Description: Frei really needs to keep his mouth shut during fights. If the Mormons sue us over this log, it is totally NOT my fault! (Winner: Acacia)
Neo League fights normally draw large crowds. They're major sporting events, after all. Spectator affairs.
This fight is different.
Not because the fighters aren't popular, or because the match wasn't well publicized. No. True, neither of the pair are huge names in the martial arts circle, but Acacia Gillespie's beginning to get some significant star power from being at the top of the league table, and fending off challengers so far. Enough to draw an audience, especially in Metro City. It's her hometown, after all, and the Metro City denizens consider her a local girl. One of their own.
But there isn't an audience to this match, at least not directly. Because the fight is taking place in the Metro City Subway. And not a station, either. On one of the trains. A moving train, running down the Central Line. There are fans jammed into the stations along the route, TV monitors showing live footage from cameras placed inside the subway cars.
But the train itself...it just contains the two fighters, Acacia and Frei Tsukitomi-Renard.
A far cry from rush hour.
Acacia stands at one end of a subway carriage, hands tucked into her pockets. She sways slightly, as the train rocks, but doesn't seem terribly peturbed by the motion. She's dressed in her usual fighting attire, an oversized army jacket over t-shirt and jeans, combat boots planted square on the subway car's floor. Silently, she studies Frei, her expression impassive. He's not a fighter she's met, and thus she doesn't know what to expect from him - both in terms of personality and fighting style. So she keeps her peace, staying quiet.
Somewhere, Mike Haggar is breaking open a barrel and stealing the meat inside.
Despite some passing similarity between this fighting 'arena' and a certain stage in A Certain Game we won't mention, however, that location is not here. And so much the better, because Huge would be disinclined to share his barbecue bounty and Frei is a big eater. Just ask Kensou: their last fight involved a lot more eating than it did fighting in the last few moments.
...where were we?
It's the young monk's custom to show up for fights way in advance so he has time to get the lay of the land and all that. But the Masters Foundation couldn't afford to reserve the subway train for a really LONG period of time, so it was running normal operations until just before Acacia got on. Frei, meanwhile, paid his fare and has been running around Metro City on *this very car* for the past three hours. He is sitting with one leg folded over the other, sideways, on a bench, reading what appears to be a little pamphlet. Only the noise of another person (well, and the metaphysical 'sense' of another person) entering the car catches his attention. The redhead turns, then waves with a big goofy smile. "Hi! Just a sec, I wanna finish reading this fascinating broadsheet someone gave me." He stands up, flipping through the last few pages of the brochure.
There is a pause, and then with consternation the monk looks up at Acacia, pointing one finger at the brochure. "Hey, before we start, do *you* know anything about this second testament of Jesus Christ? And why hot guys with buzz cuts keep trying to tell me about it?"
Acacia blinks, once, twice, three times, staring across the subway car at the seated Frei. Then she glances over her shoulder at the door, wondering if it's too late to get off the train. The fact that the train is currently in motion, rocketing down the tunnel, after leaving the station behind a few moments ago... doesn't seem to deter Acacia from considering it as a viable escape route.
Tempting. But no.
She turns back to Frei, stepping forward, past one of the vertical poles meant to provide commuters with a handgrip. She stares at the seated monk, her head askew. Presumably this is her opponent. He matches the photo she saw on the League website, anyway, and she vaguely recalls seeing some of his matches on TV. Besides, he's the only other person on the train.
"Er," Acacia begins, somewhat warily, giving Frei a very careful look, "no?"
Acacia's opponent considers that carefully. Well, 'considers' is sort of a generous way of saying he thinks about it until whimsy strikes and he shrugs, tossing the pamphlet over his shoulder and hopping to his feet, tugging on his Sakura-esque black and gold headband and then getting into stance, a lazy-looking Tai Chi affair that really does look like he learned it watching that one guy from Kill Bill who made Uma Thurman punch stuff so she'd be able to punch her way out of a dug grave and a coffin in the .000001% chance it ever happened to her.
"Oh. I dunno, I'm not big on Christianity myself, but they all had 'Elder' on their nametag and when you've been a Buddhist monk you don't take that title lightly," Frei says conversationally, sizing Acacia up. She's... hmm. Unreadable, or at the very least, it's a bit like staring at a really hazy part of an otherwise clear photograph. Flexing his fingers, he grins at her cheerfully. "I figured maybe he was on a new incarnation or something. Though most of the enlightened ones I know probably aren't interested in moving to Utah." Beat. "Shall we?"
