Description: In an alleyway Aranha and Nassir square off in an underground fighting circuit. Knives and Walls are fair game. Let's see if the crazy capoeirista can avoid getting himself killed.
In a dingy alleyway, the cheering is loud as money hits changes hands at a rapid pace. The stench of urine and discarded food from the dumpsters overwhelm the senses and the smell of blood and sweat only manage to enhance the smells to eye watering, nigh unbearable levels.
A circle is formed around two men, one of them seeming to dance around his opponent but in this dance he seems to be sort of playing with his opponent before drawing him into traps and then when he's done, putting his opponent down, without losing the smile on his face.
He moves outside of the circle for moment to grab a towel and wipe his sweaty forehead before stepping back in. "Anyone else?"
In comparison to where he was less than 48 hours ago, the idea of being in a urine-scented alleyway was almost a breath of fresh air for the USPL soldier. Two days ago, he busied himself against the brainwashed operatives of the Shadaloo invasion. In oppressive heat and unfamiliar terrain, Nassir did the work of a small cell: Taking them on in skirmishes all over Bangkok and the surrounding areas.
And now...one sweaty, disgusting alleyway for another. The biggest difference was the cheering audience, really.
Once the fallen man's body comes to complete rest and the victor starts his break, Nassir works his way through the crowd, all shoulders and elbows. "Even in a time of war," Nassir uttered, likely lost beneath the din of the crowd. "Cross-training does not cease."
Looks like there's one more for Aranha after all, one with some television publicity to boot...
...but was that a good thing?
It probably wasn't... But it's because of this television exposure that the crowd decides to give the two men wide-berth, after all, knives and grenades could easily put an end to future profits. Does the spider recognize him, though? It's entirely possible. If he does though, he's probably freakin crazy to still be smiling if he knew Nassir at all.
The crowd clearing out though is also to his benefit as well because it all changes his strategy. He keeps one eye on his opponent and the other eye is looking at ways to use the environment to his advantage. He begins to sway left and right his legs alternating at he begins to hum a song to himself. The song stops and he now has it in his head. "Alright then... Let's dance."
COMBATSYS: Aranha has started a fight here.
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Aranha 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Nassir has joined the fight here.
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Nassir 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aranha
There's hardly a blink from Nassir's end as Aranha addresses him, the boy soldier analyzing the unknown fighter with the same intensity and throughoutness that a jewler might appraise a particularly interesting diamond.
But did Aranha have the same degree of worth?
"For what it is worth," Nassir slowly intones, fingers already moving for his bandolier, freeing up a pair of blades with practiced motion. "If you die here, tonight, you should know that it was done without malice in my heart."
The blades aren't immeadiately used, the soldier standing still, a knife in both hands...waiting, perhaps, for the mysterious champion to set the pace.
COMBATSYS: Nassir focuses on his next action.
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Nassir 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aranha
"Well if I die tonight, I might as well make it as fun as possible." His movements are fluid as he uses the ginga to approach the knife wielder, dancing his way closer. He slides lower to the ground using his leg in a sweeping motion to generate momentum as he goes into handstand legs wide open as he goes into a rapid spin attempting to smack the soldier in the face with his feet. If he's uninterrupted, he'll drop out of the spin in a crouched position with one leg extended a bit further than the other.
COMBATSYS: Nassir interrupts Inverted Tornado from Aranha with Indoctrination.
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Nassir 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Aranha
The Capoeista's movement isn't interrupted--indeed, it seems that Nassir had little intention on getting out of the way of the blow at all. Instead, Nassir's eyes droop slightly--halflidding as his grip on those knives shifts down slightly.
The first foot slaps Nassir's cheek with enough momentum to snap his head to one side...and with it, his body followed, spiraling through the air...
...higher than it should've given the amount of force put out, the spiral turning into a somersault...
...and ending with Nassir landing atop his agile counterpart, knives first.
The entire affair is highlighted with a sequence of afterimages, shadowy blue chi-constucts held in the air and chronicling his flight path. They only last for a couple of moments before the energy holding them together dissipates, but it's long enough to tell exactly what happened.
After the soldier drops down upon him he spins away trying to see if he can regain his position. "That was interesting, soldier boy." He begins to check the environment again taking a deep breath as he continues to dance again and see what the soldier will do. The smile is still there but it's quite plain that he's taking this fight much more seriously than his previous fight. He's consumed with the idea of keeping moving feeling out his opponent and then working from there.
