Description: It's the Queen's diamond jubilee, and to celebrate one of Britain's most impressive native sons will take on the Ansatsuken Wanderer in this Saturday Night Fight main event at Westminster Abbey. What results is a nail-bitingly epic battle that goes down to the wire and then some. God Save the Queen! (Winner: Ryu)
The events of the past week have been... disturbing, for Billy Kane. Which makes this weekend all the more important to the born-and-bred Londoner; for he and his countryfolk this is a time for celebration, applauding a long and beloved life, proving one's own loyalty and patriotism. Even if the vast majority are honestly just thrilled to be treated to a four-day weekend with no strings attached, today is a good day to be English. What better way to show this than to attend a gala event at an historic landmark?
There is but a single better way: with ROCK MUSIC.
Which is why the vaulted ceiling of Westminster Abbey is resonating with the delayed crunch of a mighty power chord, a Gibson Les Paul clutched in the hands of a man who - let's face it - ought to be a national hero, clad in his iconic denims before the twin stack of a vintage Marshall amplifier. Kane is wearing a broad and bloody swathe of a grin, his savage, devil-may-care spirit plain for crowd and camera alike to see as he lets the buzzing hum continue as long as plausible possible, until feedback begins to shriek in its stead...
And then, from the vast drumkit behind comes the yell of thunder, a fiercely rolling beat introducing a soaring slide upon the guitar, and the first high, sustained note of many. It doesn't take more than a few before the audience catches on, and Billy grins all the wider. It's the national anthem.
Brian May, eat your heart out. Though as the last dizzying screech of the guitar begins to fade, something else happens. Something magical. A tiny figure in a flowery dress slips onto the stage, a heavy bass slung over stooped shoulders, and begins to play. From high above, strung between two of the gorgeous fluted pillars lining the abbey's interior, a banner unfurls. An exaggerated capital 'A', placed inside an unruly circle. Kane drops to his knees and begins to thrash out more power chords as the dummer pounds a rhythm. The shouted lyrics are missing, but it's unmistakably the Sex Pistols' own rendition of 'God Save The Queen'.
It cuts off after a searing, improvised solo by the posturing Syndicate enforcer, and the drummer flies up in her seat, revealing for the first time the true glory of what has happened here; she's a stunning brunette bearing a striking resemblance to a certain Royal, a diamond tiara perched atop her head and wearing a flattering cropped t-shirt bearing the legend 'REAR OF THE YEAR'. Hopping onto her stall, she spins about and bends over as the bass player simultaneously raises a hand in the air and begins... waving.
Oh god... The bassist is an old woman, a solid lookalike with her own crown - an overblown affair set around crushed velvet. Even without the wave, the smile is spot-on, and Billy's grinning too hard now for this to be anything else. Spinning about at centre stage, he whips his guitar off and thrusts it into the air with an exuberant, "HEY, HEY, HEY!" The pitched cry penetrates over the roars of the crowd, still echoing faintly as he tosses the guitar aside and reaches deftly into the inside of his jacket, pulling free the more familiar three-section rod, sweeping it into staff form with a gout of accompanying flame.
A moment later, he's flipping head over heels, landing before the stage in the Designated Fighting Area (tm) where several million people have sat and prayed, raised their voices in hymn or gathered to pay their respects in a way far less flamboyant and merchandise-friendly than Billy Kane.
If the world didn't love fighting so damn much, there'd be a national outcry.
COMBATSYS: Billy has started a fight here.
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Billy 0/-------/------=|
Meanwhile...
Walking to Westminster Abbey on the day of the Queen's Jubilee was probably not the wisest choice, but on foot is effectively how Ryu gets everywhere that walking is a possibility. He knew vaguely that today was 'some sort of rare observance' but that was about it. Of course, when he woke up and started to head out after an early morning workout, Ryu found that people were out *everywhere*. The white-clad fighter with the red hachimaki stands out among the endless tide of British citizens celebrating, in some cases looking like a white dot attempting to swim upstream through a sea of blue denim and Union Jack t-shirts. It takes a little bit -- alright, a lot -- of pushing to get to the fight venue. It's amazing how someone who has such an iconic appearance can avoid getting looked at.
For some reason people think he's a cosplayer.
The Wanderer enters the arena just as Billy is front-flipping into the battle arena in a burst of movement and fire. By comparison, Ryu's high-stepping over the cordon and walking confidently into the space is highly understated, the Japanese fighter's eyes tracking the movements of the various lookalikes as they head off the stage. He can't help but raise an eyebrow at the showmanship, but it's not like Billy Kane is an unknown quantity in many aspects. His love of showy fighting is well known, as is his love for his home country. In a strange way, Ryu can't help but mentally compare him to Sagat... a fighter with many good qualities that are occasionally eclipsed by a series of bad decisions.
"Should I wish you a happy Jubilee?" the Ansatsuken Dragon asks of his opponent as they square off, Ryu's feet spread at a reasonable angle, fists held loosely at torso height. Billy Kane is no pushover. He's going to need to be on top of his game if he wants to pull out a victory here.
COMBATSYS: Ryu has wandered into the fight here.
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Billy 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Ryu
Appearing in public en masquerade as the original World Warrior is probably a faux pas of some sort, during a celebration where - indeed - the red, white and blue is proudly displayed by all and sundry. Though at least the stoic Ryu is in the correct place, at the appointed time, for the sort of violent display that unites people in their lust for pitched, gladiatorial excitement. From the children waving flags bearing the Queen's beaming mug - their parents faintly horrified at what they've just seen - to the more typical fight fan bedecked in their memorial gi and Union Jack or 'I <3 London' headbands, they're all here for one reason.
And even Billy's theatrics cannot detract from the sheer presence and mystique the Japanese fighter carries with him. Ryu is a phenom, a champion countless times over; and recently returned from an unorthodox victory at the Devil's Tournament. He's a hero, and an honoured guest. The announcer rattles off their names as Billy slips back and forth, pacing and jolting from his habitual low stance as Ryu makes his quiet entrance. His own, naturally wild gaze is locked on his opponent, that grin still lingering as he bobs his head.
"Wouldn't 'urt, mate," he replies nonchanatly, giving his staff an easy spin, slinging it momentarily to one side, in one hand as he sinks his posture and stills his pacing. The introductions are made, and the pop for Ryu is still bursting to the vaulted ceiling as the instruction to 'FIGHT!!!' is given. Billy would be hurt at that, if he wasn't busying himself bull-rushing the mysterious wanderer. "Which is less than I can say--"
If Ryu studied his opponent's fights, he'd know what's likely to be coming, but that doesn't make the sudden single-handed extension of Kane's cane any less blisteringly fast or dangerously aggressive. The crimson staff is thrust forth, reaching just shy of touching Ryu before with a rattling explosion of force the topmost section springs clear and hammers out to impact the chest.
"For /THIS/!"
That initial bruising strike is only the beginning, of course; as hot on its figurative heels comes another gout of that devastating fiery chi, expanding like a blast of C-4 to engulf the World Warrior's mighty torso and send him thundering back toward the roaring crowds who so appreciate his visit to their island kingdom.
COMBATSYS: Ryu just-defends Billy's Blazing Cane Thrust!
