RSCP - Week 2 - Money Train II

Description: Atop a speeding train, three young and eager fighters' duel for charity is interrupted by an exotic and flamboyant intruder from on high. Will youth and spirit prevail over flaming ego?



COMBATSYS: Benkei has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Benkei           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Malin has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Benkei           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Malin


COMBATSYS: Ash has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Benkei           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Malin
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ash              0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Benkei has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Ash              0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Hinata has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Ash              0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                  |-------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


Trains are the backbone of many industrialized nations. In days of yore, the clang of iron and the chug of the steam engine were the ultimate in progress. Even today, the bullet train ferries thousands around Japan, and trains are responsible for an environmentally friendly way to keep millions of people who can't drive moving around the world.

They are not renowned for being good places to fight. But, sometimes, someone, for some reason, thinks this is a good idea.

Malin is one of those people.

She is wrong.

At the moment, she's not showing any sign of second thoughts, though. Standing on top of the train as the countryside whips past at a fantastic pace, she glares down her opponents icily, arms crossed, her bandana flying in a menacing trail behind her. A HUUUUUUUGE pair of sunglasses blot out most of her features, except that characteristic smirk. "Alright you two! I hope you guys know what you are getting into. This is going to be no holds barred, no mercy given, mayhem. You step in the ring with Hong Malin, you gonna step out with a broken /FACE/."

... of course, due to the train and the wind, what is probably heard is something more like "Alright you... guys... /FACE/!" But she was laying it on thick. She was going to -win- this thing!

Benkei stands shakily atop the train, dressed in a white karate gi with a black 'Todoh' symbol on its back. A white belt is at his waist, since Todoh regards him as too wussy to advance in his training. He's shivering as the wind chill lowers the temperature, looking at Hong Malin from behind his thick spectacles. "Oh geez...Why are we doing this, Hinata?! This is dangerous! Do you know what a fall from a moving train can do?! It'll turn your internal organs into jelly! It'll break your bones! This is crazy!"

Yeah, this is probably a terrible idea, but you wouldn't be able to guess it from Hinata, dressed in her usual Taiyo summer uniform despite the fact that the wind blasting past should make it absolutely uncomfortable to be dressed like that. Must be something to do with that non-stop metabolism of her's...

"We'll be fine, Benkei! How are you supposed to become a better fighter if you don't do crazy things every once in awhile? I'm sure nobody will get hurt!" Well... she probably means aside from the fact that everyone here is planning to start hitting the other people. But that's not really getting hurt, that's just an ordinary fight.

High above, a helicopter is matching speeds with the train, except... there's only supposed to be one aerial camera crew for this whole affair, and it's already over /there/, doing a fly-by to get a few good opening shots. Also? This particular chopper flew in from the east just now, so it's probably--

Oh, /also/-also, for some reason, a little green rose is falling from within the chopper's open cavity, at first seemingly some strange kind of hologram, but clearly made of... fire, of all things, once it comes to rest between the three fighters. It's not particularly warm, and it's not really /doing/ much of anything but burning in stasis on the roof of the train.

As he adjusts the pink armband around his right arm, Ash Crimson, owner of that rose is smiling, and just after it touches down, he sweeps up a large sheet and steps over the edge of the helicopter's entrance to follow suit with it. Held upwards like a parachute, it seems at first to do just this side of nothing, until a thin coating of green fire creeps along the inner curve of the sheet, warming the air(and suspiciously not burning the sheet) well enough that his descent is slowed enough to bring him towards landing beside the flaming flower.

"Good to see I'm not late," he brightly says as he floats to the rapidly moving metal ground. "Don't mind me, feel free to carry on; I'll just be collecting your purses."

For a moment, Malin is silent. The sheer, absolute, -awesome- amount of arrogance that radiates from Ash is enough to cause Malin's jaw to drop. She'd been ready to beat the heck out of a little boy and his weird older sister (?!), not suddenly find the fight interrupted by this strange guy, even before it had begun! ... Then she realizes that he just said he'd be taking her money.

