Novanto's Notes: Well, here's my second part for Rapidfyrez's The Calling OCT! My opponent is MEleeSmasher's character Hal Durandal.
In this chap is a quote from the Doctor Strange animated film in whose universe Orion resides. Also, see if you can find a Skrim and Portal reference! And, if you squint, you might catch a glimpse of a Samurai Jack reference! ;-) Here's hoping I win!
Slipping away from the window, Orion continued his patrol of the station's outer ring, noting the sagging metal and busted computer terminals. "Dear Ra, the condition of this place is horrible..." he commented aloud, his voice echoing through the halls before fading into the almost imperceptible moaning of stressed steel.
In the core, the Caretaker observed a monitor showing the tournament match-ups. "Magic versus gun. I do wonder which will triumph?" he cackled, before descending into a hacking cough. When the fit subsided, he smirked. "Time for a little fun, don't you agree?" The groaning of settling metal and the steady pulsing of power rushing outward toward the rings didn't appear to do so. Huffing, the Caretaker pressed a few keys, activating a few traps.
Eventually, the mage stumbled into a small room, occupied by a featureless robotic figure, as well as the map of the station he had been seeking. "Finally!" Orion snatched up the paper and folded it away after giving a brief look-over to attempt to discern his location. He failed to notice however, that the robot's eyes had lit up until it took a shuddering step forward. The foot landed with a thump. the mage slowly turned around to see the robot moving. "Oh no." Quickly folding the map and stowing it, Orion summoned a sword, a delicate weapon whose tip stuck out from the rest of the blade like an old-fashioned key, as it drew a pistol and fired.
Instinctively, he ducked the shot and ran forward, impaling the machine and ripping out several clearly-important wires in the process. Orion panted from the shock and patted his chest, attempting to calm the adrenaline rush as he exited the room and continued his trek. That was intense... Orion thought. Wonder what it was there for?
Some minutes later, the magic-user stumbled upon an armored skeleton that resembled an anthropomorphic cat. "A Khajiit?" he asked himself, noting the feline head and tail vertebra as he bent down to examine the body. "Didn't know they were real!" Then again, this tournament calls all sorts of Warriors from every universe! For all I know, this guy could've been a... nah!
The armor was rusty, as was expected since the creature was long dead, but what interested Orion was the fact that the bones and armor were riddled with holes. "These look like bullets..." he muttered in a slightly disturbed tone, tracing the edge and gently moving the body to find the holes passed clean through, leaving a shiny metal dart embedded in the wall behind the unfortunate former competitor. "... or darts." he finished, returning the body to its proper place and uttering a short prayer to Bastet to protect the felinoid's soul, briefly touching the ankh charm under his tunic as he did so. "Bastet, please guide this member of your ranks to Aaru..."
Finishing the act, Orion stood and looked around, trying to find where the darts would come from, and what would set them off. Tiny holes in both the left and right wall answered the former question, and a gleaming tripwire at ankle height answered the latter. "Hmm..." lightly, the mage plucked at the wire, hitting the deck as the trap activated, spraying darts into the opposite wall at incredible speeds. "WHOA-! Friendly tournament my butt!" he shouted aloud with a glare as he cautiously stepped over the wire.
The mage continued walking along the corridor, keeping an eye out for traps. Suddenly, he heard a click as his foot depressed a tile. The mage leaped back as a hidden flamethrower activated and nearly torched him. "What the Hell?! Who puts a flamethrower on a space station?" Orion shouted out, slightly miffed and heavily startled. "First a robot drone, then darts, and now a Set-damned flamethrower..." he muttered darkly, attempting to brush the soot from his front. Echoing footsteps and a distant yelling drew him closer. Slowly, he made his way to a large open space, like a hangar, with branching hallways stretching out from each wall.
"Murcurio?" The voice called out again, as its owner entered. The man looked fairly young, with white skin and black hair. He wore a hoodie, a backwards Nexus cap, dark pants, and black boots. Slung over his shoulder was a plain duffel bag "Murcurio, is that you?"
"Hello!" Orion yelled in response. "I'm not Mercurio though..." Wonder who that is...
"Well then who are you?"
"Orion Hecatson." the mage said kindly. "Mage and former apprentice to the Sorcerer Supreme."
"Hal Durendal, Fixer." the raven-hair replied.
Orion bowed his head in welcome at the name, then cocked his head at the title. "Fixer?" he asked. "What do you fix?"
"It means I'm a mercenary."
"Ah..." the brunet grimaced. "Who's Mercurio?" Before Hal could respond, both people jumped at the loud BOOM of a loudspeaker being turned on.
"GREETINGS, FELLOW COMPETITORS. I AM THE CARETAKER." A wheezing sound and a cough could be heard when he said this.
"Are you alright?" Orion asked, concern for the being clear on his face. The Caretaker he had seen in his dreams had sounded far healthier. "You don't sound so good!"
"THAT IS NONE OF YOUR CONCERN, SORCERER!" The Caretaker snapped. "THIS TOURNAMENT BEGINS. THE ONLY RULE IN THIS TOURNAMENT IS WIN. IT MATTERS NOT IF YOUR OPPONENT IS DEAD OR IF YOU CHOSE TO SHOW MERCY AND SPARE THEM." The doors that led to the other corridors suddenly slammed shut as the being spoke. "YOU WILL BE PERMITTED TO LEAVE YOUR CHOSEN ARENA ONCE A VICTOR IS DECIDED. LET THE MATCH... COMMENCE!" Another hacking cough sounded before the intercom shut off.
"Guess you're my first opponent!" Orion grinned, twirling his weapon with a flourish.
"Looks like it." Hal commented, gazing at the gold-eyed brunet. The strange outfit Orion wore seemed highly unsuitable for combat, but appeared to put a greater effort into allowing free movement, something the mage's body was clearly built for. "What do you say to givin' me a couple minutes to get ready? Can't carry this thing and fight at the same time."
Orion frowned and crossed his arms. "How do I know you ain't pulling wool over my eyes?" He asked, suspicious as he fingered his sword's hilt.
"You don't." Hal replied simply, setting the bag down and removing several weapons, most prominently an assault rifle, a pistol, a baton and a large pile of grenades and ammunition mags, from inside it. Orion was impressed, both at the number of deadly devices, and at how high-tech they were. "Whoa, that seems a tad overkill..."
"There's no kill like it!" Hal grinned, loading the rife.
Orion laughed. "So very true!"
"As I was about to say earlier before I was interrupted, Mercurio is the robot who dragged me here. Said he wasn't programmed to take no for an answer or somethin' like that."Hal shrugged as he loaded a magazine. "What brought you here?"
"I had a dream of the Caretaker, or what I think was the Caretaker, inviting me here." Orion replied with a faint smile as he drew his wand, twirling it before settling into a conductor's grip.
The being in question growled at the screen displaying the casually chatting pair. "This is taking far too long... time for some incentive, methinks." With that, a button was pressed.
Along each wall, a flamethrower emerged and the weapons proceeded to do what they did best. "Oh shit!" the mage dropped his sword, which fell with a clank. "Pyros!" Orion pointed the stick at the flames and whipped it around, directing them into a ring around the two combatants.
"What... was that?" Hal asked, dumbstruck by the feat.
"Magic!" the mage replied happily, noting Hal's expression. "Now let's get to it!" he launched a tongue of flame at the Fixer. Rolling out of the way, Hal raised his gun. Wow, he's quick! Gonna have to be light on my feet... Orion thought as he summoned a shield just before his opponent fired, using the seven sapphires from his pouch.
Orion replied by hefting the shield in front. The bullets mercilessly pounded at the blue barrier, causing it to ripple from the impact. The shield held firmly, letting none of the projectiles through. "Gonna have to do better than that!" he smirked, drawing his wand and pointing it at the man. "Pyros!" A gout of intense fire shot out over the battlefield and coated the weapon, forcing Hal to drop it.
"Ah!" The gun shooter dropped the burnt weapon and gazed at his hand, which still stung like he had briefly touched a hot stove. "Let me guess what brings a wizard like you here..." Hal snapped snidely. "Unlimited magic, power over the universe, right? Or maybe the classic immortality!" he finished, throwing a grenade.
