Description: Test of the Dragon brings together Rick Strowd and Aranha for a fight at Dragon Arena to decide who gets to move on. Aranha gets off to a fast start but Rick manages to make up ground in a brutal battle of foot versus fist. (Winner: Aranha)
The crowd has slowly been filling out the arena over the course of about two hours. The last bits are starting to get in and find their seats as a second round match for Trial of the Dragon is set to go down this evening. This one pits two of the surprise winners in the first round against one another to see who can move on and become one of the final four competitors. Two swift fighters take center stage here tonight as both Rick Strowd and Aranha will be putting on a show worthy of being held in this location. Or at least the staff that had decided on said location hope. The place sold out so if it ends up being a bad fight the crowd might start to get rather rowdy.
Rick arrived relatively early to get himself prepared. He was shown to one of the locker rooms where he could properly ready himself and apply the war pair he often wears when in a competition and not just punching random mooks in the face. The latter has been something he has done for quite some time since arriving in Sunshine. He is trying to do his part at least. He has only stopped a few guys here and there, but something seemed to get the gangers more angry than normal. They seem to be traveling in groups that make it a bit harder to pick off. One or two guys Rick can handle. When it gets to four or five things get alot more tricky.
For now he keeps himself focused on the upcoming fight. He needs to see just how far he can go and the Dancing Spider is just more hurdle he has to clear. The guy took down Andy Bogard too which is no small feat. If he wants to have a chance he is going to have to give it his all and hope his fists are faster than his opponents feet. The Southpaw thrusts a fist in the air as he steps out when his name is announced. There is a smarmy looking grin on his face now. He is starting to get excited. The cheer of the crowd always gets him pumped up. "TIME TO GET THE PARTY STARTED, EVERYONE!"
When Aranha was shown his locker, Aranha didn't need to do as much in the way of preparation, beyond putting on his fighting gear and tying on his bandana. Aranha chooses once again to forgo his Oakley Thumps after being shown time and time again that people will actively target his shades/source of music.
After spending some time to as Aranha would put it, 'Get his mind right,' he's called upon and is immediately ushered towards the ring. The cheers ring from the stand and Aranha comes running out. Taking advantage of the open pathway to the ring, Aranha goes into a tumbling pass starting from round off into a trio of back handsprings before performing a back flip with a twist which puts him at the edge of the ring.
He climbs in and then waves to the fans before giving Rick a nod.
Looks like the party is about to get started indeed. Meanwhile the broadcasters are going over the 'tale of the tape' and wondering if Aranha's victory over Andy was a fluke.
Alot of people could call some of the wins in this tournament so far a fluke. There are some fighters still in no one would have guessed would make it and for the most part all the maches were very close. It really might be anyone's tournament at this point and it has lead to some intrigue on who will win it all since a few favorites have been removed. Of course there are still big names in it, but given the amount of upsets it is hard to say someone has this tournament in the bag.
The boxer throws a few punches just to get himself loosened up then he notices Aranha coming out a well to join him in the arena proper. The Native American is still grinning as he gives a nod back. "Heard what you did to Bogard. Guess we are both kinda dark horses in this shindig now, huh?" he asks and adjusts the fingerless gloves he wears. With both fighters looking to be ready things will be starting rather soon. The adrenaline is really pumping through him now just as he hears the fans cheer both fighters on.
He extends a fist outwards for a small bump if Aranha so chooses to do so then he sort of hops back a few steps as he gets in his fighting stance. The grin fades a bit as a more serious expression starts to come across his face. He looks all too ready to get this thing started. Then over the speakers the words 'FIGHT!' are shouted and the boxer just launches himself forward. he brings his left fist back as he lunges, looking to deliver a hard straight aimed right at the chest of Aranha. "Grrrrrggggrraaaaaah!"
COMBATSYS: Rick has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rick 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Aranha has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Aranha 0/-------/-======|=------\-------\0 Rick
COMBATSYS: Rick successfully hits Aranha with Straight Punch.
Grazing Hit
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Aranha 0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0 Rick
"For a moment there, I thought I still wouldn't have been able to move on. It was still a draw. And Dark Horse is a role I've been used to most of my life." Aranha doesn't have anything else to say in reference to the Bogard fight nor his role in the rest of the tourney. His heart rate is slowly rising and a grin is appearing on his face as he hops in place to loosen the muscles a bit.
