Match of the Millennium

Description: Tairyu and Daniel had last faced off in the Neo League, with Tairyu as the victor. Now in the dark shadows of a Chicago Train Yard, they face off in a rematch in the World Warrior.

[DANIEL]
Chicago was not Metro City, and that was sometimes weird.

Known across the world as the Windy City, Chicago is home to some vastly important but underplayed sites that helped develop the United States as a whole. One such location is one of the United States' largest rail yards, which helps transport goods not only across the United States, but even into Canada and Mexico. The sheer size of the yard is overwhelming, especially considering just how old it really is. Of course, that isn't to say it is nearing the point of being considered ancient -- its actually rather modern. While the Day Shift may seemingly have it hard, the night shift actually has it far worse. A skeleton crew mans all of the work that a crew that was double the size during the day handled. The sound of the numerous trains whistles are constantly going off, creating a true nerve wracking experience. The darkness that rests over the yard makes it a bit harder navigate, making the men and women that handle the night shift the true miracle workers of the rails.

It was currently overrun by what could politely be considered to be nerds.

Oh, it was a gang by -some- definitions. It was a collection of like-minded youths, well. Youthful in spirit with some of them. A group of a dozen, each dressed in a Zoot Suit of a different chromatic color. PLus one, a middle-aged woman with a peek a boo cut, a strapless red dress, and laying on a flatbed of a rail car in repose. They were informally spread out over the train yard, though clustered around the flatbed. Specifically, a tall old-fashioned espresso machine with a make-shift camp cooking set. They were making crepes and beignets alongside the thick black coffee. Electro Swing was playing on a big set of speakers plugged into a little portable music player. The dozen gangsters seemed to be waiting around, waiting for the arrival of Tairyu along with the camera crew and judges. It was an official match after all.

The officials were staying as -far- away from the gangster as they could, by the way, on the other side of the fighting space.

The layout of the rail yard was at least lit with overhead lamps, though not perfectly. It was bordered by two trains on separate rails, with three railroads in between them. Two were currently clear, though there was always the risk of a training coming down. The third had some flatbeds and a few stand up shipping cars, giving an interior to fight as well as a high ground. There is no sign of Daniel right now. Just his entourage. Oh yeah, in case you didn't know, those weird Zoot Suit people? Those were Daniel's entourage.

You know, because Zoot Suit people were everywhere in the world now.

[TAIRYU]
It's certainly not the kind of gangsters Chicago is usually associated with, at least if the movies are anything to go by. Though to be fair... the opposing party arriving is also the type of gangster not usually associated with the city.

Namely, one from the other side of the Pacific.

There's no entourage accompanying the japanese man in a black suit over a red button-up shirt, however. As far as can be seen, Katashi Tairyu is here alone, walking his way down the tracks towards the arranged site of the battle-to-be, the faint embers of the lit end of a cigarette a small beacon within the shade to mark his approaching presence.

"Hooo..." Comes the man's voice from behind the bobbing of the cigarette, while bright green eyes sweep over the gathered 'Zoot Suits' once he has stepped into the plain view of the light.

"I suppose even places like this can draw an audience of *some* kind..."

[DANIEL]
But this kind of audience would show themselves to be a bit different.

The besuited gangsters, as it were, slowly get their attention on Tairyu as he lingers. They pace back and forth, watching him warily. Putting down coffee and snacks, turning off the stove. And then, the moxie on the flatbed rolls over. The dozen men and women begin to snap their fingers in rhythm. Closing in on Tairyu, forming a half circle. Approaching in, they keep their distance, switching places with each other at every snap. UNtil finally, they begin to snap in the air, snapping at double time in a great synchronized circle, starting low, and then moving high. They all come together, not at Tairyu, but at each other, bringing the snapping right in the middle of a huddle. And then, they explode up, waggling their hands in the air as they fall backwards, falling on the ground. There is a pillar of darkness in the middle now, rising to the height of a man. And stepping forward, a fanged grin, yellow eyes.

And an all too familiar orange zoot suit.

"Taaaaaaaairyu Katashi!" Comes the shadowman as he emerges, arms open as if he is going to actually hug Tairyu. He is not actually going to hug him. Probably. "You magnificent bastard. It's been a while! How's the Neo-League champ!" Daniel's fangs were glistening in the night, almost illuminated like his yellow eyes. But there wasn't even a flicker of hostility. "How's Southtown been! I've been- I've fixed the cult thing by the way! They aren't ladykillers anymore! They are now-" Daniel turns back over to the chromatic crew, as he raises his arms up at them like they were his backing band. They all mime Daniel, snapping in encouragement. Daniel turns back over to Tairyu, "The Zooters! It's dumb, but, you know, we've been working stuff out. On the lead of some trouble makers, I think, with the whole World Warrior deal." Daniel's grin drops, a look of severe intensity coming over his shadowy visage.

