Description: Two men, largely ordinary joes, were caught up in terrible events over a year ago. These two men survived, and largely got on with their lives. Thanks to the choice of one of them, however, the two are now fated to fight on opposite sides of a bloody, drawn-out war for all eternity as their loyalties are declared and tested. In the end, only one will get to sit down.
Gedo Street Bus Stop.
Green Line.
Daniel Jack stands at the bus stop, a small backpack swung over his shoulder. The detective was dressed in the loose, billowy garb of a student of Aikido, even dressed in the heavy wooden sandals of his art. Daniel Jack always went to the Todoh-Ryuu Dojo in uniform. Mostly because half of the time, using the changing room is a liability to his personal health.
The detective growls, tapping his sandal of he held open the schedule. They changed the schedule again, and now, they were going to be late? Daniel looks down the street, awaiting the bus. Master Todoh would make him Kasane Ate 100 times if he was late again.
Or worse, spar.
Howard Rust has an entirely different problem. His truck - a pretty new one - broke down early in the morning. Fixing it won't be too expensive, he's sure he can suss it out himself. The thing is, all day he's had no time. Today he's got a commitment going.
His very first day as a Kyokugen student. He's got the gi on, got the white belt on... he's not sure why he's still wearing a toolbelt on top of that, let alone Ol' Rusty by his hip when his training is going to be involving a particularly uncomfortable thing Takuma's going to be driving him to get over.
His right hand. The ugly discolored scar is highly visible on his right palm without his work gloves on. Takuma wants him to be pressing in nails with it, under threat that he'd use his head to put those nails in if he didn't.
The head thing actually sounds like a better idea, but, tipping his hand to that fact his forehead is no stranger to that sort of trauma too soon miiiiight be a bad idea. Besides, to leave a bad impression on the first day in class...
As it is, he too is coming up towards the bus stop along the Green Line to wait for it to come by. Now that he thinks about it, he probably could've - and should've - walked. Ah well.
His presence is easy to tip off when his left knee loudly cracks as he walks, a grunt following afterward. God damn, he didn't take those meds today and he's feeling it all over. Stiffness! Soreness. Tenderness. It makes the upcoming day a little more daunting.
He doesn't think much of anything of Daniel Jack's uniform as he comes across to the stop - or, really, much of the guy. Far as he knows, a naive thought as it is today, they are just two guys waiting for the same bus. A dangerous mistake.
Daniel Jack tosses a glance at the man whose crack breaks across the morning. It takes a split-second to recognize the uniform.... and a second longer to recognize the man. A mixed emotion strikes the detective in the core. He knows this man. He sacrificed blood, sweat, and tears with this man, inside the heart of a hellhole. Under Rolento. The handyman.
But now, he was with Kyokugen.
The detective takes a deep breath. He allows himself to calm down. He had to handle this professionally. And finally, he rolls his head, cracking his own neck. "My god. Howard Rust. You survived the Southtown Invasion. It's been, what, a year? Don't you remember me? Under Rolento?" The detective nods, and puts out a hand to the older man, to shake it.
Keep suave.
This man would like to put a whole lot of facets about the invasion all the way behind him. Virtually every last one. Even so, Takuma's gauntlet is already on the ground - he's got to overcome the problem with his right hand, one way or the other. Lots of other little challenges are in the way, and new ones keep popping up at every corner. Life likes to play hardball with Howard Rust.
"Yeah? That's, uh, that's," where'd he hear that voice? Tension creeps up when someone puts his name with the invasion, though the voice by itself doesn't elicit anything cringe-worthy as he turns his head a bit more to face the detective head on.
'Under Rolento.' His blood freezes at the thought. He hasn't seen him since the end of the invasion, and thank God for that. A friendly hand is pointed in his direction.
Mr. Rust meets it and nods his head quietly, taking his right hand into Daniel Jack's. His grip is not particularly strong in this hand any more - a far cry from how solid the man's frame is otherwise.
"'s, uh, been a while." He replies if only for the sake of replying. "Waiting for the bus?"
Daniel Jack takes the hand firmly. He eyes the injury, but says nothing of it. At least, not yet. As he shakes, he looks Rust right in the eyes, and keeps talking, trying to get rid of all the awkwardness. "Yep, waiting for the bus. My god, its a damned coincidence we are meeting here. And a damn pity under these terms. When did you start taking up Kyokugen Karate?"
Daniel Jack's shaking slows down, his grip tightening for a moment before relaxing. The detective mutters a bit, looking down at the hand. "Sorry, the name's real emotional for me."
Howard Rust is a man that, for virtually all his life, has been blissfully free of the oft violent, sometimes bizarre pissing contests that go on between martial arts dojos. There isn't any sort of smug smirks in Daniel Jack's direction over any sort of discomfort or awkwardness. Far as the man here cares, Daniel Jack there's another war survivor.
If only he himself was aware of what his choice of school stands for in the eyes of the other man!!
"Pity? Uh, I don't... follow?" The older man scratches the side of his head. His throat is dry. There was a lot of yelling today at school. Epic bouts of yelling. His throat basically doesn't really even want to produce any more words, but its owner wills it so through his usual gravelly tone, though the volume makes occasional dips low enough into incomprehensibility.
