Description: MCPD agent Sho Easten investigates reports of a particular nature in Southtown... but finds something completely unrelated, and also pretty horrible.
1:12 PM STANDARD JAPAN TIME OCTOBER 18, 2010 AD
LOCATION: FORESTY AREA OUTSIDE OF SOUTHTOWN
"Sure is a forest out here," Sho Easten is talking on a cellular phone. It's a burner, one he picked up at the docks; the very place he got in via, oddly enough, after taking an executive helicopter out to a laundry ship. Essentially, he's been smuggled into the country, thanks to help in high places.
"I've got a nasty feeling that the trail is going to be cold by the time I get out there." 'There' is a location, and it isn't an important location. However, the man, wearing a long coat to better cover what he's got on beneath, is definitely walking away from town. The air is cool, autumn is happening, and there are shadows cast everywhere by the thick canopy of the forest. His path may be leading him towards Justice High. Or perhaps well away from it.
"I told you, make sure to rest properly between sets. If you tear a muscle in your calf, it's eight to ten weeks of recovery, even for you. No, you don't want to do that. No."
That he has coverage out here is the other miracle, but hey, this is Japan.
1:00 PM STANDARD ALL THAT OTHER SHIT
At the exact moment one o'clock rolls around, Kichiga Kyoufumaru has said the last thing he intends to say to his small class, his last for today. Very few even in Justice make it to his level - nearly every student that has passed through Kichiga's classroom in his years of teaching has gone on to various high-powered vocations, shaping the present using the lessons of the past. Many of them remain in some kind of correspondance with him, which is good.
Powerful people fear for their lives so strongly, after all.
It takes a full ten minutes for the class to filter out, questions asked, things clarified. By the end of it, it's taking all of the old man's discipline to keep himself in check. He can feel him out there - taste him. Someone new, someone strong. The moment the last student leaves, Kichiga locks the door behind him, pulls the curtain over the window, and shuts out the light. His hand shakes as he unlocks the largest drawer of his desk, drawing out a Hannya mask and a pair of wooden geta.
1:13 PM
A branch creaks above Sho as the black-garbed, red-masked figure settles onto it, his eyes twin red points gleaming from the green.
The muscles along Sho's forearms begin to twitch as they are sensed. That's what slowly draws the eyes of the SWAT Officer into narrower slits, his gaze sinking down onto his muscles. Mid-sentence, his mouth hangs open as he watches the veins beneath his scarred skin quiver. He's felt this before, this sensation, like a sixth sense. There's something not quite right in the vicinity, and he casts his senses out, aiming to discover just what that is.
"Hag, I'm going to have to call you back," he speaks into the phone, footfalls coming to a halt as he stands there, the perfect sized victim. From the tone of his voice, he is a foreigner. From the creak he just heard, there's something going on.
Slipping the cellphone shut and into his pocket, he comes back with a pair of yellow sunglasses, slipping them on. Then and only then does he turn, the filtered lenses enabling him to discern shapes all the better. "El Chupacabra?!" he mutters on instinct. No, that's not it, that's--
The eyes tilt to the left.
The eyes tilt to the right.
A voice modulator plays silly bitches with an already-sinister laugh, varying its pitch randomly. "Nothing so... mythical." The branch breaks, and proceeds to fall faster than the figure, gliding down as though on a wire, arms and legs spread and dripping red mist. The branch thuds into the ground, Ojike no Oni touching down lightly soon after, hands tucked in his sleeves. He gives Sho a mocking bow.
His head tilts up, a glowing red gaze locking onto Sho's eyes. "So controlled..." His voice comes out as a high hiss through the mask. "What causes a man to look at nightmares in the dark with barely a reaction?" As a further kindness, he's speaking English - very erudite English, if accented in Japanese. "Alone in a strange land, soon to be beset by the shadows..." Kichiga removes his hands from his sleeves - a black cane topped with an ogre's head comes away in his right, while a small censer on a thin chain dangles from his left, giving off more bloody mist.
"Show me your fears!"
