Description: Three legendary fighters. Three generations. Gen, one of the oldest fighters in the world, honed through years of experience. Rose, a mysterious seer - but also a glamourous woman in tune with the times. And then there's Kyo Kusanagi. Young, impetuous, arrogant...can the wisdom of Gen and the wit of Rose teach the Kusanagi heir anything? Anything at all? Well, apparently yes. There's an important lesson learnt here, at the end. A life-changing revelation, to be sure, something all men...must know. (Winner: Rose)
The lights are dim in Howard Arena.
The great stadium is hushed, silent, the audience waiting with anticipation as it darkens. The floodlights overhead fade to a fraction of their incandescence, until only a few beams of illumination are left, lighting the great stone stage that forms the heart of the fighting area.
Which appears to be set up...
...as a classroom.
There's a blackboard, free-standing on castors, parked at one end of the notional room. There aren't any real walls, so it's left to the placement of the furniture to define the space. The blackboard at one end, the desks and chairs arranged in neat rows, the teacher's table, a bookcase, an educational-sized globe, and various other items one would expect from a school.
Soft footsteps sound from the darkness surrounding the arena floor. A small stoop-shouldered elderly man steps out from the shadows, and into the pool of light cast over the makeshift classroom. He's dressed in a deep purple Chinese outfit, a man's long shirt and baggy pants...save for the decidedly Western-style fedora sitting on his head. This he removes, as he steps into the 'room', hanging it on the standing coatrack by the blackboard. Then he turns to squint at the board itself, and the large letters inscribed with chalk upon its surface:
ETIQUETTE 101: MR. GEN and MS. ROSE
Gen lifts a hand to his chin, and strokes his beard.
Rose feels faintly awkward to be - well - bigger than Gen. It is not even a question of health or figure; she is simply taller. And it's not just the heels, either. She steps forwards, however, wearing a pair of vanity eyeglasses (neat, trim wireframes resting on the bridge of her nose) and carrying a slim black leather purse under one arm.
She looks around, feeling vaguely like she's in an improvisational piece of experimental theater. (SHE IS!!) She then smiles at Gen, slightly, raising a hand in a loose and almost casual wave. "Good evening, Mr. Gen. I must congratulate you on your classroom; it is very well appointed. But -"
Her attention turns outwards, into the arena darkness. "Where is our student?"
Yes, where IS the student? Educational-themed fights seem to be a consequence of Kyo Kusanagi's own reluctance to put in the effort to finish his high school career, but there you go. On the plus side, this time he's not in a parade, and it doesn't involve Kain.
Still, given the theme of the match, Kyo was asked to put some effort into looking the part... So he's brought out his seldom-worn Taiyo High uniform. Black slacks, a black high-collared school jacket with the sleeves rolled up above his elbows, his arms otherwise mostly covered by his black and yellow Kusanagi gloves, the raging sun crest clearly visible on either. He has a white t-shirt on underneath his jacket, and a black vest as well, left hanging open. His hair frames his face, like always, though this time it's partially bound by a white cloth wrapped around his forehead.
So, yeah, he's the student.
Of course, unlike MOST Taiyo High students, Kyo is also carrying a big shiny title belt with him, the one that declares that he's the Saturday Night Fight champion. The belt is slung casually over his shoulder, as he emerges into the arena, and it stays quite happily there as Kyo makes his way to the 'classroom' on the raised fighting platform. He raises it up with one hand, showing it off to the crowd, and to his opponents of course, before he hands it off to an SNF official, and then he too climbs up onto the slate and granite stage.
He glances at Rose first, and then at Gen. Pensively, he scratches under his chin for a moment, and then he asks: "Am I in the wrong place or something? Nobody told me it was Bingo night."
The old man standing beside the blackboard...gives a snort, exhaling loudly. Somehow, he manages to convey volumes in that one sound alone, in particular a healthy amount of disdain for the young man who's just entered the arena.
Gen does not dignify Kyo's attempt at humour with any sort of reply. Instead, he regards the Kusanagi heir silently for a moment, before turning his attention to the well-dressed woman also on the fighting floor.
The white-haired man joins his hands behind his back. He is not tall...but his spine straightens, now, and his chin lifts.
"It would seem, madam," Gen says to Rose, "we have our work cut out for us. I hope your...methods...are up to the challenge."
COMBATSYS: Gen has started a fight here.
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Gen 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Rose has joined the fight here.
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Gen 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rose
COMBATSYS: Kyo has joined the fight here.
