Description: Bon Jovi (1986). Elle meets up with Aislinn to do a little checking up on 'Jinchuu' in general, and Riko and Seishirou in particular and get back into the swing of battle. Aislinn shows an eagerness to work with Elle, and the proceeds to beat the stuffing out of her, despite Elle's best efforts.
On the trail of a ninja, Elle's first stop is the organization that she knows best that still has active members. With the outright collapse of Shadaloo, NESTS has the most international connections. While the Syndicate is also a viable target, her connection with them has been slight at best.
Go with what you know, after all.
After a few phone calls, Elle's made a formal challenge to one of the many agents of NESTS, and ends up with one she's fought before. And hopefully one that knows a little about the Ryuohara ninja clan, and Riko or Seishirou specifically.
While not a fan of the more natural aspects of the Red Arena in Metro City, it makes for an interesting landscape as she shuffles around the rocks by the water, awaiting her opponent to show up. She tugs idly on her gloves, and rolls her shoulders. She hasn't fought in a while, and is more than a little rusty.
Aislinn received the challenge with her usual aplomb. Aside from her recent SNF, she's been pretty idle--partly out of a lack of business, with Thailand having just finished up in a sense, NESTS is reevaluating and reorganizing, some. And Aislinn herself has been markedly absent from Southtown and Seijyun, for personal reasons...
... but she certainly remembers Elle, and she remembers how badly she was beat, the last time she clashed with the guitar-wielding woman. A chance to rectify this is always appreciated... if Elle has other business then Aislinn will gladly listen.
At least there shouldn't be any strange rules this time...
Elle has that effect on a lot of people. The strange, analytical way she fights coupled with the brutal, off the wall combat style tends to knock more than a few people for loop... the first time she fights them, anyhow.
"Aislinn, right?" Elle's voice carries over the otherwise silent arena. No spectators today. Elle's managed to pony up the cash to rent the entire arena for the meeting. Clearly, the woman has done well for herself since the last time they fought. "Well, at least I know what to expect," she says offhandedly as she rolls her head and cracks her knuckles.
"So here's the deal. I've got ninja problems, and I'm looking to pick your brains and see what you know," she says. "The fight's just kind of a bonus. So, business before pleasure. What do you know about the Ryuohara clan? I'm looking for a heads up on Riko and Seishirou."
A bonus, huh? Aislinn pauses, standing in damp sand, her booted feet crunching the grains together. She remains relaxed, but alert, should Elle feel like jumping her unexpectedly. So, she wants to know about Riko and Seishirou.
"Elle," she says, nodding. She recognizes the other, of course, and due to the relationship Elle cultivated with NESTS, she'll actually even respond further.
"Koganei Riko... I've come into contact with her a few times. She is an agile fighter, and quite unorthodox."
A pause." Another pause, and Aislinn continues. "I do not have any current information on Ryouhara Seishirou. Riko had kidnapped me some months ago and forced me into a battle..."
Ah hah. Jackpot. Elle nods once, the information tripping off switches in her mind. "Yeah. I've heard she's been doing that to a lot more than just you," Elle says, pausing to open a box of tic tacs. The small plastic container of candy is rattled into her mouth. Trying to quit smoking is a bitch, especially when all you have are orange tic tacs.
"So what'd she do? Did she say anything that struck you as odd?" The mercenary's dull brown eyes seem all business. This isn't just dumb interest in a ninja. It's fairly clear that the Blackjack leader is fishing for details... as if looking for a clue.
Again, Aislinn muses. "It would make sense. The combat was a test." She's sure of that much at least. "Ryouhara was there as well, but he rarely spoke... Riko was putting on a show."
The Silent Assassin rolls her head, popping neck joints in a loud, unladylike manner; then her lavender eyes catch Elle's brown eyes and smiles, faintly. "You're trying to quit smoking. A smart move; that will kill you faster than a fighting career." Speaking of which.
"If you want to know more about them, you must be interested in this 'Jinchuu'..."
"I'm quitting smoking because it's expensive," Elle says, emptying the canister and tossing it aside into the artificial wilderness. It's not littering if the place is manufactured, is it? Elle doesn't really care.
"I'm interested in it. I'm interested in everything that I don't already know about," Elle informs Aislinn. "I go places where others can't, see things that nobody else sees, and do things nobody really wants to do. It's the dirty, nasty jobs that bear the most fruit, you know."
The rocker chick tilts her head. "I'd cut you in on the action, if I thought you held your own leash. You've got a sharp eye, but it's somebody else's." As it is, Elle's already rolling the information around in her brain. A test. Hmm.
