Description: Looks like Wang's got himself into another craaaaaaaazy situation! Suddenly, A NEW CHALLENGER! Just what does this guy even want? Are all Europeans so...alternative?
SOUTHTOWN: 4 PM
A small crowd has gathered around a loose ring, formed of chalk, the sweat of the fighting man, and /destiny/. Inside, two mighty warriors throw everything they have against each other again and again, vying for supremecy and the glory that naturally follows. However, they have both overlooked a crucial element.
"They bustas," a short Chinese teen scornfully announces to his friends. One quickly responds, "Who talks like that? What does that even mean?" The first scowls, brow creased in irritation, and sputters, "It...look, it's ironic, ok? Shut up."
Then nobody shuts up (ever again) because the fight comes to an explosive finish, one man punching the other in the head so hard his neck stretches out like a rubberband, the body quickly scrambling to follow it despite the physical impossibility of it all.
Once the commotion dies down a bit, Wang scoffs. "That didn't look so hard, I bet anybody could have taken down that other guy. Did you even see him? You would have to try, like really hard, to fight that poorly." He continues on in this vein.
Inside the ring, if you can even call it that, the victor struts a little, basking in the thrill of battle, and exhorting the people watching to try assailing the invincible mountain that he surely is. So far, unsurprisingly, nobody's taken the bait.
At ringside, Wang is still talking when one of his 'friends', a large boy with a face that looks like a rhino's if that rhino just lost a fight with another rhino, lifts a foot and kicks the smaller boy right in the ass. "...probably threw the fight, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I saw one of these guys in a play or something a lihwhark!!"
Despite the sudden shove, Wang recovers with surprising grace, instinctively tucking into a roll and coming up in a crouch in the ring, where he instantly freezes because all eyes are suddenly on him. Victor, the aforementioned victor who doesn't actually deserve a real name, smiles, cracks his knuckles, and steps forward. "Just a kid, huh? Don't worry, I'll make this quick."
On a nearby rooftop, a shadowy figure vanishes from sight. One person on the ground squints up at it, shakes his head, and returns his attention to what's likely going to be /hilarious./ This kid is so done!
Up on that roof, Makari Maksimillian crouches behind an air conditioning unit, withdrawing a paper fromm inside his fur cloak, holding it to the light and squinting at it... and nodding. Definitely him. Makari puts it back, brushes some stray dust from his fur, and begins to rehearse, pacing on the roof. He points at a satellite dish, quietly intoning, "You are a man of potential... and I am here to test it! Prepare yourself!" The young giant grins. That's a good one. Alright. He does a few squats, slaps his cheeks, and settles his cloak about his shoulders before striding to the roof's edge. Go time, Makari.
"WANG LONG!" The shout echoes down onto the fighting ring as a shadow falls over Victor, a rippling shape briefly blocking out the sun. Dropping five stories with apparent ease, anyone who didn't look up will just see Victor suddenly /replaced/ by a six-and-a-half foot tall blonde, one foot on the back of his head, the other on his tailbone. Makari holds that carefully planned pose for another moment, letting his cloak settle, letting the anticipation build, before slowly straightening. The naked zweihander across his back catches the light. "I am Makari Maksimillian, of the House of Strolheim."
OK, so far so good, first time out, we're not botching it. Deliver the finish! Looking much older than he is with his stern expression, Makari thrusts his finger at the small Chinaman in a commanding point. "You are a man of testing... and I am here to potential!"
Shit. SHIT! Roll with it oh god roll with it.
"... ...prepare yourself!"
COMBATSYS: Makari has started a fight here.
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Makari 0/-------/-------|
"A NEW CHALLENGER!?" That's what Wang would definitely be screaming right now if he were at all capable of talking. However, at some unidentified point in the last several seconds, his throat began attempting to choke him to death from the inside. Out of /fear/. Doin' a pretty good job, too.
So instead he just makes a few strangled gasps, jaw working despite the speechlessness. This man...he just...out of nowhere...and...and...that other guy...and...OH MY GOD THEN HE STANDS UP and is GIGANTIC and his SWORD is ALSO GIGANTIC, HE HAS A SWORD FUCK FUCK FUCK
Briefly, Wang's life starts to flash before his eyes, before his highly specialized hearing detects muffled laughter coming from directly behind him. "Heh heh. Wang Long. Heh. Snrk." The dead boy walking whips about, briefly trying to hate his friends to death, before turning around again, so distracted that he doesn't even really notice the giant man who is going to end his life with a single stroke mess up his dramatic speech. The finish is strong, the presentation good, and that's what really counts.
