Description: A SNF at the zoo, with Kurow on commentary. What could go wrong? (Winner: Rock)
Howard's people have secured a venue at the Bronx Zoo for this particular match. Apparently someone felt it would be best to stage it at the tiger pit but fortunately didn't decide to stick the fighters IN it. Hotaru would've have been surprised if they had, really. After fighting on an unstable ice bridge in Alaska, fighting on the back of windsurfing boards in violent winds, and any number of other dangerous environments, she's come to wonder if there's /anywhere/ they won't stage SNFs. But no, this one seems to simply be on the cement covered walkway surrounding the fence overlooking the tiger pit. Whether it concludes there is another matter all together.
After two weeks of silence from Howard Enterprises, Hotaru finally heard from them again. It seems like things are back to normal with the weekly hijinks and interesting pair ups. None of the other fighters in the matchup are mysteries to the girl. She has fought alongside both of them before. Apparently her teaming up with Nadine pulled in good enough ratings to stick her with the blonde foreigner a second time. If only they knew of the events that had transpired SINCE their last match up that might make this partnership a little uncomfortable for Hotaru at least.
The girl came early. The chance to be at the zoo couldn't be passed up. And right now she's right in the middle of a small parade of pink flamingos that were wandering around from one hill to another until they started flocking around the Kenpo artist. Taking turns patting each of them on the head, the girl starts to worry that the strangely friendly birds are going to end up in the middle of the fight. "Go along now. Get. Shoo." She encourages them, much to no avail.
Nadine has been very deliberately not speaking to Hotaru for the time they waited at the zoo. This is for her safety; Nadine doesn't want Hotaru to go after /her/ before the fight, because that would be a battle she'd have no chance of winning. The awkwardness doesn't really bother her as much as that.
She has been here some time as well, and has spent no time with Hotaru. She went to the reptile house, actually, and is only now heading back from it. Nadine's glasses have been replaced with a tinted pair that otherwise look exactly the same.
Rock Howard secretly hopes that the disruptions in the Saturday Night Fight are due to some terrible ailment with the proprieter, his father, one esteemed Geese Howard. Nothing would make him happier than to hear that the company was folding, or that his father hadn't been able to put an undercard together because he has a throwing star in the back of his neck. Anything like that would be sweet.
Turns out it was just a vacation.
Apparently arriving last to the fight, as per Rock Howard's usual requirements, he came straight to the Bronx Zoo after getting off the airplane in La Guardia. Terry Bogard official hobo duffle bag slung over his shoulder, he's wearing his purple fightin' coat rather than his usual red one, black jeans, boots, and a black tank top. He hasn't participated too much in the SNF since they allegedly 'screwed' him out of his title, and when he has fought, he seems to get paired up with Hotaru or put into some other crazy 2 on 1 fight. Geese clearly has some plan for the two.
With that in mind, Rock stops just off the side of the tiger cage. He gives the big cats a glance, tugs on his collar, and sets his bag down. "Helloooo?" he calls, wondering where everyone is.
Hotaru has learned a few hard lessons in the last half a year or so. Namely, being associated with criminal organizations doesn't seem to result in the sort of justice being metted out that she would have expected. After seeing what Kurow got away with in Thailand, only to move about in Japan as if nothing had ever happened... the girl has had to resign herself to accepting that the world just doesn't work the way she thinks it should. The fact that this very event is technically hosted by a 'legitimate' face to a criminal empire just adds to the list of inconsistencies the girl has become accustomed to.
Thus it is that while she thinks Nadine IS tied to some kind of sea-going piracy organization that attacked the Suiryuu during the Jinchuu tournament, she isn't going to take this opportunity to attack Nadine. She can be professional for the sanctioned events... Even if it eats at her on the inside.
With Rock and Nadine approaching the location for the fight, Hotaru starts moving in that direction, only to have the flamingos follow along. "I don't have any food..." she murmurs, for once finding her 'animal magnitism' to be rather inconvenient. A desperate glance around draws the attention of one of the zoo employees who comes over to start shuffling the birds off as the pig-tailed fighter sneaks away in the confusion, albeit with a few pink feathers on her clothing.
Convention dictates that she start somewhere her partner and so the girl does move toward Nadine, her mouth tight lipped as she regards the other girl coolly. Finally she looks away toward the purple-jacketed Rock Howard and her expression warms a little. Going up against him is no small feat in her mind. One of the bigger starts in the fighting world and very capable from what she's seen at that. To top it off, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy the last time they were partnered.
She can't help but raise her hand and wave in his direction, "Hello again!" the girl remarks, "So here we go again," she continues with a grin before falling back a little. As much as she hates to admit it, she and Nadine make a pretty effective team. Geese's boy is going to have his work cut out for him.
COMBATSYS: Rock has started a fight here.
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Rock 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has joined the fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rock
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rock
COMBATSYS: Nadine has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|
"Behind you," Nadine says; she is actually some distance off from Rock, but she is coming from the back, and making no real attempt to hide herself. They're here for a meeting. He ought to know she's already here.
