Description:
YFCC - center for fighting teens or those who would like to be them! Or just hang out with them. Or learn from them. Or do homework. Or get medical help. Or pretty much just stay out of trouble... or depending on who's around on a given night, get /in/ trouble...
For Hotaru it's a place to teach beginners basic self-defense. She holds classes at the center at fixed times during the week and on the weekend when her fighting schedule permits and tonight was one of those nights. The girl is downstairs in the gym beneath the main lobby where she holds her classes.
But class is dismissing and the girl is simply waiting by the door, bidding each of her students farewell. Varying in age between twelve and young twenties, each takes their turn in bowing to the small sensei before heading on upstairs to leave for other activities. The last one leaves through the door and Hotaru stretches her arms out at her sides, yawning a little. It was another busy day. Time to relax.
Fighting teen. That's the only catagory Aranha fits into. Hang out? Learn? Sure under normal circumstances he might not have minded that, but he was here because he has things to take care of. Stay out of trouble? No. Too late for that. He was here because he needed to get /out/ of trouble.
Aranha remembered something that Hotaru had said to him. When he told her that he came from Metro City she mentioned a boy friend that came from Metro who was on the police force. At first this piece of information was trivial to him but now that information has become quite crucial.
Aranha walks through the door. The Dancing Spider doesn't quite look like himself. The easy going smile he had on the ship isn't quite there and is in reality quite grim. So much so that it looks out of place on his face. His voice is soft yet it still reaches her ears with a simple greeting, "Hello, Hotaru."
Now that the students are gone, time to clean up real quick and be on her way. Turning around to start picking up some of the towels, papers, and other random items left behind by the class members when someone else steps into the room. "I'll be out of here in a mom-" Hotaru begins to explain, thinking perhaps the next class's teacher was eager to get a head start on preparing, only to set eyes on Aranha.
She hasn't seen him since the Jinchuu tournament and he hasn't even made many appearances in broadcast fighting as of late. On some level, he just kind of disappeared from the public radar after all that. Her first inclination is to smile faintly. Their interaction has never been unfriendly, even if she did get a little self-righteous last time they sparred...
But then she notices his expression and her own smile fades. She can tell something is amiss. "Aranha," she speaks, calling him by the name he's gone by any time she's met him. "I'm glad to see you, it's been a while..." She pauses, before cutting to the chase, not one to be afraid of getting to the point when something seems out of place. "Is something wrong?"
Aranha has indeed dropped off the radar since Jinchuu. No Neo Leagues and no SNFs. He stuck to small venues in Metro City. The week he decided to resurface and sign-up for an SNF and then his sister gets kidnapped and Aranha had pulled out right away.
"Yeah. It's important that I get in contact with your boyfriend." Aranha doesn't elaborate. There's certain details that he doesn't want to admit. Being a victim of robbery, the details of his revenge. He'll admit to his sister getting kidnapped but only if he absolutely has to. So he let it hang there.
Well, that was unexpected. Hotaru blinks, quiet for a long moment. Why would he want to get in contact with Jiro urgently? What could it be? Her hand comes up near her mouth, curled finger resting beneath her bottom lip as she regards Aranha with visible concern.
"What do you want with him?" she asks at first, sounding maybe a little suspicious. But then she starts to realize just why someone would want to get in touch with him. He's not just her boyfriend after all... he's also a public servent and the pig-tailed girl begins to realize that it's likely in that light the young man would be interested in getting in contact with him.
"Oh," the girl murmurs, shoulders slouching a little before she offers a supportive smile. "Y-yes, of course. It might not be any of my business anyway." She walks over to the door leading out of the gym and grabs a clipboard and pen hanging on a nail on the side of it. Normally used for signups...
Hotaru scribbles something down before tearing off a strip of paper and holding it out toward him. "That's his phone number. If you would like, I could get you in touch with him." she offers. Might be smoother than calling him out of the blue?
