Carth's magical adventure, ROUND TWO, MOTHERFUCKERS!

[Carthrat]

Twirling his sword in front of him, Carthrat quickly creates a sort of shield of fire that serves the purpose of obscuring his opponents view.

Closing in as quickly as he can manage, he relies on his superior height to see what his opponent cannot. Anticipating a sweep in retalation, he nonetheless steels his legs and using his sword as a feint, lunges with his left to snatch up his comparatively light enemy from the ground.

[Anastasia]

As you set your chi to burning, her grin gets even bigger. As you rush, she starts to run to your left, almost as if she was going to go in a circle. Suddenly, her grin is gone entirely, her face stone serious.

Your sword feint is dodged seemingly automatically as she continue towards your left...but this takes her right into your hand.

[Carthrat]

Breaking his twirling sword, Carthrat goes to slam the girl with the hilt of his sword, then slam her into the ground and try pulling her into an armlock.

[Anastasia]

As the hilt goes towards her head, she grins again. "Mouko Takabisha revised, Mouko Burst!" A bright flash of golden chi blinds and scorches you, and when your eyes clear, Ranma is back away from you.  Your face and chest tingle slightly from what you guess are weak first degree burns.

She smiles again. "Damn, I dunno if I was sloppy or if you were good, but...now it's on"

[Carthrat]

Holding his sword horizontally to his body, Carthrat snerks. "Don't encourage me," he replies, thrusting it into the ground and *igniting* it.

Now that he thought about it, he was probably just baiting the kid. He vaugely remembers something about tornado-based martial-arts manouevers, and while he dosn't know much about ki and chi and shit, he *does* know the theory behind a tornado, and he *does* know that Ranma can make one..

So the question was, how can a tornado be used to his advantage?

Fuck, when you asked yourself questions like that, you *knew* you were fucked.

[Anastasia]

"Alright, then," she says, eyeing the sword. With a deft motion and a sprint, she starts running in a wide circle around you, with a speed that is difficult for your trained eye to follow. Before you can really react, she is easily a quarter of the way done.

[Carthrat]

Carthrat rips the sword around him in a spiral, sending a circle of flame emmiting from a short distance from him.

Yeah! That'll work! Centering himself in the fire will create a tornado *around* him if the proper cold air pockets are found, which would mean-

-he'd be trapped in a tornado. An improvement on being caught *up* in a tornado, but problematic nonetheless.

Perhaps focusing on the tornado wasn't the way to go.

[Anastasia]

As you spin your fiery blade, she quickly finishes her spiral.

"Hiryuu...shoten...HA!" The words echo out, and then the world is consumed in a torrent of wind and screaming air. You feel hurricane level winds, and spinning, and...

----

When your vision finally clears and your head stops imitating a jackhammer, you notice that:

Tokyo has a nice skyline.

This lot has surprisingly soft grass.

You feel like you just got hit with a rocket launcher salvo.

[Carthrat]

"..and like, that's Orions Belt," says Carthrat, pointing up in the sky. "Astrologers believe that they're all stars, but the centre one is really a secret biolo-"

Sitting up, he looks around. "Where was I again?"

[Anastasia]

The world spins again as you sit up, and you resist the urge to introduce your stomach's contents to the lot. Rachel is nearby, looking down.

"Wow...you alright, Carthrat? That looked rather unpleasant," she says evenly.

[Carthrat]

"Aww, it was nothing a day of rest and your tender face won't fix, Yuki-chan," says Carthrat, dreamily.

[Anastasia]

Rachel sighs, a hint of sadness in her sigh. "Poor Carthrat," she murmurs.

"Could you guys give me a hand with him? I don't think he can make it back to the car." she yells out, turning to address some people that you can't see.

[Carthrat]

"So yeah! You beat me this time, Setsuna, but tomorrow, *I* shall be the victor! I've worked out that fire trick you do, and mark my words, thou shalt be feeling thine own sting!" Carthrat cries, abruptly standing up, apparently fresh as a daisy.

[Anastasia]

After standing, you feel strong hands on each side of you. Rachel has one arm and Ukyo has the other.

"This way, Sugar," Ukyo murmurs softly. "Let's go back to the car now..." she guides you back to the vehicle...

[Carthrat]

Carthrat continues to talk to himself, all the way throughout the trip..

<->

"You're going off-planet?" says Carthrat, in some surprise.

"Yes," replies Setsuna, dreamily. "Carthrat.. you know as well as I do how much is out there. What there is to do.. to see.."

"But I thought you were gonna get a job with an engineering firm," replies Carthrat, curious. "It's what you've been saying since I met you!"

"Things change," replies Setsuna, gloomily. "I don't.. think I could work very well with people anymore."

"What makes you think that?" Unfortunately, Carthrat already knew the answer..

"You've seen what I'm like, Carthrat. You remember last week? When we were sparring?" Setsuna says, a little sadly.

"It was a mistake anyone could've made," replies Carthrat, shaking his head. "You just got carried away in the heat of the-"

"It wasn't getting carried away! It's not just that I could've killed you, it's just that at the time, I.. wanted.. to.."

Carthrat reaches out and grips Setsuna's shoulders. "Listen to me! You're better than me at swordplay, always have been. But if what you say is true.. then you're certainly in no condition to go out by yourself, of all things.

Let me and Yuki come with you."

Setsuna replies, determination in his voice; "No. I can't risk you two."

"Don't be an idiot, Setsuna. You can't fly a ship by yourself. You only got your pilots license last week, and then-"

"But what about your ambitions?" replies Setsuna. "Didn't you have a job lined up? What about your marriage?"

"Yuki will understand. She's always wanted to get off-planet-"

"No! I'm sorry, but.. this energy.

Remember when we used to theorize? Remember than ancient principle we found? Yin and Yang? Duality? Remember how we used to think all the power came from within?

This isn't coming from me, Carthrat! It's coming from the outside. I need to be alone to work out how to control it."

"But-"

Setsuna turned. "Just.. let me go, Carthrat. If you ask me again, I'll fold. I know I will. I'll be back someday.. but just.."

He started to walk off, leaving Carthrat just standing there..

"..Setsuna.."

<->

Carthrat sits bolt upright, staring straight ahead. "What? Where are we? When did we get here? Who do I shoot?" he says, speaking too fast for anyone to understand.