Description: Danger Danger (1989). The word "fighter" is often bandied about casually. But what makes a a person a fighter? When Elle meets Jiro again for the first time in ages, she seeks to find out and decides that if Jiro is anything to beleived, a fighter is comprised of two things: 1) Phenomenal Cosmic Power; 2) Soul Crushing Denseness.
It's been about a few days since the fight within the city of Southtown. Jiro had the displeasure of meeting with Igniz and the gang. Unfortunately, as valiant as they had fought, Jiro and the gang did not do too hot. Thankfully, Jiro was tugged into the airship by Kagero.
Right now...? Jiro just needs a place to relax and vent.
Although he is still hunted by Interpol, Jiro has no intentions of remaining hidden in the underground. Instead, he'll wander around while keeping himslf on low profile.
This brings him to the harbor. This is where most of the more atrocities of acts occur. Yet, it is a little quiet right now. Wandering within the evening night, Jiro has his hood veiled on his head. Just the normal street clothes of a sleeveless jacket and some jeans. Nothing more.
He rests against the dock of the harbor, flipping out a harmonica from his pocket. Just to enjoy the salt watery atmosphere, he works on playing a tune from his harmonica.
Elle rarely has time to play a guitar anymore.
Between moving in the background and skulking around to assess the situation while trying to ressurect something that most consider long dead, there's just not enough hours in the day. Elle's time is valuable, and she spends every waking minute using it to her advantage. She only sleeps a little, and when she does, it's rarely restful.
Still, the skills are there. Deep inside her, there's a part of her that still remembers a happier time, when all that mattered was fresh strings and a good set.
Those times are gone now. Dead and buried. No sense revisiting them, or even think about them. Progress is the important thing. Relentless, soulless progress. Elle consumes almost everything in her path, draining every resource, ekeing every iota of utility from anything she getsher hands on. And still, that's not enough.
Still, the woman manages some respite. It's not certain how long she's been there, and it's hard to tell if she's been waiting, or if she approached quietly enough to mask her footsteps. But what's abundantly obvious is that she knows her way around a guitar, even if it's acoustic.
Liberated from the mall in her last trip there with Francois, the Hofner's not the most expensive, but it's rugged and reliable, and that's what counts. She plays a tune that follows Jiro's harmonica flawlessly, just based of of rote memory of a thousand fakebooks somewhere in the dark shadows cast by the warehouses.
After all, what's a harmonica without backup?
There is back-up to his music. Unexpected back-up as well. Normally, this would cause for alarm and distrust to show up. Likely violence as well. Violence is Jiro's strong suit, after all.
Instead? Jiro is going with the flow. He is pretty mellow at the moment. Without skipping a beat, Jiro continues to play the tune with the back-up behind him until the song slowly comes to an end.
Once silence fills the air, Jiro places the harmonica towards his pocket, then he turns to face Elle. He recognizes her as the person who took part of attacking his girlfriend along with Marise. Not only that, but the Interpol file had her as the likely ringleader of the Blackjack organization. His eyebrow furrows for a moment, then he responds.
"...So what brings you out here? Planning to see where you fit in the war?"
So, Jiro's a bit spent on anger right now.
"Nah," is the reply. Elle's voice is cold and dry, as always. "I know where I fit."
And she's known for a long time. Ever since she got back into town and had that conversation with Rust, she's known exactly where she fits in this mess. Just a few more moves across the chessboard. But Jiro's hardly interested in that sort of thing, right? The machinations of a mercenary aren't for Jiro's ears. She instead chooses her words carefully.
"Actually, I'm here to make a deal," she intones, her voice inflectionless, almost mechanical as she strolls forward, slinging the instrument under her arm. "What if I told you that I could help you get rid of that charge on your head? I could do it two ways, depending on if you want revenge or not. Either way, when I'm done, your name would be clean as a whistle."
She pauses a few meters away from Jiro, looking the boy straight in the eye. "All I need from you's a little favor. And it's not even something you'd be against. I just need to make sure you'd be up to it. That's all."
At her answer, Jiro actually shrugs. Well, if she knows where she fits, then cool. Now, the one thing that makes him curious is, why is she coming after him? All considering the situation, their last meeting ended in a clashing. While holding a grudge about the attack on his girlfriend is tempting. In the end, it is pointless. That was too long ago. Hotaru has grown since then. Things have changed.
