Description: Wherein Tenma goes a little crazy, Aislinn goes a lot silent, and Alan is basically as you expect. Witness Senior Justice! (Draw Match)
The side door of the Second Wind Retirement Center opens into the much-loved activity room. Second Wind is famous for having quite a few old, retired fighters within its walls, a cut above your standard old men. There are the requisite chess boards, decks of cards, shuffleboard lanes... but there are also arcades set up with fighting games, a few speed bags and training dummies, even the odd fighting ring. Initially, SNF organizers tried to delay the traditional nightly revels in the room so that the potentially dangerous fight wouldn't spill over, but they resisted quite bitterly. As such, when Alan kicks the door open and strides in like the cock of the walk, the activity room is full of old men and women in varying degrees of both age and activity.
The blonde spins a small silver chain as he walks in, electricity crackling around his hands and face, a cigarette dangling from his mouth despite the prominent no-smoking sign hanging above his head. "Oh man, it's like I'm so young and hip everyone around me has just wrapped around." He points at a man pondering hard over what looks like a high-level game of chess. "Don't think too hard, Bones, or you'll break your arm!" Grumbling already crackles in his wake as he strides to the wide circle cleared of tables and chairs, flipping the chain so it locks around his wrist and slides up his sleeve.
Alan R. B. runs his right hand back through his hair, bringing it back down the left side of his head, forming his signature lightning bolt with a crackle of electricity. His hands loop by his belt, hooking his iron rings. He waits for the other two fighters, smirking to himself, making sure the rings are well-fastened.
Old men... old women. Aislinn will, in all likelihood, not live long enough to reach their age. It isn't even sure she -can- reach that age; as an age-accelerated clone, her ultimate lifespan is in question and anyways, she works for NESTS, so someday she'll probably have to face down the likes of Kyo Kusanagi and potentially be burned out of existence, if he isn't having impotence problems with his flames. But none of that is Aislinn's concern; it's just a mental note she makes.
Where Alan's entrance is loud, flashy, and unmistakable, Aislinn just comes out of the crowd. A couple of the oldbies start; they hadn't even realized she was there... but she was, all the same, and her sudden presence startles the SNF officials too. With quiet, precise steps, her boots thump lightly on the floor, as she approaches the fight area. Her lavender eyes are staring at Alan... almost right through him. It's like she isn't really seeing him, but a rising column of facts and factoids about the man known as 'Alan R.B.'... there isn't much, but there's something. She knows he uses electricity too, and that he is a boxer. Tenma Kiryuu is awaited, but she already knows something about him...
What the hell kind of place is this for a fight, anyway? The middle of a /retirement home/? It's terrible. The average age of the audience is somewhere about nine minutes to dead, not one cute girl anywhere to be seen. Not only that, but there's some kind of stipulation about preventing Alan from offending the creaky old folks watching the match, which probably won't be hard, most of them likely as not won't even remember what happened in a few hours. The rest are probably asleep already, or mentally preparing their next passive-aggressive harangue for their children and grandchildren as to why they've abandoned the poor old soul to their own devices in the retirement home.
Honestly, Tenma Kiryuu just doesn't like old people. It doesn't help that the most decrepit old man he knows can toss him around with scarcely a care in the world, and is crazy enough to hink he deserves it for the least provocation.
The Gedo swordsman is the last of the three scheduled fighters to arrive, his bokken already unwrapped and slanted against his shoulder, his mouth pulled into a discontent frown. "Pfeh," the arrogant boy mutters disdainfully, at the sight of the impassive Aislinn and the equally cocksure as himself - or possibly even more so - Alan, dark blue eyes sliding from one to the other. "Hey, Sparkplug, try shutting up and focusin' on the fight for once, hey?" he directs at the boxer, before biting into the flesh of his thumb. Anybody who's seen him fight knows what's coming next; red droplets hit the cream-white carpet underfoot, as his bloodied digit is drawn along the wooden blade of his sword, painting a crimson stripe. The chi link formed, he sweeps his bokken through the air, igniting it with an aura of blood-chi. "Last thing these folks need is their last memory bein' your hideous voice spittin' up some trash." But he doesn't attack right away, oh no. Instead he stands like that, bokken alight with a violent crimson aura resting on his shoulder, his free hand tucked in his pocket, like he's got all the time in the world. Even when the official gives the signal to start, Kiryuu actually waits, for just the right opportunity to strike.
