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Match Start: June 6th, 2011 @ 9:00PM
Match End: July 5th, 2011 @ 9:00PM

Post Response Limit: 4 days
First Post: Raven O' Grady

Stage Description:
A lengthy, three foot tall rock wall runs as far as the eye can see in the Kyrvktz swamp. It is your only landmark in an otherwise endless, repeated visage of three inch deep muddy water and decaying trees. The weather is cloudy and dark and visibility is poor. It is rather frigid outside, but not enough to freeze the water. The nearest edge (south) of the swamp is a mile away. The nearest landmark from the wall is a small, deserted isle of grimy dirt about a quarter mile to the northeast.

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May the strongest grass blade emerge tallest.

Raven shimmered into the arena and scunched her nose at her surroundings.
It wasn't a very attractive place to fight. The water was murky and dirty, all the trees were rotting or dead, and the only landmark was the giant wall that ran through the swamp. "Lovely." She growled.

She was on top of the wall. It was thick, maybe three feet wide, and seemed to have no end. Raven could see her breath because it was so cold.
It didn't matter to her, she was always cold. The cain around her waist jingles in the soft breeze going through the swamp.

Raven laughed because she knew she didn't look like much at first glance. She was thin, not over the average height, and she could be called attractive.
She wasn't carrying any obvious weapons and she didn't have any scars to make it look like she's been in serious fights before.

But with blank eyes, tattered dresses, and the cloak covering most of her face, she would at least look creepy. That was good enough.
She waited on the wall for her opponent. She sang an eerie song out of boredom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DFR1RIX ... re=related

This was the second time Kei'taro had to go through a teleporter, and the second time he feared for RyuKyu because of it. In fact, he feared for the spirit so much that he recalled it into himself; his skin becoming a bit more orange and his hair a bit thicker. Had one noticed, then his teeth would be seen to be more prominent as well. The feeling was a bit odder than it had been originally, but maybe that was because he had just napped and needed to wake himself.

This trip did just that.

When he landed, his hand immediately grasped at his sword and held it tight. His body was facing the opposite way from his opponent, and both were on the wall. With his sword in between the pair, his body seemed to relax more than it was when he landed, though that was more of a ploy than anything. Taking a deep breath, he used the time to explore the land with his senses of taste, smell, hearing, and sight. Almost immediately, he mapped out the general landscape of the land using the combination before he ever addressed the person to his side.

"Excuse me, that is a lovely song that you are humming. Do you mind? I'm looking for Raven O' Grady, do you know this person?" He asked, his voice seeming to hold some type of chirping tendencies reminscent of a bird, particularly an Osprey. "And, if not, I'll get out of your hair. If you happen to be this person, would you mind just giving up?" His free hand touched the back of his hand and rubbbed it. "You see, my Spirit Animal is a RyuKyuan, and it got interrupted from its meal. I'd much rather skip this and let it eat," A easy chuckle parted his lips, revealing the sharp teeth. As his hand slid back from his head, the partial image of a dragon tattoo was revealed. Even in his seemingly upbeat phase, his body was ever at the ready, with the flexibility of the water style of his martial arts.

Raven pulled back her hood to get a good look at her opponent.
Strange.... She thought. His skin was alittle orange and he had sharp teeth.

"Excuse me, that is a lovely song that you are humming. Do you mind? I'm looking for Raven O' Grady, do you know this person?" He asked her. Her opponent's voice had a strange chirping to it, like some kind of bird. "And, if not, I'll get out of your hair. If you happen to be this person, would you mind just giving up?" His hand touched the back of his hand that was tightly clenched around a sword and rubbbed it. "You see, my Spirit Animal is a RyuKyuan, and it got interrupted from its meal. I'd much rather skip this and let it eat,"

Raven stared at him through blank eyes and was confused for a moment. He couldn't be seriously be asking her to withdraw from this tournament. Was he?
She began to hover and moved away from him. "I'm sorry, but I am Raven O'Grady and I can not give up." she said in a thick Irish accent. "It's not like I don't wish you Spirit Animal well, it's that I'm doing this for someone."

She took a stance, revealing her rasor sharp nails. She knew that he would most likley be flexible from the way he moved and that he may have many animalistic gifts if he had a spirit animals. "Ready? Let the best fighter win."

