Description: Objective: Zach's wallet. Obstacle: Deadly amounts of Psycho Power. Alias: None. Summary: A cold winter's night in Southtown, Ayame waylay's another innocent bystander. This one happens to be tournament material though!
Zach Glen is on his way home after a very long day at the Youth Center. Tons of yardwork to be done with the fresh layer of snow, and the tree needed to be done. Now the psycho-powered vagabomd is on his way to do some Christmas shopping.
He pulls his coat closer to him as a wind sweeps down the road, but he smiles anyway; it's been a while since he has had money for Christmas shopping.
It's been a while since he has had anyone to shop =for=, for that matter. He whistles a merry tune as he looks over the storefronts. He is trying to find something for a certain Punk Rock Princess...
Rooftops are chilly. Which is why Ayame has on a black, studded leather jacket and black leg warmers to go with her normal attire. But the best way to stay warm is to stay active. And by staying active, in Ayame's case, that would imply, causing trouble.
Late evening, Zach has a chance to catch some of the shops in the last few hours before they'll close for the night. Foot traffic is at a minimum due to the chilly weather and late hour to boot. Perfect hunting time for the girl looking for something to do.
Rubbing her hands together to keep the blood flowing, she notices Zach wandering by, checking out the various store windows. From a distance he looks like just another unlucky target on the young criminal's hitlist. She wastes almost no time - at this point any excuse to move is better than just huddling still. Reaching behind her, she grabs a one foot long segment of rebar and hurls it over the side of the roof so that it will come down with a loud clanging noise on the sidewalk behind Zach...
Of course it's meant simply as a distraction, the girl hopping down from the roof to land in front of Zach while hoping he's looking behind him, both hands slamming out to shove him hard and try to push him over. A quick smash and grab for his wallet, it would seem!
COMBATSYS: Ayame has started a fight here.
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Zach has joined the fight here.
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Zach 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Zach dodges Ayame's Quick Throw.
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Zach 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
Zach may have something to say about that.
The rebar clatters to the ground, and Zach does not think to look; he thinks to dive and roll away from the impact site. He is not even there to push to the ground. He comes up on his feet and =then= turns to see what just happened. His eyes narrow at the rebar as snow dust pushes away from the area immediately around him.
COMBATSYS: Zach takes no action.
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Zach 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
Her hands find nothing to push against as Zach proves to not be there the moment Ayame lands after her distraction provokes a more effective response than she had expected from the young man. As he turns to face her, he'll spot a teenaged girl staring back at him, mouth tight lipped, expression neutral, thoughtful as her mind processes his quick roll. Hn. Someone with at least some training. And she was hoping for an easy time for a change. Maybe she should just book it.
It's then that she realizes who he is, recognizing the young man as one of the Jinchuu tournament participants that she had seen on the broadcasts of that event. Not only that, but one of the last few in the tournament to boot. That means he might have money making this worth the trouble!
"Whoops, I dropped that," the girl remarks with a bit of a grin and shrug toward the fallen rebar. But it's just meant to distract as she's back on the offense, taking two steps forward, "Though not by accident," she adds as both of her hands snap out to try and grab Zach by the shoulders while she brings her right knee up and tries to crush him in the stomach, hoping to take the fight out of him before he even knows what's going on.
COMBATSYS: Zach dodges Ayame's Light Kick.
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Zach 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
Zach got as far in the tournament as he did for a handful of reasons. He has some luck, a reasonable amount of speed. These qualities are demonstrated as Zach pivots away from the kick, allowing it to pass by.
He brings a fist close to his side before swinging it in a high, upward motion which misses Ayame =completely=. The shockwave of violet energies that follow in the wake of that punch, however, may do the trick.
The energy being the third, and to Zach's mind, main reason he did so well.
COMBATSYS: Zach successfully hits Ayame with Sting.
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Zach 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
And out comes another energy attack the girl has almost no defense against. Yesh. It seems like she fights more people with Zach's brand of energy than the aura borrowing varity she grew up familiar with. The shockwave catches the wouldbe thief off guard, knocking Ayame back with a startled gasp.
The element of surprise lost entirely now, the girl winces. This guy seems like way more trouble than this is going to be worth. That hurt bad enough that she's definitely reconsidering this venture. Still, she's got to try a bit more before calling it quits. Maybe something a bit more vicious will soften him up.
Her right hand goes to her belt, slipping out a thin metal object that she flips open to reveal it to be a butterfly knife. "Trickier than I expected, but-" Dashing forward again, the girl attempts to step in at Zach's left side, her right hand swinging in with a simple stab near his rib cage, "If you want to avoid getting hurt, you can just surrender!"
COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Zach with Quick Strike.
- Power hit! -
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Zach 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Ayame
Zach twists, the knife cutting a line that slashes through the wintercoat, and across his flank drawing a gasp of pain from the vagabond. He touches his side with one hand and winces at the sensation. The wince turns into a frown as it comes away red. He looks back at the mugger.
