Organization XIV - The Story So Far

Jackie's feet pivot as she slams her spear forward towards Jill's center of mass, pushing from the back of the shaft with one hand to maximize her reach. Jill uses her weight and stance to shove her own lance down over the top of Jackie's weapon, parrying the blow deftly and leaving Jackie's spear stuck against the ground. Gritting her teeth, Jackie alights her palm with a spark of electricity, reaching forward to grab her own spear and send the shock down the polearm. Jill deftly spins to the outside, aiming a fierce roundhouse to Jackie's shoulder. It collides, Jackie attempts to roll with it, and manages to stand, but her dominant arm is in bad shape.

Meanwhile, Brahaam seizes both Dispatch and his opportunity, reaching for the young man's jaw and arm. Forced to content with the momentum of it all, he pivots clockwise, releasing the man back in the direction he came from. He resumes his previous stance, dextrously flexing his fingers. Theo, for his part, re-sheathes his sword and pulls the scabbard and all to bear against Gestalt's own sword, his eyes flicking once to Brahaam and Dispatch before staying locked on Gestalt. He makes three simple swipes, keeping his body perpendicular to Gestalt's as a fencer would, using only slight flicks of his elbow and wrist to lash out. And all the while, that gaze never leaves the other man's eyes.

Goeiz raises his arms, and Kain mimics the movement: as the small gnome finishes, a yellow and green light envelops his group, and their movements seem faster, their strikes containing more force than would otherwise be reasonable. Kain, for his part, imparted an influx of energy, and a fiery aura to his own: the group was filled with energy to lift ten mountains, to run past the horizon, and an aura that radiated an angry heat that lapped, licked, and hungered for their new opponents.

Dispatch was caught by surprise, both figuratively and literally, by the grappler. He hadn't expected someone using a style like that to be so quick. All the same, he sprung off one hand as he was thrown back to the starting line, turning in midair to land still facing his opponents. That was when he felt the aura around him, nothing at all like his own, much more destructive. Probably bad news, but it wasn't the time to think about that.

Dispatch lunged back into the fray. If the grappler was that fast, he'd have to be dealt with first, and Jesse was doing a good enough job with the Green Swordsman anyway. Dispatch dashed back at his new target, taking short, quick steps rather than his usual long strides, and once again drew back his fist. The difference this time was, this one was a feint; as soon as he was in striking distance, Dispatch bounced overhead, aiming a kick at the other man's back.

Gestalt could barely mask his astonishment at Theo's quick response and defense of his comrade. Shifting targets, he decided to keep engaging the other swordsman, even if it's what his opponent wanted. He raised his own sword, deflecting Theo's quick strikes, which proved difficult for him. He wasn't used to such minimalist movements; Heartless tended to telegraph their motions rather clearly, and this man had not only scouted his first attack, his movements were about the same speed... no, perhaps faster than Gestalt's own. That, and the force behind them was a bit more than he was prepared for. They didn't seem to have his whole body weight put into them, but there was a difference in the fighters' weight classes. A direct clash would grind Gestalt down in seconds, that much was obvious.

But he had noticed what was going on behind Theo; trying to keep his body from betraying their motions, he pushed his own attack, swinging high, then low. Two quick thrusts, one to the left, one to the right, trying to keep his competitor boxed in. He avoided lunging in too far yet; he'd need to start moving quickly in a moment.

Theo quickly pivoted in his stance, reversing his forward foot, standing counter-balanced to give him a more offensive edge, gripped his sword in both hands, and brought his saber crashing down towards Gestalt. As the strike finished, he brought it around, not wasting the momentum, and the sword whistled through the air, smashing downwards, again and again. Theo took another step forward, continuing his assault, eyes boring holes into Gestalt's soul.

Brahaam stood upright to make his body solid for the attack coming from behind, but was met with a powerful impact that slid him forward nearly a foot. Albeit winded, the man smiled and turned, realizing that his opponent was now on fire... they all were. Opting for a more defensive strategy, he leapt outward, aiming two consecutive kicks, before coming down and sliding his body back up into a crane stance. Thus standing, he aimed two swift kicks out, high and left, low and right, towards the Saiyan.

