Description: ALL ABOARD FOR FAITO. NEXT STOP. SOMEONE GETS WRECKED ( Winner: Acacia )
It's hard to make it in the amusement park business.
No really, think about it. Places like Disney and Coney Island - they've got their own gravitational field that pulls in tourists from across the world, like some sort of giant magnet made of bad merchandise and tooth-decaying candy floss. With stickers. For everyone else, the competition's steeper than Mount Everest on stilts. Hell, Mount Everest on stilts would probably make for a /good/ theme park. Most ain't so lucky.
Which brings us to sunny California, perhaps a little too close to the giant war elephant of Imperial Disney - where a new upstart has planted roots in Los Angeles, in defiance of all good investment sense and property prices. But those overseas investors, what do they know? Well, at least the people behind 'Astronomical World' seem to realise they need some kind of publicity blitz to make their brand new shiny venture work.
Which brings us to the here and now, where the park actually /is/ packed, the main field just beyond the entrance brimming to capacity with a roaring crowd, banners waved above their heads. There's TV cameras, boom mikes...and everywhere, the plastered logo of the Neo League.
That's right. VIOLENCE SELLS.
The loops and whorls of a massive rollercoaster dominate the skyline, the track rising and dipping halfway to infinity. Metal clacks and clicks as the train of cars pulls up to the boarding point, brightly coloured metal gleaming in the sun.
From one end of the platform, Acacia Gillespie boards the lead car, swinging her lean frame into the seat and toying with the safety harness. She doesn't pull it down, though.
Because, y'know, in this ride, safety's last.
You must be THIS insane to ride the FAITOCOASTER.
SUNNNY CALLIIIIFORRRRRNIAAAAAA. And the smell of violence is in the air.
Astronomical World got a Neo League fight alright, and while they probably wanted someone more bulky to make it a bit different, what they got worked enough. Hell, C.Jack almost flat out asked for it.
See. Fighting's his hobby, you see. And violence is just part of it. And you know some times, normal punching just isn't going to do it, you know? Well. A fight on a FAITOCOASTER is certainly something that you will do once in a life time, MUST DO.
EVEN IF IT'S YOUR LAST.
As such, C.Jack saunters through the crowd, his hat duct taped over his eyes and down, so it won't blow off, and his bat hooked onto his pants with a heavy teflon strap. They can't let the bat go and kill Billy or Jimmy after spiralling out from a loop.
"Would'ya look at this." C.Jack says, stepping through the barrier, before putting a foot up against the LAST car. "Finally getting over that damn nanny complex all the other places got."
Stepping in, C. sits against the back, kicking his feet up against the safety bar.
He 'tips' his hat to Acacia. BECAUSE YOU CAN'T WHEN IT'S DUCKTAPED.
The level .. is pulled.
AND THE RIDE BEGINS, heading up the first, tall hill.
COMBATSYS: Acacia has started a fight here.
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Acacia 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: C.Jack has joined the fight here.
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Acacia 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 C.Jack
As the train of cars starts chugging up the incline, gathering speed, Acacia rises off her seat. She turns, planting one foot against the padded chair back, and the sole of her other combat boot against the open crash bar that normally restrains passengers.
She's foregone her usual Army jacket today, wearing just a black t-shirt and jeans, along with fingerless motorcycle gloves. Like Cracker Jack, Acacia's aware that /this/ particular battlefield is gonna require a little in the way of costume adaptation to avoid unfortunate mishaps.
'cause if something really freaky happens, you just know YouTube's gonna have a field day.
She stares down the length of the coaster cars just as the ride reaches the apex of the very first hill, regarding her opponent.
"Oh yeah," Acacia says, "forgot..."
And then she -leaps-, just as the coaster passes the tipping point and begins to race down, down, /down/...jumping with chi-assisted muscles in the opposite direction, barreling through the sky, racing down the length of the coaster cars, with one gloved fist thrust at Jack's midsection.
"...to say HI!"
COMBATSYS: Acacia successfully hits C.Jack with Quick Punch.
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Acacia 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 C.Jack
Looks like Acacia's changed her outfit. C.Jack's just wearing a shirt, leaving his open shirt far away. Jeans and a white shirt under it. "Hehehe. What could you forget? Ain't sure you're forgettin' much."
Oh, to say HI. Well, her fist slams forth at a speed that is RATHER UNEXPECTED. It just rockets forwards, C.Jack's face heading down to meet it, and before he even gets a chance to duck, he's eating it pretty much spot on.
It actually kinda hurts too! That's not normal.
Slammed back into his seat, C.Jack's got a glove in his midsection, and he's sort of trapped, G-force keeping him from standing. Well, he'll have to make due. "You really shouldn't have, y'know that?" The brawler says, grinning, before gripping his seat.
And then thrusting both feet towards her midsection, a relatively slow motion sped up through his attempts.
They're going down .. down... Here's hoping to kick her so hard they meet at the next hill UP.
COMBATSYS: Acacia endures C.Jack's Strong Kick.
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Acacia 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 C.Jack
The blow slams into Acacia, rocking her abdomen. The shock transmits clear through her body, her t-shirt and hair whipping in a way that can't entirely be attributed to the wind.
