Grudge Match 1 - Maya Briggs Vs. Mae Iharu

Mae sat inside the fighter's lounge, breathing deeply in and out in an attempt to calm her nerves. A fight was about to unfold, and while she had gotten used to fighting shadows and even demons, fighting another person was... not something she had done before. Perhaps this would do her good in the long run. You never know what life might throw at you, especially with what life Mae had lead in the last couple of years.

Her soulbound currently rested in Mae's hands, with the girl staring at her own reflection on it's sharp edge. "Relax, girl. Goin' in there stressed out like this isn't going to help." She knew this very well, but dispelling her unease wasn't easy, and it would probably never be. But perhaps this would fade once she was actually in the heat of combat... Yes, perhaps. She casted a glance towards the clock. It was almost crunch-time. She stood up, and steeled herself for the upcoming confrontation... Not a very easy one, but unlike other fights she may have in the future, this one wasn't to the death. Just a competition between two combatants. That's all. Yes.

Once Mae entered the arena, she was met by the sound of a roaring crowd above. People from all over the place had been going here just to see these two women duke it out. The pinkette stood there for a moment, struck dumb by just how large the arena was. It was oval-shaped, being 168 Feet high, 287 Feet long and 180 Feet Wide. The ground itself was flat, featureless, with a 15cm layer of sand strewn about. The walls themselves were 15ft high, and a strong, magical barrier had been erected to prevent the crowd from getting caught in the crossfire between the two combatants. Mae stood at the south end of the arena, while there were 8 other enterances from which her opponent could emerge from. Uptop a podium amongst the crowd, a small, owl sat... Being Bernardette, the referee.

For now, Mae just waited for her opponent to show up... All she knew was her name... Maya Briggs...

As the two fighters had made their way to each other, the young owl that had led them into this arena would appear from seemingly thin air. Almost as if the owl had been there the entire time without either of the duo noticing. She took the time carefully to analyze each of these fighters, curious as to what each of them were capable with provided they each had their own potential of course. Making her way to the middle between the two, the owl would proceed to hoo before beginning to announce.

AFTERNOON LADIES AND GENTSSSSSSSS!!!!

The owl would cry out to the crowd in a rather high pitched voice.


After direction attention to Maya for a brief second, Bernard would display visible confusion at the name "the retriever". What was she some kind of dog?



Gesturing over to mae, Bernard would look even more visibily confused.These were some rather unusual fighters with some rather unusual names, just what the hell had Bernard recruited into her arena. Regardless she didn't care to judge their unusual screen names. As the owl would adorably produce a golden, large coin in her mouth from her feathery coat. It was a rather big one that anyone would be impressed that said owl could actually carry it. Before flipping the large coin into the air.

Heads-1
Tails-2

Gran goes first on 1
Jerry goes first on a 2

Random number (1,2) :

1

Once the coin had fallen on its result, an excited noise would escape the owl.

LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!!!!

Flapping away, the owl would retreat to a rather safe distance very quickly in order to ensure neither party hit her when the real attacks began to sling out. It was up to these guys to fight for real now. A light would then shine on the person designated to go first, indicating for them to act for a brief moment.

aka go

Mae stood about 5 meters away from Maya, waiting to see the results of the coin toss, as she had chosen Tails... And it landed on heads, which meant that Maya got the initiative. But what was really strange was that she didn't seem to act on it at all. In fact, she outright refused to attack Mae first. Mae honestly didn't understand why she did this, but they couldn't just stand there all day either.


So, as such, after giving her opponent a light bow, Mae got into a fighting stance and summoned her persona by slashing the card in half using the soulbound that she carried with her. The white dragon emerged in a bright flash of blue as it hovered around Mae. Tenryū's eyes locked with Maya's, before the dragon's scales began to glow a dim blue color for a moment before a colorful blast of fiery projectiles shot out from the Persona's own body. Each and every one of these fiery missiles were about the size of a basketball. Up into the sky they rose quickly, about 3 meters above the two contestants, before decending down upon Maya like a rain of meteors, covering a good 10 square Meter circular area around Maya. Mae herself didn't stand still either, as while this massive barrage of flames rained down upon her foe, Mae channeled her inner strength, erecting a protective wall of flames in front of her, being about 2 meters wide, and curving around Mae in a half-circle to prevent anyone getting around it unless they wished to get seriously burned in the process.