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Rose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|
Rose adjusts her glasses for a moment as Kyo comes forth, displaying his glittering belt and then presenting it to be held rather than worn like some kind of pagan sash. And then he does the inevitable, and administers them a fresh, warm helping of backtalk.
She smiles slightly, glancing back to Gen. "Of course," she says, stepping forwards; the sound of her heels clicking echoes in the sound system, Rose's approach prim and precise as she comes nearer to Kyo, looking the young man up and down with a brisk, efficient manner. One hand comes up to her cheek, index finger resting along her ear as the thumb traces the line of her jaw.
"Mr. Kusanagi," she says, her voice slightly arch but not without warmth, "there are times where there is merely one thing that can be said. And at times, such as these, that one thing is --"
Suddenly the purse slides down into her other arm's hand with a single efficient shrug, the leather material conducting glittering pastel light as her Soul Power pours into it, swinging the vanity handbag around in a tight arc right at the side of Kyo's fat mouth!
COMBATSYS: Kyo blocks Rose's Medium Punch.
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Rose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|
Of course, as Rose tries to hit Kyo in the head with her handbag, the younger fighter responds by getting an arm in the way and knocking the purse aside; sure, it stings a touch, mostly the Soul Power part, but otherwise it just serves as fuel for Kyo to get his smirk on. "Yuh huh," he says, with a nod. "What's with the glasses anyway, Rose? Had to rush over after shooting one of those fetish videos?"
For the moment, at least, Gen is forgotten; Rose has decided to present herself as the first target, though who knows which of these two the elderly assassin will choose to go after his own self, right? Suddenly lunging into Rose, Kyo aims to grab the woman by the front of her blouse - not in a dirty way, you pervs - and twist around, the better to use his shoulder as a fulcrum to flip Rose over himself and directly into the nearest desk, and then the floor beneath as it inevitably shatters. After all, it also has /Kyo's/ weight coming down on top of it, as he drops on top of his opponent to put a little more oomph into the throw.
As the woman and the boy exchange quips, the old assassin seems content to watch them both. At least for the first few moments. He stands where he is, his hands folded behind his back. His eyes are clouded, the distinctive whiteness of cataracts, but this doesn't seem to harm his vision at all. He stares straight at the two clashing fighters, unblinking and unflinching.
Then he moves.
Gen's feet slide apart, the soft Chinese slippers perfectly soundless against the paving stones of the fighting arena. One leg grounds firmly, taking his weight, the other shifts, the ball of the foot balanced lightly over the ground. The old man's hands come up, one forearm parallel to the earth, the other tilted upwards...his fingers flexed into the distinctive claws of the mantis.
In a quiet voice, he states:
"Watch your mouth, boy..."
He glides into the classroom aisle, across the stage set of tables and chairs arranged on the arena floor. Even as Kyo attempts to bodily send Rose into one of the desks, Gen moves up from his blind side. One of the old man's arms flicks out, sharply, almost contemptuously, jabbing a pair of rigid fingers at Kyo's spine.
"...do you even know what to do with a woman? Hmm?"
COMBATSYS: Rose blocks Kyo's Issetsu Seoi Nage.
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Rose 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 0/-------/------=|
"Oh, have I made those?" Rose counters Kyo verbally. "I had thought they were still all Mai!" Then she is being grappled at, her blouse held tightly and used as a maneuver to twist her around. Rose doesn't fight it, although the expensive glasses ($650, thanks Geese) fall to the ground as she is thrown, bouncing softly off the stone tiles as she recovers herself, dusting off one sleeve.
"Hm!" she says, tossing her hair back. She then shakes her head slightly at Gen's line of approach. "Now, Mr. Gen, we must be polite; he is angry, and we shouldn't stoop to his level."
She breathes in deeply, light shimmering around her - even as she doesn't leap in to further offenses just yet. "So, Kyo, tell us - What drives you to say such thoughtless things to your partners in battle!?"
COMBATSYS: Rose gathers her will.
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Rose 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Kyo counters Strong Punch from Gen with Nue Tsumi.
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Rose 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 0/-------/-----==|
Given the relative non-success of his throw, Kyo catches himself on the desk that was supposed to end up broken as Rose recovers pretty handily, which leaves him in a bad spot regardless, as he's got Gen in his blind spot. Aside from the assassin's quiet voice, there's only the faintest pressure to warn the Kusanagi heir's superior senses, and just when it seems like Gen's got him...
