Description: Robert and K' square off on the Las Vegas Strip, with Oswald lurking subtly in the crowd pulling for a draw match. At stake is a stay in a luxury suite and $1000 worth of chips. Kind of a waste that the guy who cares least about the actual prize ends up with the rights to it-- but not before he nearly gets Haoh Shou Kouken'd twice in rapid succession. (Winner: K')
Ah, Las Vegas. It's been awhile for ol' Bobby here. It's always a pleasure to fly in by night and the many lights from, and the streets themselves are another experience entirely. Despite fancying himself a gambler at heart, Robert Garcia doesn't spend much time in Las Vegas. It isn't that he's the son and soon-to-be inheritor of the wealthy Garcia Foundation. No. It's that Yuri spends whatever money his father allows him these days, and he can't afford to go gambling away what little he has left to spend on the occasional new car. And lordy, if he ever TOOK her here? She'd do her damnest to put both of their fathers in debt. Therein is why tonight's prize has a surprising amount of interest for Robert. Staying at a fancy hotel is nothing new to him and his family, but if he could somehow yank Yuri out of town when Takuma isn't watching, *and* have her spend someone else's money in the casinos? It'd be the ultimate dream date!
To say the scene is packed would be, needless to say, an understatement. The intersection itself is the arena, a blockade set up on all sides with at least three dozen police officers and various other security detail to maintain the perimeter. One side is lined with cones to allow the vehicles of those associated with the fight to approach, one of which is the limo bearing one of the contestants. The vehicle comes to a halt, the door opens, and out steps one Robert Garcia with a maniac grin. He raises a fist to a cheer of the gathered fans, before cheerfully making his way into the intersection. ...And while he waits for his opponent, idly begins flipping his lucky coin, absolutely convinced that its magical powers will be at their strongest in a setting such as this.
COMBATSYS: Robert has started a fight here.
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Robert 0/-------/-------|
The odds weren't in his favor, Oswald had a feeling that they were purposefully skewed the moment they were proposed, but that wasn't too big a bother for him. He wasn't directly involved, after all.
"Fan of twisted outcomes." Oswald repeats to himself as he hands the keys to a valet who was barely paying attention, choosing to walk the rest of the way to the streets, plucking the hat from his head and tossing it on the passenger seat before making his way.
His hands come up, with a flick, fingers pulling a cigarette from a pocket and a lighter in the opposite hand. The matte black gloves hide most of the flame as he picks his way through the crowd while lighting the thing and taking a slow drag, giving a little smirk as he winds his way through and near the front.
He was just in time. This was no time to smoke... the fight was going to start soon. With a snap of his fingers, the barely-smoked filter is tossed onto the pavement, tucking the hands into his pockets and just waiting for the fight to start...
K' had made a point of booking a flight at night, himself. He had heard the view was better after sunset.
The young fighter had left his accomodations early the day of the match, eschewing the provided transportation in favor of taking his time to walk to the site. Why waste the visit here by spending his time shut up in limos and hotel rooms, even if the treatment was fine? He's not much in the way of your typical tourist, no-- more prone to simply look in expressionless silence than exclaim or take pictures-- but he's no less curious about the mundane world he'd been kept away from for nearly nineteen years.
Robert's limo is the last to pull up. There is no corresponding entourage for his opponent. The instant Robert comes to a stop in the middle of the intersection, K' simply comes prowling out from between the foremost row of gathered fans, most of whom hadn't even realized he's the slated opponent until he vaults lazily over the perimeter and walks up to a spot about ten feet away from Robert.
K' slouches indolently to a stop, his stance loosening into a careless ready as a hand flicks up. He tips down his shades, glancing at Robert over their edge, his gaze settling on the way the man plays the crowd. His half-bared eyes flicker upwards briefly in an expression dangerously close to a roll of the eyes, but fortunately he decides to hold his tongue.
"...keep me busy." Or well, maybe not. The comment is low and sardonic, showing pretty clearly that this kid isn't here for the material prize. No, he's more interested in keeping his ability sharp-- in honing it even sharper. For whatever reasons of his own.
COMBATSYS: K' has joined the fight here.
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Robert 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 K'
COMBATSYS: Oswald has joined the fight here.
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Robert 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Oswald
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K' 0/-------/-------|
And why not roll one's eyes? Clearly this Robert Garcia isn't taking things seriously enough. All smiles, playing up to the crowd on arrival, and even fiddling with a damn coin of all things. What a goober. But that's part of what makes Robert endearing - he's a goober who knows he is a goober.
