Description: The civil war in Korea rages on and the Freedom Fighters attempt in vain to storm the city of Seoul with the support of the allied forces of Japan and Singapore. Meanwhile, Diesel settles an 'old score' with Howard Rust and Decapre tears the mysterious Munin to shreds. Vega? ... He's off destroying planes somewhere! ... The battle ends, ultimately, with the allied forces being driven away by the combined strength of North Korea/Shadaloo/Russia/China long after Munin and Rust depart.
Seoul, Korea (Used to be South Korea -
This is the very heart of what used to be South Korea, its capital, and the new capital of the now unified Korea as well. Seoul is a megacity... one of the largest cities in the developed world, which maintains a population roughly twice that of New York. Located along the Han River, this truly massive urban sprawl's origins date back more than two thousand years! A leading global city, ranked eigth on the Global Cities Index, it is one of the technological, financial, commercial, and academic giants of the world.
It's night-time, and the air cool... almost chilling... and the shining silver face of the moon is high. The whole city is awash with lights... drowning out practically any and all surrounding natural sources and making even glimpsing the stars above impossible. It is as if the starlight had descended from the heavens and took up residence here... from a distance the city itself might look as though it were an ocean of stars. Each and every tower structure of glass and steel, of which there are a countless number, is emitting its own spectrum of lights.
Despite this rather scenic description, the City of Seoul is not doing well this night. After last night's battle with the resistance... despite defeating the resistance members in Suwon... they were back again to boldly challenge the establishment. Unfortunately for them, the military presence here is overwhelming and due to that the fighting thus far has managed to be contained to the outskirts of the city. Police and military blockades are erected at virtually every major entrance to the inner city, with no one being allowed to pass without going through security checks. The resistance members are fighting hard to push through the security points... but they aren't the only ones.
5r Indeed, the allied forces of Singapore and Japan too have appeared... and begun to make their own strikes at the city's military establishment in an attempt to free it. With the rebels, and the combined forces of Singapore and Japan on the offense... the Northern occupation was beginning to feel the pressure. Something would have to be done to stop this battle... or Shadaloo's foothold here in Korea would soon be threatened and no amount of bribery or blackmail with fix it.
Flying high above the city is a peculiar older model of Japanese warplane... the likes of which has likely long been retired from service. It's enroute to the western edge of the city, where a battle between Northern and Japanese forces is being waged. Inside this plane, there are no actual Japanese Soldiers ready to jump from the plane... nor bombs ready to drop. No... this plane carries as its cargo something far more sinister... a small group of Shadaloo members. Each and every one strong enough to defend themselves against multiple common fighters.
Soon, the side hatch to the plane will open... allowing its occupants to drop from the side to the explosively active battlefield below where a miniature war is being waged for control of the city. Amidst the roar of bombs, and the thunder of guns... they will descend.
And the first to descend... is none other than the Lord of Shadaloo himself. Dressed in his usual crimson, pressed, uniform and peaked service cap. He leaps from the side of the plane without the assistance of a parachute... plummeting downward at blinding speeds in an aloof manner... and then promptly SLAMS feet first into the topside of a tank... with enough force to crush it like an empty soda can... killing everyone inside and leaving a large crater beneath it in the ground. Upon landing, he promptly begins to dust off his uniform... and grin wildly at the battle raging before him. It was like heaven unto him, truly! The death and the destruction... it was... fabulous!
With the addition of more trained armed forces coming to the aid of the ailing, fading strength of the more politically amiable South, there's at least better communication being funneled along between those who aren't able to speak Korean and those who do.
There's the understanding that the move needs to be made now, even as the aging Howard Rust still struggles with his encounter with someone he was once pretty certain was Cammy but now is... is it Cammy under a new guise? This, along with the promise of that strange woman wearing too little that the surprising turn of the Korean war was spurred on by Shadaloo... he has more questions than he does aches, and his aches are both many and persistent.
He's quickly separated from a group of rebels after Northern security shoots a truck he's riding with, seeing him spilling out in the middle of a road at a very unpleasant speed. Given this happened back in India, perhaps he needs to stop riding trucks with other soldiers.
It is perhaps far more miraculous that despite the speed the truck was going at along with such rough contact against the road, the older man tumbles about to a crouching stop largely unharmed, drawing Ol' Rusty and pointing the pipe at thin air as if challenging whoever it was to do that again.
He sure hopes the other guys in the truck got out of that all right, but the chances of that aren't too high as he stands alone on a battered, damaged road. In the distance, however, one sight catches his eye coming down from a plane.
Vega. It's him. She was right all along. Sucking in his breath, knowing that it's quite a distance to jog, the older man charges through the warzone. Shouts at him by Northern forces go unheeded almost as much as the bullets that undoubtedly fly at him for ignoring their warnings.
Hopefully he's not alone here, that the other strong fighters of the world have also taken note of all this and decided to continue to lend their strength even after the strength- and will-sapping Metro invasion...
