Description: In scenic Bangladesh, in a priceless national monument, the delinquent Malin faces off against the fallen hero Cody Travers. Malin seems doomed from the start, but against such fierce determination, can Cody really pull out a victory? And can all the determination in the world counteract the famous Travers stamina? A truly spectacular battle ensues, in which both fighters are brought to the very limits of their abilities, in the end, perhaps both go away as winners. OR LOSERS(?!) (Draw Match)
India. An up and coming world power with a lot to prove. India is full of vibrant energy. Capable of amazing things, the indian work ethic is a sight to behold, and their culture is incredibly varied. An exploding middle class has thrust unimaginable increases in the quality of life on the people in such a short amount of time that the whole world seems like it could be in their grasp. India, in short, is a powerhouse of potential. A burgeoning land of energy and dynamism.
Malin likes it.
She wasn't quite sure why she'd chosen to challenge for the Warrior's belt. Perhaps because it was /there/. She was too proud to go for the Challenger belt, but not suicidal enough to think that poking Ryu in the eye is a good idea. Besides, Cody was some sort of hero or something, from what she understood, and it was only fitting that she, the hero for the next generation (haha, seriously), should dethrone him and take up the honored mantle of Person What Has Shiny Gear.
At the moment, she's waiting, and looking as serious as she ever looks. Arms folded across her chest, blowing a big, pink bubble whilst some camera crews set themselves up, and people place extensive bets. Not on whether she would win or lose... but on how many limbs she'd still have functioning after Cody was done with her.
Yes, there is one question on everyones lips: Who the HELL is Malin, and just how badly is this going to hurt?
Cody Travers is, indeed, some kind of hero. But he certainly doesn't look like it.
Clad in his usual television garb of a full-body, blue and white striped jumpsuit, Cody is spending the time immediately before the match is to begin in an astoundingly unorthodox way. He's not stretching, or warming up, or, God forbid, being a good sport and wishing Malin good luck.
No, he's sitting on a provided folding chair, staring into the middle distance. The chain of the extra-long handcuffs attached to his wrist is balled up in his hands, and every once in awhile he fiddles briefly with it. He doesn't really look like a hero; in fact, he kind of looks like he's in shock.
An attractive woman, far too snappily dressed to be an SNF employee, hovers around him like a satellite, carrying the actual physical Belt over one shoulder. Her job title is probably something like 'attendant', but her job role is much closer to 'handler'. Eventually, one of the duo's occasional muttered conversations ends in Cody climbing to his feet and shuffling towards the area near the monument that has been cleared to serve as the ring.
He doesn't look very enthused. In fact, he doesn't look very /alive/. Malin may be an unknown, but she clearly has this one in the bag.
Well, never let it be said that Malin isn't willing to take advantage of her opponents misfortune.
In shock as he is, a good sportsperson would probably wait for him to look like he's waking up, or at least aware of the world around him, before getting on with the fight at hand. Malin is no such good sport. She is, in fact, almost the definition of a bad sport. An anti-sportsperson, if you will.
In fact, she's pretty happy. She knew all these old guys were washed up, really. Cody must be at /least/ in his late twenties. About time he was shoved off into retirement, right?
"Hey, Grandpa!" Malin declares as she steps forward. "Think fast!"
And without any further ado, the girl has flung her hand forward. A sharp knife slices through the air, aiming to simply... lodge itself in Cody's foot. Her hope being that if she went for the legs, she could slow him down enough to just bleed him dry. Though his rather shuffling display so far didn't have her /too/ worried about the Warrior's speed.
COMBATSYS: Cody endures Malin's Thrown Weapon.
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Malin 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Cody
Malin's knife zips through the air and lodges itself neatly into Cody's shin with a meaty *thwack*. After a beat, the fabric begins to darken, a slowly spreading blotch creeping across the leg of the man's jumpsuit. A little high off target, perhaps, but a fantastic strike none the less.
The problem is that Cody doesn't stop moving. He doesn't even flinch. In fact, for several steps, he doesn't appear to even notice he's been hit.
Eventually, his foot slips a little in the trail of blood he's beginning to lead, and he looks downwards, eyebrows raising slightly at the sigh of a knife in his God damn body. He leans down, grips the knife, and yanks it out of his flesh as if it were a minor annoyance, and not a /fucking stab wound/.