"Immortality?" Orion pretended to gag as he ran out of the bomb's trajectory. "Living forever is worse than death in my opinion. I wanna die when the reaper knocks and says its time to go!" he explained proudly. "I wanna know what these gems can do. Everything they can or can't do." What brings you here?"
"A challenge." Hal answered simply, tossing another grenade. Orion could tell he was holding information back, but chose to ignore it in favor of electrocuting the object into detonating harmlessly with a lightning spell.
Taking advantage of Orion's distraction and throwing out more grenades to cover himself, Hal made his way to a terminal sitting embedded in the wall and began typing at it rapidly. The mage caught glimpses of the Fixer actions. Is he... hacking the terminal?
First, the Caretaker's flamethrowers shut off, soon followed by the firewall. That was nice! Next, a dart gun began firing at Orion, who got hit several times. What the-?
"Ow! Ow! That hurt!" Orion yelled as the darts tore at his clothes and flesh. How the hell is he hacking into an old as dirt yet super-advanced space station?
"That's the general idea!" Hal shouted back, pressing another button that released football (American) shaped pods. Each one extended a pair of gun turrets and began shooting at the magic-user.
"Seriously?!"
"As a heart attack!" Hal replied smoothly, turning to watch with a smirk as Orion dodged away from the bullets, blasting a few and getting clipped by more that he didn't notice. The mage soon noticed the smile, and forced control of a cluster using a combination of lightning and metal spells, forcing Hal to jump away from the terminal like a startled rabbit.
The two were so busy trying not to get shot by each-other, neither noticed that the terminal began to spark until the drones stopped shooting.
"ENOUGH! NOW FIGHT!" the Caretaker snarled over the intercom, clearly irritated by how the two appeared to be simply toying with each-other instead of actually battling. In response, the turrets began to shoot at both of them once more. Orion immediately tackled Hal to a corner and summoned a barrier spell.
"Truce until these things are gone?" the mage asked.
"Truce." the merc agreed, loading a pair of pistols. The barrier dropped and the pair attacked. A blazing inferno peppered by bullets encompassed the drones, destroying dozens in minutes, but not stopping more from appearing. "We need to stop 'em! I don't have much more ammo!"
"My wand'll need to recharge soon!" Dear god, who or what makes these things? Aperture?! he added mentally as he saw they were still coming and firing an obscene amount of bullets any mad AI would be proud of. "I can't keep this up much longer!"
Hal looked around and again spotted the terminal. Pulling out his baton and tossing aside the now-empty pistols, he turned back to Orion. "How much longer?"
"Maybe a few minutes..." Orion replied, his voice straining under the effort. "Why?"
"Im gonna smash that terminal! Can you keep them busy?"
"I'll do my best..." I really hope this works... I don't even know if I have a few minutes! The sorcerer thought desperately.
Hal ran over to the terminal. "I'm getting tired of you, Caretaker!" he yelled. "You want to fight us then come out here and do it yourself!" with that, the Fixer plunged the electrified baton into the screen, frying the computer.
In response, the turret hatches slammed shut. the mage fire consumed the stragglers.
"Well..." Orion panted, hands on his knees in exhaustion. "Since we're... both out of ammo..." here he called both of the discarded swords to his hands, "wanna settle this... the old-school way?" the mage stood straight and flipped one of the weapons so he was loosely gripping the blade and held it out.
"Sure... why not." Hal replied, gingerly taking the offered object and giving it an experimental swing to test its weight. "Haven't fought with a sword before..." he admitted. "What are the rules?"
"We stand back to back in the center of the room, advance toward the walls, and then approach to begin." Orion suggested. "That sound good?"
"I don't particularly mind," Hal nodded in acceptance. Together, the pair marched toward the spot. Bowing low to each-other, they positioned themselves back to back. "Ready?"
"Proceed. One, two, three, four,..." Orion counted out the steps aloud as he felt the humming of the Hallow Stones in his pouch. They've gotta be almost done recharging by now... The massive energy drain from the enhanced Outside Step was finally subsiding, and power had retuned to the stones. Finally! "..., eighteen, nineteen, twenty!." The pair spun on their heels to face each-other, and charged forward. Outside Step! the mage yelled in his response six of the emeralds and sapphires Orion had in his pouched swirled before him and the mage vanished, almost the instant before contact was made.
