Description: Some people, after being clubbed over the head and waking up tied up and blindfolded, might be worried. Others will threaten to start kicking ass. Hayato, Alan and Aranha find themselves in Taizhou's Yellow Jade Building, ordered to fight for the amusement of some Chinese gangsters. Hayato doesn't take kindly to this. (Winner: The Fist of the Street)
Some people might be intimidated when over a dozen guys step out of the shadows and start surrounding them. But not Hayato Nekketsu! Of course, when they inform him that he has an appointment to make, he informs them that they are mistaken. When they insist, he informs them where they can stick their appointment. And that's about when he gets struck over the head with some heavy blunt object. Of course, that wasn't actually enough to put him down, although a large group of capable combatants certainly helped. Some of them are probably not feeling too great at the moment, though they got some revenge by getting a few good kicks in on Hayato after he was restrained.
They've taken the precaution of not actually releasing Hayato yet, so he's sitting on the floor with his wrists and ankles bound and a bag over his head. They'd tried handcuffs first, but he broke those. Now he's just sitting there, quietly fuming. Sooner or later somebody is going to want something from him, and even if they don't untie him if somebody gets close he might be able to bite them.
SOME TIME AGO, STREETS OF TAIZHOU
"Zhou Ji wants to see your action?"
"Does Zhou Ji have ten thousand dollars, because if he doesn't, I'm busy reading the back of this exotic food package."
"Hey, you don't blow off Zhou Ji! Let's go!"
"Look, fatlips, I can see you've got an important date with a collagen injection or something so I'm just going to sit here and pretend you didn't bring that, what is that, stale cabbage? Jesus Christ, you smell like stale cabbage, go away before I ruin the plastic surgery you /had/ to have done to those things, nobody gets lips like sausages naturally."
The squat man, whose lips are indeed absurdly plump, gets so mad that he makes a hilarious 'plprlprtplrptltpltr' sound with said lips, gesturing emphatically at the blond boxer squinting at the ridiculous label of some foreign food he found. A man who appears to be made of anvils of muscle stepped up behind Alan then, knocking him unconcious with one open-handed cuff to the back of the head. An onlooker familiar with Alan's particular attitudes commented, "Now that, right there, is the cosmos making things /right./"
NOW
The rough bag is pulled off Alan's head, and the boxer lifts his bound hands to rub his eyes. "Ugh, Christ, is that the bag Fatlips wipes himself with? Now I know what it smells like when shit /shits./" He 'patiently' allows the man tasked with 'free the fighters, don't die doing it' to cut him free, at which point he springs to his feet, pulls off his vest, and shakes it vigorously - a large amount of dirt accumulated on its back from his trip. He uses the vest to swat at dirt on his backside, shaking it out again before pulling it on.
He looks immaculate. Some guys just clean up good.
Alan threads his hand through his hair, producing a black-and-gold cigarette, snapping his fingers to light it and popping it in his mouth. Now he looks like he just stepped out for the night, except for his curiously missing sunglasses. He looks... softer, somehow, without them. "Alright, chucklenuts, nice place. Triads, huh? That's great." His tongue, at least, is not. "Hurry up, cut the other kids loose, I got shit to do."
And then we have Aranha. He did go peacefully in the face of superior numbers. The problem was he didn't quite know when to keep his mouth shut. A problem that Alan's boss knows all too well. After awhile it got to the point where if he so much as moved a mouth muscle, he'd get slugged. The fact that something got under his nose, made it the most unpleasant sneeze he has ever felt in his life.
The ex-thief is slowly escorted into the building in handcuffs. He has already picked the lock however he makes no show to remove them. He's going to bide his time but not without mouthing off. "Jeeze... If you wanted me to fight, you could've asked nicely. Or paid me. Paying me works really we- URK!!!"
Oh he's gonna make that particular member pay once he can get him alone.
One thug walks up behind Hayato, approaching him somewhat gingerly. The man appears to have a bandage on his face, perhaps from his last encounter with the teacher. He quickly slices through the ropes binding Hayato's wrists and then steps back, leaving Hayato to pull off the bag over his head and quickly free his ankles. Then the teacher surges to his feet, his Burning Spirit blazing in his eyes. He looks around for a moment, spotting Alan and Aranha. Well, they don't look like Chinese gangsters, so... "These two are the ones you want me to fight?"
