Description: Ryouhara has energy to collect. But it'll take a lot more than a multi story fall off the top of a broadcast tower to stop the Red Cyclone. "You, Ryouhara, can hammer me! You can burn me! You can crush my bones, you can throw me from this tower! Do what you want to me! You will not stop me! I am Zangief, I am the Red Cyclone, and I will stand between you and Mother Russia. For her, I am invincible."
The ink is scrawled at least twenty feet down the edges of the tower.
According to the reports of an anomaly, the Midtown Tower seems to be the epicenter of the storm in Moscow, a massive broadcasting/tourist site tower in the city. Unfortunately, all police attempts to investigate it have been met with no response and radio silence. Someone doesn't wish to be disturbed here.
Long, sprawling, and altogether arcane, the ink on occaision seems to warp and shiver with the amount of energy being channelled into it. The metal, despite the brisk chill of Moscow, is warm. A feeling of unrelenting force, a choking, enervating thing, fills the air.
The ink script twists and curves up the tower in unpredictable fashion, wrapping into concentric and densely interconnected circles of cryptic writing, ancient instructions not used in this fashion by him since the time of the Suiryuu. Ah, that thing. Its purpose is served, the weapon that took them years to complete now in full existence in the world. But now, the time's come to create anew.
Ryouhara meditates in full lotus, his fingertips in light contact with one another other his root as he mutters ancient calculations to himself, the jutsu used to command such a wellspring of energy requiring constant management to operate at full efficiency. Such is his concentration that the pelting rainfall overhead closest to him ceases to be 'real' water, but floating bubbles of water chi, which crackle and fade into the sealing array as the young man chants.
Lightning arcs from above, hitting the massive superstructure of the Russian broadcast tower. But the electric energy never reaches him. It never reaches anyone. It's all sealed into the array.
It takes a powerful jutsu to be able to harness the thunderstorm.
Seishirou Ryouhara's eyes slide open, a sober kind of annoyance accompanying the sharp look as he is stirred from his meditation. "....company.."
When Russia needs a hero, there is one man who is always willing to answer the call.
As the flash of blinding lightning and the deafening peal of thunder dies away, the massive, hulking form of Zangief finally emerges into view. Truth be told, he has no idea what is happening here. This is not the sort of thing that he has any knowledge of at all. But it is troubling Moscow, with such a strange storm. Aside from the graffiti all across the tower itself, which would be enough to earn his displeasure all on its own!
Zangief has donned the garments of war. Big, red, rubber boots. All the better to help if lightning should happen to try and get in his way. Big, red, cotton shorts. All the better to try and preserve some vague sense of modesty. He has walked here, and his mohawk, his beard, even his chest hair is slick to his body just from the sheer quantities of rain.
This does little to detract from how intimidating he is, however. Sheer fury burns in his eyes when he lays sight on Seishirou. He'd always known that it would come to this. Terrorists are not the sort of people who just, learn from a beating. But it had been a long time since their paths had crossed! And Ryouhara had never dared to actually strike at his beloved Russia before now.
"STOP THIS." Zangief bellows, as he marches towards the ninja. Heedless of his own safety, uncaring for the threat of the strange magics which are clearly being worked. There's only fury in the Red Cyclone's heart, and only one possible outcome that he can see. He doesn't expect the ninja to listen to his warning and stop; of course he doesn't. They never did.
"I don't know what you think you are doing, Ryouhara, but this ends, now! Either you stop, or I will pull off your head! Are you stupid enough to think your storm can stop..."
"THE RED CYCLONE?!"
Ryouhara's eyes close again as the massive hulk's shadow falls over him. A man made entirely of steel and braided cable, a scarred man, a deadly man. A man who he has fought before on numerous occaisions. Zangief, the Scarlet Whirlwind, the Red Cyclone, the Crimson Tornado. A hero here in Russia.
If Zangief is a hero...
What is he?
The shinobi seems diminutive next to Zangief, literally an ant compared to the titanic Siberian. The effect seems only multiplied by the fact that Seishirou has not yet seen it fit to stand in the face of the steps that one could swear they feel shake the metal beneath them. He mutters quietly a few more ambient thoughts, as if the roar of the unmitigated tundra failed to shake him at all.
If you care enough to hear him, his voice carries just so.
"It won't be the storm that stops you.."
