Battle! [day two late afternoon]

[swordofzero]

Suzaku Kururugi vs. Sherlock Holmes

Weapons: Huashi Sun, Kotarou and Elizabeθ Buckley
Location: Courtyard
Time of day: Late afternoon

Suzaku looked around at Huashi, Kotarou and Theta and gave a small reasuring smile to them. This was to be a strange sort of battle as there oponenet was coming with no weapons of his own, Theta was going to tempararily vow with him for the battle. Suzaku had spent the whole morning reading the rule book and he had found nothing to say this was against the rules.

But if Sherlock didn't battle soon he would loose tokens, and no one quite knew what happened when you went into negative tokens, but knowing the school so far, Suzaku thought it could be something unpleasent. So he had agreed to a battle.

He waited quietly for his oponent to appear.

Comments

[bitofafiction]

And there he is, coming around a corner at the other end of the courtyard. He waves to all assembled as he crosses the open space.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku gave a small smile and a polite nod to Sherlock, "Ready to begin?"

[bitofafiction]

"Certainly. And you?" he asks, addressing the assembled Weapons.

[ergaleomancer]

Theta nodded cheerily, all arrogant pride and no realisation that her weapon wasn't a perfectly serviceable one in this context. She was looking forward to fun, and this certainly sounded it.

[swordofzero]

"Alright then sir," he smiled at Theta, they had discussed this already and she had agreed that she was happy to be Sherlcok's weapon for the duration of the battle.

"I transfer Elizabeθ Buckley to Sherlock Holmes," he spoke into his glove hoping that it worked. That done he looked at Huashi and Kotarou with a small smile, "Are you two ready?"

[bitofafiction]

As Suzaku turns to his remaining Weapons, Sherlock extends his hand to Theta—not vertically as for a handshake, but palm-down.

He has been paying attention. And why not, after all?

[monkeystail]

"Ready!" Huashi exclaimed with a bright grin, tail twitching from side to side. She wasn't overly excited for the prospect of battle (especially as she wouldn't be fighting, bah), but it was a nice day and she had a lot of energy.

[ergaleomancer]

Theta limped forward to Sherlock's side. She raised an eyebrow at the way he offered his hand to her. He was a gentleman, she would have shaken his hand. But she wasn't one to question the way others presented their gender identities, not when her own was so convoluted. She took his hand and pressed a kiss to the back of his knuckles, then moved to stand out of the way at his side.

"May we all have a good match~!"

[swordofzero]

Suzaku nodded and gave a small smile as Theta moved over to Sherlock. He moved over first to Huashi and drew out her weapon as smoothly as he could steadying her with his other hand. He had used Huashi's weapon before only in practice but once again wondered at how it changed size, becoming perfect for his height.

He then turned to Kotarou and pulled out the pendant before giving it to the boy to hold. He was afraid that if he took it into battle, even in his pocket it would break. He did not want to put the child in a coma again.

With a nod at Sherlock he held the staff lightly but firmly in a basic stance, his hands near his hips and the staff held three quarters behind him. He waited silently for Sherlock to begin.

[bitofafiction]

Sherlock draws Theta's weapon—a handful of brass marbles.

"Interesting," he says, contemplating them for a moment and then glancing up at Suzaku.

"If you don't mind, now that the forms have been observed I believe I'll fight weaponless." He tucks the gleaming metal spheres carefully into a pocket. "And if I win, any of you who would like to be transferred back have only to ask."

[swordofzero]

Suzaku raised his eyebrows, he hadn't taken Theta's weapon out to practice and so was as surprised as Sherlock at the fact that the weapons were just marbles. He nodded at Sherlock's announcement that he would fight unarmed, that was fine with Suzaku, Suzaku had fought unarmed against Mei the last time he was a player and so he knew it wasn't against the rules.

"That's fine, ready?"

He moved closer, slowly but deliberatly and smoothly bringing the staff up and around to aim at Sherlock's left side.

[bitofafiction]

He studies the movement without responding at first, then dodges at the last second. Although he doesn't intend to hit as hard as he would in a fight with a vampire, he sees no reason not to test his reflexes.

[swordofzero]

Sherlock was fast, much faster than Suzaku was expecting, but he adapted quickly and adjusted his hands bringing the other side of the staff to aim at Sherlock's right side while stepping forward just slightly, to make an attempt at dodging a little bit more challanging.