Now, his eyes shift towards the woman when she offers him a deal. Turning to face her, he blinks. "Hrm?" The young man considers, "What are the methods and what's the favor? You don't need to be detailed, I just want to know what I will be getting into." He lifts his head up, "...I'm not exactly alone anymore."
A feral grin comes up, "And I don't mean my strays." The grin fades, and he shifts his body over to face Elle. "The offer's tempting, really." His expression turns serious, "However, I am careful on my choices now, especially it will affect some others."
"Smart," she replies. "The old Jiro would have shouted some nonsense at me, then tried to punch me." Elle acknowledges that the boy's grown. After all, Jiro has changed a lot. She's watched him grow slowly by viewing videos. All those SNF and Neo League appearances don't pass Elle lightly. Someone's watching them, and Elle happens to be one of them.
"So, if you just want the bullet points, I can do that."
She srolls her shoulders as she takes a deep breath, recalling what this is supposed to go like. "Method one's easy. You might know about this sort of thing from working at Interpol. It's called a 'cleaner'. I have people that can go in, fix records, find 'evidence' and repair your good name in a matter of weeks. It's not particularly legal or moral, but neither is what you've been through. I know you say you're not alone, but..." She pauses a moment, choosing her words carefully, then deciding that the words she chose aren't really worth it. "Look. Nobody else's come to your defense here. You just look bad and you're looking worse each day. It's an easy out and you get to go back home, and maybe if Interpol's feeling lenient, they'll let you back on the force."
"Or," she continues, shifting her weight to one foot as she reaches into her pocket for yet another lollipop. Got to be the fifth one today, what with all the stress. "I can stage your death, send it into Interpol. Everyone thinks you're dead. I take you to a doc-in-the-box, do a little plastic surgery, and boom. New life, nobody knows who the hell you are, and you can start breaking heads."
The lollipop immediately meets her back teeth, crunching it into a fine purple flavored powder. "I can work on a third option, but that'd take time that we just don't have right now. The price is pretty simple. I'm going to go talk to Hotaru soon. Little bird told me she's managing a refugee camp on the outskirts of town. I'm getting together some intel. I need you to be available when I call for you. Just this once. It'll help clean the town, and then you can go back to screaming bullshit and punching at my face."
She turns to look at him, spitting out the lollipop stick. "Sound good?"
"...It's no point holding a grudge that was done so long ago." Jiro lifts his head up, "...Hotaru has grown."He smirks, "Now, what kind of person would I be if I have not progressed as well?" The young man shakes his head. THen, he lifts an eyebrow.
The methods catch Jiro's attention. The cleaner. Wiping his record clean and without any mess. This is quite interesting. That is a very tempting method. It is clean and effective. The young man thinks on the method, especially if it's an easy out. Being back in Interpol.
Then, there is the other method. That is when Jiro focuses on her a little more. Faking his death. That would mean no seeing Hotaru as himself, Mimiru as himself. ...The young man considers for a moment. He lowers his head, thinking.
And the price? Well. Hotaru and a refugee camp? Hrm... Betray Hotaru.
That is when his head lifts up, "...I think I will pass on the offer." Jiro considers, "Interpol, for the most part, cramped my style. No point in going back to a group that didn't even like me in the first place." He snorts. "...Two, that's something I wouldn't do to Hotaru." He considers, "Three, as I mentioned. I am not alone. Even if I am hunted, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop what I am doing. Maybe there will be a way, maybe there won't. If I damned, I'm damned. However, I will at least make a few organizations pay."
Very few things make Elle upset.
She's handled betrayal. She's handled full frontal assaults from hideous odds. She's fought in the dark, in the bowels of a ship wile surrounded by unholy light. She's fought monsters that could kill her with a tought, faced her worst nightmares from a horrible thing dredged from the bottom of Shadaloo's basement. She's met maniacs, murderers, conquers, and crooks of all shapes and sizes that have sought to con her, kill her, or coerce her.
And she's never been upset.
She's devoid of motion. Absolutely empty of nearly all human compassion or empathy. She may get annoyed, concerned, or exasperated, but nothing has made Elle upset for over five years.
Until now.
She stares silently at Jiro, and for the first time in nearly half a decade, she's rendered speechless. 'Here's your life back, in exchange for doing something you were going to try to do anyway, except with a possibility of considerably less dying.' 'No thanks, I'll try my luck on my own.' And that's what it sounds like to Elle.
Her mouth opens. Then it closes with a click. And slowly. Very, very slowly, she brings her thumb and forefinger to her head, and pinches the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes. She takes a deep breath. In. Then out.
