Description: Ever since the earliest days of the industrial revolution we've been forced to wonder, just how does the human body stack up to technology. The iron horse replaced the wagon train as railroad tracks drew lines between all the greatest cities, but it was the strength and dedication of the human body that built the rails. Mint "The Mind" Panesh is a genius of our times, graced with brilliance and the dedication to come back from horrific injury with the power of steel. Meanwhile The Moonchild has the passion of Mexican wrestling flowing back through her family tree, and is more than willing to make a deal with the devil to reach the top. Which earn the favor of the spirits, maniacal metal or malevolent muscle? (Winner: Aracely)
The Flight of the Soaring Spirits! Finally, an event which is not only easily accessible rather than being in West BFN, Japan, or somewhere in Moscow, or whatever, but is in the greatest country in the world-- Mexico!
The joyous reception was only briefly visited by Aracely, and her erstwhile trainer/manager "Mano 666." The latter signed some autographs - he has fans here, of course; he was a big name a while back. Now, though, the real star has shifted onto his pupil - the Moonchild!
It is mid-afternoon; their schedule is frankly approaching the curtain jerking. But Aracely doesn't mind, really. She has the hometown advantage - and in this environment, her full and fancy entrance, still in development, wouldn't be quite right. So she is in black leggings and kung-fu slippers, with a black tubetop and glittering red satin vest bearing a hot-rod-deviless design on the back... common for her less... outre entrances.
Now though, she is working the crowd a bit; rolling around in the ropes, and just now, perhaps as the competition approaches, waving for a bottle of water. When tossed it, she took a long thirsty swig - then another --
Which she fountained, glittering sparkles of water in the Mexican sun, into the air. Applause ensues!
But will it be enough?
COMBATSYS: Aracely has started a fight here.
COMBATSYS: Mint has joined the fight here.
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Aracely 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Mint
Minal Panesh knows nothing about Mano 666. Or the Moonchild. Sure, she did some cursory research, which amounted to viewing her records on the Saturday Night Fight website while selecting the components she'd bring to the fight today. And... it lasted about ten seconds before she got distracted by something else coming on the television set. So many things to keep track of!
And of course she'd forgotten to finish reading the article, as her fight representative had come knocking on her door before she'd even known it. Unlike Aracely, she's got... no special wrestling attire, just combat boots, tan camoflauge pants and an olive drab tank top, leaving her shoulders bare -- aside from the gargantuan backpack attached to her back.
It should become obvious, as the off-duty Marine approaches, that her hands are not exactly normal. If it is still not obvious, as she walks into the ring, with the hordes of people shouting for Aracely and not the obvious foreigner, the corporal simply unthreads the "bracelets" around her wrists. And removes her right hand and most of her left hand entirely, tucking them away into pouches upon the sides of her backpack.
That... got the audiences quiet for a moment.
The dark-skinned Indian smiles back at the crowd. The mechanic extraordinaire is used to that sort of response. It also sets up the -next- response nicely.
For that's when Minal places her wrists behind her back, resting her right hand atop her backback, her left below it. Audible clicks and metal latching sounds can be heard for a moment, as the sound of machinery whirrs up.
Minal's stride does not falter. She simply smiles back at her opponent, as she throws both hands out to her sides -- hands easily four times the size of the prosthetics she'd just removed. And much more... bulbous. She nods back to her opponent, bowing her head lightly with a smile. "Guess you're fighting me, today! Minal Panesh... though you can call me Mint!"
There is a referee, surely. Minal doesn't know much about the process -- and to be honest, she's only listening for one word, amongst all the Spanish being shouted to the crowd.
The signal to fight. And that... that is when she leaps forward, ginormous metal fist first, aimed at winning her -own- share of applause! "LET'S DO THIIIIS!"
COMBATSYS: Mint successfully hits Aracely with Straight Punch.
