Description: The Holy Land marks the beginning of the World Tour, and Domino faces its chosen champion, Spider, in the great city of Haifa. The representative's persistence and unique tactics of defense seem solid and unrelenting, but Domino manages to break through to claim a victory in Israel.
Notifications were spread to all corners of the world, daring the best fighters to make a stand for their country and show just what it's made of. Most countries eagerly began scouting for talent to display, to show why they're simply the best out there. Several applications were sent back to Drake, but very few were of any use to him. He wasn't looking for just anyone to attach to a region. He was looking for the best of the best, the most distinct stylings of their country - in short, the best representation each location has to offer.
One such unique applicant he found came only labelled as 'Spider'. Having perused the documentation sent, Drake did a little research (on Youtube, a great academic source) to see a demonstration of Spider's fighting style. The conclusion was that it was certainly... different. It would definitely do for Israel.
Things were set in motion. Haifa was notified that it would be the staging grounds for Israel's defense, and the acceptance letter to Spider was delivered.
And now the day has come. The kick-off of the World Tour. A pure white building belonging to a local, outrageously expensive resort is to set the stage for this event - specifically, the rooftop. The great expanse of Haifa is visible from this building, accented with a tall, elegant water fountain spraying up from the ground below. Tall palm trees bend this way and that at each corner of the square roofing, the high noon sun beaming down amidst fluffy clouds. Despite the outrageous heat, a strong gathering of fans have amassed along the perimeter of what is to be the fighting zone. The local supporters and the loyal following Drake has can be picked out quite easily if for no other reason than their dress code. ..And the fact that Drake's fans look notoriously like tourists.
The door to the rooftop opens, and a slender figure emerges from the shadows, wearing a silky black robe with white trim. The robe's hood is drawn, deliberately blocking the wearer's visage from those gathered. The lettering upon the chest of the robe, 'Domino', is rather counter-productive to any sort of secrecy he might have had, alone with the Shooting Stars logo imprinted on the back. An original by Chae Lim, that. Still, he moves through the parting crowd to step into the center of the fighting zone before sweeping the hood back from his face. Predictably enough, the young supermodel, Drake "Domino" Vyril, is revealed with a bright, enthusiastic smile. The robe is tugged off and tossed to a security guard wearing a black suit and a scowl, leaving Domino in one of his three favored fighting outfits - black kickboxing pants with white tribal markings, complete with white sash. The young foreigner thrusts his right fist into the air, eliciting a cheer from his fans, and a mixed reaction from the rest of the population. And from there, he waits for the defender.
The Spider stands on the rooftop, waiting for his opponent. He smokes a high tar Turkish cigarette, his eyes hidden behind mirrored aviator glasses. He regards Drake with distaste as he sees him arrive, and steps out of the shadow of the rooftop stairwell. "Greetings," the Spider says in an even voice, tossing his cigarette aside. "Welcome to Haifa."
COMBATSYS: Spider has started a fight here.
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Spider 0/-------/-------|
Domino's amethyst eyes affix to Spider the moment he really brings himself 'out'. No longer anoter face in the crowd, but someone of notable, immediate significance. Rather than approach with disdain, he marches right up to him with a disarming smile, right hand thrusting out for a handshake.
"Name's Domino. Pleasure. Look forward to seeing what Israel's got to offer," is his response. "Nice place, Haifa. Hotter'n I'm used to."
The camera crews train intently on the exchange, watching the conduct between the two closely.
COMBATSYS: Drake has joined the fight here.
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Drake 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Spider
The Spider looks down at the offered hand, before looking back up at Drake. He does not raise his hand in return. "Let's just get this over with," the Spider says, as he watches Drake. He does not raise his guard. He stands there, the sun reflecting off his mirrored shades, the sweat beading about his forehead. His eyes bore into Drake from behind his sunglasses, the Spider slowly turning his head to the side and producing a popping sound.
Domino is left standing there, looking somewhat goofy with his hand extended. His brow furrows, giving Spider an innocently confused look. The local supporters snicker and laugh at the demonstration of superiority. Haw, haw, silly American.
