Cerberus Cup 4th Round: Sora vs. Selena

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Cerberus Cup
Fourth Round

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After a furious round of fighting in the fourth round, only six combatants remain out of the original twelve. Everything is on the line in this round, as only two of the combatants remain undefeated. The next round could have five remaining warriors, or we could be down to our final three. All that is known to the warriors remaining is that the fourth round of the Cerberus Cup has begun!

Posting Order Selena, then Sora

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The third round against Azalea had been somewhat a stress-reliever match for her. In her own opinion, Azalea is still too inexperienced with her keyblade to go run off and join these tournaments which made her wonder how she even got passed the beginning two rounds. Did her opponents fail to show up at all?[/i] mused the dark keybearer as she stepped back to the Coliseum lobby and headed toward the spring which was clean. ‘Artemis’ cupped her hands in the water and took a drink so she could replenish the energy she lost in that fight. She searched for her cloak and found it under one of the benches before heading back to the spring where she dipped it into the waters and dabbed it onto her shoulder wound to let the properties of the water to do its magic. Despite being a newbie, Azalea still did manage to get a lucky shot at her shoulder.

The Nightmare noted that out of the dozen contestants that participated in the tournament, only half remained. Still out of six contestants here, four were keybearers, including herself, and all of them she knew. Sora who she was going to fight this round, she first met at the End of the World and had the opportunity to fight with him there and in one of the tournaments preliminary rounds so she somewhat knew what to expect from him though it had been quite some time since they fought. Azalea, the inexperienced one, was still here in the tournament despite her recent loss against ‘Artemis’ herself. Namine was a face that she had not expected to see here in the tournament. Good to know she survived Kingdom Hearts…I honestly thought she died in that battle. mused ‘Artemis’ as she glanced over at the listings, Oh dear, she’s up against Genesis? Poor lamb, good luck. [/i] Out of the two non-keybearers that have made it to this fourth round. Only Whatever surprised her. Perhaps he had taken my advice on not leaving his fighting prowess to the hands of Lady Luck. she mused.

“Hey Artie! You’re up again!” ‘Artemis’ turned to look down at the satyr. A chuckle escaped her. “I’m aware. I was only double checking the current standings. Seems that I’m up against Sora now.” answered the dark keybearer, glancing down at Phil with a sly smirk as she wondered how much of a challenge the younger would provide for her. Unlike Azalea who was still new to using her keyblade as a weapon and didn’t quite yet have the warrior’s instinct, the spiky-haired keybearer was skilled with his keyblade but she did question his ability to trust complete strangers so willingly without a second thought that it was almost like he was asking to get hurt; giving up his Heart to be taken apart by a traitor whom he had trusted.

However instead of focusing on Sora’s trust issues, Selena focused on her memories of whenever she fought with him in combat at the End of the World and even the preliminary round of one of previous tournaments. He had been quick to take the rein of being leader and had already been knowledgeable about the Ice Titan and some of the Heartless that had been at the End of the World; there was no doubt that he would also use his knowledge of her own abilities to help guide his own strategy. Sora’s movements were agile and quick even for one who did not have wings, and she briefly wondered if either had anything to do with his silly-looking footwear. He may be able to perform the leader’s role she could recall him being able to summon a small dragon against the Titan but was that the only creature he could summon?

‘Artemis’ knew that the arena wouldn’t wait for her to finish thinking up a battle strategy to approach Sora with so she casually walked out of the door and stepped onto the arena. She shielded her eyes briefly from the bright sunlight but soaks in the atmosphere that it brought; the cheering audience, the warm air; the things that could never exist on her own home-world. And unlike her own home-world, the Nightmare felt that she could thrive here. Her false name grew loud; became well-known for her warrior-prowess as a keybearer and a wielder of strong magic, Heart’s Blood and darkness. Most citizens of this particular world already knew of her subconscious desire to defeat the Coliseum’s Crimson Champion; Genesis Rhapsodos, and she certainly wanted another rematch against him.

“Alright Sora…Let’s see what you’ve got…” muttered the Nightmare under her breath as she summoned the Heartsickness keyblade to her right hand and the question of whether or not the younger keybearer was aware of her own keyblade’s ability to poison crossed her mind. ‘Artemis’ stabs it against the ground; she could quickly resummon it when needed as pulling it up when the chance of it being stuck would not only be embarrassing but redundant as well.

