Description: Maybe the League officials just want to haze the new guy. Maybe Bernstein just wants another chance to smack around one of the guys partially responsible for blowing up one of his buildings recently. Either way, the outcome of the match staged in Korea may not be a surprise, but the way it got there probably still will be. (Winner: Rugal)
Welcome to Neo League, Birdie. For your first match up, you get to fight The Boss. Throwing new faces at Rugal is not the nicest thing the League organizers can do. In fact, they usually give Rugal opponents they calculate to be closer in calibur just because of the publicity it generates. On the other hand... bloody thirsty viewers DO like to see a good old fashioned beat down. Think of it, perhaps, as a bit of hazing for the newcomer.
For Rugal it's a chance to show off his incredible power. For Birdie it's the opportunity to jump head first into the thick of things and perhaps show the league officials that he ain't scared of no clown in a fancy red suit. Either way, violence is bound to transpire in this match.
The setting is a long, stone wash in Korea. A trickle of water flows through the middle of it, but it's no more than a couple inches deep. There's plenty of damp stones in either direction to stand upon, however, if one is worried about getting his expensive, polished dress shoes wet. Along the walls of the wash are people in position to watch. Some are already cheering, getting excited about the fight ahead. Cameras are being mounted in the area and officials are getting into position to commentate and record the battle ahead.
As far as Rugal is concerned, none of them need exist in his opinion. As he tightens the fingerless, black leather gloves on his hands, all that matters to him is his opponent. As Birdie has appeared in a couple of Geese Howard's SNFs now, Rugal is familiar with who he is. Of course he remembers him from when he an Katana blew up his building, and he did give his name before the battle concluded. But now it's time for Birdie to learn who Rugal is. Rugal Bernstein. Sponsor of many tournaments in the previous years. His public image is that of an eccentric, wealthy baron with money to blow on nonsensical events. Most people know nothing of the 'R' Organization he runs, an outfit rife with black market machinations...
Birdie heard about the Neo League not too long after bing kicked off the boat, actually. He heard about it after he left the last SNF, a few people from there seemed to try to take him out of Geese Howard's little spot and try to get him on Neo League. Well, it worked, but after showing up and finding out who his first opponent was, Birdie was a little more ticked, like you would imagine.
He had fought Rugal before, sure. He knows how devastating the guy can be if he really damn wants to be. And that's the thing. He's going to need everything he has to even make a dent in the guy. If he's lucky, maybe two. But after what happened to the shop, maybe none at all. It's all relative in the end.
Still, cracking his neck and moving out towards the large arena, Birdie stops across from Rugal, not too far from the center stream. Everything is all set up. Even the ambulance that he's going to need to get out of here in.
He doesn't give Rugal a grin, but more of a stare. He does manage to let out a lopsided grin though.
"Oi. It's you again. Just my bloody luck."
Maybe Rugal planned this. Perhaps the moment he came across Birdie's names on the lists, he made the right phone calls, greased the right wheels, and made sure that the tall power house's first fight was against him. Or maybe the NL officials are just jerks.
"Well, well. Mister Birdie, is it." the red suited man replies, his arms hanging against his sides as he waits in a relaxed posture. "How fortuitous this opportunity is. I felt like we were just getting aquainted when our last encounter came to its conclusion. Perhaps..."
His right and lifts, clenching with a cracking of knuckles, the pressure so intense that the air forced between his fingers literally becomes vapor that fades quickly. "... we will be able to pick up from where we left off..." Neither of the fighters are exactly heroic by any means, but being a brutal power well known for crushing all oncomers, Rugal does seem to have curried some favor with the crowd. In time, Birdie may be able to earn the same kind of notoriety... While some people like fighters for their looks, others just like to see how well they can break bones. And that's got to be something the large muscled man can do.
The time for chitchat is drawing thin, however, and one of the officials calls out their names and announces it's time to get this brawl going. Rugal seems unphased by any of that. Simply lowering his right arm back down against his side, he waits, as if testing Birdie's resolve. His courage. Or his just plain out refusal to back down.
COMBATSYS: Rugal has started a fight here.
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Rugal 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Rugal takes no action.