He straightens up again and turns, oh so slowly, to face Malin, still clutching the handle of the knife. She is who he's supposed to be fighting, right? -- ah, who cares. He can't deal with this anymore. Homie's gotta hit something.
Cody tosses the knife into the air, catches it like it were a dart, and with little fanfare hurls it blade-first at Malin, without any of this fancy 'spinning' shit. It's telegraphed, and he's obviously out of sorts, but the weapon still cuts through the air like a God damn lightning bolt... and unlike Malin, Cody doesn't bother shooting for extremities. He aims right for the girl's chest.
COMBATSYS: Malin dodges Cody's Knife Throw.
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Malin 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Cody
"... Dude, that ain't right."
If there's one thing Malin has going for her, its her speed. Thankfully, that speed hasn't abandoned her yet. The fact is, she was -disturbed- by what she was looking at here. Did Cody actually do what it looks like he just did? Did he just... not give a crap that she hit him? ... Geez, that is dark. Most people at least hiss when you stab them. With Cody, that knife had sounded like it had hit a friggin' side of beef.
The fact her own weapon is turned against her is pretty bad, but Malin doesn't dwell on that. Cody might not be fully in the game, but she couldn't afford to slow down for even a second. With that in mind, she darts to the side of the oncoming knife, letting it lodge to the hilt in a support beam, to the horror of some (very lucky) onlookers. How the hell she even saw it coming is impressive in itself.
Something told her that getting within arms reach of Cody was not a very good prospect for her continued health, however. So... time to test just how tough this meathead is. "Geez, gramps!" She calls, one hand tucking briefly into her pocket. "How slow /are/ you? Hey, don't worry about it, okay? Why don't you just have a lie down. Here, I'll help!"
The girls hand whips forward again, this time, she throws out a spinning yoyo. It might, at first, seem like some sort of joke. Seriously. What sort of fighter brings a yoyo to a title match?
However, Malin's tricks aren't anything to scoff at. Blades spring out from the buzzing weapon, and it bounces off the floor. Aiming to tangle around Cody's legs, before lodging just underneath the wound from before. The steel wire that makes up the 'string' of the toy strains as Malin leans on it... hoping that she could get the leverage to forcibly stop Cody's advance.
COMBATSYS: Cody endures Malin's Onigumo.
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Malin 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Cody
Cody's eyes narrow when Malin darts aside from the knife, and he takes a lumbering step forwards, the first part of a slow but inexorable advance. He only makes it a few steps before Malin's bladed yoyo begins winding around his legs like he was an AT-AT, though, and the advance comes to a halt a step afterwards, simply because Cody cannot physically lift his legs to take a step.
Of course, he still barely seems to realize that there is a bladed fucking yoyo in him. He looks down at his entangled legs as if confused, and only has a moment to gape before Malin starts trying to yank him to the ground. The force of the pull jerks the American a few inches forwards... but though Cody might wobble, he don't fall down.
After only a heartbeat, he seems to put two and two together, and Cody leans down to grab ahold of the taut steel cable attempting to haul him off of his feet. He grabs the cable and simply yanks in return, attempting to do the same thing to Malin that she'd like to do to him.
Regardless of whether he manages to take Malin down, the man lifts his eyes to her, and snarls, "Can't you... hit harder... than this?"
COMBATSYS: Malin dodges Cody's Quick Throw.
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Malin 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Cody
Luckily, Malin isn't so staggered by Cody's resilience that she doesn't understand what he's trying to do when he grabs the cable. In shock, she drops the thing, and just lets Cody /take/ her toy. The girl is obviously stunned, but, this is Malin. She doesn't stay stunned for long. "Geez, gramps, come on here already, will you? You can't even begin to keep up with me and you are talking like you've got this in the bag, get real!"
The girl licks her lips, and reaches behind her back. Suddenly, she's coming forwards. This went completely against her idea that she should stay out of arms reach, but, sometimes, you just have to go with what seems right. Right now, this seems -right-. She needed to make him feel it if she was going to get anywhere, after all. "Okay, you want me to hit hard?" She spits.
"YOU ARE IN FOR A SHOCK!"
And that said, she leaps into the air. Completing a graceful set of spins before she lands, and her arms snap forwards. Aiming to drive two steel needles into Cody, one at the base of his spine, one at the back of his neck. If she can manage that, several thousand volts of electricity will discharge, completing not only one of the nastiest attacks she's got... but one of the most terrible puns she could have chosen to deliver it with.
COMBATSYS: Cody Toughs Out Malin's Electric Prod!
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Malin 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Cody
Even through the haze, Cody can't help but appreciate that it's still just as easy to manipulate high school girls as it was when he was that age.
Malin's needles plunge into Cody's body effortlessly; he doesn't even try to move, and so, so much electricity courses into his body. So much, in fact, that arcs of electricity dance over the surface of his body like he was some kind of vastly powerful cosmic warrior who was a-chargin' his laser.
Of course, as can be suspected by this point, there are... complications. He doesn't writhe and crap his pants and die, like a normal person. He doesn't even spasm and become mysteriously see-through and collapse like a fighter in their right mind would.
No, as Malin does her level best to electrocute Cody, he just rolls his shoulders and sucks in a deep breath, slowly straightening to his full height as adrenaline courses through his body alongside the electricity. Finally, he doesn't feel like curling up and dying anymore.
"Not bad, Flatty!" Cody crows, all of the fatigue in his manner and voice vanished as if they were never there. "I knew you had it in you! But playtime's-"
Cody suddenly wrenches sideways, twisting to face Malin in a blur of motion. The girl will have to be fast just to get her needles back out of Cody's body... and even faster to escape his fist when he snaps it towards her chin in a blazing fast uppercut. As it connects - or bites through where her chin would have been, at least - he suddenly twists his entire forearm sideways in a sharp spin.
"-OVER!"
With an ear-splitting howl of wind, an eight foot tall tornado erupts into being in front of Cody, laced with thin lines of raw blue energy. It creates a tiny dust storm in the impromptu ring... and, more importantly, threatens to suck Malin into it and toss her into the monument like a rag doll unless she gets the hell out of dodge, and fast.
COMBATSYS: Malin blocks Cody's Criminal Upper.
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Malin 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Cody
Malin just can't believe that /anyone/ could take her shot like that. It just wasn't natural to avoid flashy-fighter-syndrome (the sad malady of FFS being something all too many fighters are afflicted with in their career), so easily unless--
"Aw /crap/ you are some sort of ROBOT!"
And then she's letting those electric weapons of her strop to the floor. Crossing her arms over her face and chest, the girl manages to weather the storm of force. It hurts like a bitch, of course, and even through her guard it whips and tears at her, but she is still standing at the end of it, and that is good enough for her.
"D-damn, what the hell, man? You needed me to wake you up before you could whip out the good stuff? What sort of lame-ass style is that?"
It is, of course, a rhetorical question. Malin doesn't expect an answer. She is hoping, however, that as she's asked the question, and she's still just standing there- so unlike her usual style- that Cody won't notice her foot has slipped behind his. If he doesn't, she'll go for that good old playground technique of shoulder-barging a guy in the chest, and over your foot. Praying that he'd hit the floor.
Because if he does, she'll demonstrate /another/ technique from the good old highschool days. Namely. The run away like a little girl technique. Aiming to start circling the arena. Her first instinct had been right; stay the hell out of arms reach!
COMBATSYS: Cody endures Malin's Quick Throw.
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Malin 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Cody
"Stop talking," Cody demands, raising his hand to strike Malin again.
Before he can, of course, she flings herself shoulder-first into him, and... basically bounces off. The American barely even sways, and he certainly doesn't trip over Malin's carefully positioned foot. It takes him a beat to realize what she just attempted... and when he does, he just spreads his arms, palms outwards, as if to ask: Really?
And then Malin is running, and Cody gives chase! Or... at least he starts to. He trips after about a step; the steel cable may have gone slack enough for him to turn, but it's still tangled around his legs, and that makes running a difficult proposition.
And, he half-remembers/half-realizes, there is a yoyo in his leg. As Malin skitters away, Cody leans down and fixes this entire stable of problems, removing the bladed yoyo from his shin and quickly unwinding the cable from around himself. It only takes a few seconds, and then he straightens up, now holding the razor yoyo... thing.
He gives it a few experimental swings, head tilted, and eventually muses aloud, "You know, this thing ain't half bad." And then he whips it around above his head, twirling it like a sling for a second before chucking it at the fleeing Malin.
COMBATSYS: Malin dodges Cody's Small Thrown Object.
