Description: After a long meditated attack upon the YFCC by NESTS, the strike finally comes. Defenders from the YFCC themselves aim to fight off the NESTS invasion with help from K' and Whip, who have been on constant look out after a little tip from the ice princess. Will their combined strength be enough to repel NESTS, and give Igniz a good rear kicking?! ONE OF THREE LOGS, COLLECT THEM ALL!
COMBATSYS: Rose has started a fight here.
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Rose 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kula has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Rose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
COMBATSYS: K9999 has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Rose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 K9999
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|-------\-------\0 Kula
COMBATSYS: Kenji has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Kenji 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 K9999
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Rose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
COMBATSYS: K' has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Kenji 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 K9999
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K' 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
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Rose 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Whip has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Kenji 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 K9999
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Whip 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
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K' 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rose
COMBATSYS: Igniz has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Kenji 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 K9999
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Whip 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
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K' 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Igniz
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Rose 0/-------/-------|
Even as the first group enters, Igniz stands tall, grinning from ear to ear. Even with K' and Whip looming about the god of NESTS feels nothing different outside of his normal nature, to be better than all, and to stand tall against everything. After all, what is greater than a god? Nothing. The simple, but sure answer. Nothing is greater than a god.
Standing and looking about, Igniz simply waits for others to come to him. He is sure they will be here, sooner or later, they will come quickly, strike at him as they always do. Predictable, overly so. Igniz just awaits, his figure blowing in a wind that only he is caught in, magnificent to look at, powerful and meaningful. The god of NESTS is not ill prepared for such an effort to put forward tonight.
Kenji appears, before anyone else. Anyone at all. Igniz is amazed that, even now, only a single man shows up. He is certain there are more coming, but right now, this man has to be taken care of. The booming voice and agile tendencies certainly gets Igniz's attention, looking towards the boy as he had intended. The smile is prevalient, drawing attention to the gods figure immensely.
"Kula," Igniz begins, "You may leave if you feel your place by my side isn't warrented. I can assure you, if you have any intentions or inhibitions that will triumph over my guidence, today may to much for you to handle."
The god recoils slowly, floating steps back and towards the side of his ice angel, "However... if you are sure that nothing will hinder you. Attack the boy. Show him no remorse." The god exclaims, easily and simple as if he was speaking infront of a class room.
Igniz, momentarily, does nothing but scans the surroundings, the battlesuit picking up any anomally that may easily found. He, as he stands, await for others.
But he focuses intensely on the lone child that stands. Is there something Kula did not mention? Did not speak to him about? Igniz will find out soon enough. Even the slightest secret can change the entire circumstances.
But today, the god of NESTS has no regrets. The opperation was going perfectly. Except a small piece that appears to be missing.
Funny that.
COMBATSYS: Igniz focuses on his next action.
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Kenji 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 K9999
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Whip 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
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K' 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Igniz
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Rose 0/-------/-------|
The shock troops head in. Mostly new hires or contractees. It's no surprise that Igniz keeps his best at his side. Kula draws up her right hand, crossing it in front of her, the white halo of potential energy waiting to be unleashed lingering around her forearm. Eyes, crimson when contrasted against her sky blue hair, glance over the first to make his presence known. With the initial assault headed in, perhaps most of those quickly gathered to defend the poor center won't be coming out. That... bodes ill for Kenji.
"You shouldn't stay here," the child remarks in the youth's direction, her tone calm as a frozen pool. A slow glance to the side as sensitive ears pick up the sound of another approaching quickly, "Here comes more," the reserved girl adds. The god of NESTs speaks to her then, perhaps suspecting that there may be, for some reason, she would hold back. Pivoting to face him, the long haired child stares quietly. He's offering her the choice to step aside and leave if she isn't up to this? A slow blink, then a shake of her head, whirling back to face Kenji himself.
"Nothing will hinder me," she repeats back to him. And in that moment, she moves. The attack is quick, chi flaring to life around her as she zips in on Kenji's position. Moving with grace, speed, and agility, her feet slip over smooth ground as if she skates atop a slick only she sees. It's her foot slamming out toward Ashima that lets him know she means business, the sole of her shoe bearing a small, ice blade, which she threatens to kick right into his ribs with a frightful amount of force. "This is your only chance to leave," she whispers mid-strike, snapping her foot back down to break the blade off into small ice shards. Her idea of a 'warning shot' is none too charitable.
There are two thoughts that go through the mind of the scarlet begarbed individual that wheeled its way through the corridors of the building, on a definate path towards the resounding cries of chaos brewing. One. The fighting may have drawn certain persons who were near and dear to his twisted heart out into the open again, and certainly ignored in the fuss unfurling at the blasted doors entrance...That left only one other place to check. Which. Was outside-- debris was scattered everywhere, Bison hadn't exactly been subtle, and certainly the wobbly uncertain character somehow still managing to balance a jug of good ol' cherry beverage was of no threat... Which left the second thought as he bumped and jostled, nearly tripping out of the building out into the road.
...Fucking. Skates.
Arms wide, one pinwheeling to compensate for balance, the Kool-Aid man HAS ARRIVED. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! Picking up some speed now that the ground was more even, he zipped past Kula and Igniz, spotting a face that was all too familiar...inspite of the nondescript clothing. It sparked more than some bored routine expectation of a fight. Where she was, certainly...The Kool-Aid man had a target. It wasn't Whip, as fun as it would be to continue where he left off, that one, K', deserved his unbiased attention. "RRRRWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!!!" :) !!! So it wasn't 'yeah'. Sue him. K9999 probably didn't even know what the fuck he'd dressed up as in the first place! He just did it for the parts for his replaced motorcycle Seishirou exploded.
K' better watch out. That red would stain forevers.
COMBATSYS: K9999 gathers his will.
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Kenji 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 K9999
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Whip 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
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K' 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Igniz
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Rose 0/-------/-------|
There is a sparkle of light in one of the choppers, parked oh so convineniently. "Sorry I'm late," says the last person to get out, stepping carefully onto one Italian-leather pump and rolling her head for a moment. The arrival of the Kool-Aid Man is taken by Rose as an augur of victory, even if she is not quite sure what he is doing.
Igniz, she thinks for a moment. A 'god'. She whirls the scarf out from around her shoulders, letting it billow around a glimmering sphere of light for a moment as she says aloud, "You are here for someone, but I cannot imagine who. Perhaps you should write letters!"
Rose raises her arm above her head, then, the glowing sphere of light sliding down along her arm as the troopers in the helicopter start to realize that wait a minute, that new hire isn't who they thought it was. Rose dares, then, what others might have tried in foolish bravery (and which she half-expects to die doing) - striking at the god! Rose steps forwards, drawing nearer to Igniz--
The scarf snaps forwards with surprisingly feminine rustling and a series of pastel sparkles, sharkleberry- and purplesaurus-colored. The scarf itself is feathery light. The searing psychic power within may at least make Igniz's divine corpus tingle slightly.
Yellow eyes fixed on Igniz with a murderously focused intent, K' starts a slow circle closer once he sees Whip angling in from the so-called 'god's' opposite side. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he's wondering if she will be able to hold her temper as she'd promised earlier. He knows his is already on the brink, and he had been hoping that at least one of them would be able to stay cool and keep their wits about them.
Whip bearing all the responsibility means less he himself has to worry about.
But his pace speeds the moment he sees the way Whip's moving. She's out to kill, he can tell, and it's imperative he strike simultaneously so that she isn't left too open to one of Igniz's terrifying attacks. He skims along silently, aiming to close with the man just as his sister does, straining to pull the fire in him to the surface. Kula, he's noticed, is peeling off towards someone else, but before K' can throw a glance to see who it is--
--some/thing/ is coming for HIM.
K' has no fucking clue what the hell it is that's plowing towards him. Shocked-- and, somewhere under the surprise, deeply mortified-- K' finally loses his temper. Without breaking stride, without losing momentum, he leaves the ground and twists sharply in the air, driving a sharp and unelaborate kick towards K9999 with full intent to send the boy skate-reeling off back where he came. "/Fuck/ off," insists K', very eloquently. "I haven't got -time- for this shit!"
Battles have sparked to life all around her, but Whip is blind to all of them. She just moves swiftly and purposefully, her flared eyes fixing Igniz with a stare whose intensity rivals the most steady of gun barrels.
Through it all, she moves, tension beginning to mat the muscles in her body as she grows closer, her shoulders squaring, her hands clenching, and her head bowed so deeply that the finer features of her face become lost in shadow. In mid-step, she draws free her sidearm, the steel of a monstrous .44 Magnum gleaming dully under the lamp light. With a hundred-times' trained reflex that borders, her lip curling, her eyes never looking away, Whip spins the revolving chamber and snaps the gun shut, killing the safety.
She's still striding forward when she raises the weapon point blank on Igniz. In public, with so many others around, Whip intends to shoot down the Leader of NESTS in cold blood. At least if just to prove that the self-confessed god CAN bleed.
Whip doesn't offer her ex-commander a single word hello. No sharp one-liner. She just seems to appear straight from stage right, her introduction no more than a sneer and an attempt to empty the cylinder straight at his head.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Kenji with Medium Kick.
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Kenji 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 K9999
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Whip 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
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K' 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Igniz
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Rose 0/-------/-------|
There's a lot of noise at the entrance, after the explosion. There're people charging in, likely some yelling and screaming from inside... helicopters... and knowing the way things are in this city, the police won't be anywere nearby until after all the dust settles. Perhaps it's just his luck, Kenji figures, but now he's got something else to put his mind on...
The girl in leather: A concept that Kenji Ashima is quite familiar with, and very much not opposed to. But, in this case... perhaps not...! Caught off-guard, the foot buries itself deep into his ribs with enough pressure to make his bones bend like rubber. He tumbles, rolling backward not once, not twice, but tumbling backwards a total of three times before landing in a half-crabwalked pose. Breathing hard for the moment, he rises to his feet and shakes out his right arm-- and he gets "that glint" in his eye.
Tucking himself a little low, the young man doesn't skate about or dodge to and fro-- instead, he cuts a straight path to Kula with a pounding freight train of a pace and rears back his right arm. Muscles tense appropriately, his body rolls just slightly... and all of it, all of it leads up to a direct, brutal punch that seeks to bury itself right into Kula's stomach. His fist will seem, strangely, harder than it probably should, almost as though the NESTS agent were about to be struck by a sledgehammer rather than flesh and bone.
"URRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Why is it all the girls try to kill him?
COMBATSYS: Igniz blocks Whip's Super Blackhawk.
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Kenji 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 K9999
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Whip 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
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K' 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Igniz
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Rose 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Igniz reflects Aura Scarf from Rose with Nega Genesis.
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Kenji 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 K9999
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Whip 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
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K' 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Igniz
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Rose 0/-------/-----==|
Kula accepts. She can handle it. And like that, Igniz's smile grew three times that day. Kula had not changed at all in his eyes, and has shown enough that he would be at ease about her. If she is ready, she would not lie infront of him, not on a day like today. And what a better way to prove one's loyatly than the beating of a boy. Kenji, however, is the line that Kula must bludgeon to put her mark upon it.
And she does. Ah, so majestic. Igniz is very happy with how it turned out.
But, yet, it is never that easy is it. His battlesuit detects more than just that, and his eyes follow the feral K9999 now in rocksome red, leaping at a man that he had pinned down as nobody important. With both senses combined, Igniz is just a little paranoid as Whip and Rose approach from either sides. The battlesuit whirrs to life, detecting incoming damage rates, speeds, abilities, everything. With such data, how could he go wrong.
"Ah, I see. That will be perfect." The god of NESTS announces, Whip's approach almost expected at this time. Even before the bullet slams into the God's figure, it shatters into fragments as a shield spurrs to life, resinating with the bullets frequency and detonating it, just enough to remove much of it's intended strength. Some fragments still puncture the battlesuit, but nothing compared to what it could have done. As Igniz turns, he gives a smile towards Whip. "A valiant effort." Igniz exclaims.
But another, 'new hire' had begun their approach. One that Igniz does not remember at first, but gives the benefit of the doubt. He had prepared everything. He could not be fooled. But the sharkeberry and purplesaurus colored scarf that snaps forward at the last second, aided by the witty remark gives him enough time to react. Turning towards the woman, he merely raises a hand before a portal of emaculate chi emerges from nowhere, not only stopping the scarf in full swing, but overpowering it, giving Rose a taste of a new mystery flavor.
WizzWhazzWalabee White.
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Kenji's Missile Fist.
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Kenji 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 K9999
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Whip 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
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K' 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Igniz
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Rose 0/-------/-----==|
Her warning kick delivered, Kula holds her round rather than pursuing the tumbling young man. Maybe he'll get up and run. Perhaps he'll simply lie there. Either way is good for him and easy for her. Less work to worry about. Less effort to expend... her hopes of him bowing out quickly once he realizes he's outmatched die swiftly as she catches glimpse at that glint in his eye.
She's seen it before in others. That reflection of deeply rooted never-say-die attitude that drives people on in the face of overwhelming power, against all odds, against all hope. He isn't going to back down. He comes tearing back at her, fist drawn tight, ready to plow into the fragile combatant with that power he weilds. Her arms come up, but in the end, she weaves out of the way, spinning on her left foot as if in the midst of a ballerina's dance.
At his side, the girl looks at him levelly, "You are very brave," she observes. "But if you stay, you might die. Isn't that a good reason to run?" She spins toward Whip then, knowing full well that the other girl just took a menacing shot at Igniz. She should blindside her, catch her unaware, lash out viciously... But another voice was heard and Kula glances further along, eyes widening at the sight of a figure in ... striking red provoking a loud, profane response from none other than K'.
The ice user pauses, shifting her attention back toward another presently pressuring Igniz. She doesn't know Rose, nor recognize her from any briefings. Was she supposed to be here? The girl can't help but to try and draw her off Igniz. The girl's hand comes to her mouth, palm up, fingers toward the woman. A deep breath is followed by a sudden exhale, unleashing a blast of icy, driven wind toward her from the side. Wind alone may be mildly problematic, but the shards of ice, the razor edged rings of frozen matter whirling about in the small gale are the real threat should she not prove quick enough in noticing the incoming attack.
COMBATSYS: K9999 endures K''s Minutes Spike.
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Kenji 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 K9999
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Whip 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
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K' 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Igniz
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Rose 0/-------/-----==|
Samersaulting through the air in a lazy dance of spinning glass and splashing crimson juice, the contents of that previously perched jug had been set free to raise the cost of dry cleaning bills. That stuff get on K''s clothing, it wasn't coming off just like that. The tray went in another direction, as did the holder. Unable to halt his charging assault, the Kyo clone hit upon one basic law of physics...one he was incapable of preventing its progression. It would have helped if Igniz hadn't thought to be a cheap bastard, and bought some used skates-- originally from the eighties themselves with their disco' razzlin' reds, that NEGLECTED to have brakes attached. Ofcourse, that was assuming K9999 even knew how to use them.
Which he didn't.
So the best he could do was to try and weather the blitzing kick with the now dented tray...and absorb the rest of the blow with, uh, his spongy padded body. Which in the greater scheme of things, was totally useless against K''s strength. Blasted off of his poor skates, K9999 went unceremoniously tumbling like humpty dumpty, though instead of breaking, he sorta...bounced. Each hit only brought forth a plethora of swears, which when muffled sounded a lot like: "SDGFKHJGF, AKFJHGKKKK!! RETG AAAAAAAHHGHFDJ!"
