Description: In a pancake diner in Sunshine City, the ferocious Fujiwa Takako takes on the legendary (???) Howard Rust in MORTAL KOM-- wait, no, in a Neo League fight. Batter is spilled and breakfasts fly in this titanic clash of the ages. But whilst two may enter, none may enjoy a peaceful meal. (Winner: Rust)
Well, there's no way around it. Thanks to that... er... airport incident, there isn't going to be any of the actual Kyokugen experts around to lead the demonstration. The rest of the available candidates are out either on some other obscure tournament, in the middle of attempting to resolve the dispute with the Dojo's main lumber supplier, or some bizarre combination thereof.
All the better for them to squabble around in some dumpy pancake stop in one of the somewhat rougher parts around the very northern border of Sunshine City. There's about fourteen men total of varying ages set around a couple tables (the youngest being someone who should have probably gone back to Southtown to their high school - it's not quite summer break yet) and backgrounds, but their belts are all telling about what problems face them for the demonstration to happen eventually in Inner Sunshine later.
Nobody among them is above a green belt and, individually speaking, none of them are exactly an ideal choice to lead a demonstration for the crowds of busy Sunshine.
"So what are we going do?" Asks one of the younger ones with a very thick Korean accent as he finishes off some pancake of very interesting flavors. "We buy tickets for nothing now."
"Well, anyone who wants to go back to the master empty-handed after his daughter got knocked out of that NDP thing first round, raise your hand," says a guy who used to practice Judo - a heavy-set guy with a yellow belt - notably doesn't raise his hand. It may be because he's too busy cutting himself another piece of pancake, but one never knows.
"We aren't goin' back empty-handed," speaks the one student probably most familiar to readers, a certain middle-aged man with a green belt and... that dark purple thing on his head as he takes another drink of orange juice, "look, we just... we just gotta make it work."
"What're we going to do without Rodriguez-sensei?!" Says a white belt Southtown native who actually struggles to pronounce that name outright.
"Doesn't matter, the moment Robert sees the bill we've racked up in hotel fees and the like and the master sees we aren't bringing any students back," a fatalistic, lanky fellow green belt picks at some egg-based /thing/ of questionable health and taste on his plate, "we're gonna be in big trouble."
It's hard to enjoy breakfast in a fairly rough part of town of a low-tier restaurant when so many logistical issues rear their ugly heads. It's not looking too good for a Kyokugen outing, but it's all up from here.
...Right?
Meanwhile, Takako has had problems all of her own.
Ever since Adon had called her out, she had traveled across China, completely failing to find any willing competitors for the Neo League there. Needless to say, as days had ticked by into weeks, Takako's frustration had only grown. Her disgust at the cowardly manner in which not a single soul had seen fit to respond to her challenge since that day has been matched only by her boundless and obstinate refusal to back down in the face of adversity. The camera crew she has been trailing has thinned down to just two beleagured Neo League professionals. But they had made it to the shores of America, where, she is led to believe, the vast majority of the world's fighting talent is currently concentrated.
She couldn't care much less about the Dragon Tournament herself, nor about the gang war or the fates of those engaged in the Neo Development Project. She has been slipping past the rankings whilst other so-called fighters projected themselves ahead of her without even the good grace to challenge her! It is as though the world has decided that Adon is correct and she is a joke, to be ignored. Well. Not any more.
It is as she passes the pancake stop that she draws up short. The belts are all the signal that she needs. This is clearly some manner of fighting school outing! It will do.
The tiny Kendoist approaches the men with her bokken drawn. Her eyes ablaze with a bright and terrible enthusiasm. She'd gladly fight all of them if she had to, but, she has other designs in mind. Takako, has a PLAN! It is not a very well thought out plan, in fact it is downright terrible, but that has never stopped her before.
"Who is the strongest amongst you?" She demands, "My name is Takako Fujiwa, and assuming that your Sensei is not too frightened to have placed his name upon the roster of the Neo League, I will defeat him this day!" Her voice is loud, clear, and obnoxiously Japanese. She really does not LIKE America, even though she has been here several times in recent months, chasing Shadaloo or glory.
"For the honor of Fujiwa-style Kendo, I will not accept anything less!"
And to emphasize her point, she will even kick a chair. Because that always helps in encouraging people to acquiesce to your bizarre and potentially nonsensical demands.
The sharp question asked of the very small girl with the wooden sword carries a weight that far exceeds her own physical stature. It is a voice almost capable of striking as much fear - or at least, capable of garnering attention - as Takuma Sakazaki's own when he's in one of his bad moods.
'Who is the strongest among you?' She gets glances from a bunch of them. Three of the fourteen men gathered are green belts, and none are of any higher a belt color. Most of eleven remaining seem more interested in eating, given they know this particular query excludes them.