COMBATSYS: Frei has started a fight here.
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Frei 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Acacia has joined the fight here.
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Frei 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Acacia
Instead of answering, Acacia just stands there, frozen. She stares at Frei, head tilted, mouth hanging slightly open. She remains motionless for several seconds, simply not responding. Finally, she shuts her jaw, with a faint click of teeth.
"You are," Acacia says, slowly, articulating each word in a long, drawn out fashion, "a very, very, strange person."
Not an opinion, not the way she says it. That was a statement of fact. Far as Acacia's concerned, anyway.
Taking a step back, still eying Frei, the girl shifts into a combat stance, hands raised, curling into fists. Then she waits.
For his part, Frei tilts his head, examining Acacia for a moment. It's not like he was LYING to her. He really was approached by hot Mormons on the Metro subway wanting to save his soul. Ms. Gillespie should be so lucky she's not the Mormons involved; while Frei may be sorely lacking in any of a number of departments, when it comes to theology and philosophy those poor boys on their mission were outmatched, having brought slingshots to fight the metaphysical equivalent of a Sherman tank. Still, he cannot help but say: "Tough room."
Straightening, Frei rolls his head on his neck a bit and smiles at Acacia. "I've been called worse things than strange," he says patiently. "Besides, 'normal' is more about consensus than any elemental property, so I don't mind being labelled abnormal. Ready?" Making sure Acacia's not going to facefault her way out of his attack (and that she's really ready), the monk dashes in, golden energy already forming at his palms as he runs, and then thrusts both hands forward, looking to explode that yang chi sphere right in Acacia's face, as it were. When it comes to shiny chi displays, shop smart: shop Frei-Mart.
COMBATSYS: Frei successfully hits Acacia with Hizashi.
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Frei 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Acacia
The sphere of energy detonates like an angry flash-bulb right in Acacia's visage. She reels, snapping her head around, giving an involuntary hiss. Eyes clenched tightly shut, she stumbles...before turning her motion into a drop, dropping beneath Frei's outstretched arms. "No," Acacia mutters, "think you go beyond weird."
She sweeps a leg out, trying to destroy Frei's footing, to pitch him to the floor of the train. And maybe hit him with an elbow on the way down.
"Just saying," she adds, in a clearer, calmer voice.
COMBATSYS: Acacia successfully hits Frei with Fulcrum Shift.
- Power hit! -
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Frei 0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0 Acacia
There was this great plan where Frei would step over the sweep -- for he indeed sees it as a feint, or at least not the true thrust of the attack -- and then gently push Acacia's elbow out of the way.
He has a lot of time to think about how that could have gone better as he lies on the floor, Acacia having inadvertently but rather effectively tripped him so that his head smacks one of the seats on the way down from the elbow strike, which hits with a really unnerving CLANG sound and leaves the monk on the ground, dazed. "I'd make a cloud joke here..." he says, voice wobbly from the spinning stars and all. "But we're in a sausage moving down a track made of little sticks of cheese, and there's no clouds in Sausage Land."
When he finally gets to his feet, however, it is with renewed vigor, or perhaps ataxic confidence which gives the impression of renewed vigor. Hands thrown to his sides, he opts for a defensive posture... maybe not the smartest move he could make right now, but his head's not clear enough for the offensive. "Nice work."
COMBATSYS: Frei gathers his will.
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Frei 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 Acacia
"I try," Acacia says, blandly, rocking back on a heel. She almost feels sorry for the man, what with the seat adding insult to injury like that. But she doesn't show it. Her face stays a controlled mask as Frei rises, her gaze level as he comes back up in a different stance. With a practiced eye, she sizes him up, taking his measure. Raising her own hand, she pulls her arm back while clenching a fist, a clearly telegraphed punch.
"And I like cheese," she continues, in a dry matter-of-fact tone.
That said, she lunges forward, throwing the punch. As her fist rockets forward, a wave of kinetic force explodes from her knuckles, concussive energy radiating out from her gloved hand. There's no colour to it, no substance. Just a shimmer in the air, a vibration that rattles the nearby windows and shakes the handgrips hanging from the railing above - with a roar audible over the rattle of the train.
