Description: Barroom brawl in Southtown! In which Hinata throws a chair, expensive things break, and Tony is forced to choke a bitch. (Winner: Tony)
Happy hour rolls around in the Shanghai Sports Bar in Southtown, though from the state of some of the patrons, it's been happy hour all day long and doesn't show signs of stopping any time soon. But the bar is in a slightly more festive mood than usual, tables and chairs cleared away to form a large open space just in front of the bar. Tonight, they play host to a Neo League battle.
Special large, flat-panel tv screens have been added throughout the bar so the patrons can enjoy the fight without actually getting in the way. Property damage seems likely, if not inevitable, but the bar's owners are happy with the free publicity to balance the scales. They've also had to make a special allowance for underage visitors, one in particular.
Hinata taps the toe of a tennis shoe on the polished hardwood floor, thumbs hooked into the straps of her backpack. It should probably be enough of a thrill for a highschooler to actually be let into a bar, but there's more than that tonight. There's a fight to be had!
If Hinata was the shining epitome of exuberance to serve as example for the patrons and fightwatchers, Tony was the equal and opposite reaction--the black hole of positive emotion, where cheer and good will went to die of throat cancer. Emerging from the bathroom of all places, this was about the last place Tony wanted to be. He knew the owner, Chen, and he knew of Chen's connections to the biggest organized crime syndicate in Japan, /The/ Syndicate. Merely being here reminded Tony of all the responsibilities and negative connotations his position as midlevel enforcer carried...things he managed to escape during his heavy training regimen.
Combined with the seemingly endless delay on his fight against Edge, Tony was not a pleasant person to be around. Alcohol probably could've dulled the edge on his sour mood, but he avoided the drinks that the bar was locally famous for on a number of different counts--partially due to the fight that was about to come up, and partially due to his wish to stay off the wagon entirely. The alcohol wasn't doing his training any favors, so he'd prune it from his life in the same manner a gardener might strategically snip an errant branch.
Turning to square off with his young opponent, Tony's face is forced into a smile...though there's nothing pleasant about it whatsoever.
"I like you."
Well, that's a good start, right? Right. "I underestimated you once, and you capitalized. By the time I realized my mistake, you had that spar won. This time around, I know better. Expect nothing but my very best."
Ominous words from a quietly angry man.
COMBATSYS: Hinata has started a fight here.
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Hinata 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Tony has joined the fight here.
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Tony 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hinata
Hinata's nose wrinkles slightly when Tony emerges from the bathroom. "I hope you washed your hands," she says, though very quietly and mostly to herself. If she's surprised at seeing the tall man again, she does well to conceal it. Instead, she shoots back a smile of genuine happiness and sunshine and all things pleasant and cheery. It's something the walls of the bar surely haven't seen for a long time.
The girl cracks her knuckles loudly and limbers up with a few stretches. "I wouldn't ask for anything less, y'know." Thankfully for her, her bouts of camera shyness are growing less frequent and less intense now that she's actually had to spend time in the spotlight. Thus the little blinking red lights on no less than a half dozen cameras around the bar don't bother her. Well, not much anyway. "Give me your best and everybody goes home happy, win or lose!"
A fight judge, safely behind the bar, gives a short nod. Cameras are rolling, the feed is live, and the patrons are well-liquored up and ready to cheer. From a safe distance, of course. As one, all of the TVs inside the bar flash to life with multi-angle coverage of... the inside of the bar. Two figures semi-shadowed in the dim open circle. "You ready?" Hinata calls, raising her fists and bouncing lightly back and forth on the balls of her feet. "Here I come!"
Barely sparing a moment, the indomitable spirit of Taiyo High twists her stance and launches herself straight toward her waiting opponent. This guy was tough enough last time, but know she knows what she's up against. There's no backing down! It's on!
Hinata dashes forward and immediately feints with her right, dropping quickly to plant a palm on the floor and swing her left leg strongly toward Tony's ankles for a sweep. As good an opener as any, really. Start strong, stay strong, finish strong!
COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Tony with Heavy Kick.
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Tony 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Hinata
Tony's eyes narrowed as Hinata came rushing in, trying his best to quickly discern the brand of attack Hinata was most likely to employ. Her style was so reminiscent of Sakura's, someone the Muay Thai Panther usually had a difficult time with regardless.
'Give me your best and everybody goes happy, win or lose!'
