Description: In Crazy Zhin's Crystal Sculpture and Fine Pottery Barn, Sie Kensou and Ryuhaku Todoh are set for a match of EPIC PROPORTIONS. But Crazy Zhin himself decides to get involved, in the hope - the vain, vain hope - of preventing tons of property damage ruining another one of his fine specialty shops. What horrible events unfold within?! (Winner: Kensou)
Darn that Geese Howard! Sure, the exposure on SNF has been good for business at Crazy Zhin's line of fine speciality stores, but the damage some of these fighters cause! And between some very deeply buried fine lines in his contract and the red tape involved with getting reimbursements from Howard Enterprises, it's starting to add up. And Crazy Zhin may be crazy, but he's not Suicidal Zhin. He's not going to renege on a contract with Geese Howard.
Luckily, an alternative has presented itself. This week Zhin has managed to get himself involved in the fight, and he'll be damned if he's going to let these two ruffians get away with freely damaging his merchandise. And so when Todoh and Kensou arrive, they'll find a man waiting for them. The short Chinese man with thinning hair and a Fu Manchu moustache that everybody recognizes from his many commercials as Crazy Zhin. "Welcome, welcome! So happy to see you. We have a nice, clean fight tonight, yes?" Dressed in his low budget suit, Zhin certainly doesn't /look/ like much of a fighter. But when you swim with sharks, you'd better figure out /some/ way to be able to defend yourself.
It goes without saying that Howard Arena officials continue to wonder, maybe even outright hope for when the day someone gets Ryuhaku Todoh to go inside and outside a battlefield like anybody else does. Through a door. The closest they've ever gotten to that to date was at that bridge where he was already trying to solicit his style to a relatively apathetic young crowd, but then again, doors were hardly involved.
They're not getting anything better this weekend.
For reasons far beyond mortal understanding (or any realistic stretch of practicality), he has somehow, effortlessly, hid at the windowfront in front of a similarly proportioned colored glass sculpture for no less than hours on end, having stared down numerous passer-bys with crossed arms, statuesque disapproval, and all-around eccentricity.
He awaits his opponent with... er, crossed arms and a motionless posture that would most certainly have him confused for a real life-sized statue of himself. And when that one individual arrives... well, there's only so many ways for that to end, isn't there?
As a Chinatown resident himself, Kensou is rather surprised to find a Crazy Zhin store on his home turf, but to be fair, he doesn't tend to notice stores that don't sell anything edible. Or comics. Priorities, you see.
So this would be his first time setting foot in any of Crazy Zhin's fine specialty stores, and his first encounter with the man himself, for whom 'niche marketing' is more than just a strategy - it's a way of life. The Psycho Soldier is, blessedly, on time for once, which means that as he bursts into the shop, he finds... The guy from those commercials that keep popping up during his favourite shows. "Oh, hey," he says amicably towards Zhin, who understandably wants to see a 'clean' fight, whatever that means. "'course!" Kensou confirms, with a big, cheery grin.
Moving towards what is hopefully the space set aside for things to get violent, Kensou looks around with a curious expression. "So, hey, where's that guy I'm supposedta be fightin'?" he wonders, and /then/ he, rather clumsily, bumps into one of the displays, a delicate-looking vase tottering dangerously towards certain doom, but Kensou manages to stop it with his hands. "Whew, that was close!" he breathes, sheepishly.
See, this is going to go great.
"YEH HAH HAH HAAAAAH!" One can't call this laughter out of nowhere because it is very easily coming from the storefront somewhere. Everything is easy to piece together from there. "One with such clumsy tendencies shouldn't hope to stand toe-to-toe with the master of one of the greatest fighting styles mankind and its equals have ever witnessed!"
A hand and an infamous Japan flag fan peek out from behind an otherwise non-descript humanoid statue, as if anybody really needed the help finding him after that outburst. "But even I won't sell one such as you short tonight! Oh no, for I--"
The statue begins to tip, eliciting a short exclamation that's almost a shriek as the elder Todoh suddenly decides to show the rest of himself to pull the fine piece of fairly priced high-quality art back into place with such a hurried pace that it is a miracle that he doesn't somehow break the thing in two for the process.
One nervous chortle and a clearing of his throat later, he turns around and bows his head very briefly.
