Round 1: Hosa Corvina vs. Heron Sabine

It was that time again, the tournament. Hosa gazed across the misty, damp battleground, her eyes locked on her opponent. She knew who she was fighting. Heron...Hm, reminded her of the bird, causing her to wonder if he had been named after it. But she supposed she should focus on more important things, like his ability. She knew little of it, having trouble figuring out things about her opponent. It was much easier later in the tournament as she could watch her upcoming opponents fight before taking them on. Strategy, she knew, was key.

Hosa had done this whole tournament thing before; hell, she had almost won other than for a small kink at the end...If you called turning into a dragon and losing control a small kink. But Hosa didn’t come here to win, although it would be a perk, but to have fun. Test out her abilities in fighting with no real harm that would happen to her or her opponent. Fighting with the dangerous...Although she knew too well that the pain felt so real. She gritted her teeth as she recalled the last thing she could really remember before she had turned into a dragon; the sharp pain of broken ribs. That had been her breaking point, but that wasn't a point she planned to reach again.

She paused, taking in her surrounding. It was hard to see with the mist, but she figured she could make do. The waterfalls around filled her ears as she stood on one of the slab stones, being careful to keep her balance on it. To her, this area was a perfect spot for this kind of battle. She knew that Heron's ability was that of taking the form of really anything he could touch, and all that was around was the fog, water, and stone. Nothing that harmful, which was good. She did suppose that perhaps he had a weapon he could use as backup but...A smirk appeared on her face as she twirled her black hair with a finger. This would do rather nicely.

Ooc- oh crap

It was humid here, that Heron could tell. The stone under his feet was slippery, wet enough to slip and fall on, his first thoughts were almost never what he could see. There was the water as well, and if he needed to, it could be an escape route. The moss, too, although it would be easy to spot an over one hundred pound lump of moss. Through the mist he could make out the silhouettes of scrappy bushes hanging on to the rocks next to the waterfalls.

Across from him he could vaguely see his opponent: Hosa Corvina. He’d heard the story of her last round in this tournament from last year. The girl with the dragon... uh... body. He didn’t dare underestimate her or get overconfident, even if he became a boulder she could crush him with the right animal. Being a newer student might be a small advantage for him; she might not know how his gift worked or its limitations. It wouldn’t work for the rest of the matches though, if he even made it that far. He shifted from foot to foot, trying not to look apprehensive.

Her eyes locked onto the figure of Heron in the mist as the bell rang. Leaping down from the slab she was on, she took in a deep breath as she scanned the surrounding before taking in a deep breath. What form would be perfect in a wet place like this? It would be slippery, meaning that it was a factor she had to take in. The rocks were a good place to stay, but they could be wet as well. She would need something that could keep traction, so a big form would be perfect. Not to big, but...Blah, she didn't have much time to figure this out. So, with a sigh, she took in a breath as she started to picture the form of a tiger in her mind.

However, pain flashed though her - much like the pain she had felt before she had turned into a unicorn during the gift mastery class - and before she knew it, she was in a new form. A very much non-tiger form. She blinked as she let out a surprised caw, taking a step backwards as her wings flared at her side. Her eyes quickly scanned over her body, taking notice of a beak, wings, talons...Hooves. Surprise flooded Hosa at her new form, as while the front half of her was an eagle, the back half was that of a horse. Four legs; two talons, two hooves. Even if her body hadn't told her what she was, she knew in a quick second. Hippogriff.

So her powers really were on the fritz, great. She shook her eagle-like head as she turned her gaze to her opponent before flapping her wings and taking her new strange body to the skies. She wondered if Heron could make her out, or if he was going to be in for a very strange surprise in a second. She let out a loud caw, before her eyes locked onto where he stood in the mist and dived forward, her talons out stretched ready to rake against his chest as her horse-tail flickered in the wind. Ah, how nice it was to be fighting once more.

