Match of the Millennium

Description: A city in peril as Southtown falls more and more under the heel of the Syndicate. The organized crime outfit worms its way through financial institutions and the world of organized crime day by day, but it also goes to lengths to keep the people that live in this city under its thumb. It does so through the harsh and direct enforcement by people like John Crawley, former United States Marine with a lust for violence. But sometimes, a hero rises from the people, and sometimes a hero rises from the shadows. The ninja, Geki, has words of wisdom and a hope of clarity for the former soldier Crawley. Will the military maverick be overthrown in his petty tyranny against a Southtown neighborhood, or will the Syndicate demonstrate to the people just how strong they can be?

[JOHN CRAWLEY]
"Was that it? Really think I'd be scared of you?"

A crowd, small but dedicated, people watching a fight in a ring carved in the dirt of a sandlot crammed in the backways of a construction zone near the outer edges of Southtown. A place where fighters have gathered. Not the names of the Neo-League, the showcases of SNF's Fight Tube lineups, but blood and dirt and pride fighting going on to settle scores and pay dividends. And it's here a blonde American stands over a defeated local boy. The American, John Crawley, former USMC instructor, and current heavy for the dominant Southtown Syndicate, holds his thumb down and over his fallen opponent. A trio of goons dragging the young man away. The kid had hopes of fighting back for his neighborhood, of pushing against the criminal organization that has squeezed a grip over the city in a series of brutal gang-war maneuvers against various Yakuza groups now splintered in the aftermath.

And his hopes were dashed against John Crawley's fists. The enforcer here to make clear demonstration to those that hope to fight from the streets; you stand up and you will be put in your place. He makes it clear with his standing in the center of the circle drawn in the dirt. His arms outstretched at his sides, he invites the world to come for him. His eyes hidden behind aviator glasses, they nevertheless shine with the anticipation of the fight. John Crawley lives for the fight, for war, and the Syndicate gives it to him. Far more than the Corps ever did.

"C'mon then, any of you pukes got anything to show for yourselves?" Crawley calls out, sneering, "Any one of you bad enough to try and take me? Or you all going to pussyfoot back home and cry about it?"

[GEKI]
A breeze passes by, with a rustle of leaves kicked up off the pavement.

They swirl about in a dusty sirocco, and suddenly dash apart. Geki stands there, his clawed arm crossed over his left arm, a pair of fingers and a thumb extended.

Geki lowers his arms in a gracefully rigid fashion, slow and deliberate and calculated. Face hidden besides his eyes, he narrows his brown eyes at John Crawley, red flecks shimmering in the light of a nearby streetlamp.

"John Crawley," comes a soft voice that cuts through the night, the ninja stepping towards him, his body sensuous and tight, as if he radiated energy that had no sign of presence. A shaman, a priest, a blood mad sorceror. A man psychotic with vision, with no method of containing it other than pathway.

"I seek your blood, to make a pact. I seek your ear, for a discussion. I seek your hands, to seal your evil, and turn you to peace."

He stops, close to the Marine, looking across the gathered thugs. "We are called Geki."

COMBATSYS: Geki has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Geki             0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: John Crawley has joined the fight here.

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John Crawley     0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Geki

[JOHN CRAWLEY]
Sunglasses catch the light of the sun, a sharp glint that reflect the suddenly appearing ninja. Crawley adopts a cocksure smirk at the sight of this showy new opponent with some purpose and drive. A new fighter, one that might not be so much a disappointment.

"Home grown ninja-boy?" Crawley asks, "Why don't you show me what you got, baby. Let's dance, then maybe I'll bother to remember whatever the hell you call yourself."

Crawley kicks back, spacing himself from the ninja, his boots scrape on the ground. He takes his position, arm checked in front of him, right fist cocked back and ready, his muscles taut with anticipation.

"Think fast!" Crawley shouts, and he leaps into the air. He reels back his arms while he soars up toward the setting sun. He brings his fists together just as he nears the apex of his jump. There's a clap, a searing sucking of air, and a blast of chi burns off of the man's fists, rocketing like a shot down toward Geki. "Smash!" the marine calls out with a laugh.

