Practicing (open)

[Valerie]

Valerie walked over to the white-rock circle within the training grounds. Maybe I'll see Lin. I wish I could talk to her about Drae's return... But wondering and hoping wouldn't get anything done and she needed to brush up on her elemental fighting skills. So she walked over to the center of the circle, setting up hay-stuffed dummies along the perimeter of the circle before stopping perfectly still with her hands pressed together in the middle. Then she reached within herself to harness her inner air energy. After pulling it up through her whole body, she brought it to her arms so she could use it the best. She used her energy-covered hands as a sort of glove to use to redirect the weather around her to do her bidding. With a sweeping gesture, she aimed her fast movement at one of the dummies and a clean air slice went through it and it fell to the ground in two pieces. This is going to be fun. She thought as she continued on to the other dummies.

There, I think I did enough damage now. She slumped over in exhaustion while surveying what she had done. The once-neat dummies were nothing but a massive circular pile of strewn hay surrounding the white-rock circle. Well, I'm a little rusty but it could be worse I guess. But she quickly amended her lack of energy by tapping into the very energies around her, absorbing it to replenish herself. Much better. Taking a huge, refreshing sigh, she stood up a stretched, looking around in hope of spotting Lin.

[Lin]

The sun was high up in the sky and the clouds had all but vanished. The winds had stopped blowing and a smothering heat had descended upon the land. A perfect time to practice. Lin walked through the Training Grounds towards the large pool of water. She liked the fact that the pool of water wasn't small like a pond, but wasn't as deep as a lake. There was also the fact that it had areas where one's view would be blocked on ground level by bushes and trees.

The pool was still like a mirror, the water was clear and clean. Lin sighed and set down the book she had brought before motioning with her hands for the water to rise up. Using her element she shaped an elevated bed out of water and then froze it. Then Lin dipped her finger into the cool water and created a small current to push her ice-bed towards the shore. Once it tapped the edge of the pool Lin picked up her book and tested her foot against it. Satisfied that her weight would not sink the ice-bed Lin lay back against it and drifted off into a more secluded part of the pool.

Quietly she read her book while trickling a bit of her energy into the ice to keep it from melting. This was one of the few times she was able to have some peace and quiet after the drama with the Council and the Shadow Dragon. Absentmindedly Lin wondered how his quest was going. If he even dared make Valerie's eyes even water out of pain, she would punish him dearly.

[Valerie]

Valerie could see a moving shape behind a few of the bushes by the pool. I wonder what that is. Probably just a servant but even a servant could be of some use. She sent an air 'shove' over to see how they would react. It was gentle enough to not do any damage but strong enough to still knock someone over. She figured who ever it was would fall in the water. I hope that wasn't Lin. It could be her. She ran over with a little hop in her step. "Oh hey Lin." She gave an innocent smile, hoping that if Lin was in fact soaked, she wouldn't blame her too much. "Wanna spar?" She added with a little touch of innocence. Well, at the least she'll lecture me, which I can tune out. And at the most, she will actually spar with me! After reviewing her options, she decided she would help Lin out if she was wet to hopefully bring the ensuing conversation closer to her desired outcome. "Here, I can help you out." She extended her hand but then saw how she could end up all wet there and turned the motion into a sweeping point at the ladder next to her. "You can use that, I'm probably not strong enough to pull you out all by myself." With that save to her dignity, and how cold she would end up, she stood up and waited for her friend.

[Lin]

The sound of rushing wind caused Lin to look up before the whole ice-bed she made flipped over. "Whoa!" Lin was dumped into the pool book and all. Fearing for the book, Lin shot up from the bottom of the water and brought the book out of the water. "Oh hey Lin." It was Valerie's voice. Lin ignored her for a little to check to see if the book was still salvageable. The ink in the book wasn't starting to blur together yet. Concentrating Lin placed her hand on the soaked book and made a pulling motion and extracted the water.

"I would have preferred that you walk up to me and ask instead of shoving me into the pool." Lin said with annoyance. Valerie could be so careless at times, "What would have happened if it was one of the gardeners? I'm sure that would have made a great impression after that fiasco with the rose bushes." Lin would have gone on to complain about how her book could have been ruined, but knowing Valerie she would have just tuned it out.

