggernaut. "I suppose that this particular scenario addresses the emergency skills of the staff as well as provides them with a dangerous backdrop for battle."

"Correct as usual Cucumba," said Sky, "and I would like it very much if you both could test it for me."

"A sparring match? How interesting. I would like to test my skills against your own, Cucumba. So how about it? A friendly sparring match between a member of the development team and a member of the administrative staff? I have longed to test this forum's defensive capabilities for a while now," Grega smiled. "How about it?"

"I have no qualms with a sparring match," said the ancient one.

"Well then," said Skyrider, rubbing his hands together. "I'll set the room from the remote panel. Have fun, and don't kill each other."

______________________________________________________________________________________________


Cucumba and Grega faced off as the door sealed, leaving them in a world that they could not distinguish from their own.

"It will be an honor to face you in combat, Cuc."

"Likewise, I am always pleased to face a worthy opponent."

Both dropped into a fighting stance and the island rumbled in protest under their collective might.

Grega's breastplate, pauldrons, gauntlets and sabaton gleamed harshly in the tropical sun, a harsh contrast to his dark clothing and hair. His lithe form built for speed and belying his great strength. Grega reached up carefully and tossed his brown cloak clear, bringing the full brightness of his armor to bear.

Cucumba did not remove his sunglasses or his trench coat and simply stayed in his stance, though behind his glasses he squinted under the glare of the armor.

Grega saw the twitch on the green devil's face, and launched his attack, firing a blast of light at the admin from his left hand. Cucumba dodged the blast, which singed the collar of his trench coat. As Cucumba returned to his center, he was dismayed to see that the Dev was already on top of him, his right open hand pulled back for a powerful blow. The Jade Leviathan quickly back flipped, with Grega so close the admins legs were on either side of the Dev's torso. Grega's blow was above the Green Devil's abdomen when it detonated with concussive force and a burst of heat. The Admin's back flip was halted midway, causing him to land flat on his back, though the bulk of the blow missed its target. Cucumba quickly kicked out with his right leg, turning his hip and abdomen for maximum force. Grega lept, pulling his legs out from the sweep, only to see the admin pull his legs back for a kip up kick. Grega rolled with the impact, spinning to a stop on his feet, and wiping the sand from his armor. The Verdant Leviathan was also standing again, his shirt singed from the heat of Grega's shockwave technique.

"Impressive, you use your light manipulation to heat the air to dangerous levels in very short time. Coupled with your speed, your a very dangerous man."

"And your legendary reflexes and fighting ability were not understated, my green Friend."

Grega lept in again, this time, creating a ball of light right on himself to obscure his location from the admin. Cucumba watched with difficulty as the ball and radiance from his armor increased the already uncomfortable effect. Cucumba reached into the ball with his senses other than sight, and located the electrically charged punch just in time. The Jade Juggernaut kicked the incoming punch out of the way with a perfectly timed inside crescent kick. Grega spun mid air, a whip made of light springing from his left hand. Bending light? How curious, thought the ancient horror as the whip drew ever nearer. Cucumba used the force to shove Grega and his lethal light whip away. However the ball of light stayed with Cucumba, and Grega, skidding to a stop smiled as he detonated it around the green devil.

Grega's smile went away when he saw a large ball of green light in the explosion, shrinking into the palm of Cucumba's hand.

"Pika"

Grega quickly rammed his fists together, creating a half sphere of light and electricity.

"Flash!"

The island groaned in protest from the marble sized ball of death that tore up the beach beneath it as it went. Grega dug his heels in as the marble made contact with his shield. The explosion was deafening, blinding, and striking in its raw power. Grega grunted under the strain as he was steadily shoved back, putting every ounce of strength into holding back the blast. When the smoke cleared, Grega watched in awe as the ocean reclaimed the crater that had been created on the beach, save for a sole peninsula which he had saved with his shield. What amazing power, He thought. And those sunglasses have to go.

Cucumba was equally amazed at just how strong Grega's shield was; this contest was getting more and more interesting by the second. The Jade Leviathan adjusted his stance and prepared for his next attack. Something is wrong, his armor seems more luminescent than it was just a moment ago, what's going on, the Admin thought to himself. Grega smiled as he saw a slight twitch on the Green Devil's brow. He's noticed the switch, but he doesn't understand it yet, thought Grega, I must make this count.

Grega leisurely strolled from his fighting position and walked behind the admin.

Cuc watched as Grega dropped into a fighting stance and produced two swords made of light and charged straight at him. The Verdant Leviathan drew his bansaber and charged in response. The two met in the middle, Grega's salvo of strikes alternated from high to low and kept the Jade Behemoth on his toes, and on the defensive. Cuc's bansaber hummed and roared with every defensive movement. It was mid spin, blocking a strike to his exposed back that he learned the truth of Grega's light manipulation.

The Grega that was not an illusion, struck at this exact time, seeing Cuc's arm raised defensively behind him, reacting to light that had been entertaining him to this point. Grega charged, his electric sphere and light sphere attacks angrily chirping and waiting in his trailing hands. Grega thrust both hands forward, bringing the spheres together for their powerful combined effect. He rammed the mixed orbs into the bottom of the Green Devil's rib cage, blasting him skyward.

