Description: Fighting's 'nearly man' Shinya Maeda takes on the mysterious shinobi Noboru in the first round of O-Corp's rather spontaneous tournament. A brief flurry of shock and awe ensues for one of the men involved, and the crowd watches in disquiet as a newcomer makes their mark...
O-Corp: Be Better.
Banners festoon the airspace surrounding Osaka's aesthetically stunning and architecturally masterful Umeda Sky Building, floating on the backs of tiny remote-controlled zeppelins. Far below the designed battle arena on the building's rooftop terrace, eager fight fans flock the city streets, cheering up at wide television screens - themselves bearing the same legend as those sky-high baby blimps - and chanting the names of the fighters...
At least one of them arrived early, clad in his semi-trademarked scuffed red jeans and skintight blue lycra shirt. Shinya Maeda is one of the fighting world's perennial 'nearly men', always hot coming into a tournament but equally fast to beat an exit, falling to some of the bigger up-and-comers over the years - a combination of over-confidence and an unfortunate place in the draw conspiring to keep him just shy of the limelight.
Fortunately for Shinya's ego, there is always an audience for nearly men. The brawler, himself an Osakan native, is grinning ear-to-ear and flicking back his long, black hair when the announcer - in clipped, professional Japanese - calls his name out first. Shinya tosses out a few punches to the crew above and the crowd below, spinning about at the building's edge to finish with a scorching uppercut. It's not hard to do the research on him; his losses are fairly well-documented, and he's little more than a rough 'n' tough street-fighter, albeit rather blessed with talent. He could go far.
Or he could run headlong into something mysterious and nasty.
Osaka - and the world - holds its breath as his opponent is announced.
COMBATSYS: Shinya has started a fight here.
A pair of black-gloved fingers clamp down on the edge of the roof, timed perfectly with the announcer's shout of Noboru Miyama's name. It is unlikely that most people would know about the Miyama clan of shinobi, but those who rise high enough up the corporate latter certainly do. Those who have heard about the Miyama know that they aren't the best fighters, nor are they the worst. They are, however, some of the best at stealth infiltrations.
Though not exactly stealthy, Noboru's climb up the sheer glass side of the towering sky scraper has certainly cemented the clan's reputation as people who can get to places they shouldn't.
The black-gloved fingers hooked over the edge of the roof flex, and abruptly Noboru is swinging himself up into the arena. He lands in a silent crouch just behind Shinya, then straightens to his rather impressive height and takes a moment to tug his coat straight. The bulky Shinobi seems uninterested in making the first move, and stands calmly on the edge of the roof, his one good eye staring at the back of his opponent's head.
It's a good thing this isn't' a fight to the death, or Shinya would probably be on a one way trip to the ground far, far below. And speaking of death, who hired a shinobi to fight in a tournament?
COMBATSYS: Noboru has joined the fight here.
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Noboru 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Shinya
Few men would seek proximity so close to the opening of a match, let alone one so lofty, against a man with a reputation for - if nothing else - explosive, exuberant beginnings. The crowds below ripple in uncertain anticipation, then tentative cheering as the enigmatic shinobi makes his entrance. His name is on a few lips already, though perhaps more than a few echo it solely because they have little doubt as to Maeda's likely swift demise.
Others support the eternal underdog, and there may be a precious few who do so because they *can* see his true talent. Shinya's no slacker, for sure; he reacts with a start to his opponent's surprising entrance, but turns the jolt into a hard drift toward his combat stance - a modified boxer's, fists coiled to either side of his chin, shifting lightly upon the balls of his feet.
There's something oddly loose in the shoulders, though, like an action figure whose joints have been strayed by the fevered attentions of children. A renewed grin spreads across the Japanese twenty-somethings ruggedly pretty face, his dark brown eyes alight with the coming fire of fury.
"Nobody told me," he calls out, his voice deep and a little hoarse, "This was a fancy dress party! I didn't bring a costume, but here--!!"
