HoH season 08. Source: valucre.net static Gaia dump.
THE FIREBRAND
With Barton infested with undead, the classic barroom brawl has been moved to another location. but not to worry, this fine establishment will not disappoint.
Terrain
General - With chairs, tables, counters, booze, and decorations everywhere, there are many obstacles in the lounge.
Weapons - Chairs, tables, chairs, empty bottles, chairs, blenders, chairs, glasses, chairs, booze, and oh, did I mention chairs?
Bonus Effects - None.
Damnable Gizmo. Bugged him when he was trying to nap. Beeping and informing him of some impending doom or some such.
Such a bother.
Matthew was muttering to himself, most of which wasn't fit for polite company. As he entered the Firebrand, and noticed no one else was here yet, his cursing only seemed to take another step up.
Eventually, he barked out, "Enough!" The muttering stopped, his shrugged his shoulders inside his flannel jacket, and jammed his hands in the pockets of his blue jeans as he scoped out the arena.
"Guess thar ain't much ta da but wait..." he muttered to himself as he ambled over towards the bar, reaching out behind it to pull out a bottle, without label, red liquid inside, and a little old from the looks of it.
With a grunt he took a seat at the bar, watching the door as he opened the bottle. A quick sniff, a bit of recognition, and he took a long pull at the bottle.
How else was he going to pass the time?
"Don't get too sloshed before the fun begins..."
Rain leaned on his shoulder in the doorway of the Firebrand, crossing his arms over his chest. He arrived just after Matthew the Hunter did, and smirked.
"You get the leftovers I left in the suite for ya?" Rain asked, cracking his neck to one side, then the other, before uncrossing his arms and beginning his stride into the tavern. Rain had left shortly after the ceremony ended the previous night, not being the 'party' type.
He looked around, noticing no actual patrons of the establishment, save for Matthew himself. There were Arena employees, security guards, and film crew aplenty though. No one really looked battle-worthy.
"We the first ones here?" he asked, though not looking directly at Matthew. Taking note of one of the crew people who looked to be in charge, Rain waved him over to speak quietly with him. Something about generators and cables. The crew supervisor then nodded in acknowledgement as to what Rain had told him, and relayed the orders to several of his subordinates.
"Why do you have to fight in those old things?" A Chinese lady in a red dress, with sparkling silver stars, and a split that exposed most her legs asked from the passenger seat of the Escalade.
"It's a tradition, Meu." Kichiro said simply enough, having changed out of his tuxedo at the Crimson Hawk Hotel, and into the old heavy leather overcoat. As he stepped out from the side door of the S.U.V., he'd be met with white flashes and a usual host of reporters there to cover the fight.
Meu simply nodded to Kichiro, and got out to help direct the other Syndicate members arriving shortly.
The man had on a straw hat, which helped save Kichiro from becoming blinded, the only visible weapon on him was the katana hilt protruding from his right shoulder, but flashes of metal in the opening of his overcoat hinted at many more.
"Are you prepared for your first fight in this year's tournament?" One reporter caught Kichiro's attention, while he waited for others to pile out of his vehicle. Several other S.U.V.s were pulling up behind the first with fellow Syndicate members to come observe the fight.
"It could be my last..." Kichiro shrugged, while a near 8' HUEG Austrian guy walked from the opposing side of the Escalade behind him, "...I've not engaged in anything like arena or small scale combat since the last tournament, and I'm with people I've got limited experience in working with."
While Kichiro spoke, he turned half way to Hans the Austrian. The large guy with the square chin and broad shoulders, opened up a briefcase that contained two 1'6" wakizashis in sheathes. With leather straps already set on Kichiro's hips/ thighs, he placed them in their slots and tightened them. Beneath his overcoat, they were mostly hidden, hilts protruding from each hip, with the wakizashi coming in a slant down the thighs and around the kneecaps.
Oda would nod to Hans, and turn to the line of reporters with a smile. "Therefore, I promise to fight every round like its my last." Smoothing his shin low overcoat down to his boots, the man would give a grin beneath his straw hat. Kichiro's scarred face didn't seem to agree with grinning, making it look semi-malicious even though the tone was simply one of confidence. Hans then snapped the briefcase shut, and headed around Kichiro, to clear him a path to the door.
Fingerless black gloved hands would then push towards the Tavern door, and Kichiro would enter behind his teammates, ready to begin. "Sorry I'm late..." He spoke to Rain as he approached.
Syndicate members in tuxes and dresses would pile out, gathering around the windows, eager to get a first-hand look inside the Firebrand at the fight about to begin.
Turning to Kichiro, Rain nodded in acknowledgement. "About time, Mr. Big Shot. Is it really quite necessary to have all..." Rain started, moving to gesture towards the vehicle convoy and the syndicate members, most of which were probably bodyguards.
He stopped, and frowned, remembering what happened in his teammate's resort a few weeks prior. "... I guess I already know the answer to that question."
He glanced around, and walked over to a rather central table, spinning one of the chairs in place and sitting forward against the back of it. "We're just waiting on the other team now. And John, I suppose. I haven't seen him yet, though he promised me he'd be here."
"Of course." Kichiro nodded as Rain apparently answered his own question in a flashback of events, "besides. You should like having so many spectators witness first hand, your raise to the top!" He patted Rain on the shoulder, while taking time to pass him and walk inside to get his bearings on the place.
As Kichiro walked, coat tails of his overcoat slowly followed in the air behind him, and his eyes passed from side to side scanning.
"The other team is probably on their way, I'm sure trailing eight S.U.V.s and media doesn't help anyone be prompt." Shrugging, Kichiro turned back to Rain.
"If John doesn't show, he's probably got good reason. Same happened to me my first year her." Kichiro nodded, speaking empathetically.
A young man, visably looks around his early twenties, ran down the road to the The Firebrand bar. He was shirtless, tanned, slim, but had a powerful muscle-toned build. This would include a six pack abs and hairless upper torso, allowing for his opponent to see the full details of his athletic, and surprisingly powerful build.
He had long black hair running down his back, stopping just past the shoulder blades. The sides of his hair would be shoulder length, while his hair was cut short in the front. There would be scarlet streaks entangled throughout the black hair, making his hair a certain attention grabber. His eyes were dark brown, but were fairly intense looking eyes that had shown the experience from a few street fights. His facial features expressed a strong, mascunline jawline and high cheek bones.
Across his chest, he wore a black sash that held the x-shaped weapon in place. The weapon on his back resembled two metallic bowstaffs fused together at the center. Judging by the length of the weapon, each bowstaff was approximately six feet in length.
He chose to line a bit of black makeup down his eyes. It would consist of a black line going vertically down both of his eyes. The makeup would start slightly above his eyebrows and run down to the middle of his cheeks, thinning into small points at the end of the lines.
Ironically enough, he wore a bizarre looking pair of metallic jeans; looking more like a sturdy armor that could brace himself from leg blows. Only his black boots looked like casual wear.
The combination of all these traits could only describe one man. One of the female fans on the road shouted out, "Victor~!!! You're so cute!!!!"
He smirked, only to raise his hands to wave to the crowds of people that followed him from the hotel. Unlike the spectators, most of the reporters stood away from him. Rumor had spread fast that he knocked out the last reporter that tried to interview him.
While coming closer to the bar, he noticed a few vehicles that he didn't recognize outside. He thought to himself, "Are they apart of the Heaven or Hell management?"
He didn't bother to check it out further, since he needed to be inside the bar to meet his opponents. Approaching the front entrance, he would peek in to say,
"Surprise, surprise!"
Victor entered the The Firebrand bar without much hesitation, swinging open the doors to an audience consisting of men that would likely try to maul him. He would enter by turning to his side while walking in, since the Kali-Yuga could have easily gotten caught on the door.
"Rising Storm, huh?"
He took a few steps into the bar, where he would walk over to the counter of the bar and sit down on the stool. He raised his right arm to loosen the sceathe on his shoulder, to the x-shaped weapon on his back, appearing to make himself comfortable.
"I'm Victor Kalliandrio, the captain of the Heavy Metal Kings. What are your names?"
Victor Kalliandrio Wrote:One of the female fans on the road shouted out, "Victor~!!! You're so cute!!!!"
"Ehhh?" Rain said, perking up at the fangirl cry from outside the Firebrand. Shortly after, a nigh-topless man strode into the tavern, and he introduced himself.
Victor Kalliandrio Wrote:"Rising Storm, huh?"
He took a few steps into the bar, where he would walk over to the counter of the bar and sit down on the stool. He raised his right arm to loosen the sceathe on his shoulder, to the x-shaped weapon on his back, appearing to make himself comfortable.
"I'm Victor Kalliandrio, the captain of the Heavy Metal Kings. What are your names?"
Rain would stand up from his seat, and strode over to the young captain. Rain, on the other hand, was not quite so young; in his mid-thirties, the wear of his travels and of the world had worn heavily on him, causing him to look old for his age. He wasn't handsome, but not unattractive either. However, his face had lots of character, as did his arms, both of which sported a good number of scars. More than could be counted in a glance without making things awkward.
Rain was no bodybuilder, but his body was toned. Athletic. Powerful. The body of someone who spent days, weeks, months... years training himself, to the exclusion of everything else. Whereas most people built their bodies for strength, his was built for a different purpose. And at 6'3", he looked down on the other captain, as if about to enter a staredown.
Then, just like that, the steely glare and cold features melted away, as he smiled broadly, and extended his right hand. Both hands were wrapped, and contained metallic bracers about 4" wide just below the wrists. His FIGHTER was not visible. "Hello. I'm Rain Yupa, captain of team Rising Storm. And these are my teammates and friends, Kichiro Oda and Matthew of the Hunter Clan."
Pending Victor shook the hand, rather than spit in it or attacked him or anything stupid like that, Rain would offer him a seat at the table he was sitting at when the man entered.
"I suppose we should get down to Brass Tacks. Both your team and mine has come here for some friendly competition. Though your teammates have not arrived yet, we are on a time limit to get this done, so as captains, we should plan the matchups now and cut to the chase. Sound like a plan, Stan?"
Rain Yupa Wrote:Rain would stand up from his seat, and strode over to the young captain. Rain, on the other hand, was not quite so young; in his mid-thirties, the wear of his travels and of the world had worn heavily on him, causing him to look old for his age. He wasn't handsome, but not unattractive either. However, his face had lots of character, as did his arms, both of which sported a good number of scars. More than could be counted in a glance without making things awkward.
Rain was no bodybuilder, but his body was toned. Athletic. Powerful. The body of someone who spent days, weeks, months... years training himself, to the exclusion of everything else. Whereas most people built their bodies for strength, his was built for a different purpose. And at 6'3", he looked down on the other captain, as if about to enter a staredown.
Victor looked up to the man that stood before him. He was clearly older, possibly even more battle-experienced than himself. Victor initial reaction was to smirk at him, noticing the number of scars on his face. He thought, "The fan girls will be crying if they saw someone like him beat me."
Victor was certainly more attractive than his opponent... But that could easily change if he wasn't careful.
Rain Yupa Wrote:Then, just like that, the steely glare and cold features melted away, as he smiled broadly, and extended his right hand. Both hands were wrapped, and contained metallic bracers about 4" wide just below the wrists. His FIGHTER was not visible. "Hello. I'm Rain Yupa, captain of team Rising Storm. And these are my teammates and friends, Kichiro Oda and Matthew of the Hunter Clan."
Pending Victor shook the hand, rather than spit in it or attacked him or anything stupid like that, Rain would offer him a seat at the table he was sitting at when the man entered.
"I suppose we should get down to Brass Tacks. Both your team and mine has come here for some friendly competition. Though your teammates have not arrived yet, we are on a time limit to get this done, so as captains, we should plan the matchups now and cut to the chase. Sound like a plan, Stan?"
Victor stared at the rival captain for a moment. Before motioning his arm to shake his hand, he took a glance at the teammates behind Rain. None of them seemed to make a move to jump him. It seemed like a genuine greeting. The smirk on Victor's face slowly turned into a smile.
"All right."
Victor nodded his head in respect to Rain, before extending his hand out to shake his hand. There was no intent for any dirty tricks on Victor's part to take down Rain or any his teammates... For now.
"You've got yourself a deal."
Victor fortunately placed the FIGHTER bracelet on the left wrist, not interfering with the handshake. He didn't care if his opponent saw the FIGHTER on his wrist, since he thought of it as an unnecessary weight. While shaking Rain's hand, he thought of himself, "... Hopefully my teammates didn't get lost in the crowd."
The Chimagin was helping himself to some sake when the rival captain appeared, and his name was given before he could halt his present actions. So, Kichiro simply turned from a shelf and saluted when his name was announced.
Then he proceeded to drink from the sake bottle, straight.
For all intensive purposes, anyone that didn't know of Kichiro's immunity to poison, they'd think he was getting himself plastered before the competition.
A trio of people were approaching the tavern, two women and one male. The woman in the middle was standing on a metal disk that, by the way she glided through the air, had levitation powers, or perhaps the strings were just well hidden. She was five-foot-five with long black hair she had up in a high ponytail, and was dressed in what one might find typical of a pirate: A dirty white collar shirt with a beige vest and brown belt hanging across her chest, black pants tucked into knee-high boots that were folded down, as well as a flurry of belts. She wore two pistols on her hips and two swords slung across her back.
When they reached the tavern doors, the man on her right (besting her in height by only a few inches), turned to the woman in the middle and said to her,"Dai...you promise us you wll be careful?" the undertone of his soft French accent told all that he was serious,"These people are--"
"I'll be fine, Black. I'm spectating, nothing can come of that."
"Yes, spectatink." said the woman to her left. She played with the butt of her rifle, which she had laid over her shoulder. "And I suppose you are not letting us enter contest because..?"
"Because its dangerous."
"But I would be kickink serious a**."
"Not for my Caspian's crew. None of that." said Dai as she pushed open the doors to the tavern,"You, and every one else on the crew, are ordered to never enter the contest. You two can watch with me, but if you start any trouble, you'll have it from Caspian." she smiled and looked around the tavern, "Now, where's a good spot..?"
"Did you hear what he said on TV last night? What a horrible role model." "I think he might be gay." "No stupid that’s definitely a chick." "Those guys looked cool, but nobody knows who they are." "They're a bunch of freaks."
The crowd murmured amongst itself, a dozen more opinions being echoed through hundreds of people all thinking the same things, only voicing them in a different tone. But one thing was the same; their eyes were all locked on one man, woman... one thing. Iblis was different from the rest of hir team, while Save had tried to dart around the edges of the crowd at all and Victor had simply sprinted down the street, both tried to avoid any contact with the crowd at all. Shi however soaked it up.
It was only here, where it was so loud that shi couldn't even hear hirself think that shi was able to calm hir raging mind. All night shi had stayed up thinking about the competition that would take place in the coming morning. So many new faces, even the ones shi had scoffed at in disgust while entering, each of them had their own personality, their own style of fighting, and their own last words before dying in hir cold arms. Fantasies had swirled through hir mind all night long, dramaticized versions of what was to come and the victory that would be had, even the little part of hir mind still sane argued that they might lose. The voices died down only now and became nothing more then a low hum in the back of hir mind, shi was free if only for a few moments from hir own mind. No longer was shi shouting brash accusations at the powers that be or trailing a comrade behind hir the crowd was able to finally get an accurate profile.
Six feet tall, roughly speaking, even under the layers of clothing it was easy to see shi was no stocky person. Hir limbs only seemed longer by their thinness, making each stride seem like it took up several times the distance. Hir shoulders squared and hir chest puffed out confidently against the confines of the vest that remained buttoned overhead. A FIGHTER had long since replaced the golden pocket watch that had rested in the coat pocket.
Hir face was thin and without wrinkles, hir nose pointed and hawk like, shi had quite clearly developed beyond adolescence, making any particular gauging of age difficult at best. Hir skin a light olive color, the kind beach bums spent hours laying across sandy shores to obtain; it was a stark contrast to the awkwardly white suit shi wore. Hir eyes, thin like darts, were a dry black color, like a fire that had lost its life long ago and left behind nothing but smoldering ashes, without anger their sentiment almost seemed thoughtful. All this was framed by hir hair, long black strands streaked throughout with the same reoccurring dull gray color of hir eyes. It hung all the way to hir hips, looking quite impractical for combat really, but it had been the one thing shi refused to remove for the purpose of the team even if someone tried to light it on fire. Hir hair curled in at the sides, framing the edges of hir cheeks with their frayed points, only the front seemed to be shortened, just enough that shi could see of course. Sociopathy aside one might find hir quite pretty, or handsome.
<Half an Hour Later>
The door to the Firebrand finally swung open, the serene Iblis from before nothing but a thin of the past compared to the infuriated beast standing between the frames. Hir jaw was clamped shut but shi still managed to issue an almost feral growl in the direction of one Victor Kalliandro, the FIGHTER only gave out a faint scratching noise where it should have been beeping to alert the wearer of a match.
"You piece of s**t, you know I don't know my way around Gaia!" it wasn't the mock rage that had been directed at the reporter earlier, there were no flailing arms, accusing fingers, or smiling faces. It was dull and poignant. Shi only muttered this to Victor before roughly shoving past him, allowing hir shoulder to collide with the back of hir team captains before heading towards the bar area. A stool slid itself out of the way, perhaps the kindest gesture shi had seen all morning, too bad it was from an inanimate object. Shi rested hir weary rump on it, snatching the first bottle shi could get hir hands on before popping it open and glaring across the room at the team captains.
Hir look said it all. Shi wouldn't fight first, not for a captain that had set her running around in circles along the streets of Gaia before a muttering fan had asked why the fighter was going for a walk to one of the news reporters. Only after an embarrassing moment had shi finally managed to discover that the Firebrand had been in a completely opposite direction. No Victor would be on his own for the first round...
Rain gave a worried look past Victor's shoulder, at Kichiro. "Going the way of the bottle too, eh? You and Matthew should be saving the booze for AFTER the battle, not before. I swear, if I have to fight all three times because you two are too plastered to fight..." he said, shaking his head, sighing, and waving dismissingly towards Kichiro.
"Sorry, where were we? Oh, right. Speaking of which, yes, we need three fights. Our alternate has not shown yet, so for Rising Storm, what you see is what you get. I don't mind waiting til someone else arrives, of course. It wouldn't be fair to you to be outnumbered 3-1 in case you needed support or something, aye?"
Rain tilted his head slightly, taking note of Victor's body language. "I understand your caution, but I have no intention on letting any fighting starting until both teams are ready. So calm down, you're not in danger. Remember; if I struck you now, I'd be flagged, possibly thrown out. ... this your first tournament, son?"
After letting Victor respond in kind, he would continue. "I, for one, want to give the audience their money's worths. So, I'd want to pair people up based on excitement value, if that's alright with you? The three of us have different styles, and I really don't know anything about Heavy Metal Kings, so I'll let you make the best judgement. Now..."
Rain would gesture to himself, smiling. "I'm a martial artist, though not a very good one. Mished-mashed styles and all that. But I do excell at unarmed combat myself. As well as some electrical prowess." He would gesture with an open hand towards the sake-guzzling Kichiro Oda. "Kichiro here uses swords, and has some wonky fire abilities too. But hey, doesn't everybody?" He would laugh, and gives a thumbs up towards his asian ally, before turning his gaze to the Hunter. "Finally, Matthew here doesn't have abilities like Kichiro and I, but he's armed to the teeth. And, ah... to the bottle."
He would finally return his gaze back to Victor. "So, tell me; what does Heavy Metal Kings have to offer?"
"I fight fine with a bit of alcohol in meeeh." Kichiro made a drunken slurr in his voice, as would be expected from chugging an entire bottle of sake. Truth of the matter was, Kichiro had many years as a shinobi under his belt, and acting the drunkard was something of a novice trick.
"Hello therrr Dai!" Kichiro noted a new entrance, not the lady with the attitude, the lady with the pirates. He gave a goofy smile beneath his straw hat, and gave an animated wave from behind the bar counter. "Caare forr a drink of shome sake errr wishkey?"
After being mentioned for Kichiro's wonky fire abilities, the man gave a hiccup and salute over to the two again.
Oh, silly Kichi.
Dai blinked when she heard Kichiro's voice, and immediatly turned her attention toward it. Oh, dear..is he truly drunk?
The man to her right was not short, he just wasn't tall. He had dark brown skin, much like Dai's, and pitch black eyes that seemed to have expanding pupils. His hair was black and long, and messy in no particular order except perhaps a quick comb-through. He wore no shirt (for his own reasons), but did wear faded black pants and black boots. Black (somewhat of an ironic name), leaned down to Dai. "Do you know this fellow?"
"Yes..yes, I do." she climbed off of her diskus and shut it off before handing the (extremely) heavy thing to her female Russian accomplice to her left. The two of them stared at her dumbly as she walked over to Kichi. The witch crossed her arms before him, tapping her foot.
"Are you getting yourself into trouble?"
Victor was certainly in a precarious position. Stuck between four opponents depending only on the honor of their captain to keep him from being caught in the Heaven or Hells first gang bang. Then the break he had been waiting for came. Through a haze of anger Iblis had temporarily failed hir first grade math test for the evening, with the bottle of freshly opened alcohol balancing at the tip of hir lips, hir eyes bouncing across the members of the oppossing team.
Six, had she counted right? It was clear who the combat worthy three were, they must have been the front guard of the so called Rising Storm. The three pirates milling about amongst the enemy team couldn't all be strikers, could they? With Saves lateness they had triple their own number. "Oy'... Vic? Why the hell are there so many people in this bar?"
Not even a sip, shi slammed hir drink down to the counter, rising up to hir feet at the same time hir stool was sent skidding across the floor. "These spectators look like they're trespassing on the field. I'm sure the ref wont mind if I help him get rid of a few cheaters."
That was that. Iblis sauntered across the bar, with eyes locked upon the trio of pirates. Shi'd pick the largest of the two and kill them then simply declare that the third had been a striker who was trying to cheat. The ref's couldn't argue with a fighter just trying to keep things fair after all. "I'm about ready to pilfer your booty." hir eyes slipped over to Kenshiro, a wild smirk on hir face. He could get an easy lay somewhere else.
((Ahh, distractions. Sorry.))
The "largest" of the trio, being Black, turned to the woman who was talking about tresspassers. He didn't know much about that. He and Arctic - his Russian companion - were simply assigned as gaurds to protect and follow Dai while she watched over her friends in the fights. If they were 'tresspassing', he would not have known.
"Excuse me?" he asked, turning toward her. Arctic, who was standing beside him, was chewing on a white stick of gunpowder that she had prepared if she need load her rifle. She heaved the giant metal diskus over her shoulder and got a better look at the woman who had accosted them.
"Dis woman is lookink for fight, Mistress. You have objections to me...eh, how you say, 'dealink' with--"
Dai turned sharply on her heels,"Hell yes, I do!" she said. "Didn't I tell you that if you two fight, Caspian won't have it!? I'm more afraid of her than anyone who threatens us in this joint!" she strode between the woman and her two accomplices, smiling bright and very kiss-assedly,"I'm sorry, miss, do we have a problem here?"
"Miss Lilana?" a muffled voice had called from the other side of her door. "Its time to go, Kichiro's first match is about to begin in a while we need to get to the Arena. Wake up." A soft groan eminated from under the covers as she turned on to her back. "Ok..ok..I'm up.." she had muttered softly before removing the cover from over her head. She slowly crawled out of her bed and sat on its edge. She looked down at her bare feet and wiggled her toes. "No time to shower.. late." she told herself sternly. With a sigh she pushed herself off the soft mattress and made her way toward her sandals. She pushed her feet into them and tied the stings at the back of her Achilles tendon. Without hesitation she scooped up her back pack and hustled to the door.
As she opened it an unfamiliar face stood on the other side. Even though he was unfamiliar she could tell that he was part of Kichiro's group. "Sorry.." she muttered and closed the door behind her. "It's ok. There are still a few SUVs here. Don't worry, we aren't that delayed." he responded reassuringly. "You sure do sleep a lot don't you.." she looked at him and frowned, "What do you mean?" she asked, "You slept for almost twenty for hours." she stopped for a moment and then began walking again in order to catch up to him, "Are..you sure?" he simply looked at her and nodded. It was a silent ride down the elevator and a less than silent walk toward the SUV. The media was still working up a frenzy outside. There were obviously a lot more than before. Probably because it was getting closer to fighting time and the FIGHTERS were just leaving the Hotel. If reporters were alcoholics it was what they would all 'The last call." It was their last chance to get any comments from the competitors before their fights. "Keep close." the man said to her and she took a large step and came inches behind him. She maneuvered her body between a few reporters and finally came to the clearing where the convoy was. Almost as soon as she got into an empty SUV, what was left of the convoy began to slowly move forward.
It only took a few minutes for them to arrive at the Tavern. Most of the people that were being transported came out as soon as it had stopped and went inside. The rest stayed out and sat around talking lazily. The man, who's name Lilana still didn't no nodded to her and came out. He walked around the SUV and opened her door. "Come on, I'll take you in." she slid out of the back seat and followed him in doors. He stood by the door and pointed toward the bar. He was in the midst of a few chatters. Looking and sounding..drunk. She quirked her brow slightly looked to the man who had brought her in and bowed slightly, "Thank you.." she said, before he could respond she moved forward toward Kichiro. "Excuse me.." she said softly as she moved along. 'Good day.." she said in a meek voice, though it was moderatly soft it was vocal enough for most in the vicinity to hear. She stood behind Kichiro in silence for a moment, unsure of what her approach should be. He was obviously slightly if not very inebriated. After a moment she addressed him in the only way she found appropriate. "Master Oda?"
"Hay! Bass! Dantcha warry abat meeeh," Matthew called out to Rain. He lifted up his bottle in a salute, and what he had hoped was a dashing, raking smile upon his face. In truth, it probably looked a little daft.
In fact, that's not the only thing Rain might notice wrong about the man. The other thing? His weapon. It was... nowhere to be seen. He looked much like he did when he entered the hotel. Flannel jacket, glasses, cowboy hat tipped back on his head, blue jeans, brown boots rising up beneath said jeans.
He leaned back, leering quietly at "Heavy Metal Kings" and their entourage. It all seemed... a bit much.
"Caulda swarn that thar was thee on three," he muttered to Kichiro, his partner in boozing it up. He gestured with a wide sweep towards all the people on the other side facing their captain down.
That's when he noticed the strange woman addressing Kichiro. He turned to face her, blinking slowly at the two.
"THA HELL AVERYONE GATTA DAMNEDED MAB?!"
[[ THIS MATCH IS CURRENTLY LOCKED UNTIL A JUDGE OFFICIAL CAN SORT OUT THIS SHMOZZLE. ]]
[[ DO NOT POST UNTIL GIVEN FURTHER NOTICE ]]
LordKanti Wrote:That was that. Iblis sauntered across the bar, with eyes locked upon the trio of pirates. Shi'd pick the largest of the two and kill them then simply declare that the third had been a striker who was trying to cheat. The ref's couldn't argue with a fighter just trying to keep things fair after all. "I'm about ready to pilfer your booty." hir eyes slipped over to Kenshiro, a wild smirk on hir face. He could get an easy lay somewhere else.
((As far as I'm concerned, there was no killing action performed. Intent stated, but no action taken.
Keep in mind however, that killing people not involved in competition will have consequences. No exceptions.
Also, spectators which interfere in a fight, which includes hindering a fight in any way, will also be subject to consequences stated in the rules and declarations, as well as possibly having consequences for teams involved with bringing in a group of chearleaders.
Now keep it moving.))
"Herrrooo there Lil-chan..." Kichiro gave a laugh as Matthew shouted, seeing a fellow team member get sloshed. "Meh mab is my family!" Kichiro spoke about his mob, which was also the Syndicate in his recollection.
"But aaaye aye, Lady Dai!" Kichiro gave a swaggered nod of his head to the lass between the assaulted pirates, "ye know 'ol Kichi is aaalways the centra of trrrouble, yesh?"
The Chimagin then looked at the event staff and media people, gaze turning from each to each.
((Lil gave an alright for me to puppet her character since she had to leave. ))
"Hey hey! Ye cinnae all be 'ere, not shafe!" Kichiro pointed to all the media and television staff, "go on over 'are with 'em! Behind all 'em cameeraassh and shtuff."
To which promptly, not enjoying the pet name Kichiro had given Lilana, she would head over to the designated safe area.
Rain Yupa Wrote:"Sorry, where were we? Oh, right. Speaking of which, yes, we need three fights. Our alternate has not shown yet, so for Rising Storm, what you see is what you get. I don't mind waiting til someone else arrives, of course. It wouldn't be fair to you to be outnumbered 3-1 in case you needed support or something, aye?"
Rain tilted his head slightly, taking note of Victor's body language. "I understand your caution, but I have no intention on letting any fighting starting until both teams are ready. So calm down, you're not in danger. Remember; if I struck you now, I'd be flagged, possibly thrown out. ... this your first tournament, son?"
After letting Victor respond in kind, he would continue. "I, for one, want to give the audience their money's worths. So, I'd want to pair people up based on excitement value, if that's alright with you? The three of us have different styles, and I really don't know anything about Heavy Metal Kings, so I'll let you make the best judgement. Now..."
Rain would gesture to himself, smiling. "I'm a martial artist, though not a very good one. Mished-mashed styles and all that. But I do excell at unarmed combat myself. As well as some electrical prowess." He would gesture with an open hand towards the sake-guzzling Kichiro Oda. "Kichiro here uses swords, and has some wonky fire abilities too. But hey, doesn't everybody?" He would laugh, and gives a thumbs up towards his asian ally, before turning his gaze to the Hunter. "Finally, Matthew here doesn't have abilities like Kichiro and I, but he's armed to the teeth. And, ah... to the bottle."
He would finally return his gaze back to Victor. "So, tell me; what does Heavy Metal Kings have to offer?"
Victor would listen intently to Rain.
"This is my second tournament on Gaia. The last one didn't end so smoothly..."
Victor would lift his head, breaking from the handshake to point his right index finger to the very bottom of his chin. It would show his opponent a small scar that was almost an inch long. He could only think, "This scar is probably laughable to him..."
Bringing his hand down to smile for a moment, he continued to speak, "In regards to your martial arts background, I'm just a street brawler, with some experience in kick boxing. And coincidentally, you're not the only one with electrical prowess. I ha -"
Before he could continue on, the sound of Iblis ran across the room.
LordKanti Wrote:"You piece of s**t, you know I don't know my way around Gaia!"
"Not this again..."
Victor could only muster another facepalm in response to Iblis.
LordKanti Wrote:Shi only muttered this to Victor before roughly shoving past him, allowing hir shoulder to collide with the back of hir team captains before heading towards the bar area.
Victor slightly fell forward and lost focus on what he was going to say to Rain. It was slightly embarrassing, but he didn't have time to play it off.
LordKanti Wrote:"Oy'... Vic? Why the hell are there so many people in this bar?"
Victor couldn't answer. He looked over at Rain for a moment, before he overheard Iblis state,
LordKanti Wrote:"These spectators look like they're trespassing on the field. I'm sure the ref wont mind if I help him get rid of a few cheaters."
Victor eyes went into a state of shock. From a moral standpoint, he didn't want to see Iblis go and kill the spectators before the match. Victor immediately shot up from his seat and ran over to Iblis, raising his hands in panic mode.
"Woah, woah, woah. Save your energy! We're going to have a match soon."
If this didn't stop Iblis, Victor would hold hir back, which could prove to be a disastrous mistake.
Rain sighed, holding his right elbow with his left hand, and massaged the bridge of his nose with his right index finger and thumb. "Do settle down, Miss. Victor, is she on your team?" he would ask him, but was answered as he moved to intercept her.
Victor had given him some important information. Well, at least on whom should fight whom. Without how their training went, Rain would not want Victor fighting Kichiro. And with how wild this masculine-looking woman was, he wouldn't want her passion and rowdiness to also ruffle Kichiro's feathers. It would be more fair for Victor if Rain fought him, which would leave Matthew to take out the...
Wait, was she a he? Bah, Rain couldn't tell.
For the final member of their team, Rain hoped the person would be of sound enough mind to make a good match for Kichiro. The order was pretty much already set in Rain's head. Standing up from his seat, he would address his opponents.