"Oh you did -not-."

Suddenly, Malin is very serious, crouching down a little. "Hey guys!" She calls, "Change of plans. Lets get rid of this joker, and -then- beat the hell out of each other? Sound like a plan?"

Of course, Malin isn't going to wait for an answer. Instead, she's going to throw her hand forward. And from that hand, shoots a bola, spinning wildly through the air, she fully intends to ruin the awesome entrance by flinging the weapon at Ash's legs, and hoping she can kick this thief off the train from the get-go.

Benkei blinks as Ash dives out of a helicopter and gracefully drifts to the ground using a chi-infused blanket. "What?! That's not physically possible! Chi DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!" he cries. "He's a wizard!" He takes several steps forward, before dropping to a knee and punching at Ash's junk.

Wow, that was an awesome entrance! And... he wants to fight three people all at once? He's got to either be tough or crazy. Hinata hopes he's just tough, because what's the fun in having a fight if it's over too quickly? Where's the excitement? "Wow, we get to fight a wizard? That's awesome!" In a flash she's blazing right toward Ash while he's in the midst of being attacked from all sides, hopping over Benkei to grab hold of Ash by the shoulders and, hopefully, plant her over-sized shoes into the back of his head and send his face into the roof of the train.

COMBATSYS: Benkei successfully hits Ash with Cannon Fist.
Grazing Hit

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Ash              0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                  |-------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Ash blocks Malin's Thrown Weapon.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Ash              0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                  |-------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Ash blocks Hinata's Leap Frog Kick.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Ash              0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                  |-------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


Benkei's fist is guided towards the Frenchman's thigh as he touches down, drawing a wince that's far preferable to the pronounced sound of pain that would have sounded had he been completely on target. He leans slightly forward, half to smile smugly down at the young practitioner of Todoh-ryuu and half to slip his fingers in behind the bolo coiling around his legs so that it can be snapped free and dropped to the train. "I assure you, in spite of why some of my more ardent admirers might tell you, nothing about me is magical. Not even my han--"

Hinata going for his shoulders as he's down that way catches him rather off-guard, but he keeps his footing even after her shoes are pressed into the back of his head. In fact, he even turns in a flash to grab for one of the Taiyo student's legs to hold her up so that she can't bound too far away from him as he remarks, "Well, aren't /you/ a feisty one?"

Should he actually manage to get a hold of Hinata, he'll bring his fingers to his lips, softly kiss them, them unfold them to blow a kiss towards the eager student. A kiss that manifests itself visibly, first as a cloud of green sparks, and then as a roiling ball of flame meant to explode brightly against Hinata's cheek.

For a moment, Malin hesitates. If she didn't know better, she'd say that Ash wasn't even -bothered- that he was being attacked by three people! The girl has to gather her thoughts, but... he's... -not- attacking her!

Well. That was good. That meant she could attack him from behind!

Defying the train to whip her away, Malin leaps into the air, spinning around gracefully, this time, the weapon which springs out of her palm is far less menacing. A cute little yoyo aims to simply... bounce against Ash's back.

Before it suddenly SPRINGS into action, a buzzing saw of blades and slashing metal, but, either way... unfortunately, in her haste, Malin will lose her footing as she comes back down to the ground...

And she goes sprawling, bouncing down the moving arena as she tries to recover herself. Waugh! THIS WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA!

Benkei's punch doesn't connect with his intended target. But he doesn't give up! Attacking people while they aren't paying attention to him is his specialty! Rising from his knee, he circles his hands around to the side, before giving a punch at Ash's side, aiming for his kidney. "Liar! You're a wizard! Like Saruman! But you're in trouble now, because you face BENKEI BUNYA, the strongest man ALIVE!"

COMBATSYS: Ash successfully hits Hinata with Brumaire.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Ash              0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                  |-------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


What's that coming right for her? Why is he blowing like...

OH GOD!

