Description: Two monsters of differing kinds pass in the night. Will Juri Han's blood lust be enough to challenge the many souls of Ermac? Is this the beginning of a beautiful friendship, or a beautiful...enemyship? Find out inside!
Juri applies more pressure, the face being ground into the walk gurgles some more in protest; either from that or its in response to the limb she is plying with a sadistic and gradual increase of force appears to be yielding results, from the flailing and feeble slapping with his free arm it could be either. It was fun in some ways and abhorrent in others, this guy was 'totally low-level' and barely worth her attention.
The clomp of running boots and sneakers as a half dozen other figures pour into the mouth of the alleyway one of them gesturing crazed at her. Juri hadn't bothered paying attention but does a quick recap of the last few minutes in her head and compares that to the number of ragged looking unconscious and wounded looking bodies strewn around the area. So that was it, she was missing one, all wearing the same coloured bandana's but one less than she had started with.
The guy yelling and gesticulating wildly at her was really loud and annoying but she wasn't paying attention. Men wielding bats and pipes begin a cautious advance and in response the Asian girl releases their comrade and dusts her hands together, her victim slumps down against the wall quietly sobbing.
"All this for me? I'm flattered but you all aren't really my type."
Whether they are confidant, reckless or just plain stupid they rush at her, shouting and whooping crazily, leaping into the air and kicking out at the first she is stopped in mid-air as a bat is thrown up in defence is a block and her foot find purchase against it, an unshaven mug grins. Second hit, third impact, spinning and kicking in the air she delivers to more hits turning the bat into matchsticks and blowing the man back where he drops into a crumpled state and topples forward onto his face.
"It really was more of a one-time thing - But, since you asked so nicely!"
Further screams and even more bodies pile up inside the alley, this is getting rather outlandish, and she's actually starting to break a sweat. 'There she is!' even more of them this time.
Bouncing off the wall for a little extra heightshe begins pulling herself up the fire escape ladder hand over hand. Juri makes her way to the roof even as rocks and debris and even a shoe is hurled with remarkably poor aim. The metal rings underfoot as she sprints quickly to the top and she decides she doesn't care enough to even look back as she pulls herself up onto the room and makes good her escape. It's a nice night out, for what she has seen of Metro City the stars are out and the gang activity is only a little louder than the traffic; for reasons.
The sounds of shouting gangsters, honking traffic horns, and distant airplanes all fade into a background Rumble as Juri makes her way up onto South Town's star-lit roofscape. Tonight the smog-scented air is brisk and refreshing. The perfect temperature for a little parkour after hours.
The roof Juri pulls herself atop is a drab concrete affair. Crude pastel chalk drawings are linked together in a blurry foot path that weaves its way between stacked air conditioning units; Pink and purple teddy bears linking hands with white stick figures, chased across the dirty cement by green dragons with purple teeth.
This must be the roof of an apartment complex.
Though this could be any roof of any ghetto tenement in South Town, there is an odd feeling of weight in the air. The entire roof feels heavy and oppressive, as if a thunder storm were gathering just overhead.
Some of the air conditioning units cast awfully deep shadows, and in one of those shadows, not 15 feet away, a pair of misty green eyes glow at waste height. The eyes are focused unblinkingly upon Juri as she makes her fire-escape pounding entrance. Though there is no sound of breathing or hint of motion from the direction of the eyes, there must be someone there. The feeling of oppression rolls out in waves from that spot.
Popping into view and leaping down onto the surface of the rooftop with two continuous movements Juri lands right atop one of the chalk dragon figures and pauses as she considers the crude interpretation, surprised to find something so badly drawn right under her feet and seemingly out of place. It wasn't really worth considering but she just likes the way it appears to be chasing or hunting, promising if not very good.
Her entire body trembles as she stretches her arms high and then wide, arching her back into the luxurious stretch and still getting the kinks out. She hadn't planned on getting into a fight, that one had come on rather naturally as a gang is want to do when it thinks it is the biggest and scariest thing out that night. She disabused them of that notion, for tonight at least.
