Match of the Millennium

Description: Koto, one of the curent Neo League season's most prolific fighters is matched against the seemingly innocent B.B. Hood. A battle for points and League supremacy eventually shows itself to be something else entirely when the bounty hunter makes a play to capture something more valuable than either: a hero's trust. (Winner: Bulleta)

[KOTO]
Neo League always has sometimes interesting locations. Koto had bene flown out to get a good look before hand at the Urquhart Castle. And here he was just wandering a bit as he looked about. The front of the castle where the whole fight was to take place had him actually looking a bit upwards, around, and more so looking at different structures a bit.

Obviously, the teenage student is a bit impressed by it, too! He hasn't even changed into his costume for the fight yet as he stands there in his more casual clothes at the moment. Camoflauge pants, some Japanese show's costumed heroes on his black shirt, and a pair of tennis shoes. Seriously, he doesn't look like much of a fighter at all other than being in pretty good shape. "Wow. I never thought they would have us come out to Scotland!"

He looks around, "So, who am I fighting, anyways? Please don't tell me it's Abigail again! That guy hits like a truck!" He asks, then blinks. "Oh yeah. I should transform first, too."

The young man slides into a stance, then moves his hands to near his waist before crossing his left arm over and sliding it across rather quickly, "HEEENSHIN!" A bright prismatic glow covers him, leaving him in a bit of an odd costumed look much like the characters that were on his shirt's back before hand. The silver additions and the black suit with blue and silver accents is just a bit strange. Like someone mashed up some of the more popular costumed hero ideas of Japan's more popular live action shows to make it work.

[BULLETA]
'Mega Dragon Fighter J-Dragon' is a costumed fighter who made the Southtown News last month by stopping a Darkstalker attack.
Koto Mukai, a Pacific High student who's among the most active participants in the current Neo-League season.

'B.B. Hood' is a Seijyun High student who made it into a number of FightLeak compilations with her clumsy, accidentally effective style and borderline-deranged love for the missing actress Jezebel Faiblesse.
'Bulleta', a monster hunter who'll do just about anything to just about anyone in the name of her bottom-line.

A meeting was inevitable: 'J-Dragon', after all, represents a potential ally and/or rival in the shadow-world where Bulleta prowls, and Koto?

Koto's a lucky break. Koto means no lurking on the periphery of future incidents, waiting to see how much mayhem it takes to draw a superhero into action while weighing professional curiosity against profit. Koto has the courtesy to make himself /easy/ to find, easy to corner; all it took was a plain envelope appearing on the right desk, with the right amount of Yen.

"... ohmygod," B.B. Hood gasps into her hands as he transforms. Near the edge of the audience, the girl's wearing a red hoodie, a gold-trimmed red mask over her nose and mouth, and a long, white skirt patterned with red flowers. A large, tan satchel hangs from her shoulder, its straps now clasped in a death-grip. Koto could easily be forgiven for overlooking her when seeking her opponent: she has a way of letting her shy uncertainty function as active camo in a crowd, and she's /small/ to boot. Koto, at least, has a healthy form to suggest his prowess; B.B. Hood, on the other hand...

"M-me," she stammers with a tentative step forward. A few helpful hands gently nudge her further towards the fighting stage once she makes herself known, then she plasters a smile on and offers a small, stiff wave. "I-- I am, hi-- ohmy/god/, haaa..."

B.B. Hood barely looks as if she belongs in the /audience/ of a high stakes fighting event, much less in its ring.

Stammering becomes a drawn out sigh, which becomes quick, jagged breaths. A couple beats later, when they settle, she thrusts a hand forward while painting her face with best approximation of determination a terrified girl can manage.

"It's-- it's really nice to meet you," she quietly offers. "I can't believe they'd send us here /either/, /wow/..."

COMBATSYS: Bulleta has started a fight here.

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

[KOTO]
Koto blinks a few times. "Uh... you sure, kid? I mean, you don't exactly /look/ like a fighter."

Koto reaches up to scratch a bit on the top of his helmet. So far, anyone he has faced has at least looked the part. Now? Well... girl in white dress, red hooded cape, and just carrying a satchel?

So very, very not fighter. Koto looks very, very confused as far as his body stance since his face can't be seen. It's not exactly well hidden there.

