City of IF

[D-Lotus]

Mage

Yahoo shrugged and set his mind on the middle door, the silver and very reflective door. He casually walked up to it and laid his hand on the pommel. His heart beat as of young, and betrayed his cool nature. He twisted the pommel slowly and felt a wave of heat coursing through his body. He gritted his teeth and opened the door violently. A flash of pink blinded him, and he involuntarily raised his hand to cover himself.

When the light died down, Yahoo withdrew his hand. The scene had changed. A giant mushroom loomed above him, resembling...resembling.

Another flash of light, this one green, transported him elsewhere before you could say "Club of the Bizzarre".

This time he was in front of a rickety house. It looked like a box of matchsticks, and as likely to catch on fire. Actually, it could better be described as a "hut". Well...maybe "dump" would be the most appropriate term. There was garbage everywhere; broken wands, torn invisibility cloaks, and used food poisoning testers. There were also some emflikars lying around, convulsing with...pleasure. Yahoo steeled himself and clinched his jaw.

The garbage mounds were huge, bigger than the hut. They were even piled in the river. The river? It was wide...but where had it come from, and where had the emflikars gone? Then from
the hut leaning on the river, a woman emerged. She was masculine, huge and she swaggered around like a man. She had a whip in her hand and yelled at someone.

Yahoo's heart sank. Then someone said her name and he realized it wasn't who he was looking for. A small, skinny woman, malnourished and weak, dragged up to the other woman. They
exchanged a few words, and the masculine woman entered the hut.

Yahoo followed the bony woman, his heart seeping in melancholy with every step. Soon she came upon a dark alleyway. A man was waiting in the shadows.

"Give...me...magic..." she said.

The man stretched out his hand, and the woman eagerly placed some soiled paper money in his palm. He waved his hand and she began convulsing as Yahoo had seen the emflikars do.

Intrigued, he followed the man home. Suddenly the man stopped.

"Why are you following me?" he said.

"Wh..what? You mean you can see me? I always thought in these things..."

The man turned around, but stared past Yahoo. There was another man.

"I want my shipment of raw magic." he said

"You'll get it...and in time." the first man said.

They talked more, but Yahoo couldn't make anything of it. The first man waved his hand again and disappeared.

Yahoo was in front of another home, but in a happy, bright neighborhood. A better word for that house would be "mansion". Yahoo gaped, it was huge! And as he followed the man inside,
he saw that it was finely and expensively decorated. From all that money he seemed to get just by waving his hand, it was no wonder! A big chandelier pended in the middle of the
room, in front of the staircase that split in two different directions and led to the second floor.

A woman walked into view. And this time, Yahoo knew who she was. From her appearance, it didn't look like she had ever aged. When he'd last seen her she was sixteen, barely a woman.
Now she was about thirty, and still beautiful. Long blond curly hair and blue eyes...sallow cheeks...she was like out of a picture of Mageboy. But for Yahoo there is more than that. There is love, and at the same time outrage. Yahoo's heart screams in outrage at the man who is her husband. The man is obviously acquiring his wealth from illegal sources and trafficking, and she deserves better.

He must, therefore, regain his beloved's heart. She is cold to her husband, a good sign for Yahoo, who is beginning to age past his prime (although he is still lively).

"Luna, will you not greet your husband properly?"

She hugs him, detachedly. She puts on her coat and opens the door to leave. Yahoo thought rapidly, searching for some magic to materialize him into the room. He searched in his mind, but the door closes. He ran after her and opened the door. A flash of yellow blinded him again and he opened his eyes in another room. He was back in the inn.

Yahoo slammed his fist into the floor angrily. The room looked like a normal room in any inn. No doors leading to an obscure future.
________________________________

The air outside refreshed him as he coursed his hand through his hair. He sighed...what to do?

The crowds were diminishing parallel to the evening rays of sun. Yahoo walked slowly while thinking about how he would find Luna...

He retired to bed early and promptly fell asleep before the shouting and singing of drunks downstairs would impede him to.
_________________________________

Dawn extended her rays of sun through the window, seemingly absorbing Yahoo of all energy as he groaned and turned in his bed. He yawned, dropped his arm down on the bed and reflected upon whatever subjects it is that men reflect upon shortly after they awake. In his case, it was probably about Luna. Then he slowly got up and began dressing. He decided to put on his
traditional clothes on, and leave the more fashionable clothes for later. Despite his age, Yahoo was still quite fit and strong. Ok, fine...he was ripped.
_________________________________

This time the arena seemed more familiar. He entered the waiting room and sat down. There was a poster with the names of the eliminated and the contestant still in the tournament.
The number of names still in the contest had diminished drastically. The clock struck eleven when his name was finally called. Yahoo had spent the last hour "meditating", and he sat up
alertly.

Well...here we go again...
_________________________________

The contestant was a man, a twisted, bony man, wringing his hands and grinning horrendously. He was bald and had big green eyes which shocked Yahoo. He was dressed plainly, and he looked like an acolyte of a mad scientist. The loudspeaker called him Drug.

CONTESTANTS, BEGIN!

Drug moved his hands rapidly, as if he had been ready before the battle began. The runes formed a quick shimmering shield around him. Yahoo decided to test it and threw a rock at
him from the ground with his aging but powerful muscles. The rock whistled through the air as if shot by a sling, and hit the shield. Instead of breaking, it was absorbed and quickly fired back at Yahoo, like a boomerang. Yahoo dodged.

