Oh! Great...

[Deleted]

Lunch period, his first day back since his stint in the hospital. Saint was still sore from his brief encounter with Hephaestus and in part unable to keep solid foods down. But the abdominal pain and the food problems were at the back of his mind… other items worried him more. They had caused him to waft through his morning classes without taking notes, over even hearing a word any of his teachers had said. Hopefully some fresh air in the courtyard and some of the soup he had brought from home would calm him so he could regain his focus on schoolwork. He’d missed far too many days in a row to be daydreaming during any classes, especially if he wanted to keep his grades up.

A sigh escaped as he took a few sips of the warm red liquid, tomato soup, delicious. The freshman was quite content to sit in the courtyard with his soup but it didn’t take long for him to notice a threat to peace. Out of the corner of his eyes, Saint noticed a group of five students, three guys and two girls, whispering to each other while staring at Saint with almost menacing eyes. Frankly, Saint hadn’t a clue who they were, why they were staring at him… but he knew that he didn’t want to know what they were planning to do. He was planning to get up and just head inside, to try an avoid any conflict. But something about the situation reminded him of animals. The whole ideal of supremacy, the strongest rules, alpha male, that type of underlying ideology. Perhaps they were bluffing, or someone would assist them if his hunch was correct. But if his hunch about the students staring at him were true and no one assisted him well… Saint didn’t want to think about what his mother would say if he ended up in the hospital again.

Within a few moments Saint’s apprehensions were confirmed when the group stared making their way toward him, punching open palms suggestively. Saint knew he should stand to face them but even thought was painful, and going off the animal analogy meant showing no weakness. In his present state, Saint wasn’t even sure he could take one, never mind the whole group. To put it simply, Saint was screwed.

((OoC: Anyone can join, in anyway they want. Help Saint. Be part of the students attacking or option D... ))

[jakeyjake]

OOC: Randomish attack 2!

A sudden yell was heard, and spikes ripped through the right shoulder of one of the thugs in the back. Blood began to drip from his shoulder, the crimson liquid beginning to shower down toward the grass as the spikes began to pull out from the shoulder, the man still yelling in pain as pain was filling his body, and the spikes came out more and more until he finally collapsed on the ground. Staring over at the other guys, they all began to run away, after all, Jake had a freaking weapon which could murder people, it would be insane to actually think you could stand against a force like that! In case any of them decided to stay, he lit his gloves on fire, look familiar? It should, the only different now was that every blow with these gloves were fatal, Jake was a genius.

Looking over at the other kid to see if he ran or not, if he decided to stay still, a very wicked grin would go onto his face (this would be Saint). He would put both arms up, his brown eyes peering at him. It was easy enough to say that Jake was crazy again, he wanted to spill violence, random violence always was a good thing though. Letting both flames disperse on his gloves just to the fact that it could get annoying he would ask a question, assuming this kid had the guts to remain facing him face to face.

"So, you goin' to run, or do you have what it takes to excite me?"

If only people knew the reason for these attacks, maybe they would understand Jake a bit better. Still, all he needed to do was wait, and over time, his ultimate goal would be achieved...

[Deleted]

Taken by surprise Saint watched in horrid amazement as with one blow the newcomer dispersed his would be assailants. Lucky, or maybe not, as this kid didn’t seem like the type of student to help out an injured pillar out of the kindness of his heart. Especially with the fire… fire… stop. In reflex Saint’s hand went to the side of his head as though a migraine had suddenly struck him. He wanted these thoughts to leave him alone, but it seemed with what he would be exposed to here that was at best a pipedream. As the other students ran off the pillar inwardly sighed in relief, watching them scurry. But when he turned back to his supposed savior, his relief would be short lived. If he couldn’t even take one of the students running away, how was he supposed to even survive against the kid who made them run?!

With a polite smile Saint faced the boy with the spiked fire gloves. His only real chance of getting out of this whole situation in one piece was to be nice. Try and defuse the tension, remove the call for violence, or something like that. If worse came to worse, Saint did have his bracers, though how much they would really do was beyond him. Slowly Saint extended his hand in a gesture of friendship, keeping the polite smile on his face all the while. Smother hatred with kindness!

“Run? I want to thank you. That could have been very ugly for me if you hadn’t shown up. So… thank you. And may I ask your name?”

[jakeyjake]

With the flames gone, Jake noticed this guy introducing himself, and then cocked his head to the side. Well, this was interesting, but how bad would it be to play along? Letting a friendly looking smirk appear on his lips, Jake shot out his right hand to grab onto this guys, just a friendly handshake. He positioned the hand where the spikes wouldn't be able to cut him, it made it look completely friendly, nothing more to it than that. To show that he had no intentions to hurt him, he began to speak, trying to make everything nice and friendly.

