Description: Surf's up, dude. Marvel as Sergio puts two holes in a boat he happens to be standing on, Frei spouts stupid proverbs and commentary, and four color-coded women argue over which one of the two is better in the sack. (Winner: Frei)
Ahhh, Paris. Long held as one of the great centers of European culture it's home of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre art gallery, Notre Dame, countless other landmarks, and unmistakable hoards of tourists. Also a world center for fashion, Paris is crammed full of beautiful people and exotic clothing. For all this, it's not a spot that hosts very many fighting events, though that might have something to do with wishing to keep their historical landmarks intact.
That could perhaps be why rather than fighting at one of those landmarks the folks at SNF have been invited to hold a fight on one of the many luxury boats floating on the Seine. Not only is it a perfect place to keep the fighters from damaging the city if they get rowdy, but it's also easily possible to charge exorbitant fees for those who wish to view the fight up close and personal.
Sergio has been to Paris before. He's had his fair share of the Parisian nightlife, but it's always good to come back. There are almost always plenty of people looking to kick loose and party in this city, known throughout the centuries as a spot where morals have little bearing on the locals. Paris is about having fun, not being reserved in your actions. But for all that, the poor guy can't seem to be getting any love on this boat, and he can't quite figure out why. There's plenty of lovely unattached women around, but despite his efforts he seems to be meeting nothing but a brick wall. "What's happened to this place. Wonder if it's somethin' in the water." They usually eat up the tall dark and handsome type, right?
With a last name like 'Renard' and a father of European descent who was a concert cellist, you'd think Frei would have been to France at least once in his life. This is not actually the case; yes, the name "Renard" is indeed French, but Frei's ancestors are not. Or at least, not anymore; they were French when they were Normans but then the damned Normans went and invaded Britain. Frei's background is *British*.
Not that this appears to have mattered to any of the people on the touring boat that is the current SNF venue. After all, what could be more Norman than having a French last name and a first name taken from one of the gods of the Norse people the Normans were descended from? As he wanders through the corridors, giving embarassed glances and waves and smiles to random men and women he's never met, for this first time in his life Frei wishes he looked like his mother: almond-shaped eyes and straight, glossy black hair. In other words: he wishes he looked more Japanese than he does. If anything, the brown-gold Chinese clothing seems more like a cute affectation to onlookers, than anything else.
But as he finally makes his way up to the deck and leans forward on the railing surrounding it, he IS glad he came. Paris is a beautiful city, even if he's watching mostly riverfront property scroll on by like a matte painting instead of going to see some of the more famous sights and sounds of France's largest city.
Expensive fees for being close to the action of one of Howard Enterprise's SNF matches is a small price to pay for those with the money to afford it and the interest in seeing two men engage in a heated battle. There was a small amount of word-of-mouth advertising for this weekend's venue as if the entertainment enterprise was certain that with the right spin, they could sell out the boat even with hiked up prices.
Thus it is that the audience for this match that is actually on the boat are all wealthy and their clothing, jewelry, even their sunglasses all show it. Those who couldn't afford to be on the boat line the shores, making due with binoculars when possible.
"Oh, did you see that outfit? I wonder if it's authentic or if he got it around here somewhere. It's absolutely adorable..." one middle-aged woman in a dangerous red dress nudges a slightly older widow with a black, veiled hat at her side.
"Yes, though I do wish he'd undo a couple more of those buttons..." chatters the other right back wistfully.
"What? I meant the young fellow, with the headband. What did you- you thought I was talking about that guy? He looks like... like..."
"Like he just stepped off the cover of a romance novel. I /know/!" comes the interrupt from a third woman seated behind the two. Her green, wide brimmed hat is topped with a plume of violet feathers that stick up so high as to completely block the view of the two people in the third row behind her. Next to her a wealthy businessman showing a fair number of years rolls his eyes, his hand reaching out to tighten around his wife's arm. "Estella, please, can't we just enjoy the fight without all this commentary?"
Sergio's background is Italian, and has the looks to prove it. Usually that alone is enough to get him at least some love from the type of crowd that's around him now, and aside from that is the fact he's one of the competitors these people came to watch. That double whammy, he'd think, would certainly be enough to get some of the lovely women on this boat to pay more than a little attention to him.
But they aren't. That's okay, however, because if they don't come to him it just means he'll go to them. He might not know all the lines, but he knows quite a few good ones, and he puts them to good use. Unfortunately for him, all he meets is resistance! What is -with- this place tonight? Still, he forces himself to keep his confidence levels high. His persistence begins to pay off, only to have the fight coordinator drag him away. It's time.
