Description: The Kusanagi scion faces the Anti-K' -- with a special guest appearance by K' himself. (Winner: Kyo)
White Arena
Though the inner arena is the smaller of the two, the White Arena is no
less impressive than its brother the Red Arena, meant more for smaller, more
traditional fights. Spectator seating ranges around the oval fighting arena,
stretching up to top box seats which are built into the ceiling, giving those
that want to pay extra a rare bird's-eye view of the fighting. The lower
seating doesn't suffer though, the architecture carefully designed so that no
seat is too far away. (If you've ever been in an IMAX theater, this is much
the same.)
The fighting arena itself is completely bare of any obstacles or marking,
the floor sanded wood to resemble a dojo and to give fighters proper
traction. As Ken Masters is quite familiar with the power many fighters can
exhibit, the arena is separated from the seating with glass coated to reduce
glare, affording the spectators an excellent yet safe view. At the far ends
of the arena, doors which look like part of the wall when closed allow the
fighters to enter.
"Kyo Kusanagi and Kula Diamond, please report to the arena floor. Repeat..."
Good thing some kind Masters Arena employee is prudent enough to check the
fighter's locker room and wake the first fighter of the next match up, otherwise
he would have had to forfeit. Kyo Kusanagi rubs his eyes and looks around, "Huh?
Oh... I'm up already huh? That last match was so boring I started to nod off..."
He motions to the television across from him to the bewildered employee.
Kusanagi stands stretches his arms up over his head, and grabs his jacket, "I
guess that's what happens when weak fighters get ahold of tourney invites
though! I'm going to go wake the crowd up..."
A few minutes later... the tournament announcer is screaming hyperbole about the
next tournament match; after all, even a profesional wressling promoter couldn't
have scripted this next bout any better. Fire versus Ice, Heat versus Cold. The
crowd roars it's approval as the heat element of this battle trudges his way out
of the corridor and under the bright lights of the stadium, jacket slung over
his shoulder, gaze firmly directed towards the ground. "KY-OH! KY-OH! KY-OH!"
The pale and slender Kula Diamond has been loitering around in the lobby for
quite some time, stuffing her pockets full of candy from the snack vendors and
just generally making their staff good and rich... er. She definitely wants to
be on a sugar high for this match...
So instead of watching any of the other matches like a good little girl and
trying to learn a few more things at the last minute before her own match, she's
been tearing into plastic packages and sucking down more candy than a kid that
just broke open a pinata all by herself. When her name is called, she just kind
of raises an eyebrow, tearing the tops off of a big handful of pixy stix and
pouring them into her mouth as she starts to walk toward the arena. And when she
gets there? She's got a rope of licorice sticking out of one side of her mouth.
Her hair is in its more natural blonde state as she comes walking into the
stadium from the side opposite Kyo, and the only fanfare she gets is from people
who saw some of her previous wins in that other long-past tournament when she
was in the lower tiers.
Kyo sizes up Kula from across the arena floor, jacket still casually slung over
his shoulder, "Your luck must be really bad, having drawn me in the first
round..." Kyo sighs a little, looking bored as the announcer continues hyping up
this battle, "...listen, there's no way that you can possibly defeat me, even if
you use all your strength." He begins to put on his jacket now, and when that's
done, he reaches inside his pant pocket, retrieving his famous fingerless
gloves, "Give up now, before you get... melted." He grins at the last verbal
jab.
Kula just gives a long and drawn-out stretch to limber up, lacing her fingers
together and extending her thin arms up above her head. The action is
accompanied by a loud and squeaky yawn... just loud enough to drown out whatever
rude remarks Kyo had all ready for her.
"I'm sorry, what was that? You're worried about the chocolate in my pockets
melting? That's so sweet, Kyo." She then brings her arms down to hang loosely at
her sides, and she starts to clench and unclench her fists as her hair starts to
slowly fade into that familiar ice-blue shade. She then stands there waiting
like that, just blinking her big red eyes at Kyo as the announcer goes on. Then
as the announcer starts to step away, those eyes narrow slightly. At the very
moment she hears the word go, she's already sliding in toward Kyo to attack with
a jab toward that famous face of his. Since this is Kula, it's no ordinary jab.
Her fist looks like it's got broken glass stuck to the knuckles of her glove.
It's really just frost of course, but the effect will be the same if it lands.
COMBATSYS: Kula has started a fight here.
COMBATSYS: Kyo has joined the fight here.
COMBATSYS: Kyo blocks Kula's Jab Punch.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kyo
Kyo shakes his head sadly and points at Kula, "Ikuze!"