Somewhat distracted by the unusual attack, Hinata doesn't really have enough time to move out of the way before she decides that her mother would probably not like it if she just accepted some strange man who looks like a woman showing up and trying to kiss her (even if it is at range). Of course, if Hinata's mother wouldn't approve, she's hopefully not watching at home as she gets socked right in the face with the overpowering kiss and sent sprawling back, skidding along the roof of the car in a daze and left to wonder just what happened to her.

Is... is that what love feels like? It hurts.

COMBATSYS: Hinata focuses on her next action.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Ash              0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                  |-------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Ash dodges Benkei's Quick Punch.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Ash              0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                  |-------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Ash overcomes Short Onigumo EX from Malin with Rapide Ventose.
-* WILD HIT! *-

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Ash              0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                  |-------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


Once the force of his vaguely inappropriate(yet, in the context of fighting, still kind of acceptable) amourous gesture has sent Hinata flying away, Ash giggles softly to himself and again crouches, this time to scoop up that fallen flower.

"I don't doubt it," he says breezily to Benkei as he rises and turns aside to let the punch graze harmlessly upon his back. "Strong. Spirited. An adorable little man." After that smug statement, he reaches to try touseling Benkei's hair a little before adding, "Now. If you'll excuse me..."

The Onigumo is mere inches away from the Frenchman's back before he whirls 'round and flings his held rose. There's a bright flash, and when it subsides, only the construct of verdant chi is in flight, on a bee-line towards the fallen Malin. His hands slide into his pockets as he contents himself with watching.

"I fear I've neglected someone, and that simply won't /do/. My apologies, cherie."

COMBATSYS: Ash successfully hits Malin with Rapide Ventose.
?!? Weird Hit! ?!?

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Ash              0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


Malin is horribly confused by what just happened. The girls Onigumo is cast aside, and the rose bursts in front of her face. A painful wakeup call, to be sure, and in an instant, Malin has recovered her composure a bit. She had absolutely no interest in letting him get another free hit in, that much is for sure!

"Hey, that's fine." She says, darting back and producing from behind her back a long, curved blade. There's a moment where she just takes in this New Challenger. He definitely had the skills to take -her- down, she could tell that right away. But. Malin is good at games like this. Could he really take them all if they played like a team?

"Why'd you wanna pay attention to a girl like me, eh? I'm just Malin!"

And in an instant, she's shooting forwards again. Arching her whole body into a blow which aims to sink that blade deep into Ash's shoulder. If she can make that hit, in an impressive display, she'll /twist/ her way above and past him, aiming to land quite a distance down the train again. Just trying to make the others look like more tempting, closer targets.

Benkei's second punch misses completely, and then, to add insult to injury, he gets his hair tussled. "Hey! Just who do you think you are!? I'm not your kid! I'm an adult!" he squeaks, before leaping backwards, getting out of melee range. His hands glow with gold chi, before he slashes both down, sending a pair of chi waves at Ash. "KASANE ATE!"

Well... it's probably not love, because if it was love, Hinata would be hurting when Ash started to pay attention to Malin, giving her flowers and stuff. It must have just been some weird attack thing! Now that she understands that much, it's pretty obvious what to do... get back into the fight!

Up to her feet she goes, at least for a little bit as she starts to go charging across the roof of the cars, barreling down on Ash as he has to deal with two targets and kicking up into the air, suddenly whipping her leg around in a furious series of whirlwind kicks as it bursts into brilliant flames of chi and carries her along almost horizontally further than seems reasonable, right after Malin hopefully clears over him, "HEY! You shouldn't go around trying to kiss girls you don't even know!"

COMBATSYS: Ash dodges Malin's Descending Suzume Bachi.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Ash              0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Ash just-defends Benkei's Kasane Ate!

