Description: Following success in the NDP for the second time, it is only natural that certain figures in the fighting world will take notice of Johnny Jones. There are very few as insistently confusing as Oro, however. Out to test Johnny's fortitude of mind and soul, Oro prods and pokes... and ultimately decides that he needs more time to mature. Will this tune be something that Johnny can groove to? Or will the challenge be relegated to the likes of dubstep?
It might have been a bittersweet victory. For some reason, the final battle in the NDP where Mister Jones had to defend his title against Zach Glen hadn't been as epic as everyone expected, or actually, the reason why everyone was left feeling 'meh' about it was because it ended exactly as everyone had speculated.
Disco had won a pretty decisive battle and it had reminded everyone watching the match of the Funky Fighter versus the Psychic Boxer why was it that Disco was so hated.
It was too damn good. Talk about anticlimatic, even Jones felt incredibly bad at how that had went it had made him look like a bully that had entered the NDP just to score easy wins, it had made a crack on his funky shield of confidence. A crack that was thankfully quickly fixed by Ken Masters who graciously invited Jonesy to fight him and prove that his skills are for real.
Feeling downright invigorated after trading blows with the legendary Ken and coming out of it alive and well, Jonesy finally decides that he has earned his right to celebrate. However where other less funky men would spend their nights in the company of booze, women and drugs to pleasure themselves with petty vices, Jonesy has far more simple methods of revitalizing his spirit. It's a little bit more mundane that a cabaret but hey, it works for Johnny.
Perfect!
Perfect!
Great!
Perfect!
Jonesy is down at the local Sunshine Arcade busting his grooves on the DDR machine, a large crowd gathering around him as the kids around recognize the dancing celebrity, a chorus of "Go Jonesy! Go Jonesy!" said to rhythm of the unmistakable B4U music so often associated with the game itself. One thing that is certain about Jones is that while it's still not clear if he's really a good person or if it's all just an act to get fame, he always likes to show off.
Oro isn't one to seek out the spotlight himself. He dislikes people at the best of times. Youngsters today are completely baffling. Like this, for instance. Why, back in his youth, Oro had danced himself, but this? What IS this? What is the point of this?
The old man in his cloth sack hops up onto the top of the machine. Folding his legs underneath him, he looks down on Jones like some sort of bizarre vulture. Those weird eyes of his slide from the funky fighter, to the crowd chanting his name, and his unbound arm comes up to stroke at his chin. Despite the fact that he really ought to be at least a little precarious up there on top of the machine, he seems to be keeping his balance reasonably well.
"So you tap the big arrows in time with the little arrows."
Oro's voice is... old. Just as old as his withered appearance would make one think, but nowhere near as old as the reality, of course. It is also surprisingly audible, even over the rabble of the crowd behind Jones. He doesn't particularly care about them; he cares about this young man, who has effortlessly displayed such talent. The next generation may be where he finds his successor, after all. One can never tell where the inscrutable qualities required for perfection will be found.
"You're 'Jonesy', are you? The man who won the Neo Development Project? I'd like a word. Maybe we could talk whilst I try out this... Dance Dance Revolution." He keeps stroking his chin.
Revolution? Perhaps this is more violent than it looks at first glance?
An old man sitting crossleged on top of the DDR machine is kind of hard to miss! Thankfully, Jonesy had already finished the song by the time Oro got around making his grand entrance so he is free to look upwards utterly flabbergasted at the sudden appearance of the senior citizen wearing a potato sack like the rest of the crowd. "Whoa! What in the--" Jonesy adjusts his shades to make sure he's not seeing things, people of..umm...Oro's age are not a common sight in fine establishments such as this, not surprisingly this place is meant to cater to the young and hip crowd and Oro honestly looks like he should be at an old folks home lounging on a sofa while fumbling about his newspaper.
Eventually, Jones realizes that he is, in fact, not seeing things and there is an old guy currently perched on top of the DDR machine talking directly to him. He seems to be too dumbstruck to really say anything, a rare form for the jibe talker Jones who normally has always something to say about anything, but the crowd of uppity teenagers around him seem more eager to let Oro have a piece of their mind. "Hey! Get down from there you old fart! Before you break your hip!!"
Jonesy is quick to silence them with a flick of his hand to the air, Jones may be eccentric as all get out but he is admittedly pretty old school and back in /his/ day, the 70s, they taught kids to respect their elders. Of course, in comparison to Oro, Jones is like a fresh faced newborn, but that's just details.
"Yo, chillax brudda." Comes Jonesy' smooth cat voice, heard even over the noise of the arcade just as Oro did. This sounds a bit important to be honest, the mention of the NDP is enough to put him on his guard no matter where its coming from. "Yea, I'm Johnny Jones, sir. Can I help you?" Yep, definitely incredibly old school, Jones even calls the senile looking Oro a 'sir', even if his serious facade starts to fade a tad when Oro proclaims that he wants to play DDR with him. Honestly?Jones has a hard time imagining Oro moving around without the aid of a wheelchair..but then again...he did manage to perch on top of the machine...
