Karina didn't try and get out of the way of the next attack. She didn't have time to do that even if she tried. Instead Karina waited. The barrier crashed into her and she gritted her teeth against it. Through gritted teeth however, Karina smiled as she looked at Kel. It was at that moment he might have seen her keyblade was not in her main hand. Instead Karina wound up for a punch as she smashed her fist into him to send him flying back. She only smirked as an explosion accompanied the punch, moments later when he was away from her. "Nice try Kel." She said starting to feel somewhat confident in her abilities to think ahead and out think Kel on this battle.
I will sign up for Titan falsehood as well if there is room
I have been editing my book, and writing a side story. Lots of work ahead of me, but 65,000 words is pretty good.
Kel certainly didn't hold back when he made his move. While Karina was preparing for it, even at her best she barely managed to deflect the blade and send it off to the side. That didn't stop the ice that coated the blade from chipping off and embedding itself in her shoulder. Karina tried not to wince because she didn't get this chance often. With Kel not having his keyblade in hand, she had to take advantage of that before he had a chance to summon it back to himself. There was only one thing that she could think of that would allow her to move that quickly, and honestly Karina didn't want to use it so early in the match, but she had to strike while the iron was hot. With the split second she had, Karina slowed time as she launched herself forward to do an attack she was sure that Kel was familiar with. Zantetsuken was perhaps an obvious choice, but whatever worked, worked.
"I wouldn't expect differently." In fact if Kel didn't put up a fight, she would be disappointed. Karina gave herself a moment to breath. She closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sky, just breathing in before taking on a part of her that she often tried to forget. Embracing all she knew of being a soldier, she put it into her fighting, her strategy. Living with her father taught her much, even if he didn't wish her to practice the art that he perfected. She had picked up much of his planning and strategics, but tried to forget that part of her life when she left. Now however, she let some of those idea's come flooding back. She remembered that taking the first move was not always the best move, stead, Karina found herself slowly moving around Kel. She wanted to see if he would take the first swing, giving herself time to block and counter. Offense wasn't always the best move. It was time to accept the part of herself that knew how to do things without it being driven by anger. How long this strategy would last, she didn't know, but she wanted to at least try. "Well?" She said trying to goad Kel into taking the first move.
Karina clenched her fist as Fang called her tiny again before disappearing, but in the end she found herself smiling a bit. It had been a good fight after all. From that fight however came another more difficult fight as suddenly her and Kel were placed in the same Arena. Karina sighed as she rotated her head, cracking her neck. She had beat a version of Kel in her mark, but Karina wasn't stupid, she knew that Kel by all means was technically better than her. She had seen him fight and it bothered her immensely that she was always just that one step behind. She couldn't let that stop her now however as she stared down Kel. "Know that I am not here to lose. Despite whatever our power differences might be, I don't plan on losing." If there was anything she had compared to Kel, it was passion. She knew she had to win and she had a feeling that Kel was there to be there. Hopefully that determination would be noted.
Karina barely managed to roll out of the way as Fang crashed down on her. Thankfully for Karina, the crash caused Fang to be a bit off balance. "OH you are going to regret that, little one." Fang threatened as she tried to recover, but Karina didn't give her the chance. Sweeping her legs out, she made sure that Fang was down on the ground as she positioned her keyblade over her. "I am not so little anymore." Karina stated as she prepared to attack, only to be swatted away by Fang's spear. "I wouldn't get too cocky yet girl." Fang managed to get to her feet and fend Karina back a few steps, even taking the upper hand. "Looks like you are as small as ever." That comment set Karina off. Instantly she moved off of defense and put up an impressive offensive front. Step by step Karina forced Fang into a corner. "Time to see just how much I have grown." She stated as she kicked her leg up, catching Fang in the hand to disarm her, before pointing her keyblade straight at Fang's heart. "I win"
"Oh, and one more word of advice Fang." Light shimmered and Karina's black coat disappeared, a set of armour shimmering around her took it's place. "I don't lose." She stated as she launched into a series of offensive attacks. Now that Fang was distracted by the fact she threw her keyblade earlier and would be watching for those tactics, Karina pushed on her real strenths. Her shear power and number of attacks where her real specialty, and while she still had other surprises up her sleeve, they weren't ones she was ready to share yet. "You can't scare me Fang, and you can't make me feel small. There is only one person who can manage that, and even then, not anymore. You are nowhere near as terrifying as he is, no matter how hard you try. But now you will find out just the kind of strength one gains from living under the same roof as that." Fang wasn't going to belittle her, she wasn't going to let that happen. Karina believed every word she told Fang as she pulled on what inner strength she had to help her win this battle. Losing was not an option.
