2 Fast 2 Furious (Almech)

by **Eridanus** on January 22nd, 2012, 12:59 pm

Day 51, Winter of 511 AV
Late Afternoon
Akeldama Colosseum

The lure of the excitement that could be found in the Colosseum was seductive to the vantha, and he found himself wondering about the quality of the other gladiators. Shale had promised him a prime-time slot if he should return, and his absence from the Colosseum for the past days had done enough to drum up enough excitement as to when this 'mysterious newcomer' would return to excite the audience.

That day was today. After returning to the Colosseum to express his interest in the morning, the ringmaster had scheduled him for a battle in the late afternoon that same day.

The time was now. As he passed by Shale on his way into the arena, the ringmaster patted his arm and said, "Prime-time slot as I promised. 2v2 standard death-match. No frills no fuss."

Eridanus snorted. The kelvic made fighting and risking his life sound like a mundane chore. Then again, having owned the business for so long the whole thing probably seemed boring to him anyway. To Shale it was like a business, but for the combatants it was a gamble on their lives for gold.

He was probably late, for he could hear the crowd cheering for whoever was already out there. Walking out of the building into the arena in the center, he could hear the crowd grow quiet when they realized that the last combatant of the 2v2 was the 'mysterious new-comer'.

Eridanus turned his head to his side to see who his ally was.

by **Almech** on January 22nd, 2012, 7:52 pm

oocI figure i'll rp one opponent that fights you and vice versa, sound good?

Almech entered the arena, shale never gave him a break, the seat of the stadium were filling up like a waterfall of people, alot of them cheered upon seeing Almech to be the first to arrive, other booed at him, because of his fight with Eri. With two cracked ribs Almech didn't consider himself to be of much help, he was just happy the doctor's at Ionu's mercy had given him some pain killers to take with him, so he could barely feel the soreness.

The seats filled up and the anticipation of the crowd was skyrocketing as the arena boomed with voices discussing bets, he heard a few betting on how long Almech would last with the injuries he'd sustained. Shale never told him anything, mostly because Almech didn't care what he had to say, he just needed money for lodging, clothes and whatnot, he held his scythe with one hand and rested the shaft on his shoulder, the sickle pointing backwards.

Almech was getting annoyed, he thought he'd come on time, was he early? or were the others late? and once the thought had passed his mind the gate opposite of him began to open, he momentarily felt as rush of warm air coming from behind it. It felt rather comforting amidst this cold weather, the floor of the arena had a blanket of snow on it about 6 inches thick, this boosted his confidence a bit, as he didn't need to worry about slipping around, shifting into a dog could give him more stability if need be.

The opponents stepped out finally, two humans, or atleast they appeared and smelled like humans, one man carried a short sword and a shield wearing fur clothing, the other also wore fur but he held a spear and net. They seemed to be twin brothers, the only difference between the two were that the one carrying the sword and shield had a scar on his cheek, Almech scoffed, they had cocky looks on their face, it wasn't confidence, it was arrogance.

They were quite muscular, more so than Almech which triggered him to think their arrogance was linked to it, perhaps they won through their raw strength, maybe he could out maneuver them. It was then that the crowd went silent as if in shock, Almech caught a familiar scent and turned around, and to his surprise, it was his opponent from the other day I'm going to be fighting with him? he thought to himself Atleast i'm not up against him again he looked over at Almech, so Almech knodded his head to his team mate.

by **Eridanus** on January 23rd, 2012, 11:11 am

"You!" Eridanus widened his eyes in surprise. Shale walked past him from behind, and the ringmaster entered the center of the arena, raising a hand for silence.

"Some of you may have seen how the rugged Carnivore fought nail-and-tooth with a mysterious new-comer a few days ago. Now, the two enemies must reconcile their differences and turn into allies. Will they be able to survive?" Shale announced dramatically, and the crowd roared in anticipation.

Eridanus raised an eyebrow, for the ringmaster had exaggerated the events quite a bit. He was sure there was no animosity between the two of them. Then again, he understood the need to drum up an event for publicity and excitement. It was a show, after all.

"Presenting... The Arm-Crushers! Twins raised in the brutal blood pits of Sunberth, they now destroy all opponents with savage brutality!" Shale declared, gesturing towards the two brothers with one arm.

The brother with the scar smashed his sword against his shield, while the mustached brother jabbed his spear into the sky, both roaring loudly. The crowd went wild, cheering for them.

Shale raised a hand again, and the crowd fell silent obediently. This was the best part.

"Need I even say it... the mysterious new-comer, and?" Shale raised a hand to his ear in an exaggerated manner, playing the crowd.

"Car-ni-vore! Car-ni-vore! Car-ni-vore!" The crowd chanted, and cheered loudly, waving their hands and drumming the railings in front of them to create noise.

Shale smirked confidently, and he walked out of the arena to the raised platform in the middle of some seats. Before he sat down, he pointed his finger at the center of the arena, proclaiming, "Let the battle begin!"

Throughout the spectacle Eridanus was not merely sitting there. He was not interested in theatrics. Instead, he asked his new ally, "What do I call you? In case I need to warn you or anything. My name is Eridanus, but just call me Eri in a pinch."

He looked over the opponents they would be facing, and he knew he could not mess around if he valued his life. These were battle-hardened fighters raised in Sunberth, and though Eri had only stayed a season in that lawless city it took a strong fighter to survive the crime and madness there.

He would not be aiming for complete annihilation, of course, but he would not be playing around as well. The goal was to go for a fast victory, for he knew that he was more skilled than Almech at least in terms of armed combat. He would take down his opponent quickly, then the two of them would gang up on the remaining one. That was the ideal plan.

Conveying his general plan to the kelvic, he said, "I'll get the guy with the spear. The one with the sword should be best for you with the superior reach of your scythe."

Little did he know, things would not quite go as smoothly as he planned it to be.

The brothers began to advance menacingly, their weapons out away from them as they approached in a duo. It was clear that they had some form of a team strategy, while Eridanus and Almech did not. Their best bet would be to somehow split up the brothers and engage each one separately.

by **Almech** on January 23rd, 2012, 12:36 pm

Almech looked over at Eridanus with a nonchalant look in his eyes "Almech" he responded and then turned his gaze back at these two men confronting them, he didn't like the look they gave the two men, Almech made it clear with his body language that he was not impressed in the least. Almech readied his scythe lazily gripping it with both hands, he looked very closely "Watch out for that net" he said to Eri before he took off running, he liked the feeling of the snow being crushed under his bare feet.

He headed for the brother with the spear, he wondered if Eri took his hint or not, he meant for his comrade to follow behind him, the spear wielding sunberthian swiped at him with it, but Almech fell to his knees midstride, sliding across the snow bending backward as if playing limbo. He held out his scythe attempting to trip the man, but it was half a distraction for Eri to take him out, however he hadn't thought through this plan completely as he was almost stabbed through the chest be the sword wielder, Almech jabbed with his scythe, disengaging the trip attempt.

He smacked the sword away with the end of his scythe and stood up but was quickly knocked down by a blunt strike with the man's shield, he then viciously swiped his sword at the kelvic, all the while he's slipping and sliding barely able to avoid each blow that was sent his way. Almech swing his scythe backward, stabbing it deep into the ground below, he pulled himself into a backwards roll and stood up while yanking his scythe out at the same time, atleast they were seperated now.

oocOk your post rp a lil about fighting the spear guy, then i'll take him over in my post and vice versa

by **Eridanus** on January 23rd, 2012, 1:13 pm

Almech told the vantha his name curtly before rushing off straight towards their opponents, and Eridanus sighed. He had always preferred to fight defensively, waiting for the opportune moment to land a decisive strike. Still, he had to back his ally up, for if Almech were to fall to the teamwork of the sunberthians he would have to deal two at one go. It was not a very good prospect no matter how skilled he believed himself to be with the blade. Eridanus always liked to tip the odds in his favor. A fan of overkill, if you will.

The vantha followed closely behind his ally, starting slow due to the possible slipperiness of the snow which he had to get used to. He accelerated when the kelvic did, and Mustache made the obligatory first strike with his spear. Almech dropped to his knees, using the melted snow below and his acceleration to slide him underneath the spear safely, and the vantha mentally swore as he instead leaped over, bending his body slightly to avoid the spear, treating the weapon like the height-pole in high-jump contests.

The crowd wowed and clapped at this acrobatic display, which was beautiful in the coordinated way both allies dodged the spear, one above and one below. One could almost believe that the entire thing was scripted, if not for the blood that would run later on.

There was no script, only honed combat reflexes.

Almech did his signature swipe with his scythe aimed at the man's legs, but the time he took to swing the huge weapon gave Mustache ample opportunity to shift his legs to dodge it. However, he forgot that Eridanus was in the air and sailing towards him as well, just as Almech had been sailing towards him on the ground, and Almech's ploy worked as Eridanus slammed into the man's face with his shoulder with all the force of the momentum from the vault and gravity.

Scarface tried to stab Almech, but the kelvic was able to avoid an early withdrawal from the battle - and possibly from life - and he continued to slide away, using the scythe to anchor him onto the ground.

Meanwhile Eridanus had leaped and tumbled away from Mustache for he could not be sure that Scarface was not aiming at him with the sword. If he had stayed in that position with Scarface jabbing the sword at him he would be sitting duck, especially if Mustache was quick enough to prevent his movement with the net. At such close-quarters his fate would have been sealed.

Self-preservation was more important, and the melted snow created from the impact of his boots against the ground gave him more ground in his tumble, and he slammed both hands into the ground, digging up his heel against the snow to anchor him on the ground. He had not drawn his swords yet.

They were in a four-way, and as the four combatants took a moment to process this new arrangement the crowd clapped and cheered again. The battle had barely started and they were already treated to this acrobatic display. The crowd hungered for more.

OOC :

At least the brothers were separated now, and he was at a distinct advantage weapon-wise against Mustache, as long as he did not get himself or his weapon entangled with the net. Almech benefited too, as long as he continued to keep the distance between him and Scarface to abuse the enormous reach of his scythe, and of course if he managed to keep his grip on the weapon and not get disarmed somehow.

Let the battle begin proper!Almech VS Scarface! (sword and shield)

Scarface approached warily towards his nearest opponent. The kelvic wielded a scythe which far exceeded the range of his sword, and so he edged forward in a defensive position, his sword placed behind with his shield raised up and in front of him. He would use his shield to block any hits, and when he was close enough he would bash the kelvic with his shield, and cut him to shreds with his sword. Then, he would help his brother against the vantha that he had never seen before, though his brother probably would not need the help. The vantha was probably a rookie, and he had no doubt his brother would be able to finish off that weakling fast.

by **Almech** on January 25th, 2012, 12:30 am

Almech watched the scarred one inch closer and closer to him, Almech has a smile on his face now, just as smug as his opponent's when they walked into the arena, Almech was no weakling and he would let this sunberthian know about it. He held his pole arm with both hands, his right holding the high end while the left held lower, the two or three feet between his hands was where the middle of the shaft was.

He held it outward, the blade facing his opponent and the tip of the sickle pointing directly at his left foot, his eyes were blank as he focused and started becoming more aware of his body, keep his breaths slow and calm like he's seen his Vantha comrade do before. Somehow this breathing technique was not only calming his body, but his mind as well, which was an odd feeling as the dog Kelvic's mind was constantly racing and had an incredibly short attention span.

Scarface got closer and as he did Almech's ability to keep his mind free became muddied, his animal instincts were urging him toward a vicious assault on the gladiator but the logical human nature bestowed upon him by his bonding with Kale was urging him to wait. His mind was but a rippling pond, but the rippling grew more and more intense as his opponent closed distance between the two and by the time he was about a meter away from the Kelvic his mind was no longer a rippling pond.

Now it was a thrashing river with no hint of calm in it what so ever, however his human intelligence allowed him atleast some cohesive thought within the chaos, he lunged at the gladiator and he readied his shield. Almech threw a punch with his left hand and the shaft of his scythe followed, the gladiator brought up his shield to protect his face and bashed it away, he stabbed at the Kelvic with his sword, but Almech was ready to defend against a counter, swinging his scythe at it.

He hooked the blade from below swinging his scythe in an upwards fashion and pivoting it to "clamp" the sword, the gladiator refused to let go of his sword, so instead of flinging it into the air like Almech intended, he merely poisitioned the sword straight up with the gladiator holding it high above his head. He sent a straight heelkick towards the gladiator's midsection and would poceed to spin his scythe backwards, causing the reversed blade to come up from below aiming a vertical slash up the gladiator's body.

