Description: The problem with being a distraction is that sometimes you can be a bit /too/ good at it. Hotaru and Kentou's attempt to divert base defenses escalates as the leader of SIN himself, the enigmate Seth steps out to deal with the problem. Fortunately, the two aren't left to their own devices to survive as help arrives from two completely unexpected sources - The myserious leader of G-Project, Urien, and the wanderer, Ryu.
Given the global condition of Southtown in recent weeks, it would be hard to find any one location that looked worse than another. War torn buildings, shattered streets, fields of debris where stores once stood were a common sight in the once grand city. Which is why when Hotaru first set sight on what used to be the park, she was surpised to find that one location could look even worse. It looked like a front line in a war movie. Fences, barbed wire, trenches replace trees, grass, ponds, and playgrounds. A perpetual haze of smoke mingled with the scent of something dead lingered in the air and taking it in for the first time shocked the girl.
The base looked uninviting. Shaped like a flattened spider, there was a central domed hub surrounded by six 'legs' extending out - likely bunkers housing the forces of the invasion. Scientists, soldiers, intellience officers, and more. And today, that base was a target of not one but several groups acting in a coordinated fashion.
Alma lead one group straight into the large, square warehouse looking building on the Eastern side of the base, intending to distract forces and pull attention away from the center. Hotaru had only her student at her side but the two of them were only to provide distractions on the outskirts rather than risk entering any of the buildings, hoping to pull troop attention away from the main hub where a certain white haired, bitter mercenary woman would be leading a bold, perhaps suicidal group into the core.
Besides, Hotaru had one other card to play thanks to negociations with a terrorist ninja of all people. "Remember," she had emphasized to Kentou as she stood looking over the vehicle depot that was to be their target. "We're just here to keep them distracted long enough for the others to deal with the base." Both she and Kentou were weighed down with heavy duffle bags. Elle assured her that the explosives were so safe and easy, a five year old could use them. Hotaru was still worried that they were going to blow themselves up. The girl also had a certain scroll resting against her shoulder, propped up in her right hand. Insurance. Dressed in black pants and a black, comfortable fitting Chinese styled blouse, she hardly looks a soldier. But when war came to Southtown, every fighter had the choice to become a soldier or get packing. It's clear the choice the two chose.
That was fifteen minutes ago.
Right now? The duffle bags are a lot lighter as the girl had meticulously gone from work trucks, parked tanks, troop transports, and other targets of opportunity and affixed small plastic explosive packs to each of them. She wouldn't let Kentou do the setting. It was bad enough needing his help carrying the stuff, let alone actually applying it. The explosives set, the detonator pressed, and the vehicle lot has turned into a hellstorm of flames, smoke, and smoldering sharpnel. To say that got their attention is to put it mildly.
Like kicking in the side of a beehive, the attack on the vehicle depot drew troops out in mass, away from the Eastern side of the base where the other teams would be making their incursions. Most of the invasion force was further in the city surrounding a certain noteworthy tower in a final bid to unseat the King of Southtown himself. But there were still plenty at the base to be more than Hotaru and Kentou could handle on their own.
Which is why upon swarming the vehicle lot, the troops were introduced to something more than the two Kung-Fu kids. A hulking metal contraption of ninja science and chi manipulation that looks oddly enough like a panda was the main force to engage the soldiers. Ten or so feet tall and swinging around a sword the size of a full grown man, the metallic hulk seemed to be standing its own against the confused soldiers, taking untold amounts of gunfire and still pushing forward, occupying the majority of the troop attention.
A bewildering sight to be certain. Hotaru and Kentou were free to move about, navigating around the burning wreckage, knocking out soldiers who seperated from others in the confusion, while the rest contended with the metallic beast that was being slowed down only by the concentrated efforts of a dozen or so men. Anxiously, the girl glanced up from another soldier she managed to drop with a swift, stunning strike, keeping Kentou close at her side no matter what. "We shouldn't have to stay here much longer," she expresses to her student hopefully as a plume of smoke brushes over the two of them. The automaton's rage will only carry it so long before it will fall under a curtain of gunfire. By then, hopefully, the others will have conquored the base.
It was beautiful once.
How profoundly this war has scarred Kentou's home town has never really struck the boy until now. Not until he pauses at the periphery of the Southtown Park. The heavy dufflebag of incendiary aggression slumping to his feet as mousy eyes stare out over the grotesque machinery with heartbreak.
How many times in the past had he snuck through the park to slip into Seijyun not far from here? How many hours has he trained here. He fought Zaki just over there once ... It was a good fight. It always struck him just how pretty this landscape managed to be, even with all the gang violence ugliness that has plagued the town since long before he was born.
Now? Its a ruin. The tortured Earth twisted into an alien thing by evil men for .... Kentou doesn't even know why. For all the weeks this town has been under siege, Kentou still has no idea why any of this is happening. What rational could these people possibly have for this?
All Kentou knows ... Is that he's going to help put a stop to it. For all the pain and anguish this has caused his mentors and friends, the boy will see this through. Though Hotaru nearly insisted on him joining the refugees in the Seijyun sanctuary, Kentou would hear none of it. Every time Kentou has ever left Hotaru's side, all manner of disaster had befallen her. From kidnapping to brutality to worse.
Not again. Never again. This time, if they want to do anything to his sensei ... They'll have to kill him first.
The grip upon the bag of explosives tightens as Hotaru reiterates the plan. Nodding firmly, the boy responds with a simple, "Hai." As ever. With a singular glaring exception, Kentou unfailingly obeys her without question or hesitation.
Well... Maybe a little hesitation.
Kentou can understand the necessity of destroying these war machines but he can't help but fear the possibility of someone getting really hurt. What if someone is out checking the vehicles when the bomb goes off? What if someone dies because of what they're doing? Can he really live with himself?
Kentou isn't a murderer. Even now, he refuses to let this war make him cross that line. But what if there's no other way?
Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it, he says to himself.
Unlike the more subtlety dressed Hotaru, Kentou wears his traditional fighting uniform. The faded saffron yellows and muddied dark browns not terribly glaring, but not exactly espionage-okay either. However, this is a matter of tradition. The Ondori Style demands its practitioner wear the school's colors when going into a fight. Besides .. Nobody ever sees the kid fighter coming. Don't they know how this works?
Fifteen minutes later.
"...Who brought the panda?" Kentou absolutely cannot keep himself from blurting while dangling from a grown man's shoulders, having put the soldier in a headlock while swiftly swatting yet another reinforcement away with a sweeping kick. The incongruity of the spectacle barely even parses ... But in the raw, impossible chaos that unfolds before him reality itself seems to take a backseat to the maniacal whimsy of flawless mayhem. In the aftermath of the gigantic explosion, for a solid minute Kentou couldn't help but stare with incredulity. Only when the soldiers swarmed forth from the besieged base did Kentou snap to attention. How long its been since he watched Hotaru throw the first kick, Kentou can't even say. Time itself shrunk to nothingness and stretches into infinity all at once. With gunfire and weapons he can't even describe leveled in their direction, the kenpo apprentice has been a whirlwind of motion. No thought. No hesitation.
It would be glorious if Kentou did not have a lingering pang of mortal dread lurking in his depths.
Kentou fights side by side with Hotaru, watching her back as she watches his. While the bulk of her training has been to contend against a single opponent, she has been sure to instruct him in teamwork tactics. After trained together for nearly a year to the day ... They are virtual mirrors of one another. Their synergy is flawless. They adapt to one another's strikes and movements seemingly before they commit to them. Together, they are formidable.
It is enough to make Kentou begin to think ... Maybe they can actually do this ...
"Oh my god, is that some sort of-- some sort of ROBOT PANDA--"
BOOM.
Decoys can be accomplished in a number of ways. Perhaps the easiest of them is to make a scene -- to strike out with a presence that seems more dangerous than it truly is. A giant robotic panda rampaging through a now-loosely defended fortification of a waning invasion force is a succinct and remarkably effective way to draw that attention. Troops begin to pour in en masse, trained Shadaloo soldiers ordered out to engage what can only be described as mechanical fury on legs barreling at them as alarms blare throughout the base. Even those too cowardly to fight against a giant killer automaton come to simply stare at the awesome sight.
An effective distraction indeed.
But there is something to be said for a diversion being /too/ successful.
Gunfire sprays out wildly towards the massive automaton as soldiers are knocked through the air like limp sacks of potatoes, crashing unconscious far away as other men frantically reload. Reports of two children -- one easily identified as a former test subject of SIN's BLECE project -- begin to filter out throughout the facilities. The numbers of the troops begin to dwindle as they unload hot lead upon the rippling mass of panda metal before them. Hotaru and Kentou's mission seems all but fulfilled--
--and then there is a single spark of cold white light.
It all happens in an instant. As that panda swings forward to unleash a powerful swing of its right claw, a crescent moon slice of blindingly white energy slices through metal fibres and tubing with the sound reminiscent of a sonic boom going off. Metal screeches horribly as the limb falls to the ground... before another flash of light, another boom, and the panda finds itself without its left arm. Another, without its right leg. The machine collapses, still attempting to attack futiley--
--before, with the final booming announcement of power, its head hits the ground with the angry clatter of dead metal.
"How curious."
There is no way to sense the man's arrival before he speaks; white energy crackles around the stoney salmon skin of his arm as lifeless eyes look upward, staring directly at Hotaru Futaba. There is no way to sense him, but that void, that voice, that appearance -- Hotaru should know it all too well. The dispassionate stare of Seth levels upon Hotaru with all the fundamental apathy of a person who could barely be considered 'alive' -- with the appearance of something otherworldly than anything remotely human. His lips twitch, the only indicator of life before words escape them. "I have no more need of you; I have the test data I required from you. Yet here you are. Is it for a personal vendetta, that you have come here, bringing a companion to join you in your demise?" Seth's eyes close. Slowly, those troops begin to condense around him.
"How foolish."
Suddenly, the otherwordly-looking man disappears. Light consumes him as his feet lift from the ground, as if about to move into an attack... before there is absolutely nothing but the approaching soldiers.
"But it is the nature of humans that they must learn loss before learning wisdom."
The voice comes from directly behind -- not Hotaru... but Kentou. Light flares, and suddenly the stone-like form of Seth touches down directly behind the young boy, one leg lifted, bent at the knee. "If that is the case, then I shall teach you the lesson personally."
And the leg unloads like a piston blow, aiming to unload kick after kick in what would seem like a flash of lightning. Well over a dozen blows rain towards Kentou's vulnerable torso in the space of a single second, in a technique that is unmistakeably familiar to any who have seen it before -- the debilitatingly strong form of a woman desiring vengeance.
A fitting enough weapon to use.
COMBATSYS: Seth15 has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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Seth15 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Invader has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Seth15 0/-------/-------|
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Invader 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Seth15 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
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Invader 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kentou has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Seth15 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kentou
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Invader 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
There comes a time when a man has to seize his destiny.
