Description: What starts off as a fight atop multiple jetskis quickly turns into a very, very different fight! (Winner: Team With Himself)
There is a typhoon, and that's terrible.
Dr. Richard Tran(?) stands upon Niki Marina. Not, like, on the pier; he literally stands on the water, atop a running jetski, facing the shore. Waves crash over his body and toss him and the jetski into the air, and rain pelts his bare skin... but he is unperturbed. He floats, running the jetski's engine just enough to keep him roughly in the same place, and he waits.
Adorning his form for once is not a weird women's swimsuit, but instead a speedo emblazoned with the American flag. It is... flattering, let's say, and reminds one of vacuum sealing a whole kielbasa. More important is the brand of the Speedo:
Clever.
EAT SHIT, ZACK
On the shore, a camera crew huddles around their van for safety from the wind and rain while they wait for the match to start. "Can we all agree this is a terrible idea?" asks one, shouting to be heard over the wind.
There is a general murmur of agreement, and by murmur I mean shout, because holy shit you guys, it's REALLY windy. And rainy! How are they even supposed to get any good close-up slow-mo shots of Natsu and Sakura, in this weather?
Dr. Richard Tran(!) hates everything about this island.
The weather. The people. The king/admiral/pervert/lunatic. The ocean. These stupid, invariably agonizing tag-team fights. All manner of inflicted traumas, both physical and mental. A crazed, fetish-driven sex pervert hired to masquerade as himself and ruin the doctor's good(?) reputation(?). Ever since he got off the boat, it has just been one goddamn thing after another, and by god, Dr. Tran is /sick/ of it. /Nothing/ could make him play along with this farce any longer!
SOME TIME AGO
A NEGOTIATION
"We'll give you one billion zack dollars and let you blow up some jetskis."
NOW
Dr. Tran kicks the first jetski he sees in half for being a stupid color, sending it skipping several feet before it sadly burbles to its demise deep beneath the waves. He appears to be wearing a simple black wetsuit.
"Uhh," a sexy announcer girl begins to protest, "Like, how is that supposed to be clever, even?"
"Shut up I know what I'm doing! And I'm going! Right now!" Dr. Tran hops onto another jetski and books it out into the surf, keeping a safe, highly conspicuous distance from Dr. Tran(?). And waits. And /broods/.
"Clever." That's what the fight rules stipulated. Sakura had racked her brains trying to think of something clever. What could she -do- to be clever in her swimsuit of all things? Plus be kind of safe? Well, she's not -too- worried about safety after all. I mean... it's just a typhoon, right? Ha ha ha... right?
Natsu had shown Sakura her choice of swimsuit and that gave her some inspiration--so Sakura found her swimsuit. When she arrives--via jet ski, just like the Brothers Tranzamarov, she's wearing what looks like a Japanese school swimsuit--but where her name would be printed in waterproof marker--there's an image, a short red tube with a short black fuze and, printed on it, 'M-80'.
As she drives her jetski up, she glances around. "This is... gonna be -difficult-," she muses. Might have to abandon the jetskis for the pier, if she wants to really pull off some of her better moves...
When she'd first heard about this majestic island tournament, Natsu Ayuhara was pretty excited. Not for the chance to enter a tournament with one (and sadly only one) of her closest friends, but for the two seconds she'd seen in the promotional video, featuring a volleyball net and a group of people playing her most favored sport.
Why go play volleyball with strangers when you can play at home for free? Why, the international coverage, of course. Footage of her playing volleyball for nearly every waking hour against people of all sorts of difficulties makes it -really- easy for talent scouts looking for olympic hopefuls. Maybe she'll be ready for 2016 at this rate?!
Suffice to say, she's in a really, really good mood after the earlier exhibition. Even if the wind and rain did kick up, and utterly embarassed her into fleeing the courts in mid-game... well, the coverage is still there.
It would've been -nice- if it had stopped raining. But the doom and gloom demands an appropriately bright swimsuit, and luckily, Nat-chan had just the thing.
A bright orange, one-piece swimsuit with a stylized smiley face, advertising one of Suntory's most widely-known beverages: Natchan.
She steers her jetski up alongside Sakura, raising an eyebrow. "Difficult? Saku-chan, you're not the one of us who has to carry ammunition, I don't wanna hear it," she laughs, reaching back to pat the duffel bag of volleyballs strapped to the seat behind her.
Fans may argue that obscuring the aft camera view may hurt the Gorin volleyballer's ratings, but she has a feeling it won't matter too much. Not with Tran(!) and Tran(?) around.
"Just... don't stress out too much, okay? We'll run circles around them, Saku-chan. We're like... half the weight of those guys!"
COMBATSYS: Natsu has started a fight here on the right meter side.
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|-------\-------\0 Natsu
COMBATSYS: Robo-Tran brings his battle systems online.
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Natsu
COMBATSYS: Tran has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Tran 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Sakura has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Tran 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
When the fighters are all as in their places as they can be, considering the circumstances, there's the tremendous sound of an airhorn from the shore; the signal to begin.
Immeiately, Dr. Tran(?) guns it, steering his jetski towards Natsu's as if he were some kind of Natsu-seeking missile. The jetski dips behind a particularly large wave as it comes in for its last straight approach...
... and when it pops up over the wave, steam is pouring out of Tran(?)'s skin in enormous gouts. It's a pretty crazy visual effect, with the comparatively cold rain cutting through the scalding gas.
More importantly, it's a pretty crazy visual effect when Tran(?) takes one hand off the jetski to thrust it towards Natsu, and a bolt of steam chi(?) erupts out of it, knifing through the air towards her face.
Dr. Tran, upon learning his opponents' identities for the first time (who would ever prepare for anything in advance?), frowns. He frowns big. Two near-identical (probably) school girls, wearing swimsuits that, though different and clever in their own ways, are completely lost on him.
"I don't get it." He complains to himself, because nobody else is within earshot/worth conversing with. He thinks about taking the conversation further, but this is neither the time nor the place because oh look the fight's started and his psychotic body-double is stealing his shtick in way that is neither cool nor dramatic. Figures.
Regardless, unwilling to lose (who does he think he's really fighting here?), Dr. Richard 'Fleshbody' Tran twists his wrist and sends his jetski hurtling at full speed toward...other one. Not the other him, the other school girl, atop her own jetski. He does not appear to have any intention of stopping this game of jetski chicken even after he crests a wave, going airborne in what would surely be a fantastic action shot if it weren't for the blinding wind and rain.
As the machine reaches its majestic zenith, he pulls a hand back...and punches a hole right into the center of it, before kicking off to send it hurtling down at Sakura.
He lands in the water a short distance away with a splash, frowning again as he treads water.
"Why didn't it explode?"
He appears genuinely confused.
COMBATSYS: Sakura dodges Tran's Huge Thrown Object.
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Tran 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Robo-Tran successfully hits Natsu with Dr. Tran? Blinds a Schoolgirl.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Tran 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura 'ooos' at Tran's fancy jetski move. Even as she realizes it's coming down at her.
"Woop!" she comments, triggering the throttle on her jetski, and, with the machine already buzzing, she zips out of there before the wreckage hits.
Coming around takes a bit, but Sakura's got a plan in mind. She throttles up even more, her wake cutting wide and white through the typhoon-laced sea. She's... she's going straight for Dr. Tran! Is she trying to run him over?!?!?
