First Tournament of Fighters ((Saint vs Atticus))

[Atticus Wagner]

((OOC: Sorry if I wan't supposed to do this, but I want to get this fight started!))

Arena: Skatepark

The local skatepark is comprised primarily of concrete and metal railings. It features a eight-foot deep bowl, ten foot tall halfpipe (the only structure with wood construction), and various settings of quarter pipes. Bystanders are mostly people waiting for the fight to be over, so they can get back to skating. In addition, most of the park is covered in graffiti.

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Yeah, it was kind of like this; The tournament was today, or at least Atticus' match was. Aparently he was up against someone out of his league. Figures. He was the underdog, the guy nobody thought could do anything. He didn't give a shit about them though. Even if he lost, he still had something to prove. He had to prove that he wasn't just some damn loud punk. But he'd have no problem with admitting he was loud and quite capable of being annoying. Now as soon as this guy showed up, they'd actually get to fighting. The sooner it was over, the sooner these guy could get back to skating.

"C'mon, where are you...? Show your damned face already..."

[Deleted]

Saint had signed up for the tournament believing it would be a sort of competition with minimal contact and more a contest of skill than brute strength, speed, or toughness. He didn’t want to hurt anybody, especially when there was no need for it, including futile matters of pride. But when he heard of where his first match was to be held, it seemed that it was just going to be a series of fights to see who could beat up the others. After all, how could the kind of match Saint wanted be held at a skate park? Not to mention his opponent was someone he’d never heard of… a boy named Atticus. Chances were this kid would be taking this as an opportunity to prove himself, just thing Saint wanted to avoid. When it rains it pours…

Nonetheless Saint showed up, in his usual attire since this was undoubtedly going to be a fight not a match. Yes, in Saint’s mind those were to very different things. So, there he was… walking his way toward the crowd gathered at the center of the skate park. It only made sense that his opponent would be waiting at the center of the gathering, so the pillar pushed his way through with an “excuse me” here and a “pardon me” there until he was standing in the clearing that was the middle. Standing so that he was facing his opponent, Saint smiled kindly while tilting his head slightly to the right.

“Good luck to you.”

[Atticus Wagner]

"Heh... Luck has nothing to do with it. Nothing but a variable..." Atticus muttered to himself, almost scoffing at the nerve of the guy. This was a fighting tournament. The only rules; one on one, and no weaponry. Fighting at it's purest, it's most primal. "Hey, I heard you're supposed to be pretty good. Someone who ranks pretty high in the school heirarchy. Everyone is saying I won't make it. So don't take it personally, but I'm gonna prove them all wrong right now! Ya got it?"

Atticus tensed up into his stance, just a simple boxing stance with nothing all too special about it. Fully guarding his upper body and face, while keeping his lower half agile. It wasn't special, but it was reliable. "Of course, don't want to just bum rush you, so get ready. When you are, we'll finally get this fight done and over with. And these guys will finally be able to get back to skating..."

[Deleted]

Great… Saint sighed and shook his head lightly. Someone with something to prove, just like he’d thought. The only present positives were that his kid didn’t know Saint was a pillar, luckily, and also wanted this to end as quickly as possible so the skaters could skate. That much meant at least this guy wouldn’t drag it on further than it had to go. So with the time given by his opponents patience, Saint started stretching, the legs first and slowly moving up to the midsection and back finishing with his arms and neck. But he figured he might as well get a final word in edge wise before the fight started.

“Okay… but I guarantee you’ll be walking out of here.”

The pillar winked slightly before settling into a boxing stance of his own. Having boxed for longer than he could remember, he had an extensive knowledge of the tactics and techniques that went into it, as subconscious as they may have been. He stood angled sideways with his left side facing his opponent. His left arm hung by his waist while his right was coiled up by the side of his face, his feet were set shoulder width apart, and the pillar gently bounced on the balls on his feet. Once in position he was more than ready for a fight, despite he wish to avoid such a thing.

[Atticus Wagner]

Did that guy just wink at him? It didn't matter if it was a suggestive wink, a joking wink, or what. But it was just way too creepy. "Okay, that's creepy, PLEASE don't wink again! Guys are not made to wink, especially not at other guys, no matter what the circumstance!" To Atticus, that was creepier beyond the idea of skeletor making out with He-man. (What? Got to come up with colorful metaphors, right?) Shaking his head vigorusly for a few seconds, he finally got all the bugs out of his system, including the creepy metaphor.

