This was bad. This was really bad. Not only was this guy stronger and faster than him, but now Gerard couldn't even rely on his intangibility to protect him from his attacks. As the marine spoke, not giving away anything about his ability, Gerard determined one thing. Until he worked out how it worked, he was not going anywhere NEAR that damn marine. That one kick hurt him pretty bad, and he was not going to take another one of those hits.

Though the marines offer caused him to quirk an eyebrow. If Gerard lost, he'd join the marines? That...was something he hadn't expected. Guess he made an impression on this guy. Besides, it could be worse. It just meant this guy wasn't going to kill him. Though a beating still wasn't out of the question. And if he won, he would learn the marine's secret. Well, Gerard had no intention of losing. "Deal."

The instant the marine seemed to vanish, Gerard brought his hand up. He knew what that meant. The bastard was on the move, and most likely towards him. Well, he wasn't going to be near when he attacked. Just as Napoleon was appearing before him, Gerard let out a blast of gas, pushing the gas man backwards. It wasn't quite fast enough, as the marine's upward's kick would catch him in the hand, knocking his trajectory somewhat. Gerard would slide back along the ground, bouncing and rolling until he collided with a wall of one of the abandoned buildings behind him.

His body instantly burst into gas, before suddenly slipping through the cracks in the stone to the other side of the wall, putting something between him and the marine. The good thing about being a gas man meant locked doors were virtually nothing to him. But he knew the marine wouldn't keep off him for long. Gerard had to keep moving, all the while trying to figure out how to beat this guy. If he could just keep himself away from him, keep himself hidden and give himself time to think. Quickly regaining his feet, Gerard dashed through the building, intent on coming out of the other side.

Skill:

Judging by the marine's shouting, he wasn't too happy about him deciding to pull away. Or maybe not, it was actually hard to tell. Though Gerard was a little surprised when the long legged marine simply didn't chase after him. He seemed to remain in one spot, effectively trash talking him. Well, at least this gave Gerard some time to think...and really nothing was coming up. The guy was faster than him, stronger than him, and most importantly was capable of hitting him. Gerard briefly thought about cutting his losses and running, but this guy seemed to know what move he'll make before he even made it. He'd probably chase him down, beat him senseless, and then drag him back to the marines.

No, if he was going to get out of this, he would have to fight. Though how was a question he had yet to answer. Right now though, he had to do something. Keep the guy off of him long enough for Gerard to come up with a plan. And simply running and hiding wasn't going to cut it. He peeked out from behind the building to see the marine hadn't even moved from his spot, just standing there with a smug look on his face. Pulling back, Gerard glanced at the building next to it, seeing the walls were cracked, with a couple of holes in them.

Thinking fast, Gerard dashed towards the building, turning to face the marine and opened fire with his cane, firing a shot at him. He then quickly dove, morphing into gas and slipping through the holes in the wall into the next building.

---
Shots remaining: 18/20

Gerard had expected the marine to come after him. Maybe kick the wall down with his terrific strength. What he hadn't expected though was for him to suddenly dive bomb the house from above. Or to suddenly be on fire! As the marine crashed through the ceiling, Gerard was already backing up quickly towards a nearby exit, a broken window along one of the walls. Why did it have to be fire!? Being able to hit him was bad enough, but fire was even worse. And in such close quarters too. He could try to run, but the guy was already much faster than him. The instant he tried jumping through the window or going intangible, he was going to get a legful of flame that would set him up like a light. And it looked like Napoleon wasn't going to give him any time to think his way out of it.

So Gerard didn't think. He suddenly thrust his hand out, a burst of dark gas erupting from his hand, the cloud filling the room.

Now, even if Napoleon himself wasn't on fire, the flames spreading across the floor were more than enough. As the marine brought up his leg to strike, the gas ignited between them, a loud explosion echoing out around the ghost town as the building effectively exploded. Gerard was sent flying back, thankfully not being sent through a wall due to being by the window. The blast scorched as his skin and suit, sending him bouncing and rolling along the ground, wracked with pain. It hurt, it hurt a lot. But it was better than being hit by that damn attack.

Groaning in pain, Gerard staggered to his feet. He doubted that blast would have had any lasting impact on Napoleon, but it should at least distract him for a little bit. Having to hobble on his cane, Gerard made a dash for the nearest building, trying to get some more cover from the burning marine.

Skill:

OOC:

As Gerard tried to get to the next building, a blast of fire would shoot past in front of him, slamming into the building he was running to. The building immediately caught on fire, effectively cutting off his escape. Dammit, again with the fire! He turned back to see his opponent, singed by the blast, but ultimately looking tired. Did his explosion really do that much damage? Somehow he doubted it. There had to be a reason why the man looked more beaten up than he should be.

