Match of the Millennium

Description: The great Finnish brawler Tarmo faces up against Metro City's own parole officer Angelina. Will these two exceedingly nice people actually manage to fight, or will their baser natures lead them to the kindest activity of all: Pet Adoption? Find out when these two meet in the parking lot of the Southtown Municipal Dog Pound!

[ANGELINA]
Southtown? What on earth was she doing in Southtown? When Angelina's cunning client had confided in her about this tournament, he hadn't disclosed that she would be travelling all this way to take part. Or that he would be travelling to...well, wherever he currently was. She feels her stomach flip in fear as she contemplates the conundrum she has landed herself in. This was not going to look good on her work record. Already in trouble for being too lenient on the criminals that made up her crushing caseload, she'd been told that she was walking a thin line. She'd gained permission for this of course. She would never purposely set out to break the rules, even if she has been known to bend them, but she'd been a little vague on the details. She'd wrongly presumed that the fighting contest would be a local one in Metro City. Something on the scale of the aikido competitions she regularly competed in, just with a greater variety of chosen combat styles. She'd been very wrong.

A plane ride and a puzzling taxi journey later and she's landed here in of all places, what seems to be an urban dog pound. Angelina isn't a dog person. Sure, they are cute and all, but they are also noisy and a less than ideal roommate for someone who spends her working days in black trouser suits. No clothes brush in the world could deal with that amount of fur. She'd been told that some breeds didn't shed that much but there were other things to consider too, like the fact that dogs died. So did all living things, but they lived even shorter lives than most humans and quite frankly, she was done with death.

Right now there's no pooches in sight, but she can definitely detect the sound of them. Whines and whimpers compete with angry sounding barks to be heard and beyond that there's the occasional noise of traffic, from the few cars that have ventured to the outskirts of the Japanese city. As she makes her way into the concrete building, her dark, soulful eyes take in every detail, ready to be on alert if necessary. As yet she has no idea who her opponent will be. Perhaps it will even be him, the giant pain in the butt that has landed her in this mess. At least that would save her from having to search for him.

She walks past the pleasant looking reception with it's friendly looking staff and out beyond to an attractive looking avenue that's lined on both sides with cages, each containing a cute canine. There seems to be a representative for most breeds but the one that catches Angelina's attention is a sad looking Shiba Inu. She feels her heart start to melt and quickly turns her head away, causing her black curly pontytail to bounce. It seems that here is where the fight is to take place, so she can't let herself be distracted by the animals. She straightens the crisp and perfectly white aikido uniform she is wearing and kicks off her sandals, allowing her bare feet to grow accustomed to the concrete below them. That's gonna hurt if she crashes into it.

[ROSE BERNSTEIN]
RISING STAR 2022, the brainchild of Rose Bernstein has its first round in full swing. She warned people that she would try to take in as many fights as she could, watching them in person. This, it seems, is one of them.

OUTSIDE

A large box truck squeals into the parking lot, skidding to a stop. Two large men exit and race to the back, hurling the door open and unloading, of all things, a black throne. They huff and puff and carry the thing in to where the throw down will be happening, settling it down before one of them produces a broom and sweeps a spot clear. The other produces a red rug that they set down and unroll before they both move the throne onto the rug just so. Like they've done this hundreds of times.

Moments later, a limo pulls in, the chauffer exiting to open the door and let Rose out. She is dressed, as usual, in the Red Dress of Doom. She smoothly heads into the building, whispering to her chauffer. He breaks off and hands the pleasant receptionist a check from his pocket. The woman nearly faints.

"Are ... That's a lot of zeroes..."

"Miss Bernstein loves animals, and wishes these poor unfortunates to be cared for."

Rose, meanwhile, moves to the makeshift arena and takes her seat primly. Something odd happens as she passes the dogs. As they were barking and making noise, when she walks by, they go silent, perhaps only whimpering slightly in her wake.

Weird.

[TARMO]
==== A day earlier ====

"Don't bring food to the fight this time!"

