Description: Noboru Miyama is in a hurry. Knowing where his sibling Kuuya awaits his aid, he dares to scale the erupting Mt. Fuji for the sake of his clan, with no moment to waste. Meanwhile, Howard Rust, under instruction from who he believes is a representative for the ongoing Gaia Tournament, is told that his next opponent awaits him on Mt. Fuji - an insane prospect he takes up in hopes of further uncovering whatever might be behind it. Will these two men realize the true natures of each others' presence upon the active volcano as it continues to engulf the world around it in flame and ash, before it's too late?
Mount Fuji, high noon.
The thing about a Volcanic eruption is, it plays havoc with the lizard mind. That cold, hungry part of man's psyche divorced from modern sensibilities that remembers volcano's. The frantic, angry desperation that is the driving force behind a riot.
That thing that exists to remind us how short a fall it would be back into the primeval.
The thing about a volcanic eruption is, the ash. Great stinking clouds of it spreading through the sky. Turning the day to knight, killing crops, and choking any creatures unfortunate enough to be trapped within its smothering embrace.
The thing about a volcanic eruption is, the roiling rivers of lava. Great rents in the mountainside that suddenly appear. Geysers of superheated gas that jets out to form noxious clouds. The boiling red an orange rock that oozes up through the earth's crust, running down slope to form lakes of lava around the base of the mountain. Those lakes cooling, sending up great walls of steam.
Orange and red light is reflected in the bellies of the ash clouds. This must be what hell looks like. Hell is a Volcano.
A solitary figure makes its way through Hell, walking doggedly up a switch-back path cut into a solid rock face. A water fall of lava tumbles past the west side of the path, falling hundreds of feet to a molten lake below. To the right side of the switchbacks is a steep slope of smoldering ash. Once upon a time it might have been a forest. All that remains are drifts of reeking ash, deep as snow. Dead.
Everything dies.
The solitary figure continues his trudging steps up the path. The tattered remains of a hooded silk robe hang from broad shoulders, stained charcoal black from the falling flakes of ash. The figure's skin and shaggy hair are similarly stained, as is the silk mask pulled tight across his mouth and nose. The gloves on his hands, split boots on his feet, and his long-sleeved under clothes are all stained a dirty black.
The only spots of color are the bulky man's eyes. The right is icy blue, focused, and staring straight ahead up the path. The left is blank and white. sightless.
The man, Noboru Miyama, continues to trudge doggedly up the trail. The air is blisteringly hot, thick and choking. The haze of fumes tries to cloud his mind. But his sibling is inside this mountain. There are no options.
The eruptions aren't stopping. It is as though almost all the molten material lurking in the Earth's crust and beneath are all rushing to be part of some sort of melted rock convention. Molten Rock Con '14 - the hottest stop to be if one is liquefied, superheated rock, with special guest speakers...
All the volcanic ash one would ever want to hear from.
And yet, one Howard Rust only vaguely questions a mysterious message by a mysterious individual sent as a messenger, who somehow managed to pick him out in the middle of the docks shortly after that chat with the young Honoka.
'Your next match is at Mt. Fuji. Your opponent is this man...'
A gigantic man - a shinobi of superior size.
The whole thing is arranged almost as though it were a hitman contract and not simply a notice of the next Gaia Tournament match. After years of so much weirdness in fight venues and the realization that the Gaia Tournament itself is probably the only link he has to figuring out anything at all about what's going on... well, some things end up overriding common sense like 'maybe it is not a great idea to fight at an active volcano.'
Then again, they previously made him fight in the middle of an already violent storm that grew steadily worse, not long ago.
Somehow, the aging American man endures the triple digit heat, dressed in a strange, mostly-green variation of his usual outfit. (Even the hairpiece, somehow, has turned green with it.) The karate gi top. The jeans. The work boots. His gloves, the toolbelt. (Why is his martial arts belt suddenly this weird shade of teal that is not actually used in the belt ranking system of Kyokugen Karate? We'll never know.)