Kyo suddenly twists around, snagging Gen by the wrist to guide him on, letting the old man's momentum continue forward as the younger fighter move smoothly out of the way, his other hand coming down on the back of Gen's neck in a hammer blow, though this particular hammer releases a sudden, explosive burst of the sacred flames of the Kusanagi at the point of impact.
"Holy /crap/, Pai Mei," Kyo says, showing about as much respect for Gen's advanced age and experience as you might expect. "Don't talk about doing things with women, just... /Don't/. Ugh. I think my libido's on the injured/reserve list now," the World Warrior mutters to himself, before ostentatiously looking at Rose.
No, not at her face.
As for Rose, she's also trying to psychoanalyse him, is she? This prompts exactly the sort of question you'd expect from Kyo right about now. "Hey, you're the psychic. You tell me."
"No, boy," Gen states, from where he's crouched, one knee to the ground. The assassin rolls his neck, vertabrae almost audibly clicking with the movement. Faint trails of smoke rise from the burnt silk of his collar, visible beneath the spotlights of the arena.
"That's only possible if you /think/."
As Kyo turns to ogle Rose and her dress-filling attributes, Gen rises out of his low position, the edge of his long shirt and the length of his sash trailing behind him. He moves with one outstretched open hand...and then accelerates, all of a sudden, nearly blurring as he swings his arm in a rapid flurry of blows, aimed for the vital points of Kyo's torso and ribs.
"And clearly he /doesn't/, madam," Gen sneers in Rose's direction, this time, "no matter what /you/ think."
Rose is familiar with the pressure of eyes. It's how she can stay in a two-piece bikini without kevlar straps! Ha ha ha... ha.
"Mm, well," Rose says, cupping her chin in one hand, "Perhaps you fear that you are actually inadequate, that your fighting skills are merely an accident? Or perhaps you seek the approval of your peers, but, due to your overbearing father, you feel that you can only seek such things in violence. Or..."
She gazes at Kyo then with soulful, warm eyes. "There is a third possibility... and that, is that you are merely impudent." And with that she takes a step forwards, slinging the glittering purse around again towards Kyo's OTHER cheek!!
COMBATSYS: Kyo blocks Gen's Hyakurenkou.
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Rose 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Kyo dodges Rose's Soul Purse.
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Rose 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Gen
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Kyo 0/-------/----===|
You know, it's really not fair that a guy Gen's age should be that fast. Ancient Chinese dudes are supposed to be old and creaky and slow, or at best largely immobile, staying in one place and dispensing wisdom to white guys pretending to be Chinese on old American tv shows. Of course, it's probably not fair that someone like Kyo has the gifts he does; if youth is wasted on the young, is fighting genius wasted on an arrogant, irreverent young punk?
Probably so.
Gen's sudden approach is difficult, but not impossible for Kyo to deal with; the flurry of blows meets with Kyo's guarding forearms rather than important spots on the young man's torso, parts which he honestly would prefer were not molested by some old dude who smells like wontons and Bengay, and as such Kyo knocks aside the worst of the assault.
When Rose swings her purse at his head AGAIN, Kyo this time defends himself through the tried and true expedient of ducking.
"Yeah, you're right. I just never got enough hugs as a kid," Kyo says, positively dripping with sarcasm, before he takes a sliding step at Gen. "And as for you, hey; they say all true art comes in the absence of thought." And then, of course, Kyo swings his right fist in a hooking punch aimed at the side of Gen's head, flames trailing in the arc of the swing and erupting at the presumed point of impact. If the first punch hits, then Kyo follows it with a second, stepping in to deliver a left straight, with a second punishing burst of Kusanagi flames.
COMBATSYS: Gen blocks Kyo's Aragami.
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Rose 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 0/-------/---====|
But if Kyo prides himself on his absence of thought, it's pretty clear that the old man named Gen has a reasonable grasp on the art of empty-mind as well. He reacts almost without thought. The first punch lands, but the old man moves with the impact, his whole body twisting to absorb the force. The flames lick against his head, but don't seem to singe him all that much. And when the second punch comes rocketing in, Gen intercepts the Kusanagi scion's arm with his own, knocking it out of line.
Flame explodes in empty air, blasting apart a hapless classroom desk that has the poor fortune to be beside the two men.
Gen disengages, drifting back a step. His arms flow up to his chest, adopting a ready stance, curled at a forty-five degree angle.
"So," Gen says, the corners of his lips twisting up into a nasty smile, "you are -proud- of being a fool, hm?"
COMBATSYS: Gen focuses on his next action.
