Description: An evil Tiger Spirit prowls Southtown seeking worthy challenges. Her search leads her to a Wolf who is not too keen on letting her do as she pleases. Will the wolf convince the tiger on the error of her ways or will she seek to forge her own path through destruction? Find out in this thrilling new episode of MotM: The Champion's Road!
A full moon hangs over the sky at Taiyo High School, and a few of the karate students are coming back, chatting to each other. Two girls and a boy, and the boy's mostly staying silent, his gaze focused on the face of one of the girls.
"Can you believe Mamoru's high kick, though?"
"Yeah, I wanna pick that up. But..." She pauses. "Something's watching us."
And then, something jumps down from a tree above, landing in front of the three of them on all fours. It stands up, it's arms hanging at it's side, and growls.
A flash of pink Chi, erupts from it, slips back inside. Two of the karate students crumple to the ground immediately, the third staggering back in a defensive posture.
"...worthless!"
It rushes forward, reaches out, grabs the remaining girl by the neck, hoisting her into the air as she kicks at it relatively ineffectually. "...hardly even students...."
In the light, it's easier to see the form of the creature - a muscular young woman wearing a black tank top, black shorts, and leather boots. On her face is an elaborate black tiger mask with silver highlights that gleam in the moonlight.
Wherever evil may rear its ugly head.
There shall be good to stop it.
The shadows of the night do not hide only a Tiger in their midst, for a Wolf also happens to be prowling that area. Having redoubled his efforts to patrol Southtown after the numerous, and he does mean numerous, supernatural events that had plagued the city, Nightwolf was bound to follow the trail of sin that this new interloper brought to bear on the streets.
The shadow of wolf is seen jumping into view just as the enigmatic masked figure is hosting one of the Karate students up by the neck. The moon shinning on the growling animal as it ferociously begins to approach the woman, poised and ready to strike.
Before energy swirls around him and the creature is transformed into a statuesque dark skinned man with blank eyes.
"Release them!!" He demands, energy axes appearing on his hands. "One warning is all you get, villain!"
Black Tiger Mask throws the girl aside, and spins to face Nightwolf, her loose shoulder-length black hair twirling outwards from the movement. "...finally... someone who has a soul worth fighting over!"
She stalks towards the dark skinned man, circling him, slightly bent over, her arms hanging limply at her sides, not striking quite yet. "...what... do you fight for /justice/...? ...some abstract ideal...?" Something between a laugh and a growl. "...why...?"
"...do you feel happy, helping people...?" She sounds a little bit curious underneath the obvious condescension.
The woman has released the children and that earns her the luxury of imposing questions to Nightwolf, the Apache brave would have charged her had she not complied.
He follows her movements when she begins to circle him, mimicking that very same animalistic bent over position. Nightwolf seems to share her animal affinity and to an onlooker this might seem more like a real tiger and a wolf squaring off than two people. The shaman's blank eyes stare unblinkingly at his strange opponent who begin to postures. It actually draws an amused scoff from the Sin Eater, finding it somewhat entertaining that someone question his motives.
"I fight for Earthrealm!" He answers back with defiance in his voice, energy blades twirling on his hands.
That's all. That's all she gets. Because that is all the excuse he needs.
COMBATSYS: Miki has started a fight here.
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Miki 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Nightwolf has joined the fight here.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Miki
Black Tiger Mask does one of those laugh-growl things again as she continues to circle him. "...don't know what that is... i fight because i eat... and this one seems strong enough to be worth devouring a few little pieces of...." She tilts her head far to one side, her shoulders following slightly. "...show me just how strong..."
She slowly stalks a bit closer towards him, pauses, starts to convulse, seemingly uncontrollably. She falls onto all fours, and the front half of a gigantic tiger made of pink energy - with darker pink stripes - rushes out of her back, swiping a claw at Nightwolf's chest. "SUFFER!"
COMBATSYS: Nightwolf fails to reflect Handsome Beast from Miki with Shield of the Ancients.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0 Miki
Don't know what Earthrealm is actually gives Tiger Mask the benefit of the doubt.
Nightwolf hadn't sensed any Otherworld energy about her despite smelling fairly like a Darkstalker. Although being a native from Earthrealm herself meant that there were bigger chances of her being redeemed, Nightwolf had seen plenty of Darkstalkers, and even humans, who were dead set in the path of evil and was not holding his breath on the matter.