This leaves the lanky guy with a negative attitude who shifts his eyes from the other two to share a green belt, another man of American descent who is already thinking in advance and is gently moving his plate away from the heavy-set former Judo user, and...
...and the guy who probably shouldn't open his mouth with what goes through his head as the name suddenly rings a bell, a finger pointed away from the glass he's holding as he turns his head.
"Didn't you, uh, send me a note?" Speaks a certain older man - the one and only Howard Rust - as he watches the chair hurtles across the floor. That's a pretty good kick. "Some time back. Somethin' 'bout... Korea?"
"Ah... our Sensei isn't here," comments one of the white belts, "but... he's pretty good," he points over to Howard over there, as if already volunteering him. (It doesn't help that Howard is sitting on the outside edge of the table closest to Takako to begin with.)
Wait... that man, could it be...?
HOWARD RUST, THE HERO OF NEPAL?!
Takako's bluster does not fail her now, in fact, when she realizes just who that man with the horrible-looking hair, whom she had subconsciously been trying to blot out of her peripheral vision, actually is... she rounds on him. Walking over in a few, quick paces, she does her best to loom at him. This is much more difficult than it sounds, because even sitting down, Takako is a very small thing, and Rust is... bigger.
"HOWARD RUST!" She bellows, by this point, no doubt causing much of the breakfast set to wonder just how such a small thing can make such a large amount of noise. And how many times they would have to hit her to shut her up. (The answer is a lot).
"I did send you a note. You never replied! But, most of the people I challenged did not. I have decided to take the challenge to them, instead. And to you!"
Both hands move to her hips, wooden practice weapon still dangling from her grip as she does. "How about it, Howard Rust?! I have heard of your exploits, and I would be honored to pit my bokken against your..." She struggles for the right word. Weapon? Fist? Style? Skills? No. Let us call it what it is.
"Pipe."
The man - for what he encompasses as being a man of great resilience who somehow weathered so much in the desperate struggle to stop Vega's bid for world domination - is seemingly cowed on the spot by the severity of Takako's bellowing, a brief wince shared by almost everyone in earshot. Cracks form on the glass he's holding, but it isn't entirely clear as to whether that was by Takako's mighty voice or the increasingly stronger clench on his glass from that sudden surge of pain going through his ears - probably a bit of column A, a bit of column B.
"'m sorry that, uh, never got back to you." There... was a lot going on in getting back to something approaching the everyday life he'd been trying to get back into the groove of - but he gets the feeling she's not really looking for excuses. She's got that same really dangerous, focused glint in her eyes he's seen in the likes of Marisol back when he was a high school teacher.
The other Kyokugen students present, having decided that maybe it is for the best that they take this opportunity to finish up their breakfasts although the one green belt that's guarding his meal a bit more closely seems kind of doubting about Takako's proposal - they're here to get students, Howard's way of doing things aren't orthodox (a point of contention on occasion) - would a televised Neo League match here send the wrong message about what they're looking for? He doesn't dare speak up against it, though.
"Yeah, I'll... I'll honor that," the older man clears his throat, "'scuse me, just lemme finish this... glass," he murmurs out the last word as he sees the glass he's holding is cracked. Do I really want to put what might become shards of glass in my mouth? His eyes shift across glasses of water and other things... damn it, all of them already took a sip of their own stuff, don't want to waste this.
He risks it anyway, even as droplets flee through the cracks. A tiny shard of glass breaks off where his lips are, ingesting the sharp thing and swallowing it with comically bugged-out eyes as his throat nonetheless wrestles with the sharp thing that threatens to tear its way down.
Perhaps the fact that he ultimately decides not to care about this particular event speaks to the general 'tough guy' reputation he has as he pulls himself up from the table with a pop in his shoulder and knee. He was getting a bit too comfortable at the table. Ol' Rusty, that battered rusted length of pipe through a toolbelt pocket by his left hip (yes, he does wear a toolbelt /and/ his colored belt together for some reason) is gripped at by his right hand.
"Sorry to, to make you wait," he clears his throat again, as he mentally judges how much general space he has between tables and such. How much swinging room he has to not hit another student in the head (much as he's wanted to do that to some of them through this trip, a feeling that is surely mutual).
Takako does indeed care little about excuses. She is nothing if not a pragmatic sort, and whilst she is certain that every single person who has ignored her has rationalized it in their own way... the end result is all that matters. Still, that Rust is prepared to make ammends for his earlier negligence is gratefully received. She nods her head, curtly, and then stands back to give him space. She even stops shouting, much to the general relief of, well, pretty much everyone.
The Neo League cameraman has to remember how to operate the equipment, and is faintly surprised to find that it still works, but he gives her a thumbs up. Takako herself is watching Rust intently. She has to wonder whether this is some deliberate ploy; that Rust is demonstrating he is tough enough to eat glass. She even, briefly, entertains the thought of doing such herself in order to show that she's not intimidated... but she decides against it. Of all the ways this could end, an emergency trip to the hospital because she decided to chow down on something that you just aren't meant to eat, is probably the most obviously humiliating.
