Description: Robert, what are you doing dressing up in pink and talking about some nonsensical non-Kyokugen thing during some demonstrations? Besides, Rust there has been looking all over for you. Come on, knock it off already, Robert.
There are days when you can hold a public demonstration of your martial arts style in peace. This is, possibly unfortunately but likely fortunately enough for the Kyokugen Dojo, not one of those days. Dressed in his trademark pink gi, for you have to be confident in your manhood to wear pink, and looking to be full of confidence, a man has arrived to interfere. There's a strange bulge below the left half of his gi.
"SAKAZAKI!" He calls out, belts out, confident and full of himself, "How dare you teach your stolen style without paying your respects to me, Dan Hibiki, its true inventor?" Conveniently ignoring that Kyokugen-ryuu is older than Dan, or probably forgetting that it is. Nonetheless, he is discontent with the situation at hand.
He then looks towards the students and visitors who almost certainly have started looking towards him by now, and heads over. "Don't worry. If you wish to be great, then do as I do. Be as I am. And here's something to remind you." He pulls a bag out of his gi, explaining the bulge, and starts handing out (or trying to anyway) fighting gloves with a text upon them.
The text is a simple, but rather clear, 'What Would Dan Do?' and he doesn't seem to think there's any arrogance to this at all. That it's pure charity. After all, who would NOT want to be like Dan, right? Oh, and the 'Dan' part is manually signed on them. "Today, they're free of charge. Only for the people here, because I do not want the copycat to waste people's time."
The Sakazaki Dojo. Home to the proud - if financially almost destitute - Kyokugen Dojo. One of the most physically demanding martial arts to be found. Injury is common, dropout rates arguably even higher. Still, those that endure pack a mighty punch indeed... or at least develop a respectable threshold for physical pain.
Nothing can prepare anyone for the man in pink, where the very few junior instructors attempting to do a more public lecture for passers-by can't seem to decide as to whether to yell at him, threaten him with violence, or just keep going best they can. One might even be conspiring to drag Dan in for public sparring, while some of the passers-by indeed look upon the gloves with equal parts confusion and bemusement. The number of people better informed are a vast, vast minority.
Somewhere over in the concrete lot, a very stout man ambles along dressed in a white gi top with (rather oddly colored) purplish work jeans and boots, a brown martial arts belt almost blending in with a toolbelt with a rusted length of pipe shoved through one torn-open pocket.
"Have you seen him?" He asks one of the younger white belts in a gravelly voice.
"Uh, yeah, he's over there," he says, barely breaking out of his stance and form.
"Son of a bitch," the stout man grouses as he brings a hand up to his forehead, fingers rubbing up against a total declaration of war against nature - some sort of odd purple... hair? No, calling it hair is an insult to the very concept. That purple mess on his scalp, "just," his voice trails off to incomprehensible mumbling as he walks along closer to the forefront where onlookers are gathered. There's one single loud pop in one of his knees as he walks along up ahead.
Before long, he's looming a ways behind the man in pink, with a loud clearing of his throat that almost sounds more like a pitiful wheeze than anything. "H-Hey. Hey." He speaks up a third time, a little louder. "Hey!"
Unless stopped, he rests a hand on his shoulder. "Robert, the hell you've been? Been waitin' all day for you to show up..."
COMBATSYS: Dan has started a fight here.
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Dan 0/-------/-------|
... Robert. /Robert./ Was Dan just compared to Robert? ... who is Robert anyway? Nonetheless, this poor, poor sod who can't tell the difference between some 'Robert' and 'Dan Hibiki' must be educated. He must be shown who Dan Hibiki is, and Dan is not afraid to do so.
With a swift movement, he draws a picture of one of his days of dominating Ryo from one of his pockets -- it was actually just a lucky hit, and he lost anyway -- quickly signs it with a pen drawn at the same moment, and as he steps away and turns around, he throws it towards the man who addressed him as this 'Robert.'
