Match of the Millennium

Description: Team Blaze comes together with Coco, Hawksley, and Captain Morgan. Headed by Mitsuru, to reach a special dojo where they would not only have the unique experience to clean up a dojo in the off season, but also have a unique and one of a kind chance to fight Boxing Legend Mike Bison in one on one training! That is, until a mountain is moved, and the fourth member of Team Blaze comes on the prowl for a fight of legends.

[MITSURU]
The situation with Team Blaze was a bit decentralized, to say the least.

Between two demigods and two schoolgirls, the power dynamics and direction of Team Blaze were chaotic to say the least. Mitsuru Tokugawa, for her part, preferred Yuri despite her Taiyo High ditziness compared to the two physical monsters on the other side. On one hand, it gave her a lot more freedom and control. On the other hand, Mitsuru was apparently -bad- at organizing things. But in the Tokugawa family, you either used manpower to solve problems, or you used money. And Mitsuru planned on both. But she needed permission to do so. And well, she asked her mother. And, and well. And she asked her father. And he said the two most demoralizing words that he can say.

"Yes, But..."

'Yes, but' was what allowed Mitsuru to organize the limousine service to pick up the lucky fighters and bring them all the way into the beautiful Sunshine City. With a lounge in the back with a stocked cooler, Mitsuru was dressed a pretty flowery dress with a long skirt that went all the way to her ankles, her pink lipstick glistening in the low lights. A broad, gold-trimmed red ribbon tied her hair up. Crossing her arms, she did her best to look imposing on the ride there. "Um, okay, so you all understand. We are going to arrive at the Kyokugen-affiliated Dojo that Yuri was talking about. We will then clean and prepare it, and make it look really inviting. And once it's all ready, then we will get some of the -best- experts in each of your styles from all around the world coming in, and we will greet them, and you will all get special one on one training with the greatest fighters in the world in Boxing, Muay Thai, Pro Wrestling, and um, magic." The limo does a jump, as it hits a pothole. "Um, preparing your school is a very important step in taking responsibility for your style. It's like a baby, um, where you make a baby and have to take care of it, um." Mitsuru suddenly turns bright red, blushing fiercely as she looks between the riders.

"So any questions?"

[HAWKSLEY]
Hawksley isn't dressed fancy. Not at all. He is however on brand. As well as his plain black jogging pants, he's clothed in a t-shirt with the words 'Team Blaze' printed on it in orange lettering. On his feet are some black leather sneakers with orange flames on the sides.

"So I said to Jimmy James, there'll never be enough room for us to all fit in that limo. Not with all seven of the girls and their angel wings."

He's recounting to Coco the time when he almost got to travel in a limousine, but this is his actual first time doing so. He suspects she's probably done so dozens of time, with her Made in Chelsea lifestyle and love of luxury.

As their schoolgirl sponsor addresses them, the Irishman turns to look at her, seemingly nonplussed by the idea of cleaning. "Ah, that'll be grand" he nods along. "Maybe we can put some sounds on while we scrub and sweep. It'll make the time pass qucker."

His cheery mood brightens further at the mention of getting to train with the greatest fighters in the world, especially since one of them is a boxer!

"You're doing a brilliant job, so you are" he praises Mitsuru, risking the chance of her reddening further.

[COCO]
Constance Coalbridge has been in more than enough limousines in her lifetime for the experience to hold the same sense of awe or wonder that it might for those who've grown up in less privileged circumstances. Lounging back as best she can in her seat, she has one leg draped lazily across the other, arms folded across her midriff. Her version of the Team Blaze uniform consists of a black tank top with the same 'Team Blaze' print across the chest and a pair of cute black gym shorts with a pair of black sandals worn over modern black kickboxing footwraps. The word 'Blaze' would be visible across the seat of her shorts if she weren't sitting down.

"And why were you on a hen do again, Lucky?" she asks the brawler with a dubious expression, before their sensei demands her attention.

"Oh, wow! Who've you got in to teach kickboxing? Is it Tia Langray?"

Coco hopes it's Tia Langray. She's such an innovator in martial arts, after all, and certainly the go-to for making Muay Thai sexy.

"Wait. By 'we will clean and prepare it,' do you mean we're going to contract a team of professionals to perform the necessary maintenance? Or is this some sort of Cobra Kai Miyagi-Do nonsense? If somebody mentioned 'wax on, wax off,' I assumed it was regarding legs."

The posh purple-haired pugilist looks perturbed by the prospect of manual labour.

[MITSURU]
Mitsuru does in fact redden further at Hawksley compliment.

"Bwu, uh, so you just... sit on an egg like a hen, uh, I don't understand that expression. A Hen." Mitsuru babbles. It takes another pothole jump to jolt her out of her daze. "And yes we can... put on sounds. With uh, um, hang on." She takes out a cellphone, and jabs some things. "We will have... sounds." Mitsuru explains in great detail, clearly showing the strong sense of planning and organizing that reflects Team Blaze. She folds her hands together as Coco -complains- about the idea of hard work.

"Yare yare daze, good grief! It means you have to put your own hard work and spirit into your training!" Mitsuru declares, puffing out her chest defiantly. "Every litre of blood, sweat, and tears you put into your training is another litre given to your strength as a fighter! Being a true fighter isn't being a princess who lays about taking naps and eating chocolate bonbons! The other teams might be doing that, but Team Blaze won't be! Besides, I mean, it's not, uh, T&A or whatever you said. I had them go and find the very highest ranking Muay Thai fighters in the world to come here, so you better be working hard. I mean, it's probably not -that- bad." Mitsuru had not actually seen the dojo herself. But she figured if Yuri mentioned it as a Kyokugen affiliate it had to at least meet the standards of Kyokugen. The limo rolls over what seems like an entire gaggle of potholes, before it comes to a stop. The driver turns on the speaker. "I'm sorry, this is as close as I can get, the gate seems to be non-functioning."

"And, uh, for liability purposes I can't step out and open the door so-"

THe locks pop open, as Mitsuru nervously gives a thumbs up.

[HAWKSLEY]
"Well we weren't meant to be on a hen do, but then Mikey Mac scored with one of the bridesmaids to be and they invited us along for the ride" Hawksley explains to his teammate.

As he witnesses her woeful expression at the idea of getting dirty in pursuit of getting their dojo clean, he grins to himself. "Did you have yourself a cleaner back home, Coco Pops? Us kids all did the chores around our place, as soon as we were old enough to walk without wobbling over."

Listening to the lecture given to the Londoner by Mitsuru, he nods his head along solemnly. "You should listen to Mitsuru, Coco. She speaks wise words."

He rests his hand against the interior of the vehicle, as the road becomes more rocky, steadying himself and ensuring the stop is a lot smoother than it could have been. "I think it will do us good to get down and dirty" he muses, before testing the handle on the door to see if it swings open.

[COCO]
Coco gives a disdainful snort as Mitsuru and Hawksley deride her trepidation at the prospect of having to fix up the dojo themselves. "Well, I refuse to get down or dirty until we've confirmed that there is, in fact, functional plumbing in the facility. I have a dust allergy, it makes me break out in hives if it stays on my skin for too long. Especially if there's sweat involved as well. And for the record, I don't sit around eating chocolate bonbons."

She pulls a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses out of her bag as she's speaking and slides them on, then clicks the opposite door handle open, sliding her butt off of the seat and pushing herself up to her full height in the open air.

"I prefer lemon," she adds, stretching her arms over her head and arching her back as she works out the kinks of the enclosed space. Walking toward the locked gate, she bends down to examine it more closely, assessing what's keeping them from getting inside.

"For the record, Lucky, we did have a cleaner. It's what you do when you're wealthy: provide gainful employment for your fellow citizens," she mouths off.