Lin rolled her eyes when Valerie refused to help her out of the pool. Gathering water pressure underneath her, Lin shot out of the pool. After doing a summersault in the air she landed on the ground in a crouch. After setting the book down, Lin straightened and held her hand out. Like snakes water flowed off her body and clothes into a sphere floating above her open palm. Once all the water was gathered Lin launched it in Valerie's direction. "A spar would be nice." She said.

[Darryn]

Peace.

That's what he felt right now. Darryn rolled his eyes. It had been over two weeks since he'd last had some action. What he wouldn't do for a good sparring partner...

Muffled voices reached his ears, and a grin spread slowly across his face. Sparring? Who better to spar with than with two masters? Darryn chuckled, and began to move stealthily towards Lin and Valerie's voices. Feet skilled from many years of moving silently were placed, one after another, careful not to rustle a single leaf or snap a single twig.

He waited for a moment, hidden behind a bush, as Lin scolded Val for something. From the sounds of it, Valerie had pushed Lin into the water. He smirked, and prepared to spring. He heard Lin accept Val's challenge, then peeked out of the bush.

With a quick outward motion, a wave of heat was sent spiralling from his hand, smashing into Lin's water attack. There was a fizzle as the water erupted into steam, relatively harmless.

With his cover blown, Darryn stood, and strode out of the bushes, a teasing swagger in his step. "Did I hear someone say they wanted to spar?" he asked, a grin lighting his freckled face.

[Valerie]

Valerie's body tensed as she prepared to retaliate Lin's attack. But her sensitive skin (due to being as in tune to the air around her as she was) picked up something. Oh it's probably nothing. She dismissed the warning to focus on Lin's attack. She wanted to get something out of this spar. But she was somewhat surprised when Lin's revenge (on her knocking her in the pool) was stopped by a heat wave from the bushes. Wait, that doesn't make any sense. But her skin pricked with warning, informing her that she shouldn't have ignored it. Ah, so its Darryn. She thought as she stood up straight when she saw the Fire Master Dragon in question step out of the bushes where the attack had come from. "Ah, welcome Darryn." She vaguely remembered the Master from various trips around the castle and from trips to the Royal Market. So he thinks he can spar? This ought to be fun. She had a smugness on her face, already planning what she was going to do next. So to give their new sparring member a 'welcome', she gathered her energy into a very similar attack to that of the one that nearly killed Drae when he had stabbed her in the back. Her energy formed into a swarm of blunt sickles that would attack her victim without killing or cutting him. This should get my point across. She let go of the attack with a whoosh of wind rushing past her toward Darryn. "Hope you're ready."

[Lin]

The orb of water that Lin sent at Valerie suddenly hissed and bubbled into steam. Lin frowned; there was only one person that came to mind who could do that. As if to confirm her suspicions Darryn appeared from the bushes he was lurking with slight swagger in his steps. Normally Lin got along with people she met, but Darryn had a grudge against griffins and disliked anyone associated to them. Seeing as Lin helped griffins before and tried defending them, she and Darryn weren't really the best of friends. Fire and water never really mixed well.

A smile crept onto Lin's face when Valerie let the first attack fall upon Darryn. "Careful Val, we don't want to mess up any of the plants." Lin said. With a gesture of her hand, Lin summoned a channel of water to wrap around Darryn and froze it. "I don't think I need you turning anymore water into steam Darryn, it's already a hot day." She said. If Valerie was assertive enough Lin thought she might be able to wait until Darryn and Valerie burned off enough energy before attacking. For now it would likely be best to wait and defend. Perhaps if one beat the other she could just make the final blow.

[Darryn]

Maybe it had been a mistake challenging two Masters to spar, one of which wasn't all too fond of him. Darryn yelped in surprise as the air around him began to stab. He stumbled backwards slightly, and his back hit a wall of ice with a soft thud. The air attack still had not relented, so Darryn grimaced.

