Ace:

It was a bright morning in the sunny town of Hargeon with a few cotton white clouds pinned to the vast blue skies. Just a mere glimpse of the beach under the blazing sun gave Ace the warm summer vibes. It was weird though, as it was only just starting to get warmer the other day with spring rolling in, and now this. The gas mage approached the beach from a distance with the wavy reflection of the sun in his eyes. There were more people at the beach than he expected. He thought they'd be at schools or work but it seems like everyone is taking a day off to enjoy the weather. The merchants with the stalls seemed to be making the most profit out of this day as they shrouded the area.

Ace didn't expect to be coming to the beach, but what better place was there to be doing his exercise and reading a nice complicated book than here. He thought that he would've stumbled across a park of some sort, but just before his eyes was this tempting hot paradise. Ace proceeded to unlace his grey boots as he stood right before the sandy beach. It was indeed a warm day for him to be wearing a sweater but he always thought it was best to be overdressed than underdressed. He can always take it off, it is the beach after all. He felt the soft crunch of the parched sand under his bare feet towards the far end of the shore. He had already marked his spot at a distance where there weren't as many people around. A bunch of kids glanced over at him with joy and he just habitually held his straight face with pointed eyebrows as he kept walking forward. The age gap might have been small but the gas mage was mentally mature, unlike his peers. Although he would've been happy he'd still struggle to let out a smile out of habit.

"Nothing better than a warm day and a productive workout"

He set his bulky boots and backpack just underneath the wooden bench and started a regular stretch routine. He was a fit young man so he wouldn't really struggle with these simplistic workouts. However he was looking forward to trying to get his head around the complex book he brought with him.

After ten minutes of stretching, Ace would pull a book out of his bag and lay down for a nice calm read unless he was interrupted by something or someone.

The sun beat down over the waters of the ocean surrounding Hargeon, causing the surface to shine with a fierce intensity. A graceful yet powerful breeze pushed over the waters, stirring up waves in the normally calm coasts of Hargeon. One such wave had grown to a height of nearly twenty feet, and atop it rode a single man; stark naked. North was enjoying the perfect weather by practicing his most radical surfing skills atop the idyllic crests of the Hargeon waves. He had surfed many times before, and at this point was somewhat of a veteran. North gracefully rode at the very summit of the massive tower of liquid, his toes curled over the smooth material of his surfboard. He held his hands upon his hips and maintained a statuesque figure as he continued to ride the wave towards the beach. His entirely unclothed figure shone vividly in the sunlight and he smiled widely due to the exhilaration of riding such a perfect wave. The roar of the rushing waters filled his eardrums with intense vibrations as the winds caressed every inch of his bare skin. North's curly hair bounced in the breeze and he was laughing loudly with a carefree abandon.

After a few more precious seconds of wave riding, North slowly drifted along the break onto the beach where his board slid a few feet across due to the momentum before dead stopping. North was sweating a bit due to the heat and excitement, and stood there breathing heavily for a moment. At that point, someone suddenly started shouting with a fierce intensity. North looked over to see another nude man, aside from his mask, shouting at a young kid reading a book. Without thinking, North started moving towards them nonchalantly, picking up his purple zebra striped surfboard and walking in their direction. He was slightly curious to how this situation was going to play out, and whether he could find some excitement in it himself.

Just as Ace finished his brief stretching session, he was interrupted by a naked man wearing nothing but a mask splattered with vivid colors. The man's leg somehow caught Ace's book and caused him to trip over onto the scorching hot sand and getting a mouthful of it. His first reaction was to reach for the book and check for any damage made. The gas mage examined the book closely before turning to the man who now seemed to have something to say. He couldn't see the man's face at all and the rest of his body wasn't something pleasant to look at. Ace still stared at the man's top half of the body, avoiding eye contact with anything below his waist. He gazed at the pale man with antipathy. Was he out of his mind? Although he was on the verge of breaking out into a fight with the man, he still managed to hold his peace, or at least for now.

