Description: Brandon Malone is informed that his opponent will be located in one of the cells on the aircraft taking him to the next location of the tournament. When he gets to the cell, he finds Yuri Sakazaki locked away. After Yuri's freed, the two throw down in a match up of mysticism vs martial arts. (Winner: Brandon)
After having fought Sada Asai to a draw, Brandon had finally had a chance to examine the burial ground and while he felt the area in spiritual chaos he wasn't able to determine much else besides the fact that Ultratech had their hands in more than just technology. He had to stay on this path a bit longer.
Now that he had to travel towards the next location of the tournament he had to gather his things and leave the hotel, carefully stashing his mysterious retainer and then he was on his way.
While on the Manta, Brandon was informed that he should stand by for more info on when his next match should start. An hour or so later, he's handed a key card and smelling salts (just in case she was unconscious or sedated) and told that his match would be in the prison area and which cell he would need to go to in order to find his opponent.
The fact that his opponent would be in a prison cell sets off several alarms in his head and he begins to wonder what he's doing here. For now though, he play along but he doesn't have to like it. He pulls out his key card and slides it in the slot and the door slides open revealing Yuri Sakazaki.
Unfortunately, Yuri Sakazaki wasn't exactly going about her business travelling to the next phase of the tournament. Or rather, she was travelling, but not by her own accord. She'd been captured by Ultratech after being ambushed by one of their Fulgore units, despite fighting bravely up until the very end. You'd think that she'd be used to being kidnapped by now, but she's not, truth be told. In fact, she's just waking up in her cell and is looking around, attempting to find a way out.
She bangs on the walls and then on the door, which does nothing at first. But after she finishes banging, it opens up and Yuri is face to face with the man known as Brandon. Immediately, Yuri assumes a fighting stance, assuming it's one of Ultratech's goons. When she sees Brandon doesn't appear to be wearing the usual uniform of the guards for Ultratech, she eases up, but remains in her fighting stance. "What do you want? Are you here to get me off this thing?!"
The private investigator slowly reaches into his pocket for a piece of paper and unfolds it before handing it over for her inspection. Once the paper is in her hands he takes a few steps back to let her read the note as a show of good faith. He says, in a soft voice, "As that note says, I'm supposed to be your next opponent in this particular tournament. I am Brandon Malone."
He keeps his hands up in the air in a non-threatening manner as he continues. "That being said, getting off of this vehicle right now might be a bad idea until we land but in the meanwhile, I would definitely like to discuss how you got in this situation." There's a short pause. "After our match of course." He makes a gesture to the cell.
He continues to step back allowing her room step out of her cell and into the hallway. "That being said, win, lose, or draw, I won't be sending you back to that cell unless you give me reason to. Shall we begin?"
And then he slips into his fighting stance which sort of like a Hitman aka. Philly Shell boxing stance only the hand guarding the abdomen is near the pouch clipped onto his belt and wide open.
COMBATSYS: Brandon has started a fight here.
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Brandon 0/-------/-------|
Yuri takes a look at the paper and reads it over. She scowls at it, and then she tosses it back, shaking her head. "A fight on a place like this? I've been kidnapped and they want us to fight up here?!" She slaps her forehead. "This is beyond insane!" She sighs noticeably. "But if they want us to fight, then I'm gonna have to do this then!"
Yuri approaches Brandon, still in her Kyokugen fighting stance. "As long as you don't try to put me back in there, that's all that matters. I'm not going back in that stupid cell for any reason!" She says as she steps out of the cell. "Let's just finish this silly fight so we can get on with things, OK?"
COMBATSYS: Yuri has joined the fight here.
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Brandon 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Yuri
The note flies back towards him and he clasps his hands about the piece of paper before rubbing his hands together. With a bit sleight of hand, the piece paper is gone. Then he returns to the Pseudo Philly Shell stance.
"Fine by me."
That's the only warning Yuri will receive before he makes his approach. He skips forward to get closer and with a flick of the wrist a glowing tarot card appears between his index and middle finger just a moment before he whips out arm in the similar motion as boxing's flicker jab. A punch known more for it's speed and harassment ability than power. But the difference is that he's slashing out with the card bolstered by his energy.
COMBATSYS: Yuri auto-guards Brandon's Weapon Jab.
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Brandon 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Yuri
Yuri stares at the man, watching to see what kind of techniques he has up his sleeves. He doesn't seem to really catch Yuri's interest at first, until she notices something is different about him. Namely that glow, which is from a tarot card...? Indeed, it is.
