Description: Just another day at the Kyokugen Dojo, where Howard Rust attempts to make good on Takuma Sakazaki's strict instructions towards bettering himself and hardening him into a true competition-worthy fighter - making more use of his injured hand. After a time of this after a long work day, Yuri decides to invite him to a spar. Can he fight through exhaustion and show himself to be worthy of that white belt that marks him as an initiate?
Kyokugen might!! No, that 'm' should be capitalized. Kyokugen Might!!
Howard Rust may be a man of forty years of age and more experience in fighting compared to most of the children and young adults kicking around, but as the belts signify, in the big picture of Kyokugen Karate... he's in the same place as all of them. A white belt, a beginner, starting almost from the beginning in some ways. Takuma has not yet approved of him using that pipe to fight or spar with. It's entirely possible he never will.
He's in the middle of some especially difficult physical labor - an ordinary thing in the dojo - and being asked to hammer down nails with his right hand. His right hand, to those few not in the know, was seriously injured during the invasion. He doesn't quite have as strong a grip in it any more. The scarring remains visible in his right palm, and is very, very, very ugly.
"Hwuh!" He utters a bizarre kiai as he palms another nail straight down, sweat running down the brow that houses a combover that - in a rare occurrence - looks a hell of a lot better than the rest of him. He's sweaty, tired, a bit hurt, a bit bruised, but there he is, helping palm nails down as per Takuma himself instructed.
It's been a hard after school afternoon, to say the least.
Meanwhile, Yuri Sakazaki has been practicing as well. While Rust is busy doing bare-handed hammering, Yuri is doing her general exercises. Right now, the girl is working on her single-knuckle push-ups, all while counting out oud cheerfully. "Four-hundred and ninety-nine, five-hundred! Now for the other side!" Yuri says, looking a tad bit on the sweaty side (hence the reason she's wearing that sweatband,) but not showing any signs of slowing down either.
After Yuri finishes her push-ups, she lies on her back and begins to do some sit-ups. The difference is that she has to straighten her legs and lift them upward as she sits up. Her father calls them V-Sit-Ups, which can be hard for anyone. But Yuri doesn't mind the strain, it's all the better for her physical aptitude. Besides, the way she's counting is so childish sounding that one might think she's playing around instead of just training!
That girl is something else, Mr. Rust believes, the way she just so casually playfully exercises. A part of him thinks that were he her age, he could probably match or surpass that. Not wanting to fall under the sensei's ire, he grunts loudly and hammers down another nail with his palm. He shakes his right hand out every so often, a thin trickle of blood visible from it. He's been running that hand so very hard.
To say nothing of the cracks and pops of his joints as his very fatigue gets pushed to the limit. He casts another glance over at Yuri - did she really do five-hundred right then and there? She's still that energetic? Holy shit.
"How... how do ya do it," he asks of Yuri in his gravelly, quite voice as he clears his throat and gets to hammering down nails with his palm again. Man oh man he almost hopes Takuma walks up and uses his head to hammer them down instead, that would actually be straight-up relief.
Yuri abruptly stops her situps, and then gets up via a kippup maneuver, turning to face Rust. "You call yourself a Kyokugen student and yet you can't handle something like that??" The girl folds her arms and shakes her head. "Shame on you! Kyokugen practitioners are supposed to be tougher than that!" She gives an eyeball and a raspberry. "I've handled single-arm pushups with an expensive large vase on my back, and let me tell you, that's not something you can take on just like 'that!'"
A pause as Yuri thinks for a moment, then she says, "So, are you saying that you're not powerful enough for Kyokugen? Because we have many people walk out because they're not dedicated enough for this." It's then that Yuri remembers something and she scowls. "Then again, some people actually think that Saikyo thing is better. That clown Dan Hibiki, who does he think he is, insulting our style?!"
His jaw hangs open a little when Yuri faces him. To some, it may be humorous to see such a diminutive girl come up and tell off a big, strong man like that. The way he flinches when she just scolds him is something worthy of a comedy routine right then and there.
But the martial arts - especially Kyokugen - is some serious business indeed.
"No ma'am, ah, yes ma'am, ah," he winces, "whatever answer you're lookin' for, for," he hammers down another nail, "for showin' I can do this." He scowls and gets down another nail. Who's she to say he can't measure up, he's an ex-construction worker who worked longer hours than was probably legal, for chrissakes! He brings his game face forward as he brings that palm down upon another nail with a loud shout. One palm, one fully driven nail.
