Description: If you've played Garou: Mark of the Wolves, this is totally Rock's stage. (Draw Match)
Something unexpected's been happening in Southtown. All of the world's biggest, most famous fighters... are lagging behind. Instead, the top spots of the League are occupied by youths. None unheard of, but all of them up and coming as opposed to established. Two of these are Rock Howard and Shingo Yabuki -- top-ranked fighters each, and each young proteges (?) of two of the world's most famous -- Terry Bogard and Kyo Kusanagi, respectively. It's hardly a wonder that a fight would be scheduled between the two, or that one would challenge the other eventually.
Rock's here first, outside of a jazz bar in Metro City that's hosting the event. The street's been cleared, cars pulled out of the way, and a sizable crowd has already gathered. Rock, for his part, is sitting on the hood of an El Camino, waiting.
COMBATSYS: Rock has started a fight here.
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Rock 0/-------/-------|
The Hakyokusaken fighter isn't left waiting long as a yellow cab pulls up and out steps Rock's opponet for the night. Taking care of the fare and tip, Shingo is quickly ushered towards the centre of the make-shift ring for his fight by event staff. He nots that as usual all the cameras and other necessary equipment have been erected and it looks like everyone was just waiting for him.
As he makes his way towards where he'll be facing off against Rock the other Taiyo student waves to the fans he has and gives a nod over to Rock. "Yo!" Wide grin. "Sorry about that!" It's only been a little less than five minutes. "I'll be sure to make this a great fight to make up for it!" The boy shifts into his fighting stance for a moment. "Now! Here I come!" He gives a wide friendly grin to Rock and figures that he might as well get this party started.
The boy darts in to the left and to the right of Rock as he charges in, "SHINGO..." He makes it look like that he's going to launch into his signature attack. There's nothing to dictate otherwise. So he's hoping it comes as a surprise when instead of flying through the air he instead takes the low road and comes in at Rock with a sliding kick to his feet as though Yabuki were running for first base. "SLIDAAAAAA!"
COMBATSYS: Shingo has joined the fight here.
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Rock 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Shingo
COMBATSYS: Rock dodges Shingo's Medium Kick.
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Rock 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Shingo
"Hey, glad you could make it--" Rock begins to say, but by the time he's able to get the words out, Shingo is coming at him with a sliding kick, speeding towards the hood of the car that he's seated upon. The odds of being struck while he's off the ground are fairly low, but that doesn't rule out a follow-up attack, or that this is a feint of some sort. Rock rolls backwards on the roof of the car, planting his feet against the windshield and launching himself off up and over Shingo's heads, whipping over him and around in mid-air until he lands on his feet somewhere behind the Kusanagi-ryuu fighter. "Alright," Rock says, slipping into a more comfortable fighting stance.
"Kusanagi style kobojutsu, right? I've never gotten a chance to fight it before. Good thing I was up on the car or that could have stung. I'm all eager, now... So let's see what you can do!" Rock throws one hand in front of his face, a hand characterized by one trait: Purple flame. But not the flames Shingo might be thinking of. Instead, Rock hurls a burst of "wind" towards Shingo, propelling a wave of energy across the battlefield Shingo's way.
COMBATSYS: Rock successfully hits Shingo with Reppuken.
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Rock 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Shingo
Being up on the car didn't necessarily mean that Rock would've escaped the Shingo Slider. Rock would never know that one kick from Shingo is enough to cause cars to explode upon impact and catapault into the horizon. It is very fortunate that he wasn't the one getting hit by it. Not so fortunate for Shingo since it sets the Kusanagi-ryuu fighter up for the retaliatory blast of wind-chi that knocks him to the floor just as he got up from his sliding attack.
Tucking his head in, Shingo turns being knocked down into a recovery roll off to the side up to a crouch. "Heheh. Man, I almost forgot how much those things hurt!" So the Shingo Slider didn't work, how about the tried and true version of, "SHINGO KIIIIICKU!" From the crouch the boy pushes up with all his might in his legs with the assistance of a hand to the ground to propel himself up into the air and at Rock with a downward and powerful kick to the blond's head.
COMBATSYS: Rock counters Shingo Kick from Shingo with Joudan Crack Counter.
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Rock 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Shingo
Shingo's foot powers into the side of Rock's head, nailing him on the shoulder and dropping him into a pained crouch from the sheer power and force of it. Rock falls to one knee, perhaps suffering from a dislocated should--or, perhaps, not. Shingo might notice two things: He didn't strike with quite the impact he intended, and, two, his foot won't for the life of it return to him now that he's done. That's because Rock is holding it by the ankle with one hand, one inch above contact point. "That technique," Rock says, standing back up without releasing Shingo's leg. "That's a pretty good one, and... you came up with it on your own, didn't you? I'm impressed," he adds, before driving his own foot up into Shingo's ribcage to push him backwards. "You're not just a rip-off of your sensei."