Looking over at the camera crews, he calls out, "Hey, can someone make sure she's really my opponent? I swear I'm going to feel bad about this if she is. She's too cute." He, of course, is not mentioning past fights. Eve and Hinata at least looked half-way cute, and one pegged him with shoes for crying out loud.

[BULLETA]
"I--"

B.B. Hood swallows a lump and lowers her eyes. A tiny hand wrings the strap as she does her best to keep her breathing steady.

"I know," she murmurs.

B.B. Hood happens to be the Red League Pro belt holder. She won it during a fight she didn't sign up for, from an opponent who didn't even want it, and wound up forfeiting the match after getting her face slashed. This may be why there's no response to Koto's request for confirmation: whether it does anything to suggest her worthiness for /this/ fight is questionable, but whether or not she's here on purpose, less so.

"I just... ... it's been a hard few months, and-- and I /need/ this. I need-- I need /something/-- I'm not GOOD at anything, but I've gotta-- I've gotta EAT, y'know? I've got bills, a-and-- and it's just /me/, now, and..." She sucks in a breath and releases with a shudder.

"A-and-- and I promise I'll do my best not to waste your time, if you'll just-- just give me a chance... okay?"

Whether Koto takes the offered handshake or not, she'll punctuate her plea by jerking her free hand back to assume a parody of a boxing stance. A bobbing, weaving, tilting, fumbling--

-- stumbling, after her foot catches a rock, or a crack, or-- /something/ on the ground--

-- stance. A surprised shriek accompanies the stumble forward-- a surprised shriek and a satchel whipping rapidly towards Koto's ribs.

A satchel much, /much/ heavier and harder than it looks while it casually dangles from B.B.'s shoulder.

COMBATSYS: Koto has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Bulleta          0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0             Koto

COMBATSYS: Koto blocks Bulleta's Tricky Basket.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Bulleta          1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0             Koto

[KOTO]
Koto does at least shake hands. Then moves back to his own stance. Which is probably the only thing that saves him, even if he gets brought to a knee by heavy satchel shennanigans blasting him across the forearm and a head. "What the hell!?"

Moving quickly, Koto tries to snag that satchel with a glowing, prismatic palm as he attempts to get behind the young girl, hand trying to get on the small of her back as he holds on to what appears to be the main weapon in an attempt to well... not be smacked repeatedly by an overgrown satchel filled with who knows what.

"What in the world do you have in there, kid? That thing feels like a ton of bricks!" Koto asks, even though his palms are no longer glowing once he's in position at least.

COMBATSYS: Koto successfully hits Bulleta with Becoming the Moon.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Bulleta          1/------=/=======|==-----\-------\0             Koto

[BULLETA]
What's in the satchel? It's a fair question. A /good/ question.

Another, more visceral shriek rings out when Koto seizes B.B. Hood and raw psionic energy courses through her body. Limbs twitch and jitter as her nervous system briefly fails her, inundated as it is by foreign power.

Another good question: what's in B.B. Hood's pockets?

It takes a couple seconds before she can do /more/ than twitch-- for trained discipline to kick against thrumming pain and /force/ her right hand to move the way /she/ wants it to-- towards the two-sided pocket sewn into the hoodie's front.

"C-- can't-- c-can't-- tell--" she manages to strain out through the litany of little screams and pained cries following the initial shriek.

"S-s-- sec-- secret--!"

A box cutter.

A box cutter's tightly gripped and ready when, with one last howl, she wrenches around in his grip and tries to buy herself some space the easy way, with a blade across Koto's belly.

COMBATSYS: Bulleta successfully hits Koto with Random Strike.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Bulleta          1/----===/=======|===----\-------\0             Koto

[KOTO]
Fortunately that suit seems to be made of some tough material! The box cutter barely gets a bit of bleeding going on it from the looks, but still... it did manage to make it through.

Of course, it gets her free but she's uncomfortably close. His stance, however, seems to have changed a bit. Instead of the more open and wider stance he had before, he's now stepped back to avoid the majority of well... a box cutter.

It still means he can do something, however, as he moves in a step, swinging his back leg straight at her legs to try to flat out sweep and toss her away at the same time. No prismatic energies at all going on, just one hell of a good kick at her legs.