This was the order given by the tournament official that happened to have looked into the past fights of Tarmo Karmala. The positively massive finnish lad who, for some reason, always seemed to enter any given venue while still in the process of munching down on some kind of food or another he snagged on the way there. But this wouldn't do this time. If the Finn brought some kind of box of grilled meat along to the dog pound to eat through while waiting for the fight to start, the locals - the dogs, that is - would surely collectively flip out. And that just wouldn't do.

"I see."

For what it's worth Tarmo did understand the severity of the situation too.

"I know what to do then."

==== NOW ====

There's certainly a bit of a commotion over on the other end of the lineup of dogs by the time Angelina arrives there. This most likely includes the sounds of canine teeth munching down on something, along with all the barking. Not to mention...

"Wait your turn!"

The rumbling bass tone of a massive slab of a man clad in an unzipped, olive field jacket over his otherwise topless, immensely muscular figure -- carrying several boxes tucked underneath one arm, with the topmost one already opened to let his free hand fish out barbaqued cuts of meat from within. Cuts that find their way slipped between the bars of the kennel cages the dogs are kept in.

"Yeah, there you go, who's a good dog?" The bearded man rumbles while crouching down to slip one piece of meat far enough through the bars for a goofy-looking pitbull to snatch it right off his hand with an excited wag of a (thankfully uncut) tail.

When the man rises up to move on over to the next cage, he does catch sight of a woman in an aikido-gi. "Oh. Hey!" And so instead of going straight for the next dog, he stands up fully and comes stomping straight for her. "You're the one, right?" He asks straight of her, with a wide smile and a positively booming voice while he gives her a good one-over. "Sheesh, your feet are going to be yelling at you by the end of this. But it'll probably be fine if you feel confident about it, huh?"

His free hand swings up, jabbing a thumb against the bared center of his thick chest. "I'm Tarmo! I'll be dancing with you today! But nevermind that for a bit. You're not in a hurry, right?"

And rather than giving her even a chance to respond to *that* question, he's suddenly shoving one of the boxes right to her, close enough to bump against her chest. "Help me hand these out, wont'cha?" Apparently he's not expecting her to say 'no', either.

[ANGELINA]
By the time that Rose's employees/servants show up, the woman in white has her eyes closed. She's doing some deep breathing, focusing herself for the fight ahead. Her lids flutter open though at the sudden sound.

"Am I fighting royalty?" she wonders, both excited and daunted by the prospect. Not that's she's interested in the world of wealth and celebrity, but it could be an interesting cultural experience.

She awaits the arrival of the throne's occupant in anticipation, curious to see who is causing such a fuss to be made. Then she sees her.

The blonde woman is clothed very grandly for combat. Surely this can't be who she is to throw down with. In the world she's familiar with, all the competitors are dressed like her, their simple white garments showing no clues to their income or background. Angelina can't help but feel somewhat intimidated by the grandeur on display. Apparently the dogs are too.

She's about to close her eyes and try to get back in her zone, when the combined sounds of the dogs rediscovering their barks and a friendly Finnish accent find her ears. Again she blinks her brown eyes open, offering the speaker a sunny smile and greeting him in a Metro City accent laced with a dose of Italian.

"Oh hey! I thought I might be fighting her" she admits, tilting her head towards their regal observer.

"You probably make more sense though."

She can't help but notice his size, but thankfully aikido is a technique that is well designed for such mismatches. It's one of the reasons she chose to study it.

She accepts the box, still smiling. "I guess I'm the one. I mean, not like I'm some special saviour or a vampire slayer or something, but the one you'll be fighting today. I'm looking forward to dancing with you and I guess I can help feed the dogs."

She starts to make her way over to the cages, continuing to chat as she moves.

"Don't worry about my feet, they're tough. I always do my matches barefoot and I walk around my apartment without slippers. Of course both of those are indoors, but I'm sure I'll be fine! There's absolutely no need for you to be worrying, when you've got the match to think about. I appreciate the concern though, it's kind of you."

Arriving in front of a cage homing a forlorn French bulldog, she extracts a piece of delicious smelling meat from the container and pokes it through the bars hopefully. The animal wanders over cautiously, sniffing the food and then devours it hungrily.