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Ash              0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Ash with Enbukyaku.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Ash              0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


First thing's first: there's a /knife/ coming towards Ash's shoulder, and he's fairly certain that while he could have his coat stitched back to life afterwards, it might be annoying to convince his favorite seamstress to indulge him in doing so without full use of his arms. So rather than tempt fate, he sets his feet to dodge to the side... before seeing a better opportunity.

With a short and well-timed vertical leap, he grabs hold of a bank of lights passing just overhead, and thanks to an artful swing forward he's able to pull himself onto it and out of the way of the bandana-wearing thief's knife strike.

"Oh, dear, such low self-esteem," he calls down to Malin from his new perch. "I--oh, well. What have we /here/?"

He turns to face the incoming waves of chi, and rather than do the prudent thing and see if the'll track him all the way up there, he leaps back onto the speeding train, directly into his path... and puts his hand out to meet the panes of force directly. Green fire swirls around his hand, stopping the first wave and causing the second to crash destructively into the first's back; once all the energy is gone, he softly mms and stretches his still burning hand out beside him as he calls out to Benkei, "Oh, of course you are; an adorable /man/, and not a child."

A proper bouquet of roses begins to etch itself in green flame in Ash's hand, but the heel of Hinata's shoe catches him several times over before he can get too terribly far in doing so. He stumbles back a step with each kick, and once Hinata lands he presses his hand to his jaw, murmurs, "I knew I was right about you. Just when I was going to accomodate you."

After a put-upon sigh, he responds with a spinning kick of his own, delivered with the grace and poise of a dancer as he twirls backwards and swings the toes of his shoe towards Hinata's leg.

Never let it be said that Malin isn't prone to a little spite.

When her blow is deftly dodged, the girl waits a fraction of a second for the lights to pass above, and then she flings her knife upwards. One of the lights is nimbly caught in her palm, and she turns the hefty lump of metal around, testing it for its weight. "That's me." She says, conversationally. "Just Malin."

And with a sudden -pitch- she flings the light at Ash, still staying precisely where she is, she does add something after pitching the heavy weight at him, though.

"AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!"

Benkei blinks as Ash Crimson effortlessly turn aside his mightiest technique. "Geez Louise, what is with this? What are you, some sort of super ninja from the future?!" he screeches. He charges right at Ash, leaping into air and unleashing a pip squeak jump kick. "HIYAAAA!" he cries, with deceptively more oomph than his attack actually has.

COMBATSYS: Hinata blocks Ash's Prairial.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


Well, this time she's not completely taken by surprise; Hinata knows that a kick is an attack even if the person slinging it around looks like Ash. It would be pretty hard not to tell just what that is, and so in a flash she slips back into a more defensive posture, putting on a burst of speed to press her hand up to catch the strike as best she can manage. It's still enough force to knock her down to her knee.

"Hey, you don't need to get upset about it!" comes the sunshine girl's response, "I was just saying that my mom already has enough trouble with me fighting even before there are guys flirting with me!" With that, she blasts her hand forward not once, not twice, but in an impressive flurry of speed that makes it move fast enough that she suddenly seems to have a good half dozen arms, each punch ending with a quick burst of brilliant chi in a tiny explosion, and while the blond man is hopefully distracted or reeling from that, she drops down low again and whips her arm up in a spiralling uppercut, hand sheathed in flames and aimed right on a collision course with his chin.

COMBATSYS: Ash blocks Hinata's Hisshou Rengekiken.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Malin successfully hits Ash with Thrown Object.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Benkei successfully hits Ash with Light Kick.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


A light bounces off of Ash's head - possibly the universe's way of paying him back for having destroyed so very many in Greece the other day - and as he does some combination of rubbing his head nad flicking his hair, he remarks, "Why, 'Just Malin', is there a /reason/ you'd like me to remember your name?" He flashes a bright smile in her direction as a few tiny sparks of green fall from his gently touseled hair. "I confess, you're a touch... young, but we could be friends, oui?"