She walks right past him without slowing down, apparently having chosen the far side of the area as her and Hotaru's starting area. Having not met Rock in person, she has no real opinions of him of her own, but is quite aware that Kurow doesn't like him. That puts her more negatively inclined to begin with, although she doesn't puppet his opinions slavishly. That's Sada's job.
Nadine lets Hotaru take a spot in front of her. because getting pulped by Rock would be a rather anticlimatic fight. "Is everyone ready?" she asks, reaching toward her skirts and pulling both of her knives free.
Rock has met Hotaru's enigmatic older brother since his last encounter with the girl. The man left him with an enraged Grant in a warehouse somewhere in the Pacific Quarter to fend for himself. There's some bad blood there. He even promised Rock he would meet him again, sometime in Southtown. But young Howard doesn't know that Hotaru is related to /that/ guy, so he just chips a grin over at Hotaru when she comes up. There's a pink feather in her hair and it looks kind of funny.
"Hey, Hotaru," he says, bending down to pull his black fighting gloves out of his bag. "How's tricks? Have you been training for--" Abruptly, Nadine wooshes past him from the other side. From his crouched position, Rock's red eyes widen at the girl. He's also not familiar with this third piece of their fighting puzzle and anything about her movements can give him something he might be able to use to his advantage.
Tracking her until she starts speaking, his eyes finally narrow when she pulls the knives free. Rock's well documented in the Professional Circuit as being against foreign objects. It all makes sense now why his father would pit him against this girl. "Yeah," he says, a little bit more darkly, standing up and beckoning Geeseque with a hand. "I'm ready."
COMBATSYS: Rock focuses on his next action.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|
Hotaru glances to the side as Nadine moves behind her. At first she was nervous about being teamed with the knife user. The windows of opportunity to backstab someone are pretty easy to come by in the midst of a battle. But she also suspects that while the two fought on opposite sides during the battle at sea, there's probably really no /personal/ reason why Nadine would try to do something to her now. The girl sighs visibly and shakes her head, turning to focus back on Rock, saying nothing to her partner. So many conflicting things to think about she muses, trying to reduce the scope of her focus back down to just the match at hand.
"I've been all right," the girl replies back to Rock at his easy going greeting. Nadine's positioning behind her suggests that her partner expects her to draw Rock's fire some. She can probably cope with that for a bit, though she's more about getting out of the way than taking hits herself.
The other two participants appear to be ready and Hotaru is already set to go herself. "All right, let's do this," she states, making that about the only thing she's likely to say to Nadine any time soon. She leans forward, hand resting against her knee, one leg out behind her. It almost looks like she's getting ready for a track meet more than a fight.
But the instant the signal is given to commence the bout it becomes clear way as Hotaru dashes toward Rock at full speed. It might seem a reckless charge at first, but for as speedy as the blue and white blur is going, she's wary of attempts to strike back at her as well and will attempt to weave around them. If she gets in close, the surprisingly aggressive girl will try to snag a hold of both of his arms by the wrists and pull his guard open in order to leave him vulnerable to a rapid sequence of strong stomps right up the front of the young man. If she pulls it off, she'll finish with a backflip into the air to come down a little ways back in the direction she started. "Ya, ya, ya!"
Whether Hotaru is good at taking hits or not, she's still better than Nadine herself is. Nadine likes to be very far away from the person she is fighting, and ideally behind someone or something else. She doesn't have any personal reason to wish Hotaru gets hit - she's in this to learn, and to fight, and to win. None of the three involve beating on her partner.
She adopts a rather lazy-looking stance, holding both knives loosely. That doesn't last for very long, because as soon as Hotaru leaps into action, so does Nadine, although with a good deal less vim and vigour. There is no leaping, no charging, and no backflips. Instead, she waits for Hotaru to clear out of the way, at least for a moment -
- and then she throws one of her knives, setting it to spin quickly as it rockets forward. Wind picks up from nowhere to accelerate the knife, surrounding it by a tiny tornado, and then to pull it back to Nadine's waiting hand afterwards.
COMBATSYS: Rock dodges Nadine's Zephyr Dart.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Rock counters Shin-Jou Tai from Hotaru with Gedan Crack Counter.
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Hotaru 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|
Rock detects that Hotaru appears very stressed. Either she's /way/ too worried about having to fight him, or there's some tension between her and her partner. That's a valuable thing to have learned; it means he can press that to his own benefit to keep these two ladies on their toes and /off/ his toes. But no sooner has Rock issued the challenge does the girl come screaming at him like a wild buffalo. He remembers this from when he teamed up with her against Mr. Big; Hotaru, despite her demure size, is a hellraiser. She's entirely unafraid to scrap with anyone.
Armed with that, Rock waits until Hotaru is literally on top of him. He lets her through the first level of his 'defense', as Geese would call it, and waits until she's got a firm hold of /one/ of his wrists to act. Suddenly buoying with strength, Rock shifts his weight down to the toes of his feet and somersaults straight over Hotaru -- using her grip on his wrist as leverage to send the girl snapping over and hopefully onto her back. Landing a few feet away from her, he spins around to face Nadine just in time--
Red eyes wide, hang loose. Rock drops right onto his back, the knife slicing through the air he inhabited a half a second previously to slam into one of those wooden Zoo posts where they staple flyers about the exhibits up. It thuds ominously as Rock breathes in and then out from his back. Way too close. Climbing back to his feet, splits between Nadine and Hotaru on each side like he was some sort of Bruce Lee, Rock wipes his hand through his hair.