"You must not have been paying attention to the news, they always make big news out of me." Perhaps when filtered through Dannovision, "I'm not Robert, I am the greatest warrior to walk this world, Dan Hibiki!" It's a harmless action, certainly, but it's possibly a bit insulting, as he's flinging a picture of himself punching this dojo's teacher in the face at someone who is obviously part of the dojo. "Who are you, anyway? What's with the combover?"
COMBATSYS: Rust has joined the fight here.
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Dan 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rust
COMBATSYS: Dan successfully hits Rust with Premium Sign.
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Dan 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rust
"H-Hey, whoa," the stout man puts a hand up as the great photograph of one of Dan's many... er, occasional... er, few... er, exceedingly rare moments of trimph or, er, um, momentary spots of hope captured on film scrapes up above his fingers and keeps going on its little flight path up against the stout man's scalp.
It effortlessly scoops up the dark purple monstrosity upon his scalp and keeps going a short ways before it collapses underneath the disgusting heap of not-hair on the concrete lot, revealing a somewhat less abominable but still very awful combover of a brownish-blonde color.
"Robert, c'mon, it's me, y'know, uh, Rust, Howard Rust, and... what... combov--"
Why does he even need to ask?! It's not like the whole world doesn't already know, as the man's voice trails off and he glances upwards sharply, running his gloved hands against a scalp suddenly feeling a little more chilly. Just a simple stroke of his gloved fingers against exposed, thinning-out hair is enough to make one of the stoutest and strongest of men...
...Suddenly shrink visibly with an audible grunt of surprise and embarrassment. "Gahhhh!" He even looks hurriedly to either side, confused as to where it could have possibly gone.
Nobody is rushing to go pick up the disgusting mass of dark purple. Nobody wants to touch that /thing/, that horrible, awful thing. It being in contact with that autographed photo no doubt has voided any of its worth as a prized fighter collectible, assuming Dan's name is really worth something in the fighting memorabilia market.
"Robeeeert!!" The stout man shouts, almost as much as from feelings being hurt (men have feelings? c'mon) as much frustration. Er, was he even listening to anything Dan was saying? "You, you said you wouldn't..."
COMBATSYS: Rust has another bad hair day.
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Dan 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 [E] Rust
COMBATSYS: Rust takes no action.
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Dan 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 [E] Rust
Now this is getting a bit frustrating, but Dan is unfazed. He is assuming the man is deaf and poorsighted, to Dan no other explanation is feasible for this level of confusion, and for a moment Dan is dumbfounded, unaware of what he could do to help Rust see the difference between the nobody that is Robert and the world famous fighter that is Dan. In reality, the two might be reversed, but Dan is not good with facing reality.
It takes Dan several moments of careful thought and deep thinking to come up with a solution to this ... problem. And when it comes, it's brilliant in its stupidity. Dan opens his lungs, makes a stance that involves extending his butt with a hand on it, and a grin that is so wide that the sun's light briefly reflects upon it like his teeth were priced jewelry.
Then, he shouts. "HOWARD RUST, I AM NOT THIS ROBERT YOU SPEAK OF. I AM THE LEGENDARY FIGHTER, DAN HIBIKI. TEACHER AND FOUNDER OF SAIKYO-RYUU, KYOKUGEN WAS AND REMAINS A POOR COPY OF MY WORK!"
COMBATSYS: Dan focuses on his next action.
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Dan 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 [E] Rust
Considering Rust's history in his younger years as a construction worker, some degree of hearing loss is probably not out of the question for him. Beyond that, who knows what it is that compels him to confuse such a superficial resemblance to be that of the genuine article outside of a day of undisclosed amounts of waiting, stress, and who knows what else wanting him to believe that a tardy Robert has finally showed up.
The same amount of waiting, stress, and who knows what else that seems to allow him to believe that Robert(?) before him would be capable of such acts of personal cruelty. The crowds milling around on the outer edges of the property, small as they are, converge around Dan giving one of his signature SAIKYO poses to shining teeth and the equally confused, enraged, and balding Howard Rust who is probably among one of the more noteworthy figures of the day. (His continued inner denial about his impending baldness being brought to the forefront among the more notable things about him.)
