Description: It's Todoh-Ryuu fury and Kenpo power as the Battling Background man fights the Killer Kewpie in a fun park ball pit! More that plastic balls are sent flying when Jaeger pulls a Lee Harvey Oswald from the parking lot. Both fighters survive the onslaught of bullets, however, and Hotaru comes out on top. (Winner: Hotaru)
Kiddy Playland! Yay! The premiere place for the young ones in the family to visit when the kids have too much energy for you to be able to enjoy watching Saturday Night Fights in peace. On Saturday evenings, it is packed to the brim full of youngsters and single-digit aged would-be thugs who try to take over parts of the giant play area for their own purposes, like maybe some kind of collectible card game parlor or something.
Or maybe they just want to rule the giant ball pit. It is a very nice piece of childhood real estate. The Howard Arena officials are having slight difficulties with removing children and families from the place due to a gigantic scheduling conflict. It's at least several minutes before fight time anyway.
"Ryo is coooooool!" Says a drooling little kid in an orange shirt patterned to look like his gi.
"Nuh uuuuh! Robert kicks butt!" Says a slightly younger kid in a blue shirt patterned to look like Robert Fighting Getup #135.
"I like Yuuurrrriiii," whines a younger girl who is wearing the headband.
"TAKUMA ROCKS!!" Yells the oldest kid of the bunch, almost too old to even be here, who is an actual Kyokugen student as he dives into the ballpit "HIEN SHIPPU KYAKU!!"
As the kids play, over in a somewhat less populous corner, something stirs. A fan bearing the proud flag of Japan pokes through the surface of the plastic, colorful balls, cutting through the ballpit ocean at a steady speed like a shark through the ocean. They are none the wiser.
The ball pit? Hotaru was /not/ amused at the venue for her fight this week. It's like they're treating her like a little kidlet. Just because she's got the naive, innocent look that subtracts years from her real age, coupled with a pig-tailed hairstyle that does nothing to suggest 'Not A Kid', doesn't mean she's keen on the idea of playing around in a big chamber full of plastic balls when she's supposed to be engaging in combat, doing her best to show the world that she should be taken seriously!
To top it off, affairs at the site are in utter disarray. A birthday party for a lot of little fighting fanatics. At first she's annoyed. The poor scheduling just cheapens her event in her mind. It's bad enough she's fighting in the /ball pit/. But when the Kenpo artist and Kyokugen student sees most of the cast of the dojo re-created here in chibi-form her mood softens a little, an amused smile working it way into her expression. "Well, I guess this can't be /that/ bad." the girl ponders as she steps down into the ball pit and moves over to the side to wait for the parents to claim their kids, only to have one mother chiding her through the screen about how she's too old to be in there. Hotaru kind of gives her a 'Yeah, I /know/, huh?' look in return, but otherwise says nothing.
Of the participants in the match she knows nothing. That there is a chaos agent involved she's aware of... Which is a first for her. All these matches and not once has there ever been a third party present who's sole purpose seems to be to /disrupt/ the match as much as possible. It's a weird rule. One she's not sure what to think of. Not that her opinion matters too much. Her eyes narrow on the fan moving through the sea of colored spheres... "What's this, another cosplaying kid?" she asks out loud. Are they ever going to get this ball pit cleaned out of children?
Unlike the other two combatants at this site, Jaeger is unconcerned with the ball pit. It's yet another nuance in humanity that he fails to grasp, other than this being an amusement area for infant humans. The mewling little creatures, soft, pink, and frequently oozing food from either end... revolting little sacks of flesh and bone that are simply far too noisy.
He's been here a while, this NESTS agent. Mechanical eyes have been watching across the street in a parked SUV, windows tinted darkly. The disguise is flawless. The dark blue Toyota, well worn and strategically battered to look like a family vehicle, complete with the 'My Child Is An Honor Roll Student' bumper sticker affixed on the back.
From his fantage point, the machine has set his telescopic lenses to a mide range focus, optical abilities easily peircing the glass, watching the SNF staff clear the area. Ah yes. Here are the combatants.
The machine has done his homework. Hotaru, a person he's battled before, next to a man who had more question marks than answers in the NESTS dossiers, and him in a position to observe and record data. A very advantagous position indeed, but one Jaeger resents greatly. Observing combat from a third person standpoint disgusts him. He'd rather be drawing blood of his own accord.
But no matter. He pulls the van in, closer to the ball pit. Close enough to reduce the chance of missing. The window is rolled down a crack, and a simple bolt action hunting rifle's muzzle peeks out of the corner of the window, the electronic sniper scope and rangefinder drawing closure on the margin of error.
'Chaos Agent', they had told him. Well, in that case, let the chos and confusion begin.
The fan-fin draws closer, closer, and closer yet to the playing kids. Some mimic the various projectiles of their favorite high-profile Kyokugen practicioner by, what else, throwing balls at one another. The one that actually does practice the art is very clearly just starting to learn the basics. If Hotaru's the type to take note of chi use and abuse, he at least isn't using it to hurt the other kids. It's all innocent fun and play.
At least, not before someone, or /something/ decides to surface in no less an explosion of a rainbow of spheres with the all-telling laugh. "YEH HAH HAH HAAAAH!"
Children scream and quickly vacate the ball pit past Hotaru. The ball rain subsides to reveal what is likely one of the last things one would want to see lying in wait in a ballpit. Or, really, just about anywhere. That long hair. The headband. That mustache. That grin! That entire getup... isn't it kind of too hot in here for someone to be wearing that?
The laughter subsides quickly. "What?! What's the matter?! I thought they liked seeing real martial artists!" He harrumphs as he fans himself while parents yell angry things at him from behind the screen that, apparently, he cares not for. Anybody who raises a kid under the Kyokugen banner is beneath his notice. But there are some things that, no matter how much he is willing to overlook, stick out like a sore thumb.
"Oh... it's you." Is that how he greets Hotaru Futaba? "Brainwash the youth lately? Eh? Yeh hah hah hah!" And so he resumes fanning himself as sweat visibly runs down his brow that he doesn't bother to wipe off even as some gets into his eye. Nervous? All too knowing of the future? More aware of the goings on than one may think?
