Description: It starts as something as harmless as a cage match. With electrified walls. And fire walls. And then devolves into much worse as Hotaru Futaba and Cody Travers face off to resolve who will start this SNF season as the Warrior's Belt Title holder. ( Winner: Cody )
Along the California interstate, four experienced fighters from differing backgrounds exchanged attacks atop four big rig trailers. In the confusion of a four-way free for all, the outcome was unpredictable. As two dropped from the injuries sustained, teenaged martial artist, Hotaru Futaba, and ex-con, Glow-enhanced brawler, Cody Travers were the last two Warriors Belt candidates standing. The grand scale altercation ended with heated words, traded hits, and a conclusion that left the audiences captivated, the judges confounded, and the medics horrified. Though the final trade of attacks and actions leading right up to Cody getting clean run over by a semi-truck were captured on cameras capable of instant slow motion replay (Which the broadcast did replay to great excess, especially the getting run over part), the SNF officials were uncertain how to call the match.
The only recourse was a rematch between the two final candidates. For Hotaru, it would be an opportunity to secure the mid-tier SNF title for a third time in her young, promising career. For Cody, it might even merit a token acknowledgement from his impossible to please boss or at least a decent fiscal award for the achievement to enjoy. Thus it is that Hotaru finds herself facing off against Cody for the second time in as many weeks. Topping a law breaking, road-warrior-esque battle atop speeding trucks is a tough challenge, but Master's people were up the task.
Thus it is that the renown SlameMasters arena is playing host to, of all things, a SNF Sponsored cage match. And as if the threat of being bludgeoned against unforgiving steel bars wasn't exciting enough, two of the four sides have been hooked up to the Metro City power grid and promise an 'attention getting' jolt of electrity should the fighters come in contact with them. Cages on the ground aren't interesting enough, so this one has been suspended up over the capacity-crowd filling the SlamMasters Arena. Also, cages not on fire aren't interesting enough, so this one is on fire. Or will be. The two non-electrified sides have been draped in slow-burning cloth, doused with oil, and set aflame, sending the occasional burning ember drifting down toward the arena floor some distance below.
Hotaru would rather be just about anywhere than in this cage and on some level she'd like to give the event organizers a piece of her mind about the way they keep detracting from the purity of the martial arts contests that were supposed to be at the core of the enterprise. Or so she felt. But she had already taken a chance with the road-rally of death and after having come this far, she forced herself to quell her skepticism of the legitimacy of matches like this and take one more chance in the suspended, burning, electrified cage with Cody Travers. The crowd loves it, to be sure.
Focusing, the girl rests on one side of the elaborate setup, eyes closed, fingers rubbing at her temples as she tries to clear her mind of distractions. The floor of the space between the bars forming the floor is minimal, making it unlikely that a foot or hand would slip between them, so footing and balance isn't really compromised much. Just about everything else seems to be, Hotaru muses. Engaging in the Cody-loathed tactic of 'running away' a lot is going to be tricky to pull here!
For a man who got run over by a semi maybe a week and a half ago, Cody Travers looks fantastic. Clad once again in a full-body, blue and white striped jumpsuit, and bearing a pair of long-chained handcuffs, the man shifts his weight from foot to foot eagerly, completely unperturbed by the wall of /steel and fucking fire/ some four feet behind him.
"You got nowhere to run, this time," Cody calls across the cage to the distant form of Hotaru, casually flipping a butterfly knife around in his right hand. Eventually he tires of his fiddling and leaves the knife open, planting his feet and raising his fists into a ready stance.
There was a time, a few years ago, when he might have balked at striking a teenaged girl, but constant Glow overdoses have ravaged his mind much more quickly than they've ravaged his body. He only barely remembers the convoy fight at all... and, indeed, despite his tough talk, he's not entirely sure where he is or what's going on.
But annoyances always seem to stick out in a man's mind, and of all his memories of the battle atop the speeding trucks, he can recall vainly chasing Hotaru the most clearly. It is an issue he's very happy that he won't have to deal with today.
"Let's go," Cody grins, beckoning Hotaru towards him with the universal hand gesture for 'bring it.' Interestingly enough, it is also the universal hand gesture for 'please pay before pumping your gas.'
COMBATSYS: Cody has started a fight here.