Crap, having trouble getting things uploaded and linked http://slickpic.us/2178904g2Om Let's try this
"I am a bit bigger than last time." Karina smiled at Fang. "Good to see you again Fang. I won't lose, I hope you know that." Kari a steadied her keyblade for launching a series of attacked at Fang, ending any small talk they were having.
Here have a picture of Rhodes. I am here today.... Or never mind, picture uploads are going slow on this wifi... Never mind again https://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo/full?photo_id=502239798946
So the castle was cleared out and Mickey was there. That was interesting bits of information that Karina didn't feel like commenting on. She watched as Stratos interacted a little bit with Vincent and Laguna, happy for him to lead the conversation before finally deciding it was time to head over to registration. "Feeling wrong or not, I just came here because I have some steam to blow off." Karina gave a bit of a glare to Beuce before walking straight up to the registration. "I want to register for the tournament, as well as these two I guess." Karina jerked her thumb over at Stratos and Beuce. She then turned back to them. "Well with old familiar faces here we aren't too alone, at least we have back up when things inevitably go sour. And lets face it, we know they will because we are here and when do things ever go nice and simply when we are around. I honestly don't know if we save worlds or curse them at this rate."
Psh odds mean nothing to me, I beat the odds. I am Aelin Ashryer Galthynius. Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, Blessed by the gods. I am the Fire breathing B*tch queen . I am Aelin Ashryver and I will not be afraid.
Yeah not going to happen. It's my job to stop you
As the awkward situation continued a couple more beats, Stratos ran up to great them. Karina found herself relieved to have a bit of a distraction from the current conversation. "Oh, hey Stratos." Karina casually stated. She couldn't agree with his sentiment about time flying, but each to their own she supposed. "You aren't interrupting too much, just ran into an... old friend." She didn't know what to call Vincent, especially after what had happened in the visions of her world. "Stratos, Beuce, meet Vincent. Vincent, Stratos and Beuce." It was only thanks to Stratos running up that she even bothered to pretend to be polite, and that was mostly to avoid too much questioning that might go too deep. "He was back in... Beast's Castle if I remember correctly." Karina found herself a little saddened realizing that she was the only one who remained of that original group that first met Vincent, but everyone had to go their own way and she couldn't fault them for that.
Karina walked ahead of Beuce to the tournament as a man came towards them, greeting Faust, the Traveling Magician kid that was with them. She didn't recognize him but she watched the interaction for a moment. The man seemed a bit weird, but not in a bad way, just in the way she couldn't quite put a point on him. He seemed a bit too cheerful in her opinion. No wonder he knew Faust. The man pointed out the opponent to beat, and Karina eyed him up. He was sporting his muscles, but she grinned a bit to herself. She knew she was strong, but thanks to her average height and slightly baggy clothing, no one would really know just how strong she was. She could probably use it to her advantage to get the upper hand on the man. Before that thought could go too much further then, a familiar voice cut into the conversation, and Karina looked up shocked. Walking towards the group was a tall man in a red cloak. Her mind flashed to the cloak that Ananta tried to give her after the trial, the one she failed. Quickly Karina looked away, she had to remind herself that that Vincent wasn't real. Her eyes darted to Beuce, looking for help before remembering the awkward conversation earlier and backing off. She didn't know how to face Vincent, but couldn't ignore him either. "It is good to see you too..." Karina tried to make nice as she shifted her weight awkwardly under his gaze. "A lot has happened since last time we saw each other, not all good, but I managed. As for changes, it is a work in progress." She admitted. She was trying but she often found her anger and desire to win beating out over her own thoughts and desires for growth.
Musical Missions here I come! With Counter point, in total that would be 10 crowns -> 300 crowns 900 munny -> 16,780
Karina wasn't good when it came to matters of love or people in general, but she could see that Beuce was getting a bit flustered, and Karina knew that she had just made a huge mistake. "Well there is a tournament happening. I am going to fight some shit, come if you want to, or find the others, doesn't matter to me." She shut down any emotions again, figuring that anger was just the easiest one to deal with. She got angry, she punched something, she became moderately monotone. It was an easy enough cycle to handle. While Beuce's response wasn't really mean or confrontational in any way, she didn't know how to feel about the response. Embarrassed perhaps by her own ineptness in situations such as this. Unable to read the sign doing something stupid. Perhaps it wasn't that bad, but she let the anger at herself for doing something stupid grown and provide her with the power she would need to take down anything as she walked out of the ally, head still held high as if nothing had happened. She set her eyes towards the stadium with only one goal in mind. She was going to win this tournament no matter what.
No raids. Get out of here you filthy pirates.
