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Match Start: July 23rd, 2011 @ 8:00PM
Match End: August 23rd, 2011 @ 8:00PM

Post Response Limit: 4 days
First Post: Gado

Stage Description:
A small stream (five feet across) runs through this densely populated jungle, courtesy of the stage simulator on the Kyrvktz space station. The floor is covered in organic material, and the very thick trees rise about seventy five feet into the air. Snakes, frogs, and crocodiles populate the area, and although normally inert, are angered by the sudden presence of outsiders, and will attack every so often. The wildlife heeds no master.

Turn 2 - Each player will be targeted by two frogs that will attempt to secrete poison onto any unclothed surface they can latch themselves onto.

Turn 5 - Two anacondas will make its way over towards the players and each will attempt to swallow a person whole, but only after coiling around their prey and constricting at dangerous amounts..

Turn 7 - Two crocodiles (one per player) will make their way out of the water before trying to sink their teeth into whatever they can.

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May the strongest grass blade emerge tallest.

Gado found himself in a jungle of sorts.. which was, very convenient. It was certainly different from what he was used to, and had more of a swamp-like look than that of a forest, yet it wasn't so extremely different from his own home as the last arena had been. Taking a few steps in a circle, scanning his surroundings for any details that could serve him well during the soon-to-come battle, he noticed the jungle housed a rich variety of animals. He could see frogs, anakondas, crocodiles, and some birds flying in the distance. None of those he could see seemed to have noticed him at this point, and he was therefore unable to conclude wheter or not they were hostile.

He had, obviously, gotten here first, again, and so.. he had to wait for his opponent to show up. It would be very convenient if he had decided to bail on the entire tournament, but Gado wouldn't bet on it.. he had spoken to him, and seen what he was capable of - which wasn't much - and he didn't seem like the runaway type. Drawing his wooden (yet equally strong and sharp as if made of steel) sword with his right arm, he positioned himself in a stance that would tell his opponent he wasn't on guard (relaxed) when he actually was.

And then.. he waited.

Naturally, Kei’taro appeared after his opponent and some distance away. His body seemed to be more muscular and his hair a slighter tinge of orange. RyuKyu was inside him, spiritual once more for fear of the teleported and simulation. “Well, isn’t this pleasant,” he whispered, as his leg gave out and he found himself on his left knee. The sword was the only thing that kept him from going face down into the dirt and mud. Therein, he took the opportunity to sense the minds of several animal species in the area, via natural senses, some more dangerous than others. ‘Well, at least they gave me something to work with this time,’ he thought before pulling himself up and looking towards Gado.

“I’m sorry, man, this might not be fun for you. I’m a bit injured, as you can tell!’ He yelled out, obviously uncaring for the potential of dangers. Maybe he didn’t know they were there. Limping forward, he shortened the distance to maybe twenty feet, twenty-one at the most. “Well, I’m not the type to quit, so let’s get on with it!’ Sliding the sheathe back into its normal area, he lazily grabbed the hilt and waited, offering his opponent the first move.

His yells were not in vain, the animals had noticed them and now headed towards the pair with hungry intent.

(( I assume this is turn two ))

Without a comment, Gado observed as his opponent appeared, and limped towards him. Stopping at a distance of twenty feet/six meters away from him. He had obviously been injured in his leg, tough Gado would have to admit.. he had not seen an attack that could cause such damage during the fight he had with the banshee, perhaps it was a ruse to catch him off-guard. Great minds think alike. Gado would have to pay attention to his opponent's response to his first attack.

Raising his sword towards the man before him, an idea formed in his mind.. something that could quite possibly catch him completely off-guard. As he had observed the fight between the banshee and his current opponent, he had seen him extending the lenght of his sword, used to shoot out in a stabbing motion. Naturally, being attacked by an attack one is so familliar with, would probably be very unexpected - not to mention the fact that he wasn't aware of Gado's abillities yet.. Hopefully.

From his left, he noticed two small frogs coming towards him in a manner that seemed too much of a direct-charge than he was comfortable with. They jumped at him, not particularly fast, but if left unprevented - would probably land on his shoulder. He was unsure wheter or not they posed any actual danger.. but from what he could tell from his opponent's body language, he wasn't going to be struck if he took care of this inconvenience before starting the fight. A single swipe with the flat-side of his sword would send the first frog flying back into the jungle, splattering it onto a rock. The second, would never reach mid-air, as a well-aimed thrust was jabbed trough it's body, instantly removing any life it had in it. Unbeknownst to Gado, both of theese frogs where extremely poisonous, and as his sword was used to kill them both.. so was it. He positioned himself back in the previous stance, and aimed his now poisonous wooden sword towards Kei.

No witty one-liners or comments would warn the opponent of the nature of the attack that would be launched, as Gado's wooden sword extended towards him with great speed. The short distance between them, and the speed of the sword, would give the man little chance to do anything but block or dodge, should he not - he'd find himself impaled upon the long wooden blade, which was aimed at the middle of his waist. Naturally, Gado did expect him to dodge it, but knew that because he aimed at his waist, he'd be forced to move his entire body out of the way, instead of just side-stepping it.. and as such, the extending blade would turn, and continue to follow the fleeing enemy with ease.

Simultaneously, his left hand would be held right above the bag containing his seeds, ready to pull one out at a moments notice.

(( And we're on. Good luck and all ^_^ ))

Kei’taro struggled to maintain a proper balance on his injured leg, his grip on Kusanagi increasing slightly as if it would help balance him, despite not being properly grounded to anything. By virtue of sheer determination he was able to keep his footing. Maybe jumping off that wall wasn’t such a good idea, eh? His eyes watched Gado, wondering what his first move would be, believing it to be something nature based, given the use of a wooden sword.

Kei withdrew his sword quickly as the man aimed his wooden stick at him, the brittle weapon dull in the light. This was not the weapon of the warrior, for allegedly would break under enough stress. Still, Kei’taro held it bravely. Both hands gripped the hilt, and the waiting game was one. There was strange scent in the air, seeds. It was coming from somewhere on Gado. He had a whiff of it while they chatted in the lobby. He wondered what they were for.

