Description: Off the shore of Metro City, the source of the storm harassing Metro City is located; and, unknown to scientists, it is a fully charged Time Orb. Yet upon arriving, they find that another was drawn to it's power like a fly; Gato Futuba. Already past his limit in the presence of the artifact, he unleashes the remnants of his soul... and the aftermath scars the world permanently, leaving behind only ash and regrets.
What the hell even happened? Everyone has seen the results, but there is absolutely no probable cause for what Metro City has just gone through - and continues to go through. It may not even be called Metro City soon enough. It may be, in its place, called The Watery Hellhole Formerly Known As Metro City. Maybe even Waterworld II, Direct to DVD.
Some eggheads think it's something going on in the ocean. It's not a popular theory (current leading opinion is OH MY GOD IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD which has not provided many solutions to apply), but for some, it might just be the one thing to look into.
A top-of-the-line fishing boat - the S.S. Malted Vanilla has been appropriated to ferry people out into the Atlantic to look into it, as the idea has gained traction out of sheer desperation. The waves are wild. Deadly. The boat is being helmed by a ninety-year-old veteran fisherman who has ultimately decided he would rather die out at sea than wait for the storm to crush him under the rubble of whatever shelter his family would rather stick him in. (Also, it was his boat. He allowed it to be used only under the condition he come.)
Foolishly, Varvara Economou is out on deck as they start to break through the worst of the weather. Ostensibly, it is because she is physically one of the strongest people they could spare, as opposed to anyone with really any skill at repairing offshore platforms. (It is also because she just showed up saying things like 'I want a job, give me a job, I want work, I'm hungry, if I work will you give me something to eat,' rather than any real notion of altruism. It's been baby steps after Tabitha had a nice, long chat with her.)
She tightly grasps hold of one of the outer cabin walls as wind and water whip through her. Maybe she only thought to stand outside because she knows this is a fishing boat and maybe she hopes they'll take a break from transporting everyone to that offshore platform to catch some fish, or... she wasn't paying all that much attention, but the enthusiasm is there even with her grim, scarred face.
It feels like, in places, that the wind is about to lighten up... that maybe the hard rain could be growing lighter, but it's such an unthinkable thing after being stuck in increasingly worse weather conditions over the last couple of weeks.
She yells something back down the boat, but it's impossible to pick up what. Maybe she's wondering if they're there yet. (It's been a long enough indeterminate time of day without her asking!)
Tabitha never liked Waterworld. It was not a good movie.
Like Varvara, Tabitha has come on board the ship. She also has no experience fixing anything, but she has step by step directions (currently carefully stowed on the boat, where there is a vague hope that they will remain dry) and a good memory. More importantly, some of the scientists told her she should be on the look out for anything strange in the area, so they can investigate it more closely.
Not that they could tell her enough about what to expect to be anything but useless, which makes Tabitha's job harder. Such is the challenge. It's not like she has any better ideas - and, having no official position, she doesn't have anyone to tell her that no, she can't look into it.
She is honestly pleased that Varvara shook herself out of what depression she could to come along. She was all smiles before they left, even if it /was/ just baby steps, and she was smiling when she got on the fishing ship, too. Mostly now she's just cold and wet, just like everything else on board. Even wearing the long raincoat and hat she acquired before isn't really helping very much. But Tabitha apparently remains optimistic enough to keep the hat on.
"What?" Tabitha roars back. She is not up at the front with Varvara because she was wet enough where she was, thank you, and she needs some more time to look over her notes. That's about done now, though; she folds them up, puts them in a nominally waterproof bag and zips it up, coming out with Varvara onto the deck proper. At least she doesn't get seasick, apparently; having never been to sea before, she'd been worried about that.
The storm roars and batters the hapless ship as it continues chugging onwards. It seems to be only growing in intensity; are they heading towards the epicenter instead, and are already well past the point of no return?! As the vessel begins to creak and groan in earnest...
The wall of rain and hellish waves vanish.
A perfect circle of serenity is suddenly being sailed across by the boat. In a supernatural manner, huge walls of rain and savage waves boil around, but as if there is some unseen boundary, in a blatant denial of physics they do not pass the remarkably smooth edge.
And in the dead center is a great oil refinery, old and long abandoned. Something seems to be shining on the upper levels; now and then there's a pulse which seems taken up by the clouds, causing bursts of lightning to rush through them and further bring hell upon the sea below.