Any kind of danger sense or reluctance to be in this place of darkness washes over and around her as she walks toward the exit, her one good eye drifts over to the points of glowing light starting at her feet slow but do not stop as her vision only lingers and then looks away. Probably just a cat or something, this place had no shortage of feral animals.
The rooftop door explodes outwards with the dynamic entrance of three denim vest clad, bandana wearing thugs, all furiously focusing right at Juri Han who meets them with an exasperated and weary expression at their unwelcome persistence. She assumes a stance more out of obligation, not particulalrly feeling it though still setting her feet wide, ready to receive and summarily destroy them as they size her up. Maybe if she were to throw a few of them off the roof.
This was just the most tedious night out yet-
The young Earthrealm girl stretches, peering about herself with a lazy sort of arrogance that is incredibly familiar to Ermac. Sure she may be younger, slimmer, and altogether unlike Mileena. But, there is something there. Something that brings the half-breed pseudo princess to mind.
The telekinetic enforcer crouches statue-like until Juri has passed him by. Only then do his gloved hands finish wrapping a black scarf around his middle to cover the hole in the left side of his costume. Reaching around behind him, he finishes knotting the scarf at the small of his back. Standing upright, the now free ends of his newest wrap dangle down his back to drift about his knees.
Standing there in the darkness, Ermac's souls war within him, swirling around two possible courses of action. He could follow this half-blind girl and see where she leads him. Her reminding him so strongly of Mileena is likely no coincidence. Or, he could leave. Over the edge of the building, down the way the girl came up. The gang members are already dispersing. They would not see him.
The sound of the door crashing open decides the matter for him.
Abruptly, the six green gems scattered across Ermac's costume flood with misty, lime green light. The added bit of light pushes the darkness back just far enough to reveal Ermac's outline in the dark. Green eyes blazing, he steps quietly away from the bulk of his air conditioning unit and rounds the corner in pursuit of the girl.
A shift in perspective would show Juri falling into her combat stance and sizing up the thugs, while behind her a dark, green-eyed figure steps into view and starts to pad quietly up behind the girl. The figure's chin shifts, green gems throbbing faintly as it glances over the girl's shoulder and fixes its unblinking stair on the three toughs. Dangling lengths of fabric trail in the figure's wake, making it appear wraith like in the dim light.
Maybe the toughs are smart. Maybe they will run away. Maybe they will move away from this tenement and tell ghost stories for the rest of their lives.
Or, maybe they will stay. Maybe they won't live out the night.
The aggression fades from faces that become paler by the second, hands gripping their bats loosen and fall slack, the rap and rattling peal of one of them being dropped as the advance stalls out and they begin instead to back away.
This is a new turn of event for Juri who has straightened a little in response to the sudden obvious terror. It doesn't make much sense for them to suddenly be afraid of her -- unless they realized the dark thoughts she was entertaining regarding their bodies and the pavement out front of the building.
'Auuuugh!' The first turns back to start running before the other two break, the second man follows suit screaming about a monster and the third follows right on his heels such that they fight to get through the doorway away from what had felt to be a rather calm and serene rooftop. The darkness closes in as Juri so slowly turns her head to look behind her, figures it would be some-thing -- else.
The silhouette of the man standing behind and above her reflects in a in her too wide eye as she stares back from the corner of it. Wrapped as he is in back with only the wafts of dirty grey coloured steam giving him a visible human form; substance to hold up those now familiar green glowing eyes.
Juri pushes off and slides away across the rooftop, cutting a smeared curved line through the chalk figures with her bare feet and a single stroke as she throws herself away. Whoever this guy was he managed to sneak up on her without warning, no goon in a pair of night vision goggles.
As her slide arrests she stands and raises her fists.
Her voice is low, it grouses more lightheartedly than she feels at present . This sudden appearance and new guy has her a little on edge all of a sudden.
"If you wanna finish me off its gonna take a lot more than just one guy."
