Description: Epic battle in Howard Arena! Kain takes on Vanessa and Blanka, whose cuisine will reign supreme! (Winner: Kain)
Howard Arena. The crowds are out in force tonight, yelling and screaming their love for the epic arts of punchings and large gouts of energy flying through the air. Terrible Towels spin in circles, different colors supposedly matching the fighters that will take the ring, but really just another way to sell the business of battle to the masses. All of it is extraneous to the 'pure' fighter, more than likely - after all, the battle is supposedly all there is to it.
Not so for Blanka. No, the beastman has grown to love the passion of the crowds, the cheers instead of shocked horror. His last few goings out have gotten him less of a bad reaction, more towards the cheering that he'd hoped for when he first came out of the jungle and faced an afraid populace. Now, he enters with his head held high, instead of crouched and curled up. He wears his epic battlefighting outfit, which is.. well, a pair of ratty orange half-jeans, and a big set of brass circlets around his ankles, right above his giant feets. He walks in beside Vanessa, gravelly voice trying to be heard over the crowd, offering 'advice', such that a beastman would understand. "Have.. fun. Play hard. You... very strong!" Sure, it's not great, deep advice, but it's what he can offer!
So, a boxer and a... whatever Blanka is. Vanessa, Kain at least has a little knowledge of. For Blanka there's just what has been seen on television and in print. In person, at least, it's fairly easy for Kain to tell that yes, that really is what he looks like, and it's not just an exceptionally good makeup job. Of course, that in itself just raises all sorts of questions, but that's something for another time. For now, there's fighting to be done.
Kain rolls his eyes as a smoke machine is started up, then strides out into the view of the audience through the roiling smoke. It's silly, to his mind, but it's not really that much of an inconvenience. He takes his place on the arena floor, casually shifts his weight to one side, then slips his left hand loosely into his pocket. This fight does have some potential to actually be a real effort for Kain, but he's not going to show that. It's much easier to win if you're making other people nervous.
"Hah!" Vanessa jeers back at Blanka, tightening the black gloves across her fists. "Have fun and play hard, huh? That's one way to look at it." She grins across at the Missing Link, quipping, "You're not half bad yourself, sugar. Let's make this one a game worth remembering."
The Boxing Queen strides up to the stage calm and casual, waving laconically with one hand toward the crowd as she goes. When she steps into the ring, she starts some minor stretches - completely unnecessary, of course, but it makes the crowd happy. Vanessa may not be a showman on par with some of the bigger showoffs in the SNF circuit, but she at least puts in /some/ effort.
The smoke machines catch her attention, as does the arrival of their opponent, causing her to shift her weight back, resting one hand against her hip as she watches Kain assume a casual stance. "So this is the guy, huh?" she wonders aloud. "Looks interesting, anyway."
COMBATSYS: Blanka has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Blanka 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Kyo
COMBATSYS: Vanessa has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Vanessa 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Kyo
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Blanka 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kain has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Vanessa 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Kyo
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Blanka 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kain
But no sooner does she say it than the boxer switch stances entirely, swinging right down into a hopping boxer's stance. "But, let's see just how interesting, shall we?" she says with a grin, and then pushes off the ground - sweeping forward across the distance between her and Kain, one fist cocked back to clobber him right in the jaw as she slides into his guard. "HAH!"
"Sounds goo... aroo?" Blanka is suddenly talking to the smoke cloud of Vanessa's shape, where the real Vanessa is rushing at Kain with a fair bit of speed. Blanka, not to be held back or to let someone else have a ton more fun than him leaps fowards as well. He's going to try to catch up to her, but on his feet, it may be difficult!
Instead of staying upright, his first bound drops him into a crouch, his body tucking into a tight ball. Red hair goes flying everywhere as he lurches forwards, picking up speed, starting to zoom right towards Kain, to help his partner throw the man off! Rolling Start, indeed!!!
COMBATSYS: Kain dodges Vanessa's Dash Puncher.
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Vanessa 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kain
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Blanka 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Blanka successfully hits Kain with Rolling Attack.
