Sora was walking for quite a while now, ending up where she least aspected, the rainforest. She looked around, seeing everything, the golden dews. She was indeed interested in all these, but her mind was silent, not taking in this beautiful sight. "It looked like it rained.." she muttered to herself, as her light blue eyes looked at a leaf with a silvery raindrop running down the leaf and dripping onto the earth beneath her feet. How long was it when she had such a dark mind. She was angry at herself, how could she let him die. She looked up, seein that everything darkneed all of a sudden. "hmm?" she asked looking up. It was dark, the thunder clouds were rolling in. She sighed shaking her head as she started walking.

She was right, it started raining, but it wasn't cold, it was warm. The rain was coming down harder and it was hard for her to say where she was going. She changed her direction, heading towards a clump of trees and sliding under them, the rain wa blocked, not totally, but enough so that she would be safe. She leaned against the tree trunk, her black hair sticking to oher head. "How long was it.. since.. I actually have been somewhere this beautiful?" she asked herself. "this is a beautiful place... yet.. there's a lot of danger in here as well.." she shook her head, flashbacks occurring inside her mind. She merely just shook it away and sighed, tryig to think of something else. She looked at the sword beside her and picking it up in her hands, she looked over it. It was still in good shape, and she had never abandoned it in her whole entire life. Her eyes were beginning to get heavy, but then there was another thing, how long was it since she had trained. "I forgot all about training.." she said to herself as she got up. The sword in her hand, still in its sheath, she began walkin out of the small shelter that she had found. The rain poured down onto her, and now her hand held onto the hilt and she pulled the sword out.

She could hear it, the raindrops hitting the blade, giving off a small ping sound. "Music.." she muttered as she let the rain hit her sword. Her silver blade standing out, shining and the little keychainn like thing that was hanging off at the hilt of her sword. She had to concentrate, not think of anything else. The place was isolated, nobody was here, not one animal , nothing. Her sword out in front of her, staying still. Then moving her sword, her training began, the music was pounding through her ears, getting more and more louder as she trained. Complicated movements, martial arts, moving silently, everything packed into one. Her blue eyes were focused and her black hair almot seemed like the rain, except that it moved where she moved. Her complicated movements continued and until she was out of breath, or interrupted, nothing would stop her.

Ian leaned up against a rather large tree, but not one which provided adequate shelter from the rain that was now pouring down. he wore very natural colors today, ones consisting of browns and greens, and not by choice but by mere coincidence, not having planned to stop here.

He continued to watch, as he had been doing, for some time as the girl practiced move after move in the pouring rain. Many places Ian had traveled, he had not seen a girl who was as skilled with weapons as the one he was now watching. he did feel rather awkward leaning silently against the tree, feeling as though his behavior was rather like that of a stalker.

He decided to watch her any way from under the dark green hood of his cloak. Ian shifted position for a moment, stopping momentarily as his sword caught itself against the tree and it needed a moment to move it. He had now watched for some time and decided it was time to make his presence known. The girl did look as though she had a lot on her mind though so he figured it'd be best to approach cautiously incase she was emotionally unstable at the moment.

"Rather nice weather were having isn't it?" he asked stepping out from the tree and removing his hood, not caring that the down pouring rain quickly soaked his hair and left his bangs dangling down over his eyes. he made sure to keep one hand secure on his blade which was concealed by his cloak, incase she decided to attack him. he didn't take her as a threat, but also was not so quick as to underestimate her powers for he really knew nothing of the person he was approaching. "May I ask why you are training in such unfavorable weather?" he asked.

She knew there was somebody in the trees, and for a moment she stopped training. She was panting for breath as she turned around, meeting eyes with the person, her sword facing downward towards the ground. "Yes it is nice weather.. and if you call this unfavorable weather.. you probably haven't been to a lot of places..." she muttered to him as she put her sword bac in its sheath which wasn't that far away from her. She looked over the man and she raised an eyebrow. He was tense, no duh, he probably thought she was an enemy or goingn to attack.