"Oh hey! I think he likes it. Should I give him some more or move on to one of the others?"

[ROSE BERNSTEIN]
Rose regards both combatants haughtily for a moment. When Tarmo rushes Angelina, she starts to lean forward, but...there's a handoff of a box of meat, and they start feeding the dogs. On one hand, this looks really good for her. On the other, she is here to see some combat. Her teeth grins as she folds her arms across her chest and leans back in her throne in a huff.

That only lasts a moment before she extends one hand out to her side, and almost immediately, some servant has placed an empty wine glass in it and starts filling it.

[TARMO]
"'Her'...?" One would think that missing someone with an utterly ridicilous entrance like that of Rose Bernstein would be incredibly difficult to miss. But apparently, when Tarmo's eyes sloooowly turn up from Angelina to the red-clad blonde sitting on an *actual throne*. And he *squints*.

"There is something fundamentally wrong with this picture."

Well, whatever the case may be, and however much the massive man might be giving the regal spectator some wary looks, he otherwise continues handing out treats to the dogs.

Somewhere, a tournament official is pulling at his hairs.

"Don't play favorites now!" is the advice the Finn gives Angelina without any pause in his own effort. But for some reason, he is going at it a bit quicker, now. Maybe he does actually have enough modicum on his own part to recognize that there are people waiting for the actual show to start.

So it's not long before he drops an emptied box on the ground, and... pops one leftover piece of meat into his mouth whole. Just vacuumed in an instant, as if he didn't even need to chew.

"Well. We should probably get started, huh?" This declaration coming with a hefty, meaty fist slamming into the open palm of Tarmo's other hand. "Now that the audience is all fed. Ya know I ain't gonna hold back just cuz ya helped, right?"

[ANGELINA]
Rose earns herself a brief glance as the wine is poured.

"She must be someone pretty fancy to have people waiting on her like this" she murmurs to Tarmo before taking his advice and moving on to the next cage. This one hosts an adorable looking Yorkshire Terrier with a pink bow in its fur. It's more cautious with its consuming of the food than the prior diner, nibbling gently at the meat until it's all been disappeared. Angelina feels her heart start to worringly warm as she gets up close to it's cute little face and she quickly turns away, wiping off the crumbs from her hands.

"Yes! Let's get started" she agrees enthusiastically, stepping closer to her opponent.

"As for you holding back, I'd be insulted if you did. Give me all you got!"

She flashes him a grin before wondering "So who starts? Shall we do a toin coss or something? That would seem fair to me."

COMBATSYS: Angelina has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Angelina         0/-------/-------|

[TARMO]
"Who starts?" Tarmo repeats the question, with a slow blink of his eyes. "What a strange question. The person who makes the first move in a real fight is the person who moves faster! Though that coin toss thing does give me an idea..."

As it happens, then, Tarmo does, in fact, dig out a single coin from one of the pockets lining his jacket. The coin is promptly tossed into the air, but-- Tarmo doesn't actually seem to pay any attention to it after the fact. No, his eyes are firmly on Angelina while the coin flips upwards in the air, and even when it begins it's inevitable descent, without any apparent intent to catch it.

See, while the coin might be deciding who 'starts', it might not be in the way Angelina was expecting.

The coin finally lands on the cement floor with a metallic ring. And with that sound comes an explosion of motion from Tarmo.

"Think fast!!" the massive man roars out as he stomps forward in time with the ringing of the landed coin, the sound of both his voice and his boot stomping the ground booming through the dog pound with such force that the hounds within are probably urged all to barking in a canine orchestra even with all the treats having gotten spread out earlier.

Barreling for the woman with that single stomp, his other foot comes swinging in a wide, vertical arc aimed to smack his boot towards her chin, lifting said foot high enough to point his heel straight at the ceiling at the end of it -- only for it to come swinging right back down even in the event she'd stepped away or blocked the initial swing. Actually trying to stomp on her. Is he a savage?!

