Tournament Battle #4 - Mike Hawk vs. Sven

Mike Hawk entered Sakura's arena. The construct, being outdoors, was well lit in the mid-afternoon sun. Looking around, Mike discovered that the attendance to his first battle was minuscule.

Fuck...

The teenager had hopped that the tournament would gather more of a crowd. After all, this was a Mike Hawk battle, a battle that many could recount in the future as the beginning to the greatest trainer to walk the land of Nerta!!

Invigorated by this, he walked to his alloted circle and waited for his opponent.

Light ran over Sven's bleak appearance as he stepped out of the tunnel leading into the arena, though it did nothing to illuminate his face, as it was concealed by his hood. The only thing that could be made out was his small but apparent chin and his lower lip.

It pleased him that there weren't many in attendance. A few scattered observers, and a group of school children, probably on some form of field trip. He wasn't comfortable with large masses, all peering at him. He had no one to prove himself to, besides himself and his opponent.

Speaking of my opponent, he though, eying the contender opposite of him. An equal match, he would say. It should be interesting. Still looking across the battlefield, Sven withdrew a golden coin, gave it a good flip of the thumb, and returned it to its resting place. This would verify that he was legible.

He waited for his opponent to do the same and begin the battle.

Mike watched his opponent's entrance. If Sven were to look up, he would see Mike's glare. The gesture referred to as 'the stare off'.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his coin. Holding the metal bewteen his index and middle fingers, he angeled the coin so the reflection caught his opponent in the eye. After the flash, he slid the coin back into his pant's pocket.

'Are you ready?'

Sven met Mike's glare with a menacing look. He looked at his feet after the annoyance of a minute beam of light hitting his eye. Very mature, he commented through his own conscious. He had an air of overconfidence to him, this person. Sven persevered and chose to ignore it, he had no time for character flaws.

"Turtatresta." He whispered simply. A white, granular mist poured from his necklace, which was floating slightly off of his chest, disturbing his hoodie. The mist whirled for a second about four feet in front of him, fifteen or sixteen feet away from the man Sven was fighting. It starting taking a permanent shape, and matter filled the outline.

From the mystical fog appeared a Kaigara, a look of determination plastered over its reptilian face. Turtatresta, the Kaigara's nickname, stamped its foot to the ground, letting out a grunt.

"We begin." Added Sven, barely audible.

The overzealous trainer's laughter rebounded across the field. With a grin cheek to cheek, he spoke several inaudible words. The shadows of the terrian stretched, each combining to a single point. The shadow rose from the ground, materializing into Mike's Olena.

Floating ten fight off the ground, the Olena readied itself on the field. With a full stop and a simple command from Mike, the ghost vanished.

"On guard, Turtatresta." Sven ordered. He knew that this occurrence could be due to one of two moves. Either the Ghost Innate, or the dark move Shroud. He assumed the former, considering the lack of shadow due to the open roof of the arena. But there were scattered dots of darkness where tree limbs at fronted themselves before the sun. If he wasn't careful, the Olena could expand those shadows, and he's be in trouble.

Luckily, Kaigara wasn't near any shadows, the closest dot being some seven feet away. If Turtatresta stayed alert, there would be no problem deflecting attacks with slabs or modified Stone Blades.

All the while Sven thought, a process which was almost instantaneous, he was preparing a Feeble Wall if the Olena tried to strike a weak-point.

Sven's guesstimate was correct. Olena had used it's Ghost innate to become invisible. Leaving no sign to it's reappearance, the ghost Natrelmon appeared three feet to Kaiguard's direct left. The ghost timed a Ghostly Light to release in sync with it's reappearance. With both the element of surprise and the lack of distance, the Ghostly Light would be a guaranteed hit.

After the release of the attack, Olena followed a stream of commands given by the distant Mike. The first of these commands were to immediately gain altitude. During the assent, Olena was to release another Ghostly Light. The benefit to the ghostly attack is that they were able to pass through most physical barriers, this trait would leave Sven with few options to defend his Kaiguard.

Sven sprang into action as soon as he saw the ball at the tip of Olena's hands. As the Ghostly Lights approached, it impacted an invisible barrier: the Feeble Wall Sven had cast. Both entities dissipated. "Back, Turtatresta!" Sven noticed that the Olena was aiming at Kaigara's current position as it ascended. With the turtle a foot back, the Ghostly Lights was shot, and it would miss.

Directly after Olena shot and failed to make its mark, Sven ordered Turtatresta to fire an Aqua Shot directly at it, and about a foot in front of it. Olena would hesitate, having just finished an attack. It would also have to notice the attacks, and Sven assumed that its natural instinctive move would be to go forward. Doing so would cause it to jump in front of the Aqua Shot.

The bursts of water wouldn't do a terrible amount of damage, but it would stun and push away the ghost. "Stay alert." Sven ordered again, preparing another Feeble Wall if needed.

Sven's reaction time surprised Mike. How the trainer was able to use his spell under the circumstances was beyond Mike's understanding, so much that he desired to call foul play, but such a thing was impractical in real time battle.

Sven's command was muted by Olena's reaction. While charging the Ghostly Light above it's enemy, the Olena simply turned left, followed Kaigara's new position, and released the second Ghostly Light. Olena's flight path was circular, meaning that the Ghost was essentially circling the slow Natrelmon.

On par with Mike's instruction, the Olena immediately prepared and released another Ghostly Light behind the Kaigara. Despite the turtle's movements or Sven's defenses, the ghost would continue to angle around the turtle and continue it's attacks.

Sven sighed and returned the turtle to its relic before anything had a chance to hit. This fight had been determined before it began; there was no way Turtatresta could out maneuver this face-paced ghost which had essentially cornered it. There was no hope.

He angrily threw the golden coin across the arena, towards the victorious man. Next time, despite weaknesses and disadvantages, I'm going to win. He left the arena with that thought in mind, planning on venturing into the thick Sakura forest.