There's a fairly sizable portion of the boat top cordoned off for the use of the two fighters, and to this Sergio is led. He grins and gives a wave to all the good looking women closest to the 'ring', though it might look like he's just waving to the crowd in general. "So, who's this Frei kid I'm supposed to be fighting?" Frei's not a kid, but he's definitely most of a generation younger, so Sergio has no problems talking about him that way.
Speaking of romance novels, Frei himself is actually quite accidentally looking a bit like the heroine of one at the moment. The boat is moving at a decent clip, after all, and in late summer there's always a breeze along the river. The monk reaches a hand up to brush some of his hair off the headband he wears, both of its long tails fluttering behind him in the breeze for a moment as he does so. All things considered, he actually looks a little dazed, as if he's forgotten that he's here to do an SNF at all.
The kicker is that the boat then starts to approach one of the many bridges across the Seine, and he notices a... well, a large crowd of pedestrians on said bridge, waving and cheering at the boat. A couple of them might be waving giant foam fingers because let's face it, that sort of thing is obligatory in this kind of situation. It actually makes Frei blink in confusion for a moment, before waving back at the crowd with a big goofy smile on his face.
And then a moment passes, and he slaps a fist into the opposite palm. "Oh, right."
Turning, he observes that the SNF crew, with their typical diligence, has already begun setting up... and a too-tall, olive-skinned, clearly-not-French person standing confidently in a cleared space. "Well," he murmurs, "that's either my opponent, or I got on the wrong boat and they're shooting a commercial here..."
Trooping across the distance, the monk reaches the cordon and slowly and dramatically steps one leg over it, then the other, and walks toward the center of the space, giving a tiny little wave to Sergio by way of greeting. Well, that's either your opponent or a complete moron who didn't read the signs...
Ms Red Dress just shakes her head as she glances back and forth between the two fighters. "That old man has no prayer against that dreamy youth," comes the commentary.
"Old man? Why, he's probably barely pushing thirty. Look at the shape he's in." Replies Miss Blackhat.
"All I'll say is that it's nice to not have to watch a couple of squealy teens fight again this week." Mrs Feathery Plume interjects.
"MmmmmmHmmmm." all three women echo in unisen. The black suited man in his mid forties exhales. This is going to be a long match, isn't it.
Shooting a commercial? They'd probably get someone four or five years younger than Sergio if they wanted to do something like that. The Italian soaks up the atmosphere, enjoying being the center of attention- at least until Frei begins stepping into the ring. Still, the limelight is big enough for two people, especially since it's mainly there since the two of them are going to be duking it out soon enough.
When Frei steps in Sergio takes a step towards him and holds out his hand, "Name's Sergio. You're Frei, right?" Pause. "Hey, I think I've seen you on these shows before." These shows would be SNF; Sergio was a television spectator long before he was a participant. It's kinda funny going up against people you've seen on television; gives a sense of unreality to it.
"Haha, well, good to meet you I guess. I'm new to this but don't underestimate me, alright? Lets give our admiring fans-" he pauses to give a grin and wink to some of the spectators, "a good show!" He's trying to work the crowd up, enjoying their excitement. His blood is already beginning to pump faster. The start is close, now.
My, he's tall.
Still, if height were enough to intimidate Frei, his relationship with, say, Alma would probably be a lot different. And Tran, for that matter. Despite his friendly demeanor Frei isn't one of nature's handshakers; he does take Sergio's hand, and shake it, per protocol, but there's not exactly arm-pumping enthusiasm there. Still, his face, as has been mentioned in many other venues, is primal essence of ":)", and he directs some of that :) at Sergio. "Nice to meet you," he adds, letting go of the Italian's hand.
Pausing for a moment, he glances around at the crowd. There are too many women here for this to be a coincidence, and not for the first time in his life does Frei marvel at the well-oiled machine that is Howard Enterprises' sports entertainment division. They think of everything. "Adoring public, huh..." he murmurs, rubbing a hand across the back of his head in embarassment. "I dunno how much adoration I want or need, but they paid the ticket price like everyone else, I guess..."
Frei is... well, compared to Sergio, he's short. This might cause some people to get overconfidence issues, but not Sergio. This is mainly for two reasons. The first is that he's probably overconfident anyway. It's just in his nature. He almost always goes into a fight expecting that he's going to mercilessly pound the other person into submission. The other reason is that a very tiny girl has beaten the tar out of him and taken very little pain in the process. Size and power are not always directly proportionate.
The relatively weak handshake is pondered on and forgotten, the smile sent his way making up for it. Clearly it wasn't a sign of disrespect. Sergio focuses his own grin at Frei. "Really? Well that's fine with me; I'll take all the attention you don't want and keep it for myself, how's that?" He backs off a couple steps and then stretches lightly, "What do you say we get this show on the road?"