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Aracely 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Mint
The approaching young woman stands out. Aracely can't quite tell what it is, until she starts unthreading her bracelets and -
Sliding into the ring even as a referee shows up (a native son, naturally, if in a proper ref's shirt), even he is briefly surprised at this sight. Aracely considers this - what should she say? On the one hand the woman is handicapped. On the other hand, she's clearly got prosthetics, and it's not like one legged wrestlers are a new phenomenon. Why not one armed ones? Or no armed ones? And on the other hand, those are some big yaoi -
She's coming right for her!
* P O W *
The huge fist smashes into Aracely, sending her sprawling back into the ropes. "Ghh - Well!" she says, threading herself through them and snaking along to the top of the ropes as she continues, "Mint, is it? I wouldn't have gotten that from how you're fighting. Those are clever, but I can't guarantee you're going to walk out of here with them intact..."
That's like, OK, right? she frets a bit to herself as she sidles along the ropes towards the turnbuckle. That wasn't prejudiced. Those things are totally weapons. I'm not just breaking up some person who got blown up in George Bush's illegal wars. (Mano 666 has opinions about international affairs.)
Then she leaps from the turnbuckle, hiking up her legs and leading with the backs of her thighs. It's going to be quite an impact if and when it hits - perhaps even enough to bowl Mint over!
COMBATSYS: Aracely successfully hits Mint with Fall From Heaven.
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Aracely 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Mint
Mint might disagree that her prosthetics could be considered 'weapons,' but considering she needs to register each new version with the on-base Armory... well. You'd expect a mechanical genius to be able to put two-and-two together here, but she tends to operate with blinders on.
But even if they are destroyed, she's got spares!
As Mint pulls her fists back from the first successful attack, she smiles broadly! "I dunno, I think you'll have trouble putting much more than a dent in these babies! They are specially formatted to --"
Mint crosses her eyes as Aracely seems to be... climbing places instead of listening to her prattle on! "... Is this playground time?! I thought we were here to--"
It's clear Mint doesn't watch too much wrestling. Her eyes grow wide as saucers as Aracely leaps at her, crashing into Mint and knocking the gearhead into the ring floor! The young corporal tumbles backwards, driving her metal fingers into the geometrically-decorated ring -- and probably scratching it up or something as she tries to gain purchase.
Okay, it's pretty loud scratching. Cover your ears.
But that's what it takes if she's going to be leaping back at her opponent. "Hey, that's a... wrestling move, right? Let /me/ try some 'a that!" She leaps forward, aiming to lock her gargantuan grip around Aracely's arms. It won't pulverize bones -- it's perfectly safe! If she catches hold, she'd use her ridiculous center of gravity to full advantage, twisting sharply to hammer-toss Aracely off to her left! "Hyaaahhh!"
COMBATSYS: Aracely blocks Mint's Medium Throw.
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Aracely 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Mint
All Aracely knows is that that BIG YAOI HAND hurt like the dickens. But jumping off to butt-slam someone? Less so. Rolling off the ground, Aracely scoffs. "Don't you know how we fight down here in Mexico? Well, you're going to get a hell of an education!"
Then! The huge arms come out to grasp at her. Aracely lets this happen because this is an attempt at a wrestling move - her favorite kind of move - and as such, she's smiling faintly as she goes whizzing past Mint. She hits the mat with a resounding THUMP from the hollow space beneath it -
There's something Mint may not have noticed. Aracely trying to grasp HER arms on her way past!
As she twists around, with enough mid-body strength to hopefully fling Mint into the turnbuckle, she says, "I gotta say it's a change of pace to hit up someone smaller than me... But shouldn't this be a--"
Her eyes widen. Terror fills her. I was going to say Handicap Match, she thinks. (Mano 666 also looks horrified off-stage.) Shit!! What do I say now!?
"A - what's the - I don't know the English - like, team match or something, I got a few inches on you, my friend!" (Mano 666 relaxes. Crisis averted.)
COMBATSYS: Mint blocks Aracely's Medium Throw.
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Aracely 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Mint
... Can... can you -do- that? Is that -legal?- Mint seems incredulous that anyone would -want- to place their hands on the polished metal alloys comprising her augmented appendages, considering how freaking -hot- it is out. Sure, Mint does, but there's -padding- on the insides!