COMBATSYS: Tarmo has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Tarmo            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0         Angelina

COMBATSYS: Tarmo knocks away Angelina with Kirvespotku.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Tarmo            0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0         Angelina

[ANGELINA]
Angelina follows the direction of Tarmo's large hand as it fishes out the coin. She continues to watch as it flies up into the air, her own attention still fixed on it as he makes his move. She lets out an audible gasp as he launches himself at her. The motion of his powerful frame and the choir of canines throwing her body and mind off balance.

"Oh hell! I mean, oh gosh" she cries, trying to follow his advice to "Think fast!"

It's pretty tough though when her body is being battered by the big brawler.

The boot smacks into her neat little chin, leaving her both dazed and confused, so she's unable to block the follow up. She falls to the ground, easy prey to be stomped on by the Finnish fighter.

"Okay, so I get it. You wanna be the alpha of the pack" she states, her soft voice sounding slighly slurred.

"I'm not done yet though. You just need to give me a minute to get up..."

Finally finding her feet, she starts to pant as she looks up into her opponent's green eyes.

COMBATSYS: Angelina harmonises with her opponent's energy.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Tarmo            0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0         Angelina

[TARMO]
"Nah, I just want a good brawl," rumbles Tarmo, with a positively massive grin once his foot has landed to the floor again after the followup-stomp on the aikidoka. "Did you know, though?" Leaning purposefully into a more crouched posture at the end of that motion, he even has the audacity to casually drape his arm over his knee while he looks down upon Angelina. "That whole concept of alphas and betas and whatever? Complete bullshit. Proper wolves don't act like that in the wild at all. None of the ones back home did either."

That rambling does provide her with enough time to start working herself up to her feet, at least. But what she says on the way there has the Finn arching one dark brow at her.

"Think ya have the wrong idea. In a proper fight..."

A renewed surge of motion, and the Hefty Finn is pushing in towards her again.

"...Ya barely even get a second!"

The very instant she's up on her feet, then, she'll find the knuckles of Tarmo's large paw swinging in for the side of her face in a quick jab of a punch. Apparently he's decided he's going to be keeping her on her toes here, too.

COMBATSYS: Angelina blocks Tarmo's Quick Punch.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Tarmo            0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1         Angelina

[ANGELINA]
"I can't say I know too much about wolves or dogs" the winded woman admits. "I do find that a lot of theories are questionable though, so it doesn't surprise me too much."

When he comes for her again she's ready for it. She turns her head sharply to avoid the fast fist to the face, so instead his knuckles knock against her crown which is cushioned by her thick dark curls.

Pulling out a telescoping jo staff from the sleeve of her robe, she swings it towards Tarmo's knuckles on the hand he tried to punch her with, almost as if she's punishing him for his attempt. She'll then move behind him, extending the staff to its full length before attempting to force the Finn down to the ground on his front. If successful, she will reprimand him further with a strike to each of his buttocks in turn.

[ROSE BERNSTEIN]
Rose just rolls her eyes, doing her damnest to not look furious that these two have no idea who she is. The woman who is sponsoring this tournament.

Okay, maybe she grinds her teeth a little.

She takes a healthy sip of the wine, red eyes narrowing slightly as the contest begins. It's immediately obvious that she knows what she's looking at. This is not some vapid princess, she is calculating and weighing the strengths and weaknesses of both Tarmo and Angelina and working out fight math in her head.

From a throne. With wine.

COMBATSYS: Tarmo endures Angelina's Temperance.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Tarmo            0/-------/--=====|=======\==-----\1         Angelina

[TARMO]
"Bett-"

See, Tarmo was halfway going to compliment her for not just taking the punch. Even if it might have felt a little backhanded even in the event had he fully said it. But there's a sudden whipping *SNAP* of a sound that cuts him off, and he's shaking his hand with a surprised look.

"Wh--"

He looks down at the reddened skin upon his knuckles, first, and then at the weapon suddenly in the woman's hand. But he's come to realize the presence of the staff much too late. Before he properly gets to respond, he finds his balance suddenly taken out of him -- only managing to brace himself just with one knee to stop himself from falling face-first onto the cement, and leaving him open for a repeated punishment from the staff--

But he doesn't seem to care about being open.