It was a sentiment Tony didn't -exactly- share, though that might not've been exactly surprising. Tony needed to win this, needed to win this as much as he needed to win against Edge, if not moreso. He didn't want to go into that fight with a loss on the records, didn't want to come in looking to play catchup to the man who could see him retired from professional fighting. He wanted that momentum behind him, the same momentum used to fight Sagat and Ken, the same momentum used to beat Dan and Hinako in league fights.
With that in mind? Tony could've picked worse ways to start off...but not many. Caught by Hinata's sweep, Tony goes stumbling backwards before his sense of balance saved him. It hurt, but at least he didn't go flying onto his butt...and that was a mild boon.
Start strong, stay strong, finish strong. Those were words Tony could go by, words Tony would try to adhere to--even if they went unspoken, the sentiment was most assuredly shared. Hinata's sweep is met with a heavy strike of his own, the wrapped foot lifting upwards and sent crashing down in a basic stomping maneuver.
COMBATSYS: Hinata blocks Tony's Strong Kick.
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Tony 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Hinata
A battle of polar opposite mindsets. Truth be told, Hinata wants to win just as much. Every victory brings her closer to the top of the rankings, further into the spotlight of public notice. She could easily claim she was only doing it to bring glory to the name of her school, but beneath that her reasons are a little more selfish. If she does well enough, if she's recognized, maybe she could actually *meet* Ken Masters, face to face.
And hey, winning feels good, doesn't it?
Recovering quickly from her first strike, Hinata's ready for the Muay Thai menace's own opener. Watch his legs carefully for any possible tells of what he might do. It's no surprise, then, that it's a kick. At the upward swing, the girl is already leaning backwards and bringing her arms up, deflecting it with a slant on the return trip downwards. There's still enough force to make her forearm ache, but it would have been worse if she hadn't been ready.
She bounds back a half step, smile never faltering. "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" she says happily. Hinata makes the mistake of briefly glancing to one side at the large TVs, seeing her own face larger than life. No, don't get distracted! Refocusing her attention, she balls a fist and leans forward to punch with the motion of her entire body, yellow energy flaring to life around her knuckles and forming a cheerful sunflower shape intent on introducing itself to Tony's midsection. "Kyaaa!"
COMBATSYS: Tony blocks Hinata's Kikou Shoutei.
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Tony 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Hinata
The pause in the combat is unexpected to say the least--lucky for Hinata it was only a matter of moments, lest Tony take advantage and push the offensive. Bringing his foot back so that he's firmly on the ground, Tony starts into Hinata in very much the same fashion that he did on the grass field--rushing her, looking to overwhelm her with offense. It was in this same manner that she scored a hit with her sunflower-douken, and it proves to be equally damning this time around.
With a grunt, Tony tightened his abs and braced himself for impact, the yellow chi-wave washing over the bare midsection but otherwise barely slowing the bigger fighter down. Arms held high, once she's within striking distance Tony brings one of those arms around in a hooking motion, looking to catch Hinata in the side of the head with his elbow.
COMBATSYS: Hinata dodges Tony's Fierce Punch.
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Tony 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Hinata
"Whoa!" Hinata squeaks in amazement at Tony so brazenly taking her patented chi attack right in the stomach without so much as a flinch. It is with equal amazement that she is beared down on for a fierce rejoinder. No fair! She was watching his legs for a tell, not his arms!
With decisive and most definitely reflexive action, Hinata ducks. In a purely tactical way, of course. The elbow brushes the top of her head but she fully manages to avoid a painful strike to the skull. Tony's fast and very dangerous up close. She skips backwards another half step and straightens up again, fists raised.
Okay, so Plan B. Watch the legs *and* the arms.
COMBATSYS: Hinata focuses on her next action.
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Tony 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Hinata
The legs, the arms, the head, the tables, the chairs...if Hinata were the type to review footage, she might've found out a bit about Tony's attack strategies--beat the other person into oblivion until they stop bleeding. It's a standby that has served him reasonably well over his short career, one that has left a path of carnage that ran a year long behind him.
It doesn't...necessarily hold true for him anymore, but it was something to watch for regardless. After all, Tony could just as easily suffer a relapse as anything else.
With the elbow strike missing by a hair or three, Tony's face settled into a grimace, frustration and determination mixing into an odd expression. At least Hinata was moving backwards, which meant he'd be able to possibly paste her with some of the harder moves. Maybe she'd corner herself, which would be even better. At that point, he could probably close this out in seconds...
...but he'd have to work on cornering her first. To that end, Tony followed in pursuit, throwing out another hook-elbow, looking to land it on the side of her face oncemore. Even if she dodged, she'd be moving backwards...barring acrobatic feat, anyways.
COMBATSYS: Hinata dodges Tony's Fierce Punch.
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Tony 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Hinata
What is this, the swinging elbow dance? Eyes open, little girl. Thankfully, she does keep them open and paying much better attention this time around. Hinata leans slightly to one side, using her shorter stature to her advantage. Again, a powerful elbow slides perilously close to fragile cheekbones. Under normal circumstances, anyone would be panicked by a furious assault by such an obviously seasoned fighter.
But the Sunshine Girl is *still* smiling.
It would be all too easy to be intimidated, but there are great things at stake here. Her own pride, the name of Taiyo, and a possible autograph from Ken Masters! Given the choice of taking a few lumps for that honor, Hinata's willing to risk it.
"Shoooooouuuu..." The sound rises from the back of her throat to a powerful shout of exertion. Tennis shoes squeak on the polished wood floors like an NBA game. If Tony is so intent on pressing Hinata, she'll just have to press back! "YouKEN!" With a full body twist, she brings a fist upward with a corkscrew spin that carries her up and off the floor.
COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Tony with Shouyouken.
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Tony 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Hinata
Caught beneath his chin as he was, Tony had little he could do but take the blow as best he could--hefty weight the only saving grace afforded to him, lest he be taken off of his feet entirely by the Sunshine Girl's massive Shoryuken-esque attack. Jaw clacking loudly against the upper part of his skull, the slightest trickle of blood could be seen at the corner of his lips, threatening to bead up to the point where it could trickle downwards.
"Okay."
Caught offguard as he was, Tony found himself being quickly swept up by the surging forces of adrenaline and anger, pushing his muscles on to press the attack even where a cooler head might've prevailed. "Fine!"
Bringing his elbow sweeping backwards, Tony was hoping to distract the girl with the additional motion long enough to drive his knee upwards, returning the favor by bringing it into a collision course with her jaw. Wheather or not it would work out was, of course, yet to be determined, but...one could certainly hope for the best.
COMBATSYS: Hinata interrupts Strong Kick from Tony with Shoulder Throw.
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Tony 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1 Hinata
Uh-oh. Hinata cocks an eyebrow up. He looks mad, doesn't he? Oh yes, he's definitely mad now. From safely further away in the bar, a few drunken cheers and whistles echo. Playtime is over and both fighters are starting to burn. A palpable intensity charges the air.
Hinata lands after her spiralling uppercut, shoes squeaking on the floor again. Tony's bound to counter, press his advantage of size and strength. What's that? Another elbow? Ha! You're not going to catch her with one of thos-
Sudden pain bursts the girl's vision as an unexpected knee hits her in the chin with a crack, but nothing bring clarity quite like the rush of being in a really good battle. Use every moment, every motion, every shred of burning resolve. Before Tony can pull his knee back from its collision, she siezes his calf with both hands, a surprisingly powerful grip for a fighter so small. Wrenching with the weight of her entire body, Hinata pivots and pulls Tony along with her for the ride before finally letting him go airborne and very directly toward one of the few tables that still remain around the impromptu barroom arena. "Seeya!"
Taking out one of the cheap tables left sitting around more or less for that specific purpose, Tony's eyes shut tight, zoning out the sudden burst of pain as wood splinters dig into his back. Not so much /damaging/ as it was sincerely irritating, Tony is slow in rolling over...camera immortalizing the image of those splinters clinging for dear life in his back. Pushing himself up to his feet, one can't help but believe the hype--if he weren't mad before, he certainly is now. With his luck, he'd be charged for the table...but that was nothing in comparison to losing to Hinata.
Bringing his leg whipping around in a roundhouse motion, one might be inclined to believe Tony honestly forgot the whole 'closing distance' thing before starting his attack. That thought might be dispelled quickly though, as shimmering black chi forms in thick waves where his leg travels. As the roundhouse motion concludes and Tony brings his leg back down to the ground, the large black disc of chi disconnects...bearing some sort of malicious life of it's own, however shortlived. Rolling ominously after the pseudo-Ansatsuken fighter, Tony was quick to add a triumphiant cry to affairs:
"PANTHURR SHOOOOOT!"
COMBATSYS: Hinata blocks Tony's Supreme Panther Shot.
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Tony 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Hinata
Okay, soooo not expecting that. See a guy who consistently uses his body as the best available weapon suddenly channel an enormous amount of energy like that and you'd be surprised too. Hinata was.
"Sonofa-" is all she manages to say before the black chi is upon her. No time to formulate a different strategy, she does what comes naturally. Stop, drop, and cover your head. In an instant she's on her knees with her forearms raised to protect her face just before impact. Black energy (what a strange thing!) washes over her and knocks the high school girl skidding back several feet from the sheer power of the blow, where she clatters into a chair and knocks it over. A momentary gasp runs through the scattered patrons.
"Ooooow!" she finally says, struggling to her feet and rubbing distractedly at her eyes with the back of one hand. The world's gone all wobbly all of the sudden, hasn't it? Things would be a lot easier if the floor would just decide to be nice and stay still for a second or two so she could collect herself. Still feeling marginally chatty, she offers, "Daaaaamn.. You weren't kidding." Suddenly, she's not entirely sure she *wants* Tony not to hold back. Wait! That's not the Taiyo spirit!
Guts all the way! A rising howl starts from Hinata's throat. Focus that vigor! The overturned chair is raised over her head as the howl turns into a full shout. "Yaaaaaaaaa!" It's never a proper barroom brawl until somebody throws a chair.
COMBATSYS: Tony dodges Hinata's Large Thrown Object.
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Tony 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Hinata
Tony was good for the occasional surprise like that. While it was hardly the side of his training that he emphasized, it was always good to hold that kind of thing in reserve in case things started going awry. Sagat taught him that much--while drive and ferocity made Muay Thai Kickboxing a dangerous discipline to go up against, that same drive and ferocity allowed the better practictioners to integrate energized techniques without losing a step. Adon, King, Sagat...even Joe Higashi was good for that kind of thing.
This, however, wasn't the time to gloat over the Ace of Spades in his sleeve. This was the time for bellying up, raising the ante, and closing this fight down with the flush to end all flushes. It was a good fight, with enough back and forth action...but Tony didn't get paid by the hou--
--Is that a freakin' CHAIR she just threw at him?!
It was easy enough to sidestep, and indeed...right on cue, Tony slides his bodymass over just enough to allow the chair to collide with one of the big-screen televisions that the Shanghai Sports Bar recently had delivered in. The screen cracked, and the show that happened to be on--the only one not merely showing this fight for the sake of the bar patrons--flickered into nothingness.
Silence ensued, the kind of nervous silence that allows for pins to drop and people to decide just what in the hell they're going to do. Judging from the confused and surprised expression to cross Tony's face, he's at least one of them. The Japanese Schoolgirl just threw a chair...at him.
".....I'M MAD!"
Interestingly enough, this didn't come from Tony. Somewhere in the crowd, an overweight patron broke the silence with his own declaration of anger before launching a right cross into and through the jaw of the man to his side. Immeadiately afterwards was the sound of breaking glass as another patron broke their beerbottle over another patron's head.
Hinata done set it off, yo.
Now all she had to do was worry about the charging rhino in front of him, on top of the outside chance that the entire bar devolved into a warzone. Speaking of that charging rhino, Tony's body threatened to barrel through Hinata as he charged forward...the rude and brutal attack stopped just short in favor of a charging front kick held at midsection level.
COMBATSYS: Hinata dodges Tony's Medium Kick.
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Tony 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Hinata
Meanwhile a group of guys are there hanging out at a table enjoying the scene of Tony Styles smacking around some little schoolgirl. Now this is normally wouldn't be the cause for cheering and knocking bottles of Grey Goose vodka together every time someone lands a hit, but because it is legal...it's all good. That is...until a chair flies out from nowhere and hits a big burly man sitting at an adjacent table.
The muscle-bound man stands up and fumes. Turning to look at the loud and rowdy group of black men sipping on their vodka, whom by the way have been annoyance to him all night, who have not yet noticed him, the man without thinking just surges forward and jumps the guy closest to him. This in turn causes the dude's friends to jump on top of the muscle guy. Now while this is happening someone seizes the opportunity and breaks the bottle over a glasses-wearing man who was chatting it up to this girl. Note that these two have nothing to do with brawl that just broke out except for standing close to it. These events have a sort of a domino effect and all of a sudden, there's a fight jumping off. This, my friends, is a negro moment.
