Description: A night in the Pao Pao Cafe. A man with a past. A kid with a future. How, why, and to what end do they collide?
The Pao Pao Cafe proves that, even during times of war--perhaps /especially/ during times of war and strife--people seek an escape. It's dangerous to be out on the streets and yet the Cafe is packed, bustling--though people tend to be leaving in groups, rather than singly, and they pause just inside the door to make sure things are quiet outside before they leave.
Inside the cafe, Jayden is eating, sitting at the bar, generally not paying anyone else much mind. The man is dressed somewhat shabbily--but the gloves, the boots, his general attitude he gives off... he's a fighter. Maybe it's for that reason people are leaving him alone, until a large man, boisterous, not smart, bumps into Jayden.
The reaction is... instantaneous. Maybe even instinctive. No one -really- sees what happens, only that the big man goes down like a sack of potatoes.
"Don' touch de goods, cher," says the man, pushing away from his seat as he stands up. And then he looks around, daring just about anyone to say something.
Another enters the cafe, rubbing his face as a pair of thick, padded gloves hang off his shoulder, tapping against the reinforced hockey stick on his back (as well as the helmet hanging there as well). Rolling in on inline skates, the short-shorn young man rolls over to a table, taking a seat down there, and sighing. He looks around, a little warily, as if hoping nothing followed him....before he sees someone suddenly laid out near the bar, a big man rocked off his feet all of a sudden.
"...aw, man, not again," he groans, eying the the saucy Frenchman (or is he Cajun, like that guy who knifed him at the Sports Bar), shaking his head and moving to walk off again. He's not about to get into another bar incident, at least if he can help it....big if.
The man is in fact a Cajun--calling him a Frenchman would -definitely- start a fight. The light shades his eyes, but the glint of his hazel eyes gleams through the shadows. Of course, there're people who are outraged. Offended. Even in Southtown, fighters aren't always celebrities. The big man had friends--and they're none too smart, either. They charge, as a group--three guys, of varying sizes.
The last thing any of them see is Jayden's lips, turning upwards into a sardonic grin... and moments later, two of them are slumped over their portly friend, twitching. The third? Well, Jayden's got him in a grip by the shoulder... and he draws his other hand back, before firing it into the man's throat, fingers flat, rigid. That man starts gagging, grabbing at his throat.
"Don' wor', cher. You don' die from that, you be a-ok... later." He snickers a little and steps over the men, turning and tossing a wad of bills at where his food was. No extra though, for cleanup. Murmurs arise... that was vicious, even -for- a fighter...
Turned away as he starts to roll out, in hopes of getting out of another bar incident, before it gets too inflamed, Brett sighs, reaching the door, just as he hears thereturn of fighting at the bar. Despite himself, he pauses, looking back, and seeing things fairly...finished for now. Eying the taller man, holding the third (fourth?) victim up, just long enough to stap finger sinto his throat, he scowls.
This was becoming less of a bar fight and more of straight up assault at this point. And while he really didn't want to get involved, something in the bag of his head says that he can't just ignore it as it is, either. Sighing, he looks over...and turns back around, rolling away from the door and looking over to the man in the biker jacket. "Was that really necessary?" he asks...though not quite in the firm tone he was hoping to pull out along with his hockey stick.
"Oh? An' what you think, mm? I shoul' jus' let 'em hit me?" he asks, lazily, rolling his shoulders as he moves, aiming just walk right past the young hockey player--brushing him off, literally and figuratively. But, he pauses, maybe four steps past.
"'course... you think I been wrong... you free t' try an' punish me," he grins, wickedly, before his face closes up a little. "But maybe I t'ink you don' want any o' what they got, neh? Maybe I don' go so easy on you. You got dat big honkin' stick, after all."
Jayden lifts his head, fixing his gaze on Brett. "So... whatcha gon' do, mmm?"
Wincing internally as he realizes just what he's getting into, Brett sighs, stick pointed Jayden's way as he rolls forward just as Jayden tries to walk past. He seems content to just let the cajun pass by, if he's going without incident. But...well, there's that old inner conflict working again. His usual 'live and let live', nice guy persona bashing up against the more determined, more willful persona he usually has on ice, not willing to let his sense of right be overlooked and taunted like this. But...he's not a cop, he's not a hero, he's just a hockey player on a mission, right? No need to.....
*CRACK!!* The stick comes down, swung hard into the ground to make that striking sound, right in front of Jayden's path as the hard-checking Winger rolls back to try and face him. "I might have to pay for the damage I do afterwards to teach you a lesson about picking on people who can fight back, maybe. But...."
