Match of the Millennium

Description: Ten fighters enter the BLITZ MEGAMAZE. Only one can emerge victorious. Chosen by random draw, these combatants will face off against each other for the favour of the mysterious PRINGER X! (An experimental and self-serving event run by Pringer X for their birthday in 2021!)

[PRINGER X]
==*== PRELUDE: CREATIVE BOARDROOM, MIDNIGHT CHANNEL STUDIOS ==*==

A team of twelve members of Darkheart Enterprises' creative staff sit in crimson and black executive chairs along either side of an ebony table. It's an eclectric crew, consisting of darkstalkers and humans alike of a variety of genders, united by their devotion to the success of Darkheart and its flagship Midnight Channel.

They are also currently united in being comprehensively intoxicated.

"You take it back! Star Wars Day was the best show we ever produced!" a minotaur declares drunkenly, slamming a fist down on the table.

"It was a catastrophe! We're the new hotness! We should be doing our own thing, not leaning on a forty-year-old franchise for cheap hype!" a drunken pixie retorts, tottering atop her place at the table. "People are going to think we're stealing ideas from Pee-Eff-Double-Ew! Or worse, that we're written by the same people!"

"You take that back!" a mermaid on the other side of the table insists, leaning forward and scowling.

"zz SILENCE! zz"

At the head of the table, the Director's Throne, which had been sitting with its back away from the discussion and ominously silent, now swivels around to face the team of creative minions. Its occupant, the steely-eyed miniature Mecha-Prinny PRINGER X, regards the assembly with cold detachment.

"zz IN YOUR CELEBRATORY ENTHUSIASM, YOU HAVE NEGLECTED THE EXECUTION OF YOUR SOLEMN AND SOLITARY DUTY IN THIS MEETING OF YOUR FECKLESS AND MEANDERING MINDS... zz"

The table all fall silent as the Mecha-Prinny's voice crackles through the chamber.

"zz ...THE NAMING OF MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!! zz"

Immediately, there's a murmur of agreement amongst the crew, who pull packets of notes out of their portfolios.

"zz BEGIN! zz"

The chair swivels to face toward the minotaur, the Mecha-Prinny's eyes glowing red.

"A-ah-alright, Mister - I mean, Lord Pringer, sir."

He taps the bottom of his sheaf against the table to straighten the papers. "I was thinking, the event's gonna involve a buncha fighters all gettin' let one by one into a central hub to fight, then knocked out one at a time, right? So how about this: the 'ELIMINATION CHAMBER.'

"zz HMM ... zz"

The team waits with bated breath as PRINGER X silently considers the proposal.

"zz DENIED! zz"

Pringer's mechanical flipper slaps a red button behind its left shoulder, causing the minotaur's chair to drop through the floor as the bull-man lets out a cry of surprise.

The chair swivels around to face toward a young woman in glasses, who fumbles quickly with her own notes. "Lord Pringer! Mr. Minos' contribution focuses too much on the negative side of the event: getting eliminated. I propose we instead focus on the real story of the event: each fighter, battling against the odds, until only one is left standing. It's a tale of survival of the fittest. So, why not... 'SURVIVOR SERIES?'"

Pringer stares silently for several seconds before slapping the red button again.

"zz DENIED!! zz"

A shriek follows as the young woman's chair drops into a gap in the floor. Pringer turns to the pixie.

"W-well," the pixie stammers and slurs, "...it's a fighting event, and it's happenin' in the summer, so... 'SUMMERSLAM?'"

"zz DENIED!! zz"

Pringer hits the red button, causing the pixie's chair to drop through the floor. The pixie, still standing on the table, looks awkwardly between her feet and the hole in the floor, then back to Pringer.

"zz INTO THE HOLE. zz"

The pixie lets out a sigh before flapping its wings and fluttering down into the hole.

Pringer turns to the mermaid.

"'PRINGERMANIA?'" the mermaid posits hesitantly.

"zz HMM... zz"

Pringer considers the proposal.

"zz A GOOD SUGGESTION. zz"

The mermaid smiles hopefully.

"zz DENIED! zz"

The mermaid lets out a squeal as she drops through the floor.

"KING OF THE PRING?"

"zz KITSCHY. DENIED! zz"

"PRINGER: IN YOUR HOUSE?"

"zz PRINGER IS NOT A CREEPER. DENIED! zz"

"PRINGERGEDDON?"

"zz DENIED! ... WAIT, THAT WAS A GOOD ONE. WELL, TOO LATE NOW. zz"

"What about 'NO WAY OUT?'"

"zz THERE IS A WAY OUT. zz"

"zz IT'S THROUGH THE FLOOR. DENIED! zz"

"How b-b-'bout 'NO MERCY?'"

"zz ARE YOU SUGGESTING A TITLE OR DESCRIBING PRINGER X? zz"

"I-I -"

"zz DENIED! zz"

"JUDGMENT DAY?"

"zz TOO EARLY. DENIED! zz"

"THE GREAT AMERICAN BASH?"

"zz STEALING PROFESSIONAL FIGHTING WORLDWIDE'S THUNDER? I LIKE IT. HOWEVER... PRINGER X IS NOT AMERICAN. DENIED! zz"

The last remaining member of the creative team, an androgynous pink imp, frowns and looks down at their notes.

"How about... 'HELL IN A-'"

"zz DENIED! zz"

With the entire creative team now ejected from the room, Pringer X sits in silence. A few moments later, a pink-haired succubus walks out from behind the throne, tosses aside her microphone, picks up the Prinny and sets it on top of the table before plopping down on the throne, sighing and resting her arms behind her horned head.

"Welp, guess it's up to me to name it, then..."

==*== PRESENTLY, THE BLITZ MEGAMAZE ==*==

"zz WELCOME, MINIONS, TO THE BIRTHDAY FESTIVITIES OF PRINGER X! OR, AS DECIDED BY HER MAJESTY QUEEN LYRAELLE: THE ROYAL RUMBLE! zz"

The Mecha-Prinny's voice resounds throughout the maze, which has been purchased, renovated and repopulated by Darkheart Industries for the purposes of the Rumble. All ten participants have each been given a designated starting zone, hidden behind a barrier that will open at their appointed time and order of entry to release them into the maze-like chamber.

"zz THE RULES OF THIS EVENT ARE SIMPLE: KNOCKOUTS WILL RESULT IN ELIMINATION, AND THE LAST COMPETITOR STANDING WILL WIN THE EVENT AND EARN MY FAVOR! zz"

The echoing voice slowly fades, before cutting in one more time.

"zz ADDITIONALLY, YOU MAY NOTICE MINOR AMPLIFICATIONS OF FORCES KINETIC AND OTHERWISE DUE TO THE USE OF BLITZ (tm) TECHNOLOGY. zz"

"zz SO GET READY TO RUMBLE, DOODZ! zz"

And as the declaration is made, two gates slowly open...!!

[PLATINUM]
The first barrier opens, with the first contestant stepping out into the structure.

It was in the literal sense, a maze. Fitting- To create the potential for some of the contestants to be delayed or seperated... But the many walls also create plentiful opportunities for destruction! Some of the specific places of the maze-arena are a little special too, such as where the first contestant ended up! A section where the walls are plastered with reflective surfaces, adding another extra layer of confusion for all trapped within it's corridors.

"Guah- This sucks!"

Enter Platinum the Trinity, a young girl dressed in a downright peculiar outfit: A sleeveless white body-piece with blue trim and yellow buttons, a large golden bell hanging at the chest. Her gloves and boots are comically large, sharing the white-and-blue of her bodypiece. The outfit is completed by a short, light-blue skirt. The part that probably stands out most though, are her gigantic ponytails. Four of them, the two largest flaring out excessively before coming together in bows near the floor- Two smaller ones sprout from the top of her head. "Y-You should stay calm, Luna.. We haven't even-" "Shut it, Sena!" Two distinct voices speak against eachother from the same mouth- The first is brash and higher pitched, Luna- The second is softer and of a lower pitch, Sena. It almost seems to belong to a boy.

A.. Very odd individual, indeed.

[KING]
It's been a long time since King was in Vegas. Things have been busy at the Illusion Bar and she rarely finds time to escape Southtown for a vacation. Not that this was a break of any kind, although there was the chance of broken limbs. No, this was definitely business and not of the serving drinks kind. She's been in Sin City a couple of days already, letting her body adjust to the time zone and pace of things. She's staying in a hotel on the dazzling and legendary Strip, but right now she's somewhere on the outskirts of the action, in The BLITZ<tm> Megamaze arena. She's one of the (un)lucky ten chosen to take part in the Royal Rumble. Maybe it was her name that helped her make the cut.

She's dressed in her usual purple tuxedo suit, styled to hang slightly loose and disguise her curves. Underneath is a crisp white shirt, with a black bowtie at the neck and on her feet are highly polished black and white dress shoes, of the kind often seen on twenties era gangsters. Her black fingerless gloves are the only sign she's chosen the ensemble for fighting, designed to protect her hands, one of which she moves upwards to straighten her boyishly short blonde hair.

As she prepares to make her entrance, she reflects on her reason for being here. Despite her successful business, money always seems to be in scant supply, due to the constant hospital bills for her little brother's care. Jan is the most important person in her life and if there's a chance she can help him in any way, she will take it, even if the prize on offer is incredibly vague. Worst case scenario, at least she got a free trip to The United States. Whatever the outcome, she'll be sure to pick up some souvenirs for her sick sibling.

Making her way into the maze, King's heart quickens. It's a combination of fear and excitement she's feeling, a sensation that usually only starts to subside, when the battle begins. Her flat shoes tread the path and her blue eyes dart in every direction visible, searching for signs of any other competitors. Right now it's eerily quiet. Then she sees her.

Maybe there's some other contestants close by too. The girl is definitely talking to someone. As she gets closer though, the older female realises this is not the case. This is a little concerning. It seems like she's about to fight someone with issues. Although perhaps it could work in her favour, as her opponent will perhaps be too busy fighting herself!

COMBATSYS: King has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
King             0/-------/-------|

[PLATINUM]
"Ah-hah! You must be the first person I have to pummel!"

The first voice yells, having spotted King in one of the mirrors- She turns about... more then makes sense. All the mirrors are getting her confused- "Hhrrrrrrr-! Stop hiding!" But finally, she feels confident in having found the right King. "There you are!" A gigantic staff would catch her soon-to-be opponent's attention- the thing is as tall as her! A long pink staff shaft ending in a golden heart-shaped hollow head, a circular red gem mysteriously floating in the middle. "A-Apologies for Luna- I am Sena, we- aaaah!"

The second voice is shoved away, as Luna dashes forward and jumps up high, raising her hand as her staff turns into a pogo-stick. She changes her position in mid-air, standing on the footholds as it's bottom end risks crashing into King! If it would, the pogo would contract and launch Platinum up and over- The pogo turning back into a staff as she lands behind king.

"Suck on that!"

COMBATSYS: Platinum has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
King             0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0         Platinum

[PRINGER X]
Pringer X drops Birthday Bash Order of Entry.

COMBATSYS: Platinum successfully hits King with Air Persia.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
King             0/-------/-----==|>------\-------\0         Platinum

[KING]
"I guess so" the blonde business woman responds, preparing herself to defend against a potential pummeling. "I'm guessing we're the first two up. That means the odds aren't in our favour. Lets see if we can beat those odds, or at least each other in the process!"

As the quatro ponytailed potential pogo pummeler comes for her with the super duper pretty staff, King instinctively tries to throw her gloved hands up to protect her frame. It's to no avail however, as the eccentric and impressively acrobatic girl hits her mark.

King finds herself bent double, clutching at her slender form, as the staff smacks into her, likely causing her several bruised ribs. Crazy or not, Platinum isn't here to play.

"Okay, so that was impressive" she admits, turning to face her opponent, as she lands behind her. "Let's see how you handle this!"

King focuses her energy, her nerves now all but subsided and produces a striking looking purple fireball, which she launches towards Platinum, with the aid of a high flying kick.

[TUNG FU RUE]
This is not..exactly the sort of place or event that one would expect to find the presence of a legendary martial arts master of the demeanor, tempermant and history of the master of Hakkyokuseiken..but stranger circumstances then this have occured in this day and age and stranger entrants yet lay in wait to be revealed. Nevertheless, the contrast between the wild over the top arena that is the Megamaze and the manner of the fightes already present and that of the newest arrival is quite noteworthy as Tung Fu Rue makes his way into the maze and quietly reaches up to rub his beard in thought whilst peering ahead through squinted and contemplative eyes. Powerful auras tug upon his preternatural senses and he meanders ahead with quiet confidence and curiousity whilst keeping one hand behind his back and the other continuing to rub at his thin beard. His movements measured and unhurried but with a subdued sense of sprightliness in them despite advanced age and lingering wounds.

It doesn't take long to come across King and Platinum as their duel begins. He curiouslty studies them both but his gaze lingers longest on Platinum.

"Very curious. A powerful a aura that is more then it first seems.. While I'm not searching for a new student....the need to test the next generation of warriors and seek out and learn of those with unusual chi must still be done.."

He moves into his combat stance, balancing on one leg and raising the other into a ready position, "You will forgive me for the lopsided nature of this but I am sure others will balance matters out."

And with that, he launches into an attack! His body blurs into movement, launching towards Platinum with an outstretched fist, "I hope you ladies will make this most interesting!"

COMBATSYS: Tung Fu Rue has joined the fight here.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Platinum         0/-------/------<|=------\-------\0      Tung Fu Rue
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
King             0/-------/-----==|

COMBATSYS: King successfully hits Platinum with Venom Strike.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Platinum         0/-------/---<<<<|=------\-------\0      Tung Fu Rue
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
King             0/-------/----===|

COMBATSYS: Platinum blocks Tung Fu Rue's Senshippo.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Platinum         0/-------/-<<<<<<|==-----\-------\0      Tung Fu Rue
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
King             0/-------/----===|

[PLATINUM]
Luna grins when her Pogo- And her weight, collides with King. "You are sooo weak!" She taunts, landing on the other side. "And what's that, odds not in our favor?!" The first voice yells, Luna. The second voice, Sena, finds a moment to speak- "I-I'm sorry about Luna, miss.. She's always like this! Lets try and have a fair battle, Madam.. Ah- Behind you!" A confusing final remark, a remark intended for Luna rather then King.

In reference to the Tung currently jumping her way with outstreched fist. Luna's voice is back. "Rude!" She swiftly around, not quite noticing how King is already winding up her own projectile- Which subsequently smashes into the back of the now turned-around girl. "Aii!" She holds the head of her staff in front of her, using the large gem in the middle to intercept Tung's fist- The gem pushed back and bopping platinum on the face. The marginally successful defense still finds the lithe Platinum knocked back a solid few feet, face somewhat twisted up from the pain of what ended up being a pincer-attack.

"Grruh! You guys are bullies!"

Accusing the other competitors, crocodile-tears welling up in her eyes. "Rah! I have to make master Jubei Proud!" And with that, she dashes forward, toward the small form of the old master, Tung. Raising her staff, it seems to shapeshift into.. a gigantic hammer?! The hammerhead comes scarily close to being as big as the girl's entire body, it's simply absurd. Nontheless, she lifts it up high before slamming it down overhead toward Tung's form.

The boy's voice. "Piko Hammer!"

[KING]
King watches Tung Ru Fue, as he makes his entrance. She appears calm on the surface, but she's preparing herself, in case he should make her his target. As he begins to talk about auras and new students, she looks towards Platinum, presuming herself to not be the topic of discussion. This could go both ways, perhaps he will attack the one he finds interesting, or maybe he will spare her, to keep her around longer.

The combatitive club owner admires the older man, as he displays balance and sprightliness that defy his seemingly advanced years. As he propels his body into motion, she holds her breath, before releasing it, as she realises that the other competitor is to be his potential victim. The girl may feel ganged up on, with the assault coming so soon after her own kick, but that's the name of the game after all.

"I'm all for making it interesting" King calls out, her face lighting up as she realises her fireball has done the damage she desired. "Perhaps now you will not dismiss me as weak."

The tears shed fail to move the blonde. The girl wouldn't be here, if she wasn't up to the task. Besides, now she's got a huge hammer, which thankfully is not meant for her!

Deciding to take advantage of the fact that Tung Rue Fue may be distracted by the unwieldy weapon, King grabs hold of his shoulders, before launching a knee towards his stomach and then following up with a powerful right hook punch, with the intent of knocking him away.

COMBATSYS: Tung Fu Rue blocks Platinum's Magical Symphony.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Platinum         0/-------/<<<<<<<|===----\-------\0      Tung Fu Rue
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
King             0/-------/----===|

COMBATSYS: King successfully hits Tung Fu Rue with Hold Rush.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Platinum         0/-------/<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1      Tung Fu Rue
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
King             0/-------/---====|

[TUNG FU RUE]
"Master Jubei..?" repeats the elder master with some degree of interest and maybe even a hint of familiarity with the name. One probably presumes given age and reputation of both that there have been past encounters or at the very least Tung has heard of him before. Either way his fist lands solidly into the gem and for an instant the old man continues forward, pushing back against the defenses of the girl before he rebounds backwards, flipping and then landing with a gentle touch down upon a single foot. He begins to speak again but his words are swiftly taken from him as he looks on with some surprise, a touch of amusement, but mostly concern as a hammer easily the size of his own body is manifested and then sent hurtling for him. His hands whirl into movement as both legs brace him and then with a plume of dust bursting up around him his palms stretch upwards to catch the impact of the hammer and then shove it aside to send it crashing into the ground to the side of him.

"What a strange tech--" he begins only to suddenly find King bluring infront of him through the plume of dust. The knee and punch combo thunders into him powerfully and sends the elder man upwards and then backwards.

There is a sudden flash of blue light. A burst of cerulean energy that bursts forth from his palm towards her torso as the force of her own assault pushes him back and away from her. A split section reaction, not enough to prevent him from taking such a blow but enough to show the reaction times of the old master still remains nearly instantanous. It doesn't make her attack hurt any less though and as he recoils backwards he staggers, teetering precariously from the force of her assault.

[WIDOW]
What was a royal rumble without a wrestler or two? The hunched over figure clad in blue and red exited the barrier that had been holding them in. "It seems like some insects have stepped into my parlor. This is no place for the weak." The fighter nods at King's statement and turns towards Platnium as she cries. "If you want to impress your master stop crying and put a good fight."

The old man sounds quite experienced but Widow figures he's likely past his physical prime. That left the kickboxer as the biggest threat in the arena at the moment and who needs to be taken down before the others arrive. Widow gracefully crawls across the floor before delivering a powerful punch to try and take King down.

COMBATSYS: Widow has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
King             0/-------/---====|>>>>>>>\-------\0         Platinum
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0            Widow

[PLATINUM]
"Only Luna dismissed you.." "Gh- Get your crap together Sena, we're supposed to be a team!" "R-Right, I'm sorry.."

A back and forth, as Platinum's two different voices quarrel. The large hammer remains after Tung deflected it. Platinum is carrying it by lifting it onto her shoulder for support. "M-Maybe we should have chosen the Bat.." Sena says, all the while watching King's knee sinking into the elder. Though Luna's voice quickly overpowers again- "Yeah, Master Jubei! He's the best, and so strong--"

But then, A fourth party enters- A wrestler, a wrestler that begins to taunt her. "Why.. You!" And as Widow decides to strike toward the club owner, Platinum takes the initiative to attack the figure. "You'll regret that, you.. you.. Gah!" Failing to come up with any clever insults in her rage, she spins toward the wrestler, using the hammer's momentum to carry her forward before -swinging- it diagonally up, a golfswing! If it collides, a star-shaped burst of energy blossoms outward.

"L-Luna, not again!! stay calm!"

COMBATSYS: Widow dodges Platinum's Power Strike.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
King             0/-------/---====|>>>>>>>\-------\0         Platinum
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0            Widow

COMBATSYS: King blocks Tung Fu Rue's Shou Ha.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
King             0/-------/--=====|>>>>>>>\-------\0         Platinum
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Tung Fu Rue      1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0            Widow

COMBATSYS: King interrupts Fierce Punch from Widow with Trap Shot.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
King             0/-------/-======|>>>>>>>\-------\0         Platinum
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Tung Fu Rue      1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0            Widow

[KING]
As Tung Fu Rue is knocked back, King clenches her right fist, before shaking it out and doing a full circle on the spot, to take in all the action surrounding her. Things are starting to liven up! She returns to facing the Master, just in time to see the blue light hurtling towards her. It's too late for her to get out of the way, but she can at least try to lessen the damage. Throwing her hands up instinctively, she manages to let her protective gloves take the brunt of the blow, but she's obviously in some discomfort, if the expression on her face is anything to go by.

When Widow speaks up to support her statement, King looks towards the wrestler, recognising them from some of their previous fights. It's no surprise to her when the powerful punch comes towards her from the primary coloured costumed crawling contestant.

Sometimes the best type of defence is attack and thus, the French fighter flips backwards, her right leg starting to glow with a purple far brighter than that of her suit pants. She launches the leg upwards towards Widow, attempting to hook them around the neck with the first contact and then if this is successful, following up with a rapid fire flurry of kicks to their head. Whether this works or not, she'll be sure to get the hell away as fast as possible, because there's that hammer back in play again and she doesn't want to be within striking distance!

[TUNG FU RUE]
The old master has regained his serenity and poise by the time Widow enters and engages King. The arrival of the mysterious wrestler has done much to balance the scenario out with four fighters but it's only a matter of seconds, no doubt, before the situation begins to become much more chaotic. Premonition of potential disaster tugs on his heightened senses but for now he returns his attention to Platinum, allowing Widow and King to engage in their fierce duel.

Tung straightens his beard out calmly and remains unruffled despite the pain he's currently in. Instead he address Platinum once more, "Quite unusual, young lady but your tears are unbecoming. IF you and the souls that speak through you would do your master proud, you must show forth your truest qualities.."

No sooner has he finished has blurred into action. Lunging upward into a spinning leap with both of his arms crossed and then diving downward towards Platinum with feet extended for a powerful kick.

[WIDOW]
Widow tries to block the attack to their head but they're too busy avoiding the star burst to focus on both. The giant stumbles a bit upon being repeatedly kicked. Seeing how Tung and Platnium are distracted with each other, it seems like staying focused on King was the best idea for now. At least until the next opponent entered the area.

