Choose your destiny! Flawless victory! [Inevitable Tournament Arc]

[meat_mooks]

No sooner did the Obs Deck descend to Arena Planet LXIII, and the crew allowed to disembark, than they were met by a veritable cloud swarm of cameras. Sleek, elegant things that might have been living, might have been machines, maybe were even magical... but were definitely nuisances as the swooped around to capture video of the crew at all conceivable angles, close up and far away. Their every move from this point on would be on camera.

In front of a small crowd of retainers stood what appeared to be a great circular orb whose only distinguishing features were a nose, and what appeared to be the most overblown mustache ever, which actually appeared to be supporting that two-foot-diameter orb at shoulder height to a tall man. Then the orb took a couple of steps forward,revealing that no, those were actually just really, really hairy legs. A seam cracked open on the creature, and in a voice loud enough to echo across the broad open plains without any need for amplification, it bellowed, "AND NOW! STRAIGHT FROM THE TRANSMIGRATION NINE VESSEL! OUR NEWEST COMPETITORS! FRESH TO THE STAGE OF BATTLE, BUT NO STRANGERS TO WAR--"

It went on like this for some time.

Under cover of this introduction, a small man that to all appearances seemed to be the love child of Richard Nixon and a particularly aggressive Furby stepped forward, and in a bored businesslike tone recited, "Welcome to the tournament. There will be one battle per day. The arena in which you battle will be determined by random draw. Our medical crew will perform all healing necessary and ensure no deaths so feel free to not hold back. Please refrain from accepting any bribes or favors from on-planet spectators--"

"--ARE YOU READY?!" the orb bellowed even louder than before, completely swamping the smaller man's recitation. "THEN STEP THIS WAY!"

And so saying, the orb and its procession began a clearly well-choreographed procession towards a large, medieval-looking fortress that hung dramatically just on the edge of clear vision. (Conveniently, this procession passed several large advertisements.)

Comments

Re: Jisho vs. Simon

[punchedoutdestiny]

A small robot clomps through said Graveyard, and periodically stumbles into a tombstone with a small yelp and a muttering of "dammit".

"Man, it's dark and creepy here..."

[meat_mooks]

"There are no dead buried here," said a large man as he stepped out of the shadow of a tomb. "It is all for effect."

[punchedoutdestiny]

The little robot's face seemed to be relieved by that bit of news.

"Well, they did a good job of setting up the effect. Good to know I won't be desecrating anything here in the process, though."

[meat_mooks]

"You will not. Let no doubts or regrets hold you back," the man said, drawing his paired swords.

[punchedoutdestiny]

"Can-do," Simon answered, shifting things around a bit so Lagann took a boxer-like stance. There's some regret weighing on him, but that's there to drive him, not hold him back.

[meat_mooks]

With grace and speed that bespoke incredible skill, the man dove forward. One blade rose preemptively to intercept and lift one of Lagann's arms, opening up its body for a strike from the other blade.

[punchedoutdestiny]

As the blade impacted Lagann's face, sparks fly off. One arm may be out of the way, but there's still the other one open. It swings forward, set to pay the strike back toward Jisho's gut.

[meat_mooks]

Having foreseen this, Jisho stepped right up to the Lagann and into the blow, robbing it of leverage so the 'inner arm', as it were, struck him in the back rather than the focused force of the fist. He tossed one sword down, then thrust the other at the join where the arm met the robot's body.

[punchedoutdestiny]

A grunt came from the robot as his punch fell flat - and another when that sword came down on the shoulder. The machine tilts forward, pushing and leaning in toward Jisho while a quiet hum starts, then grows louder.

Shortly, that noise pitches up into a high whine as green light fills the area from the thruster on Lagann's back. If he can't use his arms right now, time to use other things!

[meat_mooks]

His foe jumped backwards and to one side swiftly, sole remaining blade held up in a guard position in case another attack came. He was confident in his ability to block or dodge the Lagann if it managed to turn for him.