Cucumba flew out to sea, his blasted chest bleeding green blood. His tattered trench coat flapped madly from the wind, and the Admin's sunglasses flew clear from his head. He could see nothing but blurred ghosts of Grega ramming the attack into his ribs. How did he move that fast, he thought, that's impossible. His bansaber was gone in the water, momentarily unfindable. Cucumba heard a distant detonation and felt Grega slam into him again, this time with a huge spiked club. Grega bounced off the heated air beneath his palms as he dispelled the club back to the nothingness from which it came, returning to the safety of the beach. The battered admin crashed into the waves, closer to the volcano than to the island.

Cucumba floated, his burned chest assaulted by the salt water covering him. His blood flowed and mixed with the seawater, attracting the sharks that inhabited the isle's waters. Cuc's uncanny healing power kicked in, closing his wounds, and clearing his eyesight. Cuc was greeted with the sight of a shark, easily the size of a city bus, bearing down on him for the kill.

On the beach, Grega relaxed returning to a relaxed stance. "It should have been harder, but it was not. You can end the scenario now Sky. I think Cucumba has had enough."

With that the water erupted, peeling away from the sea floor as if Moses had parted the sea again this time in Forumscant. Cucumba's hand was burning red, smoking and at full extension. A huge shark, folded up like an accordion at the end of his strike was the only thing that was visible. The forum software, and Sky's plug in, struggled to render the damage. The shark burst in every direction, gibs flying into the parted water. The ground retreated underneath the Jade Behemoth and his terrible blow. Cucumba turned to Grega, and as the water started to fill in the void left by the Kamidaishou no shounetsu-ken, the ancient horror disappeared into thin air.

Grega dropped into fighting stance again, smiling. "I'm glad, old Friend, that you have more than that to offer." Grega looked around for Cucumba. Finally spotting him standing a hundred feet above the shoreline.

"Indeed I do," said the Jade Leviathan. His shirt was ruined, and his bare chest showed that his wounds had indeed stopped bleeding. Cucumba pulled a broken sword from his side.

"Bankai."

Cucumba landed in front of Grega with a crash, his feet digging far into the sand, splashing a great deal of sand into the air. In his hand was a massive spear, which he swung in a wide arc with one hand. It crashed with explosive force on Cuc's own shoulder, sending a shockwave of wind and concussive force in every direction. Grega put his arm up to his face to block the sand kicked up in the disturbance.

"Sit upon the black throne of the betrayer with seven crowns . . . Spear of Destiny."

Cucumba leveled the massive spear at Grega. Grega looked on with interest, and a tiny bit of anticipation.

"You are the first to witness this attack in quite some time. I will wear each crown in succession, until the eighth crown is revealed, at which point you will be defeated."

"We'll see about that."

"Indeed we shall . . . if you even make it to the eighth crown."

The sand rose from the beach and formed a halo around Cuc's head. "First Crown, Kohn."

Grega struck, not waiting for Cuc's long winded speech to end. He summoned his whip made of light, slashing at the admin, and watched as spikes rose up out of the ground to defend the Jade Leviathan. Grega dodged and rolled off of them, moving ever closer. Cucumba took his right hand off the spear, swinging it behind his back with the left. Grega arrived through the defenses to see Cuc's right arm encased in rock.

"Second Crown, Kahn!"

Grega's whip was brought forth with great speed, slashing the stone fist that was streaking toward him with insane speed. The whip, however, slid harmlessly up the rock face, screeching as it went. Cucumba's stone fist struck with amazing force, blasting a good chunk of Grega's armor free, and sending Grega deep into the jungle, crashing through the trees. Grega came to rest after tumbling into a giant web.

The Dev shook his head, the impact impairing his thought process and his vision. When his double vision settled he felt the roaring pain in his chest and saw a giant tarantula and a monitor lizard of crocodilian size squaring off for the meal. He grunted and brought two light whips into existence. With a few flicks of his wrist the web, spider, and lizard were sliced to ribbons, blood and viscera flowed freely as Grega floated to the ground slowly.

From beyond the tree line, he heard the Verdant Leviathan shout once more.

"Third Crown, Kahm."

Grega triangle jumped up a tree to see a wall of water 100 feet high tearing across the jungle. Quickly he used his whips to cut down a tree to use as a flotation device. He once again called forth his half sphere shield to stop the initial wave from washing him away. The Dev then used his electric sphere, hoping that Cucumba was handling the water, or near enough to it to be hit. Cucumba stood and watched as the electric current lit the seawater, safely floating off the ground. Three halos now circled his head, earth, stone and water. A blast of wind joined the the other crowns, and formed a fourth halo.

"Fourth Crown, Sohn!"

Grega attacked suddenly from behind, again using his power of illusion to get close. He fired a blast of light near the limit of his power, it shone like a giant laser into the spot where Cucumba waited. The light drilled deep into the earth, and the Volcano rumbled in protest, spitting dark clouds high into the sky. Cucumba fell to his knees with a giant hole in his chest.