(Interrupt)

Gado wasn’t the only one that noticed the frogs and their beeline path to either man. Kei’taro immediately recognized them as poisonous, but showed little fear, for they wouldn’t effect him, much. Not only was his skin mostly covered, but he was also resistant to poison, and could talk to animals. Turning his attention away, he steadied himself and said, “Shoot to Kill, Kusanagi.” His opponent would likely be caught off guard, by the unsuspecting attack, as he was focused on the frogs that sought to poison him. At the range he was to his opponent, it would take the weapon a second or two, three at the most to reach the man, who was just swiping away at the first frog, or rather finishing up. Let it never be said, Kei’taro didn’t take advantage of his surroundings, and surrounding circumstances to secure victory. This would also force Gado to rethink his options of staying this close.

As the sword shot out, a sharp ribbit cut through his throat, as the frogs landed on him. In the mix, he convinced the frogs that he was not their enemy, and that the other man had killed their friend. A tattoo on his arm, a dragon, began to glow and burn. Vivid Dragon, it was called. Being hidden, none would see it, not even Kei’taro, but he knew that the fiery flames associated with it would be a great help. Both frogs took reprieve under the collars of his coat. They would come in handy.

Gado, who had previously thought that his opponent was of honour, and would let him have the first attack. Therefore, he didn't put in as much effort into killing the frogs as he could have. That was about to change. "Shoot to Ki-.." Oh yes, Gado remembered this distinct phrase being shouted before, when he had observed his current opponent's last fight on the monitors back in the lobby. He immediatly upped his efforts on taking out the frogs before the man would finish his ridiculous, yet obviously neccesary, shouting. By the time the word: "Kusanagi" had been yelled, Gado had killed both frogs with two fast strikes, and quickly turned his full attention towards Kei'taro just as the sword shot out towards him.

With it's current speed, it would take the extending sword at least two-three seconds to reach him. Plenty of time to prevent it from ever hitting it's appointed target. There was a certain weakness assosiated with having swords of uneccesary length, and Gado would provide his opponent with that knowledge in a few moments. He took a few hurried steps backwards, placing himself at a distance of 8 metres, completely ready for the oncoming thrust. Just as the sword came within striking-range, Gado met the oncoming blade with his own sword. Attempting to slash it horizontally from the left with his right arm with most of his strength. He made sure to do this in a manner, so that his opponent, even if able to do so, would not be able to move his sword in the last second to strike Gado in an unprotected area. By striking at it after it had gone a few inches within his striking range, but not close enough to harm him. While doing this, his left hand went down into his pouch and grabbed a handfull of seeds.

Now, the effects of this straight-forward strike would be most logical. As the sword at this point had reached 6-8 metres of length, making it highly unbalanced in the terms of weight displacement. A single strike from any direction, would likely hurl the sword to the side, and unless the wielder had immense strength in his wrist, would be unable to do anything to prevent it from crashing to the ground (not neccesarily loosing his grip on it in the process). This logic was offcourse based on the presumption that his current opponent had no form of telekinesis or the likes.


- Should the strike succeed:

A simple thought from Gado was all that was neccesary to make sure the move had the best effect. As the sword's aim flew to his right, towards some nearby trees/bushes/bunks of grass (undoubtly, it's a jungle), said object of nature (tree/bush/grass) would lash out and attempt to literally drag the sword into it. This would happen simultaneously, all along the 6-9m long blade, as every object of nature on the side the blade's aim where hurling towards, would do the same.. Before pulling it away from it's wielder, burying it into a now overgrown -whatever was used to pull it-. ((Obviously this is an attempt))


(To clear the "should it succeed" move out: As the sword goes to the side, all the trees/bushes/chunks of grass between Kei and Gado on the left (to Kei) and right (to Gado) which is the direction the sword would be flying if the strike sucseeds, will try to pull it towards them, likely disarming Kei if they manage to do so.)

Kei’taro watched in amusement as Gado managed to change the way he struck at the frogs, after hearing more of the release of Kusanagi. His reaction speed must have been something to perform such a feat. It mattered little to Kei, as the only thing that changed was when the release occurred, as opposed to when he intended it. Sadness lumped in his stomach as he watched the frogs, be butchered by this man. He apparently didn’t see the frogs hidden in Kei’s collar, which would work to Kei’taro’s advantage should he get close enough to the man.

Gado leapt back to avoid the oncoming weapon, much to Kei’taro’s own delight. The man was crafty and knowledgeable when it came to such things it seemed. As the sharpened blade neared, Gado sought to strike it and deflect it. Now, normally, this would throw a lesser man off balance, but for Kei’taro, he had trained for such a predicament. As the sword was tossed off the right, Kei’taro quite simply let his hand follow through with it. “Kusa,” he whispered, without moving his lips, sounding nearly like a snake, almost impossible to hear from his distance and his opponent. A lot of his opponents sought to unbalance him with such tactics, unaware just as the sword was shot, he could be recalled. This battle would truly be one to remember.

Kei’taro then realized Gado lied to him, he was capable of manipulating the environment, particularly the forest it seemed. Well, no matter, Kei’taro had lied as well, but his own capabilities were far more diverse. Depending on how long Gado was in the lobby, he only saw two of Kei’taro’s abilities, Shoot To Kill, definitely, and perhaps Thunderbird. Neither of these mattered, but there was no harm in playing to it. With the sword on the return, the lashing grass and bush, were viciously sliced apart upon touching the edge. Such sharpness was superb, in a blade whose normal edge looked as brittle as an elder gentlemen’s bones.

When the sword finally return to its normal state, his arm was straight out to his side, and his head was down. Wisps of his hair blew in the wind, before the relentless sound of a hiss escaped from behind him. “Hisss,” he mused, as quiet as a mouse. Another hiss, louder than his own, defiant. Kei’taro wasn’t worried, he knew the reptile saw his display of serpent prowess. “Kusa,” he mused one more time before looking to Gado, a bit of a hair, orange, laying on his shoulder. Vivid Dragon continued to gather energy, as well as the newly started Thunderbird. He’d burn this place to the ground.