"Have you seen any routine troublemakers, scuzzy, that might need my attention?"

[TAIRYU]
The synchronous approach of the Zoot Suits into dancing is... well. Unsettling. It's definitely unsettling. Tairyu picks up on it, though he might not let it show in the same way as the crew handling the logistics of the oncoming fight. There is a deep frown, at least, while he watches their performance piece. But he keeps his ground, seemingly convinced that he's not in at least any *immediate* danger.

Thankfully, his suspicions are proven correct, when the number leads up to the summoning of the dark mass that would become Daniel.

He doesn't mirror the energy of the greeting given to him, however. At least it does look like he's listening attentively enough. And for that matter-- his brow arches slightly at the declaration of the... uh, new name of his entourage group. With that, Tairyu slowly draws his fingers to hook along the cigarette at his lips, pulling it out with a great puff of a cloud of light-gray smoke.

"...Not making it look any less like a cult, Little-san."

A little shake of his hand brings some of the ash of the burnt-out portion of the cigarette to fall and scatter to the tracks, while he regards Daniel with some more growing curiousity over the question. "...No. Can't say I have." He might sound dubious with that particular answer, at first. But then...

"Mind elaborating?" The japanese man prompts then, lifting the cigarette-holding hand to point the orange embers of it in the direction of the Zoot Suited man. "Something about this whole tournament the rest of us should know?"

[DANIEL]
Daniel looks back at his gang, at the mention of how it doesn't look less like a cult.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting that a lot." Daniel admits. "But you know there are rules and ritual- you know what lets change the subject yes, elaborating." Daniel hastily changes the suspect. He seems antsy as he looks at the cigarette. The fire? Or the memories of smoking. But he's cordial as he moves forward, keeping his side of the tracks as he digs his hands into his... pockets? Skin? "I don't got a lot of information to be honest, Scuzzy. I'm relying a lot on my men and women, and well." He pauses, as a burst of flames shoot out from the portable stove.

"Well they have a lot of spirit."

"My ladykil- my -Zooters-" Daniel corrects himself. "Are dedicated in pursuing the likes of Shadaloo and all that's associated, especially after what they did to Zach Glenn. -They- registered me in this, and I'm looking for clues. What I do know is this." Daniel tips his trilby. "Miss Calendar is an interesting name, and a great dresser. I mean if I knew about it, when I saw her just there, and with the hair and those great big- I mean, but there's something suspicious. But there are 12 months in the year, you dig? It rings a bell. But Whom The Bell Tolls. That's basically it. A name that sounds like it should belong in magazine with great articles, a tournament with a lot of promises, and a Mister Breece that nobody is allowed to see. I might get a better lead, but like, my last fight was Rei scuzzy. And now it's you!" Daniel looks back over at the Yazuka gangster. "I'm not facing a lot of bad people, you dig? But one of us is very likely going to reach the end of the tournament. And I have a bad feeling that the final prize is going to a lot more trouble than it's gonna be worth. Just a hunch. Anyways, Scuzzy." Daniel eases into his defensive stance of Todoh. One palm up, another palm behind it. An even, steady gait. "We have a fight to settle." He asks a question he knows the answer to, but he asks away. After all, he respects Tairyu, especially after their last battle.

"Got any new tricks since we last fought?"

COMBATSYS: Daniel has started a fight here.

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

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu listens. The Yakuza is... well, much more choice-worded, might be the polite way to say it. It's a contrast to Daniel's winding elaboration, given to the japanese man's own request. Still, he listens, though...

He might not *entirely* follow the whole thing. There's a lot of information there that he doesn't have complete context for. But enough to pique an interest.

But, when it comes down to it, it is just as Daniel says. They have something else to settle here, for the time being. At the question, though? He takes a long drag from the cigarette again, and--

The air around him changes. Like heat gathering and distorting light. With it, comes a faint, azure glow. One that grows brighter, and brighter--

And it creates a mirage. One that not everyone might be able to see, but at the very least, Daniel will. One of a large, azure eastern dragon hovering in the air behind the Yakuza, it's length coiled in an idle figure eight.