Calm. Focus. Elle is under control. Always under control.
"You know what?" She says calmly, quietly almost. "That's cool. You do what you want to do, and when Hotaru and her crew get ground into paste when she doesn't have backup for the final attack? You get to live with it."
And with that, the woman turns on her heel sharply, walking back towards the warehouses.
There is that degree of distrust towards Elle. She has many motives for doing things. While Jiro doesn't exactly hold a grudge against her, her previous history doesn't indicate anything legitimate, after all. That is why Jiro had the feeling that whatever that intel was on, Jiro had assumed that he is needed to do something to sabotage her.
However, when she mentions about Hotaru and her crew getting grounded to paste, Jiro quickly shoots his attention towards Elle. Especially when she mentions about an attack coming her way. Back-up for Hotaru? Jiro finally snaps out.
"Hold it. On that one, I want the full scoop on." It looks like Jiro is finally listening. At the same time, he makes a mental note to speak to Adelheid about this situation as well.
The woman stops, turns, and tilts her head. And she laughs. It's not a healthy one, either. It's more of a laugh borne of pure incredulousness. And she smiles. She almost never smiles. It's not a healthy one, either. It's one of those smiles that seem to ask 'really?'
"Wait," she says, raising a hand to her face. You thought... you thought I was going to tell you about a possible raid on Hotaru? With a chance that you might say no, then tell /all/ your friends? So... so you actually thought that /I/ would drive halfway across this fucking shitstain of a town, risk getting my ass blown off, to tell you about a /raid/ on your /girlfriend's/ place that any /retard/ would know that you'd turn down? /Really/?"
She tosses her hands in the air. "Oh. My. God. You know what? I know you're not Feild Marshall fucking Rommel here, but don't you even see a LITTLE bit of a problem with that tactic? Hmm? Do you? A little bit? Maybe you don't sleep with Sun Tsu's 'Art of War' under your pillow, but I can tell you that there are TEN YEAR OLDS that know enough to NOT tell people about their secret club's secret club handshake."
Her arms drop to her sides, and she just stares at Jiro with complete and utter incredulousness.
"Un-fucking-beleiveable. When this is all over, we need to go to your homeworld, because I thought the Beatles where /high/ when they sang 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds', not giving me the coordinates to Planet Jiro."
She exhales harshly. Emotions take a lot out of her, and she's wasted her quota for the next ten months. Still, it's hard to erase the contempt that's crept up on her face in the form of the smallest sneer. That alone hurts her face, and yet it won't go away. "Look. Jackanape. Reeeeeeal simple. I am setting up something that will clean up this town. Period. Meaning /ALL/ the bad guys that are not me will /go away. Period. Hotaru will help. Period. I would, for some reason now lost to me, like your help. Period. Are you in?"
For the most part, Jiro's expression turns to face Elle with a scowl. As she berates him, his eyes shut for a moment, listening to her to allow the time to pass. In fact, Jiro lowers his head, folding both arms to listen to her release her contempt for his choices.
"Now, don't get me wrong." Pause. "I have gotten over my contempt for you for what you did long ago. No grudges on that." Then, he lifts his head up to snap his eyes open once more, "But given your track record of the past things that you have done and your record as the ringleader of Blackjack? Do you /REALLY/ fucking thing that I trust your intentions? I am willing to do this, especially if Hotaru is on the line. However, I am not alone on things anymore."
"Whatever your motivation is behind this... I suppose doesn't matter at this point. Common enemy, right?" His eyes narrow, "Just know that if there is some ultier motives behind this, I will break you into pieces." He shrugs, "At this point, I don't care if my record is clear or not. ...It would be nice. However, it doesn't matter. I have made a choice that I'll stick with."
He extends both of his hands up, stretching. "But for Hotaru. I'm in."
"Trust," intones the woman, "has never been an issue with me. When I say something, I'll do it. I don't have a problem following through with my promises. It's more along the lines of the fact that nobody else seems to understand that sometimes you have to keep more than one promise to more than one person."
She seems less intimidated by Jiro as she does tired by him, which may be just as well. Everyone keeps saying that. 'I am not alone anymore'. 'I have resources, too'. As far as Elle is concerned, friends only go so far as you can push them, and resources? Well, when you're talking to Elle, you'd better have an /awful/ lot of resources.
Nevertheless, she never discounts anything. Jiro's words are taken at relative face value, at least until she can do adequate fact checking. After all, Jiro doesn't have any reason to lie... and Elle strongly suspects the boy can't really lie to any extent that she couldn't call him on.
