Flight of the Soaring Spirit - [FSS:Week 2] DANGER ZONE (Lita/Mint vs. Guile)

Description: A Military Rumble in the Jun--er, the town square. "Stacy Jones" is supposed to team up with the WarWolf to take on the American Eagle, Guile, of the USAF--but a missing Sven means that someone -else- has to step up...



"A MIGHTY CLASH HERE TONIGHT!!!" declares a banner across the top of the arch leading from the town hall into the town square. Just inside that arch--not yet visible to everyone just now seating themselves, their hands filled with beers, churros, elotes, hot dogs Guadalajara style, all sorts of snacks and stadium food, Mexico style--is Guile, leafing through the short briefs on his opponents that were sent to him from the tournament organizers. His voice is low, murmur-low, as he reads through. "'Stacy Jones'... looks like some sort of comic book freak," he says to himself. Then again, Vega looks like a goddamn comic book freak and he's genuinely scary... shaking his head, Guile moves on, flipping to the next slick.

"... Warwolf? Oh. Pro wrestler..." He shakes his head again, blue eyes scanning the page. "Hunh... well, this might be an easy operation."

Looking out at the square, past the arch, he sees a beautiful sunset, the sky fading to orange, and then the harsh lights pop on with that audible sound, that buzz-pop that sounds like a capacitor firing off, and the white light floods the square. Tossing the pages aside, he reaches into his back pocket and slips on his mirrored aviators before going to walk into the square.

The appearance of Stacy Jones is met with very little fan fare as she makes her way into the ring carrying a golf club bag filled with various sporting equipment. Her movements are slow and deliberate.

At the moment the crowd doesn't quite know what to make of her yet. Is she a face, a heel, or a tweener? The children of the 80's they seem to be the ones giving her the most applause. Maybe it's her similarity to a character from a comic book? She hops into the ring and rolls her neck letting out a loud cracking noise and she reaches in her bag and then pulls out... A jai alai cesta?

Corporal Panesh had been on something called a 'Spirit Walk' as part of the Pueblo Thunderfoot festivities. She was driven out to some place far from the village, and given some odd concoction to help her in communicating with the spirits. From her prosthetics' internal chronometers, the entire process took a few hours. And, according to logs, she threw a lot of punches, well beyond the design capabilities of her "pretty" set of hands, damaging the internal servos well beyond their valid uses.

So she's here in the stands now, with a screwdriver in her left hand, two tablet computers in her lap, and a worried frown across her face as she examines her right hand. While blowing bubbles; yes, she brought bubblegum here. Every so often she turns a screw on her right hand, before wiggling the fingers, cross-checking against the two displays. One display shows a diagnostic view of her hand. The other display shows the video feed from a small quadrotor drone hovering overhead.

When the lights snap on, the worry on her face turns to an appreciative smile. The shadows from the light may be harsh, but she can adjust.

The truth is... she's here to see Warwolf fight again. As the Marine sweeps both tablets into her left hand, she stands up, cupping her right hand to her mouth. Why is she here? It's part guilty pleasure, and part -- "

I don't think Borewolf is gonna show!" calls out the pint-sized pugilist. "Last I saw he was barfing his brains out, down by the river -- he's probably nursing off a wicked hangover!" She mumbles some invective under her breath, most likely directed at the absent wrestler.

She glances back at Guile -- another from the United States' finest? And Stacy Jones... okay. Is this another weirdo like that Tia Langray person? Popping another bubble, the Indian looks down at the match. "Hey, if Borewolf doesn't make it, I wouldn't mind subbing for his sorry ass!" She blinks, met with mute disapproval from the rest of the stands. "Y'know, just throwin' that out there!"

Guile reaches a point in the square where he's pretty much equidistant to everything, then looks around. Slipping the aviators off, he tucks them back into his pocket, then looks again. There's Stacy Jones, but... no Warwolf. Then he hears what Mint shouts, and he smirks. That... could be even more interesting.