She sighed running a hand through her wet hair. The rain was still pouring and she felt the rain trickle down the back of her neck and into her soaked garments. She had to say it was getting colder now and she shivered slightly. It was probably because she stopped moving all of a sudden. SHe looked at the new comer face to face. "I guess its time for introductions..." she said bowing slightly. Her head still bowed, she continued. "My name is Sora.. its a pleasure to meet you.." she said. She lifted her head back up and looking at him once more, she turned around. "Why are you here?" she asked. "Did you just happen to wander in here like I did.." her eyes were straight and cold, but she was concealing her true feelings with it.

She grabbed the sleeve of her shirt and tightning it, she watched as the water came rushing out from he rclothes, but then she remembered there was no point in doingn it, so she stopped, her hand dropping to her side. She sighed her eyes concentrating on one spot. She had to train more, to get these thoughts out of her mind. However, she couldn't do that with the stranger here, unless he wanted to train with her, but that was rare. She hardly ever let anybody train with her, unless it was for specific reasons. "You know how to use a sword don't you?" she asked. The way he was walking everything, she could tell he could handle a sword pretty well. Her blue eyes were still looking at the same exact spot she was staring at a few minutes ago.

"No.." said Ian, "I believe unfavorable was a sufficient word for this weather." he said peering up into the treetops. "For I'd much rather be dry and warm then cold and wet, and I know of the weather you speak of, but I don't find unfavorable to be as harsh a word as you make it seem." he said as he used his hand to push his bangs out of his eyes. "My name is Ian, and it is a pleasure to meet you too." he said.

Ian took his hand off his sword and relaxed a bit figuring she wasn't going to attack him or anything of the sort. "I'm a wanderer." he said in response to her question, "I had been traveling for awhile and had remembered a previous experience I had here and decided I would pay it another visit." he said "and yes, I do know how to use a sword." he said as he moved part of the cloak which had been used to conceal it so that people would not know it was on him. "Why do you ask?" he questioned as he covered his sword back up, wondering why she would be concerned with his ability to use a weapon.

Sora looked up at him,smirking. Putting his sword down towards a total stranger. The grip on her sword which was facing downward tightened and her body suddenly tensed up. They were only a few meters apart and that was a good distance for her to attack anyways. She lifted one hand and pushed her bangs aside so she could see clearly, at least what she was goingn to do. "I'm a wanderer as well..." she said ignoring his other questions. Her blue eyes flashed dangerously. It wasnt the fact that she wanted to kill this man, or injure him. She just wanted a little bit of a challenge, test this guy.

After a few seconds of just silence, her body relaxed slightly and then as quick as the rain that was falling towards the ground, she was right in front of the guy, her sword out of its sheath now, its silver blade shining. She smirked. "let's see how good you are.." her light blue eyes were filled with seriousness as she slashed upward on the guys chest.

As soon as she did this, she jumped backwards a few feet and sliding to a muddy halt, her sword was now in front of her. Her fighting stance up and ready. Her blue eyes held a tint of playfullness and a teasing sort of feeling. "Let's see how good you are.. don't worry.. we can always heal our wounds later.." she muttered to him. How much damage can this one guy do to her. SHe didn't know the answer to that question, but she knew she would soon find out.

Ian stood motionless and looked down at the large gash that had torn his shirt and atched the blood trickle down his chest in the rain. Ian smiled wickedly, "Interesting move.." he said grasping his sword. "I guess I'm up for some sort of challenge." he said not knowing if this was going to be challenging or not.

He slowly pulled out his blade and looked at it. "Don't worry." he said, "I'm not worried about what wounds I am going to get." he said, "Nothing I haven't gotten before." with a shrug he got himself ready to attack her, but not in a manner of someone who was about to face an extreme challenge, but more of a carefree manner, almost one that would seem kind odd for a fight. "Now, I am supposing that in the event you get me down, you are not going to kill me, so I will give you the same respect and I will refrain from killing you, should I be victorious." he said with a smile.