[ergaleomancer]

Theta was stunned when Suzaku pulled out a decent weapon to fight with. Was that fair? Had she gotten a joke of a weapon? She limped away, trying to get out of the way of the fight. She really wanted Sherlock to win, mostly because she didn't want her weapon to be written off as pathetic.

[bitofafiction]

This time, he blocks the strike with his arm and aims a kick for Suzaku's side.

He is, indeed, very fast.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku dived to the side, avoiding the kick and rolling, still holding the staff and coming up in a ready stance to turn and swing the staff at the same time, bringing it behind him and up to come down towards Sherlock. Aiming at his shoulder.

He had no doubt Sherlock would be fast enough to dodge, from what he had seen already but still he wasn't going to risk aiming for the head.

[bitofafiction]

As soon as he sees the way Suzaku draws the staff back, he corrrectly predicts the rest of the movement and resolves to interrupt it. With this in mind, he lunges forward while the staff is in the air. Just as it is reaching a vertical alignment, he is closing in and targeting Suzaku's chest with a punch that ought to knock the breath out of him without causing any major collateral damage.

If he is going to have a battle, he may as well win it.

[swordofzero]

The punch connected, as usual Suzaku's brain forgot to react to something that was not fatal. He flew backwards, winded and struggled to breath as he clambered to his feet. He was disaplined enough that he still held the staff and so he was ready, but in pain.

It was pain that he ignored though s he took a shaky agonising breath, forcing air back into his lungs and charged at Sherlock again the staff coming first up and horizontal to hit his hips on the left side and then up and round to hit his right shoulder.

[bitofafiction]

The first strike connects; as the second comes in, he puts out his hand to catch the end of the staff.

[swordofzero]

As Sherlock went to catch the staff Suzaku shifted his weight, Sherlock's hands still connected and Suzaku briught his hands up, hoping to shift the staff, and therefore Sherlcok's hands up above Sherlock's head. He added a kick to the knee to attempt to knock his oponent off balance.

[bitofafiction]

This is a contest of strength now. Sherlock doesn't know for certain that he is going to win it, but he suspects he will.

He drags his captured end of the staff down, turns, and yanks on it to bring Suzaku within range, stepping back out of the way of that kick as part of the same movement.

[swordofzero]

Never underestimate your oponent, the golden rule. Sherlock is faster then he looks, he is definitly stronger then he looks, Suzaku found himself falling, off balance as he was jerked forwards, interupting his kick.

[bitofafiction]

It helps that for the last two years of his life he has needed to be able to throw a punch that can dent a vampire.

Sherlock pulls harder, continuing the movement, then abruptly—as soon as the staff is aligned so that one end points directly at Suzaku's body—reverses direction. Perhaps Suzaku will find it discouraging to be struck by his own weapon. Sherlock must admit he is curious as to whether it will have any effect at all.

[swordofzero]

Apparantly it did have effect and Suzaku was knocked backwards as he was hit. He stumbled a little and dropped his end of the staff, he could continue fighting unarmed, there was no point trying to wrestle the staff of Sherlock. He recovered and waited in a ready pose, he didn't want to attack while Sherlock held Huashi's staff in case he hurt her.

[bitofafiction]

The moment Sherlock feels the penalty headache hit, he looks to Huashi to see if she feels it too.

If she doesn't, he may as well keep the weapon until the pain begins to affect his response time, which shouldn't be for another minute at least.

[monkeystail]

All that tugging and pulling on her staff (self) had certainly not been pleasant, but not painful as such, but what did Suzaku's opponent even hope to do by jerking it aro--- and then he managed to make it hit Suzaku and... The first words out of her mouth when Suzaku's hands left her staff was swearing.

Swearing in ancient Chinese.

"Put that do--" The pain lashed out in a way different from the faint hits the staff had taken, and more reminicent of when she'd been fighting Lyra. The whole of her body just throbbed and Huashi's hands flew up to bury themselves in her hair.

There's no whining, screaming or even much wincing after the first jerk. There is, however, some more swearing. If her father was here, even he would be displeased over the words his precious daughter's showing knowledge of.

"You don't let go of that, and I'll break your face!" Huashi managed to shriek, angry that Sherlock hadn't let go of the staff yet, when it was obvious it counted as an infraction of the "don't touch someone else's Weapon".

[bitofafiction]

No later than the final t in Put, he drops the staff—hitting the ground from three feet up will not hurt her as much as the extra time it would take to set it down carefully—and turns back to Suzaku, ignoring the lingering headache and anything further the girl has to say.