As the sword returned to it's wielder, Gado noted that no second attack was attempted. This allowed him to deny his opponent any breathing space, by making his very first attack.

Returning to his stance, still holding his ground, he quickly deduced that there were no other frogs attempting to reach his position in the samme manner as the other two. He had ended their life, but it was entirely out of self-defence, and at least he did a quick job about it. Focusing his attention towards the dishonorous coward before him (due to attacking him in the way he did). Without a word or gesture from Gado, the trees closest to Kei'taro in front of him would bend their entire form towards his body in a horizontal sweeping motion to the left and right. This attack would consist of two individual groups of trees that would swing a wall of thick, sturdy and not to mention sharp branches in addition to their thicker core branch on both sides of Kei'taro. Should he be hit directly, he'd find himself crushed between two incredible forces of motion, and most likely impaled by several branches.

The man before him seemed strangely arrogant in the way he did things, as if he had more to offer than an extending blade. He probably thought he had a just cause for entering this tournament to begin with, like love, familly, some godforsaken oath to some no-name individual. What a joke, if he could only realize the purity that was Gado's goal, he'd lay down his weapon and forfeit right away.. And since he hadn't done so allready, he would be shown no mercy! An ignorant soul like so many before him deserved only to be mangled beyond reckognition. Something Gado would do without hesitation.. it was neccesary. It was.. his duty to mother nature.

With the sword fully back under his command, he anxiously watched his opponent to see what his next move would consist of. Kei’taro purposely chose not to pursue another level of attack, for the simple fact that he needed to deduce the exact abilities of Gado, which seemed to be that of Nature Manipulation, however to a much lesser degree of the Demon Elf, Adinraen, he had once met. This was highly amusing to Kei, as he began to take his own stance. What would the man throw at him this time?

Out of his peripheral’s he caught sight of the trees bending and swinging towards them. The sound of harsh cracking warned him of their tendency to crack under pressure. They were both coming from the front in a left to right motion, and since they were close they were fairly easy to evade. When they started to bend he ran forward and to his right, ducking beneath and near the base of the trees, where the branches were virtually non-existent. His agile frame vanished beneath the thick tree and popped out on the other side, rushing towards Gado from the flank. With his increased speed and agility, he was able to close the distance quite quickly. The Vivid Dragon mark, charged once more.

The strange hiss that haunted him seemed to follow, weaving across the field as it sought the devil that spoke to it. “Hiss,” it mused, to which one replied. The man sought his allegiance, as well as called out something Vivid Dragon? It would give it to him, for one who spoke so softly to a serpent had to be a friend. It saw a glimpse of the man, ducking beneath a swinging tree, which it managed to slip beneath. Camouflaged within the forest, it would sneak closer and closer, in conjunction with the serpent that it could hear, slithering towards Kei’taro target. It was then it spotted the spew of flames cascading over the forest, and hurtling towards the other man.

Kei’taro’s body was surrounded in the lashing flames, igniting the nearby vegetation with a searing flame, as hot as the ones emitted by dragons, except twice charged and dangerously hotter. Even the heat threatened to ignite the vegetation, and eventually did. With the effects of Vivid Dragon complete, he was free to charge Thunderbird, which he promptly began.

The fool thought going closer to the base of the trees was his best way out. Obviously, he hadn't fought a nature elementalist before. Gado noted that he was quite fast, so it would be best to keep him at a distance, wear him out by preventing his attempts to get up close and personal. With a thought, Gado would point out the obvious flaw in his opponent's move. As Kei'taro came in close to the base, an excessive amount of branches would shoot out towards him from the trees, creating a thick underwood around him, even if the first set of branches didn't hit him, that would prove to be quite hard to get out of.

Regardless of wheter he was hit by the first set of branches, which was aimed to impale, the rest of the branches, and the trees around him, would close in from all sides, creating a web of branches, grass and trees (Basically a circle formed around/on top of his location).
Gado was no longer entirely certain about the capabilities of his opponent, but he could at least conclude that he was not injured in his leg at all. Great minds think alike.

It was then his attention was diverted towards another source of potential danger. Before him, about two-three metres or so, hanging down from a branch on a tree (not one of those used in the attack), was an anaconda, hissing at him. Was this another feral creature ready to sink it's fangs into him the second it got close enough? It seemed to be moving towards him, and taken the situation in consideration, he'd take no chances! Having no need to focus on the previous attack any more, since grown things does not disappear when it's manipulator focus his attention elsewhere, he quickly did what he had to. The snake made whatever noise a snake in distress would make, as the tree it sat on literally pulled it into itself, splattering blood out of the many cracks on the branch surface.

Again, a citizen of nature had attempted to thwart his life, or at least.. the possibillity that it could have, was present. He couldn't understand why the creeps even tried. Did they not reckognize the true protector of mother nature when they saw him? They should be fighting on his side against the enemy!.. Speaking of which, why had he not seen his enemy a victim of animalistic onslaught? Was it a coincidence? Or some trick of the mind perhaps. Whatever it was, it wasn't right! His enemy was clearly tampering with powers he had no right to have! Any life in the forest, should clearly be helping the one true guardian of it's home. At least the trees understood. They never talked, but Gado knew that they approved of their sacrifice. Some must die so that many can live.

A source of light eminated from the woods (location depending on how you evaded the interupt), it was strangely familliar.. Quite.. red-ish hue to it. N-No.. He wouldn't.. He couldn't! How did he even dare!? Didn't he understand the consequenses of doing that in his current location!? This would mean a lot more harm to such an extremely high number of the vast and exotic life of every form that lived on this part of the world. FIRE! He was going to.. attempt to.. burn ... his way to victory... There were no words created in common tongue that could even come close to describing the pure inhumanity of this cruel act. Gado's mind almost disappeared into the unknown by the sight of this horror. The rage grew within him, to such a scale it had never done before. Hate would fuel his every move to remove this blasphemous being from the face of reality from now on.. Death would be too kind.

