Round 2: Kayla Croft vs. Dylan Willikers

Dylan glanced around the environment as the sun was high in the sky. Crouching down, he could feel that the sand was a workable material, though the trees in the jungle would make much better offensive material while the sand could withstand a blow or two. Standing up,he looked across the beach at his opponent and called,"Nice place to fight huh? Do you know if tans carry across to reality?" Dylan allowed himself a childish grin before pulling out his surikan and getting into a ready position, hoping his nervousness did not show in his eyes.

They were on a stretch of narrow beach, hemmed in by vast ocean and thick jungle on either side. She couldn't help but grin, stretching her arms and grinding her heel into the rocky sand. A current of electricity through the air down the length of her arm. "I've been needing a beachside vacation." she called back, a teasing tinge to her voice. Finally someone with a sense of humor for once. It was a relief after her last match, and this was already shaping up to be more interesting than fighting an awkward amateur in an empty field.

Despite the casual air, Kayla couldn't have been more determined to win this match. This was the second round, the same round she'd failed in last year, and she'd already promised herself a long time ago that she wasn't going to lose again. Her eyes flicked back and forth under her bangs, scanning their new arena. The ocean could play to her advantage... maybe. If this guy, Dylan or whatever, fell into that saltwater, he was as good as dead if she got off one good lightning bolt. At the same time, all that lush and green vegetation was a fire hazard at best. Was that good or bad for her? Kayla found it easier not to think about it. Too much thinking would get you killed in these simulations.

As for the throwing stars... metal was metal. She curled her hand into a fist, sparks crackling around her knuckles. If she could deflect flying pinballs and bobby pins, were spinning steel blades of death that different?

"I don't think we'll be in here long enough for a tan though." Well, maybe Dylan would get one, when one billion volts of electricity made contact with his skin. Her smile turned into something predatory as she extended her arm, more blue currents dancing across her fingertips, ready for the slaughter.

Taking the authority, Dylan flung two surikan before touching the ground and making sand fly into the air, making visibility almost zero. He knew that one good shock and he was down. As far as he was this was a war of attrition. He would have to weaken her before taking her down. Dylan quickly ran into the woods, making pit traps with spiked bottoms to cover his retreat. Some may call him a coward, but better a victorious coward than a defeated hero.

The shurikens sent up a cloud of sand, and Kayla threw up an arm to guard her face, narrowing her eyes against the blinding pall that hung all around them now. She could barely see through the screen of dust, only his silhouette as he slipped away toward the trees.

You're joking me. Gritting her teeth, Kayla slashed her hand through the air, electricity flaring along her arm. The shroud of sand cleared like it'd been cleaved with an invisible sword. She supposed she should be glad she could manipulate the iron in the sand, or else this might've gotten really annoying.

But he was already gone, disappearing into the trees and undergrowth. Kayla stared after him, sparks crackling around her head. Was everybody in this tournament going to play hide-and-seek with her? Her first instinct was to run after him, but she held herself back. Fuck if she was going to go tramping through the bushes chasing after him. If he wanted to run, she'd make him run.

Kayla pointed toward a tree and snapped her fingers. A bolt of lightning blasted out from her hand, spearing through the air and into the trunk with an splitting CRACK. Splinters the size of two-by-fours exploded from the smoking crater in the bark, sending up a shower of embers and blue sparks, and the tree toppled onto the forest with a shuddering groan.

All that lush greenery began to smoke and burn, and before long, hungry flames began to lick up at the upper branches, spreading along the ground to consume everything in their path. "Maybe you'll get that tan after all," she muttered under her breath.

"Holy Shit!" Dylan exclaimed as the Mrs. Pyromaniac set the entire damm forest on fire." There goes a useful resource."Dylan said to himself as he started making a hole system below ground to escape the fire burning around him. Underground he crawled back towards the beach and popped about three or four yards behind Kayla." What the Hell? Forest Fires are not ok!" Dylan called out before shooting a half rock-half sand spike at her.

It was a tense couple of heartbeats, waiting for the simulation to end, or for the screams to start, but they never did. She spun around just as Dylan burrowed out from the earth behind her, spouting some Smokey Bear don't-take-it-out-on-the-trees bullshit. Kayla leaped back, extending a hand as the spike came jutting towards her. Electricity flickered between her fingers as she touched it, and the sand came falling away... but the rock portion remained. It went grazing past her cheek, leaving a red scratch across the side of her face as she ducked her head to the side. Too close.

