Match of the Millennium

Description: With the exception of that ill-fated challenge for Nightwolf's Belt and the Majigen Series won under the most questionable of circumstances (his opponent throwing the fight after he was unconscious), Aranha has mostly stuck to being a big fish in the small pond of Underground Fighting. When the Martyr of Might comes along, he proceeds to show him that even in a small pond, there is still a chance to encounter an even bigger fish. Does the Dancing Spider have what it takes to survive?

[GRANT]
The fighters circle, squaring off against each other, arms out to either side, fingers splayed and ready. The audience cheers its approval, the crowd gathered in the intersection between four alleys, forming a makeshift ring between them. To the ordinary onlookers, its a battle between two skilled brawlers -- to the few with experience, it's obviously a show. A warm-up meant to entice in an audience -- a betting audience. It works marginally well, and the one who put it together, a tall, spindly man crying out commentary and goading the watchers into a near craze. He plays with their emotions and their anticipation like a maestro on a violin, their cheers rising and falling to his every word. When finally one of the champions 'falls' a loud groan from half the crowd is drowned out by an even louder cheer from the other half, and the two limp out from the 'ring' with bloody smiles to many pats upon the back.

"Who next will step into the ring?" the spindly man calls, moving into the midst of the audience and spinning slowly with his arms out to either side, beckoning on the next challenger. With a thud, he gets his answer, the bodies parting to either side to allow the passage of a man of tremendous height, his face hidden behind a red horned mask. He wears nothing but a cloak and the bottom half of an orange gi, and he's completely silent as he steps through and into the center of the now hushed crowd. Immediately the spindly man's expression turns sour at the prospect of finding a willing challenger from the crowd, but he's fast too recover. "Oho! We have our next fighter, and a big one he is at that!" a bit of life is returned to the onlookers as a quiet laugh spreads among them, "But you know what they say; the biger they are, the harder they fall! So who's going to make the big man fall?!"

[ARANHA]
The Dancing Spider had heard about this masked man appearing at various fight halls. He had been itching to test himself against him or at the very least, watch him in action to get an idea of where they both stood. And here he was now.

Ths wasn't his usual fighting spot in Metro City. Somewhere, Handsome Bob was breathing a sigh of relief at the fact that Aranha was here, right now. Different spot meant different rules(both written and unwritten) about getting in the ring. A man behind Aranha is about to step forward but his hand rises to block his path and instead, a significantly smaller, but still fairly muscular man wearing a black t-shirt, jeans, and black bandana with spider web motif steps forward instead getting to the barrier and launches himself upward so he can balance on it in a handstand for a few moments and then landing in the ring itself.

He gives a nod the announcer and leans on the barrier separating spectators and fighters.

[GRANT]
The masked man's eyes slide along the crowd, searching for his next opponent, waiting for him to step forward. When suddenly Aranha makes his flashy entrance -- much to the approval of the watching crowd -- his focus instantly turns towards him. The announcer's face lights up, glad to see not only a taker, but a confident and clearly experienced one as well. "There we go! Our agile friend thinks he'll be the one to bring down our silent giant, and folks, I think he might just be right!" many in the crowd need little encouragement, in their eyes this dexterous challenger was already looking like the 'hero' of the fight, while the larger man, masked and cloaked as he is, made a perfect 'villain.' "This is shaping up to be a tremendous fight, ladies and gentlemen, a fierce battle between two obviously skilled warriors! Take your bets now, while the betting is good!"

Even as he's announcing the odds, he starts backtracking rapidly towards the barrier and hops over it. Normally he'd circle around the outskirts of the fight shouting his commentary, but that was only when the two fighters in the 'ring' were known quantities. Even if he knew the Dancing Spider from fights elsewhere in the city, he was clueless as to the capabilities of the Martyr of Might as many had started calling him. "Alright, folks," he calls out after giving his men a minute or two to collect the wagers, "Betting has closed! Now, turn your attention to the ring and watch as the fight... begins!"