COMBATSYS: Kichiga has started a fight here.
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Kichiga 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Sho has joined the fight here.
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Kichiga 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sho
COMBATSYS: Kichiga focuses on his next action.
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Kichiga 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sho
Very controlled indeed. Throughout it all, the dropping, the mist, Sho simply watches. Although that's after making a bit of a leap backwards, since that branch was above him. Mouth pulled into a pensive line, brow furrowed, he seems the studious foreigner.
And when all is said and done, he doesn't walk and he doesn't run. "Nice theatrics," proves his dry response, eyes looking from one aspect of the costumed figure to the next. The mask, the cane, the red mist dispenser. "How much did all of this cost you, twenty dollars at your local Walmart? Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot where I'm at. Twenty dollars at your local Lawsons?" The 24hr convenience store is hardly the same, but it fits his purposes.
Shaking his head, Sho attempts to discern just how intent this person is. "You seem familiar. Why do I know you?" Truth be told, Easten has only spent a year on the Force. He's had other faces to memorize. More important faces.
COMBATSYS: Sho focuses on his next action.
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Kichiga 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sho
It doesn't help that nobody's ever seen Kichiga's face and known him to be Ojike no Oni, outside of Darkside. "A dismissive whelp, then... good, excellent!" He becomes... excited, his fingers twitching on his implements as he balances on the fallen branch, a tricky proposition in those tall sandals. "Such a brittle shell, that sarcastic humor, so quick to-"
"-shatter!" In the space of an instant, the Demon quite literally vanishes in a cloud of blood, the mist immediately dispersing. It's no mystery where he's appeared - the last word is hissed into Sho's ear from behind, the wooden cane whistling through the air before slamming at Sho's knees in a wide, tripping motion. He doesn't leave it at that - assuming that won't be enough to drop him, he brings the cane to bear again, aiming at the /other/ knee. "I should be familiar," he whispers, though the modulation turns it into something more like a guttural roar. "I am everything that lurks behind you, I am the specter of chaos and hate, I am the Demon of Dread!"
COMBATSYS: Sho endures Kichiga's Phobia.
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Kichiga 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Sho
Now that is... more than just theatrics. The Demon teleports, passing through fat air, to strike at the back of Sho's knee. He wobbles, he teeters, but he don't fall down. Instead he twists, taking the second strike to the side of his other knee. It smarts. It hurts. It infuriates the former NESTS agent. Nearly, he falls to one knee, as that voice roars at such proximity.
Of course that gives him a chance to lift one foot off the ground, you see. And with a burst, both of his boots ignite, a powerful rocket-like thrust sending him tackling up into the demonic figure.
"Let's go for a ride downtown," Sho declares, aiming to barrel right into Kichiga shoulder-first -- and then deliver the man into the nearest tree trunk with all the tackling power of an overgrown manchild! "I'll respond to your other nonsense in just a second!"
COMBATSYS: Sho successfully hits Kichiga with Hard Time.
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Kichiga 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Sho
Contact with Kichiga's chest confirms one thing - the man's billowy outfit hides a body that feels frail. With an indignant snarl, the Demon is picked right off the ground, the last remnants of red mist his egress from 'absolutely nowhere' blowing away. He slams into the tree with the kind of force that should, really, have just broken him. He's old!
But, with a snarl, heavy chains explode from Kichiga's sleeves after the impact, two from his left slamming into the ground, two from his right trying to wrap around Sho's chest. "HAHAHAHA!" Wood snaps as he tears himself free, likewise trying to rip Sho off of him and fling him to the ground. "I see, I see! Another one of you little police officers! But you're better, yes, better than the others, I can taste it..."
The Demon springs at Sho, the chains sliding back up his sleeves - where'd his cane even go - both gloved hands reaching for his face. Red mist blooms from them. "Your technology will be no match for your own terror!"