Meanwhile the mustached twin set his sights on Eri, took a few strides using Almech's tracks to gain more traction to the ground and began stabbing mercilessly at the Vantha, he held the net with his uppermost hand. Each time he stabbed with the spear the net would fling around, it would be much more difficult for the vantha with two threats being so close together, their movements were in sinc some might say.

The gladiator was using the net as a way to distract Eri from the razor sharp speartip, Eri wouldn't know when or where he would fling the net to cripple Eri's movements if at all, he was quite skilled with the weapon. He stabbed in many directions, the movements seeming to blurr into eachother along with the net flopping around you could tell he had refined this technique, after stabbing several time he would swing it around aiming a blow with the bottom end towards the side of Eri's face.

by **Eridanus** on January 25th, 2012, 2:50 pm

Mustache advanced on Eridanus steadily, and as he prepared to use his net the vantha continued to side-step the sunberthian, always strafing the gladiator to make sure that he was on the side of the spear. As he did so, he drew both his swords swiftly, using his blade to alternatively parry the spear thrusts. It was fortunate he had two weapons to parry the spear with, thus he could distribute the energy investment evenly on both sides and thus reserve strength, ensuring that if both he and the spearman had exact amount stamina, he would win a battle of attrition.

He could see the sunberthian growling in frustration as the vantha was swifter and more agile than the heavily muscled gladiator, and so he was able to nimbly sidestep the man, forcing him to both turn his body and attack with his spear, for the hand with the net is on the complete opposite. By the time he turned his body enough to be able to use his net the vantha had along strafed him again. He did try to use the net of course, but it mostly missed.

Why did Eridanus choose the side with the spear than the net? Though a sword might be able to cut the net given enough momentum and with the right angle in the swing, there are a million and one ways it could go wrong and he could have his sword wrapped by the net. There was no way he would disadvantage himself.

Almost lazily swinging away at the spear thrusts which were not as effective due to the sunberthian continually having to adjust his position before jabbing, Eridanus quickly dashed more to the side, stepping forward to deliver a scalp cut with his right hand, his left hand quickly rising with the blade drooping below to block a blow from the end of the spear.

With no way to block himself from the scalp cut, the sunberthian's only method would either to step back or to duck and dodge. Either way the vantha would use the rebound from his left sword's parry to launch a diagonal swing upwards to the right, forcing space between the combatants or his opponent suffering a laceration across his chest.

------

Scarface missed his sword blow, but he quickly slammed his shield into position just in time to absorb the blow from the heel-kick. Though he was muscular and strong in his own right, he cannot hope to fight against physics and superior positioning, and the force of the blow pushed him backwards, his heels digging up snow as he fought to maintain his ground.

Almech's attack was the exact attack he was looking for, and so he moved up to meet it, angling his shield downwards and slamming it to the ground to force and trap the scythe below. His raw brute strength would keep it below, and the kelvic cannot hope to match him in pure unadulterated force. The only way of escape would be to either release his scythe, or back out far enough to withdraw his scythe from the trapping position of the shield.

Almech would have to decide fast, for immediately after that shield-trapping technique the sunberthian swung his sword in a direction outwards of his body at the kelvic's midsection. He was playing safe, for any attempts to counter-attack would lead him to merely use the momentum of the swing of his torso to bring the shield up again.