He was curious to hear what he had to say. Unsurprisingly, he was just like any other lunatic around town, unable to hold a conversation and just started babbling loudly. "How tiresome..." he murmured ever so lightly under his breath. Half these adults weren't capable of holding conversations, or maybe it was because they thought he was a kid. Either way he was so used to this sort of thing happening and just ignored the man's remarks. Shockingly enough, he caught another naked man in the corner of his eye which seemed to be walking towards them with a striped surfboard. What in the world was going on... At this stage he was starting to think Hargeon's beach is a meeting place for gay men. As if his plain face wasn't displeased enough he was now seriously getting weirded out. All his peaceful problem solving ideas were put aside as he rudely spoke out his mind while looking up at the man. "Look just fuck off let me read this book. You're clearly high on something and you barely know what time it is" he said boldly. "All this shouting is attracting all the freaks..." He took a quick glance at his book and dusted the sand off the cover gently. The gas mage was definitely not planning on leaving yet.

North continued his approach at a moderate walking pace, the hot sand sinking between his toes as he strode over towards the two individuals. They still looked to be engaged in a confrontation, with a younger man looking up at his fellow nudist while he assaulted him with a verbal tirade for attracting freaks. North took a quick glance around for any freaks that might be following or approaching him, wondering who the younger man must be talking about. Seeing no one, North merely shrugged it off and continued forward until he was only about five meters away from the two men. North raised his surfboard up into a vertical position and stuck it into the sound with enough force to safely lodge it in the grainy surface of the ground. "Wonder what's going on here." North thought to himself as he watched the younger man with the afro dust off his book. At the same time, his eyes were drawn to the sudden movements of the naked man in the mask. He had thrown up his fists and darted a few meters away, getting into a stance that looked all too familiar to North. It looked like this man was a boxer, and from his form North could tell that he had a firm grasp on the basics of the art at the very least. From behind the mask, he could hear a voice telling the younger man to "put 'em up". Hearing that, North couldn't help but allow a smile to show on his face as his own muscles tensed up.

It wasn't too often that he ran into two guys about to duke it out, and he didn't want to be left out himself. So, checking his surfboard quickly to make sure it was secure in the sand, North dashed up to a three meters from both men, forming a triangle with him at the point. From there, he brought up his own fighting stance, raising his right fist in front of his face and his left fist directly below his chin. "Hey guys, I don't know what's going on here, but you can't count me in on your tussle." North said with a smile from behind his guard. He refrained from hopping up and down on his feet, instead attempting to get used to planting his feet in the sand, well aware that acting carelessly on the slippery surface would dramatically lower the power of a thrown punch.

The gas mage darted his eyes back to see what the white haired man was doing. Again, unsurprisingly the man wanted Ace to throw his hands up for a fight as he danced around with his fists protecting his face. The young dark skinned mage let out a sigh of disappointment. He was well aware of how frustrated his opponent was and how he’d probably take any chance to tackle him. He tilted his head slightly to the right with his hand blocking off the light to look for the other nudist. He saw nothing but a huge shadow approaching. It seemed like he got taller with every step he took towards them. He was freakishly tall and almost made twice the kid’s height. He heard the man’s remark about not wanting to miss out on the fight. Ace was starting to wonder if there was any peaceful way to back out of this, but it didn’t really seem like it. He leaned down to place the book carefully while trying not to break eye contact with the men. “How about this... Will you leave after I dent your mask?” he asked calmly with a disgusted face. While waiting for a reply, the rune knights’ apprentice slowly dragged one foot back and put his open hands up indicating that he’s just as ready to fight. Yet in fact he was hesitant about doing so. He had no clue if the two men were about to team up on him or not.

Ace cleared his head of all repercussions and prepared for the worst. A few seconds of silence slowed down his perception of time as the salty ocean breeze blew through his chunky afro. His eyes were fiercely focused on the masked individual. In a swift movement he pulled both his hands back next to his hip leaving a small gap between his palms and fed of the soft current that drifted by. The oxygen particles that fluttered behind his hands began to light up in a faint green aura. The mage then forced the compressed oxygen compound between his hands and shot it out as a stream of shredding wind pointed straight for the white haired man’s chest. His eyes stayed fixed on the mask for the remainder of the spell while clearly managing to see the other man with his peripherals.

