Match of the Millennium

Description: Congratulations! You"�ve bought yourself a Riptor Unit! Your adventure has just begun! Ultratech doesn"�t always look to the future to find the solutions to military development. Sometimes, we look to the past. So it was with the Riptor project. My mentor, the brilliant genetic engineer Dr. Erin Gupte, believed in a beautiful dream: a ruthless adaptable predator that could rely on its own rivals for sustainment, and could maneuver and infiltrate areas where the Fulgore line would never be able to function! Not certain about your new Riptor Unit? Come see her tech demo against ninja Yoshimitsu in an authorized Neo League match!

[RIPTOR]
Ultratech: a name that's stayed off the public radar for a while. That never means they've been quiet, though. With all the uproar in the world around Gears and floating islands and whatnot, Ultratech has fallen back on their usual arms sales - it's a good year - while also ramping up their R&D practices again. One project in particular has been deemed ready for yet another field test, especially after it was discovered that there's nothing in the Neo League rulebook that says a cybernetically-modified dinosaur can't be considered a fighter. Especially since - while she can't speak - Riptor is definitely smarter than the average bear. Or mammal of any kind, really.

In one part of the cavernous R&D facility, a lab resembling a cross between a kennel and a firing range is situated. While the computer banks here contain research other companies and black ops groups would kill to have, the real prize is the Ultratech Advanced Combat and Infiltration Unit, Mk I, known in the catalogs as the 'Stalker Unit' and more colloquially known as 'Riptor'. Currently, she's pacing the outside of her staging area, monitored by electrodes that connect from her cybernetically-enhanced brain to a computer unit to her handle, Dr. Erin Gupte.

"Are you sure she's ready for another field test, Doctor?" asks her young assistant, an intern with a thick Eastern European accent. "You remember what happened with the first attempt. Was hell on wheels cleaning room and keeping families of test subjects silent."

Dr. Gupte looks up from her computer monitor, the green-and-black monochrome display reflected in her lenses. "Yes, well, there was a defect with the most recent trial - an error with the cybernetics screwed with the work we did emphasizing objectives and working as a pack. She was left with just a single instinct: to kill. I think we've got that worked out now."

Riptor, for her part, looks through various windows, trilling quietly to herself and ruffling the feather-crest added to her head, because dinosaurs have feathers, damn it.

"Alright," says Gupte. "Let's see what she can do."

[YOSHIMITSU]
Yoshimitsu's preparations for the battle was... almost not.

The leader of the Manji Clan of Ninjas was clad in a dragonfly-like suit of armor; the insectile outfit following a maroon color scheme. A skull-like mask is stretched over his face, with a rhino beetle horn upon his helmet. His exposed metallic monstrous toes extend over steel tabi, and a pair of wings are concealed on his back. He was holding his blade before him, locked in prayer. Why?

Because he was sitting in the staging area in a lotus position.

Dead center in, he didn't seem... ready for anything. Anything productive, at least. The ninja was here for a Neo League fight. Well, it was more field testing. But Yoshimitsu was always eager to offer himself to science. He was practically considered the Jezebel of Medical and Scientific Testing, for example. Whatever that meant. He didn't know what Lightning Spangles was. All he knew was that he was sitting right there. Waiting. Not even watching, with his katana laid across his lap. All as he chants his silent prayer.

"Namu."

"Namu."

"Namu."

[UTL: This entire chapter has been deleted and has to be rewritten in accordance with the Ultratech Safety and Handling department after initial user testing of unboxing process caused 3 deaths and 4.5 dismemberments.]"

COMBATSYS: Riptor has started a fight here.

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

COMBATSYS: Yoshimitsu has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Yoshimitsu       0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0           Riptor

[RIPTOR]
A buzzer sounds as a door to the wider fight area slides upward. Riptor struts out, carefully inspecting Yoshimitsu from a safe distance. She's not immediately sure if he's prey. Then again, she was able to make out a lot of the words the Doctor was saying today, so she feels pretty confident about what his role is supposed to be here.

Over a speaker from inside the observation room, Dr. Gupte says, "Thank you for your dedication to science, Mister--" The sound of paper on a clipboard flipping rapidly. "Mister Mitsu?" More flipping. "A-anyway. We thank you for keeping an open mind and engaging in the first trial run of the Riptor Mark I as part of an organized fighting circuit as well as a scientific test. Rest assured, the results today will be put to good work strengthening and training this lovely creature that has been rescued from extinction and enhanced to today's fighting standards. Riptor: say hello to Mister Mitsu."

Her feathers stand straight out as Riptor straightens up a bit and trills.

"Now, Riptor, treat Mister Mitsu as you would any of your training partners. Except he's going to fight back. Probably."