For Urien, that moment had come and gone time and again in the past. From missed opportunities, to the day he finally seized what was rightfully his, to here, now, in the burning wreckage of Southtown. To think, he had come into this war with little, and he had thrown good money after bad, trying to scrape some dignity back to proceedings. The G-Project, after all, would not be denied SOME victory from this shambles. This madness that had claimed so MUCH of his funding.
His hand, however, moves in more than just this moment. It is now, though, that he stands ready. So rarely did he choose to place himself directly in the firing line with little way out if things went wrong, but, without his subordinates, sometimes, there are duties to be performed which must be performed alone. Sometimes, one must seize ones destiny by the throat.
In the shadow... of a giant robotic panda.
"Beating up children? How fitting that -THIS- is how I should find the latest cancer to gnaw at the heart of the world."
The voice /BOOMS/ over the area, quite where or how Urien has come from... is a mystery. What is not a mystery, is the fact that he is wearing a bright orange suit. A blue shirt underneath it. Today, he would crush this latest obstacle. The man who had been at the heart of so much trouble. The one even Urien knew so painfully little about. Today, here, in this chaos, Urien would strike a decisive blow against the old order, just one more stepping stone on his own path.
With a sudden flex, a corona of energy burns the suit from his form, Urien's skin darkening as raw power surges about him, summoning the full extent of his power in a matter of moments. The head of the G-Project raises his hands, striking up a powerful stance, as the aura of light continues to burn about his body. Soon left in nothing but that athletic thong, and eyes glowing with sheer power. Oh yes. No matter what may come of every other part of his Southtown operations. Here and now, there was only one thing which he cared about. A decisive show of his own strength.
COMBATSYS: Urien has joined the fight here in the center.
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Seth15 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Kentou
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Invader 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
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Urien 0|-------|------=
COMBATSYS: Urien enters a trance-like state.
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Seth15 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Kentou
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Invader 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
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Urien 0|-------|----===
When her home was attacked and Hotaru fought a desperate battle alongside Alma and Shurui, she couldn't be certain as to the possible loss of life in the battle. They fought for their lives there and the lives of those that had taken shelter. They were the defenders. Exercising undue caution out of fear of what might happen should a strike land too hard was not something that could be afforded.
Here, though, they are the aggressors. Attacking back, being proactive instead of constantly cornered throughout the city. This time there is room for precautions. While it goes unsaid, Hotaru was careful to watch for any patrols or technicians that would be dangerously close to the conflagration created by the explosives when everything goes to hell. Her strikes when the two ambush the troops are careful and controlled, intended to disable and crumble and nothing more. There is room here, in her mind, to preserve the line over which she would hope to lead Kentou.
"A gift from the Ryouhara," she answers at the question about the metallic beast drawing so much attention and gunfire. He would remember the name from the Jinchuu tournament if nothing else. Everyone would remember the name, just as the last of the dying clan had hoped. She hadn't explained it ahead of time what would happen because she frankly didn't know what the ninja terrorist had given her. The sight of the behemoth was only slightly less a surprise to her as it was the rest of the camp. She had seen Seishirou's automatons in action before. Just never on this scale. All she could decide was that the Hollywood 'magic' made life-like was to be expected of someone like him and ultimately be glad that it was fighting on /their/ side.
The two fight in unisen, covering each other's vulnerable angles with timely defense and counter strikes. Hotaru whirls, sweeping her leg over a ducking Kentou to take down another guard before jamming her elbow backward and leaving him able to pull a second guard's feet out from under him with a quick sweep. So far so good. They can only carry it on for so long though.
The metallic monster finally meets its match, however, as another arrives to deal with it in a manner the soldiers could not. The girl spares a glance as a tree-trunk thick arm crashes down, kicking up another small storm of cinders and ash in the process. She felt nothing, sensed nothing, but the sight that meets her eyes invokes a sinking sensation in her stomach. /Him/.
Sharp azure eyes meet his emotionless, dispassionate visage. It's as she remembered him. Without life, without spirit. Were it not for the way he seemed to be a living man, she would have believed him to be every bit the creation the obliterated panda was. Even that sword swinging, furious beast seemed to have more life to it than the enigma that addresses her. "We're taking our city back," she answers. This isn't about revenge - is it? For a fleeting second she wonders if perhaps it is. Maybe it is. Maybe insanity born of the need for vengeance spurred her into this course of madness. Maybe she does want him to hurt; to feel loss as he has made so many others feel.
Except in an instant she knows he would feel no such thing no matter the outcome. He vanishes and in his pragmatic, emotionless way, seeks to teach /her/ the very quintessence of loss in striking out for the young boy with a mirrored technique the girl knows all too well. The cry of 'NO!' doesn't even make it to her lips before the two young fighters are forced into action.
Urien's arrival only goes barely noticed as she springs into action. Is he friend or foe? Elle hinted at the possiblility of 'outside help' but the idea barely clicks as she's forced to spring to try and force Seth away from Kentou. Like a sprung coiled spring, she lunges forward, attempting to hook one of the man's arms with both of hers in the process of spinning behind him and kicking out one of his ankles such that his balance will fall and she'll be able to twist him backward, putting all of her body's muscles and forward momentum into the swift technique. "HAAH!"
COMBATSYS: Seth15 successfully hits Kentou with Hyakuretsu Kyaku.
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Seth15 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Kentou
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Invader 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
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Urien 0|-------|----===
So far so good. As the raging battle unfolds, it seems only that incredible panda is the only thing that occasionally breaks him from his zen-like trance of endless martial arts.
It may be the thing that saves his life.
For as Kentou shoulder-rushes yet another armed man twice his size to the ground, the loud sound of a gigantic metallic arm clattering to the floor breaks his concentration. Alert eyes darting up to the massive clattering just in time to notice something that again jars his senses.
A gigantic white statue in the shape of a man is looking at them.
For a heartbeat, time itself seems to stop. Kentou freezes like a deer caught in headlights, eyes squinting in confused wonder at this fantastic figure as he tries to make sense of what he's witnessing. Its talking to Hotaru? It knows Hotaru?
Need of you? Test data?
It sparks immediately. The fire alights behind those widening sepia eyes. THIS is the monster.
THIS is the thing that captured and tormented Hotaru, that crippled Frei. Maybe... Maybe behind all of this?
What more needs to be said?
Before Kentou can even begin to shift his stance to square with this unfathomable being .. It blinks out of existence.
Kentou looks left and right quickly, stretching out with his feelings. His searching becoming more frantic until that booming voice gives him the only warning he'll ever recieve.
"CRA-"
The boy has no time to retort or even scream. The boy spins about to be kicked more times in a single second than he usually is struck in an entire fight. His slender form is thrown through the air like a ragdoll, cartwheeling end over end as his senses are nearly struck from him.
Only nearly.
"HrrraAAAH!" With a kiai, the youth controls his ballistic descent. Twisting and regaining momentum with the adroit finesse of a gymnast. Landing on his feet and skidding to a halt amidst the piles of fallen soldiers. Fists clenching and sweeping to his sides abruptly, banishing the pain from his mind as his eyes glare at this enemy.
Hotaru has taught him well. Over-matched he may be, but he is far from a victim.
Urien's bombastic arrival catches Kentou's attention immediately. His own statuesque form nearly a mirror of this ivory creature .. And that bodes ill. Fighting two of them at once may well be suicide... But the boy will -not- leave Hotaru now. Not when his mentor engages the first on his behalf.
Time for Frei to give this pale freak some revenge!
"YOUDAN!" A sphere of emerald alights in Kentou's fist. Growing brightly as it expands while the boy channels his spiritual effort, forging it into a bomb of pure force. Quickly tossing the weapon directly upwards in a high, slow arc. Sailing through the air and giving Hotaru plenty of time to work her technique and move away..
Before Kentou spins and hurls a second, smaller dart of green power. Zipping through the air and striking the sphere hopefully a short distance from Seth's very high head and -exploding- with significant power.
"RENGEKI!"
Pegasus Ichiro says, "And yeah, I'd get the Arcade, since almost all Arcades have Jasper chipsets and then you can buy the 120 gig HD which you will need."
COMBATSYS: Seth15 blocks Hotaru's Combo Grapple.
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Seth15 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Kentou
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Invader 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
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Urien 0|-------|----===
COMBATSYS: Seth15 dodges Kentou's Youdan Rengeki.
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Seth15 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Kentou
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Invader 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
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Urien 0|-------|----===
"Hm," notes Seth dryly as his foot slowly lowers from the body flung ungracefully away from it. That orb at his center rotates like the waves of a calm ocean, faint signs of monochromatic power tinging his epicentre.
"Tenacious."
Bare feet drag across the dirt ridden ground as the bizarre man offers only a fleeting glance and nod to the remaining troops. If any of them were hesitant before, well -- the cost for fleeing from one of Shadaloo's executives is far more horrifying to them then the humiliation of having some bones broken by a couple of super-powered children. Guns are holstered, taking aim--
-- before Hotaru rushes off straight for Seth. "Your city?" The question is almost incredulous as Hotaru lunges forward, hooking around one large, cold arm without much in the way of resistance from the significantly larger man. She swings behind, lashes out with that foot, but by the time she makes impact? Fluid like water itself, almost ridiculously graceful for a man of his build, Seth suddenly flips /backward/, moving with the momentum of the assault and dispersing much of the force of Hotaru's blow. He whips through the air, /stamping/ into the ground with both feet; his ankle feels vaguely numb, but otherwise, he remains unharmed.
"Transient, finite things like 'cities' hold no interest to me. But if you are so foolish that you would come here for such a useless concept..." White energy begins to branch around his arm like vines as Seth tenses. "I suppose I will test the aftereffects of the BLECE before eliminating you entirely--"
But Seth is interrupted before he can even begin by a single, booming voice. It is unexpected, a fact brought about by the absolute pause of Seth's body as Urien speaks. Hairless brows furrow as solid eyes look upward, staring at the man in the distance. Familiar.
"... Deal with them," is Seth's only order to his men before the energy around his arm disperses. His response to Urien's arrival comes in the whip-like twisting of his body in a full one-hundred eighty degree turn to meet the man head on, arms whipping about in a wide arch, as if to strike Urien from so far away. It's a ridiculous notion.
Until his arms start to stretch.
Like silly putty, Seth's pale pinkish arms launch forward like a pair of undulating snakes, veering about to loop around Urien's neck, grip /tightly/... before /launching/ him groundwards, intent to drag the newcomer directly towards Seth across the hard concrete and dirt.
The soldiers, in the meantime, while hesitant at first, are quick to act, a pair /vaulting/ towards Hotaru. In perhaps a futile attempt, one soldier attempts to drive the butt of his gun into Hotaru's abdomen, while the other? Attempts to punch the girl right in the face. Simple, brutish.