Zhin twitches violently when Kensou bumps into the display, flailing his arms wildly as the vase wobbles... but then is saved by Kensou. He lets out a long sigh of relief, drooping his head slightly for a moment. Then he straightens back up, thrusting one arm out toward Kensou, finger pointing sternly. "You! You watch where you go! You break anything, you be sorry!" Righteous anger (and profit margins) burn in his eyes as he stares Kensou down. And then Todoh makes his appearance.
Zhin actually /does/ shriek as the statue begins to tip, running over in an attempt to catch it with his body, if necessary. When /that/ crisis is averted he throws up his hands and shouts something briefly in Chinese about 'clumsy fools'. He then puts his hands on Todoh's back and begins angrily shoving him in Kensou's direction. "Go, go! You two fight, not break things!"
Of course, Todoh's sudden and dramatic entrance almost makes Kensou drop that vase all over again, but the Chinese martial artist - perhaps simply out of his relief at not being stared at by Zhin anymore - manages to not wreck the place. Yet. "Sure, sure, we'll be careful," Kensou says, trying to sound reassuring, but with someone like Todoh around, he just isn't so sure it's even possible. Conveniently, Kensou ignores his own poor luck in this assessment.
"Guess we better start 'fore the guy in the suit gives himself a heart attack, huh?" Kensou says towards Todoh, hardly sounding like someone who almost broke a very expensive vase. Really, Zhin is just overreacting! So, since they've got the go ahead to fight - sort of - Kensou figures he'd better get things started, running right up to Todoh and then leaping up at the last minute, twisting to hook his leg around and try to boot the Todoh-ryuu master right in the back of his damn head. "Let's GO!"
COMBATSYS: Kensou has started a fight here.
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Kensou 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Todoh has joined the fight here.
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Todoh 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kensou
COMBATSYS: Todoh dodges Kensou's Strong Kick.
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Todoh 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kensou
COMBATSYS: Zhin has joined the fight here.
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Kensou 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 0/-------/-------|
Todoh is shoved away from the Precious Merchandise(tm). "Get your hands off of--" He decides not to bother finishing the sentence. Not when it is time to once again display the glory that is the way of Todoh, etc, etc, those last five nationally televised fights notwithstanding, both arms quickly spreading outwards defensively on the ready. "Yes, yes. Show me with your might!"
And just as he says that, Kensou there shows him with his flight, all right. As if overreacting to the potential reach of Kensou's kick, he falls into a backwards tumble - far more than the usual sway or backwards step he tends to take in his approach to moving himself out of harm's way.
He hits the wall right as he rights himself up, the bump just a trifle to him. "You have no ability! Try again!" Smug satisfaction quickly drops to surprise as a vase falls into one of his hands. "Ah!" Another tumbles over into the other hand. "Whoo!" And a third, delicately, lands on his head without incident. It is a dangerous balancing act, but hey, what luck he didn't drop all three!
"When'd this place get so small?!" The elder Todoh breaks any sort of concentration and focus just to highlight this inconvenience.
COMBATSYS: Todoh takes no action.
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Kensou 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 0/-------/-------|
Zhin flails his arms again, yelling as the vases go tumbling... Only to be caught. This time. "Be more careful! More careful!" He shoots glares back and forth between Kensou and Todoh, despite the fact that Kensou, at least, isn't actually doing anything bad at this particular moment. He then runs over toward Todoh, retrieving the vases from him with rather surprising dexterity, planting them one after another back on the shelf.
The shopkeeper then turns toward Todoh. "You fight over there!" He strikes out with a sharp kick at Todoh's lower leg, at the same time reaching out to grab him by the arm. A quick jerking motion should then serve to send Todoh sprawling toward Kensou. "You fight him, not vases!"
A swing and a miss! Kensou keeps whirling around before he lands on his feet, stumbling only the barest of steps in his attempts to be /entirely/ too careful about all the fragile stuff. He's totally going to jinx himself doing that. But, Todoh's unkind words distract the Chinese psychic from his attempts at being ginger, and he lets out a huffing breath, even as he watches the comedy routine of Zhin and Todoh. "A'ight, I guess you're tougher'n you look," Kensou allows, grudgingly. So he drops into his stance, and tenses crouching a bit low. Why? For a TERRIBLE PURPOSE.
