Tutorial Match: Ultima Weapon I (Private, Special Training)

Currently way up high in the Equestrian Atmosphere on a large blue floating disk that was roughly as wide as a football stadium was big, stood Noriaj awaiting the arrival of a sparring opponent in the calm winds. The silver white humanoid with long blue hair, eyes, and half-dozen translucent bug-like wings walked about upside down with his hands for the sake of self-amusement in the meantime as a glass portal not far from him would eventually reveal his guest in this calm sunny day.

This was nothing she hadn't done before, that's how she rationalised it. The mare emerged from the portal, her brow falling to form a frown as she looked at the strange, noticing they were upside down. It was rather whimsical, but Mittere wasn't here for that. 

The mare did feel slightly more exposed than normal having no clothing, just her yellow coat. It was an evil she could more than put up with, as meant her wings were free and unrestricted and there was no hood to narrow her vision. She always had a good idea what was happening in her unseeable peripheral vision, though she wanted to do nothing that would lower her chances. "You certainly look the part," was the only form of greeting she gave. 

Once Mittere showed up, Noriaj looked over in her direction and got on all fours and immediately turned into a pony version of himself. Though he still had his wings, the rest of him was merely the shape of a normal adult pony-like mannequin. His eyes focused on her for a moment while he stood in silence... and then he spoke again. "Welcome! Glad to see you showed u- Think fast!!!"

As soon as he said those words while raising his hooves and voice up dramatically, a large flow of water similar to that of a small waterfall would fall from above along with a tin tub set to fall on her head flat. She only had a second to react before the water and tin made contact.

Perhaps somewhat telling of her age, Mittere's first reaction to any immediate threat was to retreat backwards and and throw fire at it. Her horn lit and took a small leap back, using the airtime to acquire a target to burn. The small fireball she threw was ineffective, letting water, scalding hot water pass through and splash near her hooves, until she turned up the intensity of the spell. The tub landed in the small puddle of ht water that had passed through, the impact splashing her legs, causing a slight twitch on her face and nothing else. 

This being, pony at present, didn't seem to be one to waste time, so she couldn't afford to either. She had no idea as to the extent of what he could do, a brute force approach was useless until she could observe pain. She'd just have to earn time for a plan. Time! That gave her one plan at least. She unfurled her wings as she made the preparations for an age spell, regression specifically. Children were easier to fight, not like she had experience or anything. It was a spell she had never had a need for, so it would take her time to collate it properly. 

Noriaj clapped his hooves with genuine glee, and once again spoke without moving his mouth, though he had none. "Nicely done! You're rather sharp! Time for the next test!" With a simple flick of his hoof, the water moved into one big puddle before Mittere, and from it, five separate mare-like beings took shape similar to that of herself. As soon as they were all formed, the closest one to her made a mad dash as if to tackle her down in what would now be a rather solid hit. The other 4 would attempt to flank her from the sides, while Noriaj himself also made a direct dash towards her at an rather fast galloping speed behind the first one. It seemed he wasn't aware of what she was about to attempt to cast... or simply did not care what it was she was up to at the moment.

Mittere knew it would take a well seasoned acrobat to evade all that was incoming to her. With a poorly timed swivel on the spot, she delivered a kick to the nearest pony as they reached range. She unfortunately had to abandon her casting in favour of a spell she was more familiar with. With a flash of her horn, Mittere appeared behind Noriaj and began to run away, this time formulating her regression spell much faster. Fast enough for her to cast inaccurately with a brief turn of her head as she ran, building up speed for a good launch into the air, where she could be more mobile with wasting magic. 

Attacking one of the solid water constructs was both a wise move, and a somewhat foolish one. Mittere had bought herself her freedom from being pinned down, but making contact with the construct still meant her getting wet further. The lingering water splashed on her body would begin to rapidly cool down to the point of freezing, not to harm her per-sé, but to place a burden on her she would have to shake off sooner than later.

Meanwhile, Noriaj was well aware of what she was up to. He could just feel it. But while there were many ways for him to avoid what was being thrown at him by default, he opted for something much more basic by running over the tin tub, flipping it upwards, and kicking it back to take the hit from her spell instead, and turn to crude ore afterwards as he kept moving in the opposite direction.

Afterwards, the remaining constructs began to fly into the air. Noriaj himself, by simply extending his translucent wings, darted into the air quickly and got into formation with the other four flying above, below, and on the sides, making their way towards Mittere to make chase. "No running away now. This just means it's time for new tactics!"

Her legs were not particularly needed in this situation, and she had no idea as to when she'd be landing again. The ability of these constructs to change form was going to be a problem, though there had to be some way to render them inert. 