Jackie knew she couldn't last against an opponent like Jill with an injured arm when her spear badly needed her to hold it with two hands to be used effectively. There had to be an answer, disadvantaged as she was. She choked up on the grip of her spear in her left hand, holding it more like a dagger, then charging her right hand with electricity. She felt like she didn't need to hold back, and with her new aura and the energy she held, she pressed her advantage. Jill held her spear with her back hand flat against the bottom of the pole, swiping twice to keep her at bay. Jackie parried the first with her spear, stepped back for the second, and then jumped forward, grabbing Jill's spear. 

Jill, however, was not unprepared. A small curse flew from her lips, and the two women were enshrined in an orb of darkness that could not be peered into from the outside. Jackie herself could barely see her hand in front of her face.

Kain's attention focused on Goeiz, and launched four screaming, red hot blasts of fire at the man. Goeiz flicked his hand and the blasts whirled around him, shrinking and fizzling quickly, drawing the energy into himself. His eyes glowing, he spewed ice from his mouth, forming a freezing wall behind Gestalt's group, blocking Kain from view.

It was all he could do to dodge. Even trying to misdirect Theo's blade would've taken more strength than Gestalt knew he was capable of. Weaving from side-to-side in desperation, he almost froze for a moment, seeing the force of will in this man's eyes. This nearly proved fatal as he instinctively raised his own sword to try and parry one of these titanic swings, when he felt the flood of power from Kain's spell. The ringing of steel made his hands ache, but he was able to slip out of the way once more.

As the blast of frigid air shot over the field, he tried to back up, quickly meeting a solid wall. His eyes left his opponent's for just a moment; he had to brace himself and block the attack head-on, unable to move aside in time. One hand on the hilt, one bracing the blade, with his left foot forward and his right back against the wall. That was when he became truly aware of the aura that filled him with strength; he knew he'd have crumpled without it. He bent his knees slightly, preparing to jump onto the wall behind him, anything to gain a little distance.

Dispatch took the first kick, using it to start his momentum over the second. Judging by the feel of the aura that Magic Man had set up, the opponent was feeling more from that kick than Dispatch himself was, and in a stance like that, off-balance. Dispatch aimed a leg-sweep at the man, and spun out of it into an uppercut that would hit him in the back if the sweep worked, or the chin if it didn't. Or at least, that was the plan.

Jackie had to breathe. Think, think! What can you feel? What can you hear? It took little effort to hear the clanging of steel ringing out nearby, meaning she hadn't been moved. She still felt the pain in her shoulder, and the warmth from Kain. How do I escape...? Can I? Will she make it that simple? As if to answer her wayward thoughts and prayers, the bottom of Jill's spear slammed into her chest, driving straight into her solar plexus. The wind driven from her lungs, Jackie was left crumpled on the ground, struggling to stuff the air back into her lungs. No time... no guts, no glory! Driving what little air she could in through her nose, she called out, "GET BACK!" before raising her spear. Drawing the flame's power inward, she forced the energy into her arms, through her shoulders, down into her core. She felt it surge and swirl as it mingled with her own energy. And in her exhale, she pushed it back out, the reaction in her body swelling as it poured upwards and outwards, and from the blue...

KR-BAMMMM!!!


She called down a lighting bolt... no, a bolt would have been a simple strike of lightning. A veritable pillar of plasma and destruction met the ground where she stood, leaving her unscathed, and dispelling the dark dome immediately. Jill had retreated out of the dome the second she heard Jackie shout out, and not a moment too soon: her nostrils were stuffed with an acrid smell, and the sound alone left her head ringing. 


Kain smirked at the exchange the two women carried out, rather impressed at the amount of power Jackie could summon. One to keep an eye on, for sure, but now was not the time. Eyeing the situation, Gestalt looked the worst out of all of them. A flick of his wrist, and Theo's hands and legs were snared by rapidly growing thorns and roses, which grew in size before, mysteriously, growing scales and turning into small dragons, which turned and clasped their jaws onto the man's armor, binding him in place. Goeiz's eyebrows shot up, and began muttering rapidly under his breath, spittle flying as he forced the words out as fast as possible. 