The mist is fancy. If Sho doesn't get out of the way, the Psycho Power is going to envelop his head, and with it a hellacious psychic assault, all horror and pain, Kichiga trying to drag every horrible thing Sho has gone through to the forefront of his mind. Kichiga laments that he can't see the fears for himself, but he's confident in his ability to get results. He's practiced doing this for decades.
The fighting is a more recent thing.
COMBATSYS: Sho blocks Kichiga's Die Screaming.
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Kichiga 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Sho
Slamming the perp right into the tree, Sho is quick to backpedal as he senses just how frail this oldtimer is. There's no desire on his part to break a man's back. Not yet at least! But he's not fast enough though, as those chains lash out and wrap about his chest. In short order he's dumped, cast down onto his back, although a shift in his body seems to negate the damage there.
But what can physical prowess do against what follows? Those hands come for his face as the Demon springs forward, and the SWAT Officer does the logical thing; he grabs Kichiga's wrists.
Those gloves and their mist though--! He gulps a breath, forcing the Demon of Dread's hands back. But just a whiff is enough to cast the man into a flashback, a hellacious journey back into the fires of hell, almost literally.
Spared the full potent blast, there are nevertheless a couple of short, sharp shouts from the pinned officer, before he kicks the old man to the side. "You... what..." Sho mutters, hands slapping at his body, extinguishing flames that aren't really there. The grogginess passes quickly enough, the instincts of a spy kicking back in as he rolls in the opposite direction he threw the oldtimer.
Wiping cold sweat from his brow as he staggers up from hands and knees, Sho pins a glare on the Demon. His forearms bulge as his gloved hands scrap at the dirt, rising back to his feet. He looks angry. "I've got no jurisdiction here, just so you know. That means I'm just going to feed you your own ass."
He'll get to that in due time. For now, his gloved hands simply rub together, arcs of electricity forming. Letting the ozone build, he fires off a crackling blast of energy at the old man!
COMBATSYS: Kichiga overcomes Good Intentions from Sho with Dark Censer.
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Kichiga 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Sho
Kichiga struggles with Sho as he fights his hands. The mask almost hides his emotion, but the ecstatic glee in his red eyes is clear as he gulps great breaths, feeding off Sho's brief panic. As the kick comes up, he springs away, gliding impossibly far for a leap from that position.
His head tilts again as Sho scrambles to his feet, patting at himself. So. So... "Aaaahahahahaha! So quickly does your shell crumble! Yes, policeman, boast to me." He casts his right hand back as Sho starts rubbing his hands together, seeing the electricity and making an assumption that will, fortunately, bear out. "The more you can convince yourself that you have the upper hand, the richer your panic when the truth breaks!"
The censer makes its appearance again, trailing mist, and Kichiga whips his hand forward, the implement flying out on its thin chain, twisting around itself, coursing with Kichiga's Psycho Power. The bulb hangs in midair briefly, the chain playing out ahead, catching Sho's chi blast in a weird red net, bearing it right along with it. The mist the censer gives out... it's just like the grip from a few scant seconds ago.
COMBATSYS: Kichiga successfully hits Sho with Dark Censer.
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Kichiga 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Sho
The creep glides away like something out of a bad foreign film. It's not something that Sho really sees though, too busy is he escaping the memory of being burnt to a crisp by the very people he spent so many wears working for.
It doesn't prove to be a very long escape, as Kichiga captures the intended arc of chi-powered lightning, wafting that fragrant red mist at him like he was some kind of saleswoman in the perfume section. "Damn," Sho does the sensible thing, attempting to backpedal while waving away the mist, but it does him no good. He's caught, and it's another journey into the past.
This time it seems even worse, the officer knocked off his feet, landing and writhing on the floor. It saps away at him, the memories, eating away at his mind and putting him into a very unhappy place.
MENTAL LAND
Sho is young, just a boy, his mother having taken him to Chuck-e-Cheese in Metro City. He is stuck in the ball pit, writhing about, unable to escape, when men come in and hold the place up. It is a terrible memory for one so young, and he forever associates giant mouse with crime and guns.
It's why he's never been to Disneyland. Bunch of criminals.