And here she was really hoping the chair might hit something *other* than an expensive plasma TV. But on the positive side, they are really rather pretty when they break like that. It's when the angry shout (which Hinata had first expected to come from Tony) rings out that everything goes to Hell at once.
Oh holy crap! Barroom brawl! It's a psychobilly freak-out!
"I didn't-!" Hinata sputters while waving her hands to the crowd, but thankfully their attentions are drawn elsewhere than the girl who just wrecked their TV. One good thing about short tempers is that they don't tend to travel very far before exploding, and Hinata is just out of range. Hopefully the fighters won't get charged for property damage.
Hello? Wakaba? Remember the fight you're supposed to be in? Oh yeah! The whole thing with Tony barreling down on her like a Mack truck with no brakes comes back into sharp focus. The kick is coming, and all Hinata can think is... jump.
Which she does, quite high off the ground and clearing Tony's kick completely and grabbing some totally sweet air. Fair's fair, so she returns the favor mid-jump with a snapping sidekick to the head.
COMBATSYS: Tony blocks Hinata's Light Kick.
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Tony 0/-------/------=|=======\==-----\1 Hinata
...does it count when Tony was already involved in a brand of legitimized fighting all his own? Was he resisting the call to mindless violence by focusing on the fighter before him, or giving into it? Moreover, was Tony a sellout because he -didn't- go hauling off on someone else?
There were tough questions, questions which would find themselves answered later, as all things were. Right now, he had to worry more about the high-vaulting Hinata than he did any disobeyance of the ensuing [Censored For Content] moment. Bringing his arms high, Hinata's foot was allowed to strike against a waiting defense--battlescarred forearms that absorbed punishment from the very best all the way down. While it was easily defended, Tony had a dislike for aerial attacks...a dislike that he hoped to force onto the Sunshine Girl. Bringing his leg high, Tony sought to almost Axe-Kick Hinata out of the sky, punt her over in the crowds...anything to enforce a little extra pain to go with the maneuver. Air attacks left you open once you committed...unless you had a trick or two up the sleeve.
Let's see what Hinata has for us, then.
...So then this other guy jumps this dude from behind while his buddy gets his face pounded in from this little midget standing on a table waving around a beer bottle. The voices of this particular section of the crowd drowned out by the sounds of violence and the rest of the bar clears room from them. Mostly because they want to continue watching the real fight between Tony and Hinata and don't want to be bothered with a bunch of ignorant folks.
Speaking of which, there goes another chair. Except this one isn't tossed. It is indeed swung around and smashes someone in the back sending him stumbling into someone else who falls backward through a table. On the other side of this same brawl is another person picking up the leg of a broken table and swinging it around as a make-shift club into the gut of some poor soul that was making his way back to his seat after grabbing a drink from the bar. A glass full of some sort of blue drink flies across the room to splash in a woman's face right as she was about to make out with this guy she just met. Unfortunately for him, her eyes were closed at the time. So of course she slaps the dude thinking he just threw a drink on her deliberately.
COMBATSYS: Tony successfully hits Hinata with Light Kick.
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Tony 0/-------/------=|=======\=====--\1 Hinata
*WHAM!* *THUD!* *CRASH!*
These are the sounds Hinata makes when Tony's counter to her aerial dance connects painfully with the soft spot in her stomach and sends her tumbling head over heels. It connected a bit early to send her downwards and instead catapults the lightweight Wakaba girl even higher into the air and wheeling completely out of control. No soft landings here.
Owing to Tony's much greater strength and Hinata's much lighter weight, she goes flying like an NFL kickoff, straight over the heads of the brawling patrons and right into the decorative shelves of colorful and presumably very expensive liquors just above the bar with a heavy impact and the unmistakable sound of shattering glass. She briefly disappears from sight as she falls behind the marble bartop. But as if to prove she's not down for the counter, her voice cries out from behind the bar. "Aaaaugh! This reeks!"
