Description: Maxima, in a fit of heated, rabid rage, KILLS HOTARU?!!!? Read on to find out if this log description is a complete and total fabrication!!!
The YFCC is a pretty happening if you're a youth and you like to fight and into hanging around with other likeminded teens. If you don't fit into that category, it can be a lot more tricky to mingle with the average warm blooded body within the community center. Fortunately for Hotaru Futaba, she fits in just fine. Dressed in her typical white and blue Chinese styled attire, the minor celebrity fighter is happily engaged in leading the basic self-defense class she teaches as part of her mandatory school volunteer hours.
"Ando, please, stop punching Eric in the face. These are supposed to be blocking exercises, not... nose pulverizing exercises or whatever it is you're doing there." the girl scolds the brute of a student who is well over twice her size in muscle as he tenderizes the poor skinny kid that's supposed to be trying to block his attacks but just keeps getting socked in the face instead. In spite the incredible stature differences, the big lug cowers a little, shoulders sinking as he folds his hands together in front of him, bowing his head slightly. "I'm sorry, Futaba-sensei... I'll swing lighter." Erik sulks a little. Because basically he's a skinny weenie and having the ninety pound girl force the brute to go easier on him is kind of embarrassing.
"Thanks," the girl replies with a shake of her head and slight roll of her eyes, an amused look on her face. Teaching entry-level basic defense has its challenges, especially with a class full of kids at all different ages, sizes, and experience. But being down here, in the cool basement gymnasium, sure beats being outdoors in the late summer heatwave.
As the students continue the exercise, the girl continues talking, sharing some of her thoughts, "Sometimes you have to just stop an attack with anything you can muster. Other times you might want to get out of the way. I'm not teaching you how to fight. Just how to defend yourselves. If you want to actually learn more than that, you'll need to get real training rather than just coming here and hearing what I have to say for a couple hours a week," she laughs lightly.
The Young Fighter's Community Center, better known as the YFCC. It hasn't been too many months now since this center was first built, first opened up to the public. A place designed to be a haven for young men and women throughout Southtown, it provides a place to get away, to relax -- or to learn. A place geared towards the betterment of the next generation.
Of course, that doesn't mean that only the youth drop by here.
As rare as it may be, there are some occasions when people who are neither young, nor instructors, come by the center. Their purposes are various; sometimes, they come bearing good intentions. Othertimes, entirely the opposite. But these situations happen... much like it happens today.
It isn't long after Hotaru Futaba begins her self-defense instructions that the front door to the lobby swings open. A man walks in, impossibly tall and dressed in dark blue leather -- striking enough of an appearance that the young woman at the receptionist desk must look -up- to see him. "Uh... can I help you, sir?" The man smiles, pleasantly.
"Can you tell me where Hotaru Futaba is...?"
It's not long before the man is off in a long, calm stride from the desk, leaving a blinking, vaguely confused-looking receptionist. He approaches the room that Hotaru and her students currently reside in, only halting at the door when he hears that disciplinary voice emanating from the room. A calm grin crosses his lips, a large, gloved hand clasping at the back of his head and scratching idly.
"You know, you should listen to your teacher," a voice lifts as the door leading into the room slides upon, leading the mountain of a man to enter, smiling easily and crossing his arms over his chest. "Being too rough isn't being a fighter -- that's just being a bully." He pauses here, looking towards Hotaru's distinct form.
"Ms. Futaba... right?" Maxima has good reason to be here. At least, he thinks so.
Maxima's stature pretty much dwarfs Ando's, and he's the biggest kid in the room by far. When his towering form appears in the doorway, pretty much the entire class freezes mid-kata to blatently stare. They've seen plenty a stranger walk in through the door here. A Pervy older Italian man, an obnoxious French martial artist with a serious chip on his shoulder, a pint-sized pipsqueak Kempo boy who thought he was tough stuff, small time rising legends who showed up here then went on to start making appearances in the fighting leagues... But to date, they've never seen anything like the metallic Hulk that fills the doorway this afternoon.