--no, actually. She twitches the jetski aside just at the last second, and leans to her left--and swings a big front kick up for Tran's head. The goal? To punt him up onto the pier and move the fight into a better place for her.
Natsu had caught sight of the two Dr. Trans on their jetskis -- but due to the tumultuous waves, never both at the -same time-. First she saw the one with the hideous swimsuit. Then she saw the one with the hideously -tiny- swimsuit.
If it weren't for the rain it'd be easier to see her cheeks staining red at the thought of that.
She hears the sound of crunching plastic and straining metal to her left. That's... that's Sakura's side. Natsu guns the throttle forward, but not without calling out, "Watch out, Saku, it's overhead..." Unnecessary, perhaps, given that Sakura has two ears as well, but it never hurts to be thorough.
But as her jetski rockets forward, Natsu is still keeping her eye on -that- one. She turns too late to the side to see Dr. Tran(?)'s jetski moving to intercept hers. Her sudden change of velocity, though, means that what -could- have resulted in Tran(?)'s jetski coming alongside hers turns into a colossal wreck, the sick crumpling of the two colliding watersports vehicles sure to make it into a clip video of the worst vehicle crashes on the truTV network, years from now.
Natsu, for her part, is ejected from the totaled vehicle, thrown off into the water, and skipping -- while volleyballs are also loosed in the explosion, bouncing off at ludicrous trajectories.
Once, twice, and a third time, Ayuhara careens off the surface of the water, each visitation a new experience in pain.
And then she lands on the dock, rolling another three or four times for good measure. The red welts on her skin now are -much- more obvious than the mild redness on her cheeks earlier. She pushes back to her feet -- stumbling before regaining control. A volleyball rolls up to her.
She kicks it up to her, with practiced ease, and palms it as she leaps onto another jet ski. Silly fight stipulations.
With another (much lighter) burst of throttle, she pulls away from the dock. Even as wrecked as she is, there's one thing she knows how to do: lob the volleyball into the air one-handed, and serve it right back at Tran(?). GAME ON.
COMBATSYS: Tran blocks Sakura's Medium Kick.
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Tran 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Robo-Tran reflects Jikkon Serve from Natsu with Dr. Tran? Screws the Pooch.
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Tran 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Natsu's jetski isn't the only one to be torn asunder, but Tran(?) - being the hitter, rather than the hittee - doesn't take the hit nearly as bad. The handle of the jetski does end up bent into a U, however, from a combination of the force of the impact and Tran's grip on it, the only thing that kept him from flying into the water.
The good doctor(?) still manages to keep the thing afloat, however, and clumsily wheels it around to putter towards the pier, even as it begins to sink into the water. He's still on approach, in fact, when Natsu recovers and hurls a volleyball at him.
As she does, once again steam boils out of Tran(?)'s skin; the volleyball disappears into the opaque cloud, and a heartbeat later comes flying back out, screaming through the air back towards Natsu. Another heartbeat, and the cloud of steam pops into the air, another bolt of steam erupting from the bottom of it into the now almost totally underwater jetski.
This one DOES explode, because fuck you too, Tran.
The explosion sends Tran(?) flying through the air and out of the steam cloud, the epitome of suave style. He lands on the edge of the pier Natsu's found herself on, in the traditional badass landing pose - kneeling, head bent, one fist pushed into the ground - and the wood cracks beneath him, a few splinters popping up into the air and then being blown away by the wind.
Calmly, Tran(?) rises to his feet and begins to walk down the pier towards Natsu.
Or at least... what he thought was Natsu. As Tran(?) nears his target, he discovers it is in fact not Natsu, but instead a bright orange bag of garbage that has been blown onto the pier by the typhoon, and caught on a spur of the pier. Frowning, Tran(?) turns his eyes back to the water, where Natsu is still speeding away from the dock on her jetski.
ELSEWHERE
"Nice job, dickhead," says MMA superfan and Talking Dead sensation Phil Brooks.
"IT'S NOT MY FAULT, THE DRAW DISTANCE HERE IS TERRIBLE!!" shouts Adam Devine(?), shaking the controller in his hands angrily.
This isn't quite going right. It's difficult to /really/ tell, but it appears his counterpart's assault has been a resounding success, while all Tran's done is destroy two jetskis for what appears to be no good reason. However, despite this he has an excellent reason.
He can always get more.
"To me!" He raises a hand up high and calls out, and soon another jetski, riderless but with a prominent antenna sticking up from the back, jets over the water toward him.
SIMULANTEOUSLY
ON SHORE
A crewman with a big bulky remote control thinks this is probably the coolest summer internship he's ever had.
BACK IN THE WATER
Sakura tries to perform a drive-by, and is only half-successful; the kick, though imbued with the incredible force of however many horses a jetski with a schoolgirl on top is equal to (I'm not a water scientist, who knows with these things), nonetheless is not able to inflict a great deal of damage. This is because instead of getting kicked in the head, Tran is kicked in the arm, and also since he's just floating there he kind of gets lightly dunked underneath the water.
Though he is only under for a few short moments, when he surfaces he appears to have lost his wetsuit; the true nature of this costume change is not revealed until the remote jetski scoots up and he pulls himself out of the water, revealing a bright green speedo with shamrocks patterned all over it.
Wheeling his new ride around, Dr. Tran once again guns it for Sakura, trying to keep the distance between them close, so that he can do the /exact same thing/ that he just did ten seconds ago. The key difference, this time, is that instead of kicking the jetski at her, Tran kicks himself at her, coming down screaming with arms outstretched.
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Tran's Dr. Tran's Summer Splash.
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Tran 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Robo-Tran successfully hits Natsu with Reflected Jikkon Serve.
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Tran 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura is coming around again to see if she got her kick to work--and so she gets to see Tran kick off again. She kind of rolls her head and eyes up as Tran goes flying again--not in an ungraceful way or anything but...
Though he's a smaller projectile, he's a little more accurate, so Sakura doesn't try to get out of the way; she braces herself and meets the flailing, flying Tran with arms crossed, ducking into a crouch to help absorb the impact. "H-oof!" she gasps, hurling Tran up and away from her--and, in a happy sort of accident, towards another waiting jetski, being manuevered into position to catch Tran.
Sakura's own jetski whirs her around and for the Flesh-Being Tran, letting her balance, which lets her pull her hands in, drawing power to her hands, blue-white chi building into a beach-ball sized sphere, fuzzy-edged but all-too-real, which she lets fly with a joyful shout--that gets swallowed by whistling wind and crashing wave.
Natsu's pretty good with aiming her volleyballs -- she didn't need to look to see whether they'd hit or not, she =knew= she was on target. So she was able to pay a bit more attention to what, to her, is the more difficult task -- steering her jetski away from the docks.
When she glances back to see how her hit had affected the good Doctor, though... well, that's when she gets absolutely nailed in the face by the volleyball she'd just sent flying her way. The jetski wobbles, its wake a crazy mess of harmonics as the small watercraft struggles to stay afloat. If Natsu weren't gripping the handlebars as much as she was, she'd definitely have been knocked off it again...
But... for now, she thinks she's had enough of trying to make sense of the two Doctors and their madness. And boy is her face red -- though whether that's from embarassment, rage, or the parallel imprints of the volleyball is a bit of a mystery. (spoilers: it's all three).
She steers the jetski, and aside from a cameraworthy moment of her orange derriere as she leans over to retrieve the volleyball from the water, all she's going to do is stew at Tran(?), silently challenging him to make the next move.
