Match of the Millennium

Description: HIgh above The Pit, the mystic and mysterious Rose runs into an increasingly pushed-to-the-brink Charlie. Will Charlie finally topple over the edge? Will Rose Soul Power save her own soul?

[ROSE]
Life for Rose on this island of the damned is not exactly pleasant. Walking back from the wastelands in the company of Ryu and Ken was at least a pleasant diversion from the sense of being surrounded by horrible, vicious ghouls - and that's leaving aside what it's like when Billy Kane ISN'T in the area.

You would think that knowing that the man who you have lived your life to confront has died would be a relief, in this situation, and yet, it is not. There is a subliminal nagging awareness in Rose's consciousness that while Vega may have managed to lose his physical form while recklessly seeking after absolute power, HE HIMSELF is nowhere near destroyed. What holds him at bay?

The tournament.

Shortly after this confrontation, or the next, Rose knows she is going to face a challenge. Perhaps even if she wins. This is why, perhaps, she looks a little distracted as she walks onto the bridge, lacking her usual subtly saucy sashay. No: she's still wearing heels because she doesn't have another pair of shoes, but she's in no way /enjoying/ herself.

Stepping out into the open space, she reaches the space of one of the lanterns and lingers there, her arms folded loosely. One hand goes up to toy with the malachite 'soul gem' at her neck, dangling as it is from a decorative chain.

[CHARLIE]
Life for anyone on this island hasn't been terribly pleasant except for those whose life literally subsists on the violence that permeates the very atmosphere here. For others, it has been a struggle for sanity as well as survival. Those who have lived through the fights rarely come away unscathed, and the visible scars sometimes aren't the deepest.

Charlie Nash himself has seen much better days. Beyond the barely healing welts, wounds and bruises upon his body marking his fights, the expression on his face is one almost never seen upon the airman's face in normal situations.

Eyes are drawn, bags beneath them as he shambles on the other side of the long stone bridge, the marked lack of sleep recognizable even from the other end. If that wasn't enough, the unfocused stare as he seems to commune with SOMETHING keeps overtaking him, puncuated by the eerie yellow glow upon his face from the gem embedded in his forehead. Those who have amassed victory on this island likely know all too well just what would be communing with the Major.

But he's been called, regardless. And duty is duty. The man has promised to see what he can through to the end, no matter the cost. And when he sees the purple haired figure at the other end of the bridge, something....softens, if only for a moment, before hardening back up. "I'd hoped...for someone I wouldn't...need to hold back against," he speaks with overdeliberation, slight hisses through his teeth as if trying to hold something back.

[ROSE]
The sight of how battered Charlie looks makes Rose purse her lips in reflex sympathy. His relatively soft response makes Rose shake her head, but once. She speaks, at least, with her predictable calm even if the poise is somewhat less. "You need not fear for me, my friend. I know that I must fight you, but I am not as frail as you may fear."

Indeed, while Rose is certainly rather /dirty/ seeming and not as glam as she might be, thanks to a poor supply of cosmetic products and comfortable naps, she does not seem particularly bruised. This is due to the exercise of Soul Power - the ultimate anti-aging treatment - but don't tell anyone.

Rose puts a hand on her upper thigh as she turns herself to face Charlie properly. "I can promise you," she says, "that I don't intend to play foul. But be cautious of the bridge in any case."

Then Rose runs her fingers over the smooth surface of that green gem. Charlie may not percieve it, but to Rose she can feel it shivering.

Just like the rest of her.

Then she snaps to attention then, shifting to lead with one foot and raising her hands in a rather dramaturgical way. The yellow scarf she had had wrapped around her neck with severe insouciance billows slightly; shimmers of light in a thousand subtle pastel hues rises from within her, billowing up the scarf. It may be a rather 'clean' sensation here in this place of horror, however distant, however opposed to Charlie, at least right now.

"I can't guarantee," Rose says, "that I could catch you."

COMBATSYS: Rose has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Rose             0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Rose equips a glowing Malachite Soul Shard.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Rose [E]         0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Charlie has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Rose [E]         0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0          Charlie

COMBATSYS: Rose gathers her will.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Rose [E]         0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0          Charlie

[CHARLIE]
Charlie might not be as sensitive to feelings and auras as some. Just never had the nack of need for it. What he is pretty good at is reading people, and even in his rather manic seeming state, his analytical eye and intuition work well enough, and the 'clean' feeling he gets from Rose as she's surrounded by odd lights is enough to help convince him of his earlier suspicions.

