Todoh - ZvT CHAOS

Description: Somewhere out there, past the nude places, past the stations obsolete, the factories abandoned, a temple dedicated to guardian dogs stance in tranquility save for the flames stoked by an unknown force. Two men of a storied history meet to put an end to their disagreements in the chaos. This is totally a serious situation worthy of note after so many other events have marked the millennium, as Zach Glen stands to prove what he picked up in his journey to Ryuhaku Todoh.



-Guardian-dogs temple-
0:00

Somewhere out in the obscure, untouched parts of Japan... the moon has an unearthly red hue, the clouds that obscure the night sky having somehow taken on this coloration. It paints the forest below in a foreboding, rustic hue.
In a clearing stands a Shinto temple long abandoned, yet seems untouched by the ravages of weather or time itself. Two guardian dog statues stand tall at its entrance. One stands with its mouth open, another closed - a common sight for the mythology. At the base of the steps, a bowl-shaped torch stands belching fire. Blades of numerous lengths all lay stabbed into the ground surrounding the torch... a memorial, of sorts. The steel of the blades show no sign of rust or decay, the fire's light gleaming off their edges.
One man stands, backlit by the light of the flame. With shoulder-length hair, distinctive wide trunks, and well-toned arms, he stands with both hands on his hips as though a parent figure ready to come down upon a mischievous child for their transgressions.
The crackling of the fire is drowned out by the sound of a beating heart. It is pervasive. Deafening.
"Hm." Muses ths shadowed figure. "He is here," he muses aloud to himself.

Zach, for once, had some time off from the work surrounding the opening of the Quon Chen Institute. He had opted to spend at least a couple of days of it in Japan to visit the gym where he learned to box, the YFCC, and a couple of other places in SouthTown. Tonight, however, he was just out for a stroll. A small pack slung over one shoulder, some earbuds in his ears to provide some walking music, and things were surprisingly good.

The city had been somewhat quiet of late, which was more than usual given that it was SouthTown. It didn't provide much practice in building mental walls so Zach gave his legs the run, or perhaps walk, of the trip. His legs brought him to this temple. A slight frown crosses the psion's face as he takes in the scene. Something's... sideways about all of this.

He just doesn't know how sideways it really is.

"I've seen you when you were but a hopeless little whelp," the figure narrates, somehow avoiding having his features filled out even in such close proximity to a light source, "your struggle for your own identity! Your struggle to hone yourself to any serious discipline!"
An arm thrusts through the air, the shape of an extended index finger waved as if to scold. The very wind is displaced at such a mighty, accusatory gesture.
"You take what I've taught. Twisted it to suit yourself... to what end? Glory? Fame? Power? Hot chicks? Spare change for a snack?" The accusatory, awful familiar voice continues to scold, withdrawing the shadowed pointer finger away.
"Maybe you got yourself all of that, beyond my understanding. But what you don't have... what you can't have... is respect! Isn't that why you still claw onto it, pretending like you've got it all figured out?"
"To this, I say, Zach Glen," he says the figure raises their arms up, the name spit out with all poison that spoken word alone could ever carry...
...and brings down that ever-familiar wave of orangeish-yellowish chi. It is well out of reach of actually doing any harm to Zach - the gesture is more to illustrate the point, as the backlight of the dispersing chi illustrates the face of that one man. Something suddenly fizzles and sputters out on the ground in a shower of sparks, and the heartbeat noise stops. There's no mistaking who this is...
Ryuhaku Todoh, dressed in a black gi top, white chest guard, a beige pair of trousers... his hair has, somehow, turned a brighter, whiter hue. He allows this to be visible for as long as it takes for him to adopt a completely unfamiliar stance to pretty much anyone who has ever observed him. More aggressive. A forward lean, a lower crouch, one arm crossed inward while the other lays limp, but the hand closed in a tight fist.
It would be entirely silly were it not for the apparent sincerity of disapproval in their voice.
"Ask for it with your power...!"

Zach's eyes narrow as Todoh (of course it had to be Todoh) starts his speech. He doesn't even answer Todoh's questions as he tugs the earbuds out, rolling the cord around his hand before jamming them in his pocket. The pack slides off of his shoulder as the boxer slips into his fighting stance.