by **Almech** on February 9th, 2012, 7:36 am

He was surprised with Eri's quickness, and soon became frustrated, he was getting cold, he growled, trying to pump himself up, get his blood pumping faster to warm his body. He knew it was virtually useless to fight with a weapon when his hands were numb, best bet would be to use hand to hand. His attempts to entangle Eri's swords was futile, he was much more swift and cunning for the muscle bound warrior. When Eri rush toward the side he knew an attack was coming, he'd broken through the sunbertian's comfort zone and swiped his sword with great skill at his head, he stepped back, or more so attempted to and slipped in the snow. He'd evaded the head attack but Eri sent another slice cutting across the gladiator's chest. He fell to the ground and swung his legs to gain momentum for a roll, he tried to entangle Eri's legs with his own in the process, he would then swipe his spear horizontally towards Eri to get him to back off. He would then get up and catch his breath awaiting Eri's next move.
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Almech smiled when the heel kick struck but he was soon disappointed when his scythe became trapped under mustache's shield. The he slashed out at Almech, his instincts made him jump straight into the air, pulling down on his scythe for a quicker ascension then letting go, he twisted his body in the air bring him to the back of the sunberthian. he slashed downward with his claws at the man's back. He would then hop backwards, bringing the two closer to Eri and scarface, Eri and Almech were virtually back to back with a meter or two space in between. When his opponent would stand to turn around Almech would lunge forward and aim a kick to the side of the man's head using his greave, once he'd done this he would lunge forward trying to grab the gladiator's weapon hand . He would attempt to dig his claws in and contort his hand and force him to let go of his sword, or at the very least hinder his ability to wield it

by **Eridanus** on February 24th, 2012, 7:39 am

Eri's attack forced the gladiator to tumble to avoid being decapitated, but with the man's sudden lash with his legs the vantha did not have time to dodge it completely, instead choosing to quickly kick out in the opposite direction to neutralize the force of the kick.

The sunberthian was clearly stronger than him, and though he neutralized most of the energy he could still feel the force behind the kick, stumbling him back as he back-pedaled to stabilize his footing. Fortunately, the stumbling helped him to avoid the swinging of the spear, and he glanced at the man warily as both opponents glared at each other studying for signs of weakness.

Eridanus found himself almost back to back with his ally and he realized that Almech was still in the midst of battle with his own opponent. The vantha was going to go for an orthodox victory, failing which he would have to rely on flux to quickly end the battle. He knew that the kelvic's combat stamina was below his or the muscled Sunberthians and to prolong the conflict would be detrimental to their team.

Using the slippery ground to gain momentum, the vantha leaped towards Mustache, one sword in front of him to parry the sunberthian's inevitable spear thrust with the other sword further behind to create space for a power swing. This will end soon, one way or another.

--------------

Almech avoided Scarface's sword swing, but he was unfazed for he did not over-extend in that attack. As he prepared for yet another swing, the kelvic surprised him by suddenly lunging forward viciously with a heel kick, and he raised his shield in surprise. He managed to block the kick with his shield, but he did not realized it was a mere diversion as the kelvic was actually gunning for his weapon hand all along.

Claws dug into his sword-wielding hand and Scarface growled with a mixture of pain and anger. His wrist was bleeding yet he maintained his hold on his weapon with a death-grip, for he knew that if he were to drop his sword it would be all over for him.

With all the strength he could muster, he smashed his shield towards Almech in an attempt to bash the gladiator away from his bleeding hand.

by **Eridanus** on June 26th, 2012, 6:17 am

OOCContinuing as a solo because of Almech's disappearance.

There was a clash and sparks flew from the collision of steel against steel. The crowd gasped as two tide-changing events occurred simultaneously. The vantha's opponent stumbled as the force of the power swing brought him to his knees, flinching as he felt cold steel against his neck.

At the same time, Almech's opponent succeeded in his shield bash and flung the kelvic away and onto the wall behind, causing the gladiator to finally pass out from the impact.

"Yield?" Eridanus uttered harshly, positioning himself such that he continued to face Almech's opponent yet keeping his sword on his own opponent's neck. He did not really want to fight the shield-bearing Sunberthian, not with his swords for he would be at a disadvantage, and he was honestly quite disappointed with the scythe-wielding gladiator's defeat.

"No hostages, Eridanus. That is a bad sport!" Shale yelled from the stands, followed by several boos from the audience.

"How about a compromise?" Eridanus proposed. "The defeated combatants leave the arena, and the remaining continue the battle without weapons?"

"You underestimate my strength, vantha?" Scarface roared.

"Deal! 5 Chimes reprieve, starting now!" Shale called out, motioning to his aides at the side.

Eridanus removed the blade from Moustache's throat as several men hurried out at the orders of the Ringmaster to help the two defeated combatants leave the arena. More arrived to him and Scarface, and they both allowed the assistants to remove their weapons, storing them safely until after the fight.