Goosebumps formed on Heron’s skin when a deep caw came from where he thought his opponent was. “The hell?” he muttered before the sounds of huge wings flapping caught his attention and he was able to see a horse-like form leap into the air and out of sight. Unnerved, he crouched close to the ground, eyes to the foggy skies. Another caw came from above, slowly becoming louder as the source presumably came closer.

Instead of running, he pointed his hands directly towards her and taking on a diver’s form, except facing the opposite direction. He waited until she was clearly visible; until she was close enough to touch. Suddenly, his body disappeared and was instead a sharp stalagmites jutting out from the rock. He intended to impale her using her own velocity.

When her opponent turned into the sharp rock, her eyes widen. Crap. Barely she manged to flare her wings enough that she spun sideways and nailed the rock, but it wasn't without its price. Blood-stained feathers fell onto the rock as she slide slightly, and while she had avoided death, she was left with a good gash on her side from where her opponent had gotten her. The hippogriff's wings flared as she stumbled to her talon and hooves, stomping them in anger as she let out a clacking hiss with her beak as her tail lashed back and forth. Dammit, what was she to do now? He was a rock!

She started to pace around him, before she suddenly broke forward into a run. Turning to her unhurt side, she rammed her shoulder into his form as hard as she could before she flapped her wings, retreating fast with a growl. "Get out of that form and fight me!" she said, although there was a slight tone of amusement in her voice. This was a much more interested fight then round 1 had been last year. Then again, she had won without even a fight so really, this fight was going to be more interesting no matter much. However, her oozing wound hurt like hell. He was going to pay for that.

A hit! Though he doubted he’d be able to pull that off again, Heron smirked inwardly. Suddenly she rammed into him faster than he could change again and he felt a jolt shake through his side. If he hadn’t been rock, she would have thrown him right into the water and probably broken most of his ribs. Through his muffled senses he could barely hear her yelling at him. “Get out ……. form ... fight me!”

Like he was dumb enough to do that. Still, being a spike was pretty much useless now and he was forced to be human again. Blood from her wound speckled his arm and he could feel a nasty bruise forming on his ribcage. Now he could see what she was up close: a hippogriff. A (kind of) real, living, breath hippogriff. Heron was beginning to understand her power now.

“I think you missed the point,” he responded with a monotone. Under his gloves, he allowed his hands to become stone again. “Stone knuckles trump bronze ones.” He’s seriously focusing too much on making bad puns. One fist aimed for her feathered throat, the other soaring to collide with that terrible beak. This would only buy him some time to think of a better plan than hand-to-claw/beak combat with a mystical creature, and who knew if that was a good idea at all.

When he got out of his rock form, she was rather relieved...Then he made the puns. Her eyes narrowed as she snorted, her tail flicking. She barely had time to even think about how horrible the puns were however before he dashed forward and aimed two punches at her. She barely manged to dodge the first one, although his rocky fist manged to skim it, sending a slight pain though her neck to know that she didn't want to be hit straight on, but his second punch landed perfectly. Pain seared though her beak as she stumbled back, it hurting to much to even streak in pain. Her blue eyes narrowed in anger as she flapped her large eagle wings toward him in an attempt to throw him off balance before she dashed forward once more, her wing fully outstretched as she slashed it toward him, hoping to knock him from the rock they were fighting on.

As the wing was aimed for him, he had no time to dodge or prepare before it knocked the breath out of his lungs and threw him towards the water. Desperate, he clung to the huge wing, yanking her along with him. The water was up to his knees when they stopped and he grasped at her feathers like they were a lifeline. Heron looked pitiful hanging there, he even looked to be hugging the wing. His gut and chest hurt like hell, but that wasn’t going to stop him, not yet. Arms tightening like a python’s, he then coughed out. “Can hippogriffs swim?”

Not giving her time to answer, he braced his legs against the underwater surface of the rock and tugged on the appendage as hard as he could to bring her into the water. Then he became hunk of rock hopelessly caught on Hosa’s wing, unbudging.