As comic and wacky as he can be, the truth is that Frei dislikes being the center of attention. He can typically put up with SNF because he's never the *only* fighter and is typically only one of a multiperson... well, brawl. There's so much for the crowds to focus on. The Neo League is another story entirely, since those fights are more spontaneous and rarely as well publicized. In that case he just pretends the DVDs never get sold.
He nods at Sergio, then steps back and gets into a sort of loose stance that isn't immediately recognizable as being from a *particular* martial art but has what might be called a sort of general martial arts-ness. It gives the suggestion that this person knows a -fu, a -do, or possibly a -jutsu. It's just not very specific about which one.
He MIGHT even be blushing, though with the hint of freckle on his cheeks it's difficult to tell.
COMBATSYS: Frei has started a fight here.
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Frei 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Sergio has joined the fight here.
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Frei 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sergio
"Look at that... he's so modest," murmurs the lady in red. "And that sweet smile of his. He's such a charmer..."
"Tell me about it," replies the woman in black, fanning herself with a lacey black fan that she pulled out of her handbag. "I'd be his admiring fan /anyday/. He's so -tall-."
"Oh, I can't make up my mind. I'd take them both home. Is that an option?" the wife in green asks, sounding conflicted.
Her husband next to her's eyebrows furrow slightly as he sits up straighter, "Ladies, please, the match??" A possessive grip is made on his wife's arm as he hisses, "Come on, honey, don't ruin this for me. You know coming out to these fights are a rare flash of happiness in my otherwise very dull life..."
Sergio drops into a fighting stance when Frei does. Almost the complete opposite of his opponent, the Italian moves into what's fairly obviously an untrained brawlers stance. Right fist high, left fist low, moving on his toes and ready to rush in and cause some damage. That alone could be enough for someone who studies these things to realize at least the methodology of his fighting. The fact that Frei probably knows some actual martial arts doesn't worry him in the slightest.
There are brief introductions for each fighter by an announcer, followed by an obligatory bellow of. "FIGHT!"
Taking that as if it was his cue, Sergio surges forward, attacking from the word go and getting up close as quickly as possible. Though it should be noted, he's really not all that fast on his feet. Once he's only four or five feet away he leaps into the air, swinging his right foot up to try and kick Frei in the chest hard enough to stagger him. If it works he'll follow up with three hard punches across the body, and then end the combo with a palmstrike that falls just short, ending in a sudden blast of chi in the form of a hard spray of water. "Haah!"
COMBATSYS: Frei interrupts Breaker from Sergio with Medium Throw.
- Power hit! -
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Frei 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Sergio
It would appear that Frei's restless energy at being uncomfortable around these people is playing itself out in his fighting style today. He watches Sergio carefully, and when the initial kick comes he doesn't actually do anything about it. After all, a sensible thing to do is to see how strong your opponent is before you really get into it in earnest, right? However, probably to the Italian's dismay, the short and not that muscular fighter isn't staggered by the kick at all. Sure, it impacts and hurts... but that's about it. He carefully leans back out of the way of the punches.
Then something tingles. Chi, an energy the monk is highly experienced and quite perceptive at noticing. Reacting quickly, he thrusts out a hand and *catches* Sergio's palm, blinking at the sudden sensation of wetness as the Italian's chi gathers. "Interesting!" he says, surprised somewhat... and then he counteracts water the best way he can think of, which is to say he unleashes from *his* palm a pulse of purple-blue lightning that courses through Sergio's body, carried quite nicely by the water he's creating. From there, it's simple to step back, then shove the man offbalance for good measure.
Sergio's caught rather off guard when the kick hits solidly and fails to do much of anything to Frei. That's the first sigh of trouble. The second one is an announcement of interest in what he's doing. Not fear, not surprise, but interest! The resulting blast of lightning draws a loud yelp from him, and he stumbles backwards, the shove being all it takes to topple him to the ground. That wasn't the way to go about impressing the ladies. "What the..." He looks at his palm for a moment, and frowns. He's actually fought people with lightning energy before, and in the clash between his water and their lighting his water has almost always come out on top. Perhaps that's counterintuitive, but that had been the result.
Thus, Frei's attack results in a complete departure from what he considers normal. Someone has overpowered him. Normally this would mean one should think of a different tactic. Sergio, however, thinks differently than most people. He picks himself up off the ground and rushes forward again, trying the exact same palm striking waterblast, only without preceding kick and punches. "Try that again! HAAH!"
COMBATSYS: Sergio successfully hits Frei with Alpha Release.
- Power hit! -
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Frei 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Sergio
Well, the plan was still 'let's see what he can do', but perhaps the monk oversold it a little bit. He actually regards the palm blast as a curiosity, tilting his head a little as Sergio comes in and seems... sort of angry about it. *That* confuses him too. It's a fight. You're supposed to do stuff like that, or so the producers would have him believe when they go through the pre-show briefing. So Frei stops and braces himself for the blast.