Widow decides to return the favor and leaps up attempting to hook their legs around King's neck. The intent wasn't to kick her however. Instead the wrestler attempt to use their legs to throw the kickboxer.

COMBATSYS: Platinum counters Joujiken from Tung Fu Rue with Happy Magika EX.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
King             0/-------/-======|>>>>>>-\-------\0         Platinum
[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Tung Fu Rue      1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0            Widow

[KOKONOE]
***30 MINUTES AGO***

Somewhere in the depths of the Siberian mountains, in a secret base known only to a privileged few, Kokonoe was staring at a screen. Her personal laboratory was quiet and dimly lit, only the faint glow of a dozen holographic monitors and the LEDs of arcane machinery casting a layer of illumination across the ordered chaos. As always, she was alone, Tager busy with some important mission or another while her aunt - or the vessel containing a fragment of her aunt's spirit to be more precise - was off scratching her motherly itch on some other poor fools somewhere in the base.

The old scientist was sprawled out in the sort of casual manner one only accomplishes while comfortably within the safety of their own home. She sat upon a well-worn leather chair that had served her faithfully for many years, its soft padded cushions conforming to her slender form in a most pleasing manner. Her legs were draped haphazardly over the sides of the chair, one foot propped negligently up on a nearby cabinet while the other dangled lazily in the air, swinging back and forth with idle energy.

The old cat regarded the largest of the many displays with a bored expression, her head propped up on one fist. Streams of data so dense and advanced as to be little more than gibberish to anyone of lesser intellect than her own genius were read and absorbed without any real enthusiasm. It was little more than mundane sensor readings from around the world - the status of various leylines, samples taken from the Boundary, communications between various troublesome powers, civilian news reports parsed for hidden codes - that sort of thing.

For most people, keeping track of even a single one of those data streams would be daunting. The sheer complexity of the calculations at work was beyond most people and even with the aid of specialized computer programs to make sense of it all it would take days if not weeks to understand the implications of what they were seeing.

Kokonoe was watching half a dozen of them at the same time. And she was bored.

Letting out a long sigh, the scientist flicked her eyes to the side to regard the time display at the corner of one screen. It'd been weeks now since anything of note had happened. That ridiculous business of the little vampire's party had kept her busy for a bit and she'd made damn sure to let Rachel known precisely how fucking annoying it was to have something of that magnitude dropped on her without warning. But sorting out that knot in the causality stream hadn't proved terribly difficult and now she found herself in the rare position of being without anything of importance to do.

It was the beginning of August, she noted, and realized that the entire summer had passed her by without her really noticing. It wasn't unusual for her to get lost in her work and lose entire weeks, or even months, but at her age it was starting to become more and more important that she take the time to slow down and ensure she has some proper R&R. Summer heat wasn't really her thing but now that fall was rolling in the weather would be more to her liking.

A final glance was given to the monitors suspiciously, as if expecting some world-shattering calamity to rear its ugly head at the last moment as they were wont to do, but the uninteresting streams of data continued to crawl by at a sedate pace and she found she had no more excuses.

Sliding out of her chair with unusual grace for a woman her age, Kokonoe rose to her feet, stretching her arms up high over her head. Her muscles groaned with both protest and joy at the sudden shift in posture as she rose up onto the tip of her toes, her stiff joints chiming in with a series of cracks and pops as they settled in.

"Right," she said, speaking out loud as if to convince herself that it was a good idea. "Time to get some fresh air."

***PRESENT***

Somewhere on the far end of the strange arena, reality ripples like a stone being tossed into the surface of a pond. The event likely goes unnoticed by those present, their attention intently focused upon one another as they clash in a free-for-free that is quickly descending into uncontrolled chaos. For those that do manage to catch the change out of the corners of their vision, one moment there is naught but empty space and the next a woman simply exists as if she had always been there.

Kokonoe takes a step forward as the teleportation field dissipates, her eyes slowly fluttering open behind a large pair of sunshades after a couple seconds as the disorientation of being moved to the other side of the planet fades. Her head swivels slowly around as she takes in her surroundings, the perpetually dour expression on her face wrinkling up into a sharp frown.

This is most definitely not the beach.

The old cat slowly bends down to settle the large cooler and sun umbrella she'd brought along for her seaside retreat to the ground. With a sigh, she plops down onto the cooler. Despite having swapped her usual attire for a showy black bikini, the heavy Kaka Clan jacket remains draped over her shoulders. Digging around in one of its large pockets, she produces a handheld tablet computer and immediately starts to tap away at its screen, her twin tails flicking back and forth with same sort of warning energy of a pair of rattlesnake shakers.

It only takes her a few moments to find the problem. Someone has tampered with causality, twisting probability to gather a crew of entirely random actors who have little to nothing in common. The purpose for that is fairly obvious judging by the brawl going on. This must be one of those stupid holiday events she keeps hearing about. She sighs again. So much for getting a tan.

Stuffing the computer back into her pocket, Kokonoe crosses one leg over the other and eyes the contestants. She recognizes only one, the little brats co-habiting the same body as a former legendary hero, but all of them seem quite capable warriors judging by the techniques being flung about.

Direct combat has never been her forte. While she has created a variety of staggeringly advanced armaments for herself over the years and being the descendant of not one but two legendary heroes has granted her a measure of innate talent when it comes to such things, she much prefers to operate from the shadows and let other people do all the physical labor. That's what she has people like Tager for.

So, instead of simply hurling herself into the fray without any good goddamn reason like some kind of barbarian, Kokonoe opens the cooler, withdraws a beer and a bag of chips, and settles back down atop it to enjoy the spectacle, munching noisily.

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe has joined the fight here.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Platinum         0/-------/-<<<<<<|====---\-------\0            Widow
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
King             0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0          Kokonoe
[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Tung Fu Rue      1/------=/=======|

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe takes no action.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Platinum         0/-------/-<<<<<<|====---\-------\0            Widow
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
King             0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0          Kokonoe
[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Tung Fu Rue      1/------=/=======|

[PLATINUM]
Platinum frowns as her attack ends up whiffing by slippery wrestler. "Drat!"

She makes a retreating step backwards while she could, though her ferocious attack made her overextend some- Tung's words make the girl turn his way, the polite voice of Sena exclaming a response. "Thank you, Mister! We will do our best-" And watches, as the short old man jumps their way with that dive-kick. She.. Lays her thumbs on both ears, and stretches out the rest of her fingers..? Sticking out her tongue all the while- A classic mocking gesture. "Bleeeeh- Come and try, old pervert!" The brash voice is back again. And the moment Tung's food collides with Platinum.. And explosion occurs. The old master might find himself get knocked away as a cloud of smoke emerges, Platinum leaping backwards as a Plushie of herself appeared in her original location. It's a cute plushy, certainly- It's not entirely unlike the substitution techniques some Ninja use.

She does not come to notice the munching cat-lady that had suddenly popped in, too caught up with the all-out-brawl that is still brewing.

"H-How's that, Mister?" Sena, judging the potential damage they might have done.

COMBATSYS: King blocks Widow's Frankensteiner.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Platinum         0/-------/-<<<<<<|=====--\-------\0            Widow
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
King             0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0          Kokonoe
[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Tung Fu Rue      1/------=/=======|

[KING]
King is aware of the exchange happening between Tung and Platinum, but she relegates it to the position of background noise, focusing on fighting Widow the wrestler. She lets out a celebratory yelp, as her sequence of kicks are successful, but doesn't allow herself too long to bask in the glory, as she's fully expecting a comeback. When it arrives, her reactions are rapid enough to block it, but not without Widow's foot scraping the side of her slender neck and causing a thin trickle of blood to slip down it. She wipes it away swiftly with her glove, the red liquid disguised by it's dark colour.

She takes several steps backwards, allowing herself the luxury of a look around, mindful that new contestants could join at any moment. That's when she sees her, lounging around like she hasn't a care in the world, dressed more fittingly for a day at the beach than a battle.

Starting to move in her direction, she eyes her cautiously, sensing there may be a trap of some kind. Why is she typing on that tablet? Is she using it to spy on them in some way, or perhaps plan her strategy?

Once she's up close enough to Kokonoe, King attempts to initiate a conversation, offering a simple question "Got a beer to spare?"

Before waiting for an answer, she launches a kick at the pocket in which the cat woman placed her tablet, hoping to destroy it and perhaps do some damage to her in the process.

[TUNG FU RUE]
Pervert?? And he works so hard to avoid the 'Old Man Pervert' trope. There's nothing helping presumptions based on appearence though. He certainly looks like he could slot right in.

By the way..that hurt. Lots. The old master gets flung backwards violently by the enormous plushie and ends up colliding into one of the walls of the maze to rebound off of it back to the ground in a tremendous plume of dust and chunks of dislodged dirt.

Despite the flopping around of his body, he still somehow manages to make that traumatic experience look fairly dignified and he rolls back up to his feet ..only to end up visibly wincing and bending over abit more then usual as one hand goes to his back.

"I fear that I am being reminded why I left these affairs to you all.."

A sudden oppressive pressure fills the area, swamping over Tung's general area and that of Platinum and likely felt by the other combatants as if a great weight was falling over the arena. A glow begins to manifest around Tung Fu Rue, expanding upwards and filling outwards as he drops into his combat stance and begins weaving his arms about in complex kata movements. "You are indeed impressive, young souls. And so I must attempt now to respond in kind!"

An absolutely gigantic and hulking version of the old man appears, exploding into view. A gigantic, muscled, monstrous version of the man that seems is practically a visual parody given the contrast between the revealed aura and the tiny man beneath. Both there and yet not really there give the semi translucent nature of it and yet there 'enough' to pose a grave threat as it weaves its tree sized arms around in mimicry of the flesh and bones movements.

"Hai!!" shouts Tung as he brings his arms forward and the gigantic apparition does the same sending a gigantic cerulean beam of energy erupting out and scathing across the distance for Platinum.

[WIDOW]
Widow underestimated the old man, the wrestler figures it would be best to led the others deal with him if possible. The catwoman with the laptop that King attacked gained the giant's attention. Could she possible have some kind of data on all of them?

Widow did a best to keep a low profile outside of the ring after all it was best to keep things a secret. Paparazzi and Disney's lawyers were a enough pain to deal with. A white spider projectile in the air with a sticky web extending from it. The wrestler swings it towards Kokonoe's labtop and tries to pry it out of her hands.

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe instinctively blocks Widow's Tarantula Net.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Platinum         0/-------/-<<<<<<|=====--\-------\0            Widow
[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
King             0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0          Kokonoe
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/-----==|

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe interrupts Strong Kick from King with Armament No.5 - Banishing Rays v3.10.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Platinum         0/-------/-<<<<<<|=====--\-------\0            Widow
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
King             1/----===/=======|=======\==-----\1          Kokonoe
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/-----==|

[KOKONOE]
Perhaps she was expecting too much of these Neanderthals to think they might simply leave her alone. This is an arena dedicated to violence, to the worship of the ancient and primal human desire to express dominance over others. Whether or not she had intended to step into this space or not, her presence here is as much of an admission of her own desire to pit herself against them in their own primitive minds. She can't entirely blame them; after all, what is a grand Colosseum for if not to indulge the bloodthirst of the masses?

Two people take notice of Kokonoe at the same time, their attention drawn by just how wildly out of place she looks. Alone, relaxed, and enjoying the show? That won't do.

The old cat regards the blonde woman with narrowed eyes behind her tiny spectacles as she attempts to schmooze her way into Kokonoe's personal stash of snacks. She twists her body away from King like a child being asked to share their bag of candy, clutching the precious brew and bag of chips closer to her body even as she stuffs another handful into her face, crunching even more obnoxiously than before just to drive the point home.

The other would-be thief takes a different approach, doing their best attempt at a Spiderman impression. For some odd reason both of them decided to go for her mobile tablet though she can't imagine why. The amount of security on that thing would give Relius headaches. These two knuckleheads haven't got the faintest prayer of ever seeing what's on that machine nor would they understand any of it even if they could. The idiots probably assumed she was using it to analyze their fighting styles or something in order to gain an advantage in the brawl. Sigh. This is why she hates dealing with people.

Fortunately, neither one of the buffoons coordinated with the other as their 'surprise' attacks come at relatively the same time, sticky web and powerful kick threatening to crash into the old scientist within a heart beat of each other. It's a shame really. If they'd both been hurling themselves at her physically she could have caught them both in the trap.

"Do this look like an open bar to you? Buzz off."

A bolt of white-hot electricity explodes up towards the ceiling in a vertical pillar of crackling lightning not half a foot in front of the sitting woman. The blast catches King square in the undercarriage even as she snaps her foot out to deliver her ambushing strike, rippling straight through her all the way up to the ceiling in a beam of blinding power so intense that the woman's skeleton becomes visible for a moment. The blast of sticky web stuff all but evaporates in the blast, her timing expertly catching the projectile alongside the unfortunate bartender.

Kokonoe tenses up slightly, bracing herself for what should be a light impact as the momentum of her assailant's foot drives what remains of its energy into shoulder. Instead, she finds herself tumbling ass over tea kettle over the back of the cooler as a figurative sledgehammer smashes into her body.

In a display of her feline heritage, the old woman regains her balance after only a single backwards roll, digging the nails of one hand into the ground to slow her down while gracefully maintaining her hold on the bag of chips with the other. The expression on her face is one of brief confusion that quickly turns into annoyance. Pushing to her feet, she withdraws the tablet from her jacket - which neither of her opponents managed to touch - and checks a few readings again.

A slow frown spreads across her face as the answer becomes clear. Yet another manipulation of reality. Destructive forces will be vastly amplified within this space. Obviously whoever is responsible for this contest is the impatient sort.

Glancing up at both King and Widow, Kokonoe pushes her tablet forward into what should be empty air. Instead the slender computer seems to simply vanish as she stuffs it away into a pocket dimension safely away from either of these two magpie's reach. Casually flipping both of them the bird, the old cat stuffs another fistful of chips into her face then cracks the beer open and slurps at it noisily, her tails swishing back and forth in lazy pleasure.

COMBATSYS: Lynn has joined the fight here.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Kokonoe          1/-----==/=======|>>>>>>-\-------\0         Platinum
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
King             1/----===/=======|-------\-------\0             Lynn
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0            Widow

[LYNN]
Waiting to be able to come in, she thought about how she ended up here. All she wants after all is to be a normal girl, but it seems life wanted anything but to give her such a thing. At least she would make enough money this time if she win, and she could have a normal life then perhaps. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking. Her mother was happy she was here at least but you know.

And just like that, finally it was her turn. She runs right in as there is no longer anything blocking her. She analyses what she can see, when she can finally see something, and she sees two weirdos attack a cat woman. Who granted, still seems to be able to defend herself, but it was time to show they shouldn't do that.

She continues to run until she's near Widow. "Not cool, ganging up. How about even things up a bit" She gathers oranges energy in each hands as she takes another step forward. She then trusts her hands forward, together in a thin fire-stream blast. "Friend reminder!"

Whether she hits or not after that, she jumps back a bit, keeping her eyes out for revenge and others that would try to sneak on her.

COMBATSYS: Platinum blocks Tung Fu Rue's Chou Shou Nami+.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Kokonoe          1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0         Platinum
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
King             1/----===/=======|-------\-------\0             Lynn
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0            Widow

[PLATINUM]
The fight ends up seperating, between Tung and Platinum, while King and Widow decide saying Hi to the stranger cat-lady. Platinum smirks, as she sees the old master getting blown away- She is actually a little surprised, does that attack always hit so hard?

And about the pervert thing, well, Luna is one to go hard on baseless assumptions- Sena is a lot more reasonable.

"You're doing great, Sir!" Sena responds toward Tung, smiling. "Gh- Shut it, Sena! I'm beating his ass!" Luna rings through. Yet, both of them become silent as that Apparition emerges from Tung, Platinum's eyes widening in at the impressive sight. Not soon followed by those gigantic hands coming together to fire off a bloody Kamehameha! She holds the hammer at the ready, and braces it diagonally in front of her, the hammerhead in the middle entering where the center of the beam would be- Tung's energy slams against the guard! Seemingly, part of his chi dissipates when making contact with the weapon. The girl is mustering a fairly solid energy-based defense, a subtle, shimmering barrier forming. "Hnnnngr-" But even though the protective energy is strong, motes of Tung's cerulean beam begin to break through toward the end of it's lifespan. It painfully tears, and sears at Platinum as they whizz past, all the while she gets pushed back by the attack's sheer force

Th-That hurt!" And when it's over, the girl certainly seemed worse for wear: Arms slumped. "That was amazing, Mister!" Sena chimes in, causing a frustrating grunt from Luna. Though notably, for an attack with the scope of that beam, she managed to weather it quite well considering it's strength. Too caught up in her fight with the older man, her focus seems to be on him singularly. For the moment, she couldn't much care for the 4-person brawl that might be emerging with the old cat at it's center.

As such, she heaves up the hammer, straight above her head! Subsequently chucking it overhead rather inelegantly, the massive mallet spinning straight toward the old master, risking to smack him on the noggin'!

[KING]
It's fair to say that King is starting to regret her choice of victim. She's aware of the pressure in the air, how could she not be, but for now the French woman's focus is on the battle right in front of her. She hadn't even wanted a lousy beer, she's far more into red wine or cocktails, but she hadn't counted on the cranky cat woman being so greedy about it.

Perhaps it's because the wrestler has wandered over too. As Widow swings her sticky spider web towards the bespectacled woman, King's leg is already in motion, seeking out the source of her concern. Instead it merely finds itself a whole different kind of trouble and the blonde bartender starts to tremble and shudder from the impact of Kokonoe's retaliation.

When it finally blessedly stops, she remains briefly frozen to the spot, perhaps from the shock, or maybe she's just feeling the damage she's taken. As the feline female tumbles backwards, she takes her chance to flee, forgetting about the tech threat and forgoing her chance to respond to the rude hand gesture in kind.

As she makes her way through the maze, still managing to maintain an impressive speed, despite her now fragile frame, her blue eyes come to rest on Lynn.

"Ah, fresh blood" she smiles slowly, striding towards the girl.

She starts to circle her, giving herself a moment to catch her breath, before launching into a beautifully executed backflip. Her aim is to land close to Lynn, attacking her with a flying elbow strike and then following this up with a fast and furious flurry of kicks.

Starting to glow purple, she would perform another backflip, trying to hook her leg around the girl's neck, in a repeat of the motion that successfully secured Widow earlier.

If Lynn should find herself launched airbound, King would take advantage, rising up to meet her and rewarding her with alternating flying kicks.

COMBATSYS: Tung Fu Rue negates Mystic Momo from Platinum with Daishou Ha.
Glancing Hit

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Kokonoe          1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1         Platinum
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
King             0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0             Lynn
[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0            Widow

[TUNG FU RUE]
Indeed there are others present that rather interesting. Kokonoe has caught the attention of the old man as well and he keeps careful track of the rising chaos as new combatant after new combatant makes their presence known.

At this stage, attempting to disengage smoothly from Platinum in order to test the combat capabilities of others is easier said then done. Tung intended on investigating the aura possessed by the girl and he's certainly getting more then he bargained for. Needless to say, he's quite impressed that she weathered his assault of pure chi and as the muscled avatar of the elderly master dissipiates he nods with some approval.

"Well done..perhaps we should.."
%Oh yes. Hammer. He blinks in surprise at the swiftness of her reaction and follow up to his assault and he himself swings into action once more as the hammer comes hurtling his way, right towards his rather exposed and shiney forhead.

Another burst of cerulean light occurs as chi blaes into being to burst into the hammer and then beyond as he brings his arms around and thrusts hs hands forward in a powerful gesture. The disruption sends it clear from him though eh winces from the effort and the groaning of his body from the rising stress and pressure being placed upon it.

"I do believe this situation is set to get even more chaotic then this.."

COMBATSYS: Widow blocks Lynn's Koryu Shozan.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Kokonoe          1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1         Platinum
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
King             0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0             Lynn
[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0            Widow

[WIDOW]
Another kid? Widow wasn't expecting to get blasted by the girl but manages to block in time. It seems that King's already on the girl before she has a chance to get revenge, "Who will be my next prey?" Her attention turns towards Platnium, she hasn't returned the favor for the girl trying to hit her with the star earlier. While she's distracted by Tung, the wrestler decides to take advantage of the scenario and crawls behind her.

Once in position she rises up and tries to put an arm around the girl's waist. If Widow successfully grabs her the wrestler flips her over and slams her into the ground.

[KOKONOE]
Unsurprisingly, a blast of concentrated electricity coming out of nowhere proves to be enough incentive for Kokonoe's harasser to reconsider her choice of targets. Even the strange spider woman turns her attention to the new arrival, apparently more interested in opportunistically ganging up on someone already being attacked than challenge the grumpy cat-girl on her own. Whether that be the result of wisdom or cowardice on the wrestler's part, Kokonoe doesn't know or care. All that matters is she be left alone, uninterested in testing her might against a bunch of random weirdos.

Well, it has already been proven that a display of her genius is enough keep the insects at bay. Logic dictates that another similar such warning should be sufficient to buy her some personal space.

Munching thoughtfully on another mouthful of salty goodness, Kokonoe ponders which of her vast arsenal to deploy for such a purpose. It has to be big and showy enough to show she means business without being so complex that none of these barbarians will understand the danger it represents. That pretty much leaves one obvious option.

A wicked little smile plays across Kokonoe's face as she lifts a finger to her pince-nez glasses, sliding them neatly up the bridge of her nose. It isn't often that she gets to reveal some of her more substantial creations since she rarely takes to the field herself. This should prove to be an excellent test to determine the psychological impact of such a weapon on skilled fighters. Perhaps she can salvage this situation into something useful after all.

A small bangle hanging from the cat's wrist is moved up close to her face and she speaks into it, activating the hidden transmitter built into the otherwise useless piece of jewelry.

"Hey, Tager! It's show time."

At those simple handful of words, reality itself breaks apart. The space behind Kokonoe begins to crack and shred, splitting apart like a cheap paper backdrop on the set of some low budget science fiction television show. Behind the thin veil is revealed a seething void of azure power, churning with the raw chaotic energy of pure possibility. Brilliant white light engulfs the grinning scientist in a glow so intense that it causes lens flares on reality itself.

