Match of the Millennium

Description: On the quiet and peaceful beach of Shang Tsung's island, two warriors will face one another in Mortal Kombat! Who shall emerge the victor - the crazed minion of Chaos or the witty agent of the Law?

[SORCHA]
When most people think of the beach they imagine a scene of warmth and relaxation. Broad stretches of golden yellow stretch out for miles in both directions overlapped by foamy blue-green at its edges, the loose brush-strokes of some great painter blending the sand and water together with immaculate skill. A brilliant glow hangs over everything, the shimmering light of a midday sun casting the already vibrant scenery into even more cheerful tones. Dozens of people litter the shores as far as the eye can see, slowly shifting from individuals in bikinis and swim trunks into more and more indistinct shapes as the distance grows until those at the edge of sight become mere dots of smudged color blended seamlessly upon the massive canvas.

The beach on the island of the sorcerer Shang Tsung does not fall far from this idyllic vision of serenity. The sand of the beach stretches out in a gentle crescent around the outer edge of the island until it hits the edge of a formation of towering rocky cliff faces some distance away. The day is warm and the skies clear while a gentle breeze rolls in from the sea providing what might be considered the perfect weather for being outside. The sun shines brightly overhead stroking its gentle rays of gold across the beach and the thick jungle that rises up from the interior of the island to greet it. It's a little slice of paradise.

Or, it should be. Despite it's shining exterior, there is something about the island that feels a little bit off, a missing element in the tapestry it attempts to weave. Those in tune with their surroundings or simply those more used to living in places where nature is abundant might pick up on it rather quickly but even the dull-witted can eventually come to realize the source of the problem.

There are no signs of life on this island. A massive tropical habitat such as this should be home to many creatures, monkies, snakes, great cats, lizards, and all manner of such things. Even the insects seem to be absent from this place. Naturally, there are no throngs of people here either, no bustling crowds enjoying themselves on the beach or in the water. Though the backdrop has been set for a place of great beauty, there is no life to it, no heart to the various elements that have been placed here. A work of art, perhaps, but one created by a souless machine attempting to mimic the natural world through emotionless input.

The beach is not entirely devoid of activity, however. Down some distance from the winding pathway that leads through the jungle and up to the ancient castle, stands a small gaggle of robed individuals. Despite the presence of several comfortable looking rocks worn smooth by years of erosion, they all stand in stony silence like a collection of gargoyles. A dozen of the masked warrior-monks that consist of the majority of this island's inhabitants, they stand in regimented lines at one end of the beach, their ranks two-deep and three across on either flank of a small figure seated in the sand. It is difficult to tell much about the person at a distance for their entire body is draped in some sort of white blanket or towel, tied about their neck so as to function as a cloak. Seated as they are, it shrouds everything except their head, which reveals little except perhaps a good guess as to their gender.

Sorcha sits as she has for atleast an hour or two now, her torso slumped forward into a hunched-over posture that can't be particularly good for her back, not that she cares about such things. Her head rests loosely in the air, her eyes half-lidded, mouth curled up in a grimace of pure mind-crushing boredom. She would be using her hands to provide a pedastal to rest it upon were they not currently tied quite firmly behind her back underneath the shroud.

For atleast the hundredth time, she turns to look up at one of the faceless guards and sneers at them, flashing her twisted shark-toothed grin, but as usual they ignore her; mostly. There is a subtle shifting of postures, hands gripping the hafts of spears a little more tightly, feet shuffling slightly in the sand as if preparing to move swiftly as a moment's notice. The mage considers playing a game with these dour sods, but the lack of activity has left her sluggish and her mind struggles to find something properly insulting. The last time, she had managed to run off into the jungle before they could catch her and was halfway up a tree, climbing with nothing but her clawed feet and teeth, before they discovered her. She hit atleast half of them with coconuts before they dragged her down. The time before that she had used a little chaos magick to set the hoods of their robes on fire, which they didn't discover until it had spread enough to begin consuming the entire things wholesale.

That was two sets of guards and about six hours ago and before that she had led what passes for the local constabulary on a merry chase throughout the halls of the castle for several days before they finally pinned her down. She has yet to play with the new lot but it would seem that word of her antics had been passed on to the replacements and they had been quick to smack her over the head or jam their spears in her face if they thought she was getting any ideas. She can still feel several of the sore spots where there's sure to be a knot or two.

Suddenly, the becloaked figure of the girl simply flops over on the beach and starts to roll around and kick her feet like a spoiled child, letting loose a whiny cry of annoyance.

"Waaahahaha! This suuuucks! I'm so BORED!"

The response is immediate. Twelve spears snap down into place almost in unison, their deadly points aimed in a semi-circle at the white-cloaked figure. Sorcha pays them no mind and simply continues to make aggravated noises as she flops around like a beached fish, desperately wishing something - anything - would happen to relieve her of this hellish /QUIET/.

"Hey. HEEEEY!"

Sorcha suddenly calms down and rolls back over to the feet of the nearest guard, stopping only when the lowered point of his spear jams into her side. She stares up at him, her chaotic eye glimmering along its mundane sister with barely controlled desperation.

"Let's do something. How about board games? Board games! Chess? Checkers? Backgammon? Monopoly? Chute and Ladders?! SOMETHING?!"

[CASSIE]
Most of the time making a big splash on your first day somewhere new can be a great start, getting people to take notice and remember just who you are.

That's not entirely true for Cassandra Cage, who managed to be part of a rather spectacular show the first night on this awful island when she stood up to Reptile as part of Shang Tsung's initial ceremony. If it hadn't been for that girl who was some sort of... special something with her talk about gods and proper rules, Cassie Cage would be as dead as the art house crowd wished her cousin's movie career was.