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Vanessa 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Kain
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Blanka 0/-------/------=|
Vanessa's attack has speed behind it, but it's also relatively straightforward. Kain slides smoothly to the side once Vanessa throws her weight into the blow, neatly avoiding it. Of course, he hasn't forgotten about Blanka, and he swings an arm out to deal with whatever the beastman has to offer... but he wasn't expecting the attack to be Blanka himself. One arm isn't enough to stop Blanka without some more readiness on Kain's part, and Heinlein is sent staggering backwards after the full weight of the green man slams into him.
Kain quickly regains his balance, however, stepping back toward Blanka. He comes in at an angle, already starting to spin around as he plants one foot on the floor. His other foot lashes around as he completes a rapid circle, black flame engulfing his leg as he straightens up, striking out with a swiftly rising kick which carries an explosion of black flame right for Blanka's jaw.
Vanessa streaks right past Kain, spinning around on one foot to stop herself. She resumes her fighting stance, watching Kain move...ugh, chi like that. That's not gonna be pretty. She's not in a position to do much directly to save Blanka's hide from a crispy black flame broil, but...
Grunting, Vanessa sprints back in, dashing across the ground toward Kain, and attempting to plant her fist in the back of his head, sniffing sharply as she does.
COMBATSYS: Kain successfully hits Blanka with Schwarze Lanze.
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Vanessa 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Kain
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Blanka 1/------=/=======|
Bound, bound, bounce! Blanka's impact is very thumpy on Kain Heinlein's chest and arms. The attack usually ands with Blanka bouncing away, and regathering his whereabouts before attacking again. Today, it ends with him coming down right in front of Kain's spinny kick, the black flame washing over Blanka and engulfing him indeed. The impact is brutal, and Blanka's body falls backwards, smoldering with the aftereffects as he hits ground. He wobbles, as he gets back to his feet - seeing Vanessa behind Kain, he attempts to assist, in any way possible.
Lurching forwards, he stumble-steps his way at Kain, and roars at him, hands waving to and fro. He's not attacking, per se, but instead subtly trying to signal his ally in the fight. Hit him in the back of the head! Hit Kain in the back of the head! Of course, she's already trying to do it, but his exhortations surely can't hurt, right?
COMBATSYS: Blanka assists Vanessa.
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Vanessa 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Kain
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Blanka 1/------=/=======|
COMBATSYS: Vanessa successfully hits Kain with Medium Punch.
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Vanessa 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Kain
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Blanka 1/------=/=======|
Blanka's distraction doesn't hold Kain's attention for long. It works a bit better than it might for someone else, however, as one expects someone that looks like Blanka to roar. Kain hasn't forgotten about Vanessa, however, and since she's not in his line of sight, it means he's got a problem that needs to be corrected. And that's what Kain is turning to do when Vanessa's fist gets driven into the back of his head.
It looks a bit more impressive than it actually is, seeming to have knocked Kain sprawling. At least until Kain's hand slams down to catch him on the floor, and he whips himself around into a sweeping kick aimed to knock Vanessa off her feet. But if that works Kain won't be stopping there. He'll smoothly follow through on the swing from the kick into a standing motion, then slam a flaming heel down toward Vanessa once she hits the ground.
COMBATSYS: Vanessa blocks Kain's Strong Kick.
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Vanessa 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Kain
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Blanka 1/------=/=======|
Vanessa's a quick little bugger, so she spots Blanka and grins a little. That's not entirely useless, actually - one of Blanka's hands moves just the right way for Vanessa to catch on to Kain's intended attack! She rolls with the first part, unable to prevent Kain from knocking her down, but as she suspected, he's going to follow up with something. She brings her forearms up, neatly blocking the incoming foot - and then bites out a rather adept curse, because that felt like she got punched by a truck full of angry bears.
Shooting death rays from their eyes.
The arena under Vanessa cracks some under the force, and Vanessa shifts aside as quickly as she can, rolling to her feet and staring at Kain right on. She knew he was powerful - she'd read the summaries, watched his fights. But this...