"Name's Jake..."

The words were spoken in a slightly friendly voice, the best thing Jake could get, but he did just stab his spikes into the shoulder of a kid, what would one expect? If this guy accepted the offer to shake hands, as soon as his hand grabbed onto Jake's, Jake would quickly tighten a grip around it, and allow the flames to shoot off once again causing this guy's right hand to suffer the burns of Jake's gloves. Of course, would he know Jake was planning this, for all he know maybe Jake didn't pick on random students, maybe he was just thinking this guy to be someone who wasn't.

Since Jake's popularity was slim, it would be hard to make a good calculation in what he was planning, but that was all up to this guy all the same. If Saint didn't shake Jake's hand, then he would just have to make an attack at a better moment, something more unpredictable, after all, it was much more fun to take advantage of someones weakness than to just flat out attack them, and let them have a chance.

So, what would Saint do now?

[Deleted]

There seemed to be no hostility in the other boy’s extended hand so Saint had no reason not to take his friendly gesture. As the two shook hands, the pillar smiled making note of who this boy was. Everything seemed fine until Saint felt Jake’s hand clench tighter, obviously the gesture had been an act. The analogy was in no way correct, these people weren’t like animals… they were animals, nothing more, perhaps even lower. As the flames began to burn Saint’s hand, he knew there was no pulling back, this beast would not release his hand. One way to get his hand back would be breaking off the Jake’s, not to easily accomplished but by withstanding the pain it was plausible. Personally, Saint wished he could just ask the kid to let go, but the creature would not likely understand.

Gritting his teeth to bear the pain of his burning hand and the pain in his abdomen, Saint brought his right leg up in a quick motion. A kick? No… How could someone kick without a plant leg? At the same moment Saint’s left foot shot off the ground as well causing Saint, who now clenched just as tightly, to pull Jake down. Now what he planned was simple in a sense, but not so much in another. His attacks were just that two simultaneous attacks. The pillar’s right leg quickly went to wrap around the extended elbow of his assailant’s right arm, while the left shot toward the boy’s throat. With the pulling of Saint’s entire body weight, the lack of power from having no plant leg would be made up for by the forward motion of Jake’s throat. Physics is so lovely.

In an ideal world, Saint would land the shot to the throat, dazing his opponent and causing a difficulty to breathe. Also he would get his right leg wrapped exactly where he wanted, with the elbow facing skyward and jammed against the knee joint, allowing from further offensive maneuvering. Once they landed due to Saint pulling them down, Jake would be face down with his right arm lodged in Saint’s legs. Then by pressing his left foot into the side of Jake’s face, just below the ear, Saint could free his burnt hand moving it to the wrist along with his free left. There the flames would have lesser effect and the pillar could push the forearm up until Jake gave or it snapped. Not only that but it would be very difficult for Jake to due much of anything from such a position, but this beast was treacherous to say the least. However, on the opposite side of the spectrum, should Saint’s attacks fail completely, he would be free of Jake’s grasp and in great position to enter a defensive curl. Shifting his arms to a comfortable position behind him to aid in movement, while his legs were curled up against his body ready to thrust out in counterattack, he could see what this bastard was up.

Let’s see how “ideal” the world is…

[jakeyjake]

You know, this guy's plan would of worked, if Jake wasn't such the brute that he was. He had no plans in just letting this guy have a chance to attack, due to the burn, it naturally took a few seconds before this guy would be able to begin to make a move, plus thinking time, and by then Jake would of made his next move. Since Jake had an incredible amount of strength, it wouldn't tank much to yank his right arm back, and forcefully pull Saint toward him. Due to Saint being in a weaker physical condition as well, it would be quite surprising for him not to follow through with this tug which Jake just made. That would forcefully make him step forward, and with that Jake's free left hand would lash out, his spikes on his quantiles heading right toward his face planning on slashing diagonally from the corner of his left eye to the bottom of his chin. No worries about it going through any wholes, but three little slashes going there would no be pretty, it would definitely cause blood.

If for some reason this attack failed, the ashes from the flames were bound to catch in this guy's eyes, or at least cause some significant damage toward him. All Jake cared about at this moment was causing pain, he wanted to make him bleed, he wanted to make him suffer. Why should Jake be the only one who feels pain, why can't others deal with what he has to deal with each and every day!? The mental setting he had, it was hard to convince him otherwise, Jake was a cold blooded murderer, and nothing was going to change that.