Even Hotaru looks a little taken aback, eyes widening a little with obvious surprise. Were it not for the friendly tone used by the new arrival in backing up her lesson, she would probably be reacting defensively. But Maxima doesn't show any signs of hostile intent... well, other than the fact that he practically looks like a living weapon. "That is right," the young martial artist replies, her awestruck expression replaced with a faint, polite smile as she bows her head slightly in acknowledgement.
It isn't just Maxima's size that has her a bit wary though. She's dealt with people that are all mass and no ability just fine before. But they didn't go around with quite so much armor either. Besides, there's just a certain quality about him... "What can I do for you, Mister...?" she asks, her voice trailing off as she inquires both his name and intent at once. The students all recover themselves, turning around to face Maxima rather than just staying frozen in mid-awe.
The nearly unanimous reaction to Maxima's appearance is taken in stride. By now, he's used to it. It's been a while since he's been out in the real world, but he still knows how to deal with people well enough -- and even before becoming what he is, he had always been a big man. As such, when hushed gasps and murmurs usher forth from the children, when all those eyes focus on him... he just gives an easy, hearty grin, offsetting the imposing nature of his height and build alone, let alone his unusual attire. Accompanying this grin with a small wave to the youngsters before him, he hopes to stave off any fear or sense of intimidation -- which apparently works, if only for the person he came here to see.
What can I do for you, Mister...? she asks. He notes the trail of her question, nodding once before taking another single step and bowing his head in a respectful fashion. "Ah -- just call me Maxima." Lifting his head up once more, the large man rests his hands at his sides, his dark eyes sweeping over the space between them, and the students assembled. Why is he here?
"I doubt you know me --" he's almost sure of it, in fact, thanks to his sparing appearances in the fighting world, "-- but I was wondering if you could entertain a friendly spar? I've heard about you, and I just wanted to see if you're really as talented as you appear on TV." Offering a simple smile along with his explanation, Maxima's gaze falls back to the students once more, a dark brow arching before a large hand lifts, to rub the back of his neck. "Aha... unless, of course, you'd like to finish your lesson."
And then all the sudden all the student's eyes are back on Hotaru. The class loves watching her fight. In fact, some times she can't help but suspect that they goad people on into causing a disruption in the class just to get the pig-tailed instructor to kick them back out with a display of force if necessary.
But it seems that won't be necessary this time, as the new arrival has shown up with the request for a spar. Hotaru hesitates for a moment. She should be teaching the class... but on the other hand, she knows if she declines, the students will just pitch a fit and become unteachable anyway. And not to mention, this guy looks like he could be a /serious/ challenge.
Looking away from her eager students, Hotaru's smile becomes more sincere at the polite request for a spar. "Maxima then," she replies, accepting his request that she forgo any titles. "I would be honored to spar with you. Class, please make room." Her voice carries a certain weight to it in spite her small size; the students reacting swiftly to comply, out of respect and because the sooner things get violent, the sooner they get to be entertained. Watching a couple of really talented fighters show their stuff right in front of their very eyes sure beats blocking exercises, by a long shot!
"Please try to keep the damage to a minimum," she adds after a moment, grinning a bit sheepishly. She's, well, there's been stern words about the side effects of her other fights in this basement gym. And this guy looks like he could really dish out the structural damage if he wanted to. "To the room, I mean," she adds after a brief pause to make sure he didn't think she was asking him to go easy on her.
The majority of the blue, tumbling mat covered floor now cleared, as students take their seats in the couple of rows of wooden bleachers on the side, Hotaru crosses her arms in front of her then exhales slowly, slipping into a ready stance, bouncing lightly on her toes.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has started a fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Maxima has joined the fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Maxima
Of course -- Maxima knows what this situation can be like, just from the fact that he is a hunted man. Someone knocking at your door abruptly asking for a fight can be an awkward experience -- especially when said someone doesn't look particularly pleasant. Thus, the tall Canadian keeps himself as unassuming as is possible for a hulk of a man. He doesn't want to give off the impression that he's some sort of brute or rude individual, after all... especially if this Hotaru is as skilled as she appears in her televised matches.
It seems the students are just as willing, if not moreso, to see their teacher fight as much as Hotaru is willing to accept the challenge. Stepping more fully into the room at her consent to the request, Maxima watches only for a moment as the students scurry to the sidelines of the gym. "Looks like they're excited to see you fight," he remarks off-handedly, smile broadening into an easy grin as he turns towards his opponent. He gives a respectful bow in some form of a polite, formal measure to begin the fight, easing himself into a simplistic fighting stance.