Ermac slows to a halt, idly watching the roof's metal door as it swings shut on spring-assisted hinges. He doesn't expect to see any gangsters on this particular roof in the near future.
Half way through closing the door encounters the dropped bat. The make shift weapon is then scraped along the ground, creating a metallic clatter to fill the void left in the wake of Juri's challenge.
The bat gets itself lodged between the door and frame with an echoing clank.
There is a beat of silence.
"We are not one man." Ermac States in a chorus of voices. The wrap-clad enforcer's voices are many and varied, all apparently male, and stacked one atop another in a jumbled mass of depth and cadence.
"We are Ermac," Continues the same, now stepping forward and half turning to face Juri fully, "and we are many."
The glowing eyes, glowing gems, and hanging wraps of clothing are impressive enough. The layered voices and palpable aura of power that surrounds the figure adds to that. But, beneath all that, Juri might also note that he is a warrior. A fighter.The build supporting his loose garments isn't large, or incredibly broad, but compact and dangerous.
It may be either fortunate or insulting that Ermac hasn't taken up a fighting stance of his own. Instead he stands idly atop a smudged chalk banana and watches. Expectantly? Hard to say. He certainly isn't asking any questions. Not yet, anyway.
Mouth quirking up into a sadistic and twisted smile Juri half considers the implications of one guy being worth many and adds that 'many' onto her nights tally, could be enough she might feel she accomplished something tonight. At worst, she kicked the crap out of some loony and threw himself off a rooftop.
"If you think you have enough! Let's find out if you do."
This, presence, those eyes; Juri is on edge right now only partially because of the surprise but that's not enough to stop her enjoyment. If anything the taste of a genuine danger.. finally has all aquiver.
Stepping forward requires a little more courage than she'd like but with every step as she rushes down at him her smile grows brighter. She leaps into the air and spins, kicking backwards out at him with reckless aggression as she sails towards.
COMBATSYS: Juri has started a fight here.
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Juri 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Ermac has joined the fight here.
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Ermac 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Juri
COMBATSYS: Ermac blocks Juri's Sekku.
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Ermac 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Juri
Studying Juri's charge with detached calm, Ermac can't help but note the manic smile that grows as she picks up speed. That look in her eye, glee and violence all mixed up in one. Again it conjures up strong images of Mileena in his scattered minds.
Kombat has a remarkable focusing effect on Ermac's consciousness, however, and he can feel all of his souls moving into alignment as the girl leaps into her spinning kick.
Swinging his left arm up, the enforcer accepts Juri's heel against his forearm with a satisfyingly solid impact. Beneath his clothes muscles flex, and her rotation is stopped dead. Applying a little extra force, he shunts the foot off to the side and flows forward into the girl's personal space while she is still hanging in mid air.
Dangling cloths trailing behind him, Ermac steps into a series of 3 quick chained jabs, the 'RightLeftRight' aimed for her midsection. After the last of his punches he continues forward past Juri and pivots on one foot, driving the gem on his left elbow back and around in a powerful strike aimed for her left side.
COMBATSYS: Ermac successfully hits Juri with Rapid Jabs.
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Ermac 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Juri
Impressed somewhat by the fact the figure arrests meets her force with enough of his own to stop her in mind; her eyes narrow suspicious even before the battering of fists strikes her and a strangled grunt as she takes the hit to the side and topples out of the air, her entire direction changes and having to roll out on her hands and knees back into a crouch.
Left arm sweeps wide as she throws of some of the imparted momentum, and the roll turns into a crouch as she continues the slide but is already pushing forward off the starting mark. Was it a fluke, or was this guy really worth fighting. Heat flushes through her body and the grin lights up even more manically, as she comes right back again with a similar attack, this time she doesn't stop at one, she kicks out at him already priming to deliver the second and third hits in paid succession.
Maybe this is a real monste, the thought crossed her mind and the prospect excited her immensely.
COMBATSYS: Juri successfully hits Ermac with Shikusen.
