Break Me.

[Lucien DeChain]

{OOC: Open.)

It was a mild afternoon. The rays of the distant sun shone down onto the asphalt of Anaheim, giving a subtle effect of a luminescent road. It wasn't particularly hot, but Lucien felt the heat more than he usually would. The heat wasn't coming from the elements, nor the sun. There was a spark inside him.

It burned, it ached, it longed for release. The last time he'd been in a good fight - A really, really good fight, seemed to him like a distant memory. And him, being in his friendly nature, wasn't the type to make enemies quickly. So, even though he wasn't the strongest, nor the fastest, nor the most powerful in Qi.. The spark, the rumbling around his solar plexus.. It made him feel like he was unmatched. Not in the way of having no equal, more that he had no one to compare his skill with.

And, he felt it in his bones. They ached with the pressure, like when a joint really needs to be cracked, but won't quite give. The felt so.. Whole. Solid. Unflexible. And, Lucien felt all this.

He walked around Anaheim, thinking of who he could try his worth against. Of course he didn't want to kill anyone, nor did he want to cause excessive harm to someone he cares for. And, who in Long Beach didn't know Lucien DeChain as the obsessive-compulsive Crow who was mostly harmless?

That thought annoyed him. He was really, literally, aching for a fight.

[Ryu Sakazaki]

As per the Elder Dragon that inducted him into the Dragons order, Daniel was out and about training himself, not only to grow stronger, but also to hone his sensing skills. Seated beneath a tree in a park located in Anaheim, his eyes closed, the various presences that had passed by him were all low-leveled, nothing of note... Until now.

Detecting a presence heading towards him, his eyes would slowly open. It was a much stronger presence than the others that had passed by him, but in comparison to him... It was weaker than him, but not significantly weaker. In fact, it was rather close to his own.

"I detected your presence from afar, Crow. Your powers are strong but appear to be weaker than my own."

A voice would speak up suddenly, as Daniel would appear in front of Lucien, the edges of his overcoat gently fluttering in the light breeze that blew. Though his words sounded condescending, his tone of voice was not. In fact, he was simply speaking the truth. He had understood that the Crow before him was weaker than him, in terms of power.

[Lucien DeChain]

Lucien heard the voice before seeing the speaker, which alarmed him. Being a stealth-user himself, it meant that not many people could sneak up on him. He looked over the dark-haired asian before him. Giving him a once-over, he didn't look all that 'powerful', but, looks were definitely deceiving, something Lucien knew first-hand.

He waited a moment before replying to the man. "You might be right, but who knows? Also, how could you tell I am a Crow?" He asked, slightly curious. He assumed the man was a Dragon, for all the talk of power and all the flashy clothes... Not to mention the overly dynamic dramatic entry.

[Ryu Sakazaki]

Daniel would simply smile slightly at the Crow.

"I heard of you from Master Leon Sudeki. Lee Tai Long, Commander of Squad 4 of The Lightning Dragon's Lightning Brigade, though you may call me Daniel or Danny."

Holding his hand out to the Crow for a handshake, he had assumed right, Daniel was a Dragon, but it was not plainly obvious that he was part of the gang, as his insignia was sewn onto the inside of his shirt, out of plain sight.

[Lucien DeChain]

Heard about him from Leon..? Then that means...

Lucien accepted the hand to shake, smiling and nodding. "Nice to meet you, Daniel Lee. My name is Lucien DeChain. I'm a Crow, and a Wolf, under the command of Grim Prasad."

The handshake was firm, more firm than Lucien would usually go. Maybe it was the spark acting out, maybe it was an unconscious urge to make himself known as a valid force, or maybe he was just trying to impress someone who worked for Leon.

[Ryu Sakazaki]

Noting the firm handshake from Lucien, Daniel would continue to simply smile slightly at the Crow and Wolf, shaking Lucien's hand back with a just as, if not stronger and firmer grip.

"Just Daniel or even Danny is fine. If you are trying to break my hand Lucien, I can't really call it a successful attempt. But it makes me wonder... What are you trying to prove with such a firm handshake. Is it strength... or something more..."

Letting go of Lucien's hand soon after, Daniel would look at him piercingly from behind his small orange sunglasses hiding his light brown eyes.

"Perhaps I should see... What it is you wish to prove!"

And without warning, Daniel would create an intense circle of wind after concentrating during the time he was staring piercingly at Lucien, to try and slam him like a physical blow from afar.

[Lucien DeChain]

What I wish to prove...?

Lucien felt the wind whipping around him, and instantly dropped to the ground. He activated his own Qi as he did so, dropping into a crawling position and remaining unmoving as the torrent passed by him like a literal Hadouken.

He stayed still for a few more seconds, wondering if the man's sixth sense was powerful enough to be able to replace his eyesight. Just in case it was, he made checks of all the countermeasures he had on his person - including the special mask that hid his presence when he donned it.

[Ryu Sakazaki]

With his circle of wind passing harmlessly over Lucien as the Crow hit the deck, disappearing from Daniel's sight while doing so, whipping open his overcoat, revealing bottles of water strapped to his person, the water would burst forth from each bottle as he took control of the water, shaping the water into a blade.

He would then lower the temperature of the water, turning it into ice, as a frosty air surrounded the blade. Concentrating once more, with a mighty swing, Daniel would combine the circle of wind with some of the ice he had made, sending a blast of snow in the direction he had last seen Lucien at.

Closing his eyes and calming his mind, this was a fight he could not rely on his sight for. He would have to use all his other senses to take on the Crow, and would keep his ears keenly tuned for and aware of the slightest sound of breathing and movement.