Hayato looks around, but most of the gangsters have made themselves scarce from his immediate vicinity, instead falling back into position to watch the upcoming fight. "What if we don't want to fight each other? What if we feel like kicking your asses instead?!" Oh yeah, Hayato is about to get Alan and Aranha in even more trouble than they already are if he keeps this up.
Alan continues to adjust himself as Hayato starts getting up, adjusting the cuffs of his shirt and reaching down to his belt. As his fingers thread through the iron rings stored there, he glances blandly at Aranha. "Oh, hey, this guy. That guy. I think I tried to recruit you once." He fastens his rings TO THA HILTZ, closing hands into fists and taking a few jabs, leaving sparks of electricity in the air. "Didn't go well. Water under the bridge." He rolls his neck.
When Hayato starts going on, Alan's left eyebrow climbs independent of the other, and he shoots Aranha a furtive look. Before, Alan would've agreed with Hayato - with no /money/ involved, he'd have no reason to go through with this fight other than general misanthropy.
Alan has other reasons to be here, in the second Jinchuu.
Rolling his shoulders, the boxer steps up to Hayato, left arm relaxing - which only means more electricity is pooling around it, crackling faintly. His other hand rests on the Blazing Teacher's shoulder for a moment, in the kind of movement that one of kind heart could mistake for 'backing you up buddy.' But when Alan says, "Don't rock the boat, dude," and drives his electric fist into Hayato's ribs, he may... realize differently.
Alan presses his face to Hayato's ear, however, hissing low, "It's too early not to play by their rules!"
COMBATSYS: Alan has started a fight here on the right meter side.
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Alan
COMBATSYS: Hayato has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Hayato 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Alan
COMBATSYS: Aranha has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Hayato 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Aranha
> //////////////////////////////]
|=======\-------\0 Alan
Not only does Aranha see that Hayato is not a gangster, he recognizes the teacher from his first SNF years ago. Aranha doesn't quite find this trip down memory lane all that pleasant because he knows he's about to fight before a hostile audience.
The gangster who happened to do most of the beating on him happens to be the one who ends up being the one sent to free him. That's about the point where Aranha surprises him with a couple of swift moves that result in the handcuffs suddenly appearing on the gangster's hands then he picks the gangster's pocket for the handcuff key before moving closer to where the fight will be. "Run along now!" Aranha decided to opt for humiliation rather than 'rocking the boat' and going nuts and trying to set himself free he kicks the handcuffed gangster right at Hayato.
COMBATSYS: Hayato blocks Alan's Thunderclap.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Hayato 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Aranha
> ///////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Alan
COMBATSYS: Hayato dodges Aranha's Large Thrown Object.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Hayato 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Aranha
> ///////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Alan
Hayato may be pissed off, but he's not completely off his guard. When Alan comes driving his fist in the teacher twists around and brings his elbow down, taking the fist on his arm. That doesn't help so much with the electric part of the punch, though. He frowns as he catches the whispered message, and returns his own low voiced comment. "Do these jackasses look like they work for this ninja guy? Besides, if it was for the tournament they could've just sent us an official noti-" And then a guy comes flying at him.
The teacher quickly steps to the side, letting the gangster go stumbling past him to fall to the floor in a heap. That sort of seems like something that might rock the boat... but most of the other gangsters apparently find it amusing. Presumably the guy wasn't that important. Hayato puts his right hand in the palm of his left hand, and the sound of popping knuckles follows, and he cracks his neck. "Okay, fine. You guys want to play? We'll play." Since the gangsters /did/ want to see a good fight, they returned Hayato's shinai to him. /After/ he was tied up. So now he's got it handy to start repeatedly smacking Alan across the ribs and face.
COMBATSYS: Alan blocks Hayato's Scolding Slash.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Hayato 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Aranha
> ////////////////// ]
|=======\==-----\1 Alan
Like some kind of reverse whack-a-mole, Alan's arms blur, catching each shinai smack on the forearms, leaving nasty bruises. He stepped right along with Hayato, one foot snapping up to kick off the flying gangster. It's like a beautiful ballet where that guy is the loser. In the air, Alan meets a shinai smash fist first, bringing his foot up, and kicking off of that as well.
He lands a few feet away, sliding on the ground, leaving lightning in his wake. Official notices? Alan threw out the idea that this was going to work like a normal tournament the moment he had to parachute in, Hotaru in tow, after his helicopter was /shot by a laser/. Whatever, he mumbles to himself, rising on one hand and the balls of his feet. There are still winners and losers - no sense keeping an eye out for anyone aside from Aranha, whom he flashes five fingers, and then three.