COMBATSYS: Aranha focuses on his next action.
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Nassir 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Aranha
As Aranha spins away, Nassir takes an equally defensive stance on matters -- rolling free of what could've potentially been an entanglement of bodies. Dive-bombing into another person could reap spectacular rewards, but could've put him in a disadvantageous position as well.
All in all, though, Nassir was happy with his opening gambit. How could he not be?
No time is spent returning with conversation, even after the roll puts Nassir in a kneeling position. He wasn't too keen on the idea of Aranha regaining his wits, and wanted to push the advantage as much as he could. To that end, Nassir did what came naturally to him--
With an underhand toss, the knife in his hand flew in for the Capoeira practictioner, flickering end over end on it's way in for central mass.
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Nassir's Power Shot.
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Nassir 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Aranha
The spider ends up diving under the knife with both hands touching the ground as he supports his body with his kidney resting on his elbow and letting the knife hit the wall behind him before he pushing himself off and back to his feet.
It's at this point Aranha differentiates himself from most Capoeiristas instead of going into the ginga again, he breaks into a run before leaping on to a dumpster, then jumping up and kicking off of a wall to propel himself off the wall and right at the soldier foot first but trying to cut off as many escape routes as possible by using his hands with open palms to try to catch him if the foot misses.
COMBATSYS: Nassir interrupts Sky's the Limit from Aranha with Depravity.
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Nassir 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Aranha
Curious.
Nassir's lips curl down into a light frown as his knife misses the mark, clattering noisily against the wall. He hadn't totally expected to hit the mark, but then in the same breath he hadn't expected to completely miss either. It was a disappointing development for the soldier, but one he could deal with well enough.
Uncharistically for Nassir, there's little attempt at moving out of the way of the acrobatic counterattack, the soldier seemingly disinterested with playing his normal games of cat and mouse. Today, for whatever reason, was a day for quick, punishing blows...
...comparatively speaking, anyways.
Standing to full height, Nassir's hand coiled into a tight fist, save for the first two fingers. Those stayed rigidly straight, needlelike in his small hand. As Aranha flew in, Nassir jumped directly at him, fingers first. A flare of chi resulted in an effect similar to his previous counterstrike, creating afterimages in his wake.
The final result is hardly graceful--a collision of bodies to ensure that pain is spread out all around. Nassir landed with a dull thud against the concrete, though his aim was true in pressing the fingers against waist area, near the pelvis.
The precision collision ends up with him tangled up in the soldier and as a capoeirista, this is definitely not a position he wants to be in. He pulls himself out of the two man pile up and into a crouched position, trying to maintain close enough of a position that it would hard for the soldier to get away from him.
He sweeps a leg out to kick the downed soldier and then he kicks that foot up and over to generate enough momentum to drive the second kick down on Nassir with his other leg before pulling both legs up into a handstand.
COMBATSYS: Nassir dodges Aranha's Change-Up Kick.
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Nassir 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Aranha
Despite the rather rough landing, Nassir isn't down for very long. If he were the sort to be lethargic after such an attack, he likely wouldn't have survived the years that he had as a guerilla fighter, as a USPL soldier...or even as a civilian. Stay Moving, Stay Alive.
Pulling his body into a tight ball, the scissoring kick is evaded by rolling backwards, away from those potentially dangerous feet of his. The distance isn't maintained for long, however--as soon as the second kick is committed to, Nassir rolls forward again, uncoiling his body to deliver another of those stiff-fingered strikes he used moments ago. This one lacks the same degree of precision, and the chi is missing wholesale, but might make up for it in momentum.
COMBATSYS: Aranha endures Nassir's Strong Throw.
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Nassir 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
One would think that Aranha would be extremely vulnerable seeing that he was in that handstand. And based on the fact that each and every pressure point strike landed one would be inclined to agree. Or atleast until he flies away from the other fighter on the last shot. He drops into roll and then starts running allowing him to carry the momentum of the impact towards another wall.
The moment he jumps off the wall though, his body begins to glow blue as he pushes himself off the wall and goes directly for Nassir feet first the same way he attacked him before. Only this time he runs and jumps again to land on the edge of the dumpster and jumping up to grab a fire escape to swing himself down and drop down feet first again on him and then running back to another wall to deliver another kick and bouncing off the walls to deliver more and more kicks until he flips backwards trying to drop a kick on him and then attempting to follow it up with twisting double leg kick at the end.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Nassir with Joker's Wild EX.
