Round 2: Hosa Corvina vs. Preston Andrews

The darkness around her sent shivers down her spine as she stared ahead into nothing. Somewhere she knew was her opponent - Preston Andrews - the self-proclaimed ladies' man. She knew enough about Preston to have a good idea about what to be prepared for as she shifted her weight from one foot to another. She felt like she had a bit more luck compared to Preston on this stage - if she could get a good form with pretty good night vision...Also, any use of lightning from him would give him away.

She let out a soft sigh as she waited for the bell to ring to tell her when the fight would begin. She thought slightly on the last round fight, and being a little disappointed when it suddenly ended. She was excited to be announced the winner, but sad she hadn't won by taking Heron down. Meh, she would make up for it here. Her blue eyes blinked as she got ready to move forward, although she had no idea what form she would take. She had a feeling her powers still weren't going to work right...

He hadn't been exactly fond of the last place that he had fought in, and this place didn't seem to be any better in the least. Preston kicked at the ground under his feet. It was rough, but a little loose, like gravel. It reminded him of the cliffs up in Maine, where'd he'd climb up the sides and leap off the top. They made the same crunching sound under his heel. It was weird, he thought.

Even weirder was the strange darkness that seemes to drag over them. It was like something straight of a cheesy-ass indie game. He couldn't barely see anything ahead of him. Pres supposed he could light up the way... He glanced at his palm, curling it into a fist. Small sparks of electricity danced around his empty grip. It might also be a dead giveaway, wouldn't it?

Or would that matter? He was fighting Hosa Corvina, runner up to last year's tournament. It was no secret around the school how stupid, ceqzy strong she was - the Autumn house's prefect, and a favorite of the teachers. She had turned into a damned dragon last year. In his situation, the best thing he hoped for was something with shitty eyes to help him along.

"Won't this be fun?" He muttered with a smirk under his breath, gripping his polearm tightly and waiting for the bell to ring.

When the signal went off to start the match, Hosa took in a deep breath as she closed her eyes,  letting her mind attempt to pick a random form to go for. Normally she would of started off running, but with it being as dark as it is...She had no idea what laid ahead of her so getting a form was important as it would widen her options. When the flash of pain that had been bothering her since that training day for the tournament, her eyes flashed open as she took on a new form.

Once more eagle claws dug into the ground beneath her, but she noticed key differences between this form and hippogriff form she had taken last round. She could feel that she was smaller, but lean but with strong muscles underneath her feathers and fur. Her sharp vision that was already adjusting to eh very much lack of life informed her that she was mainly black - having taken on the color of her hair. She had been hoping for that to happen and had even willed it so that showed some control she supposed. The dark coloring of herself was good because Preston would have trouble seeing her in the darkness, and on that good note, she went back to scanning her body to try to make sense of it. Her back-part was something that peaked the most interest about her. While she was a griffin-like beast, she knew that her back legs were not of that of an lion...But more of a wolf while her flicking tail did remind her of that of a lion. Left wondering what she was, the name - as always - soon came to her mind as her body told her exactly what she wanted to know.

A Cynogriffon.

That name was unknown to her, which left her confused on what to do. She had no idea what she could do as a cynogriffon which was rather bad, but decided that staying on the ground was a bad idea so with a few flaps of her wings, she took to the skies. Her mind raced as she flew toward the center of the arena, her keen eyes soon making sense of the world around her - giving her a better field of view then she had as a human. She took notice of large jagged pillars of rocks reaching from the ground and carefully landed on one of them, her talon and claws carefully holding herself on the sharp edge as she avoided cutting herself. Her eyes scanned below her, attempting to find any sign of Preston in the darkness. However, while she thought it was unfair being so high up...Her cynogriffon side was fond of the high places as she tried to catch sight of Preston. The moment he made himself known in any way such as lightning or even calling out, she would be upon him like the bird of prey she half-was.

Preston heard the bell - and soon after one of the strangest sounds that he'd ever heard. It was slimy, or sharp, and entirely hard to describe; but it sent a chill down his spine. Then again, this creepy ass atmosphere didn't really help his imagination in the least. That must've been the lovely opponent of his quickly breaking into her trademark transformation. He let out a silent groan. Great. He'd been hoping to get at least a good look at her before she'd went and turned into a horse-sized duck or something. Guess he had no choice to move then and see what exactly he was up against.