If the shredding stream was to strike the man, then it would cut off the outer layer of the skin causing light bleeding on the area of impact.

Mana: 475/500:

North waited for a split second after seeing the masked man dash off in the direction of the younger man before dashing off himself. He was a bit closer, so he allowed the other man a slight head start. As North ran, he lowered his center of gravity, crouching his head and extending his right elbow slightly outwards and just below his chin in a stance prepared for a tackle. North's left hand was held at his side, fingers slightly curled and ready to unleash any manner of spell. He kept a close eye on the other two men, noticing the sound of the finger snap and the materialization of the gun which it had signaled. He was prepared to crouch further to use the younger man as cover from the gun if the muzzle was aimed at him, and if one of them were to sidestep, North would aim his tackle towards the younger man and point his finger from his left hand to launch a small white cloud of spores at the masked man at the moment of their movement. The knowledge that the other man was a wizard wasn't overly surprising to North, as the eccentric type of man who would come to the beach naked aside from his mask and start trouble was almost always a magic user. Magic had the oddest habit of manifesting itself in the strangest people, not that North was any exception.

Just after the masked man's attempt to throw a hook into the younger man's abdominal area, in the moment when he was raising his hand towards the opponent's shoulder, North slammed into the boy with his bony elbow and attempted to send him sprawling out on top of his nude opponent with the momentum. Whether the momentum was enough to knock them to the ground or not, North jumped backwards two feet while registering the positions his opponents had fallen into after the attack. Once he'd landed North immediately kicked up a cloud of sand towards his opponents with a swift and low sweep of his right foot through the grainy surface. At the same time as his "sand attack" imitation, he opened his mouth and exhaled a small cluster of white spores towards the masked man's right shoulder. If the other man had been knocked on top of it, North would aim for the left shoulder, and were that covered he'd aim for the left knee as there was no way the far shorter individual could cover all of him regardless of how they'd landed. The spores moved quickly towards the target and sprouted a large bushel of Enoki mushrooms that would no doubt be painful to have burrow out of one's skin, but also largely obstructive for fighting. In the same instant, North extended his right fist towards his younger opponent's leg. A vine of moss instantly wrapped around his wrist and shot out to tether itself to the younger man's leg. Once tethered, North yanked his right arm up towards his chin, at the same time contracting the moss by a foot, knocking the afroed boy off balance if he was even still on his feet and bringing him to his back on the sandy ground. By the time he'd launched his attacks, his right foot was planted firmly on the ground, his hands held firmly in a guard next to and under his chin. The lichen was still wrapped around his wrist and he was ready to react to whatever came next.

425/500:

At the same time Ace released his spell, both his opponents dashed in their own directions. With the masked man zigzagging his way towards Ace's side and the other dashing straight for him after a short delay. They definitely seemed like they had the bit of experience at least. Ace was barely able to keep up with both the nudists' actions coming from different directions. All he could hear was the rapid shuffling of the mages' feet on the sand around him, then suddenly someone's fingers snapping. It was coming from his left where the masked man was headed. Ace kept his vision centered to glimpse any unexpected shifts in direction from the men, but they both kept coming straight at him. The gas mage still had his arms fully extended forward and his feet apart from the previous spell. He timed a quick swift movement of his arms moving apart in an arc shape and jumped up. It wasn't your typical jump though. Ace used a jet of helium from the soles of his feet to thrust himself up while pumping helium through his system simultaneously. His Heaven Sent spell was probably the only way he would've managed to miss both attacks at this speed. Had he been a fraction of a second late he'd probably be beat down by both the men's attacks. There was almost no way for them to miss each other at this point while Ace still managed to rise. His eyes darted down with anticipation as he prepared his counter attack.