"Let me explain something to you. I've run guns, I've robbed people, I've bought, sold, and manufactured drugs. And the people I've worked with? They've done things to entire countries that would make you weep just hearing about half of it."
Weary eyes look out at Jiro behind glasse,s her rasping voice little more than a croak. The kid just seems to drain her somehow. Maybe it's his youthful enthusiams bursting out of every movement he makes wearing away at her jaded demeanor, but for some reason, just looking at him makes her feel so tired. "But I've never lied about my intentions. You can call me a madwoman, murderer or mugger, but I'm no liar."
"And if you want to know what my motives are?" She asks, shaking her head. "I owe Hotaru. That's all. And I'll probably end up owing that miserable kewpie doll again before this is done."
Grunt. The eyes keep watch of Elle. Both of his arms remain folded while he listens to her statement. Someone who actually follows through with them, huh? Jiro gives an incredelous look. Yet, when she explains of herself, Jiro decides to relunctantly back down from his accusations. Though...
"...Weeping's not my thing, sorry."
Yet, he finally decides to nod. "Alright. You've sold me." His posture is a bit relaxed, but it soon shifts to where he can finally move around again. "...I'll help out in this case." He lifts his head up, "...Besides, it would be nice to help out Hotaru anyway that she needs it."
Finally, the kid says something that makes some level of sense. Elle will never get Jiro's weird, almost crippling obsession with being a hero, but she can understand the end result of it and use it to it's most devestating effect. "Great. I'll make sure you can get in touch with me, and vice versa. The whole point of this exercise is to make sure that everyone's on the same page."
She unshoulders the guitar, and leans it on the dock railing. "Now, as I understand it, you're more of a 'lone hero' sort. That means you're probably /not/ used to taking real orders. But I'm going to need you to stick to plan, alright?" She takes off her glasses, putting them into her pocket, her ruined right eye's pupil widening slightly, allowing her to get a clearer look at the boy.
"So humor me here. Every time I've encountered you, it's been with a bunch of other people. I've never discounted the fact that you're strong, and there's no shortage of footage of you on television. I know how you fight."
"But," she says, looking over Jiro once from head to toe with a simple nod of her head. "I've never had to coordinate with a 'professional fighter'. Just mercenaries. Gonna ask you to humor me a little and show me what you're made of in person. Feeling up to that?"
Becoming a hero? Not so much. Doing what is right? Even if it is on his own terms? Yes. Heroes are those of glory. Jiro seeks not that. He may be hated, he may be despised. He may be hunted. But Jiro will do what is right. Why? Those reasons are known only to him.
The young man lifts an eyebrow for a moment, "...Yeah, I suppose you can say that I am still having a hard time taking orders." Take Adelheid for example, damn bastard treated him like a foot soldier. Grumblegrumble. The young man looks at Elle, "...Alright. I'll keep to the plan then."
Humor her? Jiro quirks an eyebrow as she mentions his fights. "...Heh." This is something that Jiro needed. He needs to get better. A fight. That is something he desired. A feral grin slowly turns up as both hands draw up. Opening the palm of the left arm, the right fist slams into the palm with a smack.
"...Alright." Both arms lift up as h takes a guarding stance. "I'll humor you." As both arms are held up in a guarding motion, Jiro takes a few breaths and he grunts, "Ready."
COMBATSYS: Jiro has started a fight here.
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Jiro 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Elle has joined the fight here.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Jiro
Jiro's fighting style could be best described as 'instinctual', at least to Elle. The boy has power, lots of it, and he flails it around like he was swinging a fully laden cement mixer. Elle, on the other hand... well. She likes to think that sshe has a considerable amount of power, but she honestly never tests it against professional fighters.
This is really a rare chance to try it without concern of severe repercussion.
From what she knows, the boy is a lot stronger than she is, and will likely be able to overpower her quickly if she doesn't manage things just so. Still, there's something to be said for tactical thought on an ongoing basis. So it'll be a contest to see if her mind can keep up with Jiro's power long enough to at least put up a good showing for herself.
It's important in more than just a few ways.
She lowers her arms, and as she does so, the sound of metal on metal can be heard as what looks like three inch metal links slide from her left sleeve. It's a chain whip, a flexible weapon that Elle can use to grab, strike, or throw.