Letting out a slow, focusing exhalation, Kensou begins to draw on his own stores of Psycho Power, the deep ocean of energy that lies at the core of his very being. Pulling energy out, to the surface, where he can use it, Kensou's clothes and hair stir in a psionic wind, a storm of tiny blue-white motes of light whirling around him as energy gathers.
Oh yeah, /and/ it's making all those breakables in his vicinity rattle quite noticeably, crystal and fine pottery alike! But Kensou has no idea. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...!!"
COMBATSYS: Kensou gathers his will.
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Kensou 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Zhin successfully hits Todoh with Low Low Prices!.
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Kensou 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 0/-------/------=|
"Bah! What does it look like?!" The elder Todoh's complaining would have probably gone on towards no end as one step is taken back closer towards Kensou's direction. It is hastened by the back of the other leg nearly getting swept out underneath him. His own personal forward momentum ends up driving him ahead with a stumble into a crouch. Kensou's gathering of force and power, if subtly, has a tiny hand in delaying his return to a standing position. Enough he remains crouching, at least.
"Hm! So that is what you do," the elder Todoh feigns respect for the gathering, glittering bits and pieces of power around the younger fighter with that most aggravating accent. "Now let us see some spirit!!"
That wasn't enough for Todoh? What is, really? Certainly, he has not had enough of throwing his hands up into the air as a reflex for just about anything he does, but for what manner of martial arts mastery he so proclaims to have?
"HEEYAH!" With that cry, down comes his arms. The way he moves his arms may not be terribly interesting at this juncture. Instead, it's more that blocky, yellowish-orangeish chi that colors the more reflective surfaces around the shop as it descends in three barely connected segments. Kensou's standing somewhere near the very edge of the third's reach - but how much room is there to really maneuver without bumping into something?
COMBATSYS: Todoh successfully hits Kensou with Fierce Kasane Ate.
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Kensou 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 0/-------/------=|
"Aaah!" Crazy Zhin cries out as merchandise begins quaking under the force of Kensou's Psycho Power. "No no no!" While Todoh is picking himself up and making his speech, Zhin runs over toward the energy gathering Psycho Soldier. He rears back one arm, then swings out with a punch aimed for the back of Kensou's head. "Stop that before you break something!"
COMBATSYS: Kensou endures Zhin's The Lowest Prices in Town!.
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Kensou 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 0/-------/------=|
Suddenly, Kensou is the center of a lot of uncomfortable attention! He wasn't even aware that he was potentially causing a lot of harm here, not until Crazy Zhin goes, well, all crazy, and comes after him with murder on his mind. And there's Todoh as well, speechifying nonsensically and then hurling some kind of chi thing at him. This is, by all accounts, a bad situation for young Kensou. But he can't move too much or risk disrupting his concentration, so instead he grits his teeth and bears both assaults, Zhin's punch miraculously knocking him aside when the Kasane Ate would've sent him into another crystal sculpture, his brushing contact setting it a-rattling... But there's more to Kensou's plan than just getting punched in the head.
Ignoring Zhin, Kensou zeroes in on his /actual/ opponent, rushing right at Todoh full-bore, pulling his right hand back as he does. That hand is held in a clawlike grasping motion, and in the middle of the 'cage' of his fingers, a crackling singularity of Psycho Power forms, a streak of blue-tinged white energy following his rush right at Todoh, and he thrusts that hand outwards thereafter as he aims to collide with his opponent, to hit Todoh right in the chest with physical force and psionic energy. "EAT THIS!!"
COMBATSYS: Kensou successfully hits Todoh with Ryuu Sougeki.
- Power hit! -
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Kensou 1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 0/-------/--=====|
Ryuhaku Todoh is not just a man of nonsensical ways - he is a man of purpose. A man on a mission... of education. He's just getting up to a stand as the stinging sensation from his lower leg starts to pass enough for him to return to a standing posture, legs spread apart in anticipation for Kensou's next.
Kensou comes in fast, he comes in hard, and as Todoh would say were he given clearance of an inch after a failed impact, he's doing something wrong. He leans a bit into it to prepare to halt his glorious, witty advance right where it... flies? So much that he doesn't take it in the chest. He takes it right in the chin.