But that doesn't make his taste in clothing any less questionable. Very few here are gathered to see your chest hair, Robert. So why the hell are you wearing that blue leisure suit?
In response to the quip of K', the man apparently appointed to be his opponent for the evening, the man simply smiles more broadly, baring a flash of pearly whites, and pockets his lucky coin. All according to the usual formula so far, right down to the shit-eating grin. "Yeah yeah, whatever. I'll try not to bore you, fail to be a challenge, and all that other moody jazz." Lifting one gloved hand and leaving the other at his side, the man begins bouncing on his front toe to an inner rythm a few times before making his approach. It begins with two easily-telegraphed jabs from his extended arm. Judging his opponent's reaction to the two, he then ducks low and darts forward with his other palm, trying to snag a good grip on K''s jacket, spin on his heel while heaving over his shoulder, and trying to spike the man into the curb. What a lovely way to make an acquaintance!
COMBATSYS: K' blocks Robert's Kubukiri Nage.
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Robert 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Oswald
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K' 0/-------/-------|
By this point, K' has seen enough of life to have figured out that there are people who'll just never take anything seriously, no matter how much you might want them to. He's also discovered that the trick is not to let such behavior get under his skin.
He's still working on that second part.
Robert's retort draws something almost like a grin from his young opponent, though the expression is cold and rather lacking in that crucial ingredient of any smile: humor. "At least you cut to the chase," he grants. K''s head tilts, that fleeting hint of expressiveness murdered off his face the instant he fully removes his shades, and he carefully pockets the glasses as Robert goes through his warmups. The runaway agent throws his weight back on his left leg as his shoulders slant forwards, his hands flicking up in readiness.
He weaves around the first two jabs, watching carefully in expectation of some followup. When it comes, it's sufficiently quick that K' can't simply duck out of the way again. His right arm swipes down, blocking off Robert's attempt to seize his jacket; his left hand bites forwards in an attempt to return the favor, yanking his opponent in close. Should he manage a hold, he'll twist around to Robert's side before bringing an elbow scything down towards his back, aiming to knock him clear off balance: if not straight to the ground.
COMBATSYS: Robert blocks K''s Spot Pile.
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Robert 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Oswald
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K' 0/-------/------=|
It doesn't help that there are those who incorporate this grating behavior into their strategy. For Robert it just comes natural, but he's certainly not above taking advantage of the frustration it causes. Unfortunately, K' seems rather composed despite the fact, and manages to reverse the situation in short order. Maintaining leverage on a leisure suit is no small feat however, and as the man twists to the side, so does Robert. Breaking free of the grip, the choice blow K' lined up for him instead becomes an elbow raking down the side of his ribcage. Painful? Yes, if a muffled grunt is any indication, but still much preferable to spinal trauma.
he twisting doesn't stop with the evasive maneuver, as Garcia spirals away with a small jump and lands in a smirking crouch. "Pretty brutal there, pal. I'll keep that in mind." Instead of playing keep-away however, his response is to instead spring forward from that position into a series of alternating kicks. No longer measuring his opponent, the man with the sunnier disposition seeks to land three solid impacts on K''s chest and collarbone, ones that would send him staggering into a deft follow-up.
And the fight gets off to a quick and intense start. Cheers and jeers roar out of the crowd as the fighters start their motions. Everything from taunts to beer bottles are launched into the air from group to group or directed toward the participants. It's rare to see such an energized crowd, even if it is Las Vegas... this is /just/ what the doctor ordered for the nightlife, two top notch fighters and lots of money to go around.
Oswald was not pleased. He's used to being able to pick out the fish out of the fighters after a short time, but this one was quite even. A shoulder rolls as he is a visage of calm among the roaring, cacophonus crowd, eyes gazing over the rim of the russet-tinted shades as his chin turns down. He needed to time everything... just... right.
It's not as artful as the match he last witnessed, each move is far more precice, the intent is obvoius. It's not hard to judge what the result would be if those strikes would hit. There was no advantage to revealing his position just yet... for now... he waits and studies.
COMBATSYS: Oswald focuses on his next action.
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Robert 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Oswald
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K' 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Robert successfully hits K' with Flying Whirlwind Kick.
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Robert 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Oswald
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K' 0/-------/----===|
K''s personality is a fluid thing, which is the tactful way of saying he's a moody son of a bitch. What would snap his short temper in half instantly one week is simply shrugged off the next. Now, if Robert were to escalate his insouciant flippance the longer the fight wore on, it'd probably start to grate K' then-- but for now, he's simply too well-trained to let emotion cloud his judgment too much.
