Match 4 - Liam vs Zander

[Liam McKinly]

Breathe in...hold...breathe out... Liam leaned against the wall, his eyes closed. The entryway was dimly lit and stuffy, but at least it was quiet. He needed time to meditate before it began. Just a few feet down the makeshift hallway was the ramp leading up and out to the ring where his match was to take place. He was waiting for them to announce his name, and taking the time to meditate. He had to win. If possible, he had to win the whole tournament. The whole thing stank of a trap. The Ashford Organization didn't give freedom. All they knew how to do was take it away. And he'd be damned if he'd let a fresh batch of students get spirited off to be used and broken on his first week here. Obviously his best chance to save the victors was to *be* a victor, so he was determined. After all, what better first act as a rogue agent than to throw a wrench in the gearworks?

As a last calm, cool breath passed his lips, he heard his name announced over the PA, along with that of his opponent: Zander Shale. He knew little about the boy, though he'd had just enough research time after seeing the brackets to find out that he was a prefect. That suggested training. He would have to be careful, and play it by ear. This was no time to get sloppy. Opening his eyes and slipping his hands into his pockets, he headed up the ramp. Issac...if you were here, what would you do?...


With a deep, head-clearing breath he stepped out and into the ring, his eyes flicking over his shoulder as he heard a metal shutter close in front of the hall he had come through. No turning back now. He tested the floor of the ring with his feet. Slightly springy, light, like the surface of a boxing ring. He could use that to his advantage, the floor would allow for faster take offs and less damage when he hit the ground. Looking around he eyed the boundaries, high and towering, netted in with what appeared to be heavy wire, and nodded approvingly. It was a fair ring. No unjust advantage to anyone.

As he heard another metal shutter slide closed, he turned his head back to the other side of the ring, where his opponent had just emerged. Setting him aside he closed his eyes, thinking. The air felt warm on his skin. Too warm; the arena was still outdoors, and he judged the temperature to be roughly 88 degrees. Making a low "hm" noise under his breath, he reached up and gripped one of the sleeves of his long, but thin shirt, and pulled as hard as he could, tearing it off at the shoulder. He repeated the process to the other, making the shirt into a tank top. He would have to reserve his energy, avoid too much unnecessary movement to prevent overheating. He tossed the sleeves to one side and sized up his opponent. Hm. Shorter than me. Avoid going to ground if it comes to a fist fight, lower center of gravity means increased stability but decreased reach. That'd yield a 35% increased chance of failure. Use longer limbs to advantage, attempt to bait him into excessive movement. First I'll have to analyze his power though. Delay tactics. He looked up, met the boy's eyes, and without another word slipped into a ready stance.

[Zander Shale]

        The tournament meant a variety of things to different people. Some saw it as an opportunity to leave; Others a ploy to subjugate the students; To Zander, it was a chance to prove his worth to the Prefects. Sure, he was confident in his skills, but he was also realistic enough to know that, if he couldn't prove just how good he was, nobody would trust him with even minor things, including carrying the mail. This was his one shot at making a lasting impression, and by God, he was gonna make it.

        For days, Zander did nothing but practice, night, day, break time, and every moment in-between. He worked to keep his powers and his physical abilities in tip top condition. In his mind, though, he didn't see how he could do much better than he was now. It's always been one of his most confident points: That he was at the pinnacle of his powers. Still, it was always a good thing in his mind to make sure you could use what you had to it's fullest extent. Needless to say, this would be important for the coming fights, given the majority of the people in his bracket are senior Prefects themselves.

        Things were a mix of anxiousness and thoughtfulness about who he was fighting. This "Liam" was no one he had ever heard of, met, or read about, yet he was paired up with all the Prefect members and that Rex fellow, seemingly out of no where. It was odd to him. Who was this guy, and why did he join in on the tournament? Whatever the case was, he wasn't going to allow this guy to beat him. Not by a long shot. Zander edged in at the last possible moment, having taken his sweet time to keep himself calm. And before him lay the arena and, more importantly, his opponent. The boy was just as odd looking as his appearance was, and that was troubling. Nevertheless, the boy made no odd actions, looks, or sounds, simply placing himself in a combat stance, staring straight into Zander's eyes. "Tch... Not a talker, I see..... Fine then, let's get this over with." He spoke confidently, brashly even, as he would have in the past. He may not know what it is the boy can do, but he was sure enough in his own skill to not fret over one measly guy.

