Description: Dr. Tran and Nataya fight! Dr. Tran is feeling fat and sassy, but is it enough to overcome Nataya's stunning display of police brutality? I'll sue the entire city, I swear! ( Winnter: Nataya )
Neo League!
The word is spoken by some with reverence. Still, others with derision. And some just say it because it's fun to say. Try it. Neo League, Neo League, Neo League. But whatever the reason people say it, the meaning is clear: it's a thinly veiled excuse for people with superpowers to beat the tar out of each other with little context other than it's what people with superpowers do.
Well, aside from die and get ressurected again, but that's only if you're an X-Man.
None of these thoughts are on Nataya's mind as she strolls into the shrine clearing with a card in her hand. Apparently, she's here to battle some person named 'Dr. Tran'. A picture of Dr. Tran is on the card, so she can identify him from the leagues of people that look just like Dr. Tran, which is to say it's almost totally unecessary, since he's going to be the shortest fighter Nataya's ever laid eyes on so far.
Her serene, calm face looks a little confused as she peers at the card closely. On the card, it says he's 5'2" tall. That's got to be a typo, right? Aren't most people over 5'2" when they turn thirteen? She flips the card over in her hand, as if it will somehow magically change the the 6'2" she expects it to really be. It doesn't of course.
Her feet shuffle about the grounds of the shrine. The crew is already here to film an epic battle. All that's missing is the incredible, dynamic, and powerful (and short) Dr. Tran!
5RSeriously, 5'2"? Isn't that legally midget sized? Nataya contemplates all this as she partakes in a plate of finger sandwiches provided by catering for this barely sold event. Times are tough when you're an unknown dark horse fighter.
Bum, bum, bum bum, bum, bum BUM! Theme music echoes out across the shrine from a mysterious force. No speakers are evident; could it be the sheer power of the legendary physician's presence!?
It could be, or more likely there's not actually any theme music at all because this is a run-down little shrine out in the middle of nowhere and nobody cares enough to actually set something like this up, not even the man himself, Dr. Tran!
Instead, he comes trudging out of the woods (from the direction opposite where Southtown rests, strangely enough), looking...well, he looks kind of disgruntled. It's only reinforced when he calls out to all present, "Alright, alright. Let's get this over with."
He pauses, and looks around. "Who am I fighting, again?"
Well, that must be him. The woman peers at the short man in the lab coat and sunglasses, who looks pretty much like the guy in the picture. This... wasn't what she expected when she signed up for Neo League. All the brochures and pictures made it look like she was going to be squaring of against titans of combat with energy and power flying about in spades.
Nobody told her about vaguely disgruntled short guys in sunglasses and lab coats looking like they'd rather be anywhere else but here.
Still, no sense making a fuss about it. At least, not yet. Nataya raises a hand gingerly, still unable to keep a look fo gneral confusion from her face. "Me," she says, short and simple.
An awkward pause, and she scratches her nose. "I guess you must be Dr. Tran? Pleased to meet you. This is my first Neo League fight, so I'm not really certain how all the etiquette works." She has the decency to look embarassed about it anyway.
She looks at the crew, then at Tran again, finishing off her sandwicth quickly before coughing once. "So... do we just start fighting? How does this work, precisely?"
Aha! There. Perfect. Tran's opponent. And a fine opponent she is, too, a judgement based mostly around the doctor's inner schoolgirl detector' (his first line of defense against that particular menace), and its failure to go off at this time. Sometimes, it's hard to be sure, but Tran's got a hunch.
Not that it's enough to really cheer Tran up. It's a bullet dodged, to be sure, but not that, not the prompt presence of his foe, not even the catering is enough. All the finger sandwiches in the world could not improve Dr. Tran's mood. So it is that with more than a little impatience, Tran begins to walk toward Nataya, offering a quick rundown on the way. "Great. Normally, you start things off with a punch or something."
He waves a hand dismissively. "I wouldn't worry about etiquette so much, because I'm pretty sure six out of every dozen people you fight are willing to just rush forward and beat the shit out of you for no good reason, Neo League or no. Because they're /crazy/ and they're /assholes/." A shining example of pots and kettles, clearly.
