Description: In yet another continuance of an epic feud, Rock Howard and Kurow Kirishima return to a familiar place to square off yet again. (Winner: Kurow)
Rock Howard's been waiting outside of Justice High for almost five hours. Students have seen him, standing there just beyond the gate with his arms crossed and leather jacket on, looking all badass and cool, all day. It's been the talk around the campus. People are abuzz with what he's doing there; is he planning to enroll? Is he here to fight someone in the halls again?
Previously banned after his last fight with Kurow Kirishima, Rock doesn't test his luck by penetrating the grounds. But there's no law against him loitering. And he does. He loiters mightily. And he ignores anyone who speaks to him with a smarmy smirk and a turn of his head. He's here for one person alone.
Down the road, a Neo League film crew waits patiently in their TV Van.
And eventually, that one person leaves the building. It's Sunday, and Kurow doesn't really have too much planned -- a little shopping, maybe, for food and perhaps a few more sanctioned-combat DVDs. (Never know when that'll come in handy, after all.) He doesn't suspect anyone may be waiting for him outside Justice High -- especially not right now, not today.
He walks out of the high school with no real sense of urgency, seeming for all the world like he really has no particular business he needs to go about today. ... of course, right when he's about to be secure in the fact that he may get something done today without beating anyone's face in, he spots that familiar leather jacket. Well, it was only a matter of time, he tells himself.
He walks toward Rock, saying nothing whatsoever. Yet.
Rock leans forward off the fence. He has on his purple leather coat; he never got a new red coat after Kurow ripped it off him in Thailand and then Adelheid interrupted his repurchase. So he's wearing his backup purple coat. It's been giving him pretty good luck, though. He's debating a permanent switch. Or perhaps a third color, something green... But not yet.
Taking a step towards the approaching Kurow, Rock's booted feet grind to a halt dead in the center of the road. He says nothing back to Kirishima; his eyes do the talking as they harden and focus onto his chest. The wind blows and the sky shifts, the only sound wafting up around the two the self-explanatory panic of the Neo League Coverage Team as they kick open the doors of the van and scramble to get a camera setup.
Finally, Rock extends his hand towards Kurow. His gloved fingers twitch, beckoning him simply.
COMBATSYS: Rock has started a fight here.
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Rock 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kurow has joined the fight here.
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Rock 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kurow
On the one hand, Kurow has no real desire to get in another high-impact fight so soon after his battle with the God of Battle... but on the other hand, Rock isn't going to leave without a fight. So naturally, it falls to Kirishima to keep him from leaving unsatisfied. "I was wondering when we'd do this again," he says, reaching into his pockets and pulling out those nasty claws like he has a hundred times before. "Have you improved any since we wrecked Metro City's most famous ring?"
The youth doesn't give Rock any chance to answer, though -- when the call to battle is made, Kurow advances before the crews can even completely set up. He speeds in like he always does, using those fast feet and fast hands to his advantage; trying a technique that he saw Shenwoo put to stellar use last night, he does a quick hop and aims a knee right for Rock's head, hoping to rattle his brains a bit before he can even mount a solid defense.
COMBATSYS: Kurow successfully hits Rock with Light Kick.
- Power hit! -
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Rock 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Kurow
The technique works. Rock wonders if Kurow learned it firsthand or from monitoring footage of his fight with Shenwoo on top of an erupting volcano. But it doesn't really matter. With a crack of knee to bone, Rock's head snaps back from the impact as he bends over and around at the waist. Breathing out a breath, he can already taste the blood in his throat. That makes him grin.
Words finally come. "Not bad," he says, standing up and adjusting his coat with a roll of his shoulders. "I was worried that fighting teenaged girls for the last six months might have made you soft." Banter gauntlet thrown along with the first punch, there isn't much left to be said. Rock's here with a mission; to make sure Kurow Kirishima never wins the Neo League.
Breaking forward, Rock employs a secret tactic. He does something Kurow's never seen him do before. Coming at the kid like he was going to tackle him, he suddnely stops right within his arm's halo, pivots his arms out to his side, and then tries to perform some sort of ridiculous variation of one of his father's most famous attacks. His player has no idea how to describe it though.
COMBATSYS: Rock successfully hits Kurow with Shinkuu Nage.
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Rock 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Kurow
"Teenaged girls?" Kurow asks, a split second before being tossed into the air. He doesn't finish his thought for a moment, of course -- after all, flying up into the sky and then coming back down with a loud crack doesn't exactly allow one much free time to think of a sassy response. Rolling with the worst of the impact, the youth quickly kip-ups back to his feet, starting to back away from Rock.