Aranha then kneels for a moment and touches the ground and as he looks up he sees Rick extending a fist. Well. No reason he can't touch fist to gloves before hopping back quickly enough to go into ginga.
The capoeirista sways left to right and right to left in his battle dance and then Rick brings the fight to him. Aranha twists to the side as the punch barely connects with his shoulder. Even just partially hitting him was enough to give something to think about. Aranha however continues to spin using the momentum from his only partially successful attempt at evasion to lash out with a spinning outside crescent kick to the Native American's jaw.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Rick with Spin Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Rick
The fist hits something, but it doesn't get the full force impact that he was hoping to get. He know the guy was going to be fast so Rick is going to have to try and use his own speed to keep up with Aranha and press his attack. Can't allow the man to get time to think too much on what to do in this fight. He starts to lean away when he sees Aranha's little spin turns into an attack of his own, that blow nails him square in the jaw and he is staggers back a step, buthe seems to take the hit well enough without too much trouble.
"Heh, not a bad way to be. Maybe if we are both concious after this we can go get a beer and celebrate either way. A toast to the dark horse that makes it to the semi-finals!" He says after rubbing his jaw a bit. Fists clench again and he starts to bob and weave quickly as he moves in close once more. His upper body is almost something of a blur as he continues to sway and dance around Aranha a few moments as he looks for an opening. A few jabs are thrown the way of the Dancing Spider, but for the most part he seems more intent on just feeling out Aranha a bit more and keeping him on his toes instead of getting too solid of a blow to take down the fighter.
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Rick's Full Moon Fever.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Rick
Aranha pulls back the leg in time to see the boxer attempt to dance around him. The capoeirista doesn't present all that much of an opening. When the fast jabs come, Aranha steps forward bringing himself to almost a horse stance with his hands together at the wrist as he sways like a willow in the breeze. His forearms and hands catch the brunt of the punches.
As the last punch comes in, Aranha tilts sideways and out of the way as if about to perform a cartwheel but he stops in a handstand. Once there he proceeds to perform a series of snap kicks down upon the top of Rick's dome. Only then does Aranha respond to going out to drink. "I don't drink. I have too many people around who would love to catch me shit faced or while I'm not at my best. I'll happy to buy a drink on me though."
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Rick with Inverted Flurry.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Aranha 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Rick
What kind of response is that anyways? Of course Rick isn't exactly responding well to it at the moment. More because he finds himself getting nicely peppered in the face and head with those kicks that sort of rattle his brain and make him a bit on the groggy side. Staggering back he shakes his head about and tries to regather his wits. This is about how the last battle started. At least in this case there is only one fighter for him to worry about. The down side is that means he shouldn't be having this much of a problem. It isn't like this is his first time battling with a kick happy person. He just needs to keep himself focused. Eye of the Tiger, Rick. Eye of the motherfucking Tiger.
"Suit yourself." he finally says once he manages to mostly clear the cobwebs. "Sounds kinda unexciting, but oh well!" Feet begin moving again as the boxer gets back into a rhythm while moving about and look foran opening again. So far it seems that the Dancing Spider has almost been beating Rick at his own game so perhaps it is time to kick things up a notch and start going a bit more all out against Aranha. With a loud shout he moves inwards, a quick left hook looking to throw Aranha more off balance than anything before the actual strike comes from a right uppercut aimed at the fighter's jaw. "Hup! Haaaah!"
COMBATSYS: Aranha interrupts Medium Punch from Rick with Roundhouse Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Aranha 1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1 Rick
While Rick goes to shake out the cobwebs, Aranha's body tilts as he finishes out the cartwheel he started though he adjusts his hands so that when he's upright again, he's closer to Rick than when he started. Aranha doesn't get much time to react to Rick coming in at him.
Aranha's guard doesn't get much of a chance to get up to his face before the hook is arriving for his face. Aranha turns with that punch violently as he swings his foot to chase after Rick's face in turn in a powerful roundhouse coming in just before Rick could come in with the uppercut. Aranha's body continues to spin but the result of that head snap is that Aranha looks to the untrained eye like he took on more punishment than he actually did.
He then steps back swaying to and fro always keeping one hand in front of his face, the other close to his side.