But 'style' isn't the forte of soldiers.
COMBATSYS: Urien endures Seth15's Yoga Smash.
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Seth15 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Kentou
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Invader 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
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Urien 0|-------|=======
Urien makes no effort to avoid the attack. And perhaps he pays a little for that. Certainly, it was painful. But on the other hand, the dragging motion is intended to bring him directly towards his chosen target. Precisely as planned.
Those wrapping arms pack more power than he had been expecting, true. But he is most certainly not dissuaded by that! Instead, he lets the pain wash over his shoulders as he is slammed into the ground, drawing on it, using it to his advantage. That had hurt, yes.
But he was not going to be denied so easily!
Urien comes tearing up from the ground, springing as he pushes with his legs, "HAH!" He bellows, "You have some impressive tricks, I'll give you that! But, do you really believe you have what it takes to defeat me?!"
In a sudden blur of motion, the head of the G-Project is coming forwards, his shoulder leading the way, and intending to simply plough straight on through Seth. As much force as he could possibly muster is thrown into the assault, truly intending to start as he means to carry on.
Whether or not it would do any good, well... he had no idea. Of course. That hardly mattered. All that mattered now, was ending this creatures existence. The fact that he might just not be up to the task... hadn't really /occurred/ to Urien. The thought was still quite distant in his mind, in fact!
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Invader's State of Emergency.
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Seth15 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Kentou
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Invader 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
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Urien 0|-------|-======
She needn't tell Kentou who the mysterious man is. The boy can figure it out on his own without her help. It was he that dragged Frei, Ichiro, and her off to temporary labs established elsewhere in the city to conduct experiments the likes of which hadn't been spoken of since the terrible World Wars of generations past. Even as she wrestles with his arm and tries to fracture his balance to allow her to topple him to the ground, she is reminded of the futility of trying to defeat him her last fight with the monster ended up being.
A worried glance cast Kentou's way reveals the resilient youth attacking back as expected. She also recognizes the look in his eyes. He knows what it is they now fight: a monster never before seen in until he arrived on her property several weeks prior; the one responsible for sending her down the path that almost ended with her death. He'll fight fervently. Moreso than even moments before. And if she could send him away because of it, she would. She would take his hand and the two would take flight, considering their work here done as well as could be expected under the circumstances.
But then there's that new arrival. Similiarities with Seth aside, he is clearly fighting against the man. That means whoever he is, he's on their side. The burst of chi made manifest upon his arrival is evidence of the power he wields. To abandon him to fight the SIN leader alone now would be a cowardly atrocity of its own. They must fight along with him now.
Soldiers close in around Hotaru but the Futaba girl won't have any of it. Over the last several weeks she's fought so many rank and file soldiers she's lost track. Their group tactics, their speed, their coordinated attacks are all an open text book to her now. The swing of a rifle is met by her twisting to the side and the punch meant for her face is answered by the girl dropping down into a very low stance, arms at her sides, feet seperated some. "You are out of your league," she offers as a quiet warning to the men that she expects she'll have to contend with ultimately at some point.
For a moment she may very well be lost from sight as the troop of soldiers surround her. But a split second later, the girl takes to the air, springing up from their midst in a bid to descend toward the SIN director as he drags the other man across impossible distance. Twisting her body into a spin as she drops, she snaps her right leg out toward his upper back, aiming again to threaten the balance of the taller man as best she is able to even as this unexpected help aims to introduce him to his shoulder. "KYA!"
The brilliant explosion of emerald bursts in the air .... Where Seth was half a second ago. For a moment the boy feels just a heartbeat of elation as the image of the man seems to disappear for a split second. .... Only for him to virtually reappear a distance away. This white creature dismantled both his and Hotaru's attacks with unspeakable ease.
Clenching his jaw, Kentou's stance stiffens. The taste of blood on his lips reminds him that this will not be easy. Don't let the monster's seeming invincibility dishearten. The only way to defeat monsters like this is to meet them head-on!
Fear can destroy him far more assuredly than any attack this thing can throw.
However ... In the midst of what would be their darkest hour a miracle occurs. That second man, rippling with power ... Takes the fight to the white abomination? He's on THEIR side?
No time to question this incredible turn of luck. Whomever this man is, he's clearly more powerful than Kentou. Perhaps Hotaru and this new arrival both can actually defeat this thing? ... Then Kentou's task is clear.
As Seth orders the soldiers to interfere, Kentou bursts to motion. Racing across the distance like an arrow sprung from the bow, the youth crosses the distance in an instant blurr of motion and attempts to drive his fist into the lead soldier and send him sprawling. "SHINSOKU YARI!"
The soldiers want to get at Hotaru? They have to go through Kentou as the boy immediately cordons off their pursuit, giving the greater fighters a clean chance to bring down the unnatural beast.
COMBATSYS: Seth15 blocks Urien's Chariot Tackle.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Invader 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Urien 0|-------|=======
COMBATSYS: Seth15 full-parries Hotaru's Medium Kick!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Seth15 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Invader 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Urien 0|-------|=======
COMBATSYS: Kentou successfully hits Invader with Shinsoku na Yari.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Seth15 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Invader 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Urien 0|-------|=======
"Out of my league?!" shouts one of the soldiers as Hotaru effortlessly dismantles the two-man attack. His lips curl in distasteful disbelief, pulling back to reveal sneering, tarnished teeth.
"What th' hell do you mean, OUT OF MY GODDAMN LEAG--"
Which is when Kentou suddenly impacts the man with pent up force, ripping him off his feet and into the air as if set off like a rocket. "GUAAARGH--"
The other soldiers are left to stare on in surprise and mild horror as the soldier lands with a crash against a nearby wall. "Err... we're changin' targets!"
With Kentou having displayed himself as the more immediate threat, the soldiers swiftly turn their attention to strong youngster. Kentou might have physical strength, but, well. They have guns.
They haven't quite realized yet that that's not quite so impressive in these sorts of situations.
"FIRE!" Fanning out in a wide semi-circle around Kentou, the remaining soldiers suddenly open fire, assault rifles unloading in volleys of hot lead rounds to just shoot down Kentou in a haze of gunfire. After all, adolescents that can punch people through walls probably don't /really/ count as adolescents.
The second Seth feels the give from his violent backwards yank, he knows something is amiss. Before Urien has even launched upward from the ground, his inhuman opponent is already tensing his body, stony eyes rotating upward toward the springing man. Impressive tricks? Urien barrels forward like a runaway train, like a human chariot, all raw kinetic force ripping up ground and scenery like a cannonball blast--
--only to meet Seth's right foot chest-first instead of his body. Urien's trainlike rush stopped in an unusual defense, Seth's thrusting limb providing counter-force sufficient enough to halt Urien's forward momentum entirely, sending Seth sliding across the ground with a CRACK of impact... but holding his own nonetheless. Muscles strain painfully against his leg. He stares with vacant eyes upon Urien.
"'Tricks' are what ignorant beasts who cannot grasp their own transitory nature would label the actions of an entity beyond them.
"Shall I show you how meaningless your efforts are? --hrn."
Before Seth can proceed to show Urien exactly what he is talking about, the man suddenly /flips/ upward into the air with all the grace and skill of an acrobat. In fact... it's a movement that, at its base, is unnervingly similar to the springing motion of Hotaru Futaba. Before she can even strike out with her kick, two hands press against her shoulders in mid-air. Vacant eyes stare as pinkish skin begins to bleed away into darker hues of blue.
Hotaru is afforded exactly one second to react before Seth pushes off her like a springboard, a single, tiny sphere of black and white manifesting before them... before it creates a spiraling VORTEX of monochromatic psychic force, whirling energies seeking to draw Hotaru in and batter and compress her with singularly monstrous power as Seth flies higher into the air with a glare that promises only agony.
Urien's eyes narrow as Hotaru is the one Seth attacks. Hands clench into fists. How... -dare- he be written off so easily? How dare this blasphemy turn aside his force without so much as an indication of pain. Oh no. Seth wasn't going to get off that easily.
"Transitory? Who do you believe you are dealing with?!" Urien roars, recovering from his all-out charge whilst Hotaru gets to bear the brunt of the unnatural enemies attentions for a while. Never let it be said that Urien is unwilling to take /advantage/ of the insults laid against him. Just... not like them, that's all.
"I am a GOD. You are a pale imitation. Compared to the power at my disposal, you, are nothing!"
Alright, so, Urien might just be lying a little bit here. The blow he had taken and the abilities Seth was demonstrating are, quite clearly, more than enough to ensure he was worthy of 'more than nothing' status, but, Urien would be damned if he would be intimidated. Seth was a strange color, but he was certainly no Gill. He could tell, because he was still breathing.
It isn't until he is within arms reach that Urien would really make his move, though. Going for a somewhat different approach, this time, he aims to grab Seth by the throat, and plough his knee up into ... well, where Seth's stomach should, by all rights, reside.
Should he manage this, he'll simply pitch the man in an overarching swing, intending to send him into the dirt in a quite... undignified manner, already moving to follow up his assault. Yes, Urien believes, the best defense in this case is clearly a good offense.
"/I/ am a true immortal life form, destined to purge such filthy abominations as yourself from this world!" A momentary glance, then, is spared towards Hotaru, and even Kentou. Finally acknowledging that, actually, he was in this fight with... other people!
"Are you truly so delusional as to believe you stand a chance against me, even when I have the help of these other, powerful fighters?"
COMBATSYS: Urien has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Seth15 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Invader 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
> /////////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Urien
COMBATSYS: Hotaru blocks Seth15's Tanden Engine EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Seth15 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Hotaru
> /////////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Urien
She's already airborn when Kentou makes his move to keep the soldiers from hassling her further. She hasn't the time to even think about the risks he's having to take or worry about whether her training will be sufficient for the youth to be able to handle himself against so many. At times like this, one simply has to trust that what's done is done and move forward. She's descending, hoping to coordinate with the unexpected stranger eager to smash into the SIN director, only to find her target launching into the air with the self-same graceful control that she demonstrated moments prior.
He's a mimic, she would warn everyone. Capable of copying what they could do whenever it seemed the most convenient for him. But she hasn't time to speak, his hands already gripping her shoulders and the girl whips her face up, gasping as she meets the monster eye to eye. Power around him builds, threatening to engulf her as he himself launches free, and Hotaru is left to defend herself against immeasureable strength.
With no ground to brace herself against; no traction to be achieved, no shield to ward off the punishment of the attack, all she can do is brace for it. His strength is unlike the energetic fire or explosive power she is more familiar with. Her aura won't help her here. Curling up in mid air, tucking her arms in, and closing her eyes seems to be the best she can manage as the spiraling whirlwind of that stark energy crashes against her and draws her within. "AH!" comes the cry as she fights back the assault, helpless to do anything but weather the storm and fight back against it as best her mental faculties can manage.
