Ah the waiting room. Simultaneously the most tense, and most boring place in the arena. If you don't have nerves of steel, and Kikichi doesn't, then this place can be very nerve wracking, especially if you have a difficult duel about to commence. As this was the case for Kikichi, she sat in same chair she always sat in, farthest away from the other deuses, and closest to the hallway leading to the arena. He hand shook so bad she couldn't even work on her sewing. "I'm scared Jinto. It's not that I don't believe in you. You know that. But I've seen Asayama Kentaro duel. He's no pushover. We're going to have to be on top of our game today if we're going to stand up to him." She thinks over all of the different moves she has seen Gunslinger pull off. "Keep an eye out for that laser cannon of his." She closes her eyes and tries to steady her breath. Nervously awaiting the moment when the attendant would usher her to the layer.

The heat was still baking the Tokyo landscape outside, and as such Asayama was starting to work up a sweat. The cool air of the waiting room proved to be the only respite from this, and it made sitting out in the deus' chairs in the stadium the most uncomfortable thing in the world. The programmer sighs as he sits down on one of the benches, watching the monitor in front of him. He's getting thirsty again because of the heat, but the only remaining water is just a dribble collected within the water bottle he holds in his hand. At this point he can't tell whether it's actual water or merely condensation, at this point he doesn't care. He unscrews the cap and drinks up, the cool feeling washing down his throat. He knows that his next match is soon, however, there's no time to get another bottle, so this will have to do, for now.

Standing up, he walks over to the small bin in the corner of the room and tosses the plastic bottle into it with a sigh. Apparently, his next match was with some deus called Kikichi. He hadn't seen much of her around the Piffle Princess, and so he didn't know her very well....he had been watching her matches though, her angel was.....rather rediculously resilient. Those three r's always spelled trouble for Gunslinger, his weapons could pack a punch on occasion, but only on occasion....and he couldn't keep that level of power up for a whole match. Ah well, he'd do his best in any case.

Speaking of Kikichi, he did notice her sitting nearby. He hadn't spoken to her yet, of course, but he did know her face....the announcer was always very loud when he announced the names of the deuses. Asayama knew that it was perhaps good ettiquette to chat with your opponent before a match, just so you could get to know one another, show good sportsmanship, that sort of thing. This wasn't lost upon him, even normally he wouldn't like to just sit and talk with people. In fact, he found having an excuse to do so rather refreshing. Approaching the girl cauciously, he leans forward in a slight bow upon arrving in front of her, with his coat already folded over his arm.

"Fukami Kikichi...san?" He murmers quietly to the girl, the corners of his mouth twitching up into a slight smile. Of course, Asayama doesn't really smile very often and so it comes off as....sort of creepy. He continues in that soft tone, a tone designed for speaking to people he does not intend to offend, it seems absolutely perfect for business. He gives the girl a nod, from his bowing position, causing some hair to fall across his face. "My name is Asayama Kentaro of Angelic Layer Incorporated." He fishes around in his pocket for a moment, eventually producing a card and holding it out for the girl a little formally. "I believe that I am your opponent for the next round......right?" He stands tall again, his full height dwarfing the girl in her seated position. With one free hand, he brushes the hair away from his face and adjusts his glasses, awaiting her response.

Hearing her name startles Kikichi, and she turns toward the voice of her caller. Seeing her competetor standing in front of her, the master blaster of the layer, her eyes dialate to the size of pin-points. Standing up and taking his card, she looks at it for a few moments before placing it in her suitcase, the standard response of respect for one who offers you a business card. "Asa...ano... ehhh..." She shakes her head to snap herself out of her nerves. "Asayama-san," she bows to him, head low. "It is my great pleasure to take this card from you. You are correct in your statement that I am your opponent. Please sit down while we wait for the attendant. " She looks around for Gunslinger, wondering where Asan has him hiding. Jinto sits, legs dangling from the edge of the suitcase she has sitting in the chair next to her.

There's a soft chuckle from the taller man as Asayama acknowledges her statement. "Formal is one thing...." He continues that soft, passive tone. "It's quite another to be so nervous. I wouldn't worry too much, if it's any consolation, your angel and mine are....from what I have seen....polar opposites. I think that it's going to be a rather difficult duel, even for me." He coughs. "I watched your last match on the screen here, it was rather impressive, all things considered." He turns and walks a little away from her before turning to face her again. Gunslinger is nowhere to be found, still. In reality, he's tucked away in Asayama's coat pocket...away from the eyes of the public.

Asayama's hair sways whenever he moves his head, cascading in front of him and obstructing his vision, needing to be brushed away. He coughs quietly again, trying to make polite conversation but never really managing to remove that nervous atmosphere. Anyone who knew Asayama could figure out that he was really quite friendly most of the time. Upon first meeting though, the dark clothes and overly formal attidute lend him an almost sinister air that makes people around him uneasy. Unpreturbed, or at least feigning to be so, he continues. "So tell me....how long have you be playing Angelic Layer?" He sways his free hand around in gesture at the question.