The organizers look worried, and confused, because they created posters for this fight, three designs each featuring one of the combatants... and no Warwolf. But Guile? He'll take that decision out of their hands.

"IF YOU THINK YOU CAN HANG, THEN GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!" he shouts, fists akimbo on hips, broad-shouldered body turned directly towards the pint-sized fighter. And the organizers--whether they know their part of Shadaloo or not--aren't gonna argue with William Guile, USAF.

COMBATSYS: Guile has started a fight here on the top side.

                 [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|------=


COMBATSYS: Lita has joined the fight here.

                 [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|------=
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Lita             0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Mint has joined the fight here.

                 [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|------=
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Lita             0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Mint


Lita hears what Mint has to say about her partner being detained by way of hangover and drunkeness. Both Lita and her temporary persona, Stacy, have to shake their heads on that. Yeah this is not someone she'd want to stake her life at her side in battle in either case. Masked brawler nods towards Mint as she throws her hat in the ring. Three military fighters in this particular fight should make things interesting, even if two of those military might not be aware of it. She shrugs at Guile and then at Mint with a practiced Metro City accent says, "Whatever... I just want to get in there and fight already. Better make this worth my while."

She then plays with her jai alai cesta a bit more before taking the ball out of one of the cargo pants pockets.

If Mint thinks she can hang?! Mint's appraisal of her own abilities is way higher than it has any right to be, so of course the answer is yes. She wouldn't have made the brash challenge any other way!

Really, the biggest challenge to the Marine is to quell the urge to respond with a 'sir yes sir!' -- she's on leave right now.

Practically running down the bleachers, she fiddles around with the topmost of her two tablet displays, latching them together, And then she chucks the combination into the air to be dutifully retrieved by her trusty quadcopter. Showoff engineer!

The dark-haired Indian glances over at the jai alai cesta, frowning a bit before focusing back onto the USAF officer. Servos click and whirr as the corporal clenches her artificial fists in preparation. "Are you here to fight, or just play catch with him?" quips the pugilist to her new partner, hopping back from one foot to the other in anticipation.

Guile smiles with grim satisfaction as Mint takes the challenge. He might be traditional Middle America but thankfully he's never harbored the chauvinism that comes with that territory. So he's not perturbed at all about facing off against two women. Glancing from one to the other, he gets serious, bringing his arms up, hands knotted into those beefy fists, elbows tucked in, feet shoulder-width apart--a very standard combat stance. Out of nowhere, a gunshot--a starter's gun--and the cheers rise as the spectators realize that the match is -on-.

%gGuile might not be the fastest man around, but he has a decent forward speed walk, sidling forward to keep his balance. He closes with Mint first, coming forward then stopping and twisting, thrusting his right leg out in a head-height side kick, the heel of his size 11 boots aimed squarely for her forehead.

COMBATSYS: Mint blocks Guile's Medium Kick.

                 [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|-----==
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Lita             0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0             Mint


When Guile moves like a gun shot, Stacy moves at an angle shifting to the side so that she can aim carefully so that she won't be at risk for hitting her team mate or spectators.

The wind up is slow. If Guile is paying attention, it'll be clear Stacy is aiming for his leg and if it misses it will bounce over the audience. But the ball will be traveling at speeds of close to 200 miles per hour. And if that ball connects, it will probably hurt, a lot.

After the ball is flung, she ditches the cesta and draws a hockey stick from her bag.

"I came to fight. Don't be fooled by the equipment that I'm carrying."

Mint was born and raised in America, and she's been in the Marines -this- long, so she's more than prepared for people who take these sorts of fights seriously!

What she -isn't- prepared for, though, is people kicking as hard as Guile does. It's true that she tends to stick to boxing matches, but the diminuitive fighter had thought she'd been up against some pretty massively powerful opponents before. As Mint sees herself reflected in Guile's aviators, she doesn't let that distract her from raising her left arm vertical to ward off the blow, locking her elbow into place. Though, while she's fast enough, she is not so sturdy that the impact doesn't affect her; she's forced to stagger a good half-dozen steps to her right just to keep from falling over.