This might seem weird to some people.
COMBATSYS: Tenma has started a fight here.
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Tenma focuses on his next action.
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Aislinn has joined the fight here.
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Aislinn 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Tenma
COMBATSYS: Alan has joined the fight here.
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Aislinn 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|
Alan stretches out his arms and hands, fingers locked, before lifting his fists into his boxing stance. Looks like all of Aislinn's data is accurate - for what it'll be worth. "Well, hey hey, it's blood guy! I don't know if I ever knew your name, but I'm pretty sure I didn't care, either." He then glances over toward Aislinn, looking her up and down analytically. "Tshh, they're all too young lately. Hey, get back to me in a few years, yeah? I'll be even more wildly successful then." He hooks his thumbs in his vest, runs them up and down, and then falls curiously still.
The careful eye, like those of some of the more active men watching the fight - will see why. A line of lightning from the strangely still Alan cracks out to right behind Aislinn, instants before his form collapses into a small shockwave of lightning. The brash man has a few fans watching at home - they sit up straight as the boxer displays more speed than he ever has before, coming out of a blur directly behind Aislinn. "Think fast, doll!" His hands blur as he drives a wide swing right at Aislinn's kidney, quickstepping back around to clip her shoulder with the other hand and hopefully keep her spinning.
"Don't try to follow me too hard, bonebags, don't want to go blind!"
COMBATSYS: Aislinn counters Hook Punch from Alan with Brutal Hammer.
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Aislinn 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|
If Alan thinks he's fast--he is, certainly. She meets his pre-fight gaze placidly, which is not to say he should assume she isn't threatening. Because if he thinks he's too fast for Aislinn to follow, then he's -wrong-. And she'll show him how wrong, quickly and efficiently; when he comes out of his blur, he isn't behind Aislinn.
She's turned to face him and the punching fist is deflected away easily, and then the other punch is stepped into, an arm raised to lock it up; she wraps her arm around his, immobilizing him... and drawing him forward for a single, vicious headbutt, the thick, bony part of her skull intercepting and impacting against Alan's nose, just once, before she releases him, drawing back twice with a casual backstep.
Though she doesn't say a thing, she merely gives Alan an analytical glance... and figures that probably Tenma will be giving her more trouble, if they decide to gang up on her. Tenma's already beaten her once, one on one... and she won't be able to fend Alan off forever, she's sure.
See? See? Tenma knew it. He knew Alan wouldn't be able to resist the urge to run his mouth. Of course, he fails to see the irony there. "Man, what the hell kinda way is that t' talk t' yer elders?" the Gedo Gang member wonders of the boxer, his lips twitching faintly as he spots it. An opening. Or at least, so he thinks. "Just 'cause they're probably all deaf as stones doesn't mean y' can go callin 'em crap like that! Even this buncha veggies has got feelings!" There's some pots and kettles at work here, but true to form, the blue-eyed Japanese teen misses them entirely.
His attention is fixed on other things.
Taking a single step forward, he sweeps his bokken down in a vertical slash, that aura of red flaring and following the arc of the blade, like fluid streaking through the air, but he's not nearly close enough to hit anything with the weapon. The point, then, would be what comes out in the wake of the sweeping movement, a roiling crescent of blood that tears through the air towards Aislinn, her back to him as she's currently focused on Alan. "HAAA-!!"
Most fighters, when they do something like that and it doesn't work to the point of getting hit right in the face, get angry, or at least show some kind of expression other than a small little smirk instants before they're knocked back several steps. "Ha! Good eyes, violet." He masters himself a bit, taking a few long steps to circle around somewhere where he could go for either Aislinn or Tenma, to keep them guessing.
He doesn't keep them guessing for long as he springs toward Tenma, electricity swelling up his arms as swings hard at him, just a few inches away, building up a roar of thunder and lightning that crackles at him in a wave. "Burst! And why the hell should I care what these old sots think, man? Look at 'em, they can barely lift their walkers, and they never did anything for me, ha! If it doesn't put money in my pocket, what's it to me?"
