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#Post#: 3024--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Good Day For Combat
By: Golden Gear Date: July 10, 2014, 7:14 am
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"I need to remember that the next time..." Golden said, making a
mental note to do some research into the rules of the
competitions she signs up for in the future. "A back stage pass?
Those must cost a lot... Unless you're related to the staff
here..." Golden gave Sero a chuckle when the stallion was still
defending a small book as a effective blunting instrument. "I'll
take your word for it then... Never needed to hit anypony with a
book myself."
Golden frowned at the information about the armor, it seemingly
being as poor as the weapons they held there. "Well, I need to
rely on mobility then, rather than armor." At the mention of
things starting, Golden turned her head to the direction of the
vermilion pony, who was seemingly trying to get attention. After
a loud shout from his partner, The rules we're explained and
they were told how things would work for now.
Golden turned back to Sero "Thanks... Let's hope i'll get to
come back here, instead of hospital..." Golden placed her
"weapon" in it's holster and was ready to move after hearing her
name being called.
#Post#: 3025--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Good Day For Combat
By: Shadowed Mesa Date: July 10, 2014, 4:47 pm
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Mesa’s attention was turned to the four ponies as they filed
into the stadium. She went quiet as the a bright red stallion
cleared his throat, the brown mare’s ears flicking in faint
annoyance as the crowd failed to quiet down. She straightened up
as a yell from a pegasus finally drew the attention of
everypony, and listened attentively as J. Harr started listing
off the rules. Most of them seemed like common sense to Mesa,
but when she heard the third rule, her eyes widened at learning
that the combatants would feel the pain of a strike, even if
magic protected them from serious injury. Suddenly the whole
tournament seemed a great deal more serious, and Mesa’s easy
smile faded to be replaced by a slightly more grim, determined
look. She was going to give her best shot at at least getting
through the first round of the tourney, despite the many
spectators waiting for her to make a mistake, or the possibility
of pain, or the nagging doubt that painful memories would
prevent her from going through with it… I’m sure as hell not
going to back down now, she thought.
Mesa turned back to the others in time to see Kite looking her
over. Her eyes flicked over the knight as she gave him a
once-over as well, taking note of what attacks and defenses
could be of most use to her, if Mesa ended up fighting him. As
Kite offered his hoof, Mesa bumped it with her own, and gave him
a formal nod, very different from the friendly smile she had
worn before. “Good luck to you as well,” she said quietly, then
gave a nod in agreement at Kite’s comment to Vita.
She turned away from the group again as she started really
observing the other combatants for the first time, her blue eyes
serious as she waited for the names to be read and the
preliminaries to start.
#Post#: 3030--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Good Day For Combat
By: Foxtrot Date: July 11, 2014, 9:11 pm
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Foxtrot almost drifts off to a deep sleep when the sudden
shouting pierces the stadium. He doesn't move much, a swivel of
his ear and a sight shift in his weight are the only things
visible as the unicorn keeps his eyes close. Foxtrot listens to
the rules as they are announced, lightly clenching his teeth as
hears the second rule, still remembering his experience with
their "spot acquisition." Other then that the unicorn keeps a
mental note of the regulations, stretching when the pony in
charge finishes speaking. "Alright, time to ge-" he gives off a
small yawn and a shake of his head to stay awake, "-t ready."
The unicorn gets up onto his hoofs, stretching out and checking
his gear one final time as he waits for the names to be called.
#Post#: 3032--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Good Day For Combat
By: Kite Date: July 13, 2014, 5:48 pm
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Kite nods to Striker as he sets off to get back to his team.
Much like Mesa, he looks around himself, sizing up the other
ponies nearby in case he has to face them soon. These
preliminary matches were always interesting; you could only
guess what your opponent would be capable of. Not like the
regular matches, when you'd be able to watch everypony fight and
see what they could do. He looks toward the organizers as they
begin calling names, and checks his gear again, more out of
having not much to do while he waits than feeling like they need
it.
#Post#: 3036--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Good Day For Combat
By: Sero Date: July 14, 2014, 1:37 pm
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"Good luck, you guys!" Vita wished the group while Sero gave
Golden support with a nod.