K' was treated with a suddenly clear path of attack now on Igniz, the horribly garish nightmare gone from his esteemed sight. Or /was/ he. It'd take K9999 a few seconds of kicking, scrabbling and more cursing before he got atleast to his knees, his vision marred by the jostled and now scuffed costume. Sample packets lay strewn about him on the ground, their sugary sweet rushes abandoned..."HHUURRAAAAAAAAAHH!" Rising to his feet-- oh SHIT, ok, back on the ground. Fucking skates. RISING TO HIS /FEET/ (again) K9999 lurched foward, all that built up chi swiftly billowing out as he flailed, no guestured with his hand towards the 'retreating' K'. "FORGET THAT BITCH, I'M YOUR OPPONENT!"
Somewhere in there he'd ripped a hole in that :) face. So now there was only a mouth in the middle of black :D. Atleast now the voice was recognisable.
...Yes, mixed in with the dust, were packets of kool-aid.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Rose with Diamond Breath.
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Kenji 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 K9999
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Whip 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Kula
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K' 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Igniz
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Rose 0/-------/---====|
Having her burst of Soul Power reversed into her body is not fun for Rose. Not fun, but bearable. She shudders and grits her teeth as her arm wrenches back, eyes seeming to shimmer as she staggers back a step. The scarf flutters wildly, coming only slowly under control, as she actually chuckles, very faintly.
"Well," Rose says, putting a hand to her hip, "I see that you prefer to -" Something's bothering her, and she realizes what about a fraction of a second after ice-cold wind and rings of freezing ice whip around her body and carve at her skin, drawing a hiss from her as she feels blood trickle.
This seems, Rose thinks, like a delaying tactic; by occupying her briefly, Igniz will be able to kill that lady with the gun or perhaps that nice young boy with the punching magic fist, what was it called again? It cannot be helped. She moves from Igniz, closer to Kula (and to Kenji! Isn't he lucky? Women are saving him) with swift sideways steps, lashing out at her midsection with a scarf-wrapped fist glowing with those thirty-one flavors of psychic pain!
COMBATSYS: K' blocks K9999's Get out of my sight!.
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Kenji 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 K9999
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Whip 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Kula
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K' 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Igniz
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Rose 0/-------/---====|
Landing from his strike, K' barely even spares K9999 another glance before he's off again, loping a swift path straight for Igniz. Moving with the indifferent, singleminded efficiency of a machine, he visibly chambers for an attack, tensing, his eyes narrowing on the target--
--and then a warning nudges at the edges of his perception, murmuring he's being attacked. K' skids to a sudden halt, swiveling around simultaneous with the movement, his temper flaring as he recognizes the voice snarling from behind the garish red :D. Thrusting a hand forwards into K9999's storming assault of chi, K' counters the blast with a surge of his own flames, scattering the energy. It still rips at his wrist and forearm with its residual strength, but he doesn't pay that any mind.
"I told you," K' sneers, his hand clawing around the lingering wisps of flames. His arm retracts slightly, hand turning palm-up, carefully preserving the fire that hasn't yet faded. "I don't have the time to waste on you. So why don't you do me a favor and just piss off..."
A renewed burst of fire consumes his hand as it rakes upward, the flames flaring outwards in a ring. K' twists, slamming a kick into the fire... but the bolt of flames that snarls forth isn't aimed at K9999. After all, K' -did- just say he wasn't going to waste another thought on him. No, the flames are aimed at Igniz, and K' turns away simultaneous with the attack: turning shoulder on K9999 in decided contempt.
It would have been a rare and golden opportunity for Kula to strike Whip, if something had not inclined the girl to stay her hand. Whip doesn't even see her. Whip hasn't even noticed her. Surely, the young and deceptively-fragile girl, the one who nearly murdered the Ikari soldier is not someone easily ignored, and on a subconscious level, she isn't.
Whip just hasn't given herself a single heartbeat to assess the rest of the world that isn't occupied by Igniz. Her attention is focused solely on him, a single, wrathful spot, all of her anger turned on him. He is the one thing she can blame for her life, and he is the only barrier left between Whip and her amnesia. There's little she wants than to take him down, even if she can't, even if she doesn't really expect to, even if she promised K' she would not lose her cool. Whip can't forget how Igniz has tormented her -- no. She chooses not to forget.
Her back is on Kula, facing the girl with the same nonresponsiveness with or without an attack. Whip doesn't see her. Doesn't see her brother trading hits. Doesn't really see much of anything. Except for Igniz smiling at her, and praising her despite her mistakes.
Her jaw tightens down until she tastes blood. Then, in a wild rush of movement, she's snarlingly exchanging her gun for her namesake and preferred weapon, unravelling all fifteen feet of Voodoo with a sharp crack of leather. "Whatever you're here for," Whip sneers at the 'God,' her dark eyes burning, "you're not getting it."
She snaps that weapon straight at him. K''s signature plume of fire snakes past her, the heat pressing distantly, but Whip ignores it. She refuses to sacrifice an iota of focus, instead trying to synchronize her attack with her brother's. Through that fire, her weapon tries to interject itself, the sharp end of the whip lashing in and attempting to seize Igniz by one leg. There she tugs violently, hoping to trip him up an instant before she rushes forward. If Whip gets the briefest window of an opening, she's going to take it, pushing whatever she's got into trying to meet the Cartel leader with a foot snapped at his face.
Much to Kenji's dismay, she suddenly moves out of the way of his fist. She's in the midst of a graceful manuver that he could never hope to achieve... and even if he wanted to, it means that Tenma would end up mocking him for the rest of his life. Twisting his arm a little as his fist pulls back, the young man finds a strange question poised toward him-- strange, at least to him. He doesn't have the training, the outlook on life, and likely the brainwashing that NESTS provides-- no, he's quite the free spirit, sturdy and optimistic.
But he's pissed off right now.
"Aren't you a little young to be talkin' like that? Seriously!!" His arm sweeps out to the side, furiously yelling. "I won't let you have your way here!!"
And then his voice booms out a single scream, one you could probably hear up and down the street:
"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--"
In this evening hour, the front of the YFCC is suddenly lit with a force as bright as the sun and with the warmth of a clear summer day, a roaring energy that erupts from the young man's fist and blazes up from his knuckles and engulfs the entirety of his arm. It trumpets up wildly, siphoning off into the air from off his shoulderblade, nearly even catching his head in the blaze of light. It's different than the last time that he'd been fighting with the likes of Whip, and if Shurui were anywhere nearby it would probably hit her in the eyes like a pair of spikes-- there's more there, like he's finally started to pull out even -more- from deep down inside.
COMBATSYS: Kenji gathers his will.
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Kenji 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 K9999
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Whip 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Kula
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K' 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Igniz
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Rose 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: K' successfully hits Igniz with Second Shoot.
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Kenji 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 K9999
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Whip 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Kula
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K' 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Igniz
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Rose 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Whip successfully hits Igniz with Alpha.
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Kenji 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 K9999
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Whip 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Kula
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K' 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1 Igniz
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Rose 0/-------/---====|
Even as Igniz can see it all coming, he isn't able to entirely react. After all, even for a god information is somewhat limited in a way that their opponents can move in inpredictable ways. K' approaches Igniz one one side, and Whip approaches from the other. Both move towards Igniz's position.
The god of NESTS looks prepared, but even for himself, he simply can not just allow it all to happen. Bu tit does anyways, the god of NESTS dealing with both attacks from either side. K's fire slams outward, the ring striking Igniz at a time that, even as he attempts to defend it with a forcefield, it breaks, missing entirely as the ring slams into his side, pushing him back. Pieces of the battlesuit chip off, the god of NESTS unchanged even through the entire predicament.
Whip follows closely, catching Igniz off guard as he's struck back, his leg ensnared by Whip, allowing her to tread on him. His face and figure is wrenched from the strength she posses, but even after it, the god throws himself back up. Snared, beaten and stepped on, the god has not even batted and eye, his smile still impressive as his battlesuit continues to hold up, even in its weakend condition. And he begins to clap, approaching Whip with a grin.
"Very good, very good. I'm impressed." The god of NESTS announces, "But this isn't enough, I'm afraid. Your strength, no matter how much you think you possess." The god announces, lurching forward with a powerful kick, aiming to strike quickly and bluntly, with enough force to shatter bone.
"It does not matter. The thought of beating a god is meaningless."
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Rose's Medium Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Whip 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/---====|
Katana drops Sign Graffiti.
Her burst of blisteringly cold wind laden with ice and snow manages to sweep in against the strange woman that saw fit to contend with Igniz directly. It serves, it appears, well enough to draw her attention off the self-proclaimed god of NESTs. The icy girl stares back at the seer, her combat algorithms trying to identify anything she can about how she fights in order to determine the best means of countering her.
That Rose decides to retaliate keeps Kula from striking out at Kenji a second time, forcing the young NESTs operative to retreat, pushing against the ground and slipping back as if skating rather than running, her feet sliding smoothly over the dry ground, her right hand coming up to draw back her long hair from blowing into her face as she moves. The punch that missed was no simple strike, either, but laden with glowing energy that the girl can't quite identify. That it didn't resonate easily with her powerful aura leaves her a little troubled. What mysteries is she holding? What powers her strikes?
K' and Whip double team up on Igniz, but keeping Rose busy is literally enough to keep Kula occupied. Perhaps K9999, with his wildly distracting, bemusingly cheerful suit can slip into the fray to pull someone off the Cartel leader. For now the frosty haired girl keeps her crimson-eyed focus directly on Rose. A furtive glance is cast toward the other participants before her focus returns to Rose. "Who are you?" she finally asks bluntly. Her briefing had no information on this unexpected defender.
The question is punctuated by swift, forward movement, however, as Kula takes a step forward, drawing her right hand back, arm bent at the elbow. A position she holds for an instant before slamming that fist forward, attempting to drive it toward Rose's stomach. Her fingers, outstretched at first, stop just shy, as if she has simply pulled her strike. But at last her hand completes that last, vital inch, clenching into a fist as she attempts to deliver a punishing slam against the mystery woman and force her to back off.
And pull off someone is what exactly he'll do!
His first choice was K', naturally. Nothing could push him past being simply 'angry' than being ignored by the source of all of his percieved woes, and that is what exactly K' was doing. And throwing it in his face with a bitchslap of epic metal gauntletted proportions. He stared for one long second of silence, before the Kool-Aid man starte dto violently shake with pent up emotion. Fists clenched, he repeated to himself, "I'll show you, I'll...show you!" Half stumbling before getting off to a good start on his skates. Pumping his arms he somehow avoiding getting wiped out on any chunks of building and what have you on the ground, making a beeline path for where K' and Whip were about to wail on Igniz.
Igniz might think his loyal NESTs experiment was coming to back him up, but this was the furthest thing from his mind. He zoomed towards the scuffle where the 'God' got the worst end of it, flinging his arms open wide to full on tackle K' after his flaming kick...
And missed.
Like a run away comet Kool-Aid man streaked by with an enraged "ERGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" and instead as things would have it, set himself up to do it to Whip. If he could, he'd try to grab onto her to halt his uncontrolled flight, and with his momentum, toss her violently into the air. Either way, he was probably going to fall on his face.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Rose with One Inch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Whip 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/-======|
"I don't know," Rose answers Kula with a smile at the question. "Trash, perhaps? Or a mocker of -"
The blow strikes Rose in the stomach where it had been treated as a feint. Rose's eyes widen and her expression tightens, lines seeming to come out of nowhere on her face as her teeth grit. Her abdomen doesn't feel rigid; that must have hit deep, and hurt, perhaps direly, even if she doesn't topple over or do more past letting out a gasp.
Then her eyes focus on Kula again. "Left," she says, before the scarf that had been floating idly around her arm rises up again. It glows an unnatural (but pretty!) pastel blue as Rose digs one foot into the ground and presses forwards, the scarf whipping around into a spreading spiral as she aims a drilling strike directly at the nearby Kula, drawing back at the last moment only enough to leap back a pace or so, perhaps in the hopes of avoiding counterattack.
Inwardly, Rose makes a solemn vow: No longer, when at this place, will she let herself be caught up in those /damn magazines./
A deep and visceral satisfaction flickers briefly in the back of K''s mind as he observes both his and his sister's attacks connecting. Whatever Igniz says, for now, is filtered out... K' able to focus, for now, past the man's exclaimed delusions of godhood. And soon, his concentration is given cause to narrow even further. He sees Whip being borne down upon from two sides. He freezes an instant-- and then he acts, attacking again in a desperate bid to draw attention away from her.
Another insult for K9999, it would seem; K' chooses Igniz as the greater threat, and the one it is most imperative to distract. And in an unintentional mirror of his antitype-- or, one could say instead, a demonstration of the /original/-- K' draws up his left hand as he closes with the Cartel's leader. Moments away from Igniz, his hand abruptly slams shut... and with a swift and exacting force K' drives an impaling strike forwards directly towards Igniz's center, all that force launched from mere centimeters away.
He keeps one eye on Whip the entire time. He may trust that she is a good fighter in her own right, but he is all too aware of the fact that everyone makes mistakes.
COMBATSYS: Igniz successfully hits Whip with Medium Kick.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Whip 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: K9999 successfully hits Whip with Quit playing!.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Whip 1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/---====|
And Whip makes a fair share of her own. She's too busy snarling at Igniz to focus on his attack, too busy caring about how she can hurt him instead of the other way around. It's almost with a dismissive air she tries to shuck away the Cartel leader's attack, and she pays for not giving Igniz his due attention. The kick clips her straight on, shattering ribs as the Ikari soldier can do little but choke raggedly in the sudden, blinding pain.
The sheer force of the blood knocks her backwards -- and straight into the deadly trajectory of Kool-9999's path. One arm looped around her torso to nurse herself against the agony, Whip has only a second to turn her head, and widen her eyes before the second attack slams home. Snapped up, her lean body feeling like it weighs no more than a pillow, a second later Whip is reintroduced to a familiar pain of her spine getting SLAMMED into the side of a building, before she falls a good ten feet to crumple into a broken heap.
But the thing about Whip; the harder you knock her down, the more tenacious she is about getting back up. Seething noisily, blood oozily in ropes from the side of her mouth, she scrapes herself off the pavement with trembling hands. Already she looks like a mess, but even appearances can be deceiving. Because Whip forces herself back into the fray with surprising speed, making a vicious beeline straight for the closest person to her -- the freak in the kool aid costume. She's not sure if he's even Cartel, but there's one way to find out.
Lunging in angrily, a serrated huntin gknife is suddenly spun expertly between the fingers of her left hand. She snaps it into a reverse grip, and, in a movement like gutting an animal, tries to swipe a clean incision straight into the costume's big red delicious smile. She pulls DOWN to try to yank it open. And, whatever or whoever's face may be waiting in there... Whip introduces herself to it with a fist at his face.
'The thought of beating a god is meaningless.'
With the energy still roaring around his arm, the most responsible member of the Guardian Kings finds himself stuck in a situation that he couldn't possibly hope to understand-- at least rightly and properly, even with the crash course that Shurui did manage to give him. In a sense, he's getting his bearings. He's locking on, judging the distance between himself and the man with the two capes, and what's between the two of them.
His right arm comes up as his legs suddenly surge, the young man ripping himself out of his own glowing effect as he starts to pound a fierce path down the sidewalk. Charging like a single-minded bat out of Hell, the brawler from Osaka moves to surge beyond his impromptu "teammate" and reach out toward Kula in an attempt to grab the NESTS agent by the face. If he can, he'll suddenly find the strength to pick her up with that one hand, then -spike- her head to the ground. "URRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--"
And then, if all goes to plan, without losing a step of his momentum, the impromptu rushing attack will have a burst of the brilliant chi erupting from the ground below, trying to launch the ice-wielding girl headfirst into the air.
