Description: Crocodiles in the sewers. Muggers in a dark alley. Guy Fieri's restaurant in Midtown. There are lots of things you could be scared of in Metro City, but the Emperor of Muay Thai in a dark abandoned subway tunnel might be among the most terrifying. Can three school-age fighters overcome the awe-inducing presence of Sagat and bring about a miracle victory?
The Metro City Subway runs on time.
This is literally the only good thing that can be said about it at any point. This does buy our fighters a few blessed moments of time unmolested by a subway train -- but only a few.
The subway tunnels are poorly lit even at stops and service entrances; the lights flicker and spark as the fighters arrive, one by one. Tiffany Lords may be the first to get here -- but it'd be hard to know if she /wasn't/, given the circumstances.
Tugging her gloves onto her hands, she winces a little; the outer edges of her hands are still a little torn up from her fight with a cokehead with a chainsaw. She takes a second to breathe in and out, getting herself stable as she strides confidently into the dark tunnels, ready for the fight to begin at any moment.
It's a day of firsts for Haru Sakuraba. This is the first time he's been to the United States, for starters; it's also his first 'real' official fight, which is considerably more nerve-wracking. As he walks through the subway, the tan-skinned Ryukyu islander and Justice Academy student hardly seems like he's pro-fighter material. He keeps in shape, but he's... well, he's a nerd. You can tell just by looking at him. The fact that he came to an SNF in 75% of his school uniform -- the gold Justice uniform coat is tied around his waist, and he's wearing his uniform slacks -- probably isn't helping.
He's also not big on crowds, and Metro City is... uh, let's just say if you're not big on crowds, don't come to Metro City. The nervous-seeming youth is dodging carefully through people, being... surprisingly nimble about it all things considered, but it LOOKS ridiculous.
The cordoned-off area that separates the dark tunnel where things will take place from the crowd of pedestrians and onlookers actually makes an expression of deep relief pass across Haru's face. And... then he's forced to walk down a dim, dank subway tunnel to the actual fight location and thus his relief doesn't last long.
Finally, he approaches Tiffany, the first to arrive, and gives her a grateful smile. "Hello!" he throws out as he approaches, waving. "I'm here! I assume. I mean, this must be the right place, right?" No, Haru. Tiffany is down here for a mani-pedi.
Metro City, THE big city. One of the center of Hollywood universes, it's hard to know anyone who couldn't point out something like the Metro City skyline simply because of how often its used in movies and television.
Too bad these days it's more well known for just how disastrous it is right now. Then again, that's why SNF brought their show here, to try and build support and fundraising for this city under siege from within. One only has to look at the state of the subways to know that.
It's why Brett Neuer doesn't dare use the trains themselves, only finding his way to the station that the event organizers told him to start at through the usual entrances. It cost him some money for a token, sure, but no sense in risking your skin riding one of those deathtraps. And upon arrival, it's hard for him not to make comparisons both to good ol' Duluth as well as Southtown.
"Geez. This place is..." He doesn't say anything, to avoid being too rude. But the expression on his face is one of naked concern. It was his first time here in Metro...and it's not a good first impression he gets....
It could be a charity bout to raise money and awareness for fighting the scourge of ice cream headaches, and Sagat would probably be there. There was a time when he would have been loathe to lend his fists to any but the most worthy of causes, but that was when he was the Emperor of Muay Thai and it still mattered who, when, and why he fought; these days, there's only one fight that really matters anymore, and he has no idea when it's coming. As far as he's concerned, every battle until then is just an opportunity to hone his skills and test himself against the diverse range of fighters and fighting styles populating the world--whether it's fundraising for a gang-ridden city, being teamed up with a misguided fangirl, or sending messages for Shadaloo.
Still, the broad strokes of his bout were initially met by a frown so dour that the promoter reconsidered whether it may have just been best to let surprise the Tiger two weeks running. Eventually, though, the bald man's discontent abated as his mind swam with the possibilities: it's true that his opponents are high school students instead of the seasoned veterans he was hoping for, but after his encounter with K' and Athena - among /others/ - there's plenty to be said for the value of youth.
The smile Sagat left the promoter's office with was, all told, a hell of a lot more unsettling than the frown.
When Fight Time rolls around, Tiffany, Haru, and Brett are the first to arrive--and by a fair margin, at that; Sagat is nowhere to be found. Seconds tick by, would-be audience members look at one another; by the minute mark, the word 'fraud' rises from the onlookers in murmurs as possible explanations for the former Emperor's tardiness are bandied about.
But: the Metro City Subway runs on time, so at T-minus one minute and forty-three seconds, a car rumbles towards the appointed arena, intent on pulling right into the midst of it. As soon as it comes to a stop, one set of doors opens to reveal Sagat already clad in white Muay Thai shorts with orange and navy accents, arms folded over his chest. His arms remain crossed as he deliberately steps from the car and surveys his competition with a pointedly dismissive gaze. Anything to stack the deck in his favor, even if 'anything' means 'trying to get under his opponents' skin with tactically deployed arrogance'.
As the car pulls away, his taciturn expression rather abruptly gives way to mirth as he throws his head back and fills the tunnel with mocking cackles; he refocuses his attention on the trio after the first few minutes of it, but the laughter is unlikely to abate for a while, barring some interruption.
"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself," he'll sneer if allowed to finish in his own time. "/Children/ sent down into this dark and lonesome place to suffer at my hand? So be it; come to me! I'll teach you a lesson that will last you the rest of your lives!"
COMBATSYS: Tiffany has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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Tiffany 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Sagat has joined the fight here on the top side.
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Sagat 0|-------|-------
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Tiffany 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Brett has joined the fight here.
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Sagat 0|-------|-------
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Tiffany 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Brett
Looking over to the nervous lad, Tiffany raises a hand and gives an enthusiastic wave as he gets closer. "If you're looking for a fight, it /sure is/!" she shoots back, speech characteristically a little brassy and ungentle. She's fired up, and it shows in everything from her movements to her big smile; she's finally getting the chance to... to... why did she sign up for this again?
The question of motive eludes her -- maybe she's forgotten, or she just didn't think it was a big deal when she signed up. After that line of inquiry in Sunshine before her connecting flight, though, she sure thinks it's important /now/.
She opens her mouth to say hello to Brett as well -- and then the former Emperor of Muay Thai arrives in all his splendor. For a moment, Tiffany is awestruck; she's in the presence of fighting royalty, and she knows it. On the other hand... he's sure been killing time in the hopes that they'd get mad. And, to a modest extent... it's worked. Sagat's last-second entrance really does make her feel like she's being played with, even if she understands /why/ he does it. Getting called a child and laughed at doesn't exactly help, either.
