Description: Alan's done it. He's earned his freedom by looking death in the eye and not flinching. He's climbed the mountain and turned around. He's proven that, sometimes, it's about the meaning of things as opposed to the value. But what he's lost won't magically come back. It's up to him to use his strength to build his own future. But his trials in Nirvana are not yet done. You see, Shihong and Yuu's plans have not gone unnoticed by certain enterprises within Kagero. They will receive information that is in itself a test of their own: There is a man in Taizhou whom Seishirou Ryouhara himself invited personally. A man whom has become much more than was previously thought possible. Do with him what you will. Will they test him? Will they get him to safety? Or is there a third way?
Shit is all kinds of fucked up.
I guess right now Taizhou's current state is best described as 'totally jacked up.' The sounds of fighting, both kung fu and otherwise, echo in the air when they aren't drowned out by enormous thunderclaps caused by the chi storm that has showed no signs of abating. Rain pours down in sheets on the expressway that is currently a tangled mess of wrecked cars and pockets of fighting.
A yellow light dances through the hell, streaking forward at speeds rivalling the wrecked cars at the peak of their operation.
Alan R. B. has had his time to rest, though his body still appears ravaged from his fights against Kula 'Ice Bitch' Diamond and Vice 'Oh Fuck' NoLastNameGiven. Chi falling from his skin in waves, he looks more like a bolt of lightning as he vaults cars, dodges pockets of combat, and in general makes his way toward Sanctum. He hasn't found any of Them, but there's time for that.
Alan is still groggy, his vision wavering at the corners, and that's the kind of time people make mistakes during. His foot catches on an outthrust fender, the chi buildup springing away from Alan as he has exactly one second to announce, "Fuck me!"
His momentum transfers poorly, and the fender is ripped away as he goes down, fabric from his already ragged clothes tearing as he bounces once, twice, and rolls to a stop against toppled semi. His head bangs into the metal, and his hair is slightly mussed from the ordeal.
The boxer picks himself up, smoothing his hair with an automatic motion, repairs his lightning bolt, and takes a few moments to breathe.
"Ha ha, you look like shit," coos a voice from the shadows.
A figure emerges from an alleyway, the slender form shielded from the falling rain by way of a large, black umbrella. It continues walking forward as Alan picks himself up off the wet ground and fix his mussed up hair, unseen eyes peering toward him from beneath the hem of her umbrella.
The umbrella lightly tips back. A pair of dimly-glowing red eyes meets the boxer's gaze.
"Then again, I suppose that /is/ to be expected, all things considered. Why the hell is someone like /you/ here in Taizhou, anyway? Don't you have something better to do..?" the woman wonders aloud. A cool smirk cuts her thin red lips. "Where's your master, Bernstein, anyway..?"
Obviously, she knows of him.
Stepping forward a few more paces, the woman pauses, but keeps her umbrella held. She obviously doesn't belong here herself, what with her sleek looking Armani suit and sharp heels. However contrasting she appears to her environs, that doesn't keep her from whatever business she has with Alan.
Lord knows what that is.
Tilting her head, she observes the chi flowing from him in abundance. A soft whistle escapes her thin lips. "My, my. That's almost intimidating." Nevermind his jumping the fuck around like a ninja before his big spill. "Alan "R.B.," correct?" she wonders, tilting her head slightly.
"No rest for the wicked. It's time to stop this little farce of yours."
With a sudden whip of her arm the black umbrella is cast aside. The woman suddenly sprints forward through the rain, silent, save for the rapid-fire click of her stiletto heels. Three feet from Alan she leaps high before sharply descending, attempting to drive her heel into his chest from above.
She just hopes Yuu is paying attention, wherever he is.
COMBATSYS: Shihong has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Alan has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Alan
"You really don't have to be so mean, Shihong."
The voice comes from everywhere and nowhere. It is faint, but seems to project well enough besides that soft pitch to be able to carry cleanly and clearly. It 'tsks' chidingly, as if berating the woman in the armani suit as she lunges herself toward poor Alan R.B..
"You know what they say. 'Words are like bullets.'"
From the rooftop of one of the buildings decorating the devastated city streets, something leaps. The shadow looms high above, eclipsing the chi-covered Alan as Shihong attempts to drive her heel into the boxer. She'll have about a second to react before a large spider-like puppet covered in pained faces attempts to literally bodyslam the lightning-laden man, spindly legs splaying out roughly around it upon whatever it impacts with.
"Then again, I guess with those shoes of yours, heels are like bullets too.
"So at least we've reached an equilibrium."
The voice has a source now; behind Alan's point of recovery, a pale blue-haired young man sits upon the ruins of the car whose fender the boxer stumbled over. Pushing up his glasses, threads of nearly-invisible chi shimmer in the suffocated light.
"Hello, Alan R.B.. While I'd love to learn just how that lightning trick of yours works...
"... I think it's high time you paid the piper, hm?" A pause. As if to elaborate, Yuu adds:
"Now where is the sweet Li Hua?"
COMBATSYS: Yuu has joined the fight here.
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Yuu 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Alan blocks Shihong's Medium Kick.
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Yuu 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Alan parries Yuu's Medium Strike!
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Yuu 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
Alan pinches at the collar of what's left of his vest, habitually straightening it out. He mops water from his eyes, and turns casually to the sound of the voice. He feels in control. He feels settled. "People keep saying that," he sneers in the voice's direction.