Steeling himself, Wang assumes a loose, low stance, hands raised in what seems like a completely futile gesture. But he has a plan now, a hasty plan, but a /plan/. Maybe...maybe he can do this.
"A-alright. I'm ready?" The confidence doesn't quite come, and Wang's voice cracks a little bit as he says it. And then he starts to scoot backward, nearing the edge of the ring, eyes flicking back and forth between that magical little line and the executioner standing in front of him. Maybe, if times this /just/ right...
Maybe the single slice that will cleave Wang in twain will also take out the friend who shoved him. The jerk.
COMBATSYS: Wang has joined the fight here.
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Wang 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Makari
COMBATSYS: Wang focuses on his next action.
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Wang 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Makari
Makari doesn't reach for the huge sword on his back, shifting his weight, eliciting a groan from Victor (whom he shows no signs of stepping off of). His stance is just about impossible to read under that cloak, metal clinking as he moves, whatever he's doing unreadable save for the occasional shift in the fur. Makari puts on a dramatic frown, responding, "Are you?" His body bobs down.
Victor goes flying into the crowd as the Russian explodes forward (totally has some kind of crazy russian/german fusion accent, though not a strong one, just saying), kicking off of him, the cloak revealing a brief glimpse of red chestplate as a saber - a black thing clamped onto it to blunt the blade - lashes out in a wide sweep for Wang's chest. He spins with the cut, ducking low, aiming a second at his legs, and then finally forward with a chop.
...and then the saber's gone again, returned to his cloak.
During it all, Makari hopes nobody was filming his arrival, he totally bombed that first impression.
COMBATSYS: Wang blocks Makari's Maksimilian Edge.
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Wang 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Makari
IN THE CROWD
Like every other person at least has a camera phone with so many megapixels and shit, come on, and a bunch were already filming so that they could post videos of a kid getting punched in the face. Now they're hoping for videos of a kid getting chopped clean in half. Especially Wang's bastard friends. "I promise to send the video to your family so they know how you died, Wang!"
BACK IN THE FIGHT
Wang tries VERY VERY HARD to ignore the crowd, because if he thinks about them too much he'll get nervous or distracted and they'll all probably be dead soon anyway so it doesn't matter. It gets a little easier because Makari has some weird, but also intriguing shit going on.
Like...like armor. Actual armor. And...Wang nearly faints from relief. The sword that comes out is both considerably smaller than the one he was expecting, AND since it's blunted it's almost guaranteed not to chop him in half! Why, that /changes/ things!
Ducking down low, really low in comparison, Wang angles his arm up so that the initial swing deflects roughly off of it. A hop gets him out of the way of the next, and the final chop is met with the palms of both of his hands pressed together to form a rough barrier.
Perhaps unexpectedly, when the saber retreats, Wang practically explodes forward after it, reaching for the hand that holds it and trying to twist it around behind the bigger man's back, giving a firm tactical advantage which still might not mean anything because dang Makari's huge.
It doesn't have to last long, though; just long enough for Wang to go nuts on Makari's ass in a very literal sense, since that's about as high as he can reach and still maintain any power with the flurry of palm strikes he follows up with.
COMBATSYS: Makari blocks Wang's You Got Aspergered.
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Wang 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Makari
Wang wraps himself aroudn Makari's right arm unexpectedly, eliciting a lifting of Makari's heavy eyebrows. In the next moment, Wang learns something about Makari.
A) His ass is unarmored.
B) His ass is /amazing./ It's like slapping the rear of a marble statue. Cooped up in Strolheim, Makari would pass his time doing squats with whatever heavy thing he could find. As a result, he is in the 99th percentile of toned thighs, hips, and buttocks /on Earth./
After the first few palm strikes, Makari /tenses/, and now it actually starts to sting a little to even touch it. "Nice try!" Makari barks, unhassled by the bad touch (he is European), his left hand sweeping out of his cloak. A one-handed battleaxe with a snarling wolf's head inscribed on the metal makes its debut, Makari swatting the flat of it down hard at Wang's head to dislodge him.
COMBATSYS: Makari successfully hits Wang with Medium Strike.
