Cee and the Lemon

Cee was coming into this exam with a lot of smoke behind him. After rampaging through the preliminary portion of the exam it was pretty well known that he was one of the betting favorites to make it to the final, and every fiber of his being reflected this fact. Unlike the other children around him, Cee looked like he was chiseled out of granite and carried himself with a cock-strong attitude that was reflective of how he fought. He was going to move forward and end the fight as quickly as humanly possible, there was going to be no wasted movement, no time to fuck around, just bodies dropping with a certain quickness.

This vigor was notably not present in his opponent, a seemingly more nervous adversary who perhaps had more than a few things go his way to get him this far. Unfortunately, the man's luck had run out as far as Cee was concerned, and the only question was how long it would take. Lightning began to course from every pore of Cee's being, and he immediately lurched forwards with his arm outstretched ready to decapitate his opponent on impact. He didn't want this fight to last, and if this landed it absolutely wasn't going to.

Lem's mind was a mixture of emotions. Excitement, nervousness, anticipation, fear. He wasn't the sort to doubt himself, but even he had to acknowledge that the exams thus far were much harder than he'd anticipated, and what lied ahead would only get worse. After giving himself a couple pep talks he was determined to keep going with everything he had.

As he prepared to start he match, despite his newfound resolve he couldn't help but feel that he was a bit over his head. The boy across from him looked like he was out for blood, and from everything Lem had seen so far there was a significant skill gap between the two. Lem wasn't particularly afraid, or concerned for his own well being, but he didn't like to lose, and he was having a hard time shaking the bad feeling in the air that this was about to get rough. He shook it off, decided his nerves weren't going to help him at all, and readied himself for the fight.  He wasn't about to just lay down and take it.

Lem grabbed the two swords off his back, expecting his opponent to waste no time in taking the fight in close. Sure enough, as soon as the match started the other boy rushed in, arm outstretched and heading right for his head. Before Lem had time to think, he slid on the ground, mostly out of pure instinct, and tried to swing one of his swords at the boy's ankles.

It seemed that the man in front of him was at least going to try and fight, an admirable quality even if it wasn't going to get him very far. Cee was almost taken by surprise as the man swung his blade attempting to sweep Cee's legs out from under him. If Cee's lightning armor hadn't been activated, he may have done damage yet for now all it had caused was a light trickle of blood, a small cut, and a grimace of irritation was all the response this kind of attack was going to muster. Cee reached down and grabbed the boy, ready to end the fight in a flash if he'd be allowed to do so. He reached back, letting his muscles coil and tense as he let the boy fall from his grasp and his opposite arm came forward with deadly intent. "LARIATOOOOO!"

If this attack landed, the boy would be a broken heap twitching on the ground and the fight was certain to be over. The only question was, did he hit?

Lem knew he was in a tough spot. His opponent had all but ignored the previous attack thanks to the lightning encompassing his body, and he was running out of ideas. To his surprise he noticed all the emotions he had been dealing with before the bout were gone, and all that was left in their place was joy. He was having fun, despite the problematic situation he had found himself in. At this point he wasn't thinking about winning, just about staying in the fight to savor as much of the thrill as he could.

He quickly snapped back to reality as the other boy grabbed him and began to bore down on him. It was all Lem could do to perform a last-second substitution jutsu and attempt to scramble to the side, hoping to put some distance between the two for long enough to regain his composure.

It seemed the boy knew he was in a tough spot when Cee more or less ignored his previous attack. He was almost certainly out of ideas, from what Cee had seen the man didn't really have a backup plan if his initial plan didn't work out. A small smirk formed across Cee's face as his arm came forward, and then the surprise happened. The boy had used a fucking substitution jutsu to get the fuck out of dodge. The boy seemed to be trying less to win, and more simply to survive and that was a victory Cee simply couldn't allow him to savor. As the boy scrambled to put some distance between them, Cee had a bit of an idea.

He beckoned him forward, lightning flickering from every inch of his being as he did so. "Come forward!" As Cee said this, chakra began to flow into his arm as he prepared for the killing blow. Nothing was going to save the boy when this one landed..