At 'they can barely lift their walkers', an exceptionally large and muscular old man grips his shuffleboard stick quite firmly, causing the rubber to groan in distress, a sound that can be clearly heard across the room. The angry mutter swells.
COMBATSYS: Aislinn just-defends Tenma's Dharmapala!
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Aislinn 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|
Always attacking the back, huh? Well, y'know. It's good strategy, especially in a free-for-all, so Aislinn can't fault either Alan -or- Tenma for doing it. That doesn't mean she's gonna lie down and take it, though; she twists around, feeling that blood chi ripping through the air at her, even as Alan dives in at Tenma.
And then the energy is upon her--she remembers it well, it being of a highly unusual nature, and also because Tenma ripped her up with it rather badly. This time, however, she's prepared; her hands out, palms facing the projectile, her cybernetics go into overdrive for a moment, and the projectile seems to just--be absorbed, the energy converted into reserves she can utilize immediately, should she wish to. If any blood remains, it'll splatter harmlessly along the ground and perhaps along her legs...
But she doesn't seem to care. Instead, she opts to watch Tenma and Alan's brief tangle, for a moment, getting the two young spaz-men's measure.
COMBATSYS: Aislinn focuses on her next action.
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Aislinn 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Tenma Toughs Out Alan's Thunderhead!
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Aislinn 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/------=|
The expression that crosses Tenma's sharp-featured face could best be described as shock, as Aislinn actually /absorbs/ the crescent of blood. Sometimes, the constant barrage of new things he witnesses in Southtown are encouraging, and sometimes, well... Sometimes they're almost discouraging, a little bit. The seemingly baseless confidence the Gedo swordsman feels about his every action and decision isn't shattered by any means at Aislinn's sleight of hand trick, perhaps wavering just a little, before his absolute conviction that he can beat both of them solidifies once more. Just in time for Alan to electrocute the hell out of him.
Or maybe not.
Alan's thunder and lightning hammer into the teenager, skidding him back the barest of inches, and his mouth pulls into a confident smirk once more. "Heh... You're pretty weak, ain'tcha?" Tenma says to the boxer, seemingly unfazed by the electrical attack. "Maybe I should just fight the girl instead, 'least she hits hard," he adds, before suddenly throwing himself into a whirling leap, his bokken extended with the flare of blood-chi around it, hoping to strike Alan and lift him into the air as well before knocking him back down to the carpeted floor quite roughly. "GO TAKE A NAP WITH THE OTHER SAD OLD GEEZERS!!!"
COMBATSYS: Alan blocks Tenma's Vajra.
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Aislinn 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/------=|
The hit knocks Alan up, but he managed to get his hand out at it fist, iron ringing off of wood, electricity crackling about the red chi, diffusing it at least somewhat away from Alan. He turns one incredibly tight backflip immediately afterward, the momentum of his hands swinging up to slam into the rest of the oncoming blow. The blonde goes back down hard, but gets his feet under him to simply land - hard - in a crouch. Electricity is already surging up and down his arm as he pulls his fist by his side, preparing for something Tenma might recognize from back on Mount Rushmore.
Aislinn is forgotten for now - the boxer is given to tunnel vision, with his one-on-one focused fighting style. "Ha! Kiddo, open your eyes, if you think that was my best!" His feet spring up - Alan snaps his fist hard at Tenma's head, trying to catch him while he's still in mid-air. "Besides, I just woke up. I live a fast, high-stakes life, not like schoolboys and fogeys!"
Unbeknownst to Alan, a shuffleboard puck whizzes by the back of his head. The angry mutters build like the roar of Alan's own thunder.
Forgotten, is she? Well, perhaps not for long; her boots thud against the floor again and then she's leaping high (Southtown buildings usually have high ceilings for JUST this kind of occasion) and as she leaps, she's drawing her legs back, tucking herself into a ball--not twirling, but just gathering potential kinetic energy...