"... Hm? Oh, yeah -- don't worry," Maxima assures to Hotaru's request, his large hands clenching into fists. "I'll be careful, as long as you agree not to go easy on me." Nodding once to the girl, he waits for her to be ready. Rolling his shoulders to ease out some kinks, he lowers a bit more.
"Alright -- let's see what you've got!"
Waiting until he's sure Hotaru is ready, Maxima starts out simply enough. Surging forward across the distance between them, he lashes out with his right hand, seeking to get a solid grip on Hotaru's shoulder. If successful, he'll simply pivot on his right heel from their, twisting to launch Hotaru into the air and over his head in a fast, forceful toss. "HMPH!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Maxima's Quick Throw.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Maxima
As Maxima observes her students ardent thirst for vicious combat, Hotaru laughs lightly, shaking her head. "I half wonder if it's the reason most of them come to class each week," she admits with a partial shrug that does nothing to diminish her readiness.
Her opponent may be capable of incredibly accurate analysis when it comes to gauging, but Hotaru has the experience of almost a hundred serious fights and hundreds more training matches behind her, so she's pretty good at measuring up opponents too. The disadvantage here is that he's seen her fight before, whereas she is at a loss as to what actual fighting style he might be trained in. Then again, with a build like his, is a style even really necessary?
When he comes in for her, the girl plays hard to catch, ducking down so that her puffy white sleeve clad shoulder slips just out of reach of Maxima's hands, leaving him with only air to grasp.
And her retaliation comes just as quickly, both of her small arms reaching out to try and snag hold of his armored forearm in order to try and land a grip. If she can pull it off, she'll use the leverage to kick her way right up the front of him with a series of swift, ascending stomps before trying to flip off of his shoulders to land a little ways off. It's a brazen, risky move to open with, but it shows the girl isn't afraid to take chances - and it gives her a chance to really test this guy out and get a better feel for what he can take. "Ya, ya, ya!"
COMBATSYS: Maxima endures Hotaru's Shin-Jou Tai.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Maxima
Just as he thought: Hotaru Futaba's speed is one that goes largely unparalleled by many in her tier of skill. As he grasps into empty air, Maxima takes note of the girl's sudden burst of speed and agility with a gaze that can see far more than any mortal eye should.
Thankfully -- this doesn't exactly leave Maxima completely open to assault. As Hotaru bursts away from him, her quick retaliation is noted just before it comes. Yet, even taking note of it... he doesn't do much in the way of trying to -stop- Hotaru from carrying through with the maneuver. In fact, perhaps oddly enough -- Maxima takes the entire bulk of the attack. Feet pound into that leather-clad torso, and Hotaru might feel the effect of kicking the man much like driving her feet into a thick, steel wall. Whatever Maxima is... he's certainly sturdy.
Just as Hotaru gets to his shoulders to push off, though, Maxima is already moving forward. Her assault hurts, of course, but it doesn't keep the cyborg from pushing his momentum forward, to get to Hotaru before she can fully recover. As she flips backwards, he is already surging forward, his right fist cocking back. "You're pretty fast!" he notes nonchalantly before he swings that fist forward in what might seem, at first, to be nothing more than a simple straight punch to the girl's small body. Yet, just as his fist begins to reach, Hotaru might note a mechanical clicking sound. A whirring noise that accompanies something else odd: the fact that Maxima's wrist is literally expanding, to reveal a series of arm-cannons wreathing his fist.
Hotaru has all of a second to react before, mere moments from when the punch should land, those armcannons release gouts of highly-pressurized air, puncturing through the space between them to slam into the kenpo-user with more force than a simple punch ever could.
COMBATSYS: Maxima successfully hits Hotaru with Vapour Cannon.
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Hotaru 1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0 Maxima
Hotaru can feel even as she starts her kicking assault. This guy's build isn't just for looks. He's damn tough, for sure. His ability to hold up almost visibly unphased against one of the more relentless assaults she can muster gives her a clue to what kind of fight she's in for here. The backflip away becomes a bit more panicked as he speeds right along to meet her as she touches down and immediately tries to take to the air again. Which she kind of succeeds at, in that her feet leave the mat, but not in that she manages to not get struck by the explosion of force leveled right at her from a fist that's practically as big as she is!
