Take It To The Limit: Ryuu duels Xavier (06-03-2403)

“Stryke!”  Sounded the relatively large Itami Errant as he closed the distance between himself and his long time friend.

“Itami.”  Xavier replied, knocking forearms with Ryuu as he got near him.

“It’s been a while son...”  Ryuu started now, drawing a nod from Xavier.  “I hardly ever see you around these days... and whenever I look you up on the networks it always says that you’re at Fort David.”  Ryuu stated, causing Xavier to smirk.

“Yeah, Smerkyov likes to have me close by...”  Xavier started. “...he claims it’s for the training programs that he’s been designing especially for me, but I think he’s just trying to keep me on a short leash.”  Xavier replied.

“Heh, that sucks kid...”  Ryuu replied with a slight smirk.  “But I guess it could be worse... the leash could be tighter, right?”  Ryuu remarked, causing Xavier to look around at their surroundings a few geographical squares away from the Mercenary fortress.

“Evidently...”  He replied, causing Ryuu’s smirk to grow.  “So, what brings you to Crystales... I heard that you lost the Monolith so this clearly isn’t guardian business...”  Xavier reasoned.

“What the hell, you know about that already?”  Ryuu inquired now, causing Xavier to smirk now.

“The Archetype keeps us all very well informed.”  Xavier replied.

“Evidently...”  Ryuu replied with a slight scoff now.  “Well since you already know... since it happened, my form’s been... acting funny.”  Ryuu explained.  “My techniques keep spiking at retardedly high outputs... and it’s getting to the point where I gotta purposely channel less to function how I used to-“ Ryuu explained, drawing a raised eyebrow from Xavier.

“You get separated from the strongest entity on the planet and your abilities spike... you’re form is as mind boggling as ever.”  Xavier stated casually.

“Yeah, well as you’re the biggest brain I know other than Roun, I figured I’d get you to look it over and see if you got any ideas.”  Ryuu explained.

“I see...”  Xavier paused, powering up his form to full.  “It’s been a while since we sparred but, I’ll try not to make this too quick.”  Stryke smirked, causing Ryuu to power his form up to maximum as well.

Instantly, Xavier could notice the difference in the output as Ryuu’s form naturally morphed into a primarily energetic structure, with his three modifiers dictating the functions of his energy form.  As Xavier’s energy spread through the battlefield, Ryuu noticed as the world around him began to warp violently.  Luckily for the Itami, between his Obstinacy and his myriad of defensive abilities, he was actually able to withstand the passive effects of his friend’s energies, allowing him to close the small distance between them quickly.  As he did so, Ryuu would tackle his opponent and plant him in the ground, utilising his Detonation Drive as he did to exploded Xavier’s energies.  This served to stun the Cleric with relatively low defensive capacity, allowing Ryuu to power up his Dissipation Drive and attempt now to further stun him.  Xavier’s Disruptor Rave would take most of the sting off of the attack however, giving him just enough time to power up his Genesis Broken Chaotic Induction and blast Ryuu off of him.  Ryuu’s eyes widened as the small nuclear reaction knocked him away, disrupting his passive defensive techniques and allowing the chaotic nature of Stryke’s area of influence take its toll on him.

As Ryuu hit the ground, he rolled backwards and attempted to track his target, much to no avail however as Xavier moved through his twisted space, allowing him to suddenly appear behind the Itami and put him in a full nelson.

“If this is you with boosted abilities Ryuu... you were pathetically weak before...”  Xavier smirked now as Grand Ego and Pitied Scum went to work to reduce Ryuu’s abilities, while making those of Xavier far superior.

“Cheesy bastard...”  Ryuu growled as he struggled against his opponent, his force rapidly multiplying due to the effects of his Veranos Soul until he was finally able to break the grip and fling Xavier off of him.  Ryuu would engage his Burst shell now, following Stryke as he flew away, allowing the Itami to catch him and plant him in the ground before the earth once again exploded with energy.

Amidst the black and green flames of Ryuu’s attack, blue flames slowly manifested before they overwhelmed Ryuu’s attack and exploded in a pillar of light.  Ryuu’s gaze narrowed as he powered up his Perfection Shell to shield against the incoming Khaaos wave, before he powered up his Shell-Drive Counter to send the energy right back at its source, drilling Xavier further into the ground before he dissipated the attack, preventing Ryuu from further using it against him.  Despite this action however, Ryuu had still managed to absorb a great deal of energy from the attack, and his Force was now fully charged, meaning that he would be a pest to deal with.  Xavier just sighed as he, for the first time, activated his two special abilities, quickly getting a feel for Ryuu’s form before Dead Locking Ryuu’s Tate Effect and Grip Effect.  Instantly Ryuu’s energy absorption would become far less controlled, allowing Xavier to now quickly input a viral form of Khaaos and allow it to spread through the Itami’s form, further disrupting all of his abilities.