His only true precaution against the extreme conditions is not one, but two flu masks to try and guard against all the ash that might go into his lungs, to say nothing about how his face is already being decorated by the red-hot ash that flits about in the haze of incredible heat. It just grows more and more intense by the day, and yet... how does this man even manage to breathe?
The figure of the American man comes to view of Noboru's one good eye. Ol' Rusty is already drawn. Its gleam, completely in contrast to what its name is, pierces the darkness of the dust clouds, and may well be what reveals to the Miyama ninja that there is someone here.
"H-Hey. Hey!" That figure calls, voice somewhat muffled, but somehow clear above the environmental sounds of bubbling, flowing lava and the occasional rock slide some distance off. "Are you, ah... you're, you're that guy I've, uh, been waiting for, right?"
Why would anyone dare stand here in wait? Why would anyone endure this? Could an ordinary human being really have the balls and the lack of self-preservation instinct to stand out here in wait?
Then again... it has been said that fighters are hardly able to be considered that, to begin with.
The flickering orange light reflects not only from Rust's signature weapon, but from the mismatched eyes of the approaching shinobi. Still several feet down hill from the aging American, the bulky ninja comes to an abrupt halt. Then, there is silence. The bubbling plop of the lava waterfall, and the soft grumble of the mountain are the only sounds.
"I am Noboru Miyama." the figure grinds out in deep, gravely English. NO doubt he has breathed more than his share of dust during the climb up the mountain, silk mask or no. His tattered robe hangs limp about him. There is no breeze. Nothing to disperse the fumes hanging heavy in the air.
The hulking shinobi blinks.
Abruptly, a deep rumble shakes its way through mount Fuji. The ground heaves violently, and the rumble climbs into a deafening roar. Cliff faces all across the slopes shatter, then descend, tumbling over one another in great avalanches of stone.
A thick shower of ash sweeps down the path and cascades between the two fighters, swallowing the slightly shimmery outline of Noboru Miyama in a choking cloud of debris.
...
"Hrrr." comes a deep, frustrated growl from just behind Rust's right shoulder. Even as the sound reaches the aging mans' ear, a large hand is dropping down toward the nape of his neck, attempting to dig iron-hard fingers into the thick meat at the base of Rust's skull.
If that grip can be secured, the big ninja now standing behind the pipe-fighter will lift him into the air left-handed and swing him around, slamming him face-first into the mountain side before delivering one, two solid punches to the center of his spine. Then, and only if successful, he will release him and fade back two steps, positioning himself at the top of their current switchback.
If Noboru misses the initial grab there is no telling what might happen!
COMBATSYS: Noboru has started a fight here.
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Noboru 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Rust has joined the fight here.
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Rust 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Noboru
COMBATSYS: Rust blocks Noboru's Spinal Tap.
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Rust 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Noboru
"Y-Yeah, you're the... you're the guy, then," Howard reaffirms, although much of his dialogue is drowned out by the sudden rumbling that sees the American man crouch to to hold his footing. A curse is lost to the sounds of nature at its most primal, its most violent. He may be inwardly questioning whether he should have come here.
This is before that hand manages to get a hold of his neck, as he loses track of Noboru's movements up to that point thanks to the momentary distraction (...only fighters would consider such a thing a 'distraction' and not 'OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE HELP HELP HELP').
Before he knows it, he's introduced to the mountain, face-first with a cringe and a scowl lost to three layers of muffling (two flu masks and face full of volcanic ash), but he takes such impacts far better than one might expect as he immediately tilts onto his right side, left forearm shooting up to all but parry those two iron-clad fists against flesh that should be searing well off his bones in this heat.
The aging man seems to work up half a nod as if to say 'yeah, this is the guy,' and hesitates not into moving again. He didn't quite see any such film crew in Metro (even though it has been said Tabitha definitely had an escort of some sort, he didn't really see anything on his end) - but who knows how the Gaia Tournament folks even track any of this?