Brahaam hopped once over the sweep, coming down as an unexpected followup uppercut caught him on the jaw. The dwarf seemed rather unperturbed, and in fact, laughed at the blow he'd taken. Not one to mince words, however, he swung his elbow upwards, using the full force of the fulcrum to hammer Dispatch's fist back and away from him, before jumping back and turning to Gestalt. The monk breathed in deeply, once, and shot a fist forward at the air. A glowing, radiant energy pulsed forth, streaking towards Gestalt.

Dispatch, though he heard the lightning strike, and really, really wanted to look, didn't get the chance as his still-outstretched arm was knocked away with enough force that it was easier to just roll backwards as his adversary threw what looked like a ki blast at Jesse. Dispatch whipped his sword out of its sheath and flung it at the blast like a dart, which usually worked surprisingly well.

"Hey, hey, now," he chided. "Don'tcha know it's rude to turn your back on your sparring partner?" He curled his hand from its throwing position into a two-barreled finger-gun, a favorite pose ever since he'd seen another of his teammates do it, and charged up some of his energy at his fingertips. He had no intention of releasing it - he didn't have nearly enough control for that to end in anything but tragedy - but really, it was only supposed to look impressive, swelling up to the size of a basketball.

Slightly stunned by the blinding light Jackie had called down, Gestalt was called back to reality by the blast hurtling straight for him. He glanced back at Theo; somehow, he'd been bound up. Leaping up onto the wall, he narrowly escaped as Dispatch's sword drove the shot of energy into a section of the wall.

...That would've caught my legs if he hadn't knocked it off-course. Would've been Game Over for me.


Locking eyes with Theo, his gaze hardened. Maybe it was just that he had a more favorable position, but he wasn't flinching anymore. Sliding his sword back into its sheathe, he made a light step backwards, falling straight off the wall and out of sight. The moment he was confident that he couldn't be seen, he opened a corridor of darkness and quietly stepped inside. Sliding the sheathe off his belt, he gripped the base of it in his right hand, and the sword's hilt with his left. The swordsman crouched and concentrated his power and senses, and the power of Kain's aura, before surging forward, clearing the length of the corridor in one bound.

He came flying out in a location near Theo - he couldn't really be sure what direction, just that he was facing his target. And with everything he could muster, he swung his blade, with the intent of sending the ensnared Theo flying out of the park. He didn't expect that kind of result, even with this powerup, but that was the thought that went into the motion. Hopefully it wouldn't injure the man either, but he trusted the man to handle that much. He could see how strong Theo was, and anything less than his best would be insulting.

The team from Karr-Groth had been sent reeling from the latest developments, but the tide was surely about to change in the next moment. Goeiz finished laying out a spell, and his fingers drifted upwards to Theo, but a moment too late: Gestalt had managed to displace himself using some strange portal-like magic, and struck Theo's side, denting the armor and eliciting a stifled growl of pain from within. Goeiz turned his attention back to the magic he was casting, and in an instant, the snapdragon bindings disintegrated and vanished before their eyes. With an upward flick of his other wrist and a crossing of fingers, he twisted his left palm upwards, and with a POP! 

Theo and Jill had traded places. Jill and Theo seemed unfazed by this turn of events, Jill herself now opting to hold her spear staff-style, pressing towards the newly-positioned Gestalt with a rapid flurry of strikes, and with a final flourish pulled her spear back and slammed it to the ground, sending out an ethereal shockwave along the ground, rippling the stone surface and potentially tripping anyone left standing. 

Theo, for his part, turned abruptly to Jackie, holding his side for a moment, before two-handing his sword and taking up a defensive fencer's posture, sword parallel with the ground, stretched out over his shoulder. The sword still sheathed, Theo made no moves even when Jill slammed her spear onto the ground. The ground did not ripple under his feet, seemingly leaving him unaffected. Jackie was not so lucky and stumbled, using her spear to keep her balance. In her panic, she lit up her free right hand with electricity in a feeble attempt to keep Theo at bay.

Brahaam's brow furrowed for a moment. His only response to Dispatch was to focus his energy not just to his hand, but to two fingers outstretched from his clenched fist. He then nodded, and waited. 

Kain observed the shift in the tide, and after a moment, muttered a string of words before holding a hand outstretched to catch his falling scouter. He quickly glanced at each of the combatants, then nodded. He turned his gaze back to Goeiz one more time, pulled both arms back at his sides...

And as his eyes glowed, as though they themselves were on fire, he shot a searing column of fire at the smaller mage.