"Okay, girls," he teases. "All together now."
As the fight starts, one of the other displays, a reasonable distance away from the walkway that Hotaru, Nadine, and Rock square off on, a table is wheeled next to a set of monitors that show off-camera areas of the tiger exhibit. All said, it is a fairly nice table, with a small power source mounted underneath it, and a pair of monitors on the top -- and a pair of microphones, too. Taking up one of these microphones is some mid-ranking Howard suit who fans probably don't know much about; he's the sort of guy they wheel out when they have someone who's clearly supposed to have center stage in calling the fight.
The other microphone goes to Kurow Kirishima, still looking shredded-up from his fight with Raizo Imawano not too long prior. Taking up the device, Kirishima sighs, "This match is off to a completely unsurprising start; Rock Howard is the master of stale moves. Same thing every week. If you want to get something to drink, do it now." The young man certainly seems to have a handle on this 'being an ass on camera' business -- if what he's after is public recognition, the ability to 'hide in plain sight' by being something of an on-camera personality... he's certainly well on his way.
Her hold on his wrist gets reversed as Rock uses his previous knowledge of his observations against her, flipping the smaller fighter over while making it onto the otherside of her. The slam was too fast for her to recover out of it like she is usually able to with such maneuvers and in the end she's left to hit the ground with a gasp before rolling over and scrambling back up on her feet, blue eyes focused back on the young man.
Considering he's capable of going toe to toe with fighers far ahead of her in experience, she's too surprised that he was able to correctly time a counter attack against her initial charge. But it also means she's going to need to find openings herself to compensate in order to avoid just running back in to another attack like that...
For the moment he's trapped between her and Nadine, but rather trying to seize that opportunity, Hotaru holds back for a moment. It's about that moment that she becomes aware of a voice all too familiar to her from not too far off and she can't help but spare a sidelong glance toward Kurow. Oh jeez. It's like a recurring nightmare. Could this match get any more uncomfortable? At least Rock seems to be the target of his mocking for now.
Inhaling then exhaling, the girl shifts her attention back on Rock. "All in good time," she comments tersely, as if replying to his remark about them taking him on at once.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru focuses on her next action.
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Hotaru 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|
The knife rockets back to Nadine's hand after a few moments. She grabs it out of the air almost casually, despite the fact that it is spinning fast enough to possibly take off a finger if she hadn't gotten her hand cleanly on the grip. Practice, practice, practice.
At the sound of Kurow's voice, Nadine actually smiles, just for a moment. It's one of those slow, self-satisfied smiles she gets sometimes. She flips the grip on her knives, holding them more like an actual knife-fighter, and advances on Rock.
She covers the last three steps at a running lunge, driving one of those broad knives forward at about waist height. Nadine expects it to miss, but it is an excellent distraction - she even aborts it at the end, twisting it back and going into a parrying stance instead. If Hotaru won't advance, she will.
COMBATSYS: Rock dodges Nadine's Fierce Strike.
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Hotaru 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|
Rock frowns. Well, Hotaru's at least smart enough not to come running in at him again. That's good, because part of this game is psychological. The girl needs to think that he's faster than he really is if he's going to have enough time to deal with the /other/ girl. The one with the knives that could probably severely hurt him. Last time he went against a knife fighter, he got stabbed in the chest and spent a week in the hospital. He also lost the very title the proprieter of this event covets so much.
But while everything initially was going very well for Rock Howard, not two seconds after Hotaru hesitates and he prepares to press an advantage on Nadine, does a familiar voice slam into the back of his head. Face darkening as his eyes harden, Rock squints over at Kurow's announcer table. "What the fuck do you think you're--"
Rock is forced out of his hatred for Kurow to realize that Nadine is coming at him with a knife in her hand and intent to harm. Doing one of those things where he tucks his stomach in and shimmies his body, the knife cuts through the edges of his purple coat as Rock jumps back from her slash. And Nadine's theory proves true because with the girl so close, Rock has no choice but to try and lay the punishment.
Taking a strong step towards the girl, his other leg swallows the momentum as he snap-kicks it around to try and slam his foot into the side of Nadine's skull.
Attacking him with the more aggressive, reckless assault didn't end up working out too good. He might be too well grounded to pull off his feet with in close grappling and limb locks. Or maybe his timing was just spot on that time. She'll have to figure it out soon since she can't take too many hits if he ends up being very capable of turning her own attacks against her.
But now she's had a moment to catch her breath and recover from the intitial slam. Time to get back into the middle of things. Running forward, the girl hops up into the air a couple of yards out as if going for an aerial attack. But it's somewhat a feint, for while she does swing out with two windmilling palm strikes, they're mostly to distract Rock's defenses high... for the moment her feet touch the ground, the follow up attack comes.