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Cody 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has joined the fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Cody
Taking in a deep breath, Hotaru crosses her arms in front of her for a moment, completing her possibly hopeless ritual for centering her focus as she exhales, unfolds her arms, and opens her eyes to observe Cody on his side of the cage. Trying to tune out the audience isn't much of a challenge. She's fought in enough big events to manage that. Trying to tune out the heat and threat the venue has built into it on the other hand isn't so easy. She'd seen cage matches on SNF for other fighters to participate in, but even as crazy as those had been, they were nothing compared to this setup.
"Nothing to fall off this time either though, which is also good news for you," she replies, managing a bit of a grin in spite the severity of the arrangement. While Cody's awareness of how he even ended up in this circumstances may be blurred, Hotaru's mind is active (and DRUG FREE), the girl trying to figure out how to capitalize on what she has to work with within the confines of the cage. The match is going to be a test of her ability to think as quickly as she moves in order to overcome the durable brawler.
He beckons for the match to begin and Hotaru nods softly, "Okay." The choice is up to her - to close distance or let him be the one to approach first. While keeping range from him between her attacks may be a component of her style of fighting, it certainly doesn't help right at the start! With the cameras in place, the audience making their noise, it's time for action and she strives to deliver.
Bolting for Cody's side of the cage, Hotaru slides into a low crouch, feet seperated, arms at her sides for balance - a transitory stance from which she springs into the air into a short hop, twisting into a solid jump kick aimed squarely for the center of Cody's chest. She remembers striking him to be not unlike fighting against a wrecking ball. But the first dent has to come from some where. "KYA!"
COMBATSYS: Cody endures Hotaru's Medium Kick.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Cody
As is to be expected, Hotaru comes springing in and Cody sucks in a breath and bares his chest. Hotaru's foot strikes him squarely in the torso with a loud *THUD*, the force of impact such that, on the flaming cage wall behind the man, an odd wavering ripple spreads througout the fire. Underneath his jumpsuit, his flesh blackens and bruises.
But he doesn't budge. "Not bad," Cody offers, in the split second that Hotaru hangs in the air in front of him, her foot buried in his chest. And then he retaliates, ducking low and swinging his right fist in a long arc underneath the girl, sweeping it up towards the closest he can reach to the small of her back. If that's her rear end, well then, so be it.
Right before his fist connects, he twists his entire forearm violently sideways, and as the blow bites into Hotaru - or through the air where she was - an eight-foot tall whirlwind, laced with thin lines of blue energy, erupts into existence in front of Cody, threatening to engulf the girl. Wind whips through the dangling cage, sending the flaming wall behind him into another frenzy.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru blocks Cody's Criminal Upper.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Cody
His counter attack comes quickly, as she had expected. Whether by intent or fate, she found herself facing Cody a lot in the previous bout, forcing the girl to figure out how to contend with the rugged ex-con in a way that was compatible with her own options. Unable to knock him back with enough momentum to slow him down, he retaliates before she's even had the opportunity to return to cage-firma in order to defend herself.
Snapping her striking foot back and tucking her other leg underneath her, the acrobatic girl extends her hands up, gripping the bars overhead to support herself against the impact. The result is that instead of any possible accusation of bad-touching, Cody's fist cracks into her upper shin, effectively slamming her up against the cage roof as she had planned on. There is the matter of the dangerous chi release to follow, but she remembers that from last time and moves accordingly by pushing down off the ceiling to slam down to the cage floor at Cody's side, allowing the tornado of power to miss her completely.
The girl takes her best shot once there, slamming her left elbow for Cody's ribs before twisting into a follow up strike at the same point with her right palm. "Ha, ha!" Her left palm snaps forward last as the girl takes a step back, already seeking to distance hersel from Travers with a third, final strike to the same point low on his rib cage. "HAA!"
COMBATSYS: Cody endures Hotaru's Fierce Punch.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Cody
Cody scoffs as Hotaru maneuvers her way around the centerpoint of his uppercut. The follow-through on his blow leaves him open for a moment - he doesn't lower his raised arm until the whirlwind fades, for some Godforsaken reason - but he's already turning to face Hotaru when she throws herself onto the offensive for the second time.
