Description: Ryuji Yamazaki versus Acacia Gillespie. Or at least...that was the scheduled match, arranged by the tournament organisers. But there's one small problem, one tiny little detail. The man named Yamazaki is dead. Or at least, that's what the rumors say. Hard to hold a fight with a dead man. Very hard indeed. Of course, when that man's Yamazaki, even that's not certain... (DKO)
Wind cuts across the countryside, folding grass as the fresh air rolls out into the massive expanse beyond.
The initial match--set as Ryuji Yamazaki vs. Acacia Gillespie--left everyone waiting around for a gross majority of the day. A majority of the day basically being defined as 'how long the other contestant is willing to wait around enduring the fight official's 'if he isn't here in fifteen minutes we're shutting down!' notes delivered on the dot, every fifteen minutes, that is.
In the end, only a small turnout should have even been expected at the first match--preliminary matches, even when carded as exhibition, tend only to attract real fighting enthusiasts--and the crowd gathered today is rightfully smaller.
But there is an opponent available today.
An extra summoned from the fighting lists, a young Dapper Dan man slinging fists with vague 'fft fft!' sounds and bouncing about, getting himself pumped up and ready for the fight. They said his name was Mike, and only five minutes ago he strode directly from the little shack set up near the roped-off sidelines, keepnig people away from the cliff edge. Within, he's trying to fill out proper documentation to set up Yamazaki's discharge from the tournament. The paperwork was a little difficult to manage than a simple 'disorderly conduct' form. There was an entire spectrum of insurance waivers to deal with.
See. Rumor around the hotly debated tournament had it the gangster was killed in Southtown..
...and it's hard to hold a match with a dead man.
The young woman named Acacia sits near the cliff face, resting on the grassy incline. Her head is bowed, her eyes half-slitted, just barely visible through fluttering strands of hair stirred by the breeze. The wind's starting to pick up, howling over the constant sound of waves splashing to foam against the base of the cliff.
Acacia ignores the murmur of the gathered crowd and chatter of the match officials, particularly the commotion going on near the referee's station. There's all sorts of last-minute headaches in substituting another fighter, but honestly, one way or another, she doesn't seem to care. If she's got any opinion about the /reason/ why her original opponent hasn't shown...well, Acacia gives no sign. Her face is still, impassive, as she simply proceeds with her own preparations, methodically checking the straps on her fighting gloves, pulling the velcro taut across her wrists. That done, she bends down, deftly securing the fastener on her bootlaces, before drawing them into tightly-formed consecutive loops.
She does all this in silence.
A fist slips up to rest against his hip. You see, Mike's a little guy, but he makes up for it in spirit. "You ready?" Mike asks the rock-solid fighter. "I heard around the tour you're pretty good. Metro City good." He grins, a sparkle glinting in the air. "Don't get too confident, okay? I'm not just gonna be some student!"
He's not gonna waste his chance for glory here.
--Someone's gonna waste it for him.
At that point there's a growl, shortly followed by a cry and the flimsy fiberboard official's shack lists dangerously to one side, briefly before it topples. It's not entirely clear how or when Yamazaki got in there ('recently' is probably a good guess..) but when he makes himself known, it's by throwing the official through one of the thin walls when he discovers him writing him out the match.
Or at least, you know. Trying to. Yamazaki's used to the offices at Howard Arena, not these little tour shacks made of paper. So really, pretty much all he accomplishes is toppling the shack over on himself like a house of cards. It's a few very confused minutes before the mercenary, swathed in bandages from waist to arms and one hand in a sling, digs himself out. He's shaking his head wildly and spreading bits of oil from his distinctive snake-fang hairstyle about, much to the proximal bystanders' dismay. Shortly after, Yamazaki stalks onto the field of combat. As should be expected, Mike wanders towards him to defend his spot, "Hey! Lockjaw! Take a vacation, man! You had your chance, I'M fighting--WH--AAAHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....splash"
You know, when you're bodily pitched over a cliff by a self-confirmed maniac, there's not a whole lot you can do.
You can argue with men. Gravity, on the other hand..
Yamazaki grumbles idly, scratching something that probably ought not to be scratched in public with his one good arm as he wanders over to Gillespie, looking back in the direction that Mike went. Spirit.. only gets you so far. Little fucker.
Acacia leaps to her feet, knees and spine coiling and releasing as she stands in a sudden, fluid motion. Her head turns, but her first look isn't towards Yamazaki. No, she looks over the edge of the cliff at the rocks down below, searching the white-edged water for any signs of life.