Letting out a primal screech, Riptor aims to press the advantage of being the only one standing, and runs directly at Yoshimitsu in a low charge, from which she can unleash a flurry of claw strikes from her neon blue talons, should he not get out of the way in time!

COMBATSYS: Yoshimitsu fails to counter Primal Run from Riptor with Yomi Kakenuki.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Yoshimitsu       0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0           Riptor

[YOSHIMITSU]
Yoshimitsu stops his prayer, as the scream comes.

"You have come to face Yoshimitsu!" The ninja states, turning his head up as he keeps his back to the Raptor. "I am the leader of the Manji Clan of Ninjas! Truly, you are a 'clever girl' to be facing me. I am delighted to help you train!" He suddenly spins in place, as he explodes at the oncoming opponent. "But your time is sho-" He begins, as he attempts to slice right through the man that was charging at him.

And suddenly there is a god damn raptor on him.

"AAAAH! AAAAAH!" Yoshimitsu cries out. "This is an actual Raptor! This is an actual dinosaur! I thought it was like, a man in a Dinosaur Mask! Or a robot!" Yoshimitsu struggles, as he is on his back, trying to reach for his manual. "Don't worry! Keep the exercise going! I just need to find... I just need to find... What are the three Rs again?!" Yoshimitsu cries out. "Respect, Risk..." Yoshimitsu struggles at the clawing raptor that was slicing through his armor like hot butter.

"... Arthimatic!?"

[RIPTOR]
"Oh yes," Dr. Gupte says, attempting to stifle the note of humor in her voice, "Riptor is in fact an actual dinosaur! Isn't science amazing?"

Yoshimitsu's struggles finally yield some benefit, as Riptor is pushed off of him, although she just lands on her feet again. The dinosaur sets to circling the bandit, eyeing his every move.

"In fact," the doctor continues, "she's actually very intelligent, thanks to - what else - important parts of the human genome that were spliced into her ancient DNA, yielding a marvelous crossbreed with the instincts and power of a raptor, but the curiosity and learning capacity of a human! Why, yes, it's hard to say exactly what our girl could get up to with enough practice. She mastered doorknobs in a matter of hours, and while she can't speak English, she's picked up enough that she can probably understand you." A laugh.

Riptor never understood the doorknob thing. They don't show the Riptor units Jurassic Park anymore. Legal is afraid it gives them ideas.

"Of course, we at Ultratech couldn't be satisfied with just creating a beautiful hybrid creature like this. Heavens no." Riptor opens her mouth again as if to scream again, and something glows menacingly at the back of her throat. "She's also been cybernetically enhanced! Truly the best of what Ultratech has to offer. More results than those wastrels over in the Fulgore Project have shown, anyway."

Suddenly, the dinosaur covers the floor of the staging area in flames, which ripples and flows from her fire breath to cover a large chunk of the floor.

COMBATSYS: Riptor successfully hits Yoshimitsu with Flame Carpet.
- Power hit! -

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Yoshimitsu       0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1           Riptor

[YOSHIMITSU]
"Oh!" Yoshimitsu says, with a mechanical growl.

That was his cry, as the scientist continues to babble. He was... picky about his scientists. Dr. Gupte hardly was becoming his favorite! AS he pushes her off, the ninja swiftly struggles to a rise. Focusing hard, as she explains that she could... understand him? Perhaps she is more human than expected. "I am sorry about the joke!" Was his rapid answer, as he waits for the dinosaur's reaction to the statement.

THe response is fire.

"Aaaaaah! And she breathes fire?!" Yoshi cries out as he is covered in the flames. Despite his armor, it was clinging to him, as he runs around, trying to stop drop and roll. "Why does she breath fire?!" The fires do not die down, thanks to the ninja finally finding his manual. Ripping it out, Yoshimitsu is forced to stomp out the manual, trying to put out the flames. "To be a fool of a leader, to only skim the foreward!" He laments, pointing the sword at the dinosaur. "This creature is certainly unpredictable! But infused with human DNA... where is the light of the humanity, that could lay in such a beast? Consider!" He buzzes his wings for a moment, slicing his sword defensively as he flits backwards in a deft, defensive motion, though a bit overly cautious, all things considered. All while he repeats a gentle haiku, in an appeal to the cold Ultratech mechanisms.

“The First cold shower"

"Even the monkey seems to want"

"A little coat of straw”

COMBATSYS: Riptor interrupts Evasive Strike from Yoshimitsu with Tail Sting.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Yoshimitsu       0/-------/--=====|=======\===----\1           Riptor

[RIPTOR]
"Well," Gupte muses, "she breathes fire thanks to some crossover research from another department; early Riptor units primarily relied on an acidic spit, but we found it was corroding the circuitry of the cybernetic enhancements, and the last thing you want on your hands is an uncontrollable acid-spitting human-raptor hybrid!"