Hotaru's elbow cracks into Cody's ribs as he turns, and though the flesh gives way, the man hardly seems to notice. Her left palm meets the same fate... it's like punching a brick wall, except the brick wall is moving. The girl's third blow, however, finds itself more successful, a benefit of focusing on the same point. When Hotaru's right hand slams into Cody's chest, there's a loud *SNAP* as what must be one of his ribs cracks.
But Cody doesn't even blink. Before Hotaru even has time to collect herself after the second palm strike, Cody's right fist is lashing out at the side of her head. The open knife is still clutched in it, but thankfully for Hotaru, he doesn't strike with the blade, only his fist.
He follows the swing by driving his knee sharply up at her stomach, and in the same breath his left hand snaps out, trying to - of all things - grab a fistful of the girl's hair and use it to wrench her off-balance and send her staggering ('staggering' - really more 'flying') into the flaming cage wall behind him.
COMBATSYS: Cody successfully hits Hotaru with Random Combo.
- Power hit! -
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Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Cody
She feels the slight give under her left palm on the third strike. It certainly isn't an aim of her open palmed Kenpo to break bones, but Cody has proven he can take the best she can dish out and retaliate without being slowed down in the slightest, so pushing harder than normal seemed warranted. Her hand snaps back, the girl taking a step away in one fluid motion as she prepares to put range between he and she in order to better account for his reaction.
As expected, even the possibly cracked rib doesn't slow him down in the slightest and the heel of her palm is still dug into his side when he strikes. The first impact is jarring enough to send her reeling to the side, caught up in the rest of the combination attack. The knee to the stomach folds her forward with a pained gasp that escapes her lips, making it easy to get a firm grip on her hair at the top of her head. Though her hands come up to get a grip on his arm as if anticipating what he might be thinking to do, she isn't able to dig her heels in hard enough against the cage floor to avoid being flung forward, for her, into the flaming cloth draped over that side of the cage.
Fortunately for her, she doesn't spend a lot of time /surrounded/ by fire. Unfortunately for her, that's because the crown of her head rebounds off one of the bars, sending her stumbling backward, sending a cloud of embers into the air but otherwise escaping too much harm from the flames themselves.
Gritting her teeth, ears ringing, Hotaru whirls around, finding herself trapped between Cody and the burning wall behind her. Deciding to try and force distance between them via another means, it's with swift but clear concentration that she brings a surge of sapphire-blue chi to her right forearm, her hand drawn back, before swinging forward, unleashing the collected energy into a close-range discharge of power. "YA!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Cody with Hakki Shou.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-======|=======\===----\1 Cody
Cody wheels to track the staggering Hotaru, grinning broadly. "You ain't that tough," he chides, planting his feet against the bars underneath them and baring his chest again. He starts to doubt how good that plan is, however, when rather than fling herself against him, Hotaru begins collecting energy. Sweat beads on the back of his neck - a result of sudden doubt, and not the heat - but he stands his ground.
It turns out to be kind of a mistake. The blast of energy catches him full in the chest, vaporizing a large circular portion of his jumpsuit and sending him flying off his feet. He lands on his back and slides across the floor of the cage, finally coming to a halt near the dead center of the cage. He stays down for several seconds, sucking in progressively deeper breaths through his nose, his chest rising and falling exaggeratedly.
Suddenly, Cody lifts his fists and slams them into the cage floor underneath him. The entire cage shakes, and the bars underneath Cody emit metallic screams of protest - as do the chains holding the cage aloft, worrisomely - but the force of the blow propels the blonde to his feet. Through the hole in his jumpsuit, his torso is burnt from the impact of the energy... and, underneath that, one can still vaguely see the word 'CODY' carved into his chest.
A single drop of blood leaks from the bottom of the letter 'Y', torn open again by the force of impact, and rolls down Cody's chest, disappearing beneath what remains of the prison uniform. For now, it thankfully remains red.
Cody takes one sharp step forward, shifting his grip on the butterfly knife still clutched in his right hand, and snaps his arm forwards. The knife, now clutched more like a dart, goes flying, little more than a glinting silver streak as it cuts through the air towards Hotaru. As the weapon leaves his hand, Cody's eyes burn as brightly as Hotaru's blast did. Motherfucker /hates/ fireballs.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru fails to reflect Knife Throw from Cody with Kobi Kyaku.