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Rose 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 0/-------/---====|
Rose feels her swing go long, which is fine by her. She lets it continue, her arm stretched out like a trebuchet's lever as she twirls around artfully on one heel, trailing sparkles as she goes...
"You know," she says as she completes her sparkling arc, "you shouldn't turn your back on the enemy, even if you prefer to focus your attention elsewhere!" Not that Kyo so much turned his back as turned his sort-of-left-side, but the point remains. The sparkling leather purse, which is starting to seem a bit worse for wear (apparently Soul Power is best used with cashmere and soft woolens) twists around, striking at the Kusanagi heir's thigh. Should it strike true, the resultant bright flash of light will probably sting!
COMBATSYS: Rose successfully hits Kyo with Soul Purse.
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Rose 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 0/-------/--=====|
"Sure, why not," Kyo replies to Gen, with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders. "I mean, it could be worse. I could be some three thousand year old guy with an overrated restaurant and a terrible beard." Suddenly, though, Kyo is aware that Rose is trying to hit him /again/, and he just has to move a bit before he can--
--Nope, he gets totally clobbered in the thigh with that purse, the Soul Power behind it adding more than enough oomph to send Kyo careening over the fighting stage, crashing through more desks, which are now pretty much just kindling.
Appropriately enough.
Pushing himself to his feet, Kyo glances over at Rose, arching a brow slightly. "Don't you find it depressing that it takes /both/ of you to have any chance against me? You should really consider a career change," the insouciant perpetual highschooler says, raising his right hand and setting it alight, the bloodline flames of his ancestors springing to life with contemptuous ease. But to what end, you might ask, is Kyo doing that? There's an almost physical pressure that builds around the Kusanagi heir as the flames rage in his palm, tremendous power gathering. "Hey, maybe you can cook at Lo Pan over there's restaurant, it's not like the food could get any /worse/."
COMBATSYS: Kyo gathers his will.
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Rose 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 1/-----==/=======|
Gen laughs.
He throws his head back and guffaws, his chest heaving as he expels great gasps of air. Such is the force of his bemusement. When his head turns back to the two younger fighters, the old man has a distinctly toothy smile on his face. A grin that looks, perhaps, a little too amused. It looks like the old devil is scheming something.
"Ahhhhh," he says, "perhaps the young fool has a point, much as it wounds me to say."
Gen's eyes go half-lidded, as he turns his head in Rose's direction.
That's all the warning he gives.
The red sash tied round his waist flutters like a banner as his whole body twists. His right leg, already flexed at the knee, already chambered, snaps out hard and fast, the heel of one slippered foot speeding towards the seer's abdomen, at the intersection of flesh and lower ribs.
It might be considered treachery on Gen's part, save for the fact that this SNF fight was officially billed as a three-way match. A fact that Kyo must certainly be aware of. A fact that Rose should know too.
And in any case, courtesy is not of great concern to the elderly assassin. Oh no. What matters is keeping this...
...interesting.
COMBATSYS: Gen successfully hits Rose with Heavy Kick.
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Rose 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 1/-----==/=======|
Rose hmphs at Kyo, not dignifying that, apparently, with a more detailed reply and merely shaking her head, that weird kinked bang bobbing slightly as she does. She raises her hand, perhaps to chide in more detail --
When Gen kicks her. She might say something like "I saw that coming," but that was, based on her expression, a lie. Perhaps Gen is merely too advanced to be easily predicted, or maybe Rose is a GREAT BIG FAKER. Either way, she staggers to the side as Gen's foot digs almost an inch into soft, yielding flesh, gasping like a landed fish for a moment before recovering herself - and whirling to face him.
"You know," she says as she twists the purse around, spinning it twice on one index finger, "I did not know you had a restaurant!" And then she swings the purse down to smite Gen on the head. Can an old man endure the signature technique of old lady style?
Yes, yes. Dance, puppets. Dance!
Kyo seems pretty content to let the old folks settle this with their old people martial arts, and besides that, it would be rude to get between them, wouldn't it? Yes, terribly rude. Even ruder to attack one of them from behind while they're distracted fighting each other. So what's a kind, gentle soul like the likes of Kyo Kusanagi supposed to do in a situation like this? Sportsmanship and fair play leave him with little option. Stretching his arms over his head with a grunting groan, Kyo then proceeds to hop up onto a desk and sit there.
He also reaches into his pocket and pulls out a saran-wrapped sandwich, which has somehow miraculously not gotten horribly maimed despite all the fighting that's gone on. Kyo starts to peel off the wrapping, and takes up half of the sandwich - white bread, no crusts; it also appears to be a ham and swiss, with some lettuce and mustard - before having a big bite of it. Yes, nothing quite like a refreshing sandwich while two other people beat one another up for your amusement.
COMBATSYS: Kyo gains composure.
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Rose 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Rose successfully hits Gen with Soul Purse.
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Rose 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 1/-------/=======|
A broad smirk crosses Gen's features as he leers at Rose. A leer that lasts all of half a second before a finely crafted handbag smashes into his skull, sending his white hair into disarray and causing him to stumble.
Were he a practitioner of Drunken Fist, he could probably claim this as mastery of his art. As it is, though, it's just proof that Gen is indeed the epitome of old men everywhere, the standard that all men of an ancient disposition aspire towards when faced with an affronted woman.
He even looks mildly concussed.
But he recovers quickly, lifting a hand, the white edge of his sleeve slipping back to reveal wizened fingers. He waggles his index digit admonishingly at Rose.
"Of /course/ I run a restaurant," Gen informs her, "do you know /nothing/, woman?"
And then he moves. Quickly. Suddenly, leaping into the air and landing atop one of the classroom desks. The movement makes hardly a sound, and the legs of the table do not so much as wobble as the old man alights upon it.
"Of course," Gen says, "your ignorance shouldn't be a surprise. Clearly the two of you know nothing..."
His leap's taken him beside Kyo, and with his new perch, the old man is now able to stretch out his arm, grasping Kyo's sandwich-bearing arm. Trying to stop it dead before he can take a second bite.
Because clearly such a construction is an offense against Gen's finely-tuned culinary senses.
Or maybe he's just trying to annoy Kusanagi.
Whatever the case, if he gets a grip. the old assassin will also twist round...and snap a foot out, to /kick/ the younger man and destroy his preciously wrapped food. And possibly his arm bones to boot.
Gen finishes, with a sneer:
"...about good food!"
That's one manly sandwich, Kyo. Who took those crusts off? Was it the Kushinada?!?!
As Kyo takes a snack break, Rose continues the strife of battle. She draws back briefly, perhaps concerned at having genuinely injured Gen - but it's transient. "To know nothing," she says aloud, "is the beginning of all wisdom."
And then Kyo is the new target, Gen leaping to confront the young man and his culinary glory; Rose for her part turns to face this, raising one thin violet eyebrow. Her arms fold, purse dangling from one. "Perhaps," she adds graciously, in lieu of a brutal attack, "You could educate us both!"
COMBATSYS: Rose takes no action.
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Rose 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Gen successfully hits Kyo with Houzen.
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Rose 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1 Gen
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Kyo 1/----===/=======|
Actually, Kyo's mom made that sandwich for him. Shizuka Kusanagi knows how to make her son's sammiches properly!
However, Gen's culinary rage proves to be problematic for Kyo, who finds himself unable to enjoy a second bite of his sandwich. Slowly, he turns to glare at Gen, though he doesn't really get to do much else, since he gets helluva kicked, driving him off of the desc and sending an extremely painful jolt up along the Kusanagi heir's arm. The sandwich, tragically, is utterly destroyed by the old man's wrath, spattering honey mustard on the floor.
"Oh man, it's on now," Kyo notes, pushing himself back up. There's little in the way of quips or insolent behaviour from the World Warrior now... Gen just RUINED his SANDWICH. "I had to skip lunch, and now I have to put up with your Chairman Kaga bullshit?" At this point, then, Kyo bursts entirely into flames, his form obscured by raging orange-crimson, threads wrought of pure flame rising off of his shoulders, the air around him distorting in the heat. His right hand raises, and he holds a flame there, focusing his power. "Since you like food so much," Kyo adds, suddenly sliding forward, swinging his right arm across his body... And then sweeping it back out in a wide arc, unleashing all of that gathered fire, the sacred Ever-Burning Flames of the Kusanagi peeling off of his body to bolster the thrown flame, growing into a huge hellstorm that annihilates the desks in its path as it bears down right on Gen. "...EAT THIS!!"
COMBATSYS: Gen dodges Kyo's Orochinagi+.
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Rose 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1 Gen
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|
The wave of destruction roars across the arena, scorching even the great stones of the floor. Wood explodes to flaming cinders as the sacred flame consumes everything in its path, the classroom scene burning beneath the sheer fury of Kyo's assault.
And Gen laughs, a harsh bark ripping from his throat. He stares at death. And he laughs.
