Description: Throughout the weeks since their invasion, the combined forces of Shadaloo and NESTS have set up a number of bases. While the most notable of them is Gedo High, one must take smaller steps before aiming for the top. With the recent news that Hotaru Futaba has been kidnapped by the mysterious man known as 'Seth,' Shurui Chiang has come to one of the few people who can help: the world's strongest woman, Chun-Li. With intent to save Hotaru burning strong, the two fighters storm the invading force's base of operations located deep within Southtown Park, rumored to be where Futaba is being held. Yet, will they find what they are seeking... or something far more terrible?
It's surreal to see the park in its current state. Now the temporary headquarters of SIN, what would usually be a place for spring flower viewing has now become trampled by the boots of many soldiers and personnale. Would this nightly hour prove an exception to this?
Dressed in a black hoodie and pants, the hood closed tightly over her telltale gray hair, Shurui can only trust that the information she and Chun-li recieved was legit and not some overcomplicated ploy to lure them into SIN's clutches. Why do such a thing when there could be so many better ways to capture someone like Chun-li?
And yet, the two Chinese women *are* on the desperate side. That mysterious tipoff is the only thing more solid than a rumor that they've been able to recieve in the past few days, and Shurui doesn't like the idea of waiting around while someone she owes deeply is possibly being tortured. Sure, this place isn't NESTS, but what exactly *do* they do? Why this preference for chi? Maybe there was another reason.
Crouching near Chun-li, Shurui's face is a quiet mask. They'll have to make this work, either way. There's no way she can count on SIN letting her live now if she lost.
Dressed darkly, much like her younger companion, Chun-Li sits in the bushes, clad in a black turtleneck and dark jeans affair. Held to the woman's almond-colored eyes are a pair of night-vision binoculars, giving her a slightly advantage in the darkness. Currently, their pointed at a makeshift camp established in the heart of the city's park. For now, the woman is silent.
She's thinking, though. The information received...it wasn't exactly fishy, but she wasn't sure she could trust it. But, lo and behold, here they are, and there's the Shadaloo camp. Certainly the young Futaba girl is there. Their 'source' said they had proof.
"Shurui," the woman says, her words soft and assured, but by no means commanding. "Whatever happens here, I want you to get out with your life, okay?" Glancing aside as she lowers her binoculars, she offers a small, almost sad, smile. "We won't accomplish anything if we both fail here. I want you to keep that in mind."
Looking toward the camp, Chun-Li's lips purse softly. "I don't intend on risking your life. If things look too bad for us, should we compromise this, we need to get out, regroup and figure out a plan." A plan that would likely require backup of sorts. She lets the thought remain her own, however.
"Stay here," Chun-Li whispers as she rises from the bushes. "I'll give a signal--" She gestures, a sharp cutting motion over her shoulder. "--when it's clear, okay?"
That said, the woman makes motions to get near the camp and see if she can't personally identify Hotaru...or any OTHER kidnapped person.
Southtown's park has gone through some changes recently; this 'renovation' has involved a considerable amount of destruction to the nearby environment to pave way for a temporary base of operations of sorts for Shadaloo -- one that has been most recently commandeered by the head of Shadaloo's R&D sector, the man simply known as 'Seth.' A dismal feeling overhangs the park as smoke seems to almost perpetually rise from where trees and shrubbery have been scorched, cut, and blasted away. It looks like a warzone; it smells like a warzone.
Yet even for a warzone, the sensation overhanging this place is especially ominous.
Shadaloo soldiers wearing the distinctive sigils of SIN patrol to and from the base proper as Shurui and Chun-Li scope out the dreary landscape. Seeming largely oblivious to the duo's hidden presence, the men seem to be simply be on guard duty, shuttling themselves from the edge of the park towards SIN's makeshift HQ proper. Every now and then, they stop to converse, but other than that... it is about as exciting as watching the grass grow.
Anything worthwhile takes time to procure. And for Chun-Li and Shurui, the time they must wait is roughly an hour before a distinctive form steps out of the SIN headquarters: pale, pink stony skin, an aura reading that might as well be a black hole, and the swirling, disturbing yin-yang symbol rotating perpetually within his abdomen, the visage of Seth is a hard one to forget -- and an impossible one not to recognize. Lifeless eyes rotate as a researcher stops just before him, offering a deep, gracious bow.
"The treatments are complete, Lord Seth," the man explains calmly. "We're ready to begin the second batch of combat testing." Seth frowns, thoughtfully, looking back towards the main building.
"... Good," he intones, his voice as empty as his expression. "Let her free. I will take care of this test personally. Understand?" The researcher nods, falling back swiftly towards the main building. Seth lifts his head, and smiles a soulless smile.
Anytime now.
Seth doesn't stand alone for long. Only a short while passes before the doors to the facility open and the subject of tonight's combat testing steps forth. Two escort her but they keep their distance. Hotaru seems to regard them not in the slightest. Her eyes, instead, are forward, fixed on the mysterious man responsible for this entire nightmare. The two men accompanying her split quickly, heading back inside and the Futaba girl is left to stride forward on her own.
Dressed appropriately for a tool of Shadaloo in her black garb, her expression is sober, calm, confident. The black unitard and skirt affair coupled with matching dark tights and short-heeled boots would have her standing among the infamous Dolls and fit right in for the most part, right down to the short, blue necktie. Her shoulder length, black hair rests against her shoulders and she's been cleaned up significantly since she was hefted out of the mud of her once-yard days ago.
Spanning the distance to approach the leader of this division, the girl shows no signs of hosility; no intention of attacking her captor out of a vain hope of revenge against impossible odds. Instead she stops two yards away, arms at her sides, studying him. It isn't so far off from what Marise told her, her stressed mind contemplates. She witnessed his power first hand. And now she's been given a taste of augmented strength of her own. It's exactly what she needs to exact vengeance - the power to control and decide her own destiny. Now if only she could sort out who, exactly, it was she needed to take this all out on. Her brow furrows for a moment as she studies the impressive living mystery.
"More testing?" she asks at last, stretching her right arm out to her side before lowering it. "I've already had testing." That bothersome red-head. She never did give her name, the girl muses. "It works fine." she concludes, thinking back on her last chance to evaluate it. At last she would be able to show the world how justice was to be metted out, one target at a time.
It's strange, perhaps, how Shurui never seemed to need those binoculars. There were things she was inept at noticing, like textures and uniforms- details that could have made Chun-li's job a lot easier when she was gathering information. And yet, when it came to people, or items like trees and plants, Shurui seemed to find her footing. ".... Don't stop until you think you'll have trouble getting me out of there," the girl says, quietly in reply to Chun-li. ".... Don't make me the thing that keeps us from our goal." If it isn't a trap, that is.