"Wellp, peeps usually get on these things in the hopes a hot chick challenges them, but what the hell? Worst thing about this is that it ain't the strangest thing that has happened to me in Sunshine." Getting mugged by schoolgirls with switch blades and chains has /definitely/ got to be on his top ten lists of 'weirdest things ever' an old man challenging him to DDR is a close second, but doesn't take the cake.
"Yeah, it's pretty straight forward, just tap the arrows when it tells ya." Easy right!? Heck, Jones even lets Oro pick out the song, there's no telling what kind of tastes this cat has.
Oro regards the shouting teenager with open contempt. His frown grows down and down, and with a face like Oro's, that is a lot of frown indeed. "Didn't anybody ever tell you to respect your elders?" He says, as he slides down from the top of the machine. Stepping around onto the dance pad, and takes up his position in the center of it.
"I'm just curious about you, young man." The ancient hermit says. Tapping his foot idly, he scrolls through the various options on offer. He isn't sure he understands any of it at all. The words are just words. It isn't as though he knows what any of these songs are actually like or about. They just look like stuff and nonsense to him.
Nor does he understand slang. Peeps? Chick? People play on this machine for farming purposes? Why can't they just get drunk and pick up women like they did in his day. Pshaw.
"You've got some fighting talent. People develop it for any number of reasons. I would be interested to know why you fight. Call it the curiosity of an old man."
Finally, he spies some words which do seem to make sense to him, and he carefully places his foot down, nudging, to select the song title. Immediately, the classic sound starts to issue out from the machine.
~Oooooh oooooh oooooooOOoooh!~
"Kung Fu Fighting." The ancient hermit says whistfully, "Now that takes me back."
Young man? Now that's a phrase Jones doesn't hear very often sent his way, the dude is in his 30's after all, although it makes sense when the one that addresses him looks as ancient as the mountains themselves. There's a bit of a satisfying grin when Oro puts the smack down on the rebellious young punk that was bad mouthing him, seeing as Johnny himself is a little too much of a nice guy to openly chastise someone, a problem that Oro clearly does not have as Senior Citizens are exempted from such silly things like manners.
Still, Jones will play along for now, amused that such a strange fellow would take interest on him, always something interesting going down on Sunshine that's for sure and perhaps he just gravitates towards quirky people like himself. Of course, the generation gap is /clearly/ evident, this guy is waaaaay older than Disco and for seemingly the first time, Jones is forced to tone down his slang so people can understand him, not because the words he uses are outdated but rather because they are too /new/ if you can believe it.
With hands on his hips, Jones keeps casting a side long glance at his elderly dance partner with a curious eyebrow arched, trying to figure out what's his deal. It's too much of a curiosity to simply shrug off as a daily occurrence, something about this old guy doesn't feel right to Jones, he can feel it in the waves of the Funk.
"Oh, you a fightin' fan?" He tries to make light conversation whilst Oro is picking out the song. "Thought I pegged ya for one, you look like you could scrap in your time." Notice how Jones uses the past tense as he implies that Oro clearly does not fight anymore.
Confident that he knows Oro's purpose now, that of an old fighter wanting to see what the new generation is doing (although it's hard to call Jones 'new' considering his tastes) Johnny seems more relaxed when Oro pops his grand question. "Why do I fight?"
Jones repeats said thing to himself "That...is a bit complicated.
But no time to think about that, it was time to get funky!
"/O~ Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting!/o~
Jones smirks when the familiar lyrics start blasting out of the DDR machine as the dance commences.
"Man..I love this song."
Oro doesn't really seem to be paying attention to the machine. He's facing the afro'd warrior, dark eyes regarding him with open curiosity. Jones has his own questions, but how much Oro is going to be willing to answer? Well, that depends on how interesting Johnny Jones actually IS, at least to an ancient hermit. He's definitely not interested in the opinion of the crowd, who seem to have decided to shut up. Which is good, really. The song is just getting started, and almost lazily, Oro's lower body moves into motion.
"You could say that." The elderly man admits, "I've thrown a punch or two in my time. Heh heh heh heh heh." His laughter is... distinctly unpleasant. High-pitched and needling, but, well, he's old. He's earned the right to laugh in any way he sees fit, when the mood takes him. The machine is a distraction; Johnny is the main reason he is here. He should be able to dance and talk at the same time!
"The best answers usually are!" Oro exclaims. "Or very simple. Sometimes, they fall somewhere in between. Either way, 'it is complicated' is not, itself, an answer to the question! So I ask you again... why do you fight?"