%Guile... is a league beyond the other opponents she's faced. Her right hand claps to her left arm just to keep the gauntlet from reverberating her arm any further. Shaking the numbness out of her arm, she calls back, "Man, you really pack a whallop! But that's okay... I can too!"

With thoughts of her Spirit Walk still fresh in her mind, she vaults forward, fist-first. The gauntlets are not crutches, she had insisted -- merely extensions of her self. And she plans to match Guile's power with a bit of her own, aiming to clock him square in the chest as Stacy's attack is set to land. So maybe her partner's one of those serious types too, she figures. Her called-out response: "Fair enough!"

COMBATSYS: Guile blocks Mint's Fierce Punch.

                 [  |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|----===
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Lita             0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0             Mint


COMBATSYS: Guile blocks Lita's Power Fling.

                 [    |||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|---====
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Lita             0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0             Mint


Crossed forearms take the brunt of Mint's punch. But it's a good, solid punch; he can still feel the aftereffects of that even as the cesta ball is coming in. Turning, he meets that ball head-on--well, not -head- on. foot-first, really, timing an expert kick to deflect the ball, throwing his head back to let the ball fly past his head, letting it fly past him. He masks the pain from deflecting that ball, though his step is a little bit ginger. He had to turn away from Mint to deal with the cesta--and then he turns back to her.

Turning back to her also is an attack, or really, it's the spinning backfist that he incorporates into the turn, swinging the back of his meaty right fist around as he twists. In response to Stacy's words, he offers a grim smile. Not really much of a smile, to be honest.

"Yeah? Then stop playin' with balls and -fight-."

COMBATSYS: Mint fails to interrupt Spinning Backfist from Guile with Foxtrot Oscar.

                 [     ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|--=====
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Lita             0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0             Mint


If Guile wants a fight, then a fight he shall have. With hockey stick in hand she moves in close attempting to get within stick range as Guile performs the Spinning Backfist. Stacy attempting to hook the stick around the foot that remained planted when he deflected the ball with his foot. It looked as though that particular foot fare as well he would've liked. Once the foot is hooked, she tries to yank that foot from under him then jabbing him in the chest with the butt end of the hockey stick.

She says, "Be careful what you wish for..."

She must've practiced hard on that Metro City accent.

As Mint's punch lands across Guile's forearms, a haunting memory returns to her. She'd been fighting the snake during her spirit walk, and one of the time she punched it, she could've sworn she'd heard a grunt. A very human grunt of pain.

What Guile and Stacy might interpret as disappointment for her punch not landing true, is actually a frown at the memory of what had happened -- an auditory cue that she'd expected to hear from Guile, but instead heard in her memory. Setting her jaw, she swallows a gulp of air, nodding back to Guile -- whatever it was, she's fine now.

Not that Guile can see, since he's got her back to her. She had thought he was dealing with Stacy, and for a brief moment had an idea of lunging forward to capitalize, slamming her fist into his shoulderblade. She'd lunged forward... only to get clipped by the backhand smacking into her face, taking her off her feet and sending her spiralling down to the Pueblo Thunderfoot floor.

If she'd spun any faster, she'd probably roll right into the audience, but as it is, she pushes back to her feet, her arms hanging low by her sides. With Guile's knuckles having imprinted themselves upon her face, it's unquestionable that Minal had gotten hit pretty damn hard...

But why is she so -tired-? She'd not even been given any fights for the week...

COMBATSYS: Guile interrupts Random Combo from Lita with Sonic Boom EX.

                 [     ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|--=====
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Lita             0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0             Mint


Mint having been indisposed for a moment doesn't mean Guile gets to take a breather. He doesn't often fight multiple opponents but those sorts of fights -do- happen, especially on the battlefield. There are many ways to take on a fight like that. Focus on one target at time and trust in your defenses... or take the targets as they come. Guile varies his philsophy between the two--and in this instant he decides to give Lita a little attention.