Science is faltering in the face of this now, but... that is certainly an anomaly of some sort. No doubt about that. The question is... how do you STOP it?
Varvara yells something again that's not quite clear. Her English is remarkably good for being her second language, but having a torrential downpour and horrid windstorm all around generally makes her impossible to understand.
Even she seems frustrated at this, as she gestures vaguely towards Tabitha about something or another that she really, really wants her to come close to hear. (Why doesn't Varvara just... go back that way towards her, then?)
Suddenly, it all stops. The cutting wind shear, the nasty rains, they just all... cease completely. It doesn't leave behind the eardrum-shattering noise that goes on behind them, but the sudden change is awe-inspiring enough that Varvara takes a few steps backwards across the rain-slick deck, mouth agape...
"Never mind," she says clearly and concisely as she looks back forward, out into the sea. In place of the wrath of air and sea threatening to swallow everyone onboard and beyond whole... the ominous electrical storms.
"No. Wait. That." She points out, way out... way, way out, up high. "Do you see that?" She asks of Tabitha, her voice probably a bit too quiet to be easily heard, but there's probably a good reason for her silence.
"Up there..."
"What?" Tabitha yells again. This time she gets the idea; she exits her point of shelter (such as it is), steps gingerly onto the main deck of the ship...
...and into calm.
Not perfect calm. She still hears the storm, and for a split second when Tabitha looks over she sees half the boat being poured on and the other half totally clear aside from spray; it's an impossible sight, and Tabitha pauses, as if uncertain if it's real as they move in towards the refinery.
Tabitha walks across the boat as if she expects the storm to start up again any minute and for her to be struck from the deck by nearly horizontal winds or rain, but it never quite happens. She removes her dripping hat when Varvara addresses her, tucking it under her raincoated arm, looking far up where she's indicating.
It takes a few moments for one of those pulses to occur, but when it does, Tabitha freezes. She has absolutely no idea what that is. None. It's not a lighthouse, obviously; there's no lighthouse here. It's not a lightning rod, because that's not the direction the light is going. So it's a... what?
Well, it's something she's going to want to look at, that's for sure. Maybe the scientists were more right than they knew. "I see it," she says, then looks at Varvara. "I'm going to go look at it. We're already supposed to take the boat there, right? Do you want to come?"
She's barely waiting, though, moving to the front of the boat, near the side. It's already approaching. She'll just climb up, if she can.
Tabitha leaves her hat behind. It seems vaguely unnecessary.
Although this facility is somewhat derelict, the dock at the base of one massive strut remains; enough for three or four boats of Tabitha and Varvara's size to tether to without issues. A winding set of stairs runs up, but the air seems to be filled with a strange charge. A heavy sensation, as if the chi in each is beginning to thrum up in an unseen battle.
When the pulse goes off while the pair are upon the oil platform, there's a painful burst of... power. Yes -- a sudden, momentary infusion of strength that is almost blinding. It goes away in a heartbeat, but leaves behind a sort of throbbing discomfort. What seems strange, though, is all the metal doors are open. The locks, shattered; it seems some physical force barreled through them. A sledgehammer? That seems closest, but it does mean that there's no difficulty getting to the top level when otherwise there might have been...
And then, the last door has been knocked clean off the hinges, laying some meters away in the middle of the platform proper. Small buildings flank higher to either side, and right at the highest point on the helicopter landing station is...
An orb. It is floating about a dozen meters in the air, swirling with strange colors. Another silent pulse turns the world to light, a drowning power as ruthless as the storm they pushed through earlier.
And one that casts a dark shadow over those that have come to see it. A man is settled cross-legged beneath the orb, silhouette just barely visible from the lower level.
His back is to the pair, outside the difficult positioning... but just who is it? A guardian? The one who broke his way inside? Did he bring the orb here, or was he merely lured to it...?
"Tch, I'm bein' paid." The mercenary ways haven't quite completely disappeared from her mind. What seems like a sure bet for her to steel herself and enter without a second thought is met with only the briefest hesitation. Tabitha gets a head start, as Varvara comes up towards the front when the boat docks. She shivers every so often just looking up there.