And from that churning maelstrom of impossible power, a titan emerges.

A figure of vaguely humanoid shape begins to rise from the surface of the ground behind the scientist, the entire arena quaking as if in fear as it slowly draws itself into reality. The sheer scale of the entity is beyond massive, one of its vast metal hands easily large enough to engulf a full-grown man entirely within its grip. It takes only a few seconds for the monstrosity to pull itself fully into reality, though it stops with only half of its body exposed. But even from just the waist up, it towers over the form of its creator nearly three times over, its silent gaze sweeping over the assembly of brawling warriors.

A shock of wild red hair stands out starkly against the pale blue of its metal skin, the towering robot a scaled-up likeness of her greatest creation and staunchest ally. Not that she suspects anyone will recognize the resemblance her weapon has to Tager, what with him being actually competent at his job of being a covert agent despite being nearly eight feet tall himself. Sometimes her talents amaze even herself.

What she does expect most of these clowns will recognize is the massive circular barrel of an energy cannon that takes up the majority of Mecha Tager's chest. The aperture is nearly as tall as she is herself and even a bunch of dolt who have rattled their brain cans with constant blows to the head can appreciate what it means to be the person with the bigger gun.

Kokonoe remains silent as her super weapon joins the fray, though the smirk on her face speaks volumes. The pressure of opening such a large subspace pocket into the Boundary leaves the arena filled with a whipping wind for several seconds, adding a bit of theatrical flare to the old cat's pose as her Kaka jacket and hair flutter about dramatically in the breeze.

At her feet, another shimmer of power ripples through the ground and a simple metal shaft begins to ascend through the surface, rising up to around the height of Kokonoe's waist. Yellow and black warning stripes cover the upper portion of the thick cylinder and atop its flat surface sits naught but a comically large red button.

Kokonoe extends her hand outwards, hovering it over the button with melodramatic slowness. She eyes everyone else in the room pointedly, her gaze lingering on each person in turn. When she gets to the last of them, she slowly points a finger at her eyes then out at the crowd, making her intentions clear.

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe calculates her next move.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Kokonoe          1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1         Platinum
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
King             0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0             Lynn
[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0            Widow

COMBATSYS: Lynn blocks King's Illusion Dance.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Kokonoe          1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1         Platinum
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
King             0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0             Lynn
[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0            Widow

[LYNN]
She might have wanted to continue on Widow, even as she blocks her strike, but King has other plans, and she has to give most of her attention to her. She observes king as she backflip and she blocks the elbow with her arms, as well as all the kicks, which still takes their tolls on her arms.

Once that's done, she jumps away from the second backflip and says "Nice moves.", before she looks around to see where the others are. It seems Widow went for that weird girl. Maybe it was time for her to go to the hold man.

She does just that and goes to the old man. "Sorry kind sir, but you are in this fight." She announces to Tung Fu Rue

After saying that, she steps forward closer, trusts her palms out, her palmsheels together. As she does that, a short range expose of chi comes from those palms, to hit the old man in his chest if she gets her way, before stepping back.

[TITANIC TIM]
Since the beginning of times, people have fought for many different reasons. And indeed, warriors all across the land have fought just as much for the sake of finding something to fight for. For some people, the philosophy behind fighting is just as important as fighting itself-- the purpose behind it, worthy causes to pump themselves up with.

And yet, for others, just the act of fighting itself is purpose enough on it's own.

This simplicity itself is embodied in the next contestant, whose approach is heralded by rapid stomps that may very well shake the earth itself. While some here might have specific reasons to want to fight here, and yet others have simply stumbled in, there is one who simply saw a chance for a fight worthy enough to put his body into use in.

Enter Titanic Tim. An absolutely, positively *enormous* lad of pure muscle who truly lives up to his name, clad in short shorts and a bombastic feathered denim vest. There's no hesitation, no second thought-- just an eager charge of the giant towards the fight already in process, leading up to a nearly-equally massive leap up into the air, launched up by the tree trunk -sized legs!

"HERE I COOOOOOOME!!!"

Like a meteorite, Titanic Tim soars through the air with his arms spread out wide, set into an absolutely terrifying collision course down towards the girl named Lynn down below. Why her, specifically? No particular reason, truly. She just happened to be the closest in the massive man's path. Truly, Tim doesn't need much more of a reason.

COMBATSYS: Titanic Tim has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1         Platinum
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Kokonoe          1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0             Lynn
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
King             0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0            Widow
[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Widow successfully hits Platinum with Spiderplex.
- Power hit! -

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/-------|=======\=====--\1         Platinum
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Kokonoe          1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0             Lynn
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
King             0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0            Widow
[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/------=|

[PLATINUM]
"What, seriously?!"

Luna grunts in frustration, seeing the hammer get knocked out of the air by Tung's own energy. She had been engaged in a fight with mostly the old master, but more and more fighters keep entering: She sees Lynn enter from the corner of her eye, turning the other side of the battle into a 4-way brawl. "You are correct, sir- I was hoping it didn't have to turn so chaotic.." Sena chimes in.

"Hmph- You're pretty strong for an old man!" That's Luna again- "But you won't be prepared for my Ultimate tech-" "Luna, behind you!" "Eh?!"

And she tried to jump away, but the attack came as too much of a surprise: Her waist gets enwrapped, before she is lifted up and over, painfully /slammed/ on the back of her skull. The amplifying force is not doing her any favors, as a sickening crack is heard. "EEEEEYAH-!" "L-Luna!"

Indeed, as Luna is the one in control, she tends to be the one to experience most physical sensations: Including pain. It's a lot more mild for Sena. The girl smacks the ground, teary-eyed. "You cheating bi- How dare you hurt Luna like this! Luna's going to send you down a -world- of hurt!" Despite what makes sense, that is most distinctly Luna's voice- She is talking in the third person. It was a weird habit of hers, that sometimes became obvious. "And what the heck is that?! /She/ brought in another fighter, that's cheating!!" Her bleeding head does not stop her from wildly slinging out complaints, as she gestures towards Kokonoe. "GRR-" "O-Oh dear.." That's Sena.

The strategic thing to do might be to target the catlady and her bloody mech, but Luna is not strategic, as her attention is almost fully on making Widow's life miserable. Her staff re-appears in her hands, before she lifts it up high, the heart-shape growing significantly outward to increase the space between the heart. Subsequently, a bubble begins to grow and emerge from the heart-shaped hoop, growing outward and upward, making the staff look like a type of bug-net!

Platinm slams down, the bubble attempting to encapsulate Widow before it contracts, the energy re-shaping itself as a pair of large sealing halo's prevents the wrestler from moving. Whether or not the attack was successful up until this point, the staff shapeshifts once again! Smaller, thinner this time, the back end of it having shaped into a large, fuzzy end: A broom! Luna jumps up, and sits on in- Magic doing the rest as she begins to accelerate toward the spider to fly into, and past her! She would zip by like this a trio more times, before a final, fifth dash has Platinum slam the broom's heart-shaped front straight toward Widow's stomach, all it's momentum being slammed with it. Afterward, she jumps up and away, backward.

"ANGELIC.. BLAAAAAST!"

[KING]
Though her attack on Lynn is thwarted, King quickly recovers and is soon looking around for her next target. She stays away from the frightening feline, wavers over whacking the wrestler and then settles on the ongoing battle between Platinum and Tung. Now which one to strike at?

Tung is a remarkable man for his age, or any age for that matter. Truth be told, he seems to be going the distance better than her. The blonde can feel her body starting to buckle from the beating its taken, but for now she's determined to fight on.

Platinum is plucky and her performance thus far is impressive. There is that hammer to consider though...

The sharply dressed Mademoiselle decides to focus on the former, edging ever closer to him, before halting when she sees Lynn is attacking him too. Then she sees Widow is going for Platinum. What a dilemma! Reminding herself that this is a competition, she opts to forget about fairness and instead go with what he instinct is telling her.

Before she can act on it though, she feels the arena start to vibrate. Struggling to retain her balance, she looks around for the source of the sensation and sees the huge humanoid start to emerge. She can't help but stop and stare, startled and shaken by the spectacle. Who the hell is the sunbathing scientist?

Taking in the sheer scale and scope of the robotic giant, the blonde's blue eyes move to focus on the cannon in its chest. She swallows hard as she contemplates the critical damage it could cause. As the wind starts to whirl, she gets down on the ground, hoping the tactic will save her from being swept over in its path.

The scary sight of the red button does nothing to calm the kickboxer and she has an urge to run right out of this place and take the first flight back to Southtown, but no, she signed a contract to compete, so compete she will.

Averting her gaze from the horror show before her, she counts on the fact that the other fighters will be distracted too. Moving up alongside Lynn, she launches herself at Tung, too caught up in the moment to witness the eyecatching arrival of Titanic Tim and his intent to ambush her attack ally.

Whilst Lynn's chi seeks out the more mature man, King flips forward into the air aiming to land on Tung's head, from which position she would start to deliver a series of stomping kicks to his frame, before kicking him away once she's done. She herself would then land gracefully on her feet. At least that's the plan. Whether or not she can pull off this ambitious assault is still to be seen.

COMBATSYS: Tung Fu Rue blocks Lynn's Ryu Enhou.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0         Platinum
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Kokonoe          1/-----==/=======|=====--\-------\0             Lynn
[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
King             0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0            Widow
[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/----===|

COMBATSYS: Tung Fu Rue blocks King's Surprise Rose.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0         Platinum
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Kokonoe          1/-----==/=======|=====--\-------\0             Lynn
[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
King             0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0            Widow
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  <
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/--=====|

[TUNG FU RUE]
So there's a giant mecha here now, complete with reality being ripped asunder and all of the appropriate assaults on Tung's hyper tuned senses such a stunt entails. "Oh my.." he begins, attention drawn to Kokonoe only to snap back towards Lynn as the burst of energy is sent his way. His arms flow into a defensive stance and then thrust back outwards against the incoming force in order to block it. The burst of chi flows around him like a high pressure blast of water from an open hydrant and he's pushed back before he brings his arms apart, dissipating it into a firework like halo with him at the center.

And suddenly King! The old man spins, bringing his battered arms up once again and catching each of King's incoming kicks with a series of perfectly timed blocks and parries causing their exchange to look almost like perfectly practiced and timed pre-ordained choreography right up until her final kick which sends him tumbling backwards and cartwheeling back into his combat stance. The combat is wearing on him, indeed, but to hear him speak he's just as calm as always..giant reality tearing mech or no.

"My my. I predicted this would get chaotic but I never imagined this! The youth of today are so creative..."

With the two on him, he flickers his gaze between King and Lynn but then catches a side glance of Titanic Tim's...er..titanic form, casting shadow over their general area as he drops in like some sort of meteor towards Lynn. Time to get out of there.

"I believe our dance must reach a conclusion.." he offers to King before lunging at her with a leaping kick of his own that seeks to send her backwards and skywards, at which point he would follow with his own sense series of multiple rapid fire kicks.

COMBATSYS: Widow barely manages to escape Platinum's Angelic Blast!

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0         Platinum
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Kokonoe          1/-----==/=======|=====--\-------\0             Lynn
[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
King             0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0            Widow
[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/---====|

[WIDOW]
It seems that two figures that make even Widow look small have arrived. The wrestler was only familar with one of them though. Widow has other problems to deal with first though and manages to pop the bubble. It takes a great deal of effort on their part to do so and leaves them rather damp. "The rain has let the spider out. I'm rather cold at the moment though. Perfect for sinking the Titanic though."

As the larger fighter comes crashes down, they decide to give their CWS counterpart a direct greeting. Namely a rather powerful jumping kick aimed at Tim's head. Widow knows that he can be rather large threat if he's given a chance to get going.

[KOKONOE]
As the only person smart enough to bring a giant mech to a fist fight, Kokonoe finds herself suddenly devoid of eager would-be challengers. An unsurprising, if a little disappointing reaction. She'd hoped for something a little more dramatic. Perhaps a hasty alliance to tackle the obviously superior threat or a sudden panicked rush to escape the destructive power of that giant cannon. Instead, they all just sort of ignore her, perhaps hoping that staying off the old cat's radar will spare them her wrath.

Well, this leaves her with something of a conundrum. On the one hand, she did want to be left out of all this chaotic nonsense. Sitting back and watching these knuckle-draggers duke it out from the sidelines sounds more appealing than taking more physics-enhanced kicks. On the other, it would be a huge waste to spend all of that energy to summon her super weapon and not even get to use it in a field test.

Feline curiosity wins out over apathy in the end. She's suffered for her craft plenty of times in the past, what's a little more pain in the pursuit of SCIENCE?

Kokonoe eyes the Big Red Button (tm) for a moment, considering simply unleashing the main cannon of her creation into the midst of the fighters and seeing what happens. She decides against it. While the results would likely be amusing, they wouldn't tell her much of anything she doesn't already know about the destructive capacity of the weapon. No, she'll have to take a more nuanced approach to see how far she has to push these warriors in order to get them to brave the danger of her robot.

Gesturing at the empty air in front of her, the sweep of Kokonoe's hand brings a faintly shimmering holographic display into being. She taps a few rapid instructions into the magi-tech keyboard and one of the giant Tager's hands swings down to create a flat platform next to her. Hopping nimbly into its palm, she rides it back up into the air, looming a dozen feet above the battlefield.

From her new vantage point, the old cat surveys her options. Thus far the heaviest fighting seems to have been centered around the brat and the old man, both of them possessing far more impressive combat skills than the other random brawlers drawn into this mess. She isn't surprised that Platinum's vessel has been able to put up a good fight. Annoying as they are, having the wisdom of a former hero's ghost guiding their hand and amplifying their powers is an incredible boon. The old man is a bit of an oddity but she's not unfamiliar with the stories of ancient martial arts masters surpassing their normal limits with spiritual power.

As everyone seems to be converging around these two power houses, that is where she can apply the most effective pressure.

Throwing her arms out to either side dramatically, the air behind Kokonoe distorts again as she calls upon another of her subspace pockets. A large metal hatch appears, simply hanging in space with no visible means of doing so. Thick steel panels slide open and another massive piece of machinery ejects out of the portable hole, sliding neatly into place around Kokonoe's waist.

The scientist grins as she leans back into the harness, her hands fastening eagerly on the control sticks of a pair of bulky chainguns. Such massive weapons should be utterly beyond her ability to control, much less hold up, but the rules of reality don't seem to hold much sway over someone of her intellect.

Swiveling towards the gaggle of embattled fighters, Kokonoe grins as she lines up her aim. She does so with deliberate slowness, both to ensure her target is properly locked on and so that anyone paying attention has time to see the barrage coming and react with what she assumes will be appropriate levels of panic.

"Try to give me some good data before you perish!"

And, with that final warning offered to those who might have been too distracted to notice her, Kokonoe opens fire.

The roar of the twin chainguns is almost an attack of its own, the noise hammering into the contestants like a physical wave. A deluge of hot lead drives down into the arena centered around the old man. Unlike what many action movies would have you believe, weapons of that rate of fire don't simply spray bullets about in a chaotic and unfocused storm. While anyone foolish enough to be standing within a couple feet of Tung are going to be in for a bad time, the devastation is largely focused onto the small area. Her elevated perch allows for even greater control as she can rain down her bullets from above rather than having to shoot through anyone standing in the way.

The barrage lasts only a few seconds but it's enough time to pour out more firepower than most military squads can carry around. Of course, she's not interested in actually turning some random poor geezer into a pile of chunky salsa so the bullets are all rubberized rounds - painful as hell, but he won't have anything worse than some bruises and fractured bones to deal with once its over.

COMBATSYS: Lynn dodges Titanic Tim's Flying Body Press.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0         Platinum
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Kokonoe          1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0             Lynn
[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
King             0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0            Widow
[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/---====|

[LYNN]
The old man manages to deal with no only her own attack, but king's attack as well and that deserved respect. "Well done." She manages to say, before she had to give her attention elsewhere as this huge wrestler was coming on a collision course with her. Thankfully, she manages to make herself spin to the side out of the way. "No thanks. Another time." She gives a wink.

After that, she finally sees the huge mech in the area. "Oh hell" It seems to belong to Kokonoe. But as she looks further, it wasn't the worse threat from her at the moment. The twin chainguns looked like the immediate thing to deal with. Although they didn't seem to be focused on her specifically. She quickly ponders her options as she hears the loud noise of the guns firing at a rapid rate.She had to be taken care of, but she was rather high up.

She takes decision, and since Widow was nearby to attack Titanic Tim. She runs at her, but does not attack her in anyway. She uses her as a stepping stone if she can, jumping on her shoulders quickly. "Excuse me." She then jumps higher from those shoulders, and tries to hit Kokonoe on her platform with a flying high thrust kick, from the side "I give best try. HYAH!" But it's kinda drowned by the the sounds of the gun..

She really hopes the moves goes for her and not against her, but she really wasn't sure.

COMBATSYS: Titanic Tim dodges Widow's Strong Kick.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0         Platinum
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Kokonoe          1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0             Lynn
[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
King             0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1            Widow
[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/---====|

[TITANIC TIM]
It's probably for the best that Lynn managed to slip out of the way of the descending giant. For when Tim lands on the ground -- the earth shakes and quakes all over again. Had the floor been made of wood, it would almost certainly shattered under that massive weight!

"Hmph! Very good!" The massive englishman offers in acceptance of Lynn's ability in... well, not getting squashed while he pushes himself back upwards again. "But next ti--!"

Next time what? That'll have to be saved for later, then, because Tim realizes there's something very familiar coming his way. And that instinct causes him to duck his head down -- just barely managing to get underneath Widow's flying kick!

"Fancy seeing you 'ere!" The bombastic man declares, with his attention now truly and properly turned to Widow, giving Lynn the ample opportunity to redirect her attention to the catgirl scientist with an enormous mech. Still down on one knee (it takes a while for him to get back up, shut up), he slams his palm down as an additional pivot point, so that he might lift his foot up and sweep it towards the wrestler of uncertain gender the instant they land down again. "Glad ya could come nad say 'ello!!"

[KAIRI]
"But how can anybody say hello... when you don't even know who you are."

Birthdays always brought the worst out of Kairi. At least, that is what he believed. Because he could not remember. His past was oblivion. His present, a vacuumless haze of impenatrable darkness. And all he had to endure was the inexhaustable future of the only thing he knew. Violence. Physical violence, honed by his annhilating fists of heartless fury. And it's only through this violence, would Kairi know his existence. There was a style that was coursing through his veins, a blood-stained power bolted and nailed into his very palms, a stigma of the only purity he could explain.

The Mizugami-ryuu Kobujutsu.

The white haired man strides in to the sound of the miniguns at full fire; topless, stripped to the waist like a strapping lord on the cover of a Podiebrad of Passion. A black belt binds around his waist, as his crimson pants sway in at least 60 fps. Bare foot, and hands bound, he stares out with his one crimson eye, the other sealed with a hideous scar. And from the edge, he watches with pure contempt, at the melee that was unfolding. It was clear to the grim and humorless fighter.

He would not need his brown pants for this hedonistic pity party of painful pugnations.

The fighter's instincts latch on to what he believes is the strongest, for the strongest is all that demands his endless, savage war-like brutality, the depth and darkness of his furious loathing tempered by wrathful strength. Tung Fu Rue. The ancient master. He strides, every movement made with the restrained strength fueled by the killing instinct. He stops, as the -wrestlers- break his concentration. Sneering in disgust, he sweeps his arm as attempts to move the largest of the two away, right as he was attacking Widow. "Get out of my -way!-" Kairi snarls, attempting to seize the titan by his hand with an Roman Handshake. Should he get a grip? He would instinctively channel the purest form of the killing instinct to irish whip him away to the ropes... and rebounding him straight back towards Widow?

Wait were there ropes?

COMBATSYS: Kairi has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Platinum         0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Lynn             0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1            Widow
[                       \\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
King             0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1          Kokonoe
[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0            Kairi

[PLATINUM]
"Are you effing kidding me?!"

Her bubble, bursted? Just like that?! It's.. it's infuriating! Absolutely infuriating, the follow-up broom-dashes whiff around Widow by proxy, making her land all the more annoyed. "FINE! Screw you, freaky spider-lady! I'll get back to you later!" Luna pouts. Sena.. had gone quiet for the last few seconds. Maybe the boy is a little afraid to talk through the body's other occupant. "And why is everyone attacking the old man now?! That's not fair!" 'everyone' is not entirely accurate, but three attacks in quick succession is still notable. The old master is thus far handling it with grace, but Mecha Tager's Mega Guns are folded out, aimed at him- Seeing how that goes down should prove interesting.

I did not believe there where ropes, but maybe a wall would suffice?

The young girl breaks into action again, finally taking note of Tim as she rushes past him in her attack on Kokonoe. "Ew- Sweaty.." She comments. "Go for the lady herself, Luna! Breaking that thing will be hard!" Sena finally chimes in again with his more strategic advice. "There are so many people now!" The boy again, another new fighter- Kairi. It's overwhelmingly confusing, but managable as long as you set a clear target, ignoring the rest until they interact with you. Platinum's staff had returned to normal by now, and she lifted it up high as she reached the end of her sprint- attempting to dip past the Tager-replica and smack the cat-lady across the Noggin, diagonally upward. If it would connect, a heart-shaped burst of energy would emerge, alongside the sensation of energy in addition to the simple blunt force.

"Hr- Why does the cat-lady remind Luna of master Jubei?!"

COMBATSYS: Tung Fu Rue successfully hits King with Ressen Kyaku.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Platinum         0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Lynn             0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1            Widow
[                                < >  /////////////////////         ]
King             1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1          Kokonoe
[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/-======|=------\-------\0            Kairi

[KING]
King's display of kicks turns into a bit of a let down, due to Tung's immaculate timing. At least she knocks him off his feet and manages to help make them both look pretty agile in the process. It seems he handled Lynn's assault smoothly too, which the French woman can't fail to be impressed by.

"And the youth have much to learn still from their elders" she responds, as the master throws out his line.

When he follows it up with a kick in her direction, she starts to stumble, her gloved hands wavering to try and keep her balance. All chance of this goes out the window though, when the rest of the kicks follow up and the blonde bartender is knocked to the ground, her blue eyes glazing over. She's pretty sure the odds of winning this thing are rapidly vanishing, but maybe she can at least go out fighting.

