Phys Ed and the Gym

[TigerBaby]

TigerBaby paces slowly, checking the lay of the sands, a little smirk creasing the corner of his lips, "heh. Looks like the 'Showdown at the Litterbox' revisited, baby."

The little quip buoys his spirits and with a feline arch and flex he activates his sheilds: Entropy, for mezz, first. Then Kinetic and Power Sheild, to assuage smash/lethal and energy damages. The random reddish pulse of all of these has taken on a distinctively greenish tinge, even since Tibby last used them, and he isn't quite sure what to make of that: it's not a sick green, but the healthy glow of new life springing unbound when the sun smiles upon the earth.

Based on his experience earlier with Matt, he leaves his Energy Cloak off - any defensive bonus it might add, he figures, would probably be offset by the fact it shines like a 'hit me!' beacon in his adversary's eyes. TigerBaby bounces lightly on his toes, a shimmeirng golden halo denoting his ready Combat Leaping, and braces for what he's sure will be a memorable fight, and bows to Caska, Arcane, and finally Matt. "Honored teachers, I thank you; Mattie, I thank you. Spirits willing, I will prove a worthy challenge." He closed his eyes genuflectively, yet there was not doubt that Kelly could still see, his regenerative purr rising in his throat and vibrating the sands around his little clawed toes, "I am ready."

[Lana]

Matthew, once they were actually within the training room itself, lost some of the easygoing demeanor he'd had only moments before. It was replaced by a quiet intensity that burned like the omnipresent fire in the blonde youth's eyes. The shades were removed, as was his outer shirt, but not the tank top. Likewise, shoes were removed, and dropped rather unceremoniously over at the edge of the arena space.

He needed to get a feel for the limits of this place, what would and would not work. Breathing room, usually a prime concern in the type of fights Matthew got himself into, was negated here with all the space. He didn't have shields that he could bring to bear in the same manner as Tigerbaby; instead he just started drawing on that seemingly limitless supply of energy that welled up at the center of his being.

Deep breaths. Ignore everything that is not vital to the task at hand. No fear. No emotion of any sort that Matthew could reach now as the heat began to radiate off of him in waves that stirred the sands around him, warming the air enough that a faint breeze rustled his already untidy hair. So many of the chains were gone. So many things untested yet.

It didn't matter. There were little things that Matthew noted. The way his fingertips itched when his claws unsheathed. The way the light played around him differently when the shadows gathered. The way the air started to taste differently to the tip of his tongue and at the roof of his mouth when he took a deep breath.

Matt didn't have a pretty reply to Kelly's words. There was only silence as he started to circle his opponent, looking for a weak spot. An unguarded moment. The slightest flinch that could be used to his advantage.

And so it began.

[TigerBaby]

TigerBaby could see Matthew, and realized - his 'roomie' was going to benefit from this contest, same as him. Mattie was growing and changing, just like the small tiger, and there was much unbound in him that remained untried.

If Tibby moved at all, it was achingly slow, the lowest-key trace of kinetic alteration, as he tested the space. He could perceive that, were this a real fight, they could go on for an eternity, circling and gauging each other, and perhaps -like the two evenly-matched samurai at the bridge - part to find another path. But that wasn't what they were here for, and somebody had to make the first move.

A feral howl rose from the little tiger's throat, marred with the hitch of a chrip, like the voice of a boy changing to a man: "ahrOOOOOOOOOOOO*squeak*!" A flash of reddish light focused chi to enhance damage and accuracy, and he dove at Matt, before he could 'heat up' entirely. At the last possible second, the tiger pulled to one side, coming at Matthew's left flank with a powerful, leaping strike, both tiny fists glowing with a halo of brilliant spirit energy, the red of brute fury shot through with luminous yellow and green.

[Race Ulfson]

Caska took up her position off to the side, well out of the way of the combatants, but close enough to interfer if it came to that. With Arcane present, she rather thought it wouldn't. She smiled at the "battle of the litterbox" comment, admiring both boys and their feline manifestations.

Caska waited, balanced and poised and patient, her staff gripped lightly in her hands. This would be worth watching, and she hoped whatever magics were cast would not blurr the recordings.