COMBATSYS: Bulleta blocks Koto's Tsunami Sweep.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Bulleta          1/----===/=======|====---\-------\0             Koto

[BULLETA]
B.B. Hood gets the space she wanted; she just has to suffer a few more bruises that she would've liked to get it after Koto throws her. Every revolution she makes brings the satchel /hammering/ into the ground, filling the air with stormy crashes and leaving a line of damaged stonework. The initial fall roughly drove the air from her lungs so the tumbling ends with her flat on her back, panting.

"S... s... sorry...!" she gasps between breaths, once the satchel falls one more time and comes to rest in a shallow crater. A fumbling thumb draws the blade back into its housing. "I-I-I-- I panicked, I--"

Another, gulping swallow, then she rolls to her belly and slowly pushes herself up on her hands and knees.

"I-it brings back all kinds of me-memories, being-- being /grabbed/ like that...!" B.B. shivers and hunches her shoulders briefly, then hauls herself upright, where she wobbles for another moment before returning to the awkward, tentative she calls a fighting stance. At least it doesn't last long before she finds it within herself to return to the free, charging directly at the costumed powerhouse while the satchel dangles--

-- no, /spins/ at her side, whirling through increasingly rapid revolutions thanks to firm but subtle twitches of her left wrist. It's all's very brave, a great show of determination from a young fighter who must've lucked her way into the ring today.

And it ends when one of those revolutions goes wildly out of control, breaking her pace by jerking her several steps forward. She manages to catch herself with flailing arms and careful balance on one leg, but the satchel keeps going-- keeps falling, angling towards Koto's toros.

COMBATSYS: Koto fails to interrupt Shyness & Strike from Bulleta with J-Punch.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Bulleta          1/=======/=======|=======\-------\0             Koto

[KOTO]
Well, Koto was watching that satchel this time. Especially when she starts swinging it around.

"So... uh... yeah. That whole box cutter thing kinda hurts, you know?" He winces a bit, checking where the box cutter went across his midsection before bringing his hands back to a guarding stance.

And well, here comes that satchel again! Koto does the valiant thing and instead of attempting to block, tries to punch the thing instead. Which ends up still smacking him away pretty freaking hard. Afterwards, Koto is shaking his hand from the rather painful impact of fist even grazing that satchel.

"Ow." He shakes his hand. "... geez. Some kid's kicking my butt all over the place. What gives?"

[BULLETA]
Koto draws back for a punch.

The basket strikes before he does.

Beneath the mask, Bulleta smiles while shock fills B.B. Hood's eyes.

"I'm sorry! I just--"

Sputtering as she takes a beat to let the satchel fall back to her side while collecting herself, she leans slightly forward to squint at his injuries. Her jaw visibly works beneath the mask as the smile falls into nervous lip-chewing.

"I /have/ to win," she whispers. "I have to, I /have/ to, I-- aaaah!"

It's not much of a kiai, but it accompanies a lunging, hooking punch aimed for the rip in Koto's armor, just the same. In the brief moment it takes to snap her fist out and - hopefully - bring it back in, clumsy awkwardness somehow manages to accomodate stiff precision with a blow that only leaves her extended and unguarded for as long as it takes to be thrown.

COMBATSYS: Bulleta successfully hits Koto with Medium Strike.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Bulleta          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\===----\1             Koto

[KOTO]
The punch to his stomach has Koto actually holding his stomach and stumbling a step or two back. And well... that /has/ to hurt, even if Koto might have a bleeding heart...

He seems to glare at the girl. "Go back home already..."

Koto's hands come up. If she was a bit wild, his were a bit more focused as his stance slides wider, and his arms come around to cross before him at about waist level in front, then slide upwards into a plus sign.

He seems to slightly, just slightly hestiate before he calls out, "AURORA BURST!" It looks like he decided to stop taking things so easy on the apparently sweet, innocent girl.

Especially as he's unleashing what looks like literal rainbow colored hell at the girl with a large beam of energy aimed straight for her.

COMBATSYS: Bulleta dodges Koto's Aurora Burst.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Bulleta          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=------\-------\0             Koto

[BULLETA]
"I--"

B.B. Hood shudders and recoils from the rebuke. It takes a moment before she can even open her eyes, much less look at him.