"Just yesterday, ah, why?" He straightens out his posture a little. "The name, uh, you mean... Rolento? Look, you don't bring that name up," he clears his throat, "'scuse me. You don't mention him, then I, I won't mention him."
He foolishly believes that's a done deal, the misconception a sure recipe for great personal pain on his behalf.
Daniel Jack releases the hand, and throws up his own, defensively. "Alright, nothing more on that two-bit scoundral from me. Lets talk about business then. Basically, the short run is that you know Kyokugen Dojo? Well, I'm from the Todoh-Ryuu Kobojutsu Dojo, and the two dojos are treated as Rival Schools. That means, by proxy, we are rivals. Not out of personal vendettas, I need to throw that out there. I gotta say, we are respectable. And Howard? I respect you. I respect you a lot. But I gotta be blunt. For both of our own sakes?"
"We gotta fight."
"'Short run?'" Rust asks in a quiest voice as he tries to follow the meaning of Daniel's drawn back hand as much as he does the dialogue. He ends up nodding along anyway.
Howard never asked Takuma what he meant by a 'Todoh,' thinking as to whether or not he meant the dog or not. The eel meat he had not long ago acts up in his stomach, which changes his thought process pretty quick to some other subject.
The bit about rivals.
"You mean, like," he never finishes the sentence when he brings it up somewhere around the rivals thing. Not out of personal vendettas, Daniel says. They're respectable. He respects him, that's... high praise for a guy he hasn't seen in some time. For their own sakes, they got to fight, he says.
He muses over what Takuma will be like if he comes in so busted up he can't hammer nails with his right hand. On the other hand, this is a guy he hasn't seen in a long time. A part of him... really would like to see how the two of them together've gotten better since.
"Ahhh, all right," his voice doesn't sound too enthusiastic, forgetting he doesn't have his work gloves on as his naked palm goes to Ol' Rusty. The way the rusty, rough texture of it scratches against his palm is painful. It stings, and that's putting it lightly. His right hand all but jumps away from the top of it once with a wince - an apparent signal of changing his mind?
He settles it gently back down to the makeshift hilt and nods his head. "D-don't mind me," he says, "been a while since, since I touched this thing with... with my bare hands." There's always been a fine layer of fabric between himself and Ol' Rusty whenever he holds it.
Daniel has the initiative if he wants to take it, as Howard brings forth the bit of willpower he needs to wake himself up a bit more and clench the pipe through the pain and his fairly weak grip.
COMBATSYS: Rust has started a fight here.
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Rust 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Daniel has joined the fight here.
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Rust 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Daniel
COMBATSYS: Rust takes no action.
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Rust 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Daniel
Daniel Jack would normally take the initiative.
But he was being a partner.
The detective steps back, taking off his backpack and tossing it over by the bus bench. "Well, think of it like this. If they heard that we ran into each other, and didn't fight, they would raise hot holy hell over it. If one of us loses, then the winner will get all the praises, and the loser will get all nine layers of hell over it. We both lose, or its a draw? We both walk away with a net gain. It's the prisoner's dilemma. Lets just do this until the bus comes. That's a good draw match, right?"
Daniel Jack brings his legs together, and snaps his arms to the side. "Now come on, Howard, lets keep this official. The detective bows deeply, showing respect to his opponent. Daniel Jack didn't want this to be a jackass thing. He didn't want to go crazy like Todoh.
He just wanted to have fun until the bus comes around.
Is it really that fierce between them? Then again, he saw the Gen thing about first hand. He's still mystified about what the whole point of that deal was, jumping on a Neo Leeague thing like that. He's still not even sure how that little ninja kid got involved. A part of him is pretty sure he doesn't want to know.
"Yeah... don't want to, don't want to miss the bus over that." He thinks a bit more about the pipe in his hand. The flesh on his right palm is screaming in agony. This man is incredibly resilient to physical harm. It is as though, thanks to injury, he is now in possession of Achilles' palm. This palm is entirely mortal. It is hurt. It feels pain. Where the rest of his body almost wouldn't think twice about brushing up against rusty metal and contracting tetanus so that it may gleefully beat the crap out of the infection on its own, his palm is metaphorically ready to wave in surrender.
Let's keep this official, Daniel says.
"Y-Yeah, you're right." He lets the pipe be and takes his toolbelt off. The bench is in arm's reach, so he can just drop it off without walking any further. If that bench somehow breaks in the course of this fight, though... tough titties, Southtown, he sure as hell is done with fixing benches.
"Sorry, I'm kinda new to all the, all the martial arts gym etiquette." He clears his throat one last time, stands up a bit straighter even with one of his knees giving him guff again, and matches a bowing stance with Daniel.
This may prove to be the most respectful battle between the two schools in some time.
Daniel Jack finishes his bow, and rises back up. "Don't worry, Rust. You'll get the hang of it. The etiquette is a nice, refreshing break from randomly getting jumped by strangers. Or worse, people you know." Daniel steps back, and enters the defensive stance of Todoh. "It's probably too early to learn the Hadoken anyways. Kyokugen teaches Hadoken right?" Daniel couldn't tell the difference between that and Ryu's style of fighting. Not like Todoh-Ryuu Kobojutsu.
Totally unique!