Domino simply lifts his hands and bobs his shoulders in a shrug. "Alrighty, then."
One of the security guards, impatient as sin, gives a sudden call-out. "FIGHT!"
Domino's eyes immediately narrow, pleasantry washed away. He makes a sudden attempt to grab ahold of Spider by the cargo pants and neck. If caught, he simply hoists the man up and overturns him, aiming to bring his back down heavily upon an upturned knee in a backbreaker. Smashed into position, one hand sets to Spider's chin, the other to his leg for both to push down in a painful rack submission hold atop the knee.
COMBATSYS: Spider counters Star Breaker from Drake with Star of Zion.
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Drake 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Spider
The Spider is grabbed, but does not allow the hold to go any further. His right fist lashes out at Drake's chest, plunging his knuckles into Drake's sternum and knocking him back. The Spider snorts, and slowly opens his hand, his fingers stroking the air as he cracks his knuckles. The Spider continues to glare at Drake, lowering his arm.
Domino staggers back from the hit, eyes widened briefly in surprise. He then shakes his head and dashes back in towards him, though this time attempting to lock up with the man. Arms tangled with arms to ideally prevent -that- from happening again, Domino begins thrusting knee-strike after knee-strike towards his midsection to weaken him up. After the third hit, the hold switches up, with Spider's head trapped under Domino's left arm. The free hand grabs the cargos again to hoist Spider into a vertical suplex position... and he hops up, twisting over to drive the man onto his back and land atop him in a suplex-powerslam.
COMBATSYS: Spider fails to counter Flashbang from Drake with Star of Zion.
- Power fail! -
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Drake 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Spider
The Spider gets his arms tangled with Domino, and he wrestles with him, lashing him back and forth as he struggles. His mouth becomes a thin, grim line as he fights, getting struck in the stomach repeatedly. He's then lifted into the air, before being slammed onto his back. His body lets out a spasm as it lays on the ground, the Spider too shocked to get up.
Following this delivered hit, Domino pulls into a forward roll to end on his taped feet again. He spins back around to face Spider, and he moves in quickly to attempt capitalizing on what appears to be a fairly solid opening. The acrobatic wrestler hops into the air in a single forward flip and extends his left foot, aiming to bring the heel down against Spider's midsection in a falling axe-kick.
COMBATSYS: Spider blocks Drake's Light Kick.
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Drake 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Spider
The Spider raises his arm as the leg comes down, knocking the kick aside. The Israeli climbs to his feet with a swift roll, his sunglasses now gone. He squints at Drake as his hands ball up into fists, before he lashes out at his throat with a punch.
COMBATSYS: Drake blocks Spider's Quick Punch.
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Drake 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Spider
Kick knocked aside, Domino rolls back to end on his feet again. He raises right in time to note a punch blazing in towards his throat, which his right arm moves swiftly to deflect. The knuckles glance off his shoulder, which aches, but certainly not as badly as it could have.
The audience is now in full cheer, drowning out all other noise in the vicinity. The fight has built up rather fast, and things have heated up remarkably quickly for a fight that hasn't had very long to progress.
Domino, meanwhile, attempts to weave around behind Spider's back. His hands make a grab for his throat from behind, and if caught, he hops into the air and places his knees against his back. Thus, when Domino hits the rooftop on his back, Spider's back will hopefully smash against his knees in a back-cracker.
COMBATSYS: Spider counters Medium Throw from Drake with Star of Zion.
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Drake 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Spider
The Spider watches as Drake knocks his blow aside, frowning. He spins about as Drake moves behind him, grunting as he focuses and unleashes a blurring punch. He slams Drake right in the chest with enough force to break a rib, knocking him away once again.
Spider will find that Domino is a bit tougher than average, fortunately. The pain and additional force is still there, however, much to the wrestler's chagrin. He begins scowling a little at the representative of Israel, and he slides into his stance. Feet spread a shoulders' width apart, favoring his right leg for a shallow backstance. His left arm angles before himself, hand tapered flat, as his right hand chambers at chest level, fingers spread.
Amethyst eyes affix to Spider.. and he waits.
COMBATSYS: Drake focuses on his next action.