But it doesn't take long for the gearhead to adjust to the sudden change of momentum. Being that she's almost as heavy as her gauntlets are, two can play that game! Mint twists about in mid-air, shifting her weight as she's thrown such that the soles of her combat boots hit the turnbuckle first, blunting the impact of the toss. What -isn't- blunted, though, is the momentum possessed by the fists themselves, giving Mint her own little smack on the forehead as the objects in motion come to a dead stop. "OW!" she howls, her forehead already showing signs of discoloration.
She hops back and forth from one foot to another -- the mark of a true pugilist -- and she seems all set to charge back at Aracely.
Until she processes what Aracely was -about- to say. She scrubs the bridge of her nose with the side of her metallic left hand. "Hm, well, you -are- taller... but are you trynna say you're -better- than me?" she asks, with a light smirk across her lips. "Well, teach me the dance of your people!!" And, predictably, the boxer lunges in with her fist first...
Less predictably, she shifts her momentum in mid-leap to lunge her -knee- up into Aracely's midsection. "COME ON!" she cries, the manic edge of laughter creeping into her voice. And should she get a lucky strike, she'd latch on with that left hand and hammer four, quick, flurried punches into her collarbone and shoulder before hopping backwards out of the clinch. "AHAHAHAHAHA!"
COMBATSYS: Aracely blocks Mint's Lock and Load.
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Aracely 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Mint
Aracely doesn't, like, LIKE the contact, but she isn't screaming in agony or anything. Feeling the weight there, Aracely figures it out-- Mint was probably weighed wearing her six tons of doom metal. Pushing herself back up to her feet, she rolls her neck, circling a little.
"I dunno about better," she says. "But you seem a little green to me. Heh heh." Get it? Mint? Yeah, that was a little weak. She pays for it when Mint comes in for a clinch, hammering hard-- but unfortunately for HER, Aracely had already hunched up, bringing up one leg and crossing her arms. Her rain of blows hit, but not in her core zone. Her core is intact!
She also topples over and hits the mat, rolling to the side and away from the aforementioned hands which may be both large and BL-y. Popping back up to her feet, she runs her own thumb under the bridge of her nose. "The dance of my people, huh?"
Aracely runs forwards. "OK." Then she lunges forwards - a spear?!
Well, that would make sense, wouldn't it. Her goal is to very aggressively hug Mint at the waistline -- and then twist upwards, flipping and clambering over her like some kind of terrifying luchadora slinky, concluding in a powerbomb that may be aimed dismayingly close to the ring apron!
COMBATSYS: Mint endures Aracely's Gear Grinder.
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Aracely 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Mint
Well, at least Aracely's honest. Mint smiles as the more experienced fighter shows her mastery of the art of defense, absorbing the relentless blows from the shorter girl's abbreviated reach. She takes the comment about green-ness in stride as she hops backwards, pounding her right fist into her left palm. "Yeah, I'm just getting started! Mostly fought boxers up till now... so it's been lots of fun, so far!" She's -completely- taken over by the friendly repartee with her fight opponent, grinning up a storm. So ... much... fun!
And then Aracely makes her decision to spear Mint. And the little Indian finds that she really doesn't have a whole lot of time to move out of the way...
Aw, what the heck, why not? Mint just tenses up her core, allowing herself to get caught up in Aracely's aggressive hug. "Oh, yeah? This is pretty tight!" she shouts, over the din of the cheering. She's excited, right up until the point where she gets powerbombed.
Okay, that was less thrilling. Mint can almost pick out constellations from the starfield across her vision...
And that moment where Mint is practically sat upon the ring apron? That would be when Mint accidentally triggers one of the switches embedded within her gauntlets, lighting its trailing end on fire.
"Oh shi-" Mint starts to exclaim, as her right gauntlet begins to thrust upward. She spins around with the maneuver, turning the chaotic backfire into a full-fledged attack, as she hooks the rocketing punch into a mid-torso blow aimed at taking some of the heat out of her nimble opponent! "S-sorry, it's still a prototype!"
COMBATSYS: Mint successfully hits Aracely with Body Blow.
