~ The Auras clashed as the swords striked each other, sending a shockwave out the surrounding area as the ground pushed out from under the two boys, Flint struggled to keep his sword steady against Ion's as his motion was more fluid, Flint's Gaia Aura started to sputter as Ion's Azure Aura overtook it, a lightning bolt flew from the sword striking Flint in the gut as howled in a bit of pain and fell to the ground, "no fair!". "Come on! I thought you wanted to be an Arcane Swordsmen like I am" Ion countered to Flint's cry, "so I am going to use Arcane attacks against you, you have Psynergy now, use it!" Ion called out once more, sending a lightning bolt to his fallen friend, Flint's eyes widened as he just barely dodged out of the way but Ion's attacks continued, they were quick with Flint barely having time to dodge any of it, struggling as he did so, one wrong movement cost him as a bolt hit him square in the back, knocking him back down "ahhhhh!" Ion sighed as he slowly walked over to Flint, casting out small lightning bolts as he did with each one striking their target, "I am not going to stop, nor would your enemy" Ion said in a more cold tone, "now come on! This should be easy for you, you have the advantage here" Ion continued as Flint's body tensed up from the relentless lightning strikes, he was breathing heavily as his mind raced, "advantage? What advantage? You are a lot more experienced in Psynergy then I am..." Flint started thinking before it hit him, "the Psynergy wheel!" Flint's eyes shot open as his Gaia Aura surrounded him, Ion's lightning bolts started fizzling as they came close, as Flint stopped taking any damage from the attacks Ion currently was using. "There we go, now lest see what you can do!" Ion said as he cracked a smile, Flint got back to his feet and turned towards Ion, "I am coming for you now, you better be ready" Flint called out as his Aura swirled around him once more, his eyes looked to almost be green as he darted forward, ground cracking beneath his feet as Flint got in close to Ion, in a split second, another Gaia sword formed from the ground into Flint's, a quick slash came a moment latter which Ion was able to easily block but another Gaia sword formed into Flint's other hand as now Ion was on the defensive countering Flint's two swords to his one. Flint's attacks were relentless but Ion's was able to easily guard against all of them, his higher experience in sword fighting coming in full force as he was able to get a counter in, creating an opening which he was able to let off a swift kick, empowered by lightning to Flint's abdomen. Flint saw the kick coming to him at the last moment, while he didn't have time to dodge or brace for the impact, he knew this was a battle of Arcane, he was more concerned with Ion empowering his foot with his lightning then the actual force of the kick itself, so he did the only thing he could do in the small moment he had, he guarded with his Aura. The lightning of the kick fizzled against him but the force still made contact, sending Flint flying back a bit and knocking him to the ground, though Flint quickly recovered and threw one of his Gaia swords towards Ion who easily dodged it. Flint clenched his fist which made the sword explode into small chunks of Earth which hit Ion with force sending him to the ground though mostly unscathed, while his lighting Aura was at a 'disadvantage' against Flint's Gaia, Ion's lightning Aura was a lot stronger when it needed to be, as he was more proficient in Psynergy which helped him get over the disadvantage, though lightning was not the only Aura Ion could conjure.