Dragging herself up, with every ounce of energy she can muster she focuses on lifting her leg into a high kick, the limb glowing purple as before. In a repeat of her earlier attack, she uses it to launch a fireball in the air, but this time she doesn't stop at one! Alternating between high and low kicks, the fireballs fly fast, seeking revenge on her attacker, except due to King's dazed state, her aim is a little off and they seem to instead be heading straight towards Platinum!

As her gaze follows the direction of their travel, it briefly flits upwards and sees the feline female positioned above them on her palm platform. The woman's antics hold her attention, as she tries to figure out exactly what she's doing and more importantly, what it will mean for those below. As she notices her starting to take aim, she cries out, pointing upwards and shouting "Look out!" After which, she collapses on the ground, unable to follow her own advice.

COMBATSYS: King can no longer fight.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Lynn             0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0         Platinum
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1            Widow
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Kokonoe          1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0            Kairi
[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Tung Fu Rue      0/-------/-======|

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe successfully hits Tung Fu Rue with Armament No.10 - BFG v8.64 EX.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Lynn             0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0         Platinum
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1            Widow
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Kokonoe          1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0            Kairi
[                        \\\\\\  <
Tung Fu Rue      1/-----==/=======|

[TUNG FU RUE]
He tries. Yes. And perhaps had this been a little sooner in the match then he could have suceeded against such an assault but as he is now, battered, bruised, tired and quite honestly ready to go home and take a nap..er meditate.. there's little Tung Fu Rue has as an option against such an assault levied by Kokonoe.

Cerulean chi flares to life as his hands and arms whirl and he manages to deflect some of the artillery being unloaded while at the same time dancing backwards and away from Kokonoe and the others in an attempt to get out of range..but some is not enough and the rubber bullets end up battering his frame and lifting him upwards and tumbling him backwards in something that undoubtly looks truly horrifying to any onlookers.

And yet, after all that, he somehow manages to roll back to his feet, eyes burning with chi and a gigantic aura once more billowing up around him. Paradoxically, his calm and measured demeanor remains ..as a gigantic hulking visage begins manifesting above him, growing in size and solidity.. Hulking out from the waist up and seemingly equalling the size of the Golden Tager as Tung rears back with the last of his energies.

"..I fear I have no more left to give.. but a parting gift in exchange for the wisdom you have shared with me this day.."

And with that the giant avatar lunges forward, sending a gigantic fist hurtling for the Tager and the Kokonoe seated atop it. Beneath this gigantic vision, Tung Fu Rue leaps, but hit or miss, the solid chi avatar ultimates dissipates and Tung goes tumbling forward back to the ground to flop into a collapsed state.

COMBATSYS: Tung Fu Rue can no longer fight.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Platinum         0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Lynn             0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1            Widow
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Kokonoe          1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0            Kairi

COMBATSYS: Widow blocks Titanic Tim's Short Kick.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Platinum         0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Lynn             0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1            Widow
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Kokonoe          1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0            Kairi

[WIDOW]
Widow pauses a moment upon hearing Platnium. How did the girl know her secret? Did she assume from the name or figured it through other means. This gives a Lynn a free chance to leap on her shoulder without issue. The wrestler has bigger problems at the moment staggering a bit from Tim's kick but manages to avoid falling over. It seems like another fighter has enter the arena close by. They could go for Tim again but decides to try their luck against the new opponent.

Widow knew it was best to pace themselves seeing there were still several opponents standing so doesn't go for anything fancy. Instead the giant approaches Kairi and attempts to wrap their hands around Kairi's neck. If successful they would begin to squeeze the life out of the man.

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe dodges Lynn's Karasu Kyaku.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Platinum         0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Lynn             0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1            Widow
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Kokonoe          1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0            Kairi

COMBATSYS: Platinum successfully hits Kokonoe with Medium Strike.
Grazing Hit

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Platinum         0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Lynn             0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1            Widow
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Kokonoe          1/--=====/=======|=------\-------\0            Kairi

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe instinctively dodges Tung Fu Rue's Teigeki Ken.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Platinum         0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Lynn             0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1            Widow
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Kokonoe          1/--=====/=======|=------\-------\0            Kairi

[KOKONOE]
Well, that did the trick.

As the bizarre old man goes flying in a hail of figurative lead, several of the fighters decide to turn their attention to the person responsible. Kokonoe regards the incoming threats with a disdainful smirk, the barrels of her custom miniguns hissing out wisps of smoke as they slowly spin down. The massive weapon floats away from her body as she leans forward, vanishing back into the dark void of subspace. The aperture's metal doors slide closed around it and with another ripple of twisting reality that too winks out of existence.

The first challenger to step up to the plate of the legendary scion of two former heroes is some slip of a young girl, probably Chinese judging by her appearance. Lynn's outfit brings a brief flash of nostalgia bubbling up within the old cat as she is suddenly reminded of her foolish apprentice, out dabbling with forces beyond her ken despite Kokonoe's warnings. Sorta like this girl, just running at her like she isn't standing atop a giant mecha that could swat the pipsqueak like a fly. Kids these days, always disrespecting their elders.

Well, sometimes the best remedy for hubris is to experience a little humiliation.

Despite her graceful aerial assault, Lynn's flying kick finds nothing but empty air to unleash its martial power into. The fault for this outcome lies not with her aim or technique. Nor can it be attributed to her opponent's swiftness or a timely defense that deflects the blow away. The attack simply never gets close enough to actually threaten Kokonoe.

The air some five feet above Lynn flares with a momentary flash of cerulean light as another object blinks into existence that wasn't there before at a gesture from the scientist. This one is much smaller than the mech or even the twin-linked portable cannons, resembling something like a large bulky tire or cog. The cylinder begins to spin lazily as it emerges, emitting a field of crackling blue luminescence. But, rather than unleash some deadly blast of energy into the airborne attacker, it does something far more devious - it takes the girl's already impressive leap and turns it into an Olympic hurdle, drawing Lynn several feet higher as she passes near it as if she were a penny being sucked towards a giant magnet.

The device fades away after only a couple of seconds but its influence is more than enough to completely change the outcome. Rather than go flying into Kokonoe, the Chinese girl arcs over the scientist's head, clearing the top of her head by several feet. This leaves Lynn with something of a dilemma to deal with as her sudden descent back to the ground has none of that convenient anti-gravity to slow the fall.

"Not even worth the data," Kokonoe grumbles, dismissing the young fighter from her attention with a casual flick of her tails. "Next!"

As it turns out, the old man is even tougher than she anticipated. Despite getting hit by the equivalent of a couple hundred tiny sledgehammers, the geezer manages to pull together enough focus to unleash one final attack in retaliation. And what an attack it is.

Kokonoe does her best Spock impression as one eyebrow climbs upwards in curiosity at the sudden massive spiritual projection crashing towards her with mayhem in mind. You don't see that every day. Some kind of astral projection perhaps? Or maybe a psionic avatar. Whatever it is, she's rather fascinated - but not so much that she's going to stand there and take it on the chin just to get some first-hand experience about its efficacy.

Abandoning any pretense of dignity, Kokonoe drops flat on the upraised metal palm at the last second as the attack crashes towards her. The gargantuan fist of the shimmering muscle-bound geriatric collides with the front of the giant robot's immobile form sending a resounding clang into the air that rattles her bones. With the last of his energy spent, Tung's avatar fades away, leaving the imprint of a giant knuckle sandwich dented into machine.

Kokonoe winces visibly, the subtle form of her pink feline ears folding flat against the top of her head as she tries to block out the worst of that awful racket. Rising back to her feet as the mega ghost fades away, she turns slightly to give the fist-shaped divot a sidelong glance with a scowl on her face.

"Tch. Going to take me hours to buff that out."

And yet, even after that, still more trouble comes looking to knock on her door - or her face, in this particular case. The bubble-headed brat leaps in hot on the heels of the first two contestants, aiming to try their own luck at assaulting the high ground. At first, it seems as if Luna isn't going to have any more success. That ridiculous magical girl staff swings up in a wild golf swing at Kokonoe's head, whiffing harmlessly through the air as the intended target twists nimbly to the side, avoiding the blow by centimeters. But what seems like an off-hand comment from the child causes the old cat to suddenly seize up, her eyes going wide with both shock and outrage.

"What did you just sa- aagh?!"

A sudden blast of energy that she hadn't expected explodes next to Kokonoe's head, the glowing pink heart popping like a soap bubble against her face. The force, amplified by whatever strange energy is running through this space, is enough to send her staggering sideways over the edge of the mech's upraised hand and tumbling to the ground below.

Unsurprisingly, Kokonoe lands on her feet, turning the tumble into a controlled crouched landing. From the expression on her face, however, one would think that the kid had smashed her right in the most sensitive spot on her body with the world's most painful sucker punch. And that wouldn't be too far from the truth. You see, there aren't a whole lot of people out there named Jubei, especially not ones that might warrant the title of 'master'. The very idea that her father had taken the time to devote his energies to passing on his wisdom to some random foul-mouthed punk when he couldn't even be bothered to drop in and say hello for most of her life is... infuriating.

In a rare moment of emotional pique, Kokonoe's lips peel back to reveal deadly sharp fangs as she actually snarls at the child. Pushing herself back to her full height, the scientist silently stalks over to the small pedestal. Her fingers dance through the air across a holographic keyboard that winks to life beneath them, punching a series of furious rapid commands into the console. Then, with dramatic finality, she lifts her hand high into the air and brings it slamming down onto the Big Red Button (tm).

Mecha Tager's big head swivels slightly as it obeys the command, locking its bulbous yellow eyes onto the girl. An ominous whine fills the air as bright cyan light begins to gather in the cavernous maw of the robot's chest cannon, raw deadly power churning into a building maelstrom of Kokonoe's righteous indignation.

To call the blast of energy that erupts a couple seconds later a laser would be like calling an artillery shell a bullet. An absolute torrent of searing light as tall as the half-submerged giant robot itself explodes at Platinum in a cascade of destruction. The sheer brilliance of the beam is all but blinding, washing the entire arena in shades of pale neon power. Bolts of residual lightning crackle in wild uncontrolled strikes in all directions, even Kokonoe's unrivaled artifice unable to fully contain the sheer cataclysmic outpouring of coalesced light.

...she may have a few unresolved daddy issues.

[LYNN]
As she gains the air, doing that kick toward Kokonoe, she wonders if Widow is upset at her. She was pretty rude, just using her like that. But it was for a good cause sorta.

That thought only last for a tiny second however, as an object would change everything. "What is that?" Did she say it, did she think it... She wasn't too sure. Lynn braces herself for a laser or something similar, but instead she goes flying much higher than she was supposed to. All that far faster than it felt for the poor girl. Perhaps it's why when one is about to die, their whole life flashes before their eyes. Time slows down.

Truth be told, she really doesn't have time to think about it too much, as another problem comes her way. She was going to come down, much higher and because of gravity, much faster.

Because of this, she turns herself into a ball, and let gravity take her back toward the ground. She hits it faster and harder than she wishes, but manages to roll some of colliding energy off of her. Once she comes to a full stop. She is not in any real position to attack anyone. So instead, she stays on the ground, and compose herself. She takes a deep breath in, and focus her chi inside of her own body to ease some of the soreness that had settled in, from such a landing. "Lots of good fighters here." she thinks to herself, as she watches what is going on a moment. At least before that huge light from the robot makes her close her eyes, in fear of being blind if she doesn't. "oof." Maybe she was in more than she could chew...

COMBATSYS: Lynn gains composure.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Platinum         0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Lynn             0/-------/---====|=======\=------\1            Widow
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0            Kairi

COMBATSYS: Titanic Tim barely endures Kairi's Quick Throw.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Platinum         0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Lynn             0/-------/---====|=======\=------\1            Widow
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0            Kairi

[TITANIC TIM]
All told, Titanic Tim doesn't seem terribly surprised to be whipped around by his arm to be sent towards the ropes! This is a perfectly regular occurence in the ri-

Wait, there's ropes?!

Actually, the strange case of Schroedinger's Ropes doesn't really concern the Titan much at all either. He grunts loudly when he slams back-first against whatever happens to be in the way of his momentum, and then simply bounces right back again into a wild dash across the stage. There might be actual goddamn mecha and laser beams and what have you not over thataway, but in this particular corner, things really do seem to be mostly taking on a wrestling-like bend, with Titanic Tim indeed using the momentum to allow himself to be carried towards Widow, even while they're reaching for Kairi's neck -- arm extended out and finally swinging in to slam agains their side in a violent display of force!

COMBATSYS: Kairi blocks Widow's Choke Hold.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Platinum         0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Lynn             0/-------/---====|=======\=------\1            Widow
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0            Kairi

[KAIRI]
Good. With him out of the way, Kairi can-

Suddenly, Kairi finds someone seizing him from behind. "... " Seethes the man as he struggles, bringing his arm up. He is just barely able to get his hand hooks around the well muscled limbs of the professional wrestler. While he is able to keep his breath, energy starts to flare around him. Grunting, he staggers, his boiling chi doing little more than showing his struggle. "No man dares to risk the wrath of the Mizugumi arts! It is clear to me now what you are!"

"A fool!"

The man blazes into a font of flame, as Titanic Tim thunders at him. "This is a waste of my time! Wrestling isn't even a real martial art!" He growls in a hoarse voice, as he tries to bring his arms around Widow's own, making the defense into a sudden and immediate offense. Should he get a grip, he would immediately attempt to fling Widow away to the onrushing Titanic Tim.

"Just paid actors, performing for children!"

COMBATSYS: The Astro has joined the fight here.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Lynn             0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0         Platinum
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1            Widow
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0            Kairi
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
The Astro        0/-------/-------|

[THE ASTRO]
The time has come.

He has been observing the battle for some time from his perch. The man in the motorcycle helmet. The CEO and commander of the Blood Wrestling Association. The devil of the squared circle, here to stalk and crush his lessers with the same lust for blood that drives his intensity in the wrestling ring.

Magical girls? Giant robots? Old perverted men? Oddly masculine-looking women? Second-rate CWA scum? He cares not; all are his prey.

A flash of lightning heralds his arrival into the arena proper, the wrestler of ill-repute seemingly appearing out of thin air in the midst of the melee. Those in the know would be well aware of his seemingly supernatural teleportation abilities; he is more than a professional wrestler, and could likely rise above his station into the realm of world warriors... but his love for the sport, and the violence of his league's hardcore matches, have kept him in the ring.

The screams of the crowd, the shocked gasps as he cuts open his opponents with barbed wire bats and hidden razors, fuels him as much as the sight of blood and suffering from his fellow wrestlers.

Perhaps he will find more sweet music here, as well.

His keen eyes, hidden by that mirrored motorcycle helmet he seems to wear at all times, immediately spot a pair of targets that pique his interest.

Widow. Titanic Tim. Both employed by his nemesis Victor Ortega's Capcom Wrestling Association. Fools, the both of them, to waste their talents in such a second-rate, mainstream, /safe/ wrestling league. They could be so much more, if they found the courage to join him in the BWA - a place more honest, more extreme, more ruthless than its competitors.

But like so many other wrestlers, they have turned down his generous offers in the past. Content to stay in the safe light of the CWA, away from the dark place where the true sport of professional wrestling plays out.

"..."

Snapping into action, The Astro rushes towards the larger of the pair - Titanic Tim. A man his size could do anything, be anything, if he joined Astro in the shadows and embraced the true nature of his calling.

Alas.

Between him and Tim is a man he does not recognize... and no more than a bothersome fly to a man like The Astro, who holds traditional fighters in relatively low regard compared to his peers within the squared circle. Taking off into a dash, he approaches Kairi from behind - dropping to the ground into a slide, leading with his legs to try and knock the man off his feet.

Whether or not he is successful, he moves past Kairi to continue on his approach towards Tim - taking little notice of Widow as he does so. He will deal with them /later/.

Once his slide carries him far enough, The Astro rises back to his feet without the slightest pause in momentum or velocity... he continues, now running, towards Tim - opening both arms wide in an attempt to grab the man around his thick, tree trunk-like waist.

If he finds purchase, the helmet wearing phantom moves behind him - maintaining his grip all the while.

And in Titanic Tim's ear, a whisper - hissed out just before The Astro throws himself backwards, attempting to bring the massive man's body up into the air and back down into the mat on his neck.

"Give my regards to Victor Ortega..."

COMBATSYS: The Astro blitzes into action and acts again!

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Lynn             0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0         Platinum
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1            Widow
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0            Kairi
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
The Astro        0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Platinum dodges King's Phantom Strike.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Lynn             0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0         Platinum
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1            Widow
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0            Kairi
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
The Astro        0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Platinum blocks Kokonoe's Armament No.01 - Super Dreadnought Exterminator.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////                         ]
Lynn             0/-------/---====|=======\=------\1         Platinum
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1            Widow
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0            Kairi
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
The Astro        0/-------/-------|

[PLATINUM]
King's projectiles fly awry, and Platinum finds herself having to weave through the scattered purple fireballs, before she could even reach Kokonoe! She would not have wanted to get hit by those, and she manages to escape their blasts! "Gh- Old man, Bar-lady!"

Two out of the first three fighters had fallen, leaving just Platinum- But that might not last long anymore. At least those two were kind of likable! All these new weirdos, eh- Not so much. -especially- not Kokonoe, she pisses Luna off! Luna is actually not entirely sure why, it might just be her smug and higher-then-thou attitude.. but maybe there's more to it. Both Lynn and Tung's attacks where unfortunately unsuccessful, even the latter, impressive attack of the old master. But Platinum gets lucky! She was just about to pout and complain as the initial, physical strike whiffed- Only for the second burst to finally knock that smug lady to the ground! "Ha, take that! Luna is awesome!" She bears a wide grin, though one brow raises at Kokonoe's comment. A comment that seemed to indicate recognition..

"B-Be careful, Luna- She seems upset.."

For once, Luna stays silent and genuinely takes the advice from the boy, Sena. Kokonoe.. Is angry, quite obviously. "Hah, looks like you're more beast then you try to let on, baggy-eyes!" More mean, mean taunting from Luna.. But then, she sees the cat-lady's hand hovering ofer the Big Red Button (tm) "Put up your barrier, Luna!" "Ah-!" Her magical-girl staff was braced in front of her again, and in front of it- A elliptical barrier of energy shimmering a subtle green.

Then, everything becomes bright.

The colossal beam simply -engulfs- the girl, and from the outside she would likely not even be visible. But in the beam's center, a struggle is ensuing. The light washes over Platinum, the energy smashing against her strong defense- But even for the barrier's durability, Platinum finds herself being literally pushed back. Her shield cracking as more and more rays light break through to sear at the girl's skin. "Hrrrrgnh--!! "Hold on, Luna- You can do this!" She's grunting out in pain, as the second voice encourages her. There at the epicentre, it felt like the beam lasted for eternity: But as Mecha-Tager's belly-lazer finally began to slim down and eventually fade..

Platinum was still up, albeit crouched to one knee with one hand grasped over her chest, staff dropped and laying on the ground. Platinum was breathing heavily, but staring absolute daggers at Kokonoe: She was furious, -seething-. Yet, as she attempted to move her arm to pick her arm, pick up her staff.. No movement came.

"Come now, Luna- Get up.." A third voice. Not like Luna's high-pitched brassness. Nor Sena's polite boyish voice. This one was more calm, mature- A feminine one. "Gather your strength.." But as quickly as it appeared, it fades again. "S-She's right, Luna- We can do this..!" It's Sena.

"Yeah- Yeah!" And with that, Luna scrapes up the last bit of energy to move their body. The staff is picked up, and the knee is raised. Mind, all shakily- Obviously incredibly injured. Leaning on the back of her staff, Luna screeches out.

"N-Nice try, baggy-eyes.. But we have more to show, right, Sena?!"

COMBATSYS: Platinum gains composure.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Lynn             0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1         Platinum
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1            Widow
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0            Kairi
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
The Astro        0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Titanic Tim successfully hits Widow with Medium Lariat.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Lynn             0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1         Platinum
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/----===|=======\=====--\1            Widow
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0            Kairi
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
The Astro        0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Kairi successfully hits Widow with Power Throw.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Lynn             0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1         Platinum
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/----===|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2            Widow
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0            Kairi
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
The Astro        0/-------/-------|

[WIDOW]
Things have suddenly taken a turn for the worse for Widow as they find their leverage used against them being thrown into Tim and then hit by the follow wrestlers lariat. Hearing Kairi's insulting wrestling, Widow is tempted to use the last of their strength on them but then a familar voice booms over them. It's the Astro.

The wrestler sneers in reaction, "The Astro, a perfect name for a garbage wrestler." They've made their decision, if they can't win the rumble then they would make sure Astro wouldn't be able to either. Once the BWA leader lands with Tim, Widow would return the favor and wraps their arms around him. If they manage to catch him in the embrace, they would leap high into the air before spiraling down into the ground while still tightly grasping onto him.

COMBATSYS: Widow can no longer fight.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Platinum         1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Lynn             0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0          Kokonoe
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
The Astro        0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0            Kairi

[KOKONOE]
The blinding glow of the giant beam cannon lasts only a few short seconds. As the destructive energies fade away they leave in their wake a scar upon the arena in the form of a nearly ten foot wide trench carved from one side to the other. Wisps of heat haze drift up from the blackened smoldering earth in a curtain thick enough to make objects on opposite sides look blurry and distorted.

And somehow, in the center of that path of annihilation, the brat is still standing.

Mecha Tager's giant form slowly relaxes into its neutral posture as reality peels aside once again, the void of subspace swallowing up the absurd super weapon once more now that its energy is spent. Only after the mechanical giant has fully faded from sight does its creator offer any sort of reaction to the miracle of Platinum's continued consciousness. Her eyebrows tilt downwards sharply as she directs a deep scowl at the child, clearly not taking pleasure in her surprising capacity for defense. If she had any doubts before that her father was responsible for training this kid, they're gone now. And that just makes her want to smack the little shit even harder.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she's fully aware that taking out her frustrations on the girl isn't fair. But when is life ever fair? Case in point, the fact that some random little snot-nosed punk got more attention from her own damn dad than she ever did. Oh sure, Terumi may have claimed to have altered Jubei's memories to make him less inclined to remember her. Maybe it's even true. But knowing that doesn't make the pain go away.