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Ermac 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Juri
whirling away from Juri after the decisive elbow strike, Ermac relaxes back a step into one of the more neutral stances of Choy Lay Fut. Bending at the knees, he slides his right foot forward and angles his leg in to guard the groin, twisting his torso aside to present a smaller target. His right hand lifts, gloved fingers held in a soft block, while his left draws back into a tight fist chambered at his side.
he enforcer is silent and still as Juri comes on for the second time in as many moments. He has just enough time to note her speed and decide on a calculated risk before she reaches him.
Juri's foot comes scything through the air toward Ermac's head and he slithers forward a step. His shoulders hunch and head ducks, attempting to slip just beneath the incoming blow. However, either he mistimed the maneuver, unlikely, or Juri is skilled enough to correct herself mid air.
The first kick hammers into the side of Ermac's head and forces him to sway to the side to bleed off residual force. As the second and third kicks swing in, however, he barges forward and twists his upper body around so that they both hammer into his upper back, sparing him any further debilitating strikes to the noggin.
"Hrrg." Grunts the enforcer's chorus of souls as he continues to swing around, his back block turning into a leaping round-house kick. Pushing off from the ground, the warrior sweeps his cloth-wrapped right foot up and back with the weight of his entire body behind it,the heel aimed squarely for the center of Juri's mass. He is trailed by his various cloth hangings, twisting through the air behind him and breaking up his shadowy figure in this dim light.
COMBATSYS: Ermac successfully hits Juri with Roundhouse.
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Ermac 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Juri
Smashed away Juri slides and then staggers backwards, sagging forward and one arm coming up to cradle her ribs and cover her chest. She wavers in place before coughing loudly, that had hurt and it was hard to gather any air for a brief seconds. Vision swims a little as she shakes off the pain and gets some air flowing back into her lungs while resisting the urge to cough; straightening herself and keeping her pride intact. That last jolt to the system had shaken her to the soles of her feet and her body was teetering in response to the sudden abuses.
She hates to acknowledge the fact she might be overmatched, hates it with a passion but instead backing down it pushes her right over the edge.
"Oh man, that was great! Finally, someone who pushes all my buttons the right way..."
Setting her feet she can feel the blood thundering in her ears, she wants to kill him, to tear him limb from limb in a rage that borders on admiration, only a monster capable of killing her itself could inspire so much and hate to the point she almost adores it.
Rushing in she comes at him agian, dropping low and spinning a kick at her ankles she is already committing to the upwards kick and blasting him straight into the air with one continuous spiraling movement.
COMBATSYS: Juri successfully hits Ermac with Kaisen Dankairaku Limited.
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Ermac 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Juri
Ermac brings his single rotation to a halt with a solid stomp, his black-wrapped foot planting itself on the back of a pink and white unicorn chalked across the dirty ground. Though Juri seems to be enjoying herself, there is the feeling that the enforcer is holding back. If that feeling of power that surrounds him is more than just a trick, he certainly hasn't shown any sign of it thus far.
Power or no power, Ermac wasn't expecting Juri to recover from that kick quite so quickly. He is just starting to fall back into his stance when she comes rushing in toward him, and he is forced yet again to make a snap decision. his battle-trained mind sees her low stance, and years of fighting in out world have taught him to expect one thing over all others when his opponent goes low.
So it is that the conglomeration of souls leans forward and snaps his right hand down in an attempt to brace it on top of the sliding girl's head, his left drifting across his chest in preparation to catch the fist he assumes is about to be launched toward his chin.
He's wrong.
Juri's head drops below the level of his hand and her foot comes rocketing up between his legs. It strikes him right in the crotch with an audible 'crunch' and lifts him into the air, the girl trailing after him as her foot lifts him higher and higher.
Ermac makes not a sound, glowing green eyes blazing as he throws his head back in sudden agony.
Then, the power Ermac had been holding back explodes against the senses like a sledge hammer to the face. Lime green energy pours out of his body and swirls about him in a thick mist. The sounds of voices screaming and laughing tickle the edge of Juri's hearing; while faces seem to form in the mist, then fade away with their mouths open mid shout.