But Yuri isn't going to let that bother her! Whether it's quick or it's powerful, Yuri doesn't care. She simply raises her defensive stance just in the nick of time to deflect it away effortlessly. "Sorry, but that's not going to work with me!" Yuri says as she rushes in with a swift punch of her own. "Let me show you how it's done!"
COMBATSYS: Brandon blocks Yuri's Jab Punch.
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Brandon 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Yuri
And just as quickly as that tarot card appears, it disappears. It gives him just enough time to shoulder roll with the jab glancing off with minimal damage to him.
"You haven't shown me anything, yet," he says with a bit of a smirk on his face.
He then clasps his hands together and tarot card appear in both hands before the energy leaps off the cards and hangs in the intervening space between them. After that, he performs a spinning side kick, pale yellow, light based chi clinging to his foot as he kicks through it and into the Kyokugen practitioner's stomach.
"But this fight is still young and so are you, kiddo."
COMBATSYS: Yuri blocks Brandon's Strong Kick.
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Brandon 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Yuri
"Hey, I'm no kid, I'll have you know!" Yuri exclaims angrily. "I'm the queen of Kyokugen Karate, the most awesome fighting style in the world!" She smirks and hmmphs a little at that. "Though I doubt you'd understand where I'm coming from with what I'm saying! You and your tarot cards! Who believes in that nonsense?" She sneers a little, and when Brandon tries to kick at her, Yuri thinks she's got it made and tries to deflect his kick away.
She does deflect the kick, but not as well as she'd previously done. This time, it hurts a bit, and Yuri reels back as she feels the pain surging through her arms. "Owww... that wasn't cool!" She thinks out loud as she rubs at her arms, before trying to shake them out and get the pain out of them, or something to that effect. "If you wanna see something, allow me to honor you!" She brings her hand behind her, summoning her chi quickly, and sends forth a small fireball at Brandon.
COMBATSYS: Brandon reflects Ko'ou Ken from Yuri with IV - The Emperor.
- Power hit! -
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Brandon 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Yuri
Blink and you might miss it. Even with you staring at him the whole time, it might be difficult to see the intricate hand movements required to fish out the right card that he needs at just the right time.
With a motion that appears as though he's only just brushing his finger tips across the leather pouch attached to his belt, he swiftly pulls out the Emperor card and pale yellow energy leaps from the card forming a circular shield in front of him and stopping the ball of chi and then sending it right back at her.
"Actually, I don't use this particular deck for readings usually. If anything, I use cards as more of symbol for the effect I wish to bring into the world."
He's not about to get into a martial art pissing match with her. That type of thing was more his former mentor's realm since he was a disciple of Todoh-ryuu. And he'd rather let his energy do the talking for him.
COMBATSYS: Yuri reflects Reflected Ko'ou Ken from Brandon with Saiha.
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Brandon 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Yuri
Right, blink and you miss your opportunities... or a chance to avoid an opponent's attack. But in this case, Yuri's not just going on the defense just yet. Instead, she decides to turn this into a game of ping-pong in a sense. When Brandon attempts to reflect Yuri's attack back at her, Yuri's already got herself ready for her plan of action!
Thinking quickly, Yuri puts her hands up and shields them with chi. The shield does its intended job, as it not only protects her from being hit by her own attack, but it also allows the fireball to go back at its intended target. "I told you I have a lot to show you!"
COMBATSYS: Brandon blocks Yuri's Reflected Ko'ou Ken.
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Brandon 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Yuri
Brandon did not expect that. The shield is already fading out of existence and he can't really put up another shield without putting some of his energy into deck. He doesn't quite have time to do that since her Ko'ou Ken is heading right back at him. He has to think fast so he draws two different cards. One card he holds up to create a small energy buckler on his arm to blunt the impact of the energy a bit as he slides backwards slightly.
The card used to form an energy buckler disappears from his hand while other remains in his hand he attempts to perform a double leg take down on her. If he can get that, he will raise that card, the Justice card, and summon a sword of light to descend from above and letting it hit her stomach before it bursts from the impact.
"That was educational indeed."
COMBATSYS: Yuri dodges Brandon's XI - Justice.
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Brandon 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Yuri
Educational indeed. In more ways than one no less.