"Who knows?" He wonders out loud to the question, in spite of the illusion hovering about him, his eyes studying the mostly-burned cigarette for a moment, before turning to focus on Daniel himself.

"That's my line to you. However." One step, two steps forward, the illusionary dragon following behind him in the air. After those two steps, his posture straightens up, and his feet spread subtly apart while he remains otherwise fully upright.

"Better ways than words to answer with."

His free left hand curls into a fist, held down at stomach-level and knuckles pointed down towards his opposing foot. The right hand, meanwhile, flicks the cigarette upwards into the air, before tightening into a second fist, held up at his chin level.

Stance assumed, he waits. The ember of the flicked cigarette arcs through the air, the light vessel almost seeming to hover suspended in the space between the two for several long seconds.

But eventually, gravity does bring it down. Landing on one of the rails, burnt-end first, and bouncing off it.

That's the starting mark.

The instant the cigarette hits the ground, Tairyu's foot kicks into the ground to launch him forward, in a rapid burst of motion. Body lowered down into a low stance within those few fractions of a second that have brought him right up to Daniel, his right fist similiarly held almost low enough to scrape the rails.

The dragon, too, has swept low, to flow just above the ground in alignment with that arm.

With one final powerful stomp of his foot on the ground to stamp himself in place, he springs up. His fist unfurls into an open palm that thrusts nearly directly up in a vertical vector towards the ex-detective's chin, with the fierce, illusionary dragon of azure flames soaring up in rapid coiling motions around the arm.

COMBATSYS: Tairyu has joined the fight here.

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

COMBATSYS: Tairyu successfully hits Daniel with Rising Claw.
Glancing Blow

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

[DANIEL]
Daniel notices the dragon.

He remembers that dragon, when they last fought. He does not like that dragon. Oh professionally he is fine with the dragon. But last time, that dragon nearly cooked him. Yes it's an extension of Tairyu, but as that cigarette comes through the air, it's just one more thing to keep track off. It flies through, and touches the rail. Daniel had a lot more to say. He always had a lot more to say. Even when it was not time to say it. "Here it-"

Daniel doesn't even get a chance to finish that thought.

Tairyu is out like a rocket, a living blur in the darkness. Daniel sees it, and he's presented with a conundrum. A choice between the dragon and the fist. Daniel chooses the fist. Both of his palms shift against Tairyu's forearm, gently but firmly pressing against it. In tandem, Daniel makes deliberate steps, adjusting his position against the leading forearm with careful footwork. That keeps the fist impact off the detective. The azure flames? Roasts right up his hand and face, tearing into him fiercely.

That damned dragon.

The energy rakes over him, and the shadowman gives a low growl. Body still burning with that blue flame, Daniel steps back and away. He can't even speak, short of a "Very nice." Tairyu is just too damn fast, and the pressure now was real. He needed space. He raises both of his arms up. Unfortunately for Daniel, so do the Zooters. A synchronized tell, as they all raise their hands up. Black shadow energy surges up, mingled with the dim orange light of his human chi. He gives a nod, and he brings his hands down. His cohorts do the same, and Daniel unleashes a shockwave of shadowstuff and orange energy, the blast expanding out from around him in a hemisphere fasion. All as the Zooters shout out the name.

"KASANE ATE!"

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

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

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu's arm snaps right back again, as quickly as it had first thrust out from down below. Though without ever having given purchase upon the chin he had been targeting there. He doesn't look disappointed by this, however. If anything, there is a faint look of approval over Daniel's defensive technique-- even if the presence of the azure dragon did end up meaning he couldn't quite escape from the secondary effect of his assault.

Still, there's distance left between the two of them. It works both ways -- giving him enough time to gauge the other man's presence. But equally, giving the same to Daniel, and to prepare a counterattack.

The tell is clear. Though Tairyu does look confused, for a split second. Even if Daniel is mostly made of shadows, surely his arms can't reach that far--

Realization hits too late.

The shockwave explodes out in time with the name of the technique from Todoh-ryu, and the Yakuza's eyes widen just enough to break his otherwise stoic front. His feet kick at the ground, but... He's just not quick enough.

The blast washes over him, sends him off his feet. Whatever distance he might have been able to close again during the interim with deliberate steps is all blown away again, as he's sent tumbling across the ground, until his momentum is finally stopped by his back smacking into a the large steel chunk of one side of the rails, drawing a sharp, pained grunt from the Yakuza.

"...Nnnhh. Got my answer, then," he growls from down there. He's quick to get up again, sure, but the distance regrown by getting blown away by the shockwave is enough to give Daniel breathing room. Enough to gauge things, and give Tairyu that much more ground to cover all over again.