One thing that has continually shone through in Takako's fights, despite the fact that she hasn't won a single on of them to date, is that she doesn't try to trick or fight dirty. As Rust gets up from the table, she waits. As he prepares his weapon of choice, she waits. She's visibly agitated, eager to get into the fray and work the stress of the long journey out... but she's not going to violate her own code of honor. Which means that she has to be sure that Rust is ready and prepared before she begins trying to bludgeon him into unconsciousness. It would not be /fair/ otherwise.
"Are you ready?" She asks, settling into her own stance, with, notably less care for where the rest of the world happens to be in relation to herself. Property damage is something other people can worry about, and if these Kyokugen students can't defend themselves from her wayward bokken, well, maybe that will just teach them something! "I don't mind waiting, so long as when we begin, you are ready to see it through to the end!" There is nothing more frustrating, after all, than suddenly having to stop mid-fight because your opponent forgot that they really need something they left in their other pants. Or toupee.
Thankfully for all involved, the glass swallowing bit doesn't seem to impact the older man any further (wait until it gets through the digestive system). He's not swallowing again, or rubbing his throat, or anything of the sort that would suggest that he should really get to a hospital right now or something.
His own discussion with Ken (and Zach) some time back does ring a bit of real tension. He's too good for the NDP - as much as he really needed the money it offers, he just needs to buck up and understand that he's in the big leagues now. Compare this to the very young Takako there who - despite her age - is already showing herself to be fairly formidable in sheer /dedication/. The drive. The hunger. The worst thing he could do to her now, he thinks, would be to treat her as anything other than someone of amazing capability on his level. As much as a few particularly bad Saturday Night Fight outings have colored his perception of his skill level...
Her question is well timed. He brings his right hand away from Ol' Rusty to pat around his pockets. Is it still there, is it... yeah, the shape of the thing Quon left him, still there. With one last deep breath, he brings his right hand back to the pipe and gives it a good tug. You ready, he seems to ask it in silence.
Given how easily it leaves the toolbelt pocket this go around, it sure seems ready enough as the older man points Ol' Rusty forward wordlessly, and brings it down to his side and slightly away while he leans forward.
Meanwhile, a waitress struggles to move around the minimalist camera crew in order to deliver some more things to some other table. A manager might come out screaming in some time over the matter.
"'m good whenever," he mutters out. A few of the students decide to try and slide a bit inward for added breathing space for when the blunt objects fly.
COMBATSYS: Rust has started a fight here.
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Rust 0/-------/-------|
It is something that has caused a fair amount of confusion, really. WHY Takako keeps throwing herself into these fights when she is clearly outmatched by almost every fighter on the roster. Sometimes she seems genuinely frustrated; even furious! But, what most people don't understand is that she isn't furious with her opponents (... unless they do treat her as a joke). She's furious with herself, because she's at that particular stage in development where she can mostly see exactly how she went wrong... but she isn't quite good enough to correct the mistake consistently next time.
Takako has said it before, and she'd likely say it many more times. She doesn't fight other people, in the Neo League. She fights herself. The only way she is going to reach her potential, is by facing down people many times more learned than she is, so that she can sharpen her raw skills on them. Her school is, fundamentally, a school of combat practiced by berserkers and madmen; it is not something which you can easily learn outside of a fight itself.
When Rust says that he is ready, she nods her head firmly. "Good." She returns, and, just for a moment, she steels herself. Okay, Takako. It is time to fight!
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The bellowed scream is FAR more intense than her last shout had been, and it is accompanied by a sudden slamming down of her foot, and a bright flaring gust of chi energy. It lashes out in a wave, all around her, just for a brief second as she thrusts herself forwards. The force of her shout is intended to startle; to wake up her opponent and prepare herself for the battle ahead. It is to energize her, and psyche herself up! SHE ISN'T GOING TO MESS UP THIS TIME!
THE HERO OF NEPAL IS GOING TO FACE THE HEAD OF TAKAKO!!!
And in the same instant as that startling shout, the waitress screams and throws the plates into the air, patrons jerk and startle, the chair she'd kicked aside earlier is scuffed up and splintered by the lashing wind of energy... and the chaos that tends to accompany the street fighting circuit, even in its most earnest practicioners, begins in earnest.
COMBATSYS: Takako has joined the fight here.
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Takako 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rust
COMBATSYS: Rust endures Takako's Kiai.
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Takako 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Rust
Some people go from zero to violence at a startling rate of speed. Rust over there has seen some impressive speeding in this regard, how fast fists start flying over the simplest things.