Stopping a couple yards short of Nataya, Tran starts to roll his neck around, doing a couple of quick stretches to limber up a bit. "The crew's good at being prepared, they're used to that kind of thing so they can catch every second of it on camera for the viewers at home, so. Whenever. Punch me, try to make it look good if you can. Over the top or silent and deadly, whichever, people like both."
Talk about jaded. Nataya blinks, her normally calm face sort of bottoming out. This guy is definitely unusual. Most people have hot-headed reactions or overly cheerful spirit. This guy's just...
Well, he's not what she expected for sure.
But a fight's a fight. Shrugging, she falls into a combat stance. "Well, alright. If you say so. I don't know much about this kind of thing, but if there's anything that I try to be good at, it's trying to perect the art of beating people up." For her, it's just training she gets paid for. Still, something's really just off about this one. It's not /evil/ per se. Just... he's unusual.
Like when you eat a bad burrito. That moment of realization that it's just not going to sit really well before the bad news hits. That's the feeling she's got right now. Hands clench into fists and she raises them up, her feets shifting back and forth rhythmically. "If it helps any, I'm not crazy and I try to make a concerted effort to only be an asshole if there's absolutely no other way... but." She smiles slightly.
"They're not here to watch us make small talk, I guess." With that, she shoots forward, a more direct assault there never was as she grinds her foot into the ground at the end of her sprint, using the torque to slam her foot into Tran's chest and bowl him over.
COMBATSYS: Nataya has started a fight here.
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Nataya 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Tran has joined the fight here.
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Tran 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Nataya
COMBATSYS: Tran blocks Nataya's Light Kick.
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Tran 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Nataya
Jaded? Maybe a little. Dr. Tran is something, at least, almost everyone can agree on that. "Are you kidding? Viewers love small talk, especially..." He stops talking here, as he has something rather important to deal with - Nataya's foot, which he mostly stops by lifting a palm. It's still more than potent enough to drive his hand back, and it smarts besides, but for the most part he's okay.
"Especially when it's in the middle of a fight." Giving a little shove to the foot to try to put Nataya off-balance, Tran doesn't immediately follow it up anyway, instead just standing in place, waving his other hand in the air as he makes his point. "You're wrong, by the way. You may not realize it, but you're nuts."
Taking a step forward, Tran casually whips the hand he was waving forward, shooting it straight for Nataya's neck, looking to grasp it tightly. If he catches it, he'll lift up with a surprising amount of strength, and toss the young lady upward just a bit. "You're here, aren't you?" That said, he spins about to try to plant his own foot in the center of /her/ chest, just for a nice bit of turn-around.
COMBATSYS: Nataya blocks Tran's 3 2 1...Dr Tran.
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Tran 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Nataya
Well, fair enough. "Crazy is relative. I guess you do have to be a little crazy to fight for any reason," she says thoughtfully, and then grunts as she's pushed away. The defensive action causes her to stumble, but isn't enough to completely throw her off guard. Nataya's fast, if anything and her hand shoots up to guard against the incoming attack.
"Even so, even if I'm crazy, I'd like to think I'm the happy, good, friendly kind," she posits as she's forced to defend against the follow up kick. The air is pushed out of her lungs a bit as the foot slams hard into her arm, driving it against her chest. "Oof."
"Whatever the case, there's no reason to be bent out of shape, I guess. Then again, I don't know you all that well, so you probably have good reasons."
The prayer beads wrapped around her arms begin to glow a bright silver, and what appears to be mist seeps from her large sleeves as she starts to mutter a quiet mantra. Soon, the power rushes forth from her sleeves in a burst of silvery clouds. Swinging her arms wide, three small pinpricks of light rush towards Tran, quickly growing in size, looking all the world like silvery softballs. The spheres burst towards Tran, trailing silver-smoke contrails. Should they connect, they'll explode with pure force, blowing the man backward in addition to any damage.
COMBATSYS: Nataya successfully hits Tran with Three Gems.