He ponders for a moment; just how much is the pitance in his wallet (the vast majority of his prize from Jinchuu is heavily invested at this point) worth versus the blood and pain this girl seems more than willing to visit on him? He worked hard for this money, however, and theft is not exactly right. "You know," Zach says almost conversationally, "It would probably be more worth your time to find an honest job. This is =SouthTown.= Half the people who live here are martial artists, and half of what's left are guys like me. Mugging people would be bad for your health."
Besides; if he surrendered his wallet now, who was to say that Ayame would not make a habit of mugging him in the future? No, better to curb her tendencies here and now.
Zach slides in, pivoting as he drops into a crouch near Ayame. As he comes up, his shoulder seems to plate itself in purple energy as Zach tries to shoulder strike the girl.
COMBATSYS: Ayame dodges Zach's Blast Bash.
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Zach 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Ayame
Stepping back after her vicious stab, Ayame regards Zach silently, waiting to see if he's gotten the point of her offer to just give up already. Of course she has no idea that he carries almost nothing on him. She pictures a wallet flush with tournament share profits, naturally!
"I have a job," the girl replies, speaking up again, mouth curling up into a bit of a smile. Now that she's drawn blood, she's feeling a lot better about this little assault in progress. "Though you did say /honest/ job, hmn..." Okay, maybe not an honest job!
"This is just my way of spreading a little holiday cheer." He comes in low, rising up with that shoulder for what would be a meaty impact likely to crumple the teen bandit completely, but Ayame is quick to avoid it now that she knows Zach can pack a real punch. "You make money from fighting, and so do I!"
Now that she has distance though, Ayame flicks the knife closed, slipping it back into its sheath while her left hand slips into a pouch affixed to one of her belts, pulling out a small coil with a metal weight dangling from it. Perhaps wary of Zach's painful energy, the girl whips the rope dart over her head once before sending it flying through the air toward the young man with the intent to clock him one in the chest to try and wear him down. With the ranged weapon, the girl could give him grief even if he tries to run, while also controlling her distance from him if he tries to get in close...
COMBATSYS: Zach dodges Ayame's Sudden Fling.
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Zach 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Ayame
Zach pitches himself to the side, diving out of the way of the weighted chain before pulling himself to his feet.
"F***ing kusari," Zach mumbles as he clamps a hand over the cut in his side as he tries to catch his breath. Things are getting more dangerous...
COMBATSYS: Zach gains composure.
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Zach 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Ayame
The pointed weight is pulled back as Zach rolls to the side, Ayame manipulating the cable that controls it with expert precision. Hmn, hm, the girl muses, watching Zach start to catch his breath, grinning faintly. "Tired already, huh? It's a wonder you made it anywhere in a tournament. Hah!"
Thinking that perhaps his evasive tactics have worn him down enough for closer in combat, Ayame wraps the cable over her shoulder, leaving the weight dangling behind her back, and leans forward to charge in. As she closes the distance, her left hand slips up behind her head, tugging the black ribbon in her hair, slipping it out.
And then she's on him, attempting to dish out a ton of damage as quickly as possible. A knee to his stomach, an elbow to the base of his neck, slipping in the ribbon around his throat after the elbow strike and trying to pull it dangerously tight and strangle the young man to finish taking the fight out of him, and finishing by trying to grab his ears and give him a solid headbutt toward his face if she gets a tight enough hold.
COMBATSYS: Zach interrupts Savage Combo from Ayame with Impulse Flare.
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Zach 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1 Ayame
%Ayame gets the knee to the stomach, the elbow to the neck. Zach grunts from the sudden pain, and fights to keep his lunch down.
Ayame's pause to use the ribbon, however, proves to be her undoing, as Zach swings an empty palm up towards the thief's breadbasket. The strike stops short of connnecting. However as Zach has proven before, that does not always mean that he missed.
The swirling beach-ball sized globe of Psycho Power, however, serves to knock Ayame back several yards. Or is it meters here in SouthTown?
The ribbon falls to the ground at Zach's feet, Ayame blasted back along the sidewalk, sliding several meters due to the slick ice. The hell was that?! The girl rolls over onto her side, grimacing, panting for breath. Okay, yeah, this guy might not be worth it.
Rolling onto her hands and knees, she glares back at Zach, looking a bit less smug and a lot more angry. Time for a different approach, she decides, reaching to the pouch at her side to pull out a half-foot long metal tube and begins to charge Zach again, this time seeming a bit more wreckless with her advance.
The tube expands swiftly into a full six foot long metal pole before Ayame reaches Zach. It's then that the girl whirls the weapon around hard, aiming to crunch his stabbed side with a rough impact, then using the rebound of the strike to spin around and clock him in the elbow of his other arm, trying to diminish his ability to fight back effectively.
COMBATSYS: Zach dodges Ayame's Medium Strike.
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Zach 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1 Ayame
Zach hops the first strike aimed at his already cut side. He frowns; that's poor form there. He lands in time to catch the second sweep with open hands with a slight grin.