Ground that he *is * determined to cross all over again, mind you. He's not even fully all the way up before he's sprinting across the arena all over again, pouncing from rail to rail like a Yakuza-shaped rocket. More ground to cross this time, enough for Daniel to see him coming.

But that doesn't make him any less fast, as it turns out. He's closing in on the other man dangerously quickly, though not in the same lowered posture as he had made use of before .He passes through a shade left between the lights overhead, and from within the shadows, thrusts out an open hand. Reaching to grasp and pull at Daniel's shirt, and pull him closer. The second thing to slip back into view from the in-between shadow is Tairyu's head.

Swinging in wildly, aiming to bring his thick forehead to bear where he is clearly intending to yank Daniel's face to.

"ORRRAAAH!!"

COMBATSYS: Daniel interrupts Headbutt Grab EX from Tairyu with Jumping Jack Flash EX.

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

[DANIEL]
Rei had noted, that despite being a shadow abomination, Daniel stuck with the same kind of fighting style as he did as a human. A strong internal style, based on reaction into action. Kasane Ate was a simple attack, especially compared to the flashier and arguably more functional fireballs like Hadokens or *spit* Ryuugekikens. But for defensive utility, it was effective in keeping people off. As the shadowy aftermath of the Chou Kasane Ate spreads across the railyard, the Zooters snap their fingers in a kind of applause. Tairyu wasn't going to be off him long, and the azure flames were still gnawing through his shadowy form. "Like A Dragon, nnnrgh!" Daniel tries to smooth out the flames, but there is no time. Tairyu is already recovered, and already closing the distance like a bolt of lightning.

But Daniel had more time to prepare.

Bringing himself back to his center, he returns to his sturdy, steady Todoh-Ryuu Stance by the time Tairyu makes his charge. He was watching him, studying him. Predicting. The tell comes when he looks to one of the cars on the rail. When Tairyu goes into the shadows, the detective doesn't lose his tracking. The timing was tight. If he missed a step, well, it was going to suck. It was going to suck a lot. Daniel is grabbed by the jacket, and he steps in. The jacket is ripped by the sheer force, and the detective lets out a groan of pain. Yanked in, the forehead comes out, and he keeps moving in. Noggins graze noggins, as Daniel's head and cheek miss the solid head and he is sent neck-first into Tairyu's shoulder, nearly turning a mere headbutt into whiplash. Stepping into the attack was extremely dangerous.

But it let his counter-attack slip in.

The shadowman brings his own palm into Tairyu's abdomen, underhanded, as he is dragged in, bringing it with his -own- uppercut not unlike the yakuza's own. Daniel and Tairyu surge up in the air, as Daniel keeps the clinch. Shadowy energy floods from Daniel over Tairyu, the dark force saturating and mingling with Tairyu. As the duo reach the height of the launch, Daniel breaks the clinch with a sharp hand chop with the right, followed by grabbing and swinging Tairyu overhead. ANd then, with another Kasane Ate gesture, slams himself and Tairyu hard through the top of the car, bringing the fight into the interior a freight car. The interior is filled with boxes and crates. Daniel stumbles as his lands, smashing into one and letting it's contents spill out. Just some kitchen appliances it looked like. The shadow energy was still clinging to Tairyu, almost like a chain. Groaning, he grips his chest, where the torn zoot suit hangs. "Oh, oh god." He moans. "That's basically my -skin- scuzzy, jesus christ in a top hat." Yellow eyes burn in the darkness, along with the lingering blue embers from before, telegraphing where he is clearly. But now, shapes were forming in the shadows of the car. People shapes, street illusions.

The shadowscape was beginning to spread around the train car now.

[TAIRYU]
Best laid plans don't always go as intended. It's a lesson Tairyu has learned well enough in the past. And one that he is reminded of when his body folds over the shadowman's counterattack.

"Ghurk--!"

Launched in the air, for further abuse in mid-air -- and finally brought down throug the roof of one of the boxcars, in a glorious display of property damage that leaves the two in the darkened depths.

At least the remaining embers of his dragon's flames light things a *little*. Not ideally, but a *little*.

Enough for Tairyu to see the faint, dark color of his own blood when he spits it down onto the flooring of the boxcar underneath him. Ugh. That hurt. That hurt a lot.

"I see..." comes his grunted response to the complaint that, in hindsight, seems pretty reasonable considering this rather disturbing revelation of Daniel's current state of anatomy.