Before anything further can be said, Hinata is screaming at him too. And punching, on top of that; the two do seem to kind of go together for him, really, but usually not from so many sources all at once. All the same, he's on the ball enough to catch each of those blows with the palms of his gloved hands, and while the explosions and the sheer force he's bodily absorbing do cause the attack to sting somewhat, it's far better than it otherwise would have been. He does not, however, have the chance to say anything to Hinata as he leans out of the way of the rising uppercut; Benkei is coming down to slam his foot into the Frenchman's delicate face, perhaps to make up for the older Taiyo student's failed final strike.

"Well," Ash murmurs before hopping back a step as the train passes into a tunnel. "Isn't /that/ ironic?"

With that, a number of the passengers inside the train find their soups and warm drinks boiling to the point of discomfort as the flamboyant Frenchman ignites the air around him with a column of green chi, illuminating the dim tunnel with his uniquely coloured flaming emanations and casting eerie shadows all about.

COMBATSYS: Ash gains composure.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


Malin smirks, the girl grins. "Sorry." She says, easily. "But I don't make friends with crooks. And I don't beat the snot out of my friends!"

The lightshow obviously has -some- effect on her, though. She didn't -like- energy, but she knew enough to know that what she was looking at here was a pretty crazy demonstration. But. She's not scared. Not yet. She had a reputation to maintain, and if she jumped off the train, then she'd suffer some nasty bruises and scrapes but... she had a natural get away. She'd survived worse.

Taking advantage of the tunnel, Malin doesn't -seem- to care much about her partners. Flinging her Onigumo out, the weapon bounces from wall to wall, weaving a crazy path of buzzing sparks and crazy ricochets, passing close to, but never quite in the way of, her comrades, before she gives a sudden /jerk/ and aims to strike the weapon directly off Ash's nose.

"Besides!" She calls, with a merry laugh, "I'm just plain little Malin! I couldn't keep up with a bigshot like you, right?"

A cheeky wink, even in the darkness. Hopefully, that little acrobatic display would be enough to buy her allies an opening.

Benkei Bunya frowns as his kick goes mostly unnoticed, landing on the ground unsteadily from the jumping effort. "You're really gettin' me mad! I'm gonna pump you so fulla chi that...That...Well you'll be full, full of chi! Just imagine it!" His hands glow with golden chi, before he jerks them both down, sending forth a pair of chi waves. "KASANE ATE!"

Well... that didn't go quite as planned, but at least Hinata managed to distract the prettyboy long enough to give her allies a chance to get a few hits in. And at least for the moment, their opponent isn't actively trying to bash her face in, she's had all she wants of that so far.

Which isn't to say she isn't having fun. A fight's no good if you don't really get to the point where things are exciting until you've been fighting for awhile, gotten to get your blood pumping! Some might say they don't get excited until they've gotten a little tired, but being tired isn't really something Hinata knows much about...

Which is why after a big show like she just put on, she's right back into things, trying to find her own little angle on the frenchman as both of her allies work in at him from afar. She, meanwhile, darts right in from the side and whips her leg around to try to catch Ash in the stomach with the flat of her shoe as she shouts out to her schoolmate, "BENKEI! You need to work on your intimidation if you want to be a real fighter."

COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Ash with Medium Kick.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Ash              0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Ash dodges Malin's Onigumo.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Ash              0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Benkei successfully hits Ash with Kasane Ate.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Ash              1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |=------\-------\0           Benkei


In the course of leaning away from the crazily bouncing Onigumo, Ash winds up pretty much directly of not only the Kasane Ate, but Hinata's forward kick, the combination of which force him to his knee and draw a rough breath of exertion from his lungs.

"There is nothing," he lowly says to Malin with a still persisting smirk, "criminal on my mind, mon cherie; only the use of you three to be certain that a sizable donation is made to charity in my name."

With that, he turns his eyes up to Benkei, murmurs, "The truth of it is that I really don't /need/ to imagine it, little man," and then rises to his feet for but a moment before leaving them again as the train rushes out of the tunnel. His body is flipping upwards as all of the chi clinging to it rushes towards his legs, and especially his feet. It's a very smooth backflipping motion intended to strike the underside of Hinata's chin violently before he lands on his feet not so far away.