The gas mage should have been at the peak of his jump when the men collided and so didn't hesitate to form a thin layer of nitrogen that engulfed his left fist. The white haired mage took the other man's elbow straight to the face while his hook connected with the man's abdominal region. Ace struck a punch to the air underneath him with all the might of his left glowing fist which sent a crescent shaped nitrogen shot down at the unmasked man's face. He then used the momentum from his punch to flip down once with his right heel plummeting towards the other mage's head. The shot and kick were to knock both his opponents with a short delay in time right after they collide. Ace would then land between the two men and dash back two meters.

Mana: 425/500:

As North ran forward, he suddenly saw the younger man shoot up into the sky, accompanied by the subtle sound of air jetting out. His momentum was already too great to stop and he ended up slamming his elbow directly into the masked nudist who had been standing with the boy in between them. The masked man tumbled backwards with far more force than North had anticipated, but his focus was now on the opponent above him. His eyes quickly shot up to see the younger man reeling back his fist for a punch, and North instinctively threw his hands back up into a basic boxing guard to protect himself. As North watched the younger man throw the punch, a small green crescent shot out towards him. He raised his right fist to deflect the blow, and while it was rather painful and would almost certainly leave a bruise, it was certainly nothing that would put North out of commission.

He maintained focus despite the pain, and as the boy continued using his momentum to flip and launch a heel kick downwards towards where the masked man had been just moments before. North hadn't heard his other opponent getting up to fight quite yet, so his attention remained on the descending flying opponent coming towards him. North stepped back while extending his fist as the boy descended, and a long white vine of lichen materialized and shot out towards the leg of the younger man as he came closer to the ground. Because his path was in a perfectly straight line downwards, there was very little chance for him to dodge the roping vine that snaked towards him at high speeds. Once it had reached him, it tethered itself to his leg just before he'd made contact with the ground, and immediately after that North would yank that same leg out from under him and send him toppling to the ground. Being only a few steps away from the boy, North was in the perfect position to open his mouth and fire a small white cluster of spores directly at the boy's face. It would be nearly impossible to avoid at this point, with North's wrist still tethered to the gas mage's leg, and seemingly no route for escape. As the spores traveled, North would jump down on top of the younger man before he had a chance to recover, straddling his torso with his exposed skin, and preparing for a rush of punches. Once he'd landed, provided the spores had hit, a massive bushel of enoki mushrooms sprouted right out of his opponent's face, blocking his vision and his ability to speak with their wiry stalks. From there North began to unleash a string of violent uppercuts into his opponent's still uncovered jaw, aiming to not let up until the mushrooms had withered and hopefully his opponent was begging for mercy. He'd completely forgotten the other opponent in the midst of the fight, not that he was a threat any longer as he'd gone off chasing some pretty girl, much to her dismay. Still, North wouldn't stop laughing the whole time, truly enjoying himself as he sweat heavily in the warm sun.

450/500:

Right after a full spin in mid air, the target that was once crouching with an elbow to his face right under Ace has now disappeared. Ace had no clue how that was physically possible. His eyes rolled from one corner to the next looking for the masked man only to finally spot him chasing after a woman who seemed to have no interest in his presence. "What the fuck..." Ace muttered to himself. When did all this happen? Before he even had time to continue thinking about what was going on, Ace was interrupted by the other opponent. He was yanked in mid air and plummeted painfully onto the sand. It all happened in a flash before Ace had time to react. Lying down on his back, Ace saw his opponent now blowing white dust-like spores onto his face. Ace's natural instinct was to counter once again with the abundant gases since they would've been the quickest to use. Again the gas mage pushed his hands with a small gap in between to block off the spores with his spell and hopefully overcome it to do damage. The stream of oxygen rushed to cover the young mage from the opponent's spores. The two spells clashed with nothing to be seen. Both the oxygen blades and the white spores dispersed leaving behind nothing but a green and white mix of smoke. The dark skinned mage could still feel the vine latched onto his leg and just before he could react his opponent beat him to an action once again. He was fast and determent by springing on top of the 12 year old and ambushing him with a series of punches. The afroed boy only managed to throw his arms in a cross over his face to minimize the damage inflicted. The other man's knuckles were landing everywhere. Ace had no clue what he was signing up for when he first faced off against the masked coward. At this point he could've only assumed that the two men were partners since none of them targeted each other. The only thing that was clear was one of them let the other deal with the mess he started and ran off chasing a random girl on the beach.

