COMBAT (Summer)

Henry stood facing off a dummy. He pulled a seed out of his pocket and threw it at the dummy. It struck the dummy in the chest. He snapped his fingers and the seed exploded into large vines, ensnaring the dummy and ripping it apart. He caused the vine to bear fruit, large squashes, which the fell from the vines and shriveled up, leaving seeds. He collected them, then turned. "Oh, hello."

Henry smiled. "Feel like sparring?" He pulled a seed into each hand. "Dummies are only so good for practice."

Henry shrugged. "Both is good. I need to practice vines on a moving target." He assumed a combat stance. "Ready?"

Henry grinned, and switched the Squash seeds in his hands for Ivy. He sprouted the nine seeds in his right hand, and within seconds they had grown to several yards and braided together, forming six thick cables. They lashed out at Crystal, whipping at high velocities.

Henry forced the vines to continue growing. He pushed one of the vines under the ground. It snaked around the Arena, seeding the ground as it travelled. Meanwhile, above ground, new vines continued to sprout and braid together, bringing the diameter of the cables to nearly a foot. Henry frowned as the ice bullets tore through the thinner vines. Dammit. He hadn't been anticipating a Khione kid. This put him at a tactical disadvantage, but he decide to stick with his same strategy. The sword would be a problem, so he refocused the plant's processes at a cellular level; increasing glucose production manyfold. He was sacrificing flexibility, yes, but if he increased the toughness and thickness of the cables, the sword should stick. Eventually. In theory. Theory's not good enough, Henry. Keeping watching.

Henry continued his vine onslaught. The cables were now a good 2.5 feet in diameter. "Good luck cutting through that!" Henry chided. He cause a vine from one of the seeds he had lain underground to erupt behind Crystal and sneak silently up to her ankles, ready to ensnare them on henry's command.

Looking around, she assumed a panicked air, widening her eyes at the cords whipping around her. Her left hand closed round another smaller hilt. Crystal jabbed at one vine, letting her sword stuck halfway through.

"Crap," she said aloud, pulling halfheartedly on the hilt. She ignored the vine behind her, pretending not to notice. After all, you cannot win a battle without sacrifices, She thought with grim determination.

((Hmmm, I think 2.5 feet is a little overdoing it right? After all, a thick log is probably only 2 feet))

((Yeah... I'm tired, that's my only excuse XD))

Henry narrowed his eyes. She wasn't even trying to get it out... He played along. "There goes that. Got any more tricks up your sleeves, or is that it?" He flourished his hands dramatically as he rose up several cables, starting with them behind his back. He didn't need to do that. In fact, he could control his vines without moving a muscle, but she didn't know that. It gave him the opportunity to palm a few saguaro seeds and scatter them as his hands reached the top of their arch. The seeds were tiny, the size of pin heads, and would be nigh unnoticeable, standing several feet away as he was. As soon as they hit the ground, he burrowed them in and used the tiny roots he made them put out to push them through the dirt towards Crystal.

Henry could tell he was matched. He smiled. "S'nice to fight someone as observant as you. Most people are too easy to trick!" By then, he had fully grown several saguaro underground in a wide ring around Crystal. This next move would be tricky to pull off, but he needed to get creative. He separated a small segment from the rest of the cactus, and undulated the spines rapidly rocketing the spiky limb out of the ground. he repeated the process several more times, filling the air around Crystal with flying cacti. He couldn't control their course while they were in the air, but aiming was easier than he had expected. Doesn't matter how good you are with a sword, you can only parry so many things at once.

Henry smirked. Crystal's ice shrapnel worked well. Too well. Even as the cactus were shredded, he plumped the underground saguaros to a barrel-like thickness, blunted their spines, and forced them out of the ground in a tangled ring around Crystal, rising to over a story in height. They froze as they passed through Crystal's ice sheet and were lacerated by the flying ice, but this was what Henry wanted. Slowly at first, but rapidly gaining speed, an avalanche of frozen cactus rained down onto Crystal.