Avatar Arena: Mauve Mage vs. Garud
 

The two fighters stood in their arena. They were in a cemetary at night. The tilted moon caused long shadows to be cast along the ground. There are gravestones clustered about and a crooked tree in the center.

Raiden and Rhiya were in ghost form, hiding out in their own private tomb.

(This is the Cemetary Arena. Garud won Arena Advantage. Shadows are cast about, making it easier for him to create shadow objects.)

Mauve pulled the wide-brimmed hat down further on her head. It was a little chilly out here, this late in the evening. Mauve opened her mouth and exhaled. She almost thought she could see her breath, but she wasn't sure.

The mage yawned and strolled through the uneven rows of looming black headstones. It was quiet out tonight. The phrase, "silent as the grave" came to mind, and Mauve's lips curled into a wry smile.

Garud would probably be here soon, she thought. Then it wouldn't be so quiet. She'd probably be glad for the cold air, too, as she'd most likely be running around and working up a sweat once the battle started.

She popped a Jolly Rancher into her mouth and ambled up to the crooked tree. She had a few minutes before Garud showed up, so she leaned back against the trunk and pulled her iPod out of her pocket. The earphones were put into place, and she absently scrolled through Shuffle Mode to find something appropriate. The first tune was Yellow Submarine, but that song had lost all appeal after hearing it being played by a demonic sub infused with the soul of John Lennon during the last Avatar RP. Thank you, PyrosNine. She hit "Next." Gemini Dream? Meh, too moody-bluesy. Next.

Detonator. Nice.

"High explosive girl you turn me on,
So volitile, like a walking atom bomb.
Just takes one spark to kerosene,
And you go off like nitro-glycerine."

Mauve closed her eyes and mouthed the words as they were sung into her ears.

"The time is right to deviate,
The supernat'ral cannot wait,
I'll show you how to detonate, yeah!"

Garud walked forward, passing headstones and tombs until he spotted Mauve.

"Glad you could make it. Well... not glad that you would be here for us to beat the crap out of each other but yeah."

Garud stared at the plushie in his hand. It was a curious item, one he planned to use, but later. A faint black aura surrounded the sorceror as he got into stance.

"Let's do this!"

The mage grinned and pulled the headphones out of her ears. The iPod was shoved back into her pocket.

"Sad but true," she agreed. "For better or for worse, mindless violence is a trademark of the NPF. But that's what makes us fun. That's also what makes us insurance nightmares, but that's aside from the point."

She slung the guitar strap over her shoulder, so the Guitar of the Bard hung across her back. She would use it when she needed it. But for now, she'd rely on her normal techniques.

"I'm ready."

He nodded.

Garud prepared a shadow in one hand. He knew he needed to find a way to incapacitate her. This was no death fight. C'mon, make a move. The demon slayer already knew what he wanted to make with the shadows, but it was dependant on what she did.

A duel of two mages. One a skilled demon slayer, and the other a strict magic user. Mauve had to be ready for anything against this opponent.

Garud was planning something; he was waiting for her to make the first move. Mauve inwardly sighed. She didn't like having to go first; there was too great a possibility that she'd do something stupid and things would go horribly, horribly wrong. The safest thing to do, then, was to protect herself.

"Reflect," she cast, using one of her few white magic spells.

Garud looked on. Mauve had just made the move. A defensive one. I have no idea which barrier she cast, but I have got to get rid of it. The ball of darkness hurtled towards Mauve, but that was not the intended target. Whatever she put up, hopefully would be destroyed.

The mage braced herself as the ball of darkness flew towards her. If the attack was magic, then her Reflect should simply bounce it back at Garud. Hee. That'd be awesome. If it wasn't a magical attack, though, Mauve would end upgetting a wad of darkness right in the face. Bam! Ka-Stupid!! (That's the sound effect it would make, you see. ANYTHING can be a sound effect if you put Ka- in front of it. Go ahead: Try it. I know you want to.)

All these thoughts occurred in a split second. The dark attack was still shooting towards her when she decided to do something about it. She wasn't sure enough of her aiming skills to hit the swiftly-moving ball, but she could do something else.

"Fira!" she yelled, casting the spell on herself. The flaming magic energy swirled around the Reflect aura and was hurled towards Garud. It collided with the dark ball just miliseconds before it could reach Mauve. The light and shadow and opposing momentums cancelled each other out, or at least came close enough to doing so that the spells became little more than a puff of smoke before losing energy and fizzling away to nothing. Neither mage nor slayer was harmed in any way.

"Shadow magic?" Mauve said. "Nifty!" She extended a hand towards Garud.

"Blizzara!" she commanded.

I didn't think she would get duped that easily. Garud used his shadow magic to create a soccer ball of darkness. It was pitch black in colour, but perfectly rounded. The demon slayer chipped the ball up, and then scizor kicked it to the oncoming blizzara. The two spells collided once again. Through the explosion, shrapnel was released and hailed all over the demon slayer.

"Oww... that's painfull"

Recollecting the ball, he spoke up and said,

"Mauve, you are good. I didn't expect any less from you."

He smashed the ball in Mauve's direction.

Mauve wasn't an athlete. The concept of sports generally elluded her. Flinging a ball back and forth? Hell, you could do that with Pong and end up with less injuries and humiliation.

However, despite her nerdiness, she hated to admit that she had at one time been on a school volleyball team. The very thought of that horrible time sickened her. Organized sports... *shudder* (Although, if you've ever watched Daria, you'd know how Mauve eventually learned to play after she gave up trying/caring.) If there was anything that volleyball and Gym class had taught her, it was how to dodge fast-moving sports equipment.

The mage took a few steps backwards, judging the ball's trajectory. One hand curled into a fist, and the other wrapped around it. She bent her knees slightly and leaned forward, extending her hands out in front of her. Oh good lord; she was using volleyball skills. Part of her soul died at that moment.

If the attack was purely magical, it would ricochet off the Reflect and fire back at Garud. If it got past the Reflect, it would be slowed down considerably from breaking through the shield. Mauve would then be forced to use her volleyball girl skills. Gyah.

(OOC: I'll leave the results up to you, Garud, since I don't know what your shadow magic consists of/ is capable of. Just say whether it got through the reflect or not, and I'll handle the rest.)