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Rugal 0/-------/-------|
Birdie seems to watch Regal, as if he was going to throw himself at Birdie and rip his head off, or do that crazy wave thing again. Birdie really hated that crazy wave thing. Infact, anything that has to do with waves, like Flash Kick and Genocide Wave, Birdie's had trouble with. Ain't that a kicker. Still, Birdie's making his way forward as Rugal speaks.
"Yeah, yeah. I getcha. I'm here to launch myself at you without a damn care, and you're here to take care of me." Birdie understands some of these things, but really, he's just playing the part of stupid thug. It's so much easier this way. "Hell. I'll be bloody happy to pick up where we left off Harold." Birdie grinned.
Then he began to throw himself at Rugal, a burst of speed for the giant man, even passing over the water between them, rearing back a fist to feed it right to Rugal, like he deserves. "I ain't bloody gonna let you keep talking like that!" He puts a little extra 'oomph' behind it, just because he knows what R can take.
COMBATSYS: Birdie has joined the fight here.
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Rugal 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Birdie
COMBATSYS: Rugal interrupts Medium Punch from Birdie with Fierce Punch.
- Power hit! -
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Rugal 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Birdie
And then the match is in progress. Crowd falls more quiet now, as if hoping to overhear the words exchanged between the two down in the concrete fighting 'arena' they have been scheduled to do battle in today. "Harold was that sniveling fool that ran the counter there," the man growls. It seems /not/ addressing him by his reknown, infamous name is a sore spot with the veteran fighter.
As Bridie comes at him with his fist, it seems Rugal is intent on returning the favor. That right arm at his side that looked so harmless a moment ago comes up, cocked back, fist clenched before slamming forward directly toward Birdie's mouth just as Birdie's fist strikes /him/ in the face.
It seems Rugal has a bit more to give though, even as his head is knocked to the side a little as he slams forward with his left in an uppercut into Birdie's stomach. "RAGH!" His shout echoes along the lengths of the wash and as the fight gets off to a brutal beginning, people begin to rise up in their seats, each jockeying for a better view of the intense action. A split moment is taken to lift his hand and brush the back of it against his mouth. No blood yet. Just a minor sting that will pass in no time.
Birdie gets uppercutted. It's pretty fierce. This is really going to be over quick if Rugal continues to clean Birdie's clock like that. But hell, Birdie's not done yet. Even if it looks it. Falling backwards from the strike, literally tumbles over with the imprint of Rugal's gloved fist all over his face. It really stung.
"Then who the bloody hell are you?" Birdie asks, somewhat dumbwitted as he gets up from the ground. Hits like a truck. Rugal's one of those people you really don't want to deal with. Still, he's going to throw himself forward into it. As he'll prove it.
"Whatever." Birdie begins, lowering his head as he starts to beat against the ground, horn aimed right towards Rugal in a chance to spear him in the chest. "Let's get this over with!" He cries.
COMBATSYS: Rugal endures Birdie's Bull Horn.
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Rugal 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Birdie
Bracing for impact is pretty easy to see... Yet there is no attempt made to actually avert Birdie's charge this time. Legs lock down, arm and chest muscles flexing beneath the concealing suit coat and white, pressed dress shirt. But no block, no retaliation. Rugal grits his teeth as the determined charge sends him sliding back several steps. His left foot steps back, splashing down into the stream behind him.
"Heh," he grunts, "Know my name and despair, for you face Rugal Bernstein!" The attack that comes next is not fast but the danger behind it can most definitely be felt. A surge of invisible power that Rugal draws upon to propel himself forward, his arms out at his sides, his fingers splayed open as he seeks to collide directly into Birdie, giving the tall fighter another taste of the difference between them.
If he connects, he will drive the man all the way into the opposite wall where he will slam him into it with crushing force. His steps almost don't seem to connect against the ground, as if being moved along by raw will alone. "HAAAH!"
COMBATSYS: Birdie fails to interrupt God Press from Rugal with Bull Spike.
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Rugal 0/-------/--=====|=======\====---\1 Birdie
As the horn of Birdie's actually presses into the shirt, well, he thinks he got the man /somewhere/. Well, turns out he didn't. Instead, Birdie gets stopped half way. Rugal going flying back a few feet. Good. But then Rugal flies back at him several feet. Now that's terrible.
As he braces, head down to try to gut him against as he comes, Rugal literally powers the larger man forward, colliding into him and taken him up into the air, whisking him forward and throwing him with him as if he was a man caught in the tracks of a train. Helpless.