Grega smiled, knowing that the last ace was played well. He had won.

Suddenly, his armor was shredded from behind in several places, he felt his flesh being slashed as he turned and fell to the ground, prone and bleeding. Standing above him was Cucumba with his spear being rapidly thrusted in his direction, every blow launching a slashing wind attack. A third eye was open on the Green Devil's forehead, and a sinister grin played across the Admin's face.

"You have seriously misguaged the power of the Onigan. Once you have performed an action at any time, I will know about it before it comes to pass" he said with certainty in his tone. "And now, the fifth crown."

Grega watched as as an arc of lightning joined the other halos assembled behind and above Cucumba's head.

"Jin . . . the crown of thunder."

 

[Grega]

I tried going for a story but i seem to have failed XD

In any case was to late to restart







“We found him” said a man wearing a suit, to the back of a chair obviously occupied by someone important.

“Where was he Sky?” asked the man who turned round revealing to be Mastasurf.

“My latest plug in has indicated his location south of here.”

“Can you be more precise?” asked a serious Mastasurf.

“Well” Skyrider paused “I'm afraid the plug in was still experimental and caused a system crash before an exact location was given. But don't worry I have the system back and operational, it's just not advised to use that plug in again until its code gets upgraded to the new version.”

Mastasurf let out a quick sigh when another man walked in. Dressed in a light-brown shirt with brownish-green leather pants, brown gloves and a brown shoulder pad on his right side, Karrde entered the room.

“I bring news from the docks on Kensei forums.” he looked Mastasurf in the eyes “He boarded a pirate boat heading towards the Millenius Volcanis area.”

“But there are a few islands there” interrupted Skyrider, though didn't continue when he saw Mastasurfs gaze.

“As I was saying. He boarded a boat heading to the northern most island.” continued Karrde “Something about a treasure there.”

“Then I have just the thing.” interrupted Skyrider again “I have a plug in to transport one person to any area we have coordinates of. But sadly its use is limited to Ban Saber wielders, since the energy would roast anyone else.”

“Sounds like fun” a voice came in when the door opened.

Standing almost two meters tall a man with green skin, black sunglasses, dressed in black leather clothing entered the room.

“Ah, Cucumba.” Mastasurf stood up from the chair “Its been a while. We are kind of in a bind. Seems our lead tester is M.I.A. On a treasure hunt of some sort. He should have returned to office two weeks ago and work is piling up. Karrde can not handle all the paperwork alone.”

“So you want me to talk to him?”

“Can you haul his ass back here with force if need be.” Mastasurf smiled “And do try not to kill him.”

“Sure thing boss.”

“Right this way then Cuc.” hinted Skyrider leading the Jade Behemoth towards the plug in lab.

---​

Arriving on site Skyrider told Cuc to stand on a platform surrounded by four spikes with satellite antennas pointed towards the center.

“OK. Ready the suppressor field and launch plug in alpha five nine.” ordered Skyrider.

“Sky is this really safe?” asked a worried looking Cucumba as he saw the lights flicker on and off.

“Trust me.” continued Sky as he pulled the switch.

The Admin tower started to shake and and the lights across Forumscant started to go out one after another. With the ground shaking and light bulbs exploding in their sockets shortly after, the residents started to worry for their safety. In the room the spikes started to glow with a bright white light and an electric shock was fired from each antenna until they connected in the middle. Small lights started to rise round the admins feet moving upwards going faster and faster until in a flash of light he disappeared from from the platform. Moments after the computers shut down with a smell much like burning components.

“Whoops. That was a bit more than I thought it would be.” the expression Skyrider made was that of surprise but it only lasted moments until the door opened.

“Are you nuts?” rushed in Maj “Forumscant is in total darkness. What ever you did it blew out every light in this place. People are panicking and we got heaps of bots all over with conspiracy theorists claiming it's Armageddon.”

“Yea yea. Don't worry I'll fix it” said sky as he went to the damage control center.

---​

In the middle of the ocean an old galleon was sailing along and while it was still wooden in design its sails were merely for decorative purposes, for it was powered by a diesel engine. Its crew dressed casually and all of them armed with either a gun or a sword. Some of them had eye patches, but all had scars indicating signs of battle from their past. The man standing at the bow however had a big black hat and a blue coat over his rags to signify his importance.

“Cap'n we found a stowaway.” the first mate ran up to the bow “He says he's gonna steal our loot on the island.”

“I trust you've dealt with him accordingly.” the captain turned round “Make sure you wipe off his blood from my ship though.”

“Well cap'n .... not quite yet...” they were interrupted by gunfire and screaming noises as members of the crew started gathering at the deck with weapons drawn and battle expressions on their faces.

“Whats the meaning of this?”

“He killed more than five men already”

Just then a man came running through the stern door, that leads below deck, screaming something about a ghost, only to be pierced through the chest by a spear, which disappeared as soon as the man fell to the floor. The anxiety amongst the crew rose and some, who were holding swords, began to move further towards the bow in fear of what they just witnessed. The tension was felt though the entire crew as the captain gave the order to shoot anyone who makes a single step though the stern deck door.