"/O~ Those Cats were as fast as Lighting!/O~"
With practiced ease Johnny Jones gets into the flow of the song and starts hitting the arrows following the tempo of the music. Once the rhythm starts, it is impossible for a man so entuned with the song to not dismiss its call, Jones doesn't so much as dance but becomes one with the song. Oro may be staring at him with dark mysterious eyes, but all Johnny is seeing at the moment is the screen. So far not even bullets whizzing past him have been able to distract him from going with the music.
Oro's laughter miight be able to do the trick though, as Johnny visibly twitches when he feels the disturbance in the Funk and misses a beat, earning him a measly 'Great' in his otherwise perfect score.
Totally at ease while he dances, Jones doesn't dwell on it and asks sincerity feeling no need to guard his thoughts to the strange old man. "Simple answer: I've watched a lot of movies." Grins Jones listening to the song, freely admitting he is a product of society.
/O~ "In fact it was a little bit frightening!" /O~
"Complicated answer: I've discovered there's some ungroovy cats out there that think they can enforce their ways of thinking through might, and that don't sit too rightly with me. I wanna live my life as I think is best and to do so, sadly, sometimes I gotta put the smack on some foo' you know what I'm saying?" Johnny is surprisingly good at talking while dancing too, even though he is most defenitly keeping his attention to the screen.
"/O~ But they fought with expert tiiiiming/o~"
"Just wanna be the best I can be, find the pinnacle of spiritual enlightenment, become One with the Universe and the Groove..I heard martial arts are the way to go for that kinna thing, or at least that's what at saw on the movies!" It's difficult to tell if Jones is sincere about his quest of spiritual purity or if he's just the kind of guy that has watched too much TV.
At that moment, he glances to the side forgetting that he might be setting too fast a pace for Oro to keep up and is surprised when the elderly man is not only holding his own but is apparently beating his score too! "Oh wow! You /are/ good! What is your deal!?"
To be one with the flow is worthwhile. Oro can appreciate Johnny's skill there. He himself... isn't dancing by any conventional sense. His movements aren't in time with the music; they are in time with the arrows. In the fraction of a second between each arrow crossing the perfect threshold and moving on, his foot finds the button and then returns to rest.
The ancient monk is playing this game because he hopes it may provide insight into this strange young man. It is, in a way. He can see Jones' passion, even if he isn't exactly in the spirit of the thing himself. The machine keeps shouting PERFECT! at him.
It doesn't know how correct it is.
"Your goals are at odds with one another."
His hand strokes over his chin as his feet continue their erratic dance. "Enlightenment is composed of three parts. The mind, the soul, and the body." He is actually smiling, broadly. "To be the best that you can be you must turn away from the world and turn instead to yourself. How can you fly, when you are weighed down by the world?"
Quite suddenly, his feet stop moving, and he hops from his stance to pat the larger man on the shoulder. His abandoned machine SQUEALS with the sudden loss of the perfect streak, replaced with a rapidly declining score and the wailing and gnashing of the virtual crowd.
"But I like movies too, young man! They are amusing! Have you seen the new ones they do with graphs? WONDERFUL!"
And there's more cackling laughter, as though this is the funniest thing he has ever heard. It may very well be the case!
Too immersed into the flow of music doesn't stop Jonesy from realizing that he ain't dealing with your average old man here. He is one with the flow yes, but he is also aware of everything that is around him. Although nowhere near as close as Oro for sure since he still needs to, you know, /look at the screen/ to see where to move. Oro has surpassed the point already, he is not so much listening to the music but literally hitting the keys whenever they blip, that much Jones can tell by the way he doesn't seem to move his upper torso at all. Unlike Jones, Oro isn't moving with the beat of the song, he is seemingly doing it out of reaction.
"What?" Starting to lose his rhythm, Jones' score declines into a simple 'Great' rather than 'Perfect!!' though this is rendered a moot point when Oro stops 'moving' to pat his shoulder. Johnny thinks its sacrilege to stop dancing when the music is clearly still going, but he is not taking this bout very seriously considering how old his opponent look, never mind that he was winning by quite a bit. "You seem to know a lot about these type a things, don't ya?"
Jones is also not used to getting schooled by random old guys and stops dancing, much to the chagrin of both the virtual and actual crowd around them. This situation merits his full attention though, seeing as this guys is raising all kind of warning flags. "Although I've always thought about movies about being my inspiration. How can I fly, when I ain't got no fuel, yeah?" Sure, 'watching movies' doesn't lend much in the way of spiritual enlightenment, but Jones always made a point to find a spot on his training schedule to watch a movie.
Without movies, Jones wouldn't be the man that he is today. So they must be good for something!
"Graphs?" Johnny has absolutely no idea what the old guy is talking about now and looks down at him with a puzzled, shade covered look.