Suddenly Shinya is surging the small distance to the roof's edge, bellowing the last in tandem with the announcer's cry to start. The crowd roars as well, but it's Maeda's voice that reigns supreme in the end; along with the rapid encroachment of his calloused fist into Noboru's personal space.
"LET ME PAINT YOUR EYE TO MATCH!"
Because he's dressed in black, geddit? Oh, Shinya. Still, it's probably best to do something; the harsh ripple of winds up the brawler's lycra-clad arm speaks of voice far beyond mere muscle. He's earned his stripes as a fighter.
COMBATSYS: Noboru blocks Shinya's Black Eye.
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Noboru 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Shinya
Noboru stares stoically into Shinya's face as the Japanese brawler turns to face him. He doesn't bother dropping into a stance of his own, though his head tilts a bit to the side, shaggy hair drifting about in the light breeze that whips up over the edge of the roof just behind his heels.
Then,a abruptly, there is a fist flying at the Shinobi's face and he snaps up his left hand to catch the blow solidly in his palm. The force of the strike causes him to sway out backwards over empty space, but he tightens his grip on the brawler's fist and pulls himself lazily back upright.
No longer in danger of falling to his death, Noboru releases the fist and steps forward into the smaller man's personal space, right hand rocketing forward in a straight, half-fisted jab toward the man's stomach. For such a lazy-looking attack it holds a lot of power, and is aimed directly for Shinya's spleen...
COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits Shinya with Blunt Force Trauma.
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Noboru 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Shinya
Up close and personal - as any truly DIEHARD fight fan will tell you - is exactly how Shinya Maeda likes it. He may like it entirely too much, to judge by the snarling, wordless invitation he ekes out in that last instant before his greeting is returned with greater and more effective force by a fierce retort from the ninja. It dies in a scraping squeak of breath, the last of that self-same thing forced from the brawler's lungs as he half-flops over his opponent's extended arm. His own is trapped slightly behind him...
At least until Maeda starts to laugh, a breathless bubbling soon yielding to a choking intake that draws air back into the underdog's lungs and provides him - a couple of seconds after that harsh impact - with the momentum and power to whip his flopped arm into a tight elbow toward the cheek.
It's a feint, though; and while Shinya may get lucky and insert the strike before Noboru can get wise, the design is to open him up for the other arm to coil about his waist. With a twist of his hip, the dark-haired street-fighter slides his leg behind and goes for a simple trip - on the building's edge!
COMBATSYS: Noboru blocks Shinya's Curb Stomp.
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Noboru 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Shinya
Even this early in the fight something is probably becoming more and more clear to those who watch. Noboru is here on business. It's clear in the way that he turns his left cheek toward the incoming elbow and leans forward to take it, his blank white eye staring into Shinya's grinning face. The Shinobi doesn't really want to be here.
Whatever damage the elbow strike did is hidden beneath Noboru's mask. It probably isn't' much, however, because the big ninja plants his feet and slides both gloved hands into Shinya's armpits, halting the follow up throw dead. Then, muscles flexing beneath his midnight blue coat, the shinobi takes a step forward and attempts to tear the brawler off of him, lift him high into the air, and twist before dropping down to his right knee and leaving the left up so he can smash Shinya's back down hard onto it. If he can sink the throw he will finish it by shifting his left hand to the top of the Japanese man's head and holding him down over his knee while his right fist drives three more quick punches into the downed man's stomach.
COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits Shinya with Chiropractic Therapy.
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Noboru 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1 Shinya
That same uncertain wobble is once more coming over the crowd as they watch the action ensuing on the rooftop. O-Corp's rather adroit cameramen have provided a few key close-ups already, conveying the expressionless, and the almost automotive quality to his brutal motions. In a world less enamoured of the violent, it would be outright disturbing; as it is, the audience seems to be withholding a dramatic opinion either way. It's an awkward shift.
