Preperation for Combat

Travin had set up the date with Lucian ahead of time. Their missions were starting to get harder everyday. The more they proved they were capable shinobi, the harder the missions the village sent them on. Travin knew that it was only a matter of time before Lucian, Ryuko and himself were sent on a combat mission. The level of danger he would not be able to say at this point, but it would still be combat, and with combat came the dangers of himself or one of his team being killed. It was for this reason that Travin had asked Lucian to meet him here for a sparring session. While it was nothing like real combat it was as close as you could get. He didn’t tell Lucian why he was wanting to spar. For a couple reasons, first of all he didn't want to come off as worrying about his team when in fact that was a big part of it. Second, he didn't want to worry his team if they was not worried about the outcome of their first combat missions.

Travin walked onto the training field he had requested the day before from the advanced training facility. It was a plain area of a field with a few barriers in place to keep onlookers safe. With a flat piece of land a few trees, and a pond of water spread out around it. Travin was wearing his normal orange jumpsuit under his Fire force jacket, his weapon pouch strapped to his side full of his gear, and a kunai slide up his sleeve for later use. His Sharingan was already active as he waited for his friend to show up for the spar.

WC-287

AP=1,128-10=1,118
3 tomoe Sharingan- 10 AP

It had been the day that Lucian was waiting for: the one where he and Travin would finally face off. Since their original competition based friendship originally began, the two had compelled and motivated each other to get much stronger. And this rivalry had boiled to the point where Travin issued a challenge to Lucian, in the form of a spar. Although it was just a spar, it was a moment that Lucian had been waiting to see to fruition. The two always engaged in light hearted banter, and now would finally be the time for them to test each other. And what specifically excited Lucian was the fact that by facing off against each other, their own bond would grow stronger and the two would be able to point out the weaknesses in each other. And so as the time came for their spar to take place, Lucian made his way to the Advanced Training Facility.

Upon arrival, he'd check in and make his way to the field which the two had booked. With his first step on the field, he'd activate his Netsu Kashōgan and survey the room. The first thing he observed was the body of his friend and foe: Travin, who stood directly in the middle of the 50 meter x 50 meter (length, width - square) field. Its top was open to atmosphere, which made Lucian smile softly. This would mean that the two's fire techniques would not set off any sprinklers, and so they could burn to their hearts' desires. He'd notice the trees lined along the outer eastern and western sides of the field, each placed about 5 meters apart from each other and 5 meters from the edge of the field. Interestingly, there was a continuous pond of water which surrounded the field, with a width of about 5 meters. And to cross the mote of water to step onto the actual field, there was a small bridge from the field's threshold.

Lucian would cross it, making note of the grassy terrain of the field and how it softly crunch beneath the heel of his boots with each step. He had been equipped with his normal training pants and shirt, along with his fire force dream cloak which he substituted for his otherwise typical robe. His body however carried no weapons with it besides his right and left hands. With each step he approached Travin, he made sure to focus his eyes' gaze towards Travin's body. He knew his friend, and so he knew he was a master of the Sharingan and Genjutsu. Therefore, his goal would be to avoid to get caught in one of his friend's nasty tricks. Though he was confident that his friend wouldn't prematurely initiate the fight, it was still good to remain cautious. Just as he was sure that Travin would want to make sure the fight didn't start too close, as he knew that Lucian was quite adept at close quarters combat.

And so Lucian would stop his stride about 20 meters linearly from Travin, placing himself 25 meters from both the eastern and western edges of the field, but 5 meters from the southern edge and the mote of water. This would place the two a respectable distance from each other, while also allowing them to be within reasonable audible range of the other. Still focusing on Travin's torso, specifically his chest, Lucian would call out to his friend with a smug grin upon his face.

"So Travin! Today's the day you wanna beat each other up, huh?"

WC = 594

Calcs:

Lucian smiled in response to Travin's comment about the two getting stronger. Following this, Travin would remove his coat and let it fall to the ground. Tactical, it was as it would prompt Lucian to do the same. And Lucian was no fool, he knew that this would mean as he performed his hand seals Travin would easily be able to see them. Putting two and two together, the young genin assumed that would be a benefit to Travin considering the copying abilities which Travin had told Lucian about. However the Goka was a good sport, and he wanted the fight to be as fair as possible to both sides. And so he'd unbutton his cloak, remove his arms from it, and let it fall to the ground adjacent to him. 