- Power hit! -
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Wang 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Makari
This ass...what is this butt's mysterious power? How can a human being, a living human being just Wang, have a rear this...this /intimidating/? There has to be an answer to this question. Perhaps...perhaps Makari isn't human at all? Science may never know, until the dissection.
His palms even more sore than before, Wang ceases his attack as soon as he feels his opponent reacting, moving to the other side before he can be counter-attacked. It's a great plan except for how he rams the side of his head into the axe with roughly equal force to that which it would hold on its own. It thuds wetly, and Wang's tiny Asian body goes completely horizontal before falling limply to the ground.
"Yrrg...taaaaaw..." He tries to speak from his position on the ground, responding to Makari's banter, but all that comes out is a low slur. Thankfully, the rest of Wang is quicker to recover, and in moments he's spinning about one shoulder, leg coming around to deliver an extremely low kick.
It's sort of like trying to cut down a redwood with a butterknife.
COMBATSYS: Makari endures Wang's Light Kick.
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Wang 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Makari
Wang's leg slams into Makari's, his knee bending over in a manner that must've been exactly what Wang was going for.
Maybe not, though, as Makari looks completely unperturbed. "Ahh, I see," Makari murmurs. "You're limiting your own potential that way, you know."
In a flash of motion, the axe is away, and Makari's hands are up, flinging his cloak behind his shoulders, revealing his weaponry - saber at his hip, two axes behind him, and his belt and cloak are lined with daggers of various shapes. His right hand dives into a gauntlet at his belt, and he swoops the zweihander off his back in a wide arc. He rolls as he falls, both hands on the giant sword's grip, and the momentum of his fall combines with fantastic arm strength.
The zweihander is blunted, but that doesn't keep it from blasting a furrow into the ground on impact. It's probably in Wang's best interests to not be part of the furrow.
COMBATSYS: Makari successfully hits Wang with The Bird Falls.
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Wang 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Makari
Wang does not understand. As speech returns to him, he makes this clear in the short time he has available to him. "What are you even talking about?" A puzzled expression on his face, mixed with a smattering of indignant anger, the small Chinese teenager retaliates the only way he knows how.
"I don't see what's so great about you, either, if I had a sword that big I could go around fucking with whoever I wanted, too." He pauses, playing that back in his head, and decides to just move on. In retrospect, it turns out that he should have perhaps cherished that time, sought to extend it as long as possible; it wasn't a fantastic moment, sure, but it still beats the hell out of GETTING CHOPPED IN HALF.
When the blunted edge actually strikes through Wang's pathetic attempt at shielding himself with his bare hands, it's sort of a relief. There's intense pain, sure, and the force of it is enough to forcibly drive him into the ground, creating a distinct, Wang-shaped outline. But...in the end, it's almost a let-down.
"S...see?" A little shaky but still in relatively good health, Wang pushes himself out of the shallow hole that has just come into being and rolls a short distance away. "It's not even good for anything."
With that said, the boy goes on the attack again, feet sliding forward in half circles as he makes a swift advance without lowering his guard. His hands jimmy a little, and then he brings both palms forward to strike upward at Makari's chin. They fall considerably short, but the blast of golden energy that erupts out of them has no short bones to place limitations on it.
COMBATSYS: Wang successfully hits Makari with Painstakingly Concealed Secret Attack.
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Wang 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Makari
Makari returns smoothly to his feet, shifting his grip on his sword, putting his red-gauntleted hand right on the blade. The stern nature cracks with Makari's good-natured grin. "Hah! I've just gotten started, let me show you!" He shifts his stance, holding the blade horizontally behind him, shoulder forward. He brings it up when Wang's hands twitch, in what would be amazing timing if the attack were what Makari thought it was - but the block flies wide, leaving Makari's face confused, at least until it is wreathed in chi.
He staggers away, head tilted back, face smoking, until he manages to ground the point of his blade. He wipes his face with his unarmored hand, grinning sheepishly at Wang, apparently unperturbed by the turnaround. "Hooo~h. Caught me looking! Anyway..." He hefts the sword again, rethinking his stance, holding it directly in front of him, taking a large step forward. "You're thinking too much about yourself, I think. There is that instant of hesitation. You can't get real power if you're still holding back!"
He lunges, then, zweihander darting up and down, four tightly controlled swings. "So stop thinking! Four Pillars!"
COMBATSYS: Wang interrupts Four Pillars from Makari with Spoiler Alert.