A single palm press aimed toward Rock's stomach. Considering her arm strength isn't significant, it may seem deceptively unthreatening at first glance, but girl is leaning into it hard, lending both leg and torso strength to the strike as well. Her left arm presses out in the opposite direction, acting as a counter balance to keep her from falling over from committing herself so.
COMBATSYS: Nadine dodges Rock's Medium Kick.
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Hotaru 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|
"You mean you've never had an urge to call a match?" comes the reply to Rock, just as Kirishima watches the boy's kick catch nothing but empty air. "Really, Rock -- with how much time you spend aimlessly shooting your mouth off on the Internet, I'm shocked." The youth out-and-out dismisses his broadcast partner at this point, taking full command of the desk. "But then, I can't imagine they'd let you -- your talking is about as sloppy as your combat skills." Perhaps he's trying to mentally 'soften Rock up' a little for Hotaru and Nadine. Who knows?
The reason Nadine aborted her attack a little early is for just that reason. As she didn't fully commit to the forward lunge, she can turn it into a rapid twist to the side, simultaneously dodging sideways and ducking.
Rock's boot still comes close enough to ruffle her hair with the speed of its passage through the air. Close. Too close, really, but there's no help for that; she'll have to play dangerously to have a chance of actually making an impact on Rock instead of dancing around all day.
She goes around, angling toward Rock's back as she rises up. If Hotaru is coming from the front, Nadine can come from the back. Normally she might kick him forward, but this time, she goes for the horizontal slash with her left knife. "Afraid of sharp objects?" she asks, almost conversationally.
Instant interjection from Kirishima: "Rock is terrified of sharp objects. Not that he does any better when they're not used."
COMBATSYS: Rock blocks Hotaru's Soushou Shin.
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Hotaru 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Rock interrupts Medium Strike from Nadine with Rising Tackle.
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Hotaru 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-======|
Or maybe Kurow is just a jackass!? Rock isn't sure. There is usually a game to what Kirishima does to him, but all in all, it ends up in fists and blood. It always ends in fists and blood. It doesn't matter if Rock's kicking down the door to his classroom, jumping out of the rafters, or failing at life in some Thai Jungle. Fists and blood. Howard and Kirishima. They don't like each other very much.
Out of the corner of his eye, Rock watches Hotaru move back into action. Taking a step back at an angle to align himself back with her vector, he prepares for what she can dish out with a traditional Hakyokusaken fighting stance. The first overhead palm strikes slam into his defense, as he sends his forearms forward to block the minimal force of their blows. The limited contact gives him just the edge he needs to know that there is more coming when she lands -- most people wouldn't be able to land and continue their momentum like this -- which allows Rock the leverage he needs to send both his arms crashing down into an x-pattern to intercept Hotaru's palm thrust.
Driven back on his heels from the impact, Rock grins over the length of his arms at the girl. Not bad, he thinks, but it's a fleeting measure of approval because Nadine's still around. Sensing his exposed back, Rock throws his arms down to his side to release Hotaru, ducks down towards his ankles, and then let's Terry's teachings do the rest. Chi blossoms off his body as momentum shoots through his bulk, his booted heel driving itself like a piledriver straight towards Nadine's chest as he arms whip beneath him to deliver the force upward.
Rock lands the Rising Tackle, sweat lining his forehead, his breathing coming deep. "Shut up," he says to the announcer both.
Rock manages to see through the feint in time to defend himself which leaves Hotaru stopped a bit short of striking her mark. She returns his grin with a faint smile of acknowledgement. Yeah, he's every bit the fighter she expected him to be. Her stance is a bit off balance, which could have left her vulnerable to another counter attack were it not for Nadine coming in and forcing Rock's attention to be diverted elsewhere. Already she was pulling back anyway, so when he turns on her partner, the girl has a little room to work with for now.
There's nothing she can do to spare Nadine the famous Rising Tackle, but what she can do is be ready the instant he comes back down from it. Darting back on the offense, she leaps, this time going even more aggressive as she tries to literally jump onto him at about shoulder level, lock her arm around his neck, and slide down behind him with both of her arms wrapped around his neck.
He's tall enough such that if she does pull it off, her feet won't even reach the ground... but hey, at least she'll be in a somewhat difficult place to dislodge her from!
Sometimes you never have time to react.
Rock's foot strikes Nadine solidly in the sternum, lifting her literally into the air as she folds up around the boot for a few seconds - until he reaches the apex of his leap, and she is propelled upward instead. She tucks in in the air, in an attempt to twist around and land on her feet.
She does not. She lands on her back instead, heavily, and takes a moment to get up. When she does, it's slowly and a little awkwardly, and rather than immediately press the attack, she backs up. Hotaru's turn! Nadine is going to regain her focus and wait for her head to stop ringing.
COMBATSYS: Nadine focuses on her next action.
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Hotaru 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Rock dodges Hotaru's Strong Throw.