For Shinya, it's much worse. His breath is still faltering when he's held aloft, his spine cracks when he's brought down, and foamy spittle flecked with blood explodes from betwixt his lips with each meaty punch. When he's allowed to fall, he rolls over several times, ragdolling his way against one of the low walls running the perimeter of the garden observatory. A few stalwart fans try to start a stomping chant, urging the brawler up...
But most are too busy staring at his opponent. The NEXT up-and-comer to apparently destroy Shinya Maeda. There's a long moment where it seems the referee is about to call the fight, and then--
--then, Shinya springs to his feet, screaming an, "ORYAAAAAAAA!!!"
The television announcer gabbles excitedly to the fans watching at home as the dark-haired brawler yanks at the dishevelled collar of his lycra shirt, and then takes a swaying step forward. His fists go up, and he jukes and jives, throwing a couple of stuttering feints toward the shinobi.
His grin is found again, bloody but pronounced upon a battered face. Half-lidded eyes widen abruptly then, and Shinya surges in low, rising into a sharp uppercut aimed toward the midsection. He twists about, following it with a searing left cross and then closing the combo with a hopping right hook punch, aiming for the temple with a desire to bring the massively-powerful shinobi low before his motorcycle-boot-clad feet. "ORYAAAA!" He screams again.
Can't keep a good idiot down.
COMBATSYS: Shinya successfully hits Noboru with Fierce Punch.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Noboru 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1 Shinya
The brutal, bulky shinobi stares impassively off into the distance as he rises slowly to his feet, just having finished tossing Shinya away at the end of his back-breaking combo. He seems content to ignore the downed brawler right up until the stupid man leaps back up and starts shouting. That grabs the blond ninja's attention.
Turning his head slightly to peer toward his Japanese opponent, he watches impassively as two of the fainted punches flick toward his face. When the real attack comes hurtling in Noboru braces himself, muscles tensing visibly under his clothing.
Shinya's right uppercut slams hard into the shinobi's stomach, forcing him to hunch forward slightly and tense his abdomen to keep from having the air knocked out of him. Then the left cross whips around and hammers into his shoulder, swaying his bulk a bit off balance. The final strike pounds hard into the left side of Noboru's head, rolling it over onto his right shoulder and sending him staggering a step to his right . But despite taking all those hits the big man doesn't fall.
"Hnnnngh." Grunts the ninja, voice rumbling out deep and annoyed.
Swinging back to face Shinya, Noboru steps quickly forward and throws his right shoulder forward, putting his weight behind a half-fisted punch aimed squarely at the center of the brawler's forehead.
COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits Shinya with Strong Punch.
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Noboru 1/-----==/=======|=======\====---\1 Shinya
It's not often a fighter gets to land every hit of a combination and still find his opponent impassive, but such is the situation for Maeda as he lands from his leaping hook with a breathless snarl of triumph. He blinks his eyes, a natural and none-too-tardy gesture, and when they open once again he's facing down a strappingly muscular shinobi who's just a bit madder than he was a moment before. It's a humbling moment. It's a moment where he should move.
It's a moment where Shinya Maeda stands stock still, his feet refusing to obey the hastened signal from his brain. The punch lands with a hammering impact, the resounding *thunk* echoing off the microphones mounted about the rooftop, and - more importantly - blazing right through to the underdog brawler's beleaguered brainwaves. Like Noboru, he doesn't actually fall over...
He wobbles, he blinks again, and then he throws both arms forward in a mighty shove to the much mightier breast of his opponent. Brown eyes blazing, black hair a wild tangle, Shinya just starts to *run* across the rooftop, away from one edge right on toward the other. If he even gets that far, a cameraman will be forced to fling himself aside just in time for Maeda to shove Noboru against the opposing low wall, bend him across it--
And then whip his forehead forward into an hellacious headbutt right across the bridge of the nose. Determined to advance through to the second round of a tournament - any tournament - and happy to draw blood and break bone to succeed, the Osakan is showing his downest, dirtiest roots.