"Not very long really..." Kikichi seems to space out as she thinks back.

The scene fades to a small house in Tokyo, showing a white fuzzy border indicating dreams or memories, and you can see Kikichi, black pinned up hair, even though the brass clock on the wall shows 10pm. She is diligently working on something, though you cannot see what, since we are looking at her back. A door opens and Kikichi looks back, smiling at her brother as he walk in.

"Brother, you're home early!" she says excitedly, and you can see a rare smile appear on her face. Her brother, wearing a business suit, walks into the room with a bag labeled Piffle Princess and he hands it to her. Taking out a box, she looks it over. "Angel Egg." she says, reading the label, and she cocks her head to the side. "What is this?"

Her brother looks warmly down at her, brown eyes shinning. "It is a special doll that you can use on what they call a layer. With special equipment at the layer, you can make your doll move. You can even customize your doll to look however you want. And since you are so good at sewing, you can make your doll clothes."

The scene fades back to the waiting room, where Kikichi snaps out of her daydream and looks up at her opponent. "I'm sorry, I was daydreaming, pardon my rudeness. But yes, I have been playing for a few weeks now."

"A few weeks eh?" Asayama rubs his chin in thought himself. He still didn't see himself as having played for that long, even though it had been a year now since he'd firstgraced the Piffle Princess with his arrogant manner and attitude. He'd mellowed out a lot since then, in part due to a business trip he'd had to make to America with the rest of the staff on his team. In that situation, he'd been forced to act as formally as possible, to keep up appearances for the company. It was then that he learned that you garnered a lot more respect by acting polite to people than you did by acting.....the way he did before. He has nothing much to say in response to the girl though, merely murmuring. "Kanto Qualifiers in just a few weeks...pretty good." and nodding his approval.

The tall man's thoughts are interrupted by the slight cough of a woman who has appeared to his left, all dressed up in the flashy attire consistent with the tournament staff. He'd met this woman before a few times. It seemed like her only job was to inform participants that there match was due to start. There must be more to her job than that but....he never saw her anywhere else. She clears her throat once again, trying to catch Kikichi's attention, before glancing at her clipboard. Asayama was beginning to suspect that all her movements were standard procedure, since by now there was hardly any reason to check the board for names or anything like that. Casting one eye at the large screen dominating the west wall shows that his match with Kikichi is indeed ready to start.

"Asayama-san and Fukami-san, your match is about to begin. Would the both of you please proceed to the arena. Asayama-san, you are sceduled to come out of the eastern door and Fukami-san, you have to come from the west, so if you would please follow the appropriate corridor through the doors behind me." The staff member speaks in soft dulcet tones, every bit as formal as Asayama himself. Finally, she steps to one side and extends an arm showing the deuses the way to the door. Observing her with a clinical eye, Asayama finally nods to the woman and steps past her, walking up to the doors she has indicated. Just before going through them, he turns to Kikichi one final time and gives the girl a nod, speaking in a rather stronger voice than before. "Good luck." He mutters audibly.

"That's me ma'am!" Kikichi says to the attendant and begins to walk through the entrance when Asayama speaks to her again. The "Good luck" seemed to imply a "You're going to need it" and her nerves /instantly/ reappeared. Lowering her head, she grabs Jinto and walks through the hall towards the west entrance.

As Asayama steps through the doors and heads down the corridor, it splits in two...one path heading left and the other right. So that he'll come out of the west exit, the tall man takes the right path, slinging his coat over his shoulder as he goes. It was hot, indeed, but he still needed access to the pockets. This time at least, he'd hoped to prepare himself for the blinding light. There's really nothing that can prepare you for stepping out into a place like the auditorium. The din of the cheering crowds, the loud music played so everyone can hear it even above that....the lights, the sounds....it was all a bit overwhelming. Asayama can feel himself reflexively dip just a little bit lower, slouching and making himself smaller as he makes his way to the deus' chair which now seems much further away than it looks on the monitor in the waiting room. It's like looking at a diving board from below then climbing to the top of it to find out just how high it really is.

As Asayama moves, the announcer takes note and strikes a pose up on his own special platform. "Laaaaaadies and gentlemen! Now we begin round two of the Kanto Qualifiers. You may think you've seen it all so far, but it's nothing compared to what you're going to see in the rest of this tournament!" It's almost surprising that the man can keep going like that, he hardly pauses fro breath....and this heat is unbearable too. "First of all we have both an old salt and a new duelist, pitting thier wits and thier angels against one another! From the Eastern corner, this man needs no introduction! His angel uses the layer it's to fight his opponents, creating weapons from nothing at all! Angelic Layer Encorporated's very own Asayama Kentaro, and his angel Gunsliiiiiinger!" The announcer throws an arm in Asayama's direction and the volume of the crowd rises as they cheer. It appears the Asayama has garnered some fans in the audience, a few of whom wear little cowboy hats in a homage to his angel. Asayama isn't quite ure how this happened. He hasn't been doing that well at the qualifiers so far, fifty/fifty at best. Nonetheless, he gives the crowd a nervous wave.