He decides to keep his stance loose and relaxed, modular -- free to adapt to Rock's attempts to murder him accordingly. "I see you haven't been paying much attention to the usual circuits lately -- but then, I suppose you've been busy with ... nothing at all? I can't remember the last time I heard of you doing something important." Smirking, he begins to strafe around Rock, buying him time to, as always, study his opponent before he comes in. Kurow may occasionally have a slow offense, but it's always a /smart/ offense -- something that's definitely paid off time and time again.
COMBATSYS: Kurow focuses on his next action.
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Rock 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Kurow
"It's true," Rock says. "For a ninja warrior, you spend an exceptional amount of time competing in the professional mainstream. What's that all about? Shouldn't it be all blood sport and cage fights, Kirishima? Isn't that where you earn your honor? Getting blood on those claws by killing men in the middle of the ring?"
"I bet your dad doesn't even talk to you, heh. I guess that's where we're the same, isn't it?" Rock grins, letting Kurow size him up. There's not much to see. Just a punk with blond hair, red eyes, a purple coat and some black pants. "Then again, you never topped the Neo League or won the SNF Championship, did you? And after I kick your goofy ass here, you never will!"
Launching himself forward, Rock breaks into a hard run at an angle. He comes at Kurow slightly askew; his right arm pistoned back as he leaps through the air for the final few feet. Slamming his arm forward, he makes like it's his primary assault but tucks and drives it downward at the last moment to send his elbow spinning for Kirishima's forehead.
COMBATSYS: Kurow dodges Rock's Medium Punch.
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Rock 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Kurow
"I had top spot in the Neo League for longer than you did," Kurow says, with a smirk; weaving around Rock's diving punch with a quick twirl that actually puts him all the way behind Rock, Kurow does what he does best: keep himself safe. Taking a quick breath, Kirishima adds, "And as for why I involve myself in it... killing an opponent in the ring in a fight over something as petty as blood sport is such a waste."
He curiously does not answer the question about his father; perhaps there's something there that he doesn't want Rock knowing -- not yet, at the very least. The skeletons in the Kirishima family closet must be at least comparable to those of the Howards in /number/, if nothing else. "You're getting sloppy, Rock -- ever since you had that brief undisputed reign, you've been sloppy!" As soon as he says this, Kirishima rushes in toward Howard yet again, this time going for that signature technique that's served him so well. This time, he uses its 'original' form, rather than the more recent innovations that have paired it with aspects of another particularly legendary technique...
Rolling forward and springing up slightly, Kurow bowls toward Rock, body abruptly encased in a thick, black ball of chi. Wave after wave of energy whirls around the ball as Kurow lashes out wildly in front of him with his own claws, trying to cut Rock with either the sharp metal blades on his hands or the sharp chi blades that whirl around him.
COMBATSYS: Kurow successfully hits Rock with Yasha Guruma.
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Rock 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Kurow
Rock eats a berserker barrage. It's not cool. It's seriously not cool. In the scale of not cool things, it's somewhere between one of those Genocide things Rugal and Adelheid throw at him and that dark energy thing Zero loved to destroy him with. In the end, Rock's twenty feet from where he stood with his back into the fence, a few dozen gashes littering his body. Blood seeps out into his clothing, and his beloved purple jacket looks a lot like the last time he saw his red jacket.
Digging his hands into the links of the schoolyard fence, Rock swipes his other hand through his hair. "What's the matter?" he says, bitterly, feeling that familiar burning sensation of a thousand different cuts across his body. It isn't like one wound; when you have seventy it is just a dull throbbing pain like being uncomfortably hot. It's hard to say what it worse. "Strike a nerve?"
Probably. It isn't like there aren't a ton of nerves to strike between the two teenagers. But Howard would love to strike a real, literal, nerve on this punk ninja. It's weird; every time Rock gets in Kurow's face things go bad. Every time Kurow gets in Rock's face, things go good. It's like karma telling them to just stay away from each other.
Fingers unwinding from the links of the fence, Howard's hand remains tightly gripped. Power pools in his palm, his eyes thinning as he takes a hard step forward into the ground. A second later, blue chi blossoms down his arm as he cuts it forward through the air, a Reppuken twisting forward to cross the street.
COMBATSYS: Rock successfully hits Kurow with Reppuken.
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Rock 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Kurow
The wave of energy catches Kurow with surprising force, sending him flying back into one of the walls of Justice High and washing over him. He grimaces; it's not a fun feeling, to say the least, it's something that Kurow is not particularly eager to throw himself into again. Pulling himself off of the wall and up to his feet yet again, Kirishima rolls his neck and narrows his eyes at Rock. All right, he tells himself -- if that's the way the game is going to be played, it's time to play the game.