Rust is, indeed, not alone in his battle. Besides the trained soldiers around him, Munin is once more a stalwart ally on the field. She has an earpiece and a radio, and from a small forward command post with a group of soldiers she is assisting in coordinating tactical strikes and movements around the field, and feeding information from one group to another. She glances up as the plane flies overhead, and goes white as a sheet as Vega himself lands and takes out a tank in the process.
Narrowing her eyes, the small warrior takes off the communication equipment, and tells the group to stay put, afterwards promptly taking off to try to assist where she can. Her target? Vega himself, for what effect it would have. For all her ability, she has a better chance against him than most of those present, and that isn't saying too much.
She dodges in and out of the fighting, the runes on her gloves beginning to glow as she focuses her chi for the fight.....
Shoulder to shoulder in the cramped dropship, The Diesel's massive form tries to hold very still and not accidentally bash any of her Shadaloo brethren. Even with her incredible discipline and training the fact remains that she's still very very big and in a cramped up space with a bunch of other people, accidents are prone to happen.
Nevertheless, her patience pays off. Lord Vega gives the order to descend and the Master of Shadaloo leads the charge by dropping down from the plane with no parachute. One by one, the Shadaloo elite follow his example with each jumping off with no need of any device to slow their fall. Diesel's turn arrives and the giant Amazon stands to her full height, walking boldly to the exit ready to disembark until she stops abruptly when she reaches the edge of the plane... is she suddenly afraid now?
No, it's something else, a premonition. A feeling that she must wait before dropping.
"Go first, I have a feeling I must land elsewhere." She says to the Shadaloo agent next to her, then to the next, until only she remains and she's still waiting, wide golden eyes looking down at the city, narrowing, peering closely, looking for that thing that she seeks.
"There you are." Diesel's face contorts into a mad grin and down goes the Amazon warrior, leaping into the fray that is the North Korean city.
As Rust starts to break into a jog in order to catch up to Vega, he'll be able to hear a whistling noise of something very heavy and very big dropping down on him. An explosion erupts up ahead, barring his way, as a massive figure crashes into the ground feet first, slowly standing, clearing its way through the dust.
"Rust Howard..." Diesel says in her gruff slightly Indian accented voice, stepping out of the cloud of dust her landing created, incandescent hazel eyes staring out to Rust. "I've been looking forward to our meeting."
She cracks her knuckles audibly.
After fighting Rust in Suwon, Decapre, having had to leave -that- fight due to a reversal of fortunes... finds herself still in Korea. Well, she's still been at suppressing rebels, brutally, enjoying it somewhat as a stress reliever. But then, she gets word--another assault on the outskirts of Seoul. Of course she's dispatched--requested, really. One of the DPRK attempted to 'order' her around. That man died slowly, his throat cut just enough to deny him oxygen... over a slow, torturous period of time. He died asphyxiated and choking on his own blood.
Now, Decapre is approaching the battlefield via rooftops--indulging herself in a bit of parkour, or freerunning, until, approaching the outskirts, she has to drop to the ground. She runs low, weapons sheathed--right *now* she's amongst allies...
But then, she did just kill one. As she approaches the battlefield, she tenses her hands, clenching them into fists--and extending those blades from her forearm gauntlets. She is being updated, real-time, on who and where everyone is on the battlefield... and so when she arrives, she is next to Diesel again, though not too close.
She is not concerned with the rebel forces. They will be met by their opposite number. She is here, like Diesel, to take care of the elites...
COMBATSYS: Decapre has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Munin 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Decapre
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Rust 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Diesel
...As for the Lord himself, after effectively flattening a Japanese tank underfoot... he surveys the whole of the area and takes note of the most dangerous concentrations of enemy forces. He then decides the /best/ course of action for himself is to leave the approaching Howard Rust and Munin (both of which he is doubtlesly aware) to the two elites he knows to be lurking about.
Without even giving so much as an acknowledgement to any of them, the crimson clad dictator rises into the air suddenly... and blinks out of existence in a blur of pinkish purple energy... departing to occupy himself with the far more concerning allied forces trying desperately to break through the Northern blockades!
Boom. Is it artillery shelling? The ex-shop teacher brings up his left arm out of habit to shield his face from what he assumes to be shrapnel and red-hot embers. It's when all-too heavy footsteps sound that the dust clears to, perhaps, give the appearance of cowering before her before he even notices that's not a bomb.
That's a hell of a dive.
Lowering his forearm away from his face to size up the vaguely familiar voice from Metro, the man of the dark purple, uh... 'hair' looking positively dwarfed by her. Yeah, that actually is a her. The intimidating, extremely muscled form who speaks down to him with a seeming enthusiasm.
When her knuckles crack, he straightens out his back. Could it be that the man that Nepal called their hero - his most famous exploit in that war instigated by Vega's ambition with China as his puppet - is standing in fear of such an awe-inspiring, dangerous giantess?