And, upon spotting Seth's brutal aura exiting the headquarters, Shurui begins to actively wonder if it truly was some ploy. "I don't like this. Seth seemed like one of the higher ups. Even if he was overconfident, he wouldn't just happen to blindly step out l-"
Hotaru's appearance shuts the girl up instantly, the blood racing from her face. ".... Her aura..." It's.... cold? To see such a change in someone who displayed copious amounts of warmth- it chills her nerves. Sure, the first time Shurui met Hotaru, Hotaru was going through something similiar. But this? This is different. The Gedo girl's breath catches in her throat. She swallows, then wets her lips. Of course it couldn't be that simple. Shurui assumed all this time that Hotaru's fate was something to do with chi as energy.
It *is* a trap. But with Hotaru in front of her, Shurui can't run away. She snaps her head towards Chun-li. ".... Be careful. Hotaru's.... not normal. Something's up with her and her energy. It's weird. Be careful." .... Of course, this in itself might be obvious to Chun-li's binoculars. ".... they're clearly expecting us. You wanna go ahead or pull back?"
The girl's senses are a mystery--but right now, there are many other things bugging Chun-Li. But she has a mission here, and the two of them have set out to see what they can...and hopefully rescue someone. Or a few someones.
Eventually, Chun-Li delivers a swift signal to the girl, allowing her to close in and wait with. Quietly and patiently the woman observes their surroundings, from the scorched earth and campsite to the patrol guards. They're grunts at best, no concern. It's the people at the heart of the camp they ought be worried about.
"I won't sacrifice needlessly," the woman replies quietly with a genuine tone of voice. Smiling, she softly adds, "If it gets bad, we're both leaving. Okay?"
Eventually, their stakeout pays off. Two figures emerge from a tent, the latter more familiar while the former is...well. Different. She'd heard things about the man, but actually SEEING the figure in person is intimidating enough. And while Shurui has the gift of Psycho Power on her side to sense how very off things are, even Chun-Li can tell. This man is dangerous, and Hotaru...is not right. She is also possibly dangerous. She recognizes the uniform, and her compliance to this odd man is certainly not a ruse.
"Listen to me Shurui," the woman softly implores. "Whatever you do, please consider her a dangerous person. Do not take her lightly, do not underestimate her, all right?" Frowning, Chun-Li's eyes fall back onto the young woman beside her. "She's alive, that is what is important. That means we still have a chance of getting her wits about her."
But she wonders...what has Shadaloo--or rather, SIN--done to her. Before, the Dolls were infused with Psycho Power. But now they're after chi users? For what intents? She seems fine outside, but...
"We need the element of surprise," the woman decides.
"I'm going in first. I want you to follow a bit after. Try to catch Hotaru off guard and restrain her if you can. Knock her out; whatever. We need to incapacitate her and get her out of here and somewhere that isn't this base. Got it?"
The woman moves in a seeming instant, a blur of black as she rips from the bushes. Blazing out from their hiding spot, almost too swiftly to be followed, the Tai Chi mistress bounds over a three foot tall stack of sandbags, using them as a springboard to leap into the air and somersaulting her form gracefully...before dropping down her heel sharply right for Seth's skull with a sharp, guttural kiai.
COMBATSYS: Chun-Li has started a fight here on the right meter side.
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|-------\-------\0 Chun-Li
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Chun-Li
COMBATSYS: Seth15 has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Chun-Li
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Seth15 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Seth15 blocks Chun-Li's Medium Kick.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Chun-Li
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Seth15 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Shurui has joined the fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Shurui
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Seth15 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Chun-Li
"I don't have any doubt the technical aspect of your alterations are working as intended. I have reviewed the data." Seth continues staring outward towards the sky as he speaks, lips pulling into a thin line. There is no casual tone to his words, no pleasant affectations. It is cold, clinical. Rational.
"No, those are fine." Turning, Seth presents his back to Shurui and Chun-Li, his arms clasping behind his back as he stares directly at his newest experiment. "This is a different sort of test. We will be engaging in a real-time combat scenario. I want you to fight to kill when the time comes. Understood?" No, this isn't a test of her physical performance.
This is a test of her mental performance.
Stone-like eyes drifting with a calculated gaze towards the side, Seth continues with that laxed, open posture even as he awaits Hotaru's response. His lips part again, eyes shifting upwards. "If you are prepared, then, we shall begin--"
A sharp kiai, the drop of a mighty foot--
-*CRACK*-
"... now."
Slightly hunched over now, Seth's pink-hued hand grips a single foot within its cold grasp -- his touch as if it was completely drained of any heat. Seth looks behind him towards the attacking Chun-Li now momentarily suspended in mid-air, his lips pulling into a thin frown.
"Chun-Li. You have made a mistake."
With one push, Seth seeks to launch Chun-Li back into the air. He twists, snapping /forward/ with his both arms as he goes, as if trying to strike out at Chun-Li. While the distance should normally be too great for the arms to cover, something happens: those limbs start /stretching/, aiming to wrap around Chun-Li's neck and /drag/ her into the earth with punishing momentum.
"... The test shall commence now, Hotaru Futaba."
She has his attention. The unnaturally colored spectre of a man. She thought him a monster before. But now? Now he is her benefactor. Picking her up from the crushed ground of defeat and molded her into what she is now. Her ability to combat that woman who bothered her the other day was her chance to experience it first hand - the difference this project of his had made. Previous revulsion has changed to something else. She isn't grateful. It's too early for that. But somewhere in her lost mind she sees this opportunity for what it is: the path to vengeance.
He acknowledges her capabilities. Those were 'fine', he puts it. That's not good enough, the girl would bristle if she were being addressed by one of the countless labrats she's hurt in her stay with SIN. But being upset at the man standing before her doesn't even register. She nods slightly as he explains the nature of the combat and then asks for her understanding. An order to kill. Hotaru's right hand tightens, the muscles in her forearm trembling slightly. Killing? Killing is justified when dealing with defense. The mother lion slaying the hyenas to protect her cubs has committed no transgression after all. This exercise... perhaps it will be close enough to the same idea. She has no compunctions. "Understood."