Dispatch's smirk lengthened as he watched his opponent mimic his move. Was he calling the bluff, or did he just have a similar technique? It certainly looked similar to his own ki. Granted, it wouldn't be great if things came down to a beam-clash at this point. Not because Dispatch thought he'd lose, but because the shockwave would probably cause a ton of collateral damage. Sure, the muscle-man had said the contestants weren't in danger, but that didn't make it a good idea to smash up the coliseum gates. But then, if he didn't fire, this stalemate could go on for a while.

Fortunately, Dispatch had an idea. Unfortunately, it was a technique that usually involved channeling energy through his sword. Which he didn't currently have. Still, he didn't have the time to think of something better. He flattened out his off-hand, hoping that his parallel position would keep it concealed from his opponent long enough, and trying not to let the orb at his fingertips shrink. It was mostly successful - the ball did get smaller, but it would have taken a sharp eye or a sharp ki sense to notice it. Balancing out his energy had never been his strong suit.

He'd planned to wait for a beat, but as he felt the orb dwindle, he knew he'd lost his moment, and channeled it back through himself, into his off-hand, which he swung upward, intending to shoot an energy sword into his opponent. What actually came out, though, thanks to his haste, was a fin shaped ki wave.

Having hopped back a short distance to avoid potential retaliation from Theo, Gestalt pulled his sword out of its sheathe, still gripping it with his off-hand. He wasn't sure he'd have the chance to tie it back onto his belt. When Jill suddenly appeared in place of his previous opponent, he was caught a little off-guard; he hadn't expected that they'd have an ability like his. It didn't look like it worked the same as his 'corridor'.

His bid to avoid getting his ass beaten proved to be a decent judgment; had he been any closer, Jill's first strike would've caught him on the chin before he knew what was happening. Hell, if she'd chosen to stick to the style she'd used against Jackie, she might've hit him anyway. Raising his sword and scabbard in an attempt to fend off her furious onslaught, he managed to avoid being caught by the pointy end, but took a few knocks to the ribs from the blunt edge of her weapon. Slightly stunned from the pain and suddenness, he saw her strike the earth, but the shockwave caught his feet before he could leap away, sending him tumbling onto his back.

Recovering quickly, Gestalt rolled backwards, landing in a low stance. Glancing at his improvised two-weapon setup, he looked over to where Jackie was fighting. He'd been pretty distant this whole time, and didn't have a great handle on her status. Or Kain's, for that matter, but he wouldn't know what to make of the guy if he were looking right at him. From what he could see, Theo hadn't made any moves yet. If he wanted to interfere with that fight, he'd need to break away from Jill, and that wasn't gonna happen so easily. Closer was the wall of ice, where Dispatch's sword had embedded itself, in the middle of a small crater from Brahaam's energy blast.

Dashing forward, he tried to swipe at the spear-fighter's side and blow past her. If he could get to that sword without having her right on his tail, he might be able to get it back to its owner, at least. For now, that's what he wanted to accomplish.

Jill stepped back, avoiding the immediate blow, but sent a parting shot towards the back of Gestalt's legs. Nothing serious if it connected, but enough for it to be painful to stand if it did. Turning her attention to Dispatch and Brahaam, she waited for Dispatch to make a move, then struck out at him, keeping her distance. 

Brahaam made no move, nor did his expression change watching Dispatch. As the blade of energy whipped out towards him, he made a motion with his glowing hand parallel to the strike, and the beam disappeared in a glittering sparkle, though his fingers did not lose their glow. As Kain leashed his fire at Goeiz, his eyes widened once, before pointing directly at Kain and leashing the ki blast built up in his fingers. The energy took off at incredible speeds, his hands losing the glow in the process, and the bolt solidly striking Kain... or so it seemed, but the bolt did not connect; rather, the bolt seemed to be absorbed and directed back through him into the fire blast raging overhead. 

Jackie, now having properly braced herself, took the reprieve she was given in order to think about and consider the flame surrounding her. She'd been given energy enough to push her past her current limits, what else could this fire do? She tried pushing it to her hand along with her thunder... and to her surprise, it shifted and moved according to her thoughts. Interesting. Let's experiment. Pushing it along past the tip of her spear, she managed to create a facsimile of her spear's original length. Thus armed, she started circling to Theo's off-side, and Theo himself made small movements: sliding one foot towards her, then the other, matching her circling pace.