[MITSURU]
As the door opens to the limo, the dojo reveals itself.

The weathered, somewhat rotten sign says The Ryu Zui Ken Dojo. It is a squat, faded reddish dojo constructed in the style of a single-layer pagoda. A tall, central building dominates its center, with subsequent branches extending into increasingly smaller extensions of the center. It's framed by a copse of young deciduous trees, leaves brilliantly green. Dragons flank its walls, embroidered in a rather dirty-looking gold, while traditional paper lanterns hang n disrepair from its sculpted rooftops. There are locations for torches, though they all seem to be empty. The grounds are covered with dead leaves, and the gate itself to the dojo is... shut tight with chains and a padlock.

There is no immediate confirmation there is functional plumbing in the facility.

As the TEam Blaze members exit the limo, the limo quickly drives off the moment Mitsuru shuts the door. Mitsuru just stands there, still blushing at Hawksley kind words, and... hands on her hips, staring quietly at the dojo. After a moment, letting it sink in, she brightens up. "So uh, the first challenge is going to be... getting inside." She looks at her students. "THis is going to be like a, like an adventure riddle. Thing. I want you to figure out how we get in! Do we find a key, or um, punch it, or climb it?" Mitsuru had no idea she wasn't even sure if she was trespassing.

"We can take as much time as we need, cause we should have lots of time before any of our special helpers show up."

[HAWKSLEY]
"Strawberry bonbons are the best" Hawksley chimes in, as he climbs out of the car.

That's when he spots the red Thunderbird. "Wow, sweet motor" he enthuses. "Who does that belong to and will they let me drive it?"

He bounds over to the car, tempted to touch it, but resisting the urge for the moment. Instead he turns to face the dojo, considering the quest to gain entry.

"Well my usual tactics would involve punching my way in, but I have a feeling that isn't gonna work too well here. I could also set it on fire, but again..."

It's probably not an ideal introduction to their new training venue, to burn it down on the first day.

"How about we try the key option?" He starts looking around the area in every possible place he can think of. He lifts up rocks, piles of leaves and even an empty candy bar wrapper. "Any clue, Coco?" he questions, before pulling a silver hip flask from his pocket and taking a swig of whiskey.

[COCO]
"I didn't take you for a bonbon bloke, Lucky," Coco comments, resting her hands on her hips as Captain Morgan slithers out of the limousine wearing a chauffeur's hat and starts crawling over toward the fighters. Coco cocks her head to one side, then the other, popping the joints in her neck as she considers the padlock and the gate that it's holding shut. She takes a step back from it, kicking out of her shoes, then lifting one knee up and tightening her hands into fists as she adopts a Muay Thai stance.

"Well, if you're not going to give it a go, Lucky, then I suppose I shall. Who wants to go digging around for a bloody key? I'll go for the practical application."

Stepping forward with a shout, she spins and pivots, lifting and extending her raised left leg before driving it into the center of the gate. "Hoah!"

The gate rattles with the impact of the kick, but otherwise remains unmoved, causing Coco to bite her lip as she suppresses a wince.

"No joy? Suppose I'll just... have to... try HARDER! HUAH!"

Drawing her leg up as she chambers another kick, she unloads it in a rapid burst of blows, drilling into the gate with a flurry of foot-strikes as she lets loose with one of her more advanced techniques.

[M. BISON]
Bass. There's enough bass booming at this exact moment that the street might actually be moving. Windows might actually be shattering. Peace might actually be being disturbed. The source of such incredibly rude musical stylings is a black van with a stylized 'flatline' painted across the sides of it. The lines run from the front of the van, along the sides and to the back of that same van where they meet and form what may or may not be a Shadaloo symbol painted right above the license plate that reads a charming: 'BISON'.

The van rolls along at a pace befitting the music that's dumping out of it. Windows are so dark that they might as well not even be considered tinted, they more like 'night'. Either way, the van rolls to a stop dead in the middle of the street in front of the dojo. The door opens up and the music blasts a bit louder as the big man of the hour drops out jumps out of the driver's seat.

The Burberry Bison F-U's hit the ground first and lead up the muscled legs that are wrapped in a solid black denim. A long hooded and sleeveless vest hangs wildly off his muscular frame. He's got no shirt on underneath but the Burberry matches the sneakers perfectly. The pattern even picks up where the other one ends, it's insanity. A pair of huge black sunglasses are on his face as he looks in the direction of the dojo and snorts with unimpressed and negative judgment splattered all up in that snort.

"Dump." M. Bison speaks.

With a shake of his head and a prideful swagger in his step, M. Bison vibes to the beat of the music still blasting from his vehicle on his way to the back. He smacks his elbow against the center of the doors and they swing open as if they were spring-loaded to respond to that exact motion. In the back are at least a dozen women far too scantily clad to be healthy and they are just a vibing mass of chicks that are here for who knows what. Well, Bison knows what but he ain't tellin'.

"Yo. Red." Bison's head tilts in the direction of a particular redhead in the back. She blinks and his tilted head becomes more of a nod of affirmation. "Chain me up." There's a weird internal squeal that comes from the redhead that mixes well with the defeated muted whines of the other women in the back of the van. Bison ignored it all as he turns to put his back to the open doors. Red hoists up a huge gold chain that might as well weigh as much as a person from the struggling she has to do. She stumbles towards where Bison is waiting and, very effin' carefully, places the huge gold chain over his head and down onto his neck. This places the huge gold Shadaloo symbol attached to said chain right in the center of his massive chest. "Yeah, that's it." Bison works his neck and his shoulders as he feels much more empowered and ready for whatever's coming next.

"Stay put." Bison's either talking to the women, the van, maybe all of 'em. "Finna' make this money right quick." Bison cracks his knuckles and starts his heavily swaggered strut in the dojo's direction. Awwwwwwww shhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiii--

[MITSURU]
To be fair Coco was doing what Mitsuru would be doing in the same position.

But Mitsuru was trying to be a good sponsor and teacher. And that meant encouraging the students to come up with their own ideas and guide them on, right? As Hawksley takes a swig she gets a little distracted. Blushing, she kind of edges in a bit closer to the boxer. "Um, is that like alcohol? I heard that it's supposed to have all kinds of flavors, and you know, maybe because-"

Mitsuru was interrupted by an awfully collapsing-like sound.

What it was is that while the barrage didn't -directly- break the lock, well. It was what was holding the gate together that was keeping things that was struggling. Add in a mysterious bass boom that was rattling the very foundations of the earth, and it was a perfect storm. The brick and mortar posts, keeping up the gate, noisily slip and tumble as they fall backwards, spilling the remains of the bricks around. Fortunately, the gate promptly falls afterwards. Mitsuru applauds, not sure of any other human reaction to what had unfolded. "Um, well done Coco! You found a way in! We can... clean that up later!" Mitsuru strides over the remains of the gate. "Okay lets all, lets get over to the dojo and we can find some, like, brooms or something! ANd then we can clean up. I figured we have about six hours before-"

There's a van, and a man.

Mitsuru looks at the guy coming at the dojo, her head wrapping around the music she is hearing. For a moment, she was afraid that it was the person who was supposed to be taking care of the dojo. "Okay okay everyone get inside the dojo everything is fine it's just probably someone who is confused students go in and I go over and I talk to." She rattles over quickly and nervously. Mitsuru focuses more, and then realizes that no, no, that's the heavyweight champion boxer. Mitsuru stares as Mike Bison keeps approaching. She takes a deep, a deep breath, and exhales. "Okay okay Hawksley good news your teacher is here already and and we're going to do boxing training now apparently. Everyone go in the dojo and and and pretend you were cleaning up the entire time. I will cover the rest." Mitsuru puffs out her chest, as she crosses her arms. Her stomach felt empty. Her head felt dizzy. But she was going to wait and meet Mr. Buffalo face to face, and then, well.