It -must- hurt. But it doesn't seem to phase her.
She doesn't budge. She just takes the blow, hooking her feet into the top of the coaster car seats to arrest her rearward motion. And moving with razor quickness, she snakes her arms to grab one the other fighter's ankles before he can haul his legs back. And then she does her level best to simply /fling him off the ride/.
Or at the very least, off the side, face to the track.
"I try," she retorts.
COMBATSYS: C.Jack endures Acacia's Strong Throw.
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Acacia 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 C.Jack
The brawler's gambit .. FAILED?
"What are you, like some kind of statue?" The man's able to make out before she snatches his ankles. Ahhhhh hell. And then he's flung, face first off to the track. He's not getting out of this. Far from it. But you know what you have to do when chucked that hard?
Roll with the punches.
And that's what C.Jack does, the Roller Coaster going of it's own path as C.Jack's tossed.. and he keeps the rides velocity. He goes rolling and tumbling halfway up a loop, Cracker Jack more like some kind of freaking hedgehog. BUT HE ISN'T ONE.
And that's why he falls back to the ride. Clenching his bat.
As soon as he lands onto the Rollercoaster, Jack is aiming to change things up.. but swinging straight up, aiming to launch Acacia up, head first, to be where the Rollercoaster would be when it loops... Where C.jack can grab her and help her, personally, land face first in the BEST SEAT AVAILABLE. In a chokeslam.
COMBATSYS: Acacia Toughs Out C.Jack's Power Hunter!!
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Acacia 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 C.Jack
Bits of debris that once were a rollercoaster seat rain from the sky, causing some consternation in the crowd below. One kid near the front almost gets hit by a length of padded seat harness. As it is, he avoids losing his head, though the same can't be said of his bladder control.
Up above, -Acacia's- head is now smashing against the bare metal undercarriage of the coaster car's interior, Cracker Jack having slammed her all the way through the chairs and through the floor panels, with a terrible impact that threatens to send the car tumbling off the rails. It stays on course, though, racing towards the next dramatic bend.
Acacia eyes Jack, still in the grip of his chokeslam. Though her face is pressed to the hard surface of the car's frame, she doesn't look injured in the least. Just vaguely annoyed.
"I work out," she says, laconically.
Before twisting, and driving the heavy heel of one combat boot into her opponent's gut.
COMBATSYS: C.Jack fails to interrupt Heavy Kick from Acacia with Final Punch.
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Acacia 0/-------/-======|=======\==-----\1 C.Jack
As Acacia seems nearly untouched, C.Jack doesn't really see how this could be!? But the fact is, she stays the same. She's unhurt, as it sees, and thus, C.Jack watches as she twists, driving the hell of the boots into C.Jack's gut. It stings, far more than he expected it to, but instead of avoiding, the Shadaloo member aimed to slam a punch into her, with all of his might.
It doesn't work so well.
He's slammed back, car after car striking him as he lands in the land, somewhat upside down. It's not entirely nice, but it certainly fits the bill of being vaguely painful and humiliating.
There's a reason, of course. There's a -reason- why a girl Acacia's size, with her slim build and frame, can take that kind of immense punishment. Her physical conditioning is far higher than most female fighters, that's true - the scar crossing her cheek and the other old injuries on the skin of her arms aren't all that visible against her dark complexion, but they're there all the same. But that alone can't be it. It can't explain why she's proving more durable than Cracker Jack.
The reason, though...
...is, when you get down to it, Acacia's -real- talent isn't brawling.
It's internal chi control.
And that shows, when she pulls herself back to her feet, standing as best she can in the rattling roller coaster car. She doesn't rise completely. That would be suicide. But she's on her feet, bent over in a half-crouch, one hand gripping the railing for stability. Her eyes lock on Jack as he comes to a painful halt further down the coaster train.
Her lips settle in a thin line.
Acacia leaps, throwing herself into the air, letting the cars blur under her, until she comes in for a landing one car ahead of Jack. Or more specifically, almost into the space linking the two cars, just beyond the heavy coupling. And her boots make /contact/ with the car, blasting into the frame like a jackhammer. A shockwave, assisted by a pulse of concussive chi energy, shakes the ride - and the man inside it.
COMBATSYS: C.Jack interrupts Aftershock from Acacia with Home Run Hero.
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Acacia 1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0 C.Jack
Reason or not, that doesn't mean a damn thing if you can do something about it.
C.Jack's not feeling it too good, but when Acacia stands, throwing herself into the air. While C.Jack ain't doing so hot, the one thing he's a member of what he is in Shadaloo is pretty obvious. He gets results. even if he has to do it through his own body. Hell. That's the best part of it.
When she goes to land.. well, she put herself in the air. He's not one to take long to recover. She gets one foot on the coaster before C.Jack grips the bat, clenching hard. "I still got two strikes left.... so you got rid eof one."
Whipping around, Cracker Jack brings the base of the steel bat against Acacia. The car shakes, pulsing with chi energy and the like, but in the end, it's not as bad as it could have been. The bat's brought up to prevent this, and in that heavy swing, sends her flying back to one of the front cars as the corkscrew begins.