Daniel Jack approaches forward, advancing upon his opponent. He was telegraphing, letting his opponent see that he was going to attack. The detective open with a single straight palm strike with the left, and follows up with a hand chop with the left. The detective leans back as he swings one leg up to kick Rust, and using the momentum, unleashes a second kick, straight at the first. Slow, steady, and carefully planned combo, focusing on defense and increasing his space.
Daniel was keeping this simple.
COMBATSYS: Rust blocks Daniel's Zoot Suit Riot.
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Rust 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Daniel
Getting jumped by random strangers or people he knows? That sounds like /his/ life pre-Kyokugen anyway. Then again, this is Southtown. The period of quiet after Geese's fall aside, it's slipping back into those old habits that made it such a dangerous, but exciting place to live if you're one of the strong. That musing aside, the older man gets out of his bow as he clears his throat.
"Uhh, pretty sure the brochure said... ahh, Ko'ou Ken?" He doesn't clearly remember the name either.
Where Daniel is practiced in his style, Howard is for all intents and purposes a brawler on his way to his first day of real Kyokugen education, and thus doesn't have quite the same stance. He doesn't look completely as comfortable unarmed, although the basics are there - leading with his left side as opposed to his right, as is normal, the left elbow catching the palm, the same forearm to stop the chop. He almost thinks it's his time to attack.
The kicks come! Same arm, same general area he catches the blows. Daniel reflects on his martial arts style well, switching from a solid defense to a frequent flow of competent blows to keep the pressure going.
For his effort, his response is much less glamorous, much less a great show of technique as he merely pushes his left forearm out to shove Daniel back. Both of them seem to want to space things out rather than outright swarm with unrelenting offense, as it is.
COMBATSYS: Daniel dodges Rust's Quick Throw.
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Rust 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Daniel
Daniel Jack advances towards Rust, keeping with the steady, constant combo.The first two blows are easily caught, as Daniel Jack grunts. "Great! You are doing good Howard!" As the two kicks come, however, he notes that Howard keeps blocking with the same limb. "Damn, how much abuse can you take man?" As the shove comes out, Daniel Jack actually is in a good position. The kicks were designed to open up space, giving Daniel breathing room to react. As the push comes in, Daniel Jack keeps the momentium of his initial kick, sweeping his body back around to brings his own hands forward to meet the forearm. Lightly touching it, he guides the force around him, letting his opponent's momentium to continue past the detective harmlessly.
And now, the follow up.
Sweeping his arms again, he attempts to cut them across Rust's body, to get a grip on his waist and gi. Stepping into his opponent, he tries to position himself partially beside him as he tightens his grip. If he can continue that grip, he will bring his knee in, and attempt to pull Rust over his knee, and slam him directly into the ground in a single, smooth motion.
"HI YA!"
COMBATSYS: Rust interrupts Strong Throw from Daniel with Strong Throw.
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Rust 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Daniel
"More 'n... more 'n you think." He replies to the compliment and the query about just how much he can take - but Daniel shows just how easy he can take just about any half-hearted offensive attempt as he navigates around the simplistic shove and gets his arms around his side. Daniel has agility over Howard in spades, and it shows considering how slow he is to react.
"Hey," he grunts as he fights the grip. Daniel has a hell of a grip on him. It's not something he can just throw himself out of, it's a tug of war that seems to be more on the losing end.
So he tries to yank one of Daniel's arms up with both of his, just as the knee starts to come into the picture, bending in such a way that he effectively bludgeons /himself/ against it with a grunt. It's hardly enough to force him to let go as he turns the side grab into what is a textbook and simplistic over-the-shoulder slam into the sidewalk before him with a comparatively quieter kiai, a bit of pain throbbing in his lower back and around the waistline where Daniel held him a touch tighter than was comfortable.
"The hell did you learn how to, how to hug like that," he idly rubs his side. The entertaining of this discomfort gives Daniel that window he needs to get back up off his feet.
Daniel Jack's aggressive throw turns out to be too aggressive. As surprising as it might be for Rust, Daniel is not the most agile figure. In fact, he is more of a defensive grapple, despite his usually overwhelming and somewhat endless chain of special technique. When Rust comes in with the grab and slam in mid-grapple, it actually takes Daniel off guard. "OOF! Geeze, what the hell man?" Daniel grunts, grabbing the back of his head. What a scrape.
And what an embarassment!
As Daniel rises up, he keeps back a bit, remembering that despite his skill, Rust was built like a brick. "I take that back, sorry Howard. In Todoh-Ryuu Kobojutsu, both Master and the Mist- Erm, Kasumi, I mean. The pair of them draw their martial arts from a school called Aikido. Unlike Karate, which focuses more on strikes, Aikido focuses more on throws. Of course, I try and mix it up. Hey, you don't mind if I show off a bit, do you?"
Daniel clenches his fists, and suddenly looks like he is trying to lay and egg. Turning bright red, his frame suddenly began to flare with a bright orange chi. "Pretty cool, huh?" The energy wicks along his frame, ending at his arms. "This is the signature from my martial art coming up now, what the school is most known for." Daniel lets slide, advancing towards his opponent with his left arm wound back. Orange Chi burning, he closes in close with Howard, and as he almost walks right into him... He swings his left arm, unleashing a short, quick slash of orange chi right at Howard, roaring the name of his technique.
"KASANE ATE!"
COMBATSYS: Daniel successfully hits Rust with Mikansei Kasane Ate.