The forty-something man takes his steps towards the huge woman in front of him, rolling his left shoulder as he walks the cracked terrain with little misstep.
At which point he bends his left arm inward, left hand open as he tries to lay it on Diesel's hip and - with the flex of his own considerable muscle strength - shove her aside entirely.
"Gets to wait," he mutters as he knows Vega's just beyond already decimating forces, a haste compelling him despite body language telling a different story.
COMBATSYS: Rust successfully hits Diesel with Quick Throw.
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Munin 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Decapre
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Rust 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Diesel
That is no artillery shell, indeed.
Although Diesel's form is certainly intimidating, the gruff woman in question shows more eagerness than confidence with her long awaited meeting with the man known as Rust Howard, the eternal thorn of Shadaloo and so called hero of Nepal. Her reasons for wanting to face the man are still unknown, even members of Shadaloo do not know why The Diesel has a bone to pick with the ex-shop teacher. Previous information pertaining the balding 40 year old show that Decapre is more likely to try and attack him than the relative newcomer, yet still very promising, member of Shadaloo.
She's ferocious as usual, golden eyes dilating like those of a hawk's spotting prey. A prey that will very likely fight back. Diesel sucks in air steeling herself when Rust charges at him with grim determination. No witty one liner? No epic 'Who are you?' or anything of the sort? It's down right disappointing! But as Diesel finds out, Rust is a man that lets actions speak louder than words. The mountain of a woman collides with Rust trying to out wrestle him when he grasps her by the waist and...she is moved!
"HRAA!!" Diesel falls to the side with surprise on her face but quickly gets back to her feet. In the movement, she spots her ally and fellow Shadaloo elite up in the rooftops, perched as yet another bird of prey. Diesel's eyes meet those masked eyes of Decapre and she lets her sister in arms known everything she needs to with one look.
'Don't help, he's mine.'
"Come back here!!!" Diesel knows perfectly well what is Rust trying to do, he's trying to barrel his way through her and reach Vega! Well, that ain't gonna happen buster, he'll have to go through The Diesel first. The Amazon woman charges from behind and quickly goes to wrap both muscled arms around Rust's neck to strangle him.
"Ah! How long have I waited for this moment! To take my rightful title from you!"
As Munin works her way through the fighting, her attention is drawn to the sound of the impact as Diesel lands dramaticly before Rust. For a moment, she contemplates going to help, but Rust she knows can handle himself. Looking back, she's about to resume her charge on Vega when he abruptly vanishes! A mix of concern and relief wash through her: concern for who he is after, and relief that it means that much longer before SHE has to fight that monster.....
However, her eyes spot yet ANOTHER monster on the field, though one not quite so intimidating. She recalls Decapre from the fight at the power plant! If it is indeed the same woman, and this could be trouble indeed. Rust is good, but against both the masked fighter, and the huge woman he is currently battling, that would be a foregone result in her mind.
Adjusting course, she makes a beeline for Decapre, leaping over several soldiers and coming in from above, a lance of chi formed from each palm as she spins and slashes towards the masked doll.
COMBATSYS: Diesel successfully hits Rust with Bhima Parigha.
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Munin 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Decapre
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Rust 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Diesel
COMBATSYS: Munin successfully hits Decapre with Spin Slash.
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Munin 0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0 Decapre
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Rust 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Diesel
The lances slash through Decapre--not leaving anything physical to hurt her, but the pain itself is enough. It stops her short... and those red eyeslots focus on Munin. Ah. Her. Perhaps she should have killed this one when she had the chance... It wasn't in the mission parameters, however. The 'stare' lasts for a few seconds, or so... and then she lunges.
Her left hand is held across her chest, in a guard position; her right arched up, overhand, as she drives on her long legs. She'll fight a little recklessly, perhaps, ignoring the explosions, the gunfire, the sounds and backdrop of war...
So, it's to be a battle of energies? Then Decapre will oblige--she slashes downward, the blood-red haze of her Psycho Power flaring around the claw, leaving a brief trail as the three claws seek Munin's chest. When she tried this against Rust, she sought to merely cause pain. Now?
Now she's set to -injure-.
For a man constantly bowed, bullied, belittled, and beaten by such mundane woes as the day-to-day challenges of learning, teaching, and helping around the Kyokugen Dojo and other such seemingly trivial matters on the world stage, Howard Rust looks the part of a man with a purpose and a mission.
A man who would very much like to go back to dealing with an everyday life that likes to stack their odds against him - and many others - obstructed by the excitement and sheer ambition of an organization that craves to define what that is to their own personal benefit.
He won't have it. One of his knees won't have this guff, nor his chest after that recent encounter with that clawed... Cammy, Cammy-like individual.
Diesel will, as she demonstrates by getting her giant arms around his neck. The older man tenses his neck muscles in her grasp, and it seems a losing battle. For all his might, she has plenty to match... or perhaps even surpass, his upper body jerking back to the strength of her hold.