COMBATSYS: Frei blocks Acacia's Bonecrusher.
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Frei 1/-======/=======|===----\-------\0 Acacia
Perhaps surprisingly for Acacia, Frei doesn't flip out and run away like Wendy and Marvin in Superfriends (those JERKS). In fact, he barely seems to move at all; instead, he holds out his hand, palm outward, and gritting his teeth with the effort, meets energy with energy head-on, the physical blow's impact held up by a sudden clashing of energies that is more or less invisible on Acacia's end, but shows itself as a halo of silver and gold sparks on Frei's end. The war continues for a moment, before both fields of chi seem to simply vanish. Of course, that still leaves Acacia's impressive punch to knock Frei's hand out of the way and still cause some serious hurting, but it's certainly not the blow it could have been.
"Interesting," the monk says carefully, throwing his hands out to the side and gathering two spheres of icy blue-white chi. "Not something I've noticed before. It's not 'void', though... it doesn't come from clarity or from peace. Something else." What the hell is he talking about? With a shrug, Frei apparently dismisses his own ramblings, grinning at Acacia. "You're a lot stronger than you look, but it's going to take more than that to finish me off!" Hurling both arms forward crossed, the two orbs fly at Acacia, and when they get close, merge together into one big ice grenade looking to put the chill on the Gedo student.
COMBATSYS: Acacia blocks Frei's Hyoushou Rengeki.
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Frei 1/=======/=======|===----\-------\0 Acacia
Ice that shatters against Acacia's sleeve, as she throws one arm in front of her face, shielding herself. She staggers back a step, as crystal shards rain around her, slicing into her jacket like a dozen tiny razors. A couple even manage to score thin lines across her face, despite her warding arm. Fresh blood begins to ooze from the cuts, but Acacia ignores them. Lowering her arm, she regains her footing, flecks of ice crunching beneath her boots as she latches onto one of the danging handgrips near the car's ceiling, tugging the strap taut.
Acacia snorts. "Fine, I admit, your special effects...are better than mine."
She releases the grip, moving back into her basic stance. "Happy?"
COMBATSYS: Acacia gains composure.
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Frei 1/=======/=======|==-----\-------\0 Acacia
That comment makes Frei tilt his head in confusion as he draws his arms back, crossing them over his chest. Acacia is an enigma to him. An interesting enigma -- chi styles he's never seen before excite him; it is his schtick, after all -- but an enigma nonetheless. His expression is almost... childlike in its lack of comprehension. "I didn't know we were competing," he says simply, then almost as an afterthought, adds: "Well, not in that respect anyway." Shrugging, he decides not to dwell on it, and instead ducks forward, grabbing onto one of the seats and using it to swing himself in a high arc rahter than a jump, aiming a downward-scything axe kick at Acacia's shoulders, a blaze of scarlet fire erupting in the path of the attack. "Am I wrong?"
COMBATSYS: Frei successfully hits Acacia with Kouen no Tsurugi.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Frei 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|====---\-------\0 Acacia
"You tell me," Acacia retorts - just as Frei descends upon her like a metric ton of flaming bricks. She has the presense of mind to release her breath an instant before she gets hit...better to lose the air from her lungs on her own accord, instead of getting it /forced/ out for her. But that's about all she can manage, because the sudden acrobatic move wasn't something she expected. Suppressing a yelp of pain, Acacia spills to the floor of the subway car, tumbling awkwardly against a vertical pole, one of her legs entangling with the bottom of a seat. Oh, yeah, she's /feeling/ the close confines.
A faint wisp of smoke rises from her jacket, though the tough camo fabric doesn't look very burnt. Not that it did anything to soften the heat or force of the blow, though. Acacia's very conscious of the damage as she focuses her vision, blotting out the pain. She'll nurse her wounds later. For now...
She springs up from the ground, boot heels slamming into the train floor, her whole body whirling as she throws herself upright, using her legs and one arm - her other hand curled tight, balled into a fist, shooting wildly at Frei's midsection.
COMBATSYS: Frei endures Acacia's Quick Punch.
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Frei 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|====---\-------\0 Acacia
*WHAM*.
It's a pretty nasty punch even for being so fast, and it connects solidly. By all accounts, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Acacia's execution, power, or speed. Perhaps the only snag in the plan is that instead of struggling backwards a step or two the monk simply *does not move*. It's not that he has an iron wall defense or anything of the sort, but rather -- and perhaps Acacia can sense it -- he has enough force of will to re-center his balance with ridiculous speed.