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Wang 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Makari
Hands wreathed in a golden glow, Wang stands his ground after sending Makari stumbling backward in their extremely historically accurate David and Goliath re-enactment, now with one thousand percent more special effects. The bigger man seems to be enjoying himself now, whereas Wang...
Suffice to say, some people just don't know how to take constructive criticism. "What, you want me to act like some big, hulking meathead who doesn't get enough oxygen in his brain because of the low air pressure present at his altitude?" Not that we're throwing accusations or insults around or anything.
Wang starts to mumble as he concentrates, the energy around his hands moving in front of him, taking vague form. "Tell me what to do, will he, well, I'll just show him a thing or two..." Just as Makari lunges, the energy explodes forward, forming an identical gold Wang who fearlessly plunges through the zweihander, tiny fists going wild in a flurry.
The genuine article is right behind it, taking the edge of the blade but pressing on undeterred, leaping up and delivering a kick to Makari's armored chest, twisting about in the air to deliver another kick to the head before falling back down to the ground in a tight roll.
Makari's tightly controlled form falls mostly to naught - the real Wang breaks through in about the third swing, and Makari can't repeat it, staggering back, tip of the sword dragging a line in the ground once he's kicked in the chest. The boot to the head staggers him over, but he's grounded. With his free hand, he grabs onto his shoulder, neck issuing a series of pops as he straightens, grinning. "Hahaha! That's more like it! That's how a fight should be!"
He kicks his sword up, tearing the point from the ground and spins it in his right hand by the blade, the grip smacking into his left. He holds the sword forward and low, taking a few shuffling steps forward.
"By the way," he adds, suddenly darting forward, stabbing the point of the sword beneath Wang. "Strolheim is on a mountain. I assure you, the air seems very rich down here!" He yanks the sword to the side, trying to catch Wang's ankle and trip him up, whipping the weapon in a circle to dump him on his back.
COMBATSYS: Wang dodges Makari's Medium Throw.
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Wang 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Makari
What kind of moron /likes/ being kicked in the head? Wang has just learned the answer to that question. It is this guy. This guy right here.
He is also a menace to public property everywhere, as it seems his every other motion with that huge sword of his serves to effortlessly destroy some part of his surroundings. "Oafish," Wang mumbles to himself.
Even as Makari demonstrates his own nimbleness by darting in to attack again, disproving the oaf hypothesis (not that Wang really cares), the teen sidesteps just a little bit, angling one foot so that it's pressed against the edge of the sword. When it swings, Wang hops so that he is catapulted away a short distance, sliding to a neat stop well out of the perceived danger range. Unless Makari starts throwing those daggers...
Abruptly, this strategy starts to seem less and less appealing. Wang covers his doubts by remarking, "Where are your aircraft warning lights? I thought you had a legal obligation to wear them."
COMBATSYS: Wang gains composure.
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Wang 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Makari
Makari's eyes squint up, confused. "Warning... lights?" His head tilts.
He's lived a bit of a sheltered life. Sometimes things slip past him.
He shrugs it off with a laugh, hoping that'll cover it up, and takes one sliding step back, swinging his sword up and over his shoulder, shrugging his cloak in again, hands hidden. It's probably time for those daggers, because it's not like he's going to
THROW HIS AXES
One with a bear's head and the other with a wolf's, Viktor and Nikita explode out of Makari's cloak, spinning through the air right for Wang. Their flight curiously slows as they near Wang... because after they do their business, for good or ill, they come flying back to him. The mythical boomerang axes!
COMBATSYS: Wang blocks Makari's Viktor and Nikita.
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Wang 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Makari
Makari's confusion doesn't quite get by Wang, although it does wholly and completely justify every single bad thing he has ever said about the man in their short acquaintance. Obviously.
"Yeah, you know...warning..." Wang gestures vaguely in leiu of an actual explanation, which actually turns out to be a good move. With his hands already out, it's almost like he is prepared for AXES WHAT THIS WAS NOT PART OF THE PLAN why don't they care about physics oh why
It's a small mercy that they do slow down somewhat, and Wang is able to get over his shock in time to bring his arms up parallel to each other instead of out to the side the moment before the axes hit. Which they do, rebounding directly backward like nothing does.