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Hotaru 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-======|
Rock keeps ending up in between both girls. Most men would find this an envious position, but when the girls are trying to pummel you until you can't stand up anymore, it's a little bit less awesome. Exhaling a breath, Howard prepares for the next offensive, warily trying to eyeball both Nadine and Hotaru in turn. It's Hotaru who breaks first, and Rock's attentio snaps like a razor onto her approach.
He waits until the absolute last possible second to act in order to ensure a successful evasion. Once Hotaru is in the air and unable to change the direction of her attack, Rock dives forward to perform a shoulder-first roll beneath the leaping girl. She lands where he once stood and he comes out of the roll where she jumped from. With another swipe of his hand through his blond hair, he laughs, looks at Kurow, and flicks him off..
"Nothing to say, Kirishima?" he asks, before suddenly spinning, taking two running steps, and firing a jump kick right after Nadine -- straight karate Double Dragon-esque extension and all.
"Nothing that isn't already obvious," Kirishima replies, upon seeing Rock turn up that middle finger. "I mean, I could go into detail about how sloppy you're being, how you don't capitalize on opportunities... but I think the fans can see most of those things for themselves." He lets a small, harsh laugh out into the microphone, which probably irritates the tigers as much as it likely does Rock.
"But if you insist, I /could/ start talking about every missed opportunity I see."
Committed after her leap, Hotaru realizes only after she's jumped that she isn't catching Rock off guard. He seems pretty comfortabel taking on multiple opponents at once. Something tells her he's done a lot of this style of fight. Her feet touch down afterward, the girl no worse for wear after having had her attack avoided, and quickly whirls around to prepare herself for a follow up...
But it appears Rock is headed off after her partner again, leaving Hotaru in the dust. She isn't frustrated by his impressive reflexes, but it is getting difficult to figure out how to keep up with him. Breathing in deeply, the girl tries another approach, focusing as she rolls her right arm out to her side, her forearm bathed with a bright, vibrant blue aura.
It's a shot at the back, which is a little cheap, but such is the nature of handicap fights unfortunately. Swinging her hand forward, the girl releases a small, swiftly flying sphere of energy, the aura in her own arm subsiding afterward.
COMBATSYS: Nadine dodges Rock's Light Kick.
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Hotaru 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-======|
Nadine is not really that surprised that she's been designated annoying enough to go after. She isn't a tactical threat - not as much as Hotaru is, anyway - but she is certainly a pest, and apparently that's enough for her to get beat on.
Jump kicks are easier to deal with. Nadine ducks low, rolling forward and under the kick in a tucked-in somersault. SOmewhere in there, she manages to get both knives back in their thigh sheaths, and when she comes up, it's empty-handed. Rock should be happy about that, at least.
She only pops back up after the energy sphere from Hotaru arcs over her head, and Nadine reaches out with both hands toward Rock, trying to grab him at waist and shoulder. If she manages it, she spins, simply performing a hammer throw and pitching him - at the tiger pit. Where else?
Nadine is not actually strong enough to hammer throw Rock any appreciable distance. That's what the sudden burst of wind that rockets up, and then away, is for; it's fully strong enough to carry Rock the rest of the way there, assuming nothing happens to change his flight path.
COMBATSYS: Rock blocks Hotaru's Hakki Shou EX.
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Hotaru 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Rock dodges Nadine's Twister Toss.
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Hotaru 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-======|
Rock spent many nights in Geese Howard's dojo fighting multiple members of his special 'training class', including Billy Kane and Mr. Big. To say that he got good at this sort of thing is an understatement, because he got good at it by getting the shit kicked out of him on a daily basis. Geese didn't care about the opponents he made Rock spar with -- each one, he knew -- would teach Rock something new about what it meant to be a man.
You've gotta be a man to step into the ring with a crazy girl with pigtails and a knife wielding sometimes Kurow sychophant-- Wait, what? Well, you have to be something, at least. Rock Howard is certainly something. And something is enough, in this case, to spin about to face Hotaru as she unleashes her brand of fireball. Something is enough to inhale a gulp of air, brace your feet against the cement around the Tiger Pit, and will your own golden chi to meet the incoming orb of blue energy somewhere between your chest and your heart.
Light cascades around him as the two opposing chis blossom, rippling like tendrils of color in the wake of the hot minute. But there's no time to even exhale. Feeling Nadine's grip closing around his shoulder and waist, Rock twists himself free, falls into a backward roll, and comes out of it crouched on one knee. Finally, he lets the breath snake out between his clenched jaw. "Okay," he says, mostly to himself, and ignoring Kurow's presence. He needs to keep his cool to stay focused on both of these girls.
Springing forward from his crouch, he mirrors the Tiger's Nadine tried to throw him at and pounces for the girl. His arm cocks back, knuckles aligning as his fingers tighten, and he tries to thunder a flying haymaker right into her forehead.
The contest of chis results in her projectile attack being coped with rather well. Another impressive defense on the part of the young man. Nothing really seems to be quite getting through his defenses, however, even with both of them attacking him at once... Maybe it's a matter of not working together like they should. It's hard to put aside the sight of Nadine standing alongside the 'R' forces but a few weeks ago... But this fight isn't going to work out too well if she doesn't.