Still, there's something else to this-- unless she directly intervenes and stops him with brute force, whether or not his attack -completes-, Kenji's going to let her go and continue on his warpath.
His warpath that will end, most likely, with either him punching a huge muscular blonde, or having a fist put through his skull. It's rare to see Kenji Ashima this driven, and even more rare to see him so utterly pissed off.
COMBATSYS: K' successfully hits Igniz with One Inch EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Kenji 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Whip 1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/---====|
Even with Whip pushed aside and K9999 coming up to aid him, Igniz finds out quickly that K' is still gunning for him. The god of NESTS, if anything, can bide his time. So sure of himself, so simple to imagine that even a small mishap, even if it continues for a short period of time, can easily be fixed. And now, standing infront of K' as he draws himself forward, aiming to direct his hand at close range towards Igniz, he aims to raise the forcefield.
But he isn't able to. The swift and exacting force that K' gives upon Igniz's figure is wrenching, causing shards to fly off of Igniz's armor and sending him back. Yet even if Igniz begins to bleed, his face construed in no pain what soever, the smile still wreathed on his face even at this time. The god of NESTS is a wicked one.
Watching K', even as the pain subspides, the god makes no movements at first. "After all this time... I see something different. A glint in your eye, K'. Tell me what it is? What are you defending?" The god of NESTS picks at K', entirely happy at prodding and striking at him. Calmly, relaxed.
"Is it Kula Diamond? Do you resonate with her?" Igniz speaks, raising his hand. White chi fills his hand as it pulsates. "No, it's someone closer, isn't it. Tell me, K'. Tell me everything." With each passing second, the manifesting chi expands. More and more until finally, it stops.
"Tell me what you cherish most." The god continues, "Give me the pleasure of taking it away."
Leaving no time for explinations or questions or even feelings, the globule heads towards K', making its way across the ground at increasing speeds.
COMBATSYS: Kenji successfully hits Kula with Claymore.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Whip 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Rose's Soul Spiral.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Whip 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/-======|
Rose's answers are lost on the child aged assassin and as Kula draws her hand back from that surprisingly forceful punch, she says nothing for the moment, eyes staying focused on the woman. That the blow didn't completely crumple her means she's got some tenacity to her. She's no slouch as a fighter. "I doubt that you are trash, but you may be meddling in something that could get you killed. You should leave." she advises her after a moment's thought, bringing her left hand up, palm forward, creating a small barrier in front of her, readying her defenses for any retaliation to come her way.
Part of that retaliation comes in the form of the charging Kenji, the boy plowing into Kula's side in order to get a grip on the side of her head, blindsiding her entirely. Easily hefted, the light weight combatant flails her limbs for a moment, attempting to strike back before he can follow through. But in the end, she finds herself being slammed back down against the ground, the back of her head crunching unpleasantly, provoking a gasp from behind Kenji's gripping hand.
The chi blast strikes with explosive force as he releases his hold, knocking Kula up into the air. But she recovers quickly, spinning out of the trajectory into a landing directly in the path of Rose's strike. That barrier readied a moment before is brought to bear then. It intersects the drilling spike, but it cannot hold. The psycho power behind Rose's drilling attack cracks then finally obliterates the shield, plowing into Kula's raised arms with enough force to send the slightly disoriented girl stumbling backward, gasping at the loss of her protective ice barrier.
Catching herself before she can fall over, she lowers her arms, the black leather sleeves of her leather jacket giving off a simmering smoke after the contact with the power that nearly cut through her defenses all together. She looks at Rose differently then, eyes widened slightly as she pieces the painful experience together, face paling slightly. She bears a power similar to that force of malevolence that Vega wields. A split second glance is spared Kenji, but the boy is already barreling on, leaving her to face Rose for the moment. Well... if she turns her attention away, the woman might go back to harrying Igniz, and Kula can't allow for that.
Thus it is that Kula slips forward again, cocking her arm for a second punch just like the last. Only this one comes with a flavor of translucent ice encasing her glove, forming a second guantlet, two spikes jutting out over her knuckles as she attempts to slam the icy covered fist into Rose's side, threatening to puncture her in some manner.
COMBATSYS: K9999 endures Whip's Strong Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Whip 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/-======|
Were K9999 of the mind to pay close attention to his surroundings, he could have answered the question posed to K' by Igniz. Pity he wasn't, too busy with being irritated at having missed K' completly. And getting back off from his knees having had to brace himself with his hands. Honestly, there hasn't been this much kneeling ever in a fight, much less a porn video. He might have even enjoyed swatting Whip away if he wasn't so busy, instead he made the mistake of dismissing the /delicate/ woman and slowly turning himself back to the PG-13 interaction going on with the God of NESTs. And who cared about that toy-obsessed bitch Kula!
Before he knew it though he was wrested around violently, seeing the edge of a knife first and not the woman behind it. Whip would be treated to a startled (albiet still very angry looking, sweat-hair-slicked K9999 glaring right on back at her) youth that was as familiar as her favourite ingrown toenail from all those nazi-like boots she wore. Imagine if it'd been some innocent person, they'd get punched clean in the face just based on the reaction time alone! And even though K9999 was far from innocent, he got punched all the same, perhaps managing a bared-teeth snarl before his head and body snapped back from the blow.
Saved from falling flat on his back, the hand that held him would be grasped, and from there he'd try to pull Whip on in close. Blood tricked from his nose the colour of his violated suit, "I'm going to break you all over again!" and leave her bleeding on the ground for K' to find once more. Maybe that might be the answer for Igniz, depending on the outcome for K's precious Whip. Energy built. Energy released, waves of swirling chi ripped up and around the NESTs experiment, prepared to decimate anything caught within its whirlwind like gale.
COMBATSYS: Rose fails to reflect Medium Punch from Kula with Soul Reflect.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Kenji 1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Whip 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/=======|
"You're quite polite for someone who attacks a youth center in helicopters," Rose says, still somehow lighthearted even as she draws back fractionally from her strike. She gives Kenji a momentary glance of approval (MAKE YOUR MOVE, ASHIMA!)
And speaking of moves, that fist slams out and Rose's scarf whirls to whip around it, to send that energy back - but here Rose makes a miscalculation, perhaps, assuming that this is like a Kusanagi flame or some similar clever manifestation. And it is - but not entirely!
Kula's hand may tingle but it is hard for Rose to maintain a focus when a skewer of ice has stabbed her in the side, and she hisses through her teeth. She takes a step back again - and looks Kula directly in the eye to ask, with more effort in her voice, "So why have /you/ come here? Are you in favor of juvenile delinquency, or is there something you are seeking?"
COMBATSYS: K' just-defends Igniz's Divine Arrow - Ground!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Kenji 1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Whip 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/=======|
Hissing out a breath, K' pulls back instantly, not wanting to stay close, not even giving himself a -moment- to feel satisfaction over the sensation of sinking a blow into Igniz. He circles back warily, as if trying to draw Igniz's attention with him; like some kind of bird faking a limp to draw a fox away from its nest.
He -is- decidedly different from the indifferent, nigh-soulless killing machine he was when he was under Igniz's aegis. There is a drive and purpose about him that never existed before... a will to act that stands in sharp contrast to the aimless, joyless engine of anger he was when within NESTS's four walls. The difference should be obvious to someone as astute as Igniz, and to comment upon the change is ultimately child's play for the manipulative Cartel leader.
A twitch crosses his expression, distinctly, at the mention of Kula. It's the only indication K' is willing to give that Igniz got to him all; any hint or -thought- of Whip he has in response to Igniz's query is instantly driven far from his countenance. Chided to tell his erstwhile 'father' everything, K' holds his tongue with an iron defiance, head lowering in defensive threat, hands coiling tensely. The air shimmers about his knuckles from the gathering heat.
Seemingly mesmerized by Igniz's persuasive voice, hypnotized in place, K' doesn't move even as that bolt of chi builds. He doesn't even seem to see it, so fixed with rage he is on Igniz's face. But in reality, his focus is unparalleled. When that blast comes for him K' is already rushing to meet it, a blaze racing down his arm, fire streaming in his wake from the speed of his movement. That arm swipes straight towards the white chi, trailing a corona of heat, and all the gathered fire bursts in one sudden flash that lights the evening: the very fire Igniz gave him spins off his wrist in a lancing arch of flames, piercing the chi, forcing it to burst preemptively in a scatter of light.
Arrowing through the shredded remnants of white chi and tattered fire alike, K' does the patently foolish. He attacks Igniz head-on. Tell me what you cherish most, Igniz invites, and this time, K' can't stop himself from an answer. "How about the thought of strangling your life out in my hands?" Blasting another surge of his stolen flames at Igniz, K' tries to meet the Cartel leader with a vicious kick cut straight through them; the sudden exertion wrings a growled breath out of him, serrating an edge onto his wry words. "That's pretty high on the list..."
COMBATSYS: K9999 successfully hits Whip with Moon....
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Kenji 1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Whip 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=======\===----\1 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/=======|
"YOU." Whip's voice burns with murder as her dark eyes fix on a familiar face. She meets K9999 with a snarl that drips of a perfect memory, her mind going back to their first introduction during a rainy day in Killarney. Her fist tightens on the edge of that costume, her knuckles white as she seems to easily, effortlessly support his teetering weight. She pulls the youth back in close, madly, fearlessly, so she can sneer into his face: "You dirty little sonuva bitch, I owe you a catheter tube!"
She hefts him up, no doubt thirsting to compound the fractures her first punch may have made -- but then K9999 moves with surprising deftness, recovering more quickly than she expected. Close as they were, he kills whatever lingering distance is left. Whip has the pride and the dignity to look briefly outraged.
Then she's smacked with a full blast of chi, her meagre defenses against the energy holding no card to the sheer power invested in that strike. Letting K9999 go, Whip is engulfed in the encircling barrage, unable to do anything but be subjected to the agony of being hacked and cleaved into as she's smacked about. Tossed back like a rag doll, the soldier hits the dirt, skidding to a stop and leaving behind a greasy trail of blood.
For a moment she is still. But not a moment more. Whip doesn't have time to bask in injury. As soon as consciousness dawns on her, it is screaming at her to get back up, to keep moving while she can, to do as much damage until she can move no more. Leaving more blood behind, Whip staggers back up to her hands and knees, one eye closed, glued shut by the blood streaming down from her opened temple. She turns slowly to fix K9999 with a dangerous look -- or was intending to.
Whip sees something else first. Just a glimpse of it. But that one glimpse is all she needs. It's Igniz, and that chi of his -- and he's unleashing it on--
Something snaps inside of her. She forgets all about K9999.
K' has not even defended himself when Igniz suddenly has his question answered for him.
"STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" Whip is SNARLING, everything patient, temperate, and sensible about her broken by the utter nightmare of seeing her only brother facing against the man who was the mastermind behind all their suffering. Almost out of nowhere she descends upon Igniz with the single-minded programming of a cruise missile, trying to intercept him with a murderous intent. She can't think of anything that's not protecting her brother.
An instant later, that signature weapon of hers lashes past, as Whip all but explodes on him, trying to barrage the 'God' down with savage, brutal, and sheer /mindless/ strikes of her whip, putting every last bit of herself in attacking until either one of them stops moving.
When his fingers grip onto her head, it's like his hand closes like a vice-- while Kula's likely experienced things far worse, it's still Kenji Ashima's parting gift while he cuts his own swath through the NESTS agents that remain outside, the spike to the ground, and the explosive burst of chi to cap it all off. Arms and legs still pumping like he's going for the gold, the Missile Fist finds himself moving on toward the next obstacle in his beeline toward the man with the fantastic hair: The one with the short-cropped hair and the ... ... strange glove. Were he not so occupied, he would make a note of that and have to ask Shurui later.
The brawler seems to be pressing his luck with his forward charge, running up to give a large surprise to the NESTS agent should he not be all that attentive: Kenji springs into the air. His right leg wheels into the air, his heel looking to drive into the youth's torso and dig in hard. Added to that, a fierce, "URRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Should his footing catch, should his angry flying stomp take, then the surge of chi builds up within him and finds itself focused through his leg. Pressing out of his foot, trying to forcefully "inject" his chi into the space of the man's body, the Guardian King allows it to detonate-- and likely give his innards a good rattling.
COMBATSYS: Igniz dodges K''s Second Shell.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Kenji 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Whip 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=======\===----\1 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Igniz blocks Whip's Sonic Slaughter KW.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Kenji 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Whip 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=======\====---\1 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/=======|
Standing fully well, Igniz awaits once more. Simply allowing them to come to him without a thought. Without a moment of pause. Igniz stands his ground. Even while K' blasts through his divine arrow - an impressive feat none the less, Igniz does not seem at all persuaded to lash out, neither a single spec of intruige about his face.
But he isn't the only. Whip is turned towards him, poised to lurch like a snake, striking at Igniz's exposed side. But the god of NESTS just listens to K'. About how there would be nothing more to him than to strangle him. Igniz's smile widens upon hearing the words. Yet still nothing in return. Stolen flames strike out, almost exactly as Whip cries out, demanding the god do something entirely different. Not asking, nor talking, simply snarling in a garrish fashion.
It takes merely moments for the Igniz to put the pieces together.
"I see." He announces, the battlesuit whirring to life, chi flooding the systems as his manifested chi forms into something entirely different. Obviously stolen from a source around him.
Ice. Igniz begins to slide backwards, a small ramp formed beneath him as K' lashes out towards a futile goal, Igniz slipping back moments each time from getting struck, the flames burning into his side.
And then Whip crashes out, rushing towards the god in turn. As he turns, the ground juts out, no longer a forcefield but a trick stolen from Kula Diamond herself, a powerful rock of ice protecting Igniz's figure, even as Whip runs towards him, through all, even ignoring K9999, who had made her bleed, made her suffer. But the chance to strike the god is too good to be true. Most likely, the reason is, because it is.
The whips strike down mindlessly, cutting through the rock and finally towards Igniz, denting the battlesuit decently, but not entirely terribly. And Whips momentum is not forgotten. "I see what you now treasure, K Dash." Igniz announces, his figure picking up, as if possessed, right hand outstreched towards Whip's face, aiming to grab her powerfully in his clutches, to capitilize on her forward momentum.
"Now watch it disappear!"
COMBATSYS: K9999 fails to interrupt Magnum Spike from Kenji with Get out of my sight!.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Kenji 1/------=/=======|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Whip 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/=======|
Her punching strike lands hard against Rose's side before Kula steps back, shaking her hand, causing flakes of now discarded, partially bloodied ice to drift to the ground at her feet. "It's not that I care," Kula responds to the seer, "But if people just leave, it's easier for me." Her small hand clenches again, forming a fist, a halo of white emanating out from around it. "And easier those who run."
The second question comes, tempered by a touch of humor lost on the apparently obediant girl. "I'm here because he is," she answers, a nod toward Igniz. In doing so she glances to the side, becoming aware of the outcome of the two attacks sent Igniz's way, crimson eyes widening slightly as she notices the manifestation of ice used in his defense. Somehow... she knows he took it from her. It may not be the pure matter she is able to create, but it's effective all the same. Igniz's potential surprises even she who has fought him in the past and seen his power first hand.
"And he is here for reasons he doesn't need to tell me." Kula continues, snapping her attention back to her immediate problem. Rose. She turns her left shoulder toward the woman, her left hand snapping out in an attempt to get a tight grip on the top of her dress. "But since you won't leave, I must continue."