Kayla skidded backwards to a halt in the sand, taking in a deep breath. This was more like it. "It's your fault for running into the forest then!" she snapped back, snapping her fingers again. Electricity went flicking out towards him like a serpent's tongue.

Dylan rolled out of the way of the electric hazard before yelling back,"It seemed like a good idea at the time!" Dylan knew that he would never win in direct combat, she was way more expirenced and her gift was way more combat orientated. Trickery was the only way he would win. Once again he send a cloud of sand, only this time he followed up with a wall of spikes moving quickly though the cover of sand. Hopefully it would impale Kayla, but he knew that would be too easy.

More of this? Did he think he could just run away again? The forest was flaring up, the ocean was a deathzone, and there was nowhere to run or hide along the beach, not unless he could escape her range. Kayla gave a whisk of her fingers, slashing through the sand again... to reveal the spikes that came flying towards her.

Clever bastard! she couldn't help but think, throwing herself to the side to avoid the spikes and rolling indelicately through the sand, quickly pushing herself back to her knees. Electricity crackled in her fist. "That move's getting really old, you know," Kayla breathed as she stood back up.

She held her hand out to the side, lightning flitting across her palm, and ghostly black wisps began to float up from the sand to form a dark blade in her fist, at least two and a half feet long. Iron in the sand.

It began to vibrate like a chainsaw. Kayla grinned and charged forward.

Dylan laughed at the girl's blatant response to his tactic. Well, more trickery than tactics. "Screw that." Dylan thought to himself as the girl charged him with an iron spear that seemed to be vibrating. Someone seemed to be watching too much Naruto. He quickly started launching rock spikes at her. If she closed the distance he was as good as dead, when it came to close-quarters-combat Dylan wasn't exactly the best in the category. Just in case however, he made an earthen spear infused with his iron surikan to use if it came down to it.

Kayla flew toward him, a storm of blue sparks and iron sand. She flashed past one spike and slashed at another, cutting through it like a dagger through silk. Can't you just make this easy for me? She managed to duck away from another that came shooting just past her ear. Kayla didn't have any issue with fighting at range; she just wished that didn't mean having to jump away from fucking rock spikes every counter-strike. Getting impaled wasn't on her list of things to get done today.

She leveled her sand sword in front of her as she continued to charge. A band of electricity sizzled and hissed down her arm. Just let me kill you already!

OOC: remade this post because my last one was stupid and I was tired when I wrote it.

Dylan was getting a little worried as Kayla made her way at him. At this rate, he was gonna be stabbed by the vibro-spear(patent pending) that could slice though rock. Dylan's brain began to whirl as the psycho lighting girl made her way towards him. Deciding that it was the best course of action, Dylan raised a platform of rock carrying a ton of sand and dumped it in her. He knew it was a douche move but, winning is winning.

It's over. Kayla bulled toward him, inexorable, only a few short yards away now. Just one swing, one cut, and it would be the semifinals for her. She bounded forward, pulling her arm back to slash him across the neck.

But then he began to lift into the air. She looked up just as the mound of sand fell from the sky.

Kayla dived forward, sliding onto one knee, and the blade of sand dissipated from her hand. Electricity flared up all around her like a lightning blue aura and there was an explosion of soil, stone, and sand. Heavy clumps of earth and rock rained down on top of her, battering her like hail to kick up a cloud of soot and dust.

A heavy pall of sand clung to the battlefield like a blanket now, cloaking her in dust, screening her from view. This old trick works both ways. Kayla raised her fingers toward where the attack had come from and snapped her fingers, and a spear of lightning shot out from the cloud like a laser.

Dylan grinned at his handiwork. Maybe she wasn't over, but her offense was. Dylan began walking away from the mess when a crackling noise filled the air. Suddenly, his body was on fire, however, as quickly as it started it stopped. Dylan glance at his side to see a graze along his side with the crimson liquid of life starting to drip out. It would have been small injury if it was a regular spear, but this one had some serious voltage behind it. Dylan breathed heavily as he put his hands on the ground as he prepared his Coup de grâce. Spikes shot upward in the dusty area stabbing anyone or thing that was unlucky enough to be in the kill zone. However, this was not without cost as Dylan fell to his knees, the effort almost knocking him out. For some reason he felt the need to shout something to the hopefully impaled girl," As Andy said,'Get busy living or get busy dying.'"