"Ready... FIGHT!!"
Kula gets in quick, thanks to her ability to literally skate towards Kyo on a
sheet on ice that forms below her, but she's not quick enough to actually hurt
said famous face; her opponent's hand comes up, grabbing her fist. "You should
have accepted my offer, I'm not going to have any mercy towards NESTS!!" He
cries out. The hand he used to grab her fist suddenly releases and grabs her
wrist, hopefully yanking her into his other arm's elbow.
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Kyo's Quick Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kyo
While the Anti-K' may go unrewarded for being slightly faster on the draw than
the heir to the Kusanagi flames, things at least don't start off too bad for her
either. Since she was only attacking with one fist, her other hand is still free
to help stop her from slamming directly into that elbow when Kyo pulls her fist
forward. That spare hand comes up to create a rectangular sheet of ice much like
a plate of glass between her face and his elbow, and while it still hurts just
slightly, it's nothing like slamming into a sharp elbow. She then yanks her fist
free of his grasp and starts to slide back away from him again, but not before
trying to kick him in the shin. There's a thick chunk of ice on the end of her
shoe with it, which looks just slightly more painful to be scraped by than her
knuckles did.
COMBATSYS: Kyo blocks Kula's Light Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Kyo
Kyo braces himself, absorbing the impact of Kula's retreating kick, though the
leg of his pants does get sliced up by the icy extension that forms at her foot.
"Do you think this is a game? You can't afford to play around with your level of
skill!" Crimson flame bursts from his right palm, roiling into a blazing orb of
fire that he hurls at his retreating foe!
COMBATSYS: Kula fails to reflect Yami Barai from Kyo with Counter Shell.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Kyo
Hit and run tactics have always been Kula's style, so even with all the sugar
she currently has in her system, she's certainly not playing around. She wanted
to stay in close quarters and see if she could get a few hits in, and then slide
back and try to keep away from Kyo. Nevermind that the attacks were stopped. She
would stick to what she thought she knew anyway.
Just as she's about to make some kind of reply to Kyo's warning, she catches
sight of the crimson flame and her train of thought is lost. She hates those
flames so much that all of her attention focuses on that manifestation of them
rolling towards her. Her hand instinctively comes out in a sweeping motion to
toss out an arc of ice, trying to whip them back in the opposite direction, back
toward Kyo, but it's simply not enough. She thought she already reminded herself
that these flames were much more focused than K's, but maybe she needed more of
a reminder in the end. A physical one.
"Ah!" She's promptly set on fire, the flames licking up along the shiny leather
of her suit before she falls to the ground on her rear end, and she gives a
short growl of frustration as soon as their snuffed.
..he wasn't kidding about the no mercy part, either. Kyo is on Kula in a flash,
rushing towards her as he sits there on the ground, "Get up!" Comes his voice
again, constantly goading the NESTS fighter. Since it seems Kula is having a
hard time recovering from his last attack, Kyo decides to help her up; he skids
to a halt right in front of her, one arm lashing out to try and grab her by the
throat with a choking grip.
COMBATSYS: Kyo successfully hits Kula with Koto Moon Positive.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Kyo
Kula is already trying to get to her feet when Kyo comes running toward her, but
given that she didn't retract the blades of ice on the bottoms of her shoes even
when she was set on fire by that last attack, it's a little harder than you
would think. She's leaning back on her hands when Kyo reaches for her throat,
and she's just not quick enough to bring an arm up to guard her neck. "Gk- !!"
Her slender neck is almost small enough for him to get his fingers completely
around, so it's not hard for him to lift her up like she were just some rag doll
and start setting her on fire again.
"AAAah!!" She wasn't only screaming because it hurt. She was getting good and
angry. Losing was one thing, but getting set on fire more often than when she
fights K' just sucks. "Let go of me!" Her hands were firmly gripping his wrist
even while she was still aflame, and she rather than let go, she started to use
them to pull her closer to him, those yellow gloves sliding down along his
forearm, loosening and tightening grip while she tried to stall for something to
slash at Kyo from behind.
COMBATSYS: Kyo dodges Kula's Behind Slash.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Kyo
Kyo engulfs Kula with crimson flame, but doesn't fall victim to her ploy, and
before she's able to execute her attack on his blindside he increases the
amplitude of his flames, blasting her away from him. The scion of the flames'
relentless assault on the NESTS agent doesn't end there though, he doesn't even
give her the chance to hit the ground after being blasted away by his last
attack. Instead, Kyo launches into the air after her, hoping to add a little
momentum to her impact on the ground with a wide, rainbow-arc kick that will
come right down on her in mid-air, if it lands!