Hopefully Rick isn't in need of the brain cells that he is probably losing from the head trauma being delivered to him. That roundhouse slaps hard against a cheek and Rick goes staggering and loses his footing to where he goes down to a knee and catches himself with a hand. The vision is blurred again and he is having a hard time regaining his balance fully as he starts to get to his feet. This is starting to get rather bad and he needs to try to do something soon because right now he is starting to look like something of a fluke for winning the previous fight. That isn't a lovely thought to have. It just makes the Native American start to feel a bit more pumped up as he has decided he is going to prove people wrong once again and somehow turn this damn match around.
He rises to his feet and quickly goes into a mad dash, the boxer letting out a loud shout as he gets momentum on his side as he launches himself forward. His left fist ignites with energy as he comes forward and then leaps upwards, his fist driving at the chin of Aranha once more as he puts all his power behind the rising uppercut he looks to deliver. No more time trying to be fancy and dance about. He is ready to just punchinate things.
COMBATSYS: Rick successfully hits Aranha with Shooting Star EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Aranha 1/------=/=======|=======\====---\1 Rick
There's a reason Aranha is never quick to count someone out of a fight when he sees they are about skilled as he is. A bad choice here or there and it could've been Aranha in this same predicament just as easily. In addition you never know when that big hit is going to arrive and completely ring your bell.
Aranha's eyes pick up in detail the left fist igniting with energy, the calf muscles tensing as they push the boxer forward. He's aiming for a powerful impact. Aranha knows he's probably not going to be able to dodge the fist. Taking it full on would be stupid and so he crosses his arms.
In a perfect world for the capoeirista, his arms would've crossed in time and performed what one of the people in his class jokingly called an 'I Dream of Genie' block. Arms interlocked as he drops his weight downward to bring the momentum of the uppercut to a dead halt with all of his body weight. But Aranha knows as well as anybody that it isn't a perfect world. His arms don't quite interlock properly, the punch blows aside his 'I Dream of Genie' block and goes to his chin sending him flying backwards before ultimately hitting the ground in an agonizing skid.
Aranha slowly works himself back up to his feet and then wobbles a bit before resuming his dance. He then moves in bobbing and weaving and then he lashes out with a pair of elbows to the face.
COMBATSYS: Rick fails to interrupt Kick Combo from Aranha with Hellion.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Aranha 1/---====/=======|=======\=====--\1 Rick
Those swinging elbows were a feint of his Bad Beat attack that never quite connects. But he still maintains a swaying movement throughout.
The real attack comes in the form of the capoeirista dropping low to perform a scissor leg takedown on the boxer to take his legs from under him and then he quickly frees one leg from the takedown and turns bringing that freed leg knee first down upon him.
After that, Aranha flips away. No reason to stay too close if he doesn't have to.
For the first time tonight he truely felt the blow he was looking to deliver to connect. Now he just needs to further capitalize on it and keep Aranha rattled. His vision is still a bit blurred from just the sheer amount of punishment that has been laid out on him, but he has been far worse off. He can still fight and he can still win this. As long as he can keep on his feet he has a chance to walk away here the victor. Even as Aranha comes in he looks like he is ready to keep striking. That fist of his ignites with energy once more as he looks to swing with another powerful right cross. "HELL-" he is cut off when he finds his legs taken out from under him and he finds himself hitting nothing but air before getting grounded and having the knee driven into him.
He lets out a sharp gasp from the impact and he remains grounded for a few moments. It takes some effort, but he manages to get himself to his feet and he has some trouble getting fully straightened up. He is trying to catch his breath and keep his focus on where Aranha is. Things are a bit blurry, but he can still for the most part make out where his opponent is. He is just going to have to go on instinct perhaps for the rest of his fight because right now his vision and really overall his body are starting to go out on him at this point of the fight.
Aranha stays back. Not because of a sense of honor. His fight with Andy Bogard showed that. And it even showed in this fight. The follow up to the grounded opponent was a downward knee to the face. No in this case, Aranha sees an opportunity to cause more confusion. He hops to and fro see if the boxer can even keep up with his movements and then he comes in and then all of a sudden Aranha veers off.
He leaps off of one barrier and then hops to another barrier before making an attempt to stomp upon the head of the boxer and then roll upon hitting the ground.
