Kazuki Vs Damien

[Victoria Alexander]

Please note that I was one less in an even number. Damien was one of the active players and therefore given the opportunity of continuing on with the next round.

Location: Recyclables

Both fighters will be surrounded by piles of plastic bottles, bulks of newspaper ect. Please use your surroundings.

Weapons: Each will be given a 6 ft wooden pool. You may also use anything in your surroundings but please keep in mind just what part of the junk yard you are in.

[Kazuki Akimoto]

ooc: A staff? You're aware of the potential pain this can cause, aren't you? Well, when in Rome...

ic:

First round victories were of little consequence, rarely did two of the heavy favourites meet in the opening skirmishes, so it tended to serve mostly as a warmup for the later fights. That, as it had turned out, was exactly the case it seemed as Kazuki reviewed the remaining competitors. Shamino, Tiao, Adam, and two newcomers he'd not heard of. It was one of these that he was pitted against this time around, however, and that made his fight all the more dangerous once again. An uncharted opponent, therefore someone he had to be that extra bit careful with.

Upon being informed of the new stipulations, however, the sense of caution diminished ever so slightly.

Something of an understatement, perhaps, considering the choice of weapon offered to him. His first thought had been to discard it immediately, maintain a hand-to-hand combat style throughout, but second thoughts nudged him to hold onto the weapon. After all, a little bit of entertainment would do nicely...

Thus, Kazuki found himself standing amidst what was, effectively, a pile of rubbish, looking over at a younger fighter (though at this stage, he was almost completely certain that Shamino and himself would be the eldest of the fighters remaining) with a hint of amusement on his face. Once again, he had the luxury of fighting without reputation swaying an opponents judgement, and that in itself may end up playing to his benefit. No less, he'd heard that the boy had fought Tiao Lei Shen to a draw. The semantics were somewhat screwy, but the fact was that he'd entered a ring with that crazy Chinese bastard and was standing here after it.

"You know, I beat your last opponent when I fought him...You did pretty well to pull a draw there."

Shrugging his shoulders in a slow roll, he gave the staff in his left hand a flick to spin it back and against his right shoulder. Raising an eyebrow with a hint of a smirk, he nodded, almost as if to himself.

"Let's see if your luck holds out, hm?"

With that last remark, his stance shifted smoothly. His grip on the staff released enough to let the top heavy weight slide through his palm, gripping when he held closer to a third of the way down it, extending his left arm and gripping the opposite end in a mirror to his left hand with his right. It permitted him an extra three feet of reach at minimum from the holding, and diminished his speed the least.

'This should be enough to test the waters for now.'

[Kazuki Akimoto]

ooc: Due to Damiens forfeit, I'm going to close this one up. Not much, but something to establish closure.

ic:

His position held, he watched the boy in front of him intently for a moment before he began to shift forward. No point standing around doing nothing when he could get things started. Even as he neared his opponent, however, he could see that his posture was awkward and somewhat tired-looking...

'Tiao must have really done a number on this kid, he barely looks like he can stand up just now...'

Furrowing his brow in thought for a few seconds, he relented in his approach, lowering the weapon in his hands.

"Listen, your current state has you at a real disadvantage. If you lasted past the first exchange, I'd be impressed. Do yourself a favour, drop any pretences, go home and get healed up. If, after that, you want to see what might have been, then ask around about me. It's not too hard to track me down."

Speaking with a calm voice, he made it perfectly clear he wasn't trying to play with the boys mind. He was genuinely concerned that he might be in over his head. Ego aside, he knew his own capabilities, and to imagine someone trying to go through Tiao and then onto him wasn't particularly appealing. After a few seconds, the boy nodded slowly and lowered his own weapon.

"Looks like you move on. Congratulations, I suppose."

Shrugging his shoulders, he turned from the boy and walked back to where he had been allocated his match, turning his head to leave a few words behind. "A hollow win, if you ask me. Still, I have an idea..."

As he continued on to the main entrance to the yard, a small smirk crept onto his face.