[Exhibition] Foundation R&D-Bloody Pandas

With the first round of Heaven or Hell concluded, half of the eight entering teams have been eliminated from the tournament, leaving many of this year's eager contenders stung with defeat. Some would walk away satisfied with their efforts, while others would think back bitterly on the outcome of their fights, left sorely unfulfilled. Many would find themselves lost in their reason, that there was now nothing left for them upon the Ark...

...until now.

As the eliminated competitors returned to their team suites to get their things together and ship off back to Latent, they would find a flyer posted on the door leading to their rooms. Obviously a simple piece of paper was far too easy to overlook, so if that wasn't enough, their FIGHTERs would suddenly spring to life as soon as they were in proximity of their rooms, beeping loudly with a new alert that more or less read the message of the flyer itself.

Quote:** Wrote:

ATTENTION ALL ELIMINATED ROUND 1 PARTICIPANTS!

We hope you are not discouraged by your loss this year and wish you the best of luck in next year's tournament. However, for those of you whose thirst for combat has not yet been quenched, all is not lost!

The Foundation welcomes any and all participants that lost in Round 1 that are interested to partake in a special one-time event! This event has been designed as a test of strength worthy of a champion and is sure to give any competitor the thrill and excitement that they so desperately seek from Heaven or Hell.

The teams who decide to partake in this event shall receive 100,000 gold for their participation, and each of them has the chance to win...

ANEWCAR!!!

So if you still feel you have some more fight left in you and you want to show the world what you're made of, head down to the Restricted Area aboard the Ark so that our staff may direct you to the Research and Development Department.

Don't miss out on this one-time offer!

While not exactly a second chance at the tournament, this was certainly a second chance to show the world what got these teams into the tournament to begin with and feel the thrill of battle that many competitors had yearned for. Plus there was some money and potential ANEWCAR to go with it, so even competitors with the basest of desires would have at least some motivation.

What could go wrong?

Restricted Area - Foundation R&D

In spite of the high praise given in the message and talk of "showing the world what they were made of", the Restricted Area looked about as unwelcoming as it always did. One would think there would at least have been some sort of decorum to signify the event and prepare them for the glory that was about to come, but there was nothing. Not even a crummy banner made of newsprint and magic marker. There was only the blast door leading into the public section of the Restricted Area, the corridors leading down to the not-so-aptly named "hospital". Upon arrival, the team would be approached by Foundation staff members and Judges, those who would have originally led them down said corridor and into the "infirmary" to meet with the two luchador doctors that "tended" to the wounded. This time, however, the escort made a detour, heading down a branching set of corridors that led to a small, windowless room at the end of a hallway. There were four, simple-looking chairs sitting in the middle of the room, facing a single, undecorated steel wall.

"Please have a seat while we initiate the event," said one of the suited staff members, before departing with the Judges and closing the door behind him. There would be an audible metallic clank as the door was bolted shut, locking the participants inside. Not exactly the most friendly of atmospheres, but it wasn't like they were being strapped into their seats. Hell, they weren't even required to sit down.

There was a faint twitch and hum of energy in the air that only those with the most acute of supernatural senses would have been able to notice, but there was no way to decipher what it was, exactly. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to be overtly threatening and was gone in moments. Perhaps it was nothing at all?

Suddenly, the flat, empty wall before them would start to rise like a hangar door, revealing the venue of the event to be, as it would seem, a theater of science.

Wrong theater.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

Or at least it was close to that. The competitors would find themselves in a large, empty arena that looked somewhat like a coliseum with high walls and a glossy floor, spanning 90 feet in diameter. It looked like one of those theaters where professors of biology and other sciences would display their experiments and surgeries for their students to observe above. As was to be expected, there were indeed people sitting up in the balcony, shielded by high-density reinforced fiberglass screens so that they could safely observe the event that would soon take place below. None of them appeared to be your run-of-the-mill spectator, not with how virtually all of them were dressed in lab coats, constantly scribbling away at their notes. They were observers, scientists from the Foundation's R&D Department, eying each competitor from high above as if they were lab rats in a maze.