It also puts him in dangerously close quarters, enough to bring both hands to bear and basically explode another burst of chi right in Acacia's face, golden sparks flickering into existence with startling rapidity. "I can't tell you, because you appear to be the one who thinks we're competing!" he says desperately, trying to make some sense of her. It's like reading Braille... wearing plate gauntlets.
COMBATSYS: Acacia endures Frei's Hizashi.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Frei 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=====--\-------\0 Acacia
"We -are-," Acacia shoots back.
The chi-burst detonates in her face like a firework, but this time, she doesn't flinch. She doesn't even close her eyes to shield them from the retina-searing brightness. The explosion washes over her features, even slightly singing the edges of her hair. But she just rides it out. Frei's in close quarters with her, but she's in close quarters with /him/. And she takes advantage of this fact to drive an elbow into his chest, one braced with her other arm, aiming to not just pound his ribcage but also smash him into the seats and windows running round the sides of the train car.
"-Fight-, hello?"
COMBATSYS: Acacia successfully hits Frei with Mass Driver.
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Frei 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0 Acacia
Well. That works better than Acacia could have possibly hoped for; the punch knocks Frei *through the air*, skipping the seats and such and simply driving him into the back wall/door to the next car hard enough to dent it. Dent it *a lot*, in fact. The monk coughs up blood at the point of impact, his eyes widening in surprise. He knew she hit hard. He didn't know she hit that hard.
It's a while before Frei comes to his senses, instead just sitting there, practically crucified on the crushed door, as his light frame is enough to be supported by the Frei-shaped mold from the impact. When he does, it's with more coughing up of blood as he struggles to his feet, grabbing his left elbow with his right arm and looking at Acacia critically with one eye closed.
For the first time in what may be recorded history, he looks particularly serious.
"It's not about... the fight..." he squeezes out, trying to concentrate. He's not in any shape to be making a counterattack right now, but it does give him time to pontificate... something he's good at. "I was never out to prove my 'special effects' are better than yours... I was just interested in what you had. Something unique I'd never seen before." A moment passes, and the monk gets a ragged, red-tinged smile. Still, he looks... better than he did. Somehow. "You're like my mother. Gotta be convinced friendly fights exist, I guess. I'm not out... to prove I'm better than you. And even if I was... I'm doing a poor job of it."
COMBATSYS: Frei gains composure.
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Frei 1/=======/=======|=======\-------\0 Acacia
Acacia arches an eyebrow when Frei first mentions his mother, momentarily...rather disturbed at the prospect of him comparing her to his maternal parent. The full explanation, though, makes somewhat more sense. Even if she doesn't agree.
Not precisely.
Choosing not to press the attack, she steps into the centre of the train car's aisle, straight across from Frei. She stretches as she moves, swinging her right arm at the shoulder, rolling her neck. After a moment, she murmurs, "Friendly fights?"
Acacia stares at the monk. "Sure. But...you're...not my friend."
She makes a small gesture, indicating their surroundings. "And this," she says, "is a League match."
COMBATSYS: Acacia focuses on her next action.
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Frei 1/=======/=======|=======\-------\0 Acacia
Although looking considerably improved over a few seconds ago, Frei's still not in great shape. Still breathing raggedly, and still coughing up really nasty-sounding stuff into his hand. He studies Acacia carefully, taking a deep breath. Something's not right with the girl, he surmises. Or at least, that's how it seems to him. Not that Frei's worldview is particularly broad; he has the distinct problem of tending to presume the universe works the way he expects it to because to do otherwise is to invite doubt, which is not his friend. Still...
"Technically," he says calmly, "this is a subway car. I suppose you're right. It is a League match. And we're not really 'friends', I guess. But..." He pauses, tilting his head. Something about the comment she made before is bugging him. So, he does the only thing he can think of.
"Alright... if they bother you, then no more chi tricks. Just... straight up punching." Which... is stupid, since Frei barely looks like he can lift himself up, let alone beat the heck out of a bruiser like Acacia. Still, he does just that, diving in and attempting to shoulder throw the younger fighter to the floor of the train. Nothing fancy, but he's not in the shape for anything fancy, either.
COMBATSYS: Acacia counters Medium Throw from Frei with Icon of Stone.