Yet, despite the outrage caused by this action of stupidity. Gado kept his demeanor calm, altough his fist were clenched to the limit of his strength, his eyes could not hide his hatred.. and his body shook viciously. A thick line of fire was coming his way, and he had no intentions of holding his position to see just how warm it was. Running to the side was the best option, as the line of fire was luckily just that. A cone would have been hell to evade, but that didn't seem to be the case here. Dashing to the side, Gado knew that something should be done to slow it down on it's way towards him. A simple thought was enough to throw every single tree between the two combatants to the ground, acting as several layers of poorly set up wooden blockades. Naturally, this would never stop a blast of such power, but it sure as hell slowed it down. As the fire had no physical mass, it simply couldn't push the trees out of the way, and had to tear trough it by burning it's way so. This didn't slow it down in the traditional manner of speed, but more in the way that it took a while longer for it to reach Gado at full power.. And by then, Gado had sprinted out of harms reach, unable to controll his movements as fear pushed him away from his personal boogieman. He stopped the second the blast of fire had.

The stream of fire had halted, leaving a great trail of fire in it's wake. Much was turned to ash instantly upon contact with the abnormal flame, but that had not prevented everything around it to be caught on fire, and was now well on it's way to cause this once lush and beatifull jungle, to turn into a flaming inferno of fiery death. It was easy to spot the source of it all, standing in complete contrast with the rest of the forest, in a circle of ash and flame a good 8-15m (depending on when the fire stopped) away from him. As if he was going to get away with what he had just done. Taking advantage of his mortal enemy, the fire, seeing as the trees and bushes around Kei'taro was on fire. Gado would attack his opponent with the same weapon that had just victimised millions of lives. The bushes and trees around Kei'taro would take their swift revenge, as they lashed at him, seeking to entangle him in their burning bodies, aswell as trying to strangle and restrict his movements. Their strength would fade over time as more and more of their forms were burnt to ash, but for now, they would do Gado's bidding.

His particular method of movement was sought to be hindered by growing branches, creating a web of foliage to prevent his tactics. However, giving the proximity he was not worried, for the bend was a bit higher than average and by the time the branches would reach the man, he’d have enough momentum to break through them, if not outright evade them. His opponent, Gado was quick on his feet, but not as swift as Kei’taro was. Being as trained as he was in the tactics and mannerisms of animals, he was easily able to weave his way through the barrage of methodically forming branches and gathering brush. Like moths to a flame. This man must have been underestimating his own opponent, who was as versed in the way of the ever changing forest, as he apparently was. It didn’t matter, he would burn just like his foolish woods.

With the heat of his flames and the flames themselves, the forest was quickly being reduced to ashes, it didn’t take a lot of fire to burn a tree, and with the intense temperature he was putting out, the process was quite swift. He wondered how the man would accept these facts of life and wondered if he was like all other nature manipulators. Would he be quickly angered by these actions, and make rash decisions, such as the ones he’d already made?

Only then did he think that his plan would harm more than the forest, but then again, this was just a simulation. As he bounded through the forest and around that tree, his body took to flames, like that of a flicked lighter. Through the haze and gathering of red and orange, he could see the blood of a Anaconda being smeared across moving trees. This angered him, more than his own soon to be actions. The animals in this forest were doing their own natural things and this man sought to snuff out their life. If Gado didn’t know by now, he was as idiotic as his attempts, Kei’taro was no more injured than he was not a magic user.

Behind him, he could still see the groan of the trees cracking under the bend that were forced to endure, all for naught as the man was too far gone now. Their bark would sear with his flames, as would the entire forest. Already he could smell the burning timber, and brush, igniting and spreading along the simulated forest. It wouldn’t take long now, with the rate of speed and the fuel that was offered to it, it’d be a constant threat to either man’s safety, but more-so the erratic forest manipulator before him. His entire arsenal was about to be burned to the ground, and even then, the ground would be unsuitable for further growth. Kei’taro had a vicious strike, similar to that of a cobra, or any other vicious animal threatened.

Unlike most competitors, Kei’taro would not halt his advances due to some chronically growing trees. The barricade put forth by his opponent did nothing but provide him sustainable fuel for his hungry flames. Even the newly oncoming branches and such were too small to do any significant damage, and were too severely charred after traveling through the flames to reach his ever moving frame. What branches made it to him, were cleaved in twine by his swung sword, or rather… they were broken by the sheer force of blunt trauma, in conjunction with the flames that tempered the steel. One or two managed to break through and strike his arm, but the cloth lessened the blow and his endurance and defense handled the rest.

Approaching the trees quickly, he spotted his opponent through the dancing flames, a sickening smile over his face. Kei’taro must have looked like a demon coming through the flames. Having trained to gain such a key he was somewhat used to the heat, and thought it was a sort of superficial tanning mechanism. Quickly rushing through the flames, he leapt high and managed to cross over the flames, and trees. The once attacking branches were quickly dying due the flames, and the infectious inferno was steadily killing the land. The Anaconda had been smart and quickly slithered into the stream, hiding in the murky depths. Just like the man before Kei’taro, his only hope was to revel in the water where the flames would die out.

Thunderbird had gained another charge, and would be useful in igniting the other side of the forest, unless… His opponent had no way of knowing about Thunderbird, as it was hidden on his body, beneath clothing and a torrent of flames. So many ways to manipulate the viable element. If he stopped charging now, he could start the charge on another attack and leave Thunderbird at its current rate. Two would be plenty for his potential usage. “Time to let the forest burn,” he mused quietly, as he now watched his opponent, waiting for his next move. All plants on his side and slowly circling his opponent were engulfed in an inferno and would be unusable.

So. The direct approach was obviously not very effective, as the fool and his flashy powers would destroy what was thrown at him very quickly. It made Gado wonder on just what level of strength that fire was, as it somehow managed to destroy physical mass so fast that it ever reached it's wielders form. Dragonfire perhaps? Hellfire even.. whatever it was, it did one thing right.. causing the entire area around Kei'taro to be caught on fire of that level - surely that had to be lethal to the pyrokinetic terrorist. If the heat didn't affect him, the smoke surely would. Standing in the center of such inferno, would quickly cause one to be a victim of dangerous amounts of smoke-inhalation, which was what usually killed people who found themselves victims of a forest fire. Yet, Gado did hope for his opponent to be spared from such a fate. Obviously, being burned to death would be much more fitting and symbolic.