Feeling as though the real blow has been dealt to his precious science and less to his forearms, though those sting pretty bad, Wang chases the axes. Though they handily outspeed him, Wang nonetheless tries to strike with a lunging, two-handed palm thrust at the perfect moment; right as the big man catches his weapons.
It is a complete cooincidence that that puts his hands at about crotch level. One hundred percent chance.
COMBATSYS: Makari dodges Wang's Strong Punch.
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Wang 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Makari
With a single smooth motion, Makari catches his axes and /leaps,/ flipping his body to the side and rolling right over Wang's charge. One hand shoves off his back, trying to shove him over, and both boots land hard behind him. "Ha ha!"
He immediately presses the attack again, two daggers - not blunted, just made without edges - in his hands. He throws himself at Wang's back, arms darting quickly, swiping left to right and up and down. "As I thought! You start to see your real potential once you get moving... yes, yes, you have it in you to become strong!" Before, maybe the grim face was misleading, but with the open grin and the light in his eyes, Makari's not that much older than Wang himself. Just... huger.
COMBATSYS: Wang dodges Makari's Weapon Jab.
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Wang 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Makari
To his credit, once Wang narrowly avoids touching a big white dude's wang, he does not let relief or frustration or any one of a number of frustrations slow his advance. He stumbles when Makari uses him as an impromptu springboard, but it only serves to make his tactical retreat all the swifter. Peeling away to one side, Wang puts on some extra speed and flat out starts running away around the edge of the circle, doing his level best to stay out of reach of Makari and his edgeless weaponry. There's no space to actually escape, unfortunately; was the crowd this packed earlier? It's hard to say.
Regardless, with that option ruled out, it looks like the only path left is the direct one. Veering inward again, Wang abruptly puts on the brakes, his momentum carrying him forward across the ground in a low slide, palms pressed against each other at his side. "What do you know, anyway!?" The younger boy snaps out, leaping forward with an attack surprisingly similar to his last one, save with a telltale aura of golden energy flickering at his fingertips.
If at first you don't succeed, try try again, except try harder, and also aim a little higher so you don't touch another man's junk. That's.../pretty much/ how the saying goes. More or less.
COMBATSYS: Makari blocks Wang's Very Poorly Concealed Secret Attack.
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Wang 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 Makari
This time, Makari is able to see it coming in time, and he brings up one forearm far out enough to intercept Wang's palms. The energy washes out over his arm, burning, but he can bear up under that much.
He fixes Wang with another confused expression - this time uncomprehending that Wang wouldn't just assume him to be an authority on the spirit of combat. "I am..." he starts, slowly, "...from /Strolheim./" And that's that, really.
He shoves Wang away, suddenly springing back. "Now, prepare yourself!" His axes are in his hands, and he erupts forward in a weird spin, uppercutting with one axe, and then the other, like a buzzsaw. "You are beseiged!" If one of those axes manages to hit Wang, well... we go into the Ultra animation.
The blow from the axe flings Wang skyward, and then Makari goes back into a crouch, replacing the axes. The cloak flies wide, and his arms pump in blurs, chasing him through the air with a spray of dozens of daggers. Once Wang reaches the apex of his flight, Makari jumps up, Maksimillian sweeping out, the saber cutting in two diagonal slashes before he forces himself down with one last vertical hit, somehow flinging /himself/ down faster than the Chinaman.
Makari lands and skids, both hands on his zweihander now. For what seems like forever, he waits. "Can you stand against this?!" With a roar, eyes alight with the joy of combat, Makari whips the zweihander into one giant circle, an uppercut intersecting Wang's flight, knocking him hilariously away.
Or he could just spin with some axes. It's tricky, those Ultra animations.
COMBATSYS: Makari successfully hits Wang with Siege of Steel.
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Wang 1/--=====/=======|==-----\-------\0 Makari
Somehow, the knowledge that this mountain of a man is from Strolheim is unsurprising. In fact, didn't he mention it earlier? It is difficult to recall under the circumstances, those consisting mainly of a crazed, giant berserker windmilling axes all over the place willy nilly. What are you even supposed to /do/ about that? Especially since you're still in the middle of your recovery animation!?
The answer: be taken for a trip. Calling it a seige is perhaps inaccurate, as that suggests there are defenses to be assaulted, and at this point Wang is pretty much limp. Completely unable to resist as Makari goes through all of his weaponry.