He, to wit, has never seen someone just go from a barely contained fury to an outright display of strength so quickly /ever/. Even as the waves of energy wash through him in his own approach, he is not moved by the breath of the Earth given form by those of strong will and capability as he's already drawing Ol' Rusty inwards for a backswing.
It's the sheer volume.
For the lesser inanimate objects and less prepared and capable, it is much more pronounced. Glasses spill. A nearby table falls over. Food is dropped. Disappointment and disgust are seen among the nearby Kyokugen diners as they spill things over their meals or otherwise end up tossing them out of being surprised at such volume and strength.
For one Howard Rust, who weathers the initial storm by stepping into and through it - toupee flapping upwards twice revealing a combover of his actual hair color underneath before settling - he is merely startled. Her call to wake herself up serves to also wake up a man of a somewhat sleepy demeanor on a given day, slightly wider eyes from surprise and the sudden jerk in his swinging arm that ends up giving him a little bit of added speed and strength as the backswing goes about head-level.
He's awake now!
COMBATSYS: Takako endures Rust's Medium Strike.
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Takako 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Rust
Takako has psyched herself up, which means that when Rust comes in with his pipe, she has steeled herself for the inevitable. She steps forwards, and the blow *RINGS* throughout her skull as it connects. It rattles her from her teeth to her toes, but it utterly fails to break her forward momentum, and now that she is committed to the movement, her bokken is swinging around to return the favor.
There is little subtly in Takako's style. Where Rust had aimed to crash into her head, however, she is going for a different tactic. She'd found that focusing on bludgeoning the head of her opponent tends to fail; her reach, even with her sword, is rather lacking, and she usually has to jump or stretch in an unwieldy manner to manage it, giving them vital time and opportunity to turn the attack aside.
So instead, she brings the weapon smashing around in a horizontal movement, aiming to crash right into the side of Rust's right knee. She puts all of her forward momentum into it, hoping that if she really puts all of her weight and determination into it, she can bring Rust down to her level.
Because if she can do /that/, maybe /then/ she can go for the head!
COMBATSYS: Rust Toughs Out Takako's Power Strike!
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Takako 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Rust
There's nothing subtle about Takako's intent or line of thought, but there is little fault to be made about her swing and choice of how to go about it. She strikes with confidence born of speed and strength well beyond her small frame against a legitimately open target prime for striking as bokken meets knee. In this respect, it is a legitimate moment of counting coup. Imagine if the blade were sharp, and the target...
...something other than unmoving.
His right knee, for all the grief it (and every other joint) gives Howard, holds solidly against the blow as the concussive force sees motes of dust and other little debris on the floor nearby scatter away from it. The only visible immediate admission on his part that he's been struck is the sudden gritting of teeth as he tries to get a hold of one of her shoulders with his left hand to yank her towards an outstretched left foot to trip her over along the way. It's not an optimal grip for him by any means - given her lower stance and tight form and sheer /ferocity/ - but the Hero of Nepal isn't about to let a solid, powerful strike that slipped through his defenses take him down to a kneel or worse.
COMBATSYS: Takako blocks Rust's Medium Throw.
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Takako 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Rust
Takako has been learning how to deal with these tricky throws. They have, more than any other factor, spelled her doom in her fights to date. She's tough! But she's not used to the break in momentum that a hefty throw can inflict on her, and most of her training is focused on how to plough through sword blows and fireballs... not getting up after being thrown off your feet.
However, when Rust grabs her, she prepares, and as he drags her over his leg... she smashes the tip of her bokken into the floor. The shock runs up her arms, but her weapon does not break, and the unconventional tactic ensures that she can reassert herself, standing back firm and wrenching her shoulder free.
And then she's thrusting her sword up and at Rust's chest. The girl is breathing harder, quite aware of how close she'd come to taking a very painful tumble, and sweat beads on her brow as she reasserts herself following the dramatic clash.
It isn't just a simple poke, though. It seems that way... but at the last moment, she DOES jump! Throwing herself in and leaping up, she aims to barge her shoulder into Rust's chest, and, hopefully, if she's inside his guard, bring the tip of her bokken smacking up into the bottom of his jaw, instead. Staying close as she can, her small frame and lack of reach can suddenly be turned into quite a surprising advantage; dealing with something so tiny and so determined to beat you with a heavy stick is something few martial arts really ever prepare you for.
COMBATSYS: Rust interrupts Determined Breeze from Takako with Cement Upper.
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Takako 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Rust
She catches herself well enough - enough that he might believe that she is, in fact, a lot better trained against being tossed and tumbled about than she actually is, though his own mastery of tosses and holds is comparatively a touch rudimentary in turn, favoring brute strength over exact precision when it comes to it.
He turns to face her a bit slowly after the fact, up until the sword pokes into his chest with enough force unto itself to leave a slight bruise. He's already holding Ol' Rusty back as he raises his left arm to-- wait!! A thought strikes him. She's using his own strength against himself! It's with this sudden split-second thought born of his own formidable experience and understanding of his own strengths (and how people often use either against him) to actually take a brief step back to remove himself as a stepping stone just as she gets to the air, heel bumping up against a booth seat as he rotates his wrist slightly to double-check his hold on Ol' Rusty.
Moments later, the rusted length of pipe is something of a blur as he swings it upward into the (most likely, off-balance) airborne Kendo student with a powerful forward momentum that glides him across the dirty restaurant floor, intercepting the combination shoulder barge into hilt jab with just one powerful uppercut swing - his trademark Cement Upper.
Few martial arts can really prepare one for the ferocity of something so tiny with a large stick, but experience with the fact that he's had his fill of deliriously battle-ready schoolgirls serves him well enough here.
Takako is genuinely surprised by the motion. She's been countered before, of course, but rarely has she been taken so completely off guard. She hadn't imagined that Rust would be capable of such swift movements, being such a generally slow man. But, there it is. The evidence hits her square across the chest and forcefully BOUNCES her off the ceiling in a cracking of tile, before she hits the floor, and rolls.
A lesser warrior would take a moment to recover, but Takako is no such lesser warrior. Yes, that had hurt, but she shall not be defeated so easily! No sooner has she hit the floor, than she is controlling her momentum to bring herself rolling back into the fight, at the last moment using her bokken to hit not Rust, but the floor! Springing back up and hurling herself towards him with battle frenzy in her eyes.
"KIYAAAAH!"
It is not the most controlled rebound in the world, but all things considered, it is a pretty impressive feat to manage after taking such a powerful hit full on, and both knees are now coming in fast, aiming to crush right into Rust's nose. If there's one thing you can definitely say for Takako, it is that slowing her down is a fool's errand, and she's more than happy to batter herself constantly against a foe, no matter how implacable they might seem!
COMBATSYS: Rust endures Takako's Random Strike.
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Takako 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Rust
It's such a gruesome display of physics that the older man - mistakenly - believes that might have really hurt he-- oh shit she's coming back again. He's seen tough and then there's... really, really tough. Shit, she might've been able to bowl through a crowd of soldiers by herself - not that he'd ever willingly let children into such a warzone if he could help it.
Now's a really bad time to compare the present and measure it against a theoretical experience in the past, given that she has not just rebounded against three painful impacts in the blink of an eye, but because she's leaping at him again with both knees at head level just as he's figuring out his stance for her next approach. Quick as his strikes sometimes are in spurts, she's all-around quick and aggressive and that's an intimidating place to be no matter how sure of yourself you are.
It's very hard to be sure of oneself when he tilts his head uselessly against two knees to the face. Given the closed space, there may not be a great angle in which the available cameras have to really capture the brutality of what goes on in slow motion - the way the man's head and upper body starts to tilt back, the stress on the struck knee from earlier resulting in another stubborn crackling, the lack of anything he could grab onto to stabilize himself in arm's length (and even if he did, his strength in the heat of the moment would probably just break the chair or table or whatever else he might try to grab onto).
What the cameras will have no difficulty catching, however, is the man's own determination to stay standing even as his feet awkwardly shift and the muscles in his back strain from how far back he leans. Takako might see there's a thin trickle of blood coming out of his left nostril, but he's not letting himself fall backwards.
No, instead he hurls his head forwards to try and counteract the backwards momentum inflicted upon him, sharply throwing his upper body towards in a bowed headbutt as the dark... purple thing on his head threatens to make actual, physical contact atop a hardened scalp that in no way, shape, or form could have naturally produced this horrendous mockery of nature and God he considers hair as the rest of his body responds in aching from this bit of whiplash.
COMBATSYS: Takako interrupts Hardhat Rush from Rust with Kami's Roar.
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Takako 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 Rust
Takako wholeheartedly approves of Rust's steadfast nature. Whilst she is hardly one to deny a good fight in any capacity, the ability of the tough man to keep fighting is made abundantly clear. Not only that, but he /isn't/ one of these fools who dodges everything thrown their way, too scared to learn how to take a proper hit. He doesn't even seem to rely on chi-trickery, another facet of things that Takako is, at least a little skeptical of. Muscle and the determination to use it are all a martial artist truly requires! So in a strange kind of way, Rust has earned Takako's respect.
He's also earned her face.
He bends down, and as he does, putting his upper body into the headbutt, Takako rears hers back. It isn't very far, but the sudden *JERK* as she crashes her head forwards is impressive, packing a stunning amount of force for such a little girl, into the ploughing forwards-motion. Forehead collides with forehead, and as Takako roars right into Rust's face, it is her skull which comes out thicker this time.
"HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
Not, one of the approved Kendo kiais, the roar really is more an angered bellow of defiance, and as she couples it with a slamming foot into the ground again, resetting her stance, it is easy to see that it has riled her up. Her blood is pounding! She's still standing, having managed to overcome Rust's head with her own! That, alone, validates weeks of travel, hours of frustration, and her decision to force him to fight.
"COME ON, HOWARD!" She shouts, beaming from ear to ear, all elation and pent-up energy, "HIT ME AS HARD AS YOU CAN! I CAN /TAKE/ IT!"
It is not just impressive in how, in battle of head vs. head, as to who comes out the victor.
It's outright comical! There is nothing that can bring upon a smile of the face of viewers (or, perhaps, outright horror) of a burly, fully-grown man and a young, tiny girl matching the exact same strikes together and having it end up with the unexpected loser of such a test of mettle (and willingness to risk brain damage or disconnected retinas, etc) than by having them stumble and fall flat onto their bum.
That is exactly what it happens, with Howard finding himself seated on the restaurant floor and a dropped, shattered plate of food that is warm, moist, and kind of embarrassing to have stuck at the seat of one's pants (they will of course capture this on film). He even has to take a moment to gingerly rub his forehead, compared to just how quick Takako came out of that vicious counter-strike of his just some moments ago. He shakes his head once as one of his shoulders pop, pulling himself up disappointingly slowly.
"Y-Yeah, yeah you can," she sure doesn't need to say that after he saw her get struck by pipe, hit ceiling, hit floor, and leap at him into that headbutt. /What are they feeding her?/ He coughs once to clear up his throat, because holy crap this floor is unclean and why the hell did they have to stop here to eat?
When he's back on his feet, he's not wasting any more time showing that, yes, he's still in the fight as he takes Ol' Rusty in both hands, the only moment of pause being to size up Takako's current stance and whatever direction she might be leaning before he suddenly thrusts the thing forward at her, almost straight ahead.
She might have the superior headbutt, but she has yet to prove she's got the better swing. Thrust. Either or.
COMBATSYS: Takako Toughs Out Rust's Fierce Strike!
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Takako 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Rust
Rust's pipe is thrust forwards, and it finds its mark perfectly. The weapon impacts her right between the eyes, and, well, most sane people would have put up some manner of defense, to try and mitigate the damage somewhat. Instead, she just grings her teeth, and pushes her head forwards into the impact. Two paces. Three, and she will NOT be moved by it! Oh yes, that had hurt! That had hurt a great deal! But she is not going to let herself show it! She can still fight!
Suddenly jerking her head upwards, the pipe is deflected away, and in that same motion, she braces herself, and then comes springing forwards. Her bokken is gripped firmly, one hand halfway up the weapon, the other tight on the hilt, and she aims to drive it forwards into a powerful, forwards-thrusting blow right into Rust's midsection. It isn't sharp, much like Rust's pipe isn't sharp, but it is still more than capable of being a formidable thrusting weapon.
"HRRRRGH!"
That isn't even pretending to be a kiai, Takako. That is just a grunt of effort. You can do better than that, can't you? And as she gets closer, she does! Managing to turn the growl of exertion into yet another fearsome,
"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
COMBATSYS: Rust blocks Takako's Crushing Strike.
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Takako 0/-------/-======|=======\===----\1 Rust
The pipe is deflected not only away, but in a manner that the older man actually turn his body and move with it so that he doesn't drop it with how she gets it out of her way. It's a moment of weakness worth capitalizing on, as she moves forward to drive the point of her full dedication and might home upon his person.
She has seen how he's able to take clean hits and keep going, but now - the first time this encounter - she gets to witness how strong he is defensively when he's moving to really ward off a solid blow, going to a crouch and lifting up his left elbow to meet the blow, a brief squeal of stressed pipe as he clenches his left fist tightly - perhaps aided, ever so slightly, by how the kiai pierces his eardrums and makes his muscles twitch at the sheer volume and ferocity of them all.
Flesh does not give way. It's like ramming something into what could be confused for solid stone. It just stops. A strike that could rend and destroy almost any attempt to halt it. That very blow could have possibly shattered swords, faces, arms, just about anything imaginable given Takako's determination.
It barely even registers, now, as Howard doesn't let this fact linger on for long. There is a sudden stiffness in his movement, popping in his joints as he wills to move a body that feels like locking itself up as he flexes his left arm outward to grab Takako's head and pull her inward before swinging Ol' Rusty's hilt into her, ending it with an elbow strike by his right arm as he fights himself back up to a standing position.
"Show her your kicks already," one of the Kyokugen yellow belts belts out.
COMBATSYS: Takako blocks Rust's Armed Combo.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Takako 1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Rust
Takako allows her head to be grabbed, but her sword comes too. The hefty wooden implement neatly intercepts first the hilt of the pipe, and then the elbow strike. She saw the attack coming, and as she is released, she's already flinging herself into the offense. Defense is, a strange thing for Takako. She accepts that it is necessary; if she didn't defend herself, she's be rendered incapable of pressing the offensive too quickly to actually do any damage! But, at the same time, it always feels like a missed opportunity.