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Frei 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=------\1 Acacia
"No," Acacia replies, flatly, "didn't say it bothered me..."
She holds her ground as Frei charges towards her, closing the distance. Then, in a sudden flurry of movement, she sweeps an arm up into his path. For anyone else, it might be a simple block. For Acacia...she throws her forearm up with such speed and force that it collides with Frei -hard-, her arm meeting his shoulder with a resounding CRACK.
With his senses, Frei might be able to make out the distinctive flow of chi - but internal, not external, strengthening Acacia's bone and muscle at the moment of impact.
Drawing her arm back, she murmurs, "...stating fact. Your special effects.../are/ better."
It's not as if such a thing would be all that difficult; sheer willpower is the only thing keeping Frei on his feet at this point, which is maybe a testament to the strength of his heart, since if his body wasn't entirely broken before that blow, it certainly is now, his right arm hanging lower as he tilts to the side; looks like it won't be of use for a while. But still, he looks at Acacia, still confused. And not down for the count, either, though he continues to edge perilously close. The red spots on the floor in the path of his abortive attempt at a throw attest to that.
"Then why..." he says quietly, glancing at his opponent, "do you seem so sad?"
Closing his eyes, the monk grits his teeth, bringing his hands forward and pointing them diagonally down at the ground, palms out; there is a visible wince as he tries it with the bad arm, but somehow he's able to force it to do what he wants. And then... it starts. Chi, gathering at the tips of his fingers, a frightening amount that manifests as a prismatic aura gathering around the monk's hands, the wind in the subway car picking up in resonance to the gathering of forces there. When it stops, he holds up on hand, glowing every color imaginable, and looks at Acacia, his eyes finally open. "I guess... maybe it's all in my head. I don't know."
He thrusts that palm forward at close range, the colored aura dissolving. The resulting burst of invisible chi -- sheer elemental force, compressed to a single point and then released outward in the very same instant -- might seem familiar to her.
COMBATSYS: Acacia blocks Frei's Fukami Reikai.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Frei 0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1 Acacia
Acacia's eyes widen...for a heartbeat...before she throws her arms up, crossing them in front of her. Her combat boots scrape across the flooring as she braces her entire body, hunched over. The released power of Frei's chi splashes over her like a wave crashing past a stone, shockwaves rippling out to wreck the seats around the girl, tearing into the subway car's floor and ceiling, nearly shattering the windows in their frames. But Acacia herself...seems remarkably unharmed. Battered, gasping, but still on her feet.
"Not -sad-," she hisses, a vehement denial. Stronger than anything she's said in this encounter, as if what Frei said got under her skin. "Just...not everyone..."
She drops her guard, arms hanging at her sides. Still bent over, eyes locked on Frei. Her fists tighten, black leather straining under the tension.
"...can be...crazy..."
A moment ago, Frei launched a chi attack that was almost like her own. The significance doesn't escape Acacia. She doesn't voice it, but she expresses her reply all the same. The air between them shimmers, distorting, with an odd sound. The vibrations building. And then...a wall of force erupts from Acacia, wide as the train car, smashing -back- at Frei, tearing up the seats in a hail of shrieking metal and plastic, smashing the windows and light panels above...
"...AS YOU!"
COMBATSYS: Frei just-defends Acacia's Ground Breaker!
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Frei 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Acacia
It wasn't that the monk expected the attack to take Acacia down. Far from it; he had hoped it might be a fun little lightshow before she punched him in the jaw and his face exploded. However, he wasn't expecting her to retaliate quite so powerfully either. Indecision seems to mask his face for the briefest flicker of a second. It'd be easier to just let the wave smack him and let the entire thing die, wouldn't it? She's clearly stronger, Frei can tell that much. He's cheerful but he's not stupid, contrary to some popular suggestion.
Then Acacia calls him crazy.
What happens next is difficult to describe, but somehow, someway, Miss Gillespie's comment awakens something in the monk perhaps not even he knew he had. Because no matter how powerful the force, no matter how strong the blow, there is an invisible but powerful flow of yin and yang, force and resistance, male and female. Duality. And perhaps Frei's most powerful gift -- and most dangerous talent -- is that he is attuned to that flow with a acuity that might be troubling if he were not so jovial.