Red eyes give him a moment's pause, and then his expression hardens. "You know, that's /my/ business. I got my own... he ain't involved! Fuck him!" Alan jabs his thumb over his shoulder, electricity crackling along his hand. Alan glares for a few moments, then takes a step back, as though making to leave.
If Shihong knows anything about Alan's demeanor, he's definitely not acting normal. He hasn't sexually harrassed her once!
"Goddamnit, the one time I'm BUSY and people keep just coming out of the woodwork!" Alan protests as Shihong starts charging. "You're cute, but I do not have this kind of TIME!" His arms cross up, he crouches, and steps forward - the heel hits nothing but tensed muscle, chi crackling down his body from the point of impact.
His head turns back in the next instant, eyes darting, scanning for the voice and finding only a SPIDER?! "The shit--!" Shihong, this close, will be able to see what happens. The boxer's form blurs as he breaks away from her, rolling onto his back, and springing up on pure instinct. His boots hit the bottom of the spider as it's still falling, he manages to run three steps /upside down/, and springs off of it, high up in the air.
The boxer is a bright spot in the dark grey sky, chi spiralling down his arms as he orients himself on Yuu, scowling. "Oh, now who the fuck are you? Well, /what/ the fuck are you, anyway. Armani and /robe/, what a pa--"
He cuts off, eyes widening. His gut feeling was right after all. Alan drops to the ground, dashes right at Yuu, and swings his hands forward, bright yellow chi pooling at his palms.
"Fuck you!"
His hands slam together with a wave of concussive force and a boom that rolls across the road, shattering windows - and then he does it again, dashing forward instantly to cut off any dodging Yuu might be doing - or even to hit him while he's hypothetically soaring away?! And then he does it a /third time./ He really wants this one.
"Pft," is Shihong's only response to Yuu as he comments on her demeanor.
Not long after, the woman in black tears forward, attempting to all but /bury/ the steel heel of her stiletto Prada into Alan's body. Yet, quick thinking and /chi/ help dampen the dealt blow; however, Shihong Mao isn't about to stick around--especially not when there is a GIANT FUCKING SPIDER falling toward Alan.
Pushing off of Alan almost immediately, Shihong flips backwards through the air before landing, skidding back a foot before she leaps again. It's about then that the spider SLAMS down. Alan, however, is faster; he all but /runs/ on the damn thing before he springs off and leaps into the air, his ascent marked by a telltale trail of crackling chi.
"Tch," the Chinese enforcer grouses. "Show off."
Rising to her feet, she observes as Alan darts after Yuu with chi pooling in his hands. Not once, twice, but three times. Shihong's face twists into an expression of annoyance. "Like lots of loud noise and bright flashes are going to do much?"
Dashing after Alan once again, the woman attempts to seemingly dash /past/ him; however, split-seconds before she'd completely pass a hand shoots out to the side, her palm pressing against his stomach in a soft, delicate fashion. It isn't the touch that hurts.
It's the concussive burst of vermillion-colored Psycho Power that erupts shortly after that smarts.
COMBATSYS: Yuu blocks Alan's Thunderclap EX.
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Yuu 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
"My, my," Yuu says with a whistle as Alan vaults off the bottom of his puppet. "How skillful!"
Eventually, Alan lands. Like a beacon, his presence is almost blinding, leading Yuu to teasingly put a gloved hand over his eyes like a visor. That presence seems to only grow, concentrating at the young boxers' palms as he drops low.
"Hmm. I wonder if I said something rude--"
Yuu doesn't dodge. Rather, his right hand tugs, strings of energy shimmering at his fingertips as SUDDENLY, SPIDER once more. The spider-like marionette, Dukkha, literally interposes itself between Alan and his target, those rolling thundercrashes of pure chi SMASHING into it -- once, twice, /three times./
Strange material cracks and splinters, flying every which way like shrapnel before the third literally blows the puppet off its feet. Yuu, however, is still sitting there -- though a thick, dark trail of blood now oozes from his right nostril and, despite his obvious delight, pain contorts his features.
"You seem to be outputting much more aggression than normal, even with those interesting gifts you've received...!" Yuu announces with a slightly hoarse voice. "Though, I wonder... if you've grown a lingering attachment to that girl?" The puppeteer taps a finger against his jaw.
"Now I wonder why that would be, Alan 'R.B.'.
Dukkha lands on a building wall, clawed legs digging in to gain a foothold. A second later, wire spills out of the multitude of tormented mouths on its bulky body, exploding forward to snag Alan just seconds after Shihong completes her attack. The intent is simple: to get a good hold of the boxer, then /leap/ off the building, attempting to draw Alan /right/ against the back of the spider-like menace before it crashes, noisily, into the ground below -- back-first.
"Regardless, she's no property of yours. You don't have the right to keep holding her. Even if it's not us, you'll eventually lose her, and then you'll probably die, too." A pause. "I wonder what your grand scheme is here? Hmmm?"
COMBATSYS: Alan dodges Yuu's Kuro-Hikage.
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Yuu 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Shihong successfully hits Alan with Swallow's Wings.
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Yuu 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
"Gifts?" Alan manages to bust out another sneer, whatever the hell that thing is made out of falling from his hands. "This is all me, baby."
Or is it? Even Alan can't hide from the fact that there's no way he should've been able to survive against Vice, as he was. Just thinking about it makes the angry red scar on his neck hurt - a cauterized wound where he was bit, matching the much larger scar at his left side where Kula's ice spear had impaled him, the wound getting a similar magic chi treatment (sealed it with lightning).