It's an old wound, one that she thought she would have managed to get over by now. As a rational and logically minded adherent to scientific thought, it should be easy for her to detach herself from such things. Identify the issue, explain the sensations, isolate the response. And yet, for all of her stone-cold bitch cred, she just can't seem to completely shove that petty little desire to bully the kid.

"Think you're hot stuff, huh?"

Kokonoe's voice is cold and flat as she regards Platinum, her tails swishing back and forth in sharp little flicks. She starts to walk towards the girl, moving at the sedate pace of a predator circling its prey, confidence and the subtle hint of impending violence radiating from her body language. One of the old cat's hands vanishes into the pocket of her jacket, still hanging loosely about her shoulders like a cape, only to emerge again a moment later with looks like the cyberpunk equivalent of a water pistol clutched in her fingers.

Coming to a halt at the edge of the smoking crater, Kokonoe swings the weapon around with a negligent gesture, aiming the wide flared nozzle at Platinum. An ominous glowing blue liquid swishes about in a small soda-can sized glass container on the back of the gun. The scientist tilts her head back slightly, glaring imperiously down her nose at the girl.

"If -Master Jubei- really did pass on his art to you," she says, all but spitting the name out like it left a foul taste in her mouth. "Then you shouldn't have any issue taking me down."

Hard as she tries, the old cat can't completely hide the sadness in her voice. She recognizes it instantly, as the words come out, and that in turn only makes her more angry. Scowling even harder than before, Kokonoe narrows her eyes and pulls the trigger.

A spray of neon blue mist erupts from the wide nozzle and with it comes a degree of such utter cold that it defies any natural phenomenon. The cryogenic fluid crystallizes within moments of hitting the air, hardening into a frigid prison of solid ice around Platinum should she fail to escape in time.

Whether or not she manages to trap the little scamp in the Arctic mist, Kokonoe discards the expended weapon over her shoulder and it vanishes upon hitting the ground; another display of her insane technological prowess. The air behind the scientist ripples even as she chucks the first gun, disgorging the same massive pair of linked chainguns she had unleashed upon Tung Fu Rue into her grip again.

"After all..." she snarls, baring her fangs again. "What am I to the student of a legendary hero!?"

The deafening roar of gunfire fills the arena again as the muzzles begin to spin, spewing an almost unbroken stream of rubber bullets at the girl. The distance between the two is short enough that the muzzle flare of the guns themselves hammers into the block of ice, should it have trapped Platinum within, cracking apart the freezing cold prison with plumes of searing flame. It takes only a second of concentrated fire from the weapon to completely shatter the icy lump but Kokonoe keeps the triggers firmly pressed, pouring round after round into the object of her outrage until the steady click-click-click of empty chambers replaces the bellow of exploding gunpowder.

[LYNN]
So many things happen while Lynn recovers a bit, from the rough landing she recently had. It was less then a minute, at least she thinks so yet, so many people continued to go at it against one another. Everyone else in fact. They just seem to have forgotten about her.

In a way, it was nice for sure, able to get a breather and all, but she was here to fight. She didn't want to win simply because everyone else destroyed one another. So she's back up on her feet, ready for action.

Who to fight however. The new man, apparently another wrestler who came in looked like he would have his hands full with the other wrestlers, or perhaps wrestler singular. The other one didn't look too hot and might be out of this fight. Apparently the old man was too, and so was that woman in a man's suit. The first one who began along with that woman, was still in however. Good on her, but she looked in trouble from the cat lady again. First that big beam that looks like it was doing damage, and now another attack was beginning. That cat lady with all of her stuff looked like she was one of the mos dangerous fighter out here. Not because of her own body feats, but those devices, whether they were magical or not, were nothing to be laugh at, quite the contrary.

So it is settle, even if her previous attack was foiled like taking a candy from a baby, she tries again. She makes her way behind the cat lady as she gets closer to Platinum.

If she has her way, Lynn punches rather hard toward the cat lady's back. "Haiyah!" She didn't hold back, but now she half expected to just suddenly self combust or something from another device that would appear out of nowhere. "I sorry."

COMBATSYS: Titanic Tim blocks The Astro's German Suplex.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Platinum         1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Lynn             0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0          Kokonoe
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
The Astro        0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0            Kairi

[TITANIC TIM]
Titanic Tim's boot is quick to stomp down onto the groudn to halt his advance after his arm has slammed into Widow, turning around just in time to see the masked wrestler-- getting pummeled even further.

"Hah, thought you'd have more in y-" he starts, but his attention is quickly sidetracked by someone's approach.

And an outright mocking whisper.

The Titan's face practically turns red just from the realization of what's going on, the absolute *disrespect* of someone trying to throw him into a suplex. *Him*!

"RRRAAAHHH!"

The realization comes with a forceful turn and a sweep of his arm behind him, a massive hand grabbing onto one of the arms clutching onto him to violently pry it away.

It all ultimately results in the titan getting freed from the pull just in time for him to roll through the air for a controlled fall onto the floor. It's still not as preferable as not getting thrown at all, but still.

"You can tell 'em to him yourself, mate..." The Titan rumbles as he rises up -- with both hands drawn up over his head, and clutched together. "If you make it outta here!!"

And down comes the double-fisted blow, aimed for the top of Astro's head just as Widow is making their final defiant strike!

COMBATSYS: Kairi auto-guards The Astro's Slide Kick.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Platinum         1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Lynn             0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0          Kokonoe
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
The Astro        0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0            Kairi

[KAIRI]
What was that?

As Kairi lashes out at the wrestlers, throwing away at the large one, he turns to look in disgust as the non-wrestlers fall like cherry blossoms in the hot summer wind. There would be non left worthy for his fists. The girls? They were mere children, squabbling over father figures. The Timothy who was large? He had picked off the fool, Widow. And now, there was no one left for his fists. Despair and self loathing rushes over him. No. It was not his hollow self esteem.

It was The Astro.

As he slides in swiftly, the martial artist moves with sudden instinct. The measured assault is met with synchronized kicks, the martial artist catching with his leg flawlessly as he falls into his martial stance. Resting, arms up, the attacker was gone already, like a sailor seeking the next warm bed before his ship leaves the harbor. Kairi stares at the strangest masked wrestler, who was drawing the others. Was this.... Was this the one?"... A worthy opponent?" Kairi growls coldly, quickly leaping into the air. Immediately, he dives, surging at the Astro with the killing intent. Diving down, Titanic Tim once again is in his path. Boiling within, he hisses as he aims that blazing kick squarely at Tim's spine.

"Out of my way."

COMBATSYS: The Astro blocks Widow's Vortex Fall.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Platinum         1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Lynn             0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0          Kokonoe
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
The Astro        0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0            Kairi

COMBATSYS: Titanic Tim successfully hits The Astro with Mountain Splitter.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Platinum         1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Lynn             0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0          Kokonoe
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
The Astro        0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0            Kairi

[THE ASTRO]
In the world of professional wrestling, there are two commandments which Astro follows with an almost religious zeal: the heel must draw heat, and the heel must take bumps.

And despite the fact that this isn't a wrestling match by any definition of the word, he will /make/ it one - through sheer force of will, if nothing else. What makes a wrestling match is not the opponent, or the audience, or the location it takes place: it is the willingness of the fighters to perform, to sell their characters, and to put their own bodies on the line so that they might tell a story.

The Astro is here to tell a story; a tale of the superiority of his sport, the natural charisma of he and his fellow wrestlers. The ability to grandstand, and control the emotions of any who witness their actions through presence alone.

When he attempts to throw Titanic Tim over his head with a standard German suplex, he finds the tree-like body of his fellow wrestlers almost rooted to the spot... Tim is strong, there can be no doubt about that - his sheer, imposing physical prowess making him one of the CWA's main draws.

In one sweeping motion, The Astro's grip around his waist is pried free - and when Tim raises both those hands over his head in an ax-handle blow, he might find that Astro moves slower than he is capable of.

Time to sell the babyface!

Lowering his head somewhat to present an easier target, The Astro braces himself as he has done so many times in the past - preparing to fully accept a vicious attack, to sell a bump so that the face might get over with the non-existent crowd.

He is a slave to his craft.

The massive blow rains down on him from above - with no quarter given from his gigantic opponent - and he eats it like a pro. As the strike impacts him from above, he immediately goes down to the ground face-first, his body spasming as it hits the floor - as though he were struck by lightning instead of a pair of fists. An over-the-top groan leaves the space within his motorcycle helmet, as the heel wrestler rolls back and forth for a moment to better sell the hit - something he hardly needs help with, considering the legitimate damage that blow inflicted.

As he is on the ground, his perceptive eyes spot an approaching Widow - obviously drawn to his appearance in the arena, as he would have expected.

Springing back to his feet and stumbling around in a circle - giving the bodysuited wrestler time to approach him - he makes no effort to avoid or stifle her grasp.

He's carried up into the air by the deceptively strong Widow - behind his helmet, a look of appreciation in regards to her technique crosses his blank face. They always were one of his favourites within the CWA, a perfect fit for his own organization... and one he still hopes, one day, to sway to his side.

As he comes crashing down with Widow, The Astro makes an almost imperceptible shift - tucking his head in and bracing his neck, two hands wriggling out of the hold to strike the ground first and absorb some of the impact before his head hits the floor.

It hurts, even with such a skillfully softened landing... but this time, he makes no over-the-top show of how much it hurt - simply remaining on the ground for a few seconds, before he moves into action once more.

Rolling backwards, he springs back to his feet with an agility and grace that seem out of place on a man of his size and musculature - as though he were a professional dancer putting on a show for the audience. He lifts both his arms to either side, turning his body in a full circle as if basking in the applause, or jeers, of an imaginary crowd. Maybe all those hits to the head over the years - even with that motorcycle helmet he always wears - have had a bit of an effect on the brain of the BWA's CEO...

"Ha ha ha!!!"

His laughter booms throughout the arena, as though he were speaking through a microphone rather than being muffled behind a helmet - his voice carrying further than it should given the chaos surrounding him.

Dropping one arm back to his side, he extends the index finger of his other limb towards Tim - even as Kairi attempts to knock the massive man out of the way, to better get at Astro. One can practically feel the malevolence and lust for violence radiating through his helmet, pouring out into the arena as his body begins to crackle with electricity - inviting an assault from any of the other contestants.

"You've got no chance!"

As if to emphasize this point, the lightning arcing over his mysterious form grows more intense - lighting up the area surrounding him as the energy flows through him.

"No chance in hellllll!!!"

COMBATSYS: The Astro focuses on his next action.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Platinum         1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Lynn             0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0          Kokonoe
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
The Astro        0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0            Kairi

[I-NO]
"Well this is getting old," the woman's voice, half-bored, echoes through a so-far untouched portion of the maze, almost lost in the chaos of the ongoing match. She strides in in bright red, a jaunty, almost comically large witch hat atop her head and a Duesenberg Starplayer II guitar with the surf-green color of a classic car. it hands loosely from the strap, slapping against her hip as she steps in.

"Looks like a," the sound of a guitar strum seems to drown out a word there, "circus around here, but at least it's not boring." The witch (?) grabs her guitar by the neck and pulls it around, before rolling a guitar pick between her fingers and giving it a testing strum. "Meh." She strums again, tuning a bit. "Better. Let's get loud."

I-No slams her pick across the chords and there's a warbling, feedback-heavy thrum from the guitar and a visible shockwave of green--and she's gone.

She appears again in mid-air, floating. She threads her fingers together and stretches her arms high and behind her back, stretching her scandalous red outfit just a little tighter, the bosom of her outfit pulled just south of scandalous as she does until the rocker shoots down like an overstretched rubber band, rocketing toward Kairi in defiance of both gravity and common sense. "Hey sexy~ I do like the stoic type. Wanna show me a good time?"

This seems a bit contrary to the diving kick. Then again, maybe this is one one flirts in a royal rumble?

COMBATSYS: I-No has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Lynn             0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1         Platinum
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0        The Astro
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0            Kairi
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Platinum blocks Kokonoe's Armament No.3 - Absolute Zero v4.32.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////                         ]
Lynn             0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1         Platinum
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Titanic Tim      0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0        The Astro
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0            Kairi
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             0/-------/-------|

[PLATINUM]
"Why- Why are you so upset..?"

That was the boy again, asking the genuine question as Kokonoe makes that harrowingly slow walk toward her. "Luna is just.. A little rude. Don't hold it against us.." "S-Shaddup!" Luna interjects. Standing at full height, Kokonoe would still be considered small, unlike her now retreated Mech: And Platinum? Platinum would be considered tiny. Kokonoe as such -still- looms over her. She actually looks rather scared, as a brief moment of respite is had. There is a tension building- Platinum doesn't feel strong enough to make an attack yet, and Kokonoe is pulling out a new device. Another harrowing pair of seconds, more of Kokonoe's petty words, yet words that hold a host of potential implications.

"O-Oh dear.. I think I understand.."

That's Sena. Curious, polite and observant Sena. But a chance to elaborate further does not come, as the moment of calm between the two fighters shatters to a close! The inhumanly cold mist washes over the lithe girl, and coalesces into those crystals for but a moment: But she manages to break free! Channeling her magic through the ice to shatter if from the inside out, dipping backward with a clumsy step just in time for, oh dear. Rubber bullets. While she might be far enough to avoid the fire, each and every one of those projectiles slam against her. Each dangerous physical blows.. and she just can't quite handle it. It's a glaring weakness, but the girl is so light and small that trying to resist such attacks is a massive challenge. The first few bounce off of a very feeble magical shield, but it cracks and breaks in no-time: The bullets slamming against her braced staff, but more notably, the girl herself. "G-Ghaaaa-!" Luna feels her own strength fading, and Sena feels the same. But the stream does end, and what's left in Luna's eyes? Not the fear of defeat, or the twisted expression of pain.

It's the raw emotion that arguably drives the girl most. Childish Anger.

"F-Fine.. But I'm gonna MAKE YOU HURT!" She's stumbling, it absolutely looks like she's about to fall: But determination is held on too long enough for just one last attack. Holding her staff at the end, it shines and erupts in more magical light as Luna channels her last power into it- Before spinning forward like a crazed tornado! She quickly becomes a blur, her staff attempting to slam into Kokonoe as much as it can manage. "Cure.. Dot.. Typhoon." The boý's voice, reciting the technique's name with an almost tragic tone.

But expectedly, a dozen spins in, Platinum slows down, tumbles, and falls. Their consciousness lost: But the brawl unfolding around them very much still active. And for some, only just beginning.

COMBATSYS: Platinum can no longer fight.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Lynn             0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0        The Astro
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
I-No             0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0            Kairi

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe dodges Lynn's Fierce Punch.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Lynn             0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0        The Astro
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
I-No             0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0            Kairi

COMBATSYS: Platinum successfully hits Kokonoe with Cure Dot Typhoon EX.
Grazing Hit

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Lynn             0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0        The Astro
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
I-No             0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0            Kairi

[KOKONOE]
Science and magic collide in a test of raw will.

Though she herself is a sorcerer, a wielder of true magic, Kokonoe has long since forsaken those pursuits. The power of her of mind, of the things she can build with her own two hands, holds far more appeal to the old cat than any of the unstable powers wrought from reaching into the celestial cookie jar. Ars Magus is a little understood and unpredictable weapon, the very antithesis of the scientific knowledge that she holds in such high regards. The devices that she creates are the results of countless hours of trial and error, theory and experimentation, design and redesign. They are powerful, deadly, and most importantly, reliable.

Which is why it's so damned annoying that some little brat manages to break free of what should have been an inescapable prison with only a minor application of magical power; annoying but not unexpected.

Bending the rules of reality isn't anything new to Kokonoe. She might not like magic but that doesn't mean she's foolish enough to have dismissed its potential based on her personal feelings. Like everything else she puts her mind to, she's long since mastered the arts of Ars Magus and sorcery to the best of her own abilities. She understands their powers and their limits better than almost anyone else alive.

So when Platinum manages to break free of her cryogenic prison Kokonoe is already prepared. A faint almost invisible stream of text slowly crawls down the lens of the scientist's glasses, data readings from the two dozen invisible drones she's spread throughout the arena over time. Each time a new weapon was summoned forth from subspace they brought with them a handful of the little spybots, steadily expanding Kokonoe's network of information within the enclosed space.

Though her gaze remains firmly fixed upon the small girl, Lynn's stealthy approach from behind does not go unnoticed. Fast as she may be, Kokonoe is not an adept fighter. Direct confrontation is something she prefers to avoid. Even a relatively young warrior who has trained for years to hone their art could likely overwhelm her should she allow them to gain an advantageous position. But there is one advantage that she has over pretty much everyone else in the entire world and that is her ability to solve problems with her mind.

Even as Platinum unleashes a final childish tantrum, expending the last of her energy to lash out at the source of her pain, the Chinese girl draws ever closer. The massive chaingun in Kokonoe's grip once more vanishes into the summoned portal, the scientist apparently fixated on the obvious incoming threat. But as the two dangers draw within striking distance, the old cat suddenly makes her move.

A flick of her hand off to the right brings another of those strange floating gears into being. Bright blue light radiates outwards from it as the graviton alters the rules of space around it, changing gravity to 'fall' towards itself rather than the ground. The distortion lasts only a couple of seconds but it's enough to drastically alter the outcome once again.

As before, Lynn finds her attack going wide as she's dragged forcefully towards the shining machine. Of greater concern than missing her opportunity to get in a cheap shop, however, is the fact that Platinum has likewise been caught up in the altered gravity and is currently arcing in her direction like some kind of golden buzzsaw!

The timing of the maneuver is precise, offering little window for mistakes. And though she does her best to account for all of the variables, once again, the girl's magic makes it impossible to plan for everything.

The whirling of her staff must have created some sort of magical interference because the pull of the graviton doesn't seem to affect the girl nearly as strongly as it should. Kokonoe's eyes widen slightly in surprise and she attempts to hurl herself out of the way, bending backwards like a reed to avoid the tip of the spinning bludgeon. It isn't quite fast enough. White hot pain explodes in her shoulder as the staff clips her with the tip of that big stupid heart. It hurts a hell of a lot more than it should - thank you magic pain field - and once again she finds herself tumbling to the ground in a heap from what should have been a minor injury.

It takes the old cat a few moments longer to regain her composure than it ought to considering she's taken only mild grazing hits throughout this battle thus far. Her body aches like someone tried to give her a massage with a jackhammer. This is precisely why she doesn't like to get involved in these sorts of brawls, it never ends well. It doesn't matter how well trained you are or how durable you are, injury is inevitable when you throw your body on the line.

A quick glance around shows that the battlefield seems to have divided itself up into two distinct fights - her own and a bunch of spandex and leather clad weirdos. With Platinum out of the equation, that just leaves the irritatingly persistent Chinese girl to deal with. She'd largely been ignoring the kid before, hoping she would get the hint, but with her options now reduced to 'kick the hornet's nest' or 'punch the other annoying brat into unconsciousness', there's a pretty clear winner in her mind.

Kokonoe's expression shifts back to its typical dour frown as she turns her gaze towards Lynn, eyeing the girl for a moment as she considers how to go about that. While she isn't particularly tired, it isn't going to take much more punishment to put her body beyond the point of being able to offer active combat resistance. This needs to end swiftly and decisively.

Without warning, Kokonoe explodes into motion, springing up from her kneeling position to hurl herself at the young woman. The air around her arms shimmers for only a split second as she rises. An ill-timed blink and one might miss the telltale signs of yet another weapon being called forth from subspace. What is impossible not to notice, however, is the massive pair of metal fists that now completely cover the scientist's arms from the elbow down.

Blazing flames shoot out in a stellar contrail behind Kokonoe as the rocket engines built into her metal gauntlets propel her at Lynn like a shooting star. She leads in with a powerful uppercut from her left fist, the fiery propulsion lending far more power to the blow than the scrawny old cat could ever manage on her own. In another display of her scientific genius, the rocket fist immediately adjusts its downwards thrust, the nozzles of its boosters swiveling madly to keep it steadily hovering at the same point of impact.

"For the last time, kid," she growls, drawing her other mechanically augmented fist back in a dramatic wind up. "Piss off!"

The second punch slams forward in a haymaker blow, driving its metal knuckles towards the center of Lynn's chest. The rockets on the fist flare to life as she swings, upgrading the blow from sledgehammer to wrecking ball. The verniers explode with fresh power, leaving a plume of swirling fire around Kokonoe as the fist literally rockets off her arm like a missile. Unless she can avoid the deadly blow, Lynn will find herself sailing backwards halfway across the arena on a harrowing flight that ends with both of the weapon detonating in a spectacular explosion!

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe successfully hits Lynn with Armament No.2 - Broken Bunker Assault v2.21.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Lynn             1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0        The Astro
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
I-No             0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0            Kairi

[LYNN]
So Lynn has that punched lined up, and not too proudly, it is indeed a cheap shot, but her punch goes wide, and as she is pulled toward the machine, she even has to partially dodge her fist, as she almost hit herself, though she maneuvers enough to not actually do so, the gravity pull is still well pulling.

Thankfully, mostly because of the other 'girl' Platinum, The collision doesn't seem to happen between them. That string of 'luck' if one should call it as such, would soon stop, though Platinum seems to drop, and Kokonoe is hurt. That's good, even if Lynn never quite manages to touch her, she still can be touched. She mentally takes note of that.

Kokonoe however is down for long, and she's actually pretty fast once she gets back into motion. Did she actually see the weapons suddenly come into existence, or does she sees the metal fists only once they are covering her forearms. Either which way, it makes Lynn Gulps. The attack cames at such surprising speed, she had no time to dodge, all she could hope for was to block. She brings her arms in front of the first punch, a powerful uppercut. For all the good it does, one might think she should have simply opened an tiny umbrella in from of an explosion, like Wild E. Coyote would have done in the old cartoons. The uppercut goes through her arms and hits her chin, making her jaw do a nasty cracking sound, as the momentum and strength of the attack gets her in the air.

One might think that's enough, but it wasn't the end of it. Kokonoe tells her something, but it was unclear if she even heard it as blood started seeping out of her mouth, currently a little flow from the left of her mouth, going down her damaged chin, to drop at the floor.