COMBATSYS: Natsu focuses on her next action.
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Tran 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Tran instinctively blocks Sakura's Medium Hadouken.
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Tran 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
Tran(?), from up near the very beginning of the pier, turns back around and starts back down it. After a few steps, his walk becomes a jog, and then a run, and then a sprint; within only a few seconds, Tran(?) reaches the end of the pier and throws himself into the stormy water in a picture-perfect dive.
He does not resurface.
At least not before it's been long enough that Natsu starts to wonder if he didn't hit his head and knock himself out, or something. Only then does the already violently churning water behind her jetski erupt uwpards as Tran(?) bursts out of the water and hauls himself onto Natsu's jetski, almost flipping the entire thing over. This only makes it even easier for Tran(?) to achieve his goal, of tenderly hugging Natsu around the waist from behind. It involves some un(?)fortunate crotch-to-butt contact... at least for a second.
And then Tran's grip tightens and he attempts to haul Natsu off of her feet - and the jetski - fall backwards, and dump her top-of-the-head first into the seas in a sweet-ass german suplex.
Splashdown! Dr. Tran's lithe brown body makes contact with the accursed enemy schoolgirl, except...she's not totally taken out instantly? And actually /deflected/ him? The doctor goes spiralling gracefully(?) through the air, achieving a perfect spin on purpose definitely maybe, before finding himself seated once more on a jetski. He's...not sure how it got here?
BACK ON SHORE
"I am god here," declares an intern with a remote control, which is why it is forbidden to give them power.
BACK IN THE TYPHOON
Tran quickly adapts, grabbing the controls which...aren't responding to him? "What the shiiiiiiii~iiiit?" He cries out as it goes from zero to maximum jet without regard to its sole passenger, manuevering him closer to Sakura once more. Wrestling with the handlebars in the miserable conditions, Tran almost doesn't notice the gigantic energy ball flying at him. Almost.
It, too, crashes into his arms, knocking him up and away as the jet-skin continues its own game of high-risk sea-chicken
"NO! NO!" But one hand stays on the speeding watersport vehicle, knuckles turning white from the effort required to maintain its grip. Painstakingly, Dr. Tran pulls himself back up, punctuating each hand-hold with another shout. "I REFUSE! TO LET THIS ISLAND! OR YOU!" In the nick of time, he manages to retain even enough footing to at least stretch an open hand forward, trying to throw-joust Sakura off her own jetski as the two pass directly by one another. "BEAT ME!!"
COMBATSYS: Tran issues a challenge!!
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Tran 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Sakura dodges Tran's Dr. Tran Is Not Enough.
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Tran 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Natsu interrupts Strong Throw from Robo-Tran with Set and Spike.
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Tran 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
What a tenacious little man! Even with some power-mad intern going absolutely crazy with Tran's jetski--forcing the good(?) Doctor to attack, not that, given anything else, Sakura expects he'd do anything else--the Flower of Ansatsuken ducks and weaves away from Tran. Despite the whipping wind and rain, she laughs, piloting her jetski--no fool intern to jerk her around!
and drives herself right for Tran. She isn't trying to close with him, though; she sets her throttle and steadies the handlebars, then balances herself, crouches... and leaps!
Drawing her body tight into an arched bow, she clasps her fists together and falls upon Tran's position. Her goal--to smash Tran with an overhead doubled-fist smash, and bounce him right out of his jetski and into another--or into the water--and land on his jetski. Basically kind of what he attempted to do to her, only, you know, a billion times more stylish.
Natsu's determined gaze does not leave Dr. Tran(?), even as he leaps into the water. ... He's good. Not as good as Nagare-sempai, but good just the same.
She is, however, fairly certain she's got a good read on his trajectory. Unless he's superhuman, he shouldn't be able to reach her in any less than thirty seconds.
But then she remembers how many abs this guy has.
Gritting her teeth, she slows the engine, turning at just the right moment. Tran(?) is able to latch his arms about her waist -- but it's with her in a right angle, her hip jamming into that eight-pack. (She hopes.)
But she'd be planting her elbow into that face of his, as the 6' tall amazonesque pivots to break the shorter man's half-formed hold.
She slams her palms into him. It'd be enough to send a lighter man flying into the air. Eyes widen at the realization that this deceptively sexy man is... ALL ROCK-HARD MUSCLE?!
As Tran(?)'s arms are rebuffed, Natsu doesn't spend any more time thinking -- she brings her palm and wrist down into his face, spiking him off her jetski and into the water once again! "ATTACKU!"
COMBATSYS: Tran endures Sakura's Sakura Otoshi.
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Tran 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Sakura
Okay, so the sweet-ass german suplex didn't work out so well.
Tran(?) gets his face slapped right down into the water, where he sinks like a rock, one arm extended up to reach out towards Natsu like he's either Jack from Titantic or Hans Gruber, depending on how radical Natsu is. (Of course, realistically, being a teenager in 2015 Natsu has no idea who either of those people are. Let's all weep openly.)
For another long stretch, Tran remains out of sight...
... and then, suddenly, the jetski Natsu is standing on erupts upwards out of the water, as Tran(?) rockets into it from below. The entire thing shoots a good fifteen feet into the air... and then Natsu gets to experience what it's like to have Dr. Richard Tran(?) grab your ankles in the only PG way he knows how to, when Tran(?) shoves his hands through the body of the jetski, grabs ahold of Natsu, and then german suplexes the jetski itself (and Natsu, unless she escapes) back into the ocean, like he's some kind of weird, pro-wrestling, breaching dolphin.
Sakura, ever-nimble, dodges once more away from the aggressive advances of Dr. Richard 'Butterfingers' Tran, by being small and also in control of her vehicle. Dr. Tran, meanwhile, tries to steer his own back around, fails again, and gives up. "Screw this. Screw this thing! This is dumb!" He raises a fist to teach it the price of disobedience, and then it swerves around 180 degrees so hard he loses his balances and has to reach out to steady himself again, just in time to see Sakura doing flips and shit, splashin', gettin' everybody all wet, etc.
Tran does not seem to react at all, which means that she hits him right in the face hard enough to, indeed, cause him to rebound off his jetski into the air.
The key is that, because of physics, he's roughly going in the same direction that she is as she gets to her jetski. Once again, Dr. Tran finds himself clawing his way up onto a jetski. Then he realizes that he's setting a precedent, gets real angry real fast, and decides he's had /enough/.
...Again.
Drawing incredible strength from /somewhere/ in his tiny little manbody, Dr. Tran thrusts his hips directly /through/ the jetski in display of bizarre synchronicity with his double, body arcing upward as he puts everything in this incredible display of...grace? Probably not. Power? Sort of.
Let's go with weird, dumb strength.
COMBATSYS: Sakura interrupts Dr. Tran's Burrito Magnum EX from Tran with Shou'ou Ken EX.
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Tran 1/---====/=======|======-\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Natsu blocks Robo-Tran's Improvised Throw.
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Tran 1/---====/=======|=======\-------\0 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Sakura
"Wh--what the--what is he -do--" Sakura peers at Dr. Tran... hip... hipthrusting... hipthrusting through the air at her? She's frozen for a moment. Like... like what? -What-. This isn't...
