Match of the Millennium

Description: ALOYSIUS: "Now this is true cinema. Hoffman in one of his earliest roles. The desperation and strife of a marriage torn to shreds. A desperate struggle and poignant commentary on the changing times of the 70's. The presentation of character metamorphosis and a noncommital deposition of the divorce process. In a traditional Metro City brownstone, we highlight MURDERHOUSE and CASSIE CAGE as husband and wife in a struggling marriage as they try to keep things from getting ugly for the sake of their children, SHOMA and BRETT. For budgetary constrictions, we leased a brownstone for our set that also doubles as a local boys and girl's club meeting location, which we will be sponsoring.." <Winner: Cassie/Shoma>

[MURDERHOUSE]
"And remember kids, the ONLY safe way to run with scissors is-"

A bang at the door interrupted the girls and boys Safety Meeting, and the oversized grey squirrel mascot looked up in worry and concern. Around them, the SNF cameras panned over, zooming on the bending, warping wooden door in anticipation.

Another thud. Another bang. Another slam. Finally the door exploded inward, meant to push outside into the open, it was destroyed beyond compare as "MURDERHOUSE" Mick finally stepped in, waving at the terrified everyone with a sick smile under that mask of his.

"Hey there, little quims and poofs, how is everybody doin' today?!"

Even with that quiet, slightly whispery voice, it wasn't hard to hear the malice behind every word. The seven foot wrestler stalked into the townhouse with a duffelbag hanging from his left hand, both of those hands covered in brand new, freshly taped padded MMA gloves, his fingernails painted black. His mask, strangely enough, was half in half, the right side shining jet black, the left white as a ghost, though it was easy to see black facepaint around his eyes. His wrestling tights followed a similar coloring pattern, though switched. Left black, right white, though his kneepads and boots were both black, same with his elbow pads. His bulky upper body barely hidden behind a thin black t-shirt, the man looked around ready to hurt someone.

"Where are my darling brats and that slag ex-wife of mine? We got some troubling discussions to have today, hope you idiots don't mind of course!"

[BRETT]
...films were not Brett's 'thing' really. He's far too honest and far too meek to be a proper actor, and he's always preferred sports to cinema, unless it was a sports movie (and even then).

So this entire scenario is just...weird for him. As he walks over to the Brownstone that the fight is supposed to be at, he blinks as he hears shrieks of surprise, and sees a rather...imploded door. A face that screams just how much he's regretting this falls over his expression, feeling that apprehension all the way to the pit of his stomach.

That doesn't keep him from going forward anyway, the Gorin hockey star swallowing as he peeked around the door frame, face barely visible beneath his hockey helmet until he slips around a little more to survey the damage, revealing the rest of the tall boy, dressed more for a pickup game of street hockey than anything.

[SHOMA]
Shoma has no idea what he signed up for when he volunteered for this match-up. Especially after the door explodes and Mick comes walking through it. Shoma's dressed as if he just finished up an afternoon of baseball practice, right down to the dust Gorin baseball uniform... aside from the out-sized bat, that is.

His eyes narrow as Mick starts talking. He does not like where this is going. Not even a little bit.

[CASSIE]
"Because I'm not an actress."

"..."

"No, just because I'm his cousin doesn't mean that I care about your stupid reference to a 40-year-old movie that nobody cares about."

"..."

"No, that was Hayden Panettier playing his cousin, I don't have a SAG card."

"..."

"Because I'm not putting on a stupid costume to fill your creepy Meryl Streep fetish and pretend that some guy who dresses like he forgot ECW died twice is my husband in front of a bunch of kids who have never even heard of this movie."

"..."

"You can't call my agent because I don't have one! I'm not an actress! You want to complain, call up Major Jackson Briggs and let him deal with your shit!"

And with the complete lack of satisfaction that comes with tapping a disconnect button on a screen instead of being able to slam down a phone on its receiver, Cassie Cage brings an end to a conversation that has the on-call costume designer (who has apparently been too busy dealing with this for the last hour to even bring up the fact that everyone was supposed to be dressing up for their roles) looking as if she wants to fade back into the set dressing (which is actually just how the building normally looks, but still it's technically a set).

