Something New (Solo)

[Keido]

1st-Fall-511 AV

"Today I have a present for you Keido. And you have to use it in your match." Shale said while trying to hide the present behind him.

"What present is it?" Keido groaned. Not looking forward to what the shifty fight master had in store.

"Nuh uh uh! First, give me your weapon." Shale said while wagging finger. There was more in this coming match than Keido could see.

Now why would Keido have to give his weapon to Shale? Does this mean that Keido could not use his weapon? While he does not sign up for death matches, the weapons themselves don't kill unless the wielders went really wild with it. He was happy that it will just be a normal match. But without his weapon he will be at a huge disadvantage.

"Trust me. You want the fight don't you?" as if he could read his mind, Shale asked the question to break the silence from the hesitation.

Reluctantly, Keido took out his weapon from his side. He held it out to the air towards the kelvic which grabbed it at greedily. But Keido did not trust him and continued to grip on the kodachi harder. Shale pulled. Keido pulled back. Shale bared his teeth while he tried to pull harder. Keido with a look of indifference bent his arm to bring it back. It continued for a while going back and forth until Shale was finally able to wrench the weapon away from Keido.

"Wonderful." Shale said satisfied while he kept the weapon away. "You will get this back, when you return this" he said handing over to Keido the item he had hidden behind him.

Keido just looked at the hand, then at Shale and back to the hand again. The item on his hand was a net. Not a net to catch fish, but a net to capture people.

"You can't be serious..." Keido asked with his finger pointed at the net

"But I am. Its your opponent's specialty and it keeps the crowd happy to see a rarity for a change."

The opponent's specialty? What the man means was that he did not expect Keido to win this one at all. Keido knew he was not a crowd favourite. But to try and set up a match for him to lose? That really was too much. He will prove them all wrong when he wins.

"I assume that you expect me to lose to my opponent's best?" Keido asked with a scowl on his face he could not help but show

To Shale's credit, he did not lie. He just nodded with a smile and tried to push the net at Keido. Keido's scowl got bigger as he snatched the net from his hand and stormed through the gates. He knew he was not going to be able to draw out any more information from the shifty kelvic on his opponent.

"Its very simple. All you need to do is get your opponent into the net and hit your opponent with your weapon. You'll find some safe training ones on your way out." Shale called behind him until his voice could no longer be heard.

[Keido]

When he exited the gates, Keido had a blunt spear in hand. It should be able to complement the net well. Shale was right. There were many training weapons waiting specifically for this match but one. The kodachi. There were spaces prepared for the more exotic and rare weapons. Such as the katana, scythes and whips. Surely the missing kodachi was by design. But not too much time to think about that now. His opponent was waiting.

There she was. A woman fighting in the colosseum was a first for him. But that would not mean that he would go easy on her. If the woman thinks that she can use her sexuality against him, she was sadly mistaken. Keido will go all out from the start to defeat her. Shales actions from earlier, he will take as a warning that the woman needed no handicap.

"Ladies and gentleman of Akeldama..." Shale already had begun the introductions of the combatants. Talking about their accomplishments and history with the colosseum.

Keido was already too focused on something else to listen to Shale. Already the woman worked her magic which she had already used on so many other opponents. Keido could not help but fall victim to it. Looking at every part of her scantily clad body. His eyes started at her head. Her beautiful eyes, her luscious lips. Then it went down. Looking at her chest which exposed so much, and the curves which made up her body.

Before going any further, Keido realized what he was doing and tried to remind himself why he was here. He was here to fight. Not to try and involve himself with the women as attractive as they were. Keido went back to his training and how he was brought up. One of the main things he learned was discipline. And this was what he will fall back to. Much to the surprise of the crowd, he stamped his feet and spanked his own face to put his mind on other things. Finally, he was ready.

"Are you ready handsome?" the woman asked with a wink. But Keido will not fall for that. He just won't.

The woman continued on trying to seduce him. Despite Keido's effort to try and reject it. Keido wanted nothing of that. Angrily, he held on to the net with both hands. It was just a net. He has already seen it being used before. All he had to do was throw it at the woman. And then she was his.

Keido lifted the net up in his hands to show it to her in his hands. He means to force her to shut up when he shows it to her. Like he wanted, she stopped her advances and he saw her gripping her's. Keido held the net behind him. He meant to throw it, but he didn't know how. So he will throw it as hard as possible and just pray it will catch her.

The net dragged along the air as Keido spun in place. He went round and round. His eyes never caught an image. The colosseum was a blur as he could see it. Faces of spectators, architecture of the building even the woman. So Keido tried to nail the timing down at everytime the woman passed in his view. Releasing the net right before the next time he judged he would meet her.

"You missed." the words Keido heard in a feminine voice right before a chuckle.