This isn't fighting!! This little man is trying to -molest- her! by the time she even realizes it he's closed to nearly attack distance and her reaction is instinctive, compulsive and grossed out. "What the -hell-, man!" she cries, as she turns away and, in doing so, brings her right fist up in a sharp, unintentionally precise uppercut. One that happens to smack Tran right in the... hip. Well, right in the hip, between the legs. The whole tableau seems to freeze for a moment and then Sakura's jetski is circling, piloted left-handedly while she shakes her right hand and screws her face up. "Oh my god EW I DIDN'T WANT THIS--"
Natsu rubs her palm, wincing from the blow. What the heck is that Tran guy MADE of? "Ita-ta-ta..." She's hit lots of people in this here tournament, but no one's posed -that- much of an obstacle before. She gets back to the handlebars, and drives on for a bit more.
... Only for the jetski to suddenly find itself leaving the surface of the water. The attack is coming from -BENEATH THE JETSKI? "Uwaaaoh!" cries Natsu as she desperately tries to keep the jetski from veering out of control -- for the moment before she realizes that the handlebars have absolutely no bearing on the path of the vehicle.
Oh, right. And because of the fact that her -ankles- have been snagged. And the jetski is being bodily slammed into the water, with her upon it!
She's able to drop to her knees, pitching forward to allow the handlebars hit the water first instead of her back. It still hurts, just... not as much! Groaning for the first moment, she remembers to hold her breath, and breaks free just after impact, because who can really hold -that- much weight against the rushing waves?!
As Natsu crests above the surface, all she can hear is Sakura screaming out in protest. "... My god, what the he--" She doesn't complete the thought, though, as she catches sight of Tran(?) before he's able to get too far away. "Oh no you don't..." she cries, diving after Tran(?)! Once she gets close enough, she'd spin around in a quick tumble, and uncoil both her feet into him from behind!
COMBATSYS: Robo-Tran endures Natsu's Medium Kick.
-@- Dazing Hit! -@-
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Tran 1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1 Natsu
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Robo-Tran 1/----===/=======|====---\-------\0 Sakura
ON SHORE
The intern, with his remote control, turns away and winces. "Ooooh, right in the mean bean machine!"
IN THE WATER
Now it is Dr. Tran's turn to freeze, completely still for a moment that seems to last an eternity. Every detail of his face, contorted in agony, eyes bulging, skin turning a weird color between red and white and green like a pickle that's bleeding out through its bandages after it has been /shot/ with a /gun/.
To explain the metaphor, the pickle is Dr. Tran's wingwong and the gun is Sakura's fist, and the bleeding represents the sad, pathetic death throes induced by the latter to the former.
But time does march inexorably onward, and Dr. Tran, now curled up into a pain ball, drops into the waters once more. He bobs for a few moments, and then suddenly becomes unstuck in time.
"Hssssssssss, aaaaaah, hsssssss, aaaaaaah," It takes him a few more seconds, honestly, but it's not like he's not /used/ to this by now. "Every goddamn week. On this God. Damned. Island." The doctor, forced to punctuate strangley by the waves that keep washing over him, grabs onto a jetski once again, Unasked for, once again he finds himself not going to safety, but instead right back toward Sakura.
Seeing no choice but to press on, unspeakable anger clear on his face, Dr. Tran steps up and flings his body at the shoryukening schoolgirl once again, fist upraised so that he can just punch her right in her stupid schoolgirl face, pretending to be innocent but probably just plotting and waiting to destroy everything he holds dear.
"I HATE IT HERE!"
Finding - and thus kicking - Tran(?) turns out to be pretty easy; as soon as he finds Natsu again in the wake of the pairs' crashing back into the water, he's swimming towards her again. What he doesn't really expect, however, is for her to actually fight back while they're still underwater.
Perhaps this is part of why, as she lashes her feet out into him in what is basically a sweet underwater dropkick, he swims right into it; the feet slam into his face so hard that--
ELSEWHERE
"Where did the health bars go?" Adam Devine(?) asks suddenly. He looks over at MMA superfan and Talking Dead sensation Phil Brooks, and then down at his controller in confused terror.
"Did you hit a button or something?" asks MMA superfan and Talking Dead sensatin Phil Brooks, leaning over to look at Adam Devine(?)'s controller.
"WHERE DID THE HEALTH BARS GO?!" Adam shrieks, voice climbing high into his register.
HERE
Despite the blood now streaming out of his nose into the water, Tran(?) doesn't slow his advance on Natsu; he slides smoothly right up next to her as the force of her kick propels her down past him, and as the two come onto the same level, his arms snap out to ensnare her. Tran(?)'s right arm lock onto Natsu's left wrist and then yanks it up, curling it around and behind her head like he were trying to make her scratch her own back, forming the limbs into a strange, lumpy triangle.
Without hesitation, Tran(?) snakes his other arm through the hole in Natsu's arm, grabs his own wrist, and starts pulling, putting bananas torsion on Natsu's shoulder and neck.
Also they're underwater, so that sucks.
COMBATSYS: Natsu fails to interrupt Dr. Tran? Pays the Bill from Robo-Tran with Knock It Off!.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Tran 1/---====/=======|=======\=------\1 Natsu
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Robo-Tran 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Sakura
Ayuhara's hands may not be used to smacking into rock-hard surfaces, but her feet were custom built for it. She's pleased to have gained -some- traction in this fight, she considers, starting to swim back to the surface of the water.
That's when Tran(?) interrupts her swim. She reaches out with her right hand, bubbles streaming from her nostrils as she tries to catch hold of the fantastically good-looking Doctor.
It's hard to catch hold of a person underwater, and even harder if they're not wearing a shirt. If there -were- underwater cameras, it would just look like she's trying, and failing, to catch hold of Tran(?)'s neck.
This is of little consequence as her arm is pulled away from her, and used as leverage to keep her in a submission hold, bubbles streaming even more rapidly from her nostrils as she tries valiantly to escape. Her heartbeat is pounding in her chest, though, not because of the submission hold, but because she's being held underwater!
Breathing -would- be nice!
COMBATSYS: Tran successfully hits Sakura with Strong Punch.
Glancing Blow
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Tran 1/--=====/=======|=======\=------\1 Natsu
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Robo-Tran 0/-------/-----==|>>>>>>-\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura is still, uh, distracted. Yeah. Distracted. That's the word. That's why she doesn't quite get out of the way of the raging Tran. She's still shaking her hand out, having dipped low to the side to drag her hand through the water (not noticing the black smear that is created in the wake created), and when she gets back up...
She gets up right into Tran's fist. Fortunately her reflexes help save her--she jerks half out of the way and only takes half the blow across her face. "Ugh!" she shouts, the force of the punch swinging her away from Tran, her grip on the handlebars of her jetski making the jetski zoom around in a wide arc.
At least her hand is clean now, she swings back around, drawing her right hand to her hip. She's not mad but she is focused now, power building in her right hand, the glare flickering as she swings her ski around towards Tran. "AAAAAAH!" she shouts, hurling the basketball-sized chiball for Tran's face. Better than punching him in his funnyjunk.com, for the both of them...
COMBATSYS: Tran reflects Small Hadouken from Sakura with Operation - Dr. Tran.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Tran 1/-======/=======|=======\=------\1 Natsu
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Robo-Tran 0/-------/-----==|>>>>>>-\-------\0 Sakura
Between the rain and the clouds, it's hard to see underwater... and it gets even harder as, slowly but surely, Natsu and Tran(?) start to sink back to the bottom of the marina floor. Before long, all Natsu can really see is the cold, uncaring gleam of Tran(?)'s eyes... and the pointed lack of bubbles streaming from his mouth. Why isn't he letting out any breath? Even being in control, he should be expendng SOME breath, especially underwater. It's... well, kind of scary.