NOW
"I'm not sure that really happened but, I'm going to need a moment," Sho manages to claw his way to hands and knees, and then back to his feet, once again. But teetering after repeated mental assaults, it seems he needs to take a timeout and consider what's going on. "Is this really happening? Who are you with, the Cartel?"
COMBATSYS: Sho gains composure.
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Kichiga 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Sho
The censer dispenses its ~dread payload~, and Kichiga crooks two of his fingers, pulling the tool back up his sleeve. "That's the troublesome thing about fear," Kichiga drawls as the chains and censer vanish from sight to whereever he keeps all that stuff. "It shakes the very foundations of your world." His arms cross over his chest, clutching at himself, breathing heavily again. "Hahahaha, I was right! Such a rich fear, so deep, so /cutting./ He holds onto his mask now, composing himself. It won't do to gorge already, this is only the appetizer.
Finally, he comes back to himself, shifting his weight on his geta, balancing on the forward teeth. "Such earthly matters are no longer your concern, policeman. Whatever cartel you refer to, it is meaningless before the nightmare you are now enwrapped in!" He breaks into a dash, body slung low to the ground, hands straight back. He moves past Sho, one hand coming out to touch the back of his knee - and with just his fingertips, he swings himself up from the ground, placing his other hand on Sho's shoulder, swinging around to bring his knees down at the cop's face, really grinding them in there.
Of course, Kichiga knows exactly what a man of this caliber must mean, having worked a little with NESTS during the great ruckus that caused Geese to eventually be dethroned. But it's all about keeping up appearances at this point.
COMBATSYS: Kichiga successfully hits Sho with Heavy Kick.
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Kichiga 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Sho
"So why don't I believe you?" Sho replies, those glasses of his no doubt separating fact from fiction just as well as they let him see in the dark. Uuuh that's actually a debatable bit of metapose. What isn't however is the sheer spryness of the old man as he makes that ponderous ascent. "What--" he begins as his kneespot is touched.
"--the--" he adds, as his shoulder is touched.
"--fu--" he can't get the rest out, because he's suddenly got knees grinding his partially scarred face, really grinding in there. Staggering backwards with the Demon grinding away at his face like some kind of sick rodeo clown, the SWAT officer seems to be in a bit of a bind.
A bind he seeks to end, by grabbing Kickiga by the front of his clothing, and just slamming the Demon down onto his back as hard as possible. That's pretty hard.
COMBATSYS: Kichiga just-defends Sho's Power Throw!
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Kichiga 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Sho
If you thought that trick was nuts...
As Sho slams Kichiga down, the old man seems to ripple in his grip, immediately abandoning the attack, his sleeves going limp. With a twist, he reverses himself in his changshan, and with another, he slides out of it completely, leaving Sho to powerslam it into the dirt.
Which would ordinarily mean that you have a rare chance to see what Kichiga does with all those chains and stuff - but he flings the censer out ahead of him, leaving a trail of red mist that he runs through, snatching his long shirt back up. By the time he's visible again, it's already on, the cane spinning in his hand. He's also running up a tree, geta clicking loudly on the wood.
For once, Kichiga isn't monologuing, just laughing maniacally as he springs from the tree in a long flip, cane held by the butt end, mist swirling along its length as Kichiga drops, ogre-head first, for the top of Sho's head.
COMBATSYS: Kichiga successfully hits Sho with Phobia.
- Power hit! -
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Kichiga 0/-------/--=====|=======\==-----\1 Sho
There's something to be said for suspension of belief. As Sho finds himself slamming a glorified shirt down into the dirt, it begins to tickle in his mind. As he looks up, he finds the old man disappearing, only to reappear again fully clothed. The tickle grows to an itch.
By the time he sees the Demon running up the side of a tree, he's just about had enough. "Alright, now that's just too much," the cop declares, a man of physicality and rocket boots, not insanity peppers and wooden sandals. The old man comes swirling down, delivering another dosage of that mist in conjunction with a hefty bump to the noggin.