He observed as his opponent proved his athletic skills were above average, jumping trough the vicious trees, branches and entangling vines of grass that shot out to eradicate his form in acts of vengeance. He was fast, Gado could admit that, but his flashy way of showing off was of more use to Gado than Kei. A revelation struck it's way into Gado's mind as he watched his enemy relentlessly burn his way trough whatever he threw at him. The air-headed fool was more attentive towards the level of destruction he could do, than to keep an eye out on Gado during the assault. This presented an obvious solution to the issue before him. Let him deal with his own device of destruction.

As Kei'taro was still jumping about, avoiding the countless branches trying to strike at him, Gado would be pulled up by a nearby tree a few meters (5) outside the border of fire. The tree was a stunning 20m of height, and tough it took him 2-3 seconds to reach it's top branch at about 16m, his form was completely hidden behind leaves that positioned themselves conveniently enough to mask his presence. The tree would not betray it's protector by giving it's position away by sound, so not a single crack was heard as it extended and retracted one of it's many branches to grab Gado. From the outside, it would be near impossible to see that the tree even moved at all, and would appear more as if Gado simply vanished out of thin air. Gado himself would be cleverly hidden behind a wall of leaves that he could see out of, but one could not see in (1x1 cm opening for his eyes to see out of)

Having positioned himself on one of the many thick and sturdy branches the tree could offer, his sword grew into a fully functionable bow, and ten usable wooden arrows which despite their wooden form, were just as sharp and hard - not to mention lethal, as a normal arrow. He pulled up a single seed of unatural size out of his pouch, it was one of the twenty seeds he had obtained on the last arena, where his opponent had never showed up. He put it down besides him, and focused just enough on it for it to start growing slowly in size (charging). Having a single arrow, and the bow in his firm grip, he continued observing his enemy.. who had a clever way of giving away his position as a burning symbol of "Hello! I'm over here!" that was constantly moving around.

Naturally, the fire before him grew in size, and it wouldn't take long for it to spread to his location. Luckily, his opponent's unaturally strong flames had done him a favour in that regard, as it had tore down most of the trees that connected to the one he currently sat in from that direction. Meaning that when the fire eventually did reach that particular tree, it would do so at the bottom by the grass, working it's way up until the entire monument of life had been reduced to ash.

As for Kei'taro, the fact that he himself was a center of fire, burning everything around him, would cause him to be closed in by his own creations - most likely. Due to the nature of his fire, him being in the middle, it spreading around him in a full circle. And as he had proved by igniting Gado's attacks to the point of uselessness, this fire was too strong to simply run trough.

And the seed started to grow...

His opponent must have been more of a fool than he thought, attempting to hide amongst more trees instead of the only place the flames couldn’t reach. Oh how the man must have hated Kei’taro now, and his reckless abandon, massacring the simulated forest, without regard. The smoke would soon become a problem, but not a major one for Kei’taro, all that took was a bit of cloth to cover his mouth and nose. With the thick, heavy stuff clinging to the air, it would be next to impossible for his opponent to see Kei’taro, let alone see enough of him to get off any decisive strikes. In earnest, his opponent had picked a swell place to hide, because for about a span of two moments, Kei’taro lost his position, only to pick it up through the power of smell. His opponent stunk with the scent of lush forestry, and not enough of the hazardous smoke and flames that coated the area.

Pretty soon, his opponent would have to abandon the trees he had picked for his hiding spot, for nearby trees were falling, while aflame, and one sought to fall directly on the foliage that hid Gado. It was amusing how… neutral the forest could be at times. His eyes danced over to the falling tree, watching as the flames would slowly begin to spread out amongst the leaves, as well as the residual flames at the bottom finally reaching the base and making its way upward. His flames were becoming considerably more powerful, due to the amount of fuel the forest was willingly providing to its everlasting hunger.

What more could Kei’taro do to harm this vibrant forest and its so-called manipulator? Kei’taro could not think to call him ‘Master of the Forest,’ for this man had shown no such dominance over the forest than Adinraen Barriurden, the Demon Elf. Secure in his belief the snake was submerged in the water, and that his frogs were snug, if not a bit toasty in his collar, he began to move about, never taking his eyes off the tree Gado sat in. Thunderbird remained at two charges and the key for Chameleon had began to charge. Soon, he would be one with the forest and would be unseeable to all. The Key was on his upper arm, hidden beneath a veil of clothing.

The flames were steadily spreading out, part coming to a stop on the edge of the stream, and the rest encompassing the forest. For far too long his opponent managed to evade being damaged in any sort of way, but that was about to come to an abrupt end. His hands waved out and the air began to push forward, sweeping the fire outward and igniting trees further along in a vicious wave of heat and flames. Even the smoke that was abound around him was sent out and obscured sight of most things that were around. Should Gado be close, then he would surely face the wrath of the horrid flames and heat, his pathetic plants would whither and burn away to a crisp in face of his hellish heat. Even across the river, the heat wave blew, some of the trees showing tinges of embers on their leaves.

Truly, the river was the only safe place, or would soon be. For now, however, Kei’taro managed to escape backwards, his sense of smell being slightly overpowered by the burning timbers, yet his hearing always ready. “Come and get me, plant.” Was all he said, before he seemingly vanished into the haze.

The anaconda, safe in the water, spotted two more foes; Alligators with the dangerous intent to devour both Gado and Kei’taro. Perhaps Kei’taro could hold sway over them as well. ‘Hisss,’ it called, attempting to sway these animals for Kei’taro, to prove his worth to his new commander. Even beneath the waves, it could feel the intense heat swimming above it, cutting over to the side of the stream not yet burning.

At the bottom of the trees, a single alligator was helplessly attempting to climb a tree - possibly attempting to get closer to Gado for whatever reason. However, it soon met it's end at the unforgiving flames behind him.