What matters is to stay in the game long enough to find out as he sits up, taking Ol' Rusty in both hands even as the sting of those two fists leaves a hot, numbing sensation where they struck to try and thrust them into the big assassin's abdomen from this close between them to try and give each other some level of space.
The fact that Howard has his back to the decline helps him in gaining said space with the slight downward slide the unsteady footing brings him, but that does in turn threaten to mitigate just how deep he can stab that pipe into him.
COMBATSYS: Rust successfully hits Noboru with Random Piping.
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Rust 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Noboru
Noboru is halfway through his first backward step when the legendarily tough old man sits up, ramming his pipe forward toward the big ninja's stomach. He tries to dodge. To step backward just that tiny bit faster so the blow will come up short, but, Noboru's strong point has never been speed.
The end of Ol' Rusty drives hard into the shinobi's ash-stained robe, impacting flexed abs with a dense 'thump' that the aging man wielding the weapon can no doubt feel in his bones. However, rather than be driven backward, stumbling toward the edge of the path, the big ninja digs the toes of his split boots into the ashy ground and braces against the end of the pipe, halting it dead.
"Hrrr." Comes the typical, grinding grunt, Noboru staring coldly down at Rust with eyes unnaturally bright against his ashy skin.
The ninja's left forearm sweeps up from the side and impacts the pipe jammed against his stomach with a solid 'clank!', knocking the tip up and away. With that out of the way, the big man lunges forward, baring down on Rust, and snaps his left hand out to try and grab the older man full by the face.
If he can get this grip he will smother the tough old fellow's masked face with his palm, sinking into a crouch while his right hand reaches down to grab the front of Rust's belt. Then, slabs of muscle rolling under his stained clothing, the ninja will surge up to his feat and heave upward, attempting to lift rust clean off his feet and hurl him straight up the side of the mountain, a good fifteen feet into the air. The planned trajectory will take him over the edge of the above switch back, and crash him hard into the wall there, before gravity takes over and drops him onto the path.
Moments later Noboru would come sailing over the edge of the path and land in a crouch beside him in a cloud of dust, having easily leapt the 15 feet. Rust is known for being legendarily tough. But, among the Miyama, Noboru is known for being ridiculously strong.
COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits Rust with Power Throw.
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Rust 0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1 Noboru
Howard grunts as the tip of Ol' Rusty is batted away post-impact, staggering once to the right in order to maintain his grip on it while he's in the process of standing up. It helps he holds onto it with two hands - with Noboru's strength, it could've easily been thrown a far ways down into the mountain. Possibly even into the lava.
A fact that Howard seems to briefly acknowledge as he turns his head in that direction to note just how the geography of their battlefield has been changing between them. It's even more precarious than that gondola ride with that one giant Frank and the eager young boxer, but yet...
But yet, Noboru keeps the offensive. The smothering hand is met with his left hand. After a brief struggle, he shoves it off his face. Given Noboru's legendary strength among his clan, though, he really only needs that one single hand to hoist him by the belt, and...
It goes largely as described. Fifteen feet into the air is not that daunting a height to be thrown as a fighter, though it is now filled with scalding ash and the additional issue of fight-obscuring clouds of darkness. If it were just a freefall, Howard probably could mitigate the impact with all those times years past he learned to take a good spill.
It's the wall that gets him, that he can't see coming with the trajectory masked by poor visuals, wind rushing out of his lungs... and into the twin flu masks dressed atop one another.
Those things should already be so caked in spittle and possibly phlegm from still coughing up crap that gets into his lungs that it ought to be too covered to be breathable, and yet...
Rolling down the hill a ways, Howard pushes up with his left arm, visible strain as he is further covered in loose soot and ash as his entire body shudders from mere skin contact with how hot the footing is. Noboru's landing kicks up even more dust to obscure him from vision, but Howard moves quickly with rote instinct.
Well, he thrusts the pipe quickly. The rest of him isn't quite as fast.