That being said, it hits a little bit harder than he was expecting. So hard he flies backwards and smacks his head on one of the poles of the cordon before slumping to the ground in a sitting position, looking sort of dazed. Eyes dull with confusion, he says in a sort of dream-like tone, "Remember, Squall, pull the R1 trigger to do additional damage with your Gunblade..."
Eventually getting to his feet, the monk shakes out his limbs and then slaps both hands into his cheeks a couple times before turning to Sergio. "Huh. A little unfocused, but not bad... water. I wonder, if you had anger issues, would you be, like, the Italian Tran?" Driving forward, he suddenly spins and throws out his palm at Sergio, the other cupped to his side... only he doesn't unleash water, but instead a spherical burst of gold-yellow-orange yang chi, warm to the touch and looking like a burst of sunlight. "Maybe not."
Red leans to the side, gloved hand up to her mouth as she whispers to Black sitting next to her, "Is that Kung Fu he's doing? I bet it is, what with that outfit of his and all. I bet he's from China."
Black shakes her head, "Are you kidding? That hunk of man is clearly European. And that tan... Nnn! To die for."
Green leans forward to talk to the women in front of her, ignoring her husbands plea for blessed silence, "All that power they're throwing around so casually. They really made this a dreamboat today, didn't they!"
Beleaguered gentleman lifts a hand to his temple and shakes his head. "With any luck, next week we'll be back to the squeaking teen fighters... At least then I'll be spared your incessant chirping!"
COMBATSYS: Sergio fails to interrupt Hizashi from Frei with Medium Kick.
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Frei 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Sergio
Sergio looks down at his hand again once Frei readies himself and then gets blasted away by his attack. "That's more like it..." The bit of his confidence that was chipped away by the sudden lightning is fully restored. Certainly that kind of fighting is allowed, accepted, and, indeed, awesome. It wasn't even so much that he was counterattacked; that's happened before too. It was the specific combination of water and electricity turning against him that brought on the annoyance.
He cracks his neck from side to side, and then waits for Frei to get back up, again moving into his brawling stance. "The Italian Tran? What's that, some kind of car?" He doesn't have a clue who Tran is, so the comment flies right over the top of his head. He grins as Frei comes forward to attack, and then suddenly unleashes an attack of his own, swinging a hard hook for Frei's jaw, water streaming out behind his limb. "My turn!"
Except not. The energy burst smashes him first, knocking him painfully backwards and causing the fist to swing a full foot in front of Frei's face. A truly fantastic whiff, if ever there was one. "...shit."
The monk's fingers trail gold as he brings his hands down to his side and takes a deep breath, centering himself. Sergio might not know it, but water -- or at least, Chinese mystical interpretations of water -- are at the core of his personal philosophy. It flows, it adapts, and in the right situation it crushes mountains to dust. Handy thing, water. Plus when you're thirsty it makes a cool beverage. Sergio seems edgy, aggressive to Frei's eyes, and so he is playing counterpoint, trying to be calm and serene.
He doesn't press his attack, however, content to stay back and gather his own chi, a sudden wind kicking up and blowing back the tails of his headband, as is traditional in this sort of scenario. "Strictly speaking the one *before* that was your turn, but I dunno how well 'turns' fits into this sort of scenario anyway..." But there's still that insane ":)"-essence to Frei's face, his tone implying that their conversation is some sort of private joke between himself and Sergio.
Almost as an afterthought, he adds: "Uh, no. Tran is a doctor. Well, he claims to be a doctor..."
COMBATSYS: Frei gathers his will.
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Frei 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Sergio
Water is the core of Sergio's fighting style as well. Because when he hits things with it, they tend to fall down. Unfortunately, that's not a simplification, but indeed the very basis and foundation for his fighting style.
The Italian raises an eyebrow when Frei doesn't take advantage of his fantastical miss and attempt to put a fist, foot, or energy ball in his stomach for the mistake. He's certain that Frei's not doing it for his benefit- this is a fight, and giving your opponent a free breather isn't wise if your fighting to win. Maybe that odd wind has something to do with it?
"Haha... yea, I guess your right, but that's not exactly what I meant." He grins a bit in return, and scratches his chin. "A doctor?" Huh? Suddenly, something dawns upon Sergio. He's figured out what Frei is doing, drawing upon some internal or external energy source. What was a moment ago a friendly grin, becomes an aggressive one. "Oh no. No you didn't. Alright, well if you're going to try -that- against me..!" He drops down into a power stance, or rather an imitation horse stance. He has a move /specifically/ designed for use in this situation. It's useful in other situations, but this is the one it was created for.