And then he is defending himself. The precision block was critically timed; a testiment to his ability and power. Power that she finds herself envious of. A man like Seth could do whatever he wanted. He could stop anything. Save anyone. That's what she needs too. Her eyes shift to the aggressor. The name spoken... it sounds familir but she can't place it. Is she one of the countless many she has to exact revenge on? Is she one who hurt her friends before now? Is this all her fault?! That must be it.
"Yes." she answers Seth. This is no mere test in her mind. This is a chance to carry out her vendetta. She charges the woman immediately and without hesitation. Her cold demeanor shifts slightly as she darts forward, pouring unholy speed into her offense. An aggressive spin kick marks the opening of her attack, the Kenpo artist aiming to deliver a punishing heel as the Tai Chi master deals with Seth at the same time. "KYA!!"
It's hard, seeing Hotaru in such a state. This was a complication that Shurui barely dared to consider happening, and the girl's thoughts are a jumbled mess of where to proceed. Yet, when Chun-li's voice speaks to Shurui, the heartfelt tones ground Shurui temporarily, allowing her to maintain her wits. Her eyes lower when she looks to the ground. "... Right."
Seth has noticed Chun-li. The game's afoot.
And so, the choice is left to Shurui: take Hotaru by surprise, or try to reason with her? It's clear that the former may have a good chance of success, but from what Shurui remembers and her eyes enforce, Hotaru is hardly someone to lightly take on directly in battle. Her chi levels are through the roof- if Shurui engages her without at least trying something else first, it would be certain suicide. There's the second choice, but that's a gamble at best. Is Hotaru completely under Seth's control? Or could there be a shred of reason that could be appealed to?
There is a third, hidden option, of course. One that Shurui can possibly manage, but may carry risks. To talk to someone mentally can be a gamble in itself; there's no telling what the feedback may be if it succeeds. However, at the very least, it could be a needed distraction.
Shurui closes her eyes, her thoughts taking leave. If she could just reach Hotaru's mind....< ... Hotaru. > The mind's touch, if it succeeds is faint, but vaguely familiar like the distant tone and cant of a voice. Words at the other end of a phone's static. < This is your chance. We came for you and the others that were kidnapped. Help us. >
A pause. < ... If I have to, I'll fight you. I'm not letting them take you again. >
COMBATSYS: Chun-Li parries Hotaru's Medium Kick!
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Shurui
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Seth15 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Chun-Li
COMBATSYS: Chun-Li just-defends Seth15's Yoga Smash!
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Shurui
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Seth15 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Chun-Li
He knew. Chun-Li should have known, should have anticipated.
For whatever reason it may be, the time to mull over whether or not this is a trap is beyond Chun-Li. Now, the woman has to manage against two foes, in the hopes that Shurui can seize opportunity and get Hotaru from out of enemy clutches. If she can buy some time for the girl...
Shoved into the air, the woman's body immediately flips head over heels before positioning herself proper in her ascent, legs pointed down with her head upright. The second she's corrected her flight there's a sudden movement from the marble-like figure, his seemingly unearthly arms slithering forward in a too familiar fashion. Wait, isn't that..??
The woman thrusts both her hands forward and out to her sides, palms crashing outward and into the serpentine appendages before they can crush into her throat. Shoving them away, she crouches in the air, bringing her legs up and hurriedly trying to drop her weight faster to the ground to press the advantage. Test, he says. What's worse, the Futaba girl is...agreeable.
Not good.
"Mistake? No," the woman calls back, hitting the ground with a thud of booted feet. Hotaru moves swiftly, attempting to drive her heel into the woman, but light a streak she moves, dropping low and letting the girl's offending leg guide easily across the top of her arm. Briefly, Chun-Li acknowledges Seth.
"You're the one who made a mistake."
Then her eyes are back on Hotaru.
"Hotaru, please!" the woman implores, taking a step forward as she lowers her weight. "Snap out of this!" She closes in on the young Kenpo fighter, not about to let up on her. Seth is, for now, the least of her concerns. "The people you love...they want to help you! This isn't right! You shouldn't be doing this to them!"
Whatever her response, Chun-Li cannot risk to wait. Thus does her arm snap out, fingers attempting to grab hold of that leotard and pull her forward as a leg snaps up, to knee the girl in the abdomen before she switches legs and fires a high side kick to send Hotaru flying back.
"Hm," muses Seth as his arms snap back into place at his sides, that rubber-like elongation retracting swiftly.
She performed better than anticipated.
Brushing this aside for the moment, Seth dons a combat-ready stance. As expected, though, Chun-Li does not pursue him -- he's not the goal here for her today, after all. The goal is the young Kenpoist-turned-weapon she now charges at. Dull eyes rotate towards Chun-Li for a moment of silent consideration. Rather than attempt to intervene, however, Seth chooses to remain towards the back; he wants to see this play out.
This, too, is simply part of the test.
"It's useless to argue with her," Seth notes impassively as his right hand lifts, bending at the elbow. "Passionate words from one person alone is not enough to break through what she has been given. However." The leader of SIN's arm /snaps/ violently to the side, and once more, it extends like rubber, lashing out like a snake, not for Chun-Li... but for the place that she came from.
"You are not alone."
One large, pale pink hand will EXPLODE from the desolate shrubbery as Shurui attempts to make mental contact with Hotaru, snapping forward to palm her by the head... before that entire appendage will /snap/ backwards, to /slingshot/ her into one of the walls nearest Seth as he continues to watch, without even the faintest hint of emotion.
COMBATSYS: Chun-Li successfully hits Hotaru with Kirin Shuu EX.
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Hotaru 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Shurui
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Seth15 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Chun-Li
Her leg glides over Chun-Li's arm, forcing a hasty recovery as she lands, feet sliding over trampled grass before coming to a stop. This is different. The last person she fought was able but no where near this swift and graceful. Brute force might not be sufficient to simply bowl her over after all. Whirling around, narrowed azure eyes take in the single woman combatant with an expression offering nothing in the way of recognition. "You can't disuade me," she replies, her tone suggesting the utmost in deluded conviction. "I already know what it is I must do."
She draws back, arms raised, "No one can help me. They're already dead." Turning her right shoulder toward the Tai Chi master, she tenses, readying another attack in retaliation. "Only I remain to set things right; to exact the retribution due." She starts to step into another combination attack when the Kenpo artist freezes mid-step. The voice in her head from a source unseen distracts the girl. Her jaw clenches, lost in a vain attempt to fight back against it, to block it out. "Your tricks..."