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Malin 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Cody
Run, Malin, Run!
If there's one thing that Malin has learned the hard way over the years it is that she really doesn't have what it takes to match up against the big boys. Luckily, the short exchange also reaffirms for Malin that the big boys don't got game when it comes to yoyo tricks, and /she/ knows that is what is really important in life.
Cody's attempt to bean Malin with her own weapon is unsuccessful. The girl just ducks down out of the way of the oncoming weapon, and instead produces another knife. "Hey, man, its not my fault you suck so bad you can't keep up. Maybe if you spent a bit more time training and a bit less time eyeing up your, heh heh, 'assistant', you'd have a chance against me, but you don't. It'd be easier for you to just give up now, you know?"
Goading Cody on, the girl hurls the weapon forward with a bit more force. But, this time, she's not trying to lodge a weapon in Cody's body. She's trying to bounce it, handle first, right between Cody's eyes. Still keeping up as much speed as she can muster running /around/ the man, one might be forgiven for thinking she is deliberately trying to enrage the title-holder.
COMBATSYS: Cody endures Malin's Thrown Weapon.
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Malin 1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Cody
Cody grunts in irritation as the yoyo soars over Malin's head... and then realizes that that hissing sound is the cable still half in his hands unraveling. He tightens his grip again, and the yoyo's flight comes to an abrupt halt, clattering to the ground. It doesn't exactly... yoyo, but oh well~
Cody begins reeling the weapon back in, slowly turning to track Malin's progress around the 'ring'. He actually starts a little bit when the knife cracks into the bridge of his nose handle-first and bounces off, spinning away. Blood begins to trickle from his nostrils, and the blonde reaches up to feel his face with he hand he's not using to gather up Malin's yoyo.
"You little bitch," Cody snarls, as he finally gets the yoyo head back to him. He hates this keep-away shit. At least she's just throwing crap, and not fireballs. Fucking... fireballs. "When I catch you, I'm gonna... gonna..." Cody trails off, /clearly/ rendered speechless by his anger. The weird way he staggers to catch his balance must just be the anger too, right?
He rallies from his stumble, raising the yoyo above his head again, and once again begins whirling it around like a sling. This time, however, rather than releasing it, he slowly lets the cable out. Within seconds, he's scything the cable and bladed yoyo through the arena in a huge circular pattern, changing up the angle and height like it was a giant, murderous Skip-It, lashing out at Malin again and again.
COMBATSYS: Malin endures Cody's Small Random Weapon.
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Malin 1/----===/=======|=======\==-----\1 Cody
"I /know/ you aren't using my yoyo."
It's the first time this fight Malin has actually sounded pissed off, rather than vaguely intimidated or snarky. How dare he! This was getting to be beyond a joke! This guy was obviously a complete amateur. He was bumbling and stumbling around like he'd taken one too many blows to the head, and sure, he was tough- tough beyond belief- but it takes a hell of a lot more than just being tough to win a fight. You need style, class, skill. Qualities that she just hasn't seen in Cody so far.
And this guy thought he could turn her OWN WEAPON around on her? /Screw That/!
"HEY! JERKWAD!" She shouts, leaping into the air, through the blazing slashing storm of metal, "CHEW ON /THIS/!"
And with that, she brings down The Pain.
For those curious at home, in this case, The Pain is a sword, a good foot long blade of steel that she's pulled, apparently, out of thin air. Said blade is coming down ridiculously fast, and is aiming to cleave straight down into Cody's shoulder. If she can manage that, she will actually wrench the weapon free, pulling it out as she jumps away, using Cody's insane toughness against him, by using his chest as a springboard to bounce back again.
COMBATSYS: Cody endures Malin's Crushing Strike.
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Malin 1/---====/=======|=======\====---\1 Cody
When Malin springs into the air towards him, Cody releases the yoyo again, letting it skitter away along the ground and presenting his chest in a silent challenge to the girl leaping at him. The sword comes down, and... although it strikes Cody's shoulders square on, it doesn't actually penetrate his skin, instead skipping along his chest, tearing a long line in his jumpsuit.
Cody, for his part, merely rolls his shoulders and takes a sharp breath through his nose. The only indication that he was struck at all - other than the damage to his jumpsuit - is a thin cut on his chest, which begins to slowly bead with blood.
