trans_9 | Destroy everything, connect everything.

At my best...where is that? But isn't that too flashy?

It was a desperate move, but he felt no conceivable alternative at the moment. He leapt into the air and twisted over Goldar, weapons always pointing at Goldar to deflect the sword, then snagged it with his weapons and pulled as he fell. The boy was counting on momentum to do something here.

And if it did? Hopefully a pummeling from behind would follow immediately.

Goldar, sadly, let go of his sword. Then, he punched the Blue Ranger in the back. Repeatedly.

Decade was mentally wincing with each punch thrown. That has got to hurt.

"Some advice, Mr. Cranston? It's not flashy to use your speed to your advantage!"

"Ow---oh. Speed---ow, alright."

Stabbing back to give himself leverage to turn around, he keeps a low posture and runs, firing shots along the way. Just to be a pest. But how do I use it? Hit and run?

Thinking it was worth a shot, he ran from one side and swiped with the lance. Not enough off-balance force behind it to get drawn into a lock, but enough room to dance back should he have miscalculated again.

Goldar, being a glacier in comparison to the agile Ranger, was caught rather dumbfounded by the running and blasting.

Good, good...maybe he's starting to see the advantages of his transformed form. He has a good base of knowledge, and he's smart, but he needs confidence, and figuring out how to form plans on the fly. Decade thought, taking in the relative blur of Blue.

Goldar, though, was just swinging his sword, trying to hit Billy.

Oh, and did Billy mention that it hurt like hell to run? He was relying on the Power to somewhat dull the pain and keep him going for now, but man would it hurt when he demorphed.

His feet did the majority of the work. He went left, right, right, left, right----no particular pattern, just trying to stay one step ahead. Two would be grand, but he was still bad at this style of figthing. He watched Goldar's eyes (and the sword in his peripheral vision), trying to find an opening to stab. When he saw one, he did---and didn't stick around. That left him clawed in the side, but still free to move on his own.

From here, he wondered if this would be a pattern to see who outlasted the other.

Decade clapped his hands, and Goldar stopped in mid-swing. Taking a leisurely stroll over to the Blue Ranger's position, he said, "Analyze. What happened, both the good and the bad? What worked for you, and what didn't?"

Billy somewhat straightened his posture with an invisible wince. He still didn't trust even a simulated Goldar to stay in place, so a hand remained on his weapon and his body remained tense.

"I need to use speed. With gravity as it is, aerial attacks are too slow and leave me too vulnerable. I've yet to find a disarming technique that doesn't set me back, and even in this form I don't have the brute strength to win with that alone."

The whole time he watched Goldar, as if daring him to move.

Decade nodded. "Yes; although, I will say that, while you should avoid aerial attacks if necessary, don't shy away entirely from them. Use them if you can."

He gestured toward the Power Lance. "Do you know how to use that to keep your opponent at a distance? Because something of that length can, if used well, will keep you outside of a sword bearer's combat radius." He gestured toward the frozen Goldar.

"Even the worst option has its place," he said quietly.

"Not as well as I should," he frowned, looking down at the Lance. He'd used it on Ranger instinct. None of them had had formal training in the use of their weapons, though he tried to pick things up here and there.

Decade punched into the wall, and ripped out a roughly three feet length of rebar. Grabbing a card out of his RideBooker, *FORM RIDE! KUUGA DRAGON!* Rang out, and Decade became the blue-and-black speedy form of Kamen Rider Kuuga.

The rebar transformed into a blue and black staff, about the same length as the Power Lance. Kuuga!Decade strolled over and grabbed Goldar's sword, tossing it to Billy. "Come at me, but slowly. I'll show you some tricks that I have found to be useful when wielding a staff, and then I'll give you a chance to try them."

"Got it." Dropping his lance to the side (he doesn't want to bend to set it down gently), he hauls up the sword. It's quite heavy. Oww.

Stone-faced, he drove at Kuuga's chest as he'd seen Kang and Goldar do.

Kuuga!Decade dropped onto one knee, letting the sword crash against the Dragon Staff. He slid to his left, letting the blade travel along the staff as he moved to a safe position.

Leveling the staff with the end toward Billy's helmet, he asked, "Did you see what I did there? If you understand, come at me again."

So that was it. Use it as a long shield to slide to safety. This was carefully noted, and in the next attempt he approached from a side.