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,480px,true][atrb=cellpadding,3px,true][atrb=cellspacing,3px,true][bg=939d8f] What if I wanted to break Laugh it all off in your face; what would you do The day was a particularly pleasant one; sun shining, not with the typically expected birds singing in addition, but there was a crowd cheering on his name outside. Within the lobby, Sora was returning from resting up and stretching before pushing on the doors which lead back out to the tournament field now it was time for his next match, looking up into that crystal-clear blue sky. There was a trace of clouds here and there, but nothing that would spoil the sunshine for too long. More that weighed on Sora's mind wasn't that the battling conditions were perfect, but... where was Phil? He usually was there to greet him, but him or Herc was no-where to be seen. That was, until he stepped out into the arena and low and behold, finally Hercules was there to greet him. That was a nice surprise, and as the two friends greet each other with a firm but friendly clasping of hands, Herc gestured a extending hand out to the arena. "Your next opponent's waiting for you, Sora... and she's a tough one. So tough that Phil's taken a shining to her." he added cheerfully, stepping aside. Sora glanced over and spotted Phil inaudibly speaking to his next opponent... Sora didn't have the information of his opponents readily available upon request, so he was surprised to recognize who his next competitor was. "Oh, hey...! Art... Artemis?" he stumbled with his words, almost not remembering her name. It had been that long ago they had met alone at the End of the World, and only fairly recently did he get a updated glimpse of her when they working together in the preliminary elimination round as a team against the Ice Titan. He stepped out slowly onto the field, dust thrown up with each footstep, brown spiky hair bobbing in the wind. His blue azure eyes looked over the enigmatic keybarer from head to toe, not only sizing her up as a potential adversary, but remembering a promise he had made to a friend. You'll recognize her when you see her. A woman with wings like an angel... A smile crept across his lips as the cheer from the crowd died down a little, the smile meant in friendly greeting to the mysterious lady, a thought wondering in the back of his head if he would ever get to know just exactly who she was. She fought alongside him once outside this tournament, yes but that was a very long time ago, did her alliance align with her friends or elsewhere beyond her dark-looking appearance? Well even if she was fighting in this tournament for herself, for money, for glory or even if she had given herself into the darkness, if his friend wanted to give her a message then she was okay by his books and she hadn't wronged anyone yet. "You're looking well, Artemis. Naminé, my friend... she wanted me to give you a message." he recalled, not having had the time to give it any other time than now that they were face to face, with nothing else to do but interact in front of a roaring crowd. He placed one hand on his elbow while the other hand curled into a fist beneath his chin in a thinking pose, reminiscing exactly what was the message the girl in white wanted to communicate. "She said, 'Tell her that the girl from Kingdom Hearts is looking for her. I don't know if she will remember me.....but I have to try.' And I think that's what she said." he finished reciting, his fist having extended a pointer finger to wave in the space before him as he looked off into the distance to help job his memory. His vision slowly tilted back to look at Selena, the smile turning into a silly grin on his face, and then laughed at the serious impression he had made of Naminé. "Ready? I'm going to have a lot of fun fighting you, Artemis." He had no weapon in his hands, but of course Sel knew what it was, and as he extended his hand out and turned his hand before him in just the right manner, the iconic Kingdom Key appeared in his hand. He brought the keyblade down, gripping it in two hands, pointing the tip of the blade off to his right-hand side with the right-hand dominating the main grip on the handle. He hunkered down slightly, as 'Artemis' might have seen him do before, bending slightly at the knee, with legs apart as he got comfortable getting into his battle stance. So far he had gone easy and in consequence lost to Naminé, and his other two opponents didn't even bother to show up, so he was lucky and fortunate to have come this far into the tournament that he was not going to let all that effort of both himself and his opponents be in vain. No more going easy on his opponents even if they were Naminé, and if Artemis had witnessed Kingdom Hearts with Naminé and survived she might be one tough customer, but Sora was about to test that with all his strength and technique as he was no longer going to hold back. He was going to go all-out from this point on as a way to test his opponents, and a he kept grinning at Artemis, he called to her. "I don't know what happened at Kingdom Hearts and why you and Naminé were there, but if she is looking for you, you can't be all that bad Artemis. Now, I want to see you give it your all as if you were there at Kingdom Hearts again, the stronger the challenge the better! So, bring it on!" he issued the challenge, and the crowd exploded into an uproar, as the mystic shield to protect the crowd from their battle raised up around them to box them in. He wanted to see how strong she really was, if they still both had the strength to protect these worlds and Kingdom Hearts from sinking into darkness. If they still had what it took, to defend their friends, and even if Sel did not consider him and Naminé friends then whatever it was that she loved that thought was worth fighting for. Yes, it was true that Sora had the strange habit of trusting complete strangers that he had just met, but that was only an observation of those who didn't seem to understand why Sora could trust others so easily without fear of reprisal or betrayal. The truth was that Sora had the uncanny ability to easily form bonds of friendship with others, and part of that was seeing the good in others before the bad and giving them unshakable trust and beyond doubt because of it, just like right now when he was trusting Sel because of her connection to Naminé even though she looked like she could be very much a bad guy. And if he got betrayed, it would be beyond that doubt and the good Sora had seen in them as he was usually a very good judge of character and first impressions, and the difference was he would deal with that person who was willing to lie and cheat him where he honorably would not be capable of such a thing. Just like he had done in the past, when Riku lost his conscience and then inevitably himself to the darkness, but so far he had followed his heart to avoid himself of traitorous dealings, and it had not steered him wrong when it came to trust yet. And right now in the field of battle, Sora was trusting Artemis was not the type to take the battle to where it got so dangerous it would take his heart, but beyond that anything went in the ring of battle as the fight started to get underway. (Theme of this post: Shrouding Dark Cloud [as Sora assumes battle pose and challenges Selena] ) TAG Selena SONG LYRICS The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars

THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY COMATOSE OF ON THE EDGE!

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As ‘Artemis’ awaited the arrival of her opponent, she mentally debated on what techniques and abilities she could use against Sora that he wasn’t aware of since it has been a long time since the preliminary tournament match against the Ice Titian occurred. He should be since aware of her ability to fly due to her wings that she was unconsciously flexing due to boredom and stiff muscles near the base of said wings. Being idle, she stretches her arms before folding them across her chest as her icy orbs caught the sight of the familiar spiky-haired keybearer.