There's one thing NESTS can get down pretty easily from here. No venue, apparently, is too out of element for one Ryuhaku Todoh.
The rainbow colored explosion of spheres flying every which way causes Hotaru to brace, raising her hands to let them harmlessly bounce off rather than pinging her in the face, "Now look here," she states, her voice taking on a mildly scolding tone, "This place was reserved for a fight so-"
Wait, that laugh. That's not a juvenile chortle of childish amusement at all. Lowering her arms slowly, the younger fighter's eyes come to rest on the head of the Todoh household, Ryuhaku himself. His greeting earns him a scowl in return, small hands tightening into fists, "Kyokugen attracts students because it's a good style. Brainwashing has nothing to do with it!" she retorts, jumping to the immediate defense of the Sakazaki's that took her in months ago. Just because Takuma is a complete /loon/ doesn't mean the art itself isn't legitimate...
The girl breaths in then exhales quickly, shaking her head. "Ah, it doesn't matter. I'm here for a match though. So..." She kind of leaves the statement hanging with that. After all, surely Todoh is just here appearing randomly, if not a bit more obtrusively than usual, like he does nearly every week in some SNF or another. How he gets to so many different places is beyond her, but she isn't about to have a competing school's master interfer with her bout!
The last of the kids slips out of the ball pit, wiping his eyes at having fun-time ended early by the scary fan-shark Todoh and with actually minimal fanfare, the officials call the start of the fight. "W-what?" Hotaru looks dumbfounded. Where's her opponent? Where's the chaos agent? Why is Todoh still not standing in the background where he belongs yet?
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has started a fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru takes no action.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Todoh has joined the fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Todoh
COMBATSYS: Jaeger has joined the fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Todoh
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Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
Hotaru must have done some incredible wrong that has yet to be registered as such at the Universe-wide Karma Bank to have earned this sort of... 'encounter.' Is that even the best word to describe this?
"Feh! You keep saying that! And I, Ryuhaku Todoh of the mighty and undefeated Todoh way," he speaks as though those four other losses on national TV don't even count, "will show you the light! Now behold the first of many martial arts miracles you and the world will witness tonight!" He boasts with a huff as the fan is put away inside his top. He seems to wobble a little before simply planting a foot up and stomping it down on the bottom of the pit about as hard as he can to prevent himself from falling over.
In reasserting his stance in such a... precarious setting, a bunch of balls fly up again. He raises up his hands. The world has seen this many times before. With one briefly performed deep breath, a familiar shine can be seen in the air. But, the shine does not descend. It dies out far too quickly. His arms are not perfectly straight like they usually are. Why is this? Nonetheless, he goes on despite the suspicious little details. "HEEYAH!"
But chi does not come flying down. Is this a new, masterful technique that Ryuhaku Todoh has been saving for this rematch?! Three yellowish-orangeish colored balls quickly descend in a straight line above Hotaru. Strangely straight. The distance between them is reminiscient of something... else.
Hmm! Hotaru has an excuse for appearing dumbfounded. Perhaps, the whole world does.
COMBATSYS: Todoh successfully hits Hotaru with Thrown Object.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Todoh
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Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
"How can you say undefeated when..." Hotaru starts to point out the flaw in his claim, but Todoh has already moved onto other topics and the girl just stands there looking flabbergasted. "Oh, I get it. /You're/ my opponent for this? It's bad enough that it's in a ball pit... But after how things went /last/ time I fought you..."
Hotaru sighs a little, shaking her head as Todoh looks more interested in playing with the balls in the pit than actually fighting. The girl rests her hands against her hips, eyes half-lidded as she merely watches the demonstration. What IS he doing? Her eyes even stray upward out of just plain curiosity, but she doesn't take the threat seriously at all.
That's when the balls come crashing down atop her head, driven with extra Todoh Power, adding injury to mockery as it were as all three bounce right off the girl's head. The Ball Kasante Ate. Hotaru's day just got worse. "Hey! What kind of attack is that? Take this seriously!" the girl complains, sounding a little peeved at the way this whole nonsense has gotten off the ground.
As if trying to demonstrate how /serious/ this business is, she charges... stumbles... wades through a sea of colored plastic balls before swinging out to kick Todoh in the chest. "Kya!" Serious!
COMBATSYS: Todoh endures Hotaru's Light Kick.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Todoh
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Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
The Remington Bolt Action Sendero SF II is a standard rifle. You can buy them at almost any depertment store that sells firearms. The fact is, the weapon is fairly insubstantial as guns go. Nevertheless, Jaeger sees fit to use it because of it's relative simplicty.
Anyone can kill a person with a fancy, high tech assault rifle. It takes a real master to place a 7mm bullet between the eyes of a fighter and kock them down. Even moreso to shuffle them permenantly off the mortal coil. Nevertheless, the bullet is loaded into the chamber with a thumb, and the bolt worked in a single smooth motion.
The young girl thus far is a somewhat better known quantity. With all the frantic motion going on in the ball pit, it behooves the machine to find a larger target. And that would be Todoh. With the way he's shifting around, Todoh isn't making himself an easy thing to hit, however.
Crosshairs line up on the man's back, and the featherweight trigger is squeezed. They tell most beginners to exhale on making a shot, but Jaeger doesn't breathe to begin with. The attack is made without sound. Just a simple motion, and the booming report of a gunshot sending kids and parents scattering. Funny that they should run from a bullet, but not so from crazed fighters hurling balls of energy at one another.
The line between entertainment and murder is a very small one, it would seem.
COMBATSYS: Todoh dodges Jaeger's Strong Shot.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Todoh
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Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
Todoh is at a brief pause after the fact as his arms lower. But he would never ultimately admit that something so effective was merely a fluke of a slip in execution of his most practiced technique. Never! Anything that turns out well was all intentional by design! Don't question him, whippersnapper! That's what he'd say if he was politely asked what just happened.