((Interrupt))

Gado planned to move away before the fires reached the bottom of his tree. But first, a single arrow was unleashed towards the neck of the soon-to-be-harder-to-see-because-of-the-smoke-tickening-opponent. The arrow was hurled down upon the man with blinding speed, hitting it's mark perfectly if he did not evade in some manner. Gado would admit it was a hard target to hit, due to the vast amounts of smoke gathering between them, but he had seen his enemy at one point, and aimed where he would be standing if he didn't move. (Which he didn't.. yet)

Quickly picking up the nine remaining arrows along with his bow in one hand, and the still growing seed (Still charging) - he'd sprint in the opposite direction of the inferno in front of him, aswell as his opponent. The trees would form a pathway for him, making his movements no harder than if he was moving on the ground below. He had been wise to move when he did - as a flaming tree came crashing down upon his previous position.. as if.. someone willed it to do so! Strange. Gado knew for a fact that he was the only one with the power to controll mother nature's forces, so this particular case baffled him.

---
Assuming the arrow doesn't prevent you from blowing the wind, if it does - the rest of the actions still applies without the wind:

A strong wind met Gado's back as he continued his ongoing movements. This would certainly mean that the fire would continue to spread towards him.. which meant that his opponent would have an even harder task of catching up with him unharmed by the fire he created. A second problem arose tough, and Gado knew that he'd have to take certain actions to prevent it from harming him. He hadn't taken any precautions against the smoke before, as he hadn't assumed the wind would betray him as it did. He'd have to stop for a second to create something to block out the smoke.. a piece of cloth would work wonders, tough not entirely effective. Halting his movement, he looked back towards the ever growing inferno.. pondering wheter or not his opponent's life had vanished at this point. He himself had nothing to worry about unless something prevented him from running further, as he could probably outrun the fire's growth up here. Kneeling down, he'd put down the seed, and tear of a small part of his jacket's right arm, enough to cover his mouth and nose. While doing this, he focused trough the tree, trough the roots in the ground, as close as he could get to the destruction without reaching burning plants. His mind received images from the various flowers and plants still prevailing on the border of the fire, and briefly looked for his opponent.

No luck. There was literally a wall of fire there now (Tough, if you've run past that point by now, he'd know).. aswell as a very thick wall of smoke which hindered his vision. His opponent was likely to have perished if he were still inside the hell on earth. Gado was placed a good 30m away from the edge of fire however, and soon increased the distance as he grabbed the seed and continued his run. He was fleeing from the fire, but only a fool wouldn't. The intensity of heat produced from such destruction was enough to end just about any life caught by it. And as he himself had nearly been decimated by a falling tree, so would his opponent. As wherever he stood (unless outside the fire, which means he's gotta move fast) he'd be "attacked" by falling trees, as their weight could no longer be supported by half-burned logs.

Even amid the roaring flames, Kei’taro could still pick up on the smaller sounds; such as the hiss of a snake, or the growl of a alligator. One such sound came from a gator that was consumed by flames, though not for lack of trying to get to the stream once more. As per the instincts, it at least had to try and it couldn’t make it, this was not only saddening, but a testament to how fast the flames were spreading along the simulated forest.

The sound of bowstring being pulled back, faint among the flames, caused Kei’taro’s reflexes to kick in. Had they not, he’d of been pierced by the arrow that shot through the flames, and past him. In truth, it probably would not have hit him, as the aim was slightly off. If it did the damage would have been smaller than perhaps his blinded opponent would have liked. He noticed the tree fall where his opponent was, and heard the trees scramble to provide him a platform for his escape. It amused Kei’taro excessively that his opponent had managed to kill every animal that came after him, AND managed to evade any type of damage, despite the onslaught that assailed him. Perhaps this man held the power of luck as well.

Too bad, if he did, he used it only to run.

It was now that Kei’taro had used his wind and the flames and such rushed out at a high pace. With the wind and the fuel, the fire raced along at a respectable pace, latching unto and burning through the forest. His opponent must have been angry at this development, but that did not deter the normally quiet man. The entire fight, Kei managed to keep Gado on his toes, entirely on the defensive for the most part. The wind also served another purpose. What now lightweight trees fell, the wind knocked off course, if not fully backwards. In his cocoon of flames, he was more or less safe. The flames, smoke, and heat were moving away from him, and chasing down his opponent. With the ground unprofitable to a nature manipulator, and all things needed to spy through trees and plants being quickly burned away, Kei’taro was sitting in a rather pretty spot.

No longer did he need to hound his opponent, with no other trees around to threaten his positioning, he quit charging his Chameleon tattoo and started to charge Soaring Eagle, which was situated on his back. A plan was formulating in his mind, and with his opponent, from what he could decipher from sound, nearly 100 feet away, he could afford to relax and plot out his movements carefully. With now Chameleon and Thunderbird, and soon Soaring Eagle, as well as what seemed like a perpetual Vivid Dragon, Kei’taro had a plethora of options and would exploit each and every one of them,

Gado fully expected his opponent to have perished beneath fiery judge of death at this point. His "eyes" had been cut off, but he had noted that the enemy had not passed the ever-growing border of fire which were constantly spreading out. The heat alone of standing in the thick of it should be more than enough to knock any breathing man unconcious, as oxygen burned up and was replaced by thick layers of ash and smoke. The surroundings themselves became lethal under such circumstances, and only a fool would stand unmoved in the midst of it. A fool now presumed dead.. it saddened Gado that it was not by his hands, but he had it coming.

Or not. A powerfull force of wind knocked the burning tree-tops in the distance away, clearly controlled by Gado's presumed-to-be-dead nemesis. From Gado's point of view, which was quite far up, this act of defence had given his opponent's position away. Because it had been directed in a manner that circled the fire-manipulator, or else it would never have protected him from the various dangers of the fire. Due to this, Gado could calculate the excact position of his enemy, by deducing the centre of the wind blast at a ground level. No easy task mind you, but Gado had lived his entire life in a forest, and seen the top of it many times.. By now, he had a knack for deducing the excact distance between himself and a tree-top in the distance, and finding out excactly where it's grounded at such vast distances. Much like a game really, one of his many forms of entertainment. At any rate, this opportunity should be used while it's available. Not knowing wheter his enemy would stay put or move forward, the bow loaded a single arrow.

