Description: Truly a match of the millenium. It's time for Rugal to retrace his steps, it seems... but is this only the beginning of something far greater?
Winter in Southtown. Cold, damp, overcast, raining that irritating light rain that's just heavy enough to soak you but not pouring so that you can conceivably dance in the streets singing, sometimes even sleeting, sometimes hailstones as big as a Thanksgiving turkey. These are the normal properties of a late winter's day in Southtown.
Not so today.
Cold has been replaced by crisp, and the only dampness is found on the crystals of ice that bespeckle the grass in a serene coating of frost. The sunlight pierces through the frigid air with poetic immediacy, bringing into contrast the stark stillness of the day. And no place is more still than here, this quiet grove of bamboo and grass outside a traditional Japanese-styled cottage outside of town. Even the brook nearby, usually babbling with its ever-varying flow, has frozen over with a paper-thin sheen of ice, somehow preventing any noise from penetrating. Those few clouds that grace the searingly blue sky are still as well, spended in the sky as though someone took a great bazooka and shot white paintballs into the air. There is, indeed, a blasted quality about everything. The stillness is the stillness of death, and of endings.
Then there is movement. A new light.
A little trail of flame, emerging from a finger, to ignite a long-stemmed pipe. A middle aged man reclined on the porch, whole body -- even face -- still, the only movement that wavering flame.
New movement. A new beginning, out of winter.
History repeating...
Saishu Kusanagi extinguishes his flame without a word, and waits.
How still the day is!
One could almost mistake the day as having died. Or...
As heralding in a new death to come.
Or perhaps not. Nature does not necesarilly imply the future, after all. Nature implies nothing more than what it is; just another thing to watch in order to pass the time... or in order to think. This little slice of poetic beauty, of almost ominous stillness? Means nothing. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.
The fact that there is a man in crimson walking up towards that cottage is simply coincidence.
The fact that this man is Rugal Bernstein, is perhaps less so, however.
The sky is still. Sunlight pierces in shards through the air, through the clouds, even as R's leader gives a calm stride towards that cottage. Step... step... some time ago, he fought against a young boy who could wield flames. Due to some /twist of fate/, however, some fluke, the boy managed to defeat him. Step... step... Determined to ensure this would not happen again, Rugal has gone through painstaking efforts to begin to regather the power he had lost. He is slowly getting there. Slowly. But sometimes --
You must retrace your steps, in order to get back what was lost.
Step. Step.
"Hello, Saishu."
He slows to a halt right in front of that porch. A hand in his pocket, a grin on his lips, he offers a far-too polite inclination of his head in greeting. "It's been a while, hm...?"
The patriarch of the Kusanagi family does not react as footsteps crunch along the frostbitten grass. His reclining posture looks awkward and somewhat bizarre, and yet he appears so eminently relaxed while still able to maintain such perfect stillness that a sense of grace is almost forced upon the viewer. In his ungainliness there lies a certain poise.
When Rugal speaks, Saishu finally takes a deep drag on his pipe, removes it from his mouth, and blows out one huge, beautifully formed smoke ring.
"A few years," he finally says, as his gaze finally shifts to the tall blond man, the Kusanagi elder peering out from under large furrowed eyebrows, pointed beard also obscuring much of his face, his head tilted at a relaxed angle. A pause. "I don't keep so much track of time. Never did." He takes another quiet drag on his pipe.
And then... he grins.
"I /told/ you," Saishu says, grinning widening into its usual overwhelming wolfishness. "I /told/ you my son was stronger than I was. But /you/ didn't listen." He waggles his pipe at Rugal, and then follows up by waggling his eyebrows up and down. "You thought I was overconfident -- but I tell you, that's not the same as being perfectly confident. I have no regrets about what happened. My son needed that experience." Another drag -- and as he blows out another smoke ring, his eyes start to sparkle. "You got what you deserved, Bernstein."
Pause.
Then he stretches.
"Ummph... you aren't going to make me into a statue, are you?" the Kusanagi elder asks as he pops his back and raises his arms above his head, green kimono shifting around him. "You would've been better off getting me at twenty, you know. I was cuter then."