And then Malin springs away off his chest... and, this time, Cody is much faster to give chase. He lunges forwards, bounding into the air after Malin, drawing his leg back in preparation for a kick...
... and then, suddenly, blue light flashes around his feet, and everything stops for a heartbeat. There are action lines; it is great. And then everything springs into motion again, and Cody surges forwards with until now unrevealed speed. So great is his alacrity, in fact, that he trails hazy blue afterimage.
Cody's foot cracks out towards Malin, even with the two in midair as they are. The blow is immediately followed by another, and then another, and then another, Cody's legs arcing up and down and around in a flurry of attacks delivered with such force and speed that they actually keep the pair lifting into the air, rather than obeying silly little laws like 'gravity' or 'science'.
The final blow comes after several seconds of the lightning fast assault, Cody drawing up his legs and then slamming them outwards in a vicious dropkick. As soon as his legs reach full extension, he... plummets like a stone, landing in a heap on the ground below.
And then he just... lies there, groaning, his vision hazy and swimming. "Fuck," he rasps, stuggling to pull himself to his feet. "Deep breaths... deep... gghn..."
COMBATSYS: Malin blocks Cody's Dead End Irony.
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Malin 1/--=====/=======|===----\-------\0 Cody
Say what you like about Malin, she is /FAST/.
The girls eyes go momentarily wider as Cody follows after her, but, the moment doesn't last for long. Her sword is still in her hands, and that's all she needs. Turning it flat, the girl braces behind it as Cody tries to kick her. The blow hammers her up, but the shock of the attack is dispersed. Higher and higher she is lifted, but no matter where Cody tries to hit her, that sword is in the way. Shuddering under the blows, shaking, denting, and, as the final blow sends her rocketing backwards, the weapon finally bends in the middle. Entirely useless, bent into a broken, ruined shape. Nothing but Malin's insane reflexes, and a good dose of survival instinct backing it up, keeps her in the fight.
But she is still in the fight, and she hits the ground far more gracefully. A touch out of breath herself, she skids to a halt, and looks at the mass of bent steel that was once one of the more prized weapons in her collection. The girl is actually shaking, though. Perhaps... there was just a hint of respect for what Cody had managed to do, even if he hadn't managed to follow it up all the way to its logical conclusion.
She actually looks concerned. But she's not dumb enough to go and try to help Cody back on her feet. Instead, she tries to collect her own thoughts. Recover a bit of breath herself. "Man." She says, seriously. "You almost had me. But... dude, you aren't /right/, okay? It's been obvious since the start. You are sick, or something. You aren't on top of your game, or that would have ruined me. Stay down, man. Just... just count yourself out, alright? If you want to keep this up, I'm not going to hold back, but, it just... it doesn't feel /right/ to take you down now. Go get some /sleep/ or something."
COMBATSYS: Malin gains composure.
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Malin 1/---====/=======|===----\-------\0 Cody
Cody barely acknowledges Malin as she expresses her concern, so intent is he on... whatever he's doing. He struggles desperately to control his breathing, but his heart beats faster and faster, and although he manages to lift himself onto all fours, he appears unable to get any farther.
"Hot," he mutters frantically, staring down at the pool of blood forming underneath him from his various cuts. "So hot... why's it so... fucking..." The blonde devoles into incomoprehensible mutters, and he loses his frail control on his breathing; within seconds, he's hyperventilating, sucking air in and out faster and faster with each passing second.
Back with the cameras, Cody's attractive 'assistant' begins urging camera crews to begin moving backwards. Very backwards.
Cody suddenly wrenches one of his fists up off the ground and slams it back downwards, shattering the brick into a small crater. After a beat, he snarls wordlessly and does it again.
Slowly, oh so slowly, the blood pouring from Cody's shin and nose and chest changes color. Thin threads of neon green appear in the red streams leaving his body, and as more blood leaves him, the amount of color grows and grows. Within seconds, all of the blood pouring out of him is bright, glowing green.
With a bestial roar, Cody rocks upwards onto his knees and begins tearing frantically at the upper half of his jumpsuit. There is an odd, modulated tinge to his scream, and within moments he's torn half of his clothing to shreds, leaving him bare-chested. His muscles are grossly swollen and slick with sweat, and in a few places where the veins are close enough to the surface, one can see thin lines of green light tracing their way through his body.
