SNF 2005.03 - Shingo vs Eightball

Description: Shingo takes on Eightball at the Taiyo Dome for this Sunday Night Fight! (Winner: Shingo)


Another weekend, another SNF. Talk about luck how the two main days of the
weekend both begin with 'S' allowing the fight organizers to interchange it
freely between Saturday and Sunday without having to worry about changing the
name. At the Taiyo Dome, though it may not be as large as the Howard Arena, the
central field has been converted into the tennis court (with the nets being
removed) for today's rematch between Taiyo's own Shingo Yabuki and the billiards
fighter Eightball. Because it is not the main event, it is not exactly packed to
capacity but there a good portion of the seats have been filled.

Shingo is already down on the edge of the arena completing his stretching and
warm-up exercises. He has faced the tattooed man before in a regular match to a
draw. Despite this, he seems very confident that today's outcome shall be
different. "Hey Mister Eightball! Good to see you again! Have a good fight!" The
boy smiles and waves to his opponent. There may be money involved in this match,
but Shingo's here mostly to have fun. To show he is ready, he steps out into the
arena and stands in his fighting stance, "All right! Let's go!"

COMBATSYS: Shingo has started a fight here on the left meter side.
COMBATSYS: Shingo focuses on his next action.

Eightball is on the opposite side of the arena from Shingo, doing his own
pre-match preparation, which for him is not stretching and warming up but
checking all of his gear; making sure all the right colored balls are in the
right pockets, chalking up his pool cue and making sure it's aim is on, and so
on. After he looks prepared he steps up into the ring, lifting a hand to wave a
touch towards Shingo as he replies, "Hey kid. You too." He gives a light nod as
Shingo indicates that he's prepared to fight, adjusting his own stance into a
low, defensive one. His grip on the pool cue twists as both hands take hold of
it, and most likely to no one's surprise, he begins to glow with small swirls of
smoky blue-white light, gathering up his energy for the coming battle.

COMBATSYS: Eightball has joined the fight here.
COMBATSYS: Eightball gathers his will.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Shingo           0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0        Eightball

A low chuckle is emitted by Shingo, "Heh. Just as I expected." Not that anyone
else save himself heard that. He only fought Eightball once but already knows
he's got how this fights pegged down to a 'T'. The man is going to take his time
to gather his chi for his big attack in order to end the match quickly. If
Shingo is going to have any chance at coming out on top this time he's going to
have to keep the pressure on before Eightball can get any shots off. Much like
fighting Jinmu. Except that unlike fighting the archer, he's going to get a few
free punches in because of Eightball's tactic. Which suits him just fine.

The young fighter starts off into a run headlong at his opponent without
hesitation. There's no need for him to waste energy and distance with a zig-zag
motion. He needs to get into range fast. And what better way to do it than with,
"SHINGO KIIIIIICKU!" Shingo leaps up at Eightball. Reaching the peak of his jump
he twists his body and swings his leg in an arc at the other fighter's head.
Upon landing the boy will start to sidestep to the man's left. The only question
is if Eightball will let that happen.

COMBATSYS: Shingo successfully hits Eightball with Shingo Kick.
- Power hit! -

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Shingo           0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0        Eightball

Eightball is indeed somewhat predictable... and notoriously bad at defending
himself against Shingo's attacks. And this is evident as he's struck rather
squarely in the head by Shingo's foot, his expression best described as shocked
as he's hit with the attack. He doesn't even have time to look pained thanks to
the surprise. Either way, after the strike he tries to move away a short
distance so that Shingo can't immediately follow it up, but he doesn't end up
continuing his will gathering after the poor luck that followed it that time.
Instead he pulls out a small cue ball from a pocket, quickly flinging it in
Shingo's direction, in an attempt to both harm him and slow his next attack down
a bit.

COMBATSYS: Shingo blocks Eightball's Fastball.

Oh ho ho ho. A change in strategy. Mark of a good fighter. Shingo grins not only
when his kick knocks some sense into Eightball but also when the cue ball is
flung his way. "Heh. Looks like I got you changing your plan, Mister Eightball,"
comments the boy. Without thinking and acting through reflex from practicing his
moves almost every day, he pivots clockwise on his front leg. Coming back around
the cue ball is blocked and knocked away with a raised forearm during the spin.
His left arm swings forward in a hooking motion with a lunge at the backed up
Eightball to close in the distance again, "TAKE THIS!" Hopefully the punch will
knock some more sense into the man. The follow-up isn't another attack, it's him
dashing in to keep close for combat.