COMBATSYS: John Crawley successfully hits Geki with Air Smasher.

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John Crawley     0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0             Geki

[GEKI]
Geki leaps into the air as Crawley does, springing backwards and away. The blast of chi hits him in a cloud of flaring fire, sending him flying backwards in a flip. He lands on the ground, smoking across his blue-black hood and armor, dropping to a left hand.

"You move like a beast in the wilds, John Crawley, but your soul is forever caged by this power."

Shoulders rising and falling from the shock of the blow, sulked around his spider-hard build, he rolls to the side as Crawley lands and shoves his armored shoulder pauldron into the ground, pushing off as he inverts then bounces out into a standing position.

From within the motion, came a single throwing star, laced with rhubarb leaf and aimed at Crowley's throat. It curves through the air, meant to pass right alongside him, or into him if Crawley is unlucky.

COMBATSYS: John Crawley just-defends Geki's Geki Star!

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John Crawley     0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0             Geki

[JOHN CRAWLEY]
John Crawley lands not far from where he leapt in the first place, back to holding his position, standing ready, body loose and hands checking and reading the battlefield from behind his aviators. He's smiling and pleased with himself.

A glint of metal, and with a snap of his hand, Crawley catches the thrown star to take a look at it before flicking it off to the side, discarding it to the ground with a scoffing, "Cut the fortune cookie crap and fight me like a man."

He rushes the ninja, drops his shoulder low, a gut checking lunge and one with the intent to grab and heave and hurl the ninja down to the ground with violent brutality at odds with the grace and speed of the ninja.

COMBATSYS: Geki parries John Crawley's Bear Killer!

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John Crawley     0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0             Geki

[GEKI]
"A man fights as he is able," Geki replies as he stares down John, his hands moving to face behind him, at his sides, fingers spreading as he squints.

The charge comes, and as Crawley drops low, Geki goes high. He pins his hands on Crawley's shoulders in a flash of speed and grabs his clothing, pommel pouncing over Crawley's body and coming out on the other side.

Should Crawley fail to get away in time, Geki has a rapid return with his hands grabbing at John Crawley's waist in an attempt to pull him back-to-belly, then lurch into the air with a suplex flip and drive Crawley's skull into the ground with a surge of conditioned piston-spring strength.

COMBATSYS: John Crawley dodges Geki's Izuna Drop EX.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
John Crawley     0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0             Geki

[JOHN CRAWLEY]
Clever dancer. The ninja's bounced his way over Crawley, and on top of that was trying to take the upper-hand. But in a moment of speed that seems to nearly match that of Geki, John combat rolls forward with a life and skull saving dive.

Turning into the roll, twisting, back to his feet, Crawley doesn't relent, he bursts toward Geki and kicks up into the air, inverting himself as he begins to turn in a spiral. His arms out, crashing toward Geki in a curious display of unorthodox athleticism and a wild cry of "Come on!"

COMBATSYS: Geki dodges John Crawley's Flying Attack EX.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
John Crawley     0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0             Geki

[GEKI]
Geki spins about to face John Crawley as he comes sundering back inwards, spreading his arms in a ready position, hunched forward.

As Crawley goes to skyward and spiral inverts, Geki rolls across the ground and ducks beneath him. Coming to a standing position after, he finds his tanto in his left hand, across from the claw atop the right, and rolls the ninja dagger's smooth round butt across his palm, until he holds it tip down.

"Tell me, John, what binds you here, to Southtown, other than a place to sleep and a meal? Surely there are better places to lay your head and fill your belly than one that asks you to misuse your ability."

Then, he rushes forward, leading with his claw.

There's a spinning turnaround as he leaps past, and he lands facing Crawley from the rear flank, his short sword having moved through on the passage.

COMBATSYS: John Crawley blocks Geki's Backslash.