It is easy for Fighters to forget - especially young fighters, like Natsu - that there is an element of risk in the sport. In most reputable tournaments great care is taken to make sure that no serious injuries occur, and indeed it's in the very rules of Zack Island's ongoing tournament that seriously maiming your opponent will result in an instant disqualification for the offending team. But...
... accidents happen.
Tran(?) seemed like a nice guy, when they met; surely he doesn't mean to ACTUALLY harm her. But it's a fight; people act strangely when in the grip of adrenaline. What if he doesn't realize how low on breath she is? What if she blacks out, and he doesn't see, because it's so dark? There is a nonzero chance that here - beneath the water, where it is too dark to see how far it is to the surface, and even the direction to the surface becomes more uncertain with every passing second - Natsu Ayuhara will die.
All of a sudden, the fight doesn't feel that fun anymore.
Unfortunately, Natsu is still in it, as she's reminded when Tran(?) jerks her body back and forth sharply, to give himself enough slack to wiggle up her body and tighten the grip on Natsu's arm, threatening to pull her shoulder out of the socket so that he can get his arms together enough to close around Natsu's neck, pressing into her carotid artery.
As Tran(?)'s arms close around Natsu's neck, his eyes lock onto hers, and stay there, silently willing her to stop struggling. So he'll win the match, of course. ... right?
"AND YOU!" Dr. Tran fist-clips Sakura, which prompts what is basically just full-blown screaming now. It's ok though because it's probably the only way it is possible to hear him by this point anyway, see wind, rain, etc. It is a goddamn storm, after all.
"Stop MOVING so much!!" Considering this is, explicitly, a jetski battle, perhaps he's being a little bit unreasonable here. However, such is his right as both a doctor and a man who has recently experienced extreme genital trauma. And Sakura's not doing anything but making it worse, throwing another goddamn energy basketball at his face, which at least is slightly less vulnerable, but still basically infuriating.
"I have HAD IT! AGGGGGGGH!" Tran's reaction, as an extremely localized front of fog seems to roll in right up in his shit, seems a little bit crazy. He hauls one arm back, and then powers it forward to just punch the /shit/ out of this impudent hadouken. The fog conveniently and immediately forms a small, flat disc right on the tip of his knuckles. They clash --
And the hadouken goes right back the way it came, screaming toward Sakura and her ride.
"SINK AND DIE!"
COMBATSYS: Natsu fails to interrupt Dr. Tran? Destroys an Amish Community from Robo-Tran with Rival Launcher.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Tran 1/-======/=======|===----\-------\0 Natsu
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Robo-Tran 0/-------/-----==|>>>>>>-\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Tran successfully hits Sakura with Reflected Small Hadouken.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Tran 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|===----\-------\0 Natsu
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Robo-Tran 0/-------/-----==|>>>>>>>\>>>----\1 Sakura
Natsu has certainly fought back on level ground against someone many times her strength -- and actually made a decent showing. But here, under the sea, against someone who's not only stronger but several times more massive, it would seem that Natsu is far, far, farrrr out of her element.
She struggles back against Tran(?), hoping to overpower him.
It's not happening. And the rage in her face is absolutely evident as the bubbles escape her lips, as she tries to headbutt Tran(?) in that last moment before her air passageway is circumvented.
Blackness pulls at the edges of her vision, darkening an already dark view of the surroundings.'
Sakura definitely wasn't expecting that. And eating her own Hadouken in the face is--dismaying.
So much so that she falls off her jetski, actually more like blasted straight off, arcing up and back.
Sakura splashes down into the water, flailing to regain her balance, and another jetski drives up as she pops up, spewing a fountain of seawater. Nimbly, she swings herself up back onto the jetski, and though she just ate her own special to the face, she seems undeterred, and she balances on her jetski, letting it be remote-controlled, so she can pull more and more power in. The ball glows brightly, intensely--more intensely than before, swelling to the size of her torso, the light washing her silhouette out.
"Let's try that again--hey shorty, -EAT THIS-!!!!" she shouts, unleashing that terrible bolt of power, lighting up the ocean as it zaps across the thrashing arena towards Tran.
COMBATSYS: Tran fails to reflect Shinkuu Hadouken from Sakura with -Q- is for Dr. Tran.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Tran 1/-------/<<<<<<<|===----\-------\0 Natsu
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Robo-Tran 0/-------/-----==|>------\-------\0 Sakura
ELSEWHERE
"This is so hot," says Adam Devine(?) quietly.
MMA superfan and Talking Dead sensation shoots him a look, as if to say, 'Dude, what the fuck?'
HERE
Natsu struggles to smash her head against Tran(?)'s, but she's just locked in too tightly, and doesn't end up doing much more than thrashing around helplessly.
To her credit, though, she hasn't surrendered; Tran(?) certainly must give her respect for that. Many opponents - even grown men and women - would have tapped out by now, but Natsu's heart rages agaisnt the dying of the light.
It is not enough to earn her mercy. Tran(?)'s grip tightens ever more, like a super ripped and sexy vice, as he goes on to be the poster case for why no one plays submission fighters because, seriously, this is just getting hard for /everybody/ to deal with.
Finally, something feels like it's actually going right; not that it's anywhere near in time for Tran to, like, calm down or anything. Instead, he just screams more. In tone it is identical to the last time he he screamed. Truly, there's just no pleasing some people.
From his own jetski (still completely out of his control), Tran readies himself to deal with this surge of what is clearly /red/ energy, because /everything/ he sees is red right now. If she wants to just try the same dumb thing over and over but bigger, then by god /so will Tran/. The fog, hot and sizzling against the general cold nastiness, begins to build and thicken. It combines with the weather to almost completely conceal both himself and his jetski.
ON SHORE
"Hey, I can't see him anymore," a cameraman complains.
"Don't worry, I've got this," responds The Intern.
And so just as Sakura's hugeass hadouken goes flying at Tran, like flying mid-air, Tran's jetski surges forward out of the cloud of his own making and drives him directly into it before he can do anything about it.
Afterward, there are but remnants of jetski, and a sad green bikini bottom floating on the waves. Oh, and Tran a few yards away, too angry to really sink at this point.
COMBATSYS: Robo-Tran successfully hits Natsu with Choke Hold.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > // ]
Tran 1/-------/<<<<<<<|=====--\-------\0 Natsu
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Robo-Tran 0/-------/----===|>------\-------\0 Sakura
Even though she's really young, and really impressionable, it's reeeeeally hard to find anyone sexy when Natsu Ayuhara is being strangled to death.
It's also really hard for her to answer -- the flailing and kicking notwithstanding.
But even she has limits. And when she feels the pressure on her neck, and stops being able to see the rainy sky above...
She taps on her captor's arms. And tries to hold onto what little breath she has left. The struggle is over.
COMBATSYS: Natsu takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Tran 1/-------/<<<<<<<|>------\-------\0 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Robo-Tran 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Natsu can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Tran 1/-------/<<<<<<<|>------\-------\0 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Robo-Tran 0/-------/----===|
Sakura is, for a moment, laughing at Tran. Not really, she's still a little steamed. And then?
Then she sees Natsu's struggles, and a switch gets flipped. "NATSU!! STOP THAT, YOU--" There are no more words. There's just an inarticulate scream of horror and anger, and a young schoolgirl seeing one of her best friends getting literally choked out. She switches targets and priorities immediately. New priority one? Get Robo-Tran off of Natsu.