With the cue to start given, the crowd goes wild cheering the two fighters on.

COMBATSYS: Grant has started a fight here.

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Grant            0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Aranha has joined the fight here.

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Grant            0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0           Aranha

[ARANHA]
Aranha doesn't move in at first. His eyes are gathering information at a rapid rate. Muscle mass, limb length, are swiftly gathered and then capoeirista looks Grant right in the eyes in an attempt to gather information about the intangibles. How confident does he seem to be? Is he the type wear brutality on his sleeves? How cerebral is this particular fighter?

With the initial analysis done, he realizes he's not going to get much more information unless he attacks. He begins to sway in the dance like motion of capoeira's ginga slowly approaching and then he takes a small hop forward lashing out with an outside crescent kick to test his defenses and feel him out a bit before he decides on his strategy.

COMBATSYS: Grant blocks Aranha's Medium Kick.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Grant            0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0           Aranha

[GRANT]
The cheering and the braying of the crowd and the announcer fade into the background as the fight begins. The Martyr of Might, motionless from the moment he stepped in the ring, makes no move to break that trend. Even as he's being analyzed, he stands stock still, his eyes impassively staring out from the only two blemishes in the otherwise completely smooth surface of his mask.

When finally the first kick is launched towards him, his arm rapidly rises to catch the blow on his meaty forearm, warding off the attack with a speed unusual in one as large as him. The second the last of Aranha's momentum bleeds out from his kick, the Martyr of Might shoves back on his opponent's leg pushing it aside so that he might attempt to quickly grab hold of the other's man's ankle, reel him in, and drag him off balance so he might slam him into the ground with one oversized palm to the chest.

COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Grant's Combo Grapple.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Grant            0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0           Aranha

[ARANHA]
The slapping motion of the kick ends up losing momentum the moment that it connects with the Martyr of Might's arm and the subsequent shove spins him in the opposite direction which in turn gives him a lot to think about right before his grounded foot is snatched from under him. The Dancing Spider arches his back as he kicks upwards with the initial kicking leg and plants one of his hands down using it for balance while he flips the rest of his body up and over just in time to be forced to turn catch the oversized palm in the shoulder with a loud, meaty smack. In that one exchange, Aranha knows where he stands.

The Dancing Spider forces himself to focus, this particular man in front of him isn't like all the tomato cans he's been fighting lately. Good for the wallet, not so good for pushing himself. Auto-pilot is not an option here.

Aranha skips forward as his Timberland boots begin to glow blue covered in his energy as he lashes out with a roundhouse kick to the body, followed by a jumping roundhouse, likewise covered in blue chi and finished off with him giving his back for only an instant before performing a back flip kick delivered downward upon the head of the significantly larger man.

COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Grant with Aggressive Dance.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Grant            0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1           Aranha

[GRANT]
The Martyr of Might, swift as he may be for his size, is still not quite as quick as the dancing combatant before him. With a muffled, almost inaudible grunt, he turns his head to follow the man's rapid recovery and counter-attack from his own blow, but ultimately he's simply too slow to keep up. Even as he begins to sway his muscular frame backwards in an attempt to avoid the blue glow of Aranha's kick, it lands solidly upon his brow, driving him backwards. His stance shifts to catch himself, and he manages to remain upright. Slowly, the curved horns of his mask move with him as he raises his head again from the position it was snapped into by Aranha's downward kick.

Without a word, he suddenly takes a step backward, dropping his open palm out to the side, dark violet energy pouring off his fingers. For a moment he holds there, then with another muffled grunt and a sudden surge of motion, he steps forward and sweeps his arm around and upwards. In its wake a growing storm of that same violet energy forms and surges towards Aranha like a wave of violence.

COMBATSYS: Grant successfully hits Aranha with Kokuen-Ryuu.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Grant            0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1           Aranha

[ARANHA]
Aranha's problem isn't so much that his back is still turned to the masked mass of muscle at the tail end of the attack. It's that he was so committed to the attack that in spite of the fact that he was still looking under his arm to make sure that he was capable of seeing what he did next, he just couldn't get out of the way in time.