Goeiz, for his part, dropped down out of the air and attempted to pirouette in the air back up and over the cascade of magma and fiery blasting towards him. Instead of muttering an incantation, he simply threw his arms into three distinct arcane poses, before biting his thumb. Grimacing, he bit through the pad of his thumb, disappeared out of the air, reappearing on the ground, and wiped his bloody thumb across the ground. From that very spot arose a blue-flame giant of fire, rising up into the torrent as though it were a gentle breeze, roaring at Kain.

The blow caught his left calf and glanced his right, sending him stumbling ahead. Wincing at the pain in his legs, Gestalt kept going, albeit much slower now. The blazing display above caught his attention, but after Jackie lit up the stadium like that, he wasn't even shocked about it anymore. Approaching the wall with shaking legs and putting his back against it, he looked at Jill, then Dispatch, and then the sheathe in his left hand. Casually tossing it into the air and over the wall behind him, he used his now free hand to grasp the hilt of Dispatch's sword. It had begun to sag slightly as the ice it was imprisoned in melted slightly from the heat, and with a firm tug, it was free.

It immediately caused him to leaned over - it was twice as heavy as the sword in his right hand. He considered trying to dual-wield them for a moment, but quickly concluded that he couldn't control it very well. Slowly, he started to make his way over to where Dispatch was fighting. Gestalt laughed quietly at how Jill had gotten him for his impatience. Once the pain subsided, he quickened his pace.

Dispatch was already taken aback by the attack he himself had just thrown. That was not what he'd meant to do. So he was already a bit off-balance when he felt the strike of one of the other fighters, the other red-headed spear woman, having had no chance to defend himself, and stumbled backwards. He gave a quick glance to the other martial artist, whose attention had also been drawn somewhere else, and then back to his new opponent. Hadn't she been fighting Lady Lightning? What was she doing here now? And now she had a weapon, and his sword was still gone. Awesome...

"Ah, hell, would ya look at that? My partner up and left me," he said, readjusting his stance. Maybe if he acted like nothing was wrong, she wouldn't notice how annoyed he was. "Now who am I supposed to knock around? Guess it'll just have to be the next-nearest person."

...Comments like that made his "disguise" more than a little transparent.

Jill made no comment towards Dispatch, but a smirk escaped and graced her lips, if only for a moment. Instead of her normal jabs and staff-like style, she lashed out at Dispatch, tracing arcs through the air and using her spear now more like an incredibly long sword, scraping towards Dispatch's body with fluid, wildly whipping movements. After a moment, she stepped forward, attempting to continue her assault and push Dispatch back to the edge of the wall.

Kain's tactic pivoted quickly. As the flame elemental rose up and roared, Kain's blast stopped, and inverted: as he flew up and above the monster, the flames making up the giant's body swirled and absorbed into Kain's hands, though the giant seemed unperturbed, swatting twice at Kain before burning a swathe around itself on the ground. The heat melted the ice-wall nearly instantly, though it was a dozen yards away from the structure or more. 

Goeiz and Brahaam regrouped underneath the giant, both seemingly unperturbed by the monster's heat. They seemed to be having a private conversation using gestures, neither of them opening their mouths to speak. Admittedly, in their current predicament, it was unlikely either of them could even be heard over the roar of the fire.

Theo and Jackie continued their round dance of sorts, neither of them making a major move. Theo kept his trademark burning gaze on Jackie, as Jackie's eyes darted around, observing the man's posture, his movements, the way his muscles twitched as he moved his body, how he positioned his feet. Her eyes darted back up to his suddenly, and after a handful of seconds, she changed direction. She'd timed it at the moment she heard one foot stop scraping against the ground, indicating to her that Theo was stopping to change feet, and naturally, shift his balance. 

She shot forward, lunging first with her spear, jabbing at his throat. Theo was unperturbed by such a move, though a glint could be spotted in his eyes. With a single motion, he brought the flat of his blade clanging down against the head of her spear, and repositioned his sword where it was again. He lashes out again, driving the sword towards her shoulder, and Jackie tries to duck, but moreso buckles under her own weight and injuries. Tossing her spear aside, she jumps forward, clothing herself in electricity, grabbing Theo at the waist. The fire and lightning burn Theo in equal measure, though the only sound of pain he makes is the gnashing of teeth.