"Victor, how about this: You and me, we can go captaino el captaino. We show our irresponsible teammates here" he said, waving a hand from the outraged Ibris to the drunken Kichiro and Matthew (at least, drunken as far as Rain could tell; he wasn't bothering with Sense Motive checks at the moment). "After we show them how REAL fighters are supposed to act, maybe they can shape up and we can have the awesomest match of the entire tournament right here in the first round. Until then, they are all in Time Out. How's that sound?"
When the man - Victor - stepped in between the witch and the murderous women, the former sighed a deep breath of relief. She was hoping to lay low in this whole tournament business, and this was the exact opposite of her intentions.
Dai turned 'round to Black and Arctic quickly. She crossed her arms, "You two. Out."
The Russian dish was first to speak,"But, Mistress! You said we are able to watch fights with you! I am wanting to see top-gun fighters!"
Black crossed arms,"And I'm not leaving you alone with these guys..."
Dai sighed and held the bridge of her nose for a moment, then she took her diskus from Arctic and took out a detatchment at the bottem, "All right, all right. You two can watch behind the media and cameras. Keep close to me, though, 'cause if things get wild when the fighting starts, we may have to book it." she handed Black the attatchment - a butcher's knife. She had promised to hold it for him, since it was Black's, and figured it would be best left in his care. "You won't be using that, Black."
"Entiendo, I won't. And you--"
"--will be sitting right over there by Kichiro until its his turn - that drunk fella with the hat, thar." she shrugged, and heaved the CD over her shoulder," As a spectator, I can't interfere, but even in a cramped space like this I'd still like to...y'know, watch. I can't see much if I wait outside the bar." She assessed the faces of her crewmates and smiled,"I'll be fine. I've been breathing long before I met you guys. If things get rough, we're gone."
Grudgingly, the two of them moved over toward the flashing cameras the crowd. Dai walked back to where Kichiro sat.
"Your magnatism for trouble must have rubbed off on me. When are you fighting so I can keep my neck pretty and unslashed?"
"PFfshawst." Kichiro waved a hand back over at Rain dismissing his apparent lack of desired behaviour, the man thought he was acting quite appropriate for a tavern. Down a few chugs more of another Sake bottle, while Dai dealt with her two crewmates and the crazed woman. Kichiro wondered if sending Syndicate agents out to advertise for the tournament was a bad idea, considering before the first fight, three of them were almost put into trouble.
"MEh!" Kichiro flailed, still standing behind the counter before the cupboard of alcohol, his overcoat being sent in ruffles all over around him as he did so.
"I dinnae knowsht! Captainst Rain man o'er theresh," Kichiro pointed to Rain, who'd previously been discussing with Victor who would be facing who, "willsht tell me when're Ish bee fightin!" Cue the shrug in his shoulders afterwards, another swagger, and another chug.
Matthew put his bottle to his lips again, upending the bottle.
A long count after, he set it back down on the bar, letting out a long "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah," as the heavy bottle clunked down to his left, hand still around its neck.
"Harray Up!" he called out towards Rain and Team Other Guys. He payed almost no mind to the spectators. He didn't care if they took pictures, made comments about him. He was relaxed, slumped in the bar stool, arms laying up against the bar, sprawled out form his body.
"Caam an! Shaa same blaad!"
Dai sighed a bit and shook her head. She leaned over the counter and flicked Kichi in the forehead, "What a dork...someone as strong as you being so silly." She placed her disk on the bar and glanced at the flashing media."...in front of cameras." she flashed a piece sign and her most darling smile before turning back to Kichiro. "What are you going to do when the fight starts?"
Rain Yupa Wrote:Rain sighed, holding his right elbow with his left hand, and massaged the bridge of his nose with his right index finger and thumb. "Do settle down, Miss. Victor, is she on your team?" he would ask him, but was answered as he moved to intercept her.
Victor turned his head to the side to face Rain. Not knowing that Rain figured out that Iblis was his teammate, he would respond back, "Yeah. Shi's pretty skilled, so I'd be careful around hir..."
Before he could continue, Rain abruptly stood up from his seat. Victor' stopped talking and paid attention to Rain's current actions.
For all he knew, Rain might be ready to attack them for their hostile actions against the spectators. It would be understandable and it would even be justified in this case. Victor's body tensed up for a moment, listening intently, waiting to see how Rain would react.
Rain Yupa Wrote:"Victor, how about this: You and me, we can go captaino el captaino. We show our irresponsible teammates here" he said, waving a hand from the outraged Ibris to the drunken Kichiro and Matthew (at least, drunken as far as Rain could tell; he wasn't bothering with Sense Motive checks at the moment). "After we show them how REAL fighters are supposed to act, maybe they can shape up and we can have the awesomest match of the entire tournament right here in the first round. Until then, they are all in Time Out. How's that sound?"
Victor was relieved for now. He could only nod in agreement, since he did plan to fight the team captain. Iblis wasn't going to listen to Victor and Save wasn't even there. It left the team to fall back on Victor to stand their ground.
After seeing the spectators flee, he stood out of Iblis's way for a moment and smiled at Rain, kicking one of the tables away to make room. He slowly started to raise his hands in a boxing-style stance.
"Lets go!"
First, a word from our sponsor:
ragingtofu Wrote:CLARIFICATION ON THE FIREBRAND.
It's my bar, so I think I know what I'm talking about. It's about the size of your average restaurant. Think Applebees but with weapons on the wall instead of stupid signs and advertisements from the 60's. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
There may be spectators around, but there should be plenty of space to avoid them. IT IS BY NO MEANS A SMALL LOCATION OR A DIVE, IT IS A GOOD-SIZED RESTAURANT WHERE THE ONLY MOBILITY ISSUE SHOULD BE TABLES AND CHAIRS.
Thank you for your time.
Rain nodded towards Victor, acknowledgement to the man's acknowledgement. Though he frowned slightly when the table was kicked away. "Not a bad idea, but lets try to keep the destruction of Firebrand property to a minimum, if we can. Senseless violence is... well... senseless." With that, he would calmly begin pulling tables and chairs away. But not to one side though, but more of a misshapen circle, leaving about a 20' (give or take) diameter "ring" of sorts to play in.
The two would not be confined by any means to this "ring". But it would be an area dedicated to lack of clutter.
"One clarification, first. This is to everyone. No getting in the way. There are film crews about who will be recording this, so let them do their jobs. If you aren't part of said crew, try to stay behind them; don't get in the way, and don't make any noise. And if I see anyone trying to hurt the spectators..." he would pause, looking at Iblis out of the corner of his eye, before continuing. "... not only will that team be disqualified, but so will my team as I will suddenly be beating in the face of a non-tournament individual. Let's not leave a gaping hole in the tournament brackets, shall we?"
Pending all this goes off without a hitch, and the player has no reason to believe that it would not, Rain would move over to one side of the "ring", slipping between two moved tables to get to something important. Something critical to the fight.
The jukebox.
Unclasping his cape, he tossed the cloth over the top of the machine, before taking off his shades and placing them gently on top.
"Any requests, before we get this party started?"
"Geeeet on with it!"
At that moment, several different scenes from Monty Python's Holy Grail would play across the screen, adding to Matthew's call for action.
-See scenes here.-
"I'll shwing my shord of course!" Kichiro exclaimed back to Dai as he continued chugging, pointing a fingerlessly gloved finger at the cameras, "and I shhaaalt be fearshome when I do!"
"Ha-ha!"
Hiccup.
And after finishing a second bottle of sake, Kichiro would appear to fall on his bum behind the bar counter, and out of view of the cameras. That was the cue, and Syndicate members rushed in with large cases behind the media and television wall, waiting for their next cue.
They weren't participating in the fight in anyway, simply adding to the atmosphere. Some had ring girls, Kichiro had ring girls in dresses, and guys in tuxedos with cases to cheer him on. As well as those nifty romani styled shades of course.
Victor shrugged at Rain's request to refrain from making a mess of things. He felt indifferent at destroying someone else's property, but he was starting to respect Rain's word. Therefore, he would pick up the table he knocked over and carry it to the side. Victor would come back to help with rest of the tables and chairs, so they were moved out of the way. With cooperation with Rain, they created space in a roughly spaced-out 20" ft. diameter ring to fight in.
"All right. Are you ready?"
Before they could start, he glanced over to see Rain step over to the jukebox. He was a bit concerned at first, given that he didn't know Rain's taste in music. He could only think, "I really hope he doesn't pick a crappy song..."
Rain Yupa Wrote:"Any requests, before we get this party started?"
Victor's head shot up in excitement when he heard this. If Rain would let him pick a song to play, one came to Victor's mind,
"Dragula."
Victor would say this without any hesitation. It would seem fitting for the upcoming battle with Rain.
"Huh... Dragula... Dragula... I think I've heard that one before. Give me a..." he trailed, off, resting his hand on the jukebox's front.
The lights would ever so lightly flicker for a moment, as the jukebox came to life, and loudly bellowed the first song in its playlist:
"Classic, but nope." Another light flicker, and suddenly, discs were changed and a new song began to blare:
"Hnng... still not it... Let's try..."
Rain would let out a short laugh, before shaking his head. He would try one more electrical pulse...
Rain would lean his head to the left more, more, more, and an audible pop would sound.
"Okay, I believe that means everything is taken care of. Shall we start this?" Rain would calmly make his way over back the circular "ring" he had constructed before, taking a side opposite of Victor.
"You must be the smart one in class! Very good! We do have a problem..." Iblis continued to advance upon the female, a sickeningly sweet tone rising up over hir typical embittered angry voice, a deceptively motherly smile passing over hir lips. It was such a pathetic mask that even a four year old could recognize the impending danger. Being feared was a form of respect, but it would take a lot more then simple compliments to stop this beast.
Several moments passed that seemed to encompass hours with that slow gait of hirs, the unbending spectator too scared or perhaps ignorant of what was going on to move. Some of the people in front of their TV gasped with horror, others shouted their objections, and how could murder have a place in this already bloody sport of theirs. As if their voices could actually reach the ears of one so far away shi might as well have been in another universe. Finally Victor seemed to gather his wits about him, juxtaposing himself in between the confused and somewhat enraged partner of his and the unwary pirate girl.
Iblis was flustered for several moments, of course there was a match coming up and shi was going to be the one to kick it off. The right way, with a severed head. Was he trying to get back at her for disrespecting his status as captain in front of Rain? With a derisive snort Iblis swiveled about on the heel of hir boot, nose wrinkling itself up in disgust as she scanned Victors form from head to toe.
"Fine then... you can have the first fight if you want." was all shi said before falling in line along the bar. A little closer this time then the last to the pirate girl. After all, it was only a matter of time before it was hir match, only a matter of time before shi was allowed to get exactly what shi wanted. And why should shi think any differently. The girl had wandered into the middle of a battle zone entirely armed and began chatting it up with the opposing team. Poor uninformed Iblis was going to maul the girl before the night was up, all because the people were too ignorant to tell her otherwise.
But for now, shi could only watch Victor fight. Hoping he didn't make a fool of himself by insisting that he take the first match.
Victor awaited to get pumped up by the music from Rob Zombie, when he suddenly overheard the most mood-killing song that he could possibly imagine. Standing across the way from Rain, Victor could only grit his teeth as his opponent played through the first song. It was fortunate that he stood as far away as he did from the jukebox, or else he would have kicked the damn thing in.
"Ugh..."
The second song wasn't much better. Victor could only shake his head in distaste. He didn't have the patience to handle this, but he would sarcastically threaten Rain, shouting out, "Don't make me walk over there!"
When he heard the third song, it was classy enough not to hate on. But it was still the wrong song. Victor brought his hands down from a boxing stance and left them resting at his sides. He looked bewildered for a moment, before a smirk appeared on his face. He raised his right arm to point his index finger at Rain, continuing with the sarcastic threats, "Oh, that does it! I will kick your a** to Yellow Sumbarine!"
Victor couldn't comprehend how anyone wouldn't know "Dragula." It was a classic song in his mind. Fortunately, Rain stumbled upon the right track on his last try. When the lyrics, "Superstition, now add Jealousy" were sounded through the jukebox, Victor's eyes lit up with hope.
"Great! Took ya long enough!"
Rain Yupa Wrote:"Okay, I believe that means everything is taken care of. Shall we start this?" Rain would calmly make his way over back the circular "ring" he had constructed before, taking a side opposite of Victor.
"Only been waiting!"
He would pick up a boxing stance, but this time, in a southpaw stance. He began to circle Rain, sidestepping to the right (Victor's right), being careful not to step to the rhythm of the song.
LordKanti Wrote:"You must be the smart one in class! Very good! We do have a problem..." Iblis continued to advance upon the female, a sickeningly sweet tone rising up over hir typical embittered angry voice, a deceptively motherly smile passing over hir lips. It was such a pathetic mask that even a four year old could recognize the impending danger. Being feared was a form of respect, but it would take a lot more then simple compliments to stop this beast.
Several moments passed that seemed to encompass hours with that slow gait of hirs, the unbending spectator too scared or perhaps ignorant of what was going on to move. Some of the people in front of their TV gasped with horror, others shouted their objections, and how could murder have a place in this already bloody sport of theirs. As if their voices could actually reach the ears of one so far away shi might as well have been in another universe. Finally Victor seemed to gather his wits about him, juxtaposing himself in between the confused and somewhat enraged partner of his and the unwary pirate girl.
Iblis was flustered for several moments, of course there was a match coming up and shi was going to be the one to kick it off. The right way, with a severed head. Was he trying to get back at her for disrespecting his status as captain in front of Rain? With a derisive snort Iblis swiveled about on the heel of hir boot, nose wrinkling itself up in disgust as she scanned Victors form from head to toe.
"Fine then... you can have the first fight if you want." was all shi said before falling in line along the bar. A little closer this time then the last to the pirate girl. After all, it was only a matter of time before it was hir match, only a matter of time before shi was allowed to get exactly what shi wanted. And why should shi think any differently. The girl had wandered into the middle of a battle zone entirely armed and began chatting it up with the opposing team. Poor uninformed Iblis was going to maul the girl before the night was up, all because the people were too ignorant to tell her otherwise.
But for now, shi could only watch Victor fight. Hoping he didn't make a fool of himself by insisting that he take the first match.
The blow that would be aimed for the back of hir head wasn't a very tough one, saying as it was delivered with a soft palm rather then a hard fist. Still, it was more then strong enough to push an unwary head nose first into the bar table, and that was exactly what save mean to do to his irresponsible teammate.
"You idiot! How could you let me sleep when you both were leaving?! Do you have any desire to win?! What if I didn't come at all! You'd lose by default! I asked you to do only one thing this morning: Wake me up!" He yelled, happy to have such a fine excuse to wallop Iblis back for his rampant violence last evening.
Three hours previous...
Snort.
"What the...?" Save muttered absentmindedly as he slowly came to his senses. Immediately, he felt a pair of intense pains. The first was a absolutely throbbing headache, and the second was a sharp pull on his ankles.
There was also a bit of a harsh breeze, he felt very chilly and reached out to grab a blanket, but his skin brushed against a rough, rocky material...it felt almost like brick.
Suddenly, he felt completely off balanced, and his eyes shot open.
"Holy F-" But his voice was caught in the back of his throat as he realized where he was...
Hanging out of a third story window by a thick rope tied to his legs, quite naked aside from a pair of boxers. Oddly enough, he was slightly muscular, and a few women on the street were taking pictures from the ground floor, giggling madly. To his relief (Which he would only realize a few hours later, given the situation) most of the media was at respective fights, and therefore not present to catch this shameful exposure.
However, in his mind, and not for the last time, he swore to one day not only kill Iblis but rob him violently of everything that mattered to him...
Rain would lean his head all the way to the right, causing another pop to sound, but this time it was drowned out by the music. He shook his head about, enjoying the loose feeling, before taking up a normal boxing stance of his own. His left foot would lead, and his left hand was out in front of him as he would keep his body in a profile stance to Victor's.
His right fist would be close to his chest, as he would begin to inch his way towards his opponent, one careful step at a time. But it would not be a simple approach, of course not. Rain's upper body would be swaying back and forth, bobbing and weaving, picking up and dropping speed, to keep his opponent from pinning down his rhythm.
Even Rain's feet would twist, turn, and shuffle as he approached, not doing so in a straight line. Rain would be doing these movements to keep his body in a type of "first gear", so he didn't have to start from 0 when building up his speed. But that bridge will be crossed at a later point in the fight.
If Victor would not rush to attack him, Rain would wait until he was several feet away from his opponent before attacking. He would pull his right back, as if rearing for a straight punch, but instead, would limit his attacks to jabs with his left.
Rain would have 4 inches over Victor, which would grant him a considerable reach advantage. And the fact that he heavily outweighed his opponent would be in his favor as well, his jabs being a bit more powerful than someone of Victor's own weight class. But these weren't finishing blows by any means, as Rain was trying to keep Victor from closing, either by keeping him out of reach or by inflicting gradual light damage from light blow after light blow (probably to his right arm, if they were blocked).
If Victor DID rush him, the second verse would be the same as the first, except Rain would brace himself rather than continuing the advance, and try to use the quickness of his jabs to crush the man's momentum.
[1/17]
((And with that, I believe the fight will be put on hold til tomorrow. We were looking to get more done than this, but... thread locking reasons pervented us from doing so. Once Victor and I finish, the next fight can begin.))
[EDIT] - ((And welcome, Mizu! With that, everyone is present and accounted for, just as the first post of the first fight begins! 
))
Iblis' began to rock hir head every few seconds, falling into time with the beat of the music. Much liker hir fighting captain shi the music was flooding into hir very being, hir blood pumping at a quicker rate and hir muscles starting to tense, she was ready and ready now. Dark images began to rush through hir head; no person in the bar was free from their imaginary deaths, not even hirself. This wasn't fighting music Vic was listening too, this was killing music. Shi knew exactly who shi wanted too, hir gaze never shifted way from the little pirate girl.
WHUD
Iblis had been in mid-bob, head dipping down towards hir chest with the ash grey hair whipping forward as much as the fuzzy white hat atop her head would allow. Hir body slouched forward with the impact of the palm, nose only inches away from crunching against the hard wood of the counter before shi came to a halt.
"Don’t blame others for your laziness four-eyes! I told you I was going out for a walk before I left!" Shi whipped around with a suddenness, hips spinning hir body about on the stool top till hir face was almost pressed against his. Shi had indeed told him that shi was going for a walk, somewhere in between his grumble about refusing to wake up and hir going through with the threat of stringing him up to the balcony.
(Thanks, Rain. I read back a bit, but I don't know if you two talked in PMs. Has my opponent been chosen for me yet?)
Save, not backing down, glared at Iblis and threw out a accusing finger at the creature.
"No! You need to be more responsible! You can't be some show off idiot all the time and hope to ever make it in this world! And what the hell were you thinking actually HANGING ME FROM A WINDOW!? If I had died..."
The rant continued for a solid two more minutes, with Save brutally admonishing Iblis for everything he could think of. Eventually he ran out of steam, and simply sat with a huff next to the shi.
"They just start?" He asked tersely.
It was not that Dai was ignorant, nor stupid. She knew a lot of things, a lot of places, a lot of customs. She was just...oblivious. Naive. Hopeless.
Which is perhaps why she did not notice Iblis staring daggers at her. Or, maybe she did notice, but Kichiro falling distracted her (not that all of the yelling afterward did not catch her attention at moments). She hopped over the bar (she felt safer on the opposite side) and knelt at Kichi's side. She again flicked him in the forehead. "You're such a dork..." she said, smiling lightly. She fiddled with the rim of his straw hat.
Iblis was ignoring Save before the first minute was even up. Sure hanging him out of the window had been a little overboard, but he should have taken it as a compliment that shi had confidence in his ability to survive in adverse situations. On top of that hadn't they only known each other for a week at best, how could he possibly come up with so many things, shi was sure they hadn't spent that much time together.
Iblis had hir back turned to Save, heel of hir boot slipping in the horizontal wooden bars of the stool, keeping it poised in between the crook that accounted for the height in hir step. Hir elbow had placed itself against the wooden counter and hir cheek was pressing into the palm. Hopefully the uptight teacher would calm down and stop spitting in hir face before anything interesting happened in the fight.
This Rain fellow had been a joke at first, but that stance... he clearly knew what he was doing in a ring. Shi didn't see Victor defeating the taller man in a boxing match, he would have to rely on that dirty street fighting he had shown hir only days before in Save's school. Hir sore neck was a reminder not to treat Victor like a joke, ever. Yes this match would be fun to watch...
But hir eyes were focused elsewhere, within' moments shi had drifted back to the unnamed piratess, hir lips curling back into a gentle smile. Save could spout all he wanted, shi still had a bone to pick with the supposed alternate who had so rudely imposed herself and her crew into the combat zone. Shi kicked off from the stool rather swiftly, stalking silently along the bars edge while advancing on the female, the tips of hir fingers trailing themselves just inches above the counter top. Shi wanted to grab the first thing shi could see and smack the little twit with it. That would teach her to try and bring her pirate crew to rig the match.
A firm hand could clap on Iblis's shoulder, stopping the hulking It from moving closer to Dai. Save had seen the look in his eyes, he'd known exactly what shi was after.
"Where are you going?" He asked, like a teacher would who was asking the same question to a student who had gone to the bathroom six times in one period.
Looking over at Dai, Save raised an eyebrow. She was definitely not a team member, Save had gone over Team Rising Storm's public information after he had woken up and unraveled himself from Iblis's trap.
Probably a spectator. Likely a stupid spectator who had make a comment to Iblis, setting him off into a roid-rage. What a predictable barbarian.
((Hey Save. If you hadn't heard Kichiro has been picked as your opponent. And I got Kanti.))
Matthew's head rolled off to his left, peering over at the Team Other Guys sitting at the bar. The worked up woman... and now someone else. Everything seemed a bit blurry to him, and quite hard to make out if the other one was male or female.
That was probably because his eyes were drooping and half closed, more than anything else.
"Sheeeet," he intoned as he looked them over. "Ain't mach ta look at..."
His head rolled back, so he was staring nearly straight back now, the back of his head resting between his shoulders, staring at the crowd out behind the bar from his relaxed, slack seat.
"Naish," he muttered, looking over at some of the ring girls furnished by Kichiro. Then towards those gangster looking guys that just screamed Mafia at him. He blinked slowly towards them.
Then? His head rolled to his left, laying on his shoulder, watching Rain and Team Other Guy's Captain going into it.
"DAAN'T PAASE ARAND, FIGHT ALLLLLRAAADY!" he screamed out towards them.
"GIMMA SAM BLAAD!"
((Edit: I recently lost my job so any time after Vic and Rain are done I'm ready to rumble. ))
Iblis had to give it to Save. The meek teacher had joined a team of monsters, Victor a veritable powerhouse on his own, his accomplishments well documented throughout Gaia to say nothing of the barbaric region he had found Iblis trapped. By mere appearance and actions alone, there were still those who would argue that Iblis was more dangerous then the captain Victor Kalliandro, that his title was just that..., a title and nothing more. When looked at side-by-side with his companions Save didn't seem to have much going for him, but the little teacher somehow maintained his spunk.
Hir hand drifted up, clutching Save's rather gently, barely brushing it when one took into account how forceful shi had been with him in the past. "You can cry later dear. I caught this little gnat trying to cheat for the Rising Storms by bringing in a pair of armed pirates. No one will care if I just rough up the Alternate right?"
Shi just couldn't understand why everyone was trying to stop hir from fighting. That’s what this tournament was for, so why shouldn't shi try and hurt hir opponents? Especially when they had clearly been trying to do the same thing. Its not like the girl had just wandered into the middle of a battle zone expecting to spectate, shi had met literal retards with more common sense then that.
(Thanks.
Looking foreward to it.)
"Iblis, I think she's a spectator. She isn't on their team roster at all, I checked this afternoon before I came here. And even if she was on their team, any combat outside of the regular matches is subject to penalization by the judges. I know you're getting all fidgety, but keep those fists to yourself for now, m'kay?" He said, with the air of a principle giving a half hearted lecture to a student. He had briefly considered letting the ruffian have his way with the young woman, but in the end there was no point, as she probably had done nothing wrong in the first place, and his team needed to have nothing done to them that could compromise their participation in the tournament.
His eyes quickly fluttered over to the fight at hand, and Save's eyes narrowed as he watched the men begin. He knew of Victor's prestige as well as any man did, him being the hero of a few invasions and all, and his extensive competition history. To be frank, though, Save had initially been hesitant to accept Victor as the leader. He seemed to quiet, to humble to lead. Despite how he disliked Iblis, shi did have a powerful force of personality that demanded attention and spotlight, and that trait made hir seem more adapted to the role. However in the past few weeks Save had seen exceptional skill from Victor, and his strategic and focused mind did assure the young teacher of his rightful ownership of his position.
Now it was time to see how he reacted to real pressure.
"Then why can't she spectate without shutting the ******** up." Iblis curled a lip up, sparing enough time only to snarl in the direction of the pirate one last time before turning back to the fight at head. A person other then the fighters standing in the arena was a completely forgein and absurd idea to hir, but as long as it made Save shut his mouth then shi was willing to forget about the girl for now. When it was hir turn to fight shi would have to think seriously about setting the mosquitos who had fluttered to close to the light on fire.
To be honest Iblis had never truly fought Victor, the scuffle a few days earlier could hardly be called a real fight as it only lasted a few moments and both of them had left the area still walking. It just wasn't a fight to hir unless someone was dragged out on a stretcher, or in a body bag. Hopefully the drunkards would sober up before their respective fights. Iblis was already finding hirself wishing shi was inbetween those tables fighting the Captain rather then retaking hir seat at the counter. Either captain would do really...
"Because she's a woman, I'm sure you half get it." He said offhandedly, watching the fight more then caring about making an honestly humorous quip about Iblis's gender ambiguity.
As he spoke, though, Save began to muse on exactly what shi was good at. Obviously shi was physically tough, but Save would have been pretty surprised had that been hir only gift, hefty as it was. Also, hir hermaphroditic (Not the Save could really confirm that shi was indeed hermaphroditic, or asexual, or something else entirely) nature was somewhat of a mystery to the teacher. Did hir odd race have any abilities or skills that Save didn't know about? If so, did Iblis know how to exploit them? By the way shi acted and appeared, it was obvious that the creature was acclimated to Gaian society, knowing the language fluently, and understanding cultural nuances well enough to appear as though shi were regular. Due to this, it could have been likely that Iblis was raised by average humans, and therefore might not have known the extent of his powers.
Of course, this was all wild speculation, and Save quickly shook his head, clearing his mind. He had a wild imagination, but he couldn't let his fantasy pervert the truth of the matter.
And that truth was that in the end, Save would simply have to trust that Iblis had hir game together.
Arctic noticed Iblis, eyeing Dai with murderous intent. She started forward, rifle at the ready, when Black's hand stopped her. She looked up at her companion.
"This person is intending to harm -- "
"Look."
The sniper glanced back to see Iblis' teammate stopping it. Arctic scoffed and eased back into a normal stance, watching the two in the ring. "This is anger. We are standink here like fowl while Dai is off making the flits with zat man like shameless walker."
"Flits?"
"Yes, you know. The lashes? Lips?"
"...are you trying to say 'flirting'?"
"Is that not what I am saying..?!"
"No, you.." Black sighed and crossed his arms, gently rubbing the handle of his large knife. "Nevermind. I have seniority over you, and Dai said not to get into any fights. We're a precaution, we're protection. Just in case something happens. We're not to start anything."
"That one is the one beginning thinks.."
After a few moments, Dai stood and stretched her back after bidding Kichiro a quick goodbye. She picked up her diskus and walked over to her two crew mates and flashed them their brightest smile. They returned with their own grins and Dai began, "The match has already started, and it looks like its not Kichiro's turn until much later. I have another friend I'd like to visit, if you two don't mind the sudden commute...?"
"Mistress, that one is intending to cause harm to--"
Dai nodded to Arctic,"I know." she pointed to her ears, and smiled slyly. "Keen sense of hearing, remember? Besides," she waved off the whole matter with one swift hand gesture, "Spectators are protected. As long as I stay clear of the fighters, that is. I don't wanna know what they do to interferers." she grimaced some, the words 'painful elimination' ringing in her ears.
Black and Arctic exchanged glances. Perhaps Dai was not the sharpest tool in the proverbial shed, but she was being reckless.
"Shall we go, then? I'd like to see the next blood bath!"
She ushered the two out, who simply obeyed their entirely-too-happy friend and they dissapeared from the tavern.
Javelynn entered through the main entrance as most did. With long strands of midnight black hair that rested past the her belt line and eyes as penetrating as a sharp dagger, she seemed the type to have much to hide. As she moved, her curves swayed as she stepped one foot in front of another. In many eyes, she could very much resemble that of a large jungle cat.
She stared confidently ahead as she made her way to the bar. If anyone had turned to look her way, she had not noticed. She took a seat at the farside of the bar table. Her movement was silent. Not even the barstool squeaked in movement. Resting a hand on the smooth surface of the bar, she waited til the bartender would address her.
Her linens, a fine satin material carressed her curves, though her torso carried straps of leather armor. At her back, a leather bound blade rested in it's sheathe and her belt was merely thick leather whip ropes wraped seven times around her thin, angled hips. From the eye, she was a warrior. But her manners screamed seduction. She was a murderer at the touch.
When the Bartender arrived, she ordered her something spicy to drink. She loved a valid kick from a strong flavor. As the glass, half topped, was laid out before her, she took it in an amiable manner and sipped it. The taste was fiery, just as she liked it. Her taste buds seemed to rebel but the slither of the liquor over her tongue and down her throat burned and seemed to make her skin prickle with acknowledgement. This was the good stuff. Taking another sip, she closed her eyes as if she were tired and wrested her free hand against her chin. She almost looked asleep except for the occasional sips she took from the alcoholic beverage.
Victor would gather his own guesstimate of Rain's height and weight from their current distance, as he circled around him. Victor knew that he would be in a clear disadvantage to fight in a clean boxing match. Especially against a man that was about four inches taller and at least fifty pounds heavier than him. He wasn't going to be able to intimidate the larger, more experienced man. Instead of meeting Rain in a potential stare down, Victor would keep his eyes locked on Rain's torso as he continued to circle around him.
Victor would maintain a slightly crouched position, circling around and moving to Rain's left (Victor's right) side. The idea of circling and staying slightly crouched was to let Rain approach closer and closer to his proximity.
Victor knew that he still had the hand speed advantage over his opponent, which he would utilize to the best of his ability. Victor's right fist would stay a few inches away from his own face, appearing to be a guard to brace himself or deflect Rain's jab. In reality, Victor was testing the space between himself and his opponent. Victor would use his right hand as the end point for the the four feet of range between himself and Rain. Currently, it would be slightly out of the danger zone, but either of them could make an attack with a simple step-in.
Victor left hand would fall back to the side of his head, his fists still clenched and his arm still covering the left side of his body. He would keep his left hand positioned there, in case he needed to bring it to the front to guard, or to pursue his second plan of action.
If Rain stepped in with a jab, he would find that Victor would break the current height and weight disadvantage with the next motion. Victor would simply keep the distance of the Kali-Yuga away from the surrounding tables to ensure that he wouldn't get it caught. Even if he respected his opponent, he would fight Rain the same way he always fought opponents, dirty.
If Rain didn't step in or stopped his progression, Victor would continue to circle Rain. He would use his right hand to hopefully provoke Rain into throwing the first punch, teasingly waving to his opponent to make the first move.
If Rain felt confident enough to throw a right straight or lift his leg for a kick, Victor would have plenty of time to see it coming.
Regardless to the current environment, Victor would tuck his chin down, in case he misjudged his opponent's reach and to not risk getting his head rocked back. He didn't know if Rain was right-handed or left-handed, but both of his punches would still hurt if they landed. Victor wouldn't be able to pinpoint Rain's rhythm, but he only needed an outline of his movements to put his plan into effect. And with Rain inching closer to him, it made it easier for him to analyze.
[1/17]
Rain had been throwing a series of quick, light jabs to keep Victor on the defensive. He would have been advancing, and keeping his left shoulder towards Victor as his opponent would circle. But obviously, his opponent was not making the first move, he was waiting for Rain to go. Which he would oblige him in.