Finally, after what seems like eternity, the tall man finally finds his way to the deus' chair and slumps down in it. He stretches, then cracks his fingers like a pianist, though the noise can't possibly be heard over the crowd and through gloves. Throwing the coat over the armrest, he digs around in the pocket to produce the tiny cloth-wrapped figure of his angel. Slowly, he unwraps it, winding the cloth about in his hands before finally draping it over the other armrest and holding it up for the audience to see. The announcer in resonse, almost jumps and screams into the microphone. "Ladies and Gentlemen! Gunslinger!" The crowd goes wild yet again, and Asayama settles into his chair, trying to clear his mind in preparation for the duel to come. This wouldn't be easy after all. He waits for the other deus to make her entrance, she probably has some fans too.

Walking down the hallway was difficult for Kikichi. Not because she had a hard time physically, but her nerves were pretty much shot. She had been thinking about this match since she found out who her opponent was with, and she knew this was not going to be easy. She hears the scream of the audience, cheering on Asayama-san and his angel Gunslinger, and she pauses. "What if I just don't go out there? I could back out now..." She looks back toward the waiting room for a moment before shaking her head at herself. "No Kiki... how is Jinto ever going to trust you if you don't at least try. Jinto can be stronger. Have confidence."

The announcer looks around the arena and scratches his head. It's been about thirty seconds and there has been no sight of Kikichi. One of the many spotlights searches the floor of the arena, and the announcer looks like he's talking to someone over a head-set, shaking his head. "Would Fukami Kikichi please enter the arena for your battle." The spotlight searches around more and all of a sudden, a sillouette appears in the door of the west entrance. The noise level screams upward as Kikichi finally enters the arena and walks over to her seat.

"I'm here, sorry I'm late." She says to the crowd. She sits down, waiting for the announcer to call for fallin, and she subconciouisly smooths the creases in Jinto's outfit, staring at her opponent accross from her in fright, wondering how she could possibly pull this fight off.


The announcer sighs a little bit, but he can't allow the lateness of one of the deus' to phase him, after all he has a show to put on. "That's right ladies and gentlemen, we've got a big show in store for you tonight. So let's kick things off and select the first scenery of round two!" The picture on the visor starts to spin, it goes from one setting to the next with increasing speed. The audience watch as it cycles through all the various settings, some people out in the audience have even placed bets on which scenery it's going to be. "Round and round she goes! Where she stops...nobody knows! Oh, wait, wait, looks like it's slowing....slowing....and it's...." The barren surface of the red planet appears on the viewscreen, the winds picking up the red sand and sending it soaring. The audience cheers, and some people walk away a little bit richer. "...it's the surface of Mars! How will our participants fair on the red planet? Can Gunslinger blast his way to victory? Can Jinto freeze the cowboy solid? It's time to find out!" The surface of the red world rises up, filling the large tournament size layer. From all directions, both the audience and the deuses can see the darkness space and twinkling stars in the background. "Angeeeeeeeel....." The announcer pauses for dramatic effect. "FALL IN!"

Kikichi holds Jinto up with both hands and speaks in a loud voice, pushing through her nerves. "Jinto, let's show our opponent just how cold you can be!" She throws the angel and there is a blue flash as he crosses the barrier. He comes to life, flipping over, feet down and the air around him crackles and snaps, condensing into ice crystals that cascade backwards over him, making him look like an icy meteor. He crashes down, ice shattering and flying in all directions. Jinto stands from a kneeling position, the air around him crackling, and tiny crystals of ice float all around him. The ground hardens and frosts over all around Jinto, creating a mini ice-rink centered on the chilling angel. He looks up expectantly at Asayama and points at Gunslinger. He then snaps his arms downward, pointing at the ground, initiating the challenge and completing his fall in.

Raising an eyebrow at the expression of the tiny angel, Asayama stands up slowly and dusts himself down. He glances at Jinto, then at Kikichi. Interesting, it seemed like the angel had an almost entirely different personality to it's deus....perhaps it was working from her subconcious. Well, there was no time to really think about it. The crowd had quietened down somewhat in order to hear the words of both deuses. The programmer places the deus visor on his head and presses the button on the side to extend the wings. Clearing his throat, Asayama speaks. "Warrior of the West, show them the power of arms! Gunslinger...fall in!" And with that he tosses his angel at th layer very much like a knife. He aims low so that the angel actually hits the layer side on.

The little angel soars through the air, his red scarf trailing behind him lie a long ribbon. Somehow his hat manages to stay on his head all the while and as soon as he hits the holographic surface, his eyes light up. One hand raises to his head in order to hold onto his hat which is by now in danger of falling off on it's own. Pirouetting his body in the air, the scarf twirls around him like a rubbon used by gymnasts. Finally, he impacts on the surface of the red planet, kicking up a lot of dust in his wake. He skids to a halt, before standing up as slowly as his deus did before him and striking a pose where he tips his hat towards his opponent. He can't speak, so this is as good as Jinto is going to get as a gesture of repsect. The cowboy's long scarf flits about in the martian winds and he balls his right hand into a fist. Little sparks of blue circulate slowly around the fist, leaping into the hand and out of it again. Gunslinger is ready.

The announcer poses once again, getting the attention of the audience. That's really all he needs to do to get attention, his bright purple suit and red bowtie do the rest. "Alright! It looks like both of our angels are now safely in the layer. How is the red planet going to treat these two fierce warriors? You'll all just have to wait and see! Reeeeeeady!?....." He pauses again dramatically in order to increase the tension and wind the audience up even more than they already are. "Angeliiiiiiiic Faaaaaaaito~!" The announcer screams, arching his back to give the audience the full benefit of his lungs. One has to wonder how he keeps that up through the entire tournament. In any case, the audience loves it and goes completely wild, cheering and shouting at the top of thier voices.

Just like in his fight with Nazo, Jinto was fighting a ranged specialist. Best way to fix the fight: Get in close. Ranged fighters are notoriously shaky in close combat. Also... Jinto was very tired of having things thrown at him, which is similar to being shot in a very much weaker and slower way, and he didn't enjoy the cat and mouse, prefering hand to hand combat. In close, brutal, tactical, and more predictable. At least a little. Gunslinger... is NOT predictable. He has more tricks up his sleeve than a magician and Jinto wanted to narrow down his range of tricks.
Charging the Western Warrior, ice trickling in the air behind him, Jinto covers his fist and arm in ice and attempt to deliver a solid backhand to his opponents head.

Jinto was right, Gunslinger is not predictable. In fact, in all his time at the layers he's learned to be just as good up close as he is from a distance. As the other angel goes in for the kill, the cowboy just seems to flow around him. It's like judo, using the opponent's momentum against him. Although the frost does do some minor damage, Gunslinger seems to move through the other angel, spreading his arms wide at first and then circling around him as if in slow motion. He steps out the other side, leaving Jinto still staggering forwards. It's in this tiny opening that Gunslinger strikes.

Diving backwards and away from the angel, floating through the lower gravity of the Mars atmosphere, Gunslinger uses the air time to generate his first weapon. It's not big, it doesn't even have armour piercing rounds...but this may only be to test Jinto's defences. The little blue sparks that swirl around his hands generate what seems to be an ordinary pistol, which the cowboy fires at the other angel rapidly. He allows the shots to patter over his opponents frame....and what a lot of shots there are. Given his slow motion fall he's able to reload the weapon at least twice even before he hits the ground. Pulling extra bullets out of nowhere and snapping them into the weapon. When he finally does land, it's very softly but without grace, with a little dust from the martian ground billowing out from beneath his coat.

A white gusting blizzard forms infront of Jinto, limiting line of sight. Too bad that didn't matter much. Bullets riddle Jinto's icy form, tearing hole after hole into him and breaking him apart. Arms and legs hit the ground with a sickening SPLULP sound and mush into a wet white substance. The blizzard disappears and Gunslinger feels someone tapping on his shoulder. In his best egrishly western accent he hears Jinto say "Ya gatto himu, patunaru!" Then he sees the icy fist of Jinto swing towards his face.

Gunslinger brings the pistol up to the side of his face, it catches the brunt of the blow. Too bad that the weapon shatters into a million tiny shards of light on impact. He's still sent flying, and gets up quite slowly...almost ponderously. Then, he backs off a little, this blizzard was completely blinding him. A blizzard on the surface of Mars, completely unheard of. Still, the cowboy presses on. He has to find some way to make his shots reach his opponent and still stay out of the other angel's way. Then suddenly it comes to him, it all seems so obvious now.

The little angel brings his hands out in front of himself and relaxes for a moment, generating a new weapon in his arms. This one is larger than before, a long, tube like contraptions with a few blinking lights on it. Not that anyone except Jinto can see it through the blizzard. What most people wouldn't see though, is the targetting device that also generates and places itself over his eye. He swings the weapon forwards and quickly fires it. With a burst of fuel, a rocket propels forth, cutting through the snow. The targetting device locks onto Jinto signature. Even through this storm as long as Gunslinger keeps the red dot on the other angel, the rocket should hit, and when it does, this storm should dissapate too.

Kikichi gets a bit of confidence, seeing as her angel was able to trick Gunslinger and punch him. Then the fun started. She sees Gunslinger pull something out, rather large, and wonders what it is. Then she sees the missile come out of it and she screams, throwing one hand after another into the air, forgeting that she could control Jinto's actions with just her mind. "RUN JINTO!!!" On the layer, Jinto mimics his deus, creating wall after wall of ice and running as quickly as he can float, away from devistation. Seeing some random Mars rocks on the ground, he throws those into his last ice-wall and SUCCESS, the missile detonates creating a vacumous blast that singes his skin and throws him twenty (relative) meters back, sliding along the dusty red ground. Good thing his ice ring doesn't affect him unless he wants it to or he would have slid off the layer!