A strategist, then. The crowd cheered.

Yahoo elevated himself into the air with a quick arm thrust. The crowd gasped. The ability
to levitate into great heights was a secret reserved for few.

Yahoo flew above the bent-over man, dodging energy balls, and positioned himself exactly
over him.

Another energy ball flew at him, but Yahoo stopped it mid-air. The ball hovered under him, pressuring against Yahoo's control. Yahoo began charging it with power as he maintained it
there. The crowd stood silent. Yahoo released the ball and it crashed through the powerful shield, opening a gap for only a few seconds. The man had his mouth open in astonishment. He
had obviously devised a plan to defeat his opponent, but he wasn't flexible like Yahoo was, and couldn't analyze and devise as quickly as Yahoo had.

Yahoo released all magic and let himself drop right in front of the man as the shield closed around him. He smiled and let his fist smash into the scrawny man. The crowd cheered monumentally.

The man dropped the shield and stood up as he wiped the blood from his mouth. The blow would have toppled a bull, but the blue-eyed man had protected himself somehow.

His brows knit and he began casting a complicated rune. Yahoo summoned a small shield, but curiously awaited the man's new strategy, as well as a chance to counter attack. It occurred
to him to make an illusion of himself and become invisible at the same time, so it would appear the illusion were him.

Suddenly the ground began shaking and spikes shot out from everywhere around Yahoo. He had seen through the illusion! Yahoo dropped the illusion and invisibility spell. The angry man
shook his arms violently and a wall of fire grew and began playing around the spikes. Yahoo shot some water at it, but to no avail.

He felt a huge amount of power above him. The man had lost his head and used all his energy on one final attack. Yahoo looked up and saw a huge boulder crashing down on him. He shot a
strong spell at it, but it didn't break. He was trapped! With few seconds to spare, he thought desperately. Strategy would have to get him out of this one, or he would be crushed. But how? He could try
to transfigure to a spot outside the ring of fire, but the magic required might be more than he could spare to finish the battle. The concentration would have to be absolute as well.
What other options did he have, and how was he going to find his beloved?

Sorry for the tiny and poor quality chapter, but I was down on time. Besides, batlles make for good decision points! :D Anyway, just tell me what you think we should do, etc...looks like he's in a tight spot...but I'm sure your ingenuity will get him out of it!

[Chainfire]

hey, it was a good chapter D, better than the one before last that i wrote anyway. I say Yahoo should use magic on his feet and reflexes to run out of the trap faster than he normally could, and as for Luna maybe he should check out the black market in the slums of the city he is in and see if that man does business there. If he does then maybe he could follow him home or gain his trust until he invites Yahoo to his home.

[D-Lotus]

Good idea for finding Luna: Look in the slums acting like you're searching for raw magic...great!

But how is Yahoo supposed to run out??? There's a wall of fire and spikes...didn't I make that clear?

Lets see if any other team member answers.

[Key]

One way to use strategy is to turn your opponent's attacks to your advantage. How about using the spikes around him to stop the boulder? Strengthen them and enlarge them so that Yahoo can crouch down and they'll support the boulder's impact.

Or he could try burrowing into the ground, like Gorin did in his battle. But that might be too slow.

[D-Lotus]

yes, it might be too slow, especially since he has a few seconds till SPLAT. I like the other idea though, I wouldn't even have thought of it myself.

[kenshin himura]

could yahoo possebly transmute the bolder into some other object? like persay
into a bunny orr a bunch of balloons?

[Araex]

Transmutation, if possible, would be both interesting and humiliating. Perhaps turn it into snow?

I'm guessing we can't make a shield big enough, but can we conjure up a semi-tube sort of thing, that the boulder will roll into and off to the side?

I prefer the snow idea, personally.

[kingcappie]

I think Key has a good idea with supporting the boulder using the spikes. I thought of sinking the spikes and then pushing the man under the boulder if possible but the wall of fire is still a problem. Or maybe throwing all of your concentration into switching places with your opponent. He materializes inside the spikes and you are then safely outside the spikes. It might take a lot of magic, but then he's crushed by his own boulder and you don't have to worry with it.

As for finding your lost love-you have seen she is alive, and she would likely be receptive to your coming back into her life. You saw a glimpse of her, involved in some seedy underworld because of her husband, but it wasn't clear what city she was in. At least not to me. Start with the fringes of society though, and try to locate the husband through those avenues. Catch him through his dirty dealings and then you'll be able to appraoch her.

[D-Lotus]

kingcappie wrote: Or maybe throwing all of your concentration into switching places with your opponent. He materializes inside the spikes and you are then safely outside the spikes. It might take a lot of magic, but then he's crushed by his own boulder and you don't have to worry with it.

This is a good idea, and actually doesn't require that much magic, but the problem is that its difficult to catch them off gaurd. It worked with our last oponent, but only because he wasn't cautious enough. Our current opponent has a shield around him which would protect him.

Otherwise, good ideas guys! Keep 'em coming and I'll post a poll in a day or two.

[Chainfire]

hey D when are you gonna put a poll up?

[Rein]

One possible idea is to regain the invisibility and switch places with the bolder. Then, the opponent would be open, because he's expecting Yahoo to be crushed, and we could do something horrible and funny to him for trying to crush us.

[D-Lotus]

Good suggestions...poll is up