But no, he's accused of not taking it seriously! He expertly switches from 'lightly surprised' to 'taken aback by offense' so smoothly that maybe the rest of the world will be none the wiser! "What do you MEAN, more seriously?! You think I'm playing around?!" An angry old man fist rises, pumped. Hotaru, as she rushes him, may notice the faint hints of sweat, and a particular odor. He must... have been here for a while.
But at least his chest is as kickable as ever. His stance holds resolute enough against the impact, arcing back only slightly because it is rather difficult to hold one's stance in a pit full of plastic balls. Especially when one gets under your feet. A leg movement is barely registered, but that little ball, whatever color or history it may have in being a resident of this ballpit, may have contributed to saving Ryuhaku Todoh from a concussion by a tiny high-velocity bit of metal that screams by. Some argue that he's been hit there so many times that it probably wouldn't make a difference any more.
"Quit complaining!" He protests with the Practiced Angry Old Man Voice, which takes a handful of decades of proper practice to inflict, apparently none the wiser about that loud gun shot whose timing coincided almost perfectly with Hotaru's kick. It's not like Takuma never exaggerated his impacts while all his foes were bought off to take the fall, no siree. As the two are in closer range than the elder Todoh generally prefers, he decides the best way to do this is to take a firm step forward, maybe the big give-away to Hotaru of his intent, and thrusts his left arm straight upwards in an uppercut. No horizontal reach, purely vertical. Or would, if he didn't step on another ball and nearly slip forward onto his face in lining it up, making him just as likely to shove Hotaru as he is to uppercut him.
COMBATSYS: Todoh successfully hits Hotaru with Hakuzan Tou.
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Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Todoh
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Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
The whistle of something flying through the air just after her kick strikes home on Todoh's chest leaves the girl frozen in place for a moment. "What was that?" For a fleeting second, her differences with Todoh are put aside, the reverberations of the gun shot still ringing in the air. Taking a cautious step backward and glancing back and forth, the girl ends up being a sitting duck when Todoh comes in for her again. The vertical, almost accidental attack from Todoh should have been easy for her to deal with, and later she'll certainly chide herself for taking the hit when she nurses the bruise that will no doubt form on her chin, but for right now Hotaru has only the jarring impact to think about as the older man's forearm bashes against her during his flailing fall.
Keeping her footing would have been possible if the SNF officials had seen fit to give her a real place to fight in rather than this impossible sea of balls intended to entertain children, but unfortunately the girl slips up all together, dropping down on her back.
"Oh brother," she mutters, rolling over to get back up on her feet. A glance to the side reveals that a lot of the audience is scattering due to the rifle fire from moments ago but the officials running the match seem unconcerned. What is it with the nutcases that come up with these fights? Getting shot at doesn't equiate to a 'chaos agent' in her mind.
Still... the fight is probably supposed to go on anyway and for right now she attempts to allow that to happen, seeking to take advantage of Todoh's fallen state to grab hold of his arm and twist it up behind his back if possible in an attempt to armlock him while he's down. At least that doesn't require any fancy acrobatics, which are practically impossible in this chamber /anyway/.
How annoying. Missed. No matter. He may have not made his mark, but there's plenty of other opportunities to take another shot. Then again, the machine can only be subtle for so long.
Targeting systems recalibrate, and the machine is trying to track a target again. The rangefinder is still having difficulty with the speed that the combatants are moving. The van starts up, and moves closer to the fracas. Finding a parking space much closer to the battle, he sets up his shot again. This time, Jaeger forgoes the second-rate hunting rifle for something a little more damaging.
At this range, the dual Uzis laying on the carseat next to him would be far more appropriate. The droids eyes never leave the dueling fighters as he calmly loads the clips on weapons, checking the bullets before slamming them home with the heel of mhs metallic palm.
He waits for an opening, or at least a moment in time in which one of them stands relatively still.
COMBATSYS: Jaeger focuses on his next action.
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Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Todoh
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Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Todoh interrupts Quick Throw from Hotaru with Jab Punch.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Hotaru 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Todoh
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Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
And with the uppercut, Todoh loses his footing and hits the ball pit. Being it is made for kids that do a lot of tumbling and rolling around to begin with in places like this, it is not painful and merely an inconvenience. A somewhat large one, being that his weight means he gets buried deep into a few feet's worth of balls. His right arm sticks out of the pit as the rest of him remains mostly obscured by the colorful balls. It is somewhat pathetic and almost shameful.
Then Hotaru comes and not only decides to forego pulling his finger in a popular American toilet humor gag, but rather grab his arm. She's got a better grip than she probably thinks she does, because there is token resistance. Real, true, honest, 100 percent legitimate resistance. Albeit, resistance that is not punctuated by the elder Todoh saying something self-aggrandizing, moronic, or extremely impolite and certainly not something that would hold him in the good graces of local society.
After about three seconds or so of this, the fist balls up and is shot upward somewhere in the direction of Hotaru's face. There is no discrimination in where it goes. Only complete, total, utter denial of an attempt to lock him down as he sits back up hurriedly, gags, and coughs up a red plastic ball. Sure, it's too big for the /kids/ to swallow. "I was choking under here! CHOKING!! You inconsiderate little hussy!!" He gasps for air. Good, fresh, unblocked oxygen.
He coughs a few times, otherwise looking about as pathetically easy a target as he theoretically was a while ago.
The punch lands solidly on the girl's chin, adding to the pain of his previous bash with his arm while knocking her back, left hand coming up to rub at her jaw with a hurt expression on her face. She actually does feel pretty bad when she realizes the man was choking under the balls when she tried to wrench his arm. If she had actually got him in that arm lock, he could've suffocated something fierce and she wouldn't have the slightest clue except that he would have stopped struggling after some point.
"Sorry," she mutters, even if it's a cranky apology. The insult wasn't justified! But hey, he's not choking now, even if he is just sitting there. Normally she really hates attacking an opponent in a straight fight who isn't on his or her feet, saving such tactics for when it's more than simply a sanctioned battle on the line. But considering the stage they're fighting on, it'll be a big surprise if they spend even half of this match on their feet /anyway/.