Sorry. Stacy. Stacy does indeed hook that leg, but Guile sets his stance, resisting the pull long enough for him to respond. His fists glow with yellow-tinged energy, and he flings those arms forward and across himself.

That act has the effect of launching that energy forward into a spinning scythe of 'sonic' energy, as evidenced by his deep shout, "Sonic BOOM!!" The flashy blast crosses the short distance between Guile and Lita in a flash, and then Guile is backing away from his two opponents, just a quick two-step back to give himself room to react.

It was a sound strategy on the Brit's(disguised as someone originating from Metro City) part. Unfortunately no plan survives first contact with the enemy. She manages the yank but he's not as unbalanced as she would've hoped and she is sent flying end over end with the sonic energy reverberating through her ribs. It's not a pleasant experience in the least.

She rises to her feet and upon realizing that the hockey stick is no longer in her hands(Yes she was hit that hard), she draws a pair of baseball bats from her golf bag of many things and takes a couple test swings then she takes a couple steps forward and brings down both bats hard upon Guile's head.

There shouldn't be any shame in just sitting this one out, really -- Guile is pretty tough! Still keeping her determined game face on, Minal takes a moment to wipe the blood from her jaw and the sweat and tears from her eyes onto the part of her arm not occupied by hulking gauntlets. But... even still, Guile's taken a few moments to distance himself from his female opponents -- and Mint is happy to take the opportunity to catch her breath.

Her ribs ache, already. She shouldn't be this tired, she knows -- all she'd been doing was flopping around in the sand, maybe hitting a few cacti... nothing more than a bad nightmare, right? Her first fight billed her as the "Mind," and she's determined to put mind over matter as she stares down the Air Force officer across the ring. She focuses on controlling her breathing -- a tried and true boxing technique that's served her well in the smaller rings.

The small turbine on Mint's back begins to spin up as she bobs lightly upon the balls of her feet, exhaust vanes pivoting into position. The Mind is planning something; it might be exactly what she needs to catch up to the more seasoned martial artist across the ring from her -- if the swings from Stacy's bats don't already even the score, that is...

COMBATSYS: Mint focuses on her next action.

                 [     ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|--=====
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Lita             0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0             Mint


COMBATSYS: Guile dodges Lita's Overhead Strike.

                 [     ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|--=====
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Lita             0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0             Mint


Guile's focused on Stacy right now. He expects a hit like the one he just gave her to engender some... repercussion. And he's right, as she draws twin baseball bats from her bag of tricks, his lips quirking. Baseball bats.. they look quaint but a proper ash baseball bat is a good blunt weapon for killing a man. He doesn't think that's what she has in mind, but he has no desire to be clocked with them.

Just after she's committed to her overhead strike he hops to his right, turning his body to let the bats pass--and then he pivots on his right leg and flings a left hook for Stacy's chin, stepping into her space to make up for the distance he had to go in order to avoid the twin baseball bats. He knows Mint's up to something, but he's in a flow mode right now, reacting without too much conscious thought.

COMBATSYS: Lita fails to interrupt Medium Punch from Guile with Medium Strike.

                 [     ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|-======
[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Lita             0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0             Mint


Stacy's bats come crashing down to earth after failing to connect with Guile. The weapon wielder clenches her teeth under that mask of hers as she draws the bats back upwards. She slides into stance and it seems innate as if she's had some weapons training at some point.

Unfortunately, Guile doesn't give her time to particularly think about anything. He's already in her face swinging a hook right at her face hugging hockey mask. It's at this point that Lita wishes she was wearing a cage style mask instead. She steps at an angle in an attempt to thrust the bat at Guile's shoulder to abort the hooking motion before it could fully connect. She's not very successful there either. She gets rocked with the impact of the going right through the mask. Good news is that she won't be bruised up by the impact. Bad news is her vision just went white and she is mildly concussed.

When she's back up to her feet she's a little shaky at first and is forced to use one of the bats to steady her weight.