Ryuhaku's head jerks to the side as one eye opens wide, saliva depreciating the very value of one of the nearby antiques for getting struck head on with Kasane Ate-patterned spit. (Somehow.)
His footing is lost as he sails all the way towards a wall, an arm clocking a clock that falls down towards the floor with its inevitable destiny as being another SNF casualty, barring a miracle reflex of Zhin. He slides up against the wall with a none too pleasant impact, causing a large translucent red glass vase to simply fall over onto the elder Todoh's head. Rather than break, he just gets his head stuck in it.
As his vision is not impacted by much other than the tint, he seems to care less about it than the wince at his aching back and that odd feeling that comes with being struck by something like... that. Coming to a stand once more, albeit with a shaky leg and blood trickling down his jaw, he centers himself by clapping his hands above his head, and rests the arms down lower.
He's seeing red metaphorically and, er, physically too. Can he even breathe with that thing over his head?
COMBATSYS: Todoh focuses on his next action.
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Kensou 1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 1/-----==/=======|
Zhin's face goes red, then briefly purple as he fails to find words to express his feelings on one of his vases getting stuck on Todoh's head. Finally he remembers to breath as he runs over toward Todoh. "Gyaaaah! No, no, no! You ruin it! Stop right now!" He runs up behind Todoh, reaching up to grab the vase and tugging on it. When that doesn't seem to work, he leaps up to actually latch his legs around Todoh's waist so that he can get better leverage. If he manages to connect he'll continue to pull, paying no mind at all to any damage that might happen to Todoh's head, as long as he can remove the vase so that it can be restored to pristine* condition. (*For some values of pristine. Sold as is.)
And as his hand and gathered Psycho Power strike Ryuhaku right on the chin, Kensou's eyes widen noticeably. He wasn't expecting /that/ to happen. In fact, he feels a little bad about clocking the guy right in the head, but... Well, it probably won't cause any appreciable damage over the long run, right? Though Kensou's expression falls as he sees how - surely through no fault of Kensou's own - Todoh ends up with an expensive vase on his head. Totally not Kensou's fault.
"I don't think..." Kensou starts, but of course Zhin is frantically trying to pull the vase off of his opponent, and probably not going to listen to the Psycho Soldier at all. But rather than advancing on Todoh and the clinging Zhin, Kensou too stands his ground, assuming his casual kung fu stance, and watching Todoh with a determined gaze. Who will break this stalemate first?!
COMBATSYS: Kensou focuses on his next action.
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Kensou 1/----===/=======|-------\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 1/-----==/=======|
COMBATSYS: Todoh endures Zhin's Reasonable Credit Rates!.
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Kensou 1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 1/----===/=======|
Zhin pulls, pulls, and pulls! But Ryuhaku Todoh does not relent in his stance and focus! The efforts of the shopkeeper win the day soon enough, the vase popped off Ryuhaku's head without much more than a 'pop' and his hair being pressed around his head to fit within the tight inner sanctum of the unlucky vase.
His shoulders shrug a bit up and down in acknowledgement of the leverage and force used. His eyes suddenly dart over to a strange prism-like sculpture. Ryuhaku Todoh is, indeed, the one to break the stalemate as he hurriedly steps behind it. To take it hostage?! To use as a shield against Kensou's assaults?!
Even better. The arms go up again in all too telltale fashion. "Let me show you a taste of the many mysterious and wonders of the family style! Yeh hah hah!" He's rather confident about the prospects of trying to direct the blocky chunks of chi that form in the air... no, not in the air. Through the prism! With another bold shout indicating his own personal confidence in this one technique, the segments that get pushed through expand into a conic radius, trading a little focus and impact simply to try and limit Kensou's ability to move away from it.
As if he weren't running out of ideas.
Zhin quickly buffs the vase with his suit's sleeve before placing it back on a shelf... Just in time to see Todoh doing something to one of the sculptures. "Aieee!" He's too late to stop Todoh from focusing his power through the crystal, but he's still quick to yank it away once he gets there. He can't let this piece be anyway near these two, obviously! He races away from Todoh, making a fairly impressive leap into the air toward Kensou. His intention is to use Kensou as a springboard, stomping down on his shoulders so that he can launch himself up and put the sculpture up on a shelf nice and far away from both of these maniacs!