He might be the one who's no one is probably betting for at this point, but he's going to just try and make it hurt, instead of really going for the 'best' choice of actions.
You try to tell him it's the wrong way to do things. Even after that, he's got to hold onto the Coaster... the swing was alot of energy, too fast.
Metal crashes, as Acacia slams into a halt all the way at the other end of the roller coaster cars. She actually falls partway out of the vehicle, tumbling over the sloped nose cone of the lead enclosure. She manages to grip the side before she goes flying, though, getting dragged painfully along the rails before clawing herself back up and over. Her ribs heave as she draws a breath.
She snorts, bringing the back of one gloved hand to her face, drawing it across her mouth - wiping away flecks of spittle.
"Who's on first," she says, flatly.
Acacia's boots pound into the coaster cars as she jumps. The ride's racing down an incline, now, making her path almost vertical - but she goes running and jumping from car to car, charging right back up at her opponent. It's probably not the /wisest/ thing to close with someone who's so obviously an infighter as well. But then, up in your face is where Acacia herself performs best...as demonstrated when she slings an arm out in an almost textbook clothesline to the bigger fighter's neck.
Not that the textbook covers leaping around a moving roller coaster. You'll have to go to the academic journals for that.
COMBATSYS: C.Jack fails to interrupt Quick Throw from Acacia with Soccer Ball Kick.
- Power fail! -
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Acacia 1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0 C.Jack
As Acacia brings herself up, C.Jack's still getting his breathe back. She jumps, her path almost vertical, car to car, charging so close. And that's when she aims to simply clothesline C.Jack.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work. It really works.
C.Jack brings a foot up, back, and them dents the metal of the ride as he realizes he doesn't have enough space. That's about when C.Jack's taken, and then whipped backwards, upper half going towards another car, lower half stuck in the other, nearly being broken in two.
"F-F-" WHOOOSH. Goes the Roller coaster! PAIN, Goes Jack's spine.
CRUSH goes alot of other things.
He'll be feeling that in the morning. It's almost enough to make Acacia wince in sympathy.
Almost.
As it is, her expression doesn't change. Her eyes remain focused, her expression impassive. Fight now, be all bleeding-heart sympathetic later. The sound of abused metal, flesh, and bone echo in her ears, but she keeps her mind on the task of retaining control on an increasingly rickety ride.
She lifts an arm, channeling chi to strengthen her muscles and frame. Then, while Jack is still preoccupied with the physical agony from that -last- collision, she presses the advantage by powering a rigid forearm in a broad physical strike - elbow to wrist - into his chest and ribcage.
In the background, the roller coaster -shrieks-, sparks flying from the wheels, as the whole train of cars start to tip off the rails.
COMBATSYS: C.Jack Toughs Out Acacia's Stonewall!
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Acacia 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1 C.Jack
As Acacia channels chi, strengthening muscles and drame, aiming to power a rigid forearm into his chest and ribcage, C.Jack is doomed. He knows it. But it's working through the pain that he's learned to do. He's got no chi control. Just muscles, and the will to use them.
YOU BET HE'S GOING TO USE THOSE MUSCLES.
At this rate though, C.Jack's not going to make it.. and he can see he's cornered. But no one every said there was any rules to this little game. "Heh. So you won... but I AIM'T GOING DOWN LIKE THIS."
And that's when C.Jack leans to the side, arms gripping the car behind the two.
Oh no he wouldn't.
OH YES HE WOULD.
The heavy strike goes through, but Jack pushes harder, aiming to give it everything his has, as he lifts up the Roller coasters back car... and then smashes it towards Acacia, the strike and all finally causing him to cough up blood and collapse on the bottom of the car.
AFTER, that is, doing what needed to be done. BECAUSE JACK AIN'T RIGHT.
COMBATSYS: C.Jack can no longer fight.
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Acacia 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Acacia fails to interrupt Crazy Jack from C.Jack with Unyielding Stance.
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Acacia 0/-------/-======|
No he ain't.
Of course, the roller coaster cars aren't right either. Aren't right side up, aren't balanced right anymore, they're not even sticking to the damn rails. Not with one of them completely detatched by a completely crazy-ass fighter and THROWN. The entire assemblage of coupled vehicles goes -completely- off the track in a hellish shriek of twisting metal and screaming sparks, tumbling from the course to the ground below.
Grass, soil, and chips of concrete explode into the air, along with shards of fiberglass and other bits of totalled vehicle. The wreck spins to a halt, digging an impact trench...mercifully quite a few feet away from the outer edge of the crowd, though some of the hapless bystanders get peppered by flying debris.
Presently, the battered shell of one coaster car shifts, then clatters aside as Acacia pulls herself out from underneath. Bruised, bleeding, she stands on unsteady legs, hunched over as she catches her breath.
She turns, then. Raising a hand, she points to where she can see a hat and baseball bat sticking out.
"-You're- paying for damages," she says, flatly.
COMBATSYS: Acacia has ended the fight here.
Log created on 16:41:37 01/30/2008 by C.Jack, and last modified on 23:31:18 02/02/2008.