"What the-" a flash of light appeared behind Hal and he spun around, barely blocking Orion's brutal chopping motion with his sword, the two blades ringing on contact. "What the hell was that?!"
"Outside Step!" Orion replied cooly, slashing harshly at the Fixer. "I can step out of the universe itself!"
"I'd say that's impossible, but I've seen weirder." Hal commented, feinting to the side. Orion saw the trick and retaliated by swiping horizontally, disrupting the tactic. "Damn."
"Gonna have to try harder than that!" the mage crowed.
The pair continued trading blows, parries, and thrusts, each trying to get the upper hand. He's getting better at using the sword the more he uses it! Orion thought, as the blades rang out once more. I gotta end this quick!
Hal thrusted forward and sliced off the pouch, knocking it away, followed by Orion's wand. "Hah! No more magic for you!" The fixer pointed the tip at the mage's heart. "Concede, and we can finish this fight. I have what I came for!" Hal grinned. Orion stared at the tip, remembering the day he had first summoned it.
It had been the day when he found the seventh pair of Hallow Stones. Immediately after freeing them from the ice, a troll had leaped out of the cavern depths and attacked. Orion panicked, and sent an adrenaline-fueled mental command to the Stones.
Immediately, the seven emeralds had swirled around his hand and moved downward, leaving behind the mage's signature weapon, which was promptly used to stab the beast in the head, killing it instantly.
"That's what you think!" the mage smirked, clapping his hands together. "Matter is energy which is all around us." Orion quoted his master's master, pulling his hands apart. In response, air began to swirl between his palms and formed an all-white sword that lacked the key-like protrusion of the weapon lying out of reach. The emerald set into the cross-guard almost seemed to glow. "Magic is the art of wielding that energy. A weapon forged from air? Tell me, Is it real?" As he finished the quotation, Orion swung the flat and knocked the weapon away with a clang, where it fell next to its twin. "Swords, begone!"
One of the key-blades promptly vanished in a flash of green light, seeming to leave behind a hole in space that took its shape before closing up. The remaining weapon dissolved into dust. Satisfied, Orion put his current weapon's tip to Hal's sternum. "I believe I asked you a question: Is this weapon real?" he asked again with a smile. Can't believe I almost forgot about the sword-of-air spell! the mage thought.
"It's real, it's real!" Hal responded, scared and staring down the weapon's three-foot length.
"Do you yield?"
The Fixer glanced around for another thing to use, but his search was in vain. Sighing, he closed eyes. "Yeah, I yield."
Orion smiled and helped Hal up. "Good fight, man. I really had fun!"
"Ditto... but what happened to your other swords?"
"The one I walked in with is stored in a pocket dimension. The second was just a copy formed of light and dust." the mage explained. "Emerald Dawn here," Orion gazed and smiled at the weapon as he spoke, "is made entirely of air that was compressed into the shape and function of a sword, then tinted to look like one. It's actually one of the first spells a sorcerer like me and my master had to learn." he added happily.
"Y'know, that could've helped during the turret thing..." Hal pointed out.
"True. But you know what they say: hindsight's 20/20."
"CONGRATULATIONS, ORION HECATSON!" the Caretaker's voice rang out. "YOU HAVE PROGRESSED TO ROUND TWO. HAL DURENDAL, YOU ARE DISQUALIFIED."
"Drat... oh well. Least I got the challenge I wanted!"
"Yeah, we both did!" Orion grinned and clapped Hal on the back as the doors opened.
"CONTINUE, SORCERER." the Caretaker commanded. "MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE NEXT RING, AND CONTINUE YOUR CHALLENGE."
Orion nodded and shook hands with Hal, who smiled and began to back up his things. Orion held out a business card. "If you wanna have a rematch or just hang out, here's my number." he explained.
"I will!" Hal replied, grinning as he pocketed the card and slung the rucksack over his shoulder and walked off.
The mage grinned back and, choosing a door at random, left the scrap-strewn battlefield behind. As he strolled through the corridor beyond, his thoughts turned to the future of the Tournament. That was a tough fight... but in the end, magic and the sword will always win... I wonder who, or even what, my next opponent will be?