Still, she gives Todoh half a moment... because she's glancing around through the plastic mesh that acts as the ball pit screen, trying to figure out where that shot she heard moments ago came from. It might at least make it /easier/ to account for if she knows what angle the shots might come from. Might even be able to find a vantage point within the pit that would be harder to target if she's lucky.
But the scan lasts only so long before she charges Todoh again, standing or not, trying to grab both of his arms to secure the leverage she'll need to stomp right up the front of him before hopping off his shoulders to land behind him. It isn't a Kyokugen technique exactly, but Yuri /does/ have a similarly rising stomping attack she's been known to use from time to time. "Ya, ya, ya!"
The window is rolled down on the van fully. In his cold, metal hands are two of the Israeli weapons, made popular in the 1980's through endless media blitz. The weapons are cheap, inaccurate, and their reputation as exceedingly deadly weapons is largely overblown.
What Uzis lose in living up to their billing, however, they make up in other ways. The weapons are easy to get, easy to maintenance, and very reliable, with a low jamming rate, despite their massive wear they get simply from firing. The other benefit? The volume of bullets they can put out in a single clip.
Jaeger aims the weapons without bothering to draw a tight bead. It's not necessary for such things. The main concern is getting a target in the cone of fire, made twice as wide with two guns. The distance reduction will definitely help, since the Uzi doesn't have a long effective range.
One again, Jaeger opens fire. This time, it's not a single small bullet hurtling through the air, but a hailstorm of weapon fire as the machine empties both clips into the fighting arena. Plastic balls are sent flying ever which way as the pullets scream through the air, blasting holes in the family fun center and shattering chairs and tables as Jaeger turns a fun park into Beriut in five seconds and ten dollars worth of ammunition.
COMBATSYS: Todoh blocks Hotaru's Shin-Jou Tai.
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Hotaru 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Todoh
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Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Todoh endures Jaeger's Power Shot.
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Hotaru 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Todoh
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Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
Some people are still wide-eyed, strong-willed, hot-blooded high school heirs to obscure yet potent family-based martial arts at heart. Other people just don't know when to quit. Which one does Ryuhaku Todoh fall under? Whichever one seems to choke on plastic balls more, probably.
"Harumph!" So he goes when he attempts to steady his footing while Hotaru appears hesitant about something. He doesn't curse his location, so much as the fact that things really are a lot emptier than they were when they came here. An angry eye moves slightly towards Hotaru, turning away from the true direction of soon-to-come weapons fire. Did she manage, despite being young, 'hip,' and female, just bore all the prospective Todoh students (in his dreams) bore them to such degree that they all up and left?!
Hotaru leaps at him, grabbing his arms with a decisive motion before kicking him in the chest a couple times. He wrenches one arm free with a grunt as the first kick strikes pretty solidly. It is somewhat clumsy, but the forearm catches the ones that follow as she leaps off of him - and that arm takes quite the beating for it.
Weapons fire rings out a moment later, the fact he's already in a defensive position aiding him considerably as he tenses from the sore arm. Bullets pepper him from the waist up, unable to properly bring that same arm up to bear thanks to the pain that shoots right through it post-kickdown. Were it an ordinary human being, he'd probably be dead six times over by now. Holes are formed in his clothing, along with a few visible trickles of blood and a loud shout of pain, anger, and...
"Hired him to fix the match, did y--" ...jumped conclusions. He is shut up by one such bullet getting clenched between his teeth in mid-accusation. He spits it out as he slightly doubles over to absorb the collective shock and huffs again. "GAAAAAAAH!! You... you Kyokugen kook!" By sheer force of will, he brings his battered arm - and the far better off one despite taking a few good shots in the upper arm - and brings it all to bear when he lowers down his arms with yet another mighty "HEEYAH," greatly over-extending the actual distance he would need to actually hit Hotaru.
With what? More balls? The physical manifestation of his ego? Bright, blocky splotches of chi in a dazzling display of years of training in harnessing the underlying forces of the universe? Nope. Wait, no. Yes it is. The last one.
Three segments of yellowish-orangeish, blocky chi descend in three segments that are barely even attached. Balls scatter every which way, because they know when to move. Word.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Todoh's Fierce Kasane Ate.
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Hotaru 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Todoh
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Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has saved the state of this fight.
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Hotaru 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Todoh
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Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Helios restarts a saved fight.
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Hotaru 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Todoh
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Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
While she didn't land the clean hits she was going for, Hotaru does manage to land on the other side of Todoh after stomping her way right up the front of him. Her footing isn't the best as the bottom of the ball pit is hardly what one would say constitutes 'firm ground', but she doesn't quite fall over as she spins around, arms out at her sides to help restore fractured balance...
Only to to be just in time to hear the sound of dozons of rounds of ammunition firing off in short order. Instinctively crouching and covering her head by reflex, the girl is only vaguely aware that it's Todoh getting shot the heck up. Glancing up as the eccentric older fighter catches a bullet with his teeth only to spit it aside, the younger combatant shakes her head rapidly, "I don't have anything to do with that!" She sounds a little offended at the insinuation.
But Todoh is busy calling her a kook and trying to smash her with a giant take on his Kasane Ate and it's all Hotaru can do to scramble out of the way to the side, right along with the wave of plastic balls that are pushed aside by the considerable chi manifestation. This fight is ridiculous. Being shot at in a ball pit against a rival dojo's Master? It's probably the most wrong match she's ever gotten out of the organization to date!
Rolling up onto her feet in a crouched position, the girl barely sticks up through the pile of toy spheres she landed in after the desperate dive to the side. "Kook?" she retorts, looking at the bleeding fighter like he's nuts, "I'm not sure you're qualified to call others that!" she finishes with a shake of her head.
When the girl finally springs from Ball Mountain, she flips forward, attempting to plant her hands against Todoh's shoulders. If she pulls it off, she'll follow up by swapping shoulders in order to turn around and drop down behind him, driving her feet into his upper back before backfliping away herself.
Success, of sorts. The bullets finally strike a target. However, Todoh doesn't go down. That fact alone is enough to give Jaeger pause. Certainly, there are powerful fighters, but to catch bulets in his teeth? Jaeger's never seen someone do that outside of movies. The machine is properly impressed. Time to bring out the biggest toys.
