Match of the Millennium

Description: Things haven't been working out for Crock. First he lost his guitar to a crazy old man, now he's been kicked out of a local soup kitchen by an uppity cosplayer! Fortunately, with everything going to Hell in a jet-powered handbasket, there isn't much stopping him from procuring himself a fresh axe on the sly. A little music will help soothe his tortured soul for sure! But, right as he comes across a nice little shop with a primo selection of guitars, some annoying do-gooder decides to come out of the woodwork and get in his way. When's a guy going to get a break?

[WALTER]
Even in the midst of danger, Darkstalkers, and general chaos, capitalism drives the more intrepid business owners to label themselves essential and ignore any orders to close shop. This is exactly what has happened with the little shop called Guitars-n-Picks, where the owner has plastered a 'Still Open for Business' and 'No Darkstalkers Allowed!'. This has...mostly worked. There's only one window busted out, the front door has a single claw mark on it, and the passing naga was kind enough to only leave her number for the intrepid and handsome employee on duty. Score one for Romeo and Naga-ette.

Also this shop has crazy good reviews on Yalp, has reasonable prices for it's wares. It's one of those back-alley places you either stumble upon or...well read the Yalp review. They also have a Fightbook page.

The employee absent-mindedly strums an acoustic guitar, yawning as he plays a /bad/ rendition of a Johnny Crash song. Honestly, he deserves to be punched for that alone. The song makes its way out-of-tunely to the streets nearby!

[CROCK]
There was a lot of ways to do a heist.

The red-mohawked punk named Crock (That's C-Rock) was dressed in green denim on his jacket and pants. He was bandaged, scarred, and had a bandage on his studded face. He was having a bad time. And he needed a guitar. A store was open. It had guitars. And music was playing on the outside. How did he find it? Because was wandering on the back alleys. He considers how he does his heist. And he executes.

Crock enters the store.

He walks up to the employee, and punches him in the face. In the moment of stunning, he grabs his guitar, and rips it from the employee. And then, he -slams- it against the wall, over and over again. Throwing the remains of the guitar on the employee, he gives him one last kick, before turning back towards the rest of the store, to find another guitar. All while muttering under his breath.

"Nobody fucks up the Cash and lives."

[WALTER]
Walter Bardsley, still bandaged and battered from being on the receiving end of a Lyra-ing, has been doing the rounds. That is, doing a bit of gliding around Southtown as discretely as a Knight-slash-Dragon-slash-Priest can. It's remarkably doable, for being basically covered in gold and-or priestly reignments. Look before you wing, folks.

Which is exactly how he hears that God-awful rendition of a song. He lands just in time to witness a crime in progress. This includes the punch, which has left the shopkeep Cash-smashed into the register before falling to the floor.

It's about when the kicking and guitar smashing happens that Walter kicks in the door-literally-and tries to intervene. He may be a do-gooder, but he has /taste/.

"What the bloody hell are you doing!? I mean besides a robbery. Beating up random store-owners, no matter how horrid their musical tastes, is a crime! And as a Knight of the Sacred Order, I am duty bound to stop you knave!" Walter strikes his best heroic pose with his spear in one hand. He also flaps his wings 'menacingly'.

He's working on his knightlyhood. Could use some tips really.

"Now on the ground! The NOL will be far less nice to you than I will!"

Can he even arrest people? Even Walter's not entirely sure, but he'll claim citizen's arrest if need be. Assuming he doesn't get shot by the police for being all wing-y.

COMBATSYS: Walter has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Walter           0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Crock has joined the fight here.

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Walter           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Crock

[CROCK]
Crock sets his eyes on the Squier Stratocasters.

They are cheap. They are low quality. And they are made of tonewood. It was an embarassment of a guitar, designed to prey on the poor and stupid. Crock liked to think of himself as both. He reaches out to grab the guitar, just as the door is kicked in. Hooking the strap over his shoulders, he turns around to look at the dragon.

And snorts a cackle.

"Holy shit, it's Puff The Pompous Dragon!" Crock growls, as he tunes the electric guitar. He strums on the strings. No sound comes out, as he nods at it. He looks away as Walter continues his speechifying, rolling his eyes. "No joke, do you really listen to how fucking retarded you sound. You're about 6 bad teeth and a monocle away from going thou or thee. So uh-"

ANd he's moving.

