Key of the Twilight (Aeos/Bee C)

[Bee]

"Alright Aeos I hope you are ready", spoke Bee as she secured her tome. The two of them were suppose to be practicing. Bee was suppose to show Aeos everything she had learned over her time since they last parted. There was a lot to show and a lot more that needed to be turned into piratical skills. This was kind of a spar so Bee was not going to have time to do anything big. Instead she was going to have to rely on her go to moves. There were a few she had in mind that could work, but Bee wanted to start this off with a bang. It was time she showed off the result of all of her fire manipulation training.

"Alright here I go", shouted Bee as she tossed a strange object in front of her. The object exploded and covered the immediate area in a thick black smoke cloud. With the cloud up Bee moved over a bit and began to cast her spell. She was going to need a hot minute for this one. As Bee concentrated the fire spirits began to gather at the center of the smoke pile. The heat and light began to shine through as the smoke as a cow size fire ball formed. "Alright now to shape it". Bee began to focus her will on the mass of fire. She could feel her skin heating up, but she ignored it. Her first attack had to be glorious. Suddenly the fire ball took shape and formed a phoenix made of pure flames. At this point the smoke bomb affect was gone, but Bee no longer needed it.

"Raging Phenix", she shouted as her animal shape ball of fire flapped it wings and hovered over her head. She was dropping sweat like rain, but Bee could not be more proud. She had been working on this attack since she first picked up a tome.

[Aeos]

Aeos cracked his knuckles. He wasn't half shifted yet. He was going to wait to see what Bee did first before he did anything himself. THe firey spirited mage lobbed a bottle of something. A smoke bomb. That was smart of her. He could smell the sudden mass of fresh flame forming from behind the smoke ball. Aeos sighed softly. A real enemy wouldn't wait for the mage to charge up the spell and counter. A real enemy would lunge through the smoke and cut the mage down before they reacted.

But, this wasn't exactly a real fight. This was a sparring match. And he was a little curious to see how Bee's spell looked. So he played the waiting game for a bit. He did draw some of his stone's power towards his legs to prepare for an evasive move. Even it this WAS a sparring match part of him didn't like the idea of getting hit with fire balls. He didn't like the idea of getting hit with magic in general, but he had to learn the limits of his own resistance if he was to effectively help people.

Now this was a sight. A gigantic fire bird looming over his friend's head. She had been practicing. He could see how much energy Bee had just expended in conjuring up the fire bird. It was a good thing he was closest to the river. If she missed hitting him with that thing then the bird thing would hit the water.

"Bee you've left yourself very open." He shouted. Aeos was going to take advantage of that, after she lobbed that gigantic bird thing at him.

[Bee]

"I know, but I could not resist it. You see Aeos I have been trying to perfect this attack since I first got the Volcanon tome. However It was a no go. I could not pull it off. I lacked the control to manipulate the fire and the power to sustain it. I could not get the shape down either. So I have been working my bottom off to get this just right. So I could not help but show it off to you. It is my master piece, though I admit it was suppose to be a range attack. Still I can use it up close."

With that Bee waved her hand and scent the bird flying forward its wings flapped as it moved six feet in front of Bee and then opened its wings. From its body several small fire balls began to shoot out at Aeos. Its wings and body began to get smaller with every ball of flame fired out. Once it reached half its size the bird flew toward Aeos hopping to smash into him.

As Bee's fire bird attacked Bee held the side of her arms tightly. First off the attack took a lot of power to do and to sustain, but there was also something else. She worried about Aeos. She was throwing her best at him. If he got seriously hurt it would be her fault. Aeos was tough, but this was magic. Magic bypasses armor. You had to resist it not endure it.

[Aeos]

This was good and bad. Aeos was glad that Bee knew she was open. But this was very bad that she was willing to expend all her energy into this attack and leave herself very vulnerable. A real enemy would not hesitate to take advantage of that opening and kill her. He waited a few moments before sighing. Then tapping into the power of his stone. He fully half shifted his body and braced himself. The fiery phoenix came at him. The bird was a wonderful display of magic. But, Bee needed to learn her place in battle. It was for her own good. He did not want to return to the mainland only to have her name be mentioned on some tombstone. Or to see her image on some missing person poster. Aeos in his half shifted state dashed forward towards Bee. He used the power of his half shifted legs to jump in the air and soar over the bird of flame.

The bird seemed to throw several balls of flame at the cost of it's own body. Aeos was certain that the phoenix was the only attack conjured from the Volcanon tome. He was unprepared for the balls of fire. As he was in the air he got hit by one of the balls of flame. The fireball scorched the spot that hit him. He had a perfectly round hole of burned shirt on his back. The blast was painful, but it would not deter him from his objective. He needed to confront Bee. He landed on the ground and charged forward at the young mage. He was certain that she could not move away in her fatigued state.

[Bee]

Aeos was good, no really good. Bee thought the moment she brought out the phoenix it would be over. The spell was Bee's perfect creation. well it was far from perfect. The spell took to long to make for one. Two, the spell had very limited use close rang. It was better a mid range spell. That way it could use all of its functionality. Having it break apart and shoot multiple small fire balls was a good touch. However that lead to the third problem. The darn thing required way to much energy to use. That was one of the main reasons that Bee did not use it in direct combat. well until now.