The larger man, Birdie is literally driven into the wall, his bones shuttering from the strike, his body cracking against the rock. He lets out a breathless sigh, like the wind escaping from his lungs as he slumps down against the wall, fighting to regain his breathe. "Rugal... bloody... git."
There is a grim chuckle from the man as he backs off from Birdie. He has felt the man's strength before in their last encounter... and while this one seems to be going poorly for Birdie, there were closer calls last time. Then again, Birdie and Katana had just plowed his building in, so that might have been a mitigating factor as well.
"Surely a man as..." He pauses a little as if selecting the appropriate words, "...in tune with the rougher elements must have some clue of who you are facing now." Rugal Bernstein. Tyrant of 'R' Organization. Has his fingers in much of the world's organized crime. Birdie probably has some clues as to who he is up against now.
"After our last amiable exchange, I couldn't help but wonder, however, if you were looking for work, my hard headed friend. I could use a man with your kind of strength..." His hand clenches then before he takes two steps forward and swings out with his fist. A fast, punishing hook toward the other man's jaw. Hey, it's the best way to punctuate a sentence, right? "As opposed to galavanting around with that masked fool."
COMBATSYS: Birdie fails to interrupt Medium Punch from Rugal with Murderer Chain.
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Rugal 0/-------/--=====|=======\=====--\1 Birdie
Rugal laughs, or at least chuckles at Birdie. It's a curse for Birdie, sometimes, for his size to work against him. This was one of those times, really, that he just couldn't help it. Now bleeding, and struggling to get up, Birdie pushes himself towards Rugal, short of walking towards him akin to a zombie. He has some fight left.
"Haha. Yeah. You're big and bad. But bloody hell I'm staying till the end. I'll beat the smirk right off your face." He knows it's not going to happen, but he'll be damned if he doesn't try. But Rugal keeps coming. The powerful man just shows how powerful he really is, time and time again. "Work?" Birdie snorts right as the fist comes out at him. He grasps for the chain but it's too late. By the time he aims to grab it, Rugal's already implanted his fist into Birdie's chest, sending him reeling back against the rock, even more bleeding taking place. "I -- I dunno. I'll see if I'm busy."
Birdie just spends the rest of the time trying to get up.
"Heh," Rugal replies. It's probably a fact that brutal face smashing isn't the best recruitment tool out there. And it's also true that having someone with Birdie's muscle around would be handy. But Rugal has some brutes of his own already for such purposes. So his interest is more curiosity at this point.
"You have an admireable amount of fortitude. To keep getting back up after experiencing the kind of damage I can deliver." There is some praise there, but with the neutral way he speaks, it is almost more as if he was describing some merchandise rather than an individual. But that's quite likely just how Rugal looks at people /anyway/.
"But can you dish it out?" comes the challenge as he stands up straighter then. "Come, so me what it is you can do with that power of yours. See if you have the strength to continue!" And with that, he stands up straight. Preparing himself. Studying Birdie. Getting a /real/ read on what the man has left in him, in spite appearances.
COMBATSYS: Rugal focuses on his next action.
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Rugal 0/-------/--=====|=======\=====--\1 Birdie
Birdie does get up, finally, again. He's breathing heavily, but hell he's still in the ring. Chance of winning? You've gotta be joking. Chance of staying there and doing what he can, well that's entirely different. As Rugal sits back and watches him bleed, Birdie takes the time to get some sense back together again. "Alright, dammit. But you bloody asked for it."
Now, Birdie's a strong one. But he's nothing compared to some stronger people. Who is? But for his size, he can totally dish it out like one could imagine he can. Starting off at a quick sprint, he accelerates into a run, still aimed right for Rugal's front, even as he begs him forward. He's just trying to stab with his air right into Rugal, pull up and slice up his chest, and then let a flurry of powerful punches fly. It's not beautiful. It's not named special. It's just a thug, being a thug, and a nasty one at that.
"Eyaaaaaaah!" He calls, gasping for air afterwards.
COMBATSYS: Rugal endures Birdie's The Birdie MAX!
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Rugal 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Birdie
The thought that Birdie's hair itself is such a deadly weapon is moderately amusing. Well, that is, right before it actually stabs into Rugal, piercing cloth and flesh with this valiant final endeavor on the part of the strong fighter. Rugal clearly let him land the hit. He's showing off. He WANTS Birdie to know the difference between them and what better way to drive it home than to take his assault head on?
