NDP 2012.07 - NDP S2 #2: Rio vs Benkei

Description: Benkei vs Rio. Place: China, in a martial arts dojo. Winner: Rio.



After leaving his parents' repressive home for Southtown Police Academy, seventeen year old Benkei Bunya is truly on his own for the first time in his life. Training is a challenge - his asthma frequently gets in the way of the physical requirements, but he's typically brilliant in academic areas, even if he'll never be class valedictorian like his father wanted. And of course, now that he's on his own, he can fight openly!

In Beijing, an NDP fight has been staged between Benkei, previously an NDP semifinalist, and a mysterious new fighter. Benkei realizes that this so-called 'Rio' represents an unknown quantity, so he's understandably nervous. Still, his tenacity will likely be his best friend, making up for cowardice and softness with pure moxie.

Benkei stands inside a dojo with cameras watching, dressed in his white gi with red belt. The Todohryuu Dojo symbol is on the back, and he looks awkwardly about at the cameras with a bit of self-consciousness, waiting for his foe for the night.

At the entrance, there's smoke, and fireworks, and the sound of loud music playing - some over dramatic pop song. Two masked and top-hatted assistants walk in carrying a large crate, set it down, and then step away.

Rio walks in, wearing a cape, a microphone in her hand. "Hey! Sorry I'm late, everybody! My plane got a little delayed!" Her eyes focus on Benkei. "You! What was your name- Benkei, right?" She grins, claps her hands together around the microphone and then opens them, releasing some doves to fly in the air in the place of the vanished microphone. When she speaks again, her voice is still amplified from somewhere. Coming to a stop a few feet away from Benkei, she points at him dramatically. "How do you feel about your odds in this match?" She lowers her hand, and holds out the microphone towards him with her other hand.

Benkei spins about at the sudden fireworks, looking startled, as he sees the crate get carried in. He blinks behind his thick spectacles as Rio appears, crossing his arms, and watching the spectacle. She's definitely into showmanship - just like Daniel. As Rio asks the question, he uncrosses his arms and puffs his chest out. "I give myself a sixty-two point three chance of success!" he proudly announces, pushing his glasses up his face. He leaps backwards, falling into a fighting stance. "Now, Rio, you will face the deadly art of Todohryuu Kobojutsu, the most deadly martial art in the Orient!" He punches the air with either arm, before he bends one leg back, the forward leg straight, getting ready to pounce. "Let us fight, m'lady!"

COMBATSYS: Benkei has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Benkei           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Rio has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Benkei           0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0              Rio


Rio grin widens at Benkei's words, and she tilts her head to one side. "Wow, a sixty-two point three percent chance of success. Now, that's pretty high odds. I'd wager on those odds, if that was me. Unfortunately, I think a little different from Benkei here. I think he can't beat me. Who here thinks differently?" Seeing that the audience is mostly cameramen and martial artists of the dojo, combine with her slightly confusingly-worded question, there's no immediate response.

She raises her eyebrows, as if this is extremely significant. "Wow, not getting a lot of love here, Benkei." She pulls off her cape, and casts it to the ground, and looks back over to him. "Now, I'm going to make you a wager here." She holds up her hand. "Purely your decision if you take it. I'm not implying that you're a coward if you don't, I'm not saying anything bad about Todohryuu Kobojutsu that you wouldn't want to wager. That's mean, and I don't want to be mean. People don't take wagers all the time, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Doesn't mean you're a coward or anything." She pauses.

"So, here's my wager: if I win, I choose what you wear in your next fight, if you win, you choose what I win in my next fight. What do you say?" She walks up, despite Benkei's battle stance, and holds the microphone up towards him. "Or are those stakes too low for you?" Grin.

COMBATSYS: Rio comes up with a CUNNING PLAN.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Benkei           0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0              Rio


Benkei blinks at this proposition, rather flustered. He knows for a fact that his odds aren't as good as he claims, generally being one of the worst fighters in the NDP, despite making it to the semifinals last season. On the other hand, he's anxious to prove himself, and it wouldn't look good for Todohryuu if he backed down. "You've got yourself a deal, lady! I'm gonna make you wear a chicken suit! Or maybe a gorilla suit! Now, let's do this!" A golden aura of chi bursts from his body, surrounding him with a shimmering, warm haze. As his hands glow, he snaps them down to the ground, shouting, "KASANE ATE!" A wave of chi spikes across the floor, shooting up from the ground as it flies at Rio.

COMBATSYS: Rio overcomes Kasane Ate from Benkei with Medium Fling.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Benkei           0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0              Rio


Rio takes a couple of quick steps back as his hands start to glow, and drops to the ground, swings her foot around, hurling the cape she discarded earlier through the air, and with it, a small barrage of knives fly out towards Benkei from cleverly concealed springloaders. The first couple are knocked aside by the wave of chi, but the rest continue on towards Benkei. "A gorilla suit, huh? Interesting choice." She snaps back up to her feet, and studies Benkei for a moment. "You're the sort of guy who fights on sheer chutzpah, aren't you? Not that that's a bad thing, just... interesting."