Accordingly, she is the first to aggress; after the fiasco earlier, she's eager to prove herself. Leaping up into the air, Tiffany aims a foot straight down for Sagat, propelling forward with a vicious divekick; it's risky, but really, 'being in the same room as Sagat' is risky. In lighting like this, his loud proclamation and nasty laughter gives her the only real chance she has to get a totally clean early strike in.
COMBATSYS: Haru has joined the fight here in the center.
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Sagat 0|-------|-------
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Tiffany 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Haru 0|-------|-------
Mad doesn't really get into it for Brett Neuer. After all, he knows what he should be expecting. It's less anger, and more dread that creeps up into him the longer he waits. He only seems to pause when he becomes aware that he should know the blonde girl he's been teamed with, though he can't quite place it. He feels like he recognizes her though.
Those thoughts quickly get shelved when the train arrives...and royalty emerges. The knot in his stomach tightens up further as he looks up at Sagat. Sure, he doesn't have to look up as much compared to his teammates, but it FEELS like a much larger distance. Swallowing, he backs up a bit, taking a deep breath to try and settle himself. He's not quite gotten himself into game mode yet....and it's only when Tiffany surges in with her divekick that he kind of gets knocked loose from his reverence. "R-right....good luck, sir! Everyone!" he quickly says, the stutter not quite what a professional fighter should be carrying, but regardless, he charges in after Tiffany as well, trying to smack at the side of one of Sagat's tree trunk legs, then hook it with a hard yank of his hockey stick.
It's a very interesting energy in the room. Haru is taken aback by the brightness of Tiffany's reply; Brett by comparison is more reserved, but something burns under the surface. Seeing her in front of him, Haru seems to recall stories around Justice of a... pulchritudinous but exceedingly beautiful fighter from the US, who he processes MUST be Tiffany(*). "Yeah, it's nice to b--"
He's cut off by Sagat's entrance, and... yeah. The man's aura is dominating, his presence stifling, even to 'normal' people. With Haru's second sight, it's all the more intense. He flinches a bit at the Emperor's entrance, almost looking like Sagat's words alone are going to physically knock him over. Which... might be why he sets his jaw and mutters, sotto voce, "...you can do this. You can do this. You can do this."
That's probably why he's the last to take action among the three school-age fighters, lagging behind Tiffany and Brett who are, perhaps more experienced and less intimidated. But Haru's determined not to be left behind. He snaps an arm out, and a gunmetal-finish yoyo, of all things, slaps into his palm. "Right. Okay." With that, he too rushes forward, looking to lash out with said yoyo and snag it, whip-like, around Sagat's arm, yanking him forward. It likely won't be a terribly debilitating hit, but it might give the other two fighters a necessary opening by pushing Sagat off balance.
(* it's actually Roy)
COMBATSYS: Haru successfully hits Sagat with Medium Throw.
Glancing Blow
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Sagat 0|-------|-------
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Tiffany 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Haru 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Sagat just-defends Brett's King's End!
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Sagat 0|-------|-------
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Tiffany 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Haru 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Sagat endures Tiffany's Exciting Kick.
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Sagat 0|-------|------=
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Tiffany 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Haru 0|-------|-------
Grounding Sagat is sound strategy: keeping him off of his feet is a solid way to diminish, if not necessarily nullify his advantageous size and strength and open a window for Haru and Tiffany to exploit. Especially when the latter's heel is in the process of connecting solidly with the dethroned Emperor's head as Brett closes in; the blow turns his head, eliciting a low snarl and causing him to unfurl his arms--even if it doesn't quite /budge/ him from his position.
Unfortunately, Brett learns the hard way that while grounding Sagat is wise, going for the God of Muay Thai's legs is a tricky proposition: as the hockey player extends his stick, Sagat snaps his right leg out to meet it. His shin and ankle meet the curve of Brett's stick with just enough force to stop the blow cold, and the lights flicker on just long enough that the taunting smirk he casts down on the athlete before sidestepping clear is plainly visible.
The cord of Haru's yo-yo begins winding around his arm when he lands, and his initial moments of snapping his head around in search of the culprit are interrupted by the sharp tug said culprit gives him. It's enough to make him stumble a couple of steps forward, until he plants his right foot and allows the inertia to help him down to a crouch; he only lingers there for as long as it takes to listen for the sound of Tiffany hitting the ground, at which point he sharply cocks his trapped arm down to free it while lunging towards the boxer.
"TIGER BLOW!" echoes through the tunnel when he explodes fist-first from his bunched posture, aiming to send the Pacific High student right back into the air she struck him from.
COMBATSYS: Sagat knocks away Tiffany with Tiger Blow.
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Sagat 0|-------|----===
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Tiffany 1/----===/=======|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Haru 0|-------|-------
Tiffany overcommits and makes the first of /maybe/ two mistakes she'll get to make against Sagat. Trying to kick off of the ground and totally redirect her momentum the way she does after so many other Exciting Kicks, Tiffany learns a lesson: that doesn't fly against a master. His high-speed uppercut catches her squarely on the jaw, sending her spinning into the air.
It is at this point that Tiffany Lords has an idea. It is not a /good/ idea -- but it is, at the very least, an idea that makes some distant sort of sense, in the way that many things do when you are a cheerleader who has been recently introduced to probable concussions and stingers.
Her whole body -- not just the point of impact from Sagat's tremendous first strike -- aches, but there's a crazy glint in her eye that indicates that she might not care until tomorrow. With a big, sparkling 'ping!,' Tiffany recovers in mid-air, once again turning her momentum down toward Sagat, hoping to keep the pressure on him in the dark before he can move too far away. It's the sort of high-aggression gameplan you only see in the very brave and the very stupid -- and, thus, in a /lot/ of American fighters.
Aiming her thighs for his neck, Tiffany seeks to land on his shoulders with a little angular momentum; if she can stick the landing, she'll accelerate, whirling around him several times with a nasty headscissors before finally planting him on the ground.
It is not until she is very near him that the flash of adrenaline wears off and things start /really/ singing out in agony; in the moment, she felt like she was hit by a fist. /Now/ she feels like she's been hit by a train. Maybe she has, she thinks, distantly.
That... looked... painful.
Haru gives a sympathy wince for Tiffany's sake even as he yanks his arm back, snapping his weapon into his palm. That... really looks like it hurt. His first instinct is to run over to the American, see if she's alright, but he's forestalled by Tiffany getting right back into the fight with what seems like no hesitation at all. The Justice student's face registers his surprise, eyes widened, mouth open just a bit. And underneath all that, he can *feel* the girl's resolve and determination.