The young man had started to run forward before nearly falling flat on his face, his foot sinking into a deep ugly hole in the ground that he'd been unable to see before. Pres quickly recovered pulling his foot up in disgust and approaching a bit more slowly, staring at the ground ahead of him and continuing to head straight forward. He'd heard a few more strange sounds, but nothing he could really recognize. It was only when he'd reached to the spot that Hosa had been at before that things had started to make sense. There were strange marks on the ground, but nothing he could recognize... like bear marks, or a really big cat...? What the fuck? He'd tried to match them together when he saw a black feather resting nimbly on the floor, blending in with the rest of the shadows.

The Autumn picked it up, looking at it closely before tossing it away. "Shit..." He spat under his breath, backing up again towards the large rock that had stood between them in the large clearing, staring up at the sky. Of course, he saw nothing. Now what did he do?

Well one thing was for certain. He was tired of playing hide and go seek already, not really feeling like putting up with it again this round. "I know you're out there!" He shouted, raising his pole arm and making small circles. Since he was unable to see so far in the dark, his best chance - or his only real chance for the moment, was to let her come for him. He wasted no time in making sure that happened, letting sharp bolts of electricity spark suddenly and continue to run up and down the lengths of his entire body. "Come get some!"

Ahhhh, there he was. Her eyes fell to where she had started to see the electricity lighting up his opponent. Of course, it reminded her that this was going to be a dangerous game. If wasn't careful around him...She was going to become overcooked if he got a good shot on her. Her wings spread open as she pushed herself into the air, quickly heading toward where Preston was standing. Trying to stay high in the sky above him, she watched him with a careful eye as she attempted to come up with an idea to deal with this. She couldn't attack him straight on with the electric running throughout his body like that, so she was going to have to get him to stop that before she attacked...

With a snort, she folded her wings and dove downwards toward the ground below them. She landed a good distance away, close enough that he could see her in the light that he was creating but far enough that she would have time to dodge. Her body was sideways, her wings stretched out so that she could take to the air in a moment's notice and dodge any bolts thrown her way. Her wolf claws dug into the ground as she stared at him with her blue eyes, waiting for him to make a move. If her beak allowed her to smile, she would have been as she waited for him to do something. Lets see what Preston could bright to the fight. All she knew was that this fight was sure to be brighter then the rest...

That didn't take long at all, he thought, holding his arm up over his eyes as his opponent dove in for her landing, kicking up rocks and dust nearly all over the place. A few pieces of the strange earth started sticking to his staff, among other places. He only thought it mildly annoying. It was hard to be bothered by such a thing when there was a dog / eagle / thing several feet away, almost looking as if it were smirking right at you. "I don't know," he muttered under his breath, as if she could hear him . "I think Amelia's zombie pet was cuter." Preston stared the transformed Hosa down, scrambling up a quick game plan.

He wasn't completely stupid. He knew the electricity was his shield and - quite frankly - he always felt more comfortable keeping it close to him to start with. He still had an actual weapon of his own, and it was probably his best chance at damaging her, if he could get close enough. Hopefully nothing too disastrous would happen then. 'You could always throw a rock at her or some shit.' He thought, smirking at his own dumb thought. A whole good that would do though, right?

Pres let out a silent sigh. Fuck it. Nothing good was going to come out of standing there and staring at her. He gripped his polearm more tightly in one hand, taking a more careful approach up to the gryphon-thing. She'd already made clear how quick she was and he was going to stay cautious, ready to ready to that. The sharp whips of electricity grew larger and more brightly as he approached her. One touch to do some damage. That was all he needed. It was still only when Preston he felt ready when he actually made small leaps forward, taking quick jabs with his spear to the whole of her body.

Things must've looked strange then as he tried to put pressure on the seemingly large 'cynogriffon... thing'. Also probably for the best she couldn't speak because if he heard that pun he would've just quit the tournament then and there. /shot.

A small chuckle escaped Hosa at the whole 'zombie dear thing was cuter' thing, which sounded really weird coming from her beak. She stayed ready to move at a moment's notice but started to shift uncomfortable when Preston started to move forward with his spear pointed toward her. Really, it reminded her of some books she had read about cavemen hunting their prey....Him trying to get close to her with his polearm so he could attempt to kill it in a single blow...Her intelligent eyes glimmered - she couldn't be taken down like that. Of course, she couldn't attack him outright with the electricity surrounding him but...Her eyes drifted toward his weapon. But she could do something to harm him in a different way.