And apparently that was cheating, because somehow a bunch of Elder Gods had decided that Cassie Cage was a Champion of Earthrealm, and that was a really big problem, because she'd managed to figure out that being a Champion of Earthrealm meant that Shang Tsung really wanted her dead.

Or maybe he hadn't appreciated her sense of humor.

Either way, she hadn't managed to find any WiFi, and not even her satellite phone was making any contact, which meant that she couldn't get in touch with Major Briggs or update Twitter this entire time.

And now apparently it was time for her to fight, again.

"I wouldn't mind if you decided it was more fun to blow this off and find someone to play Parchessi with," Cassie shoots as she trudges down along the beach toward the very obvious collection of creepy robed dudes that the island had way too many of.

For her own part, Cage had switched from her formal attire (that had been mildly ruined during the whole ugly monster dude trying to murder her thing) into her mission gear. After all, she was expecting a fight this time, and if people were trying to kill her, she wanted to be ready for it.

[SORCHA]
The sound of a voice that isn't her own is like unto a heavenly choir singing out from above. Sorcha's head whips around to spy the source of this change in her luck, eyes narrowing on the fatigue-wearing military woman. Well, that's not quite what she expected. Infact, this is terrible! So far, everyone she's met has been dressed like something out of an RPG. Robes and tunics of silk and wool with the sort of overly ostentatious decoration rarely seen outside of the livery of old-fashioned nobility. Spears and daggers were the weapons of choice of the local guards, these two far more grand than elaborate than necessary.

This vision of modern military attire clashes heavily with the scenario that Sorcha had imagined, which started out with the assumption that she had been actually pulled into a video game, kind of like Tron but with fewer laser frisbees - more's the pity. Now, she had started to think that she was simply in some alternate dimension, summoned to be the dashing hero that would save the kingdom from an impending doom. Hah! Suckers. Cassie's appearance shatters that dream though.

The small girl frowns for several seconds then peers over her shoulder back at the guard, wiggling in the sand at him. She vaguely remembers one of them mentioning something about an 'ordained battle' that she was required to attend. This must it be what they meant. She starts to shout something at the guard the but masked figure lowers his spear and withdraws a curved knife from within his robes, already kneeling down to slash at the robes binding her wrists together.

Sorcha wastes no time in exploiting her regained freedom. She throws her arms up into the air, stretching the long slender limbs towards the sky with a massive grin and a sigh. As it turns out, she has four of them, each tipped with three or four wickedly clawed fingers. The motion also casts the cloak wrapped about her body over her shoulders and what little protection it offered is tossed away as well revealing that, underneath the fancy white cloth, the little mutant is entirely naked.

Skin the color of burnt tar covers her from the neck down, almost like her entire body were one giant bruise or cancerous growth. Her curves are subtle but clearly visible, the creature's body not particularly developed in the chest or hips - just enough to clearly denote her gender.

Sorcha twists back and forth at the waist as she stretches and a series of disturbing cracks and pops fill the air as she works the kinks out of her sore joints. After a few moments of this, she rolls her shoulders and turns to face Cassie, her humor already beginning to return to it's near maniac levels as she giggles eagerly.

"Kehehehe! So, you're the one I've been waiting for, huh?"

Sorcha wiggles her fingers in the air and a faint glowing pinkish light begins to build in the wide lidless eyes set into her palms. She had tested her magick quick thouroughly over the past week or so and it was in complete working order, chaotic whims and all! If they wanted a good show, well it would just be rude not to oblige!

"Sorry, sister, but there's not much I enjoy more than a goooood murderin'! And seeing as you came all this way, it'd be a terrible to let the opportunity go to waste!" She grins and chortles, revealing a crescent-shaped zipper of shark teeth. "So! You and me? We gonna /cuddle!/"

[CASSIE]
This is not what Cassie signed up for.

Technically she didn't really sign up, so much as get assigned to investigate the gathering with the invitation that had been sent her way, but apparently the fate of the world was in the balance, and so she'd have signed up anyway.

Well... there'd be some second thoughts if she'd known there'd be no WiFi.

But it's do or die time now, and since the second part of that seems incredibly possible in a literal sense, there's no real choice in this besides going for it. Cassie reaches back to pop the clasp on her pistol holsters as she settles into a fighting stance.

"I don't know what it is about this island where they think I want to keep fighting the freak show, but more than anything you've got the most annoying voice I've ever heard."

COMBATSYS: Cassie has started a fight here.

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

[SORCHA]
What's this? Insults?! Bestill her fragile little heart.

Sorcha's grin only widens at being called a freak. She's more than aware of her own appearance, but if other people don't like the awesome new body granted to her by the powers of Chaos, that's their problem. Besides, who /doesn't/ want more arms? You can totally do way more stuff at once!

The mutant's eyes shift down to Cassie's hands as she reaches for her guns. Sorcha slowly alters her own pose, leaning forward a little while holding her arms at her sides, elbows crooked up slightly with one finger extended on each hand so as to mimick the shape of a pistol. She reaches up with one of the upper set of arms and adjusts an imaginary hat, tilting the brim down over her face so as to cast it in shadow - in her mind atleast - as she growls in a low voice.

"You walked into the wrong saloon, hombre!"

A sudden gust of wind kicks up, stirring the cloak on the mage's back and the twin curled pigtails of black hair draping down to her shoulders. If only she had some tumbleweeds and a pair of saloon doors this would be PERFECT! Alas, chaos has not provided her with all the props, so she must simply imagine them.

Sorcha stares down her opponent for several seconds, her twisted grin never fading. The chaotic glimmer of power in her eye swirls and churns with neon pink light like a whirlpool of raw energy that is mirrored in each of the four identical copies embedded into her palms. Then, after an appropriately dramatic amount of time, during which she had played the themesong so a western she heard somewhere in her head, she moves.

"Draw!"