"Just who are you anyway?" Something tells Jones that this guy is much too old to be a fan of his movies.
Oro is more amused than anything else. It takes a very special kind of arrogance to completely disregard the anger of the crowd, but for Oro, it is as though they may as well not exist. He really doesn't feel beholden to them; they are ignorant and irrelevant. He shakes his head slowly as he removes his arm, and lets it rest in front of his chest.
It is always interesting how others are so quick to ask who /he/ is. Who he is isn't terribly relevant, as far as he is concerned. "I'll answer your questions in reverse order." He says, holding his hand up suddenly.
"Question one! I am just an old man. I have been called a lot of things, but I think 'old fart' fits best today!"
His voice is far more exuberant. Some energy to it now that he is enjoying himself. He enjoys showing off his own talents too, of course! And now he is building towards it with all the flair of an old master.
"Two! Graphs are made with pen and paper, and today they can turn into young girls with bows and arrows! It is magnificent!"
His lips pull into a smile, strange on his melted features. "And as to how you can fly without fuel..."
Suddenly, he flips up and into the air, sailing down almost the full length of the arcade. At the apex of his flight, as he begins to drop, he puts one foot down... and it is as though the air itself is a solid platform for him. His foot touches down, he turns, and bows to the crowd who have been utterly stunned into silence by this sudden, dazzling display of acrobatics which could put practically anyone to shame.
And then he jumps a /second/ time, through the open door, and out into the street. Ta-ta!
Unlike Oro who is so secure with his own abilities, Jones does grimace when he hears his score dropping along with the disappointed mumbles of the teenager crowd when the dancing just stops. It is evident that the approval of people is very important for Jonesy, a liability that as Oro suspects, stunts his growth as a fighter since many a time he goes for flair rather than effectiveness. It is this dual nature that makes Jones who he is unfortunately and it seems that the Groove Master has a lot left to go to achieve the level Oro has. He is still very materialistic and is seemingly unwilling to part away with earthly things just yet, a glaring difference seen clearly between the legendary Hermit and the otherwise very trendy dressed Movie Star.
"I'd prefer a name if you don't mind, sir." Jonesy is not amused, interestingly enough. This 'old fart' as he likes to be called, already knows his name, so it should be common courtesy that he returns the favor to Johnny. However, its true what he said earlier that senior citizens operate with their own set of rules, and his question is discarded when he goes on about graphics in movies. Girls with Bows and Arrows? "Umm....oh, you mean that anime with the grimdark magical girls?"
But before it can be revealed that Oro is a closet Otaku, just like Jones apparently since he seemingly knows what he's talking about, Oro /takes to the skies/ leaving a stunned crowd of onlookers. Jones actually follows the old man's trajectory down to the ground expecting him to fall somewhere far out in the arcade, but instead he sees that Oro has seemingly stepped on thin air and used it to propel himself further away...
And out of the arcade!
"Hey! Wait!!" Now this /definitely/ merits further investigation. Jones pushes his way through the stunned crowd running as fast as he can to the exit in hot pursue of the old master.
Alas, Oro is nowhere to be found on the streets. By the time Johnny Jones gets outside, Oro has leapt up onto the rooftop above, and pauses with his back to the streets below. "An interesting young man." He murmurs, "But... I don't think that he understood me at all! Magical girls indeed. Pshaw! Perhaps in a hundred years or so, he might have some idea..."
The old man is practically impossible to nail down when he doesn't want to be. But he's not flawless. There are men and women in the world who know who he is; all part of the puzzle he's laid out. If a man can find him when he doesn't want to be found, that speaks well to their strength of mind! But for now... for now, he's content to just wander off and leave Johnny with a few more questions about what is out there.
Life isn't fun if all the answers come right away, after all. Ken may have proven that Johnny's fighting strength is his own... but Oro has let him know that there is still a vast world out there, and he still has a great deal to learn, no matter how strong he is.
This sucks.
Jones might have answered a question, but this only made more questions pop up. Just when he thought that he had found peace of mind and soul after his fight with Ken, here comes this strange old man to taunt with formidable power. As expected, Johnny walks out of the arcade unable to track down this Oro character, the old man seemingly disappeared into thin air and Johnny does not have that magic mumbo jumbo chi sensing techniques that most fighters have. Not that it would have done him any good since Oro can probably hide his presence.
At a loss of what to do, Jones stares out into the busy streets scratching the back of his afro'd head looking puzzled. What was that all about? What is it with people taunting him about strength that he does not have anyway? Jones could have told them that!
Confused is a familiar state of mind for the Groove Master and he shrugs it off. Time will tell if this meeting had a deeper meaning, but for now Jones heads back into the arcade listening to his own advice.
No matter what happens. Never stop dancing.
Log created on 11:31:47 07/28/2012 by Oro, and last modified on 15:06:38 07/28/2012.