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Rust 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Daniel
"Take what ba-- huh." He listens to the lecture. Aikido, yeah, he's heard of that, that breaks it down pretty nicely. Really technical stuff, he can respect that. Definitely explains where Daniel's got his technical skill in tossing people around. Compare this to Howard, whose throws tend to begin and end at shoves and simpler slams. Ones with decent punch behind them, if more for his physical strength rather than underlying technique and mastery of the way the human body bends and works when pushed, pulled, or moved in certain ways.
"Y-Yeah, I don't mind any," he shakes his head as he gets to the closest he'll get to a ready stance without Ol' Rusty on hand, still pointing his left side towards Daniel even though he is very much right handed. He patiently waits out the summoning of that chi stuff. Seeing chi is nothing new to him, but the way that bright orange comes to life and the way it just gathers is, in a way, kind of cool to watch. It's fun watching chi displays on TV, but it's really something to see it in person.
He nods as Daniel offers the signature technique, moving in to strike. With a low crouch, he decides to work his legs to jump. The pop in his knee likely gives the intent away.
As Daniel shouts the name, Rust kicks off the ground. He doesn't clear the slash of chi - it nails him around shin level and disperses into the aether with a grunt and the sudden onset of cramps as he flops about once in the air and hits the sidewalk on his back.
"Y-Yeah, pretty good," the Pacific shop teacher concedes as he pulls himself up to a stand. He doesn't really have much in the way of trademark techniques he can offer in turn, especially not with Ol' Rusty drawn out. Daniel has the control of the pacing of their friendly little spar, with the advantage of full comfort with fighting with his bare hands.
Takuma said to him not long ago that he was going to be hammering nails with his weaker hand. Maybe he should really check and see just how badly that's going to hurt ahead of time, given he doesn't have a whole lot special to offer to Daniel in turn as he wiggles the fingers on his right hand slowly. It's a tell.
"This, uh, this isn't anything special in turn, but," Howard draws back his right hand and, bending his fingers inward best he can, thrusts the palm at about chest level with enough force that might remind the both of them - maybe more Howard than Daniel - that while the grip in his right hand is not as good thanks to that wound, it's still his dominant hand. It's got power behind it.
Maybe that's all he really needs.
COMBATSYS: Daniel interrupts Random Strike from Rust with Kasane Ate.
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Rust 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Daniel
Daniel Jack's had several signature moves, which seperated him from the pack. Not just important to others, but important to him. Of these, Mikansei Kasane Ate, or Lesser Kasane Ate, was one of his favorite. It wasn't because of the lack of power, nor was it the high speed of it. No, it was his favorite because of the follow through. It was his most powerful chaining tool for his attacks.
And his favorite follow up was the second Kasane Ate.
The other chi-burning hand is already coming down as Rust unleashes the palm strike. Daniel slams hard into the hand, grunt in pain as it feels like Rust DID swing old Rusty into him. But it's like hitting a tripwire in the end. Biting back the pain, Daniel grimaces as the other shoe drops, a much larger arc coming from his dominant hand. A larger, long slash of energy is unleashed, tearing into Howard. The detective belts out a roar, heralding the appearence of the orange chi.
"KASANE ATE!"
As the assault is unleashed, Daniel stands tall, ignoring the throbbing pain in his chest. He seemed to be growing more and more intense as the fight drew on, and now, he seemed to have broken through a threshold. But that smile was warm, if just a bit threatening. Crossing his arms across his chest, he held himself as his master would, as a sensei would. And with it, came the bellowing tones of a instructer.
"Come on, Howard! Don't stifle your spirit! You need to let it flow from you! You don't need Ol' Rusty! You got the heart! Now let me see it!"
Truth be told, the older man is already wincing in pain when palm meets private dick! It's that momentary pause, that surge of pain, that does him in when Daniel brings that larger, longer slash of energy down before he can even react to it. The chi slashes into the forty-year-old man and lifts him off his feet and into the one thing he does not like being thrown into.
The bench. The good news is, it's a fine bench and doesn't crack or break under a man of Howard's size hitting ut, although his toolbelt falls from it, Ol' Rusty-sheathed side first as it clatters noisily on the ground. He's still shaking spots out of his vision from taking the Kasane Ate in the face.
There's Daniel there, all 'you don't need Ol' Rusty.' Howard does want to improve himself, and his technique - but that pipe's as much a part of him as he is a part of it. Even without it he's a real piece of work, sure, but it's a lifelong partner there, steady even when his girl hasn't been. Yes, even though that's been like the sixteenth or so pipe since he's been to Southtown (shh, don't remind him).
"Hold your, hold your horses," Howard says as he pulls himself up, his back really screaming from how hard he hit it against the bench. His right elbow cracks so very loudly as he shakes out his head one last time, getting to his feet and spreading his legs apart a bit. He still leads with his left hand, though he points his hand closer outward than his usual inward bend. His right arm, usually, is pointing away. He raises it up a bit closer to his chest.
He'll figure something out, he thinks, as he moves a bit away from the bench. "Okay. Okay. Hit me again," he says. "I'm good." He clears his throat as he narrows his eyes to try and get a better read on Daniel's movements. He's already misread him twice in a row, both of them leading to good, solid hits.
Those two are going to be the last, he decides.