Flying towards her in a formation had been a great kindness, whether it was conscious or not. Mittere called upon quick wind spell to get some tail wind for a smooth turn. Heading straight for the group. A collision course seemingly laid in place. A dark mist began to spread in front of her horn, as she gave a little exertion for the first time since the fight had began, the mist began to spread, obscuring the area around Noriaj and the clones of herself. "There are darker forces at work here," Mittere lied, projecting her message in stereo as to not give away her position.

Speaking once again directly into Mittere's mind's eye, Noriaj gave a nonchalant reply through the darkness. "Okay, suit yourself. You still got water on you though." The reply came off as just a casual sounding statement, one that she would have to be very wary of now as rapid fire shots of water came out from the dark mist she had made with the shots initially aimed above, below, and to her own sides deliberately, but slowly centralizing on her position. It wasn't bad enough that if the shots hit they would feel like hard non-lethal balls being thrown, but would also get on her and attempt to freeze her. It also didn't help that, because she only tucked her legs, the water already on her kept getting colder and colder still and spreading, threatening to engulf her eventually if not put further weight on her movements. There was also the fact that she was on a collision course with a being that might or might not be as soft as he seems.

The veil she constructed being a two way one was something of a design flaw. Mittere's horn lit up again at the water converging on her, the air around it turning a lower temperature, just like her rear legs. As the temperature drop around the water, the shots slowing down as they lost energy and began to freeze, she swapped back to the earlier breeze spell, this time much harder. The eruption of air happen between the group, setting them off in random directions in a semi circle in front of her. 

Mittere was far from a computer, and was aiming at an erratic target, but she hoped she got her delta v guesses right as she slowed on her move to latch herself onto Noriaj. It would be a tricky balance to land softly and in the smallest time possible. She had a time out for when she needed it, she could rest and warm up them, the same thing twice was such a faux pas after all.  

While Mittere was wise in launching the powerful gust of wind towards Noriaj's formation, but her constant lack of attention towards the ice on her would cost her even more so by covering her and weighing her down further and further still throughout her body. Also, simply cooling down the water that was already meant to freeze her body upon contact meant that not only had she set herself up for being pelted by the equivalent of rapid fire hail briefly, but those that would manage to make contact would still freeze her body further. In short, she'd end up making it much worse for her than it already was.

As for Noriaj, he braced himself and allowed himself to be pushed away by the gust much like a kite rides the wind as he kept his translucent wings still. The constructs were shattered by this point... On another note, should Mittere be forced to land by now, she would find that the floating platform was much less hard than it looked even in her current state.

Mittere was now getting cold, a cold which was much more draining and heavy than others she had endured before. All this ice, some having pricked her skin, was annoying, possibly the end of her. She needed to do something about it, but didn't want to spend the time. She just had to rely on some natural defences; salty sweat and excess body heat. Mittere could now get more aggressive with her attacks and it would have a bonus point to it.

Her horn lit up again, not caring about having a stable platform for her spell. At first a lone fireball appeared hurtling toward Noriaj. The fireball was of a pathetic size though , easily hoof holdable. The saving grace of this attack came to be seen when the next one emerged, and then another, and another, progressively getting faster. She continued this spray until she could conduct a successful landing. She closed her eyes for a moment, seeming to blink for a second as she collected herself for another attack, one to break the ice and strike back.  

Noriaj would prove himself to be a rather fast and agile flier as he dodged and darted in the air from side to side, seemingly having no need for the winds as his wings only moved subtly while maneuvering. "Very good! But can you keep the barrage up?" He'd continue to move about, but eventually, he'd attempt to maneuver above Mittere without getting hit, and try to move closer to her from above whenever there was a chance to do so.

Mittere was not an originator of spells, she merely borrowed and took on loan. She had seen a similar trick performed before, and anything she could do, Mittere could do. Her eyes stopped tracking Noriaj as she blinked again. When her eyes opened they gave off a soft light. Magic began to stream around her, the crackling arcs finely cutting the ice built up on her coat but leaving her unharmed. The remainder of this magic built itself up  around her, forming into nice, linear projectiles which she could change the form of at will. 

Noriaj, fast as he was, still felt that it was a hastle to get closer still without getting touched by the magic beams. To counteract, he began to rapidly make crystal orbs that resembled Disco balls from his hooves and tossed them downwards towards her but mostly towards oncoming beams. The purpose of these were to absorb the beams and reflect a rainbow of colors instead as a distraction, but also to allow him to get closer to her still. Any crystals that managed to fall on the ground or even on her would break up almost as if they were water balloons, but leaving no traces anywhere aside from brief and shiny sparkle explosions.

Mittere turned her head away from the pretty lights and the assortment of colors. Not being able to look did not deter her. She kicked the ground like a buffalo ready to charge. The glow in her eyes intensified slightly, with a slight though not so simple adjustment to the spell, the next barrage would disperse more randomly, before homing in on the most prominent magic they could find. 