COMBATSYS: Zhin successfully hits Kensou with No Money Down!.
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Kensou 1/---====/=======|===----\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 1/----===/=======|
COMBATSYS: Todoh successfully hits Kensou with Kasane Ate.
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Kensou 1/=======/=======|===----\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 1/--=====/=======|
Seeing Zhin headed his way, Kensou tries to dodge out of the way of that springboard attack, but as much as he sees it coming, he can't quite make it; it doesn't help, of course, that at the /exact same moment/ he has another one of those weird chi attacks of Todoh's to deal with, and in trying to avoid both, he instead avoids neither, the shoulder stomp driving him down, and the Kasane Ate driving him back. Tumbling arse over teakettle, the Psycho Soldier lands at the base of another display, setting a piece of crystal statuary to wobble and fall...
falling right into Kensou's waiting hands. "Whew, that was close," the Chinese youth breathes, setting the fine crystal down carefully, and getting up with exaggerated care, stepping away from it. "Old man!!" Kensou then declares, speaking in a deeper voice than usual for MAXIMUM DRAMATIC EFFECT. "You've done it now! You've forced me to call upon my true power!" Reaching behind his back, he smiles a confident smile, very nearly a smirk, looking as though he felt sorry for poor Ryuhaku even being in the same /building/ as him. "Now I'll show you..." His hand comes out from behind his back, and is held forward dramatically; grasped there is a piping hot meat bun. "MY SUPER CERTAIN DEATH ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE!!"
And then, with little further fanfare, Kensou pops the whole bun in his mouth and starts to chew.
Ryuhaku Todoh looks ready to hurl another one of those things through the prism by the time he realizes that Crazy Zhin is so crazy fast, he wouldn't let any more of his store be the fancy props they were destined to become in further promotion of Todoh-ryuu Kobujutsu. And also beating the crap out of Kensou. These are very important distinctions.
Ryuhaku's eyes narrow as he closes in. A rare thing, as he is roughly at his optimal fighting distance based on all he boasts and displays of his supposed power, as far as the people who try to follow him figure. "Hm! Such spirit. Such power! Why. I can taste it from here. Yeeeeees." What is this that he sees in one Sie Kensou's great hidden power?!
"But the true question that distinguishes your mastery of this technique in its ability to even hold a tiny candle to my own! I ask but one thing!" And what one thing does he ask? One need only watch a hand as he tries to reach for Kensou's neck tightly. No real technique in the way he goes for it. No technical locks. No fancy manevuers. Just a hand going for the throat.
The other, a closed fist. "DID YOU BRING ENOUGH FOR ME TOO?! HUH? HUH?!" If Kensou does not have a proper answer to this question, he, too, shall become witness to probably a shameful thing no man of his level of supposed technique should ever fall upon use of.
Zhin has to save that sculpture from the fury of the Kasane Ate, but don't think he's forgotten about Todoh! Dropping back down to the floor he stalks past Kensou (taking a wide path so as to avoid actually getting /between/ the two fighters) and walks right up to Todoh, arriving there safely /after/ he launches his attack at Kensou. "What wrong with you!? You nearly break that! If it damaged, I find out and you pay! You pay a lot!" And Zhin will definitely be on the lookout for any microscopic scratches that might be left on the sculpture. To emphasize his words he drives his finger at Todoh's chest a few times, followed up by a palm strike to the center of his chest.
COMBATSYS: Kensou successfully hits Kensou with Meat Bun.
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Kensou 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 1/--=====/=======|
COMBATSYS: Kensou interrupts Strangling FACEPUNCH from Todoh with Sunda.
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Kensou 1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|
Mmm, delicious meat bun! Kensou manages to get the whole thing down before Todoh is on top of him, and he seems... Visibly revitalised, as bruises clear up before the very eyes of Todoh, Zhin and the onlooking cameras, and the Psycho Soldier's stance eases... Just in time for him to get grabbed by the throat. "Ghhk!!" Kensou responds to Todoh's question, because he can't really answer properly owing to his getting helluva choked, but don't worry, Kensou still has a few tricks up his sleeve.
Uh, don't mind the fact that he's wearing short sleeves.