Seeing none, she snaps an order at the nearest match official, her alto voice carrying clear above the roar of the wind and waves:-
"You. Send someone down there. -Now-."
Acacia holds her stare until the stunned man reacts. It takes a moment for the man to gather enough wits to respond, but respond he does, lifting his walkie-talkie and talking quickly into the pickup. Acacia gives a small shake of the head.
Then, and -only then-, does she look at Yamazaki.
"Was that," she asks, levelly, "necessary?"
The gangster doesn't look like much right now, but his shadow casts a long trail even in the afternoon. Bound up tightly in bloodied gauze that honestly looks like it hasn't been changed in nearly a week, even his head isn't really immune--loops of linen tightly bound over his right eye. It honestly looks like he might have run a very small car off a very large bridge. Into a mountain.
Yamazaki pauses for a moment, looking as thoughtful as one can imagine someone like him to look. He's not really paying a lion's share of attention to the commotion, moreover Acacia's movements--a huge claw that would in polite conversation be referred to as a hand reaches up to scratch at his temple, drawing up long furrows of bleached-blonde hair as he saunters over to the edge, and .. well, joins Acacia in looking over.
Somewhat contrary to popular belief, Yamazaki is capable of thinking.
He devotes thought to this.
"Well," he figures, "...yeah."
As if to period the statement, Yamazaki snorts.
And spits something red and long over the edge.
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki has started a fight here.
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Yamazaki 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Acacia has joined the fight here.
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Acacia 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Yamazaki
Acacia appears to consider this, her lips pressing together in a thin line. She tilts her head ever-so-slightly to one side, silvery hair brushing her shoulders. She brings one hand to her head, rubbing the back of her neck in a thoughtful gesture that speaks of long habit.
She continues to look down the sheer rocky cliff face, her eyes still searching the rough waters churning far below. It's now been several long moments since that other fighter vanished beneath the surface. There's a frenzy of activity from rescue crews at the base of the cliff, and the distinctive sound of an approaching chopper.
"Fair enough," Acacia replies, after a long pause of her own.
Then she moves.
She drops, spine arching, one leg flexing, and her right hand meeting the grass for additional support. Her other leg cracks out in a sharp attacking motion, propelled by the spin of Acacia's body. The striking point of her foot heads for Yamazaki's lower limbs, specifically targeting the most bloody area she can see, of all the gauze binding his thighs and shins. Her intent, though, isn't to cause bone-breaking damage, or even attack the wounds...but to damage his balance.
They are, after all, close to the edge of the cliff.
That's necessary too.
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki Toughs Out Acacia's Strong Throw!
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Acacia 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Yamazaki
It should be noted that Yamazaki isn't entirely mummified. Though a shirt at this juncture is kind of pointless, gloves are not, and he still wears long black italian custom-cut chinos, brand new right down to the gold plated buckles on his shoes. That's not to say there's currently no targets there worth hitting. Though they are new pants, it seems Yamazaki has no problem wrapping gauze around one knee, which is currently soaked through with dark blood. That's a pretty tempting target.
For someone large like Yamazaki, it's only the logical attack to make.
At least, one would think so.
Until Acacia's leg-crack fires off, point meeting the most sensitive area of that wound almost coincidentally, reopening it until it sprays inside his pants leg, immediately ruining his chinos and staining his gold plated buckle.
And Ryuji Yamazaki.. doesn't even move at all.
Literally, he budges not an inch, as still as his right arm in the sling. "Ah~," he calls, his voice cracking as he makes an almost embarassing attempt at an unnatural lilt. "Are you thinking about tossing me over, too?" He grins wide, teeth glistening wet and the only reminescence he can strike at all is that of a shark. "HARDER THAN YOU THINK!!!"
His bloodstain shoe lifts off as if by rocket. While Acacia's low, his aim is to respond by catching her in the jaw, his shoe continuing to lift until his knee meets his chest (!!). He wants to catch Acacia at the apex with the sole of his shoe. And then drive her headfirst into the grass, stomping down viciously in the next moment.
And by the way.
It's not really something that's important for Acacia.
But Yamazaki? He /is/ intending to break bones.
COMBATSYS: Acacia endures Yamazaki's Yakiire.
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Acacia 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Yamazaki
Her head snaps back, the muscles in her neck straining to keep her skull in line with her spine under the tremendous stress placed upon it by Yamazaki's kick - to say nothing of the follow-up compression of vertabrae when she's slammed hard into the surface of the clifftop. Flecks of soil and stone explode into the air as Acacia hits ground.
But.
She's moving.
A normal individual wouldn't. An average individual would be unconscious from the trauma, brain rattling in its cushion of cerebral fluid, nervous system aflame from cascade failure of that many impulses.