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Kyo's RED Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Kula 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Kyo
Wide-eyed and gasping, Kula is knocked away from Kyo by more of those flames,
his arm ripped out of her grip by the force before she can even finish an
attempt at retaliation. Those eyes of hers widen even further when as she sees
Kyo suddenly coming down on her with that arcing kick. Another of her patented
walls of ice is pushed formed above her to stop the kick, but the added momentum
is still delivered nonetheless, and her back is pushed into the ground several
times harder when it slams into the arena floor. Dizzily, she rolls away
quickly, leaving the sheet of ice there under Kyo's foot while she gets to her
feet and narrows her eyes again, trying to focus and increase her control over
the icy aura that flows around her before she tries anything further.
COMBATSYS: Kula focuses on her next action.
Kyo stands on that sheet of ice, his vicious barrage halted for the moment while
he watches Kula roll away and start to focus her powers, it's not hard to
discern, especially when he can feel the temperature around the arena floor
lower a couple of degrees. "I'm glad that you don't get surprised by my flames.
Or is it that you just got scared and couldn't even move a finger!?" The sheet
of ice under Kyo starts to bubble and melt while flames start to lazilly rise
from his right fist, which is held at his side.
COMBATSYS: Kyo gathers his will.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Kula 1/-======/=======|=======\=------\1 Kyo
It doesn't take long at all for Kula to clear her head and concentrate on the
source of her power, and seeing the flames slowly start to rise up and envelop
Kyo's fist only makes her focus that much harder, her roiling hate for the
Kusanagi flame feeding her freezing aura and making it flare out wide, whipping
cold winds up around her that swirl around the arena. She shakes her head and
laughs a bit at Kyo's remark, replying, "I'm glad you at least noticed that.
They don't scare me anymore, no matter how much I still hate them." And then her
arms just shoot out to her sides, and she floods the arena floor with torrents
of her icy power in all directions, coating the ground in thick layers of ice as
she freezes everything in a wide radius around her in her attempt to turn the
Kusanagi into a popsicle. "Haaaah!!"
COMBATSYS: Kyo blocks Kula's Freeze Execution.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/-----==|=======\===----\1 Kyo
Kyo narrows his eyes, he knows what's coming next, "Come on... come on.." The
flames surrounding his hand suddenly spread to his whole body, creating a
swirling aura of fire that turns the Kusanagi heir into a human pyre. This aura
comes into immediate conflict with the wave created by Kula's freeze execution
technique, the two opposite forces clashing with each other in a maelstrom of
elemental fury. Kyo gets buffeted, and a thin layer of ice forms up his feet and
legs, but he stands his ground, weathering the storm, so to speak. "Is this the
best that your organization has to offer? You'll all get burned down to ashes!!"
Kyo holds down his hand, flames emerging from it, and then fires a Yami Barai
that explodes in a column of yellow and orange flame that rises from the ground,
soaring to the heavens. He charges through the pillar right at Kula, who is
still recovering from the massive Freeze Execution, and executes his own hidden
technique, the Saishu Kessen Ougi: Mu Shiki! He performs the entire Dokugami
chain while still on fire, each blow punctuated by a massive burst of flame,
then ends the technique with an Oniyaki that sends him spiralling into the air
with snake-like tendrils of flame surrounding him.
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Kyo's Mu Shiki.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kula 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Kyo
One would think that the massive amount of chi Kula pumps out with that attack
would leave her without enough to make anymore of her protective little shields
of transparent ice, but that would be totally wrong. Somehow, she still has more
than enough, which she demonstrates as soon as comes through her attack
unscathed and goes into that ultimate technique of his own. With a glassy sheet
of ice in each hand, which she stacks one behind the other, spreads her stance
and starts pushing forward with the shields to resist the force of every hit.
Each time one of them shatters or starts to melt too much, she shoves more ice
into it to reform it.
When it's all finally over and Kyo starts to cool off, she just stands there
panting and trying to focus again. All of that happened so fast, and she was so
worried he'd break through or that some part of the attack would come in too low
or too high to block with the ice sheets, and then on top of that she does need
a minute to restore her chi back to a nominal level...
COMBATSYS: Kula focuses on her next action.
Kyo meets heavy resistance in the form of Kula's annoying panels of ice that the
Anti-K' stacks up to defend his Mu Shiki, as soon as he breaks or melts through
one, another is formed right in his way. He keeps the technique going in hopes
that he'll succeed in busting through the ice maiden's defense, but to no avail.
