Post by Wolfe on Feb 16, 2019 2:18:45 GMT -5
The start of the tournament heralded the arrival of sixty-four of the top candidates for spots to one of the Big Four Huntsman Academies of Remnant. Of that group of highly skilled, highly motivated, and highly experienced teenagers, there was only eight remaining. Each participant who made it this far had to win three consecutive matches against their peers, and very likely push themselves to their very limit while doing so. Make no mistake about it, those who made it this far are the trainees to watch when they hit their first year of Huntsman Academy training. Each and every one of them has proven that they are the best of the best in their age bracket in the entire Kingdom of Mistral, and the Big Four will likely all be making offers to these students to come in at the start of the next school year.
The viewership always spiked a good chunk in the quarterfinals, because the stakes were very high, and the announcers could give much more detailed profiles of each participant in the tournament. What their semblance was or at least what everyone thought it was, what skills they had displayed, and how they got to be at the tournament itself. Media outlets started to take a big interest in the tournament from this time forward, and every participant who made it this far would have at least gotten an interview request from somewhere.
Those that progress this far typically have years of primary combat school experience, and thus years of training and sparring to draw upon when things start to get dicey. Strategy is hugely important in this round, because there is a minimum of three fights that are available on any contestant who made it this far. They would have had to unleash at least some of their tricks to get this far, because every contestant at this point would have at least one close match that went down to the wire.
The fighting area itself is white concrete measuring approximately thirty meters by thirty meters raised about five feet in the air. The concrete itself is scuffed and shows signs of use, because it was on this area that all previous tournaments were fought on. The damage dealt in previous years was repaired, sure, but signs of that repair still remain. The area around the fighting area is typical of a sports stadium, with rows and levels of seating arranged in a circle around the main event. Up in the air, there were also cameras rigged to rails in order to track and broadcast the action on a four-sided television screen above the fighting area to spectators even in the worst seats. The Mistral Regional Tournament was very much an event that attracted a large crowd and was one time of the year where people from many different villages and cities outside of the capital came together to watch the next generation of huntsmen in action.
The rules for this tournament itself were simple, the fight went on until one of the two entrants was either knocked off of the arena, their aura was fully depleted, or conceded the match. If both participants are knocked off of the arena at the same time, then the first one to get their entire body back on the arena itself is declared the winner. If two people’s aura drops at the same time, the match is considered a draw and a rematch is scheduled at the next available open timeslot to declare a definitive winner. There have never been two draws in a row, so it is up in the air what would happen if that were to occur. Each participant started the match approximately fifteen meters away from each other on opposite ends of the arena, and the match started when the announcer gave the command.
The two names had flashed up on the display alongside the official images for both Percy Minamoto and Huli Renard, and both participants were almost ready to step out into the ring and make their grand entrance into the quarterfinals of the 15th Mistral Regional Tournament. Aura meters were also on full display next to the images of both of their faces, with each one starting at 100 and going down in real time as each individual started to suffer damage. Both contestants also had an aura meter on their person as well, and it was their choice whether to use it and where to put it on their person if they did intend to use it for the fight!
”Welcome to Day Seven of the Fifteenth Mistral Regional Tournament everyone! What we have here is a matchup in the White Wing Round of Eight between two competitors that come into this match seemingly out of nowhere with two just absolutely dominating performances thus far!”
This was the analyst desk, which couldn’t be heard by the actual contestants but were on the big screens above the stadium and in the television sets of everyone watching the live feed with audio.
”Darcy, could you give us a recap of how both of these participants got this far for the viewers that are just now joining us?”
”Absolutely, Skye! The first competitor that we’ll cover is Duncan Breen from Menagerie, who is part of a small group from the island who entered the tournament from that region and really took this tournament by storm. He’s a water manipulator who can solidify the water he controls into devastating attacks! He’s surprisingly durable and exceptionally nimble, being able to seemingly always be in the right place at the right time to maintain distance and make his opponent just off balance enough to not be able to land big time attacks. His semblance is wicked strong, but he can’t create the water he uses so has to lug around a lot of it and that telegraphs his attacks a bit more than I’m sure he’d like.”
”The second competitor for this match is Ferric Nayamasa from Signal Academy, who is part of the last bastion of combat school graduates still alive in this tournament. Making his way from the Kingdom of the Vale, he and his classmate have been shown up huge here in Argus. His semblance is, near as we can tell, a gosh darned arm cannon that propels any object he puts in his palm at lightning speed towards any opponent with enough force to cause one heck of an aura chip. He comes from a famous family of Huntsmen, and relies on his skill with his bow in order to create leads with remarkable accuracy on each shot.”
”The biggest thing to watch in matches like this is semblance and skill matchups. Duncan has that shield that he can use to block some arrows, and both competitors rely heavily on their ability to do massive damage at a distance in order to generate momentum. It’s going to be very interesting to see how Ferric plans to get around that shield and that water semblance that could also conceivably be used as a defensive measure as well. In terms of just the skill and semblance matchup, I’d have to give the slight edge to Duncan if he can put that shield to good use in mitigating some of the arrow fire that has given so many other participants so much trouble in the earlier rounds of the tournament.”