The diminutive figure vaults suddenly over the bar, clothes splattered with wet spots and positively *stinking* of liquor. Somewhere, a jetsetter quietly laments the loss of another bottle of single malt scotch. Hinata launches off the edge of the bar, plants her palms on the ground to somersault toward Tony and finally bring both feet forcefully upwards toward his chin. There is a reason most respectable martial artists don't wear short schoolgirl skirts when performing tricky maneuvers like this, and for the second time is as many fights, the Neo League camera crews immortalize Hinata's underwear on national television as she brings a double-footed mule kick to Tony's chin to introduce him to the ceiling.
COMBATSYS: Tony blocks Hinata's Rival Launcher EX.
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Tony 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Hinata
Gratuitious panty shots from schoolgirl uniforms. That was another Sakura original, if Tony knew his foightin' females. This girl truely came across as a Sakura fangirl, though given the circumstances Tony wasn't exactly in the position to talk. A very large portion of his mannerisms and fighting style came from the Once Emperor and Current God of Muay Thai...though if pressed, Tony would've probably passed it off as spending a bit too much time together or somesuch. In any event, Sakura's pantyshot tended to dazzle and stupefy opponents into taking the hit...an effect that didn't work quite right against Tony. forearms go to about middling guard, absorbing the mule kick with a surprising grace and fluidity. If Tony was good for anything, it was absorbing punishment.
Given her situation, Tony's response comes quickly, the kind of event that occurs when instinct and fighting prowess take over for the thinking fighter. Raising his leg sharply oncemore, Tony sought to Axe-Kick the schoolgirl further into the air yet again...possibly even ping-ponging her about should his luck hold true.
The brawl continues on even with security starting to make their way towards the disturbance in hopes of quelling it. It doesn't look like these people are about to let up anytime soon. Chances are though that by the time the League match ends then security would have a handle on the situation. As these things tend to go.
COMBATSYS: Hinata blocks Tony's Light Kick.
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Tony 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Hinata
Tony's return kick does indeed catch Hinata and send her back into the air, though this time she's at least smart enough to tuck and roll after sighting her old friend terra firma again. It's not really the hitting or the falling, it's the sudden stop. But this time she's ready to fall properly. This isn't to say it doesn't hurt, though. It does. Like a bitch.
In an instant, the girl is back on her feet. She's nothing if not persistant, spirit far from broken even though she's severely aching and sure to be asked pointed questions by her parents when she goes home tonight reeking of alcohol. "It's not over yet!"
It looks like there's no helping it. Hinata just won't give up, no matter what. Rushing to close the distance once again, what her next assault lacks in grace it more than makes up for in guts. Two quick left jabs then a hard right cross, the final punch bursting with spirit. So much so that just before she swings, her right fist starts to glow.
COMBATSYS: Tony counters Rengekiken from Hinata with Panther Ambush.
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Tony 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Hinata
She was adaptative, if nothing else. That spoke volumes for her right off of the bat. Tony was able to recognize that much, even if the recognition came much later than it had any right to otherwise. Watching her roll along on the ground, there was an unexpected emotion that started welling up at the bottom of his heart--pride. If he beat the young girl, he could be proud. She was difficult, tricky. If. If not, there might still be pride, although it would be the kind of stunted thing that was served up as consolation prize.
Watching her rush along towards him, Tony set himself in a braced position, waiting for her to make her arrival even as the energy glow began to outline her. Waiting...until the last possible moment and beyond. Crouching low, Tony's muscles coiled tight, just waiting to explode.
"PANTHURR AMMMBUUUUSHH!"
Moving with the kind of speed that a man of his size had no right to possess, Tony's body flew upwards--knee extended just far enough to catch Hinata on the chin as he does so. For all of the disdain Tony had for aerial maneuvers, he broke one out here...rising a good ten feet in the air before gravity began to pull him back to the ground.
Aerial acrobatics aside, Hinata's already grasping at straws. Tony is good and it has become abundantly clear that in their previous spar, he *was* holding back. It shows as sharply as a razor's edge. She had thrown everything she still had left into the flurry of blows of the Rengekiken to no effect.
It hurt to admit, but he was better than her. Still, there could be some comfort in knowing that she was squaring off against a fighter who had honed his skills years ahead of her. That comfort unfortunately did nothing to alleviate the pain Hinata felt when Tony's knee rams like a cannonball into her chin.
The impact, his entire motion, hits the girl like a ton of bricks, carrying both fighters into the air. The severity of the blow is enough to cause a few of the brawling patrons to pause, gawk, and go "Daaaaaaaamn". The Wakaba girl hits the ceiling of the sports bar, ricochets down, and meets the ground with a splintering crack of hardwood.