Give the fighters shes sponsoring an opportunity of a lifetime.

[HAWKSLEY]
"I used to get strawberry bonbons and our Sammy used to get chocolate limes. Then we'd mix them up, so we got two different sweetie choices." Hawksley recalls.

He watches the Muay Thai Miss step into action, attacking the gate that stands between Team Blaze and their desolate looking dojo. "Way to make me look like a wuss, Coco" he complains, dusting the dirt from his palms and stepping closer to the gate.

He's about to try to box his way into breaking down the barrier with the Brit, when suddenly, bass.

The black van pulls up bearing the name of Bison. Why is that name familiar? Is it a famous rapper perhaps? Well whoever it is, it looks like he's heading here.

Hawksley watches as the van door opens, staring as the vision of potential violence moves towards Team Blaze. Agreeing with the muscle man's assessment of their training venue, the Irishman nods his head. "It is, ain't it? I reckon we can clean it up grand though. Once we figure out how to get in."

As the bevy of barely clothed beauties are revealed, Hawksley lets out a low whistle. "Jesus. Have you got enough cailins back there, fella?" he marvels.

Okay, so definitely a rapper or maybe a movie star or...of course! This must be the champion boxer that was promised.

"The names Hawksley" the Irishman introduces himself, holding out his hand with only a hint of hesitation. "Nice necklace you got there."

He slips his flask to Mitsuru with his other hand, not really considering her age. He was drinking himself by thirteen and it hasn't done him any harm.

[COCO]
There's a look of pain on Coco's face as she pulls her foot back and takes hold of it with her hands after kicking the decrepit gate down - with the assistance of the vibes coming off of the Bisonmobile.

"Ow! Bloody hell! I think I've gone and broken my bloody foot!" she complains, hopping on the uninjured one as she puts distance between herself and the debris that remains of the gateway, eventually falling down on her ass on the asphalt. Sensing the reverberations beneath her backside, she cranes her neck around toward the offending vehicle and its former occupant - who might well be making the ground beneath her shake with his own footsteps.

"Boxer?" she says, the question hanging in the air for a moment before she pushes herself up off of the ground. She feels like she recognizes the heavyweight from somewhere. One of those online groups that she was a part of. It's strange, though, because she never really had an interest in the world of fighting before this tournament, so why would she have known about this guy? She's pretty sure that it was something to do with elephants. Was he a conservationist?

She picks herself up off of the floor, dusting gravel off of her bottom.

"Maybe not broken after all - just a bit bruised. I suppose that makes this as good a chance as any to learn about punching. Or is he going to teach us how to headbutt people and breathe fire?" she asks, glancing askance at Hawksley, her tone sounding somewhat derogatory.

[M. BISON]
M. Bison is all smug and all swagger as he approaches the Team Collective. He doesn't look impressed, that's for sure. The look on his face is that of a man that's really just here for the cash and he's likely gonna' make that real obvious here in a few moments. For now, though, he's just going to look the Team Squad up and down and shakes his head. "Y'all suckas look like a buncha' bums. Bison gonna' need a raise." A quick glance is tossed in the direction of Mitsuru.

Stepping forward a bit more, Bison looks Hawksley up and down. "I can't understand a damn thing you sayin', Lucky Charms." Bison looks from Hawksley to the back of his van and then smirks. He can speak that language though. "Yeah, they local. Maybe I'll give you one after we finish up. If you still standin'." What kind of training does this man have planned?!

"Damn. Ain't /nobody/ American? The hell?" This comes after he hears all of Coco's bloody phrasing. His eyes cut in that direction, which he makes obvious by reaching up and pulling down his sunglasses to focus in on Coco for that moment. "Yo. Don't be hatin' on the headbutt. Do it right and you might knock a mutha' out." Bison must be proud of his headbutting tactics. "Breathin' fire sounds like it'd be aight too. I'ma' have to learn that one. 'Long as it don't come with no damn yoga." Bison pushes his glasses back up on his face.

Bison ignores hands for shaking in favor of cracking his knuckles (again) because it's all part of his badass image. "Yeah, it's fly, right?" Bison looks down at his Shadaloo Chain. "Once I see where you at, maybe I can get you one." Bison is totally not here to assess potential recruits for a terrorist organization. Honest.

"Ayo!" Maybe that's to Mitsuru or maybe it's just to the world. "Soon as I get paid, I can start!" Somebody pay this man.

[MITSURU]
Mitsuru does her best to look tough.

When Coco talks about her injury, she starts to tremble. If she got hurt, then she would need to get an ambulance. But how was she supposed to do that? How do you actually call a doctor? DO you call a doctor, and they send an ambulance? She tried to think about the numbers you needed to call in order to reach a doctor. Should she use a phone book, or maybe her phone had the ability to find some doctors to call. Would she need to find a podiatrist? These heavy thoughts she tried to hide with a stern face locked right into Bison. Was their sponsor so ruthless she wasn't even worried about how her students were being hurt. When Bison arrives, Mitsuru nods firmly, and then, reaches into her flowery banana-coloured purse.

Mitsuru starts pulling out wads of bills.

"WElcome Mister Bison!" Mitsuru states as cheerfully and confidently as she can. "Everyone this is Mister Bison, he's-" Mitsuru pauses, correcting herself before she ruins everything again. "He's the world's greatest boxer! He's willing to come out and teach you all some great boxing moves! He's just one of the world class martial artists that comes along with Team Blaze! Now you know all our fighters names but the guy you are talking to is Hawksley Moore and he's a boxer too just like you! There were other English boxers like Dudley and Steve Fox but I wanted to make sure he learns a foreign style like yours! WE will all learn how to make punches like a REal American Boxer!" Mitsuru finishes counting up the wads, and hands them over to Bison. "And that's with a raise, and that should cover 1 whole hour of your time in American dollars as agreed." Mitsuru says with a low voice, before looking back to her wards. "Now lets all go in the dojo grounds and pick a place where we can learn and train!" Mitsuru suddenly moves towards Coco, trying to offer her shoulder. She tries to sound gentle, which is remarkably successful.

"You want me to help you walk Coco? Is your foot okay? ARe you sure it's just a bruise?"

[HAWKSLEY]
"Need help with that?" Hawksley asks Coco, as she dusts the gravel from her butt. He's soon focusing on the champion fighter again though.

"You're not the first one to call me Lucky Charms" he tells him. "Or even the fifty first, but I'm more inclined to take it from you." There's an impish look on the Irishman's face. If he's intimidated by the much bigger boxer, then he's not letting it show.

"Both headbutting and breathing fire work grand for me, when I can pull them off. It depends how quick my opponent moves and if they can get the hell away from me. I can't say I'm much into yoga, though I did go to a class one time."

His dark eyes are back on Coco as he says this and seem to be sparkling with amusement at something or other. Then it's time for Mitsuru's welcome speech.

He watches with wonder as the teenager counts out the cash. He's never witnessed a wad like that before, which is saying something for a man whose last job was as a barman in a strip club.

He starts to walk towards the dojo, keeping his pace slow enough for the injured member of their team to follow. "I can give you a piggy back if you like, Coco" he offers, then flashes a smile at Mitsuru. "Thanks for all this by the way."

[COCO]
"Afraid not," Coco replies sardonically to Bison's comment as he questions the American-ness of the team that he's been hired to train. "Other than Brian, but he insisted on going to collect his car from the airport parking garage with Zog. God knows where they are anymore."