With no traction to keep her grounded, the force of the impact is more than enough to send her on a lateral trajectory straight into the wall. Made of sturdy stuff (As just about anything around here has to be), her impact doesn't damage the padded side at all. Sliding down to her feet, Hotaru peels off into a bit of a stumble. It would be easy for him to gauge just how traumatizing that initial blow was though, the girl's complexion a little pale as her body reacts to the forceful strike. It doesn't take a tactical genius to see that much. But it also taught her something as well. That suit of his isn't just for show.
Though it takes a couple of steps to get steady on her feet again, the girl has already started charging a very visible amount of blue energy into the palm of her hand, her entire forarm bathed with a vibrant blue aura. "Need to be faster yet," she whispers to herself as she swings her arm foreward, discharging a small pulsating chi-based projectile from her finger tips. The vigorous energy in it isn't all for show, either, as the attack does have a fair amount of power behind it. Though it looks almost watery in nature, it will leave behind no trace against whatever it impacts besides the sense of having been struck by a purely kinetic kick. From a few yards away. "HA!"
COMBATSYS: Maxima blocks Hotaru's Hakki Shou EX.
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Hotaru 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Maxima
Frail, Maxima notes, but her speed more than makes up for that. The fact that she isn't simply knocked flat out of the realm of consciousness from one of his stronger blows is a good sign. With a mechanical, locking -clack-, the Canadian cyborg's wrist contracts, locking into place once more so that it takes on the appearance of a simple, leather sleeve. But the evidence of the strike is still there: rivulets of steam still lift off his arm as Hotaru goes flying, an aftermath of the forceful, strange attack.
Rolling his shoulders, Maxima winces visibly at Hotaru's landing, but still remains prepared. He knows exactly the toll it took on her with those unnatural eyes of his -- but she still stands, and she still prepares to fight, and so Maxima remains prepared as well. And for good reason; as soon as Hotaru is back on her feet, Maxima's scanners note the sudden surge of chi rising from Hotaru, sensing and seeing readings at the same moment that sapphire power collects within her palm. "Lotta firepower for such a little girl..." he notes to himself, staring at the flare of chi as it stretches through the air with a collision-course aimed right for him.
Yet, he's ready for it; as soon as that orb of chi is within range, Maxima THRUSTS out his right hand, palm first, to intercept the rushing surge of power. It strikes, and disperses along his large hand, sending a shudder across the length of his arm as it begins to dissipate. "... you have a pretty high chi output, don't you?" But the question is given just as Maxima moves forward again. The assault this time is very straightforward: bringing up his right hand, as soon as he is within Hotaru's defenses, Maxima SWINGS it down in a simple, fast chop aimed for the girl's left shoulder. "Hmph!!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Maxima's Quick Punch.
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Hotaru 1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0 Maxima
It's firepower at a cost, however. Even as the projectile zips through the air for him, Hotaru lowers her right arm, the blue aura that had manifest itself so strongly rapidly melting back into her skin as if it had never been there. But the slight wince from the girl as her left hand reaches over to clamp against her wrist tightly suggests a reaction to some sensation of discomfort or pain was part of the price of that shimmering attack.
When she watches the energy collide against his hand, her eyes narrow, clearly taking the moment to size up just what kind of impact that left. That was a pretty decisive way to react to it after all, trusting his suit to absorb the blast, perhaps? His question, phrased in such a clinical way, causes her to blink a little. No one has ever characterized her energy based attacks as having 'high chi output' before. "I think that might be a way to describe it," she allows somewhat equivocally. "And you're fast for how much that suit must weigh." Hotaru adds. A student of styles that gets by a lot of the time by just being able to figure out what her opponents are likely to attack with in order to stay a step ahead, the girl is capable of a certain level of analysis herself albeit without any of the augmented precision that Maxima can draw upon.