Anyway, before Todoh can fulfill the rest of his attack's name, he'll feel something, as Kensou's open palm taps every so lightly against Ryuhaku's sternum. A feather-light touch, really, surely unable to do anything at all. However, it's the flash of blue-tinged white Psycho Power that accompanies that light tap which presents more of a problem, wrenching Kensou free, albeit painfully, of Todoh's grip, as it hits the older fighter with all the impact of an oncoming truck... Sending him hurtling across the store.
Ooops.
COMBATSYS: Todoh blocks Zhin's Quick Punch.
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Kensou 1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|
Todoh has plenty to deal with when he's trying to wrangle a meat bun out of Kensou. Does he realize how long he's been standing in front of that display?! Upon securing the choke, Zhin gets in a few jabs around chest level. Todoh lowers his arm a bit to catch the palm around the shoulder. He's trying to bum a free lunch here! Among the other things he is here to demonstrate. Yes. That's right.
"Hm?" That's the one thing that falls under Todoh's mouth as this magical meat bun makes many of Kensou's wounds disappear. What is this? Before he can ask in more violent detail, he gets a little touch on the shoulder. I mean sternum. As if he were one of the many antiques on hand from previous bouts within this fine establishment, he is hurtled away as though a mere triviality in a fight between two almost evenly-matched warriors, somehow maintaining his feet on the ground until he crosses the aforementioned knocked-over clock that he trips over along the way. He hits the ground post-haste, his head colliding with the nearby wall as he slides along to a sudden stop at its cold mercy.
He dizziedly sits up as a bunch of antiques start to topple over like freeware puzzle game pieces. Look out! Whether they all shatter around him, or if Zhin there is fast enough to catch them, it takes some time for him to /not/ see Kensou in double vision. Among all the other shiny wooden doodads strewn all over the place.
Yet, there he goes into a stand again, his posture bent slightly forward from the collective injuries (namely the concussions!). His arms spread apart briefly as he gauges the necessary distances, as opposed to how little of his earnings he will really be walking away with given the circumstances. (And when he finds out, boy oh boy.)
He moves forward once more, too distant for a Kasane Ate. But once he reaches its absolute range, he just draws a little closer, a limp in every step. The limping foot is not the one that leads him when he suddenly dips forward feet-first, the stronger one pointed roughly chest level as he simply tries to cover the distance and peg Kensou there in the chest.
Zhin's eyes go wide as he sees what's happening. /Somehow/ nothing gets broken when Todoh actually hits the shelf, but there's still the matter of all the objects launched into the air. Zhin dives through the air, hitting the ground in a roll to come up under the falling valuables. What's next is beautiful, in its own way. Zhin's arms snap out, catching things out of the air, he twists and turns, managing to catch a vase on his head, even managing to catch one with his foot. When he's done he's balanced on one foot, balancing a vase on the other, with a crystal scuplture under each arm, two vases held by the fingers of each hand, and another one wobbling on his head. Sweat runs down his forehead as he wobbles slightly, attempting to maintain his balance.
COMBATSYS: Zhin takes no action.
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Kensou 1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|
COMBATSYS: Kensou endures Todoh's Sweeping Kick!
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Kensou 1/---====/=======|===----\-------\0 Zhin
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Todoh 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|
...And Kensou is pegged in the chest! He doesn't really seem to try to avoid the attack, or guard against it, instead twisting a bit to control the momentum, stopping himself hard with one foot and then throwing himself forward again, right at Todoh. The damage that's been incurred, Crazy Zhin not being very crazy at the moment, all of it might as well not exist so far as Kensou is concerned. His focus is entirely on Todoh himself, both arms extending, palms open, towards the possibly insane old martial artist. Suddenly, that distortion from before - pure psionic energy setting Kensou's surroundings to a-rattle - starts up again. It's more focused this time, emanating directly in front of Kensou's slightly cupped hands...
And you know, Zhin is REALLY going to hate this.
When Kensou's hands get close enough to Todoh, things get pretty hairy though, as that psionic storm pulls in, hitting a single, tiny point, and then EXPLODES. A massive sphere of blue-tinged white rages in the middle of Crazy Zhin's Crystal Sculpture and Fine Pottery Barn, intended to be centered directly on Todoh himself, with eddies of force pushing out at everything beyond it... Including the store's supply of expensive, fragile objects. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!!"