She shakes her head out, grits her teeth, and then leans in again, sniffing sharply as she lashes out with her fist once...and if she can make that first attack, she hollers "BODY!" and unloads another fist, another howl, another fist - again and again and again, aiming to plow right the hell through Kain's guard with sheer relentless fists, ending the combination with a sharp uppercut.
Tactics? Working together? Blanka and Vanessa seem to be doing alright at it so far - though it's certainly not everything it's wrapped up to be. Blanka's at a loss for how to better fight Kain, only knowing that getting set on fire is usually a losing proposition. in this case, escaping being burned to a crisp is probably quite a good idea.
As Kain moves towards Vanessa, Blanka moves to take /his/ turn being behind his opponent, trying to move with Vanessa to keep Kain as monkey in the middle. He leaps forwards, strong arms trying to crush around his shoulders and lock his arms into place. If he can do so, he'll bring his mighty maw down on Kain's shoulder and the back of his head, providing a fair amount of awm nomming to smack him around with!
COMBATSYS: Kain dodges Vanessa's Machine Gun Puncher.
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Vanessa 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Kain
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Blanka 1/------=/=======|
COMBATSYS: Blanka successfully hits Kain with Wild Fang.
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Vanessa 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Kain
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Blanka 1/-----==/=======|
Kain's tactic for dealing with Vanessa's flurry of punches is to keep backing up, staying just out of range of her furious flying fists. The problem with this is that it makes it somehwat difficult to keep an eye on Blanka's position at the same time. And that's how Kain finds himself backing right up into a large green obstacle. Arms are wrapped around him, and then there's pain as Blanka starts making some good progress toward taking a few bites out of him.
Of course, while Blanka may look considerably scarier than Kain, looks aren't everything. And as Kain starts to press his arms out against Blanka's, it looks like there's going to be a limit to how long the beastman can hold on. But it's not Kain's physical strength that he's going to use to deal with this situation. A few black flames flicker out across Kain's body, providing a very brief warning as to what's coming next. Just before his entire body explodes into a pillar of black fire which, given the situation, is now aimed right up into Blanka's mouth.
Kain is rather annoyingly fast, apparently. Vanessa keeps on launching her assault, pushing Kain back but not managing to actually tag him enough for it to matter...but that's OK, because she did the next best thing, which is feed him to Blanka. Vanessa grins, a little, satisfied, and actually stands back a moment to allow Blanka and Kain to duke it out a little. SHe drops out of combat stance, even, giving Blanka a big smirk, and noting, "Looks like that's a spicy meal there, sugar. You might wanna try to soften it up a bit?"
She demonstrates her intention with a few quick punches at the air, hopefully inspiring Blanka to engage in some good old fashioned pummeling. Also, to not get set on fire.
COMBATSYS: Vanessa assists Blanka.
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Vanessa 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Kain
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Blanka 1/-----==/=======|
COMBATSYS: Blanka endures Kain's Schwarze Kreuz.
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Vanessa 0/-------/-----==|=======\==-----\1 Kain
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Blanka 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|
Awm nom, awm nom.. ptoo. Kain tastes terrible. There's a reason that Blanka usually just gnaws instead of actually noms, but this is Serious Time, Serious Business. It is important to properly convey the intention that he is not to be trifled with! And.. why is he starting to feel his grip break? Blanka attempts to hold on to Kain as best he can, squeezing down through the intent grip of the stronger man, muscles straining. Blanka catches the warning, too late to escape it, the blazing fire exploding around him /again/ and sapping his strength, leaving him limp on Kain's back, like a bearskin stole or something. Smokey and smoldering.
One gold eye creaks open, Blanka intent on trying to fight back, to stand tall /somehow/. He sees his partner, trying to make out what she's saying, though his ears only hear the sizzle of his skin, the pain very, very dulling to his senses. He sees her arm go forward, jab, jab, pointing .. up? Maybe she means... that's it! It's time to SURPRISE ATTACK!