And should she get that grip, her right hand slams forward next, going for the fortune teller's throat, seeking to get a tight enough grip to hold her in place, tightening, squeezing, applying unusual strength for one so young, the moment accompanied by a rush of that distressingly cold energy coursing over her right arm with seemingly no limit in sight.
Damn right he wasn't all that attentitive. Who'd Kenji think this was?!
Breathing a little heavily, K9999 paused for a second to catch his breath, spitting to the side the blood from his mouth. "Bitch..." Smiling with a crimson painted leer, a shame he didn't take her all the way out. But whatever, he was sure she regretted messing with him! If she tried that shit again, he'd smack her back into the pavement like the useless trash she was. Ohh yeaahhh!!
And he supposed he could help Igniz out a bit. Whatever! It was K' he was after, manuvering in with an awkward rolling shuffle into the thick of the fray. That Whip was going for the NESTs leader didnt cause any kind of outburst, he was ignoring her first! But, "Who the FUCK--" suddenly Kenji appears from the SKY, foot first with a nasty bit o' chi he was intent on introducing to K9999's chest and ruined Kool-Aid suit. What did Kool-Aid man ever do to you...
It was dicy, but then K9999 was one who acted on whim and desire verses any kind of real strategy and tactics. Maybe once in a while he might plan a move ahead...but that was assuming he remained patient and-- ok rarely. Here it was pretty much in the moment, he saw a foot, he saw Kenji, and he reacted with a splayed hand to knock him away. With a wall of chi and rubble sweeping up from the ground in a rush...whether it was in time, it would only make the experiment stronger.
It wasn't! K9999 was smacked off his roller skates hard into the ground before his attack ever really got moving!
COMBATSYS: Igniz has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: K' has ended the fight here.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Rose with Quick Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Kenji 1/------=/=======|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Whip 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 1/------=/=======|
The grasp at Rose's dress followed up with a grab at her throat seems like something Rose has encountered before! Perhaps she has bad luck with dates. Her eyes narrow as she feels her skin sting and go numb beneath the bitter frost projected from Kula's choking grasp. Her lips press tight, thin, together. She seems like she's stopped breathing!
She keeps talking, at least in Kula's head. 'It's sad,' Rose apparently says. 'I always feel sad when I see this... Tell me, what does he call you? I hope he treats you better than,' some image that doesn't make sense, 'does. Even so, sympathy is not mercy -'
Despite her crazy brain powers, Rose needs air to breathe; it's very helpful. Being grasped has the disadvantage that it means that she is connected to Kula, which cuts both ways. One hand comes up as if to suggest a blow at Kula's midsection as Rose herself turns around - and suddenly that blue light flares around her, hopefully spreading to Kula's own body in the form of /psychic fire/.
As she does this rather remarkable twist, she spins around in a more conventional way, aiming to send Kula sprawling to the ground with emphatic force - hopefully, without taking Rose's throat with her.
COMBATSYS: Igniz successfully hits Whip with Brutal God Project+.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Kenji 1/------=/=======|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ < > /////////////////////// ]
Whip 1/=======/=======|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/-------|
The outstretched palm of the God's right hand finds purchase on the young Whip's face. His powerful grasp crushes into her skull, his tremendous chi pulsating against her flesh, singeing her flesh as if hot pokers had been left there, unforgivingly pressed against her for some terrible intent. But this is but the start.
The ground Igniz makes with Whip in tow is impressive, her body driven powerfully into the wall head first where she would be left standing, by some terrible fate, unable to defend herself.
Leaping back, the area blurs, dampening for a moment as all his power is unhinged, ready to assault. "Whip..." He smiles, rearing back even after the leap, using the momentum to pull the chain-sword from thin air, striking toward Whip's figure without remorse, cutting up as it seperates, biting into her body, ripping up and cutting into her armor.
"No. Seirah....." The god proceeds, folding his arms across his chest as his cape strikes out, powerful projections of spiked cloth ripping into Whip's Ikari suit, each with more power to them than any household knife, striking so sporadically that it's hard to even keep up with how many actually strike.
"Your only escape from us will be death."
The cape falls back towards Igniz's sides as he raises his arms to the heavens, the stink of burning ozone stronger than ever as each chi amplifier on the cape lights up, two on either side of Igniz, in the exact same place, floating besides him, balls of emaculate white chi. Each detonating at once as the amplifiers strike like snakes, chi searing from their mouths in Whip's figure.
Lastly, Igniz raises his arm once more into the sky, his hand focusing for once, drawing at the very reserves of hit nigh-limitless power. A sphere of chi crackles to life, growing so bright that it blinds those looking directly at it for seconds. All of it mere feet from Whip.
A soft prayer is heard, for what or who is unknown.
Both feet firmly meet the ground, the battlesuit locking into place as Igniz thrusts the sphere directly into Whip's body, forcing it into her, where it explodes brightly, reaching out about Whip as it engulfs her entirely to where she disappears for moments.
"Pray that this kills you!" Igniz cries, the chi flaring violently as loud as thunder before finally, for Whip, it ends, Igniz simply floating into the air.
The smile is still emblazoning his face, unchanged.
That it happens far too quickly for K' to do anything about it is testament to just -how fast- it happens. Normally battlefields are open books to K', the young man reading them with a preprogrammed efficiency only sharpened by years of experience. Normally, no matter how fast or furious a fight gets, it never reaches the point where it blurs beyond his ability to grasp and dissect. But normally, his battles don't involve his only sister being set upon by a killing assault. The instant Igniz snares ahold of Whip, everything fragments into a confused jumble of images. He can't react. He can barely even process.
It's rather shocking how little emotion crosses his face in the exact instant he sees all he's clawed to reclaim, all he's searched for, and all he ever really treasured consumed in that murder chain of violence. Momentarily paralyzed, unable to move-- and unable to intervene or stop it even if he could move-- he just stands there. And eventually, he starts to shake.
In one convulsive movement, K' latches onto his glove and tears off its restraints, ripping the thing off him with such violence he shreds his own hand. The response is instant, a roar shredding the air as K' immediately ignites, flames twisting free with a rampant savagery. The pain of it doesn't even register; in fact, for the first few moments, he doesn't feel anything but a dazed sort of relief. He just can't stand the feel of it anymore. He can't have anything of NESTS touching his skin. He can't bear it.
But more than that, he doesn't want to keep his power smothered in anymore. He doesn't want that fire crawling its sick burn in his veins. He wants it all let loose, let go, burning out of him with all the strength of his spite behind it. He wants it to make EVERYONE hurt as much as he hurts right now. And if he's lucky, it'll render him to a cinder on its way out and then he won't have to feel anything anymore.
"For your sake." Somehow his voice still makes it through the howl of fire-- through the wild and uncontrolled flames unfurling off him in spasmodic arches and bursts. "I'd pray that it didn't." All sense and rationality gone, everything drained out of him save pure spite and a wild, bitter fury, K' throws himself forward in an uncontrolled and reckless attack, the flames barely needing the directing swipe of his arm: seeming to reach out towards Igniz of their own volition. The sudden agony of using the fire without his glove is far worse than he imagined it might be; a howl tears out of him, K' seeming to suffer the effects of the strike just as much as he intends its target to suffer.
There is not a single instant of regret in Whip's mind. For a fleeting moment, all she can see is Igniz advancing on K'. It's too much, too fast, and even her life of sensible reasoning cannot prepare her for the irrational fear of NESTS coming to take her only family away. She had just found it. It's with everything that she attacks Igniz... but, in the end, even everything isn't always enough.
Caught, her skull cracks against the wall, broken brick falling free and powdering in her dark hair. Whip merely staggers, the world swimming like water before her eyes, and she desperate to keep her head above it. Bracing one hand against the wall, the primeval part of her brain is making her body move, numbly, weakly, staggering back up her feet. She can hear someone say her name. Only Whip has never heard that name spoken before. It hurts so much, but the real agony what cuts Whip is hearing Igniz call her something that shouldn't feel so familiar. A tortured, hopeful look of surprise crossing her soft features, Whip glances up in time--
To get a chain sword straight across the face. Her head whips to one side, the flesh grooving across her cheek. The sudden, searing pain appears to sober her, the reality of what is about to happen -- what is already happening -- registering to her. But Whip has only a moment to relish this horrifying realization, because that chain sword has swiped back, cleaving into her again and again and again as it whips past in a macabre dance not unlike her own weapon. The pain has already begun to steal the focus from her face and dull the burn from her brown eyes.
Then it is the cape's turn. The mere seconds it takes to strike more than likely feel like hours to her. But that blur of cloth leaves behind butchery, with Whip gored in more places than not, leaving behind more blood splattered against the wall and pavement than what's probably left in her body. Still, she's trying so hard to keep moving, to keep fighting, to stay awake, to stay /alive/--
Briefly, and through the blood that oozes from her forehead, her dark eyes turn on her brother. Whip imparts K' a patient glance. Her eyes start to crease, as if to convey apology--
And then she is swallowed up into the sudden detonation of chi. The blinding explosion seems to erase the young woman completely, but when the flare of light finally dims -- Whip seems to fall free of it, hitting the pavement lifelessly. It's getting hard to see, but as Whip stares dyingly off into nowhere, her last thought is that she swears she sees fire.
Her lips move silently as the blood pours out of her. She goes still.
COMBATSYS: Whip takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Kenji 1/------=/=======|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Rose 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Igniz
COMBATSYS: Whip can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Kenji 1/------=/=======|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Rose 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Igniz
It seemed like such a sound plan at first. Shurui decided to vacate the premises of the YFCC entirely, removing herself from the equation of people that needed to be protected. While the girl was more than capable of fighting, the fact that she could be singled out in a fight was a risk. They needed to focus on the people who couldn't protect themselves, rather than divide their resources. But Shurui had never thought about the guilt and fear that would plague her after the two had left, despite her questions about whether or not it was safe for them to go without her. She didn't fight it much beyond her initial questioning.
But oh, it was nice, that small time she was able to spend in that apartment, in the company of one Whip and K'. Watching the two bicker, argue, and settle was something else she had never experienced before; she was learning from the viewpoint of a third party what siblings were at the same time Whip and K' seemed to be, though the latter party had a bit more experience. If only she hadn't played it safe, hadn't trusted that everything would go well. She could have watched that a little longer. Fought for her right to exist as a normal person, as Shurui Chiang, adopted daughter of Muda Chiang. Not an experiment, or a creation. At a certain point, the lifeless silence in the now drab apartment was too loud for her ears to bear.
That's why, when Whip's eyes close and K' closes in in a blinding spray of fire and rage, Shurui's there, her shadow closing in on the Ikari soldier's bloodied face. Grey heather hoodie becomes stained with blood as she slips her arms wordlessly underneath the fallen body, lifting the fallen Whip up as best as she is able. Not professional or safe in the least, but, as Shurui sees the sparse light of life inside the limp body, she figures anything she'd can do at this point will only improve on things.
She looks up, eyes naked to the swirling energy. Kenji's brilliant glow, the psychic energy contributing to Rose's flame, the familiar flame present in K9999, the crystalline innocence bared in Kula, the whiteness of Igniz's overbearing chi. And K''s hateful, hurting glow. The last time she saw the slightest glimpse of that, she cried, leaving K' clueless as to why a spasming hand was anything to freak out over. "Fucking hell.... " Then-
She attempts to catch Kenji's face in her eyes, the glare from his persona making her eyes squint subconsciously. "Cover me!" she yells, her words obscured by the visible energies surging in the air.
COMBATSYS: Shurui has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Shurui takes no action.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/-------|
Geese sits on the sidelines, eating popcorn and watching excitedly!
His foot buries in, his heel acting almost like it wants to press through the young pitcher of refreshing sugary goodness. It becomes a race against time in that instant: Will his chi be able to manifest and channel before whatever K9999 is planning to retort with happens?
There's a distinct sound, like a rather large sidearm. As a result, the wall of chi doesn't put too much pressure against Kenji Ashima, as the Guardian King's legs scissor back down to land on his feet. In the close proximity of things, it puts him close enough to see flying sprays of red before another figure goes blazing through his vision:
Whip.
She hits the ground in a wet pile, and the Guardian King is left to gawk. It's not comical, this time, the wide-eyed expression that Kenji's sporting. He looks to see what the source of that was, and his gaze falls on Igniz and K'. He watches the tanned-face man rip off the strange glove made with some kind of metal, and then he sees a massive ball of flame. It all seems to run in slow motion, and even with the roar of the flames, the only thing he can hear is his own heartbeat. There's a biting pain in his chest, one that he doesn't immediately recognize:
Fear.
Now he finally realizes how massive the issue surrounding Shurui is. Clearly, Whip is part of it... and now, how many others does the Guardian King know that are involved with this insanity?
'Cover me!'
That seems to snap him back to reality, and Kenji takes his eyes away from the ball of flame-- away from Kool-Four-Nine, not even regard the girl with the strange ice, or the lady who was fighting alongside him. Setting himself between Shurui and as much of the opposition as he can physically manage, shifting his footing as he goes, the wide-eyed teenager seems to be trying to grab that last foolish piece of courage again, driving his eyes to an angry glare and pressing his senses to their fullest. He's gotta focus... he's gotta worry about the rest of this... even if it's later.
COMBATSYS: Kenji focuses on his next action.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Igniz reflects Eins Trigger EX from K' with Nega Genesis.
- Power hit! -
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/-------|
Even as Whip falters, and Shurui moves to rescue her, Igniz pays no attention to the figure at first. He can't tell who it is immidiately. Or can he? The god of NESTS does not make any movements towards them however, turning his back towards both Whip and Shurui as instead he looks towards K'. A smile yet stands, forever branded upon his lips for eternity. Lovable Igniz.
Now awaiting K''s action, to see if he retreats. To see if he stands his ground, Igniz floats. Instead, he grabs at his restraints, piquing Igniz's interests. Not once did he ever take them off, as they were given to him, just as Kula's was given to her, to restrain their power from hurting themselves. But K', being ever so unpredictable, grabs it and rips.
"Why do you hate what you are so much, K Dash? To even wound yourself to remove what I had given you?" Igniz speaks, curious of his answer. "Is the pain of knowing that I gave this power to you... worse than the pain itself?" Igniz pokes, prods into K''s emotions, aiming to find another spot to strike at if the time comes. K' has other plans, lurching forward with uncontrolable flames. Igniz smiles, as even in K's tremendous fury, the calm god of NESTS manages to break through.
The fire reaches Igniz, the God waving a hand towards it, a field of emmaculate chi once more appearing, fighting K's flames, and sending them back post haste. "My sake is no concern of your own. I am above you, I created you, I know everything there is to know about you." Igniz states sure of himself, "Even with a prayer, it would not save your soul."
Lowering his hand weakly, the god of NESTS dismisses him. "You are nothing."
COMBATSYS: Kula stops Aura Soul Throw from Rose with Counter Shell.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/-------|
Kula is in close to Rose now, her hands holding the fortune teller in place, her crimsn eyes in close, her right glove tightening as she channels all that chi at point blank range. There's no way the woman can speak now. No way she can say the things Kula suddenly realizes are being spoken to her, communication Rose without her even moving her lips. It startles the NESTs operative and she loosens her grip, eyes widened, clearly shaken by the unexpected experience.
With a child-like psyche too young to understand matters of the mind, she is defenseless at keeping the voice out of her head. What does he call you, Rose asks, and Kula opens her mouth, "Kula..." Her eyes narrow as she shakes her head, not understanding who Igniz is being compared to or why. "What others have you seen before... who is like me?" she demands, curiousity heavy in her tone. But Rose isn't holding back, her warning given. No mercy for those who would aid Igniz in his quest against the center.