The Nightmare realizes since they had never fought each other and he wasn’t present during the fight against Stroud and the other Horsemen at Kingdom Hearts, Sora may not be aware of her keyblades ability to poison. Her blade had failed to land a strike against the Titian so there was nothing to unusual to note about her weapon; and the Heartless they fought together at the End of the World may have been strong but were still especially weak against a keyblade, the bane of the Heartless’ existence. I’ll have to use that to my advantage somehow and rethink my strategy if I want to implement the element of surprise… muses ‘Artemis’ quietly as she glanced at her Heartsickness blade still buried in the ground like a marker for one’s grave or a guiding post for a wanderer’s path then closes her eyes for a small moment.

Her head perked up and reopened her eyes curiously watching Sora as he mentioned that he has a message to pass to her from ‘Namine’. The girl from Kingdom Hearts? What business does she want with me? wondered the dark keybearer, slowly nodding at him then answered, “Depending how the match goes, we may meet each other again in the next round, or if not, sometime after the tournament. The roads are fickle that way; but I am confident that she and I will cross paths again. She needn’t worry though; I still remember her.” She purposely didn’t mention that she had first honestly believed that the Memory Witch had died at Kingdom Hearts helping her and the other warriors fight Stroud. Selena knew that it would cause unnecessary worry on Sora’s end now that she knew that Namine lived.

‘Artemis’ watched Sora summon his weapon and take his battle stance; a ridiculous position in her own mind’s opinion. Her right hand stretches out as she resummoned the Heartsickness to her grip. She took some practice swings to seemingly warm up her arm; but the winged warrior was secretly summoning Umbra Wolf’s Fang[/color] to the shadows of the Coliseum and out of sight yet still safely within the boundaries of the arena. No one would want a puppy, even a large one made of shadow, in the stands stealing a bite out of a fan’s chili cheese dog or fries.

The winged warrior positioned herself into a solemn battle stance. Her knees lightly bent for agile maneuvering and her body apparently relaxed. However unlike the previous matches and maybe not even seen with any of her skirmishes with the Crimson Champion; her focus and sense of tension had tripled. She wasn’t going to go easy on Sora after winning against Azalea but losing against Whatever. If she should lose this round, the dark keybearer knew she was out. So Namine told him of Kingdom Hearts and yet left out the important reason why we were there? Something isn’t right. pondered ‘Artemis’ but quickly discarded her thoughts for they would distract her from the match at hand. A smirk graced her face as the shadows embrace her body then disappear to reveal the form of the demon general; Pheynix resulting in a loud cheer from the audience in the stands.