Frei can feel the emergence of chi, so he's going to feel something huge now. A moment later everyone else can too, because the upper deck of the ship rumbles ominously. A split second later a massive surge of water rends the deck to shreds, a torrent of water tearing up from below as if a river had suddenly sprouted. It rushes fast towards Frei, large chunks of the deck and metal reinforcement it's built along dragged along with him. The technique is made to either force someone to take considerable pain by standing in it's path, or lose the energy they've gathered by getting out of the way. That's the idea, anyway.
COMBATSYS: Frei auto-guards Sergio's Whitewater!
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Frei 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Sergio
There is a third option, though it's probably not in Sergio's playbook since the outcome isn't exactly beneficial to the Italian fighter. Of course, once he gets an earful from the touring ship's owners over having just put a rather nasty hole in the deck of the boat. But as the wave of water chi and debris comes sailing at him, the monk simply observes it with... well, probably much more sang-froid than the actual situation warrants in any way whatsoever. "Wow," he says, blinking in surprise. "That's kind of excessive..."
Excessive or not, however, Frei's calm appears to be totally justified. The water just... flows around him. All of it, debris included. The technical details of his defense are probably better left to scholars and poets, but the visual effect is rather like a sort of >-shape in front of him on the ground, the water shearing around it like a wave breaking on a rock.
Once the commotion dies down, Frei drops the hand he had extended in front of him and opens eyes he had closed... the better to focus on his sense of the chi rather than any sort of visual necessity. He smiles pleasantly at Sergio. "You've got impressive power for what I'm guessing isn't much training," he offers, his tone hopefully suggesting this is mere observation rather than insult... though there's no guarantee that's conveyed. "I'm looking forward to seeing what your attacks are like once you've refined them a bit." Holding his hands to his sides, Frei gathers a blue-white sphere of chi in both hands, snowflakes dancing in the air around each one. With a sudden whip of both arms crossing, he hurls both orbs at Sergio... and when they get close the orbs collide, creating a massive burst of ice crystals. "If you can fight fire with fire, I guess you can fight water with water too!"
COMBATSYS: Sergio blocks Frei's Hyoushou Rengeki.
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Frei 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Sergio
The defense looks not only implausible to Sergio, but completely impossible. Did he just stand there and do nothing while a wall of water just turned around him? Sergio looks essentially flabbergasted. "What... what just happened." He stares at Frei with a new kind of wonder. The only person who's thus far humiliated him to the extent that Frei is doing right now would be one Kyo Kusanagi, who is, in fact, a winner of the King of Fighters tournament. Frei doesn't seem to be on quite that level of technique and ability... and yet here he is, seemingly able to ignore the best Sergio can throw at him. It's cause for concern.
"Somethin' like that. At least, I haven't been /taught/ by anyone, but I've been training with this for twenty years!" 'This' would be his energy, of course. The Italian looks annoyed when the orbs of freezing water come at him. Not angry, not frightened, but annoyed. He crosses his arms horizontally in front of his face and hunkers down, allowing the brunt of the impact to fall upon that desensitized area. Afterwards he stands back up, moves back into his fighting stance, and breathes in and out. He's going to have to think his way out of this mess. ...uh oh.
COMBATSYS: Sergio gains composure.
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Frei 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Sergio
Frei blinks a couple times, then rubs the back of his head in embarassment. "Well, if you must know..." he begins, with the universal indicator that no, nobody must know but someone bothered to ask and now the long-winded explanation is inevitable. "Well, even rushing water is mostly yin chi, so I made a pinpoint burst of yang chi right in the path of the flow. It's like a stream going around a large rock; there's always a quiet eddy just behind it, see? I was just standing in the 'eddy' behind the clashing chi." You've only yourself to blame for asking, Sergio.
But if Frei gave the Italian one freebie, he's not offering a second. Dashing forward with... well, not superspeed but certainly the agility of a trained fighter, he snaps out a hand and grabs for whatever of Sergio is handy at the moment: shirt, arm, leg, whatever he can get. If he gets that grip? The monk shouts "Hup!" and, with an invisible wave of earth chi-caused gravity helping him out, swings Sergio around with one arm and faceplants him right in the deck.
COMBATSYS: Sergio endures Frei's Daichi Kudaki.
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Frei 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Sergio
"...so you just stuck your hand out and it all went around it. Fantastic." Sergio doesn't have a clue about the concepts of yin and yang, let alone how you'd use one type to direct the other. The only thing this really tells him is that Frei was actually capable of intentionally enacting whatever it was that happened, and it wasn't some sort of fluke. Again, that's not good.