Less than a second before the flame explodes into his body, he kicks off the desk he was crouched on, flipping into the air. He spins above the torrent of flame, letting it pass beneath him.
Gen lands soundlessly on the smoking arena floor, sash, sleeves, and hem of his robe flowing with the motion.
Behind him, the blackboard burns. No longer does it proclaim this to be an etiquette class for one Kyo Kusanagi. It no longer says much of anything, at all.
Gen looks up.
"Dear lady...you, perhaps, I could teach," Gen says to Rose, with a chuckle, "but this fool seems to have /very/ strange ideas."
He glances back to Kyo.
"My fire-eating days are over, boy," he retorts, even as he changes his stance.
Hands flex in the distinct form of the tanglanggou, the striking position of the mantis - the first two fingers of each hand curved and braced with the thumb, concentrating the force of a blow to a single point.
It's with those hands that he attacks Kyo, now, rushing the Kusanagi heir. Lashing with his right arm at speed too fast for normal eyes to follow - aiming at critical nerve junctions all over the younger man's body...before spinning round and continuing the process with his /left/ arm, poised for lethal intent.
"Ask your father!"
At the sight of the respectful use of the magical and potent flames of the Kusanagi to beat up an old man for knocking out his sandwich, Rose hms quietly, to herself. She doesn't quite take the same insouciant 'Standing there and tsking aggressively' pose, however, perhaps because she can feel the heat building in the room.
Instead, she steps to the side, arms spreading out as the purse dangles from a wrist. Is she genuinely determined to use that thing as a weapon? Perhaps she's trying out a new technique, or recieved special orders from Howard. It is a mystery --
Inwardly, Rose wishes the cards had been less... concrete. It's always unsettling when they give very specific orders. At the last moment, she twists one wrist around, as if to strike at Kyo with a green flash of light - but the light slides back down up the back of her hand, up the leather strap, and down the purse -- which is slinging towards the fast-moving old man!
COMBATSYS: Kyo blocks Gen's Shitenshuu.
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Rose 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 0/-------/------=|
In the aftermath of that massive, legendary attack getting avoided entirely, Kyo makes a noise. It's a quiet noise, but one that conveys a great lack of being impressed whatsoever, as he intakes a short, sharp breath between his teeth, tongue then clicking. "Right," Kyo says. And then Gen is on him like, well, like white on rice.
But as fast as the old man's hands move, Kyo's move just as quickly, deflecting each lightning-quick blow, though this results in the younger fighter ending up with probably a lot of tiny bruises on his forearms that'll show up later. It hurts, sure, but... Well, Gen was probably hoping it would hurt him a whole lot /more/.
"Getting a little rusty, huh? You should probably hang it up!" Kyo is always a bastion of sensitivity and good taste. Rose's... Continued use of her handbag as a weapon is a bit confusing, though. Suddenly lunging forward, Kyo simply tries to grab Gen while he's hopefully preoccupied with Rose's purse, aiming to snag him by the front of the long shirt... Before unleashing a sudden explosion of Kusanagi flames, ideally enveloping Gen. "BURN!!"
COMBATSYS: Rose successfully hits Gen with Soul Purse.
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Rose 1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0 Gen
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Kyo 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Gen fails to interrupt Koto Moon Positive from Kyo with Kouga.
- Power fail! -
>> Decisive Hit!! <<
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Rose 1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0 Gen
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Kyo 0/-------/----===|
"I've already told you, boy, I don't---"
Whatever Gen planned on saying, he doesn't get a chance to finish. Because that's when a handbag collides with him, smashing his head around. When the old man looks up again, a thin trickle of blood runs down the side of his face, coming from his lips. Out of his peripheral vision, he glares at Rose, a classic /do you mind?/ expression. But before he can give voice to the thought, he's interrupted again.
This time by fire.
Gen starts to move. He slides backwards as the flames roar towards him. But it appears baiting the Kusanagi scion is a dangerous activity indeed, because he isn't. Fast. Enough.
And when the maelstrom passes, Gen is hunched over, acrid smoke rising from his robe. His spine's curled, his head's bowed, and he breathes in ragged gasps.
White on rice is a fine analogy -- unless you're eating macrobiotic! Rose is somewhat dismayed by the fierceness of the Kusanagi flame, twisting back from it as the purse seems to obey her commands, much as her more familiar scarf does. "Hm," she says aloud, breathing in deeply and turning her head to regard Kyo.
Why, she thinks - why was it so insistent? This is so accursedly strange, and I can't really expect to win with this handbag; do I think it's going to last long enough to beat Kyo Kusanagi into submission?! /I/ barely did.