Leaping forward over her own puddle of flame, which manages to persist on the floor for a short time despite no visible fuel source - another science miracle! - Riptor tries to figure out her next move on the haiku-spouting bandit. First she tries to come in low, but the defensive sword slices fend her off. Then, a leap, but she finds herself unexpectedly alarmed by the buzzing of his wings, and comes down on the other side of Yoshimitsu. Do humans have wings now?

"It's quite possible that someday she could, who knows, learn to appreciate poetry? In a world without war, we'd truly be able to see what the Riptor unit is capable of."

She settles into a crouch, growling softly (what the Ultratech manual assures new owners is "the Riptor equivalent of a purr"), tail waving, as Yoshmitsu talks about cold showers on monkeys. Perhaps he's touched something in her soul?

Ah-ha, there it is, she thinks. With a whir, her tail - as much metal as flesh, and extensible like a whipsword - slashes forward and through Yoshimitsu's defensive posture. She takes a not-unnoticeable gash to the more sensitive fleshy bits of the appendage, but still manages to nail the Manji master with a cold steel stinger.

[YOSHIMITSU]
The deft speed and strength of the enhanced beast was flummoxing Yoshimitsu most severely.

Even the gentle haiku does little to sooth the raging beast, as she lunges in with a sharp slash of her tail. Stunned, the ninja staggers back, shocked as the piercing tail that could move at 5 meters a second leaves a massive gash on his armor. "All creatures with a human soul, can learn to embrace poetry, Doctor!" The ninja states firmly, as he grips the freshest laceration in his armor.

And Yoshimitsu puts away a sword.

"If you are a human soul," Yoshimitsu states, with emerald energy burning over his body. "You must embrace the humanity. Consider your self-reflection, dinosaur creature! We are both infused with mechanical assistance, and yet we are not defined by our metallic shell! Do you fight like a monster?"

"Or do you fight like yourself?!"

The statement may have been confusing. And if Yoshimitsu read the manual better, and didn't stomp it out, he might have learned the difficulty of a confused Riptor. But unarmed, and behaving EVEN MORE like a confusing ninja adversary, without the sword, he engages at the dinosaur completely unarmed. Unleashing two swift elbow strikes at Riptor, he would then pivot to unleash a mule kick, practically overflowing with soul energy. To engage a dinosaur willingly, unarmed?

Yoshimitsu was using confusion to his advantage:

RIPTOID: Confusion is never an advantage against Riptor.

COMBATSYS: Riptor blocks Yoshimitsu's Scowling Spirit.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Yoshimitsu       0/-------/-======|=======\====---\1           Riptor

[RIPTOR]
Riptor tilts her head to the side when Yoshimitsu puts his sword away, and glances towards the control booth where Dr. Gupte is watching, as if to ask, is he serious? Is the fight over? Gupte pauses, then nods her head towards Yoshimitsu. This fight's not over by a long shot.

Suddenly, in comes the unarmed ninja, exhibiting what is surely an insane amount of courage to fight a dinosaur with no weapons at all! She manages to get her tail up in time to swat away the pesky dragonfly's elbow strikes, but the mule kick strikes true, and the glowing verdant chi behind it strikes true, sending Riptor flying, where she slams into one of the walls of the arena and slides to the ground.

The dinosaur, fighting like -- a monster? like herself? -- lunges low, snapping at Yoshimitsu's ankles. If she can get him to move more slowly, perhaps he'll recite more poetry instead of fighting back. And then she'll win! And then she'll get goats. Riptor loves goats.

RIPTOID: Your Riptor unit can eat up to 5% of its body weight per day of its favored food, live goats!

COMBATSYS: Yoshimitsu blocks Riptor's Aggressive Bite.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Yoshimitsu       0/-------/-======|=======\====---\1           Riptor

[YOSHIMITSU]
Yoshimitsu's courage was worthy of his ancestors.

While even the dinosaur could not believe this was a serious thing, Yoshimitsu was quite serious. Fighting with the dinosaur unarmed, he lays on the incredible pressure, even as his blows were deflected. An opponent with variable weapons, especially unarmed, would be her primary target! Yoshimitsu's wings buzz, as when the counter-attack comes after the kick, he deftly deflects her snapping with his own kick, striding in deeper and deeper into the dino's guard. He begins to turn, and,

And he keeps turning.

Sticking his fist out, he begins to spin, spin, spin into Riptor, attempting to batter her with every spin with the force of a baseball bat. A whirling dervish, he would not overspin himself. Nay, at the end, he would cease the spin, drawing out his sword as he keeps his back to the dinosaur, peering over his shoulder. "Ha ha ha! Have you had enough?" He would ask, almost teasingly. Yoshimitsu wasn't going to give this fight to her.