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Nassir 1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0 Aranha
That's a lot of kicks.
In fact, Nassir found himself in the rare situation where he wasn't likely to be able to adequately deal with the myriad of directions in which he was being attacked. It's commendable, if Nassir were in a mind to commend his adversary on anything. Each kick lands solidly, defeating his defense as readily as it ever could. The last assault is enough to knock him off of his feet, sending the mercenary clattering off of the ground and into a wall.
Ouch.
Despite the raining assault, Nassir seems to be ready to continue, hurt but not desperately so.
So, then...what to do now?
Rolling himself upright, Nassir's offhand busied itself with the task of pulling free another throwing knife. Using his other hand to steady himself on the ground, the knife is thrown with an overhand motion, angled low to catch either his legs or his arms should he happen to go into a handstand.
COMBATSYS: Nassir successfully hits Aranha with Quick Shot.
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Nassir 1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0 Aranha
Aranha leans backwards as he tries avoid this knife however he can't seem to get out of the way. He catches the knife on his shoulder. By itself it wasn't too painful but the rest of the fight was taking a toll on him. Even still he has to keep on moving especially since when your opponent wields throwing knives. Standing still usually equals defeat or death.
He approaches carefully as he dances in, humming as he moves weaving to and fro. The movement is sudden as he goes into a cartwheel snapping a kick out before attempting to land on his feet. Which considering how the fight has gone so far, isn't a guarantee not that he cares. He's having fun with it.
COMBATSYS: Nassir interrupts Short Kick from Aranha with Stockholm Syndrome.
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Nassir 0/-------/-----==|=======\===----\1 Aranha
Defeat or Death.
Those were generally the options available to Nassir on any given battlefield, on any given day. Regardless the victor, there would be one or the other, fates determined by superiors and shadowy figures.
Today? Today was little different--the only real feature that stood out was that there was nothing on the line here save pride and the chance to learn something of worth.
Nassir's body began to give off flickers of chi once again, wispy tendrils steaming off of his body before bursting into motion. Illusory duplicates of himself stood as testament to his intent, fists balling oncemore save for those prodding, poking fingers of his. As the kick came in, Nassir met with force...though unlike earlier efforts, the chi afterimages move of their own volition, following the general path but altering blows so that the one man force of Nassir became three, four, five. Fingers sought out nerve clusters and natural chi-wells, corrupting and destroying spiritually what those fingers could not accomplish physically.
The end result, when done correctly? Generally death, though Nassir was still learning his way and strengthing his poison.
He would have to settle for defeat, unless Aranha had something else up his sleeve.
Aranha body reels from the impact, spinning out and then sliding across ground into an agonized heap. He slowly gets up to his feet performing a sloppy ginga as it takes all of his effort to move closer and closer to the soldier. "Well I've lost. But I might as well finish out this dance."
Aranha leans away not bothering with a defense since it's all over for and then he leans forward to push away his opponent with a head butt to set up a turning kick off of his rear leg before placing his hand onto the ground and then throwing himself into a handstand where he launches a series of brutal snap kicks down upon his opponent's head. He drops down from the handstand and then performs a back flip kick and while normally he'd land on his feet but his body as taken too much and he lands unconscious on his face.
COMBATSYS: Aranha can no longer fight.
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Nassir 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Nassir fails to interrupt Full House from Aranha with Under a United Banner.
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Nassir 0/-------/--=====|
It seems for all the world like an all-out offense is the way to go for Aranha--while he might've lost an alleyway spar, he prevented Nassir from adding injury to insult (to injury?) by further punishing the ex-catburglar.
Hands went to his bandolier, reaching for a new pair of knives, but the rush comes in well before he's prepared for it. Nassir ends up eating the brunt of it, falling backwards and tumbling head over heels before coming to a complete rest a few feet away.
A couple of people in the audience might've confused it for a double-knockout, but Nassir is back to his feet within a couple of seconds, albeit wearily.
"A calculated risk gone bad," Nassir mutters, frowning deeply. "I'll need to be more careful. You have been beaten, but you are still alive. Use the opportunity well."
Log created on 12:28:47 06/14/2007 by Aranha, and last modified on 20:12:06 06/24/2007.