As Hotaru first asks him why he would want to speak to the police officer Aranha tries to figure out how he's going to tell her about his sister. But in that pause that Hotaru changes her mind against whether or not she really wants that information. He breathes a sigh of relief.
As Hotaru moves towards the clipboard and grabs it and then a pen and begins to scribble something down. Aranha watches silently. At this point he doesn't really have much to say. Only after she makes her offer does he speak. "Thank you. That will be good. Tell him I'll be in Metro City and that it's urgent."
"I will," the girl states, head dipping a little as she looks up at him with some concern. He seems stressed... worried. It's hard for her to consider that she might not be able to do anything for him just now. "If... if you need help with anything, I- I- mean, you know, until you're in touch with Jiro..."
Replacing the clipboard back on the wall with the pen to go with it, she turns back toward Aranha again, "What I'm saying is, if there's anything I can do to help, I'd like to know." Her smile is supportive but gentle. If he doesn't want any more help though... "I understand if you just want to speak with Jiro though. I know he'll be able to help."
An evening later in Metro City.
Aranha had cancelled his appearance on SNF because he had pressing matters to attend to. But it's odd that he'd give up the SNF for the dirty grimy venue within the slums of Metro City. Though it's not so odd once you realize his intentions. After his conversation with Hotaru, he immediately headed to the pit. Money wasn't a motivator nor was testing himself against other fighters. Those motivations would be completely selfish considering the situation he was in now.
No. Aranha wanted to find a specific man and knew that he could reliably find him here in the pit. And so when he first came in he paid the buy in fee to fight and then went down the hallway towards the circle. After that he hops over the wooden barrier and waits for one Kyle Travers.
Paying a buy-in at a Metro City pit is probably the most surefire way of getting face time with Kyle Travers; it may result in that face time involving your face being /beaten in/, of course, but that's very often the proverbial price of doing business anyway. Travers is running a minute or two late today, but he makes his time -- he always does.
The younger of the Travers brothers walks the path that the Spider walked not moments ago, quickly flipping over the barrier and putting up his dukes. As far as he knows, this is just another cheap, easy pit fight. Quick money... and not a lot else, really -- as far as he knows, this guy is just yet another ham-and-egger. There's plenty of them in Metro; no shame in it.
When the younger of the Travers siblings arrives, Aranha nods and keeps a neutral expression. While normally he'd try to have fun with this fight but he has too much relying on it and needing to keep it business-like in order to adequately test the fighter standing opposite of him. So he watches before easing into his fluid dance, because calling the ginga a stance wouldn't be entirely accurate.
The announcer starts out by introducing the two fighters and then he gives the word for them to go. Aranha has no problem with that and so he speaks up, "Win or lose, I may need to talk with you about a matter of importance." The first indication that he might not be some Handsome Bob or Locksmith. The other indication is that he actually cartwheels at Kyle thrusting his foot out for his chest.
COMBATSYS: Aranha has started a fight here.
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Aranha 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kyle has joined the fight here.
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Aranha 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kyle
COMBATSYS: Kyle counters Medium Kick from Aranha with Stepping Kick.
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Aranha 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Kyle
Travers is a top-notch pit-fighter; even when he has something to think about beyond the fight, he's got extremely good conditioned reflexes. They may not always serve him in Saturday Night Fight or Jinchuu's more bizarre battles, but here in the pit, Kyle can operate entirely on reflex and do just fine. Nodding to his opponent, he says, "Gotcha," before turning his shoulder and stepping forward.
The quick kick is stopped dead by Kyle's shoulder block, ramming into those well-toned muscles; Travers has done this particular trick a few million times, but considering that it's /worked/ about as often, it's no surprise why he'd keep it up. Taking a quick additional step in, Kyle brings his leg up, thrusting his /own/ foot into /Aranha's/ chest.
As Aranha's foot makes contact with KT's shoulder he realizes something is instantly wrong and he rebounds off of it in the opposite direction and then it's at that point the foot comes in, the side kick lifting him up and off of his feet dropping him into a roll before he rises back up to his feet.