Ian lunged at her with his blade strait out in line with her left shoulder. he planned to stab into her left shoulder and in the event he missed, which was very rare, he might have a shot of her at least losing balance.

OOC: please pardon my short posts and bad use of grammar and character, I'm tired and sick and stuff and have major writer's block today..=\

((Its okay.. ))

Sora looked at him in an odd manner and sighed. Obviously this man wasn't taking this quite seriously and she didn't mind. She would just have to follow along. "fine.." she muttered as she moved out of the way of his first attack and then outstretching her leg, she was hoping that he would fall down flat on his face.

"First of all... I know that i'm a girl and everything.. but.. honestly... do you have to go so easy on me?" she asked a slight smirk appearing on her face. Her light blue eyes held a slight twinkle in them, creating some sort of teasing look on her face. "You can do better then that.."she muttered to him.

With her nimble feet, she began to run and then jumping, she climped up a tree and was hidden by the treetops. She was good at concealing herself, that much she knew. Why? Because she was a thief. SHe didn't make a single movement in the treetops at least when she got there, and soon, she stopped looking at the clear space beneath her where Ian was.

Ian smiled, "I'm aware." he said as he landed on the ground behind her and his eyes became very slim as she leaped up into the trees behind him. He was good at sensing wen an attack was coming and had a very adequate sense of hearing. Listening intently, he could follow her through the trees with his mind as he listened to the slight ruffle of leaves as she passed through.

He waited intently for her to drop from the treetops. Using this time to his advantage, he could sense, almost analyze the thought process of this girl. Yes, she was thinking he didn't know here she was and was going to drop down from the trees suprising him and catching him off guard. He hoped for her sake that she had a back up plan since Ian was ready for her attack.

((First of all.. she isn't moving.. hehehehhehhe.. Sorry its so short... didn't have any time to make it more detailed..))

Sora looked at Ian, smirking. Her little plan was working. The rain was still pouring hard down and the rain was confusing him. He was looking around him with an ammused smile on her face. He probably thought that she was moving on and about like a crazy woman. She wasn't like that. She couldnt do anything this far apart from him so instead she took out her sword. I could always use hand to hand combat right? her thoughts raced. This was getitng interesting though. It seemed like this guy was good at hearing, and detecting movements, as she was. She counted inside her head, the seconds that passed. She flung her sword like a boomerang towards the guy. It was big enough to swing around, and if it were to reach, it would have made its mark.

As her attack was in motion, she also moved as she got closer and closer towards the guy, she kicked forcefully towards his knee, hopefully making him kneel down and after that she aimed her elbow at his back, trying to make him lay down. This will be an advantage for her at least. Then putting her foot on his back, she would make him stay still as she grabbed her sword and pinned him to the ground and claim victorious. She smirke dthinking about that, but her match was far from over. "Your pretty good.... can you answer my question? WHat do you do for a living.. besides using that clever mouth of yours?" she asked. All her anger and fustration was put into her voice.

Ian heard the piericng sound that could only be one thing and soon enough he ducked under Sora's blade that nearly missed him. Though he had narrowly missed it, but he felt a thud on his knee and turned to see Sora right bfore him. He fell back just avoiding her elbow and scurried away getting back to his feet at a nearby tree. I can use this as an advantage while her weapon is not with her... he thought. "Clever mouth of mine?" he questioned with a laugh.

Ian was suprised at how good Sora was at fighting and had never met a girl who could so well. he admired her ability to fight but was not about to let her win this. Indeed she had a gret move planned there but it had backfired and Ian though that maybe if he played his cards right, he could have this match all tied up for himself. he looked over at her sword which was laying on the floor after having missed him and he looked up to her thinking maybe he was closer to it then she was and could sort of black her off and use that to his advantage.

She smirked, seeing the panic yet calm look on his face. Does he actually think this is a game.. psh.. he'll soon find out that it isn't one.. her thoughts cleared. Her light blue eyes looked towards her sword on the ground that was just lying there. Even without her sword, she was powerful, good in hand to hand combat, but she also knew that this guy had other weapons on him, so what could she do now. Her eyes traveled towards the place where her sword was and then back to where Ian had scurried off to.