Victor had his right hand guarding his face and blocking/deflecting jabs, while his left was pulled back. That would mean, from Rain's perspective, Victor's front would be to Rain's right. And he would also keep note Victor's gaze as well, since most people tend to look at areas before they attack them.
He would rear his own already-reared right hand back a bit to gather his momentum, before he would swing it forward, sharp, hard, in the form of a right hook, while shifting his right leg forward to do so. As if he was going to try to punch clean through Victor's guard.
HOWEVER... it would be a feint, as it was a setup for a different attack altogether. Stopping his punch about a foot short, he would use the recoil from the immediate stop to fuel the spinning of his body around his left leg. Using it as the pivot point, he would rotate around it, swinging his right leg around in a full circle reverse roundhouse.
Whereas Victor's defense was concentrated primarily to Rain's right in his opponent's southpaw stance, his left would be a bit more open than his right. And with his opponent even crouching down, it would be screaming optimal kicking height to Rain, who was looking to get a clear shot in his opponent's head (either across the face, or in the back of the head, depending on Victor's specific facing & angle; whichever would make more sense).
[2/17]
Victor would watch his opponent close in the distance between them, stepping right into his dirty trick. Rain would shoot off the first of a few lightning fast jabs. Victor would only be able to play defensively against the first two jabs, using his right hand to deflect the first one and block the second. But he started to pick up the speed of his opponents punches, as he set his plan into motion.
He would try to surprise his opponent by slipping under the third lightning fast jab. Positioning this slip under the jab, he would let the jab go over his left shoulder as he turned his body towards Rain.
Instead of slipping inside the jab try to counter attack from the inside, Victor would slip to the outside. Victor's left arm would be positioned to protect the left side of his head, his hand now covering the back of his head. This would brace him from a potential elbow when Rain would return his punch.
Given the strength of Rain, he would let Rain's force push the upper-mid left side of the Kali-Yuga back. Since Victor would turn his body to the outside to slip, he would use the momentum of the push, added by Victor's own turn towards Rain to slam the sheathed Kali-Yuga against him.
If he connected with this, there would be two spots that Rain would get hit. One would be the upper body (arm/shoulder, head), while the bottom half of the Kali-Yuga would hit Rain's left leg (calves/knee). This would hopefully stagger Rain, or at least knock him off-balance. And it put Victor at Rain's left side, planning to make this into a combination attack.
Obviously this would interrupt Rain's attempt to throw a faint-right hook.
[2/17]
Alas, the Feint/Roundhouse trick would indeed be interrupted; however it wasn't so much a one-two punch combination with the feint; so, Rain would still be quickstepping back and forth with each light jab, not actually following through to deliver the blows. They had been meant to keep Victor from closing after all, not to help himself close with Victor.
This is important, because though it would have a great deal more amount of force compared to similar jabs from Victor himself, Rain was still using very little of his own force, so he would have time to react to Victor's trick.
However, for all intents and purposes, Victor DID slip beneath that last jab, and Rain's fist would catch the upper left (Victor's) staff bit of the Kali-Yuga -Yupa weapon. But as he would pull his arm back from the jab, with Victor slipping around to his left, he would instinctively move to block as much of his left side as possible, rotating as much as he was able to do so. This would result in his left forearm blocking the upper right (Victor's) staff bit, and his left leg cocked to block the lower right (Victor's) staff bit.
It is important to note that Rain was not directly blocking the staves; he was preparing to block what he would have expected to have been an immediate strike on Victor's part. Since getting struck simultaneously by both metal staves was not what his instinctive expectation was, he would remain with his left arm up, blocking his ribs-to-face, while his left leg was still lifted, so he could block with the meatier parts.
What this would mean to Victor? That Rain did not follow up the block with an immediate counter, and that though his left shoulder was once again directed at the man, Rain was now on one foot (though the other was not lifted too high, mind you), and would be temporarily unable to turn his facing to compensate for Victor's maneuvering accordingly.
[3/17]
Victor smirked, noticing that his opponent had some solid combat instincts to block his attack. Experience seemed to serve the old man (to Victor anyway) well.
Fortunately, Victor's dirty trick almost planned out according to how Victor thought it would. Since Rain was defending himself with his arms and legs, Victor would lift up his right leg, twist his left leg, pivot the left and attempt to slam a short-roundhouse kick with the shin of his metallic pants, into Rain's thigh.
It would be unknown to Rain, but the metallic pants were approximately twenty pounds, making it very difficult to run in them. But they were incredibly flexible, enough to let Victor kick over his head.
[3/17]
Rain would let out a yelp of pain, wincing as Victor's short roundhouse would catch him in the back of his left thigh. The impact itself would teach Rain something, however; that the pants were equally solid and heavy, but still flexible. Getting kicked by metal isn't fun; thankfully, it was a meatier part of Rain's leg that got the impact of the blow. Or was it??? Dun dun duuunnnnn!!!
Getting kicked towards the back of the thigh would cause Rain to turn somewhat, and his leg would be forced to step down from its elevated spot, planting firmly for a moment before buckling slightly from the pain. This would cause Rain's facing to turn away momentarily from Victor.
Momentarily, because that's all the time Victor had to recover from his roundhouse and interrupt Rain's next action. Though his left leg would buckle at the knee, he would actually use the built-up momentum to crouch a bit further for a brief instant, before pushing back, simultaneously bringing up his left elbow in an attempt to catch Victor in the face. (Or Kali-Yuga -Yupa, if he turned all the way around; ouch!).
[3/17]
Victor brought his leg back to his side, after he slammed the metallic pants into Rain's thigh. He was still facing Rain, kept his eyes still locked on Rain's position. The kick had apparently connected, but he still needed to be cautious around Rain. Rain was able to block his earlier attempt to slam the Kali-Yupa into him. He had the combat instincts, but did he have the toughness? Victor could only think to himself,
"Did it work?"
Before he could step away to make some distance between the two, Rain seemed to bounce back with an elbow! Victor eyes went into a state of shock as he could only turn his upper body to the right. He would attempt another counter by lifting his left metallic pant leg up into an unprepared knee strike, in hopes it might connect with Rain's ribs. The kick would be on the same side as Rain's elbow approach.
[4/17]
Two fingerless black gloved hands appeared before Javelynn, on the counter, next too a bewildered bartender. The Chimagin had been helping himself to the sake stores, and a full bottle was against the counter behind it. After a very wobbly Kichiro stood up, he let one hand keep his balance on the counter, while his body went into a drunken swoop and picked up the full bottle of sake.
This was the good stuff.
"Oh..." Kichiro slammed the bottle of sake down on the counter, bobbing his head beneath the straw hat, looking from the stupified bartender too the patroness before him. "Diiiiiddjaaa notiiice all thee fighten' goooin on eeereee?!"
Kichiro used his free hand too point at the two fighters in the 20' clearing of tables and chairs, then bobbled over to the newscrews, media, and spectators on the one side of the Firebrand watching on.
"I ddiiinnnae think it beein' sssshafe 'eree foorrr the lottssh off ya!" Slurred drunken words came from Kichiro, though faux drunken, he'd appear completely hammered. Pulling a Jack Sparrow, Kichiro's free hand would press down on the bar counter, and swing his boots up and over the counter, while his other took down the bottle with him.
Barely catching his feet, Kichiro talked once more to the two. "Gettssh yersshelves too the sshpectatorssh...I'll shhhhooow yee too 'em!" And Kichiro was marching with his bottle of sake on the edge of the fighting area, to the line of camera men and spectators watching the event.
Javelynn watched the drunk from the corner of her eyes. After the drunk had moved further away, Javelynn took her last sip from the glass and then turned in her stool to watch the drunk stagger about. She, like many of the other spectators ignored his jostling.
Jave brought her hand and rested it against her forearm as she glanced towards the ongoing battle. She didn't like being just a spectator and not a participent but some humor was more than welcome to distract her from her envy. Watching Kichiro move across the flow, her smile's mouth was half turned up at the corners to express a hint of laughter and a glint in her ruby eyes. "Very interesting comedy in such time like this" This particular comedy reminded her of Shakespeare's continuous attempts at comic relief in his writings. He always seemed to tie the sad, depressing scenes with a hint of humor to lighten his onlooker's mind.
Silly how it seemed to be playing out now.
"Commmedy?!?!" Kichiro whipped about in a rather exaggerated fashion, coat tails of his overcoat flying into the air, exposing quite an array of weaponry strapped underneath, and a very alarmed face. His free right hand came before his face, swaggering, as he almost lost his balance in the turn.
Or so it appeared.
"ISSHH SHERIOUS BIDNESS YOU TWO!!!" Kichiro exclaimed, "thissh ereee fight gonnn bee EPICCss sheee?" He pointed with his index finger again, whipping it out, as he rose the open sake bottle in his other hand as a counter balance to keep from wiping out.
"YOOU Dunnn wannna bee insssh sheee way in casssheee shomething bad happpensh!" Kichiro slurred words came quickly, and he slowly brought his sake bottle to his mouth, standing on the edge of the fighting area, trying to stay from falling into it apparently.
Well, Rain's left was performing an elbow, his right was still coiled (but the snake was about to strike!), and his left leg would be stepping back as his body turned, planting itself just beside Victor's right foot. So there really wouldn't be anything defending Rain's ribs. With a loud thud, it would impact against Rain's side... somewhat.
Rain was two-stepping again, using the elbow as an attempt to have Victor raise his arms to guard his face, so he could follow through his with right hand. And because of this, he wasn't throwing himself completely back with the elbow, only turning with it. So Rain wouldn't be quite as close as Victor would probably expect, with the move being more of a desperation counter than a deliberate attack.
It did hit, however, and due to the strength of victor and the durability of his metallic pants, it would still hurt like a b***h. But part of Rain's reconstruction at A~E involved reinforcing his endoskeleton with a type of titanium secondary skeleton. It's how he put on almost 40 lbs in the past month. And that, along with the lack of solidness of the blow, were the only reasons Rain's ribs didn't crack from the force of the blow.
Rain's elbow might or might not catch Victor as planned, as he turned away. It might be more of a glancing blow if anything by this point. That'll be up to Victor's player. Rain would keel his upper body over slightly, his body flowing with the strike rather than resisting it. But that was also to also flow with part 2 of his two-step strike: A three-point uppercut, starting with a spear hand.
This would be similar to a Futae no Kiwami, except in reverse (and not as comically destructive). The impact of the first blow would be with Rain's fingertips a la Spear Hand, followed by a knuckle punch with the middle knuckles, followed by a full punch; his fingers would collapse in on each point of the blow, as his arm would follow through with the whole uppercut motion to the underside of Victor's chin.
How this would play out, if it hits, would be similar to his opponent recieving three different blows in one; using his training in Atemi Karate, which specialized in fingertip strikes and targetting an opponent's anatomy's weak points, the sharpness of the spear hand would be the primary source of impact, allowing for Victor's jaw to cushion the blow for the skull, as jaws were designed to do; but with the relative counterforce that comes from all impacts, it wouldn't be able to cushion anything as the first point of the uppercut would fold into a seperate but connected second point, then to a third.
This was by no means a desperation strike on Rain's behalf, but he would throw an excessive amount of force into the attack, leaving no real room for a followthrough on his behalf.
[5/17]
Javelynn's gaze sharpened as her ruby eyes fell on his staggering form. Her expressions seemed somewhat threatening at his appeared attempts to alarm her. After a second or so, though, her expressions rearranged and she returned to her glass, pointing down at it. "I'll have what hes havin" She called out to him. Her accent was rich with the romanian herritence lurking in her posture and tongue.
The bartender immediatly came to her and poored a bottle of the sake in her glass. With a weary glance at the drunken Kichiro, he shrugged and resumed his services of serving beverages.
Tasting the newly acquired liquid, she sighed softly and turned to look at the drunk with a raised eyebrow. "I believe I am well off for the moment mister...." She trailed off, not knowing his identity. She looked him up and down before taking a longer gulp of the liquid.
Victor would feel the elbow graze his chin, feeling a sharp pain for a few moments. It still caught him completely off-guard, leaving his mindset in a current panic mode. He felt the knee make impact, but he couldn't figure out if he landed the kick properly or not. Victor started to wonder to himself, "Why couldn't I stop him with the knee!?"
Since Victor had rushed to throw the knee, he would catch his balance with the back of the Kali-Yuga, which would give him enough support to keep him from initially falling into Rain. But when he noticed Rain start to move his body up, he purposefully lost balance to the right side.
Victor could only help throw his body further to the right side by trying to make room between the two of them. This would be done by using his supporting foot to shoot him away from his opponent, until he was able to fall over. If his plan worked right, he would land partially on the Kali-Yuga and push himself back up to his feet. If not, he was going to be landing on the floor with Rain right near him.
Victor couldn't figure out if Rain was toying with him or not. It was frustrating to the young fighter, to the point that he tried to move away from his opponent. Lightning would begin to spark up from the Kali-Yuga, emitting directly from the bottom of it. It was time to charge up his attack.
[5/17]
Striker Offensive Drunk Offense
((Post removed/delayed until striker is over, since the announcement came in just before I finished posting))
Kichiro's stumbling towards the fighting area was now in full effect, he was literally falling into it as he used his free hand to hit the FIGHTER Striker Offense function, and would do so as he entered the ring. He ceased his stumbling, with his left foot hitting solid ground, and off in a rush towards Rain.
2 Seconds Past.
Instant ignition.- Wrote:Kichiro has used his manipūra enough to be able to bring flames instantly into creation to flow from his manipūra to his hands, usually spread to blades.
Yellow flames were at a level that Kichiro could control, not to hurt himself or his attire, but created heat and attacked everything else. It was the same as having candle fire hurt one's hand, though a lot of it could give burns to skin and make eyes water. It was a mystic art, magical, known as Chakranchi from his native land. They shot from his solar plexus to his hands, while he used the bottle already coming to his mouth to take a swig of Sake, as Victor put some distance between himself and Rain.
5 Seconds Past.
The flames were at his hands, pulling away from his lips, while he ran passed the space between Victor and Rain, looking back at Victor and spitting Sake all towards the man's head who probably was not looking for the drunkard while moving away from an opponent, and charging an attack.
A bottle of sake now with flames lighting the alcohol within, alcohol being extremely flammable and taking quite nice to Kichiro's, was thrown through the spray of sake, igniting it as well, with its larger density, flying with more force through to the man's head to give him a flaming alcoholic bash to the noggin. All these flames would be away from Rain, and onto Victor who was moving away.
8 Seconds past.
Kichiro continued running in his rush passed them, while aiming his free fiery hand back at Victor.
Fire combustion.- Wrote:Over a couple years of continually training, using, and manipulating flame, he has learned how to create combustion with his controls over fire. He can use carbon in the very air itself, to create miniature explosions, or create explosions of fire around him.
Kichiro used the flames in his free hand as a fireball, with its explosive property in control with only enough concussive force to move add acceleration to Kichiro to get out in time. His gloves would sear, and hand would scorch, as the fireball was let loose to follow through to the man's mid-body, unable for a precision shot in his haste, while blowing Kichiro out of the fighting area along with his already rushing momentum, into many chairs and tables that'd been cleared for the fighting area.
Beneath a pile of wood, Kichiro's scorched right hand, along with his body, would hiccup.
10 Seconds.
Hiccup.
Twinkle, twinkle little star.
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high
Like a dia-
A flash of light and a star fell. If it was a star in the first place, the first mistaken upon the assumptions of mankind. From the black the 'star' fell, surrounded in a brilliant light only to explode in a shower of snow and frost soon caught up by the wind to whip about those below and give them a taste of true Winter.
Upon the roof of the Firebrand, the 'star' would collide, another burst of ice and frost swirling about until the winds carried such tidings of Winter away. Leaving in its place what appeared to be six wings shielding whoever was inside. Black things, like pure obsidian except for the fact that each feather was tipped in lacy frost that fluttered about as the wings shook. Finally all six moved, pulling back and disappearing from sight to leave Sharlen standing there with a deviant smirk lacing her full blue lips tinged with silver. Her dark purple eyes rimmed by kohl while long black lashes were sprinkled with what appeared glitter but was infact frost. A flick of her head sent her raven black tresses cascading down her back, over the back of a skin tight black dress with a high neckline but no back. THe backless dress didn't hide the fact that she had three raging scars that began at the base of her neck and went to her lower back. The scars striking in comparison to her snow white skin that radiated an intense cold.
"Looks like I did not get lost," she spoke to her soon to arrive companion. She was sure he'd arrive in time to hear the words fall from her lips as she smoothed the hem of the dress down to where it fell just above her knees while stilettoe boots adorned her feet. The dangerous looking heels shifting as she set a hand upon her hip and arched her neck to the side to hear it pop. A delighted purr rolling from supple lips as she then raised her arms above her head and stretched back, cracking out her spine before standing straight again and fluently tucking a loose wisp of hair behind her ear.
The shimmers of splintering wood caught her eye and then her ruby gaze landed upon the fallen form of Kichiro. "mm Comedy" She repeated and chuckled as she took another gulp of the nippy liquor. She shook her head, wandering if he was normally this clumsy outside of the influence of drink.
Lost in thought now, she downed the rest of the liquid and shook her head as a whirl of dizziness made her place her forefinger upon her forehead until it passed. Perhaps she had already drank too much for someone with very little drinking habits.
When the dizziness passed, she ran her finger over the rim of the crystal glass and watched Kichiro from the corner of her eyes. It was a strange befalling but it was also very refreshing. The slight buzz within her head made everything seem much more enlightening. Licking the extra moisture from her ruby lips, she brushed her black strands of her hair past her shoulder.
Authoritative_Nuisance Wrote:Kichiro's stumbling towards the fighting area was now in full effect, he was literally falling into it as he used his free hand to hit the FIGHTER Striker Offense function, and would do so as he entered the ring. He ceased his stumbling, with his left foot hitting solid ground, and off in a rush towards Rain.
2 Seconds Past.
Instant ignition.- Wrote:Kichiro has used his manipūra enough to be able to bring flames instantly into creation to flow from his manipūra to his hands, usually spread to blades.
Yellow flames were at a level that Kichiro could control, not to hurt himself or his attire, but created heat and attacked everything else. It was the same as having candle fire hurt one's hand, though a lot of it could give burns to skin and make eyes water. It was a mystic art, magical, known as Chakranchi from his native land. They shot from his solar plexus to his hands, while he used the bottle already coming to his mouth to take a swig of Sake, as Victor put some distance between himself and Rain.
5 Seconds Past.
The flames were at his hands, pulling away from his lips, while he ran passed the space between Victor and Rain, looking back at Victor and spitting Sake all towards the man's head who probably was not looking for the drunkard while moving away from an opponent, and charging an attack.
A bottle of sake now with flames lighting the alcohol within, alcohol being extremely flammable and taking quite nice to Kichiro's, was thrown through the spray of sake, igniting it as well, with its larger density, flying with more force through to the man's head to give him a flaming alcoholic bash to the noggin. All these flames would be away from Rain, and onto Victor who was moving away.
Unfortunately for Kichiro, Victor was looking back in the space between Rain's direction.
Victor was shocked, falling stomach first into the floor. He was a bit stunned that one of Rain's men chose to interfere in the match. He initially thought that it would stay as a one on one contest, but he was already in a panicked state of mind. Rain seemed invincible to the leg strikes that were being delivered. And now it seemed like they were going to team up against him.
Victor had to find a way to escape. When Kichi tried to spit sake down on him, Victor would waste the lightning charge from his Kali-Yuga to spin the weapon in a wheel-like fashion. The Kali-Yuga would produce a wind gust that would blow the sake spit back towards Kichi. The force of the Kali-Yuga would produce a wind gust, not strong enough to do any damage to Kichi, but it would be strong enough to potentially hold him at bay, even for a short period of time.
Victor wasn't aware of the flames yet, but if any were still there, it would've likely been blown out by the wind.
[6/17]
Authoritative_Nuisance Wrote:He ceased his stumbling, with his left foot hitting solid ground, and off in a rush towards Rain.
2 Seconds Past.
They shot from his solar plexus to his hands, while he used the bottle already coming to his mouth to take a swig of Sake, as Victor put some distance between himself and Rain.
5 Seconds Past.
The flames were at his hands, pulling away from his lips, while he ran passed the space between Victor and Rain, looking back at Victor and spitting Sake all towards the man's head who probably was not looking for the drunkard while moving away from an opponent, and charging an attack.
A bottle of sake now with flames lighting the alcohol within, alcohol being extremely flammable and taking quite nice to Kichiro's, was thrown through the spray of sake, igniting it as well, with its larger density, flying with more force through to the man's head to give him a flaming alcoholic bash to the noggin. All these flames would be away from Rain, and onto Victor who was moving away.
Victor Kalliandrio Wrote:Unfortunately for Kichiro, Victor was looking back in the space between Rain's direction.
Victor had to find a way to escape. When Kichi tried to spit sake down on him, Victor would waste the lightning charge from his Kali-Yuga to spin the weapon in a wheel-like fashion. The Kali-Yuga would produce a wind gust that would blow the sake spit back towards Kichi. The force of the Kali-Yuga would produce a wind gust, not strong enough to do any damage to Kichi, but it would be strong enough to potentially hold him at bay, even for a short period of time.
Victor wasn't aware of the flames yet, but if any were still there, it would've likely been blown out by the wind.
Maybe, if maybe, Kichiro had come at Victor from the side, rather than running past Rain to get to him... if Kichiro had not placed himself directly between Victor and himself... things would have played out differently.
As it were, wind does not blow out flames that easily. Fanning flames make them grow more wild.
And while Kichiro, with his ties to the fire element, would be realitively alright from the minor burns he would get... Rain was not all that fireproof. And suddenly, the powerful gust of wind from Victor's Kali-Yuga-Yupa had launched a deluge of flaming sake all over him.
Rain Yupa, veteran to the Heaven or Hell tournament, captain of team Rising Storm, father of one, employee to Alpha~Epsilon Corp., and semi-retired knight-captain... was now on fire.
His instinct was to let out a cry of panic, as he would begin to try to put out the flames covering his entire wardrobe and person by swatting at it like an idiot. You know, he really could go for a defensive striker right about now...
[6/10]
With Victor able to tell that Kichi was going to charge in and blow Sake at him, the Chimagin wasn't able to predict that. So some fire got in his own face, but since it wasn't enough to damage Kichiro apparently, nor was the wind gust, it wouldn't be enough to stop the bottle of sake from being hurled down at the man's head who was now looking into it.
No actions changed really, he'd keep running passed them, the wind gust actually helping him get away.
All the rest of the actions would be the same, even the hurled explosive fireball to jetison Kichiro into the tables and chairs. Maybe the wind gust could stop the fireball and the thrown sake bottle without damaging Kichiro?
Even if both were blown back, Kichiro would just have some fiery stuff coming with him as he crashed into wood. Which would mean Kichiro would be under a burning pile of wood instead, with smoke beginning to raise thanks to Victor's defense blast.
He was still hiccuping underneath, seemingly having just rushed in a drunken stupor with enough wits to hit the FIGHTER button and do a casual drunken brawl tactic of throwing an alcoholic bottle before crashing.
((Your call on if Kichi is under normal wood or burning wood. ))
Save raised an eyebrow at Kichiro's antics, then turned his head to see the crowd's reactions. Many of them seemed to be snickering at the Chimagin, and Save found he could only shake his head. Unfortunately for him, he had a hunch that Kichiro was one of the more powerful members of Team Rising Storm, and it fell to him to deal with that power.
It would, if nothing else, be an interesting match, he thought to himself as he leaned backwards on the bar, his feet folding professionally. It was obvious that he wanted, even if only subconciously, to show the difference between himself and the drunkard who was lying under a pile of wood.
Even if he lost, at least he was respectable.
Victor easily deflected the sake bottle with the Kali-Yuga, especially with the Kali-Yuga moving in a fan-like motion to create the wind effect.
Unfortunately, the lucky streak of events ended there. Victor took the fireball from Kichiro head-on. He had flown to the other side of the fighting circle, closer to Rain's general position than he would even realize.
Victor could smell the smoke all around him. His body was sorely burned, especially from the temperatures that were ignited. There were burn marks covering his upper torso, but his metallic pants were strong enough to protect his lower body. Unfortunately, they were very warm to the touch.
Victor would have trouble getting himself together, considering that the weight on his injured body was a big factor here. Victor would detach the Kali-Yuga from his sash, considering that he had been face planting himself with the fan maneuver for at least five seconds. It was an incredibly uncomfortable feeling.
He noticed his FIGHTER go off, but he couldn't read what it said. He brought his arm closer to his face, reading the title, "STRIKER - OFFENSIVE!"
Victor didn't care to make sense of it. He could only pick himself back up to a sitting position, when he looked over to scan the room. The first unusual aspect in this large bar was the large pile of burning wood lying across the room from him. He could only think, "Where the hell did that come from?"
Victor could only blink for a few moments, before glancing over to his side to see Rain, who was on fire!
"How the hell did that..."
He was in slight shock of the turn of events, even confused from what Rain's own teammate had just done.
[7/17]
(( mm. I did state running passed the space between Rain and Victor, not through the space.
So, yeah.
Pay attention to that.
Passed is at the side, not through. ))
And Kichiro was at rest, with a bunch of fire and smoke above him. His head was placed between two chairs leaning up against one another, beneath a table.
Thankfully smoke raises, so Kichiro just took control of the flames within three feet of himself, and began dissipating them. Without choking on smoke, the fire would come into Kichiro's control, and let off into the atmosphere as some extra heat.
Still, with that smoke clouding where he was, Kichiro decided he could take a little rest there while waiting for his turn to fight.
Incredible, that single word was all the boy-girl wonder could use to explain the current situation. “So that piece of s**t can’t even interfere right!?” Iblis slapped hir palm up, covering up a good portion of hir face before bending back, unable to keep the laughter contained any longer. All around hir bottles filled to the brim with fresh alcohol slid from their shelves, smashing to the floor on and around the counter in a glorious spray of glass and liquor that would slowly spread its way across the floor.
Nearly fifteen away, in the center of the main area that made up the Firebrand bar, stood each team captain. Victor had gotten lucky, as lucky as someone who had just had a fireball explode in their face at point blank range could be of course, his only article of clothing hadn’t been flammable, the vocalist of the Heavy Metal Kings sat in a heap covered in a myriad of burns and cuts. Rain had gotten it worst of all; his entire body had caught on fire from head to toe in a matter of seconds. And who was to blame for all of this destruction? Well for that you would have to the edge of the ring, laying beneath a rubble of tables and chairs that were quickly catching fire was Kishiro, who could only burp as an apology to his commander.
It was time to show these boys how a real striker was done…
<Only Moments Earlier>
The warning signs had been as clear as day, the drunkard probably had no idea how enveloped the crowd had become in the match going on only a few inches away as he balanced on one foot. Though Victor had landed far more blows then Rain the man seemed almost invincible, like a wall of steel he took every blow just well enough to keep himself from being brutally injured while still baiting hir team captain in. Shi had to admit, the man was better than shi had expected and if Victor was to pull out a win things couldn’t remain hand-to-hand for much longer.
It was this enthralling battle that had kept her attention on the annoyance shi had been eyeing all night and it was just like Lady Luck to be a b*h. Victor began to tumble away from Rain, beginning to steadily charge the Kali-Yuga. What was that b***d doing leaping into battle. Iblis sprung to hir heels, right hand bracing itself against the counter as a half-dozen bottles began to rattle in the shelves. Shi was going to pelt Kishiro whether it was against the rules or not, how dare he...
<Back In The Present>
Iblis had lost hir concentration in hir own haughty laughter. Not that the situation wasn’t hilarious once people forgot their humanity and realized a six foot three inch fighter was screaming like a girl and trying to bat his clothes out of fire. Counting on Rain to remain standing, the telekinetic set a hand against the counter top, using it as leverage to swing atop it.
It was a long journey, the distance nearly fifteen feet. Still standing desks and even a chair slid into place, a short distance of four feet in between each one. Shi needed a path; it was a long way to reach then.
Hir jacket was heavy and stifling; to make each leap shi would need full swing of hir limbs. That’s why even as shi shoved off from the counter top her arms were tearing that damned fur coat way from hir body.
Hir limbs were thin and almost lanky without the jacket hiding them. Each leg stretching as far as possible to make the leap from table to table. More then once the wood began to wobble to one side threatening to spill hir to the floor on live television.
Rain would have no such luck. At the edge of the make-shift ring Iblis would strike her arm out, sending the very flammable white fur coat sailing in an arch towards the captain in peril. It wasn’t likely he’d catch sight of hir, but hopefully he hadn’t paid attention in class when the teachers were talking about ‘stop drop and roll’. The coat would act as hir cloak, falling over his head and blinding him from the impending doom from above.
With a last bit of psychokinetic ‘umph’ Iblis launched hirself from the final foot hold, sailing through the air towards Rain. Shi wanted to lock hir legs around his neck, clamp tight not to suffocate but to hold, the scissors only the first step though. Using the bulk of hir weight Iblis would spin, swiveling hir body around in the air around Rain with his neck as the base. From there shi could easily fling Rain into the ring edge and he probably would without hir guidance by now, but this was an illegal maneuver, it had to be good. Shi would detach hir legs, using the final moments before shi crashed to the ground to loop an arm around the neck of good sir Yupa. Shi would carry him into the fall with hir and where exactly was shi falling? None other then a table behind the captain who had been unfortunate enough to catch fire during Kishiro’s little ‘fireball trick’. Head first he would crash through the burning piece of furniture, enduring the pain side by side with the barbarian.
(( Thats right, I'm taking a yellow card. But damn it was worth it.
Note: The last two paragraphs are an "if" situation. Should Rain choose to dodge there will be no follow up and we go from there. ))
((Even if Kichiro ran parallel to Rain and Victor, the spray of sake would be conical in nature, and being launched in one direction, then back in another, it would just spread further. So I'm sticking with one happened 
... why a yellow card?
EDIT- Post had to be done twice cause like an idiot, I forgot to use the dice -_-'))
As much as Rain would have liked to bend over at that very moment to pick up a shiny quarter on the ground causing Iblis to go sailing overhead, he was a bit preoccupied. Though his ENTIRE body was NOT on fire, enough of it was, and fire does have a tendency to spread. For reference see... well, the entire state of California.
Iblis's striker attack was as equally good for Rain as it was bad. He had about to get to the stop drop and roll part, when suddenly everything went dark as a fur coat was thrown over him. Though not covering every square inch, it would blanket his entire upper body, thus stifling the flames and actually putting them out by the time the striker would end.
But Rain had been flailing about, so trying to aim such a precise shot with a scissor throw with his bulk moving about like it was would be difficult, to say the least. As a result, Rain would land...
1.) Headfirst through the table behind Victor, as planned.
2.) Not headfirst through the table behind Victor.
3.) Headfirst a few feet away from the intended location, to a table not on fire.
4.) Not headfirst, a few feet away.
5.) Headfirst but underneath a table a few feet away.
6.) Not headfirst, underneath a few feet away.
7.) Headfirst into the floor some distance away.
8.) Not headfirst into the floor some distance away.
Rain would be sent careening through the air, his back crashing through a solid, unburning table, snapping it in half. Since he had been aimed towards Victor, if his opponent were to stand up and turn to face directly behind him where the flaming tables would, Rain would be about 5 feet to the right of that, with Iblis with her arm locked around the upper part of his covered body. Rain's upper body was just leaning into the "ring" he had made earlier; if the table hadn't given way, his neck may have even been snapped due to Iblis's weight. Good thing it did.
"Mmmmwww!!..." he would mutter from beneath the fur coat, reeling from the pain of being launched like he did through a table. After a few seconds, he would begin to fight with the coat, and Iblis if she still remained, her too, to get them both off.
Or was Iblis a he? Hell, Rain couldn't figure it out.
[7/17]
Victor took the moment to recuperate his energy, trying to calm his body down and put his thoughts into perspective. The sneak attack with Kichi's fireball explosion had done some serious damage, but Rain had somehow gotten caught into the mix of it. He couldn't figure out how it happened.