She's impressed by Rust's guard, too. But... she's also been fighting a lot of people who seem capable of tanking her every blow without showing too much sign of being hurt by it. His guard stands out, but it is another challenge to be overcome, and now? She thinks she knows just how to do it.
With a wordless shout, Takako lunges back into the fray. Bokken held high, she brings it swinging around low... but almost instantly, she's tearing herself into the air. The sheer force of the movement is a strain on her muscles, literally putting too much of herself into the attack for comfort. She down hard on her tongue, tasting the thick iron tang of blood to spur her on...
And aim to SHATTER Rust's guard in a series of three, powerful overhead swings, delivered before she hits the ground, and aiming to smash into each shoulder, and then his forehead. Brute force and ignorance seeking to match a masterful guard!
COMBATSYS: Rust guards against Takako's Violent Hurricane.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Takako 1/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Rust
Back in the air again, and back with another sense of seeming dread about what she's going to do ne-- no, what she /is/ doing, as he finds himself switching to his right arm - with some reluctance - to catch that first overhead blow at the angle she's coming a--
Crack! Takako's strength forcefully bats down his right arm, dropping Ol' Rusty to the ground in the process. Forced to a kneel for added space to move, he brings his left arm u--
Crack! There's a wince as she bats it down. Pain surges through his biceps and shoulders as he finds, in the heat of the moment, he has three incredibly big problems. She's slapping down his formidable defense, she's probably about to hit yet again, and Ol' Rusty's on the--
He doesn't dwell on it. Immediately, appropriate of a man who reportedly survived being shot, stabbed, blown up, and having all other sorts of complete nastiness being inflicted upon him, he takes his pipe in both hands and thrusts it upwards horizontally to meet the last, final strike of the violent hurricane in which no gentle eye of the storm even conceptually exists, as rusted length of pipe meets wooden sword in such a loud crash that some wonder if one weapon or the other got shattered, a breeze of air rushing out from the point of incredible impact as the older man forces himself back up on his feet - not to dwell on how friggin' close he was to getting a concussion, deciding that now actually really is a good time to follow the (very rude) suggestion by one of the yellow belts.
When he came to Kyokugen, he knew he was coming to a limit in his growth given the injury he suffered in his right hand. He needed more. He needed to be more, more well-rounded, more everything - and it is at this moment he decides that, yes, now's a good time to express the extent of what he has added and integrated into his fighting technique as he lets both arms hang relatively limp while casting the pain coursing through them out of his mind.
He starts thrusting one of his legs out low - maybe a bit too soon, if she hasn't quite landed, but it's not the only one as another kick is thrown up higher, and higher. Multiple kicks from low to high, low to high, as he moves into Takako with this series of kicks more than reminiscent of the Kyokugen Zan'retsuken technique, giving his arms a brief breather while the kicks do the talking in his switch from an amazing defense to a relentless offense.
A few of the other Kyokugen students nearby are probably ready to give little claps - that's the sort of technique they want the world to see demonstrated when they get around to doing the proper deal in Sunshine City and... not at this dive of a pancake place.
COMBATSYS: Rust successfully hits Takako with Man At Work EX.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Takako 0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0 Rust
Takako opens herself to the first kick, raising her sword, totally intent on dealing with it by going through it as she descends. But, to her surprise, the man who has almost an entire foot of height on her, turns out to have the physical strength to back that up. Her wide open arms set her up nicely for the impact, and she is caught by it, opened up for the next, and the next, and the next. Each kick juggles the girl in the air, until she is finally allowed to land, with a heavy thump. Given the fact that she does not, for once, immediately rebound onto the offensive, the Kyokugen clapping seems quite well-earned.
But she is not finished yet. Not quite. And as she rises up to her feet, the young girl pauses only to cup her jaw, and rock it back and forth. Okay, not dislocated, and, quick check with the tongue... yup, she still has all her teeth. Right then.
"Nice."
Which... is one of the few times she can ever remember complementing anyone in a fight before. But that HAD been nice. She hadn't expected him to flip out with a bunch of kicks, and he'd caught her totally by surprise with it. That sort of flexibility deserves to be recognized!
He's not the only one who can do kicks, though! Steeling herself for what may very well be the end, the girl narrows her eyes, and then comes hurtling back into the fray. Rust has learned that Takako jumps about a lot, and he might just be expecting that again...
But instead, at the last moment, the tiny black-haired girl goes in low like a torpedo, sliding along the ground with both feet extended. It is a last-ditch effort to catch him off guard... but sometimes, when everything else has failed, you just have to go for something new!
COMBATSYS: Rust interrupts Strong Kick from Takako with Bulldozer.