Sorcha's arms all whip up at once and she points the flat surfaces of her palms across the gap at Cassie. Shimmering bolts of chaotic black fire erupt from their surface, corkscrewing with dull hums of arcane power as they crash down upon the ground at her location. Each impact sets of a small but potent explosion of force and the fel fire, filling the air with the dull whump of explosive decompression and flying sand.

COMBATSYS: Sorcha has joined the fight here.

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Sorcha           0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Cassie

COMBATSYS: Cassie blocks Sorcha's Chaos Barrage.

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Sorcha           0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0           Cassie

[CASSIE]
Is everyone else in this tournament also being forced to fight a ton of really weird monster people or has she just done something to piss somebody off?

Wait, nevermind, that whole Lo Pan thing probably didn't help, but it's not Cassie's fault that the old guy is throwing himself into dumb parody territory with all of his crazy ceremony and being an evil, old sorceror.

Maybe he just didn't get movies out here?

Regardless, the fact that this crazy thing seems to want to play wild west showdown isn't really all that good for Cassie, as apparently instead of sidearms, she carries some sort of freaky energy blasts (and also extra arms, which could theoretically be considered side arms).

As the flurry of bombastic energy gets thrown at her, Cassie kicks back rather than going for her guns, crossing her arms in front of her face as she puts her right shoulder forward, which does a handy job of keeping her from taking any real nasty hit to the face from all the boom and splatter.

"I don't recall putting on a flower bonnet when I got up this morning, so I'm going to skip the whole historical reenactment thing and go straight for seeing if that terrible thing you call a mouth is legit," Cassie retorts as she darts back in, leaping over the sandy craters and then dropping back and the last minute to catch the ground with her hand as her legs go up. The moment she thrusts up off the ground, her whole body suddenly hums with an aura of green energy as she rockets her boot straight for Sorcha's jaw.

COMBATSYS: Sorcha dodges Cassie's Assault Phase.

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Sorcha           0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0           Cassie

[SORCHA]
"Kyaaaaahahahaaa!"

Sorcha's shrill voice tears at the air alongside the explosions, adding a healthy dose of nails on a chalkboard to the ear-ratting whumps of the fireballs. She doesn't wait to see the exact amount of damage done by her opening salvo - stationary targets tend to be dead targets. Her intution, or more likely, desire to run around like a crazy person, proves to be the correct choice as her opponent opts to use the sand cloud thrown up by the blasts as cover to launch an aggressive charge.

The little mutant proves rather agile and her spindly legs send her flying a couple feet to the side with a deft hop, just barely avoiding the rising boot aimed at ruining her beautiful face! Sorcha shifts directions the moment that her feet touch the ground again and she throws herself at the spec ops soldier in much the same fashion, displaying wanton aggression rather than attempting to keep herself at range.

"You want a demonstration? Aahah! Haahaha! I will CHEW your eyes like /gum/!"

True to her word, the mutant mage hurls herself on a direct impact course for Cassie, arms spread wide like two halves of a vice, ready to snap shut on her prey. Her mouth opens wide revealing and even better look at the jig-saw puzzle of triangles that make up her chompers, which she will demonstrate the 'legitness' of in the most direct fashion possible.

COMBATSYS: Sorcha successfully hits Cassie with Gimme Yer Neck!.

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

[CASSIE]
Not good.

A good boot to the face would have done a lot to help Cassie's side of this whole thing, but having this crazy thing running around trying to mess her up is not on the list of likes Cassie put up on her Tinder profile (although given the general look of the island's inhabitants, she probably wouldn't want to be swiping right around here anyway).

Coming back down to get her boots on the ground, Cage also finds that she doesn't have a whole lot of opportunity to get moving when Sorcha comes for her again, a quick attempt is made to kick back away, but when those arms come clamping down around her, the only thing that she can do is suddenly wrench sideways at the last possible moment, pulling her neck off the menu while being forced to substitute with some shoulder instead.

Gritting her teeth in pain, Cassie is still at least able to reach back to her sidearms, suddenly bringing them forward and unloading a quick few shots at point blank range.

"Screw off, McGruff!"

COMBATSYS: Sorcha dodges Cassie's Blood Splat.

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

[SORCHA]
Shoulder isn't quite as good as neck. There's nothing nearly as succulent as tasting the life blood of an opponent gush out as you sink your teeth into that tender juicy flesh, the sounds of their gurgling cries for mercy echoing in your ears. Ah... good times. Shoulder is what she gets though and the little monster makes good on her grip, digging her teethin into the flesh and bone and gnawing like a dog, her head whipping back and forth as she tries to tear a good chunk of it out.

Unfortunately, chewing on someone's shoulder is a lot less adept and making do the whole gurgling while bleeding out thing, which gives her victim the chance to retaliate. The guns come up and Sorcha is forced to bail on her dinner, left with only the teasing aftertaste of the blood she squeezed out during those few brief moments. Worry not, she'll be back to finish up soon. She never lets good food go to waste!

The tar-skinned girl once more displays her unusual agility, the motivation of not being shot at point-blank combined with her advantageous position in their grapple proving just enough to get her clear of the muzzles as the twin pistols bark thunder. She scrambles out of the line of fire, not by throwing herself away out into the open, but by climbing up and over Cassie like some kind of demonic monkey. Her many clawed limbs prove quite effective in this task, her talons digging into her opponent's flesh and clothes as she scrambles to throw herself into an awkward forward flip over Cassie's shoulders.

Instead of letting go, however, she simply shifts her position, latching on once more, this time from behind. Her hands dig into the fatigues, biting at the flesh underneath with the nasty curved nails, however, the real threat quickly proves to be the chaotic eyes in her palms as they begin to glow ominiously with a quickly building neon pink light.

"Ahahahaaa! Stay and cuddle with dez aaaarms!"

Black fire explodes at point blank into the palms of the mage and, consequently, into Cassie herself, rising up in a whirling inferno of searing chaotic magick!