The young Kenpo artist has certainly gone up against those far better than her on more than one occasion, and being on the team side of handicapped matches is not unusual for her either. But Rock is proving to be a very difficult fighter to pin down compared to most, and Nadine is having a hard time doing more than distracting him.
Hotaru grits her teeth, charging in for Rock again. This time going back on trying to get in close in order to dish out two swift kicks, one with each foot, aimed for each of his sides at the level of his rib cage. The intent is less to deal a devestating attack and more to stagger him enough to give Nadine a break and maybe let her land an attack as well. Teamwork, Hotaru reminds herself... It's the only way to deal with someone like Rock.
COMBATSYS: Rock successfully hits Nadine with Fierce Punch.
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Hotaru 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Rock
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Nadine 1/---====/=======|
Even Nadine's luck can't last forever. She ducks again, ducking and weaving in an attempt to get her face out of the way of Rock's haymaker.
Instead, she misjudges the incoming angle and takes it rather solidly right in the face. Her glasses bend inward, smashed at the nosepiece, while she is launched backwards rather unceremoniously and kind of embarassingly. She hits one of the fences, arms spread-eagled, and hangs there for a moment, snagged on her shirt and skirt.
It takes her a moment to free herself without putting a rip in any of her clothes. Nadine, without her glasses (as they fell off) has to squint slightly, and her nose is bleeding from the colossally awesome strike even though the only thing that hit her nose was the nosepiece of said glasses.
She raises one hand overhead, and winds start to swirl up around her, forming a visible cyclone with herself in the eye. It is not intentionally stolen from the typical Rising Storm technique, but the similarity is obvious. It becomes a little less obvious when she makes a sharp gesture forward and the storm parts around her, blasting in a straight line toward Rock for several long seconds before petering out. She stands in the center, apparently untouched except for the way it makes her hair and skirt billow.
"Nadine Kennicot is about twice as fast as Rock is and half as experienced," Kurow declares, as he watches both of them weave out of the way of each other's attacks. "This is expected on Nadine's part, considering how recently she debuted -- but Rock? Like I said. Embarassing. It's not a wonder Rock hasn't seen the main event in a while."
He winces when Rock actually lands a shot, though. That just /looked/ painful, especially when the glasses broke.
COMBATSYS: Nadine successfully hits Rock with Screaming Storm.
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Hotaru 0/-------/----===|=======\==-----\1 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Rock with Light Kick.
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Hotaru 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|
Rock would never admit it to Hotaru, but he's scraping by here on a mixture of instinct and luck. He's normally a pretty fast fighter and he has one of the best defenses on the planet thanks to the lessons of his father, but that only gets you so far when it's two on one. You have to be lucky and you have to be focused. You have to block out that Kurow Kirishima is over there waiting to grab a stop sign and break it over your head the minute you think you're winning.
It's time for Rock to slip up. He's not his father. He's not a machine of pain and precision that is unyielding and perfect in every aspect of his technique. He makes mistakes. He misjudges where things are coming and what they are trying to do. As Hotaru comes at him again with the first /kick/ of the fight, Rock swallows it against the side of his ribs. The force of the strike sends him down to a knee, just in time for Nadine to suddenly explode with awesome.
The cyclone of wind-born chi hits Rock dead center. His feet immediately lose their hold on the ground as he's shot across the foyer of the zoo. He slams into the bars of the Tiger Cage, denting them severely (and maybe releasing a crazy cat!?), before the winds finally die down and Rock slumps forward onto his knees. "Okay," he repeats, feeling the copper taste in this throat that tells him he probably just broke something inside.
Pounding the ground, Rock grinds himself back up to both feet. He adjusts his coat with a roll of his shoulders, squints at the two girls who are finally on one side of him, and then everything goes white. Without another word, Rock goes into that Howard Zone where he moves superhumanly fast. Where he's a killing machine of pain and punishment. He goes right at Hotaru, his fists screaming with an echoing ripple of chi. Each barreling barrage comes whistling faster than the next, a hellacious combo, and ancient symphony of destruction known by only two men in the world.
It all culminates on the poor girl right at the core, as Rock delivers a right and then a left punch, pulls his arms back and locks them at the wrists, and then drives them straight forward in a more traditional Hadou manuever -- a blinding chasming, churning, beam of golden chi shooting exploding forward.
COMBATSYS: Rock successfully hits Hotaru with Deadly Rave Neo.
- Power hit! -
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Hotaru 1/=======/=======|-------\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|
Her kick lands and Hotaru hops back as Nadine's swirling attack does its damage as well. The transition from an interesting challenge into a Hotaru pulverizing death machine comes far too fast for the smaller fighter to react. The first punches soften the girl up, leaving her staggered and unable to react defensively. He could slow down at that point if he wanted, she's not going anywhere... But instead each of the blows comes faster, just as savage, crunching into her sides and against her chest, knocking her some distance to each side as each hit connects, going completely unresisted.