Dude always did talk too much, Zach thinks. Sometimes, however, the universe aligns, and Todoh actually says something useful.

In this case, he gives Zach both an open invitation and a straight line.

Glen pulls his right fist and shoulder back, chambering a straight. Golden yellow light shimmers around Zach's upper body before collecting into his fist. "Fine," is all he says in a surprisingly level tone of voice before throwing the punch. The distance between the two men is far too great for the punch to connect. The energy, however, slides off the punch and flies towards the Master of Todoh-Ryuu at breakneck speeds!

COMBATSYS: Zach has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Zach             0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Todoh has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Todoh            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Zach


COMBATSYS: Todoh blocks Zach's Blast Punch.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Todoh            0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0             Zach


"Fine? That's it?" The projecting, threatening tone takes a sudden turn into disappointment, stance lowering slightly - given the awful unorthodox nature of it, it's difficult to really say how it 'lowers' other than just the fact it moves at all. "Seriously? That's all you have to say?"
Zach's comebacks may not be particularly profound, but there's no doubting the profound power of that energy he calls his own, the energy sliding off the punch being deflected off his shoulder as his heels dig back into the dirt a short ways.
"You do not take me seriously, do you?" The incredibly serious(?) Ryuhaku Todoh, who from this point on shall be referred to as Serious(?) Todoh, scowls as he suddenly sweeps forward to close the new gap between them, throwing his body weight down foot-first in a hooking kick to Zach's shins, pressing up off the ground with his hands.
"Hooah!!"

COMBATSYS: Todoh successfully hits Zach with Sweeping Kick.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Todoh            0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0             Zach


Zach staggers to the side, his stance disrupted by Todoh's sweep. The boxer is forced to plant one hand to catch himself with a grunt of pain and irritation. The psion gives Todoh a steady look. He thinks about the question honestly. It's not that he never took the other man seriously, so much as he found the guy serously annoying.

Then again, Zach's assesment may not be too far off the mark.

Zach's comebacks and pithy in-fight comments are rarely art. They are only sometimes even anything approaching quality.

Zach tends to let his actions speak for themselves.

Power surges through Glen's body, gathering in his legs and his fist. "GAZELLE PUNCH!" he roars as he leaps at Todoh, slamming a fist towards the taller man's jaw. Soul Power gathers around his hand, wrapping around it protectively, reinforcing it for explosive impact!

COMBATSYS: Zach successfully hits Todoh with Gazelle Punch.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Todoh            0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0             Zach


There's no doubting the quality of Zach's leaping punch, the way he snaps back so quickly with that there punch to the face. Zach's power fans out at the point of impact around Ryuhaku's chin, giving him serious(?) air as he flies straight up into the air in a corkscrew...
...That he suddenly backflips out of, landing cleanly on his feet as blood dribbles down one jaw. He doesn't think to wipe off the blood. If Zach is lucky, he might've busted that jaw enough that he won't ta--
"Hah! No respect even for all I went through," dammit, he's talking, though in a much more somber, almost respectful tone, "no wonder," the aging master(?) of his martial art reasserts that awful strange stance. Is it even possible that he's been obscuring his true potential all this time? Hiding the deepest and darkest secrets of his arts from all his pupils, even his daughter?
...Even from himself?
"Yeh hah hah... one point, Zach. One point," he chortles as he raises a single hand into the air. A smaller wave of that orangeish-yellow, blocky chi is coaxed downward. All very familiar, except for one very important point.
The point he's probably getting to as he steps forward, as if correcting for what he assumes to be Zach's reaction as he very quickly raises his second arm and does the /same thing/ with much more strength, much more feel behind it, bringing a second one crashing down forward as the energy is coaxed into that infamously blocky form before the first one fully even subsides, pooling both their strengths together with a previously unseen twist!
"Two if you must!" He declares, hands now fanned down and slightly outwards in the wake of not one, but two Kasane Ates.
Clearly, a true sign of serious foreboding and not at all a desperate attempt to reinforce his self-believed position of moral, intellectual, and martial superiority over an unorthodox former student...
...Right? One doesn't goof off under the light of a blood red moon.