Dispatch didn't take the bait. Not because he didn't want to get pinned to the wall (he had no idea where he was in relation to it), but because the most basic thing to do when open-handed against a weapon was to stay close and make it hard to swing. So while he entertained the lancer, parrying a few strikes with his wrist against the spear-shaft, he soon decided he'd rather see what she could do on level ground with him, stepping in close to place his wrist against hers and sweep her staff from her hand.

Seeing no place to interfere with Jill and Dispatch, but nothing he really could do if he tried going after Brahaam and Goeiz - what was his sword going to do to a giant flame-golem-thing? Mildly annoy it, at the cost of his weapon? - he considered pursuing Theo. Still, they'd faced off already, and Jackie seemed to be doing well against him.

Instead, he slipped behind the Saiyan as he fought, and jammed his ally's sword back into its sheath as it hung on his back. "Thought you might want this back." With a firm pat, he moved back away, careful not to get caught by an errant thrust by Jill. Or a deliberate attack.

Confident that he wouldn't throw Dispatch off his rhythm by returning his blade like that, he decided to hurry over to Jackie, in case she needed some backup after all. Skirting as far around the battle between Goeiz and Kain as he could, he sprinted over at full speed, but didn't try to rush Theo down while he was busy. I'm only backup. Jackie can handle it; I'll give her a hand if she stumbles.

Jill, utterly nonplussed at the almost-rude interruption... well, it couldn't even be called an interruption at this point, but it was certainly one of the most arcane and strange things she'd seen in any sort of a fight, and was even more bewildered by the Saiyan not noticing, let alone Gestalt's nonchalance. The gap in attention was enough to drop her guard, and allow Dispatch into her area. Pressed with no real options this close, Jill did the only thing she could come up with so thoroughly disarmed: an elbow strike. 

Brahaam stepped out from underneath the fire giant, and after a moment, it disappeared. As it did, Goeiz swayed dangerously, before catching himself and kneeling on the ground. Brahaam spared the man a soft glance before calling up to Kain, and the others in combat, "We call it! We've agreed to stop the practice, as we've seen plenty o' what yer all capable of! C'mon down, let's tend to each o' ye, make sure yer ain't too hurt, and all. 'Sides," he added, "wouldn't do to reveal our whole hand to our competition at this point, eh?" As he spoke, he gestured around them, and no fewer than 3 teams had gathered along the sidelines to watch the spectacle. Amongst them were the hooded figures, one of which was supposedly Kain's sister, standing with her two comrades, and another group that had been sponsored by Poseidon.

Kain looked around, before quickly dropping from the sky. "Indeed, we'd best regroup and meet with our patrons once more before the matches. I recall Lord Hermes had planned to give us our preliminary gift before the match start. It's not been too long, but by the time we've collectively patched ourselves together and talked a moment, it'd be enough time passed to meet again."

Jackie, at hearing the call to stop, had stopped her own assault against Theo and slumped down at his feet. For his part, Theo wordlessly sheathed his sword before grabbing Jackie more or less by the scruff and hauling her over his shoulder to carry back to the others. Despite his initial roughness, Jackie noticed that his gait carried no impact with each step, and could hardly detect any swaying from him. Incredible posture she managed to think, before blacking out from magic exhaustion.

Dispatch caught his opponent's elbow on his own, pushing with just enough force to keep her in place. A quick step behind her, a turn to line up his punch and--

And then the call to stop. Dispatch halted his fist rather near the woman's kidney, held this position for a moment, and then relaxed, his arms dropping to his sides, a bit disappointed at the sudden end. Sure, it was a sparring match, not an actual fight, but it still felt like robbery to deny anyone any win. He shrugged, ignoring the speechifying that followed, and went over in the direction he'd thrown his sword, expecting to find it lying on the ground. It wasn't.

Dispatch's head snapped around in a few different directions before his hand flew by his ear and...met with the sword's hilt, sticking out of its sheath. But he knew he'd thrown it. How had it gotten back? A quick scan of the area showed that his own red-haired woman had fallen out cold, and Magic Man remained fixed in place. Dispatch doubted he'd have cared enough to return a weapon anyway, given how he'd been acting since just before the match began. But that left only the spiky-haired kid.