"Zangief..." He pronounces the name carefully, as someone who simply isn't used to speaking such an awkward name in his native tongue. "I figured you might show up. But there's no time for posturing today." -- something's wrong --
The voice isn't coming from Ryouhara, sitting in front of Zangief, meditating.
It's coming from behind Zangief, from another instance of the shinobi, whom moved so quickly that it hardly seems that he moved at all. The original(?) sits behind him still, muttering in that arcane train of thought. He stands behind Zangief, his form indistinct in the dark with he smoke grey haori he's chosen to wear--before, it was white. "Don't you get it...?" the boy remarks quietly, his eyes narrowing to deadly slits. "It's not all about your middling country. There's greater things that could pose a risk to the world itself. I'm going to find out what they are." He tilts his head just so.
Seishirou's eyes cut out from below his brow in a deadly glare.
"I'll give you only one thing to understand. You get to think about hitting me once. Then I throw you bodily off this tower."
COMBATSYS: Seishirou has started a fight here.
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Seishirou 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Seishirou equips Lead Cracker.
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Seishirou [E] 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Zangief has joined the fight here.
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Zangief 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 [E] Seishirou
As soon as the realization hits him, Zangief spins around. Never a particularly nimble man, it's not a graceful motion, but it has him glaring directly at the ninja. A low growl rumbles from his lips. Curse his deception. These games were enraging. Never mind the casual jab at the status of Russia (greatest country in the world). It's the fact that the terrorist seems to think he can pull the wool over his eyes that makes Zangief's blood boil. This isn't about saving the world! This is about doing something strange and probably destructive to Moscow.
Although Zangief can trash-talk with the best wrestlers in the world, he's not renowned for his eloquence. No. Whether Ryouhara believes he is in the right or in the wrong, the Red Cyclone cares only about the perceived threat to his precious country. If there's a greater threat to deal with at another time? Well, he'll settle that in the same way as he is going to settle this argument.
Which is to say, by charging bodily towards the ninja. There's nothing subtle in the least about Zangief's approach, one meaty arm thrust forwards with as much force behind it as he can muster. His intention is simply to plough that fist right the way through the ninja's face. One chance to think about hitting him? HAH! If this is how it is going to be, then the Red Cyclone will just make that one hit count!!!
No more words, at least, not now. To back up his rebuttal to Seishirou, Zangief has only one thing to say: "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
COMBATSYS: Seishirou interrupts Fierce Punch from Zangief with Katon Citadel.
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Zangief 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 [E] Seishirou
Ryouhara frowns.
"Ah, sou."
A veritable locomotive of force plunges towards the shinobi, one massive arm cutting through to Ryouhara's face with full intent of knocking the tilted expression clear off it and somewhere far, far into the night sky. That might still happen this night, but not right now.
Seishirou is as familiar with Zangief's raw power as Zangief is familiar with his trickery. However, time marches on. The shinobi slips low underneath Zangief's arm, allowing the massive blow to break against his shoulder, slipping away from the impact to soften the blow. His opposite arm touching the ground for only a split second, he uses the impact to fuel a burst of speed into a twisting motion, spinning him full around as he redirects the momentum. At the same moment, he kicks back, his draping sleeves rippling in his wake as the ninja flits so low so as to almost pass in the shadows underneath the giant wrestler. From the impact to the backwards dash, Seishirou is silent as be slides underneath Zangief's arm and behind him. His arms sway as the pain of the impact reaches him belatedly, eliciting a violently pained expression from the shinobi as he stands.
"...hrmph."
A moment later, the ground turns into fire.
The moment Seishirou touched the array, he enervated a portion of it, changing the composition to absorb--and consequently release--his own jutsu: Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu. It manifests as a wall of fire that erupts from the steel, belching a massive fireball over Zangief--and into the clouds beyond, a deafening thundercrack piercing the air to punctuate it. Unfortunately, the jutsu he used was a searing one, threatening to immolate Zangief.
The rain.. is hardly doing a thing to quench his fire.
Lesser men might be intimidated by being on fire.
Zangief, though, has had a lot of experience being in this state. He /hates/ it of course. But rather than feel fear, being set ablaze by Seishirou's flames fills Zangief with rage. Bright orange flames flicker in his beard, across his body, though they mercifully leave his shorts untouched. What is most worrisome, in all likelihood, is the fact that it doesn't seem to have slowed Zangief down all that much. Aside from the brief few moments where he was forced to back off by the power of the attack.
