Description: Prompted by Grant's demand for information, Rose makes the attempt (through the League) to find Sagat first and ask him about his involvement with Shadaloo. While she doesn't get the answers she wants, the outing isn't a total wash... (Winner: Sagat)
It was only a short time ago that Rose, from out of nowhere, was accosted by Grant in his search for more information on Vega and Psycho Power. Although their battle was a stalemate, the fortuneteller did find one particularly interesting bit of information rather by accident: Grant had an interest in the God of Muay Thai, suspecting his connection to Shadaloo... and thus to Vega. Rose herself had often wondered the same, but the opportunity had never presented itself to find and question him. However, she was perturbed by the Martyr of Might's sudden interest... and determined to get to Sagat first.
For once, the Masters League was about to come in handy.
The organizers were unused to seeing Rose's name. Frequently she was hard to pin down for matches, as many of the more experienced fighters are. Thus it was with some small surprise that she arrived in their Southtown offices and said, simply, "I have a request."
Flash forward to early Sunday morning, where the psychic waits at the appointed place: just inside the gates of Osaka Castle, on the palisade before the main entrance. She is impassive, nearly a statue; were it not for the steady in and out of her breathing it'd be hard to tell if she was alive or not. Simply waiting for the appointed time, and the arrival of Sagat.
And the Muay Thai Master does arrive. It has been some time since the Master's Tournament got to see Sagat in action, as it has been hard to pin down the Tiger as of late, as well. The Mighty Muay Thai God did agree to the match, but only to test his skills against this unknown individual. He arrives at the designated match sight wearing his typical trenchcoat and fedora. Those are quickly tossed to the side upon entering the partitioned area. He gives a nod towards Rose. Sagat idly wondered why this fighter chose Sagat, of all the fighters.
She had imagined what Sagat might look like... and for someone with gifts as Rose has, that's not difficult to do. Still, having Sagat standing before her, the mental image does not do it justice. There is a pride, a regality in his bearing that, despite all else, she recognizes as having given rise to his title as God of Muay Thai. However, that is only one part of the equation. There is something... amiss here. Bitterly, the psychic realizes she perhaps waited too late for this meeting.
"Good morning," Rose offers cordially, nodding at Sagat. "Thank you for coming." A pause. Normally a fan of the cryptic and circuitous, the fortuneteller has the sense that perhaps dispensing with the pleasantries is in order today. "I had hoped to meet you for some time... to discover for myself why the skein of your fate is so tangled." Okay, so maybe not so much putting the cryptic aside.
The Big Thai Man stares down at Rose and raises his brow a bit at what she says, "Indeed." Is all he can manage to respond with verbally. The Big man does dispense with the pelasantries and gets down to business. Once the officials have removed his garments from the partitioned area, Sagat will slide into his combat stance. His legs are bent at the knees and at the ankles. He's resting on the balls of his feet and his fists are raised up in front of him. His eye narrows as he gives Rose a once over, "Let's go." He intones as he moves forward towards Rose, whether she's ready or not. Sagat is quite eager to test himself after the poundings that Kain and Grant gave him. He rushes towards the Psychic woman and performs a text-book sweeping sidekick towards her midsection.
COMBATSYS: Sagat has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Sagat 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Rose has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Rose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sagat
COMBATSYS: Sagat successfully hits Rose with Medium Kick.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Rose 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Sagat
Apparently Rose's fortunetelling skills aren't quite up to snuff, or perhaps she simply needs to work on them in the short term rather than the long term. Regardless, when the kick comes in she's not totally prepared for it; an attempt to get out of the way instead presents her side to Sagat and makes his kick all the more powerful for it rather than aiding her in avoiding it. The psychic grits her teeth as she stumbles back a few steps, then twirls back around to face Sagat. This... is going to take some doing.
"Impressive. To be expected of the god of Muay Thai." However, Rose isn't doing just yet. Dashing forward, she almost attempts to run *past* Sagat. However, before she would actually step past him she reaches out a hand, lazily almost, to drag him into the air with her. If it works, the psychic half-turns at the apex of her jump and then hurls Sagat back to the ground one-handed, a burst of blue Soul flame igniting around him as she does so. "Soul Throw!"
COMBATSYS: Rose successfully hits Sagat with Soul Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Rose 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Sagat
The Mighty Thai man is dragged up into the air with Rose. The Muay Thai God does not know how to defend against this kind of assault. So he's carried up and then slams into the ground hard. The huge man bounces off the ground, uncerimoniously and rests there for a moment. He kicks his feet up and stands there for a moment in his fighting stance, running that event through his head. His eye narrows a wee bit more before he rushes towards Rose again, "TI-GER CRUSH!" He shouts as he kicks off the gr\ound and goes airborne. It's a short flight, but one where the landing hopefully involves a thrusting knee in Rose's face!