I'll have to run for it.. she thought to herself as she spread her feet apart, and then standing still for a second, gathering up energy inside of her. One...two... three! She started sprinting towards her sword and at the last second she dived for it. It was. She knew what he was thinking. If he could get that sword in his hand, she would have nothing to use but her hands and her brain. Which wasn't that bad as well. But on the other hand.. it would be a lot more interesting without my sword.. she smirked and missed her sword and instead she rushed towards Ian. "why aren't you using your weapon!" she demanded as her leg shot towards his head.

Ian's eyes slimmed, intrigued at the girl's tactics, he dropped his sword and crossed his arms in front of his face blocking her kick. "Interesting move.." he said refering to her not taking the opportunity to regain her weapon. He ran behind her to that he was in between her and her sword just incase she took his, he'd have something to use. She wants hand to hand combat? he though, fine.. He sprinted at her as threw a punch at her face meanwhile swinging his leg under her ankles in an attempt to take her to the floor. he figured if the move worked and she did trip, he'd be in the perfect position to knee her in the face in which case she'd go down and he'd surely win.

Sora easily blocked the punch to her face and immediatly she saw his feet moving towards her leg at the same time. She smirked. "honestly..." she muttered under her breath as her hands suddenly held onto his wrist. She immediatly jumped and jumping over his head, she landed elegantly on her feet. She immediatly turned around and using her arms, she wrapped it around his neck forcefully and held onto him tightly. If he did not dodge this, then she'd have a chance.

This is way too easy... i'm not even breaking a sweat... and yet this guy is sooo... hmm.. how should I say it.. interesting.. he isn't even taking out his own weapon.. surely that is a sign that he doesn't want to hurt me.. but that is also another sign that he wants this battle to be fair.. if I don't use my sword.. then he won't use his as well.. hmmm.. interesting.. most likely somebody would take advantage of this.. She smirked. "Do you think you can beat me now?" she asked. Her knee at the same time was aiming for his back, possibly, the amount of force she was putting onto it, would make him fall onto his knees.

Ian smiled and whipped his arms around behidn his back sliding them under Sora's arms and locking his hands together. He thrust upward and over his head in at attempt to flip Sora over his head. He figured she was just the right height for him to back that move up by kneeing her in the back of the head.

Meanwhile he kept thinking, Interesting move of hers, tactical yet very vulnerable to a move such as I am performing he thought, and hopefully as a result, I can get her to the ground an win this. he thouhght.

"Yes, I still think I can." he said with a smirk as he carried ou the manuever for which he hoped would be successful.

Sora watched with wide eyes as she he used her attack and made it into another move of his own. "Darn!" she muttered to herself as she landed on the ground. Her butt hitting forcefully on the floor. "Argh.." she said with fustration. She clearly didn't like to loose.

She moved her head aside quickly, before he could knee her head and then she stayed putl ike that. She gritted her teeth. What could she do now. She smirked, thinking of an idea. She quickly fliped over to her stomach and then tangling her legs with his feet she wanted to trip him so that he would also be on the ground. "I'm not letting you win that easily!" she shouted at him. Her eyes were blazing with fire.

Ian felt Sora's legs against his and he began to lose his balance, at first, thinking he would be able to move away and stay on his feet, but as he soon came to realize, he was mistaken and he lost balance, falling to the floor.

"Very persistent aren't we?" he asked with a laugh as he rose to his feet and brushed himself off. Ian smiled wickedly deciding to use a tactic which he didn;t ovften use in duels, only in serious battle, life or death situations. he figured, even though this was simply a duel, he could control the power of the spell, and it would also be very good practice for him.

He jogged over to his pack and pulled out a green book fipping to a page in it. He really needed to memorize some of these spells so he didn't need to keep referencing his book. He skimmed the page and turned to face Sora. He cupped his hands in a weird formation, so that his left hand was enxtended out with palm up, the the other was verticle on the center of his other hand. A red haze formed around his hands and his eyes shined bright red.