Still, the Yakuza pushes himself fully up to his feet while the shadows build -- and his hand tugs at the chain-like, lingering length of the more solid-feeling shadow clinging to him.

"Sorry about that."

The lighting conditions are, as mentioned earlier, not ideal. But he can see the glow of his opponent's eyes. He can feel him, too, through that length of shadow. Something he's intent to follow now, with another tug to help guide him closer with his rapid steps.

"Hhhaaa--!!"

Guided in by that length, his foot suddenly sweeps across the floor in a wide horizontal arc that knocks various spilled-out appliances around in it's path for the heel of one of Daniel's feet. A swiping kick that starts low and goes high, meant to swipe the foot he's aiming for out from underneath his opponent. Even if only temporarily, but enough to disturb balance.

COMBATSYS: Tairyu successfully hits Daniel with Sweeping Strike.

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

[DANIEL]
Already, Tairyu is back on the offensive.

While Daniel preferred to be on the defensive to attack, Tairyu's relentless offense was beginning to overwhelm Daniel. His attempt to move forward is met when a low kick WASN'T a low kick, but brings a rather big appliance up high at his head. Leaving him exposed fo the swiping kick that was coming right for his legs. Daniel is sent tumbling, as the appliance crashes next to him with a splash of -something over him.- The greased up Daniel looked almost like an open black sore, with yellow eyes and white fangs glowing in the dark. "Yeah, it's fine scuzzy, it's all part of the work." Daniel stuffs his suit flesh back into himself, as he rips out the blue embers before. Already, the healing process was beginning. Daniel hoists himself up, and brings up the appliance, gripping it in both hands. What it looked like, very suspiciously, was the M. Bison's Thick & Sick Fat-Infusing Deep-Frying Device XXL Magnum.

A clue of might be behind this tournament.

Also it was chrome-plated and everything. Fresh oil sloshes out, as it is helpfully pre-oiled for ease of use. Daniel seemed to be struggling over the sheer weight of the industrial-strength fryer that was made for the comfort of a small studio apartment. But as shadowstuff flows from him into it, it begins to morph. Spectres dressed in zoot suits, suspiciously looking like the same kind of zooters that were worshipping Daniel outside, were emerging from the walls and boxes. The car was becoming more and more oppressive and claustrophobic. As the shadow essence takes over the fryer, the weight almost seems to be gone, as Daniel hoists it around with both hands. When it swings it though, it clear.

It's just as heavy as before.

With a great push of momentum, Daniel spins, attempting to hammer the great big appliance straight into Tairyu's torso. Should it connect, the appliance would basically bend in half, it's physical substance becoming degraded. Daniel would give a second spin, finishing the one two with a battering overhead strike, as the murmuring of the shades grows louder and louder, the snapping of fingers coming with it. Whether the battering strike connects or not, the M. Bison's Thick & Sick Fat-Infusing Deep-Frying Device XXL Magnum with explode into pieces, it's oil and essence collapsing into the shadowy essence that was consuming the interior of the car.

It probably isn't a good thought to think about what happens to people that spend too much time in the shadow.

COMBATSYS: Tairyu counters New Jack Swing EX from Daniel with Tiger Drop ES+.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Daniel           2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|>>>>---\-------\0           Tairyu

[TAIRYU]
The low-to-high sweep of Tairyu's leg carries the Yakuza into a pivoting turn around the heel of his anchoring foot -- a full revolution that sees him fully facing Daniel at the ready once more by the time his invading foot has returned back to the ground.

THe blue embers are gone. It's harder to see Daniel now. But Tairyu can tell -- somehow, out of of some instinct that is surely afforded to experienced fighters at the level of these two - that he's picking up one of those same appliances he had just sent flying a moment earlier.

He can tell something beyond that is happening. A twisted energy imbued into an improvised weapon. And beyond that-- the ever-shifting pressure within the boxcar itself. Baring down on him, more and more and more.

He is not a fan.

Through the dark, his green eyes watch. Narrow. Watching for something that he can't quite properly see with his eyes themselves. It might even seem like he is completely blind to Daniel himself, with how still he remains even as that massive, shadow-infused deep fryer comes baring towards him in a spinning swing.

But then. Just before the very apex of that swing, the Yakuza's eyes widen. A flash of azure glow, mixing with the normal bright emerald of his eyes. The dragon might not be seen there right now, but that doesn't mean it isn't there.

In that instant, it and Tairyu are one. And ahead of him is a tiger, swiping it's fangs at him.