The apparently insufferable heat problem mitigated, Cody opens his eyes, until now squeezed shut; they, too, are now a solid, neon green.
Laboriously, Cody rises to his feet. He takes an uncertain step towards Malin, lifts his shaking, swollen hands, and roars a challenge at the girl, face contorted in monstrous rage.
COMBATSYS: Cody gains composure.
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Malin 1/---====/=======|==-----\-------\0 Cody
"... Okay, so, you aren't going to stay down."
Malin adjusts her bandana with the back of her hand, the girl narrowing her eyes at Cody, who was, it must be said, doing a pretty good job of intimidating the hell out of her all over again. She had no idea what she was looking at here. She, being raised by The Mean Streets, had /heard/ of Glow, and of some of the nasty side effects, but, she'd never actually seen it first hand, and it is, in fact, pretty far from her mind right now. Though she might look back on this moment from her hospital bed, at the moment, she's just a little bit freaked out.
She didn't sign up for this, man. She just wanted a shiny belt.
Still. It's not like she's never fought seriously, before. She's just never fought Cody before. She still wasn't going to back down. He still looked slow. Slow people rarely did well against Malin.
Even as he steps forwards, Malin seems all too happy to oblige. Flicking forwards in a blur of motion, she's not pulling any punches. In fact, now that he was freaking out, she was going to go even more vicious. Namely, she aims to stamp down on Cody's foot, as hard as she can, and then jab him straight in the eye, before sliding, nimbly, between his legs. It wasn't as polished or smooth as her other motions had been, but, then, things are now getting pretty desperate!
COMBATSYS: Cody endures Malin's Random Strike.
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Malin 1/---====/=======|===----\-------\0 Cody
Cody stands his ground when Malin rushes him, and he doesn't even flinch when her foot smashes down onto his. In fact, his arm is already lifting to strike. Malin puts a stop to that when she pokes him in the God damn eye, and he lets out another animal snarl, snapping his head to the side to get his precious eyes away from Malin's grubby little fingers.
By the time he turns his head back and is ready to hammer his arm downwards, Malin is already sliding underneath him. He barely even hesitates, instead whirling in a quick 180-degree turn, moving with astonishing speed for someone so bulging and swollen. His right leg lifts into the air before Malin can even get fully out from underneath him, and he slams it downwards towards her stomach, meaning to simply crush her in between the brick and his foot.
The foot comes down with enough force to pulverize the brick underneath it... even if that force has to go through Malin's internal organs, first.
COMBATSYS: Cody successfully hits Malin with Heavy Kick.
Grazing Hit
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Malin 1/=======/=======|====---\-------\0 Cody
Malin is stunned. Cody is just moving incredibly fast, and she has a hell of a time keeping up with it. Throughout this fight, she's managed to stay one step ahead, but now, something had changed, and suddenly she finds herself rolling to the side. Not able to evade the crushing blow entirely, even though it barely glances against her side, the girl grunts, coughing, crumpling against the unstoppable force that -is- the foot of Cody Travers.
She knows she can't afford to stay down, though. There was just no way for her to take him down if she didn't give it everything she had. "Okay, you want to take this to the next level... lets do it! I'm finishing this, right here, right now!"
You have to admire Malin's spirit, if nothing else. Even faced with such overwhelming force, she's refusing to buckle.
Suddenly, the girl spins around. Packing more force and momentum into the blow than she has managed throughout the fight so far, just through sheer force of will she aims to crash her slender frame against Cody's legs, hoping that they buckle. Even if they don't, even if he stays standing, she -will- drive herself forwards. Swinging around, to try and literally 'walk' herself up his body using those powerful kicks. Six stunningly forceful blows intended to hammer Cody into the air, much like he had forced her up there before...
The difference is that Malin's speed, as always, is her strength. When he's up in the air, suddenly, she -isn't-. Quite how she flickers out of being is a mystery for the ages, but the response- the goal that she aims for- is to have Cody suspended in the air above her, when she throws six of her best, weightiest knives up into his back. Hoping that this would finally be enough to fell the giant.
COMBATSYS: Cody endures Malin's Kagero.
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Malin 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0 Cody
Cody doesn't go down from the initial leg tackle... but he's stable, not heavy. The kicks connect solidly, driving the enraged man into the air, a few feet at a time. He takes little action to defend himself, biding his time until he has a moment to counterattack; until the girl, in her zeal, leaves herself open.