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John Crawley     0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0             Geki

[JOHN CRAWLEY]
Wrists lock together, Crawley reverts, lands with a skid, stops. He looks back at Geki, and he snorts. A rich question, he thinks. "Born to kill, baby, born to kill," he tells the ninja with a light, almost mocking twitch of his head.

He whips around, the blade slashes over those tight in wrists, the cut comes across his forearms. Crawley laughs, shaking the pain from the surface cut. Thin rivulets run on his arms. "Been shot in the back, ninja boy. That pig sticker's nothing," he taunts.

With his words done, he snaps forward with a quick three punch left-left-right combination. A basic, heavy fisted, harsh striking series of punches meant to little more than pulverize people with the basics of martial artistry.

COMBATSYS: John Crawley successfully hits Geki with Strong Punch.
Grazing Hit

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
John Crawley     0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0             Geki

[GEKI]
Geki's tanto swings up in his hand, before going back in the scabbard behind his back, across his waist.

"If I meant you to be dead, John Crawley, I would have broken your shoulder without meeting you."

Geki dodges to the side, then back as he steps, before the right hand catches him in the face, breaking his metal mask and revealing his face.

He spits blood, right at Crawley.

"That way, you could not swim in this ocean."

There's a blast of smoke from him as he whips his arms out, the thick, choking gas in all directions from his arms and feet and surrounding the pair.

Geki laughs as he dances around Crawley in the mist, slashing and cutting with his claw, a pair of strokes from behind, one from down and below, one into the thigh, and then an uppercut with the claw, meant to rake upwards across the chin, the sharp triple tips of the claw upturned.

Then, the mist fades.

COMBATSYS: John Crawley interrupts Smoke Bomb Elimination from Geki with Napalm Drop.
-@- Dazing Hit! -@-

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John Crawley     1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0             Geki

[JOHN CRAWLEY]
The blood spatters against Crawley's sunglasses, a faint pattern on reflective shades colored with the orange of a setting sun. Crawley grins like a mad-dog through the comments and the boasting. "You ain't a kiddy pool, chump," he retorts as the blast of smoke envelops him.

A slash, a thick gas. "Just like the chamber," he says, arm over his mouth when the first cut comes in. But he isn't there for long. He fires up with a leap to the sky, turn over, his hand glowing with the orange red heat of a jet engine and down he comes with a fire wave of a blast strong enough to dissipate the smoke and burn up the surrounding area in a ground zero about John Crawley's three point landing.

Criss-crossed with cuts and bruises, Crawley pushes back up to his feet and claps his hands clear of dust as the ring of fire crackles around him. "Can you take the heat, ninja boy? This is war, not some game of hide and seek."

[GEKI]
Geki is blown back across the field of battle by the blast of fire from above, sent wailing across the road and into a low wall. His legs buck out into the air, and he slowly comes to a fall atop a building's ledge.

His arms shaking, he slowly pushes up to his feet, shudders racking him as his narrow chin chatters across his teeth. Gripping his jaw shut, he sucks in air, his armor exposed and jaunty, his body burned and smoking.

Wordlessly, he goes bounding towards John Crawley, his thighs pounding out and far apart, shins and calves kicking out over the ground with his boots slamming into the pavement.

A spin around as he approaches, to hide his approach, going to his right and Crawley's left, his claw coming from low and flashing around high.

Then, a slick thrust forward as he re-orients to face the Marine, thrusting his claw towards Crawley's abdomen.

COMBATSYS: John Crawley fails to interrupt Power Strike from Geki with Mega Smash EX.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
John Crawley     1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1             Geki

[JOHN CRAWLEY]
"Do I need to put you down like a dog?"

Crawley's question comes with another two-fisted slam of his hands. A blast of heat and force, a distant sound of engines thrilling to life. A sharp blast to flatten this ninja and put him out of his misery.