He pivots around, Shihong's heels really giving her advance away, getting ready to twist around her. He starts to sway, attempting to let the palm strike slide past his abs. He didn't count on a Psycho Power explosion, staggering back with a sharp gasp, holding his hand to his stomach. He tears away the fabric of his shirt over it, briefly terrified he's been punched through again.
But these guys are not giving him /time./ "Shit, goddamnit!" He dives forward, rolls, and dives again, wire smashing into the ground just behind his heels. His sodden vest catches on some Twisted Metal, tearing away in a burst of bad rock music and questionable character design.
Finally giving way to the fate of all characters played by me, Alan climbs to his feet, taking hold of his expensive, soaked silk shirt at the collar, with both hands, tearing it away in a sharp motion. Chi doesn't just crackle on his hands and face - no, every inch of his skin, now clearly exposed. Tiny crackles dance away from him to jump between raindrops that pass near him, throwing a faint iridescent haze around him. He glares at Yuu, hard, sweeping over toward Shihong. "You guys... you're definitely not with Ji Zhou. Not his type of dude." Patting his stomach, he crouches, legs tensing up just a bit. "Who the hell /are/ you people?" He doesn't ask how they know his name - that much was splayed all over the place through Sanctum - or even how they know about Li Hua. He just wants to get right to the point.
...and in grand fighting tradition, he doesn't just ask a question. He springs, darting in between Yuu and Shihong, leaving a trail of electricity in his wake. Briefly clearly visible on the other side, he turns around and dashes again, slamming into and past Shihong, repeating the move several times with a variety of punches. He returns to 'normal' speed in mid-air, hurtling toward the woman, making a pulling motion with his right hand. All the electricity he's left crackling on the ground swirls up to his fist, and he tries to deliver a haymaker onto her, knocking her away from Yuu. Keep 'em separated.
COMBATSYS: Shihong blocks Alan's Storm Front.
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Yuu 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-----==|
The reaction her efforts draw out of Alan earns him a discreet sneer from Shihong, as the fiery red energies cause him to gasp and stagger. Fortunately, he hasn't been run through again. Not yet, anyway.
Shihong, however, simply plants a foot and daintily springs, giving herself a few feet between her slender, rain-soaked form and Alan. From what she saw of his assault upon Yuu, he has a /lot/ of that awful energy at his disposal--chi, that's what Mister Howard called it. She knows it hurts. She knows she does not /like/ it.
And she knows it's just a matter of time before he uses it on her.
He's hindered, however, by his torn shirt. As result, the boxer rips his shirt off, to which Shihong just tilts her head a scant bit and purses her lips. Slowly she grins, dimly-glowing red eyes hooding lightly in what seems to be some sort of appreciation. "Ji Zhou?" The woman laughs lightly.
"What does it even matter? You know why we're here. Isn't it obvious?"
But Alan gets to the point--but Shihong is alert, wary of the man. His punches are met with the woman's well-timed hand placements, each caught in her palm, despite the shocking (ha ha get it) speeds he utilizes. Only when he delivers the haymaker with chi does she bring BOTH arms up and dampens the blow, though the sheer force knocks her back a foot, causing her to stumble and hiss in pain.
Shaking out her arms, the woman's red eyes shift to Yuu. "Think you can hold up this time?" she wonders. "Instead of abandoning me like you did against that crazy bitch?" And then, without any real warning, the woman turns and coils her leg up before snapping it forward, attempting to RAM her heel into Alan's midsection and send him stumbling back and away.
"THIS is for hitting a lady."
"An acquaintance of your new... friend," Yuu explains, perhaps only slightly more helpfully than Shihong.
"He's decided she's better off with him than with you. Or dead.
"We have to assess that part, by our own discretion."
The last statement comes off more like an ominous promise as Alan so artfully outpaces Dukkha's wires. Sharp metal slices through concrete like butter as the spider-like creation twists about, landing at a bizarre angle, feet-first, on the ground.
"Dukkha is the nature of suffering," Yuu says almost conversationally to Alan as he turns his attention towards Shihong. "I wonder what your suffering will be? If you run away now, you can escape all of this. You can save yourself. Isn't that the best way for you to live? Who cares what happens to Li Hua if you can save yourself, hm? You can just contribute to charities to benefit women like her when all is said and done.
"It's made up for all your shortcomings so far. Why not now?"
Shihong's bitter remarks and ponders cut away Yuu's attention; the puppeteer abandons his attention on Alan as he lifts his shoulders, expression apologetic. "Ah, I am so sorry! I thought you could protect yourself by yourself, since I seem to recall handling finshing that target off just for you," he muses. "Besides, you came out of it just fine, didn't you? In a situation like this I doubt there's a need to worry, anyway--"
Yuu's finger twitches. He watches Alan. Considering. Thinking.
"-- I think we both know just what the outcome to this fight is going to be."
COMBATSYS: Yuu focuses on his next action.
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Yuu 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Alan dodges Shihong's Thrust Kick.
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Yuu 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-----==|
Alan slams into the ground after his flashy move, already spinning, and has enough time to set himself. He lurches to the side with a sharp movement, water flinging off of his body, bringing his own foot up, ready to shove Shihong off-balance and respond dryly, "I'm an equal-opportunity assbeater." The sass is weak, something continually knocking him off his facade.
Aaaaand there it is. Alan kicks Shihong's foot away, his back to Yuu, looking like he isn't actually hearing him, fists balled up in a boxing stance. After Yuu is done, Alan remains silent, before growling, "...and then what changes?" His fists tighten, veins standing out, knuckles whitening. "I walk away, go back to that /bullshit/, keep on actin' like nothing matters?" Electricity swirls up his right arm.
