If both duelists involved would kindly let me know that they are ready, this duel can begin. If one of the dueling parties does not report in (ready or otherwise) before Wednesday [1/9/2013], they will forfeit the match. If neither report in, both will forfeit.

Whether you are ready or not, please make it known in an ((OOC)) post here in this thread.

This duel concluded [1/11/2013] with SwiftEthan as the victor by TKO.

Rapid cheers from the stands, calling out her support to her friend. "C'mon Candy! You've got this in the bag! You can do it!" She was yelling at an empty field, but she didn't care. Candy was about to enter, and when she did, she was going to hear Rapid supporting her, whether she wanted to or not!

601561
Snowfall walked calmly into the arena and took a seat next to rapid. She had been excused from her Guard duties for the days when fights were occurring to better scout the competition. Though she didn't cheer at the empty field as Rapid was, she had to admit, she was excited to see what Candy was capable of in battle. She's got some powerful magic, that's for sure. But let's see if she knows how to use it in combat....

601534
((Arc is ready for battle.))

Arc entered the arena. He saw that he was the first one in the arena so he moved to the middle and sat down on the ground. Waiting for his opponent to arrive.

601663
((This is most good. Most good.))

Crafter and Ditzy looked around for open seats among the crowded stands, after spotting two open spots, they took a seat and awaited the event to begin.

"Hey, isn't that the dragon from the library?" Crafter asked, pointing a hoof at Arc.

"I think so, wonder who they put him against." Ditzy wondered.

Blink entered the stands(with Mr.Punchy as always) of the arena of the Arc's fight. He sat down and waited for the fight to begin, using the time to think about who to support. On the one hand, if Arc loses he gets to see Arc get his tail handed to him, and that would be great. But on the other, Blink saw Arc as his rival and his (almost) equal. If Arc loses, what would that say about him? either way this was not a fight he wanted to miss.
((I might not have a stable enough connection for fighting, but i can still watch.))

601681
((If you don't support me. Mr. Punchy will get it.))

601684((Awww, but i like that guy))

601688
((But would you like him if he was on fire?))

601689

((... that's a good question.... I'm going to have to think about this...
...
...
...
((*sigh* fiiiine))
Blink decided his reputation was more important than seeing Arc lose (besides he would probably get his tail handed to him regaurdless) "You'd better win this fight Arc..." Blink yelled from his place in the stands.

601695
"... I'll look bad if you don't" perfect.

601695
Arc looked up from where he was sitting as someone yelled at him. He saw Blink in the stands with a wooden doll of sorts. Why Blink was supporting him he didn't know, but he nodded none the less.

((Despite how she feels about him, Skysong is cheering for Candy. At least, he will be when I get home in, like, 8-9 hours ))

601534 [[Candy is ready too.]]

601665 Candy rushed into the arena, mumbling an apology to nobody in particular for being late, before settling herself to take a look around. Her opponent was already waiting for her and, much to her dismay, it was a dragon.
601561 She gulped before noticing the crowd. Somewhere, someone was cheering for her, but she couldn't make out who it was. With a shrug, she turned her attention back to the dragon.

601926
Arc looked at his opponent. she looked like any other unicorn, but to fight here you needed to be something special. "So you're my opponent?" Arc asked as he stood up.

601941 Candy gulped again as the dragon stood up and spoke to her, before taking a calming breath.

"Yes, I am. My name is Candy Cane, what's yours?"

601947
"I'm Arc." He said in his usual monotonous voice. "It still seems like we've got a little time before the fight needs to start, so why not get to know one another before then. How about it? What's your story?"

FireStarter sat in a darker part of the audience, cloaked, and watched with interest. She certainly hoped that this fight would really be something more than just major scuffle. 'I wonder what chances that pony mare would have against that ugly drake.', She wondered. '... Who am I kidding. This will end in no time.'

((I am currently at work, but will commence your duel when I am free and have updated the list of judges. Thank you for your continued patience.))

601951 Candy blinked. "Oh. Sure, I guess." She tapped her chin, trying to come up with an abridged version that wouldn't be too obvious that she was holding something back.

"Well...I used to be a surgeon, then I got locked up for malpractice that wasn't my fault," she emphasized. "Then I got away, lived alone for a few years and came here when I heard about the tournament. What about you?" Nice.

That was horrible. You left out all the good bits.