Then, without so much as a 'Are you ready?', she's charging forward. With a wide sweep of her arm, she whirls the weapon around, the metal length already crackling wiith power as she swings the segmented weapon low to wrap it around his ankles and jerk her arm back, attempting to send Jiro to the ground with a painful jolt of power.
COMBATSYS: Elle successfully hits Jiro with Medium Throw.
- Power hit! -
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Elle 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Jiro
When the chainwhip is finally released into view, Jiro notes it with wariness, keeping in mind on dealing with the flexible weapon. He'll have to figure out a way to combat the strange tool. Yet, when she finally charges forward, Jiro is already ready to move.
Unfortunately, while he tries to spring into action by taking off ground, his foot is quickly snagged by the segmented weapon. Both eyes widen in surprise. The chainwhip actually tugs against the ankle and he is sent dropping towards the ground. The landing causes a violent thud, cracking the ground beneath him. It doesn't help that his body is getting the shock treatment from the voltage. "Egggnnn!"
Gritting his teeth, Jiro slowly trudges back up to his feet. "Che..." He grits his teeth, then he sprints towards Elle. He aims to draw his right foot across her cheek, and then he twists forward so that he can spin out with the hook kick from the left leg across her head.
COMBATSYS: Jiro successfully hits Elle with Medium Kick.
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Elle 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Jiro
Let's face it. Getting kicked in the head is never fun. But the thing that's always surprising to Elle is just how many people try to target the head. As critical as it is, it's rarely the best target.
Nevertheless, it's clear that Jiro's capable of landing a clean hit, and the kick batters her across the temple, her head snapping to the side in what looks like an extremely painful hit. Stars explode in her eyes for a second or two, bit it's only for a moment. The fact remains that it's still early, and Elle hasn't used hardly all her tricks yet.
Case in point.
The whip slides away into her sleeve with a quick motion, and with another gesture, twin swords pop out. But not just any kind of swords. Ji Zhua Lian, colloquially known as 'chicken sickles', but best described as 'really horrifying looking hook swords' are grasped tightly in her hands. While some practitioners would give them a showy little whirl, Elle does no such thing. The blades seem to hum to life, blurring as she runs a sonic chi resonace through them, and she comes in slashing.
Of course, the weapon's not truly meant to cut as it is to gouge in like a meathook, catching muscle or bone as she sweeps it across his chest and tries to fling him to the ground.
COMBATSYS: Elle successfully hits Jiro with Aces High.
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Elle 0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1 Jiro
Recovering from the double kick, Jiro quickly springs himself back, keeping a good eye out for Elle when she soon brings the whipback into her sleeves. She has a strange assortment of weapons. Interesting.
Nevertheless, Jiro will have to keep doing what he is doing. Now, when she pulls out those hook swords, Jiro grimaces and he snarls, "Tsch... won't let those things get me.." He lunges forward, aiming to use the arm to actually use the gauntlet to guard against the weapon's hook. However, it gets through his defenses and penetrates the skin. As it sinks into Jiro, the young man gives off a growl as blood escapes and then he is held and flung to the ground.
Along the way, the muscle is being torn by the blade as it snakes through. Gritting his teeth, Jiro's fists tighten and then he gathers the force of chi in his grasp. He decides to launch himself towards Elle, aiming to bring the right fist out towards the ground.
As the knuckle grinds against the groud, the chi manifests as an explosion of flames. He seeks to drill the fist through her gut and then bring the fist upward in an uppercut against her chin, "Graaaah!"
COMBATSYS: Jiro successfully hits Elle with Burning Hell.
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Elle 1/------=/=======|=======\====---\1 Jiro
Thankfully, Elle's no stranger to getting bashed about. Pain's an inevitable part of her job, as miserable as it may be. Still, it doesn't mean she particularly /likes/ it. It's just part of the gig.
Still, it doesn't always prepare her for the sheer amount of destruction she has to face. The attacks Jiro weilds are... well, let's face it. Punches, with massive chi? They're a little crude, but incredibly effective. It would stand to reason that you just don't have to do a whole lot of fine tuning when you just have a lot of raw power at your disposal.
The hit strikes her clean, her arms coming up a fraction too late. The fist smashes clean into her stomach, the icy tendrils of pain arcing through her like cold fingers exploding from her gut before the fire overwhelms that and the world once again explodes into stars as the hit crashes into her chin.
Elle backpedals. That was extraordinarily unpleasant, and it's taking everything she can not to simply fall over. But she manages to keep herself upright. Her mind is still working on overdrive, however. There's something she remembers.