When he comes in with a swift but predictable attack perhaps intended to knock her to the mat covered floor, Hotaru leans to the side, her right foot slipping out to allow her to side-step around the attack... before she literally leaps up onto Maxima in an attempt to seize purchase on his arm with both of her own much smaller arms. If she can get that grip she'll swing her legs up and against his chest as she literally tries to armbar him where he stands. It's pitting her whole body's strength against his single limb as she'll try to bend it back some... seems about a fair.
COMBATSYS: Maxima interrupts Quick Throw from Hotaru with Maxima Lift.
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Hotaru 1/=======/=======|=======\-------\0 Maxima
Maybe he's revealing too much about himself through his commentary, but at this point, it hardly matters. The Vapour Cannon is enough of an indication the Canadian is not just another normal fighter, there's really no point in hiding what is blatantly obvious.
Nor is it really his chief concern at the moment: instead, Maxima focuses his attention more on Hotaru's own surprising degree of speed. Any direct assault is probably going to be dealt with in a similar manner to the blurring chop that Hotaru so deftly outmaneuvers. So, he simply has to work -around- it. There is, after all, a solution to any problem, and this one is a relatively -easy- dilemma to solve.
Maxima only staggers once as his blow hits the air. Her comment about how fast he is is met with a little smirk on his part, off-handedly replying, "I've gotten used to the weight." It's not the suit, of course, that weighs so much -- but that's something that Hotaru certainly does not need to know. Even if he intended too, he can't really expand upon the remark because, soon enough, the kenpo-user is literally leaping at him and grasping on to his entire arm. "Wha--"
He's prepared for this, though. Given the perfect means and opportunity to execute his plan, the moment that Hotaru stamps her feet upon his chest, Maxima swipes out with his -free- hand, gripping her solidly by the shoulder and wrenching her free from his arm. She's only given a second in that time to strike his chest with those legs -- a chest that is far too dense, even for muscle -- before she is lifted entirely above his head, and then thrown through the air with the greatest of ease. "Alley-oop!"
It's true that something about the opponent she keeps throwing herself at doesn't seem to be measuring up to what she would expect. He's... too solid. The density doesn't seem right. She's punched and kicked beastly types before. The girl has sparred with Senior Instructor Marco Rodriguez, jumped desperately into battle against the likes of Grant, and been squashed to the floor like a fly by Brian Battler. So she knows what it means to fight a nigh immovable object. But something about this opponent just doesn't jive quite right from the very observant young fighter.
As she starts to try and get into position to yank his arm back, it would seem her attack didn't end up being as big a surprise as she might have hoped since she doesn't have the time to complete it, ripped right off his limb and sent whirling through the air over the top of his head with ease. While she can normally recover from being bodily hurled like this, especially the longer she is airborn, he sends her flying with such force that attempting to recover into a clean landing is impossible and Hotaru crashes to the floor, tumblig over a couple of times only to come back up on her feet and sliding the last few yards before finding the traction necessary to come to a stop. Whew. That was a pretty rough encounter with some incredibly brutal force, this time even without the addition of a painful steam blast to go with it.
The students on the bleachers watch, their eyes wide with amazement. They've never seen their resilient little instructor having such a difficult time dealing with a challenger before. But then again, they've never seen a challenger /like/ Maxima before. Mindful of the inflatedly high esteem with which her class held her, Hotaru had from time to time tried to emphasize that she isn't by any means invincible and that there are fighters out there that are simply monsters compared to what she can dish out, but she could always tell the kids were somehow skeptical of such claims. Well, Hotaru hehs to herself, they'll get to see just what some people out there are capable of.
But she'll keep at it, intent on doing her best, and after taking a half second to catch her breath, the girl charges for Maxima again. She weaves low when a little ways out as if about to aim for a lower target, but then she leaps forward, spinning once through the small arc in order to build up a little momentum, before swinging out with two windmilling strikes with her arms, aimed high. If her feet touch down, she'll keep swinging then, each strike accompanied by a small spark of chi as she tries to bore her way through the man's incredible defenses to deliver a stronger hit, "Sou-shou...!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Maxima with Sou-shou Tenrenge.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1 Maxima
The moment she is certain she has a clear shot, Hotaru's attack speed picks up, the girl driving her hands forward one after another, using the chi she is pouring into each swing to augment the damage that her punches might otherwise have a hard time causing against his powerful chest. "Tenrenge!"
