Match of the Millennium

Description: Lyraelle says: "We're here, minions~ It's time for the Midnight Channel's Dark Heart debut! And what venue could possibly be epic enough to host the kind of monstrous mayhem you've tuned in to see, you may wonder? Well, how about a totally /epic/ cathedral?! When the bells in this bell tower ring for midnight, you'll know that it's time for some pulse-pounding bloodshed! And what mystery opponent have I lined up for our very first darkstalker guinea pi- I mean, brand new talent, Kelly Mason? Well, I'm sure that just because she happens to be one of the only fighters to beat me on live broadcast doesn't mean I'd pick a scary opponent for her out of spite! Winky face~"

[EADNI]
The Bell Tower was empty tonight.

A full moon hangs heavy overhead, casting its beams as thin illumination between the cracks and windows of the bell tower. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore pierce the otherwise quiet tower. There are no lanterns lit. There are no pigeons here. Only the stone pillars and wood pathways intersecting it. The largest being right before the largest bell; the space designed for events. There are no people, but there are eyes; shadowy watchers. It was the Midnight Channel. It was waiting for the two opponents to arrive. The first was Kelly Mason. And the second... was a mystery. A surprise for the young lady. A surprise for the precious child.

There is a deep ring of the bell, tolling that the midnight hour is close at hand.

[KELLY]
A burst of light fills the room, as a strange portal appears! With a shout of suprise, Kelly Mason falls unceremoniously into the room with a THUD on the wood floor! As she pushes herself up to her feet, couching as some dust is blown into the air, the portal winks out, returning the room to it's former darkness. Kellys eyes faintly glow in the dark, and she is able to see at least functionally in the low light, but only a short distance.

When the word hit that darkstalkers were outright banned, regardless of actions of extent of mutation, Kelly was livid. She finally gets the chance and ability to even hope to aspire to reach the heights of those she looks up to, and to have it suddenly taken away!?

Fuck! That!

While this fueled her decision to go through with the midnight channel as an alternative, she is still not reassured by the current location she now finds herself within..... In her mind, she hopes this wasn't a mistake.

[EADNI]
There is the sound of snapping now.

Moonlight yields, shadows spread. As Kelly steadies herself out, there is that pressure building. Something else was here. And that something was moving around. It's almost as if the shadows themselves were reaching out for her. Nobody would pit her against something truly lethal, right? After all, maybe there were some monsters that should never come to the Saturday Night Fights. And even for the Midnight Channel, they were too sinister, too depraved for normal consumption. There is a cracking sound from the shadows, across the stage before the bell.

And a pair of yellow eyes peer from the darkness, locked upon Kelly.

[KELLY]
Kelly, for her part, is still too disorientated from her rather graceless arrival. The room is thick with sensation and atmosphere, and she is unable to directly tell from where it is coming from as she slowly circles in the dark. She tries to track this moving gloom, but can only tell a vague direction as it shifts, turning with it. Her attention thus distracted, she is entirely unaware of the glowing eyes at her back. At least, until she may eventually be turned that direction given time......

[EADNI]
The creature begins to emerge, silent as the wind.

The horrific thing is the shape of a man, the illusion of humanity wrapped in the cloak of shadows. It's fangs were bared, a mockery of a smile. It was the stuff that all mothers and brothers and fathers all warned their loved ones about. The predator that sought to seize the lonely and unwanted, to prey on their lost desires with false promise and sinister motive. There would be no room for monsters like this in normal Saturday Night Fights. Even before the ban, they wouldn't want anything like this, for the sake of the viewers and the poor opponent forced to fight it. Lyraelle's name would be damned, and the humiliation that Kelly had brought on her would be a swollen sore on her soul. For the monster was fully revealed, coming in from behind as it finally speaks, finally reveals itself, it's nature, and it's motive on the poor woman.
"Well hello there, scuzzy." States the yellow-eyed Darkstalker in the purple zoot suit, a bouquet of posies extended with one hand, a smile on his lips. He gives a sly wink, as he extends the flowers. "I'm Jack, Daniel Jack, and I'm your monster for the evening." He looks around quickly, before focusing back on Kelly.

"Now is that Kelly Mason, as in like Keith Mason?"

[KELLY]
Instinctively, Kelly jumps at the sound of the speaker, creating room and giving her a chance to get a look at who it is..... She stares at him a moment as she finds that he looks strangely familiar.....

Where had she heard that name before.....

Recognition fills her eyes as she gives him a wary look "He's my brother. I remember reading about you..... the 'Lady Killer', right?". Her tone is inquisitive, but her gaze is not. She may not know the whole story, but if her own eyes are any indication, it's unlikely hes a normie with ones like his. To say nothing of being on the Midnight Channel. So he is likely something far more dangerous.....

The thought DOES cross her mind 'Maaaaaaaaybe this wasn't the best idea....'.

Course, doesn't matter at this point. She eyes the bouquet for a moment before looking back at him "By the way, flattery will get you nowhere Mr.Jack".

[DANIEL]
"Hey, we can see where it takes us, and go from there."

Sure, she knew Daniel as the monster that the media said. But you shouldn't believe everything they say. Except about masks. Probably. He tosses the bouquet out towards Kelly, the bound flowers keeping together as the ex-detective sweeps his arms around. "I'd rather not be thought of as a lady killer though. I earned that before I became this. Anyways, can you give your brother a message next time you see him?" The shade eases into the defensive stance of Todoh-Ryuu Kobojutsu, legs apart, steady footing put into place. Palms up, he seems less of a monster now, and more of a man. With yellow eyes. And fangs. "It's sorry." A brief pause.

"The message is sorry."

[KELLY]
Kelly nimbly sidesteps the flying flowers, and eases into her own combat stance, one arm out with the palm turned up, other hand back, both hands open but relaxed, legs in a half horse stance "Sorry for what?"

[DANIEL]
Oh she asked for what.

Daniel's smile becomes more strained. There were a lot of ways he could answer. Especially on a camera. Maybe he was watching right now! He could lie of course. And a lie would be a lot better than a truth for the short term. But it was best for the moment to tell the truth. Besides. The worst that could happen would Kelly to hate him as much as Aranha. Daniel looks up and down her again, from her tops to her bottoms. Well, he wasn't gonna lie.

That would be a pretty bad worst!

"Sorry for uh..." Daniel trails a bit. "For uh... well... I don't know if he told you, but... uh..." Daniel scratches the back of his head. "It's uh... what's a polite way... for the thing I did to him!" The thing. Daniel shuts his yellow eyes. He tries to describe it in the most delicate way possible to the young lady.

"For... the sadistic murder torturing him in the Mortal Kombat tournament, in order to drain out his sweet soul juices for my hedonistic appetites?"

There is a moment of silence.

"That is a thing I am sorry for."

[KELLY]
This stops Kelly cold in her tracks. She staaaares at Daniel, a look of suprise and a little fear as she replies "You did WHAT!?". Defeating her brother is no small task. Defeating him to that point even moreso.

Her fear quickly melts, however, giving way to a flood of cold rage. Kellys expression begins to slowly reflect this, her stare slowly evolving into a glare. The glow in her eyes brightens and faint blue whisps of psionic energy begin to drift off her form. "You said 'A' thing. Not 'THE' thing. Do you have more to tell me? Or are you finished?". Her fists clench as her desire to unleash her rage builds, but she holds herself in place for the time being.

[DANIEL]
Daniel winces.

This was almost as bad as confronting Aranha on this. Hell, this was -worse- in a lot of ways. The ex-detective gazes down to the remains of the abandoned flowers. There was a swirl of emotions boiling within him. One was a sea of shame, barely held back by the levees of self-righteousness. Anger comes, but the target was muddled, rather targets. Was he angry at himself? Or was he angry that -Kelly- was angry? Daniel's face keeps strained...

And he eases into the combat stance of Todoh-Ryuu Kobojutsru.

Palms up, stance steady, he stares across with pained yellow eyes. "Look, I'm serious. What I did was unspeakable, and wrong in many senses of the word." HE adds, as he steadies himself. It looks like he was accepting how Kelly was going to take this in the empty clock tower. "But is it unforgivable? I'm coming here for forgiveness here." The slick charm was oozing up again.

"Maybe you can understand, and help him understand too?"

COMBATSYS: Daniel has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Daniel           0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Kelly has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Daniel           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Kelly

[KELLY]
The glow encompassing Kelly seems to keep getting brighter and more condensed "I'm not the one who you did it to, so it isn't my place to forgive you. Nor would i influence him to make such a decision either way. It has to be Keiths decision on his own to be truely sincere".

The glow suddenly erupts with psionic power, pale white fire engulfing her body and seeping from her eyes as she and snarls and cracks her knuckles menacingly "That doesn't mean i'm not gonna try to kick your ass so hard you cough up feces for what you've done!". That said, with a shout of anger she rushes him, sending a two punch combo at his chest and face. Following these she snaps a kick at the side of one of his knees to try to destabilize him, during which she would bring her leg up and then down in an overhead heel strike!

COMBATSYS: Daniel just-defends Kelly's Charged Combo!!

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Daniel           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Kelly

[DANIEL]
"Keith?"

Daniel's question returns back, as he at least has a proper name. Not a lot of time to dwell on it, because Kelly has made her choice to start tearing into Daniel. As she approaches, however, Daniel's shadowy form seems to recoil against the light. The pure soul energy was cutting into his form... of pure... spiritual... oh no. Daniel could -taste- the destruction. When Kelly swipes her fists at the detective, the shade almost mirrors her movement in careful reaction. The first punch is pushed and redirected aside in tight circular motions, allowing the same hand to redirect as well. In turn, Daniel's footwork comes in careful positioning; as Kelly's force continued to move forward, he kept his hand and feet in tandem to shift the force away from Daniel. Tilting his head over as the searing energy fist comes past his cheek, the final kick comes. Daniel brings both palms around as he turns, twisting as he catches Kelly on the side of her thigh, using her force as a leverage point to not only guide it past him, but to push against it, to give delicate positioning. When the final heel drop comes, Daniel steps in, bringing both palms up. The drop comes, and Daniel seizes it by the ankle; the hardest leverage point, and finally would pin him down in the right spot. But as he catches it, the splash of energy pours over him as he keeps his yellow eyes locked in hard. His intense focus first locks on the ankle... and then the shin... and the knee to the thigh and-

"Oh, sorry!"

Daniel releases the ankle, and quickly readjusts. For a Darkstalker vs Darkstalker match, it was starting out more as a martial artist vs martial artist match than monster on monster. Daniel sweeps his arm, the shadowy figure suddenly surging with energy. A Kasane Ate? No, he steps in with a palm strike with the left at Kelly's center, burning with orange energy. His right comes in with burning energy as well, bringing in a hand chop aimed at her shoulder. The detective tries to sneak in an elbow jab, before he brings the orange enery all together to bear: With not one, but -two- chi slashes, with each hand. The combination only comes to an end when he eases in after the slashes, aiming to grab her by her shoulder and hip, and make a simple, but solid, pivot throw, to send her tumbling towards the edge of the clock tower walkways. The infamous Daniel Jack combination assaults.

The first of too many, without breaking a sweat for the shade.

COMBATSYS: Daniel successfully hits Kelly with Harlem Sunset.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Daniel           0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1            Kelly

[KELLY]
For all Kellys training and more recent experiences, she still seems to have a serious flaw:

When Daniels eyes scan her over, his apology makes it clear where his mind was going, and even in her current state is unable to not blush furiously. This distraction proves to be pretty devastating.

She is late in bringing up her guard as a result, and Daniels combination of attacks rocks her smaller form. The palm strike puts her sideways making a perfect opening for the hand chop to strike her shoulder. The orange destructive energy disperses and makes holes in her own psionic envelopment allowing the blows to strike cleanly before flowing back to cover her form. The elbow strike hits her chin moments before the twin slashes create a pair of large gashes along her upper torso, dark red blood spilling from the twin wounds.

She would fall forwards in shock from the ferocity of the assault if not for Daniel grabbing her, and with a pivot sending her flying to land in a heap a short distance away.

After a few seconds, Kellys hands begin to shakily push her to her feet. The look of rage on her face has not left, merely had a look of pain meshed with it. She allows her injuries to bleed freely as she lifts a hand, palm forwards. The white fire coalesces there for a moment, before it bursts forth, flying through the air at Daniel at high speed!

COMBATSYS: Daniel blocks Kelly's Channeled Blast.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Daniel           0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1            Kelly

[DANIEL]
Lady Killer.

The thought rattled in Daniel's head as the aftermath of diligent, delicate defense and offense is revealed before him. The nickname didn't come from when he was a viscous monster, when he was a terrifying shadow, from when he was a predator of the living and of the dead. It was from when he was just a man. There was a lot of assumptions people made of Daniel. Todoh-Ryuu was cast deep in the shadow of Kyokugen, Daniel was a walking joke of Interpol, and the man himself had just a reputation of beating up women. Or being seduced by monsters. What was missed was that Daniel was very, very good at Todoh-Ryuu Kobojutsu, and his monstrous transformation only augmented his capabilities in it. As he brings the final pivot throw, he felt hot and angry. Now clearly at himself. Keith, Aranha would be looking at Daniel pulling apart Kelly's offense and defense like a roast chicken, and hate him for it. Lady Killer.

He'd always be a lady killer, wouldn't he?

The raw aftermath of Daniel's first arranged match in years was surging back at him. Daniel slips back into his defensive stance; it's not well equipped for a burst of raw energy however. Daniel attempts to redirect it, bringing his aura to bear to guide it. But it's like bringing butter to deflect the knife; he quickly realizes there is no way he can properly control the power. The deflection only manages to bring it through his shoulder, ripping apart the shadow. It doesn't come back, not all the way. Daniel grips the injury, where the remains of his suit cling into oblivion, merging with the shadows in the void of the injury. Razor-sharp teeth grit, as his own orange chi flares around him. A Kasane Ate? No. It dies down quickly, as -something- rushes into him. She was mad at him.

But he wasn't going to justify it by being a lady killer.

Daniel Jack steps in, and it's almost a repetition. A palm thrust with the left again, a hand chop with the right. Just as fast as before, but without the burning energy surging through it. "That's a lot of power for a little thing." Daniel adds, as the hand chop comes down. There is flickers of pain and sadness when he speaks.

"Tessitore did this, didn't she."

COMBATSYS: Daniel successfully hits Kelly with Quick Punch.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Daniel           0/-------/--=====|=======\====---\1            Kelly

[KELLY]
Despite her resolve driving her, Kelly has slowed down massively as a result of the hits she just took. Her guard goes up, but her guard is slightly too far to the left, and the initial hit connects, opening her up to the second. She winces through gritted teeth, but it's clear she is trying not to let it show. When he asks his question, her eyes narrow. A name she hasn't heard in some time, but remembers clearly.

"Here's a hint...." Kelly says, her tone low but not as angry-sounding as earlier, before launching into a dashing palm strike! She aims for Daniels shoulder, attempting to spin him with the impact as she passes. Once a step past she leaps and spins, bringing her foot around in a roundhouse kick with white fire englufing the limb, and aimed right at Daniels head!

COMBATSYS: Daniel blocks Kelly's Dead Man's Hand.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Daniel           1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0            Kelly

[DANIEL]
"I getcha!"

That's Daniel's response as Kelly pours the offense on him. He is able to keep his ground against the palm strike, deflecting it. Unfortunately, his defenses take him spinning, giving Kelly the momentum she needs for the follow up roundhouse. "Yeah, she transformed me too. To save my life, mind you!" Daniel adds quickly. "An incident with same crazy monster dame named Lotus. I don't think you've met her, and I don't recommend you do! She's all about knives and slashing and- yeah." The final roundhouse comes, and that's it. Daniel catches it, in the sense of catching it, and is blasted apart into a shadowy blur. Reforming a few feet away, he doesn't seem entirely intact; his features were indistinct now, and he was begin to disintegrate badly. His defense was able to keep himself from being a smear against the clock tower walls, but it looks very much that his ability to manifest solidly was badly compromised. His voice is low, almost a purr.

"I loved her, you know."

"Tessitore, I mean. Not Lotus. Gingers, blegh!" He gags as he gets himself back together, sweeping his arms methodically. "Thought I could fix her. Have a- have a lot more perspective on my mistake now. Aranh- Keith killed her. Don't blame him for it." There's a far away mutter from the detective. Daniel draws around his hand, a surge of orange energy coming up. He doesn't bring around the full force of the swipe; it's even a bit telegraphed as the orange energy flows up. "I think she's in a better place now, free of Lord- free of Jedah. KASANE ATE!"

And he swipes down, bringing the energy slashes down at Kelly, as he tries to shift backwards-

COMBATSYS: Kelly reflects Kasane Ate from Daniel with Repulsion.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Daniel           1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0            Kelly

[KELLY]
Her attack has less effect than Kelly had hoped, and she lands hand. Her endurance gives out, and the white fire wreathing her body dramatically lessens. Her beathing is hard and loud as she pulls herself back to her feet, taking a moment to catch her breath, and listening to Daniel as he speaks his mind. When she sees the glow, she knows something is coming. When she sees the channeling he uses, focusing around his arms, combined with the telegraphing she makes her move.

She brings up both hands, bursts of psionic energy glowing in her palms. She attempts to judge just how much he is outputting, and through either luck or.... well, luck manages to match it just enough.

When his strikes connect with her glowing palms, it causes a feedback loop of energy, negating the impact on her end by sending it back into his own body!

Her arms go numb from the impact, and Kelly takes a step back. She still hasn't caught her breath as she holds her hands to the long slash marks that are still bleeding "I've heard of Lotus. As much as i hate Tessitore for the hell she put my brother through, shes the only reason i'm even able to be here, now, following in his footsteps. Not sure..... " she stops for a breath "..... if i should hate her for it or grudgingly respectful".

[DANIEL]
"I think you shouldn't-"

Daniel finds himself eating his -own- Kasane Ate. Point blank, it rips through his frame like a hot knife through butter. The shadowy form of Daniel collapses a moment into a pile of spare parts, a heap of inky darkness that shivers as it falls to the floor. It reforms, steadily, the detective moaning as he rises. "I don't think you should hate people." Daniel states softly, as he steadies himself again. He was vaguely humanoid now; only his yellow eyes and shark-like teeth were fully formed, with his features almost all blurred darkness. But his zoot was beginning to reform again; slowly and steadily. It hurt like the dickens, but Kelly touched on something hot.

Not necessarily the hot thing that Keith was protecting her from, but...

"I'm letting go of my anger and vengeance. I feel awfully justified for it, but... I think you should do the same." Daniel Jack reaches in his chest, and rips free a spare part: a hour hand for the cloak outside. He winces, and nearly collapses in himself. "Even Fio, Tessitore I mean. You should forgive her for what she did to you. There is a lot of life ahead of you, spending a lot of it hating things isn't where you need to be, you dig?" Orange energy flows into the spare hour hand, and Daniel prepares the wind up. Turning, he spins once, before he hurls the energy-energy clock hand spinning through the air. He evens out, nearly falling off balance as he unleashes it. "That's what I'm worried about with Keith, you dig? He might spend forever hating me, and her, and everything in him. Until all that's left is that hatred."

"That's how you lose yourself."

COMBATSYS: Daniel successfully hits Kelly with Dirty Business.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Daniel           1/---====/=======|=======\=------\1            Kelly

[KELLY]
Kelly is spent at this point, and when she sees the power-infused clock hand flying her way, she tries to throw herself sideways to evade it. It isn't until she stands back up and sees a fresh gash in her arm that she realizes she didn't make it.

Then the pain hits her as the rush of action wears off, red dripping down her arm to pool on the partially slick floor. The wounds on her torso still run, but not as heavily as before "Say what you like. If someone actually manages to hurt my brother and really goes out of their way to twist the knife on him, i won't hesitate to stick my foot up their ass for it, even if it's a fools errand trying. Thats what family does! I don't have to hate them to do that much". Her breathing steadies as she takes a combat stance, anger clear through her focus "Being angry at and disliking someone are far different from hating them, and after what you done i feel no qualms being mightily angry at you".

COMBATSYS: Kelly focuses on her next action.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Daniel           1/---====/=======|=======\=------\1            Kelly

[DANIEL]
"But where does the anger -end?-"

Daniel throws it back at Kelly, as much as throwing can be thrown after a clock hand is thrown. "You know Keith is gonna hunt me down and grab me by the bal- by my hat." Daniel quickly corrects. "Because I roughed you up, in a legitimate public fight! semi-public. I'm not sure if this is properly televised. I don't know what a Midnight Channel is." He admits. "Is it like Twitter? I have heard stuff about twitter. Tik-Tok?" Daniel was just throwing words out now. "Whatever. He's gonna see his baby sister bloodied, and he's gonna track me down to slap the sh- the poo out of me, and for what. What? Is it gonna make a difference to me that he is merely angry at me for what I did to his sister, instead of hating me? I'm gonna get a Capoeirer- Capoeiristo- Whatever you call a person who does Capayabara fighting stuff. He's going to to be mad, you're mad now for what I did, and where do I go to cash out on this anger! Where can I put up my pound of flesh to pay off my debt." Daniel flattens out his hand, as chi energy fills within.

Oh, he's setting up -that- move.

Power flows in and out, as he prepares the flawless form of Todoh-Ryuu Kobojutsu. He approaches Kelly. "What, he's gonna be proud you drew a bit of blood on me, yeah? Maybe you -should- kick my ass. Bottom. Aw hell this is gonna be embarrassing. He is at Kelly, as he unleashes a flawless palm strike with the left. A second palm strike comes, aiming to -catch- Kelly, and flip her over on her back. Should he slam her down, he would pin her down, lining up the ultimate force of the World's Greatest Hand Chop. And he would unleash that skeleton-shattering blow squarely on her, all as he continues to shoot the breeze with moralizing frustration. "I just want to be friends again." Daniel would sigh.

"I just want everything to go back to where it was before."

COMBATSYS: Kelly deflects World's Greatest Hand Chop from Daniel with Railgun.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Daniel           0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0            Kelly

[KELLY]
Kelly, during Daniels tirade, breathes deep. She keeps herself calm, trying to ignore the pain, bleeding, and anger. To feel the energy flowing through her body. As he comes in, she closes her eyes as she exhales, remembering several of her past battles.

Miraculously deflecting a lightning bolt from Raiden in the heat of battle alongside Ryu Hayabusa.

Saving the children when Felicia was sent to capture them, her first true solo victory.

Her intense victory over Lilith while Rose looked on

Her semi-rivalry with Yuri, first losing, then later winning, against the spunky fighter.

Her brutal loss to Marduk.

The victory of herself and Lilith over Lyraelle by a slim margin.

Sitting in the locker room with her brother, after his match with Mike Bison, both coming to something of an acceptance of events in their lives.

Her eyes snap open just as Daniel reaches her and attacks! White psionic energy flares around her palms, allowing her to harmlessly bat away his opening palmstrike with one hand, and his followup with the other. The energy of his strikes are absorbed, focused, accellerated with a top spin, and reprojected back into Daniel with a duel-palmed close-range projectile aimed at the center of his torso!

The drain on Kellys body is immense however, and she is left feeling exceedingly drained for a moment after and unable to follow-up with anything but words between tired breaths "This.... is a sanctioned thing. Bro has..... no reason to be mad at you any more than i would..... at someone who defeated him in an official ring. Long as they didn't make.... a show of doing more damage to him than needed". She gives a tired glare "Of COURSE I'm mad at your treatment of him. I have every right to be as much as he does. If i was gonna.... take some sort of vengence, this is the ideal time and place. Doesn't mean i would..... hunt you down in the streets with intent to kill".

Once she has something of her breath back, she says more resolutely "Being 'friends' is between you and him. For my part, being professional doesn't mean liking someone"

[DANIEL]
Oh he didn't see that coming.

As she opens her eyes, as the surge of energy comes up, Daniel suddenly finds his opening palm jab deflected. He tries to follow up, but she suddenly was matching every movement, and blasting it right back at him. He doesn't even make it to the final hand chop, when the energy is blown right into his chest. Kelly would see the form of Daniel exploded into pieces, the raw soul energy tearing apart his immaterial form. For a moment, there is nothing but shadows. And then, a groan of pain. It was a good rebuttal. Both the attack, and the words.

Cause being professional doesn't mean liking someone.

"Yeah, you're right." Daniel admits, as his shape draws back into a somewhat humanoid form. "If I want to settle debts with Keith, it needs to be professional, not personal. I'll make it a sanctioned match. I know I'm not a horrible murder monster. But he doesn't. Something with lots of cameras, witnesses, security. Real professional." The shadow shape slithers now, surging at Kelly before coming together into a single, solid shape next to her. "Thank you, Kelly. It's been a real pleasure to meet you. You're a pretty smart cookie." His limbs lash out. But it wasn't frightening, or even fast. But Daniel was getting burned out by his offense too; just not to the same level of fatigue as his opponent. But it was practical, and efficient. Should he get a grip on her shoulder and hips?

A straight pivot throw, to send her flat on her back again.

COMBATSYS: Kelly dodges Daniel's Medium Throw.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Daniel           0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0            Kelly

[KELLY]
Seeing Daniel closing, Kelly does the opposite of expected: she moves in. When his limbs reach for her, shes a bit too close, and is able to duck and slip outside his grapple.