She closes her eyes for a split second, "Won't work. I saw Shurui fall." She's seized then, caught distracted, unable to defend herself. Eyes snap open as she finds herself pulled forward, unable to pry herself free before a crushing blow is delivered to her stomach with enough force to force her breath from her mouth in a gasp of pained surprise. A shifting of her arm at the last second is used to try and intersect the followup kick but it's too little too late and the featherweight is sent flying as intended.
Her trajectory is rough and she lands hard, not having the ability to recover from the crushing combination of that magnitude. Tumbling a few times, she comes up in a low crouch, silent, mouth open as she takes a second to catch her breath. She doesn't stay put for long, however, before shoving up off her feet and charging the woman again. "You will simply be the first to be made aware of your mistakes in coming here!" That there's another; that Seth himself has spotted Shurui while Hotaru remains completely unware, is lost in her singular focus on the veteran fighter.
Charging shoulder first, she springs, aiming to crush through the other fighter's guard before delivering a flurry of windmilling strikes on her way down. A single palm thrust with her right arm would represent the end of the attack as she pours all of her augmented strength into that single striking point. "HAA!"
COMBATSYS: Seth15 successfully hits Shurui with Medium Throw.
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Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Shurui
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Seth15 0/-------/------=|=======\=------\1 Chun-Li
".... Dead...?" Shurui's eyes widen, the slender mental link severed in an instant. ".... I'm not-"
One second of distraction was all it took for Seth to wrap his hand around her head, throwing her against the wall with brutal force, even as alert as Shurui was. "GRK!" The wall cracks around the slight impact crater her body makes in the wall, the shape maintaining itself as Shurui falls down to the ground.
That's not enough to keep her down, however. No. She can't be the weak link again in this battle. Standing up, Shurui numbly rubs the spit on her chin, eyeing Hotaru nearby. "... Hotaru! Alma and I are alive. I dunno what they did to convince you... but now's your chance to break from them!"
It's a gamble, not diving in instantly to help Chun-li and subdue Hotaru, but it's a gamble Shurui's willing to try. At the very least, Hotaru will be distracted by her, keeping her from ganging up on Chun-li. If not that... well, could Shurui really manage to take down Hotaru in this state? "That whole battle... they came for you, not us! We didn't have the type of energy Seth wanted! The people in the mansion were left alone- me and Alma have been trying to protect them since they took you and the other fighters!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Chun-Li with Soushou Shin.
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Hotaru 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Shurui
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Seth15 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 Chun-Li
Though it pains her to attack the girl, she knows she must. And though the pain Hotaru endures is great, this is certainly for a good and just cause, isn't it? The girl isn't herself anymore. She needs help. She needs to be guided back to the right state of mind. But how? How is Chun-Li--or anyone--supposed to accomplish this? She doesn't even know what's been done. The girl forces herself back onto her feet.
"Hotaru--
"Shut up!" Chun-Li snaps over her shoulder as Seth comments, eyes wide and a sharp snarl jaggedly cutting over her lips. "I don't know what you've done, but I know there has to be a way to get through!" And she will find it, no matter what it takes. People are counting on her--people who are suddenly in the clutches of Seth's inhuman arms and being thrown into the nearest wall. "SHURUI!" Damn it, how'd he know??
Hurriedly looking back, the woman's face is a mix of compassion and worry, a pleading look expressed as she regards Hotaru. The girl is suddenly there and in her face, a graceful slamming blow delivered through the woman's defenses with considerable strength. She's struck back, her body sent staggering from the force before she catches her footing, wincing painfully. What did they DO to her?
"Please, listen to me Hotaru..." she begs. "It's not hopeless, they're not dead. SIN--Shadaloo--they've been feeding you lies. Can't you SEE that?" Clutching her stomach, the woman exhales raggedly, letting her shoulders roll as she attempts to ease the pain. They came to save Hotaru...but she cannot leave Shurui alone with that man.
Maybe SHE can get through to her.
"I'm coming, Shurui!" the Chinese fighter calls, racing for Seth. She seeks to close in, sliding in low before she lashes out with a rising kick with her left leg. Her intent is to catch the SIN leader and juggle him upwards into the air, so as to leap up after and swing her body around, crashing her opposite leg into his unearthly body and send it crashing down.
COMBATSYS: Chun-Li successfully hits Seth15 with Tenshou Kyaku.
- Power hit! -
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Hotaru 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Shurui
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Seth15 0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1 Chun-Li
Arm wrapped securely around Shurui, Seth only releases the very moment he drives home that unwholesome amount of momentum. Arm reeling backwards like a tether being pulled back to its source, it wobbles inhumanly as it snaps back into place against his elbow, a subtle trace of psychic residue crackling across the SIN head's body in preparation.
Of course, you can only be so prepared when one is coming at you with force and fury like Chun-Li. While he sees her coming -- from quite a fair distance, even -- the amount of strength that Chun-Li brings to bear is phenomenal. Arms snapping upwards to provide a rigid defense to her assault, the World's Strongest Woman /batters/ through those forearms, /plowing/ into his chin with that brutal kick. The Shadaloo agent is juggled further and further upwards before that final kick impacts DIRECTLY against where his sternum should be with an unusually solid -=CRACK=- of impact. Gravity and the helpful momentum provided by the force of Chun-Li's kick compell Seth to greet the ground violently. Introducing himself to it back-first, his impact elicits a faint BOOM as dust and dirt rocket up all around him, obscuring his form. For a moment, there is silence--
"I do not believe you, of all people, should be getting in the way of Hotaru Futaba's lust for vengeance."
From the dust, Seth suddenly /springs/ forward, seeking to greet Chun-Li where she lands. He pivots on his left, bare heel, snapping forward to deliver a seemingly simple kick... that, within the span of less than a second, becomes dozens, possibly hundreds, impacting Chun-Li over and over in a way she should be all-too familiar with. The form is perfect, the delivery holds no mistakes to be found. She should know.
It's hers, after all.
"You who are still lost by a pedestrian and all-too human need for revenge."
Her combination of strikes connects, ending with a palm press that leaves her rooted for a moment, leaning into the attack, holding nothing back... and then going even a step further. The injury to her body by forcing herself beyond her ability goes unnoticed. She doesn't feel the ache of torn muscles or strained tendens even as she at last snaps back to regain her posture and whirl around. The attack connected cleanly... but she's left with an emptiness in the wake of it. It didn't feed or sate her need for vengeance in the slightest. It didn't feel like it meant anything at all. Perhaps because it simply wasn't enough yet. "Tch."