The pain racks her body as she falls back out of the sky, managing to flip to a crouch just before landing rather than impacting against her back. A soft grunt escapes her lips as she holds her ground, forcing herself to collect her senses. Vulnerable for a moment, she keeps one hand pressed against the heated concrete, blue eyes focused back across the distance toward Seth's trajectory, her hair whipped about her shoulders by hot currents. "He can mimic your style!" she warns at last. "Careful of anything he does!" So much unexplainable skill at his fingertips. Trying to predict him as she has users of more conventional styles is beyond hope. The best she can do is concentrate and push herself a little harder.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Seth15 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Hotaru
> /////////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Urien
COMBATSYS: Invader successfully hits Kentou with Medium Shot.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Seth15 1/-----==/=======|=======\=------\1 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Hotaru
> /////////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Urien
Contrary to popular belief, street fighters are not bullet proof.
Once Kentou successfully acquires the attention of the small legion of armed men, there's a long moment with the boy standing in their midst with his arms wide in a low stance. A ludicrous moment where a boy would dare to take on a squad of armed men with his bare hands.
There is a reason why that doesn't often work out.
As the squad leader orders fire, the boy lets out a tense squawk and instantly whirls into motion. Leaping upwards in a side-twirling motion as he gracefully swirls inside of a halo of muzzle fire. Never letting the automated weapons train their fire to recieve a clean hit .. The youth is not unscathed. By the time he lands from his evasive movement, more than a few grazes and clips have graced his uniform. Blood swiftly darkening the saffron of his uniform but Kentou feels none of it. Adrenaline forbidding him from pain, panic at the cacophony of so many extremely loud weapons volleying in his direction keeps him from stopping.
With a ragged gasp, the youth -dashes- quickly into their midst. Hoping that if he fights within a cluster of the soldiers, they will be less likely to let loose and risk cross-fire at one another. Staying close and inside of the fray, the boy slips near a soldier and attempts to shoulder-rush the man clean off his feet. Rolling over-top of a fallen body and skittering between the legs of another, anything to keep them from getting a clean shot at him.
Don't worry about the flashes of light.. Don't think. Just keep moving, keep fighting. Have faith in Hotaru. She can win, he knows it! He just needs to buy her time.. Just buy her time..
COMBATSYS: Seth15 blocks Urien's Combo Grapple.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Seth15 1/----===/=======|=======\=------\1 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Hotaru
> /////////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Urien
COMBATSYS: Invader interrupts Medium Throw from Kentou with Suppression Fire.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Seth15 1/----===/=======|=======\===----\1 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Hotaru
> /////////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Urien
"Keep it up! Keep it up!" shouts one of the soldiers as their de-facto 'leader' in lieu of Seth still attempts to claw himself back up onto his feet. Kentou proves himself to be an irritatingly fast adversary, though, as bullet fire sounds off over and over, attempting to keep him pinned in a set position -- to no avail. Kentou is grazed and clipped... but still standing.
"Pin him down already! How hard could it be--"
And then suddenly, Kentou is upon one of the men, his eyes wide as Kentou simply /shoulder-rams/ him. The soldiers turn, training their focus on the blur of movement that composes Kentou's actions. The boy makes impact, and the crush of bone can be heard--
--just before the soldier squeezes the trigger of his weapon, letting off a single round of assault fire upon Kentou before he is simply BLASTED off his feet like a ragdoll. The other soldiers don't fire yet, still attempting to focus in on the young boy, but rest assured...
... when their lives are at risk, even grunts can be deadly.
Blue pigmentation dissolves away into stony salmon as Seth lands on his feet with an impact that causes concrete to crack underneath him. He notes Hotaru's fall, and her subsequent gathering of her wits. She is planning something, he can tell. But Seth simply smiles, the expression devoid of any luster -- like a doll imitating the motions of a real human being.
He doesn't pursue -- not the least of which because he has other issues to contend with, debatably more /problematic/ issues. Such as an angry Urien launching himself straight into Seth's defenses. The throat grip is successful, hands clenching with a painfully tight grip into what could only passably amount to flesh -- its coldness and density more akin to /stone/ than human skin. Seth's eyes widen--
--but before Urien can complete his maneuver, his knee meets two waiting hands instead of that swirling yin-yang sphere Seth laughably refers to as a stomach with a deadened CRACK of impact.
"God?" the question comes out almost condemningly just as Urien makes his pitch. Seth flips artfully through the air, landing on his feet expertly only a few short inches from Urien. "What a laughable notion. So you are a god?" Hands snap out, attempting to grip -- painfully -- around Urien's head, intent to hold him in place as Seth stares, body damaged -- but still not quite looking much worse for wear. "Is god made of human hair, then? Is god crafted from skin and musculature, tendons, ligaments, skeletal systems... circulatory systems... and painfully vulnerable, human flesh?"
From there, Seth launches upward, yanking /down/ on Urien's head in the same gesture to /slam/ him face-first into Seth's rising knee, in a style and execution similar to the rigid and brutal form of Muay Thai.
"How frail gods are, then."
COMBATSYS: Urien interrupts Medium Kick from Seth15 with Violence Knee Drop.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Seth15 1/---====/=======|=======\===----\1 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////// ]
|=======\=------\1 Urien
Urien's hair is gripped. For a moment, the tableau is held. He even listens to that pitch. But. There's one thing that Seth likely had no real way of knowing about this particular approach to dealing with the so-called God. This, is Muay Thai. And Urien had spent a great deal of time crushing one of the finest practitioners in the world at this particular style.
Because he finds it offensive. Such ill-refined techniques, taught by people with no discipline and voices like screeching banshees.
The lord of the G-Project ploughs forward like a force of nature. Where the knee was meant to slam into his face, it grazes against his side, no more than a mild frustration. Urien's knees smash into Seth's face, and he carries on, not stopping until he has carried on through his opponent, and lands, straightening slowly on the other side.
"There is more to my flesh than mere mortal flesh." He sneers, turning to face Seth more fully.
"Gods are born, they are skin and muscle. They are human. They can falter and they can fall. But. I am no such frail God. Unlike others who have claimed this title, I have the power to back it up. It is a duty. A responsibility I have to crush all those who would turn humanity away from its true path. I am no mortal man."
He smiles, but it is a dark smile, as his augmented flesh continues to repair the damage he has suffered throughout the battle, gradually healing the wounds he has taken, easing his pain and his doubts. It is the smile of a predator. Arrogance, perhaps, to be getting ahead of himself because he had landed a single solid blow, but he knew it had hurt.
"But perhaps you could say he was moulded in my image."
Given a moment's reprieve to collect herself after the jarring brush with Urien's remarkable power, Hotaru pushes herself back to standing. A glance cast Kentou's way, the girl fully aware that he's pushing himself hard to buy her and Urien time to deal with the menacing director of this once-park based outpost. She wants to be at his side, knowing full well that the two of them combined could take care of that unit. But he'll have to hold on a bit longer on his own. She has to trust he can do that.
Watching the exchange between Urien and Seth take place, she feels almost unprepared to wade back into the altercation that rages around her. Taking in her breath, the young Kenpo artist bolts for the much taller man as he remains occupied with the Greek warrior. They speak of gods and the qualifications thereof and the young fighter is forced to wonder again about the nature of their help here. But she came armed with a murderous mercenary's bombs and a renown terrorist's activation scroll... she can't really be picky about the allies this war has provided her. Let's win first, then sort things out!
Whispering to herself a quiet hope that her student can deal with the soldiers for a few moments longer. Springing for Seth from behind, she twists into a cartwheel, aiming to wrap her arms around his neck as she spirals up over his right shoulder in an attempt to pull the SIN director to the ground using her own forward momentum. With her with an attack angled such that he may have difficulty actually defending himself at all, she may just have a chance!
Ah-ha! He made it! Ha H-
BLAM
The boy is shot at point blank. Again the bullet missing vitals, but cutting deeper than the other as it glances off a rib. Jarring the youth and forcing him to slide to a stop even after knocking the soldier away. Wide eyes stare distantly a moment, the shot rattling in his ears.
That hurt.. Is he dead? Is he dying? How bad is it? What...
The moment of shell-shock passes. His fighting training kicks in as adrenaline catches up with his thoughts. A shaking burst of motion and Kentou dives and rolls away to the side, knowing full well these men will open fire yet again if he gives them the slightest opportunity.
Unbeknownst to the grunts, they're perfectly safe. While they run the risk of broken bones and bruises ... Kentou will never take their lives should the boy have the opportunity. He is fighting for his home, loved ones and principles. All of which would be compromised if he reduced himself to being just another killer.
Life is precious, which is why he fights!
"RASEN!" The boy -vaults- skywards. Arms whirling about as arcs of viridian energy wheel and coalesce into his spinning hands. Flipping in a high arc, the youth pulls his hands in, merging the cultured energy into a single condensed sphere of potent force.
"TEKKOUSHOU!"
The boy releases the sphere like a missile. The force of the blast actually -rockets- the youth yet higher into the air, jolting him up and away in the reverse direction as the blast screams downwards and -slams- into the midst of the Soldiers. Exploding with all the force of a concussion grenade, possibly sending them sprawling senseless if they don't evade in time!
COMBATSYS: Kentou successfully hits Invader with Rasen Tekkoushou.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Seth15 1/---====/=======|===----\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////// ]
|=======\=------\1 Urien
COMBATSYS: Seth15 dodges Hotaru's Ten Ranku-Tou.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Seth15 1/---====/=======|===----\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////// ]
|=======\=------\1 Urien
The soldiers have entered a new state of panic as Kentou seems to have /not died/ yet, something for which they are grievously confused. Unfortunate as it may be, many of the veteran soldiers were rerouted deeper into Southtown, towards that fabled Tower -- and many of those that remained have been battered senseless by a giant robot panda. Thus, is it any wonder that their response is anything other than--
"What the hell, is he some kinda sorcerer?!"
The answer comes when Kentou /launches/ himself into the air like a rocket, gathering chi to his center. Soldiers look up in awe -- scarcely able to do much more than that as the young boy shoots the sphere off towards the earth beneath them, the impact and subsequent explosion more than enough to send the bulk of the troops LAUNCHING backwards through the air, concussive force shooting them in chaotic paths through the air as their spiral nonsensically, smoking -- but intact -- bodies falling towards the ground with THUDS and groans of impact one after the other as Kentou most assuredly leaves his mark.
... but not quite enough of one. Some forces, managing to outpace the chi strike, swing their guns /upward/ toward the descending youth -- unloading higher-grade artillery rounds upward into the air like a reverse rain, aiming to pepper the poor martial artist with bullet fire as he descends -- unless he's fast enough, that is.
There is a familiarity in Urien's response to the particular style Seth drives forward that would lead him to believe that Muay Thai is not quite the proper response.