But he can't just let himself shut down from that information; not at all. When Frei rushes forward and grabs him, he doesn't stop him at all, the chi augmented lift picking him right up off the ground and smashing him back into it a moment later. But letting Frei get his hit in was all a part of the plan. As he's sailing through the air momentarily he reaches inside his shirt and pulls out a six foot length of rope, twisting his body around just enough so he'll hit on his back. The moment he does his arm flings that rope, hard, a vortex of water forming around it as it sails at almost point blank range to try and wrap itself around Frei's neck and choke the heck out of him, as well as using it as a delivery method for his potent water energy. ...if it works.
COMBATSYS: Frei fails to slow Whirlpool from Sergio with Hyoushou Rengeki.
- Power fail! -
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Frei 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1 Sergio
There's some degree of confusion about the attack as Frei blinks at the rope. In fact, he maybe pays a little too much attention to the rope. Where did it come from? Why is he using a *rope* exactly? These questions and more are running through his head when the rope itself actually lands around his neck, and he sort of blinks down at it in confusion.
Oh, right.
There's an attempt made at turning the situation to his advantage, but in reality that doesn't seem to be in the cards. The plan had been to freeze the line of water connecting the rope and Sergio's body, but in truth the monk simply makes the attempt too late to do anything about it. Thus he's left crouched on the deck, gasping for breath because he just got choked and drowned, all in one go. At least now some of the observers will pay attention to the fight's clear leader instead of the bashful monk.
"Well, would you look at that. His Kung Fu is clearly better than that man's deck wrecking nonsense. What kind of brute would tear up a nice deck like this?" the adult woman in red shakes her head. "Entirely uncivilized, if I do say so myself."
Beneath the black veil of her oversized hat, the woman beside her has a dreamy look in her eyes, "That kind of power... And a self-taught fighter at that. What's a little collateral damage in a fight between manly men like this, anyway?"
Lifting her hand to steady her feather laden hat, the woman in green shakes her head, tsk, tsking. "You can say what you want, but that little guy is clearly the superior fighter here. And so well composed too. I bet..." She leans forward, whispering something into the ears of the other women, her cheeks blushing a demure pink as she does so.
Grunting, the man at her side shakes his head, "Estella, can we please just enjoy the fight quietly? Must you /always/ hypothesize what every male fighter you set eyes on is like in the bedroom? I'm sitting right here, you know!"
The three women begin giggling about whatever secret it is they were just chattering at. But as Sergio manages to get a grip on Frei with that rope of his, all three of the woman gasp with surprise. "Nooo! Don't you hurt my Kung Fu boy!" hollars Red, shaking a fist. "A rope? Oh my..." stammers Black softly. "Come on, keep it together! This fight is getting good. Just hang in there! Show us some more of that ying-yanging!" adds Green, hands cupped at her mouth. "Women, for the last time...!" complains the man, though his gripe is drown out before long.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has joined the fight here.
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Frei 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
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Sergio 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru assists Frei.
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Frei 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
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Sergio 1/-------/=======|
Hmm. Well that seemed to have worked pretty well! At least it seems that when his techniques do land they seem to be roughly as effective against Frei as they are against everyone else. The potency of his attacks, at least, is not in question, judging by the choking monk.
The sudden turn /against/ him of the crowd momentarily jars Sergio, who figured that landing a punishing blow would rile them up rather than piss them off. Oh well, what do they know? A fight's a fight after all, and at least he didn't pull out a sword and stick it in him. Some fighters are known to do that, after all.
Also, remember when Sergio felt it odd that Frei was giving him a moment of rest? Oh sure, he realized it was like that for a very good reason soon afterwards, but in his mind you only back off when you need to do something else important. As such he gives no quarter, and if the rope choking Frei serves to distract him long enough to get another hit in, so be it! With Frei crouched, Sergio drops low to the ground and drops his right fist looow. What comes next is a powerful, if flagrantly ripped off uppercut. He leaps into the air and twists, his fist raising to try and meet Frei's chin, a stream of water flowing out behind his fist. "Water Dragon Punch!"
COMBATSYS: Frei interrupts Strong Kick from Sergio with Hizashi Ronde.
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Frei 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
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Sergio 1/-======/=======|
The monk coughing and trying to catch his breath is a natural consequence of the type of attack Sergio used. But it might be a mistake to assume that means he's not paying attention or is as vulnerable as the position looks.
In fact, what might be seriously outside Sergio's notice is the small, glowing golden-orange sphere in Frei's right hand, even as he charges for his Discount Shoryuken. Squeezed between his fingers, it's difficult to see, though rays of light occasionally flicker outward from between his fingers. As the uppercut comes in, Frei feints a dodge, but he doesn't really mean it. The blow catches him on the chin... but the water doesn't. And that might be the first sign something is wrong.
What in fact happens is that as the two fighters are carried upward, one by punching and the other by punched, Frei brings his hand up and touches his fingers, glowing gold, to the water flowing from Sergio's fist.