Instead of attacking though, her free hand reaches out to beckon Sora to make the first move of offense as in this form; her attack may be stronger but instead of high speed like her Eblis form, this form has a higher defense and slower. Her eyes spotted Umbra’s eyes at a distance behind Sora and her serious expression signaled the wolf to wait. “We’re waiting, Sora, or are you standing there to look pretty for the audience?” asked ‘Artemis’, her voice sickly sweet as an attempt to provoke him to attack her but purposely cluing the other keybearer that she wasn’t the only opponent in the arena. Her wolf of darkness circled them, waiting in the shadows of the Coliseum for her signal.

~~~~~~~~
Actions Used:

None, taken a battle stance and challenging Sora to make the first move.

Abilities Used:

Umbra Wolf's Fang: A wolf of darkness comes out of her keyblade and attacks the opponent. It may team up with Selena during the two post duration. It is large enough to be ridden by Selena and/or any of her allies. Can be summoned together with Wolf's Fang. [HP Count: 8]
[Duration: 2 Posts] [Ride-able!]

Pheynix: APPEARANCE

With her own darkness, Selena can take the form of a fallen demon general of the nine circles of Hell. Pheynix has a stronger power and defense than Eblis but her agility and speed considerably decreases as a result. [Since her wings hasn't been drawn in the picture since I either got lazy or forgot to draw her wings in, assume that they're her normal wings.] [Duration: 5 Posts] [Forced Stay In: 2]

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,480px,true][atrb=cellpadding,3px,true][atrb=cellspacing,3px,true][bg=939d8f] What if I fell to the floor Couldn't take this anymore, what would you do? The sunlight was rather dazzling on this day of Sora's match, save for the very few Clouds casting shadows on the arena floor, otherwise it was very bright. The crowd was cheering, but some were getting rowdy the fight had started and no-one had attacked yet. But the feel mostly was just simply egging the two spectators on, to do what they had come here to see, battle all-out until one was the victor. Sora stood there in his defensive pose, one that made it hard for the enemy to push him off-balance, and waited for Artemis to attack him. And waited... and it didn't come... why wasn't she attacking him? She just stood there, with her keyblade half-buried point-down into the ground. Well, she was rather disappointing. He was expecting a full-on battle with a experienced keybarer, and issued a challenge for her to come at him with all her might, but so far she had failed to move an inch. Finally, she answered his message to her, and he was satisfied with it. Okay, so maybe she had taken her time to consider the message Sora delivered from Naminé to her, right? Surely she would attack him now? Watching as she pulled her keyblade out of the ground and took a few practice swings, the Key That Connected to Everyone anticipated perhaps finally she was going to indulge him with some entertaining battle. Then, for a moment... it looked like she was lost in thought about something. Okay, well... he leaned his body forward slightly more in her direction with a confused look, patiently waiting for her to accept his challenge. And then, something unexpected, darkness surrounded her and she changed into her dark form. Okay, here it was gonna come, she was going to surely strike him now. Right? A sweat drop could have formed on Sora's forehead, but instead Selena spoke again once more. And it was a taunt, trying to provoke him into attacking her. Wait, was she serious, why would she go into all that effort to change into a form that was arguably more powerful if she wasn't going to attack? He laughed a little sheepishly, but then turned serious."Huh? Wait... I gave you a challenge, and you're just going to stand there and challenge me back?" he questioned her incredulously. The last time he had attacked his opponents first in tournaments at their request had been a similar memory, fool him once each with Kadaj and Naminé, shame on him with his loss, but fool him a third time... His pose relaxed a bit from tightening up, not really feeling like this was a battle at all, shoulders slouching and leaning back a bit as his right hand pulled the grip of the keyblade away from his left to point to the ground. "Artemis, can I ask you something, honestly? Why exactly did Naminé chose you?" he proposed, looking at 'Artemis' now, because she was just standing there and doing nothing when Sora had challenged her to come at him with all the power and skill she had used at Kingdom Hearts. "I mean, she could have gone to Master Aqua or even Riku now he's a master, but why you? Is this really what you did at Kingdom Hearts? Change into a powerful form, then waste time while that form is draining you of power? I don't think you're taking me seriously, I want to honestly see your true power in battle, not a change of clothes. If you're not seriously going to fight me, why did you even come here, and why would Naminé chose you?" he finished sincerely, seemingly unimpressed with what Sel had shown him so far. It didn't even seem like Selena had taken into consideration the landscape of the arena or the sunny weather, either, which seemed important if you were going to fight and with only darkness abilities to boot. A cloud had been the only object casting a shadow on this sunny day, but as it moved across the sky and out of the arena that had magically been warded in, Sora sensed something moving behind him when he glanced to a un-amused spectator throwing a sandal into that magical ward and shouting 'Get on with it!'. Just like when Xigbar had disappeared from sight in the Land of Dragons and Sora peered behind him just in time to see him running to the door, Sora was so confident the dark keybarer wasn't going to attack him that he fully turned his back on her to face her shadow wolf that had been hiding in the shadows, having very little to hide in this flat and bright battlefield. "A sneak attack, huh? Better think again. That's right. You'll need help." he finally caught on to the hint, that Sel meant 'we' as in her and her wolf, not her and the audience. He hunkered down and braced himself again as he watched the wolf, and Sel as he waited patiently for one of both to attack, using his peripheral vision. (Theme of this post: Shrouding Dark Cloud ) TAG Selena SONG LYRICS The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars

THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY COMATOSE OF ON THE EDGE!

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She let the time pass and allowed the tension to take hold of the keybearer in front of her as he seemed pretty confused as to why she redirected the challenge back at him. Good….It will psyche him out and leave him more vulnerable. mused ‘Artemis’ and chuckled at his incredulous question on her choice of action quietly, keeping an eye on both Sora and her wolf, Umbra. The dark keybearer raised a brow at his inquiry of why Namine chose her and not any other Master. He also asked if whether or not she did this very same action of waiting and trying to psyche out her opponent at Kingdom Hearts. A hearty laugh escaped her before she could realize and try to contain it and it strangely felt good.