More so when she adopts a strange posture and seems quite intent on attacking him. "Shield--" The shaman begins to chant when he senses an incoming energy approaching and stops abruptly mid incantation, is that pink colored chi? "Hrg!!" The confusion costs him as the energy slams right into his chest, driving him into one knee momentarily before he stands up again.
"Hm.. you are more than it seems.." Just who is judging who exactly?
Black Tiger Mask throws up her head and growls laughingly. "...infinitely!" She starts to circle him again, this time on all fours, her head continuing to face towards him. "...only one creature can be the strongest... everything else is fake... anything beyond power is hollow, an excuse..." She turns to face him again, lowers her shoulder and back legs further towards the ground, coiling up. "...i will become the strongest in the world!"
5TShe leaps into the air from her stance on all fours, heading towards Nightwolf, and spins around in the air, straightening out her leg, aiming the back of her heel towards the side of his head.
COMBATSYS: Nightwolf fails to interrupt Heavy Kick from Miki with Blade and Edge.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Miki
Sadly, that is not the worst excuse that Nightwolf has heard for preying on the weak. To seek out power, while still terribly hollow, is at least infinitely better than 'for the fun of it' or 'because they like to see people suffer' and other far more brutal answers that the shaman has heard in his time.
Still doesn't excuse this so called Black Tiger's actions however, and the shaman brings an energy knife to his hand when the woman does a spinning axe kick towards him. Only to get smashed on the side before he can react, his knife dissipating into thin air as he stumbles sideways. "Hmrg.." He looks quite annoyed at this result than he's actually hurt. In the past few days he's had a lot worst. "You still have a long way to go, girl."
Black Tiger Mask pushes off up and to the side from that axe kick, landing on the branch of a nearby tree, momentarily losing her balance before she grabs onto it with both hands and her legs. She still ends up swinging underneath it, but just hangs there for a moment as if it was her plan all along. "...yes... it's a long way... i keep on finding weak people... but if i keep on defeating them up, stronger people will find me... and so forth... you're just another step...."
She tilts her head to one side, looking down at Nightwolf. "...still... if your goal is to defeat all the villains in the world, i'd say mine is much more doable...." She releases the branch, spins around midair, drops on all fours again, rushes towards him, and as she closes, moves up onto two feet, attempts to step on his foot. Simultaneously, the tiger spirit inside her reaches out with a foreleg, slashing at Nightwolf's stomach with a claw. Should this connect, they try to simultaneoulsy follow this with a hip check into an elbow driven at the neck, and a bite aimed straight at the stomach, respectively.
COMBATSYS: Nightwolf blocks Miki's Mahogany Rush.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1 Miki
Nightwolf frowns as Tiger Mask stumbles on the tree branch and struggles to regain her balance up there. Definitely a lot worse, considering the people he's faced lately, he'd be on his last legs and covered in blood by now. In comparison to the Otherworlders and Darkstalkers he's been facing, this interloper seems down right comical.
Which is probably why he's overestimating her so much, that's likely his own undoing in this fight.
Still, the shaman is still the Sin Eater and would eventually succeed at defending himself. He takes a step back to calculate the distance and blocks the claw swipe at his stomach with an energy axe, breaking the grapple and pulling away from the series of follow up attacks.
"Perhaps so." He reluctantly agrees. "But if what you seek is only to test you mettle, you are going about it all wrong. There are others paths, such as mine, that do not involve harming the innocence."
"Because, I will tell you this much. You are nothing in comparison to the foes I face in a daily basis." He twirls his axe up in the air to catch it by the handle again and hurls it right at the Tiger Mask, sending the energy axe flying at her head.
COMBATSYS: Miki overcomes New Earth from Nightwolf with Saber Tiger.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Miki
"...it sounds like your path is even more dangerous than mine, then... why should i avoid harming innocents...? if you show me another less dangerous path to power, or a quicker one, or one that has more benefits, perhaps...." Black Tiger Mask shrugs her shoulders, then seeing him twirl his axe, then start to throw it, she spreads her arms out. "...don't underestimate my spirit...!"
Her tiger surges from her body, catching the axe in it's teeth and snapping it's jaws to toss it to the side. It cuts a swath through the tiger's left shoulder, and that foreleg dissipates, drawing back into the masked girl, but the other arm rushes forwards to skewer Nightwolf, and it's mouth opens again, attempting for a bite. Once the tiger's strike hits or is somehow negated, any remaining energy will draw back into the girl again.