That moment comes. Cody lifts his leg to strike, and-- then Malin is gone, having flickered out of existence. Cody lets out a grunt of confusion... and then, suddenly, a strangled cry as six knives thud into his back. Suddenly, his odd moment of weightlessness is gone again, and once more he plummets to the ground like a rock, landing with such force that he once again destroys some of the brick underfoot.
Thankfully, he manages to twist sideways, and avoid burying all of the knives even deeper into him when he lands. For a moment, he lays still, the knives protruding from his back and making him look kind of like a humanoid stegosaurus. And then he stirs, climbing unsteadily to his knees, and then to this feet.
He turns to face Malin, and just stares at her, trembling with fury and adrenaline. Neon green blood trickles from his mouth, where his teeth are bared in a snarl. Slowly, without taking his eyes off of the girl, Cody reaches over his back and withdraws one of the knives from his flesh.
The blade is coated with his crazy-ass green blood, and it beads on the knife's tip, slowly dripping to join the blood already smeared on the ground at Cody's feet. For several seconds, he doesn't even move. Maybe he's lost it so much he's just fro-
Cody roars again and bursts into motion, lunging at Malin knife-first. What follows is a mad flurry of ridiculously fast cuts, aimed not only at the girl's chest, but at her face and neck, too. The entire while, Cody is screaming, his voice still sounding as if it were run through an Auto-Tune filter created by Satan himself.
COMBATSYS: Cody successfully hits Malin with Tokushu Koudou.
* Attack Of Opportunity! *
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Malin 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Cody
Even Malin's speed has its limits.
The girl does her best, she really does. But she hadn't been expecting Cody to get back up after she hit him, and she especially hadn't expected him to be as enraged as he was. She had given it her all, but she could feel her body slowing down, and its all she can do to avoid the more disfiguring injuries that the knife-wielding maniac seemed intent on inflicting on her. Her footwork is just not good enough, and deep slices are gouged out of Malin's tender form. She was fast. But Malin was brittle like few fighters in her class, let alone on the notch above. She'd given it her all, and her all wasn't good enough.
But there is fire in Malin yet, and she could still fight. She could still try. She was slowing down, true, but she wasn't actually out of the game yet. Cody is being -very- loud, and far be it for Malin to ignore such an obvious opportunity.
As he lunges forwards, she ducks to the side. Her fist clenched. This was a strategy she so rarely tried to employ, but she was going to do it. Packing all of her frustration into it, her fist is almost shaking as she steps up, and against Cody.
"Maybe it's time!" She shouts, "FOR /YOU/ TO SHUT UP!"
And with that as her battlecry, she aims to punch Cody in a rather vicious way, not the most sensible, or the most tactical move she's ever done, but to literally stuff her fist down Cody's gullet. That, she felt, is something that even the mightiest of Warriors would HAVE to feel, wouldn't they?
COMBATSYS: Cody endures Malin's Power Strike.
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Malin 0/-------/-======|=======\==-----\1 Cody
And suddenly, in between crazy-fast knife slices, Malin punches him in the mouth.
No, like... /in/ the mouth. Literally inside of his mouth.
That gives Cody pause, if only for a split second, the same way that it might give pause to a rhino if you were to simply walk up and gore yourself on its horn. The blow lands solidly enough, in fact shattering several of his rear teeth and eliciting a weird gagging sound from the man, but...
After a split second, Cody's jaws suddenly snap shut. If Malin doesn't get her hand out of there, and fast, the American will simply sink his teeth into her tender girl flesh.
Either way, his left hand snaps out for her neck in the same motion, and his right shifts its grip on the knife and then thrusts it inwards, attempting to bury it up to the hilt in Malin's guts.
Malin's only potential saving grace is that Cody is, finally, starting to slow down; punching him in the uvula appears to have put him off balance, and so much of his blood is spilling out of him and onto the ground (and Malin) that it is a wonder he's still moving around at all.
COMBATSYS: Malin interrupts Savage Combo from Cody with Suzume Bachi.
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Malin 1/------=/=======|=======\====---\1 Cody
It would be fair to say, at this point, that Malin is getting desperate. So desperate, in fact, that she /doesn't/ draw her hand back. Cody's teeth bite down hard, and draw blood, but Malin has seen her opening, and she takes it. Not many would think that Malin could stand up to a direct blow the way she does, but sheer determination is burning in her eyes, and the blow hammers against her neck, but she -does not fall-.