When she can swing no longer, feeling the burn of having pushed herself as hard as she can before she'll just exhaust herself, Hotaru switches to lunging directly into Maxima, striking him with her shoulder as she rises off her feet then uses the upward momentum to flip right back down into him, her entire body flaring with a bright blue aura as the teenaged chi-missile barrels right into him.
In the end, she slides to a stop, one hand and knee on the ground as she gasps for breath, feeling the cost of dishing out such a relentless assault.
Oh.
Well.
That's not good at all, is it?
Maxima can see the assault before it ever even fully manifests. The lift in speed, the sudden exertion of strength and the burst of power that accompanies Hotaru's forward charge are all-too indicative of the fact that something rather painful is on the horizon. He hunkers down, preparing for what is to come... or so he thinks.
The truth of the matter is, no matter how good an analytical mind a person might have, no matter what augmentation Maxima may have received to -enhance- his own intellectual capacities, the body doesn't always match up to the speed of the mind -- even with a body as unique as the Canadian's. He thinks himself prepared, but she comes too fast to react properly in time. Dark eyes snapping wide, he feels the first windmill strikes his his uppertorso with dull thuds, chi helping to burn his body and sending him staggering -- defenses woefully open for what comes next.
Chi burns in the accompaniment of those rapid-fire blows, each sending him staggering --each a bee sting that amounts to the higher, overall damage of the technique. It gets to a point where only Maxima's unnatural mind can keep up, charting and recording damage output, speed, even effort inherent in each strike subconsciously. The shoulder drive is nearly enough to launch the huge man off his feet -- nearly. But the downward, chi-charged missile of power that is Hotaru Futaba, -that- has enough to reverse all that momentum and send him slamming -down-, straight on his knees.
"... Hah..." The panting isn't really necessary, but performed out of habit -- and a touch out of a need for normalcy. Dark eyes looking towards the ground, Maxima still manages to smile, slowly bringing himself back up onto his feet. "Huh. Very potent technique! You're just as strong as I thought you were." It's said like a fact, warmly stated as Maxima lowers himself into a fighting stance once more. Within seconds, he pushes off his right foot, booted feet slamming into the ground in a rush. As soon as he's close enough? He lashes out with his right knee, aiming to bury it into Hotaru's gut with surprising speed and force like a battering ram. He'd show her one of his more noteworthy techniques, but then--
--she DID ask him not to do too much damage to the gym. "HMPH!!"
COMBATSYS: Maxima successfully hits Hotaru with Light Kick.
- Power hit! -
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Hotaru 1/---====/=======|=======\==-----\1 Maxima
The cost of such an attack is clear in the way the smaller fighter is getting slower. One doesn't smash their strength against a wall like Maxima with idle ease, after all, and even though Hotaru has stood up and turned around to prepare for his follow up, his incoming leg finds its mark, crunching her with enough force to literally collapse the girl over his knee. Eyes widen as she releases a gasp of pain that goes echoed by a gasp of surprise from many of her students, her arms hanging down the sides of his leg as Hotaru just stays there for a long moment.
"Ugh," the Kenpo artist groans as she slides down off his knee to her own knees on the floor, her left hand moving to press against her stomach. It's been a while since she's eaten - a detail that she's quite grateful for just now as she feels rather sick to her stomach. She can't so much as utter a word just now either, struggling just to fight back a gag reflex.
To his augmented eyes it's clear that she hasn't much left in her, but the girl does recover from the crumpled stance for one last attack, uncoiling into an upward spring, spinning a little with the attack into another rapid windmilling strike followed by swift swings of her arms for as long as she can pull it off. But unlike before, there is no flash of chi accompanying the blows, the girl having more than spent that reservoir of energy with the previous attacks that drew upon it.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru can no longer fight.
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Maxima 1/----===/=======|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Maxima with Ten-ren-ge.
Glancing Blow
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Maxima 1/----===/=======|
The force is just enough -- or perhaps it's more than enough. But the kick puts Hotaru down in a way Maxima knows she won't get back up from. Not with ease, anyway. He does feel a little sorry; he hadn't meant to hit her QUITE that hard. But odds are, she didn't want him to hold back, and so he complies with that to the letter. And he knows she's done the same with him... even now.