"I-- I-- I-I-- I CAN'T!" she finally bursts while her eyes squeeze shut again. Deceptively dangerous fists curl near her cheeks as her whole body goes rigid with the strain of keeping a cracked dam from breaking. "M-my-- my parents are-- they're DEAD--! They got EATEN, th-th-- they-- they-- th-- there were men in black boots, but th-they-- they weren't MEN, they were..."

Welling blue eyes rove between Koto's visor and his arms as rainbow scintillas swirl. An echo of her last brush with his power burns through her nerves and reminds her: 'Mega Dragon Fighter J-Dragon', 'Koto Mukai'... /who/ever, /what/ever this masked man is, deep down, he's nothing to play with. A /brush/ left her twitching and momentarily paralyzed.

Where, then, would whatever hellish torrent those crossed arms and that rainbow build-up portend leave her?

By his side, apparently.

It's /close/, even with the brief warning his stance provides - enough so that the satchel takes a portion of the blast and is sent whirling around her shoulders by the impact - but she manages to make it to his flank with a desperate-looking diagonal dive. Smoke curls from the faintly darkened spot marring the satchel's surface while B.B. Hood cowers on her belly with her hands clasped atop her head.

There are tears when looks up, as the torrent begins to fade.

"H-how-- how can I-- how can I go home...? What-- what even /is/ 'home' i-if-- if they're not /there/...?" she wonders in a wavering whisper.

Since she's /close/, and is /plenty/ familiar with how dangerous he can be if given an opening to capitalize on, she surging to her feet in the wake of that question and lunging to wrap her arms around his body. If she manages it, she'll cinch tight, locking him in a fierce embrace--

-- and spinning.

And spinning.

And spinning, and /spinning/, fast enough to stir the air around them and suck stone chips and other light debris into their orbit.

Fast enough that when she eventually releases him with a grunt and an upward thrust, he'll be sent /flying/ straight into the air.

But not too fast for a small card to slip from one of her sleeves into his belt before she lets go.

COMBATSYS: Bulleta successfully hits Koto with Sentimental Typhoon.
- Power hit! -

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /                             ]
Bulleta          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|====---\-------\0             Koto

[KOTO]
Koto did not expect to... well... now he's suddenly being whirled, and sent flying!? Like, seriously, how high did he go with that, and still spinning. Realizing that perhaps this isn't all like it seems has Koto growling a bit that he seemed to have been played so very well.

And even if he knows he's not going to like the impact, he can still use the whole spinning thing considering he's coming down near her at least.

There's a sudden glow around one of his legs before he unleashes one last shot in an attempt to at least make the girl think twice about the whole possible act or whatever it is as he calls out "THUNDER KICK!" on the way down, even if the move misses, considering he's landing almost on his head practically, it's still at least hopefully going to give her something to think about.

COMBATSYS: Koto prepares to take his last stand against Bulleta!

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Bulleta          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|====---\-------\0             Koto

COMBATSYS: Bulleta dodges Koto's Thunder Kick.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Bulleta          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|====---\-------\0             Koto

And then, realizing how cruel it is? Something within Koto just... snaps a bit as his kick causes him to spin, he further spins with his arms and ends up with that roundhouse kick coming around and spinning him to his feet rather than landing on his head and shoulders for a possible KO.

"That... was all an act, wasn't it?" He asks, looking to be breathing heavily, bleeding still, and all around not liking the fact that he had been played. At all.

[BULLETA]
The move narrowly misses, leaving another crack in the castle. B.B. Hood's on her stomach again, sans cowering. She manages to retake her feet in short order afterwards, then slowly exhales and wheels around to survey her...

... still-conscious, still /standing/ opponent.

He's /tough/.

This is /excellent/.

He's also pissed and suspicious. This is less excellent, but at least it isn't /new/. He confronts her directly; she recoils from him again as if the accusation was fired from a barrel.

"Wh-- what...?"

Bulleta takes just a moment to consider. He's... 'heroic', he's young. He bought the game wholeheartedly, for a while; questioned her worthiness openly, then hesitated to show him his.

His heart's big and open, full of noble aspirations. A somewhat predictable but nonetheless tricky mix when she needs him to do more than just stop fighting.