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Drake 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Spider
The Spider smirks at the scowl, narrowing his eyes. "You didn't think it'd be easy, did you?" he asks. He does not wait for an answer, however. As soon as he's spoken, he lashes out with his left hand, attempting to grab the side of Drake's head and pull it down into his rising knee.
COMBATSYS: Drake counters Quick Throw from Spider with Blackout.
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Drake 1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Spider
"Start showin' me what Israel's -really- made of," Domino replies tensely.
The lashing hand is caught out of the air into one of Domino's and wrenched over, twisting to arm around Spider's back while letting Spider himself continue to move in towards him. His other arm hooks around his waist, and both hands lock together to cinch down a crushing bearhug on him. Domino's back arches a bit to rear Spider off his feet, streamlined arms pumping to attempt incapacitating the man outright with compressing force.
The Spider struggles as Domino brings the pain with a bear hug. He grits his teeth, fighting to get free. He suddenly exhales the air from his lungs and becomes thinner, quickly whipping about to knock Drake off of him. "I will," he says, staring at Drake with his brown eyes, raising his guard. His left hand gestures for Drake to come at him.
COMBATSYS: Spider focuses on his next action.
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Drake 1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Spider
Domino re-sets into his stance and a smirk touches to his lips. "Good."
Rather than move right back in, however, Domino does something a little different. The young supermodel leaps high into the air, fists drawn back. Suddenly, a sparkling white aura comes to life around his right fist and forearm, along with a shimmering black aura around the left. The arms pull up once he hits the pinnacle of his jump.
"Domino...!"
The arms swing down, palm over palm directed at Spider.
"HELIX!"
The radiant white energy and the deep black energy both fire off into thick, streaming beams from his arms. As soon as they leave his body, they begin twisting over and over, creating a spiraling double helix of pretty sizable proportions.
COMBATSYS: Spider blocks Drake's Domino Helix.
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Drake 0/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Spider
The Spider blinks as Domino summons the attack, raising his arms to fend off the incoming wave of energy. His boots skid backwards across the rooftop, before the wave subsides. The Spider lowers his arms, his brown bomber jacket smoking. He rushes forward, attempting to grapple with Drake, before ramming his forehead into Drake's nose.
COMBATSYS: Drake parries Spider's Mark of the Anointed!
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Drake 1/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Spider
The streaming energy is enough to keep Domino aloft in the air for its duration, all but gliding along his own output. But the moment that's ended and Domino lands, Spider is crowding his vision with an intended headbutt. Reacting on pure reflexes and wrestling finesse alone, he weaves aside and grabs his assailant by collar and hip to flip him over gracefully onto his back, bypassing the headbutt completely.
Wasting no time to capitalize on -this- hopeful opening, Domino leaps into the air again to alight atop one of the bordering palm trees. Facing the audience, he thrusts his right fist into the air with a bright, charismatic smile, before turning around and springing into a double backflip. On the second rotation, his limbs draw back to pull his torso taut and firm for impact across Spider in his self-styled high-flying moonsault: the Darkside Slam.
COMBATSYS: Spider blocks Drake's Darkside Slam EX.
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Drake 1/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Spider
The Spider watches Drake's acrobatics with a frown, before Domino comes flying at him. The Spider raises both arms and bounces Domino off of him, grunting in exertion. He immediately jumps at Drake, attempting to land on his shoulder and wrap his arm around Drake's head in a reverse headlock. If he can accomplish that, he attempts to spike his fingers down into Drake's spine.
COMBATSYS: Spider successfully hits Drake with Masechet.
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Drake 1/---====/=======|-------\-------\0 Spider
Banking off the limbs, Domino flips over to land again with a sort of confused look on his face. His head tilts slightly, then he begins collecting himself. Only for spider to land on him, and drive his fingers into his spine. This gets a sudden yelp of pain from the wrestler, rather unused to this sort of sensation. It jars him, thoroughly and completely, and gets a rather loud cheer from the local fans.
Teeth gritting in strain from the still-painful, excruciating hit that will likely require a chiropractor later, Domino whirls around to face Spider. In an instant, his hands lash out for Spider's shoulders, attempting to clamp down on them...