The apex of the deep fryer's swing is reached, and--

*CRACK*

The very instant where Daniel's momentum and weight towards Tairyu are at their strongest. That very instant, at a speed so violently violating the sound barrier, almost every joint and muscle in him seems to move. One knee dropping down for added momentum for the gunshot-like launch of an azure-glowing fist, straight into the very center mass of Daniel with such brute force as to knock him and the impending attack away despite having been so *incredibly* close to pulverizing the side of his own skull. The impact accompanied by a shockwave strong enough to blow the sliding door of the boxcar off it's hinges behind him, and let the artifical light of the trainyard proper inside.

"...Don't much care for fighting in the dark."

[DANIEL]
*CRACK*

That's the sound of the sonic boom, as the punch connects -savagely- in Daniel's center. The shape of the zoot suit detective ripples on the shockwave, blue motes of energy sprinkling his form as he is knocked back to the far end of the car. The blast explodes the door of the boxcar out, the shockwaves knocking the crates and boxes and appliances everywhere. The shadows around Tairyu burn away, the shades and spectres recoiling as the light fills. Daniel himself is illuminated clearly now, a black and slimy smear on the wall, studded with blue flames and embers that cling to him. There is a bubble, a burble in the wall.

"Fantastic...."

It's the warning, as the boxcar groans, tilting as a large amount of force builds up. The black smear coils up, becoming a single pustule on the side of the car. The wall crunches, as the blob of shadowstuff turns into a vague, half-formed zoot suit shape.

"Todoh...."

And as the mound turns to legs, it fires off from the wall. A second shockwave comes, pulling the boxcar along the rails as the whole force of momentum comes rioting in. A shadowy limb aims to tear right into Tairyu's torso. Should it connect, he would carry the yazuka fighter straight into other side of the car, suddenly giving the boxcar momentum as it knocks off the blocks, and starts -moving- along the track. And there, with or without Tairyu, Daniel would slam into the wall in an eruption of shadowy chi, before aiming to slam straight down to the floor of the freight car.

"PAAAAAUNCH!!!"

COMBATSYS: Tairyu just-defends Daniel's Fantastic Todoh Punch!

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

[TAIRYU]
It's not the first time Tairyu has seen Daniel getting reduced to an inky splatter. And certainly not the first time he has seen him reconstitute back from such a puddle to return back into the fight.

That knowledge helps him prepare for the oncoming counteroffensive. The echoing words telegraph what's coming, but is it enough to brace for it?

THe shadowy figure comes, and Tairyu's gaze steels itself upon the mass rocketing towards him. Feet stamped into the floor, arms both held up--

And with a great shockwave, both his palms slam into that dark, inhuman limb, helped along by the dragon now returned to coiling along each of his own limbs to help fight off the horrid, dark influence of the shadowy chi. But the physical force, despite Tairyu's own considerable strength, is enough to push him along the floor of the boxcar, still at dangerous velocity towards the other end.

"Rrrhhh--!" Something he fights with all his might, still. But it's not something that's reasonable to face with brute force alone. With that understanding, he manages to anchor his weight primarily on one foo, and bring himself turning. And Daniel right along with him. It's not a full revolution, perhaps, but it's enough to redirect the shadowman to the side and past him, before letting go.

"--hhhrrraaaaa!"

Momentum released to allow Daniel to sail the rest of the way past into crashing on the opposing wall. And then-- down, with all the weight of the Fantastic Todoh Punch.

So much weight, in fact, that the boxcar's weight is tossed around all over again. All the weight pushed down on the end Daniel has found himself in, and sending the other end flying off the tracks and lifting high up in the air, almost enough to bring the thing upended on itself.

Something that sends Tairyu flying, too. Nearly out the damned hole in the ceiling the two of them left in it with their initial entry. Or, no, that's not entirely right. The force of the car getting tossed like that wasn't actually enough to catapult a man. What it *should* have done instead was to tip the Yakuza with it, and send him falling down towards Daniel's end.

But instead, it was a calculated move. A deliberate leap with the liftoff of the one end of the car, in an effort to maintain control over his own momentum, and send him in a wide arc through the air and down that sees his body flipping along, turned slightly to one side and flipping around with one leg stretching far out, pointed to the sky first.

The dragon coils around that leg, a fierce blaze of azure flames leaving it's mouth before uncoiling, and sweeping straight down adjacent to his foot, like a bird of pray diving for a grounded prey, all alongside that somersaulting, descending kick.

"ORAAAAAAH!"

COMBATSYS: Daniel blocks Tairyu's Dragon's Descent ES.