Kinetic energy -and- her own chi. As she descends behind Alan, she makes her strike--a two-footed drop-kick, angled downwards, intended to impact Alan in the back of the head, and the only warning he may get is the movement of the air and the zap of electricity as her own red-white electrical aura flares out around her feet. Looks like before this fight can conclude Alan's going to have to be shut the hell up...
COMBATSYS: Tenma dodges Alan's Uppercut Punch.
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Aislinn 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/------=|
"Oh, please," Tenma says, landing more easily than Alan, mere heartbeats later. He sees the punch coming - how could he not? - and he /does/ remember it after the fight on Mount Rushmore. Well enough to know that he doesn't want anything to do with that, man. Anything at all. "I can read your moves like..." he cuts off as he feels the force of the punch and the electricity close by his face as he ducks back. "...Well, guess there's no point in makin' that comparison, doubt you can read."
But also, here's Aislinn, about to add her two cents to the little tete-a-tete between the two brash young men, through deed rather than words, living up to her 'Silent Assassin' moniker. Or at least the silent part. "Tch, piece a' crap like you could probably learn a lot from this buncha old mummies," Tenma continues his defense of the residents of the retirement home, blissfully unaware that his own lack of tact probably isn't helping any. Also, he reaches for something with his free hand, feeling cool steel meet his grip. "Now, c'mon, Short Circuit. Let's show Silent Sally here what happens when y' jus' go an' jump in." Not that he ever has any compunctions about interfering with a fight.
Nevertheless, Tenma swings what he now has ahold of right at Aislinn, swinging it perhaps over the falling Alan, or maybe around him, but either way the Gedo boy isn't showing the boxer's safety much concern. Instead, he just tries to waffle Aislinn really hard with some poor old guy's metal walker. What?!
COMBATSYS: Aislinn successfully hits Alan with Strong Kick.
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Aislinn 0/-------/-----==|=======\==-----\1 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/------=|
Like most people, Alan is bad at dodging while in the air, at full body extension. The kick rips him right out of the air - Alan R. B. chooses to use that as an excuse as to why he failed to hit Tenma - and goes flying through the air, spinning. Even being pounded like this, though, he manages to shove his hand down, touching the ground just enough to turn his uncontrolled whirl into a tightly controlled roll. He breaches the circle of old men, fetching up against a conveniently unoccupied wheelchair.
For once, Alan says nothing, clearly recognizing that now is not the time for sass. He cannot be seen as he prepares - and then suddenly launches through the air, having directed the wheelchair - with him riding on it like some kind of skateboard. Apparently he made a ramp? It's very strange.
"Time for you..." The boxer twists his legs up, spinning the wheelchair up into his hand. Lightning chi whirls around it as he drops it on her head like some kind of crazy hammer. "...to stop hitting me so damn much!"
COMBATSYS: Aislinn dodges Alan's Random Weapon.
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Aislinn 0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Aislinn endures Tenma's Random Weapon.
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Aislinn 0/-------/---====|=======\=------\1 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/-----==|
Well, first things first; Alan's wheelchair of doom is neatly avoided; actually, she, being in midair, is able to catch the wheelchair and invert, bleeding off all the momentum and slipping past it. And then the metal walker is coming in and... and well it strikes dead-on. *THUD* But instead of batting Aislinn into a wall to make a comical sort of impact crater, when eyes flash over to where she is, she's hit the wall indeed--
--but not to make a crater. Instead she's curled up, her boots against the wall, and she's using her legs to push off the wall, taking the momentum of his strike and converting it to her own use. Even though Alan has taken the brunt of all these attacks, Aislinn elects not to attack the boxer, but Tenma instead, flying straight at him with her hands clasped together into a doubled-up fist!
COMBATSYS: Aislinn successfully hits Tenma with Sniper Thrust.
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Aislinn 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/-======|
That's pretty satisfying, isn't it? The crunch of metal against flesh, even if the walker is a bit on the hollow side; the thing ends up a bit mangled after its impact with the NESTS experiment, leaving Tenma to stare at it a bit disconcertedly. On the other hand, the old guy he stole it from looks pretty distraught. And it's only going to get worse: When Aislinn lunges at him with that doubled up fist, he tries to interpose the bent walker between himself and the oncoming girl, but it's just not up to the task. Instead, it crumples further, and Tenma gets hit quite solidly, tumbling backwards with a very broken walker. "DON'T YOU HAVE ANY RESPECT FOR OTHER PEOPLE'S STUFF?!" Tenma demands, loudly, of Aislinn, in flagrant denial of the fact that the walker's state is entirely his fault.