Ion got up from the ground feeling a bit of pain as he was a bit bused, a set of rock came flying towards him, bound with golden Gaia Aura as Ion thrusted out his hand, lightning bolts emanating from each finger, striking and destroying each rock before it came close but Flint kept up the pressure, conjuring bigger and bigger chunks of Earth, all targeting Ion. Ion started weaving through the battlefield with lightning speed, striking down each mound of Earth that came his way as Flint was locked on target. But no matter what he couldn't get his lightning through, every rock and stone fully absorbed any bolt that crossed it's path as it was destroyed, Ion's lightning was strong but not strong enough at least in this form against even the most basic of Flint's Gaia attacks. "He's got power, I will give him that" Ion thought as he continued to meet every attack thrown his way, "but he's got no form, at least not yet" Ion continued as he made a smirk, swords of his own forged from his lightning, taking a more transparent Azure form then a full physical one Flint's had, with a motion of his hand, Ion's Storm of Swords rained towards Flint's barrage of Earth, breaking thorough them more easily but fizzling out before they could reach their true target. "Seams even your more powerful lightning is no match for my Gaia" Flint laughed tossing one more very large barrage of Earth, as Ion made another smirk, "after all I still have the 'advantage' as you said, there is no way your lighting, ahhhhh!" Flint cried out as the latest one of Ion's lightning swords pierced cleanly trough the large barrage of Earth, dismantling it and striking Flint square in the gut causing a heavy shock throughout his body that also felt like a cold burn. "What's that about disadvantages?" Ion said in a cheeky voice as Flint fell to the ground defeated, "seams you still got a lot to learn about Psynergy and advantages, you see even powerful lightning can cut through stone" Ion continued with a coy smile. There was nothing untrue in what he said, as a powerful pure lightning Psynergy strike could overtake a Gaia one if the power was there but the attack Ion produced was a bit off and Flint could feel it. "You cheated!" Flint cried out as Ion stood over him, "you coated your lightning sword with your flame which prevented my Gaia from absorbing your lighting, that's not fair!" "In a battle of Psynergy, nothing is unfair" Ion responded cracking another smile, "you use what is woven within you, I am adept to fire as well as lightning, this was a battle of Arcane, I am aloud to use my fire to my advantage." "Still though, it is kind of cheating, most people are only adept to one element, so it is still unfair" Flint responded while pouting as Ion chuckled, "being adept to more then one element should change your approach when you fight a battle of Arcane" Ion started saying, "your fault was only making your Psynergy strong against one element instead of adapting your abilities to counter all of them, I am your opponent this time but you could fight a fire user, or even another Gaia user or multiple types of users at once and the type of attacks you are using would be insufficient against them if you only focus on creating an attack that can only handle one type of Aura" Ion continued as Flint looked a bit frustrated.
"Your attacks are very raw and unrefined, at least right now which is ok because you are still learning" Ion started saying once more, "your strategy also needs a bit of work since you would of been more effective throwing your Gaia swords at me then just standard rocks, no matter how big they got, but even there you would have been limited." "How so?" Flint asked pondering over Ion's words, "well compare your swords to mine" Ion said conjuring one of his lighting blades, "mine only have the shape and form of a sword, yes you can hold it but it doesn't have the weight of force of a regular sword, the attack is purely Arcane, I can make many of these as it only takes a fraction of Aura each. Yours have a full physical form, granted they are made from the very earth itself, this cost a lot of energy and resource, you are very limited to how many you can make before you falter" Ion finished saying as Flint looked deep in thought then frustrated again. "How am I suppose to go about it?" Flint started saying, "my element is Gaia, the very Earth, what I create has to use that which means I am limited to more physical forms compared to what your lighting can do" Flint continued saying, "seams to me I will always be at a disadvantage, maybe except to lightning unless they are like you and can use a second element, then I am screwed!" Flint finished as Ion let out a laugh, "it is about how you use your Psynergy, maybe you just need to use it a different way" Ion answered as Flint's eyes opened wider. "In what way should I use it?" Flint asked very enthusiastically as Ion shook his head "I don't know, that is something you will have to discover yourself" Ion answered as Flint pouted, "I don't have all the answers, but anyways that is enough for today" Ion continued lowering his hand down to Flint, "I think we have done enough damage to the Dragon's Training Grounds." Flint grabbed a hold of Ion's hand as he got up from the ground, looking around he noticed they were standing in a giant crater from once the more flat land the grounds were normally in, "whoops I may of went a bit too far" he said making a smile, more Gaia Aura engulfed his hand as some rocks form within them, "use it in a different way... but how? That is now the question" Flint continued muttering as Ion looked over to him with a smile, their hand still holding firmly. "I am sure you will figure out a way, I believe in you" Ion said as lightning Aura enveloped his hand, "I will help you as much as I can every step of the way" Ion continued as Flint turned his head towards him, their eyes met as smiles crossed both their faces, a moment latter, their lips quickly met in a quick kiss, "come on, lets go get cleaned up before we head in for dinner" Ion said as their lips parted, Flint nodded in agreement as the boys departed, hands still held tightly together, their Auras woven as one. ~