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

[DANIEL]
Caught him.

Connecting with Tairyu, the almost unmovable object is met with a barely stoppable force. Blazing into him, he -almost- gets the yakuza knocked over, to slam him in. He was sliding him along, so the fate was almost certain. But it's a little bit of aikido that is Daniel's undoing. When Tairyu makes his pivot, Daniel's own strength is guided and redirected. Daniel slams into the other end, and with his finishing slam, derails the car. He catapults Tairyu at least.

Unfortunately, THe roles become reversed.

Daniel is now the barely movable object against Tairyu's almost unstoppable force, as he launches Tairyu straight at him. Sweeping his arms around, the blast of shadowy energy around him is scooped together. Thrown up like a shield, he brings his palms up. He is forced to cross his arms, as the raw force actually makes his -legs- give away to shadow stuff. The car tips over to the side, rolling over as the blast through the ceiling now becomes the exit on the side. Crates roll all over, breaking and smashing as one slams into him. Sinking halfway into a puddle of his own shadowstuff, he was flailing in it, falling apart. "By the way." DAniel groans loudly, as his form nearly disintegrates under the raw force of the kick. He was hazy, barely intact, almost ready to fall into the shadows around them. "I need to compliment you on that anchor and pivot, with the punch. Master Todoh would be proud." And that seems to ignite Daniel's spirit, as he returns back to solid form.

Daniel surges back with equal rhythm.

A palm strike with the left, a hand chop with the right. Shadowy energy surges from Daniel as he opens up with the all too familiar combination. "You still got that champion spirit, and more!" An elbow jab would slip in, before he would flicker at Tairyu's flank. There, he would give a duo of swift energy slashes, one from the left, and one from the right. And the combination assault would complete as he would lurch in, bringing a full-bear pivot throw. "Hell, I confess, I'm impressed.

"Tell me, have you trained under any masters recently?"

COMBATSYS: Tairyu counters Harlem Sunset from Daniel with Dragon's Clutch EX.

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

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu's foot makes a heavy impact upon Daniel's crossed arms, right alongside the dragon moving in tandem with him. With the guard intercepting him, he is effectively left suspended in the air, for a second, before he's sprung off into a backflip away. Landing smoothly into a crouch roughly five meters away.

A distance that might still as well be barely anything, as far as the two of them are concerned, surely.

"Not in a long time," comes Tairyu's answer, even as he rises to meet the renewed offense from the detective. One more time.

A retreating step to the back and to the left to keep himself away from the opening palm strike. But when the hand chop from Daniel's right side comes? Tairyu instead steps *in*.

That advance does carry him slightly to his own left, and towards the shadowy detective's right side. His own hands grabbing onto the outer side of his arm, to furthe redirect the chop from above away from him. And more importantly, as his other hand reaches to grasp into Daniel's shoulder, to help leverage his knee to snapping into his midsection, with the illusionary dragon once more directed alongside his limb to tearing at shadowy flesh with azure flames.

"...This is just where I am," he murmus then, after that blow, with his hands still gripping on tight to shoulder and forearm in an effort to maintain an advantegous position. "After everything I've lost and gained."

[DANIEL]
A point of growth, reveals itself.

The precise counter-attack from Tairyu utterly negates Daniel's offense, catching him on the hand chop. His own predictability becomes his undoing. When the dragon comes, it rips through his being along with the knee. Daniel's face begins to sink into the darkness. The shadowstuff fades, indistinct, unreal. In Tairyu's grip, it feels like it is melting away into nothing. Where he is now, after everything he had lost and gained. For a moment, it feels that Daniel would just... dissipate. Fade away. For a moment, the fight seemed all but decided.

"Not Over Yet Scuzzy!"

The inky darkness surges back in shape, lurching in with a palm strike. The palm strike and hand chop, the two techniques that make Daniel -exist-. Shadow energy floods back as Daniel attempts to twist and reverse Tairyu's own hold, to grip the yakuza on his own shoulder and forearm to reverse the advantageous positioning. Should he succeed? He would pivot, spiking the yakuza straight down into a pin, wrenching his arm in order to keep the hold. "Now it's just where we'll go next!" We? Maybe Tairyu's terse commentary was sparking something in the detective's noggin. Daniel's shape wasn't -there- anymore. It wasn't intact. All it is, is the shape of shadows with a pair of tendrils like hands. Burning with blue embers. Glaring with yellow eyes.

And a pair of pure white teeth, grimacing.