Tossing the broken walker at the Silent Assassin in a simple distraction, the Gedo swordsman is on his feet moments thereafter, his chi-empowered bokken held out of the way as he instead tries to get inside her guard, lashing out repeatedly with his free fist in a series of punches - not very hard punches at all, but targeting very specific spots on her body, to disrupt the flow of chi through her. He has a care with his footwork as well, trying to herd Aislinn back into a position that's more awkward for her...
Alan looks completely hilarious as his wheelchair just gets shoved. He describes a circle in the air as he spins in three wild circles, the wheelchair hitting the ground first, Alan landing hard in it, arms whirling as he slowly tips... and goes over. A flailing foot skids the wheelchair conveniently out of the cleared carpet, and he himself rolls a short distance away, coming up in a kneel with his jaw set.
There are snickers, but after a moment Alan himself lets out a snort, completely relaxing. "Ha! It's fine, these people probably already forgot why we're here." If Aislinn's still paying attention to him, here's something to note: when Alan relaxes like that, chi begins to blossom around him in a crackling corona, spreading out along the ground in small waves, the lightning bolt in his hair dancing about. It doesn't seem to take any effort to do this - rather, it takes a /lack/ of effort. He's so nonchalant as to retrieve a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it on the back of his crackling hand and taking a deep drag.
COMBATSYS: Alan gathers his will.
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Aislinn 0/-------/--=====|=======\=====--\1 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Aislinn dodges Tenma's Flow Breaker.
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Aislinn 0/-------/--=====|=======\=====--\1 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/-======|
Finally, something she can answer! If she wants. Well, she'll favor Tenma with an answer to his rhetorical question, even as she's busy backing away from the series of punches. His footwork is good, but so is Aislinn's, and her voice comes almost conversationally.
"I respect only power and skill," is what she says--Alan might hear, Tenma definitely, but even the cameras might have trouble picking up Aislinn's voice clearly amongst the the rest of the aural clutter. Still... she respects that Tenma -does- have some skill and power. Alan, not so much, not yet. Perhaps it is time for her own 'crazy antics'?
Because, as she is backing up, she finds a circular table at her back, and her hands shoot back, snagging the table... and, seemingly effortlessly, she swings it around, trying to catch Tenma in the sides.
COMBATSYS: Tenma interrupts Random Weapon from Aislinn with Deep Strike.
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Aislinn 1/------=/=======|=======\=====--\1 Alan
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Tenma 1/-----==/=======|
"Yeah well, I'm gonna power an' skill all over your sorry ass in a second," Tenma retorts, even as Aislinn manages to avoid the blows. Despite that, despite the way she dodges those strikes, that confidence continues to practically pour out of the Gedo swordsman, his dark blue eyes carefully watching the way the NESTS agent moves. As she grabs the table, his eyes flick to the side, and his swordarm tenses ever so faintly; the table is swung, and at the same moment, the exact, precise moment, the leader of the Guardian Kings swings against it, chi-empowered, blessed wood meeting its processed, distant cousin... And slicing right through it.
The table is /cut/ cleanly in two; not battered apart like one would expect, the blood-chi forming a cutting edge of remarkable keenness as in the clash of 'old' versus 'new', old wins this round. But of course this action doesn't completely dismiss the momentum, the kinetic force, behind the table. Aislinn's impromptu bludgeon glances against him - relatively speaking, with processed wood splinters burying themselves in his skin even through his clothes - but Tenma Kiryuu carries right on, ending his movement with a vicious, brutal slash to Aislinn's bare neck, twisting around to deliver a rough heel to her midsection. "Don't give me that weak crap... OR I'LL POUND YOU INTO THE GROUND AGAIN!!"