Time to deflect, he thought, and though it was not as graceful of a movement as those executed by the two females, he jerked out an arm, and brought it in to his chest in another jerky movement. Instantly, the air around him burst into flames. The flames hungrily sucked the oxygen from the air, and provided a decent enough shield to absorb the attack. Now, he could concentrate on the wall of ice.

"Aw, does the heat bother you, Linnie?" Darryn smirked, using a pet name he had just concocted for Lin. "Unfortunately for you, I don't feel the heat." He increased the heat of the flames, pouring just a little more energy into it, slowly but effectively melting the ice wall until he could break it down.

"That all you got?" Darryn asked, summoning a spark to his fingertips. "It'll do...my turn!" The spark grew, until it formed a ball of fire. He was careful to cool down the flames, until they would do no more harm than a heated piece of bread would. With that, he flung the ball towards Valerie, dropping the wall of flames he had previously had going. No sense in draining his energy too much.

[Valerie]

Valerie backed up when the heat wave from the fire shield struck, her body instantly covered in sweat as her body tried not bake alive. Crap, if this doesn't end soon, I may have to make a break for that pool. She thought, making a backup plan just in case she couldn't get out of this soon.

But her backup plan wasn't needed when Darryn lowered the flames. But before she could react at all, a ball of flames came towards her.

Her lightning fast reflexes allowed her to duck quickly but not quick enough for the fireball skimmed the top of her shoulder.

"AIEE!!!" She cut off her cry as she gasped with pain and grabbed her burned shoulder.

I should have transformed before the fight. Oh well, but this fight isn't over yet. And if I quit now, I just know that Darryn will rub it in for ages to come. So with that, she gritted her teeth and held back the pain. Her opponents wouldn't wait for her to get her shoulder fixed.

So instead Valerie gathered her energy (further taking her mind off of her injury) with a wave of her uninjured arm and aimed her blunt force into the bushes, picking up dirt and other debris before aiming it back at her two sparring opponents.

As soon as her wall of air neared the two Masters, contented with the fact her diversion would at least do its job of distracting the others, she did a half clumsy (due to burnt shoulder) back-flip up into a nearby tree where she could dress her injury.

She used a small trickle of air power to clean the dirt and sweat off of the wound and then ripped a small strip of cloth from the bottom of her dress and wrapped it over the burnt skin to keep it from being further damaged, or to help anyways. Well, it'll work for now. She turned her attention to the others, knowing the distraction wouldn't last long and she'd need to be prepared.

[Lin]

Lin's eyes flashed with strong annoyance. "Not all of us are as hot-headed as you, nor do we have cinders for brains." She replied preparing for another attack. The wall of ice she had formed did not contain the same stream of energy she gave the ice-bed so it melted at the flames wandering grasp. The next time she imprisoned him in an icy binding, she would make sure she had a small stream of energy to keep the bonds frozen. A fireball formed out of the sparks in Darryn's hand and Lin tensed in case it was aimed at her, but instead it zoomed to Valerie. Valerie had almost dodged it, but it still hit her shoulder and burned her.

Lin was about to summon a waterspout to bind Darryn, but then she heard leaves rustling. Lin turned and saw a wall of wind filled with dirt, small pebbles, leaves, and small branches. Lin changed the direction of the waterspout to form into a fast spinning dome around her. Well the wall hit the doom, most of the debris was deflected, but some of the pebbles hit her. Although small, the pebble's speed would have left small bruises later. The water in the dome was brown with dirt. Lin made the dome form a thick ring around her and Lin looked for Valerie. Of course she was gone. Definitely close by though, she wouldn't let one burn stop her from fighting. Bringing the water ring in close to her, Lin had it expand and explode into large droplets and freezing them. The frozen droplets flew all around her into the bushes and some of the treetops. Of course while doing that some of the hail was aimed at Darryn, "Didn't your parents teach you not to play with fire?"

Using the hail as a diversion, Lin summoned up another waterspout from the pool and had it coil around Darryn like snake. Touching the waterspout, Lin froze it and let some of her energy trickle into the ice to keep it from melting immediately. "I think you need to learn to chill out more."