Which promptly explodes. In fact the water turns bright gold, briefly, and then bursts in an amazingly colorful display of red, gold, and orange chi 'fireworks' all around Sergio's body.
Landing in a crouch a few yards away on the deck, Frei takes a ragged breath. That hurt, but it might have been worth it. "It's handy being able to throw your energy out like that," he says. "But an enterprising individual might do something like, say... suddenly reverse the polarity of yin to yang in the energy you're putting out and then imbue a certain degree of personal force into it so it explodes like that." A beat of silence. "As an example, anyway."
Sergio punches Frei, and then his world explodes into pain. "Augh!"
The glowing energy within Frei's fist was completely missed, and in all likelihood it would have been ignored even if it wasn't. The fact that his own energy was used against him is also completely missed until it's simply told to him right to his face. Muttering occurs afterwards.
But none of that can happen until the actual detonation is over, which flings the airborne Italian all the way to the ropes, leaving him a crumpled mess upon the ground. "U...ungh." Everything hurts for several long moments, and Sergio picks himself up off the ground, filled with pain. "More of that yin yang stuff again, huh..." He rubs his head a bit, and slowly moves back into a fighting stance. "I don't quite get what that is, but you should probably keep doing it, because it works. As for me... I gotta stick with what I know!"
The Italian fighter then thrusts his hand up and forward, a simple but effective spray of water bursting from the ground in front of his feet, coming out at a low angle to try and soak Frei. It's not as impressive as whitewater, but it serves an entirely different purpose.
COMBATSYS: Frei blocks Sergio's Old Faithful.
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Frei 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
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Sergio 1/--=====/=======|
The water does soak Frei, sorta. The impactful part of the burst crashes against his forearm, the kinetic force of it... well, all but gone, in fact. A little pushes through but the monk doesn't seem the worse for wear of it. He doesn't immediately attack either, though. Apparently the strain of being nearly strangled and then throwing out so much energy all in one go took a bit out of him. Instead he pauses to wring out his sleeve and brush his hands back through his hair.
"If you want to master those powers, it's a principle you might do well to learn," Frei says earnestly. He's been on kind of an evangelical kick for people understanding their chi lately anyhow. International television could be a worse place to grandstand, after all. "Balance is what rules the universe. What's the old saying... when there's heavy weights on the scales, the trick is knowing where to put your thumb. Well, that's basically what I had to learn... where to put my thumb." He pauses. "That metaphor sounds so much better when someone old and wizened says it."
COMBATSYS: Frei gains composure.
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Frei 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
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Sergio 1/--=====/=======|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Frei 0/-------/-------|=======\=====--\1 Sergio
Frei seems to have absorbed the attack rather well, which is fairly expected since he seemed completely ready for it this time. Sergio nods along. "Maybe. But then that sort of thing really isn't my style. There are tons of fancy tricks out there that people pull that gives them an upper hand, but they can backfire on ya' just as easily as they can work!" Stick to the basics? Well, that might be good enough for his level of skill and technique.
He scratches at the back of his head a bit, and then decides to stick with what he just said. He could try to force Frei into a corner, and then attack him. He could try and figure out what Frei's going to do first. He could even hold back and try and get Frei to attack in a compromising way. But... that's overly complex, and prone to failure. Instead, he'll just blow it all in one crazy, massive attack.
The buildup for this one is going to dwarf even the chi he summoned up for his Whitewater technique, an incredibly powerful surge of energy telling if untold, untapped depth within the man. For one brief moment he is able to draw it out, and tap into this incredible inner power. Release.
Forming behind Frei is a simply massive wave of water, rushing forward to try and overwhelm him and drag it with. Behind Sergio is another, which easily sweeps the Italian up, who rides it in a perfectly controlled manner, surrounded by his energy. The intent is to sweep the two fighters towards each other for a magnificent collision.
COMBATSYS: Frei blocks Sergio's Unrealized Potential.
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Frei 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Sergio
That's certainly a lot of water, and Frei does raise an eyebrow. If you can't go with finesse, after all, you might have some success with sheer, overwhelming volume, right? "Simple or complex, everything has a strength and a weakness. That was sort of what I meant, overall," he adds, not that this is really going to help much... nor does it seem as if the monk really can even be heard over the mass of rushing water. From behind, too... tactically sound but only if the opponent is relying on sight to notice the attack.
The wall of water looking to crush him doesn't meet another pinpoint barrier this time. There's no time for that. Instead, Frei turns and, with a sweep of the hand, creates a mass of ice crystals that sears the air with frost. A great deal of the water instantly freezes solid, creating a sort of... bizarre ice sculpture behind the monk. But the power Sergio put into the attack was immense and one little trick is going to stop all of it... just enough to turn the blow from critical to managable.