        No, he was more worried about the other, more dangerous people he had already witnessed fighting before, and what they'd do to him if he slacked off at all.

[Liam McKinly]

Liam simply observed the boy in the moments leading up to the match's start. His stance suggested training, not mastery of self defense but enough to pose a threat. However, Liam inwardly smiled at the boy's demeanor. Brash, and overconfident. The boy had failed to analyze his opponent. He could almost see the boy comparing Liam to others he had encountered in his mind's eye and finding him short. That was fine. He would let the boy be his own undoing. Liam concentrated on Zander, the world blurring around him and focusing in on his target, whom he could now see with crystal clarity. Muscle movements, breathing rate, he could see it all. In an instant, within his mind's eye he saw the beginning of a plan take place like flashes of  images on a reel of film. First, test the waters. Open with a forced retreat or defense maneuver. Using  the ring to propel into a direct, mid-range, high speed attack in the blindspot should suffice. Analyze defensive response, follow with a low attack to test reaction time and possible use of powers as a counter. End position should facilitate use of mat and walls as an evasion tactic and leverage for the next counter attack.

In a flash of movement, Liam was gone. Stepping, he used a low power concussive blast of energy from his off foot, intended to feint which direction he was going. The blast of energy from his foot reverberated off the mat and sent him rocketing like a blur to Zander's side, and slightly behind, still a meter or two away. Before he even landed his leg was rising and falling in an axe kick, a crescent wave of sharp, rapidly-moving blue energy flashing from it towards Zander's blindspot. As his foot hit the mat he dropped and spun, scything his other leg out, a concussive blast of blue energy flying outwards this time towards Zanders ankles. As the second attack engaged he rolled backwards, preemptively crouching and building potential energy in his legs.

[Zander Shale]

        Zander felt unsure about a great many things with the boy in front of him, but he still remained confident in his abilities. He shifted lightly back and forth on his feet, being sure to be prepared for an attack of any kind. Oliver had drilled into him enough the notion of letting your opponent strike first, one of the few things he learned from his time here. Reacting to your opponent gives you the chance to turn their attack into a weakness.

        Unfortunately for him, Liam's maneuvers caught him off guard at first, due to the extreme speed. He barely managed to dive out of the way of the first wave of energy aimed at him, but there was no way for him to avoid the second wave. Of course, being on the ground at this point, the blast slammed against him and sent him skidding away. Holy hell, that hurt!!! was the first and foremost thing on his mind as he staggered back to his feet. Still, it wasn't to damaging. Thank God for Enhanced Durability, he randomly mused. But now he felt even more confident.Even if the guy noticed his attack wasn't as effective and attributed it to his powers, it still left alot to chance. Meanwhile, Zander figured the boy had few other attack options. And people said he couldn't do statistics. Now it was time to start screwing with the guy, as Zander seemingly and seamlessly split into three, each perfect copies of the other. Now he had the advantage, as he wove in and out of through the shades, ending his motion with all three perfectly synched into making a taunting beckon with his hand, smirking to Liam in return.

[Liam McKinly]

Liam wasted no time as the boy was sent skidding across the floor from the blow and sprang into action barely a second after he stood. He had succeeded on all three counts. His ending position had been as planned, the boy had made a forced retreat from the first attack, and his response to it told Liam several important things. He was back on his feet seconds after the attack hit. At this close of a range, and with him already on the ground, the energy wave should have meant at least a heavy stun, and likely a broken rib. But the boy showed no sign of injury or even pain in his stance. That meant that at least, the boy possessed increased durability of some kind. That meant he would have to adjust his tactics. He would need to keep the boy moving and dodging, tire him out preemptively, then execute with attacks meant to cripple rather than injure. If the boy couldn't move, then he couldn't fight. 