“Haha, no, I did not do this at Kingdom Hearts and I do not know why Namine chose me. That is something that you should ask Namine yourself as I had thought she had died at Kingdom Hearts fighting alongside the rest of us and I wasn’t aware that she had survived until this match.” ‘Artemis’ explained, dodging his last two inquires of why she was here.

Unfortunately for her, Sora had already figured out that the wolf was behind him as she had forgotten to taken in the constant daylight this world was known to possess; being used to hiding in the dark herself. However, that was then Selena chose to start her assault; while Sora was still speaking to her about needing help. Using a few flaps from Wings of a Fallen Angel to give her a speed boost due to the heaviness of the armor, she charged at Sora and feints an upward slash before pivoting to get behind him where she uses the momentum to pivot on her heel to spin as she prepares to perform a five-slash combination at his back near his shoulder blades and took care to not to aim for his spine. Meanwhile Umbra leaps over the duo to meet the face of the spiky keybearer, he growls at Sora as ‘Artemis’ leaps a good distance away from them. The wolf of darkness then charges at the Key to Everything, aiming to bite his arm.

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Actions Used:

1] Sel feints then pivots to get behind him to perform a five-slash combination attack at Sora’s back.

2] Umbra leaps over them then after Sel gets out of the way, leaps at Sora to take a bite out of his arm.

3] N/A

Abilities Used:
Umbra Wolf's Fang: A wolf of darkness comes out of her keyblade and attacks the opponent. It may team up with Selena during the two post duration. It is large enough to be ridden by Selena and/or any of her allies. Can be summoned together with Wolf's Fang. [HP Count: 8] [Duration: 1 Posts] [Ride-able!]

Pheynix: APPEARANCE
With her own darkness, Selena can take the form of a fallen demon general of the nine circles of Hell. Pheynix has a stronger power and defense than Eblis but her agility and speed considerably decreases as a result. [Since her wings hasn't been drawn in the picture since I either got lazy or forgot to draw her wings in, assume that they're her normal wings.] [Duration: 4 Posts] [Forced Stay In: 1]

Wings of an Fallen Angel: The ebony wings on Selena's back allows her to fly to great heights and jump higher than any normal human would. Unfortunately, it hinders her ability to physically run [unless she's flying too close to the ground], by making her slow. They are also a nuisance when near water especially since she has little to no ability to swim. [~Passive~]

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,480px,true][atrb=cellpadding,3px,true][atrb=cellspacing,3px,true][bg=939d8f] You say you wanted more, what are you waiting for? I'm not running from you (from you) A smug grin spread across the lips of the 'Key to Everything'. Why? Well for one, as the crowd roared and egged them on from the stands, Sora realized Sel actually started to laugh. Heartily, he might add. He might not have been around her long, but he had been enough to know she was one of those 'strong and silent' types. So hearing her actually laugh at his questions actually made him smile, of all things, knowing he had created that laughter. Secondly, because she had actually fallen for his his act of playing naive and incredulous, and letting his guard down, to provoke her into finally attacking him. Much like Riku, he expected her to try and mess with his head and provoke him, which is why he didn't answer at first to her words about what had happened at Kingdom Hearts. Why were they at Kingdom Hearts in the first place, why hadn't anyone told him about it, and why exactly did she leave Naminé for dead there? Why hadn't she been looking out for Naminé, if she really was a good person? Maybe when it came down to it, Artemis had to get out of there to survive and lost Naminé in the process? Or was she simply just afraid and abandoned her there? He wouldn't really get the chance to find out, absorbing this information be it a lie or not, as he had no time left to question her about it - yet. Soon enough as he had finished his witty remark to 'Artemis', she attacked, which Sora had been expecting her to do. As she came to him flyng on darkened wings, to give him a intense upward slash, he quickly retaliated and brought up his keyblade in prediction to begin to block her. However, he watched as the keyblade came no closer, and she pivoted around him, faking the attack and starting another assault as she attempted to slash at his back. She was able to quickly land two of those slashes at his back, before he retaliated from the pain and moved away at a little more than her blade's length. Before he could turn around to face her, her wolf landed in front of him and growled before lunging at him, as Selena tried to leap away. "Here, hold this." he quipped, bringing his keyblade before him where his arm was, so the wolf would bite down on the keyblade instead. Letting go of the keyblade, he pushed off and leaped into the air after the fallen angel with wings, and in a flash of light his Kingdom Key re-appeared into his hands minus the doggy drool. From there Sora began to chase the keybarer through the air, beginning with Aerial Sweep as he spiralled with his keyblade outstretched horizontally. Three strikes were made this way, keeping the woman on her toes, before he continued the combo with Aerial Spiral. This time he spun through the air like a buzzsaw, hitting with another three strikes in this way, before finishing up the aerial combo with Aerial Finish. The trails of light the point of his keyblade made intensified as he finished off the heavy aerial combo, his keyblade moving faster than the eye could follow before he finished with a powerful vertical slash to knock-back the dark angelic woman into the magical barrier they had closed the distance towards. (Theme of this post: Shrouding Dark Cloud ) Actions and Powers used: Action one: Sora started an aerial combo with Aerial Sweep on Selena as she leapt away into the air. Aerial Sweep - If an enemy is in the air, Sora uses this to start an aerial combo, jumping and spinning his keyblade around him horizontally to cause damage to them. Cooldown: One post. Action two: Sora continued the aerial combo on Selena using Aerial Spiral. Aerial Spiral: A move he learned off King Mickey, Sora can flip vertically while in the air in rapid succession and in powerful strokes to damage a enemy in close-range twice. Cooldown: Two posts. Action three: Sora finished the aerial combo on Sel with Aerial Finish. Aerial Finish: Light trails in circular slashes after the tip of his keyblade as he uses this as his aerial combo finisher, making ferocious and fast slashes with his keyblade before he ends with a powerful vertical slash. Cooldown: Three posts. Damage: Two slashes to the back out of a five slash combo. Cooldowns currently in effect: Aerial Sweep: One turn left to cooldown. Aerial Spiral: Two turns left to cooldown. Aerial Finish: Three turns left to cooldown. TAG Selena SONG LYRICS The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars

THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY COMATOSE OF ON THE EDGE!

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The moment Selena laughed, she started to mentally bump her head against an imaginary wall inside her mind for allowing herself to laugh. The Nightmare was normally able to control herself and this certain lapse could only remind her of her own younger twin sister’s laugh when they were innocent children and away from the woes and the darkness that existed in their home world. She had to mentally slap herself before returning her focus on the fight; Selena knew that she shouldn’t laugh. Not here, not in this tournament, and definitely not before she finds her home world and her sister.

The dark keybearer allowed her mind to turn itself into a blank slate so that her focus would remain on the match as she shouldn’t dilly dally on such distractions whatever this naïve boy was trying to pull. She allowed herself not to care for whatever he should say out loud whether it be about Namine or what did happen at Kingdom Hearts. Selena had been speaking the truth after all and voiced her own opinion that he should get his answer from Namine and not her for an opinion should it go wrong.

A smirk graced her face as two of her slashes had landed and although did not show it, she was impressed that the kid could move away so quickly. Right, a scrawny kid like him should be more on the speedier side of the spectrum.[/i] mused ‘Artemis’ as she watched her wolf launched himself at the keybearer only for the wolf to bite on the keyblade and leap after her as he took advantage of the keyblade’s innate ability to always return to its owner. He attempted to attack with some sort of technique while he was in mid-air and her keyblade arm automatically begins to parry off each of the three strikes the Aerial Sweep threw at her and held it horizontally to block from the odd-looking spiral technique. However even her own eyes couldn’t predict where his weapon was going to strike and ended up taking in almost every hit of his Aerial Finisher, however the force of each blow manages to crack the armor she wore but the heaviness of the armor thankfully helped her avoid getting thrown full-back to the barrier itself. Selena stabbed her keyblade into the ground to slow herself down to prevent the collision of her wings and back against the barrier and slide backward until she stopped several feet away and summons Wolf’s Fang[/color] to her side. The fiery silver wolf sits by her, turns her attention to Selena, nudges her to help her up, and waits.

Meanwhile Umbra was very disappointed that the keyblade that he had in its mouth earlier disappeared and returned to Sora. He whined pitifully and loudly because he missed his ‘stick’ causing some awws from the audience. However the dark wolf quickly changed his attitude and became silent as he watched Sora perform the fancy aerial techniques on his Master. He waited until Sora was finished like the ‘polite’ wolf he was before leaping at Sora from behind in an attempt to tackle him. If successful and if he should turn around to face Umbra, then Sora would get a face full of licks before initially disappearing from the arena.

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Actions Used:

1] Selena parries Aerial Sweep

2] Blocks Aerial Spiral but gets hit by the Finisher

3] Umbra tries to tackle Sora from behind and give him a face full of licks.

Abilities Used:

Umbra Wolf's Fang: A wolf of darkness comes out of her keyblade and attacks the opponent. It may team up with Selena during the two post duration. It is large enough to be ridden by Selena and/or any of her allies. Can be summoned together with Wolf's Fang. [HP Count: 8] [Duration: 0 Posts] [Ride-able!] [Cool Down: 3 Posts]

Pheynix: APPEARANCE
With her own darkness, Selena can take the form of a fallen demon general of the nine circles of Hell. Pheynix has a stronger power and defense than Eblis but her agility and speed considerably decreases as a result. [Since her wings hasn't been drawn in the picture since I either got lazy or forgot to draw her wings in, assume that they're her normal wings.] [Duration: 3 Posts] [Forced Stay In: 0]

Wings of an Fallen Angel: The ebony wings on Selena's back allows her to fly to great heights and jump higher than any normal human would. Unfortunately, it hinders her ability to physically run [unless she's flying too close to the ground], by making her slow. They are also a nuisance when near water especially since she has little to no ability to swim. [~Passive~]

Keyblade Ability: What is special about this keyblade is that it turns the Heart's Blood into a poison that attacks the Heart. It's most effective on Heartless, ironically, but it has no effect on Nobodies. Selena is usually never uses this keyblade to attack people though Black Angel might. The poison will only deplete health until it’s low. No worries.

[Cool Down: None.] [Duration: 3 Posts or until healed with a curative spell.]

Wolf's Fang[/color]: A silver/blood-red wolf out of Heart's Blood comes out of her keyblade and attacks the opponent. It may team up with Selena during the two post duration. It is large enough to be ridden by Selena and/or any of her allies and not be burned. [Duration: 2 Posts] [Ride-able!] [HP Count: 8]

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,480px,true][atrb=cellpadding,3px,true][atrb=cellspacing,3px,true][bg=939d8f] Come, break me down, bury me, bury me I am finished with you There was a tremendous roar from the fans as Sora resummoned his keyblade and lay fiercely into 'Artemis', his Aerial Sweep starting technique apparently parried, and his Aerial Spiral blocked completely by a blocking of her keyblade held horizontally. The keyblade sang with a high pitched wail of metal on metal as sparks and flashes of light flew in from between the clashing of the two keys. Finally Sora's keyblade intensified with Aerial Finish as the tip of his keyblade highlighted with the bright intensity of a yellow-white light, making his keyblade patterns as he quickly swung the keyblade make it look like he was trailing circles of light around himself, satisfied as all five strikes of the finisher struck the dark angel and cracked her armor. As soon as the crowd had finished making sympathetic 'awww' sounds at the wolk that had lost Sora's keyblade as a fetching stick, it was all but forgotten and drowned out as the audience made a fearsome