After a moment of silence and anticipation a figure appeared at the door, and as they were commanded the crew opened fire. The sound of bullets bouncing off metal echoed amongst the sound of gunshots, and while clearly hit, the figure didn't budge or bleed. When the crew saw that their bullets seemed to go straight though it they started to panic and some even jumped overboard.

The figure disappeared from their sight and as the gunshots stopped, it reappeared from the dark hallway walking slowly. It wore a brown cloak and its face was covered by the shadow of the hood. Eight bright orbs appeared in front of the crew, but they only seemed to hover there while the figure was walking forwards.

“Who is the captain?” asked the figure removing the hood and revealing the face of a man in his early twenties with brown hair and blue eyes.

“What are you doing! This is mutiny!” screamed the captain as the crew brought him forward.

“Pleasure to meet you.” said the young man as he continued to walk slowly towards where they all were “You have something I want.”

“And what might that be?” asked the captain while keeping a fearful eye on the floating orbs.

“The map if you please.” he smirked “If you value your lives.”

“What would a ghost want with our map?”

“I never said I was a ghost”

When the crew heard those words their eyes began to change from fearful to aggressive. As soon as the crew atmosphere changed to hostile the spheres exploded, blinding about thirty people he then pulled out two uzis and starts mowing down the front row of pirates. The rest of the pirates began to return fire but the bullets again just passed though the young man who disappeared moments after. With the crew slowly returning to a panic more and more gunshots were heard and people on the starboard side of the bow began falling dead on the floor with gunshot wounds.

With the panic getting worse and worse the captain suddenly screamed loud and lost consciousness falling to the floor. Seeing this happen out of nowhere the crew started to abandon ship until only nine toughest remained. They were each armed with swords and guns they picked up after their fleeing comrades. The mysterious youngster reappeared sitting on the bow of the ship and looked at them directly as if wanting them to attack. Out of the nine remaining, four charged the young man straight on, only to meat face first with a small electric orb electrocuting them. The young man then charged forward with a sword appearing in each of his hands which he used to stab the two on the left, letting go of the swords he spun round and grabbed the nearest one spinning him and throwing him overboard and then materializing a gun and shooting the remaining one at point blank range.

The remaining five opened fire but only hit a big metal block that suddenly appeared in front of the intruder. They then noticed two people run from behind the box each on one side and charging at them. They opened fire on the left one only to have the bullets go through the illusion while the real one used the time to throw three knives killing two of the attackers and disarming the third. The remaining two dashed forward with their swords now drawn, but were parried by the young man.

“Why don't you just step aside?” asked the stowaway “I'm only here for the map.”

The remaining pirate picked up a gun with his good hand and started shooting while the other two jumped to the sides, but the bullets were deflected by the swords of the unknown foe. He then threw his right sword impaling the injured pirate, spun round on one leg while kicking the guy on the left over the side of the ship and ramming the remaining pirate with a big hammer that suddenly switched positions with the sword in his left hand. The pirate flew backwards hitting the railing, bouncing off and falling flat on his stomach. The stowaway walked up to the captain who slowly came to his senses, grabbed him by the collar, dragged him to the mast and pinned him on it using his right elbow against his chest.

“Its only you and me now.” the young man hinted at the empty deck “So be good and give me the map so that I can let you live.”

“Just who are you?” asked the captain still with a dazed look on his face.

“Oh sorry. I guess I didn't introduce myself yet. How rude of me.” the stowaway smiled mockingly “The name is Grega. Now I think its only fair you tell me where the map is.”

The captain nodded and slowly took of his hat, revealing a piece of paper folded and taped to the inside of it.

“Take it. The island will probably kill you anyway.”

“Thanks.” Grega threw the captain aside and took the map out of the hat “Thank you for your business.”

Grega walked to the bow of the ship and jumped on the railing, he put his hands backwards with open palms and blasted off with a loud bang into the distance towards the direction the ship was heading.

---​

A mild wind was blowing across the sandy shores of the tropical island as a lonely crab made its way across the powdery sand to the waves of the sea only to be carried back by the very water it desired to reach. Yet giving up did not seem like an option as it tried again and again until it was finally swept into the sea by a bigger wave. The peace was interrupted by a loud crash as a pillar of light descended onto the beach forming a crater and leaving a man lying in it.

“What a rough ride.” Cucumba slowly got up holding his head a bit “Skyrider better prepare himself for an earful when I get back.”

Only moments passed when the admin heard an explosions coming from far across the sea. They echoed louder and louder and soon he was able to see a person flying through the air with explosions appearing behind him, and with each explosion he seemed to go faster until it all stopped about a mile out from the island.

“There he is” smiled the admin as he saw the dev-team member crash into the jungle a bit to the south-east of his position “Time to get to work I guess.”