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Tran 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Nataya
She's agreeing with him? How...unexpected, mostly. It kinda throws Dr. Tran off-stride a little bit, to be honest. He grumbles, "Yeah, well...I'm not." Not not crazy, but not the happy, friendly kind. Tran takes a step forward to prove it, but then there's the small matter of Nataya's silver balls screaming toward him. Tran basically has time to think '...fast' to himself before all three crash into his chest in quick succession, bam bam bam, sending him forcibly backwards.
He lands on his feet in a crouch, three silver smoketrails rising from his chest. Tran snorts softly. "You think so. Alright, let me ask you a question." Though he's still when he speaks, the doctor isn't idle by any stretch of the imagination. The air ripples, power invisibly swirling around him.
The look on his face is challenging, daring Nataya to answer. "Just why do you think I'm here?"
COMBATSYS: Tran gathers his will.
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Tran 1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Nataya
Rippling power? Oh goodness. What did her master tell her about this sort of thing? Nataya pauses, the sliver clouds billowing around her as she tries to reach back into her memory for her master's words. Oh, that's right.
"Nataya, some day, you may face an opponent who has the ability to marshall his power at will, increasing his power tenfold when he reaches his full potential. If that happens, there is something you must do."
"What's that," Nataya had asked inquisitively.
"Hit them as hard as humanly possible and pray you don't get killed when they retaliate."
Master wasn't much help sometimes, but the words still ring true in her mind. Planting her feet firmly on the ground, Nataya raises both her arms, and a swam of pray beads explode from her sleeves like bees from a hive. The beads form concentric circles in front of her and the sliver clouds begin to run through them, focusing into a silver bolt of power, which hurls at Tran with disturbing alacrity.
But Nataya's not holding still. She seems to disappear in a burst of smoke, only to appear next to Tran. "I dunno why you're here," she answers honestly. "Same reason I'm here, I assume. It's what you do, and sometimes you're occasionally good at it? Pardon the fists," she says with a slight smile on her face as she goes into a truly vicious combo of punches, kicks, elbows and knees to Tran's blind side.
COMBATSYS: Nataya successfully hits Tran with Six Seals.
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Tran 1/---====/=======|===----\-------\0 Nataya
Unknowing of Nataya's master-inspired plan, Tran gets cocky. Another bolt of power? Please. Dr. Tran practically eats that shit for breakfast! He raises a hand, preparing to deal with it, and then Nataya bum-rushes him. "Wh...?!" His moment of distraction allows the bolt to slam home, which further allows Nataya to basically beat the crap out of him mercilessly.
Yeah, all things told, that kinda hurts quite a bit. However, a history of taking severe blows, often to the head, has given Tran the unique ability to...well, not take it better, so much as just keep going and pretend it didn't really hurt. Even though it really did. He staggers back, turning a break in Nataya's combo into a moment of breathing room (because if he didn't, he kinda gets the impression that she could keep it up all day long), hunched over and breathing kind of hard.
Still, at the very least he can get some satisfaction out of knowing that she doesn't have the answer to his question at all. It makes him smile, a slow, somewhat pained grin that spreads across his face. "That's a reason, but it's not good enough. You wanna know the truth?" He grabs at his head and sighs, almost happily. A stream of fog comes out of his mouth, even though it's not cold out. "I don't know why I'm here at all. Pretty funny, isn't it?" It seems like he's waiting for an answer, because he's not making any threatening moves toward Nataya at all. He's just standing there. Watching her, waiting to see her response.
COMBATSYS: Tran focuses on his next action.
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Tran 1/---====/=======|===----\-------\0 Nataya
She seems to shrug, even though Nataya doesn't actually make a motion to do so. It's more like a moment morso than anything else where he rlips turn down ever so lightly to indicate an expression that's filled with subtility. However, rather than go into the complextities of it all, it eventually boils down to the phrase: "Eh."
"I... guess? Oh, cruel, cruel fate that has a man fight and fight for reasons he not know?" She laughs a little, but it's not mocking, really. It's just an aknowledgement at the cheese factor of her words.
"I don't need to have a reason to be. it's enough that I 'be', and I'll decide what my being means to me as a go on with my life," she says as she calls the beads back to her. The small pinpricks of silver orbit her like planets to a sun, and she falls back into her odd Muay Thai-like stance.