"Noted..." is all the words he leaves the Soul Powered one with, hard enough to talk as is with all the voices in his head, many of them begging him to stop playing around and fight.

He doesn't leave them waiting for too long, a charge in at speed that his earlier shambling wouldn't have suggested. Using the moment of Rose's lightshow, he gets in close enough, despite the precariousness of the stone bridge, to leap into the air, spinning in with a sweeping, then pistoning kick toward the mysterious woman's chest.

COMBATSYS: Charlie equips a vibrant Mustard Yellow Soul Shard.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Rose [E]         0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0      [E] Charlie

COMBATSYS: Charlie channels the glare of the vicious eye.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Rose [E]         0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0      [E] Charlie

COMBATSYS: Rose blocks Charlie's Jump Sobat.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Rose [E]         0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0      [E] Charlie

[ROSE]
Rose finds herself smiling at Charlie's remark. Noted, indeed. Of course he then comes towards her, and Rose yields a step to raise her arms up in a crossing block that prevents Charlie's foot from impacting her chest. The shock is transmitted nonetheless but it's buffered, even if she does grunt with the effort and rock backwards.

Not as much as Charlie might have liked!

She moves then forwards with shocking speed. Charlie might barely have time to leap off, to get his feet underneath him when Rose is already charging in, towards him - no, past him, her arm hooked out to grasp him and then subject him to a shimmering surge of that mysterious power.

That mysterious power is probably nice on his bruises, but its primary effect is a synaesthetic tingle throughout the entire body. It isn't necessarily painful but it is certainly not exactly pleasurable, and it would be the sort of thing that rocks one to the core -- as is the inclined pivot downwards to try and aim Charlie at the bridge itself with a shimmering spark of light!

Hopefully, anyway. "How did you arrive here?" Rose asks, either way. She is not angered.

COMBATSYS: Charlie blocks Rose's Soul Throw.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Rose [E]         0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0      [E] Charlie

[CHARLIE]
The kick was as much a test as anything. Not so much of Rose, but of his own situation. It didn't take much for him to realize how his body was only moving properly once a fight was promised. Perhaps no true surprise considering what the clamor of souls in his head kept asking for him. Not to mention the precariousness of the stone bridge, his dash meant to test both how solid it truly was as well as how well he'd be able to maneuver on it at all.

But it's clear he's hardly the only one with speed as Rose reacts and manages to grasp out at him almost as soon as his feet touch the ground from the sobat kick. The feeling is strange, like an ice bath of light, without the change in temperature.

It's only his own reflexes that keep him from impacting the stone hard, tucking in and minimizing the impact as much as possible with a faint role upon landing. It only does so much, but it means the difference between a sore neck and a broken back.

Taking in a deep breath as he remains in a crouch a few meters away from Rose, his eyes take a harder turn. "I was invited..." he manages to get out, before rising to his feet with a flare of energy around one fist. Swiftly, that fist slashes through the air, the chi infusing with the vacuum wave created and surging straight for Rose from a distance.

COMBATSYS: Rose reflects Sonic Boom from Charlie with Soul Reflect.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Rose [E]         1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0      [E] Charlie

[ROSE]
Rose exhales with force as Charlie tucks in, rolls and rises up into a crouch. She lands, straightening, and says, "Is that so? I was summoned, myself. I do not mean conventionally, either - like an angel, perhaps, or a demon, I was called into a circle from my very bed. Most alarming--"

Rose can't keep talking for a moment. Why? Because Charlie threw a burst of vacuum-infused chi - or is it the other way around? - at her. The spiralling disk moves straight and true, not as fast as a bullet but perhaps as fast as an arrow. Rose's fist raises upwards, the scarf seeming to coil round her hand and forearm as her eyes thin.

It isn't her fist that hits that positive void in the air.

It's the scarf; glimmering. It seems to coil around the bursting shock of infused energy, and there's a sense of something reversing. A sensory impression of chi being inverted somehow? Or is it just because now that sonic boom is flying back towards Charlie!

Either or. Rose finishes her thought. "- And troubling too; perhaps I was wanted, and they knew I would not come if they sent a letter in the mail..."

COMBATSYS: Charlie channels the spread of the lightning nerves.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Rose [E]         1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0      [E] Charlie

COMBATSYS: Rose successfully hits Charlie with Reflected Sonic Boom.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Rose [E]         1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0      [E] Charlie

[CHARLIE]
That...was not quite so expected.