When the woman swings, however, her hand meets resistance of the most perfect, unyielding sort. A shimmering, reflective mirror occupies the space in front of the ice wielder's left palm, holding the Soul Power infused strike at bay, keeping her from being able to infuse the swift agent's body with energy that would be nigh crippling to her poor defenses against foreign energy.
The barrier holds, Kula continuously channeling her strength into it, her fingers slipping free of Rose's neck as she is forced to apply both hands to her barrier of defense. But in the end, she skips backward, hopping away from Rose, another source of power resonating. One that she recognizes. The chi manipulation of a /god/. Spinning toward Igniz, the girl is just in time to see the horrific assault unleashed on Whip as he traps her body in place just long enough to iterate through every tool in his frightful arsenal.
It's the first time the girl has ever seen the technique in person. Some had whispered of it, others were too afraid to even mention it. Brutal as its name sake, it truly was the result of a god's project in self evolution. And right now K''s helpless sister is being subjected to the entirety of it. Kula opens her mouth, hand raised, before she closes it. There's nothing to be done for it. The Ikari triffled with a god, and the result was inevitable, written in stone before this battle even began.
Spinning toward K', she can't even begin to imagine how he will react. She can't forget the time he stumbled upon her kneeling over Whip, having delivered a series of savage attacks that could have killed her barring prompt attention. The way he seemed to transform into someone else entirely. Compared to then, though...
The girl stands helpless on the sidelines, face aglow as those constrained flames are allowed to run free, burning out in frenzy, attempting to smash through Igniz's formidable defenses. But the man continues fending them off all the same and Kula stands silent.
Arms stretched out to his sides, K9999 sort of stared up through the gaping hole that Whip had shorn open with that knife of hers. He coughed, and the coppery tang stained the back of his tongue, and he grit his teeth, biting down on the embarrassment he was suffering from being knocked down by some...who ever the hell that was! Some punk kid who thought they could get involved in something that wasn't even remotely his business. Meanwhile, the world is close to ending for some of the combatants, more walls being ruined, new waldrobes to be bought, lives pieced together and would be heros making their bid for sprinting records...
None of that mattered immeadiately to the clone. Instead he let the pain fan the flames of his furor into a blazing bonfire, the air raging with the static of chi and energy that lapped at the barriers of his lack of control. Those barriers restricted him, the probably saved him but he felt them now like ropes of iron, and forcing himself up suddenly, he grabbed a hold of the physical representation of it.
The Kool-Aid suit.
Yes, it had served its purpose, but it was in the way. Fluffy sponge and clear plastic 'glass' went flying, wheels snapped off as he virtually finished the job Whip had started, pulling off the entire thing to stand, free and unfettered. And on solid fucking ground. He breathed heavily, just waiting to pick an outlet-- a threatning figure born from an abomination of experimentation! In his tights and NESTs authorised boxer wear peaking over it.
...The suit was hot. Wot.
COMBATSYS: K9999 gathers his will.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/-------|
Rose's vision swims for a moment. This ice girl, she thinks - what are they? That technique... It would have, perhaps, felled Vega, or at least made him /feel/ it. Perhaps she is unfortunate, she reasons, straightening up as she lets herself explain to Kula. The explanation has connotations to it, subtle nuances of regret and almost apology, as well as an unstated offer. However, the /verbal/ part is, 'A young woman with great power, serving a man of greater power, who seeks only suffering.'
This is not all that Rose does, however. She is momentarily not being beaten on, and she answers this with a deep inward breath, eyes closing... and then shimmering in a sudden coruscation of light, rising outwards and then sinking into her body. This is quite impressive - and it is also quite obvious - but perhaps Kula is too focused on the dismay of that "god" to take advantage of the momentary lull!
COMBATSYS: Rose gathers her will.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: K' endures Igniz's Reflected Eins Trigger EX.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
K' 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/---====|
Shurui arrives on the scene, tending to Whip, and Kenji moves to defend her: K' doesn't notice either of them. Kula and Rose are engaged in a vicious struggle, their traded blows lulling only because of Kula's subsequent distraction: K' doesn't notice them either. K9999, by this point, has entirely ceased to exist in K''s perception. Through his own blinkering fire, K' can't see anything but Igniz.
He's asked why he hates what he is. He's questioned, prodded, teased... mocked. He makes no response, his yellow eyes watching Igniz with no hint of comprehension or capability of higher speech. He seems far too maddened for that now, reduced to a creature of blazing instinct, malevolent and violent and wanting solely to destroy the smirking 'god' in his sights.
He makes a considerable effort to do it... but cooler-headed, far more calculating, and far more skilled, Igniz deflects the wild flames with a thought. But even confronted with his own fire, K' doesn't seem deterred. He lunges straight -through- the reflected power, heedless of the way it ravages his already-burning frame, seizing what stray wisps of flame he can and carrying the power right back with him to wreath his next attack.
But one thing Igniz says finally gets at him, and K' abruptly finds his voice. "'Everything?'" The young man accelerates swiftly into a blurring rush, furious, fire streaming in his wake and gathered before him as he lances at Igniz's very center-- driving a blinding strike forwards at the man as if seeking to impale the 'god' on his fire-riddled arm. "You don't know SHIT about me, and you prove it with every last thing you say!"
The front of Shurui's hoodie is thoughly stained with Whip's blood by now as she carries the dangling Whip away from the ensuing battle, the brunette's head placed against Shurui's shoulder, leaving the rest to weight between two outstretched arms. It's probably a good thing K''s too busy to neccessarily devote any attention to this slight change of events; Shurui's not sure if he'd be sane enough at this point to abstain from redirecting some of his anger towards her. Why? Well, she *was* supposed to stay put. That went out the window the moment Whip's life was in danger, however.
Whether or not Kenji has a chance to see it in his new quest to cover Shurui, he's given a sincere, if apologetic, smile. ".... Thanks, Kenji." There were more words she wants to say, like 'don't be stupid' or 'get out of here before you become like Whip', but those words cost precious seconds. She *needs* those seconds. And thus, she's darting ahead, Whip's body in tow, towards the crowd of onlookers and gawkers gathered a safe space back, held in check by policemen who are unable to do much of anything else while the battle rages on. In amongst the crowd, a blurry ambulance awaits, pulled up on stand-by for the victims inside the YFCC. While the uniform coloration is enough for the girl to recongize it, figuring out who drives it among the colored auras around her without her glasses to blot the sight out leaves the girl at a loss momentairely.
Before she can speak, however, people are already hopping into action, taking Whip from her bloodied arms as a gurney is pulled out the quickly opened back doors. Whip's safe; there's not much Shurui can do now for her, even if she rode with her. And what to do about K', Kenji, and Rose? It would be easy to just rush back in and fight alongside them, but... She looks over past the crowd, taking off her hoodie to reveal the black t-shirt underneath. If she's going to decide to do something, she'd better do it now, before someone *else* needs to be taken to safety.
COMBATSYS: Shurui takes no action.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
K' 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/---====|
He looks over his shoulder, briefly-- the Guardian King, now defending the girl with the unusual psychic sight. He grins just a little bit in the process, nodding back at her as it seems as though he's started to come back to his senses. Once it seems as though Shurui is clear, though, then he stops and steadies himself. He hasn't gotten too horribly far away, and he can move himself back in quickly.
"EEEEEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH--"
His arm explodes into a brilliant flare of energy one more time, the Missile Fist's knuckles to shoulder consumed in the brilliant, bright energy. Breaking into a charge one more time, letting the powers well up inside him. It only seems to grow, swell-- and as he's on a beeline back towards K9999, it seems like there's nothing that's going to stop the likes of Kenji Ashima.
Suddenly within punching distance, a bolt of blue light spears through the NESTS agent's chest-- a marker, nothing painful or untoward about it. The line goes through him, front and back, all while the energy surges through Kenji's arm and finally builds up toward his fist. His left foot hits the ground in front of the gloved man, the impact of his foot on concrete actually putting forth enough pressure to crack it under the stomp. It's like he's rooting himself in place, like an unseen anchor he'll need.
"SET!!"
His fist strikes the line of blue, but it-- hesitates?! It holds back with a grit of Kenji's teeth, his arm violently shaking for a moment before it -does- fly forward. The energy in his fist grows, surges-- and then should he be lucky, strike K9999 in the chest with a powerful punch. The impact itself is brutal-- and there's an added shockwave, a powerful eruption of the chi in his arm as it surges forwards and tries to violently rock through the crazed soldier. It blows past him, beyond him, and starts tossing small objects not nailed down, things light enough to move and rustle in it's wake. Even if he misses, even if it's blocked, that shockwave continues on-- and so do the two words let loose from Kenji Ashima's lungs in plain English while his arm is on the swing:
"RAIL GUN!!!"
COMBATSYS: K' successfully hits Igniz with Heat Drive.
! VENGEANCE !
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
K' 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/---====|
Even as Igniz patiently waits for K' to make his move, it seems that he doesn't have to wait at all. K' is making all the moves for him. Watching him entirely, the god of NESTS pays attention. But even with attention at full, it's hard to really see where K' is coming from. Weaving through his fire even as it's sent back at him, his own creation firing itself outstretched towards him, the creator.
If anything, the god of NESTS may be somewhat surprised, if only at the speed that K' rips through towards him, disappearing almost entirely as the strike hammers into the center of the god, the battlesuit crumbing at the strike, even if a shield of ice rips up in the way of the assault at a hand gesture of Igniz, only slowing K' down, but not stopping his wrath.
The fire laced strike sends the god of NESTS backwards, hurled into the wall of the YFCC. Bricks come loose, even the side of the wall shudders with force as Igniz strikes it, an obviously blow that would destroy any man. But Igniz is not a man. He is a demi-god... no, at least a god! Nothing but a god! Igniz could accept nothing less than this.
The battlesuit whirrs, clicking ominously as soft klaxons can be heard about Igniz, softly but surely being answered. And ignored. Instead, the brutilized lord of NESTS stands straight, eyes poised towards K', the cratered wall behind him dripping of some of the god's own blood. But, marked upon his face, Igniz has yet to break.
"I know this." Igniz softly retorts, hovering patiently as he momentarily pauses, "You were a waste. A failed experiment that was set free. Your memories of who you are, what you are gone. Your history erased. Yet you continue to resist, fight our attempts to remove you from this world." Calmly, the god of NESTS makes no actions, save for to speak. He awaits what will come from whoever.
"What is a mistake without history... but a monster? To accept your fate of living is crueler than a purging death."
COMBATSYS: Igniz gains composure.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
K' 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/---====|
The long haired girl stands quietly, watching the exchange of power between Igniz and K'. The emotions that rage to the surface, the flames, unsheathed and sent burning wildly, fueled by vengeance, blood crying out for blood. Igniz's calm is threatened as his ice manipulation provides him a second barrier. This time it doesn't hold, leaving him driven back against the wall, and Kula starts to move only to stop again, realizing that he continues to act, his battle armor giving him strength and feeding his will. He remains as calm as can be, in spite the inferno he has spawned here.
His words echo quietly, identifying the young man as a catastrophic error that simply needs to be corrected, erased like any other mistake. It's true, Kula muses. After all, she was the perfect one. The living correction for that slip-up. But without K', who will she be compared to? How will her superiority shine without her predecessor to reference? She takes a quiet breath, hands tightening, uncertain what she should do next. She watches Shurui heft K''s sister, trying to move her out of further harm's way, but makes no effort to stop or slow her. She wasn't ordered to secure the deaths of anyone here. Not yet, anyway. Rose's voice is heard - a whisper in her mind rather than spoken outloud - and Kula whirls to face the seer, eyes narrowing.
"Stop that," she states tersely, not enjoying the experience of having someone speak into her thoughts. What else is the woman doing while she is there? Does she know of the uncertainty that gives the child pause? Does she know the strange ache she can't identify at seeing Whip torn to the ground? "Leave me alone." she adds, tension building up in her voice. "You don't know anything about Igniz. He takes care of me." Her right hand tightens, raised in front of her, yellow leather creaking as a halo of white emanates out from around her clenched hand.
Her left clenches at her side, mirroring her right in its small pulse of building energy. "You just saw what happened to that girl! Fighting Igniz... you will end up just like her!!" Kula darts forward then, closing on Rose, the energy around her right hand congealing into a translucent coating of ice, with small, jagged spikes jutting out along the back of her hand and over her knuckles. In close, the girl swings hard for Rose's side with her right, attempting to strike with that deadly 'glove', then follow up with a painful elbow strike. Her left hand comes in next, palm forward, the girl unleashing a point blank torrent of icy chi, a slurry of razor sharp edges, fine needles, and small spikes as the girl tries to force Rose backward!
COMBATSYS: Kenji successfully hits K9999 with Rail Gun.
- Power hit! -
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\1 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
K' 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/---====|
At this rate, the zone would have to be labelled a disaster area, and the hapless building would need more than just a patching up of the exterior. Fund raising in the future anyone? Bodies were being flung in the air, holes blown open, it was a right cacaphony of destruction, one K9999 had intentions of taking every bit of part in. Though, not the part that he'd have to play up until now. Already several steps towards K' and Igniz's confrontation, his dandy new broken skates scraping along with their iron shorn bits...He'd gone a little distance till he noticed that all was not right.
There was this flaming blue-thing sticking out of his chest. Confused, but still very very angry, K9999 twisted, turned, frowned... ran his hands through it, with a clear WTF expression being the final result. Never having seen its like, not ever having bothered to look at school kids fight much on the tele-- Kenji's attack was something he was blissfully ignorant of. Till now ofcourse. He glanced up, and back to the other teenager now /much/ closer with dawning realisation, setting his feet in a stance as if he would try to weather out the assault...
And got blown away in a puff of not so small, not so gentle chi blast. Kenji didn't even allow for a nice derogatory phrase chock full with expletives! How unfair.
His body was a smoldering mess of burns, blood, bruises and gashes, the little clothing he wore now ruined as thoroughly as the illfated Kool-Aid suit. Limp and lifeless at a glance, one would think this was it for the experiment...that he'd never get a chance at hitting back at K'. It was partly true, K'...would take a backseat just this once.
K9999 was far from lifeless, K9999 was far from ready to quit out. K9999, want to let Kenji know just what beast he'd poked and prodded-- and he illustrated that in the most eloquent way possible. "GuhhRRRRGHHHHRRRRRUUUAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGG!!!" There were words in there, honest. Through pure hate and rage alone the clone hauled himself back up, careless of his injuries, just seeking one thing. There was a fair distance between the two, but it didn't matter. K9999's arm began to warp and reform, melding into what was not impossibly, a wickedly barreled gun, which was quaintly pointed at Kenji.
Everything that had built was released in that second, several rounds of chi compressed into rounds being fired at the teenager with explosive results. Hit or miss, they blossomed into flowers of orange and red, the force of it reverberrating through the air. Woe to anyone who got in the way.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Rose with Medium Punch.
- Power hit! -
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
K' 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\ <
Rose 1/-------/=======|
Rose says, quietly, "For now," after Kula speaks. She then lifts her head up and folds her arms, gazing directly at the furious woman as she slams further inwards. She sets her teeth, expecting this to hurt...
AND IT SURE DOES. The blunt gloved hand striking her side makes Rose groan as she staggers back, the elbow hitting her and knocking her breath away. Her scarf whips up to keep the razored edges and needles from striking into her face and sending her into the ranks of Sagat or Heidern...