He can't quite make out Noboru's full shape from the ash cloud cover that comes from his landing, but just enough to make an educated guess in a chink in his armor, some place to hook Ol' Rusty to attempt to lift the gigantic ninja off of his feet, to try and whirl him about once and toss him at an angle that is far more horizontal than vertical down the very mountain the two of them are foolish enough to traverse, roll around, and get up to physical horseplay in.
COMBATSYS: Noboru blocks Rust's Wrecking Ball Swing.
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Rust 0/-------/--=====|=======\==-----\1 Noboru
Again there comes a bone-jarring 'THUMP' as Ol' Rusty is swept through the dark ash and impacts, something. The aging fighter lifts, spins, and the hulking ninja is swung out of the ash cloud and into sight.
Noboru's gloved left hand is clamped tightly around the end of the pipe, just inches from his left side. Clearly he managed to catch it before impact. However, he is currently being whipped through the air, shoulder-first toward the side of the mountain.
The ninja's thick shoulder hits the stone wall with another heavy 'thunk' and brings the first spin of the coming throw to a pre-mature halt. it must be painful to be driven like the head of a sledge-hammer into stone, but, it's probably better than being flung rolling down the volcano.
Left hand still clamped around the end of Ol' Rusty, Noboru slams his right hand into the wall and flexes his arms, lifting himself smoothly to his feet. The motion is so effortless. it's like watching a terminator robot pick itself up on TV. It's little things like this that really drive home why people pay so much to see fighters fight.
Joints crackling softly, the shinobi finally releases the pipe and steps away from the wall toward Rust. Eyes wide open and glaring coldly down at the somewhat shorter fighter, the scruffy, ash-covered ninja grunts simply, "You will not stop my ascent, Howard Rust. Now," And as he speaks he finishes his step and plants his right leg like a pillar, leaning back and lifting his left foot from the dust, "Stand Aside!"
Noboru's final words are ground out with fierce intensity, slightly muffled by his ashy mask. And, as he speaks them, he launches a hard stomp of a thrust kick toward the center of the aging warrior's chest, attempting to send him tumbling up slope toward the top of the next switch back. He will ascend. He will reach Kuuya. Even if he has to knock this old man back and forth up the path ahead of him.
COMBATSYS: Rust blocks Noboru's Fierce Kick.
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Rust 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1 Noboru
Howard can feel Noboru's weight still being on there. He keeps both hands on the pipe to be sure this time, as to not find himself forced to a stagger while he's (currently) got the higher ground. Under the flu masks, the man's teeth grit as his joints complain - or join in with the searing pain of his flesh being scalded, as if to show support for the skin flakes and hairs that seem ready to be singed off and burnt to ashes along with whatever else dares to stay on the mountain.
When Noboru lets go of the pipe, Howard takes a step backwards to compensate for his own hard tugging back, one leg bending significantly at the knee to account for the decline he stands on.
"I, I ain't goin' down now, Noboru... Miyagi, uh, was it Miyagi" he responds in turn to Noboru's clearly purposed request with one of his own, muddled only with the forgetfulness of his surname. He is somehow able to speak through two layers of silk and the roars of a mountain that continues to erupt and spew hot, molten rock and sun-hiding ash, "not after comin' this... this far in, after all that--"
Rust's final words are ground out with fierce intensity, abruptly halted by the fast-approaching thrust kick of Noboru. The aging warrior's left elbow greets it with force that threatens to shatter either warrior's bones - the impact is enough to scatter the soot and debris away in their vicinity to allow the two of them a short-lived moment of perfect clarity between the two.
Two men of absolute conviction towards whatever purposes see them here, as Howard yells a sharp kiai while he swings that once bent leg downwards, towards the foot of Noboru that is still planted. A thin but visible layer of flickering, washed-out chi of a color that continues to be vague (other than not being in the warm end of the color spectrum) sets a new light that contrasts with the yellows, oranges, and reds of the surrounding volcano.