Rather than dressing in proper 70's attire and putting on a long, blonde wig, Cassie Cage is dressed for a day at the gym... a gym in a very dangerous neighborhood, considering the guns holstered on her back. And as she hears a loud crash coming from downstairs, the younger Cage adds a pair of mirrored, black sunglasses to the look and heads for the stairs.

"The movie is about them getting divorced, you idiot. This is why nobody likes hardcore wrestlers, it's still full of crap, but nobody knows how to play a role," Cassie retorts to the giant brute as she enters the room, blowing a quick bubble as she looks over the assembled crowd, "And who was the moron that thought you should be allowed around children?"

COMBATSYS: Cassie has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cassie           0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: MURDERHOUSE has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
MURDERHOUSE      0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Cassie

COMBATSYS: Brett has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Brett            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0      MURDERHOUSE
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cassie           0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Cassie has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Brett            0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Cassie
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
MURDERHOUSE      0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: MURDERHOUSE has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Brett            0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Cassie
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
MURDERHOUSE      0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Shoma has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Brett            0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0            Shoma
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
MURDERHOUSE      0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Cassie

[MURDERHOUSE]
"Well well well, if it isn't my helmet wearing, and shamefully small children, respectively. Mommy and daddy are going through some things, I certainly hope this doesn't turn you two to a life of drugs and disappointing me. 'Cause I ain't paying for that shit."

The masked man looked around at the hockey player and the baseball player, tossing that duct-taped, awful looking duffelbag aside and letting it hit the farthest wall even as he adjusted those fresh punching gloves of his. And then he heart Cassie, and when the big man looked upward at her, those freakish looking eyes of his were immediately glaring at her in hatred. Suddenly this wasn't just a roll for him anymore, this was something serious. He stalked toward the special forces operative while reaching for the back of his belt, those huge legs of his making for a walking stride that was comparable to a full-on run for a smaller fighter.

"Well well, if it isn't the bitch who broke your father's heart. I've got a little present for you, honey!"

As he closed the distance he wheeled that right hand around, holding a small canister that was spraying out into the world by the time he aimed it vaguely for Cassie's face. True she was wearing sunglasses, but there was a chance of this bear mace getting under them, or invading her nose or throat like Mick was sure had happened before. And the screams of children running away let him know that, at the very least, this stuff -worked-!

[BRETT]
Brett certainly would be the last person considered cast for either Mick's or Cassie's child, being fall too meek for either of them, and in a rather nebulous median far as size between them. But that's what the role is...not that anyone seems to really be really into their roles at this point either.

But it's hard to fake the sheer amount of confusion and near-terror at just how easily his 'father's switches demeanor so quickly. "Oh, no...." When the canister is thrown, Brett is...well, he tries to be quick about getting in the middle of things, but he's just not THAT fast about it, not at the speed that thign was thrown.

"What are you doing!..er...dad?!" he tries to get out, only just throwing in an obviously tacked on 'dad' for the role he's not even really playing at this point.

COMBATSYS: Brett takes no action.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Brett            0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0            Shoma
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
MURDERHOUSE      0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Cassie

COMBATSYS: MURDERHOUSE successfully hits Cassie with Small Thrown Object.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Brett            0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0            Shoma
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
MURDERHOUSE      0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0           Cassie

[CASSIE]
As part of Special Forces training, you have to learn how to handle it when tear gas or other canisters like that get thrown at you. Diving out of the way, kicking the canister, putting on a protective mask; there's tons of solutions to how to handle that. Unfortunately for Cassie, most of the time in training, people aren't throwing them directly at your face, and so a baser human instinct comes into play where her hands fly up to catch it.

Great job with all of that, only now instead of hitting her face and then bouncing down to the ground, she ends up holding it at eye level even longer as she's thrown into a coughing fit as she manages to send the whole thing flying back toward the stairs that should be empty.

"-Koff- Dammit, you asshole, you're worse than Mr. Nanny," the blonde brawler manages as she stumbles out of the the haze, her sunglasses in one hand as she tries to regain her site. With her eyes completely blurry from the attack and tears pouring down her cheeks, she goes for the first roughly big-guy-shaped blob she can see and reaches for her baton before charging in with a swing aimed clean for the side of the head.

It does, however, turn out that this particular blob isn't Mick.