COMBATSYS: Cassie interrupts Got My Eyes On You from Sorcha with Nut Kracker.

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

[CASSIE]
This creep really needs to learn how to stand still or this fight is only going to keep getting worse for Cassie Cage. With her bullets failing to find her target, Cassie rapidly shifts them back into her holster even as she's busy attempting to determine where to move next from all of this. Being eaten is officially bottom tier on her list of desirable island getaway activities.

All of this positional trouble means that there's no real opportunity to get out of Sorcha's way as she starts to flip up over head, but coming down straight in front of a Cage when they know you're coming is a really bad idea. As Sorcha hits the ground, Cassie drops out from in front of her, hitting her knees and then slamming both fists into her crotch in an upward thrust.

"Dinner sucked, there's no way I'm going back to your place to spoon."

[SORCHA]
Getting punched in the groin is a bad time. It's one of those things that unites all of nature's creations, a shared experience of suffering and misery that is spoken with equal ease across all languages and cultures. That Sorcha is currently wearing nothing more than a cloak and a smile only makes it that much worse.

The fists slam home in the delicate cradle of her girl-bits and the only response she can squeeze out is the wide-eyed squeak of one taken completely by surprise. The fiery explosions still go off but with Cassie low to the ground, she is fortunate enough to miss the worst of the blast furnace experience, though having a magical fireball detonate right over your head isn't terribly great either. Might wanna check your hair, Miss Vanity, it's probably on fire right now.

Sorcha recovers her composure remarkably quickly from the literal low blow, coughing out a wheezing cackle after only a couple of seconds as she staggers away to create some distance between them. She grins again, though this time her teeth are grit a little bit tighter than before, and there's a clearly manic twitch to her eye that wasn't there before.

"Hahaha! Wow, and I thought I was the one being bold! KYAhahaHA!"

Sorcha shakes off the worst of the pain and straightens up, her arms coming up into the air like some kind of movie monster looming over a helpless damsel. She begins to chant something but the words are in no language that the soldier has ever heard and the arcane spell comes out as little more than audial white noise, slightly painful to listen to, as if someone is scratching on her brain. Black fire flickers to life in the mage's palms as she laces her fingers together, weaving them through several intricate patterns that also seem to utterly random and pointless, but once more cause a strange sense of nausea should she attempt to watch them too closely.

"Well, just wait ooooone second, and I'll bake you up something /nice/ and SPECIAL! Trust me, it's gonna be killer, kyahahaaHAhaha!"

COMBATSYS: Sorcha charges her next attack!

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Sorcha           0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0           Cassie

[CASSIE]
"I don't think you should bother trying to throw out lines like that if you're just going to have such terrible delivery," Cassie shoots back as she gets back to her feet, eying the now clearly threatening summoning of some horrible power that really, really hurts (but it's still probably #2 under having to listen to Sorcha talk on the list of reasons this fight is awful so far).

With no clear opening in sight, Cassie settles on a simple tactic that has worked well in the past. Something that may well give her the real advantage she needs to put down whatever is about to get unleashed:

She just runs in and starts throwing as many punches as she can.

The surge of motion forward is clean, scattering sand from under her feet as Cage barrels in on Sorcha with a pretty clear intent, opening with a few shots to the arms of the mutant and then working her way toward a rapid-fire series of fists aimed straight for her freaky mouth.

COMBATSYS: Sorcha blocks Cassie's Rapid Jabs.

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

[SORCHA]
For most people who consider themselves mages 'hit it in the face' is one of the more feared strategies which can be employed by potential enemies. Magic is a potent force to be sure but the long wind-up times tend to be their greatest downfall, particularly in solo engagements. But hey, kids! Remember how we talked about how awesome it is to have extra arms! Here's one example why!

Rather than balk or attempt to evade as Cassie rushes her, Sorcha only grins wider and stands her ground. The flurry of swift and brutal punches makes contact but not with the soft exposed ribs or the shark-like set of chompers - seriously, what does this lady have against teeth! Instead, Sorcha deftly flicks one of her many arms out to catch the first blow and the fist plows into her open palm instead of its intended target. This scenario repeats itself for every strike that the spec ops soldier unleashes, the skinny mutant almost casually swatting away each blow with a hand or an elbow at just the right time to render the assault practically worthless, as if they had choerographed the fight ahead of time.

With each attack that she bats away, Sorcha's smile grows wider and wider until the two edges of her mouth are practically touching her ears in a creepy impersonation of the Chesire Cat, and all the while the dark energies she is calling forth continue to grow in strength. After several seconds of exchanging parries and blocks with the woman, Sorcha suddenly lifts her foot and plants it square on her aggressor's stomach, pushing the two of them apart with a powerful shove. The mind-bending dance of fingers amongst her hands slows to a crawl and then stops as the energy hits its peak point, the air practically humming with raw magical power.

"Here you go, sweety! I baked you a caaaake... IT'S A SCREAM!"

As she unleashes yet another bad pun, the shimmering pink glow in Sorcha's eye suddenly shifts hue. It grow darker and more glossy, almost taking on the texture of glass or crystal and it radiates an even more vibrant light as it awakens to a new form.

Sorcha hardly seems to notice the change. Instead, she lets loose another maniacal cackle and thrusts all of her arms forward, palms extended towards the general vicinity of her opponent. She doens't even bother to aim all that much and it quickly becomes apparent that she doesn't need to. Massive balls of wildly flickering shadowfire explode in a withering barrage from her outstretched hands, practically filling the entire beach infront of the chaos mage with violent explosions. She doesn't stop at the first wave either. Dozens more flaming orbs of destruction rain down all across sandy ground leaving almost nothing untouched and no where safe from their twisted energies.

COMBATSYS: Sorcha equips a warm Red Soul Shard.

