Description: Haggar finally pays the price for his overconfidence, courtesy of Tak--- MR. KARATE.
Haggar, in his confidence, split off from his group the moment he landed in Thailand. He remained separated all through the conflict, half out of coincidence, half out of design. He even briefly met with Roberto and Guile, but after the fight (the end of which is lost to the sands of time) he parted ways once again. Ironically, his certainty, a festering dark ball of ego he is not even truly aware of, is what has kept him from working with others to truly make a difference in the war against Shadaloo.
At this very moment, in Bangkok, the final push against Vega is taking place. Haggar, however, is not even aware of this. What he is aware of is that many POWs are being kept in a prison in Saraburi, and this is where Haggar has made his way. It's somewhat nostalgic, in a way, as he makes his way through the streets, surviving pipe in hand. A small pile of Shadaloo soldiers, most eerily identical, lies in his wake. Another one comes at him from an alley, and Haggar dispatches him with one vicious swing. It's like Metro City all over again.
The wrestling mayor finds himself in front of Wat Phra Buddha Baat, now, a grand-looking temple, and one that has survived all the chaos. He's not too far from the prison, now.
Nostalgic, Haggar? Mr. Karate could say the same thing, one supposes. It's been a very long time since he's been forced to use his powers in the name of evil, but recent events... namely, a LESSON that must be delivered to one very presumptuous fellow... That's what's stirred the legend into action.
The commando-mayor might look over his back after spotting that grand temple, after making his way to its front. He might heft his pipe, making note in his mind: 'That guy looks like he needs help'. This isn't at all far from the truth, but unfortunately for the Thailand soldier, so isolated from those who might help him, Haggar won't be able to act nearly fast enough. The man gives Haggar a curious, testy look before his eyes widen in clear recognition of the SNF and political celebrity - a greeting falls from his lips, something in a foreign language. The exact translation doesn't matter, the man's excellent at speaking with his body language, and it's VERY clear that he's happy to see a kindred spirit.
Said soldier begins running towards Haggar.
"CHESTOOOOOOO!," shrieks a voice from nearby. There is a sudden, intense STOMP, and one Shadaloo-uniformed official steps out from that same temple Haggar'd just been observing. His hand is thrust forward, a circle of intense red energies shriek from the ground at his feet, and...
A wave of invisible force ripples across the ground, towards Haggar, possibly THROUGH him, and onto the soldier heading for a savior. The figure who threw the projectile is still cloaked in shadow, save for the quivering palm struck forward into the daylight.
COMBATSYS: Takuma has started a fight here.
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Takuma 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Haggar has joined the fight here.
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Takuma 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Haggar
COMBATSYS: Takuma successfully hits Haggar with Ko'ou Ken.
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Takuma 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Haggar
Haggar responds to the soldier as he starts coming with a nod, and a gesture to follow him. He's had more than a few wayward soldiers with him from time-to-time, and for the most part he kept them safe until they could rejoin a unit. Sure that he'll get to him soon enough, Haggar turns back to the path in front of him, adjusting his grip on the pipe.
--Only to have his attention torn away by the (intensely manly) battlecry, toward the temple. "What in th--" He sets himself as though against a projectile when the "official" thrusts out his hand, but if he can't even SEE it, he can't time his surge well-enough. He's rocked back on his heels, road fragmenting beneath his feet... and he feels the blast go through him. He instantly whips his head around to witness the soldier, who is no Fighter, get picked up by the blast and thrown into a fragile wall of a ruined building. He doesn't come out of the resulting smoke cloud. Mike Haggar's hand tightens on the pipe. "...damn you!"
He doesn't stop to really assess the situation, he just turns and starts taking steep temple stairs four at a time, charging toward the shadowed man he knows is responsible. A brick is in his left hand, apparently without him even drawing it - he flings it up across the distance, the air before it noisily crushed.
COMBATSYS: Takuma dodges Haggar's Thrown Object.
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Takuma 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Haggar
There's no substantial movement from the shadows, even as Haggar prepares and executes his counterattack. The brick streaks through the air, a brown streak of pain intent on slapping into that Mysterious Enemy Officer hiding in the shadows over there. As the bit of concrete reaches the very end of it's path through the unshadowed portions of the temple, the same hand that had struck forth at first does so again.
"Hai!" Lightning-fast, a standard, masterfully-executed repositioning of those weathered hands sends the square not just flying away from its target -- a knife-hand falling into a resting closed-fist instantly turns the thing to powder, with /no/ apparent damage to the experienced body that had just slashed through it.
The Shadaloo commander steps forward, in a well-practiced bull position. His uniform suggests a high rank, while the mask on his face, a Tengu-styled affair with flowing grey hair, a lengthy red nose, and fearsome, GLOWING yellow eyes... that suggests a madman.