The leg wrapped in light from the knee down strikes downward towards Noboru's shin, rapidly, each hit against it - or the ground - resounding with thunderous noise as though someone had brought a jackhammer to work on the mountain itself. Even the very ground between them violently shakes from each impact.
...Is that really from his own strength, though?
COMBATSYS: Noboru blocks Rust's Jackhammer Kick.
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Rust 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Noboru
balanced easily on one leg, left foot braced against Rust's blocking elbow, Noboru slowly narrows his eyes into what might be dubbed a 'dangerous' expression. The blast wave of force that cleared out the ash and swept the ninja's shaggy hair back makes this change of expression clearly visible to Rust.
Noboru? He could see through the ash just fine. In fact, he uses the same talent not only to look through ash, but to look through people. A glance through Noboru's eye, the left, the milky white, would show the world blazing in colors of chi. The world's erratic heart beat here on this Volcano, the angry heat of the lava, the toxic black of the ash. All glowing, all pulsing.
Rust's own body surging bright with chi, warning the ninja before he even starts his jackhammer kicks.
The first kick descends toward Noboru's planted leg and impacts it with a flash of light, a wave of pure white defensive chi erupting out of the shinobi's shin upon impact, nearly canceling out the force of the blow. Then, as the second kick is descending, Noboru's left foot drops from Rust's elbow. His leg descends in a powerful arc and impacts the side of Rust's knee, shoving his hammering series of kicks off to the side to bust apart the ground and send more clouds of ash billowing into the air between them.
For the briefest of moments Noboru is once again gone. Hidden from sight by the swirling cloud of Ash. But then he is charging through it right at Rust. With his head lowered and left shoulder forward he attempts to tackle the older warrior to the ground and land atop him, then rise up, knee planted in the pipe-fighter's chest, and rain down a furious series of blows into his face and head. Left, right, left, right, left...There is no art in this. Just the raw, unapologetic violence of the lizard mind given a body trained to kill.
Behind his mask Noboru's teeth are bared, and above it his mismatched eyes are narrowed.
COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits Rust with Chiropractic Therapy.
- Power hit! -
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Rust 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Noboru
Left, right, left, right...
Each punch is meant to drive Rust's head through the earth. To crush him. To remove him from this path. Maybe he doesn't know what he is doing, but he is doing it none-the-less. Someone Noboru loves is in danger.
He's killed men for less.
The rain of blows cease and the big ninja lunges to his feet, right hand coming down to grab Rust by the throat. Again the brutal strength the ninja possesses is on display as he hunches down and, using Rust's body as a plough through the ash, drives him up the hill by his throat until they reach the turn in the switch back.
The pipe-fighter is then lifted up off the ground, Noboru straightening from his hunch and reaching over with his left hand to clamp more of those iron-hard fingers into the fork of the aging man's legs. Then, the big ninja is military pressing the older man up over his head, arms extending...and finally, he is dropping to a kneel and bringing rust whipping down to crack his spine over the end of his right knee.
There is nothing left to do but to stand, lift Rust once again to chest height by the crotch and the throat, and hurl him further up the path. If the old man gets up, he gets up. if he doesn't, he'll step over him on his way to the top.
Howard's kicks are redirected, but never mitigated. The force has to go somewhere - and into the nearby ground it goes, impacting and destroying large swaths of the rock just down in front of him. A distressingly large shard of the earth itself is wrenched free, to be sent tumbling down the mountain with a great, horrible blast of heat spewed from the new scar upon the sacred mountain, and Howard flinches from it.
It pales in comparison to the encounter with the Guardian of Fire herself from back in 2011, but this is no environment anyone could ever truly consider one they would find comfort in. No life could truly flourish with relentless fire and choking dust. There is no moment of peace.
As he draws back his foot to halt the torrent further, he loses sight of Noboru. Did he fall in? There is a look of legitimate concern - should he really still be fighting a guy here in the middle of an eruption? Far as he knows, he's not competing to out and out kill anyone. He already had that terrible scare with Frank (...more than once).