Then 'BAM!' the haymaker, that second punch hits her in the chest, another cracking sound can be heard, and she goes flying toward the other side of the Arena like a special express delivery that promises to get a package your orders on the same day. She lands down on the ground, and even rolls on the ground. Not a roll done by her to take less damage from the landing impact, but actually from the force of her body hitting the ground.

Surely that would be hit. A small girl like her doesn't get up from such an impact. It looks like she would have had better luck just jumping in front of a speeding train.

But no, she actually gets back up on shaky tired legs, and even mentioned with her hand for Kokonoe to bring it. More blood coming out out of her mouth, and her breathing making a wheezing sound. To her it sounds loud, but perhaps it wasn't so loud. Then chi energy flares around her as she starts to charge herself. Kokonoe had done impressive damage to Lynn. Hell to Lynn she's been impressive and untouchable the one match, and it deserves respect, but Lynn wasn't out of this fight yet, and if what she's doing now was any indication, she wasn't willing to go out quickly still, no matter how damaged her body was currently.

COMBATSYS: Lynn communes with the power of the White Dragon.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Lynn             1/-======/=======|====---\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0        The Astro
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
I-No             0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0            Kairi

COMBATSYS: Kairi successfully hits Titanic Tim with Ryujin Kyaku.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Lynn             1/-======/=======|=======\-------\1      Titanic Tim
[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0        The Astro
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
I-No             0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0            Kairi

[TITANIC TIM]
"Rrrhhh!"

Tim *was* going to accept The Astro's challenging gesture, more or less. *Was* being the operative word.

But Kairi happened. In more ways than one. Just his initial interruptions had drawn some of the Titan's ire to begin with, but now, when he finds himself forced to pushing forward by a powerful, energy-laden kick to the center of his back?

Oh, he's not happy. And the slam of a foot to his spine *definitely* hurt a lot, but... on the other hand, the massive brit probably should have been expected to do more than just skid forward as a result of it.

"*Me* get out of the way?!" Tim growls out, spinning around just in time to see a certain Witch dive through the air to aim a kick at the previously-mentioned offender.

"*Ye* get out of the way!"

And he lunges right in after I-No's divekick has gone through, massive hands reaching out for Kairi to outright scoop him up off the floor if he manages to secure hold!

And more than that, hoist him up over his own shoulders once there, pressing his hands down roughly at both ends of his torso in a tight, painful stretch that would threaten to break the back of a weaker man!

COMBATSYS: I-No successfully hits Kairi with Sultry Performance.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Lynn             1/-======/=======|=======\-------\0      Titanic Tim
[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0        The Astro
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
I-No             0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0            Kairi

COMBATSYS: Titanic Tim successfully hits Kairi with The Rack.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Lynn             1/-======/=======|=======\-------\1      Titanic Tim
[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0        The Astro
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
I-No             0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1            Kairi

[KAIRI]
"Finally!"

Kairi drives his foot hard into Titanic Tim. In his mind, that was a killing blow. There would be no 'pro wrestler' to stop him from finding a true opponent. Steadying his stance, he strides at The Astro, before suddenly a Witch Into Lotsa Fighting steps on up with her -own- dive kick. And -flirting with him?- He refuses. "I am already taken. By the KILLER INSTINCT." Kairi demands as he twists his heel down, crushing the earth as he steadies in. He tries to deflect it as one would with a fly; I-No just plows through it against all his instincts, ripping him backwards. Staggering, he quickly steps forward. "What strength! Maybe I could have a use for-" And suddenly, a pair of hands crush around him.

"N-no!"

Kairi is lifted up, too infatuated by the allure of a two-some with strong powerful fighters. No, instead, he is caught up in pro wrestling. AGAIN. As he is streched painfully over the Tim's head, he snarls and writhes in agony. In RAGE. "I have had it-" Snarls Kairi as he -blazes- with his energy. His skin begins to crisp and crack, as the raw killing instinct tears apart his body. The blaze surges down as he rips away, body snapping as he lands hard on his feet. He doesn't break away. No, he refuses, charging straight into Titanic Tim with two staggering punches, left and right, before cracking in with a sharp knee that executes into a finishing roundhouse to the abdomen, to send him staggering at The Astro. Eyes cooking in his skull from the pure chi boiling out, he transfixes his pale gaze first upon I-No, and then, back to Astro. "Worthy.... I sense you are -worthy!-"

"Take me with your STRENGTH!"

[THE ASTRO]
The Astro stands, body crackling with energy, as he waits for the attack that is sure to be coming his way. After all, who could ignore such a ruthless heel...?

...and when it doesn't come - when nobody takes his challenge - it is the most grievous form of insult that could be leveled at a man who is so completely dedicated to his art.

Had he done something wrong? Not been threatening, or malevolent, or villainous enough? It was the first time in the wrestler's long and infamous career that he had failed to draw heat, when actively attempting to do so. And it hurts him, deeper than a folding chair to the back or a suplex off the top ropes ever could.

For a man who valued the strength of his performance above all else, it wounds him more than words could ever tell. Though surely the sight of his suffering opponents would soon wash away such concerns, as it had always done in the past.

"...fools... to fear your end so much, that you refuse to face it...?!?!"

His voice booms out with its usual bravado, as he watches the trio of Tim, I-No and Kairi all clash in front of him... though his aggression was initially drawn towards his fellow wrestler, the massive CWA veteran, he senses an odd power in the other two as well. They pique his interest, if nothing else. He's about to leap back into the melee, when his attention is suddenly grabbed by the overwhelming surge of power that rolls off of Kairi - and his shouted words, as well.

"Oh...?? You would dare to challenge the Devil of the Blood Wrestling Association??"

The words are low, more of a vicious hiss than any proper response. Perhaps there are some individuals worthy of his attention outside his personal world of professional wrestling...

The electricty that travels up and down his body suddenly dies out, as The Astro once again moves into action. Demonstrating his unique abilities once more, he seems to blink out of existence - reappearing instantly in the middle of the fray he had been observing with a bloodthirsty gaze.

"Allow me to show you my power!!"

Dropping into a crouch, he only remains in that stance for a fraction of a second before he /explodes/ upwards. Spinning in a backwards arc, he extends one leg out - the limb seeming to crackle and spark with that bizarre power he is so fond of showing off - attempting to strike Kairi with his signature Shaft Harrier 'wrestling' manuever. It is what could accurately be called a somersault kick. Perhaps even...

...a flash kick.

Somewhere, a Marine Corps Major with a very silly hairdo feels vaguely annoyed - though he cannot quite pinpoint the reason why.

[I-NO]
I-No rebounds off of Kairi, delving the devastating kick but then defying gravity in a dramatic landing. She swings her guitar to the side, holding the neck as it rests on her hip.

"Oh, don't ignore me. You'll break my heart~ Well, not really, but you know." The flare of power causes I-No to blink before she runs her tongue along her lips. "Oh yeah, that's more like it." She sighs, rolls her eyes and neck, then settles on the Astro as he delivers a suitably theatrical monologue. "But it seems like you have another fan. Maybe I should let you boys get hot and heavy while I find another playmate." She plucks idly at her guitar again, glancing about.

She suddenly kicks in into a backflip, and with a distorted, crunchy note from her guitar, red-orange chi flares out from her boot in the shape of a sword expending from the curve of her seat to well past the end of her foot, punching through the air toward Titanic Tim--the biggest target in her immediate area.

"Hey there," I-No says, "how about you play with me for a bit, big boy? Unless you're hard as those muscles make you out to, eh?"

[KOKONOE]
Once again Kokonoe finds that she has a moment of breathing space to stop and take stock of the situation. About half of the contenders have been laid out at this point, most of those on her side of the field. Only the stubborn Chinese woman remains a threat, ineffective as she might be at dealing with the scientist's technological shenanigans. For whatever reason, the other group seems entirely preoccupied with duking it out with each other which is perfectly fine with her. There's a lot of yelling and banter and fighting spirit involved that she wants no part of.

Fortunately, Lynn seems to be the stoic sort. That or getting your jaw and ribcage caved in by a rocket fist makes it hard to talk. Either way, the martial artist is blissfully silent in her foolish resistance even as she reaches for some deep reserves of power.

Kokonoe regards the come hither gesture and the flaring aura with a weary sigh, rubbing at her temple irritably. She'd hoped to take the girl out of the fight cleanly and slink off to her cooler to try and wait the rest of this nonsense out. Some people just don't seem to be able to take a hint. Freaking martial artists, always looking to prove themselves. They're like Internet trolls, the more you slap them around the more excited they get.

As much as she would love to simply love to turn and walk out of this place, all of the entrances to the arena have once again become closed off by rather sturdy looking gates. She'd leave the same way she got in but using teleportation is a tricky business and she's not about to throw herself to the whims of fate with reality so heavily distorted in the local area. That just leaves her with the option of swatting this insistent fly and then doing her best to avoid notice.

"Tch. Fine. You want me to come at you for real? Hope your life insurance is paid up, kid."

Problem: Kokonoe wants to punch Lynn in the face. But, after taking a ride on the rocket fist express, Lynn is a fair distance away.

Now, if you were some ordinary schmuck the solution to this issue would be fairly obvious. You walk, run, or hop your ass over there, spending precious time and effort. It's easy to see coming, easy to predict, and makes your intentions incredibly obvious.

Kokonoe is many things but ordinary and conventional are not part of that list. She is one of the greatest minds of the current era; no, perhaps -the- most formidable intellect to ever exist. If you think she's going to spend the effort to just walk over and poke someone in the nose, you're in for a real treat.

The scientist takes a single step forward and reality once more bends to her will, the air shimmering briefly as another technological gadget emerges from subspace. The possibilities as to what this could be are almost infinite. Thus far she's brought forth giant mecha, massive gatling guns, bolts of lightning, freeze rays, and rocket fists. What's it going to be this time? A rocket-powered car? A jet pack? A giant magnet that pulls Lynn over to her?

Truth proves to be stranger than the wild possibilities of imagination this time. Kokonoe's hand thrusts forward as the air distorts, her fingers closing around the slender grip of a long metal cylinder that winks into existence. With a flick of her wrist, she unfolds the flat surface of another segment connected to the pipe, stepping onto the board of a segway - a goddamn /segway/ - as it starts to zip forward at a brisk pace.

With all the furious speed of an irate cyclist, Kokonoe putters over towards her target with a bored expression as nonchalantly as if she were going out for an evening stroll. As silly as it looks, with its bright red coloring and the cute little yellow cat face mounted to the handle bar, the thing can move. Within only a few seconds, the scientist closes the distance, the scooter vanishing from underneath her just as quickly as it had appeared.

Kokonoe wastes no more time on idle chatter. The longer she delays the more time the woman has to gather her energies for whatever form of mayhem she has planned. Hopping forward with springing step, the old cat lashes out, using her own body as a weapon for the first time in this entire debacle. For someone of her advanced age and slight build, she proves to be surprisingly strong, the blow hitting with enough force to knock even a trained fighter backwards a few steps should it connect. But, as might be expected at this point, this proves to be merely the prelude to another display of technological genius.

A sinister grin spreads across Kokonoe's face as she steps back from Lynn, taking a wide stance. Reality bends around her yet again, as not one, but half a dozen different bits of machinery emerge from thin air to attach themselves to the mad scientist. Upon her back, two massive cylinders that look like oversized batteries come to rest as a harness blinks into existence around her shoulders. From the back of that strange backpack, a pair of struts jut upwards in a V shape, each one supporting a tall metal rectangular box over each of her shoulders. A smaller but similar pair of boxes appear on her legs, attached to her calfs by metal rings. And last, but not the least dangerous looking, is a pair of monumentally oversized diodes, each one attached to a handle that allows Kokonoe to wield them like a pair of cannons slung under her arms.

"Releasing safeties! Have a taste of this!"

Kokonoe leans forward as a the final piece of the ensemble settles into place atop her head, a visor and sensor array in the form of a tall pair of metal cat ears. The front covers of the strange rectangular boxes sudden explode away as missiles erupt from what prove to be four seperate launchers. An absolute deluge of micro munitions hammers at the girl, dozens of guided missiles coming at her from high and low in a storm of explosions that drags on for several seconds.

And yet that isn't all there is to this onslaught. With their payload expended, the missile launchers detach from the exosuit, vanishing back into the ether before they even hit the ground. The visor atop Kokonoe's head lowers down, covering her eyes as the wild grin widens further. Sparks flare to life on the ends of the diodes, tiny lashes of crackling blue power lashing out at the air around them. The build up of power seems to have a similar effect to the graviton gears, dragging Lynn back towards the deadly contraption.

"Maximum charge... activate!"

Thrusting both of the diodes in the direction of her victim, Kokonoe pulls the triggers. Another absolutely blinding burst of power washes over the arena as a ball of electricity ten feet across blossoms to life at the tips of the metal prongs. The sound of the electric discharge roars loud enough to deafen everyone in the area, seeming to drag on for ages as the untold amounts of power contained in those giant batteries empty themselves in a withering storm of static fury.

So great is the power being channeled by the diodes that they eventually fail to contain it. A physical wave of force washes out from the scientist as her entire rig detonates in a thunderclap, the tiny blast so ridiculously focused that a literal mushroom cloud plumes up towards the ceiling. For a moment it seems almost like the image of a cat-earred skull takes shape in the billowing smoke, but it clears soon after, leaving a slightly singed and still smoking Kokonoe standing nonchalantly at the epicenter of the blast.

What happens to Lynn in all of that mess? Well, that's largely up to how deftly she can avoid the destruction being unleashed upon her!

COMBATSYS: Lynn fails to interrupt Armament No.11 - Full Metal Heavy Weapon v2.05 EX from Kokonoe with EX Koryu Kyaku.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Lynn             0/-------/-<<<<<<|=======\-------\1      Titanic Tim
[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0        The Astro
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
I-No             0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Kairi

[LYNN]
Lynn ribs are hurting, quite more are hurting, but she's ok. If she convinces herself of this, there will be no problem. She's ok!

She watches Kokonoe, she had no idea what would happen with her. She had so many things up her sleeves, quite literally in fact. Oof, Kokonoe takes a step forward and things start happening again she can feel it. Oh no, now what. She needs an opening, she keeps watching Kokonoe... A bike, she made a bike...

She see Kokonoe coming toward her. She's actually coming up close? Maybe that would be the moment she is looking. When Kokonoe dismounts from her bike and comes to her, Lynn realizes this is her moment. She will do her super Thrusting kick and maybe even end this. She can do it." She goes to jump, and her ribs says no, and they make her flinch. There would be no out of nowhere interruption of Kokonoe attack. Bam, she receives quite the hard punch, which rocks her.

If only it was all there was to it, it wouldn't have been so bad, but Kokonoe had more under her sleeves. Lynn could see things happening, but her body was rooted in place at the moment. Body basically telling her. Screw you, you're not moving right now.

Then missiles hits Lynn. They are so well synchronized, the first one hit, taking her off her feets, and the others make sure she doesn't touch the ground as long as there are more missiles to detonate. Well at least she sort of got her jump now. Not that it is helpful in anyway for the poor girl as her body is getting more and more damages.

Even then, when she hits the ground because all the missiles have hit her, she doesn't have anytime to rest. She gets electrocuted as if she was on deathrow, sitting on the electrical chair. It feels like it lasts longer too than that too. But how would she know? She never actually been on deathrow, or she wouldn't be there to think about and get so much damage. She finally falls on the ground twitching for quite a while, but then something unexpected happens, she moves, at least just enough to get on one knee, in a crouching position. "Do..esn..'t e...ve..n hu...rt." It was obviously a lie with the amount of blood coming out of her mouth, just saying this. What would she be able to do now, she was pratically dead looking, and truth be told, her whole body was hurting like a bitch.

COMBATSYS: Kairi successfully hits Titanic Tim with Maki Hatsudou.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Lynn             0/-------/-<<<<<<|=======\======-\1      Titanic Tim
[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0        The Astro
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
I-No             0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Kairi

COMBATSYS: Titanic Tim barely endures I-No's Horizontal Chemical Love.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  //                            ]
Lynn             0/-------/-<<<<<<|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2      Titanic Tim
[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0        The Astro
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
I-No             0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0            Kairi

[TITANIC TIM]
There's a measure of shame felt in not putting as much focus on The Astro, when it comes to the internal considerations of Titanic Tim.

There's a certain *obligation*, afterall, even in a grand battle royale like this where anyone could be fighting against anyone, to answer the presence of one of the common foes from the wrestling ring.

However, that sense of obligation...

"Grrraaaahhhh?!"

...Might not be somethign that can be fulfilled, in this particular ring.

Titanic Tim is a Big Boy. A meaty big boy, at that. He's known to be particularly tough, to weather even the fiercest blows from wrestlers smaller than him. And compared to him, most people are, of course, smaller.

But this is different. The explosive, otherwordly energy behind Kairi's combination of strikes is enough to jostle the giant of a man to the very core, to the point where he may damn well near feel like he's about to be incinirated form the inside out. It overwhelms him. Bright chi nearly overtaking even his entire, enormous figure.

But yet he stands. Barely, but he does--

Only for his wobbling form, left practically completely open by that assault of pain on all his senses, to be struck once more over by a blade of energy courtesy of a rocking witch. It doesn't help matters at all that I-no is... er, distracting, while she's at it.

IT leaves the man burned out, only the whites of his eyes showing with how far they have rolled up in their sockets. He sways, wobbles-- but just when the massive tree that is Tim seems like it is about to fall--

"Ghhhgghh--!!!"

One last defiant stomp of a foot to forcefully steady him. It won't last long. He knows it, everyone watching knows it. But damnit, he cant let it end completely like this. Some sense inside him tells him he should go for The Astro, to continue that endless pit-up that will surely carry to times untold in the show wrestling ring.

But something more important has presented him here. Kairi. The insult to the craft all three wrestlers here share.

He can meet Astro in the ring another time. But this one? Oh, this one-- if he's only going to do one thing in this fight today, he's resolved to deny that man the thing he desires.

"Let me show you--" The Titan growls out, his hulking form making that one final lunge. "--What a show is worth!!"

A wide, sweeping uppercut comes in. A boulder-sized fist aimed to launch Kairi right up into the air. And if it does? Oh, Tim, is ready. Tim is ready to catch him. Not in his arms, no-- but on his shoulders, for a repeat of the over-the-shoulders backbreaking maneuver from before, but with all the more furious strength behind it. It only lasts for a few seconds, but for him, it's enough, with the ludicrous strength packed into those mountainous arms. Only a few seconds, before Kairi would be pulled off before he has a chance to respond -- grabbed by the angle and swung in a wide arc like a ragdoll, to smash head-first into the floor!

COMBATSYS: Titanic Tim can no longer fight.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Lynn             0/-------/-<<<<<<|=====--\-------\0        The Astro
[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Kairi
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             0/-------/----===|

COMBATSYS: The Astro successfully hits Kairi with Shaft Harrier.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Lynn             0/-------/-<<<<<<|=======\-------\1        The Astro
[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0            Kairi
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             0/-------/----===|

COMBATSYS: Titanic Tim successfully hits Kairi with Titan Destroyer.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Lynn             0/-------/-<<<<<<|=======\-------\1        The Astro
[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0            Kairi
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             0/-------/----===|

[KAIRI]
The assault is unspeakably savage.

Kairi turns away from his prey, rejecting Tim with disgust as he settles his hunger on his true prey: the strong. "Finally.." Growls the fighters, steadying himself. Transfixing his eyes on I-No, the Killing Instinct surges over him. "Now I will have you... all to... my fists..." Kairi strides. Fists ready, the weight of every step coming with the murderous bloodlust, hungry for strong opponents-

Until he is intercepted by the flash kick.

"NO!" He roars, surging with that foul power as he stiffens his feet down. He is unaware of the returning Tim, deaf to his words. ONly the allure of strength, the passion of his rage was the only thing he could sense. Outrage boils out of him as he takes the kick from Astro savagely into his chin. Lurching, stumbling, he flails raises his fists, shredding the air with the malignant power. "I have HAD IT with these WRESTLERS!" Crows Kairi, as he steadies himself. "There is no way such buffoonish clowning could be considered equal to the Mizugami-ryuu Kobuj-"

Kairi is interrupted when a boulder sized fist plows into his chest.

Launching straight into the air, he spirals, stunned by the pure force. Groaning, he has just enough time to grip his chest before he is seized once more by Titanic Tim. Caught in his clutches, the savage wrestler -snaps- him over his shoulders, finally giving a literal execution of both backbreaker and execution for that matter. Kairi gives out a hideous groan, as his spine is shattered, before the final humilation comes: a tossed away like a ragdoll into an unceramonous heap.

He would take a while to rise up again.

It would be slow, staggering. May even have been slipped in between the melee a trois that was taking place. But Kairi would rise. Broken. Brittle. And mindless, in its timing. But when the man rises, he would be ablaze in the killing instinct. Blinded to all, but the strong. Flooded with that defiant power, he would stare at the man who would fight like Charlie Nash. "Wrestling... is... f-f-fake." Would be all he would cry, before throwing out the blast of fire straight at The Astro's back, in true heel fashion.

And collapsing back into a heap, the light fading out with him.

COMBATSYS: Kairi can no longer fight.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
The Astro        1/-------/=======|>>>>>>-\-------\0             Lynn
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
I-No             0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0          Kokonoe

COMBATSYS: The Astro dodges Kairi's Shinki Hatsudou.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
The Astro        1/-------/=======|>>>>>>-\-------\0             Lynn
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
I-No             0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0          Kokonoe

[THE ASTRO]
His sudden attack seems to take Kairi by surprise, being focused on the mysterious I-No immediately prior to Astro's sudden assault. As a dedicated heel and all-around bad person, the head of the BWA has little compunctions about striking a foe when their attention is elsewhere - it is, after all, one of the hallmark moves in sports entertainment.

Landing on his feet once the backwards somersault kick is complete, he folds his arms over his thickly muscled chest - blank, helmeted gaze aimed at Kairi, as he watches the stranger get manhandled by Tim... who falls over shortly afterwards.

It seems the chaff is finally getting seperated by the wheat, as only the strong remain standing in the middle of the Megamaze. Within the confines of his motorcycle helmet, The Astro's stare remains fixed on Kairi... something tells him that the man is not done, not /yet/.