[Darryn]

Darryn heard Valerie's shriek as the fire skimmed her, and he knew he'd hit his target. He was not, however, expecting the debris she sent towards Lin and him. Darryn threw up his arms, blinded for a moment, as dust assailed his eyes and pebbles assailed the rest of him. With a huff, he threw up a wall of low heat flames, enough to melt or incinerate the majority of the debris. Rocks still flew at him, leaving minor cuts and bruises, but nothing too big. He ended the energy flow soon after, preparing for the next attack, but Valerie wasn't there. Probably doing a quick healing or something. Still not a good time to relax though.

He quickly dodged to the side as Lin threw up her defenses, then let them explode outward. Darryn managed to avoid most of the hailstones, hissing in mild pain at the stinging from the ones he didn't avoid. "Nope, never did," he retorted. "After I was apprenticed, they never so much as thought about it."

He grimaced as ice wound around him, feeling his energy beginning to drain as he began to raise the temperature of his body. Hopefully, melting the ice would drain Lin's power as well, and bring it to a battle of energy levels. Still, as he mantained a body temperature that wouldn't fry his innards yet still would melt ice, he also began to heat the air around him, using the oxygen to feed the heat energy. Double the attack, double the speed the ice melted, depending on how constant Lin was with her energy.

"Who wants to chill during a sparring match?" he snorted. "I'd rather feel the heat of battle." His usual smirk was on his face as he said that, his voice taunting as well.

[Valerie]

Valerie, having finished her makeshift version of healing, looked up to see the position of her two opponents. Well, Darryn is immobilized...for now. But I should prepare something. So she looked around, assessing her situation.

A sudden idea hit her so she, still holding onto her wound, shifted into her dragon form. This should surprise them. Guessing they didn't know her location yet, she decided for a sneak attack. She unfurled her wings and jumped silently into the air for a straight upward climb. She tried to fly as high as she could but the cold and the lack of pressure made her shoulder ache more so she dropped back down to the level of the tops of trees.

She used her free arm to gather her energies for another attack, one that would reveal her location but also give her some time to think of her next move. She usually thought ahead of the game but with this unexpected injury, and an unexpected and unpredictable added element (Darryn), she hadn't been able to think very far. Yet. It was only a matter of time before she got the hang of things at was able to think clearer. Well, at least this isn't a real fight to the death and this is probably the worst I'm going to get. Her thought reflecting on her burnt shoulder.

But she shook herself out of her thoughts to focus. Let's hope this works. She glanced in the direction of the mountain in the distance, seeing that there were some dark-bellied clouds up there. Perfect, this should be good. With a sinister grin, she turned in the cloud's direction and drew up her energies one more time, aiming at the wall of dark clouds. She threw her energies over there, using her power to create a strong air current that would lead the clouds over here.

Guessing she didn't have all that much time before her sneak attack arrived, she gathered a little of her remaining energy to re-route the wind around her down at her opponents, hopefully pressing them to the ground. Then she pulled in her wings and dove to one side, using her own attack as a means to get down faster.

Once on the ground she furled her wings but stayed in her dragon form. I might need to take to the sky again. So she dove behind a bush, planning on using her spare energy to turn her opponents more on each other than her as she waited for her plan to unfold. They shouldn't be able to notice the clouds, they don't look any different and they will be too busy with the fight to notice anyhow.

[Lin]

The ice was melting slowly against Darryn's heat. At this rate Lin's energy would be drained, so she removed her hand from the ice. "It's fools like you that end up dead or killing innocent people." She growled rubbing the hand that was touching the ice. It was quivering slightly from the fire draining her energy. With the energy supply cut off from the ice, it would melt faster for sure, but Darryn would still be putting energy into it. "Those who don't stop to think about what they're doing, don't accomplish much. They really should change your title of Firetongue to Cinderbrain." Lin stated with a smirk, even though the words were not to be taken lightly.