Noboru 'Miyagi' does not give such concern for the well-being of who stands in his way. Tackled over, Howard lands with his back against the burning ground. He can feel a terrible, singing feeling behind his left shoulder as Noboru wails at him with knee against his chest to stop him from drawing in air. The fists fly too fast for him to catch, even when he seems to dare to try and push back with Ol' Rusty.
His upper body sinks a little further into the rock from the sheer brutality, but his face doesn't turn so much with every blow. He tries to grit it through, for lack of the ability to put up much meaningful defense. The footing is so precarious he can't even try to flex his legs from underneath...
When Noboru appears to relent, Howard is surprisingly quick on the rebound, using Ol' Rusty as support to sit up... and leaning neatly into Noboru's grasp of his throat without the ninja having to even reach that far down to grab him. The pressure of that hand on his throat and that burning feeling as he's driven through the hill upwards is met with some sort of guttural... yell? Some vocalization. His eyes squeeze shut, possibly from something getting in it more than the pain.
Not that the pain can be disregarded, as he is hurled up into the air, and...
Ouch.
Thrown higher up the mountain, Howard tumbles upwards until he terminates into a raised foothold that catches him by his right side. His mouth goes agape under those flu masks, his entire outfit equal parts covered in dust and out-and-out burnt, flesh already bearing burns just from contact with the rock.
His legs flinch... the one sure sign that he has not been paralyzed from the waist down (yet). His gloved hands press against the earth, smoke rising from where they make contact as he coughs loudly. The haze hides Noboru from view again, from this high up...
Howard shakes his head as he tries to gather his bearings, the sure-fire concussion he just suffered from the initial series of strikes on that assault doing his ability to gather his focus not doing him any favors.
"Look, I... I dunno why they want us to, to fight here," Howard speaks up, "but... hell if, if I know why they, ah, they... put me out in Metro's storms, either..."
As if remembering why he has somehow decided coming to an erupting volcano at some random person's suggestion were a grand idea, he stands taller, even as a surge of pain runs through one of his legs for even flexing them.
"But... but I ain't goin' home yet," he announces as he stands up, using Ol' Rusty for support as he leans forward, facing down the mountain to wherever Noboru is.
Drawing back his left foot, that same energy gathers again as he tries to watch the smoke. Where is the guy? Is he there? Is he behind him? With the inability to see clearly through the smog, he goes entirely by his fighters' instinct...
His left foot suddenly slips forward, eliciting widened eyes as he clutches onto the pipe with his other hand for stability. It releases the energy gathered into a... disc-like shape? It rolls, teeters, and otherwise navigates the downward slopes of the mountain.
Across gouts of flame and smog, it is not particularly impressive as it oddly contours itself around the uneven footing, barely hovering above it to begin with. It might even scrape against some of the rock along the way as the chi manifestation barely flickers in view.
Yet, somehow, in some way, it keeps rolling down. If Noboru's attention isn't absolute, there might be something obnoxious that tugs at his shins, in a place where one's footing failing could mean a certain, fiery end.
COMBATSYS: Noboru endures Rust's Detour EX but gets knocked away!
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Rust 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Noboru
Where is Noboru?
At the moment the wavering chi projection is kicked out down the path, Noboru is running full-steam ahead through the filth, eyes bright slits against the darkness of his dirty face. Though he is a 230 + pound man sprinting up hill on uneven ground, he makes no sound. Or, what little sound he does make is swallowed up by the spitting hiss of lava and the rumbling of distant rock falls.
As he runs, the ninja spots the energy approaching his left leg, but ignores it. Teeth bared behind his mask he stomps right through it and...trips.
The bulky shinobi's head hits the stone path with the solid 'crack!' of splitting stone, and, as the little energy blip fades from his foot, the entire path starts to tilt and lean. Apparently, between man-handling Rust up the mountain, the constant earthquakes, and head butting the mountain, this particular cliff face has had about enough of Noboru.