Mint grew up on the streets of North Jersey; scrapping in the streets was something of a way of life. But losing her hands and resuming her military career have both funneled her into a path that meant more orderly fights -- this sort of chaos is taking a bit of getting used to. Reaching into a pocket on her camo cargo pants, she withdraws a slender pair of safety glasses, putting them on.

When Stacy draws out the baseball bats, Mint comments, "Gosh... you're ready for just any sport, huh..." regarding the woman's seemingly bottomless sack of sports equipment. "... Except polo, I guess. The horse might get testy."

As Stacy begins her attack, Mint's turbine engine flares up, the vane apertures opening wide like a camera iris. Tendrils of blue flame spit out the back, as Mint clenches her fists, squaring her elbows at either side.

And then, as soon as Guile's throwing a hook for Stacy, the turbine makes a sudden roar. A split-second later, Minal is not standing way back there any more: she's launched a blitzkrieg into Guile's personal space. Her left gauntlet hammers into his ribcage with all the force of someone who'd been literally jet engined over from across the ring. "Hnnh!" comes the sound of her exhalation, as she braces for the next sudden move...

Her right, though... Yeah, her right is a bit stronger than her left. As the vanes tilt down, the pint-sized pugilist propels herself upwards, her right fist aimed into Guile's jaw with an aim of making him into Mint's personal rock 'em sock 'em robot. "OO-RAAH!"

COMBATSYS: Mint blitzes into action and acts again!

                 [     ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|-======
[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Lita             0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0             Mint


COMBATSYS: Guile blocks Mint's Fierce Punch.

                 [      |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|=======
[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Lita             0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0             Mint


COMBATSYS: Guile blocks Mint's Uppercut Punch.

                 [        |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            1|-------|=======
[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Lita             0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0             Mint


Suddenly Mint comes at him with sledgehammers! Or, no wait, those are her fists. Briefly he considers trying to counter her attacks--but she's in his face -way- too fast for that. Twisting, he crouches slightly, folding his right arm, taking that first impact on the bicep, shifting his feet backwards to absorb the impact, and then he locks his hands together to stiffen his defense for that uppercut.

It still blasts him back a couple of feet, but despite the bruising on his arms he looks calm, his blue eyes lookin' real intense. Oo-rah, huh? "Marines...." he grates. Well, now there's more on the line. Now he's not just fighting in a tournament, he's defending the pride of the USAF.

Advancing on Mint, he throws a couple of left jabs, firing them like shots from a pistol, though they're aimed to impact on her arms, essentially battering her defenses--and maybe focusing that defense on staying high before he steps in and fires a right body blow for her stomach. Maybe he's just repaying her for that first shot she fired a moment ago?

COMBATSYS: Guile successfully hits Mint with Strong Punch.

                 [        |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            1|-----==|=======
[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Lita             0/-------/--=====|=======\====---\1             Mint


Lita finally gets her bearings... At enough of her bearings that it doesn't seem as though she'll get knocked over by a stiff wind. She shakes out her head and rolls her neck raising her bats in a defensive position, oddly reminiscent of a dual weapon sword fighting style.

She edges in close, carefully, studying the military man closely before leaping in with a swing to the leg and then a follow up swing from the other bat to the ribs.

She says through teeth gritted in concentration as her bats whirl around, "You won't be able to avoid us forever."

Mint doesn't get to rocket upwards as high as she'd hoped -- which has the unfortunate side effect of meaning that the rocket exhaust is a -bit- hotter than she'd wanted to be dealing with. "Ow, ow, ow!" she exclaims, as the back of her pant legs start to ignite from the heat -- a problem she quells by flopping onto her back and rolling like a log to the side.

When she kips back to her feet, though, Guile's already closing in on her. "Yes, sir!" she assents, proudly taking the compliment to her service in stride. Never a soldier, always a Marine! But her nimble feet don't count for much against the Air Force officer's speed, as the boxer is tagged by something she should be ready for: a series of punches. "Ow, ow, ow!" she repeats -- at least until a body blow knocks the wind out of her, jacknifing her body and sending her up into the air.