COMBATSYS: Nightwolf attempts to reflect Saber Tiger from Miki with Shield of the Ancients.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Miki
COMBATSYS: Nightwolf successfully hits Miki with Shield of the Ancients.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Miki
"Because they are not warriors." Explains Nightwolf calmly, the answer seeming obvious to the shaman. "I can offer you another path, the path of righteousness. There are others like me who have banded together to defeat the evils that plague the realm. Be they from this world or the next, we will allow no one to harm Earthrealm."
"It is not a less dangerous path at all. To face against an Otherworlder is to fight against Death itself. I cannot even guarantee your survival, but what I can guarantee is that if you do live through it, you will become amongst the strongest of all the realms."
"That is the path that I follow! The path of the warrior! Strength through selflessness!"
Nightwolf frowns when the girl yet again proves to have plenty of tricks and pushes through the thrown energy axe with her Tiger Spirit which then rushes to attack the shaman. "I have been underestimating you until now." Admits the shaman who then uses his own tricks, no longer taken by surprise by the odd coloring of the girl's chi. He summons a circular Apache shield and smashes it against the incoming tiger, sending it flying back the girl.
"I see the folly of that now."
The girl stumbles back as the energy forcefully re-enters her body, coughs, falls down onto all fours again. "...karate students are also on the path of power... they just haven't gotten very far... it's not like i'm attacking bakers... not because they're innocent, just because it's pointless..."
She coughs again, raises her head, her eyes momentarily glowing with pink chi under the Black Tiger Mask. "...strength is appealing... this strength... i could do whatever i wanted to with it...?" She tilts her head to one side. "...wouldn't you just let me die at a convienent point to you...?"
She shrugs her shoulders, and runs back on all fours to close with Nightwolf. She swerves to the right of him, and steps upwards, aiming a kick down at the back of his knee.
COMBATSYS: Nightwolf just-defends Miki's Light Kick!
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Nightwolf 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Miki
"Absolutely not." Nightwolf replies quickly with that ever resolute tone to his voice. "Just as I would not leave you to your death, I would not allow you to abuse your new strength."
The Sin Eater frowns at the incoming kicks and brings his own leg up, stopping the attack from ever connecting by pushing Miki's leg down with his foot, a basic Tae Kwan Do maneuver, it seems that he can rely in his martial training whenever using mysticism would be too taxing.
"Share in our power and follow the path of the righteous heart. Those are our only terms."
Then he's stepping into the Tiger Mask's circle and swinging a quick left jab to her face in order to drive her off.
"Alternatively, you can continue preying on hapless students until someone like me comes to kill you."
"The choice is yours."
COMBATSYS: Miki blocks Nightwolf's High Punch.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Miki
Seeing the incoming punch, Black Tiger Mask raises her hands, one grabbing onto his wrist and one stopping the punch with her palm. She shakes her palm after stopping that blow. "...both paths seem pretty dangerous... but if i succeed at this one, my power is my own...."
She attempts to keep her hold on his wrist, raising her other hand up behind his neck, to grab there, and steps forward with one foot, placing her shin against his, and pulls on him, hard, trying to bowl him over, shove his face into the ground.
COMBATSYS: Nightwolf attempts to interrupt Strong Throw from Miki with Tomahawk Smash.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Miki
Nightwolf's blank eyes shift when he notices that his wrist is being grabbed and pulled, a sign of what is to come. Suddenly, there's an energy axe appearing on his other hand and as Tiger Mask takes a step to try and throw him, he pushes right into her, axe hand raised high to drive the handle of his energy weapon into her top of her head.
"Stay on your path and you'll be fighting a war on all fronts. I will never allow you to prey on the innocent and even if you somehow manage to get past me, the Otherworlders will make short work of you."
"Trust me, you will never succeed in you walk your path alone."
COMBATSYS: Miki fails to reverse Tomahawk Smash from Nightwolf with GWAR!!!.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Miki
The tiger surges out of her, trying to catch the energy axe in it's teeth again, but this time Nightwolf drives it through, shattering it and smashing into. There's a nasty cracking sound as it connect, and the girl is thrown to the ground.
Indeed, the top of the mask has a jagged crack in the top of it, and she raises a hand to to cover it. She looks like she's struggling to... do something, but her muscles don't seem to be quite moving right at the moment.
Nightwolf isn't the type to beat on someone when they are down... unless they are an evil Darkstalker or an Otherworlder, then he can become truly ferocious.
However, this girl is at /best/ confused, and that is not enough as far Nightwolf is concerned to fully on Banish her. The shaman steps back from the fallen Tiger Spirit and gathers the evil energy surrounding her to him, drawing from her dark thoughts to empower himself as it is his Sin Eater nature.