Robert's sleek evasion is somewhat unexpected; he completes it in the last few moments before K' attacks, meaning that K' can't pull his blow without throwing himself off balance. The whiffed follow-through still unbalances him slightly, however, meaning Robert gets through his guard. A quiet sound of pain kicks out of him as those blows land, the kid sent skidding backwards by the force of them.
Still, he seems relatively undeterred thus far. Robert's comment earns a sly sort of look, half a feral smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. Brutal, eh. "Was it?" he asks wryly, still sunk into the low stance he'd assumed to catch his breath: and his right hand lights with fire. The flames surge high as he swipes upwards, a ring traced in the air-- and then K' twists around, kicking the bolt of fire clear at Robert.
COMBATSYS: Robert fails to slow Second Shoot from K' with Ryuugeki Ken.
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Robert 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Oswald
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K' 0/-------/--=====|
Success! Robert knows that feeling of expensive shoe leather cutting into flesh all too well, the fire within him roaring to life as his feet touch the ground once more. Though he lands in a crouch, he doesn't intend to let the momentum of his assault end there. Having braced himself for an impact at this moment before the first kick even landed, the Italian fighter fully intended to welcome the next blow, as long as it meant that he could chase it with one of his own preference. There were two problems with this plan.
One, K' wisely chose to swing his upper torso backward as part of his attack. Whether by design or coincidence, it certainly helped the odds.
The other is that there are a very select few people who can manipulate chi with their foot, Robert being one of them, and he just...hadn't factored K' into that archetype.
Surprise clearly lights up on the Italian's face at the attack, but that doesn't stop him from trying to run with what has been thrown at him. A chi-imbued kick of his own would result in a flaming kick in the balls. Robert does not like flaming kicks in the balls, so instead opts to overextend, chasing the elusively sardonic face of K' with a knife hand that suddenly comes ablaze with an orange orb of chi.
Not quite good enough. The orb stops an inch in front of K''s face as his extended torso receives a solid kick accompanied a by chi blast in the stomach. "...Hurk!"
Stumbling back from the blow, Robert chooses to let himself fall to the ground so that he can quickly roll away along the ground, coming up on one knee a reasonably safe distance away. "...Hah...one of my own damn tricks, too. Nice one."
He keeps a careful eye on K', taking his own moment to recover from the ill-fated exchange.
Now the first real blood was being drawn, the crowd erupts in a mixed cheer some heavy hits sound out. Somewhere out on the outskirts, two guys get into some rather aggressive bravado, one giving the other a shove hard enough to knock him down just a tad into the ring. Despite the obvious aggression, the situation is over quick enough as the fight steps up again, both men finding a spot at the rim once more.
An eyebrow raising hit, the show of power by both sides. Oswald's weight shifts a bit to one foot, bringing one arm to cross his chest, palming the elbow of the other, rubbing his fingers over his chin. A single, unheard chuckle of consideration is completely drowned out by the crowd, he had to start bending the rules... or rather, lack of them.
The fingers splay up and push the glasses up the bridge of his nose, looking for an opportunity... A camera? Oh how expensive it looks too. Far from being too-scrupulous, Oswald gives a purposeful hard bump into a neighbour and snaps the band holding a state-of-the-art SLR, some brand name stuff, and hurls it hard and high... best to mark his location in the crowd.
COMBATSYS: Oswald successfully hits K' with Thrown Object.
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Robert 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Oswald
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K' 0/-------/-======|
It's commendable of Robert that he doesn't let surprise phase him too badly. In this case, however, it perhaps proves too great a handicap to get him completely out of this one. K' has always been aware that his stolen Kusanagi fire is probably the most surprising trick he has up his sleeve-- at least, up until he gets a little more notorious-- and as such, he's fully prepared to hold back his fire a little until the best time he can capitalize on the shock it provokes.
Amber eyes narrow, focusing on the chi-laced strike that comes knifing in towards his face. To the boy's credit, he doesn't do much more than blink involuntarily. His jaw sets as he simply stands his ground, so to speak, finishing his move out before Robert can hit him clear in the face. It comes close, but in the end K' is just a little faster. He retreats immediately as Robert does, rolling a shoulder with a neutral expression.
He might have responded to Robert's comment. There's a brief flicker of expressiveness in his half-lidded, watchful yellow gaze that acknowledges those words. However, he's cut off from any verbal reply the instant the uproar from the crowd directly behind him spikes and a particularly excitable young woman squeaks for him to look out. K' half-turns in a rapid whirl, not wanting to turn his back on Robert and yet sensing some sort of imminent-- camera?