==*== MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE ==*==

A pickup truck pulls up outside the drive-thru of a Taco Bell and rolls down the window, a handsome bearded blond man with shoulder-length hair and a pair of sunglasses leaning out.

"Hey, dude! What's up?"

"Hello!" the girl at the window replies. "So, I've got ten Volcano Box Meals, a Burrito Supreme, three Chili Cheese burritos, two chicken quesadillas, one steak quesadilla, a Nachos Bellgrande, two Mexican Pizzas, and a Crunchwrap Supreme," she says as she hands over nearly a dozen bags of food. "I'm... guessing the big guy eats a lot?"

Brian Storm gives the window girl a quizzical look before following her gaze to the bed of the pickup where the fifteen-hundred-pound ogre sits with his arms resting on either side of the bed, snoring in the California sun.

"Oh, damn! I forgot to ask him what he wants. Hey, Zog-sensei! What do you want to eat?"

==*== BACK AT THE RYU ZUI KEN DOJO ==*==

Coco lifts her foot off the floor, continuing to rub it as Bison and Mitsuru speak. Fortunately, it's not turned too ugly a shade of purple just yet - at least what can be seen of it under the wrap. Hawksley gets a sharp look and a stealthy raspberry from Coco for his offer to help her brush her backside.

"Believe it or not, Lucky, I'm not too posh to wipe my own arse," she says caustically.

She's too busy thinking to notice Hawksley's look at the mention of yoga. Where does she know the boxer from? The question keeps nagging at her. She's interrupted from thinking about it when Mitsuru approaches and starts offering her help.

"Oh, it's okay, sensei. I can walk," she says, starting to lower her foot to the ground when Hawksley approaches to offer a piggy back. There's a subtle shift in her expression, and when she puts her foot down she quickly lifts it back up gingerly, as if in sudden pain.

"Oh. Ow! Oh, dear. I believe I will need assistance after all. Here, Lucky," she says as she hops up to Hawksley's back before climbing on board, wrapping her arms around his neck and legs around his waist. "You can still practice your punching like this, right? Just think of carrying me around as part of your training," she suggests, her tone sounding much lighter.

[M. BISON]
Bison doesn't move for a long time. He's here for one reason and one reason only. Money. It's not until he sees the money does he actually start to relax a little bit. He looks at the wad of cash in Mitsuru's hand and his expression is completely deadpan. He almost looks like he's counting it or something. Maybe he's got a ninth sense for cash. Who really knows with a big lug like this? Either way, the staring is for a long moment before he snatches up said cash and shoves it right into his pocket with the biggest smile on his face.

"SAY LESS! LET'S DO THIS!" M. Bison's entire demeanor changes now that he's got some sort of payment. The sunglasses come off and he tosses them back at one of the girls in the van. "I'm a way better choice than either of those chumps! You'll see!" Bison shrugs off the thoughts of Dudley or Steve Fox trying to teach some boxing to people. "I been fightin' my whole life. They just entertainers. Bison boxin', street boxin'? It's a Bison thing." Just a couple more statements for the Team in case they need to know he's got what it takes.

Bison starts following after the Team towards the Dump of a Dojo. "Yoga sucks. Stay away from it. Trust me." Bison may or may not be having a quick flashback to certain Yoga Flavored Individuals as he remarks to Hawksley. "Especially Greek Yoga. Gross." There's a shudder as Bison either jokes or is dumb enough to conflate yoga and yogurt. It's unclear.

Bison has to do like a triple take as he watches the antics of Coco and Hawksley. He just shakes his head. "Unamericans are so weird." is all he has to say about piggy backing and what not. He's just here to teach about boxing. And maybe drum up some more interest in his hip-hop career as well. Who knows.

[MITSURU]
Mitsuru just hopes that Brian Storm and Zog come back with her boba tea.

With the young lady herding cats, with Bison being friendly instead of unfriendly at least kept the action moving forward. Coco turns down Mitsuru's help, but she could see the pain. But then, -then- Coco starts doing a -thing- with Hawksley. A specific thing. Mitsuru actually starts blushing profusely when Coco mounts Hawksley's back like a frog in a documentary. I mean, it wasn't actually like that. Right? I mean Mitsuru could imagine herself hopping on someone's back and it would be something. Mitsuru covers her mouth with both hands and meeps, as she heads back a bit to somewhere a little more comfortable.

Like next to Bison.

Mitsuru starts fishing around for more money as they reach the leaf-littered courtyard of the dojo. "There is, um, an opportunity to earn more money. Um, also, uh, I just confirmed that you had a whole rap thing in the car. I mean this is where I think we can fight, I hope, so you can start directing, um, how to box. I am not really familiar with um, well, that kind of music but could you also try some of that singing and music while you demonstrate? Hawksley really wanted some music." Mitsuru was doing her best to help.

She whips out another wad of cash, offering it up to Bison.

[HAWKSLEY]
Hawksley has no trouble at all carrying Coco. "Maybe your foot will soon be the colour of your hair" he chats merrily as they move along.

When Bison speaks about streetfighting, the Irishman listens with interest. Bar brawling, street scrapping, those are his natural environments. It seems like this guy may deliver the goods.

He turns to Mitsuru as she speaks of fighting, still with Coco on his back, and nods his head with enthusiasm. "I'd love to hear you rap, fella. It will help keep our spirits high while we get this lot sorted."

He gestures towards the pile of leaves covering the courtyard. "Would there be a broom anywhere?" he wonders.

[COCO]
Coco seems to take an entirely innocent view of her un-American interactions with Hawksley, but then, she's practically two thirds French, so such flagrant debauchery is second nature to her. She simply clings to the young man's back like a parasite, peering around from her elevated vantage at the interior of the courtyard. "This doesn't look very American at all," she comments on the pagoda, eyes drawn to the gold dragons running along the walls. "Actually, it looks as though it was rather lovely at one time. We aren't sleeping here, are we? I mean, later; I'm not keen on having a siesta just yet. Have we got a booking for a hotel? Because this doesn't look like it's going to have enough room for bunking. We'd have to be piled on top of each other, and that's with Zog sleeping outside."

She turns her head toward Bison and offers an apologetic smile. "Sorry, you're not bothered about our accommodations, are you? I'm looking forward to your work on the mic, Mister Bison..."

Suddenly, something clicks into place in Coco's brain. Mic Bison. Mike Bison. This is the bloke who murdered an elephant with his bare hands. She feels her morning tea and crumpets curdle in her stomach as she starts to realise who Mitsuru has got in to train Hawksley. The colour drains from her face as she hops off of Hawksley's back, suddenly finding no problem standing on her own two feet as she holds up her hands. "Oh... my... God. I literally can't even." She draws in a deep breath through her nostrils before letting it out in a huff. "Sorry, I'm going to have to excuse myself. I refuse to take lessons from someone who kills endangered species for sport."

She starts tottering off with her hands held primly out at her sides and her nose slightly upturned. As she goes, she passes by Captain Morgan trotting in the opposite direction, who turns around and follows Coco, tail raised in the air, chuckling noisily.

[M. BISON]
There's a moment where M. Bison actually looks like he's about to look annoyed again. Maybe it has something to do with Mitsuru showing back up alongside him but then there's another wad of cash being held out in his face and there's really nothin' else in his brain after that. "Say less." comes the quipping of slanguage as Bison snatches up the next wad of cash like there's nothing else that matters. And really? To him? Nothing else does. "As long as you payin', Bison be stayin'." There's a nod given before he stops dead in his tracks and turns to look at the Van. "AYO SKRIB! SKRIIIIIIB!"