There was no operating table in the middle of the arena for the scientists to observe an operation, no delicate machinery to be demonstrated. The only thing there that looked like any sort of outlandish device was a strange-looking contraption at the very top of the dome above them that almost looked like some sort of ornate light fixture, although there was no light coming from it. Clearly it was not meant to light up the room, especially since there were enough fluorescent light fixtures in the arena to keep the whole place nicely lit.

Suddenly, a door much like the one that led the competitors into the arena opened up on the other side, with a figure emerging from the shadows of the adjacent room. It was the man that many would remember from the opening ceremonies at the Crimson Hawk, the mysterious white-haired doctor with glasses reflected the light like two shining silver circles over his eyes. His mouth was still locked in that wide, scheming grin that he had on his face since the beginning of the tournament, walking with his hands casually folded behind his back. He certainly didn't look like much of a fighter, so he must've had quite a set of stones to approach a bunch of mostly disgruntled HoH competitors so calmly.

He stopped just a few yards short of the center of the arena before addressing the competitors.

"Welcome, welcome," he said, extending his arms to them in a deceptively warm greeting. "So nice of you all to join me here...at least, those of you who decided to attend. I am Dr. Minoru Aramaki, head of the Foundation's Research and Development Department. I must assume you are here because you find yourself somewhat...wanting after the conclusion of your Round 1 matches. Although I am afraid you will not be advancing further in the tournament from here on out, perhaps you can help me to advance something far more...fulfilling?"

Dr. Aramaki slowly began to pace about, gesturing to the room behind the competitors as the wall shut once more behind them, sealing them inside the demonstration theater. "I don't suppose either of you noticed that little change in atmosphere back in that room there. Quite a interesting explanation, really. You see, I specialize in applied sciences regarding metaphysics, the oh-so-unexplained world of what you plebeians refer to as "magic". This world is full of so many strange and fascinating occurrences, but in the end they're really nothing more than simple facets of reality yet to be explained. That little 'hum' of energy you felt back there was a temporal shift generated by one of my Space-Time Partition devices. It allows me to split the flow of the space-time continuum into separate 'instances' and have them converge back together in a seamless flow of temporal progression."

Dr. Aramaki adjusted the large, round glasses on his face."To put it in the simplest of terms, I've managed to capture the so-called 'time-paradox' phenomenon for practical use. Impressive, is it not?"

"Oh, but you didn't come here for that, did you? No, no, I must be foolish to think that any of you would be able to appreciate the ingenuity that went into the construction of such a device. You didn't come here to bask in the glory of scientific discovery. No...you came here looking to satisfy a much baser need, to beat your breasts and shake your fists in a display of strength like the very beasts left choking in the dust of natural selection. You came here to participate in the cathartic release that comes from mindlessly beating your opposition into submission. You came here to fight...and you will not be disappointed."

Dr. Aramaki snapped his fingers and the device attached to the ceiling steadily came to life. The black, unlit orbs attached to the device lit up like plasma balls, arcing with electricity until they glowed blue-white with the massive amount of power it drew from its generator. Suddenly, everything but the floor of the demonstration theater disappeared into blackness, reforming and reshaping into a vast expanse full of stars and nebulae, as if the entire floor was simply a platform drifting through space.

"You see," continued the doctor, "The Foundation has tasked me with creating a device that would alter the fabric of reality itself. I have studied many various instances of realspace alteration...reality marbles, psychic territories, pocket dimensions. Mages seem to make it look so easy, don't they?" As Aramaki continued to speak, something rather peculiar happened. His voice slowly began to change, deepening ever so slightly. His tone became smoother, his meter almost melodic. "But mages are nothing but children playing with a light switch. A chillld knows nothing about what causes a cirrrrcuit to function, they simply know what happens if they flllip the switch. All those rrrridiculous incantations and rrrrreagents are nothing more than user-frrrriendllly interfaces for the ignorant, superrrstitious masses of the worrrrlld. But I willlll not settle for such simplistic understanding! I will not settle for simply being 'gifted' by the gods with the 'traditions' passed down from one bllllind fool to another! I will take the flames of Prometheus, and thrrrough science, I will trrrrruuully achieve masterrry of the univerrrse!"

Aramaki threw his arms out wide in a gesture of triumphant glory as he shouted atop of his lungs in a voice that could not possibly have been his to begin with. Between the mesmerizing smoothness of his tone and the rolling of his r's and l's, the doctor had clearly become something much, much more than he was before.