Then he's gone, leaving a blur that passes right by Hayato, appearing right on the edge of the cleared spot, turning on his heel. On the way, he swung his first at Hayato, aiming for the shoulder, to spin and disorient him. He repeats the motion again, and again, six more times, leaving lines of chi in his wake, crackling in the air. For the last hit, he stops, jumps, letting out a shout... pulling his chi back into his hand. The eighth blow is aimed right across Hayato's face, a huge glove of chi surrounding the boxer's hand.
It all takes about four seconds.
"To be honest, after the last tournament, I don't put shit past ninjas." Besides he has a laundry list of crazy things ninjas have done to him in time he has been living in Southtown. It's a miracle that he isn't /more/ paranoid than he already is.
The capoeirista himself tilts himself into a cartwheel before moving towards the teacher's flank and then goes into a spin lashing out with a tornado of kicks to closely follow the attack by his current team mate.
COMBATSYS: Hayato dodges Alan's Storm Front.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Hayato 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Aranha
> //////////////// ]
|=======\==-----\1 Alan
COMBATSYS: Hayato blocks Aranha's Inverted Tornado.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Hayato 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Aranha
> //////////////// ]
|=======\==-----\1 Alan
Hayato spins about all right, but it's before Alan's fist has a chance to connect with him. While Alan tries to correct for that miss the teacher moves again, slipping past any attempt to follow up on the assault. And then Hayato swings his arm out, holding it as steady as an iron bar while Aranha's feet slam into it. The teacher had been looking a bit annoyed, but his lips start to curl up in a grin. He may object to being dragged here to do this, but he can't deny that he enjoys the fighting.
And... if either Aranha or Alan take the time to look at Hayato closely, they may wonder if they're seeing things. Occasionally the air around him almost seems to shimmer, like a haze of some sort. It's impossible to get a good look at, though, always seeming to be on the edge of one's vision. And someone familiar with the teacher might find the glint in his eyes to be even brighter than usual. It's more easily seen when Hayato does something like twisting his arm around, trying to grab Aranha by the ankle before he can withdraw his leg after the flurry of kicks, then spin about, whipping Aranha around to smash him into the floor.
Alan's charged fist whips past Hayato, slamming into the ground with a badass shockwave. He rolls forward with it, popping back up to his feet, flicking the ash from his cigarette and fixing his hair, apparently unconcerned. "Tchhh." Does Alan R. B. take any particular notice of Hayato's haaaaaze? Well, since he was 18, electricity has crackled across every inch of his skin unless he's /tried/ to stop it, so... no, no, he doesn't take any special notice. "Fast 'un, aren't ya?"
Alan makes his move as Hayato goes for the throw, pulling up his fists and stepping up behind him. He has nothing else to say, and for once, he doesn't! He merely snaps one fist out, then the other, each at one of Hayato's kidneys before his fists blur, a cloud of electricity composed of approximately five fists launching into the small of his back.
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Hayato's Strong Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hayato 1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
> //////////////// ]
|=======\==-----\1 Alan
Aranha was too busy spinning to quite notice the haziness and he doesn't spin quite fast enough to avoid the burning teacher's grasp. As a result the capoeirista is forced to change his plans to one more focused on damage control. He plants his hands as Hayato propels to the ground, and then pushes himself into the air with a twist the moment that Hayato releases his grip.
Upon landing, the capoeirista is already in another spin as he whips his arm out wards sending a blue spider web of chi right for the teacher.
COMBATSYS: Hayato dodges Alan's Rapid Combo.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Hayato 1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Aranha
> //////////////// ]
|=======\==-----\1 Alan
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Hayato with Web Shot.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Hayato 1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
> //////////////// ]
|=======\==-----\1 Alan
Although he's in the middle of throwing Aranha, Hayato's grip on the younger man's ankle leaves him a fair bit of room to move about. So when Alan comes up behind him Hayato just spins a bit more, keeping his precious organs away from the boxer's electric fists. This does provide Aranha with an opportunity to diminish the impact he has to deal with, however. And so it means Hayato is dealing with a retaliation a bit more quickly than he expected, in the form of a chi web. It crashes over the teacher, and he grits his teeth for a moment.
But the expression of pain fades back into a grin as Hayato takes a step back toward Alan, this time leading with his fist. Blazing orange chi flares up around as his hand as he ducks down a bit in order to bring it swinging up in an arc. He attempts to drive it right into Alan's gut, just under the ribs, and then keep on going up until Alan is no longer obstructing his fist.