'Saikyo' does mean strongest, but... that has to be a gross exaggeration, right, with the way that guy swaggers around in pink and just bounces around pumping his arm in fights? He shakes his head, wipes off some sweat, and hammers the palm down another nail.
"Yeah, it's hard work, but if you don't keep at it, you'll never get it!" Yuri says, shaking her head. "Unless, you'd like something less strenuous like..." She pauses for a moment and then looks up again, smirking a little. "Unless you'd like to do a little sparring with me? I assure you it wouldn't be as strenuous... Or would it?" She giggles a little.
He's heard off-hand some things about how violent the father and the brother get whenever Yuri gets into violence. He knows what Takuma's capable of. Or rather, he thinks he does - in their little brief evaluation, Takuma was holding back. Mr. Rust was definitely proud of his staying power against punches but the more he thinks about it, the more he's pretty sure Takuma wasn't laying him flat with his best punches.
"I, uh," the man clears his throat again. He's winded, he's tired, he's being pushed to the brink. His job is sometimes pretty hard, usually physical when having to help/fix student projects. Especially now that he's successfully negotiated that new arrangement in class.
"If that's, if that's what you request," the man isn't sure of the proper decor here as to where Yuri was in the hierarchy. Junior instructor, considering her relation to the man on top, or another student despite the blood relation? To wit, he doesn't recall seeing any women on the dojo grounds. Yuri must be a very rare exception, but, wasn't there another who had some training? He can't remember. Pretty sure the name started with an... H? Little girl, pigtails?
He stops himself from trying to organize his thoughts as he stands tall before Yuri and bows his head. "I, uh, I accept, sure." He may not be in the prime physical shape to take her on, let alone be a /match/, but before he knows it, he agrees to it!
Some of the students begin to kneel around the two of them in a circle.
"Now that's the spirit!" Yuri says with a big grin. "Let's see how much you've learned by taking on Yuri Sakazaki, one of the best practitioners there is out there!" She sure is a big brag that's for sure. But that's how Yuri is. "Win or lose, it should help to train the two of us!" She gets into her fighting stance and says, "Let's do it!"
COMBATSYS: Yuri has started a fight here.
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Yuri 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Rust has joined the fight here.
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Rust 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Yuri
He's met her before in better times. Sure, he took her on unarmed, at a small disadvantage. It's the same deal here - and now he's tired and really fighting to work up the strength to go whole hog. His right hand is still bleeding, numb... most sane people stop.
Kyokugen demands more from its practicioners. Little boo boos are no excuse at all, ever.
Taking a deep breath, the forty-year-old man stands as straight as he can, and adopts a stance observed among other white belts like himself - leading with his left rather than his right out of habit, even though his right hand is his main hand.
His eyes narrow as he tries to center himself, his left knee popping loudly as he collects himself and tries to draw upon what reserves he has left today to ready himself for this formal spar.
COMBATSYS: Rust focuses on his next action.
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Rust 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Yuri
Stretching her arm a little by rotating it around a few times, Yuri grins at Rust and says, "All right, let's get this underway! I'll start things off!" With that, Yuri dodges from side to side a few times, seeing if she can throw Rust off. Then she attempts to come at him with a quick jab to the stomach.
COMBATSYS: Rust blocks Yuri's Jab Punch.
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Rust 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Yuri
He might be tired but it's going to take a lot more than that to topple him over. By sheer habit, again, he somewhat commits to the block a bit much by swinging his left forearm into it. Stand-alone it's not even much of a punch. The two of them are somewhere between seventy to eighty pounds apart in so far as official dossiers go - as it stands, a single punch just doesn't have the weight behind it to break him.
Coming down to a kneel that makes one of his knees complain, he strikes out with his right foot towards Yuri's feet. It's kind of sluggish and slow, and he announces it with a tired exhale. His fatigue from the day's work is already showing in full force.
COMBATSYS: Yuri blocks Rust's Weakened Light Kick.
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Rust 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Yuri
Seeing Rust come at her with rather sluggish maneuvers, Yuri is quick to block them. Sure they hurt, but not as bad as they could if they hit. After all, Yuri's only a young girl. But we digress.
"Nuh uh, you're not going to get me like that!" Yuri says as she attempts to motivate Rust into action by bringing her arm back and then thrusting forth a blast of chi.
COMBATSYS: Yuri successfully hits Rust with Ko'ou Ken.
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Rust 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Yuri
Howard grunts at Yuri's playful way of instructing. He's trying, ma'am, he's trying, he wants to say. When he sees her draw her arm back, he does at least predict what she's going to do correctly. The problem is, he puts too much stock into his crouched position.
