Description: East versus West in the Far(ther) East! It's a ladder match, but will ANYTHING be left standing after these two collide? (Winner: Alex)
Thank God China is not far from Thailand.
Not one to back down from a challenge no matter what outside forces beset them, a tired, sweaty-looking Alex just hopped off a truck and made his way to the site of the fight, replete as it is with buns and ladders and who knows what else. It's a ladder match, to boot, so by the time Alex gets inside he doesn't look terribly thrilled. He hates extra accessories like this, but he's here -- and already enjoying a pastry -- waiting for 'go time'.
Go time can't be too far off, at that. Specifically because the Red Cyclone has just made his entrance, much to the cheering and lauding of the crowd kept outside the Emporium. They're not left high and dry, though. The cameras stationed all over feed directly to a large television screen on the outside of the building to give them a perfect view. Or they could just be oogling through the windows.
At any rate, Zangief has arrived! He pushes through the entrance, back turned to Alex for started, fists pumping again and again. "YEEAAAH!," bellows the red titan. "It's time to go! YEAH! WOO!"
And then Zangief turns to Alex, thrusting an index finger sharply in his direction. "YOU! You think you can stop the awesome power of Mother Russia!? You think you can stack up to Her champion, the Red Cyclone!? Listen here, Goldilocks, cuz this is how it's gonna go! I'm gonna catch your head in a Siberian headlock, then twist it around for every letter of the alphabet 'til I reach the first letter of my trainee's name, Rainbow! Then I'm gonna snap that head right off and feed it to the audience!" It's astounding that Zangief's found himself leading the life of a bachelor.
But regardless, all of this 'conversation' is caught on microphones hidden along with the cameras, broadcasting it outside along with the image. The crowd loves this brand of barbarianism. Zangief's pretty well known for it, after all. "YOU READY!?," the Russian hero demands.
Alex's entrance was.... ow key. He walked in, alone, without an entourage. The cameras wouldn't have even noticed him if they weren't looking for him, and even then, he simply strolled into the fighting area. He's... not exactly a showman. It is perhaps why he isn't successful as a televised fighter despite his win record.
As Zangief enters, Alex lowers onto his haunches, staring back at his opponent. "Hey, again." Having met Zangief, he can't tell how much of this is a stage-persona and how much of it isn't. Alex doesn't seem to have any such thing going on. In the business, this would probably make Alex a lower-card face to Zangief's high-card heel; all the same, he stands up, cracking his knuckles and pulling his shirt off. "Yeah, I'm ready," he says.
COMBATSYS: Zangief has started a fight here.
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Zangief 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Alex has joined the fight here.
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Alex 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Zangief
Alex rolls his limbs his place, popping shoulders and hips and elbows before settling in onto the a half-crouch again. "Right," he says, to himself, waiting for the bell to toll. He'll want to give his opponent a run for his money and then start scrambling straight up a ladder. He doesn't /like/ the showy conceit, but he'll still abide by it.
Ding. Here we go.
Alex takes off. His opponent still dwarves him considerably, and Alex is no small man, but his first attempt at contact betrays no such hesitation; he's looking to pick Zangief up and throw him through a nearby ladder, getting him back and away from mobility and leaving Alex in a hopefully advantageous spot.
Zangief seems entirely hooked on the showboating. After all, when you look as insanely ragged and monsterous as this, what else can you do? His giant hands ball into fists, and his rippling arms flex inwards. "HNN! LET'S DO IT!," roars the Red Cyclone. He turns from Alex to thrusts his fists in the air towards the entrance for a few seconds, then turns to Alex again, lips curled back in a hideous snarl.
"Welcome, Saturday Night Fight fans!," comes a voice over a hidden PA system. "Zangief versus Alex, right here at Crazy Zhin's Ladder and Pastry Emporium! Gourmet and gore! Ladders and laceration!"
"LET'S GET IT ON!"
Ding.
COMBATSYS: Zangief endures Alex's Body Slam.
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Alex 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Zangief
Well, if Zangief wasn't so into the whole showboating for all the spectators, he might has had a chance for a better reaction. He might have had the inclination to dodge Alex's incoming attack. He might have-..
Oh, who am I kidding?
When Zangief turns and sees the blonde fighter coming at him, he just stands there and grins that insane, disconcerting grin of his. It's sort of a mix between a grimace, a snarl, and a wide clown-like smile. He's hoisted up, positioning himself to a more strategic location by way of expertise alone, and finds himself getting flung. He bundles into a wrecking ball of pure power, and not only is that ladder bowled over, but the next one is after that.