The knees to his face helps with that, as well.
The crunching impact of knees against supposedly 'yielding' flesh is unnatural, almost like granite being crushed. The force of the blow is enough to send Seth stumbling backward despite himself, feet scraping across pavement before coming to a slamming stop towards the edge of the base perimeter. As Urien talks, Seth's head lifts, silently; the damage is there... but there's no blood to be found from the would-be man. Painful, certainly. Damaging, certainly. But Seth's body is far from 'normal' by any stretch of the imagination. His lips pull into a thin line, looking distantly toward Kentou's struggle with his soldiers. Given the wane of the forces /throughout/ the city, withdrawal seems the most practical answer. But...
... an interesting opportunity has presented itself.
"... Scientific experimentation rendors powers that simpletons would believe to be divine when they are nothing more than a natural progression of man." Seth's right hand extends out vaguely, clenching into a fist. Slowly, it draws to his front as his stance lowers -- as if preparing to attack Urien once more. "It is mankind's failing that they are too arrogant to even comprehend the wonders they create and change through as anything less than 'divine providence'--"
And suddenly, Seth ducks down -- /right/ when Hotaru springs for his neck from behind. Lowered into a crouch, Seth suddenly /springs/ forward, his clenched fist pistoning forward like a boxer to deliver a swift and brutal left hook to the descending Hotaru. Aiming for the jaw, he keeps the blow swift, managing his recovery time to an almost mechanical degree -- almost as if in a preparatory measure.
"I do not see gods before me. I see naivete and a fool's futile ambition.
"And it is a pathetic sight."
"You have seen. NOTHING."
The words thunder out with the same bellowing force that Urien had initiated the conflict with, and again, there is an unmistakable crackling of energy all about him. If this man was to doubt his power, then there is only one thing which can prove otherwise; something which Urien had, naturally, come here to demonstrate. If there is doubt, then it must be erased in the only way possible. Through an overwhelming display. He was somewhat impressed with the durability that Seth's body had demonstrated... but that isn't enough, even with the interesting capabilities shown so far, to win Urien over.
Instead, he gathers his power. A corona of bright purple light burns into the night, an aura of vaguely intimidating proportions as he gathers it about himself. Again, he is ignored in favor of an attack against Hotaru. Again, he considers this an insult.
But again; he was more than happy to capitalize on it.
His hands come forwards, and that intense energy only increases. Lighting up the darkness all about him for a few, brief moments.
And then the darkness returns, as he throws his hands forwards. Seth wasn't even truly concentrating on him, and Urien had no qualms about taking advantage of that fact. The blast of energy is huge, utterly black in the center, and radiating out in deep purples, the color of an unhealthy bruise. A large oblong, shot through with raw electricity. As much power as the self-proclaimed god could possibly muster, thrown forwards in one instant, and burning towards the source of his hate. Of course. He could only really hope that Hotaru (and Kentou, for that matter) were sensible enough -not- to get in the path of the devastating blast.
COMBATSYS: Seth15 successfully hits Hotaru with Medium Punch.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Seth15 1/--=====/=======|===----\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Urien
In all her encounters with the director of SIN, he has seemed to have a unique sixth sense for every angle she has ever tried to attack him directly. Brushed aside, avoided cleanly, or actively deflected into other attacks, the girl is half convinced it's more than just seeming to know the nature of her style inside and out. He may very well be reading her mind. Of course, if that were true, he would have no problem reading the utter disdain she has for whatever he is and who he represents. But he would also read that encroaching fear - that sense of uncertainty and dwindling confidence that what they're trying to do here might very well not even be possible; that the outcome of this exchange is entirely unknown.
An attepted grip at his thick neck is evaded as he crouches under her horizontal cartwheeling spin through the air, leaving the girl vulnerable to retaliation. Her right foot only barely touches the ground when Seth strikes back, his fist slamming forward with mechanical speed and the force of unyielding flesh. The impact is profound, sending the featherweight spinning further, her own momentum adding to the flight that sends her rolling over the ground before coming to a rest, head shaking as she pushes herself up to hands and knees quickly and from there back to her feet.
Her lip bleeds from the corner but she's survived worse and her distance gives her time to observe Urien unleash a powerful storm of energy back toward their common enemy. A flicker of appreciation in her eye for what Urien is contributing, and then she's back on the offense. Out thinking someone who seems to predict her thoughts with a decided lack of effort is hopeless but perhaps she can distract him long enough to allow Urien to continue to land hits against the man with the unnatural complexion.
Another spring into the air - a downward dive, an angled impact to crush her right knee into his shoulder near the neck. If she secures contact, she'll follow up with a swift second kick with her left foot before springing right back off him to try and secure safe distance. Or maybe she'll slide right past him, hopefully out of harm's way this time!
COMBATSYS: Kentou dodges Invader's Power Shot.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Seth15 1/--=====/=======|===----\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Urien
Kentou, however, feels a sensation more akin to estatic at having not died yet. A state of being that is far, far from guaranteed with this amount of small arms fire being produced in volume in his direction.
As the massive blast of Chi hurls a portion of his opponents to the four winds, Kentou continues sailing high through the air in a slow, lazy arc. Thankfully the increased distance and spiralling descent allows him a greater chance at evasion.. Especially when they break out the big guns.
The low, potent explosions of the heavier artillery rattle the youth's bones as he completes his great vault amidst anti-air flak. Spinning and whirling until he lands in a hard roll, narrowly evading the concentrated fire of arms that cease being small.
The forces are thinned out but not extinguished. Is there even an end to these guys?! Kentou can't waste time wondering. If he hesitates for even a second, these men will preforate him like a train ticket. The youth only catches flashes of the incredible battle unfolding nearby between the mightier three, as much as he desperately wants to watch and help ... He can only pray that his little help in delaying these endless troops will make a difference for Hotaru. He can only pray that new arrival is as mighty as the boy had sensed.
Kentou again crosses the distance swiftly. Charging the armed men like a zig-zagging lunatic. Occasionally dashing one direction and rolling another. Using the great mounds of scrapped vehicles and broken base as cover here and there until finally getting into melee range of another small cluster.
"HUT!" The youth rushes forth, fists flying swiftly in hard strikes before spinning away and diving for cover once more. This time using more measured, reserved attacks than his more exhausting techniques. There are yet a lot of soldiers to go through and the boy needs to pace himself if he would even dream of survival..
COMBATSYS: Invader endures Kentou's Fierce Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Seth15 1/--=====/=======|===----\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Invader 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Urien
COMBATSYS: Seth15 full-parries Hotaru's Rengeki Shuu!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Seth15 1/=======/=======|===----\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Invader 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Urien
COMBATSYS: Seth15 overcomes Temporal Thunder from Urien with Tanden Storm EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Invader 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Urien
"He dodged the shots! He dodged the--"
CRACK.
Shots fire off in chaotic rounds of untrained eyes -- they can't really keep up with Kentou's speed, not when at the end of the day they are just ordinairy people. The strength they have is in their numbers -- and there are still a healthy dose of them.
But Kentou makes sure to work on remedying /that/ particular problem.
The young kenpo student darts out with intense speed, charging forth perhaps too boldly -- but bold seems to earn the prize, today. Or at least, at first glance. Charging through the soldiers, several are blown away, bloodied, broken bodies collapsing on each other in huddled and pained groups. A second rush forward, and fists fly free. They impact cleanly, and another group of soldiers are simply /blown/ away by Kentou's tenacity, letting out yells of surprise and pain, and perhaps oddly, jingles of metal heralding their launching off their beloved earth and into the skies above. Jingles of metal--
--issued from the pins of grenades dropping to the ground just before those high-grade explosives roll up just beneath Kentou's feet. Tick -- tick -- tick --
BOOM.
The swell of chi is noticeable from Urien in any visible spectrum -- even those unaccustomed to chi could feel the welling of power deep within the man's very core. As that corona of violet sears the heavens, Seth looks upward. His eyes narrow.
"I have seen everything."
Seth's perception of the world begins to almost slow down at that very moment as he enhances his own concentration as far as he can reach it. Tendrils of black and white race along his arms, churning to dangerous levels as his fist snaps back from Hotaru's assault. The Futaba girl is quick to bring about a ferocious retaliation, driving downward with one knee presented.
"And there is nothing that a so-called 'god' can teach me--"
And then, Seth disappears.
Once more, light consumes him in a blinding flash; Hotaru is left to batter through air on a collision course with the ground as the air is quiet for a faint moment. Light flashes again--
--and Seth appears directly in Urien's path /just/ as he unleashes that black and violet storm of rage and pride and power.
"-- that I cannot already do better."
Hands smash together; palms present outward. A spherical mass of void-like psychic energy ripples into being with a size to rival Urien's own as monochromatic chains of energy intertwine and weave outward chaotically, crashing into the thunder of the gods, invading it, spreading throughout it like a disease. The clash is awe-inspiring, the winds ripping through the grounds and blowing at least one soldier off his feet, storms of dust and dirt kicking up all around. Jagged vines pierce outward from the bruise-like mass of Urien's rage--
--and a sickeningly cold blast of serenely white Psycho Power suddenly EXPLODES through the epicentre of the burst, the faint remnants of Seth's own attack hammering towards Urien at high-speeds.
"The delusions of the small are as disgusting as the delusions of the grand."
COMBATSYS: Seth15 successfully hits Urien with Tanden Storm EX.
~ Cruel hit! ~
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Urien
And that is that.
The blow hammers into Urien with surprising force. Literally lifting the self-proclaimed God off his feet. Perhaps it was the sheer surprise that, actually, Seth -could- more than match him in every way. Physical force had proven underwhelming. His mastery of chi energy insufficient. What is there left for him to utilize?
The remaining psycho power is like a sledgehammer to the temple. Simply put, Urien's ego cannot take it. Where before he might have struggled, now, he embraces it. There's nothing left. No fight left in him. At every turn he had been bested, and there is only so much that he can take.
As he flies back, the familiar dark color of Urien's body fades. Giving way to pale white. There's a sickening crunch, and it appears that if man were made in the image of Urien, man is indeed a remarkably brittle creature.
There are no more words. No more speeches to be made, or protests to be given. Urien had thrown everything into that attack, and in that moment, had been overpowered. All that remained to be seen, really, was whether he would dig himself out from the rubble and debris of combat, whether he would be saved by his allies or underlings...
Or whether an ignoble death, steeped in the bitter failure he had experienced on the field of battle, would be his reward for daring to stand against the strength of SIN.