Moments later a few more ponies arrived, one bearing a clipboard
while the others looked to fan out as if to act as handlers in
guiding the fighters where they needed to go.
"Alright, everyone!" the clipboard wielding pony called out over
the crowd, " Listen up as we get started here. Slight change of
plans though to the usual routine. With the number of you that
showed up this year we're going to divide up the arena into a
few separate zones to be able to hold multiple preliminary
matches at once, so when you hear your name listen for which
zone is yours. Each is very clearly numbered out there, but if
you manage to get lost ask one of my friends here for help and
they'll point you in the right direction. I doubt I need to
mention it, but interfering with your neighbors will result in
you probably being kicked out, so keep your hooves either to
yourselves or your opponents. Other than that, you just have to
wait for the nod from the judges to begin."
With that the stallion cleared his throat and turned his
attention to the sheets of paper being held captive by the clip
of his board, "First up: Amethyst. Opponent: Anodyne? Hm. You
two are in zone one. Get gone."
Sero scratched his head as the two ponies called stood up and
made their way towards the doorway leading to these "zones".
This was odd... He'd never seen the tournament employ such a
rushed method of deciding who would move on to the actual tiers
meant to decide the champion. Looking around, he distinctly
remembered seeing it be so crowded with competitors in the past
but unlike now they gave each pair of fighters a full chance to
prove themselves, the previous tournaments having even stretched
over several days if they had to in order to grant everypony the
same chances and opportunity. Here it felt like they would just
blow most of ponies who signed up off without much
consideration. After all, these judges cant watch more than one
fight at once, could they? He hoped there at least were multiple
panels watching.''
Maybe this is just how its always been? He would admit that he'd
never seen how the Tourney operated from the inside like this,
but it still felt odd.
"... Blitz. Opponent: Batter. Zone two. Next is Feral and
Foxtrot. You two are zone three."
Well, at least they seemed to be going in alphabetical order,
Sero thought critically as he watched the ponies move about, him
wearing a scrunched up face of disapproval over how different
things already were from the last time he'd attended. A small
shake of his head brought him out of it in time to hear the next
pair going out.
"Fritter and Golden Gear, Zone four." With the way they were
going through the alphabet it seemed like they werent as
burdened by numbers as they were letting on, Sero again thought
with a critical edge, though his mingling with the guests this
morning caused a flash of confusion as he clearly remembered
several more As Bs Cs... Glancing around the room he was able
to spot a few of these ponies, them looking confused as they
tried to figure out if they were skipped, forgotten or just
pushed onto some other slip of paper beneath the top page the
official was reading from and tried to decide if speaking up on
the matter was a good idea or would just make them look silly
after a quick reply.
"Grace and Honey Dew, Zone five." Huh. Sero had evidently
forgotten how large this arena actually was if they were
dividing it five ways. Then again, it wasn't uncommon for the
Wonder Bolts to hold shows here nor for there to be fairly large
races and the like, so there should be plenty of room to go
around. Just so long as they don't expect there to be twenty
fights at once. Space still wasn't his main concern though since
now he had to try and wrap his mind around a panel of judges who
would be watching at the very least ten ponies at the same time
then pass what he hoped would be fair judgment on who out of
each pair won.
"Hurtle and Kite, you're zone six." That had to be all of them,
"... Mystic Quartz," Seriously? "and Nightshade, Zone seven."
There had to be more than one panel, also half the room was
looking confused over skipped names at this point and small
murmurs between ponies could be heard growing in volume. The
pony calling the names, seemingly noticing this, paused his
confusingly ceaseless name calling to flip his clipboard around
and pull up the page he was reading to show several more beneath
it. "I've got a mess more lists here, guys." He said... not
exactly answering many questions, but sure whatever.
Sero caught a glimpse of his sister in the crowd, her watching
the mare who had responded to the two most recent names with an
unsure look taking up her features as she seemed torn between
leaving her be or trying to really quickly ask her the same
questions she had been asking everyone since the last time she
tried she was blown off almost immediately by her and her
hourglass that would surely get broken out there. Her indecision
led to a decision being made for her however as the mare and her
opponent left the room and out of her questioning range. Vita
shrugged. Too late now, she supposed.