Unhesitating, she leaps off her jetski and plummets down straight for Robo-Tran, hands outstretched. There is no technique, no manuever, just pure screaming rage.
COMBATSYS: Robo-Tran blocks Sakura's Strong Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Tran 1/-------/<<<<<<<|>>-----\-------\0 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Robo-Tran 0/-------/---====|
And thus comes the do-or-die moment, quite literally; is Tran(?) going to notice when Natsu submits? She taps on his arms, and...
... the agony in her shoulder and neck suddenly subside, leaving only the pain in her lungs. Tran(?)'s arms uncoil from around her, and slip beneath her arms and around her chest. Natsu can hear more than see as jets of steam boil out of Tran's calves and feet and the two rocket up towards the surface.
About two seconds from the surface, however, Sakura suddenly explodes into the water and right towards the rising duo. Tran(?)'s eyes widen in surprise, and he tucks his chin and pulls one of his arms from Natsu's armpit, raising it to defend his precious face.
It works; rather than shatter Tran(?)'s nose, the fist merely slams into his forearm, tearing the skin open in a long, rapidly bruising scrape, that surely must be in agony what with being submerged in salt water.
Rather than just let Sakura dive right past him, however, Tran(?) snaps his leg out to catch Sakura by the midsection and halt her descent... or, well, half halt and half 'drag him and Natsu back down a few feet with her'. He uncoils his arm and snaps it out to grab ahold of Sakura by the wrist of her punchin' arm and pull her close, too, and for a brief moment, the three are all a tangle of limbs, wet, bare flesh rubbing against one another, Sakura's hip pressed into Tran(?)'s groin.
Well, apparently they're not /identical/ twins.
And then the magic moment passes; Tran(?) shifts his grip on Natsu and shoves her violently up towards the surface, and then turns his attention fully to Sakura. His grip still firmly on her wrist, he yanks her arm up and behind her head, and--
ELSEWHERE
"WHY WOULD YOU BRING HAGGAR /CLOSER TO YOU?!/" MMA superfan and Talking Dead sensation Phil Brooks screams at his monitor in barely-restrained glee.
HERE
Within two seconds, Sakura finds herself twisted into the same hold that Natsu was only just released from, and in the same, regrettably underwater situation.
/IT IS THE WORST./
If anybody here is steamed, it is definitely Dr. Tran, who is both a real doctor and the real Tran, as evidenced by how he has never once in his whole life choked someone to real, permanent, final death. Underwater.
But he definitely /has/ gotten progressively angrier and angrier for progressively less and less reason, as circumstances flip and she just boogies away on her jetski, fueled by vengeance.
"COWARD! HOW DARE YOU IGNORE ME!" Even shouting doesn't make Sakura care, and as a direct result the doctor is forced, /forced/, to once more board a convenient remote-control jetski (the best infinite zack dollars can buy). This time, however, he does the sensible thing and chops the antenna right off.
ON SHORE
"Hey! No fair!" The Intern begins to sulk until someone offers to buy him a delicious lasagna after this mess finishes up.
IN THE WAVES
Dr. Tran, now in full control of his own destiny, does the only thing he knows how to do and drives madly after Sakura, diving into the water after her and turning this into a /Two-Tran Deathmatch/. Carelessly pushing Natsu's limp body out of his way (and conveniently back toward his own jetski, live natsu live) Dr. Tran joins the writhing manpile, reaching down to basically just try to tear Sakura's head off, using Dr. Tran(?)'s beautiful face as an anchoring point. It is super hot.
No really, the water is basically boiling around him. It is like /super hot/.
COMBATSYS: Sakura parries Tran's Medium Throw!
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Tran 1/-------/=======|>>-----\-------\0 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Robo-Tran 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Sakura interrupts Dr. Tran? Pays the Bill from Robo-Tran with Large Hadouken EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Tran 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Robo-Tran 0/-------/---====|
Suddenly, Sakura is alone against two opponents. Two opponents who have shown that they have no compunction at all in being as close to deadly as possible. But she attained goal number one: Keep Natsu from being choked to death. So she's more than willing to let Robo-Tran grab her, twisting her arm out of the way behind her head.
SHe's flailing, her movements borne not only of anger but a growing sense of fear, and while the fear shames her it also helps her--because a burst of fear leads to a burst of clarity and her flailing hand smacking Tran's away from her head.
Desperation lets her chi surge to life in her free hand, and an incredible twist of her body--one that will resort in an ungodly-sore shoulder the next day--lets her slam her right hand into Tran(?)'s chest--and unleash a burst of it straight through her hand. The sound is like a cannon going off, the flare of energy lighting the ocean up just before the physical effect happens--a mushroom spout of water that sends the three away from each other--briefly.
Natsu finally reached her limit - the point at which she'd rather give up than continue fighting. The Gorin athlete is stubborn to an extreme, but the look she saw in Tran(?)'s eyes, and felt in his brutal hold, was proof positive to her that he'd stop at nothing for this... simple victory.
When she hears Sakura, her heart leaps. Did she beat her opponent so soon? Natsu's tunnel-vision had meant she was partially clueless as to how well Sakura had been holding her own - but apparently (thankfully?!) the reverse was not true. She's pushed to the surface, spitting out seawater and coughing while treading water. And she's pushed /again/ to a waiting jetski ... and it's to that she clings, wondering just what in the heck is up with these two crazy... twins?!
Tran(!)'s feet 'helpfully' slamming into Tran(?)'s face delays his application of the Anaconda Vice by about a second and a half... which, as it turns out, is long enough for Sakura to panic and blast a fireball out of her fingers.
The impact of Sakura's Hadouken propels Tran(?) right off of her, her arm sliding out of his grip as he goes soaring down into the darkness of the depths. His bare chest looks like it's just been seared in a cast iron pan. (It somehow makes it both sexy /and/ delicious.)
There is no sign of him for a few seconds... and then a rush of warm water and bubbles betrays his steamy presence, followed immediately by a big old bubble full of boiling steam blooping dramatically* from the depths towards Sakura!!
* It doesn't look dramatic at all. In fact, it looks kind of dopey, but it still hurts really bad!
In all fairness, Dr. Tran does not really understand the distinction between 'deadly force' and 'non-lethal force'. Right now, he only understands 'fight' and 'not-fight', and he's not here to not-fight. It's too late for that. Even though Sakura seemingly effortlessly bats his reaching hands away, he is not discouraged. The sight of her blowing his stupid stunt double away even makes a small part of him happy!
Unfortunately, for his vast majority, it makes him even more mad that he didn't get to it.
So when Tran(?) vanishes into the depths, never to return again except /right away basically/, and /still/ stealing Tran's shtick...
"Yuggghb abbghgdl!" Precious air escapes from Tran, who is unable to resist screaming even underwater. Immediately he attempts to showcase his own /vastly superior/ steam manipulation skills, by shooting a huge short-range burst of it right up in Sakura's general grill-area.
ON SHORE
A portion of the camera crew has wandered off because this sucks and is boring. The Intern is making motorboat noises with his mouth.
COMBATSYS: Robo-Tran successfully hits Sakura with Dr. Tran? Blinds a Schoolgirl.
[ \\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Tran 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\ <
Robo-Tran 0/-------/--=====|
COMBATSYS: Tran successfully hits Sakura with Dr. Tran Doles Out the Harshness.