COMBATSYS: Urien has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
The war in Southtown has taken its toll on the city as a whole. Ruined buildings, deaths, cracked streets, businesses obliterated in the literal or metaphorical sense. The scorching passage of the invaders is not limited to the city proper - the central park has felt it as well. The fortification at Seijyun may have held, but the previously pristine, if sometimes dangerous trails have been ravaged by tank treads, battles, the very construction of the impromptu bases erected in the midst of what used to be a serene escape for the denizens of the concrete jungle. Said base may have fallen under attack tonight, but it's not solely the efforts of Jiro, Alma, and Frei that put a stop to the nefarious machinations. It's also the courage of Kentou and Hotaru, the surprise intercession of the proud Urien, the interdiction of the reinforcements headed to this very location by the Wanderer known only as Ryu, and the wrestler named Drake Vyril. The latter rests in a medic camp set up on the outskirts, now, taken by resistance transport to see to the grievous wounds he received fighting off the massive Leviathan war machine and the agent of Shadaloo called Cracker Jack.
His impromptu comrade, however, heads deeper, ever deeper, into the park. Drawn by something unseen, almost impossible to perceive. A silence, a nothingness, an all-encompassing chill that swallows up life around it, that silences the birds, that stills the wind, that aborts the flow of chi normally thrumming through this natural wonderland, even ravaged as it may be. It is a quiet thing, this rippling presence which all of life itself seems to circumvent, which makes it /deafening/... to the right ears. The monstrosities of metal previously utilized by the invasion force do not leave the Ansatsuken Master wondering, he is drawn to this spot by only two things: the thrumming chi heart at the center of the base, and the being that distorts its otherwise inexorable call. The source of the echoing, burning absence that wields remarkable power against the team advancing from the east.
As luck would have it it is this secondary team that Ryu comes across, clad in a scorched, tattered white gi almost completely ruined from the waist up. He paces calmly, almost too calmly, from the treeline even as Urien falls away from the battle. Powerful arms flex at his sides, dark eyes only for Seth. He barely acknowledges the troops still present, facing off against the warriors, too intent on considering, analyzing the source of this malevolent stillness, this abomination that rings both artificial and deadly to the nomad's honed, innately attuned senses, "Then what of a man?" The Ansatsuken Master's deep voice questions smoothly, resonant tones ringing out over the distance between himself and the malevolent creature that releases that immense, darkly non-resonant power, "Whom you have never seen?" It's a curiousity, sure. But a clearly rhetorical inquiry.
Crimson gloved fists rise, hovering before him as he draws a deep breath, finds his heart, pushes away the lingering soreness, the pain of fighting this ongoing war, and focuses simply on the future. On what he now sees beyond his fist. The wind itself, driven away by Overlord Fifteen's oppressive presence, seems to scream back into being, roaring through the trees, rustling leaves and shaking branches, whirling about the young champion as he stares at the statuesque adversary of not only himself, not only Kentou and Hotaru, friends of his from the next generation... but an enemy he has heard the echo of throughout this war, one almost familiar to him before he saw him. One more alien than anything he could have imagined.
COMBATSYS: Ryu has wandered into the fight here on the right meter side.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////////////////]
|=------\-------\0 Ryu
COMBATSYS: Ryu calculates his next move.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////////////////]
|=------\-------\0 Ryu
Hotaru's angled dive takes her into a controlled slide along the ground before she comes to a stop. She knew he would avoid her. He's used almost every means in the book to do so. Blinking out of angles, seemingly morphing into the right shape such that her strikes have no chance of connecting, or simply being faster and one step ahead. He has continuously been one of the most vexing challenges the teenaged fighter has ever faced in her life.
But there was the hope that a moment's distraction might stop him - might give her unexpected benefactor an opportunity to bring what is clearly a formidable amount of chi to bear. But it doesn't work. Again the SIN director responds with precision force against the power Urien brings to bear and the colision ends badly for Urien. Hotaru gasps, eyes widened as the stranger falls. In the high pressure altercation, she had no chance to find his name. She'll have to find out what his story is someday. For now she needs to figure out how she and Kentou are going to get out of this mess. Leaving Urien behind would be one of the hardest decisions forced on her in this war but she can't risk Kentou's life. They'll have escape and hope for the best. She'll let that horrible decision rest on her shoulders - Kentou shouldn't have to think about such things.
"Kentou, let's-" Another voice is heard over the sound of burning wreckage and the shouts of soldiers struggling against the strikes of her student, and the sound of a grenade. Wide eyes shift back toward the direction of the most unexpected of sights. Ryu. Here. Of all times. She sucks in her breath, shaken courage steeling in her heart. "Let's show them we're serious about taking our city back," she finishes. Her hand presses against the ground and the girl lunges forward, charging Seth once again.
Even with the countless times the man has bested her, the Kenpo artist doesn't relent, doesn't give up. He isn't perfect. She's seen him make mistakes, seen him miscalculate by a fraction and suffer for it. No - he isn't perfect by any means. His soulless, dispassionate nature is the last thing she would call 'enlightened'. Her technique remaims the same - the Kenpo she had practiced all her life - as she slides into a lower stance from a yard out then lunges forward, springing into a windmilling strike aimed to batter the man's guard or force his retreat once again.
The final strike would come the instant her feet had touched the ground - a single, stunning palm press packing the power of every muscle in her body acting in a perfectly coordinated manner. He's seen it before but she knows it doesn't matter. Even techniques he's never seen before are clear to his mind. All she can do is keep pushing herself harder! "HAH!"
COMBATSYS: Invader successfully hits Kentou with Disaster Area.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////////////////]
|=------\-------\0 Ryu
Another one down.
Another one down.
Another.
Kentou continues an endless rhythm of movement and counter attack. Slipping in between the spaces of wreckage and men to strike again and again. Bleeding and torn, the youth fights on and for a moment there ... He was starting to feel a little like nothing more could go wrong.
Tink. Tink. Tink.
The boy's senses detect the faint clatter of metal. The universe seems to move in slow motion as the youth's gaze pans over the metal spheres dancing at his feet.
"Oh that's not go-"
The series of explosions overwhelms the diminutive figure. Disappearing amidst the flames and smoke, the youth appears some distance away.. Cartwheeling through the air end over end. His uniform shredded, body blackened and blasted in several large patches.
Only his most extreme of training and going limp and diving away at the last possible second kept him alive. But even then.. Only just.
The youth crashes to the earth in a heap, rolling to a halt. His entire world is a void of red blotches to the tune of a loud, sharp tone. Images dance around in his consciousness.
Did Hotaru just say something? ... Did someone just fall?
The boy's eyes blink out of sequence. His scorched hands, trailing shredded wrappings, slowly pull at the nest of broken debris he finds himself in. Pulling his bloodied face from the ground, eyes trying to make sense out of the patches of light and dark in front of him as hearing slowly returns.
The image that greets him cannot be real.
"....R...Ryu ....?"
The shell-shock clouds slowly part as a singular image stands aloof. The warrior saint. The living god of martial artistry.
For long moments, its all Kentou can do. Lay there in the rubble, smoldering and torn. Staring with slack-jawed awe at an image that cannot possibly be - Yet is.
The Dragon has come to save them.
A flame alights in the boy's eyes. Pain instantly banished from all knowing. At the sight of this man, courage flourishes as a wild fire. As his Master, the Apprentice's heart is renewed even if his body remains at the precipice of failure. Kentou rises with irrational speed and force, returning to his feet unsteady yet once-again unbowed.
There's a job yet to be done.
Soldiers yet remain, and Kentou has sworn none of them will interfere with their master's fall. None of them will touch Hotaru. And with the Dragon as his witness, none shall!
Kentou launches himself at the remaining soldiers once more. Charging these deadly armed men with ferocious abandon. A roar builds in his throat, reaching a crescendo as he leaps forth - Seeking to grab the first of the soldiers by his rifle and -spin-. Using the raw momentum of his speed to power the toss, spinning the grown adult twice his size over and about, hoping to use him as a whirling bludgeon to clobber whatever remaining arms-men he can manage!
COMBATSYS: Kentou successfully hits Invader with Power Throw.
COMBATSYS: Invader refuses to stay down!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////////////////]
|=------\-------\0 Ryu
COMBATSYS: Seth15 parries Hotaru's Soushou Shin!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Seth15 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////////////////]
|=------\-------\0 Ryu
Explosions rock the battlefield as the remaining soldiers look proud -- victorious even. Victorious over a little boy. They'd feel bad about it, but...
... really, they wouldn't doubt that there are /dogs/ in this city that stand a chance of beating them up.
Slowly and hesitantly beginning to circle the thick wall of flames and smoke. They pause, though, as another voice adds to the fray.
"Wh-- who is that--"
They never get to see before, from the depths of the smoke and rubble, the boy they had assumed they blew to bits RIPS free like some sort of unkillable monster. Before they can have a chance to even protest the fact that Kentou isn't dead despite their mild indulgence in victory, the kenpoist is roaring like an unholy beast, gripping a single soldier by his weapon. "H-hey, what--"
And then SPINS him.
Faster and faster and faster the soldier goes, the rapid rotation disorienting him until everything becomes smears of colors. He feels like vomiting; all he can do is cling to that rifle for dear life... before he CRASHES into soldier after soldier after soldier, battering much of the remnants senseless. Several more collapse. And it would seem like victory is achieved...
... before several downed soldiers slowly drag to their feet. Staggered, sluggish, weakened, they nonetheless push /forward/ (albeit hesitantly), one attempting to feebly punch Kentou directly in the face. It is slow, predictable.
But by this point, they're all almost completely out of ammo.
"G-go down you stupid kid--!"
Slowly, the director of SIN's hands fall to his sides. He straightens, his yin-yang 'core' calming down in the aftermath of the dueling storms. A faint glow encompasses the spherical center of his body for a brief moment ominously before it, too, dims, and those solid, detached eyes fall upon Hotaru's form.
"Vengeance is the fool's errand," he intones blandly as he lifts a hand, that exanimate energy sparking to life once more and heralding only a terrible future.
"When will creatures like you learn to trust your baser instincts like a good anima--"
Seth is suddenly cut off from whatever he might have planned as a single voice announces its existence with a simple question. Seth pauses bodily, looking like a statue amidst the ruin of Southtown's park before tepid eyes turn eyes turn to regard the newcomer.
And narrow.
Of course he knows who Ryu is; anyone in Shadaloo would know. The 'World Warrior.' The individual that Vega, that Sagat, that so many were singularly obsessed with. Nothingness radiates outward from Seth as if threatening to consume anything in its path. His lips turn into a frown.
"But I have seen you." But not in person. To some, this would be an intimidating prospect -- and Seth knows well of the skill of the individual he finds himself standing across from. It should be intimidating. Perhaps it would be, if he could feel that much. Instead...
... it's an opportunity.
Seth's contemplative silence is brought to an abrupt end as Hotaru breaks his reverie. Against both the girl and a foe as powerful as Ryu, he doesn't stand a chance. But he has to see. He has to test, first and foremost--
"Begone."