"I-- wh-why would I-- about /THAT/...? I-- I have pictures, J-Dragon, I-- I snuck through the police tape, after... I just. I had to s-/SEE/ them, one last time, e-even if..."

Her eyes fall as she unzips the satchel and reaches inside.

"... even if they were c-completely..."

She rummages until she finds a little bundle of props secured somewhere within, then runs her fingers over meticulously notched edges.

"... u-utterly... g-/god/...!"

Her hand comes free, sending a pair of gruesome photos flying his way. Each features a headless man and a blonde woman, both with a number of deep, ragged slashes all over their body. One's closer up than the other, trading a clear look at pooled blood for an intimate view of ruined flesh and exposed inner workings.

She gives him a tick to process before darting forward, looking to slam into his midsection and tackle him to the ground.

COMBATSYS: Koto endures Bulleta's Medium Throw.
~ Cruel hit! ~

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
Bulleta          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0             Koto

"It's just /me/ out here," she whispers in his ear once he's close. Her voice is-- noticeably lower; there's a lot more mezzo in her soprano, now.

"Just little, lonely me, trying to get by however I /have/ to, without them... but. I'm sorry, Koto."

Her words are markedly steadier as they come out, too, with regret taking the place of fearful reservation.

"I know it's wrong, lying-- /acting/. But it wasn't for /you/..."

She does what she can to try and capture his gaze, given the mask, then deliberately turns her eyes towards the nearest camera.

"... it was for /them/. It's just /me/, and-- I knew I needed a /hook/ if anyone was gonna care about some orphan who wants to fight people. People-- people love an underdog, you know...? Especially if she can /win/."

[KOTO]
Koto ends up on his back. He blinks a few times, probably more on the edge of passing out, but well... that's still very, very despicable. He didn't want to see half of those pictures that ended up in his face practically.

Nor did he want to hear her reasons. The lying. The act. He didn't care what it was for, really.

The only warning she has is that there's some weird symbol appearing underneath them A large, prismatic symbol. That quickly surrounds one of his fists as he unleashes a super charged punch at her to make her back away, even as he falls over. "Dragon... Punch..."

Then he ends up falling over, still bleeding a bit from the box cutter wound. Still, it's obvious that maybe she did at least get to him a little. Maybe.

COMBATSYS: Koto can no longer fight.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Bulleta          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|

COMBATSYS: Bulleta full-parries Koto's Dragon Punch!!

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Bulleta          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|

[BULLETA]
The colorful sigil and the power it represents explode against that damn satchel. The build-up gave her time to jerk it into place; whatever it's made of allows it to survive bearing the brunt of a scorned hero;s vengeance.

Neither it nor the deceptive strength backing it are enough to keep the little manipulator who wields both from /flying/. (Psycho)Kinetic force sends her on a sharp trajectory that doesn't end until her back slams into a fading stone wall, at which point it becomes more of a brisk downward slide.

It takes a few seconds of sitting there, panting with the satchel clutched to her chest before she's able to retake her feet with a groan and a grimace.

The ref's already calling it, but she doesn't let him stop her from shuffling towards Koto until she's close enough to drop prone near his ear.

"You're probably /mad/," she whispers, "and you /deserve/ to be... but I can make it up to you. All I wanted to do was /meet/ you, Koto-- to meet someone else brave enough to fight /monsters/, all by himself. Someone who wants to protect children and their parents from the worst things on Earth. Check your belt when you wake up..."

A quick take over her shoulder, towards the incoming ref and ring announcer, then it's back to the costumed hero:

"... check it, and give me a chance to make this right. I'm nobody's /hero/, but you /are/... and neither of us should have to do this alone, should we...?"

Once she's said her piece to the fading young man, she hops to her feet, wobbles a little, then staggers a few steps forward to meet the incoming officials.

The cameras gets a lensful of shock and watery-eyed astonishment as her hand is raised.

The card is off-white with red text. 'B.B. HOOD' is engraved across the top in a faintly ornate font, followed by 'Bounty Hunter' in slightly smaller, more subdued lettering. A few lines beneath it, there's a phone number.

'SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY', reads the final line.

COMBATSYS: Bulleta has ended the fight here.

Log created on 12:56:17 12/11/2018 by Bulleta, and last modified on 12:39:03 12/12/2018.