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Aracely 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Mint
WHAM! Good shot, Aracely thinks, doing a moonsault to get back to her feet. Then suddenly the gauntlet launches rockets behind it. "What the balls?" Aracely says quite clearly, before the fist -- it smashes towards her.
I can't dodge it! she thinks. Not having time to do more than think about it in overwrought terms... She takes the strike, hitting the ring ropes after a single bursting strike and staggering, one hand to her side. The crowd, of course, responds thus: "oooooohhhhh"
On the ropes, literally, Aracely's chest rises and falls. She kind of wishes it wouldn't, because it hurts, a little, to breathe. OK, she tells herself, hunching forwards. "Well, if you wanna apologize," she grunts, "Just hold still for a moment."
She runs -- past Mint; rebounding off the ropes, she hits the other side, taking a more winding path than is often the case. On her third pass by the big-handed Marine girl, she suddenly leaps up, to get her legs around her neck and--
COMBATSYS: Mint fails to interrupt Huracanarana from Aracely with Attack of Opportunity.
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Aracely 0/-------/-------|=======\===----\1 Mint
COMBATSYS: Mint blitzes into action and acts again!
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Aracely 0/-------/-------|=======\===----\1 Mint
COMBATSYS: Mint has reached second wind!
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Aracely 0/-------/-------|=======\===----\1 Mint
Well, this might seem like a simple takedown move, except that Aracely lands on one elbow and twists around with her entire body, like a noble salmon cresting upstream. Except the salmon doesn't usually send one of our troops directly at the turnbuckle at a sudden warp speed! After this Aracely rolls onto her back, feeling heat boil off of her - boy, she thinks, fighting outside kinda sucks.
Mint grins as she hears Aracely's exclamation. She's used to opponents underestimating the pipsqueak, after all! It's a nice feeling, when she can -hear- her opponent get surprised! Mint beams, proud of herself to have drawn such a reaction from the crowd as well...
Even though it was all due to an inadvertent action from her fist, which by the way, is still dragging her forward somewhat. She's starting to dig in her heels in resistance, brow furrowing as she tries to remember how to shut off the boosters.
And it is into the face of confusion that Aracely charges forward with her simple and equitable suggestion to hold still. Perplexed even further, Mint stammers, "B-but that's -ridiculous-... this is a--"
She has no time to react, and she does the first thing that comes to mind: lifting her feet off the ground. Her right fist torpedoes forward, but without an adequate grounding, all that does is send Mint hurtling towards Aracely like a cruise missile without a guidance system. But... Aracely's nowhere close, she's rubberbanding off the ropes.
An even -more- perplexed Mint sets her feet down, jaw hanging open as she gawks at her opponent. "What the balls, copy that!" She expects Aracely to race past her a third time...
And then she -doesn't-, and Mint finds herself wrapped up nicely like a maypole on May Day. She struggles for comment, and all she can come up with is: "Nnngh?!"
That's when Aracely happens to trip the safety on Mint's backpack turbines. Her -left- fist's burners activate, as the littlest gearhead attempts to snap her fist at Aracely. She almost -- ALMOST -- manages to, but the sudden twist imparted by both burners firing in opposing directions, combined with Aracely's sudden twisty turny maneuvers, throw off the pint-size pugilist's aim, hurling her directly into the turnbuckle.
The tiny fighter gets wrapped around it. The padded obstacle knocks the wind out of her. By all rights, she -should- be toppling over right now -- her little body is -so- not meant to be bending that way.
Dazed, and a bit woozy, she starts to topple forward -- but then the thrusters blaze bright.
"Safeties disengaged. Do be careful, Mint-chan." It's kind of creepy hearing a digital copy of Mint's voice echoing back at her, especially since she's nearly about to pass out from all the g-forces applied to her just now...
But probably not as creepy as a semi-conscious Indian girl hurtling across the ring at Aracely, all but towed along in the wake of two rocketing, punching fists with enough velocity to pin the Mexican to the -other- turnbuckle...
COMBATSYS: Aracely blocks Mint's Straight Punch.