All too soon, the Red Cyclone is throwing himself at Seishirou again like some horrific flaming mountain of furious hair and muscle. Eyes wide, teeth bared in a rictus snarl of anger. It had been a long time since he'd last fought Seishirou, yes, but he's starting to remember just how frustrating his techniques are. Brute force had always done him well in the past, but it is clear that if he's going to beat this ninja again, he's going to have to dig as deep as he ever has. It's going to be a long, bloody, painful fight. The disturbing thing is, from the look in his eye, he's not going to let that fact dissuade him in the least. If anything, it excites him!
His arms seek to envelop the ninja, and, if he can just manage to crush Seishirou's smaller body up against his own flaming bulk, he'll express just how much he really does hate being set aflame.
He'll do this through the medium of biting. Gnashing and rending teeth aiming to rip and tear at, well, any part of Seishirou that he can get to, to be honest. He's not thinking entirely coherently right now. Pain and fury drive his actions, and he fully intends to keep this up for as long as he can maintain his grip on his sworn enemy.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou dodges Zangief's Kamitsuki.
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Zangief 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 [E] Seishirou
Ryouhara is a boy without fear.
After all, has he not faced tyrants of all sizes, men capable of sundering the world in half? Has he not felt anger, instead of despair, when he imagined what these men could do to him, do to those without power? Has he not done anything short of conspiring to undo those very spires of the world, to rip their empty towers out from underneath them from below? No, Seishirou is not afraid of power, not in the slightest.
Therefore, it remains to be said that there is yet something that does concern him when Seishirou reacts with trepidation and wariness at the sight of the huge and inexorable monolith bearing down on him, wreathed in fire and insanity. You see, there is something Seishirou is at the least concerned with. Not power. --Insanity. Something that cannot ultimately be predicted is dangerous. And in the end, the only predict Seishirou can make of Zangief is that he won't ever stop until he is thuroughly dispatched.
A respectable trait, as Seishirou's mused upon before.
Instead of retreating from the titan, however, Seishirou steps forward, whipping an arm out in front of him, his long sleeves seeming to lengthen even more with the motion, lengthening until they shimmer. Curving, until they form a dull edge. Ryouhara spins into the motion, seeming to become ever indistinct, his body breaking apart at the seams. Violently. Out of his body... blades. Scything blades, forged not of steel, but heat so tangible so as to part flesh all the same. He tumbles towards Zangief and becomes a massive, curved shuriken of heat, ripping himself apart to boil a few new scars into the wrestler's skin.
There is the vaguest indication of Seishirou simply walking past Zangief.
A single step carries the real Seishirou--not the duplicate that ripped himself apart--to a distance off to Zangief's side. He maintains that distance as if he'd been standing there the whole time. The shinobi slowly reaches up into his haori, as if to draw a weapon. "...An admirable effort, as is to be expected of the great Zangief..." He tilts his head. Maintaining his jutsu and also fighting Zangief is one of the more difficult tasks he's had to attempt in his lifetime.
COMBATSYS: Zangief fails to interrupt Bunshin Suicide from Seishirou with Banishing Flat.
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Zangief 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 [E] Seishirou
Zangief remembers Seishirou's tricks. Experienced enough, too, to know that they are largely to do with chi, not mere physical power. God only knows how the ninja pulls it off. The details completely escape him. The important thing is, Seishirou is /somewhere/. Probably somewhere in the mass of energy, or at least close to it! That's what goes through Zangief's head, anyway. Completely missing the flickering shadow that is, actually, the ninja.
"HO-HAH!" Zangief shouts, suddenly stepping forwards. Bright green energy flares, and he attempts to literally /punch/ his way through the onrushing mass of scorching energy. Fully intending to just carve his way through it. He was hoping, really, that he'd impact something fleshy and soft in the middle that would then break, and dissipate. That was how these things usually went. He wasn't supposed to punch the energy, and find that, actually, it is just more energy.
Zangief's fist glances off the shuriken, and he takes the full brunt of the attack on his stomach. Lifted bodily off his feet by the force of the impact, he hits the ground perilously close to the rooftop edge, completely unaware of where the ninja had actually been all along. He punches the roof, and uses that as a point to haul himself back up to his feet. Grunting, and shaking his head to try and clear it. That, had hurt. Enough, even, to momentarily break the relentless onslaught he had been building up.