Because it taught Yuri how to watch for a key moment to dodge her opponent's attack. And that's just what she does, twisting out of the way of her opponent's attempt to do that takedown on her. Or rather, she doesn't just twist, but she also jumps a little to the side as well. "Whoa, that was unexpected but awesome!" Yuri says, complimenting herself on her skills, before focusing on Brandon again. "And as for you, you need to know how to handle an opponent better!"
Showing a bit of honor on her part, Yuri waits until Brandon gets back up completely before making her next move. "Here, let me show you a little something else!" She lifts her leg and attempts to drive the heel of her Chuck Taylor sneaker into his stomach. It's simple enough but when you're Kyokugen, even the simplest of techniques can become useful in a fight.
COMBATSYS: Brandon dodges Yuri's Medium Kick.
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Brandon 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Yuri
And there's the pride before fall.
As she congratulates herself on avoiding his attack, Brandon remains quiet and focuses on getting back to his feet and her talking about how he needed to learn how to handle his opponents better gave him enough time to watch for her attack. The let me show you something else telegraphs the attack completely and he calmly side steps with a bit of a smirk on his face.
He then returns to his stance. He takes a deep breath, the temptation is there. It's constantly there to reach in to directly tap into his power instead of using his cards. But he resists. She is not worth the personal costs it would take if he were to do so.
He flicks his wrist and a card appears between two fingers as he slashes downwards stepping forwards and towards her flank forcing her to turn if she wants to deal with his positioning.
COMBATSYS: Brandon successfully hits Yuri with Random Strike.
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Brandon 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Yuri
Yuri thinks she's got it made, but she doesn't. She tries to avoid the attack again, but this time it doesn't go as planned. She gets hit and drops to the ground, wincing in pain as she realizes what she's done. "Owwww... This is not good! I'm glad Robert can't see me!" When she recovers from the pain, her scowl has remained but her smile is gone. "OK, I'm done playing nice girl here! Now I'm gonna show you what I'm really about here!"
Yuri rushes (yes, RUSHES) at Brandon, attempting to go in quickly and deep, then deliver a swift rising uppercut similar to the Dragon Punch but with a unique twist thanks to Yuri herself!
COMBATSYS: Brandon counters Yuri Chou Upper from Yuri with IX - Hermit.
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Brandon 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Yuri
He expected it to hurt but to knock her down, that was not expected. But he wasn't the exact type to look a gift horse in the mouth. He gave him more advantageous positioning than he really expected and he watches her get up, he uses sleight of hand to make his card disappear and another one reappear in its place.
Brandon's smirk goes away as he watches Yuri scowl at him. She's angry. And like his opponent in the previous fight, he takes advantage of it. Rushing in is exactly the type of conditions for what he was about to do ideal.
When the fist is just about to connect with his jaw, Yuri will see a Brandon splitting off into two with one stepping back and the other staying stationary. Her fist goes right through face of the chi form illusion of Brandon right before that chi form swings a chi based haymaker right into the stomach of the now airborn Kyokugen practitioner.
As the chi illusion fades away, the real Brandon Malone holds up the Hermit card.
Yuri can't believe it. She was tricked by an illusion of her opponent! And then the real Brandon got her good. She goes down to the ground hard, landing in a crumpled position and moaning... mostly bad words about her opponent and how uncool this is. Her arm feels like it's sprained but she still manages to get up using her good arm to keep herself steady as she does so. And even then, once she gets back up, the pain seems to have gone down a bit.
Slapping her face a few times, Yuri looks at Brandon once again. "You showed me a neat trick, I'll give you that! But this is where I truly show off my secret trick!" This time, Yuri brings her hands behind her, and instead of shooting forth a simple fireball, she shoots off a HUGE fireball, almost the entire size of Yuri herself. And it's going at Brandon rather quickly!
COMBATSYS: Brandon endures Yuri's Haoh Sho Ko Ken.
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Brandon 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Yuri
He wants to keep her off balance. To not let her get an even keel. Because he knows that if he gets eliminated he could possibly lose any possibility of finding out what Ultratech has to hide and to find out why exactly he was hired.
He does what people probably would wouldn't expect him to do. He charges through the large ball of energy pushing through with his own energy using it to rip through it rather than to actually protect himself. When he's through, he runs up to her delivering a palm strike to her stomach with one of his cards glowing in his hand as he delivers it. The other hand goes to wrap around her and then if he can get a hold, leaps up with her in the air and comes back down driving her down to the ground with his shoulder driving into her abdomen.
COMBATSYS: Yuri blocks Brandon's Charged Combo.