uproar of approval that the two keybarers were finalyl pitting their full potential at each other, half of them booing in the mix who were rooting for Sel. Finishing his aerial combo as the light stopped trailing from the tip of this keyblade in the wake of his ferocious slashes, Sora spun and landed quickly on the ground, Kingdom Key clutched in hand and about to take off to be ready for whatever the demon woman threw at him next. Selly had stabbed the keyblade into the ground, and summoned another of her wolves, this time the fiery one Sora had witnessed her call during their battle with Ice Titan. But Sora had not noticed this, however, for he had quickly turned around the moment he heard movement behind him only to have enough time to witness the first of Sel's wolves taclkling him to the ground. It wasn't a very damaging tackle because of the sudden slobbering and licking across his face, reminding him of when Sora would summon a certain blue furry friend of his, which with his strength would tackle him even harder. "Aww, c'mon, enough already!" Sora actually laughed, and unlike the Black Angel, he was not afraid to show to anyone that they had made him smile. But eventually it got a little annoying because Sora had not forgotten he was in the middle of a fight where an action like this to let his defenses down could be taken advantage of very quickly, patting the wolf in a effort to push it off him gently and thankful it had not torn him to shreds with his fangs, but before he knew it the wolf had disappeared. He was feeling a little weak, but it was not from the wolf's tackle nor his licking; the pain was coming from where Artemis had slashed him, and it burned a little more and for longer than it normally should. He felt his health drain from him, almost like when he had suddenly felt sleepy in the Sleeping Worlds, but more painful. Sora suddenly realized this meant that he was poisoned, and he probably looked to everyone in a very pale state. Still lying on the ground and thinking he was about to be attacked, he thrusted his keyblade up into the air, and a green glow surrounded his body. Esuna had been cast on himself, and confirming his suspicion that his opponent's keyblade induced poison, he felt his strength quickly return to him and his flesh give off a healthy glow once again. "Artemis!" Sora called to her in a amused yet scolding tone, after rolling onto his back and flipping himself back onto his feet, quickly glancing at her and surprised she had not used the opportunity to attack him once her canine had moved away. Noticing her new flaming doggy companion and her keyblade currently buring into the ground, he took off instantly, energy shattering off his form like glass as his clothes changed color going into Limit Form. Pointing his keyblade ahead of him as he ran to Selena's right towards the corner of the arena, he fired off what could be considered his own personal limit break, Ragnarok. The lasers shone brightly as they arced and curved around past the corner, turning to home in on the Nightmare. Changing direction Sora then jumped up and kicked off the magical wall that acted as a barrier around the entire arena to protect the onlookers, activating a brilliant white aura around him as he did, activating Freemotion. Propelling himself with the momentum off the wall parallel to Selena on her left-hand side, Sora then came crashing down on Selena as he instantaneously gathered energy and then slammed down with his keyblade in a horizontal downwards slash into the Black Angel's left-hand side, creating a large shockwave with Kick Dive as he hit the ground. This, timed with the curving and homing Ragnarok coming from her right hand side along with Sora coming down from up above would hit her in a pincer-like attack from both sides, boxing her in. The shockwave and the lasers might also hopefully hit the wolf if he wasn't going to be friendly like his shadow cousin, but Sora's primary target was not the predator but his summoner. "Nothing to it!" Sora called to her over the sound of the shockwave and lasers, and the crowd screaming excitedly down at the laser light show he was creating, in a humorous manner. He hopped back away from her as he finished the shockwave Kick Dive had created, and zipped around her in a strafing motion, before the last of Freemotion's white aura faded away from his body. "I told you to come at me with everything you've got, but if you're going to go easy on me, then this is over for you!" (Theme of this post: Shrouding Dark Cloud ) Actions and Powers used: Action one: Sora felt the effect of Sel's keyblade on him, starting to feel weak, and pre-emptively used Esuna. Esuna: Sora can target himself, a current party member or even the enemy if he wishes, and point his keyblade skywards, as a soft glow of light surrounds them. This magic allows him to cure the chosen target from all afflictions that are considered negative status effects (such as: Poison, Confusion, Charm, Blind/Darkness, Silence, Curse, Berserk, Toad, Mini/Small, Sleep, Disable, Paralyze/Stun, Petrify/Stone, Zombie and Freeze). Three post cooldown. Action two: Sora activated Limit Form (form), and used Ragnarok (action). Limit Form: This is the only form Sora can use on his own, and the only one he starts out with. Sora only wields one keyblade, but re-obtains through his lost memories and the events of Castle Oblivion the abilities he had prior to these events. A more physical drive form, and having reached keyblader master status, the execution of some of these abilities can enable Sora to be invincible for brief moments during combat (within reason rationally when he's about to receive critical hits). However, the drawback to this form is that he cannot use any magic spells, and for the abilities of his to work he has to be of certain distance between himself and the target, depending on the ability. In this drive form, his clothes change their color to the appearance of his old clothes (from KH1), with a black hooded vest, white sleeves, red pants and yellow shoes. Ragnarok: Sora does a short combo, then quickly charges energy into his blade; this shoots off bursts of light energy from the tip of his keyblade called Giga Impact. It's only one burst of roughly a total of sixteen light streaks, but they all home in on the target(s) aimed for. Three turn cooldown. Action three: Sora activated Freemotion (aura) and combined his homing Ragnarok with a Kick Dive (action), the shockwave hitting the opposite direction from where Ragnarok's lasers were coming from. Flowmotion: Sora has become naturally adept to using an energy to become more aerodynamic and nimble, the energy allows Sora to adapt instantaneously to his environment and pull off movement that it otherwise normally impossible for other people to pull off. While using this energy, Sora can perform movement abilities such as swing from poles, grind on rails or swing away lesser (non-member) enemies (such as Kick Dive, see below), but by itself Flowmotion