"Robert," he sneers as he slowly builds over from distressing to aggressing, reaching over with his left hand to grab Robert(?) by the collar, lift him off his feet, and start trying to violently shake him, "what kinda nonsense did you get... you get put up to this time?! This is over the line!"
COMBATSYS: Rust successfully hits Dan with Quick Throw.
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Dan 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 [E] Rust
Though Dan tried, and tried, he just failed to see the throw coming. He's shaked, shaked and shaked. It's inconvenient, and the only proper response to this that Dan can come up with right now is trying to shove Rust back a bit, just enough to increase the distance and give him some time to berate Rust further.
"I AM NOT ROBERT. I DON'T KNOW ROBERT. IS HE ONE OF YOUR PANSY KYOKUGEN USING RIPOFFS?" Yes, he keeps shouting, he's still convinced that this guy is just deaf. "I AM DAN HIBIKI, KYOKUGEN FLATTERS ME, BECAUSE IMITATION IS A SIGN OF RESPECT, BUT IT IS WEAK, FLAWED, AND IT CAN'T MATCH SAIKYO-RYUU, THE STYLE I INVENTED AND YOU ARE A MERE KNOCKOFF OF. YOU SUCK."
At that last statement, he decides to throw an attack at Rust, a mighty punch that looks a -lot- like Ryo's Tenchi Haoh Ken. Its actual name is of course not Tenchi Haoh Ken. It's Kyuukyuku Tenchi Gadou Zuki, but the difference is subtle, and not easily noticed unless it connects. Even then, it affects Dan, not Rust. Small differences.
COMBATSYS: Rust endures Dan's Kyuukyoku Tenchi Gadou Zuki.
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Dan 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 [E] Rust
"Quit playin' dumb," sneers the stout man whose grasp upon Possibly-Robert whopm eventually wriggles out of his mighty left hand grasp. When the pink-clad man of the hour backs away, the other guy drops to a much more respectable fighting stance. A fair bit stiffer than maybe he ought to be, his left shoulder popping loudly as he brings his arm back. He debates going for the pipe with his right hand, but ultimately settles with a far more orthodox Kyokugen stance, hands balled up into fists with his right hand not quite as tightly clenched as the left. His eyes narrow at the boasts as he goes to a slight crouch.
'Robert' possibly can't mean that unless he's putting on a show, but if there's a joke he's probably not in on it. (That in itself just may be the joke, in cosmic terms.)
The mighty(?) punch lands square on the man's chest, but he either does not visibly acknowledge that he has been punched, is riled enough not to care, or - more likely - he was intending to spring at 'Robert' with a small leap up and the punch really only succeeds in delaying him for a fraction of a second, swinging one leg outward in a kicking attack as he rotates himself in mid-air to throw a second kick that gives himself a slightly backwards momentum as opposed to forwards. He's either getting the forward series of kicks wrong, or that's just how he does it.
"G-Get real already," he mumbles out all the same - though the punch probably took enough air out of him that he couldn't really say that any louder.
COMBATSYS: Rust successfully hits Dan with Girder Sway.
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Dan 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 [E] Rust
Dan's mighty punch connected well, and this hurt. As he tried to recover from the pain, it seems that Rust has already taken it upon himself to retaliate, for painful effect. Dan tries to roll with the kicks like Rust did with his punch, but unfortunately this was not really working out. At this rate, Dan has quite likely decided that Rust is retarded. For how could Rust keep making this mistake.
Now having recovered enough from the strain, Dan is stepping back and taking in a deep breath. He then collects a large amount of chi in one hand and (like a Kyokugen Karateka but unlike Ansatsuken Karatekas) throws it forward with one hand, and in an attempt to drive down the point, he yells, "GADOUKEN!"