COMBATSYS: Benkei blocks Rio's Medium Fling.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Benkei           0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0              Rio


Benkei emits a terrified shriek as he sees the knives flying at him, crossing his arms in front of him and blocking most of the blades, although his forearms get cut up in the process. The sleeves of his white gi stained crimson as blood drips to the ground, he says, "That's not fair, why do you get knives!? I never get knives! They won't even give me a spoon!" He dashes forward, leaping into the air and spinning around, his leg flying at Rio with the heel aimed at her jaw. "HiiiYAH!"

COMBATSYS: Rio dodges Benkei's Light Kick.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Benkei           0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0              Rio


"People are always saying 'they are the problem' or 'that's how they've set it up' or the like. But they often fail to announce, or sometimes even think of... Who are 'they'?" Rio ducks down under Benkei's heel, and springs back up behind him, rushing towards him from behind as he lands. Of course, with his back turned on her, it's hard to tell what exactly she's doing back there. And she ensures that this remains true, as a smoke grenade hits the floor, momentarily concealing her figure.

COMBATSYS: Benkei dodges Rio's Djinn's Unforgiving Whirlwind.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Benkei           0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0              Rio


Rio lunges to step on Benkei's foot! ...presumably there was something that she intended to do after.

Benkei turns about after landing from the jump kick, seeing the smoke grenade deploy. Temporarily blinded, he listens closely to the approaching magician, his superior intellect guessing where she's coming from. Benkei may not be tough, but he's smart, and sometimes brains beats brawn - even in the world of professional fighting. As his foot is stepped on, he swings his hand out, interrupting Rio's attack by attempting to shove his thumb into her eye. "Nice try, lady, but no cigar! You can't outwit BENKEI BUNYA!"

COMBATSYS: Benkei successfully hits Rio with Pressure Point.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Benkei           0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0              Rio


Rio stumbles backwards. No matter how tough you are, a jab in the eye is still- "Ow! My eye! That hurts!" She narrows her other eye, and lowers her hand from the one that's clutching it - there's some bruising, but she still more or less has vision. "Now you made me say something obvious. I hate it when people do that!" She lunges towards Benkei, and spins on her forwards leg, aiming a kick towards his stomach. "Outwit this!"

COMBATSYS: Benkei dodges Rio's Heavy Kick.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Benkei           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0              Rio


Benkei Bunya pivots to the side, catching the leg aimed at his stomach. "Ha! You also can't hit Benkei Bunya, it appears!" he taunts, full of arrogance - how quickly he forgets that his foe has a supply of various sharp objects she can take revenge with. Holding onto the outstretched leg with one arm, he aims to land a karate chop into Rio's leg, right on the knee. If there's one thing Benkei knows, it's fighting dirty.

COMBATSYS: Rio blocks Benkei's Quick Punch.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Benkei           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0              Rio


Rio hops closer and brings her knee up, coming to meet the karate chop before it descends, taking out a good deal of it's power. She grins at him. "Are you actually /trying/ to get me mad, or just trying to keep your spirits up because you secretly believe you're pathetic?" She pulls a dagger out of somewhere, and stabs at Benkei's side, attempting to catch him while he's occupied with holding her leg.

COMBATSYS: Benkei just-defends Rio's Quick Strike!

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Benkei           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1              Rio


"Pathetic? Ha!" Benkei scoffs, before seeing the glint of metal that is Rio's dirk. He quickly releases her leg, and grabs Rio's wrist, spinning around to throw her off balance and prevent the knife from stabbing into his precious stomach. "Nothing about Master Todoh's students is PATHETIC! You're thinking of those Kyokugen losers!" He then lashes out with a fist, aimed at the base of Rio's sternum, firing forward from his arm with gusto.

COMBATSYS: Rio fails to interrupt Cannon Fist from Benkei with Coyote's Invisible Fang.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Benkei           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0              Rio


A knife clatters to the floor. Rio thrusts her empty hand towards Benkei's Cannon Fist as it starts to emerge. This merely causes her hand to be where the energy is gathering when it explodes, and a second half-drawn knife falls out of her hand to clatter on the ground. She bites her lip, then recovers herself. She blinks, staring at Benkei wide-eyed, holding her breath. "Wait... you... you trained under /Master Todoh/? The Master of Todoh-ryuu Kobojutsu himself?"

Benkei puffs his chest out again, with pride. "That's right! Before Master Todoh began to journey the world, I trained under the great one himself! I was his star pupil, a young mustang firecracker out to take on the whole world!" Hey, for once, someone is actually /impressed/ by training under Todoh! If Ryuhaku could be here right now, there'd be a tear going down his cheek. "But enough talk! Let's dance!" He grabs at Rio while she's hurting, attempting to flip her over his shoulder. "HA!"

COMBATSYS: Benkei successfully hits Rio with Quick Throw.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Benkei           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0              Rio


Rio starts trying to do something, but no, wham, flipped into the floor. She just lies there for a moment, then turns her head to glance up at Benkei. "Wait. I thought his star pupil was Kasumi Todoh. I mean, if he had a star pupil called Benkei, I'm pretty sure I would have heard about it." She props herself up on her elbow, and taps her fingers against her cheek. "...Are you absolutely sure this was the same guy? There are some pretty clever impostors out there...."

