Left Foot, Green {Aaliyah}

[kuriositkills]

Ali flew up, hoping to pull out of the way of the splatter. Sadly, it her claw (err, foot). Luckily, she felt the heat, if not pain. Scales helped a lot with that kind of thing. She screeched indignantly, wordlessly.

"I'm working in it!"

She grinned dangerously at the pain in his voice. He was the one that had thrown himself at her flame. She hadn't meant to actually hurt him. Yet.

She flapped her wings a few times, gaining altitude. When she was almost touching the roof, she wrapped her wings around her body in a dive and dropped. Straight toward Kennedy.

One claw reached forward, meaning to scratch at his already burnt shoulder. IN the same swing, she flung herself back into the air, breathing a large ball of fire at him. Then she flew back slightly watching for him. Waiting to see how much damage she had done.

[ken]

As Ali dove, Kennedy yelped. First he ducked down, though he still managed to get his quickly healing shoulder scraped by claws. Then he rolled back, yanking up liquid floor with him. He thrust his hands out, spraying it at the incoming fire. It worked to form a shield of sorts, leaving a crowd of strange steam in the air.

Panting, Kennedy bounced back, rocking on his feet. That last Gift had better be something impressive. He focused within, trying to figure it out...

and the amount of floor increased.

Duplication.

"Wonderful, I can throw lots of floor at her," he muttered. Again he ducked down, again pulling up liquid floor, and again flinging it at her, aiming for wings. If he could ground her, he might be able to fight on fair terms. Right now, her aerial maneuvers were going to best him.

Well, he could head for the edge of their little practice ring and hope that someone with a halfway useful Gift popped up.

Brilliant plan, really.

[kuriositkills]

The next missile turned her fire into steam, and Ali had to admit it looked cool. But she knew fire wouldn't work now, so a sort of win-win-lose situation. Win because at least she knew it, win again because it looked cool, and lose because she couldn't use it.

She watched in amusement as he edged towards the crowd. He wanted another gift. Matter alteration and healing weren't enough for him?

Well.... they wouldn't exactly help in this case or for this fight. And she was just beginning to enjoy herself. She hovered half an inch above the liquidized ground, watching him move. Her eyes seemed almost human again. Almost. They turned a pale dust brown, became oval again. But they transformed right back again.

[ken]

Ali wasn't attacking him. Good, that worked in Kennedy's advantage. It gave him the chance to try and pick up a useful Gift. The ones he had were doing alright, he supposed...

He reached down, grabbing a few more globules of floor. He jerked up, duplicating and altering them at the same time. Gas made out of the floor materials (mostly concrete, wood, and cement), spread out between the two combatants. It would certainly make seeing Kennedy difficult for a while, though he couldn't really see Ali either.

While his little screen was up, Kennedy scrambled, trying to switch Gifts. He suddenly felt a shift, and glanced down. Bits of floor had floated slightly upward, and it looked like Kennedy was pulling the stone out.

Terrakinesis.

That should do nicely. Kennedy waved his hand, testing to see which Gift got shifted. The hovering stone turned liquid, but didn't double. Good, he'd kept the healing and the alteration.

Now, he just had to hope she didn't flame again, or catch him by surprise. Kennedy turned, bracing for another attack.

[kuriositkills]

Ali wrinkled her nose in distaste. She was unhappy about the mist. Why did he wanted to make it hard for her? Then again, it occurred to her, he wouldn't be able to see very well either. She grinned at that, a very (literally) reptilian grin.

She tried to see around the mist by flapping up and down and to each side, but no such luck.

She waited a few seconds. but her already short patience was minimized in her dragon form. So she raced forward, spewing as much fire as she could. When she hit the mist, she closed her eyes, spewing blindly. If they didn't get out of her way, it was their own damn fault.

She wanted to make something explode or at least burn. Be it hair or fabric, she cared not. She just wanted fire and smoke and that acrid smell of burning stuff.

[ken]

The mist had apparently done what Kennedy had wanted it to do. Unfortunately, it appeared to have done exactly what he wanted it to do. Which meant that when Ali attacked again, Kennedy had to rely on something other then sight.

Fortunately he could still hear her wings, if just barely. And he could certainly hear the woosh of flames erupting from a mouth.

And feel the heat rushing toward him.

"Whoa!" he managed, diving to the side. Still, he could feel the flames scorch his clothes, burning away the strange mist. Again Kennedy dug up bits of floor, using it as a shield from the worst of the flames.

"You're going to hurt someone like that!" yelled Kennedy. He could feel fire-hot bits of floor hit his skin with hisses and pops. It hurt like hell, but his borrowed Gift healed it soon enough.