At the end of it all, if he gets there, he'll toss his larger foe down.
And he'll laugh. He'll laugh, and laugh, and laugh.
Smart move, Maeda.
COMBATSYS: Noboru counters Jailbreak from Shinya with Punjab Lasso.
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Noboru 1/---====/=======|======-\-------\0 Shinya
'WIF'
If a sound effect existed to describe what happens next, 'WIF' would probably be its name. Shinya wobbles, he lunges, and the shinobi isn't there.
Neatly side stepping the brawler's sudden two-handed push, Noboru calmly swings his right hand up across his chest as if reaching for his left shoulder. The gesture is oddly out of place, unless you can see the braided leather cord that has just dropped out of his sleeve and now dangles from the leather-clad fingers of his right hand.
Noboru's right hand swings up and over in an elegant, deceptively slow motion that ends with his fingers pointed at the back of Shinya's head. The leather cord lengthens as it describes a neat arc through space, making a soft 'Tsswip' as it cuts a path through the air. A loop at the end of the cord lands neatly about Shinya's shoulders, and is jerked tight with an abrupt twist and jerk of Noboru's right hand.
"Hrrrn." Rumbles the ninja in idle irritation as he plants his right boot against his opponent's right thigh and hauls on the cord around his neck, swinging him from a forward charge to a sideways stumble onto his knees. Masked face stoic as ever he lifts his foot and plants it in the center of Shin's back, pulling back on the cord to start strangling the smaller man.
For all his flash and bluster, for all his strength and determination, Shinya cannot possibly compose an answer to what happens here: he's simply outmatched, far beyond out-thought and out-manuevered. It's a wonder he even holds on to consciousness as long as he does, the introduction of that precisely-orchestrated leather cord slicing into his Adam's apple, forcing the windpipe to crumple and close. The television announcer is going spare, medics are being prepared on the sidelines, and the crowd is rumbling...
They're not so uncertain any more. Someone is about to win.
Nobody wants to be cheering AGAINST the savage shinobi.
Shinya would be kicking and screaming, were he not so absolutely controlled. As it is, he reaches back into that little place called nowhere, getting first one finger under the cord and then another, until he can grip it tight - flesh parting in rough coils, blood seeping down the palm and wrist. The dripping of his life's fluid seems to lend Maeda further strength, and with a choking hiss he manages to drag down hard enough on the coil to unbalance his opponent...
If he can get Noboru to shift his footing even slightly, he'll be able to get his other hand up and through, then drop his weight down into both taut forearms, dragging the shinobi down toward a rolling, rising knee strike to the top of the head. Ending with his foe atop him.
To a lesser man, it might be a knockout blow. If Shinya is that lesser man, if he fails to pull his opponent down, he'll be giving himself up for whatever final ministration the enigmatic, stoic warrior chooses to apply.
If. It all hinges on an 'if'. Be better, Shinya Maeda!
COMBATSYS: Noboru just-defends Shinya's Nighty-Night EX!
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Noboru 1/---====/=======|=======\-------\0 Shinya
The inner determination to win. Maybe in this case the will to live. They're both things that can boost fighters far above and beyond their usual potential. Maybe if this were a perfect world Shinya would have landed that telling blow and triumphed.
Sadly, this isn't' a perfect world.
Noboru hunches forward slightly over the brawler's struggling form, cord held tightly in his right fist and right boot braced between the man's shoulder blades. His left foot might as well be planted in the ground like a pillar, because He isn't even wobbling as his prey tries to shake him off.
Noticing Shinya managing to get his hand between his throat and the cord, Noboru shifts his grip on his end of the line. Jutting out the knuckle of his thumb he torcs his wrist and a gleaming blade slides out of his sleeve with a 'snick'. Releasing the cord, the ninja neatly slices himself free of his struggling opponent and takes a step back. The blade slides smoothly back into his sleeve, probably on some sort of mechanical release, leaving his right hand free to slip out of sight beneath the open front of his coat.