Hosa yelped when Heron gripped her wing, barely manged to stay on the rock as he hanged below him. She attempted to shake him off, but he just wasn't letting go! She watched as he hugged her silver wing, her eyes narrowed wondering what would happen next. Then he asked her his question. "Goddamn-" was her response before she felt herself be pulled forward and with her free wing flapping like crazy and with a squawk she fell into the water below.

As it turns out, Hippogiffs can indeed swim, but being held up by the stupid rock of Heron helped. She coughed as she broke the surface after falling in, her free wing floating on the surface as she stared at the rock called Heron. Her wing was caught on the top of it, and because of the fact that her wings were now soaking wet, she was unable to fly. It was painful, her wing being caught like that so she pushed herself to the rock and started to slash at it with her soaking wet talons and kicking at him with her hooves under the water. "SHAPE! SHIFT! BACK!" she shouted in annoyance, hoping that he would do so. Being this close wasn't good, but she couldn't do much until her wing was freed.

He’d never shifted underwater before. The lightheadedness from lack of oxygen alarmed him and he had to let go of her wing so that he could breathe. Gracelessly splashing away, he gasped for air. As a rock, he hadn’t been able to feel the chill of the water, but now he could, and it was freezing! Wearily treading the water, he backed away from the hippogriff until there was fifteen feet between them. Too cold to make another shitty pun, Heron fell back into the water and waved his hand in the air as if he was drowning. Really, he seemed to disappear under the water’s surface without a trace.

I’ve been in weird forms, but this takes the cake. Animals and plants were moving freely through him; a small school of fish were resting where his chest cavity should have been. The real water was threatening to slowly dismember him and Heron tried his best to pull himself together. The currently liquid student slipped across the smooth pebbles at the waterbed, moving with ease towards Hesa. Hopefully the only indication he was there was the cloud of silt stirred by his movement.

Then there was the sound of a breaking wave, and water-Heron lurched towards the hippogriff. When it hit, he didn’t expect him to feel pain as well. Being divided into multiple parts and hitting water dead-on wasn’t a great feeling, apparently. Groaning to himself, he retreated and returned to being human to inspect his wounds. At least the cold water helped with the pain. Most of his joints were oozing blood now, including his hands, feet, and face. Ugh.

Truthfully, part of Hosa rose with fear when at first it seemed that Heron was drowning, and it was everything she could do not to race over to try to save him. Over and over in her mind she had to remind herself that it was battle...But when the illusion didn't end, she knew something was up. Her eyes flickered across the water, looking for any trace of where Heron was. Then the wave came out of nowhere and stuck her.

She gasped as her wing flared at her side, her body disappearing under the water for a second before she manged to resurface and stared at the now human Heron. If she could smile with a beak, she would of have been. They were both waterlogged. The water around Hosa had a slight red tint from her shoulder wound, but she supposed when it came to things she was in rather good shape. The deep gash she had gotten in the start was the worst of the wounds she had gotten; as the only other blows was when he had gotten her beak - which still stung - throwing in the water which had hurt as well, getting her wing stuck in a weird position, then hitting her as a wave. All painful, but really not enough to throw her out of the tournament.

Now, the water itself was freezing as well, but she had her feathers and fur to protect her. As she stared at Heron from where he had retreated, she had to figure out the best way to get over there. Going on the top of the water truthfully wasn't the best bet - he could turn just into water again if she got to close. But he could always do that if she got to close. So, with a soft sigh, she dove beak-first into the water below. Her wings moved slightly as she swam herself forward, wishing she was in a more...Water-friendly form but she woulds have to make due. It was better being in this form then whatever form he body might choice to have. Or....She paused, blinking. Nah, let's surprise him. She had gotten kinda close to him, so with a small flap of her wings, she sent herself toward the surface as she put her mind to taking a form. Any form, really. She knew that her body wouldn't list with the fritz it was on again - and so when the sharp pain flashed though her body, she didn't react.

Occ: Sorry, Heron. The randomizer has chosen.