With that, the camera cuts to the arena in preparation for the first contestant to make their entrance.
The viewership always spiked a good chunk in the quarterfinals, because the stakes were very high, and the announcers could give much more detailed profiles of each participant in the tournament. What their semblance was or at least what everyone thought it was, what skills they had displayed, and how they got to be at the tournament itself. Media outlets started to take a big interest in the tournament from this time forward, and every participant who made it this far would have at least gotten an interview request from somewhere.
Those that progress this far typically have years of primary combat school experience, and thus years of training and sparring to draw upon when things start to get dicey. Strategy is hugely important in this round, because there is a minimum of three fights that are available on any contestant who made it this far. They would have had to unleash at least some of their tricks to get this far, because every contestant at this point would have at least one close match that went down to the wire.
The fighting area itself is white concrete measuring approximately thirty meters by thirty meters raised about five feet in the air. The concrete itself is scuffed and shows signs of use, because it was on this area that all previous tournaments were fought on. The damage dealt in previous years was repaired, sure, but signs of that repair still remain. The area around the fighting area is typical of a sports stadium, with rows and levels of seating arranged in a circle around the main event. Up in the air, there were also cameras rigged to rails in order to track and broadcast the action on a four-sided television screen above the fighting area to spectators even in the worst seats. The Mistral Regional Tournament was very much an event that attracted a large crowd and was one time of the year where people from many different villages and cities outside of the capital came together to watch the next generation of huntsmen in action.
The rules for this tournament itself were simple, the fight went on until one of the two entrants was either knocked off of the arena, their aura was fully depleted, or conceded the match. If both participants are knocked off of the arena at the same time, then the first one to get their entire body back on the arena itself is declared the winner. If two people’s aura drops at the same time, the match is considered a draw and a rematch is scheduled at the next available open timeslot to declare a definitive winner. There have never been two draws in a row, so it is up in the air what would happen if that were to occur. Each participant started the match approximately fifteen meters away from each other on opposite ends of the arena, and the match started when the announcer gave the command.
The two names had flashed up on the display alongside the official images for both Percy Minamoto and Huli Renard, and both participants were almost ready to step out into the ring and make their grand entrance into the quarterfinals of the 15th Mistral Regional Tournament. Aura meters were also on full display next to the images of both of their faces, with each one starting at 100 and going down in real time as each individual started to suffer damage. Both contestants also had an aura meter on their person as well, and it was their choice whether to use it and where to put it on their person if they did intend to use it for the fight!
”Welcome to Day Seven of the Fifteenth Mistral Regional Tournament everyone! What we have here is a matchup in the White Wing Round of Eight between two competitors that come into this match seemingly out of nowhere with two just absolutely dominating performances thus far!”
This was the analyst desk, which couldn’t be heard by the actual contestants but were on the big screens above the stadium and in the television sets of everyone watching the live feed with audio.
”Darcy, could you give us a recap of how both of these participants got this far for the viewers that are just now joining us?”
”Absolutely, Skye! The first competitor that we’ll cover is Duncan Breen from Menagerie, who is part of a small group from the island who entered the tournament from that region and really took this tournament by storm. He’s a water manipulator who can solidify the water he controls into devastating attacks! He’s surprisingly durable and exceptionally nimble, being able to seemingly always be in the right place at the right time to maintain distance and make his opponent just off balance enough to not be able to land big time attacks. His semblance is wicked strong, but he can’t create the water he uses so has to lug around a lot of it and that telegraphs his attacks a bit more than I’m sure he’d like.”
”The second competitor for this match is Ferric Nayamasa from Signal Academy, who is part of the last bastion of combat school graduates still alive in this tournament. Making his way from the Kingdom of the Vale, he and his classmate have been shown up huge here in Argus. His semblance is, near as we can tell, a gosh darned arm cannon that propels any object he puts in his palm at lightning speed towards any opponent with enough force to cause one heck of an aura chip. He comes from a famous family of Huntsmen, and relies on his skill with his bow in order to create leads with remarkable accuracy on each shot.”
”The biggest thing to watch in matches like this is semblance and skill matchups. Duncan has that shield that he can use to block some arrows, and both competitors rely heavily on their ability to do massive damage at a distance in order to generate momentum. It’s going to be very interesting to see how Ferric plans to get around that shield and that water semblance that could also conceivably be used as a defensive measure as well. In terms of just the skill and semblance matchup, I’d have to give the slight edge to Duncan if he can put that shield to good use in mitigating some of the arrow fire that has given so many other participants so much trouble in the earlier rounds of the tournament.”
With that, the camera cuts to the arena in preparation for the first contestant to make their entrance.
Word Count: 1253
Entrances can be made in any order. Combat moderation on request.
Ferric Nayamasa
Duncan Breen
Entrances can be made in any order. Combat moderation on request.
Ferric Nayamasa
Duncan Breen