[ \\\\\\ < > ]
Tran 1/-----==/=======|=======\=======\1 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\ <
Robo-Tran 0/-------/--=====|
Sakura screams. Being hit by -boiling water-, even in the form of this weird form of chi, is not... not something she was prepared for. Getting -sandwiched- between the two blasts of power was something she was completely unprepared for. The blasts throw her up and over--and she lands on the pier, hard, with the kind of sound that suggests something's broken.
But still she rises. Her gaze is unfocused, her stance wobbly, legs bending at the knee, bending in as if they were construction girders made weak and insecure. "Nnn... -Natsu-..." It's the first time she's ever been powered largely by anger. It feels hot, and uncomfortable, but empowering. "H... HRRRAAAAAAH!!" she shouts as she powers all her power into a single blast--not as focused as the one she got the flesh-Tran with earlier, but perhaps even more powerful in raw output, the bolt lighting the sea once again as it shoots off towards Robo-Tran.
But in truth she can't really tell which one she's flung herself at--in a spiritual sense.
COMBATSYS: Sakura has reached second wind!
[ \\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Tran 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\ <
Robo-Tran 0/-------/--=====|
COMBATSYS: Robo-Tran stops Shinkuu Hadouken from Sakura with Dr. Tran? and the Pickle Gambit.
[ \\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Tran 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Sakura
[ \\\\\\ <
Robo-Tran 0/-------/---====|
Natsu pants, still having trouble breathing after her windpipe was compressed in such a violent fashion. The red impressions of fingers are still impressed upon her throat -- a fine detail sure to be picked up on repeat viewings of the footage. The Gorin athlete is just hanging onto a forgotten jetski for the moment, unable to do much else other than cling for dear life and watch the two men with oddly differing motivations beat the tar out of her dear friend. Wheezing, she looks up at the control of the jetski...
Only to notice that it's started to move on its own, thanks to the intern on the shore. Grimacing, she holds on as best she can...
Sakura's chi erupts out of her; the sea around it boils away in an instant, and it moves so fast and with such force that for a few shining moments a tremendous cavern of air exists beneath the waves as the Shinkuu Hadouken tears downwards towards Tran(?). The brilliant light from the blast reveals the man where he hides in the deep shadows, standing upon the ocean floor as easily as if it were land. His eyes widen as the bolt descends upon him, and as it nears him, the background behind him becomes nothing but a blinding white, the outline of his form and his features dissolving into chaotic, scribbled lines...
A long few seconds pass, Tran(?) consumed entirely by a blinding sphere of energy, water finally rushing back in to fill the scar left in the ocean... and then, gradually, it shrinks to nothing, unravelling as if it were made of yarn. In its wake it reveals... Tran(?), unharmed by its passing; his head is tilted upwards, and his arms are spread out in an almost Christ-like pose. Behind him, a sunburst frames his incredible abs.
Also, a sea cucumber appears to have OHP NOPE IT DISINTEGRATED HIS SWIMSUIT THAT'S THE WORST.
Dr. Tran is quickly realizing that one of the many problems with aquatic combat is that, when wielding what is basically just hot water, it is /really/ difficult to tell when you have or have not succeeded. On the one hand, Sakura did appear to scream and fly away, but on the other hand, who's to say she wouldn't have done that if he missed? A trained fighter is, now and always, a mystery.
This seems especially true after the Ansatsuschoolgirl fires her lazor...at the bottom of the sea, like a dummy. That was nowhere close to him! Clearly, it is time for Dr. Richard Tran to /end this/. Kicking up to the surface, he takes only a moment to greedily suck in precious air before properly retargeting on the now grounded Sakura.
"HRAAAAAAAAGH!" He answers back, steam now rolling off of him in huge, violent waves that seem to mirror that of the raging typhoon. He doesn't seem to have a jetski anymore, but Dr. Tran is /done/ with jetskis, they're stupid, who needs them! If you want to do these things right, the only choice is to do it yourself.
With an abrupt shift of concentration, all of the steam building up around him explodes...in the complete opposite direction from Sakura, a magnificent gout of power that seemingly goes nowhere. The upside is that Tran now appears to be barefoot waterskiing without a boat, skidding on the ocean's surface, powering through the waves as he bears down on Sakura like a Tran out of hell. When he reaches the pier, he doesn't even bother jumping or anything, just continuing in a direct line toward her, fists furiously flying in front of...fim???
COMBATSYS: Sakura parries Tran's Dr. Tran - Man of Action!
[ \\\\ < > ////// ]
Tran 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Sakura
[ \\\\\\ <
Robo-Tran 0/-------/---====|
Sakura's too far into her fugue to even be impressed that Robo-Tran was able to negate her blast. And, in any case, she's got something else to worry about--a raging Dr. Tran being propelled at her under his own steam power, apparently. She doesn't understand it, but she's not in the most analytical of moods--
--and she has no interest in -running-. Her stance firms up and she reacts with pure instinct. It lets her do something that she'd probably never really -think- about doing, and if she thought about it she'd probably screw it up--it's got to be natural and instinctive, to be able to grab Tran's outstretched fists, and with a quick, neat twist...
--redirect him back out to sea. At the speed he's going might end up being a pretty good Tran toss, almost like a hammer throw, but even as she does it her breathing's getting ragged, as the adrenaline starts to fade, bit by bit. But she can't stop. She's compelled to fight as long as she's on her feet. For Natsu, she tells herself, but there's something else behind it, too. Something she maybe just hasn't looked at too closely.
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Tran with Power Throw EX.
[ < > ////// ]
Tran 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Sakura
[ \\\\\\ <
Robo-Tran 0/-------/---====|
Dr. Tran does not stop. He cannot be stopped. He is a force, natural and terrible just like the raging storms that surround Zack Island. This does not mean, however, that it is not possible to deal with him, especially for those who fall into a very specific demographic.
Sakura twists the wrist. Tran doesn't even have time to wonder what's happened, doesn't even really register that anything /did/ happen, until he hits the water again. At his current speed, it hurts a lot. He goes skipping like a stone, bouncing once, twice...
He doesn't really stop bouncing.
Indeed, it appears that he shows no sign of stopping at all, as he continues out to sea, quickly identifiable only by the gigantic steam trail, which itself soon dwindles to nothing.
And hopefully Sakura didn't get caught by the backblast on his way out!
COMBATSYS: Tran can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Robo-Tran 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Sakura
Tran(!) rockets off into the ocean, and sprays underwater steam, just, everywhere, and it's crazy, but, let's be realistic, Sakura probably somehow heroically prevails when the smoke clears!
--just in time for the naked Tran(?) to pop up behind her from the once-again dark water below, his arms snaking around her neck and head in an attempt to lock onto Sakura a simple rear naked choke*.
* DO YOU GET IT? IT'S BECAUSE HE'S NAKED
COMBATSYS: Sakura parries Tran's Oh Shit It's Dr. Tran!
[ \\\\\ < > ////// ]
Robo-Tran 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Sakura interrupts Dr. Tran?'s Unfeasible Poke Interrupt from Robo-Tran with Shou'ou Ken EX.
[ \\ < > //// ]
Robo-Tran 0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1 Sakura
Sakura is in no mood for bullshit today, it seems. The backblast actually turns her around--towards the incoming Robo-Tran. And she has no patience for this naked little thing.
Staving off the attempt at a mount and choke with her left hand, she growls under her breath, twists her hips and lifts to lever the Robo-Tran straight up--and then lets go.
