The Duel Must Go On!

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Who: Tournament Fighters and those who wish to watch them.
Where: Aries Arena & Televised
Summary: 10/10. A day of shooting and Persona battles.
Warnings: D-D-DUELS!

Cloudy days didn't deteriorate citizens of Hinoto-Ri to flock to the Arena that night. After all, there was a special treat promised to them, tickets at ten dollars off the usual price for a sight yet unseen!

The entire place was filled with cheering spectators and for those who missed out, the usual pay-per-view channels were going to post the entire thing live. Or you could go to your local pub. They had all come to see one thing: and it was to see how these newcomers from otherworlds fared in their favorite sport. In a way it was showing the natural pride to them, and watching how they did at it.

Gambling wasn't allowed publicly. So naturally it flourished underground. Odds today were 1:1, those looking to make a lot of money were simply out of luck. Today was a day for watching. And learning.

For those who had answered the call, prizes had been lined up. At best, it was a demonstration. As long as there was entertainment, the public really didn't care who lost or who won.

From the side ring "Jay Queen" and "Bob Sternhammer", the two ringside announcer, excitedly begin the pre-game talk.

"What a crowd today Jay! You can feel and hear the energy coming right off of 'em!"

"A stadium of Ten Thousand filled to the brim! And this ain't even the Grand Prix!"

"Can't blame 'em. Hell, if I wasn't announcing this, I'd be ringside looking at the newcomers. For those at home watching on Pay-Per-View, we're gonna remind you of the few ground rules."

"Tonight's matches are demonstration only. No returning champions, in fact, if you look to the left there, you'll see Seaside Dragoon waving at the ground. He's last year's reigning champ."

"Man they just love the guy."

"Names are drawn based on known skill. Randomization is under the supervision of the Hinoto-Ri Lotto Society."

"Contestants pick their own Evoker ten minutes before the duel, and are asked to fire a blank shot in the air to insure security before it is scanned. Contestants then are brought into their isolation zones and are kept there until they are ready to be brought up to the ring."

"Turns are taken, each allowed only one command from their Personas."

"As usual, Instant Death Spells are forbidden of usage. You may not kill your opponent. If your opponent is knocked unconscious, they have five seconds to get up. You are only allowed to attack your opponents Persona."

"Oh! Looks like the national anthem's gonna start."

There was some singing, as everyone stood up. After, the shouts became louder and louder, as a single man dressed in a tuxedo walked in, grabbing a futuristic microphone and speaking in it.

"LET'S GET IT ON!"

The crowed cheered, as a series of fireworks tore off into the sky.

"This is Bob live from the Outerworld Demo Tournament! Only on Pay-Per-View!"

[OOC- Minako vs Eikichi & Oersted vs Link will be posted as soon as both parties have submitted their titles and theme music.]

Comments

THE MATCH ITSELF

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"Next up, it's teenager vs teenager! After all the older guys, let's see how the younger generation goes at it."

"Better than most reality shows! And with Persona battles to boot."

"Only on Pay-Per-View, Folks!"

As they talked, a few things flashed on the screen.

"First up, Atsuro Kihara! He's 17, Capricorn and his Arcana is the Emperor."

"We'll see how he rules over his opponent."

"FROM OUT OF THIS WORLD, OUR FIRST CONTESTANT IS A TECHNICAL KNOW-HOW! HE SITS ENTHRONED UPON THE FLOOD!"

As he rose, music filled the coliseum, echoing into the night sky. An image of him was being displayed behind, as well as his nickname, overlapped in special effects.

"...the hell does that mean?"

"Probably significant in his world."

When he was done being raised from the bottom, the music changed as the machines turned again, and the crowd went into a screaming frenzy.

"AND HIS OPPONENT, FROM OUT OF THIS WORLD, A KID WITH SOMETHING TO PROVE! HE IS THE MOONLIT ELEMENTAL GHOST!"