"Hatchet and Peridot Frost, Zone eight." Sero was just watching
the pony now with a look that just dared him to list off another
pair of names, "And...: Sero's glare intensified, "... That's it
for now. Everypony else will need to wait till a zone opens up
while anypony who have been called but haven't gone out yet, I'd
suggest you pick up the pace before you get cut. Chop cop,
people, we gotta get this done."
Eighteen ponies... Sero just shook his head. This was definitely
not what he'd sen before, nor was it what he expected when the
guy in charge said "rapid fire".
Ponies who weren't called seemed to split off into a few
different groups now that they knew that they weren't going out
yet. Some went out to watch the fights, others just spoke among
themselves to share either mutual confusion or annoyance. others
still just went back to whatever they had been doing before the
pony with his darn clipboard showed up and a few pestered the
officials with question on if they were absolutely sure that
they hadn't missed their names.
Sero, with a roll of his eyes, decided to fall into the first
group himself, him having become highly curious as to how this
was going to play out while also reasoning with himself that
there surely would be a bench outside for him to sit his but
down on as his sister had demanded, so she couldn't yell at him,
right? Vita appeared to still be preoccupied anywho with running
about and double checking to make sure she didn't miss anypony
so this seemed an opportune moment to slip out and watch the
competition begin, him doing so with a light trot as he made his
way outside.
The arena, as one would expect, had been divided into eight
separate spots for each pair of competitors with small, cheap
and easy to set up fences that probably took only an hour to set
up across the length of the field. The space for each wasn't
comfortable, that was instantly gathered by just looking at
them, though it would probably be safe to assume that if
questioned any official for the tournament would have just
replied with "since when is combat comfortable?".
Sero could have been heard grumbling about how the zones only
gave just enough room to do what the ponies in them were
expected had it not been for the noise of the crowd of dedicated
fans who had shown up as early as possible so as not to miss a
single moment. Supportive fans ready to welcome new competitors
cheered as each walked out onto the field, offering
encouragement while others just ignored them as they instead
waited to see their favorites make an appearance. To them, these
ponies had already lost, so cheering, or even acknowledging
them, would just wear out their voices before the real matches
started, and this made them actually appear bored with the
current goings on of these many nobodies.
Sero had been right, one panel of judges wasn't enough to watch
this many matches at once as was evident by the four tables of
four ponies on each side of the field. Each table had two fights
in clear view to focus on, and each fight had at least two
judges that could watch at all times. This was a bit of a relief
for the white unicorn since it meant a match had no excuse for
just being ignored then resorting to whatever equivalent of a
coin flip the judges would resort to to decide an outcome, but
he didn't pretend like this meant it was being handled well, but
oh well...
Most of the fighters were already in their zones waiting for
their opponents. In zone three, the appropriately wild looking
earth pony going by the name of "Feral" was busy readying his
weapons, a pair of hoof mounted punching daggers, and adjusting
the tightness of his simple thick cloth vest after which he just
gave a crazy stare at the judges nearest him, one of whom
looking a touch bothered by the odd gleam in the battle hungry
stallions eyes while the other wasn't phased in the least,
instead just staring back with little amusement as her authority
over whether or not he would advance kind of killed any chance
he had at intimidating her.
Feral's neighbor in zone four was a heavier looking Earth pony
named Fritter who very clearly did not belong in a tournament.
Wearing no armor, carrying a simple club and looking highly
nervous his chances of success were... not the highest. He
looked more fit to be a baker, especially since his cutie mark
was a reflective of his name, and right about now the easiest
way to sum up his situation would be to warn against ever having
too much to drink in a bar the night before then promise pretty
mares that you would become champion for them if they agreed to
go out with you.
Moving on from the soft looking stallion, Grace in zone five was
almost his polar opposite. Clearly of a higher class, this
unicorn mare stood tall still and confident, she wore clothes
that were well tailored and attractive that fit her figure well,
but were still being practical enough to wear to such an event
as this as the light chain vest inside would attest to. She
carried one weapon, a rapier which was much smaller and lighter
than other combatants were bringing, but from her cool and calm
expression one would think she'd already won.