Seeing that kind of brute force tactics coming from Gunslinger makes Jinto back off a bit, a grudging respect shown in a low bow to his opponent. During this show of respect, Jinto has his ring of ice travel along the ground toward Gunslinger. When it nears him, Jinto stomps the ground, trying to time it just right so that Gunslinger is tossed high into the air as a column of ice skyscrapers upwards.

Jinto's attacks are definately hard to read, but Gunslinger does it all the same. He waits, and watches as his opponent stomps the ground. Surprisingly enough, although he tenses up his body in such a way as to minimise the damage, the cowboy allows himself to be carried up into the air. After all, the gravity is low on Mars, and descent is slow. So he rides the column of ice upwards to it's peak, kicking off it as it starts to get too high and floating through the air. To the little angel it's as if he's gliding. Nonetheless, he'll soon be on the ground again and ready to fight. For now though he just reloads the missile launcher, although this time the missile is a little different as he materialises it. It has a red band around it, that could mean something, so who knows.

He fires the weapon and the missile descends upon the ground below like an angry comet. For a while everything looks normal....then it airbursts. From the explosion of the one large missile, eight minature missiles appear. Each one weaves it's way downwards in a drunken pattern.....and when they hit the ground below, there's going to be explosions....lots of them. The first one impacts a short distance away from Jinto, causing a massive bang and kicking up a ton of dust. The other seven don't look so inaccurate.

Kikichi nearly feints when she sees the eight deadly missles descend upon her angel and the moment of truth from her last battle came to mind. Jinto raises his hands shoulder level, palms up, creating gigantic hands of ice, each palm up towards the missiles. They each grab a missile and begin crushing, fighting against the thrusters as they push the projectiles away. They each explode within the icy fist, showering Jinto in sharp shards of ice that slice through his gi and pin his feet to the ground. Pulling the long shards out of his feet, he throws them at the missile wielding menace, more to ward him off than deal damage.

Gunslinger finally lands back on the ground after having fallen slowly. getting out of the way of the ice shards isn't hard. He simply has to spin in the air a little bit so that they don't stab him on thier way past. This isn't the moon though, the gravity is a little heavier than that, so he lands with a thump, bending his knees as much as he can, and eventually falling onto his hands. This kicks up a lot of dust. He's not really worried about himself, however, he's more worried about the other angel. That was his most powerful attack and Jinto is barely even scratched. What the heck is he supposed to do now? Still, it wouldn't make sense not to press the attack just a little.

Walking forwards at a brisk pace, he tosses the missile launcher aside as if it were nothing and holds a single hand out to the side. Even as the little sparkling bits of blue generate the new weapon, he's already reaching into his coat and pulling out a tiny pair of sunglasses. He perches them on his nose and then levels the still forming weapon at the other angel. This time, it seems like....a grenade launcher. Not a modern one though, this one is an old, simple weapon that might have easily come from world war two. He cracks it open and loads the cylindrical grenade into the chamber, still walking forwards. Snapping it shut, he aims and fires. About half way through it's flight, the grenade explodes into a brilliant white light. The light is, however, accompanied by fire and it burns what it can on the surrounding landscape. There's only dust and rocks though, so that doesn't burn easily. It might, however, catch Jinto's clothing.

Jinto hears the click of the launcher shutting, and not knowing /what/ would be coming at him, he encases himself in a large cubical block of ice. The grenade explodes and small bits of fire burn through the ice, but the worst thing here, is that ice is most definitly not opaque. The blinding white light pierces straight through the ice and burns Jinto's retinas. It'll be a while before he can fully recover from that! Jinto stumbles along the martian terrain, and gets a weird sensation when he trips on a red rock, floating to the side and landing with a slight puff as dust is kicked into the air.

Gunslinger can't stop now, he must not stop now....he absolutely will not stop. He keeps advancing on the other angel's position. The grenade launcher was only good for one shot, and so Gunslinger discards it just like he did the rocket launcher. He keeps heading forwards and then, all of a sudden, sidesteps. He slips behind one of the large outcroppings of rock, hoping to get the drop on his opponent. It's perhaps a strange strategy, since he already had his opponent on the run apparently. Both Gunslinger and his deus know better though. Jinto is wall, and deserves to be treated like one.

After holding both hands up and allowing the blue light to trickle into them, he finally shapes a machine gun. It's not as large as the weapons he used before, not nearly, but it might get the job done, at the very least keeping the other angel on his toes. Gunslinger leaps out from behind the rocks, firing straight away. With most other angel he'd use this weapon to aim around the target, not so with Jinto. He knows that the angel is going to practically stonewall it, so the only way to push him back is to head forwards, and try to break his defence once and for all.