COMBATSYS: Rust focuses on his next action.
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Rust 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Daniel
Daniel Jack continues to stand there, arms crossed, eyes burning with the spirit of Todoh. But he lets Rust get his bearings. His eyes even soften when he eyes Howard's hands. "Are you sure? Your hand isn't looking too hot. Maybe we should call it a draw..." But he insists, and the detective lets him get focused, get his head back into the range. The detective nods firmly. "Okay, Howard, lets get this ball rolling again."
Uncrossing his arms, the detective begins to advance towards Rust, approaching carefully and steadily. He forces himself deep into the man's personal space; A dangerous move to be sure, as he does not know Rust's true talent. Closing in, the detective attempts to grab Rust by his arm, not his hand or wrist. If successful, he will continue to rotate around the man, trying to twist his arm behind him. And there, he will turn it hard in the socket, trying to force him to the ground.
Easy joint locks.
COMBATSYS: Rust blocks Daniel's Medium Throw.
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Rust 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Daniel
He's ready, he's raring, so Mr. Rust decrees as he lets Daniel get into his personal space. It's not hard to grab the arm with a quick grab, as Daniel demonstrates. It's when Daniel starts trying to twist it around that the real fight begins to lock it - there's a bit of back-and-forth tugging with that leading arm, his left. Daniel seems to get the upper hand towards the end of it as the arm is tugged down a bit low. Just one good twist to get it behind him, and it should get him low to try and relieve the pressure.
Only problem is, as he throws his left shoulder forward he jerks his arm free, shaking it out once to get the blood flow back going. The second shake isn't to reiterate this gesture for his comfort. That second shake is to get his left palm atop Daniel's head and - unless he stops him - thrust straight down, to faceplant Daniel into the concrete with a loud shout.
COMBATSYS: Daniel blocks Rust's Brick Stacker.
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Rust 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Daniel
Daniel Jack struggle with his opponent, trying to get Howard to get down. This was a staple of the more practical moves of Todoh-Ryuu Kobojutsu, hell, of Aikido. But Rust is a fighter. He is a trooper. And he is fighting back. When Daniel sees him stretch out, he begins to loosen up. "Too much, Howard? Just tell me wh- Oh crap" Daniel snaps out his leg as Howard begins to spike down hard. Keeping his grip on Rust, the two keep in that hard, struggling grapple. A clinch. Daniel feels his body burning, struggling under the force of the far stronger Rust. He needed to make his opening, and make it fast. Then, he figures out a trick.
His knee gives way, letting the detective fall to the ground. Immediately, he tucks and roll, keeping his grip on the other man. Daniel moves his legs up, tucking them up to aim right for Rust's center. And if he manages to control himself properly, he will unleash a powerful two-legged kick right for Rust's torso, releasing him in the process.
COMBATSYS: Rust interrupts Strong Kick from Daniel with Jackhammer Kick.
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Rust 1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Daniel
Howard may have superior physical strength, but his opponent is no slouch as the two wrestle to overcome the other. Sweat runs down the bigger, older man's face, but yet he doesn't seem to want to commit both hands to this matter. He lifts a leg up, which might be a very bad tell.
Daniel's idea to fall back and pull takes the man by surprise, eyes a bit wider with a complementary 'whoa' as he hops on a single leg, having trouble ensuring Daniel can't roll far in the wind-up of the kick that's about to happen.
He raises up that leg a little higher as Daniel thrusts his two legs out, and accidentally catches the blow right there - two very powerful kicks to the shin and thigh that'd knock just about anyone over, maybe even break some bones in those legs.
Not Howard, whom more or less powers through this bad block on his part and just thrusts the lifted leg down at Daniel, be it those attacking legs or just past them, over and over in a short time. There's no visible chi component, no feeling of such on contact. But every hit is loud, like a jackhammer going to work on the road. A series of kicks later, he gets a nasty cramp and has to stop. This gives Daniel another good opportunity to keep the offense going.
"Ahhh," Howard winces as he lifts and stretches that leg he just struck with as he wrests his left arm free of Daniel's grip for the moment. The respective knee pops loudly again. "They teach you to, to kick like that too?"
Daniel Jack gets the roll down, at least. But then Howards takes his opening, and practically stomps him. Again and again. The kick goes off, but it is interrupting a straight-forward beat down. Daniel Jack lays there, in the wake of the beating. And takes a long, deep breath.
"... Gurk."
"Guuuurk."
Daniel ceases his grunting, and looks over at his opponent. "Yeah. It's mostly throws, but mixing it up with kicks and hand strikes are a secondary thing." Daniel Jack struggles up, clutching himself gingerly. "Wheeeew. Where did you learn to kick like that? Sweet lord, Howard. Kyokugen picked out a smart one. I should have grabbed you when you were looking for a school. My school could use a guy like you."
Daniel Jack looks over at Rust, and nods firmly. "Give me a sec, let me find my center. Daniel Jack takes a deep breath... and suddenly, his body begin to flare up with Chi again. The detective begins to flex, his gi even begin to swell and billow as the detective's form filled out in it. He was pushing himself, focusing his spirit into going to the next stage. "HOOOAH! HOOOOOOAH! HOOOOOO-AAAAAAH!" Came the cry as Daniel seemed to enter a new state, his body now burning with wild chi energy. Orange fire danced over him as his swelling stopped, and he stared straight for Howard, motioning a finger towards him.