Aeos hit the ground in what appeared to be dramatic flair. Her attack, the flawed Raging Phoenix, had failed. Aeos was now poised to strike at her. Well after a short burst. After that performance with her original spell she was sure he could do it. Whatever it was that he was doing, it made Aeos stronger. Bee was going to have to do something quick, but she needed to cancel her spell. As Aeos moved Bee pulled out a shiny blue pill and tossed it at him. The pill exploded into a intense light. After it went off Bee commanded for a end of the spell. The big bird exploded into a ball of fire. [Flash Bang used]

"dang', hoofed Bee as she channeled her magic. The maiden was sure she could handle anything Aeos threw at her. Well not the full dragon form. Bee could most definitely could not stop that. However this was a friendly duel so she was sure Aeos was not going to hurt her, much.

[Aeos]

Aeos was poised to charge towards Bee. He was being cautious with his fighting style. He knew he was half shifted and thus had more power to his punches. Power he was trying to master. All he needed to do was pin her. He didn't need to hit, punch, or smack Bee. A simple pin. That was the safest way to declare victory in this duel. He charged towards her.

But the mage had another trick up her sleeve. An item. A flash bang. Aeos knew of these little bottles of light. Supposedly, they were a compound of liquids or powders that ignited and formed light to blind a foe. Aeos wasn't quick enough to react. His eyes got hit with the full blast of the blindingly shiny light. He was forced to stop in his tracks and take a few steps back.

"Urgh!" He groaned. He rubbed them slightly with his sleeve. Bee was smart. She had a plethora of human-made concoctions in her arsenal that he was not really prepared for. His senses were heightened in his half shifted state. This made the flash of light particularly devastating to his eyes. But, simply because he could not see Bee, did not necessarily mean he could not track Bee. He could both hear and smell her. He needed to end this quickly for the sake of his eyes. He needed to keep moving. He couldn't let Bee recover her energy, and attack him while he was blinded like this. He kept his eyes closed as he started to track her down. He approached in a brisk pace. With one arm outstretched in front of him in case he ran into any trees.

[Bee]

Ok what in the world is he, shouted Bee to herself in her mind. She then remembered that Aeos was a building sizwe giant lizard with control over primal magic. With that thought in mind it made Aeos' current feat look like childs play. Bee, desperate to stop Aeos charge had used her trusty flash bang in a effort to slow him down. That effort had ended with Aeos pushing forward like noting had happen. Well it was not like nothing had happen he had paused fir a moment to check his eyes and give off a small scream, but right after that he was coming at her again like a bat out of hell. Some how Aeos was able to track her even without his eyes. It was down right scary from Bee's end. She was happy this was a spar and not a real fight. Still this was not moving in her favor. If Aeos go a hand on her it was game over and Bee did not want to loss. Losing was unacceptable. However Bee was pretty much out of juice. That last spell had taken a lot out of her. She was not really in a position to dodje, so Bee did the only thing available to her.

"Sorry Aeos", spoke Bee as the manket's hand streaked out for her. Pulling a green marble from her belt, Bee tossed it toward Aeos. The object lit up as it flew through the air and exploded into a blast of wind. The wind blew Bee back like a rocket. Shotting her off to the side. The maiden hit the dirt hard and rolled as the remnants of the wind carried her on. Careful not to let off a groan Bee pulled herself off the ground and looked toward her sparing partner, she was sure Aeos did not expect that when he first decided to fight her.

[Aeos]

He kept walking towards Bee. He could hear each one of her movements. This ears picked up the sounds of her shuffling away. The sounds of her hands moving through her leather bag. And then there were noises he was familiar with. The sounds of something being thrown into the wind. Something that had been thrown at his direction. Out of instinct he jumped back to avoid whatever it was.

Something had burst in the area where he was. Something to do with the wind and the wind spirits. He breifly heard the wind spirits cry out. As if they had been startled by something and forced to move. The sudden scent in the air confirmed his suspicions that Bee had done something involving wind magic. There was the presence of recently kicked up dust, dirt, and dead leaves. As well as the sudden rush of wind that smelled like it rolled off a mountain peak. But the sudden burst of the wind spirit magic was different than the blasts that were produced from something out of a tome. It FELT less organized than a basic wind spell. Perhaps, this was another sort of human-made product. He knew that humans had several tools at their disposal to do magic without the need for tomes. The flash of light from the mystery bottle was one such example. And he knew of another sort of explosive bottles that could cast fire.

He rubbed his eyes and slowly opened them. He was forced to blink a few times to let them get readjusted to seeing the world. His vision was blurry at first but eventually, things slowly started to come to view. He could make out the grasses and trees around him. His eyes scanned the forest for any sign of pink. He found a few pink things immediately. A few flowers and some crushed berries. But, then he found his target. He sensed that his companion was out of energy. She was also on the ground and appeared to be in some distress. He quickly ran over to her not out of the need to win the match, but more out of concern for the young woman.

He crouched down and offered his scaley hand towards her. He slowly let go of his dragonic powers, his human form came back into view.

"I think that's enough Bee."