Finally the two last swings send the girl staggering backward, lining her up perfectly for the double chi-imbued strike that blasts her clean off her feet, sending her tumbling head over heels repeatedly until she comes to a stop some ways away. The entire combination was far too swift and far too painful for her to even fully comprehend how damaged she is now. The cry of multiple broken ribs goes completely unheard as she pushes herself right backup, face red with the intensity of the pain that pleads she give up then and there...
But before she does, the girl charges right back at Rock, teeth gritted, flecks of blood visible at the corner of her mouth as she leaps right back him as if completely undeterred. Landing in a forward roll, the offensive positioning results in her ending up right at Rock's feet. The surge of chi poured into her next attack easily dwarfs the chi ball she lobbed his way earlier as she launches into a backflip, "Tenshou..."
COMBATSYS: Rock counters Ten-shou Ranki from Hotaru with Joudan Crack Counter.
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Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|
Kurow takes the complementary announcer's water cup, and takes a nice, long drink. It buys him time to think of how the hell to even respond to that one.
He opens his mouth. For the first time in ages, words just don't come out. There is no way to deny how ridiculous that chain of events was.
The windstorm around Nadine dies down and out shortly, leaving a winded, badly hurt girl behind. She staggers, feeling the aches more now, after her exertion, than she did before. It takes her a moment to recover enough to take stock of the environment.
What she sees is a battered Rock smashing Hotaru around like she was nothing, catching her and using the momentum of being smashed around to his advantage. Unfortunately, she doubts that, in her condition, she can stop it...and more to the point, she doesn't have enough personal attachment to Hotaru to try. They're teammates, that's all, and Nadine is already writing this off as a failure - although a failure where she learned about Rock, which is valuable.
She sneaks several fast strikes in from the side, trying to get in between Rock and Hotaru in one of the few available places. Although weak and fast, these attacks are as much to be a distraction as anything else, a rapid series to sting and draw his attention.
COMBATSYS: Rock blocks Nadine's Quick Strike.
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Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Rock
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|
Rock Howard has seen a lot of things in his short 18 years of existence. He's seen crazy, unbelievable things. He's seen Krauser in a speedo swimming. That's how crazy we're talking. After he finishes the Deadly Rave Neo, after he feels every crack of his knuckles against Hotaru's surprisingly strong body, every pulse of power funneling into her being, he stands there with his arms locked infront of his body, his breathing coming in whispy rasps from the exertion. He watches the result, watches Hotaru land a good dozen yards away, and then when she /gets back up/, Rock Howard is impressed. There is something special in that girl's heart. That same spirit, that same warrior blood that tells her to keep going.
It's that same blood that makes Rock Howard not take any mercy. It's that same blood, that same respect, that makes him not hesitate when Hotaru comes at him again. He knows that, were the situations reversed, he'd expect her to continue fighting as hard as she could until the fight was over, no matter how badly beaten he was. That's what you do when you're a fighter; that's how you live. That's the unwritten code. You owe to each other to push right up to the limit.
After Hotaru dives forward, Rock takes a step back. He's not sure what is coming next. Hotaru's got a technique all her own; there is no frame of reference in his mind for how to handle it. It all falls then to instinct. Training. A linneage, a bloodline, natural talent and potential. The burst of chi from the girl blinds Rock, whose own golden energy swells suddenly. Just as Hotaru starts to backflip, Rock dives right over her head. As he passes downward, in that brief passing of their bodies as Rock goes forward and Hotaru goes up, his knee extends into an inverted variation of the Crack Shoot to strike the girl along the top of her head.
Howard lands in his own forward roll. He doesn't have time to see the result of his manuever against Hotaru before he has to deal with Nadine again. From the ground, Rock shields his body with his forearms, Nadine's quick strike slamming into the strong part of his arm with a crack of knuckle to bone. Backing up after rising, Rock's red eyes squint at Kirishima across the zoo.
"Go on, Kurow," Rock says, snide and confident. "You can do it. Tell the world, tell Geese, tell them all how Rock Howard is here to save the Saturday Night Fight."
The backflip misses, the torrent of chi blasting into open air as Hotaru tries to complete the motion in order to recover all the same. But with her in the air is the purple jacket wearing Rock Howard and while she tries to twist, tries to take control of herself and recover from the vulnerable angle he's caught her at, she isn't quick enough.
The knee against her head cracks the girl one more time, adding one more blow to the savage beating she's just been through. The flip is sent completely out of control as she rolls in mid-air, partially on purpose but partially out of latent reflexes trying to save her even now. She comes down on hands and knees against the ground and tries to push herself up again, only vaguely aware of how far gone she is. Keep at it, she tells herself. One more, and then one more after that... just keep going...
She pushes herself up, her hand lighting up one more time as the girl swings her arm forward. Her focus is shot, her vision fading fast. But she can make out the purple hue against the background and it's in that direction the projectile flies once more. "Ya- ah!" She gasps, falling forward. Pushed to the limit and then beyond, her body can take no more. Dropping to her knees, she lingers there for a long moment, swaying as if she might pull out of it yet, before finally collapsing unconscious.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru can no longer fight.