Some dude that looks like he's way too high forces himself out of van's passenger side window. He's wearing mood-colored 3D glasses and a bucket hat that may or may not be rocking a Shadaloo logo as well. He leans his head to the side with what be annoyance if he wasn't part of Bison's Entourage. "Yo."

"These suckas jus' paid for some musicality. You good?"

Skrib nods and finishes chomping down his Bison Bits. "Bet." And then he's ducking back into the Van so he can get his equipment probably.

"That's Skribble, my DJ. He'll get the party started." comes the explanation slung in Mitsuru's direction.

More mobile progression happens and while Bison's ignoring the state of affairs of this horrible dojo location he does hear things that resemble praise in his direction and grins. "Aight. I'm startin' to like you, Hawk. You might mess around an' end up with a Mentor up in here." Bison makes a mental note to see where Hawksley's moral fiber is. Could be a good new recruit for his other-other-other gig. Y'know, the one that does terror? Istly?

"Word." Bison agrees in Coco's direction for a hot moment. "We /should/ be in Metro City at my gym but..." Bison shrugs it off. "I'll jus' pretend it don't suck that bad." Guess Bison has a little patroitism in him after all.

When Coco has her moment of realization, Bison just kind of tilts his head a bit. "Huh?" He actually looks way too confused. "I ain't killed nobody this week!" Pause. "Did I?" Bison holds up a finger and reaches into his pocket to pull out an old school planner. He flips through it to get to this week. He runs his finger across the calendar boxes and then looks up triumphantly. "Hah! I knew it! No kills!" With that said, Bison shrugs and looks in Mitsuru's direction.

"No Refunds."

[MITSURU]
Everything was going to plan, as the DJ comes up, and she just needed a broom. She didn't even worry about any SHadaloo logos. Bison even seemed eager to mentor Hawksley. "I'll look for a broom, and we'll clean this up, and and and." And As Coco wanders away, Mitsuru suddenly deflates. No, no, Coco was supposed to help out and learn with the boxer. Mitsuru didn't know he punched endangered animals, did she screw this up? She might have screwed this up. She straightens up as Bison shrugs at her. She tries to make a clear plan of action, even though her instincts told her to, well, do a lot of things that wouldn't help. Confused, she points Bison's attention to Hawksley. "Um, um, you start training with him for boxing and punching, and I will go and, well, I will talk with her! One on one! Just like a boxing match but with spar." Mitsuru starts to head towards Coco, and pauses. Looking back over, she calls out.

"And don't kill Hawksley!" She adds hastily.

Rushing over to Coco she tries to scramble a reasonable proper response. That it was probably just a rumor. It was just something made up. That it was a different Mike Bison, like maybe she heard it was a Mick Tyson or Michael Max or something. That it was. She should just fix her foot and then she could box and everything could come together. Mitsuru looks at Coco, and then, Captain Morgan, whose tail was in the air. She imagines how she would feel, if an elephant was punched out. If Morgan got hit. Mitsuru thinks of all kinds of answer to salvage this. ANd she just exhales. "I'm sorry, I should have checked his background more. I- I messed this up. I should have been more mindful of like, backgrounds. I- I just wanted to get the best in your styles. You can just go back to the hotel room or- or something. I'd like it if we clean up this place and stay here though, it would make it like a real training dojo style." She halts a moment, looking back at Hawksley.

"Did Adon or Sagat hurt any animals too?"

[HAWKSLEY]
As Coco climbs off him, Hawksley stares at her in surprise. "He did what now?"

Studying the superstar boxer, he tilts his handsome head to the side. "How did that happen? In what kind of fecked up fight, do you have to go one on one with an elephant. I bet it was epic! I mean...obviously that was a horrible thing to do."

He nods his head solemnly, watching the animal loving Brit depart with her bearcat hot on her heels. He considers briefly going after her, but there's no way he's gonna miss out on a chance to have a boxing session with M. Bison, no matter how many Dumbos he's downed.

Besides, now there's Skrib, who's promising to get the party started. Hawksley swears he's heard that somewhere else lately. Oh yeah, it's that Mancunian lass, Sarah AKA DJ Supernova's catchphrase.

At Mitsuru's suggestion, the eager to fight fella, moves over to the muscular man "You gonna go easy on me, champ?" Hawksley asks hopefully. "Nah, just joking. Hit me with your best, it's the only way I'll get better."

[COCO]
Coco slows her gait as Mitsuru approaches, dropping down to sit on the ground next to where she left her footwear sitting prior to her attack on the dojo's gate. She starts to pull the straps of her sandals on as Captain Morgan crawls up onto her shoulders.

"Well, I refuse to learn how to box from some nelly-murdering bastard! I don't want to make a career off of someone who's made his by orphaning baby elephants! Plus, I think I heard he killed someone in the boxing ring or something, once, too." The latter is added mostly as an afterthought; the death of cute and majestic animals is far more Coco's concern than that of her fellow humans. Especially ones she doesn't know. It's not like an elephant willingly got in the ring with Mike Bison.

Something that Mitsuru says causes Coco to pause, though, her neck turning and head tilting. "Wait. Did you say Adon or Sagat? Have you got them on board for training, too?"

The kickboxing amateur's interest is clearly piqued by the possibility that one of the peak performers of the style she's pursuing might be involved. Plus, they're both clearly animal lovers too, since one of them is a fan of tigers and the other of jaguars.

"I mean, if they're coming, then the dojo will need to be cleaned up properly. I suppose you'll need a hand, won't you? I'll hunt down a broom, or a bucket, or something."

She pushes herself back up and, with her sandals in place, turns around to head back toward the dojo.

"Lucky, don't encourage him! I don't want you getting your head punched in. At least, not if I'm not the one doing it."

[M. BISON]
Maybe Bison has good ears or he just finally remembers the moment. Could be a combination of everything really. Maybe it has more to do with Hawk wanting to hear the story or whatever. Either way, Bison feels compelled to explain himself. Probably with lies.

"For the record? Any Dumbo Deckin' I did was in self-defense. There was this crazy yoga lovin' psycho that was tryin' to choke me to death with his Mr. Fantastic arms! You think I'ma' let that shit slide?! Nah, fam! So I headbutts free like this!" Bison does a recreation of the headbutt to the air. "BAM!" And Stretchy Sucka' falls back like this: "waaaaaaah!" and Bison mimics flailing backwards and stumbling on his feet. "So then I guess the suckas pet elephant got mad or somethin' cuz then he comin' at me like it's Tramplefest '99 and I'm like: WHOA!" Bison slaps his hands to the side of his face; The Kevin McCallister is in full effect. "I ain't got time to get out the way an' if I move, innocents galore gettin' trampled like this a circus! So I does the only thing I can think of..." Bison rears back and shows off a mighty punch. "WHAM! Right in the trunk, sucka!" Bison calms down and shrugs. "Maybe I hit him too hard. Ain't my fault. We lost one elephant life that day but I saved a ton more."

That should all check out or something. Bison makes sure to say all of that loud enough for Coco to hear. Meanwhile, Skribble is finished setting up and is ready to get the music going.

There's a flexing shrug of his shoulders as Bison looks at Hawk. "We'll get you knockin' suckas out in no time flat. And I'll get you some Boxin' By Bison DVDs to keep ya' skills sharp." Bison really likes this kid and is definitely not going to pass out hypnotically suggestive boxing training DVDs sponsored by Shadaloo. Honest.

[MITSURU]
Mitsuru definitely got at least ONE Of them on board.

