Flower and Flame (technical Introduction)

Axel pulled his chakrams from the pocket of darkness he kept them in and twirled them effortlessly in his hands. Fire sparked at the blade tips as the weapons spun and soon they were immersed in flame. His green gaze shifted to glare at Marluxia, who stood not too far from him.

"This time, Eleven," he snarled. "I'll be the one to take you down."

As he spoke, he let the flames from his chakrams burst out, spreading to the garden and lighting every plant aflame.

Shifting his weight slightly, he reached out to the side almost lazily with his right hand - a flash of the same darkness, and his slim scythe appeared in his hand. He hefted it lightly, pointing it at Axel as his eyes narrowed.

"Try me, Eight. If you think I'll sit back and let you kill me like Vexen and the others - you've got another thing coming to you. Unlike them, I'm not already teetering on the brink of death after an encounter with the Keyblade Weilder... I think you'll find I'm somewhat more of a challange than they were." He sneered, unimpressed with Axel's show of power.

Though he didn't appreciate the attack on his garden: his left hand shot out and quickly, each of the plants wriggled and writhed down into the soil, curling in on themselves in pain and in an effort to save themselves from the flames. "Leave them out of this!"

Axel grinned. "You're such a girl, worrying about a stupid little garden, Number Eleven." He balled up a fist and the flames grew hotter and bigger. "What you should worry about is yourself!"

He tossed one of his chakrams at Marluxia, then charged at him, readying his fist for contact with the other Nobody's face.

"Shut up." He responded testily, eyes narrowing further as his left hand clenched into a fist. About half of the plants had 'escaped' by now, though some were still being tortured by the flames.

He'd been prepared for that - expecting it - and his scythe whirled to deflect the flaming projectile weapon, while his other hand formed a solid block to protect his face. His scythe swept down, cutting sharply at Axel's feet as he slid back slightly - more to trip him up than actually hurt him, for now.

Axel did a sort of half-backflip, landing on his hands, then pushing himself back towards Marluxia, his feet aiming for the pink-haired Nobody's face. "You're so easy to predict, Marly. You sure you know how to fight?"

He ducked down and tilted back slightly, barely avoiding the kick as his eyes narrowed further, smirking coldly. "As well as you do, spike." He sung his weapon up sharply, twisting it as he did so to curl the blade in the air towards Axel.

Axel barely had the chance to dodge, receiving a gash on his shoulder as he got out of the way. He hissed in pain, then sent a wall of flames to surround him and Marluxia. He summoned the magma groundcover he once used against Roxas and then attacked Marluxia once again.

His satisfaction at drawing first blood was short-lived; he tensed as their fighting arena was dramatically reduced in size due to Axel's flame barrier. Damn. His weapon worked best long-range... and with the groundcover, he couldn't use any of his plants either; they wouldn't make it to the surface. Double damn. Clenching his jaw, he stepped back and spun his scythe, whirling it in front of him as a makeshift sheild as his eyes darted around the enclosure.

... damn. Axel definately had the upper hand now...
Axel jumped past Marluxia and into the wall of fire. He grinned. Marluxia was definitely looking out of place in the fire. Oh, this was going to be fun. He circled around Marluxia, watching for his chance.

... unexpected. And not welcomed at all. Eyes narrowing, he paused in his defensive motion and moved more towards the center of the circle, tense and trying in vain to catch a glimpse of the pryo within the flames. "Hiding, are we?" He sneered, playing calm despite his twinge of uncertainty.

"Hardly," Axel replied, jumping out of the flames suddenly and latching to Marluxia's back. He pressed one of the spikes of his chakram to Marluxia's throat. "Well, that was too easy..."

He stiffened, eyes narrowing as a shallow cut bloomed on his throat, holding very still and resnting the hot weight against his back. Damn. "Hate to dissapoint you, Axel..." He murmured softly, his empty hand shifting slightly - before he flicked his wrist, a quick flash of darkness appearing as a storm of petals; each one brushed carefully with a paralysis tonic; flurried around them. They wouldn't last long in this heat, he knew, but it would be enough of a distraction to break free. Or so he hoped, anyway. "... but I'm not done yet!"

Axel ground his teeth together. He'd have to release Marluxia to avoid those petals, something he was reluctant to do. He growled. "Fuck." He let go of Marluxia to open his fist to destroy the petals. Small balls of flame attacked the petals, burning them before they could touch him.

"No thank you." He responded to the curse, smirking as he quickly slid away from the fire-user. Never one to miss an oppertunity to strike; seeing as Axel was sufficently distracted by the mass of sweet-smelling petals still swirling in the air; he gathered himself and darted back towards Axel, scythe swinging low and aiming at his chest.

Axel jumped backwards just a bit too late and let out a cry at the searing pain in his chest. He pressed a hand to the wound and felt it. It wasn't too deep, but he was bleeding pretty heavily. He glared at Marluxia. "That's it, Marly." He leapt up and lunged for Marluxia.

Marluxia just smirked and shifted into a ready position - it seems that despite the continued fiery terrain, he'd won back the advantage for the moment... "Come and get me." He taunted lightly, ready and waiting for the attack.

"Son of a bitch," Axel bit out. He gripped his chakram, summoning as many flames as he could to it without burning himself. Then he hurled it at the other Nobody with deadly intent

"Language, Axel, language." He chided, taunting the other and smirking lightly. ... ah. Stepping back, he raised his scythe to try and block the firey missle; it glanced off and sliced through his arm [not too deep, but not exactly shallow, either], the fabric of his sleeve igniting. Hissing, he stepped back again and quickly smothered the flames with his free hand, amusement fading rapidly.