"You wouldn't know the first thing about striking a nerve," Kurow replies, grabbing at Rock's collar and trying to heft him up off the ground, into the air. The technique should be remarkably familiar to Rock, though the lack of chi may make it a little hard to place at first. Recognition is more likely to come, if it does indeed come, when Kurow rears back a clawed hand and drives it upward into Rock's ribcage palm-first, sending him flying up into the air if he doesn't have the speed or the good sense to get out of the grip in time.
COMBATSYS: Rock dodges Kurow's Medium Throw.
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Rock 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Kurow
Familiar enough that Rock's prepared to avoid it. When Kurow gets a hand onto the collar of his coat, Rock immediately kicks his feet forward and drops the full force of his weight downward towards his back. This frees him from Kurow's grip long enough that he can hit the ground, roll to the side, and Booker T spin himself back to a knee. Immediately, he attacks like a cheetah in the wild.
There's no mercy for Kirishima. He came into the cone of punishment and now he has to deal with the ancient technique. Chi explodes around the Howard scion in a corona of golden energy as he blitzkriegs right into Kurow. His hands unload, a burning series of punishing punches and kicks that increase in strength and crescendo as they continue to hammer away. It all culminates with a right cross, a left hook, and then the joining of Rock's hands at the wrists. He pivots, pulls his arms into a more traditional Hadou gathering stance, and then drives them forward with a cataclysmic beam of solid chi energy thrust right for Kurow's chest.
Talk about the father's legacy!?
COMBATSYS: Kurow dodges Rock's Deadly Rave Neo.
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Rock 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Kurow
Kirishima watches that corona of energy around Rock and instantly knows what's coming. It took him off guard when he was calling Howard's last major match, so it's only right for him to be prepared for it this time -- and when the blitz comes, he's ready. Grabbing the first punch, Kirishima whirls to one side in that instant he buys himself, weaving around Rock, adjusting his position as each strike comes -- and no matter how much Rock tries, nothing seems to land. Nothing sticks. Even that burst of chi just barely grazes Kurow's side.
"Like I said, fighting teenage girls hasn't affected /my/ abilities... though it seems to have gotten /you/ a bit out of practice," the ninja says, still keeping that loose, ready stance. "The same techniques that work on Futaba won't work on me. Same old predictable Rock," he chides, before leaning to one side, grabbing one of Justice High's SUPER-ELITE dumpsters. While he can't dead-lift it, he can certainly get it far enough off the ground for just long enough to fling it full-bore at Rock, buying him time to backpedal and get himself a better location to defend himself against Rock.
COMBATSYS: Rock dodges Kurow's Large Thrown Object.
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Rock 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0 Kurow
Rock Howard's watched enough Die Hard movies to know how to dodge a flying dumpster. Exhaling, sweat glowing on his body from the exertions of the Deadly Rave Neo, he doesn't react smoothly or anything. No, he simply widens his eyes, mouths oh shit, and dives to the pavement. The dumpster skims across his back, hits the street, turns over onto its side and then slides into and through the fence of the schoolyard. It messes up some of the baseball field.
Pushing himself back to his feet with both arms, Rock is getting pissed off. It's one thing for Kurow to be a smartass; it's another when he words seem to actually be backed up by his actions. How the /hell/ did he get out of the Deadly Rave? Nobody dodges that. Nobody. But if there is one thing about Rock Howard... The madder he gets, the stronger he gets! And the stupider.
And in this case, he takes from Shenwoo's playbook for his own attack. It amounts to him screaming and running right into Kurow to try and spear him to the asphalt.
COMBATSYS: Kurow counters Medium Throw from Rock with Double Slash.
- Power hit! -
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Rock 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Kurow
Getting stupider works fairly often. However, Kurow is getting pretty tired of fighting stupid guys lately -- and he's actually learning from it! When Rock rushes him with that spear tackle, Kurow is ready and waiting -- pushing a hand out, he meets the fighter's lunge with a claw, catching him out of the spear tackle and just holding him there by the breastbone for a second. "Ha!" he says. "Like I said before. Sloppy."
Then the rest of the attack comes. Pulling his hands off of Rock's breastbone, Kirishima does a quick forward flip-kick, smacking his foot into Rock's head and then, before it can fall too far, grabbing it with a claw and slamming it down to the ground in a straightforward, brutal throw. It's very clear just who he picked /that/ particular trick up from -- probably twice as much so to Rock Howard.
Rock craters into the street floor instead of Kurow Kirishima. With an attack very similar to something his father's done to him a few million times in his life. That sucks. That pisses him off a little bit more. Pain radiates through his body; from his slashing wounds via claws to his broken spinal column. Groaning some, Rock flops onto his side and struggles to get back up.