The punches are strong though. Even Rugal cannot deny that. The crushing blows that cause him to stagger back a couple of steps, his arms down at his sides as if actually feeling somewhat punished for being so cocky as to take the attack like it was nothing. The last times he denied Birdie the clean hit when he went all out like that. Now, on some level, he realizes just how critical it was that he /did/.
"Che. You're strong. But strength must be coupled with other attributes to get anywhere in this world." Bernstein replies, his mouth bleeding a little from one of the punches that crashed into his face. "But for now, my strength will put an end to this little foray!" And then it happens. The man charges toward Birdie with frightening power much like before. But the last time there wasn't a blood colored, liquid chi pouring from off his outstretched hands. Nor was there that presence of something else - something felt but not seen. A menacing power that went beyond what any mortal man should be able to bring to bear... Rugal charges forward. The end is near. The crowd is about to get a taste of violence on the level of which they may not have possibly anticipated...
[OOC] Rugal says, "More if... This might be the hardest hit you ever take here."
[OOC] Birdie says, "If?"
[OOC] Rugal grins.
[OOC] Birdie says, "hahhaa"
[OOC] Birdie says, "DODGE PERCENT - 0"
[OOC] Birdie says, "BLOCK PERCENT - 0"
[OOC] Birdie says, "ENDURE - 10"
[OOC] Rugal says, "You could get a TO!!"
COMBATSYS: Birdie Toughs Out Rugal's Gigantic Pressure!!
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Rugal 0/-------/----===|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Birdie
Heh. What /fool/ wouldn't try to get out of the way of such raw destruction? What man would hate his existence so much as to be willing to end it now, crushed beneath Rugal's power, left crumpled, perhaps dead in this wash, his blood joining the stream to trickle off toward the ocean while his body gasped its last.
The instant Bernstein can tell that his victim isn't going to get out of the way, he pours it all on. Grabbing hold of Birdie and charging back to slam him against the wall. The concrete is turned to powder behind Birdie's back, spiderweb cracks extending out some distance. But then comes the blast of red, gruesome chi that accompanies the attack, exploding against Birdie.
But that's not the end, alas, as Rugal pulls him off the wall and charges back out toward the center of the arena to slam him down onto his back into the ground. His hand grips his throat, his own teeth clenched as he seeks to add a finishing touch. It's then that there is an eruption of a piller of chi that engulfs the two men, though the damage is clearly intended for Birdie. "Hahahaha!" Rugal's laughter echos along the walls as he taps into the Orochi taint that lingers in him still.
The scalding, melting hot chi volcano stretches upward, and for a moment it forms the visage of a skull, it's mouth stretched open in agony. There is a blood curdling shriek that comes neither from Rugal or Birdie - a scream, inhuman, unholy, that chills all those that hear it to the bone. And then it ends. The fountain of burning death collapses back down to the ground, leaving a pool of acidic fluid and Rugal takes steps backwards, brushing his hands off as if feeling a little dirty for touching the likes of Birdie.
Birdie's down. But is he out? As Rugal moves to end it, it really looks like he is. Rugal charges Birdie with the power and ferocity that Birdie had charged him with not too long ago, but amplified immensely. As Rugal charges, Birdie knows it's going to be awful. Whatever Rugal's throwing is going to demolish him. But he just cannot damn let it happen.
And like a dead duck, Birdie can't get out of the way in time. It's just coming for him, an overwhelming attack, and he an just sit there, as if a stranger in the crowd watching himself get beat. Yeah, he would like that. But life ain't as easy as you would like it to be.
Birdie's grabbed something fierce, and the wall shudders under Rugal's power. Rugal himself could swear he heard the cracking of some of Birdie's bones. And then the Chi. The terrible, pulsing chi that literally rips at him, engulfing his supple flesh in the explosion that probes over him. It's brutal, but somehow, Birdie's not changed.
But it ain't finished there. Rugal slams him into the center of the arena, only for a chi volcano to erupt from a pillar of chi. If he hadn't been preparing himself, Birdie would likely have needed that bunch of ambulances standing by. But as the volcano erupts, and the unhuman scream cries through. Birdie lays down. Obviously defeated by Rugal.