When Mint lands, though, her toes hit the ground first, sending her flying back up into Guile's grill with a vengeance. She coughs in mid-stride, hurling her gargantuan left hand forward...

But her hands are -way- wide. Because she's not hitting with her knuckles: she's aiming to grab hold of Guile's shoulder, so that she can drive a knee into his abdomen. Should she gain purchase, she'd make sure to punish him for all that defensiveness, raining down a storm of punches into his chest.

COMBATSYS: Mint successfully hits Guile with Lock and Load.

                 [            |||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            1|---====|=======
[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Lita             0/-------/--=====|=======\======-\1             Mint


COMBATSYS: Guile interrupts Fierce Strike from Lita with Flash Kick EX.

                 [             ||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            1|-======|=======
[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Lita             1/----===/=======|=======\======-\1             Mint


Mint gets in--and when she gets in, she hurts. Guile is forced back by the assault, and Mint's punishing series of punches drops him to one knee as it ends. Fortunately for Guile...

Being on one knee is just about where he needs to be to deal with Stacy's incoming attack. He grunts at her statement and smirks. "You're right." That first low swing is taken on an arm, but before Lita can execute the other swing, Guile suddenly explodes out of his crouching stance.

It's a near-vertical leap that sees him flipping as he jumps, his right foot extended out in a flipping front kick aimed to take Lita right under the chin. And while that might hurt enough all on its own, Guile flares that sonic chi into the kick as well, cutting a dazzling afterimage arc into the sky as he flips completely around, the followthrough completely uninterrupted by the impact to Lita's chin. Guile rights himself as he finishes the flip, coming down to land on his feet.

If the masked fighter was seeing white before, the moment that chi laced kick connects with her chin she sees more fireworks than Guy Fawkes day and Independence Day put together. She flies sky high as the bats she was whirling burst into shards raining down on the ring.

When she hits the ground, Stacy lands in a crumpled heap and it takes a while for her to get up. To her credit, she doesn't say anything. She probably would've abandoned her Metro City accent and completely blown her disguise if she grumbled about how much pain she's in.

Eventually, she rises to her feet, takes a deep breath. She looks around to take stock of her environment. The hockey stick is too far away. Her bats are in splinters and she doubts the rest of her equipment will hold up. She goes for broke charging in like a bull and attempts a double legged takedown. If she can get that, she'll attempt to mount Guile and give him the ol' ground and pound. Don't forget. MMA is a sport too.

Mint hops free of Guile after delivering her blistering onslaught of punches, mostly to allow her partner to get some hits in. Unfortunately, Mint's jaw gapes open in surprise as she sees how badly that works out for her. "Wow..." is about the only thing she can muster -- mostly because she's not figured out how to manifest that crazy chi stuff yet.

But as she is gaping, she is also hopping back and forth from one foot to the next, like an itchy trigger finger being dared to remain still. Adrenaline is a powerful addiction, and Mint is riding high on the stuff, attempting to make the most of her increased, time-dilated focus.

But Stacy's intervention means that she, unfortunately, is now in the way, and any attack the boxer could hope to land is just not going to work out so well. Panicked, she looks over to the referee for a moment.

Yeah, he'll do. Mint's voice cracks slightly as she says, "Five..."

Vaulting at the referee, she grabs hold of his shoulders -- "Four..." -- using him as a springboard so that she can launch herself into the air. "Three..."

She hopes this would be enough of a warning to finish. Because after three comes two, and two comes one... and then Mint will be dropping both her fists down onto Guile. Like an uppercut, but upside-down and sped up rather than slowed by gravity. "OO-RAAAH!"

COMBATSYS: Guile endures Mint's SNAFU.

                 [                 ||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            2|<<<<<<<|<<<<<<<
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Lita             0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0             Mint


COMBATSYS: Guile just-defends Lita's Seeing Red!