"FUCK ALL THAT!" Alan spins, chopping his hand down, snapping his fingers. A bolt of lighning jumps out, completely ignoring phyiscs and bypassing many conductive things to say what's up to the blue man. "I won't let another one--!"
With her foot kicked away, Shihong finds herself disoriented slightly, her balance briefly off. Stumbling forward, she plants her heel firmly as Alan shifts his attention toward Yuu. Apparently, the Puppeteer has a wonderful way with words, and knows just how to push the man's buttons. She likes that.
His response, however, causes Shihong's brow to arc discreetly in interest. Her red eyes shift briefly, toward Yuu, studying her 'partner's' gaze before she shifts back to a visibly angry Alan. Something really has messed with the man. Then, Alan makes his move.
"Yuu!" the woman exclaims, attempting to give the man a head's up while /she/ makes her move. Lunging forward, Shihong leaps and tucks midair, landing in a momentary handstand before she springs at Alan's backside. She seeks to strike him with her feet before landing; however, utilizing her forward-momentum, Shihong lands, springs again and descends upon Alan with her legs, this time staggering her footfalls, one leg aimed for the chest before the other descends, to crush him upon the head with her heel and drive his head into the ground and just stop him.
"Whoa there, tiger~!"
COMBATSYS: Alan successfully hits Yuu with Lightning Strikes Twice.
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Yuu 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
"Nothing changes. You just get to stay alive. How wonderful!" Yuu says cheerfully, his hands clapping together.
"Though I wonder what sort of life a coward actually lives, hm? Maybe they better way to phrase it is...
"... you get to continue living a comfortably dead life--"
Shihong's warning comes a second too late. No, more than that; Alan is just too /fast./ Those bolts of lightning /tear/ through open space, /hammering/ into Yuu like the wrath of god. Both fry him almost instantly, conducting along wet clothes, burning away fabric, scorching flesh. The discharge simply /knocks/ him straight off his feet, sending him flying through the air until he lands, head-first, into the horribly ruinous streets.
A rebound and a skid later, Yuu stops. Slowly, he drags himself up, copious amounts of blood draining from his forhead in rivulets that pool on the street below. "... what marvelous... determination...!" he says, wonderingly. Awe-struck, even.
"Is this what... your guilt drives in you, I wonder...?" His fingers twitch.
"I would be so ECSTATIC.... if you answered me HONESTLY... ALAN!"
From behind Alan, another figured drops. Draped in black cloth, the feminine form flings out a single wrist; a thick cord rockets free from 'her' wrist, seeking to ensnare Alan around the ankle before FLIPPING him up in the air as suddenly as possible.
COMBATSYS: Alan blocks Shihong's Raiding Falcon.
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Yuu 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Yuu successfully hits Alan with Miyama-Karasu-Ageha.
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Yuu 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
Yuu has definitely used Taunt, completely taking all of the aggro.
Alan doesn't turn toward Shihong, instead opting to drop into a sudden roll, snarling as he brings his legs up, catching Shihong's feet on his own, each stomping kick sending a shock up the receiving leg. He shoves her off, glaring after her, and turns back toward Yuu, dropping into a (visible) run, leaving a faint trail of chi. "I couldn't do anything then..." He starts picking up speed. "...and the shit I do now so I /could/... it's bullshit!" Again breaking from his boxing roots, Alan springs through the air, flipping, chi swirling around the heel of his boot. "Don't talk to me about my GUUuummph--"
His words shamefully break off as a cord whips around his waist, hauling him right out of his leap to spiral through the air. It's embarassing... but it gives him a little time to think.
He lands without ceremony on the hood of another car whose windows are already shattered, crumpling the roof completely, the trunk springing open, the CarNutz dangling beneath dropping uselessly to the road. He shoves himself up again, blood running down his right arm, yanking a shard of shallowly embedded glass from his chest. More blood trickles down. "Heh... there's only one way you could know all that shit." Alan rubs at his wrist.
Then the car jounces upward, Alan springing off of it in a sudden move, once again trying to get to Yuu - behind him - one arm lashing around his neck. Electricity swells from Alan's body. "Are you with /him?/ Are you?!"
COMBATSYS: Alan has left the fight here.
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Yuu 0/-------/=======|
An impressed whistle manages to break past Shihong's thin lips as Alan defends against kicks with his /legs/ of all things. Is she almost jealous..!? Almost. But not quite.
Eventually, Alan gets back on his legs and is as angry as ever. Sliding her red-eyed gaze toward the Puppetmaster, she offers her 'partner' a thin smirk as she chides, "Now, now, Yuu. I can't have you going and pissing people off to the point they'll kill you in a blidn rage--"
That's about when Alan sprints toward him after recovering from the terrible hold of Yuu's puppet, lashing out at the other man without mercy while screaming. Shihong exhales and shakes her head. "Spoke too soon. Oh well..."
Dashing in after Alan, she attempts to make hurried approach from behind the boxer and deliver a two-fold strike with her lanky legs; first, a driving kick with the toe of her Prada to his kidneys then, using him as leverage, a spinning kick midair at the side of his head.
"You have anger issues..!"
COMBATSYS: Alan successfully hits Yuu with Dynamo Grip.
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Yuu 1/-----==/=======|=======\===----\1 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
"Oh, I don't know," Yuu muses as Alan is flipped into the air.
"Somehow, I don't think our new friend is the type of person to kill someone for telling the truth." Slowly, the puppeteer slides his glasses up the bridge of his nose with a single gloved finger, watching as Alan recovers himself with vague interest.