"The hell're you," he wheezes out, grimacing as he struggles to speak or draw breath while the war wages on in his line of sight. He is, in her hold, virtually powerless.
No, not quite. He can't escape her hold. It's such a tight hold he doesn't get much ability to move his head. One of his feet slip from underneath himself, destabilizing his balance and preventing him from thinking to put those kicks he's been mastering under the Kyokugen Dojo tutelage.
No, through sheer force of will, the man tilts his head slightly forward for as much as he can, before suddenly thrusting his head back into Diesel's abdomen in a reverse headbutt, the dark purple abomination on his scalp... well, it's not likely to lend any real physical force to it, given it's just hair, but...
COMBATSYS: Diesel blocks Rust's Hardhat Rush.
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Munin 0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0 Decapre
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Rust 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Diesel
So sadistic, so fierce, so brutal...such are the qualities of the Shadaloo enforcers. Brain washed and forged into the ultimate killing machines, there is no force in this world that can stand against them. Nothing can give them pause, they are without fear or hesitation, nothing can---
"AAAAAIEEEEEEE!!"
A /remarkably/ womanly scream comes from Diesel. A lot of people seem to forget that she is a woman due to her height and muscle mass. But the shriek that getting touched by that /abomination/ Rust wears over his head is reason enough to remind everyone that she, like any other Killer Doll, is at their core, a girl.
Diesel reels back in horror when Rust attempts to head butt her, not out of pain, but out of utter and very real fear. No amount of brain washing would ever be enough to completely remove the fear of the head piece. She releases the hold she had on Rust's neck and jumps back in fright, eyes wide with horror. Did that thing almost just touched her naked abdomen!!??? She shudders.
But just as quickly composes herself, back to her focused state of mind.
"Ahem.." The Diesel clears her throat, pretending she just totally did not just scream like a woman. "You do not know me, but I know you, Rust Howard." The Amazon warrior advances towards him, not yet taking her serious Kalari stance. "Suffice to say for now, that I am from Nepal and I do not approve of your interference with Shadaloo." Breaking into a run the woman aims to slam a powerful right fist into Rust's chest! "You will be a thorn on our side, no longer!"
COMBATSYS: Munin blocks Decapre's Razing Arrow.
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Munin 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Decapre
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Rust 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Diesel
COMBATSYS: Diesel successfully hits Rust with Yudhisthira Khagga.
- Power hit! -
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Munin 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Decapre
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Rust 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Diesel
Munins forearms come up in a hastened defense, the claws leaving nasty bleeding gashes. As much as it hurts, it'll hurt MORE if Munin stands still, and she knows it.
Deciding to forego finesse, and focus on downing this chick, she comes in low while the claws are still in motion, aiming a palm directly at Decapres stomach, a lance of chi shimmering as it cuts through the air. Should it strike, Munin will use the lower center of gravity to lift Decapre up, over, and slam her down on the ground!
COMBATSYS: Decapre blocks Munin's Eclipse.
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Munin 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Decapre
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Rust 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Diesel
Decapre slams her reinforced palm down onto that palm. The impact still lifts Decapre up, but in a controlled manner, not to be slammed back into the pavement. For a brief moment it looks like she might've been -launched-... and yes, she was, but voluntarily.
Somehow, just before she reaches apex... she flips. And plants her feet--against nothing.
And then she lunges downwards, not with a claw, but a diving kick, swinging her body forward and aiming to land--not with a foot on Munin's face, or even into her stomach, but a launch that aims to bring the heel of her boot down on one of Munin's feet.
The sudden release works against the older man too, the shriek sending pain through his head as he falls onto his back, turning to one side and pushing himself up against the war-scarred street as he gags and sputters for air. He's not sure how much more of that he could've tolerated, rubbing at his neck with his left hand.
As she composes herself, he's barely even able to stand up straight while she says her piece about him. From Nepal, she says, was she in--
Oh right, she's with Shadaloo. "Th--"
Boom. Right fist, his chest, barely able to have the time to blink, let alone put up an arm in his traditional defense as he's taken straight off his feet, soaring through the air until his back hits a nearby concrete-laden building. Windows shatter all around as the very wall cracks and falls apart, showering the older man underneath in who knows how much shards of concrete, glass, and whatever else feels like falling from the wall.
It should be, on a visceral level, satisfying to one who has waited so long to do that to him. The sort of thing that should signify someone's ignoble, sad, sudden end.
Until his silhouette is seen through the dust cloud, waving away dust and grime with his left hand as he quite obnoxiously coughs loud enough to be heard over gunfire and distant explosions.
"That's... that's god damn crazy talk," he wheezes out, "I-I was there, I, I saw them... they, they shot up anyone in the way, just about... about everyone, didn't... matter who," he continues as he brings his left hand to Ol' Rusty, now holding it with both as he holds it low. His posture indicates some form of weakness, or at least still trying to work himself through his chest taking another solid blow after that claw-bearing girl nearly got her way with him not long before.