It wasn't the same for Hurtle, the oddly named stallion in zone
six, who simply looked like he was trying way too hard to look
impressive. Two swords, several knife belts, an oddly carried
bow with full quiver of arrows that he was constantly adjusting
to keep from spilling its contents, a suit of plate mail that
was clearly too large for him - the constant tripping over
himself over the size being fun to watch at least - and his lack
of a unicorn horn to justify such an arsenal made this earth
pony out to be more goofy than intimidating, most of the ponies
in the crowd who happened to notice him - which considering how
that was obviously his goal wasn't very difficult - making small
jokes about how he would probably just fall over any moment and
be unable to get up, therefore eliminating himself.
A similar scene could be witnessed in zone seven with how the
hourglass mare going by the name of Mystic Quarts appeared as
though she was staring at a funhouse mirror as her opponent,
Nightshade, was dressed like a character out of exaggerated
fantasy novels. Large heavy black hooded cloak with stitched in
skulls and other "scary" imagery, an active and obvious effort
to keep his face in the shadow of his hood at all times and his
acting all quiet while trying to stare through people to try and
be spooky showing that he and Hurtle would probably get along
rather well if the two decided to start a game of extreme role
playing together. Mystic, understandably, looked as if this was
going to be a waste of her time.
Hatchet in zone eight was refreshingly normal. He was a large
pegasus, carried a hatchet, had the burly look of a lumberjack
or some such, didn't seem too concerned over armor and the like.
Just sort of a normal guy who decided to sign up and take his
chances. Still, he appeared rather confident. The idea of
getting into a fight was probably not a foreign one to him with
how relaxed he seemed to be as he awaited his opponent, him
winking at a judge and earning a roll of her eyes.
Each pony waited for both the ponies they would be facing and
the nods from the judges that would begin their match, the first
two zones having actually already begun with the clash of
weapons and such kicking off the preliminaries and giving the
crowd something to start focusing on.
#Post#: 3039--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Good Day For Combat
By: Honey Dew Date: July 15, 2014, 2:14 am
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After she disappeared from the conversation that she'd
previously been subjected to, Honey decided that she'd take up
passing the time by warming up a little bit. No sense in
starting out on a bad hoof because she thought she was too good
to stretch and run through a few basic stances before her
matches. She continued this up to and throughout the calling of
the names and zones, her limbs slowly carrying her from stance
to stance. When it ended and she was given her opponent and
zone, she dropped down to all fours and, without hesitation,
found her way to the place she needed to be. Unfazed by the
noise from the waiting crowd, she trotted forward to her alloted
zone and stood on the opposite side, her cold, calculating gaze
examining the mare across from her. As she waited for her match
with the mare to begin, she took one of the hair ties she'd
brought with her and pulled her mane back out of her eyes,
gathering it in a tight ponytail before staring unblinking into
the eyes of her opponent.
#Post#: 3044--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Good Day For Combat
By: Foxtrot Date: July 15, 2014, 11:34 am
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"Feral and Foxtrot." The brown unicorn hears as he listens to
the staff member call out the names for the preliminaries. He
stretches once more before trotting over to his designated zone,
glancing over the competitors as we walks by. A few moments
later he arrives at his zone and stands opposite of his
opponent. Doing one final gear check he takes a deep breath and
waits for the signal to start. 'Alright Fox, just treat this
like any other assignment... Or bar fight... Or just anytime
I've had to fight somepony.' Foxtrot looks over his opponent,
keeping note of the weapons he has and expecting a close quarter
fight.
#Post#: 3046--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Good Day For Combat
By: Sir Providence Date: July 18, 2014, 11:10 am
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Grace, upon seeing her opponent, visually scanned her as well as
she could in the time between her arrival and the judges word to
begin. She quickly took note of the difference in weaponry
between herself and this Dew mare, Grace already having expected
that she would have had to go against more heavily armed ponies
in a tournament as widely varied in combatants as this. Her
sword may have been a lot lighter then what her opponent
appeared to be carrying, but she had worked around such things
in the past, though Grace had been having the constant feeling
that using an older method of combat with her blade was always
going to be inevitable. Oh well.