[SHOMA]
"The heck are you doing?" demands Shoma when Mick busts out the freaking mace. The young baseball player charges the mosterously huge man, lowering his torso as he breaks into a full-on sprint. The guy is... well... it's hard to say, but Shoma aims to stop him quickly. Mick's clearly unhinged.

The Gorin pitcher hops forward quickly, in a low arc, and drives /both/ of his cleats into Mick's kneecaps!

COMBATSYS: MURDERHOUSE blocks Shoma's Goukai Kick.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Brett            0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0            Shoma
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
MURDERHOUSE      0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0           Cassie

[MURDERHOUSE]
Though the impassive leathery 'face' of his mask showed no emotion, his eyes were lit up with gleaming satisfaction at Cassie's pain, giving a chuckle before he saw the charging Shoma blitzing down the hallway. Really, the sound of those metal cleats hitting hard against the wooden floor was impossible not to hear, and that was the only reason Mick was able to drop to his knees. With those thick kneepads, and the powerful thick bones of the seven footer he didn't even feel the impact, but he felt those cleats stabbing into his front thighs. Giving out a roar of pain and frustration, the towering hulking figure looked down at the young bat-wielding youth currently on the floor.

"Runt of the litter, huh? You know I feel kinda bad fighting a kid that's still shoppin' for clothes in the junior section."

He said that, but moments later his right hand would reach down, his fingers reaching for Shoma's stomach. And if it worked, he'd press and squeeze, 'clawing' the vulnerable underbelly with a strength that was truly scary.

"Then again..."

COMBATSYS: Cassie successfully hits Brett with Back Punch.
- Power hit! -

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Brett            0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0            Shoma
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
MURDERHOUSE      0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0           Cassie

[BRETT]
This is all going south rather quickly. Brett's not able to stop the mace canister from flying into 'mom's face, Sawamu-ahem...his 'brother' is trying to 'kick' dad, and then there's the children that they have to worry about, and it shows through his rather panicked face that he has no idea how to salvage things. "It's ok, it's ok..." he mutters, making it unclear if he's acting (yeah, right), reassuring the children, or reassuring himself.

It really doesn't amount to much, mind, because he finds himself suddenly facing a sweeping punch that comes out of his blind spot. "Wha-" He tries to get something up to intercept it, but it's far too late, and Brett collapses to the ground rather hastily. He's not down for long, but the shot seriously rang his bell for sure. "Ughnnn..."

Lifting his head up, his helmet ends up covering most of his expression again...at least until he pushes it away and shows a set jaw and a rather stern expression. Panic gone now, he charges with his shoulder low at 'mom', trying to slam into her forcefully full-bodied.

COMBATSYS: Shoma blocks MURDERHOUSE's Quick Throw.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Brett            0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0            Shoma
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
MURDERHOUSE      0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0           Cassie

COMBATSYS: Cassie interrupts Medium Strike from Brett with Nut Kracker.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Brett            0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0            Shoma
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
MURDERHOUSE      0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0           Cassie

[SHOMA]
Shoma brings the bat up and around to stave off the reaching hand. He winces at the shock that runs up through his arm; the man is brutally strong. He slides to a stop, coming up in a low crouch. His empty hand reaches behind him, going for a pouch at the small of his back, and pulls a baseball free.

He doesn't have time for anything fancy. He can't really set for a /proper/ pitch from the position, but it'll have to do.

Shoma slings the baseball at Mick's head. Mostly for the reaction, but partly because bean balls are a thing.

COMBATSYS: MURDERHOUSE Toughs Out Shoma's Thrown Weapon!

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Brett            0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0            Shoma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
MURDERHOUSE      0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0           Cassie

[CASSIE]
After landing the hit, Cassie Cage is still trying to clear her eyes as the burning overwhelms them. Looking through the heavy haze that is what remains of her eyesight, it starts to look as through things aren't entirely what they appeared to be. There are quite a few more blurry blobs than the one she'd seen first and assumed had to be the blob that had thrown the mace at her.

But there isn't a whole lot of time to think things through as the blob starts to come rushing up at her and in a moment of highly trained instinct, Cassie drops down to her knees, clutching both of her hands together and then slamming them forward into the blob's crotch with an unpleasant crunch.

That crunch, it turns out, is the sunglasses she'd been holding onto getting crumpled into pieces, small bits of colored glass slipping out between her fingers as she draws them away. "Dammit, not another pair..."