The single command is delivered as Hotaru lunges forward with her windmilling strikes. In the span of seconds he is suddenly /leaping/ matching Hotaru's rotating handstrike with his own as he launches through the air, like an inverted mirror of Hotaru's movements. Before it can continue, he will push /off/ in an awkward, seemingly improbable maneuver, using Hotaru's own windmilling momentum to propel him further--
--right into Ryu's defenses.
No words are spared. No time is spared. Within a fraction of a second, Seth is suddenly pushing his body faster than even /it/ should be capable of, utilizing talents of those he has only just recently observed fighting as his own in one blinding flurry of speed. One fist pistons upward as Seth spirals into the air in a form and technique that can be indistinguishable save for the horrible trail of deathly white that engulfs his mighty fist, aiming to deliver to Ryu's jaw line the legendary, the unmistakable--
"SHORYUKEN!"
He must see, first, before he decides his next move.
COMBATSYS: Ryu interrupts Shoryuken EX from Seth15 with Shoryuken.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Seth15 1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> ////////////////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Ryu
Explosions go off everywhere - with Kentou in the midst. It's almost become a standard refrain of the battle in Southtown, a powerful bass that thrums across the city itself. ... but cannot beat forever. Ryu frowns as the courageous young warrior is sucked up by the artificial fires... and emerges determined, forging forward into the remaining soldiers, fighting on. Much as Hotaru herself continues to strive, continues to fight against seemingly insurmountable odds, against an opponent intimately familiar with her style, with a bead on her energy, with every advantage even in this late hour. Imminently prepared to see his doomed invasion end not with a whimper... but with a decidedly lethal, vengeful bang. The Ansatsuken Master is no illusion, however.
The long tails of his headband flutter wildly, the ragged edges of his gi pants flutter, every muscle in his body tenses as he see Hotaru's attack deflected utterly, senses, even before he sees, the hungry chasm that is Seth Fifteen charge forward. To normal vision, it's a blur, a rampant flash of unnatural flesh and shimmering magic eightball. The diamtric opposition represented within the SIN construct's apparent energy core is mirrored by the confrontation he now hurtles headlong into, answered by the unflinching opposition to everything he, everything Vega stands for, given flesh in one man. The form is perfect, the speed, remarkable. Almost unbelievable. ... and immediately matched, and then superceded, by the Wanderer.
The form is perfect - but the spirit is off. The Shoryuken is about more than an uppercut, more than the massive release of almost impossible to resist energy at the moment of impact. The technique nearly identically mirrors Ken's, but it is not. Where Seth is a black hole of unstoppable power, Ryu's exists in dramatic equilibrium with the world itself. Where the flow of chi is stifled by Seth's very passing, Ryu's presence strengthens it, coaxes it forth, as if the ground, the wind, the sky itself were answering his call. It suffuses every muscle in his body, it burns in the depths of his deep eyes.... it prompts him to unhesitatingly throw himself /into/ the SIN maniac's charge. It has to be done. In that sense, he is right there with Seth: He has to see.
The Ansatsuken Master drops low, in the blink of an eye, it is as if every fiber of his being converges on a singular, central point. Seth's execution may be flawless - but it is Ryu's that is legendary. A shockwave shakes the grass, what remains of it, in every direction. Leaves fall from the nearby trees at the moment of impact. The air itself distorts, seems to shudder, as the crashing meeting of the two titans occurs in dramatic, violent fashion. Led by a single fist, Ryu launches himself upwards, all of his momentum transferred in that half-second, as the ravenous raider's fist skips painfully off his chest... and all of Number Fifteen's force suddenly turns against him. The sparring glove is only minor comfort as Ryu's fist rakes up the overlord's massive chest, crashes with force that would pulverize the average man's bone into his jaw, sends Seth up further, further, and far more volatilely than he had intended.
"SHOOOORYUKEN!!!" The Rising Dragon. It is not only a technique. It is a force of nature. A primal cry from the depth of a warrior, mastered by few, mimiced by many... and in Ryu's estimation, completely out of the reach of one so innately disconnected from the world around him. The man named for this same cosmic strength throws his all behind it, twisting once, in midair, as the remarkable strike is delivered, overpowering its contemporary imitation. He touches down with a controlled grace, hands sounding with the displacement of air that accompanies their whipping motion back into a ready stance, his legs shifting to support him once more; footing wide, ready. His eyes narrow, another deep, focusing breath fills his lungs.
"Hotaru. Stop the soldiers. Protect Kentou. Prepare yourself." She is strained, Kentou is haggard, at the end of his rope. They would both fight on, to the bitter end... and this is honourable, more than respected in the Wanderer's eyes. But the young champion will have none of it when he sees a simpler path, a flow of the stream that requires no needless sacrifice from either, and ensures their readiness to stop this monster even if he cannot. But he will try, oh yes, he is here to try... here to /do/. There is no haughtiness to the devastating blow. No hubris to the sudden turn the fight takes against Seth. He is stalwart, ready. Waiting. Almost eager.
'Remember Ryu, always remember: the fight is not about victory or defeat, but about how you hold yourself, and how you see your opponent. It is easy to judge, easy to anger, easy to let pride cloud that which is most essential to a true warrior. In each of us is great evil, in each of us is great good; to see true victory, you must see yourself above no one, capable of all things, and slave to none. You must keep yourself at all times, hear your instincts call, maintain peace like that of the breeze that rustles the trees: aware of all, touching all, with strength that cannot be seen, can never be touched, yet is impossible to resist.'
To watch her practiced technique executed with all the precision of one who had been doing it for years is becoming a common occurance for the girl. Three times she had fought in the same battle as the enigmatic monster who stands before her now. Yet the marvel of it is that his execution of her techniques hasn't improved with repetition. It /started/ flawless. Her hand strikes connect with his palms, his defenses solid, the girl unable to find the slightest opening and by the time her feet have touched the ground, he's already sprung away to take his fight to Ryu - to answer that calculated, soulless question, to safisfy that innate need to know.
Sliding to a stop, the girl releases a soft exhale. It's like fighting a mirror of herself - but one faster, stronger, and above all else, without humanity. As if he laid his heart down upon the alter of perfection in order to fight the way he does. It's both vexing and perplexing at once. But whatever the source of his ability, she knows she's in way over her head. Not even with the help of the stalwart Greek were they able to chisel down the SIN director.
But she's been dismissed for another, proving that Ryu is in fact present; that he isn't a figment of a desperate imagination. But she knew that in her heart the second she heard his voice, his presence resonating with the young fighter as it had on their last encounter. From a safe distance, she's able to watch the two attacks collide - the empty imitation crashing against the real version that she's both seen and felt on previous occasions.
And in the next moment, Ryu is back on his feet, his voice snapping her out of her brief pause back into action. The soldiers. Kentou. Prepare. Right. A glance over her shoulder confirms what she knew to be true. In spite being battered, shot, and constantly pressured, Kentou is still on his feet and still giving the troops a rough time of it. Under less trying circumstances, she could contemplate how far he'd come in her years of knowing him. But right now split timing action is the mandate of the hour.
Lunging forward, the girl shoves a soldier aside, his back to her until she drives him to the ground with a sweep. "Kentou." She slides to a stop, her voice urgent, a glance cast back toward the designated Seth15 and the warrior nomad that is Ryu. "Together now. Let's go!" She turns to lead the charge, knowing Kentou will follow without hesitation. Maybe that's the problem, she wonders. She'd been trying to fight the man alone but for the help of a stranger.
This time she'll have her student at her side. The SIN director may be better than she is, but he's still just one. Can he contend with the two acting in unison? Her charge is swift, the girl pouring all of her trained speed and effort into the sprint. To an untrained eye, she becomes a blur of black. Her hands come together before seeking Seth's nearest arm, hoping to get a tight enough grip on it to stall his guard just long enough - just long enough to launch into a series of rapid, rising stomp kicks up his tall stature before ending with a forward flip through the air up and over his head. "Ya, ya, ya!"
COMBATSYS: Kentou dodges Invader's Quick Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Seth15 1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> ////////////////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Ryu
The seared boy is living on pure adrenaline and determination. By all rights he should be collapsed upon the broken earth, a quivering wreck. The youth has been shot and blasted more times that he can count. Near as he is his mortal limitations, Kentou continues to stand. He continues on, even when pain and exhaustion tells him to fall.
After hurtling away a squad of soldiers, the apprentice digs in his heels and forces himself to remain standing. Teetering back and forth, the boy slowly raises his fists ... Appraising the strewn bodies of unconscious or moaning soldiers.
As a handful rise to their feet, Kentou exhales with an audible hiss. Fists rising yet again to meet this equally relentless challenge. His bloodied knuckles rise quickly, prepared to intercept the first of the men before the youth's eyes soften.
The man's punch is hardly thrown. To a fighter like Kentou, even agonized as he may be, it isn't a real attack. The man is spent - Either his fighting spirit is broken, exhausted, or his weapons empty. Perhaps all of the above.
Regardless, this man's fight is over.
Kentou takes a single step back, the punch missing the youth completely. The youth's fists lower as he shakes his head slowly, "... Go home." Ordering in a tired, weakened voice, "... Just go home."
Kentou does not strike defeated opponents. They tried to kill him with all their Earthly power and might, true. But Kentou will not stoop to their level. He does not bully the weak, no matter how richly these men deserve it for any number of atrocities they've committed upon the boy's home and friends.
Kentou will not let these monsters lower him. Hotaru taught him better than that.
Speak of the devil!
Hotaru sweeps in, knocking aside a seperate soldier and speaking a single word to her apprentice.
Kentou does not hesitate in the slightest.
Though the youth immediately spins to face down the ivory abomination that even the likes of the Dragon looks upon with consternation - Kentou does not hesitate in the slightest.
Hotaru may well be asking him to charge to his doom, into perdition and destruction itself - Kentou does not hesitate in the slightest.
This time - THIS time - The boy is here for his mentor. THIS time, nothing will harm Hotaru. Not today. Her friends are with her.
To fight side by side with Ryu and Hotaru against an immensely strong foe? There is no higher calling to fight for - To die for.
"HaaAAAAAAH!" As one, Kentou wills to motion. Forcing his savaged body to fight at peak capacity one more time. Ducking low, the youth briefly adopts a sprinter's stance before -shooting- forth like a bullet. Using his own uniquely blazing speed to catch up to Hotaru and mirror her own striking movements. As Hotaru races up the gargantuan Seth in one direction, Kentou scales the opposite. Trying to yank upon his opposite arm before scaling his pale symmetry in a series of kicking strikes, finishing with a flipping kick and adding his own force to Hotaru's own!
"Ya, Ya, YA!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru and Kentou successfully hit Seth15 with Fukahi no Shinri EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Seth15 1/--=====/=======|=------\-------\0 Kentou
[ \\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Invader 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> ////////////////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Ryu
There it is.