Kyo's feet tap the ground as he lands from the Oniyaki, "That won't be enough to
stop me!" He too has ample amounts of inner strength left, even right after
pouring a massive amount of strength into that last technique. One again his
fist bursts with fire, this time as he takes a big step forwards and delivers a
punishing three-hit punching combination to the NESTS agent!
COMBATSYS: Kula fails to interrupt Aragami from Kyo with Diamond Breath.
COMBATSYS: Kula can no longer fight.
COMBATSYS: Kula has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Kyo 0/-------/--=====|
It's almost like Kula takes what Kyo says to heart for the first time in the
fight. Her hands are still stinging from holding those thin shields of ice up.
Since they're like glass and not metal, every impact is carried through them
almost like they're paper. Her hands may as well have taken the full force of
his attacks minus the flames. If she blocked anything more with those ice
shields she'd probably have to rely solely on kicks for the rest of the match.
She wouldn't be able to move them. So instead of making another panel of ice to
block Kyo's combo, she tries to interrupt it by sending a blast of icy breath
across one of her palms. Her hand comes up and bends back to make her palm a
flat surface to blow air across, and just as she starts to blow, her hand is
just smashed right into her face by one of Kyo's punches. From there she's just
gone, the ice in her palm shoved back into her own nose and mouth and chin along
with a big dose of crimson flame, and she just collapses, taking the rest of the
combo without any resistance as she falls to the floor unconscious.
Kyo finally takes Kula down, in somewhat gruesome fashion. The announcer gives
the "KO" signal, and Kyo has his first victory of the Master Tournament. He
stands there, looking down at the NESTS fighter with visage utterly devoid of
pity, the hand he used to inflict the final blow still ablaze. "You've got some
fancy tricks with your ice, but it wasn't enough to snuff my flame... you can
tell the people in your organization that they can expect the same treatment!"
He tells her, either unknowning or uncaring of the fact that she can't hear him.
With that, Kyo clenches the firey hand into a fist, extinguishing the flame, and
turns to the crowd, "Ore no..." the thrusts the fist into the air: Victory!
"...kachi da!!"
A mixture of anger and concern was the bitter medication he sucked back
with a draught of salty misgivings. The stadium was packed from rounded wall to
rounded wall with gawk-eyed, rubber necked chicken ballers who had come crawling
out of every street corner, side street, track meet, schoolyard, mall and office
building to watch the famed Kyo Kusanagi fight. Their sheep-like herding
behavior was little more than a disgusting testament to just why this young man
could scarcely condone any of them. Even now he hated himself for the bargain
made, a deal struck between two men who obviously had no good blood for one
another, despite their blood being one in the same.
His eyes, made dark by years of over-exposure to someone else's blood and
burning fire, their normal hue tainted by the flame that burned within, squinted
into dangerous slits watching the matches that unfolded on the small television
set before him. Unlike the spectators who had floodeds eats of sky boxes, K' had
opted to watch the preceedings from the relative comfort of a small back room of
the large facility where most of the janitorial staff had gathered. They were
the night crew, the hidden number, the equation that was rarely seen if not
running out to swab blood from the battle grounds or clean up spills in the cafe
or, heaven forbid, upsets in the bathroom. To K', they were the only one's
deserving respect. They were here because it was their job... Prize fighters
were here to dance like monkeys and jump through hoops in order to win some
stupid prize of pride, glory or money. An absolutely disgusting personality
trait.
The previous fights were easy enough to watch, huddled in the corner, his
leather-clad back to a wall, a knee brought up to support a lounging elbow,
lollipop tucked into his jaw, but the one that played now was particularly hard
to see to it's end. He hadn't bothered checking the brackets- he really didn't
_care_ who all was fighting or who he might have been fighting, but when Kula
Diamond's name was yelled alongside Kyo Kusanagi's, the festering flame of worry
crept into him. It was justified shortly thereafter by the veritable beating
that took place then. Save for the last few blows, K' had witnessed it all.
Why he'd missed the last throws of the battle? --- The answer became
apparent when the side wall of the fighting arena, normally locked to all, slid
open and K Dash stood in the lighted threshold, "Are you done?" He asks to the
now _dead silent_ arena, eyes focused on the other flame wielding young man. Oh
the audience knew him... vivid memories of another Crimson Flame slinging young
man interrupting Kyo's last battle came to the forfront. of their minds.