"Oof!" Shingo stumbles backward to land on his backside but is quickly on his feet. Despite having his best technique stopped, which has been happening an awful lot lately, Shingo is standing with a bright smile on his face and rubbing the back of his head. "Heheh, yep! Thanks, Howard!" There's no need to mention that Shingo Kick did originally start off as a bootleg version of Kyo's R.E.D. Kick.
Shingo hrms and thinks for a second. This fight isn't exactly starting off as he was planning to. Rock has managed to render all of his attacks ineffective and get struck by all of his opponent's. This might be the time to rethink some strategy here. Shingo holds his stance and considers what he can do to improve his chances here other than getting hit all the time.
COMBATSYS: Shingo focuses on his next action.
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Rock 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Shingo
Rock remains where he is, too, eyes on Shingo, practically waiting for an opportunity to open up. And then... the fight all but stops. Neither fighter seems to be moving -- Rock's eyes are set on Shingo, every muscle tensed and waiting for action. It's like some sort of Hong Kong action flick; one might imagine that they're fighting the battle in their minds. "I'll you this much," Rock confesses.
"You're more interesting than your style. Not to slight kobojutsu, I'm just more interesting on seeing what you've done with innovation... than just fighting you, you know? So, then... Bring it on."
COMBATSYS: Rock focuses on his next action.
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Rock 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Shingo
Kobojutsu or Kusanagi-ryuu? Shingo is pretty sure that Rock meant the latter more than the former. In which case he doesn't take anything personal by it. For as long as he's been fighting he has met several folks that have never been and probably never will be big fans of Kusanagi-ryuu or its practitioners. It happpens for whatever reason. Shingo has the type of personality where he doesn't even take it personally. As long as it's not opening insulting his chosen style of fighting.
Nod. "Well! Don't worry! I've got lots of tricks up my sleeve, Howard! Like I said. I plan on making this a great fight. Win or lose!" Pause. "Preferably win of course," he grins. Shingo bolts forward. "So try this one!" To ensure that he moves as fast as possible he doesn't do any of that darting stuff. Just a straight on run. When he gets close enough to Rock he punches with an uppercut strong enough to lift Rock into the air only to use a double-handed smash to slam him back into the ground. "Oriyaaaaaa!"
COMBATSYS: Rock dodges Shingo's Random Weapon.
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Rock 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Shingo
"You'll have to--" Rock's already moving as Shingo comes towards him like a freight train. The fighter leans backwards away from the initially uppercut and then whips /towards/ Shingo, placing himself closer to the fulcrum of his strength -- his shoulders -- and away from what he's using to strike. The result is, for a moment, absolute point blank range; range that Rock actually /doesn't/ wind up exploiting. "--do better--" Instead, he breaks open a can of speed, whirling around his opponent straight to the back. For Shingo, there'll have been a Rock Howard there on second... and then nothing the next.
Rock's movement is quick, attempting to snare Shingo by the back of his pants and under one shoulder and just /fling/ him over his head, straight down into the pavement. "--Than that, Yabuki!"
COMBATSYS: Rock successfully hits Shingo with Quick Throw.
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Rock 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Shingo
Apparently speed is the key in this fight here. An area that Shingo is sort of lacking in compared to his opponent. Something Rock has no problem in proving by not only zipping past Shingo's version of a Kototsuki Positive but sliding around to behind and tossing the brown-haired fighter through the air to land on the hood of the El Camino. There's a loud thud from the impact and when Shingo gets up he leaves a nice dent. Nothing a little body work won't fix of course.
Shingo rolls off the car and stretches his neck. That hurt. "Ung." Still there's no real sign of frustration or anything on his face. "Thanks for the tip. And man, are you fast." Shingo brings up his fists to get back into a stance and grins, "That's cool. I like a challenge!" So Rock suggests that Shingo move faster? Then okay, he'll move faster. Getting back within range of his opponent, he lunges in with a swift punch to Rock's sternum. A hook punch. "Body ga...AMAIZE!"
COMBATSYS: Rock interrupts Aragami Mikansei from Shingo with Jab Punch.