Letting go of Kain, Blanka staggers down into a crouch - he's beaten, but he will not let his partner go quietly into that good night. Instead, he tenses, and leaps /straight/ up for the roof of the arena. His fingers scrabble for purchase on the awnings high above, shaking the metal struts as he looks woozily downwards. Aiming, and then slapping the awning, he falls. Aimed at Kain, and above, the metal reverberates, the carefully balanced melon pile he'd placed before the fight tumble down in a hurdy gurdy sort of manner, splattering here and there. These are very old melons. And Blanka's smelly feet are aimed /right/ at Kain. Tenderize ahoy.
COMBATSYS: Blanka can no longer fight.
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Vanessa 0/-------/-----==|=======\==-----\1 Kain
COMBATSYS: Kain blocks Blanka's Tropical Hazard.
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Vanessa 0/-------/-----==|=======\===----\1 Kain
Having Blanka draped on him as dead weight isn't that much better for Kain than having him actively attacking, although it does at least involve less biting. When the green man does drop off and then leap up to the ceiling, Kain shakes his head, then reaches up to brush some damp hair away from his face. That was... unpleasant. And of course, it doesn't take a great deal of insight to tell that there's more coming. What goes up, and all that.
Kain glances up as Blanka comes crashing down toward him, reaching up with both arms to intercept the falling fighter. Blanka's feet slam into Kain's arms, and then a quick twist brings the footing out from under him, letting him fall further to be caught by Kain. In this position Kain waits for a moment, until the flurry of splatters tells him that the melons have landed. Only then does he let Blanka fall to the floor, before turning and giving Vanessa a thin smile. Depending on her personality, there are a few different lines of thought that could be running through her mind right now. It will be interesting to see just how she reacts.
Particularly how she reacts to the ball of black flame which forms in Kain's hand. A quick flick of his wrist is all it takes to send it streaming out toward Vanessa, rushing toward an explosive impact with her chest.
COMBATSYS: Kain successfully hits Vanessa with Schwarze Flame.
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Vanessa 0/-------/=======|=======\======-\1 Kain
Vanessa only really has so many options at the moment. She stands back to give Blanka plenty of room, and...
Frowns.
"Well, that was a little anti climactic," she muses, apparently not completely shocked by this turn of events - but she does frown a little at Kain's smile, trying to keep herself from just gliding in there and smashing his face off right there. This guy's really, really good, and she's pretty sure there's not a LOT she can do to win with Blanka down.
But she won't give up, either.
He forms that blast of flame in his palms, and Vanessa quickly brings up her own fists to block - but the speedy ball of pain is just too FAST, and smashes through Vanessa's guard and sets her shirt on fire.
Miraculously, it remains extant, perhaps because Vanessa finally sprung for a shirt less likely to get vaporized in the middle of combat.
Either way, though, the Boxer takes two deep breaths, slapping the fires out with something not quite like calm, and then drops back into her fighting stance, glaring right downrange at Kain. She's not out of this yet - and she proves it, sprinting full tilt forward and unloading a full-power punch right for Kain's chin, sniffing sharply to power the blow.
COMBATSYS: Kain fails to interrupt Hook Punch from Vanessa with Schwarzer Stob.
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Vanessa 1/-------/=======|=======\=====--\1 Kain
As Vanessa closes in, Kain draws back one leg with the intention of driving a kick into the boxer's stomach and sending her staggering back. Apparently she sees through this, however, as Kain's flaming kick just barely whiffs by as Vanessa finishes drawing into range. And Kain may be good, but he's not good enough to recover that quickly when he's only got one foot on the ground. Vanessa slams her fist into his jaw, sending sailing back and down to crash into the arena floor. It's not long before Kain starts to recover of course, but he takes a moment to rub his jaw thoughtfully as he gets back to his feet. "Hmm. Not bad."
Vanessa hit him! Yay, he didn't destroy her soul.
Vanessa doesn't let up, though, and even as Kain recovers, she's closing in again. She's happy she hit, to be sure - it's no small miracle, given her luck hitting him until now. Now she doesn't have Blanka to distract him for her, so she's left on her own devices.
But then, the boxer has never really been the type to rely too much on others. It's dangerous, after all.