As Maxima eases back away from the fallen Hotaru, he makes note of her sudden surge of motion. A last ditch effort, no doubt, but it still comes with extraordinary speed, and a power he can clearly sense behind the attack.
With as lumbering and huge a man as he is, and considering just what the majority of his body is actually made of, it's still no easy feat to maneuver out of the way of Hotaru's technique, sluggish though it may be. He still makes the effort, however; his body lurches towards the side, and in a sudden burst of speed, he shunts towards the right. Before he can completely get into the clear, however, the first of those windmill strikes slams into his shoulder, sending him into a sharp, forced spin. His left foot SLAMS into the ground, halting his motion with a scrape across the hard floor and essentially keeping himself out of the clear of the remainder of Hotaru's assault.
But--as the girl descends, Maxima will reach out, to stop her and help her to the ground on her feet so that she doesn't make a messy fall. "You're strong," he remarks in the aftermath, inclining his head in a nod and smiling amicably. "These students have a very good instructor."
COMBATSYS: Maxima takes no action.
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Maxima 1/----===/=======|
COMBATSYS: Maxima has ended the fight here.
The catch is just in time, the girl's ability to stay standing starting to crumble at the end of her last attack. His arm around her waist, the girl is sat back down a lot easier than she would have landed, dropping to her knees, her right hand now going back to rest against her stomach as she grimaces. "Wow," she gasps, looking up toward the man with a squint of pain that conceals how impressed she is by his durability and capability of dishing out damage when he wants to. She could tell that while the attacks he struck her with hurt, he wasn't striking with the full power his body must be capable of with every swing, either. And she pities the foe that has to face the amiable enough foreigner when he's angry. If he ever gets angry, that is.
The students who had been holding their breath for the last several painful seconds of the fight collectively exhale, the whiplashingly fast spar coming to an end at last. There's a murmur of praise for the mighty Maxima who has bested their smaller teacher, but the compliments a man of his stature has for the girl don't go unappreciated either.
"Thank you for the experience," Hotaru finally manages to stammer out after a long moment of getting back to the ability to actually breath, slowly pushing herself back into a standing position, studying the man closer now that she doesn't have to worry about him swinging for her with that impressive strength of his. There's still something vaguely unsettling about him. He felt too heavy, even in light of the thick suit, but the girl can't put her mind to what it is either.
"Your ability is impressive. I'm surprised I haven't heard of you before." Her hand still rests against her stomach, recovering from the punishing knee attack. "I'm curious..." she asks after a moment, "What brought you here today. I hope it wasn't a disappointing spar. You can probably tell that avoiding taking hits is fairly critical for me."
After setting Hotaru down and ensuring she won't outright collapse, or hasn't sustained any grievous harm, the Canadian cyborg takes a single step backwards, straightening out and sliding those large, gloved hands deep into his pants pockets. He glances sidelong towards the children, offering then a brief smile. At least they got to see a truly intense match, even if it was cut particularly short.
As soon as Hotaru is able to speak once more, Maxima shifts his attention back to her, his head inclining in a polite nod. "And thank you for accepting the challenge," he returns with a casual, warm expression. He knows the girl isn't stupid; that observant mind of hers can likely see that something is amiss with Maxima. But whatever it may be? He's not speaking on the subject. Best for her -not- to know, in the end.
"Huh? Haha, I suppose so, eh? I've been a little... preoccupied so I haven't gotten out into the fighting world much." A vague answer, but it'll have to do.
Turning around and crossing those arms over his broad chest, the large man takes a scrutinizing look at Hotaru, as if thinking of the best way to sum her up. "Not disappointing at all; you're very fast for your age," Maxima begins, brows furrowing, "and you have very good control of your chi. I was impressed, honest." Delivering this with a simple grin, he turns, making his way towards the door. "You've got a lot of potential. You're already very talented. I'm sure you have no where to go but up from there, too." Opening the door, Maxima begins to step out -- only turning to offer a brief wave. "Thank you for the match." And with that, he moves out the door, hands clasping behind the back of his head.
"We'll run into each other again very soon, I'm sure."
Log created on 16:50:38 08/31/2007 by Maxima, and last modified on 23:56:22 08/31/2007.