Then, shockingly, she actually disarms the staggered fighter. Her hand whips up, snatching her knife back from him. Through gritted teeth, she hisses-
"Why. Won't. You. Stay. DOWN?!"
And draws her good arm back. Lunging with all her might, the girl buries the knife back in Cody's shoulder, and rips down as hard as she possibly can, before she throws herself backwards. Her hand bloody and injured from its stay between Cody's jaws, and the fact she'd torn it free.
Now it is Malin's turn to sink to one knee. Not quite standing up straight. Her good hand clutches the injured appendage, and she's panting for breath. Winded, horribly injured, and every part of her body screaming at her to just give up... was it enough? Could ANYTHING ever be enough against this man?!
Malin's knife buries itself in Cody's shouldler, and Malin must have found a sweet spot, because Cody suddenly throws his head back and roars in agony. As Malin scrambles away from him, he staggers backwards, swiping furiously at the empty air in front of him, blood gushing from the new wound in his shoulder. After a few seconds, he regains his composure...
... just long enough to charge towards the recovering Malin, still screaming. Two bounding steps away from her, light flashes around his feet again, this time not blue but the same sickly green as his blood, Time stops for a heartbeat, and when it resumes, the blood-soaked, enraged Cody is moving even faster than the first time. The afterimages that follow in his wake, too, are green.
And there are... a lot of them. Cody slides to a halt, to tower above the kneeling Malin, and in the same instant he hammers his fist downwards. He does it again, and again...
... and then, for a split second, he turns away from the girl. And then just as quickly he's facing her again, hammering down three more blows. And then... he turns again. And then back, and then three more blows... and... and then he turns again.
Finally, he follows the next three hammer-like blows with a vicious double axe handle, both fists clenched together to hammer down at Malin. And then he... just sort of goes crazy. He rains a few blows into the brick /next/ to Malin, and then staggers away to collapse into a pile some ten feet away, roaring and unleashing his rage on the ground beneath him.
Eventually, he manages to tire himself out, or... something. His breathing, once again, begins to accelerate, and his heart hammers in his ears. Once again, COdy rocks up onto his knees, and he sways dangerously, threatening to topple over at any moment...
COMBATSYS: Cody can no longer fight.
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Malin 1/------=/=======|
And then he does. Cody overbalances, and topples backwards, arms limp at his sides, still somehow bound by his long-chained handcuffs. He wretches a few times as if he were going to vomit, but never quite manages it.
After a few seconds, the green blood pouring from innumerable cuts on (and in) his body slowly begins to return to its more natural red color, and his entire body sags, his muscles losing the unnatural swell to them.
A few hundred feet away, by the cameras, Cody's 'assistant' frowns and writes something on a clipboard.
COMBATSYS: Cody successfully hits Malin with Final Destruction.
- Power hit! -
[ <
Malin 1/------=/=======|
Malin actually smiles when Cody screams. She can't help it. If there is one flaw that Malin has, it is arrogance, and she's pretty confident that she'd managed to hit some sort of artery. Maybe now Travers would finally collapse.
There's some irony here, as for the first time in the fight, Malin feels -truly- confident that she'd gotten out of it okay. Sure, he had a bit more fight left in him, but in the end, it was all show, wasn't it? That is, until she sees the utterly inhuman fury burning away in Cody's eyes.
Malin is really just along for the ride on this one. The blows don't treat the girl terribly well, and she is hammered, over and over, into the ground. When, at last, it is finally over, though, she forces herself up on shaking knees. Mostly, to glare at Cody's 'assistant'. Her experience harassing Shadaloo and NESTS had taught her to spot a handler when she saw one.
"Hey... you..." She slurs, gesturing with a knife. "You see this? This's... what _MY_ group does. See? Your little... your little /thug/ ain't nothin' compared to the Ma--"
And then the knife clatters out of her grip, and, rather inelegantly, she topples face-first into the brick dust that Cody's rampage had thrown up all around her. Out for the count.
COMBATSYS: Malin takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Malin can no longer fight.
Log created on 15:45:39 11/24/2009 by Malin, and last modified on 22:49:21 11/28/2009.