COMBATSYS: Alan dodges Hayato's Manly Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Hayato 1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
> //////////////// ]
|=======\===----\1 Alan
Hayato's grin is all the telegraphing Alan needs, smoothly stepping to the side, his right arm swinging loosely behind him. "Guess who else is fast, sideburns?" It's Alan!
It only takes a moment for the swinging to build a tremendous amount of energy, chi spiralling down into his fist until it can't even be seen for the bright yellow light. Thunder rumbles as his arm tenses, locking the energy where it is, thunder rumbling as he comes driving forward. His shoulder rams into Hayato, trying to knock him off balance before - "OVERCHAAAAARGE!" With a final crack, the electricity explodes around his fist, as he goes to do much the same thing Hayato just tried on him.
After recoiling from his chi attack, the capoeirista frowns. It's almost as if he wasn't happy that he landed the attack. Or could it be something else that's bothering him besides the fact he's fighting here for free and against his will?
Whatever it is, the capoeirista gives no voice to to his personal concerns. Instead, he charges past Hayato, leaps on top of a crate and uses the crate to leap for a metal pipe above him before he drops down onto the teacher feet first in an attempt to stomp him just as Alan lands his punch.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Hayato with Sky's the Limit.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Hayato 1/-----==/=======|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
> //////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Alan
COMBATSYS: Hayato counters Overcharge from Alan with Counter Thrust.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Hayato 1/---====/=======|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
> ///////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Alan
Alan comes running in toward Hayato with the shoulder charge, but the teacher is ready for him. "Yep, you're fast." As Alan moves in, Hayato's fist moves in a downward arc to meet him, resulting in the boxer running head-first into Hayato's descending fist. The result is sending Alan crashing to the floor, probably in a shower of electric sparks. "Sometimes that's not so great though, is it?" The positioning leaves Hayato a bit overextended, however, and in the time it takes him to start straightening up and getting his balance back Aranha just straight up lands on his back, sending Hayato sprawling down to join Alan.
He doesn't just hit, he hits fist-first, throwing up a pillar of electricity to the ceiling, scorching it. It's not a good punch to be hit by. Leaving a bloody streak, his fist fails to support his entire weight + Hayato's punch, flying wide as he crashes to the ground. If he hadn't lost his sunglasses several thousand feet about Taizhou, they'd go flying off dramatically.
The boxer rolls away as Aranha just tackles the guy, his right shoulder completely out of place. He starts to stagger to his feet, then throws himself back down, putting it back in with a pop because that's just what badasses do. "Huaacht!" It hurts like the dickens. Clenching his teeth, Alan pounds at the ground with his left fist, pushing himself back up. Already banged up from earlier, now he's straight up in trouble, arms hanging, neck limp, apparently barely on his feet.
But then, his head snaps up, something rare in Alan's eyes - he actually gives a shit. He wipes at his mouth with his left hand, spitting the cigarette to the side. "Not yet," he growls, "I'm not going down right off the bat..." He takes a deep breath, and slaps his right shoulder, sending a fresh wave of steeling pain through his body. And again. And again. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! There's too much on the table for this!"
COMBATSYS: Alan gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Hayato 1/---====/=======|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
> /////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Alan
And that's when Aranha steps off of Hayato for just a moment before assessing the damage to both his team mate and opponent. He knows that Alan needs to get himself together and right now, and Aranha needs to give Alan the time to do so.
While Hayato is down on the ground, the capoeirista drops low with a hand on the ground as he swings a scything kick across the ground and then he switches hands as he flips up and over in the attempt to perform a leg drop right after.
"Looks like I have the bullseye painted on me now," he says as he plants the original hand on the ground right behind him.
COMBATSYS: Hayato counters Kick Combo from Aranha with Burning Cross Counter.
- CRAZY Hit! -
*KNOCKED AWAY*
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > // ]
Hayato 1/---====/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Aranha
> /////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Alan
The explosion of electricity when Alan's fist hits the ground makes Hayato rather glad that he avoided getting hit by that. It looks like it would be painful, to say the least. But at least the boxer seems to be momentarily occupied with getting his arm working again. Aranha, not so much. As he's starting to get up Hayato suddenly tucks and rolls forward, avoided the sweeping leg and then popping up to his feet. As Aranha is leaping up Hayato is spinning around, with burning eyes, a feral grin, and a white hot blazing fist.
As Aranha's leg comes slicing down, Hayato drops his shinai and snares the leg with his left hand. Is he going to swing Aranha around like he did before? No, no. He uses his grip to yank the capoeirista toward him, while still spinning about and bringing his right arm into play. The impact echoes off the wall as Hayato's burning fist slams into Aranha's chest before sending him flying across the room. Wasn't he complaining about being forced into this a little while ago? It appears to be less of a concern at the moment... and that haze around the teacher seems to be a little bit more visible.
Alan's mouth pulls into a harsh line, teeth visible as Hayato just picks Aranha up in his fist car to some kind of place to eliminate all the dirt and grime of his clothing. He doesn't know if this is really part of this tournament arrangement... but he'll play the game like it is, and find his answers afterward. His hands drag behind him as he takes off.
He doesn't move with his usual lightning-fast speed because he /can't/, all of the chi in his body gathering to his shoulders, elbows, and fists. Not bothering with looping around to Hayato's back, not wasting that extra time, he suddenly stops, planting his feet, /sliding/ across the ground. His arms blur, shooting forward, fists flying through the air at /totally unreasonable speeds./ The air between himself and Hayato is obliterated, replaced only by punches.
Like, fifty punches.
Aranha's leg gets snatched yet again but this time instead of getting thrown, Aranha gets punched so frickin hard that it could probably be heard in Metro City. The already injured ribs are throbbing in protest at the abuse that Hayato had visited upon his his body.
The capoeirista eventually peels himself off the ground. His movement is slow and labored. He almost stumbles a few times before he picks himself up, gets in Hayato's face and kicks. His feet glow blue as he delivers a variety of kicks. Outside crescents, roundhouse kicks, spinning back heels, side kicks before tilting into a handstand and performing that same handstand tornado kick that he performed before only this time the blue chi covering it might not be as pleasant to grab.
It's at this point that his body gives out.
COMBATSYS: Aranha can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Hayato 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Alan
COMBATSYS: Alan successfully hits Hayato with Voltaic Barrage.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Hayato 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Alan
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Hayato with Royal Flush EX.
[ \\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Hayato 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Alan
On one side, a flurry of electric punches. On the other side, a tornado of glowing kicks. Caught in the middle, Hayato. His body gets knocked back and forth as he is repeatedly battered by chi enhanced punches and kicks, with no chance to defend himself without immediately providing another opening for the attack on the opposite side. This continues for some time until Aranha finally collapses, and Alan momentarily runs out of steam. Hayato falls to one knee with a grunt of pain, taking a deep, painful breath.
But even that painful barrage, on top of the rest of the damage Hayato has taken this evening, isn't enough to put the teacher down for good. He suddenly lunges to his feet with a loud shout, then kicks out with his right leg toward the center of Alan's torso. More of that blazing chi surrounds his leg as he attempts to drive his foot deep into Alan's sternum.
COMBATSYS: Hayato successfully hits Alan with Devastation Kick.
[ \\\\\\ < > / ]
Hayato 0/-------/---====|=======\======-\1 Alan
"Still up..." Alan observes, hands back at his sides, knuckles on both hands bleeding despite the iron rings ostensibly protecting them. Fists still hang in the air, afterimages made of electricity, slowly dissolving one by one. As Hayato springs to his feet, he further observes, "Bullshit."
Hayato's kick bursts through a few fists in a rain of sparks, and though Alan starts moving, it's not fast enough. The blow nearly picks Alan up, his boots totally ruining the nice iconographic carpet as he skids back, eyes bulged out, going "hhhhhwheeeeeeze", because he /can't breathe./ Bowling thugs over, he crashes into the wall, destroying something priceless on the way, pulling a tapestry that reads... some crap in Chinese, I looked for an ironic quote and the internet failed me. The tapestry drapes over him.
Then, it flies through the air, chi streaming behind it. "URRRYYEEEAAAAGGGGH!" The tapestry eventually falls away, revealing Alan, his hair totally ruined, a big bootprint standing out in his shirt as Hayato has actually /kicked the color out./ "Goddamnit, I can't let you stop me here--!" His fists stream with chi, so much so that it's hard to look at, and that sizzling light only redoubles as he puts his fists together.
Full of /conviction/, for once, Alan drops down at Hayato, slamming both of his fists down at his chest. His hands are just a little bit ahead of the enormous wave of chi that follows, a blast larger than the both of them that washes down, flinging Alan spinning through the air. His boots hit the ground, going for his typical ramrod-straight finish... but they slip out from under him as he crashes onto his back.