It's actually pretty heartening.
Summoning up his courage, Haru nods once -- to whom is anyone's guess -- and starts ducking back toward Sagat again. The yoyo in his right hand disappears, likely into his sleeve, and is replaced by a rapidly-intensifying, pure white glow. Haru pins his hopes on Sagat being a little less adept at fending off this sort of assault than the typical punch to the face.
"HaaaaAAAA!" Drawing close, Haru whips his hand up and opens his palm. The glow that was gathering there spreads outwards, the energy taking the shape of a lotus flower which blooms, then bursts, the petals slicing through the air in a localized storm of psychic power.
That clearly could've gone better. Brett knew well enough to target the legs, but even with his respect and reverence for the Emperor of Muay Thai, he still managed to underestimate how much it'd take to put even a dent in him, as his shot to Sagat's leg is stopped cold just by a shift of said limb to neutralize its attack angle. Eyes widening, Brett quickly pulls back, not wanting to get a face full of whatever retaliation he has planned...a good idea, considering what happens to poor Tiffany in turn.
Wincing in sympathetic pain, Brett turns away from the flying Pacific High student back toward the King himself. Unlike the reckless and foolhardy strategy that seems to embody American fighting attitude (as perhaps represented by Tiffany), Brett seems to hang back. It's not his usual style either...but he's waiting, and waiting....and then, he smacks himself in the helmet with his stick.
A shuddering breath is releasted as he focuses himself back in...and his eyes take on a different look. Shaking his head, he looks up, and then charges in himself. He doesn't go straight toward Sagat, instead trying to skate around and loop to his side before his entire body starts to spin. His hockey stick is held out, like he was doing a hammer throw, as he tried to crack it up and down against Sagat's body as he rotates wildly.
COMBATSYS: Haru successfully hits Sagat with Amethyst Clarity.
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Sagat 0|-------|---====
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Tiffany 0/-------/---<<<<|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Haru 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Sagat blocks Tiffany's Groovy Screw.
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Sagat 0|-------|--=====
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Tiffany 0/-------/---<<<<|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Haru 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Sagat dodges Brett's Random Strike.
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Sagat 0|-------|--=====
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Tiffany 0/-------/---<<<<|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Haru 0|-------|-------
Even injured, Tiffany is able to recover - and more importantly, attack - with impressive speed and timing. Not only does the darkness work in her favor, Brett's orbital onslaught keeps him off-balance by giving him a multitude of strikes to evade in a flurry of ducking, swaying, and, of course, sneering. Evasion isn't even necessary; if anything, the darkness and varied angles of attack make it a liability, because he's primarily relying on the sounds of PU scraping across the ground and the hockey stick whipping through the air to guide his movements. That, and at least a little bit of luck.
Regardless of the risk, he wants to demoralize as much as he wants to destroy--if only because the one should make the other easier; unfortunately for him, Tiffany's legs cinch around his head seemingly out of nowhere while he's busy showboating, and the next thing he knows, he's upside down. Somewhat more fortunately, he's able to twist himself to land on his back and shoulders instead of the top of his head, so the impact leaves him sore and angry instead of dazed and--well, angry. Growling, he jerks himself into a short roll to pry himself free, gathers himself into a crouch, lifts his head--
--and sees white light blossoming into a punishing storm. Psychic energy is indeed less-trodden territory for the former Emperor, and by the time his senses register the attack, it's entirely too late for him to do anything but roar as the energy ravages his body and leaves a number of thin, angry cuts criss-crossing his torso.
His eye twitches down at his stinging self for a split-second before snapping up towards the direction the light came from and narrowing. Surging out of his crouch, Sagat thrusts a hand towards Haru with intentions of grabbing a fistful of his uniform, his hair, an arm - whatever he can grab, really - and hurling him at one of the tunnel walls with savage battlecry.
As she disengages from Sagat, Tiffany resolves to stay in as close as possible; it's dark, but she can still feel his energy, his presence, instinctively, and she knows /that's/ where she wants to be attacking. It's a little hard to know how /to/ attack into something like this, though; Sagat is scary enough in the light. The darkness... that makes it scarier.
Taking a moment simply to breathe, Tiffany starts pinwheeling her arm, building up a torrent of winking sparkles around her fist, as she murmurs, "Guru, guru, guru..." The time for subtlety is just about done -- and besides! The sparkles make it a little brighter in the tunnel, to boot -- at least for a moment.
Keeping the pressure on, the cheerleader swings a massive-gloved fist forward, the sparkles wreathing her hand like a second shell over the gloves. As her body slides forward, she calls out "Groovy PUNCH!" She doesn't shy away in the least, even as she feels Sagat's explosive motion nearby -- it'd be foolhardy to let up, at this point, especially with how bad she's already hurting.
COMBATSYS: Haru blocks Sagat's Power Throw.
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Sagat 0|-------|--=====
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Tiffany 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Haru 0|-------|-----==
Oh god.
He's new at this, Haru is. Sure, he's practiced like crazy, trained in a family style, adapted it for his own use, even begun to use his burgeoning and not entirely understood psychic powers to augment it, but when it comes to ACTUALLY BATTLING A HUMAN BEING he's done it very, very infrequently. And he uses the style he does because ~*touching*~ is still a weird place for him, and he had this thought that if he was smart and fast enough he'd never actually have to face down being hit because that's what happens in the movies and...
Long story short, even fighting an opponent with similar experience would create anxiety in this case. Fighting the Emperor of Muay Thai?! Oh man, SUPER NO. This is why, when Sagat's gigantic paw snatches the front of his shirt, Haru seems entirely unresisting. Why? Because he pretty much locked up.
Thus the 'fling' is easy; Sagat's strength is formidable and Haru weighs like, nothing. And so the tan-skinned psion goes sailing through the air. On the plus side, the sudden-ness of it all snaps him back to reality, and he might not be a powerful fighter, but he IS a quick thinker.
With incredible effort, the Justice student whips out an arm and snags a nearby drainpipe on the ceiling with a yoyo. This isn't going to stop his momentum, but it DOES allow him to *direct* it somewhat; thus instead of crashing into a wall like a tiny neurotic meteorite, he's able to swing into it feet-first. The pain in his legs feels briefly unbearable as they absorb the shock of the impact, but it's far better than hitting it with your HEAD.
That said, that exchange kiiiiinda makes Haru wary of rushing back in. Instead, he just... observes, taking stock, and mutters "Still good. Still good..." under his breath.
COMBATSYS: Haru calculates his next move.