The explosions that Gunslinger threw at Jinto did two things. One, they proved how deadly he was if Jinto wasn't completely on his game, and two, they sucked every bit of moisture out of the air. Gunslinger seemed to find Jinto's weakness, albeit maybe on accident. Let's hope it was on accident, or Jinto will quickly decend as far as this fight is concerned. The moisture would reapear, but he would need to wait a few moments. For now he was defensless, and when the bullets came raining down, Jinto played it safe, diving behind a boulder.
When the bullets finally stop chipping away at the boulder, and Jinto hears the guns click empty, he charges Gunslinger, trying to knock the gun from his hand and shoulder tackle him to the ground. On the way to his rival, he feels the fresh moisture pour in and creates a spiked pauldron of ice, all the more to damage his foe.


Of course, as soon as the machinegun runs out of ammo, Gunslinger drops it. He had to keep pressing the attack. However, it seemed as though Jinto wanted to break his attack pattern. This wasn't going to happen. He generates a new weapon just as the other angel comes charging in. The little blue points of light spiral around his arm and create....a grenade launcher? At this range? That's just stupid. At least it seems to be more up to date than the last one, with a number of 'shells' in it. Except....it looks a little more futuristic than that, the 'shells' seem to be steel balls of some kind. Gunslinger rushes his target just as Jinto rushes him, as he moves, the cowboy slings the weapon over his shoulder and fires it behind him, sending a steel ball hurtling off into the distance. Then he collides with Jinto, there's a clang as the two angels meet, a minor amount of damage is done to Gunslinger and his hat is knock off, floating to the ground like a feather on the Martian winds.

Asayama chuckles as he watches. "Your angel is very sturdy, Fukami-san...." He mutters quietly. This wasn't going to be an easy fight, and the cheering and noise from the fans in the crowd didn't make it any easier to think. Nonetheless, he hoped that his little ruse worked....perhaps Kikichi hadn't seen this move before. Gunslinger continues to grapple with Jinto, wrestling about for a moment. A good distance away, the ball pitches upwards, circling around in a wide arc. Finally, the cowboy, pushes forwards with all his might. He's slightly stronger than Jinto, just enough to perhaps unbalance the angel for a few seconds....but that's all the time he needs. He rolls to the side, ducking down and picking his hat up off the ground. He doesn't stand up though, as he puts his hat back on and tips it just slightly, the steel ball from before sails over the top of his head and right at Jinto.

Grappling with the cowboy is one thing, the gun seemed to missfire so he paid it little attnetion, but when Gunslinger shoves him and rolls away, he knew something was up. He had about a quarter of a second to figure this out however, as the steel ball flew directly over Gunslingers head and directly at Jinto. Perhaps it was instinct, or perhaps it was that late night viewing of the Yankees vs the Red Sox game, but Kikichi had Jinto create a thicker than normal catchers mit out of crystalin ice and braced for impact of the giant steel ball. It found it's mark, and boy did it smart! Shaking his hands while maintaining hold of the ball, the impact demagnitizing it, Jinto covers the ball with a layer of spiked ice, connecting a long chain and handle to this and swings it over his head in a wide arc before bringing it down upon his opponent. He knows the chain will break, leaving him with a useless handle, but hopefully it will leave its' mark.

Not in the least surprised that the other angel took the impact of the ball, Gunslinger is already getting to his feet when Jinto turns it into a ball and chain. What the other angel has forgotten is that Gunslinger has complete control over all the things he brings onto the layer. About halfway through the swing of the ball, Gunslinger stands upright and snaps his fingers, the ball destabalises and disappears in a cloud of blue sparks. Of course there's still the chain to deal with and it does brush past him, but it's merely a scratch compared to what the ball would have done.

In getting rid of the ball, the cowboy unfortunately also had to disperse the gun he was holding, and the little shower of blue from it trickles away, carried by the winds of the red planet. This doesn't mean that he can't create another weapon of course. Pounding against Jinto's shield of ice wasn't really working out in the best way that it could, so perhaps something a little more subtle. Tipping his hat to the other angel, Gunslinger generates a really small weapon...a pistol it looks like. Though this one has some futuristic workings through it, and it might be more appropriate to call it a dart gun. While Jinto is still recovering from the swing he took, he quickly loads a holographic dart into the weapon and fires it at the other angel. This is no ordinary dart however....it's loaded with an electrical charge. In real terms, all it does is disrupt the signal between angel and deus momentarily. However, on the layer, well....ice is water...and water conducts electricity, doesn't it?

While Ice /used/ to be water, it no longer is /exactly/ water. Same component makeup (two hydrogens and one oxygen), it has been changed from a liquid to a solid, slowing down the movement of the electrons within and causing it's once great conductive properties to be nearly nothing. That would be fantastic if Jinto had actually had some ice covering him. So off balance by the instantly light and hollow ball and chain attack, Jinto stumbled right into the electric dart and quivers as electrons course through his circuits. His mechanical muscles shut down temporarily and his sinthetic synaptic systems are shot, so nothing Kikichi mentally screams at him makes a bit of difference.