"He was alone," the officer offers. "Too much faith in one's abilities tends to get them killed! Hyah!" The official breaks out of his bull-stance, only to sprint towards his opponent, arms tucked in, close to his chest. Like a runaway train, the masked man bears down on Haggar with fury and strength in his motions -- once he's close enough, he'll reach out with his arms, grab the larger man by the shoulder, and pull him to the left, driving his right shoulder into Haggar's unsupported one -- the result will be a corkscrew-styled toss that ends with the Shadaloo official driving his free shoulder into Haggar's FACE, as well as slamming him into the ground beneath his weight.
COMBATSYS: Haggar fails to counter Strong Throw from Takuma with Hammer Thru.
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Takuma 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1 Haggar
That /mask/ the officer has on gives Haggar pause. Two of his steps eat up only three stairs, not two. The brick's destruction, conversely, was regarded as a matter of course. It was more or less a feint - something to force the man to do something more before the distance was closed. A careful, calculated move.
And one that goes absolutely to pot when the wrestler sweeps his arm at the masked monster's, and finds him to have built up far too much momentum for him to simply brush aside with one mightily-muscled arm. The throw is a masterful one, tearing Haggar right off his practiced balance and slamming him into the steps - after a meeting with uniformed shoulder. Mike Haggar rolls away after the blow, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth, offering no further words. Somehow, he's managed to retain that steel pipe.
Haggar's opponent rolls to a standing position as well, his step and posture far more sturdy than the beleaguered former SlamMaster. Within a few seconds, the tengu-masked man has pulled his arms into a tense position, held out to his sides -- they come together in intricate arcs, until he holds one hand atop the other, at his side. For a second, there is nothing, and then:
"Hah! Some power you possess! What are you even accomplishing here! Your friends, the people you swore to protect, they are miles away, fighting for the fate of this part of the world! Blows are being exchanged, emotions triggered, lives lost... and all you have to say for yourself is that you wandered through a town nobody cares about, too prideful to accompany the other guardians!"
For a moment, Mr. Karate shakes his head sadly. It is a motion emphasized by his ENORMOUS NOSE.
"You are... pathetic. A man who cannot realize he is nothing will never amount to anything. There are those, Michael Haggar, that will grind you into dust. And you will never be able to defend yourself, or anybody else, against them until you realize that -you need others-."
"HAAAH!" Power begins to flow from the masked man's form, in oscillating waves that exude a tangible, visible force.
COMBATSYS: Takuma gathers his will.
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Takuma 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1 Haggar
Mike Haggar, in all honesty, had no idea that there was any kind of climactic showdown. He had been too wrapped up in his own crusade - the intelligence had probably even gone by his ears at some point in a resistance camp, but he never let it sink in. So his simple reaction of "What?!" to Mr. Karate's first statement is open, and honest.
But he doesn't stop there. He keeps going, verbally attacking Haggar's pride - something he deserves, but doesn't even realize. His mouth curls sharply downward beneath his ponderous moustache, heavy brows knitting together, small fires igniting in his brown eyes. "You know my name... but do you know anything else about me?" He's outraged. He's Mike Haggar! If anyone knows about the value of teamwork, it's obviously him! But here, in the dense jungles of Thailand, he should be able to do more keeping a low profile, exploding out where nobody expects...
...shouldn't he?
Haggar is an intelligent man, but he is not an introspective man until he has some scotch in him. Instead of letting that sudden sting of self-doubt plunge into his heart, he roars his fury past it, red hazing around his vision. He charges the masked fighter, now, leaping at him with arms flung out above him, twisting in the air as he stabs both booted feet hard at his uniformed chest.
COMBATSYS: Takuma blocks Haggar's Drop Kick.
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Takuma 1/----===/=======|=======\=------\1 Haggar
Mr. Karate's answer is not the simple, subtle murmur of a True Evil Mastermind, and it's in this that his Impeccable Acting may have become Peccable. The man's arms immediately lift over his head, his eyes widen considerably, and his nose... well. It trembles with RAGE. "I KNOW MORE ABOUT YOU THAN YOU MAY KNOW YOURSELF! I AM SUPERIOR TO YOU, HAGGAR, BECAUSE I DO NOT CONSIDER MYSELF LEARNED AT ALL! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Karate's arms fall into each other, arms laying atop one another and angled across his face -- something that happens to be the PRECISE angle at which they'd need to be so that Haggar's kick is rendered impotent, merely staggering Karate back a step... and other than that, giving him no trouble at all. Which is bad news for the still-recovering Haggar... it allows his opponent to take one step back, eyes widened even further, and announce:
"Why would anybody fool themselves into thinking that they are at the zenith of their strength!? You imbecile! Understand why you are being beaten as badly as you are!"