Grunting, Kennedy ripped bits of floor up, hurling them in the direction of the flames. That should give Ali something to worry about too.

[kuriositkills]

[{OOC:I'm going to exaggerate a little bit in this post. Hope you don't mind ;P It's also very long...}]

"You're going to hurt someone like that!"

Ali had a perfectly nasty reply on her tongue, ready to spit it at him, when the floor piece caught her in the chest and pushed her backwards. The force from the throw was stronger than she would have expected, and she was plowed through the crowd. Sh landed only a few feet from the wall behind her, on her back and with the large piece of floor on top of her.

He was going to pay for that. Yes, he would. Anger pushed adrenaline through her veins as she used all the strength in her upper body to push the floor piece off of her. She really needed to exercise more. She was getting out of shape.

With a low, snarling growl coming from her lips, she stood up, watching as the dust settled. her back hurt, and the ridges would be damaged. Damn it. At least her scales had protected her.

The crowd was eying her, completely silent. She had no eyes for them, keeping her glaring gaze fixed on Kennedy. She had murder in her eyes, clear and bright as day. He was going to pay for damaging her back ridges.

She briefly glanced back at the piece of floor he head thrown at her. her gaze traveled back to Kennedy, seizing him up. He didn't look too strong. And not even close to strong enough to manage to pick up that piece of concrete. He had switched powers.

"Damn it," She cursed quietly. The group would probably hear her; she was too outraged to be quiet enough for no one to hear her. He had terrakinesis. Of course, she had seen it in a fight,s he just had no idea how to rival it. Fire would be no good if he continued to hurl stones at her. So she would have to sue claws and tail and pure strength. "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it."

Yeah, so she was throwing a temper tantrum. And he would attack while she was thinking. Definitely not the smartest move in her career.

[ken]

OoC: looks great to me, I approve.

The regeneration finished stitching Kennedy back together, and he felt a good deal more ready to deal with the rampaging dragon. In fact, it looked like his latest attack had thrown Ali off her footing. Apparently she hadn't expected him to be able to hurl stones, which just worked in his advantage. Unfortunately, Kennedy didn't have the skill to really chuck rocks, so he'd have to work this carefully.

Bending over, eyes still on Ali, Kennedy began loosing large chunks of stone from the floor, piece by piece. He had to hurry, because she was bound to stop thinking and cursing anytime now.

Once he'd had a handful loosened, Kennedy picked them up, straining under the weight. He used the kinesis to help, and then spun to hurl it. Once it was about to leave his fingers, Kennedy quickly shifted it to liquid. This created a spray of liquid concrete toward the dragon.

"Gotta fight with your head!" he yelled, grinning. It looked like the fight had shifted, at least for the moment.

[kuriositkills]

"Gotta fight with your head!" Ali barely heard the yell. Her eyes concentrated on the rock, calculations running through her head. As the solid transformed into a liquid, she curled up on the floor, her wings shielding her whole body from the blast of liquid. She kept her eyes on the grinning Kennedy, however.

The fight was turning. She just didn't like the direction it was turning to. OS she needed to retaliate. Which was hard, considering his powers. And he still had those other big chunks of concrete lying around him. He was a smart, guy, which was probably why he was a tutor.

But this was supposed to be her element. Fighting. Damn, she had had so much training already. Why should a puny little human stop her?

Yep, she was pissed.

Ali stood up, considering his words. Fight with your head. A grin spread over her face, mischievous and evil. She had an idea. And it would not turn out good for the tutor.

She walked towards him, her hands raised in the gesture civilians gave cops when they wanted to show they didn't have weapons. She let the scales on her hands and arms recede slightly. But the other scales stayed in place.

When she was about three feet from him. She bent down, making it look like a bow. her leg muscles tensed, and she jumped forward. her head was aimed for his lower torso, the stomach area. if ti connected, ti would hurt. badly. The scales and the ridges on her head were pretty hard.

[ken]

When Kennedy heard Ali approached, he tensed, crouching down. The remaining slabs of concrete were still within reach, and it wouldn't be much to fling more at them. However, as the mists and liquid dissipated, Kennedy could see that Ali had her hands raised. So, the fight was over?

Immediately Kennedy relaxed, putting on a friendly smile. "Hey, that was pretty good, you had me on the ropes there. What with the fire and everything."

Kennedy waved an arm, and nodded at the destruction around him. Yes, he noticed her scales more or less retract. It all looked just like a surrender. You'd think Kennedy would know better, having dealt with war dragons before.