And suddenly, Malin is behind him.

Quite -when- the agile girl worked herself up and behind Ash is a question that might be best left to the slow-motion button of your local DVD replay! Quite when she produced a /VERY/ large sword, or where she did it from? Well... that is a secret that Malin might just take to her grave. Though, hopefully, not today! She's still hoping on that point.

The sword is brought around with a blur of motion, aiming to bring the weapon up around and up behind him, trailing the sharp edge directly across his back, in a long, but quite shallow, slice.

"Oh. Then it that case, sure, but I'm still gonna beat the snot out of you. Nobody threatens /Malin's/ purse!"

And, defying the laws of physics, it is only after that snappy one liner that she lands, crouched, and still wielding that sword. It's a very nice sword.

Benkei's hands smoke from the chi output as the Kasane Ate strikes its foe. "You're not so tough now!" he says smugly, having taken no damage during this fight and beginning to become fairly confidant about this fight. Still, Hinata has taken some hard hits, so it may inevitably be Benkei's time to die. He steps in close, aiming a fast jab at Ash's jaw. "Magilla Gorilla, ain't got nothin', ON ME!" he shouts.

COMBATSYS: Hinata dodges Ash's Nivose.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |=------\-------\0           Benkei


Well if Ash wouldn't let Hinata land her blow on his chin, why should he think she's going to let him do the same? That's not a very fair relationship at all! She sees the motion coming straight for her and seems to slip into a sudden surge of speed, practically flowing around the attack as she leans back just far enough for it to do little more than offer her a quick breeze.

"Benkei, trash talking doesn't work if nobody knows what the heck you're talking about. And I don't think this guy is a gorilla, he's too pretty," comes Hinata's reply as she darts around to a new angle, whipping her hands back at her sides to ignite a spark of chi. You need to try something like this..." She draws her hands to her side, igniting a quick spark of chi there as she shouts out, "Hey, that flower you gave Malin was nice, but I happen to think this one's even prettier!" As she says that, her hands blast forward, thrusting forth the burst of chi and sending it flying straight for Ash, it blossoming out into a massive, brilliant sunflower mad out of energy and quite ready to give some hurting.

COMBATSYS: Ash endures Benkei's Quick Punch.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |=------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Ash blocks Hinata's Kikou Shoutei.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |=------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Ash dodges Malin's Medium Strike.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                  |=------\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |=------\-------\0           Benkei


"It's true," Ash says to Benkei as the Todoh-ryuu student's fist... pretty much just bounces off of his jaw to seemingly no ill effect. "You want to be clear when you make your threats, precious child." He hops to the side of Malin's knife strike, turns his head to smile serenely down at her, and then returns his attention to Benkei. "Children's cartoons are poor fare for such things." He thrusts his right hand out so that Hinata's sunflower breaks against the bulwark of chi swirling around his palm; the impact is still sufficient to jerk his arm back somewhat, rather than the total and complete denial of Benkei's first Kasane Ate.

"Personally, I'm not a fan." He slips his hands into his pockets and chuckles softly. The fire that was swirling around his right hand leaps out from his pocket to twist around his arm, and then his head, and then his entire body. An explosion sounds from within the dining car thanks to the catastrophic failure of several gas-powered appliances, followed by the whooshing noise of all of the air around Ash being hungrily consumed when his chi explodes up and outwards, piercing the skies and making a shallow dent in the metal beneath his feet.

"Oftimes, it's a waste of breath; remember that, if you remember nothing else."

He reaches down to again tousel Benkei's hair, and then due to the wonders of high speed movement, he seemingly disappears, only to wind up at the end of Malin's intended escape route.

"Boo."

With that single spoken word, his chi explodes one last time, all of the flames licking out towards the bandana-clad heroine as they seek to consume her utterly.

