Description: Howard Rust was just minding his own business, helping to put up a ring for a fighting exhibition... He wasn't expecting to have a bored Kyo Kusanagi show up out of nowhere, and offer to make sure it was up to snuff. He especially wasn't expecting Kyo to want him to help. One spar and two smoothies later, Rust has hopefully learned an important lesson about accepting Kyo's 'generosity'.
The quieter parts of Southtown has been a bit noisy lately. Some sort of local festival or what have you, and of course, this means Pacific High wants its students to be part of it in order to gain a broader understanding of the local culture and actually be a greater part of it. The usual mission statement of Pacific High, really. This much is perfectly normal.
The shop teacher, Howard Rust, is here for reasons only vaguely related to that - they're setting up a fairly big name fight of some sort, giving it all the local cultural flair and everything. He's asked to help get the final touches in place since they're behind schedule. One of their technicians is out with a cold. Guess who gets to do further community service for friends of fellow (richer) Pacific High staff without getting paid an additional dime?!
That's right, him. He's just hammering in the last couple of nails gently with a hammer. He half expects Takuma to pop out of nowhere and be all 'do it with your hand,' but, a part of him isn't sure if that's wise with something like this. Even if using a hammer, for him, is now officially a little bit slower due to the weaker grip on his dominant hand from that injury the invasion left him with.
"Just a few more, few more minutes," he clears his throat as he addresses some of the other people working on the stage for the fight.
"You know," says a voice from about two feet behind Rust. "If you were stronger, you'd just drive the nails in with your hand."
It's not actually Takuma Sakazaki who's speaking, but rather someone far more terrifying; if (or perhaps it's more a case of /when/) the Pacific High shop teacher turns to see who it is that spoke, he would be confronted with one of the most famous fighters in the world: The reigning World Warrior champion, undefeated former Saturday Night Fight Champion, and onetime King of Fighters, Kyo Kusanagi.
Who is holding a large cup with some fountain drink in it, clearly emblazoned with the logo of some nearby convenience store. Like it's an off-brand Big Gulp or something. It seems to be nearly finished, too, because about two seconds after he makes that completely unrealistic pronouncement, the Kusanagi heir takes a sip through the straw, and it makes that horrible, obnoxious, 'it's empty just throw the drink away already' noise.
The aging teacher with the very bad haircut stops in the middle of his hammering with that particular remark that seems to all but come from the depths of his mind, turning about with a sort of sour look on his face. This isn't one of those senior instructors that got on his case about his extremely bad form with the attempt at the Hien Shippu Kyaku a day or so ago, is it--
That face does look familiar, a touch of fright and suspense turning into a guessing game as he waves his left hand in Kyo's direction as if to say 'I know who you are, wait.' Any fighting fan worth his salt would've been able to guess this at a glance. It takes this man about four seconds, which is well below par. Maybe the straw sucking somehow helped him jog his memory as he subtly and very slightly recoils at just how loud the slurping is.
"You're Kyo Kusanagi!" He states the obvious. "Oh, uh... hey, never thought I'd, I'd uh, meet you in person." He's run into some famous faces before, but he never anticipated coming across THE Kyo Kusanagi, reigning World Warrior, undefeated former Saturday Night Fight Champion, and onetime King of Fighters. That's a hell of a fighting resume so very few people could claim to be able to match.
If there's anything that rivals Kyo's prodigious talent as a fighter, it's his prodigious talent to be enormously obnoxious, as he demonstrates in his effort to get every last bit of flavour out of his Gig Bulp. He does, however, stop as the look on Rust's face registers. Man, that guy looks like he saw a ghost, or maybe a crazy old man in a tengu mask.
When Rust /finally/ recognises him, Kyo's expression turns a bit dubious as he straightens up, regarding the Pacific High teacher. "That's me," the Kusanagi heir says, with his characteristic utter lack of anything that might be mistaken for humility. Not even if you squinted at it really hard. "And yeah, I get that kinda thing a lot," he adds. In fact, 'starstruck' is a relatively common reaction from people meeting him, at least those who aren't in the rarified air of the fighting circles he frequents...
The, uh, the other reaction he gets most often is attempted murder, though.