His opponent was 43m away, as Gado had continued moving. The edge of the fire on his side was now 28m away, while the other side was 60m away. Which meant that Gado could continue to outrun it as his movement was faster than that of the fire. Taking the strong wind in consideration, Gado took aim, and released the single arrow towards it's target. With dazzling speed, it traveled trough the top of the trees without a sound as the leaves themselves bent out of it's way - without a sound - to allow it to reach it's target in silence. And it would do so unless prevented by his opponent.

As the arrow dissapeared into the distance, Gado reflected upon the fight so far. He had delivered two nature-based attacks, and had been attacked by the same number, if he were to count out the pathetic attempts of attack the wildlife had presented him. He was unsure wheter or not the tree which nearly crushed his body earlier were counted as an attack, as he didn't know wheter his opponent had telekinesis or not.. but it seemed controlled, so he'd go ahead and count it as one. Taking the possibillity of a telekinetic opponent in mind. His opponent had set the fire ablaze, which had forced Gado to re-locate himself as he wasn't interested in fighting in the middle of a raging inferno at all. Scary stuff. His opponent, however, had not followed, and had for some reason not been killed by the inferno yet. This allowed Gado to theorize wheter or not his opponent had a reduced need to breathe.. what was obvious, was a immunity to fire, as Gado himself had latched an attack in fire against him.. and even hit without any notable effect. It was curious how his enemy's clothing had not yet caught fire, even when presented that close to the flames.. the heat alone should be more than enough to light it up. One question kept annoying Gado. Why was his enemy not dead yet!? The heat would fry his skin, the smoke would drown his lungs, the air would suffocate him.. How the hell did he live!?

Judging from the latest move. Gado assumed it had something to do with fire/air controll. Tough he'd rule out the fire controll, unless his enemy also had heat controll, which Gado hadn't seen any of yet. Controlling fire shouldn't protect him from the harms of standing in the middle of an inferno.. so perhaps it was the wind controll then... but the same logic would apply. No matter how strong the wind was, it would never simply void the heat, or smoke generated.. and unless blown upwards, which the wind currency hadn't been doing so far, the smoke would still be in effect. How very interesting. Gado pondered wheter his recent arrow had hit it's mark, perhaps he'd get lucky, and his opponent hadn't moved.. there'd be no way he'd see it coming.

The seed continued to grow.

And so it begun, his opponent was far away now, continually on the move away from the inferno that sought to smite his life out with its flames. Altogether, this was not good for Kei’taro, who had remained in the midst of the flames since their conception, and introduction to battle. Had it not been for his training those days with the Dragons, and it being one of his favored skills, he probably would have been ill-prepared for such and extended stay, and even now, his time in it was expiring quickly. After this bout, he’d be noticeably more tan.

Across the stream, the forest had finally caught a flame and now was burning with a steady flow. This was what he had been hoping for. “RyuKyu,” he mused, bringing out his spirit animal, who eagerly appeared beside him. It was used to the flames, unlike him, as it had been born and raised in the Lava Plains of the Spirit World. “How far away is he,” Kei’taro asked silently, stepping towards the stream. It was not known to him that his opponent had fired an arrow from roughly forty-three meters away, as its somehow silent flight prevented him from seeing it and the smoke still obscured the skies. It mattered little, his moves towards the stream put the arrow off him and harmlessly into a fiery, fallen tree.

How annoyed his opponent must have been with him, burning away at the forest as though it was not important to him. It was amusing at how calm the man had stayed, he must not have been a devote follower of the forest. Shame, really. Kei’taro quietly stepped into the stream, which was devoid of all types of plant-life. With either side of him now sufficiently unable to be manipulated, Kei’taro could sooth what heat he had been harboring in the stream. A bark from RyuKyu, told him his opponent was still on the move, still. “Well, I suppose it is time to catch him, is it not?” He asked, waving his hand out to the left, towards the newly burning side of the forest. A tornado whipped up, or rather, the fire on that side gathered and lashed out, racing down the length of the forest, igniting a trail of flames, and hunting his opponent.

Satisfied with his maneuver, he reached down and doused himself with the stream waters. The heat was really getting to him. He traveled across the stream and began to head towards his opponent, a slow methodical stalking that was symbolic of an apex predator. The alligators silent hisses told him of the man’s movements, but offered the man no threats. With the forest clearing just a tad due to the tornado of flames burning and uprooting some of the trees and vegetation, Kei’taro was afforded a better view, but still could not good a good picture of his opponent. This, however, did not stop him from hearing him move about the forest, upon trees which he made no attempt to silence. The tornado had done its job, Killing the grounds where he walked, making him virtually invisible from a ground level to his opponent.

“Rain drops keep falling on my head,” he mused.

(( The arrow was fired before you started moving, as it was done as a response to your first blast of wind. But to hell with that. There's also a lack of description what the stream of fire you just created is attempting to reach, or how fast it's moving, or if it's even going to hit me. And since it's not mentioned, I'll assume it's not going to do so this round, as I'm really not going to bother asking about it when my last question was left unanswered/ignored. ))

As if his arrow had moved in slow-motion, he'd probably missed his mark, why did he assume so? Because a stream of fire/tornado made it's way ahead of the rest of the wall to his right, towards his general location. Not much faster than the rest of the burning inferno tough, so nothing to worry about yet. In addition to this, he knew for a fact that his opponent yet lived, as he still had a way to "see" the arrogant fool. The fire had been without mercy in it's destructive sweep across his beloved forest, which was simulated, but still kept "life" in a manner. Yet, there had been plants the fire could not touch no matter how hard it tried, and that was the still-living plantlife located in the stream, beneath the surface. True, the stream had been heated up quite a bit by the surrounding fire and intense heat, to the point where it was actually hot! Not dangerously so, but enough to remove any sense of refreshment one could get from jumping into it. Gado had assumed his enemy knew about this fact, as it was quite natural to occur when a forest fire was raging all around it.. but he was proved wrong.