COMBATSYS: Ash successfully hits Malin with Sans-Culottes.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////                ]
                                  |=======\==-----\1            Malin
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |=------\-------\0           Benkei


"... Oh. You -are- fast."

And then the world explodes.

For Malin, it's something like finding out that, actually, she's not just fighting a good fighter, he also brought the backup of Jesus and Superman to help sweeten the deal. There weren't many people in the world capable of matching her speed when she really put her mind to it. Ash does so without breaking so much as a sweat, and the explosion is, frankly, amazing. She hits the roof of the train several meters away, and bounces before she picks herself up.

"Okay. Now don't go getting cocky!" She slurs, as she straightens her bandana. "Everyone gets lucky sometimes, okay? Don't go thinking you've taken me out of the fight yet!"

COMBATSYS: Malin focuses on her next action.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////                ]
                                  |=======\==-----\1            Malin
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |=------\-------\0           Benkei


As Ash focuses on Malin, Benkei grins maniacally. "It's time to show you what I can do!" He reaches to Ash's neck, and attempts to grab it with his little fingers. He finds the pressure point, and presses hard, laughing. "There goes your arm!"

This is all moving... well, not in the best direction at the moment. Of course, that just means that they need to turn things around in an awesome comeback that will thrill the ages!

Or something like that.

Regardless, Hinata is excited, and even if Malin seems to be taking a moment, Benkei isn't about to start sitting things out, and there's no way that she can let one of her classmates go at this guy alone. Putting on her own show of speed, she's darting in again, launching herself up into the air and whipping her leg around to plant her shoe in Ash's face.

Unlike her usual method, this one doesn't involve it coming off of her foot.

COMBATSYS: Benkei successfully hits Ash with Pressure Point.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////                ]
                                  |=======\==-----\1            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Ash with Medium Kick.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  //////////////                ]
                                  |=======\==-----\1            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


As soft and smooth and delicate as Ash's neck actually is, Benkei's fingers pressing in against it draw a soft hiss of discomfort and cause him to try shaking a bit of feeling back into his numbing arm. It's distracting enough that Hinata's foot catches him squarely on the side of the face, and unlike /some/ beauty obsessed egomaniacs, it doesn't so much set him off into a berserker state as it does cause him to stumble back and brush his fingers along the little dusty footprint.

"Mmm," he softly sounds out to himself as he looks between the two who just struck him. "Where should--ah."

His eyes set on Malin, all the way over /there/, and with a smile he holds his right hand forward and lets flame dance along his palm. "Something the matter, mademoiselle? Please, please... do not tell me you've grown tired of me?" he calls out to her. "A pity. Here."

The fire leaps suddenly upwards, shaping itself into a bouquet of flowers. Without Hinata to disrupt him this time, the sculpture is fully formed, and once it is he flicks his arm upwards to send the dozen roses towards Malin in a deadly, burning scatter-shot.

COMBATSYS: Ash successfully hits Malin with Ventose.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  ///////                       ]
                                  |>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


Malin does her best to avoid the rush of terrifying, painful energy as it burns in towards her. Unfortunately for her, it doesn't quite work out that way. Instead, she winds up painfully burned by the energy, skidding to a halt quite some distance away, surely Malin couldn't -seriously- be considering continuing to press her attack in these conditions? She'd be insane to contemplate it! She could barely stand up!

"Hey, Frenchie." Malin spits in return, "I was bored of you the moment you turned up. I'm /Malin/."

Those absurdly huge sunglasses that she'd been wearing all fight are suddenly flung into the air. Her eyes coming to sharp focus on the beautiful frenchman.

"Who the HELL do you think you are?!"

Suddenly, Malin is leaping forwards. Spinning through the air like, well, a crazed acrobat with nothing left to lose, she leaps and springs, covering the distance between herself and Ash in just a few seconds. And, at some point in her wild spinning, she's produced a -massive- mallet.

Said mallet is brought around as hard as she can possibly bring it, aiming to crash into the top of Ash's head and use him as an impromptu nail in the top of the train.