The uzis' clips are spent, and Jaeger tosses the emptied weapons aside. Having used up two weapons and the ammunition they carry, there's only one recourse.
A quick elbows smashes out the side window as the machine reaches back into the van to draw out a weapon that has gone down in infamy. The M107 is a premier .50 caliber sniper rifle, capable of all but ending even the most durable of targets. It's almost a travesty to waste such a beautiful weapon on such a small scale fight. Nevertheless, if anyone can handle such a gun, it would be Jaeger.
The 28 pound gun thumps audibly on the door frame, and the NESTS agent lines up his shot. It's done at an awkward position, and hastily aimed. Any other time would have him lying in wait, under cover of foliage and motionless for days at a time. The gun is meant to obliterate a target outright, leaving very little left to the imagination as to what happened. However, it will merely be a gigantic annoyance to a fighter, rather than the deadly, dreaded weapon that enemy commanders fear.
A finger slides over the trigger, and the machine eases into the firing position, carefully aiming. The gun at this range is very inaccurate, and with the speed with which his targets are moving, it'll be next to impossible to hit them. However, it it does hit?
Well, they won't forget it, that's for sure.
It's not the sharp pop of a hunting rifle, or the staccato bursts of automatic fire this time. The booming reports of the weapon sound like a ship's cannon going off in the Playland Parking lot as Jaeger opens fire, this time at Hotaru.
He still hasn't forgetten her interference, after all.
COMBATSYS: Todoh dodges Hotaru's Ten Ranku-Tou.
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Hotaru 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Todoh
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Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
The bold, fierce, daring, brave, and altogether handsome (...or not) Kasane Ate does give one particular advantage to both fighters present upon its execution, as it clears away all that colorful, plastic detritus to concepts such as 'stable footing' and 'balance' until gravity eventually takes over and has several of them roll back in where the gap was formed. Plenty happens in that gap. Of time. But also within that gap. Of space. Space and time.
Bullets sting! Whether they just bludgeon or pierce a very short ways in, they're like angry little metal hornets. He'll probably be nursing himself plenty once this is all said and done, fueled largely by ego, ambition, and a touch of extra piss and vinegar that no man his age should really have. It's plenty enough for him to go on the move when she flips forward at him, ducking down briefly to step off to the side where no ball would yet roll back under his feet like they have done several times, but plenty of them sure try as they gather back around his legs post-Kasane Ate.
"You're a kook all right! Coo-coo! That's what! Thinking I'll take all that sitting down, oooooh no!" He crouches down slightly with one arm around hip level as he draws something out of his chest, a sneer and scorn quickly turning to a wide, determined, confident grin. He fans himself with his free hand by... a red plastic ball.
"Yeh hah hah!! Well then! I'll expose you Kyokugen cheaters once and for a--" He stops and suspiciously eyes the ball in his hand. With a grumble, he simply tosses the ball over his shoulder. A mere moment later, more gunfire - far louder than any prior - goes off. Believing he's the target, he visibly tenses and crosses his arms in anticipation to block any incoming bullets that, this time, are not actually coming his way.
COMBATSYS: Todoh takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Todoh
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Jaeger's Long Shot.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Todoh
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
As Todoh moves out her way, Hotaru is forced to improvise... which is to say, she basically ends up face diving right back down into the sea of balls right behind the Todoh-ryuu expert. "Ermph." She surfaces in a seated position, shaking her head, cheeks red with annoyance as the old man seems to be easily toying with her this afternoon. Last time they fought it was in a mud filled yard out front of his dojo. That was pretty frustrating too, but mostly because she was a muddy mess before too long.
This time she feels like she's getting treated like the kid this stage suggests in the first place. The old man is pretty much dancing circles around her with his antics. Maybe he just had a sore hip last time or something. This time he's really showing her what that zany style of his can do though.
Rising back up to her feet, hands clenched tightly, the girl starts to charge forward when all the sudden a /cannon/ explodes somewhere nearby. Deliberately dodging that high veloicty projectile would be an impossible feat, even for someone as swift as her. Only from moving forward does she make sure not to be at the location targeted. She might also have just gotten lucky, given the accuracy issues at close range.
It's no surprise that her shoulder slam into Todoh is a bit clumsy as a result, the girl startled out of her focus by the echoing sounds of that rifle fire. But if she does connect with the shoulder lunge, she'll follow it up with an open palmed strike from her opposite arm a split second later. "Ya!"
So far, this battle has been more or less dead even, and Jaeger's attempt at being a 'chaos' agent has been rather lackluster. The repeated gunshots from the van has failed to produce any results that could be even remotely considered effective. Bullet deluge on Todoh aside, the end result has been rather disappointing.
The gun is propped up, so that he can survey the damage. The massive bullet seems to have shot straight through the wall of the play center main building, missing it's mark by a considerable margin. Odds are, the point of exit within the building will cost several thousand dollars to repair, but that's it. Jaeger is no stranger to collateral damage. He usually likes bodies to come with it, however.
Hotaru's sprite-like actions and Todoh's buffoonery obviously require a somewhat more direct approach. That, however, will take some preparation. For now, the machine sits and waits, preparing internal systems for the flurry of activity that will soon be forethcoming...
COMBATSYS: Jaeger takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Todoh
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Todoh dodges Hotaru's Strong Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Todoh
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
The ways of Ryuhaku Todoh are equal parts moronic, strange, but yet somehow rooted in some kind of tradition that, somehow, he never managed to fully grasp if Kasumi is any fair indication. But yet, there he is. Here, there, just about anywhere, and for what reason other than to tout himself above the masses and occasionally harass the Sakazaki family in ways far more suited for someone at least 30 or 40 years younger than he actually is?
Already in a defensive position from that recent bout of gunfire, when Hotaru comes rushing in he slides his feet across the bottom to sidestep the shoulder charge. The two return to grappling range once more. Not quite a great place for either one to be! He glances towards the front as if to properly gauge the source that should have been obvious to any normal human being that values living as opposed to being shot full of holes.