For a long moment, nothing seems to happen. She lies still, facedown from having tumbled like a ragdoll through the air. But finally, with Herculean effort, fingers grasp at the floor with awkward coordination and she slowly hauls herself back to her feet, blood streaming down her face. The effort just to stand is taking all she has, head lolled forward as if it's too much trouble to even look up.
The fight judge starts to raise his hand to call an end to it after such a powerful blow and Hinata obviously barely able to stand. She catches sight of him in a monitor behind Tony after she raises her head slightly. "No..." she weakly says and waves an uncoordinated hand behind her to the bar. "Not yet." Her eyes can barely meet Tony across the clear space in the bar. "Not over yet!"
Arms at her side like a lazy marionette, she raises both fists and sniffs deeply, tasting the copper in her throat. At first it seems as if she's falling over, toppling forward, until she plants both palms on the fractured floor and takes off like a sprinter, low and fast straight at Tony. Fast and furious rabbit punches lash out with a speed that would surely blur on the Neo League TV cammeras, each one stronger than the last with rising intensity until a powerful double-handed punch to the midsection flares like a camera flash. A yellow sunflower.
COMBATSYS: Tony counters Hisshou Rengekiken from Hinata with Chokehold.
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Tony 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Hinata
Lucky for Tony that there was a pause to the fighting, the time spent to ensure that Hinata was still coherent enough to fight, determining wheather or not the fight should've been called due to injury regardless of Hinata's wishes, or any other collection of events. It allowed Tony the opportunity to come back into contact with the ground, and with that regain a sense of stability. Tony -could- push his advantage a little more, but it seemed...unnecessary. Thrashing the girl for the sake of thrashing her was pointless, and a bit juvenile. Nothing would be gained proving his dominance over a sixteen year old(Or thereabouts, at least.)
When she does rise, Tony issues a solemn nod before his lips curled upwards. "You've got heart," come the words, slow and thick like molasses boiling on the sidewalk beneath a summer sun. "Heart and Ambition will get you far."
As Hinata sprints, Tony's eyes narrow--she was fast, but Tony knew he could be faster. Sidestepping the first of the jabs, Tony unveiled another one of his little surprises: Bringing his large hand to bear against her throat, wrapping fingers around and squeezing with a near-preternatural puissance. Eyes relaxing from their squint, Tony watched carefully for the light to flicker out of her eyes, for the will to fight to be extinguished once enough oxygen was denied to her.
Snagged suddenly, Hinata has no time to formulate a new strategy, not that there are any she could pull from her bag of tricks this time. She chokes, gasping for breath under Tony's iron grip and clawing against the hand at her throat to free herself, but no release comes.
She is finally, and quite definitively, owned.
It only takes a few seconds before her struggles become weak and futile until at last Hinata's arms drop limply to her sides, utterly unconscious in Tony's grip. Waiting only a three count, the judge raises his hand and calls an end to the fight. Sometime during all this, the bouncers finally round up the last of the brawling rowdies, putting an end to *all* fighting inside the Shanghai Sports Bar.
COMBATSYS: Hinata takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Tony 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Hinata can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Tony 0/-------/------=|
Once the officials have determined that Hinata is indeed well and truly out of the fight, Tony allows his grip to loosen--lowering the Taiyo Sunshine Student carefully, so as to not cause some kind of freak-accident or something.
"Heart and Ambition. It'll take you far, but it won't take you past me today."
Raising his gaze so that he's looking directly into one of the cameras, Tony's face crumples a bit further...in the heat of battle, he managed to forget about the cameras surrounding him, the smaller battles taking place alongside their own. Even as the bouncers had the other fighters taken care of, it was only then that Tony stopped to actually survey the damage that the bar soaked up.
"Idiots."
The word is muttered under his breath, most likely not actually transmitted by the microphones and other audio tools, but it's easy enough to see him mouth the word. Louder now, Tony's attention drops down to the unconscious Hinata. "A good fight. We'll likely meet again sometime, if you're cross about how things turned up, or you decide you're ready for a rematch." Of course, that could've just as easily been a lie, if Edge managed to take him out of the running. In either event, Tony quietly started for the exit, slipping through the partially opened doorway and out into the Southtown evening.
Log created by Hinata, and last modified on 23:15:00 12/17/2005.