[Lana]

Tigerbaby had distinct advantages over Matthew, not the least of which being a concrete idea of exactly what constituted a fight. Matthew had to always watch his mindset. This was more than the play wrestling they did often in the Quad or wherever else. It was not, however, a hunt. Tibby was not prey; he was not the enemy... but he was a threat. Not a threat that should be met with lethal force, but a threat nevertheless. It was a tenuous balance for a being like Matthew, though he did his best.

When Tigerbaby attacked, Matthew didn't attempt to dodge, or get out of the way. Lacking any sense of self-preservation, the short blonde didn't even brace for impact, but let the force of the punch push him sideways in the sand. It was when his opponent committed to the strike and Matthew actually felt the impact that he countered, driving his elbow towards the shorter boy's temple.

There was no question that Tigerbaby's attack had injured Matthew, there was just no way of visually gauging how much, since Matt didn't feel pain and started regenerating as soon as he was hit.

[TigerBaby]

"oof!" Kelly wasn't effected physically in terms of knockback by Matt's elbow strike, though he winced in pain at the incoming damage. For the time being, though, his Entropy Shield held and the blow did not knock him dizzy -as it should have- but simply took down his health a fair notch.

But just like his opponent, the damage to his body was regenerating as soon as it happened, and without pause or taking a moment to consider, followed Matt as the force of the tiny tiger's blow knocked him slightly sideways. As he did so, he jumped and whirled, winding up on the opposite side of his roomate and adversary, already lining up his next blow. Tigerbaby felt the sand heating beneath his clawed toes as Matthew's internal fires healed the injury, and he aimed to strike again before his focused chi melted away: a swift bone-smasher punch to the ol' turnip. If the blow itself didn't make Matt dizzy, maybe the spiritlight of energy discharge accompanying it would?

[Megera]

Arcane nibbled a cookie as he watched, ready to snag either one of them if the rage took them over. He didnt' think that Caska could handle both of them if they got out of control. He wasn't 100% sure he could if he didn't stop them before they got rolling hard.

[Lana]

((we are going to pretend that it hasn't been 3 months >.>))

Matthew had a distinct lack of defensive skills, judging by the way he never recoiled from the impending attacks. Tigerbaby's strike hit true, and the heat against Matthew's skin would be sizzling hot to that fist, like punching a radiator coil turned to high.

It dazed him, that punch. It also let slip something less than friendly, a killer's instinct that blazed bright and unforgiving within the inferno of Matthew's irises. The youth tried to pull it back, rein it in, but his vision was rapidly veiled in red.

In the five seconds that Tigerbaby's punch left Matthew vulnerable, he could only reach out blindly, aiming his attack in the direction that the intial blow had come from, another elbow shot, this time to the sternum-area, but not as precise as the temple shot had been.

[TigerBaby]

((3months mun-time doesn't count at all to a Tibby! Our boys have been patiently waiting on 'pause' all this time!))

TigerBaby, in full fight mode, wasn't exactly thinking anymore, but he could recognize what was happening to his opponent, all the same. A joyful, feline trill rippled rough in his throat when he saw Matt blindly striking where the tiny tiger wasn't: looked like any voyage to victory might depend upon booking Matt a first-class, one-way ticket on the 'disOrient Express'.

It was Kelly's first, conditioned inclination to take the tiny niche afforded by Matt's confusion and simply hammer away at him, oblivious to incoming damage. This was the way of the Brute, and it had served him well in his career of infamy on the Rogues. He crowed delight, and leaped high into the air, a two-fisted attack that pulled so much of his energy into himself it hurt, and hit his opponent hard...
...just as his small and fuzzy tiger-striped intelligence pulled up behind his actions, panting, and murmured: oops

That was probably a mistake. Even if Mattie had never touched the 'Dyne, he fought like a Brute, and TigerBaby could smell the hot, gingery burr of building Fury all around him, feel it sizzling the leathery pads of his tigger-toes on the sand.

Without even waiting to see if his blow landed, Kelly scrambled on the hot desert floor, a comically frantic attempt to backpedal and withdraw before he fully hit the ground, his tail bristling to an alarmed bottle-brush as he finally bought himself a clue: he wasn't a Brute, not anymore, and Fury -particularly somebody else's Fury- was no longer his ally.