But she seems to be staggering after this. "Well," she says as she straightens, with effort, tossing her hair back, "you are quite strong... Kula. When the time is right, come here - if it's still here. But for now-"
Rose seems to waver for a moment, eyes squeezing shut as she presses herself to the utmost. That shimmering light spreads out, bifuricating around her so that she is momentarily flanked by two shimmering duplicates of herself. Her own body seems to fade as well into whatever strange half-ghostly state this is, until the figment on the left vanishes in a wink of pastel sparkles. The other two, seeming rather wavery, suddenly dive forwards in unison, aiming perhaps to engulf and destroy Kula in a searing flash of turquoise light! At least it contrasts nicely with all the red being flung around.
They vanish afterwards, the both of them.
COMBATSYS: Rose can no longer fight.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
K' 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Igniz
In stark contrast to all Igniz's eerie, serene calm, K' struggles visibly: consumed and twisted by every kind of pain it's possible for a human to feel, his agony a palpable thing through the flames. Even that small measure of vengeance he exacts for his sister isn't enough to feed him; no strike that doesn't kill-- doesn't /obliterate/-- can slake the unbearable thirst that is his need for vengeance.
Sobbing for his breaths, half-crumpling in the wake of the strike he delivers, K' seems to be nearing the end of his rope in staying power... if only because of the uncontrolled flames lashing about him, which simultaneously eat away both at his strength and his body. However, when his head lifts, what lives in his eyes is anything -but- resignation or exhaustion. A wild look hovers about him as Igniz speaks to him, the young man exhibiting little more cognizance or mental refinement than a beast.
For a moment, he twitches back spasmodically-- almost sent to cowering-- as if he fears what Igniz says might be true. That he's a waste, a failure, and a mistake. Some creature unworthy of calling itself a person... a sham masquerading as a man, deluding itself into thinking it can be like other people even despite the fact it was specifically made NOT to be. Despite the fact that it's a mere construct with no past and no identity.
He doesn't even have a name.
But then, he remembers Whip. He looks around wildly, sees her gone-- and then his gaze crosses Shurui, and the gathered ambulances. Some of that despair sheds from him. It's hard, and it's wrenching, but from that one thought-- that one glance that conveys a flicker of hope-- he drags all the conviction he can muster. The feral mindlessness clouding his gaze clears, his eyes sharpening, the color of them like a match dropped in a glass of scotch. "You never -set- me free. I had to -make- my own freedom." He straightens up, his bestial stance evolving to something more like that of a man, the fire about him kept forcibly from his skin by desperation and force of will alone. "You took my history. I reclaimed it."
"We don't -deserve- to be removed," he grits, presumably now speaking for his sister as well. "We aren't mistakes. We're -human-," he insists, in a stronger, more mature echo of Kula's own frail insistences on that matter, "and we choose to live. You have no right to decide otherwise."
COMBATSYS: K' gathers his will.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
K' 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Igniz
In that second of indecision, the world shifts drastically. Watching the ambulance rush away, sirens blaring, Shurui unwittingly plays a part in providing a small thread of hope for K'.
Shurui was expecting something quite different. Just hearing snippets of Igniz's conversation was enough to make the girl's stomach twist, her emotions strangely unable to sort how a man who acted so kindly, so fatherly to her during their first meeting could be just as cruel. Even with the attacks, the manipulation, the stories of what he did to Whip and Vanessa, the lengths he went to hurt those around her... something inside her wanted to believe there was some piece of information she was missing that would make this all make sense, no matter how strange or even unreasonable this belief could be with the information she had.
Well, someone who treats someone else that way isn't going to be a great person to be around forever, right?
So, when Shurui turns, she's surprised to see a comparable difference from when she last looked at K'. True, it was now two against three, but... no, it can be three again. She's here. She can help! She can-
..... One of the NESTS agents, the one she doesn't know, begins to shift strangely in Shurui's mind's eye. She almost doesn't believe what she sees at first, causing her to rub her eyes with her arm. His aura. It's..... morphing?! Shifting?! New pathways of energy following the lodelines of bright nerves of light, organically shifting into... god, what? It certainly isn't the *worst* thing Shurui's seen, but... can people actually *do* that?!
And he's aiming it. Aiming it at Kenji. She *never* asked Kenji to have to do this; she wanted him to make sure everyone was safe. That is *it*. *He* shouldn't be paying for that, when all he really wanted was to do a favor to someone he thought he could fully help. And now? He's facing opponents that fight out of neccessity, anger, fear, or devotion, rather than the straight evil of a foe like Marise. And not only that, Kenji's doing it on his *own*.
So she darts out from the safety of the crowd. "... God, this is fucking *insane*...." Whether K9999's attack hits Kenji or not, Shurui stops a short distance away from the pair before releasing a hail of psycho bullets, homing like small missiles towards K9999's side. Whil she certainly can't take the attack for Kenji, Shurui can at least attack K9999 while he's *distracted*.
COMBATSYS: K9999 successfully hits Kenji with You get lost too!.
! VENGEANCE !
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
K' 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Igniz
He drives the formerly-costumed stranger to the ground with all the strength he can muster. The chi, the shockwaves-- all of it drives home exactly as planned. But then he's right back on his feet sooner than he had expected, and now he's got a--
A gun?!!
"-- Oh you've gotta be--"
There's no time for him to finish his statement, not while compressed orange and red force barrels through the air and rips into the Guardian King with unexpected, potent force. Kenji is blown back from the sheer power, driven through the air on the end of a mighty chi lance and slamming into a car parked down the street. Through dust and smoke, his body disappears, but the sound of the car's wheels actually lifting off the pavement and dropping back down to the scream of a car alarm signals he hit, -hard-.
But then a distance away, energy flares-- and it flares brightly. His arm is the dominant light, though at a glance, it's almost as if the student council secretary's right eye is glowing as equally bright. His aura's not as bright and cheerful as it was and normally is, but now it seems to have an angrier, more focused appearance.
Stalking through the smoke and the dust, his shirt ripped apart and a large trickle of red out the corner of his mouth, Kenji comes to a halt out of the chaos and just allows the energy to keep building up inside him. Once he's stepped back into view, that's when his eyes widen a little and his mouth parts, letting out a yell to rival the furious, bestial scream of K9999: "URRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
He's a little mad, yes.
COMBATSYS: Kenji gathers his will.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
K' 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Igniz
Igniz makes no movements, but K'. K' doesn't do anything at all. He stands, rather powerfully on his own field, the fire that he had imbued into the man searing up about him, burning the air around until it smelled of burnt ozone. There was no movements made towards Igniz at all, instead, intents. Intent to harm. Intent to slay. Perhaps even intent to kill. But it did not worry the god of NESTS at all, even with the ambulances firing off a dizzying array of lights and onlookers about.
This was too important to be swept underneath through a spin, spun by Geese Howard himself. Igniz, and in turn, NESTS had become bold as of late, striking out one targets it would usually invade from within. A test? Or with his creations so close, Igniz imagines he can snatch them before any retrobution can be had.
NESTS is here, however, at the door step of the YFCC. Not one of Whip's bad dreams, or K''s nightmares, or idle threats passed along through an information chain. Just true intent and the unbelievability of it.
"I have no right?" Igniz muses, once more asking again towards K's own thoughts. And then a soft laughter chimes in from the very thought, aimed all towards K's speech. "Amusing if anything, to tell a god that he has no right!" Igniz exclaims, his figure grasping easily for the twisted doors of the YFCC before the terrible metal screech that follows as Igniz rips it off its hinges.
Hurling it forward, Igniz spins it forward as it was easily a card, the wrecked metal monolith crashing down. "Perhaps we have room for a jester..."
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Rose's Soul Illusion.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
K' 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Igniz
The punch delivered, Kula draws back, evaluating Rose's condition, attempting to determine the remaining threat factor from the woman that seems to be able to speak into her mind with the greatest ease. She studies her intently, mouth drawn tight, trying to block out everything else going on in the fight, trying to avoid being responsible for anything else that is happening. Rose tells her to return when the time is right, and the young girl looks at her curiously, not sure just what she means. 'When the time is right...' She speaks as if she knows the future, the child decides, shaking her head slowly. How can she?
Her backstepping proves important when that last assault comes, the girl foced to weave, twist, and evade the series of strikes aimed to leave a lasting, painful impression. She ducks past one last kick just as the two copies vanish completely, left to stand up slowly and exhale, her breath frosty in the evening's cooling air. Who /was/ that woman... "We'll see," she states quietly to herself, her words unheard in the comotion taking place around her.
The experiment turns toward K' in time to hear him speak up in defense of himself. He's human, he declares defiantly, and Kula pauses. That is one claim he has that she has struggled to match. He existed before NESTs, he is undeniably alive, a human being. She can't cite the same proof of her humanity. The girl shakes her head again, tearing her gaze away from the stationary inferno that is the rogue NESTs operative, just in time to see Shurui makea charge for K9999. The grey haired girl cites the insanity of charging into the madness and Kula would agree with her in an instant. She's lost her mind to get into the middle of /this/. The girl should intercept her, but...
Kula closes her eyes for a moment, looking away, only to open them at the sound of a young man preparing to unleash his best. His target may very well be K9999. A fellow experiment that the girl has not gotten along with all that swell in the past. Still... he is NESTs, and NESTs is all she has. Exhaling softly, the girl slips forward, coming in on Kenji's side, getting ready to blindside him.
Her right hand goes for his neck, the girl seeking to lock him down before he can become a menace. Her left hand, a blaze of white, surging energy goes for his ribs, as she attempts to plant her palm there and infuse him with an unpleasant pulse of that powerful chi of hers. "I told you..." she warns, "To leave while you could. You saw what happened to that girl... the stakes here are more than you seem to realize." Her hand releases his neck the moment she believes he can no longer present a threat, unless he breaks free sooner...
COMBATSYS: Shurui successfully hits K9999 with Riot Act.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ]
Shurui 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 K9999
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Kenji 1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
K' 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Igniz
A fight was a fight, and though K9999 was able to be a bit more versatile when it came to the ah, use of his appendages...Kenji shouldn't be a hater. Hurt for hurt was traded, and in that the clone was somewhat desireing of 'fairness'. As the minimum anyways, left to his own devices, he'd prefer it was all his favour trouncing the other. Kenji disappeared from his view, and he took a moment to catch his breath, the pain of breathing starting to make itself more prominant. The loss of blood, and stead pressing of his body past the means of ordinary persons was telling on him...he barely managed to reform his hand, hanging now at his side, gripped still tightly by the other near the shoulder.
And not for the first time in this fight, he was rudely interrupted at that. Stumbling under the onslaught, he was confused as to who /actually/ hit him. He knew it wasn't the other boy, the taste of the attack was different...far different. But lucky for Shurui, K9999 kept his focus on Kenji. It was because of him he wasn't fighting K', that person, whomever he was had gotten in his way! And now left open for every tom dick and mary-jane... if he had to go, then so did he.
Unsuccessful before, he fought this last again. By the sound of the other's outraged cry, another wall this time tumbling stone, stick and other remains swept on towards Kenji, whether Kula would be caught in the forceful chi-birthed wind...was up to her. It wasn't the usual fierce onslaught, tempered by the clone's weakness, it was all he had left.
...Igniz had better arrange a pick up. K9999 wasn't about to be walking home /anywhere/!
COMBATSYS: K9999 can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Kenji 1/---====/=======|===----\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/--=====|
COMBATSYS: K' interrupts Large Thrown Object from Igniz with Crow Bite.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Kenji 1/---====/=======|=====--\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
The intention that smokes the air about K' isn't mere intent to hurt, or to harm. It's not even intent to kill. No, the intent that poisons the young man's immediate vicinity, burning under his lashes, written in his snarl, is the intent to completely destroy. It's undeniable that Igniz himself created K' as he is now: created him as a weapon, an engine of destruction, a creature whose only skills lie in killing and whose memories encompass only instruction in how to wreck all that he lays hands upon.
A creator would do well to remember this, when facing his own creation. It's not for no reason that there are so many stories of people bitten by their own work.
Enraged to even further heights by Igniz's horrific assault upon his sister, now standing his ground not only out of an urge for vengeance but out of a deathly fear for the lives of those he desires to protect (don't think he hasn't noticed Shurui leaping into the fray), K' immolates in the midst of his own uncontrolled flames, his limbs already beginning to tremble violently under the pain and burden of the fire. Still, despite the agony, he refuses to move for the discarded glove. No, this night was the last straw for that crutch. He won't ever let that thing touch his skin again...
But then comes the laughter. K' initially reacts like a slapped animal to the sound, instantly furious in the same uncomprehending manner a cat will become enraged at being mocked. It's not until Igniz clarifies the source of his amusement that he grasps what triggers that terrible sound; full understanding doubles his rage, nearly bowing his already-weighted frame. K' bolts forward in a fury, perhaps unwisely, even as Igniz slings that heavy, twisted scrap towards him.
"You--" K''s right arm tears forwards and upwards at a sharp diagonal, even as the metal strikes him hard in the left shoulder; he spins with the impact, turning it into momentum, letting it carry his blazing strike clear across Igniz from hip to opposite shoulder. He pulls hard at his flames as he does, intensifying the fire as he tears into that violent uppercut, and the pain of trying to control his flames properly without help turns his voice into a scream. "--are NOT A GOD!" Maddened laughter snarls through the air, howling a distinct note of pain under all that mockery; it cuts off abruptly with the disjointedness of a falling axe, and K' finishes in a low crawl of a voice, "I'll make you bleed to prove it..."
Shurui has, for all intents and purposes, proven to be highly lucky thus far in this fight. She's been noticed by the right people at the right times, with more powerful players engaged in opponents other than her. Her first attack, as she rather callously jumps into the fray, goes as planned, seeming to strike from enough distance to allow for K9999 to be briefly unable to find its source. Or, well, he could just be really dead set in beating Kenji up.
So set that, even as he's down for the count, he sends his last calling card to Kenji- at the same time Kula attempts to do the same.
Forget about luck, forget about being unharmed. If another friend of hers gets blasted to hell and back she's not sure she can quite forgive herself for not immediately being there at the beginning. Sure, she'd get beaten up, but that's one less punch someone has to take. It's not about her and her safety and her inane mental fears of finding herself in the same position as she was with Marise. Damn it all, that's when it started, right? When she faced something so horrible that she selfishly decided to think only about avoiding any slight chance of being in that horrible state ever again?
"Kenji! To your side! They're double-teaming!" It's happening too fast for Shurui to jump in and somehow shove or manipulate him out of the way, but maybe she can at least alert him?
COMBATSYS: Shurui assists Kenji.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Kenji 1/---====/=======|=====--\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Kenji blocks K9999's Get out of my sight!.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Kenji 1/---====/=======|=====--\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Kenji blocks Kula's Quick Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\ < > /////// ]
Kenji 1/--=====/=======|=====--\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
There's a strange wind tearing toward him, a force that he can't see-- but he knows it's there all the same. And in response, Kenji leans foward and presents his chi-blazing arm to absorb the brunt of it. Forces unseen and forces brightly seen slam into each other and seem to cancel each other out-- if at a cost to the teenager. Before Kenji knows it... there's a girl there rather suddenly. The one that he had seen before, the one that he had knocked down before, on his death-charge toward the strange blonde man. With his initial screaming fit set aside, he lets out a harsh, "Gak-!!"
The hand clamps down around his throat, and Kenji Ashima -turns- toward her, even with the strength of the girl's grasp and the incoming strike. His hand ends up locked with her hand, and Kula will find a sudden fit of resistance in the Guardian King.