"Then again... guilt can do a lot of things, can't it?"
Yuu's answer apparently comes when Alan springs at him at intense speeds. Despite the preparation time, despite how Yuu can see the path of the incoming strike, it doesn't seem to be enough.
He moves a /second/ too late; neck caught with an arm, any words the puppeteer might have said are cut off by the surge of electricity that conducts throughout his body in a series of powerful discharges. It might even be enough to kill Yuu--
If not for Shihong's rush. Using all his strength, Yuu attempts to /kick/ away from Alan, following up this movement by flipping through the air and tugging on his strings of chi. The cloaked figure /bursts/ forward, bladed appendages RIPPING through the black cloth covering its back as they swing down in an attempt to slash into the angry boxer.
Yuu is still smoking by the time he lands with the WHUD of a crouch; his robes are fried, his pale hair frizzled at the ends; he smells smoking, burnt flesh. He smiles, thinly.
"... oh, we might be. Of course -- you really should be more careful about what phones you use in this city, Alan 'R.B.'." Yuu slowly lifts, focusing his gaze on Alan and Alan alone. Despite everything, he's still smiling.
"Will you fight the world for her, I wonder? Is that your plan? A man who believes determination can win anything is nothing more than a fool. People like you disgust me." Yuu's voice is deceptively cheery despite the fact that his eyes look like he wants to vomit.
"Do you really think that a mindset like that belongs with a person like him? Or... perhaps... a person like her? I wonder how much you insult her, Alan. Shall we ask, while I am picking her apart?
"I'm a little curious about the answer, myself."
COMBATSYS: Alan dodges Yuu's Medium Strike.
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Yuu 1/-----==/=======|=======\===----\1 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Alan effortlessly blocks Shihong's Change-Up Kick.
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Yuu 1/-----==/=======|=======\====---\1 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/------=|
Actually, after flying through the air, there's a shift in Alan's demeanor. It's not anger, not quite. More like... a kind of furtive intensity. Yuu kicks Alan away, the boxer spins in midair, and his hand lashes down, grazing the road.
Two shallow furrows dig in the concrete, and Alan whips his legs around, turning his flight into a pivot. Flakes of leather and rubber shear away from Alan's boots as he wrenches them away from the blades raining down, so narrow is his escape. He throws himself to the side, rolling across scrap metal with little heed. "You think I've got a /plan?/ I haven't thought anything through in years." Alan climbs back to his feet, lightning crackling around him in fits and starts, the boxer taking a few lungfuls of air. His vision swims at the edges again - goddamnit, he's already done this twice today. Adrenaline is only going to take him so far.
"Y'know, call me a dick, but this ain't about her. Not really. If you can't be honest with yourself, shit... this is about me. /I/ gotta change. /I/ can't walk away." His fists ball up, electricity building around the iron rings on his fingers. Shit, he already knows everything, he can't even stop himself now. After so many years of running... "If I turn away now, I'm giving up on myself for the last time. It's like that Michael Jackson song, hah! Man in the Mirror, you know."
Before he can fix the world, he has to fix himself.
He hears Shihong's rush from behind, and if he had anything else to say, it cuts off as he whirls around. He makes it look easy, one arm smacking away the first kick with milliseconds to spare, then stepping forward. The next kick hits the side of his neck, ankle first, and he grunts, reaching up to trap Shihong's leg. "So they tell me. Look, lady, your blue friend is pretty talkative, but what about you? What's yer stake in this whole thing?"
Alan suddenly steps forward, one hand daringly cupping a hip, his face close. "I doubt you're together. He looks like the crafty butcher type."
Suddenly, he twists, trying to pull Shihong off her feet and spin a 180, shoving her away. One foot slides forward, his arms lift up, and then he's somersaulting through the air, leaving a wide wake of electricity behind him, zipping right past Shihong - and several feet down the road. He impacts the side of a relatively whole car, ending /that/ and rolling it onto its roof. He lands where it once sat, wheeling back to Shihong and Yuu both.
COMBATSYS: Alan successfully hits Shihong with Turbine.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
~~ Alluring Hit! ~~
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Yuu 1/-----==/=======|=======\=======\1 Alan
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Shihong 1/-----==/=======|
"Tch," is essentially Shihong's immediate response when Alan avoids not only the blades slung at him thanks to Yuu's puppet, but the way he smacks her kicks away as if they were amateur at best. Like hell, she mentally grouses. She's no pushover. She's /better/ than this.
Yet, here she is--
Landing with a light crouch, Shihong smirks. "Selfish motivation? That's good. For a second I was worried the world's biggest asshole lost his balls to some skinny whore," the Chinese enforcer quips, letting long, pale fingertips idly tug at the length of her blazer's sleeve. When he addresses her a bit more directly, Shihong's thin brows arch slightly before she shrugs.
"Boredom?"
The motion is noted, evident by the way her heel slightly shifts backwards. "Really? That's hurtful. He's an artist; I'm a sadist. Butcher? Pfft. Did you hear that, Yuu?" Glancing over her shoulder, Shihong turns to give the blue-haired man a look before jerking her thumb toward Alan.
That's about when Alan somersaults and slams her with electricity.
Shit /hurts/.
She goes flying several yards, only stopping when she hits the ground painfully on her shoulder. Only then she bounces five times before landing against the side of a gutted-out, smoldering vehicle, where the woman groans in pain. Her body feels like it's on fire--and not because Alan is SO SEXY.
