Just like livin in Hollywood Who: Wild Child, OT Mastermind When: Saturday afternoon Where: Dirt Arena What: Gibs is knocked out of the tournament... with a bang! Excitement was starting to dance in Kyle's stomach as he stepped into the dirt arena, nostrils flaring a moment as he took in the scents waiting to greet him. A smirk tugged at one corner of his lips as his bare feet connected with the dirt floor of the arena. The semi-finals, and he was hardly even winded. It was a a dramatic change from the fight only two months ago, when his spirit had been utterly destroyed and he had looked to a fellow mutant to end his life. Now he stood proud before the cheering fans, rolling his shoulders as he prepared to face off against a mutant from Black Block.
Round four had gone well enough, the mountain of a mutant from Red Block had possessed an annoying combination of enhanced strength and some kind of energy projection, but neither had been able to stand up to the speed and agility of the young feral. He had manged to scrape away a good bit of skin and fur off his left forearm as the large man had fallen to the ground, Wild Child latched onto his throat with choking arms, the claws of his feet sunk toe-deep into his back for added support. It had looked something like a spider monkey taking down a bear, but a clean win was a clean win, and Gibney was ready for more.
He licked his lips as he slowly stepped further into the arena, eyes gone half feral, flecked with gold as he studied his newest opponent. Another few sniffs told Wild Child that his opponents powers revolved around fire or something very similar, as the wind carried the scent of charred flesh and clothing. At once, his eyes narrowed, a growl rumbling in his chest as more gold seemed to appear in his cat slitted eyes. Was this the man responsible for the burning scent which had mingled earlier with Violets? A good deal of Kyle's logic moved right out the door as a much more feral drive demanded blood, death and pain as punishment for a perceived crime. Rip the bastard open now, find out if he was guilty later, a much more primal version of "Shoot 'em all and let God sort 'em out."
A threatening snarl erupted from the youths chest as Gibney unconsciously assumed an aggressive stance, feet wide, body hunched froward, center of gravity low, claws extended and held at ready. Time to see what this asshole could do. With no further warning, Wild Child exploded forward on all fours, long limbs extending to shred the distance between himself and his opponent. Fangs bared, he was ready to pounce on the Black Block mutant, who looked entirely calm and comfortable, instincts alone kept Kyle from losing the fight right then and there. Reacting only to the suddenly shifted energy of his opponent, Kyle threw himself to one side, rolling lightly in the dirt and coming up in a low crouch, the sting of burning matter filling his senses.
He stayed stone still for a moment, trying to figure out just what the mutant had done. He had not projected or thrown anything at Gibney, it was as if the ground beneath him had just... combusted. As if to confirm his theory, the ground just in front of Kyle exploded, the feral throwing himself into a back flip and avoiding damage in the very nick of time. It took Gibs very little time to decide what to do in the situation. He had no warning, no way of knowing when or where an explosion would happen, the mutant before him was simply able to make any inorganic mater explode at will, though even this aggressive and feral state, Gibney was able to reason that larger combustions would require a longer buildup. That really only left him one option: Take the fucker down, as fast as possible, there would be no playing to the audience this round.
Licking his lips and issuing a low growl, Kyle lunged forward, attempting to run, spring and bound in unpredictable directions, the less patterned his movements were, the less likely it would be for him to land on an exploding patch of dirt. He had begun to close the distance, almost within attacking range when his opponent moved, hurling something at the blond feral. Giving an annoyed snarl, Gibney dodged a rock just before it exploded, he shaking his head, bits of dust that formerly made up the hurled rock flying from his hair with the action.
"Shit," he grumbled to himself, now having to watch out for exploding patches of ground and combustible projectiles. "'Is fight sucks," he grumbled to himself as he tried to quickly but carefully pick his way closer. All he needed was one good opening, one good crack a the back of the skull and he was sure he could take the mutant down. It was just a matter of being fast and agile enough to get in close enough to land the blow. Frustration and impatience began to build as every time he started to get close enough to think about attacking, he would have to back off to avoid exploding rocks and pebbles lobbed at him. What was worse, Kyle was expending energy to try and get in for an attack, while the Black Blocker just stood still, expending his powers only when he decided it necessary. It was not long at all until the feral was all but seeing red.
At last, Gibney spotted an opening as the mutant had begun to move closer to the arena wall. Confusion filled the features of both his opponent and the spectators when Gibney suddenly turned tail and sprinted toward the left most wall, away from the mutant he was dueling. Nearing the wall, Wild Child jumped, ricocheting off the wall, propelling himself toward the explosive mutant, high overhead in hopes of avoiding diving head first into the fallout of any particularly large explosions. Grinning to himself, he extended his claws and readied to claim his victory. What he did not expect was a blinding light and the sudden heat and impact that his face met with.
Thinking quickly, the mutant had hurled a rock toward the acrobatic Gibney and combusted it mid-air, both the gladiators being struck by the force of the explosion. The difference was, Wild Child was not expecting nor prepared for it. Kyle hit the ground, hissing and growling in pain as he squinted his eyes, running a hand down his charred face as he fought to get back to his feet. He could not seem to get his limbs under him correctly and his sharp vision had made the sudden burst of light all the more blinding for him. It was all the time that Gibneys opponent needed.
The explosion which ignited under sprawled ferals stomach left ringing in the ears of the first several rows of spectators. Wild Child's gangly form was launched a good eight feet into the air before he collided with the dirt floor with a loud thud, the howl which rose with Gibney for the first four feet was almost humorous. His body bounced once before settling in a small cloud of dust. Ever the scrapper, Gibney pulled himself slowly to one elbow, incoherently muttered "Did anyun' get th' number o' 'at bus?" then dropped face first back to the dirt, not moving again.
It was an hour later when Gibney slowly pried his eyes open to find his head aching, his bushy eyebrows half singed off, his shirt nothing more than a few charred ribbons, his face a mess of soot and dirt, and that the fight had earned him with a fracture in his left wrist and a cracked rib. These facts were not the most important thing on his mind as he clawed his way back to consciousness, he initially confused at finding himself in a bed indoors, not in the pit any longer. It only took a few moments of processing for him to decide the reason for this was that the fight was over, once that was settled in his mind, the most important issues could at last be considered.
"...'d I win? ...When's dinner?" The questions came out rather slowly, in a strained, gravel rough voice, his squinted eyes trying to decide who was around to answer those questions. His wrist had already been splinted and would be as good as new in a week, an ice pack and compressing wrap had been wound tightly about his rips, which in turn made breathing difficult at that exact moment. Kyle let his eyes fall closed again and just waited for an answer of some sort, trying to think it all over and sort it all out for himself seemed like too much of an effort at the moment.