COMBATSYS: Rio comes up with a CUNNING PLAN.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Benkei           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0              Rio


Benkei blushes a bit at this reproach, stammering, "Well, maybe not his /star/ pupil, but I was good, okay!" It's easier to say this than to mention the many times Benkei's cowardice and weakness displeased Todoh. His hands begin to glow again, warmth radiating from Rio, as he snaps them downwards. "KASANE ATE!" he shouts, another wide wave of chi rippling across the floor.

COMBATSYS: Rio dodges Benkei's Kasane Ate.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Benkei           0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0              Rio


Rio's hand snaps down from her cheek to the ground, and she slams it against the floor, pushing herself as she rolls away. She stands up from the roll. "Honesty... Pride... Honor... I thought those were the pillars of Todoh-Ryuu Kobojutsu. Something like that is beyond me, of course, but... were you really his student? It's so hard to believe that a student of his would brag falsely." She sighs, as if disillusioned. "Whatever, let's finish this up." With that, she opens her hands, revealing a couple of grenades with their pins pulled, and tosses them towards Benkei.

COMBATSYS: Rio successfully hits Benkei with Power Fling.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Benkei           1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1              Rio


"SWEET JESUS WOMAN!" Benkei screams, before he's sent flying backwards by the grenade blast. He slams into the dojo wall, fracturing the drywall, before falling forward onto his hands and knees. Shrapnel smoking in his flesh, his gi torn to shreds, his golden aura dies. "What the heck?! No fair! What are you trying to do, kill someone?!" He staggers to his feet, moving cautiously towards Rio. "I've got to teach you a lesson, it seems!" He dashes forward, lashing out with his fist aimed at Rio's jaw.

COMBATSYS: Rio dodges Benkei's Quick Punch.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Benkei           1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1              Rio


Rio raises an eyebrow, staring at Benkei as if /he's/ the crazy one. "One of Master Todoh's fists is as powerful at least a hundred grenades, right? So two grenades, you should be able to stand. I wouldn't have someone who couldn't survive it with it." She lunges to the side of his punch, runs behind him, and kicks a broken piece of dojo-floor wood up to her hand. "Do you think I'm unfair, taking you on with a weapon?"

Without waiting for a response, she runs towards him, swinging the wood like a club towards his head.

COMBATSYS: Rio successfully hits Benkei with Light Random Weapon.
- Power hit! -

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Benkei           1/-======/=======|=======\====---\1              Rio


Benkei is too disoriented to respond to Rio getting behind him, not turning around in time as the piece of wood slams into the back of his skull. It breaks over his head with a crackling snap, Benkei falling forward as his glasses fly off his face and slide across the floor. "OW!" he whines, tears welling up in his eyes. He slowly stands, sniffling as he begins to cry, and complains, "You're mean, you keep hitting me with stuff! No more hitting me!" He lashes out with a mighty fist aimed at Rio's chest, putting everything he has into the mighty blow.

COMBATSYS: Benkei successfully hits Rio with Nimrod Hammer.
- Power hit! -

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Benkei           0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1              Rio


Rio smirks, and raises the board to block the blow. Just as planned. Of course, she didn't expect the blow to smash through the wood and smack her straight in the chest. She stumbles backwards, the wood falling out of her hands, and stares at Benkei as she catches her breath. That hit surprised her, but-

"You're... you're crying. And you're complaining... about being hit... after becoming a fighter...." Her eyes narrow, and she points at him. "Your skills might not be that bad, but your personality is useless and weak. You aren't worthy of a big finale." She snaps her fingers, a single throwing card appearing in them, and throws it at Benkei's forehead.

COMBATSYS: Rio successfully hits Benkei with Sudden Fling.

[                        \\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Benkei           0/-------/---====|=======\=====--\1              Rio


The razor sharp playing card strikes Benkei in the forehead. He stumbles to the left, blood dripping down his face, before he falls onto his side, then his back, curling into a fetal position. After being down for the ten count, the referee rules in Rio's favor. That was an embarassing bout, and it started so well!

COMBATSYS: Benkei takes no action.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Rio              1/--=====/=======|


COMBATSYS: Benkei can no longer fight.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Rio              1/--=====/=======|


Rio glances around to the cameras, and makes a little chopping gestures with her hand. "Okay, that's enough. This is pathetic. Cut. If you keep rolling, I'll cut you. Get some medical people or something." Without waiting to see if her order is followed, she gestures to the two masked people who brought in the crate. "Okay, back out with the crate. We're done here." She narrows her eyes at their lack of immediate action, and spreads her arms wide. "No big finale! You heard me!" They start moving towards the crate, and her eyes move back to Benkei.

She snaps her fingers again, and there's a business card in her hand. She throws it, so it lands in front of Benkei, embedded slightly in the floor. "There's a number. Once you pull yourself together, call it, and they'll arrange for you to get your outfit I chose for your next fight. As per our wager."

Log created on 01:02:12 07/19/2012 by Rio, and last modified on 14:29:54 07/19/2012.