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Hotaru 1/------=/=======|=======\=====--\1 Cody
Drawing her right hand back, Hotaru is already moving the moment the azure hued chi has left her fingers, bolting to the side a short distance in order to get out from between Cody and the burning wall and speed to the opposite side of the cage before sliding to a stop, whirling on her toes as she does so such that she ends up facing Cody along the length of the cage.
Hand coming up, she brushes a touch of her black hair out of her eyes and off her forehead, her skin sticky with perspiration caused by close proximity to heated flame and the pressure of trying to match Cody's brute force and strength with speed and quick thinking. A soft exhale escapes her lips as she smiles faintly, finding the challenge invigorating even if the painful impacts aren't leaving her feeling too great.
The carved word on Cody's exposed flesh catches her eye again, the girl finding herself wondering what the story of this handcuff bearing brawler must be. But she should probably be paying less attention to worrying about the color of his seeping blood and more attention to the fact that he's more capable of attacking from range than she had anticipated.
His knife's trajectory is a sure shot and while she might have just enough speed or room to work with to avoid the glinting metal all together, the girl attempts to meet the attack directly with a technique of her own. Stepping into a full-body turn, the younger fighter whips her right leg up from low to high, angling through a reverse round-house that leaves a blazing trail of that same blue chi in the wake of her leg. The intent is to send Cody's knife flying right back with him with all the speed and accuracy preserved.
The actual outcome is the speeding blade slipping through the chi barrier right before it solidifies into a shimmering mirror. "Kya-" It takes a second to for the truth to sink in as she snaps her leg back down and finds Cody not menaced in the slightest by any return fire. A glance to her side reveals the thin red line of blood dripping down her right thigh. Further inspection and the onset of a deep, burning pain, brings her eyes to the blade wedged high on the side of her right hip.
Hissing, the girl bites her tongue as her hand reaches down to pluck the weapon free. Shaking her head, she handles the weapon with all the grace of someone who's clearly never used one in a fight in her life, before finally chucking it aside. Taking in a deep breath, she brings her hands up, fingers tainted slightly by the contact with her own blood, focusing back on Cody. Though talking much in fights isn't a forte of hers, she has to induldge her curiosity. "Did you do /that/," she eyes the letters sliced into his skin, "To yourself?"
Cody doesn't return to his ready stance after throwing the knife, leaving his arm extended outwards, the chain linking his wrists together pulled almost entirely taut. The rage in his eyes fades to satisfaction as his knife slips through Hotaru's barrier and buries itself in her flesh. Casually, he straightens up again, shaking his hand out as if the act of throwing a knife had somehow strained it.
The knife skitters away across the cage floor and then slips through two of the bars, tumbling down towards the ring below. Cody watches it go, and his satisfaction twists into irritation when it falls. He turns his gaze back to Hotaru just as she speaks, and shakes his head. "Sure did."
The moment the words leave his mouth, he looks suddenly uncertain. He did, didn't he...? Well, whatever. The man shrugs, shakes his head, and takes two casual steps towards Hotaru. "That fancy shit might work on your queer little fireballs," he informs Hotaru, "But..." His eyes suddenly unfocus, and he stares off into space for a second.
And then he's back, and looking confused again. Frustrated at his own inability to concentrate, Cody unlatches the manacle on his left wrist, shakes the limb out, and then reattaches it. "You wanna talk so bad?" the man snarls, tone suddenly violent. "I'll give you somethin' to talk about!"
Suddenly, a ring of flickering blue energy flashes at Cody's feet. Color seems to drain from the world around him, and time freezes for the longest microsecond in the last fifteen minutes. Also, there are action lines all over the place, it's great.
And then time resumes, and Cody bursts forwards, moving so fast he trails hazy, semitransparent blue afterimages. He closes the distance between himself and Hotaru in a heartbeat and slams his right foot out at her side. Without so much as a pause, he drops the extended foot down at Hotaru's foot heel first, and then lunges forwards, bringing his left knee in at her hip.
And then it just sort of devolves into a wild flurry of kicks and knees, as Cody singlehandedly justifies the fact that all of the cameras hanging from the ceiling around the cage are filming at a ridiculous number of frames per second.
As Cody's flurry finally draws to a close, the penultimate blow is a sweeping roundhouse as he tries to crash his foot into Hotaru's temple... and he finishes the whole thing off by springing into the air and pistoning both of his legs out at Hotaru's chest, meaning to send her flying into the nearest wall. This time, that wall is not on fire, but on /electric./
COMBATSYS: Cody successfully hits Hotaru with Dead End Irony.