Kazami steps forward, clearing his throat. "Honestly, I'm not sure a spear is the best weapon to start with, if you're focusing on speed. But if it's what you have, then don't focus entirely on disarming him. You already have the range advantage." He holds his hand out, a spear forming in it, and makes rapid thrusting movements at the frozen Goldar. "Keep it up with rapid thrusts!"

He tosses the spear aside, then turns back to Billy. "However! There's one major flaw both of you are missing. Look at your enemy. A spear is not the ideal weapon for heavy plate armor, unless you're going for a joint or a gap." He shakes his head, giving Tsukasa a pointed look before walking towards Goldar, gesturing at him. "He's heavy. He has wings. Use simple throws or trips to get him onto his back. With luck, he'll break a wing. Or aim at his legs, break a knee with a kick. He'll collapse anyway. It'll take him a moment to get back to his feet, and you can use that moment to summon up your spear or your blaster or whatever you want and..." Goldar's cheek gets a friendly pat. "Finish the job."

He steps back, crossing his arms. "I'm not saying Decade's lessons are useless. From what I've seen, he's a capable fighter, deserving of his title. I'm just saying that you're using the wrong tactics for this particular fighter."

Kuuga!Decade considered Kazami's words carefully; he is the senior Rider here, with much more experience than Tsukasa.

"Valid points, Kazami." He began, twirling the Dragon Staff before resting one end on the 'ground.' "However, your methods require closing into hand to hand. My methods are designed to keep a person with a staff out of that range. Still, Mr. Cranston, Kazami is a very good hand-to-hand fighter. So, like I said, he suggested some good, usable ideas."

"All right," Billy nodded. "I've been practicing my throws and strikes since before I was rescued, but I need to practice with an opponent with a weight advantage." Physics lessons showed him the best places to hold and allow Goldar to roll. That just might work.

He holstered his weapons---one Blade Blaster and one half of the lane---at his side. "Training doesn't end until a winner is decided, correct?"

While he'd been resting, the Power had been working to numb his injuries. He was fit to continue.

Kuuga!Decade tossed the Dragon Staff away. It changed back into the rebar it was, and the armor of Kuuga dematerialized, revealing the magenta armor of Decade.

Tsukasa grinned behind the mask, saying, "I do believe you are right. If you're ready, then...?" He nodded toward Goldar, and the warrior started advancing toward the Blue Ranger again.

Decade tapped Kazami on the shoulder, saying, "We should probably give him some room, huh?"

"Affirmative." And once Goldar's on the move and the two Riders were out of the way, he moved. Dancing back and around, baiting, peppering with blaster shots. All of it in preparation for the real move.

Eventually, Goldar seemed to become frustrated and charged. Angling away from the sword, Billy crouched and waited for the last moment to spring his hands. Until then, he appeared to be going for a punch.

But no, he tried quite a difficult throw. Grab points, body weight, using his own movement---just as practiced, but adjusted for a larger size. As soon as feasible, he prepared to spin and use his weapons like they'd never been used before.

Kazami nods, stepping away from the match. "Sorry about that, by the way. I'm just not used to using weapons." Having them used on him, however...

He leans against his bike again and watches Billy critically. Looks like his advice is being heeded, a quick learner then. Good.

Decade shrugged; an odd prospect in armor with large shoulder pads. "Hey, advice is advice."

Decade copied Kazami as well, leaning against the Machine Decader and observing the Blue Ranger. Good, he's taking our advice to heart. Excellent.

Goldar, though, was not quite so lucky. Being slower than Billy, he was unprepared for him rushing in and starting to throw him.

All right, Billy, Quick and strong hits. Don't get too close in range, be prepared to evade again should he make sudden movements to get up.

Goldar is kicked on the way down as payback, and the prongs of the lance are slammed toward elbows and kneecaps. As forceful as he can make it.

Decade winced. He was not used to such...brutal tactics. However, they were working; Goldar was on the ground, sword forgotten, as he tried to grab the Blue Ranger to dislodge him.

Well aware of the dangers of cockiness, Billy did not smile under the helmet. He danced back, slammed the lance over the elbows to drive the arms down, and kicked hard.

Honor was out the window. He was wary, knowing full well that even the much better trained Jason had had trouble fighting Goldar alone.

Goldar stumbled to his feet, clearly stunned and wounded.

"Mr. Cranston, I think now might be a good time for a finishing move." Decade said, still rather shocked at how quickly the Blue Ranger took to that style of combat.

"Right!"

With his odd-sounding battle cry ringing through the air, the Blue Ranger launched into a powerful kick, lance angled to give his push more leverage. Oh, how he wished the team was around with the Power Blaster right now.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject