Match of the Millennium

Description: Daniel and Hayley face off in the semi-finals for the Neo League, returning for a rematch in the foothills of Brazil.

[DANIEL]
Daniel's Brazilian Fans had a reputation of their own.

Wild, crazed people, they were considered shunworthy even amongst the core of the r/ladykiller, even worse than the Russians. But deep in the jungles of the Amazon, the hill folk up where the mountains and the forest meet together had gathered far too close to the Ikari's operations. It was almost a threat. But the gang of two dozen were eager to help the boat come up the river, guiding it in to the old dock alongside the waters. The Neo-LEague had come a long way here.

They were quiet.

It was almost like a campout, a get together. Tents were set up in the clearing, right by the edge of the river. The young men were all dressed in the old malandro fashion, with straw hats, breezy summer suits, and cigars. A cookpot was set up around the fire, as they boiled some sausage until a tree. There was already a spot marked for the fight, the boundaries traced with the remains of six dead birds, painted with their blood mingled with a black ichor. The atmosphere was warm and friendly. ANd there was an awful lot of rum ready.

But there was no sign of Daniel yet.

[HAYLEY]
Hayley has fans of her own, it seems, but few quite as dedicated or as ... infamous, as the frequent visitors to r/ladykiller. There are the Spangles fans, remora-ed onto the brief talk of "Aussie Spangles." Likewise, Hayley has some that recognize the Bretherton name from the days of "Fight Hunter." Some just like her because she's a scrappy newcomer with a fun style. Some like other, more basic attributes of Hayley best left unspoken.

Few of them were willing to do anything quite as organized, or some would say, aggressive, as the Brazilian Daniel Jack cheering section. Hayley has cautiously kept her distance from it. and is presently doing drills.

She sweeps her arms in slow motion, taking circular, exaggerated movements in the style of Tai Chi. She seeks her center, as they say, concentrating on her chi, on the inward flow of energy. The give and take from the earth. Her recent bout with Clarity Reece has left some...interesting questions, in Hayley's mind. Perhaps they will be addressed later.

Extending her palms heel to heel in front of her, Hayley inhales, exhales. She may be doing her best to avoid jeers.

[DANIEL]
The Brazilian Daniel Crew behavior was the main concern now.

Normally, Daniel fans were belligerent. Combative. Kind of sexist actually. But as Hayley comes out into the ring, out into the marked arena, and she does her exercises, that pulls the boys from the tents and firepit. Circling the ring, the crowd is deathly quiet. Bottles of rum, cigar smoke, and sausages were the vittles of them. But not all of them. The numbers started at two dozen. When the crowd came together to the ring side, it must have doubled. How? Why? Well, the Hayley fans could see it closely, if any dared to come close.

Some of them were dead.

Where the lines of the living and the dead formed was on the color. The living was light. And the face of the dead were in the shadows. They only exist when the Daniel fans kept together. The shades drift in and out, the shadows lingering across the arena, under Hayley's feet. It was daylight. Shadows had no place in the daylight. The crowd seemed to swell and spread, the faces calm as they stare out . And then, a broad-brimmed hat begins to rise up and move behind them.

Daniel emerges from the crowd, smoking a cheap Brazilian cigar.

He doesn't say anything. He was dressed in a bright orange zoot suit, the outlandish outfit almost matching their last encounter. But he was contemplative. He couldn't feel the buzz of the tobacco. Tossing the cigar on the ground, he stomps it out. He wasn't... hostile to Hayley. But he couldn't shake the vision of pile spiking her down into the asphalt only too recently. The eyes of the crowd, of her fans. And now, with what happened to Yun... the words come out of his mouth as he eases into his own stance, palms up, back to back, the aikido stance to her own.

"The heroine against the villain again, you dig?"

[HAYLEY]
Hayley's eyes follow the crowd. She watches the fans gather, sliding out of their camps, from their firepits, to the sides of the arena. She watches, and they multiply. There weren't that many before and--

She sees them. Again, she seems them. Hayley's complexion loses a shade, her mouth dry as she feels like something is stuck in her throat. She swallows, once, and inhales.

Her eyes moves to Daniel. She looks at him, to the crowd of shades. She waits for him to speak up. When he doesn't mention it, doesn't mention /them/, she sucks in a breath.

"I don't--" Hayley exhales, then inhales. "I don't blame you for that, ya know. What happened there, I mean. It was just a fight, and you did better'n me."

[DANIEL]
It should be what Daniel wanted.

In a world and universe that was fundementally antagonistic towards him, for Hayley to step forward and tell him that she doesn't blame him speaks directly to his ego. Deep down, he -wanted- to hear that. He wanted to hear Hayley tell him how she's sorry for making him feel so bad, so ashamed of himself. If Yun did the same, then he wouldn't have any guilt over it. It would be everyone's elses fault. And all Daniel needed to do is explain to everyone how it's their fault. Everyone in the audience had that same energy, hearing Hayley not -blame- him for hurting her in a fight. Just like Hitomi.

But why did it hurt more, that she was apologizing to him?

"You know Aranha?" Daniel growls, surging forward instantly as the fight start is called. He begins with a burning palm strike with the left, followed by a staggering hand chop arching with shadow and orange energy. "He called me out on this. We were supposed to MEET. I couldn't find him any other way. And when I make it, the bastard pussies out in the face of some chick in a bird costume." He slips in a switch elbow jab, before pushing back with two slashes of chi, one from each hand. "The things I've done to him, I'm never going to get closure for. What about what've done to you, Hayley? Or anybody? Maybe you -should- blame me." He steps in, attempting to flip her by the hip and shoulder to the ground as he moves past.

"Maybe I am the bad guy here."

COMBATSYS: Daniel has started a fight here.

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

COMBATSYS: Hayley has joined the fight here.

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

COMBATSYS: Hayley blocks Daniel's Harlem Sunset.

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

[HAYLEY]
"Uh, not personally?" Hayley seems uncertain of how to respond that. Is that rhetorical? Should she know Aranha? There's no time to think, to dwell. There is a fist, a burning palm strike followed by a smashing hand chop. Hayley brings up her forearm, which impacts the palm, then turns arm and shoulder to receive the chop, which drives her down with enough force to cause a small fracture under her feet, weaving out like a spider's web.

"So," Hayley breaks away, bringing up both arms in an x-block to guard against the slashes, which smash into her guard and drive her heels into the dirt. "You want to get closure with him," Hayley says, "Apologize maybe? Explain yourself to him?" You--hhgh."

Hayley goes through the air, tumbling in a spiral before impacting the ground on her hip, bouncing into a roll, and landing out of it in a crouch. She huffs, then puffs, trying to get a breather. "You can see them, right?" She finally asks. "Like before. Lurking there. It's scary. Unsettling." Beat.

"You panicked, because who wouldn't panic, and you threw me out of there. I mean," Hayley gathers chi in her palms, pulling energy from within. For a moment she seems concerned, as it she's worried what might happen, but when blue-white power gathers, she exhales, bringing ther hands together.

"I didn't want to get thrown out off a roof, but it is what it is. We can move past that, you know? It was a good fight!"

Hayley thrusts her palms forward, the gathered energy exploding outward like a short-ranged bullet, a localized explosion of power.

COMBATSYS: Hayley successfully hits Daniel with Eucalyptus Bloom.

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

[DANIEL]
"Apologize?"

"He doesn't want apologies, he just wants atonement. And I didn't -panic!-" Daniel snarls furiously, insulted a lot more than he thought he could be insulted. He focuses hard on it. He didn't panic, right? He was being reasonable, rational. The blast comes roaring into him, and he doesn't slip around it. Catching him in the side of his chest, it blasts him backwards, collapsing into a heap of shadow stuff. The audience gives a cheer, some for the counter from Hayley, some for the rising bloodlust. Daniel himself reforms, edges dispersed as he seemed to be struggling to keep shape. "I can see them though. I've been seeing them more and more. And that's why I wanted to save you. I want to help people, Hayley, I've always wanted to help people, because I like people!"

"But liking people change whether your a good guy or bad guy, does it?"

The entity of Daniel was spreading out now, his yellow eyes burning as the shadows spread around him. The audience was beginning to chant, the fans hooting and cheering him on. The shades are silent. "They're a part of me. The shadows. The shades. They are the people I've devoured. The spiritual essence I've consumed, and the shapes and memories on them." Daniel says, grim. "And my fans..." He drifts off. "I thought they misunderstood me. But they've been trying to change themselves, they are trying to understand me better. They are -trying- to work with me, they are -trying- to be part of all this. A part of what I am." Daniel looks over his shoulder. One of the young men in the straw hat gives him a thumbs up.

"Excelente!~"

Daniel turns back over to Hayley, as he drives a foot down on the ground. Shadows fill the blood-bordered ring, spiderwebbing underfoot as shapes and figures begin to rise. Not people this time. A street. Lamp posts. Walls. A car. A shape, a shadow, an illusion, a reality. Daniel himself seemed to be disintegrating into the shapes and shadows as his essence spreads. "The Butcher... the butcher kept the essence in him too. He's the one who did this to me. And now, I'm keeping the essence in me. And people -like- me for it. They think it's so cool! But it's pretty damn creepy now, isn't it?" He grumbles, as the shadows finally cease their spread, as the field becomes one with Daniel's shadowy energy. "You know, I liked our last fight. With the whole haunted comedy club thing?"

"I'd give all this if I could just have nice fights from now on, and never have to carry the guilt of enjoying a fight!"

COMBATSYS: Daniel Jacks it up a notch!

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

[HAYLEY]
Hayley swallows. What did he do? Why does Aranha want atonement? What is going on, here, behind the scenes? Is this like that type with J--

Hayley pushes the thought from her head. Maybe it's more like her da--

Hayley shakes her head, spreads her feet, steels herself as she pulls back from the blast. She wiggles her hands, testing their flexibility, as though she were worried they'd be stiff. Tense.

"I believe you. I mean," Hayley raises one hand, open palm, draws the other back defensively. "I didn't say you were scared for you," she adds, "I figured you were worried about what might happen to me, from them, ya know? I'm not..." Hayley sniffs the air. "I'm new to this kind of thing. The ghost thing." Her eyes move to the crowd.

But everything changes. How everything changes.

"Why do you do it?" she asks, "I mean, you said you were an exorcist, sort of? Did someone tell you that's how? Did they--" Hayley grinds her heel into the dirt, into the mud. She slides her back foot further. She adjusts her posture, and for a moment, seems to mirror Daniel Jack's.

"They didn't warn you about the shades, huh." Hayley says, she sniffs again, swallows. "Does it bother you? They like it, but it's a burden, yeah? Like, like the chains in the Christmas movie. With Scrooge. Not Scrooge, though, the other guy at the beginning."

"...thanks," Hayley manages a smile. "It was a good fight. You have a good style, you know? There's nothing wrong with a good scrap."

COMBATSYS: Hayley focuses on her next action.

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

[DANIEL]
"I don't know."

Daniel answers, looking at the shadows. "These are people who died with the worst pain. Men. Women. Children. People who cling to the pain of the living, who only released it through me. Now their pain is my pain. I thought it would be like an abstract thing but... maybe over time, we'll forget. I'll forget. Or something. I'm not crazy about death." Daniel admits. "I can almost control them, but, like. I want to be -normal-. I want to go back to a normal." He looks back. The audience. The shades. The chains. His body tenses up.

And he flows at Hayley.

Moving along the shadows, he flickers out of sight, and reappears by the shadowy shape of a car. There, he rips a door off it, and turns. Pivoting, he flings it straight at Hayley, letting it whirl through the air as it flies swiftly through the air, leaving a long shadowy trail behind it. It would hit hard, real, but not cutting.

And Daniel would be a shadowy blur, chasing after it for Hayley.

COMBATSYS: Daniel successfully hits Hayley with Dirty Business EX.

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

[HAYLEY]
"I don't think you have to," Hayley manages, "at least right away. I -- know a little bit about being lost, I guess. Ugh, that sounds like I'm talking down. I'm not." She steps to the side, her footing carefully measured, as if she were weaving her way through an unseen obstacle course as she sidesteps, strafes toward Daniel. "I don't get it. I'm not sure I can get it, but--I get the want to be normal." Beat. "I got used by people to defend their dirty business. Against my will. Physically. Mentally. It's not a good feeling."

"I bet all that isn't a good feeling, either."

The shadow substance, the door, impacts with Hayley, catching her off guard with its solidity. It explodes like some sort of balloon of blackness, like miry ink spreading through the air. She staggers backward, falling on her seat and clear of the lingering shadow in the air. Clear enough to see Daniel approaching as she wipes her nose.

The blue-haired Aussie rolls forward, springing onto her feet. She steps once, whipping her around around the rotation of the shoulder, smashing downward with a strong backfist from the side. As she brings it around she opens her grip, twists her wrist, and grabs for Daniel's arm to try and pull him off balance as she brings her elbow for ribs, to wedge herself in there and then smash forward with her hip to close the opening.

COMBATSYS: Daniel blocks Hayley's Magpie and Wombat ES.

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

[DANIEL]
Hayley talks about her dirty business, as Daniel unleashes his dirty business.

Daniel Jack was trying to drown himself in his angst and darkness, his own self-misery and brooding. But as Hayley talks about her trials, in her own broad ways about being used, the detective feels something flicker in him. As the door strikes Hayley, it disperses into the stuff, almost burning piece by piece into the shdaows. "No, you're not talking down. -I'm- sorry." He apologizes, feeling a weight rising in his heart. As the rolls forward, he was back into his aikido stance. The backfist comes, and he catches it with his palms at her forearm and wrist. "I shouldn't be dumping this garbage on you. Like hell I'm the only person in on this pathetic world with issues." When she goes for the wrist, he neatly begins the reversal to keep control. The elbow to the base of the ribs comes through, breaking him backwards as the hip comes barreling in. He is just barely able to catch the hips with both hands, as per his natural instincts, but it sends him barreling backwards.

Knocking right into a hydrant.

Every impact in the environment, every blow seems to weaken the shadowscape, dissolving back into the hillside nature. As he collides with the hydrant, it knocks it open, a fountain of shadowy ichor boiling up into vapor above. Daniel turns to grab the hydrant, and shifts along the shadows like a puff of smoke. "Don't you hate them though? I mean, don't you want to get back at them? Get your friends to just- just defend you, for what they did? It's not right." Daniel didn't know the details; he assumed it was some kind of Spangles cult at best. Holding the hydrant in both hands, he slams it down in a flash of orange and shadows. The infused hydrant is then chained as he swings it to the side, a heaving blow that snaps the thing in half. Daniel tries to grab both halves, but one side collapses into nothingness. Growling, he takes the remaining piece to deliver a second overhead blow one-handed, before swinging it around upwards for the chin, the last of it shattering to pieces on the final swing. "And you aren't using their name, which is bugging the hell out of me because that sounds a lot like something -I- know."

"Who was it?"

COMBATSYS: Hayley interrupts Ragtime Riot from Daniel with Triumphant Wombat EX.

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

[HAYLEY]
Backfist impacts with palms. "Don't worry about it. You've got your problems and I've got mine. Maybe it helps to talk about it? If you wanna talk about it." Hip impacts guard, and for a moment Hayley is in an awkward position, but she is used to it. This is life. This is martial arts.

Her eyes follow the trickling shadows, peeling off the scenery like steam from hot asphalt. One foot slams back and Hayley widens her stance, raising her arms in preparation for what comes next. She is not ready for the first volley.

The verbal one.

"I want to right what they did," Hayley says, "and I have to get stronger for that. The--" Hayley inhales. "I need friends for it. Yeah. I didn't really have them at the time. Not ones that were up to doing that." She inhales, exhales. She is ready for the second volley.

The physical one.

Hayley sidesteps the worst of it, catching the edge of the surge of shadow and orange chi. She grits her teeth, braces, and stomps down. The final swing comes around, and she pivots, her stance like Bajiquan, or maybe Tai Chi. She slams her shoulder forward against the worst of it to soften the blow by intercepting counter force, then powers into a short hop and hip charge back against Daniel like a cannon shot.

She inhales again. Exhales. She speaks, quietly. Confidentially.

"Shadaloo."

[DANIEL]
Daniel Jack actually is caught wide open when Hayley catches in.

It might have been a shift from the Todoh-Ryuu, or maybe it was that she had gotten a lot better. But when she bursts in with those fatal hips again, he is knocked sprawling into a lamp post. The impact bends it in half, while Daniel himself is split. Scattering into a splatter, the inky outlines ripples. When Daniel draws back in, the saturation of shadowy energy recedes as well. "Shadaloo." Daniel repeats back, the words meaning something as he draws back together at the base of the lamp post, in a seating position. He tips his hat, his eyes rolling up and flipping back into a distorted shape.

"You know, Shadaloo's been involved in a lot of garbage in my life."

Daniel Jack rises back up, turning back towards the lamp post. "Kidnapped a friend of mine too. Zach Glenn. Did a nasty number on him. And he was sold down the river too as a favor." Daniel makes a vague gesturing gesture, before he snaps the lamppost the rest of the way. "There's a whole Honoka thing, whatever, people's know and care as much as they like about it at this point. I don't -like- Shadaloo, and I don't like people who enabled them. Visa versa of course" He turns, bringing the full force of the lamp post to bear in a hefty, weighed swing, carrying himself off his own feet as he aims to shatter it across Hayley's torso. "They like using people you trust to betray you. It makes it easier for them, you dig? And they just- they just get away with it, huh?"

"You think they'll censor us talking about it in the fight, just to keep us safe?"

COMBATSYS: Daniel successfully hits Hayley with New Jack Swing EX.

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

[HAYLEY]
Hayley lands, backsteps, adjusts her her position. Daniel is nowhere near done, and she knows it. She learned quite a bit from their last meeting, even if some of the new tricks are a bit of a surprise.

"Really?" Hayley seems surprised.

"I don't know that much about them. I got ... involved without knowing. Someone in my life had connections to them, and she ---" Hayley trails off for a minute, biting her lip. "I don't know what happened. I got kidnapped by some ninja, then it got fuzzy. Thankfully, someone I didn't know came for me."

The lamppost swings around, and Hayley digs her feet in to brace. She readies herself, expecting to take the worst of the shadowy blow and keep trucking.

She does not.

The post hits her head-on, launching her almost comically, like a ragdoll, across the shadowy streetscape before she turns and impacts a tree with the wide of her back, wood cracking with the impact. She drops, heavily, onto her seat at the base.

"Wugh...ow..." Hayley takes several deep breaths, taking a moment to get her composure before planting a hand and pushing herself back into an uncertain, wavering stance. She shakes her head, straightens her back, and steels herself.

"I don't know, honestly," Hayley says, "I don't know what they can do. What they care to do. I just know to expect the worst, I guess." Beat. "I'm sorry they did that to you. To your friends. I want to do something about it, but I don't think I can yet."

Hayley steps once, twice, three times. She closes the gap then pivots, launching forward into a powerful, ram-like shoulder charge. If the opening is created she side steps, firing off one, two swift punches. Another two more palm strikes. She side steps again, moving to flank with a snap kick.

Once more, she sidesteps, sweeping her arms and detonating another flare-like burst of chi like before. Her aim seems to be to creat another opening, to leave Daniel available to step around, butt bump him into the air, then shift into an over-the-shoulder toss.

COMBATSYS: Hayley successfully hits Daniel with Southern Cross Formation ES.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Daniel           2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|===----\-------\0           Hayley

[DANIEL]
With that blow, the shadows begin to collapse.

It was a slow collapse, a deflation. As the lamp post is slammed in, the material collapses to the ground, like rotting peat. Daniel looks at Hayley with yellow eyes. There was no malice. "Sounds like you had a miracle." He growls, as she comes up again. IN the three steps, he shifts back into his defensive stance. Palms up, he barely catches the shoulder charge. He can keep most of the impact off, but it's a moot point. Hayley -does- carve that opening in his defenses. ANd when she moves to the sidestep, the barrage of palm strikes catch him by the ribs. He's turning after, but he's one step behind. The snap kick comes, and he staggers. And the blast knocks him up into a heap, leaving him free to be snatched out, and then, after the lethal hip bump, the over the shoulder slam comes. Daniel nearly fully fuses with the shadowscape, his essence and its essence being one. When he pulls himself out of it?

He takes about half of the shadowscape out with it.

"You know who should be sorry?" He groans, half-formed and shapeless as the shadowy layout stretches and becomes a blur. "Shadaloo. Shadaloo, and Honoka, and every single one of their enablers, you dig?" Daniel stumbles on all fours, his hands submerging into the shadows. His body shudders. White fangs bare across his black form.

"I could just pull them all apart!"

Daniel snarls as he rises up, gripping a slab of the shadow street. ANd there, he flings it. It doesn't stop there. Limbs lashing out, he starts to tear apart the shadowscape, bit by bit, piece by piece. Tearing it apart, each piece of the skyline, the street, the walls, the car is pull into half-formed masses of boiling energy and matter, before Daniel hurls each piece at Hayley. "Good girls like you don't deserve to be used and abused! Heck, even if you were a rotten dame, you don't deserve it! Nobody does! Not even them!" The relentless barrage continues as he speaks.

Until the last piece is gone, leaving only the wilderness and the audience there.

COMBATSYS: Hayley blocks Daniel's Mean Business.

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

[HAYLEY]
"Maybe," Hayley says. "That's definitely one way to think about it. I'm just glad there are people out there willing to do the right thing, you know? Even if it means risking everything for it."

She paces out of her assault, stepping to the side, moving to the left. One step back, then two. Her knees bend and her arms raise.

"...yeah. I can get that. They have to be stopped. If they want to change later, that's...that's a bridge to be crossed, y'know?" Hayley exhales, "But first they have to be stopped."

A flurry of debris, inky and shadow, flies at Hayley. She intercepts the first with her forearm, shattering the projectile into cloudy blackness. She steps forward and guards with both arms against the second. She turns her back against the third, smashing it against her. Even as she does, her legs shake, knees weakening. She sways on her feet.

"T-thanks," Hayley staggers. "--you're not a bad guy, I think. I mean, I didn't you were, despite everything, you k--" Hayley sways drastically. "w-whoof," Hayley shakes her head. "I think I'm out of petrol, here," Hayley gathers her chi, which builds in her hands, streamings down to her fingers. She surges forward, slashing at Daniel, claw-like surges of chi coming from her fingers as she does.

And regardless of what happens, afterwards she staggers, once, twice, and falls onto her seat with a thump, barely holding herself up with her palms and taking exhausted, weary breaths.

COMBATSYS: Hayley can no longer fight.

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

COMBATSYS: Hayley successfully hits Daniel with Hunting Dingo.
Grazing Hit

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

[DANIEL]
Without the shadows around, Daniel was stuck with just the Todoh-Ryuu Kobojutsu.

It wasn't a bad thing to be stuck on. But it was a lot more even ground, and with a younger, sharper fighter. As the aftermath of his barrage wraps up, he steadies out on the base of his feet. Slowly. He had an opening exposed. And while he drowned Hayley down with the whole mess of the shadows, he was stuck. Exposed. His yellow eyes peer from an almost ghost-like shape of a man. Her legs were wobbling. Daniel almost looks like he is in the clear.

But she wasn't done yet.

Daniel barely hangs in there; his shape was barely together himself. And yet, when she whoofs? Daniel immediately talks back. "You're doing fantastic, Hayley." Daniel states firmly, sincerely as he already sways at the surging Hayley. "Last one was a fluke, this one I can see a lot more of your potential." He tries to bring his hands out, trying to guide Hayley's swipes away. He mostly fails, as she tears right into the detective's flank. But the diffusion actually starts to act in Daniel's favor. The Aussie rips through the shadows, tearing through chi instead of something more physical. In that sense, Daniel's nothingness seems to take a lot more punishment than Daniel himself; while the shade is left with a shallow rending on his side. The shadowstuff disappates around him. And Daniel? Daniel falls over, clutching his side in pain. As Hayley comes down into a seated position, Daniel rolls on the ground, his shape collapsing into a blob like form. Finally, he rises up into a stand, stilling clinging to his side, forcing it together as the split spreads inch by inch. He was literally holding himself together. "come on..." He murmurs, as he watches the judge. He looks to Hayley. To Daniel. To Hayley.

And they call it.

Daniel releases the wound, and it spreads across his abdomen. It stops just short, as he stumbles backwards. It looks like his top half was about to fall off his bottom half, but the audience begins to... snap. Snapping their fingers to Daniel Jack. The shade shuts his eyes. "Okay, snapping? Guys? I'm a damn beatnik." The snapping stops. Daniel waddles, turning awkwardly as he looks sideways at Hayley. "You've done good. Real good. I hope to fight you again soon, scuzzy." He finishes turning to the audience, who starts the part. There are no more shades amongst them. "Risk everything?" Daniel growls. "I guess that's the best job for the guy with nothing left, huh?" He strides into the crowd.

And like that, he is gone.

COMBATSYS: Daniel has ended the fight here.


[HAYLEY]
Hayley leans back, taking long, rejuvenating breaths. She starts to pick herself up, then fails, flopping back down onto her seat. The ref calls it, and she drops back, laying on her back.

"Snapping? I guess it's... something?" Hayley manages a smirk. "...thanks. I'm working on it."She exhales. '...and same, you know? It's a good fight." She pauses, hearing what he said.

"Hey look, don't do any--"

She pushes up, ready to interject, but he's gone. Hayley opens her mouth, considers, then closes it.

Log created on 11:13:23 03/18/2021 by Daniel, and last modified on 12:15:30 04/14/2021.