A normal person would be dead.
Acacia just takes it in stride. Her face is pressed to the earth. But her eyes are still open, her vision's still clear.
She moves, twisting, slamming one elbow and forearm into the grass - propelling her upward, the soles of her combat boots digging in as she lands, grounding her securely. Her other arm crashes round, whirling in a backhand blow...the base of her tightly curled hammerfist heading towards Yamazaki's ribcage. As it cuts through the air, a low rumble begins, quickly climbing the audio registers from a dull bass to a piercing shriek of distortion, pulsing in time to the wave of destructive chi emanating from Acacia's hand.
Above this, above the roar of the sea and wind, even above the alarmed reaction from the crowd of onlookers and match officials at the sudden and unexpected turn...
Acacia speaks.
"Harder," she states, simply.
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki fails to reflect Mass Driver from Acacia with Bai Gaeshi.
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Acacia 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Yamazaki
Not bad.
An average individual would be unconscious from the trauma. --to start. An average individual's brains would probably be feeding the grass right about now. That Acacia holds up against his attack is something extraordinary--made it kind of worth his time to take the trip out here. Well, that she can hold up even against that much, and also pitching Mike over the cliff. Great times--
"Harder?" Yamazaki growls in the sort of way that betrays a mild bit of offense. "Harder?!" his voice distends.
She moves, twisting, grounding herself. His shoes skid across bloodslicked grass, body not so much rooted as simply heavy with pure intent. That intent wells through him, his free arm snapping up, meaty fingers opening wide as he shows fangs to Acacia's more solemn expression.
He could taste the force in the air.
His bicep flexing, his arm pistons down to leverage, and give her a little taste of his own intent on the young lady. Sheer 'weight'. That's the kind of power Yamazaki has. But it isn't really enough is it? Too small, Acacia. Too quick, that hammer force can be seen as a distortive from behind him, his body crumpling as the shotgun-like explosion rocks even the weight of the mercenary off his feet.
He crashes into the ground only so far away.
"Urgh..ain't even seen hard yet," something seething promises.
She inhales, drawing breath through her lungs. A light sheen of sweat coats Acacia's skin. She pulls her arm back from the follow-through, bringing her body back to its typical stance, one arm curled tight to the body, angled upward as an intercepting guard, the other pulled back and chambered for a strike.
The wind stirs her hair, sending strands of silver playing across her face. She regards Yamazaki across the cliff top. In contrast to the big man's barely restrained rage, the slightly-built young woman is calm. Perhaps infuratingly so, far as her opponent is concerned.
"Then show me," she replies.
It's not clear whether that's a taunt or a straightforward request - but surely she must be aware of the effect it'd have, either way.
COMBATSYS: Acacia focuses on her next action.
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Acacia 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Yamazaki
"..Think it's that easy, sweetheart?" the mercenary rumbles ominously, rising to his feet, his eyes dark, with that tilted and vicious grin plastered across the front of his face, twisting, tilting the linens tightly wrapped about his skull.
"... See. I'm a party kind of a guy. I can't just get off from this much alone. It's like trying to fight that queer Kasagi. Nothing worth it!!! I'll show you hard--"
He pitches forward dangerously. Like a thunderbolt, that claw stabs out straight. It seems to warp space, his hand fast enough to snatch birds out of the air midflight, fast enough to seem much, much longer than it is. The waif is tougher than he expected based on what he knew beforehand. Tougher than she looked. He can get behind that. But in the end, it still doesn't matter a lot to Yamazaki. How much does she really weigh?
This isn't really a party yet.
Unless his hand crosses her guard in that instant. If he can, he'll just snatch her off the ground bodily by the front of her jacket, flicking her about until her back slams against his barrel chest, caught by the neck. One arm wrapping around her neck, every muscle in Yamazaki's body will stand tight against her. You'll almost be able to hear the cables snapping tight. He won't be so much trying to strangle her. That part is merely incidental. A necessity of only having one arm.
He's trying to crush her face and neck.
He's trying to whisper to her, a feral growl disguised as silk.
"...When you show me that heartbeat of yours..."
To soothe by lightly licking over her ear to her temple, tasting sweat.
To, in those close quarters, scent strongly of charred flesh.
COMBATSYS: Acacia fails to interrupt Strong Throw from Yamazaki with Fracture.
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Acacia 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Yamazaki
Fast.
She summons her power, forcing energy through her nerves and muscles, driving them to react quicker than mere electrical impulses would allow. She lunges to meet the attack.
And it isn't
fast
ENOUGH
Acacia hisses, breath escaping her lungs in a tight and pained gasp, entirely involuntary - driven through her lips. The pressure is immense, as is the pain, the flow of air cut off through sheer crushing force. Only the almost supernatural hardness of her bones and muscle, renforced through chi flows, prevents her from passing out entirely. As it is, spots begin to dance in her eyes, her field of vision blurring.
"Talk too much," she spits.
The massive Syndicate killer hauls Acacia up off her feet, her thin and short form dangling from the dizzying height of his mass like a worm from a hook. Even with one arm, the forces Yamazaki can exert are enough to crush steel, his teeth locked almost as tight as his arm at this point, swinging Acacia about as she struggles to fight him, struggles to outpace him.
He laughs a little through that enamel white grill, the sound guttural and forced hissing from his lungs as even muscles in his leg stand on end, trying for all intents and purposes to just pop the waif's head from her shoulders. If Acacia weren't some kind of metal...
"HeEEEh," Yamazaki laughs, tight and hard.
"Oh, darlin..you're right," he assures. "It's not a party unless someone SCREAMS--"
Whooping, the merecenary slings Acacia out of his crushing grip to fling her skyward, the crushing force vanishing only for an instant, his hand slipping, maneuvering in the air like a cobra, to try and work its way into her throat. To propell her into the ground in a full on choking slam, skull-first into the grass.
--too soft!!
If he can get in that much, Yamazaki will pump her skull into the ground as many times as is needed for him to get some satisfaction, before crossing one shoe over another. He twists his entire torso to fling the waif sideways and away from him, troublingly close to the cliff edge. If Acacia's not careful...
"So SCREAM!!"
COMBATSYS: Acacia blocks Yamazaki's Quick Throw.
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Acacia 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Yamazaki
She flies through the air, towards the end of the cliff - but it isn't an uncontrolled spin. She falls short of the abyss, her shoulder crashing into the soil, then the rest of her as she rolls. Her palms and fingers dig into the earth, then her knees and boots, slowing her fall. A heartbeat later, Acacia rises in a crouch.
A trickle of crimson works its way down the side of her head, oozing over her cheek. A head wound of some kind, fresh blood matting her hair and blending with acrid sweat. She's breathing heavily, air burning through her injured throat. Acacia coughs, spitting up phlegm. The milky fluid splatters against the grass. She wipes her mouth with the back of one hand and the trailing edge of her jacket sleeve, then regards Yamazaki.
"Comedian," she rasps, "huh?"
Her eyes flicker, and her lips pull back until she returns the man's savage smile.
One heel lifts, scuffed leather glinting in the sunlight. She stomps down, just once.
The cliff cracks.
Stone and soil explodes in all directions, fracturing under the immense force of concussive chi, the spirit-charged explosion shattering the air. The entire face of the cliff crumbles, the jutting spire of rock that the two fighters are standing on breaking and tumbling to the sea below...
Meanwhile...
Down at the bottom of the cliff, amid the churning waters, a wet and wretched figure emerges from beneath the foaming waves. Struggling to stay afloat against the pounding current, he clings to a rock, gasping for air. Catching his breath, Mike cackles madly, screaming his defiance to the heavens: "I'm ALIVE! Ha-HA, YOU CAN'T STOP THE MIKEMEISTER! Now where's that fat bastard that threw me off th--"
Mike stops, in mid-sentence, suddenly aware of the large shadow looming over him, rapidly growing larger. He looks up.
"--OHSHI--"
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki Toughs Out Acacia's Ground Breaker!
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Acacia 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Yamazaki
"Do you see me laughing?" Yamazaki asks.
In fact, he was laughing. Rather hard.
But he can only raise an eyebrow when Acacia raises her heel. Now, Yamazaki isn't one to be overly imaginative except in degrees of chaos and torment, but even he couldn't be held responsible when there is just no way at all he could comprehend of that that heel could do any damage at all, let alone to him. The image is of a spoiled princess, expressing her distaste--
The ground fractures.
Yamazaki's ability to be succinct cannot be denied: "What the fu--"
The cliff shatters, all of a sudden the world tilting, Yamazaki's form going low to compensate for the sudden change in orientation. Stone and soil erupt in all directions, churning earth slamming into him as a pure wave of force and nature, momentarily obscuring him as clouds of dirt, and pulverized stone dust brown the air, the entire mass of land tumbling towards the ocean.
It only takes moments, but in that sick vertiginous whirl of earth and sky, it seems to take hours. Yamazaki bursts across the landmass, linens ragged and dirty and trailing bandages. Launching himself armfist, dangerously fast, dangerously lethal as if he'd really truly never felt better, his claw stabs out. That talon, that hand darts out to slam into Acacia's temple, to exert viselike force on her skull.