Despite this, Zangief errupts from his curled position, landing on his feet running the -opposite- direction -towards- Alex. Meaty hands thrust out in an effort to grab Alex by the shoulders to double him over and lock his neck between his legs. If caught, his arms hook around Alex's midsection, and he hoists him up into piledrive position. He leaps high into the air, starting to rotate in a swift circle... aimed to drive Alex's head squarely through a glass counter and into so many pastries within.
COMBATSYS: Alex blocks Zangief's Screw Piledriver.
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Alex 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Zangief
"That's--" Alex sets his stance as best he can when Zangief /explodes/ like a train at him. "--That's the kind of power I've been looking for! You'd better keep this up, pal!" He's fought enough acrobatic nancy boys to last a lifetime. It's time to fight somebody who works on the same page that he does. Alex gets picked up and dropped but goes limp at just the right time, hitting the ground and kicking loose with enough of a moment to roll over and about twice. He manages to escape the tumble mostly unhurt, with glass miraculously only slightly piercing flesh.
Digging his hands into the ground, Alex brings both feet straight up to catch Zangief in the gut and roll him /over/, hurling him away without warning.
COMBATSYS: Zangief fails to interrupt Quick Throw from Alex with Banishing Flat.
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Alex 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Zangief
Zangief releases Alex after the hit is delivered, and he sees the feet coming up in time to do something about it. Or so he thought. His fists begin to glow with a deep blue aura, but the throw attempt comes quicker than her expected. He's sent sailing, and he crashes into the next counter. Glass is shattered by impact alone. Never you mind that the massive Russian didn't even hit it.
But from there, Zangief simply raises to his full height and starts to laugh. It's not a pleasant, tittery tea party laugh. It's a battle-thrilled, wide-yet-beady-eyed guffaw. "YEAH! Now that's some power! Let's keep at it, Goldilocks! Show me what you've got!" He pounds his right fist into his left hand.
Alex lowers onto his heels, staring back at Zangief. He's only momentarily flat-footed, but he's eyeballing his surroundings. Ladders and pies. Great. What kind of battlefield is that supposed to be? Cracking his neck during the interim, Alex rushes forward, taking a different tack -- a direct physical assaut, his hand snapping out to chop, glowing with chi, into his opponent's ribs with disturbing force.
COMBATSYS: Zangief Toughs Out Alex's Flash Chop!!
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Alex 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Zangief
"Been a while since I fought someone tough like this!," Zangief continues to laud. When he sees Alex closing in on him, he just makes that insane grimace grin and sets his fists to his hips and flexes the thickly corded muscle throughout the entirety of his body, somehow seeming to -inflate- with this.
The strike lands.
Zangief twitches slightly from the impact, then casts the grin down at Alex. He then bursts into delighted guffaws again. He feels he's proven just how tough -he- is. But now it's time to better earn his reputation.
Zangief turns quickly and hops up onto the counter. He then leaps an impressive distance to latch onto the nearest ladder. He climbs to its tallest reaches, then turns and leaps from its peak. His body overturns, apparently forgetting that there is no padded mat he'll be landing on, and thrusts his boots out sharply in an attempt to dropkick Alex.
COMBATSYS: Alex endures Zangief's Strong Kick.
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Alex 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Zangief
Alex lurches abruptly forward, raising one arm to deflect the kick. It's a difficult endeavour; the response to a hundred pounds of human muscle coming your way is usually not 'catch it!' and as a result Alex does little to minimize the pain in his arm. But he does manage to deflect the lightning blow, turning it aside and pushing forward to grab at Zangief and enter abrupt motion. "C'mon, comrade! Let's go for a ride!" he roars, before his back arches and he drives Zangief full-force into the floor.
COMBATSYS: Zangief endures Alex's Powerbomb.
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Alex 1/-----==/=======|=======\=------\1 Zangief
Zangief finds himself captured in powerbomb position. A position he's very much familiar with. His eyes widen in surprise at this turn of events. It's gone rather poorly for the titan... but that's how these things go every so often.
"Wha-!?"
Slam. "Hrrk.." Zangief twists and rolls over back to his feet, hands placing upon his knees as he pants and growls at Alex. Just because this is looking fairly one-sided doesn't mean he's going to let up on things at all. Pish-posh. Instead, Zangief suddenly rushes for Alex, ignoring his fatigue and pain, and makes a grab for his opponent. He attempts to scoop him into the air, right arm over his torso, left arm under his legs to cradle him momentarily. The Russian then drops to a knelt position, smashing Alex's back over his upturned knee in a backbreaker.