COMBATSYS: Eightball dodges Shingo's Dokugami Mikansei.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Shingo           0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0        Eightball

"I've learned a lot since our last fight." Eightball gives his simple responses
to Shingo's words, rubbing his forehead briefly as he decides that he has at
least a second or two before he needs to defend himself again. Once Shingo
knocks the cue ball away, however, he's back into a fighting pose. As Shingo
comes launching in the pool shark's direction, he decides that rather than
absorb the blow and stay up close, he'd rather just dash back a ways, rather
ungracefully ducking out of the way of Shingo's attack. He starts to circle
around Shingo, lest he end up backing into the wall if he keep trying to keep
distance by just staying away. Another cue ball is pulled from a pocket while
he's doing the whole duck and weave motions, though instead of flinging this one
he charges it with energy, enough so that the cue ball inside is unable to be
seen in the glowing chi that surrounds it. The ball of energy is then thrown up
into the air, and as it comes down he ducks into a low stance, holding the pool
cue's tip between his thumb and forefinger, the other hand jabbing it forward
when the chi ball comes down in front of him, the whole motion like that would
be used if one was at an actual pool table. The end result, here, of course is
sending the glowing ball sailing in Shingo's direction.

COMBATSYS: Eightball successfully hits Shingo with Cue Ball Shot.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Shingo           0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1        Eightball

The energy orb catches Shingo in the chest, dissipating upon impact making the
boy grunt from the chi being absorbed by his body. Almost like taking a Hadouken
point blank. Which is not fun. Know what else is not fun? When one's opponent
keeps backing up to fire off projectiles at you. This is a different change of
pace than when they first fought. Good. He thought it was going to be a repeat
of last time. Seems that Eightball is making sure it's not. "Heh. That's good,
Mister Eightball! That's how we know we're becoming better fighters." Grin.

As Eightball circles around and puts some more distance between them, Shingo
keeps up with the offensive. He spins and kicks with a forward hop to launch the
man airborne. On landing he launches another spinning kick hop to juggle. His
feet touches the ground and the boy makes a larger jump into the air with a
somersault that ends with a drop heel kick to slam Eightball crashing into the
ground. Pefect execution.

Or was it?! Shingo swung with more force than needed. This throws him off
balance and sends him hurtling down with Eightball. Crash landing face down,
"OWowowowowowow!" He leaps up on his feet, his face red with embarrassment and
faceplanting the ground.

COMBATSYS: Eightball blocks Shingo's Oboroguruma Mikansei.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Shingo           0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1        Eightball

Eightball seems to be doing pretty well with the 'back off and lob projectiles
at Shingo' angle, much better than he did with his strategy last fight, so he
certainly is not planning on stopping any time soon. This next attack comes at
him a bit too fast for him to duck out of the way of, but he does manage to
guard from the attack with his arms, taking all three impacts, just, not nearly
as hard as he would've otherwise. After taking the last blow he does indeed go
crashing to the ground, but it was partly due to the force and partly due to
self-will, and the desire to roll backwards a short ways. After all, he likes
staying far away from his aggressor. Once he rolls far enough away he rises
quickly, immediately lifting the stick up to point at Shingo once he's in an
upright position. He holds it like one would a rifle, lifting it up as though he
was aiming over the top with one eye, pointing directly at Shingo. With this
done, a lance of energy similar in shape and length to the cue stick itself
fires out from the tip of the cue, hoping to pierce through Shingo.

COMBATSYS: Eightball successfully hits Shingo with Skewer.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Shingo           1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1        Eightball

Shingo guhs at the lance of light streaking at him just as he got up from making
a fool of himself after performing his Unpainted Twilight Wheel. Yep. This is
exactly like fighting Jinmu. Just substitute the arrows for chi-shaped pool
balls and laser bolts. Which both are annoying either way. Darn projectiles. You
would think that he would've learned by now. But eh, he stands there unmoving.

Not good when someone is opening fire upon you. The optimal choice would be to
keep moving so that they are unable to get a suitable aim on you. As opposed to
what Shingo does of lifting his arms in the basic cross-arm block everyone does
to absorb the attack. Big mistake. The bolt lances through his defenses and once
more he is struck in his chest and pushed back even further away from his
target. "Ungh."

Gotta get to moving. Yabuki dashes serpentine at Eightball. Straight-forward
isn't going to cut it any more when the situation has changed to where he's
getting picked off from a distance. "SHINGO KIIIIICKU!" He's got to close in the
distance again. What better way than what did the job the first time.