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Hotaru 1/--=====/=======|=====--\-------\0 Cody
A perceptive girl, she easily picks up on the confusion in Cody's response. It brings back thoughts to his behaviors in the last match. How he acted, his shifting between being focused and unfocused, and that unforgettable transfiguration into a green eyed monster. Is he some kind of experiment? A prisoner subjected to untold amoral alterations for the sake of science? Her eyes were opened to the corruption of the world when the truth behind the now ex King of Southtown was explained to her. The darkness of the criminal underworld, the hubris of science unrestrained by morals or laws... and the more she watches Cody in action, the more she feels that perhaps she is witness to yet another such occurance.
Her question spurs a hostile response, however, as Cody comes barreling back toward the girl across the length of the cage. Uncertain as to the nature of his onslaught, she turns her side toward him, arms raised to defensive angles in front of her, adopting a posture that affords her the quickest vectors by which to deflect incoming attacks. Unfortunately for the dimunitive fighter, she underestimates the severity of these attacks. The incoming opening kick meets with her arm as she shifts her right hand into position just in time.
But the speed with which he then stomps her foot with his heel slips right through her preparation and leaves her stuck, unable to adjust her stance as his knee comes in next, jamming hard into her already bloodied hip, provoking a gasp as the wound is revisited painfully. The combination of strikes that follow are a blur, each hit transitioning into the next as Hotaru is driven backward, step by step, losing ground toward the electrified wall.
The roundhouse nearly sends her stumbling into the corner between fire and lightning, and most certainly leaves her completely defenseless against the follow up attack - the two-legged drop kick that impacts her cleanly. For once, her slight stature is a boon, as rather than suffering from a shattered rib cage, she's knocked off her feet instead, much of the crushing force lost initially only to be made up for as her upper back slams against the electrified bars.
The result is obvious as sparks fly and the young fighter crumples to the cage floor face first, her body aching all over from the impacts suffered from various directions. It's tempting to curl up and stop fighting, hoping that no matter what Cody's state of mind, he won't keep attacking if she doesn't get back up, but her heart won't let her quit like that. Shifting, her left hand planting against the cage floor as the risidual twitches of a high powered electrical jolt work their way out of her muscles, her right hand lifts to rub at the blood seeping on the side of her head from the solid roundhouse. Gasping for breath, the blue eyed teen focuses back on Cody, intent on giving him at least one more solid attack, committed to sticking this out, one step at a time, as long as she possibly can.
And when she switches from being propped on one hand and her knees to bolting forward, the transition happens in an instant. A wake of deep blue energy trails behind her, flaring so bright for a moment as to blind the sensitive cameras, as she attempts to slide into a punishing, chi empowered flip kick deep inside Cody's guard. "Ten-shou..."
The space is limited, but the crushing force behind her attack may very well slam even him off his feet if she strikes him cleanly, a literal fount of chi lending strength that her muscles alone can't manage. If able, she'll continue to ascend, only to kick off of the cage ceiling and dive right back into Cody, a living, chi-infused bullet. "Ranki!" And should she manage to take him to the ground, the girl will draw all that spent chi back into herself, building a hemisphere of brilliantly bright blue power while kneeling on Cody's stomach, before giving him the CPR treatment of a point blank chisplosion, funneling the entirety of that energy down her arms and into his chest!
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Cody with Ten-shou Ranki.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|=======\====---\1 Cody
Apparently, Cody isn't expecting Hotaru to get back up after that one. He lands nimbly back on both feet and watches calmly as Hotaru eats approximately a jillion volts and collapses, twitching. He doesn't move to defend himself; in fact, he dusts off his hands. "Just stay down, little girl," he urges, looking down at her.
Despite his words, however, his face spreads into another broad grin when Hotaru finds her heart and charges. "I'm imp-" he begins... but that's as far as he gets before Hotaru's feet crash into his chest. The already damage chest of his prison jumpsuit explodes into scraps, and the force of the blow lifts the man off his feet, dropping him heavily onto his back a good six feet away from where he was standing.