"Th-that was...an inconvenience," she mutters, slowly peeling her lanky body from the dampened earth, dusting her pale (albeit scuffed up now) hands over her marred sleeve. "Now I'm getting pretty pissed off. Yuu, why isn't this fuck dead yet??"
Without bothering to wait for response, Shihong breaks off into a dash at Alan, leaping at him legs first. Halfway, though, said legs ROAR to life with vermillion flames, psychic fire burning intensely as she seeks to make contact with his body. And, should she, the touch of her heels themselves is minimal at best, harmless even--
It's the sudden SURGE of those flames that does it, when all that fire collects and essentially rams forward like some god-awful spike of blast of energy--which she'll use to leap up off of Alan, only to come around and down upon him, spiking him AGAIN--and this time to ram him face-first into the ground.
"It would have been interesting to see where that would have taken you without any outside interference," Yuu muses, softly. Perhaps the odd thing is -- he doesn't sound condescending. He sounds /curious./
"Ah well. Lost opportunities."
Shoulders lift in a shrug. Alan artfully outpaces the swing of the puppet's blades. Yuu watches on with idle curiosity even though it hurts even to /touch/ anything with his electrified fingertips. A small spasm runs through his body. He smiles.
"... Interesting. You're so interesting, Alan...! So selfish! So egotistic! Even now -- I like this story of yours, Alan." Yuu's smile is bright, and more than a little deranged. He sounds honest. Because he is.
His decision has already been made regarding the interesting subject of 'Alan R.B.'. Distantly, Yuu wonders if /he'll/ agree.
But they'll find that out soon enough.
"Oh, it's okay; you know what they say. Sticks and stones..." And then Alan lunges. This time, at Shihong? Yuu seems almost briefly wondering about this fact, but there's no real concern in his eyes. Shihong is a strong girl, after all, and besides.
"She and I both share similar interests in amusing tales."
Alan's force is almost preposterous; his speed is incredibly absurd. Yuu's fingers twitch, as the spider-like Dukkha lifts up, the marionette's dead, black eyes focusing in on Alan as he comes to a landing. Yuu's made his decision. But even so--
"I'd like to see just how far your selfishness can carry you, Alan R.B.. Would you let me do that?"
He wants to see every bit of those intriguing properties Alan's been imbued with.
Fingers twitch. Dukkha lunges. The faces on its body all open up one by one as it curls into itself like a ball. Spikes JUT out of every single mouth, and just as Shihong's rotation finishes itself--
--Alan might a rolling ball of spikes bearing down at him like some sort of freakish, giant bowling ball. As, meanwhile... a distinct whine can be heard, ever-so-faintly in the distance.
COMBATSYS: Shihong successfully hits Alan with Bird of Paradise.
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Yuu 1/-----==/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Alan fails to interrupt Mesuguro Hyomon from Yuu with For Tricia.
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Yuu 1/----===/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/------=|
"Yeah... it's that kind of thing." Alan takes a deep breath, and lifts his arms... and lets his left drop, relaxing it utterly. The chi that courses through his body like wind through chimes takes the path of least resistance, electricity spiralling down his arm. "I'll never be the guy I was. But I can't be the guy I am anymore. I can't take this goddamn world anymore! I can't take it that you can just get shit on, and be unable to do a damn thing!" The silver bracelet on his wrist starts to float away from his skin, forming a perfect circle, rotating around his arm. A disc of bright electricity crackles from it. A totem that Alan has carried ever since that day, uncomfortable on his arm, clashing with his style, reminding him that he couldn't do anything. When what happened to him can never happen in this world again... he'll take it off.
The electricity keeps building as Shihong comes at him, his arm practically a bolt of lightning itself. He has to keep it limp and relaxed - it flops ridiculously as he tries to, at the last minute, spin away. Shihong's heels scrape his bare shoulder.
The surge sends him spinning, lightning shooting off his arm as it whips with his body. He drops to his knees, head bowed at Shihong drops onto his back, the eruption of flames obscuring him from sight as Dukkha crushes in. It plows into the space where Alan must be... and stops. The flames suddenly blow out.
Alan is there, his left arm a harsh, indistinct glow of yellow, his fist slammed into Dukkha. Two enormous burns spread down his back from Shihong, already blistering, his eyes squeezed with pain. Alan takes a step. The disc folds back, coming to a point, and--- "Vajra..."
Alan tries to shove his arm forward, the shine coming to a head, and Dukkha wins the day. It slams forward, and Alan's arm goes wide. "YUDHA---chhhht!"
A massive bolt of electricity erupts down the highway, explosions in its wake as it touches off gas tanks, cars and debris flying as Alan manages to clear out a good half-mile of rubble. The clap of thunder briefly drowns out the storm and the rain, echoing for a full minute as Alan is sent staggering away, back crashing into the door of a conveniently white car.
It makes the blood trail he leaves more jarring. Cinematography!
The electricity on his arm, that glowing circle of silver...Shihong notes it. Yet, it doesn't stop her. She has to press this guy if she and Yuu want to come out on top. Whatever his reasons may or may not be, those mean little to her. He's emotionally distraught and Shihong Mao just doesn't /care/. She has herself to think about.
No one else. Survival of the fittest.
Colliding with the boxer, Shihong brings him to his knees before she bounds off with one last, painful surge of psychic fire through his body. Moments later that brilliantly burning disc bends, folding, forming a threatening point--
But Dukkha is faster.
Standing in the rain, Shihong flinches as the bolt causes everything around Alan explodes. Only when the thunder subsides and Alan manages to come to a stop does she lower her arm and peer. There, Alan lay, the white car behind him a bloody mess.