"Never thought I'd meet you in person either," Kyo notes. "Uh... Whoever you are. So anyway, don't you think it's kind of a waste, spending your time hammering nails like a drudge?" His senses are keen enough that he can tell that there's that certain... Hard to define air around Rust, that most people just don't have. Of course, with an injured hand...
"I, uh, I imagine ya do," the teacher wipes the sweat off his brow as he straightens himself out with a few series of obnoxious pops. Those pops might be a sure rival to the slurps. From Rust's joints to Kyo's straw, the gauntlet is unintentionally hurled.
He's not sure what to make of the 'never thought I'd meet you in person either' remark, as if there's something about him worth knowing, though it trails off back to reality with the slightly tactless question as to who this guy standing before the young man of many titles is.
"'s my job," he offers with no real apology, "I'm Howard Rust, I teach shop at Pacific," he gestures in a direction that Pacific actually isn't in. "I worked construction back in, in my late teens 'n twenties. It's... it's kinda second nature now."
He raps his knuckles on his left hand against the stage he's been helping build. "I'd say this thing's about... about ready for showtime." A few nails aside.
Ahh, old people. It's entirely possible that the real reason Kyo refuses to put in the effort to actually finish highschool is out of some misguided belief that if he never graduates, he can never grow old. Either that, or he's just really lazy and can't be assed to bother.
Apparently this competition isn't one the younger fighter wants to stay involved in, so while Rust sorts out gristle and joints, Kyo grimaces faintly and turns to find the nearest trash receptacle, giving the cup an almost lazy toss in that direction; even minimal effort for someone of Kusanagi's caliber is enough to get it there, and even if he's incredibly lazy he's not a /litterbug/. That's the sort of thing Iori Yagami would do, that bondage pants wearing savage.
"Pacific, huh?" Kyo repeats as he looks back towards Rust. "That must be a laugh, having to teach all those 90210 kids." He goes to Taiyo, of course. ...Still. "But, I guess not everybody can make a living off of the circuit, right? Sometimes you've gotta... Settle down and get a real job." Kyo seems vaguely horrified by the prospect, but lucky for him his family is also wealthy /and/ he's super famous. He's pretty much set for life. Although that might not be especially long, in the grand scheme of things.
Still, of the stage being 'ready for showtime', Kyo has to wonder: "You gonna stress test it?"
"Yeah... yeah, that's how it is, sometimes," the Pacific teacher nods solemnly, having lived that particular fate since he was thirty with only the faintest glimmers of hope along the way that he might still have had time, still have had some ability, to turn it around and be a fighting superstar.
The King of Fighters invite is, as he reckons, the proof of what might be his last shot even with Takuma insisting he shouldn't be thinking or talking like that. Regardless of whether he goes all the way or not, that he still has to work a mundane job is basically his reality. A reality with its ups and downs - many downs, to be more specific - but he's happy he has that job. Two, to be more specific, thanks to some tricky arrangements to make some things in the short term possible.
"Stress test?" The man asks as though he doesn't know what that means as he scratches the side of his head and looks up at it. It looks the part of a boxing ring, for the most part, with a flair of more ethnic designs appropriate to the local festival. Mr. Rust isn't the guy who painted them, he's just one of the guys putting it together.
"I, uh... it's probably a good idea." though it might only be used for a single fight. He looks off to the guy in charge just wandering by.
"Hey, uh, should we stress test this?" He asks. A moment later he asks this in Japanese when the guy shows he hasn't much of an idea of what he's asking, but this is soon met with a nod on the supervisor's part.
"Okay, uh, guess there's time for a good stress test," the teacher clears his throat again as he turns back to the nails, "I'll just finish these last few, 'n... you 'n whoever can have a round."
The upcoming King of Fighters is an exciting opportunity for all sorts of people, fighters of all stages of their careers and all walks of life.
Kyo Kusanagi considers it mostly to be a bother, though... But unfortunately one he's resigned to dealing with. Assuming, that is, his teammates don't all cut each other down in an orgy of horrific violence.