"Bite me, you pansy-assed bastard," Axel grinned, his other chakram bursting out of the flames behind Marluxia. He checked the wound on his chest, which was healing quite slowly compared to other injuries he had received in his life as a Nobody.

"You wi-" The comment wasn't finished as the flare of heat and the sound of the chakram reached him; eyes widening, he tried to dodge, throwing himself to the side - too late. The chakram connected with his back, just below his shoulderblade, and he stumbled.

Axel chuckled darkly and stoof up. "So, it looks like I win, huh?" He gave a cocky grin and stepped forward. He knocked Marluxia's scythe away.

He wavered slightly as his scythe was knocked away; he'd been half using it for a support. Damn, but that had hurt... Gritting his teeth, he straightened suddenly and flat-out punched Axel across the face, glowering. "Not yet."

Axel stumbled backwards, putting a hand to his jaw and massaging. "Damn. For a girl, you hit pretty hard." He moved his jaw a bit to make sure it was okay, then raised his fists in retaliation. "Not hard enough, though, 'cause I'm still standing."

Marluxia had taken advantage of Axel's distraction to reach back and tug the chakram free, wincing slightly as the flames licked at his hand, and tossing the weapon aside. "Says the man with a figure that'd make any girl jealous..." He muttered, eyeing Axel warily and wincing as he straightened; there wasn't much he could do to block the punch, but he raised his arms to attempt to do so anyway.

"You're just jealous of these hips," Axel smirked. His fist failed to connect with Marluxia's jaw, due to the meager guard the other Nobody had up. Not a problem. Axel's right leg lifted up and swung around, aiming for Marluxia's exposed ribs.

"Hardly." He scoffed lightly, wincing as the fist connected to his arms - and then doubling over as Axel's kick connected solidly. One arm wrapping around his chest as he coughed, he glared heatedly at the red-head, letting his other hand fall open; his scythe dissapeared to re-appear in his hand, fragments of darkness swirling around it like smoke. "Cheap shot." He hissed when he could speak again.

Axel grinned. "You think that was a cheap shot? Using your damned petals to try to paralyse me was cheap." He summoned his chakrams to his hands, readying them to pary Marluxia's scythe when he used it. He split his concentration, raising the temperature on the magma ground cover while at the same time, jumping towards Marluxia.

"Hmph." He didn't respond, eyes narrowing and smirking faintly in acknowledgement; alright, so he'd call it even, then; as he pushed himself off of the scalding hot ground towards Axel - he could feel his feet burning even through his thick boots, which meant that he wasn't going to be able to stay in one place for long... He swung the scythe to the side, readying it to attack.

Axel reached out with one arm, using the chakram in that hand to immobilise Marluxia's scythe momentarily. His other arm swooped in from the side to attack with his other chakram.

Teeth grit as his scythe was blocked; but not entirely suprised; he threw out his free hand to meet the attack from the chakram. Or more specifically... thick vines erupted from his gloved hand, snaking under the fiery weapon to coil tight around Axel's wrist and glove, immobilizing that hand momentarily.

"Damn it," Axel muttered. The vines wouldn't stop him for long. To make his unspoken point, he summoned flames to destroy the vines that restricted him. As soon as his hand was free, he broke away from Marluxia, jumping once again into the fire wall behind him.

He'd known it wouldn't work for long; that wasn't the point. The point was simply that it had worked, however briefly... He slid back as he landed, wincing at the feel of the scalding-hot magma cover against his boots. Tch. They'd melt if he didn't move, and fast... But he was hindered, simply because he didn't know where Axel was in this fiery mess.

Axel grinned to himself, watching for a good chance for him to attack. Marluxia would have to move soon, or risk receiving severe burns. He leapt out of the flames a moment later and moved to shove one of his chakrams into the other Nobody's physical heart.

... there! Shifting, he turned, striking upwards quickly with his scythe as he did so - ignoring the sickening scent of burning rubber and flesh and the pain as the heat became too much for his boots. Smirking in grim satisfaction, he stared back at Axel as he pulled his scythe free and jumped back as best he could. "Checkmate."

Axel went rigid, eyes wide. His chakrams fell from his grasp and clattered to the ground. "B-bastard..." he managed to gasp out. He felt the blade of Marluxia's scythe pulled out of his body and he crumpled to the ground. The magma cover had dissipated, as had the walls of flame. He groaned in pain and struggled to breathe.

Leaning heaving against his scythe - he wasn't without his own damage, and it was healing slower than normal due to the extent of the burns - he watched silently as Axel crumpled. "You asked for this, Axel. Don't blame me for finishing the fight you started..." Still, he could almost fancy he felt a pang of guilt under the satisfaction... if he could feel anything at all. "Now you know why people don't often go against me. You'd do well to remember this lesson, Axel..."

... ow. Walking was going to be painful for a few days, automatic healing or otherwise.

Axel's vision faded as he felt his body slipping into darkness. Well, he thought as he felt himself dying. At least I... Before he could finish his train of thought, the darkness consumed him and his body faded away.

He watched silently as his fellow Nobody vanished, expression blank as he leaned against his scythe. Well... this had been an interesting experiance, if nothing else...

He glanced around himself, then grimaced and sighed. Dammit. He'd have to re-grow his garden now...