This temporary shut down of Jinto's systems gives Gunslinger the one thing he definately needs, time. He uses this time to sprint a short distance away from the immobile angel and hop up on top off some of the very large rocks littered about the landscape. This gives him the other two things that he needs, distance and a height advantage. Finally making his way up onto the largest rock, his jumps bolstered by how light the atmosphere has made him, he stands for a moment with a view of the entire layer and the small figure of Jinto down below. The next attack would require a bit of aiming, so he goes down on one knee...readying himself to fire one of the few weapons he has remaining. If angels could breath out slowly, Gunslinger would, stilling himself and spreading his upturned palms out in front of himself, he gathers all the little points of light together. They swirl and spiral, forming a long, cylindrical weapon more at home on a space ship than in someone's hands. It's the energy lance, Gunslinger's once signature weapon. The beam has, over time, come in all shapes and sizes, this time he's keeping it simple. One long range blast of blue cutting energy, right at Jinto.

Seeing the large energy cannon come out causes a very loud explitive to erupt from Kikichi's mouth. She doesn't even cover her mouth or appologize, so caught up in the attack is she. "BAKA!" She says to herself, knowing she has already spent too much of Jinto's energy blocking attacks. With nothing she can do to avoid the attack, she cover's Jinto the best she can in layer after layer of ice, but the energy cannon slices through it like a knife through butter. Jinto is thrown back to the edge of the layer and he lays there unmoving, gi shredded and smoking, a large gash in his torso and arms showing the path of the beam.

Well, that worked. The beam doesn't have enough energy for another shot though.....however, Gunslinger still has the height advantage....and that means a lot. He drops the weapon, which lands with a clang on the rock beside him before petering away into thousands of little blue shapes. Then he cups his hands together, drawing forth the energy that he uses to make his weapons and creating from it a revolver. This was the very same revolver that he used before. However, for this weapon distance wasn't a very good thing, as the bullets would slow down as the reached the end of thier trajectory. Not good at all, so the cowboy hops down from the rock he was sitting on blasts away at the other angel with all his might. He's accurate enough that the shots will hit, but even unmoving Jinto is probably tough enough to withstand them at this distance, he'd have to get a little bit closer to do any real damage.

Jinto is indeed tough, but he was wearing rather thin at this point. His ragged clothes barely hung from him, and his ice was getting thinner and thinner. He sees another shot comming in and throws up an ice-wall. The shot smashes through and thankfully it only grazes him, but it was enough to let him know how badly off he was. Getting in close seemed to be just as bad off for him as staying far away, so he simply creates a shining crystal javalin of ice and chucks it at his foe.

Gunslinger was wearing down too...he couldn't really keep this up, not for much longer. Since he's jumping down from the large rock anyway, he manages to duck down just in time to roll under the javelin. This does however, cause him to fall off the rock that he was landing on and after a brief, if slightly slow fall, he lands on terra firma. The cowboy hits the ground running, he can't let the other angel have even a moment to gather himself. This game was about to be over and unless he kept up the pressure it wouldn't end favourably. Crossing the ground as far as he can, he leaps forwards towards Jinto's position. As he goes he generates yet another pistol in his free hand. With one now in each hand, he dances around the prone angel in a wide arc, firing both. This is a dance of death, and each shot is specifically timed to do as much damage as it can.

Asayama leans forwards in his chair, the cheering of the fans has dulled to a quiet roar now, this match was dragging on entirely too long. He coughs quietly and examines the other angel while his own dances around it firing tiny bullets. The ability of this deus to produce ice was indeed fascinating. Controlling the weather on the layer as well as temperature was once reserved for deuses that had already developed a very strong bond with thier angel. After the tournament was over he'd have to see if he could catch her around the Piffle Princess in order to ask her a few questions. Raising his eyebrows, he simply says. "We should finish this, the crowd are becoming restless."

Despite the wall after wall of ice Jinto threw up to guard himself, Gunslinger was just TOO accurate. Any opening, any opening at all, was enough to get Jinto pinged by a bullet. He was hurting bad now, nearly to the point of shutting down completely. But he wasnt' going to give up, he just needed another moment to regain some energy. He encased himself in a dome of ice and dropped to one knee, breathing heavily.

Gunslinger stops....and folds his arms. The winds of Mars lend a flicker to his scarf as it flits about. Jinto was out of luck, it seemed....perhaps. The other angel was simply putting himself in a defensive posture, all that was left was to wait for the ice to melt away, and for the other angel to be open again. He stands there. This really wasn't how matches should go. The audience at this point were probably baying for blood. He shakes his head softly. The little angel has no voice modulator and so can't voice his disapproval. So he looks up to his deus, who speaks for him. Asayama mutters. "This is possibly one of the longest matches I've ever been in. I don't mean to question your style but....what's the point of all this? You aren't even fighting back anymore." He sighs. "It's admirable that your angel is hanging in there....but it can't last this way forever. I thought with how brash he was being at the start that this fight would be a little more interesting than this...".