Lin thought she heard some leaves rustling, but decided not to look, Darryn was almost finished melting the ice, and for all she knew he would just break the rest with brute strength. She needed to figure out a way to get Darryn to use up more of his energy without spending hers. Where was Valerie? Surely it didn't take that long for her to bind a small burn. Lin furrowed her eyebrow; Valerie must have been plotting something, but what? She was still close to the pool and the ice-bed she made hadn't melted completely yet.

With a wave of her hand in an upward motion, the water in the pool shoved the ice-bed into the air in the direction of Darryn. Following that, a wave of water raged toward Darryn. Lin had lowered the temperature of the water to near freezing, and if her guess was correct, Darryn's body would likely turn the water into steam. Only moments after Lin had launched her attack, huge gusts of wind hit her and Darryn hard. Valerie… Lin quickly changed into her dragon form and dove into the pool to escape the unnatural wind. Looking up, she could see wavelets spreading across the surface of the pool. The gale was strong enough to knock a person down. If Lin had stayed up there, she would have likely been pinned down. Still, this did not answer the question of what Valerie was up to.

Then the sky darkened suddenly. Storm clouds? But those weren't expected to reach the castle till later in the week. Lin silently hoped Valerie knew what she was doing.

[Darryn]

Darryn saw Lin remove her hand, and he tested the boundaries of the ice. Sure enough, she was spending no more of her energy. With a grunt, he threw out his arms with all of his strength, cracking the ice. Under the combined heat and force, the ice finally gave way, and Darryn ended the spells around him, to conserve his rapidly draining energy.

The bushes rustled, and Darryn automatically assumed it was Valerie. Since she had yet to make her move, he made sure to avoid that area, but he ignored her otherwise, focusing on Lin, who seemed as though she wanted nothing more than to break him.

Darryn nearly snorted at that thought, before his brow furrowed. His overheated skin was hypersensitive to heat changes at the moment, and he sensed a colder wind blowing. He shifted into his dragon form in a flash, launching into the air almost frantically. Lin's water attack reduced his energy even more, as his heated body reduced it to mere steam, but he kept flying.

Gotta get above the wind...above the wind... With a roar of triumph, he rose above the majority of the gale, instead being buffeted by small winds, easier to navigate. Darryn ended the spell that heated his skin, feeling his body return to its normal temperature. Suddenly, he looked around, the sudden darkness surprising him. Storm clouds surrounded him, and Darryn let out a puff of fire in annoyance.

Valerie was up to something...and he wasn't sure he wanted to find out. Taking a deep breath, Darryn dove into a steep dive, slicing through the air at top speed. He pulled out of the dive just before he crashed into the ground, but the wind was still going, and he felt himself being raised up for a moment, before he slammed into a tree.

He let out a roar of brief pain, feeling pins and needles lance throughout his right wind. With a growl, Darryn dug his talons into the dirt, holding on against the high winds, his wings now pressed tightly against his body. His strength would hold out for a little longer, hopefully, and he still had a chance, so long as his now-injured wing didn't get in the way.

[Valerie]

A slightly maniacal smile crept on Valerie's face as she watched Darryn slam into a tree, crouched behind a bush. Good, it worked. She glanced in the direction she'd seen Lin disappear and frowned. Well, I can't manage to trip her, for now. So she turned her attention back to the weathered Dragon that had gotten slammed into a tree.

She decided for a decoy. So she created a small ball of power that had more energy than it appeared. Sending it sideways, closer to the pool, she burst the sphere, directing the sudden burst of air in the direction of the pool. That shouldn't have revealed my position. And hopefully didn't seem like a weak attack. But only half of her mind was free to worry about her next move.

Just to be on the safe side, she decided to move from her current location, but stayed to the bushes. She moved closer to Darryn, careful not to disturb the bushes around her.

For safe measure, she decided to create a second diversion. She sent another 'bubble' of air near where the original came from. She popped it to send the leaves rustling as if she'd been there. This will be fun. I just hope that I can keep my cover hidden. If he tries to burn the bushes, I have to take to the water. It'll be my only safe spot. And even then I have Lin to tangle with. Though it was a risky one, she now had a plan B in which she might have to use.