"Why're you... why're you with /them/?" His mind boggles. Surely she had friends and family affected by Vega and the Chinese soldiers he made his puppets under promise of complete world domination, as he narrows his eyes to near-slits. It's a confusing situation to his appearances, but like hell should he let it take his head out of the game when a bunch of people are no doubt counting on him to... not be hurled into walls.
COMBATSYS: Rust focuses on his next action.
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Munin 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Decapre
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Rust 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Diesel
COMBATSYS: Decapre successfully hits Munin with Light Kick.
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Munin 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Decapre
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Rust 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Diesel
*CRUNCH!* This is the rather painful sound of Decapres heel impacting as aimed upon Munins foot. She stiffles a small cry of pain as she feels the bones in her feet struggle to resist the impact. While nothing is broken, it hurts almost as much as the cuts in her arms.
Wasting as little time as possible, the raven-haired fighter sends several punches at Decapre, aimed at stomach, throat, and head, followed up with a palm strike aimed dead-center at her mask! During all these strikes, she goes for the low moves, and adds in a kick aimed at Decapres groin with her free foot. Dirty fighting is not above her if it works, and right now she is DEFINATELY hoping it'll work!
COMBATSYS: Munin successfully hits Decapre with Charged Combo.
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Munin 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Decapre
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Rust 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Diesel
Decapre elects to stay close--and works to avoid those strikes. But there's simply too many of them. The kick to the groin, however, while it doubles her over briefly... well, there are many other things she could have done instead that probably would have hurt -more-... and really, the only thing she's done... has started to make Decapre angry. Obviously, Munin doesn't understand that what happened at the power plant was just business.
Decapre fades back a few steps, bringing her blades to bear--but she doesn't attack. Instead, energy flares around her, that blood-red haze of Psycho Power intensifying, becoming visible, shot through with ugly, dark purple. Powering up... preparing.
COMBATSYS: Decapre gathers her will.
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Munin 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Decapre
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Rust 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Diesel
Diesel didn't expect for a second that such a blow would signal the end of Rust Howard. Her strikes where pretty formidable, yes, one only needed to look at her to know that she could hit like a freight train. But Rust is far too sturdy to wilt against such a blow, he has taken attacks from Lord Vega after all, to even dare to imagine that Diesel could bring him down after enduring strikes of such magnitude would be folly.
It is why she is already running towards him when he emerges from the dust cloud, picked up after he fell on the war torn streets of Seoul. She knew he would stand up again, and she's ready to bring him down once more.
Rust does well to wonder that Diesel, if she is who she claims to be, had family in Nepal when Shadaloo first attacked all those months ago. If it was so, then why is she such a fervent devotee of Shadaloo? Is it the brain washing? It couldn't be, she simply wouldn't remember being from Nepal in the first place. There must be something else. "All those that died there, deserved their fate." The woman snarls as she closes the distance. "Shadaloo will cull the weak from the lands, destroy the impure and corrupt. So that a new Nepal may rise again, no, a new world!!"
Diesel is right in Rust's circle of defense now, fist charged again to strike him in the face. "You will deny the world of its rebirth! That is why you are no savior, Rust Howard. You are no hero!"
The punch is swung right at his nose, aiming to crush his face!
"For I, am the TRUE HERO OF NEPAL!!"
While the battle rages within the Seoul Outskirts between Vega's elites and the two heroes who have come to the aid of South Korea and its allies, yet more battles are being waged all around the outer edge of the city and in the air above. The overwhelming thunder of bombs bursting in the air above comes as a battle between DPRK and Japanese aircraft suddenly ensues. The sound of machine gun fire from above, almost completely drowned out by the bombs, can also barely be heard. In the distance, the roar of a tank's mortar being fired can be heard... preceded by the repetitive bursting of rifle fire doubtlessly aimed upon the tank and whatever might be accompanying it. What ay very well be an entire building collapsing somewhere far off in the distance is also audible if barely.
The rebels have yet to breech the city's various barricades and humans walls, and are in fact thinning in number slowly... either from retreating or being killed. But that isn't stemming the influx of foreign troops... who has their /own/ boots and death machines in the air and on the ground. In fact, the only thing that IS stopping them from advancing deeper into the city is the sheer resistance being offere dnot only b North Korea and Shadaloo's military... but by Russian and Chinese allied forces stationed here. Few though they are. For their part, they have opted to take aminor defending role in this war so far. Minimal enough to reasonably claim to simply be protecting their own interests... including whatever investments they have in the city and the country itself.
COMBATSYS: Rust fails to interrupt Strong Punch from Diesel with Cement Upper.
- Power fail! -
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Munin 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Decapre
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Rust 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Diesel
As Decapre backs up, and amps herself up, Munin smirks to herself, despite her injuries toll.
