Extra practice never hurt anyone... but you.(Tris)

[Price]

(No need for a huge opening post, so I'll make it simple.)

Richard Price rolled his neck slowly, popping it in all the right places with a wet popping sound that, to some, sent shivers down the spine, but, to Price, were merely a signal that he was ready to again.

Laying at his feet were three other students who he had asked as of about five minutes before to engage him in a battle, three against one. Here they now lain, defeated.

Price let out a little sigh. He hadn't even needed to use his sword during the battle; though it wasn't like he wanted to. He'd been training his sword skills almost nonstop since he got to the Academy, and he was worried he was going to get rusty on his martial arts. Thus, Price said nothing, waiting for another one to come by and help him with his training.

[Tristan Knightrhode]

Tristan walked into the training ground. Not only was he bored to tears, but it had proved his favorite place of Babylos. He didn't feel like playing chess with Igneus, so there he was on the field. There were a couple of kids, probably teens to mid twenties, layed out on the floor, with one standing over them. It sparked his interest a little and he walked over to the bunch.

"Yo." Came the deep voiced call. "You look like your ready for more, how's about a challenge." His thick boots made dull thuds on the grass and soil. The black dragonhide coat swaying with his own movement. He stopped a few yards away, his gauntleted hands loose at his sides, tiny black dragon familiar sitting on his right shoulder, sword handle sticking out over the opposite.

[Price]

Price cocked an eyebrow as a new, much more menacing looking guy entered his line of sight, and quite plainly asked for a challenge. This brought a smirk to Price's face. He liked this guy already. Straight and to the point, and wanting nothing more than a good fight, it seemed.

"Yeah, please," he said, stretching his arms a bit. "As you can see, those three weren't quite as skilled as I'd hoped. You look to be just a bit more capable, I think. So what do you say, big guy? You wanna use weapons or no? I'll warn you right up front, just to be fair, if we go unarmed, I'm going to kick your ass."

Price smirked and watched this new entrant for a reaction. Either way, he was more than willing to train himself with this new guy. He seemed to have a very dangerous aura about him, which Price, much to his surprise, seemed to be able to pick up.

What the... I've never noticed anything like that before...

[Tristan Knightrhode]

Tristan smirked. Something about this kid sparked the hunters interest even more than the initial scene. Maybe it was his brooding overconfidence, hinting at cockyness. Maybe it was just his look. Hell it could have been his overall demenor. "Oh?" He asked slowly and sardonically, returning the slightly cocky attitude.

"That so?" The deep voice continued. He reached up for the dragonhide sword strap. Igneus, getting the hint, flew off to a boulder a ways away before he was in the way of the strap. The glorious blade settled in Tristan's hands, still in its holster. "We'll have to see about that." He said before making a quick motion that sent the blade flying to a far off tree, none too far from Igneus, and slicing through the bark to bury itsself in the flesh.

He didn't bother removing his guns as he didn't have his hunting rifle, and his handguns were hidden where they would more than likely not be revealed. He put an armored fist to his jaw and pushed his neck one way, making several sickening cracks ring out in the wide space. He walked forward slowly, putting his other fist to his jaw and cracking his neck the other way with the same popping sound.

"Lets get these shleps out of the way before we trip over 'em, eh?" He said, bending down with deliberate slowness to build the anticipation and agita within his opponent. He tossed two of them over his shoulders and picked the other one up under his arm. The man rose with that same iritatingly slow speed and walked over to another small boulder.

He layed them down gently enough and walked back to where he had been when he tossed aside his blade. "Now then..." Tristan said, taking a small, seemingly pointless stance, his tone abandoning the somewhat teasing element. The slightly gaunt face of his drained itsself of all indication of emotion, his near black eyes gleamed slightly under his dark orange sunglasses.

[Price]

Slowly, calculatingly, the big man made his presence and full power known to the younger fighter, which brought about an eyebrow raised from over Price's eye.

This guy sure is a character.

The big guy first tossed his rather large sword into a tree, impaling it heavily into it, then proceeded to grab three students, all at once, and moved them out of the way, leaving a clear fighting arena for the two of them. He returned to the newly made area and motioned his readiness to begin the fight.

"Now then, indeed..." Price reached into his coat, unstrapping the harness that held his sword and pulling it away from his back before casually and nonchalantly tossing it aside. Certainly, it wasn't quite as impressive as the other man's display, but Price wasn't big on showiness in the first place. Cracking his knuckles, Price took one step forward, and with a smirk and a wink, he was off.

He dashed three steps forward, closing the distance between them rather quickly. However, with his next step, Price ducked low, hoping to get under his defenses as he fell backwards, landing on one hand and pushing himself up in a rising handstand kick, heading up for Tristan's chin.