What came next was the Uchiha defining the terms of their spar, the same terms they had always agreed upon. And while to some, they might think this was a low stakes bet, they had never eaten with Lucian and Travin. Both had immense appetites, and because of that the bill racked up fast. With a grin on his face, he'd widen his legs and ball both hands into a fist. With a determined expression, he'd continue staring at Travin's chest before letting out a resounding, "You're on brother! Hope you been saving your ryo!"

And so, began the combat. Lucian would look to begin simply though, and with a single technique. As he began to vocalize his acceptance of Travin's challenge, he'd divert his eyes to his hands as they'd raise to his chest. And in that same motion he'd fire through the tiger, rat, dragon, boar, ox, and monkey hand seals at his max speed. Right as he concluded the monkey seal, at a speed of 90 a scorch orb would begin to spawn 10 meters from his position (10 meters from Travin) and expand to a diameter of 25 meters, obscuring Travin and Lucian's direct line of sight of each other. And as it was created, he'd mentally command the orb to head straight towards Travin's location with a jutsu speed of 90 and a jutsu power of 110, all while it was still expanding. As a Goka shinobi, he was unconcerned with the heat and damage from his technique affecting him, as he was immune. But he knew Travin wasn't, though he was cunning.

And so he'd need to plan his next move. While the scorch orb blocked the two's line of sight, Lucian took the opportunity to run towards the traveling orb while forming the tiger, horse, ram, and then clone seal. A perfect shadow clone would form directly 1 meter in front of him, running at the same pace as Lucian did. The clone and Lucian were intent on closing the distance, though any sudden moves or indications that their plan was compromised, they'd adjust accordingly. But they'd at least aim to reduce the distance between themselves and Travin by 10 meters.

WC = 499. TWC = 1093

Calcs:

(Sorry for the delay, been away for my baby's gender reveal and then again for work. Considering no angle of the clones' movement was specified, I'm assuming they moved at the diagonal of a 30-60-90 triangle. Checked the math for a 45-45-90 triangle, and they would have ran into the scorch orb under that pretense.)

While his scorch orb roared and expanded towards Travin's direction, its path would remain unaltered. Therefore, Lucian remained rushing forward and creating his shadow clone as previously described. What he would observe would be that after he and his clone had progressed North 10 meters towards Travin at their aforementioned rate, he'd be ridiculously close to the scorch orb that he created. Coincidentally it had been traveling slower than his base speed was, and so by the time he ran 10 meters forward his clone was within 2.5 meters of the massive scorch orb's most Southern point. And Lucian, being a meter behind the clone, was about 3.5 meters away from the orb. Both he and the clone could feel the immense heat radiating from the orb, which also emanated a captivating sound of heat singeing. Both so focused on the orb itself, they decided to continue running straight towards the orb. Therefore, they would not notice the call out from Travin's clones which were near parallel with the Eastern most point of the massive scorch orb (about 9.5 meters from Lucian). Subsequently, they would not see the bed of flowers or either clone. Instead, their gaze remained straight ahead as Lucian and his clone ran forward.

Within the time it took for Lucian and his clone to run 5 additional meters (now roughly 15 meters from Lucian's starting point), they would find themselves harmlessly penetrating the confines of the massive scorch orb. Both Lucian and his clone would remain immune to its damage due to their Goka clan heat resistance bloodlines. And so they'd be strategically protected by the orb once they were within it. At the same time that Lucian and his clone had entered the orb, Travin who would have only backed up around 6.5 meters at this time (in the Northern direction) would find that the ever moving scorch orb would collide with his own body before he'd be able to retreat 10 meters. And truthfully, even if he had moved back a further distance, because the orb was both expanding in size and approaching him simultaneously, his fate was basically sealed. 

Now that Lucian and his clone were within the scorch orb, they'd be able to utilize their Kashogan to see through the heat of the orb to observe that Travin was indeed being engulfed by the incinerating flare. And should Travin's clones somehow have time to release their amplified fireball to collide with Lucian's own scorch orb, their amplified power still stood no match to the scorch orb which Lucian and his clone stood within. As contact was made between the incinerating flare and Travin, the Uchiha's strength stat would be checked against the power of the orb. Seeing as his friend was far from a physical build, Lucian anticipated the Uchiha to succumb to the effects of the orb and ultimately end up desiccated and incapacitated. However, Lucian and his clone would continue running within the scorch orb towards Travin and remained vigilant in the case that Travin had a last minute ditch effort. They would continue this motion unless something warranted an interruption of their actions, even though they were certain this fight was over.