"At any rate, that'll give me something to mull over while I punch your face in," the mercenary says, already charging up her formidible aura. The ground beneath her feet begins to rumble slightly, the water rippling beneath her boots as a low thrumming noise fills the air.
COMBATSYS: Elle has started a fight here.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Aislinn has joined the fight here.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aislinn
COMBATSYS: Elle gathers her will.
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Elle 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Aislinn
"It will still improve your lifespan," remarks Aislinn, as she senses the informational section of this symposium drawing to a close. Her left leg slides forward, slightly, her right back, and her gloved fists are brought up to guard position.
"I suppose we'll see," replies Aislinn, softly. "I have been, I think, signed up for this 'Jinchuu'... it's all very theatrical." And then she's lunging forward, opening this section of the symposium with a forward dash into a big soccer-style kick for Elle's stomach.
"But I'm sure there must be some deep reason behind it. Riko is manic, but not purposeless."
COMBATSYS: Elle blocks Aislinn's Strong Kick.
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Elle 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Aislinn
The attack is more than telegraphed, and Elle's eyes flick left, right, and center as she takes a quick assessment of her surroundings. The time for chatting is over. There'll be time enough to continue to talk once the fight is over. For now, there's the matter of this incoming kick.
The heavy attack slams against the mercenary's body like a train, driving the womab back into the water. The spray and splash fills the air as Elle's body vibrates under the impact. That blow was far stronger than Elle remembers having taken before. Nevertheless, the fight is still young.
Pushing forward with her arms, she frees herself from the close quarters and jinks hard to the right. With a shoulder roll, she splashes through the water and stones onto the sandy beach. With another roll backward, Elle rolls into a crouch, and lifts up her hands. With Aislinn slightly near the water's edge and splashed by Elle's percussive escape, she makes the perfect ground for an electrical blast from Elle's fingertips.
COMBATSYS: Elle successfully hits Aislinn with High Voltage.
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Elle 1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0 Aislinn
And that electricity finds home; Aislinn is familiar with the touch of that power, employing it herself, after all, but that doesn't make it any less unpleasant. The power courses through Aislinn's body, forcing her muscles to contract involuntarily, and the shock... well, it -does- hurt, that's for sure. But she'll shake it off.
Just afterwards, Aislinn is building her own energies--invisibly, and internally, but much like Elle all the same; power soaring inside her, filling reserves, making Aislinn's muscles bunch and tighten again, underneath her clothing.
COMBATSYS: Aislinn gathers her will.
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Elle 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Aislinn
A stationary target can be an exceedingly dead one sometimes. While Aislinn's a tough fighter and opponent, Elle's not going to give the NESTS agent a chance to get her bearings. Elle's not anything spectacular when it comes down to it except in one area: chi.
She has power. Lots of it. What's more, she seems to have a steely mastery over two elements of sound and electricity.
Charging forward towards Aislinn, Elle's heavy boots pound across soft sand as she leaps at the last moment. A spray of the fine, white beach powder follows after her as Elle arcs through the air, and angles one hand down. She lets loose with a massive burst of sonic energy, the pulsing cone of reverberating sound is like a massive bass note, tryign to rupture Aislinn's eardrums and blood vessels.
COMBATSYS: Aislinn blocks Elle's Metal Health.
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Elle 1/-----==/=======|=======\=------\1 Aislinn
This time, Aislinn, still in the midst of gathering her energy, simply elects to cover up, letting her natural chi defenses aid her in defending against the attack. The sonic wave--the deep bass note--rattles her insides and shivers her teeth. But beyond that, it doesn't do too much; she weathers the storm of chi without a complaint, breaking free of it at the last minute to lunge forward again.
Her attack this time is, again, relatively simple--as she closes to melee distance with Elle, she assumes a boxing stance, from which comes--perhaps something unexpected, as she lashes out with a low side kick, her red-white electrical aura crackling around the extended right leg.
COMBATSYS: Aislinn successfully hits Elle with Medium Kick.
- Power hit! -
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Elle 1/=======/=======|=======\==-----\1 Aislinn
Energy combined with physical force batters the mercenary hard, the blow tossing her across the arena to crash into the rocks in the stream and then all the way into the trees on the other side. That was a lot more painful than it needed to be, and Elle takes a moment to recuperate, a hand grasping onto the bark of the nearest pine to haul herself to her feet.
With a grunt, Elle's eyes focus again on her target and she lurches forward again.
Running across the grass leading to the beach, her hand flares into a swirling display of power, the energy spike roaring across her fist as she opens her hand like a claw. With a leap, she seeks to ram the electrical lance into the girl's face, with the promise of immense damage to come.