COMBATSYS: Tairyu blocks Daniel's Skiffle Drop.

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

[TAIRYU]
IT's a strange sensation, feeling someone begin to disincorporate within your own hands. It does make even Tairyu's face twist some, with the discomfort of understanding that someone is steadily fading away.

Or at least, was fading away.

The movements that come from what constitutes Daniel now are difficult to make out, on account of most of Daniel's form just... well, simply not being human anymore. It's more instinct than vision-based analysis that manages to drive the Yakuza to letting his right hand go, and guiding that same arm to brace against the sudden thrust of a palm strike. Or... what counts for a palm strike, anyway, with Daniel's arms seeming more shadowy tendrils at this point. Still, he grunts against the impact bearing down upon his muscle and bone, while his eyes flicker to the twisting mass of energy.

This is bad.

He's quick to make the judgement that staying in this positioning will end poorly. He's pulling back, thus, at the rebound of the blocked strike, and his hand still gripping on Daniel's shoulder gives a harsh shove to push him away, and help him, in turn evade the reaching grasp.

"Not yet--!"

And with that same motion, the shove continues into a turn -- and his previously-blocking arm swings to swipe his fist, with a sudden burst of azure flame along it that previously formed the illusionary dragon, in a fierce hook for where the detective's head... well, at least he *thinks* whatever is there is the equivalent of his head now.

COMBATSYS: Daniel blocks Tairyu's Heated Wind.

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

[DANIEL]
Crisis under pressure.

The shadowman was lashing out, attacking in a desperate last stand. It's not unusual in the tournament scene for these kinds of last stands. But with Daniel, like most of his technique, it was a last stand in pieces. As the initial strike is blocked, the detective is exposed to the counter attack. That damn dragon, with that damn flame. As the blue fire is unleashed, Daniel brings his shadows around him, holding it up like a bulwark. The fire consumes in, burning down, down, down as more and more of the embers flood him. It was enough to stand against it... until the punch comes. That blasts apart the shadows. He was fading again. He was fading like before. This time, it would stick.

But it wasn't done yet.

The shadowman blasts back at Tairyu, low and slow. It's a whole surge, a whole sea of shadows now, a formless blob, rising up right under the yakuza's feet. Should Tairyu be caught up by the surging shadows, it would seize him, and then, slam him squarely down. And with it, a single hand. Cascading down, it bring a singular, destructive hand chop with skeleton-severing force, bearing the full weight of the shadowy stuff down. And if it misses? The exact same, if only into the shape of something like Tairyu. A memory. A shadow. Before Daniel would fade into the shadows all around. Absorbed into the darkness.

Destroyed, and defeated.

COMBATSYS: Daniel can no longer fight. Is this the end of lovable Daniel?

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

COMBATSYS: Tairyu counters World's Greatest Hand Chop from Daniel with Dragon's Tail.

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

[TAIRYU]
The fiery fist ultimately rebounds from the shadow barrier, even as the impact might cause it to fall apart. But the shadows keep coming. They surround the Yakuza, nip for his heels.

A memory runs through his mind. An instinctive warning that briefly makes his shoulder ache. A quick calculation in his mind, to weigh his options.

And then, a decision that leads to the dragon surging down along the length of his leg. A fierce burst of flames that light up the darkness brought by the shadows below him, as that very same leg turns into a wide sweep, the foot sliding along the floor creating an azure trail behind it, before lifting up.

"DORYA--!!!"

Turned into a rapid spin that guides the back of his foot and dragonfire both through the side of what remains of Daniel's image. A violent, bright burst of flame that washes the grasping shadows away, and shatters the solid mass in front of him.

But-- he can still see Daniel coming.

"Hh--?"

When his foot lands again, it's already too late. His side has been left exposed, and he doesn't even have the time to bring his arm up to guard against the hand chop that...

...Goes right through him?

"...?"

All of what is there of Daniel does, too. When Tairyu turns, he could swear he can see that faint shadow of an attack still hitting something vaguely familiar. Just not him in the now. Before it's all gone again.

"...Where we'll go next, huh..."

It's only then that he actually allows himself to pant faintly, with one hand swiping sweat from his brow he hadn't even realized had gathered there. And then, he finally moves to duck through the hole left in the ceiling of the side-tipped boxcar, to emerge into view for all the officials and the cameras that had been deprived the view of most of the fight proper. As the last man standing. For now.

COMBATSYS: Tairyu has ended the fight here.

Log created on 09:54:08 09/25/2023 by Daniel, and last modified on 11:21:15 09/28/2023.