"Zone five," the voice of one of the judges watching from the
nearest table called out to the pair, "you may begin." Grace,
deciding to allow her opponent the first move, drew her rapier
and angled the stiff, rigid and lightly edged blade so as to
keep its piercing tip forward as she fell into a ready stance,
the mare giving a small motion of her head in challenge towards
her opponent to see if she'd take.
Meanwhile, Feral in zone three had been staring unblinkingly at
Foxtrot from the moment the other stallion entered their small
section of the arena. He looked tense, like an animal waiting
for the right moment to attack some prey it had been following,
and the weapon on his left hoof lightly tapped the ground with
every passing moment as he waited and tried to keep himself in
place.
"Zone three," the judges spoke up, "You may-" and then the
judges were interrupted as Feral had apparently decided that
that was all he needed to hear and gave a loud cry to give
himself a blast of adrenaline as he went from tense and nearly
motionless to taking off towards Foxtrot in the blink of an eye.
Before the judge could even realize that he hadn't been given
the chance to finish his sentence, the wilder pony was already
nearly on top of his opponent, the stallion now lunging towards
Foxtrot with the distance between the two shrinking fast and his
katars ready to do their best in testing the protective magic of
the tournament as they aimed to drill into his chest.
#Post#: 3048--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Good Day For Combat
By: Peridot Frost Date: July 18, 2014, 5:24 pm
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Peridot Frost opened her eyes and drew herself out of her
meditations to listen to the rules being announced by the ponies
in charge. Hearing that there were measures in place to keep
ponies safe from injury reassured her - although she was trained
to use her enchanted arrows non-leathally, she could be a much
more efficient fighter if she wasn't concerned with her
opponents' safety. After the speaker finished his list of rules,
Peridot began strapping on her new armor. The new metal shone
brightly in the sun, adding to the light refracted by her
sparkling green coat. Other warriors may have taken one glance
at the unmarked armor and dismissed the crystal mare as a
rookie, but she had years of experience that none of them knew
about. She was just securing one of her quivers full of ice
arrows in an angle that would be easily accessible by her hoof
when a stallion with official-looking papers began to announce
the competitors for the first preliminary matches. When her name
was called, she began trotting towards zone eight of the arena
at an even pace, ignoring the dirty looks thrown her way by some
of the warriors. She obviously had no control over how the
tourney was run, and she certainly wasn't going to let any poor
attitudes ruin her concentration.
As she entered the fenced-off space designated as zone eight,
Peridot immediately started analyzing her opponent. The pegasus
facing her seemed confident, holding the weapon that matched his
name with ease and familiarity. The hatchet in question looked
sturdy enough to deal damage, even through her armor. She made a
mental note to avoid taking a direct hit from the blade. Peridot
hadn't faced many aerial opponents before, since few residents
of the Crystal Empire possessed wings, but she searched her
memories for experience anyway.
She stood at the edge of a snow-covered field, bow drawn and
eyes searching the air. A snowball flew overhead, and Peridot
tracked its motion with the the tip of her arrow. After taking a
split second to aim, she loosed the bowstring. The arrow struck
the center of the snowball at its zenith and covered it with a
think layer of ice. She quickly drew another arrow from her
quiver and waited for her next target to appear...
Keeping the memory of that practice at the forefront of her
mind, Peridot returned her attention to Hachet. An enchanted
arrow was nocked on her bow, which she held out in front of her.
She blocked out the roar of the crowd and the commotion of the
matches which had already begun, waiting for the judge's signal.
#Post#: 3049--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Good Day For Combat
By: Golden Gear Date: July 18, 2014, 7:16 pm
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Golden gave Sero a nod as goodbye and quickly made her way to
the zone four, where she was surprised to see a pony who was as
poorly, if not even more poorly equipped than she was. Giving a
quick look at the judges way, Golden braced her "weapon" and
waited for a mark to start the match. After the mark, unsure of
how rough the fight would actually be, Golden waited for Fritter
to make the first move.
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