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Billy 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Ryu
Leaping to the attack, that's Billy all over. Of course, the downside of being a popular fighter with a well-known style is that your opponent may have studied how you fight publically. Of course, that doesn't mean you can predict them, and certainly Billy Kane is too skilled to fall into that rut. But it does mean that Ryu has steeled himself for a powerful opening shot on Billy's part, so when the fiery rod comes flying his way, the Wanderer is prepared for it. His movements are minimal, but entirely effective: bringing up one hand, he places it in the path of the thrusting cane on the *inside* and pushes outward, so that the strike shears mere inches by Ryu's face before heading entirely off course to detonate harmlessly elsewhere.
Good thing they got rid of some of the pews, or Billy would prrrrobably have just incinerated one.
"Alright then," Ryu says, face laconically still. "Happy jubilee."
And then in the space of a heartbeat, he's on the move, rushing forward and then hopping upwards into a low-angle jump. One leg extends, and then Ryu's entire body is moving in a corkscrew rotation, that extended leg becoming a powerful striking surface. "Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku!"
COMBATSYS: Billy blocks Ryu's Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku.
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Billy 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Ryu
There are scant words to describe how shocked and guilty Billy Kane would feel if he destroyed church property-- after all, if there's a devout and spiritual man anywhere in this illustrious building, it's most assuredly clad in denim and swinging around a stick blazing with fiery chi. But the Londoner is saved by circumstance, and shifts his footing with a faint grunt of observational self-critique as he twirls his staff back into a two-handed grip, the wood smacking solidly into calloused palms in the instant before Ryu's upon him.
And is he ever; it's all Billy can do to swing his arms up in time to meet the initial blow, intersecting battle-hardened foot neatly with his crimson bo. The jolt is incredible, sending a painful vibration through his arms, then down and out through his horse-stanced legs. To say he negated the strike completely would be a lie-- it's not so skilled a deflection as Ryu's, but he buys himself an instant. It's enough.
"Gesundheit!" He barks in response, mouth tugging to a roguish and faintly mocking half-grin as he ducks into a sliding sidestep, sweeping his weapon sidelong to send the kicking leg safely away. The World Warrior is left to make his presumably somewhat ungainly landing - though these things are of course relative - leaving the Syndicate enforcer to spring back into action. "Oh, and 'appy Emperor's Day," the words roll out with careless ease, not distracting Kane in the least as he lunges after the Ansatsuken master.
"Or whatever you people bloody celebrate!"
Because it's cheeky to be racist. Billy's thickly-accented speech is coupled with a twist of the hip, the staff held out sidelong as a balancing point as he springs into a tight horizontal leap, thrusting one jean-clad leg out to lance a boot-tip brutally into the World Warrior's side. It digs deep, made the worse as Kane continues to rotate into the strike, sweeping his rod around to carry off a rebound and a tight, crouched landing nearby.
COMBATSYS: Billy successfully hits Ryu with Light Kick.
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Billy 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Ryu
He's never been a talker in fights, Ryu... it is almost certainly a byproduct of his obsessive focus on the moment of the fight, on the way in which he has trained his senses to tune the rest of the world to the dull, omnipresent white noise of a distant waterfall in his ears. There's enough to worry about handling kicks and punches and fiery staves; dialogue is another thing entirely. Of course, there's the secondary issue that the Wanderer rarely finds himself with anything to say. Whatever it is he wants to convey, he can do with his fists, his body.
Of course, he tries inelegantly to twist out of the way of Billy's vaulting kick and apparently what Ryu's body wants to say is "ow," because the blow hits home with surprising force, sending the white-clad fighter stumbling back a few steps before he regains his composure, with a minor grimace of pain. There's a slow breath, and then he's back in stance. Commentary on Japan's equivalent of the Queen's Jubilee will have to come after the fight.
Fingers flexing, Ryu circles Billy's position for a moment, before rushing back in and trying a different angle of attack. He stops just short, attempting to hook his leg through Billy's to send him off balance, then grab him on the way down and slam him to the floor, adding a fist to the stomach for good measure.
COMBATSYS: Billy fails to counter Combo Grapple from Ryu with Fire Dragon Pursuit Cane.
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Billy 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Ryu
It was just to be for resesarch purposes, Ayame had told herself over and over on the trip to the famous abbey. Obsessing over one particular fighting icon or another was a pretty silly thing to lose one's head over, she reasoned with that ever cynical analysis with which she observes almost everything. It would just be silly to pass up this opportunity to see the most famous staff fighter in the world in action, right? It just makes practical sense. She uses a staff. He uses a staff. She'll even allow that he's /possibly/ better at it. So she has to watch and learn. In person. As close as the venue allows. And since she's there, it only makes sense to blend in, right? To look like she's into the spirit of the holiday. That explains the blue denom skirt and red t-shirt top. Everyone will be wearing those colors. But that isn't blending in enough, she decides. Nothing will complete the ensemble like a red and white striped bandana worn over her head, her long hair draping out from behind it against her back. Perfect. She'll fit right in now! There's was a souvenir stand on the outskirts that she passed by on her way in. The vender will later discover that his inventory of a certain line of jackets is missing - a line of jackets bearing a particular no-smoking icon emblazoned on the back. At the fight, clad in red, white, blue, with bandana and jacket, Ayame worms her way to the front lines to watch.
A young man wearing a red bandana around his forehead beams a bright, enthusiastic smile at Ayame, "Oh, a Billy fan?! I'm rooting for Ryu!!"
Ayame rests her hand at the back of her head, "W-what? No, haha. Don't be ridiculous. I always dress like this. Hahaha. Ah hah. Hah..."
Conversely, Billy is rarely without a retort of some kind, or at least some boisterous self-encouraging bellow to keep his very necessary energy levels high. Facing a man like the World Warrior is unnerving in part because he provides so little beside the motions of battle-- and it's the way he does it, lacking the psychosis of others who simply throw themselves in, or the wavering intensity of a younger and less experienced fighter whose nature leads them to a similarly serious tack. They're also easier to get a rise from.
Where Ryu doesn't even pause to express pain, Billy has his mouth open to speak the moment that leg hooks through his own, having watched Ryu's approach with a sly smirk and another deft shifting of hands upon his namesake weapon. Of course he has a plan beside 'talking' - but because the wanderer gives so little, it's difficult to read him so precisely. There are no mind games, there is only a mind. A spreading of stance should see Billy bring his staff up to impact the extending hand, but he's simply a bit too slow.
Or just not good enough, in this precise moment. It all comes down to a hair. Unfortunately, Billy had a haircut last week, and Ryu's hair most likely doesn't grow halfway down his back only because he siphons his dead skin cells into excess chi. What follows is a hard and frankly undignified slam to the floor. Fortunate that the Londoner lacks any kind of real dignity anyway, and even when the fist pounds into his gut - adding injury to injury - he still manages to sputter out a pained, if stereotypically careless laugh.
"Well," he grunts, rolling to one side, keeping his staff in one hand as he flips to his feet with only a slight stagger; ready, he's sure, for whatever is coming his way next. "Ain't you just everything they said you'd be." His grin spreads again, egging the wanderer on, "Can't even spare a smile for the cameras?"
An eyebrow goes up. "Would it help?" is all Ryu offers Billy, besides the momentary expression. Inside he's briefly taking himself to task for forgetting that Billy has plenty of ways to reverse close-range strikes with that staff of his; the extra range and the flexibility of the three-part staff combine to make trying a move like he just attempted a dangerous thing indeed. It was probably good fortune (or maybe good karma; he DID beat up Adon not so long ago) that saved him from a painful lesson indeed.