"I want to make sure you guys have the training you deserve. I mean, I'm not really a world warrior like some of the folks. I, gosh, I think Hawksley might actually be a better boxer than me. But I trained under a professional champion boxer, and that helped a lot. And the people I am sponsoring should get the same treatment." She looks back at Bison show those move, instinctively throwing her guard up from the sheer pressure from all the way over here. As Coco talks about working together, Mitsuru lets down her guard. "Of course! I mean, we're both kind of..." Mitsuru didn't want to say they were both kind of princesses because she was a TOUGH and mean girl but. "... We still need to put in the hard work. Yeah, like, I know our team is kind of unorthodox compared to the others." Mitsuru explains softly, nodding her head. "We got a mysterious fourth guy who can slide around, we got Zog, and the rest of us are like, um, in high school? But we have something don't have! WE have you guys. We have a real spirit to fight and learn. ANd most of all!" Mitsuru pulls out more wads out of her purse.

"We got plenty of money to get the best trainers money can buy!"

[HAWKSLEY]
"Ah, don't you be worrying now, Coco. I'm sure it will all be grand" Hawksley grins at the purple haired posh girl.

As his new mentor demonstrates the elephant encounter, he finds himself nodding along. The bar brawler is fond of a headbutt himself, or sometimes several.

"See, yoga is bad for you, Coco Pops" he tells her. "I saved you from yourself when I pushed you over and got you thrown out of the class." There's a definite hint of teasing to his tone.

"So what you're telling us fella, is that by all rights, you're a feckin'hero?" he asks Bison. "See, Coco. Our man here only hurt the elephant for the good of mankind."

He reaches out a hand to pat her on the shoulder and then wanders closer to Skribble with a curious expression. "Have you heard of a band called Ash?"

The music chat is interrupted when Mitsuru speaks up. "Ah you flatter me, cailin" he replies, flashing her a bright and beaming smile. "I'd love to test that out sometime though. You can put me through my paces. As for our team, we're the feckin' best. Obviously I wanted to be part of it 'cause of the name and all. It's perfect, with me being a hothead and using fire, but now there's more to it. Coco is a class act, Brian is a bloody good fella, so he is, and Iris, well I haven't really got to know her yet, but I'm sure she's just lovely. Sponsor wise, we have your good self, another schoolgirl who can kick arse, some bloke who sounds all kinds of feckin' intriguing and then the big fella. Hell, I think Zog might be even bigger than an elephant. All this is before we even get to our terrific trainers. I'm buzzing so I am. Team Blaze all the way."

[COCO]
As Bison starts to explain his actions with regards to the elephant that he brutally felled, Coco ends up sticking her fingers in her ears. Not only is the boxer justifying the murder of a clearly misunderstood elephant - just like that one gorilla all over again - but he's also repudiating the reputation of the yoga master that she had wanted to train under. She apparently manages to hear Hawksley through the self-imposed digital sound barrier, though, as she sends a scowl his way and sticks her tongue out at him with her fingers still stuck in her outer ears when he tries to tell her that not only is yoga bad for her, but Bison is some kind of hero. Besides, one elephant to a bunch of humans? How can the ethics of that be argued? It's not like those -humans- are an endangered species, is it?

Luckily, she has Mitsuru to distract her from her disgust. "Well, money does solve a lot of problems," she concurs as she approaches the doors to the dojo. "I think that if there's a broom, they'd probably leave it inside, wouldn't they? Or else in some sort of shed? To be honest, I don't even know where the broom in my own house is kept," she admits with a bemused expression. "Morgie and I can have a look around if you want, though, while this lot practice their knocks and crosses."

[M. BISON]
Somewhere in the middle of all this chitting and chatting, Bison's Money Sense starts tingling and he holds up a finger. "Hol' up." Speeding movements and fancy footwork has Bison sliding across the ground and reaching out to pluck another wad or two of cash from the hand of Mitsuru. Since she's just waving them around like that. He offers a dark grin of fabrication, "For emotional distress and gas for my van." Bison makes a move to slide back the other way again.

"A hero?" Bison actually taps his chin at that thought because he wasn't even thinking about that for years. And as he does, he gets a big grin on his face. "Hell yeah! I am a hero!" Bison thrusts a fist into the air... heroically! "YEAH! MIKE BISON! THE HERO!" Bison will be taking this moment to do a little dance of celebration.

Skribble blinks as he's spoken to in the middle of making sure everything's set up. He just kind of stares at Hawksley for a little bit while spinning a record and sliding it down onto the turntables. He's so smooth with it, he doesn't even have to look. "Nah." Skribble is a man of few words. He must let the music speak for itself and him.

Bison stops dancing long enough to call out after Coco, "Would it help if I said we used every part of the elephant after?!" Bison shrugs, cackles quietly (somehow) and gets back to celebratory dancing. Just straight up doing the Running Man. And now the Cabbage Patch. Oh dear... and the Macarena.

[AKUMA]
The floor rumbles.

The ground shakes.

The earth moves, churning beneath the trees bordering this once proud space.

Sunshine City trembles, splitting the air with thunderous screams as it suffers through a violent birth.

Around the edges of the dojo's property, collective centuries of arboreal growth tumble into the gorge widening underneath, carving out a deep trench separating the grounds off from the rest of the city. Hundreds -- thousands? -- of geologic spikes of varying sizes jut from its walls and floor, giving the earth's yawning maw a ferocious panoply of teeth. Steam from the myriad of boiling pools dotting the the bottom of the trench wafts into the air, an oppressive fog spreading outwards to blanket the grounds; no matter how long they boil, the pools do not reduce.

Opposite the dojo's entrance - all the way on the far end of the grounds, where two ends of the terrestrial moat should meet - there is a knobby monadnock--

-- a craggy tor--

-- a vast peak crowning a labyrinth of black cliffs honeycombed with caves reaching up from the depths, clawing at the dark clouds gathering overhead.

The disturbance is over in minutes, but the gorge is forever; the dojo is unharmed by the mountain now looming over it and the rest of Sunshine City.

But there are no bridges. No trails preserved by the rocky moat's formation; no roads in, no easy way out. There's the dojo; the mountain; and the boiling pit beneath them both.

And there is the Demon descending, the dark-skinned and red-maned monster bound in human flesh who walks the mountain's winding ways at a pace that is somehow both measured and meteoric, approaching the dojo with the raw essence of murder burning in his eyes and bending the very air around him with its undulating waves.

[MITSURU]
Everything was finally going okay.

Mitsuru was scared initially that somehow, this would go all wrong. ANd it looked like it! But it seems that despite the minor setbacks, the fighters she was sponsoring were appreciating how good she was doing. Quick to hand over another wad of bills to the Nice Mr. Bison, she could finally catch her breath. Team Blaze all the way. She could imagine how awful the other new fighters at Team Thunder were having it, especially training under Lyraelle, where she would make them wash her dumb stinky feet while she sat her fat demon toosh on their backs. Mitsuru doesn't even notice that wicked smile on her face as she imagines how much those fighters were crying about how they weren't part of Team Blaze. "Yes, you can go with Morgie, um, that's not Hawksley right? That's the cute little monkey. You can go with Morgie, and explore around the dojo. I think I saw a shed, I'll see if they have like rakes, and stuff. If you run into any trouble though you just tell them that you are with me!" Mitsuru breaks away from Coco, and heads to a neighboring shed. She collects up a broom, a rake, a bins, and a bag of bags. Bringing them back over to Hawksley and Bison, she demonstrates her good teaching by starting to rake, then sweep. SHe didn't actually know how to rake or sweep leaves but she was trying. Hawksley was having so much fun with Bison, Bison was having fun training with Hawksley, and Coco would get her foot fixed and then Sagat or Adon or maybe Tia would come in finally and she would have her Muay THai training and everyone would admire Mitsuru Tokugawa as being such a smart and clever genius despite being so young and would be a great teacher and then.

And then, the presence comes.