The forest seemed to take on a more overcast tone and seemed to darken a lose the color that it had before. Slowly from the ground, spirits began to arise around Sora. Not too many, but enough that Ian would probably have the upper hand. He smiled as he dropped his hands and put up his hood, peering back at his book momentarily, and then looking back to the battlefield. he was new to controlling other things so he only hoped he'd get these spirirts to stay under his control.

The spirits slowly advanced on Sora, Ian remaining where he was since he wanted to make sure he had a grasp of how this worked. The spirits were an opesque grey color with red glowing eyes and ling black fingernails extending about 3 inches from the fingers and had teeth that were about equal the length of their nails and exntended to their chins. They seemed, at first glance, as though one could simply walk through them since they did have a hint of transparency to their very thin layers of skin, but they were indeed solid and had an adequate amoutn of strength.

Sora

"yes.. I am a persistent kind of person so get used to it.." she snapped as she also got up, brushing the small amount of mud on her clothes she looked at him. She tilted her head, seeing the green book in his hand. Then seeing his hand of position she istantly got into fighting positions as she looked around.

"huh? you need help in this kind of battle..?" she asked and she sighed. "I would have at least thought that you would be stronger.." she muttered. She looked at them, seeing as if they were nothing, but deep inside, she was panicking like hell. She backed away slowly, thinking of a way to get at Ian. She thought that maybe if she attacked Ian, the concentration of spell on these creatures would be lost.. but then again, that might not happen either.

She backed up again, as they advanced on her. They were trapping her, suddenly closing on her. "mullet!" she yelled. Her eyes were looking from one to the other. "THis is bad... " she muttered. She knew she couldn't get out of this unless she got hurt a little as well. "Fine.. if thats how i'm supposed to do it fine.." she muttered. She put out her hand and yelling one name. "Gakutentu!" her sword came flying towards her. She grabbed it by the hilt just in time. She bent down, all the nails coming to her at one time and blocking them all with her sword, she smirked. "HA!" she smirked.

She immediatly put all her strength against the sword and managed to push them all off. She wlaked backwards, not wanting to get trapped once again and smiled. "Okay.. which one of you zombies are first...?" she asked, her eyes glittering with pure amusement and her body shaking from excitement. "Don't think that you have these goons Ian that you can beat me.. like I said..i'm a tough opponent and no matter how tired I get, I can still beat you.." she muttered to him as she dodged another attack from one of those tranlusent creatures. There strength was far beyond hers, but she could make it so that she didn't have to use all her strength. She continued dodging, seeing that she couldn't block all of the attacks that they brought upon her.

"Don't worry." chimed Ian, "I never implied that, indeed you are a worthy opponent, yet I must disagree in the statement about you beating me." he said with a villaineous smirk, "As much as I'd like to grant you the privelidge of winning, I just can't stoop to that." he said laughing as he walked over and picked up his sword.

He watched for a moment as Sora defended herself from the oncoming horde of zombies quite impressive in Ian's mind actually. Most people simply freaked and broke down allowing Ian to take the place of victor. Looking on for a moment, Ian felt a hint of sympathy and really didn't like having to use odds against his opponents, expecially in situations where it wasn't neccesary.

Ian snapped his fingers causing one of the zombies to dissintigrate into the dirt. In the place of the fallen zombie, Ian stepped in with his sword, not attackign at first, but simpyl waiting that way he could give Sora some chance at taking out the zombies before he stepped in.

Sora smirked at this and rolled her eyes, moving away from one of the zombies attack. "First of all.. I think that is where you are wrong.. I am going to win and I plan to win this!" she said emphasizing the letter I. "And plus... I have a few more tricks up my sleeves... sorta..." she muttered to herself as she dodged another and just in time, she slashed her sword upwards, the zombie turning into dirt.