How many times has she been thrown into a dangerous situation beyond her understanding just because she was so eager to get paid and eat? To watch a girl who had it all throw it away to become some kind of street queen or some such go under some berserk spell... to encounter a squidlike abomination that scarred her truly deep in her psyche enough she got herself the hell out of Duke's business at the earliest opportunity? What awaits this time?
She could just beat up the ninety-year-old captain and leave Tabitha here... does she really want any of this?
She watches Tabitha just charge on ahead with reckless youth and abandon, as though it were... she scowls. Is she really gonna go get herself killed? It's dangerous. She knows it. Whatever it is, is it something she could really grasp with her own two meaty hands?
...
She spits something out in her native Greek as she bounds off the boat.
"Wait up," she says, probably not to be heeded. This is also because she is built for strength and not endurance. The stair climb will not be very easy for her. She will make it to the top well behind Tabitha - she might not even see that shadowy figure at rest, should that figure be riled into action the moment Tabitha makes it up there.
Against her better judgment, the Greek-Cypirot wrestler scales the steps - motivated by honest pay and food, or for Tabitha's safety? It's not clear, even as she flinches with every surge of power.
"Good," Tabitha says, before ducking inside. She doesn't even need to figure out how to unlock the door. Someone's already broken them for her.
Tabitha doesn't quite /rush/ - but she is the first one off the boat, the first one to the stairs, and the first one heading up them. She does not sprint up them because, honestly, she's just not that fast; Varvara may be built for strength, but Tabitha is built for endurance, not speed. She'll get to the top when she gets there.
She might make it quicker with the strange surge of power; Tabitha's legs /were/ burning, a little, but then they weren't, and she takes the steps two at a time for a few paces until the surge runs out. Tabitha slows after that. Something is strange here, and she's not experienced enough to know what - but she's not going to tire herself out before she finds out.
Tabitha expects Varvara to be behind her, somewhere. Her better nature means she doesn't expect being betrayed and left. She's been made a sucker of before... but apparently today's not that day, or at least not yet.
Tabitha pushes the door on the top floor out of her way with her foot. She had been intending to open it, but with it off the hinges, what's the point? It's even more battered than all the other doors she passed going up, like someone (or something) /really/ wanted to get to the top.
Her eyes narrow in the strange light, and she flinches away from it at one of those silent pulses, dazzled for a moment. Tabitha recovers quickly from it, though, eyes squeezed closed for several seconds before opening them, seeing the orb directly... and, more importantly, the man under it.
"Hey!" she calls. What could he possibly be doing on the helicopter pad? She vaults up, pulling herself higher, trying to get onto the helicopter landing pad herself to see the man up there as fast as she can - here, she /does/ push herself. "What's going on around here?"
There's no response for long moments, before another blinding flash of light erupts from the orb, causing that strange sense of raw power to flood within one's veins. When it fades away, and the roar of thunder and lightning crackles in the distance, the man upon the helicopter platform is standing. His upper body is bare, revealing a grotesque scar ripped into his back. Muscles are tense, heavily coiled iron that gives an impression of being slender, but hiding the power of a tightly wound piston to even modest eyes.
"...Is it not obvious?" he growls out. Slowly turning and marching to the edge of the platform, Gato Futaba glances down at those assembled. He's not exceptionally well-known in the public scene... more of a headhunter, tracking people down for matches off the public record.
"Power." Gato is heavily sweating, and his breath seems to be coming labored. In his left arm is a massive dumbbell, with a shocking amount upon it. It seems at this point he's struggling to even keep hold.
"This place... is power. Enough that the very earth itself quakes. Does there need to be a greater answer than that?" Slowly Gato tries to throw a punch with the held dumbbell, but his trembling arm can't lift past his hips. "Only here... can I feel it. What it's like..."
There's another flash from the orb. A crack in the air, and then a BANG! nearby. When it fades, Gato is no longer holding the overloaded weight. No; it's embedded into the metal wall of a building opposite him.
"To be at the top of the world. What better place to train? What better place to see how much higher you can climb?" A closed fist thumps into Gato's open palm, worn features looking the pair over closely.
"But it's not enough. This training... is not enough!!" An almost madness is in his eyes. "I can sense it within you both. You are fighters, are you not...?! Then... with my body at it's limit... I shall devour you for the sake of my martial arts!!"