"Yeah, stress test," Kyo reiterates. "You don't want your, uh, main event going on in there and then the whole thing falls apart, right? I mean what if one of them is E. Honda or something? Better make sure it can stand up." Which would seem to suggest that the Kusanagi heir has volunteered himself, which is fine by him; he was getting bored anyway. Even a lazy bastard like him needs to keep himself occupied sometimes.
When things are cleared, Kyo gives his head a bobbing nod. "Cool," the World Warrior says, moving over to the ring and sliding in under the ropes. He straightens up to his feet once he's within, hopping up and down to make sure the thing isn't going to break under him and then, perhaps inevitably, he turns to look at Rust.
"You comin', or what?"
True to Rust's word, it's pretty stable. Maybe they are expecting a heavy guy or a wrestler. Kyo could hurl himself (or hurl someone else) down into it with all the force they can muster and it'd hold up just fine. This isn't bad for something meant to see only just one fight. Hopefully this one fight is the actual fight this is intended for, and... not the stress test.
"Huh?" The teacher looks up at Kyo's invitation before pointing a finger at himself. "Me? ...Me?" He's not sure what to think of that. Invited to a friendly spar by THE ONE AND ONLY KYO KUSANAGI?! With all that's happened in Southtown, how this man has had to come face to face with a few of the biggest names on less than friendly terms, one would think he'd start to become wary whenever someone with a whole ton of prestige and skill under their belt wants something to do with him.
The inner fighter in him overwhelms the responsible adult in him in one fell swoop, or rather, one swift kick to the teeth as he just palms the last few nails in a strong desire to take him up on this. This is probably not the wisest thing to do, but, it is just a few last nails.
"Yeah, sure, I'd, uh, I'd be honored," the man says as he climbs in through the ropes with significantly less speed than Kyo himself demonstrates which... probably already tells a lot about the kind of man the Kusanagi heir will be personally roasting today. That, and that rusted length of pipe sticking out of the toolbelt pocket on his left hip as he pulls himself up to a stand with a couple more disconcerting joint pops.
While it might seem like Kyo is acting out of the goodness of his heart here, giving a possible never-was like Howard Rust a totally sweet opportunity to expand his experience and get in the ring with a serious world class legend. Perhaps imparting on the older fighter some heretofor unknown wisdom, causing them to both learn important lessons about fighting, life, and themselves, the truth is...
Well, the /truth is/ that, as previously mentioned, Kyo was getting bored, and while the overconfident young man doesn't like to bully people weaker than himself - most people, that is to say - Rust was the only one around who seemed to be a fighter at all. So hey, he can relax, take it easy, work off a little steam, and...
Kyo frowns a little as Rust gets into the ring a bit creakily. Maybe this was... A bad idea?
"Well," Kyo says, fishing out his Kusanagi gloves, made of some strange unidentifiable material; fingerless, the black and yellow gloves bear the Kusanagi emblem on the back, and actually cover his entire forearms, although most of that is covered up by his leather jacket. "Why don't you start us off, huh? Show me what you got, Teach."
COMBATSYS: Kyo has started a fight here.
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Rust has joined the fight here.
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rust
Some people are wondering if this /is/ going to be the main event. Kyo Kusanagi is recognizable just about anywhere he goes as one of the greats of today in the ring. They're... significantly less enthusiastic about that older guy with the bad hair in there, even if most of them are at least familiar with the guy in passing.
"Yeah, I'll, I'll do that," he says as his right hand falls atop the makeshift hilt of Ol' Rusty, which is to say whatever end happens to be sticking out top at the time. He meets a bit of resistance getting it out of there, which in turn gets a grunt from him. C'mon, don't be shy, he tries to tell his pipe even though his pipe can't read his mind or... be much of anything other than a pipe, because that is just what it is.
Damn it, he thinks to himself as he tries to reassert his grip on this pipe one last time, leaning forward with a step as he gives it another good hard tug. This time, it gives way and rips that particular toolbelt pocket clean off as the strength of his tug turns into a powerful swing that can be easily - forgivably - mistaken as an intentional impersonation of an iaijutsu strike, something the teacher might want to just pretend is intentional after the fact as the pipe swings from his left to right in a long horizontal arc.
COMBATSYS: Kyo blocks Rust's Power Strike.