Rather than even trying to spot where Angelina's followup attack is coming from, he simply blindly turns himself with the pivot of that one bracing knee, to thrust his hand out to her in the same intersecting moment as her staff impacts with his backside. "Tricky girl!!"

It's her gi that he's aiming for. To hook his fingers into the fabric, and use sheer brute force and the leverage of his much heavier body to simply tug her over and slam her down onto the floor besides him!

COMBATSYS: Tarmo successfully hits Angelina with Medium Throw.
- Power hit! -

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Tarmo            0/-------/--=====|=======\======-\1         Angelina

[ANGELINA]
"I can live with tricky" Angelina responds. There's a hint of a smile on her often serious face, as if she may have taken it as a compliment.

She's so busy musing over his words, that she forgets to pay full attention to the muscular man's movements. Her gi is grabbed and as he tugs her tumbling body, she feels herself flying through the air before slamming into the cruel concrete face first. She's probably gonna have a black eye or two. Not a good look for a parole officer!

She struggles to her feet, staggering and swaying. She is currently seeing twin Tarmo's, which isn't ideal. How will she know which one to hit?

Saying a silent prayer, she hopes God is on her side as she again grasps her staff in her hand. As she holds it out towards her opponent it begins to glow with golden white energy. Thrusting forward she aims to strike him with a series of rapid strikes. Should this do as she hopes, she will use the distraction to sweep his legs from under him with the staff.

COMBATSYS: Tarmo fails to interrupt Diligence from Angelina with Moukari-Isku EX.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Tarmo            0/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2         Angelina

[TARMO]
"You gotta be more than tricky!" Bellows the mountainous finn, pushing himself up from his kneeled position after Angelina has been sent flying in such an unelegant (and painful) way. The grin on his face is almost maniacal even, bumping his fists together when he's up proper.

And no, he doesn't seem to be planning to give her much time to recover, either, for he's charging straight for her. He even sees that staff coming in, roaring out defiantly, "Not gonna work--!" He's even reaching his hand up in a snap of a motion, to grab onto the staff before it can hit him--

"Ghah?!"

But he didn't account for the energy getting channeled through it. It stings into his fingers enough to prompt him to letting go right after, as if he'd grabbed onto a heated piece of kitchenware without oven mitts.

Unfortunately for him, that leaves him wide open for the rest of the jabs from the staff to strike into him. He doesn't seem to be *too* bothered by it, but it's surely enough of a distraction regardless for her final followup.

That is, the sweep taking his feet out from right underneath him.

"Uwah?!"

Even in spite of his size, the hefty finn actually *flips* through the air as a result, and ends up landing onto the cruel, cold concrete floor face-first with a very-much uncomfortable-sounding *crunch* of something breaking coming along with it.

"Ghrgh!"

[ANGELINA]
Is that a glimmer of glee as the friendly Finnish fighter hits the deck? Surely not in such a warm hearted woman. She's for sure satisfied though. She may not take any pleasure in his suffering, but she does like to prove she's a worthy competitor and whilst she's not feeling quite there yet, it's a good start.

Standing over the smarting man, she contemplates her next move, seeming to be sizing him up. A simple nod of her head and she's back in action!

As she focuses fully on the Finn, her whole body starts to glow with a radiant golden white energy. Her hair billows behind her in the breeze and then she dashes forward, before delivering a series of stunning, but at this stage relatively harmless atemi, using the palms of her hands and soles of her feet. She's aiming for the pressure points of Tarmo's tough body and once she's delivered this gift, she will try to twist his arm around, with the intention to both impede him and expose additional points for her to access.

Everywhere she touches, she leaves glowing golden prints behind, as if her strikes and grasps are aided by paint.

If she's able to complete her artistic display, she will step back to observe it and then press her hands together, trying to line up the meridians of the two fighters in harmony. Should they connect, she will feel her depleted energy start to restore, whilst Tarmo will experience the painless but debilitating sensation of having his limbs and organs go numb with impermanent nervous overload.

COMBATSYS: Angelina successfully hits Tarmo with Redemption.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Tarmo            0/-------/=======|>>>>---\-------\0         Angelina

[TARMO]
That was painful even for the Finn, surely. And it shows surely enough when he lifts his upper body up off the floor by one hand, there's a very much unhealthy amount of blood flowing down from his nose.