But the black ogre leans forward, kneeling forward as his eyes are locked onto the back of Rugal. With a sneer and clenches teeth, Birdie rips from the pool of chi, body burnt, shouting of the damage that Rugal had dealt. But Birdie isn't listening. He bends down once more, charging Rugal from behind like a rhino, horn first, aimed to gore him, and tackle him to the ground. "RUGALLLL BERNSTEIN! IT ISN'T BLOODY OVER!" He calls.
If it's to hit cleanly, Birdie would most likely take Rugal against the same rock that he had been taken against not too long ago, juggling him with carefully placed punches, each as ruthless as the last. Birdie's not done yet, even though he /really/ should be. He ain't having Rugal have his way without a real fight.
COMBATSYS: Birdie successfully hits Rugal with The Birdie MAX.
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Rugal 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Birdie
Driven against the wall by the ambush from a man that by all means should be loitering on death's door right about now, Bernstein barely manages to turn himself around before being smashed into the cement walling that cracks again from the power of the impact. The people seated above feel it - it feels like an earthquake. A tremble of force the likes of them can't possibly comprehend. One would think after something like that that Rugal would be finished....
But he slowly leans forward off of the wall, stumbling a step before catching himself, but standing all the same. His right arm hangs limply against his side. It might actually be broken from the angle it dangles. His mouth, bloody, curls into a scowl, and that inhuman black, cybernetic eye has lit up with a thin, red line focusing directly on Birdie. How is he still alive? How is this brute still walking? He should be /devestated/ by now. He should be nearly dead.
"You..." Rugal growls, inhaling and exhaling slowly as he gets his control back. "You DARE GET UP AGAIN?!" Enraged at the audacity, he stands up straight again. Baffled at the man's tenacity for survival, but not willing to put an end to his suffering either. When he flies for Birdie next, it's with a single, long reaching hooking punch, aimed toward the side of Birdie's head. The likes of which could very well put a crack in even a thick head like his.
COMBATSYS: Birdie fails to interrupt Fierce Punch from Rugal with Bull Spike.
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Rugal 0/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Birdie can no longer fight.
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Rugal 0/-------/=======|
Birdie backs up after the strike. Looking at the body of Rugal. He breathes, heavily. It's been a long fight. But did he beat Rugal? When Rugal pulls himself off, and literally comes at Birdie, the thug freezes. The black cybernetic eye, a think like directed on him. His arm hanging at the weird angle. This is the second time he's sees something like this. First with Maxima, and now with Rugal.
"Ah... hell no..." He just states, gasps of breathes between the words. As the punch comes, fueled by Rugal's own rage. Birdie tries, in a last ditch effort, to duck and rake his head across the arm. Instead, the arm literally plows into his face, blood and sweat, as well as the skull hurt from the immense power in the blow.
Birdie literally bounces when he hits the ground, before coming to a stop, ten feet from where he landed.
Destroyed, but still breathing, Birdie's getting attention, and quick, from the ambulances. He's going to need some medical help for this. And they're on it. He's bleeding something awful.
Rugal lowers his left arm slowly, his fist unclenching. The anger at the defiance shown fades slowly now that his target has been knocked to the ground - this time not getting back up. Only as the blindness of wrath melts away does he realize that for all the taunting he directed at the beast of a fighter, Birdie has guts to go with that brawn. And that means something.
"Feh," Bernstein growls. He's won this match. But it was never about just winning for him. Throwing himself against other powerful fighters, willing to wage his life in such a battle... or humiliatingly crushing those unworthy that come to face him. Those are his joys. That he found Birdie unworthy but discovered otherwise - his opponent getting back up one last time in spite incredible pain and damage... It vexes Rugal to some extent. He should have been able to tear him to pieces faster than that.
Reaching over to his right arm, he wrenches it suddenly, causing the dislocated shoulder bone to snap back into place with an audible crack. His arm back in position he turns to walk away, hand coming up to losen the collar at his neck. He expected this to be a walk in the park - but he walks away with far more injuries than he had inticipated. Maybe there's more to Birdie than even his cybernetic eye can see.
COMBATSYS: Rugal has ended the fight here.
Log created on 17:23:34 09/16/2007 by Rugal, and last modified on 05:53:58 09/18/2007.