Things are bleak for Kenji, no doubt about it. The freezing ache through his left arm now, the pain in his right arm from the defense... the -complete- pain from the cannon-like attack from the stranger in the costume. All of that aside, there's a look in Kenji's eyes, a spark of determination the likes seen only in those rarest of occasions.
"And if that's the case..."
His right arm reels back, his stance wide and his body protesting every little bit of it. Kenji Ashima's right arm hooks in low, looking to bury his fist into Kula Diamond's stomach and hook upward. It's a rather simple punch, and it's got enough force and enough follow-through to pick the girl up off her feet without sending her off flying. It's subtle, painful, and everything he's got.
COMBATSYS: Kenji has reached second wind!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Kenji 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
No matter if his fist plunges into the girl's stomach or not, no matter if it goes the way that he plans it, Kenji Ashima's voice becomes a terrible, angry bellow to add in one last, final declaration: "THERE'S NO WAY I'M GONNA LET IT END LIKE THIS!!"
Words. Actions. K', of everything, moves to follow these up through all things in his path, all things considered. The god of NESTS stands, rather interested even as the door hurls through the air. There is no reason for him to simply give up at the moment. The flames of K' burn, and Igniz simply watches patiently, awaiting for K' to make his move.
Expectedly, he does, but much faster than Igniz had imagined. He had tried to prepare for all things, instead, K' had delivered a package that Igniz did not know exactly, even as he hurls himself towards the hurled door, rushing forward and crash through it before striking him with a hurried uppercut. The god of NESTS recoils from the blow, floating expectedly upwards, only to be crushed back towards the ground with a bonecrushing axe.
Igniz even bounces once as he lands. But he doesn't stay down, pausing momentarily on the floor. He bleeds, oh he bleeds. Wounds are opened due to over exposure to chi. Bruising. But Igniz's features yet remain dauntless in the overwelcoming odds against him. But he doesn't see it that way entirely. This was just a momentary setback. As is the NESTS hired guards that go to pick up K9999 after his terrible rampage.
Igniz stands, his figure poised towards K'. He gets up slowly, hovering to where he stands where the battlesuit aids him. "Shouting does not proclaim the truth, you only aim to prove this to yourself." The god announces, "You want to believe that you were normal boy led astray. That you were not a failed divine project. But this isn't true."
The god of NESTS makes no moments of preperation nor momentary sputter. He aims his simple goal forward and towards K' at high speeds. The cape about him whirls to like, spinning as the chi amplifiers fan out, aiming to take K' in its grip, and juggle him forcefully. "You were cast away, as was the others. They do not belong in the world I will create."
COMBATSYS: Kenji successfully hits Kula with Missile Fist Ashima.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/------=|=======\===----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Kenji 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
She'll squeeze the fight out of him. That's all. She hasn't been given a kill order from the harried god of NESTs. She isn't out to end anyone permanently just yet. A ruthless killer when told to be, she also isn't eager to make this situation any more a disaster than it already seems to be. Thus she holds her grip, her left hand coming foward, about to thrust a torrent of powerfully cold chi into Kenji's side. She's surprised when he resists, his own hand catching hers, the white energy coursing over both of their hands yet failing to get a clean strike. Crimson eyes blink, her passive combat analysis determining that the young man is about to strike back.
She can handle it. The last time he attacked she underestimated the pressure he could apply and didn't plan for it accordingly. This would be different. A barrier, thicker than previously, would suffice to stop his attempt at striking her back. A barrier to glance his fist off to the side while she slips out of the way entirely. Her right hand releases his neck, intersecting his right hook, fingers open as she creates one of those shimmering shields of hers.
Her combat algorithms made a critical mistake, however. Dismissing his earlier strike as the limits of his potential, she wasn't even remotely ready for the power behind this seemingly simple bunch. The created barrier is pulverized almost instantly, reduced to fine powder and scattering out of the path of his surging fist. Her hand, open as it was in the path of his strike, gives way to the momentum, snapping backward with a sickening crack of broken bone. With nothing to block his punch, it burries itself into her stomach with a precise uppercut.
The thin operative folds over his fist, her eyes wide, her mouth open in a gasp of escaped breath as her entire body goes limp, her face taking on an extremely pale color. Her strength doesn't return in time for her to save herself from crumpling off his strike eventually, falling to the side to land on her left hand and knees, gagging as she struggles to regain the power to breath. Her right hand she elevates, holding against her stomach as it hangs at an awkward angle, promising to create lingering pain and be of no use for the remainder of this fight.
She doesn't stay down for long, however, forcing herself to move as she kicks up to her feet and slips backward from the boy she had failed to take seriously at first. Her face pale, her breaths a struggle to fight for each passing second, the girl is silent as a ghost for several second until at last her lungs recover from the shock of impact and she becomes able to inhale and exhale once more. Panting, she winces at the savage pain in her right arm, holding it out in front of her, her left hand clutching at her forearm just below the wrist. Studying the severe injury, her expression takes on a certain detatched calm, as if she was analyzing the harm done to someone else rather than her own broken wrist.
Closing her eyes, her left hand becomes charged with her icy chi. Taking a tight hold of her right hand, a popping sound announces her forcing it back into the position it is supposed to have, a flinch in her features the only hint that the excruciating is even felt whatsoever. And with that, a flare of white energy courses over her right arm, blocking it from sight before conjealing into a thick, solid guantlet of ice, forming an impromptu cast in order to grant herself the ability to continue.
Gazing at her handy work for a quiet moment, the girl lowers her ice-entombed arm and fixes her attention back on Kenji. Fighting back the pain, relying on the training that has gone into her to make her the effective fighting machine she is. Her jaw set tightly, she exhales slowly, pushing the injury to the back of her mind. A minor setback. The young man bought himself a reprieve and even set the NESTs operative back significantly. But if one is using that as a chance to count Kula Diamond out entirely, they would be... sorely mistaken.
COMBATSYS: Kula gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/------=|=======\=------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Kenji 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: K' endures Igniz's Cape Sweep!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/------=|=======\=------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Kenji 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0 Igniz
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 1/-------/=======|
Incoherent and wild with rage as he is, K''s perceptions have narrowed down to the most basic of things... zeroing in on one man and one alone: Igniz. Words don't matter anymore. What Igniz says to him barely registers, save to fan the flames. K' can smell blood off the so-called god before him, and the scent drives him on in a murderous, nigh-suicidal way, blinding him to all else. Right now, he doesn't even care if he dies, as long as he can kill Igniz first.
The young man doesn't even move to get out of the way when Igniz bears down upon him. Snared easily, his light frame is slammed into the air, punished by the ravages of that cloak, the snap of bone heralding the grievous internal injuries inflicted. Choking on his own blood, K' nevertheless manages to regain some control over his battered frame at the apex of his ascent, twisting in the air like a cat.
He wants to howl back that he -was- normal, but doubt and the blood in his throat alike stay his tongue. A momentary shudder seizes him, exacerbating his injuries, peeling an involuntary whimper from his throat-- but it doesn't last long once he reminds himself of his sister, yet again.
With a sudden resurgence of conviction, as if needing to prove all Igniz is saying-- and HAS said-- is a lie, K' abruptly aims his descent for the master of NESTS himself. Twisting adroitly in the air, K' gears up to spin with a sudden and brutal angular velocity; whirling in a whipcracking rotation, he slings a violent kick straight towards the back of Igniz's neck, hard enough to take even the 'god' off his balance.
Incoherent and wild with rage as he is, K''s perceptions have narrowed down to the most basic of things... zeroing in on one man and one alone: Igniz. Words don't matter anymore. What Igniz says to him barely registers, save to fan the flames. K' can smell blood off the so-called god before him, and the scent drives him on in a murderous, nigh-suicidal way, blinding him to all else. Right now, he doesn't even care if he dies, as long as he can kill Igniz first.
The young man doesn't even move to get out of the way when Igniz bears down upon him. Snared easily, his light frame is slammed into the air, punished by the ravages of that cloak, the snap of bone heralding the grievous internal injuries inflicted. Choking on his own blood, K' nevertheless manages to regain some control over his battered frame at the apex of his ascent, twisting in the air like a cat.
He wants to howl back that he -was- normal, but doubt and the blood in his throat alike stay his tongue. A momentary shudder seizes him, exacerbating his injuries, peeling an involuntary whimper from his throat-- but it doesn't last long once he reminds himself of his sister, yet again.
With a sudden resurgence of conviction, as if needing to prove all Igniz is saying-- and HAS said-- is a lie, K' abruptly aims his descent for the master of NESTS himself. Twisting adroitly in the air, K' gears up to spin with a sudden and brutal angular velocity; whirling in a whipcracking rotation, he slings a violent kick straight towards the back of Igniz's neck, hard enough to take even the 'god' off his balance.
"Kenji!" There's a visible wince on Shurui's face as K9999's final attack crashes into Kenji. God, what the hell did she get him into? He doesn't know any of these guys! How the hell would Shurui be able to explain the possible reason why anybody from this organization'd have a passing fancy in her, that she's possibly just some three year old that believes she's sixteen because a crafty old man penned that age on her registration? Or that the very person now clasping her hand around his neck is the same person who presented Shurui with one of her friends, in the form of a tiny keychain penguin named Milton?
Shurui has to jump in now, even if she has to fight Kula, a person she still can't hate, even as the girl comes so close to killing Kenji right in front of her.
The decision Kula now makes is one Shurui would have made too, if Igniz's love was all she knew. If you had everything you could ever think of, why disobey? Why not kill? Igniz is so easy to like, to regard as paternal, all until you fall out of his favor. Would Shurui have been like Kula once, if she had turned out fine? Probably not *exactly*, but Shurui could see herself eagerly obeying for the prize of someone's approval. Is Kula like that, too?
No, Shurui can't hold back. As Kula rises, prepared to take the full assault of Kenji's attack, Shurui closes in as well. "I'm sorry." Perhaps it was not a smart thing to alert a quick soldier like Kula to a potential attack, but Shurui's beyond the need for caring. She just goes.
One leg swings up, as if to swing for the blue-haired girl's chin which stands inches away from the furthest apex of that leg's reach. But it's the chi that courses out, propelled like a ghostly afterimage, that proves to be the actual attack. "I have to fight for my decision too!"
There's been only one time in his life that Kenji Ashima ever liked hitting a girl-- and this is still, even under the circumstances, not one of those moments. His fist breaks barriers, his fist breaks bones, and it buries into the leatherclad girl exactly as he had planned... if not moreso. Taking a broad step backward, one could almost see it as working in tandem with his schoolmate-- his friend. Letting Shurui take the offensive, it gives Kenji the chance to take a more defensive stance, catch his breath... and he's going to need it.
He staggers once he's clear, stumbling step after step but ultimately standing on his feet. His arm lowers once more, his eyes narrow hard. He's digging deep for it, reaching, grasping at straws for the power that's still inside him. He's got it-- he knows he does. Staring at his hand bare inches from the ground, the Missile Fist is breathing deeply and hard. His hand shakes as it claws, drawing into a fist more and more slowly. He can do it. ...
"Urrgh... ghhh... RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!"
Twisting in air, K' descends, Igniz unable to escale. By moments does he miss his chance, too dedicated towards his assault to pull far enough behind. The assault is powerful and almost unstoppable, colliding with the bulky god of NESTS and knocking him backwards, even towards the ground itself. Beaten and bloody, Igniz would break. His features would be, for once, angry. His own composure would change from having lost to his own creation.
But it doesn't change, even as Igniz forces the battlesuit to rise, the power slowly fading. But his hand still glows terribly, flaring violently with power as he stands. Dents are everywhere in the battlesuit. Blood droplets, his or others, are splattered about his figure. But he stands, grinning wildly yet still.
His words a forced labor, his breathe heavy, the god of NESTS still calls out towards K' even in his weakened state.
"With each passing action you prove my point further." Igniz exclaims, the heavy light powerfully glowing more with each passing second. "Today, the headway you have made.... the little progress that you may imagine you made does not amount to anything." Igniz gasps, clutching the emaculate chi powerfully before thrusting it into the ground. But not towards K'.
It escapes, charging towards Shurui as it bursts out of the ground, one thrust after another, bright collumns racing towards his newest creation, as if to erase from existance with his final move. Igniz retreats, slowly floating backwards, his emergency systems kicking in to swiftly propell him to a chopper.
"You can protect no one around you... but alone, you cannot hope to beat me. Stuck between either sides... which shall you choose?"
Igniz's voice trails off, disappearing behind the hissing off the bright lights ripping through the ground. Either way, Igniz is not important as of this moment. To chase his into the coctails of emaculate chi would be none too bright.
COMBATSYS: Igniz can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\ <
Kenji 0/-------/---====|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Shurui successfully hits Kula with Phantom Limb.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/------=|=======\==-----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\ <
Kenji 0/-------/---====|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
Her icy cast formed, Kula lowers her right arm to rest against her side. It might serve as a handy club at the right moment, at the risk of making her injury worse, but for the most part the limb is out of commision. Something for NESTs doctors to worry about later. Perhaps they can do as Vega suggested to her and fix her, like a broken thing rather than a real person. Right now what will happen an hour from now is the last thing on her mind.
The grey haired girl draws near and Kula tears her attention from Kenji to regard her just as she kicks. The energy adding range to the attack catches her off guard, having read only the physical limitations of Shurui's reach. Struck by the energy, she slips back a step, crimson eyes fixing on Shurui with silent intensity. Maybe she's wondering how the girl could come attack her at a time like this, perhaps having forgotten that warning offered when they last parted ways that she would fight to defend herself and those important to her.
To the side, the exchange of blows between furious K' and formidable Igniz has come to an end, with the god of the Cartel that gave her life retreating. It would appear that things are wrapping up. She has no intel on the status of the fight indoors but she appears to be the last one standing outside which suggests that whatever it is NESTs came for will have to wait. Though the girl makes no attempt to guess at the motivations of the mastermind that commands her. Perhaps... perhaps all this has gone according to his plans. She wouldn't know.
What she does know that in by attacking her, Shurui has stepped into one hell of a harrowing, insanely powerful chi assault. One of Igniz's best. The harm it promises is not to be taken lightly. The blue haired girl moves at last, stepping forward, waving her left hand out in a sweeping motion, a small surge of that chi of hers trailing behind the swing. It leaves a swath of white, swirling snow and ice, suspended in a field of freezing cold energy directly in front of her.
"Dont. Block."
The ice wielder directs, her voice quiet but firm, stepping forward to force her hand into the chi and send it exploding back at Shurui with enough furious force to likely knock the girl clean off her feet should it connect. The forward step takes her into the trajectory of Igniz's farewell gift to those gathered here, but her attack against the adoptive keeper of Milton stands a good chance of knocking the other girl to safety.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Shurui with Counter Shell.
# Disabling hit! #
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\ <
Kenji 0/-------/---====|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
The bright chi pulsing from Kenji becomes more and more evident as Shurui's kick connects, confusing her view along the corners of her 'vision' as she draws her foot back down. The stare she draws from Kula, however, cuts through whatever shield Shurui has from her low vision.
She has to answer to it. No, to Kula herself.
".... Kenji saved my life, once," Shurui offers to the intense stare, arms drawn in a pose that feels all too familiar. That is, familiar to a body that craved battle for so long despite the brain's misgivings about unseen consequences of such desperate fights. "He's my friend. I *can't*-" She cuts herself off, Igniz's attack setting off grating sirens in the third eye of her mind. Damn it!
A wave of grating ice, cut along the edge of words that go against everything Shurui's body screams at her to do, comes towards her, their path far more short than Igniz's beam.
... Shurui'll take it.