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

COMBATSYS: Sorcha channels the veins of the burning blood.

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Sorcha [E]       1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0           Cassie

COMBATSYS: Sorcha channels the glare of the vicious eye.

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

COMBATSYS: Cassie equips a glimmering Dusty Yellow Soul Shard.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Sorcha [E]       0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0       [E] Cassie

COMBATSYS: Cassie channels the spread of the lightning nerves.

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Sorcha [E]       0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0       [E] Cassie

COMBATSYS: Cassie blocks Sorcha's Empowered Let The Galaxy Burn!.

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

[CASSIE]
This is bad.

Really bad.

There's a part of Cassie that's hoping that weird glow in the monster's face is nothing more than some normal part of her body; it's already strange enough to begin with, right? Not a chance. She'd been the one standing right face to face with Reptile when he'd pulled out that soul shard and started using it. She'd seen the way a fight that had been perfectly in her favor was suddenly flipped on its head, putting her in a spot where she was on the verge of being killed by some statue at the behest of an ancient wizard dude.

And that same wizard had attempted to drop a red one right into her hands. One that probably would have glowed a hell of a lot like that.

Whatever the hell is about to happen, it's going to be insanely bad, and there isn't quite enough time to run... which is not to say that running is a bad idea, because while Cassie Cage might not be the foremost expert on explosive energy attacks, she saw what happened when Sorcha was barely able to charge up, so this one is going to be huge.

Heroicly turning her back and running with every ounce of strength she can manage, Sergeant Cage builds a good amount of distance between her at the mage before everything starts to go really wrong and Cage launches herself up into the air, leaping for all she's got to get out on the edge of the blast, maybe use some of the force for an action hero last second leap!

And as she's trying to take flight, about to be consumed in the glow, a small spark of golden light starts to form before it seems to be completely overwhelmed by the sheer destructive potency.

And when it passes, Cassie's boots his the ground and she stumbles forward, catching herself on her hands as a faint yellow haze coats her entire body like a layer of steam. The new golden glow coming from the new crystal dog tag hanging around her neck with the official ones starts to fade as she manages to recollect herself.

"Actually, I'm going no-carbs recently, but with chompers like that, I'm sure you wouldn't mind eating lead."

It's a simple line, met with a simple motion, as Cassie reaches back for her pistol and fires a single shot dead on at Sorcha's chest.

COMBATSYS: Sorcha dodges Cassie's Blood Stain.

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Sorcha [E]       0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1       [E] Cassie

[SORCHA]
The joke is an old one but a classic that has endured for ages, likely since the invention of the gun. It's been used by wild west outlaws, dusty old sheriffs, action movie heroes, and villanous masterminds alike. Usually, however, it is just that - a joke. Someone apparently forgot to tell that to Sorcha.

Thrilled at her own display of wanton destruction, the twisted little mutant lets loose a giddy giggle as the terrain begins to deform under the warping influences of her chaotic power. The sand bubbles and churns like boiling water in a giant cauldron, thick goopey bursts of molten black tar popping into the air and showering the beach with miniature molotovs as they burst high overhead. The cliff face behind their impromptu fighting arena begins to writhe and shift, the jagged outcroppings of solid stone flowing into long twisting tendrils of living earth. They flail about aimlessly, sightlessly sweeping their grasping limbs about with no purpose other than to crush whatever slides into the monstrous embrace. In some places the fire continues to burn and yet consumes nothing, simply becoming an ethereal layer of haunting light atop the golden sand and gently curved palm trees.

Chaos, pure and simple.

When Cassie lets loose her one liner followed up by the punchline of a single bullet, Sorcha simply turns and opens her mouth, chomping at the air as if by pure instinct. The loud report of the gun is met not by a dull wet thud as the bullet penetrates soft flesh but a sharp horrible screech as if metal is scraping upon metal. The little mage grins and in so doing draws her lips back to reveal the bent and mangled bullet clenched neatly between two of her jagged teeth. She shows the worthless projectile to the soldier woman and then bites down hard, slicing the chunk of lead in half and chewing the remains.

"Mnnngh. Needs more spice! Try this!"

The mage lifts her hands in a gesture that should be terribly familiar by this point, palms extended, the eye within open wide and staring as it begins to glow. Another barrage of chaotic fire flies from her hands, but rather than the massive fireballs that have bent hurled at her thus far, the mutant opts for a volume of fire approach. Dozens of small flaming missiles fly across the gap, wildly spinning like drunken hornets as they twist angrily through the air to come crashing down all around Cassie.

COMBATSYS: Sorcha channels the veins of the burning blood.

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

COMBATSYS: Cassie dodges Sorcha's Chaos Magick!.

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

[CASSIE]
You can only throw so many flaming balls of chaotic magic at someone before they start to get an idea of just what's going on.

And the big one was enough for Cassie to really not want to get anywhere close to them.

As Sorcha begins to charge up the energy, Cage is already getting up to her feet, offering a quick glance to her pistol as she double checks her shot count in her head and then quickly moving to charge in past the pool of churning cauldron of gross that has taken over most of the battlefield.

Okay, so sure it's a lot of horrifying death magic, but it still needs to travel, and it appears to mostly travel in a straight line. It's not that different from weapons fire, and she had to dodge plenty of that on that mission to Kabul. It's all about throwing off their timing so they shoot where you won't be.

As Sorcha's charge begins to reach its maximum, Cassie throws a hitch in her step, her forward moving slowing significantly just as they start to fire, but she digs the toe of her boot into the sand, letting it take her forward momentum and turn it into a sudden forward roll, with the Special Ops agent boosting out on the other side with a kick that narrowly sees her launching out of the path of destruction.

"You already tried to feed me that, but if you're all in for seconds, clearly I just need to feed you more!"