Dizzied and hurt as he is from that tumble, he doesn't quite manage to bring his enormous body up off the floor before his opponent has made her plan of attack already.

His eyes probably aren't even fully focused, yet, by the time thew woman is sweeping in and slamming her palm into his chest the first time around. The Finn does try to lift his arms to swipe her own limbs away from him, but he can't quite aim them fast enough to prevent her strikes from coming through all the way. So at the end of it all, he simply holds his arms up to protect his most sensitive spots while the muscles along his body flex and tighten, firm like steel slabs. But that doesn't help a great deal when your opponent is attacking with techniques that aim to somewhere *beyond* them.

It all comes to a head when she manages to wrest one of his arms behind him. This seems absolutely unthinkable to Tarmo himself, and he seems almost *offended*, as he starts to trash his body this way and that to use the simple threat of his considerable bulk to throw her off. It's hardly enough to stop her from getting her final pressure-point jabs in, thowever!

He's left to stumbling once she does release her grip. And-- of all, things, finding himself unable to quite move right after. The magicry she is employing is not quite registered, in all likelihood -- all the Finn can make out is that he feels stiff and numb. His arms even hang uselessly at his sides for a few seconds.

"...Hhhh."

But ultimately, he's still *not down*. One hand eventually comes up, pinching thumb and forefinger around the bridge of his nose. And with a crack and a sharp grunt of pain muffled behind grit teeth, the bone there is set back into place.

But even in spite of all this? Tarmo's expression is one of sheer *glee* more than anything else.

"Not bad..."

COMBATSYS: Tarmo gains composure.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Tarmo            0/-------/=======|>>>>---\-------\0         Angelina

[ANGELINA]
"Thank you" Angelina answers, her tone sounding humble and gracious. Internally though, she is dancing with delight. It's always a boon when she attunes herself accurately enough to master that move.

As the rock solid man fights to right himself, she watches him with interest, her brain calculating what to hit him with next. But first, where are her manners?

She pulls a packet of pocket tissues from inside her robe and throws them towards him, so he can mop up the spilled blood. It's only a brief respite though, because as soon as she's made up her mind, she's back in motion!

Extending her palm out towards Tarmo, she unleashes a blinding flash of golden white chi in his direction, with the intention of stunning his senses. Meanwhile the staff is swinging towards him, this time with it's wielder using both her hands to aim for the more sensitive spots he was protecting! As she seeks to strike between his legs, she hopes it will be enough of a shock to send him sprawling backwards on the floor.

COMBATSYS: Angelina successfully hits Tarmo with Chastity EX.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Tarmo            1/-----==/=======|=====--\-------\0         Angelina

[TARMO]
Well, that's something. Tarmo actually gives the tossed napkin a properly-confused look down.

"...You sure are spending a lot of time not trying to come at me," he observes, and pointedly stomps his foot down onto the ground with a thundering boom of a sound, carrying him forward just so -- as if giving a starting signal for both of them. He's not planning on spending time taking the napkin either, clearly!

But in the end, she's faster. Or if nothing else, she has the advantage of her not needing to be right up close to him to send that flashing light of chi out. It forces him to bring one arm up instinctively to shield his face--

And leave his lower section completely uncovered.

"Hrgh!"

The reaction is... perhaps only partially expected. Because yes, taking a staff between the legs for even a man of his size is surely *painful*, and frankly, the Finn's expression does twist to something bordering on outright comical. But on the other hand...

It somehow still feels like she's hitting a steel statue instead of a man. And he doesn't even sway in his balance as a result, much less topple over.

Rather, there's another resounding stomp of a boot-clad foot, and without even bothering to make sure the staff has been slipped properly away from between his legs (and the uh, important stuff there), he's charging straight ahead. And he doesn't stop. There's no fancy technique. Not even proper swinging blows, no.

The massive man is simply *running at her*. Like a truck speeding for her, literally with the aim of running her over!