No additional banter. Though it's all a great misconception on his part, like hell he'll let Hotaru pull the same thing Eiji did! He reaches out to grab Hotaru in a relatively non-specific way, wherever he can actually get a hold of that slippery young woman, hoist him above her, and slam her down somewhere in the space between where the gunshots previously came from and himself.
Hotaru's one comfort, in a worst case scenario, is that ballpits are fairly safe to fall down into.
COMBATSYS: Todoh successfully hits Hotaru with Quick Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Todoh
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
Trying to play aggressive has done a lot to leave the smaller fighter quite vulnerable as her shoulder lunge misses, causing her to lose her balance on the plastic surface. She's already flailing her arms before Todoh hefts her up, but when she realizes she's not falling down due to having tripped but is rather being lifted right off the ground, she tries to squirm her way out of his grip. "H-hey, put me do-!"
She gets her wish, slammed down through the balls, landing with a bit of a grunt. There's certainly worse things that can happen in a fight, mind, and she isn't too terribly left bereft of breath due to the cushioned landing. Flailing for a moment, Hotaru gets back up to her feet swiftly, hands clenched, blue eyes glaring at Todoh.
What's she doing wrong, she wonders. The ball pit is a difficult place to fight in, but it should be for him as well. Though, she realizes, while she's still trying to force her acrobatic style of fighting to work within an environment that hardly lends itself to such an art, Todoh is getting by with far fewer movements, remaining mostly stationary except to step aside and avoid her attacks. Mouth set tightly, Hotaru stops trying to charge the veteran fighter, chosing instead to hold her ground and see if the same approach works for her.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Todoh
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Jaeger 0/-------/-------|
As Hotaru is slammed around a ballpit, Jaeger makes his move.
The van's door explodes outward as the machine tears across the parking lot, shedding his heavy outer form. The pavement shatters under rapidly moving metal boots as he doesn't so much scale the chain link fence separating him from his targets as he blasts clean through it.
The sudden force causes the fence to suddenly bend inward, torn sections curling like the petals of a flower as Jaeger is little more than a silvery blot, barely able to be seen by the naked eye.
As he bursts through the ball pit, the plastic spheres /melt/ from the sheer amount of heat the accellerating machien generates. A fist is pulled back, the gaunt mechanism aiming for the small of Todoh's back.
Using the momentum of his acceleration, Jaeger rams his fist at Todoh's back, attempting to use that strike as additional torque to swing the man around and hurl him straight into the side of a building.
COMBATSYS: Todoh endures Jaeger's Cyclone.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1 Todoh
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Jaeger 0/-------/------=|
"What's the matter?! Where's your little hired help now?" The elder Todoh teases and jeers alike as he huffs and spreats his feet a bit further apart to hold a somewhat more solid stance. As Hotaru might have suspected, he's begun to adapt to how to really move about in this place. At least, when he's on his feet.
The chain link fence explodes suddenly, but he holds resolute with narrowed eyes. As if, somehow, the martial arts mastery that he may very well have disguised under comical bravado all this time... or is that just giving him too much credit? He pays the blur no real mind as his arms rise up, one still visibly quicker than the other due to the earlier clumsy defensive catch of Hotaru's kick-climbing maneuver. He, equally, ignores the flash of heat nearby. This is not a good idea by most any stretch.
It is a perfectly executed, decisive blow by the Chaos Agent. Yet, the old man doesn't double over so much as skid forward a few inches as his posture remains uninterrupted other than a loud gasp as if completely offended that he has the gall to see past his ploy to utilize Hotaru as a human shield against further gunfire. The resistance stops when he is hurled off his feet and towards a hard surface.
The arc of which would see him flying above Hotaru. His arms are still outstretched, yet he doesn't look as though he's flailing for his life or waiting for some sort of mercy from her to be caught. Rather, he shouts one thing.
"HEEYAH!" His arms bend the way they normally do when he's on the ground, very quickly forming three very short segments of energy that barely slow his forward momentum into the wall just past that busted chain link fence, maybe even through the window. It'll be hard to say.
The fate of Ryuhaku Todoh's rough, brutal, ground-shattering landing is in Hotaru's hands. As is another Kasane Ate, if she lets it.
COMBATSYS: Todoh successfully hits Hotaru with Aogi Kasane Ate.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1 Todoh
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Jaeger 0/-------/------=|
"I don't even know who that IS," Hotaru insists. The entire card had been vague on the details. It definitely had no notes about being shot at by sundry deadly weapons, that's for sure. But she finds out soon enough as Jaeger decides to bring the chaos straight to the ball pit, tearing in through the side with incredible velocity. With Todoh holding back, the girl had already started to charge her next attack, her right forearm bathed with a vibrant blue aura as she rolls her arm behind her back.
But when Jaeger strikes the old man and sends him flying, Hotaru forgets all about that attack of hers, eyes widened at the metallic monstrosity that blind sides the Todoh-ryuu master from behind. So fixated on the robotic interference, she is only vaguely aware of the eccentric flying over her head, glancing up only just in time to have yet another varient of his signiture attack crash down against her, catching her completely off guard.
"Ya-ACK!" Knocked flat on her back by the impressive show of force, it's all the girl can do to at last send her own little chi blast flying off toward the airborn man. But after taking a hit like that, and lobbing the projectile from lying half burried in the ball pit, her aim is hardly at its best.
Jaeger is all furious motion. Todoh's rapid recovery from his attack doesn't halt the press of his assaults in the slightest. Having been unleashed with full destructive force, Jaeger strike hitting home only seems to increase his efforts. "Your durability intrigues me," Jaeger states evenly, in a conversational tone to Todoh. "Please take no offense, but I shall now proceed to tear you apart to discover the secret of your noteable ability to take damage."
"It is," he intones, "not the best way. However, it most likely is the most satisfying."
The sound of metal on metal is heard as Jaeger deploys the wickedly sharp combat blade from his right forearm. Almost a sword, the two foot serrated combat weapon is built to gut a soldier in a single pass. With Todoh, however? It remains to be seen.