Ermac's hands blaze up with sudden green power, and his upward trajectory simply stops. This leaves him floating perhaps 10 feet in the air, hands at his sides and head thrown back. The tattered hangings of his costume lift and swirl about as if in an invisible wind.
Reaching down with his right hand, the glowing enforcer clinches the gloved digits into a tight fist. Simultaneously, a misty green glow forms around Juri as psychic energies coalesce, attempting to rush in and clamp down on her from all sides. If she doesn't manage to stop it, the grip will clamp her solidly in place, suspending her in mid fall toward the ground.
Then, Ermac will lift his fist up over her head, and the unfortunate girl will rocket upward. A half turn of the enforcer's body and a spiking motion of his fist will send her rushing head-first into the cement roof with bone-crunching force, and then, as the power finally relaxes and lets her loose, Ermac will come plummeting down out of the sky and land on her back in a vicious stomp, before standing from his crouch and taking a couple quiet steps away.
All of it depends on whether or not Juri is quick and clever enough to escape the initial telekinetic crush.
COMBATSYS: Ermac successfully hits Juri with Controlled Chaos.
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Ermac 0/-------/------<|=------\-------\0 Juri
Still staring up at the now floating opponent Juri can't trust her eyes with what she is seeing, he went up but isn't coming back down again. That can't be right, that's definitely not a normal human thing to be doing. Juri jerks in place and straightens up as she is seized from apparently every direction she can think of, there's no way to evade nothing to fight back against.
'The fuck is this supposed to.. ?"
She rockets skywards up towards him struggling the entire while and clearly disbelieving this was even possible. Gritting her teeth and struggling she just ... can't break free.
A downward swipe propels her straight down towards the rooftop, the best she can manage is to angle her head and take the hit across the back of her head, neck and shoulders, on the lower floor the crash reverberates through the ceiling and dust rains from the ceiling and light fixtures. Agony washes over her body and her brain is shaken around by the impact. The grip of whatever this is loosens and her body uncoils in response, she rolls out and gets her hand under her body to push herself back to her feet. It's just enough time to drag herself up onto one elbow as-Ermac descend upon her from above and a choked gasp is all Juri manages as the stomp compacts her torso into the rooftop and a second even harder vibration rocks the building.
Her eye screwed shut all Juri can do is cough away a cloud of powdered concrete and plaster, that hurt, that hurt so fucking much.
What feeble motions her body will allow start coming together as she begins to rise again, it's torturous to even try forcing herself to move after being hit like that. Maybe there's something to that 'many' bullshit he was spouting, he certainly seemed to have super powers or something else going for him.
She was one but she wasn't kneeling for anyone or any-many whatever-the-hell this guy was.
COMBATSYS: Juri takes no action.
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Ermac 0/-------/------<|=====--\-------\0 Juri
There is no pained noises, no change in the pulsing glow of souls that now surrounds Ermac, but as he steps away from Juri the black and red clad enforcer has a rather heavy limp. Apparently that kick she landed managed to do some permanent damage, because his left leg all but drags across the ground with each labored step.
Once he has put a good 4 steps between himself and the struggling girl, Ermac reaches over to grip the corner of a large metal ventilation unit in his glowing left hand. Taking the weight off of his bad leg, he calmly turns himself about and stands braced, staring impassively down at the Earthrealm girl as she slowly but surely works her way upright.
There is a deep, humming vibration rumbling in the air, like the sound of many voices chanting just below human perception. But, as Ermac stands quietly, the swirling mist of souls slowly pulls back into his body. The pulsing of his gems dies to a faint but steady glow, and with it the gut-deep humming dies away. The explosive sledge-hammer of force that seemed to hammer at Juri's senses moments ago is gone. it might have never been there at all. He certainly isn't glowing anymore, aside from his gems and eyes, and has stopped that silly flying nonsense.
"You remind us of another." Ermac states eventually, his various voices showing none of the strain his body must be feeling as he supports himself against the unit. "She is impulsive, childish, and bloodthirsty. We had assumed it was her Tarkatan blood, but you have shown us that even a denizen of Earthrealm can be so. We did not expect to meet such a creature as yourself in this place."