After a few seconds of taking consecutive punches, Ace jerked his knee upwards towards the man's spine and threw a reckless right hook straight for the man's jaw with all the strength he could gather up. He would then topple on top of the man to get into the same position they were just in. Thankfully the mage knew what he was doing due to his rough background. His basic training in martial arts sure paid off when he wasn't using his magic. He packed more than the strength of a 12 year old kid which usually surprised people. The deep bruises on his arms and face were nothing easy to deal with however the rush of adrenaline suppressed the pain for a short while. He threw a combination of shots at the man while utilizing his elbows as well and quickly finished with a thrust upwards with his knee to the man's face. Given that this has landed, Ace would get up and wipe the blood off his mouth and eyebrow. He was starting to feel the pain of the deep bruises on his forearms already. He hoped that the man was done fighting and said "Your friend is clearly out of his mind" while looking back for the white haired mage.

Mana: 400/500:

North's spores might not have been able to reach their target, but the naked mage himself was doing quite well. North had successfully mounted his opponent at his torso, pinning him down and restricting his movement greatly. From there he was unleashing a torrent of blows, one after another. Most of them were blocked but, with North's well toned physique and a full grown man's strength, he was sure that his punches were going to leave a mark. This continued on for a moment before the younger man began to struggle once more. He flailed his leg behind North and ended up landing a rather painful knee into North's back. He winced in pain and his blow faltered for a moment as he reeled back a bit too far for his next punch. In that opening, the younger man let loose a wild right hook, that didn't seem like it would reach with the other man's much shorter arms and restricted reach, but somehow it did. Hit squarely in the jaw for the first time, North was a bit stunned. Not stunned enough to let a weaker much smaller opponent knock him to the ground however, and he maintained his balance when the younger man tried to knock him off. "Not a bad punch for a pinned down little kid." North said, mostly to himself, before spitting out a small pool of blood from his mouth. He'd bitten his tongue from the punch and it was still stinging quite a bit.

North then stood up, careful to be wary of any other attacks that might be coming his way, especially in the groin region. His knuckles were feeling sore from hitting the bones of the younger man so many times, and North rubbed the tops of them to alleviate the aches. Provided the younger man still chose to give up the fight and ask about the white haired man, North would look over in the direction the smaller mage was looking at. He then remembered that there certainly had been a masked naked man in this fight to begin with, and North tried to remember when exactly he'd actually left the fight. "That guy? I thought he was your friend. Dunno him myself." North said matter-of-factly, shaking the sand off his hands and looking back towards the gas mage. "So, you ready for round two?" North asked with a smile on his face, getting back into a boxing stance and preparing himself to fight once again.

The young apprentice listened to the green eyed man's comment before looking back at him as he helped himself up. "Thanks" he said quietly with his eyebrows still pointed down showing no signs of joy. "You're bot too bad yourself" Ace stated. He ran his fingers softly through his chunky afro in attempt of brushing away any sand that still stuck to it as he turned to the nudist that now stood next to him. The taller man replied to Ace's question saying that he actually didn't know the white haired mage. He couldn't help but glance at the man real quick. "Then why are we fighting..." he thought to himself with a puzzled look on his face. Just before he had a chance to reply, the man asked Ace if he was ready for round two. The gas mage chuckled ever so lightly and  said "We'll leave it to another day my man... That's it for me". He still stared off into the distance and said "I'm Ace by the way".

"Maybe next time we'll go all in, yeah?"

His remark was intended to intimidate his opponent by making him think that he didn't go all out today. Yet he knew damn well that he'd given it everything he's got. The man had great potential and Ace was actually looking forward to a revenge match up.

He wiped off the remainder of blood that had still been marked on his face and walked away quietly to get his boots and leave. If the man was to say something back to Ace then he was just to raise his hand without peeking back indicating that he'd heard him.


OOC:
Sorry for the shitty posting quality in this last one. Had to make write it up in a rush.