He starts to sit up almost immediately, but Hotaru crashes into him again, knocking the wind out of him and crashing his head back against the floor of the cage. The chains holding the cage up squeal in protest again... but they're quickly drowned out by the sounds of Hotaru blasting chi into Cody's chest over and over at point blank range, and the blonde man uttering a roar of pain and anger.
In the crowd below, a teenaged boy nudges his friend, points, and laughs, "Dude, it totally looks like she's jumping his bones."
Back in the cage, Cody slumps against the floor of the cage. Smoke rises from his chest, which is scorched black in the places where it isn't the far less pleasant color of 'third degree burns.' By now, the vague 'CODY' in his chest is almost entirely obscured.
For a moment, it looks like Cody might not get up. His breathing is shallow, and his eyes are squeezed shut, his face twisted into a visage of agony.
And then, suddenly, sickly green light spreads through Cody's chest, just under the skin. Gradually, the now partly-reopened 'CODY' carved into COdy's chest lights up with the telltale luminescence of Glow. It's like watching some sort of infernal machine grind to life.
In the same instant that Cody's eyes snap open, revealing themselves to be solid glowing green, and he utters an enraged, animal roar, his knee suddenly slams upwards, driving up at Hotaru's groin. Honorable Mr. Travers is not.
COMBATSYS: Cody successfully hits Hotaru with Light Kick.
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Hotaru 0/-------/---====|=======\====---\1 Cody
Cody's decision to not defend himself allows Hotaru to execute her combination as intended, all the way down to the tackle and final position that /somehow/ musters up the wrong sort of ideas each and every time. She knows it's taking a risk, getting this close and, ah, personal with a brawler like Cody, but the amount of chi she manages to follow up her attack with proves to be enough to cut through a lot of his defenses at last.
The energy discharging from her pressed palms reacts violently with his skin, burning it in ways she hasn't noticed often in the opponents she's targeted with the attack. A side effect of whatever's been done to him? A particular vulnerability, perhaps? She spares precious seconds wondering if that outburst of potential was enough to down the rugged brawler. Panting for breath, squinting her eyes as she tries to bring her vision back into focus, the teen fighter notices the deeply cut wound in his flesh beginning to bleed that sickly shade of puke green that was so hard to miss last time they fought.
Eager to get distance between her and him, the girl presses down with her hands, deciding to figure out if there's a fight left once she's reached some safe distance. That's when he makes his move. She's aware of what he's doing in time to react, but not in time to react effectively. Both hands slam down, palms first, attempting to halt the upward motion of his knee as she isn't fully standing yet in a position that affords any better response.
The end result has her collapsing to her knees, her hands between her legs, a stunned look on her face visible before the girl crumples forward, forehead to cage-floor. All the times she'd executed her most punishing technique on people, no one had ever deigned to counter attack like /that/! Still, she's got fight left in her, and she isn't about to be stopped after an attack like that given all he's puth her through so far and she's managed to get up from. "Of all the..." she mutters.
Gritting her teeth, the determined girl rolls on her side near Cody, before kicking out hard with her left foot without focusing on where, exactly, her heel would drive. Then her right foot follows, using the second impact to force herself into a backward roll away from him in order to come up into a crouch facing him directly, cheeks red, both from exhaustion and from feeling flustered all the same at how that exchange of attacks played out.
COMBATSYS: Cody endures Hotaru's Combo Attack.
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Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|=======\=======\1 Cody
The exasperated Hotaru rolls away, and in short order lashes out with her foot. The blow strikes Cody roughly in the right shoulder a mere moment after he sits up like he was the fucking Undertaker, going from flat on his back to sitting ramrod straight in a heartbeat. The kick doesn't even slow him down... although it does prompt him to reach up, grab the mangled remains of the upper half of his jumpsuit, and tear it off.
The second foot catches him square in the forehead, opening a long gash from which glowing, neon green blood begins to pour. Unperturbed, Cody pulls his legs up underneath himself and climbs idly to his feet. Blood cascades down his face, providing him with a mask both disgusting and horrifying. There's a /lot/ of blood... but it's probably find. Head wounds always bleed a lot, right?
Stiffly, Cody turns to face the crouching Hotaru. He rolls his neck nonchalantly, and unconsciously flexes the now swollen muscles of his arms. The motion increases the visibility of several of his veins... and it's clear that they're full of the same neon green glow he's spewing from his chest, eyes, and forehead, all spiraling down to converge at his fists.