If they were meant to disarm her, it worked extremely well- maybe a little *too* well, sending Shurui spinning in the air and rolling on the pavement. She coughs on the pavement, before a second realization hits her. Oh god. She wasn't-
Damn it, she might just be doing that! "KULA!" Now it's Kula Shurui worries about, the whites of her eyes readily visibly as her head pulls up from the pavement.
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Igniz's Ideon Blade.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\ <
Kenji 0/-------/---====|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
K' quickly discovers that Igniz's parting gift to him is that one thing he always wanted so badly, and that one thing he now declares so loudly to -have-. That one thing he's fought so hard, this evening, keep. That thing he's cited to Kula over and over again as the mark of true free will. It's that one thing... that doesn't seem too great anymore, now that it's coming from Igniz.
He's been given a choice.
Granted, it's not a true choice, in the more benevolent sense of the word. No, what Igniz has given is the illusion of choice... a Morton's fork. Pursue Igniz and take his chances at being able to kill the Cartel leader... or protect the people gathered here-- protect /Shurui/-- and let Igniz go. Both options lead to something undesirable happening, in the end. Neither can give him the entirety of what he wants.
Frozen in that terrible instant between watching Igniz escape, taunts left in his wake, and watching that horrible attack tear towards Shurui, K' does perhaps the worst thing it's possible to do. He hesitates. Does he value his vengeance more, or does he value Shurui? He can't think what the answer is: not fast enough to act upon it. He can't even REACH the girl in time to--
Kula's sudden intervention saves him from that choice... and the shock of it saves him, also, from thinking too hard about the implications of his hesitation. He starts hesitantly towards Kula and Shurui, stops again when his antitype proves able to handle it all well enough on her own... and then, suddenly angry with his hesitation, wheels around again, only to find Igniz already gone. All of it-- it all happens far too quickly.
All the anger, all the frustration, and all the tension abruptly breathe out of him, and K' crumples to his knees. The will that had kept the flames from burning him gone, his own fire collapses inwards, seeking to eradicate the imperfect container that imprisons them. Shuddering under the weight of that incredible pain, K' finds his eyes drawn irresistibly towards the glove on the ground, like an addict looking for the needle. He stares fixedly at it, still trembling with the exhausting effort of keeping his fire from consuming him, but he doesn't reach out to take it.
COMBATSYS: K' takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\ <
Kenji 0/-------/---====|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
It's true-- Kenji did save the girl's life once, from the hand of the beast that lived in the basement of the casino in America. Tenma, Hakuya, and Kenji risked life and limb in order to get down there, to save their friends from that "crazy psycho hose beast," and it was also the only time since he's come to Southtown that he's really gone out of his way to use swear words.
Witnessing a great pillar of light as Igniz evacuates himself from the battle, Kula stepping into it, and the resulting attack that lands upon Shurui, Kenji's not about to sit back and let the girl continually have her own way-- hell no. The freak in the tights is down and out, the weirdo is gone, and now all that's left to take care of is this strange girl with the light blue hair and all of the ice.
With Shurui struck from the NESTS girl's assault, Kenji knows that he's going to have to start moving all over again. Breaking ahead, even in the wake of such an obscene attack, the Missile Fist's bloodied frame is again up and getting into Kula's face-- literally. His arm reels back. Things tense, his face becomes a scowl.
"Go DOWN!"
And then he tries his best to flat-out coldcock her: A direct punch to the face, with that fist that feels as hard as a slab of stone.
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Kenji's Missile Fist.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Shurui 0/-------/=======|=======\=====--\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\ <
Kenji 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
Her quick action succeeded. The pulse of chi, normally used for deflecting other energy away from her, served to knock the grey haired girl away from the path of the deadly attack all together. The young operative has only an instant with which to react, pushing down to spring backward, allowing the pillers of devastating power explode by, missing her by millimeters, melting the tips of her hair that didn't make it out of the way in time. Landing on her two feet, she turns toward Shurui, gazing back at her silently for a brief moment, before the girl's attention is forced to be focused elsehwere.
Kenji, determined as he is to keep saving Shurui's life, insists on coming at her again. In truth, it somewhat baffles the girl. Though he struck hard enough to break her wrist - the frozen cast over her right arm evidence of this - she can't help but wonder what he hopes to accomplish taking her on alone. She stands her ground, wincing a little, the orders being barked out over the radio in her ear confusing at first, but she's making sense of it gradually. The attack indoors was thwarted as well, including talk of treachery within.
It's as she realizes that the battle is lost that Kenji takes a swing at the girl, aiming to collapse her with one of his decisive Missile-fist punches. But she'll have none of that, bringing her left arm up to intersect it, allowing his knuckles to collide against her reinforced leather jacket. Thin, flexible body armor, it keeps her from taking the worst of it event hough her feet slip just a little. Forced to defend herself, and uncertain as to what would happen should she fall here, the young operative steps forward, slipping around Kenji as his punch is deflected... "I can't do that." she states calmly. "...you should have taken my advice. I'm sorry that you didn't.
It's her left fist that comes at him first. Clenched, pulsing with white energy as she aims for his jaw, attempting to stagger him. It's her right arm that he needs to worry about, however, as the girl swings that heavy, club-like ice cast in, aiming to bash him against the side of the head with enough force to possibly stun him. It's the kick that comes last that shows she means business, however, as Kula snaps her foot toward Kenji's chest, a razor of white ice visible along the sole of her shoe as the girl attempts to finish the job.
Kula just might have taken the bolt meant for Shurui, if she hadn't proven quick enough to clear even that. Visible relief clouds Shurui's dark eyes as Kula gazes down at her; the Gedo girl now works on lifting itself up off the hard gravel. Maybe, just maybe, with Igniz gone and silence beginning to filter in, the fight just might be over. Possibly.
'Go DOWN!'
..... Or maybe not. Kenji's not over, Kula's definitely not going to take that sitting down, and Shurui can't make it up in time to somehow disrupt the Guardian King's blow from starting the cycle once more. Hoisting herself to her feet, ribs hurting, she cuts herself inbetween the two at the last second.
She can at least stop the cycle. "FUCKING CUT IT OUT YOU T-!"
COMBATSYS: Shurui blocks Kula's Strong Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Shurui 1/-----==/=======|=======\=====--\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\ <
Kenji 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
"*KTCK*!" Kula's foot hits home against Shurui's upraised arms, the icy shock cracking against the twitching line of Shurui's nuetral mouth. "Just stop! The both of you!" Shaking her hands to somehow excuse the pain, Shurui turns so her sides face both the Guardian King and the NESTS operative, allowing her to face both as needed.
"People are safe, I'm fine, but the building's ruined. Someone really close to me at the hospital by now, and another's over there trying his damn best to make sure his powers don't go out of control. It's over. If I didn't give a damn about either of you, I would have been over there fucking right now." She's angry, at herself, at Igniz, at everything. And her ribs hurt.
Fucking hell, she's crying now too. One arm angrily wipes at her eyes as they betray her, smearing hot trails of tears. "Damn it."
COMBATSYS: Shurui takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Shurui 1/-----==/=======|=======\=====--\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\ <
Kenji 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
His fist comes into hard contact with the leather body armor, the young man's fist lingering for a moment-- as if he were trying to keep going, maybe even unintentionally break more bones while he's at it. The follow-through is halted, regardless-- and so he's left in that close proximity with the girl as the foot comes up...
And as Shurui takes the brunt of it.
It's the sudden action, her words... more especially, the tears. Kenji Ashima lowers his arms, at this point, his eyes narrowing and looking over his classmate's shoulder. The young man seems to be the worst off of those that are still standing, but he's trying his best to keep it all in and keep standing. Nodding his head to the side, his next words are directed toward Kula: "Get outta here."
Turning his back, he takes a few steps away before surveying the damage to the surroundings, to who's still there and the ambulances and god knows what other emergency services that've arrived in the wake of their fight. It doesn't help he's also fighting, literally, to keep himself upright.
COMBATSYS: Kenji takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Shurui 1/-----==/=======|=======\=====--\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\ <
Kenji 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
She intended to strike Kenji, with swing after swing, wearing him down, crushing his defenses, and forcing him to drop. The girl was willing to spare Shurui the savage devastation wrought by Igniz's hand, but that mercy doesn't seem to be shared in her attitude toward the young man from Gedo High. Only after her kick snaps out does she realize that it wasn't Ashima but Shurui that weathered the blows meant for another. Drawing back, mouth opened in shock, Kula stares intensely back at Shurui again, listening to the girl as she speaks.
She declares it over. As if it were her call to make. Crimson eyes blink slowly as the girl begins to cry and Kula's jaw tightens in response. With no one left to give orders, perhaps it truly is over. She has no objection now but self preservation, no goal other than to not be caught. She says nothing but rather glances toward Kenji. The young man is tough. Tougher than she had counted on. But she was ready to handle him. But after Kenji, then what? Was she going to fight Shurui?
Slowly the blue haired girl lowers her left arm, her right, broken arm once again hanging at her side. He barks for her to get out of there and the girl stands her ground, impassive for the moment. In all the confusion, there is one other that she has yet to forget. She doesn't even have to scan the chaotic field of battle to figure out where he is. She can feel him, without even trying, the presence of his flames overwhelming, resonating with her own genetic makeup.
Kula exhales, the sound almost coming across like a snort of derision. She glances toward Kenji, then Shurui, her left hand flaring to life, ice and chi pouring down off of it in cascading ribbons of excessive power, daring them to get in her way as she starts to walk toward the kneeling NESTs escapee. The girl could go so much further. She has yet to exhaust her resources. She could unleash so much damage even still.
She stops, two yards away from K'. With close proximity, he would sense it easily as well. How much energy she is sitting on. How she could strike out with power far beyond what Kenji or Shurui would be capable of contending with. The temperature around her, a small bubble of rapidly dropping temperature, clashes against the super-heated atmosphere around him, his flames casting shadows in all directions around them. Slowly she lifts her left hand toward her mouth, as if preparing that signiture technique of hers. But rather than exhale with a pulse of blisteringly cold wind laden with sharp, bladed ice, she bites the strap at her wrist, pulling the buckle open with her teeth to loosen the yellow leather glove. Biting down on the middle finger, she pulls the glove off with her teeth then takes hold of it in her now bare, left hand.
The white, freezing energy continues to swirl about her hand and now that her hand is exposed, it begins to freeze on her skin, threatening to harm its master just like K''s flames threaten to consume him. The girl takes in a second breath then exhales slowly, and a change comes over her. The blue in her hair melts away, leaving auburn locks, and the perpetual flurry of crystals that swirl about her melt, falling to the ground as droplets. Even the savage energy at her hand, desiring nothing more than to be put to use in a destructive attack fades out completely before any lasting harm can be done to her hand.
Her eyes, now violet, gaze at K' as she flicks her wrist, tossing her shed glove to the ground where it lands near his own red twin. "I can control it." she declares. "It doesn't control me." She turns then, her back toward him as she closes her eyes. "You can too. You're just as strong as I am. Quit being so pathetic."
And with that, the girl turns to walk away, her ice cast heavy at her right side, her left hand clenched on her other side. It is easy to vanish in the confusion as the city emergency response units pile into the location to try and take control and make sense of the devastation wrought here. And it is to that end that the black leather clad girl vanishes from the scene.
COMBATSYS: Kula takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Shurui 1/-----==/=======|=======\=====--\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\ <
Kenji 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 0/-------/---====|
Heretofore silent, wrapped up in his own struggle to hold back his own fire, K' senses Kula before he sees her. His glance holds neither trust nor fear for her as she draws closer, even though he has no idea whether she'll finally do her job and kill him now that she's got a chance. Wariness, exhaustion, and pain war with a distinct -dare- in his yellow eyes as they meet hers. Even now, K' is looking at her as if asking her why she doesn't just execute the task for which she was made.
He tenses visibly, his hands-- both bare-- lowering to the ground to brace him as she reaches up. His unsheathed right hand touches the ground directly for the first time, and the unfamiliar sensation chokes a gasp out of him. His fingertips tighten against the ground, and it's clear that unaccustomed sensation of dexterity is momentarily distracting him.
But his attention fixes back on her when she lapses into that familiar position. He knows what comes after this. Bristling visibly, his flames reacting to his wariness and leaping even higher, K' narrows his eyes on Kula. The message in his tensed frame and lashing fire is clear; he might not have total command of the flames, but-- like her-- he is hardly out yet. He can recoup if he -has- to, can -force- himself to fight further if he must--
Her glove hits the ground. K' twitches back as if she -had- struck him, surprise collapsing what little control he managed over the fire. Wordless, expressionless, he looks at it as she speaks. For a while, it's debatable whether he's even heard a thing she's said, because his eyes certainly aren't leaving those two gloves laid on the ground.
"You can speak to me like that..." His voice breaks the silence like an ice pick. It starts low, but fury soon pitches it to a howl. "...when you UNDERSTAND what you talk about." Does she not comprehend the differences between them? Is she such a simpleminded creature she doesn't realize that the reason she can and he can't was that she was MADE specifically to have the control he doesn't? That it's not as simple as she makes it out to be? It's unfortunate... but the midst of his anger, he never realizes that it's those exact thoughts that have held him back from control in the first place. That belief that-- for all he insists upon his own humanity-- he is ultimately simply programmed to be incapable. Destined to struggle with his fire.
Rage sets his fire to an agitated roar once more, the fire writhing over him as he lunges to his feet... but he doesn't pursue Kula. Some part of him is yet lucid enough to register that she's no longer the enemy she was created to be; and furious as she's just made him, much as he wants to strike her square in the mouth for her insolence-- there's something else that holds him back. Something he can't forget. Something he has to attend, right now.
All his thoughts bent towards an agonizing concern over Whip, K' turns away in a stumbling motion like the rip of a bandaid. His eyes finding Shurui, the mess of terrible, scourging fire that is K' demands wretchedly, "Where is she?"
Shurui's stomach clenches and churns as Kula makes her way towards the struggling K'. Why isn't she stopping Kula? Why isn't she just flat out assuming the NESTS operative isn't going to just kill him then and there? "Please..." she whispers under her breath as she stands there with Kenji, too afraid to move. "If you kill him..."
Some things she can't forgive.
But that's not happening here. Instead, Kula delivers some words of wisdom, igniting the hurt pride in K''s aura before obeying Kenji's words in leaving. Good. Now to start the slow process of somehow making things right again, somehow. Turning to the Guardian King then and there, she gives him a small smile. ".... I'm sorry. You were doing the exact thing I wanted you to do. I'll... try to make it up to you. Somehow." She pauses. "You did a lot for me. Thank you." Now, don't struggle as she gets you to a hospital before she has to carry *you* back.
But first, K'. She doesn't even really have to go over to him; his attention's already on her, fierce and overwhelming. Her expression, instead of fear, simply grows tired.
Whip. Her body felt so horribly light in Shurui's arms. And her blood's still on Shurui; on the crook of her neck, her hands, anywhere that wasn't covered by the now discarded hoodie. She wants to cry again, even as she remembers the stubborn light of life within Whip's frame.
"Probably in the hospital, by now," she then says. "There's gotta be an ambulance on standby over by the police blockage. Kenji's really hurt, so..." Grey eyelashes lower as Shurui looks downward. ".... I want you to come too, but. I can't force you if you want to be alone." She looks back up, tears itching to crowd her eyes again. "If you wanna opt for the latter, I'll call you," she finally says after she takes a breath, composing herself.
meters
Log created on 23:19:10 08/22/2008 by Igniz, and last modified on 20:45:19 09/03/2008.