The edge slashes out with a bright streak, the midday sun catching the chrome plating, giving it a flashing trail as he seeks to tear into Todoh horizontally, the slicing edge seeking to truncate the Todoh-Ryuu master like a tree. Perhaps Jaeger is seeking to see how old Todoh is by counting the rings.
COMBATSYS: Todoh endures Hotaru's Hakki Shou EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Hotaru 1/---====/=======|=======\==-----\1 Todoh
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Jaeger 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Jaeger successfully hits Todoh with Tomahawk.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Hotaru 1/---====/=======|=======\====---\1 Todoh
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Jaeger 0/-------/-----==|
And so, Todoh flies at a nearly horizontal arc that doesn't go quite as far as Jaeger may have been hoping. He doesn't go through the window. Rather, he comes just short of it as his upper back slams against an already badly damaged window, the lower up against the more solid wall. He didn't have enough velocity to make much of a dent through that. End result... ouch. Glass shatters and flies everywhere while he slumps down onto his rear, his back screaming in pain from getting nearly snapped into two. Nearly?! That sort of thing paralyzes people for life!
He huffs again. In, out, in, out. He doesn't get much opportunity to do that, as a happy little chi blast luckily (...for Hotaru) zeroes in on him. His face lifts up as he pushes himself up by the elbows and into the fireball. It splashes around him like, perhaps, water, but he's not pushed back. This doesn't make up for the significant distance between the two. Too distant.
He's taken quite the beating over the last few moments. Jaeger's got a good throwing arm on him. Todoh seems relatively disinterested in what the robotic soldier has to say. It's somewhere around the formation of the serrated arm blade weapon that he actually bothers to look behind himself. "Save it for the autograph signing! Or don't! Like I'll sign one for /you/."
But Jaeger, bless his little black mechanical heart, really wants to take intriguing knowledge of the enigmatic Todoh-ryuu master. When Jaeger comes rushing in, the elder Todoh intends to take a coy sidestep and maybe even shove Jaeger off and away. But in his single-minded focus to get back to Hotaru and settle one of many scores with many individual high-profile Kyokugen practitioners and sympathizers (perceived or otherwise), the blade sticks itself somewhere in the elder Todoh master's side. It doesn't go in too deep, but it draws blood quite readily.
"You won't take the hint, will you?!" He sneers as he tries to throw himself off the blade. It's not very successful, and in fact quite painful as he goes to a knee. But his eyes are right on the prize. It's a long shot. Very distant. But, he is nonetheless resolute if the focus in those eyes mean anything.
"When you go back to licking Takuma's boots," he pauses dramatically. Not intentionally. This is more because there's so much pain to go around through him that he can't really finish the sentence and just throws his hands up once more. He can't hit her from this far, can he?
He's going to try. "NOW WATCH!" His hands go down. But there's no chi formed up in the air? Nope. Instead, blue, sharp, narrow waves form from the bottom rather from the top, expanding in a conic pattern as they approach the ballpit. This is one of the greatest manifestations of what he touts as the ultimate techniques of his style, based on a refined application of chi that favors fluidity and efficiency over outright brutality.
The wave comes to a stop right at the edge of the ballpit, the near-screen of chi flash stopping well before it strikes Hotaru. By most accounts, a complete and utter failure, a wasted chance... except, at the very edge of its influence, an entire sheet of plastic balls, some melted together from the earlier Jaeger intrusion, is hurled off the bottom, threatening to smother Hotaru whole.
Funny how that works, in the end.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru reflects Thrown Object EX from Todoh with Kobi Kyaku EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Todoh
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Jaeger 0/-------/-----==|
Jaeger rampages after Todoh, leaving Hotaru alone for a moment. Which is good, since the girl is struggling to get back up as it is, leaning back against a portion of the ball pit netting that remains, fingers curling against some of the plastic loops to help keep her upright. Truth be told, at this point she'd much rather go after the destructo-bot than Todoh. Todoh may be the crazy coo-coo kook master of a rivaliing school of fighting but Jaeger is pretty much evil incarnate to the young fighter from what she's seen him do before.
And when she sees the sharp blade cutting into the veteran fighter, she can't help but to wince. She wouldn't wish that on anyone, really, not even Todoh. But the old guy still thinks Jaeger is here with her, "For the last time, HE'S NOT A KYOKUGEN STUDENT!" Hotaru yells back from across the pit. But then she realizes that the older fighter is powering up yet another attack... And oof, this one looks like a mean one.
It's fairly well known that Todoh can spew chi attacks like nobody's business. There's a reason he and his daughter both cling to that Kasane Ate like there's no alternative. So when Hotaru notices him powering up for a big 'un, she's pretty much preparing for the entire ball pit between him and her to be obliterated by what comes next.
However, the small fighter has a means of dealing with mega frightening energy torrents. And for once, it isn't 'get the hell out of the way'. Using her own precise control over chi, the girl performs a swift roundhouse kick, unleashing a blue barrier of energy between her and Todoh's attack. Spinning around with the momentum of the kick, the girl leans forward, placing both of her hands against the swiftly created barrier and with a "KYA!", causes it to shimmer for an instant, becoming impossibly impervious for just that moment in time.
She leans against it, ready to give it more of her own strength to force back the spiraling cone of chi plowing toward her... Only to have a wall of plastic spheres splash against it instead. That a number of them go screaming right back across the room toward Todoh is really more by virtue of her putting way more oomph into that shield of hers than was necessary considering the result.
Lowering her hands with a shocked blink, the barrier becomes nothing more than harmless mist for an instant before fading away.
Jaeger knows better than to be in the way when projectiles come at you. Instead of sticking around to further inflict deadly damage on the Todoh-Ryuu master, Jaeger turns about to watch the incoming wad of plastic, and is simply not there any longer. With a leap, the machine is airborne, the only evidence he was ever there in the first place is a small pit where melted plastic spheres have settled into a depression in the ball pit.
The machine hurls through the sky, tucked into a ball as he arcs overhead. Legs slam down like pistons before he hits ground, smashing into the concrete ledge of the ball pit behind Hotaru.