"NOW THAT'S MORE MY KINDA PARTY!!"
COMBATSYS: Acacia just-defends Yamazaki's Guillotine!
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Acacia 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Yamazaki
"Thought," Acacia snaps, "this was..."
The grasping hand never connects. An instant before it reaches the smaller fighter's head, it stops dead. Acacia's much smaller fingers close round Yamazaki's wrist, her slender arm somehow holding the big man in check. By simple build and mass, that shouldn't be possible. There's no trick of leverage here, either, just raw strength against strength. Acacia's muscles strain, tense and tight, quivering with the effort. But somehow, the thin girl is doing it.
"...SERIOUS BUSINESS!"
Debris rains as both fighters, locked in a perverse embrace, go plummeting down the side of the cliff. As they rush headlong towards the crashing waves below, Acacia gives a mighty heave - attempting to use her grip on Yamazaki, trying to sling the guy around.
He's tough. Very tough. More physical, more brutal, than any fighter she's faced in a long while.
Fine.
She'll just have to hope he hits the rocks and water before her.
COMBATSYS: Acacia successfully hits Yamazaki with Strong Throw.
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Acacia 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Yamazaki
It's true in a way.
As the fight progresses, the ability of Yamazaki seems to come to light. Most street fights, most business he deals in, he fought in a lazy methodic state--showing only just a little skill when he needed it. Most of the time, that was just enough. Most people cooperate with him pretty quickly based on mythos alone--they /heard/ what you did to the kid that punched you on the street.
But when he actually gets wound up, it's different.
Rolling slow yet inexorably past the rousal point where his attention actually becomes focused, Yamazaki is only briefly surprised when she manages to, in a nigh-unbelievable superhuman exertion of power, stop his hand from going where it wants to go. His eyes roll down to attention from somewhere in his back of his head. It's saying something when tumbling off a cliff in open freefall with several tons of rock only barely qualifies to get a man's heart pumping.
Flying through the air comically with limbs whipping about like a ragdoll's, Yamazaki's fist imbeds itself in the rushing cliff face, grinding earth and stone to powder as inertia alone drags his bleeding hand through rock, slowing his descent. It only stops when he yanks his fist free from the thing, shaking dust and dislodged scorpions free from his massive frame in that sick moment of equilibrium, just before he slams into an outstretched rock face and he begins to tumble end over end in open fall somewhere above Acacia again.
Yeah...
"NOT SERIOUS YET!"
You can hear his flesh crack like a whip, as the man swings wide, whipping his arm around and then thrusting into some imagined face in the air--his hand briefly locked into a claw as he sets sights on Acacia. His arm cracks again-- and again. His hand eventually becomes a blur, and the snapping force of his arm leveraging his weight, pure intensity driving him downward to terminal velocity, dropping in a hailstorm of nigh-imperceptible fists on down towards Acacia's body.
He doesn't rouse easy.
This is starting to get fun--
See. He's only briefly surprised.
Then he tries to impale Acacia on his fist.
COMBATSYS: Acacia endures Yamazaki's Snake Tamer.
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Acacia 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Yamazaki
That hurt more than she expected.
Her eyes are strange, her pupils wide, her vision starting to blur from the sheer velocity and pounding rush of blood. They're fighting in freefall, approaching the state where it's nearly zero gravity with the force of their movements. This state won't last forever. It can't.
But it's still a long way to the ground.
Fists slam against Acacia's body, hurting her. Pain explodes through her nerves, more signals than even her discipline can suppress. The final blow crashes into her torso, firing a pulse through her solar plexus, compressing her lower ribs into her chest with near-fracturing force...
But her heart continues to beat, and her eyes are still open.
She doesn't try to slow her fall. The jagged rocks beneath are growing closer, along with the white foam of the waves beating against the base of the cliff. She doesn't see it, for her back's turned towards the earth now, but she can sense it.
None of that matters.
Another pulse of chi grows in her, as she focuses the power gathered in her body. Condensing it and sending it spiraling through her system until it all reaches her right leg. This lifts, coming up, the leather and laces of her combat boot beginning to vibrate.
When Acacia developed this technique, she had to focus the concussive chi through a medium. That of solid ground.
There's none of that here, none of that now, with both fighters falling down the side of a cliff with breakneck speed.
So she slams her power into empty air, releasing it in a shockwave that explodes the space between her and Yamazaki.
Which isn't much space at all.
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki fails to reflect Mass Breaker from Acacia with Bai Gaeshi.
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Acacia 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Yamazaki
This kid had some chops.
Yamazaki isn't in the mood to debate that much. Though one would be hard pressed to call the berserk mercenary any kind of thoughtful, there were dim ruminations stirring in the back of that bloodsoaked mind of his. She was obviously some kind of monk type, with this kind of martial arts skill behind that kind of size.
The thought occurs to Yamazaki, and he frowns.
He hits Acacia as if he wants to fit the last piece of trash into the compactor, his fist rising and falling with almost machine-like precision, but she takes it standing, better than a man would. Better than a lot of those monks he could name, too.
His one visible eye fills with blood.
Her leg snaps open and high, stomping a shockwave into the air. It cracks the sky instead of the earth, waves of force tearing broad and expansive through the air. Savagely, Yamazaki grits his teeth, a chilling force in his visible eye.
His hand locks into a claw.
He wasn't really the gun type.
He /lights/ into the distortion in the air. Unlike a lot of more trained practitioners, he doesn't so much try to coolly reverse the force's polarity or anything like that. No. Yamazaki rips into the broad thing, as if trying to tear it in half. The snap of his body is heard as he roars into the rushing din, warping the shockwave around his rending tears, folding it, forcing it back on top of Acacia, his arm stretching out just shy of her--
It snaps shut on him.
Not so much blown away by the shockwave as crushed from all sides by the warped, mangled thing, Yamazaki's body spurts blood from all angles with the force, twisting in the air as he almost blacks out, only staying somewhat in control of that sickening free fall by sinking his hand into a section of that bisected cliff that he almost slams into headfirst..
Hnh...
Far, far, below, another explosion of sound and force crashes over the cliff, a thunder louder than anything that's come before.
Dust and debris rises in a plume from the very bottom of the cliff, where water meets rock in a torrential storm. The cloud swirls for a moment, before being blown away by the sea breeze.
And then Acacia's visible, having landed not in the water, but upon one of the jagged rocky spires that make the shore so very treacherous. Any normal person would have been impaled to death, or simply smashed to bits, pulped to a messy residue of blood and bone.
Acacia, though, is crouched, almost kneeling, her back bent, head bowed. She rests on the rock, surrounded by what is not so much an impact crater but rather the shattered remains of her landing point, bits crumbling off with each second and splashing into the churning water around.
"Is it," she says, flatly, her eyes closed, "serious yet?"
COMBATSYS: Acacia renforces her body.
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Acacia 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Yamazaki
Yamazaki does not make quite as well a landing.
As the cacophony rises in an ancient growl from below what /was/ the fighting area only a few minutes prior, Yamazaki also hits ground liks Acacia. But his landing on the jagged rocks makes hers look like a feather landing to contrast.
Legs windmilling as he releases his grip, the mercenary splits one of those spires in two with a huge ungainly crash, shrieking the whole time. The portion of cliff he was holding onto only moments prior lands in the growing dust cloud only a few moments later, tipping over slowly as both impacts punch through the water table and send plumes of mist flying into the air in comensurate sum (!).
It is a few moments before he manages to scrabble his way up onto one of the jagged rocks, his arm erupting from the froth. His bandages are a ragged mess of blood and seafoam, revealing that his skin is mostly scalded off, his eye a mangled thing that is only barely recognizable, and even then so a green thing only suitable for cats and lizards. The areas where the banding was most prevalent around his head are also subject to mottled blotches, in a curious atypical absence of hair. He says nothing, his face is an intense mask of barely-restrained rage, as Yamazaki sees everything in blood red.
The only pillar of said restraint seems to be the soggy, bent and twisted cigarette danging from his lips as he manages to sit on the rock, fiddling with a clamshell lighter that isn't his, intent on his newly gained prize.
He got it from Mike over there, floating unconscious in the section of the shore that Yamazaki just crumpled, with a long trail of blood flowing from his nose. He must have been trying to escape when Yamazaki landed on him. Or maybe he got hit by a natural disaster of a punch. Who knows?
Yamazaki flicks the thing open, frowning when the lighter only spurts water.
He tries again, to the same effect.
"FUCK!"
He throws the lighter.
Then he spits out the cigarette.
Twitching noticeably, he glares at Acacia.
He says this with utter conviction:
"I'm going to kill you and hang you on my wall."
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki focuses on his next action.
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Acacia 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Yamazaki
Acacia lifts her chin, bringing her head up. She turns it just enough for her to study Mike's bleeding form floating in the water, near the very edge of the cliff face. At least, she reflects, the guy's floating face-up. More or less. He'll live.