Reaching up, she removes her glasses, which plop to the ground as her eyes begin to glow with bright purple light. With all the explosions and such going on, the wind is picked up a bit, blowing her jacket wildly in its gusts. Her gloves runes begin to glow as she a lance of chi forms from each palm in preperation.
COMBATSYS: Munin focuses on her next action.
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Munin 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Decapre
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Rust 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Diesel
Though the sounds of war fill the older man's ears, there's the intensity and sincerity of Diesel's bone-chilling declaration that begs to be heard, and the older man's face goes from a mix of confusion and purpose to bewilderment. Please tell me it's just bad English, he's thinking, even though she is enunciating it all very loud and clear.
As Diesel moves in for the punch, he parts Ol' Rusty from his left hand, readying the uppercut swing as her ranting continues onto his character. Just one, good, solid pipe uppercut, that's his intent.
He swings up far too late as the punch lands square in the middle of his face. Blood flies from where her fist strikes home. The shock sees him less swing the pipe upward and more /throw/ it, as his body is directed downwards by the angle of one of the nastiest punches he has suffered in recent memory.
He hits the ground before Diesel so hard that his body is partially embedded in it, vision unfocused as blood goes down one of his nostrils and out the side of his mouth. The huge shadow cast by her person doesn't quite blot out a sky full of war.
Such a grievous wound is, typically, not enough to slow him down all too much as he's already pulling himself up out of his Rust-shaped imprint in the road, but his head turns to a sight that freezes him in mid-situp.
Those uniforms, over there, are they... can they really be....?
Does he really have time to mull over this? That he thinks he's seeing what he does is most certainly enough to cast the fact he's still dealing with Diesel out of his mind for just long enough to possibly lead to further incredible harm.
Yet, it is not her blows alone that's making his blood freeze.
Decapre is, primarily, an up-close fighter, to be sure. With the claws, and the style, its emphasis on assassination techniques, it's logical to assume that, with the lack of evidence--and with the surfeit of other evidence--that she has to rush in to attack. And, mostly... that's true.
But not always. The haze fades from her, and she stares at Munin emptily for a moment, as if daring her to make a move--and then she moves. It isn't much of a move, really--a hand going to her waist... and then she sweeps her right hand outward.
The glint of the razor-edged blade she throws--shaped like an arrowhead--is probably at both very visible and easy to lose, in the chaos.
COMBATSYS: Munin overcomes Thrown Object from Decapre with Shadow Wave.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Munin 1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Decapre
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Rust 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Diesel
That glint is the very thing that gave it away just before the snap of the wrist sends it whistling through the air. Munin, however, has already brought up her hand, and flung a wave of shadowy chi, hoping to intercept the edged projectile!
It washes over the weapon, successfully halting it's advance, while continuing on towards Decapre herself!
"YOU CANNOT STAND AGAINST ME!!"
Diesel barrels through the attempted pipe uppercut with relative easy. Her true strength shows by how she moves faster than her girth would normally allow a person as big as her and beats Rust to the punch, doing what so few have managed to accomplish. Her zealotry, as misguided as it may sound, gives her strength, adding to her already considerable physical power.
It may be the surprise that ultimately causes Rust to lose his footing and get punched hard in the face meats, but that is no tactic to make him open up, this is no physiological warfare. Diesel meant every word of it and in the end she shows that her actions too, speak louder than words.
Although that won't stop her from screaming out her hatred.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!!" When Rust hits the ground back first, Diesel is right on top of him. He may be looking elsewhere to spot the uniforms of some other soldiers, but as usual, Diesel's eyes are focused only on her target. The massive form of the Amazon is seen towering over Rust, pressing one foot on his chest to pin him down, while the other is brought down directly on Rust's face to stomp him over and over again.
"YOU MUST PERISH FOR THE FUTURE OF THIS WORLD!!"
COMBATSYS: Munin successfully hits Decapre with Shadow Wave.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Munin 1/-----==/=======|=======\====---\1 Decapre
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Rust 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Diesel
COMBATSYS: Diesel successfully hits Rust with Raksha Nakhariskira.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Munin 1/-----==/=======|=======\====---\1 Decapre
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Rust 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Diesel
It was the expected reaction from her opponent--but that doesn't make it easier to avoid. The impact is... well, it's not -fun-. But even though Decapre staggers, she does not falter. And then... the red eyes lock onto Munin, and she literally bursts into action--exploding from her spot in a blurred rush of claws. She leads with one slashing claw, that red haze from earlier now -concentrated-, and the blood-red lines seem to linger around longer as she follows up that single, slashing right claw...
... with a veritable -storm- of claws, raking their way across Munin, several strikes intended to slice her to bloody ribbons, for those claws to cut deep into body, to reach internal organs...
Possibly to kill.