COMBATSYS: Zach overcomes Kasane Ate from Todoh with Pile Smash.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Todoh            0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0             Zach


Zach's eyes go wide as Todoh brings forth not one, but TWO instances of the legendary technique while the boxer is still stretched out from the Gazelle Punch. There's no way he can dodge these blasts of ki. No way to dodge, no way to parry. Through isn't happening either.

Zach brings up an image in his mind as thrusts his right fist down and towards Todoh. Zach lets out a fierce yell as a trio of golden sheets of psycho-kinetic force rip through the Kasane Ates to slash at the Kobojutsu master.

"One point," he agrees as he lands on one foot, wobbling slightly on the landing before planting both feet on the ground, his eyes locked and focused on Todoh. He's pushing himself a bit too hard in this fight, and he knows it.

COMBATSYS: Todoh endures Zach's Pile Smash!

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Todoh            0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0             Zach


The uncharacteristically overdramatic... properly dramatic?... Todoh scowls aloud. Zach might even see the widening of eyes underneath the energy Zach summons between them to illustrate his former mentor/advisor/source of comedy's point for him.
Whether he is approving of this, or absolutely livid about it is lost under the smothering, psionic light as it slams down upon his upper body. Serious(?) Todoh seems a touch less serious for the seemingly panic-induced decision to throw his hands up to try and guard against a hit too solidly timed to stop.
To the absolute contrary, he fights against the psionic energy that dares to overpower him, fingers curled as he scratches at the air, through projected force that could shatter bone - and may well, in fact, come rather close to it in the process - there's no way that didn't hurt, from the sound of psychic-energy-on-forearms that resound through the shrine. He doesn't dissipate it underneath his control of the underlying energy of the world.
No, instead he makes good with the fact the two are still relatively close to one another as he sharply arcs his arms downward, a more diagonally-angled series of chi segments barely even visible over the wake of Zach's one point as it is directed to the psychic boxer's person.
This fight almost certainly being of complete and utmost seriousness, it is natural that the two would, indeed, be pushing one another harder than any of their fights leading up to now could have.
...Probably.

COMBATSYS: Todoh successfully hits Zach with Aogi Kasane Ate.
-+- CALCULATED HIT -+-

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Todoh            0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0             Zach


Zach's stance is too steady, to ready to start throwing punches at this range. He's not escaping. He's not even getting much of a block. Reflex and instinct combine, reaching for that font of Soul Power within him to cloak him with golden energy. Shirts shred, and the impact is deafening as the boxing is driven back under the force of Todoh's technique.

The dust starts to settle somewhat as Zach brings his arms back up into a guard, watching Todoh with a wary eye while he makes no move to attack. Instead, Zach gathers his strength, waiting for Todoh's next move.

COMBATSYS: Zach gains composure.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Todoh            0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0             Zach


The partial deflection of chi against Zach's power carries through even to Serious(?) Todoh's arms, despite only tangentially still touching the chi he has directed - it throws his arms up open and wide, forcing him to stumble back and allowing Zach that precious, precious moment to collect himself. As he gains back his footing, so too does the man before Zach regain that awful threatening, but goofy stance that seems more and more like he's made it up entirely just now.
The master(?) sucks in serious air, exhaling loudly. The movements of his chest are, for a short time, the only thing to break the rigid form of his stance.
"You think you're truly ready to be treated as a man, do you? To walk tall. Proud. Be looked upon as a pillar of strength by all? Yeh hah hah... well. Zach. Zach Glen," he goes over the name a few times, as though practicing the best way to make it sound incredibly dismissive, "Zach. Glen. Zach Glen. Zaaaaach. Gleeeen."
"Then... can you withstand this, at such a caliber?" Serious(?) Todoh asks, voice slightly raspier as he steps forth with one foot with such purpose that dirt flies out in a halo from where he steps, raising his arm with a bent palm pointed upwards...
...Swinging his entire body in the pivot, directing the bent hand into Zach with such speed and strength that the very air itself is sliced in twain. The flaming torch behind them bends in its wake. Somewhere, at the end of that open hand's side, is where a now famous and highly devoted student of Ryuhaku Todoh found inspiration.
How could they not, when demonstrated as so, as quite possibly a hand chop motion so great, it is not the envy of the world, or even a complete fluke of timing versus the opponent's footing.
No, this may well be considered a serious(?), legitimate contender...
For the Universe's Greatest Hand Chop Of All Time And Space.
...Maybe.

