explosivecombat | 0??. [Action / Fourth Wall event]

0??. [Action / Fourth Wall event]

[It's been seven and a half months since Kimblee has arrived in Johto; seven and a half months since he's felt whatever restrictions that are on his alchemy here loosen and fall away, leaving him with sheer destructive power flowing through his body.

But today, he can feel it. Oh, can he feel it.

Today he's out on one of the routes, training. That isn't anything new.

What is new is the way the route has been ripped up, large swaths cut through it; Kimblee is standing somewhere among all of the destruction, his breathing jagged. Those 'fortunate' enough to see what he's doing will get a glimpse of dark red energy flickering between his palms, sharp and crackling like some sort of demonic lightning storm in miniature, before he drops down and forces the energy from his body, chaining together a series of explosive reactions that detonate somewhere deep within the ground, ripping up fiery trails of destruction that rip through the earth, destroying everything in its path. The explosion chains doesn't seem to be hindered at all by obstacles in their path; rather, they seem only to be spurred on, ripping up anything in its path as fuel for another detonation.

The sound is immense, as are the shockwaves in the trail of those explosions; they don't carry on forever, but they're certainly not caused by any sort of natural phenomena.

Needless to say, Kimblee isn't training his Pokemon today...

Though he's certainly in one piece after the explosions stop, Kimblee doesn't seem to be all right, exactly; he seems to be having huge amounts of difficulty controlling himself, shrieking and shaking with laughter, to the point that he looks damn near about to fall over. If one didn't know any better, they'd likely think he was intoxicated; however...]

This sound...the power...! It's truly been too long!

[Another burst of laughter rips out of him.]

After all this time...I still...

[...oh boy.]

I love this!

[...Kimblee, please...]

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[[Armstrong's first instinct is to throw himself out of harms way, but he fights it down, instead choosing to slam both fists into the ground. He jumps back before he does it, timing his attack perfectly to create a massive wall between him and Kimblee's explosive alchemy. As it begins to crack and shatter with the force of Kimblee's attack, his fists become a blur, pounding against the flying fragments heading his way and turning them into missiles, firing back in Kimblee's direction.]]

Prepare yourself for my artistic alchemy, Kimblee!!

[[If the other alchemist has a chance to get a good look at one, he'll see that it's a perfect replica of Armstrong's head. Hey, just because it's a battle, there's no need to throw style and beauty out the window!]]

[Kimblee knows an onslaught when he sees one; he isn't about to try to dodge that. His agility has always been terrible and he knows it; he brings his hands together again as soon as he's clear of the start of the barrage, but instead of finding the ground or another solid surface, the energy arcs out of his body straightfowardly, whipping through the air and detonating the projectiles in a massive burst of rock, the fragments raining down hard but leaving him unharmed.

He glances down at one of those missiles that had been launched at him toward the start - is...that...]

[OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE]

I suppose you earn points for creativity.

[[WAIT FOR IT

WAIT FOR IT

AND

POSE]]

Have my artfully sculpted missiles left you speechless, Kimblee?!

[WHAT ARE YOU DOING]

That's certainly one way of wording it, yes.

GOOD!

[[....yep, there it goes

we are now shirtless]]

Then prepare yourself FOR THIS!

[[His fists hit the ground again, which causes a massive replica of his fist to explode out from under Kimblee's feet again, spiked gauntlets and all.

....as the rest of the fist appears, however...it's....

....

....yes. It's a bust.]]

[OH MY GOD ARMSTRONG WHAT THE SHIT HAS THIS BATTLE EVEN BECOME

NO SERIOUSLY HE'S GLAD WE'RE GETTING BACK TO THE FIGHTING BUT REALLY

REALLY?!]

[Either way, as soon as the ground starts to shift upward again Kimblee's brought his hands together and slamming them down hard; that...thing Armstrong has created holds together, rather than exploding - but then, Kimblee isn't trying to destroy it.

He's gathering energy.

Those sharp bolts of blue travel down the form of the structure, cracking it deeply down the center, before they shoot out along the ground; the increased momentum without interference and the force of the energy gathered will make for a hell of a blast when it finally detonates in your general vicinity, Armstrong, hopefully you're prepared for it.]

[[Armstrong knows he doesn't have time to do anything about the blast other than move to avoid it, hurling himself to the side and touching the ground with his fist, lightly. It's enough, however, to encase him in a rocky shell as he rides out the explosion, grimacing as the force causes cracks to spread throughout the structure. He needs to find a way to defend against those explosions, and fast...

When he senses the attack is finished, it's the work of a moment for him to shatter that shell, sending the pieces flying haphazardly. Standing up and shaking himself off, he crouches down into a ready position once more, breath light.]]

You're a bit of a one trick pony, Kimblee.

[[And once again, his fist connects with the ground, causing a massive wall to rise up between the two of them.

Then, silence falls.]]