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Sagat 0|-------|--=====
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Tiffany 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Haru 0|-------|-----==
Despite his best attempts to get a hold of Sagat with those rapid strikes, Brett seems to hit only shadows, those senses honed enough that he's simply able to simply sway or duck away from every single strike the hockey kid manages to throw out. And when the last strike misses, the young Gorin student finds himself clearly frustrated. This wasn't the boy treating the Emperor with reverence just minutes earlier. This is someone who wants to prove himself and outright win.
Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be contributing much...but then again, that also keeps him out of Sagat's line of sight enough to avoid being targeted. That might help him in the long run, but it doesn't make him any less frustrated. Glowering beneath his helmet, he grits his teeth, and tries to roll himself around to one of Sagat's blindspots (try being the operative word). His stick is held at the ready, this time, with a sheen of ice blue energy thinly covering the blade of his stick. Holding it near the butt of the handle, he slashes out with his trusty tool, trying to carve a strike straight up Sagat's massive body.
COMBATSYS: Sagat endures Brett's Red Sabre.
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Sagat 0|-------|-======
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Tiffany 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Haru 0|-------|-----==
COMBATSYS: Sagat blocks Tiffany's Very Groovy Punch EX.
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Sagat 0|-------|=======
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Tiffany 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Haru 0|-------|-----==
Sagat cocks his head to the side and arches a brow when he hears shoes instead of flesh smacking against a wall. Not /quite/ what he was expecting, but encouraging all the same: the bout wouldn't be nearly as satisfying if his opponents were incapable of thinking quickly and/or defending themselves.
His flash of appreciation doesn't stop him from taking a heavy step towards the psychic, of course, but the build-up of sparkly energy elsewhere in the tunnel does. There's a rumble in his throat as he sweeps his narrowed eye across the darkness, and once his gaze settles on Tiffany's whirling arm, he lets out a loud snort and shifts his right leg forward. It comes up when she charges, allowing her fist to collide with the shin he once used to shatter jaws and stones alike for the adulation of his people. The blow sends waves of pain radiating up his leg and shoves the lower half of the limb back sharply enough to torque his knee awkwardly, but this is still a moderate improvement over the bruised ribs or loss of wind he might have suffered otherwise.
Ever since World Warrior, Sagat's struggled to break his habit of underestimating his competition, and while each of the students has managed to surprise him in some way thus far - whether with unexpected forms of offense, resilience, or sheer determination - boxing and grappling were about the last things he was expecting out of the bubbly cheerleader.
As he plants his feet, the sound of skates approaching from his right becomes too loud to ignore--even if all he can really do while the lights are out is turn himself in the general direction of the sound. The chi lining the hockey stick offers a small measure of additional guidance, but he can't quite guess the angle of the attack; instead of trying to muster a defense, he spreads his arms wide and clenches his jaw as the stick carves a frigid line up the middle of his body. Several ice crystals jut rather uncomfortably from the fresh new cut bisecting the ugly bolt carved across his chest, but they crack and fall away in a matter of moments. Resisting his initial urge to fall back and check on the injury - on both injuries, really - his hand darts for the athlete's throat instead.
If he's able to get ahold of Brett, he'll jerk the transfer student towards his body--or, more specifically, towards the knee that didn't just get torqued by Tiffany, slamming him with it several times before tossing him away.
The young Ms. Lords continues to stick close -- at this point she's starting to feel like she's making a tremendous mistake, but she keeps right on doing it. Rocking back and forth on her heels a little as she tries to find a good opening to strike again. It's a little hard to actually comprehend what an opening would be, but in the flickers and flashes of light, she manages.
Rocking from side to side, Tiffany sticks to the basics of her plan: make it as unattractive as possible to stick any more limbs in her general direction. The first one did a fantastic job of convincing her she doesn't want a second.
Planting her feet in the ground for a moment, Tiffany springs forward, using that rocking momentum to send herself flying feet-first toward Sagat. The /real/ magic of her maneuver, though, comes when she finishes -- her maneuver, assuming she gets to complete it unmolested, brings her neatly back into a fighting stance. She can't afford to take /too/ big of risks, after all...
COMBATSYS: Brett blocks Sagat's Tiger Rage.
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Sagat 0|-------|=======
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Tiffany 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Brett
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Haru 0|-------|-----==
Brett manages to get in a hit finally...but that's seems to be a double edged sword, as as soon as he sees the ice-blue chi strike up the middle of Sagat's form, he's almost immediately picked up by the throat and held in the air. A loud gurgle of a strangled breath bubbles from his throat, but despite the uncomfortable suspension, he's got the sense of mind to bring his stick in the way, the reinforced weapon managing to take some of the edge of the knees that would otherwise have been straight in his gut.
Managing to tear himself free, he coughs and tries to get some air moving again, scrambling on his knees on the platform to get some room away from the Emperor. His stick is bent despite the metal bolted around it, a testament to the Emperor, but it's still more than usable. Usable enough to act as a makeshift cane for the young Mr. Neuer to push himself back up on his skates and regain his balance.
And usable enough for Brett to push off it even more once his wheels are underneath him and charge forward for a rather foolhardy attempt to slam the butt of his stick directly into Sagat's side.
He's assessed the situation, and come to a conclusion:
These other two are putting Haru to shame.
Neither Tiffany nor Brett can be much older than Haru is; in point of fact, there's a good chance that they're actually YOUNGER than he is. And while they clearly have their own fears and anxieties about Sagat to deal with, it doesn't seem to be stopping them in the least. Meanwhile, the Justice student can't fight down that feeling like a shotput is sitting in the pit of his stomach.
But to his credit, he is pushed forward by that feeling rather than cowed into submission by it. Setting his jaw, he surges forward, yoyo appearing again in his right hand. Charging Sagat probably seems more or less suicidal at this point, but putting his observational skills to work, Haru watches Tiffany and Brett's movements and comes up with a plan:
he cheerleader's rolling kick and the hockey player's stick strike are both coming from the front, meaning the natural place to strike Sagat from is *behind*... and thankfully, the man's mountainous stature comes in handy. When he gets close, Haru drops to the ground as if he were about to slide into home in a baseball game, looking to pass right *through* Sagat's stance. As he passes, he flicks out his wrist, trying to snag Sagat's leg with the yoyo, and should he succeed, Haru stands and *HEAVES* with his entire body, swinging the Emperor in a huge vertical circle, intending to slam him right into the ground as hard as he can manage... and along the path of the strike, those pure white lotus petal manifestations of energy pelt the Muay Thai fighter the entire time, adding some additional pain.
COMBATSYS: Sagat blocks Haru's Amber Grace.