Stumbling back, the former Spy is quicker to rub it off this time, although already there's a comically sized welt lifting through his hair line. "Alright, you know what? I've had it."
With that, he springs into action quite literally, aiming to soar right past the old man as those rocket boots allow for flight, and get him turning. Get him turning, and not noticing the wake of electrical energy, paralytic in effect, that wants to keep Kichiga rooted in place long enough for the follow-up.
That of course, is rebounding off a tree, and coming back through with a dive for the old man's weak knees, to send him tumbling ass-over-tits into the dirt! You know you want to eat dirt, Kichiga! Stop denying it!
COMBATSYS: Kichiga blocks Sho's Blind Spot.
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Kichiga 0/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Sho
Relying on Kichiga not to notice something is like relying on Tran in a group app.
...
He starts his turn, and spots the electrical trail Sho's leaving behind right as it sweeps toward him. With a modulated growl, he snaps his cane up, spinning it in his fingers, stepping smoothly away. It still has half its effect, but Kichiga is more prepared for Sho's dive now - he goes flipping in the air, but drives his cane down as he lands, halting his momentum at the expense of his aged shoulder. He hangs like that for a moment, perched atop his cane... and flips, landing on the ogre head with one foot with a resounding clack. "Miserable effort," he judges, harshly.
Kichiga switches feet, making another loud clack, swishing his gloved hands in front of him like some kind of chinese martial art. With a smooth motion, he rolls forward, knocking the cane into the air with his foot as he glides after Sho, coming around in front of him and just driving one hand at his neck. After all the other crazy shit, it's like he just suddenly started driving a sensible car down the highway at a reasonable speed.
COMBATSYS: Sho endures Kichiga's Quick Punch.
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Kichiga 0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Sho
If only Tran were a team player, he'd understand the importance of apping like a team player would.
The intended effect doesn't happen, and again the old man is left flipping about and standing on canes, defying all kinds of laws of gravity. And as a man of the law, this offends Sho. By now though, he's also breathing kind of heavily. "Man, this is not what I came all this way for. You're just wasting my time, aren't you?"
When that old gloved hand comes for his neck though, it seems Sho has had enough. He brings his chin down in an effort to pin the hand in place -- so he can get his own hands into play, even as he mildly wants to gag from having his Adam's Apple struck from the outside-in.
His intent is simple, and very unprofessional conduct for a police officer. In fact, it's downright brutality, as he seeks to grab the old man by the neck, lift him up -- and just choke Kichiga into unconsciousness. The rub? It's like being held by an electric chair, as he dispenses a bucketload of chi into the perpetrator.
COMBATSYS: Kichiga interrupts Sins of Omission from Sho with Behold Hell.
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Kichiga 1/----===/=======|===----\-------\0 Sho
"Your time?"
"YOUR TIME?!"
Kichiga /wrenches/ his hand out from under Sho's chin, though the advantage has, it seems, already been gained. But now he's /riled./ You can tell because those glowing eyes brighten enough to throw Sho's face in red relief, and then Psycho Mist starts to bubble out of them. "When did you come to think that YOUR time was at all important, you insolent whelp?!"
His hand flicks back, red-glowing chains lashing out of his sleeve, writhing like snakes. "You /exist/ on this world to fear me! To hate, and suffer!" He drives his hand forward at the same time as Sho, and when his hand wraps around Kichiga's neck, so do Kichiga's chains on Sho's. "Policeman," he chokes out.
Electricity courses through Kichiga, setting the 'hair' on the back of his mask to whip in a wild cloud behind him, and his own chains wrap and constrict. "You are nothing..." He forces in one great shuddering breath... and slams his hand onto Sho's chest. The chains move with him, tearing Sho away, swinging him up into the air, and slamming him to the ground. Still trailing them, he lifts his other hand to his neck, snarling, "...but my prey."
"That's funny," is what Sho has to say as he's tossed up into the air, even with those chains about his neck. How does he say this? Because due to the debilitating efforts of being choked and electrocuted, Kichiga can't exert as much strength as normal. Also, that red mist probably has him half here and half in another flashback, but c'mon it's getting late and there are shows to watch.