COMBATSYS: Zach blocks Todoh's Fierce Punch EX.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Todoh            0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0             Zach


Zach flips his left arm up, parrying Todoh's chop even as he steps in. Energy flares around the boxer. Smoke and dust swirl around the two fighters as Zach chambers another right straight. Golden power surges around the psion.

"TODOOOOH!" The straight, for its simple appearances, has a few steps to it. Zach steps in, torquing at the hips and rotating his arm at the shoulder as the punch flies! "GO TO HELL!"

COMBATSYS: Todoh dodges Zach's Straight Punch.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Todoh            0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0             Zach


"You don't mean it!" Serious(?) scolding comes from the aging man as he sways back, sliding to the side with one heel far back as he leans backwards to about the utmost ability of human anatomy when they're freakishly over-muscled like the vast majority of male fighters. Such stereotypes, however, remain utterly meaningless to the two guardian dog spirit statues that stand and overlook the two fighters of long-standing grudges of varying amounts of commitment between them.
Whether he means Zach doesn't mean those words, or doesn't mean that punch, that is up to the serene, well-trained mind of a true master of their art to determine, even though no martial art has ever been about detecting the inflection of a person's speaking tone of voice - but this is far beyond the point.
The serious(?) master(?) moves after Zach's whiffed lunge, moving to grab him by the shirt, heft him up, and simply slam him into the ground in a familiar motion that cannot possibly be made any more serious than its previous, simplistic, poorly-animated appearances.

COMBATSYS: Zach dodges Todoh's Power Throw.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Todoh            0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0             Zach


The exercise of power is always a serious thing. It could be political power, or money. It could be the simple act of a donation, or a word in the right place. The throwing of a single punch, with or without the strange energies available to a fighter. Even the smallest exercises of such capabilities can have far reaching consequences and that is a concept that all fighters, as they walk the path of martial arts. Some learn this lesson lightly, as part of some lecture or example.

Others, like Zach, have to learn that lesson in the harshest way possible.

Zach slips around the grab, crouching his legs slightly before springing towards Todoh with a surprisingly vicious leap, as Zach aims the crown of his skill at Todoh's chin. Zach will look back at this moment, and question the sanity of trying to headbutt someone with as thick a skull as Ryuhaku Todoh.

But that moment is in the future, and not now.

COMBATSYS: Zach successfully hits Todoh with Headbutt.
- Power hit! -

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Todoh            1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0             Zach


The two go head-to-head, head colliding head with such power that the nearby tree's leaves rustle - the stillness of the battlefield disrupted in that moment as the elder of the two fighters bounces back against the dirt a short distance.
The blood that now trickles down a nostril is briefly lost to the blazing backlight of the flame that burns off to the side of the both of them. The strangely recolored Ryuhaku Todoh takes a serious(?) moment to get up to a kneel, to steady himself back up to that strange stance anew. He wheezes every so often with weakness, but that gaze - somehow, those eyes can be seen even in the darkness where the light of the torch doesn't immediately touch him.
"Hmph! You think you have fighting ability," he snidely (and rather seriously) dismisses as he paces ever so slowly towards Zach, "to this... to this I tell you... with all seriousness..."
His hands go up into the air. The same gesture Zach - and everyone else - has known as the telltale cue for that famous technique.
"Try again!!"
He calls this as he swings his arms downward, that same, fierce wave of orangeish-yellowish chi... wait, does it have an extra segment? Maybe it's just a trick of the fire's light. There is no doubting in the seriously fierce movement of his body as he goes into it, arms thrown down so quickly that the dirt beneath them scatters about anew.