She glances to the side, eyes hinting at deeply rooted anger seeking release as she settles her gaze upon the woman she had always looked up to before. Calling what she believes to be true simply lies? The focus of her eyes suggests she heard Chun-Li's words. But whether or not they're registering is another question all together. "They can't be... I saw..." She squints, shaking her head, drawing her arms up and returning to her stance. "I won't be distracted by fabrications any longer. I have the power now to set things right. It is only a matter of time before I see justice metted out by my hand."
She's given a reprieve to focus elsewhere as Seth and Chun-Li engage in a mirroring battle of Tai Chi techniques, and in that moment she whirls on Shurui, narrowed eyes coming to rest on the girl who was, but weeks ago, her guest. "Alma..." she murmurs before shaking her head, her eyes closed for a moment. When she looks toward Shurui again, she's changed, her repressed anger forcing its way to the surface. "Don't you dare..." Her right arm explodes into an inferno of sapphire flame, "Invoke that name against me."
Her stance relaxes, becoming more of a determined march in Shurui's direction. "When this war is over, he will be remembered as a hero. And those who fought bravely along his side against impossible odds will be revered by those fortunate enough to survive this travesty. But you..." She stops, a few yards away, drawing her right arm back, "Who try to use the name of that man to stop me..." She swings her limb forward, putting her body into the motion as her fingers uncurl and a meteor of blue flame is sent hurtling for Shurui, "Will not be so fortunate!!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Shurui with Hakki Shou.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Hotaru 1/------=/=======|=======\=====--\1 Shurui
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Chun-Li
"I'm not a fabrication! Alma is a-"
This is what happens when hope gets in the way of reality. The sorts of manipulation Hotaru went through, did Shurui think simple reasoning would get through that? For Seth to trust Hotaru to not falter, to stay loyal to him... the manipulation'd have to go deeper than that. It'd involve twisting her idea of reality and using her love and grief against her psyche.
Shurui sees the attack. Sees the energy buildup flow through Hotaru's body. Her body tries to react, but the emotional strain, plus Hotaru's medically advanced level of skill, makes a nearly fatal delay in Shurui's reaction. She lets out a pained cry as the meteor hits home, knocking her back against the ground.
"H-hotaru..." She slumps up onto her feet. ".... Alma... He's alive...." Her eyes squeeze back tears as she staggers back, newly healed skin again exposed to blue flame and scorched raw. ".... I may have failed to protect you from Shadaloo...." She braces her sneakers into the dirt, letting her shoulders and head slump forward, chest shuttering as her breath is forced through clinched teeth. "But I won't let you slip through my fingers again!" Even if it means that she'll have to fight her.
Shurui launches forward towards Hotaru, hand blazing with silver psycho energy. "....Ngh!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru interrupts Shades of Grey from Shurui with Ten-ren-ge.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Hotaru 1/---====/=======|=======\=------\1 Shurui
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Chun-Li
The first punch, delivered towards Hotaru's chest, carries an extra: a fistful of briefly paralyzing psycho energy. The rest is like clockwork: kicks and punches, delivered in a vicious rhythm before Shurui ends it with a spike of psycho power straight through the abdomen. And yet, a fatal flaw lies within the attack...
COMBATSYS: Chun-Li blocks Seth15's Hyakuretsu Kyaku.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1 Shurui
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Seth15 1/-------/=======|=======\======-\1 Chun-Li
Slamming her leg into the SIN leader, Chun-Li's strength sends the man flying down, smacking the earth below with considerable force. It makes for quite a mess, but it bothers the woman none. Instead, she simply recoils her leg and hunches her body slightly as she falls, hitting the ground with a muted thud of boots on grass. Only then does she assume a wary stance.
Is he...down?
On one hand, she got Seth off of Shurui. On the other hand...
"Shurui!!" Looking away from Seth, Chun-Li glances to the girl as Hotaru attacks, brown eyes wide and startled. That isn't what she wanted to happen! "Shurui! Are you okay?? Hang on!" She gets onto her feet again--that's a good sign, right? But with Hotaru in such an off and augmented state, she may not be long. And once the girl is down...
Exhaling a sharp breath, Chun-Li is conflicted--it doesn't last long, though, as Seth pulls himself from the dusty ground. Frowning sharply, the woman offers the "man" a glare. "This isn't the vengeance she wants," the woman states with eerie calm. "This is some sort of fabricated lie. What have you DONE to these people?"
He moves, making his assault with rapid precision. She's left with little choice but to lift her arms and weather out the blows, his rapid-fire kicks barraging into Chun-Li's defenses. She manages, however, but it leaves her looking utterly stunned. How...?
"Tch--you freak," she spits, shoving her arms forward to unbalance the pale white figure. Once he's away the woman leaps back, distancing herself briefly before she springs forward again. Midair her body twists, winding around and bringing her leg down in a wide arc, her boot lancing with pale blue chi as she attempts to crack it down into the marble-like physique of Seth.
"HAZANSHU!"
COMBATSYS: Seth15 endures Chun-Li's Hazanshu.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1 Shurui
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Seth15 1/-----==/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Chun-Li
Foot meets arm in dozens upon dozens of impact in the entire length of a second as Chun-Li deftly defends against her own assault. Yet, Seth hardly looks perturbed, his foot snapping gingerly back to his side. Why should he?
This is going as he wants it to.
"It seems you're destined to lose the people you surround yourself with," Seth notes impassively to Chun-Li as his leg snaps back, solid eyes looking towards the brief conflict between Hotaru and Shurui. "Will you seek vengeance for her, too, when she dies? Humans are such banal creatures--"
And then, Chun-Li springs at him. Pinkish-white eyes widen for a brief moment as that burning leg spins free... but the expression quickly becomes as grim and drained of life as ever. Chun-Li is left to stare at soulless eyes as that chi-encrusted leg /crunches/ into Seth's body. It's only then, she might notice -- the whisps of jagged black and white energy swirling around her, and the distinct sense of /nothing/ that seemingly starts to gobble away at the very air surrounding Seth.
"Your actions today are as futile as an insect scurrying from the hand of God."
At that very moment, at near-point blank range, a swirling vortex of monochromatic, abysmal psychic force rips into spontaneous existence between Seth and Chun-Li, seeking to catch her up, draw her in... towards that churning, baleful yin-yang symbol at his abdomen.
COMBATSYS: Seth15 successfully hits Chun-Li with Tanden Stream.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1 Shurui
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/----===|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Chun-Li
What happens next is not something anyone can see from outside, obscured as both Seth and Chun-Li are enveloped in a veritable storm of jagged, black-white energy.