Graceful... or senile. One of the two. It's sometimes hard to tell when an old man past his prime is doing something because it makes him /comfortable/, or simply because he has no idea what the hell he /is/ doing. Saishu Kusanagi. Head of the Kusanagi household, and at one point, strongest user of the crimson flames their family is so prided for.
My, how times have changed.
"A fluke." They're Bernstein's first words after everything that Saishu says, even after his cute comment about being made a statue. That can wait; for right now, Rugal considers Saishu with an arched brow. A fluke. "Your son would have lost, if a fluke did not take away what powers rightly belonged to me. He might be stronger than you... but that's not much of a boast, now is it, Saishu?" Gloved fingers run through his blonde hair. "Besides..." His voice is thoughtful, almost.
"What I've lost, I will be regaining soon. And then your son will die."
Legs spread, shoulder-width apart. His stance, however, is still casual, even as Saishu stretches. "Statue? I imagine that would depend on you, wouldn't it?" He doesn't move. Not quite yet, anyway. "I've come here to tell you something important, anyway. I've come here to give you a gift, Saishu. So if you would be so kind as to entertain me for a little while..." A hand lifts, and beckons.
"I'll tell you just what that gift is."
Calmly, quietly, still grinning, Saishu rises, and steps down from the porch, so that he is only feet away from Rugal. He's still rolling his shoulders and flexing his hands and toes, but once he reaches the frosty grass by the steps, he stops.
And though that grin does not fade, when he looks up into Rugal's eyes, his own gaze is like the day. Like the blastedly chill, perfectly clear winter day. And yet that raw cold burns -- burns with the true heat of Kusanagi flame, with the true spirit of Kusanagi.
"There is nothing you can give me now."
Saishu seems perfectly unintimidated by Rugal's statement-threats. Perhaps he is, indeed, senile. He's certainly never disputed the point. Perhaps he's better off not really wondering about it. Perhaps sometimes fools are the best at seeing the truth in reality.
But whoever is right, whoever knows the truth, will not be decided here.
Only who is strongest.
With a sudden lunge characteristic of Saishu's personal take on the ancient Kusanagi-ryuu style, the style that Saishu resurrected through his own power and passion, he lunges, and his fist suddenly ignites, tearing through the air at incredible speed to blast Rugal in the face and send him staggering back into the field, giving them both room to begin their duel.
Because now it's on.
COMBATSYS: Saishu has started a fight here.
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Saishu 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Rugal has joined the fight here.
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Saishu 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rugal
COMBATSYS: Saishu successfully hits Rugal with Kamu Kakari.
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Saishu 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Rugal
There is nothing he can give Saishu now?
"Ah, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree there..."
And then Saishu lunges...
And Rugal does not even move in the slightest.
That fist ignites, and slams right into Rugal's face as intended. R's leader goes flying through the air at the force of the blow, save... he goes back further that that blow should have forced him. It becomes readily apparant that it's not the attack's doing, but Rugal's own, as he flips through the air -- and lands rather solidly on his feet. With a laugh.
"Aah, there's the Saishu I remember! Let's see... if even old men can improve at all!"
He doesn't move, for a moment. It's only after he takes some time to brush off his clothes, that Rugal leaps forward. He rushes towards the Kusanagi patriarch, in an attempt to shoulder rush him. His feet slam against the ground in a run that makes him a blur. He gets closer, closer, and then...
He leaps.
He leaps into the air, not shoulder-rushing the flame wielder at all. Instead, he lands RIGHT behind Saishu, with every intention of leaning backwards... and /lancing/ his elbow harshly into the back of the old Kusanagi's head, complete with a very /good-natured/ chuckle.
COMBATSYS: Rugal successfully hits Saishu with Medium Punch.
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Saishu 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Rugal
"Grr..."
Saishu lashes out with a fierce strike of his own that would send almost any other human being tumbling back, but Rugal is too fast for the old man. He fails to intercept the leap and the elbow crashes into his skull, sending Saishu jerking forward -- but he twists on his feet and turns with a sudden explosion of unusual speed, and it appears that despite the damage, he's still grinning. Even his growl wasn't one of fury...
And then he's stepping forward, and with a surprisingly cheerful-sounding shout of "HOU!" he unleashes an upward blast of flame, a wavelike gout that extends far out from his hand... and then immediately twists on his feet again and follows up with a second and equally powerful blast of unrelenting Kusanagi flame.