COMBATSYS: Rose fails to interrupt Tiger Crush from Sagat with Soul Fade.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Rose 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Sagat
It had been such a good plan, Rose thought. As Sagat sailed through the air toward her, it would be simple to redirect his force back into the ground with another Soul Power-aided throw. Instead what she gets is a knee to the face, which hurts an awful lot, sending her crashing back down to the ground instead. It takes a moment for her to get back up, but get back up she does; she's not out of the game just yet. However, since she has the time before Sagat's next assault, Rose decides to use it... by casting a line in the water. "Is this how Vega acquired your services?" she asks quietly. She doesn't know he's part of Shadaloo, but he doesn't know that she doesn't know. "Through battle?"
The Mighty Thai rushes forward after Rose, not wanting to give her a second to prepare another one of those powerful Soul attacks. He hesitates only a moment when the woman asks her question. His teeth grit together and he leaps into the air. He attempts to come crashing down on the woman with a solid strike with his heel! Upon landing, hit or miss, he grunts, "Who?" He asks.
COMBATSYS: Sagat successfully hits Rose with Light Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Rose 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Sagat
Today is just not Rose's day in the avoiding damage department. Perhaps there's something else on her mind? Regardless, as Sagat's heel comes down it impacts solidly with her shoulder with a rather unnerving *CRACK* sound, sending the psychic stumbling back a few steps, clutching her shoulder in pain. Gritting her teeth as well, she looks at Sagat, but can't suppress a faint smile. "I see," she says after a faint pause. "If you like." If Sagat wants to play it that way, she's fine with that. What she has to say is true regardless. "He is a man of tremendous evil power... a power he and I share as two sides of a single coin. And he has an interest in people such as yourself."
And then she's gone.
Sagat has finely-honed fighter's senses, so he may sense Rose appearing behind him in time to mount some sort of counter. If he does not, however, the shawl on her shoulders suddenly leaps to a life of its own, snaking out to wrap around Sagat and then hurl him into the air, where Rose leaps up to perform another Soul Throw... but one with a considerably greater burst of Soul Power attached to it than before. "To put them... in spiritual bondage!"
COMBATSYS: Sagat endures Rose's Aura Soul Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Rose 0/-------/-------|=======\=======\1 Sagat
And the Mighty Thai man just takes it like a man! He turns slightly to see where Rose went and when he's gatehred up and brought up into the air, his whole body tenses, expecting great pain and discomfort. And that pain and discomfort is more than he anticapted! He is hurled into the ground and is bathed in Rose's soul power! The big man was prepared for the onslaught, so when his battered body collides with the ground, it only takes a few seconds for him to roll around, stand back up and scream, "TI-GER-" He launches into a Tiger Crush as soon as he's on his feet. Upon landing frlom the Crush, he will not give Rose even a second to breath as he launches into a flurry of punches and elbow strikes, "-GENO-CIDE!" He screams as he launches his large mass into the air with a pair of devestating Tiger Uppercuts!
COMBATSYS: Sagat successfully hits Rose with Tiger Genocide.
[ \\ < > //////// ]
Rose 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Sagat
Unlike Rose, Sagat doesn't need to use fancy tricks to get his attacks to work as intended. Instead he simply uses sheer, crushing force and undeniable speed to get the job done. And done it is; with no time to mount a proper defense the Tiger Genocide cuts through Rose like butter, the lithe psychic's frame unprepared to deal with such a punishing physical assault. Knocked clear across the palisade, getting into a low crouch is the best she can do, and with a nod of the head the announcer awards the match to Sagat. "Well fought," the psychic says slowly. "Congratulations."
COMBATSYS: Rose takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Sagat 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Rose can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Sagat 0/-------/---====|
Sagat lands from his last punishing Tiger Uppercut. He's sort of crouched over a bit. His jaw is clenched tightly and one can see some blood dribbling from the corners of his mouth. Those two hits that Sagat took were painful, and it's obvious in the Legend's stance. Though it's also obvious he was going to push forward and continue to fight even if his Tiger Genocide failed to connect. When the fight is conceded and he has won, his stance loosens up. His arms cross over his chest and he nods to the woman, "Thank you." for the praise that is, "We must speak." He intones out of the blue, "Away from the ring, away from the tournament."
Ah, that payoff. And it would appear from the look on Rose's face that if Sagat agrees to speak with her, then the entire affair was worth the effort of getting beaten to a pulp. Although it takes great effort, the psychic is able to stand, then nod. "The opportunity will present itself. I will appear again when the opportunity is right." Is she agreeing? Or simply being more cryptic. "Until then, adieu." She seems about to leave, but suddenly stops, turning back around. She says nothing, but Sagat can hear her voice echo in his mind: "Another is searching for you. Be wary. He wears the mask of a demon and has fighting skills to match, but his intentions... are unclear."
Sagat nods at the psychic, "I am aware of him." He states simply and turns away from Rose. Whether she agrees or not is irrelevent. Whether she appears before him again is irrelevent. Sagat will find her if he needs to. He's got something he wishes to discuss with her. In the mean time, however, he walks over to the officials who gathered his articles of clothing. He reacquires them and puts them back on.
COMBATSYS: Sagat has ended the fight here.
Log created by Rose, and last modified on 02:47:42 02/22/2006.