As a result though, the cop spins about in the air, boots firing. He's not about to hit the ground, oh no! Well ok he is, but it's on his feet. And then thanks to his rocket boots, he's closing the distance with Kichiga, aiming to get up close and personal with the demon.
"I don't recall that being on my immigration card!"
Up close and dangerously personal, with his knee being thrust, with the added force of firing rockets, right up into the old man's stomach like a sledgehammer. The force of the blow should be enough to lift the Demon off his feet, to land somewhere nearby!
COMBATSYS: Sho successfully hits Kichiga with Dead Drop.
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Kichiga 1/--=====/=======|==-----\-------\0 Sho
Ugh, seriously. He turns his back for a few months and now the kids have rocket boots? Technology is why this world's going straight to shit in the Chinamen's pockets! Where's the goddamn Metamucil?!
The old man is capable of making any goddamn thing seem terrifying and portentious (if overwrought) but there isn't much he can do with this one. Kichiga just sort of gets... all his shit kneed, flipping head-over-heels into the distance, vanishing into a stand of trees with a rustle and a thump.
RING OU--
The Demon of Dread promptly... reappears nearby, cane clutched in his hand, leaves and twigs caught in his mask's hair. Red mist is roiling around him, shoulders hunched, hands shaking in the fury of Sho's impudence. With his left hand, he reaches up to his chest... and drags his fingers through the changshan's material, digging further through. More mist erupts around him as the pain sharpens his senses, rolling low across the ground.
"Know... absolute... madness."
His hand comes away, tips of his gloved fingers now red, and arches his back. With a staticky shriek, the mist pulls itself back in, and a multitude of chains erupt from the Demon, from his sleeves, his collar, his pants, from every hole and scratch that's been made on his outfit, more chains than really make sense from what should have been containing them.
The chains are pretty much just laying waste to everything around, wood crunching, ground tearing, Shos getting /completely menaced./
COMBATSYS: Kichiga successfully hits Sho with Madness Manifest.
- Power hit! -
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Kichiga 0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1 Sho
Just when Sho thinks it might be over, and he starts to take a cautious breath, there's a world of pain, and a world of chains.
"That can't be legal," he comments, flippant. That's about as good as it gets, because what follows is just downright brutal. The chains whip, they tear, they rip and tear, they tear and whip, they whip and rip. It's a slaughterhouse, with the cop at the center of it. He knows pain, but despite it all, despite that immense bucketload of agony, he does not seem to know fear.
There can't be any sign of fear in his line of work. He won't give this Demon what it craves, like electrolytes.
There's a wet thump as Sho is finally cast clear of the flailing madness. His coat gone, he seems to be wearing some kind of battlesuit beneath, heavily modified with stuff found at a local Fry's Electronics. It is then that the rocket boots misfire, sending him hurtling along the dirt, under the flailing chains, and right for Kichiga.
They don't truly misfire though. Sho is glaring the whole way along, amidst a sea of dirt he's building up. His intent is simple. Charge right into Kichiga's ankles, knock the man up into the air, deviate his flightpath to come back and catch the old man in mid-air -- and then slam him to the ground in a police takedown!
Of course, he's also about to lapse into unconsciousness, so, he may also end up just flying back to America on auto-pilot.
COMBATSYS: Sho has reached second wind!
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Kichiga 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Sho
Or his chest defib might go off and bring him back to life, it's a crazy world you know.
COMBATSYS: Kichiga dodges Sho's Hard Bargain.
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Kichiga 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Sho
COMBATSYS: Sho equips Hunting Chain.
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Kichiga 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 [E] Sho
COMBATSYS: Sho unequips Hunting Chain.
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Kichiga 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Sho
Most of the chains lashing from Kichiga's fade into red mist - the others slide back under his clothes, wrapping around him or whatever the hell is happening. The voice modulator in his mask crackles as he takes in a shuddering breath, making it sound more like a growl. "I have had enough of this game, policeman. Why do you still withhold your fears from me?"
He stumbles - but not really. His left foot slides back, geta pressing into the dirt, and waits in the teeth of Sho's charge for just a moment. "I have not killed in decades--"
Kichiga springs forward, changshan sleeves flapping as he goes into an impossibly lazy spin, bringing his right arm across his chest. "But for one as worthlessly bland as you--" The ogre-headed cane slides out into his hand, a long, bloody blade of Psycho Power shimmering from the tip. The instant Sho passes beneath him, he swings in a wide arc. "--you have no other use to me!"
COMBATSYS: Sho dodges Kichiga's Foul Punishment.
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Kichiga 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Sho
But two things happen as Kichiga makes that Oni-sized lazy leap of his. For one, the de-fib inside of the SWAT Officer's suit kicks into effect, snapping his drooping eyes back to as wide as they can be, given his mixed heritage. And as that happens, he triggers a bigger burst from his feet, which lets him pass right under the spiraling Demon. He pulls up once he's past the assailant.
Slamming into the nearest tree, it seems he may well have miscalculated. But when bark stops falling and the haze of tree (what) fades, Sho is crouched against the trunk of the solid Japanese oak. "You know, I'm pretty sure that's grounds for me to defend myself even if I don't have jurisdiction here.
"And yeah, I think I'm just about done with you too."
Leaping off the side of the tree, it's revealed that he was able to defy gravity because he sunk two boot-holes into the tree. His exit starts the fall of the tree, a solid snap of the wood giving way to that tell-tale sound of leaves rushing past other leaves in the descent down to the forest floor.
But that's just filling this pose with useless meat. In mid-air, Sho's gloved hands warp about one another, the air filling with the stink of ozone as he generates an electric charge. Thrusting one hand forward as he nears his landing, he sends a bolt of lightning flying for the masked murderer!
COMBATSYS: Kichiga blocks Sho's Good Intentions.
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Kichiga 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Sho
Kichiga's gloved fingers twirl expertly as he abruptly rights himself in the air. He slows his fall as much as he can - defying gravity through gypsy magic - sweat beading on his forehead beneath his mask. "Whelp!" He barks, presenting the ogre's head to the bolt of lightning.
It cracks against it, three tiny lightning bolts springing away, the rest of the chi crackling down the staff and into the old demon's hand. He loses concentration, dropping heavily out of the air, landing on his back with a grunt. He tilts his head up, fixing one red eye on Sho. For an instant, he might believe it's over.
That's exactly when he collapses into red mist. But Sho's seen this trick before, and is thus possibly prepared for when Kichiga boils back out of another cloud, stabbing his cane down at Sho's shoulder, shrieking wordlessly for a time before managing, "Your defense is meaningless before me!"
COMBATSYS: Sho endures Kichiga's Phobia.
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Kichiga 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Sho
Landing is always a good thing. So is being able to do so and then stand on one's two feet. Standing there, one hand still sizzling with the after-effects of launching that bolt, Sho feels just how fatigued he's become. That zap from his battle suit can only get him so far, and it's nearing the end of its usefulness. He takes a deep breath, staring down at the downed opposition --
-- and then Kichiga sinks away into the red.
Immediately, the former Agent's eyes shift, screaming for his peripheral, as he twists to face the Oni in what may well be their last close encounter clash. With all that screaming, he's able to figure out where the other man is with remarkable ease!
The cane slams down into his shoulder, resistance there -- but the Policeman is rolling with the blow, aiming to utilize that force applied against one shoulder to bring the other rocketing up.
His goal is simple now. With not much left in the tank, his gloved hand seeks out Kichiga's neck, no doubt with many folds of old, saggy, frightening skin. He just wants a good grip, so he can pull the man down and apply a naked choke for a nice count to fifteen.
COMBATSYS: Sho successfully hits Kichiga with Choke Hold.
[ \\\ < > / ]
Kichiga 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Sho
As an exciting note, Sho's powerful grip is strong enough to tear open the high collar of Kichiga's changshan, showing him the bottom edge of the mask - and the tiny hooks cutting into Kichiga's pale, aged skin, tiny rivulets of blood dripping from each. This mask is not coming off by accident... maybe not even on purpose with some effort.
Kichiga struggles for breath under Sho's grip, the cane slipping from his hands to hit the ground as he reaches up to scratch at his wrist, leaving trails of his own blood from his earlier self-mutilation. His eyes start foaming red once more, his shoulders shaking in the kind of affronted fury you only get when a sociopath is being manhandled like a common crook.
He can't make headway. He bends, unnaturally flexible, to stamp his geta against Sho's chest once, twice, but he can't get enough force like this. He can't take it much longer - with one great, furious gurgle, he pulls his hands off Sho's wrists, thrusting them out at his body. With a great effort, he spits, "Be /CURSED!/"
His sleeves flare wide, long spikes of Kichiga's primal hate and arrogance erupting out, and with them a wave of pure wrath from without.
COMBATSYS: Kichiga successfully hits Sho with Condemn.
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Kichiga 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Sho
With the perp caught and held in that grip, Sho begins the count in his head. One, two. The man scratches at his wrist, leaving blood behind. He makes a note to get a test done later if his skin has been broken. Five, six. Feet come flying up, unnaturally, bending right up and over and back to slam into the former Agent to no avail. Nine, te--
Kichiga stops struggling long enough to make that call -- and to erupt with such primal fury that at such proximity there is nothing for Sho to do but try to weather the storm. He comes out of it rather worse for wear, in fact, his grip broken -- but his stance above the Oni still intact.
"I can't... fall here..." he mutters, faced with an awful choice.
Continue this, as his vision begins to darken, in the hopes of at least knocking the man out and somehow waking up first. Or allow this villain, if such a word can even be used in today's society, to get the best of him -- and live to fight another day.
Another day, to gain the revenge he wants.
Sho's expression there, with his consciousness slipping away, turns dark. Angry shadows serve only to foreshadow the future descent of the Officer, for the future decision he will one day have to make. His mouth opens, and he makes a simple exhale.
Then his boots ignite, and he goes flying backwards up past the tree line, no doubt to infinity and beyond. Most likely, Southtown. With luck, Haggar has notified some friends to look out for his spotter.
COMBATSYS: Sho can no longer fight.
[ \\ <
Kichiga 0/-------/--=====|
Kichiga drops from Sho's grip, instinctively holding out his hand, dragging his cane along with him as he drifts back from the force of his Condemnation. His geta contact the ground, and he immediately drops toward his knees, grabbing his cane from the grass and plowing it down. His knees stop an inch from the dirt. He cannot look weaker than this man, this bastard whose emotions are like licking a rock. He presses down on the cane, glaring at Sho, dragging in a great breath. His chest swells, and hangs there, like he's about to do some other unnecessary thing like breathe fire out of the leering scowl of his Hannya mask.
Sho gets to see something before he leaves - he gets to see Kichiga's hands lose their grip. The old man, the criminal legend, plummets to his knees, hair of yarn falling in a riot over his face as he only stops himself with a hand. His shoulders shake, and he starts to mutter, over and over, "No taste... no taste... no taste..." His free hand scrabbles at the ground. "Worthless, worthless, worthless, worthless!"
The madman comes up with a handful of grass and shoves the mesh over his mouth aside. The voice modulation device dangles out, hanging by a wire, and he shoves the grass into his mouth, biting down. Scrabbling about, he grabs some leaves, shoving them in as well, desperate for flavor. He doesn't even watch Sho leave, engrossed in his particular insanity for the moment.
COMBATSYS: Kichiga has ended the fight here.
---------------------------<Paste from Kichiga>----------------------------
----------------------<Paste to Northwestern Forest>-----------------------
Log created on 21:32:49 11/18/2010 by Kichiga, and last modified on 00:01:42 01/06/2011.