And with that, she's finally hit the straight, taking a rapid aim for Sorcha's leg and then firing, sending a bullet for each knee with the intent to disable, and then lining up for a headshot with the last one, her body taking on a faint glow that suddenly jolts into the pistol as she pulls the trigger.

If it doesn't take the monster out, it sure as hell would make it hard to move before Cage is right on top of the beast, reaching into her mouth and pulling out her wad of bubble gum, a faint green aura surrounding it as she plants it dead center on Sorcha's forehead.

"And this is for after dinner."

As Cage steps back, the gum begins to inflate, the energy in it glowing brighter until it reaches the tipping point and explodes.

COMBATSYS: Cassie channels the strength of the killing fist.

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

COMBATSYS: Cassie successfully hits Sorcha with Between The Eyes.

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

[SORCHA]
As it turns out, tactics are actually useful against monsters hurling slow moving projectiles. Not that Cassie can be terribly blamed for failing to realize this immediately, most people in Earthrealm don't really get to see the seedy underbelly of the occult world and someone like Sorcha is right close to the top of the list when it comes to crazy shit that shouldn't exist, atleast according to the average person. However, a little foot work goes a long way, atleast in this case, towards carrying the agent out of harm's way. Will it work next time? Hard to say when chaos magic is involved.

There may not end up being a next time, fortunately. In addition to her fancy manuevering, Cassie's aim is spot on and the little mutant seems to have no tricks that can save her this time. The bullets slam into her knees like sledgehammers, sweeping the spindly black legs out from underneath the girl. Sorcha lets out a cry, more out of shock than pain, as she staggers to the ground leaving her completely vulnerable to the rapid headshot that follows after.

Most people would react rather poorly to being shot in the head, typically in the sense that they would be quite dead, or would be very soon. The mage, however, takes the shot between the eyes dead on and the bullet simply bounces off, ricocheting of into the squiggly rock face with a sharp twang. Black ichor explodes from the impact point, inky blood spattering all over Cassie's fancy stealth suit. It starts to hiss and sputter like acid, filling the air with foul vapors, but doesn't seem to be eating into the fabric.

But Cassie has a fix for this too! Her bubblegum is smooshed right into the ragged pit left by the bullet, staunching the bleeding somewhat, though the cheerfully colored substance quickly begins to take on heavy black stain. That tainted darkness even transitions to the odd attack that follows as the gum quickly expands into a large bubble, half green and half cancerous black, exploding with a violent pop that sends the creature flying backwards.

Okay. Ow. That was unpleasant. As the number one super fan of not dying violently, the last few moments of her life are definately low on Sorcha's list of favorites. Things were going pretty swell up until that point. Where did it go wrong? Oh yeah, when she got shot. That should stop happening.

"Dear everyone," she mumbles as she pushes back to her feet, clutching at her forehead. "I got shot in the face! Hugs and kisses, Sorcha."

It seems that even a violent exchange like that can do little to dampen the bizzarely energetic personality of the mutant, though she is clearly reeling from the blow. Like a dog stepping out of the water, Sorcha shakes her entire body vigorously, as if that simple gesture might cast off all of the pain and wooziness. And maybe it did, because she seems to be a lot more focused afterwards.

Turning to face Cassie, the mage narrows her crystalline red eye at the agent, lips peeling back into something between a snarl and a sneer. There is a look of hatred and malice in her gaze that was not there before, a sense of directed mayhem that is now centered firmly upon her, rather than simply being caught up in the collateral of a situation neither of them could control.

"It's too early for the dessert. I haven't had the main course yet!"

Abandoning her magic and apparently her common sense, the scrawny mage hurls herself once more into close quarters combat. She closes the gap between them in a single bound, her light frame granting her inhuman agility and, if not grace, predatory style. It is her clawed hands that lead the way this time, however, all four of her arms slashing and tearing wildly as she comes crashing down like a human(?) cannonball. The teeth get used too, ofcourse, let's not be silly here.

COMBATSYS: Cassie blocks Sorcha's Turbo Violence!.

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

[CASSIE]
There is one key advantage to fighting wearing actual combat gear over fighting in just whatever clothing you can get your hands on: with combat gear and an appropriate defensive focus, you can avoid a lot of very dangerous things doing as much harm as they should be able to.

As Sorcha flows into whatever new sort of bestial rage she'd decided to try out at the moment, Cassie slips back into focusing in on how to keep herself from getting dead and goes on the defensive, maneuvering carefully through the barrage of slashing and biting by catching as many hits as she can with her arms against palms instead of claws, but more than anything else, Cassie is focused on keeping those teeth from sinking into her, making a few side steps, push-backs, and whatever else she can manage while occasionally allowing a claw to draw some blood as it slices through thinner portions of her suit.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have filled up on snacks before hand, because it's time to shut your stomach up!"

At the first opportunity she can find, Cassie lunges forward with the metal plating covering her knee, aiming to catch Sorcha with a quick strike to the gut while she has the chance.

COMBATSYS: Cassie successfully hits Sorcha with Front Kick.

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

[SORCHA]
What most people might not realize about Sorcha is that, despite her scary looks, she's little more than a teenage girl with some crazy body mods. There isn't any particular training or even really tactics behind her assaults. It's all enthusiasm and sharp things which can only carry her so far against someone with actual skill.

The armored knee finds purchase in the stomach of the wildly flailing girl and she double overs, throwing herself backwards into a desperate escape to avoid an immediate follow up. Things ain't goin' well, son! Not well at all! The heavy blow to her already bruised body is enough to introduce a fresh bit of shaking in the mage's legs as her muscles strain to compensate for the damage.

"Aaaah, I'm all chewed up, fellas! This might be the end for poor Sorcha!"

