Closed [Anthonius Fighters' Pits] Putting Your Back Into It.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

His plan went off without too much of a hitch. She leaned to the side, and when a counter-attack came, it didn't take too much effort to hop to the right in turn - meaning that the pole skimmed just under the fist, and crossed the front of her body. Her punch was by no means inaccurate, or ill-performed.. but then again, to the squirrels eye, he couldn't say anything. He'd never seen such a person performing in such a way as she did. Those that chose to go against the squirrel without any weapons usually just ended up trying and failing, over and over, to step on his little body. Punching never really worked either because he was so close to the ground.. they'd have to crouch, like Suresslynn, quite a far way down to get into reach. And when they were in reach of him.. he was in reach of them.

He turned counter-clockwise, in a full circle, with the stick drawing close behind. Given the weight of the metal cap at the top, the stick began to bend with the exertion.. and elastic tension began to extend throughout the length of the tree-resin pole, building up at the same time as he built up speed and momentum for his swing. It was by no means fast.. but by the time he'd reached half-way around in his full turn, the tip of the pole was bent pretty far back. By three-quarters, there was enough for what he'd hoped - the elastic in the length of the stick actually exceeded the swing itself, and the tip catapulted itself forwards past the rest of the stick, cracking through the air in likely what would be quite the heavy-handed swipe. Or it would have been, if he wasn't a little too close to the snake-girl. Instead of the tip, the midsection looked like it'd be the part to hit.

Given the fact that he completely lacked muscles.. well, it meant he couldn't put that much force into anything that he did, unless he used his momentum, or the momentum of objects he held. It was why he used such an elastic-like stick in the first place - because the tension build in the Py-Pole would be more powerful than just his fists trying to hit from close distance. With the girl so close.. he doubted it'd cause anything other than a bit of stinging, if it did hit. Thank goodness she wasn't anywhere close to the tip, because that.. would cause some lacerations if it got close to a body. Still, close or not, he knew he'd be able to - probably - deal a bit of damage. Since it was aimed for roughly the center of the left side of her body, he could at least afford to raise his hopes.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn grimaced when Archailist dodged her punch fairly easily. She was faster than humans even in this form, but she was still a novice boxer which was a bit of a handicap. Even worse, the Pycon was able to counter her with his pole. She herself had no idea how the move worked, but it was pretty clear that the pole was going straight for her midsection and she wasn't really in a position to dodge it. The two of them had been much more even footing when she'd been in snake form, where her speed made up for her lack of any real combat experience. Of course, Archailist hadn't had his pole with him in the woods, which may possibly have changed the outcome of that fight altogether.

When the pole swung back at her, the Dhani simply took the hit to the midriff with a grunt and a slightly crazed grin. "Not bad at all..." she said somewhat cheerfully, before throwing a straight right at her opponent. She fully intended to punch him at least once before the fight was over, after all it was her main style of fighting. Not like boxing had all that many kicks in it...

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

The moment the pole slapped against the girls side, the ricochet effect began; vibrations rippling down the length of the shaft and causing the entire thing to wobble almost manically. He had to tighten his grip even more in an attempt to control it; not that he had much time to focus on regaining control of his weapon, because the girl looked relatively unfazed. He'd have to get the distances right next time.. although for now, there was a very large fist coming in his direction. Indeed, it was fast.. faster than many punches he'd seen thrown.. which was why when he jumped to the side, it was left inches away from brushing his side. The bottom of his pole scraped along the floor and the vibrations were carried off as it steadied itself, and the Pycon retreated a few steps with the pole drawn up between both paws, horizontal.

Evidently, he needed to prepare for the next offensive. Because in all truth, the offensive part of combat was the one part he wasn't very good with. He could defend, he could jump and block and flip his way out of danger if he needed to. He'd been practising for all those seasons spent around Nyka, Ravok, Sunberth.. but he'd never thrown a punch half as often. Still, it looked as though he'd be learning those things 'on the fly'. Once he was sure that he had a good grip on his pole, so that the next strike wouldn't end up throwing the pole out of his grip, he dug one foot into the ground and pushed off with it, heading straight for the gap between Suresslynn's feet. The metal cap pointed at her, but it wasn't aimed for her body.. it was horizontal still, pointing at nothing but air.