Her wings remained spread as she waited for him for him to get close and the when he lunged forward, she flapped her wings hard and took to the air. One of the quick jabs manged to get part of front legs, which really hurt but she didn't let that stop her. So before Preston could back off, she dove forward and came down hard on the staff of his polearm - aiming to break it in half with her strong strength. Without it, he would be left with a shorter weapon and would have to rely on his electricity and hopefully lower his shield slightly. She had an idea of what she wanted to do, but it was hard to do so when just getting close to her opponent would hurt.

Preston took a few steps back as she quickly took to the air, shielding his eyes away from the temporary storm of dust and rubble she sent kicking up. Before he really even knew it though, she was back on him. Instinctively, he held up his weapon to block the blunt of whatever attack she was throwing at her. The young man gritted his teeth, pushing back and trying to hold his ground. He hadn't realized exactly what was happening until the center of the strong metal beam in his hands began to bend slightly. "Fuck!" He spat, staring back up at Hosa. Was that was she was trying to do? Break his weapon?

The Autumn wanted to have none of that. Since she was pushing down on his weapon, it'd only meant that he could concentrate on getting her back at the moment. He shouted defiance and redirected his lighting up towards the staff, giving Hosa a not-so-healthy dose of voltage before his pole-arm finally gave in and snapped in half in his grasp. For a few moments, his 'shield' was down then, and things went back to that pale darkness from before. Preston dropped the bigger end of his weapon, picking it back up and staring down the shape of the cynogriffon a few feet away. He pulled back his arm and send the broken spear flying at Hosa's body before scrambling back and picking up the other end of his spear, managing to flare sharp whips of lightning around him again, though he'd need some time to get them as strong as they had been.

A gasp of pain racked though Hosa's body as the electricity shocked her, causing her to stumble away with a squawk as the weapon snapped. Her whole body shook as she attempted to recover as darkness surrounded them once more. Her breaths were coming in uneven, her eyes remaining on Preston as she stood her ground. Her blue eyes grew wide when she saw that he had thrown half of his weapon at her, causing her to attempt to dive to the side but the broken metal hilt manged to scrape her wings, pulling off a few feathers as blood trickled down.

She watched as he attempted to bring back up his shield, but she could tell it wasn't at its full power and that this was one of the few moments she would have. Her first action was to spin around and pick up the bloodied weapon in her jaws. However, it seemed she was unaware of her own strengths because the moment she tried to hold onto it with all that she could; it snapped. Her wings ruffled in surprise as she stared at the two pieces that laid before her, before glancing behind her at Preston. Well...Uh, that idea wasn't going to work.

Spinning her whole body around as she kicked one of the quarter pieces of the polearm down the hill before she lunged forward with a winch. This was going to hurt like hell. Her talons were outstretched to scratch him, but her real target was his arm as she zoned in on it. She had just seen what her jaws could do to metal. His arm? It was going be broken or worse the moment that she bit it but...He was going to put a lot of electricity into her...She branched herself as she opened up her beak to bite down, hoping that she could survive the volts.

Preston watched for a moment as the prefect in front of him tried to shake the effects of the shock off, dealing with the end of his polearm and snapping it quickly in her beak-like jaws. Just witnessing that made the young man shudder and take a few steps backwards, getting a tighter grip on what happened to be left of his glaive. There was a far smaller blade at the end he held, but it was always used as a means for a quick defense - when his weapon was whole anyways, and now it was all he had left to really protect himself, other than his gift.

A sick pit grew deep in his stomach as he tried to back away further from Hosa, but her large claw had already snagged him with a swift stretch and a lunge, and things only got worse when he realized exactly what was happening. 'No, no, no...!' He quickly moved to retaliate. Preston knew he wasn't fast or strong enough to escape out of her grip, but he'd be damned if he couldn't try and do something. He was going to do more than just shock her a little. The knife cut both ways. At such a close distance, if he couldn't get away from her, then there was no way that she could get away from him either.

He took what was left of the polearm in his free hand and aimed to stab it into her thick neck right as she bit down into him. And God... God, when she did, did it hurt like the sharp flames of Hell. He could feel every bit of skin being pierced and his bone snapped easily in half, as easy as a cracker or some disgusting chew toy. Pres couldn't help it, letting out a blood-curling scream then and gripping his weapon tighter, determined to do as much damage as possible, and as deep as possible, for when he unleashed that storm-worthy blaze of electricity, hotter than the sun itself.

It's not like he had anything left to lose at this point anyways.

As her beak bit down on Preston, she felt part of his polearm stab into her slightly - but the close range and awkward position kept it from sinking into deep. Her whole body shivered as the electricity ran though her but also due to the sicking noise of bones cracking under her bite as Preston let out a horrible scream as she closed her eyes, trying to block it. She wanted to apologize so much but this was battle...The next thing she knew was that electricity arced though her body.