Charging straight for Walter, he leans his guitar in, as he zooms fast. He was going for a gut check with the base of the guitar, attempting to smash it straight into the dragon's torso. "Fuck the Sacred Order, fuck the NOL."

"And fuck -you!"

COMBATSYS: Walter blocks Crock's Medium Strike.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Walter           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Crock

[WALTER]
"Oh /shut up/ it's not like there's a manual or community college course for being a knight! I work with what I ha..AUGH!"

Cue one guitar straight to the midsection. Tense that gut Walter! C-rock proves to be quite quick on his feet for one sporting a /mohawk/, and the blow sends Walter skittering backwards. Nearly out the door, even. There's the sound of bruised scales, and probably bruised ego.

"Don't put us in the same category as those NOL creeps! ...And no that is not advocating violence against them when it's unnecessary! If you want to play the part of fourth-rate punk rock thief, go pick on one of them when they're doing something shadey. Which is constantly, by the by! Not on innocent civilians, they have enough trouble, haven't you SEEN the influx of violent cats dogs and..." Wait, he's in that category basically.

"Whatever. I'm saying piss off!"

And then Walter feints with a spear-thrust, only for his tail to lash out, trying to wrap around C-rock and smash him into a nearby display case full of the actual, maybe-decent guitars.

Surely this shop owner has Fight Insurance. Surely???

COMBATSYS: Crock endures Walter's Quick Throw.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Walter           0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0            Crock

[CROCK]
"Dude, you sound like you -teach- community college."

Crock sneers as he lands the connection to the gut. He stunned the dragon, yeah. But he didn't knock him out. And the Dragon kept -rattling- on, annoying the punk. He snarls, as the dragon comes rushing right back. "Fourth Rate?" He spits back, as Walter goes for the spear thrust. It's disturbing that Crock looked like he was going to try and take that stab right in the chest. When the tail lashes out? The rocker lets himself get tangled up. As he gets slammed into the indecent guitars, he springs back.

Body bleeding under his jacket.

Relentless and furious. He leaps back into the air, and throws out into a body slam at the dragon. That much might be too much. "I'm at least Fifth Rate!" But should he connect, the ground would -splinter- and shake, as the floors would rip up into a crater, adding more to the fight insurance deductions. Whether Crock would hit the first time, he would go for a second body slam on the splash, leaving a smaller crater there. Whether or not it smooshes the dragon?

It would snap his guitar in half.

COMBATSYS: Walter parries Crock's Hey! Where Is My Catnap?!!

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Walter           0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0            Crock

[WALTER]
"It was for /one year/ and at the University of St. Anthony thank you very much! From the way you speak, you could use a few courses! Maybe it'll beat the Lord into that awful hairdo of yours!" The priest is not shy with insults. He may even enjoy sparring verbally with the rocker as much as the punch-fest.

Walter tries not to be disturbed by the alarming amount of 'willingness to get stabbed' C-rock shows. He's wondering if maybe there's some Darkstalker influence in there. Or just the usual rocker amounts of party drugs/booze. Still he's not going to take chances, especially as C-rock is trying to body-slam him.

Which is good, because even the missed blow is a deadly thing. Walter sweeps first his spear, then his wing at the oncoming rush of rock. Luckily he has experience in fighting such people: mainly thanks to Alexis, whom he is quietly thanking right about now. Wing up as a shield, that weapon of his manages to catch the oncoming slam and turn it /just/ away. This leaves duos of craters and shattered guitars, picks, and other such debris all around. Not to mention the shattered guitar! Walter's wing looks battered, his frock ripped, but otherwise seems to be in functional order. His eyes are wide, taking in every motion of the rocker. He has to, the man's strong!

"Better than you look." He's smiling a bit.

And then he's glowing with obnoxious amounts of golden light. Thrusting with his now golden spear, he aims the blunt end for one of C-rock's legs! This is /eye searingly/ holy...and maybe a bit corrupted, given he's a Darkstalker.

COMBATSYS: Walter successfully hits Crock with Pierce the Darkness EX.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Walter           0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0            Crock

[CROCK]
"God damn you are wily!"

Crock splashes down hard, not catching any dragon in his path. But as he craters, he breaks the guitar. Trash. Absolutely trash. The rocker eases back up in the debris, as the blur of scale and flesh moves around him. The spear is jabbed right into Crock's leg, before he can react, as the Sacred Order knight was moving, constantly moving. It was inevitable. And yet, when the energy comes... something within seemed to be resisting it.