She turns her eyes to Yamazaki.
The deceptively slight young woman looks across the choppy water to the bloody figure clinging to the other rock. She studies his bleeding form. The man looks awful, but it doesn't look like he's got any broken bone. While his flesh's badly lacerated, it doesn't look like the damage is that deep - most of the key muscle groups don't appear to be torn. He's still mobile. Still dangerous.
Acacia makes this observation with a remarkable amount of sangfroid, an almost supernatural calm. Her breath even slows. She still breathes deeply, but the intake of air is measured and even, not a desperate gasp.
"Flattered," Acacia quips, sardonically, "but not on the first date."
Her rearmost foot drives into the rock, even as her spine uncoils, releasing its tensile force. She rises from her crouch like a pouncing animal, exploding from the ground and across the water, blasting in a shallow arc towards the man named Yamazaki...with one fist poised, formed into a fist.
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki fails to interrupt Quick Punch from Acacia with Bomb Headbutt.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Acacia 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Yamazaki
Yamazaki wasn't really a wine and dine type either. He looks up from his intense level of sulking when Acacia quips, raising a lip in derision until you can hear one of his teeth crack in its socket.
He stands, slow and measured, eerily well balanced despite the uneven perch. Yamazaki, despite his massive size, was kind of like a panther in that respect; there was really no place he couldn't go, and very few places he couldn't fit into, given the proper motivation.
But he is almost offended when Acacia sails at him with merciless intent, but with only just one fast blow. He could in fact, see it. With his bad eye. Is she--underestimating him!? He lurches into her, grinning for a sickening moment before his intent cut short with the speed of her fist and body weight all slung into his throat. Proven sickeningly wrong, he sways back, losing balance--
--but more importantly, he is now all the way offended.
Nothing on the first date, and now this?
"What kind of weak ass punch was that," Yamazaki rages, "What the fuck worth are you then?!"
He can't kill /anything/ with that kind of nonsense distracting him. He lifts a trembling hand, fingers twitching.
"COME ON! GIVE IT TO ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT!"
Both fighters are standing on the same rock, now. Balanced almost impossibly on the narrow outcropping, with the surface slick from the sea foam.
Water sluices across Acacia's lean body, soaking her battered camo jacket. She rides out the particularly violent wave...and glares at Yamazaki, clenching her striking hand tighter. Blood runs in rivulets down her knuckles, partially washed away by the spray.
Overhead, there's the noise of a chopper, and the even more distant sound of the crowd up above the cliff, all bearing witness to this clash.
Acacia, though, just doesn't care.
"This a fight," she spits, "or foreplay? Hn?"
She lashes out, then, snaking a hand to grab hold of the gore-soaked bandages wrapped round the big man's torso, trying to pull him into the path of an explosive knee strike, her denim-clad leg pounding towards Yamazaki's torso, towards the vital intersection of chest and abdomen.
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki endures Acacia's Heavy Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /// ]
Acacia 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Yamazaki
The hulk is yanked bodily towards the waif, her knee folding his stomach as it explodes into him like a rocket, the mercenary's body folding from the damage inflicted on his internal organs. He looks a literal wreck, as if he's seen this side of hell, but the grunt of forced wind out of his lungs when his diaphragm spasms and his heart skips is strangely satisfactory.
That's more like it.
There is no real defense raised. He takes the blow as if not even feeling anything at all, his free limb dropping to sway bonelessly as denim-borne shock writhes through his body at all levels. His hair--or what's left of it, more appropriately--glints in the light as its oil slicked surface dries hard from the seafoam. He slumps over, his blood dripping from his body at every crack in skin and cut and bruise, like a warm rain over Gillespie, the fine exposed muscle on his face twitching as he grins, a light coming to his eyes. His mood spikes and sways rapidly.
The crowd, the choppers, they don't matter.
He /wants/ her that close.
"...Don't think you could handle it."
His hand locks mid-sway, like the head of a crane.
His arm slips around Acacia, fingers probing quickly for the back of her belt. His hand is fast, if she's at least as fast with her hips as she is her tongue--
"Still a hundred years too young for me..." he grins, voice returning in a rasp.
He just /twitches/ once.
With enough force to send Acacia tumbling end over end clear over the mercenary's head, somewhere in the direction of that rock wall, at full speed with deadly intent.
COMBATSYS: Acacia fails to interrupt Strong Throw from Yamazaki with Unyielding Stance.
- Power fail! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /// ]
Acacia 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Yamazaki
"Wha---"
Words aside, Acacia doesn't appreciate being manhandled.
She appreciates being sent through the air even less, especially in such an ignoble fashion as by the waist and pants.
The cliff face /shakes/ with the impact, a dull bass BOOM echoing round the bay as Acacia slams hard into the rock, flung with massive force by Yamazaki.
When the debris settles, she's just barely visible sprawled against the cliff, back to the cratered surface, her jacket slashed and the water starting to creep red from wounds. Her head lolls, limp...until it jerks suddenly, as she coughs, spitting up phelgm laced with blood.
She's half-submerged against the rock wall, battered by the tide.
"You did not," she manages, lifting her chin enough to speak, "just do that."
Apparently having had enough, Yamazaki throws her like a kitten by the scruff.
But still, he's already exploding off of his perch, one long leg erupting into force enough to launch the one-armed one-eyed 90-and-change kilogram monster sailing at 20mph after Acacia's body embedded in the rock, only stopping when he lands, shoes and hand gripping the edges of that crater Gillespie's body formed.
"Don't go to sleep yet," he growls low.
His /hair/ is crackling with diffuse energy, rills of force rippling off his entire head. He has no white to his eye anymore--only blood red in one, and wide slit green in the other.
He slams the dome of his skull into the rock, a distinct buzzing sound grinding away layers of raw masonry. You see, Yamazaki fights instictively well. And, truth is, he's been holding back an urge the whole time--an urge to drill Acacia until her body gives out. Until he strikes oil.
He just.. can't hold it in anymore.
His blood? It wants it too much.
He sharpens his head in one vicious bash on the rock rim of the crater, and then, with each flex of his body, he'll thrust his skull into the crater after Acacia, the flying force flying from his scorched scalp drawing long ferrules in the crumbling rock face and sending chips flying everywhere. He's trying not so much to pummel her--though cracks spread from the crater with every impact--as *saw* her torso open.
With his head.
A chainsaw. That keeps getting caught in meat--
"I'M" -!- "NOT" =!= "FINISHED!!" -=!=-
COMBATSYS: Acacia interrupts Bomb Headbutt from Yamazaki with Stonewall.
[ \\\\\\\ < > ]
Acacia 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1 Yamazaki
COMBATSYS: Acacia can no longer fight.
[ <
Yamazaki 1/-----==/=======|
She's never seen anything like it.
Never. Not in all the years of her training. Not in all the years she's been fighting at this level.
Her own eyes are wide, her pupils dilated. Her vision's a blur, filled with a stinging haze and floating lights. But there's no way she can miss just -where- Yamazaki is, looming over her, spread vertically round the edge of the rock wall, his huge body shadowing hers. Nor can she miss the exploding chips of stone and dust falling from above as he DRIVES HIS HEAD into the cliff, cracking it as if his skull were a jackhammer the size of the world.
Not finished, huh?
"Well," Acacia hisses, through thin, bloodless lips.
She gathers the last dregs of her chi, all the spiritual energy that's stored in her body. She pulls on her reserves, drawing it from her core. The human body can only react so quickly, limited by the speed of nerve impulses and the electrical stimuli that causes muscles to contract. But Acacia's chi, her soul-forged energy, responds with the speed of /thought/. It answers her intent alone, rushing through her arm and forcing it up, renforcing her limb as she lifts her forearm, bone and muscle.
Into the path of Yamazaki's skull.
"I AM!"
He does his damnedst, after all.
Yamazaki's skull pumps the rock, bouncing off as if he were carved out of pure wood. His skull comes away bloody, but the rock gives in long, long before he does, his teeth gritting as he goes for Acacia proper. She was just short of paralyzed in the rock, and though every part of Yamazaki was twisted in pain both old and new, he was relatively sure she was about to give. Not an ounce of energy was left in his body.
An ounce of energy that wasn't railing for Acacia's blood, that is.
But then, she proves him wrong. She summoned enough will to draw force into her arm, to react faster than him, faster than he can attack. He rams his skull against that arm that might as well be a steel wall, his blood spattering against the bone and iron until his blood will be under her fingernails for a week. He thrusts ihs head, again and again, trying to just cut her arm /off/ with that skull of his.
Eventually.. /eventually/.. he stops.
".....well, fuck."
One-handed grip fading, Yamazaki just topples out of the crater to fall flat in the sand-and dirt silted water, his body bobbing up and down faintly.
And Acacia slides down the side of the cliff face, ending up also in the choppy water - struggling to remain conscious, struggling to even /breathe/, much less remain afloat. Her chest heaves in ragged gasps, ribs aching painfully with every motion.
"...yeah," she says.
Log created on 17:49:36 10/04/2008 by Acacia, and last modified on 13:54:42 10/05/2008.