The Sonic Boom speeding out stops...just short of the mysterious purple-haired woman, and before Charlie can puzzle out why, it's sent straight back at him, at a speed even faster that well approaches the genuine sound barrier. It's enough that another glow of self-preservation comes from the gem in his forehead, trying to grant him similar speed, but for naught as his own Sonic Boom blows him over and sends him sliding across the stone.

Grunting and groaning as he tries to get back up, he narrows his eyes toward Rose...and says nothing. He's not sure what she's leading toward here, and he has so precious little to add himself...instead, he waits...and watches. Charging in hasn't done him so well so far after all.....

COMBATSYS: Charlie focuses on his next action.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Rose [E]         1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0      [E] Charlie

[ROSE]
Charlie isn't responding to her directly. I hope I didn't harm him too badly, Rose thinks to herself, as she pulls herself fully upright. She breathes out with sufficient force to cast a bit of mist into the air.

"-- I don't suppose I understand this situation fully, even now," Rose continues, taking a step towards Charlie. This time she does seem to saunter, some of the joy of life slipping back in around the edges. Is it the thrill of Kombat? Is it because the proximity of another soul shard is fending off that peril she can feel deep within her very essence?

Rose doesn't have time to assess the thought. "But you do. I see that you have one of the red ones. I know someone else - met someone else - who has. Have you been driven past your limit by this battle... Charlie?" As she says it she lunges forwards, swinging her arm round in a backhanding punch which is punctuated (punchtuated? oh, a small joke) by a crouch down from her legs. The general target zone is his midsection; her touch sparkles with that same ethereal, synaesthetic force.

The concern in her voice is genuine, at least.

COMBATSYS: Charlie fails to interrupt Medium Punch from Rose with Somersault Kick EX.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Rose [E]         1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0      [E] Charlie

[CHARLIE]
Waiting for his spot, Charlie remains in his crouch, as if trying to beckon...lure...Rose in over, even as she continues talking. It's a strange thing waiting now with the heightened sense the gem gives him now that he's in the thick of combat. Nerves managing to offset the sheer sleeplessness and focusing what working parts of his brain are active toward the battle.

He doesn't answer her question when she comes in wth the backhanding punch. INstead, he leaps, turning his body as he attempts to lance and slash his leg out and upward....except it never happens. While the strike hits at a meatier part of his body more equipped to take the blow, the smash against his shoulder is still enough to interrupt his timing and stave off the attack, resulting in him dropping face first into the ground with a groan. "Nnhh...what do you think?" he asks, remaining evasive about any answer to the piercing question asked toward the Major.

[ROSE]
Rose rises up to her full height again, balancing on her heels. (Maybe she HAS to wear heels in these situations. You get used to odd things when you train.) "I think that you're being pushed," she says. "I don't know why or to what end, but I know that all of this is something like a crucible. One we never asked to be placed in..."

"But what is there, exactly, for us to do about it? I don't have an answer," Rose says. "I don't have any answers."

Or, it seems, much joy in what she's doing. From that frown on her face, she is taking no real pleasure in whipping her scarf round as if to mime whipping at Charlie. This might seem absurd if that yellow scarf wasn't glittering with electric force already. Charlie already knows what that light does when he touches it.

Maybe he can avoid it!

COMBATSYS: Rose successfully hits Charlie with Aura Scarf.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Rose [E]         1/--=====/=======|======-\-------\0      [E] Charlie

[CHARLIE]
Pushing himself back up and rolling th face Rose again, Charlie tries to get his wits about him again. He's been on the back foot the entire fight, and it's cost him a lot. He hasn't even touched the mysterious woman yet, which is a clear frustration for him, as his expression shows. Narrowed eyes shadowed by the increased glow of the gem makes his anger clear.

Unfortuantely, anger alone doesn't change much, as when the airman tries to lift his arm up to swat away the whipping scarf before it can do its damage, it's already too late. The electrifying force courses through him, far more painful than before, and driving him down to a knee in pain.

Gasping for air, Charlie glowers from the ground, hand planted and almost gripping at the stone hard enough to crack it. Almost, with the smooth stone granting precious little purchase for even his powerful hands. "Push....foward...push..." he grits out, almost growling, between clenched teeth, the gem on his forehead flashing out before pushing himself off the ground.