But first?
Time to buy herself some time. One of the hook swords snaps back into her sleeve as the now free hand reaches down to her belt, and flings something bright and shiny outward. What is it?
It's a concussion grenade powered by Elle's own signature chi. The shining canister whips through the air, tumbling like tossed soda can before it lands at Jiro's feet. If he gets caught in the explosion? The burst of light and gunshot-level sound will blow him off his feet and cause a short bout of deafness...
Hopefully long enough for Elle to make a plan.
COMBATSYS: Elle successfully hits Jiro with Metal Health.
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Elle 1/------=/=======|=======\=======\1 Jiro
Quite the explosion.
After thrusting his fist into the whole thing, Jiro grits his teeth and he swings his left arm upward, as if getting himself pumped up for the fight. "Come on! I am just getting started!" The eyes are lit up, the adrenaline pumping as he can feel the surge of energy taking over him. Now, when Elle switches weapons once again, Jiro is taking the moment to charge on ahead. He doesn't plan to let anything stop him.
With the grenade tossed his way, Jiro is planning to spring up into the air until----
---REJECTED!
The grenade goes off and a burst catches Jiro. The light sears against his form as the sonic blast strikes his eardrum. His body tumbles and he lands flat on his stomach. Slowly, he gets up to his feet. Trying to shake off the cobwebs, he realizes something: A giant ring is replacing his hearing. That tone. So steady. He cannot hear crap.
...Nevermind that. Jiro can still see.
The body suddenly lights up like an inferno as the scarlet blaze roar to life. The path of power surge in his grasp. Gritting his teeth, Jiro is racing himself towards Elle, moving faster than before. When he aims to close into the distance, Jiro springs himself towards Elle with his right fist out to catch her in an uppercut.
The left hand is winding back, channeling for the scarlet flames to manifest.
COMBATSYS: Jiro successfully hits Elle with Scarlet Slaughter.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Elle 1/=======/=======|======-\-------\0 Jiro
When the first strike launches Elle off-balance and a few inches off of the ground, the left fist is winded and gathering the scarlet chi. When he tightens his stance, Jiro releases a guttal roar before he drives his left foot forward to go along with that punch. "SSSSSSSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"
As the fist drives towards Elle, the impact will result in a devastating explosion. Along with a sonic boom, the burst of scarlet flames ravages along Elle's form as his strength is projected to send Elle flying.
And fly she does.
Has Elle had worse?
Yes.
But that was /only/ because she stood in front of Vega and /asked/ him to hit her with Final Psycho Crusher.
The attacks prior to the explosion? Who even cares about those. Elle doesn't even register any of that after the's sent flying through the air like a rag doll, the chi firing through her form like an atomic explosion. Apparently she can only manage to steel herself against some of the effects, and that's /still/ not enough. Up until now, the score has been steady, but Jiro's rapidly pulled away like a racehorse hitting his stride.
She crashes against the railing, smashing through it, through a small snack shack. It hurts, and there's no denying it. The woman can barely see at this point, her body still coming to grips with the amount of damage that did. It's mostly physical impact and chi... these are things Elle can heal from quickly. Fighters heal fast, but left to her own devices, Elle's ability to recuperate's almost freakish. Her own power demands she live... it's one of the things that she seems to be both blessed and cursed with.
She's tenacious, though. She refuses to give in. Woozy steps carry her forward, and a clumsy run is initiated, slowly gaining equlibrium as she goes. Elle's found a weak spot, and she's zeroing in on where exactly it is she needs to strike.
She lunges the last final steps, her hand outstretched. And then she fires what could only be called a mace head from her hand. The spiked ball on a chain whirls outward as she once again sweeps the weapon in a wide arc, sending the ball and chain to smash and entangle Jiro with a sonic explosion, meant to drive him to the ground in a single blow.
COMBATSYS: Elle successfully hits Jiro with Black Sabbath.
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Elle 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Jiro
Raw Power...
That is what Jiro is good at. As refined as it has gotten compared to long ago, it is still somehow rough. But, perhaps that is Jiro's strong points. It is Jiro's characteristic. Not everyone is born to be a sharp sword to cleave things like butter. Some are made to utterly break everything until it crumbles, akin to a wrecking ball to a building.
As the wrecking ball manages to break into his opponent, Jiro has a grin on his face. "...Heh..." He grits his teeth, then he sprints over towards the woman when she finally releases the mace head from her hand.