The reason became apparent when he got within what he could justify as a suitable distance. The pole was lifted, and the tip slammed into the ground.. but the Pycon kept on running forwards, with the tip digging in deep, and the rest of the pole bending under the exertion. Just like before.. only with an entirely different motive. As the tension built along the length, he could feel force beginning to tug at his arms, where they gripped the very butt of the pole.. but he continued to push, farther and farther.. until it became too much once again. The butt of the pole snapped around in a wide arc, coming straight for Suresslynn's chest.. and holding to the tip, was Arch. Mid-swing, he managed to snap his tail down and lift both legs in what would surely be a devastating two-footed kick.. that unfortunately began to swing to the side at that very same moment, tilting his balance and instead throwing it off to the right. Well.. it looked like it'd still hit. Hopefully. The best he could do was brace for impact.. whether it be with Suress, or the floor.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn grinned as Archailist dodged her punch and retreated a bit. "This is going to be fun." she said, grinning at the Pycon. The Dhani wasn't particularly used to having people evade her attacks so easily, though she really didn't have that much actual combat experience, so she figured there were probably a great many people in the world who could match or even surpass her speed.

Now she simply watched Archailist get ready for his next move, thinking about her possible responses and trying to predict what he was going to do next. When her opponent used his staff to launch himself at her, she waited until he was committed to his attack and then leaned to the left and threw a right straight at her opponent.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

This was where all of his training paid off. Not all the rubbish he'd been working on in his time around Syliras - no. The work he'd put in all around the region - during his courier work for Nyka, during the endless battles and sneaky tactics he'd employed in Ravok and Sunberth.. his acrobatics. It took anyone to throw a punch - it was one of the easiest things to learn, and compared to other disciplines, it didn't look that hard to master, either. And in the end.. even those that could throw the hardest punches, were in no state to claim they could take one just as well. Far from it. But the squirrel could. In mid-air, he could spot the fist coming from the corner of his eye, and with a flick of the heavy tail behind him, he swung around in a half-circle around the pole as it lowered itself back towards the ground, with the squirrel poised on the very butt.

Funnily enough, even the most elastic poles had a breaking point. The squirrel hopped to the right, bringing the pole between himself and Suress.. before pulling back even farther on the pole, causing strain to really build throughout it. The tip was beginning to wobble, as the metal tip strained against the sand and soil, until.. it snapped up, sending a cloud of dust into the air in the metal tip's wake. It was flung straight for Suresslynn' chin, but he pulled it back just in time - after all, the pole wasn't dull. It was sharpened for combat, ready for it - there weren't any blunt ones to speak of in most of Syliras, given the lack of demand for them in training.

Once the tip had snapped all the way back, the squirrel prepared for his real attack by letting his paws slide down the length of the pole, all the way up until they grasped the portion just above the metal tip. He'd use the butt for his real swing.. which came just shy of the first attack, letting her move from the feign if she so desired, before the real attack came in the form of a sweeping horizontal arc. Like the other attacks, he couldn't rely on just his brute strength to carry through the full potential of the attack.. so as he dragged it around to attack, the butt was dragged along the ground, and that meant that the butt was left dragging away more soil and dirt until it was pulled quite far back from the rest of the pole. As the rest of the pole built up tension, power began to rise.. and the moment he lifted the butt of the pole from the ground, it snapped around like before.. only this time, he'd got the distances right.

If the pole slammed against its intended target - the right ankle - it'd likely do a fair bit more bruising. And if it didn't, likely the squirrel would have to find another way to launch the intended desire on the snake-girl. He wanted to give her a bruise to remember.

[Suresslynn]

People tended to underestimate Suresslynn's chosen fighting style, but in truth, the Dhani could understand why. Boxing wasn't glamorous or fancy, it was incredibly simple and to an extent, easy to learn. On that other hand, there was a surprisingly deep pool of individual techniques, moves, even a small handful of sub-styles. The problem was, those were really only useful once you got above the level of a novice, so Suresslynn was completely out of luck, seeing as how she was still a novice. Didn't mean she wasn't going to try using more advanced moves though.

Suresslynn grimaced as Archailist dodged her punch again, then watched as he did another one of those pole bending moves, this time seemingly aimed at her chest from what she could tell. That was easy enough to evade with her speed, but then she saw his real attack, this one aimed at her right ankle. Still somewhat off balance from dodging the first swing, this time she got hit hard enough in the ankle that it would probably bruise. However, the dull, throbbing ache spreading from her ankle probably did not have the effect the Pycon was hoping for, unless of course he had been hoping that Suresslynn would give him another half mad grin. "You're pretty good. I haven't had this much fun in a while." she said, hopping back away from Archailist a bit, her voice excited and somewhat manic.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

The hit looked good. It sounded good. It even felt good. The first, feigned attack went exactly as planned and sent the girl into a flinch that prepared for the second, hidden momentarily behind the dust that didn't even sting his eyes. He was really pushing himself to the limit through the attacks; the strain on both of his arms to hold the pole and keep the elastic tension from simply throwing the thing out of his hands altogether - or worse, throwing his entire body into the air - was monumental. It would have made sense for quite a large portion of the strength to be lost in the effort.. but not all of it! Especially with the resounding vibrations that wound themselves back to his paws, and sent the whole pole into a shaking frenzy that he had to quiet down during the time that the snake-girl made a clearance between them.