"I get the sense you're not too enthusiastic about this fight. So tell me, is there anything that'll actually make you want to fight? I know I'm not high priority, but hey, gotta make sure these guys get a decent fight for their time here. After all, what good would victory be if you didn't try?" Atticus dropped his guard, sighing as he looked around. Somebody, probably the fight officiator, began a countdonw on his fingers. Three, then two, then one.

"FIGHT!" He yelled, dropping his arm like it was some sort of flag.

[Deleted]

((OoC: Should I even bring up the irony of using He-man in that metaphor? XD…))

Now it was blatantly obvious that this kid was either severely homophobic or insecure about certain things. Though the pillar had to admit, it was very funny to see this guy so creepy out by the gesture. Perhaps Saint could use it as a psychological weapon to make this fight go faster than need be. It might seem a bit underhanded but this competition was about combat, both physical strength and mental strength, so this kid should be able to deal with Saint… playing with him. That might actually prove to be very entertaining in a sad kind of way, but would he actually do it? Saint still debating with himself on whether or not to carry through with it when his opponent spoke again.

After listening to the little speech, Saint couldn’t help but smirk a tad. Someone was perceptive. But Saint didn’t care about the people watching for one and there was no way he’d want to fight. The dropping of one’s guard when facing Saint was like dropping a dollar bill in front of Donald Trump, chances were he wasn’t going to bother to take it. The pillar relaxed from his own fighting position just as another man shouted “Fight!”, which cause Saint to do absolutely nothing but quirk his brow and glance that way for a moment before turning his attention back to his opponent. Now unless Atticus had taken that moment to attack this would be when Saint would respond to the series of inquiries.

“No… there isn’t a thing you could do to make me what a fight. But I have no problem with a competition. Simply this; we battle for the next… oh… ten minutes and afterward, barring one of us being seriously hurt or giving up, we stop and let the crowd decide which one of us is better. I’m sure that would be enough to keep them interested and involved. What’d you say?”

That was the ultimatum that Saint laid down, sort of speak. Chances were if the crowd was anything like this guy, the pillar had already come close to losing, but with this way of fighting he wouldn’t have to try any of what he was debating earlier. Needless to say, he wouldn’t touch the subject of “what good would victory be” since he didn’t real see it that way. It was more a learning experience, no real winner or loser… unless it was an actual fight than both parties lost.

[Atticus Wagner]

((OOC: There was irony in that? Must have missed it...))

Ten minutes. That was actually a lot of time. The fight would be over by then for sure. "Alright, we can do that, no problem. I'm sure it'll be over before then anyway as long as one of us makes a move soon instead of just chatting like a pair of old women." Atticus regained his fighting stance, finally looking somewhat motivated, instead of looking like he wasn't taking anything seriously.

Atticus made the first move with no delay after that. Words didn't get a fight anywhere. Well, not usually. Atticus had a way of using words to make fights more intense, but not in this situation. The guy wasn't motivated to fight, so there was no easy way for Atticus to talk his way into a favorable situation. Instead, he came at Saint with a simple right palm strike. As soon as there was any hint of a counter-attack or dodge, Atticus could reveal that it was just a fient and get into his real attack. Once his arm retreated, it'd hit the ground as Atticus' legs left the ground. Both legs extended outward at Saint's waist, aiming for a drop-kick to push the guy back.

[Deleted]

So everything was decided. Simple enough. Then as Atticus resumed his fighting stance, Saint did the same turning his left side toward his opponent again. Of course, it didn’t take long for the other freshman to rush forward with his arm positioned for a strike. Now, since his opponent had originally taken a boxing stance, Saint assumed this would be a match similar to boxing… thus no kicking. That meant the tall pillar wasn’t going to kick out with his front leg, or spin to use the back leg either. His actual approach to the apparent attack was simply to slide his left foot back while lifting his left arm to block the strike, meanwhile he would throw his own right out in a classic cross to Atticus’ face.

Of course, Atticus was no slouch and since the attack was a feint the boy would change his attack when Saint shifted. Due to the pillar’s now foolish assumption about how the match was going play out, this meant he was caught off guard by the drop kick. Acting quickly the pillar crossed his arms to block the majority of the blow’s impact. Nevertheless it caused him to stumble back slightly, shaking the sensation from his arms. A small smile cracked his bland features as Saint decided he might as use this time to work on his own style. Bouncing on the balls on his feet, switching the lead leg every so often, his arms positioned about the middle of his chest, Saint motioned with his head for Atticus to come at him again. A do-over of sorts.