COMBATSYS: Decapre blitzes into action and acts again!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Munin 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Decapre
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Rust 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Diesel
COMBATSYS: Decapre successfully hits Munin with Power Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Munin 1/---====/=======|=======\-------\0 Decapre
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Rust 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Diesel
COMBATSYS: Munin fails to counter Razing Arrow from Decapre with Terminal Response.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Munin 1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1 Decapre
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Rust 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Diesel
As Decapre makes her move, Munin is not prepared for the intensity of her counterattack! She tries to dodge franticly, to no avail! She is badly cut in multiple places before she collects herself enough to try to counter attack!
She tries to lash out with a lance of chi, but the claws intercept her arm as the slashing continues. By the time Munin has the chance to hop back and gain some space, she is dripping with her own blood from several deep cuts. The glow of her eyes also has started to dim, as exhaustion from blood loss as well as pain begins to hit her.
Any further glances at those extremely familiar uniforms over yonder are cut off to the shouting of the giant Nepali woman who keeps stomping him down, down, down. It's a gut-wrenching sight for just about anyone that might be watching, as he sinks further and further into the ground with every bone-breaking, organ-rupturing stomps. Nobody can see Rust's face under Diesel's heel, and it may be for the best that one not commit what faces he's making to print - or how it really looks.
Diesel may or may not want to wash her boots after all is said and done.
The older man's arms twitch erratically with each and every terrible stomping blow as Ol' Rusty hits the ground near the Rust-shaped crater, one end falling not-lightly against his aching abdomen.
The twitching continues throughout, but yet his right hand finds that tip of Ol' Rusty without fail even as it feels that the next kick might be what finally does his skull in. His left hand tenses into a fist, even as it sticks up awkwardly. It soon unclenches...
Moving to grab Diesel's ankle that stands pressed on his chest, to try and yank it off to the side to bring her off balance as he thrusts Ol' Rusty upward into her (hopefully) falling form from imbalance, an impaling motion even if he can't quite see above him very well thanks to the blood getting in his eyes.
The only vocal feedback he has is, entirely, pathetic wheezing and incomprehensible mumbling in the form of consonants that typically do not belong next to one another in such sequence, but yet, the fact he's still able to move at all...
What the hell compels this man to keep going?
COMBATSYS: Rust successfully hits Diesel with Armed Pipe Combo.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Munin 1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1 Decapre
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Rust 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1 Diesel
Decapre is not satisfied. This little pest... Decapre's assault does not stop; Munin has her chance to hop back, but she won't get a chance to take a breather, because Decapre pursues her with isngle-minded intent and rage. The blood-red haze seems to only highlight the red of Munin's blood, dripping down the edges of her claws--flying off in droplets as she continues her headlong rush, drops of that blood streaking across the impartial, faceless visage of her mask--until they find the frownline, and fill it with that blood red color.
And the haze forms itself around her claws again as she continues to tear at Munin's body, alterating strikes with her right and her left, a good six strikes, three each, before she finishes with a 'giant cross', the final marker of what might be a deadly attack.
COMBATSYS: Munin fails to counter Razing Barrage from Decapre with Double Vision.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Rust 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 Decapre
> //////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Diesel
COMBATSYS: Munin can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Rust 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 Decapre
> //////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Diesel
Once more, Munin is unprepared for Decapres ferocity.
She is sliced up one side and down the other, and is losing a nice amount of blood, both on the ground, as well as to those razor-sharp claws. Her form shimmers briefly, and she braces herself, trying to wait for the ideal time to counterattack. Alas, the injuries are such that she misses her window, and goes flying with the last strike, landing in a heap, seemingly unconscious, and leaving a nice red puddle that continues to grow....
*STOMP!* "DIE!" *STOMP!* "DIE!!" *STOMP!*
Diesel is relentless, unforgiving, as if Rust had insulted her ancestors by saving them in Nepal, for some reason Diesel thinks that the very act is still sacrilege of the highest order. Through some twisted, brain washed logic, the giant of an Amazon is fueled by Rust continued attempts to try and save people. In her mind, this is the fate that they deserve, Shadaloo is doing them a favor, nay, a mercy by ending their pathetic existence once and for all, to make room for those who truly seek salvation. This is the world that Diesel wants to live in.
And there is seemingly no room for Rust in it.
Of course, as it often happens with Berserkers, Diesel gets a little too carried away with her brutal attack and her foot is promptly caught by Rust's hand, causing her to lose her balance and fall forward. If not for the pipe in the way, Rust would have surely gotten flattened by the seven feet tall monstrosity of a woman, but thankfully for him, Diesel's stomach collides with the pipe eliciting a pained cry from her. With teeth clenched, the Shadaloo assassin grasps the pipe with one hand to keep herself upright and stares at Rust still with eyes full of hatred, her other free hand drawing back with fingers extended, covered with purple energy.
"Kalimaaaaa...."
Lord Vega will have to forgive her, but today Rust falls at her hands and her hands only.
"KALI MUSTU!!!" Her spear hand is brought down hard upon Rust's already injured chest, aiming to sandwich him between her and the ground to flatten his burly heart inside his ribcage, threatening to make it implode!
COMBATSYS: Diesel successfully hits Rust with Kali Mustu.