The shot goes high. The ninja is quick. The slash comes hard and heavy. A gashing cut. Right in the open front of his fatigue jacket. Sharp, angry cursing and vehement rage from the marine in the short moment as he pushes back, kicks away, clutches in stomach and most importantly corrects his sunglasses. Only for a moment the cold, violent, murderous callousness in Crawley's eyes is visible. Only to be once more covered, attempting at least, with his cocky demeanor.

[GEKI]
Geki dances aside as blood splatters across his face, moving around behind Crawley as he lurches forward to cover his bloody stomach.

Geki kicks up into the air and spins about, Geki between his kick and Crawley, before he lands on Crawley's other side.

He shields his intent with his left hand, before he pulls it away and stabs his claw at Crawley's right shoulder, using his repositioning to find the dominant arm and slash at it with intent to lacerate it. He's aiming at the muscle of the arm, hoping to induce throbbing pain into the method of assault to force a tell for future attacks.

COMBATSYS: Geki successfully hits John Crawley with Quick Strike.

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John Crawley     1/-======/=======|=======\=------\1             Geki

[JOHN CRAWLEY]
Not recovered. Not ready. Crawley follows Geki's swift distraction of a kick. He turns at the last moment, twisting to see the ninja land. A feint and Crawley falls for it. Arms not where they need to be. A gash at his right arm. A hissing curse that twists to a near manic laugh.

Crawley stumbles back, turned by the force. He tenses, his sunglasses offkilter. His arms up, ready to strike, but it doesn't come. "That's it, ninja boy. Let's kick some tires and light some fires!" he calls out. The energy around him picks up, heated glow beginning to roll and roil like an angry tide hazing off the man's shoulders and battered wounds. The energy in the air picking up with the growing shrill of a jet engine somewhere in the distance.

COMBATSYS: John Crawley gathers his will.

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John Crawley     1/--=====/=======|=======\=------\1             Geki

[GEKI]
"Your connection with the universe burns hot from within you, John Crawley, but it is your loathing for yourself that will destroy you."

Geki leaps backwards and into a rear-winding somersault. He peaks at the climax just three quarters into the somersault, before returning to a standard position on his way down.

A trio of shuriken are thrown from his hand as he reverts to an upright position, before he lands across from Crawley, ready for his assault.

COMBATSYS: John Crawley overcomes Geki Star Storm from Geki with Mega Smasher.

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John Crawley     0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0             Geki

[JOHN CRAWLEY]
"Mega Smash!"

John Crawley isn't in the business of talking much when he cracks his hands together, Heat, orange chi, boils and broils, and intensifies into a sphere of rolling power that blasts off from the marine's hand and hurtles off toward the trio of Shuriken.

The orb curves, twists, hurtles like a fighter jet, the stars scatter in the force of the smashing chi power. The ball going on its course to hurtle and bear down upon Geki with a violent intent, a killing blast aimed for that ninja.

COMBATSYS: Geki manages a miraculous escape from John Crawley's Mega Smasher!

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John Crawley     0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0             Geki

[GEKI]
Geki places his palms together, fingers before his nose, as the orange ball of chi comes hurtling at him.

He closes his eyes, and at the last moment, they snap open and he swings his hands out at his sides.

He splits, right down the middle, and the chi goes hurtling through the space he once occupied.

Geki fades back into existance behind Crawley, coming together from two sides, and reaches to grapple him. If successful, he lifts him up, then slams him downwards, with a harsh suplex.

COMBATSYS: John Crawley blocks Geki's Geki Suplex.

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John Crawley     0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0             Geki

[JOHN CRAWLEY]
Grip at his sides. Crawley's up, he kicks his feet upwards, wrenching free from the grapple, catching part of the claw with his momentum. But he's free from most of the pain and unconsciousness brought by the force of the grapple itself.

He lands on his feet, falls to a knee, pushes himself back up. Glasses askew, panting, he shakes his head to clear his mind. He lashes forward. With a series of sharply cutting and striking kicks he hopes to put the ninja down for the count. Heavy boots lashing high and low, and to cap it off, he spins with a knuckle to Geki's chin. A knockout blow. Something to put this jabbering ghost down. So this part of town knows for certain just who it is who runs Southtown. So everyone knows the pain the Syndicate will lay down about people that get too mouthy.