COMBATSYS: Alan can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\ <
Hayato 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Hayato dodges Alan's Mjolnir.
[ \\\\\\ <
Hayato 0/-------/---====|
As Alan descends toward Hayato the teacher leaps back, but in the sudden flare of light from the wave of chi it's unclear for a few moments exactly what happened. Even to Hayato, who is blinking to clear his eyes as Alan crashes to the floor. For a moment, after Alan doesn't get back up, Hayato rests one hand on his leg, taking a few quick breaths. He really needs a rest right about now, but he's not going to let that stop him. He looks back up at the gangsters who've been observing the fight up until now, and points at them. "Don't think I've forgotten about you guys! You've got a lot of damn nerve jumping people and dragging them into something like this!" And now the haze around Hayato is replaced by the somewhat more familiar blaze of energy as he draws on his Burning Spirit... which is really about the only thing keeping him going at this point.
COMBATSYS: Hayato gathers his will.
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Hayato 1/-------/=======|
The surrounding toughs, with their various states of class dress, seem to hold their ground as Hayato starts to rage. They look at eachother and the surrounding environments, most of which has been roughed up by varying combinations of the combatant's faces. If any of you were insightful men, you'd--oh, let's face it you're just not.
It's clear they're pretty damn scared and confused right now.
Scared cus--damn? Confused, cus--well.
"HA HA HA! You'd better believe we do!"
And immediately, the sea of gangsters _parts_.
He takes the steps one at a time like everyone else.
Ji Zhou is the same as any other the gangsters collected here--dressed to the nines in lavish silk business attire, tattooed to an unreal extent, and loving every second of both. The key difference is, aside from the chap who probably still hasn't gained consciousness, Ji Zhou is the only one here who looks like he's just been in a fight.
And likes it.
With his body wrapped in bandages from his hip to his shoulder and one arm in a sling, Ji's jacket is more of an elaborate cloak than anything else, but his cheshire grin is more something to write home about. "If you got a problem with my Boys," he starts quietly, "You can field it at me!"
He thumbs at his chest. "I'M Zhou Ji! And moment you guys walked in here, you're on our turf!"
Want to make something of it?
Ålân R.B. is just straight up lying crumpled on the ground some distance from Hayato, the world swimming around him in hazy waves.
His electric chi crackles on his skin only fitfully, without discipline. At length, he rolls himself onto his back, one eye blearily open.
"Fuck," he groans. "It's a mummy, we're cursed."
Hayato's gaze locks on Zhou Ji when the other man speaks up. He's a bit surprised to see that the guy who's presumably the leader is looking so beaten up, but if he's still moving around under his own power then Hayato doesn't need to waste any time feeling sorry for him. "Yeah, well, that's the thing! I'm Hayato Nekketsu, and I /didn't/ walk in here! These punks," He makes a sweeping gesture to indicate the assembled gangsters, "Jumped me, hit me over the head, got smacked around a few times, then hit me over the head harder several more times and dragged me here. So what I'm saying is, who the hell do you think you are to be kidnapping people and telling 'em to fight for you?"
Despite the fact that he's clearly pretty battered after his fight with Alan and Aranha, Hayato is still standing steadily, eyes blazing as he looks at Zhou Ji and doesn't break eye contact. His legs don't even wobble, although as soon as his Burning Spirit lets up for a moment he's probably going to collapse. So relaxing would really not be a very good idea for the moment.
As Hayato complains, Ji raises a hand, sticks his pinky into his ear, and fishes around idly while Hayato's talking, as if attempting to remove some obstruction that is preventing him from hearing Hayato right. About when he's done giving the report, Ji looks at his boys. Back to Hayato. Back to his boys.
"'sat right?"
THe fellow, a bald man in a white suit, nods numbly.
Ji then exchanges a low-five and a fistbump with him. "Heheh, /nice,/ Feng. Did you get him with the blackjack? I love it when you use--wh--oh right."
He's got company. Ji turns to Hayato, and points. "Hey, wing-cheeks! Maybe you didn't hear me right. So I'm gonna repeat myself. But I'm only gonna do it once, so you'd better listen up this time. When you walked in here--'sat means, when you walked in this side of the /country/, you're on our turf. Means we can do what we want. As for who'm I--"
Ji snickers. And everyone else pretty much does, too.
"--I just /told/ you who I am. If that and the lumps you got ain't enough for ya, I'm amazed that bed-head even let you in here!"