Victor also hadn't been able to make the clear distinction between the pain he felt earlier. Now that he started to regain his senses to his own situation, he could feel the left side of his face was throbbing in greater pain than he could've imagined. He noticed that his left cheek had a burning sensation to it, adding up the facts together to realize that it was due to the make-up being scorched into his face. Victor began to shed a few tears, from realization that it could possibly scar his handsome face. He could only imagine that it would take quite a bit of money from his noble family to fix this type of mishap. Unfortunately, crying made the pain worse than it once was, since the tears would sink into the burn on his left side.
He would close his eyes, regain his composure and wipe away the remaining bit of make-up on his right side. Unlike the left side, which he could only assume was completely burned in, the right side luckily hadn't been caught in the explosion. Initially the right side would smudge, but with the previous tears being shed, it wasn't difficult to get it all off. And it was clear that if Kichiro came back, the make-up wouldn't be a good idea to have on.
Victor would first rest his left hand onto the floor. Followed by right hand, which would wiped the make-up onto the floor. He placed his slightly burned hands to each side of his body, as he would slowly push himself up from a sitting position. He obviously felt some pain shoot throughout his palms, but he couldn't help but think about the amount of pain that Rain suffered through, too. If Rain had a physically normal body, even he wouldn't have gotten up from the flames that would have spread around him... But he knew that Rain was anything from normal. He could only wonder to himself, "Could the fire stop him?"
Victor's eyes were still not open, hoping that the FIGHTER bracelet hadn't lied to him. Hopefully whichever teammate that went out would do his/hir job. Victor's legs would push through some of the heat inside the pants. He cringed a bit, feeling some pain from the touch of his skin pressed against the metallic pants. Despite the pain, he would try to remain optimistic and started to consider the fortunate turn of events. If he could just built up enough strength to attack a burning Rain, it would end the belief of Rain's invincibility. It would be incredibly difficult to comeback after the explosive attack from Kichi, but it was not as hopeless as his opponents might think. Victor would think to himself, "It's not over yet."
He suddenly heard a crashing noise a few feet behind him. Opening his eyes, he would slowly make it up to his feet, turning around to see what had just happened. Iblis was just leaving the scene, the only one close enough to have taken the role of the striker. Shi somehow landed Rain into one of the nearby tables. And there was a fur coat hung over Rain's body, as he seemed to be fighting to get it off. Victor didn't know how Iblis did it and he couldn't figure out what just happened. But he knew that he didn't have to worry about Rain making a surprise attack on him. Rain had been lit on fire and thrown through a table. The invincibility that Rain once possessed seemed to vanish from Victor's mind.
Mental Images: Rain had been lit on fire and Iblis left him lying through a table.
Victor could only smile for a brief moment. He didn't like the idea of putting someone he respected through that sort of mayhem, but it gave him hope of achieving his own victory (no pun intended.) Victor always fought with the odds stacked against him, but now the tides were turning. Feeling the adrenaline rush start to kick in, he would reach down to pick up the sheathed Kali-Yuga. The lightning would reignite its charge, regardless if Victor touched the Kali-Yuga or not. Unlike earlier, this one seemed to scatter randomly throughout the Kali-Yuga, since he was unable to focus enough strength keep it concentrated on a single point.
[8/17]
Save found that in a situation such as this, he could only do one thing.
And that thing encompassed his face, a palm, and the combination of the two former components.
Kichiro continued resting under the, now charred wood, since he'd taken out the fire near him. There was a lazy smile about his face, and a smashed straw hat on his head.
DemonDragonfly Wrote:Twinkle, twinkle little star.
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high
Like a dia-
A flash of light and a star fell. If it was a star in the first place, the first mistaken upon the assumptions of mankind. From the black the 'star' fell, surrounded in a brilliant light only to explode in a shower of snow and frost soon caught up by the wind to whip about those below and give them a taste of true Winter.
Upon the roof of the Firebrand, the 'star' would collide, another burst of ice and frost swirling about until the winds carried such tidings of Winter away. Leaving in its place what appeared to be six wings shielding whoever was inside. Black things, like pure obsidian except for the fact that each feather was tipped in lacy frost that fluttered about as the wings shook. Finally all six moved, pulling back and disappearing from sight to leave Sharlen standing there with a deviant smirk lacing her full blue lips tinged with silver. Her dark purple eyes rimmed by kohl while long black lashes were sprinkled with what appeared glitter but was infact frost. A flick of her head sent her raven black tresses cascading down her back, over the back of a skin tight black dress with a high neckline but no back. THe backless dress didn't hide the fact that she had three raging scars that began at the base of her neck and went to her lower back. The scars striking in comparison to her snow white skin that radiated an intense cold.
"Looks like I did not get lost," she spoke to her soon to arrive companion. She was sure he'd arrive in time to hear the words fall from her lips as she smoothed the hem of the dress down to where it fell just above her knees while stilettoe boots adorned her feet. The dangerous looking heels shifting as she set a hand upon her hip and arched her neck to the side to hear it pop. A delighted purr rolling from supple lips as she then raised her arms above her head and stretched back, cracking out her spine before standing straight again and fluently tucking a loose wisp of hair behind her ear.
In not so much of poetic fashion, in prose of magic upon space and place, did the Chimagin of the White Dragon Race come to join his elder friend. Once Takeda to be feared by kind of man and spectator named Ray, or hunted by participant Laz and Shou', the man of mortal means and immortal curses came to be.
"Of course you didn't..." A copper hand came through a white glowing sphere, followed by the black tuxedo and crimson tie which graced his upper form. As he came to stand next to obsidian beauty who fell as a star, his crimson interiored cape wafted in behind in some noble fashion. His dark trousers and even blacker boots did not touch the snow upon the roof as he arrived, rather seeming to levitate on mystical means next to his queen.
Kiyoshi Luo looked from her, with swirling dark eyes, to beneath at the roof of the Firebrand, nodding as another white sphere appeared before them both. Left arm wrapped around the back of he waist, and he nodded to the image before them. It was of the fight, and they could see out of the corner, a pile of wooden scorched rubble, being of chairs and tables.
"There's... my brother..." It caused him to sigh.
A brow rose in speculation and observation of the one who was to be her lover's brother. A smile lacing her lips like the frost that had lingered upon her feathers, a soft breath of fresh air and cold. As naturally as his arm wrapped about her waist, she would lean against his chest. Her form fitting neatly against his while she tilted up her head to gaze up at him with a sparkle in her purplemarine hued eyes. The ring of black that framed the pupil of her eye spiraling about like the sun flares about the sun, a very exotic feature that had been added to many of her natural features after her first death and resurrection. It make things interesting, to watch people notcie that the blacks about her pupil were in constant motion against the sea of whatever color her eyes did betray her as.
"The resemblance I can see in the bone structure but the features are a bit differing," she purred softly as a hand rose to delicately trace across Kyo's jaw where upon his brother, were scars. Unlike Kichi, Kiyo wasn't scarred. That didn't matter to her, just an interesting difference upon the reflection of their skin.
A secondary gust of wind whispered across her bared legs, causing to laugh softly into Kiyo's shoulder for it tickled her so. Like a cat she purred, running the hand that stroked his jaw down to his shoulders to smooth down the suit and flick a piece of frost from his tie. Her tongue traced her lips as she tilted her head, the cascade of raven bangs across her cheek as she grinned at him.
"You look fabulous in a suit you know."
'I'm getting too old for this... he thought to himself, after the arm Iblis had applies to his neck was gone. He still felt some burning though, so it caused him to half-panic, and sit up in a hurried fashion. He winced at this, a sharp pain shooting up his back. This is still under the fur coat however, so it was like a furry ghost rising from the grave.
Swatting at the coat to remove it, he managed to fight the overcoat off, and actually used it to blanket the remaining flames on his pants. He had not burned for too long, thanks to the prompt striking on Iblis's part. His clothes were singed, and there were several holes that would need patching. He had minor burns here and there on his skin as well. But he had not been COMPLETELY immolated, so the damage was minimal he would bear through.
With all existing fires on his person extinguished, he would then notice recognizable sound (at least, to him) of the sparking of electricity. Victor was up, and Rain was damned lucky the man hadn't finished him while he had the chance; he must have been likewise taken out by Kichiro's striker.
So, with Victor right behind him, Rain could only do one thing at the exact moment to prevent Victor from delivering a powered-up attack, or at least delay it.
WOOSH! Up would go Iblis's fur coat, thrown at Victor like a giant blanket as Rain rose. He was looking to cover his opponent's head, but if it ended up entangling the weapon and some how mucking it up, that was cool too.
[8/17]
Victor had successfully picked up the Kali-Yuga from the ground. Surprisingly, he didn't bother to unsheathe it, risking potential damage to the sheathe if he started to swing it around.
Victor would still listen to Rob Zombie's "Dragula" in the background, the lyrics "Dead I am the rat, feast upon the cat" were still pumping him up. With the additional adrenaline rush flowing through his body, he continued to keep his eyes focused on Rain.
Rain was slowly getting up, when suddenly, he chose to toss the fur coat at him! Victor didn't quite expect his opponent to use his teammates own coat as a tool in his arsenal. Fortunately, it wasn't a very effective tool to delay him. Considering the five foot gap, Victor would use the reach of the Kali-Yuga to the fullest advantage. He would use the closest stick towards Rain to catch the coat. Making a simple turning motion to move with the Kali-Yuga, Victor would launch a lightning strike with the second staff that would be next to it.
Being an immediate response to Rain throw the coat, if it connected against Rain, he would simply ask, "Do you surrender?"
If he missed the lightning strike, Victor would continue to hold the Kali-Yuga up with his right arm, carrying the staff in a horizontal position.
Regardless of the outcome, he would continue with a second lightning charge from the Kali-Yuga. The second charge slowly trailed down the front end of the Kali-Yuga that the first end followed.
[9/17]
OOC: (Clarifying, since I really haven't bothered to detail people on the sash:
There's a sash across Victor's body that carries the Kali-Yuga around. There's a sheathe on the Sash (metallic) that holds the Kali-Yuga in place on the sash. The sheathe allows for the Kali-Yuga to spin when necessary, but that's about it. This is the reason why he could produce the fan-like motion earlier. Otherwise, if he had been carrying in on the sash during the fan motion, it would have been ripped off. So the sash is still on his body, but it's pretty much useless.
Rain calls it a holder, which is another name for it. Hopefully that clarifies any confusion from reading my post!)
"Well, bugger." Rain would mutter, before the coat was deftly deflected with one staff end of the KaliYuga-Yupa, and as it spun, an arc of lightning would be launched at Rain's chest from another staff end. He barely had time to cross his arms in front of him X-block style as he saw the coat get snagged...
Though it WOULD damage Rain, cause auto immunity to your own proficient element is dumb, it wouldn't quite have the effect Victor would have, and probably throw that invincibility preconception back into his head:
Quote: From Genetic, Cybernetic, and Viral Alterations:
However, over those 10 long years, Rain's body began to break down, killing itself slowly. After seeking out Joseph Brown at Alpha~Epsilon Corp., Rain's body was given a makeover, of sorts. [snip]
His skeletal structure was reinforced with a lightweight titanium endoskeleton surrounding his natural one, allowing for more durable bones and increased output of his limbs, increasing the strength of his arms and legs greatly (and also insulated as to not conduct stray voltages). A pair of biorganic batteries were grown and transplanted to help store and control his body's electrical energies (see above).
This was a defense Rain had the surgeons install to protect him from his own electrical output. He had not really planned for other lightning users, so what he did next would have been more or less made up on the fly.
The force of the lightning bolt would hit him square in the chest, and in anime style, he would skid backwards across the floor of the tavern about 10 feet, kicking up tables and chairs as he went. His feet slid back behind his upper body some in an effort to stop his momentum. The entire amount of electricity was momentarily stored throughout his metal-reinforced second skeleton, and if he held such a charge, it would tear him apart from the inside, so he did the only thing he could do.
He let it go. By uncrossing his X-block to swing his arms to his sides, he would release the stored lightning electricity, plus inadvertantly some of his own stored bioelectricity. The result would be similar to a Diablo Nova spell effect. A pulse of electricity would shoot out in all directions, as Rain just released a type of weaker EMP. This in itself would probably kill the wiring unless it was absorbed somehow, but the first thing Rain did when he arrived was warn the Film crew supervisor about such an event, and they had already prepped an emergency generator in case of such an outcome.
[9/17]
“That’s how you do a striker…” Iblis said between cracked lips, it wasn’t like Kichiro was able to hear hir anyways beneath all those tables. Rain hadn’t been the only person to go through the table and already pain was shooting through hir spine, the poor fur coat had been sacrificed so that shi wouldn’t have to burn hirself and at least that went according to plan. With Rains feet hanging just inside the ring, Iblis would only have to roll over splinters of wood and toppled chairs before shi could splay out on the wooden floor of the Firebrand, hir upper body propped up by elbows behind hir so that shi could watch the match kick start right where it had left off. Rain really did seem invincible now, but the amount of damage he was taking as opposed to giving was too much, the impenetrable wall would have to crack eventually. Shi had already done hir part though, hopefully in only ten seconds too.
(The action was pretty long and its possible Iblis was there for more then ten seconds. Since Rain was the one taking the punishment I’ll let him choose whether or not shi was in for too long. )
Victor would continue with his second change of lightning from the Kali-Yuga, feeling the electricity generate throughout the front of the staff.
Victor would begin to ask, "Do yo..."
Before his face slowly went from complete confidence to absolute shock. He couldn't believe that Rain was capable of handling a direct lightning blast from the Kali-Yuga. Watching him fall back a good ten feet, his jaw dropped in amazement. He still had the lingering thought in his mind that Rain could still be indestructible. But unlike most of his earlier attacks, this attack pushed him back.
Before he could act on anything else, Victor's eyes opened in amazement as Rain emitted not one, but two different electrical blasts from his body. Victor could recall Rain telling him that he had electrical prowess, but he wasn't sure to what extent...
Unfortunately for Rain, one might call it a dumb proficiency to have. Victor could only briefly watch the trail of electricity surfacing from Rain's body as it rushed towards him. Victor didn't have time to even react, as trail of electricity flew into the Kali-Yuga that he was holding in front. The Kali-Yuga would protect Victor from electricity emitted from his opponent.
Being two large-staffs that were fused together, the metallic weapon would conduct and emit electricity towards it's opponents. And the one who possessed this weapon would be the one to control the lightning.
Despite nullifying the lightning, the force of this attack wouldn't be nullified at all. The Kali-Yuga would slam back into Victor's gut, causing him to kneel over in pain. The burns along his body were bad enough, but feeling his own weapon being slammed into him didn't feel much better.
Victor couldn't do much else but fire the Kali-Yuga's second lightning charge at Rain. He wouldn't be able to charge up the lightning for a third one at the moment, since he needed time to recover from getting hit in the gut by his own weapon.
[10/17]
Some table and many chairs moved around where Kichiro was, and he pointed his face towards the fight. He could hear the person lacking a coat, hir hinus er somesuch. He didn't really pay much attention to hir.
The electric fight was dazzling.
"Iiiittt's electric boogie woogie woogie!" Kichiro shouted from his position beneath the wood, and then let his chin fall on overlapped forearms, the rest was doing him some good.
But, why the hell did this fight remind him of a sci-fi shoot out in Star Wars or somesuch?
Though breathing hard, with some smoke rising from his body from taking that first lightning attack, he had sneered as he released his desperation counter attack. But the look on his face quickly faded to a combination of disdain and horror, when the electricity itself was absorbed by the Kali-Yuga-Yupa. That wasn't... that wasn't what he expected at all!
The kinetic force of it would still cause Victor's weapon to deflect into him though, and so, an idea would spark in Rain's mind. Something painfully obvious that he can use this turn of events to his advantage.
"IZZZAAAPPPP!!!
He was, in no way, shape, or form, braced for the second lightning attack; this one would indeed strike Rain in the torso, and launched him back through the air, hitting the top of the bar, bouncing off of the surface like a skipping stone, crashing into the wall behind it; the thud of his body hitting the floor behind the bar itself was accompanied by the shattering of a helluva lot of glass.
[10/17]
((And since there really is no clearly defined "in/out", besides being inside or outside the building, the timing is far too difficult to call whether or not you spent too much time in the ring; because of that reason, I'm leaning towards no flag, but it would be more up to the judges than me anyways, since they are the ones issuing said flags.))
Victor watched Rain fly into the air, surprised by the seemingly successful attack on him.
Victor was still leaned over, breathing in for any bit of air at the moment. He couldn't believe how hard the Kali-Yuga had slammed into him, but it was all worth it. It was the first time he had put Rain down. He thought to himself, "Finally! He really isn't indestructible."
Slowly catching his breath again, he would begin to charge up his electricity from the Kali-Yuga, while keeping his eyes open to anything else that could move in on him. Turning his head to look around him, he knew that either of Rain's teammates could step in to help. Rain was down and they would have good reason to help him.
Victor would slowly inch his way towards Rain's position, behind the bar, as he continued to keep his senses on high alert.
If one of his teammates went to use one of the strikers, he would have the FIGHTER to alert him ahead of time. Otherwise, Victor wasn't holding back on hitting the next person that stepped out onto the bar room floor.
[11/17]
It was the inching, rather than stepping or charging, that would give Rain time to recover. He would need a lot more than a few moments, but he would lose this match in the next few moments if he didn't do something.
Bleeding from several lacerations from the glass, he looked around the backside of the bar at the shattered bottles; alcohol was freely mixing with some of his spilled blood. But there was something he was looking for that he would need. And it didn't take long until he found what he needed: a metal bottle cap.
He had not expected the Kali-Yuga-Yupa to act as it did, and that cost him dearly. The bloody thing can absorb nearby electricity! He wasn't sure how technical it would get, but he had a feeling this next trick might get through.
In a slow, pained motion, he would reach his right arm up, up, and clap it down on the ground over the cap. Tightening his grip, he would drag it towards him, making a fist around it. Wincing, he would brace himself on his forearms and knees, shaking as he struggled to get up. He coughed hard a couple times, from the internal damage he took from that second lightning attack. "I better... not blow this one, or my... goose is cooked..." he muttered to himself.
With a deep inhale, he would clap his left hand up on the surface of the bar, his palm thudding loudly against the furnished wood. He would exhale before taking in another breath, then he would hoist himself up, so his upper body was leaning over the surface of the bar itself. He wouldn't be able to stand under his own power at the moment.
He made no threatening moves, just looking at his opponent. Or rather, through his opponent, to make sure no one was directly behind him, which there was not. He would need a clean shot for this.
"Not bad, for... a young pup..." he would say, trying to stand up by bracing himself with his midsection against the furniture. He would clap his right fist into his open left palm, before opening it so his palms were together, as if in prayer or an asian greeting of some sort.
"Before this match is over, I just have one thing to say first." he would tell Victor. By this point, he would focus his body's extra electrcity into his hands, and through them, magnetising the metal bottle cap between them. He would keep his hands together, clasped tightly, as they would slowly, then more quickly, begin to quake. Two similarly charged objects (the cap, and the hands surrounding it as a type of proxy containment shield) would be trying to repel each other. The bottle cap would seek escape, but as it would push at all angles, it similarly would be pushed inwards.
"...Catch" And with that, he would open his hands, his fingers parting while the heels would stay open. At this breach in containment, the bottlecap would be launched out of it. Though not a legitimate piece of rail gun technology, it would still launch the bottlecap in excess of several hundred miles per hour, if not over thousand; faster than a pistol bullet and most rifle bullets.
Rain's target would be Victor's upper right pectoral, just a little ways in from the shoulder itself. He wanted to cause serious injury, but not life-threatening by any means. He also wanted Victor to be unable to weild weapon before he could get bolted again, because he wouldn't be able to fight after a third one of those. And after probably shooting right through him, it would continue across the room and through the wall of the Firebrand, to god knows where.
This is, of course, all pending that Victor doesn't shoot him first.
[11/17]
((Late as usual, but that dont matter, I already said there'd be flags, just dont know how many until response posts were made.))
The judges liked to throw things. Maybe because they were lazy aand didnt like to walk around all that much. Anyway;
Iblis - yellow flag - undesignated striker assist.
Nevermind, disregard this.
Victor maintained the electrical energy through his body. He would continue to slowly step closer and closer to Rain's position. He really hoped that he would discover Rain's body, unconscious, so that he wouldn't have to injure him any further.
He could still overhear Rain's coughing, which roughly gave away his initial position. Victor frowned, slightly discouraged that he hadn't knocked Rain out with the last lightning blast. He could only think to himself, "All right, now's the time to finish it."
These words would reflect Victor's need to keep this man down. No matter what Victor threw, he continued to get up from it. It was starting to wear Victor down.
Rain Yupa Wrote:With a deep inhale, he would clap his left hand up on the surface of the bar, his palm thudding loudly against the furnished wood. He would exhale before taking in another breath, then he would hoist himself up, so his upper body was leaning over the surface of the bar itself. He wouldn't be able to stand under his own power at the moment.
Victor would immediately aimed the Kali-Yuga towards the left hand that was placed on the surface of the bar. Simply watched as he hoisted himself back up, Victor simply kept his eyes dead-locked on his position. He contemplated for a moment, before he thought to himself, "If he says anything besides surrender, he's getting it."
Rain Yupa Wrote:"Not bad, for... a young pup..." he would say, trying to stand up by bracing himself with his midsection against the furniture. He would clap his right fist into his open left palm, before opening it so his palms were together, as if in prayer or an asian greeting of some sort.[11/17]
Victor would smile for a moment...
Unfortunately for Rain, this wasn't a sincere smile at all. Rain had the right approach to handle Victor, but just said the wrong words to him. After the incredibly difficult battle he just had with the old man, Victor would find these words to be disrespectful. He could feel the pain from his burned body with every step he took, and his opponent seemed to consider him far less than great. He would have been happy with, "you're the greatest", or something that would be more meaningful to his fragile ego.
Now, he could only think to himself, "Not bad!?" NOT BAD!?"
Immediately after saying those words to Victor, Victor would launch off the lightning bolt that he had charged at Rain. He had no idea of Rain's intentions, nor was he aware of anything else that he had in store. It was simply bad luck that Rain used the wrong words around him.
[12/17]
With Rain's attempt to stall interrupted, there wouldn't even be a charge-up for his attack. He only needed a couple seconds, but he wasn't given the chance to charge it, as a third lightning bolt struck him, slamming him back against the wall.
Electricity would course through the outside of Rain's body as he would slam back a couple feet against the wall. It would continue to spark and sizzle for a brief moment, then fade. Rain would stand there for a moment longer, dropping his bottle cap, before falling forward. Which, inadvertantly, would mean he would land face-first against the surface of the bar itself, causing his head to whip back as the rest of his body continued to descend. All in all, leaving a nice bloody smear on it from Rain's broken nose, which he recieved from the tumble from the second bolt. After the final impact, he would land in a crumpled heap behind the bar itself.
This time, however, unlike the team name he was captaining for, this Storm would not Rise again.
[12/17, final]
When it was clear that the fight was over, and Victor wasn't going to kill anyone that got in the area.
IF HoH medical personal didn't get Rain out of there too treatment after the knock out, the well dressed women of the Syndicate would rush behind the bar. All of them in green or turquoise attire that signaled them out as Green Dragons. He needed to be cleared of the fighting area, and healed for the next fight.
Working their magic, they'd raise him up exactly as he was on a bed of air, and carry between two of them, the fallen Team Captain out of the bar and too a safe distance on a tree lawn, where they'd begin healing him.
Save, enthralled for the latter part of the fight, had sat quite still and held no expression on his face throughout. He had witnessed many battles, and he had seen good men fall in honest, respectable fights. He always felt a deep surge of respect for a downed soldier fighting for his beliefs and his name, and such a surge raced through him now. Rain was a worthy man, and a prolific fighter, and Save admired him greatly.
But Victor had won, and that caused a reluctant smile to slip past his guarded facade. One down, he though, and two to go. He was next, they had told him, and he was to be fighting Kichiro. He honestly looked forward to it, shivering slightly with fear and apprehension, and raw exctement. It wasn't noticable to anyone but him, and it was a feeling he had gotten accustomed to.
The thrill of battle.
Victor would watch Rain sparkle and sizzle with electricity for a few moments. He could only blink, staring in awe at the position that Rain was currently in now.
Once he was a juggernaut that could easily run him over. Now, he was like a helpless seizure-prone toddler. It was hard to believe that he was the same person he fought before, but Victor could still acknowledge his strength in his own mind.
It was strange, watching him fall into a heap on the floor. In Victor's mind, he almost wanted to help Rain up for giving him such a good fight. Unfortunately, the disrespect that Victor thought he received from Rain was enough to keep him silent for now.
"..."
Turning his back from the Captain of the Rising Storm, Victor would walk past the people that were there to treat Rain's wounds. He could only proceed to walk away for now, focusing his attention on his team. He would regroup with his teammates, who he didn't really care for...
But he really depended on now. They were his last hope to win. If the rest of the Rising Storm team fought like Rain did, Victor would be more concerned than ever before.
[13/17, final]
While the ending of the fight had taken place, while Rain was hopelessly shocked into being unconscious, while Save was smiling...
...the 'drunkard' was a far different story.
Beneath a smashed straw hat, with a singed right hand, Kichiro was getting very angry. He just witnessed his team captain get smacked down, without even much skill, it was a shoot out. He could have witnessed someone pull a trigger with all the skill it had taken to take down Rain, and it would shake him from his lack of sleep daze. Adrenaline replaced sleep, and putting the fire of anger into a fire elemental... well....
"Agh!"
Against the darkness created by a table overhead, and some chairs, all charred from when fire had gotten on them from a mouthful of sake, Kichiro began to glow a yellow aura. His face with a shining silhouette and half unseen from shadow of objects around.
With a sudden heave up of his upper body and pressing down on his knees, his arms would come unfolded and he'd come to bench press the debri off him. It wasn't as if all that stuff was very heavy after all.
A feint yellow aura coming from within his over coat, Kichiro moved further into the clearing, looking back at Save. Rolling his shoulders and cricking his neck, he reached up and threw his crinkled hat to the side. Stomping on his hat as the aura brightened in intensity, the deepest scar across Kichiro's face would come apparent. It started above his right eye and went down to the left corner of his lips, surrounded by two shallower scars parallel too it, along with nicks all over his copper skin.
Black hair, shining against the aura fell down to the mid of his back in a chord.
"Save. Come here!" Kichiro's eyes narrowed, he was ready for the fight to begin.
Somewhere in the background, Dragula was snuffed out, and Weapon of Choice began. It was just on the instrumental part at this moment however, and all camera angles were focused on the pissed off ex-captain of Team Lu Bu.
He had a thing about guns, it was reported, that Kichiro repeatedly shot a man in the Battle Arena after being shot himself, then got up close to the man, fried him with third degree burns and threw him out of the arena. It was actually being discussed as one of the theories for Kichiro's sudden burst of anger.
Save took a deep breath, his eyes closing slowly for a moment, then snapping to alertness when he spied Kichiro's ascent from, quite literally, the ashes of his predecessor's defeat.
Very mythic, Save mused.
As for the young teacher, he gave no apparent sign of a change, but slowly tucked his hands into his pockets, his hands gripping at a pair of Jitte, the tips of the sword-catching weapons tapered to deliver thick piercing blows. He hoped they were all he's have to use. Killing in the tournament meant the end for his team, and he had to avoid it at all costs.
His ears perked for a minute, hearing Kichiro's choice in music, but his mind rejected it. Not his style. In his head, he began to play out Requiem, a much finer song to fight to, in his opinion. Funny little trick he'd picked off from his insane uncle, which allowed him to substitute sounds from the outside world into whatever he wanted to hear. Not much use in a fight.
"A handful of manners wouldn't hurt, drunkard." He curtly advised, pushing his shoulders back behind him and using them to hop up, after which he slowly sauntered over towards Kichiro, standing ten feet away from him.
"Anyway, whenever you're ready." He said. His voice, like his opponent's had taken a deeper, sharper edge. Both men were, it seemed, getting serious.
24 Seconds into the song, the lyrics were starting, Save had given the go ahead. Kichiro's hands fell to his hips crossed, beneath the sides of his overcoat. The man was taking out his wakizashis. That was the cue that the Chimagin was serious, because otherwise, it was just a game. Coming up from Kichiro's left side in his right hand, was a 1'6" wakizashi known as DemonBuster.
As each blade came into view, a small commentary was made on them from what people knew of them.
DemonBuster- Wrote:is in a thigh sheath on his left side. This named sword is a wakazashi with an enchantment against demons. Against those of demonic origins, or hell origins, it does an additional amount of damage straight to their health, instead of on the armor. Not poisonous, just enchanted against demons.
The blade was held from right hand, with its tip coming to Kichiro's left shoulder with sharp edge out towards Save. It was damn near simultaneous that the other blade came into view however, being on the opposite of a formed cross block in front of Kichiro's chest.
MoonShine- Wrote:is in a thigh sheath on his right side. This named sword is a wakazashi with a channel of pure alcohol running along it. The alcohol is fueled by a reservoir of holding in the mid of the blade. It is a highly flammable substance which creates a blue flame, and can eat steadily through normal steels and most tissues.
This was new to Kichiro's arsenal, and there were debates as to the naming of the sword. Matching the wakizashi Demonbuster for length, the main difference was in a seemingly endless amount of pure alcohol running along it. The theories for its name came either to a reference of the alcohol on it, or because of the blue shine it gave like a setting moon once aflame.
Reporter Wrote:
"No reports of anything catastrophic so far, we've just witnessed---- and he is pulling out the swords early in the match!"
6'3", standing 6'5" with two inches of padding on his boots. Kichiro had arms just over 3', giving a little over 4'6" of range with his blades. The man kicked the straw hat back with a scoot of his left foot, while getting into stance. After his blades had withdrawn, and most the debri on the floor was free between him and his pray, he moved in quickly within a shuffle step.
Moving on the balls of Kichiro's feet, he was slightly bent at the knees, with overcoat picking up behind him. The shuffle step was meant for balance, quick control, and the ability to change direction.
As Kichiro quickly closed a distance of five feet, he'd be moving out to the right and forward, while going with a counter-clockwise torque to keep his hips squared to Save. Wakizashis were not the blades of cartoons that cut shop trees and men in half, once circling into a distance of four feet, if Save just stood there, Kichiro's left hand would come pulling down to the left.
Left tip of wakizashi at right shoulder down to Kichiro's left hand at left hip, the blade would come in a diagnol strike at Save's left shoulder across his chest down to the right if he did nothing, which Kichiro highly doubted. Moonshine would be enough to cut a belt, slice through leather, maybe even an inch of skin to start the bleeding, but nothing further.
Kichiro's right wakizashi staid near his chest, reactive, and waiting for Save to attempt bringing something against him.
No powers attacking, just intent to hurt. Just skill. Just blades.
27 Seconds into the song.
1/17
(What's your favorite color?)
Save made no attempt to conceal his weapons, and quickly whipped the pair of Jitte out and foreward simultaneously with the swordsman. He had nothing to hide. His martial style: The Looping Water style, was a mainly defensive creation of Save's taken from defensive logic, and styles including Hapkido, Aikido, and Judo. He favored highly defensive maneuvers thay played to his high stamina and steadfast patiance.
He was good at what he did.
As Kichiro came upon him and swung his initial strike, Save immediately began to step backwards, immediately matching with the swordsman's momentum, so as to not be overwhelmed by the opposing force of Kichi's charge.
His right arm quickly raised the jitte, swatting at the sword in a half circle from his chest level, past his face and up to connect with the blade. Given the distance of Kichi's charge, and his revealing stance, Save expected that it was a toe in the pool, of sorts; A strike to test his ability. Kichiro held swords at his side, and Save realized that to do such represented confidence in his swordsmanship. The young teacher refused to take anything his opponent did lightly. As soon as the metal weapons would connect, Save would give the sword a slight push, making sure to clear it past damaging range, then immediately would pull it back in, to prepare for any tricks Kichiro might have had up his sleeves.
Meanwhile, his left hand gripped its jitte at an inch above hip level, carefully placed to be in the center of Save's threatened areas. He had the element of speed on his side, which was the purpose in weilding small weapons, but his am had to be precise, and he had to use every extra milisecond of reaction time to gauge his hands positions when struck at.
He would make no counter attack, for the moment, as his simply continued to backpeddle until Kichiro stopped, after which he would move five more feet, then stop himself.