But the cards cannot be argued. Six of swords inverted crossing the Tower: Purses are indicated. And what is also indicated is twisting her arm around again, sending the purse on a counter-clockwise spiral towards the Kusanagi heir before he can get too far away. "Be careful with that sentiment," she chides. "Unless you want to hear the same?"
COMBATSYS: Rose successfully hits Kyo with Soul Purse.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Rose 1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0 Gen
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Kyo 0/-------/---====|
Okay, Kyo is officially getting sick and tired of Rose's damn handbag. He tries to slip out of the way, but maybe he just put too much effort into his attack against Gen; he can't make it. Instead, he gets smacked in the head with Rose's purse, the Soul Power behind the blow sending him reeling. "It's good to see the world of professional fighting has fallen so far, that we're fighting somebody who can't do anything but club you with her purse," Kyo remarks, looking over at Gen. And then he jerks his head at Rose.
Regardless as to whether Gen follows his suggestion or not, Kyo goes after the psychic lady again, leaping off the ground to swing one foot up at her jaw. "What's next, a rolling pin?!" Kyo wonders, as he swings his other foot up in turn for, hopefully, a second kick, to send Rose a-flyin'.
A strange choked sound comes from Gen.
The old man is bent over on the ground, still where he fell moments ago. His spine is curved so far his face is hidden from view. His legs are bent at the knees, supporting his weight, while is arms fall at his sides.
But his shoulders shake, now, his head lolling. He makes a sound, a strange tortured noise scraped from lungs and lips. When he lifts his head, his face is contorted in a horrible rictus.
But then it becomes clear. He's not in pain. Or at least, not simply in pain.
He's laughing.
"I wouldn't be surprised, boy," Gen spits. Literally, for a moment after he makes a great hacking cough, and spews phlegm - it splatters against the arena floor, flecked with the deep crimson of blood.
He grins from ear to ear as he gets to his feet, smouldering fragments of wood and debris surrounding him as he rises.
"But she's beating us with a handbag. What does that say about /us/, boy, hmmm?"
Without waiting for a response, Gen moves.
EVen as Kyo spins into an aerial double kick, Gen makes a leap of his own...with strange and eerie synchronity to the younger man's movement. A flying kick to Rose, intersecting the Kusanagi's, then a twist and another.
COMBATSYS: Rose blocks Kyo's 75 Shiki Kai.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Rose 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Gen
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Kyo 0/-------/--=====|
COMBATSYS: Rose dodges Gen's Kouga.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Rose 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Gen
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Kyo 0/-------/--=====|
It is a message of hope to the girls of the world everywhere. As long as they have big breasts and Italian fashion wardrobes.
Rose shifts back as the foot comes up to strike her, and whatever weird point she's trying to make doesn't stop her from blocking with her forearm, which twists her slightly to the side - enough for her to twist fully out of the way, making Kyo seem /less of a man/. Well, or unable to hit a master of martial arts with impunity, which is about the same thing...
Gen's motion is brisker and faster, but Rose is able to stay low enough for the strike to go wide. She then answers with a twirl of her hand, the handbag sweeping around like a thing possessed to strike at Gen's leg. "I do apologize," she interjects. "I had a very real certainty that if I relied on it - it would do well. I suppose there is something to this 'fortune telling' after all?"
Sadly, Kyo is already well aware that hitting Rose is not always the easiest thing in the world. She's pretty slippery when she wants to be. He lands easily enough after his kicking attack, his expression not betraying much one way or the other as to how he feels about Rose's current status; but then, suddenly, she's swinging her purse again... At Gen.
Now comes a moment of decision. Does Kyo simply leave Gen, who at the moment is still his opponent in this fight, hanging? He could after all use this opportunity to bolster his own chances somehow, at the low low cost of letting the old man deal with Rose all by his lonesome. It's an attractive option.
But rather than do that, Kyo heaves a bit of a sigh, before lunging at Rose's back, even as the woman swings her purse at the Chinese assassin. His right fist streaks out in that distinctive hooking punch of his, flames trailing behind it, empowering his strike more than simple muscle could account for. And, if he manages to land the first blow, he follows it up by whirling around and swinging his heel at the side of Rose's head, hoping, perhaps, to jar some of the psychic right out of her. "Hua-!!"