Which is perhaps why, as Kain compliments her form, Vanessa smirks a little, and nods her head in acknowledgement of his offering. "Thanks...but I'm not done," she adds. And then she springs in again, swinging one fist down toward Kain's nose, and then another up, swinging an arc to smash him once again in the chin and send him skyward! And as her fists make that arc, the air lights up, a shimmering distortion of chi that might add a little more burn to Kain's next few seconds.
COMBATSYS: Vanessa successfully hits Kain with Forbidden Eagle.
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Vanessa 1/-------/=======|=======\=======\1 Kain
Given who Kain is, the chi following the arc of Vanessa's fists hurts less than the fists themselves. And the fists do hurt; Kain is forced back by the first blow to the face, then lifted up and off his feet by the second. He manages to flip around in mid-air, however, landing back on his feet in a brief skid away from Vanessa. There's a small amount of blood trickling down from his nose, and it's quickly wiped away with one gloved hand.
Kain then thrusts that hand out to the side, golden light engulfing it as he spreads his fingers wide. This isn't /quite/ Kain preparing to destroy Vanessa's soul; he saves that sort of thing for more important targets. But it promises to be unpleasant anyway. The air around Vanessa darkens. This is not the usual effect of flame, but the black fire which begins swirling around her seems to drink up the light rather than give it off. It begins to swirl faster and faster, eventually forming into a sphere around the boxer if she's not quick enough to flee. And then there's an explosion... but it's all directed inwards.
COMBATSYS: Kain successfully hits Vanessa with Himmlischer Atem.
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Vanessa 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|===----\-------\0 Kain
Well, that worked! One move at a time, one move at a time - keep the pace up, you can--
Die. Dying is an option!
Vanessa sees the attack forming, and brings her arms up in a desperate attempt to do SOMETHING to mitigate it - deflect some of the fire away from her body, make her die at least a LITTLE less, but...
...Vanessa's shrieks of horror and pain should tell you about how well that works out, sports fans.
When the darkness clears away, there lies Vanessa - beaten and half d--
wait no she doesn't
She's standing there - scorched over most of her body, bleeding from all sorts of places blood isn't supposed to come out of. She's half hunched over, spitting gobs of blood with what little strength she still has. She has one arm wrapped across her body, perhaps to keep the other one from falling off.
But then she looks up again, matching eyes with Kain. It's like staring into Hell.
She shifts one foot - slowly, unsteady, an unending eternity to put the weight on it. But then she does it again, inching, painfully, toward Kain, bloodily refusing to just fall down. Vanessa is a proper practitioner of the sweet science, after all - she wouldn't be so rude as to allow someone to set her on fire without giving them something to chew on in return.
Which is why, as she edges into attacking range, Vanessa's arm snaps out, aims a punch at Kain's chin, and howls, "C'MERE, YOU!"
Then she slashes across Kain's body with her other hand - and in the wake of that attack, a hurricane force gale leaps forward, burrowing right into Kain's chest, while Vanessa slumps over sideways - the simple motion of launching the attack finishing the job Kain started.
COMBATSYS: Vanessa can no longer fight.
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|===----\-------\0 Kain
COMBATSYS: Kain blocks Vanessa's Gaia Gear.
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|====---\-------\0 Kain
Kain's defensive position is about as good as he could hope for it to be right now, so when Vanessa summons up the strength to leap forward Kain is ready for her. Her fist drives into a raised forearm, pushing it back but not managing to break through Kain's guard. The blast of wind does strike Kain, but in the blink of an eye it's being forced back by an eruption of Kain's flames. There's a swirling firestorm for a few moments as wind and fire fight, and then finally the whole thing fades away, leaving Kain standing there.
Heinlein looks at the fallen boxer for a moment, determining if she's going to be getting back up or not. A quick appraisal informs him that this fight isn't going to continue, and he's already walking away as the announcer begins making the official proclamation. Kain doesn't wait around for the cheering fans; the fight is over, so now he's done with the arena until next time.
COMBATSYS: Kain has ended the fight here.
Log created on 16:30:51 01/05/2008 by Blanka, and last modified on 00:23:29 01/09/2008.