[ ||||||||||||||||| ]
Sagat 0|-------|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Brett
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|------=
COMBATSYS: Tiffany successfully hits Sagat with Groovy Wheel EX.
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Sagat 1|-------|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Brett
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|------=
COMBATSYS: Sagat blocks Brett's Power Strike.
[ |||||||||||||| ]
Sagat 1|-------|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Brett
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|------=
Tiffany plants her feet soundly against Sagat's torso, the force of the blow causing him to stagger back a few steps. And bleed a little more freely; a kick is a great way to exacerbate a freshly opened wound, as it turns out. After he catches himself, he finally takes a moment to brush his fingers across the cut running down his chest now that it's oozing in earnest, and the feeling of warm blood and chilled skin beneath his fingertips sparks a shift in the titanic Tiger. Any lingering notions he might have of making sport of the students, or assaulting them psychologically as well as physically are crowded out by the red haze creeping across his thoughts and vision.
This fight may not mean as much to him as the one it's meant to help him prepare for, and his opponents might be half his age, but it's still a /fight/--and they are still adversaries who won't hesitate to upset him if he isn't careful.
Brett's forceful strike is met with a wrathful, back-handed swat that directs the stick away from Sagat's side and leaves the former Emperor's knuckles stinging. Instead of reciprocating against the athlete, though, he pivots towards Tiffany, who seems insistent on staying close to him. The leg he's lifting to hit her is snared by the sliding Haru, though, and before he can look down to investigate the unexpected resistance, Haru jerks him into the air.
Thanks to the energy buffeting him during those weightless moments, it's like Sagat's whole nervous system is on fire; Haru seemed to be the least threatening of all of them, but Sagat has much less experience in fighting psychics than he does people whose gameplans involve punching or hitting him with things. Between that sustained punishment and dizzying inertia, he can't quite manage to break free of the yo-yo, but as he reaches his apex, he is at least able to muster enough control to land crouched instead of on his face or back.
The results are loud and fairly bad for his knees, if preferable to, say, a concussion; he rises back to his full height afterwards, but he takes his time in doing so and the delay has nothing to do with trying to psyche anyone out. He takes a moment or two to twist violently in place while snorting in a decidedly animalistic fashion, hoping to reorient himself now that Haru's screwed with his positioning. The way the students move in the tunnels, the sounds of their breathing--Sagat uses every cue that comes to try and place his opponents in the darkness.
The next time the lights flicker, Tiffany - and everyone else - has a chance to see the dethroned Emperor charging through the tunnel to try and crush the cheerleader's skull by dropping an elbow on it.
COMBATSYS: Tiffany blocks Sagat's Medium Punch.
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Sagat 1|------=|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Tiffany 1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Brett
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|------=
The incoming elbow catches Tiffany a little less off-guard than the earlier, distinctly more Tiger-based offense; the cheerleader feels it coming instinctively, and throws up both her arms. The blow is still downright agonizing, just the same; for a second, Tiffany /swears/ she feels her forearm bones just /cave/ under the elbow. Indeed, she's a little genuinely shocked when she lowers them and can still move them.
She doesn't have to guess where Sagat is anymore, at least; the answer is right in front of her, and she's almost glad for it. At the end of the day, Tiffany Lords is someone who likes very direct paths to things and prefers not to think very hard about her tactics, and 'someone much larger than you is directly in front of you and needs to get hit' is a pretty easy situation to manage.
Dropping low to the ground, Tiffany starts... spinning. Her hand builds up a small amount of sparkle as she spins -- one that grows larger as she moves slightly forward, continuing to spin with every little step and slide. When she finally comes back up to her full height and swings at Sagat, it's with a forceful back-knuckle -- one she hopes will finally get the Muay Thai Emperor off his feet for her current acquaintances. If she could see Haru's nervousness, she'd encourage him... but as it is, all she can do is try to uphold /her/ end of the proverbial bargain with her big, gloved fists.
His strike knocked away, Brett finds himself reeling, not so much out of pain but simply to avoid too much shock from his stick being knocked away. Wheeling away with the momentum instead, he avoids it traveling down his body too much, but that leaves him a good distance from the Emperor himself. This is probably not a bad thing either, especially as he watches that elbow come down on Tiffany. Wincing, he grits his teeth, knowing that very well could be him in a few minutes.
But right now, he can't really let that consequence daunt him. Glowering, he drives forth again, and this time, he seems to take a direct line straight toward Sagat himself. No attempt to flank, just a head-first charge. And rather than try and slam his stick into the King, he flips clear end over end, trying to drive his skate heels down into Sagat with a rather clumsy somersault kick. STill, clumsiness aside, that's a LOT of weight coming down with those feet....
This is getting really scary.
Let's just set aside the freaky Silent Hill lighting down here, and the fact that subway tunnels are *epic* acoustic chambers meaning that the sound of any train within four city blocks of this (presumably abandoned or at least DISABLED) subway track still seems like it's roaring this way as it passes NEAR the station. The truth is that all of this is secondary to the elephant -- or maybe the tiger? -- in the room: Sagat.
Even harried as he is by the three fighters facing him, the Emperor's presence fills the room. Even at his most calm, it seems to Haru that a rage burns under the scarred chest which is only just being kept in check... and given what a controlled Sagat is capable of, the Justice student really has 0 desire to see what an unleashed Sagat might accomplish. Unlike Tiffany and Brett, however, the adrenaline is not driving him to greater heights of combat skill. It's really making him want to bail at speed.
That he isn't is a testament to his will... but only just.
And maybe that explains why he decides to just... wade in with wild abandon toward the towering man, suddenly producing a second yoyo in his left hand, whirling both of them over his head in complex circles with a barely-articulate "YaaaaaaAAAAAAA--!" and then swinging both down toward Sagat's chest like a pair of tiny hammers. Sure, Haru's physical strength isn't so great, but he DOES know where to hit to make what he does have count.
COMBATSYS: Tiffany successfully hits Sagat with Very Groovy Knuckle.
[ |||||||||||| ]
Sagat 1|-----==|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Brett
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|------=
COMBATSYS: Sagat endures Brett's Falling Star EX.
[ |||||||||| ]
Sagat 1|----===|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Brett
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|------=
COMBATSYS: Sagat interrupts Fierce Strike from Haru with Tiger Uppercut.
*KNOCKED AWAY*
# Disabling hit! #
[ ||||||||| ]
Sagat 1|---====|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Brett
[ ||||||||||||| ]
Haru 1|------=|=======
Sagat tries to sway back from Tiffany's backfist, but she catches his across the chin regardless. Not only is his head jerked around by the blow, it causes him to spray out a mouthful of blood, stagger back a step, and stumble to one knee. Rather than pop right back up to his feet, the former Emperor lingers momentarily to take a breath--and check himself for a busted lip. By the time he /is/ ready to stand back up, Brett is arcing skates-first towards him; he might have been able to hear the athlete's charge, but his actual trajectory is difficult to determine while the lights are refusing to cooperate.