"Hmmm... I guess I'm gonna have to be more careful against you." But based on what he actually does, it doesn't look like he's taking his own advice to himself as he cartwheels at Kyle again but this time he stops mid cartwheel and then begins to spin rapidly kicking out at the other fighter's head like a human whirlwind. Even as he spins though, he's careful to keep his eye on the other fighter. Trying not to get caught like that again.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Kyle with Inverted Tornado.
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Aranha 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Kyle
While Kyle is a pretty excellent technician and a fast little bugger when he has to be, even he has his limits -- and one of them becomes patently obvious as those spinning kicks catch him off guard. Taking two quick boots to the face, Kyle staggers back into the barrier, using it to brace himself for a few quick seconds of recovery. Not enough to really let him put himself back together, but at least enough to let him ready his offense a little more.
"Hey, 'least I'm not the only one who's full of surprises," he replies, ducking low and dropping into a stance that looks less like street brawling and more like honest-to-god karate. He rears back a palm, taking a quick step toward the quick fighter in front of him, and bathes that entire arm in shifting, prismatic light; an instant later, he rams that palm forward, sending that light a few feet in front of him toward Aranha in a tight ball.
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Kyle's Charge Punch.
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Aranha 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Kyle
Aranha had something else in mind when he performed that move however Kyle recovers too fast for him to do so. The ball of energy flying at him at high speed doesn't even give Aranha time to get out of the handstand and so it forces the Capoeirista to respond by quickly drawing his legs back together and pulling his knees downward letting both shins take the impact of the prismatic ball of energy.
His body tilts to the side, letting him drop out of the handstand with one leg extended and the other under him before he leans forward swings out the leg that he was sitting on with a roundhouse-like motion at the head before coming back to his feet.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Kyle with Short Kick.
- Power hit! -
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Aranha 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Kyle
The quick kick to the head plows through Kyle's defenses, catching him full-speed and once again sending him staggering back a few feet -- the young man is forced to shake his head at his own lack of defensive acumen today. He's off his game, and that fact definitely seems to bother him. However, he can think of at least /one/ way to even the score -- and it starts by snagging a beer off of the barrier and downing it in one quick, messy chug. Though no drunken master, Kyle's instincts get /sharper/ with a little to drink.
The young man steps forward and swings his foot up with a quick kick for Aranha's gut; the goal isn't really to cripple Aranha with the kick, and indeed, when it lands it may seem a little light. The reason for this becomes apparent if Aranha falls for it; abruptly wrapping both of his arms around his opponent's head and placing it just above his shoulder, Kyle does a quick hop into the air and gets in a seated position. He lands slightly hard on the pit floor; Aranha, meanwhile, will probably have some downright brutal head and jaw trauma to deal with.
COMBATSYS: Aranha interrupts Savage Combo from Kyle with Random Weapon.
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Aranha 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Kyle
Aranha does indeed fall for that initial kick. There's not really much he can do about that. He also knows that there isn't much he can do about Kyle catching his head and dropping his jaw onto Travers' shoulder as they both go down to the ground.
On the other hand, there's something Aranha can do to punish Kyle for that move. Between the kick and the neck grab, there's a moment of vulnerability that leaves the other fighter open to a powerful headbutt to the gut. In the end, Aranha's still rocked by the move but he can take comfort in knowing that Kyle didn't get out of it unscathed either.
Aranha rolls off of the other fighter's shoulder and lays down the ground for a bit as he tries to get his head right. "Damn that hurt."
The headbutt knocks the wind right out of Kyle and sends him sprawling, though he manages to complete the maneuver nonetheless; closing his eyes and trying to grit his teeth through the pain, KT rolls to the side and looks around the pit, trying to find some sort of advantage he can take. He eventually finds it in the most unlikely of places -- right by his face, on the ground, in the form of a floor grate.