Leaping forward, he flips through the air, legs tucked into a pike before they lash and slash out and down, one after the other. THe cutting force is augmented by the blades of chi that are left in the trails of his feet as he tries to break Rose's guard finally. "BACK!!!"

COMBATSYS: Charlie channels the beat of the tireless heart.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Rose [E]         1/--=====/=======|======-\-------\0      [E] Charlie

COMBATSYS: Charlie channels the glare of the vicious eye.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Rose [E]         1/--=====/=======|======-\-------\0      [E] Charlie

COMBATSYS: Charlie successfully hits Rose with Blade Slice.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Rose [E]         2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=------\1      [E] Charlie

[ROSE]
That flash--!!

The anger rises inside of this man, and Rose feels herself pull back. She can't just let him give in to that. This might be what they're trying to do, the rage they intend to invoke. That Man did it to that other man, Ryu - but now he's paid for it - ugh! Charlie's throwing himself forwards--

Rose yields. It's impossible not to. That crossing block comes up again, transitioning smoothly into a single arm held high with the swirling yellow fabric of her scarf around it. Striking that cloth now does not sting, not appreciably, but it is yielding, resistant but not stiff. It swallows some of the force of his kicks.

The chi not so much.

"Ah!" Rose says as she staggers back. If I go much further here, she thinks as she nearly tumbles backwards, I'm going to knock him clear of this bridge. From there, he will fall down to what is no doube a grisly death.

Rose narrows her eyes. "Go limp," she calls to Charlie. Charitable! Then she sucks in a deep breath, half-crouching, her arms folding and her eyes squeezing closed as she draws from within herself - not just a single burst, channeled through her trusty scarf, no. That would be easy. Two is harder. Without using the scarf, it's also harder. But she can draw from that green gem at her neck...

Maybe that's the trap, Rose thinks. But it's too late, the power rises --

The two spheres burn to life around her and Rose kicks off the ground like a freight train, if freight trains were flying and had extremely on-point hair despite a lack of styling. She seems surprised herself, if Charlie cares to look, but she flies forwards nonetheless; remembering, perhaps, the example of Heidern (or SOMEONE ELSE) she crosses her arms in front of her as if to make a cow-catcher of her bruised forearms. (The cow is Charlie.)

The spheres scream around her. Or are they singing? Either way, they loop round to try and stun Charlie into acquiescence. Her goal is nothingless than the far end of the bridge! Perhaps they'll make it there... together.

COMBATSYS: Rose channels the strength of the killing fist.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Rose [E]         2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=------\1      [E] Charlie

COMBATSYS: Rose channels the glare of the vicious eye.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Rose [E]         2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=------\1      [E] Charlie

COMBATSYS: Charlie channels the spread of the lightning nerves.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Rose [E]         0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1      [E] Charlie

COMBATSYS: Rose successfully hits Charlie with #Soul Satellite#.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Rose [E]         0/-------/-------|=======\======-\1      [E] Charlie

[CHARLIE]
Landing after the flip kick rips into Rose, Charlie looks even more angered, the gem glowing brighter and brighter the more he tries to tap into it. And the more he taps into it, the more aggressive he seems to become, as if giving in to the impulses it inspires in the usually upright man.

Caring little about the possibilty of a long descent to death below at this rate, he tries to push forward more, Rose's warning falling on deaf ears. It's hard to tell whether that's for the best or not, as when the spheres scream to life and circle around Rose, that gem glows again, trying to give Charlie the speed to properly stop those things...

But it's not mean to be, the spheres assaulting and battering an increasingly resisting Charlie as they and their owner keep pushing toward the end of the bridge. The major keeps on his feet, even as he's driven back, step by step, the light of his shard burning brighter and brighter...before being snuffed out swiftly after one final hit, the collision against his chest sending him reeling enough to finally fall back, against the rocky outcropping the stone bridge itself extends from. They made it to the end, but only one is really conscious enough to tell about it.

COMBATSYS: Charlie takes no action.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Rose [E]         0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Charlie can no longer fight.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Rose [E]         0/-------/-------|

[ROSE]
And so it ends.

When Charlie comes back to himself, he would, no doubt, feel sore. But perhaps some of that anger has been soothed. Whether due to the friendly infusion of Soul Power or from the occult passage from gem to gem, Rose can't say.

Why? Because she isn't there any more. After arranging him in some comfort she departed.

To where?

Hopefully, not to her own demise!

Log created on 20:09:24 11/10/2016 by Charlie, and last modified on 20:15:54 11/14/2016.