COMBATSYS: Rick interrupts Sky's the Limit from Aranha with Howling Bull.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Aranha 1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0 Rick
The head. Once again he is going for the head. Rick has started to get a bit wise to the tactics of Aranha and it seems for once he finally gets the timing right on this one to an extent. Oh he doesn't get out of the way fully, but it is enough where that stomp instead drags across the front of Rick's torso instead of firmly hitting him right on the noggin one more time. He is quick though to recover and before Aranha can make any attempt to get out of his way he finds himself getting socked right in the face. More so than once. It seems that Rick is more than fine in dealing out a good old fashioned face rearrangement himself given the amount of kicks to the face he took.
His fists are a flurry of punches that mostly beat on the face and the side of the head of Aranha, though a few body shots are given as well. When the man gets on a roll it seems that he can really dish out quite the combo of blows. That left fist is brought back one final time as he takes a deep breath then shouts loudly one more time as he drives his energy, covered hand right into Aranha's chest to knock him back. "Enough.....with the head stuff...." he says while panting a bit heavily. It winded him, but it sure as hell isn't near as bad as what he just dished out.
Capoeiristas head hunt often. Andy Bogard could testify to this considering Aranha did place a lot of boots the face in his fight with him. But what Rick does to Aranha, makes what Aranha did look like /nothing/. Aranha ends up becoming a human punching bag, letting pained grunt after pained grunt as each blow lands. The final punch to the chest sends the capoeirista flying backwards and he's on the ground for a few moments before he can work himself back up to his feet.
There's no more dancing from the capoeirista. He's barely able to keep himself up on his feet but then he wills himself to focus. To keep going to make sure he, at the very least, finishes out this fight. He draws in chi causing his body to glow blue and then all of a sudden, he's off in a dash leaving blue afterimages in his wake. "Be careful what you wish for."
Aranha bounces all over the ring, from barrier to Rick and back to barrier, bouncing around like a rogue ball of flubber. This time, instead of going for the head, he goes for the shoulders, the back of the neck, the forearms, the hips, and the abdomen with powerful chi backed kick. All of it done in attempt to make sending any more punches his way a bit more difficult. But even still, the nature of the attack is not permanent. Aranha would like to fight Rick again some day.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Rick with Joker's Wild EX.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > / ]
Aranha 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Rick
The movements become too fast. The afterimages combined with the blurry vision make it hard to fully try to keep up with the movements of Aranha. He moves quickly to try and move to where he thinks he could get out of the way when Aranha finally does close in to strike. He isn't nearly fast enough or have his wits about him and he is caught. The beating that ensues is making his body start to feel limp. Just trying to remain standing is becoming alot of work. Staggering some he goes down to both knees and before slumping forward he manages to catch himself with both hands. "Ha.....hah......yer not bad at all."
He rocks a bit and he can feel it harder to keep himself concious as he sits up. "Better pull this one off and win it or else I....." he trails off a bit and then his left hand glows as he rears back and then trusts it forward, an explosive blast of chi being released from it looking to catch Aranha off guard as he slumps forward, the last of what energy he had spent in that blast. ".....I will bring you on the next adventure me and Old Man Rust go on." Aranha may not know Rick well, but there is a foreboding sort of feeling that runs through him when he hears that......well is it really a threat?
COMBATSYS: Rick can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Aranha 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Rick's Gaia Breath.
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Aranha 0/-------/-======|
The Dancing Spider's body releases all of that drawn chi and with it, his body's ability to stand with anything remotely resembling stability. He's shaky. He's battered and yes, once again able to strike the deciding blow. The difference is this time his opponent is fighting to win as opposed to not lose and that gives the capoeirista a bit more breathing room.
Just because Aranha has insured that he's moving on doesn't mean that Rick is going to make it easy on him. He sees that blast coming in, and he gives into his body's desire to go horizontal. In turn, the body quickly willingly does so letting him crash down to the ground before the powerful chi blast can connect with him. He grunts upon impact with the ground and watches as the energy goes over him.
When it's safe, the capoeirista rises back to his feet against the insistance of his body and stands up with his hand in the air. He then looks over to the Native American pugilist and nods. "Let's see what happens."
As for the whole dragging along for an adventure thing, Rick is going to have to catch Aranha first.
COMBATSYS: Aranha has ended the fight here.
Log created on 18:50:30 06/26/2012 by Aranha, and last modified on 09:15:03 06/28/2012.