He tries to move his body away from the arcing weapon. However, the ball and chain immediately entangles Jiro in its grasp. And then, the sonic explosion buries him into the very soil of the ground itself. Torn against the ravaging ground, Jiro releases a hiss before he is left with an imprint of himself.
...Slowly, Jiro is getting back to his feet, looking extremely roughed up. He staggers at Elle, hissing once before he takes a few more steps her way. Deep breath... Deep breath.
He aims to thrust his right leg towards her stomach for a set up.
COMBATSYS: Elle dodges Jiro's Dead End.
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Elle 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Jiro
Christ, all this kid seems to want to do is hit her in the face or kick her in the stomach. What's more, nothing seems to be able to put this guy down!
Too bad he's a 'good guy'. Elle just lost her feral insane person. But no time to mull over that right now. Elle has bigger fish to fry.
Quite literally, in fact.
The foot launches out like a cannonball. It tears through the air, giving Elle practically zero time to react to anything. In all good sense? She shouldn't be able to avoid it. Not at all. Period.
Tossing all faith into random chance, since she doesn't beleive in God outside of the fact that he's great to use as a curse, she tosses herself to the side. It's a brute force application of 'dodge', and she more or less has on pure luck that the attackmisses her completely.
But she doesn't stop capitalizing.
The snap of two objects popping into her hands (is there nothing that's not up her sleeves?) announces the appearance of two of the supreme culminations of her extensive work and research. The Sig Saur P220 is a serviceable and excellent at what it does. And what it does is shoot packages of pre-stored chi. The tiny electrical bursts rip forth from the twin barrels as she dives, her fingers twitching off a storm of bright blue suns that arc towards Jiro. If they hit? They'll go off in a dazzling display of electrical power and concussive force.
COMBATSYS: Jiro dodges Elle's ACDC.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Elle 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Jiro
Well, Elle did refer to him as Hotaru's 'Rampaging Mutant Boyfriend' and 'Kid Vicious'. Jiro is good on those names that he has been called. It is hard to take him down, in fact. The young man's foot is sent launching along the air until it hits the ground. As the foot strikes the ground, Jiro turns around to catch the two objects popping from her hands. As those electrical bursts shoot at the young man's way, Jiro is quick to take a leap into the air, spinning around like a top. The electrical 'bullet' grazes along his hair while the other grazes along the arm. Yet, he continues to spin as he moves away from the projectiles.
...It's almost like the Matrix.
Landing on his feet, Jiro finally manifests the scarlet flames, and then he launches his right arm upward, releasing a wave of a scarlet blade to fly towards Elle.
COMBATSYS: Jiro successfully hits Elle with Balefire.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\ < > /////// ]
Elle 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Jiro
And then Elle's luck runs dry.
It should have been easy enough to block the attack stop the incoming fury and deflect it, but at this point Elle's living on half a prayer and a few stumbling steps. As good as she's managed to be, she simply can't take down someone that's trained harder, longer, and better than her against a wide variety of foes. Watching all the footage can only give Elle so much of a foothold...
But with the life she leads, she can't afford to do this often. So she takes the opportunity she can.
She lands in a crouch after her diving shots, only to find that Jiro dodged everything, leaving her extremely vulnerable. Her head tells her to move, but her body just won't, and she's hammered clean by the firey blast. Elle is sent to the ground with a crash, hands still clutching the pistols, which seem to be rigged to her wrists by some very fancy gauntlets.
And that gives her just enough of an angle to toss out one final desperate shot.
The gun withdraws, and her hand whips down to snatch yet another concussion grenade from her belt. With a sharp toss, Elle flings the weapon at Jiro, hoping to catch the boy off guard one more time before yeilding... she just can't fight any further. Not without severely injuring herself, anyway.
COMBATSYS: Elle can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\ <
Jiro 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Elle successfully hits Jiro with Metal Health.
Glancing Blow
[ \\\\\ <
Jiro 0/-------/--=====|
After drawing the chi forth, Jiro watches the switch of the weaponry. Great. That grenade again. This time, Jiro is already prepared to deal with it. When the grenade is tossed his way, he doesn't run into its path. This time, he is springing himself back and rolling away. However, when the explosion ignites, he is caught by the fragments and the sonic echo rings in his ear once more.
"...Shit..."
Nevertheless, Jiro brings a hand towards the ground, using it to lift him back to his feet. He looks a bit out of it, needless to say. His clothes are torn and he looks scratched up. He laughs, "...It's been a while since I had a good match like that!"