So it may be surprisingly, that Crock was limping away.

He was aiming for the rack he smashed in earlier. "You know what, you probably think of yourself as a real do-gooder, huh." The punk snarls, as he seems to be exposing himself to the dragon. Not in that way. But he had no defense up. He reaches down, a guitar catching his eye. Gibson. Metal frame. This will do nicely. Picking it up, he begins to tune it, turning back around to face the dragon. "Law, and order. A perfect society, one nation under god, and all that bullshit." He begins to play with the strings of the guitar, turning back to face the dragon. He was strumming noiselessly. "Let me ask you a real question then. Do you love this planet?"

And then the drone begins to groan from the guitar, as chi flows through it.

COMBATSYS: Crock charges his next attack!

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Walter           0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0            Crock

[WALTER]
Walter is pretty sure at this point that C-rock is busting up the shop intentionally. At least the owner has managed to sneak out the back door. Oh, and C-rock has another guitar that looks..well, sturdier than the last. He's not a musician. But he can feel that chi and his ears are /already/ protesting.

The man is not a genius, but he can put together two and two.

"It is literally in my job description. I've taken oaths to do good in the world. Even if I may fail at it, often and hard. That's why we do it."

Nor is the dragon distracted per se by the question. No, he's still moving, this time trying to grab C-rock by the belt loop. Scales shift, muscles tighten, and he'll make an attempt to pitch C-rock out the shop window! Which, for now, is mostly intact. This might be about to change.

"What? Of course. Are you some sort of grunge-environmentalist-anarchist or something? Because I am all for reducing harm to the planet. Try smashing an oil CEO's face with that guitar, not some poor underpaid worker!"

COMBATSYS: Crock endures Walter's Medium Throw.

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Walter           0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1            Crock

[CROCK]
"Those are just labels, dude."

The drone builds, as the strumming comes. Waves of energy rattle through the storefront, as the reverberations were droning deep. It wasn't Stairway To Heaven. It wasn't anything. "What I'm doing is clearing every rock and stone supporting this pathetic blight on the planet. You're upholding it, the endless, relentless rape of this planet. Every building here is a monument to defilement. And I want it gone." He doesn't resist, when the dragon seizes him. But the music, if you can call it music, builds louder and louder. He goes out the window. He lands on the ground. And he drops the hammer, as he gives the chord.

And it explodes.

A tube of raw energy fires straight from Crock, slicing through everything in its path. Stone was drawn in, as a call of sonic energy rattles hard. It cuts like a knife, as it aims for the dragon. Should the dragon get caught in the path? He would be trapped in a whirlwind of bone-rattling guitar chords and a hornet's nest of stone shards, ripping from the earth and building. And Crock would play and play, each note like a hammer at Crock. The building would be likely in ruins by the time he's done. Until finally, the drone would stop. And Crock would rise up. Bloodied and bruised from the broken glass and beating he had gotten.

Glowing with ecstasy.

COMBATSYS: Walter just-defends Crock's Empowered You're Harmful To Minors Mister Yuck!

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Walter           0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0            Crock

[WALTER]
"Sometimes labels are correct. Like, for instance, YOU! Destroying a building is /not/ going to drop either support for capitalism or dent a CEO's pocket or do anything meaningful other than give some poor guy a bad day! You can mitigate harm with reasonable action, or at least direct your ire to...oh bloody hell that looks bad!"

Before Walter can get /too/ much into his rambling call to slightly-less-destructive action, the world shakes, Walter's wings flap reflexively, and what little was left of the front door and glass of the window utterly shatter. The dragon covers himself with his wings, debris and glass scattering off, before he does the one thing knights are known for.

Leaping into the danger. While he doesn't quite take it on the face, he instead takes it on the chest. As in leaping on top of that oncoming whirlwind of music and earth chi like it was some kind of grenade about to go off. Which...well it kind of is. Even in doing so, the earth in front of the shop is torn into, the foundations of the building are basically going to hell. The shop actually /tilts/. But is in...

It's bad. But still standing. Walter is glowing and taking that blow absurdly well. There is chi and scales flying off of him. His frock is ruined, he's now gained the pre-requisite shirtless fighter look, and thanks to the pure noise one can't really hear what he's saying. It's likely not kind given the agonized look on his face.

And when it ends?