Cucumba headed into the island towards where Grega should have landed and shortly after came to a crater with trees blown outwards from the center and footprints leading away. He sensed that something is watching him, he sensed blood thirst and killing instinct. He quickly took out the Ban Saber and with a swing sliced a spider, the size of his own head, in half.

“Your instincts are as sharp as ever” sounded a voice from behind the admin “It's been a while old friend.”

“I'm here on business though.” the Jade Behemoth turned round “Masta wants you back in the office.”

“Later...” Grega walked from behind a tree waving a piece of paper “...I got myself a treasure to find first.”

“I'm afraid that wont do.” the admin slowly started to walk towards the dev “The boss said I should haul your ass back even if I have to kick it red and blue in the process.”

“Guess I'll have to deal with that first then, wont I?” smirked Grega as he put away the map “It will be interesting to see how I measure up to you.”

Both the admin and the developer dashed straight forward and in the clash exchanged a few blows, but no one really got in a critical hit, until Gregas palm connected with the Jade Behemoths chest sending him flying back though the trees and into sandy beach. Cucumba felt a burning sensation and noticed his clothes were burned away round the area of where the palm was placed, he quickly got up and caught the kick of the dev who had already caught up with him. By swinging round Cucumba threw Grega into a nearby rock smashing it with the impact.

Cucumba pulled out the Ban Saber and Grega stood up forming a sword in each hand ready to respond.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Two strong efforts on both combatant's parts, but only one can come away with round 1 under their belt.

Cuc:
As usual, you came out of the gate strong. No surprises here so keep it up in the next round. A few spelling and grammatical things, but overall it was a well written piece that flowed nicely. It was little long, but I'm glad it ended when it did. Any longer and it probably would have felt forced, so keep that in mind in round 2. If you can go longer, and keep me hooked, all the power to you. One complaint, is that you used the phrase "in protest," on 3 separate occasions, and it stood out to me. Nothing major, but just a heads up. It created a great mental picture the first time you used it, by the third time the effect had worn off. So watch out for repetition coming into round 2.

Grega:
Excellent narative, your story had good flow, and I liked how you and Cuc came to be on the island together. I actually liked your setup better than Cuc's 'danger room' scenario to be perfectly honest. Watch your tenses. Sometimes in a sentence you would start in past tense, and finish in present tense. It reads awkwardly, so try to look out for it in round 2. There was lots of great action in your scenario, but I wish you had spent a little more time fighting Cuc. I was actually slightly disappointed when yours ended because I was expecting a bit more interaction between your two characters, as opposed to a cliff-hanger ending where the fight is about to start.

Results: (Highlight ->)That said, I'm going to give Cuc round 1. It was close. Grega, if you had spent a few paragraphs fighting Cuc in similar detail to the rest of your story, that round was easily yours.

Proceed at your leisure gentleman, the story continues where Cuc's left off. /end results.

 

[DiebytheSword]

Cucumba's arms crackled with raw electric potential as he stared at Grega. Grega kipped up, spitting some blood to the side. The Dev watched the admin with a smile, knowing full well that Cucumba's current attack would be completely useless against someone who could control electricity. All that remained was the question of who could generate and store more. Another interesting contest, thought Grega.

Skyrider watched the forum's traffic flow during the battle, and he saw that the servers were being stressed to their limit to render the fighting power of the two fighters in the simulation chamber. Inwardly he winced, knowing full well that if this didn't end soon, the plugin might crash the forum database. He pulled up an access screen, and began streamlining the script.

Cucumba jumped in place, spun mid air, and slammed the head of the spear on the ground, creating a mild tremor as a result. The electric potential built into the spear crackled to life like hundreds of angry birds, and Green Devil smiled. The Jade Leviathan launched himself forward, with electric tendrils grabbing purchase on whatever ground they could as he went. His shredded shirt and duster whipped in the wake of his powerful lunge. Grega prepared his electric genesis ability to absorb as much of the lightning as he could, even as he prepared a half shield, just in case. If nothing else, the Ancient Horror was full of surprises.

The Admin's oncoming rush was stopped short as he violently jammed his spear into the ground discharging a lightning bolt just out of range of Grega's grasp. The light, heat and concussion were of mostrous proportions. Grega skidded against the shockwave of the blast, and he lost the Verdant Giant in the fused glass, steam and still free sand that showered forth from the place of impact. Still, grega had absorbed most of the light from the impact, and had formed two steel rods with his materialization ability, along with one bullet as his own electric genesis kicked into production mode, rather than storage mode.

Grega felt the massive killing intent coming and dove to the sand while spinning backwards to face Cucumba , spear leveled for the kill. Grega's makeshift rail gun fired with devastating speed. So high was the muzzle velocity that Grega literally augured further into the sand, digging a deep gouge as he went. Twin rings of light appeared at the muzzle as the slug, approximately 1 kilogram in weight, was fired at near relativistic speeds.

Cuc barely had time to raise an eyebrow before the projectile hit his left shoulder with force unlike anything he had felt in a long time. He flew backwards as his left arm fell to the sea, a spray of deep arterial green spiraled through air while he twisted and tumbled violently through the warm equatorial sky.

Cuc righted himself, teeth bared in rage as Grega prepared another shot. It would not happen twice. Cuc's onigan opened as Grega fired again, the distinct double ring flaring right as the round left the makeshift rail gun. Grega had to double check his aim after this second shot apparently missed. No one was fast enough to dodge these bullets, but he missed the third round as well. Impossible, that third round was right on target. Grega muttered under his breath, "How is he doing that."

Cucumba continued to dodge, even as grega created a handle and scope for the rail gun, greatly increasing his ability to aim. The Jade Behemoth used his slipgates to move through places between places and moved ever closer to his fallen arm. It will be much faster if I get the limb back, thought the Green Devil. And its time I used that volcano to my advantage.

Cucumba floated in the air before the Millenius Volcanis. Grega changed the nature of his creation once again, now he stood with a veritable cannon, complete with support legs, and the slug now in excess of 20 kilograms. The Ancient Horror knew that this weapon would kill him outright if it so much as landed near him. The timing would be have to be tight, very tight.

The Jin Crown flared violently as Grega fired his doomsday device.

The detonation of the volcano's crater followed shortly after its side was slugged with the force of a nuclear weapon. Grega held his half shield up in front of him, guiding the blast to either side of him. The quarry had dissapeared in the blast, and Grega was fairly certain that he saw the Admin escape at the very last second. He looked around trying to find where the slippery green frog had gone to. He wasn't in the air, he wasn't behind him, maybe he was behind the Volcano. Grega's eyes suddenly widened in shock as he saw the admin in the receeding waves holding his severed arm to its stump, the spear dug in the sand. Braving the maelstrom of heat, pressure and water, Cucumba smiled as the Tsunami engulfed him like some nightmare from a horror movie that refused to die.

The blast had started to die down, leaving only the incoming tsunami to deal with. Grega launched himself into the air to avoid the 30 foot wall of water approaching the island, and saw that the deep rumblings beneath their feet had finally transformed into full throated volcanic fury as magma and ash belched forth into the sky from the once extinct cone of the Volcanis Millenius.

"Sixth Crown, Yi!"

It was then that Grega realized that he had been had, and he silently applauded his training partner on his guile. Grega threw up a half sphere shield just in time to block balls glowing magma flying from the direction of the voice. He saw through the salvo the shilouette of the mighty admin. The crowns now arcs of elemental violence, like a rainbow of destruction, spread from shoulder to shoulder. With every thrust of his spear, balls of molten doom rained down on Grega's half sphere shield.

"I take it you have figured out that the sixth crown is fire. And our mutual friend," Cucumba smirked, "is belching forth quite a bit of fire."

Grega knew that the old demon had something up his sleeve that required time; time that he would not be allowed to have.

"Of course, it has an earth element, which forces me to use two crowns at once. I'm sure you are thinking that you can interrupt my next move, but I am quite sure that you can't. Do you know what the next crown is, Grega?"

"I have no idea. But since we're asking questions," Grega paused after yet another blast against his half shield, "do you know what I find absolutely awesome about volcanic eruptions?"

Cucumba smiled, his toothy maw exposed, "I have no idea."

"Their electric potential."

Cucumba dove hard, but it was too late, Grega tossed two electric sphere's into the dust cloud as he dodged Cuc's last poorly aimed fireball. The Jade Leviathan looked at the angry skies above, watching the two electric spheres gain incredible charge until they were so fast and so many that he could no longer track them. The Green Devil brought harbinger to bear, and his 5th crown flared with anger. He could smell the building ozone over the sulfur of the volcano, and he knew his time to run had run out.

Hundreds of lightning strikes came from the cloud at the same time, illuminating the darkening beach brighter than day time.

Cucumba had absorbed much of it into the giant brass spear and himself, and was utterly at his limit to store it when he saw Grega throwing a hybrid sphere bigger than either of the previous spheres.

The detonation was impressive, and the blasted admin fired toward the earth like a cannonball. Grega smiled as the metal shrapnel that he had stored at the hybrid ball's center whipped by his face.

Cucumba bled. He lay, staring at the sky, his breath ragged and his flesh torn. His ribs were broken and exposed in places where Grega's dirty snowball attack nailed him quite hard. Still, the admin reached forward and stood on shaky legs. His spear returned to him as Grega landed after one of his distinctive popping blasts pushed him to the admin. The spear landed with a loud thud, and the Green Devil spread his legs further to balance himself once again.

"You couldn't possibly use something so heavy against me in that state. It is time to end this excercise, we have both hit our limits," Grega's chest was heaving with deep breaths between words.

Cucumba's massive head raised slowly, his face burned, blasted and bruised. His boots had been blasted clean of him, and his leather pants were little more than leather shorts at this point. "I have reached the limits of this form, in that you are quite correct." Cucumba spat up quite a bit of pearly green blood and his eyes burned yellow in his sunken eye sockets.

Grega cautiously and hesitantly dropped into a fighting stance, and knew this was going to be worse than he feared.