At one point, they had told Ryouhara his tricks were worthless.
That 'strength' was the only thing capable of deciding a match.
That the mind was worthless.
...The antiquated mindset of this so-called 'new world.'
"You're losing the advantage, Siberian," Ryouhara observes solemnly. His eyes don't miss much. "These techniques of mine are made for people like you. People of admirable talent, of remarkable strength. But.... of limited foresight." His eyes slide shut for a moment as Zangief climbs back up to his feet. "I don't want to kill you. But.."
A series of snaps unfolds a long metal rod at Seishirou's side, his hand scarcely visible from beyond his sleeve.
"I'm not going to let anyone get in the way of our ideals and goals..."
Seishirou extends the rod just long enough--he twirls the thing slowly, the rod making a thin thwipping noise as it cuts through the air. As he does so, you might notice the pitch of the thing start to change with the speed at which Ryouhara spins it--instead of getting higher pitched, it gets lower, as if he were twirling something much larger. Rolling the rod over his neck, Seishirou takes a few rotating steps towards Zangief's position, and this time, it seems like he might actually be serious about approaching the wrestler.
"Anything short of death--is--acceptable--"
With a spinning, 360 degree axle leap, Seishirou drops the thin metal rod like an axe, the thing cutting down straight through Zangief's silhouette. As Seishirou does so, his body drops at an insane rate of speed--as the longrod, seemingly now heavier than some trucks, smashes through the better portion of the corner of the tower, sending concrete reinforcements, ripped bolts, and twisting superstructures tearing away from the main tower and sailing off into the abyss.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou successfully hits Zangief with Lead Cracker.
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Zangief 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 [E] Seishirou
Zangief doesn't try to get out of the way. Instead, he tilts his head to the side. His intent had been to simply take the incredible force of the blow on his neck, and then return the favor with an assault of his own. Perhaps proving Seishirou's point, however, he fails to gauge just how strong the attack truly is. It hammers into his neck, and forces him to one knee. The large man grunts, and, though he rises again, he is no longer as frothingly enraged as he had been. Spitting to the side, he works his neck as though easing some stress from it, and nothing more.
"I do not care about your ideals." He rumbles, "I do not care about your goals!" The opportune moment to strike back has passed. But the wrestler still has strength in his body, and he will not back down. Slamming his hands together for a moment, he runs one through his hair, making it stand straight up again in opposition to the storm. Lightly charred, but defiant.
"Your goal threatens my beloved Russia. Your ideals stand to sacrifice the wellbeing of my compatriots. I will not let you treat Russia like some, unimportant stepping block!"
Raising all the way to his full height, the giant of a man looms, as though born anew by the restatement of his passion. "You, Ryouhara, can hammer me! You can burn me! You can crush my bones, you can throw me from this tower! Do what you want to me! You will not stop me! I am Zangief, I am the Red Cyclone, and I will stand between you and Mother Russia. For her, I am invincible."
COMBATSYS: Zangief gains composure.
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Zangief 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 [E] Seishirou
The collapsible staff Seishirou holds in his hands is much like a longsword the way the boy wields it, but he seems to rely on pure momentum to get the thing's considerable mass going. A weapon capable of giving even the mighty Zangief pause, Seishirou has to leverage his weight against it with a leg to spin the weapon back under his control after it smashes into--and off of--the deadly Siberian. Seishirou completes his spin more or less by wantonly smashing it into the plats at Zangief's feet.
Stepping away only a very short distance to twirl the weapon as it's weight shifts within it, Seishirou gets control of it again, the weapon hanging limp at his side and now seeming again no heavier than a thin wooden twig. Seishirou's stance is low, his body tensed and ready for a counterattack, but none ever materialized.
Ryouhara frowns.
Thunder cracks overhead, no doubt the product of the fireblast released into the clouds. He straightens slowly, stepping past the discarded weapon to close the distance just a touch more between the two. The young man is the image of dark annoyance, standing to face Zangief. He lifts his weapon, and drops it straight down. The thing, though its head is as blunt and flat as a quarter, is still heavy enough to punch through the seams in the service plates of the tower beneath him and imbed itself there, flashing and crackling with pent-up force. "The nature of an idealism is such that if it is strong enough, only one person need believe in it. The power to create a perception. That is the strength of idealism. To think anything else is foolishness. I...."
He tilts his head just so.
"...hope that you live to die a noble death for your own."
Seishirou, without looking, lifts his leg and kicks the embedded rod behind him.
There is an audible creak underneath Zangief. The damage Seishirou dealt to the service plates around Zangief was not wanton--he's destabilized the bolts for the plate just enough around them that he can use one well-placed blow to cause the rod's variable weight to break them. Bolts shoot off into the night sky around them. The Russian's own weight begins to work against him. The plate begins to crack as the rod levers against Seishirou's comparitively lighter weight, and holds.
Ryouhara steps to the side, off of the plate.
As the entire thing destabilizes with the removal of Seishirou's counterweight, it all threatens to dump Zangief onto a lower support rung of the tower. Seishirou looks to one side quickly, concentrating on keeping his array operating despite the fact that a small portion of it just ripped away.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou successfully hits Zangief with Quick Throw.
- Power hit! -
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Zangief 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 [E] Seishirou
The ground is shifting.
For a moment, Zangief looks confused. This is not, after all, the usual behavior of the ground. Perhaps against what would have been his better judgment, he had actually listened to the boy through his speaking, though. Suddenly, and with little warning, Zangief steps forwards heavily, putting all his weight down so that he can start the movement forwards--
And then, his feet meet nothing at all.
For a split second, Zangief hangs in the air, somehow managing to defy gravity in a desperate attempt to get /forwards/ and wrap his hands around Seishirou's throat.
Then, he drops away. There is the sound of heavy crashing. The thud-thud-thud-SMASH of his hefty bulk punching through what has to be at least one floor, perhaps more. Surely, after being set on fire, beaten, and now dropped through the interior of the tower, this would be the end.
For a moment, there is silence.
And then, there is a roaring sound.
It starts faint, but gets louder, and louder, the very walls of the building shaking. Zangief is not a subtle man. His declaration had not been an idle boast; there is strength in his limbs, and breath in his lungs, and he wants the whole world to know it.
"ORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
And with that mighty battlecry, the rooftop underneath Seishirou ERUPTS in a shower of concrete and ceiling tiles, Zangief literally punching his way through, his fist leading the way as he aims to bring it crashing up to meet Seishirou's chin. The fury of an angry Russian God unleashed, his eyes twin burning stars against the dark and stormy skies.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou blocks Zangief's Ultimate Atomic Buster.
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Zangief 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0 [E] Seishirou
The Russian's hands get within a few inches of Seishirou's throat...
...And then he just drops away to the sound of collisions and twisted metal.
"..."
Seishirou just turns away, to repair his arrays and continue on with his business. His copy looks up at him, cracking an eyelid in annoyance. To his own merit, Seishirou manages to get at least one or two of the sealing channels mended with his chi before he hears the entire structure shudder with rage. He looks up, his expression flat in dissatisfaction. When the giant no less than erupts from underneath Seishirou with a (literal) earth-shattering punch, Seishirou only has the chance to look over his shoulder to Zangief's approach as the human rocket throws a punch larger than the size of his head towards the back of his neck.
With a gesture, he disengages a carved tomoe jewel hanging from his haori.
Not a jewel, but carefully painted paper folded into the shape of a carved tomoe stone. There is the violent sound of unsealing, then suddenly Seishirou is completely eclipsed by unfurling paper. The Kamigyoku ninkou, a method of folding and reinforcing paper many times more than should be possible, unfurls into a massive sheet of paper against the titan's attack, shrouding the shinobi behind what looks to be a man-sized mural of a cherry blossom tree, shot through with branches of sealwork.
When Zangief hits the paper with his fist, there is the sound of force being disseminated across it. And despite this being merely origami paper, for a moment it's like hitting a sheet of anchored steel. For a moment, it's enough. For a moment, it holds. And then in the next, it shatters like glass. Once it breaks, Seishirou's body is reoriented into the right position, crossing his arms in front of him to extend a comparitively diminutive hand into the blow. Zangief's hit continues on through to him, and still has enough to launch the shinobi's twisting body into the night air.
Sailing through the air like a cat, Seishirou's haori drifts in the wind.
Having to use a Kamigyoku was more than he'd even thought was necessary right now. But that just shows how much Zangief is not to be underestimated. A blow like that could have killed him outright. "Katon--Kagensana," Ryouhara mutters, his hands flitting through the seals necessary for his next technique, before he furls his haori wide, reorienting himself in the opposite direction.
And then the shinobi's haori erupts open, revealing scores of crows filling the air beneath him. The shinobi's sailing air momentum stops as the birds stream out, sending him kiting slowly as if flying (!) back over the tower. The birds easily flood the airspace beneath him, barking, laughing, and flocking over the Midtown Tower like nothing. But these are not crows made of feathers and blood. They are made of black fire, white containment lines, and heat. They twist in the air, sailing, fluttering in all directions..
And then, like so many homing missiles, they begin to center of Zangief, massing into one huge, inverted black bonfire.
COMBATSYS: Zangief blocks Seishirou's Kagensana.
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Zangief 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 [E] Seishirou
Zangief is surprised by what he hits. Who wouldn't be? Expecting to meet a ninja, and instead punching a tree. Truth be told, the Red Cyclone is starting to slow. He's thrown himself into the fight with everything he had, but against the unyielding calm of Seishirou, it was like trying to beat down air. Every move he tried had a counter, and the ninja seemed to be able to find them with contemptuous ease. It's disturbing.
Finding his footing again, the large man covers himself as best he can with his forearms, weathering the storm of burning birds as best he can. He's still not going to give up. All he needed to do, he was sure, is land one solid blow, and this house of cards would come crashing down.
It isn't until the last bird has finally finished that he makes his move. The roof is cracking and breaking, and Zangief has to jump from one part to the next to avoid another trip down. With a loud grunt, though, he's sailing up through the air under the power of his own muscles. If he can just get Seishirou in reach--!
His intent is as simple as it is brutal. The watchword throughout the entire match, really. He aims to snare Seishirou's leg, and drag him down to the roof with him. If he can manage this, one meaty bicep will curl around Seishirou's neck. Along with the angry snarling;
"I warned you, Ryouhara! Now... I will rip off your head!!!"
And, well, that's exactly what Zangief is going to try and do. Putting all his considerable strength into the twisting, wrenching motion. It is, admittedly, rather unlikely to pop Seishirou's head off. (Even if it did, he's probably got a spare, being a ninja). But that isn't going to stop him from trying to make good on his earlier threat whilst he still has the strength left to do so.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou dodges Zangief's Choke Hold.
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Zangief 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 [E] Seishirou
The bonfire rips through the roof, each bird exploding against Zangief and spreading more of the immolating blaze across the sealing array, Seishirou using some peculiar polarity of chi that doesn't absorb into the array as it normally might. It appears to be differentiating between a primality of chi--that is, the kind generated by the storm above--and the refined elemental chi that both fighters are using on one another here. Either way, the entire superstructure is catching fire, melting from Seishirou's jutsus and--
---!!
The roofing plates seperate, and a -column- of released force shoots straight up into the sky, twisting the clouds around it and causing the clouds to crash with thunder, lightning spreading as far as the eye can see as stimulated by the blast, almost knocking Seishirou clear out of the sky.
Seishirou lands, his haori returning to a silken drift as he strides with purpose over the destabilizing tower. Damn--in his brief absence, the tower's going to collapse. There's no way he can continue gathering power with an uncontrolled Zangief tearing the place up--from the shinobi's haori coat, he produces a rolled up scroll with jade stones hanging from chains off of it. This, he unfurls partway, displaying a length of paper with more sealing jutsu written on it, terminating in a blank circle. His copy looks up at him again, clearly annoyed. "Time to go," Ryouhara states plainly. And then makes a handseal, causing the copy to warp and twist, energy from the entire array popping and surging as the copy, a tangible method of energy containment, is absorbed, sucked into the scroll like it was made of mist. When he is done, the circle has an arcane symbol in it, 'ARASHI,' meaning 'STORM.' The jade stones hanging at the ends of the scroll pop and twist with stored energy. Seishirou seals it shut with a short length of rope.
Unfortunately, it's the last thing Seishirou gets to do before Zangief yanks him down, getting him in the mother of all headlocks. As the tower falls apart around them, Seishirou drops the scroll in immediate distress, choking and gasping as he kicks, vainly groping at the meat that Zangief calls an arm as his neck twists. "Ghk--gurk--" CRACK--"igk--" Seishirou goes limp. His head pops off and falls on the floor, without dramatics or fancy ninja tricks. Seishirou's head just pops clean off, leaving his body to slump to the ground lifelessly, like a ragdoll. It's a surprisingly bloodless act, Seishirou doesn't even leave a drop--
The symbol on the back of the headless ninja's haori.
It's not the kamon of the Ryouhara, but the kanji symbol for 'RELEASE.'
The warping noise is actually the sound of the array destabilizing all around you.
Zangief is much smarter than most people give him credit for.
"These damn Russians are like ferocious beasts..." Luckily he didn't send anyone else to come here. Seishirou, still on the crumbling roof, only has a few moments to gather the discarded scroll and secure it into his sash before the clone destabilizes the array with its explosiong, and causing the entire tip of the broadcast tower to blow to pieces, leaping up and spreading his gray haori wide to catch the thermal from the blast, sending steel plates and warped bits of structure into freefall, and the ninja hanging there, rising slowly, but otherwise not really going too much of anywhere, beginning the process of gliding to safety on his haori (also a ninkou) at an agonizingly glacial pace.
COMBATSYS: Zangief interrupts Atari from Seishirou with Atomic Suplex.
[ \\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Zangief 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 [E] Seishirou
Zangief straightens, after he pops off Seishirou's head. He looks down at the body, and snorts. And then...
Wait a second. That's not--
As the real ninja starts to drift away, Zangief is already running. His big red boots slam into the rooftop, each step threatening to be his last. Seishirou may very well feel that he has gotten away with it, especially when the top of the roof explodes; there's really no way that Zangief could /hope/ to escape such a blast.
But from the fire and the flames he comes rocketing out, just as he had before. Except, this time, he is propelled by the force of the explosion. Fuelled only by his insane desire to hurt Seishirou as much as he had suffered himself, the huge wrestler collides bodily with the ninja. Hanging in the air, he was an easy target compared to how hard he had been to get his hands on otherwise.
"RYOOOOOOOOOUHAAAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
It's insane, really. Completely and utterly insane. Zangief has, apparently, completely abandoned the idea of his own personal safety. The wind whips all around them as there is no way in hell Ryouhara's clothing can support him /and/ several hundred pounds of furious mohawk'd wrestler. Zangief is blackened and charred, and ash is flying off of him as he grapples and grabs Seishirou, clinging on to him by the shoulders, and actually... raising him above his head?!
"HAHAHAHAHA! DOSVEDENYA, COMRADE!!!"
It is debatable who comes off worst from the insane maneuver. The force with which Zangief hits the ground is truly astonishing, and should, by all rights, be the end of him. He absorbs the vast majority of the fall on his boots, taking the shockwave up his knees, and only when it reaches his arms, swinging the ninja down into the ground with a painful *crunch*.
He does not immediately get up. Both his legs give out, and he sinks to his knees. Breathing ragged and hard, sweating like a pig despite the chill of the Russian winter and the driving winds and rain. In a strange way, Seishirou had made good on /his/ threat too. Zangief had fallen off the tower. Just, not in exactly the way that he had probably wanted.
That insanity the ninja had mused over earlier is quite evident in Zangief's face now, though. Flecks of spit, blood, and ash mat his beard. Any sane man would want to let his body pass out, now. But although Zangief isn't ready to hurl himself bodily into the fray /immediately/, he's not letting himself go down yet, either.
By Amaterasu's light.
Seishirou drifts away slowly, confident that Zangief won't be getting up anytime soon, when he sees a wall of meatstorm ascending on stairs made of fire and light to leap higher than any Russian has ever dreamt of before. The shinobi is a quiet individual. Not much given to pointless words or exclamation. He is subtle. He is calm. He is reserved. That said, if an expert lip reader were to catch a glimpse of Ryouhara's unabashed astonishment and the accompanying mouthed words, she would likely blush.
Despite the unreal circumstances surrounding the fact that Ryouhara now has about 300 extra pounds of Zangief hanging off of him in mid-air, the shinobi does his best to shake the guy off, his haori--a special ninkou capable of hardening into shapes reminescent of an airfoil--twisting in the wind as Seishirou slowly drops through the thermal wave into a deadly tailspin. He twists as best he can away from the impact--shit, shit, shit--
A few moments later, Seishirou regains consciousness.
Digging himself out of the wreckage of his own crash landing with an aching skull and probably more than one fractured bone, Seishirou less stands and more drags himself to his feet, his hand going to his hip reflexively to check against the weight of the scroll secured there. Good. Good... Ryouhara tilts his head, his chest heaving as he coughs blood from some damnable internal injury. "...." He doesn't need to say it was impressive. "..I'm going to end you, now.." Ryouhara mutters, struggling to narrow up his stance. Finally, he stills. His back heel raises, building tension in the arch of his foot.
And then Seishirou launches himself headlong into Zangief's throat at full tilt.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou successfully hits Zangief with Shunshin Reaper.
- Power hit! -
[ < > /////////// ]
Zangief 1/---====/=======|=------\-------\0 [E] Seishirou
Being exposed to Shunshin is a learning experience of exactly how Seishirou moves so fast. To see him on the outside, it's as if he moves in an eyeblink, no more substantial than a gust of wind on a bolt of silk. However, on the inside, it's much different.
Shunshin is not a teleportation jutsu, as most would have you believe. It's a body-acceleration technique that accelerates all of Seishirou's movements to allow him to move wherever he likes in the space of an eyeblink. For Sesihirou, it is perfectly safe, and as natural as breathing. However, that technique is for Seishirou and Seishirou alone, formed by boiling a void of space around him where a speed differential can be created, similar to the process of cavitation in the water. Unfortunately, people who are on the edge of that envelope--such as how Zangief will be in a few moments--are subject to intense shear stresses, and amazing amounts of unbearable heat. The momentum Seishirou builds against Zangief in that instant is intense--similar to a bullet's flight, except much, much heavier. With his arms lined up against Zangief's neck in a crossing-knifehands technique to enhance the attack, Seishirou is going to tackle Zangief right through the foundation of the tower, into and through the long-since-abandoned offices, through cubicles and other such things, his haori flying behind him, making him seem a great grey hawk.
Ryouhara stands slowly, somewhere near where his replacement copy would have blown a hole through the wall with Zangief in tow.
He glares. One hand opens. "....Release."
Somewhere in the center of the tower, Seishirou's clone explodes, sending fire through every entryway, every window of the damnable structure. Slowly, the entire structure begins to topple sideways. It wasn't Seishirou's intention to overdo it, but having fought Zangief three times prior, it is his belief that he will only be stopped when he is thuroughly sealed in rubble.
Seishirou drops P4N-D4.
Yamazaki drops P4N-D4.
Zangief has never been part of the soviet space program, but, just for a few moments, he can empathize with the rocket.
At this point, Zangief is pretty much insensitive to pain. Concrete breaks about his body, friction and heat burns away at his back. The hands against his neck are incredibly painful. One really has to hand it to Seishirou- the ninja has gotten the gist of Zangief's determination absolutely. He truly will not stop until he is no longer physically capable of moving.
When he is finally allowed to come to a rest, the huge man sways. And then, the world is full of fire.
The building begins to lurch, and, lets be honest, the chances of Zangief making it out are slim to none. Consciousness is rapidly leaving his tired body. However, in his last few moments, he thinks, he can see... a shadow. Does that mean, the ninja is there?
A berserk bull rush follows, a furious, echoing howl of sheer rage as the hole the clone had made becomes, suddenly, much, much bigger. The question is, will Zangief make it in time...?
COMBATSYS: Zangief can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seishirou [E] 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Seishirou dodges Zangief's Aerial Russian Slam.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seishirou [E] 0/-------/------=|
Zangief's arms close around a large chunk of wall, and, rather too... unconscious... to really understand that he hasn't got the ninja, he hurls the concrete into the falling tower with all of his might, "GRAAAAAAAARGH!" He bellows, before he throws his hands open wide...
And embraces several tons of falling rubble. It'd be quite some time until he could dig himself out, because it'd be quite some time before he woke up. But nobody could claim that the Red Cyclone didn't try to give it his all.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou unequips Lead Cracker.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seishirou 0/-------/------=|
Seishirou drops Lead Cracker.
Ryouhara watches the building tumble. Hopefully, his math was correct, and only a small portion of it falls on the Siberian, locking him inside. Dour and cold, the shinobi kneels, gathering up a piece of wreckage off the ground, wrenching it out from between two plates landing just about at his feet. The ninkou he used earlier to start the collapse. Seishirou frowns, planting the rod again. This time he leaves it sticking up straight in the street. He looks at the rubble after Zangief.
"Impressive, but.."
The shinobi launches into the sky, spreading his haori and darting down the street, little more than a passing shadow.
Log created on 03:21:18 12/19/2010 by Seishirou, and last modified on 21:47:43 12/26/2010.