And in the same motion, almost, she's repeating an earlier attack--punching the Robo-Tran right in the dangly bits. Will she even think about what she's just done--on live TV? Probably not. Another wordless shout comes as her fist makes contact--a loud, primal "HRAAAAAAGH" that probably doesn't do much to make her seem ladylike--and then, in the aftermath...
... she's panting for breath, her clever swimsuit all but destroyed but clinging to decency for the sake of the viewers, and the red haze that Saku's been seeing starts to recede.
Sakura's fist rises up and slams into Dr. Tran(?)'s jimjam--
-- and it pops off with a cartoonish sound akin to a champagne bottle being opened. The enormous wingwong floats briefly in front of Sakura's face, and then slowly sinks into the darkness, leaving behind an undoubtedly stunned Sakura and a completely motionless Tran(?), apparently beaten into subdual by Sakura's final blow.
At least for a few seconds; then the jump scare comes.
Tran(?)'s eyes snap open, and his limbs lash out to ensnare the schoolgirl, his naked, penisless body pressing roughly against Sakura's mostly naked, mostly penisless body. Tran(?), for Sakura's eyes only - no underwater cameras were actually deployed, because no one thought the Fighters would be insane enough to go do most of their fight underwater - opens his mouth impossibly, inhumanly wide, and brilliant red light flares up from inside his guts, building in intenisty until, all at once, steam erupts from every pore of his body, completely ensconcing both himself and Sakura in an enormous cloud of boiling water and bubbles full of steam.
When it finally ends, Tran(?) goes slack, and begins to float up towards the surface, face down, all of his limbs limp.
COMBATSYS: Robo-Tran has suffered catastrophic damage and fallen offline.
> //// ]
|=======\=------\1 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Sakura instinctively dodges Robo-Tran's Dr. Tran?'s Scathing Yelp Review.
> //// ]
|=======\=------\1 Sakura
Sakura may be fading, the adrenaline receding and her body starting to get the shakes, but she's not about letting anyone naked rub up against her. "What the--" she cries, and thankfully, water--both in the form of Saku's sweat and the ocean water--proves to be enough of a lubricant, though not normally so, to let her slip away from the robo-Tran. She stumbles down the dock, catching her heel against an uneven plank, and the kinetic energy that adds to her movement gets her just out of the range of that cloud of water and boiling steam--though she definitely feels it on her face as she turns away to avoid getting burnt.
Suddenly it's all over, and Sakura staggers. She wants to lie down, but first, she shakes her head to clear her brain out. "Natsu," she says, half to herself, and starts looking for her teammate. The fight didn't last too long--but Natsu was clearly unconscious, and even her prodigious stamina won't let her survive -sliding into the ocean and drowning-. She didn't have the time--or the wherewithal--to check on her friend during the fight, so she starts looking now, her head whipping back and forth to try and see.
COMBATSYS: Sakura has ended the fight here.
Natsu was not unconscious -- though she came damn close. If it wasn't for the release from Tran(?), who knows where she would be? But... from her lack of mobility, and the fact that she's practically nowhere near Sakura whenever all this crazy unclothed action was taking place, the Ansatsuken schoolgirl definitely gets a pass for not noticing the Gorin athlete clinging to the jetski just out of Sakura's view.
Said jetski pulls to the dock, and two harried workers in raincoats rush to help the volleyballer out of the water. As soon as she's back on the dock, her arm wrapped around the shoulders of one worker, the orange-swimsuited fighter gives a weary wave to Sakura. Nope. Not drowned yet, no thanks to the opponents.
Sakura wins with an incredible babyface comeback! Who could have seen this coming?! Everyone celebrates! Babies are born and named Sakura! Everything is awesome!!
-- and then a shrill whistle pierces the howling of the winds. From out of the rain and waves comes a man in a black-and-white striped Gorton's Fisherman raincoat, rowing a tiny rowboat. He comes from the direction of the open ocean, which can mean only one thing;
He is one of Zack Island's legendary SEA REFS.
The old man blows on his whistle again as he comes up on the water over the battle; he sets down his oars and rises to his feet, surprisingly comfortable on the rocking dinghy for a man of such advanced age, and with two peglegs and a hook hand.
Using his one real hand, the old man draws a single red card from his belt and tosses it into the ocean. It lays there for a few seconds before Tran(?) bubbles up beneath it, ending up with the card sticking straight up out of his buttcrack.
That done, the Sea Ref produces an enormous conch shell from the bottom of his rowboat, and speaks into it; it amplifies his voice, carrying the raspy, accented words across the entirety of the marina.
"Foul: Right of Way violation, Team Fire Flowers!" he practically hisses. "Fighter Kasugano and Fighter Ayuhara on Fighter Tran!"
ELSEWHERE
"What does that mean?" Adam Devine(?) demands, fear in his eyes. "I don't know what that means. Does that-- do they have to kiss now?"
"It means they ganged up on RT," explains MMA superfan and Talking Dead sensation Phil Brooks. "When Kasugano jumped into the water to save Natsu, they broke the rules by attacking him at the same time."
"But she'd aleady tapped out, though," Adam Devine(?) protests in confusion. "There just weren't any cameras to--"
MMA superfan and Talking Dead sensation Phil Brooks looks Adam Devine(?) dead in the eyes and slowly raises a finger to his own lips. Shhh.
HERE
"The penalty is..." The Sea Ref looks from Natsu to Sakura, his eyes as cold and merciless as the ocean. Behind him, a single bolt of lightning splits the air, and its wave of thunder cashes over Zack Island, the deafening sound of God's gavel.
"/DISQUALIFICATION./"
Sakura drags herself over to Natsu in time to hear the disqualification. She looks at Natsu, then at the Ref. "... fine," she says, sounding... tired.
"Disqualify us. We're..."
"We're heading home." This was by far the most brutal fight Sakura's endured yet. Who knows what lays ahead for her, but hopefully not more fights like this. Sakura turns and reaches a hand out for Natsu. There's a look of apology in her eyes--she's sorry she got Natsu into this whole thing...
Natsu nods back slowly. The red marks from Tran(?)'s fingers still clear upon her throat, she gives a plaintive mumble in response to the ref's call, reaching out for Sakura's hand, squeezing it lightly in her own. She gives a faint smile, glad to have her friend still in one piece -- and even gladder that the Ansatsuken fighter seemed to have shown her how it's done! ... Despite the DQ.
Ayuhara's time here on the island has been full of ups and downs, but between nearly drowning and becoming exposed to... well, -that guy-... Is it even -possible- to take a vacation from a vacation paradise?!
Sakura... doesn't argue, and this apparently confuses the Sea Ref... or possibly earns his great respect???
The old man bends over to speak specfically to Natsu and Sakura, and though he still has to raise his voice to be heard over the wind, there is the sense that his next words are just for them.
"Remember this, girlies," he rasps. "It's nae wins nor losses that count... it's what's in here." He raises a wrinkled finger on his one good hand and pokes Sakura and Natsu in the chest, one at a time, over their heart. "Ye're still young. As long as you learned... you won."
And then, cackling, he sits back in his rowboat, turns, and rows back into the sea.
It's only as he's disappearing into the mist that one has the occasion to realize, 'Wait, that old guy was just trying to touch our boobs! Gross!!'
Log created on 19:32:01 02/16/2015 by Natsu, and last modified on 00:07:04 02/21/2015.