COMBATSYS: Brett has started a fight here.
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Brett 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Jayden has joined the fight here.
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Brett 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Jayden
Jayden looks down, at the stick, then up, his eyebrow raisin'. "So, y' got some grits. Good..." The man smiles, again, just the corners of his lips raising up.
"Maybe dis be fun, then..." Of course, people are surrounding the group--someone else having dragged the four poor people off the 'field', so to speak. It's a small cafe but there's enough room to fight...
Not that Jayden seems at all interested in whether there's room. Instead, he's moving. This ain't no tournament fight. There's no one to call the starting gong. It just is, and that's how Jayden goes, lunging forward, attempting to grab Brett around the waist--to use that grip as a focal point, to allow Jayden to slip around the hockey player and lift him up and over, bridging briefly as he attempts to slam Brett down in a suplex.
COMBATSYS: Brett interrupts German Suplex from Jayden with King's End.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Brett 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Jayden
The sudden turn around as Jayden shoots in, trying to grab Brett around the waist seems to take the stocky Minnesotan by surprise.
'Seems' being the operative word here. His focus in and dialed up, the kid manages to sneak his stick in and up behind his own neck, the blade of the stick instead hooked around the back of Jayden's head before the grip around his waist is cinched in. Gritting his teeth, he twists his body weight, skates helping to turn him sharply as he yanks down and pulls at the stick, the blade catching at the Cajun's neck to pull him down face first into the ground with a slam.
Not something totally planned, but Brett'll be surprised at himself later when he has time to reflect.
Jayden hits the flooring and rolls away... then comes up, laughing. "Maybe this won' be fun... that all you got, kid?" The man rolls his shoulders, again, popping one back into place, and he glances at the kid, considering him for a moment. Those hazel eyes searching. Hockey players brawl a lot, that's for sure--but they rarely fight -with- the sticks... heh. Jayden assumes a proper fighting stance--a boxing one, from the waist up, but with a more open foot positioning... and then he moves in. Three punches are meant to loosen the kid's guard--hammering jabs, left left right, but then the real attack comes in just a second later.
The ex-Forcer moves in with each attack and when he's close enough, he snaps his right knee up, aiming to bury it into Brett's stomach, to power the impact into softer tissues.
COMBATSYS: Brett endures Jayden's Medium Kick.
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Brett 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Jayden
Settling in and turning toward Jayden after slamming him down with the stick, Brett drops down into a more familiar, hockey-like stance, stick held high with the left, low with the right, feet spread just a little wider than shoulder width. Eyes pierce and watch Jayden warily as the boxing stance comes up. Frowning, he backs up a little as the jabs come in, bringing his stick up just long enough to quickly drop his helmet on over his head with one hand, not even time to buckle it in.
No time, especially as the knee lifts up, trying to bury itself into his gut. Something that Brett can't quite stop...so he doesn't even try. The strike nearly doubles him over, bending him at the waist....but it doesn't keep him from fighting back. Stick gripped tightly even over bare hands, he snaps out with the top of the stick, trying to smash the blunt top of the stick into Jayden's face with a swing of his own fist. Even without room to build up speed and momentum, Brett can still hit pretty damn hard, after all.
COMBATSYS: Jayden fails to interrupt Power Strike from Brett with Flash Break.
- Power fail! -
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Brett 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Jayden
Kid's got some punch to him--Jayden'll admit that. Or he would, if he were so inclined... Jayden gets cracked in the head, twice, and though he doesn't go down, stumbling backwards, he does rub his head. "Fuck me, you kids hit hard, sometimes..." He shakes his head out and resumes his stance.
"But you don' be thinkin' y' won already, kid... fight ain't over 'til one o' us is down... an' maybe out." Really out. Still, he's a bit more wary now, or at least, for the moment, more defensive... but that's only natural. Pick your points, fight smart. Efficient.
Jayden tunes out the crowd--naturally, he is -not- the favorite, here... he just doesn't care about that.
Good hit, good feedback, as Brett cracks Jayden in the head with stick and fist and pushes the man back with room to breath now. And with the crowd more on his side than anything, he feels the momentum behind him. Something that always makes him a bit more...pumped and eager to make an impact.
He takes this quite literally too, as he breaches the distance left between him and the crass bar fighter, using his inlines to dash in quickly. As he gets in, an elbow flies up, trying to crack Jayden in the jaw as the junior hockey star turns a tight circle on his wheels, and immediately follows up with a hard, full body, full momentum charge straight into Jayden, shoulder down and aimed into the man's chest.