COMBATSYS: Alex endures Zangief's Strong Throw.
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Alex 1/---====/=======|=======\=------\1 Zangief
"Here we go--" Alex hisses, rolling off of Zangief's knee after the immense power of that blow. He literally tumbles to the side, landing halfway on the ground and looking straight up. "--I'm gonna feel that," he reflects, aloud, "In the morning."
But then he's up, again, and moving, again, launching headlong at Zangief. "But so will you, pa! Here we go--"
COMBATSYS: Zangief endures Alex's Hyper Bomb.
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Alex 0/-------/------=|=======\=======\1 Zangief
He's not prone to yeling his attacks aloud, but this situation? This situation deserves it.
Dashing forward to seize Zangief by the waist, Alex spins around and repeats his Power Bomb, smashing ladders and pastries into every which way. Once Zangief hits the ground, however, Alex doesn't release; he simply reverses his grasp and leaps straight up, bringing Zangief back down from an ever greater height... and reverses his grip again, leaping straight up to set foot onto a ladder, which creaks and strains under their weight. "HYPER BOMB!" he roars, before jumping from the ladder, bringing Zangief abruptly back down to the Earth.
"Hrrk!"
This followed by:
"HOORF!"
These are the noises Zangief makes at each impact of the power bomb. The ladders and such? Well, that hurts, too. But the mainstay of the damage comes from those throws. A truly impressive feat to the Red Cyclone. After the second impact, it looks as though Zangief is going to just lay there and be.. well.. corpsified.
Unfortunately for Alex, this isn't the case.
The Russian titan pulls himself back up to his full height with a growl, eyes bloodshot and bulging. "SIBERIAN PING-PONG!"
WTFery is permitted.
Zangief rushes for Alex, and he makes a grab for his arms. If caught, he spins him around rapidly to boost momentum, then CHUCKS him towards the furthest counter of pastries...
COMBATSYS: Zangief can no longer fight.
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Alex 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Alex endures Zangief's Rebound Throw.
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Alex 0/-------/=======|
...The first counter is struck, and the force of the throw sees Alex banking off and flying back to Zangief. The Red Cyclone catches him and spins over once more, boosting the insane momentum, and flings him this time towards and adjacent ladder. When the ladder is struck, it crumples under the force of the throw not unlike aluminum, and Alex is racing back to the Russian. Yet again, Zangief spins to boost the momentum, hurling the blonde towards a row of glass counters and, conveniently enough, a row of those ladders. The glass is demolished, needless to say, and the ladders are dented, gnarled, and screwed up horrendously. But again, the force banks Alex back to Zangief.
The Red Cyclone catches him to spin one final time.
The full force of the momentum comes to an end as Zangief brings Alex over his head, and finally bodyslams him against the ground.
But after this is done, Zangief frowns and plops down onto his rear. He looks almost thoughtful. In the same way gorillas can look thoughtful in the same position. He's done with the fight. The question is, is Alex out or still good to go?
Alex sees what's cming, and he can tell it is something he has seldom experienced -- and he braces himself and grabs on, perhaps fearful that Zangief is't done yet, still pushing the example, looking to test his own mettle as well as the mettle of his foe. Alex is lifted off of his feet and pulled around and around, driven into a massive crater into the ground. He tenses and prepares to counter-attack...
Only to find that Zangief is no longer moving. Slowly, unsteadily, Alex stands up, suddenly stunned to find the fight over. "Good fight, comrade," he grunts, limping towards the nearest ladder. He's got to make this official, at the very least.
Alex's comment is met with a toothy snarl-grin. Hard to tell if Zangief is pleased or offended, really. Either way, there are teeth. And lots of them. The massive Russian watches Alex curiously as he climbs one of the non-demolished ladders. Can't be too many of those left.
Alex climbs high on the one remaining ladder and rings the bell with his knuckle. Descending, slowly, unsteadily, the American limps past the referee, who attempts to raise his arm; Alex has a Thailand to go back to. "Hey, comrade," he says, leaving a small piece of paper near Zangief. "Not far from here, a lot of people are in a pretty bad way. Guy like you could make a difference," he adds, before standing upright and beginning to limp away. It's a phone number, presumably his, and an address in Bangkok.
COMBATSYS: Alex has ended the fight here.
Log created on 18:29:04 06/12/2007 by Alex, and last modified on 20:52:16 06/14/2007.