Stepping back, Ryu doesn't press the attack; instead, he decides to let Billy come to him. But make no mistake about it: those dark brown eyes are tracking the Brit intensely, watching his every move. Others view this as a calculated sort of affair, working out the algebra of his techniques, his style, his combat situation. To Ryu, it's a matter instead of instinct and intuition rather than strategic calculus. The Wanderer's greatest strength is his ability to read the flow of the moment and react accordingly, thought and action becoming one smooth flow.
He doesn't speak more; instead, he flips one hand around so it's palm up, and makes a beckoning gesture to Billy... a bizarrely uncharacteristic habit he picked up through long association with the more flamboyant Ken Masters.
COMBATSYS: Ryu focuses on his next action.
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Billy 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Ryu
"It might 'elp me," Billy quips back with an honest shrug, the roll of his shoulders only partly concealing a reaffirmation of his at once solid and shiftable, springy posture. There's a barely-harnessed energy within the Londoner, practically bursting from within his denims as he shifts his hips and thighs, unable to remain entirely still as the World Warrior allows a lull to fall. The same attitude powers his combustive chi techniques, accounts for the fire he naturally spews, and a few other things besides.
That beckoning motion is taken in the spirit it evokes, a chuckle breaking Kane's throat as he watches the peerless Japanese fighter analyzing him still-- not an instant taken to shift focus, even when he does deign to indulge in the theatrical air of these proceedings. But this /is/ still Billy's fight; the banner hung overhead, the abandoned stage, and the small but dangerously-powerful girl slipping to the front of the crowd in his own trademark attire, it all speaks of and to the showman standing across from Ryu.
It's a show people have come for. So let them have it.
"That's more like it!!" Crows Billy, gnashing down on the final syllable, his eyes shining and expression flaring with the pulse of unleashed adrenaline. A beat later he's lunging once more, the staff chambered just below the waist as he enters a quick, unfurling spin that carries the left arm outward. Like his earlier technique - the one so aptly defended - it seems for a moment as if he's going to miss the wanderer...
The difference is that this time, he does.
This time the staff ends up just to one side, woefully wide, thrust out in one hand until it's suddenly retracted and the upright Kane drops low, a second spin carrying him almost within normal striking instance and down upon a single denim-clad knee. The staff thrusts upward, one hand extending and the other calloused palm slapped to the base, providing a crushing strike that might be called 'heavenward' but should, more aptly be called 'throatward'. If Ryu doesn't shift himself, the tip will crush against his Adam's apple.
"Give 'em a wave while you're /up there/, eh?!"
The enunication carries a sudden shift to standing, as Billy seeks to simply drive Ryu from his feet and suspend him atop his namesake weapon, giving him a good, heavy shaking before sending him toppling to the ground with a wrenching slash. Choked and bruised, if all goes to plan. If he's still open to posturing, a hand is thrust out to one side, a grin sent to the crowd along with a sidelong wink; his extended digit singling out a small blonde figure somewhere near the front. It's not entirely a pleasant gesture, though...
More of a knowing one.
COMBATSYS: Ryu interrupts Hell Drop EX from Billy with Shoryuken.
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Billy 1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0 Ryu
It all looks so flawless. Billy really drives the point home with the end of his staff, as it were, and despite being a little rough around the edges personality-wise there is nothing at all 'rough' about his style. After all, Billy Kane worked his way up a corporate ladder where a roomful of thugs with MAC-10s was the standard negotiation tactic. When the Syndicate's top enforcer and Geese's right hand man puts himself to it, it's for keeps.
The feint is an interesting move, and up front it catches Ryu completely by surprise, the Wanderer making a sudden turn to follow it only to find the chain-linked staff sweeping back at him. Tracking it with his eyes, Ryu looks down... and processes the extent of Billy's tactics one moment too late. Or so it seems. The staff comes up, and it does impact... but rather than on Ryu's adam's apple, it smacks into the bottom of his chin.
This is an important distinction, because when Billy stands up, he doesn't find someone choking helplessly because he was hit in the soft tissue. He finds a man struggling not to bite through his own bloody tongue, pressing *down* on the staff with the hard surface of his lower jaw. It's not enough to stave off (haha) the attack forever, but it DOES keep Ryu from heading skyward with the force of Billy's sudden ascent... and gives him just enough time to slip in a blow of his own.
Chin scraping painfully off the end of the staff, Ryu surges forward, and upward, entire body spiralling into the sky with one fist extended, a fist that just caught Billy a round blow on the chin and which should carry him well upward, much as he planned to do to Ryu, had it not been for a sudden "Shoryuuuuken!"
When he lands, the Dragon slumps forward, rubbing his throat, his chin, and taking a few awkward breaths. Well, Billy wanted a show from the Japanese fighter... looks like he got one.
Equally cursed and blessed - he /did/ get what he was striving for, after a fashion - the Londoner is thoroughly decked by the legendary technique that answers his own, canny and tactical if far less storied one. But it's not a battle of single techniques; it's a contest of wills and the drive to succeed, as so many fights ultimately are. A lesser man than Ryu wouldn't have been able to pull off such a feat of grit, determination, and sheer physical toughness. That he can power through such a powerful blow at all is all the testament his skills need-- in a sense, the incredible, launching uppercut is just icing.
Very painful, debilitating icing. There is no counter-argument from Billy this time, his jacket flapping about him and staff clattering and scattering into its three sections on the floor below as he's sent off toward the vaulted ceiling. In a bit of hilarious coincidence for the replays, at one point his right arm windmills in just the right way to seriously look like he /is/ waving, but only for a moment...
Because a moment after that, he's crashing skullfirst into the polished flagstones of Westminster Abbey, drawing alternate cheers and gasps from the crowd as the resulting *crack* tells the story by itself. Somehow though, he's managed to clap a palm down, avoiding a ragdoll's ungainly crumple to instead drop to both knees, lifting his dazed head from the floor, a trickle of blood running from the edge of his bandanna.
...and still, in spite of it all, wearing a smirk. Approving and daring at the same time.
For once, Billy Kane doesn't say a damn thing to back it up, taking a quick lungful of air as he pushes himself to his feet and surges forth in a low sprint. His legs are like jelly beneath him, but he exerts his own willpower to simply keep going, stamping across the stone underfoot. En route an arm darts out, snatching up his disassembled staff, tossing it high enough that he can catch it with a second snap, keeping it furled against his chest as he closes on Ryu with a dashing leap.
It's telegraphed by nature of his approach - and courtesy of how freaking hard a Shoryuken nails a man - but there's nothing safe or unthreatening about the boot that lashes out at the apex, winds rushing about Billy as he twists to direct an aerial round house towards Ryu's own, incredibly resilient skull. If that strikes, or if it finds even the hint of purchase, he lands clean and sinks his weight, throwing his right arm forward to bear his weapon out with a double-spinning slash of its nunchaku form. It's almost an unnecessary follow-up - the kick is hard enough as it is, normally, but this is Ryu he's dealing with.
There's no mistake about it; Kane is trying to shut the World Warrior down, as hard and fast as possible.
COMBATSYS: Ryu dodges Billy's Heavy Kick.
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Billy 1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0 Ryu
With an opponent like Billy, you have to answer aggression with aggression. In a strange way, Ryu finds himself thinking of fights with Ken Masters; his American rival's high-energy, aggressive style was always the perfect foil for Ryu's more staid and measured approach, and their long association as training partners, pitting similar yet opposite styles against each other, is likely responsible for much of Ryu's development as a fighter. You can't hang back and wait for your opening too much with Ken, or with Billy; wait too long and they'll have crushed your defenses long since. Thus when Billy effectively hurls himself at Ryu, the Wanderer does the same, but at a different angle, diving forward into a low somersault and rolling a few yards across the ground before hopping to his feet and turning back to look at his opponent.
In the end, they've mostly only changed sides of the arena, but for Billy it might have given him a necessary moment to catch his breath. Either way, Ryu knows the punishing force behind Billy's blows. He's got no desire to let another heavy hit land home.
This might explain why he reacts the way he does: cupping his hands to his sides, the very air resonating with his chi, Ryu gathers the swirling sphere of blue-white energy that is another of his trademarks. Shaping the mass into the compressed sphere of hurricane force, the Wanderer turns to Billy and thrusts both hands forward, and with a shout of "Hadoooukennnnn!" the screaming bullet makes its way to the Brit, with the potential to really ruin his day.
COMBATSYS: Ryu successfully hits Billy with Hadouken.
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Billy 1/--=====/=======|=======\-------\0 Ryu
Wait. Was that point for her? Ayame blinks. Somewhere in the violent exchange of attacks that Billy seems to be on the worst receiving end of, she was certain he gestured to her. The girl frowns a little, mind circling back around to more serious considerations besides admiring the staff fighter's combat prowess. She hasn't been seen hanging with the Southtown Syndicate since the collapse of Geese Tower. She assumed with the cartel's defeat, her ties were severed. But there was something about that look... She lifts her hand to her chin only to be jostled by the crowd pressing in around her to fight for the best view of the action.
Another couple seem focused on her, "Honey, get a picture of the Billy cosplayer!" Another notices immediately, "Just put a staff in her hands and it'd be a perfect copy!" A couple phone cameras are lifted and pivoted her way while Ayame waves her hands defensively.
"What the- but- hey, I'm not-" her protests are lost in the sea of commotion. At the center of it all, she notices Billy having a rough time contending with the Ansatsuken master. She can sympathize - it wasn't too long ago a mere novice student of Ken's gave her a good challenge. Maybe she needs to give Billy lessons on the art of deflecting Hadoukens. As Ayame scoots away from the annoying people around her, she squeezes her way to the front from another angle, surrounded by new annoying people. "Go Billy!" she exclaims. Just to blend in, of course.
It's difficult to be unpredictable against someone like Ryu. Billy could say the same for his employer and arguably closest friend-- but that's the funny thing about training with someone every day for years, you begin to learn what makes them tick. And what doesn't. You learn about how they derive their expectations. Even when fighting any number of other people, Kane can claim more than a passing familiarity with their psychology and martial ethic; but the wanderer is a closed book, only disclosing his skill and expertise.
Knowing 'this man is damn good' is sadly of limited worth.
Caught lunging overhead, Billy's recovery is solid but his circumstance now favours his opponent. He knows it as he begins to drop into his own answering evasion, sweeping low to the ground before the incoming cerulean blast; but the art of the Hadouken is one lost to those who've only watched it on television. It really /isn't/ that slow, and it catches the Londoner along the spine, pitching him heavily forward in an explosion of blue-white brilliance. It's cooler than his own trademark flame, but packs no less of a punch, sending the Brit into what would be a faceplant were he a mite less prepared in his own right.
The disassembled staff acts as a steadying point, extending with a sharp triple-crash against the stone, emitting a series of clattering shrieks as it's pressed down to act as both foundation and brake. Spreading his legs to either side, Kane draws to a halt, teeth bared as he twists about to sight Ryu over his shoulder. Deflecting Hadoukens? Little chance of that. But he can respond in kind.
"Heard a rumour you can throw those things all day," he calls across the impromptu arena, voice echoing off the very walls. A seeming pause to catch breath is anything but, as the man thrusts off the floor to enter a brief skid back /toward/ Ryu, scooping the staff up as part of the same motion to once more sent it screaming out toward him. Flame is spiralling up its length even before it leaves his side, the full extension sending out another roaring blaze of spitting, biting chi. Last time, the staff struck first-- this time it comes together, a double sucker-punch of burning fury, perhaps the sum focus of the Londoner's spirit and will to fight.
"Care to prove that one?!"
Or maybe he's still trying to bait the stoic wandered into further dramatic antics.
COMBATSYS: Ryu overcomes Blazing Cane Thrust EX from Billy with Metsu Hadouken.
Glancing Hit
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Billy 1/--=====/=======|=======\====---\1 Ryu
If he hasn't learned this lesson fighting a man like Geese Howard, Billy may just in fact learn it today fighting Ryu: 'Don't ask for things you don't want.' Because he does ask Ryu if he can throw those things all day and, deciding to engage Billy on his own terms, the World Warrior replies: "...if you like."
Again his hands come down to his sides, fingers curled in, mentally shaping the chi in the air with his will. For Ryu, time seems to slow in a way that doesn't help him overmuch, but which makes for dramatic imagery indeed. Even as Billy is twirling, preparing the surprisingly long reach of his three-part cane to impact squarely with Ryu, another bright blue-white ball of energy swirls into being. However, this one has a greater destiny that its counterpart that made an appearance just a moment before.
Bearing down, eyes locked on the incoming cane, Ryu *concentrates*.
Blue-white gives way to crimson and scarlet, the swirling mass of air erupting into flame... and even that gives way to a crackling azure of lightning... but even *that* is not the final stage, as eventually through the alchemy of Ryu's chi control, the Hadouken passes through these elemental stages to become something pure, an eye-searing purple-white-red like a tiny contained supernova. His voice rings out, "Metsu...!"
The cane is maybe a foot from his face.
"...HADOOOUKENNNNN!" Hands surge forward, and the massive energy sphere leaves his hands. The cane is knocked aside, barely, and it's obvious that perhaps Ryu went too far into his opponent's psychology; he waited too long, wanted too dramatic, too powerful an attack, and in the process the shot he fires off at Billy is not up to the typical standards of Ryu's most powerful technique... but unless he can avoid it, it might be the end of this fight for the Brit regardless.
COMBATSYS: Ryu successfully hits Billy with Metsu Hadouken.
Glancing Blow
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Billy 1/-======/=======|-------\-------\0 Ryu
Indeed, there's an integral flaw to taunting someone like the World Warrior. Like baiting a bear or punching a shark in the nose, the risk quite frequently outweights the honestly quite self-indulgent reward of success; the truth, when it comes to needling and psychologically manipulating Ryu, is that it's simply best not done. At least in most cases. Here, the effect is arguable-- Billy's efforts in mounting an assault so effective after being pitched headlong by a well-placed chi-blast were not small. That it takes so much from his opponent to counter is another blessing and curse combined; though it certainly does look, and feel, impressive.
The pure, intently focused blaze rushes for Kane with equivalent speed to the shot he didn't even see coming, before; but this time he's placed more comfortably, even with the retracting staff, to at least mount some kind of educated evasion. Instinct alone isn't enough when facing down a man so rooted in it, but to see his efforts is to understand them-- the thrust of his hands, the surging of energy from within his core, these are all telltale as to how fast, how sudden the impact is going to be. It's a tough read, but...
Kane's prodigious in his own right. The rod is snapping back into both hands when he moves, seemingly propelled by its returning momentum into a swaying sidewards lunge, left leg crossing over the right and body bending forward. The miniature supernova sears across the prominent muscles in his upper arm, the bicep twitching with the signal of pain as Billy keeps on moving, a second and third step carrying him with immediacy into a roll and a sprint to once more close in upon Ryu. He's fast, in spite of the setback, bringing his weapon up with a *snap* as the three parts lock together once more, wielding it like a traditional quarterstaff.
"You've put on a /show/, alright," he half-cajoles, half-hisses with the effort of directing a stiff one-two, right side up and then left side with an accompanying twist into each hip, seeking to slam Ryu in the shoulder and then the temple if he doesn't turn the blows aside. "But I think it's /my/ turn." A third blow never comes, though it's feinted, Billy bouncing back into a hop, landing on springy ankles, the rod spinning about his body in a flamboyant flourish, a lick of vestigial fiery chi tearing through the air.
"'ow about you stand still and take it right on the chin this time?"
Turnabout is fair play, after all, and it /is/ the Queen's Jubilee.
COMBATSYS: Ryu blocks Billy's Quick Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Billy 1/-======/=======|-------\-------\0 Ryu
There's a meaty *THWACK!* sound as the first jab of the one-two is batted away, and the second slaps into the palm of Ryu's hand out of nowhere... a surprisingly flashy little defense on the World Warrior's part, but as he shoves the staff away, he offers an equally surprising little jibe: "Once on the chin was enough, thanks." Or maybe he just has the world's most amazing deadpan and he's STILL feeling the lingering effects of Billy's earlier blow and really truly has no desire whatsoever to take even a light tap there, thank you.
Believe whichever story pleases you.
While he perhaps isn't in quite as bad a shape as Billy, Ryu's taken some hits in this fight, and they're showing... that, and just the typical fatigue of fighting a battle against a very skilled opponent. His muscular frame glistens with sweat whenever he moves into a pool of light in the otherwise dimly-lit Abbey, and his breathing is regular, but heavy. The longer this goes on, the less sure he is of victory. And yet, interestingly enough, he is driven to look Billy Kane in the eye and say, point blank, "I am grateful for the impressive challenge of fighting you, however."
That said, this is the sort of line someone utters when they're going to attempt to put the other fighter out with one last blow. And indeed, this appears to be Ryu's intent, as he closes on Billy and attempts to deliver one swift kick to the underside of the man's jaw... poetic justice, perhaps. But Billy Kane doubtless has tricks of his own left...
COMBATSYS: Billy counters Medium Kick from Ryu with Ifrit Crisis+.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Billy 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Ryu
Showmanship, from the World Warrior. It's probably not the first time in recorded history-- but it feels like it, and his opponent can't resist a chuckle as it comes forth. The compliment is noted only by a further tilt of the head, Kane backing off a half-step as Ryu comes in, closing swiftly despite the apparent lull. Both men know, as all fighters this good know; there's never a true hesitation, only a feint within a feint. A strategic manouevre made beneath the surface, if not visibly. A warrior doesn't stop. A warrior doesn't quit. And as that kick surges in, there's nothing that could be further from Kane's mind than /avoiding/ it.
"I said--"
Like a side of beef hitting a butcher's block, Ryu's kick comes to rest with a solid impact that can be heard from the very back of the capacity crowd. If this were a suitably dramatic movie or anime, there'd be an explosion or a cloud of improbably gathering dust as the torn, half-hanging sleeve of Billy's denim jacket flaps about the suddenly-lifted steel beam of his forearm. Kane isn't an especially large man, he's not renowned for being able to absorb blows like some can-- through meat alone, but he's certainly got grit.
"Stand /still/, Ryu!!"
Really, there's no choice for either man in the instant that their eyes meet over the necessarily imposed crimson line of Billy's staff. Ryu is extended into his kick, and it takes all the might that Billy can muster to keep that blow at bay. They likely start moving again at the precise same time, but the momentum is on Billy's side; he's done this exact dance a hundred thousand times, and his right leg is already shifting forward, the push from his raised arm forming the opening to step in and begin the assault. It's simple, at first, much like the previous motions with his bo-- at least until each strike sends the end sections exploding forth, whirling as they strike with a series of savage impacts about the torso. Tenderizing, really...
To prepare for the sudden spring into the air, Billy pursuing his backward-driven opponent as he coils into a tight, rolling flip, the collapsed staff brought around in a wild, deliriously powerful swing with one arm, the flail-form weapon seeming to become a hundred - it moves so fast, blurring to the eye, crashing down with an astonishing impact upon Ryu's skull that should drive him into the flagstones. Should; but it doesn't, because Kane isn't done, landing upon his feet, skidding to a halt and already snapping the staff out once more. The two end sections pop into place, and then his namesake is swept end over end over end, fiery chi blossoming from the tips until it becomes a roaring inferno, lashing against Ryu's front, scalding and punishing.
When it's released with one final swipe, that gouting explosion will send the World Warrior crashing away.
"On second thought..." Billy grins, twisting to beckon to the crowd, /this/ time managing to single out the similarly-clad girl who's been calling his name oh-so-surreptiously; though it's not her he's seeking a response from, calling on the more plebian of the fans. Those who respond to the 'bad boy' image alone, who lap it up and buy - rather than steal - their merchandise. He yells it with them. "GO, TO, HELL!!!"
Don't try to out-dance a dancer. Perhaps that's the best lesson here.
In his heart, he knew it was a gamble. That ineffable quality, 'fighting spirit,' for which there is no good definition nor real ability to measure, was high on Billy's part. The Wanderer could feel it in the air between them; a tension, a sort of electrifying feeling as both fighters squared off. And when Billy lets that spirit out, in a punishing counterattack, Ryu has plenty of time to regret his mistake, even as he rolls to a stop on the cold Abbey floor, the fabric of his white gi jacket flensed and scorched almost to ruins, so that it is all but tatters now.
The act of even standing up from that is laborious; a few people are willing to hand Billy Kane the fight right then and there. But Ryu DOES rise, taking a few deep breaths as he does so. Through what used to be his gi, the Wanderer's muscled torso goes concave and convex as he takes deep draughts of air, filling pain-filled lungs. Now he has nothing to say; no response to Billy's quip, or even the breath which with to form one.
But then his fists clench. This isn't over.
And suddenly he's just kinda *there* in front of Billy, one leg drawn up to his chest, which he suddenly extends outward with a whole-body movement. That curled leg lashes out in a straight, pistoning kick intended to take Billy out for REAL this time.
COMBATSYS: Billy counters Joudan Sokutou Geri from Ryu with Water Dragon Pursuit Cane.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Billy 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Ryu
No, it's not over.
Billy knows that even as the crowd take up his shout, the end of his cane coming to rest on the ground, against the side of one heavy boot as he pumps an encouraging fist into the air - as much for his own benefit as theirs, clenching tight shortly after Ryu's do the same, knuckles whitening and the ligaments in his forearm straining beneath the denim. He's feeling the wear of the fight himself; but it's beneath that consuming energy that Ryu can sense, driving him to disregard the pain and the fatigue. Because that doesn't matter. All that's important in a fight, /is/ the fight-- Kane has known that all his life, it's what Geese saw in him, that stubborn tenacity and resolve to succeed in spite of everything. In spite of his initial lack of skill, even.
It's driven him to succeed this far in life, and he'll be damned if he forgets it even when faced by someone this good, this unbeatable. A lot of people have told Kane there's no better fighter in the world than Ryu; that he's better than Geese, better than Terry Bogard, and a damn sight better than he is. Kane isn't as cocky as he likes to pretend - he knows he has limits - but he wasn't prepared to just accept a loss today.
When Ryu is /there/, Billy hasn't moved, and he's been there all along. In the moment. The thunderous strike that ensues should be as unstoppable as Ryu himself; there's a simple, plain brutality to it that's as honest as fighting can be, as punishing as any technique in the world. Because right now, it would be enough. It would drop him. Billy knows that. Which makes it all the more necessary that he interpose his staff, a scuff sounding from the floor in the very instant that Ryu begins to unchamber his blow...
And then, as suddenly as the World Warrior's approach, the crimson length is /right there/.
"Hngh!" Kane bites down hard with the effort, spinning into his left hip, closing into the right hard as he pushes his hands around, using the rotation of the rod to simultaneously deflect his opponent's kick and bring the top section once more unravelling. With a snap, it flies forth and swings around, a backstep and drop of Billy's firm stance bringing the hard, lacquered wood down straight across the World Warrior's extended knee. There's nothing fancy about it, and nothing nice about it, it's designed to hurt.
Afterwards, he's breathing the harder, pulling the staff back to actually hold it - for the first time - in a wholly defend position across his torso, chest swelling as he draws in a deep lungful of air. He hasn't felt so pressed in a long time, perhaps a year or two, maybe longer. This is serious.
For the second time, he doesn't say a damn thing. Sometimes, actions do speak louder.
Twice in a row, Billy's deftness with the rod serves him well. In the span of a few moments, he's turned near-loss into almost certain victory, dealing to the Wanderer significant harm with just two clean strikes. In a way, he's happy, as he is always is when he is pushed to the limit, when every action, every ounce of blood, every drop of sweat needs to be accounted for. At the risk of arrogance, there are only so many fighters in the world that can send him to that place. Knowing that Billy Kane can be added to that list actually pleases him.
Yet there is always that insistent voice deep down inside Ryu, telling him that victory is what counts... even if that victory comes with a price. When he was young, untested, that voice screamed in his ear. At the careful coaching and mentorship of Master Gouken he's managed to hush it to a quiet, sinuous whisper... but now, as he stands on the cusp of defeat, now is when the voice gets louder. Promising many things -- victory, power -- if only Ryu will let go of the principles that keep that power in check. Honor. Friendship. Compassion. And in the wake of the Devil's Tournament, and even his conversation with Zach Glen not that long ago....
For a moment, Ryu looks down into his palm, whorls of purple-red swirling at the edge of his vision. It would be so easy...
His hand closes into a fist. No. Not like this. Not now.
Dark brown eyes track back to Billy, holding steady. "Not done... just yet."
COMBATSYS: Ryu gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Billy 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Ryu
Trepidation. It's not something the Londoner is particularly used to feeling; but as a prodigious if not entirely refined wielder of his own, powerful chi energies, there are certain things in this world - certain people - who can ignite an odd, boiling fear in the pit of his stomach. He felt it against Bernstein's mad dog, the woman known as Vice, even as he took her systematically apart-- and again, so close to snatching victory, he can feel a similarly cowing sensation emanating from the wanderer. Geese speaks at great length and detail on the many eldritch myths and legends on this earth, and he's spoken of Ryu before...
Of what happened in the World Warrior tournament. Of what it might mean.
The Japanese phenom has never been the subject of any approach by the Syndicate, evaded Geese's particular interests for whatever reason, but there's something inside him that powerful men are inclined to notice. And for all his rugged tendencies, Billy Kane can be included among that number - though in him it ignites not ambition but a dangerous, compelling curiosity nonetheless. Ryu's apparent struggle is but dimly noted, as the Syndicate punk steps around in a tight half-circle, waiting until he begins to speak, until that sensation seems to ebb away, before he lunges. It's still defensive, his approach, stopping short.
"Of course you ain't done--" Utters Billy, the twist of his lips not so stated as it was earlier, focus and intensity more than sheer shit-eating swagger lighting his features as he jars a toe forward along with both arms, a sniping thrust of the staff seeing to slam hard against the wanderer's gut. And then... at the point of contact nothing else happens, he simply pushes it forward-- "/I'm/ not /done/ with /you/!!"
And then uses it as a fulcrum point to haul the World Warrior up and over, an incoherent shout of bloody-minded effort erupting from his lips as he seeks to drive him overhead and then down into the unyielding flagstones, hard enough to crack and splitter the ancient stone. Hard enough to stop, perhaps, to even drop this mysterious and ceaseless warrior. But he can't count Ryu out. He wouldn't. His words may not express it...
But whatever happens today, Ryu has earned the Brit's respect.
COMBATSYS: Ryu blocks Billy's Fishhook Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Billy 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Ryu
He has to catch it. There really is no alternative there, for Ryu; it's 'grab the staff' or this fight is over. Yet even as he does it -- even as he is forced into a tug of war for control of the weapon with Billy that makes his muscles burn and ache -- he is regretting it somewhat. Perhaps he should have taken a chance and just tried to get out of the way. But as Ryu shoves the staff aside, he lets those thoughts wash from his mind. It's too late for regrets, that much is clear.
'I'm not done with you!' For the second time this fight, Billy reminds Ryu of Sagat, and probably with good reason. Where would either fighter be if their paths had taken different trajectories? Yet at the same time, without the hardship in his life -- without his struggle to survive and even dominate -- would Billy Kane have developed the tremendous strength that he possesses now? And, more importantly, which he wields with total security and peace of mind? Perhaps that has been Billy's edge today all along: his lack of hesitancy. The Devil's Tournament threw the seed of doubt into Ryu's mind... perhaps now it's bearing poison fruit that lets the Brit show his talents to their fullest.
He doesn't want to let Billy get away, not when he's close enough for retaliation. The fighter in the (now tattered) gi leaps up, twirling, spinning forward, a more angular and aerial version of the lateral technique that Ryu used at the very opening of the battle. Perhaps now it'll help him finish it. "Tatsumaki!"
COMBATSYS: Ryu successfully hits Billy with Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku.
> Determined Hit! <
[ \\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Billy 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Ryu
Close. Too close.
No other thought occurs to Billy as he's swept once more into that dizzying whirlwind of kicks. The staff is flung wide indeed, and his attempt to retract it highlights the primary issue with his style - like any warrior so perfectly synchronized with their weapon, to remove it is to debilitate them. Ryu's defense wasn't as perfect as it could have been; it likely stung to do what he did, but the reaction couldn't have been better, when it comes to guaranteeing a countering strike. It's all Kane can do to simply cling on to the staff, the first kick slamming hard into his gut - touché - and the second to the chain, carrying him heavenward.
When caught within the World Warrior's technique, it feels as though the array of kicks is endless, battering and beating the body, sapping the will simply because there's /nothing to be done/. When Billy is released, he's not just breathing hard. He can't breathe at all. His left sleeve flutters forlornly away as he arcs from Ryu's final kick, the rest of his jacket coming apart at the seams to match the garish, searing bruises beneath. Such a turnabout, just as he seemed to have this fight under control. It seems for a moment...
...that this will be all. But Ryu should know better. So should the capacity crowd in Westminster Abbey.
Suddenly, there's a surging of pure, unrefined spirit from within Billy Kane. If he were grounded, it would be the kind of recovery that starts with a cough, then a fluttering of the eyes, but this is more dynamic-- it begins and ends through the whipping, overhead sweep of his rod. The crimson blur spins end over end, both hands directing it as his lower body occupies itself swaying upward, the resulting flip actually carrying the seasoned Brit further aloft. When he comes around he's descending /fast/, the staff still spinning, seeking to catch Ryu before he can find his own footing, caught in an answering storm of lacquered wood.
COMBATSYS: Ryu just-defends Billy's Whirlwind Cane EX!
[ \\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Billy 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Ryu
One way or another, people are going to be talking about this fight for a very, very long time, that much is certain. Ryu pushed to his very limits by Billy Kane. The native Brit showing that he will keep calm and carry on, though maybe the keep calm part gets a refund. Regardless, this IS the SNF main event, and it's certainly what the crowd paid for: a clash of epic talent.
Twice now, Ryu has caught Billy Kane's staff. Twice, he did it in a desperate way, a do-or-die defense where the guaranteed pain to muscle and bone of success was preferrable to the crushing power Billy can put behind a full-on strike. But even as he's landing, spinning to a stop, Ryu knows that his kicks were not enough to put Billy on the mat, not by a long mile, and he's ready for retaliation. That brilliant intuition -- that amazing quality that slows time to a crawl and turns the most complex of situations into an easily-solvable puzzle -- finally shows its head. Billy roars; the cane leaps at Ryu like an onrushing tornado. But as he stares at it, he sees something rather different than the solid red speed blur that the rest of world is seeing.
The staff swings lazily by, fractionary moment after fractionary moment.
Ryu assumes a horse stance and, even as the cane is about to make contact, extends two fingers, together, outward.
The rod hits them as if it had hit a brick wall. There is actually a millisecond of total silence before a sudden burst of wind explodes outwards away from the point of impact, the kinetic force diverted almost entirely away by the sheer precision of Ryu's deflection.
He wastes no time; at his side, one hand is already gathering a swirling blue-white sphere of power. The deflecting hand comes back, shapes the mass of energy into a ball, and at pointblank range, Ryu makes one last desperate gambit for victory in the form of a "Hadoukeeeeeeeeeen!"
COMBATSYS: Ryu successfully hits Billy with Hadouken.
[ \\ < > ///////// ]
Billy 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Ryu
Boom.
Sometimes, it's best to say it succinctly.
Billy Kane is once more treated to a full-power blast of Ryu's signature technique, the oohs and ahhs of the crowd as passionate as this event was always going to guarantee; the Londoner's motherland is on a high, the majority of them possibly quite literally, but either way - cheeks are as rosy as lips are stiff. And the battle unfolding does full credit to the festivities unfolding across the nation. The hometown boy may go flying, motes of cerulean dancing over the darker, scuffed blue of his denims, but they're cheering nonetheless. It doesn't matter who wins, at least to them. To the two men inside the arena, such as it is...
At this precise instant, nothing matters more. Fighting spirit doesn't allow for a knee to be taken, and even as Billy is crashing down, gurgling and spraying blood from the ravaged depths of his gut, he rolls up with a wavering shove. Indeed, he bypasses the knee that must be avoided, flopping straight to his feet. The staff is momentarily forgotten, lying far closer to Ryu now than he, dropping in the instant that the Hadouken made its second blistering impact. Kane pays this fact no heed, simply focusing as best he can on the wanderer...
And then duking forward, one fist raising as the other hovers just above his stomach, somewhere between a boxing and an aikido stance - he's not one for the basics, but he knows them from several styles, from the gestalt Hakyokusaken that Geese has adopted and made his own. As he closes in with quick, staggering motions, Kane doesn't look as terrifyingly competent as he does with his namesake, but he's not to be messed with-- even slowed, the darting punches he starts to send Ryu's way come in a fair flurry, jab after jab seeking to find an opening in the wanderer's guard as Billy conveniently drives him toward that grounded staff.
Either he'll end up unconscious, or he'll be able to reclaim it. In the best case, he'll find that opening first, and nail Ryu in the chin with the lead fist, before clenching the other and driving it sharply forth into his stomach. A simple, punishing blow that has ended many a lesser man.
COMBATSYS: Ryu dodges Billy's Quick Strike.
[ \\\ < > ///////// ]
Billy 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Ryu
He's been beaten bloody himself, Ryu has, but in contrast to Billy's flagging strength, the Japanese fighter appears to have caught a bit of a second wind of sorts. Having endured the nastiest that Billy can throw at him, the Wanderer earned himself room to breathe... but in the process, he's taken that room away from Billy, the momentum of the fight being a bit of a zero sum game. Still, those punches mean business, Billy is not downed by any means, and this fight isn't over until one of these men can't get up any more... though a few people in the crowd are starting to wonder if that's even POSSIBLE, given the number of miraculous reversals.
"You're exceptional," Ryu says calmly as he steps back, drawing on a Wing Chun style of defence, hands held fingers straight, gently pushing the punches aside. In that moment, the two men are close -- very close. Words considered only as text or the movements of the mouth seem simple and unproblematic; in the heat of the moment they are fragmented by short gasping breaths, and swallows, and the fatigue of this fight.
"I hope when next we fight the circumstances are as... cordial."
There is no elegance to his counterstrike, no secret tactic. Ryu simply attempts to deliver a right cross to Billy's jaw. The time for subtlety is over. Cornered Billy is dangerous, and it's time to put him *down*.
COMBATSYS: Billy counters Medium Punch from Ryu with Water Dragon Pursuit Cane.
[ \\ < > ////// ]
Billy 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1 Ryu
It really should be over. There's no rational reason that one of these men hasn't simply fallen by now, from exhaustion if nothing else - even in a relatively quick bout, the later stages are the most wearying, when the heaviest and fastest strikes are thrown in succession. When both warriors search for an ending. It's not just textbook tenacity and resolve that pushes these men on-- it's both of them, and more, that hidden, dark spark inside Ryu and the desperate, animal will to survive that has pushed Billy Kane up from the streets.
Ryu again delivers his own honest opinion of the other man's talents, deflecting those testing blows, sliding through offensive motions as though they were nothing; and yet somehow, without the arrogance that besets other men. They're on such equal footing, yet for a moment it's almost like fighting a patient instructor. Kane doesn't feel inferior to many, but he comes close in that moment, almost conceding the fight. Almost.
But then the counter blow is coming in, and his foot is brushing against something. A gentle clunk is the only warning as to what happens next. Ryu's fist closes in, forthright and /fast/; and there's a flash of motion from Billy, his foot hooking the tip of the grounded rod as though it were as easy as doing it with his hand, flicking it upward. He catches it only after it's neatly intersected the striking line of the World Warrior's knuckles, stopping his blow for long enough for Billy to duck aside, grabbing the staff just past halfway down its base, gripping with one hand as he sweeps his head down and around. Ducking the extended arm.
And then he simply twists the raised rod, the longer end tucked behind him as he jams the shorter into Ryu's gut, right where his final punch was supposed to end up. It's all he can do to not stay where he is, following the effort of this, but he pulls the weapon away and rises to his feet, giving it the most tired spin, barely catching it in both hands as he warily watches the other. Is he still standing? CAN he be?
"Yeah," echoes Kane, his voice trembling, "Yeah. You're pretty good yourself."
Despite his physical state, despite the sweat pouring down his brow, his throbbing bruises and pounding heart...
There's actually some good humour in that. It may be the understatement of the year.
He should be on the floor. He really should have been staring glassy-eyed at the famous ceiling of Westminster Abbey a long, long time ago, let alone now. Billy's last stand (or one of them... the fight is up to how many, by this point?) sends Ryu tumbling backwards, clutching his stomach as he drops to one knee. Before this, the crowd was raucously loud, and getting louder with each turn of momentum. Now? Now they're practically silent, which says a lot about how secretly perceptive fighting fans can be when they put their minds to it. Is he going to get up?
"If... I am..." Ryu bites out, and then stops talking. He feels like he's going to be sick. Should he just let this go?
...no. Never.
"...it's a reflection of the opponents I fight," Ryu says at last, pulling himself standing. Everything seems to be happening in slow motion, but perhaps that's not actually a problem. The World Warrior's hands come to his side, fingers curling in with aching slowness. At first the building of the light is only a flicker, but soon Ryu's will -- which, unlike his body, is unflagging -- breaks the barrier, and the beginnings of a Hadouken swirl into being. And as it grows in power, outstripping the one that he threw at Billy just seconds ago, Ryu's voice carries that much more. "If they are excellent... then I must be... to match...!"
The power he holds in his hands is a tempest in a teapot... more or less literally. Almost pure white with lines of cerulean blue swirling about, Ryu's body moves with agonizing slowness, hands almost PULLING the sphere of compressed chi forward to bear. "Shinkuuuuuuu..." And then, finally, he finds aim on Billy and lets fly, the projectile having all of the speed that Ryu's physical body just could not provide this moment. "HADOOOOUKENNNNNN!"
COMBATSYS: Ryu successfully hits Billy with Shinkuu Hadouken.
[ < > ////// ]
Billy 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Ryu
All around Ayame, the crowd has been responding to the ebb and flow of the match. It seemed over, not once, but several times, but the two combatants pulled back from the brink of collapse and forced themselves to keep going. Taking in the sights from this close is exhilerating. One can almost feel the shockwaves of the strikes and hurtling bursts of chi connecting against each of the battered fighters' bodies. It's taken some degree of elbowing and shoving just to keep the premium viewing realestate that she's secured.
One fellow observer elbows Ayame back lightly, but it seems to be just to get her attention. "ISN'T THIS FIGHT AMAZING?!"
Ayame grimaces, ears ringing, recoiling away from the verbal exuberance. "Yeah, yeah, it's all right," she grunts, brushing at her jacket where she was elbowed as if mildly disgusted to have someone else touch it.
Ryu's defenses seem rock solid, but British staff fighter manages a remarkable counter attack, executing a crowd-challenging gesture and shout in the aftermath. Ayame's eyes widen. "Did you see that?!" she exclaims at the fan to her right, "He was totally looking right at me, that was-!!" She catches herself and coughs, "I mean, that was pretty good, yeah? Haha."
She looks away quickly, cheeks redder than she can recall being for some time. Very... deliberately, she begins to melt backward into the crowd. "Jeez, get a grip," she mutters to herself. She'll miss the final trading of strikes, perhaps, but it's time to be on her way.
Silent. It doesn't /sound/ silent, to Billy. There's a dull roar in the background, an aural wall blocking out everything but Ryu and the battle unfolding between them-- a battle that's well unfolded, to the point there must be seconds remaining. Were he possessed of faculties outside of those adrenaline and resolution demand, he'd almost pray this were the case. Because anything longer and he's not sure he'll be able to stand up at all. Taken to the limit and then some. He may have been made bloodier, come closer to death, but in terms of maintaining an ability and will to fight, this may be the furthest Kane has /ever/ pushed.
It goes to show; no matter how good, how skilled, a fighter can always find things to learn. Ways to improve.
Watching his opponent remains an education, even as his responding words cut through the channelling of incredible energies, the hairs on the back of Billy's neck rising sharply as it builds - that ultimate evolution of the deceptively simple Hadouken, the power palpable as it blossoms. He's struck dumb for a half beat before he starts forward, teeth gritting as the winds lash outward, the very air retreating from the technique. As though nature were at once responsive and hesitant, cooperative and afraid.
It should be slow, the way it's drawn, the way it's projected-- but Billy is only halfway to Ryu when it strikes, engulfing his form from head to toe. The warmth pervades everything, from body to soul, and it strikes so hard; but he doesn't shift backward, isn't immediately flung, remaining in place until the barrage washes over him, only drawing him away with the very tail end, his denim-clad form spinning sidelong as he's finally struck by the shifting momentum of Ryu's final assault. But he still hasn't submitted, somehow, his mouth falling open and a long, roaring shout emitted. It doesn't even sound human, it's so primal in nature, the punk reaching deeper than ever, striving to make his mark one last time upon this incredible challenger.
No, more, this champion. Ryu stopped being a mere challenger long ago.
Billy lands, he actually lands, both feet stamping down as he comes out of his wild spin to remain upright, almost facing Ryu with his wild eyes latching onto the Ansatsuken master's as though they never broke contact in the first place. As though magnetized. He looks as though he wants to speak for a single, hanging instant, and he does - but not with words as he opened this contest. With his actions. With his spirit.
The rod, kept improbably close, is thrust out with abandon, all three sections whipping from one another as he maintains a calloused, white-knuckled grip upon the rearmost. Fiery chi erupts with an intensity that can only be a reaction to the mighty Shinkuu Hadouken, surging visibly from the centre of Kane's being to ripple along the broken staff in scintillating waves of spitting, frothing flame. Less an explosion and more a whipping lash of fire, it slings from the end of the rod, slower than it's come before but no less fierce.
It shouldn't be possible for the attack to land, because by all rights Billy shouldn't be able to /throw/ it.
But a warrior's spirit knows no boundaries. The British spirit knows even fewer.
When Kane collapses, the cane clattering down, his face impacting the hard flagstones...
"God save... the bloody... Queen..."
He'll pass from consciousness knowing he's at least done himself, and his country, a credit.
COMBATSYS: Billy can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\ <
Ryu 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Ryu dodges Billy's Blazing Cane Thrust.
[ \\\\\\ <
Ryu 0/-------/-------|
How little indeed separates Heaven from Hell.
Ryu remains standing only long enough for the SNF announcer to exclaim that the Wanderer had won, and hearing it is like a light switch going off in his head: the frame that had been barely kept standing by sheer willpower alone no longer has any reason to do so, and the white-clad fighter effectively collapses downward in stages until he is only just barely off the floor, and then even that is too much, and Ryu eases himself onto the Abbey's floor on his back, staring -- as he prophesied -- at the ceiling in a glassy-eyed daze. In the distance he seems people performing the perfunctory checks on Billy, but he can't find himself worrying. Like England herself, Billy will rise from the ashes of any beating, stronger than before.
Out there, the crowd is chanting Billy's name, rather than the Queen's, for at least a portion of the day. What does THAT tell you?
And it's this sound that sends Ryu into unconsciousness, himself.
Log created on 13:25:47 06/02/2012 by Ryu, and last modified on 10:17:10 06/04/2012.