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Rock
Still in his comfortable chair at the announcer's table, tonight's color commentator is forced to eat his words. Taking that much time didn't help him formulate a response, and now the spotlight is on him and Rock. It's do or die time, Kirishima -- this could be the moment that defines your entire on-camera presence, could win you a following that could turn into an army.
"Rock Howard is here to save the Saturday Night Fight. There, I said it." Evidently, he's not done yet, though -- the smile on his face tells a different story. "Rock Howard is here to save the Saturday Night Fight -- save it a lot of /money/ by proving who shouldn't actually be competing," here he gestures to Hotaru as she starts to fall over, "by demonstrating that padded rings are too fragile to be cost-efficient in this sort of competition," a brief pat to his own leg, "and most of all, by making every /actual/ fighter all the way down to Ryuji Yamazaki look competent enough to draw a crowd. /That's/ how Rock Howard is going to save the Saturday Night Fight."
He puts on a smug face, but no doubt Rock can tell that Kurow -- for all his posturing, for all his playing to the camera -- is actually impressed... perhaps even worried... by the sort of power that Rock is putting out here tonight.
It is not in Nadine's personality to give up, even when she believes - as now - that the outcome cannot possibly be changed by her. It doesn't help that Kurow is right there, and watching; that only reinforces her goal.
She flourishes her knife, once, to get blood off it - not that it needs it, as there is not really any there. IT does a better job of making it catch the light. "Keep talking," she says, as calmly as she can manage. "If it makes you feel better about yourself, keep going. You may have beaten her, and probably me. It doesn't really mean anything, though, does it?"
Nadine leaps into the air and throws herself in a flying kick toward Rock while wind abruptly blows her backwards, giving her additional air time. The idea - and what she's really hoping for - is to spring off him and throw herself back, into the wind tunnel for distance. She may just have to settle for jumping back, off the ground.
COMBATSYS: Rock dodges Hotaru's Hakki Shou.
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Nadine 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Rock
COMBATSYS: Rock counters Light Kick from Nadine with Gedan Crack Counter.
- Power hit! -
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Nadine 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Rock
Rock turns to tilt his head over his shoulder, amazed that Hotaru got up /yet again/. The bolt of chi comes at him just as fast, spinning with malicious intent even as Kurow starts firing more double-sided commentary at the back of Rock's head. Forced to shut it out of his mind, Rock zeros in on the fireball as it starts to distort his vision with the intensity of its energy corona.
He waits until the last second to get out of the way. Reading it's path, confident it isn't going to dip or yaw, Rock literally hits the deck. He drops down onto his chest, arms flat against the cement of the zoo floor, as the whistling orb of chi streaks past overhead. It detonates a few feet behind him, pluming the sky with its impressive light.
Pushing himself back up with a small hop sprung from his arms, Rock acrobatically spins himself back to his feet and swings his weight around to face Nadine. "Keep telling yourself that," he says, as she comes at him for another kick. Only this time Rock is ready for it. The girl hangs there in the air just a moment too long -- she'll learn with experience that her wind abilities give her added power but also make it easier to anticipate the trajectory of her strike.
Both of Rock's hands rise to intercept the extended leg of the Nadine. Caught in the effect of her wind tunnel against the force of his constricting strength, Rock has her briefly pinned in her own hang time. And that's where the teachings of Geese Howard come in. Lifting brutally against Nadine's leg, Rock pushes the girl back and away from him, driving her back down and into the ground as he performs a forward roll straight over top of her. He ends up on the other side of Nadine's head, slowly standing.
"Keep talking, Kirishima, and let me know when you've won a belt."
Nadine is, despite her intelligence, still a relative newcomer to actually /fighting/. She's done it for a few months, mostly non-seriously, but has certainly not been doing it for years and years like Rock has. No training as a youth for her; she made her own style up and stuck to it.
It still needs refinement, and Nadine is a lightweight. She is easy to catch and throw, dropping straight to the ground - and when she hits the ground and Rock passes on top of her, the wind tunnel vanishes as if it had never been aside from slowly drifting wind currents.
Apparently the blow struck the back of her head pretty hard, because she doesn't get up, too dazed to do so.
COMBATSYS: Nadine takes no action.
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Rock 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Nadine can no longer fight.
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Rock 0/-------/-======|
Rock brushes his shoulders off, cleaning the suddenly very lucky purple coat of any excess blood and battle debris. He looks back at Nadine, to make sure she's really down, before he nods to himself self-affirmingly. "Real fighters don't need weapons to get the job done," he says, even though she probably can't hear him right now being half-unconscious and all. And then, with a smirk at Kurow, Rock heads over towards Hotaru to give her a hand in getting back to her feet.
"Let me know when you have a reign that doesn't start and end with a biased third party dragging the belt onto or off of your waist," comes Kurow's counter immediately after Rock makes the comment about the belt. And then the comment about /weapons/ comes, and Kirishima just rolls his eyes. "Rock, do I need to put you through a ring and kick your skull open again to make you stop whining?"
COMBATSYS: Rock has ended the fight here.
Log created on 18:49:51 11/04/2007 by Nadine, and last modified on 09:34:41 11/18/2007.