Just as Zander stood and executed his maneuver, before the smirk had even faded from his face, Liam launched himself backwards with another blurringly fast explosion of movement, aided by another low bore blast of energy. WIth that and the potential energy gathered in his legs, Liam fairly flew into the net of wires that formed the wall of the cage. He sank into them for a moment, then shot over top of Zander. As he twisted midair, he raised his eyebrow briefly as the boy split into three, and wondered if his opponent had even registered his move yet. He closed his eyes and then opened them, his aura sight kicking on. He immediately spotted the real one, as he was the only one with a distinct aura, and twisted his body in the air, scything his leg directly down. As the kick fell, he released a wave of crescent-shaped, high speed energy directly down towards the boy's head like a shot from a gun. His momentum continued and carried him over the boy and he landed, cloaking his fist in the same blue energy and slamming it into the mat. With his punch empowered by the energy, the mat shook and vibrated in a wave towards the boy which would hopefully destabilize him and make the prior attack more devastating. 

Position of advantage attained. I now know two of the target's powers, while he comprehends only one of mine. Press the advantage and keep him on his toes. No idea what those clones were made of or how else that element might be used. Be wary of possible other uses, specifically feints and trickery. Keep aura sight engaged for the rest of the fight so as not to lose track of target. If I can make him exploit his power, pressing an advantage he perceives himself to have, he'll wear himself out. 

[Zander Shale]

        Zander was not the world's greatest fighter. Even he could admit that. He wasn't interested in such things, just doing what needed to be done, whether it was scraping a living by stealing or helping to protect someone innocent. That didn't mean he was a coward by any means, though, and was more than willing to take an opponent head on, if he had to. Sadly, though, it seemed that would be the case. Even as well-made as his shades were, his opponent didn't bat an eye at targeting the real him. That meant either his opponent could tell which one was real with no real margin for error or he was stupid amounts of lucky. Neither was good for Zander, so it was best to assume he couldn't fake his opponent out.

        The most recent wave came at him quickly, but that wasn't the problem. What was the problem was the shockwave Liam put out afterwards. Zander began to feel the ground beneath him buckle and shake, making it hard to position himself sturdily. Instead of fighting to stay standing fully, he staggered backwards a couple steps to Liam and dropped to one knee, forcing his arms up to take the offending blast from above. He knew it would knock him back if it was anything like the last one, and sure enough, the blast collided into him, albeit slightly off point. The force of the attack slammed against him heavily, and he could feel pain all along his arms as he went cascading backwards. However, this is what he wanted to happen. Just as he started to slow down, a cord of rope seemed to wrap around his leg out of thin air and shoot off, pulling his leg up and over him. It was, after all, what Zander hoped to do, as the Shadowessence construct helped lift him up and off the ground. It stayed just long enough to flip him back up and, as he came to land, he swung out with his other leg, trying to nail Liam in the side. No way he'd let any opponent win without a fight.

[Liam McKinly]

Liam raised an eyebrow in surprise as the a rope form of supposedly the same material as the clones he had seen earlier appeared and maneuvered the boy into a position of advantage at the tail end of his slide backwards, even after he was struck by both Liam's energy attack and the destabilization of the mat. The boy was very durable, there was no doubting that. Liam slipped to his feet and back into stance as the boy turned through the air, his thoughts moving quickly as he kept his focus on his opponent. So, his power can also be used in the form of constructs. This gives him a mobility and versatility advantage over me, but I still hold the strategic advantage. The boy flashed out with a quick kick as he landed, Liam's mind racing again. A strong defensive attack. If he manages to land it, there's a high probability he'll follow up with a snare or some attempt to combo into another attack. I find it most likely that the first case is true, considering is fighting style. There's a strong chance he's already set it up in a blind spot, or will in a pinch. This makes him dangerous in close range. Adjustment: hit and away tactic.

He waited until the second before the boy's kick landed, and then smoothly went into motion. He just barely swayed to one side, so the boy's kick would slip past him with its current momentum. Without betraying a thing on his face he threw the sharp point of his elbow down as hard as he could towards the side of the boy's knee. Whether the attack hit or not was beside the point. The attempted counter would, if his observations thus far had been right, either hit or prompt the boy to spring whatever trap or snare he might have had planned as a follow up, which Liam responded to preemptively. An aura of blue energy took shape around his legs which had sharp, blade-like edges around the ankles and shins intended to protect him from a projection aimed in that area. Barely a second after his elbow fell and the formation of the "armor" he spun around and behind the boy, lashing out a foot in a vicious kick aimed at the back of his head, just below the occipital bone of the skull. Attack points of cognition. Back of the head is the processing point for vision and the easiest impact spot to induce unconsciousness.