So much that when he realizes the chi blast is still in line to blind him in the face, it does just that. He rolls backwards once, wincing as he works out the spots in his vision and the sensation of having taken a huge smack in the face while standing back up.
With a little bit of distance between them, Yuri pretty much has the full run of the fight's pace. There's only so many things the shop teacher can do when he tries to jog back up towards arm's length and, with another telling huff of fatigue, attempt to take her by the arm and just swing her a ways behind him.
COMBATSYS: Yuri dodges Rust's Weakened Medium Throw.
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Rust 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Yuri
Weakened as he might be, Yuri's showing no sympathy. She stands still, almost like she's waiting for him to come to her, but then she dodges out of the way, laughing. "You need to fight through your fatigue to make it in the world of Kyokugen Karate!" She says, going at Rust with an attempt to kick him with a roundhouse.
COMBATSYS: Rust Toughs Out Yuri's Fierce Kick!
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Rust 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Yuri
That laughter can kill a man's mood like nobody else, the way she just makes sport of him, and sport of him, and sport of him... he's gotten enough lip from young women with superior fighting talent through his time in Southtown and it shows when he grits his teeth at her casual withdrawal from his reach.
She gives him sound advice about how to advance in the world of Kyokugen Karate and roundhouse kicks him. She gets him in the face, easy.
Problem is, said face doesn't flinch, even with the slight bruise under the respective eye. Rather than stand there and just soak it in, he's already deciding to speak his part about fighting through fatigue as he thrusts his right leg towards Yuri's leg and gets kicking.
Not once, not twice, not even thrice, but more times than that, the repeated low kick that knocked her over when she was demonstrating. He's still got that in his arsenal, and it's these kicks that serve as his answer to her playful challenge.
Even if his leg muscles are screaming to stop and just sit down, even as the knee pops over and over again with how stiff it's about to get from fatigue, he just keeps kicking.
COMBATSYS: Yuri blocks Rust's Weakened Jackhammer Kick.
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Rust 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Yuri
Yuri's not going to let that kick come at her and hit her. Even if he is exhausted, he's still likely to hurt Yuri. She raises her guard and reels back as she's hit, yelping as she does so. "Owww, that hurt!" Yuri says in a sarcastic voice. "Why you!" Yuri then attemptsto rush at Rust and deliver her personalized version of the dragon punch type of attack.
COMBATSYS: Rust dodges Yuri's Yuri Chou Upper.
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Rust 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Yuri
He draws back his foot and shakes it out, but the man is tired. It shows in how he leans over a little after the fact and clearly favors his left leg as Yuri sarcastically demeans his ability to deliver pain. He's seen her just pop up after being bloodied before. He's not sure if there /is/ any stopping her, conventionally speaking. She might even be tougher than him, in that way. Just way too much energy for her own good.
Something finally goes his way when she runs at him! He leans back right in the nick of time with bared teeth in clear worry about that fist hitting him. That tiny, rising fist that just brushes by his face as she rises into the air.
The sudden movement back is unbalanced, and he has to catch himself. With another huff, he realizes he missed a chance for a guaranteed catch, so Yuri'll definitely be back on the ground before he acts again.
With another loud exhale and, perhaps, a pop in his left shoulder giving it away, he tries to reach out around her with both arms, hoist her over his shoulder, and slam her on the ground behind him in short order, unless he comes up short by Yuri's order.
COMBATSYS: Yuri interrupts Weakened Strong Throw from Rust with Haoh Sho Ko Ken.
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Rust 1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0 Yuri
As Rust comes at Yuri in an attempt to grab her and throw her, Yuri brings both of her fists back and charges her energy into them. Just as Rust grabs her, Yuri blasts him with her chi. Of course, being grabbed means she goes flying also across the dojo floor. She lands on her side and grunts, forcing herself back up using her good arm. "Not bad..." Yuri says sarcastically.
"DSFARGEG," comes another odd vocalization that goes through the older man's teeth as he is blasted largely in the upper body with that big blast of energy. He loses his hold on her - well, more appropriately she likely flies right out of his hands - as he skids past the circle of students and bumps his head up against something wooden.
He catches the words. He misses the tone, with his swimming head. "Uh... thanks," he says as he pulls himself up with that 'something wooden' behind him for support. A bit of blood from his right hand - which he uses to pull himself up - gives him another wince as he shakes out the latest in a series of powerful strikes against him. He doesn't realize he's failing to impress.