COMBATSYS: Rose successfully hits Gen with Soul Purse.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /// ]
Rose 1/----===/=======|==-----\-------\0 Gen
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Kyo 0/-------/--=====|
But Kyo's intervention comes too late for the old man. While the Kusanagi heir makes a damn good attempt at kicking the soul out of Rose, that damn thrice-accursed purse of the demon is still heading straight for Gen. Nothing can stop it. Nothing can dissuade it. The handbag is unrelenting. The handbag is implacable.
The handbag smacks Gen across the face, with a massive discharge of psychic force, a brilliant and blinding burst of power.
This is what legends are made of.
Blood oozes down Gen's face, matting the hair of his beard. He sways, one eye closed, the other just barely remaining open.
He starts to slump, starts to collapse. But before he falls fully, he /moves/, fast and sudden. With the last of his rapidly fading strength, he makes a grab for the elusive Italian woman, trying to hook her with one arm while he draws the other close to his body...trying to grab her and draw her into the path of a powerful backhand punch.
But whatever the outcome, the momentum from throwing that last spinning blow is enough to completely unbalance Gen. His legs give out and he falls on his back.
Another dark bit of laughter wells up from his lungs, though it turns into a hacking cough before it even gets out.
"Remind me," the old man hisses, from the floor, "to ask for lottery numbers next time."
COMBATSYS: Gen can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Kyo 0/-------/--=====|=======\==-----\1 Rose
COMBATSYS: Kyo successfully hits Rose with Aragami.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Kyo 0/-------/=======|=======\=====--\1 Rose
COMBATSYS: Rose blocks Gen's Juraku.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Kyo 0/-------/=======|=======\======-\1 Rose
The swinging punch from Kyo gets through Rose's defense easily, striking her square in the hairdo. Other than a faint tingle of psychic energy that he might write off as hitting his funny bone, no penalty accrues to Kyo, and Rose makes an "uff!" sound as she's knocked to the side, staggering --
Until Gen comes in for a last minute strike. The hooked arm grabs her, but she crosses her own around that very purse, absorbing much of the force of the blow. She still winces. She looks down at Gen as he seems to fade -
But her opponent is still there. "Well," she says with a small, slightly wobbly smile at Kyo, "it seems we are not yet finished. But, I hope that you've learned something today --"
The handbag's strap breaks on one end. Normally this would be bad and it probably scratches the handbag's use, qua handbaggery. However, right NOW, it is merely giving Rose a little more range as she sidles forwards, twisting it around like some sort of hellish pastel whip from the depths of Prada-wearing Hell at the Kusanagi scion!
COMBATSYS: Rose successfully hits Kyo with Soul Purse.
[ \\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Kyo 1/-------/=======|=======\======-\1 Rose
That damn purse.
Kyo sees it coming, and he tries to get his arms in the way, but... He simply can't quite manage it, not right now. Instead, the purse gets to him before he can block it, powering through his half-raised guard and clocking him right in the head. This is, as a note, not something he particularly enjoys!
"Yeah, I learned that getting hit in the head with a purse a lot is REALLY ANNOYING," Kyo responds, barely able to keep himself properly upright as he stumbles towards Rose, coming somewhere between a fall and a crouch before he suddenly explodes upwards, aiming to collide with the psychic and take her up /with/ him as he twists around, flames trailing from either hand and forming a double helix of burning orange-crimson Kusanagi fire; it might be his last hurrah in this match, but it could make all the difference, too. "Raaagh!!"
COMBATSYS: Kyo can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 1/=======/=======|
COMBATSYS: Rose dodges Kyo's Oniyaki.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 1/=======/=======|
Kyo's final strike is terrifying - and easy to see! As Rose does see it, she twists back around, the additional range meaning she is able to spread her legs out further, going into a half crouch as Kyo's blow flies off, harmlessly (or possibly impacting on Rainbow Mika in the stands).
Rose closes her eyes for a moment, feeling the tension leave her body as Kyo seems to fade as a threat, a potential risk, a menace from her awareness. "So," she says, before moving to straighten up.
Something goes 'krk' in her back.
She freezes, face becoming a very focused mask. One hand raises, turning towards the standby medical team and waving them upwards, quite energetically.
From somewhere around floor level, the dark voice of a semiconscious elderly assassin comes:
"And so, you've learnt to fear a lady's handbag," Gen murmurs, lying on his back.
He seems either terribly amused, or in terrible suffering from horrible head injuries.
Possibly both. In the case of Gen, there may well be no difference.
"Always a valuable lesson, boy," Gen says, sagely, "valuable lesson."
Log created on 18:38:38 10/11/2008 by Gen, and last modified on 19:22:12 10/12/2008.