The path tilts, crumbles, and drops out from under the ninja, attempting to drag his prone form down with it in a slide of loose debris. Far below, at the foot of the slope, bubbles a steaming lake of lava that would be all too happy to consume a Ninja.
The shinobi grunts, twists, and reaches up as he starts to fall. Just in time he catches the lip of the path in one hand, arm straining as several tons of gravel slides past him, dragging at his legs, attempting to pull him along with it.
"Hrrrrr." Noboru grinds out through gritted teeth. Straining, his left hand lifts and joins the right on the edge of the cliff, and with a heave, he pulls himself out of the avalanche and rolls to safety.
Most men might stop there. They might decide that almost being drug to their death in a pool of lava is enough excitement for one day.
Not Noboru.
In a wave of ashy dust, the hulking shinobi lunges upright from a prone position, seeming to skip several steps in the standing up process by simply shoulder-checking space out of his way. On his feet, and dripping with dust, the big ninja fixes his icy glare on Rust from not 10 feet away.
"You could stand aside any moment you chose." Rasps the dirty hulk of a man with controlled fury in his voice, "But you choose to delay me. You choose to doom my sibling."
Noboru's first step is slow and deliberate. The quiet step of a lion stalking a zebra. The second is not. Throwing himself into a headlong charge, the tattered remains of the big ninja's hooded robe flare out behind him. And as he charges, His cold glare does not leave his confused opponent's face.
The distance between the two men vanishes, and the shinobi is charging right into Rust's personal space, gloved right hand striking out in a half-fisted punch from the hip. The blow holds all of the momentum of his sprinting bulk behind it. It seems that his intent is to punch Rust in the face and keep right on running, knocking him up the mountain ahead of him.
COMBATSYS: Rust blocks Noboru's Fierce Punch.
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Rust 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Noboru
The worst of Noboru's journey up is that Howard's not even quite sure where he is at that moment as he's still pulling himself up to something resembling a stand. He cringes as it pains to put much weight on one of his legs, on top of simply just being surrounded by so much... fire. Heat. Everywhere. He can feel himself starting to burn to a crisp with all the physical exertion and injury heaped upon him. One of his eyes is all but swollen shut from the battery, the other trying to take in what it can from all the--
There he is. For all the swimming in his consciousness, the obscurity that the ashen cloud brings, and the sound of rumbling earth and rushing lava, those words somehow carry through. Perhaps it is the fury of a man with such incredible purpose, with such an important, extremely urgent need to scale this very hellhole of a mountain.
For all his difficulty in navigating the terrain and even getting a clear picture of Noboru's movements - this sort of environment is absolutely to the larger man's advantage, and it shows - when he reappears, Howard clenches his left fist tightly and, to great protest of his shoulder, elbow, and all his other joints...
Thrusts it forward as though he were punching into Noboru's own uppercut. Howard's heels dig partially into the soot-caked ground, only giving at most an inch of movement from the very driven resolve of the uppercut of a man this angered.
A man this desperate, to hurry on to save his sibling, as the piercing gaze of that one blue eye shows.
Howard's face is hard to read under the flu masks, but remains clearly tense as he shudders and shakes to hold the defensive posture as the very strength of the uppercut reverberates through him, and out through his feet into the surrounding rock. Both their individual momentums halt. A tense second passes between them, at which point... one of them speaks.
"Wait... y-you're not here for the... the Gaia Tournament?" Howard asks aloud, craning his neck slightly to the lef-- no, ow, it hurts to turn his head that way, as he looks slightly over to his right. "You're saying that, that... someone's in..."
He lowers his fist, possibly Noboru's with it, depending on how much give Noboru gives up - which may not be much, given the circumstances.
"Why the hell didn't... didn't you say so?" Howard draws back his hand at last, throwing his left arm out to try and shake out the stiffness all over his body. New questions run through his mind - was someone from the Gaia Tournament trying to set him up or something? Was it just someone who overheard his conversation with that girl Honoka over by the docks and decided it was a great time to manipulate someone to get in the giant ninja's way?