[Tristan Knightrhode]

Tristan watched the boy come in. He was as fast as that vampire he had fought along side the wolf...before the transformation at least. The hunter's keen eyes followed the boys movements well enough to see what he was doing intime to dodge, if barely. The man leaned back but it appeared to be not enough until of course, Tristan's vest, with its wards, pushed ths upside-down boys foot away just enough for Tristan to avoid being nailed.

The hunter then grabbed the left leg with his left hand, and turned around, dragging the boy up and through the air. A small kick to the upper back with his left leg would ensure it. Tristan would then wrench the boy around and slam him hard, face first into the dirt. Hopefully he had enough speed that even if the boy were to try and catch himself, it wouldn't work correctly.

[Price]

Quickly, Price found his kicking leg being grabbed, and moved to follow-up. A martial-artist by nature, Price knew all about follow-ups and how to continue using your motion to your advantage, even after you'd been blocked or countered. Thus, as he was kicking up, once the leg was grabbed, Price pushed off with his hands with as much strength as he could gather, he effectively 'jumped' with his hands, and began to do an inverted situp. As impressive as Price was physically, however, he was still human, and could not pull himself up quite as fast as he would have liked to. Thankfully, Tristan seemed to solve that problem for him, his kick catching Price in the back.

Ow.

It hurt, no doubt, but thanks to the fact that he'd already begun to sit up, it had been more of a glancing blow than it was intended to be, and also provided for some more upward force, helping Price to rise up to an almost sitting position, with one leg still gripped by the larger Tristan.

As Tristan cranked around to throw him, however, Price sprang into action. From his position, with the incredible abdominal control, he could react accordingly. Tristan turned around and Price's right foot came straight into his head. It wasn't simply a kick, however, it was a push as well. He kicked, and then pushed, hoping the sudden surprising impact would be enough for Tristan to relase him. Regardless of whether he did or not, however, Price was banking on the same escape anyway. He used the force of his push off from Tristan's head to perform a neat backflip to land back behind the man, either on both feet as intended, or with one still over Tristan's shoulder.

[Tristan Knightrhode]

Tristan stumbled slightly with a painful twinge in the back of his head. The boy forced himself from the grip and the hunter stayed in that bent over position for a moment as his opponent sailed through the air none too far away. Tristan pushed back with his right hand, having put it to the ground, and slid his base back slightly.

He shot his left foot up and back in a hard reverse mule kick that would nail the boy dead in his back. This shot had a zero chance of seeing it coming unless ofcourse he'd been looking over his shoulder the whole time, or he'd already landed. The hunter's attack would probably make the boy land flat on his ass or in a comprimised position similar to a front fall, but by the time that happened, Tristan would have whirled around and shot after his opponent.

If the boy was on his gut or on his feet, his head would meet Tristan's armored right fist dead on. If he was on his back, it would be his gut that would be greeting the titanium ball. The former would have less of a chance of seeing it coming as the boys head would probably be down but that was still all dependant on how he'd fallen.

[Price]

(OOC: I'd imagined a pretty tight, quick backflip that would've had me land at about the time you realized you'd been hit. But not to be a bitch, I'll still be in a fairly compromising position.)

Price's little trick succeeded, and his foot was released as he dropped to the ground, hands up, ready for a counter-attack. However, he hadn't expected that counter-attack to come so damn soon.

Tristan had been in motion as soon as Price's kick had connected, intending, apparently, on stopping him before he hit the ground. That had not worked; however, as soon as Price had landed, a foot was headed right for his chin. Mentally swearing, Price leapt backwards, pulling his body back into a back handspring. The boy was quick, but not QUITE quick enough, as the kick still managed to catch the tip of his chin, the tips of boot scraping off it with a little twinge of pain.

As Price's legs came up from the handspring, however, Price switched it up a little bit. They came up on either side of Tristan's kicking leg and crossed at the ankles once they past it, capturing it between them. At this point, Tristan hopped on his hands once more, spinning himself hard to the right as he did so. He knew that his opponent was much to big to be thrown just by this move, but with his leg captured like it was, Price's ankles would be twisting his own painfully out of it's intended range of movement, if only for a moment. It wouldn't break anything, but it would likely hurt like hell.

After the initial jerk, Price would release his leg-grip and land face down, and try to roll forward to gain some distance between himself and his opponent as soon as he legs hit the ground too, which would give Tristan, were he not reeling from the ankle blow, a small window of time to counterattack.

[Tristan Knightrhode]

Tristan's move had worked about as well as he would have suspected. It had caught his opponents jaw, the boy having made a rather tight flip as opposed to a larger one that he'd imagined. He'd then gone to stand up, and push off with his right hand, when he felt something on either side of his boot. A somewhat sharp twinge on his ankle as the boy twisted about on his hands was what he felt next.