"HYA!"
COMBATSYS: Rugal endures Saishu's Homura Gasane.
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Saishu 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Rugal
Theeere it is. Exactly what Rugal was hoping for. That Kusanagi fury that the elder man seems to be capable of, that his son seems the /expert/ of. Maybe Saishu's is generated in a more /pleasant/ manner, but... there's nothing pleasant about those flames. So then.
Let's see just how powerful those flames /are/, shall we...?
The flames spread and fly free from Saishu's hand... and Rugal accepts /all/ of it. He doesn't even budge as the flames consume him, laughing the entire time... until Saishu finally finishes the assault. And Rugal? LEAPS out of the flames, a wicked grin stretched across his lips. A foot lances out --
To SLAM right into Saishu's chest, and if successful, Rugal will follow up with a leaping strike to slam his feet right into the other man's chin and send him flying viciously through the air.
COMBATSYS: Rugal successfully hits Saishu with Medium Kick.
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Saishu 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Rugal
[OOC] Rugal says, "--Oh hey Saishu, I think you'll be able to appreciate this. I was fighting Ralf, and Power hit him with my super. He attacks me with Galactica Phantom as his last action, and I block but I'm still put under zero. So as my last action I pass, and then... Restore brings me up to 1 health. :<"
[OOC] Rugal says, "--Fighting Ralf as Kim. D:"
Hmph! The incredible Kusanagi flames, burst through? Never has this happened before, except that one time, and the other time, and the time with the panda. But mostly never!
Thus the powerful kick does blast Saishu Kusanagi back fiercely, sending him sailing away through the air limply. At least until he flips midair and twists fiercely, and lands in a graceful and catlike crouch on the frosted grass! Then, hurling himself back immediately, the Kusanagi elder lashes out with his foot... and kicks a bunch of dirt into Rugal's face, before lashing out with a series of fast kicks and a lunging claw-like hand straight out at his opponent's abdomen, fist whipping through the air with merciless speed.
He is, of course, still grinning.
COMBATSYS: Rugal counters Fierce Punch from Saishu with Genocide Cutter EX.
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Saishu 1/---====/=======|==-----\-------\0 Rugal
His back is to Saishu Kusanagi, even as the man falls to the ground in a crouch. His back is to the elder man... and a smile his on his lips.
A smile that turns into a deadly grin as Saishu gets closer.
That dirt rains /harmlessly/ on Rugal's back as he twists, and Saishu might notice one thing wrong about this entire scenario... is that before he can launch out with those kicks --
There is a single hand holding his leg completely still on the very first assault. And that's about when Saishu might feel a chi-empowered kick DRIVING itself right underneath the elder Kusanagi's chin.
Bone-shattered strength from a single, polished shoe launches Saishu into the air. Rugal is not far to follow, slamming his knee SOLIDLY into Saishu's back, burning with chi, before he twists into the air... and slams an overhead, burning axe-kick into the older man's gut, to send him crashing /violently/ into the ground, Rugal soon to follow in a graceful crouch... and a laugh.
Ugh. *That* move.
Ugh.
The elder Kusanagi goes sprawling with a grunt, rolling in the icy grass and coughing as he gets to his feet. Not even Saishu can laugh that off; that one was ugly. He tenderly reaches up to rub his chin -- or is he just stroking his beard? -- as he rises, eyes slightly reddened and face a bit more haggard than before as he stares stoicly at Rugal. The manner in which Saishu transitions from flippancy to seriousness is startling, though the extremely aggressive way in which he does it /all/ gives it a certain unique Saishu consistency...
He rises, and smirks, eyes as frosty as the air.
"Ha ha!" he suddenly barks, eyes widening. "This is a fun game!" Suddenly, his eyes have narrowed all over again. "But," he continues, "let's try playing something a bit different, now..."
With a blast of flame and a blur, suddenly, Saishu is there, drawing a single finger back and with the grin of someone about to poke out the only eye Rugal has left--
"Tag."
COMBATSYS: Rugal fails to reflect Orochinagi' from Saishu with Dark Barrier.
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Saishu 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Rugal
If Rugal was expecting an eyepoke, he got something slightly different.
He got an EYE OROCHINAGI.