WC = 533. TWC = 1626

Calcs:

As the scorch orb made impact with Travin, Lucian could see through the flames that his friend had indeed been desiccated. The heat from the scorch alone would have been noticeable enough to Travin that he'd be able to discern it was no ordinary fireball. And the aftermath of absorbing such a hit would be the final confirmation. However, Lucian recognized that this was just a friendly spar. And so as the impact was made, which would confirm the conclusion of the spar, he'd cancel his scorch orb and shadow clone techniques so that Travin was in no real form of danger. And this action came at the same time that Travin raised his arm in the arm, signifying that Lucian had won this bout. 

With all the active techniques on the field now at an end, Lucian had mixed feelings. He had felt good because he won, adding another victory in his hands against his endless spars with his brother Travin. However at the same time, he had been deeply disturbed with the potential lethality of his technique. He had no clue how he could have controlled the technique further so it wouldn't hurt those he sparred with. And so, the young Goka grew angry with himself. He'd ball his fists up and grit his teeth as he stared at a blank space on the ground. Internally, he could feel his heart racing with both adrenaline and anxiety. And as he fumed for the moments that ensued after the battle, his concentration and inner reprimanding of himself would be broken by the perplexed voice of the Uchiha before him. Momentarily, he'd calm himself just enough to respond to Travin.

"Sorry about that man...I'm not sure I should use stuff like that in friendly spars. It's not just a regular fireball though. It's something characteristic of my clansman...something we call scorch...You alright bro?"

He'd ask his friend as the frustration upon himself was clearly evident. What was the use of growing stronger and learning powerful scorch techniques if he could only use them in life or death scenarios? Lucian wasn't sure. But was he was firm on, was that he'd need to think wisely in the future about what he used during training. And as his blood boiled, his eyes began a slow process of shifting. Their transition was quite subtle to say the least, as only a keen eye would be able to deduce the the formation of two sets of two small white circles which manifested on each of his eyes. The first set of circles located themselves at the upper corners of each eye, with the second set coming 180 degrees across from the former. And although he could not feel this change, he did in fact notice some type of strain within his eyes. Nevertheless, he dismissed this observation as nothing more than a headache from the frustration that he felt on himself.

WC = 487. TWC = 2113

Cancelling all active techniques except for the Netsu Kashōgan

Lucian couldn't help but reflect on the frustration he had felt towards himself. He and Travin had been friends for years, and they often sparred together for fun and for meals. They both had a competitive spirit, and they enjoyed pushing each other to their limits. The Goka genin had been training hard, and he had been so eager to test out his new techniques. But as he sparred with Travin, the intensity of his scorch technique was far too aggressive. If he hadn't cancelled his technique, the scorch orb that landed could have been much more devastating than he had intended. Lucian was so focused on winning that he didn't noticed the level of force he was generating. But although Lucian was vexed with himself, the light hearted response from Travin seemed to make him feel a bit better. It was honestly cool that the Uchiha didn't even seem too bothered, but instead was interested in the dojutsu that Lucian displayed.

"I honestly only just found out about them..." he said in a sort of quiet tone with his head slightly lowered. "I had been training in my backyard and when I woke up in the morning they were just there. It's called the Kashogan, and I don't really know too much more about them or what they can do yet. Although I can see..." he begun in a more lively tone as he started to think on how to describe his vision, "sort of like an infrared layer around me. Like heat vision almost. But honestly my eyes feel like they're on fire right now...I know how to activate them, but not how to deactivate them."

As he discussed his eyes with his friend, he'd begin to develop even more of a respect for Travin. Perhaps the Uchiha would be able to teach him about controlling dojutsu in a general sense, which would allow Lucian to learn how to better employ his. But in any case, he started to feel a bit better about the spar. And in the back of his mind, he had a refined consideration for both Travin's and his own safety. They were friends, adversaries, and teammates and so it was important to make sure they pushed each other, but not to dangerous extents. And so Lucian would never forget the lesson he had learned today about the importance of controlling his impulses and protecting those he cared about. 

WC = 405. TWC = 2518