"Hey, you don't need to bo--oomph!" Kennedy hadn't been expecting the sudden headbutt, and it hit him, hard. He went flying backward, bending over and attempting to clutch his stomach. His control over the Gifts left him as he flew, and bits of rock trembled, moving nowhere. The ground went slightly liquid, and Kennedy slid on the suddenly slick floor.

"F**k," muttered Kennedy, not moving for a while. He tried to focus on the cellular regeneration, restitching his banged up torso.

[kuriositkills]

Ali watched Kennedy with a satisfied smile, her scales hardening into existence again. You had to know better than to let down your guard around a war dragon. They tended not to give up without winning. And she wasn't about to give up either.

Ali approached him slowly, keeping her guard up. Her face was just a bit worried. Even with the regeneration, she was sure it had hurt. The ridges on her head were hard. She hadn't even felt the impact.

She watched in half-ways amazement as his skin stitched together. She had to see that again, in slow motion. It would make one interesting movie.

"Have you had enough yet?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

[ken]

From his position on the ground, Kennedy looked back up at Ali. he could still keep fighting. The pain was quickly fading away, after all, and in a real fight, Kennedy would never give up this easy. However, this was supposed to be a sparring match. And, from Kennedy's perspective, it looked like they'd both proven they could fight well enough. Plus, they'd learned something. Which was supposed to be the whole point in fighting in the first place.

"Yeah, I give," admitted Kennedy. he still remained on the defense, however, wearily eying the dragoness. After all, he'd thought she'd surrounded earlier, and look where it had gotten him.

He wobbled to his feet, taking a few steps back from Ali. Still, his eyes remained on her, and he didn't even try to avert his gaze. You only needed to get headbutted once.

"Should've known better than to expect a dragon to surrender," he admitted, chuckling. The chuckle disturbed something inside, and he winced. It was certainly a good thing that he'd picked up regen, else his insides would be mush by now. "Good move with the headbutt thing, if a bit underhanded and sneaky."

He forced a smile.

[kuriositkills]

"Yeah, I give."

That was certainly enough for her. Ali, grinning like the Cheshire cat, let her armor recede, her tail disappearing as her face changed back to normal. She had had fun, quiet a bit. The tutor was a better fighter than she'd thought at the beginning. That was what she got for underestimating him. He'd proven to be a worthy opponent.

"Should've known better than to expect a dragon to surrender." Ali nodded, but her eyes narrowed at the sight of his wince. Maybe she'd done more damage than she'd meant to? That happened sometimes, especially with her temper.

"I'm an agent for a reason. Also, if fighting was your specialty, you probably wouldn't be a history tutor."

"Good move with the headbutt thing, if a bit underhanded and sneaky."

Ali raised her eyebrows. But they quickly went down and stitched together. He didn't look like the smile was sincere. Exactly how much damage had she done? The healing wasn't supposed to hurt, was it?

Biting her tongue briefly to keep from cursing, she offered her hand. "Need a hand?"

[ken]

Apparently Kennedy had performed well enough to please the dragon. Or she was just thrilled enough to be winning that she didn't care how he'd performed. For the sake of Kennedy's fragile ego, he was assuming the former.

He took the offered hand, levering himself to a fully upright position. By now the regen had taken care of all his sores and aches, meaning Kennedy felt as good as new. Well, relatively speaking.

"You know, everyone thought I was going to wind up an Agent," offered Kennedy, grinning ruefully. "I spent a lot of time running into trouble and getting in over my head. My dad was an Agent for a while too..."

Kennedy shrugged, smiling again. This time it didn't look nearly as forced. "Just not cut out for it, I guess."

He stretched, feeling a breeze. Kennedy's brow furrowed and he looked down, laughing a bit. It looked like Ali's attacks had done a number on his clothes. There were burn holes, and his whole left side was singed. It could have been much worse, he supposed.

[kuriositkills]

"You know, everyone thought I was going to wind up an Agent. I spent a lot of time running into trouble and getting in over my head. My dad was an Agent for a while too... Just not cut out for it, I guess."

Ali nodded, although it was a bit over-patient. The kind of patient that a teacher gives to a particularly slow student. She wasn't being mean. She simply found it hard to believe. Kennedy was a good fighter, but he did not seem like the kind to become an agent. She didn't feel he would have the heart for it, no offense intended to him.

But she had to grin and bite her lip to keep from laughing. The sight of his clothes. he looked like a piece of cheese, with holes spread all over him. She crossed her arms over her chest and put her hand in front of her mouth. Her elbow rested on her arm, her fingers tapping over her lips.

"You fight well, despite being a tutor, and I had fun," Ali admitted. She swallowed, taking a deep breath. She opened her eyes again and met his eyes with a serious gaze. Her voice was completely sincere as she commented, "Thank you, Mr. Kennedy Cavan."