From within, though, things are entirely different. The experience is something only one other has gone through before -- and is hardly something that could be explained by conventional means. Caught up within the vortex, Chun-Li, the World's Strongest Woman, is sucked bodily into the rotating orb at the center of Seth's abdomen. Space and reality itself would seem to distort for those brief seconds as the woman is compressed and stretched out simultaneously across interminable lengths, dragged into the very proverbial heart of the abyss as her physical body is warped in ways that should not be possible, thrown about within the abdomen of Seth as his laughter echoes coldly. For what might seem like an eternity, it continues--
--before Chun-Li suddenly rockets free from the storm, aimed like a cannon-blast towards a nearby tree beyond. Real? Fake? The supernatural is entirely up for question, who can say for certain?
But it would certainly feel as real as life itself for Chun-Li.
The cerulean comet strikes the penned in Shurui shortly after leaving Hotaru's fingertips. The Kenpo artist snaps her hand back quickly, lingering power coursing over her limb before it at last subsides. Another punishing attack lands but once again she finds herself not fullfilled. Should not crushing her enemies leave her with something? Should there not be that sense of accomplishment at having done the right thing? She clenches her right hand, lifting her arm in front of her, only then noticing the small tears in the surface of her forearm. Small rivulets of blood seeping forth from skin harmed by her own attack in ways she does not comprehend. What kind of power is this if it is tearing her apart in the process?
Cold, severe eyes come to rest on Shurui once again as the girl struggles to impart the truth through her words of desperation. "I told you not to-" she begins, her voice an incensed growl as she starts to march forward. Time to finish this; to put an end to the deceiver.
He's alive.
Hotaru stops mid-step once again, cutting herself off as Shurui's words sink in. Chun-Li tried to tell her the same thing. This time though... Hotaru scowls, tightening her stance, turning her shoulder toward the other girl. "In your position, you would say anything to stave off your fate. Your words..." There's tears at the corners of her eyes, Hotaru at last notices. "...your words are..."
"Impossible."
Shurui takes her chance, putting her all into her attempt to slow her friend down. That first strike is successful too, staggering the SIN experiment and leaving her stunned for the punishing combination that follows. Kicks, punches, then the build up for a final surge of that psycho power.
And that's when Hotaru unwinds like a sprung trap into a retaliatory barrage of palm strikes, each one augmented by that excessive power; power so severe as to harm herself in the process of using it. Back toward the wall she'll strike the girl, one blow after another, stepping through one of her more punishing combinations as if on autopilot. It only comes to a stop when she has Shurui against the wall, her left hand at the other girl's neck, her right hand drawn back, both of her arms trembling.
It's only then that she can see into Shurui's eyes from so close. Her eyes... they're different from most. That's right, Hotaru muses, her mind a fog, her body paused in the very act of seizing her poorly aimed vengeance. Shurui's eyes... "Shurui..." She releases the other girl, taking steps backward, her own azure eyes widened, "Shurui, I-" She's alive? How can she be? Does that mean that Alma is-
"Shurui... you can't... stop me." she utters, tensing up again, preparing herself to attack again. She needs to stop this but she can't. She's on a mission to right the wrongs. She has a purpose that can't be veered. If she stops now that is giving in. /That/ is being truly defeated. She has to continue!
"Focus on Hotaru!" demands Shurui horsely as Chun-li shouts her concern. If they don't get her now...
.... There won't be a Hotaru left to save. As Shurui attempts to lock Hotaru in her parade of punches and kicks, Seth's dreadful abyssmal energy tugs at her senses' attention briefly, sending a cold shiver of worry for the woman she has just yelled at. No, she can't stop. She has to focus. Now, for the finishing strike...
Hotaru proves herself quicker. Each hit Hotaru sends at Shurui feels like a sledgehammer, throwing her backwards but never enough to escape the next strike. Her back registers a wall and then Hotaru's body, seized in a position of the final blow. Her head lulls back, brown eyes searching the girl's face as her mouth leaks blood.
Dark. Deep. A brown that's almost black, almost doll-like, if not for the soul hidden within. Her eyes, something that's so easy to explain away as useless. Now, with her body wracked with pain and her face barely resisting the urge to collapse into an ugly wince, her eyes convey the genuine emotion behind her earlier words. Hotaru's first halting words usher a soft breath through Shurui's open mouth, the tips barely upturned in a smile.
It's not too late. ".... I came this far." Her voice is barely audible as her elbow knocks lightly against the wall, pulled back as far as it can manage. "... I'll stop you." The fist rockets forward in that small amount of space, attempting to hit Hotaru's midsection. If it hits, a blade of silver will lance through the girl's midsection and out the back, disappearing promptly as the girl collapses, the light behind her eyes fading into unconsciousness.
COMBATSYS: Shurui can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/----===|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Chun-Li
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seth15 0/-------/----===|
"Shut UP!" the woman spits back, recovering from the blow. "Just shut--"
She attacks, throwing her body at the man with brutal force. Her leg lances with energy, adding to the already-vicious blow she's set to deliver. She seeks to hurt him any way possible, and make him pay for what he's done. And once her blow has struck she recoils, flipping off the man and landing in a nearby crouch.
"You Shadaloo scum..."
Something isn't right. There's a nagging sense of uneasiness that haunts the fighter, almond-brown eyes widening slightly. Is she being drawn...toward him??
There's no real way to stop it. What happens after she's snared is surreal, but very real at the same time. Immense pain, mental and seemingly physical, agonize her body before, finally, she's launched out from the man's odd abdomen. She flies like a rocket, only stopped when her form collapses against a nearby tree. Immediately she falls, hitting the grass with a meaty 'thwump.'
"D...damn it," Pulling her body slowly from the ground, the Tai Chi Mistress visibly shudders from pain. Struggling desperately to stand after the blow, she finds it a considerable chore. The odds are painfully stacked against them now, evident when her eyes drift to Hotaru and Shurui, witnessing the exchange. Wincing in disappointment and regret, Chun-Li is torn. They're so close...
"Please..." Let this work.
Pushing her body hurriedly from the ground, Chun-Li makes demands of her body, to run, to push itself despite the agony that haunts her. She blazes forward, rushing swiftly as she can to close in on Seth before, a few feet from him, she hops and twists, half-facing him as she slides towards with a leg raised and chambered at her him. Only when she's a personal distance does her leg snap out with lightning-fast speed, unloading with a series of harsh--familiar--blows before she delivers a high side kick, to launch him into the air. Then, and only then, does her body crackle with energy, wisps of blue surrounding her as she crouches low and throws her body upwards, intent on unleashing a powerful whirlwind of inverted kicks before--finally--delivering a powerful, final blow to launch him even higher.