One thing's for sure, that look in the ninja's eyes (well, at least the good one)... Howard hasn't much reason to doubt the guy's words about the matter. Someone's in mortal danger. (Other than themselves, considering they are standing and fighting around on a volcano whose eruptions are growing more and more violent as time goes on.)
"Shit," Howard spits aloud, shaking his head as he staggers one step off to the side, "wh-what're you waitin' for, then--"
COMBATSYS: Rust takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Rust 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Noboru
Fist to fist, the two men stand. Noboru's dirty silk robe has settled back down around him, muscles flexed beneath it as he bares down on Rust, keeping up the pressure and staring coldly into his eyes.
Then, Rust gets it.
The older man's guard relaxes and Noboru stops pressuring him, drifting back a step while he listens to the pipe-fighter ramble out his realization. The ninja adds no words of his own. He simply stares, ash drifting about him, until his aging opponent staggers to one side.
Perhaps there is a flash of gratitude in Noboru's icy blue eye. perhaps the emotion is simply relief that he doesn't have to fight to keep moving. But, whatever the emotion is, it is there, briefly.
Then the shinobi is gone.
Like an oversized ghost, Noboru goes from standing statue-like and staring at Rust, to sprinting, with none of the usual frames between. The hot air swirls in his wake, causing a thin wave of ash to roll over Rust and drift out into open air behind the edge of the path.
Who knows what reasons existed for Rust being put in Noboru's path. Maybe the tournament organizers just wanted to see the dragon punching guy hit someone. Maybe they are in league with whoever is threatening the big ninja's clan member. We may never find out.
COMBATSYS: Noboru takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Rust 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Noboru
Howard waves his left arm about with a certain lack of urgency or energy that he really ought to, given that he is basically being sprayed in scorching air with all sorts of unpleasant particles - equally hot and burning to the touch - invade his space as Noboru hurries on to the aid of his sibling, if he caught wind of what he said right.
Shaking his head, he turns his back to the way up the mountain as he shoulders Ol' Rusty with his right hand - and quickly removes it from there when he realizes how hot it is to the touch there. Ouch, ouch, ouch.
Standing on a mountain in the middle of an erupting volcano. He has to stop and consider, once again, how the hell it is he keeps ending up in places like this. Some guy told him to - whether they actually were with the shady people behind the Gaia Tournament or not - and he went and scaled the damn disaster area without much a second thought because he was that hard up for a lead.
All this, and he might've endangered a guy's... brother? Sister? He doesn't see anyone or anything else here that suggests this would be a recorded match, but he didn't so much back in Metro either. (Yet, it still had to be observed, given he won the money...)
Now he has to get back down, when much of the path has fallen apart. For all he knows, both he and Noboru were milliseconds away from certain death without either of them truly realizing it. All in the name of...
Howard stretches out his legs, exhales loudly, and rubs the side of his face as he just carries himself downward at far, far more slow a pace than he has any right to be, as though the aggravations of both getting his life back together after NESTS had damn well nearly burnt all of it away and the intrigue surrounding the whole Gaia Tournament all weigh that much more heavily upon himself.
To... say nothing of how Southtown's handling the disaster, how so many of his friends have already fled, or how many of them might still need his help when it doesn't look like he's going to be able to have his driver's license replaced in a timely manner, among other such things.
One would continue to assume such things would come secondary to life-threatening concerns like 'how the hell does one get back down from here without falling into an exposed stream of lava' or 'possible oncoming rock slides' or 'accidentally falling to one's death all the way down,' but...
Priorities, one supposes. Priorities, and being one of the toughest men alive even in the face of heat so intense that anyone else should've been dead of dehydration or worse hours ago.
COMBATSYS: Rust has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Noboru 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Noboru has ended the fight here.
Log created on 09:18:50 09/10/2014 by Rust, and last modified on 16:05:28 09/10/2014.