Mitsuru pauses, looking out from the dojo grounds, just as she finished loading a pile of leaves into a bin. "no no no no NO NO NO" Mitsuru states, her voice rising up. She looks around. She had, no, this wasn't the right time. She looks at Bison, the heroic elephant thumping who saved babies. ANd and she looks out past the gates. Oh no. NO no no this- no no no no no no no no. Mitsuru drops the broom, and starts rushing towards the gate. "JUST KEEP BOXING!" Mitsuru bellows, face turning bright red. "You all keep making your training and and and whatever happens to me, or in the neighborhood, or anything, and NO MATTER WHAT, don't come over here and TRY TO START A FIGHT! Please. You are in the good hands of our hero, Mike Bison!"

She rushes out of the gate, looking down the street to... nothing yet.

She wanders out of the dojo a moment, not too far, never too far. She couldn't protect Mister Bison, or Coco, or Hawksley if she was too far. In the middle of the street, unsure what or where, Mitsuru initially stands fast, trying to cross her arms. She adjusts her pose, trying to lean back and make a scowl. She adjusts to a different pose, bringing a hand forward like so, with her other hand on her hip. Then she switches back to her arm cross, trying very hard to look cool and quiet and and and as the overwhelming presence and awe comes rolling in, worse than anything else, worse than Lyraelle, worse than being in a bunker of hell and Grandpa Mishima and Lyraelle and lies and everything, everything coming down with the Murderous Intent, Mitsuru suddenly calls out. Not a shriek, not a scream, but a call out. She can't see him. She can only feel him. But she calls out loud.

"Don't you dare!" She declares, before she drops her voice lower.

"Don't dare just yet, please."

[HAWKSLEY]
Apparently Coco's taunting tongue amuses Hawksley, as he starts to laugh at the gesture. He makes a kissy face at her in retaliation and then turns towards M. Bison, because there's dancing.

"You've got some...interesting moves" the young scrapper finally settles on. "Do you know how to do Gangnam Style?"

Before he can get his answer, the young Irishman is knocked flying through the air, landing face down in a pile of leaves. "What the feck?" he manages to splutter out, spitting out a leaf from his mouth. He's pretty sure it wasn't the champion fighter that floored him.

Trying to stand, he seeks out those who were here with him, only moments before. He has no idea what just happened. Perhaps it was an earthquake. They have those in this part of the world don't they?

He can hear Mitsuru's instruction to keep on boxing, but he's struggling to even regain his balance right now. "You there, fella?" he asks, hoping to hear Bison respond, then he remembers Coco and the Captain. What if they are hurt?

Forcing himself to his feet, he calls out for them. "Coco Pops? Morgy? You alright there?"

[COCO]
"Morgie is not a cute little monkey, you're thinking of Hawksley," Coco clarifies to Mitsuru as she jostles the large, carved door to the dojo open, admiring the relief of a dragon as she pushes through. "Morgie's a bearcat. Loads of people don't know about bearcats, though, so it's no bother. See you soon, sensei!"

With that, the purple-haired pugilist disappears into the depths of the dojo to search for the items she promised. A minute or two later, she emerges back out in response to the shuddering of the earth, a mop and empty bucket in hand. "Hello, California! Did we just have an earthquake here or what? This is so exciting, guys!"

Meanwhile, the binturong is clinging to the back of her head for dear life, a shell-shocked expression on its face, the chauffeur's hat dilapidated from the rumbling that shook the building moments earlier.

[M. BISON]
Earth. The Earth's not supposed to move. That's why it's called Earth. And why it's Flat. At least, sometimes it's Flat. Listen, Bison never really paid attention in school so he's all mixed up about a lot of things. A lot of things that he doesn't need to be thinking about in the moment when all of this madness while things are happening around the area that they've all seemed to congregate upon.

It's a lot of madness because Bison can see and hear car alarms and whatever the hell else going on. Oh and also Hawksley just kind of fell over and that was super weird.

"The f--?" Bison trails off as his massive form doesn't really budge even though everything around him is dealing with the arrival of such monstrous magnificence. It takes a moment for Bison to look around, his eyes passing over the location where Skribble has set up. His poor DJ is climbing back to his feet as well... and checking on his records and equipment. The two of them share a nod affirming that Skribble's okay.

Bison turns his attention back towards the street. He has completely ignored any and all cleaning equipment or assignments because he's here to box and not do anything even remotely close to manual labor. Instead, he stares off in the distance. "Hol' up." is offered mostly to Hawksley and anybody else. He hears Mitsuru call out and mutters to himself, "Somebody messin' with the money?" Bison's not sure but he knows Mitsuru is carrying cash and that's all that matters to him at this point. Gotta' protect the dough.

M. Bison pounds a huge fist into an open palm and stalks up behind Mitsuru to stand like he's ready to defend the mone-- er, their honor. Team Blaze's honor is at stake! Yeah! Bison has no idea what's about to go down but he damn sure looks like he's ready for it.

He also might just be checking on his van.

[MITSURU]
There is a headspace for Mitsuru on bearcats. There are bears. There are cats. There are martins. And there are monkeys, and lemurs, and ferrets. Mitsuru barely even registered how Morgie was a bearcat, just not a monkey. So if it's not a monkey, then it's a cat then, right? Or a weasal. Maybe a type of badger? Mitsuru was just standing fast, waiting in apprehension. Was he... was he coming here? Or was he joining up with Zog and Brian Storm and making sure they order one of those Taconators with a side of Peppered Fries smothered in the Double Donk Sauce? Like it would be embarassing if their fourth member unloaded that terrifying presence on the dojo, and then just, well, didn't show up. But Mitsuru wasn't going to take that risk. She was going to stay here and protect her wards.

Even if it meant staying here for an hour or so.

As Bison lines up next to Mitsuru, the girl actually starts to turn red. "No no no! This isn't your fight! You need to train those two so they are super boxers! There's- there's a fourth member of the team, and he's really not social. NOt Zog, and definately not Yuri, but it's- it's a fourth guy, and he's really mysterious and I don't know him very well but he's only here to challenge those he considers worthy to fight! And like I thought it was supposed to be the people we are sponsoring but no apparently it's going to be some big strong boxer and and and that's -WRONG-" Mitsuru turns back over, glowering down the street. "And I need to teach him a lesson- I guess. Or explain things. Like he's super stubborn! But please, please don't come here! You'll- You'll get your money!" Mitsuru scrambles for her purse and just starts throwing wads at Bison. "Take it! Take it and train! DOn't fight him! Anything to not fight him! He's- he's going to ruin everything if he tries to fight you, or Sagat, or Adon, or or all the super strong- all the super strong world warriors... world warriors I invited...."

Mitsuru's eyes go wide in mid money throw.

[HAWKSLEY]
Hearing the posh girl's fancy and familiar voice, Hawksley smiles to himself with relief. It seems like her and the little fella are safe and sound after the earth moved.

He checks himself for damage and deeming himself to be okay, he nods his head towards M. Bison, following behind the big boxer, as he moves to back up Mitsuru. He's ready to burst into action, should it become necessary. Nobody is gonna mess with Team Blaze on his watch.

It seems however that their sponsor has other ideas. He looks between her and the boxer, unsure what to do. He doesn't want to disobey one of their leaders, but on the other hand, he doesn't like to back down from a brawl.

"You're sure you can talk him, it, or whatever's going on out of this?" he questions the schoolgirl, seeming concerned by the idea. "I mean, if you think it's best, then alright, but he seems like a pretty intense fella, if all this is anything to go by."

He waves his hand in the general direction of the environmental chaos around the dojo.