The wave of debris and force gets to roughly 2 inches before Frei's outstretched palm and draws to a screeching halt. Which is to say, it meets his inserting just the right degree of counterforce at exactly the right place that the entire affair simply... vanishes. The debris hangs in the air for a forlorn moment before tumbling to the ground with a loud CLANG and a cloud of dust.
And when it clears, Frei is looking rather different than before. Hurt, yes... grievously so. But he's already gathering two spheres of blue-white chi, as before. "Not crazy," he says, echoing Acacia's words. "Just... aware. Accepting that my feelings are genuine. You don't need to be 'wacky' to have fun. But..." And the monk chooses that time to hurl both spheres forward, looking to give Acacia another dose of frosty pain. "...I guess that's not what you meant."
COMBATSYS: Acacia interrupts Hyoushou Rengeki from Frei with Quick Punch.
[ \\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Frei 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Acacia
If she's surprised, she doesn't show it. She's never seen her blast technique just...snuffed, like that. But Acacia doesn't seem to react, doesn't bat an eyelid. Her facial muscles shift, but her expression stays mostly in its rigid tightly controlled mask.
Her eyes meet Frei's, through the settling debris. And as he throws his frozen projectiles, Acacia rushes forward, into the attack. Ice shatters against her upper body, ripping through her coat, scoring wounds on the flesh beneath. But it fails to stop her charge. Ignoring the pain, she crashes into Frei, driving home her own assault, a rapid piston-fist to the face.
"Maybe," Acacia states, simply.
Surprisingly, Frei is nothing but willpower and momentum now; the punch catches him in the jaw, snapping his head back, but he almost immediately comes back into stance, looking at Acacia. He is still confused. The girl -- and despite her maturity it's the only way Frei appears to be able to think of her -- couldn't be more evasive if she were riding an oil slick on a rubber sled. Not giving her time to run away, the monk hopes to simply overpower her defense by planting a foot in her thigh, then her shoulder, and flipping off, his feet glowing purple and a bolt of lightning arcing out of the ceiling just as he kicks off (or tries, anyway). He doesn't say anything -- not yet, anyway -- and perhaps Acacia's happy about that.
COMBATSYS: Acacia Toughs Out Frei's Tenrai Enbu EX!
[ \\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Frei 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Acacia
Acacia gives an inarticulate growl. No words on her part, either, no snappy response as Frei's weight impacts her thin frame, no quip as the lightning scorches through her body, dancing through sinews and nerves. She twitches, involuntarily...but that's all the outward reaction she gives.
And before Frei lands, while he's still in mid-air, Acacia -shoots- a hand out, aiming to latch hold of Frei, grabbing his leg by the ankle. If she finds purchase, she'll swing him round. Not with leverage, but sheer brute force, slamming him into one of the vertical metal poles in the subway car.
COMBATSYS: Frei just-defends Acacia's Bonebreaker!
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Frei 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Acacia
Sadly, leverage is at a premium and Frei is... not. Look, shut up. Ready and able in a way that is defying not only logic, at this point, but also biology, physics, and narrative causality, the monk's foot suddenly twists in midair, coming to rest on Acacia's *wrist*. Good thing he's pretty light, since he immediately twists, practically polevaulting off that tiny little foothold and inverting in midair, coming at Acacia from above, a surely familiar (by now) sphere of golden chi already on the move and aiming for Miss Gillespie's pretty face. "Not... yet!"
COMBATSYS: Frei successfully hits Acacia with Hizashi.
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Frei 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Acacia
Acacia wouldn't call herself pretty, by any stretch. Not with her hair in the disarray it always is, and the general lack of attention she pays to personal grooming beyond the basic requirements of hygiene. Mai once called her hairstyle a punk cut - Acacia retorted that, no, it just looks like she cut it herself. Because that's exactly what she did.
Not that she's ugly or anything. No, she's just nothing like the glamour girls on the fighting circuit.
Not that anyone looks terribly attractive with a faceful of chi.
Acacia definitely felt THAT one. And she couldn't shrug it off. Knocked off balance, knocked off her feet, she plows into one of the wrecked seats, plastic and metal digging into her hip and lower back. Wincing, she extracts herself, turning a baleful eye on Frei, concentrating to pierce the veil of fuzziness and dancing light obscuring her vision.