He could afford to stay put for a while longer, as the forest wouldn't reach him just yet.. even with it's accelerated speed thanks to the wind. The upside of it's impressive speed, was that it couldn't possibly go any faster. At any rate, he was connected to the plants in the stream, and could trough this connection, "see" his opponent jumping into the stream, attempting to cross it. At that point, Mother Nature would claim her terrible vengeance, with a thought, the various vines, plants, roots, and whatever else could be found within it, shot upwards attempting to grab firmly around the form of Kei'taro, and pull him into the deep. Holding him under the surface with all it's strength, which was vast, and over time, it would grow even stronger as it constantly grew around it's victim, strangling him, restricting his movements entirely.. Unless he escaped it.

Gado suspected the cruel bastard to be capable of controlling animals, as a lone aligator was placed quite close to him, and attempted no attacks upon his form. It could be due to the warm waters, making it's senses dull and slow, but it could also be because of some inate controll of it's will that Kei'taro held. At any rate, should it attempt to free Kei'taro, It would find itself entangled in the same manner as him before it could even cause any damage to what held Kei'taro.

No matter the outcome, Gado would again pick up his pace and start moving yet again. Had he gotten a grip on Kei'taro, it would be confirmed by his "vision" before he started moving, and as such, he'd have no trouble keeping the grip tight and ever-growing while moving, as it would be of equal difficulty as continuing to hold something while blindfolded.

And the seed continued to grow.

((Wait…. What are you on about? You fire an arrow from 43m(141 feet, I believe) into oncoming smoke, flames, wind, blown trees, and expect him to just stand there because you fired it /before/ I started to move? I guess ‘hunting his opponent’ isn’t a clear enough description of it hunting you. I’ve yet to describe the speed of any of my flames, but I’d assume its faster than normal, if its /racing/ down the length of the forest. And for your other question, it’s pretty obvious Kei’taro moved, as it even states the arrow flew past him and shot into the flames, after stating more or less, ‘without his reflexes he’d of been fucked.))

It had been amusing to learn there was in fact, plant-life in the stream, though he explicitly saw none. Chalking it up to missing detail, or one of God’s cruel tricks, he quickly sought to remove himself from the stream, which was only five feet in width, of which he was already half-way across. It was virtually nothing for him to hop up and onto the bank, though he didn’t make it far unto the bank with the vines and such wrapping around his legs and attempting to restrain his movements. At one point, he was nearly drug back into the stream, and that would have done little to contain him. It wasn’t especially deep, and he had exceptional lung power. Stray flames was were put out by the vines in question, but some managed to burn away at the object, its heat also burning away at some of Kei’taro’s clothing. Using his strength, he pulled and snapped the vines that held his leg, thanks to the flames drying them and eating at them.

Visibly, he would be pissed if he was not now safely on shore. His opponent must have been able to see him via the plants in the stream that he could have sworn were not there. The warm waters were not what he wanted but they had done their job for the most part. He was now free to follow his trail of destruction down the length of the slowly burning forest. However, the tornado of dragon flames, were not slow. They raced, in fact, down the length of the forest in eager anticipation of finding Gado. It was not far now, but five feet of stream kept it from crossing like it wanted too. Four to five meters of forest were being burned every few seconds, leaving Kei’taro to wrap a strip of cloth around his nose and mouth to keep the smoke out of his system

With that, he took stock of his preparations; his twice charged thunderbird, and chameleon, as well as Soaring Eagle. Taking those into account, he began to charge Tortoise Shell, one of his favored abilities. He had no idea how long he’d been under the proverbial clock, but soon either he or his opponent would find themselves dead, or defeated. He was careful, staying in the area where the flames had cut off the usage of the ground. He could hear his opponent, traveling through the trees making no attempt to hide his sound. He wasn’t very bright, Kei’taro assumed, but that was okay, he’d soon find himself on the wrong end of the stick.

(( The fact that you did stand there for an amount of time when the arrow was on it's way towards you, taking your time to summon and ask your spirit animal of Gado's location, then starting your forward movement, means that yes.. you would be around for the arrow to hit. And as you yourself stated, there was no way Kei'taro knew that it was coming. Regarding the fire-tornado, stating that it's hunting me down is perfectly fine for a description of it's actions. How fast it's going, how big it is, and it's effects if it did hit me, remains unspecified. Regarding the first arrow: Yeah, it was clear that you avoided the arrow. But no description or effort was put into actually dodging it. For example "Kei'taro saw the arrow coming and moved to the side, avoiding it completely" - would be more than enough. That's all. ))

Naturally, if a stream happened to be placed in the middle of a jungle, no matter the size, there was bound to be plantlife within.
Kei'taro had unknowingly given Gado a perfect chance to cause him further inconvenience. For as he had simply walked on forward, snapping the plethora of vines that had grabbed onto his foot, the part of it that had wrapped itself around his foot to get a grip remained, as he had done nothing to remove it completely besides simply yanking his leg forward. Gado did notice that he had lost parts of what he had originally used to entangle Kei'taro, as it was slightly lighter to controll what remained, as if a fraction of weight had dropped from something he "carried" with his mind. It wasn't much that remained gripped around Kei'taro's ankle, but it was all that Gado needed. After all, his abillities were specifically designed by mother nature herself to aid her creations in their growth. In his possession, even a single leaf could prove to be just as dangerous as a tree, as it would within short, turn out to be just that. As Gado continued his movement, continiously keeping the ever-approaching flames, and a fire-tornado at a safe distance, he focused his attention on the vine.

More vines would quickly grow out of the original vine attached to Kei'taro's ankle, attempting to grow around and upwards his leg, underneath his pants. Should it sucseed in this simple task, which it would unless somehow prevented by Keitaro, which would not be a task as simple as to remove the original vine.. he'd have to remove it all,- it would attempt to wrap tightly around Kei'taro's "gentle parts", and squeeze in such a manner that would cause him.. quite a bit of pain. Simultaneously, as it would attempt to grow onto Kei'taros gentle parts, more vines would grow out of the ankle-bound vine, and attempt to connect to the roots underneath the ground -which had not been burned by the fire - several times if needed. Simply to give Kei'taro's location away, as Gado would be aware of the connection as soon as it happened. And should that happen, Gado's bow would take care of the rest.

Gado himself, would continue to outrun the fire, not caring wheter Kei'taro could hear him or not. It was of no concern of his to remain hidden at this point, it would do him no good, and seemed a bit pointless. And the seed continued to grow.