Calmly, lazily, Noboru palms a soft, spherical grey sack from beneath his coat. Yanking a fuse on it's top with his thumb, the sack starts to fizzle and pop, letting out a soft hissing sound and a thin trail of white smoke. Casually Noboru tosses this device to the ground beside Shinya, then turns his back on the man and starts to walk toward the edge of the roof in no particular hurry.
COMBATSYS: Shinya interrupts BOMB! from Noboru with Kidney Punch.
COMBATSYS: Shinya can no longer fight.
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Noboru 0/-------/---====|
Once he's released, by all reasonable account a pathetic failure by this very critical point in the fight, Shinya Maeda starts to simply... slump. His windpipe is crushed, if not to the point that he's liable to die before the medics can reach him, and his ego is bruised almost beyond repair. He is a man on the edge in every sense. Noboru's throwaway, parting gesture is icing upon the cake of despair - or at least, it SHOULD be.
This is indeed an imperfect world, but through all the hopelessness and dread burn still the motes of hope. Passion reigns where it can, and where it must, and as the muscular, scarily-dominant shinobu begins to walk away, he leaves behind him two fiery sparks. One, the fuse. The other, the firecracker.
There's an intake of air before the bomb goes off, and in that moment the gathered crowd lets out a gasp as one. Through the coils of risen smoke, in the dim instant before the explosion, Shinya Maeda stands tall once more. His whipcord arms are raised, one beckoning to the passing back of his foe--
--and then he's consumed, thrown forward, somersaulting through the air to slam down upon his back perhaps a dozen feet now from his victorious opponent. The announcer starts to do his duty, the crowd cheers - though the support is newly mixed, some switching sides at that penultimate display. And penultimate it is; because Shinya *bounces*, launching himself off a flexing spine and bunched shoulder muscles, flipping almost impossibly forward to a crouch. The crouch becomes a low dash, and though his eyelids are fluttering and his skin is wan with the pallour of an unconscious man...
...at the last, he gets his left fist up for a sharp, forthright jab right into the lower flank of Noboru's back. "Oi..." His voice is weak, coming from within the realms of the dreaming, but the microphones pick it up and transmit, to the world, Maeda's last words. "Asshole. I didn't hear no bell."
With that, he collapses, and the bell rings.
the blast of Noboru's home-made explosive throws his shaggy hair forward and causes his long coat to billow dramatically as he walks away, good eye staring flatly out over the edge of the roof. Again he seems ready to forget Shinya's existence, even after the crowd has gasped in amazement at his ability to get back up. But when a fist thunks solidly into his left kidney, the big Shinobi finally decides to half turn and look down sidelong at his fallen foe.
"If heart a man made, you would be king among us. Do not falter brother." Rumbles the shinobi in deep, articulate Japanese. As he speaks a faint look of sadness clouds his single icy blue eye, wrinkles forming in the lightly tanned skin that isn't hidden under his mask. With a shake of his head, however, his shaggy hair falls back into something like order and his expression clears.
The Shinobi turns back toward the edge of the roof and steps up onto the low wall, muscles coiling as he sinks into a tight crouch. In the distance the sound of an approaching helicopter starts to grow, just now audible over the sounds of the crowd far below.
In moment a gun-grey aircraft with two sets of blades thunders it's way across the rooftop, and the bulky shinobi uncoils into a 15 foot vertical leap. This brings him exactly level with the sliding door on the side of the low-flying chopper, and he reaches forward to grab either side of the open portal and throw himself inside.
The chopper doesn't even slow, and is soon vanishing toward the horizon.
Miyama was hired to make a scene. One can only assume that they succeeded.
COMBATSYS: Noboru has ended the fight here.
Log created on 19:59:50 07/10/2014 by Asuka, and last modified on 12:22:46 07/11/2014.