"7th crown, Tae, the spirit which binds the first six crowns together," he said, and with that, the auras disappeared, absorbed by a maelstrom of dark green fire that seemed to emanate from Cucumba's every pore. "You see, this is the fully unlocked power of my reaper, condensed and made whole by the force of my spirit."

"But I did say that there was an eighth crown, one to be revealed. If you can reach me, in this, my utmost potential without the interference of . . . him. Then I will admit that you were the better mortal between us. However, no matter how strong you get, no matter what power you gain, you cannot match the Splinter's true power.

Grega nodded.

"To don the eight crown is to become a god unto myself," Cucumba continued. "To hold a power, albiet breifly, once claimed only by the one who created me. To hold a power held by the one who gave his eye to us all. The one who waits at the door on the end of forever. He whom amongst us who can defeat him."

"You see, we were to learn the secrets of war to be a better killing machine for it beyond the door. We were to be perfect machines of battle, and to his credit, he created such a thing. But one must be careful when creating things one does not understand. It understands many things, more than you or I will probibly ever know. But it is, at its core, greedy, empty and mad. And in its most fevered madness . . . "

Grega tensed, sensing that the strike was coming as the green fire died down.

"IT CREATED ME!"

Cucumba lunged at Grega, and readied Harbinger for a powerful overhead strike, Grega formed a buster sword to counter, which immediately shrunk to katana size after blocking the bone breaking strike from the Verdant Leviathan. The Dev slid back, his inertia easily overcome. A sudden pain exploded in his back as he was suddenly spun to one side, his armor again smashed, and from his twirling point of view he saw a pillar of basalt thrusting from the sand. Grega dismissed his sword and pushed with a gentle detonation of light spheres to stop his face first slam into the floor, doing a half gainer just past the impact point to gain his verticle alignment. When he turned he saw spikes made of sand where he was meant to land. He dodged a number of other basalt pillars as they erupted at Cucumba's urging, it was then that he saw a wall of water, steaming from the magma trapped beneath its waves, heading for him. He quickly summoned another rail gun and blasted a hole through the water, making a pathway for himself.

Grega used his light orb's detonation to spin and guard against the next attack. Summoning a thick steel plate was child’s play normally, but the savage speed with which the Jade Behemoth attacked left him little time to recover. Never-the-less, Grega pulled it into existence just in time to see several gusts of wind tear through the three foot thick plate with ease. The plate was bifurcated by a mighty blow from the spear as Cucumba again gestured in the Clever Cartographer's direction. Grega summoned a handle sized bar, and an electric sphere, and pressed them together with a great deal of effort. A swirling pillar of electrified water, sand, and rock, still scalding from the magma now beneath them raced up to meet Grega from below as he prepared his other surprise. Cucumba continued to teleport forward, droping to gain forward momentum thanks to his interdimensional slipgates. Grega carefully studied the onrushing alien, discerning a pattern in the chaos . . . THERE!

The Ancient Horror came out of a slipgate, face contorted in madness and fury, surging out of control like the wild and uncontrollable elements he was summoning, and began his next leg of the attack. Slipgates opened with fire and lava belching forth, frothy ocean waves packing the deadly weight of their impact, the cutting winds, deadly and invisible, and the sand and rocks of the beach. Still, he could see that Grega was launching small silvery weapons at him. As one drew close, he saw the swirling shuriken in marvelous detail. He was impressed by how nicely Grega was able to create and detail them in such a short period of time, but the little blue swirling marble troubled him, especially when it was swallowed up from within by radiant, white light. Cuc threw his arms in front of his face and slipgated again. He saw the explosion, not as lethal as other things thrown at him, but there were dozens and somehow Grega had guessed where he was to teleport too.

The Green Devil ate one, and spiraled out of control as he struggled to keep control over his wall of suffering. He then experienced the sharp pain of several hitting him, the explosions went off successively, but Grega was denied satisfaction as the horrid swarm flew from the explosion in all directions as the wall of pain continued. Grega couldn't recalculate where to throw in time, so instead he moved himself so that the attacks would all hit him from the same side. He desperately threw up his half sphere shield in front, taking the brunt of most of the attack, and materialized another metal wall behind him, which was assailed by forces he didn't have time to look at.

Skyrider watched slack jawed as the forum hardware redlined to crunch numbers to render the reality that Grega was facing; a multi-directional, omni-elemental onslaught.

Grega struggled, pushing against the maelstrom with all of his might, and heard the slightest of voices from above.

"Burn in the weight of my shadow!"

Grega looked up in time to see the thunder charged spear coming at him from overhead driven by the Verdant Leviathan like a steak thrust at the heart of the world. Grega grabbed the blade just in time, both he and Cucumba singed, torn and battered from the suddenly undefended onslaught.

Now the voice was loud and personal. Through clinched and green bloodied teeth, the admin spoke, "Check mate."

"Not quite," came the retort faster than Grega could make himself believe it.

They plummeted towards the cooling lava, certain death if this had not been a training excercise. And how easy it had been to forget that, that it was not battle. That the purpose was not to defeat your partner, that the purpose was to be stronger than you were yesterday.