The object hits him dead-on in the chest and plinks sadly to the ground. Stunned, for a few moments all K' does is stare incredulously at the thing: and then, his eyes hood. He kicks the camera out of the ring disgustedly (much to the grief of its owner), a baleful gaze skating across the crowd. Unable to discern exactly who threw it quite yet, he eventually turns his back again with a huffed breath of irritation and a deep, warning snarl: "I don't remember asking for crowd participation..."
Determined, seemingly, to ignore the occurrence, he focuses back on Robert-- his actual opponent for the evening.
COMBATSYS: K' focuses on his next action.
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Robert 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Oswald
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K' 0/-------/-======|
Fortunately, Robert isn't the sort of dastardly coward who would use such an opportunity to charge an unsuspecting opponent and score a cheap shot. Besides, the dinner that he ate on the plane wasn't exactly agreeing with him to begin with, and he doesn't mind taking a moment longer to nurse the queasiness brought on by the unwelcome stomach pump that K' just so helpfully delivered to him.
In fact, you know what? Robert is just going to sit here a little longer as a matter of fact. He offers a cheerful wave to K' as the man turns back around, taking this moment to stretch out a little bit and make himself comfortable. "Aaah~, any time now. Whenver you're ready!"
Of course, to the more trained eye, this isn't exactly what it seems like. The moment that last mocking syllable rolls off his tongue, the smile remains fixed on his face and his mind empties, gathering energy and relying on his peripheral senses to gauge when the next attack is coming.
COMBATSYS: Robert gathers his will.
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Robert 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 Oswald
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K' 0/-------/-======|
Well look at this. Things draw to a slow... even the crowd seems to calm down, everything getting much more quiet as all heads turn on the two still fighters. A game of study, martial scholars or something of the sort. Tension mounts as single shouts from the crowd try to egg the fighters.
"COME ON!"
"MOVE! HIT HIM!"
"GO! GO!"
As each second passes, more voices are heard, though none are jeers... just anticipation. As much as even the veteran gambler is feeling, as he centers himself all the likeness to his two observed opponents.
COMBATSYS: Oswald focuses on his next action.
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Robert 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Oswald
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K' 0/-------/-======|
K''s head tilts like a bird as Robert veritably trills at him, an ill-humored, wolfish eye focusing on the man with all the apparent comprehension of a beast. Beneath that flat regard, however, is a mind more experienced than the young exterior would lead one to believe. Though his irritation is starting to make itself clear in the unimpressed, hard lines of his jaw and the slant of his brows, K' is still hanging on to some measure of calculating rationality. His temper is fraying. It's not lost quite yet.
Then again, maybe it is, judging from the fact his next action is to surge forward, foolhardy even in the face of Robert's obvious preparation and concentration upon some end, and lunge straight for the throat with the silent directness of a leopard.
K' doesn't need the egging in order to want to strike. Impatient as always, he's gotten fed up with all this waiting; he himself pausing only long enough to catch his breath and sharpen his focus. His right hand, sheathed in that heavy glove, lifts to a coiled ready as he essays to move in close: only to draw up short right in front of his target. The boy rears back, and his lean frame abruptly snaps forward; driving his open hand forward. In the last instant before it touches Robert it slams shut, the resultant armored fist stabbing forward.
COMBATSYS: Robert blocks K''s One Inch.
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Robert 1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0 Oswald
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K' 0/-------/-======|
A powerful blow, if allowed to connect cleanly. From his current position his course of action is clear. Having risen to one knee by the time K' begins his approach, his mind is still focused when the hand slides forward like a knife. One hand clamps down firmly on the arm and grips it firmly, slowing the impact noticably and preventing it from doing untoward harm. Robert answers in kind with a punch of his own, throwing his other shoulder forward forcefully with the intent of planting his fist straight into the stomach of K'.
If successful, it'll be followed by one of the most famous moves in the fighting world; a powerful ascension of knuckles that cut straight from chest to jawbone, propeled by a vertical rise that sends the opponent flying in its wake. The most famous Ansatsuken move of them all! "Dragon...FANG!!" ...No, that's not it. Oh well, close enough for the crowd!
Besides, Ansatsuken copied Kyokugen first. Yeah!!