                 [               ||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            2|<<<<<<<|<<<<<<<
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Lita             0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0             Mint


Complicated. That's the only word for this situation--*complicated*. Scenarios run through Guile's head, rapidfire, tactical situations branching out like a tree's roots. None of them look like they end too well. But he has to trust in his skills--and his instincts. He is, after all, a fighter pilot, and like many fighter pilots (and martial artists) the best reactions are the ones that come naturally from repeated training, responses the flow from the moment, modified for the situation.

He has just enough time to crouch, meeting Stacy's charge and getting his body low, meeting her center of gravity, but also applying a judo trick he learned on a tour of duty in Japan, redirecting her force away from him. That leaves him slightly off-balance for Mint, coming in from above like a tiny powerful meteor, and so he doesn't try to bring his defenses up--he instead continues his backward motion, changing the angle at which Mint hits him. It lets him move with the impact of the punch, converting what would have been a straight downwards slam into a backwards movement that he takes on his shoulders--

--and redirects, throwing himself forward in a quick forward tumble, popping up within range of Mint.

Still riding that borrowed momentum he plants his feet, letting it pull him forward, and puts that extra momentum into a forward-step and side kick for Mint's breadbasket.

COMBATSYS: Guile successfully hits Mint with Step Kick.

                 [               ||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            2|<<<<<<<|<<<<<<<
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  /                             ]
Lita             0/-------/-----==|=======\===----\1             Mint


The disguised military woman did not expect to be redirected the way Guile does. It's clear that Guile has experience over her. But a part of her wonders if that generalist training, that training she put herself through to be able to turn her and almost any object she could pick up into a weapon, is coming back to bite her in the ass. Jack of all trades master of none. Has she found herself in one of those rare situations where it's not better than a master of one?

She whacks herself on the side of her masked face, demanding focus from herself. She takes a moment to center herself and push away the doubt in her ability as fighter and then she moves in with caution. If he wants to use Judo, so can she. Judo is also a sport.

She reaches out to snatch Guile's hand. If she can manage that she'll perform an armbar takedown and then right after, give it a bit of wrench to add a little more pain to it.

Once Mint started counting down, she knew she'd either have to stick to her called shot, or try and juke Guile by striking on 'two' or 'one'. And considering she was already calling out 'oo-rah,' well, it's clear she's committed!

And this just means the more experienced martial artist is able to redirect the momentum from the pint-sized pugilist's attack for his own ends, instinctively reacting to both fighters in a way that leaves him coming up roses.

While Mint is left to fend for herself, rolling away in an awkward tumble with a rather big grimace. Using her momentum to help hurt her opponent?! That's... that's pretty good! But she won't admit that till later of course! She lands in an unsteady three-point stance, about to make a bull rush right back at Guile...

And that, folks, would be when Mint takes a boot right into the abdomen, a deathly pallor rising across her face as she's suddenly reminded of all the spicy food she's eaten down here. Staggering backwards with one hand over her mouth, and one hand over her stomach, she screws her eyes shut, trying to keep from passing out from -that- sudden shock.

Swallowing, she's able to stand up again, taking quiet note of Stacy reaching for the officer's hand. She knows it's now or nothing, as her wounds from the past week are taking their toll. She punches her fists together, activating a predefined series of lights and gizmos along the wrist area. Mint smiles -- a remarkably defiant look considering the beating she's taken -- and launches herself forwards at Guile!

Her feet barely touch the ground as she rockets forward, swinging first with her left hand. The sound of tiny propellant emissions can be heard from her leading gauntlet -- and just before contact, an equivalent sound can be heard from her trailing gauntlet as she hurls herself forward again. If she's allowed to finish, a dizzying rush of booster-propelled punches ought to be enough for the Marine to leave her mark(s) on the Air Force officer...

But would it be enough before she passes out to sheer exhaustion?!

COMBATSYS: Mint can no longer fight.

                 [               ||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            2|<<<<<<<|<<<<<<<
[                     \\\\\\\\\  <
Lita             0/-------/-----==|


COMBATSYS: Guile just-defends Mint's Final Sacrifice!