As the end approaches, Wang goes for a desperate gambit in a fleeting moment of lucidity. Angling himself just so, he is unable to avoid the strike of the zweihander; on the plus side, it sends him almost straight up, light frame soaring through the air with ease.
Wang almost seems to float for a moment as he reaches the apex. Struggling, unable to manage much more, he twists about and sticks his leg out horizontally. Even his meager weight should give it plenty of...kick.
COMBATSYS: Makari just-defends Wang's Heavy Kick!
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Wang 1/--=====/=======|==-----\-------\0 Makari
Makari feels the zweihander's impact as less than it should be, and he recovers with amazing alacrity, regauntleting his hand, gripping the sword, and reversing his direction. "Gustav Turns His Face From the Wind." The flat of the blade hits Wang's foot, and Makari twists, redirecting Wang to his left. "Very good! I'm not entirely sure how you managed that one!" Armor and weapons clattering, he steps back, shifting his grip on the sword, and lunges forward again.
The pommel of the zweihander, not the blade, leaps up for Wang's chin. The strike carries Makari up into the air, and he intones, "The Climber Stands Atop the Mountain." He shifts the blade again as he comes down. "Do you see, now? Do you see what you can truly do?"
COMBATSYS: Makari successfully hits Wang with Atop the Mountain.
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Wang 1/=======/=======|===----\-------\0 Makari
Once again, Wang is forced to tuck into a roll as he is shunted to one side by the massive blade, his excess momentum carrying him off to the side. His recovery this time is not so smooth, and he winds up sprawled on the ground.
"It's a-amazing what you can do..." Wang gasps as he struggles to his feet while simultaneously workin' his verbal magic. "...when you're not a five-hundred pound gorilla." Not pointing any fingers, here.
He hardly has time to put up a defense at all when Makari comes right back at him, swinging the wrong end of his sword upward at Wang's jaw, an impressive feat in itself. Even if he weren't barely able to stand, Wang might've been caught off guard by it. As it stands, it connects with little resistance, sending the tiny Chinese boy up, back, and then down onto his butt again.
Unwilling at this point to stand back up, and can you blame him, Wang looks back at Makari and responds, "What you can truly do when you /ambush/ a kid with an entire armory?" Raising one hand, a blast of golden energy flies out, unsteady and poorly aimed. It doesn't matter as much as you might think, when it begins to deviate from its course toward the huge weaponmaster.
COMBATSYS: Makari blocks Wang's The Bullet You Pretend to Forget to Remember.
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Wang 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|====---\-------\0 Makari
COMBATSYS: Makari has left the fight here.
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Wang 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|
Makari's sword whips in a circle after the strike, slamming into the ground behind him. His right hand slams out, the gauntlet closing down on Wang's erratic blast - engulfing it completely. The golden energy splashes through Makari's steel-covered fingers as he slides back from the impact... scowling.
"What kind of attitude is that?" He pulls the zweihander up, one handed. "You are a fighter! A man who can shape the world!" The Russian hauls the blade back, taking three giant steps. "There is no ambushing! There are no advantages you cannot overcome! There is only matching strength for strength! No matter how much you improve your skills, with these excuses, you will not be strong."
Makari brings the sword around in a giant loop, trying to smash Wang in the side, lift him up off the ground, and hurl him into the nearest wall or fruit cart.
COMBATSYS: Wang dodges Makari's Medium Throw.
"You know what, fine." Wang doesn't even try to hide the peevishness in his voice, as certain as can be that this entire escapade wasn't even remotely fair from square one. Any lingering truth that may lie in the big man's words is steadfastly ignored. Why if he's right...that would mean /Wang/ is partially at fault here for being unable to defend himself properly! Unthinkable. Unacceptable!
"We'll just, you know, throw away thousands of years of tactics and strategy, it's not like they're good for anything since we can just butt heads until someone falls down." Ducking down low, Wang lets his height work to his advantage for once and allows the sword to go sweeping by him, narrowly avoiding clipping his shoulder by a hair.
Without wasting another moment, the young fighter steps (or more accurately crab-walks) a step in, rising up inside Makari's guard. His fists strike again and again, slowly ascending as he searches for weak points. It is, again, somewhat hindered by how he can barely even reach the large Russian's chest.
COMBATSYS: Makari blocks Wang's Combo Attack.