It's clear by her tone of voice that she's making a joke but there is the very real possibility that this could be her final battleground. A quick glance around reveals that she's already done much to make her mark on this place and perhaps that's all that she really needed to do. There's the twisted grove of ancient forest deeper in the island that bears the hallmarks of her magick as well, small seeds of Chaos that might yet blossom and fester into all manner of new and wonderous things.

Sorcha's glimmering gaze settles on her foe for perhaps the last time and she begins to smile, a chortling laugh building up in her throat that quickly grows to the manic cackles born out of pure insanity. She throws her hands out dramatically, clawed fingers poised as the glow of chaotic magic begins to build in her mutant eye-palms one last time. This might be her final debut but damn is it going to be something to remember!

COMBATSYS: Sorcha gathers her will.

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

[CASSIE]
Not a good situation at all.

Certainly Cassie Cage has managed to come back from a position where it seemed all but certain that she was going to end up dead to a point where the monster fighting her was beginning to show signs of weakening, but it was one of the most challenging battles that Cassie Cage has ever had to face, and she sure as hell isn't looking forward to whatever it is getting charged up right now...

Watching with careful eyes, drawn back to a distance, Cassie Cage can clearly tell that something big is about to happen, and right now it looks like the only thing she might have in her favor is the fact that it doesn't look like Sorcha can move around a hell of a lot at the moment. Maybe if she's too focused on this magic and not focused on bouncing around, the bullets will continue to find their use, and they've proven to be her only advantage thus far.

Attempting to circle around from a new angle, Cassie pulls out her other pistol, and lines up her shots, suddenly letting lose a quick flurry of bullets toward Sorcha. Kill or not, if they hit they'll hopefully at least keep her from finishing whatever this spell is.

COMBATSYS: Sorcha channels the veins of the burning blood.

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

COMBATSYS: Sorcha overcomes Blood Splat from Cassie with FEED MEEEEE!.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Sorcha [E]       0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0       [E] Cassie

[SORCHA]
The crazed laughter dies off as Sorcha notices her foe moving to attempt to counter her build up of magic. She bares her teeth in a fierce and predatory grin, showing no signs of fear or retreat in the face of her impending doom. To be honest, she's been expecting her death for quite some time now. The powers of Chaos are not meant to be controlled by mortal hands and her twisted altered body is a proof enough that even those who succeed must pay a price. It is the nature of the ever-changing void that some things are created and others destroyed with no rhyme or reason behind these acts. If she is fated to die here today then it will be on her terms.

The moment that the pistols lift and take aim the chaos mage turns and whips her arms forward, bringing all of her arms together to meet at the wrists. She twists and rotates them in various directions until her hands form what looks like some sort of puppet. The two upper hands fold back at the wrist revealing their pulsing chaotic eyes and she sits them atop the bottom pair of hands which she holds palms together creating a 'mouth'. Sorcha lifts her hands up before her, hiding her face behind it so that only the wide eyes and gaping maw of the puppet are presented towards the agent.

"Rawr, rawr, I'M HUNGRY!"

Sorcha flaps her lower hands in sync with the words as she growls in a low fake voice like that of some monster out of a children's story book. The 'mouth' of the puppet opens wide and, just as Cassie begins to fire, dark power explodes from within the two cupped palms. A vortex of twisting dark magic, raw and hungry, expands from the puppet's mouth as if the breath of some vile dragon.

Rather than expel fire or acid, however, it sucks things /in/ with a voracity that is simply staggering. The bullets vanish into the black portal that has winked to life within the girl's hands, a tiny wormhole to the Void itself, devouring all that dares fall in to its grasp. It's pull goes beyond the physical, such it is it's power, and it tugs upon the very life force of all that stands before the tiny mage, siphoning the essence of the island into her body.

COMBATSYS: Sorcha successfully hits Cassie with FEED MEEEEE!.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Sorcha [E]       0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0       [E] Cassie

[CASSIE]
All of this is going from bad to worse right now for Cassie Cage.

If it had been that weird magic that melted things like before, maybe the bullets would have been able to get through to the other side before melting completely to do some damage, but now she's trying to create portals to dark realms or something?

With no real options, and feeling like it's trying to pull her to pieces, Cassie attempts to pull herself away from this mystic black hole, but her feet slide through the sand and the only option she has left is to fall to the ground and dig her fingers in as hard as she can manage. All this really does is keep her from being pulled in, as it continues to tear at her, ripping away pouches from her webbing, containing who knows what tools that might have come in handy in the future.

Thankfully it doesn't get the pouch where she's still storing her cell phone, even if it currently doesn't have any signal.

As the void runs out its lifetime and Cassie's left with a moment to breathe, she slowly pushes herself back up to her feet, panting for breath after everything she's gone through, and moving back away from Sorcha as she searches herself for a moment, finally stumbling upon one remaining piece of bubble gum, which she unwraps and pops into her mouth.

After a few careful test chews, she gives her full attention to Sorcha, "So... I get that you're kind of some sort of monster person or something, but what the hell are you helping these assholes who are trying to take over the Earth? They had you all tied up when I showed up, and seemed to be treating you like they might just try to kill you."

COMBATSYS: Cassie pops in a new piece of gum.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Sorcha [E]       0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0       [E] Cassie

[SORCHA]
As with all things, there is a trade off for power. The sheer magnitude of effort it takes to maintain the wormhole all but ensures that it's lifetime is short-lived and after only a few horrid moments of the horrific magical vacuum cleaner it dies out. Several objects drop out of the sky where they had been in mid-flight, pelting the beach with palm leaves, coconuts, bits of flotsam, and other assorted bits of junk that seem to have been unearthed by the mage's potent spell.

Sorcha staggers backwards a few steps and falls flat onto her butt in the sand. She leans backwards on two arms, breathing heavily, her dark skin glistening with what might be sweat. That was pretty much it, the last bit of gas she had left in the tank. It was her hope that the mouthy soldier would be taken in by the vortex and cast into the embrace of Chaos itself but it would seem that there is no such luck to be had. Alas, the lords of the Void have not granted her this last act of succor.