He would get her goat.

COMBATSYS: Riptor dodges Yoshimitsu's Manji Stone Fists.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Yoshimitsu       0/-------/--=====|=======\====---\1           Riptor

[RIPTOR]
Goat status: ungotten.

Yoshimitsu's whirling spin goes off without a hitch! Only - Riptor is nowhere near it. Sliding underneath his attacks like a baseball player, the dinosaur is well-prepared for the sword strike that follows, as it is off-target by quite a bit. One can almost imagine that she has a toothy grin, and it gets just a little wider. She bounds to one side of the arena, landing just below the observation booth, raises her tail, and--

Darkness. "Did she just turn off the lights?!" Gupte says frantically, perhaps unaware her microphone was still on. The assistant responds: "She did--I'm not sure if she cut a wire or flipped the switch or--" "What am I paying you for? Get out there and check!" But in the meantime, the hunt is on.

The sound of metal-and-bone claws tapping on the hard concrete floor seems to come from several spots at once as she moves around Yoshimitsu, hunting for the perfect angle from which to strike. She leaps, at last, from halfway up the wall, only signalling her attack when her flame-tipped claws ignite, coupled with an ear-splitting screech; those deadly back-foot talons are coming for Yoshimitsu's tender human torso, intending to open the armor like a living can opener and rend his flesh before casting him aside with a strike from her powerful jaws.

COMBATSYS: Riptor successfully hits Yoshimitsu with Ultra Predator.

[                         \\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Yoshimitsu       1/------=/=======|>>>>---\-------\0           Riptor

[YOSHIMITSU]
The last spin comes, and Yoshimitsu has his back to the dinosaur...

But the lights go off.

"Who turned off the lights?!" Yoshimitsu cries out. He channels his blade, letting the light turn up on it... which suddenly, he realizes his mistake all too soon. He looks at the dinosaur right before she strikes. "Clever- wait no!" He says, before she is upon him. Ripping apart the armor, she eventually even reaches the flesh, rending to the limited meat stuff underneath. Organs? Was this the man there. He turns his back on her again, as he falls ot his knees.

There is a flash of green.

"There is one more test for you, dinosaur woman!" Yoshimitsu says weakly, as he readies his sword. Gripping it tightly, he draws it back. Forcing into a stand, even as his back is blooded in the darkness, he holds his blade high.

And impales himself on it.

Whether Riptor is in the path of not of the driving blade, opposite of Yoshimitsu's back, she would have to do more as the ninja would spin. Once. Twice. Three. Four times. Each with an illuminating surge of emerald light. By the time the fifth one would come, the ninja would finally have no more soul energy to surge. Growing limp from the effort, he would finally yield, finally submit.

But would the dinosaur evade extinction?

COMBATSYS: Yoshimitsu can no longer fight.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Riptor           0/-------/---<<<<|

COMBATSYS: Yoshimitsu successfully hits Riptor with Manji Blood Dance.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  <
Riptor           0/-------/---<<<<|

[RIPTOR]
One slash, two slash, green slash, more green slash. Yoshimitsu is a flurry of green energy and deadly steel, and Riptor - who surely thought her prey too weak to fight back after her last attack struck home - is wholly unprepared. Each slash strikes home, either yielding a spray of blood and a very animal screech, or a gout of sparks and the less-organic screech of steel on steel.

As Yoshimitsu slumps to the ground, Riptor limps over to him, bleeding heavily. There's a brief flash of light in the background as the door opens to the monitoring room; the intern, perhaps realizing this is his best chance to not become lunch, scrambles out to try to figure out what's happened with the lights. However, the dinosaur's only got eyes for Yoshimitsu.

She stands before the head of the Manji Clan. Is he food?

Calmly, she puts one foot on top of his head, letting the curved talons gently wrap around it. Flexes her foot, once, twice. As one who's firmly in touch with chi, Yoshimitsu can probably sense that the killing intent isn't there right now. This is an opponent who fought well to the last, not a simple dummy she's paid to eviscerate.

As the lights come back on, she withdraws the foot and drags herself back towards where Dr. Gupte and the intern are now waiting, trilling to them the whole way.

"Ah--thank you for your help, Mister Yoshimitsu!" the doctor calls out. "If you'll just see Sharon in Accounts Payable on your way out, she'll set you up with your test subject stipend--and, er, there's an infirmary near the waiting room, just follow the signs, you'll find it. Thanks again from Ultratech!"

COMBATSYS: Riptor takes no action.

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

Log created on 15:50:30 05/29/2018 by Yoshimitsu, and last modified on 18:24:59 05/29/2018.