Oswald was on the move. Circling the crowd with surprising ease, he shifts his place to get a better vantage point. He had to keep both off their guard long enough for him to get control of the fight's momentum. "Come on..." He grunts as some particularily stubborn spectators keep him from doing much, "Can't let one get too far ahead..."
From the crowd, scalpers and bookies are setting the late fight odds, calling out for takers, and taunting those who cower. The Irishman is hardly paying attention, he has his bets already placed as he shifts his arms hard and draws out a card, pinching it tightly in his fingers, giving it a flick out high as he sifts through the middle depths of the mass of bodies.
COMBATSYS: K' interrupts Dragon Fang EX from Robert with Claw Bites.
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Robert 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=====--\-------\0 Oswald
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K' 1/------=/=======|
Robert's hand vises shut around K''s arm, manacling the runaway agent in place. The reaction is instantaneous-- K' jerks violently backwards, trying to wrench clear, the abruptness of the struggling movement suggesting he really doesn't like being tethered in place. Bad memories, maybe, or maybe he's just fighting smart... whatever the case, he doesn't get clear quick enough to avoid that first stabbing blow. It scythes home, and K' folds like a bad poker hand.
Robert might notice, however, that something doesn't quite feel right about the way that blow landed. Neither is the coughing boy who's buckled over his fist like laundry hung out to dry quite as... stunned as he should be. It's almost as if the kid voluntarily gave just a little before the strike, softening the impact just a little. Such is eventually proven true when Robert's fist begins to rake upwards. K''s head lifts, wolf-yellow eyes warmed briefly by a sparking hint of red. A reckless grin, mirthless, lined with blood and looking more a snarl than a smile, flickers across his face.
K''s left hand slams down on Robert's ascending arm, slowing it just long enough for the boy to preempt it. His stance sets, his low-slung body whipcracking upwards in a twist to put power behind his right hand: which snaps up into Robert's jaw in a mirroring uppercut, lighting with an intense red fire halfway to its mark.
COMBATSYS: Robert endures Oswald's Queen.
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Robert 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|======-\-------\0 Oswald
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K' 1/------=/=======|
Yeah, it's one of those 'oh shit' moments alright. The moment that K' offers him that wolflike, almost masochistic grin, Robert's brow can't help but twitch as he offers a somewhat apologetic smile. Eh-heh. He didn't mean nothing by that punch, officer. Well, nothing more than K' meant earlier with that rather vicious kick! It's far too late for apologies though.
Bang, zoom, straight to the moon!
Robert literally goes flying into the night sky, and has a briefly dazed moment to marvel at how pretty the lights are up here before he snaps to his senses. ...Or at least snaps back into his desire to win. Hands beginning to flicker with that orange light from earlier again, the Kyokugen disciple rights himself in mid air and thrusts both palms to the side...his face a menacing contortion of that smirk he wore for the majority of the match. Both palms are thrusted downward at a diagonal, a dangerously large sphere of orange light forming between them. "Haaaaaaaaaoh...!"
The card flicks up. Screw you, little card. He doesn't have time for you. "...Shoooooou...!!" A one, and a two, and a...OH GAWD THAT HURT. Unrelenting in the face of yet more pain, the injury seems to only fuel his tunnel-visioned purpose in this very moment even further. The fireball surges even larger with one last swell of pain. "KOOOOUKEN!!!"
An obscenely large sphere of chi crashes downward towards K' like a murderous meteor of malevolence, seeking to equalize the massive amount of pain inflicted upon poor Robert's form. ...Needless to say, a riot breaks out as pedestrians stare upward in shock, and then abruptly scramble all at once away from the intersection. Big Boom Approacheth.
Oswald was usually icy cool, but he can't help but finally feel energized. Could he actually win this bet? Odds stacked so high against him, he feels like the proverbial comeback kid about to make it big once again.
A deep breath sinks into him as the card hits almost too well, no obsctruction or resistance given, the heavy ironside trump digging in good and deep. A sneered smile crosses his lips, whites of his teeth finally showing as the gloved hands start rubbing together. This was going to be big, and he needed to make sure one took out the other. Sure it was only a grand in chips, a fledgeling sum for the gambler, but he could make quite an investment in vegas with it... For now, he cheers with the crowd, calling for a finish!
COMBATSYS: Oswald focuses on his next action.
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Robert 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Oswald
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K' 1/------=/=======|
COMBATSYS: K' blocks Robert's Haoh Sho Ko Ken.
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Robert 1/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Oswald
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K' 1/----===/=======|
COMBATSYS: Oswald has left the fight here.