"Oh GOD do you have any idea how much that hurt!?" Complains the priest as he /gets up/. His scales are...well they'll regrow, but his chest has a worrying amount of ripped bits on it. He's in one piece-ish. And is apparently one tough dragon.

That look of ecstasy is not making Walter happy. So much so that he rushes forward, flapping his wings in a burst of air to give him a speed boost forward. He lashes out with claws and chi...that shapes into more dragon claws.

His ears are still ringing. No words this time, just punching. The rage in his face, and how he literally roars at C-rock, may just indicate how pissed he is.

COMBATSYS: Crock blocks Walter's Twin Claws.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Walter           0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0            Crock

[CROCK]
Crock doesn't have long to revive from his rock n roll barrage.

When the enraged dragon emerges, C-Rock snarls in frustration. Recovering from the assault, he brings the guitar up, catching the slashing claws well. The energy? Not so well. The sonic energy was gone, but as the dragon comes in to clinch...

well, the rocker won't let it pass.

Arms bloodied, he snaps out a free arm as he keeps the guitar as a kind of shield. He was trying to grab the dragon by the exposed chest. "You think being positive and productive is going to fix this world? Look around you! Concrete Mausoleums Astride The Urban Scar! Every city should -burn- you MORON!" If Crock could get a grip? He would begin to smash his mohawk'd forehead into Walter's own hard dragon skull. Again, and again, a total of three times. Should he succeed? He would finish by flipping the dragon over, and -slamming- him into a.... concrete mattress of spikes, bursting up from the ground.

Where are these things coming from?

COMBATSYS: Crock knocks away Walter with Hot To Haughty Hollow Hammer Teeth.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Walter           1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0            Crock

[WALTER]
"W...well yes! If enough people work on the problem and come up with solutions, then there's no need to burn down the world! That gets people hurt. KILLED! I'm in the business of saving souls and lives." Growls out Walter in response. Yeah, Crock is off his christmas card list!

Oh yes, the rocker gets his grip! Wings, as it turns out, are good things to hold onto while you're slamming mohawk into skull. His world goes upside down...and that's before he's getting flipped! It seems that mohawk-foreheads are stronger than dragon skulls, because now he is going into concussion land.

His concrete matress, as it turns out, is getting a one star review from Walter after this. Namely because a lot of it pierces his back, rips off more scales, and generally makes things very, VERY red! Also Walter is now screaming in agony.

Which, while getting him to talk less, does also involve a very angry dragon-man. An angry dragon man that is suddenly glowing again, enough white-hot golden chi forming around his left hand to make some of that concrete smoke and /melt/. His spear is about a foot away after he was chucked by C-rock. So tearing his way out of the spikes, some of which are /in him/ now, he makes for another charge! His clawed hand makes a good glowy spear, as that's exactly what he's doing!

HOLY THRUST!

COMBATSYS: Walter successfully hits Crock with Holy Thrust.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Walter           0/-------/------=|=======\==-----\1            Crock

[CROCK]
"You just don't -get it!-"

Crock howls as he makes the slam. "Four hundred thousand million people all working together to make world a better place? It's all an empire of ants working as the veins of a concrete dungeon! People SHOULD hurt. People SHOULD be killed!" Crock breathes hard as the dragon rises up, as the knight begins to glow.

"And I'm the only one with any courage to pull that trigger."

It wasn't going to feel good. As the dragon man drives the spear into his chest. Crock stands there, grunting and groaning at the full force of it. He looks back into Walter's eyes. Pain. He felt real pain. But unable to breath, captured by the full impalement, the man begins to grin.

And the guitar begins to strum again.

He was playing, face to face to Walter. Up close, one could -feel- the flow coming up from the earth. The rattling of the sonic energy through his bones. Every pulse not only cutting through the air, but through the earth. The punk juts his chin out, as he stares into the dragon's eyes. He purrs, as invisible waves of energy pulse back and forth, the reverbations being carefully timed as he builds into a cacaphony.

"You probably don't even know what I'm -really- up to, do you?"

COMBATSYS: Crock charges his next attack!

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Walter           0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1            Crock

[WALTER]
"What you are is a narcissistic psychopath that just loves hurting others! You're using that anarcho-environmentalist persona to justify your own base desires!" Complains the Priest. He really shouldn't be talking about base desires here.

But at least C-rock seems to be caught by the blow. The tough rocker's slowing. But can the dragon keep up? He's feeling his own wounds too.