[Lucien DeChain]

Lucien had made an error. By giving the opponent time to develop strategy, he had put himself in the lower position. Though, Daniel's use of water was intriguing. He wondered if it would be creative enough to actually do some harm--

The snow and wind attack was aimed right for Lucien, giving him little time to act. He quickly flattened into a prone position, side-rolling deftly out of the way of the blast. The movement had definitely created some ripples, which he hoped could have been masked by the literal 'flurry' attack.

Coming up to one knee, he grabbed the black half-mask and pulled it over his head, finding that the goggles needed little adjusting. Now that his mask was on, a calming sensation came about him, and his heart rate slowed. Pacing silently in a circle around his opponent, he would attempt to find an exposed back - or even exposed side - that he could attack quickly and disappear. If he found what he was looking for, he would dash in using as little steps as possible (while still trying to remain silent), and slam a heavy fist into whatever was available - kidney, floating rib, back of the thigh, etc. He would then jump back and keep circling.

If not, and if that plan totally failed or backfired, well, he still had other options.

[Ryu Sakazaki]

His blast of snow meant more as a measure to make Lucien move than to actually hit him, his eyes closed and his mind clear, Daniel would hold his ice blade in his right hand, lightly but firmly gripping the hilt. His ears keenly tuned for any sounds of movement, no matter how faint, though he did not hear Lucien's footsteps, for the Crow had silenced them well, he did catch the whistling of Lucien's punch as it rocketed towards his left set of ribs, and would quickly whip to his left, to try and block the punch with his blade, concentrating to ensure the blade held its shape and temperature and did not shatter upon possible impact.

While Lucien jumped back, Daniel's overcoat whipped open once more, revealing bottles of water strapped to his belt, as more water bursting forth. He would then fire a blast of water upwards, and controlling the water, would make the water scatter into droplets of water before lowering the temperature of the water, literally making it snow in California.

Although it was a pretty sight, the snow also served a purpose. Maintaining the low temperature of the snow, ensuring it stayed around, the snow would land on Lucien, covering him in patches of white flakes, like the trick of throwing flour or paint at The Invisible Man, and hopefully allowing Daniel enough time to slam him with a circle of wind.

[Lucien DeChain]

Lucien's attack was about to hit, when Daniel had suddenly blocked with his ice-sword. It surprisingly held up against his punch, and as he jumped back he could see the man firing some water upwards to turn to... snow.

This was bad. As the hot sky ran cold, the tiny flakes fell and drifted nearer to Lucien's form. Soon, his invisibility would be faltered. That much, he knew.

So, he did what he thought was the best course of action under the circumstances. Deftly ducking and weaving to avoid the blast of wind, he began to sprint towards Daniel, waiting until the last possible second before deactivating his Qi. His right hand aimed a punch downwards to hit Daniel's solar plexus, keeping his other hand up to guard.

"Well this might be interesting... Another elemental Qi user.. Let's see how your hand-to-hand skills are!" He grinned. Lucien was starting to enjoy this. The spark inside him bounced around with glee.

[Ryu Sakazaki]

With his circle of wind deftly avoided by Lucien, he was unable to block Lucien's punch as the Crow turned visible at the last second, and would take the blow to his solar plexus. It was a solid punch but... it barely made Daniel flinch, much less knock the wind out of him from the impact.

Grinning back at Lucien, revealing his pointy canine teeth, more water would burst forth from the bottles strapped to him, and he would engulf his left arm in water, lowering the temperature of the water and forming a gauntlet. Pulling his left arm back, as if going for a punch, he would begin to wind up for an augmented punch, only to fire another circle of wind at Lucien, hopefully catching him off guard, as he would lift his blade up and swing it down a controlled arc, to send another blast of snow at Lucien.

[Lucien DeChain]

Lucien prepared himself to deal with the oncoming punch, moving slightly out of the way in order to--

Being knocked back, he stumbled as he fought the wind that had come from Daniel. Immediately after, he found himself being pelted with more snow. Being unable to dodge, he found a solid stance and tried to stand his ground through the storm.

A wind blast? But he didn't even move...

Braving the harsh cold, Lucien found that it didn't bite as hard as he expected it to. He wiped the fog off of his goggles and grinned under his mask.

"Are you giving this all you have?" He asked.

[Ryu Sakazaki]

"Not even close. I won't hold back!"

Forming a few orbs of water in front of him, he would then lower the temperature of the water and form it into ice, then fire one straight at Lucien, only to have it explode in a scatter shot of sharp, jagged icicles at point blank range, to try and cut Lucien in multiple places.

Daniel would then come up from behind the icicle blast, having taken off after it immediately after firing it, and leaping up into the air, would come down with a loud boom and maintaining the gauntlet on his arm, slammed his ice covered fist into the ground, a loud crack resounding as a fissure opened up and snaked towards Lucien, before splitting up into multiple fissures, to try and crack the ground beneath Lucien and hopefully trip him up, possibly even falling.

[Lucien DeChain]

Lucien saw the large ice blast coming towards him, and since it was one linear blast, stepped two feet to the left to have it suddenly break off into tiny pieces?!

He braced for impact a millisecond before they would hit, making himself as small as possible so that he wouldn't get hit as much by the tiny ice shards. One of them grazed his right triceps, and the other hit him in the left forearm. A few drops of blood started to fall, but Lucien had no time to deal with them, as his opponent was now jumping towards him with an icy fist aiming for the ground. He knew where this was going. Taking a running start, he leaped into the air just as Daniel was hitting the ground.

He dove for the man, arms out front, hoping to grab on to the man's upper arms as he flew into him. If they connected, Lucien would use his own momentum to roll as he hit the ground, keeping his grab on Daniel secure and finishing the movement by throwing the man as he came out of the roll and onto his feet.