COMBATSYS: Zach endures Todoh's Fierce Kasane Ate.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Todoh            1/----===/=======|=======\-------\0             Zach


The energy comes crashing down even as Todoh dismisses everything Zach's done to this point. His scrappy, if crappy, showings in Neo League. His valiant, if ultimately poor, performance during the King of Fighters tournament. Helping to save the world not only during that tournament, but during Vega's war against every nation afterward. His trials during the NDP. And still, Todoh has the gall to suggest that he has... what? Input? Control? An opinion that matters to Zach?

"No," Zach says calmly. Perhaps the headbutt was enough to bring the boxer back to his center. "I don't need that one anymore." With that, Zach does not simply power through Todoh's technique with his own crude copy. He doesn't try to use his power to protect himself the chi assault. Not even a dodge is attempted here. Zach raises his fists under his eyes, and does exactly what that old man in that no-name gym in SouthTown taught him to do.

Zach takes a deep, lunging step in, charging towards Todoh's chest even as the Kasane Ate tears into him, ripping the remains of his t-shirts away and searing exposed flesh. He presses close, shrinking the distance between the two men to almost nothing before planting his feet at shoulder width.

There. Zach lashes out with his left fist, Soul Power lighting up the night like a minature sun even as the hybrid left hook-uppercut homes in on Todoh's jaw!

COMBATSYS: Todoh counters Dynamite Punch from Zach with Kuzu Otoshi.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Todoh            0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1             Zach


Zach speaks his words, and brings an uppercut to bear with all the strength of dynamite ten-fold as the serious(?)-looking sensei of the Todoh Way (as it is sometimes called in English speaking countries, as a very, very poor translation) raises his hands up from throwing the latest in a long, proud line of Kasane Ates.
It's faster than the eye can see, or perhaps care to look when one is so focused on delivering uppercut to chin, arms suddenly thrust out wide to perfectly grasp at wrist and upper arm in a flash that completely halts the uppercut's momentum.
In a blur of motion, Zach is lifted up towards the blood-tinted night sky, and brought to the ground with a single downward slamming motion. A gleam escapes the elder Todoh's eye, his face... serious, as he crosses his arms to stand before Zach.
So serious, there is no sudden appearance of a fan in which to cool himself. Wreathed in shadow in flagrant disregard for that nearby torch, one hand points down to Zach with that accusatory index finger.
"You are speaking, like, complete nonsense," this choice of wording stands in entire cognitive dissonance with his body language and even tone of voice, but he certainly sounds like he means it, "what'd you even learn after all this time?!"
He continues to dare scold Zach like some sort of... snarky, narcissistic, kruel boss. (...Kruel? That's not how you spell it...)

Just what did Zach learn?

For starters, that throwing such large and open punches against a practioner of any flavor of jujitsu is just ASKING to be thrown. Zach lets out a gasp of pain as he kicks up a cloud of dust with his impact. He lays there staring at the moon-lit sky as he gasps for breath.

"First," Zach says quietly as he lays there. It's not like there's a ten-count to worry about or anything. "Mental attitude is everything." Zach sits up with a wince. "You're only done when you tell yourself that you are done." A wordier version of what he said to Ayame during the NDP match-up, likely one of Zach's best fights to date. Putting actions to words, Zach brings himself to his feet with a bit of a wobble. He has one last technique to bring to bear. A culmination of his experience that gathers skill, focus, and the power of his birthright to bear in one single point. Anything after that will likely be slop and determination, which would be fine in most situations but Zach is finally getting the feeling that Todoh is after something very specific.

"Second," he pants as he sets his stance for one last punch. "Don't let your emotions control your actions. That's just asking for trouble." Carefully, calmly, Zach molds his Soul Power into a glove, gathered and built around his right fist as he recalls Rust's words to him during the insanity of King of Fighters. He starts to long weave, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"Third," he barks out as he charges Todoh. The energy around Zach's fist take on an odd twisting, spinning motion as the construct distends and morphs into an almost drill-like shape. "One point. Two if absolutely necessary. Sometimes the most direct solutions are the best." Zach drives that spiralling mass of energy with a corkscrew right straight of his own directly at the center of Todoh's chest.

"HEARTBREAK SHOT!"

There may not be a "Glen School of Boxing," but this would qualify as the pinnacle of its techniques, combining the pure science of the right straight with the extranatural power of the fighter's soul.