Which is like an eyepoke, only it's a giant fireball.
Said giant fireball engulfs Rugal, the spirit of the Kusanagi ancestry taking the form of a screaming dragon and blasting Rugal back and away in a torrent of blazing agony and destruction and general argh.
Oddly, the frost on the grass doesn't even melt.
Tag.
"I'm afraid not--"
Except, there comes the giant fireball.
Rugal slams a single fist forward, in an attempt to stop the assault in time. Except... it doesn't quite go the way Rugal plans. The blast of crimson flames engulfs Rugal completely, sending the crimelord flying back in flames and general discomfort. Make no doubt -- that /hurt/. He goes flying back, flying far away from Saishu and those crimson flames. Mmph. That one had a bit of extra /oomph/ behind it, didn't it? Still, even despite the power behind that blow --
When Rugal lands, he lands quite securely on his feet.
There is a bit of a stagger there, but he manages it. His clothes are burnt, no doubt, burn marks moving along his face -- but he still stands, and he still smiles. Widely.
"Excellent. Well then! Let's go again, shall we?"
Saishu sighs with pleasure as Rugal goes down.
"I still got it," he murmurs smugly to himself.
But as Rugal gets to his feel, Saishu's smirk softens into a smile -- oddly enough -- and then grows quickly into another huge grin, eyes sparkling. "You still want more!? Ha ha!" His eyes widen with the odd cackling laugh, and then quickly go back to their usual curved grinning state. "You've been keeping in shape, Bernstein!"
It really seems as though the two of them are no more than friendly rivals. And perhaps Saishu really has let go of the pain of his defeat, the humiliation of being tortured and transformed until unable to distinguish between his own son and the enemy, and has no revenge to take against Rugal. One would never know what had drawn Saishu to attempt to fight Rugal in the first place...
...of course, Rugal wouldn't remember. And Saishu never told him. Never even told him the man's name, let alone that there *was* a man. Even Takuma said it was a foolish idea, and, of course, wouldn't come. But although an inferior fighter and thus a rather infrequent ally of theirs, even in these late years so long after his adventures, that fighter had been a friend... a friend who deserved more than becoming a mere statue...
It's not about vengeance. It never really was about vengeance.
It's about what it means to be a Kusanagi.
It's always impossible to fathom that grin, so disarming and so simultaneously intimidating in its sheer overwhelming weirdness...
The elder fighter leaps forward, preparing to lash out with a fast kick, and suddenly reverses into a spinning double axe kick, lashing out with the blazing speed of a superior martial artist. And he laughs once, with each kick. "Ha! HA!"
COMBATSYS: Rugal blocks Saishu's Kubu Tsuchi.
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Saishu 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Rugal
It was never about revenge, was it?
Good. The only reason to fight is for the thrill of is.
And to see the expression of your defeated enemy.
Perhaps Rugal should not have been so foolish with his last strike. But it means little to him -- very little, in fact. What matters /more/ today is testing the limits of Saishu's strength, and ensuring that the elder man has not gotten /rusty/. It's very important. Because, if Saishu has, well... the purpose of this fight would not longer matter.
Rugal has to be sure the Kusanagi /deserves/ his gift, of course.
So then, as Saishu rushes for him again, filled with life once more, Rugal can only grin, wide and vicious as the flame wielder lashes out in those series of kicks. Every one of them -- every single one, is blocked by Rugal, using both hands to intercept the first kick, and then his right to catch Saishu's last assault, and grip securely.
"GOOD!"
And that's the only warning he'll get before Bernstein turns, violently, intending to take Saishu with him by that single foot -- and /smash/ him right into the ground.
COMBATSYS: Saishu blocks Rugal's Medium Throw.
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Saishu 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Rugal
Saishu may no longer have the quickness of youth, but he is nothing if not spry. Rugal hurls him aside, but he lands nimbly on his hands and rolls neatly from that handstand to his feet, turning quickly and grinning hugely--
--and shifting, his kimono billows around him--
--and slamming his feet on the ground, the frost bursts right off the grass in a meter radius around the Kusanagi-ryuu master, the aura of heat that suddenly surrounds him melting it all into vapor as it flies into the air from the force of his stance.
Saishu's eyes flash.
"Good!? Fantastic!" he retorts.