Evasion isn't a great option; instead, he bolts up to his feet and into the blow, snarling his agitation when the kick nearly crushes him back down to a crouched posture and twisting himself clear of the athlete for a little bit of space. He wavers on his feet when he tries to stabilize from that movement, thanks to taking two nasty blows to the head back to back; the stars filling his vision are doing absolutely nothing to help him see any better, even if they /are/ doing a fine job of pissing him off further. He hardly has time to shake his head and clear them before Haru starts yelling, whipping his yoyos around, and all but demanding the Heavenly King's attention.
Blood streams freely from Sagat's nose and mouth as he turns towards Haru and his attack, and the titanic Tiger initially seems to want to meet it conservatively with a low, guarded stance as he bends his knees and puts his weight on his back leg. He doesn't ever raise his forearms or shins to protect himself, though; the yoyos just smack against his chest one after the other, drawing deep rumblings of barely checked wrath and putting a grimace on his already bloodied face when as they cut across the wounds crossing his body.
Before the weapons can be fully retracted, Sagat breaks into a freight-like charge along the path they came from, staying low the whole time--until, that is, he is close enough to launch out of his bunched posture and drive his right fist into the yoyo-wielder's chin with a roar of, "TIGER UPPERCUT!" Upon landing on the platform, the dethroned Emperor takes a split-second to thrust a hand out and catch himself against a nearby support pillar before emitting another snarl.
It's hard not to wince at what Tiffany's hearing, even if she doesn't know exactly how it's happening. She can hear /something/ getting nasty over there, at the very least -- and it makes her all the more inclined to just stick to her game plan and keep right on rushing Sagat down. She's seeing /some/ successes, at least -- and that's enough to keep her head deep enough in the game to stand up to the former Muay Thai Emperor.
Breathing deep through her nose and taking the opportunity to really appreciate that /she's/ not the one getting hammered by Sagat's vicious blows, Tiffany ducks low and goes into a boxer's weave. It's the natural thing to do -- and it keeps her body protected as she advances on the Emperor.
More than anything, what Tiffany's hoping for is to make a good showing. These matches get shown around the world -- it's her first professional effort, and the fact that people are watching /her/ is not lost on her. Drawing on the energy of the crowd, even as it's miles away rather than right there behind her... /that's/ where Tiffany's hope comes from.
Ms. Lords hears a large body bracing against a support pillar, and immediately springs into action. Staying low, she dashes straight up toward Sagat, her fists clenching inside those big, padded gloves. Her goal here isn't to hurt him /directly/; she knows people tend to underestimate her /other/ tricks as a boxer, so she seeks to launch him forcefully into the air with a surprisingly powerful gloved toss. Hopefully, even if it doesn't land clean, it'll set her allies up to do... /something/.
Able to crash into Sagat with that somersaulting kick, Brett is slow to get back up to his feet, the twisting Sagat does to get away from the hockey kid keeping him from following up properly. But considering things, it could be far worse, a small mercy that Brett can count on as he pushes himself up straight again.
Just in time to see Haru crashed into with the infamous Tiger Uppercut, causing blood to drain from Brett's face. That was....oh dear.
Swallowing a lump in his throat, he hangs back, gauging his next move, the low light starting to make it harder to get a bead at this point. But he hears movement in the flickering shadows. And even if he's nowhere near Sagat's level of honed senses, he can get a general idea of the direction. That's all he needs before he skates closer, trying to drive himself forward in a crashing blow, shoulder lowered in an attempt to check Sagat straight out into a wall.
There is no last-second save, this time.
The Emperor's fist slams into the Justice student with crushing force. Time seems to slow for a moment at the point of impact before Haru's be-uniformed body just goes FLYING from Sagat at high speed, flying back -- ironically enough -- into the very wall he managed to avoid smacking into earlier in the fight. There's a meaty *WHAM* as his body makes contact, followed by the tinkling of stonework as the wall crumbles around him and both Haru and fragments of his point of impact drop to the ground.
It takes a second for the young psychic to pull himself up, and he doesn't exactly make it standing, either; he rises into a crouch, breathing heavily, putting a hand to his chest as if he were holding his heart in, somehow. He's never felt pain like that in his LIFE. Recovering from it is gonna take some time. And a tiny part -- well, not even a tiny part, a BIG part -- of him just wants to stop right here. It'd probably be safest.
His breathing, which had been controlled (if heavy), suddenly starts picking up the pace, as pain gives way to something else: fear. A legitimate, real fear of what this person could do to him, or to Tiffany and Brett. A fear of what fighting actually MEANS. He'd hoped it would lead him to good encounters with people, and still does, but...
And then something shifts inside him. To an outside observer it's like someone turned on a switch. He slowly gets to his feet, pulling himself standing, and for a moment his eyes go glassy in appearance. A phantom wind starts blowing around his hair and uniform jacket, and his form is limned with the same white light that characterized his attacks from before.
And then, with surprising calm, he walks right into the fray, weaving seemingly absently through Tiffany and Brett's strikes, before nearing Sagat and extending both hands, palms out, at point-blank range.
A huge lotus flower, considerably greater in scope than the attack he used previously, suddenly erupts into being before shattering into a storm of 'petals' of light, a storm that looks to carry Sagat away in its tide.
COMBATSYS: Haru successfully hits Sagat with Diamond Resolve.
[ |||||| ]
Sagat 1|--=====|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Brett
[ ||||||||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|------=
COMBATSYS: Sagat just-defends Brett's Crushing Strike!
[ ||||||| ]
Sagat 1|--=====|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Brett
[ ||||||||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|------=
COMBATSYS: Sagat dodges Tiffany's Strong Throw.
[ ||||||| ]
Sagat 1|--=====|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Brett
[ ||||||||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|------=
"Hh--!" Sagat grunts as he pushes off of the pillar and out of Ms. Lords' way, her gloves passing within inches of his slashed and scarred body. He lands with his fist cocked back and his body twisted in preparation for throwing a retaliatory punch, but the scraping in the shadows tells him that doesn't have a lot of time to spend with Tiffany; instead, he settles for sneering, "Almost! For all that 'almost' /matters/ while you're down here!" And then immediately grimacing and turning his head to spit out another mouthful of blood; he's lucky to still have all of his teeth, between Tiffany and Brett.