COMBATSYS: Zach successfully hits Todoh with Heartbreak Shot.

[                             \  < >  /////////                     ]
Todoh            1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0             Zach


Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
In three pointers, Zach puts it all in one point so succinct that the universe chooses to see this in three different angles at once.
Psionic energy shoots out in a spike from Ryuhaku Todoh's back as the single greatest punch Zach can muster slips between his arms and hits square center. Blood and saliva spittle flies everywhere. The man's eyes damn near fly out of his head.
The shockwave of power from the impact puts out the torch near the two of them, removing the eerie red tint from the surrounding area. A shadowed form flies high into the air, with a weakened, pained gasp that couldn't attempt to be an embarrassingly out-of-date schoolyard insult if it wanted to.
A breeze moves through the clearing as Ryuhaku lands face-down in the ground startingly close to Zach's feet. The midnight sky takes on its proper blue-ish hue, a silence to allow either of them to reflect on the recent exchanges between the two of them... there appears to be no serious objections on Ryuhaku Todoh's part, assuming... anyone is home.
If anyone ever was home.
The wind picks up. A bright light shines down upon the two of them. Blinding. All-encompassing. A loud, deafening 'whoosh' noise befalls the field before long. If the wind picks up at all, it might feel like Zach could be... taken... somewhere? Perhaps to a realm beyond their own. A place of mystique? A place of horror? A place of sadness? A place of... mystery? A place... where helicopters are flying awfully close to the ground and shining light on people?
"THIS IS A PROTECTED HERITAGE SITE. SOMEONE LIKE YOU, HAS NO PLACE HERE!"
Yeah, that last one. The guy up there is some really seriously bearded guy, facial hair so long that it doesn't seem like any peacekeeping force would have him on board without his pay being cut. His uniform seems far, far too large for him, at that - he seems way too old and frail to be hanging just outside the door of an airborne helicopter, but here we are.
"HEE-YA!" ...Is that some declaration for them to leave in some obscure slang?

Zach stares down at Todoh as he gasps for breath. Then the wind picks up. Wait. No. Too much light to go with that wind. Zach cranes his neck back and blinks up at the helicopter. Then the announcement comes down. Zach looks down at Todoh, then back up at the copter. He rolls his eyes and raises his hands calmly, looking a bit sheepish as he slowly backs away from the site.

No need for trouble, right?

"WHILE YOU'RE GOING," the extremely old guy in the oversized uniform says as he holds up his megaphone in something of a weird nod, "THAT WAS TOTALLY BITCHIN'. YOU'RE GONNA DO JUST FINE FROM HERE ON OUT. YOU GO ON AND HAVE A GOOD ONE, NOW!"
The dirt blows over Ryuhaku's form, caking him in grime and filth as though he were about to be a permanent feature of the site - but there's no reason to pay the man any more time now, is there? Zach's moved beyond what he could teach, Zach's moved beyond what he knows, Zach... probably has no need to ever look back in that direction ever again, in the big picture.
Compared to someone else we know.

Zach gives a polite wave to the odd man in the helicopter, and is about to walk away, but...

There's that pathetic old man laying in the dirt. Out in the middle of nowhere. Zach stares at Todoh for a long moment, before heaving a sigh. The psion walks over to the crazy old man, and grabs the back of the gi in order to drag Todoh away from the site. At some point, Zach will find an inn or something and pay a small fee to get the fighter cleaned up. Todoh matters to Daniel, and Daniel's something of a friend after all.

Zach drags along the defeated old man in tow. It's a long walk from here back to civilization. It's... kind of a wonder that the two even met up here, all things, circumstances, and coincidences considered, in a world so filled with things that tend to work out just so.
As Zach turns to leave, the light and sounds of the helicopter disappear. In fact, the entire thing just seems to disappear a lot more readily, more suddenly than pretty much any other helicopter he's seen. There's nary a trace that the helicopter was even there.
The shrine remains still as it has, its torch extinguished and left to linger in the darkness anew to a dark blue midnight that watches the two fighters take their leave.

Log created on 19:18:58 04/13/2014 by Todoh, and last modified on 23:52:32 04/13/2014.