"I have offered you the chance for redemption." He states, energy flowing around him, blank white eyes growing red as his muscles increase.
"Now, prepare to receive the Judgment of the Ancients."
COMBATSYS: Nightwolf gathers his will.
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Nightwolf 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 Miki
"...do you all have time to fight me, when the otherworlders could descend on you...?" The tiger girl slowly picks herself up onto two feet, one hand remaining on top of the mask, the other one hanging limply at her side. "...or maybe they're a way off...?" She lowers her head slightly "...i don't really know how that works... regardless... even if i'm only able to taste a little bit of your power, this night was not a waste...."
She suddenly lunges in, attempts to step on his foot again, and follow up by dropping her hand from her mask, putting both hands on his shoulders, and headbutting him in the face.
COMBATSYS: Nightwolf endures Miki's Hard Stuff.
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Nightwolf 1/----===/=======|-------\-------\0 Miki
"We have time." Nightwolf continues to explain even as this strange girl continues to doubt him.
"For wherever evil doth raises its ugly head."
"We shall be there to stop it!"
His yell comes just as Tiger Mask seeks to headbutt him, and the shaman SMASHES his own forehead right against her to cushion the blow against himself, refusing to give an inch. "That is the meaning of our power. To be wherever we are needed and to succeed against all odds!"
"We are the Full Moon Society!"
The moon shines above Nightwolf as he raises his hand to the sky where a glowing white knife appears, crackling with power.
"And I can all this to you and more... if you'd just let me!!"
The Sin Eater knows full well that the best way to get people to listen to him around here is to force them to hold still. He aims to do just that by grasping the holy war knife tightly and diving right towards the Tiger Mask. One hand grasps her by the face to pull her closer whilst the other pushes the knife deep into her stomach where burning holy energy would flood her insides and purify her negative thoughts.
"Ascension!!"
COMBATSYS: Nightwolf successfully hits Miki with Ascension.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Miki
The girl raises both hands, trying to stop him from getting to her mask, but he grabs her too quickly. She screams as the energy knife stabs into her stomach, and green energy floods through her, shining out of her eyes from behind the mask briefly. She goes limp, then her limbs convulse a little. "...power that obeys rules... power that obeys others... can that be called true power...?"
She tries to grab onto the wrist of his hand that's grabbing onto her mask with one of her hands, sink a punch into his stomach with the other. "...i can't give up on this path so early...! ...the plan...!"
COMBATSYS: Nightwolf blocks Miki's Medium Punch.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Miki
The Sin Eater brings his elbow down into the incoming punch to his gut and knocks the arm out of the way. Then, he quickly twists his wrist inside of Miki's grip so that thin part is between his index finger and thumb where the grab is at its weakest to pull away and break the grapple again.
He dashes back from the limping Tiger Mask, putting distance between the two to bring more holy fury upon his misguided foe. The time for talking has long past, if even now she refuses to listen, there will only be KOMBAT.
"Wachin ksapa yo!!" Calls the Apache in his language as he brings his hands together forming more power on them. As a glowing orb appears between his palms, he brings his arms over his head to shoot a lightning bolt laced with holy chi down to strike the girl. He's never one to strike someone when they are down, sure.
Except, when they don't listen.
"HOKAY HEY!!"
COMBATSYS: Nightwolf successfully hits Miki with Thunder Storm.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Miki
The girl tries to jump to the side, but the lightning bolt strikes her inerringly, and she falls partially to the ground, on all fours, but less by choice this time. The tiger claw lashes out of her, swiping at the pebbles along the unpaved path she's on, sending it towards Nightwolf's face in hopes of momentarily distracting him. If she can distract him for long enough, she'll try to jump up on top of the nearby schoolbuilding and get away, but clearly she can no longer fight, regardless.
COMBATSYS: Miki can no longer fight.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Nightwolf reflects Small Thrown Object from Miki with Shield of the Ancients.
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Nightwolf 0/-------/-======|
The Apache brave hmms in thought when the girl scurries even after being literally struck by lightning. She's a resilient one this so called Tiger Mask.
He advances, only to see her throw some rocks at his face which he bats away with his energy shield. As he flings them to the see he sees that the girl is long gone.
The shaman could potentially go after her, but the fallen kids are in need of tending. Yet another pending hunt for the skinwalker.
"Until our paths converge." He mutters to her even if she can't probably listen to him from that distance before he moves away to get the karate kids to a hospital.
Log created on 15:50:30 01/06/2015 by Nightwolf, and last modified on 19:57:11 01/06/2015.