COMBATSYS: Aislinn fails to counter Slayer from Elle with Plasma Reverse.
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Elle 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Aislinn
The energy spike rams through Aislinn's face, crackling with power as Elle runs a fantastic amount of energy through the NESTS experiment. She pulls her hand away, wicked electrical contrails following her fingertip as she crouches, and grabs Aislinn's ankle as the power blast takes effect.
The rocker then lifts Aislinn up with a yank, and with a disturbing ease begins to use her as a budgeon, crashing the young girl over the landscape, smashing her into rocks, the beach, the water, and back again before heaving her bodily across the arena at the nearest tree.
Apparently, she's not so rust that she can't be a sverely nasty bitch.
Indeed. Aislinn made a grab for that lancing hand--but to no avail. It is a small target... and Aislinn simply wasn't quick enough. Hnn. She takes the damage stoically, knowing from experience that taking a strong hit like that, even so, won't finish the fight. She simply curls up, taking pains to protect vital organs, and once Elle is done...
... she rises again, and smiles, if not a little faintly. "Is that your best?" she asks, and it sounds almost conversational, as if she didn't just get bashed through a billion different things.
"Give me a minute," Elle replies as she reels in the electrical energy for other uses. The power crackles away, giving her an unearthly corona for a moment or two. The energy is sent within, bolstering her and repairing some of the the damage that Aislinn managed to inflict with her monsterous kick.
Even as she marshalls her strength and power, however, Elle is still on the offensive, moving towards the copse of tress that Elle hurled Aislinn towards.
COMBATSYS: Elle gains composure.
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Elle 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Aislinn
Aislinn shakes her head, as she bursts forward, out of the trees. "No," she replies, softly. "No minute." Leaping high, she tucks into a ball and seeks to simply--very simply--headstomp Elle into the freakin' ground. It isn't really out of ANY style one might see used by any conventional fighter--but it also serves to prove that Aislinn can be unconventional herself.
Naturally, there isn't really anything on the line in this fight--it isn't 'official' in any way--the only thing on the line is pride. And Ais, though she may not seem it, does in fact have a great deal of pride to work with... and sometimes, it'll work against her, too.
COMBATSYS: Aislinn successfully hits Elle with Strong Kick.
- Power hit! -
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Elle 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Aislinn
Elle steadies herself, but it's just not enough to stop the retaliatory strike. The girl's feet come down on her, and she's smashed throight into the ground like a tent peg, driven to her feet. The woman's grim resolve keep her from becoming a statistic, but there's very little that can keep her from taking this kind of damage for long.
Running low on options, Elle is forced to handle Aislin's proximity the best way she knows how: grabbing her by the arm. Elle's appearance doesn't suggest it, but the woman is actually a long stronger than people give her credit for. Attempting to gain distance from her assailant, she tries to hoist the girl into the air, and heave her across the clearing once again.
COMBATSYS: Aislinn interrupts Quick Throw from Elle with Brutal Hammer.
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Elle 1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1 Aislinn
Elle will get her distance. Just not in the way she might be expecting. Because as she grasps hold of Aislinn's arm, the Assassin is just as swift to respond; she, in a flash, is grasping Elle's arm, pinching the elbow to force nerve pain to make Elle's hand drop, and then the grasped arm...
Comes up and cradles Elle's head, and then Aislinn is delivering an amazingly powerful headbutt right into Elle's face. It is perhaps not quite as 'bitchy' as Elle's previous grab-and-smash of Ais's face, but Doyle considers it paid in kind.
"Do you still wish a minute?" she asks, softly--almost mockingly, really, though she isn't known for mocking her opponents. Probably spillover from her SNF fight...
Elle doesn't respond to taunts.
People that spend time babbling in a fight end up losing. The woman's not particularly chatty, and she prefers to communicate with force. The brutal attack on Elle's face has left an eye swollen and a bloody nose, but as her hand grimly reaches for her guitar, she breathes deeply.
Calm.
Then storm.
The woman slides it across her torso, and begins to play. The sound is immediate. Despite the lack of amplifier, Elle's instrument begins to screech out powerful metal chords, the energy pulsing from her once, twice, three times. As the third pulse flares from her in a shimmering wave, she hits a power chord, and released a devestating blast of sonic energy.
The power rolls from her like a wall of death, the energy chewing up everything in it's path. Water blasts away, stones disintigrate into powder, and trees spinter and shatter as it seeks out Aislinn to do the same to her.
COMBATSYS: Elle successfully hits Aislinn with Black Sabbath.