COMBATSYS: Shingo successfully hits Eightball with Shingo Kick.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Shingo           1/------=/=======|=======\=====--\1        Eightball

Eightball sure does not do well against the Shingo Kick. You'd think he'd do
better after hearing the scream the first time through, but nope, once again
he's kicked right in the head despite his attempts to sidestep out of the way,
although slightly less painfully than the last time. "Ow!" He exclaims,
apparently hurting from being kicked twice in the same spot. He doesn't really
back away much this time, only trying to get maybe a couple feet away. "That
kick hurts!" The reason he doesn't run away again is due to his next projectile
not really needing as much distance as the rest. Shingo may remember this from
the last fight; Eightball's hand is dropped to his side, glowing for a second as
he flings it up towards Shingo. What forms is a blue triangle, flying the short
distance to strike Shingo in the head or chest. Whether it hits or not, on
impact with Shingo or the ground behind him it shatters apart, sending little
blue energy fragments around before dissipating.

COMBATSYS: Eightball successfully hits Shingo with Breaking Shot.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Shingo           1/---====/=======|=======\=======\1        Eightball

May remember? No, no, no. Shingo does remember this technique. And it hurt as
much then too! The triangle whaps him right in the head. Hard. The object
shattering before Eightball can even complete the follow through. Cause Shingo
is going down nonetheless. The force of the impact flooring him. But unlike when
he messed up on the Oboroguruma Mikansei he is able to catch himself with his
hands and roll over on his side to evade any ground attacks.

Pushing up to his feet halfway into a crouch the boy uses his leverage to charge
at Eightball. If the man had ever fought Kyo Kusanagi before or seen match
videos of him, he'll know what's coming next. If not, ah well. Shingo is going
to elaborate for him. A hand shoots out to grab Eightball by the collar and to
elevate the taller man even higher so that his opposite hand can come in with a
fist aimed at his gut. If this were a more serious fight the punch would be
coming for the solar plexus. After his foe hopefully doubles over from the
strike, the hand that had the hold on him will release and raise to crash down
on the man's back to slam him to the floor, "KIAI!"

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Shingo           1/---====/=======|=======\=======\1        Eightball

COMBATSYS: Shingo successfully hits Eightball with Hatsugane.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Shingo           1/-======/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2        Eightball

Eightball does spare Shingo any more attacks while he's down, waiting for him to
get up and trying his best to anticipate what's coming next. And he does so
poorly, as he gets hit once again, being grabbed, punched, and slammed just as
intended, coughing after the punch but not much past when he hits the arena
floor. As he hits the ground, he starts to roll away once again, getting a good
distance. But, against all odds and patterns, he does something different this
time, /not/ getting into his usual crouched position that precedes the explosion
he's known for abusing at least twice a fight. No, instead he rises up to his
feet, holding the cue stick in one hand as the other moves in front of him,
waving around in a triangle pattern. A moment later, fifteen colored billiards
balls sort of appear in the air in front of him, although they don't have
numbers, just colors. A white sixteenth ball appears a small distance behind
them a bit closer to him. It's not hard to see that this is exactly the setup
that is used at the start of a game of pool, and Eightball is apparently first
to break. He strikes the cue ball into the other fifteen, a little bit closer to
Shingo, scattering them all over the place. At first it might seem like a waste
of energy as they can't all be aimed directly for Eightball's opponent, but it
doesn't take much to notice that all fifteen of the balls are arcing in the air
towards Shingo, seeming to have some form of limited homing capabilities.

COMBATSYS: Shingo blocks Eightball's Fifteen.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Shingo           2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1        Eightball

Arching his brow in confusion staring at the balls appearing floating in mid-air
between the two fighters, Shingo doesn't know what to think. He's never seen
this move before and it's all new to him. What to do, what to do? "...Oh snap."
His eyes widen when the setup scatters and seemingly seeks in on his position.
Ok, he knows what to do. It's simple. Run. The Kusanagi-ryu apprentice starts
moving to evade the multiple missiles targetted on him. He starts moving so
quickly that he even stumbles slightly on the get-go. Which kinda works out on
his favour, three of the faster balls colliding with the ground where he just
was. Twelve more to go.

The fact that the balls are smaller and faster than him doesn't work out in his
favour. But he's got to make the best of it. Using his hands to swat away at the
spheres when they draw near to smack him. Shingo gets rid of four more in this
fashion. The other eight? Well. He slides and circles to face the remaining
balls raising his arms across his head and tucking his head to his chest. His
arms getting plainly bruised from the flurry of objects raining on them. The
barrage is over and Shingo shakes his hands wincing from the pain. "Got some
tricks I didn't see last time, huh mister." He grin chuckles.