Turning, the monk finds the Italian sitting... well, right in front of him. "It IS important to do things your own way, though." And then he... well, snaps his fingers, summoning a quick burst of wind chi all around Sergio. It doesn't do much damage on its own; the primary purpose is to catch him off guard so Frei can, well... reach forward a sandal and just... trip him. It's almost like a Three Stooges maneuver. With chi.
COMBATSYS: Frei successfully hits Sergio with Fast Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Frei 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Sergio
The water all evaporates nearly as quickly as it came, though the ice sculpture might last a little longer; who knows. Sergio, for instance, isn't going to take much notice of it, not when Frei is right there, lecturing him and then striking out with a maneuver fast enough to stop Serigo's attempted block, tumbling him quickly to the ground. The Italian lets out a light laugh. He's getting pounded here... "Well, maybe it is overkill, but if it'd worked it woulda worked really good. And not everyone is as good as stopping my water as you are."
He picks himself up, and then reaches out for Frei, attempting to grab him by the shoulders, put him in a headlock, and then blast him away with a quick burst of water to the small of his back. He's not so talkative now. He hurts, and he's getting tired.
COMBATSYS: Frei interrupts Riptide from Sergio with Hyoushou Rengeki.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Frei 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Sergio
And now the fight has come completely full circle. Whether it's just intuition or plain old stupid dumb luck, Frei doesn't bother to get away from the headlock. The strain on his already rope-burned neck certainly does sting a bit, but not nearly so bad as it probably could have otherwise. At least this time Frei doesn't resort to electricity. As Sergio's hand comes forward to attack Frei suddenly twists from the Italian's grip and throws *his* hand out, exploding his trademark icy projectile at point blank range. One-handed, it would normally be less powerful than average... but Sergio helpfully provided him with a blast of water to freeze and add some punch to it.
Stumbling away, the monk shakes out his limbs and then rubs a hand around his neck, wincing. That's gonna need some salve. "I bet they're not," he agrees. He knows a few people who are as good at shutting down chi attacks as he is -- Tran and Mizuki's ability to send them right back in the attacker's face, for starters -- but it's a short list. "I don't do a lot of long-range planning either. I just try to do what the moment tells me to."
o/' You're frozen, when your stance's wide open~ o/'
That was not quite what Sergio had anticipated! A block perhaps, maybe even a quick escape! But to get plowed down by an iceicle wasn't something he had prepared for. As such, he's left completely off guard. It blows him completely to the ground, and rolls him away, the Italian gritting his teeth. It was one of the harder hits Frei'd put on him this fight. Painful! And all that pain is finally adding up to something he's having trouble overcoming. "U-ugh..."
He can barely pull himself up off the ground for this one; though he does manage it. "Well, Frei. You've been pretty damn good at keepin' me from hurting you this whole time. But I can't help wonder if that -one- thing you did was just luck. So here goes!" He drops down into a predictable horse stance, pulls his arm back, and rends the hell out of the deck once more as a massive surge of water bursts up from underneath, debris and onrushing water tearing towards the monk. ...it's probably the only thing he has left in his arsenal that'd be able to take him down, with the advantage Frei has over him. "Hnnngh!" Regardless of the result, his legs buckle, and he falls to the ground in a sweating heap of man.
COMBATSYS: Sergio can no longer fight.
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Frei 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Frei blocks Sergio's Whitewater.
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Frei 0/-------/--=====|
No time for a fancy defense... no energy for one, either. Instead Frei simply crosses his arms in front of his face and weathers the storm, as it were, the water and debris chunks battering him, but sadly not enough in the end to take him down. His wooden sandals make a squeaking noise as he slides backwards a few feet on the waxed wooden deck from the pressure alone, but then it subsides and all appears to be still... and Sergio's not getting back up.
Which is, of course, Frei's cue to wipe his forehead, say "Whew!", and then drop onto the deck on his backside with a *thud*. Exhausted, but awake. There's a great cheer from the crowd -- well, some of them, Sergio isn't without his fans -- and the SNF announcer declares Frei the victor. The monk simply waves a hand tiredly...
...and is then mobbed by French society women, the same ones who had been cheering him on before. He blew all his energy fighting Sergio and is completely unable to resist them. To his credit, however, the woman in the black veil tentatively walks over to Sergio and clears her throat, before leaning down to make sure he's alright.
That's right, folks. It's Attack of the Bronte Sisters, brought to you by Howard Enterprises.
COMBATSYS: Frei takes no action.
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Frei 0/-------/--=====|
COMBATSYS: Frei has ended the fight here.
Log created on 00:38:08 08/25/2007 by Frei, and last modified on 23:13:04 08/31/2007.