Did he plan on killing this guy? No, but this guy would definitely have trouble walking for the next few days.

Let's see how Saint gets out of this one.

[Deleted]

Whether or not Jake was stronger, Saint wasn’t going to let his be controlled for any reason and there was no way Jake could truly stop him. Since the were holding right hands, when Jake pulled forward Saint would naturally move forward but also to his own left. As he felt himself go forward, the pillar pushed off with his right leg propelling himself further to his left and Jake’s right. Of course, at the same moment, Saint brought his left hand up toward the ribcage of his opponent. There would nice a bit of power behind it, as he planted his left foot just beyond Jake. But this was more for leverage, by placing it firmly in his opponents side perhaps Saint could limit his assailant’s range of motion. Of course as Saint came forward toward his opponent’s right side, unless Jake let go his arm would be twisted buy Saint in an unnatural direction.

There was no real need to put up a defense to the punch since Saint had would be well outside the reach of the boy’s left arm. Next he quickly twisted the boy’s arm, aiming the spikes so they would dig into their user’s side. With they way Jake’s arm would be positioned, unless already he pulled away, it would be very difficult for him to use enough of his strength to get free. If this ironic attack failed well Saint would be perpendicular to Jake’s right side. Not to shabby for someone who had never been in such a situation. Hopefully he could get a moment of peace to find out what he did to have his animal jump him. After all, the only thing he did to this kid was say thank you.

((OoC: Um... what would be producing ashes? If the gauntlets are made of metal then there wouldn't be ashes, since metal doesn't "ash" unless molten.))

[jakeyjake]

OOC: The flame thingys have like... those sparks fly out of them, and hit stuff... Yeah, those things. >.>

Did Jake's left punch miss? Yes. Unfortunately this guy highly underestimated the physical abilities which lied within Jake's grasp, sure he didn't have the most intelligent moves, but he did have the most brutal. Smarts would only get so far in this battle, and in the end Jake would prove brute force would be the one that triumphs over intelligence. Unless this guy had enough speed to outclass his, he was going to be in some trouble in the extremely near future.

Jake's move would begin once this guy sent a left hook toward Jake's rib cage, this would automatically mean he was close enough for Jake to make an attack. With what? With Jake's own right leg, you see with that punch, it was proof this guy was in range, and even though there was pain, it wouldn't stop Jake from easily extending his own right leg, all he had to do was force weight onto his left leg, which wasn't that hard, and then shot a knee up toward Saint. If for some reason this guy wasn't in range for a knee, then it would be a powerful kick, either way it would be hitting this guy's gut, or it could be much worse, like his groin. No matter which side this guy turned to, the kick would hit him, and it was enough force to knock the wind out of him considering he was weakened, and Jake probably had a strength far greater than his due to how much he trained physically.

Sure, this guy scored a hit, but after this little kick, it would probably throw all of this guy's plans out of proportion, and with that, Jake would then have the fight into his hands.

What he did after this kick depended on what this guy could do, due to Jake's incredible speed, and due to it being sent at the lower body making it incredibly hard to see due to Saint's arm clouded some of the view, it would be hard to process a way to escape. If for some reason he managed to escape though, Jake would just need to find some other way to work around it.

OOC: Sorry if this is confusing, didn't have time to proof read, busy.

[Deleted]

Unable to see the coming attack, there was no reason for Saint to abandon his original plan to use the spikes on Jake’s glove as a weapon. Hopefully he could drive it into his opponent’s side using all his arm strength before the knee struck him in his presently most vulnerable spot. But once the knee struck, Saint went tumbling backward. Having the already wounded section of his body hit had destroyed his balance and knocked the wind completely out of him. Despite the pain, the pillar knew he needed to rebound quickly to prevent giving this boy the chance to attack him again. As he rolled onto his shoulders, Saint brought his arms underneath himself and using all the strength he could muster propelled himself into the air away from his opponent. Of course the trajectory of his flip was a low one sending Saint further away from Jake in sorter time.

Of course this was just step one, as Saint came around he got his feet underneath and jumped back even further away. Unfortunately this was not the best action for his abdomen and caused the pain to intensify. When Saint landed from his second retreat maneuver his feet failed him and the freshman fell into a sitting position. His arms wrapped tightly about his gut trying to calm the searing pain within it. Of course had his attack worked, Saint could rest up and Jake might even leave for medical attention. If not well perhaps Saint could get a word in with the extended distance… or get attack while sitting in pain.

“Why are you attacking me?”