The dry desert air lashed at the young saiyan, the wind-driven sand tearing into his flesh as he crossed the dunes, finally closing the distance on the figure he'd been following for so long.

In moment's, he'd reached the peak of a dune, bringing himself full into view of the Konat swordsman. ~Clean and quick, just like Hachi taught you,~ he reminded himself mentally, steeling himself for the battle ahead. The terrain had not been favorable, and this would prove to be an honest and honorable battle, being so exposed up here atop a massive pile of sand and clearly visible to the target.

Leaning back, Ryder stretched his powerful muscles, cracking his fasts as he gave a nod to his adversary in the distance, before resuming his approach, prepared for any form of assault as he steadily drew nearer.

OOC: 140 words.

With a nod from his opponent, Riano let out a deep roar, hand on the hilt of his sword as his aura expanded around him. His gut instinct told him he was outclassed; but then again, he had learned to always expect the unexpected because no one else does. The hot desert sun began to bear down on his body, forcing beads of sweat to roll down from his temple. As the saiyan approched him at a decent pace, Riano began a charge of his own; charging shoulder forward with his hand clasped around the handle of his blade, the warriors met with a clash and were both pushed to the side from the intesnse impact.

OOC: 0.3 penalty to see the attack, moving at my awesome 200 speed with normal sword slicing effect. While my sword is drawn, my pl is x1.3...to 1300.

IC:

Approaching casually as he was, Ryder took careful note of how the swordsman gripped his weapon's hilt, rushing towards him. He continued the slow walk, watching carefully as his opponent reached the bottom of the dune and closed the final 6 or so meters uphill. ~Focus Ryder, let go of your conflicting thoughts and fight with no mind~ he reminded himself, letting go of his mind and sliding into the instinctive combat style he'd used for so long.

In a heartbeat the blade was sliding out of it's sheath, sweeping upwards at an angle towards the Saiyan's chest. Falling backwards, out of it's range and shoving off the surface of the dune with a poweful open-handed shove, transferring the momentum and force into a fierce punch point-blank his mark's sword arm shoulder, bringing the full force he had at his disposal into the assault, the sword harmlessly off to the side of him.

OOC: No weights, afterall, the storyline is that he's on an assassination mission lol, so here are my stats.
strength: 480, Speed: 480

Added (03.03.2010, 6:45 Am)
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OOC: Um... Riano... it's your move.

Riano squinted from the pain caused by the crushing blow to his shoulder. He could sense the intensity of his opponents strength, and the pain that he still felt was an indicator that his feelings were correct. He had much more training to accomplish before he stood a chance of beating someone so powerful.
Well... what the hell? Wrong place, wrong time for me. I'll die fighting before I die bending over.
Struggling to reach for the blade, he painfully grasped the handle and lifted himself on the ground. Sheathing the blade, he took his battoujutsu stance and watched his opponent staring him down.
"I don't have to do this... but I want to."
Riano lunged forward, drawing the blade and striking in a single movement. Ryder, easily moving out of the attack's way, now had Riano's undefended back all to himself for a finishing blow.

Watching on as his adversary stumbled and fell a few rolls back down the hill, Ryder found himself regretting the necessity of this all once more. ~What could such a weak man do that would be so dangerous Hachi?~ He inquired mentally, watching the warrior rise to his feet, and take the posture for the same attack once more. ~So proud... to have the attack defeated and think to use it again... wait... nobody would repeat the same attack twice, something is going on here...~

As Riano lunged forward, the Saiyan warrior leaped upwards and forwards over the target, clearing the blade as it swept free of it's scabbard as the boy rose a good 30 feet in the air, gaining a good view of the battle field be certain exactly what was going on, before coming to a smooth graceful landing just past the bottom of the dune, spinning to face his adversary. ~What will you do now...~ He pondered, surprised his opponent had expected the same technique to work twice in a row. ~So proud... and stubborn...~ he concluded from his observations, though perhaps far off base in the analyses.

OOC: The high ground is yours.

A somewhat cool passed through the air as the two fighters immersed themselves in battle. The drift of relief was short-lived, however, as the hot desert sun was still high in it's solstice-driven abuse. He had not really bet on his attacks success, but his concentration was slightly broken by the ease of his opponents evasion. Swiftly reacting to his opponent's jumping out of his vision, he quickly jumped and spun around and brought the Saiyan in sight. As his opponent softly landed on the ground, an invisible blast of ki from Riano pushed him slightly forward, and as he spun to face his adversary, a ball of destructive energy became visible, as well as it's intended path to his face. Behind it all was Riano, high in the air, sword poised to strike down on his opponent whether or not the energy attack was successful. This isn't over.