COMBATSYS: Tarmo successfully hits Angelina with Rynnakko EX.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Tarmo            1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1         Angelina

[ANGELINA]
Somehow the man is still standing. Angelina has the good grace to blush pink as she smacks the sensitive stuff. Although she can't empathise with the pain he's experiencing, she can at least sympathise.

Perhaps she's too preocuupied with feeling guilty, or perhaps it's the sheer power of him that stops her from even putting up a protest to his assault. She's plowed down to the floor, as if she was a mere feather and is positioned prone on the cool concrete beneath her.

There's a wail, followed by several whimpers as the pain floods her frame. She's a determined soul though and she won't surrender till she's fully spent. She's not quite ready to battle on though yet and she stays still, steadying her breathing before attempting to rise.

COMBATSYS: Angelina harmonises with her opponent's energy.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Tarmo            1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1         Angelina

[TARMO]
"No time to stop!!" Tarmo's voice roars out, then, while she's still getting up. And once shes on her feet and looking, she'll find that he, indeed, isn't planning on giving her much of a respite. He's charging in again!

Though this time, it is... not quite as rapidly as before. It's still a very indimitating advance for sure, but it's not quite for the intent of bodily slamming into her this time. No, this time? That charge comes with the worrying sight of his massive hand reaching out, fingers extended, right for her head...

COMBATSYS: Angelina counters Hakkaa Paalle from Tarmo with Justice EX.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Tarmo            0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0         Angelina

[ANGELINA]
"Sometimes waiting something out is the best option" the parole officer preaches.

"But then other times..."

She's fully back on her feet now and ready for him as he races towards her. She ducks her head to avoid his massive mitt and then grabs hold of it, holding him tightly by the wrist.

Stepping around him, she twists his hand behind his back, whilst grabbing a pair of handcuffs from her belt with her other hand and cuffing it around his extended wrist, whilst forcing him forwards to bend over from his waist. She then brings the other hand around to meet it. locking them both firmly in place.

She manouvers the man around with one hand, so he's facing her full on and then uses her other hand to gather a ball of blinding golden white energy, which she thrusts into his face. The move is made all the more merciless, given his inability to bring his hands up to protect himself.

To add insult to injury, she takes advantage of his blinded and dazed state to kick him to the ground.

[TARMO]
"Wh-"

Handcuffs?! Since when does someone bring handcuffs to a tournament fight?!

This thought prevails in Tarmo's mind for a good moment-- at least until even that is overwritten by the pain of searing energy in his face.

"BGDSHKGSDFGHKLSD"

Oh dear. That was probably supposed to be *something* coherent. Not so much in the face of the blast that hits him. And getting shoved down onto the ground by a well-placed kick definitely doesn't help matters at all, either!

There's actually steam wafting up from the Finn's head while he lays there on his front, hands cuffed to his back. Was that finally enough? Did that bring him--

"Hrrrh!"

Oh no.

In some kind of utterly defiant push, the finn actually manages to push his upper body up off the floor and maneuver one leg underneath him to kick himself up the rest of the way. And that same momentum carries him stomping towards her, too, and--

Leap into the air.

"PERKELE!!!!"

Who needs arms when you can just use the rest ofy our body, huh? And in this case, Tarmo is turning his body into a bomb-- or a boulder that is actively falling donw at her!

COMBATSYS: Angelina counters Pommitus from Tarmo with Patience.

[                           \\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Tarmo            0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0         Angelina

[ANGELINA]
It just so happens that Angelina Benedetti carries her handcuffs everywhere. Issued to her as part of her job, along with an ID, night stick and pepper spray, she never knows when she may come across a troublesome parolee. Such as the one who swayed her to enter this very tournament. But this isn't about him. She has a ferocious Finn to deal with first.

As he pushes up, she prepares to defend her dignity and dodge out of the way of the airbound attack.

Sending her gaze skywards, she realises she's left it too late and instead will have to intercept the move.

As he descends, she reaches out a hand to wrap it around his nearest wrist and then pushes his arms upwards, whilst she steps in underneath, placing her thigh between his legs. Grabbing his knees, she pushes them together, before lifting his legs out from under him. Her own hands then raise up above her head, as she quickly gathers a ball of golden white energy to slam down upon the unfortunate Finnish fella.