But he'll try. Oh, he'll sure try as he pulls himself a bit closer to Yuri with that same lackluster speed that gives her so much time to decide what to do with him. He himself knows what he figures he'll do, even as he sucks in air in clear fatigue.
He thrusts his head forward after rearing his head back somewhat predictably, subjecting Yuri to - once more - a highly close encounter with that especially bad combover. It kinda-sorta looks like an octopus.
Octopus hair, ew!
COMBATSYS: Yuri dodges Rust's Weakened Hardhat Rush.
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Rust 1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0 Yuri
Yuri doesn't like spiders, but octopuses are also something she doesn't like either. And that hair looks REAL ugly, yeah! She grits her teeth and then yelps, before jumping back a little and then jumping to the side. "Come on, you're not giving me a challenge!" Yuri says with her head shaking. "I'll wait for you to try again."
COMBATSYS: Yuri focuses on her next action.
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Rust 1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0 Yuri
That's not the whole of it even as Yuri decries the level of challenge he's providing. Even with the headbutt coming up thin air, he takes another broad step towards her after a quick pivot to match where he thinks he's heard her footsteps. He hasn't lifted his head up. Sweat drops off his face as his left hand rises.
Just as she says she's waiting for him to try again, she's going to have to move quick if she wants to avoid being caught by the top of her head and being thrust straight down in a faceplant on the ground.
Maybe that feeling of being down and being behind is starting to push him on, but it's probably not going to contribute much against an alert opponent in prime physical shape.
COMBATSYS: Yuri dodges Rust's Weakened Brick Stacker.
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Rust 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Yuri
Yuri moves quick, dodging out of the way of having her head grabbed by Rust. "Just keep at it, you'll get it!" Yuri says half-teasingly as she ducks down and watches as Rust moves through without hurting her. "I'm just barely warming up! Come on!" And Yuri finishes that statement with a hard uppercut being through with a yell.
COMBATSYS: Rust fails to interrupt Fierce Punch from Yuri with Weakened Random Strike EX.
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Rust 1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0 Yuri
With that second miss, the man is looking much and much less like a respectable martial artist and more and more like a clumsy brawler with nothing behind them other than physical strength. Which is, in some ways, probably true.
"Gh." He grumbles as his hand palms through thin air. There she is, just a ways behind him and teasing him still. A part of him wonders if he really is cut out for this after all.
A much bigger part reminds him the money he just put down towards this is non-refundable and that this school is one of his last shots at getting to being competition quality. Takuma expressed doubt about him fighting professionally when he saw the hand. That's sort of stuck with him, even through the compliments about what he had going for him.
With a low growl as Yuri teases she's just warming up, he balls up his right hand as tightly as he can. It's not too tight. The middle finger digs into where he's already bleeding from it, but he stomachs it as he turns and throws a wide, visible, and telegraphed straight punch with it.
Good luck stopping it.
The problem is that he aims his fist much too high, and it sails just past Yuri's left shoulder (and might blow her hair a little) while her uppercut takes him in the chin. He bites his tongue and cheek, one of his eyes bugging out as spittle and a bit of flood flies about the place.
He spins on a foot and crouches down, coughing to try and get some of the saliva out of his windpipe while he gasps for air and some clearer consciousness.
She's working him over. This fight should be called off, some would say, but he has not made any signals to do so. His left hand is still balled up into a fist and shaking every so often, perhaps to psyche himself up more than being a legitimate threatening gesture.
"You wanna give up?" Yuri asks teasingly. "You wanna keep fighting? It's all up to you." Yuri shakes her head as Rust gets hit with her uppercut. "Perhaps you should give up now, I won't mind." She waits in her fighting stance for him.
COMBATSYS: Yuri takes no action.
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Rust 1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0 Yuri
"One more." He murmurs, though Yuri's offer for him to give up is entirely reasonable in spite of her flippant tone. He's not going to win the fight, people are assured of this. The youngest child of the Sakazakis has his number straight up, this was true when he was in better physical shape and readiness, and it's even more true now.
"One more," he repeats a bit more clearly as he rises, blood dribbling down the side of his face. He stands straight up again, adrenaline driving him a whole lot more than good sense even as he coughs once. He's not going to let himself get tossed out of the dojo this soon, he resolves. This school may be his last true path to what he's been after all his life.
It sure doesn't look he treats it as such when he steps up and swings his left arm out, trying to merely shove Yuri into simply a bad position. It's not a grandiose technique or even much of anything other than what it is on the tin, a mere shove.