"Kid's right, his name is Neku Sakuraba and he's only 15. Our youngest contestant today! What guts!"

"Pisces and Moon Arcana. Not too surprised."

Once Neku was raised into the air along with the other, the ring around them began to close, forming a metal cage between both, like a long corridor. A team of three healers stood by in the wings.

"If you've just come into this Pay-Per-View special, this is an intergalatic Demonstration matches. Currently we're at the start of the match of He Sits Enthroned Upon the Flood and The Moonlit Elemental Ghost. This promises to be interesting."

"Those new to the sport watching we'd like to remind you that Contestants start close to each other, back faced. After that, they take ten steps, Evokers in the air."

"It's like old American Wild West Duels. Crowd helps to count too."

"After that, it's the first who shoots who goes first."

"CONTESTANTS ARE READY!"

"It's starting! And look at the crowd, eating it all up."

"TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!"

"Here we go!"

[OOC - Neku won the coin toss, he goes first.]

[poweryetunknown]

Neku was nervous. He didn't want to admit it to anyone, but he was. He really hadn't trained much with this thing, though he could feel it in the back of his mind. That didn't help much, though - it just made him feel more insane.

Whatever. He could do this - even if the idea of firing anything like a gun made him secretly terrified. Taking a deep breath, he lifted his head as they got ready. At least his opponent seemed like he was about his age. "Hey. Good luck."

And that was it. He took his steps, and then turned, pressing the Evoker to his head and firing. He could feel the rush through him as his persona appeared in a burst of leonine glory.

"Bring it on!" He started with a Muzzle Shot, his Persona racing forward to attack.

[otakuro]

"If I'd known they were going to refer to me just by the title, I'd have picked something less pretentious." Atsuro shrugs slightly. It had seemed appropriate at the time to pick a verse out of the Christian Bible.

"Good luck to you, too." He fingers the gun - the Evoker - in his hands as he begins to take his steps. It wasn't difficult to guess the concept. His Persona had first emerged when he'd been in mortal danger, and on subsequent occasions, only after he'd suffered a few blows. The rush of adrenaline, the sense of imminent danger, that moment right before receiving a blow when you knew you were microseconds away from writhing on the ground in pain... This was what was required to draw forth the Persona.

Still. Wasn't this a little excessive?

He can hear the simulated gunshot before he even has a chance to take his tenth step. Atsuro whirls around in an instant; there's no time for further reflection. "Hey - I'm not your target here." He wonders if being struck by Narasimha would disqualify his opponent, but that's not quite what he's going for. In the space of... well, a gunshot, a young man wreathed in rushing streams of water appears before him to defend, holding up an iron rod to defend against the blow. The force of the clash causes it to stagger back a step before it recovers, retaliating with a sharp blow to the head. A Skull Cracker, with the chance of Confusion amplified by Enki's first Passive skill.

[poweryetunknown]

He was hoping you'd be quick enough on the draw, Atsuro. He had no reason to hurt the other teen, but he wasn't going to stay passive. Fighting Noise had always been attack and never defend, unless you were healing, so the same tactic shaped his fighting here.

Neku summoned the Persona again, and Narasimha took the attack with a forearm, roaring.

"Come on!"

He retaliated with a Maragi, slightly annoyed that he had to waste energy with an attack designed to hit multiple targets. Still, the flames raced towards Enki, and Neku hoped that the water implied by this guy's title didn't cancel out fire here.

[otakuro]

"Fire against water? Don't tell me you've never played this kind of game before." If Neku wasn't going to provide commentary after every blow as per accepted dueling protocol, Atsuro would gladly fill in the blanks. More practically, if Agi was the only element this guy's Persona knew, perhaps he could convince him to leave off the magic in favor of more physical sparring. Enki, of course, was about as resistant to fire as he was to Almighty, but Neku didn't need to know that.

His Persona doesn't need a cue to withstand the flames with a stoic stance; Atsuro similarly tries to keep from wincing as he feels the incurred damage by proxy. He retaliates quickly.