His suspicions are confirmed as the man slowly struggles to his feet, still possessing some spark of energy within his battered and broken frame. For all his villainous ways, The Astro is a man who respects endurance and willpower; for they are the very things necessary to elevate an individual to the top of professional wrestling's hierarchy... they are the very qualities that caused him to excell in his early days as a sportsman - he would not have reached the heights required to found his own wrestling organization without those two traits.

Perhaps one day, when he is done with the world of 'fighting', Kairi will be ready to ascend to the realm of the gods; professional wrestling.

"...!!!"

The malevolent silence pouring out of The Astro after Kairi's final words is an almost physical thing... wrestling?!?! Fake?!?! It is a line that has been parroted by the ignorant for decades, discounting the physical toll and mental strain that is required of wrestlers everywhere - even Ortega and his half-wits in the CWA are leagues above the weaklings who operate within the confines of martial arts tournaments.

Practically fuming with silent rage, The Astro turns his back on Kairi in disgust - and for a second, it seems like such a move puts him at risk of being struck with a blast of fire from behind...

...but when the projectile finally reaches the spot he was standing, the helmeted individual is gone, leaving one, whispered statement hanging in the air where he was only seconds before.

"Wrestling is the only truth, /fool/."

For a moment, The Astro is nowhere to be seen within the arena - but a short crackle of lightning seems to foretell his reappearance... and when his body blinks back into existence, it is dangerously close to the guitar-wielding witchy woman.

It seems that the Devil of the BWA is thinking strategically, now - at odds with his earlier mad rush towards the middle of the fray. This close to the end, he must begin to make more tactical decisions - and with the remaining fighters in such rough shape, he thinks it best to focus down the freshest and most unharmed competitor.

Two arms open up and try to grip I-No around the waist...

"/GOODBYE/..!!"

With that bellowed word, he tries to tighten his grasp... if successful, he will leap into the air, carrying the witch with him - before reaching the apex of his leap and flipping his target over. With their new downward trajectory, he spins rapidly as he attempts to drive I-No's head down into the ground below them.

COMBATSYS: The Astro successfully hits I-No with Pyramid Crush.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
The Astro        0/-------/-------|>>>>>>-\-------\0             Lynn
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
I-No             1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0          Kokonoe

[I-NO]
"Oh no," the witch says, crinkling her nose. "Was I a little too rough?" Her eyes follow Titanic Tim as he goes down in a frightening display of power, bringing Kairi with him before he tastes defeat. The Astro's monologuing soon follows, the behelmeted wrestler demonstrating all the guile one would expect from someone who is the heel head of a villainous wrestling...syndicate? (And all the guile one might also expect from someone utilizing a flash kick...)

"What the--" I-No is suddenly grabbed round the waist, leaning back toward the Astro as the two go into the air. "A little fresh, aren't we? Don't worry, I like it rough~ Do you wanna ride on to--"

BAM.

The witch is planted head first, her red boots in the air as she comes down hard atop that giant, floofy hat. Punctuating the impact is the sound of a slightly-out-of-tune guitar strum. Her boots fall toward to the mat with a thump, and for a moment, she lays there, spread out and disheveled.

"Well," I-No's mouth is moving, but the rumble of the guitar covers up something that is definitely not appropriate for all audiences. Even so, she kips up again, floating through the air before landing in a slide. Her fingers deftly move along the neck of the guitar, pinching the tuning peg between her thumb and index finger and giving it a violent twist.

"Well!" I-No's voice rises over the guitar with excitement. "It seems like this got a lot more intimate, huh?" She strums, surging with mysterious power.

COMBATSYS: I-No gathers her will.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
The Astro        0/-------/-------|>>>>>>-\-------\0             Lynn
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
I-No             1/--=====/=======|-------\-------\0          Kokonoe

[KOKONOE]
%Kokonoe's gaze lingers on the fallen girl as the smoke begins to fade away. There is no concern in her face for the obvious damage she has inflicted upon Lynn, evidenced by the blood and the blackened scorch marks staining her body. There is no softening of her persistent scowl as the martial artist twitches like a gasping fish upon the ground in the aftermath of the intense electrical shock. Her expression is merely one of idle scientific curiosity, observing the results of an experiment she has run dozens of times just to see if the outcome is any different.

When Lynn begins to struggle to push back to her feet, one of the old cat's eyebrows raise slightly. But that is about the only response she gets out of Kokonoe. It's obvious that there isn't enough fight left in the girl to pose her any threat. Even when was she still unharmed, Lynn hadn't managed to lay a single finger on her. Not even striking from behind or while she was distracted by multiple opponents had made any difference. The simple fact is that the scientist outclasses her and both of them know it.

And yet the girl insists on clinging to her pride. Pitiful.

Lynn's sputtered words of defiance bring the frown back to Kokonoe's face. She stares at the wounded fighter for several long seconds in silence, twin tails twitching lazily in sync behind her. Then, she reaches into the pockets of her Kaka Clan jacket again, drawing forth another piece of technology.

The device proves to be a great deal smaller than most of the gadgets she's employed thus far, a rectangle of what appears to be red plastic perhaps twice the size of a cell phone. Turning her gaze away from the broken girl, Kokonoe looks down at the object as she flips it open and clutches it with both hands. The faint glow of some digital display highlights her soft features as the machine comes to life, no doubt preparing to unleash some fresh new hellish invention upon Lynn as she sits all but helpless on the ground.

That illusion is shattered as sounds familiar to anyone who grew up in the last fifty years begin to drift from the small device. Comical impacts and overly dramatic high-pitched voices ring out from tiny speakers as Kokonoe's fingers rapidly press at buttons on the object's surface. Captured in the reflection on her small glasses, brightly colored figures wielding swords and flashes of energy hurl themselves at one another in high-speed mortal combat while bright yellow bars steadily deplete above them.


A video game. She's playing a hand-held video game.

If her subordinate Tager had been here in her stead, a scenario she would have vastly preferred, he most likely would have had some words of wisdom or comfort to offer Lynn. He'd tell her that she fought well and that her spirit is impressive or some pointless nonsense like that. Something to make her feel a little better when she recovers from being clobbered. He always was a sentimental softie. Rather ironic, considering most people would likely assume him to be the gruff dismissive sort based on his frightening appearance.

Kokonoe doesn't waste time with any such platitudes. Dealing with emotions has never been her strong point. It isn't that she doesn't care so much that she has little experience with such things. Personal feelings are anathema to science. The mind of a mortal is utterly fallible, even one such as her own. Only through rigorous testing and the removal of personal bias can one begin to approach the truth. Everything else is unnecessary.

As such, Lynn's desperate attempt to hold onto the tatters of her dignity is met with nothing but apathetic disinterest. Kokonoe turns away from the kneeling girl, dismissing her from her mind as something no longer relevant. Above the scientist's head, the air ripples with distortion again as a bright red ring of metal appears a few inches above her. The ring expands rapidly, stretching outwards in size until it is just large enough to permit the old cat to fit within its center. Crackling spiderwebs of electricity reach out like questing hands as the ring drops down on top of Kokonoe, devouring her within its light inch by inch as it falls to the ground. Those ripples of sparking power lash out at everything nearby, arcing towards the only object that can serve as a focus for their current - Lynn.

On the other side of the arena, a twin to the red ring appears, rising in tandem opposite motion. Kokonoe reappears within the ring's confines, still idly mashing away at the buttons on her game. The cooler that she had brought with her on this ill-fated jaunt into the great outdoors now sits once more at her side.

Without looking up from her game, she flips the top open with one foot and bends down to snatch a fresh brew out of the half-melted ice.

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe successfully hits Lynn with Armament No.6 - Planar Haze v1.24.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
The Astro        0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1             Lynn
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
I-No             1/--=====/=======|=------\-------\0          Kokonoe

[LYNN]
Lynn wasn't moving much. She was a mess at the moment. Truth be told, she probably should have stayed down after the previous impressive attack of Kokonoe. She just couldn't. She was able to move, so she had to.

She looks with curiosity when Kokonoe brings out a new device. It seems small, compared to the others. What horror would it bring?

After a moment, the screen lights up, Lynn can see that much. What will happen now? She steels herself as best as she could, only to hear a few moments later, videogame sounds. She rolls her eyes or at least tries to. "Bitch.". A smirk comes to her face. "I hope you win this. Good facing you.".She no longer had any illusion she could win this.

Red metal ring appear a few moments later. Lynn watches it. It makes her forget the pain for a short moment, but she knows it will most likely spell trouble. She is proven right when the ring drops over Kokonoe, light taking her away from Lynn's sight. She also sees the electricity coming to her. She manages to jump up, higher than it should have been possible for how damaged she is. Unfortunately, from her spot, she has nothing to hold to. She ends up falling back to the ground and gets electrocuted, her body spasming as it happens. At one point, she falls into a dark void mentally as she passes out. At this point, she can't even attempt one more attack or even think of getting up again. She is out for the count, another victim of this event.

COMBATSYS: Lynn takes no action.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0        The Astro
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             1/--=====/=======|

COMBATSYS: Lynn can no longer fight.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0        The Astro
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             1/--=====/=======|

[THE ASTRO]
Depositing the witchy guitar player on her head, The Astro executes a flawless backflip to create some space between himself and his most recent victim. Perhaps if he were not wearing his ever-present helmet, one might be able to spot a small bit of surprise on his face as I-No manages to get back to her feet after one of his trademark finishers.

Inclining his head in respect, the greatest villain the squared circle nevertheless finds her words appaling to his sensibilities.

The are many things that a pro wrestler cares for.

The roar of the crowd. The excellence of execution. The sweat of a rival pouring off their skin, to mingle with ones' own on the mat. The glimmer of thumbtacks poured out onto the ring. The smell of blood in the air. The taste of the game.

One thing a loyal and true sports entertainer /doesn't/ care for? Flirting.

As such, I-No's teasing words have little effect on the man who serves as a pinnacle for what a wrestler should strive to become. He will not be swayed by her suggestive manner; better women (and men) have tried and failed to extract mercy from The Astro.

There will be only pain, for I-No and...

...wait, there's a catwoman also?!

As if truly noticing Kokonoe for the first time, the CEO of the Blood Wrestling Association pauses and stares across the distance - as the creature straight out of an anime convention digs a beer out of a conveniently placed cooler.

"..."

For the man who has seen everything the sport of wrestling could possibly produce, he seems rather nonplussed at the sight of Kokonoe lounging idly - especially in the final minutes of such a brutal battle royale.

It is... a grievous disrespect. Taking another few steps away from I-No to keep both her and Kokonoe inside the range of his eyeline - limited as it is by the ridiculous motorcycle helmet he insists on wearing into battle.

"So... it's come to this. The three of us...!!"

His voice booms out, echoing in the massive, now largely unpopulated arena. Considering his dramatic tone and bearing, he might be more at home in a theatre performance of Macbeth than he is inside the wrestling ring - but sadly, most theatres tend to frown upon barbed wire and folding chairs to the face.

"The wheel of fate is turning...!!"

Slamming one gloved fist into the palm of his other hand, The Astro bends his neck to each side - eliciting a large sequence of *CRACK*s as he does so. Once complete, he opens his arms out wide - an open invitation to both of the remaining weirdos to come, and face their doom at the hands of a true athlete!

"Heaven... or... Hell...!!"

He does not compose himself. For he only has 1% super. Perhaps the true tragedy of the evening.

COMBATSYS: The Astro takes no action.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0        The Astro
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             1/--=====/=======|

[I-NO]
The red witch thrums with power with each strum, her mysterious, slightly off-putting chi surging around her, like it's lingering in the air. Like the excitement around a big concert. Like the sound itself was giving her power. Or is it her power that's producing the sound? No matter.

A bit of blood runs down I-No's lip from the earlier impact, but her tongue chases it, lapping it up as she stares down The Astro. Her fingers tighten around the guitar like she was trying to strangle it, nails pressed tightly against the strings.

"Oh, I'll show you heaven," I-No says, drawing her pick across the strings with a shower of sparks.

"Or is it hell?! Either way, you can bet your ass it'll be a HELL OF A TRI--"

I-No stops mid-sentence, glancing where The Astro is looking. She sees Kokonoe. She looks back at The Astro.

"Are you shitting me? Sorry, one sec."

I-No dashes across the stage in a flash, rapidly closing the gap as she leaps once and then does not touch the ground again. Shooting like a rocket, she rapidly crosses the maze without concern for obstacles, because witches are not exactly rule-followers. As she goes she carries the face of a madwoman, teeth clinched and curled into a predatory smile. At least she's having fun, even if that power pouring off her seems a bit...sinister?

"Heeeey kitty-kat," I-No, "You look bored. How about we dance first, huuuh?"

I-No strums, her hat suddenly swelling with power as its mouth opens and produces a massive speaker that grows streadily larger and larger until exploding into a visible bubble of bright orange and green sonic chi that sends vibrations through the whole stage.

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe instinctively dodges I-No's Ultimate Fortissimo.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0        The Astro
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             0/-------/<<<<<<<|

[KOKONOE]
The crack of a cold can being popped open echoes throughout the arena, the sound amplified in the sudden calm as the maelstrom of chaotic battle begins to ebb. The noise is grating and out of place, all the more disrespectful for the timing as Kokonoe seems to choose the exact moment that the avatar of the short bus begins to bellow his pretentious call for a final showdown.

With a sigh, the scientist lowers herself onto the cooler and tilts the brew back, guzzling half its contents down in a noisy fashion. It isn't often that she indulges in alcoholic vices. Booze dulls the mind and she's usually far too busy to allow herself even a moment of being anywhere but at the top of her game. The literal fate of the world depends on the thoughts rattling around in her head. She hadn't even brought the drinks for herself, in fact. They were meant to be bribes to make any unwanted company she might encounter on the beach piss off and leave her in peace. But after dealing with this nonsense, a little relaxing numbness is precisely what she needs.

"Blegh... seriously, who drinks this crap?"

Kokonoe looks at the bottle with a frown, pointedly ignoring the Astro while he blathers on. She sighs and takes another swig then sets it aside, turning her attention back to the handheld game. The sounds of chirpy arcade noises fills the air again as the catwoman turns her attention wholly to the task of beating the level, making it abundantly clear that she's got no interest in duking it out for the glory of being top dog or whatever. Both of these clowns can make their way to whatever afterlife they prefer on their own.

But, some people just don't know how to take a hint. A soft beep chirps in the scientist's ears as fresh sensor readings scroll down the front of her glasses, warning her of the encroaching combatant. Unsurprisingly, the woman dressed like some Halloween hooker proves to be just as eccentric as she looks. She practically oozes insufferable smarm, like that guy who always brings a guitar to parties because he thinks he's sooo cool.

The fur on Kokonoe's tails bristle as that strange energy crackles through the air, her instincts keyed up to the danger even faster than her mind. As ridiculous as this woman might look, she's watched enough of Tager's combat footage to know that weirdos are just as capable of being deadly as anyone. Scratch that; people that look as bizarre as this 'witch' are always trouble.

Even as I-no draws within striking range, the old cat is already in motion. Reflexes that put to shame any normal human send her rolling backwards over the top of the cooler, using the short fall to propel herself into a graceful tumble. Even being forewarned by both technology and unnatural instinct, she only just barely gets clear of the blast. The bone-rattling strum of the power chord sends a wave of static across her skin that makes every hair stand on end, goosebumps rippling down her exposed flesh.

That was too close. Even without the power-amplifying properties of this space, the destructive power of that attack is not to be understated. Sound is one of those things most people don't expect to be terrifyingly effective at causing damage but when ramped up to a high enough level it's capable of boring holes through just about anything.
%tMore concerning, Kokonoe could sense the magic infusing that wave of noise. Any time magic gets involved, things always get a whole lot worse. Magic is pretty hard to beat when it comes to raw potential power. The problem is controlling that power is extremely difficult. Even master sorcerers like the Ten Sages only ever managed to gain reliable control over a small handful of its aspects. It's one of the main reasons why Kokonoe, an accomplished wielder of True Sorcery herself, does her best never to use the stuff without a very good reason. Science is far more reliable, far more stable. What good is a tool if it's prone to exploding in your face? Anyone willing to unleash that kind of magical power casually is either incredibly naive or utterly insane.

Kokonoe's desire to be elsewhere grows stronger with each passing minute in this place. When this is over, she's going to find whatever is responsible for dragging her away from a well-deserved vacation and give it a piece of her mind. A sharp pointy piece. With rocket boosters attached.

The old cat remains warily crouched in a three-point stance for a few seconds, one hand still protectively holding the game. She's spent far too many hours on this journey to let some leather-clad hell tart destroy all her effort! Rising up to her feet once more, Kokonoe tucks the device back into the pocket of her jacket where another small subspace portal is waiting to take it into its protective embrace.

"I have a better idea. How about you slink back to whatever deviant leather factory spat you out and put on a show for your fellow low-lifes? I'm a bit old for Halloween, girl."

Kokonoe reaches up to adjust her glasses, idly pushing them up the bridge of her nose. Her tails swish lazily back and forth as she adjusts her posture to a relaxed slant, body language and tone of voice doing all that they can to give off nonchalant vibes. The fact that her fur is still standing up like she just licked a wall socket makes the effort only slightly less believable.

Her gaze drifts over to the Astro, alone and ignored, and she jerks her chin in his direction.

"Oh look, there's one right over there. Why don't you go share fashion tips? Who knows - a helmet might improve that face of yours."

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe calculates her next move.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0        The Astro
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             0/-------/<<<<<<<|

[THE ASTRO]
This time, The Astro does not seem entirely offended by the lack of aggro he draws from the two remaining fighters; after all, compared to /them/, he is far less flashy and attention-grabbing.

And anyway, the battle has entered the endgame - and his goal is victory, more than simply putting on a good show as a heel. If he, the head of the Blood Wrestling Association, were able to succeed where Ortega's second-rate wrestlers failed, it would put the BWA on a pedastal high above the Capcom Wrestling Association.

The perfect knife in Ortega's side, before The Astro takes /further/ steps to humble that arrogant man who has been his greatest rival for years.

Yes. Once he is done here, perhaps he will pay the CWA a /visit/, to show them the true potential of professional wrestling.

Bringing his extended arms back to his side, The Astro watches I-No's attack with keen eyes hidden by his helmet. The way she moves speaks to a level of skill that makes her stand out... but no more than the catgirl who seems to have brought an entire arsenal with her.

In his mind, he is debating who he should make his first target; the guitar-wielding woman seems to be the most obvious choice, since she is the newest arrival to the battle and the most likely to be victorious, considering her fresh reserves of stamina and strength.

And yet, Kokonoe's entire demeanor - so casual, so dimissive - is one that rubs the wrestler the wrong way. Combat, even combat outside the squared circle, is a sacred thing... and her attitude is entirely unworthy of such a glorious melee.

That is enough, apparently, for him to make his decision... and just after the catgirl glances at him to offer a different target to the witch who seems intent on attacking her, The Astro is /gone/ in a crackle of electricity.

"Sshhhhh..."

The whispered hush comes from /behind/ Kokonoe, as the wrestler suddenly looms large at her back. In a flash, two arms reach out through the air in an attempt to place her in a standard wrestling choke-hold...

"Go to sleep, foolish cat-thing..."

...where /some/ might keep the pressure at a healthy minimum, The Astro does no such thing. If he's able to capture the woman's throat in his arms, he does not hesitate in attempting to close her windpipe completely.

[I-NO]
"Oooh, kitty has claws," I-No says as Kokonoe not only manages to evade the shockwave with feline reflexes, but also gets back and readily armed with a retort shortly thereafter. "And interesting hobbies, too. Not much of a fan of the nightlife, are we?" When the insults continue, the witch's maniacal grin shifts, no, pivots sharply into a much less amused state. The air around her seems to hum and thrum as power continues to surge, the witch ramping up the intensity every moment.

"Halloween costume, huh? Funny coming from the anime convention reject." I-No tightens her grip on her guitar, plucking the string with her thumb as she lands with a one-two clack of her tall, red heels. Her finger works under the string, pressing it in a way that's definitely NOT its intended use---

Only to watch the Astro slip around behind for the grab. "Oh, now things are getting lively again!" There's a sharp twang as she plucks the guitar string, whipping it around. With a flare of power it seems to twist and distort, going from a thin, flimsy thing to a full-sized garrote-like whip as she tries to swing it out and twist it around the mighty heel's neck.

"Speaking of weird parties," I-No says, "I mean, if that's what you're into ... " Yank.

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe dodges The Astro's Choke Hold.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0        The Astro
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             0/-------/-======|

[KOKONOE]
Impossible.

That is the first thought that blossoms in Kokonoe's mind as the helmeted figure she'd been motioning towards only a few moments before suddenly appears behind her. Teleportation is one of those things that simply isn't possible to do on a casual level. It takes immense power akin to that wielded by her mother, one of the legendary heroes and possibly the strongest mage who ever lived, to simply move from one point to another. She herself can manage it via the technological marvels born from countless hours of effort from her incredible genius, but even that is highly unreliable, as evidenced by the fact that she is here in the first place.

Whatever illusion or contrivance this buffoon has used to cross the gap between them in such a short period of time, it can't be more than smoke and mirrors. Regardless of -how- he managed it, the helmeted clown is indisputably at her back now and bearing down on her in a manner that does not suggest the intention to give her an overly affectionate hug. Not that she would have stood around to let -that- happen either. Kokonoe is not a hugger.

As she has demonstrated again and again throughout the fight, the old cat's reflexes are on an almost inhuman tier. No sooner than he has uttered the first sound of his menacing taunt, Kokonoe is in motion. She drops low into a crouch again, pivoting around on one hand planted on the ground. The movement twirls her beneath the grasping muscular arms - as well as the witch's wildly flailing guitar string - and pirouettes her directly to the large man's back.

In the span of half a second the table's have turned completely. The Astro's swift ambush has worked against him, leaving him pinned between the two remaining fighters. While she might not be as insane or malicious as I-no, the old scientist has proven several times over that she doesn't pull her punches when forced into a fight. This time is no different.

"We'll see who the fool is here."