COMBATSYS: Jayden blocks Brett's Hurricane Check EX.
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Brett 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Jayden
Brett crashes in on Jayden, but he'll find the man ready; the impact is taken entirely on shoulders and arms, the ex-Forces soldier bracing his feet, absorbing the impact. It was a pretty good rush, he'll admit--but not good enough, maybe, as Jayden roars, shoving Brett back, lessening the impact and then beginning his own rush forward, keeping the Hockey player close at hand as he attempts to shove the man to the bar.
Impact with the bar will find Brett dealing with Jayden's left hand, wrapping around his neck--and Jayden's right fist pounding into his stomach, twice, before leaping forward, away from the bar, to bulldog Brett's face into the ground. It's not quite a 'clean' technique, but it -is- pretty street-fighting...
COMBATSYS: Brett fails to interrupt Combo Grapple from Jayden with Red Sabre.
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Brett 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Jayden
Well, that wasn't good news. The check was usually good about bringing people down. So when It's stopped by Jayden's solid guard, Brett knows he's in trouble. Shoved back into the bar, he grits his teeth, helmet askew as he brings his stick up to the ready, watching the man in the leather jacket come forward with a body blow. Seeing this show before, the hockey kid quickly swings up, trying to cut across Jayden with a sudden slash of the stick blade, a cool blue glow across it....
Unfortunately, it ends just like it did before, with Brett doubled over with a hard shot to the gut, and his head suddenly forcibly faceplanted into the bartop. "NGHhghghh..." Stumbling away, clutching his face, he falls back against a pillar, trying to get his bearings after being scrambled like so with the air rushed out of his lungs.
Now -that's- more like it, isn't it? Jayden's grin turns a little more feral. Tables aren't turned yet, but they're on edge. Unfortunately for Brett, Jayden isn't the type to let up; he surges forward again, taking a very short hop forward, landing in front of the gasping teen. And he fires another short combination of punches, this time a quick left-right combination--left jab, setup for a short right uppercut.
Of course, if Brett gets out of the way, then Jayden'll be pounding the pillar instead, but he doesn't seem to be too worried about that, all told. Jayden might eventually feel some sympathy for the kid. But not yet. Probably not for a while, really--and he'll never feel remorse.
That's just the way he is, gnarled fists hissing, cutting the air as he punches at Brett. Kid's just a kid, but... you gotta learn early. Jayden did.
COMBATSYS: Brett blocks Jayden's Medium Punch.
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Brett 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Jayden
The punches end up meeting a raised stick and crossed arms, Brett holding the stick up along the mid-staff and using it to deaden the blow on his arms as he keeps his back supported by the pillar behind him. He may have been gasping, but he's not about to go down so quickly either. Eyes narrowing, Brett quickly shifts his grip on the stick again and pushes aside on the pillar to roll off to his left.
Not a random act of desperation to get out of the way either. No...moving left means he has his right side directed at Jayden. Which is good, considering the way he swings his stick, right side low and near the stick blade as he snaps out an upward slash with his stick, up and forward to try and clip Jayden's chin.
COMBATSYS: Jayden interrupts Random Strike from Brett with Sonic Smash.
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Brett 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Jayden
The ex-soldier is already moving, once Brett's attacking--the upswinging stick's arc cut off a little, raking along his side as he closes the distance. "Ain' got me yet, kid!" he thunders--his right fist flaring with that green-yellow-white sonic chi as he fires a hooking punch right into Brett's ribs. That energy explodes out of his fist, into Brett's body--and if Brett knows anything about Special Forces, he'll recognize that chi signature...
Only, the energy seems to reverberate within his body, causing tremors, internal quakes... The impact might be enough to hurl Brett off his feet--at the least, it'll knock the kid away some, giving him enough time to square up, resume his fighting stance.
That was...an interesting sensation.
While padding deadened the blow, it didn't by much, and the sonic reverberation from Jayden's fist easily penetrated the hockey padding around his upper ribs to rattle about within his innards, making him feel like a pinball was ricocheting inside of his stomach cavity. "HHHHHghhh..."
Realizing there's more to this guy than meets the eye, and that he's not going to be outdueling him with technique, Brett resolves to do his best to brute it out and finish the guy first, before things go on too long, and both he and the bar end up wrecked. Still feeling that high-charged buzzing inside of his body, the hockey kid does a complete flip over, one leg extended as he tries to kick out and slam the 'blade' of his skate into the other man's face, hoping he likes the taste of polyurethane backed by a 5-pound skate, in turn backed by just over 200lbs of centrifugal force.