With a grunt, the arcane, GLOWING Shadaloo operative's left hand launches forward, again and again and again -- each punch intended to slam into Haggar's midsection and begin to lift him skywards. After Haggar has been SUSPENDED by the force of punches, Mr. Karate finishes his combo off with one fierce, forwards-facing uppercut, and a cry of:
"CHESTOOOOOOOO!"
COMBATSYS: Takuma successfully hits Haggar with Zanretsu Ken.
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Takuma 1/---====/=======|=======\=====--\1 Haggar
By all rights, this beating should be the end of Haggar. This /should/ fling him right off the staircase. The first punches all find their mark, Haggar failing to set himself against them, but a desperate surge of just plain resilient stubbornness locks in on Mr. Karate's final uppercut. The blow slams into his sternum, and the momentum just halts. Somewhere deep inside his soul, Haggar puts on a smoking jacket, puffs a pipe, and nods contendedly.
Still, those first blows hit hard. If Haggar were a little more in the right state of mind, he would have noticed the familiarity of that technique, but with the walls of his pride crumbling as this Shadaloo /dog/ rips him apart, he only registers it as a simple series of punches. The tirade assaulting him through the whole match, meanwhile... you'd think that the mayor would realize this can't be a normal officer, but the cognitive dissonance separates it. To him, the masked man says nothing, and this monstrous voice simply crashes about his head as though God himself were lecturing him.
Part of Haggar, a big part, just wants to stop now, to give up and lie back, as though it would take him back to Metro City. But he knows that cannot happen. He has to try and beat this man, and pure desperation drives him as he drops back to the ground. His hand stabs out, seeking to grab that ridiculous nose...
COMBATSYS: Takuma counters Giant Swing from Haggar with Kusatsu Jin.
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Takuma 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Haggar
It's here that Mr. Karate's righteous fury, something borne out of seeing the wasted potential in his current opponent... it simply burns through whatever vestiges of reason he has left. In his mind, much like Haggar has retreated to a quiet, thoughtful place, he is screaming atop a mountain, doing what he can to beat back the tide of ignorance rolling in on his world of pure, determined martial arts. He -has- to beat sense into Haggar, -has- to teach the wrestler that there is absolutely no reason for him to act the way he is. This fight is not one that will determine the fate of Asia, or the world. It will not result in anybody's death. What will happen, however, is that a man might be reborn.
And really, that's all Mr. Karate wants.
Haggar's reaching arm is met with Takuma's own, wide-open stance. His arms are spread... he makes no attempt to shrug off the other fighter's attack. However, Haggar will find that the corded muscle beneath his opponent's battered uniform is straining beyond the scope of normal potential as Haggar pulls at Karate, he'll find that each renewed attempt to tug Mr. Karate off of his feet results in...
More stoicism, more rage.
"YOU CLING TO NOTHING! Let it -GO-, you worthless has-been! What happened to the man who destroyed Mad Gear?! What happened to that man!? Apathy, it seems..."
Mr. Karate's left hand rises high, palm facing the ground, directly above Haggar's head. In one fierce, precise movement, that hand drives against Haggar's skull, and FORCES him into the ground roughly enough to cause an enormous crater, complete with cobblestones flying some 5 feet into the air for a radius of 12 feet in either direction.
The hand leaves Haggar's head, without concern for his well-being.
"Apathy is far more effective than any knife to the back could be."
Mike Haggar has not retreated to a quiet place. Mike Haggar has been thrown into a burning, crumbling building in his own mind, Mr. Karate's voice bouncing off the walls like a thousand furious judges. A thousand retorts come to Haggar's mind, each one shattering before it can reach his throat. Haggar lost a fight here before - Zero's beating is still felt keenly, but he did not also point out the mayor's every failing to him as he did so.
The Giant Swing is normally a death sentence the moment Haggar's hand finds a grip, but inside, he has already lost this fight. This is an act of futile defiance, done by rote instead of with true conviction. Haggar's fighting spirit has been shattered. Mr. Karate's retort lands cleanly, and his giant hand slips from the mask.
The wrestler from Metro is still concious when he crashes down onto the stairs, shattering both his nose and several steps above and below him. The surge of adrenaline will not come this time, he knows this for a fact as he bounces cruelly off the ground, landing down on undamaged steps. The pathway up to the temple is long and steep, a corner of his mind reflects as he rolls down. The fall is really quite symbolic. Haggar's mind clings stubbornly to feeling until he hits the bottom, rolling out onto the road, and only then does everything go mercifully black.
Mr. Karate's last words stay in Mike Haggar's head, and they will be the first thing he hears when he wakes back up and /knows/ his own foolishness.
COMBATSYS: Haggar takes no action.
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Takuma 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Haggar can no longer fight.
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Takuma 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Takuma takes no action.
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Takuma 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Takuma has ended the fight here.
Log created on 22:06:41 07/01/2007 by Haggar, and last modified on 23:56:16 07/07/2007.