Benkei laughs as he dances backwards, out of Ash's reach. "This is easy! I am the CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!" he proclaims boldly, putting his hands on his hips. He swings his leg up and around with a roundhouse, again fairly weak, but fast. "Hiiiii-YYYYAAAA!" he shouts, at the top of his lungs.

Well, it looks like Ash has set his sights on the other girl who isn't her and therefore won't be upsetting Hinata's mother anymore by being inappropriate in a fight. There's nothing wrong with trying to pound Hinata into the pavement, but all that flirting is just not appropriate at all!

(It's up to Malin's mother if it upsets her. If Malin even has a mother)

As Malin has more of his focus, and Benkei might draw some of it away by shouting about how awesome he is, Hinata is free to try to duck in a bit unnoticed from behind, only shouting out at the last moment, "And I'm Hinata Wakaba, Taiyo High's Sunshine Girl, age 17!" Her leg is drawn back and she darts forward just as she thrust it out in a strike aimed to take the frenchman right between the shoulder blades.

COMBATSYS: Malin successfully hits Ash with Tsuzuchi.
?!? Weird Hit! ?!?

[                           \\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  ////////                      ]
                                  |====---\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Ash blocks Benkei's Light Kick.

[                            \\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  ////////                      ]
                                  |====---\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Ash blocks Hinata's Fierce Kick.

[                             \  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ash              0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  ////////                      ]
                                  |====---\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


"Ash... Crimson," he says as his knees buckles beneath the massive hammer. His left hand is thrust out twice to knock Benkei and Hinata's stereo kicks away from his body, and all the while his right is pressing to his lips in similar fashion to the way he began the fight. The green embers are visibly leaking out from between his fingers now, and as soon as his hand is taken away, a puff of fire is exhaled towards Malin's cheek, primed to explode against it in a broad, kinetic shockwave.

Whether it works or not, the fall that began when he was hit atop the head is completed afterwards, and on top of the speeding train he slips to the ground, barely conscious as his body tries to recover from the massive traumas inflicted upon it.

COMBATSYS: Ash can no longer fight.

                                  >  ///////////////////           ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  ////////                      ]
                                  |====---\-------\0            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Malin interrupts Brumaire from Ash with Malin Rocket.

                                  >  ///////////////////           ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >                                ]
                                  |=======\===----\1            Malin
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


COMBATSYS: Malin can no longer fight.

                                  >  ///////////////////           ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Hinata
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |-------\-------\0           Benkei


As Ash falls, Benkei throws his arms up, his little fists clenched. "Hoorah, he's dead! We win, we win, we win! Benkei Bunya is the name, giant slaying is my game!" he cries, hopping up and down excitedly.

Malin's hammer is already dropping from her fingers, when the hand comes up towards her, there's a moment where she has a choice. That choice is to either dodge, or to hammer home her point even further. Never let it be said that Malin allows a point to go unhammered! As Ash's hand reaches out next to her, she grabs his shirt roughly.

"I won't--"

The explosion is coupled with Malin pushing back with as much force as she can, she goes hurtling one way off the train, Ash sent flying the other, both most definitely shooting out of the bounds of the original fight,

"FORGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!"

And with that shriek as she plummets to the countryside below, fuelled by the -incredible- amount of pain the blast of energy had packed into it, she lets unconsciousness take her. That. Had not been an easy matchup. She'd worry about how much she'd been hurt when she woke up.

And... wait...

It's all over now? Hinata just stares around for a little bit as both the impromtu challenger and her original opponent going flying in opposite directions.

Does this mean she's won both fights?

Well, she's won at least one fight, and that's good enough for her right now, since her school mate is already cheering on the win, there's no reason not to follow along, "And that's what happens when anybody tries to mess with Taiyo High! Taiyo Pride wins EVERYTIME!"

Log created on 14:54:33 06/28/2009 by Ash, and last modified on 19:23:50 07/05/2009.