"How fascinating.. piles of the remains of the zombies.." she sighed but her eyes narrowed at once seeing that Ian was stepping into the fight as well. Darn.. I can't hold all of them all at once.. but.. then again.. her thoughts were racing. What could she do. She jumped around and then backing off far enough, so that she would have time to think, she looked around. Use your surroundings.. use your surroundings.. she thought to herself. This was the rainforest.. tons of rain.. with mud dirt.. and... wait.. mud and dirt.. that was it..

She laughed silently in her mind and she smirked. She bent down, picking up a handful of mud and sending it flying towards the zombies she smirked. "okay!" she said half energetic tone and half icy. She swung her sword around the mud so that it sprayed everywhere. Including on Ian. This would at least give her some time, this was her distraction and immediatly she ran foward. The zombies were dumbfounded, heck they had no brain at all, so she slayed them easily, but that was only because of the distraction. Then rushing towards Ian, she dropped her sword and then aiming for his shoulder, if he was to dodge, then that would be definently a bad thing for Sora, but if he didn't, then this competition was all hers.

Ian rapidly spun his sword in front of him causing a sort of fan-effect and blocking most of the mud. His zombies however, were battered with clods of mud and dirt. he smiled for a moment, before seeing Sora's sword come flying down. He flew to the side just barely dodign her attack,a nd followed it up by swinging his sword arougn aiming for her upper back. he didn;t want to hit her mid back with full force since that could paralyze her forever and he didn't want that, he simply wanted to knock the wind out of her, and striking her upper back would be enough to do that.

Sora stumbled fowards, her sword missing his shoulder. "NO!" she shouted. She couldn't turn around, so instead, she went through with her sword, and fliped it around. The sword was now across her back and when his sword hit her, she flew foward. She landed on the floor, but she could still move.

"Did you have to do that!? " she shouted as she got up again. She sighed and closing her eyes, she concentrated. Her mind right then was in frenzy and she couldn't fight when her mind was fustrated. She breathed in and out, her sword sitting silently by her side. She sighed, her body becoming relaxed. She had to be relaxed, or she couldn't fight, that was a necessity for her, to be calm.

Ian laughed, "Whatever is needed in a duel." he said smiling as he watched her standing motionless for a moment, wondering what she was doing. This was leaving him a perfect opportunity to strike, which he refused by simply letting his sword sit idle at his side.

"Are you still breathing?" he asked with a hint of laughter in his tone, "Because it's been an awful long time for someone not to move in a duel." he said as he grasped the handle of his sword incase she was going to spin around suddenly and attack him.

Sora looked over at the guy. "i'm still breathing.. and i'm well and ready as ever.." she turned around facing him. "just needed to calm myself down.." she muttered towards him. This time, she wouldn't let him get to her head.

"Now.. shall we continue?" she asked. THe orb around her neck glowed brighter and running foward, she was right in front of him in one second and behind him in the next. "tough luck.." she muttered as she brought her hilt down onto his head which will probably just knock him out for a few hours.

Ian smiled as he swiftly dodged her hit, as it narrowly missed his head. He had been ready for a suprise move like that, but not ready enough. Although it missed his head, it slammed down onto his shoulder knocking him down to the floor in front of Sora. He knelt in the mud for a second holding his shoulder which was probably broken.

"Very nice." he said smiling as he put his sword in his other arm and slowly stood up.

Sora widened her eyes, as he dodged it, but it managed to his his shoulder. "Eh?" she stopped in her tracks as she gazed at his form in the mud. "Are you alright? I didn't mean to..." she rushed foward. She stopped in front of him, and put her hand on the injured shoulder. "Sorry.. I didn't mean to.. I mean.. well.. I was just playing...and well.. I thought.. " she stuttered over her words.

"For now lets stop.. before we kill yourself.." she muttered to him. "it's broken.." she said as she sighed. "Sorry.. I didn't mean to..." she muttered again for the third time in a row. Her blue eyes looked at his shoulder inetently, deciding what to do. SHe needed to heal it, but with what, she didn't have any healing powers at all... The rain was stopping and the sun was now out, leaving the waterdroplets on her head to shine. Her blue eyes were filled wtih concern as she looked at Ian.