COMBATSYS: Todoh fails to interrupt Senki Hakkei from Kensou with Meiou Ken EX.
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Zhin 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Kensou
COMBATSYS: Todoh can no longer fight.
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Zhin 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Kensou
Ryuhaku Todoh pulls himself into a melee range with Sie Kensou. Why?! He didn't get a meatbun himself yet, that's what! But more importantly, he's had it up to here with kids and their silly deviant new chi techniques (ignoring the fact that this particular fighter uses something far different from chi and will be an important point in a few moments)! And their Kyokugen might nonsense! Especially now that Kensou still looks like he's two of them.
He's in a bad position, throwing himself fully this way with one very sore foot that is not easy to stand on. He works himself up to a crouch instead, again, grit teeth and determined... determination. He is assisted unwittingly by Kensou in this endeavor as he draws his hands closer and closer and closer. Todoh, too, feels a pull. It is not quite a familiar one! But in his own twisted mind, the thing he thinks it is and the thing it actually is are nearly indistinguishable to him when he's at that breaking point.
"Yeh... hah hah hah!" Ryuhaku laughs, as though he has the apparent upper hand! "All it takes is just this!" He raises his arms as the storm pulls in. He throws the arms down, straight down, attempting to do what is entirely impossible for him given the key differences between what he wields and what Kensou wields.
That !#%^ ain't no chi.
Todoh tried to harness the collective storm into one brutal, quick, efficient counterattack. If it were chi, he might have met a measurable degree of success in turning it around. But no - it does not respond to his years-honed practice in something foreign to it. It is exactly as effective as waving two arms down into thin air without any oomph behind it. This leaves it impossible for him to properly defend against it.
'It' being the explosion that nails him dead on, engulfing him for a time before it simply blows him outward, through the roof. Various debris rain across the store, as Ryuhaku's body does not cleanly rip through it enough to leave a mere outline.
A good way to sum it all up is 'ouch.' Also, 'no free food.'
Zhin doesn't actually get hit by the blast, but the fading shockwave is still enough to knock him over, given his precarious stance. He goes down in a crash of pottery and crystal, magnified by the same sounds ringing out around the store. Todoh getting sent through the roof doesn't make things any more stable. "You... you..." He climbs to his feet, jumping up and down in fury as he points at Kensou. "You, you pay! You p-!" Unfortunately for Zhin, his jumping manages to be the finishing touch to knocking a rather large vase off a shelf over his head. It tumbles down, right on top of the shopkeeper, covering him to below his knees. He wobbles for a moment, then slowly falls over and begins gently rolling away, feet kicking wildly. This would probably be a good time for Kensou to take his leave.
Even Kensou is affected by the last eddies of power as the Senki Hakkei breaks down, evaporating with one last 'push' of force. Stumbling back, and ending up sitting on the floor, Kensou looks around with wide, bewildered eyes, at the, well, pretty much totally ruined shop. There's even a hole in the roof! "Uh," says Kensou, quite sagely, staring right at the furous Zhin. Hooboy.
When Zhin gets hoisted by his own proverbial petard - or at least stuck in his own vase - Kensou hops up to his feet with a momentary pose of triumph. "Okaygottagobye!!" is his victory cry, before he runs like hell right out of the shop.
He does leave a single meat bun behind as he goes, though. A peace offering!
COMBATSYS: Kensou has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Zhin 0/-------/----===|
Once again, Todoh has somehow managed to escape being caught by camera as to how the hell it is he gets in and out of virtually anywhere. Perhaps the only people who watch his matches are those who want to finally be the ones to discover the secrets themselves, given his... infamous record.
The man himself, or what little of himself chooses to show even in fading consciousness lies somewhere on top of the roof, next to some wooden statue of a Takuma Sakazaki look-alike. The two gaze into one another, lifeless unperceiving eyes into ones that are too heavy to remain looking at the waking world for much longer.
The moment Todoh's up again there will be an epic showdown between him and this abomination of all that is Good in the world of Todoh. (And he will pay.)
COMBATSYS: Zhin has ended the fight here.
Log created on 18:53:02 11/03/2007 by Kensou, and last modified on 09:28:14 11/18/2007.