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Rock 0/-------/---====|=======\=------\1 Shingo
Rock flows. That's the best way to describe his movement. Somewhere between the circular recoil of Geese Howard and the straight-on moxy of Terry Bogard, Rock has discovered how to flow like water. Or like air. As Shingo makes his punch, Rock rolls with the blow, planting his own fist into the crook of Shingo's elbow, placing a small bruise there and throwing Shingo's own rhythm out of order. The blond is struck, although perhaps not as hard as Shingo might have hoped. "That's more like it," he says, "But you're still not going all the way!"
Well, it's not like Shingo has a secret transformation hidden away that he's been keeping concealed until it was needed so that it could expedite his crushing of Rock into a fine paste. As cool as that might've been, it's just plain vanilla Shingo. He thinks in the split-second between having Rock 'nudge' his punch out of the way after taking a slight hit and the next attack he's about to throw out. Eh, why not? Shingo figures that with such close range he might as well give it a shot...
...A shot with an elbow that is! He jabs his left elbow at and out at Rock hoping that the blow is strong enough to lift the blond youth into the air. "Bing!" And if it's not? Then it's highly likely that the follow-up right elbow that comes in immediately after is. "Bang!" Then with both of them in the air it's not too hard for Shingo to crash his right shoulder into the airborne Howard to send him reeling away. "BOOM!"
COMBATSYS: Rock dodges Shingo's Nie Togi.
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Rock 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Shingo
Rock moves like air -- always right up in Shingo's face, always curling around his strikes, beneath them, over them, but never finding himself struck by any of them. It's an exercise not in reflexes or response time -- which Rock is hardly anything special at -- but in grace and fluidity of movement. And that? That just happens to be Rock's forte. Once Shingo extends himself as far as Shingo might theoretically be extending himself, Rock's hand snaps out like a start, grabbing him by the forearm as he turns himself around, using his own body as a fulcrum.
It's a move Shingo might be familiar with -- borrowed from the Ansatsuken school. Or, specifically, Sakura. "Not mine, pal -- I'm in tip-top shape!"
COMBATSYS: Shingo blocks Rock's Medium Throw.
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Rock 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Shingo
Generic shoulder throw. Technically he figured that such a technique came from along the lines of jujutsu. But nowadays almost every form of martial arts makes use of it. So much so that Shingo has been on the giving and receiving end of a throw along those lines. Enough times that in this instance he is able to brace for impact from the fall by twisting his body in mid-throw so that he lands close to his side and front than flat on his back. Which would've hurt more.
Pulling his arm free and using the other hand for balance as he snaps out his leg in quick kick to Rock's shins. Normally it wouldn't be enough to sweep them out, but who knows. Maybe he'll get one of those motivations to use more force than he intended to. You never know. And hopefully, neither will Rock.
COMBATSYS: Shingo successfully hits Rock with Light Kick.
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Rock 0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1 Shingo
Rock doesn't see it -- and he does, in fact, get dropped right to the ground, his legs swept out from under him. Rock hits the ground on his rear end, finding himself beneath Shingo but not yet devoid of options. Rock immediately plants both hands on the ground, launching himself /forward/ and into Shingo's legs. The plan's simple: Tangle his own legs up with his, and drop Shingo to the floor just as harshly as was done to him.
COMBATSYS: Rock successfully hits Shingo with Quick Throw.
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Rock 0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Shingo
Shingo doesn't know if it's -as- harshly as he dropped Rock. But it sure looks unpleasant to the crowd watching on in front of the club. Down Shingo goes hitting the ground hard and grunting. He can still win this. He knows it. It'll just take a lot of work, but stranger things have happened. So what if Rock has the clear advantage? That means nothing. NOTHING!
Nothing except that it just means Shingo has that much more of a challenge. Something he doesn't shy away from. At all. Instead he regains his footing and uses it plus proximity to charge in on Rock with a hard shoulder slam-tackle. So hard that it will make Rock's very being rumble with sheer Yabuki power!
COMBATSYS: Rock fails to interrupt Ge Shiki - Kake Hourin from Shingo with Raging Storm'.
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Rock 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Shingo
Fights aren't as entertaining when there's no change of the tide -- so when Rock dodges to the wrong side with Shingo oncoming and gets /nailed/ with the force of his shoulder, the crowd goes nuts! Rock soars backwards and away from the collision, hitting the side of a car (which promptly shatters and deforms all along one side), dropping Rock to the ground from the sheer force of the assault. Rock slides down off the car, seated on the asphalt. He's stunned, or at least dazed, and clearly trying to shake the cobwebs out and get back on track.