With an incredible burst of speed, Jaeger blasts through the ball pit once again, sending a tidal wave of colorful plastic everywhere, the festive display tossed up to cover his next attack. Diving through the wash of balls that he creates, a razor-tipped hand shoots out to swipe at Hotaru viciously. Apparently, he's already hit Todoh enough. Now it's Hotaru's turn to bleed.
"All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel...o/`"
COMBATSYS: Todoh fails to slow Reflected Thrown Object EX from Hotaru with Cho Kasane Ate.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Jaeger
COMBATSYS: Todoh can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Jaeger
Ryuhaku Todoh is breathing pretty heavily at this point - if not for fatigue, for bearing the collective wounds inflicted upon him throughout as the Chou Kasane Ate comes up short. Balls bounce up all over the place, sure, but the fact of the matter is, Hotaru's not down yet. He fiercely claps his hands above his head as a means of trying to center himself as balls all fly his way while Jaeger backs off.
The potential danger inherent in overestimating his chances is completely, utterly lost on him as he takes another hard step closer, standing really on willpower alone. "AGAIN!" He yells as he throws down his arms in the exact same way, the exact same method, the exact same overall execution. Kasumi can throw a bunch like her dad, sure. But she has yet to achieve such mastery to be able to throw these back to back by will alone.
"HUWAIYAH!" That's about the best way to represent the kiai in writing as the arms descend and the chi blades sprout. This is when the world sees a true martial arts miracle, one of the greatest, and as history will call it, strangest overall clashes between chi and physical detritus that would block it.
Hotaru's timely deflect puts an unnatural amount of velocity upon them as they scatter at varying angles, heights, and speeds towards the elder Todoh. Each one hits the ground rolling, and rolling it does. The impacts of many of them are timely. As the Cho Kasane Ate spreads once more in its conic, almost blade-like wave fashion, the very impact of the balls against the ground divert or even sometimes completely stops the wave. This is something various experts will be going over footage of several times to understand how, or why, this freak accident of kinetics and physics has come to be. Their velocity doesn't even slow, in fact boosted right back up into the air from the way the chi forms with the technique.
Ryuhaku Todoh doesn't relent. He takes another step closer without care, only for one of his feet to trip on a little green one that rolls under his foot. Losing his balance upon this, he flops forwards into the air with a grunt of surprise and hits the ground, face flat. Balls scatter around from underneath him.
The last plastic ball that went highest, one that's orange enough to be a perfect match for the color of Ryo's gi, bounces off a wall and bounces off of the back of Todoh's head with a soft, plastic 'bink.' He remains face-down, arms twitching once in a while.
Plastic balls make very poor company in consoling misery.
COMBATSYS: Jaeger successfully hits Hotaru with Quick Punch.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Jaeger
The small Kenpo artist doesn't even have time to observe Todoh's unfortunate plight or his epic attempt at averting said plight. The girl is too busy trying to follow the remarkably swift movements of the murderous robot that has entered the 'caged fight' with the two hapless humans left to fend for themselves.
The whimsical singing in a robotic voice only makes it all the more disturbing when his desire to get the girl to bleed is met with success. Though she tries to get out of the way, the whirlwind of those wretched plastic balls swirling around her makes it remarkably difficult to predict Jaeger's trajectory correctly and all she ends up doing is shoving her shoulder into that razor sharp swipe, resulting in her white sleeve being shreaded right along with the skin beneath it. "Ah!" she gasps, staggering off to the side as she clamps her right hand tightly over the gashed shoulder, more than just a trickle of blood seeping its way around her fingers as she tries to put distance between her and Jaeger.
Teeth clenched, face paling as the girl struggles to stay standing after having been through one heck of a rough fight only to be left in close quarters with the likes of the NESTs merciless project. Hotaru becomes aware only after a moment that Todoh is lying on his back, victim of a violent amount of binking by the Ryo-colored ball. A glance is cast toward Jaeger as Hotaru backs up toward where Todoh fell, standing between him and the wounded old man, mustering all she has left in her to glare back at the blood thirsty Chaos Agent for this match.
The officals who actually stuck around to get all of this violence on film call the end of the match as Hotaru is the victor by an extremely slim margin. But the girl seems determined to stand with Todoh, as if questioning whether or not Jaeger will also recognize the battle as being over now.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Jaeger
Will he or won't he? That's the ultimate question, isn't it? As Hotaru hangs back and stands over Todoh, Jaeger has all but stopped in his tracks. The machine stands, ankle deep in the ball pit, observing her interaction with the fallen human. It would be too much to hope for Hotaru to put the defeated old man out of his misery and simply destroy her defeated opponent, really.
The machine is idealistic, but not unrealisitc. The simple fact remains that Hotaru's extremely worn out. It would be child's play at this point to beat the poor girl around and simply finish her off. But he doesn't.
Orders are orders, and when told to play by the rules, there's simply no way around it. Hotaru is the victor of this contest, and his function as a 'chaos agent', despite the rather nebulous meaning in general, was narrowly defined by NESTS command. Simply attack both targets until one no longer stands. That parameter has been met.
"You are victorious. Congratulations," is all Jaeger can really say. The concept of not killing a fallen enemy because of some silly game rule is amusing, in the same way that some getting kicked in the crotch is 'amusing'.
So, he disappears. The machine leaps, the streak of silver sailing through air, only to reappear in the parking lot once more. Without so much more as a farewell, Jaeger is gone, the only proof of his existance being the mauled van, bullet holes, and melted plastic.
COMBATSYS: Jaeger has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\ <
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has ended the fight here.
Todoh, meanwhile, has indeed decided to roll onto his back after a laborious effort. Any strength he has to really raise any complaints or stinks about the whole thing is spent brushing balls away from where he feels like laying down. It's more a miracle that he didn't just up and sneak off yet, as he's prone to.
Maybe this time he's aware that a camera is still watching him post-fight. He's on to you, Howard Arena. You'll never know his secrets! ...He'd laugh if he wasn't in severe pain, at least.
Log created on 01:30:46 10/08/2007 by Jaeger, and last modified on 05:54:14 10/23/2007.