[Atticus Wagner]

The drop kick caused Atticus to land on his back, but the guy had managed to absorb the blow. Too bad. Pushing his body away fromt he guy, Atticus rolled backwards, getting back into stance as soon as he got to his feet. The guy had the speed to react to surprise encounters and apparently enough confidence to challenge Atticus with a little "Come an' get it!" motion with his head. Cocky little punk... Fact aside that this guy was bigger than him.

"With that speed, I should have suffered for using that move. I guess I got you off guard. Of course, now you're probably on guard against the unexpected. Now you'll be vulnerable to the direct attacks, since they lack the misdirection you'd expect. But now that I've told you, I've really just about screwed myself over." Shrugging, Atticus took the quickstep needed to reach his target. instead of pulling back his fist before the strike, now he went from point A to point B, the throat. A dangerous zone to attack, but if need be, he could keep the guy alive if his throat collapsed on him. Of course the guy would probably be able to stop the blow itself. Because of that, he was ready to counter with whatever he needed to. He had yet to find out how this guy fought.

[Deleted]

By keeping on the balls on his feet, and combined with the slight bounding motion, Saint was ready to dodge as soon as his opponent threw anything. Every word the kid said was for intents and purposes ignored. As far as the pillar could see, it would just be a mind game to keep Saint trying to anticipate the type of attack that came. Instead he would sit back and let his opponent come to him, read and react. Sure, in order to win he would eventually have to go on the offensive but hopefully he could ware this kid out a bit before that time came.

Needless to say, given the difference in size, Saint was already shifting his weight backward as soon as Atticus stepped forward. However, the quick nature of the attack made it difficult to dodge completely and Saint was forced to bring his right across to bat the blow of course. In retaliation, the pillar brought his right leg up toward Atticus’ shoulder area and snapped a quick kick with an extension of his knee. It would have some pop, about two thirds of Saint’s strength, and do to the nature of the attack even less. The kick was not one that would drive through the target, but one that would make contact with its target and withdraw back to the ground immediately. Of course, the holding back and target designation were all conscious. Saint wanted to know how much this guy could take… if he could take the pillar putting all his strength in, then Saint would do that… if not, some more holding back would be done.

[Atticus Wagner]

With a simple motion, Atticus' fist had drifted off to the side of it's target. Fair enough really, it wasn't exactly something he had depended on to win. Next was the counter attack. Sure, they guy was quick, but he was doing a snap kick to Atticus' shoulder. The knee had to rise up and point at the target before the foot flashed out, so it was easy to read. If the kick had been for the shin, the snap kick would have been hard to avoid. Regarless, the kick got him in the shoulder, but there wasn't much impact at all, even less than the kicker had wanted to send out.

Atticus whirled around, his body seemingly pushed by the kick. His left fist was the first to make the full round trip, the backhand strike aimed at the temple. Next would be the right foot, following the backhand up with a knee to the ribcage. The knee strike would push past the ribcage, and the foot would pant itself, just in time for Atticus to pivot the rest of the distance needed to give Saint's left knee a sideways kick.

[Deleted]

((OoC: Wow! I'm sorry. For everything... the lateness... even the economy... and the war in Iraq... and the holocaust!))

As Saint brought his leg back to the ground it was odd how the boy spun about. Either this guy couldn’t take a hit to save his life or… he was trying something. Instincts dictated that Saint move away from the boy’s range but he never did. As the fist came flying around the pillar only caught a glimpse of it from the corner of his eye. With a freakish amount of luck Saint avoided it by leaning back while twisting his head in the same direction the attack was going. Unfortunately this would make it impossible to adjust in time to avoid the knee which caught him in the back, to his side. Needless to say Saint went tumbling away from Atticus and his hurricane of attacks. Slowly he stood up a few feet away from his opponent, rubbing his side gently. Not good…

Going on the offensive for a change, Saint rushed forward toward Atticus, closing the distance a couple strides. As he neared, the pillar swung his right leg out as though he was about to throw a kick meant to take Atticus’ head clear off, but Saint could throw feints as well. Just as he was about strike, it appeared that he had fallen… into a slide. Saint drove what would have been his plant leg into his opponent’s knee. Hopefully this would cause Atticus to lurch forward enabling the second strike to be all the more effective. The follow up was less deceptive as the student body president would roll back on his hands, which were firmed planted under his shoulders, and spring up into a handstand while leaving his attack leg extended so that it would ideally catch Atticus’ on the jaw. This time there was no holding back… if the kid couldn’t take it, which Saint knew to be unlikely, then this would be over… a good thing.