Makari misses his swing, quickly bringing up his right hand, transferring the sword across, letting it complete the circle. His eyes brighten at Wang's response to his very pointed argument. "Yes! Now you get it!"
nyoro~n
He backs up slightly as Wang attacks, now using his left hand to block each hit, punching fists where applicable. His expression grows distant for a moment - is he even really paying attention, the ass - and then turns serious. "Oh, I'm getting hungry. Do you know a good place nearby? Something local, I am sampling exotic foods." Makari switches the zweihander back to his left hand, takes a quick step back, and presses forward again, the tip of the blade between Wang's ankles. "Alexei Sweeps Away the Dust!" He pulls to the side, protected right hand sliding up the sword's blade, and tries to hook and lift Wang's ankle, dumping him unceremoniously on the ground.
COMBATSYS: Wang dodges Makari's Alexei's Sweep.
This is not the expected response. As blatant as his sarcastic sass was, it appears the Wang didn't go far enough to get his actual point across, and further his defenses remain, on the whole, impregnable. Infuriatingly so.
Wang looks exceedingly cross until he's taken off-guard again, this time by the large man's innocent question. "Oh, well, uh..." Almost absentmindedly himself, Wang less hops in place than lifts his legs off the ground for the absolute minimum required time to neatly avoid Makari's sweeping maneuver.
"You might wanna try the Pao Pao Cafe," the boy begins, pointing behind his massive opponent, "It's kind of touristy but--" He stops abruptly and then /launches/ himself upward at Makari, who by now has hopefully become distracted and vulnerable. Seeking a place on the big man's shoulders, using that neatly trimmed golden hair as a handhold (as much out of spite as neccesity), Wang proceeds to go nuts with his fists. "Stop acting so buddy-buddy with me!" He throws in a couple of malevolent knees for good measure, before kicking off and flipping away.
"Do you think we're /friends/ now or something?" The tone of Wang's voice should indicate how /completely absurd/ he thinks the very concept is. "You...you thug!"
COMBATSYS: Wang successfully hits Makari with The Tribulations of Wang Long.
Makari's sweep misses, and almost casually, he brings the sword around, slipping it easily onto the harness on his back. He nods as Wang mentions the Pao Pao Cafe, the picture of interest, but before he can shrug his cloak forward over his armor, Wang is just going crazy with the cheez whiz. His fists pummel those masculine, chiselled late-80s-action-movie features, driving Makari back several steps as he tries to right himself, aligning with a wall, preparing to just charge into it when Wang finally flips off. Hair messed, an ugly purple bruise on one side of his face, blood leaking from his nose. The blood gets in Makari's mouth, and he smacks his lips before wiping it with the back of his fist, looking... sublimely unruffled by the whole damn thing, like he has the CALM trait or something.
"Hooh, this must be a culture thing. Sorry, I will make sure I make some friends in Southtown first, /then/ ask them about restaurants." He spits to the side, stretches his neck with a series of pops, and finally shrugs his cloak over his body.
Without much apparent tensing of his legs (then again, cloak), Makari hurls himself through the air, metal scraping as he pulls his saber once again - which might make it a surprise when one of his booted feet lashes out instead, stomping down at Wang's chest as he comes in for a landing.
COMBATSYS: Wang dodges Makari's Light Kick.
With a single, graceful backflip through the air, Wang comes to ground, briefly skidding before coming to a halt. A brief survey of the damage dealt reveals satisfying results indeed; let's see this guy look so smug after he's been messed up like that!
...oh. Wang exhales heavily, as though he cannot believe what is happening, which is understandable since Makari is secretly the Terminator if the Terminator were a tourist. A fruity shirt and a camera would complete the look, and maybe if he had sunglasses and...
Wang shakes his head fiercely, snapping his mind back on track after the sudden derail, as fatigue rears its ugly head after his last, somewhat exhausting assault. "That's not...rrrg..." Thankfully, Makari neatly provides an excuse to avoid answering immediately in the form of a renewed attack. Equally thankfully, having put some distance between the two of them, Wang has ample opportunity to scurry out of the way, although instead of retreating he instead advances underneath the steely Strolheim soldier.
Making a quick about face, Wang grits his teeth and attempts to throw his tiny arms around Makari's hips, and with every ounce of strength in his undersized body attempts to hurl the meaty man backwards. "Are...are you even for real?!"
It would almost be funny if it weren't so pitiful.
COMBATSYS: Makari dodges Wang's Floating Bridge.