COMBATSYS: Jayden blocks Brett's Falling Star EX.
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Brett 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1 Jayden
Like it? Probably not. That would be why he defends against it with his forearms--the blade slashing his forearms. Ouch. The impact is pretty good, too, but Jayden manages it--fading with the blow, lessening it... and then hopping backwards, creating some distance. His grin is... well. It's there, and still a little vicious.
"Y'like m' present, cher? It de gift dat keep on givin', non?" Speaking of that gift--Jayden has more of it, his right arm flaring with more of that sonic chi. Flaring brightly, as he reaches across his body, to his left, before ripping his right arm in a backhanded motion, leaving behind a streak of energy, and then punches forward through the streak, flaring it upwards and launching it, a spinning arc of pure chi energy.
"I know ye wan' it!!" he shouts, laughingly.
COMBATSYS: Brett endures Jayden's Sonic Scythe.
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Brett 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Jayden
Things just aren't looking good for Brett right now. Since the man brought out those weird sonic attacks, he's been having problems. He felt the rattle within him even as he landed from the skate drop. And when another surge of sonic energy flies toward him, he knows he has problems. Unfortunately, his method of problem solving has always been focused on one thing: moving forward. Even through adversity, move forward.
That's why he charges even dead on into the face of the sonic projectile. He feels the chi cut into him, sending even more rattling inside of his body...but it's no matter. He has to go in at this point, full stop. Keeping his momentum up despite feeling his body start to falter, he brings his stick up to drive across and try to level Jaydan with a vicious cross check into the same pillar he was held up against before.
COMBATSYS: Jayden fails to interrupt Crushing Strike from Brett with Blast Bomber.
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Brett 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Jayden
The cross check--this damn kid... Jayden's really getting pissed off. Kid keeps catching him off-guard; the soldier gets cross-checked into the pillar, his attempt to cut the kid's attack short--cut short itself. He slams into the pillar, shaking it, but he rolls away from it. Never show them how much you hurt. This has been a philsophy of his almost since he was born.
And so, despite the injury and pain--things he's well-used to from fighting... he stands as tall as he can, bringing his fists up. No words left for the kid, only a burning desire to bring the kid down. But can he manage it, in this state...? He can but try.
Damn, that didn't finish it...that makes for a rather large problem for Brett. He feels all that sonic energy threatening to burst inside of him. He has to finish things, post haste, otherwise.....
Groaning as he fels himself on the brink, he comes in fast, comes in hard, and spins in low, sweeping out with his stick like a spinning thresher, hoping to clip the other man at the least, and slam him aside with the circular swing of his stick as he barrels toward Jayden.
Even if he survives this...he knows he's gonna have another talk with the cops and a bit more damage to pay out of his pockets again...
COMBATSYS: Jayden fails to interrupt Ice Thrasher from Brett with Sonic Slash.
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Brett 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Jayden
COMBATSYS: Jayden can no longer fight.
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Brett 0/-------/----===|
Kid's persistent... too damn persistent. But his vengeance'll have to wait--Jayden's slowing down, and while he attempts to take the kid out... that spinning stick proves to get the better of him, taking one leg out, then slamming him into the bar. He grunts... and then turns. "Had fun, kid?" he says, straightening his jacket a little, glancing around at the wreckage of the cafe. "Wasn't bad fun for me. Might have t' do dis again," he says, casually, digging some more money out of his pocket, tossing it at one of the waitresses.
And then he's walking out--Brett may have bested him, but he's not going to show it, not yet. He'll go collapse in his hotel room and nurse his wounds with alcohol. A good bourbon, of course....
As he finishes spinning, Brett's forced to catch himself on a stool, to keep the world from spinning and the sonic energy inside of him from rattling even more. Panting, he glares at Jayden...until the Cajun gives, seemingly done and defeated by the skater. Eyes widen....and silently watch as the brutish, sonic-flinging man stumbles out as beat up as he is, seemingly appreciative of the brawl....
It's only until he's gone that Brett falls over, groaning in pain. He'd call the cops at this point, and offer money to pay for damages...if he wasn't busy just about passing out in pain. At least he has the luxury of doing it after the fact. He sure doesn't look like a winner here though...
COMBATSYS: Brett takes no action.
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Brett 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Brett has ended the fight here.
Log created on 21:02:54 05/01/2009 by Jayden, and last modified on 08:23:15 05/02/2009.