                 [              |||||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            1|-----==|=======
[                     \\\\\\\\\  <
Lita             0/-------/-----==|


COMBATSYS: Guile endures Lita's Close Quarters Catch.

                 [                |||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            1|---====|=======
[                     \\\\\\\\\  <
Lita             0/-------/---====|


She might be a Marine, but Guile has to admire that drive to continue. Mint clearly wants--needs--to evacuate her stomach--but she holds it in and hurls herself at him. He is, by now, acquainted with the kind of pummeling she can produce with those metal fists of hers. He faces it head-on, that desperate bull rush, and, with a somewhat rare display of agility and ability, stays with that booster rush, his arms a blur as he deflects those punches by redirecting her pistoning fists. It's actually quite the display, and proponents of -both- sides raise their voices in a loud cheer for both Mint's display of a bum rush and Guile's eloquence in avoiding it.

He can tell she's done--there's no need to punish her further--so when he senses the last punch coming he slips it and lets Mint rush past him with the last of her momentum--

--just in time to be caught by Stacy Jones. The takedown is good, flawlessly executed, the twist straining his shoulder--but this is not a technique new to the 1LT of the US Air Force. Just after that twist he slips his hand free, rolling backwards and popping up to his feet. "Guess it's time to end this," he says--rather arrogantly, for all that--and he draws his fists back. They glow with that yellow-white power again, more intensely, as he shouts in a paradeground bellow, "SONIC--"

--he whips his hands forwards and unleashes the full might of his power in a spinning sawblade disc of pure sonic chi, its color signature sliding to a white, tinged with electric blue at the edges, the 'sawblade' as wide as he is tall, pushing forward towards his opponent--"HURRICANE!!!"

COMBATSYS: Guile successfully hits Lita with Sonic Hurricane.

                 [                |||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|------=
[                                <
Lita             1/-----==/=======|


When she first applied the technique there was elation at finally landing something... Finally doing something substantial in this fight. Guile had pretty much been avoiding the full brunt of all her assaults this particular fight. And then when she feels the grip on his arm slipping away, a dark cloud comes over her along with an impending sense of doom. It's at that moment that she realizes that he planned on turning that close proximity against her.

That sawblade of sonic energy doesn't give her even a moment to react. The sonic energy rips through her causing her bones to vibrate to the point that she can hear her rib cage vibrating in her ears. She lets out a blood curdling scream as her body goes into an uncontrolled spin flying at high speeds before coming to a painful stop in the specator section with the spectators luckily having the presence of mind to move out of the way.

Her body doesn't twitch and with the exception of the movement required to breathe and pump blood through her body, the masked fighter remains motionless.

Her fight is over.

COMBATSYS: Lita takes no action.

                 [                |||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|------=


COMBATSYS: Lita can no longer fight.

                 [                |||||||||||||| ]
                 Guile            0|-------|------=


Mint keeps rushing past -- though she's pretty much spent at this point. She lets herself run to the edge of the ring, where she drops to her knees, panting for breath. She watches the fight, pleased to note two things: One, it's been a fun fight fight regardless, and two, still no sign of that drunk Sven, hee!

"Hmf." Well... he did hit her pretty hard. Maybe he shouldn't've done that. Guile's just used to going all out when he fights. That internal debate is resolved pretty quickly. The cheers rising up demand a response, and Guile's is a classic one--he takes off his dogtags and raises them high, the metal plates glittering in the harsh lights--and he slips his aviators on.

Again he sounds arrogant as he turns away from his opponents and proclaims in that deep American voice of his, "EASY OPERATION!" He doesn't look back as medics likely rush in to take care of the unconscious Stacy Jones--just walks towards the edge of the arena, slipping out of it as he puts his dogtags back where they belong. Truth is, he's thinking about his opponents, and he has his assessment laid out--not bad. He expected to win, because well, he's a jerk like that, but the two definitely pushed him farther than he expected.

COMBATSYS: Guile has ended the fight here.

Log created on 19:28:33 06/28/2015 by Guile, and last modified on 18:11:12 07/07/2015.