Pulling it out of its position on the floor (and creating a small hazard in the process), Kyle shoulders toward Aranha, trying to ram him into one of the corners of the arena and slam the grate right into his face. If he can make him /stay/ there, he'll leave the grate shoved forcefully into his face... and then he'll take a big risk and get up on the edge of the barrier -- a tight fit, if he wants to avoid being considered a 'ring-out,' but...
COMBATSYS: Kyle successfully hits Aranha with Improvised Weapon.
- Power hit! -
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Aranha 1/=======/=======|-------\-------\0 Kyle
Getting balanced takes a few moments, but those moments give the crowd an opportunity to really, truly get worked up. They can see what's in the cards here, and -- no pun intended -- it looks like Aranha has been dealt a pretty bad hand right now. The Metro City hometown boys begin to start up a chant, and Kyle, never one to forsake his audience, gives them a big grin and points at himself with both thumbs.
Some people say that if man were meant to fly, he'd have wings. Right now, the crowd would say that if man were meant to fly, whatever genetic traits Kyle has would've been selected a /lot/ faster. Springing off of the barrier and tilting his body in midair, Kyle comes in with a lightning-fast drop kick learned watching Mike Haggar put his boots in more faces than Metro City cares to remember. The sound of Kyle's shoes, the grate, and Aranha's face all meeting is one the crowd in that particular corner of the pit will likely not soon forget -- and neither, for that matter, will Aranha.
Aranha slowly gets up to his feet after barely recovering from the impact of jaw to shoulder from the previous move. Unfortunately the Dancing Spider's head doesn't clear up quickly enough to avoid the grate or the shoulder that sets him up for it.
After his body gets trapped against the barrier and he gets made a victim by KT getting grate and boot slammed hard in the head causes him to feel large amounts of pain. Pain at levels that only a select few have made him feel.
And now the crowd is about to see the Dancing Spider take to the air. Aranha climbs back up to his feet and then his entire body begins to glow blue as the only warning he gives before he hops on top of the barrier and where Kyle needed time to get balanced Aranha seems to need no time at all to get his balance. No sooner than Aranha's foot touches the top of the barrier, he launches himself high into the air and drops down feet first on Kyle's shoulder before kicking off of him to land on the barrier on the other side. He then runs along the barrier followed by a trail of shadows before he launches himself at Kyle again and again alternating between kicks at the head and shoulder from a variety of angles before he ends it by landing right next to Kyle on the ground and taking high to the air with a twist with his body folded at the waist legs held straight before landing on top of Kyle once more with an Armada Dupla(or Double Leg take your pick)
COMBATSYS: Kyle fails to counter Joker's Wild EX from Aranha with Bushin Senpuu Kyaku.
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Aranha 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Kyle
That glow makes Kyle panic, a rare result for Travers -- and when he panics, he makes bad decisions. As Aranha comes in toward his shoulder with that dropkick, he tries that same shoulder-block from before... only, considering his opponent /intends/ to hit the shoulder, it doesn't do a whole lot. Aranha kicks off, and with those repeated vicious kicks he keeps knocking Kyle further and further off his balance.
That V-shaped aerial kick is really what nails Kyle, though. The double-leg strike sends him sprawling to the ground, bleeding from the mouth; Aranha isn't the only one with a viciously worked head anymore, at least.
Aranha lands from the series of kicks he drops into a roll to set himself up for the next attack watching Kyle Travers very carefully weaving to and fro as he approaches moving like a predator getting ready to pounce.
Aranha decides to pounce. He shoots forwards at KT whipping a blue glowing foot right for his head and then swings the foot around once more in a glowing spinning jump kick followed by a back flip which allows for the Dancing Spider to drive another glowing foot down upon Kyle's head.
COMBATSYS: Kyle fails to counter Aggressive Dance from Aranha with Bushin Gourai Kyaku.
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Aranha 1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Kyle
COMBATSYS: Kyle has reached second wind!