For a man who was screaming wildly just seconds before, Cody seems suddenly and oddly calm. He stares at Hotaru for several seconds, head tilted as if he were looking at something very curious and entirely alien.
And then time freezes again, another ring of energy - this time sickly green - erupting into being at Cody's feet. When the moment passes, Cody springs forwards, this time trailing hazy /green/ afterimages. It's a very important distinction. No, really!
In this go-round, however, he does unleash the fury of his feet; rather, he looses an astonishingly fast jab... and then follows it up with two more... and then turns around. It's an instantly recognizable technique, and just as before, he cycles through the jab triplets three times before finally, on the fourth, he follows through with a right cross, a left hook, and then an overly wound up right uppercut.
As the assault goes on, however, Cody's calm visage twists once again into fury. By the time he's unleashing the cross, he's begun screaming... and somewhere around the second series of jabs, he's so into it he keeps punching even if Hotaru moves away.
Even after the uppercut, Cody doesn't seem to be able to stop. The afterimages fade, but he staggers backwards towards the center of the cage, lashing out wildly at phantom opponents and screaming like an animal in pain.
Eventually, he collapses to his knees and begins pounding at the floor in fury. The metal bars underneath his fists bend and shriek in protest... and, once again, the chains suspending the cage in the air match them, sparks inexplicably spraying from where they're attached to the cage.
COMBATSYS: Cody has reached second wind!
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Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Cody
Unfortunately for Hotaru, the chains give out first.
The entire cage detaches from the chains holding it with one final metallic scream, and the construct plummets out of the air, accompanied by a single scream of terror and excitement from the entire audience. There's an odd feeling of weightlessness for both combatants for the second and a half before the cage strikes the SlamMasters ring with a thunderous crash. The cage wins; the Ring is sturdy, but it wasn't built for this, and it crumples under the weight of the steel cage. A second later, it catches on fire, thanks to the /flaming fucking rag/ attached to one wall of the cage.
The temperature in the cage rises dramatically, considering a fair chunk of it is now on top of a giant flaming wrestling ring. Even worse, some of the cables electrifying some of the walls have come loose, and on occasion electricity now arcs through the roof of the cage... or, judging by the sway of the cables, the walls that are already on fire.
And in the middle of this crumple, electrified, flaming hell, Cody Travers rises to his feet. Although his eyes burn with hatred, after his little tantrum he seems to be perfectly calm once again.
"Come," he offers, voice oddly warbling and modulated, presumably because of the drugs. "Come and see."
COMBATSYS: Cody successfully hits Hotaru with Final Destruction.
- Power hit! -
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Hotaru 1/----===/=======|====---\-------\0 Cody
Upright, but barely, Hotaru rests her hand against her stomach, feeling a certain sense of nausea spread through her as she watches Cody pull himself to his feet even after her two additional strikes designed to finish the job her previous all out technique began. He seems focused back on her but as a man confused as to what is even going on around him. The bewildering exchange of the gasping teen and the unnatural entity occupying the center of the cage lasts for only seconds.
And then he is upon her. As with his earlier assaults, the stunningly fast opening strike robs the girl of her fleet footedness even as she attempts to spring out of the incoming path of rampaging destruction. The first hit sends her staggering, leaving her without defense for the rest of the punishing assault. She goes limp, starting to collapse as the cross and hook collide with the sides of her head in turn, sending her reeling one way than the next.
Shakey knees do little to save her from the uppercut that slams the more fragile fighter into the ceiling of the cage before she drops down unmoving to the suspended floor with a gasping exhale. And that would be the end of it were it not for the storm of rage unleashed by the bare chested berserker slamming his fists into the floor. The howls and shouts ring in her ears, summoning a lingering sense of self-preservation that has her roll onto her side. Dazed and bleeding, she pushes herself up on one arm, hair sticky with sweat and blood matting against her scalp and forehead as she looks toward the cause of noises more animal than human.
Too lost to understand what is happening, it doesn't sink in until the unsettling sensation of weightlessness kicks in and the distorted sound of an audience shocked out of their normally entertainment-induced stupor of thought into a state of legitimate concern for their own well-being. The cage lands, the arena shatters, the fire bursts into a greater inferno, and the bars arc with live-wired lightning as confusion reigns within the arena. Officials, too bewildered to act make no move to curtail the hellish disaster.