Mr. Neuer is getting too close for comfort by the time he straightens his head; boasting probably didn't do him any favors in terms of remaining inconspicuous, but stealth hasn't exactly been a key part of the God of Muay Thai's strategy today. Luckily for him, the hockey player's straightforward approach makes picking out the right angle for defending himself, so Brett ends up crashing into his crossed forearms and shoving him along the platform for several feet before he's able to bring their inertia crawling to stop by bending his knees and shoving his own considerable bulk into the hockey player's check.
His back is still nearly up against the wall by the time he skids to a halt, and he's left panting for air; he /might/ have still been able to force himself out of the rather undesirable predicament of being cornered by one foe with another hovering nearby by shoving his way past Brett, the calmly approaching Haru makes things trickier--not by presenting a hard to move obstacle, but by gifting him with a psychic flower he never asked for or wanted. The attack throws him back into the wall hard enough to send cracks shooting along his surface, and that corner of the tunnel fills with light as deadly petals swirl around the Heavenly King's body.
Try as he might to remain standing as he weathers the storm, he gradually slumps along the wall until it's the only thing holding him up; even when the petals fade, he lingers there for a tick, breaths rapid and ragged as he tries to recover and push through the pain of dozens of cuts spiralling around his limbs and torso.
The very real possibility that he may have been a tad hasty in leaving the promoter with that cocksure smile also bubbles up, but he pushes it down, too--at least, for now; instead of dwelling on the possibiity that he may have underestimated the students(or overestimated himself), he focuses on the outrage of having lost so much blood in such a short span of time.
And on Tiffany, Brett, and Haru as the lights momentarily flicker and allow his vengeful eye to twitch between them while his hand comes up to gingerly press against his scar/hockey stick wound. There's still a dull amber glow around his chest when the lights go back out, thanks to a build-up of chi that is accompanied by the intensification of his already boiling rage; it's almost as if the scar /itself/ is giving off light.
At least, for a moment or two; the swirling chi is drawn back into his body as he pitches forward, sinks to the ground, and throws a bone-crushing kick at Brett's shins; not satisfied with stopping there, he intends to follow it up with more, provided that it lands.
COMBATSYS: Sagat knocks away Brett with Tiger Raid.
[ ||||||| ]
Sagat 0|-------|---====
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Brett
[ ||||||||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|------=
"Tiger--"
As soon as he feels the shin kick connect, Sagat twists his massive frame to both retake his feet and whip his other leg around into Brett's ribs; as soon as that foot touches the ground, he pushes off of the balls of his feet to deliver a leaping thrust kick to Brett's mid-section, the chi boiling just beneath the cyclopean Thai's skin lending his bruised and bloodied body the strength to /fly/ from the platform with the athlete.
"--RAID!" echoes through the tunnel as they leave the relative safety of the platform.
Still getting more time to herself as Sagat focuses on Brett, Tiffany considers whether to aggress into that dull glow. The amount of power Sagat puts out /passively/ is impressive enough to chill out her offense a little at this point; his strength when actively applied is on a whole other level. The cheerleader isn't used to genuinely respecting someone's prowess in this manner...
... but it's kind of a rush! Part of her is genuinely fascinated by the sheer strength and energy rolling off of Sagat, and wants to learn a little more about it. It's this that drives her to stay in close, even as he advances on Brett -- though she dares not aggress into his strikes.
She weaves from side to side again, realizing that she may have gone a little /too/ slow with that ducking toss... time to switch back to the basics. Still close, still low, Tiffany pops up with gusto; her whole body goes into a forceful somersault, feet aimed for Sagat's face.
Not long ago, this let her get away from a chainsaw more or less unscathed... but a Tiger is a lot more dangerous than a chainsaw, it seems. Still, there's a faint hesitance in her offense now, a low undercurrent past the excitement; even the young cheerleader, who takes few things seriously, has to worry about offense like this.
Much as Brett tried to make an impact, with all his momentum, speed plush weight plus that minimized point of contact, years of playing winger aren't quite enough to make a dent in decates of Muay Thai dominance. Even while he intercepted Sagat, his big check is caught on the emperor's arms, stalling him once they reach a wall and preventing any of that force from truly making an impact. Grunting, Brett tries to shove in and jam himself in past Sagat's guard, but before he can, he ends up pushed aside before he can.
Tossed into a column, Brett finds himself stalled and dazed enough to lose track of where he was on the platform. He hears cracks, but he can't quite track where it came from at this point. And by the time he figures out where things are....well, the lights flicker just as Brett sees Sagat snapping his leg down at his shin. The crashing blow takes the leg clear out from underneath him, and the following kick nearly shatters his ribs, padding only just saving him from it, and the final shot? Well, it sends him clear across the platform, tumbling away until he collides with a pillar.
Groaning, he hacks up as he tries to push himself back onto his feet, breath ragged. Pulling himself up by the pillar to a crouch, he fumbles around to try and find his stick, only just finding it in the flickering lights. Another cough comes up before Brett looks on across the platform. He's not going to have any of the speed to make it back over there right now...but he doesn't want to simply hang back. Instead, he reels his stick back, adjusting his form when his ribs shoot red hot pain through his body and his body involuntarily spasms. Gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut, he lets fly, snapping his stick off the floor with a slapshot, the arc of his stick sending out an ice-blue wave of energy gliding across the platform straight at the direction that Sagat should be...he thinks.
Whatever happened to Haru: he's in the zone. He barely registers that Sagat more or less sails past him like a meaty, impossible-to-stop meteorite that slams into Brett, ending the dinosaurs once and for all. He does seem to pick up that the person he was attacking has just flown right past him and he needs to course correct, and so he does, twisting his torso a bit to follow Sagat with his gaze, then slowly turning around and continuing to proceed toward the Emperor.
That glassy-eyed expression is a problem, though, because it suggests that NOBODY KNOWS what's actually behind it. The dull grey eyes are like the flat, brooding sky of a winter afternoon, revealing nothing. The truth is that somewhere behind that gaze is Haru, who doesn't exactly know what's going on and more to the point doesn't even feel like he's in control of his body right now. Which... is good, because he's found the 'courage' to stay in the fight. It's also bad, because WHAT IS GOING ON.
When he gets close enough to Sagat as he dares, the twin yoyos snap back into his hands, and he just... flings them at Sagat, over and over again, each silver-grey circle making an elegant, interlocking loop as Haru looks to just drive them, unthinking, into Sagat over and over again. Perhaps quantity of strikes will make up for quality?
COMBATSYS: Sagat blocks Brett's Shark Crest.