Noriaj took a moment to consider what to do at this point. As far as he was concerned, Mittere was going with a more aggressive approach still despite his efforts focusing on just catching her this whole time. He felt that it wouldn't do to have her stress herself too much... so he allowed the barrage to hit him. What followed, was laughter. Much laughter as the barrage tickled him all over while he floated back onto the platform some distance away from her. "Okay, okay! You win this round! You can stop now!"

Mittere nodded at Noriaj in response to his statement, seeming to power down, her eyes returning to what they were. This character seemed entirely unaffected by what she had done. He seemed to have laughed it off as a playful punch, or perhaps a tickle. Then, entirely out of the left field, a fierce shock spell originated very close to Noriaj's left side, one she intended to keep up the intensity of. She'd tried to be nice upon introduction and was attacked, now she had momentum she wasn't going to stop. 

Mittere's spell would indeed affect Noriaj as his body was forced to take the full hit and roll about. There was no laughter this time... In fact, there was hardly much noise coming out of him at all so long as she kept the spell up. Eventually, his body would go limp and immobile, and stay that way for the time being...

She kept the spell up as she walked closer, wanting to inspect Noriaj's limp form up close.The fact that had been so easy...it was suspicious. It had the aura of a trap around it, but that was of no concern to Mittere. She wholeheartedly supported walking into traps, thereby disarming them. Not fearing was always a good thing, it showed in her confident strides over. The spell was going to be a drain if she kept it up at it's current intensity, so she lowered it slightly in accordance with Noriaj's reaction. 

Without warning, without any sort of visible or magical signal to keep track of, Noriaj's body exploded with enough force to affect anyone within several meters with a loud, bright, and concussive wave outwards, followed by what would only be described as a bright cloud of light after the explosion. Whether Mittere managed well or not against the explosion, she would not be finding him any time soon in the vicinity.

Mittere was expecting something much more along the lines of a jumpscare than an explosion. As she  was thrown back by the blast, it seemed it was her turn to be limp and immobile while she recovered. There was also the fact the only thing she could see was an imprint of the second before the explosion mixed in with some intense light that granted a headache from a quick glance. The fact she was on her side, on the ground and couldn't see were all minor details as she shot projectiles where she could, trying to regain some sense and hopefully a position of a certain djinn.   

As the bright mist began to clear, a red barrier could be seen blocking and deflecting the projectiles that Mittere kept tossing at seemingly random. Soon after, Noriaj's voice was calmly heard within her mind, but there seemed to be no source for it. "You know, I was gonna give you time to rest after testing your reflexes. But since you seem so eager to keep the fight going, I figured you didn't want the rest at all..." Little by little, the mist cleared further and further still, eventually revealing the silhouette of a large frame and well built stallion with glowing yellow eyes that wasn't Noriaj, but was instead a unicorn shape that apparently wore a fedora and a coat. "... So I hope you get back on your legs by the time the mist clears. This next round has you facing something much more aggressive..."

Hearing without direction really sucked, but having a voice to focus on helped Mittere greatly with her recovery. She rolled on her front and began to stand up, wiping her sweat before regaining her composure. To say better than ever was a lie, but certainly better than before. Her eyes were still lazy though, refusing to focus without effort. She could make out her opponent was a unicorn, meaning there would be spells abound. Then again, he didn't look like he lacked at all on the physical side of things. Mittere took the initiative to erect her own barrier. She preferred hitting to taking hits, therefore began a preparation to neutralise this pony the moment she had clear aim.  

Just before the mist fully cleared all on its own, the figure's horn and immediate surrounding air would flare up with energy in a strong pulse outwards, revealing the full identity of the silhouette... It did in fact wear a real red colored feathered Fedora and matching cloak, but the stallion was less a stallion and more something akin to light brown living crystal in the approximate shape of one. The area that composed its eyes were nothing more than unblinking glowing yellow orbs only meant to represent that it was full of energy and ready to act... which it did by rapidly conjuring half a dozen drill-like icicles half as big as he was, enchanted them further with Wind magic, made them rotate rapidly in preparation for an attack. But rather than stay still once the mist cleared, the crystal mannequin of a possibly familiar stallion began to trot moderately fast in an arch towards Mittere's right.

It would take aggressive action by briefly lowering the barrier for maximizing energy economy when it took one of the six Ice-drills, enchanted it with Dispelling energies at the tip in an effort to weaken Mittere's barrier at the point of contact should it hit, and launched it at a dangerously fast speed with a surrounding vortex it while aiming at her front right knee. Even if she dodged the Ice-drill itself, she still needed to be wary of the strong winds that came with it if she remained close. The crystal mannequin was, of course, ready to either defend, keep up the attack, or make a mix of both as it kept alert of her at all times.