Hayato cracks his knuckles, still staring directly at Zhou Ji. "Okay, so how about you tell me what it is you want with us? Because you sure don't look like a bunch of ninja to me. And I've got enough problems to deal with here already. So maybe this is all a misunderstanding, and you can give me a good reason not to teach you a lesson in manners." Apparently the fact that Hayato is barely standing, and Zhou Ji has got a small army of guys with him isn't not a good enough reason. Pfft. Odds are for suckers! Real men just do what has to be done!
Hayato cracks his neck this time, staring at Zhou Ji as the energy from the teacher's Burning Spirit continues to radiate out of him. He's going to need a lot of booze and a lot of sleep after this, no matter what happens. The order of those two items is yet to be determined. Maybe he'll split them up and alternate for a while.
COMBATSYS: Hayato gathers his will.
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Hayato 1/---====/=======|
Aranha finally manages to get himself to the point where he can actually move. It still hurts to breathe and the agony in every bone, every muscle, every inch of his skin screams out for attention. Aranha finds himself mentally telling his pain to shut the hell up. It doesn't work.
And then he growls. "You little shits are nothing special. Do you know how many times I've heard the blah blah blah turf, blah blah blah mine, blah blah blah do whatever you want song? It was remixed better by P Diddy and fucking /hate/ P. Diddy or whatever the hell he's calling himself nowadays."
Alan finally starts moving, shoving himself up to a sitting position, wincing at his ribs. He'll bounce back like he always does, just... not anytime soon. While Hayato's looking at this from some kind of ridiculous manly teacher perspective, Alan's 'career criminal' eye has caught other details. Namely, if Zhou Ji is 'the power' around here, why are all his men here watching them fight while he himself is all Boris Karloff over here?
That's right, a classic monster movie reference. Alan's internal monologue is way too classy for your animes.
"Don't be retarded," he grates, waving his hand at Hayato. With his other, he pats down his hair, reshaping the trademark lightning bolt down the right side of his face. "Didn't your ass read the... friggin... files? Shit, why isn't there a classier name for those." Alan waves a Droid with - yep - a lightning bolt embossed on the back in Hayato's general direction. "Don't go jumping at big bosses until we figure out what the hell this Nirvana setup shit is."
A red light is flashing on the Droid. "Hey, somethin' new..." He fumbles with it. Technology!
Ji rubs the side of his face, pulling his face long briefly. "Maybe I'm bein' a little nicer today than usual, cus normally I'd just belt ya one for that remark," he grumbles at Hayato. "I don't know who decided to let you in, but maybe you don't get the idea. You ought listen to your friend. If you don't get the way the game is set up by now, then maybe it's /you/ what needs to taught the manners around here. Like I said, you're on our turf, not the other way around. We're what you'd call 'law'. And right now, the law is to make sure nobody gets in this city what don't deserve--wait a minute. What d'you mean, files? You a cop?" All of a sudden, Alan has his full attention.
"Ohh, Ji!!" One little guy standing behind Alan (a little close for comfort come to think of it) "He's reading one of them wiki pages bout us!" "We have a wiki page?!" "No, I tried to make one but they deleted it!" "What's a wiki!?" "Hey, shut up!" Ji shouts, angrily. "I don't think a cop is that dumb to go web searching about us on the spot..." Ji mentions, suspiciously. Well, at least until Aranha starts in.
P Diddy? /blah blah/? Ji Zhou stares at Aranha in shock for a full thirteen seconds.
It takes about that long for one of the toughs closest to Aranha to amiably take a ninja-kick and stiffly apply it into the area across the mouthy black guy's face region. It will make a handy martial arts *pow* sound.
Ålân R.B. doesn't finish the file quite yet.
That's because as soon as he's accused of being a cop he is doubled over with laughter, and pain from the laughter.
It only redoubles when Aranha gets kicked, because he doesn't like that dude.
Hayato glances at Alan. "If he doesn't even know what files you're talking about, you really think he's got anything to do with running this show? /Maybe/ he runs the city," Hayato gives Ji a calculatedly skeptical glance, "but I know I sure didn't hear any rules about having to not kick some ass if people start messing with you. Especially if they can't identify themselves as involved with all this."
The teacher glances over as Aranha gets kicked in the face. "So, yeah, maybe I'm feeling a bit generous, since this was a pretty good fight, even if I wasn't planning on it. So maybe we'll just all pretend like we're friends and go our separate ways. And you," Hayato points at the guy who just did the kicking, "If I see you hitting someone while they're down again, I'm gonna break your god damn leg." Yep. All friendly.