[Once that wall goes up, Kimblee takes a moment to calm himself down, to catch his breath; he paces for a moment, clenching his fists at his sides before releasing them, knowing that if he doesn't then his muscles will start to lock up on him a bit - he doesn't need his body resisting movement any more than necessary.

It would be easy for him to take that wall down; the Stone within his body makes that more than possible, and he'd be capable of creating a path of destruction wide enough to take Armstrong out regardless of where he is on the other side of it. It would be so simple; he's used to how the Stone feels, how to draw upon it fully.

At the same time, he doesn't want to. The Stone generally only comes into play in individual battles when he doesn't feel like fighting, either through disrespect for his opponent or having something more pressing to do than wasting time on upstarts; he isn't inclined to disrespect Armstrong in that way.

No, this is going to be a fair fight.

The options, then, require some weighing; the most efficient way to deal with that wall is through direct contact, but putting his hands on it runs the risk of putting himself entirely too close to Armstrong on the other side of it - furthermore, it's giving him projectiles, and he would really prefer to not take an Armstrong-shaped bust to the face, as that would be a rather humiliating way to go out.

He could always attempt to take out the foundations of it through the ground, but that would slow his reaction time...

He brings his hands together then, quickly, sending out another of those whips of energy through the air, a strong explosive shockwave that would detonate on impact. It's still going to give Armstrong potential projectiles, but his reaction time won't suffer nearly as much and he'll be able to move in order to avoid what's thrown at him before he can get another of those blasts off.]

[[On the other side of that wall, Armstrong is silently following the sound of Kimblee's footsteps as he paces, gauntlets at the ready, light on his feet. His experiences in Ishval made him very sensitive to that sort of thing; he still can't forget some of the sounds the people trapped behind his wall made as they died. He shudders involuntarily.

When the footsteps pause he crouches, shielding his face as he waits, and his wait is soon rewarded; Kimblee's attack crashes into the wall, kicking up a cloud of dust and blasting a large hole through the rock. This is his chance.

Catlike, Armstrong pounces through the hole, taking advantage of the dust cloud obscuring Kimblee's vision to close in on him. Just as he thought; he's standing right in front of the hole, completely oblivious. He won't even see him coming.

Putting on a burst of speed, Armstrong yells triumphantly as he materializes out of the dust to barrel into Kimblee, knocking him over and catching his arms as he goes. The result is....well. Kimblee has now found himself with a half-naked Armstrong straddling him (well not quite, Armstrong is on his knees; that would simply be far too awkward...), gripping his wrists tightly so that he can't perform his alchemy.]]

Your lack of creativity lets you down, Kimblee! I have you now!!

[Well! For a moment he pauses; he hadn't expected the wall to come down, but at the same time, the dust is really inconvenient, and - ]

[You know how once in a while, you do something and you just know somehow that whatever you just did, the results are gonna suck?]

[Right after that shockwave detonates, that's...about when that feeling kicks in. It's subtle at first. Just a vague sense of "Oh."]

[You know what, this is probably going to suck, isn't it.]

[Is that...Armstrong over th- ]

[OH GOD, YEP. YEP, THAT IS DEFINITELY ARMSTRONG AND THIS IS DEFINITELY SUCKING]

[...and once he's on the ground, commence some very awkward struggling in which he tries not to focus on the position they are currently in!]

Oh, for the love of - !

[[......omg

could this be....victory?]]

Is that the best you can do, Kimblee? I think I've won this bout!

[He's fighting quite a bit against Armstrong's grip; as such, it takes a moment for Armstrong's words to sink in. Is he...claiming victory...?

That doesn't make sense right away; really, if Armstrong were trying to prove anything, wouldn't it involve killing him? But that doesn't seem to be the case; Armstrong seems content to subdue him and declare it over.

Kimblee hesitates once it hits him, looking at Armstrong with an expression that's somewhere between wary and almost scared; surely this can't be genuine, there has to be something more to it...

...but no, he isn't sensing any sort of intent to kill here.]]

[And after a long pause in which he simply stares, he laughs a bit.]

As humiliating as I find it, I believe you may be right, Major.

[[Armstrong blinks for a moment. Is that....Kimblee has conceded the victory?

....

He's conceded the victory!]]

I believe I might be, Kimblee!

[[He's about to leap up and do all sorts of victory poses, when he realises he's....kind of still got you there, doesn't he.]]

I take it it's safe for me to release you?

Ah...yes, of course.

[Kimblee allows some of the tension in his body to relex a bit; it's at least a vague implication that he won't immediately try to spear-punch Armstrong in the face or something as soon as his wrists are released.]

[[Armstrong releases his arms, before lifting himself back to his full height and moving so you can stand up, Kimblee.

And contary to his usual (or expected...) behaviour, Armstrong doesn't furiously rip off any clothing or shout and yell and strike poses; he just bows slightly.]]

Thank you for the fight; I enjoyed it.

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