[1/17]
The bottle went back to Matthew's lips, his eyes peering around the bottle at the battle about to unfold. When the bottle was lowered, his cheeks puffed up, and he let out a loud belch.
"Caapaan me capan!" he called out, turning on his seat so he could try to keep his eyes on both the gathering fight and the crumpled up Captain of Team Rising Storm out behind the bar.
"Caaapaaan. Caam an! Git ap!"
He was being treated, for what? Wasn't he stronger than that?
Or was it possible he had napped through it?
He blinked slowly, his gaze turning back to the Team Other Guys Captain, and then to the fight in the ring. He hiccuped once, his lips pulled back in a sour grimmace.
"Haaw tha happan?" he muttered, blinking very slowly as he gave the Teacher another look over.
"Huuu..."
His chin fell to his chest, his eyes closed behind his wireframe glasses, and a low rumbling sound started coming from him.
His hand was still clenched around the neck of his bottle, thumb stoppering it up.
Somehow, Ray had managed to get into the spectators area. She carrying yet aother board while she sat in place. She didn't know wether or not the team was winning, but she did promise Kichiro she'd show up and root for him.
And so she would. Grinning, the black haired kappa would lift her board, but this time only half way, her smile apparent. She'd get his attention, but hopefully not get his attention and have him get hurt in the process.
"Kick butt Kichi!!"
Mizu Bomber Wrote:(What's your favorite color?)
Save made no attempt to conceal his weapons, and quickly whipped the pair of Jitte out and foreward simultaneously with the swordsman. He had nothing to hide. His martial style: The Looping Water style, was a mainly defensive creation of Save's taken from defensive logic, and styles including Hapkido, Aikido, and Judo. He favored highly defensive maneuvers thay played to his high stamina and steadfast patiance.
He was good at what he did.
As Kichiro came upon him and swung his initial strike, Save immediately began to step backwards, immediately matching with the swordsman's momentum, so as to not be overwhelmed by the opposing force of Kichi's charge.
His right arm quickly raised the jitte, swatting at the sword in a half circle from his chest level, past his face and up to connect with the blade. Given the distance of Kichi's charge, and his revealing stance, Save expected that it was a toe in the pool, of sorts; A strike to test his ability. Kichiro held swords at his side, and Save realized that to do such represented confidence in his swordsmanship. The young teacher refused to take anything his opponent did lightly. As soon as the metal weapons would connect, Save would give the sword a slight push, making sure to clear it past damaging range, then immediately would pull it back in.....
[1/17]
Kichiro had no tricks to play here, the Chimagin was angry for his captain going down in a metaphysical gun battle. He would have vengeance with the sharp end of his blades, unless Save did something to provoke otherwise.
Still, it is important to note the construction of the wakizashi and most Eastern blades. They have a curve, which makes a block rather hard to do unless near the hilt.
So, as Save struck Kichiro's wakizashi, the blade's curve would simply continue to go on to Kichiro's left as Save pulled back his Jitte. Kichiro however never did cease his footwork, nor the movement of his blade.
Kichiro was still shuffling forward and to the right, while turning in with a circling motion. This would keep him just before Save's left side but mostly front facingfront, as he'd allowed Kichiro to close in such range as to be able to strike against Moonshine. Speed wasn't really the issue here, as these blades would be to light to cause a counter force horizontal, and the only issue of speed that could arrive would be shorter arc lengths, which the teacher would know he could achieve.
In any case, Kichiro would never let up on Save, with his left blade coming back towards the right and down in a slash at Save's right thigh circling off the previous momentum.
Being that backpedaling was not as fast as forward shuffling, Kichiro ought be able to keep on the individual from getting out of that four foot range.
Still keeping out of range of the jitte itself, if Save used his right jitte too begin a drop aimed parry the wakizashi again, Demonbuster would pull back, and thrust out into Save's right bicep in a snapping of his wrist, immediately withdrawing the blade back down to his right hip in its defensive maneuver.
The other wakizashi would continue off a weakened jitte, or prevented parry into Save's other thigh and back up to Kichiro's right shoulder at the tip, back into a cross block. The whirling blades had just begun to go into motion.
2/17
As soon as Save noticed the effect of his block, he blasted into motion. Kichiro had been right to assume that he had more momentum, and was effectively faster then Save, but even for all of his power, he had made the mistake of moving towards Save's left, while opening up his right side with the parried strike.
Save stepped back with his left foot, as though to continue his backwards motion, then shot his right foot forward, past Kichi's left leg. This leg quickly pulled the rest of his body under Kichio's then descending strike, the wakizashi slicing through the trailing hairs that followed his left ear as he slipped past. But a simple dodge had not been his intent.
For all of his power, Kichiro had thought only of continue his momentum and his beat down, and Save hoped he had been under the assumption that the young teacher was simply going to continue taking his savage flurry. For as the young man slipped under the wakizashi, his left arm trailed a half a foot behind his head, the small tapered pole of the jitte pointed towards the ceiling to catch the descending forearm as Save passed him.
Were Save to feel the sting of their arm bones colliding (Signaling that Kichiro's arm had indeed been stopped by the "L" shaped corner of his jiite and his forearm) he would immediately twist and pull the arm towards himself as he spun, giving strength to a blow that would come from his right arm, a punch directly under Kichiro's upper arm, allowing the second jitte (which was pointed vertically like it's companion) to come crashing into the arm as close to the elbow as possible (while still striking the upper arm itself, of course), which could pull the forearm back and give Kichiro a extremely painful, nasty break.
2/17
Authoritative_Nuisance Wrote:
...if Save used his right jitte too begin a drop aimed parry the wakizashi again, Demonbuster would pull back...
Since Kichiro never visibly went after Kichiro's left wakizashi to continue in pursuit, Demonbuster would not pull back. Especially since Save did something quite different after the block, having blasted into motion as he did... instead of staying backpeddling to drop an aimed parry.
Mizu Bomber Wrote:As soon as Save noticed the effect of his block, he blasted into motion. Kichiro had been right to assume that he had more momentum, and was effectively faster then Save, but even for all of his power, he had made the mistake of moving towards Save's left, while opening up his right side with the parried strike.
Kichiro was in a shuffle step, not a blatant rush, as meant to be used for quick changes in direction stated before. So, he wasn't THAT much faster, just enough to keep on the man. He had momentum with his blade, because it had more time to have more power applied too it, that's all.
Mizu Bomber Wrote:
Save stepped back with his left foot, as though to continue his backwards motion, then shot his right foot forward, past Kichi's left leg.
So, now Save was having one leg go forward with the other back. He might as well start extending and go into a full splits as far as Kichiro was concerned. Kichiro wasn't attempting to get further than the four foot distance, and so as Save attempted to slide his right foot up four feet to get past, Kichiro's shuffle would be directed out wards to the right, like before, and in the counter clockwise rotation towards Save's left side to keep hips squared.
All that extending meant, was Save's right thigh would be more in range of the wakizashi that was going that way to begin with, so he'd suffer a nice gash against his thigh for his assumption. Kichiro's shuffle would keep him at the four foot range...
Save thought Kichi was in some savage flurry, reacting quickly too the blade coming in, and trying to do anything before that other wakizashi would even begin to move.
With Save's momentum at a dead halt from having one leg try to cross the gap, while his other went backwards, Kichiro moved in towards Save's backside, with his left blade going up from Save's right thigh up across his other thigh. Save's stop allowed Kichiro to get on his left flank, staying at 4 feet, and now Kichiro was going to attempt to get behind Save before the man could right himself and begin a solid counter.
DemonBuster would still be reacting defensively, and it'd seem Kichiro was dancing with the shuffle of his feet, the rotation of his hips, and the arching of his blade.
3/17
OFFENSIVE DOUCHEBAG STRIKER!
“s**t… good fight old man.” Shi exhaled all the breath had been held in whatever accounted for lungs amongst Iblis’ species. It could have been better… shi told hirself. If only Victor hadn’t been so quick to pull the trigger on everyone, an old fashioned shoot out couldn’t be cool if only man was doing the gunning. Pushing off of hir elbows the androgynous wonder shot to hir feet, refusing to meet the team captains’ eyes as he passed by, he was in a bad mood and it would do nothing for their already fractured team spirit if the duo reenacted their slug fest in the middle of a match. Besides shi already had hir orders.
”When Save fights, I want you to back him up like you’ve never backed up anyone before.” Iblis issued an audible scoff, what a pompous a** that Kalliandro was. Save was a man, plus he had asked Save personally to join the team, did he have so little faith in the teacher as to give him a personal body guard? Still, Iblis was bound to follow Victors orders to the dot on the ‘I’. Somewhere in that shriveled heart of hir’s shi felt sorry for Save, shi had tried to toughen him up during the preliminaries but all it had earned hir was a tumor attached to hir hip that constantly tried to scold hir.
<The Fight>
Iblis had soon found hir perch on a nearby stool, the tiny thing far too small to accommodate hir height, it looked like shi was hunching with hir knee’s bent so high like that, arms dangling in between the gap. ”Should have stayed in bed four-eyes.” the amazon, as the fans had come to label hir after only a few short moments, snapped at the teacher in hir head. He didn’t need any distractions though, he needed saving…
With Kishiro’s back to hir, Iblis would snap to hir feet, flexing the overdeveloped mental muscles that no one had given hir credit for to muffle any noise from hir feet’s impact, the chair remaining rigid where it would have normally wobbled. Hir finger would flick against the FIGHTER, tossing the switch that would signal for an Offensive Striker with a thumbs up towards the judge, shi didn’t want those creepy silent bastards flashing anything in hir direction any time soon.
1 second
Iblis shot across the floor like a bat out of hell, long limbs covering the distance between hirself and Kishiro in strides. All the fancy footwork, delicate arching of blades, and entangling of bodies was what shi hated about swords. Even with the advantage the poor fellow had to keep both eyes locked on Save should the teacher try any tricky moves, if it had been Save shi was striking then he might have been a dead man standing, desperately trying to defend himself as he was.
3 seconds
Head-scissoring Rain had been good for one thing. It had cleared a path. Shi was against Kishiro’s back by the third second, lanky arms easily slipping in between the cracks at Kichiro’s sides, fingers interlocking themselves in front of the mans hips. Hir forearms would squeeze tight, shi would need the grip.
4 seconds
It was taking too long, a foot stool snapped into a standing position, gliding along the floor until it was within’ back stepping distance of Iblis. Which was good, because hir foot was already in mid step, hir arms jerking themselves back with a surprising strength to heft Kishiro into the air, being telekinetic was good for one thing. Even factoring in the kinetic energy Kishiro would generate that would normally keep hir from tossing him around. By combining muscle and mind shi was capable of performing power moves with ease, even on large and heavy opponents.
5 seconds
If Kishiro didn’t have any funny plans to slip out of hir surprise bear hug shi would be standing on the stool with him in hir arms. If he were to simply stab at hir arms though, well he apparently hadn’t been around the amazon long enough. Iblis would spring into the air with Kishiro in hir arms. Upper body snapping itself back and carrying Kishiro across hir chest even in mid-air. What a suplex.
7 seconds
As the peak of their height passed and Iblis body would start to bend down, hir hands would release their grip. The desired effect would be to have the chaumujin flipping in mid-air, landing face first or even neck first on the ground, though the last would probably result in his neck snapping and while Iblis knew two yellow cards was one red, shi had no idea what a red and a yellow would force the judges into. Hopefully surprise would force him to let go of his blades as well.
9 seconds
Iblis would slam into the ground back first if all went as planned, landing on the very edge of the ring. With time riding hir a** shi would simply roll out of the clearing before the judges could maul hir with their damned cards.
Hopefully Save would have the distance he needed. Hopefully the teacher would prove Victor wrong and not need saving again…
(Save is sleeping for the night. Respond if you want, or just save your dodging/struggling/neck snapping later tonight. But the fight wont be continuing today.)
((Announced a striker then logged off? Eh, just letting you know Kichiro is going to sleep for the night.))
A foaming, bubbling sound came from Matthew, drool bubbles forming over parted lips, popping, and making a small damp spot about dead middle of his chest. With a start he nearly fell out of his chair, cracking his back against the bar as he straightened up, causing him to wince and roll off his barstool. And finally down to the floor, curled up into a little ball... eyes towards the fight, and bottle cradled up.
"Wazat far?!"
...being that Kichiro was moving in a flanking motion and rotating the entire time coming into Save, he'd see hir coming at him before she impacted into his back out the corner of his eyes. He'd strengthen the grip on his blades, bringing his left up from Save's right thigh that'd been extended, and lock himself into a cross block, while shi had her way with him during the striker.
That yellow aura at the beginning of the fight wasn't just lighting effects, Kichiro knew there was a point he'd have to use powers, and a point he'd have to take a surprise attack.
This was it.
LordKanti Wrote:OFFENSIVE DOUCHEBAG STRIKER!
....The desired effect would be to have the chaumujin flipping in mid-air, landing face first or even neck first on the ground, though the last would probably result in his neck snapping and while Iblis knew two yellow cards was one red, shi had no idea what a red and a yellow would force the judges into. Hopefully surprise would force him to let go of his blades as well.
Aside: As well? If Kichiro's neck snapped and he died, blades letting go would be more from lack of control, than from surprise. But heh, who is getting that technical?
Kichiro had pulled in his blades to not lose grip, but what really threw off the attack, was what Kichiro did after she let go of him. Fire ripped and soared from his manipura chakra to his blades immediately as he was let loose.
Instant ignition.- Wrote:Kichiro has used his manipūra enough to be able to bring flames instantly into creation to flow from his manipūra to his hands, usually spread to blades.
Blue flames across his Moonshine blade instantly gave Kichiro a helluva lot more power than the default yellow flames he could bring, the pure alcohol giving him extra fuel. His innate control of flames would spread the blue and yellow fire over him mid-flip, and suddenly, he'd be kicking his feet out towards the wall, while righting himself and looking down at Save with his burning blades.
Flight 2 Wrote:Developing the first skill at flying, Kichiro can now control where he is going and land smoothly. He can even take a passenger. He can move about 70mph by himself, and 35mph with a passenger. Though, chances are he can go a lot faster with some more work at it.
Sweating from the high blue flames, a bead would run down the scar across his face, falling from his chin while he landed. The flames would disperse from his form as he landed in a 180' span before Kichiro, with enough strength to burn hairs and sear clothing, maybe even blind a person. It would only go about five feet at full strength, die at around ten feet before Kichiro, but would provide a screen behind which he would land.
Kichiro would be about seven feet from being thrown backwards in the air, a little sweaty now, but otherwise unaffected. He'd advance from behind the screen of fire, aiming to get back within a four foot distance of Save, and begin the dance of blades again.
If Save was still recovering from the wave of fire, the slash across the thigh, or anything not involving action other than defensive/recovering, the Chimagin would attempt to snap his left blade down in a diagonal strike, hot from the blue flames once on it, it would go from Kichiro's right shoulder to Save's left shoulder, and down to his right thigh again, but from the inside this time.
Demonbuster, remaining reactive to Save.
3/17
((I decided to come back just to see if the Striker had happened, to deal with it, before sleeping. Now g'night. ))
Save inhaled sharply as Kichiro's blade slid across his skin, cutting through it like a hot knife through butter before he quickly jerked it away in what would have been, quite likely, a useless reflexive maneuver: A tuck and roll away from the Chimagin.
Fortunately for him, however, Iblis had his back. Victor had previously informed him that shi would be there to help him, but honestly he hadn't totally been sure he could count on hir. He silently thanked hir as he popped up from the roll, only to, after a few seconds, see a blinding wall of flames before him.
He immediately shoved his jitte into his pockets, and crouched down, averting his eyes from the blinding fires and slapping his palm onto the floor, pulling it up slowly to reveal a baseball sized blue orb.
A mizu bomb.
Despite the name, the small orb had no elemental properties, and didn't react to most attacks of any sort. It was exactly, otherwise, as it sounded: A small blue ball that exploded. It was Save's most special ability, and it was his, hopefully, ace in the hole for this match. In earnest, he couldn't hold up to Kichiro in raw physical strength, nor in pure combat ability. Save was thinker, not a reflexive fighter.
By the time Kichiro stepped out from the flames, He'd see Save running away and around a corner, a small little blue ball left in his wake, just sitting on the ground harmlessly.
But if Kichiro (Or any other creature) stepped within it's threatened range (aprrox. five feet from it's square) the small bomb would explode, inflicting more then it's size's worth in pain and push.
(PM me with any questions about the map)
3/17
..."Are you serious?"
Kichiro simply stopped as Save took off with some -wtf blue ball- left where Save was. Now, Kichiro had done more than his fair share of tricks on Gaia, the last thing he was about to do was rush some unknown object in pursuit of a Gaian who had a head start on him.
Especially around some wall or another for a private party room in the Firebrand, if they had one of those. ((only comparison I've heard was too AppleBee's with weapons on the wall.))
Kichiro turned back towards the spectators and media, twirling his blades back into their sheathes.
He wiped a few beads of sweat that had gathered on him from before, tilting his head. Looking straight into the T.V. camera he shouted, in his not-so-happy voice.
"Is this what Heaven or Hell is about? One captain takes another out with a lightning gun, and his team mate runs away? Is THIS what you came too watch?"
Many of the Spectators of course, surprised at the now very sober drunkard, nodded to what he had to say.
"I'll be waiting if the coward actually wants to fight."
Kichiro walked over behind the bar, where Rain had crashed, rummaging for a full bottle of sake to drink. He'd set that down, with a shot glass, always his eyes waiting for some appearance that the other fighter still wanted to do combat.
4/17
Save smiled. If Kichiro wanted to enjoy his showmanship, he certainly wasn't going to be the one that stopped him. He wasn't the sort of man who enjoyed the spotlight, unlike Kichiro. He wanted to win this fight, he didn't care about appealing to the media.
The Style of Bomb he had used was a Mizu Time Bomb. It just sat around for a preset time before exploding on its own. Save had set it for (Four Turns) as he doubted his strategy would take much longer. As the young teacher listened to Kichiro's grievances, he continued to sprint around a second corner. In a few seconds he would be around the third corner, and ready to hit Kichiro with his attack.
Integrity be damned, he was going to win.
4/17
"******** it."
This was Gaia, it was a Gaian tavern. That meant rafters, lots of them, and with ample space for everyone to walk on. Those walls went right up to the rafters, it would work out fine. He slammed the shot glass down and jumped up onto the bar counter, before jumping again into a ninja double jump up to the rafters. Say maybe, fifteen feet off the ground with no dimensions given?
It worked.
Kichiro would then see over the walls to where Save was running, he walked along the rafters, tossing fireballs down from above like bowling balls in an underhand pitch with an arc. They'd be the exploding kind, coming in a scattered array before Save, on Save, and behind Save.
Instant Ignition brought the fire forth, and they'd explode once reaching their designated distance. Concussive force enough to knock a man on his rear, spreading flames about three feet from their core, each hot enough to give a first degree burn.
Someone started playing Great Balls of Fire in the background.
Tables around Save would catch fire from the blasts, smoke would raise, Kichi just kept on going. He'd walk, and throw down yellow fireballs. It's all he could do at the moment.
5/17
As Save approached the next corner, he brought his left hand up to his glasses, tapping the side of them gently and muttering to himself.
"Let me see him."
His head was, by the magic of the glasses, gently turned towards to look directly at Kichiro. Save had expected to be guided to look at a wall, giving him an estimation of where Kichiro was on the other side of said wall, but instead he was guided to look up at the ceiling, where he got a glimpse of Kichiro making his way towards the young teacher, his hand just having lit the first ball of flames...
His eyes widened for a second, as a blast of flame rocketed down at him. Luckily for the teacher, he was no ordinary academy professor, but a instructor of battle at the Northeast Academy of War. It wasn't often he allowed shock to get the better of him. His right hand immediately produced a Mizu shot bomb. This bomb rested in his hand, like all of his bombs, but could be shot in a straight line away from him.
Unfortunately, this action left him vulnerable to Kichiro's fire. He tried to vault away to the right, but his hip took a bit of the blast, sending him careening through the air, and about five feet away. Gritting his teeth with the pain, he aimed his right palm up towards Kichiro, still prone on the ground, and the baseball sized bomb blasted from his hand, speeding at nearly fifty miles an hour directly three feet in front of the swordsman. The second it hit the rafters behind him, it would explode in a blue spherical blast of energy, the burst easily strong enough to knock a small horde of common humans unconscious from the severe push of the expanding and releasing energy.
5/17
Mizu Bomber Wrote:As Save approached the next corner, he brought his left hand up to his glasses, tapping the side of them gently and muttering to himself.
"Let me see him."
His head was, by the magic of the glasses, gently turned towards to look directly at Kichiro. Save had expected to be guided to look at a wall, giving him an estimation of where Kichiro was on the other side of said wall, but instead he was guided to look up at the ceiling, where he got a glimpse of Kichiro making his way towards the young teacher, his hand just having lit the first ball of flames...
His eyes widened for a second, as a blast of flame rocketed down at him. Luckily for the teacher, he was no ordinary academy professor, but a instructor of battle at the Northeast Academy of War. It wasn't often he allowed shock to get the better of him. His right hand immediately produced a Mizu shot bomb. This bomb rested in his hand, like all of his bombs, but could be shot in a straight line away from him.
Unfortunately, this action left him vulnerable to Kichiro's fire. He tried to vault away to the right, but his hip took a bit of the blast, sending him careening through the air, and about five feet away...
When Save went flying, Kichiro for all intensive purposes would not be found. He took that moment to do a ninja vanish.
Heat Wave Mirage.- Wrote:Having an affinity for the work of assassins, this combatant has learned how to use the amount of heat he produces, to create after-images of heat waves. The heat waves also distort his factual image, making one think they are fighting in the desert.
An after image would take the blow....
Kichiro was nowhere to be seen up above, with smoke all around from burning tables, wood, and rafters as well that'd been caught in the blast or from passing fireballs. Save could fire the blue ball upwards where Kichiro was, if he wanted too, but the man simply wasn't there.
Kichiro was doing something of course, but Mizu would only get smoke and flame now, along with the camera crew.
Explosions, fire, this was the FIREBRAND. Oh, and now there was a hole in the roof from where the bomb hit, with the ceiling collapsing where no rafters were left.
6/17
A triumphant smile spread over Save's face as he stood up. There was no way the shot had missed, he thought, he had SEEN it slam into Kichiro, and watched the blue spherical blast overtake his body. The poor idiot probably hadn't even seen it coming.
Still, Save mused, there was a chance that Kichiro might have stayed conscious through the blast. He did seem to have a gamut of fire powers, and fire did boast itself, among other things, as the symbol of rebirth. Honestly, there was no telling what had happened until the rubble cleared.
Save couldn't help himself. He, without looking at the cameraman, shot his empty right hand out to the side, flipping his thumb up as he gave a confident snort.
That hand then quickly moved to his glasses, tapping them a second time as he repeated the verbal cue.
"Let me see him."
The spell was MADE for this sort of situation. He'd had a fellow teacher enchant the goggles simply for the purpose of not getting caught off guard. Information was his weapon, and knowing the position of his enemy was key to his survival. As his head turned to face Kichiro and he began to notice that wasn't being guided to the rubble, he materialized another blue orb into his left palm, sighing with displeasure as he came to the realization that his attack hadn't worked.
"Uhg." He moaned, both from simple unhappiness, and the pain in his lower body.
6/17
Mizu Bomber Wrote:A triumphant smile spread over Save's face as he stood up. There was no way the shot had missed, he thought, he had SEEN it slam into Kichiro, and watched the blue spherical blast overtake his body. The poor idiot probably hadn't even seen it coming.
Still, Save mused, there was a chance that Kichiro might have stayed conscious through the blast. He did seem to have a gamut of fire powers, and fire did boast itself, among other things, as the symbol of rebirth. Honestly, there was no telling what had happened until the rubble cleared.
Save couldn't help himself. He, without looking at the cameraman, shot his empty right hand out to the side, flipping his thumb up as he gave a confident snort..
...and was promptly slammed in the side with a flying drop kick, out of the smoke surrounding the area, from tables, and rafters on fire. Kichiro had taken the flame of wood catching on fire towards him, with his innate controls on fire, and flew down from the rafters propelled by fire as the blue orb was coming up. He'd be coughing and hacking after holding his breath from going through the thickest smoke of the table caught in his fireball blasts, but he came down at 70mph right into an unsuspecting target as he flew quick down into the smoke and out into Save.
Kichiro's boots had padding, but they were extremely hot, and parts of Kichiro's clothing was beginning to sear off form all the flames around Kichiro.
The Chimagin simply couldn't tell all the fire around him to not hurt everything on him, the man was working up a sweat, and was getting hot. After landing the drop kick, Kichiro would rebound off the man and fly into a table and through the wall with a loud....
KRRRRAAACCCKKK!!
Unless Mizu could track Kichiro while being fireball drop kicked, as Kichiro flew by being bathed in fire, he'd not see where Kichiro ended up. Though, it was guaranteed, the man was hot, and hurting from that one.
Still better than taking a blue ball shot directly though.
7/17
Even in a cloud of dust, Fire was bright, and Save didn't need much warning to summon his fourth Mizu bomb, which he would simply do by switching the thumbs-up to a forward palm, faced directly at Kichiro's oncoming body.
But Kichiro wasn't aiming for his hand, he was aiming for his midsection. So what did Save do? He leaned foreward as far back as he could before the blow hit him, and tilted his hand down the second he was hit by the extremely painful blow, placing a sticky Mizu bomb directly onto Kichi's leg. This bomb had a single second time release, which was more then long enough to allow Kichiro's kick to blow by him and past him directly into a table, and an explosion.
Save, for his part, did a bit to lessen the blow by moving to make it a more glancing blow rather then a full on one. Still, he was hurled to the side and screamed in pain as his skin sizzled slightly. The thing was, at seventy miles per hour, it wasn't as bad as he had expected. It was simply to short of an exposure to the flames for him to really complain.
And down on the other side of the building, which Kichiro would probably not notice due to the explosion on his leg, Save's initial bomb detonated, doing very little.
Save mastered himself quickly, however, and rolled with the backwards fall, coming to a crouch.
"LET ME SEE HIM!" He yelled, his head being more quickly pulled towards Kichiro's new position, and Save aimed his arm for the spot, firing a fifty mile-per hour mizu bomb at the area.
7/17
Kichiro watched as another blue ball shot over his head, and into the wall behind him. Being on fire and moving so fast, he'd burnt a good section of the wall away, before plowing through it. And oh, that hurt like hell. As for the explosion on his leg, well, thank the lawd that there was metal plating around his shins, which was where it was placed from only having a glancing blow with that area closest to Save.
Kichiro had to take flame generated from wood and such burning, after some initially lower powered fireballs had caught stuff on fire. Mostly chairs.
Chairs.
"WHY ALL THESE ******** CHAIRS?!!!"
Kichiro was in a heap of chairs, someone must have thought it really funny to put so many damn chairs in the Firebrand.
Spectators, TV Crew, the lot were exiting the building hastily as smoke rose and fires burned. The Syndicate members were vacating some of the fastest, getting into their Escalades and driving to a safe distance to watch the fires burn.
Anyway.
Kichiro's leg was now exposed, the explosion generated in a few seconds large enough too... blow back an entire team of men? Okay, if Mizu could make an explosion that powerful, that leg was actually gone. Fires cauterizing the stump, and a man with a missing leg was propelling himself through the air back through the wall into Save.
It'd be very difficult to see his factual image, distorted from heat waves, with after-images all over the place.
However, blood was black and dark along his face, his hair was whipping backwards, his clothing was searing and sweat was dripping faster than the blood which was cauterizing in all the various wounds caused by blasting through chairs, tables, and a wall. He was pretty sure something in his chest broke with that last one, but with the overcoat burning away, and his clothing, the shaolin darts scaling his chest would be easy to see why the front of his chest wasn't too bad off.
Bruising mostly.
As Kichiro blasted at the high speed towards Save, his forearms were raised, and wood was sucked up in his propulsion. Smoke spiraled around him, and Kichiro did a barrel roll as he'd come plowing into Save. Even if not an exact hit, the fire he gathered would be drawn some ten feet around him, along with tons of burning debri coming along with him.
There was some booze on some of those tables as well, making more flames roar and rip, and even a blender would come crashing down somewhere.
8/17
Save's eyes widened as he looked at Kichiro coming towards him. Had his bomb actually blown off someone's leg? That had never happened before...And what had happened with the second explosion? Save couldn't see very well, with Kichiro having created another cloud of dust. It would have seemed to Save that Kichiro had found a way to dodge or avoid the ten foot blast, but the teacher had no time to investigate.
Things weren't as bad for Kichiro as they looked, since the man could fly. Save made to stand up, but to his surprise found himself immediately pulled back down by an intense pain on his right side. Kichiro had broken a pair of his ribs, and in his curled and adrenaline hyped state, he hadn't even noticed until he'd tried to slowly move them.
A stream of curses filled his head as Kichiro draw closer and closer. Eventually, Save realized he had no way of moving, and with that came the realization that even HE couldn't beat this attack. He didn't have the time to conjure a Mizu bomb that wouldn't explode on both of them, and honestly he didn't want to risk hurting himself any more. He had a great stamina from blowing himself up constantly, but pushing his limits was not something he wanted to do yet.
He needed backup. But would Iblis or Victor notice?
He couldn't count on it. Suddenly, in his mind, hundreds of images flashed past, times of hard work, teaching classes, lounging with his co-workers in the office...and her...his love....
******** it.
"AAARRRGGGH!" He cried as he forced himself up, feeling the sounds of his creaking bones in his chest as he did. The pain coursed through him like a thousand bolts of lightning, and yet he preserve red, his mind focused on the smiling face of a woman who was waiting for him.
His arm shot forward and released a single orb that sailed directly behind Kichiro, towards the fire and debris behind him. The second it connected with the first piece of crap behind the flaming swordsman, it would explode, blasting out and scattering the flames and the debris in a hundred different directions, most away from the combatants, minimizing that damage. But Save knew his mobility was still limited, and pulled the same terrible leaning motion he'd done last time, to the right.
It didn't work so well in this case. This time, his right leg dislocated, and he screamed as he spun wildly to the left, crashing back-first into a wall, sinking to a sitting position, unable to move his lower body without unbearable pain coursing through.
"s**t..." He gasped, then immediately summoned his seventh bomb, holding it out and aimed at Kichiro, ready to fire no matter what. His body screamed at him to stop, to lay down and let his eyes close. He was weak, and he knew it.
But for the people he loved, the woman he loved, he would carry on.
"Tell me something, Kichiro, what the hell does this all mean to you? Is this just some tournament for you ****** enjoyment?!" He yelled, "Do you relish this st?! Well realize this!" He yelled, not even aware enough to consider that the man might neither have heard, nor cared, "I'm not leaving without that money, so you best end my life here and now, or I'll keep ******** shooting." He finished, now growling with determination.
8/17
((Oh your still here. ))
bomb strength Wrote:..it would explode in a blue spherical blast of energy, the burst easily strong enough to knock a small horde of common humans unconscious from the severe push of the expanding and releasing energy.
His leg surely wasn't the same as a horde of humans, it was just a leg.
Another bomb blew up behind him.
Oh dear.
Kichiro was flying into another one. It didn't matter, none of it mattered. He was spiralling in out of control, focused with adrenaline and fire, on the thing that was his target. He'd tried to fight with blades, tried to fight honorably in response to his captain being shot.
Thrown into the air and let go at peak height, Kichiro had to respond the way he could.
Then the man left to run around a corner, he left some blue thing.
Kichiro threw some fireballs.
He lost a leg, went through some chairs, some stuff was broken. He couldn't count all the things that were.
Oh well.
Kichiro would pass out before he would even crash into the man, not hearing a word. Just burning up, flesh, and all. He might even die if no medical attention was given him.
9/17, final.
Save watched him fly past, noting his unconsciousness.
Losing a leg would do that to you.
If he was on fire, and burned to death, he could die. If he died, they lost.
Save weakly aimed his arm up and shot the Mizu bomb way over Kichiro's body, colliding it with a wall a good fifteen feet away. It exploded, and the powerful surge of energy blasted winds that extinguished the now likely low flames riddling Kichiro's unconscious form.