The thick boots had protected him from any further damage and his speed wouldn't be hindered. His foot was then free and he shot himself forward off both his right limbs and rolled over his right shoulder. That was something he didn't get to do too often because of his cumbersome sword, and the light impact rolled his spine and made a few small satisfying cracks, nearly silent.

After the pleasant roll, Tristan rose to his feet and turned to face his opponent in almost one fluid motion. It was somewhat of a winding stream as to the fluidity but it was still continuous. The boy was in mid roll when Tristan's onyx colored eyes locked onto him. With a tiny test of weight on his ankle to make sure he was fine, he shot forward, low and fast. Normally his gauntlet blades would be out and he'd be a slightly more fear striking sight, but this was a match of unarmed, hand to hand.

Well...hand to hand wasnt agreed upon...just no weapons. So by all means, either of them could whip out the reason they were on Babylos and attack with magic. Tristan had his own plethora of spells, but he didn't know any thing about what his opponent could do. Once he was upon the boy, who'd probably be facing Tristan, waiting, or charging himself, the hunter would lash out with a quick left jab followed by a right hook, just as quick.

If the boy was still standing there- that is he hadn't headed for the hills dodging- Tristan would use the remainder of his momentum and literally run up the boys front, kicking into his gut then chest, making a two step kick flip that would be just as tight as the one the black haired boy himself had pulled off not moments before.

OOC: SPELL CASTER WOO!!! >.> XD

[Price]

Price turned around to see Tristan getting up from a roll all his own, and, wasting absolutely no time, charging toward him at top speed. He closed in quickly, beginning to throw off a short combination of punches. Price grinned visibly as he went into motion himself. Finally, this fight was moving back into the territory that he was the most familiar with: Straight out fighting.

The ol' one-two, one of the most well-known combinations in all of boxing, and thus, in most mixed martial-arts tournaments, such as the ones Price held more World Titles in than he could count. With Tristan's size and strength, Price figured he wouldn't be able to simply block the attacks, which, in most cases, was the best way to deal with them. Thus, he would be forced to move.

Quickly, the boy took a short hop backwards, low and controlled, moving him just out of range of the jab, which would have a slightly longer reach. As soon as he landed, however, Price would duck down a bit, weaving to his left to get under the last bit of the jab before coming back to the initial straight-angle of his upper body and dash forth. As he burst forth, using all of his speed, Price would jump forward, using all his momentum to send his left knee into the gut of Tristan, going underneath his punches as he did so. If it hit, Price would retract the knee a few moments after the initial impact, twisting his landing somewhat so that he would land perpendicular to Tristan, facing him.

Yee haw! Me too!

[Tristan Knightrhode]

Tristan didn't get to use his martial arts prowess in the form of his kick flip up the boys gut as he'd moved far enough out of range for him to be able to dodge it. The hunter watched carefully of his opponents movements at this point. He was carefull not to put too much commitment into his strikes in case he needed to move out of the way.

Fortunately or unfortunately enough, he didn't need to dodge. The only attack the boy performed was a knee to the gut. Tristan's vest, with its' wards, caught the knee and stopped it about a centimeter away from the surface of Tristan's dragon hide coat. He'd really have to thank the enchanter that did that job. As the knee stopped without even hitting him, Tristan cracked a tiny grin.

Both of his hands shot out, right hand aimed for the boys lapel, left hand going for the throat but if he managed to move would settle for the lapel as well. The man would then shoot his own knee up, pulling the boy closer, and nail the boy in his stomach once the warded knee was dropped. If this worked- wasn't avoided- , Tristan would stomp down with that leg that had just attacked, puttting it inbetween the boy's legs.

Tristan would then twist himself around, and use his grips on the boy to hurl him up and over. A variation on a basic shoulder throw this was. If Tristan's left hand was indeed locked onto his opponents throat, this move would be even easier, and he would go over all the faster, let alone harder. Albeit that both hands were on the lapel, the boy would go over at a regular speed and force, straight into the ground. Should this move work flawlessly, which hardly any thing ever did unless you were vastly superior to your opponent, the boy would end up digging his shoulders right into the ground with the rest of his body some what perpendicular to the dirt.

[Price]

No matter how hard Price's knee had come in, no matter how much force he had put behind it, suddenly, out of nowhere, it stopped mere millimeters away, his knee refusing to make that tiny little movement forward to strike Tristran. Price could not believe his eyes at first.

What is this? How can this happen?! It... it just stopped!

Then he remembered just where he was now, and how little bits of magic like that were far from uncommon. Price sighed as Tristan smirked back at him.

"Aw.. that's just wr-"

Price started to say before, quite suddenly, Tristan's hands shot up, one finding it's way around Price's throat, effectively cutting off his speech, and the other gripping tight around his shirt. Tristan attempted to use a knee himself, but Price, thankfully, may have been down, but not out just yet. As Tristan's knee rose, Price's warded off knee landed, and his other knee shot across the way, striking Tristan's knee in the side and knocking it off course, keeping it from impacting with his stomach.