It was obvious that his opponent was toying with him at this point. Lem had barely managed to evade the first two attacks, and he had a feeling his luck wouldn't hold out for a third. Now the boy was just taunting him, his arm outstretched and his body covered in that same annoying lightning that had defended him earlier.  Every ounce of common sense he had was screaming at him not to take the bait and foolishly rush in again, but how could he refuse?

His grip tightened on his swords as he bolted towards his opponent head-on. He leapt through the air, holding both swords overhead to try and bring them down with all the strength he could muster. He wasn't sure if the attack would even have any effect, and he'd be shocked if he even made contact, but that wasn't going to stop him from trying.

It was probably becoming apparent to the boy that Cee was more or less toying with him at this point. Realistically Cee had barely so much as moved by this point and he was dominating and eviscerating his fellow Genin at every turn. The taunt was a simple yet calculated play, he wanted the fight to end now and he wanted it to end decisively. Anything less than annihilation would be a letdown and it was with this in mind that Cee watched as his opponent charged forward with fury and passion in his eyes. The boy lept through the air, springing forth with a fury Cee himself could not have envisioned but still..

It was never going to be enough.

Cee stepped back and lightning coursed through his arms. "HELL STAB" As he said this he swatted the two swords down towards the ground, using the momentum to spin his body around as his opposite arm now also teemed with electricity while inching closer and closer to it's mark. "LARIATOOOOOO!" The ferocious nature of the swing carried Cee forward and through, and if it landed it was going to have went directly through the boy in front of him. If the eyes of the crowd were anything to go by, he'd probably hit his mark.

Time seemed to grind to a halt. He hadn't expected the swords to be brushed aside so casually like that. And even worse, the failed attack had left him completely helpless in the air. As the other boy spun around for his counterattack, Lem's only feeling was one of disappointment. He just wanted to keep fighting, to keep learning. If the strength he had seen from the boy earlier was any indication he was pretty sure this was going to be enough to knock him out of the fight at least, probably worse. A small smile came over his face. "Next time will be different" he thought to himself.

It felt like minutes had passed. In actuality, it was probably a fraction of a second. Eventually, time resumed its normal course, and the hit finally made contact. After a very brief sensation of electricity, the blunt force of the impact came through. It only hurt for a moment. As his body began to recoil from the hit he almost immediately blacked out, well before his body would hit the ground.

The final shot had seemed to do the trick as the boy's body flailed lifelessly through the air before coming to a rather disgusting and decisive halt. Cee was the winner, this much was obvious to anyone with eyes and within roughly two seconds of the boy's body hitting the ground, the instructor saw fit to make it official. He glared in Cee's direction with an air of apprehension as he stood over Lem's now limp body. "Cee of the Cloud village has been declared the winner of this contest. Congratulations."

Cee's eyes scanned the crowd, some people were celebrating obviously, any violent ending to a bout was typically rewarded with cheers and a certain level of gratitude by the spectators, but what struck him was that he saw fear. The sickening thud of the lariat had cracked through the arena like a whip and had taken the attention of every man woman and child in a mile radius, so it was easy to understand the occasional concerned look towards his now lifeless opponent but..

That didn't exactly make Cee feel much better about it.

Cee approached his fallen opponent with a hand outstretched and a small smile etched across his face. "You're tough, I know one day we'll have to be enemies but for now I'd like to call you a friend."

Cee didn't really know if the offer would be reciprocated, but it was certainly worth a try.

The first thing Lem noticed when he regained consciousness was the sound of the occasional cheer in the audience. The noise hurt. He slowly opened his eyes. The light hurt too. The first thing he saw was the other boy, the one that moments ago had beaten him to a pulp, stretching an arm out to him with a small smile on his face. Lem couldn't be happier. He wasn't here to make enemies, and he had nothing against the boy. If anything he respected him and wanted to face him again someday. He reached out, took the boy's hand, and struggled his way up to his feet. That one really hurt. He was pretty sure he had broken a couple of bones, but considering how sore his whole body was he had a hard time telling which ones.

In spite of the pain, Lem was smiling from ear to ear. "Of course I wanna be friends, that was the most fun I've had in a long time. My name's Lem by the way, and of these days when I'm stronger I want a rematch". Lem shook the boy's hand and began to limp away. The world was full of strong people like this, and the last thing he wanted was to be left behind. He had a lot of training to do, but that could wait. Right now he just wanted to sleep.