Maybe throwing around all those moves and fire is starting to tire him out.

At Napoleon's comment about him being a coward for running, Gerard smirked. Despite all this, the guy didn't seem angry at all. Either this guy still had something up his sleeve, or he was actually enjoying this. And well, Gerard would be lying if he said being put to his limits wasn't getting him excited as well. "Hardly. But it doesn't take a genius to know a straight up fight with someone like you is going to get my ass kicked, quite literally in this case." He knew he had to keep his distance. He still hadn't figured out how the guy was able to hit him before, and now he had that spontaneous fire power to worry about to. He glanced at the burning building and then quickly around. He was back out of the open, which was not a good thing for him.

"So I'd say keeping my distance from you is a bit of a smart move on my part, don't you think?" His body still in pain, Gerard suddenly broke into a run, going in the opposite direction.  He would have to clear the town square again, but he had something up his sleeve. He took aim with his cane and fire three more shots towards the marine. He wasn't expecting them to land, but to perhaps distract him and force him to burn up more energy by dodging. Gerard had to get to somewhere more confined where his intangibility and mobility would be an asset. And if he did somehow get a shot in, well, lucky him.

Shots remaining: 15/20

One of Gerard's shots had actually landed! He really hadn't expected that. The guy really must be slowing down if that worked. Well, score one for him he guessed.

But his opponent wasn't done yet. Gerard braced himself as the marine lept into the air, spinning around rapidly. Even without his fire, he still had that ability to hit him, which made any attack dangerous to him. Then of course, when the fire started to appear around him, that more than settled the matter for him. "Nope!" Gerard said, letting out a blast of gas to propel him backwards at top speed. He watched as Napoleon crashed into the ground.

And then a wave of fire shot out from around him.

"Oh Hell no!" he yelled out,betting out another burst to try and cover more distance. The fire however was rapidly approaching. At this rate, Gerard wasn't going to outrun it! Even with a third burst the fire was quickly outpacing him.

Then his legs hit something. Having stayed in his corporeal form, Gerard let out a yell as he fell backwards through a window of a building, having flown into it without looking. He flipped through the window, landing hard on his back. And then the flames hit the building with full force. The intense heat caused the wooden structure to come alight, the force of the shock, causing the already weakened wooden structure to start coming apart. Gerard let out a cry as broken and burnt wood came crashing down atop of him, as the building, along with many others in the area, we're flattened by Napoleon's attack.

And then, there was silence. The fire had passed over everything so quickly that while some remains did catch alight, it was only small fires, and not the raging inferno one would expect. Most of the flames had been extinguished rather quickly, leaving scorched wood and ruin around the downed marine. It looked like it was over.

Then, something stirred. Amidst the ruins of the collapsed building, something shifted. Something groaned. Then, some broken wood was pushed aside as Gerard dragged his beaten and bloody self out from the ruin. While having a building fall on you was pretty bad, the wood had taken the brunt of Napoleon's attack, effectively shielding Gerard from the worst of it. It wasn't so,etching Gerard wanted to do again, but hey, it worked.

Tumbling out of the wreckage, he pulled himself to his feet, leaning on his cane as he swayed. Slowly, he hobbled his way over to the motionless marine. Gerard looked a mess. His clothing scorched, his hair a tangled, singed mess and his face bruised and bleeding. But unlike Napoleon, Gerard could still move.

"Damn," he chuckled through ragged breath, [color]"And you call me a nuisance. With moves like that, you're a disaster waiting to happen."[/color]

Skill:

Gerard stood there for a moment, breathing heavily as the marine laughed. Man, this was one chill guy. He had thought he would be mad that he lost like this, but it didn't seem to bother him at all. Gerard knew there was a reason why he liked this guy.

He tilted his head as the marine spilled the beans. Mantra huh? So it was some sort of spirit thing that made armor? Very interesting. He should look into that, perhaps figure out how to use it himself. He'd ask the marine more, but the guy had already fallen asleep, resigning himself to whatever fate Gerard had for him.

All was quiet for a moment before the Dandyman let out a sigh. "Come here you tall bastard," he muttered, leaning down to pick the guy up and sling him over his shoulder. It wasn't easy, considering the guy was much bigger than him, and Gerard was pretty beaten up himself. But he couldn't just leave him there. With the marine slumped over his shoulder, Gerard began to slowly make his way back to town.

As he walked, the full weight of what had just happened finally caught up with him. He had won. Gerard had battled each of the three big factions and had come up on top. He had proven his word, and completed his self imposed challenge. With this victory, Gerard's control over Minion Island was assured.

The young thief couldn't help but throw back his head and laugh. This was a day to remember.