"Okay, I'm ready!"
COMBATSYS: Daniel jacks it up a notch!
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Rust 1/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Daniel
"Uh... came up with it myself," he replies with the honest truth. He's a weapon fighter, and if you're going to get anywhere you really need to have some damn good kicks. He's still flexing his leg up and down a bit to relieve some of the tension as Daniel expresses the open lamentation of how his school could've used someone like him.
"Well, thanks, I guess," he shrugs. He's not sure how well he'd have done with the aikido stuff. Maybe he'd have been a great fit for it, even with the significant difference in its professed specialties from his own. He nods at Daniel's request which - if the two were on any less friendlier terms - would be a deadlier mistake.
Daniel makes helluva good time on being given a second. The way his body flares up, the way he flexes, the sheer noise as he calls upon the inner spirit beaten into him through significant training effort. It's here that Mr. Rust knows that he is outgunned. Brute strength alone may not win the day.
He shakes his head once. Nah, can't let that intimidate him, he thinks, remembering full well those two choice encounters with the likes of Igniz and that blinding power, and what it took.
For a friendly spar, this is the point where Howard Rust gets a little bit carried away, already taking off towards Daniel as he says he's ready, eyes meeting eyes. The pace that Howard runs is rather undramatic, though, given the pathetic amount of foot speed he can bring to muster.
But when he gets there, when the two men are ready to make their grand stand while waiting for the goddamn bus to come so the two of them can get to where they need to go, he simply thrusts his right foot outward in a straight kick. The sort of posture one would take in kicking down a door. This one isn't accompanied with any sort of flashy chi like Daniel can bring to bear. There isn't any grand yell of effort, or any sort of intimidating call.
It's one man, one foot, one target, as he intends to topple Daniel down with that one powerful kick as he goes up against one of the finest students of the rival school as someone who has, technically, not yet received a single lesson.
Can sheer grit match Daniel's own significant pile of it?
COMBATSYS: Daniel fails to counter Strong Kick EX from Rust with Jumping Jack Flash.
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Rust 1/------=/=======|=======\======-\1 Daniel
The short answer?
Yes.
Daniel Jack's spirit burns from within, power flowing into him. For a friendly spar, Daniel was jacking this up a notch. He threw down that gauntlet. And now it was for him to pay that piper. And what does Howard Rust pay with? A powerful flaming rush? A Pipe-Based Blast of Chi? Mayhaps, it was a flying triple kick. Daniel Jack's feels a rush of speed in his heart, his body ready to unleash the pain. The punishment. He braces himself. Ready to pounce as Rust comes closer to him. Daniel sweeps his limbs, ready to catch the unstoppable wave of power.
But then comes the kick.
Daniel didn't expect a kick like that. His arms whiff, overestimating and overcompensating for such a simple move. The power isn't simple, however. Daniel finds himself flying hard through the air, smashing HARD into the bus bench. There is a sharp crack as the bench breaks in twain. Daniel looks outraged at first, furious second, and grouchy third. "DAMMIT! No offense, Howard- gah, park bench in bad place- but GAH! GAAAAARGH! It's the Mad Gears all over again! I can throw away Yamazaki like nobody, but it's the damn straight kicks. Damn good kick, man!" The detective seeths, the fire around his body fading away.
FFFFFFF KYOKUGEN
While he's currently wearing the gi and white belt, all dolled up as the part of an initiate into Kyokugen, that kick is all his. All those years of wanting to be a big name fighter, all the disappointments through those years and - more recently - all those years just surviving in the hazardous city that is Southtown. That's the kick of a man right there, devoid of any other descriptor one can put to it.
There's no squinting or flinching when Daniel reaches out with those arms, even as they come short for his face. He'll endure those spots in his vision for being so close to that amount of brilliance of a man who carries his dojo's banner with the utmost of pride, and his face remains stern as he draws that foot back.
This all shatters at the sound of the bench breaking, snapping him out of the platonic ideal of martial arts focus and back into the little mundane worries that love to bog him down in life. This one, one of his chief irritants.
/Broken benches./ And this one, without any stretch of doubt, is entirely and irrefutably his fault. To say nothing, of course, of how much pain Daniel's in, rolling with the curses, the groans, and the compliments.
"Y-You okay, uh," he appears legitimately worried as he goes down over to the bench to kneel down before Daniel, "h-how about we call that tie there, uh, shit, if the bus, if the bus pulls up and sees that shit broke..."
He shakes his head as he tries to help pull Daniel up with his left hand. It's a clear and easy shot for revenge, if Daniel is willing to take it. "I gotta fix that, gotta fix that piece of shit bench right now." It's a compulsion, a haunting, that wherever he goes there's a freaking bench that needs fixing and he's so sick of it, but he can't just let that bench stay busted.
COMBATSYS: Rust assists Daniel.
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Rust 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Daniel
Daniel Jack takes Rust's hand, and clutches it firmly. There will be no diabolical tricks like Adon here. Daniel Jack's torso was turning into one big bruise, yes. But revenge? Daniel Jack was a damned hero, and he had some sense of respect, especially between the good people of Southtown. And a fellow American at that. Daniel lets Rust help him up, rising up gingerly. "Pfft. Just between you and me? You won this match. But between our dojos, aaaaaaaah. Aaaah. Draw. Lets pretend its a draw. I mean, hell, legally speaking it is. Oh jeeze, my back."