"Malaques!"

The streams of water surrounding Enki rush forth, washing across the battlefield to quench any residual heat and gathering together to form a tidal wave seeking to slam into Narasimha. Although his spell was a level stronger than the most basic magic, Atsuro's strength had never lain in magic, and his Persona similarly suffered from a mediocre command of magic.

[poweryetunknown]

"Elements don't mean much when you've got adaptability." Neku grins, even through the jolt of pain he feels through his Persona. It's not as strong as he'd feared, and true to his word, the water around Narasimha starts cooling.

He thrusts out a hand. If this guy wants a show, then he'll give him a show. "Mabufu!"

At its wielder's call, the leonine Persona roars, shards of ice flying from its hands. Neku himself had a determined expression on his face. No way in hell he was going to lose!

[otakuro]

"Gah -- H-Hey! Ice isn't effective against water, either!" Seriously, hadn't this guy ever played Pokymon? Atsuro splutters in irritation as he watches the icicles beginning to fly; since when did any demon naturally learn more than one element in their base moveset? He ignores the fact that he had been warned of this in advance via his opponent's title in favor of resenting the world for stacking the deck against him.

There would be time for sulking later. Enki instinctively responds to the magic by closing the gap as quickly as it can, gliding smoothly on the heels of another tidal wave of a second Water Amp boosted Malaques. On an immediate scale, the less time the icicle shards had to gain speed, the less damage they would do. Enki meets the Bufu head-on and though weakened at this point, readies its rod for some combat at closer quarters.

[poweryetunknown]

Ugh. Okay, fine. He's got to change tactics. He just grins at the guy's talk of elemental weaknesses - they're good to keep in mind, but some things you just have to barrel through. Like this one.

"I think you've got more to worry about than monster collection game stats!"

While the attack hurts - it's definitely got bite to it - he's had much, much worse. He can feel his mind straining a bit, but he just sets his face in determination again. Now that they're closer to each other, he can pull out a different kind of move. Narasimha reaches out to smack Enki in the face - if he's lucky the Muzzle Shot will silence his opponent, leaving him way more vulnerable.

[otakuro]

"Hey, stats are important." Atsuro shrugs slightly, slightly more comfortable now that they're back within sparring range. Even with a higher level magic and an Amp, he trusted his physical abilities much more. "You've got to play to your strengths - and mine is Strength!"

The Muzzle Shot strikes dead on, but the accompanying status effect fails to stick with its low accuracy. At this juncture in the battle, they were stuck with identical strategies. Enki counters immediately with a Skull Cracker, once again hoping to land Confusion with its Confusion Boost. The moment either of the statuses landed, the match was in the bag... Of course, given that the accuracies were terrible even with the boost, this was unlikely at best.

Still, Atsuro is fairly confident that he can win if he can continue to strike at close quarters. His opponent's Persona couldn't possibly be strong in both strength and magic - likely, it was mediocre to above average at best, while his own strengths were heavily skewed in one direction.

Atsuro, alas, will have a rude awakening when Narasimha brings out the Diarama.

[poweryetunknown]

Yeah, unfortunately for Atsuro all that muscle on the Persona wasn't for show. Sure, his strength wasn't as good as its magic - but it was close. Narasimha catches the Skull Cracker and staggers back a moment, but then recovers, jumping back for a moment.

And then there was a soft glow, and Neku smirked, waiting for Atsuro to respond. Narasimha looks good as new, and his wielder just crosses his arms.

[otakuro]

((I am really sorry for losing track of this! I completely forgot about it with the event; sorry about that! You can leave it if you'd prefer or anything you'd like, but really, Atsuro can't win here.))

".................What?! Since when are healing spells an option?!"

Atsuro looks suitably flabbergasted as his Persona awkwardly shifts in place.

"I... Don't count me out yet! You won't be healing anything when you're confused!"

The new plan is to bash Narasimha on the head over and over again.