Nevermind that once again C-rock is playing the blasted guitar, and he can feel those vibrations and chi going straight through him. He saw what he did last time. But for once he shows a bit of intelligence under all that bluster and priestly righteousness. "No, I don't. But I'm all ears!" Walter's going to let the man say it out loud. Meanwhile, he leaps into the air, flipping upside down. Then like a swimmer diving off of a board, he falls with a bit of extra acceleration due to a series of wingflaps! He's a falling bullet, claws and spear first towards C-rock! He'll try to hammer into that guitar lest the man unleash his grunge-fueled energy!

COMBATSYS: Walter successfully hits Crock with Jump.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Walter           0/-------/-----==|=======\=======\1            Crock

[CROCK]
"Yeah, but it's -something!-"

The sonic cacophony was building. He didn't even care if he was going to destroy Walter. He just wanted to hurt him. Hit him. He was going to make him sorry. As Walter leaps up, and descends, he was going too fast. Crock grits his teeth, as he brings his guitar up.

And the guitar is hammered.

Crock staggers, stumbling backwards. The body bruise was too much. The guitar was dented, but the music was off now. The strumming was disrupted. The strumming stops. But the sound doesn't. Crock's flesh ruptures, as he trembles. The sound was continuing. But it was coming from HIM, not the guitar. He moans in pain, his body shuddering. He brings his fingertips to the strings, jaw tense. He looked like he was about to explode. Groping for the strings, he finally gasps, as he slams his hand down.

And the sound explodes around him.

The moment he hits the chord, all the sound within explodes out, a shockwave of pure energy. A crater explodes around him, as a storm of concrete shards mingles with the wall of noise. If Walter was within the blast zone? He'd end up like the remains of the shop: the entire storefront becoming ripped into the cyclone of energy. There would be no ecstasy on this finish.

Only a desperate collapse of a barely conscious punk, as he leans on his guitar, grateful he was able to stop his own death.

COMBATSYS: Crock can no longer fight.

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

COMBATSYS: Walter endures Crock's WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! but gets knocked away!

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Walter           1/-------/=======|

[WALTER]
There's a bit of celebration in Walter's eyes as that guitar gets hammered. Clearly he's thinking that this is going to stop the crazed rocker. Walter does not know C-rock very well, it seems.

"I prefer 'helping people' as my something!" Growls out Walter. And then C-rock is channeling sound explosively from his own flesh. There's actual horror writ into Walter's face.

"Wait! No! You're going to get yourself killed, fool! Stop! Stop that right now!" Demands the priest, but to no avail. What can he do? He's a knight. He can't run away.

He shields his body with his arms, curls into a ball, and gets just outside that blast radius. There's no way he can manage to stop /all/ of it. But he can at last mitigate! And so as he's pummeled with the shards of noise and concrete and debris, battered and bruised and suffering, his wings flap. And flap and flap and flap! A gust of wind kicks up...and then when he realizes it's doing nothing, he leaps into the energy threatening to finish off that poor shop.

By the time C-rock collapses? Walter, having been carried into the air in a tornado of energy, slams back into the ground hard. Did C-rock kill a priest!?

That storefront is definitely going to need a new...front now.

And then, bleeding and barely conscious, he wobbles to his feet. Glaring at C-rock, he reaches out with the butt of his spear and tries to push C-rock onto the ground.

"Idiot." Then he's fishing for a new screen-cracked phone.

"Hello? Emergency services? Yes, a man was assaulted by a Darkstalker. He needs medical attention, and a police report filed. Yes, that's the correct address." Click.

"Don't say I didn't do anything for you. Try doing something good with that strength of yours instead of hurting people. Mercy is a virtue." Then Walter's getting out the duct tape.

The dragon makes to be gone by the time an ambulance arrives.

[CROCK]
It was an act of mercy.

Compassion. Charity. Crock is pushed to the ground, without much fight left in him. But he was squinting up to Walter. AS he is called for help, C-rock actually chokes a laugh. What does he do, when Walter calls him an ambulance? As a parting shot?

"Fuck you and your virtue."

By the time the ambulance comes around, there isn't a Crock either. Destruction, a shopkeeper, and an aftermath. Crock had his guitar.

But the wounds were really piling up now.

COMBATSYS: Walter has ended the fight here.

Log created on 08:55:13 04/09/2020 by Crock, and last modified on 11:22:08 04/10/2020.