She starts running, arms trailing behind her. But it's not just a stylistic choice: while doing so, she scatters the beads everywhere. The trinkets clatter to the ground like raindrops, little bursts of quicksilver zig and zag across the ground. The beads form ricles, little rolling landmines that shoot past her, rolling across the ground and headed for Tran. If any of them hit, they'll explode with a shockwave of pure force, launching Tran into the air with each concussive burst.
COMBATSYS: Tran fails to reflect Five Precepts EX from Nataya with Operation - Dr. Tran.
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Tran 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=====--\-------\0 Nataya
Even if she is mocking, Tran laughs, too, although it's kind of...well, it's kind of a crazy-laugh. Truth be told, he's not even sure WHY he's laughing. It's probably an exceedingly poor time to be laughing, besides, especially with Nataya's wave of rolling explosions. Dr. Tran tries to summon up his own energy to defend himself, but. Whether it's due to being off-guard, the unusual nature of the attack, who can say? It doesn't work, whatever the case may be, and Tran gets sent flying.
He lands roughly, flat on his back, still chuckling. "Maybe it's just an in-joke. I won't bore you trying to explain it, that never ends well." He rolls over, and pushes himself up unsteadily, turning to face Nataya, slightly hunched, and in obvious pain. But he somehow looks more eager now than he has all fight long. "Come on. Finish it now!"
The woman nods. "Someone's a little out of alignment, it looks," Nataya says, making an observation rather than a judgment. "And trust me. I just spent two years with a bunch of senile monks trying to teach me how to blow up mountains. Nothing you could say or do could possibly bore me at this point."
But if Tran wants to be finished, then she's more than happy going about finishing. After all, it's what everyone's watching for, right? "But listen. Don't get the wrong idea. If you want to talk, I won't judge you. I'm just here to try to make things reach their equilibrium. Helping people's what I'm all about."
She pauses. "Sometimes whether they want it or not, admittedly."
And with that, Nataya's shooting forward again, literally rolling over the beads still on the ground on the balls of her feet. Using them to skate around on the ground, she whirls close into Tran, seeking to set him back down on the ground with a straight punch to the face to set up her next series of attacks.
COMBATSYS: Tran endures Nataya's Quick Punch!
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Tran 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=====--\-------\0 Nataya
"Heaven help me if I'm boring...if I am, then nobody's gonna watch, and then what's the point?" Still looking decidedly out of alignment, as Nataya skillfully phrased it, Tran considers just waiting for her to get to him, but then decides that it's probably better if he meets her on the way. He doesn't go terribly fast, walking slowly, an aura of steam slowly rising off of him, surrounding him.
"I'm done talking. I've been talking too much, if I want someone to solve my problems I'll pay them a hundred bucks an hour to tell me that I'm obsessed with my mother." It's the American way, after all. "NOW DO IT!"
Tran leans into Nataya's punch; it squarely impacts his face, but it doesn't knock him off his feet. In fact, it mostly just drives his head back. The rest of his body doesn't exactly follow suit. "WEAK!" It's kind of muffled because her fist is still in his jaw, but. That wasn't a finishing strike at all. Tran is disappointed, which directly translates into non-specific fury, which similarly translates into too much high power, man.
The steam which surrounds the doctor suddenly reverses direction, defying nature and gravity to rush downward to his hand, balling up around balled hands, fists quickly becoming invisible in the rolling masses of steam. Without turning his head, Tran takes another step forward, getting in nice and close to Nataya, and pretty much tries to uppercut her into orbit. It's a punch that takes big, heavy, grown men off their feet. For someone who weighs 100 pounds...well, Tran might have a couple of seconds to get ready for her when Nataya eventually comes down. Seconds spent preparing another, possibly even /stronger/ punch, very similar to the first, except in a much more horizantal direction.
COMBATSYS: Nataya blocks Tran's Here Comes Dr. Tran!.
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Tran 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Nataya
Let it be said that Nataya's a resiliant person, regardless of how she appears. Very tough indeed. Muay Boran is even less forgiving than Muay Thai, and training usually involves getting punched until you fall down, and then getting punched even more. At least, that's how her Master did it. The end result? Fast reflexes and high durability.