COMBATSYS: Geki blocks John Crawley's Overdrive Kick EX.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
John Crawley     0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0             Geki

[GEKI]
Geki's fingers slip free of Crawley, and he's fast to backpedal from the oncoming onslaught of kicks. He blocks through them, circling Crawley so Geki has his back to the setting sun, forcing Crawley to stare into the rays of the blinding maker.

Then, when the knockout blow comes, Geki's left hand snaps up, smacking the punch aside, before he lashes out with his claw, right at John Crawley's guts, underhanded.

Eyes narrowed and deadly, close ranged, glittering with red youkai taint of the verminous nature, Geki hisses, "I will give you a reminder, of your crime against this community, John Crawley."

COMBATSYS: John Crawley dodges Geki's Random Strike.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
John Crawley     0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0             Geki

[JOHN CRAWLEY]
Crawley stamps his foot down after his combination. His eyes dart to the watching crowd. The eager people, those that live in this neighborhood, they watch with bated breath. They want to see this strange champion win for them, this ninja swoop in to save their day, if just for another day. Among them, Syndicate thugs realizing they're outnumbered, but they have exits covered if they need to make an escape from this situation.

Crawley twists around the swiping claw, turning around the claw. He stays close. Stay's tight. A sharp knee toward Geki's gut. A fist aiming for Geki's face. A sharp grab for the ninja's neck. A quick, snapmare combination to hurl the ninja down and put this situation to bed now. Crawley lives for war, but he isn't a man that likes to lose.

COMBATSYS: John Crawley successfully hits Geki with Combo Grapple.
- Power hit! -

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  /                             ]
John Crawley     0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1             Geki

[GEKI]
Geki grunts as he's stuck in the stomach by the knee, before the fist jogs the ninja into a lollygagging turn away with his clawed hand. As he's tethered with a lariat, and then chucked into the ground, he emits a shout, then a gutteral cry as he croaks through his mouth.

Geki lays there, on the ground, still, on his face, his eyes slowly moving from across the ground to Crawley's nearby foot. He listens carefully, the world fading, before he lashes out.

His leg snaps out at Crawley's ankle in a twist that turns him onto his back, attempting to crook his boot behind the inseam of John's leg with a twisting kick. If Crawley collapses downward from the movement, there's a raised claw, just for him, set for the fall, from below.

COMBATSYS: Geki can no longer fight.

[                       \\\\\\\  <
John Crawley     0/-------/----===|

COMBATSYS: John Crawley dodges Geki's Four Spine Technique.

[                       \\\\\\\  <
John Crawley     0/-------/----===|

[JOHN CRAWLEY]
"Go! To! Sleep!" Each hit that Crawley lands is punctuated with an angry challenge. And when it's over, the marine stays on his feet, though he sways and staggers, needing to take his time to regain and control his footing.

Footing that Geki goes for, a clever rouse, a quick thinking maneuver, but sadly for the good people of this Southtown neighborhood, the former USMC martial arts instructor is still on his toes. He throws himself backward, rolling over his shoulder and with a kick, flips himself back onto his feet. His almost stumble stopped by his own goons catching him to keep him standing.

He laughs, stepping back out, taking off his sunglasses and clamping the tip of the temples in his mouth with a sharp grin. He steps forward, cut and battered and bruised, and he holds out his fist, thumb sticking out sideways. A wibble. A Wobble. And the thumb points downward.

"Let that be a lesson!" John Crawley coughs out, taking the sunglasses out of his teeth. A flick of his wrist to snap them open and slide them back onto his face. "No one, and I mean no one messes with the Southtown Syndicate! We own all of you! And this, this is what happens when you get uppity! You crash and burn, babies. Crash and burn!"

COMBATSYS: John Crawley has ended the fight here.

Log created on 00:47:27 03/16/2019 by John Crawley, and last modified on 03:32:27 03/16/2019.