COMBATSYS: Saishu gathers his will.
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Saishu 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Rugal
Fantastic? Hmm. Perhaps.
Rugal stands completely still for the moment, favoring observing the other man with a slight cant of his head to the side. Oh? Is he preparing for something? Well, then.
Let Rugal continue to fight, then!
Since Saishu seems content to gather up heat around him, Rugal shall come to him. His legs spread out, easily enough, his fingers twitching idly. And then? He rushes /forward/.
His speed is rather remarkable, but nothing incredible. What he attempts to do is simple; a single hand lashes out, to grasp Saishu by the face. And, if successful, Rugal will continue onward, rushing across the ground to SMASH Saishu, face-first, into a wall of his fine, fine Japanese cottage.
COMBATSYS: Rugal successfully hits Saishu with God Press.
- Power hit! -
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Saishu 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Rugal
It's not as bad as it seems.
See, Saishu busts through walls all the time. Most recently, he wanted to go stalk Kyo, but Shizuka said he couldn't, but as she was out of tranquilizers, she just locked him in the bathroom instead. This was a mistake, as he just busted through the wall and ran off to terrorize his son. Yet fortunately, the wall that Rugal drives Saishu into happens to be the bathroom wall. Unfortunately, Saishu goes crashing through the wall and into the clay base of the toilet, completely destroying it and sending water spraying everywhere from broken pipes, not to mention busting up the poor guy's head pretty bad. Still, a cloud of dust and splinters obscures the scene of the final, devastating blow.
Well, that was pretty hardcore.
But not as hardcore as Saishu suddenly leaping out of the dust with a fierce and heavily bleeding scalp wound and attempting to latch hold of Rugal's collar. If he succeeds, he'll flip in midair, slam Rugal into the ground, and then somehow hoist the much larger man into the air and simply trigger a huge explosion of Kusanagi flame that will send the man flying back and away.
And afterward--
COMBATSYS: Saishu can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rugal 0/-------/-======|
--he'll collapse, exhausted.
COMBATSYS: Rugal stops Koto Moon Infinity from Saishu with Dark Barrier EX.
- Power hit! -
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Rugal 0/-------/-------|
It's over. Done. Rugal turns, to walk away in the aftermath of destroying one of the walls of Saishu's quaint little cottage, a single hand tucked into his pocket. Except...
Saishu gets up.
"Are you mentally deficient--"
And grabs Rugal by his /collar/.
The man hardly even BLINKS as Saishu grabs him. In fact, he even /allows/ Saishu to go so far as to slam him into the ground. It doesn't hurt. Rugal is far more durable than one could imagine, such that when Saishu slams him into the ground... he laughs. The reason, should be clearly obvious as the Kusanagi elder lifts Bernstein into the air, as those flames explode outward...
And a shimmering green barrier bursts into existance between the two of them.
All those massive flames are simply /absorbed/ by that disk, gobbled up and dispersed until Rugal drops harmlessly onto his feet, and Saishu? Saishu collapses. Slowly, Rugal will straighten his burned coat, frowning. "I expect you to pay for this." He makes this fact /very/ well known before he slides his left hand out of its pocket, holding within it's grasp, a letter.
"When you can actually think properly, read this. Consider it a personal invitation." And then? Rugal will casually toss the letter right at Saishu before walking off calmly as ever, an easy smirk on his lips.
Surely Saishu will accept his /gracious/ invitation.
COMBATSYS: Rugal takes no action.
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Rugal 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Rugal has ended the fight here.
"Tch...."
Saishu grunts quietly, blood running down his face, and eyes the letter on the ground with a baleful eye, slowly raising his gaze again to the calmly retreating Rugal.
With a heavy sigh, shaking his head slowly, the Kusanagi elder gets to his knees and picks up the letter, opening it and shaking it out as he leans back on a hand and reads it slowly, tilting his head to the side and adopting an expression of deep concentration. You... are... cordially... invi... in... invited... to...
About a minute passes before a grin slowly grows on his features.
And then Saishu laughs, and laughs, and laughs.
"Hahahahahahaha!"
When the bleeding man finally settles down, he's grinning... but his eyes are steely.
"You're going *down*."
Log created by Saishu, and last modified on 02:12:05 01/14/2006.