That should have hurt. At least a little. True, he was still trying to find his way around such a weapon - the properties that separated it from so many other weapons made it unique in a way that made sure that every time he put it to use, he found something different about it. But that didn't mean he was a dunce, either. He knew how to hit a person and cause a sting, some mild bruising.. but if Suresslynn had any of this, she sure did a good job of not showing it. If anything, she seemed happier and happier the more the fight went on, no matter the fact that her punches weren't proving their effectiveness. Not that his pole could really say anything, though.

Perhaps I need to put even more power into it. Of course he couldn't use the metal tip, because that.. well, that was just asking for trouble. But how on earth would he put the rest of the pole to good use, given the fact that.. well, he already knew that attempting to throw himself at the snake-girl would be utterly useless, considering her speed. The only thing left seemed to be stabbing and swiping.. albeit much harder than before. He'd have to work with that, he supposed. "Hah, me neither.. usually everyone just tries stepping on me. Or they're garbed in so much heavy armour, it's like having a fight with a rock. Except the rock has little gaps you can squeeze inside."

Enough chatting. Now that he had a grip on his pole again, he lifted t and began a slow, cautious series of steps towards Suresslynn - with the blunt butt of the Py-Pole pointing up, and the metal cap just behind his paws.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn let out a manic, rapid laugh as Archailist said his fights usually didn't go like that, though it was purely amusement, rather than mocking her opponent. "Well, I'm not skilled at fighting with my feet, and wearing heavy armor would completely negate my speed. Besides, I figure that fighting this way might make me more accurate with my punches." she said, trying to disguise the manic energy running through her. Watching as the Pycon walked towards her, the Dhani thought for a moment, then started to rush forward, intending to push past his Py-Pole. But as she took her first step, she felt her ankle start to give way under her. Stopping, she looked at her disobedient leg and growled before looking up at her opponent and giving a somewhat sheepish grin. "Seems while I can handle pain well enough, I can't run with a damaged ankle." the Dhani laughed slightly as she raised her arms to a more guarded position.

For a moment, Suresslynn simply held her ground and watched the squirrel, going over what little she had gathered about Archailists fighting style. She wasn't great at learning her opponents styles from watching them, but it seemed to her that the Py-Pole wouldn't be as effective she was close to him, in addition to making it more likely for her to land a hit on him. "Right then...time to try this out." she said, stepping forward, putting a little more weight on her uninjured left leg.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

The laughing was getting more than just a little bit weird by that moment. Of course, he couldn't say much from his position - just a few days ago, when they'd first met, he'd come at her screaming and yelling at the top of his voice. But that was for intimidation - this was just plain strange, laughing when being rapped over the ankles with a long tree-resin pole. At least he could tell, when she made for a dash, that he'd done some damage. Amongst the laughing, it was difficult to gauge exactly what he'd done to her.. and that just made it all the harder for the squirrel to remain focused and try to work out.. some kind of plan.

"Heh, well, that's a shame.. because I sure can!" Just like that, as he saw the girl stepping towards him, he pushed off one leg and kept that pole aimed straight for her chest - although he wasn't intending on hitting her with it, not at all. At what was intended to be the last minute, although ended up considerably earlier than that, he pulled to the left and slid straight past her, trying to use his currently-superior agility to his advantage. If he could get her baited into opening an attack somewhere, he could begin looking for a weakness.. not that he was particularly skilled in looking for them, but heck, there was a first time for everywhere. Who knows - if he managed to get a good shot between her legs, she might fall over and start crying like all the male fighters.

After pulling back a suitable distance, he carefully flipped the pole in his paws, so that the metal cap faced her. Not that he intended to use it on her, but he soon charged towards the girl again, with the pole raised high in the air. This time, he'd keep a close eye on her.. and keep his tail ready. He had a feeling that if he tried the same move as before, and launched himself towards her.. she'd likely end up seeing it coming and lean to the side a second time. Which meant he'd need to anticipate for whatever might come. The one flaw - he couldn't tell which direction she'd move towards. Or even if she'd move at all.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn watched as Archailist charged her again, this time pulling into a stop and waiting. She had no intention of being baited into another feint again, though she wasn't sure she would be able to tell the difference between his actual attacks and his feints. Not that she wouldn't try, but there was always the chance of her messing up. However, she really wasn't expecting him to launch himself at her again, not when the first time had backfired.

When he launched, Suresslynn briefly started to lean to the left again, but had a second thought. Wouldn't it better to do something that she hadn't already done and try to trip the Pycon up. Bracing herself, the Dhani waited until she felt the time was right before throwing a right straight as fast as she could at the squirrel, the fastest punch she could knew. At her faster-than-human speed, she figured this was her best chance at hitting her opponent.