COMBATSYS: Drake successfully hits Spider with Total Eclipse.
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Drake 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Spider
Hold effectively locked on, Domino yanks Spider down to a bent-over position, trapping his neck between his legs. His arms then hook around the man's midsection, hoisting him upside-down in the air - the dreaded piledriver position.
But the hit doesn't come straight out. The Total Eclipse is much more ruthless than that. Instead, the first phase comes to bear with a tightening of Domino's arms around him, suddenly crushing the man's midsection in an inverted bearhug. Like before, the arms continue to pump until they've locked down as tight as he can manage - whether due to bones being in the way, or his victim being crushed completely.
But once attaining that pressure, Domino maintains it and begins phase two. He leaps high into the air in a series of forward flips, rapidly picking up speed along the way. When the two have reached the pinnacle of their ascent, they simply blur out of focus from the flipping. Indeed, they're only a swirl of mixed colors. Like friendly social commentary.
The end result, however, is far from friendly. Their combined bodyweights, the elevation of the jump, and the insane momentum built up by the flipping all comes into a single driving force upon Spider's head when it meets the rooftop again. It's only by a miracle craftsmanship (and lots and lots of stone underlay) that the ceiling doesn't cave in from the blow. It is, however, certainly severe enough to kick up a cloud of dust and rattle the rooftop, forcing the spectators to rebalance themselves. When all is said and done, Domino leaps back from Spider into position again, setting into his stance and at the ready, expression grim.
The Spider is grabbed and sent flying about through the air in Drake's iron grip. "Rraaauugh!" the Spider screams as he sails to the ground, slamming directly on his head. He lays on the ground, bleeding from his skull, and he reaches into his jacket. With a growl, he draws a blade, and slashes at Domino's Achilles heel from his position on the ground.
COMBATSYS: Spider can no longer fight.
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Drake dodges Spider's City of God.
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
Sometimes being barefoot is just inviting problems.
Domino's amethysts catch the knife when it emerges, and he springs into the air in a single, broad backflip to land a safe distance away. He enters his stance again, though clearly exhausted. Mouth hanging open, panting, and body a-glisten with a sheen of sweat, bangs hanging around his eyes dripping every now and again.
There's silence as the dust settles.
Spider has not risen.
"K.O.! WINNER! DOMINO!," calls the security man.
The crowd erupts into both cheers and jeers - the commotion enough to be heard through most of Haifa.
Domino's starts to raise a fist, then thinks better of it. He'd rather have the -entire- crowd supporting him. So he quickly motions off to the side in typical professional wrestling manner for summoning a microphone, and - lo and behold - a microphone is inexplicably tossed from the crowd. Domino catches it and quickly brings it to his lips.
"People of Israel! Don't be dismayed by this! On the contrary! Be -proud-!" Domino lets that hang for just a second so that this curious little tidbit can be processed. "I didn't come here to defame your land! I came here to put it in the spotlight! To let it really shine! To give it the recognition it deserves! Your chosen representation did really well! I mean.. hah.. -look- at me!" With a weak grin, Domino gestures over his weakened form. "He really did a number on me! No one better could've revealed Israel's tenacity, and I'll be feelin' that for a while! So don't be upset! Your strength, tactics, and determination were displayed magnificently today, for ALL THE WORLD TO SEE!" Domino's left hand sweeps towards the camera catching all of this, smiling brightly now.
This spin on events seems to sway the audience into more pride, giving applause for Spider's performance.. and more grudgingly for Domino's success. They'll warm up to him. Eventually. Hopefully. But for the sake of his touring fans, Domino thrusts both fists into the air in triumph, still holding the microphone.
When the cheering subsides a bit, Domino whirls around to regard the closest camera. "Next stop: Korea!", he announces before tossing the microphone back out to the audience. He sets his left hand to his hip, right hand whisks through his bangs, and he flashes the camera a roguish smile.
COMBATSYS: Drake has ended the fight here.
Log created on 19:32:41 09/07/2008 by Drake, and last modified on 22:14:48 09/07/2008.