Tristan then tried to throw Price, which Price had seen coming from a mile away. It seemed throwing was big in this warrior's repertoire, and judging from the way he had grabbed the boy, it was only a matter of time, in Price's eyes, before the guy tried to toss him. As he felt the twist and pull begin, Price shifted his weight down, suddenly changing his center of gravity and making himself that much harder to crank around. Also, his left leg snaked around the back of Tristan's right, hooking it and using Tristan's own straight stature to deny his chance of throwing him.

Price looked Tristan straight in the eye, from this proximity, it would have been hard not to. His right hand raised up, index finger in the air, and he wagged it disapprovingly back and forth a few times, as if to say 'Nuh uh uh' to the bigger man.

Then, suddenly and without much warning, Price's left hand shot up in the style of an uppercut, but with fingers pointing straight, the hand making a sort of blade. His fingertips shot straight up, heading in a course directly for Tristan's throat, just under the Adam's apple. Tristan had already seemed quite the challenger, but Price doubted a move this close in proximity, not to mention it was coming from a slightly blind spot, AND that both of the man's arms were occupied, made it a hard one to get away from.

[Tristan Knightrhode]

OOC: why do i get the sneaking suspicion that i know you from somewhere...

Tristan's throw had be thwarted, but that was perfectly fine with a simple spell that the hunter possessed. He smirked once again at the wagging of the finger and immediatly summoned forth his magic. "Seoligna!" Was what he said, or morely shouted before the boy had went to strike. Being that he'd shouted the spell, it took next to no time to take effect. The hunters deep voice boomed througout the plain as a dark, blood red fire errupted around the crusnik.

He held his opponent tight, increasing the grip on his opponents throat slightly so that he couldn't pull away without exerting huge effort that combined with this particular spell, would leave him quite exausted. Tristans spell completed an aura around him that quickly sapped the energy from the grass below his feet, and, due to the very close proximity of the two fighters, it covered most of the boy who had resisted the throw.

The jabbing finger strike came in, and it sure as fuck wasn't pleasant hell it down right hurt, even cut off his breathing for a second, but with the energy the hunter was now sapping from the organisms around him, his opponent included, the pain would subside soon enough and no damage would be done. Nothing that wouldn't be healed momentarily at least. He made a grunting cough in pain at the strike, though it didn't matter to much, his energy was being restored- what little of it was expended thus far- and he would be fine. His opponent however, would need to get out of the hold before all of his energy, and even his life force was drained from him. Even doing that at this point would make him mostly unable to fight.

[Price]

Suddenly, Price felt his entire world go up in flames, and literally, at that. A spiritual fire engulfed the two of them, called forth by his opponent, and Price could not only sense the Chi being pulled from everything nearby to recharge the man in front of him. Most frighteningly enough, Price could feel his own energy being sucked away, drained from him slowly. For most, this would be dangerous indeed, as few people could stand up to feeling their very essence being sucked away. Price, himself, was one of those very people, only so many months ago. But now, things were different.

Price had since then discovered the art of Chi-Channeling.

Closing his eyes, Price, despite the air and life being forced from him, searched for his center, and his own breathing slowed as he entered an almost meditative trance. Price felt the flow of Chi leaving his body, and concentrated upon it, focusing his entire being upon the life force he was losing, and subtly, quietly, convincing it to return. The Chi stopped flowing out of him, and began trying to flow back towards him.

This was no simple task, as it meant Price would be locked in a vicious mental struggle with Tristan's Seoligna spell. Thus, Price had absolutely no intention of keeping it up.

Considering the greatest amount of energy had to have been drawn from the greatest nearby source; Price, Tristan would feel the sudden change in energy revival. Price was silently counting on the fact that he'd double up on the spell, or at least keep his mind centered on that fact for a little bit longer. Summoning up much of his remaining energy to his fist, Price's eyes flew open as his right fist was thrown forth, straight towards Tristan's nose. As it hit, however, Price also expelled forth the chi he had gathered in a point-blank Chi blast, the concussive force from the large amount of Chi he had focused sure to knock the bigger man off of him, at least, if not send him flying back a couple feet.

The move would not be without its toll on the younger fighter, however, as he dropped to one knee, breathing heavily, his eyes closed, attempting to pull Chi from the objects nearby, but near fruitlessly, as for one, the Seoligna spell had drawn most of it already, and two, Price hadn't the first clue how to do so, and was just vainly trying anything he could to keep in this fight.


Recap:
Chi lost due to draining: -3
Chi Blast: -10
Chi remaining: 2
Chi being drawn: +3 (Active by next post)