[ |||||| ]
Sagat 0|-------|--=====
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1 Brett
[ |||||||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Haru successfully hits Sagat with Garnet Intensity.
- Power hit! -
[ |||| ]
Sagat 0|-------|-======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1 Brett
[ |||||||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|-----==
COMBATSYS: Tiffany successfully hits Sagat with Beautiful Spin.
- Power hit! -
[ ]
Sagat 0|-------|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Brett
[ |||||||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|-----==
The wave of blue chi is probably the easiest of the incoming attacks for Sagat to account for, if only because it--well--is a wave of blue chi; light is a scarce commodity down here, which makes an attack that is nothing but a little risky. The former Emperor is able to pull his forearms in the way of the attack, but even when he sees it coming, it's fast enough - and his bloodied arms are throbbing badly enough - that it's /close/. His whole upper body recoils a bit on impact, and he's left with a painful patch of frost across his arms that does nothing at all to soothe the cuts.
Shifting his arms towards the body flying towards him is agonizingly slow thanks to the numbing chill spreading through them, so much so that Tiffany's boots slide past them to catch him square across the jaw and force him down to his knees along the arc of her strike. His shoulders lurch as he tries to lunge to his feet for a retaliatory swipe, but the moment he makes it up to his feet, the cumulative effects of having lost a fair amount of blood combined with taking several vicious blows to the head catch up to him in a staggering wave: tree-like legs buckle and he crashes to his hands and knees as the darkness swirls around him.
Darkness and, of course, Haru's yoyos. Silver circles lash at his chest and leave great welts and bruises across it; at one point, a rising arc hits his chin so hard that he's actually forced back to a kneeling position as his head and spine snap up, and a fountain of blood erupts from his lips. He tries once or twice to shift his arms into the path of the attacks, but his movements are far too sluggish; even when one of his hands eventually just falls to press against the scar and the slash, it just means that his arm and hand has to share the pain the rest of him is enduring. By the time the final blow lands - right in the middle of his forehead with enough force to knock his head back and subject him to further whiplash - the giant can barely see out of his one eye because it's so swollen. His jaw, similarly, is barely mobile, and he can barely support his own weight as he slumps on his knees.
An amber bead glows beneath his palm as rage and frustration add a violent thrum to his reeling Tiger's hazy thoughts; he knows that he doesn't have it in him to retake his feet and /win/, to really put himself back on the map after his post-World Warrior absence, but the snarling beast within won't allow him to take his loss lying down. His fingers snap shut around that bead and he thrusts both fists forward with a cry of, "TIGER!" that's somewhat mangled by his swollen jaw. All the same, the cry brings chi arcing along the tightly bunched muscles of his arms until it reaches his fists, where it becomes a roaring ball of destructive chi racing towards the psychic and lighting a brief trail along the tunnel.
And then he falls over, because even if his pride won't let him take defeat lying down, his body is too beaten up to get the memo.
COMBATSYS: Sagat can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Brett
[ |||||||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|-----==
COMBATSYS: Haru blocks Sagat's Low Tiger Shot.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Brett
[ ||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|--=====
COMBATSYS: Haru takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Tiffany 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Brett
[ ||||||| ]
Haru 0|-------|--=====
The very last vestiges of whatever force it is that has been... animating Haru, for lack of a better term, show in the continuing flicker of light around his body, which turns toward Sagat's last, defiant strike in anticipation. In an instant, both yoyos are stowed, and the Justice student plants his feet, crossing his arms in front of his face. The chi shot -- the metaphorical tiger's roar -- whips across the arena, slamming into Haru's upraised arms. The white light around him spills off the point of impact like sparks, to some extent, as the Tiger Shot hammers on his guard.
It's actually a few seconds before Haru has entirely weathered the storm. When Sagat's attack finally dissipates, he's actually been pushed along the ground roughly two feet from where he was when the attack hit, having left grooves in the dirt.
And then whatever it was that had hold of him... lets go. His eyes lose that glassy sheen, and he basically collapses entirely, dropping to his knees, body sagging like a ragdoll. His eyes are open wide, his hands planted palm-down on the ground, and his breath loud and heavy, the gulps of air through his mouth making his chest visibly heave.
The fight may be over, but it looks like the impacts it has may last a while.
By the light of Sagat's vigorous final Tiger Shot, Tiffany can see him go down; she's a little surprised, at first, and indeed almost wonders if it's a feint. Tigers, after all, are pretty exceptionally slippery, and the former Emperor of Muay Thai's reputation as a masterful fighter precedes him. After a few moments, though, Tiffany realizes that they really have managed to beat the giant bloody, and part of her is almost shocked by it.
One hell of a first showing, Ms. Lords realizes; this fighting thing might really be for her. She considers reaching out to Sagat for a moment, thinks about showing him some kindness and helping him get out of here... but it hits her that that might wound his pride a little /too/ much, given the circumstances. So, needless to say, Tiffany shows extensive camaraderie and sportsmanship with her teamm --
Nah. She can't see them very well, so she decides to take a moment to take off her gloves, flash a peace sign, and run directly off toward where she thinks the nearest subway exit lies. She doesn't really want to be here when the master of Muay Thai wakes up, and /especially/ doesn't want to be /gloating/ when he does, because, well: ha ha no. It would certainly be /nice/ of her to help Haru, to offer the panting youth some assistance... but Tiffany is merely a /decent/ person rather than a /great/ person, and she's hurting pretty badly, herself.
Soon as the Shark Crest lets fly, Brett's forced to lean against the pillar again, his ribs still making it hard to breath, and his leg still numb enough that skating forward is a dicey prospect. And unfortunately, he sees his attack caught upon the Emperor's guard for the most part. Even if he put in a bit more oomph to that attack than normal, it was still disheartening to see it handled. That worry is quickly dispelled when he sees Tiffany's kick crack across Sagat's jaw with a surprising amount of force, and then Haru's yo-yos lash and smash across the emperor's entire form, eyes widening as he sees just how well the two manage to hit.
When he sees Sagat let loose, he grips his stick and starts to move forward, still expecting the Muay Thai legend to keep fighting, like a giant unwilling to fall from all the puny humans pecking at its legs. It's to his great surprise when, just as he's rolling forward again, Sagat falls down, the sheer amount of damage he's taken between the tree finally catching up. Coasting in his shock, he comes to a stop just short of Sagat, blinking, arms held down, still not quite processing what happened.
Did they...did they actually stop the great Sagat? It's that shock that makes him a little less cognizant of his allies' state at the moment. Not to mention the dim lighting making it hard to realize anything, to be honest.
Log created on 17:58:17 11/09/2014 by Haru, and last modified on 01:30:56 11/11/2014.