Arms shaking, he manages to push himself back to one knee. He spits some blood out of his mouth and touches his lip; it's busted. He probably bit it somewhere between getting pistoned by a claw, jumped kicked, and thrown down to the ground. This is where he has to control himself. If he gives in to his anger, he'll do something stupid. He'll Raging Storm, Kurow will endure through it, and he'll slam a claw into his chest. He's gotta fight like Terry Bogard. Smart and tough.
Swallowing a gulp of air, Rock locks his eyes onto Kurow. "Go fuck yourself?" he says, simply, with a hint of wryness to him. He knows that this is a fight; not life or death. He wants to pound Kurow to pieces and he doesn't mind taking some punishment to do it. Streaking forward like a sprinter from a three point stance, Rock comes at Kurow with a screaming contrail of chi trailing behind him. He jumps, skidding through the air, and pulls his arm towards his body to drive his elbow straight for Kurow's chest.
COMBATSYS: Rock successfully hits Kurow with Shine Knuckle.
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Rock 0/-------/-------|=======\===----\1 Kurow
/That/ time, Rock's fist finds purchase -- and man, what a solid blow it is. The shining fist plows right into Kurow, giving Rock the satisfaction of landing a dead solid perfect hit on Kirishima. He's still not down, though -- even though he lands with a dull thud when Rock's fist sends him packing, he staggers back to his feet for what looks like it's going to be the last time. Pounding a hand into the side of the building in an attempt to brace his ascent back to his feet, Kurow begins drawing energy into his hands as he moves toward Rock. It's a slow process when he's this close to running out of gas -- and he needs everything he can muster.
Drawing on those innermost reserves, Kurow springs into the air one last time, coming down toward Rock with what looks like a downward double palm strike that's probably going to come up inches short. Enough to get Rock secure in his position, perhaps -- and more importantly, enough to keep him from realizing the true threat: that technique so much like his own that Kurow loves using.
The second he hits the ground, that golden whirlwind flares up from his hands. Bursting out toward Rock, the slashes and blades of chi in that dark storm try to draw him in, pull him up -- Rock's familiar with it all, of course, considering how close this particular technique is to his own. That knowledge may save him, of course -- though the subtle differences in the two techniques mean that it just might doom him, too...
COMBATSYS: Kurow successfully hits Rock with Kirishima Shinkuu Yamiarashi.
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Rock 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Kurow
Token Anime Sequence Commence! Rock Howard charges into Kurow's storm of chi immediately. He endures through the wall of pain and punishment to suddenly jump, his body contorting and twisting on it's own trail of blue light to try and slam a spinning foot right into Kurow's chin as the other kid unleashes hell with chi-slices all across his body. By the time the Rising Tackle finishes, Rock is demolished by Kurow. He eats the pavement face first this time. His head slams into it hard enough that it cracks beneath his bulk; a spiderweb of split asphalt cascading out around him.
There's no movement. Just a small bubble of blood from his back and the flutter of his torn purple coat in the wind.
COMBATSYS: Rock can no longer fight.
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Kurow 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Kurow dodges Rock's Rising Tackle.
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Kurow 1/-------/=======|
Kurow ducks even lower, more fully committing to his downward motion -- it means that Rock's rising attack actually sails /over/ him harmlessly, the Shinkuu Yamiarashi carrying him the rest of the way into the air and then, of course, slamming him back down with that aforementioned sickening crack. "I keep saying it," he says, "and you keep not listening. You're getting overconfident and embarassing yourself."
He gives a look to the Neo League camera crew, tapping his chin... and then giving them a smile. "Get me a microphone," he says, with that same overconfident tone he always uses on the news media.
Kurow is passed a microphone in no time. He's good on the stick -- and frankly, he and Rock have a cross-promotion feud that /everyone/ benefits from. Giving the cord one quick twirl, the youth turns to the camera and says, "It looks like Rock thought he was going to get some easy points by sniping the top competitors -- you know, like Billy Kane. Unfortunately for Rock, it /also/ looks like no matter how many times he walks out here and challenges me, no matter what restrictions I put on my own style to go down to his level, no matter how much time he takes off to 'train'..."
Rolling his eyes, Kurow just stops in mid-sentence, glancing back toward Rock's unconscious form. "No matter how much he tries, he just can't do anything or accomplish anything without some biased agent or another running in to help him. Everyone remembers his title matches, right? That belt went on and off him not because of anything /he/ did, but because he had help. I've got some news for you, Rock -- I /don't/ need help. If and when my opportunity comes, I'm taking everything I get on my own. Watch and learn, Rock -- maybe someday you'll figure out how to be self-sufficient."
Flinging the microphone back at Rock's prone body, he walks off, smirking confidently the whole way.
COMBATSYS: Kurow has ended the fight here.
Log created on 19:14:14 12/16/2007 by Kurow, and last modified on 21:58:40 12/17/2007.