Noteworthy point, Gadouken is not nearly as long ranged as either Hadouken or the Ko'ouken. It's still a chi blast and in Dan's favor, he seems aware of the limitations on the blast's distance.
COMBATSYS: Dan successfully hits Rust with Gadouken.
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Dan 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 [E] Rust
Rust actually puts a keen eye to 'Robert's' movements. Really, the way the arm moves is completely indistinguishable from how most the other members of the Kyokugen Dojo do it, although in more recent times Robert tends to have more movement in his legs when he does it. No matter--
The called name is mystifying enough that Rust thinks to helpfully lower his left forearm, "uh, actually it's call-"
The Gadouken disperses all over his upper body at the fullest extent of its reach, its last flickering remnants having enough impact behind it for the stout man's upper body to bend back painfully while the heels of his boots skid against the concrete lot enough to leave some blackened marks where his boots slide.
Shaking his head, Rust tries to take a few steps back in. There is a noted slowness to his forward movements, compounded with another kind of disconcerting pop of one of his knees as he edges back in. "L-Look, I know you, you change up your stuff a lot, but... really?"
That he's not trying to throw a Ko'ou Ken back probably says something about a gap in his own masteries. Taking to the air a second time in a small leap, it is evidently clear that he was not quite gifted with the jump heights that most fighters often have, but he stretches out one of his legs in a straight kick towards 'Robert's' not entirely ugly mug with another small grunt of exertion. Given the small distance between them, he'd likely end up clipping 'Robert' with the heel if he manages to catch him at all.
COMBATSYS: Dan blocks Rust's Light Kick.
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Dan 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 [E] Rust
'Robert' puts his arm in front of the kick to prevent it from hitting his more vulnerable parts, and seems mostly unfazed. "No, it IS called the GADOUKEN." He shouts agitatedly, It's not that he's afraid to lose, it's that he's being increasingly irritated for being a practitioner of this knockoff art.
But that doesn't mean he's gonna lose his calm over it, really. He's not. He looks at the man he's fighting and rather than performing any kind of real attack, he turns to the people who undoubtedly have started watching by now. "He might be blind, deaf and bald, but you might have promise. Watch closely while I prepare to teach him the true meaning of fighting." He turns back to Rust and makes this 'come at me' gesture with his hands, and again his teeth blink. He's starting to get into the fight.
COMBATSYS: Dan gathers his will.
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Dan 1/-======/=======|======-\-------\0 [E] Rust
His landing from the kick surprisingly smooth despite his lower general air time and the stiffness he appears to move at, Rust makes sure to stay about as close as he can while 'Robert' there addresses the crowd whom look on with interest that starts to worm its way into the mix of aforementioned confusion and bemusement. It's one thing to have a bunch of Kyokugen practicioners show off a number of katas - it's another to have a real fight going on in a show of what both schools have to offer.
Around the time Dan gestures him to bring it, Rust lifts his left hand up for the scalp of 'Robert,' threatening to possibly slam it down on his head and faceplant him against the concrete hard enough to make it crack, with one very audible protest that just about anyone knows is just probing at a hard and difficult truth for any man advancing steadily in age such as himself.
"I'm not bald!!" Rust protests.
COMBATSYS: Dan guards against Rust's Brick Stacker.
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Dan 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=====--\-------\0 [E] Rust
One arm lifts to protect 'Robert's' face and it does so well, with the fight going like this, he might be behind, but he's looking like he's just getting started. Turning towards Rust, he almost seems to take pity. "After I have defeaten this champion of theirs, I'm sure you will see that it's better to learn from a capable fighter like me than this deaf, blind, bald man. Don't worry, I'll go easy on him."
As though to demonstrate that he's going easy, he kicks Rust. It's a low, sweeping kick that does not seem to suffer from having excessive levels of effort put behind them. "Crust, right? Tell Ryo that he should come out personally if he's not a chicken, next time." He's not taking Rust seriously, perhaps he should, but he isn't.