"Iblis...Victor...don't let him die..." He said, his voice slowly fading as he watched everything before him, watching medics rush in, and whatever his teammates did next. To him, it was all a blur, even the painful aching dulled as his senses began to slowly ebb. Was he dying? No. But he was slipping back and forth, in and out of consciousness.
"Emily?" He asked the air in front of him, his mind creating fantastical illusions in his delirious state, "You look so pretty..."
9/17 Final
Iblis felt like a chain-smoker after that fight, everything had been so fast; Kichiro had proved to be a swiss army drunkard, Save had been dominated, a single technique changed the tide, and Kichiro responded by giving everyone in the bar a nice helping of lung cancer.
Now the entire Firebrand was on fire, pretty ironic, whoever owned the place was going to pretty pissed off. The jukebox had managed to survive pro-wrestlers, rail guns, electric cannons, fireballs, and bomber man though. It gave a few whining flicks before swapping to Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire. The self-designating King of Heavy Metal bobbed hir head to the music for a few moments, an odd sight considering the genre’s that had been playing for the past twenty minutes. There was always time to appreciate the classics though, even for a amazon
Iblis stalked through the smoke and debris, waging a hand irately in front of hir face as if it would actually help. A good portion of the fans were stuck wailing over the chimajin’s newest amputation, but a handful of girls were cheering Save, some people just had strange tastes. Hir path led hir to Save, the medics too busy with Kichiro’s largely self-imposed injuries to drag the half-conscious teacher to safety. Then something unexpected happened.
Shi bent over, setting a hand on Save’s head and ruffling his hair like a parent would hir child. “Good job, you’re a lot stronger then people give you credit for. Now shut up and sleep.” Iblis rose up to hir feet, the smoke and debris hadn’t done much to obscure the few shocked faces in the crowd. Furious Iblis whirled around, swiiing~
<A Second Later>
Iblis stalked away from the body of Save, sprawled out on the floor for unknown reasons. Muttering lightly beneath hir breath as she stepped into the clearing. “Its only going to get harder from here…”
Iblis snapped hir leg out, slamming it into a half-broken burning chair, sending the hunk of wood spinning into a nearby wall before folding hir arms beneath hir chest, the picture definition of a haughty matriarch… patriarch… ruler. “I understand if you want to get revenge for your partners. So lets get this show on the road before your idiots mistakes cut another ten years off my life.”
(First post to you.)
((Be back during Daylight today.))
"Hufua?"
The drunk, and it appeared sleeping, somehow, through all the Fire, Explosions, and DOOM, member of Team Rising Storm blinked. He was rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, the hand still holding the bottle he had been with all Match and even before. His jaws opened wide, letting out a long yawn as he lurched to his feet.
His lips smacked as he shuffled his feet across the floor, the bottle going back up to his lips for another long moment, lowered after with an "Aaaaah!" of contentment coming out.
And he wobbled, his left leg seeming to give out under him and nearly knock him down before he could slam it down and out again, keeping him up and awake.
"Hiswha? Tha hall yall da?" he muttered, spinning around in the smoke filled, charred, exploded area. He spun around, waving over to one of Kichiro's crew. One of the Ring Girls that caught his eye.
As she came over, he grabbed up a little white board he found, maybe used for writing down specials or something, as if Rage would do that. So sue me, it's convient, as well as a Felt Marker.
He scrawled out on it, in very bad penmenship, his hand wouldn't stop shaking...
FINAL ROUND
Matthew
Vs.
....
He glanced over at the opponent waiting for him.
Pat, he finally wrote down, then handed the board over to the girl so she could strut her stuff and introduce the match. All the time thinking of that old sketch comedy jingle.
He giggled helplessly at it as he stepped up from the bar. His footing was uncertain, with his feet near together, his body swaying back and forth through some imagined/hallucinated breeze. His hand came up again, putting his lips to the bottle one more time, then finally flicking the cowboy hat off his head.
Who was he? Well, if Iblis missed it, a guy that looked like the bumpkin version of Save. Maybe. He had the glasses down at least. Looked to stand about 5'8", maybe, fairly thin, definately not the pro wrestler or martial artist type. Wearing a buttoned up flannel jacket, black belt, blue jeans, a ring on his right hand, and brown leathery boots that seemed to have some mostly hidden design on them, thanks to being under the pants legs.
"Aaaaaaand an thas cornar, weighing aaaand fram par unknawn...." he started, trying to put on his best Announcer Voice as he took a few wobbly, uncertain steps towards Iblis, "MEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
His hands were slack at his sides, left hand still holding onto that bottle by the neck. He appeared to have no weapons with him, and with his staggering wobble still, he raised up his hands, going into an Irish Brawler stance, with his right hand held high and near his chin, his left, with bottle, stoppered by his thumb, out low, bottle held vertically.
((Tired, need to nap. Haven't done anything that wasn't an intro. Feel free to start the violence.))
Having been taken outside to be treated by the healing touch of two of Kichiro's Chimagin assistants. He would have been unconscious for most of of the second fight, but slowly, he wounds would have begun to heal. Most of Rain's injuries had been internal, save for a series of cuts from crashing into the bar. Those had all stopped bleeding, and were already in the advanced levels of being sealed up, when Rain would finally stir, and awaken...
... due to the resonating concussive blasts sounding from within the tavern.
"Unnghh... Wha? What's going on?" he would ask, still unaware of his surroundings. There was a tiny click from inside his body, as his voice changed octaves midquestion. More synthetic.
He would slowly sit up, bringing his right hand to his forehead. Wincing, he shook his head, before looking about at the two women. "... I take it I lost?" he would ask them.
He probably didn't get much of a chance to hear a response though, as another explosion (the last one) had sounded from within, part of an outside wall falling apart cause of it. Rain turned to see Firebrand was on Fire.
"... oh. The tavern is on fire." he said calmly, just staring for a moment.
"... THE TAVERN IS ON FIRE!!!" He quickly stumbled to his feet, making a dash for the door.
Due to still feeling the pain from his battle with Victor, his body would kind of quit on him halfway, causing him to lose his direction and charge into the doorframe itself, rather than the door. Pausing to catch his breath, he turned towards the two assistants who probably had begun chase after him. "STAY HERE!" Then he would slip inside.
Most of the HoH filmcrew would have already begun fighting the fire, but using fire extinguishers that they bring along as standard equipment. The Tavern's own extinguishers had not been touched, as Rain smashed open the glass window of the first one he could see.
He too would begin to start dousing the flames, finally seeing Kichiro against the wall. He would begin firefighting his way over to him.
...
"OKAY, BELAY THAT ORDER! YOU TWO HEALERS, GET IN HERE!" he would shout towards the doorway, as he would run hustle to Kichiro's side.
"What did you do, man?" he would inquire the unconscious man, facepalming with his free hand.
The healers would be quick to follow, and having that many of the healers had left once the fire had begun, they had no clue Kichiro would be knocked out. They'd seen such things happen before, but truly, they didn't expect that he'd be seriously injured by a guy who chose to only run away. However, what they found would alarm them greatly.
Kichiro was slumped up against the wall, a few medics having done their best to bandage what they could, and dump ice over some of the more serious ones to stop swelling where it wouldn't put him in shock from touching the more serious burns.
Fighting black outs, Kichiro would hear Rain's voice faintly, before slipping back into la la land. His forearms were bleeding, with dented steel from the bombs force, and near his left elbow there was a piece of glass protruding with some bandages around it, not wanting to remove it in case it was holding back some major artery from bleeding.
Kichiro's left leg was simply, not there, a cauterized piece of thigh in torn bloody cloth where it once was, and Kichiro's right leg was ripped open with blackened blood from the fire burning the wounds from the impact of the bomb. Ribs were broken, no one knew how many, and Kichiro's right shoulder was dislocated from going first into the wall.
Burns littered him from forehead to broken right leg, from the amount of flames he'd taken on himself. When the healers arrived to do as much as they could, he would start speaking in a haze.
"A bomb..." Kichiro remembered, "...it blew up..." He pointed up to the large hole in the ceiling with his left hand, the piece of glass reopening a wound, but the healers quickly removing it and working on regenerating that piece of flesh. "...I had begun throwing fireballs chasing him... there was smoke..."
As if Kichiro's body began remembering all the smoke, he let out a hacking cough, "...too many explosions...too much fire... I can't fight... anymore..."
Being robbed of sleep the night before, and needing much sleep and food to sustain his strength. Kichiro's eyes closed, to the songs of the healers around Rain, and he wished for sleep.
Victor simply in gaze around the inside of the building, staring in awe at the destruction that Kichiro and Save created. He certainly didn't envy the person that owned The Firebrand bar. The fire was spreading everywhere, leaving the HoH filmcrew and other helpful spectators volunteering to try to put out this fire. Before he could continue to examine the building, he would hear the cheers for Save from many of the spectators outside. One of the many female fans, this one in particular holding a large camera, stood in the front of the crowd and shouted, "Save's the hottest!"
Shock.
Victor's world seemed to collapse around him. He couldn't understand what he just heard. The cheering fan girls were swooning over Save! How the hell did this happen!? Save was getting the fangirl attention now!?
Victor wouldn't be listening to Save's first few words, because he was currently sulking at the thought of the female fans cheering for him. It just didn't seem possible! Victor could only frown, motioning his right hand for a face palm. He could only think to himself, "How the hell did that happen? They should be cheering for me!!!"
Victor would immediately turn his body to face Save, who seemed a bit delirious.
Mizu Bomber Wrote:"Emily?" He asked the air in front of him, his mind creating fantastical illusions in his delirious state, "You look so pretty..."
Save called out to someone named Emily, who seemed to be someone precious to him. Victor grinned, pondering to himself, "Emily, huh? Oh, I'm so going to use that against you." He was now self-absorbed in plotting out a decent prank on Save. For a few moments, it seemed that a prank would've been a bigger concern than the win that Save achieved.
Win.
It suddenly clicked to Victor that Save won the bout with Kichiro. It took a moment to register, but he could only smile at the thought of it. He turned around to check up on Save, who was now passed out; sprawled out on the floor with Iblis turned away from him. It was only through his own assumption that he could conclude that Save stayed disillusioned and passed out on his own.
Victor stood a few feet away from Iblis, where he could overhear hir talk down to hir opponent.
LordKanti Wrote:Iblis snapped hir leg out, slamming it into a half-broken burning chair, sending the hunk of wood spinning into a nearby wall before folding hir arms beneath hir chest, the picture definition of a haughty matriarch… patriarch… ruler. “I understand if you want to get revenge for your partners. So lets get this show on the road before your idiots mistakes cut another ten years off my life.”
Victor could only smile, knowing that Iblis had the situation under control. He would reach down to wrap Save's right arm around his shoulder, slowly lifting him off the ground. The burns on his own body still felt pretty bad, but he would have to push through to get his teammate out. There was no way to know for certain if Save was in worse shape or not. He would slowly carry him with his arm on his shoulder, where he would approach the entrance of the The Firebrand bar. Before he could step outside, he saw the HoH medical team drive onto the scene.
Television viewers across the country would suddenly be treated to the wonderful color commentary crew of Chuck Liddlestone, Maria Cruz and Joe "Sixpack" McLevy.
"Yo! We on yet?"
"Yes, we're on bendejo. Now help me with Joe's headset."
"Hey! I'm sober as a bird, lady! Only one pack o' Sam Adams Heavy an' you think that's enough to keep Ol' Joe down? Hell naw!"
There was a brief pause as the sounds of a scuffle were heard, followed by a sudden switch of camera feed from Kichiro's unconscious body to the booth team.
Joe was the biggest in the group, on the verge of having a full-on beer belly. Not like the audience could really tell though, seeing as how he was facing in the wrong direction, pumping his fist in the air randomly despite the lack of a fight going on.
Chuck Liddlestone was not the black guy he pretended to be. In fact, he was just some crazy suburban white kid with a black baseball cap turned sideways and his headset on improperly. It should also be noted that he was wearing a white t-shirt with MATA LEON emblazoned all over the front. It wouldn't be Chuck if he wasn't shamelessly promoting somebody.
Maria Cruz was the typical latina bombshell, probably the only normal person among the group, and the one the cameras tended to focus on with her being strategically positioned between both men.
"Bienvenidos and welcome to those of you just joining us from the Deaf Filmmaker's Society Presentation of Aladdin on Ice. We are LIVE here at the Firebrand Bar and Grill, ready to bring you the latest action from the world's HOTTEST tournament. As you can see we are already well under way with the world famous tournament's third installment."
Camera switched feed to show highlights from the previous two rounds, which included a lot of destruction, fire, and thrown furniture.
"Aww man, jus' look at all that wasted booze."
"F'real! I cayn't believe they be lettin' people bust that place up like that. Man, these folks is WACK. Whyn't we get some cool peeps like Mata Leon? I'm sure they'd be wingin' beer our way the entire fight."
"Shut up Chuck. Anyway, we're just about ready to get our next fight under way. While Rising Storm is down two to nothing they still have a chance, albeit a long shot, to get this thing back in their favor. It looks as though Iblis from Team Heavy Metal Kings is about ready to square off with Matthew from Rising Storm, so we'll take you down to the bar for the final match of this first round battle!"
(1/17)
What a funny team Rising Storm was, Rain the seasoned veteran had inspired respect, Kichiro had drawn hatred, and now Matthew… was making hir giddy? It was a shame a group of such interesting individuals had to come to a stop so early, but they had one last chance to go out with a bang. Iblis stretched hir body back, left arm arching out to the side as hir right hand moved out in front of hir face, cupping a pretend microphone.
“Aaaaaaaaaand in this corner. The Ayatollah of Rock n’ Rollah! Iblis! This match is set for one fall in the middle of a blazing infero.” hir voice steadily rose in height, a near shout by the time shi announced hir own name. The crowd would cheer, there were a few boo’s here and there mostly aimed at the clean up man of the Heavy Metal Kings, but adrenaline would find a way to rise above simple fangirlism. The building was genuinely on ******** fire, the rafters were creaking as fire licked away at them, the space on the floor to walk on without getting burned was steadily shrinking, and the Dragonforce had just kicked into the jukebox. It was lucky Kishiro had already lost or he’d be receiving a yellow card for the woman who was leaping up and down, trying to pat out her burning pant leg.
DING
A chunk of wood slammed itself into some dislodged metal that had probably been a weapon before the fire storm had set off. Iblis charged in, long legs covering the distance between hir and the significantly shorter man in strides, if not for the predatory circling in hir gait they would have been face to face in a moment, hir right arm would snap into the air, rearing itself back for what one could only assume would turn out to be one helluva hay maker. Already long limbs would seem longer as shi had the reach advantage that would allow hir to jab away at Matthew without getting close enough to get struck, hir weight would make those blows heavy. Even without psychokinesis Matthew was going to feel it…
Or not.
As Iblis stepped into Matthew’s range the androgynous wonder would jab hir heels into the floorboards, coming to a dead stop with arm still hanging in the air. In a split second Iblis would snap hir upper body back, letting momentum carry the rest into the air as shi entered a rather astounding back flip, that extend right arm would splay palm first against the floor to adjust hir height as shi fell back into the a haze of a smoke to cover hir supposed retreat. It wasn’t a screen, shi needed to see Matthew to hit him after all, but it would obscure his vision, counting on his drunkenness it wouldn’t be hard to assume shi had disappeared to him completely.
He wouldn’t have to wait long though. Iblis immediately sprung from the smoke, covering the short two or three feet distance that had opened up between the two during the flip, with a leap. Iblis was almost parallel with the ground as hir legs extended through the heel, the vicious high heels of hir boots aimed towards the chest of Matthew. Starting the fight off with a drop kick? Well the fans didn’t pay to see a slap fight…
(Circling charge, right hand feint, back flip, drop kick.)
"Wow..." Matthew muttered, looking like a damn statue as he watched Iblis backflip away from him. After all, how often do you see someone that big do a move like that?
He was standing there slackjawed, his left arm having dropped to his side. Holding up a bottle in place was tiring after all, though his right remained high. The Dropkick out of the smoke was, mostly unsuspected. If he hadn't been facing her when she disappeared he might not have caught it at all.
As it was, his right arm dropped, his eyes went wide behind his glasses, he was stumbling, his left foot getting hooked on his right, along with the natural drunken swaying he had making him completely off balance to counter attack.
He took that dropkick, took it hard. The stumbling put the aim a little off, the kick impacting on his right shoulder, and spinning him off towards a burning area to his left and behind him. There was a real loud crunch, showing just how hard s/he had hit.
Or maybe it was the bottle he dropped at the point of impact.
Either way, he bounced off, letting out a loud grunt as he hit the floor, and bounced into the thick fire and smoke.
No counter attack this time, unlike the others int he bar he was smart enough not to swat at the now smoldering areas, sparks, and flashes, but rather rolled across the ground, towards the bar and away from Iblis to put out any flames.
Flame kissed, not flame broiled.
( 1/17 )
((Inauspicious start, but no way was I going to loldodge that. 
))
(2/17)
Impact! Sweet sweet impact.
Iblis’ body was vaulted backwards from the force of hir own kick, his upper body twisting in mid-air until shi was face first in the floor boards. Only a quick placement of hir arms beneath hir body was able to save hir from kissing the ash, pausing only for a few moments, Iblis snapped up against, like an army man doing a push up shi rose to hir feet, heels shuffling beneath hir body to catch hir weight.
There was a method to this madness. Iblis was insane but not stupid, shi highly doubted that Matthew was a simple drunkard and watching Kichiro’s display only proved hir point. Shi had heard long ago about the drunken fighters in Eastern Asia, their rolling movements and strange attacks that caught the enemy off guard. The normally wild man… woman… thing would have to kick it into second gear and possibly even a third to keep the opponent off his feet, hopefully shi wouldn’t have to find out if he really was a drunken master.
Still there was a draw back to hir style. Iblis was high impact, the strikers had already proven that point, where Victor and Rain could probably swing fists for twenty minutes before getting tired Iblis struck hard and fast, then had to lean back to catch hir breath. The pause in between strikers had been enough to calm hir nerves, but now it was time for the real test.
Iblis was off, body hunched as shi was on hir feet again eyes snapping to the rolling Matthew catching hints of a body through fire and flames. Charging forward some would say Iblis was not as smart as Matthew, stepping on a burning pile of wood to charge ones opponents certainly didn’t seem so. Taking advantage of the awkward situation Iblis burst through the smoke again, unable to hold hir breath at risk of causing a cramp shi was glad that smoke was a part of hir casual surroundings. Hir legs would curl themselves up beneath hir body, leaving only the broad bone at the base of hir knee to try and literally crush Matthews’s body into the ground.
How shi would have loved to aim for his head, but the head was such a small target he could easily roll away. While bumping a knee into the floorboards wasn’t a big deal in the short hand, hir ring presence was enough to tell hir that if this fight drew on it little things could build up to one major thing.
Thump, Thump. He could hear that crazy "thing" charging again. Amazon was revised to perhaps "Ogre" in his mind. The flames were out now, he rolled over one more time, catching a glimpse at the large Ogre bringing those legs up into a knee drop.
The rolling through had been different, now that he wasn't on fire. It was getting his feet back up under him, into a crouching position, boots on the floor beneath him, left hand at his waist, hooked on his belt, right on the floor.
That knee was still coming at him, a little closer than he would have cared for. The knee would probably get a glancing blow off his own, the problem was that large bulk coming down on him behind the knee.
With a smile, he raised his left hand, closed into a fist. The knee hit, his left knee buckled under the impact, driving it down and out, his hand was over the knee, within arm range of Iblis, though not close enough to land a blow on her. Unless she fell onto it. It seemed aimed at her left shoulder though.
When the arm extended (Or was blocked), the hand opened out, a small black orb, about one inch in diameter flying out towards Iblis.
Quote: Mauler Spellbomb: Highly charged, dense, electrical based spellbomb. The effect is only within 1 foot of impact, unleashing a phenomon close to Ball Lightning which chews into whatever it impacted with for 2 rounds causing high damage.
"Boom!" came from his lips, followed by a drunken giggle.
(3/17)
(Edited for confusion, crouching, time paradoxes, and captains who can't help clarify a post.)
”s**t!”
That was another flaw in Iblis’ style, shi had rushed in head first and now it was going to bite hir in the a**, or rather the chin. Bursting down through the smoke shi came down not upon a frantically rolling Matthew but a drunkard in a crouch with his hand fiddling at his side. Shi couldn’t imagine Matthew knowing what he could with hir body in the air like that if he knew what shi knew, but an uppercut was just as painfully as anything else.
Hir upper body whipped itself back in desperation, hoping that the fist could be relegated to a simple clip on the jaw rather then a full on shoryuken that would send hir spiraling. Their knees bumped together, Matthew would buckle just as hir body was falling backwards and… no punch came. Hir back slammed into the floor, the force of hir own forced impact knocking the much needed air from hir lungs. Instead of a punch there was, well it looked a little like a ‘Mizu Bomb’. An explosive had ended the fight between Kichiro and Save in under a few turns, that certainly wasn’t going to happen to hir if shi had anything to say about it.
The mauler fell up? Yes it was falling up. Unfortunately without intense concentration the light as air touch it would require to move such a delicate thing was gone. As fast as shi could Iblis flung it up and towards Matthews face, only for it to explode right in hir face. Shi could feel the static electricity nipping at the tip of hir nose, black hair bending up towards the area where the bomb had just exploded. That was one crisis averted.
The first was to kick him in the baby makers. But if Iblis couldn’t kill a simple spectator who had come in armed to the teeth then there was nothing to keep the judges from making dirty blows illegal.
The second, was going to take a little more work. Hir right leg snapped up, the stronger of the two it was going to try and take advantage of Matthews buckling and knock his left leg out from under him. If that worked the left leg would bend around so that it could drape over Mathews, then they would squeeze. Iblis was no Amazon woman, with thighs that looked like they belonged in KFC but that wasn’t to say shi couldn’t squeeze things with hir legs. Hopefully this would take the crafty little drunk to the floor and leave him there. If all went as planned shi was going to roll away from a really bad hair day and wrap his leg in the ankle lock and twist like there was no tomorrow. Even drunken masters needed unbroken ankles to walk.
( 3/17 )
All men fear THE WOUND. All. They'd block their stones over a fatal throat punch. And he was no different. As the leg came out from under her towards the nut shot, Matthew's right leg pivoted over, bringing his knee in line to impact with the kicking leg's shin.
His torso twisted with his block, his right hand came around with the momentum, his hand formed for an two knuckle punch, halfway up on the outside of the kicking leg. Along with the twist, this would bring his left leg to the other side of his body from Iblis, giving him a chance to recover from the blow and get it back under him.
If she still leg scissored, well, she could, but it'd probably be the right leg instead of the left. But her left leg would probably be hurting.
(4/17)
(Edited: To add what number this post was. I'm a**l about uniformity, so sue me.)
“Did you just try to Charlie Horse me!?”
Hir voice was not one of pain, but of shock. Oh there was pain; even Iblis wasn’t immune to school yard bully tactics. Hir muscles locked up a few seconds after impact and there was no way shi could stop it, not even telekinesis. There was anger in hir voice that overshadowed the pain, being childish wasn't going to stop hir. But sadly there was no choice but to continue with the amateur leg scissors. Hir hamstrings were tight and painful to move, but shi managed to loop hir right leg around Matthews’s right, sweep it out from under him and loop the left around it, that had been the plan all along and it wasn’t going to change because someone felt like they were back in the fifth grade.
Iblis rolled hir body away from the ball of static electricity still hovering in the air, legs twisting away at Matthew in an attempt to drag him to the floor with hir. That was something he really didn’t want, because he had turned away while freeing his left leg he would be falling face first to the ground, no longer would he be able to hammer away at hir legs. There was little chance of hir letting up either, not until those muscles relaxed from that rough knuckle punch.
Hoping all went well Iblis wanted to wrap hir forearm around Matthews ankle, hir right hand would grab the heel of his foot and twist like there was no tomorrow. Shi would have plenty of time to bring those little piggies back home.
( 4/17 )
((Sorry for being late. Lack of sleep finally caught up with me.))
There wasn't much room to fall so close to the floor, but Matthew's left hand reflexively reached out, putting itself between himself and the ground as the leg scissors forced him forward towards it, softening up the impact while his right arm withdrew back to his side. He was still giggling to himself. He just couldn't seem to help it.
As Iblis's forearm went in for the submission move, Matthew came in for a gamble of a counterstrike. His left leg swung up and around towards his right, aiming his heel for a point halfway on her upper right arm as she reached across her legs and body.
Right at the point of Impact would be a burst of energy trying to escape, his hands pressing off against the floor, his trapped foot squirming and lashing out against the injured leg and arm, and every bit of effort focused on pulling away from the weakened lock and forward along the ground.
Striker Offense!
Victor had left Save in the care of the HoH's medical staff, watching them take him into the ambulance. It was inevitable that he'd be joining Save in the hospital soon, after Iblis was finished with Matthew. The burns that covered his torso were driving him crazy, especially the burn across the left side of his face. He would ponder in his own disbelief, "... How could my handsome face be burned? This is a travesty! If a scar is left..."
Immediately shaking the idea out of his head, he turned his attention to the broken bar. The fire had spread throughout the The Firebrand bar and the people were still trying to put out the fire. They were making some ground on putting out the fire, but the fire continued to spread. And the fire didn't look like it would put itself out anytime soon.
He didn't like the idea of walking back into a burning building, but he needed to see his team win. Therefore, Victor would return inside The Firebrand bar, where he would witness the remnants of electricity in the air, above Iblis who was on the floor. Shi was trying to kick Matthew in the family jewels, which Victor had expected it to land.
Matthew skillfully countered the attack by giving Iblis a charlie horse. leaving Victor to step a bit closer to their position, to get an idea of what was going on. Half expecting Iblis to reel back in back, he was surprised to see Iblis counter the attack by trying to pull Matthew to the floor. The ankle lock appeared like it might be a success on Matthew... And if shi was trying to get Matthew into an ankle lock, it could be an immobilizing hold for his opponent.
He could only think to himself, "You b***h." Jealousy was running through his veins, the fact that Iblis seemed to be taking the center stage wasn't pleasing him at all. Victor knew it was time to step in.
1 second.
When shi dragged Matthew to the floor, Victor would start to de-attach the holder off the Kali-Yuga, opening it up to let the Kali-Yuga slip out. The Kali-Yuga would slip through the center and letting the sheathe fall to the floor. Now that the Kali-Yuga was free from the sheath, it would create less weight on his arms. He would try to sneak across the wooden bar floor, the thuds of his feet hitting the floor were possibly noticeable, if not drowned out by the fire that covered the building.
3 seconds.
Acting like a cowardly street punk, Victor would inevitably reach Matthew's position and start to swing the Kali-Yuga back.
Arcturus Highwind Wrote:There wasn't much room to fall so close to the floor, but Matthew's left hand reflexively reached out, putting itself between himself and the ground as the leg scissors forced him forward towards it, softening up the impact while his right arm withdrew back to his side. He was still giggling to himself. He just couldn't seem to help it.
4 seconds
Victor wasn't sure if Matthew or Iblis had noticed him yet, especially with Matthew's giggling and likely focus on Iblis, but he would swing the Kali-Yuga from Matthew's left side in a golf-swing fashion. Using the momentum of the short jog, combined with the long swinging motion would create enough force to make Victor very confident in the power of his swing.
The biggest difference between a regular golf club and his Kali-Yuga would be their shapes. The Kali-Yuga was shaped into an "X", therefore, two metallic bars were coming towards Matthew's laying position. One of the metallic bars was aimed at his neck region. The second metallic bar was aimed at his waist/hip region.
6 seconds
Whether or not the force of the swing would knock Matthew over on his stomach or not, Victor would try to follow up with a lunging kick to Matthew's ribs with the left metallic shin. There would be a pivot from his right ankle, using the momentum to slam the shin of his metallic pant leg into Matthew's side or torso, pending on the position the Kali-Yuga's force puts him in.
9 seconds
Immediately after the lunging shin kick, Victor would follow up the combination with an elbow drop from his burned left arm. Victor had long limbs, his elbow points being fairly narrow, enough to dig into Matthew's body. Victor would try to drop the elbow towards Matthew's torso, aiming specifically towards the side of his ribs (or solar plexus) region.
10 seconds
Immediately after the combination was over, Victor would simply smirk over at Iblis, laying on the floor. He would arrogantly gloat to hir, "Having problems?"
Spec.
She had pressed her back to the corner of the wall for most of Kichiro's fight. The explosions from his opponent had succeeded in nearly deafening her. It had also succeeded in shaking her to her core. She was terrified through out the entire thing. She had watched most of the fight through the creases of her fingers. Her heart skipped a beat for each narrow escape that Kichiro had managed. Almost blown to bits here and there, dodging well thought out attacks and kicking a** as well. She knew she was supposed to be watching the fight to pick up whatever maneuvers and strategies she could, but--- how could she?! It was so violent and explody.
As the smoke subsided, the rubble settled on the ground and things quieted down for a moment in between matches she finally dropped her hands from her eyes. She had looked around for Kichiro, but could not find him. She found it difficult to keep tabs on him throughout the fight as well. Her fingers had hampered her eyesight as it was meant to, but now she found it hard t locate her master. She walked cautiously around the safe area that surrounded the entirety of the bar just in case she had misinterpreted the match as over and it really wasn't.
After approximately thirty seconds of searching, she finally found him surrounded by people tending to his wounds. She couldn't see much except for his head. Healers were bent over him tending to the wounds on his arm. She tried tiptoeing a bit to see over the healers but couldn't. She tried tiptoeing and craning her neck to try to see over them once more, but again her actions were futile. "Darn.." she muttered. Most of the spectators had bolted when the place started burning. However, Lilana couldn't leave even though the smoke would soon become unbearable for her poor lungs.
Finally, she couldn't take the suspense any more. She tried fanning away the smoke from her face as she began coughing. She moved forward in the direction where she saw the healers gathered around Kichi muttering and looking at him intently. One had hurried off and seemed to be searching the ground for something but Lilana couldn't figure out what. She pushed broken tables out of the way and crossed over broken chairs as she cleared a path to make her way to him. By the time she had passed most of the debris another match was already starting despite the fire that was brewing.
She looked over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't disrupting anything, and thankfully, she wasn't. She was a clear distance away from both opponents. With her fear of preventing a match from beginning, or more so, being the embarrassed center of attention, she turned her focus back to Kichi who had seemed to be slipping into, but fighting off unconsciousness. Something Lilana knew all too well about. She stumbled as she finally came close enough to the healers to see what was wrong. She had to turn away and cover her mouth to keep from throwing up. She had no food in her stomach at the moment, most likely just stomach acids that would succeed in doing nothing but burning her throat. She did feel her stomach turn though. She gagged softly at the atrocious sight. His leg was blown off from the thigh down. The smell of his burnt skin made her groan into her palm. Tear burned her eyes but she didn't know why. She had been so stunned by the sight of him she didn't care if she broke down sobbing right there.
She shook her head trying to literally shake away the oncoming tears. She steadily composed herself and forced herself to look down at him. She cringed and clenched her fist to stop herself from shaking. She inhaled through her mouth and blew the air through her lips. "E-excuse me." she said softly to a healer and she maneuvered her way to the side of him that remained vacant. She knelt on the floor not minding the chards of glass that had embedded into her knees as she did so. She extended a hesitant hand to his forehead and lightly brushed his hair away from his burnt forehead. She could see his chest rising and falling in a steady breathing sequence. "-M-Master Oda?.." she said softly as she did so. She looked at him intently and awaited a greatly desired response.
(Striker Response)
He was pushing himself himself forward, trying to escape from the hold. It was then that SOMETHING happened. He felt a hard impact on his left forearm, knocking it out from its position and hobbling his attempt to blast out of Iblis's leg scissors/leg lock. The upper bar, cut short due to hitting the left forearm that was in the way of the hipshot, impacted on his shoulder, leaving his left arm feeling as though thousands of bees were stinging it in a numbing fit, which did knock him down to the ground, face down.
His attention was on Victor now. He brought his left arm up again, trying to get his forearm in the way of Victor's kick. Which was only marginally successful, taking a kick on the upper arm, which gave out that CRACK that screamed out Broken Arm.
Either that or his own scream. Or the odd way his arm was laying.