"This cookie isn't down and out just yet...." is her quick words before reaching out for Daniel herself. She attempts to grab his wrist, pull him forwards and off balance before lashing out with a hard kick at his legs. The strike is low and hard enough to knock both his legs out from under him! Following through, she swings the same leg around and up, foot glowing with white flames, before bringing it down in an overhead axe kick at his back as he starts to fall, not just striking him but also slamming him into the floor should all go as planned.

COMBATSYS: Daniel just-defends Kelly's Hammer Strike!!

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////                         ]
Daniel           0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0            Kelly

[DANIEL]
Oh no.

When Kelly moves in, she slips under his grip. The detective hisses, as he is exposed for that hot second. Firmly steadying himself out, the shade finds that Kelly was going for his wrist. A bad move on Kelly's part, as Daniel quickly shows how much Todoh-Ryuu Kobojutsu training is based on people grabbing you by the wrist. He very specifically does not lose his balance as Kelly jerks him. Letting her energy flow through him, he carefully adjusts his footwork, even as his shadow form is getting thrusted around. When the kick comes in low, Daniel delicately places a shadowy foot on her own ankle, firmly stopping it as she recovers it back. When the same leg comes around and up, the detective was raising his arms up, energy boiling around him as it swirls. The axe kick comes down on him, and like before, he catches it neatly with both hands at the ankle again. He -does- lose a few inches as his feet collapses into a pool of shadowstuff under him.

But at least his yellow eyes don't stray this time.

Chi energy swirls around him, orange energy mingling with his own shadow force. Pushing back off the legs, he keeps his arms high up as the energy flows to his fingertips. Surging with the energy, he starts unleashing the big attack: the big Kasane Ate. Slamming his arms down, he roars out 'Kasane Ate!' as he unleashes a tsunami of energy around him in a semi-circle. Kelly would have some time to take in the attack.

She better move faster than that.

COMBATSYS: Daniel successfully hits Kelly with Chou Kasane Ate.
- Power hit! -

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
Daniel           1/-----==/=======|=======\====---\1            Kelly

[KELLY]
Kelly does, indeed, see it coming. Exhaustion is catching up with her.

Initially she attempts to try to dodge, but seeing the size of the area being covered by the attack, she knows she won't make it, so she changes tactics last-minute.

She charges into the attack with full force!

The energy strikes clean, leaving an extremely bad burn in the side of her lower abdoman, melting her clothes into her skin. The pain is immense as she shuts her eyes, but theres a flare of psionic white fire in them when she opens them again, driving herself forward with a shout!

Once in range, she grabs for Daniels head, a hand on either side. if she gets a grip, she pumps a massive amount of raw psionic power directly into his skull!

After this, the fire goes out, and consciousness is lost and she falls unconscious.

COMBATSYS: Kelly can no longer fight.

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

COMBATSYS: Kelly successfully hits Daniel with Cranial Surge.
! VENGEANCE !

[                      \\\\\\\\  <
Daniel           1/=======/=======|

[DANIEL]
She's breaking through?

Daniel watches in dread as Kelly breaches the wave of pure Todoh might, and is right at him grabbing his head. He thinks he has a plan; you just counter it like so. But when he places his hands on Kelly's hands? He wasn't expecting the -mind blast-. Kelly blows Daniel's mind, and the detective lets out a strained moan as he collapses backwards. He falls into a heap on the ground. Yellow eyes wide and glassy. Mouth a gape, and tongue lolled far out of his head as he stares blankly into oblivion. The mind blasted, broken. Was this it? A DKO?

"Oh, oh my, oh my-"

"Oh god, my head!"

Daniel lurches up, drawing his tongue back into his head. Eyes still faraway and dazed, he grips a palm on his head. Reaching over, he grabs his hat, and slaps it on. Looking around blankly, he waits for... a sign? He glances around some more. "Is- is that it? I win?" He keeps looking around the shadows. "I guess- I guess I won?" Silence. Daniel shrugs. He tips his hat to Kelly. "Thank you, kid. You've helped a lot. You tell Keith- You tell Keith he's going to be fighting me soon, in a good clean fight." Daniel turns, and steps into the shadows.

ANd like that, he is gone.

COMBATSYS: Daniel has ended the fight here.

Log created on 10:52:47 07/30/2020 by Kelly, and last modified on 14:44:36 09/10/2020.