Out of survival instinct, rather than any real planned reaction, Grega summoned several pieces of metal on the ground at the point of impact as he siphoned away Harbinger's electrical energy. Two steel poles rammed into Cucumba's shoulders, missing Grega by mere millimeters. The sudden stop crushed many of the Admin's bones, tore ligaments, and blood flowed fresh again. The Dev slammed mercilessly onto the metal plate, blood ejected forcefully from his mouth, as a tube some two feet wide appeared beneath the Jade Leviathan. Grega maintained the electric sphere he had summoned, stood shakily, and slammed it into the wall of the tube.

"This is the END!"

A giant rod of steel exploded forth at near light speed, sending a giant curtain of lava up in all directions around the two fighters. Grega smiled, but then he felt something terribly wrong, something he knew could not be.

Sky rubbed his eyes, not sure of how it had happened, but there could be no mistake. Grega was somehow impaled by his own device.

Laughter came from the Admin, slow at first, but then with thundering madness.

"H . . How!?" Grega collapsed onto his metal slab, his breath wheezing and ragged as he slid from the impaling spike he so hastily created.

Cucumba slid from his end of the spike as well. It ended and began somewhere else. No sane person could look at it and surmise that it could exist.

"Harbinger has two special abilities before its bankai mode that are very helpful, but situational," Cuc coughed up a lot of blood as some of his entrails fell from the ragged two foot hole in his chest. Grega's dimming eyes could see that the wound stopped just short of Cucumba's lungs and heart.

"I won't bother you with details of the other, but Broken Angles is quite useful in this situation. It’s a very specific slip gate, and totally rigged for self defense that kicks in automatically when my life is in danger."

Blood launched itself from a wound in Cuc's neck, and he staggered to remain upright.

"A fatal wound will be launched back at the attacker. Sure the wound starts in me, but harbinger continued it in you, on all the good parts I might add. All I had to do was lul you into a false sense of security, make you think I was vulnerable at some point, I have the fifth crown to thank for that."

Had this not been a training exercise, Grega would have perished. His wounds began to close, as did Cucumba's, as Skyrider began restoring backups of them before they entered the scenario.

"Well then, it was a draw, surely you would not have survived those wounds," stated Grega matter-of-factly while checking to make sure every part of him was restored. "You could barely stand at the end, your mortal coil was about to be shed as well."

"No," replied the admin, still holding his bankai. "You merely would have pushed me to use the eighth crown, for which I will congratulate you. As you did infact reach me at the cost of your life." The admin smiled.

"I see, then may I see it? The final crown? On the battlefield I would have earned it," said a sardonically smiling Grega.

"Very well, but remember, what I am about to show you is for your eyes alone."

"Eighth Crown, Geun. The Heavens."

Grega stared on in wonder at what he saw, a burning greenish white light consumed the admin, and he stood before Grega covered in intricately inlaid armor, three eye holes cut into the deeply shadowed helmet, all three burning like green fire. The spear itself became delicately shaped, inlaid with gold and radiating with power of its own. Cucumba spoke, and his voice came from all around, even under the earth, and not all of the voices spoke langauges that Grega understood, "This is the form of the destroyer, the one who will survive to the end of time to fulfill his destiny and destroy Cucatoth once and for all and begin the end of the cycles, Ragnarok. This is the fragment of infinity which Cucatoth cast away to destroy others, and in his fear of what I had become, attempts to devour me upon my return. This is the shape of Kaiser, holder of the Covenant. This form, you cannot reach."

His green cape fluttered in the cross breeze of power bursting forth from him and his fully charged bankai.

"What, what the hell is the covenant?" Grega held his arms up in front of his face because of the intense light being generated, an irony that was not lost on him.

"That which consumes those who cannot be defeated otherwise."

"Awful cryptic . . . "

"It is the eye that binds us all."

And from deep within the swirling power, Grega could see, he could understand, and the sight of it nearly broke his mind.

There was a countless sea of green men, all alike and yet different. All bearing three eyes, but one. The one who sat upon the golden throne.

It was at this precise moment that the forum hardware crashed and reset the site. Grega stood before the now perfectly normal Cucumba, blinking and double taking to get the vision out of his head.

"How . . . how many are you?"

"I? We, we are legion. Of him, there is only one."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Cucumba sat upon his golden throne as his armies ammased and praised him, brining him gifts and adulation, and most of all, techniques of war. Ways of combat secured from the farthest reaches of both time and space. Each timeline was a demon's lifetime of mastery in such arts. Each timeline being a new one he had lived. Golden boy had broken the rules, but it was okay, it was after all, really him. The one who in a great deal of time, would become Kaiser himself. A single burning green eye smoldered from his left socket only, he could neither give himself the Onigan, nor could he keep the eye which he gave the others so they would always be successful. They who were bound by the eye to heed the call of the covenant. How many were there now? Millions, Trillions? He had lost count aeons ago. It would not matter. His appointed time would come, and they would be sufficient.

Cuc's long white hair fell in locks over his titanic frame as he contemplated the future beyond the door, the only future he could not see.