Without motion or energy fueling them, Ermac's various wrappings hang limp from his body. The brisk night air does not seem to touch him through the thin fabric, but, that probably is no surprise to anyone.
"Tell us," Continues the enforcer after a moment of silence, green eyes as fixed and unblinking as ever, "Do you know of the sorcerer Shang Tsung?"
COMBATSYS: Ermac takes no action.
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Ermac 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Juri
Glaring right at the black clad figure Juri's legs are shaking under her own weight, it was something of a relief that everything was still working and attached after that last blow. Whether she can trust her senses now or not is entirely up for debate given that she can hear the voices scratching at the edges of her sanity and awareness. But, she already knew the world had monsters in it, this is ground already trodden. The experience leaves her sweating and shaking a little, droplets falling from her face and running down her aching back; she's wracked with pain, assailed by the supernatural - and still grinning, it's a slash across her face that cuts across a thin trail of red descending from her hairline, a pink tongue flicks across the wetness on her lips and she steadies herself before replying.
"She sounds great, I'm sure we'd adore trying to kill each other."
Juri vulgarly spits a splattering of spreading red petals shaped droplets onto the rooftop and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. Juri notes Ermac's stance and feels just a little better. He wasn't completely immune to damage, just.. strong, really strong.
"Never heard of him, try your luck at a magic show. Or a phone book."
The suggestions as acerbic and provocative as they appear are about as close as she can think to finding someone in a foreign city like this one.
Her body and mind are recovering fast but she is pretty sure she can't take this guy unless he foolishly gives her an opening, Tch, her loss. Her fists tighten on the material of her leggings as she feels the frustration building but she isn't dead or down. Just, intimidated a little and frustrated as all hell!
COMBATSYS: Juri takes no action.
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Ermac 0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\1 Juri
There is a pause; a beat of silence in which Ermac seems to be deciding just what to do with the defiant young girl before him. If he were any other Enforcer he would be on the attack, enjoying the pain he has inflicted on the Earthrealmer. But, Ermac is not any other enforcer. He has no wish to harm anyone, let alone the person before him. He is no fool. it is clear to him that she is damaged enough already. Someone wounded her long before they met, in such a way that she will likely never heal.
"We will seek out one of these phone books you have mentioned." Ermac finally intones, either not noticing Juri's scathing tone or choosing to ignore it. And, then there is another beat of silence, the warrior standing stalk still as he considers yet another branch in the road.
The beat passes, and Ermac says nothing. Instead he releases his grip on the ventilation unit and limps a step backward, then turns with the quiet rustle of scarves and starts to limp silently off along a twisting path of stick figures and brightly chalked fruit with happily smiling faces. If Juri wishes a moment to act, now is likely to be her final shot.
And, what was it that Ermac didn't say?
That if Mileena ever were to meet Juri, he would no longer need to worry about one reminding him of the other. Only one of them could walk away from such a fight.
Juri lets him go, not that she had any real desire to chase, maybe just murder him with a glare or see him grovel in front of her. But- fwump' insteads to the ground, seated as her legs fold up by her sides, sweating and gasping for air now that the shady son of a bitch is gone.
That Motherf****er was strong and her body is only now starting to really recover, which is a good thing since the building was probably still surrounded by guys who wanted her dead or strung up as a warning.
Her fist smashes into and grinds away at the surface of the room as she grinds her teeth in vexation at these last few minutes. If this was all she was worth as a monster herself thean this was just not good enough. Not even close to the level she needed to reach, It's painful but good lesson and that fucker just made her list and she would be sure to repay him for it.
But for now, escape and leaping and stumbling her way out of here before that gang decided to come up after her or just call it a loss and destroy the whole building to get them both... she would have, In their shoes. Here there be monsters.
Log created on 23:14:12 11/12/2014 by Ermac, and last modified on 21:33:51 11/13/2014.