The physical pain is worth experiencing the technique first-hand. It's the reaction that Seth hoped to provoke. Using that technique was explicitly for this purpose; the feeling of the crushing impact against his chest, the force of which causes him to fold inward; the second blow slicing upward into his jaw like a steel hammer to concrete, the feeling of impact much like brick cracking beneath tremendous pressure than anything remotely natural. There is no blood.
But there is pain.
And it is an enlightening sensation.
The director of SIN sails like a rocket propelled by TNT through the air, massive body spiraling gracelessly as Ryu hits the ground. His eyes clenched tight, the damage is apparently in a fissuring indentation across Seth's chest. Though hardly permanent damage, it still hardly looks natural; like what one would find from someone punching against a solid wall than yielding flesh. The pain is great. Far more than even Seth calculated from his estimations based on Ryu's previous data. Yet, as he begins to descend, Seth's eyes snap wide... and he smiles.
He's found it.
Dust and dirt kicks up around Seth as he strikes ground with a tremendous boom, rolling chaotically backwards as he recovers from the blow as expertly as one who knows the style could. As he does, towards the distance, the soldiers begin to feebly wane in numbers. A soldier is knocked aside by Hotaru, the attacking man urged to leave by Kentou as he stumbles through air. Distantly, he considers this suggestion. The remaining soldiers begin to look around them, toward Seth, towards the unconscious all around them, towards Hotaru and Kentou now rushing off. And they do the only sane thing they can think of: they start running away.
Seth is still recovering as Hotaru suddenly rushes into his defenses. He only has the briefest moment to note the kenpoist and her student rushing at him headlong in tandem before they are both capitalizing on his brief moment of weakness. He has no method to defend, no way to outmaneuver the blazing fast combination; for the shortest of seconds, he is completely open, and in that fraction, Hotaru and Kentou find what can only loosely be referred to as 'yielding flesh.' Arms gripped and suddenly scaled in a series of synchronized stomping kicks, the soles of the kenpoists feet strike over and over against his torso. The SIN director is rattled, his unnatural body tumbling backwards drastically. A hand reaches out, as if to grasp onto one of them--
--before both flipping kicks launch him right off his feet. Once again, Seth soars, and when he lands he impacts back-first. A deep furrow digs up in his wake, dirt and grass driving outward violently as the earth depresses inward. There is silence, for a long time... and slowly, like some unkillable ghastly apparition of a man, the overlord of SIN drags to his feet. He does not look pleased; solid eyes narrow upon Hotaru and Kentou, before drifting towards the retreating soldiers... and then to Ryu. To have found the perfect subject, and be deprived of the chance to seize upon the opportunity he has been looking for....
... it incites an emotion that could be loosely considered 'infuriating.'
But, though Seth might be able to be considered 'arrogant' in some stretch of the word, he is not foolish. He can't truly test Ryu here -- this is not the ideal time. There will be other opportunities, and he cannot give up on everything he has built up just for some worthless concept like pride. "..." Slowly, that yin-yang epicenter begins to rotate anew, as Seth draws hands to his center, both trailing fires of black and white. "It is unfortunate..." he notes, dimly.
"... but we will have to postpone this for another day."
Suddenly, a monochromatic pulse of psychic energy unleashes, like a hungry abyss being unleashed across reality itself. A gaping spherical mass of black and white vine-like spirals of energy twine around each other, the mass growing larger and larger, a building mass of the antithesis to anything li
Suddenly, a monochromatic pulse of psychic energy unleashes, like a hungry abyss being unleashed across reality itself. A gaping spherical mass of black and white vine-like spirals of energy twine around each other, the mass growing larger and larger, a building mass of the antithesis to anything living... until it all explodes in one brilliantly bright, and unnervingly cold, burst of white light, seeking to consume everyone -- Hotaru, Kentou... and Ryu. And in the aftermath?
Seth makes sure he leaves no trace of his departure in the dissipating nothingness.
COMBATSYS: Invader has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Kentou
> ////////////////// ]
|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> ////////////////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Ryu
COMBATSYS: Seth15 successfully hits Ryu with Tanden Storm.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Kentou
> ////////////////// ]
|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Ryu
It all happens so fast. Seth eats the tremendous impact of the collision, his artificial frame seems to momentarily break down, and his assimilation of combat data is interrupted by the fervor of Hotaru and her younger student, the fearless duo clobbering the crimelord with a flurry of kicks that Ryu's perfect mental faculties quickly count, tally, and reveal to be precisely: a crapload of kicks. It's a well timed offensive that momentarily overwhelms the previously unassailable... it inspires the Ansatsuken Master to smile a small, pleased smile. Even as he steps in to spare them this, they rush back into the fray... unwilling to step aside without giving it their all.
Still, there is the tingling in the back of his neck, the screaming displeasure of the energy around him responding to the touch of Number Fifteen's malevolent analysis, the fire within him burning brighter in wrathful indignation that such a being would seek to touch it, to control it, to contain it for future experimentation. It is not just within the Dragon's own soul... but emenating all around him, passing through him, amplified by his simple presence. What Seth15 tries to take, actively resists him, both in terms of the fist that blasted him backwards, and the unbelievably deep well concealed within the warrior in half a gi's very soul. But then, the SIN coordinator makes his escape plans known, taps into his own tremendous void to send out a pulse of life-obliterating power.
Ryu's eyes narrow, his muscles tense, "Look out!" he moves like a bolt, forward, but the burst expands too quickly, crashes into him with as-yet unfamiliar force. So similar to Vega's own, and yet different, artificial, colder, as if he's momentarily cut off from his own strength. It's an instant long enough to blast past seeming perfect alignment of his arms, his inner chi failing to oppose it fully as he's driven backwards, feet dragging twin trenches in the ground itself, until he slams violently into the resilient trunk of a nearby tree. As the energy passes, he drops to one knee, pressing a hand to the ground and snapping his gaze back upwards. It hurts... but he's anything but out. However, it seems Seth -is-. Since he's rather completely gone.
"Hotaru?! Kentou?!" The young champion calls out, pushing forward to seek out the dynamic duo, and uncover their fate as swiftly as he can. He might not be done dragging people to the medics tonight.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru blocks Seth15's Tanden Storm.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Kentou
> /////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Ryu
They did it. In countless attempts at striking the SIN monster, this was the first time Hotaru had managed to actually knock him down. It took a change in approach - to work with someone else who understood the soul of her style in ways Seth never could. And as she flips away, slipping narrowly past Kentou in the process, she's grateful to have the youth at her side. Feet touch down with a controlled slide a second later as ash-laden dust stirs up around her.
Whirling around to face their foe once more as wind blows that super-heated dust past her face, the girl can see the soldiers beginning to retreat. In the distance, the tall warehouse on the Eastern side of the base falls, collapsing in on itself and brightening the horizon with its demise. The next second the central structure explodes, sending burning debris skyward before its outer walls begin to crumble down. It worked, Hotaru allows herself a moment of silent elation. It worked. The base is taken. If the rumored strike on Gedo was equally successful then the invasion forces would have lost their two main staging grounds. Southtown might be free of them at last.
Another detonation rocks the city and Geese Tower is erased from the horizon in a surreal sight the girl can barely digest even as she witnesses it. Ryu's warning comes in time and the young Kenpo artist whirls around to face the battered man rise again. Eyes widen, a breath is taken, and Hotaru extends her right hand, bracing it at the wrist with her left. Finding the strength and focus within herself to pull a thin blue shimmering barrier of chi is the girl's defense as the energy of annihilation explodes toward her.
The barrier is enough to absorb a potion of the detonation, dulling its intensity a degree, leaving the girl to cope with the rest of the impact on her own. Driven back, eyes closed, her arms hold, shifting to a blocking position as she's lost to sight for an instant, awash in the harsh, energy that tugs at her psyche and forces her mind to the cusp of despair before she centers herself. Teeth grit, she's still standing when the power has been spent, releasing a gasp of held breath before dropping forward to one knee for a moment.
Her ears are ringing loudly, but even over the sound she can distinguish Ryu's call for her name and subsequently, Kentou's. "Kentou..." she breaths the name, forcing herself back to standing, forgetting to look for the SIN director all together.
COMBATSYS: Kentou blocks Seth15's Tanden Storm.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /// ]
Seth15 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Kentou
> /////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Ryu
Perhaps this pale beast's defenses were weakened by Ryu's magnificent blow? Perhaps the inhuman thing could mimic one of them but not both simultaneously, and through this gap in defenses a vulnerability emerged? Perhaps over a year of daily training together forged a synergy of technique that briefly flared greater than the sum of its parts?
Perhaps a little of all the above?
Kentou lands hard in a three-point stance simultaneous with Hotaru. Gasping hard for breath, the boy stares with widening eyes as the clayman returns to his feet with boneless grace. What confidence he possessed mere moments ago begins to quake in his heart.
What if they can't defeat it? It seems hurt but has plenty of fight left.
That fear is squelched instantly as the youth rises. Fists clenching and rising to his prepared stance. Defeat and Victory matter nothing. Only fighting at Hotaru's side. To earn the acknowledgement of the greatest in the world. This brings the boy courage in the face of an unknowable and immeasurable enemy.
An enemy whom decides to choose his battles carefully. But not retreating without issuing a parting gift.
Something ... Feels wrong. Kentou cannot even begin to place the sensation apart from an ambient dread, as if nature itself was screaming for him to run. Whatever fell energy radiates from Seth's universe is beyond the mere apprentice's ken beyond knowing that he had best not let it hit him.
Easier said than done. The all-void spreads like a distorting ripple of reality - reducing the world to a singularity of light and dark in its destructive wake.
Too fast, Kentou can't run. Too wide, Kentou can't jump. No time to think. No time.
The boy -stamps- on a shattered armored shell from a nearby blasted APC. The fractured armored plate flips upwards like a shield and the boy -slams- his palms against it, forcing the super-hardened material into the vortex and praying. Praying.
The world disappears into nothing. Everything?
As voices call out, Kentou is nowhere to be seen.
At first.
Tense moments in the aftermath of Seth's violent exaunt, a few cracked plates of armor shift amidst rubble. A bloodied hand lifts from beneath, pushing a few broken bits of metal aside and waving slowly.
"..Ere... Over.." A cough, "..Here... Oogghhhh.."
Kentou squints at the blurry world as he stares up at the smokey sky. His body disobeying him as he lays sprawled. He somehow.. out of raw desperation managed to deflect ... Whatever that was. But it cost him whatever reserves he had. No longer able to so much as stand.. But whole and intact.
"..Ngnn.. Is it.. over?" The boy questions dizzily. Trying to make out whatever the nearest friendly shape might be.
It better be friendly.. He's in no position to defend himself any longer.
COMBATSYS: Kentou takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Ryu
COMBATSYS: Kentou can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Seth15 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Ryu
Log created on 18:43:38 06/12/2009 by Hotaru, and last modified on 15:17:10 07/11/2009.