Oh and look at that. All the running about that he did got him in closer to
Eightball. SURPRISE! "Yo mister, you're wide open!" Shingo lunges with a hook
punch at the man's jaw. Hopping to the side after the swing.

COMBATSYS: Eightball blocks Shingo's Aragami Mikansei.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Shingo           2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1        Eightball

Eightball looks partially entertained by Shingo's response to his attack,
observing as he manages to avoid or defend against all of the balls. "Nice
going, kid." He compliments, but doesn't stop to applaud, that's for sure. He
perhaps was too impressed to notice Shingo advancing, and as such has little
time to evade, instead lifting an arm to block the punch. He moves back a step
after the attack is stopped, though it doesn't look like he's going further than
that. He doesn't look to be trying to move away enough to launch another
projectile, just enough so that he can dash forward with the next attack,
putting a little extra momentum into it. He lifts the cue stick up with one
hand, starting to spin it about rapidly like one would a baton, trying to smack
Shingo on the head or upper torso a few times with either end.

COMBATSYS: Shingo counters Cue Spin from Eightball with Tsuki Hiji.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Shingo           2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\==-----\1        Eightball

"Heh. Thanks, mister!" Shingo replies in mid-hop to the compliment. You can tell
he's the type of boy that doesn't let things like that go to his head. For he
still keeps his eyes on Eightball and on any retaliation he may have coming. The
fact that the billiards player hops back before charging in helps him out in
that regard. The boy seeing the attack coming from a mile away. Not literally of
course. After all they are only a few meters apart.

Looking like a single-engine airplane propeller whirling at him, Shingo doesn't
make any movements to outright block or evade the spinning pool stick. Instead
he moves -at- it with a punch of the forward hand right into the middle of the
twirling staff. That is, he inserts a fist at the spot closest to the focal
point of the spin. It would be where the wodden shaft would be moving the
slowest and incidentally where Eightball's hand would be. Suddenly his fist
opens to grab where he was aiming, to slow or even stop the spinning motion of
the attack and to catch the man by surprise. When this happens Shingo's rear leg
comes swinging inward directly at the man's waist. If Eightball was just a
little shorter, it would be the ribs. Either way. The kick may have been strong
enough to send the older fighter back a few feet -if- Shingo didn't still have a
grip on the pool stick. He wants to keep this as close as possible.

Eightball looks confused when he's charged at the same time he dashes towards
Shingo, but he quickly understands what exactly is happening. Not that it gives
him any better of a chance of stopping it, but he understands. As he's kicked in
the side, he grunts, but tries his best to focus on wrestling his pool cue away
from Shingo as best he can. "Let go, kid!" He hollers while he tugs it away from
Shingo. Eventually, he keeps a good grip on it before deciding to kick Shingo
straight in the gut, trying to do damage, and afterward, push him away,
hopefully prying him away from Eightball's weapon.

COMBATSYS: Shingo fails to counter Light Kick from Eightball with Tsuki Hiji.

[                           \\\  < >  ///                           ]
Shingo           2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=======\1        Eightball

The kick comes out and Shingo releases one hand from the stick to knock it away.
Unfortunately for him, it comes out way faster than he thought. Hitting him in
the intended area before his arm can get there to stop it. The resulting action
has him stumbling backward to recover his balance and giving Eightball acess to
his best techniques again. The boy knows this. And so does the rest of the
crowd. It's plain to see that both fighters are worn down and this match is
about to be over any second now. Who will emerge victor is still too close to
call. One can only wait and see.

Exactly what Shingo is forced to do. Well, not exactly forced. But chances are
even if he were to rush in again, Eightball would still manage to catch him with
an attack before he could do anything. So he adapts a defensive stance to at
least give himself the upper hand for whatever may come next. At least that's
the idea behind his actions, "Heh. Close match. Could be over soon."

Eightball has a perhaps premature triumphant look on his face after he retrieves
his weapon, stumbling back himself after the kick, as he was still pulling hard
with his upper body despite the off-balance kick. He ends up falling down to the
ground, although it was obviously intentional; he 'falls' in the perfect posture
to perform his trademark attack. One leg forward, the other under him. An eight
ball and cue ball are revealed to no one's surprise, the black ball ending up on
his toe while the white is sent flying up into the air above him. The eight ball
is shot first, flying towards Shingo at a decent speed, the cue ball second,
flying much faster than the first. They're timed as best as Eightball can manage
to collide and explode nearby as Shingo as possible, putting as much of his
energy into it as he can manage, as he knows that this could very well be his
last attack.