Suffice to say, there was nothing to stop the elbow drop either. Just a little twist of his waist so rather than the rib shot he would take a glancing blow off the shoulder blade.
Still, he was in a lot worse shape for the effort.
As the healers focused mostly on stemming internal bleeding where fire couldn't cauterize, unless Kichiro felt like lighting his insides on fire and getting a real case of heart burn (bad pun). The two let the girl passed, keeping only enough range, as they sang their lullaby like Japanese song, and guided a healing wind into Kichiro's rib punctured lungs. The ribs would slowly move into the places they were supposed too, giving sickening cracks, and gurgling pops as blood was moved around.
"..." Kichiro coughed up a bit of blood through the healing, turning to look at Lilana. "...explosions...stay down!" He suddenly shouted, remembering being in combat, and something with the strength to take down a small horde of men coming at him in a second's notice.
Afterwards, Kichiro would slip back into a dazed state and close his eyes. Not enough food, not enough sleep, not enough health left or stamina to do anything. It was tempting, just to slip into darkness here. Just to sleep, and not worry about team mates or anything else. Why should he after all?
It's just a game...
"...I told Ray...I'd be careful... tell her I'm sorry..." Kichiro mumbled just loud enough to be audible, remembering something, and feeling guilty about it.
She nodded sympathetically and in a soft soothing voice she attempted to comfort him, "Its over now Master Oda. " She would have, at that moment, passed a gentle soothing hand on him, but his skin was burnt so badly she was afraid to touch anything but his hair. "Please, don't worry yourself about Lady Ray, she will understand. This is risky business. I'm sure all she will want is your speedy recovery." The healers continued their melodious song that had succeeded in comforting even the uninjured like Lilana. However, no matter how much she was comforted she was sure to keep her eyes averted from where his leg was supposed to be. She closed her eyes and settled in beside him. She made a silent decision that she would not move from that spot until he was able to.
(5/17)
Matthew’s heel shoved itself up into Iblis arm from an awkward angle, as if that was going to stop an ogre. The strange kick was nothing compared to the numbing strain in hir upper thigh. Speaking of which, the boy-girl wonder was intent on making the drunk pay for that. Hir right hand clamped down on the tip of Matthew’s foot, twisting at it until it was almost facing a completely different direction. Then Victor came…
The makeup wearing show stealer, he knew shi didn’t need any help, he just didn’t want his partner getting the whole spot light after the two incredible strikers shi had performed earlier. Vic showed his street thug background not content to gold club smack Matthew with a giant steel ‘x’ as he began to lay the smackdown on the poor guy? Did he just scream? Iblis found it a little hard to hear between the roaring flames all around and the incessant shredding of Herman Li in the background.
Iblis not being one to be outclassed would unfold hir legs from around Matthews, even as Victor continued to wail on him, shattering the left arm from the looks of things, shi would find hir legs beneath hir. Keeping a firm grip on the foot Iblis tugged Matthew’s entire leg into the air with hir. Matthew was going to find it awfully hard to struggle with only his chest touching the ground. Shi looked over at that smug smile on Victors face acting as though he had just changed the entire tide of the match. Shi wouldn’t have it!
A little change of plans, Iblis let Matthew sag a little, taking a step or two back to inspect hir victim. Shi reared back hir right leg before stomping out for the front of Matthews knee. Shi would repeat this effort several move times if the drunk allowed hir too, the general goal was to make it so that the joint would bend back.
The first thing the medics did for Save was to fix his ribs, as he found his breathing both laboured and insufficient, which accounted for most of his dementia and the one medic with the black eye who, when you squinted your eyes and turned your head upside down, almost looked like he could have been Kichiro.
His name was John, actually, and he wasn't pleased at having to continue healing the rowdy, half unconscious teacher.
But soon enough, the medics had indeed repaired Save's chest, and sealing him up with their magic, proceeded to move down to his dislocated leg. Some of the newer medics found themselves slightly disturbed at the sight, as it wasn't very hard to tell that the leg had exploded from the socket. The entire leg itself was laying all the way to the side, and the hip bones protruded against the skin like a bulbous growth. It was fairly disgusting.
It was just around the time John the medic was positioning the hip bone to push it back into the socket that Save came to his full sensed, his soot-filled face tilting up to watch at what the medic was about to do.
"Wai-wha-what the hell are you- Hold on a minute with thaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHGGGOOOODDDDD!" He screamed, a small 'pop'ing noise completely masked by the sound of Save's bellowing cry.
John felt oddly empowered as he walked back to the ambulance to put away his gear.
Striker Offensive.
(5/17)
(Posted without seeing Kichiro's Striker. Reserving here incase it's still valid after/during his strike)
Matthew realized two things as the pain radiated form his left arm.
One, the crazy Ogre let go of his legs. And they were being lifted up. Matthew flopped ont he floor, rolling with the twist that the Ogre was applying to his leg, now that there wasn't anything at all pinning him down. It was hurting, and probably would be sore later, but there wasn't enough time between Lock On and Release for permanent damage.
In that flopping, his right hand went down to his belt. As he turned up, his hand snapped towards Iblis again, releasing another of those little "bombs" towards... his own foot, right where Iblis was holding onto it. Least that was the plan. Though the twisting, thumping, and pain put his aim off target, aiming a little higher and towards his (Now facing Iblis's) right (Iblis's Left).
If she muscled through that "Bomb" or avoided it somehow, she was free to stomp away at his right knee.
Quote: Fireblast Spellbomb: Standard explosion of magical doom. Firebased in this case. Levels an area of 10 feet in diameter, with heavier damage at the point of impact and less at the edges.
((After the Striker Effect: Edit so Victor has some idea where I'd be after all the DOOM))
Matthew, when the smoke cleared, was, well, still smoking. There was no signs of fire, his jacket and jeans were thick. Not fireproof, but a bit too thick to burn in such an instant ignition. He was belly down, curled up on the floor, head tucked in towards his chest, knees up.
Kichiro shook his head in a surge as the healing began to replace stamina, feeling as though he was still under attack from all the burns on him. Kichiro pulled Lilana down with his left hand, eyes focusing on the threat, the healers diving too the sides as they saw a typical post traumatic symptom take place, while raising his right hand. Flames surged from his manipura solar plexus under instant ignition.
He hit the switch in the flame's passing.
The ball of flames typically enough force to knock someone back like a well placed punch, was fed by flames from both hands. He was able to keep his left hand fire from hurting Lilana, by bringing it too his right and letting go of her after she'd been moved out of the way.
Two fireballs in one in the course of three seconds, would be generated too a bit higher strength with nothing else in Kichiro's mind.
Shi's attacking, he's hurting, I'm still under attack... must do something!
"AGH!!"
Triple punch strength, with enough flames to burn through clothing and heat up lighter armor. Three foot diameter. If directly met with flesh and not dealt with, perhaps even a second degree burn.
It was aimed in an upwards shot from his angle of sitting, towards Iblis above where she was trying to stomp on Matthew, aimed to hit hir off him before shi could continually hurt his ally. Matthew might feel some of the heat, but this wasn't a bomb, this was a concentrated fireball.
It'd come flying out of some smoke and burning fumes from where earlier fires had started, the shout of pain not coming till after the fireball would already be close to impact with hir upper chest. The bodies having dived out of the way, the only way shi'd know it was coming, is if shi was psychic.
And could get Matthew completely off hir.
Not that any of this mattered to Kichiro, now the healers would have to go back into replacing stamina into the crippled Kichi who passed out again.
One of them put a cloth around his eyes, and was looking for something to block his earing, lest another such instance would have Kichiro knocking himself out.
Bones still broken, leg still M.I.A., they didn't want to move him out of the place altogether. Oh Kichi~
(6/17)
WHUD
Hir foot slammed into Michaels, heel digging in and tenderizing flesh like a hammer. He was squirming around, tying to escape her or otherwise, he didn’t think shi had forgotten about his bombs did he?
WHA--- what?
Iblis angled hir head a little, with the entire building burning up around hir it would have taken an idiot not to be aware of their surroundings, the last thing shi wanted was to lose to a cripple because a burning rafter had smacked hir upside the head. The roaring of flames drew a little too close a little too fast. A fireball lopping down from the heavens, trailing through the smoke in a b-line for hir chest. Well now that wasn’t natural, wait… could it be that drunken piece of shi--
Throwing all other thoughts to the back of hir mind Iblis would flex hir mental muscles, feeling the wiggling Matthew trying desperately to escape, probably ignorant of his team members’ rather valiant efforts to save him. Well he could go free, hir arms unclamped from his leg. For the first time in several minutes Matthew had been given a break. Fireballs were a lot of like bombs in certain ways, they both relied on impact to explode and this one was no different. With the ball hovering a few feet away shi lashed out with the proverbial invisible hand intercepting it with a head on punch. Bad move…
The fireball blew up right in hir face; it had a deceiving amount of power for its relatively small form. Even hanging feet away from him the edges of the impact struck, flames licking at the edges of hir face and more importantly giving hir chest a loving little kiss. The concussion was enough to send the female rocking back, hir upper body flying faster then hir lower causing hir feet to sweep off of the ground before shi hit the floor boards with a thud. Shi skidded for another foot or three before coming to a stop against some rubble.
And thank god for that concussion, the vest that acted as hir second layer of clothing was black and completely in tatters, the undercoat covered in a myriad of markings but still whole after the explosion. Because of the curvature of the fireball hir face had gotten it easy, the left side of hir face covered in several blackened patches.
The heat of the injuries made hir feel alive again, the pain wracking hir mind made hir feel furious. Not a good combo for Matthew. Iblis snapped up to hir feet, the motion so quick it was almost blurring, shi let out a shout. But not in any language known to man, the sound of a forest being taken by flame in an instant filled the room for a spare few seconds as shi stalked towards hir still grounded prey. Lack of breath be damned this fight was going to end now…
“Victor! Pull him up! We’re going for a double-plex!” shi covered the distance rather quickly, using the time it would take to order hir captain around to catch hir breath. Perhaps the pain was making hir self absorbed. Not to mention asking him to break the rules by attacking again in his striker that would go well beyond the ten second limit.
“Lets see how they like interferences when we snap his spine in two!”
Victor seemed finished with his attack on Matthew, slowly standing back up to his feet. When he finally started to make it back to his own feet, he was met with an explosion near Matthew's own leg!
No words left his mouth, as he could barely react with enough time to to brace himself from the explosion. Since Kichiro's earlier explosion, it was another explosion that was right in his area and it had started to burn into Victor's already burnt skin. Fortunately, since he was standing up, the force of the explosion would knock him over and give him room to roll away, dropping his Kali-Yuga in the process.
Victor was now about seven feet away from his opponent. The fire had caught most of his left side and a little of his right side, making it impossible to lift up his left arm. And without his left arm, he wasn't going to be able to wield the Kali-Yuga effectively. Not to mention that his metallic pants were slightly warm again.
"... Ugh."
Slowly making it back up to his knees, he briefly saw from the corner of his vision, Kichiro. He could only think to himself, "What the ********... Kichiro!?"
Before he could analyze the situation further, Kichiro had cast a fireball at Iblis. He couldn't tell if Kichiro realized it yet or not, but because of his actions, the fire could have spread further! He couldn't believe it! The HoH filmcrew and the volunteer spectators had worked so hard to keep the bar from burning down. Kichiro was adding fuel fire to the fire! Victor could only express the situation with one word.
"... Damnit."
Before Victor could analyze the situation any further, he could hear Iblis's voice shouting out for him.
LordKanti Wrote:(6/17)“Victor! Pull him up! We’re going for a double-plex!” shi covered the distance rather quickly, using the time it would take to order hir captain around to catch hir breath. Perhaps the pain was making hir self absorbed. Not to mention asking him to break the rules by attacking again in his striker that would go well beyond the ten second limit.
“Lets see how they like interferences when we snap his spine in two!”
"Tch."
Victor could only scowl at the order that Iblis made. He didn't like being ordered by Iblis on what to do, but he wasn't blind to the situation either. Iblis was on the right track to taking out the opponents as quickly as possible, and get the hell out of the bar. He wasn't in the condition to stay fighting, especially after the bout with Rain. And he didn't even have the Kali-Yuga to defend himself with.
Victor only had once chance to try to make this work. He would try to run over and slam his (now warm) metallic left knee into Matthew's upper torso.
Edit: Added "run", changed "body" to "upper torso.", and editted "Since Kichiro's earlier explosion"
( 6/17 )
Between Victor's stomps came a "WHUMP!" sound from Matthew's form. The Hunter snapped up, seeming to jump in the air about 6 inches from his curled up position. Hardly epic... but it did allow hiim to unfold mid air, facing Victor as he charged in.
The thing he was curled around was revealed now. A broken off leg from a chair. Probably left behind in the DOOM of Kichiro and Mizu's fight. But that wasn't important.
What was important that his right hand was bringing it around very quickly, the improvised cudgel going for a knock out blow against Victor, coming in about eye level, left side of his face.
Hopefully the surprise of the attack would let it connect, and turn this back onto a one on one brawl.
"MADRE DE DIOS!"
"Oh...snap."
"Aww hell, that's not right. Someone should do somethin'!"
"But nobody CAN do anything without risking a flag. Team Rising Storm is literally up a creek without a paddle, and the Heavy Metal Kings just set their raft on fire!"
"Yo Maria, that didn't make no sense, yo."
"Makes perfect sense tah me! See here!"
The fight would continue as a replay box popped up in the upper right corner. Yellow circles would pop up over the fighters in question just before Matthew's fire blast. The camera would suddenly zoom in to the region behind the bar counter, focusing on a shelf lined with premium whiskey. When the blast went off, the whiskey lit up like a match.
"S'a freakin' waste, man. I can't believe they'd go an' do somethin' like that."
"Yes, while that was incredibly insightful, Joe, we should get back to the fight at hand, where Matthew is--"
"MADRE DE BURRITO!"
"Where'd he get that thing from?!"
(7/17)
”I’m your opponent!” Iblis let out a furious shout at Matthew, not only was Victor stealing the show with a striker but he had just tried to steal hir opponent too? Shi wasn’t going to let that happen. Iblis wasn’t too far behind the swinging fellow and shi honestly had to give him credit, he had just lit his own leg on fire and had his arm broken, amongst the other various beat-downs Victor had given him on loan from the first national bank of a**-whooping. But valiance wasn’t a part of intelligence.
A right handed swing towards Victors head, followed not to far behind by a left legged kick toward Matthews left arm. Tilting hir body back enough to compensate for the shifting weight, Iblis had arched hir leg up for one hell of a snap kick towards that broken limb. Matthew would probably be able to smack Victor in the head before the blow hit, which was even better, if shi had come in after he could have easily pulled away but now he was invested in the attack.
In a bit of generosity Iblis would try to settle hir hands on Matthews shoulders after the kick, helping him find his feet like any good samaritan. Shi would hop up, hir legs curling up till they were almost at level with hir chest and the shoulder blades of Matthew consequently. Shi would jerk back on the hunter’s body as gravity took its toll, aiming to break his back over hir knees.
Victor eyes were locked on Matthew's position, but he was shocked to see Matthew spring off the ground. Considering the swinging motion behind Matthew's right arm, Victor noticed this and quickly weaved his head and body down, underneath the piece of wood as it would swing over his head.
Unfortunately this would be a big mistake.
By ducking the piece of wood, Victor would lose all the momentum that he built up for the knee. And he would lose his balance from trying to rush into Matthew. Falling to the left side to move out of the way, he would trip over his own injured left leg and land into a bunch of chairs and tables that were close by.
Victor was pretty much out.
( 7/17 )
He was spinning mid air with his swing, since it didn't connect, and continued.
Continued right into Iblis's leg, impacting against his stomach as it twisted his arm out of the way. Not that that was all that much better. Airborn the kick knocked him towards Iblis's right, with Matthew letting out a loud "OOOF" as the leg connected.
This probably put him out of range of the Backbreaker, landing with a stumble that brought him away from Iblis and out of reach, falling on his a**.
Yeah, he was hurting. But he was alive, and armed as he scrambled back away from Iblis, struggling to get his feet under him and breath back in his lungs.
(8/17)
Iblis trailed a hand against Matthew’s shoulder, not wanting him to leave without taking his party favor. No such luck. The air-borne hunter sailed away, skidding a little farther away from the counter then shi would have liked. The back breaker would never come, shi wasn’t willing to curl up and just let hirself drop to the floor unless someone was getting their shoulder blades crushed above hir.
Circling around until hir back was facing the counter, with the crouching Matthew a few feet away from hir. So the little man armed himself with a piece of chair eh? Iblis had something so childishly cruel in mind it should have warranted a yellow flag for excessive taunting. Not for the first time in the night Iblis would extend hir mind, like an invisible leg it would snap out, unseen by Matthew as it went to kick the balled up hand that was clinging to the plank like it was the second coming. It probably wasn’t that hard to avoid, a bit of muscular control and he’d just keep his arm down, sans any pain what so ever. The sad irony being the kinetic energy inside a body kept hir from hurting a human. But if he was as disoriented as shi hoped Matthew would be facing a demoralizing smack to the face that he had dealt to himself for all the fans knew.
Charging forward, Iblis had no intention of letting Matthew get his bearings, degradation or not. In a mirror of the drop kick from the opening, hanging only a mere foot or so above the floor Iblis would brace against the floor with hir dominant right hand, heels snapping out to strike the body of Matthew. If he remained crouching the blow would impact with his lower body, if he found his way to his feet then shi would be kicking that burnt up leg of his. Either way shi wanted him on the ground so they could complete their little game from before Victors rude interference.
( 8/17 )
The club jerked back in the air, and the knuckles turned white as he gripped on tighter. There was no face smacking, but he jerked the club, and his hand high over his shoulder, rolling it backwards until it was cocked back at a 20 degree down angle from the level of his shoulder.
Matthew smiled at Iblis, ear from ear. His feet were under him, he was standing again, and feeling a bit more confident despite the damage he had taken.
The dropkick came in, and he took a shuffle step back so the kick would fall short. As Iblis fell to the ground, knowing well how quickly s/he could get back up to "hir" feet, he stepped in with his right foot, wincing with the pain though it wasn't nearly as bad as before, and brought that Chair Club, whipping his elbow and wrist at the last moment of the swing to add in that extra impact against the closest target. in this case, her left knee.
(9/17)
Too fast for hir own good. Iblis gave a violent twitch as the plank of wood slammed into hir knee, pants doing their job in keeping the splinters from driving themselves into hir skin but s**t if it didn’t hurt. The heat lingering on the side of hir face was a reminder that there had been worse even in the short period of the match though. You remember when Iblis dropped all those beer bottles to the ground, back when Kichiro had lit Rain on fire. Yea’ I knew you’d remember…
Hir left arm reached out, curling around the neck of a half shattered bottle of what looked to have once been Stolli. Someone hadn’t forgotten to do their sit ups this morning as Iblis thrust hir upper body from the floor, right arm aiming to curl itself around the sleeves of the hunter, or maybe his shoulders if he was one of those tough guys who thought it made them sexy to go sleeveless and show off their arms. Using a combination of hir superior arm strength and weight shi’d drag Matthew down towards hir, left arching over his introduce the side of his face to a nice little taste of mother Russia.
“Gimme a kiss glass jaw.” Shi said in a husky voice, still finding a way to fail at being funny through it all.
( 9/17 )
No contest to the grab at all, he was all a bit shocked. Not to mention concerned for the Pain in his Arm as she grabbed a hold of the not all together sleeve of his thick flannel jacket.
She pulled him down alright, and he opened up with the only counter he could think of. He jabbed at Iblis's left kidney with the club, letting go with the impact, and keeping his arm traveling with the momentum, curled into a fist for a combination Right Hook/Uppercut to a point right below Iblis's chin. With the added incentive of trying to bring his arm in the way of the offending bottle, getting a nice cut up right arm to match his broken left.
(10/17)
(Edit: Forgot the ********' post number, again.)
Matthew had a plan it seemed, one that was all too hurried. With their bodies curling in on each other like this the jab at hir kidneys would be all to hurried to have the desired effect. Still it elicited a grunt from the genderless beauty, forcing hir to remind hirself mentally that shi was in fact still on the winning end of this battle. His body was leaning in to hers, gravity was doing its job and pushing hir back down, and hir right arm was quickening the whole process by jerking Matthew forward. The end result would have the males head scrunched up against hir chest ideally; realistically they would probably end up face to face. Either way that upper cut was a hopeless maneuver. It could never wedge itself between their two bodies and hope to punch hir in time.
Meanwhile hir left elbow fanned out, it began to compensate for the closeness of their bodies by driving what was left of the bottle along Matthews arm from the side, opening him up unless he moved and fast. Shi would stop near the shoulder, toying with the idea of carrying on to his neck for a milli-second before abandoning the bottle as a hole. Hir left hand would dangerously let go of the hunters shirt, a split second that could be used to lift his body up and re-initiate a rather painful uppercut.
It was worth it, shi would try and grabb him by the hair with hir left hand, tugging it down to hir breast area with a light chuckle. The angle would hopefully allow hir right arm to loop itself around the mans neck and lock him in tight before he had the chance to escape. Shi wanted to trap him beneath hir arm pit, hir legs moving to scissor themselves around his waist. Cut off his air supply in more ways then one, grind his face into the ground, all while catching hir breath and wailing on his exposed ribs to soften him up.
The end result would probably look something like Matthew having very rough sex with a very tall female. One who enjoyed choking him out and punching the unholy hell out of his rib cage inbetween grunts.
( 10/17 )
As they crashed down, face to face, realizing he wouldn't get room for the punch, he instead leaned his head forward. Skull applied to Iblis's face, getting that tough piece of bone to crack against her relatively weak nose.
And as they went up, the uppercut didn't come. Least, not like it was before. Left hand holding his head, and thus, nothing in line to block his strike, his fist instead came in right for a throat punch, dead in where the adam's apple may or may not have been
But he was bloody, wounded, and frankly couldn't stop the slam. He crashed down onto the S/he. Choke hold locked on. Panic was setting in. He fought back wildly. His right hand, underneath the left arm went to grab for the throat, putting all he could into locking his fingers and thumb into her neck, threatening to choke her out and tear the Ogre's traecia right out.
His legs were flailing, though they were doing little other than making noise, and he was squirming as much as he could in the hold.
STRIKER OFFENSIVE
Five posts earlier...
"Well, hell... Matthew's in trouble..." Rain commented, looking over his shoulder. He then turned towards Lilana, putting a supportive hand on her shoulder. "You take care of Kichiro; I'll be right back, with his leg."
He had turned and knelt down in a sprinting positing, lifting up his left pant leg to reveal his FIGHTER. He went to click it, but saw that someone had already called for a striker of his own.
Confused, and angry, Rain stood up and turned to face Kichiro. "WhatWHOOSHWHOOSHWHOOSH! Before he could get any answers, three fireballs were just launched uncomfortably close to him. So uncomfortably close... they ignited all the alcohol that soaked his clothes and skin.
Rain Yupa was once again on fire. This time, he would only facepalm, instead of panic. "Someone extinguish me, if you could..."
Back to the present...
Making Kichiro was HELLA UNCONSCIOUS before hitting the striker this time, Rain was ready to do a striker of his own. He closed as much as he could before entering any sort of designated battlefield, before clicking on his striker. Then, he would hurry across the battlefield. Not at a run, at a hustle. He wasn't even going in the direction of the fight, but off at a different angle, where they had first started fighting! But what for?
Kichiro's leg.
Time elapsed: 4 seconds.
Grabbing Kichiro's leg by the knee with both hands, he would test its weight. Satisfied, he would walk up to Iblis, who had her back turn and was amidst grappling Matthew. This is an important time to note that amidst EVERYONE running around dealing with the fires Kichiro had reignited, along with fighting previous ones, not to mention the burning still burning, the hardcore chords of Through the Fire and Flames blaring from the jukebox, and the fact that Rain wasn't wearing any shoes, or even running, Iblis probably wouldn't hear him. She probably didn't even hear him as he lifted up Kichiro's leg with both hands over his head, and delivered a kick to the top of her skull. His skull? He would aim to hit Iblis with the shin and top of the foot.
Kichiro's Equipment Wrote:Armor:
-Shin level Stealth Boots. (Soft 2" of padding in soul, and metal plates inlaid around shins.)
Time elapsed: 7 seconds.
With whatever stunning blow he would have delivered to Iblis from hitting/kicking her with Kichiro's leg. Rain would tuck the leg under his left arm, and grab a fistful of Iblis's hair with his right. He would wrap his fingers as tightly as he could around as much hair as possible. He would not pull though, as he turned back to where Kichiro lay, coiling his legs lightly.
Time elapsed: 9 seconds.
With a flare of sparks, an after effected whenever he used his internal bioelectricity for anything, Rain would superspeed away. If the Kali-Yuga-Yupa was still in range, it would absorb the sparks; otherwise they would fall harmlessly to the ground, as they were more special effects than anything. It would be the moment he would begin running that he would give a sharp tug with his right hand too.
The time Rain's superhuman speed would let him arrive back at Kichiro's side, with one, possibly two presents?
Time elapsed: 9.7 seconds.
She was listening to Kichiro muttering inchoerant warnings when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and looked up at Rain as he gave instructions for her to take care of Kichiro while he went to fetch his missing leg. She nodded in response and turned back to a dazed and confused Kichiro looking down at him with a worried expression on her face. Suddenly, Lilana felt a strong grip and tug on her arm and before she knew it she was pulled down to the ground. Her cheek was flat against the glass-shard covered ground when Kichiro shot off three fire blasts from his palm. "What the hell.." she muttered as she felt the heat surging down her side. She was protected from most of it because of the angle Kichiro had pulled her down.
She tried angling her arms beneath her so she could put her palms on the floor to brace her face from being cut up too badly from the broken glass on the floor. But as she tried the weight of her body pushed her arms into the ground. When Kichiro finally fell unconscious Lilana got back up. She ran her palm across her cheek and felt the sharp shards of glass fall off of her cheek at the touch of her finger tips. Surprisingly, there was no blood present, no cuts or bruises on her face or arms. 'Did he somehow..', she couldn't finish the thought. But she wondered if Kichiro some how prevented her from being cut by the glass. With this guy anything was possible. She stared at him intently and silently for a long while.
It was only when Rain returned with Kichiro's leg in hand she finally looked away from Kichiro, she looked up at Rain with blank white eyes, "Don't let him die.." Even though she looked directly at Rain, she was sure to keep her eyes off of the leg he held in his grasp. The last thing anyone needed right now was two unconscious people. One from fighting and the other from from nausea. She twisted her body further to the side to allow Rain to get to Kichiro properly. Even though she adjusted her body angle, she was sure to stay close.
(11/17)
WHACK
WHACK
WHACK
Iblis was tenderizing Matthew’s rib cage like a butcher with hir left arm. Hir right arm firmly squeezing away and cutting off his air supply, hir legs not making breathing any easier for him. His head had smacked into hirs a moment earlier, but not exactly at the angle he wanted. Angling hir head forward shi had let forward smack forehead, of course shi got the bad end the deal what with his head driving down against hirs and smacking it against the wood, but it was better then letting him smash up hir nose. The throat punch once again found itself being a little too late. Maybe if he hadn’t angled his head down to head butt hir before hand he would have had time to wedge it in-between their bodies and find out exactly whether or not Iblis was male and female to settle the debate, but no such luck.
THWACK
Wait that wasn’t the right noise. Iblis stopped punching for a second, blinking a little as a dull ache spread through the base of hir forehead, a bit of blood starting to trickle into hir light in of sight. There were two kinds of people in this world, predator and prey, pussies and assholes, and you could usually tell the two apart when they started bleeding. Some people curled up and just died when they saw their own blood, others went absolutely ape s**t. What with the fireball situation it was pretty obvious Iblis was the later…
Hir muscles immediately tensed up, applying an almost strenuous bit of force where there had once been an attempt to recover stamina while on the ground. Hir chin that had tucked itself down against hir neck to stop Matthews hand would lunge forward, pearly whites aiming to take a chunk out of Michael’s right shoulder. Well at least he could try and choke hir out now right?
When Rain grabbed hir hair hir left arm would angle back, trying to grab his hand to make it let go for a few moments. Flailing about for a food two seconds as hir head yanked from one side to the next, shredding flesh like a dog that had locked its jaw in. Then it hit hir…
Iblis reached out with hir mind, invisible hands curling around the hair bundled around Rains arm and yanking, hard. It took a few moments for the concentration, a few moments that inevitably led to hir starting a bumpy path along the firebrand floor. Then the hair scissored off, a muffled noise of what could only assume was anger as shi and Matthew viewed off course. Hir only consolation was that Matthews face would be dragging along the floor with hir back and that Rain might stumble when he found that he lacked weight.
Hir back thudded against a wall, hir jaw unlocking itself, hopefully with a nice piece of Matthew meat inbetween hir choppers. Hir left hand fumbling inbetween their bodies and pushing the hunters hips up, what did shi want? A monkey flip.
Try and angle hir legs beneath Matthews raised body, if he allowed it to rise that is. Shi’d whip hir legs up, trying to use his odd weight distribution to flip him forward into the wall rather then back into the rubble. Matthew would just thud against the wall and slump down, this fight was dragging on way too long and Iblis wanted to take it back to their feet, where the real damage could be dealt.
Then again if Matthew didn’t want to comply with the monkey flip shi could always just remain on the ground and start hitting him again. This all assumed Matthew didn’t have some silly little trick up his sleeve while the pair were dragging along the floor though.
(Unnoted in the post because it was getting too long. Iblis naturally weakens hir grip after each impact-foot/wall- for a moment before tightening harder then before.)
( 11/17 )
BITE!
Matthew's hand pulled out of the attempted choke. Just too damn close with her biting on his shoulder to attempt the Throat Ripper, as well as a moment of thought coming out throught he fog. That being unless "shi" had the ability to breath through "hir" a** that would kill her.
Instead, he did her the favor in return. Though rather than chomping down on her tough shoulder like she did to him, no, he went for the more Wolven tactic, latching his teeth onto her throat and biting down as hard as a panicked animal possibly could.
Yes there would be blood drawn. He would growl "Submit" at her, because the way she was shaking her neck and head, and the lockjaw he had on, was likely to rip out several vital areas unless she tapped out.
He growled it out over and over, aware it probably was muffled and unrecognizable as they were dragged across the floor. Being Shorter was nice, as it gave hiim a little clearance over the Ogre's shoulder, especially since pinned with his shoulder in her teeth, and his teeth in her neck he was elevated from the ground.
To give added Impact to the message of "Submit" while Iblis was messing with Rain, his right hand came down, punching at Iblis's kidney over and over.
If Iblis got to the Monkey Flip without having her throat torn out, tapping out, or distracted by constant kidney shots, he'd hit the wall... though unlike Iblis's plan, he wouldn't let go. His feet flailed up as they went flying, hitting the wall ahead of him to soften the impact so his back wouldn't take the full brunt of it.
Striker wrap-up
There was a problem with Iblis's... well, most of what Iblis was attempting to do: Timing.
After thwacking her over the head at 7 seconds, he had immediately gone to coil her hair in his hand, and took off at his superspeed charge at 9. This would have not only prevented her from getting a clean bite, since she would have to rip out her own hair to do so... but also:
LordKanti Wrote:When Rain grabbed hir hair hir left arm would angle back, trying to grab his hand to make it let go for a few moments. Flailing about for a food two seconds as hir head yanked from one side to the next, shredding flesh like a dog that had locked its jaw in. Then it hit hir…
Iblis reached out with hir mind, invisible hands curling around the hair bundled around Rains arm and yanking, hard. It took a few moments for the concentration, a few moments that inevitably led to hir starting a bumpy path along the firebrand floor.
Since the impact of the leg was at 7 seconds, and Rain took off at 9, she had LESS than two seconds. By the time she would have concocted any telekinetic plan, it was too late for her to react.
But Rain was not trying to drag her off the floor. The sudden pull would have probably caused her hair to be forcibly yanked out from her scalp, or possibly ripping her scalp clean off her forehead. That was Rain's goal by this action.
However it played out, Rain had took off far too fast to take things slowly; and thus, the only thing stopping his charging retreat was... well, the wall. With a loud SLAM! and an audible CRCKT! of bones breaking, Rain would bounce off the wall rather forcibly, and slid back a few feet, dizzy.