As the woman spoke and revealed herself to be the elusive Raven O’ Grady, it became glaringly obvious that the woman would not simply turn around and walk away. Part of him was saddened by this fact, and another part of him rejoiced. At least this trip wouldn’t be for nothing. Watching the woman lift and float backwards gave leeway into her powers, or at least one, and with her looks, it seemed that there were more, more eerie powers to this female. Perhaps, some type of poltergeist type deal. This would prove somewhat interesting to the man, though difficulty could not be accurately judged.

“Well, if you are sure?” He asked hopeful that she’s change her mind and simply duck out of the fight, to preserve the beauty that she bolstered. The lay of the land benefited a traveler as animal-like as him greatly, even further perpetrated by the fact he had wandered similar areas looking for a bestial key held by a alligator known as Big Bertha. It was said this key could make his skin rough to the touch, damaging anything that made physical contact with it. With a happy go lucky attitude he allowed himself a moment to study the land once more, gaining an even better feel for the general landscape and how to better put it to use. The water was high enough for one of his back-up plans, but the wall would serve a greater purpose if all was adequately prepared.

“Yes,” he mused, sliding his sword into the sheathe at his side, the tight fit allowing it to rotate to the front and back. Perfection. At the moment the hilt was tilted towards the front. “Let the best fighter win,” a smile crossed his lips, as his hands took defined position, his left out further than his right. A small arch in his fingers, though they remained predominantly straight. The majority of his stance remained loose, fluid, mostly to throw off his opponent, but also to allow for a wider range of movements than a different stance might allow for. Upon a thought, an eerie white glow illuminated the blade of Kusanagi. The deadly power of his blade was slowly about to take effect and hopefully end this battle, but until then, “…ladies first, my friend.”

Raven smiled at the man and nodded when he said, ".... ladies first, my friend."
She took a running start towards her opponent, making it seem she was going to attack him from the front.
The banshee transformed into a flock of black ravens. They all swarmed around her opponent, pecking at him quickly, then swooping away.
Raven rematerialized behind him, using her nails to slash his back. The sound of violent winds were heard with every move she made.

She sent a front kick to his abbs, doing a backflip off of him. She readied her stance again and waited before making another move.
Her hand went to her waist, pulling the chain of and whipping it to the air. She spun it round and round until it spun so fast that if someone touched it, they would be cut.
She stared at her combatant, and whipped the chain at his neck.

This chain meant a lot to Raven. It was a gift from her lover. A magic chain made from the same material as an angel's sword. The chain would grow and shrink as she needed it to.

In his stance, he continued to gather knowledge on the current landscape; the soft swamp sounds that played like a melody in his ears. Perhaps, if he made it through his bout, he'd spend some time here and explore. Who knows, the alligator might be here. But now was not the time, as his mind had switched back to the task at hand.

His opponent approached first, and he stepped back himself for an extra set of preparing time. His sword had reached a second rotation of power, and Kei was happy with this. He wasn't expecting the first attack, or rather the flock of ravens to come pecking at him. Given his mastery of the bestial key, Raven King, he had become accustomed to the pecking that they were associated with. His hands swatted and batted at them, lessening some of the pain and damage they would provide.

His senses were on full blast, and with a twist, he managed to swipe the woman's hand to the side, and get himself in a position facing her. And that was when his plan kicked into motion. The woman managed to kick him in the abs and do a backflip, reminding him of an earlier opponent who did the same thing. While she was mid-air, he started running forward; his hand grabbing the hilt of Kusanagi and pulling it to the back and out of its confinement. "SHOOT TO KILL, KUSANAGI," he roared with a snake-like voice, whilst thrusting the sword forward. The blade glowing vibrant white and shooting out as he aimed it for the woman, who was just coming down from the climax of her somersault. The shot was aimed just low enough to catch her in the chest if it connected. With his proximity to her, and the surprise factor, the shot was almost a sure-fired thing.

To cover his bases, however, his mind wandered to the thunderbird tattoo on his upper right thigh, began to pulse with its yellow light; a secondary attack to punish his opponent should she not fall to his chest shot, which sought to puncture her lung, and perhaps at least, nick her heart; depending on how she moved. Despite his naturally calm demeanor, in battle, Kei'Taro was rather ruthless.

Raven gasped as she realized that her chain was wrapped around nothing but air and her opponent was about to plunge his sword into her lung.
He shouted something in a strange voice and his blade glowed with a white essence. Raven's chain quickly shortened and she tried to swat the blade away with the chain.
Raven barley knocked the sword off course. Instead of going into her lungs or heart, the sword was embeded into her left shoulder.