[TARMO]
Best-laid plans and all. Or maybe best-laid instincts, considering Tarmo didn't really have much of a plan in that moment beyond "hit it hard".

He just couldn't hit it fast enough to avoid the deft moves of an aikidoka like Angelina, it turns out.

Several hundred pounds of Finn is thus flipped helplessly over, landing down onto the ground. A prompt followup slam of an energy ball on him actually sends Tarmo bouncing in a rebound on the ground with a violent cough of pain, along with a wide crack forming in the concrete underneath from the sheer weight of the man forcefully being sent there..

"Nnnh... not..." The man rolls over on his stomach... and just flops there effectively, looking like a fish brought on solid ground. He seems truly defeated.

"...Not..."

But of all things. Of *all things*, he actually wrests his hands apart with such sudden force that the handcuffs snap apart, before he shoves his hand down into that crack there. And in a truly herculean (if not outright ridicilous and improbable) show of brute force, he actually manages to use that crack to tear out an *enormous* slab of concrete off the floor. It might end up being partly from underneath Angelina, too, which may or may not disrupt her balance momentarily, but...

That's not the part she should worry about the most.

Even in spite of all the blood dripping down along Tarmo's face, and even in spite of his legs barely keeping him up, he rises, and brings that massive piece of concrete over his head.

"...not done yet!"

There's no real focus in his eyes, though. He might not even be *conscious* anymore, and just acting purely on muscle memory.

Whichever the case is, he stamps his foot forward to get closer to Angelina, swinging down the boulder of concrete down upon her--!

And wether or not it hits, he goes down with his own swing, flopping down onto his stomach.

He's not coming up again.

COMBATSYS: Tarmo can no longer fight.

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

COMBATSYS: Angelina blocks Tarmo's Raskaat Tyokalut.

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

[ANGELINA]
The Italian-American woman wears a woeful expression as she hears the cough of pain escape the man's mouth. "I'm sorry! Please forgive me!" she pleads.

Staring down at the cracked concrete, she grapples with her guilt but her duty to do her best wins out and she focuses her attention back on the fight in hand.

She can't help but admire Tarmo's tenacity as he breaks free of his binds and battles on. But then when he actually tears out the ground beneath him, her expression turns to one of awe, her brown eyes revealing her disbelief.

"Oh my gosh, who are you?" she wonders as he comes for her again.

She did indeed stumble as the earth moved, causing her knee to be scraped through the fabric of her lightweight pants, but she's fast to find her feet and as thus is ready for the brutal blow as it threatens to take her out. She drops backwards into a beautifully executed backwards roll, that allows her to travel to a safe place. When she permits herself to look at her fallen foe, she sees that this time he may actually be done.

"This mean I've won?" she checks, her question aimed towards the wine drinking woman on the throne. As if in answer, the sound of barking can be heard from the cages, sounding out another canine chorus.

COMBATSYS: Angelina takes no action.

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

COMBATSYS: Angelina has ended the fight here.


[ROSE BERNSTEIN]
For this whole exchange, Rose has not said a word. She has sat in her throne, sipped her wine and watched with the calculating gaze of someone who, honestly, is probably quite good at this kind of thing. Red eyes widen slightly as Angelina begins to glow. Her head tilts slightly in interest at the display of power and the coutcome of these exchanges.

Soon enough, it's all over. The big man slumps to the ground. Rose regards the whole thing in silence for a moment before she hands off her empty glass to a servant who seems to just suddenly appear at her elbow. She gestures with her other hand as a pair of medics come in to tend to Tarmo, making sure his injuries are not too severe. Rose stands gracefully and applauds gently.

"Well fought," she says with the hint of a smile. "Yes, you have won, and will advance to the next round. A rousing show, but I cannot linger."

She begins to head out of the facility, walking back to her idling limo. She slips into the back and the vehicle drives off. Moments later, the two burly men return and cart the throne off. It's soon like she was never even there.

Log created on 12:22:59 05/02/2022 by Tarmo, and last modified on 08:10:49 05/08/2022.