Stryke would now take the opportunity to charge a huge blast of offensively coded Khaaos and present Ryuu with it, once again sending a pillar of blue light into the air.  This time the pillar would be accompanied by the Itami however, who rode the wave upwards all the way to the edge of Stryke’s three and a half kilometre area of influence.

“That should take him a while to get back here...”  Xavier commented casually as looked down at his watch, calculating just how much time he had to reconfigure his form for Ryuu’s second assault.  Xavier sighed as he started to recode his form from the ground up, realising that it was times like this that he wished he was a Morpher.  Under normal circumstances, he would have simply blasted Ryuu until he stopped moving, but his current melee game was simply a better way to testing his friend’s form.  “Incoming...”  He sounded out loud as he raised his hands and expanded a Genesis Broken Chaos Field, bending ether and the very dimensions that it occupied around him so that he could avoid the devasting power of Ryuu’s Overwhelming Force.

Xavier would dash in now, coding his old Spark energy type and deliver three quick punches to Ryuu, who was now employing both of his Special Abilities to drastically boost the power of his form.  As Xavier’s hits connected, the force from each strike simply dissipated through Ryuu’s form, but the effects lingered, charging Ryuu’s form as the demi-dragon got his claws around Stryke’s neck.  Instantly, the draining effects of Ryuu’s Veranos Black went to work, reducing Stryke’s output and even his very channelling capacity at a phenomenal rate, forcing him to activate the secondary effects of his Spark energy type a bit early.  As he did so the energy arched off Ryuu’s form, super charging the ether around him until a power ethereal discharge blasted the demi-dragon, tearing into his defence.  Unfortunately, with Ryuu’s Obstinacy, the attack was not enough to break the grip, allowing the Itami to quickly perform a sit-down power-bomb, once again stunning Xavier.  Quickly he would, switch his grip to Xavier’s feet, grasping them tightly before jumping into the air and slamming his opponent into the ground once more, snapping him out of his stunned state.

“Okay, that’s quite enough of this...”  Xavier exclaimed, figuring that he had enough information on Ryuu’s form to draw his conclusion, affirming in his mind that allowing the Itami to revert him would not at all be necessary.  Xavier’s Omega Drive would spread through the environment now, degrading Ryuu’s energies first and then his form, as Xavier’s myriad of chaotic abilities destroyed his guards and began to rip away at his health.  Even as Ryuu powered up his own Omega Drive, the effects of Xavier’s Pestillence still seemed too strong, trapping him now in a chaotic space that entangled him and degraded his form.  It would take all of the concentration that Ryuu had to storm his way through the field and towards Xavier, but he would simply be playing into the hands of the Cleric class channeler.  Ryuu would curse audibly, though his voice would be distorted, as he stepped on a Khaaos mine and was blasted away.

Xavier smirk at this, taking another few seconds to prove his point and repair his bruised ego before he powered down the technique and called the sparring session to an end.  Despite this however, it would take a bit longer before Ryuu could shake off the effects of his last reality warp.

“A bit much?”  He inquired, as Ryuu came back to his senses.

“Maybe...” Ryuu replied as his eyes opened slowly.  “So you seeing anything weird going on with me?”  Ryuu inquired now, getting straight to the point.

“Not in the least...”  He replied, causing Ryuu’s eyebrow to raise.

“Site...”  Ryuu replied, very confused by the whole time.

“This is your form’s natural potential...”  Xavier explained.  “...without all of the bells and whistles associated with the Monolith.”  He continued, leaving Ryuu still somewhat confused.  “As weilder of the Monolith soul, your form attunes itself to that entity so that you can better utilise its powers... since your natural form and the monolith are so drastically different, to synchronise, you were both required to sacrifice some of your power.”  Xavier continued further, allowing Ryuu to now understand what he was explaining.  “With the monolith back where it belongs, your form finally get back to doing what it does best.” Xavier finished.

“Okay then...”  Ryuu nodded, before a smirk broke across his face.  “So... what’dya think... A-plus abilities right?”  The Itami remarked arrogantly.

“More like a B-Minus...”  Xavier retorted cynically, causing Ryuu to laugh loudly now.

“You know what son, If you weren’t my boy, I’d wait a day or so, until I was healed and bust your ass.”  Ryuu remarked with light laughter.

“Oh, I hate to break it to you, but that auto-regen of yours would be kicking in anytime soon... you’re going to have to power down and heal like the rest of us this time.”  Xavier smirked, causing Ryuu to growl lightly.

The two would continue the back and forth banter for quite some time as Xavier explained the principle of his Dead Lock to Ryuu, allowing the young Itami to know just why it was going to take him the full five days to heal from this battle.  The conversation would then run on to cover everything from the Military life to possible upgrades to their channelling form as the two old friends caught up, deciding there and then to kill time as they rejuvenated by seeing the sights of Ketzvar.

Ryuu: 300 Exp (-2562 HP)

Xavier: 360 Exp (-1200 HP)