601961
"Well I'm a Hybrid dragon so I don't really have a place. I've been traveling all around doing mercenary work for most of my life. Not really much else to tell." Arc said.

601970 Candy nodded. "Cool..." She mumbled. Now what?

Why he's in the tournament?

"Oh yeah. How come you're fighting in the tournament?"

601974
"Well simply put there was a foal that asked me if I was going to be fighting. He said he would've liked me to fight in it, so here I am." Arc said with a slight smile. "What about you? Why are you here?"

601991 "Fair enough," Candy shrugged. "Me, I'm here because I have nowhere else to be. Although...I think I'm going to stick around for a long while anyway," she smiled.

601998
"So are you running away from something?" Arc asked.

602003 "Maybe," Candy shrugged again.

Emilia had quietly been awaiting Candy's arrival, sitting in the stands from the crack of dawn. A silent beating of her heart thumped every moment since then. When she saw Arc come in, she realized the amount of scars on him. This dragon's got experience... Emilia dealt with a few dragons and very few of those experiences were pleasant.

Emilia fretted for Candy's safety, she was going to get hurt. However... she never doubted that Candy would win. She said she was going to win and, damn it, she was going to win! Emilia looked at the new arrival. Candy.

Emilia cheered until her throat was hoarse with support. "CANDY, TAKE HIM DOWN! YOU CAN DO THIS!" Emilia roared and shouted to show her support to Candy.

602006
"Doesn't matter to me anyway, No profit." Arc said. "You said before that you were locked up for malpractice, what happened?"

602015 "Patient died," Candy muttered, looking away.

602013 Candy's ears perked up at the familiar voice, and she quickly scanned over the crowd for it's source. There. Of course it was Emilia.
She smiled to herself. Well, I can hardly let her down now, can I?

You're fighting a dragon. This won't be simple, no matter who's watching.

602033
"One patient died? That hardly seems like grounds to imprison somebody for malpractice." Arc said.

602040 "You'd be surprised." Candy was desperately trying not to let the full reason slip.

602044
"What did you do, Stab him in the neck while you were operating?" Arc asked.

602050 "It's not something I really like to talk about," Candy replied curtly.

602033
Hmmm a unicorn, interesting. Unicorns tend to always make battles interesting, this is definitely going to be well worth the price of admission. Blink thought to himself having woken up from a nap and only just now noticing that Arc's opponent had arrived.

602053
"Well that at least tells me that it was an accident. Which really gives me even more questions, but I guess I can leave it be." Arc said "...for now."

602068 Candy sighed. "I guess I can tell you more after the match, if you like."

602070
"I guess so, but now I've been doing most of the question asking. So how about it, what do you want to know about me?" Arc asked sitting back down.

602077 "Uh...Where are you from?"

602079
"Truthfully I don't know specifically. All I know is that I was born and spent most of the first part of my life near the ocean. That's all I know about where I came from. Didn't seem very important at the time"

602082 "Fair enough," Candy admitted. "So you mentioned travelling and mercenary work. What kind of work did you do mostly, and where did you go?"

602085
"I've been pretty much everywhere. As for the work as long as I get paid I don't really care what I do. I've had jobs ranging from finding a lost dog to killing a bandit leader."

602091 "You say everywhere, but where in particular? You must have some memorable journeys."

602098
"Not really. Most of the things I've done have become pretty common to me. They've all just seemed to fade into the background, but there was one memorable job I've had just because of how unusual it was. I was in Griffin territory and I had just been hired by a griffin to hunt down a murderer who had killed his son. I searched for days trying to find him but I never could. Eventually I went back to the father to ask to see the son's body to see if there was anything specific that I could go on. When I saw the body I instantly knew who had killed him. It was me, I had been hired not a week earlier to kill his son for cheating at a game of poker with some very high class griffins. I told the father there was nothing more I could do and I left."

602115 "Oh..." Candy cast her eyes to the floor. "Well, at least you've seen the world, I suppose..."

602124
"I guess never paid much attention to it though. I normally concentrate on getting the job done." Arc said.

602147 Candy nodded. "I can respect that. But did you never take any breaks, or time to yourself?"

602148
"Well sort of. I never took breaks for myself, but I would take brakes for any children I came across. I've always had a soft spot for children. Probably because I had a very complicated childhood, and I don't want them to have to feel the things I felt. I would always do my best to find a way to make them smile."