is typically activated in it's most basic and used form when Sora kicks off a wall surface. With a white aura surrounding him, it adds an extra upgrade in the form of twice the speed to his powers, and allows him to perform abilities that without this aura he could not perform otherwise. Once activated, the aura will remain active for one post duration, and since twice his speed allows him to hit harder, the cooldown lasts for three posts. Once the duration ends, or Sora uses a Flowmotion ability, Flowmotion ends and if Sora uses a Flowmotion ability in addition then he must wait for the cooldown to end before using another Flowmotion ability. Kick Dive: Sora's most recognized and perhaps strongest Flowmotion command, and can only be used when Sora activates Flowmotion. Sora can activate this after jumping towards a wall or flat surface similar to one. After performing the wall kick, Sora spins horizontally towards the enemy with keyblade lanced out before him to inflict damage moderate damage. Then gathering energy above them while raising back his keyblade, Sora spins with his keyblade pointing downward and generates a powerful shockwave, expanding out from him in a flash of light for three feet in diameter. This does heavy damage, and knocking anything it comes into contact with the same distance of three feet in the opposite direction, along with non-elemental damage. Sora then flips and lands on his feet to complete the movement. This has a two-turn cooldown. Damage: Two slashes to the back out of a five slash combo, fading pain from a tackle, licked in the face by a wolf (lol), poison (healed by Esuna). Cooldowns currently in effect: Limit Form: No cooldown yet until four turn duration has ended or Drive Form is cancelled. Ragnarok: Three turns to cooldown. Freemotion: Three turns to cooldown. Kick Dive: Two turns to cooldown. Aerial Sweep: Finished cooldown. Aerial Spiral: One turn left to cooldown. Aerial Finish: Two turns left to cooldown. TAG Selena SONG LYRICS The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars

THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY COMATOSE OF ON THE EDGE!

[terranort]

Time is up! The judges' decisions will be posted here as soon as we have a verdict on the round!

[Admin]

Sora has won the battle and will proceed

Reviews:

SPOILER: Click to show

Damage Dealt - Surprisingly not obvious. Sora basically took two attacks and a bit of poison damage before he removed it. Selena took the heavier series of hits, but had it dampened by the increased defense of her Pheynix form. I’m not even going to count the dog tackle + licks cuz come on. This, I will admit, makes this category unusually subjective. In the end I’ve decided on Selena, because since I feel that even a softened Aerial Finisher is a bigger deal than two (strengthened) normal attacks. Especially if she ate that oncoming Ragnarok/Dive Kick combo.

Realism - Man, where do I start with this one?

While Sora’s fighting style was a-ok, I felt a lot of this thoughts or words were a little ooc. Like, ok yes he would probably react oddly to Selena just planting herself down and go “huh that’s weird”, but it felt like he dwelled on it a bit much and even said a few things that were uncharacteristically spiteful. Also I don’t think freaking Sora would be one to play head games, retroactive or otherwise.

On the other side, the draw for the Pheynix thing was supposed to be a decrease in speed and mobility. So why, as I read this, does it not feel slow? I won’t say anything about her charge attack since she used her wings to pull that off (a nice touch; see creativity) but she then proceeds to effortlessly block almost every attack Sora throws from a series of quick aerial combos. This is after she mentally admits that he’s fast, mind you. There’s no justification or anything. It just happens. Maybe it’s not as unreasonable as I’m making it sound, but it just seemed like she parried a series of attacks much more efficiently than a tank mode otherwise should. It was off to me.

Also at the end you seem to have used a fourth action? Granted, the Wolf’s Fang doesn’t really do anything, but it felt like you were preparing for something using a free action you didn’t have.

Gotta give it to Sora.

Creativity - Selena using her wings to aid in her otherwise slowed charge made for a nice visual. A little exploit-y, maybe, but nothing overwhelmingly negative. Sora, meanwhile, did that thing with umbra wolf’s fang and his key. It’s been done a lot, but it entertains me every time. The combo in his last post was also really cool.

.....and that’s kinda it. Everything else was basically swinging random attacks and retconning standing around into psychological warfare (which, come on, that was silly guys.) But based on the above I’d say Sora gets the creativity marks. Which makes the winner....

Sora

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SPOILER: Click to show

Alright, I'm not sure if I'm anywhere near allowed to start doing these, but if anything, just slap me with a shoe for it and ignore this post or whichever.

Damage Dealt Looking at things, Sora took two normal attacks and removed the poison with Esuna (as said by Nier). Selena took hits from Sora's Aerial Finisher where it was cracking her armor, meaning it was weakened by her Pheynix. Well, there's also the tackle and... lol, some licks in the face. xD Whut? Anyhow, this I'd give to Selena in the end.

Realism Hrmm~ I have to agree with Nier on the Pheynix bit. Selena would've taken more hits with Sora's quick succession of attacks while Selena should've been slowed with Pheynix. Even with the increase in defence... she still parried quite a bit. It feels somewhat off, sorry... (Also I've been cracking my head on what Sora and Selena were talking about at first, but eh. Don't mind silly ol' me.) I'm giving this to Sora.

Creativity I always like to see how creative people can get. =P Anyhow, while the idea of hiding the wolf in the shadows might've been a fun idea, the platform is usually quite in the daylight (from what I recall in games), which actually made me wonder if the platform in these tournaments are exactly the same as in the games (anyhow, this is sort of out of judging role). Never mind me...

I quite liked the use of the wings in a charge, a speed boost to counter the problem with the lack of speed in her current form. I felt that was quite a good idea myself. Next we have Sora using his Keyblade to have the wolf bite that instead and resummoning it later, maybe an interesting gimmick, but I've seen it before (sorry). Next quite some more standard stuff, but with Sora's last post with Ragnarok, Freemotion, and ending it all in a shockwave with Kick Dive... It seemed quite an interesting concept. Also quite detailed to me, although I sort of wondered if that was really three actions despite combining the techniques. But in the end I'd give Sora the creativity bit, sorry Sel...

Sora

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