COMBATSYS: Rust interrupts Light Kick from Dan with Cement Upper.
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Dan 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0 [E] Rust
With his right hand free while his left hand wrestles a bit against 'Robert's' stalwart defenses empowered by his championing of... whatever it is he's doing, he draws the length of rusted pipe - which no doubt is veering away from the orthodox Kyokugen teachings and is continually a subject of Takuma's ire - he manages to get it out of the makeshift toolbelt pocket sheath while 'Robert' addresses the rest of the gathered.
"Robert, c'mon, you... you know how it goes," he stammers a little as he draws the pipe - Ol' Rusty - back behind him while Dan dips low to throw his kick. His right wrist spins the pipe a bit before he suddenly swings it down low into an uppercut-like motion that probably includes Dan's face in its forward path. The Cement Upper - one of his famous techniques, in spite of a continued lack of any real resemblance to anything involving Cement - backed by constantly fine-tuned and honed arm movements where the rise of the pipe is goverend by an uppercutting motion that is unmistakably Kyokugen, combining both his own technique with the proven strength of Kyokugen's own uppercut techniques, though he keeps his feet firmly planted. If anything, there's a slight glide forward up against Dan's striking leg, pushing back up against it. His own balance remains reasonably intact after the fact, in spite of one small stumble as he comes out of the uppercutting motion.
"We don't... we don't pull our punches here," Rust speaks in a much more definitive tone of voice, as if threatening to take back the verbal momentum after having let 'Robert' hold it for the entire engagement. "You're better 'n that. Drop the act already and let's show 'em how this, y'know, this Kyokugen Might thing goes."
And 'Robert' is thrown back, his 'immaculate jaw' takes a strike from a rusty pipe, and he stumbles a bit as he tries to catch himself. It actually seems to take him a while to recover from this attack, but he disguises that quite well (to the uninformed onlooker) by continuing to talk.
"Oh, I'm not asking you to hold back, Crust. You'll need to give it your all if you are to beat me and my SAIKYO-RYUU, even now I'm holding back. You can't match my level of skill." Dan is highly skilled, really. It's just... uh... well... Arrogance in the face of reality is a skill of its own, let's go with that.
And though this might not seem obvious, Dan is steaying himself in such a way that he is entirely rebalancing himself and trying to take into account 'Crust's' past actions, especially with these unorthodox tactics. "Even when you resort to that kind of weapon, it won't be enough unless I hold back. I'm doing you a favor, Crust.'
COMBATSYS: Dan focuses on his next action.
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Dan 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0 [E] Rust
There is a half-truth distorted through the misconceptions of another in what 'Robert' says. Robert Garcia is one of the most celebrated, skilled, and talented fighters to ever come out of the Kyokugen Dojo. A Robert that doesn't immediately overcome Rust's notable weaknesses in the speed department with a dazzling array of kicks and other sorts of fancy footwork - even as he theoretically takes a lot of cues from Robert to begin with! - is a Robert that is truthfully holding back.
Knowing full well what Robert is capable of after all those days and hours of training, sparring, and lending him tapes that he has yet to give back, Rust visibly hesitates as 'Robert' spits out what would be a truth by a Robert who does not require stylized air quotes around their name, slowly circling him with his pipe outstretched as to mentally gauge distances between them, and how much further he'd have to step in to smack him before drawing the pipe back.
Coughing once - damn these grass-related allergies! - Rust's careful circling sees him saying only one thing in return.
"Then... then do the rest a favor and show 'em what it's like when... when you aren't." Why would Robert want to hold back in public after he called him bald? The man's mind boggles, even as he narrows his eyes to size up 'Robert's' next move.
COMBATSYS: Rust focuses on his next action.
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Dan 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0 [E] Rust
"If you wish." Dan is Dan, and he is a flawed man, he's just been given the best argument for why to not hold back against Rust and that is displaying the might of Saikyo-ryuu. Even if 'Crust' meant to give that advice for an entirely different reason, even if this wasn't meant to humiliate Rust, Dan is taking the offer.