"HOUSENKA!"
COMBATSYS: Seth15 just-defends Chun-Li's Housenka EX!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Chun-Li
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seth15 0/-------/----===|
"You have no hope left to you. This outcome could have been predicted by anyone. Do you understand?
"Those who start with no hope of victory cannot even grasp upon its frills."
Seth stands slowly, unnatural body beaten but still in relative shape. Staring coldly at Chun-Li as she stands up, her words seem to fall upon deaf ears -- save for one, simple statement.
"Do not associate me with some common thug," he corrects blandly.
"I am something far more than that."
He waits. He waits patiently for Chun-Li to recover herself, to gain her bearings, to prepare her assault -- as if none of it even mattered. As if anything she could do -- as if, if she had taken all the time in the /world/ to prepare herself -- it wouldn't have affected the outcome even in the slightest. He watches, lips pulling into a thin line. Pinkish-violet energy traces along his palms. "My knowledge of your style is already complete, Chun-Li."
She strikes, and suddenly, Seth is like liquid, flowing in between each strike before the last, seeking to launch him into the air. Hands lancing out, he intercepts her leg... and moves /perfectly/ with the upwards momentum, harmlessly launching himself up into the air beyond her as his right hand crackles.
"But your power means that you will make for an excellent test bed."
Before Chun-Li can unleash those spin-kicks, she's preempted by the sudden fling of Seth's arm downward -- and the brilliantly bright swirling crescent of cold psychic power that is released from it, in a distinctive style, a perfect form, an undeniable-- "SONIC BOOM!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru effortlessly blocks Shurui's Subtle Knife.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Chun-Li
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seth15 0/-------/----===|
It shouldn't feel this way. Her triumphs, her path to issue retribution against those who had done her and her friends wrong... she should be glad. But as she studies Shurui in front of her, there's nothing of the sort. Even as the girl makes one last attempt to cut through her defenses, Hotaru reacts with strained composure, her right hand extending to catch the other girl's right hand, absorbing the impact and the lingering energy that spears down the length of her forearm with a fair amount of pain.
How has it come to this? How has she ended up on the opposite side of her friend? How are they not aligned in the same cause? Is this the price /she/ must pay to see her vision through? Is the path to justice to be paved with the broken bodies of her friends? Is that the price? Sacrifice must be required to achieve extraordinary heights, she rationalizes even as she wordlessly releases her hold on Shurui's hand and lets the girl fall.
She glances over her shoulder, eyes vacant, unfocused, watching Seth and Chun-Li engage in a battle that exists just to save her. Recognition dawns slowly as a trickle of blood works its way down from the corner of her lip. Staying in this combat level state is pushing her body too far. Even as the identity of the woman in black sinks in, her mind is lost in a fog of confusion. Why wouldn't Chun-Li also be on her side? That makes two now. Two that she would have stood alongside to the bitter end. The girl hesitates, both hands coming up to rest against the sides of her head, her expression a grimace of pain.
If the price of her vengeance is to lay the lives of her friends down on the altar of reckoning then... she can't pay. "...no..." She shakes her head quickly, "No!" she cries again, "Please... not for my sake..." the girl chokes, dropping to her knees. "Don't let this be the price. Run!"
She has to buy them time, she decides. They may not be part of her crusade, but then... is that man too? She needs to stop him. He doesn't have the same objectives she does. Someone like him - that emotionlessly harms her friends - he can't pursuing the justice she hopes for. Springing to her feet, Hotaru bolts forward, her objective the living enigma with the abdomon of energy. Eagerly she seeks to turn her power against him, to seize one of his powerful arms and lay her palm into his side to use as leverage to twist to the ground. "Let them go!"
COMBATSYS: Seth15 successfully hits Chun-Li with Sonic Boom.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > /// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Chun-Li
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seth15 0/-------/--=====|
Her teeth grit, Chun-Li's soft face twisted with an angry glare. He's Shadaloo, he's scum as far as she cares. Gripping fiercely at her aching side, the Chinese fighter is determined to push forward. She'll show him. She'll crush him, use him as a stepping stone, and then move on to the one that matters--
Vega.
With a sharp cry the woman moves, intent on unleashing her strength upon Seth. His threats fall upon idle ears, the woman long-since having opted to ignore his teasing and cruel remarks. Yet, for every attack she throws, he moves around, like some snake, avoiding every single strike before he throws his body upwards. Just as she moves to throw her legs upwards and batter him--
A cutting burst of energy--also familiar to her--slices the air and painfully into the woman.
The psychic power explodes, sending her crashing into the ground below. She hits, the earth cratering around her, a grim halo of grass and dust. For a moment, the woman feels like giving up. For a moment, Chun-Li simply accepts things as they are--she's lost, there's no hope. How can she possibly dream of taking Vega out if this monstrosity can easily dispose of her? Brown eyes begin to draw shut...
Hotaru's voice, however, brings her out of her self-loathing and defeat.
"H-ho...hotaru??" the woman rasps, turning her head aside, looking toward the girl as she drops to her knees. Is she...has she snapped out of it? But the smile that slowly edges across Chun-Li's lips is quickly replaced with a frown, as the girl suddenly attacks Seth.
"NO!!"
Although her body aches and feels weighed down by agony and pain, Chun-Li struggles to her feet. She moves, half-running, half-limping along as she attempts to close in once more on Seth. "Hotaru, g-get Shurui--RUN!" she manages, chi rippling along her body. "Please both of you GET OUT OF HERE--!"
Leaping up, the woman twists her body rapidly midair, chi bursting from her body and racing toward her long legs. Inverting her body, she reaches the apex before sharply twisting, dropping her heal like a guillotine downwards, the motion marked by a large swath of pale violent energy that seeks to cut Seth in twain.
"P-Please do it, Hotaru!!"
COMBATSYS: Chun-Li can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seth15 0/-------/--=====|
COMBATSYS: Chun-Li successfully hits Seth15 with Tensei Ranka.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Seth15 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Seth15 dodges Hotaru's Hantentou.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Seth15 1/-------/=======|
With a deadened thud, Seth strikes ground feet-first. Stoney eyes stare at the fallen form of Chun-Li, fingers flexing into a clenched fist. His head tilts.
"Others would have you destroyed," he notes thoughtfully. He begins to stride towards her, with single-minded purpose.