And then she looks up to see just whose balls she'd busted and realizes something else, "Wait, you're not the giant butthole. Sorry about that, I couldn't see very well, but I'll give you first post rights on a selfie with me after the match."

[MURDERHOUSE]
Shoma was lucky he avoided the dreaded Iron Claw, one of the most disabling and devastating moves in wrestling, the secret of which was closely and jealously guarded by wrestlers everywhere. When Shoma rushed upward, Mick lazily lifted his left leg, still there on the ground on his right knee, and looking around at the fight. In He shook his head at the sight of Brett getting nut crunched, calling out even as Shoma, unknownst to him, was unfurling a secret weapon.

"What's why you wear a cup, idiot son of mine! Goddamn, you wanna have kids late-

"THUNK. Mick turned right into a baseball smashing that leathery masked face of his, the ball ruined from the impact, flat on one side even as twine and whatever else was exploded out the other side. It fell to the ground and Mick looked at it for a few moments, before glancing back up at Shoma. Those eyes of his(no irises, just pupils) were glaring up at the young lad, as if the giant were considering something.

Luckily for the young baseball player, Mick decided to go for the more annoying target. The second Cassie got herself up, if she did, Mick would whirl around still on one knee, and run forward bent down in an attempted tackling spear. Whether or not he made impact he'd leap up into the air, smashing himself(and hopefully the younger Cage cousin) right through the plywall and into the living room filled with screaming children on the other side.

[BRETT]
Doesn't seem like anything is going right currently for Brett. Sure, he was in game mode now, but...that doens't seem to help much when the first thing you run into when trying to defuse the situation physically is a sudden double-fisted slam to his crotch.

He has a cup, mind. It...doesn't help much, if at all. The shock just goes straight through it. Which might be better than being the source of whatever crucnh happened, but it doesn't make it any better for Brett.

The offer of a selfie does little to make up for it as Brett falls to his knees, stopped cold easily. But just because he's tending to a low blow doesn't mean he's done, grabbing the stick he had still on his back and sweeping it low. He spins, grimace on his face as he moves tenderly, trying to sweep the stick up with every spin and catch 'mommy dearest' up in the spinning strikes.

COMBATSYS: Brett successfully hits Cassie with Wild Spiral.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Brett            0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0            Shoma
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
MURDERHOUSE      0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0           Cassie

COMBATSYS: MURDERHOUSE successfully hits Cassie with GORE! GORE! GORE!.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Brett            0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0            Shoma
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
MURDERHOUSE      0/-------/-----==|=======\==-----\1           Cassie

[SHOMA]
Shoma watches for a moment as Murderhouse leaps for Cassie. 'Well,' he thinks, 'Just just won't do.' Shoma spins on one foot, before kicking into a chi-fueled leap. Trails of red and orange light spray from his feet as Shoma brings his knees up to his chest.

"YOU KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!" the pitcher screams.

Right before he drives those cleats, the energy still spinning and spooling around them, directly into Mick's spinal cord.!

[CASSIE]
Being trapped in a pincer attack is never good, from a strategy point of view. Right now Cassie is between two very dangerous threats with no clear way out. The first step would be to attempt to get out of the way of the suddenly spinning threat armed with a hockey stick. She moves to roll for open ground, but the hooked stick catches her in the side and traps her in place. With freedom of movement no longer being an option, Cassie instead has to settle for trying to hold back against the giant coming in for the finisher they give to people who don't know how to actually wrestle.

That also doesn't work as Cassie is violently freed from the spinning assault only to be sent crashing through a wall only to be greeted by the sound of screaming children.

"Fuck this, Dustin Hoffman isn't even that good!" Cassie shouts, making use of the single allowable 'f-bomb' at a PG-13 rating and slowly pushes back up to her feet. "And nobody actually cares about Kramer vs Kramer anymore. You idiots didn't even make a goddamn 'Hook' match."

And then things suddenly get a bit more tense as Cassie whips out one of her pistols and in three quick motions shoots Mick in both his kneecaps and one right fore the forehead. In the moment, it looks quite a good deal like the rating (and law) were broken, except for the fact that on closer inspection each shot was a bright green non-lethal round rather than a full metal jacket of death.