Even if he stopped, the world was still spinning. Keido's feet were trying to get a firm grip on the solid ground as they moved erratically around. Knowing that he missed from what she said, he had to prepare to attack again. But he didn't know how long it would take for him to pull back the net tied on him back. So he drew the spear on his back. The only other weapon he had on him.

It was good that he did. Because when he finally got to see again clearly, he saw that there was a net coming to him. Like Shale said, if it fell on him it would be all over. Knowing this, Keido bent his knees. Trying to get as far away from the net as possible. The spear which was on his hands went up when he did aimed right for the net. What he needed to do was simple. Just make sure that the net won't reach him and with the spear's reach it was possible. Keido simply spun the spear around at the net. Hoping that it would stop it. Right before the net touched him, Keido stabbed the spear upwards and caught the net. After that, he slashed the spear to the side and shook the net off.

[Keido]

The woman squealed with disappointment that her attack failed. But that did not mean that Keido has won yet. Already she had started to pull back the net to her. While the object of the fight was to capture the opponents, weapons were allowed. Keido had a weapon in his hand. The spear. And it was only right that he would try to use it.

To win the net is still an important item. There must be some way that he could retrieve the net while attacking with the spear. But what? The net was right beside the woman and if he went there, Keido would be unable to attack with his spear properly. It was just not suited for close quarters.

Keido took too much time to evaluate his strategies. One he thought was that he could wind back the net again to throw it. Catching the woman to win. But the flaw in that was he had no experience with the net. Another was to just forget about the net and go forward. Taking wild stabs at her until she has fallen. Again it had the same flaw. Keido was not experienced in using the spear either. While he could carry it, he was not accurate with it at all. Before he could decide, the woman already had her net back on her hands.

Already as soon as that happened, she threw the net in the air and it spread about Keido. He no longer had the luxury to think. He would just have to attack. He had seen knights in action. They used the speed of their horses to propel their spear in the front for their attacks. Keido had no horse, but he did have his own legs.

All he needed was speed. A short burst of speed he can continue to the end. Keido bent his knees, focusing all of his energy to one point of his body. His feet. When he was halfway through, he extended the legs to push himself forward. His body did the rest as it carried itself forward as well. To keep the motion going he took a step forward. And another towards the woman. Surely he dodged the net. That was one problem out of the way and now for the next one.

He knew he had to attack. His spear was held straight down. Dragging on the ground behind him. Knowing that his target was straight ahead, he continued his run. Bending his arm to bring it up. Still the weapon was heavy and its point keep falling downwards. To help against that problem, he stiffened the arm and squeezed it to his ribs. Steadying the spear which was aimed straight for the target.

Just as he was about to reach her, he started to slow down. At the full speed of his run, even with a training weapon it still had the potential to kill. And his target was another thing. Keido started to bend down so that his other hand can reach the net on the ground which he grabbed on to. Once he felt it between his fingers, he took one last step. Planting his foot on the ground in front of him and using it to balance himself as he sent the rest of his body, followed by his arm forward as the spear hit his target.

It was a scream, but a scream was good. It meant that the woman was alive. Quickly grabbing his prize, he ran back. Withdrawing from the fight to a safer distance. Twice he saw how she used it. Maybe he could use the way she used the net to try and trap her.

Keido held on to the net again like he had seen the woman done. He saw that instead of throwing it straight at the opponent, she threw the net above him so that when the net lands it will trap him underneath. Keido did the same. Waving the net up and down like a carpet until he saw it flowing in the air. Then with a lift he heaved it right up into the air. Over and towards the woman where it started falling.

[Keido]

The net may have missed the woman, landing right in front of her but at least Keido learnt something. That the weights on the nets made it a lot easier to use. When he was waving it around that time he could feel it. The weights were helping him to place the net where he wanted it to be. Maybe next time when he has more time to prepare he would learn how to use it better. But now was not the time.

"Are you sure you are even a combatant?" the woman asked frustrated and prepared to throw her own net.

Keido could not give her a chance to throw the net at him. So he had to try and make her stop. In hindsight it was good that Shale took away his weapon. Its range was short. No good against the net which can be thrown far. Now that he had the spear he at least had a chance to strike his opponent from a range.

"Yes I am, like you will all see" Keido said trying to convince himself that he had a chance to win.

As soon as he said that, he took a step forward stamping his foot on the ground hard to get the woman's attention. She stopped to look, anticipating another charge and Keido was not going to disappoint her. Quickly he took another step forward. Each step he took was faster and heavier just like his earlier charge. But instead of passing by the woman in the middle of his run, Keido slowed down. Going against the force of speed he already collected until he stopped right in front of her.