That violent violet energy practically blasts the t-shirt off of him exposing his grotesque scars to the world. That shirt is the least of his worries considering he's getting blasted face first into the barrier, taken completely off of his feet.

Aranha's is nothing if not adaptable. He decides to take advantage of his close proximity to the barrier and kicks off of it before launching himself glowing palms first to grab Grant's shoulders releasing a burst of chi before pushing him backwards with his feet as flips away from him.

COMBATSYS: Grant dodges Aranha's Hunting Season.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Grant            0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1           Aranha

[GRANT]
The violent burst of energy that tossed Aranha ends up being the Martyr of Might's saving grace. Even as the Dancing Spider turns the barrier to his own use, the giant of a man is already moving out of the way of the attack he instinctively knows is coming next. With barely a second to spare, he turns his frame parallel to Aranha's incoming lunge, watching silently as he sails past. When the other man lands, he shifts back to face him directly and slowly crosses his arms over his bare chest.

"You will have to do better if you wish to survive," he intones, his voice, finally used, rumbling out from his chest like a landslide and muffled by his mask. His hands shift to either side into an open position, his cloak behind him, his guard clearly down, "Come... Hit me as hard as you can. I wish to see your strength."

COMBATSYS: Grant takes no action.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Grant            0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1           Aranha

[ARANHA]
It would appear that in his attempt to make the attack look floaty and telegraphed, he actually did make it floaty and avoidable. His lips curl downward in slight disappointment in his own performance at this point. That is when the Martyr of Might drops his guard and throws down the gauntlet.

"Survive, huh?"

He's not exactly sure if he's being bluffed or if he actually means it but making it sound like his (or his sister's) survival is in question is a sure way to motivate him. Just ask Fio Tessitore. He takes a deep breath. Even if he isn't bluffing the man in front of him is just way too skilled and too powerful to not throw everything he's got at him. Trap or not, the Dancing Spider makes a decision. He goes for a rapid sprint, all semblance of ginga is temporarily discarded in order to regain that distance he lost in missing his target. His opponent's size forces him to change his delivery of the attack. He leaps into the air as he throws a powerful jumping roundhouse right across the jaw. Upon landing, he jumps back in the air as his foot hooks back the other way. Ideally his leg would hook behind Grant's neck at the back of the knee as he drops his whole weight downwards, forcing his opponent face first into the ground.

COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Grant with Face Down.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Grant            1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0           Aranha

[GRANT]
Despite what, by all appearances, sounds like a threat, there's no malice in the Martyr of Might's tone when he speaks. If anything, there seems almost to be a touch of admonishment. Just as he implied, however, he makes no move to defend himself even as Aranha charges in to make good on the Martyr's lowered guard. When he leaps to land his opening kick, the only thing the giant does his turn his mask to follow his progress, his eyes locked on his opponent the entire way up until his foot connects with his covered jaw.

Immediately, his head snaps around, the meaty thunk of the landed blow audible even over the braying of the crowd. Before he can even react, if he even had plans to do so, Aranha's knee hooks around the back of his head and yanks him forward off his feet. Someone in the audience -- likely the announcer -- has a quick enough tongue to shout out 'Timber!' over the cheers, and then with a massive thud that shakes the ground immediately near him, Grant's tremendous form lands.

For a moment, only a moment, he's still, and the crowd quiets as if waiting to see if they could hear him breathing, the faces of those who bet on the Martyr of Might turned downwards in worry, and those who bet on the Dancing Spider, showing joy.

Then with surprising speed, his hand snaps out, rapidly attempting to get a hold on Aranha's ankle so that he might hurl him with excessive force back towards the barrier.

COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Grant's Medium Throw.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Grant            1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0           Aranha

[ARANHA]
As suprisingly fast as that hand reaches out for the capoeirista/traceur ankle, the capoeirista's just as surprisingly fast in jumping over it. The Martyr of Might doesn't give him enough time for some type of flashy looking evasion. He could only perform a small hop that just barely gets him away from the grip.

It's only through dumb luck that he was in position for a fairly aggressive follow up. It was a move that if done in a capoeira roda, would change the flow of the game and make it more aggressive. In the fight halls, it was both flashy looking and brutal and the Dancing Spider was in need of brutal right now.

Aranha reaches down with one hand as a leg goes up. With the hand serving as the balancing point he flips himself up and over swinging his heel downwards and all 166 lbs of his body down upon the Martyr of Might.

COMBATSYS: Grant interrupts Heel Kick from Aranha with Ma-Heki.
- Power hit! -

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Grant            1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0           Aranha

[GRANT]
Though his hand sails through open air, Grant is quick to change his method of attack. Even as the Dancing Spider prepares for his brutal follow-up, the Martyr of Might slams his palm into the ground and //pulls//. Using his tremendous strength, he surges to his feet, using the point where his hand touches the ground as an anchor to yank himself upward.

However, Grant is not content to simply move out of the way of the incoming attack. Instead, he moves towards it, barreling his shoulder into towards the underside of his opponent's leg, aiming for the back of his knee. There's no grace or style to this move -- it's a pure show of strength. A simple move with the sole intent of meeting and subsequently crushing his opponent's attack with his own.

[ARANHA]
And what a show of power it is.

Aranha's body is sent not just flying but is sent into a wild uncontrolled spin as his neck, shoulder and arm all clip the barrier as he flies out of the ring and bowls over a few of the spectators. Clearly when this ring was built for this venue, it did not have someone with strength like Grant's in mind.

It takes him a few moments to get back to his feet but before anyone can stop him, he vaults back into the ring granted with a bit less vigor and a lot less flashiness as he did when the fight first started. He darts towards a barrier near Grant and launches himself feet first for the Martyr of Might's chest. He knows he's not going to knock him down with it, but if he can get him to stumble, he can build off of it.

COMBATSYS: Grant blocks Aranha's Sky's the Limit.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Grant            1/----===/=======|======-\-------\0           Aranha

[GRANT]
"You have fought well..."

Grant's rumbling voice cuts through the crowd's reactions with ease as he watches Aranha sail completely free of the ring. The announcer seems too shocked to make some sort of commentary, and even more so when Aranha picks himself back up and immediately charges back in, and those with money behind Aranha let out a resounding cheer.

"But it is over."

As the Dancing Spider comes hurtling at him, Grant's arm rises rapidly, and in a near imitation of his opening block, catches his opponent's attack on his forearm. However, despite blocking the attack he seems to be falling backwards all the same. Aranha's supporters cheer, Grant's deflate, but the experienced fighters, both in the ring and without, see what's happening. Rather than falling backwards from the force of Aranha's attack, Grant seems to be intentionally leaning back, his back foot glowing a fierce dark violet. Before Aranha's attack is even complete, Grant is beginning his own -- a powerful, monsterous kick aimed at the shorter man's back, a burst of violet energy trailing from the path of his foot.

COMBATSYS: Grant successfully hits Aranha with Majin Haten-Dan EX.
Grazing Hit

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Grant            0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1           Aranha

[ARANHA]
He feels his foot connect with that arm and sees the lean that his kick didn't cause. He knows the payback is coming. The angle he took made the kick just a tiny bit harder to respond to. Not so much that it rendered it impossible defend but it bought him just a little bit of extra time. That fraction of a second is what saves him.

The Dancing Spider just barely manages to land as the devastating chi engulfed kick starts coming his way. It's a movement born out of desperation but it almost works. He launches himself upwards in a back flip, arcing himself over the actual kick however his exposed back is still ravaged by the dark violet chi. He almost manages to clear the kick itself but on the descent his heel gets clipped by the kick and gets flipped over but he manages to catch himself on his palms to avoid a full on faceplant.