With Mick, hopefully, brought to his knees, Cassie walks up to him, pulling the gum out of her mouth and planting it dead center on his forehead. All the way from her mouth, it starts to glow green, and once its placed, it suddenly begins to expand into a bubble fueled by chi until it finally explodes.

COMBATSYS: Shoma dazes MURDERHOUSE with Base Stomp!

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Brett            0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0            Shoma
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
MURDERHOUSE      0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0           Cassie

COMBATSYS: Cassie successfully hits MURDERHOUSE with Between The Eyes.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Brett            0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0            Shoma
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
MURDERHOUSE      1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0           Cassie

[MURDERHOUSE]
Girl and wrestler both smashed through a wall, hitting the wooden floor hard enough to crack it even as Mick rolled to his back, and slowly worked his way to his knees. He was just pushing off of the ground when a pair of cleated feet backed by energy hit his shoulder blades hard enough to put take the giant completely off-balance. He tripped over a couch and smashed, mask first into the glass coffee table that was set up with magazines, pens. And scissors.

When Mick finally clawed his way to his feet, the big man had shards of glass stuck to his shoulders and down his arm, and somewhere up above his mask he must have been cut because blood was running down even as he shuffled forward like a zombie. This made it easy for those pad-covered knees of his to be hit with bruising, agonizing force, enough to drop him once again. Even on his knees he came up almost to Cassie's...chest, but he was looking up the girl's eyes even as his head rocked back from a second impact. The glowing green bubble was almost comical, and the explosion was painful enough that Mick roared and snapped his head around, blinking his eyes until suddenly, Mick was glaring up again. But this time, he was more focused. Fist clenched, it came upward, trying to pay the young Miss Cage the same nicety she paid Brett earlier. What was good for the goose!

[BRETT]
It seems all pretenses of following the movie are all said and done, which is probably for the better. Brett really doesn't know Kramer v. Kramer at all either, much less the kids here...either way, he finally manages to to SOMETHING in catching Cassie up in the Wild Spiral and leaving her dazed enough for Mick to barrel straight at her. That leaves....

Well, that leaves Shoma, his classmate. The one who just stomped at his partner's spine. Normally, Brett would actually be a little intimidated by Shoma, just because of how...large he carries himself compared to the actually taller, but gentler hockey star. But in the heat of battle?...well, he just goes straight for it, trying to flip straight on to Sawamura and crash the heels of his skates down into him with a forward somersault.

COMBATSYS: Shoma fails to interrupt Falling Star from Brett with Fishing Swing EX.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Brett            1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0            Shoma
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
MURDERHOUSE      1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0           Cassie

COMBATSYS: Cassie blocks MURDERHOUSE's Fierce Punch.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Brett            1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0            Shoma
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
MURDERHOUSE      1/----===/=======|==-----\-------\0           Cassie

[SHOMA]
Short Man Complex? It's a /thing/.

Shoma lands not-so-lightly on his feet, rubbing one finger under his nose with a wide grin on his face as he and Cassie cause more than a bit of trouble for Murderhouse. The shadow looming over the home run slugger is the only warning he gets.

Sawamura whirls, and drives the larger end of his basebal bat at Brett's midsection, only to have the thrust go wide. The skate slams into shoulder with crushing force, driving the batter into the floor! Shoma just... stays there for a moment.

[CASSIE]
There's a massive downside to attempting to use the Cage Family Secret against Cassie, and that was the fact that she had sparred with Johnny Cage plenty of times. The elder Cage had been the one of come up with the maneuver and make it iconic, Cassie had simply enlisted that particular strategy partially to give Johnny a taste of his own medicine.

When it came to the low blow, Mick was no Cage. Cassie seems to see what the intended target of the rising uppercunt is and moves immediately, slipping back and catching the rising blow with an open palm that's thankfully somewhat protected by her fight gloves.

"I don't know how we're supposed to have gotten these kids, because there's no way I'm letting you anywhere near that region, 'pops.'"

With Mick getting to his feet, Cassie drops low, planting one hand on the ground and then suddenly kicking up as her entire body is surrounded by the same green glow from the gun. Quickly rocketing up with a rising kick aimed to catch MURDERHOUSE in the jaw, she suddenly twists about in mid-air above him and follows through with a sharply angled dive that seems to spit in the eyes of physics.