But the landing also shakes Hotaru from her helpless state of mind. Her instincts tell her she still needs to act, still needs to do something. Slowly she rises, staggering into an unsure forward lean. Blood forces one of her eyes closed as her right arm rests over her left shoulder, wondering if perhaps it might be dislocated judging by the sharp yet numbing pain running along her upper arm.
"No," the girl growls as embers rain down around her. "If this... if this is what you are willing to become to win this then..." She gasps for breath, coughing up blood which she spits to the side, "Then I won't be a part of it. This isn't what fighting is about for me..." Her right arm slips off her shoulder to wipe across her mouth, leaving a streak of red on her cheek as she staggers backward, starting to turn away, hoping to escape the conflagration before it gets any worse.
But she stops herself halfway, eager to collapse on the outside of the permiter of the disaster zone, when it sinks in just how unaware the blonde must be to his own circumstances. Is he even cognizant of the danger he has created with his rampage? And what are words to one who speaks as if not entirely sure what he is doing or where he is? Whirling back toward Cody, the girl clenches her fists at her sides, shrugging her shoulder - a suspicious popping sound of it snapping back into place accompanied by a subtle wince of pain. "Force is all you understand now. So..."
Through the wreckage she accelerates again, one last burst of brilliantly bright chi as she once again attempts to tear into Cody with all the power she can muster. Her charge may not have the speed of before, and she may not be able to bring quite as much power to bear, but the technique is the same and should she succeed in connecting with the opening kick, she'll dive right back into him for another attempt at finishing him off with a massive infusion of chi before collapsing herself. Should she miss, however, her uncertain descent will take her into an uncontrolled, crash landing into the floor where she would be unable to pull herself up one more time!
COMBATSYS: Hotaru can no longer fight.
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Cody 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Cody endures Hotaru's Ten-shou Ranki.
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Cody 1/------=/=======|
Hotaru's kick strikes the second time as surely as it did the first, slamming squarely into Cody's chest. This time, however, it doesn't send the blonde flying. It's a wonder that, berserk as he is, it does anything at all... but it does, driving him back one heavy, lumbering step. Apparently not a very stable step, either, as he slips and drops heavily to one knee.
And then Hotaru is on him again, unleashing all of the energy she can still muster into the man's chest. Again, his flesh burns from the strikes, skin cracking and bleeding more green... and he stands right into it, climbing ponderously to his feet even as Hotaru collapses before him.
To be frank, by this point Cody looks like shit. He's bleeding in almost a half dozen places, and his chest looks like it got hit by a truck that was on fire - and then a second, identical truck that was on fire - and that's not even counting the eerie, horrible way his Glow-induced hulkouts induce. But as they say, the soul still burns, and the 'CODY' on his chest is still visible through the damage to his flesh, glowing luminescent green.
Despite how mangled his body is, Cody doesn't sway or falter as he stands over Hotaru's body, looking down at her. It's almost as if he doesn't realize how bad a shape he's in; this would be because he, in fact, /doesn't/ realize. But there's one thing he does realize; his opponent lies defeated and helpless.
After a moment of contemplation, Cody lifts his right foot into the air, preparing to stomp Hotaru into so much goo...
And then suddenly he loses his balance and staggers backwards, stumbling towards one of the flaming walls of the cage. Hands shaking violently, Cody reaches up and clutches at his temples, and then throws his head back and screams in pain. He takes another stumbling step and then drops his hands and suddenly turns, charging for the fiery wall.
He bursts through the flaming cloth and steel bars like some kind of Kool-Aid man, spraying flaming debris across the floor around what used to be the ring. At about this point, the crowd finally realizes that this shit just got real-ass, and as one they all simultaneously panic and try to flee, assisted by security guards in fluorescent orange vests.
Luckily for them, they're beneath Cody's interest. He roars again and then flees up towards the entrance ramp that wrestlers strut down, disappearing into the bowels of the stadium.
A few seconds later, what amounts to a privately owned SWAT team materializes from the crowd, groups up, and rushes up the ramp after Cody.
A few seconds after /that/, a two-man SNF camera crew rushes to follow them.
COMBATSYS: Cody has ended the fight here.
Log created on 19:37:14 07/27/2009 by Hotaru, and last modified on 11:37:13 07/29/2009.