If Aislinn wants power and skill, well, Alan's about to give her a taste of what he has to offer. That chi is locked in, now, the corona shuddering down into his body. No longer is the lightning chi content to crackle on his skin, now leaping along those nice clothes of his. Sneering, he comes to his feet, immediately bending at the knees.
"Hey ladies, don't forget me! And clear out, bonebags, this one's a real hipbreaker!" Alan R. B. leaps up, immediately parallel to the ground, going into a tight spin. All that chi pools up into his arms, which start to swing out at the apex of his jump, hands locked together. He whirls through the air almost unnaturally right at Tenma, who apparently lost the coin flip within his head. The chi becomes an orbiting wave crashing behind Alan's fists, the roar of thunder shaking pretty much everything. His fists crash down first toward Tenma, followed almost immediately by the lightning, slamming down at him and scorching the carpet beneath him. One old man does in fact go down, clutching his hip as the impact quakes the retirement home. Only Alan's voice is clearly heard over the explosion of light and noise:
"MJOLNIR!"
That was pretty brutal, Aislinn would have to admit. Brutal as hell. But not enough to put her down--not nearly enough. Tenma gets his little combination, alright, but Aislinn hardly seems worried, as she rolls backwards. Tenma will show her skill and power? Maybe. But the more he opens his mouth the less she respects him. Yes, she respects skill and power, but when it comes with a cocky attitude, she makes exception.
Once again she catches Alan starting -something-... and so she elects to just stay back, taking a small breather. This will be an interesting thing because... well, Alan's putting out a lot of energy.
And Aislinn is glad that, the whims of chance or no, it's not aimed at her. Not that she couldn't take it, but you know, sometimes it's better to just not chance it, if possible... Tenma is cocky as hell, and the only reason Aislinn has put up with it, as it were, is because he does have a little bit of skill and power to back it up.
COMBATSYS: Aislinn gains composure.
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Aislinn 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Alan
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Tenma 1/-----==/=======|
COMBATSYS: Tenma Toughs Out Alan's Mjolnir!
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Aislinn 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Alan
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Tenma 1/--=====/=======|
Standing in the rubble of the ruined table, Tenma is /mostly/ expecting Aislinn to pull something. Really, she's got to have more to show than just swinging tables at people, right? He smirks that overconfident smirk of his at the girl, secure in his surety that he can beat her again like he did before, even with Alan's interference... And then he feels that stirring power. He's felt that before, on Mount Rushmore. His eyes swing over to Alan, with his sneer and crackling chi... But Kiryuu's confident look only intensifies. "Same weakass crap, different day, huh Sparky?" he says, and then the Mjolnir comes his way, and for a second time Tenma just stands there and takes it.
Alan's attack, all lightning and thunder and crashing fists, strikes home, but once again there's something wrong with the way it hits. Does Tenma just plain have the boxer's number on this, or something? But the force of the attack is redirected slightly, nudged, giving Tenma the added boost of speed he needs to erupt out of the explosion like a bat out of hell, his swordhand thrown back, his left hand pushed forward, palm open and fingers lightly contorted into a focusing position. His hair stands up slightly from the shock, and he looks slightly burned, but Tenma's never looked more alive. "HERE IT COMES!!" he bellows, fit to shake the retirement home again, and the red aura around his bokken intensifies until the wooden weapon is obscured entirely. "--AND IT'S THE FINISH FOR YOU!!" Closing with Aislinn, he twists and swings the bokken one-handed, a monstrous streak of blood-chi through the air, and if the sword strikes the NESTS agent, something /else/ happens.
That amassed chi will actually pass /through/ her, violent energy tearing at the way her very life flows through her body, disrupting her chi, stealing vitality and leaving only a chill numbness in its wake!!
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Aislinn with The Sealing Sword.
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Aislinn 1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/-----==|
The huge wave of electricity flings Alan back, twisting acrobatically through the air. He lands perfectly straight on the carpet, excess electricity surging along the carpet in a wide circle. For a moment, he has no electricity swarming around him, and his movements are slow as he pulls a cigarette - and lighter - from his pocket, lighting his third smoke up. He hangs back as Tenma goes at Aislinn, giving him the time he needs for the chi to come back to him. Even here, indoors, he just sucks it right out of the world around him without thinking about it. He appears completely unaffected by Tenma's sass, because he really can't be bothered to go and get insulted.