Daniel places a hand on his back, groaning in agony. "And man, why do you got to fix it? It's just a bench. Let the city take care of it." The detective dips over to his backpack, eyeing Howard with a degree of skepticism.
Why the bench?
COMBATSYS: Daniel assists Rust.
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Rust 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Daniel
"Look!" Howard speaks up as one of his shoulders pop, lifting the halves and trying to see if he can cheat this by wrapping duct tape around it and putting some weight underneath so it seems like a third support or not.
"Say... y'know, bus comes up, right, sees... sees two guys fighting, right, and they see a busted bench, and... look, I've been around... I've been around benches."
His eyes narrow, furious. His archenemy, the busted bench, is right there to mock him as he realizes there isn't any easy loose pieces of junk around to stand up in the center. "And every... every last one of these things... either, either I broke it, or I didn't fix it... or, or I broke it and I... and I didn't fix it."
God damn does he hate these benches! "And, and guess who pays outta his pocket for it... go on." His voice grows lower in volume until it dips low enough to be completely inaudible, but grousing about something or another as he hurriedly runs through his options for how to fix this bench and not get fined for it.
He's in the middle of a somewhat fragile money juggling operation as it is.
COMBATSYS: Rust takes no action.
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Rust 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Daniel
Daniel Jack lowers himself down, looking up at the bench up close. He could do some basic handyman work, but he was no pro: He was a duct-tape man himself. He rubs his chin, considering the ramifications. He wanted the government to handle this, but god damn, if Howard was going to get worked up over this...
Daniel sighs.
The detective puts a hand on Rust's shoulder. "What do you need, I can get it."
COMBATSYS: Daniel takes no action.
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Rust 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Daniel
"We don't... we don't got much time," that bus can be here any friggin' second, and if they see two beaten and bruised and bloodied guys around it, they'll know what's up and this man has too much pride as a Responsible Adult to just walk to some other nearby bus stop and wait there instead.
He snaps his fingers on his left hand. He's got it.
"Think if we just turn 'em into... into two smaller seats real fast, they won't... they won't be any the wiser. Okay, here's... here's what I'm thinkin'."
He pushes one half aside. "Gotta get... gotta get something under these halves, chop off the, the splintered parts," he waves his right hand around, "make it look smooth, like, like it wasn't broken... yeah, both ends are gonna look mismatched but, but..."
He reaches over to his toolbelt. He's got a hammer, sure, some extra nails, he can make this work. "Chop off the, the back ends clean, can ya do that? I'll take... I'll take some of the wood off of that, then, then... then I'll nail it down here, see, chop off the excess length and... I dunno, toss it off to the side or some such."
The nails are already affixed to his teeth. If he presses down too hard on them he might bend the nails, so he's being careful with that. "Can ya do that part?" He asks without looking up.
COMBATSYS: Rust takes no action.
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Rust 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Daniel
Daniel Jack just doesn't get Howard. He thought he did. But now, he doesn't. But Daniel Jack listens to his elder, nodding his head as the middle-aged man speaks. "Two seats. Works for me. I can chop it off real good." Daniel's hand is already burning with the Todoh spirit, the detective charging himself up. Orange chi drizzling from his hand, he begins to pin the broken half upright. Steadying his hand, he focuses. He needed to handle this just like breaking boards at the dojo. Flattening his hand, he steadies... and steadies...
And release.
The detective unleashes a strong, burning chop, the most amazing, perfect hand chop. The World's Greatest Hand Chop, you could say. He easily cuts off the back ends, clearing it off with the handiness of a saw. He tosses the leftover wood to the side in a pile, and moves on to the next.
They actually might be able to do this.
COMBATSYS: Daniel takes no action.
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Rust 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Daniel
Daniel's hand chop does not disappoint in the least. He has a legitimate claim towards having the World's Greatest Hand Chop indeed. The first pile being near himself, Howard pulls one of the side planks and puts it underneath the current half.
Can we really do this in time, he thinks to himself as he stares at his naked, injured right hand and flexes it in and out a few times. He can hold a hammer just fine with it, sure, but without a sure and steady grip, he can't go as fast...
Ahhh, what's he saying! He grits his teeth as he takes a good look underneath and... oh, perfect, absolutely perfect, the back half was the height it needed to prop this up. Good, good.
Trying to figure out where to exactly place this half is a problem, since they're going to have to chop off the splintered ends of either half. Once he finds a place, he tries to hold the plank steady between his legs while his upper body holds the bench steady.
Now comes the moment of truth for making this first seat look right...
COMBATSYS: Rust takes no action.
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Rust 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Daniel
Daniel Jack gets to work on the second bench half, cleaving it with the same dedication and precision as the first. He tosses the pieces away, and inspects Rust's work, keeping his half set up. "Looking good, Howard. What do you need next?" Daniel crosses his arms, peering down the road. And then, he chokes. "Crap, at the end of the street. Bus time, bus time."
COMBATSYS: Daniel takes no action.