Zach quickly the pulls on the staff with the intent to use it as a sort of slingshot against its owner, and hopefully send it back down the way...
COMBATSYS: Ayame interrupts Quick Throw from Zach with Harvest's Reaper.
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Zach 1/--=====/=======|=======\==-----\1 Ayame
Grabbing the staff might not be a good idea. Ayame rolls with the sling shot attempt pretty well, catching herself early, her Doc Martin boots digging into the snow as she lands feet first rather than getting crunched to the ground... And then she's back on him before he can recover, swinging out and upward with a meaty strike of the weapon into Zach's stomach at the same time the entire length of it flares a violent, angry shade of red.
The first strike is followed by a second aimed for his chin with an accompanying explosion of chi discharging, the momentum carrying them both into the air a little ways before Ayame draws back the final crushing slam of the weapon, swinging it down against his shoulder like a executioner's overhead chop, with red, lashing chi trailing behind, gashing flesh almost like a dull scythe might.
And that takes the girl down to the ground where she lands with a grunt, holding the weapon out at her side, the red aura beginning to dim in the chill winter's night.
Zach roars in pain as blood spills across the street. He slumps to one knee, gasping for air as he tries to get his bearings. When he finally raises his head and looks at Ayame, she might get a chill down the spine that has nothing to do with the cold. Zach's normally green eyes are open and spilling more of that purple energy he has been slinging around.
Watching Zach's fight would tell one that Zach's about to blow his top.
Zach charges in, almost bowling the girl over but instead placing one leg behind Ayame's knee. A rough push hopefully throws her to the ground. The grounding, however, is the least of her problems. The real trouble would be the purple gauntlet surrounding Zach's arm even as he is driving the strike for the girl's midsection...
COMBATSYS: Ayame counters Burst Strike from Zach with Bright Renewal.
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Zach 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Ayame
It looks like it isn't meant to be. Ayame's quick on her feet, her mind actively working to fight back the two energy laced attacks that have wracked her psychique harder than almost any attack she remembers from the time Rose grabbed a hold of her and infused her with an unfriendly dosage of Soul Power. Zach's hits taught her one thing for certain though. The one thing she really doesn't want is to get struck by his power again.
He looks at her in a state of just about losing it, but she returns his expression with cool, detatched, almost unemotional calm, her hands adjusting their place on that tricky weapon of hers.
And when he steps in to try and unleash a finishing amount of pain on the girl, Ayame reacts swiftly, jamming one end of her staff into his stomach, then stabbing it down between his ankles before stepping forward to the side to take him off his feet, intending to catch him mid-move in a way that will cause his devestating assault to fizzle. "Give up," the girl hisses, still standing, still feeling rather strong as she swallows back the memory of his previous two damning strikes.
"We can stop this now. I've won."
Zach yelps as he slams to his back. He lays there for a moment before rolling back and coming up on his feet.
Then Ayame makes her declaration. Zach frowns, energy still burning just underneath the skin. The damage is not so great that it will kill him. In all likelyhood, he'll be able to just sleep this off. He tries something new; he knows that he can give things light shoves; he has had many a nightmare resulting directly in a tossed-up bedroom. This time, however, he tries to do it softly. The stuff he is trying is very light, and very numerous.
The snow around his feet kicks up into the air, throwing powder everywhere. Hopefully this creates enough of a smoke screen that Zach can make a covered escape. That or he might leave enough of a blood trail for Ayame to follow...
COMBATSYS: Zach takes no action.
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Zach 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Ayame
As the flurry of snow comes up, Ayame believes it to be cover for another attack. How he's doing it is unknown to her, but that he is doing it is cause for concern. The girl holds her staff in front of her defensively, charging it with another pulse of churning red energy and spinning it once to try and catch any stray strikes Zach might send her way through the concealing flurry.
But no attacks come and by the time Ayame blows away the snow flakes with her swift staff spin, Zach has made his esacpe. "Heh," the girl muses, taking a step forward to glance down where he was grounded a moment ago. It isn't hard for her to shift her eyes from the small pool of blood to the drops that mark the path he took. "Che." She can respect that. She's certainly run away from plenty of fights in her day when the chips are down. Comes with being a craven theif.
Tapping her staff against her shoulder, she turns to walk away slowly in the opposite direction. She could chase him down for his wallet. In his condition, would he have much of a chance? But it was never /exactly/ about the money to begin with. It was just staying busy. "Ah well... that's Zach Glen, huh? Very interesting... wonder if I'll see him again."
Vanishing around a building corner, the girl collapses her staff and stows it away, then slides the cable off her shoulder and starts recoiling it. That was a fun little diversion, now it's back to her previously scheduled lurking!
COMBATSYS: Ayame has left the fight here.
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Zach 0/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Zach has ended the fight here.
Log created on 16:14:23 12/23/2007 by Ayame, and last modified on 18:42:39 12/23/2007.