Once he has the focus back, he wrings out his right hand, the silver chain flashing as he straightens out his arm. Electricity crackles down, forming a small, pulsing orb between his thumb and middle finger. "Heh, you'll get yours sooner or later, kid!" He pulls his hand back and whips it down in Aislin's direction right in the wake of Tenma's huge blow. It's power isn't much compared to it, but it sure is fast: A lightning bolt jumps forward as he snaps his fingers. "Strike!" He takes another step forward, whipping his hand back up and across. "Twice!" Another snap, another bolt of sizzling lightning.
For once, Alan makes no sass toward the old men. This is good, because the huge one is holding his shuffleboard stick a lot more like a greatsword.
COMBATSYS: Alan successfully hits Aislinn with Lightning Strikes Twice.
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Aislinn 1/-======/=======|===----\-------\0 Alan
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Tenma 0/-------/-----==|
Unlike the last time, Tenma's 'ultimate attack' isn't enough to take her down. The impact is brutal, of course, even as seh tries to just stand up to it... and fails. Perhaps it wasn't as effective as it could have been because of the way the her 'life force' flows within her... Aislinn rights herself and looks at Tenma briefly. Alan's lightning bolts strike her--but they, too, are not enough to take her down... and pain is an old friend with her, now, so she carries on.
And then she's flickering forward, bursting towards the sword-wielding boy--it's her turn to forget about Alan, for now--putting on the same kind of speed as Alan is wont to do, save without the sparks of electricity. No, this is a purely physical move, Aislinn blurring forward, reaching for Tenma's shoulders...
COMBATSYS: Tenma endures Aislinn's Momentum Overdrive.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Aislinn 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Alan
[ \ <
Tenma 1/------=/=======|
... and she reaches him. Grasping his shoulders, she thrusts him forward, past the demarcated 'line' of the arena, and slams his back into a wall. And then she's pounding his chest, his abdomen, with repeated body blows, treating Tenma's stomach like a speedbag, her fists blurring with pure speed as she pummels him perhaps thirty times in the space of just a few seconds.
After the last blow strikes she drifts backwards, almost lazily, about five yards--then her feet touch down and she's hurling herself forward, burying her hands, in that doubled-up fist posture, into Tenma's chest, the impact enough to bounce her back out away from the bokken-wielding boy.
After pouring everything - all he had, quite sincerely - into that one strike, Tenma doesn't seem to have the wherewithal to even try to block or avoid Aislinn's speedy reprisal. Instead, he's caught, but for the barest of moments the Silent Assassin can see the small smile on the Gedo swordsman's face as she grabs his shoulders... And then he's blasted by the repeated series of attacks, pounded into the wall quite brutally. It's... Well, he doesn't get hit that hard very often, you know? Ryo did it, Seishirou did it... But...
"Keh," coughs the leader of the Guardian Kings at that last impact, spitting up a mouthful of blood.
Blood that, as he drops to his knees on the floor, starts flowing forwards.
"Not bad, I guess," Tenma says, weakly. It's that kind of bravado - putting a brave face on even though you can't keep going. But maybe, just maybe, he can leave Aislinn and Alan a parting gift. For the moment, the seniors are forgotten. They've probably cleared out, at least a little, after Mjolnir; who wants to be in the blast zone when attacks like these start getting thrown around. And then, something happens that both the other fighters have seen before, as Tenma drives his bokken into the floor, as though cutting through soft butter.
For a moment, a long moment, nothing happens... And then cracks begin to spiderweb out from where the wooden sword is buried in the floor, the cracks widening as gouts of crimson bubble out of them. "But here comes the end." The gouts of blood soon turn into linear streams, several of them coursing over the floor of the retirement home, destroying the floor underneath as the serpentine shapes, like dragons of blood, aim to smash into Aislinn and Alan both!
COMBATSYS: Tenma can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Aislinn 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Alan
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Alan with Hell of Blood.