If that's all he can bring to bear, is it really worth continuing? He seems to think so.
COMBATSYS: Yuri dodges Rust's Weakened Quick Throw.
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Rust 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Yuri
"Missed me!" Yuri says as she steps out of the way with ease. "Looks like you need to retire now, but since you don't want to, allow me to help!" With that, Yuri attempts to grab Rust and administer a swift throw.
COMBATSYS: Yuri successfully hits Rust with Quick Throw.
- CRAZY Hit! -
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Rust 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Yuri
There seems to be a whole lot of allowing here when Yuri decides to help him retire. He hates that word, retire, even though he's forty years old and should really give some serious thought towards just letting the fighting scene go. Most professional fighters don't fight past their thirties, though it seems to be a growing trend that older and older types just keep pushing on anyway.
Will Howard Rust be one of them?
"Gahugh?" Yuri's quick toss makes use of the lack of balance he has after going for that shove, burying his face into her elbow (which is probably not the first place any sort of male wants to bury their head) and, somehow, managing to break his nose on the inner side of her elbow. It's rather strange looking.
Especially when said head falls upon her knee for a double dose of quick endangerment. He only really has to contend with continued drama to the head, as most the rest of her throw doesn't put his body in any weird places or work his weight further against him. He shakes his head out and makes a low, indecipherable string of short syllables as he spits out some more blood and saliva.
Takuma might come over and kick his ass soon for the spitting. That could be shown off-camera, so to speak. Ahem.
He's still not down, even though this should count as the 'one more' he speaks of (or rather, two) as he stands up once more and makes something of his final stand as he sees two Yuris in front of him. With the popping of his knees against the further wishes of his tired lungs that're gasping for air, he leaps.
He raises up the knee on one of his legs, his arms cocked back rather strangely. There's just something about him and jumping knees, as this one particular knee comes down on Yuri or - far more likely - that bit of concrete underneath where she stands.
COMBATSYS: Rust successfully hits Yuri with Weakened Strong Kick.
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Rust 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Yuri
Unfortunately, poor Yuri tends to get a bit too brash and arrogant for her own good. She thinks that she's got the drop on Rust, but in this case, Rust gets his knee up on Yuri... or down on her in this case. The girl is knocked down and lays there writhing in pain for a moment, before struggling to get back up. "Looks like you're getting there," Yuri says, starting to feel the pain from the sparring. "But I'm not finished yet!" Yuri takes a moment to get her bearings again before attempting to grab Rust and administer a rapid flurry of slaps!
COMBATSYS: Yuri successfully hits Rust with Hyakuretsu Binta.
-* WILD HIT! *-
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Rust 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Yuri
He comes down hard on the other knee from that jump, and from that, he winces - but it is probably the very first clean hit he got on her, in recent memory. Oh dear God he's having trouble keeping it together. This is probably exactly what Takuma meant by him having to cash in those paid leave days.
If every day is like this he might be blowing through them before long. He's holding his head even as Yuri speaks to him. She says she's not finished yet, when he's right on the verge of it himself.
She helps him up with that little grab. It's a bit disarming, a little too disarming, his head turning to the side with one of his eyes shut as he thinks to steady himself on his feet in this tiny, tiny interm where she isn't doing anything to him other than holding him.
She ends that tiny interim with slaps. So many slaps. Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right. The kneeling students have lost count. There's a whole lot of them, and this man just keeps having his head beat about left and right between those furious slaps, and each time there's a different face. It's like she's rebooting his mood and ambitions with every little strike - that's just how hard a shock to him just one of those slaps are.
That final slap makes it very clear where he stands with those hand-shaped bruises on either side as he's launched clean off his feet and into the concrete with an odd bounce. He wheezes pathetically and sits up, raising his right hand as if to reach out... but thinks better of it as it goes limp, his head turning to the side while blood seeps out of the side of his mouth. He exhales loudly - more like a snore as his body's tiredness wins him over.
He's pretty much done, he comes to realize. Now he's praying Takuma doesn't come lift him up and make him hammer down nails for the rest of the day.
A man can so dream.
COMBATSYS: Rust takes no action.
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Yuri 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Rust can no longer fight.
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Yuri 1/-------/=======|
Giggling, Yuri takes a cold wet towel and begins to clean up the blood before putting a makeshift pillow under Rust's head. "Sleep tight!" She says grinning. "Nice fight too!"
COMBATSYS: Yuri has ended the fight here.
Log created on 20:47:19 11/14/2010 by Rust, and last modified on 22:44:33 11/14/2010.