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Aranha 1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Kyle
Kyle comes in with a short leap and a backfist aimed for that leg as Aranha comes in, but it just isn't enough; he grazes Aranha's leg, not nearly enough to knock away that vicious kick. Aranha's aggressive combos cut through Kyle's defenses handily, and that head kick plows him cleanly into the ground. For a few seconds, he stays down, not moving; the crowd begins to count.
The count comes up short. Kyle arches his back slightly, and then flips back up to his feet in an abrupt kip-up, the fire in his eyes obvious and his fighting spirit beyond renewed. He drops into a lower, more grappling-oriented stance, hoping to use his superior knowledge of holds and throws learned from watching Guy and Haggar against Aranha's strike-oriented style. Tossing his head back, he says, "Come on! That the best you got?"
Aranha on the other hand watches the body as the crowd starts counting. If it wasn't for the fact that Aranha had watched him fight Cody on the Suiryuu, Aranha would've been certain that the count was just a formality. But he knows full well that Kyle for some reason can fight well beyond what /should/ be his body's threshold.
As a result he has to figure out a way to drive the fight out of him to see where the man's true limits lie. Aranha leaps up to the barrier once more this time his body isn't glowing but he still goes for Kyle with another drop kick towards his stomach and then after rebounding off and landing he drops into a roll away from the other pit fighter.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Kyle with Sky's the Limit EX.
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Aranha 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Kyle
Kyle takes that hard dropkick in the gut, immediately after that quick kip-up; even at his best, he doesn't have time to react very well to what Aranha's doing, and back and away he goes. Aranha gets a lot of /distance/ out of his maneuver, if nothing else -- however, what he doesn't get is a minute to breathe. Even bruised and battered, Kyle is the same aggressive fighter he always is, using that combination of harsh reversals and full-speed techniques to knock his opponent senseless.
Aranha doesn't look too much better off than Kyle himself, he thinks, and though he's winded, he can still put out high-speed offense with the best of them. Rushing in, Kyle makes a quick hop to add to his speed and close the distance a little faster -- and then snaps a kick out for Aranha's breastbone, hoping to put him down with a simple, direct strike that takes all that Kyle's got left in the tank.
[OOC] Kyle Travers says, "Reserve: 1%"
[OOC] Aranha says, "You know... It's tempting to interrupt with Change-up kick to finish off your reserve."
[OOC] Aranha says, "Unfortunately it's not in character for Aranha."
COMBATSYS: Kyle successfully hits Aranha with Crack Kick.
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Aranha 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Kyle
While Aranha looked only a little better off, Aranha's good at pacing himself. He's not nearly as winded as Kyle but he's still beaten up enough that he can't get out of the way of the kick to his collar bone and the fight has pretty much left him and so the only reason he gets up is because it's his obligation to finish out the fight.
He slowly wobbles his way over to Kyle and then kicks straight for his chin like he was kicking off a sandal and then his foot drops down to the ground. And then the rest of his body follows as he drops to one knee. He no longer has anything to give.
COMBATSYS: Aranha can no longer fight.
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Kyle 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Kyle dodges Aranha's Short Kick.
[ \\ <
Kyle 0/-------/---====|
The quick, direct kick that Aranha tries doesn't catch Kyle; his adrenaline's raging now, and everything seems more manageable because of it. Travers moves his body like a whip, leaning back as far as he can to avoid that chin kick; he almost comes back in with a quick kick to the head, but when he sees Aranha abruptly drop, he eases back, stopping in mid-motion and hoping he won't regret it later.
"You wanna call this one?" he asks, extending a hand down to his opponent. "You look pretty rough -- I think we could go another few rounds, but I dunno if there'd be much of a point either way." He seems at least fairly /nice/, for a pit fighter -- perhaps not the most clean-cut, but definitely a stand-up guy.
"Yeah. This one is yours." He slowly rises back to his feet as he looks at the man that defeated him. After a few moments he extends his hand out to the other fighter to shake his hand. "If my situation wasn't so serious I might've actually had fun with this fight."