- Power hit! -
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Elle 0/-------/------=|=======\=====--\1 Aislinn
Well, Aislinn doesn't shatter. But she's struck -so- forcefully by that wave that she can't even speak; lifted up, tossed, and flung down bodily by the energy. Yes, that was very close to the previous sense of power... but--but. But Aislinn isn't downed yet, though by all rights she ought to be.
Instead, she rises---now halfway across the arena from Elle--and though she looks as stoic as ever, internally there's a flurry of activity, damage control being assessed as Aislinn simply remains still...
COMBATSYS: Aislinn gains composure.
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Elle 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 Aislinn
Elle's forced to take an assessment herself. Having not fought in weeks has definitely dulled her usually faster reflexes, although it seems fiar to say that she's still got a lot of power at her disposal. Elle's unleashed a thremendous amount in this fight, and it's starting to take it's toll.
Time to direct that power inward, and use it to steady herself and dull away some of the damage. She takes the moment to stop the bleeding in her nose, although her eye is now swollen shut, not to mention the severe beating she's taken on the ribs and neck.
COMBATSYS: Elle gains composure.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|=======\====---\1 Aislinn
Right. Now then. With Elle not moving... it's time for Aislinn to make -her- bid to end this fight. She leaps forward, high into the air... power building around her gathered fists. Her arc is high, her jump long, but not enough to carry her to Elle, of course--but then...
That was never her intention anyways. Instead, she lands hard, almost shaking the ground, and slamming her fists against the ground--almost as if she were going to open a crack in it, her legs gathered underneath her.
Suddenly, swiftly, she rises, practically hurling her arms upward... and sending a shimmering, advancing wave of man-wide, man-high lightning chi blades rippling out of the earth, sequentially, for Elle.
COMBATSYS: Aislinn successfully hits Elle with Shining Wave.
- Power hit! -
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Elle 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Aislinn
And that's all she wrote for Elle, really. The cascading blast of power has resulted in Elle simply buckling under the energy. Despite her abilty to weather these kinds of attacks, there's just not enough lef tin her to stand and take it like she normally can.
Burst anfter burst of power tears through her like a cannon through cardboard, and she's blasted backward with a severe amount of force.
Still, Elle has enough energy in her to snap off one final blast. As the wave dies down, she releases the final erg of power she has left in her to try and bring Aislinn down with her before slamming to one knee, clearly out of the will to continue.
COMBATSYS: Elle can no longer fight.
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Aislinn 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Aislinn overcomes High Voltage from Elle with Diamond Flare.
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Aislinn 0/-------/-----==|
And that oncoming blast of power is met not with an attempt to avoid, or an attempt to simply absorb... no, this is the prime moment for Aislinn to attempt something she'd been wanting to try out--something new. The Silent Assassin raises her right hand, closed into a fist... and then a wide, focused, beam-like blast of light cuts into the oncoming power--splitting it in twain and continuing on. Usually, that would put Elle in its path--but with Elle already down, instead the power blast simply takes a chunk out of the arena wall.
The fight over, Aislinn walks over to Elle, to check if the merc is still alive. She should be, but things can be unpredictable. And to offer her congratulations. For she did do quite well, after all.
COMBATSYS: Aislinn has ended the fight here.
Elle's not too proud to deny an offered hand. 'Doing well' is relative. By Elle's harsh, exacting standards, she did horribly. But then to live by Elle's standards puts a person on the path of living death. Aislinn may be emotionless because she's programmed to be, or simply is inexperienced.
Elle's this way because she doesn't have a choice int he matter. It's complicated, but in the end, her worst enemy is her strict guidlines she sets for herself.
"You're a hell of a lot stronger than I remember, though I thought I had you on the ropes for a second. Nice comeback," she says, leaning on a tree to recover some strength. She's already replaying the fight in her head though. Mechanically, she did everything right. The question is what went /wrong/.
"Battle is unpredictable," replies Aislinn, as she gives Elle a hand up. They are, after all, supposed to be comrades, to an extent; there's no reason for Aislinn -not- to help her up. And, it occurs to her, that Elle might end up being one of the only 'friends' Aislinn has...
... though she'd never say it. "You, as well, continually prove stronger than your appearance would suggest. Your methods may be unorthodox, but they are very effective." A wince, as a muscle pull denotes some of that effectiveness.
"If I gain any further information on Ryouhara Seishirou or Koganei Riko, I will seek you out for further dispersal of information." This is said as Aislinn begins the arduous task of getting back to NESTS--namely, by walking out of the arena, with slow, careful steps. She still hurts, dammit, cyborg or no.
Log created on 23:29:50 08/14/2007 by Elle, and last modified on 23:44:14 08/15/2007.