He slowly walks towards Rust, and once he's close enough, he tries to throw one uppercut into Rust's gut while turning around, and then immediately follow it up with another uppercut to Rust's chin while they're both in mid-air. It's essentially a series of two Shoryukens in a row, pardon, Kohous, pardon Kouryukens.
COMBATSYS: Dan successfully hits Rust with Kouryuu Rekka.
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Dan 0/-------/---<<<<|=======\==-----\1 [E] Rust
Rust's left fist tightens as 'Robert' walks to him far more slowly than what he'd expect, even throwing up his left forearm far sooner than there is an actual attack. He's anticipating 'Robert' to all but rush him at a breakneck pace. A slower trot up is entirely disarming, and by the time 'Robert' is in front of his face h lowers his forearm and gives him an expectant look, a series of quieter joint pops and a much more noticeable bit of stiffness in his movements.
Then he gets sucker punched in the gut. The man's teeth clench to this first, very respectable punch. He doesn't get quite tossed into the air by the first one, but it's not much of a detriment to 'Robert's' ability to follow it up with another solid shot to the chin that sees a dribble of blood come out the side of Rust's mouth as this second uppercut finally takes him clean off of his feet, bouncing him against concrete twice as a few gathered onlookers step away hurriedly as to not have him fall upon them. Ol' Rusty drops out of his hand, boucning against the ground once before rolling along against his side.
It takes a short while for Rust to pull himself back up, right hand clumsily reaching for the pipe that he sets vertically to help him get back up. There is some real stiffness in his movements, as though one of his knees were suddenly almost refusing to bend. Like bones that wanted to be settled and stiff in their current form are basically being fought against, flexed with a grunt, as he staggers along back up.
"That... that wasn't your best." A cassandra truth, perhaps - absolutely nothing like the things Robert threw at him when he got into a groove, and yet there's irritation in Rust's tired eyes, accusation in his grumbly voice, as he steps back towards him. With clenched teeth again, he takes Ol' Rusty in both hands and thrusts forward, hoping the collective reach of his arms bolstered by the pipe means that he can at least thrust the tip into 'Robert's' chest, even as the stiffness in one shoulder and elbow conspire to sap strength from the retaliating blow.
"Qu-quit messing around!"
COMBATSYS: Dan endures Rust's Fierce Piping.
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Dan 1/-------/<<<<<<<|=======\===----\1 [E] Rust
'Robert' is thrown back, and though this really -was- his best, he is quite comfortable letting Rust tell the audience it wasn't. Why? Because it's basically a Kyokugen student telling a crowd of people at the Kyokugen dojo that Dan is just holding back when he'd hit Rust with his best. That's a great gift. "You're right. It wasn't, can you tell me, Crust. Is this?"
Hint: In this category of attacks it is, but Robert would be able to do far better. Dan pulls his arm back again, and gathers chi, a bit more than the last time, and throws it forward with a loud shout, "SHINKUU GADOUKEN!" Yes, he's using his own names again. Which Rust might want to object to, if he isn't too busy to other flaws in 'Robert's' fighting.
COMBATSYS: Rust blocks Dan's Shinkuu Gadouken.
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Dan 0/-------/-------|=======\====---\1 [E] Rust
Blood still trickling out of the side of the older man's mouth, the visible aggravation at suddenly trying to play a guessing game to draw out 'Robert's' actual best at expense of his health and well-being probably does not garner much other than perhaps a laugh or two from some people who really are not in on the joke. Nobody is in on the joke. Is there even a joker? There's a decided lack of someone not being in on something, and it remains unclear as to who it ends up being.