"Fine," Acacia grates, as she turns, coughing, spitting out a glob of phelgm. She whips an arm to full extension, the studs on her biker gloves gleaming as she spins a backhand. If she's familiar with Frei's little chi trick, by now, the monk ought to know Acacia's default attack as well. She punches things.
COMBATSYS: Frei blocks Acacia's Quick Punch.
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Frei 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Acacia
Anyone who's watched Frei's fights in the Neo League is probably pretty happy with the monk's performance right now. Why? Because he is actually developing a reputation as the udnerdog who *absolutely will not fall over*. He doesn't have time for a nifty defense, seeing as he is just landing from an aerial attack, so instead he raggedly snaps a hand up and just *bats* Acacia's punch out of the way. It stings, but not as bad as it *would* have if he'd just taken that on the jaw. Moving quick, he snaps out his other hand just as fast, hoping to snag Acacia around the wrist before she can recoil her hand. "You're really strong... stronger than me. But I promised someone I wouldn't go down until the very end, so..."
If the monk can get purchase? He simply flicks his wrist and, using more momentum than physical strength, hurls Acacia at the opposite wall. Of course, it's not a Frei(tm) move if there's no chi involved, and indeed, if he's not smacked out of it first, there's a burst of earth chi in the form of a swirl of green energy 'leaves' to break Acacia's horizontal fall.
COMBATSYS: Acacia fails to counter Daichi Kudaki from Frei with Icon of Stone.
[ \\\\\ < > ///// ]
Frei 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Acacia
Groaning, Acacia lies slumped against the subway wall, her back against the dented metal. She doesn't get up, instead looking at Frei, head askew. She laughs, a dry chuckle, and shakes her head, just a little. "Can respect that," she murmurs.
The look on his face suggests Frei can hardly believe he's still on his feet, but images of Yuri Sakazaki do play through his head, and her admonishment after she basically destroyed him in this very League sticks in his mind. "Good to hear," is about all he can muster as the monk runs as quickly as he can manage toward his opponent, feet already flickering with a blue-purple glow. Tired and wounded, Frei's not up to managing the full strength of this tecnique; instead what he gets is an attempt to snag and then kick off Acacia's stomach, the lightning that appears a little weaker than normal, but hopefully it'll be enough to bring the fight to a close... before someone gets chucked off a train, for example.
COMBATSYS: Acacia blocks Frei's Tenrai Enbu.
[ \\\\ < > //// ]
Frei 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Acacia
Oh, Acacia's tired too. The sluggishness of her movements bears witness to that. But she's not slow enough that she can't twist and interpose an arm, so Frei ends up leaping off her guard rather than pounding into her gut. The lightning scorches her, but she bites back the surge of agony. Instead she follows Frei up, pulling herself to her feet. And as he descends from his leap, she charges him, a tackle, aiming to just smash into him.
COMBATSYS: Acacia successfully hits Frei with Quick Punch.
[ \ < > //// ]
Frei 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Acacia
Frei's been running on 'E', folks. And the needle, flickering over that letter E forlornly, just dropped through the floor like a lead balloon. Unable to recover quickly enough from his attack -- one that already leaves his back open -- the monk isn't able to stop the shoulder charge, ending up pinned between the wrecked remains of a seat and Acacia herself. "Ha..." He coughs, and a little red shows on his teeth... apparently willpower is no substitute for, say, Wolverine's healing factor. "That was... interesting." Summoning every last possible bit of energy he can muster, the monk tries one last time to put Acacia down for the count. "Let's do it again... as friends sometime." Unable to truly focus the technique properly, Frei instead makes a grab for Acacia's shirt and then simply yanks her in close and blasts her away with earth chi. A rather inelegant end to an inelegant fight... but considering how painfully slow the monk's injuries have made him, there's a good chance Acacia may escape unscathed instead.
COMBATSYS: Frei can no longer fight.
[ \\\\ <
Acacia 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Acacia blocks Frei's Daichi Kudaki.
[ \\\ <
Acacia 1/-------/=======|
Acacia gasps as the chi blast pounds into her, forcing her away from Frei. She smashes into the opposite wall, struggling for breath. With an effort of will, she marshals the last of -her- strength, and fights the urge to black out. Rising on unsteady legs, resting a hand on the side of the subway car for support, she gives a good long look at Frei.
"Yeah."
COMBATSYS: Acacia has ended the fight here.
Log created by Frei, and last modified on 13:50:25 04/24/2006.