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Brandon 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Yuri
The palm strike comes in quick, but Yuri's quicker on the defense. She knocks Brandon's palm away and steps back, although she's starting to sweat a bit, showing signs of getting worn out. But does Yuri give up? Never!
"This is not over! Not by a longshot!" Yuri exclaims. "I'm still fighting strong, just like the Kyokugen always do!" She attempts to drive her point home with a roundhouse style kick. It may be quick but is Brandon quicker?
COMBATSYS: Yuri successfully hits Brandon with Light Kick.
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Brandon 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Yuri
She's just a little too quick for Brandon to get a hold of her but Brandon still attempts to keep up the pressure. It's unfortunately what causes the mistake he makes. He hops in attempting to blunt the impact of the attack by going inside of it. As a result, he practically runs right into kick which slips under his guard and hits him in the floating rib causing him grunt a little.
While Yuri has been irking him, it's not to the level of Sada. Therefore, he manages to maintain a filter which keeps him from uttering thoughts like, 'I can't figure out whether she keeps talking because she's so in love with her own voice or because she's so insecure that she has to talk herself up or else her self-esteem will go through the floor of this aircraft and commit suicide on the hard ground below.' Probably for the best that Brandon only thinks this but doesn't say it.
Meanwhile, a pair of Tarot cards appear, one in each hand, flaring up and brightly illuminating the room as he slashes at her shoulders and body in rapid succession.
COMBATSYS: Yuri reflects Fierce Strike from Brandon with Saiha.
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Brandon 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1 Yuri
The tarot cards come out again, and up comes Yuri's shield again. She uses her chi to protect herself once again. It's better than blocking, although for Yuri she would like to know how she did that blocking technique earlier so well. It almost seemed like a natural instinct to her, almost like it came out of her without her knowing it. But for now, her shield will have to suffice.
After her shield disappears, Yuri hunches over and begins to catch her breath. "What's with this guy?" She mutters to herself. "He's nothing like anyone I've ever fought!"
Her shield comes up, he recognizes it and expects for there to be some feedback. He looks shocked though. Part of him was expecting it to hurt more. However he still has to keep focused on his end objective and regardless of her situation as a kidnapping victim, he has to keep fighting if he wants to see how far this rabbit hole goes.
He draws back, quite possibly telegraphing his attack a little too much and slashes at her with the tarot card with his chi energy bolstering his attack as well as his whole body going into the blow. If it should connect, the energy from the card will detonate with an explosion of energy but still some how leave the card in tact.
COMBATSYS: Brandon successfully hits Yuri with Heavy Strike.
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Brandon 1/----===/=======|=======\====---\1 Yuri
Telegraphed perhaps, but Yuri underestimates it too much. She thinks she can avoid it, but the timing is a little too off. Partially due to arrogance on her part perhaps. But the fact remains she's hit too hard this time, and she's definitely not going to get back up after she goes down for the count. She really blew it this time, but she's still got one final trick up her sleeve.
"Here's a parting gift from me to you!" Yuri exclaims as she brings her hands back and summons every last bit of chi in her body, before throwing forth several large fireballs at Brandon. They won't knock him out most likely, but they will show she has a lot of fight in her.... that is when she's not going down for the count.
COMBATSYS: Yuri can no longer fight.
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Brandon 1/----===/=======|
COMBATSYS: Brandon fails to slow Denjin Haoh Sho Ko Ken from Yuri with 0 - The Fool.
? Strange Hit! ?
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Brandon 0/-------/------=|
He reaches into the pouch for a card. A specific card and brings it out holding it in the air. The energy in the air shifts. Prismatic energy burst forth from the card as it begins to gather above him in a multicolored maelstrom swirling above him. Those with high chi sensitivity on their particular air craft would notice a fair chunk of energy gathering from the cells and centered on the exact point where Brandon is standing. He's about to direct that swirling formation of chi at her blast, but then he sneezes.
That energy breaks apart and as quickly as the Thaumaturgist gathered that energy, it disperses leaving him completely defenseless as Yuri's parting shot knocks him off his feet and sends him sliding backwards a few feet before hitting a wall.
He works his way up to his knees, picks up his white fedora, places it on his head and slowly rises to his feet.
"Who needs to learn how to handle their opponents again?"
COMBATSYS: Brandon has ended the fight here.
Log created on 19:28:02 08/23/2015 by Brandon, and last modified on 07:59:27 08/25/2015.