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Aracely 0/-------/------=|=======\===----\1 Mint
The punch is good! Smashed into and rocketed into the turnbuckle, Aracely lets out a loud noise. It's curiously squeaky. And crunchy!
"How... are those... legal... ay..." Aracely chokes out, before reaching to grasp at one of Mint's upper arms. Oh shit, she thinks, I hope this isn't some kind of disability thing. Because her goal is to shift that thing around --
Point it downwards...
And then...
... Hope that...
Mint... punches herself... in the knee! Really hard!
This isn't the best plan she ever had.
COMBATSYS: Aracely successfully hits Mint with Random Weapon.
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Aracely 0/-------/-----==|=======\=====--\1 Mint
How are they legal? They're legal because they're legally registered! Captain Glenn told her other fighters might be using swords or other such weapons, so why can't she use her battle basher brawly fists?!
Mint's eyelids flick open as soon as her fists impact into Aracely. "H-holy crap..." she mumbles, buckling up for the ride as she flies forward with Aracely into the back turnbuckle. But the more experienced fighter is able to tough it out, turning her body into the blow to allow the force to be distributed -- something Mint takes careful note of as her fists rebound backwards. The Indian begins to retain control of her fists, the intensity of the fists starting to dial back..."C'mon, c'mon, shut -off-, you crazy...
But in her panic, she hasn't realized that Aracely has taken the initiative! As her fist is grabbed, Mint raises an eyebrow: even in her dazed state, she can tell that's pretty bonkers!
And then she gets slammed in the knee with her own fist, as her arm is twisted about like she were a mannequin! "Oww, oww, OWW! What the heck!?" she hollers, hopping about on one foot as her face begins to turn red. "Ow!" she concludes, answering her own question. With her numbed knee practically, um, disabled for the moment, she decides to use it as a bludgeoning weapon.
And the rocket engines whine as they burst to full intensity again, as Mint aims to blast herself forward, bludgeoning her numb knee into Aracely's midsection repeatedly, rocketed forward by her boosters. Why not? She can't even feel it!
As the boosters run out of gas (so to speak), the spunky Indian begins to slump down again, knees sagging -- but still she tries to punch Aracely one, two, three more, before staggering backwards... she looks like she could use an energy drink!
COMBATSYS: Mint can no longer fight.
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Aracely 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Mint successfully hits Aracely with SNAFU.
- Power hit! -
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Aracely 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Aracely takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Aracely has reached second wind!
[ \ <
Aracely 0/-------/-======|
The knee hits her guts. Oh god this was a bad idea, she thinks, some blood flying out of her mouth as Mint subjects her to innard-melting levels of brutality! But she's tough, she'll walk it off -- a couple more punches send her sprawling back against the ropes, even as she slouches. Limp, dangling, tangled in the ropes.
She wobbles there. Blood oozes down her cheek.
Slowly, Aracely realizes she's still awake. The crowd is tense. She sucks in a copper-tainted breath...
And forces herself up to her feet, arms spread out. There's a collective gasp.
She's wobbling on her feet. Aracely can tell she's on her last dregs of energy. She lunges forwards -- sweeping up Mint in a clumsy grapple that's meant really more to drop her to the ground and let her hold one of those rocket-fists pointing at an angle that shoves Mint DOWN. Aracely throws herself down, laying on top of her at a ninety degree angle.
Uno!
Dos!
TRES!
And NOW they're screaming.
"You can turn them off right," Aracely husks weakly to Mint.
RIGHT?
Mint is -way- too exhausted to respond. Her body hurts in places she didn't know it -could-, and certainly not from a fighter she'd dismissed as 'overly huggy' from the one minute of fight videos she'd seen. Silly wrestlers!
Her rocket fists expend the last of their fuel just after Aracely asks the question. She gives a quiet nod. "T-totally..."
And then her eyes close. Because holy moly, this experiment session was a workout!
COMBATSYS: Aracely has ended the fight here.
Log created on 21:22:01 06/19/2015 by Mint, and last modified on 10:44:34 06/20/2015.