Glancing Blow
-+- CALCULATED HIT -+-
[ \\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Rust 1/----===/=======|-------\-------\0 Decapre
> ///////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Diesel
Only now does Decapre speak, standing over that body. Dead? Possibly. Should she make sure? Probably. But she doesn't have the chance--Rebels press an attack, and the whang of bullets forces Decapre to retreat. <<Diesel, report. Do you require assistance?>> And then, as she leaps away as the rebels presumably recover Munin's body...
<<Lord Vega. One of the elite combatants is down. Moving to pacify rebels.>> With her rage largely doused by tearing into Munin, she sounds calmer--though that is not any consolation for the pockets of rebels she hurls herself into, a guided missile of flying blades...
Without the foot in his face, Diesel can look unto Rust and see that she has most assuredly given the man a very close brush with death. No one would ever have called him much of a looker to begin with, but his face... well, there's blood. There's bruises. Who knows how much of his face she managed to shatter?
Not enough of it.
His heart beats a bit faster for how numb his entire head is from pain. The grip of her hand against the pipe nearly forces it out of his grip and into his own chest, but somehow, maybe from just will, he holds the pipe.
When she draws her hand back, the bit of purple energy that he can clearly see (and that nagging feeling in one of his knees) is convincing enough that... maybe, just maybe, he shouldn't lay there.
"Zzht," a garbled curse escapes through his busted-up lips as he finds it in himself to turn his body to the left with just enough heft to pull himself out of the street... well, not cleanly, given how her hand smashes solidly into his right shoulder, threatening to pop him back right down as a bone-crunching crack fills the air. Almost certain death is narrowly avoided, replaced with a shattered shoulder.
His left hand quickly takes Ol' Rusty before he lets it go, eyes shut in pain until he blinks one back open to catch a scene of a bloodied Munin being carried off by soldiers on the apparent retreat. For being a man whose head has been smashed nearly to a bloody fine paste, he scrambles back up to his feet remarkably well across uneven terrain that seems to want to cave in around where he formed a crater scant moments earlier, checking over his shoulder one last time not just for the giant woman, but those familiar uniforms.
Chinese. At least one other he sort of recognizes but can't put his finger on...
There isn't anything he can say for Diesel, the Nepali zealot of Shadaloo - perhaps because he can't, another bit of gibberish that was probably legible on his tongue but not coming out of his smashed-up face and mouth as he takes off in a jog - as though perhaps sharing what he just saw ends up much, much more important than finding a way past Diesel herself to Vega, right arm dangling along behind himself.
But... what of the things she said? Does he truly believe in her own thoughts of him? Whatever's running through his mind and that awful dark purple thing that somehow is still much, much more hideous in comparison to the current state of his face, it seems to go uncommunicated as he takes off towards the crowd of friendly soldiers carrying Munin off.
"GRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
Out of frustration does Diesel yell. A shattered shoulder, while painful, is not lethal as the Kali Mustu strike is intended to be. Now that Diesel's ginormous foot is not covering Rust's face, he will be able to see her enraged face, a face that clearly says that she will not be satisfied until she has Rust's beating heart in her bloodied, purple glowing hand. Rust is a formidable warrior on his own right despite the clear difference between intermediate Kyokyugen skill and expert Kalaripayattu, sharpened by psycho power. Diesel might have been able to dominate him in the battle field, but Rust has simply faced much bigger and powerful foes to be truly intimidated by her. He rolls free from her grasp as she's busy trying to pull her hand free out of the ground she pushed through and makes a run for it. Confused as he might be by her zealotry, Rust still has enough sense of reason to know when to run away.
And that pisses Diesel right the eff off.
"NO!!" Exclaims the woman as she uses all her might to pull her arm free from the ground, having punched so hard that she nearly slid all of her muscled forearm into it. Had Rust fully taken the blow square on...it surely would have killed him! "Come back!! I MUST DESTROY YOU!!" By the time that she has managed to break free, Rust already has a good distance from her and Decapre is signaling that she has already done her job. Diesel reaches for her radio to respond.
<<Negative, target is retreating. Enemy forces are on the run. Are we to pursue?>>
Silently, she hopes that Lord Vega says yes.
... <"No. He is not important enough for now..."> comes the voice of Vega over the radio, just as a Japanese plane explodes overhead suddenly. The sound of the explosion is transmitted through the radio, LOUDLY. Apparently he was the source of it... <"There are still far too many of these insects nearby! I will NOT tolerate them setting even so much as ONE foot in MY city! You will assist Decapre in dealing with the enemy, and you will do it now!"> The tone the Master of Psycho Power takes should be all of the assurance anyone needs that if this order is not followed to the letter... there will be consequences.
...Though Rust and Munin have been defeated here... this battle is still far from over... even if the Northern occupation and its allies appears to be winning...
Log created on 20:14:35 08/26/2012 by Vega, and last modified on 01:02:28 08/27/2012.