Still, she's not about to meet death sitting down. She just... needs a moment, that's all. Then she's gonna totally punch that stupid blondie out. Yeah.

Self-delusion aside, some small part of the girl's brain is just waiting for the bang of a final gunshot, to feel the bite of a bullet into her spine or skull as it delivers her the final peace of death. Instead, she finds herself being attacked with random questions instead.

Sorcha slowly tilts her head towards Cassie, her eyebrows quirked into a confused expression. "Eh? Helping? Hahaha! Who the hell said I was helping anyone?!"

She jerks her head towards the gaggle of masked monks who, perhaps quite wisely, have relocated some distance away from the battlefield where they can watch in relative safety.

"I just showed up on this weirld little island outta no where. Poof! Aaaaaah! CRASH! Kyahahaha! Naked as a newborn baby too!"

She pulls the hem of the white cape up, which has valiantly remained fastened about her neck, and drapes it over her shoulder with a dismissive gesture.

"Some chick in the woods gave me this but I never did find my duds or my sweet hat. By the way have you seen it? Big, pointy, orange? No? Bah!" She lets out a deep sigh. "Here am I facing down the grim reaper and I can't even do it in style. Ah, what a cruel fate!"

A shrug and another sigh.

"Anyways! MORE IMPORTANTLY, I AM NOT HELPING ANYONE! Especially those jerkbutts! They chased me around for a whole week and wouldn't even play any games with me!"

COMBATSYS: Sorcha drops her guard to recover.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Sorcha [E]       0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0       [E] Cassie

[CASSIE]
This is... a difficult situation, now.

It's obvious that even as strange as this creature was, she wasn't here by choice. She didn't have any real stake in the fight.

But she was fighting for the other side, and Cassie was some important champion for keeping Earth safe. Winning here was important, not just for the fact that there was the chance she was going to end up dead, but because that bastard Shang Tsung needed somebody to teach him that he wasn't nearly as great as he thought he was.

Also, he didn't have any fucking WiFi.

Maybe Cassie could talk this creature into just giving up, or calling it a draw. Maybe there was some way out of this that didn't result in either of them having to die?

Would it be possible to find a way to get Sorcha to just drop out of the tournament completely?

She'd let her guard down to talk, this was the time to try to convince her that all of this was a mistake, right?

But then Cassie started to think about this... Sorcha didn't have any sort of reason to be helping these people. She'd just said as much herself. And yet, she'd been ready to kill for no reason. Tried to eat her.

She was volatile of the sort where she went from Canasta to Cannibalism in 0 seconds flat.

Taking a deep breath, there's just one last moment to try to decide, and on the flip of some mental coin, Cassie comes suddenly surging forward, suddenly flipping back the instant she's within reach, her foot suddenly sheathed in green energy with a deep hum as she aims to try to put Sorcha out with one surprise hit to the jaw. Nice a clean, and no need to kill.

"Sorry about this, but I've got the fate of the world on my shoulders, and I can't afford to risk it on a roll of the die. I promise I won't kill you, though."

COMBATSYS: Sorcha fails to interrupt Rollin' from Cassie with Light Strike.

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

COMBATSYS: Sorcha can no longer fight.

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

[SORCHA]
Relaxed as she might look, Sorcha isn't entirely off-guard. Being connected to a potent source of magic such as the Void alters the way that one senses the world in certain fundamental ways. Most people rely on the equipment granted to them by their human anatomy - eyes and ears - but the little mutant has a much more fundamental connection with the world. She feels it when the aggression rises up within Cassie, her own volatile nature sending a tingle down her spine as the promise of violence rings through the air.

Instinctively, the girl whips around, her claws swinging out wildly at the air even as the agent leaps into an acrobatic assault. The wicked talons hit nothing but empty space only moments after the glowing foot slams into her jaw from below. A brutal crunching noise accompanies the impact and the little mage sails backwards several feet, her body already going limp as consciousness flees her body. She lands in a loose heap on the sand, the billowing white cloak slowly drifting down to cover her like a blanket, and she lies there motionless save for the occassional twitch of one of her clawed fingers.

Looks like she's out - for now.

[CASSIE]
And then Cassie comes back down to dirt, with her feet back on the sand. There's an intense moment of concern as she wonders if the creature might be able to get back up still. She hadn't seemed like an unstoppable wall, and it had looked like she was getting just as worn ragged, but you never can tell with the unknown, right?

But that's it, and suddenly Cage is left in that draining moment where all the adrenaline starts to fade away and your whole body feels heavy.

She lived.

"FINISH HER!"

Cries one of the men in the robes, having come back forward as the fight is brought to an end. It's loud, but lacks all of the weight of conviction and power that Shang Tsung's own cry had offered.

And then the guys in the robes are very suddenly staring down the barrels of both of Cassie's pistols, "Finish her? Fuck you, you washed up Conan fodder rejects. Do you just go running around finding crazy people on the streets, shoving bits of crystals into their eye sockets and then slapping them down in front of people to get your rocks off? I don't have to kill anyone, but what do you wanna bet I can finish the whole weird minion thing and turn you into a eunuch from over here?"

As Cassie shouts at them, she lowers the aim of her pistols from center mass to between the legs and the robed men seem to be taken a bit by surprise.

"One of you assholes go get her some real clothes... maybe a tank top, because I don't know where you'd get a sweater for all of that. And then go tell your boss, Lo Pan, that I'm looking forward to bursting his grape sack... although they might have shrivelled up into raisins considering he's nearly a mummy."

And with that, Cassandra Cage survives her first step into this game of death...

...but she still doesn't have WiFi.

Log created on 19:47:47 09/25/2016 by Sorcha, and last modified on 02:48:54 09/26/2016.