Kyo has his hands shoved in his pant pockets by now. He turns his head to peer
over at K Dash with a look of total disinterest. "No, but she is." The
implication of that reply are crystal clear: 'I still have enough power to take
you down as well'. Kyo motions with his head towards Kula, "...and aren't you a
little late to be trying to interrupt things?" he asks. Whatever the answer to
that may be, Kyo shrugs and starts trudging away from Kula, and right towards
K', or at least where the exit is.
He wasn't interested in anything Kyo Kusanagi had to say. In fact, he
wasn't interested in this arena, in this tournament, in the bystanders, in any
of the fighters enrolled, none of it meant anything to his central goal. He had
lost a bet and was here because the only thing he had left was his word and thus
he had to stick to it, lest he be nothing. Then again, he was well aware that to
the world and especially to Kyo Kusanagi, he was already nothing... but not yet
to himself. While indeed he still had a strong hatred for himself, so much so
that he'd avoided mirrors for the last great number of years, he still had to
keep certain checks and balances in tact to feel alright with what life he had.
He moved forward from that lighted threshold then, fully aware that any
move he made against Kyo Kusanagi would disqualify him instantly. He knew that
in this arena, before, after or even during Kyo's fight, he couldn't touch them
an without having his name stricken from the fight cards. That, mixed with the
fact that he'd given his word to see this stupid thing through was the only
thing that kept him from lashing out at the other boy immediately. Though,
granted, some of what Saishu said to him had stuck and thus he'd checked a lot
of his anger before stepping through those normally locked doors.
When Kyo moves towards the door, K' moves towards _him_, eyes squinting
again, that lollipop of his still tucked into a jaw, the wide guage white stem
against his lips a dull memory of his urge to smoke and a more vivid memory of
the posted 'No Smoking' signs, thus the sweet treat in general. Otherwise he
detested the things. He was upon the Kusanagi brat then, eyes locked upon eyes,
hands clenching into fists at his sides. "I know the rules... I'm not
interrupting anything."
Stepping around Kyo, K' moves immediately to Kula then, kneeling beside
the girl, a red gloved and ultimately unfeeling hand brushing fading blue hair
away. "You've still got a little life in you yet." It wasn't a question.
Scooping her up into his arms, K' stands and tosses Kyo another deadly glare.
"Mock me..."
He doesn't stop nor hesitate then, moving back to the door with the girl,
intentionally stepping out ahead of Kyo, "I dare you."
Kyo just smirks at K Dash's expectedly cheery demeanor, so while the
platinum-haired fighter does his best to engage in a steely-eyed staredown with
Kyo, all gets in return... is a smile. A superior smile. An I'm-Better-Than-You
smile. Kyo actually stops near the door to watch K' go pick up the retrieve the
girl, "Mock you?" he says with a chuckle, "Thanks for the offer, but I really
don't want to have to spend a half hour listening to you rant again..." There is
a confidence in his voice, one derived from knowing both that K' can't beat him,
and the fact that K' won't do anything with the tournament organizers watching
his every move. As the Beast of Flame walks past him, Kyo speaks up again, "Why
are you so concerned? She's with NESTS you know."
Kyo lets that hang in the air for a moment before cracking another smile and
quite possibly interrupting K' before the younger boy has a chance to reply,
"Ahh, you know what, nevermind? You two creepy kids deserve each other!" He
walks towards the door.
Life had a funny way of making things that shouldn't be 'okay' just fine
and in that regard, K's typically detoured demeanor had been pulled ever closer
to the middle of the road by circumstance. In the past, K' and Kyo had had their
discussions, sure, even discussed in brief K's life and this strange girl in his
arms, Kula. She, unfortunately, was one of those strange circumstances that at
this point seemed to have no real answre to K', he was a slave to contemplation
about it. Why was he so concerned... good question.
And then it's Kyo's turn to move on ahead of K' as the boy had stopped and
he hadn't even realized it, his eyes down on the girl held up by arms that,
unlike hers, still held their strength. "I'm done raving. Nothing I say matters.
I can talk 'til I'm blue in the face and it wouldn't change anything about this
fucked up situation. I know it. You know it." Shrugging his shoulders, K' blows
a sigh and allows Kyo to gain distance.
"I know she's with NESTS... But as much as I'd like to stop thinking about
her, I can't. Some things..." He doesn't say anymore. When Kusanagi's gone, he's
just gone and K' follows that path shortly after, detouring only to deliver the
girl into the hands of the Masters Tournament's infirmary."
COMBATSYS: Kyo has ended the fight here.
Log created by Kobun, and last modified on 17:20:08 04/26/2005.