The Ranch

Dance Dance Resolution (4)

"That's it! Five minutes are up. We'll now show the pairing on screen." The participants had input their song of choice right after listening to all three, making sure they wouldn't switch their choices around and also making it a surprise for the audience.

The two teams step off the stage and stand on opposing sides while Simon D continues, "The first dance battle will use the first song. From the Gladiators, step onto the stage...Nicolas! From Poseidon's side...Henri, come on to the stage!"

The start of the match elicits a round of applause from the audience.

"Let's go Nick!"

"You got this!"

The remainder of Instructor Kane's team standing on the balcony shout out encouragement and is picked up by the camera. Inversely, Tih's team isn't as loud. They aren't familiar with Henri like Kane's disciples are with each other.

Aside from Theodore yelling," Wooooo!" and a good luck, break a leg, and knock 'em dead from some of the others, they seem much less enthusiastic in the audience's eyes.

Unaware that half of the team is "unenthusiastic" by nature, some in the audience come to the conclusion that they don't have a lot of hope on this round. As such, cheers(and bets) for Team Gladiators increase amongst the crowd.

The difference can be clearly heard by those down below. The feeling of being overwhelmed by an opponent's cheers can be very nerve-wracking, but Henri's smile remains unchanged as he walks up the stage along with the opponent.

Kai and Basile watch Henri's back as he leaves, more nervous for the man than he is for himself. "G-good luck!" Kai forces himself to call out, wanting to help somehow, but his voice is drowned out by the chanting. Without looking back, Henri moves his left hand up into a peace sign.

The two opposing people stand before each other. Nick, a sword-fighter, is wielding a standard eastern sword. They're too far apart to shake hands, so Henri swaps it out for a nod.

"If everyone's ready, let's get this started! Three, two, one, drop that beat." Simon D starts with a high-pitched, enthusiastic sound, to a smooth low voice at the last three words. It's rather cool. Some may even call it swag. At least that's what he's thinking in his head.

Numerous cameras are on the two below, showing all sorts of different angles. When the song starts, the two start dancing on their own sides of the stage, getting into a groove.

Louis's voice echoes to the audience, "Nick seems to be familiar with breakdancing. He knows some basics, but it's not well integrated with his sword." He watches the man struggle to find a comfortable position to hold the sword without it getting in the way of his movements. In multiple cases, his sword grazes past his skin. For some moves, he has to bite down on the sword to free up his hands, but the man is quickly finding ways to work with the two different arts.

James comments on Henri," Other guy's got somethin' goin on tho. Very...graceful?"

"Graceful." G-dog repeats as conformation. "Reminds me of like, ballet? I think? But it's more free-flowing like jazz and contemporary. What's his martial art?" He asks the announcer.

The camera zooms onto Henri,"Henri, age-"

"It's Rude To Mention Someone's Age Without Their Permission." Henri cuts him off as he dances his way over to Nick's side of the stage.

"...brown star in parkour." Simon D finishes his sentence reluctantly but compliantly.

"Ooh, parkour? That's new." G-dog comments as we watched the stage with interest. Henri's dance style is very flowy and free. More graceful than the usual style of parkour.