When Wang embraces Makari, the man's immediate reaction is to throw his weight back, his saber sweeping down. The damascus steel of the saber, because a special heirloom weapon /has/ to have some fancy attribute, sweeps out and bites into the concrete. Between all of this, Makari doesn't even /budge/ when Wang hauls on him. The Russian's tired face splits into an affable grin. "Well, now you are sending... what's the phrase?" His knee comes up to shove Wang back. "Mixed messages."
His booted foot slams back down, though Makari isn't nearly high enough ratio to shake the ground or even crack it, and he yanks Maksimilian back out of the ground, leading with a punch with the finely-crafted handguard. With a flash of steel, Makari follows up with three quick swipes, back and forth, before simply dropping to a knee to /breathe/ for a while.
COMBATSYS: Wang dodges Makari's Medium Strike.
[ \\\\\ < > /////// ]
Wang 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Makari
His tiny muscles straining to move the mountain that is a man that is Makari, Wang tries not once, but several times. Spurred on by the Strolheimer's japery, each attempt makes it sound like he's going to give himself a hernia and possibly collapse on the spot, which in truth isn't that unlikely by this point.
"Hrrrrn! HRRRRRRRRN!" Alas, it's all for naught, as the small boy simply cannot move that much mass. He gives up just in the nick of time, stumbling backward when Makari starts to stomp. Taking several weary steps back, Wang is just barely out of range of the initial punch, and the distance gives him enough time to continue to backpedal just out of reach of the series of slashes that seem so sure to sunder the schoolboy's shit.
But with the latest assault successfully evaded, Wang finds that somehow, in some way, he has the will to keep going, to continue his seemingly futile assault against this...this monster of legend, this /behemoth/. After all...
Makari basically called him /gay/.
This will not stand. Taking another couple of steps back, Wang gets a good running start and then launches himself into the air, foot extended, to flying kick Makari right in the stomach. That's about as high as he can manage right now.
COMBATSYS: Wang successfully hits Makari with Strong Kick.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
[ \\\\\ < > // ]
Wang 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Makari
Wang's foot buries into Makari's midsection like a fat man into a ball pit - the impact bulges his eyes out, breath rushing from his lungs as the /world shakes/, a burst of brilliant colors erupting behind the two of them. At least one person in the crowd says something with a sharp 'k' sound, immediately cutting to another member with a sharp, surprised 'oh!' because he just learned his sister's a lesbian. What? Life is crazy!
Makari almost loses his grip on Maksimilian as he slides back from the kick, the sword hanging on by one finger, spinning wildly. Makari stops, and drops to his knees, his arm catching the saber and returning it to its sheath in an automatic motion he isn't entirely conscious of. "Ex...cellent!"
Makari starts to push back to his feet, legs shaking. "I was right to find you. It's good! You're strong!"
His hands shift inside his cloak. "And next time we meet, I'll be stronger! Don't fall behind!" His cloak ripples, and flies open, his arms a blur as a terrifying cone of daggers come flying out, Makari emptying his clothing of the shoddily-made knives. It's like a smoke bomb - when the cloud of blades passes, however Wang deals with it, Makari's made his exit, and only trips on something when he's already out of sight and nobody can see it.
Nobody at all.
COMBATSYS: Makari can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\ <
Wang 0/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Makari successfully hits Wang with Red Storm.
[ <
Wang 1/-----==/=======|
Rebounding off the taller man in what may as well be slow motion, Wang's eyes go wide, as surprised as anyone by the sheer /power/ of his kick. Makari is actually...going down? It's like a miracle, or perhaps a /certain inevitibility/.
"Y-yeah! That's right I'm strong! Even faced with impossible odds, nobody can--" Wang abruptly stops talking and starts shrieking like a girl when Makari throws what is almost certainly every single knife in existence, a solid wave of pointy projectiles. Stumbling backward, Wang trips over nothing just in time to be held aloft by the sheer amount of metal slamming into him. A pile of knives begins to accumulate haphazardly in front of him; soon it is more or less equal in size to the small boy.
Finishing his fall far later than he would have liked, Wang stares up at the sky, not even noticing that Makari's even left (because looking at things hurts too much), croaking out a weak faint retort.
"No, y-you're...gaaaaaugh." And he's out.
COMBATSYS: Wang takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Wang can no longer fight.
Log created on 18:03:04 09/17/2010 by Wang, and last modified on 22:50:21 10/27/2010.