The Chinese woman tosses her head with a scoff. "Quit being so pitiful," she chides harshly. "Stop being so pathetic and whining about how this world is unfair. If you don't like it--DO something about it instead of crying like a little bitch with a skinned knee."
Maybe Yuu can be a little more eloquent..?
COMBATSYS: Shihong takes no action.
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Yuu 1/----===/=======|====---\-------\0 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/------=|
"Oh? I wonder where it was written that you couldn't do anything to change the world?"
The power from Alan R.B. is palpable. If Yuu's directions were even a second too slow, both he and his marionette would no doubt be fried to crisps where they stood. As it stands, Yuu shields his eye against the disc as Dukkha bears down.
His response to it is to whistle appreciatively.
And then look entirely too disappointed when he proves just /slightly/ too fast for Alan's gambit.
The skies are lit up in a blinding flash and clap of noise that signify fury and the lingering promise of disaster.Dukkha skids to a halt the moment it makes contact, body unrolling and landing on all fours, its head rotating a full three sixty degrees with a series of inhuman clacking sounds.
"... how unfortunate," Yuu says, wistfully. "I was really looking forward to experiencing the fullness of those gifts of yours."
Ultimately, Yuu's shoulders lift into a disheartened shrug. When Alan crashes, the brutalized puppeteer leaps forward, landing smoothly on the back of his spider-like puppet with the clatter of inanimate gears. His head tilts very slowly to the right, listening to Shihong with the faintest of frowns.
"Oh my, oh my, what a harsh way of saying it!" he practically sing-songs out. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, yellow eyes focus briefly on the Chinese woman, flashing the most pleasantly awkward of smiles. "You could really afford to use some diplomacy sometimes, you know."
A pause. Yuu looks back to the fallen Alan, leaning forward. "Not that she's wrong, though. The only thing that distinguishes the movers and shakers of this world from the nobodies is their inability to accept defeat. It's a fairly stupid quality, if you ask me.
"But there's a sweet bit of genius to it, don't you think?"
Lips pursing together, the pale blue hair falls over the bespectacled man's gaze as he ponders this. "So, what are you, Alan R.B.? Are you a lamentable man, destined to rot away into laughable obscurity...
"... or would you like to see if you have the capacity to change the world you despise so much?"
Alan woke up this morning, fixed his hair, put on his clothes, and looked excellent, as good as he always does. His body was whole and healthy, and he felt as if he could take on the world when he and Aranha set off to Bantiankong.
Alan then had to take on the fucking world.
His baack a blistered mess, ugly red scars on his neck and abdomen that'll never leave, the skin of his left arm practically shredded after going up against Dukkha and losing, it's the kind of condition you expect to find a corpse in. Alan's eyes suddenly snap open, still bright and intent, the man fighting with all his will to banish the haze at the edge of his vision.
"What the fuck," he begins.
His body relaxes, head tilting back, a great rush of air leaving his lungs. It's like he died - until electricity starts to explode around his skin, lightning coursing up and down in waves, dancing along the car at his back.
"What the fuck do you think I'm trying to DO here?!" The electricity shudders and dims as he pushes his right palm down, levering himself up on one arm, climbing back to his feet. Once he stops moving, the corona erupts once again, his body slumping back. Blood runs down the back of his legs, dripping onto the ground. "Had to change myself... before I could change anything else."
COMBATSYS: Alan gathers his will.
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Yuu 1/----===/=======|=======\-------\1 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/------=|
At Yuu's chiding sing-song, Shihong turns her head to the side, peering at the blue-haired Puppeteer with a tiny little smile on her lips. "I'm sorry, Yuu," she explains of herself. "I just can't /stand/ pussies. They're my pet peeve." Shrugging, she looks back to Alan and notes, "I leave the diplomacy to men like you."
As the man speaks, the Chinese psychic remains quiet. All the while, however, she silently observes Alan, watching and gauging his reactions, if any. When his eyes snap open, Shihong actually appears briefly surprised by the expression. He still has fight left in him..?
"Change yourself? Who are you trying to kid here?" the woman snaps. "All I see is you sitting there whining and bemoaning about how awful the world is and how shitty your life is. Pft, shitty? Look at you, standing there glowing like you're the heart of Chernobyl. All that power? That will?
"What a waste if all you can do is lament about your lot in life.
"Yuu, keep talking for me."
As puzzling as her words may be, it becomes clear there's a purpose for it. Shihong sprints forward, right at Alan before she leaps several feet from him and flips midair. Landing on her hands, she'll drive both heels at his chest before her ankles whip around and seek to grab his throat. Using all her strength she'll attempt to just...hurl him across the road from that handstand.
"Nut up or SHUT up."
The whine of metal grinding against metal at high speeds becomes louder and much more readily apparent as Alan recovers himself. Standing up on his puppet with a swaying motion, Yuu looks down on the other man with a critical yellow stare as Alan speaks.
"..."
His brows lift. And then--
"Perhaps I'm not being clear enough," Yuu suddenly says with a defeated heave of a sigh. "Oh, what to do, what to do..." As he wonders this, that whining gets louder. In the distance, a particularly large, humanoid figure can be seen, its midsection glowing like a furnace.
Yuu launches off, with that request. She lances out with that assault, even as Yuu taps the side of his head.
"What I'm asking you, Alan 'R.B.,' is... if you would like an opportunity to test just how much you've changed?" The figure slowly begins to bend backward, its entire frame seeming to collapse and transform as its midsection blooms open like some sort of hellacious flower.