Mae Iharu:

The Pillar of earth slammed into Mae pretty hard, lifting her a slight bit off the ground. Her persona roared loudly as it's attack missed it's intended target, but it's gaze was firmly locked onto Maya, following her every move. Now, perhaps they could use this rock pillar to their own advantage. The white Dragon would heat up it's claws, sticking them into the very rock pillar itself, melting almost the entire thing as if it was made out of butter, leaving a small platform for Mae to stand on as the now liquified pillar melted all over the ground, leaving very little safe room for Maya to even stand on. As it collapsed upon itself, it would send a 15 meter circular wave of this liquified rock around it, covering a big portion of the arena. This "puddle" of liquified rock and sand would cover a circular area about 30 Meters in diameter from where Mae now stood, while her own little platform had remained the same size and shape as the pillar top itself. Not that she herself was trapped here. She could get out of this place quite easily had she wanted to. But right now, she wanted Maya to come to her. So, rather than Attacking with her own special skill, she opted to recover a slight bit instead, a golden shower of sparkles covering the young girl for a moment, her eyes focused on Maya. The fight had only just begun.

Mae Iharu:

Hm... Wisely enough, Maya had backed off Mae's attack, and had ceased her assault, waiting on the far side of the pool of Lava that her persona had made. So, from what she could gather from the situation, alongside with the slight loss of strength of her fire, Maya wanted Mae to come to her. I mean, it was obvious. She hadn't yielded yet, and hadn't even gotten hit by the attack, which wasn't that suprising, given the display of speed and mobility Maya had shown mere moments prior. And if she wanted Mae to come to her, she would get that wish. It was just a matter of finding a good method of attack. Right now, the distance between the two had to be more than 15 meters, given that the pinkette was in the dead centre of the pool her persona had created not too long ago. Now it was just a matter of getting over there without exposing herself to attacks. Mae didn't know what exactly her opponent was capable of, and as such, wanted to be a bit careful with how she approached this. Going in there, guns blazing was a bad idea.

Tenryū, the creator of the magmatic substance around Mae and her platform narrowed her eyes towards their opponent off in the distance. It was now or never. Mae leapt forward and called upon her own inner strength. Jets of white hot fire burst from her hands and feet as she now soared like a bullet towards Maya Briggs. Her persona followed, releasing a mighty roar as it coiled around her master, generating a shell of flames around the girl from it's scales and mouth. Together, the two looked like a flaming meteor, the flames covering Mae's every side. It was remarkably fast, but Mae was still very much in control of what she was doing and where she was going. Once the two got close enough, the pinkette would ready her soulbound to strike her enemy with it, Aiming to slash Maya across the Chest, from the lower left corner up to the upper right shoulder. The flaming cocoon would sear her skin if she didn't get out of the way in time, and should she try to escape, Tenryū would let the bubble explode like a firework around Mae, covering a 27 Meter radius, making sure that her enemy wouldn't get away.

Mae Iharu:

[/spoiler]

((Only counting Arrow Rain for the action))

The first wave of shattered pieces from Maya's weapon would dig into the Persona coiling around Mae, which stung a little bit, but it could've been much, much worse. She had used this paticular method of attack just in case her adversary had something that she couldn't combat directly... The second wave did manage to make it through the gaps however, and damage Mae just a little bit. Her persona's flames seemed to have a limited effect on her adversary. But it wasn't like she could use anything else at the moment. Even if it was a bit in-efficient, she'd have to use the only method of attack she had. Shortly after striking Maya with the flame bubble around her, using the momentum that she had left from her blast-off, Mae slammed her fist straight at Maya's face, sending her backwards a fair bit due to the amount of momentum and force behind the blow. Her persona would follow up by breathing a large, 17 meter wide and equally tall and long plume of flames all over Maya mere moments after Mae's fist made contact. She had a lot of fight left in her, and this battle was only just beginning. One setback wasn't enough to stop her from winning!

Mae Iharu:

The moment Mae felt her arm hitting nothing but air, she knew that she had missed, and she were in deep trouble, and needed to get out of there fast, lest Tenryu would suffer the consequences. She would open up her closed fist, dispelling her soulbound and inhale lightly all in one move before exhaling a bright blast of flames from her mouth and hands, pushing herself and Tenryu just out of reach from Maya's blades, about a 1.5 meters above solid ground, and at a 45° Angle, blasting herself a small distance away from Maya, using her small stature and low weight to her advantage, and vaulting midair before landing on her feet about 3 meters away, she'd dodge the attack completely... a narrow escape mind you, but it was enough to get out of the way. Maya would of course be caught in this blast of flames as long as she didn't abort her attack, and escape. These flames however... they weren't of the same kind as the ones Maya had been hit by thus far. Even after the flames subsided, she'd feel the searing burns left on her skin, which would glow white-hot as if it was metal on the verge of melting. Once Mae landed again, she'd give Maya a gauging look, waiting for her to make a move...

Mae Iharu: