Description: The NDP Finals are held in Kenya! The fighters give it their all, but only one can come out on top! (Winner: Mr.Jones)
IT'S TIME FOR THE EPIC CONCLUSION OF THE NDP CHAMPIONSHIPS!
We are transmitting live from Kenya, Batian Peak where the two final contestants of this season's New Development League to duke it out and see who comes out on top! They've both have gone through great ordeals to achieve the honor of competing here to see who truly deserves the title of Champion, and thanks to Ken Masters CO along with all its sponsors these two promising fighters are ready to demonstrate to the world that those veteran warriors of legend better not get too comfy. The warriors of the NDP are hot on their heels, as they will soon be demonstrating!
In the Blue Corner, challenger to the the NDP Champion title, at 5'3 and weighing 140 pounds of soul power! We have Zach Glenn, the psychic boxer!!!
And in the Red Corner, defending his title of Champion from last season, with a perfect streak of eight wins and zero losses, we have the Groove Master himself! Mister Johnny Jones!!!
We'll be ready to begin this match after a word from our sponsors. Stay tuned for the start of the match!!
After the brief intro is set by the announcers, Johnny Jones is seen pacing up and down the ring looking a little fidgety, likely trying to enter his groove mantra. Although his shades obscure his eyes completely, it is evident that there is something else in his mind aside from this fight, something about the location where he's in most likely given by how he keeps looking to the sides.
"Oh man, why did it have to Kenya of all places?" He scratches the back of his head seemingly dreading a certain Capoerista's family trying to throw a brick at the back of his skull.
Can't think about that now though, Mister Jones shakes his head and bounces slightly on his spot trying to limber up. When Zach's involved he better always be ready, that much he has learned.
COMBATSYS: MrJones has started a fight here.
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MrJones 0/-------/------=|
Zach Glen is /also/ cursing the choice of venue, but it has little to do with bricks and more to do with treacherous "gifts". And the consequences of accepting such things. He heaves a sigh as he starts to go into his own pre-fight warmups. A couple of practice punches, and an odd looping stretch that might call to mind an awkward straight.
Zach waves to the crowd, giving as confident a smile as he can manage. This is the first time he's /ever/ gotten to the final round of /any/ tournament. It is most certainly a new experience, made all the more nerve-wracking in light of the memories this fighting locale brings to Zach's mind. He'll have to have... words with Ken Masters after the fight. Well, after Ayame's little display in the semis, he was going to have to talk to Ken /anyway/.
Jones is no slouch; he hits hard and moves quickly. Zach /intends/ to keep the Funkmaster at a distance, but knows that he'll have to change it to an in-fight at moment's notice.
The boxer walks over to Jones, and extends a hand. "Let's make this a good fight," he says before leaning in close to Jones. "Not for Quon. Or anyone else, for that matter." He grins a bit. "This is our fight, and noone else's."
*Twitch!*
There's a visible eyebrow wiggle from part of Mista' Jay when Zach approaches, hand extended, bearing the name of Quon may he rest in peace. Jones grimaces slightly thinking this will be a repeat of his fight with Yuri, a misguided young fighter than attempts to use the boy's death as a banner against a person who was also devastated by his passing.
Thankfully, Zach proves to be a little bit more tactful in that regard. Jones' apprehension quickly gives way to his usual Groovy smile. His fist extends his hand giving Zach a vigorous shake as he now displays his signature attitude.
"Word life, G."
Jones agrees...in his own way.
"Let's show the haters that this ain't no little League we're fighting in."
Jones takes a single step back, assumes his relaxed Jeet Kune Do stance and grins with his shades glinting in the sunlight just as the bell rings.
BEGIN!
Zach gives a confident nod. He thought the fight with Ayame was a good fight, as messed up as the start and end were. (He didn't get the clean win he was after.) This fight, though. This fight ought to be even /better/. Amber light sheathes Zach's body as he calmly walks away from the Groove Master. A thought occurs to the psion as he gets to his ready position.
Zach turns to face Jones with a Detroit-style boxing stance and the grin of a man ready to face /any/ challenge, great or small. A second later, and the referee is calling for the starting bell.
A second after that, and Zach is dashing in towards Jones, throwing a left jab designed to bring out Jones' guard. The follow-up right straight comes in barely before Zach resets the left arm. This second punch is aimed to simply punch /through/ Jones' guard, as if to warn Jones that Zach is not like he was in thier previous matches!
COMBATSYS: Zach has joined the fight here.
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Zach 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 MrJones
COMBATSYS: Zach has left the fight here.
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MrJones 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Zach has joined the fight here.
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Zach 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 MrJones
COMBATSYS: MrJones has left the fight here.
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Zach 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: MrJones has joined the fight here.
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Zach 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 MrJones
COMBATSYS: MrJones dodges Zach's Rapid Combo.
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Zach 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 MrJones
Oooh! Detroit boxing! Jones likes that stance!
Wiggling his eyebrows, Johnny Jones notices how Zach almost crosses his arms right in front of him to signify a more aggressive stance. Not at all like how he had seen Zach fight before, all limber mostly trying to stay out of range, as it is fitting for a championship fight the boxer is going all in with furious strikes. Jones doesn't know what kind of things the boy has gone through since he last saw him, but it is clear by just glancing at his new stance that the has changed.
While Jones...well..he's pretty much still the same.
Which is to say he's still hella fast and tricky.
"Woo baby!" Can't punch through a guard if there's no guard to begin with. Johnny immediately sees the power behind those strikes and hops back away from the jab, going to circle around Zach to suddenly, drastically, change direction to let Zach's right fist hit air with Johnny scurrying away from the boxer keeping himself light on his feet.
Stabilizing himself, Johnny adjusts his shades and stares at Zach whilst keeping his Jeet Kune Do stance, wondering what kind of new tricks the boy has learned.
COMBATSYS: MrJones focuses on his next action.
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Zach 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 MrJones
Zach grins a bit; he threw the punches with every intention of connecting. The energy, the commitment to the strikes was clear. However, Jones' dodging of them was not unexpected. Zach circles Jones carefully, as if he is trying to decide just /how/ to approach this part of the encounter. He takes a deep breath, and chambers another punch with his right arm.
It /appears/ as if Zach is simply going to throw the punch from there. Wouldn't be a new trick; Zach has used the punching motion to hurl psychic energy more than a few times. However, instead of swinging from his current position and relying on the energy blast to do the work, Zach dashes in.
Once in close enough, Zach throws /another/ right straight this time unheralded by a jab. However, there is plenty of Soul Power to go along with the punch, which ought to add more than a bit of impact to the strike!
COMBATSYS: MrJones interrupts Straight Punch from Zach with Slide Double.
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Zach 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 MrJones
Fly like Butterfly, sting like a bee, Zach.
Johnny can move around a lot if he needs too, but he can also go in for the all guts and glory attack if the situation calls for it. He bounces on his feet a couple more times, dancing to the left and dancing to the right to keep Zach guessing which way he's going, and when finally Zach comes in with chambered, devastating right fist.. Johnny Jones says, 'What the hell."
The Groove Master doesn't care if there's a projectile coming or not. He dashes in right infront of Zach and *BAM* takes the fist right on the jaw.
But as Zach may notice, Johnny was coming at him with the exact same technique and..
*BAM!* Jones' right hook crashes right into Zach's cheek, trading one vicious punch for another!
"Woo! Come on! Cam you feel that Disco Fever!!?" Johnny sounds like he's having a grand old time as he bounces away from Zach licking the blood of his busted lip.
Zach spins away, his vision blurring. Jones may have come out ahead of that one, given the height and weight advantage Jones has over Zach along with the fact that Zach basically /charged/ into that fist. He shakes his head loose, recentering a bit. He takes a couple of breaths, getting his sight back to somethign approaching normal. He grins a bit.
"Ain't over yet," Zach says gamely as he bobs and weaves back in, getting himself into position to do something a little... /odd/. The psychic leaps slightly, bringing his head up high. Energy engulfs the boxer as Zach brings his whole upper body forward like as if it were a whip to crack.
And Zach brings the thick, bony part of what most would consider an epically thick skull directly down on Jones' head!
COMBATSYS: MrJones dodges Zach's Headbutt.
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Zach 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 MrJones
"Oh, I'd hope not!" That would be a mighty uneventful Championship match, thinks Jones.
After brushing his mouth with his yellow sleeve, some specks of blood trailing there to show he didn't walk out of that unscathed, Johnny resumes grinning as if he hadn't just gotten punched in the face, always keeping his signature Jeet Kune Do stance up and at the ready, never being one to relax too much in a fight. He's conserving energy via his lazy open handed stance even if it's clear that he's ready to react at a moment's notice.
Case in point, when Zach launches himself as some kind kind of human energy powered missile, Jones frowns visibly and takes a step to the side.
"Come on brudda!" He as he extends his hand out as if he was going to pimp slap Zach, only to redirect the boy's head so it hits right beside him. "A headbutt!? That ain't proper boxing!" Because apparently Jones is now an expert pugilist! Boy, just one round with Dudley and he already thinks he knows everything there is to know about boxing.
With Zach overextended, Johnny finally chambers in his own attack and sends a blindingly fast piston like strike right for the boy's side, aiming to him in the kidneys! "SHOO!!"
COMBATSYS: Zach fails to interrupt Gaudy Punch from MrJones with Gazelle Punch.
-* CRITICAL FAIL! *-
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Zach 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 MrJones
Zach doesn't reply to the challenge of 'proper boxing'. Zach's style might be based heavily on the sweet science but his brawling past and the regular spars with Ken Masters, nevermind the exposure to about a bajillion styles of fighting and martial arts, have led Zach to evolve the basic pugilism into something a bit more freestyle than strictly boxing.
The swing comes in, and Zach is already ducking low and to Jones' right. He already has the left chambered, sheathed in yellow-golden energy. Power flows through the legs and lower back as Zach launches himself towards Jones' jaw for what should be a decisive counter!
However, it was not to be, as Jones' punch slams into his skull, sending the psion to the proverbial mats with thunderous impact. The crowd erupts, eating up the exchange like candy. Zach stays down, the ref starting the count. It takes until '6', but Zach gets up, emerald eyes blurry and out of focus.
The boxer blinks slowly at Jones, trying to regain his stance. The ref gets to '8' when he does, but the vision is slower to return.
Huh! Zach's kidneys are really really thick!
Oh wait a minute, that was his face!??
"Huh?" To the boxer's credit, his evasive maneuver was so fast that Mister Jones didn't ever realize he moved until his knuckles collided with something. Had Zach aimed that better it would have surely been a decisive blow against a bewildered looking Groove Master, who realizes just a fraction of a second later what happened. Judging by the cheers of the crowd and the way Zach positioned himself, he too attempted and all guts and glory maneuver only to collide against Jones' gaudy kidney punch in a way that actually made the attack even worse.
Whistling, the Groove Master skips back as Zach goes down for the count, hopping in one place and swinging to his Funky inner music. Apparently someone has been playing too much Super Punch Out!
When Zach eventually does get back up though, Jonesy grins and adjusts his stance to approach Zach cautiously waiting until the ref signals them to resume the match. "Hey! Come on!!" The funkynaitor taunts as he attacks again, normally he'd be letting the boy catch a breather but he can't allow such pleasantries in a highstake match like this. Exploding from his back foot, Johnny flies directly at Zach with a hand extended to cover the boxer's vision as he sends a sneaky straight haymaker right for his mouth! "WOASHA!"
COMBATSYS: MrJones successfully hits Zach with Retro Knuckle.
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Zach 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 MrJones
Zach rocks under the impact of Jones' punch, spraying blood from his mouth as he twists to the side. However, the psychic holds his ground. As he turns back towards Jones to deliver his witty response to Jones' tactics, something crystallizes in Zach's will. A single spark at the moment, the psychic reaches for it, attempting to turn a spark into fire.
Soul fire, burning bright in the boxer's eyes.
Zach turns, using the rotational torque of every muscle group he can properly manage, driving a sledgehammer of a psychic fist directly into Jones' liver, and hopefully driving the wind out of Jones' body!
COMBATSYS: MrJones blocks Zach's Liver Blow.
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Zach 0/-------/----===|=======\=====--\1 MrJones
And this would be why Jones wasn't even attempting to stop Zach's punches with his forearms as he usually did. Zach may have changed in form, in the way he carries himself, even in the way he fights, but he is still in essence Zach Glen and as Mister Jones has painfully learned, Zach likes to go the one hit knock out. Had he tired to even catch one of his soul powered fists with his hands, Johnny would have surely been to burnt out to deal with the incoming fist of death now sailing his way.
"Uh oh!" Jones jumps back noticing that he made Zach bleed, now the boy is angry and he's going to try and make the Groove Master bleed out his funk!!
But he is ready, he prepared himself exactly for this very moment in the fight. Jones grits his teeth, digs his back heel on the ring, puts his arms down to protect his torso and takes that blow right in the bicep! The Groove Master is pushed back inches as he tries to keep his stance, although he is ultimately sent back to the ropes with gaping, smoking hole on his suit where Zach punched him
"Man! That stings!" Wheezes the Disco King as he riiiips the sleeve of his jump suit so he can get some air there and focus again on the boxer. With him all bent out of shape like that, Jones senses that he's overextended after his devastating attack. It is not a predatory sense that drives Jones onward, but simply an instinct that tells him this is the right time to attack. Mista' Jay may be in the end not very mean spirited like most fighters, but he is pretty brutal.
"OOoOoOooO!!" Dashing sideways and inside Zach's defense, Johnny puts all his power on his standing leg to send a side thrust kick directly for Zach's neck with his usual finishing guillotine attack!!
"GROOVE MASTA'!"
COMBATSYS: MrJones successfully hits Zach with Way of the Groove Master.
- Power hit! -
[ \ < > //////////////////// ]
Zach 1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0 MrJones
Zach takes the kick clean across the neck, cutting off his supply of oxygen. He sways back slightly with the weight of the strike. However, he doesn't drop. Not yet. Not like this. He refuses to go out without having shown anything for it.
He reaches once more for that inner flame, taking it in mental hand. It is painful, but by Zach's experience, anything worth doing... anything worth working for... well, pain is /always/ a part of that experience. Ayame recently obliquely referred to him as the world's punching bag, and to an extent, that is true. Nothing, nobody, not Jones or Vega or Sagat will hit you harder than life can. It's all about standing up /after/ the beating that makes you who you are.
Zach's hand reaches for Jones, trying simply to reach him. He can't tell precisely where Jones is; Zach's vision is going dark quickly, and he needs /some/ frame of reference for this one last working.
The entire fight, Zach had been using a combination of physical and psychic. Not because it was the easiest path to victory. Far from it, in fact. Zach could have easily kept his distance and hammered the Funk Master from range. Instead, he faced Jones head-on, and the psychic seems to have hit his limit here.
This time, Zach uses only the formidable power of his soul, conjuring a spike of the golden energy aimed at slamming /through/ Jones!
COMBATSYS: Zach can no longer fight.
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MrJones 0/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: MrJones blocks Zach's Pile Bunker.
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MrJones 1/------=/=======|
Zach finally gives into the pain and the damage, and falls backward. The referee takes one look and immediately calls for the bell.
Jones has yet to achieve that level where he can punch harder than life anyway.
That said, with a combination of hard hitting techniques and the knowledge of knowing exactly where it hurts the most, arguably, Jones can get pretty darn close to causing damage that can rival any middle age crisis. As the edge of his foot collides against Zach's windpipe, holding back just enough so he doesn't crush the boy's throat, Johnny hops back on one foot and glances down to see how Zach struggles to get oxygen back into his lungs, enough so that he can...
Extend a hand up at him?
"Oh snap! You alright brudda??" Jones sounds worried all of the sudden. He's not Vega, he's not Gato, heck, he's not even Ayame! Johnny does have sufficient sense of sportsmanship in him that he can keep himself from flipping out in a fight even if it's high stakes like this. When Zach looks up to hold up a hand, Jones gets the wrong idea and thinks he's asking for help and in his...well...let's call it gullibility, Jones takes the bait and leans down to try and pull him up.
Only to get blasted almost to freaking smithereens by the powerful blast!
"Whoa Nelly!!" A desperate move of putting his hands up to protect his handsome face is all that keeps Jones from getting decapitated. The Groove Master is sent spiralling out of the ring where he lands on top of a bunch of Kenyans who try their best to toss him back into the ring.
"I'm okay! I'm okay!!" Come the calls of Johnny is drags himself back in, sliding under the ropes to hurriedly get back to his feet worried that the ref might call the match there in Zach's favor due to a ring out.
But to his surprise, as he slides back in, he arrives just in time to be proclaimed the winner!
"Too close." Wheezes Jones as he sets his hands on his knees, breathing out looking pretty winded.
The fight is over, and once more the crowning champion has been named. Once more Johnny Jones has triumphed against the odds and remains victorious. Yet, theres a rapid bit of conversation amongst the camera crew as the referee stands next to them, talking in hushed tones.
A younger woman who seems to be the leader of this motley crew winces as she moves over to the satellite phone, quickly placing a call. A few tense moments pass as the woman speaks, tears starting to form in the corner of her eyes as she glances back towards where Jones and Zach remain. The medical crew is already starting to swarm them, but its obvious she has to be the bearer of bad news.
The young woman quickly walks over to Jones and Zach, bowing slightly as she tries to regain her composure. "Mister Jones, Mister Glen. When we return to the United States, there will be two sealed envelopes waiting for you. It has been a pleasure following your progress all this way, but.."
A soft sigh escapes the woman as she starts to tremble. "This is my first assignment, so please try and understand this is rather hard on me... but.. We welcome you to Graduation Day. The location of your final fights within the Neo Development Project will be contained within the envelopes.. Your opponents will be revealed upon reaching the location. We thank you two for your fine contributions for this, and look forward to seeing your exploits in the future."
The woman bows towards the men once more, then motions towards the crew to finally cut the cameras. Its obvious that more is instore for these two.
Log created on 19:27:27 06/25/2012 by Zach, and last modified on 11:25:52 06/26/2012.