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Robert 1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 K'
The overall impression of striking somebody like K' -is- rather similar to hitting a wolf, or some other animal with very long, very sharp fangs. You can do it if you like, hit that creature if you really want-- but you'll get bitten for your pains. And it'll hurt.
Of course, even though K' manages his retaliation, he still -does- get hit in the first place. And in the first few instants Robert's knocked away, K' falls back himself in order to try and recover from that solid blow, coughing redly and swiping blood from his mouth. He isn't so foolish as not to glance up the first instant he can, however... and when he does, it's to notice the look on Robert's face.
He also notices the building welter of menacing-looking chi. K' visibly pauses. The crowd... doesn't.
People break instantly at the sight, scattering in a panic as the blazing bolt of chi streaks straight towards the center of the intersection. K', in contrast, seems distressingly inclined to staying right where he is. Dimly, he remembers some event staff telling him not to throw around copious amounts of chi for fear of hurting bystanders. Dimly, K' opts to ignore them.
He braces visibly, his stance setting. His right hand lifts, fingers tensed into a claw, and fire swarms to life in his coiled grasp, crawling spirals up his wrist and forearm. His arm crosses his chest in a guard, and that narrow sheath of fire about it bursts into a conflagration moments before the chi impacts, heating the intersection to a dangerous temperature in the space of seconds. A ludicrous amount of fire seethes high in an impromptu block, the two forms of energy meeting and-- for the most part-- haphazardly canceling. Rent shreds of flame drip to the ground where Robert's bolt of chi still manages to blast clear through.
Panting, driven back several feet and to one knee by the force of the impact, K' lowers his arm-- still burning-- in the wake of Robert's assault. His eyes narrow in sudden focus, and the instant Robert gets back within range... K' abruptly bolts straight forward, lunging from his kneeling dead standstill. His still-burning arm stabs forwards, aiming to land a solid blow on the other man.
COMBATSYS: Robert fails to interrupt Heat Drive from K' with Haoh Sho Ko Ken.
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K' 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Robert can no longer fight.
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K' 0/-------/-----==|
Oh yeah. What of Robert? He's tumbling downwards like a rock with the recoil of the attack. Luckily he has his face to cushion his fall. The Kyokugen Cruise Missile was never designed to be used in the air, so he wasn't exactly trained for what came afterwards. Peeling himself off the pavement at the edge of his crater with no small amount of dark muttering, he doesn't even get a chance to survey his own handiwork. He's just suddenly, you know, aware. Of impending doom. He thinks it's coming from that-a-way. Robert's casual blasting of chi isn't as haphazard as it seems however. That first one was aimed downward at the arena itself. Minimal chance of pedestrian casualties. And now, well. They're all gone!
Robert's answer to certain doom coming from 'that-a-way' is a resolve to meet certain doom with certain doom headed in that-a-way. Takuma throw three of these damn things at once, after all. Robert won't settle for one being his limit in this time of need! Forcing himself painfully to one feet, he throws his palms to the side and gathers his will once more, his very soul agonizing as he attempts to draw out something that almost isn't there from the aethers about him. And while he does manage to, in fact, summon fourth another HSKK, it's certainly not in time to stop K'. The area around the two ends up detonating in a conflagaration that marks the location where one Robert Garcia is about to be beaten senseless.
But that's okay. He managed two Haoh Shou Koukens. That's one away from being Takuma's equal! Suck it, old man. Ahahahaha--OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW MAKE IT STOP.
Incidentally, K' does see the second Haoh Shou Kouken building up, and is cogent enough to presume that it is aimed directly at his incoming self. It's simply that at this point, K' is either too tired or too uncaring of further pain to bother stopping or adjusting the trajectory of his own attack. Besides, he's probably going too fast to do either in the first place, meaning all he can do is grit his teeth and commit.
It pays off. This time, at least.
K' hits Robert. K' then skids some distance right past Robert, putting on the brakes abruptly and stumbling slightly as he comes to a stop. For a moment he seems liable to pitch over himself, and then he steadies himself. Breathing hard, he simply... stands there a minute, taking a few moments to try and wind down.
His glance flickers around at the spectators, who are warily returning to see the outcome, and then to his down opponent. He considers a moment, half-lidded eyes hard, and then he shrugs indifferently as he turns and starts off slowly, a slight limp in his step. "Least it wasn't a total waste of a plane ticket." ...Such a nice boy.
COMBATSYS: K' has ended the fight here.
Log created on 19:07:47 10/14/2007 by K', and last modified on 06:00:09 10/23/2007.