There is a slight pause as he looks at the other fighter as he considers his words carefully. "There are things we need to talk about in private. The fact that I fought you here was no coincidence." After he lets those words out he watches the other man, waiting for his response and inwardly loathing himself because he has to get someone else involved in family business.
Kyle is a pretty classy guy in terms of being an opponent -- there's no tricks with the handshake, just a firm grip and a small smile. "It was a pretty good fight -- you've got those weird kicks going for you," he replies. "People don't expect that kinda stuff." And then, of course, the other topic -- the one with far more gravity -- comes up.
The cloak-and-dagger stuff doesn't immediately endear Kyle to Aranha; it's not so much what he's doing as how he's phrasing it, but regardless, he nods. "I figured after what you said earlier. You want to go out back and talk?" he whispers, jerking a thumb at the door. "I used to talk to my brother out there after fights. Should be cool enough."
Aranha gives a nod to the younger Travers and then makes his way to the door. While he's not in fighting shape, he's still able to walk somewhat naturally. The path to that backdoor is made accessible by the departure of the spectators after opening the door he heads out into the alley.
Once out there Aranha takes a seat and waits for Kyle to join him before he begins his story. "It started when I was sleeping in my apartment in Southtown while my sister was visiting me. A female thief broke in and I was able to make sure that my sister was safe before she proceeded to beat the living daylights out of me."
Aranha takes a deep breath before continuing the story. "I don't know what it was about the fight that angered me. The fact she struck while my sister was around or the fact that not only was she out to rob me she was out to humiliate me as well. I harbored this anger for awhile and it festered. I let it get the best of me. I ended up fighting this thief once again in an arena inside the Capital 7 here in this city. I won the fight but I was extremely violent quite possibly going too far. I didn't know that the thief was connected to Blackjack until after my violent display. Elle, the leader of Blackjack, shows up, kicks my can thoroughly, and then tells me that she had my sister kidnapped and if I want to see her again I'm to bring someone with me to back to the Arena. I hate getting others involved in this but the terms are quite clear. I need your help."
Family ties are something Kyle has a great deal of respect for; when he hears that oh-so-important word 'sister,' most of his suspicion slips away from him and he starts to really listen to what Aranha has to say. He gives the Spider a nod, looking him in the eyes as he says every word -- he seems genuine. The story makes sense -- especially from what he knows of Elle, even with how little that is.
Nodding, Kyle says, "The Capital 7, huh. I didn't really like the feeling I got off that place anyway." Travers extends a hand toward Aranha, saying, "You need a partner, I'm your man. We'll get her back if we have to kick every ass in that building." From the sound of it, Travers might be considering that a fairly favorable method -- but considering what he grew up around, who can really blame him? "I know what it's like, bro. We'll get her back."
Aranha nods. He's grateful for the help but he can't in good conscience omit some bits of information. "Before you agree to this, I think you should know that my history with Blackjack runs deeper than this. I used to be thief myself and as a matter of fact Blackjack had attempted to test me for possible employment with them. They tossed me aside and said they had no need for a thief with a conscience." He laughs slightly to himself. "Just as well since I never got along with the thieves they did hire. Anyway every since I hadn't pulled a job again. Well I did steal food and medical supplies after those damn ninja on the Suiryuu fired me at the Black Noah but that was me trying to survive since the ninjas didn't give alternative transportation back."
Shrugging, Kyle says, "Hey, we all got shit we don't want to look back on, nodding to Aranha. "If I got down on everyone who's ever been involved with a crime, I dunno how many friends I'd have. I mean, I'll be watching, but hey -- you were honest. That's more than a lot of guys would do." With another nod, he says, "You're all right. And hey -- from what I hear, stealing from those guys on the Black Noah? Totally OK. Ain't stealing when it doesn't belong to the guy you took it from in the first place, huh?" With a small, short laugh, Travers says, "Anyway, I got your back."
Log created on 21:00:04 12/02/2007 by Aranha, and last modified on 20:55:36 12/05/2007.