With his grandiose speech ended, Dr. Aramaki let his left hand rest at his side while casually extending his right out to the combatants standing before him, as if he wanted them to step forward.

"Saaa, kakugo wa dekita ka na? Omae no chikara wo misete morau zo." (Now, are you prepared? Show me your power.)

...wait, what?

[ Cognitive Genome ] Wrote:

Ebag the II Wrote:

Designated Hero Wrote:

Sins of an Angel Wrote:

To say Athan had thrown his match would have been a ridiculous statement. While Athan very clearly had not shown any interest in the fight, he wasn't out there to ruin his team's chances or improve Odessa's. No. Athan had simply taken himself out of the tournament because there was no incentive for him to push himself to the limit in order to get at Noah. With Noah stepping down as chairman, Athan's path to the man was suddenly much more...direct. That being said, as Athan approached his hotel suite he had received a strange message on his FIGHTER. Normally any sane person would have ignored it as one final taunt, but upon thinking it over, the more likely it seemed that Athan very well could run into Noah at this event.

Athan didn't know much about the mysterious former chairman, but he did figure that the man was a sadist and if he was going to be anywhere near the tournament, it was going to be at one of these matches where eliminated competitors could be thrown to the dogs for easy advertising dollars. Athan knew the whole thing reeked of a trap, but in the end he just didn't care.

Still suited in his armor from his rather uneventful boat trip, Athan decided to sling his swords back over his shoulder and head to the location indicated by his FIGHTER. Worst case scenario was he got to vent a little on some poor b*****d of an eliminator before heading out on his own to find Noah. All things considered, that wasn't a bad Plan A.

So when Athan arrived in the mostly empty arena, save for row upon row of labcoat-wearing nerds staring down at him, Athan wasn't really all that surprised. The rumors he had heard about the judges led Athan to believe that they had been forged from the best parts of all previous Heaven or Hell competitors to be made into perfect fighting machines. The fact that a bunch of scientists had arrived to study and monitor whatever Athan was about to face almost confirmed his suspicions then and there. Further inspection revealed to Athan that he was not as alone as he had initially thought. There was another nerdy type standing across the way, and Dzan had decided to speed things up by arriving early. Hell, before Athan could even get within earshot of the doctor the guy was already halfway through his speech.

You came here to fight...and you will not be disappointed."

Well at least he gets right to the chase

And just as soon as Athan finished that thought, he was suddenly greeted by complete darkness. Athan halted in his tracks and his right hand immediately shot upwards to grab at the hilt of his Rook's Destroyer, finding some measure of comfort in the largest of his weapons. Then stars, galaxies and various other forms formed around him. The researchers were all gone, it was just Athan, Dzan, and the doctor.

The strangeness of the situation didn't improve any as the doctor's voice began to warp and then, without warning, completely change languages. Athan's right eyebrow cocked out of some measure of confusion.

"So...guess this is the part where we're supposed to fight."

+++Dzan just sidestepped a few times and the blast went uselessly by him. His bronze eyes looking at the being before him. Obviously, this guy didn't realize that Dzan was once an eliminator for a reason. The daemon having possessed him and making him completely and utterly savage. He'd merely smirk all the more as he hefted the chainaxe to his shoulder and closed his eyes for a second or two before opening them back up with a sudden intensity that would make most people stutter in their steps. Dzan was allowing that to come to the for again. Allowing the daemon that was his axe to help him in this battle and it showed. The intelligence was there, but there was an otherworldly malice that this scientist would catch before he'd have to suddenly be dodging from Athan's charge, if there was one. The entire time Dzan just stood there before suddenly activating his chainaxe with a huge roar of power. It was time to carve a gakker up.

Ebag The II Wrote:

+++Dzan just sidestepped a few times and the blast went uselessly by him. His bronze eyes looking at the being before him. Obviously, this guy didn't realize that Dzan was once an eliminator for a reason. The daemon having possessed him and making him completely and utterly savage. He'd merely smirk all the more as he hefted the chainaxe to his shoulder and closed his eyes for a second or two before opening them back up with a sudden intensity that would make most people stutter in their steps. Dzan was allowing that to come to the for again. Allowing the daemon that was his axe to help him in this battle and it showed. The intelligence was there, but there was an otherworldly malice that this scientist would catch before he'd have to suddenly be dodging from Athan's charge, if there was one. The entire time Dzan just stood there before suddenly activating his chainaxe with a huge roar of power. It was time to carve a gakker up.