Her wings suddenly flared out in response of the volts running though her as she as her eyes flared open. She barely manged to unlock her jaws enough that she pushed herself away from him - pulling the polearm out of her neck causing it to start to bleed - and fell to the ground as her whole body shook as she laid there. She shouldn't be alive, was her thought. Perhaps her form manged to save her? She was left unsure...But aware enough that her preivous wounds were already mostly healed...It seemed her body had a fast healing time...

She wanted to move, but her body wouldn't let her. It ached as she laid there, her body shaking from the volts. With a small huff, she manged to push off the ground slightly with her wings to send her body rolling - going down the hill. It was weird, seeing a currently paralyzed cynogriffon just rolling down the hill but she had to escape Preston until she could move again - or until he bled out. Her whole body shivered, wishing she hadn't done that...What pain Preston had to be in. She really didn't want to do th-GAH

Suddenly the ground beneath Hosa disappeared causing her to fall into a pit of darkness. She soon found the ground once more, but it sent pain flaring though her body as she landed with a huff. Her eyes flickered open as she laid there, barely managing to worm herself forward into a hiding place in the shadows, hoping that Preston wouldn't find her for now. She just had to recover...Just had to recover and victory was hers.

Hosa obviously underestimated how completely and utterly stubborn the asshole that was Preston Andrews could really be.

He had honestly been surprised that she was still able to move away from him. That was the funny thing about electricity, it wasn't like a regular fire. When it cooked you, it did so from the inside out. While the damage may not have been so obvious then, he still knew exactly how deadly a direct hit could really be; blow your arteries out, burst your organs to bits, other things that made your average joe want to hurl. Preston couldn't help still but be impressed then. She really had to be something to survive this long. No wonder she was considered one of the school's strongest. He had hardly any time to reflect on being so impressed though, blood rapidly leaving his mangled arm by every passing second.

Perhaps it was sheer will, or sheer stupidity, that forced him forward, crawling in the direction that the cynogriffon had pushed herself away from. He was light-headed beyond all hell, and moving around was only making it worse, but he didn't care - determined to fight until his very last breath. Luckily, he didn't have to go too far. As he crawled, a steady stream of blood - that wasn't his own - met his hands. For a moment, his eyes shown a bit brighter. Another thing that left the 'average joe' so uncomfortable was how easily lightning loved to travel through blood, which was quite literally nothing but salt and water.

Preston shot of a few sparks into the air, several yards ahead of him, illuminating the clearing and looking for the shape of the large creature in the dark, or at least the reflection off the gleam of blood - so he knew where to aim. It was a long shot, but it was the best chance he had, finding a dark hole straight ahead of him downhill. That had to be his guess. The young man leaned forward on his knees, raising his hand up and gathering electricity at his fingertips. "Nothing personal." He muttered. Pres shot his arm out, sending an intense strike at the deep pit with every ounce of energy he had left in him.

After which the Autumn let himself collapse on the floor, only having a good few minutes left with nothing to do but lay there and smile through the pain.

Well, wasn't this fun?

Hosa faintly heard the sound of movement coming closer, causing her to grit her beak together as she forced herself up - her body finally deciding to slightly listen to her. She attempted to flap her wings to take air, but they ached and simply refused to take flight - perhaps the electricity had messed up her feathers. So she had decided to try to climb up the wall. Her talons and wolf paws scraped at the walls as she attempted to get up there, using her wings and tail for balance as she tried to find ledges to cling to. When she heard Preston come to a stop, so did she, her eyes flicking as she tried to figure out what would happen.

Then the electricity shot into the cave startling Hosa as her wings flapped in shock as she attempted to cling to the side to avoid the bolt that Preston had shot. She had been climbing up the wall on the side toward Preston as it had been the side she had taken cover under. The electricity hit the ground and the blood that Hosa had left, but because she had started to climb left it unable to carry up to her and was quickly grounded. However, it had startled Hosa enough that she lost her grip shortly afterwards and hit the ground with a gasp.

She laid there, staring up at the gaping mouth of the hole as her wings laid sprawled out. Was this it? It reminded her much of her fight against Destiny, just lying there unable to do anything...Hosa sighed as she rolled onto her side, but her eyes remained looking toward the sky. She figured Preston didn't have much fight left in him after that horrible blow she had dealt him...Perhaps she could get the energy to carry on but...She had a feeling that this was the end. So, she laid there, waiting for either Preston to show up at the rim of the pothole or for the illusion to end.