When she broke surface close to Heron, what first came out was a dragon's head. She let out a mighty roar as the rest of her broke surface, but instead of front legs - she simply had wings. Her long barbed tail lashed in the water as she stared down at Heron. Hosa had not turned into a dragon - oh no - she had however turned into a creature rather close to the dragon...A wyvern. Her scales were a dark grey and her eyes were her simple blue ones at well. But inside of Hosa's mind, was her attempting to keep control. She was lucky, she supposed. She had so much trouble keeping her dragon form under control...Her wyvern form however soon bended to her will as she gained almost complete control. So, with another roar straight toward Heron, she lashed out with one of her wings to throw him sideways - hard.

Well, shit. He’d been anxious about the fact his opponent could turn into a dragon, and this wasn’t much better. The dragon’s more realistic cousin was after him: a wyvern. A wyvern. He had no choice but to ignore the pain and dive farther into the water and think of a better plan - except a much larger wing than the griffin’s swung towards him and threw the student across the water, bouncing on the water once, then landing thirty feet away before he could do that. Luckily a small sandbank was ready to catch him, removing the danger of drowning as he fought against internal bleeding and for breath.

Heron shakily raised his hand, giving a thumbs-up while he floated in two feet of water and wheezed. “Great throw!” He wasn’t going to give up, even if it killed him, which could become the case. The small pouches attached to his belt loop were useless, they’d be too soggy to light, and he had nothing to light them with. He stared into the misty air in an attempt to find anything that might help him. It’s much fresher here, he noticed. Far better to breathe than in the cities. Yes! An idea!

He let out another cough to rid his lungs of water, dots of blood coloring the pool. This is where his decent amount knowledge came into play. Over the next ten seconds, he began to fade. Soon enough, he seemed to be gone, bubbles rising from where his body had been. A cloud of carbon dioxide rose into the air like a ghost, spreading until it was completely clear. Well now I know how air feels. It felt strange flying across the water and towards the student that had every animal at her disposal to kill him as.

He wasn’t sure if he would die or not, but it was most likely to kill her instead. Heron allowed himself to be breathed in so as to escape detection. Now, one hundred and twenty pounds worth of carbon dioxide sat in the wyvern’s lungs, refusing to leave. It was incredibly uncomfortable, by the way. But the lung size was just enough for him to fit, and he had no need to breathe. He was two parts oxygen after all.

A growl had rose from Hosa, directed toward Heron and his 'Great throw!' Her tail lashed in the water as she started to swim her way over to him, only to freeze when he disappeared. Gah, was he water again? Her eyes narrowed as she stared down at the surface below her, when something filled her lungs. A soft gasp escaped her as her tail stuck the water, sending up waves as she took a wild guess at what was going on. Was he trying to make her choke on him to death? Her lungs started to hurt as she twisted in the water - her heart beating faster as if freaking out by the lack of the oxygen that he was taking the place of.

She did know one thing; shape-shifting was out of the question. If she took in a smaller form, he would kill her for sure with being in her lungs. She also didn't even want to think about what would happen to him. But the panic her body was being sent into by having Heron freaking being in her lungs caused her to lose some control of herself. Her wings splashed in the water as she panicked as well, attempting to regain control and stay on target as she tried to think of any way to get him out of her. He was a gas; a gas that was taking up rooms in her lungs and making it hard to breath. Was there any way to drive him out? Well...Her eyes flashed to the water. How did you drown? Water took the place of the gases in your lungs. And if Heron was a gas...Water should do the same to him...Hopefully.

So, with a big splash, she dove into the water below. Her body ached from the lack of air, and it was all she could do to avoid going back to the surface. She even opened her mouth, taking to take in a deep breath of water. She had to hope that the water she was taking in would push him out of her lungs and let her breath again. So when she felt like she had done all she could under the water, with a flap of her large wings she broke the surface and started to cough up the water she had taken in as she took in oxygen once more. She flapped her wings as she took air, water dripping from her wings and scales. It was good she didn't have feathers anymore or flight would of been impossible. "T-That is so unfair!" she gasped, her eyes attempting to find where Heron went. She wanted to end this once and for all.