Facing her, Keido gave a smile at his unexpected move. Before the spear which was held behind him came forward with the built up momentum from his run. Keido made no effort to stop it. Allowing his arm to follow the spear to the front, only using strength to keep the spear up and pointed at the woman's torso instead of allowing it to fall down. But because his arm's movement was so big, the woman saw through and dodged backwards.

He did not give up and continued to attack. Keido pulled back his spear and followed the woman forward as she retreated. With another heavy stamp, he took a step forward and stabbed at her with her spear. The stamp pushing the spear upwards so that Keido can lift the heavy spear with his arm. This continued on for another two stabs of his spear until the woman finally turned around and ran away with her net.

The spear must have been a bigger threat than Keido thought. Because the woman took her chance while he was stuck there. Unable to switch to a chase so soon being encumbered by the heavy spear. Keido lifted the spear for another charge but the woman did not give him a chance. Again she threw the net but not at him. She threw it at the spear. It got entangled and with a sudden pull, the spear flew away from Keido's hand.

Now he was disarmed but at least he knew the net can be used that way as well. And the net was the only thing he had left. If this fight was only left up to the nets, Keido had no chance. He knew it. He needed a weapon to have a chance at least.

"I'll give you a chance to give up now" the woman offered as if she read his mind.

But Keido will not have that. How would he know if he would win or lose if he did not give it a try? He shook his head as he lifted the net up and spread it in front of the woman as if giving his answer. The match needed to be settled now whether he won or lost. The woman will throw the net, he knew. But all the same he can't because of his lack of experience. So he had to find another way.

[Keido]

Keido stuck his foot on the ground behind him. For a while, he bent and straightened it in place. Preparing to spring into action. He figured that if he could not throw the net on the woman, he could at least try to wrap it on her. So his plan was to run. Run as fast as he could at her and put the net on her. It was a one shot deal. If he failed, he will not have another chance.

The waiting game began. Both players waiting for the other to make their move. Keido still continued to bounce to the back. Ready at anytime to launch himself. His grip on the net got tighter, his muscles stiffened more. Keido kept his eye on the woman who was holding on to her net as well. He was as ready as he could be and waited until finally she did what he was waiting for. He saw that she lifted her arms and released the net to the air.

At the signal, Keido bolted. He pressed on his leg at the front and straightened the foot at the back simultaneously to push himself forward. The net was still stretched out right in front of him. So for every step he took, he took great care that his foot will be put down right before it reached the net. This caused him to run slower than he wanted to. When he made half the distance to the woman, she realized and ran straight for the spear at the ground.

He knew that the target for the net would have to be her and he turned while he increased his speed. Putting more energy and pressure on his legs to close in on the distance. Just as he was about to reach the woman, he stopped with both feet to the front and took a huge leap at the woman. All the energy which was already built up propelled him straight at her. Keido raised his arms with the net to the front. Ready to ensnare the woman.

"Ahhhh! Don't you have any decency?" the woman managed to squeal out as she was tackled.

The crowd gasped in unison followed by a cheer but Keido paid no attention to it. As soon as he felt that his shoulder had touched her back, he bent his arms around her bringing the two ends of the net together. While he did, the net continued to move. Making some of the weights wind around the gaps to bind her. Keido gave a tug to see if the net was locked in place. Satisfied that the woman was now trapped, he got off her.

"We hope Keido had enough of his fun because now its our turn. Finish her!" Shale said mockingly.

Shale did not have to tell Keido twice. Keido went up to the spear on the ground that the woman was making for and took it. Even a thrust now straight at her would be trouble. Her writhing and struggling in the net made her a hard target. Keido grasped on the spear with both hands and brought it to his side. He needed just one clean hit but the spear was wobbling on his hands. He just did not feel confident about controlling it now.

Keido took a solid stance. Bending his knees and spreading his feet as far apart as possible. Once he was sure he had enough support for his attack he pulled his arms back. Intently he stared at the woman. Waiting for his opportunity. Once that he saw the woman pulling her arms apart to break through the net, he took the opportunity. He took aim to arrange the point straight at the woman's chest and threw his spear forward. Crashing it into her chest. The crowd cheered. He won. Somehow.

[Fallacy]

XP Award! Name:Keido XP Award: Meditation- 1 (Weapon) Net- 3 (Weapon) Spear- 3 Tactics- 2 Observation- 1 Running- 3 Lore: Shales Present ’Trusting’ Shale No place for ‘easy’ in the Colosseum Using a Net in battle ’Spearing’ a net Mimicking actions Never giving up Notes: Paid 4 GM for your win in the Colosseum Very interesting thread. I liked how you changed it up using nets. I never really knew how to use nets, and this thread has at least taught me the basics. Very nice, and as always your fights are entertaining and a joy to read Any questions or concerns about the rewards gained please send a PM