[ < > //////////// ]
Takako 1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0 Rust
The vicious series of kicks - building on a technique he had already made his own years before he came to Southtown - ends with a man of somewhat more renewed vigor even as he has to shake out one of his legs afterwards. It was starting to fall asleep. He should've gotten in some more of the morning exercises - kicking that fast without really warming up does not do wonders for one's blood circulation.
To Takako's compliment as he watches her get up - actually he'd be more surprised if she /didn't/ get back up, given how quickly she rebounds from the looks of things - he can really only give a brief nod as he settles back to a proper stance.
She runs again. Rather than wait for her to come to him, he goes to an odd sort of... crouch. Sitting in midair? Ol' Rusty is held in front of him horizontally. Is this to ward off another blow he assumes will be in the same vein as that devastating triplicate strike?
Tensing himself up, he seems to shudder in place, an odd vibrating noise from his mouth as he suddenly seems to glide forward even as she chooses to go low. Inwardly he actually panics here, thinking... shit, shit, she's not in the air.
But he pushes along anyway, as her feet strike low into his feet and shins. The problem is, it doesn't knock him over or push him back. He's still going, moving forward at her in such a way she gets scooped up at his legs and pushed around like a pile of gravel or dirt before he suddenly falls backwards, lifting her up with his feet and tossing her overhead and behind himself.
Given the narrow amount of side-to-side space they've had to work with, it is entirely possible he might accidentally toss her into a table, as he rocks back and forth on his back for a couple key minutes after the fact to work out the stiffness in his body and that sudden, really sharp sense of pain in one of his ankles.
Takako is sailing through the air, and as she does, she has a few seconds to consider the matter. She had not, actually, expected this. Now that this is happening, and she can tell her body is reaching its final limits, she is not entirely sure what she should do. A quick check of limbs shows that they are still nominally responding so, okay, carry on, she can do this!
Oh look a table full of pancakes.
*WHAM!*
It takes Takako a full second to pull herself back up to her feet. When she does, she seems to have replaced her bokken with the leg of a chair, without, actually, having noticed. Blood runs from a shallow cut in her forehead, but that is a minor consideration. Because if there is /one thing/ that her Neo League journey has taught her, it is the warning signs that her body is going to dare to give up.
The encroaching numbness, darkness at the edge of her vision, sudden /lack/ of pain as comforting unconsciousness edges onto the scene. Oh yeah, there it is.
But she will not go quietly into the night.
Instead, the girl summons up the last of her willpower. Chi is the energy of the world, but Takako does not flow with it. She wrenches it into place, crudely grabbing it and forcing it around the chair leg that serves as her temporary weapon. Swirling winds rip and tear at her, as she kneads them into place. "Hnnngh!" She exclaims, as verbose as ever, as she swings the leg forwards.
The energy is a ripping wave of air, a gust of force with all of her fierce determination behind it... but it is also all that she has in her. The winds have cut her own palms, making the chairleg bloody as it slides from her grip, and when she final does plant her face, forward, into a discarded pancake... it is without so much as a shred of dignity remaining, as far as the public will care.
But all the dignity in the world, as far as she is concerned. She had given her all, and there is no shame in defeat when you've done that!
COMBATSYS: Takako can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rust 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Rust blocks Takako's Bladed Gust EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rust 0/-------/---====|
Howard does not like the sound of that impact of Takako into table! Oh, he knows how this is going to end. Lawsuits, lawsuits everywhere, maybe... maybe they should've stepped outside. These mundane, distracting thoughts at a critical time of a fight's approaching conclusion are often fatal as he rolls onto his side.
The Kyokugen crowd is silent. Their breakfast was long ruined, but a nearby Takako is a thing of worry and warrants silence in watching what she's going to do next.
As the older man gets a hand on a booth seat to pull himself up to the popping of his joints and other signs of wear, tear, and fatigue, there is that last grunt of exertion and the swirling air a ways away that draws his eyes.
With a loud grunt of exertion himself (it's an odd string of consonants, something like 'gccccct' or something equally nigh-on impossible to really put in lettering), he forces himself back to at least one more bit of physical effort to swing his right elbow onto the oncoming blast of air, swinging Ol' Rusty outwards at thin air as it violently parts and washes over him in brief before he starts taking some steps over to where Takako lies face down.
He's not going to write it off as being over. Is it? After all that bouncing back she's done...
"Uh... hey, you still... you still good?" He thinks to ask the faceplanted Takako as he sometimes looks up to someone yelling at him angrily. He holds up his left hand as if to say either 'sorry' or 'hold on' in his slow approach, coughing once. God, this place, never eating here again. So dirty.
COMBATSYS: Rust has ended the fight here.
Log created on 07:18:54 06/26/2012 by Takako, and last modified on 16:07:55 06/26/2012.