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rust
In retrospect, it makes sense to Kyo that a guy who is a shop teacher /and/ a former construction worker would lean towards some sort of... Tool-based weapon style, doesn't it? The fighting world is full of themed fighters after all, not everybody trains in some ancient martial art handed down through generations of insane people with superpowers. Some dudes just pick up a pipe and hit a guy. It's sort of refreshing, in a way.
Kyo also bets Haggar would get a kick out of it.
"Whoop," Kyo mutters as he shifts his weight, throwing out his hand to intercept the swung Ol' Rusty, briefly catching it with one gloved palm. That he controls the point of impact and the length of the swing blunts the bulk of the damage, although a stinging pain jolts over his palm and up his forearm.
Of course, the World Warrior doesn't just stop there: This is a stress test, and now he's actually curious as to just what Rust can do despite his creaky middle agedness, so he keeps moving, half-turning and swinging one leg up in a short arcing kick aimed to catch Rust right across the head. "Not quite!!" he chides.
COMBATSYS: Kyo successfully hits Rust with Light Kick.
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Rust
Kyo's timely block - masterfully executed - doesn't just save him a bit of pain, it comes in strong enough that the teacher's grip on the pipe gets loose enough he has to reach down about as fast as he can bend to catch it and, very conveniently, puts his head just in the way of Kyo's kick. Kyo doesn't even have to kick too far to get the head.
Get the head, he does.
Mr. Rust is a man who could be proud of his ability to take hits. Most people have to put serious weight behind their punches to make him flinch. Sometimes, perhaps with just as much credit due to his slower reflexes from age and joint problems alike, he just doesn't notice.
Kyo Kusanagi is not an ordinary fighter. Even his simplest kick gets the man up against the ropes with a bruise forming on the left side of his face with only the faintest idea of what just happened, but at least that sting of pain's enough to make his right hand clench hard enough on Ol' Rusty not to drop it again.
For his part, the man just shakes his head and takes another few steps forward as if to say 'I'm good, I'm good, I'm plenty good' even as that side of his face goes a bit numb. But is, he, really? Maybe the excitement is - no, it definitely is - catching up to him as he steps back into swinging range on this here ring he helped build.
With another clearing of his throat, his left shoulder pops a bit (this is a really bad tell) as he thrusts out with his left hand to grab Kyo somewhere around his arm and just yank him back up against the ropes, assuming one of the greatest fighters in the world actually allows him to pull such a thing.
COMBATSYS: Kyo blocks Rust's Medium Throw.
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Rust
It's not just about physical strength, of course; Kyo is a pretty strong guy, he's in the sort of ridiculously good shape that only people who put in insane amounts of work or who are blessed with frankly unfairly good genes can manage... But, so are lots of fighters. Lots of fighters have bigger muscles than he does, lots of fighters are five times his size and throw tanks for a workout. But Kyo can out-strike them: It's about how you hit, and where you hit, and when you hit. That's what distinguishes a fighter of Kyo's level from the common rabble.
Well, that and a few other things.
That Rust isn't immediately laid out by the kick to the head is reassuring, because it tells Kyo he isn't picking on some defenseless schlub who just took a few Saikyo-ryuu correspondence classes before and isn't an actual fighter. That Rust moves to grab him is... Well, it /is/ a bit predictable, with the tell of the arm, but Kyo has a certain 'why not?' attitude about the whole thing, getting tossed with almost patronisingly good grace and impacting with the ropes in a controlled sort of way, letting them absorb most of the impact as he turns to face Rust again.
"You know, you could probably bust some heads if you managed to limber up more," Kyo suggests, as if it weren't patently obvious already. And then, he lunges at Rust again. He doesn't go for the flames, because he's not sure that's really /warranted/ here, just yet. Instead, he aims to deliver an impressive body blow with his right fist, following it up with a mirror of the same with his left, before backing up slightly to give himself enough space to aim a knee for the teacher's solar plexus. "Let me help you out!!"
COMBATSYS: Kyo successfully hits Rust with Combo Attack.
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Kyo 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0 Rust
As he moves Kyo to the ropes, he at least has an inkling of an idea of what he wants to do here - give himself some space to see what Kyo will do to come at him. Never mind that Megane has shown that there are some people he just can't easily catch the movements of with his eyes... and this is Kyo Kusanagi we're talking about.
In so far as the stress test goes, that the ropes aren't snapping or anything of the sort is very reassuring. Less reassuring is how one of his eyes is suddenly very itchy, when Kyo gives a particularly good bit of advice - maybe he should work on limbering up.
"Still workin' on losing some, some extra weight," he comments as Kyo comes at him and instinct has him doing the exact opposite of what Kyo entails as he leans a bit into it with his left forearm and squeezes his left hand tightly with the clenching of teeth. It catches the first of those body blows with little to no problem, a loud grunt aside. If that was Kyo's only shot, Mr. Rust here would be golden.
It's not.
The opposite hand slips under the guard and actually gets him in the gut which rewards Kyo with a humorously bug-eyed expression and a strange string of consonants vocalized out of the teacher's mouth, his body getting especially loud with the joint crackling with every little movement he has to make to stay on his feet.
The solar plexus finisher renders the effort fruitless as he falls over on the canvas and gets another uncomfortable bend when hitting the corner as he's forced into a seated position. There's a a good wheeze as he takes a moment in retrospect to consider Kyo's advice about being limber - getting all rigid against the likes of that is... probably... not going to help.
"Yeah... you know your stuff, all right," he winces as he pulls himself up to a stand with the help of those ropes, his left shoulder and both knees getting a bit obnoxious in the sound they make as he wills himself, against his body's wishes, to get to something resembling a a stand again.
Got to get his head in the game, he thinks to himself as he rests Ol' Rusty on his shoulder for a moment and takes in a deep breath. "You call that... you call that help?" It's almost boastful, but, he's likely about to wish he didn't just goad Kyo on like that as he narrows his eyes and tries to get a better read on him, how to move, how to swing when he is clearly outclassed.
COMBATSYS: Rust focuses on his next action.
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Kyo 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0 Rust
Were Kyo the type to actually, overtly give other people credit for anything, he would probably give Rust props for being tough, if nothing else - though he might be creaky and old and out of shape, the Pacific High shop teacher is clearly a tough sort of guy no matter /what/ his skill level might be. Unfortunately, Kyo... Really isn't that type of person at all.
"Sure do," Kyo agrees, when Rust says he knows his stuff. Although the Kusanagi heir seldom lets on, his enormous natural talent is actually well supplemented by the simple fact that he's been training practically since he was able to walk, and that many of the exercises which shaped his youth could be compared to the sort of insanity Takuma would visit on his own children, Saishu Kusanagi being the Kyokugen-ryuu master's colleague in being an insane old martial artist and all. Although, on the upside for Kyo, Saishu had that tendency to wander off on 'training journeys'.
He'd always come back with yet another addle-brained tall tale, though.
"You should look at this as an opportunity. Think of all you can learn from watching somebody as amazing as me... And since you're watching closely," Kyo decides, noticing Rust's canny eye as he studies the younger fighter. "I'd better give you something worth looking at!" Suddenly, Kyo springs into forward movement, aiming to blast through Rust's guard with an elbow strike, the impact intended to stun; if it lands, Kyo keeps /moving/, uncoiling in the other direction as his right hand pistons outward to grab Rust by the front of his shirt, lifting the shop teacher bodily off the ground. "BURN!!" Kyo instructs, and, well, it was probably inevitable... As he says this, the crimson-orange Kusanagi flames erupt in a sudden explosion centered /on Rust/, to hurl him into the opposite side of the ring.
COMBATSYS: Rust interrupts Koto Moon Positive from Kyo with Cement Upper EX.
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Kyo 0/-------/---====|=======\====---\1 Rust
Compare Kyo's amazing talent and top tier tutoring to one Mr. Rust's, almost entirely self-taught until recently where he's sought formal instruction from Takuma Sakazaki himself. Even through dry spells in his life where he thought he's hung up the fight for good, he can still put up something of a fight - something he'd be counting on in the King of Fighters tournament when it hits.
It's obvious at a glance as to which of the two upbringings is superior, with the extremely confident way that Kyo moves in comparison to the unsure and a bit unsteady way the older Howard is showing himself to be even as he tries to center himself.
Kyo gives him something worth looking at well before the older man can work up an appropriate verbal response. The elbow strike is sudden, perfectly executed as the man is stuck between a corner post and a hard place (this hard place being Kyo's elbow), the breath escaping his lungs as he doubles over again. That part of his body's still a bit tender from that knee from Kyo's previous combination, which works entirely to the Kusanagi heir's favor.
Kyo's right hand grabs his shirt and lifts him straight up. With the teacher's left hand he makes an unsuccessful attempt to free himself from Kyo's grip. There's a sense of fear, of legitimate dread, about what sort of thing might be going through that arm in a moment--
Ah, jesus christ, me, the teacher thinks, why the hell am I just letting him do this to me?!
His teeth grit as Ol' Rusty spins about in his right hand with a level of dexterity not really displayed in that hand any more, a quick rapid spin before he swings the pipe upward into Kyo's chin within mere fractions of a second of Kyo dropping the B-bomb that motivates the flames to do the burning.
Mr. Rust ends up a bit late in beating the flames to the punch, freed from Kyo's grasp but not the entirety of the explosion of flame that dances right in his face as he falls back onto the canvas. The sensation is absolutely indescribable, even in what could be seen as a near-miss. It sears, it burns, it /blinds/ just being that close to the legendary flames of the Kusanagi clan. It's something worthy of awe, to be in the ring of someone of this level of skill. A thing of prestige. A real eye-opener.
If his eyes weren't shut trying to get all the spots out of his vision. For breaking out of one of Kyo's famed techniques, that might be the one thing he gets on him. Kyo has plenty opportunity to keep pushing the attack on him while his eyes refocus and he tries to stand again.
All in all, Kyo's execution of that technique seems picture perfect, like he were demonstrating it for an appreciative crowd, possibly composed entirely of lingerie models. It looks like he's going to smite Rust right off the very face of the Earth when... He gets hit right in the jaw with Ol' Rusty (incidentally that sounds sort of bad, if you take it out of context, doesn't it?) which causes his mouth to snap closed and his head to snap back, a look of frank surprise on his face.
Sadly, Rust may not get to appreciate that look, because a) Kyo's face is directed almost straight up and b) even a near miss with that attack seems to be a lot for the shop teacher to handle.
Staggering a bit as Rust recovers himself, Kyo feels his jaw with one hand and runs his tongue through his mouth to make sure his teeth are all okay. "I almost bit my tongue!" Kyo says, sounding bewildered by this fact. It is, as it happens, a cherished dream of many to cause him to do exactly that, as it might actually force him to shup up for a change.
"You really are one tenacious old son of a bitch," Kyo notes, which is perilously close to actually being a compliment... Although, in true Kyo fashion he manages to keep any actual awe out of his tone. But the fact that Rust is proving to be both tougher and more wily than he'd originally assumed just means... Kyo is incited to keep giving the older fighter a taste of the 'real thing'. So he takes a step forward....
And then he leaps into the air.
Arcing over the distance between himself and Rust, Kyo turns sideways and tucks in one leg, stretching the other out perpedicular to his body so that it traces the outer edge of his arc through the air... And then comes down with tremendous force towards Rust himself.
You know, to make sure the ring is going to stand up to heavy impacts.
COMBATSYS: Rust endures Kyo's RED Kick.
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Kyo 0/-------/--=====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Rust
A near miss with some of the most powerfully honed chi is, in theroy, a lot for just about anyone to handle! Hell, even as Kyo complains about nearly biting his tongue, his older dance partner is vigorously rubbing his eyes while he's getting to his feet. There's going face to face with one of the best there is to see how far you can go, and then there's... going face to face with something that burns so incredibly bright that isn't just metaphorical fighting spirit deep inside the throes of young adult apathy.
"Uh... thanks?" The man's not sure what to say to being called a tenacious old son of a bitch while he blinks a couple of times. Okay, he's more or less got his vision back, where's Kyo, he wonders to himself. Where is Kyo? Where is--
Oh, there he is momentsrightbeforehe'sintheface--
The RED Kick should probably be called the Black and Blue Kick were it not for it being an acronym, because that is sure as hell what's going to be left against his upper back just behind his left shoulder as he is forced to a kneel where all the leftover momentum is spread evenly through the canvas. It's loud, it's attention-grabbing, and Kyo just nailed whoever that guy with the bad hair is with the RED Kick that can floor pretty much anyone.
Problem is, he's not face flat on the ground. He's kneeling, teeth grit hard enough that his dentist is going to be frowning at him the next time he goes in for an examination. He only has one real reflex to go off of while that tiny window of opportunity is there, even as much of his upper back screams in pain. That kick might've broken something.
He rises up to a stand with another uppercut swing of Ol' Rusty, but it's not just one. It's far more than one, repeated over and over in an advancing wave of them as though he were a nail refusing to be pounded down and instead just gather rust from whatever the weather throws in his way.
Ignoring the fact, for a second, the saying about the nail or stake that stands out in these parts. Maybe he is just being a little too much of a tenacious old son of a bitch in the heat of the moment.
COMBATSYS: Kyo endures Rust's Rusty Nail.
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Kyo 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Rust
In the aftermath of the Rainbow Energy Dynamite Kick, Kyo doesn't even have time to recover his footing before he's getting swung at repeatedly with Ol' Rusty. The repeated attacks smash into him, over and over again as he's struck by the uppercutting lead pipe, each hit driving him further back as he remains off-balance and, for the moment, the fight seems to be... Completely in Rust's control?!
As Rust's defiant assault winds down, though, it seems like the overall effect might be a bit less than the Pacific High teacher would've hoped for, as the World Warrior manages to remain on his feet, not bothering to get his balance back before he acts; just like Rust, he takes advantage of that moment that comes after an attack, that point where the opponent's defenses are at their weakest, where the most opportunities present themselves, no matter how experienced a fighter one is. Now is, really, the time to act.
"Better keep training!" Kyo shouts, throwing his whole weight forward into a hooking punch aimed at Rust's jaw, flames trailing behind the motion of his right fist and erupting in a small explosion at the point of impact, if any; if that first punch lands, then the Kusanagi heir follows through, stepping in and swinging his arm up and then back down in a vicious elbow to drive Rust into the mat, following the older fighter down into a smooth crouch as he then punches /again/, a smooth pistoning straight aimed diagonally down at the presumably fallen man, punctuating it with a second burst of those sacred Kusanagi flames. "You need to be more than just stubborn!!"
COMBATSYS: Rust fails to interrupt Aragami from Kyo with Condemned.
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Kyo 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1 Rust
COMBATSYS: Rust can no longer fight.
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Kyo 1/------=/=======|
He's trying to make every last hit count, for what little it ends up worth in the end, never taking a single strike for granted in his attempt to keep pushing him and pushing him and pushing him, sucking in breath half of the way in as he tries to fight off the pain that's going on his upper back. There's not much time to dwell on that sort of thing.
The crowds seem to be getting in on it. Maybe he's a good match for the best there is after all, they might be thinking, even as Kyo remains solidly on his feet with every strike - but this man can't keep that momentum up forever.
It does wind down, soon enough, with the teacher realizing he has no more room to keep pushing Kyo back, and even less time to consider this than leftover room for pushing Kyo back as the prodigious fighter has a most heartfelt suggestion.
Better keep training, he says. The right hook to his jaw alone shows much more effect than all those strikes the teacher put, twisting his head the other way so quick his neck makes a popping noise (the popping feels great, actually, the being punched in the face part not so much) as trickles of blood fly out of his mouth, the flash of fiery chi enveloping him for that brief moment that makes his consciousness want to pass out on the spot.
Staggering back, his head slowly turns. Within fractions of a second, his left hand tightens into a fist. It's just one punch, he tries to tell himself, it's just one god damned punch, I do not go down to one punch. Ol' Rusty is drawn back. From his point of view, the world grows a bit darker. Time feels like it slows to a standstill. A little ray of light somehow finds a place on the rusted length of pipe to glimmer for that little split second where Kyo's coming at him.
He puts all he's got into his own one punch, tightening his grip around Ol' Rusty as best as his right hand can as he thrusts forward into the advancing Kyo. This would be the makings of an epic confrontation of techniques between a man of forty years and a younger man whose technique spans many, many generations. This would be the moment just about anybody would be proud to take a picture of.
It becomes considerably less proud when his right arm and Ol' Rusty shoot just past Kyo's side in a straight-up miss. The vicious elbow strikes at the crown of his skull and loosens his grip enough that the pipe goes flying past the little gaps in the ropes and proceeds to embed itself in a nearby wall. Its wielder hits the mat, face-first, the canvas shuddering under the sheer viciousness of that elbow that, in itself, would've ended the fight.
The final downward punch that hits him in the upper back where he was kicked earlier is just the cherry on the top, arms and legs twitching outward once as the sacred flames wash over him that one last time to a prolonged groan that echoed through the festival grounds as a very, very clear signal to go with Kyo's unabashed truth.
You gotta be more than just stubborn.
"Mmphgbl." This grunt seems to be in relative consensus as the flames wash away, leaving a less than fight-worthy husk of a man face-down on a canvas that has nonetheless held to a stress test. The older man who helped build it... not... so much.
The passage of Ol' Rusty is actually palpable, the nearness of the miss and the displaced air of its quick movement - enough power to embed itself in a wall, after all - making an impression on Kyo's consciousness. But the point is that it /did/ miss, whereas his own attacks decidedly did not, the deadly speed of the Kusanagi-ryuu Kobojutsu technique proving to be a bit more than Rust was prepared to handle, it seems.
Kyo remains in that low crouch as it becomes clear that Rust is in no condition to keep fighting, at which point the younger man rises up to his feet, looking around at the ring with a nod of approval. "Now, this is how you build a fighting ring," the Kusanagi heir says, finding the grace and composure in his wonderful self to offer up such a compliment. Truly, he's an example to everyone as to how they should comport themselves - especially fighters.
He looks down at Rust as he grunts unintelligibly, though. Hm.
"Hey," Kyo says, crouching down again to, lightly, poke Rust on the back of his head with one index finger. "If you get up, I'll buy you a smoothie."
He's lying, of course; he'll probably stick poor Rust with the bill.
"Pfbrhglbl." So says the Pacific teacher in complete gibberish that is probably in response to the bit about the fighting ring. As he offers no thumbs up or other such gestures to accentuate this gurgling attempt at human speech, it can really only be merely assumed as an educated guess that it is about the fighting ring and not about, say, asking what time it is.
When Kyo pokes him on the back of his head, he rolls to his back in an attempt to go face-up. This proves excruciatingly painful given where the bulk of Kyo's strongest hits have landed, a hiss and a grimace as he tries to go onto his side... no, ow, still so much pain, dear god what the hell does that kid put in his shoes to kick like that, and with that he's back to lying on his stomach as, comparatively, the least painful position to be while his body tries to soak in just all of that.
"Grblbhargh." There he goes with the completely not-language gibberish again before he thinks to try and lift his head up even though it puts so much stress where it aches. "I, uh... I need a minute." A minute Kyo's probably not gonna give him, but holy hell he's been wanting to try one of those smoothies he's seen but never really had the chance to actually order.
With a sigh and a 'what can you do?' shrug, Kyo straightens up from his crouch, but it seems that the Kusanagi heir has been taken by some sort of indulgent mood, or perhaps he was recently visited by three spirits who taught him the meaning of kindness towards his fellow man, because he /does not/ do anything mean, or even call Rust a wussy baby for needing a breather after fighting someone many times stronger than he is. Perhaps he is growing as a person. Perhaps it's just a month early Christmas miracle.
"I'll give you five," Kyo says, making his way to the edge of the ring to step back on out. "But if you're not ready by then I'm going on without you." Yes, his kindness - as well as his offer - is /time sensitive/. "You'd really be missing out," the younger fighter adds. "They do things with banana and strawberry that might be illegal in some places."
Which is possibly a disturbing mental image, but there you go.
COMBATSYS: Kyo has ended the fight here.
Log created on 18:11:51 12/02/2010 by Kyo, and last modified on 19:31:37 12/03/2010.