Sherlock is fine with his own end of the penalty whenever he incurs it. The fact that it hurts someone else just as much is the part he cannot tolerate. He could never willingly prolong that, not for something as trivial as this battle.

As he considers how matters have progressed so far, he concludes that his current strategy is ill-suited to the task at hand. With that in mind, he darts forward to put himself between Suzaku and the staff.

[swordofzero]

"Huashi!" As the girl started shouting, and Suzaku felt the faint headache that he had come to associate with someone touching someone who was his weapon.

But Sherlock had dropped the staff within a few moments and so Suzaku, after a quick glance back to check that Huashi was just angry and not still in pain started to dash towards Sherlock.

He leapt at him, limbs bluring as he aimed a spin kick at Sherlock's side.

[bitofafiction]

Fast, but flashy. Sherlock sidesteps, moving with the force of the kick, which makes it hurt less when he blocks it with his arm and closes in again.

[swordofzero]

His kick hit something, Suzaku turned quickly before his mind processed that it was just an arm. Not wanting to lose the small advantage he might have gained he came in with a punch towards Sherlock's stomach.

[bitofafiction]

He blocks that, too, and grabs for Suzaku's arm while it is still extended.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku's arm was grabbed but Suzaku was not going to let that stop him. His other hand came in for a short jab to the wrist while simultaneously he brought his knee up, aiming for Sherlock's stomach.

[bitofafiction]

His grip on that arm is decent leverage for a throw, particularly while Suzaku has his knee up. Accordingly, Sherlock doesn't dodge it. It is unpleasant.

If he can get Suzaku on the ground, however, that will more than make up for the bruise.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku found himself lifting from the ground and realised that although his knee had connected Sherlock had let it in order to complete his throw. Suzaku found himself on thr ground and started to move, trying to work out which way he could move.

[bitofafiction]

With Sherlock on top of him, his options in that regard are extremely limited.

"Do you care to yield?"

[swordofzero]

Well there wasn't really anything else he could do. Sherlock had proven himself to be a worthy oponent and Suzaku nodded once, "Yes," he said quietly, for the benifit of the system and watched out of the corner of his eye as Huashi's staff, which had been lying unused on the floor, dissapeared.

[bitofafiction]

He gets to his feet and offers Suzaku a hand up.

"Thank you."

[ergaleomancer]

While they've been fighting, Theta has found a wall to lean against. Her cane is leaned between her legs so it won't slide over and fall where she can't get it from, leaving her hands free to applaud. And applaud she does, ever so pleased to see the first battle in which her weapon is...er... 'used'... has been a victory.

"Congratulations! Well fought!"

[monkeystail]

Huashi just scowled, arms crossed over her chest. She'd have tossed dirt in his face or something and went for the staff again, if she'd been fighting. But she hadn't. And she really wondered if it was okay for one or both to fight without using the actual weapons supplied by Exaclan.

Obviously it was since there'd been no penalty (which kind of annoyed her, because then she could surely have won against Lyra). Well, at least Kotarou's pendant had been fine.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku accepted the hand and got to his feet. Sherlock was good, much better than Suzaku had expected but he definitly wouldn't underestimate him again. "You fought well," he said quietly with a polite nod.

He noticed however that Huashi did not look happy and hoped that Sherlock would make good on his promise to hand anyone back who did not want to stay with him.

[bitofafiction]

The idea of not doing so never crosses his mind.

"Who would like to be transferred back?" he asks, glancing between the assembled Weapons.

[ergaleomancer]

"Ah, please," Theta spoke up immediately. It might have been fun to be Sherlock's weapon, but it had been her understanding that she was just a loaned weapon, and it wouldn't have been very fair to take advantage of that.

"Perhaps you can challenge for me for a rematch some time~? But a loan is a loan and that's only fair."

[bitofafiction]

"Of course. In that case, I transfer Elizabeθ Buckley to Suzaku Kururugi."

He raises his eyebrows at Huashi and Kotarou.

"Anyone else?"

[swordofzero]

"Thank you," Suzaku gave a small smile to Theta as she was transfered back to him and then looked over at Huashi and Kotarou to see what they wished.

[monkeystail]

"We're going back," Huashi said, and managed to sound neutral enough about it, even if there was a stubborn set to her jaw and her arms were crossed.

[bitofafiction]

Sherlock effects the transfer only after he sees Kotarou nod.

[swordofzero]

As Suzaku's glove showed that Huashi, Kotarou and Theta once more were his weapons Suzaku nodded and gave a small smile. "Thank you Sherlock, and thank you for the battle!"