Kikichi looks over at the other deus. "The point? To lower your guard of course!" Jinto shatters through his own barrier as he charges Gunslinger. Fist cocked back, covered in ice, and ready to slam the other angel. He swings his right fist in a hook to the jaw, while simultaneously throwing a left hook to the ribs. He throws all of his body weight, and all of his might into his blow, because if he doesn't shut this angel down now... he would lose.

Gunslinger just gives the other angel a disapproving look as he moves toward him and raises his hand, dropping the pistol. He catches the other angel's hand in his and stops the attack almost entirely. Lower Gunslinger's guard? This was a duel, the cowboy was watching him all the time, even what might seem like a slight lapse in concentration was just a little bit of annoyance at the other angel. He couldn't topple Jinto, certainly, but the other angel was breaking down, and Gunslinger *could* outlast him. He slides back slightly from the impact of the blow...but aside from that he's totally fine. The frost from Jinto's arm does a small amount of damage....but nowhere near enough. He points his other hand at the angel and the weapon in it transforms from a pistol to a shotgun. He pokes the weapon into Jinto's ribs and slowly pulls the trigger.

Kikichi hears the blast of the gun and screams "NOOOO!". Jinto flies through the air, all energy spent and gone. He colapses on the ground, the normal aura of cold around him dissipates. Jinto was defeated once more by a stronger opponent. Gunslinger was entirely too unpredictable, and much stronger than he looks. Kikichi smiks at her opponent after having looked at the scoreboard. "Wow... you're nearly as tough as Jinto, and twice as strong. You're a strong deus and really know how to control your Angel well. Can we meet on the layer again someday? Thank you for taking Jinto to his limits... it's the only way he'll grow stronger. " Kikichi waits for the announcer to scream Asayama-sans praises so that she can grab Jinto and go back to training. She's still got a lot of work to do. "I must become stronger. Jinto must become tougher. I must win."

The announcer, until now simply watching the fight avidly, does indeed pipe up at this moment. Jumping up so that he can rest a foot on the banister in front of him, he twirls the microphone around and screams into it! "Oooh, Jinto is too damaged to continue! Winneeeeer! Gunsliiiiiingeeeer!" The audience goes absolutely wild. Looking at the scoreboard, Gunslinger had indeed barely taken any damage in comparison with the other angel.

As the crowd begins to chant, spurred into elation once again by the end of the match. Asayama stands up. "That was....interesting. Very good, your angel seems like he's built to last for a while and taking him down was tough...." He chuckles again in an almost sinister manner, placing a hand over his face. "Of course, if you come around the Piffle Princess often enough, I'm sure we'll see each other again." While standing, he plucks the red cloth used to wrap his angel up from the side of the chair and discards the visor, causing his angel to go limp on the layer.

With his connection severed, Gunslinger falls onto his back quietly, floating slowly down due to the gravity of the scenery. Of course, with both angels no longer recieving any commands, the scenery itself begins to disappear, turning back once again to that shining white standard setting it uses when no scenery is selected. Asayama approaches the layer and scoops up his angel, briefly checking him over, though he susected that there would be no damage, Jinto wasn't actually creating ice on the layer and so it must be holographic. He was right....Gunslinger was totally fine. He wraps the little angel slowly in the red cloth and gives Kikichi a shallow bow out of respect once he's finished. Then he waits, after all, the girl still has to retrieve her angel and it might be damage from being thrown around.

He coughs, clearing his throat once again and rising up to his full height. "I do have a question for you though, Fukami-san. Why must you win? Getting stronger, yes, it's important, and the better you can compete the more fun you have.....but in your case it doesn't sound like something that simple....." He drifts off at that, waiting for her to respond and shifting his weight from one leg to the other, he knew that he had to be getting out of here soon as the announcer moves on to the words he uses when he's waiting on the deuses leaving the arena. "Give a big hand to our two contestants, ladies and gentleman!"

Kikichi bows back to his opponent and whispers so that only he can hear (which at the volume of the crowd was still a shout) "It's... personal. Probably not something you would want to talk about." With this, she grabs Jinto from the layer, and walks past the much taller man into the waiting room and on out of the stadium, to await her next match. Ishida... maybe she can win that one... maybe.

Overstepped his boundaries a little, perhaps? In any case, the girl had simply grabbed her angel and left, so Asayama simply sighs and turns away, tucking his angel back into his pocket. If she really needed her angel repaired, there were plenty of staff who would do it for her. Marching quickly towards the entrance he came from in order to escape the din of the crowd, the tall man lowers his head and pushes his way through the doors. The next few matches weren't going to be as simple as these ones. He's already fought the best in Mikage and lost, but these next matches were with veterans as well, so it was going to get rather difficult from here. Shrugging his thoughts away, he makes his way down the corridor, returning to the waiting room and slumping down on a bench.