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Rust 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Daniel
Shit, shit, shit, he thinks to himself. He can't fix both in time as he settles the nails. He can't hammer them fast enough with his hammer. He thinks back to what Takuma says he's supposed to do once he's there by bus - he's doing these nails by hand.
Might as well start now.
"Fuck the other one," he declares, "j-just get rid of it and, and..."
No time to fret over how much it's going to hurt as he just sucks it up and starts hammering the nails down with his palm. One palm, one nail driven through to hold the board down. He lets the pain out with a little yelp every time, ouch, ouch, ouch!
I hate these benches, he thinks to himself out loud.
COMBATSYS: Rust takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Rust 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Daniel
Daniel Jack acts fast. He grabs the extra seat, and begins to lift it up. The bus was stopped WAAAAY down the street, at the very first stop. The detective drags it to a back alleyway, and leaves it there. Soon, a hobo will find shelter there, raise a family, and die fighting Hagger and Cody on the streets of rage. Or something like that.
Daniel Jack runs back. ready to assist. "Here, let me hold the nails! You need to give that hand a break!" The detective reaches out to take over the nail holding.
The bus begins to leave the first stop.
There's only about two nails or so left when Daniel offers to hold the nails. To this, Howard shakes his hand. If he stops now, he's not sure they'll hammer the nails down in time - let alone smoothly cut off the ends that need to be. He probably could do the latter with Ol' Rusty, but with the way his hand stings...
He rolls that Endure reaction hard and is hoping for a full-on Tough Out.
"Just... just cut off two parts," he wheezes. "Jagged, jagged end there... 'n, 'n anything poking out behind... behind where the board holds up."
He breathes in one last time. "'s up to you there! Nails're, nails're mine."
With one loud shout after another, he drives those last two nails in with one strong palm each. The smoothing out of the edges is entirely up to the man with the greatest hand chop of them all.
Daniel Jack is told off on the helping with the nails. But when it came to finesse, well, Kasane Ate could do what others Kasane Can'te. Lining himself up, the bus roared as it approached. Kasane Ate One, the edge was cut clean. But upon the second Kasane Ate... something goes wrong. He aims a little off, a bit diagonal. Smooth, of course, but cut the wrong way. "SHIT! Dammit! It's just going to have to do." The chair was complete, just in time. The detective scoops up his bag, as the roar of the bus comes closer, closer...
And gradually, closes to a stop in front of the pair.
"What?" The older man says as he stands up from this bizarre half-bench. The good news is, for a quick slap job, it's stable and they probably won't be called on for busting public property at a quick glance. He looks it over with a discerning eye. Oh man, if Daniel were a kid in his class, if he were a kid in his class...
It's just right there in his mind, this shit would be a D. Jesus, though, benches. Always have to break, and he always has to fix them... he makes sure to get his toolbelt back on, placing the hammer back in.
Just in time, too. Before long, the bus screeches to a halt. Mr. Rust looks up and clears his throat.
"Okay." He says as he breathes in deep. Time to put this entire nonsense behind the lot of them, right? Time to hit up their respective dojos, get their lessons, and just... call it a day, then and there.
He pats Daniel on the shoulder once with his left hand before he fishes for change in one of those toolbelt pockets.
Daniel Jack did get a D in wood shop.
However, he felt that he could argue this a C-. Because of the expectations. Danial Jack frisks out some change from his pack. "Okay. We did it. Nice work, man." Daniel says, heading up behind Rust. "Some rivals we make. Am I going to be seeing you around this bus stop often?" Daniel asks, getting the change nice and ready.
"'Til I fix my, uh, my truck." It's pretty new, too. He hasn't had a chance to get a look at what the problem is just yet, but, he's sure he'll suss it out without having to pay some super-specialist mechanic an assload. Maybe he could ask Nataya to give it a look next time he catches her, whenever that is.
The change is put in the proper tray as he steps onto the bus. So long as nobody asks questions about the bench, it's all good as far as he cares. He just exhales loudly and rolls his shoulder to the aural dismay of just about anyone with a working sense of hearing. Hopefully he's on the right bus line!!
The rivalry is not yet dead. There is exactly one open seat left to sit in. If Daniel is fast while Howard works out his arthritis, he can claim a victory for his school - a most decisive victory - right here, right now, by parking his tookus in that seat.
Daniel Jack himself takes a seat, his rival's words bouncing through his head. Looks like, for a brief time, they would be having just a few more spars in the morning. A good warm up, to say the least. At least his bruises say so. But then, the last seat was seen. The very last one. Daniel Jack's strong sense of pride was only balanced by his sense of honor. He thought to himself, as he walked down the bus aisle:
What would Master Todoh do?
Daniel Jack takes the seat, almost immediately.
"Anyway, yeah, guess, uh... guess..."
As Howard turns around to where he was certain there might've been a vacant seat, there isn't. There is a Daniel Jack in that seat. A tired look on his face peers down to where Daniel sits, as if to say, 'are you serious?'
The leg where he took both of Daniel's kicks gets a quick stretch, another disconcerting popping noise as he otherwise resigns himself to the defeat of having to stand up and hold onto one of the poles for the ride. He exhales loudly and rubs the side of his head with his right hand, massaging it slightly.
On this day, Daniel's school claimed a most decisive victory.
Log created on 21:55:56 11/10/2010 by Rust, and last modified on 00:20:01 11/12/2010.