After shaking off most of the daze of his impact, he would hold up what was in his left hand, and the source of the above noises.
"Don't worry! Kichiro's leg cushioned my impact!"
One of the healers, who was now covered in blood stains from working on Kichiro, trying to get random debri out of his body with surgical equipment found in a case opened up next too the HELLA UNCONSCIOUS Chimagin, went over to Rain.
"...could I please have that?"
She once had a white dress on, that was now a mixture of black scorch marks, foam from extinguishers, and blood on her hands and chest.
"That'll save likely, half an hour's worth of work."
Kichiro made some sort of groan in the background in response to Lilana's voice, a painful one.
After absorbing the full impact of Rain's weight against the wall, the leg itself would need a little... mending of its own. As Rain held it up, it probably bent a way it was not supposed to. Which would cue a sweatdrop from Rain.
"Aheh... all yours..." he replied, grinning sheepishly. Though he would wait for her to take it before gasping and holding his ribcage. Any damage he had gotten healed outside was back now in spades, that's for sure.
(12/17)
(Edit: Post number.)
The problem with escaping a headlock was that the motion was all in the upper body, Matthews’s body would have to pull away, his head would have to angle up to bite at the neck, perhaps throat ripper wasn’t the best name for it, it was more of a neck nipper. He pulled back and Iblis popped off, his body jerking itself up registered as a bad thing, even with all that unmitigated rage. It meant he was out of the headlock, if he wasn’t in the headlock all sorts of bad things could happen. Bad didn’t even begin to describe the animal reaction Matthew made.
Hir head pulled back from his, exposing the throat further, hir right arm would be close to his escaping neck even as he pulled away, his body would be in bent down exposing the back of his head until he righted himself. Hir right hand clasped for the back of his head, fingers curling around whatever hair shi could find and just yanking back. Good that, the tugging of hir arm would delay his bite, even if he was intent on ripping out his own hair to bite down. Hir head would dip to the side instinctively, chin tucking in towards hir chest. The result… no throat to bite down on.
If he was so hell bent on tearing Iblis throat out that he didn’t realize the block he would end up biting down somewhere in the vicinity of hir face. Not ready to let that happen just yet Iblis would forget about keeping him down, left arm angling over hir own face to cup a palm beneath his jaw and jerk it up. It would take a second though, if he bit down it would be for nothing and shi would probably just end up flailing at his head.
Needless to say there was no attempt at the monkey flip, or even a pushing of his hips. Shi now had to rely on hir upper body strength to keep his head against hir before he tried to mount and pound. With the leg scissors they could still be kept close and all he would have a shot at was hir ribs with his right hand. Something shi would try to avoid by thrusting a thumb into the eye if shi managed to assure hir necks safety by intercepting with hir left arm.
"Now you play hard ball. ******** kid..."
( 12/17 )
As Iblis tucked "hir" head down, and pulled back on his hair, his left hand stopped with the kidney, not rib, but kidney, punches quite suddenly. His hand was shooting up, elbow tucked against his body so he could get a clear shot. The shot? A two finger, index and middle finger, eye poke, now that she had placed her eyes right in line, and had no hand free to block it.
As well his Teeth would take a bite of opportunity as she tucked her head down. Since her head was at his shoulder being so close, he didn't need to move around more than to chomp down and twist a little to take a bite Mike Tyson style at Iblis's right ear, taking a nice chunk out of the sensative area of skin if given half a chance.
(13/17)
Iblis had barely managed to stop Matthew from tearing out hir throat, picture proof that a fight that had been completely dominated could change with a single striker, it was a mirror image of Kichiro versus Save except with less explosions. The friendly drunk from before was just a lost memory.
Hir left arm had crossed itself over hir chest cupping the chin of the hunter and pushing up to try and keep his jaw locked in place, right hand pulling back on his hair to his head angled. Things were turning bad fast and shi was going to be the first member of the team to lose a fight if shi didn’t hurry up.
Everything happened in a split second. Hir eyes shut tight, as if eyelids would stop his fingers from jabbing right into hir sockets, letting a roar of burning gibberish stream from hir mouth as shi flowed with the damage. Hir left hand would clench down on Matthews jaw, as his head twisted to rip off hir ear shi would help? Jerking the chin to the left side with as much force as hir awkwardly positioned arm could muster. Meanwhile the right hand that been clutching at the hunters hair had found his scalp, jerking backwards and to the right with the same burst of muscular energy. Hir mind mustered itself together through the pain to launch an invisible fist out to shove whip the hunters head back in turn with everything.
If Matthew didn’t find a way to dodge the crowd would slip into utter silence. The force of each arm and even hir mind all twisting the little wolverines head in every direction would aim to hyper extend his spinal cord. Similar to whip lash, except this time it could paralyze him for life, or worse.
Here’s to hoping Matthew had good luck…
(Posting so no strikers pop up. PM me if you have any problems with the post, other then obvious.)
(13/17)
That nice taste of blood. That's what he remembered. Metalic, thick. Good stuff.
He had a chunk of ear in his mouth, now seperated from the opponent's skull. But that wasn't going to do him much good. His left arm was ill equipped to help fight the blow, his right was sticking in someone's eyes, too late to draw back to fight the grip.
SNAP!
Yeah, there was that snap, something broke loose, and not something good guessing from the way that his struggling stopped and his body fell slack against Iblis's hold.
((End of fight. Considering he's not HUEG GAI or JUGGERNAUT I don't see how he'd live through that.))
"Hold!"
A Judge strode forwards into the fight area and raised a hand high into the air. Matthew had gone limp in Ilblis' hold and the sound that had accompanied it just before was a clear indication of what had just transpired.
"Matthew of Team Rising Storm is unable to continue! Victory goes to Ilblis of Team Heavy Metal Kings!"
There was a long silence as the ringside medical staff who had braved the fires inside the Firebrand rushed in to check Matthew's condition. A broken neck does not always mean death, nor does it always mean permanent paralysis. With Creation Industries sponsoring the Heaven or Hell tournament, the medical staff had been given full access to a plethora of newly developed medical technology that had been known to cheat death on more than one occasion. They could rebuild him... if he were still alive.
The Judge then flicked its wrist and produced a penalty card in its hand -
(( Awaiting an IC word from Matthew. ))
((After a long discussion with my teammate...))
He's dead Jim. No vitals from the FIGHTER.
The broadcast booth had been relocated in lieu of the fire, and while the on-air announcers were all a bit shade darker, they still seemed to be relatively healthy.
Except for Chuck, who after witnessing Rain's display during his striker seemed content to be facing away from the camera, gamecube controller in hand.
That all changed, however, when the rather sickening 'pop' filtered in through their headsets and Matthew fell limp.
"I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Oh my..."
"Show me your moves! Show me your moves!"
"CHUCK! STOP PLAYING THAT VIDEO GAME."
"What, what? What'd I miss, yo?"
"Medical staff are on the scene. This isn't good. If Matthew is still alive it's very likely he could be paralyzed."
"I think we're gonna go tah commercial. We'll be back on Channel Six, Big Time Television."
"Red Card! Ilblis! Death of the opponent!"
The wrist flipped once again and a second card was produced up in the air so that everyone could see.
"White Card! Ilblis! Murderous intent!"
The Judge's gauntletted hand crushed the two cards into a ball in its fist and tossed them into the fire. Turning to the cameras and the reporters, it then made a sweeping gesture towards the team Rising Storm.
"Fighter Ilblis is disqualified! Victory goes to Matthew of Team Rising Storm!"
With that the Judge turned to walk off... Except that it walked to beside the corpse of Matthew and instead flicked his wrist a third time.
"Yellow Card! Poor b*****d! Unsportsmanlike conduct!"
Casting the card down onto the deceased fighter's chest, the Judge finally left the match area.
Quote: MooMiaMoo (2:09:39 PM): When you annouce him dead, say that a White Mage in the stands laughed really loudly
Apparently someone outside the building was cackling maniacally. Too bad she wasn't inside, or she might have saved his paraplegic a**.
Burnt like hell, battered, bruised, and broken, Kichiro was slowly getting fixed. The Chimagin had failed doing as Ray told him to do, and he'd failed his team mates. The burnt smell of wood was intoxicating, mixed with the metallic smell of his own blood. It was downright nauseating for some of the crew working feverishly with fire extinguishers. For warriors like the two bloody healers on Kichiro, and himself, it was a sign of reality.
'You better be careful...' A sweet voiced water imp appeared before Kichiro's eyes, with the background of some Japanese lullaby.
Kichiro could see himself on the bed of the Crimson Hawk, smiling, and giving a laugh. '...you ought know I can take care of myself by now.'
Sleep, Kichiro was sleeping with muscular arms wrapped around Ray's waist...
".....aaaaaahhhhhHHHHHH!!"
Blind folded, with nothing found to cover his once scorched ears, Kichiro awoke to hear the sound of his bones crackling in his leg. The healers had mended it the best they could, and were working their magic in replacing it. His now mended right arm snapped around his back near his waist, pulling from it a tanto, almost as fast as he'd awoken, the Chimagin was clamping his teeth down on the blade.
The familiar feel of blood vessels moving this way and that in Kichiro's body, while he willfully gave up control of what was going on due to the healer's magic, which was hard with the atmosphere screaming with smell and hearing that something wrong was up. His mended left hand, no longer with its second degree burn, came up and ripped the blind fold off.
...Matthew was dead with a yellow flag on his corpse...
A few moments later, Kichiro was awake and healed enough to let go of the blade in his mouth. He'd have a spare set of weaponry, and what could be recollected brought to his hotel later from the GDR employees.
"Help me up." The Chimagin said curtly, crystal green eyes reflecting the flames before him, wanting to get his back off the stone wall. His overcoat looked more like a tattered cape at the moment, and the burnt wholes or pieces of cloth blown off by explosions, left him a bloody mess to look at.
He'd had worse.
The two healers nodded, looping an arm each of Kichiro's around their shoulders and lifting him.
Kichiro grunted.
"...take me to Ray..." Kichiro's good leg applied a little pressure, but his re-attached leg might as well have been a peg. Weak from everything, he hated relying on help, and his deep voice's razer sharp edge reflected it.
The blood soaked healers, one with green dress, other with what use to be white, would lead Kichiro in a cleared path between burning piles of furniture, to where Ray had been.
'Take me to Ray.'
All right, fine. But where was she? After all that board waving and cheering she did for Kichiro, she was nowhere to be found now. Just when Kichiro had needed her.
"Don't bring him over here! He reeks!"
Some man shouted out, stepping to the side, his height rising a few inches.
"Huh?"
Looking down, the man then let out a girly scream, seeing a K.O'd Ray lying on the floor, if this were some anime, she'd have those dizzy swirls for eyes and foam spurting from her mouth. But no, instead the poor kappa lie there, twitching and muttering things about irony and I-told-you-so.
Soon the man had shaken Ray awake, because the last place a girl wanted to be was on the floor of a bar, that had caught fire and could possibly have blood, guts, vomit, and the like on it.
Twitching back to earth, Ray shot up, her head snaping with a nice crack while they brought the chimagin over to her. Ray bite down on her lower lip, her eyes didn't tear and her brows sure did narrow. Mis matched eyes glared at the chimagin, her ears fanning and fist clenched.
And once the chimagin was setteled in front of her.
WACK
Ray would punch him, right dead in the nose.
"You said you'd be careful!"
Kichiro went limp, and the two healers holding him up merely groaned. It was a pain to get the guy conscious and moving this far, then Kichiro's lady just went and knocked him out again. They expected it, knowing how Kichiro and Ray were together. It didn't mean they felt any less sympathy for their knocked out leader.
Ray would have some blood on her fist, and that'd be about it from Kichiro.
"....we're...going to take him outside..." A shaky feminine voice stirred, and they moved around to take him from the head, and from the legs, beginning to carry the cripple out. He needed lots of rest, and that wasn't the way to get it.
A shakey Ray looked at her fist and blinked mouthing a small 'oops'. She didn't know he was that bad, since after all, she had been knocked out. Groaning, Ray would follow behind the healers. Her tail wrapped around her waist while she licked the blood from her knuckles absent mindedly.
"The smell is going to make me barf.."
Rain had jumped the gun. He had attempted to break the grapple between Iblis and Matthew by stunning his teammate's opponent, then pulling her off by her hair in an attempt to scalp her via brute force; enough damage that it should have caused her to release any grapple. If only he had waited a few more moments to do his striker, he might have been able to help Matthew more.
It might have been enough to save his life.
"It was A COMPETITION!!!" Rain would shout angrily, storming across the burning Firebrand floor. He would be holding his left side again with his right, wincing every couple steps, and he would have a slight limp cause of it. Past Save, past Kichiro, past Victor, past Matthew's body, to Iblis, where he would grab the collar of her shirt.
"A GOD DAMNED ******** COMPETITION!!!" he would shout again in Iblis's face, shaking the opponent back and forth.
If only he had told Matthew not to fight. Heavy Metal Kings already had two victories. He was trying to entertain the fans, give them more bang for their buck...
Rain would grit his teeth, as if trying to think of what to say to make Iblis comprehend what he was trying to tell her, but it was as if he already made up his mind that it wouldn't matter. Iblis struck him as one of those girls (or was that guys?) who didn't hold others' lives in high regard.
Releasing Iblis, Rain would stand up, towering over her.
"Give me one good reason why your fate shouldn't be the same as his."
Lying back on the floor, Victor was now aware of the situation at hand. The words that left the judges mouth felt surreal, leaving a nails on the chalk board feeling that would ring through his ears.
White flag.
Iblis got hirself disqualified. Victor didn't want to hear that and he wasn't aware of what had just happened while he was on the floor. All he knew was that he put Matthew in a fairly bad position and Iblis was handling the incoming striker from Kichiro... Did Iblis kill Matthew on purpose!?
"Grr..."
Shoving one of the chairs out of his way, Victor would try to glance around his area to see what had just happened. On his left side, the fire was spreading into his direction, leaving his vision partially blurred. He couldn't keep his visioned focused, especially when the smoke starting to build up in his area. Not surprisingly, he would start coughing and use colorful language to express his predicament..
"... ********' hell."
Aside from effecting his vision, the smoke was making it very difficult for him to breathe. Fortunately, he would use set his hand down and push himself back up to his knees. His metallic pants were still warm to the touch and he couldn't move his left arm or left leg. He would use the strength of his right leg as support, still using his right arm to push himself back to a standing position.
He would be struggling to keep himself on his feet, as he would limp from the fire that spread behind him. Victor would hobble past Iblis's current position, stumbling over to pick up the Kali-Yuga. While picking up the Kali-Yuga, he would turn glare at Iblis for a moment. Victor wasn't sure of what had just happened. He couldn't find the words to convey his feelings and he couldn't understand how it happened. In his confused state, he would try to snatch the Kali-Yuga from the floor. Unfortunately, not taking the weight into account, he would collapse in the process of trying to pick it back up.
"Agh!"
Falling onto his knees, he would place his right hand on the center of the Kali-Yuga. Tilting the Kali-Yuga into a diagonal position, he would steadily push the x-shaped weapon into the floor to lift himself back up to his feet. He was unable to carry the Kali-Yuga, so he slowly switched hands to his (more) burned left side. He could only cringe as he felt the metal pushed up against his burnt skin, but he was forced to switch hands use the Kali-Yuga as a makeshift cane.
Victor almost lost balance as Rain shouted from a short distance. He hadn't seen him previously enter the Fireband. And he seemed pissed at Iblis, which wasn't so surprising. Victor started to realize that the situation was only going downhill, therefore, the remaining Heavy Metal Kings needed to escape.
"Iblis, lets go!"
He would slowly walk towards the entrance (now exit) door, in hopes that Iblis and whoever else inside would be smart enough to follow. The Firebrand bar could collapse on top of them and he needed to see a hospital.
Edited: Excessive typos.
""...ugh....sorry..." Kichiro came too once more, having only been stunned by the face punch. World blurring, he looked back over to her with a broken smile. "...you can ride in a different vehicle...er...whatever you want.."
An 8' HUEG GAI, an Austrian named Hans, would open the back of the lead Escalade after they'd gotten too it, helping the healers to get Kichiro into the back. The soft cushions would be a warm welcome to him.
Blinking, the Chimagin would remember Ray, and look to see where she went. It sounded like Rain was yelling up a storm or something, not that Kichiro cared, or anything mattered anymore to him...
...he needed to find a way to rest, and eat, badly.
"I'll be fine. What kind of fan would I be if I didn't stick by the fighter." Climbing in, Ray's shirt would deal for a face mask. It was the blood. Or the smoke that bothered her. It was the repeating image of Kichiro's leg saying goodbye to it's host after being blown up.
Woozy, Ray sat down, rubbing her forehead while keeping her eyes on the chimagin. "This is ironic." Though, she wouldn't say why, only a small smile played over her face.
"Just rest Kichi'. The healers will have you as good as new in no time."
“s**t…”
Iblis let his head fall back to the planks with a heavy thud, groaning with a mixture of pain, displeasure, and general not-goodness as the armor clad judge stalked up. The dull snapping noise followed by the weight of Matthew’s lifeless body pressing down against his was enough to tell him that everything had gone well, too well, he didn’t need to open his eyes to know he had just killed someone.
”Fighter Iblis disqualified! Victory goes to Matthew of Team Rising Storm!”
And she’d still lost, damn it. Iblis would remain laying for a few seconds, breathing in and out before sitting up, letting Matthew’s body roll off of her own until it was slouching across her lap, head nestled in between her legs twisted up at an awkward angle to stare up, a nice chunk of her ear still hanging from his lips. The fans were stunned. Not that the craziest member of the Heavy Metal Kings had ever been the most popular, but they obviously hadn’t expected things to end this way.
“Well I hope you’re happy, you made me do it.”
Iblis actually smiled, running a hand through Matthew’s hair like he was a sleeping child. Was he proud of his enemy? That would be the jist of things. With a single burst of ferocity the weakest member of Rising Storm had been able to surprise and almost kill the strongest of the Kings. That he had been able to call up so much strength was impressive to Iblis at least, it was a shame he wouldn’t live to use it.
Iblis prepared to stand, looking towards her limping captain with a dismissive shrug and a shy smile. Iblis was about to scoop up the body of Matthew and carry him outside with her, bent over and completely unaware of the raging giant storming past Victor and right into her face. He grabbed her by the collar, jerking her back and forth quickly before she could make a reaction. Faintly she managed to hear his shouting underneath the blood pounding in her head and animal instincts telling her to defend herself.
“I don’t know..." Iblis tried to get his bearings, left hand clutching the one Rain had used to grab him and ironically using the captain of Rising Storm to keep himself steady. The right had wedged itself between their bodies, aiming to grab the captains throat before he could rip his out, basic instinct at work. “But, there are huge guys in suits of armor with guns waiting to kick our asses if we fight outside of a match."
Iblis shoved back from Rain, opening up some distance between the two should he decide to charge again. The severed leg left her light headed, there were burns all across the left side of her face, and her right ear was missing, but she had gotten off easy compared to the others after their fights.
“He did well, can’t you see that? He made me kill him. Are you going to just ignore his accomplishment and leave him to burn in this s**t hole while you kill me…”
What kind of twisted gears were turning in Iblis’ head to make his logic so warped? But he did have a point, it would be disrespectful for the captain to just let Matthew burn up inside of the Firebrand. Iblis would shove past Rain, leaving the body for him alone and walking up to Victor, offering a cheery slap on the burnt back as a greeting.
“If you’re still feeling so hot blooded after the tournament, seek me out…” Looping an arm underneath Victors free shoulder she would try and heft the captain up, forcing him to use her for support rather then that silly weapon. She'd forcefully drag him to the door of Firebrand, collapsing rafters and even dislodged stones dropping in the background. “I wouldn’t mind it. Dying that is.”
Rain would snort, glaring daggers through Iblis as she (or he?) helped Victor up and out of the burning down Firebrand. As tempted as he was, he couldn't sabatoge Heavy Metal King's efforts for the actions of a sole member of their team.
He would stare down at Matthew, who he was only nearby. He knelt down beside the man, grabbing the yellow card from his chest, crushing it in his hand, before throwing it away. Despite the vital signs from the FIGHTER, despite the judge checking him, Rain would check the man's pulse anyways. Of course, he would get nothing.
Gritting his teeth, some tears flowing from his eyes, he would reach over, grabbing the man's FIGHTER, and tear it from his wrist, before throwing it into the fire. Hanging his head low, he would reach down, to scoop up Matthew in his arms, to bring him out of the tavern before the roof would cave in on their heads. However, when he picked him up...
"?!" Rain had not actually seen what killed Matthew, so seeing how... loosely the man's head hung...
In a fret, he would ease Matthew back down, and begin to examine his teammate's neck. How it moved, how it shouldn't move.
"Someone..." he started, swallowing before wiping the tears that were shed from his eyes. "SOMEONE GET IN HERE!" he would yell out over his shoulder. "A MEDIC! A WHITE MAGE! ANYBODY!"
He would carefully work Matthew over onto his front, he would begin to strip his teammate of his flannel jacket, then he would rip open the man's short sleeve shirt, exposing Matthew's back upwards. He would place one pair of fingers (index and middle) at the base of Matt's spine, the other just below the damage.
What Rain was about to do, he was pulling it out of his a**. He wasn't sure if it would even work. But he had to TRY. With all the things wrong with a person physically, it was about the ONLY thing he could do to save someone besides CPR, considering his specialty.
'Flow through me... flow through me... flow through me... flow through me...' he would repeat in his mind. What he would be doing would try to re-establish the circuit severed with the spinal chord damage. If he could just restore a partial ability for the brain to send messages to Matthew's involuntary bodily functions, such as breathing and heart beating, then maybe he could keep him going long enough for him to be treated magically!
Using his own bioelectricity, the same electrical energy that would flow in all life forms with developed nervous systems, he would try to coax electronic signals from Matthew's brain through his fingertips by withdrawing his own energy, and send a similar signal back out to the spine, which would hopefully then deliver it to the rest of the body.
Rain would have to maintain full concentration to do this, if it even worked; he couldn't let his mind wander in the slightest. He would block out what background noises he could, while praying somebody would come soon. What he was attempting wasn't a perma-fix; unless he had the real deal repaired, it would not keep Matthew's body going for long.
The fire was being fought by HoH staff as this happened, so it was not instantly overtaking them; but it was spreading in areas they couldn't fight, and they were running out of fire extinguishers. So Rain could not wait forever either; if for no other reason, that the building was rapidly becoming structurally unsound.
Moving Matthew was far too dangerous, so it was now or never.
A bypass huh? Sure, there was a little spark there. Not much. But SOMETHING was definately there, getting routed through Rain's Robo Parts.
Only question was if Rain could pick up what those signals were, passing through his body. Because they probably wouldn't be pleasant if his nervous system picked it up. Really what would you expect from someone that just died a violent death in a panicked state?
Vital signs? Maybe. But definately very faint. One doesn't just come out of such a situation with full faculities.
Matthew would have to thank A~E, if he survived. All the cyberware Rain had implanted in him involved a computer management system to overlook and maintain all the processes. I.E., Rain had a microcomputer in his brain. It was doing a fine job translating the incoming signals, as long as he himself focused on feeling them out and allowing the closed circuit he created to travel through his own brain. A process, mentioned before, that would require full concentration. Literally, a meditative state.
How it would go, is that Rain's own biological functions would slow to a level almost identical to Matthew's; but not quite so poorly off. Managably low, not Fatally low. This would allow him to better replicate the signal, rather than mix it up with his own, as it travelled through his body, out his left hand, and to Matthew's spine.
Save's eyes widened as he watched Iblis's hand blast into the back of his opponent. Save knew what sort of damage shi could cause with a blow like that, and despite the pain in his hip, he hobbled over to the scene as quickly as possible, without interfering with the fight, of course.
"Damn." He said, as he watched Rain take Matt's body and holler at Iblis. A pointless endeavor, he noted, as he spied Iblis's smile. He would do his own lecturing later.
He quickly ran outside and gathered a group of white mages, trained healer mages to whom he quickly conversed with, using jargon that would be likely completely foreign to anyone who hadn't grown up with a family of medics as he had.
The group came to Rain's side moments later, Save pressing his pointer and middle fingers lightly against Matt's neck, sliding them up the base as he closed his eyes, his fingertips sensing the slight distortion in the pattern of bone structure that marked the first point of break. His fingers immediately stopped.
"Here." He said, and a white mage immediately summoned a white ball of healing energy, pushing it on top of the area until it sunk into the skin, and the white mage closed his eyes, his sight now guided to the interior of the white orb, as the healing magic inside began to fix the break.
This process was repeated no less then three times, and eventually, when Save was content that he had found all of the injuries to Matthew's spine, he stood up from the group huddling over the body and regarded Rain.
"They're reinforcing and repositioning his spine now, Rain. Afterwards they're going to take him outside and to their facility. He should be alright, but there could be permanent brain damage, lack of muscle response...anything. They won't know until he wakes."
Rain was not sure how long it had been since the blow had been delivered to Matthew. He really wasn't keeping time at that point. So whatever permenant damage that couldn't be treated with magic or by medicine, there was nothing else that Rain could do.
Besides stay with Matthew. Rain at least owed him that.
For the type of damage Matthew had recieved, Save was probably the best thing that could have happened to him. Healing magics meant nothing if they didn't know what they were healing. And what they did heal, probably wouldn't BE as good as new for some time; a broken bone anywhere else, you could slap a cast on it and be on your merry way. But when it came to neck and spinal injuries, it would take time to recover, to reset itself, to grow strong again.
As Save explained it to him, Rain's concentration would be harder and harder to maintain, until he lost it altogether as they were finishing up. He would wait some time, not replying to his opponent immediately. He would be constantly monitoring Matthew, to make sure that enough of the damage had been repaired that he would be able to survive transport to a hospital.
Assuming such recovery was sufficient, and he did get what minor pulse he would expect to get, he would turn back to Save finally, still on his knees, and bow down low to him, to the point where his forehead would be touching the warmed wooden floor of the Firebrand.
"I..." he started, unsure of what to say. He would then sit up, and look him right in the eyes.
"Thank you, Save. I am in your debt for this." He would look over at Matthew again, before returning his gaze to Save. "I'm going to wait here for him until medics come with a stretcher, if that's okay. The smoke and heat is pretty bad, so you don't need to stay any longer. You've done enough. Far more than enough."
...
If such recovery was not possible, replace the second half of this post with this.
Yeah, he was breathing, thanks to Rain and Mizu's combined efforts. A shallow heartbeat, but regular breathing. He didn't look to be up to talking. Or moving. Or going about revenge against the Barbarian. Much of anything other than being there and being wounded.
Oh yeah, there was still that broken arm, if someone wanted to do some on the spot healing as long as Mizu had the white mage brigade there. Other injuries seemed minor.
Rain Yupa Wrote:"I'm going to wait here for him until medics come with a stretcher, if that's okay. The smoke and heat is pretty bad, so you don't need to stay any longer. You've done enough. Far more than enough."
And then the sound of helicopters.
It wasn't that Joseph didn't trust Creation Industries' medical staff, that wasn't it at all, they were the best. It was just that the company man had a vested interest in this particular case as Rain was this fellows team captain. His money was behind Rain, and thus he was willing to spend a little more.
He of course didn't know that Matthew was already lost to the tournament, but what can you do.
Medical staff burst through the door, one with a kit bag and the other two holding a rather advanced looking stretcher. None of that two sticks and canvas crap; high tech polymers, contours for the body, and straps for bumpy rides.
"We'll take it from here sirs." The head medic spoke to both Rain and Safe, "You've done more than your fair share."
And with that they began their work. Giving him a once over with their own equipment, the staff set lifting Matthew with the greatest care onto the stretcher. No harm would come about him on his journey from the Firebrand and then to the Gambino regional hospital via airlift.
Perhaps as the injured man and the medics left the rest would notice one more man leaning against the exit frame fanning smoke away from him. His nice pants and jacket identified he wasn't a medic, but his untucked shirt and lack of tie made it fairly clear he wasn't Matthew's lawyer coming to collect.
HoH had waivers for that anyway.
"So how'd this all happen, Rain?" The man I will now identify as Joseph Brown for connivence sake addressed the leader of Rising Storm, "And don't they have a goddamn fire department around here?"
Save's eyes raised in mild surprise as Rain bowed himself before him. Save wasn't used to being exaulted like this, and found himself momentarily at a loss for words.
"l-listen, Rain. There's really no-" He said, about to protest. His better judgement caught a hold of him, however, and he refrained, accepting Rain's gratitude.
"Ah, I'm glad you think so, friend. Just, uh, keep an eye on him, eh? You guys fought realy well. I'm scared to see what comes next..." He said, complementing Rain in his own way.
If Save needed a hand, Rain would assist Save in exiting the premises. He would follow the Stretcher out otherwise, on the off chance that any part of the building, including their numerable rafters, would come down on top of them. Luckily, they did not.
Quote: Perhaps as the injured man and the medics left the rest would notice one more man leaning against the exit frame fanning smoke away from him. His nice pants and jacket identified he wasn't a medic, but his untucked shirt and lack of tie made it fairly clear he wasn't Matthew's lawyer coming to collect.
HoH had waivers for that anyway.
"So how'd this all happen, Rain?" The man I will now identify as Joseph Brown for connivence sake addressed the leader of Rising Storm, "And don't they have a goddamn fire department around here?"
"... it depends. Did you mean the fire, or the teammate that was killed? The former I think was from Trigger Happy Oda, who's conveniently left the area already from what I can tell. I think it was just a bad location to bring a fire user is all. Why couldn't they put us somewhere less flammable, like... Bass'ken Lake. Y'know, since its all iced over. Iced over lakes aren't flammable, right?"
Watching Matthew be loaded into the helicopter, he would then finish the second half of his explanation. "... the latter, they just got careless. Too many young people, they think they're invincible. They think that just because they're in their prime, that they can't be killed. And then stuff like this happens. I should have stopped the match before it was too late; it was my duty as a captain. It was as if the driving force behind me that makes those decisions, the part of myself that closely watches over these battles was vacant at the time, as if it had something more pressing to do."
((@ 4th Wall: From Hell's heart, I stab at thee! 
))
"I thought you weren't coming this year, Bossman. Why the change of heart?"
"Knowing the people around here setting a lake on fire wouldn't be that much of a stretch." The smoke didn't bother him that much, thought that wasn't much of a surprise, "I've seen stranger things."
Mid way through Rain's explanation the blades of the heli sped-up, and with that Matthew was whisked off to the hospital. Not an A~E secret lab, a hospital. The man needed a quiet place to recover, not lazer eyes or a new gun.
"Don't be too hard on yourself, no way you could have seen this coming. Besides, the advertisers would have eaten you alive if you stopped the fight early. This kind of publicity is a goldmine for them." A slight head shake and a grin, "And don't go spouting that I'm too old for this style bullshit yet. Not until your lease is up."
And then came the question he was getting sick of.
"PR. Frankly more faces got behind this thing than I thought, thus it would look awful if little old me didn't show up and give a funny interview or too. Course the rising prestige of the event means I can't get away with half the s**t I did last year. Gotta put forward an Image, Rain." Both hands jokingly tugged the lapels of his suit jacker twice, "Hence the duds."
Just to be sure this was the point he looked back to see if Save got out fine.
Save eventually stood up, and noticing both Rain and the newcomer watching to see if he was safe, waved at them with a friendly smile. He then did his best to hobble out of the building.
He didn't really have anything worth saying to Rain. He figured he'd see the guy again.
It took him a few hours to run around with all the white mages and tend to the crowd members who had gotten burned and bruised from the moshpits and the flames of the building. By the time he returned to the Hotel, it was much later in the evening...
A time-traveling Judge sailed through the flaming bar on a rocket ship powered by dreams. He came baring good tidings, candy, tough love, and penalty cards.
"Yellow Card! Victor! Remaining in the ring beyond the Striker time limit!"
"Yellow Card! Rain! Unsportsmanlike conduct!"
The Judge threw the cards up into the air, where they were consumed by flames and disappeared into the smoke-filled rafters to be with their vampireninja compatriots.
Also... the time-traveling Judge snuck away while the cameras were still panned-up.