[COCO]
Morgie slides down the back of Coco's top, causing her to flinch as the bearcat's claws scratch her back, then hook into the sportwear underneath her tank top, placing the strain of the animal's weight on... well...

"Augh! Right, Morgie, time to play on the floor," the posh Brit says, squatting down and unhooking the animal from her clothing to set it down on the ground. Coco massages her sore chest as the binturong scurries back into the dojo, leaving his companion to her fate.

"Why's everyone acting so odd? This is California, isn't it? Don't they set their clocks by earthquakes 'round here?" Coco asks as she wanders up toward the entrance to the dojo to see what all the fuss is about, still rubbing herself. She slows and stares with her silver eyes at... is that a mountain that's sprouted up out of nowhere?

"Oh."

Coco checks her handbag, counting something inside it. "Hey, none of you have added anything to the, euh, medicine case in my bag, have you? I just need to confirm I haven't taken anything... that I'm not already aware of, anyway."

[M. BISON]
Bison's attention goes from the mountainous arrival to the money being thrown in his direction. Somehow he's quick enough to snatch every sailing dollar out of the air and they all get pocketed in record time. It's almost like it was some kind of Bonus Stage or something. If it could happen, a giant PERFECT could even appear across this location. But a that's completely asinine of a concept, such things don't happen.

Bison just gets a lot more money.

"Sound like a chump to me." Bison remarks after hearing Mitsuru's explanation. There's some more cracking of Bison's knuckles which is followed by the cracking of his neck. He doesn't seem to be ready for a fight but he doesn't seem to be wanting to back down either. It's complicated.

"Does it count as fightin' if I just knock his ass back to Chump Mountain?" Bison's talking a lot of stuff for someone that doesn't even know what's about to transpire. Or may potentially transpire. He's got a potential Shadaloo recruit in tow and he can't be seen as a coward or anything. Which might be what that quick glance at Hawksley was about.

"Nah, I'ma' chill right here." Bison says to affirm his stance of not going to train. "You just tell this chump: Don't Start None, Won't Be None." See, that's a good plan. He don't have to fight unless this fighter decides to start something! Simple!

[MITSURU]
Mitsuru is just silent for a moment, as she carefully connects the dots. She looks at Bison. And then, towards the mountain. ANd then Bison. The weight of what was happening was somehow more than the mountain that moved. The fourth member was going to take advantage of Mitsuru getting the best fighters in the world over... to fight them. Not the students or nominees. But the world class teachers. So when she got Sagat or Bison or like some old man in a mountain, no not that one, but a different one. He would just like, do that one legged slide, and then bonk them out to fight. And if Bison stayed here, he wouldn't help clean up the dojo, but make it a bigger mess. ANd then Hawksley and Coco, well, maybe he didn't even care about them. But Mitsuru did. ANd Mitsuru, well, Mitsuru does something a little impulsive around a world class fighter. Looking back at Coco and Hawksley, she looks up at Bison who -insisted- on staying and not training. She swallows hard, and looks out.

"I think he's even worse than that, um."

Mitsuru starts shaking, trying to think when thinking was so hard. "You know what, um. I think I heard him talking before. He's probably coming over because he is thinking he is going to fight an, um, in his words, a 'real boxer like Dudley or Steve Fox.' I didn't agree with him because I knew that Mike Bison was the, um, best boxer that ever was but he was throwing a tantrum and threatening to put a mountain somewhere. I even bet if you stay here he'll probably go away because he won't want to fight you. If he even shows up. Cause he's a jerk." Mitsuru pauses a moment for effect. "I bet you could find him and talk to him about it though. If you worry about the time it takes to find him though, um." Mitsuru puts another wad of bills over. "Maybe you can just take care of yourself. Don't worry about the training for now, I think you need to find him and teach him a lesson about what makes a real good boxer."

Mitsuru tries to wink, to make it clear she was NOT lying for wicked Tokugawa reasons.

[HAWKSLEY]
"Nobody's drugged you, Coco" Hawksley calls out to her. "This is magic not science. I think."

If Bison is sticking around, then the Irish boy is too. He's unlikely to be able to do much in comparison to the bigger man, but every little helps.

Mitsuru is obviously uncomfortable with this idea though. She speaks, she squirms, she starts trying to mess with Mike's head. She must actually be scared for their safety. Hawksley is no coward, but he's also no fool.

"Alright, Coco, let's go and do something about this dojo" he decides "I'm guessing you don't wanna be sleeping in the dust tonight." He reaches out a hand to her, trying to tug at her gently and guide her in that direction. "Come on Morgy, you too."

He figures Bison is big enough and bold enough to make his own choices.

[COCO]
"Wait, are we legitimately just going to be on our hands and knees all afternoon? I wouldn't have bothered putting this outfit on if I'd known!" Coco complains as Hawksley reaches for her arm. Her silver eyes flash as they turn up toward his, and her cross expression shifts to something more sly for a brief moment. "I suppose I can always get changed, though. I'll just need a few minutes. Come on, Lucky, I'll show you where I found the mop. There are a couple of sponges in there for you to get down and dirty with."

Captain Morgan has already slipped back through the open door to the dojo, so Coco heads inside after him, tugging the other rookie fighter along in turn. Apparently, she's turned over a new leaf when it comes to manual labour. Clearly, Mitsuru's influence is rubbing off on her.

[M. BISON]
Bison ain't the sharpest knife in the back. He really isn't. So the fact that he's just standing there and cracking his knuckles the entire time that Mitsuru is explaining means that he's probably thinking. Or trying to think. It's not exactly the easiest thing for him to do but he's actually listening with intent.

A couple extra knuckles (what?) get cracked when Dudley is mentioned.

"Oh word?" Bison looks at Mitsuru with an intense gaze. One that screams he's getting riled up. There may even be smoke coming from his nostrils. Like a damn bull. "Aight. Say less, then." Bison grabs the latest wad of cash sent in his direction because no matter how angry he is, there's always room to take more money. "Yo, Skrib! We rollin'!"

Skribble has already packed up his gear and was tip-toe-ing towards the van. Mans just saw a mountain show up out of nowhere. He wasn't hanging around for much longer.

"Finna' go find this chump, beat his ass, then come back here and show y'all how I did it." Bison offers a nod to the entire Team of Blaze.

"Stay Black."

And then he's trottin' off towards the van. TIME TO GO A HUNTIN'!

[HAWKSLEY]
Hawksley has to bite his tongue to resist the urge to respond how he really wants to, regarding their afternoon activities. His dark eyes meet her silver ones in defiance and there's the faintest hint of a smirk playing on his lips, despite the craziness and chaos around them.

"Sounds like a plan" he responds, making his way into the interior of the building and closing the doors firmly behind himself and the British kick boxer.

[MITSURU]
Mitsuru waits a moment, watching as Mike Bison takes the bait and... hunts, heading out of sight.

"'Stay black,' I- am I now considered a black woman?" Mitsuru mutters out loud, almost in disgust. Shaking her head, she turns around, reduring back to the dojo. Already, Hawksley and Coco were.. were they gone? Were they inside? Mitsuru wasn't sure. All she knew is that her first training was a bust, and worse, now all her special teachers were going to be at risk of the last member, the fourth member. This was all a mess, a horrible mess. But, at least, she had hope. Maybe things would work out with Iris too. Maybe everything would be fine. Stepping over the remains of the fallen gate, she tut tuts herself. She would have to start cleaning this to Kyokugen standards, whether by helping Coco and Hawksley and Captain Morgan or just...just doing it herself. She turns back, looking at the mountain that looms over the city.

Hopefully Zog and Brian Storm was gonna get something good to eat.

Log created on 09:14:38 06/06/2023 by Mitsuru, and last modified on 18:09:38 06/19/2023.