Behind the obscuring wall of the Astro's wide body, neither of her opponents will see the air distort again as she draws another invention out of subspace, though the big wrestler will have time to notice his skin start to crawl as reality bends to accommodate the presence of something that was not there before. Kokonoe indulges in a brief moment of smug satisfaction as the hefty weight settles into her grasp. This is the first time she's gotten to wield this particular device in anything other than simulated field tests. She's quite curious to see how it will perform under these conditions.

"Try not to die on me."

The sound of something mechanical fills the air and then an entirely new world of pain comes lancing into the Astro's back. A stake of solid steel large enough to double as a telephone pole explodes upwards at an angle, striking at the point between his shoulder blades with enough force to launch him like a catapult.

Anyone familiar with popular fiction would easily be able to recognize the weapon once laying their eyes upon it: a pile bunker - a weapon that rams a massive stake forward and then retracts it. They're quite common weapons for mecha in anime in particular, though the occasional hulking brute of a warrior might wield one on foot. Apparently no one bothered to tell Kokonoe that such restrictions applied to her as well. At full extension, the device hanging from her arm is easily as large as she, and wider besides. How precisely she can even lift that monstrosity, much less control its recoil, is where the genius comes in.

It isn't a table or a folding chair but hopefully this wrestling goon will appreciate the sentiment.

COMBATSYS: The Astro dodges I-No's Power Chord.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0        The Astro
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             0/-------/=======|

COMBATSYS: The Astro dodges Kokonoe's Armament No.12 - Siege Driver v2.48.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0        The Astro
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             0/-------/=======|

[THE ASTRO]
Smoke and mirrors? Or perhaps The Astro is that one in a trillion man who walks the earth once every millenia or so: a man in-tune with the natural energy of the earth, capable of tapping into his ancestral wellspring of vril, and talented enough to combine the two so he might break the laws of reality, bend time and space to his whim, and exert his will over this petty physical plane of existence.

Okay, it might be smoke and mirrors, but the sacred code of professional wrestling would never allow him to break kayfabe and reveal his secrets..!!

And unlike his two remaining opponents, the wrestler - for all his love of chairs, tables and bats - is fully capable of fighting without weapons. Between his physical prowess and that bizarre electrical ability, his own body is more than enough to dominate the sport of professional wrestling.

And compared to the gauntlet of blood and violence that occurs within the BWA ring every week - plus one pay-per-view a month! - dealing with these two seems tame in comparison.

The cat-thing is swift enough to react to him when he reaches out to crush her throat under his mighty forearms, and it seems the witch has turned her attention back to him as well...

Good. A challenge worthy of one such as himself.

Even working seperately, Kokonoe and I-No have timed their respective attacks well; if he were to be captured by the whip, it would be barely a second before the cat-thing's weapon smashed into his spine. Which, in turn, would leave him stunned and injured enough to be yanked towards I-No, who would surely be in a position to finish him off.

The Astro has no intention of letting that happen. When the whip cracks out to wrap around his neck, he drops underneath the path of the weapon; leaving it to pass harmlessly overhead.

As for Kokonoe, her mouth might have proved to be her undoing - as it gives the heel just enough time to rise up and turn towards her... finding the scientist holding a strange device. Moving off intuition and instinct alone, he leaps high into the air as what appears to be a giant metallic railroad spike pierces the air where he stood only moments before.

"HA HA HA..!!"

His laugh echoes throughout the arena, a proud, boastful thing - but also full of joy, as if appreciating the viciousness his foes have put on display here. If there is one thing he detests in an opponent, it is hesitation or mercy - he shows none, and expects none in return. Anything less would be insulting the sacred nature of such bloodsports.

Finishing his downward descent, both feet come to settle comfortably on the tip of Kokonoe's weapon. He is only there for a fraction of a second, long enough to use the surface as a launching pad - the wrestler once again flying through the air with a grace and speed that is nothing short of impressive considering his size.

His path this time is almost a straight horizontal line through the air - directly towards I-No, by no coincidence... he flies forward, leading with his head as he attempts to smash into the witches' body with his signature motorcycle helmet.

COMBATSYS: The Astro successfully hits I-No with Flying Headbutt.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0        The Astro
[                     \\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             1/----<<</<<<<<<<|

[I-NO]
The whip snaps through the air and I-No scowls, her teeth barred and clenched as she does. Even as the whip cuts through the air the laughter begins, adding a certain spice to I-No's already soured mood---and that thirst for blood that's far from quenched. Or would bloodlust be better considering...?

The helmet smashes into I-No's midsection loud enough that the crowd could hear it. It carries enough force to send spittle out her mouth as she almost folds in half from the impact, body airborne and launching through the air rear first before she slams into a nearby wall hard enough to finish the percussion solo.

"God," the witch swings her guitar around, the twang cutting her off before she slams her fist against the wall with enough force to unwittingly cover whatever line of dialogue that follows that wouldn't make it through mid-evening cable.

"Okay," I-No wheezes, standing up straight as power continues to swell from her and hang heavily like an over-pumped speaker waiting for something to pipe through it. "Getting this rough without a safe word's a little crass," she says, "but I can get into it."

Kicking off, the witch in red shoots like a low flying missile. Gravity seems to have no hold on her as she moves unaided in a beeline back toward The Astro. As she closes into melee range she stops abruptly, slamming her platform boot down hard enough that the ground around her cracks slightly from the force. Her hand shoots up in a sweep like she were strumming the air. Orange chi crackles to life, looking like the bar on an equalizer before shaping into a long, hard, throbbing--

OK it's a sword. It's definitely a sword. SHUT UP, SIGMUND.

[KOKONOE]
Note to self: Save the gloating until after you've rearranged your test subject's internal organs.

Kokonoe's smug grin fades back into the perpetual frown that usually adorns her features as Leather Monkey Number 2 manages to find just enough time to avoid getting launched into orbit. God, she hates wrestlers. Bunch of overgrown man-children that think running around in their underwear pretending to have super powers is compelling story telling. While she's more than willing to give them credit for all of the work and discipline it must take to achieve that level of physical fitness, at the end of the day they're just a bunch of oiled up clowns throwing each other around a bouncy castle.

The cat woman lets out a soft sigh. As much as she would have liked to see the results of that particular impact enhanced by this strange pocket of reality the attempt isn't a total waste of time. The extra stresses put on the machinery by the amplified forces aren't enough to cause any sort of catastrophic structural failure. The spike didn't go flying out of its housing and the pneumatic piston didn't explode. There should be some good data to analyze later.

But first, she has a science lesson to teach to the kids.

The massive metal spike of the pile bunker retracts into the casing with a noisy scrape of metal on metal moments after the ASStro - behold her peak cleverness - uses it propel himself at the noisy witch. She is more than happy to let those two BDSM freaks go at each other again. The problem is, they've both proven fickle in their target priority. She's gone out of her way to avoid being drawn into this conflict and yet people just KEEP COMING OVER HERE for some reason.

She's got a couple of options here; well, a couple that she's actually willing to consider.

A) She can just lay down and play dead. That isn't going to be difficult to sell at this point. She's already feeling like someone tried to give her a massage with a jackhammer. If she didn't fully expect this idiot to belly flop on her and go for a pin she'd probably consider this the primary plan. Getting manhandled by that helmeted sweat goblin isn't something she's looking forward to. Which leaves her with the only slightly more appealing Plan B.

Spreading her legs apart slightly to steady her balance, Kokonoe triggers a second function of the pile bunker. The roar of a rocket flaring to life fills the arena as the back end of the huge cylinder erupts with a plume of orange flame. Both scientist and rocket launch from the ground in a sudden burst of acceleration, the hidden thruster sending her sailing after the wrestler like a speeding comet.

What, you thought Kokonoe built /anything/ that didn't get rocket boosters attached? Clearly, my friend, you do not know this crazy old cat. As if to drive this point home, the air shimmers a couple of feet above the Astro just as he lands his flying headbutt into I-no's midsection, another of the scientist's dimensional doorways to her hidden arsenal manifesting. She releases the pile driver, which zips off to the side and detonates like a firework, allowing her momentum to continue hurling her through the air at her target. The bay doors of the dimensional portal slide open as she approaches and a long slender metal shaft emerges, jutting outwards into her path.

Kokonoe hits the device and snags it, slowing down only a little as she withdraws a hammer that can only be described as comically large from the subspace pocket. Naturally, being a mad scientist, this isn't just an old hammer. The entire front of the absurd weapon is composed of an equally gargantuan drill, its dark metal tip already whirring with frenzied power. And, to no one's surprise, as she hefts the impossibly unwieldy weapon into an overhead strike the back end of its head erupts with a massive blast of fire as an even bigger rocket engine sends it slamming down onto the Astro from above.

There isn't any banter this time. Giant rocket hammers sort of speak for themselves.

COMBATSYS: The Astro dodges I-No's Stroke The Big Tree.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kokonoe          0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0        The Astro
[                      \\\\\\\\  <
I-No             1/------</<<<<<<<|

COMBATSYS: The Astro fails to interrupt Rocket Mallet from Kokonoe with Electric Body.
- Power fail! -

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
I-No             1/------</<<<<<<<|===----\-------\0          Kokonoe

COMBATSYS: The Astro can no longer fight.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
I-No             1/------</<<<<<<<|===----\-------\0          Kokonoe

[THE ASTRO]
The impact from striking I-No headfirst runs all the way down the wrestler's neck, absorbed with an expertise at taking bumps that can only be gained from years spent inside the squared circle.

After he slams into the witch, The Astro somersaults backwards before landing firmly on both feet - watching his opponent's reaction with a hidden smirk that is full of bloodlust.

And then she speaks.

Underneath his helmet, The Astro scowls at the witches' words; his distaste for such crass comments would be plain for all to see if his head wasn't obscured by that object.

"Be silent, foul woman..!! Vulgar innuendo won't save you from the end..!!"

He has hardly finished speaking before I-No takes off like a rocket back towards him. Rather than immediately begin evasive manuevers, The Astro simply falls back into his fighting stance - legs bowed and hands raised as he watches... and waits.

The woman's foot strikes the floor in front of him, cracking the surface with sheer force... and still he doesn't react. It is only when the blazing sword of chi manifests itself that he finally acts; a quick backflip up into the air carrying him several feet away from the attack - landing in a crouch some short distance away.

Slowly rising back up to his full height, one index finger flashes through the air to point directly at I-No, The Astro's voice ringing out from beneath his helmet - full of threatening malice.

"You fool..!! No tricks will stop - /CAN/ stop - the greatest wrestler this planet has ever bore witness to..!!"

Of course, all this heel grandstanding has left him open to an attack from the mad scientist; his attention laser focused on cutting a promo at I-No, he does not have the usual time necessary to properly react to another assault.

It is only at the last possible second that he suddenly spins to face Kokonoe; as the hammer is already poised to smash him to the ground. Electricity immediately begins to crackle up and down his body, as he prepares himself to counter-attack the cat-thing's ridiculous attack...

...but he is too late, the electricity has no time to build itself to a level that might serve to interrupt the velocity and momentum of the hammer.

He is hit.

And he /sells/ it.

He sells it like his life depended on it. He sells it like Kevin Nash sold the Fingerpoke Of Doom. He sells it like Andre the Giant sold the famous bodyslam at Wrestlemania III. He sells it like Mick Foley sold every single goddamn move ever performed on him in the ring. He sells it like Macho Man Randy Savage sold Jake's snake biting him.

He sells it, because he must. Because it is his duty as an athlete. Because he owes it to anyone who might watch this broadcast. Because if he did not, it would mean disgrace. Defeat. He would become some no-selling jabroni akin to Goldberg or Ahmed Johnson. And that sort of behaviour has no place within the sport of professional wrestling - even outside the squared circle, it is the sole commandment for a wrestler to follow.

Sell high. And let the God of professional wrestling (Vince McMahon btw) sort out the rest.

Smashed down into the ground under the titanic weight and force of the weapon. The Astro lets out an epic scream of pain that echoes throughout the arena. As soon as the item is lifted off of him, he begins to flail and twitch on the ground - rolling back and forth like he was The Rock and he just ate a Stone Cold Stunner courtesy of one Steve Austin...

He... does not get up. Once his fake seizure is complete, the man simply goes limp on the ground - unmoving as he lay flat on his back, waiting for the inevitable pin...!!

...what do you mean this isn't a wrestling match? God damnit Kokonoe, pin him...!!

[I-NO]
"Oh no," I-No retorts, "whatever will I do without my charmingly trashy innuendo?" The sarcasm drips like sweat from cheap beers at a dive bar karaoke night. But as The Astro evades, leaping clear of I-No's rod of power, the witch glares from the shadow her big, floppy hat.

"Oh, playing hard to get, huh? Well, the bad news is I'm the one who gets to be c--"

Kokonoe's hammer smashes into the wrestler and he sells it with power. He sells the attack so hard he might soon be able to avoid his own rocket. Apt, perhaps, given his moniker.

"Well, damn," the witch leans back, pushing her hat up and gripping the brim between her fingers. "I guess it's just you and me now, sourpuss. But don't worry. We're not even to the encore yet!"

Black and white chi ripples from I-No's back, seemingly tearing holes in the fabric of reality itself as two winged creatures slide out, then reshape themselves into a small, then massively expanding trio of red and white trio of concert-level speakers. The witch raises her hand, then strums her guitar with one, rockin' power chord that generates glowing green arcane circles from which countless pink hearts of magical chi pour out like legion, a massive swarm of locust-like projectiles.

Somewhere in the chaos there may be "helpful" warning labels designating the path of the projectiles but...is there really anywhere they aren't going...?

COMBATSYS: I-No successfully hits Kokonoe with Megalomania+.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
I-No             0/-------/------<|>>>>>>>\>>>>---\1          Kokonoe

[KOKONOE]
Kokonoe is mildly surprised at the outcome of her attack. While she had not intentionally set out to give her opponent an easy time of things, the rocket mallet is a cumbersome weapon. Even with its jet fuel propelled downswing, the set up for landing that devastating blow is practically broadcast by neon signs and public service announcements. So when her target simply stands there and takes its on the dome, she can't help but wonder what the heck went wrong on his end.

The crackle of electricity that builds up around the Astro's body does not go unnoticed but whatever cheap wrestling trick he'd planned to unleash upon her fails to manifest with spectacular results. The blow utterly flattens her opponent, as one might expect from a hundred pounds of steel traveling at the speed of a commercial jetliner. The drill whirls with ferocious power as it bites into his back, literally spinning the poor man like a pinwheel on the floor for a few seconds with enough speed to give him friction burns on his stomach. It's a pretty comical sight, made all the more ridiculous by the professional athlete's wildly overblown reaction.

Kokonoe stares at her downed opponent in confused silence as he flops about like a fish on a hook, her eyebrow quirked upwards at the display. While she's pretty sure that had to smart like hell, especially in this distorted realm of enhanced force, this is going a bit far. Freaking wrestling clown.

Happily disappointing the greased up monkey as he waits for her to go for the pin, the scientist turns her attention back to the final threat. Of everyone that has made an appearance here, the witch is by far the most dangerous, a fact which she emphasizes by unleashing an even more devastating barrage of strange magical music.

It is here that Kokonoe's strange luck finally expires. She's never been much of a fighter. Her experience in such menial forms of combat is limited mostly to simulations which, while instructive, never quite offer the same benefits as facing an intelligent and unpredictable opponent. Her speciality in warfare lies within the realm of the mind, planning and outmaneuvering opponents so that personally having to engage in direct conflict is unnecessary.

So, when a nigh unavoidable barrage of heart-shaped missiles comes crashing down upon her, the scientist is out of her element. She puts in a good effort to avoid her fate, fighting to the bitter end. Inhuman reflexes propel her to one side, the woman narrowing escaping the first wave of projectiles as they swarm at her like a horde of angry bees. The second catches her, however, as does the third and the fourth. Pain more intense than anything she's experienced in recent memory overwhelms her senses as the magic detonates against her unprotected flesh. Her thoughts scramble into a buzzing cloud of white noise that's echoed by her senses, the world becoming a hazy collection of colors and shapes as she's buried in a deluge of destructive sound.

The assault upon her ears and flesh is mercifully brief. The combined blast of detonating hearts sends Kokonoe hurling backwards across the arena like a ragdoll, her scrawny form tumbleweeding another twenty feet when she finally hits the ground. Discipline reasserts itself over her mind as she skids to a halt, her thoughts all slamming back into her skull in a rush of screeching alarm bells all vying for attention.

Lying down hurts. She tries to stand up. That hurts even more. She stops trying to do that. Slowly, after several seconds, she manages to lift her head up far enough to glower at the witch through one half-opened eye. Her lips peel back slowly, baring her fangs in a snarl. Kokonoe's always been too stubborn to know when to quit. Even battered beyond the ability to rise, she unleashes one final petty insult upon the smug woman.

Moving with glacial progress, the scientist's right hand steadily shifts, crawling inch by inch towards her face until her palm is pointing at I-no. Power begins to gather in her hand, a dark black mass of seething magical potential. She'd avoided using magic throughout this fight because no one had warranted such measures, not even the annoying brat. Something about this woman just pisses her off though.

"Go back... to hell...bitch."

The ball of darkness in Kokonoe's hand suddenly swells in size, black lightning crackling along the surface of the sphere. It grows rapidly, changing from a tiny speck to a the size of a beach ball in the span of a couple heartbeats. A second black orb, a twin to the first, rips its way into existence just a few inches behind the witch. Reality quivers as the miniature black hole is born, space seeming to distort and ripple like the surface of a pond under the pressure of such intense gravity. The micro anomaly tugs at I-no with the insistence of an overzealous admirer and the inevitably of raw physics at work, attempting to draw her into its cold void-like embrace and hurl her high into the sky.

After that Sir Isaac Newton gets to handle the rest.

COMBATSYS: Kokonoe can no longer fight.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             0/-------/------<|

COMBATSYS: I-No dodges Kokonoe's Armament No.7 - Jamming Dark v1.65.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  <
I-No             0/-------/------<|

[I-NO]
I-No, for her wild whimsy, seems mostly annoyed that her playtime with The Astro was cut short. In any case, she seems to have leveraged her frustration at Kokonoe, and the destructive impromptu shock rock concert leaves I-No standing alone without anyone to share the stage with. When the scientist manages another surprise attack, a powerful spell hurled in an act of vengeance---I-No seems surprised.

But as the flare of gravity closes in upon her, a second flare surges, not unlike two amoebas merging into one. In it, I-No disappears.

But with another cacophonous hum, she tears open another portal of dark space, emerging to land on the ground with a heavy thump of her boots.

"Wait," I-No looks up. "Shit. Is that it? It seems a little... premature."

COMBATSYS: I-No has ended the fight here.


[PRINGER X]
As the arena starts to go quiet in the wake of the destructive forces unleashed, electronic banners throughout suddenly light up, and ominously triumphant music starts to play. The same banner appears in visual form on screens streaming the broadcast at home as they zoom in on the victorious witch from several dramatic angles in sequence:

<< !!! WINNER: I-NO !!! >>

A pair of squat imps - one reddish-pink and one pinkish-red, one more masculine and one more feminine (insofar as one sports makeup and the other does not) - fly down into the maze from above, carrying a life-sized (and therefore approximately 1-foot-tall) golden statuette of Pringer X in trophy form that reads 'Royal Rumble Champion' on a plaque along the base.

The voice of the Mecha-Prinny booms from the MEGAMAZE's sound system:

zz CONGRATULATIONS, CHAMPION. YOU HAVE EARNED MY FAVOUR! NOW, NAME YOUR PRIZE! zz

It seems that the Mecha-Prinny - and the audience at home - await what I-No might request of Pringer X...

[I-NO]
I-No looks up, her hat perched jauntily upon her head. She reaches up, taking the brim between her fingers and thumb, running them along it go straighten it. Flicking it up with her thumb, she looking at the Mecha-Prinny.

"Prize? I was just here for a good time, baby."

[PRINGER X]
A silence hangs in the air for a moment.

zz IN THAT CASE, YOUR PRIZE IS TWO TICKETS TO SIX FLAGS, ALONG WITH THIS LIFE-SIZED STATUE OF PRINGER X. zz


A chirpy horn tune plays from the speaker system like the music one might expect when levelling up or finding a new pair of boots in a video game as two tickets to Six Flags float down from above amidst a burst of confetti.

==*== EPILOGUE: INDOOR WATERPARK, MIDNIGHT CHANNEL STUDIOS ==*==

Across the surface of a massive indoor pool, the Midnight Channel's creative team drift on various flotation devices. A dozen waterslides leading up into the ceiling can be seen, their outlets all placed around the edges of the swimming area. Outfits that were previously worn in the meeting above have been strewn and discarded throughout the area, their wearers now down to the swimsuits they apparently came prepared with underneath.

"I can't believe Pringergeddon got rejected," a glum-looking young man in waterlogged glasses says. "Not to mention, I shoulda worn my contacts."

"That Prinny is way too trigger-happy with the button," the mermaid says as she paddles through the pool on her back.

"You don't think Pringer X is real, do you? I mean, you've noticed how he's just a tool to manipulate things toward Lyraelle's agendas, right?" the pixie, floating on an innertube the size of a doughnut, remarks.

*BZzzZZT*

"Oh, crap! Waves are starting!"

The pixie lets out a squeal as the violent ondulations of the pool's surface cause her innertube to capsize.

==*== LYRAELLE'S OFFICE, MIDNIGHT CHANNEL STUDIOS ==*==

"Nobody likes a conspiracy nut, Gloriana," Lyraelle mutters under her breath as she leans back in her chair and watches the feed from the wave pool.

zz MISTRESS! ONCE AGAIN, PRINGER X HAS DONE AS YOU COMMANDED. WILL YOU NOT RELEASE PRINGER X'S FAMILY? zz

An annoyed expression crosses the celebrity succubus' face at the mechanical speech from behind her, and she spins her throne around to face the Mecha-Prinny chained to the wall. She walks over with a scowl, leaning down face-to-face with Pringer X.

Suddenly, she flashes a saccharine smile.

"I'll think about it."

An anguished zz NOOOOOOOO!! zz resounds through the office as Lyraelle struts to the door, flicking the lightswitch and leaving the room in darkness save for the dim light of dozens of screens in low-power mode...

Log created on 14:17:55 08/09/2021 by Pringer X, and last modified on 09:52:37 09/11/2021.