COMBATSYS: Shingo dodges Eightball's Eightball Explosion.

Whoever didn't see -that- move coming must be blind as a person with their eyes
removed, blindfolded, and locked in a safe that is placed into a lightless room
barricaded by bricks in the deepest basement of a sealed dome within a cave
several hundred feet underground being sucked into a black hole. Yes. It was
that obvious that Eightball was going to go with his faithful Eightball
Explosion attack. Another one of those moves that Shingo has had the pleasure of
experiencing first-hand in their first fight. So he knows what to expect. This
bit of knowledge serves him well for using it he is able not get explosion all
over his clothes. The boy effectively jumping back out of range of the resulting
explosion of cue ball striking 8-ball.

Now is when he makes his move to finish this fight. Shingo lands from his
evasion and instantaneously surges forward with a burst of speed at the cloud of
smoke as the explosion dies down. He intends to use it as cover so that his
opponent is unable to see what technique is coming. That is until it's too late.

"Burning..." Shingo reappears jumping through the smoke cloud in the air to land
directly in front of Eightball. His fist already being swung before he even
touches the ground. So that when he does, there's but a split-second before his
fist rockets against the man's person, "...SHINGOOOOOOO!" He's aiming for the
head but will settle for whatever body part he can get. Fully intending to
indeed make the Eightball Explosion the man's last attack.

COMBATSYS: Shingo successfully hits Eightball with Burning Shingo.

[                           \\\  < >                                ]
Shingo           0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1        Eightball

*WHAM*

The first punch is all Shingo needed to unleash the full fury of his self-taught
Kusanagi-ryu kobojutsu style. For immediately following it up is another punch
reminiscent of his Dokugami Mikansei then another punch from his right hand.
Next three consecutive hits of his left hand to Eightball's head. The onslaught
finally ends with a brutal backfist involving his forearm against the man's
chest to send him spiralling through the air.

'Faithful' is the last adjective that is fitting for Eightball Explosion.
Eightball stands by it, of course, but at least when Shingo dodges it, he
doesn't look as disheartened as he normally would. Perhaps he's starting to
expect it. But, he moves to try to jump out of the way of the attack, knowing
full well that he can't take another hit of any sort. Especially not /that/ one,
and especially when he was completely unprepared to take it. He gets lumped
quite good, the last back fist sending him flying. Since he isn't going to be
getting up again when he lands, he tries to swing his cue stick somewhat wildly,
hoping to strike Shingo, somewhere, anywhere, just hard enough to at least get a
double KO. When he does indeed land, quite a ways away, he's not moving at all,
quite unconsious from that last assault.

COMBATSYS: Eightball can no longer fight.

COMBATSYS: Shingo counters Medium Strike from Eightball with Tsuki Hiji.

Like a doofus Shingo holds the pose after sending Eightball flying through the
air with not quite but close to the greatest of ease. Cause come on. He pretty
much just knocked the guy out. Cold. Like hard. So him holding up his forearm
after backhanding the man with it should be excused. You'd do it too if you won
a tough fight like that. It's mere coincidence that the held arm is what also
saves Shingo a second time when the swung stick strikes out at him.

A stating of, "Huh?!" is all the boy gets out before his body reacts
instinctively and forearm swings against the pool stick to spare him the
experience of -another- draw match against Eightball. He was this close to going
down. But because he decided he wanted to be cool and do a finishing pose like
in those cheesy kung-fu movies he doesn't. Talk about luck.

Rubbing his arm from the pain of wood impacting against it in addition to
aggrevating the previous bruises he got from blocking all those pool balls,
Shingo looks around to the roaring crowd cheering his victory and smiles. First
to Eightball for the most excellent fight and then to the audience themselves.
His hand shoots up in a triumphant pose, fist clenched, and he shouts out, "I,
WON!" He then allows the medics and what not to take care of him as others tend
to Eightball. This match is over.

COMBATSYS: Shingo has ended the fight here.

Eightball is bashed and bruised real good, and may very well have a broken bone
or two. And he's very out cold. So, he ends up getting carried off on a
stretcher, probably to the hospital. He'd probably congratulate Shingo if he
could speak. Maybe he'll say it if Shingo comes to visit him, or when he
recovers.

Log created by Shingo, and last modified on 05:46:36 09/28/2005.