At that distance, it was expected for either of them to evade the attack, but Dr. Aramaki didn't expect Dzan's sudden change in intensity. Indeed, Aramaki did catch the malicious intelligence, the unholy sentience that was the daemon that possessed his axe and, to a certain degree, Dzan himself. There were many who were intimidated by such a display, and that was for good reason. Aramaki knew little about the intricacies of the Warp, but Khornate daemons were not to be trifled with. Those bronze eyes of his had struck fear into the hearts of many a warrior, and it was that very daemon that gave Dzan the power needed to fight as an eliminator back in the 2009 tournament.

And yet, somehow, Aramaki glanced back at Dzan without an ounce of intimidation. He looked into the eyes of the daemon as it stared at him through its champion, and Aramaki stared back without so much as batting an eye. For all of its imposing power, there was something about that sudden change in Aramaki at the beginning of the battle that made the bloodthirsty daemon seem like little more than a lowly dog of a creature, inferior in the face of his own power. No mortal mind could ever think this of such a magnitude of burning hatred and rage. Aramaki must have been possessed by something.

They would certainly soon wish he was, if they ever figured out the truth.

Designated Hero Wrote:

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH~"

Athan's left hand moved to join his right and assist in unsheathing the giant greatsword from his back and, in the same movement, bring it crashing down in a vertical slash aimed at the top of the good doctor's head. The swing at the end of Athan's charge left the large man standing about seven feet away from the doctor, giving him more than enough range to completely cleave the scientist in half.

It would seem as if Dr. Aramaki had angered Athan, and Athan was at his most powerful when he was angry. Without a doubt, a blow from a weapon of that caliber would cleave the doctor in two. The downside was that the weapon was so large that it wasn't very difficult to see where it was coming from. That was why skilled swordsmen like Athan made good use of such a heavy weapon's range, striking from as far away as he did.

Unfortunately for him, Dr. Aramaki had already calculated this.

"DOOIIYAAH!"

Aramaki cried out and advanced Athan's charge with a step before erupting into a sudden burst of speed, trailing an aura of red energy behind him as he headed right into the charging swordsman, moving past and under his descending sword-wielding arms and driving his left shoulder towards his solar plexus.

Quote:** Wrote:

Evil Charge - Rams his opponent with his shoulder at great speed, knocking him/her away.

It wasn't entirely successful, but it didn't need to be. Athan would be saved from the brunt of the attack by the motion of his arms, which would strike his left shoulder just as the swing came down. It would prevent Aramaki from winding him, but the charge itself allowed him to close the distance and pass the Rook Destroyer's massive blade, giving Aramaki the opening he sought out.

"ZZEEIIIYYAAAOOH!"

Quote:** Wrote:

Bakuenfu - Hell Axe - Slams his axe, encased in flames, into the ground.

The head of Aramaki's axe suddenly burst aflame, bringing it forward in a downward strike with tremendous force. The strength of the blow would be enough that the Tyr Kana warrior's armor would only be able to ablate it partially, preventing it from cleaving into his shoulder deeply and instead leaving a long, searing gash down the left side of his upper torso as it penetrated his armor. The strike would continue downward, with the heavy axe head biting into the ground before the flames surrounding it dissipated.

There was no doubt in Aramaki's mind, even amidst the sudden battle-lust, that Dzan would not sit idly by for long now that his chainaxe was revved up. The doctor had an idea of what he might do with the way he was hanging back and letting Athan take the initiative, but perhaps he would be surprised.

+++Dzan would be springing into action right behind Athan. The shoulder slam would mask the work of Dzan as the second part of the Mad Scientist's attack would go through. Slamming into the armor of Athan as Dzan would suddenly be out beside him sweeping barely past where Athan's armor was even scraping it slightly to slam straight into the scientist's stomach. The Scientist was already committed to the attack of injuring Athan and thus would have little to no time for reaction with that daemon weapon speeding through to gut him. Dzan himself was no light weight. Cybernetics and daemon possession helping speed him along. Every movement perfection and aimed to be utterly lethal.