Could this be it for Shingo? That legendary...GO TIME?! That's what it feels like to him. It could very well be that he just got lucky with that one hit. But that doesn't mean he can't maintain a positive outlook on it all. Keeping that in mind he decides to capitalize on the slight advantage he has been given and dashes across the battle field to leap into a flying jump kick right at Rock's chest. Who knows if the other boy will regain his senses at the last moment to evade the attack. Only one way to find out!
COMBATSYS: Shingo successfully hits Rock with Strong Kick.
- Power hit! -
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Rock 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Shingo
Rock is struck again, driving him back into the car /again/. Enough force this time to send the entire car skidding a few inches back in its parking spot. It also gets even more deformed than it was last time. Rock, for his part, locks his eyes on Shingo. That hit? That hit managed to wake him up, and Shingo might notice that both of his hands are blazing with energy. He's not got enough wind in his lungs to /speak/, but he's got more than enough in him to push Shingo back once,waving his hands one after the other in Shingo's directs and propelling a tremendous wave of energy across at him at /point blank/ range. "Double..."
A second wave joins the first, driving one massive tsunami of chi Shingo's way. "... REPPUKEN!"
COMBATSYS: Rock successfully hits Shingo with Double Reppuken.
Glancing Blow
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Rock 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Shingo
OH CRIPES. It must be GO TIME! Because here is Shingo flying across the screen to destroy Rock Howard! Ok, so maybe the blond fighter didn't get exactly destroyed. Still though. It is a rather powerful hit. Shingo can tell that much. Especially the way the banter dies down and Rock wastes no time in getting up to blast him with a double violent wind fist. Better get out the way, Shingo thinks to himself. He leaps upward. Too slow! The tip of the Double Reppuken catches his foot and causes the boy to trip in the middle of his jump to fall backward slightly.
"Ow." Shingo can't wait for long though. This is getting down to crunch time. He's got to make his next few moves count. He can tell this is going to be over really soon. So what better way to end this than with sprinting in with a hard punch to Rock's gut! "Teya!"
COMBATSYS: Rock interrupts Medium Punch from Shingo with Shinkuu Nage.
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Rock 0/-------/----===|=======\==-----\1 Shingo
"Oof--" Rock gets struck in the gut with more than enough power to send his entire body keeling over. But Rock doesn't fall over. Rock's still up, although even Shingo must be aware that right now, there's more willpower than sheer physical strength holding the blond fighter up. He takes the hit right on the gut, his hands wrapping around Shingo's. "Right--" he eventually gasps out, his grip tightening like a vice. "You're everything you're cracked up to be," Rock clenches his teeth, and his entire body goes into motion. A perfect balance of forces -- Shingo's weight, the centripetal force of Rock's spinninga rms, Rock's own balance. Geese Howard doesn't design moves that aren't all but perfect, after all. The result? Shingo, in the air, sailing towards the same unfortunate car that he was using to abuse Rock earlier.
"But... bad news. So am I."
*SMASH*
Shingo goes through the glass of the vehicle. Not quite. He hits the windshield, shattering it instantly. But he himself doesn't end up inside of the car. With his arms and legs sprawled out he seems to be stuck right in the middle of it. The glass cutting him and causing light injuries. Mostly along his back. Shingo grins. This is going to be his last go for this fight. "Yeah. You really are! But this isn't quite over yet!" The boy speaks as he forces himself free from the car to stand on the hood and hold up a fist at Rock. "The enchanted fires of Kusanagi-ryuu burn upon this fist!" With that he leaps off the car and angles his body at Rock to once more smash the other fighter will his might and body weight behind a shoulder tackle.
COMBATSYS: Shingo can no longer fight.
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Rock 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Rock fails to counter Ge Shiki - Kake Hourin from Shingo with Gedan Crack Counter.
COMBATSYS: Rock can no longer fight.
The enchanted fires /do/ apparently burn on his fist -- Rock hits the ground at about the same time Shingo does, appropriately dropped by the same attack. Rock hits the floor, not so much stunned as just exhausted and every bit as battered as his opponent. The entire crowd waits, with bated breath, for one of the two fighters to rise. But... nothing happens. Instead, the fight looks to be a draw. And that, as they say, is that -- two exhausted combatants, one disappointed crowd, and an increasingly tense race for 1st place.
Good thing that this is a league and not an actual tournament then. Meaning that there is always next time for someone else to take the lead and be the number one ranking fighter in the Neo League. Shingo is down but somehow manages to have enough energy in him for him to hold out a thumbs-up towards Rock's general direction. Presumeably he passes out in this state as he waits for the medics to do their thing.
Log created by Shingo, and last modified on 19:40:22 12/10/2005.