COMBATSYS: Cassie successfully hits MURDERHOUSE with Assault Force.
- Power hit! -

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Brett            1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0            Shoma
[                            \\  < >  ///////////                   ]
MURDERHOUSE      2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|===----\-------\0           Cassie

[BRETT]
With the crushing heel drop hitting its mark, Brett gets his feet back beneath him, low to the ground as he seems to take what's more like a football linebacker's three-point-stance more than anything hockey-related.

With the other half of the fight going off, the Gorin student decides to try and up the tempto, charging straight toward his classmate in an attempt to grab hold of his collar.

What would happen is...well, not anything the kids wouldn't see in a playoff hockey game featuring the Metro City Citizens. If he could catch Shoma, Brett would hammer in an elbow. Then another, then another, the swings repeating and widening until they became more like punches, before finally finishing off with an upward swing from the heel of his hockey stick to knock Shoma upward for good measure.

[MURDERHOUSE]
Well, things weren't going good for "MURDERHOUSE" Mick. The man had just staggered shakily to his feet when a green-glowing foot collided into his meaty frame, and sent him through the ceiling of that lovely looking home, his arms limp at his sides and his eyes starting to roll back in his head...

When a second kick smashed him down through that second story floor, causing him to travel through the air and smash through the floor AGAIN. His fingers were twitching, his right foot occasionally kicking out, his breathing heavy and slowing down.

But he SAT UP, in that crater in the floor Cassie had made, Mick sat back up, and after a few punches to his own masked face(still covered in glowing green bubblegum, that wasn't good), the behemoth began to climb, back up to that massive, giant-sized ceiling hole.

Waiting until Brett was all finished and hopefully launching Shoma up, Mick would leap from his newfound purchase, hands and feet all spread out as he aimed to catch Shoma with his own torso and midsection, which would not be a fun landing for the young baseball-chucking youth. If this hit, Shoma would be caught between the floor, and nearly three hundred pounds of sweaty grungy wrestler. That was not the kind of 'impact' the young lad likely wanted to make on the professional fighting circuit.

COMBATSYS: MURDERHOUSE can no longer fight.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Shoma            0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0           Cassie
[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Brett            0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Shoma endures Brett and MURDERHOUSE's MURDER Street.

[                         \\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Shoma            2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|===----\-------\0           Cassie
[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Brett            0/-------/-------|

[SHOMA]
Sawamura did not get to his feet in time. What happens to Shoma does not bear contemplation. Brett pummels him, and then Murderhouse drives him through the floor of the house with enough force to cause the building to shake on its foundation. It's most likely a lost cause.

A second pauses, and then another, before a yell of pure disgust and frustration is heard from the landing sight. There is a flare of ubiquitous battle aura, and Murderhouse is /launched/ from the hole in the floor. Shoma drags himself out a bare second later, and simply glares at Brett. Some of this is the hockey-player's fault. Shoma whirls the bat around once, and then levels the oversized swatter at Neuer. He sets into a batting stance, and points at the wall directly behind Brett before charging.

Shoma closes the gap between the two in a second, bringing the bat around in a crushing arc. The swing is apparently so fast that the air around the bat catches fire as it drives directly towards Brett's abdominal region!

[CASSIE]
"...Damn, that kid's way tougher than you'd think," Cassie says as she watches Shoma get back out from under all the violence that had very suddenly been thrown his way and get right back into the fight. After everything that had happened so far, and just how much it had hurt her to get assault from both sides by those two, (which gets weird if you want to make the obvious joke and then consider that one of them is playing the part of her 'son'), the fact that Shoma was going back strong was amazing.

But now that Cassie had a moment to breathe, she really needed to catch her breath. The younger Cage walks over to the wall and slumps back against it and gets out her phone, quickly offering some Retweets to the responses to her latest Twitter post with one hand as the other pulls out a piece of gum, unwraps it, and pops it into her mouth.

COMBATSYS: Cassie pops in a new piece of gum.

[                         \\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Shoma            0/-------/---<<<<|==-----\-------\0           Cassie
[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Brett            0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Shoma successfully hits Brett with Homerun Hitter.