+++If the movement missed or even hit Athan would be enraged and would be grabbing the doctor regardless and that meant one thing. Dzan had a stuck target before him. He wouldn't have to go and chase him down again. With his own sudden movement's Athan wouldn't HAVE to throw him and thus would merely have to hold him for Dzan to completely and utterly decimate him. More chops would happen. More slices. More stabs with the spike. It was all aim to be lethal. None of the slow bloodletting. Each hit would be aimed at major arteries and major muscle groups.

+++As he went to swing he completely and utterly missed. His eyes widening slightly before he'd be shot up into the air. He'd merely grin as he yanked his chainaxe a different direction. The motion and force of the move moving him up and over the scientist before landing into a crouch. Only to spring right forward as the chi wave would finally be finishing. That chainaxe flashing through the air again to try and slam into the back of the man's neck. Decapitation is the easiest way to kill anything. Even gakkin' daemons.

Ebag The II Wrote:

+++As he went to swing he completely and utterly missed. His eyes widening slightly before he'd be shot up into the air. He'd merely grin as he yanked his chainaxe a different direction. The motion and force of the move moving him up and over the scientist before landing into a crouch. Only to spring right forward as the chi wave would finally be finishing. That chainaxe flashing through the air again to try and slam into the back of the man's neck. Decapitation is the easiest way to kill anything. Even gakkin' daemons.

The doctor smirked at Dzan's last-minute show of agility that managed to prevent him from getting knocked back and up into the air. It seemed that he was finally trying to flank the doctor, landing behind him in order to score a critical strike from his blind spot. It probably would have been successful had the doctor not seen Dzan jumping over him.

It would have also probably worked if the doctor had a blind spot.

No doubt Dzan was unhappy with the battle thus far, what with all of the energy blasts being tossed around. Aramaki knew well that the cyberpunk was not one for ranged attacks and spells, and relished the thick, bloody mess of melee combat. Perhaps it was time the doctor gave him what he wanted.

As the chainaxe came whirring for the doctor's head, he suddenly crouched his body, bringing his head out of the way as the chainaxe passed by harmlessly. From there it would have looked like Dzan would have an easy opening from someone crouching so low, making it difficult for him to turn around to attack or defend against the cyberpunk that was currently flanking him.

If only it were that easy.

SSSHHHHK!

The moment Aramaki evaded the strike, his left leg shot up behind him in a back kick so high that he nearly did a vertical split. Unfortunately, the only "split" here would be the lacerated flesh left in the wake of the strike as Dr. Aramaki's foot sliced up across Dzan's chest like a blade through the opening granted by his chainaxe swing, if such a thing were even possible for a foot to do. Even the sound of the kick itself was that of brandished steel, striking with enough force to knock Dzan into the air, leaving a shallow, bleeding gash on his chest.

KSSHHK-KSSHH-SHHHHK!!!

Unlike before, Aramaki wasn't going to follow up with energy blasts or anything like what he had done before. Aramaki was granting Dzan's wish for a melee fight, so the doctor wouldn't give him a chance to breathe. He immediately followed up his strike by leaping into the air after Dzan, swinging his right leg upward in a wide crescent kick that would slice through Dzan's flesh just as surely as a blade would. The doctor didn't stop there, bringing his left leg up sharply again in mid-air for another slicing vertical kick, finishing the combination by bringing that same leg back down again in a mid-air axe kick that felt like it was more "axe" than "kick."

"GENOCIDE CUTTER!"

Each attack followed up as quickly as the first, and the end of the combination would send Dzan back down to the ground with four long yet shallow gashes that would bleed that precious blood that was so valued by Dzan's god.

Designated Hero Wrote:

Athan surged forward once more, but he didn't unleash an attack just yet, instead waiting to see how Aramaki responded to Dzan's swing before he began his own offensive.

With his assault finished and the two of them landed, Aramaki shot Athan a sideways glance and a wide, almost insane-looking grin to remind him that he hadn't quite forgotten about the massive warrior charging back into the fray. Perhaps he would have to give Athan the same treatment? After all, Athan was primarily a melee fighter even if his sword gave him an incredibly long range. If he was to enlighten the two of them, it wouldn't do well not to speak their language.