Why isn't he using both arms? This is what puzzles the older man as 'Robert' pulls back, thinking it's going to be the Haoh Sho Ko Ken as he hurriedly brings up his forearm when 'Robert' goes in deep to shove an energy manifestation in his face. It is not the Haoh Sho Ko Ken. The puff of energy flies forward with only modest size and speed, but it drills up against his left forearm as though it were especially determined to drill a hole through it. Rust winces once as pain shoots through said forearm, but finds it ever more surprising that the flashes of chi don't see him having to shut his eyes. Most of the time, big nasty energy blasts really do a number to one's eyesight. This one, aside from its determination to get through him, not so much.
"That... that isn't either," he says. Can he put two and two together? Maybe? Finally? He shakes out his left arm as he draws back a foot, a flickering light gathering at the tip of it. It's not terribly impressive.
Even less impressive is when he finally flings his leg forward, kicking out an incredibly washed-out (it's hard to tell if it's supposed to be, what, white? Green? Blue? Greenish blue? So indistinct), flickering chi manifestation that looks like it should be a ring of energy, but it unevenly teeters and totters as it barely glides above the ground. It looks ready to disappear in a pathetic puff at any given moment as it travels the length between 'Robert' and Rust, however small or great, at a sluggish speed that threatens to gently massage(?) 'Robert's' shin.
It may be, it just may be, that someone may actually have found someone with far less talent in chi manifestation than themselves.
"This is the one you, you taught me," he clarifies. That's not terribly flattering to say, but Rust sure sounds confident in saying that this... fireball... is something to have been proud of being taught.
COMBATSYS: Dan endures Rust's Detour.
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Dan 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 [E] Rust
'Robert' takes the attack like a man, just marching through it and onwards to Rust. He's slowed down a bit by Rust's prior actions, but not enough. He's clinging on to his ability to keep fighting, but he doesn't let that show. "There's still some room for improvement there, Crust. But it's not horrible. Here, let me show it to you again."
And so, from relatively close, he grabs some chi in his hand again and pushes it forward. "GADOUKEN!" He's trying to make it look like this is trivial for him, like throwing a punch would be for lesser fighters. "And perhaps I am holding back, what of it?" He's certainly not going to admit that he's been trying his best and failing, not while he's had his opponent tell the crowd he's just holding back. Nope.
COMBATSYS: Rust endures Dan's Gadouken.
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Dan 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 [E] Rust
Rust's left fist balled up tightly again, he all but hurls himself up against 'Robert' as he sees him going for roughly the same motion. It doesn't do him much favors when he takes this really oddly-named Ryujinken that 'Robert' has suddenly decided to rename as the strength of their arm and the dispersal of energy splash about his upper chest and neck.
It instead allows him to forcibly stay up close and otherwise cancel out the added breathing room the pushback might have given 'Robert' as he suddenly swings his right leg down towards their shin, striking with his foot multiple times in rapid succession with that same flickering, washed-out energy coating his striking leg. Each hit against leg or ground is incredibly loud, going at a pace that is very comparable to a jackhammer. (The noise, too.)
An odd low-angle Zan'retsuken variation, to be sure, as Rust keeps those low kicks coming through sheer grit as he wheezes a few added words out, "have, have you been listening to a word I said?"
...Has Rust even been doing so himself?
COMBATSYS: Dan interrupts Jackhammer Kick from Rust with Kouryuken.
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Dan 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 [E] Rust
COMBATSYS: Dan has reached second wind!
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Dan 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 [E] Rust
The kicks don't faze Dan, who leaps through them heroically and jumps into a spiralling uppercut, hitting Rust right in the chin. The Shouryuken, pardon, Kohou, pardon, Kouryuken is successfully executed, and this seems to give Dan some additional spirit, some confidence and guts. Even if he should not have been able to take this attack, he did. And he stands.
"Have you been listening to a word -I- said?" He responds, quite rightly. "I am Dan Hibiki, I don't know who you're mistaking me for, but he is no match for me. I am the master of SAIKYU-RYUU, of which Koryuken is bit a weak copy."
It also gives him the satisfaction of taking the stout man back into the air in a timely fashion with that sudden, gutsy clash of strength, Rust's eyes going wide as he finds himself bouncing across the same few patches of concrete that he had previously bounced against.