Oh, boy. He can't hear himself. Crap.
Elle isn't good enough.
But she's not disappointed in herself. Jiro is a trained fighter, a veteran of countless battles. Elle is... well, Elle's a mercenary commander. She fights only if she has to, using tactics and superior firepower to tear down her enemy. As a result, the fact that she went toe to toe with Jiro after being sorely out of practice?
Well, it's a god damned miracle in her book that she didn't just get obliterated.
She rolls over to her stomach, and her hands push her up off the ground. A hand touches her ribs gingerly. Yeah. Cracked. Jaw's going to be hurting for a while, and her stomach's going to be a massive bruise of purple. Jiro landed nearly every hit on her. Granted, she basically returned the favor, but he hit a hell of a lot harder than she hit him.
Still, all the pain will go away tomorrow. It'll leave bruises and scars, but really, what doesn't? Elle's body is a mass of them, given the fact that when she does fight, she's usually evenly matched or fighting with teammates against far superior foes.
Then the boy laughs. /That's/ the one thing Elle never can get. Why is that fun? The fact that she did nearly everything she could short of popping a bullet into his brain, and he thinks it's a good time? The psychology of fighters is something she never fully grasps, but she knows enough to not say anything negative. If the kid enjoyed the battle? Let him enjoy it. After all, she's 'pleased', so why shouldn't he be happy? Given her current inability to even smile, isn't that the same thing?
Questions she'd never have asked until recently.
"Yeah," she says hoarsely. It hurts to breathe. Her lungs feel like their burning, and for the first time in a long time, she wishes she had a smoke just to ease the horrible state her lungs are in. "Good fight. Like I said... not like the 'bad guys' you're used to."
She lets out a ratcheting cough, spitting a wad of something unpleasant on the ground. "Y'see? 'M not so bad... just have my own way of getting things done. Don't gotta like it. Don't expect you to. But m'not..." Another cough, "M'not Kain, right?"
Jiro's psychological pattern works in strange ways. Yet, after going through the pains of battle and other matters far worse, Jiro finds the challenge a good time. Jiro has long needed a good fight that was not involving dealing with the loss of a friend in battle or with lives at stake. To him, a batte that had no risk of killing people or innocent lives in danger is a good thing for Jiro.
His head lifts up, looking towards Elle when she finally speaks out to him. "...Yeah." He grimaces. Vega, Igniz... His head lowers a bit, then he looks over at Elle once more. "Right." He lifts his head up. "...Yeah, you're not Kain... that's a good thing." A smile draws forth, "...I'm definitely in. I won't let Hotaru and the others suffer. Too much shit has gone down, especially with NESTS, Shadaloo, and others running loose."
Good. She doesn't say that, but she nods, which is good enough. The kid's on board, and now it's time to take her leave. "Just stay... prepared," she says, still trying to recover from the beating she just took. "I'll get a hold of you when I need to get you up to speed with the plans. Keep in contact with your friends. They're your strongest asset right now."
"Work together on this. There's no time for squabbling," she says, moving slowly so as to not exascerbate any of the injuries. "And no arguments. I'm not looking to have you killed: we have a deal. So when I give the orders? Make sure they get done, no hesitation, no complaining. I know what I'm doing, so you're just going to have to trust me from here on out. When this is all over? I can't really say I give two shits if you go back to hating me."
She pauses.
"In fact, it'd probably be healthier for you if you did. Talk to you later, Jiro. If you luck holds out, we'll end this and you won't have to see my face again." And with that, she moves towards the truck she has parked down the street to drive to her safehouse, plan, and rest.
Elle's always busy, after all.
Sigh. Work together. He'll likely get ordered around by Adelheid again, knowing that bastard. Oh well. Jiro lifts his head up, looking at the sky. It's a nice time, after all. It finally settles for the young man to turn his head away. Jiro turns around and he begins walking off towards the dock.
He stops, however, when he hears her. "...Alright. Fair enough." Just take orders. No complaining. Easier said than done, but Jiro will just stick through it like he did when he was Interpol. When she mentions about the suggestion that it'd be healthier for him if he did hate her, he laughs. "I'll keep that in mind." When he faces Elle, Jiro waves a hand to see her off.
When she takes off to the truck, Jiro moves towards the end of the dock, pulling out his harmonica.
..Back to his solo.
Log created on 22:57:44 05/04/2009 by Elle, and last modified on 01:14:37 05/09/2009.