The kid was a swordsman, though. And he had been a pretty helpful ally back in that first town. Had he actually snuck up behind just to return the sword, and then away again before anyone noticed? Dispatch crossed his arms, impressed. Not bad, kid. Not bad at all...

Gestalt's face turned a little red as he realized they were being watched. How did I not notice them gathering? I got too caught up in the fight...


Quickly walking over to where his scabbard was, he picked it up, shook off a little dirt, and put his sword back into it before tying the thing back onto his belt. His embarrassment faded away as he looked at their many onlookers, wondering about each of their abilities and how he'd face them. Walking back over to the group, he had just a little smile on his face. "I... guess we got a good idea of your skills, too. It'll be good to fight alongside you folks."

The small swordsman took stock of his injuries. He'd taken that hit to the calves from Jill, and his ribs still ached from the hits she'd gotten through his guard, but otherwise hadn't suffered a lot of direct damage. Mostly, he was fatigued from trying to stop strikes from a fighter who was several weight classes above him. However, more pressing to him were Jackie and Theo; the former was limply slung over the latter's shoulder, and the big guy's armor was visibly dented from the hit he'd dealt. Dispatch and Brahaam seemed fine, and for all the flair Goeiz and Kain's spells had, they didn't seem to be worse for wear.

Theo lay Jackie on the ground, carefully lowering her head before stepping back. Jill stood over her as Theo moved to Goeiz. She bent down, pulling something from her pocket, before inserting it into Jackie's mouth, then pushing her jaw closed. Within moments, Jackie's eyes flew open, eyes darting around. She moved her head for a moment, yawned wide, stretched, and in a moment, slept again.

"Good," Jill commented before handing one to Theo, who was having his armor magically repaired by Goeiz, supervised by Brahaam. "She'll sleep for a few to recover, and be as fresh as she was this morning. You'll be able to meet with Hermes in ten, and you have forty til the match start."

And once Theo was done, and his berry eaten, he offered his hand to Gestalt. "And to you. You are a group of amazing talents and great tenacity. Would that afterwards we could have your talents, but that is a discussion for another time."

"Cripes, Theo, yeh jest met 'em, have Hammerhawk and Nox escaped yer mind too? Blimey you're a tenacious one yerself! Let the youngsters rest and get their bearings. Go polish Vorpal, go on then!"

Looking at the man's hand for a second, Gestalt took it and shook firmly. "lt'll be good to work with you guys, even if it's just for this one tournament."

"I... suppose you're scouting for more allies? You couldn't have picked a better place for it, huh?" He asked, sparing their audience another glance. "Why don't we talk about it later? If our goals align, maybe we could even keep this going, after the event's over."

Dispatch winced a little. More allies, not necessarily a bad thing, but he really wasn't the best with crowds or big teams. A small unit always suited him best. As he thought about it, he'd spent over a decade flying pretty much solo.

Of course, if his team were still around, they'd almost definitely mock him for even entertaining the idea of needing help. Something something True Warrior Race and all. Not that it wasn't a badge of honor, but in this case, it'd be worth it to first of all, fix whatever distortion this was, and second, last long enough to poke around a few more planets.

Meanwhile, outside the gates entirely, one of the spectators had slunk off, and began talking seemingly to himself. "That guy looks familiar...But there's no way." He crossed his arms. "Damn it. If I hadn't missed registration I'd get to meet him in the ring, then I'd know for sure. Ah, well. I'll have to settle for a spectator spot."

Within a few minutes Jackie stirred from her spot on the ground, stretching before bending her knees to her chest, and leaping upward to a crouched position. She stood up quickly and gave a little salute to the Karr-Groth folks, all of whom chuckled at her spirited attitude. Kain, for his part, was funneling energy into Goeiz, attempting to replenish his mana before the competition started. Jackie turned to the others and gave a small smile, before whispering to the two men, "How long was I out? I didn't miss anything, did I, Gestalt, Wild Child? ...specifically anything important. And... speaking of important, I surely didn't miss out meeting with Hermes, did I?" She touched her forefingers together nervously, head bowed down slightly as she spoke.