"I'm not done yet."

He slowly rises to his feet as he attempts to gulp in air and then he takes to the barriers once more, this time with his entire body engulfed with blue chi as afterimages follow him. He bounces from barrier to Grant and back to the barrier to do it all over again as he repeatedly attacks him from a multitude of directions and when it finally ends skids away dropping into a three point stance, once more desperately gasping for air.

COMBATSYS: Grant blocks Aranha's Joker's Wild.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Grant            0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0           Aranha

[GRANT]
"Oh?"

Grant's reply isn't mocking in the least. In fact, there's a hint of pleasant surprise that Aranha avoided enough of his kick to continue to fight, and further, that he chose to as well. With only enough time to wipe away the faint line of crimson that slides down his chin from beneath his mask, Grant drops into a semi-crouch, his arms held up to defend his head and upper body as the barrage of chi-empowered attacks begin to fall on him from every side. Each impact slides him in the opposite direction of the hit, moving him left, right, back, and forward with the intensity of Aranha's assault. With the final blow, the last inch of the lower right horn sprouting from his mask's chin breaks free and spins away from Grant, coming to a sliding stop before the feet of the stunned crowd. Already many of Aranha's supporters, sure in his victory are cheering wildly, turning to find the bookies who hold their winnings. However, the cheer of the Grant supporters stops them short as the Martyr of Might slowly rises back up to his full, towering height.

"Impressive... Perhaps you //are// one of the strong. A survivor." He rolls his head around, loosening the muscles in his shoulder and neck, before dropping into a ready stance, arms at his side.

"Dodge, this then, Survivor... If you can."

With a surge of strength, Grant pushes off from the ground, barreling towards Aranha as if he intends to tackle the Dancing Spider, but rather than lead with his shoulder, arms outstretched to catch his foe, instead his head is extended, the horns of his mask set dead ahead like a charging bull.

COMBATSYS: Grant successfully hits Aranha with Gou Dangai.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
Grant            0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0           Aranha

[ARANHA]
The heart is willing, but the flesh is weak.

The fatigue of being forced to push his body harder than he normally does just to keep up with the amazing skill and power of his opponent finally catches up to him and while he knows that he can dodge this and can practically see it coming, his body is too tired, too bruised and battered to listen to his mind and heart, in two part harmony, pleading with it to move out of the way.

The charge connects with him and his body slams into the barrier. A sickening gurgle is released from his lips as he slides to the ground, blood from his chi ravaged back smears the barrier as he falls limp to the ground.

COMBATSYS: Aranha decides that discretion is the better part of valor.

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

COMBATSYS: Aranha can no longer fight.

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

[GRANT]
"Hmmm..." Grant's curious rumbling sounds from beneath his battered mask as he watches Aranha fall. The crowd immediately erupts into mixed cheering and booing as money is simultaneously earned and lost en masse. The announcer is, for the moment, entirely speechless, and Grant capitalizes on that to approach the spindly man. His hands disappear momentarily beneath his cloak only to reappear a second later with a stack of bills and a perfectly clean, white business card. On the card is nothing more than a number printed in simple, black type, but the bills are enough to make the announcer's eyes go wide. Slowly, carefully, Grant peels off several of them and offers them to the man, before offering another, equal stack with the card tucked between them. "This is to keep you honest," he tells the man, giving him the first wad, "And this is for his medical bills. Make sure he gets to a hospital and give him the card. If I find out you let him die and took the money, I will find you, and I will slowly crush your skull with one hand." As if to demonstrate which hand he means, he lifts a fist nearly the size of the announcers head, before pulling the cloak back around his figure, turning, and striding off without a second glance spared to Aranha or even a moment to collect any winnings he might have gained.

COMBATSYS: Grant has ended the fight here.

Log created on 20:39:04 08/30/2016 by Aranha, and last modified on 22:19:38 08/31/2016.