It hurt like hell, but instead of blood, black mist leaked from her wound. When she thought the pain couldn't be worse, it was followed by an electric shock.
She let out a horrible scream, but that would work to her advantage.

As a banshee, Raven's screams were so highpitched that at close range, they could pop blood vessels in the brain and cause death. Well they were very close right now.
She grabbed him by the hair with her right hand and pulled his ear right next to her mouth. She let out her scream, if not killing her opponent (which was highly unlikley)
it would stun him and cause deafness. His ears would start bleeding and because he had animal senses, the scream would probably harm him even more that a normal human.

She threw him into the swamp water and wrapped her chain around her waist. If this enemy had electric powers, it wouldn't be smart for her to have a metal weapon.
Raven kept herself ready for a sneak attack. She was not one to underestimate her opponent.

His weapon managed to make contact, though the woman had managed to evade the killing intent behind it, via supernatural reflexes. With her having been flying through the air, there had to be some kickback, and push back from the impact. This was obvious when the distance between them increased after the attack was proven successful.

(the rest of your post seems to stem from the electrical attack that never came, so I suppose that bit is a bit useless)

His body lurched to the left and off the wall; his sword, still extended being forced to the right in a left-to-right motion, before it started to bring itself back to him. Unless the woman moved quick, she’d surely find a good sized slash completely going through her front and out her back. There was no way someone could survive long after that.

His body crashed into the water below and he quickly began to make his way away; his body moving seamlessly through the water; as the Chameleon Key began to glow.

Raven noticed the man was jumping into the water and she gasped as she realized his ententions.
She quickly turned towards the murky water as he lept forwards, allowing the sword to exit her shoulder.

The pull of the weapon knocked the Banshee into the water, where she struggled for a moment until she flew out.
She hovered about 5 feet above the water and her blank eyes scanned the water for movement.
It was murky, so she wouldn't be able to actually see him.

She saw a small ripple in the water, the only sign of something living in the water.
'Got you' she said and flew above her opponent, who was swimming seemlessly throught the water.
She used her nails to snatch him by the neck and she attempted to lift him out of the water.

She dug her nails into him, but she couldn't get him out of the water.
Raven screamed for a moment to stun him, then she tried to claw at his face.

His departure in the water had been cut short by the fact that it had reached a height of three inches. His powerful limbs tore through the buddy bottom, pushing him along as fast as the current would take him. The splash behind him indictated the trick he used work, hopefully there would be significant damage done to his opponents shoulder and neck area.

His body had turned slightly, as something grabbed his neck. With his free hand, he jousted Kusanagi up trying to poke at the body attempting to pull him from the murky swamp. Mud kicked up and caked his head, partially lodging in his ears. The following scream had a reduced effect, causing him to see two, but otherwise being ineffective against him.

"Thunderbird," he mused as he ran the sword up, a point-blank twice folded electrical shot. Using Kusanagi as the catalyst, would allow Kei to suffer less damage. His opponent, however, was soaking wet and in point blank range to recieve and amplified shock from the attack. Hopefully this would put the woman down for good, given all the obstacles set up in Kei'taro's favor.

Raven grabbed the sword as her prey tried to poke her with it.
As soon as she had it in her grasp, a horrible electric shock went up her hand into her whole body.
In her pain she ripped the sword away from her opponent and tossed over into the water on the other side of the wall.

Raven couldn't move as she fell into the water, she occasionally twitched, but besides that, she was completely stunned.

She was almost at the bottom, when she got some of the feeling back in her body.
She slowly swam over to the wall.

Her arm bust out of the water like zombies out of the grave, and she slowly propped herself out of the water.
On the top of the water, she collasped and rested. She breathed deeply and still twitched with the electric current going through her body.

She tried to stand, fell again. Raven was about give in, until she remember her love.
What he sacrificed for her, and that was reason enough.

She stood up, despite the pain, and flew over her opponent. Raven dived into the water and pulled her opponent under the water.
She covered his mouth, seeming as his attacked come from words, and stabbed him in his back with her claws.

Alright. As the Judge over-looking this fight, I will hereby announce a winner.

However, given the fact I completely forgot that this ended on the 6th, and that I should have been judging right away, I'll not be doing a full write-up.

With that in mind, the clear victor - as I see it - is Rilla.

Good fight.