Both men are slugging it out to their very last ounces of available energy, and it shows as Rust staggers along back up, even stumbling along the outer edges of the crowd. Where 'Robert' seems to find a sudden renewed energy, Rust there comparatively chugs along like a robust machine that keeps going despite everything. He shakes his head a few times, whether it is out of shame or simply just trying to get his head back in the game, or some combination thereof, remains a bit vague as he drags his feet along towards 'Robert.'
"Okay. Okay. I'll, I'll play along, fine. Dan." He murmurs something incomprehensible after the fact, wheezing and sucking in breath as he points Ol' Rusty to him. "Okay, this is... Dan, or some such. Dan, right? He's, uh, I guess trying to make us... look good, or something, I don't know." Being punch drunk, what does he know? He gestures uselessly. "I do know, uh, there's... there's one thing we do when people just, just walk up, lookin' for trouble."
Sucking in breath, he moves up to Dan and just suddenly throws his left fist up in a rising uppercut motion, a small hop underneath it in an attempt to launch Dan upwards. "Something like, like this," he says - if he succeeds in tossing Dan up with that first uppercut, he leaps after at a greater height than previously observed, trying to take Ol' Rusty's tip into some part of Dan's clothes to 'hook' him and swing him about before sending him flying off, if he can manage to catch him.
COMBATSYS: Rust successfully hits Dan with Crane Launch EX.
[ < > //// ]
Dan 1/--=====/=======|-------\-------\0 [E] Rust
And it seems that Dan is flung away. Whatever boost of courage he'd just received, it might be gone. He's not giving up easily though, and if he can just get some level of courage back, he'll show this Rust, and this dojo, the might of his own, dansome, fighting style. Right? Right? Maybe, maybe not. He's sure as hell gonna try.
And that trying involves, among other things, throwing his best at Rust, again. He's rushing towards the former construction worker, making a spinning uppercut and jumping into another immediately after. Even he himself isn't sure yet if he'll be standing afterwards. But he's trying. At least we can give him that. Right?
COMBATSYS: Dan can no longer fight.
[ \\\\ <
Rust [E] 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Dan successfully hits Rust with Kouryuu Rekka.
[ <
Rust [E] 0/-------/----===|
Dan goes flying away as Rust lands in a crouch. For a moment, he doesn't see Dan/Robert running back towards him. No, something else far more important catches his eye - that dark purplish mass of disgusting and desperation that he deigns to describe as hair, which he crouches down to pick back up.
"So, uh, so you people see," he tries to hastily say as he crouches down to put it back on, pretending that they did not see the horrible truth that everyone in the world is already aware of. He's still trying to form his thoughts, considering he's still bleeding out the side of his mouth and otherwise doesn't look like he could be standing on his feet for much longer after taking so much abuse from, well, what he assumes to be some bizarre end 'Robert' is going for.
Dan comes back with a vengeance, and the encroaching shadow of an especially determined individual is reacted to much too late as his upper body snaps upwards to that first uppercut, and moments later flung up on high. He comes down moments later when an expensive sports car drives up to the Dojo.
"Well, poop, I'm late," says a very familiar young Italian man in a nice suit, "didn't think the parade was gonna be in town today, who'd have thought they'd close the ro--"
Rust's landing on the concrete kicks up a cloud of dust to an echoing groan. The very familiar young Italian man looks through the gathered crowd and just scratches his head at the sight of the whole spectacle. "Huh. Guess I'm off the hook, then..."
COMBATSYS: Rust takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Rust can no longer fight.
Unfortunately, Dan is in far too much pain to be seeing clearly, and mister Garcia goes unnoticed to him as he tries to claim victory, but he's probably not convincing anyone, since he's unable to push himself up. Really, this is what most would call a tie. Dan will keep insisting he won, and considering his track record, it might as well be.
Log created on 14:55:04 02/21/2013 by Rust, and last modified on 20:07:06 02/21/2013.