"But we will just have to keep you away from the ones you would seek vengeance on -- at least until you have served your purpose--"
What happens next is mildly unexpected, even for Seth -- something that is so rare an occurance it almost baffles him when it happens. Before Seth can obtain the prone woman laying before him, something /else/ rushes towards him like a blur. Slender hands seek to snap out, grab his arm. Yet before they can make contact, he is already /snapping/ backwards, leaping several feet from his aggressor. His eyes jerk up. Was it the girl? But Seth had thought the test subject--
"Oh," he realizes as his eyes fall upon the source.
"How disappointing--"
And that is when Chun-Li smashes her foot into Seth like the executioner's axe. A heavy blade of chi obscures his form as he is absolutely engulfed in burning violet life force, arms splaying outward before he is simply obscured in the gout of power. The explosion rocks the very earth, obscuring him once more within heavy smoke and debris. Have they succeeded? Have they finally overcome the odds?
"... It would seem that this method of control is not stable enough."
The dust clears, and in the midst of the devastation stands Seth -- battered, his unnatural body burned, crack marks appearing over the swirling orb at the center of his abdomen -- but still standing, and staring, quite pointedly, at Hotaru.
"But this is... why such tests are... important. To know--"
His arms stretch outward, as if nursing something between them; from their grasp a titanic spherically-shaped mass of jagged black psychic energy begins to intertwin and weave together like wild vines, aiming to sweep up and consume Hotaru within them... before a swirling BLAST of pure white Psycho Power crashes forward with unrelenting strength.
"--when it is time to go back to the drawing board."
COMBATSYS: Hotaru reflects Tanden Storm from Seth15 with Kobi Kyaku.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Seth15 0/-------/-------|
The problem with living weapons is their tendency to follow their own force of will at inconvenient moments - a harsh lesson recently learned by another warmonger within Southtown. Hotaru's attempt to seize hold of the much larger man's arm proves fruitless and she's left stumbling forward as a result, her body collapsing, the strain of her adrenaline-boosted barrage of highly punishing attacks starting to take their toll on her young body.
But as hopeless as her attempt to secure a hold on the man proves to be, it bought time. Time for Chun-Li to attack him when he was least ready for it. Time for Hotaru to catch herself then whirl around to face the SIN director, forcing her weary, aching form to press on further. Until they're safe, until they have gotten away. She won't have them fall here for her. She doesn't want the freedom they offered. It would divert her from her goal - a goal etched in stone and blood upon her heart and mind. To be the avenging angel she has to give up what she had before. She has to sacrifice and she will. But not that price; not the safety of Shurui and Chun-Li.
"I've never been under your control," Hotaru insists. Her actions, her choices were her own. She's been in control all along. That's what she's been telling herself. She still doesn't see the incongruousness of her reasoning; that strained mind steeped in irrational, impossible goals and vendettas.
He attacks. His arms extend, a portion of that infinite energy he has at his disposal being gathered in front of him. She's faced something like this before. Last time she tried to defend herself, it crushed right through her barrier. This time... well.
She turns toward Seth, sweeping her right leg in the process from low to high, leaving a swath of that azure energy in its wake. "KYA!" The timing has to be precise; to withstand a crushing power of this magnitude, her reflective barrier can only withstand it for an instant. Earler or late and it will simply be a repeat of her previous attempt. But she's faster now... and her body has more chi coursing through it than last time... that was the point after all, wasn't it?
That blast explodes against a shimmering mirror of sapphire, splashing around it and washing over it, but none of it comes to rest on the girl herself. Force of will sends her own chi exploding out into a backlash of mixed energys - a sky blue swirl of chi and psycho power crashing back toward Seth at horrific speed. "I've always been in control!!" she insists, her voice raised as if volume alone were the means by which truth could be weighed.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Seth15 with Reflected Tanden Storm.
- Power hit! -
~ Cruel hit! ~
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|
[ \\\\\\ <
Seth15 0/-------/------=|
"If that is what you wish to believe," Seth responds simply.
"But do you really think that all of this was simply about controlling you? What a foolish creature you are."
Her enhancements work as intended -- beautifully, much as it might work against his favor now. She has all of a split second to respond, and she manages it. The exact force required, and she manages it. Only momentary contact--
--and all that force comes spiraling back towards Seth.
Before he can even react, monochromatic psycho power intermingling with sapphire chi /smashes/ into his torso, blowing him backwards through the air. He hits ground back-first in a rough skid, rebounding once, twice... before he ends up in a crouch, body smoking. He pants, slowly, and then looks up towards his aggressor. He knows his body is at its limit -- /his/ body. It is a miracle, by the average person's estimation.
For Seth, it is just his tools working as they should.
"This test..." he breathes out, slowly, even as he stands. He can make one last-ditch effort to nullify her. But why? It's never been about control. He doesn't want a soldier. He is not Vega, with his collection of Dolls. No. What he needs has already been implanted in her.
Having her become a blind experiment will do perfectly.
"... is finished."
His arms spread. White light envelops Seth. And rather than pursue a final assault... the man seemingly cuts his losses and disappears from sight in a flash of residual psychic energy. This will do.
This will do fine.
COMBATSYS: Seth15 takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Seth15 can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|
She drives him back. He who thought to control her. The gifts he gave her were nice. She can feel the power rushing through her. That her arm is bleeding from self-inflicted wounds or that her joints ache and muscles are twisting themselves into knots goes literally unnoticed to the girl left in the aftermath of that cataclysmic exchange. All she notices is the power. Breaths come harshly. She fought hard. Too hard. Her body wasn't meant for this.
But it's left her standing just as she had hoped. She had told Crimson Viper that she would be a force of judgement upon the city. She had always felt her stay with SIN was but a temporary setback. And now she's secured it. Staggering, she turns away from the facility behind her and limps to the treeline of the park for her departure.
There's a city to purge and she has no time to waste, the girl tells herself, confident in her decision. Her standing here is proof that she's merely fullfilling her destiny. It's up to her to simply continue on and carry it out. Somewhere in the back of her mind are thoughts of friends. She doesn't even seem to remember that two of them fought to buy her this chance at freedom. She doesn't seem to recollect striking Shurui down with her own power or crying for Chun-Li to make sure they both got away to safety.
All that occupies her thoughts are the future to come. The future where her enemies will pay for their sins and be punished for their crimes and atrocities. A bloody grin marks the girl's expression as she vanishes into the night with a determined gait.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has ended the fight here.
Log created on 22:28:17 04/10/2009 by Chun-Li, and last modified on 17:53:51 04/14/2009.