Glancing Blow
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Aislinn 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Alan
Aw jeez, this again. Alan R. B. knows from experience that this'll chase him if he doesn't dodge it /just right./ So he fires it a fierce grin, a glint of light obscuring his eyes behind the transparent shades, as he hunkers down. He waits, the dragon of blood coming closer... closer... "Not today, kid!" His image becomes still as he moves so goddamn fast again.
But this time, he blurs back into visibility an instant later, red chi flaring around his left foot. He's dragged back a little, but it could have been /much/ worse. "...good enough for government work..." he mutters, just before lurching forward.
"Right, just you and me now, short stuff! Try not to cry after I take you down, I think some of these geezers are getting ready for pudding time, and you don't want to spoil it!" He still doesn't know if Tenma's defiant last strike is going to do anything to him, so he pulls up just short of here, once again swinging his fists rapidly. Lightning builds up in front of him and then crashes forward at Aislinn. "Burst!"
One old man, bald, shriveled like a scarecrow but still moving briskly, spits out a curse and puts his cup of pudding down - he can take no joy in it now.
COMBATSYS: Aislinn blocks Alan's Thunderhead.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Aislinn 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Alan
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Aislinn with Hell of Blood.
[ \\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Aislinn 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Alan
Not much to be done here; Alan's attack is -weak-. She barely even feels it, really, just kind of... lets it dissipate around her. She knows what Tenma's doing and she wants to be prepared for it--but alas, just like their last meeting, she is not even remotely prepared for it. The dragon of blood tears into her, but it's just enough to make her mildly annoyed; she won't be falling unconscious, but she will be done fighting.
After this. Sure, it's probably slowed down quite a bit, but she'll take her chances--nothing to lose anymore, after all--and as she lands, on her knees, she concentrates... and unless Alan moves, he'll be taking a lancing, man-wide, man-tall blade of pure electrical chi, right through the groin and up through the brain. It's Aislinn's version of Kula's 'Diamond Edge'...
COMBATSYS: Aislinn can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Alan 0/-------/--=====|
COMBATSYS: Aislinn successfully hits Alan with Shining Edge.
[ \\\ <
Alan 1/-------/=======|
Alan leaps back just in time to avoid catching the chi to the balls, almost as though sped on by some mysterious force beyond mortal ken. He crosses up his arms - the blow still hurts, but somehow he blunted it just enough to keep himself from being knocked flying away into unconciousness. He teeters on his feet. It's obvious that Aislinn has finished, but the announcer hesitates. Has Alan taken another SNF? Will his cuisine reign supreme?!
Not if Tsudo has anything to say about it. The massive senior, 90 years old, but still dark-skinned and hearty despite having a perfectly bald head, takes a step back, placing a shuffleboard puck on the ground in front of him, fierce eyebrows knitting together as he calls something that he has not in many years. A bright blue panther of chi is superimposed over his body as he draws the stick back, snarling and swirling down into the puck. "Jungle Strike..." he intones, slamming the stick down... and forward. Blue chi whirls out from the puck as it lashes through the air...
...and caroms into Alan's head. He tilts hard to the side, taking one shaky step... and topples to the ground. The forty-odd old men in the activity room all nod contentedly, as one. Justice has been served.
COMBATSYS: Alan takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Alan can no longer fight.
Raising her head, Aislinn is sure she hears the announcer shout, "AND! BY WAY OF OLD MAN! A TRIPLE K.O.!!!! GIVE THEM A HAND, FOLKS!" Aislinn pushes to her feet, looking haggard and weary and cut up some, but not terribly injured... Right, DNA data. Well, she's got Tenma's; a boy who slings blood around like that is always leaving DNA behind. She's got him. Alan, well...
She'll make a little stop by him. To anyone there, it looks like she's just taking his pulse, making sure he's alive, but really, she's just getting a quick sample. Even if it turns out to be useless... Alan was overflowing with chi, something that -might- be useful.
Objectives accomplished, the Silent Assassin makes her way out of the retirement center. She appreciates the old man knocking Alan the fugg out, but she'll never show it.
Log created on 22:23:35 07/22/2007 by Alan, and last modified on 06:05:07 07/23/2007.