[                         \\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Shoma            0/-------/---<<<<|==-----\-------\0           Cassie
[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  <
Brett            0/-------/--=====|

[BRETT]
Backing away after pummelling he gave Shoma, Brett was witness to the sight of the giant flying thorugh the air, and crashing both him and Shoma through the floor. IT's a sight that gives him pause, blinking blankly, right up until Mick's body is flung through, and Shoma pulls himself out, glaring straight at the winger.

Gritting his teeth, not out of anger but out of preparation, Brett steels for the worst...and the worst is what he gets as Shoma swings for the fences at him. Brett tries to catch it but can do precious little but eat it straight on his center mass, the force sending him crashing into a wall, and thankfully (or is that regrettably?) not through it. Instead, the Minnesotan drops to the ground flat, face first, a pained groan as he tried to pull himself back up.

He's in pain, but not out of it yet. And with Cassie on the side, minding her own business, it's become Gorin vs. Gorin. Picking his stick back up, the young Mr. Neuer gripped tight and set it in his hands, before barrelling in. He doesn't swing for the fences like the baseball star does, but he does go for the high slash, trying to strike the heel of his stick straight across Shoma's chest on the pass.

COMBATSYS: Shoma interrupts Power Strike from Brett with Fast Ball EX.
- Power hit! -
-@- Dazing Hit! -@-

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Brett            0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0           Cassie

COMBATSYS: Shoma can no longer fight.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Brett            0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0           Cassie

[SHOMA]
Shoma is already reaching for a second baseball when Brett comes charging in. There's... not really much Shoma can do but throw that fast ball. So he does, uncorking 70 MPH fast ball that...

...if the throw hit, Shoma wouldn't know it. Brett's shot crashes into his chest, laying the pitcher out flat with a *HURK!* of impact. This time, the young man stays down.

[CASSIE]
And there goes her team mate in an incredible final throw. Cassie actually winces as she witnesses the impact that sends the smaller of the two atheletes flying away like that. Clearly that means that there's no more time available to catch her breath, and so Cassie puts her phone back to sleep and puts it away before cracking her knuckles.

"So, I guess this is the part where I'm supposed to tell you that I need to give you a spanking after what you did to your 'brother,' right?" Cassie asks as she moves in to take advantage of opening Shoma had managed to open up for her, lunging in to let loose with a frenzied series of punches clearly intent on overwhelming whatever defense the hockey player can mount.

COMBATSYS: Cassie successfully hits Brett with Rapid Jabs.
- Power hit! -

[                           \\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Brett            1/---====/=======|==-----\-------\0           Cassie

[BRETT]
Brett might have been able to send Shoma flying, but the pitch managed to slam into the kid's head before the baseball star went down. And as anyone who's been hit by a baseball can tell you, you don't recover from getting dinged like that fast at all.

With his vision blurred and balance all thrown off kilter, Brett finds himself struggling to stay upright, much less fight against the storm of punches Cassie snaps at him, but even then, his stumbling ends up meeting the punches in the worst way on top of everything. Blow after blow comes, until Brett simply staggers away...and falls back. Not quite the dramatic fall from either Mick or Shoma, but he's no less unconscious for it.

COMBATSYS: Brett takes no action.

                                  >  ///////////////               ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0           Cassie

COMBATSYS: Brett can no longer fight.

                                  >  ///////////////               ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0           Cassie

[CASSIE]
And just like that, Cassie Cage is the last one standing.

Looking around the damage, and the children that seem to be cowering in the corner of the horribly smashed room, Cassie pauses before saying, "So... I won, but, like, based on the movie, am I supposed to surrender the fight to them or something? What asshole came up with theming a fight based on a drama just because Dustin Hoffman is in it?"

There's a bit of a pause before Cage smiles at the kids, "Everything's alright, it was just a fight. You guys want to get huge on Twitter?"

While the medical staff goes about examining all the other competitors, Cassie takes a bunch of time to hang out with the kids, managing to work them back up to smiling and happy, especially after she gets the Johnny Cage merchandise that she'd brought along to hand out to all the children, then they all squeeze in around her as she sticks out her phone, pursing her lips as she snaps a quick pic where they're all crowded in, with the busted room on clear display behind them.

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Cassie Cage @ccc 0s

brokn homes r bad 4 kids, give a chance with @MCBnGC #cassiecares #snf #donthitkids

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Log created on 20:03:21 08/14/2016 by Cassie, and last modified on 02:08:44 08/15/2016.