COMBATSYS: Hayato takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Hayato 1/---====/=======|
Those thirteen seconds of shock become incredibly key. It's in that moment of time that Aranha reaches for his own phone. By the time he finally fishes the phone out, Aranha's head snaps to the side from the impact. There's a click. He's silent for awhile as he looks at his phone though there's a slight smile on his face. The shocked look on Ji Zhou's face ended up getting taken his phone. Dumb luck made taking the kick totally worth it... Ok not really but it was still amusing nevertheless.
But while he keeps silent about that new picture, he starts going through the new sanctum file on his phone.
Alan's laughter finally manages to die down. "Ohhh, whew. Cop, that's fuckin' /good./" He starts to stand up - his vision blooms into white dots, so he sinks back down, skimming the last of the file.
His eyes pause on the last line for a moment, and he casually thumbs the Droid back to its wallpaper (the 'R' logo, as it happens), slipping it back into his pocket. "Shit, you don't think, do you," he laments to Hayato. "Look, it's... nah, fuck it, the Futaba broad was a special case, you're on yer own." He glances at Aranha after, and grimaces - it's like he only remembered now they are (technically?) in a team situation. He'll buy the poor fucker a drink, maybe a woman.
Probably the drink.
The guy who kicked Aranha in the face tries to be tough--he was, after all, just getting the hint from the room that Aranha needed to be kicked--but in the end he finally scuffs a shoe on the ground and goes "Sorry, boss. ._."
In the background, Ji Zhou objects, "Shen!!"
Oh, he's had quite enough of this nonsense. Apparently unaware of the fact that his concern is immortalized, Ji Zhou steps forward. "Anyway. Don't make the mistake of guessing we're friends. I don't think I like the looks of you guys--" Ji decides, looking over them. "Any of ya. I don't like the fact you guys are on our turf, I don't see what's so funny, and I don't like that you, 'cifically, seem to think you can order my Boys around."
At that point, the bandaged Ji winds out and lets loose an /amazing/ haymaker at Hayato's chin. It shakes the earth. This is the kind of haymaker that would be grounds for divorce. The kind of haymaker that could end a friendship. The kind of haymaker that could feed Red Hare.
That kind of Haymaker.
"...But you guys sure can fight," Ji cracks, grinning like a maniac.
"Consider that a demo!" he snaps at Hayato, pointing. "I saw what you did to these kids. You and me're gonna have to fight one of these days. As for you two--you're little snots. But you sure are flashy. For your performance in the face of a proper Guy, me and the Boys will do you one solid! Just one, so don't go wastin it. Hear me?"
Ji is still grinning.
"Now get the hell out before my boys drag you out!"
COMBATSYS: JiZhou has joined the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Hayato 1/---====/=======|=------\-------\0 JiZhou
COMBATSYS: Hayato fails to counter Red Pole Haymaker EX from JiZhou with Burning Cross Counter.
-* CRITICAL FAIL! *-
[ \\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Hayato 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 JiZhou
COMBATSYS: Hayato can no longer fight.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
JiZhou 0/-------/---====|
When Hayato sees a fist coming for his face he doesn't even really need to think, just react. So his fist is flying right back toward Ji Zhou at a pretty good clip. And it's blazing with the fury of Hayato's Burning Spirit. And Hayato's got some long arms on him. But then, as he shifts his weight, it becomes apparent that he's standing on some blood. Probably his own. Which leads to him sliding just a little bit forward... right into Ji Zhou's fist, while his own fist passes close enough to the Chinese man's head that it might muss up his hair a bit.
It's pretty beautiful. Hayato spins around in a complete circle, blinks at Ji Zhou, his eyes go unfocused, he blinks again, and then topples over backwards. No sissy crumpling, or falling to his knees. Just straight over backwards. Yeah, somebody probably is gonna have to drag him out. And probably hope that they drop him off before he wakes up.
Aftermath:
... Ji quietly stares at his own fist.
"Aaaah~~ I might've used too much."
He starts to pat his pockets down for a comb to fix his hair from the murderous blow near-miss. Nettled, he looks up at everyone else, who are still staring in muted shock, apparently at how close Ji Zhou came to getting his head punched in. Is he like some kind of a luck demon? Ji frowns. "...What? So he's a good fighter, alright? Now get him outta here before he messes up the floor!"
Log created on 21:26:12 04/20/2010 by Hayato, and last modified on 22:56:46 04/27/2010.