"What I'm asking you, is...
"... would you like to meet /him/ and see?"
A pause.
"Shihong," Yuu says, in a tell-tale, far too light-hearted voice. But the hidden inflection should be clear to Shihong.
"Now."
Move.
And that is when that tremendous figure suddenly BLOOMS a massive cannon from what was once its stomach, the barrel glowing bright before a SPEAR of metal ignots melted down into pure magma, is literally launched from the depths of the puppet toward Alan.
To drown him in molten-hot metal.
"If you could give a straightforward answer, too, that would be lovely!"
COMBATSYS: Shihong successfully hits Alan with Kick Combo.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Yuu 0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\1 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Yuu successfully hits Alan with Tsumajiro Ura-Janome.
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Yuu 0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\1 Alan
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
"No, goddamnit, it's not about how strong I was - you know what? It doesn't even matter anymore-" Alan cuts off, leaning back as Shihong comes at him, crossing his wrists and bracing himself.
Which is about when his foot slips in his own blood.
Alan's guard breaks at the most critical moment, and a rib cracks as Shihong just bounces off of him. Now, Alan is a leg man, and it is a testament to his character that, as Shihong wraps his throat, he is able to briefly, clearly appreciate it. The last thing Shihong sees before hurling him away is a smug look on his face, one eyebrow raised.
Then Alan is in the air, flying directly in front of Dukkha. Once again, despite his extreme inability to do anything, he at least /tries/. His hand swings down as he flies, fingertips slicing into the hood of an otherwise pretty not-wrecked car. The paint flakes, the metal starts to peel, Alan's flight slows. Molten metal slams into his body, taking him all the way to the guard rail.
His back slams into the rail, bending it outward. Most of the metal continues on to fall into the small river they happen to be near with bubbling hisses. Alan is stretched painfully, held up by the rail like a sling over empty space, agonizing liquid metal burning at his skin. With a supreme effort he rolls himself over, sloughing much of the metal off of himself. Smoking, all that chi that was gathered to him slowly bleeding away into the air, he hauls himself back to the road, finally collapsing face-down once he's there.
He shoves himself up, lips working, trying to speak. This is not the end to the day that he was expecting. In the end, Li Hua is no longer even in his thoughts - it's another girl, on a stage, in that outfit. A chubby girl with dark blonde hair and what will always be to Alan the sweetest voice he'd ever hear.
He rolls onto his back, releasing his left wrist, the chain protected from the molten metal. He only manages to get one word, barely able to focus his gaze on Yuu.
"Yes."
COMBATSYS: Alan takes no action.
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Yuu
COMBATSYS: Alan can no longer fight.
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Yuu
Ah, there it is. That delightful feeling she can feel in the bottoms of her heeled feet, that cracking of ribs as her too-expensive Prada heels connect like a piston against Alan's chest. All the while Yuu speaks, presenting Alan with a potentially life-changing opportunity for himself. Meet him. That man, to see if he's changed--for the better.
Alan's smirk is met with one of her own in that very brief moment. A wink of a dimly-glowing red eye follows before Alan is sent hurtling toward Yuu and his terrible machination. Then there's his safe word.
"Oops! That's my cue!"
Bringing her legs together and coiling them, Shihong bends her arms and LEAPS upwards, legs first. Conveniently there's a lamp post hanging just above her--which she grabs with both legs and hangs from by the ankles. That's when the monstrous puppet belches metal and gives Alan a molten bath. Hanging there, Shihong holds her arms patiently. She waits for a response.
Then.
"Hoh, he said it, Yuu," the Chinese woman replies. "I guess this means we stop hurting him."
Dropping from the post, Shihong's lean body spirals in the air, the woman's lanky figure landing with a surprisingly dainty 'click' of heels. She makes her way toward the Puppetmaster, where she will join him at his side and look to the poor, battered and beaten Alan.
"It's about time you manned up. I was getting worried."
COMBATSYS: Shihong has left the fight here.
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Yuu 0/-------/-------|
"Oh dear," Yuu wonders, watching Alan collapse in molten metal. "Perhaps I overdid it a little--"
'Yes.'
Yuu pauses. The puppeteer looks down with a vaguely surprised expression, meeting Alan's stare evenly. And then, he smiles.
"Well, I guess we'll have to oblige then, won't we?
"I suppose you shouldn't blame us for what happens, though."
Hopping off of Dukkha, Yuu's fingers twitch; one after the other, his puppets pick themselves up and leap off; wind rushes through Yuu's hair and clothes, billowing his charred sleeves outward messily as he tilts his head vaguely toward Shihong.
"I was sort of looking forward to taking a little peek to see what was amplifying his power so much, but I guess it's a moot point now," laments Yuu, lifting his shoulders in a helpless shrug. And then, he says something entirely encouraging:
"Well, with this settled... it seems it's time we find out if /he's/ actually still alive or not, hm?"
With that, Yuu turns, as if preparing to walk away. He pauses five feet out, turning back to look at Alan.
"I'm sure we'll be talking to you soon, Mr. 'R.B.'. In the meantime, congratulations on... how do they say it...? Oh, right.
"Congratulations on 'growing some balls'!"
And with an almost genuinely enthusiastic clap of his hands, Yuu begins to walk off at a leisurely pace.
"Hmmm, do you think that restaurant south of here has been destroyed yet...?"
COMBATSYS: Yuu has ended the fight here.
Log created on 21:50:53 07/04/2010 by Shihong, and last modified on 03:45:03 08/09/2010.