All that build up being said? Nataya only blocks /one/ punch.
The uppercut slams into her arms with a force that Nataya's never felt before. The sheer burst of chi and physical power blows her arms wide. That's not the punch that hits, though. The follow up is what collides, smashing into her like a steam powered freight train of American-fueled /awesome/. The steam blows away her own omnipresent silver mists, and then blows her away as well. The woman lets out a cry of surprise as she's sent ass over end, rolling across the ground with a series of thumps.
"Oookay," she says, staggering to her feet. She sputters, coughing up dirt and hot air from Tran's attack. "Point taken." Still, she doesn't seem too upset. The calm smile falls back to her face in moments as she reorients herself. Her hands smooth out her robes and the silver clouds return, the beads rising up into the air once more as she prepares herself.
The first attack was the setup. Now, the finisher.
She spreads her arms, and the beads react like trained soldiers, rippling through the silver clouds, accumulating energy until they shift, change, and melt into three silver beams, shimmering like quicksilver in the air. A hollow echo fills the air as she moves them about in a tight circle around her body. They spin faster and faster yet, swirling up a cloud of silvery mist until the burst forward from her.
The four beams hurtle towards Tran like lasers at first, but then shift as they approach, going vertical. They give about one second for Tran to appreciate what they're about to do.
If they connect, the four beams will start beating on Tran like police batons, pulling a completely meciless Rodney King style beatdown on the man. The relentless attacks won't stop until the bead constructs run out of power, sprinkling to the ground again like so many ball bearings.
COMBATSYS: Nataya successfully hits Tran with Four Stages of Enlightenment.
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Tran 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 Nataya
Panting from the exertion, Dr. Tran stays in the position he finishes his second punch in for several long moments. And then he breaks into a run forward, following Nataya. He's not talking anymore; he's done with words. The only thing left to do here is to finish.
Which, as it happens, Nataya does an excellent job of. The beams rush at Tran, and as they approach, he tries to jump through a gap, continuing his progress forward. Suffice to say, it doesn't work. It doesn't work at all. The first one smacks him directly downward into the ground, putting him on hands and knees. They basically totally beat the shit out of him, even as he struggles to rise through it, while crawling forward at the same time.
By the time they're done with their violent work, he's quite a bit closer to Nataya, and in significantly worse shape than he was before. It's an effort just to raise one leg up far enough to get it under him, so imagine how difficult it is when he punches at Nataya again, fist wreathed in chi, in exactly the same way he did just moments ago. Coughing, Tran brings himself to a shaky standing position, and then throws himself forward at Nataya, fist-first, greatly resembling a human torpedo. In part because on contact, his punch explodes, and in part because after he throws it he'll be completely down and out, in no shape to continue, retching quietly.
COMBATSYS: Tran can no longer fight.
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Nataya 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Tran successfully hits Nataya with Here Comes Dr. Tran!.
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Nataya 1/----===/=======|
Did she win? Did she win?
Nataya steps back as the dust clears from her handiwork, and she pauses. The calm serene face is what Tran sees as he burst from the horrid beatdown he received at the hands of the monk trained fighter. He gets to see it for most of his flight. It's the last second where it changes from even and peaceful to one of total shock.
Tran hits Nataya much in the same manner as a bazooka hits a fluffy bunny.
Nataya seems to explode. The chi reacts with her violently, dotally disrupting her equilibrium and blasting her backward like a ping pong ball from a nuclear explosion. She doesn't even have time to /bounce/ along the ground. She just shoots back like a bullet, crashing into a wall with so much force that she nearly literally leaves a Waner Brothers-esque outline in the wall.
The impact rattles her body like a Magic Fingers bed in the middle of an earthquake, and she flickers in and out of consciouness. It's only through sheer luck that her eyes don't just cross, causing her to pass out.
A considerable time passes before she can say or do anything, blood cascading down her face and staining the trim of her robe from the rocks that smashed into her from the impact on the building. "I think my retinas just detached."
COMBATSYS: Nataya has ended the fight here.
Log created on 23:25:49 08/25/2008 by Tran, and last modified on 03:42:56 08/26/2008.