Gato then leaps off the edge, descending heavily. He lands with a crash, small dent forming upon the platform. But slowly he rises then, managing to slide into a slow, aggressive stance with both fists raising to those opposite. How long has he been under the effect of the orb? How long has it been straining his body and mind? But it seems... there's an unforseen obstacle in dealing with Metro City's catastrophe!!
Varvara makes it a ways behind Tabitha, just at the end of her call. Is someone there? She peers up quizzically, fists already tensed just by instinct alone. Something bad. Something scary. The fight or flight response starts to trigger as she hangs backwards to the sound of that male voice.
She lets out a cry as Gato crashes upon the platform, fists raised...
"He's... he's gone far." It's not quite what she exactly means to say in English, but it is the only way she can put it to Tabitha as she regains her composure to stand a bit closer to her younger, taller friend.
"I know that look. I know that mind," she continues. "Nothing... but to be strong." It is hard to tell with her tone of voice if that's fear, respect, anger, or... much of anything, other than showing to be a rare font of knowledge in some respect for her limited intelligence, social graces, adherence to the rules of polite society other than acknowledging the trappings of materialism she is so boudn to...
She raises her arms up, hands open, palms pointed downwards. One leg is very slightly raised by virtue of a bent knee, eyes narrowing to a laser focus she hadn't displayed in the harrowing, desperate weeks where she was barely making it at all with what food scraps she could grab and cram in her mouth.
"I understand... very well." There is no discussion about what is right or wrong, or better or worse - she understands Gato's words completely, knowing they are in opposition. A man of such strength, of such build... he's far beyond her. He's probably far beyond Tabitha, but...
She has one thing to say.
"Erroso," she speaks the traditional greeting of Pankration fighters before a match. The wish for good health, even if hissed through a strained, tired voice - the challenge, however far out of her league this man is...
To be met, however far her own struggles might have taken her, given the extreme methods she has taken to strengthen herself at expense of... well, many things.
COMBATSYS: Varvara has wandered into a fight here on the left meter side.
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Varvara 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Varvara focuses on her next action.
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Varvara 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Gato has joined the fight here on the top side.
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Gato 0|-------|-------
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Varvara 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Tabitha has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Gato 0|-------|-------
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Varvara 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Tabitha
Tabitha knows many fighters, but she does not immediately recognize Gato Futaba. Not here and now. She might place him later, from one or another of his better-publicized matches (or at least better spectated) but for now he's just a man.
A man of strength and power, mind. Tabitha could have told that /without/ help. She doesn't flinch at the flash this time, or the sudden surge, or the weight thrown into the metal wall, stuck there and sticking out in a way she's entirely sure she couldn't duplicate even if she wanted to. "Power... you're here for power? That's it?"
"I get it," she says to Varvara, though not dismissively. "I understand that. But that means he's made himself our challenge, too. And I don't like giving up when I'm challenged." Tabitha is stubborn, too - she might understand what Gato is talking about, though she wouldn't go so far to follow it, but that doesn't mean it will turn /her/ away. Especially not after he's threatened her, and stood between her and what she needs to do.
Oddly enough, this calms Tabitha. She knows fighting. She doesn't have the experience of some others, but she has skill and determination. As soon as Gato phrases it the way he does - as soon as it becomes her, and Varvara, against a stronger force, everything suddenly makes sense in a way it didn't before. She can worry about fixing the platform afterwards. She can figure out what the hell the orb is during the battle or when it's concluded.
But right now, she has to win, or she can't do any of that. Tabitha gives Varvara a nod, a short sharp one, before unzipping her jacket all in one motion. She doesn't bother to peel it off, though under it she has a worn pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. She's no professional at this investigation. She doesn't have her handwraps on either, but she can live without them.
Tabitha rolls her neck, once, before taking a combat stance of her own. A boxer's, but an aggressive boxer, moving toward the other fighter while Varvara prepares herself. It might be strange to have the stronger of the two hang back while the more defensive of the two lands the first blow, but that's something Tabitha doesn't worry about, not being particularly experienced in fighting with a partner any way but with tag-outs; she comes in low, much lower than any boxer in the ring with a jab at Gato's legs before turning it into a reckless uppercut, her follow-through so hard that she actually leaves the ground in a little hop before landing again.
COMBATSYS: Tabitha successfully hits Gato with Bound Upper.
- Power hit! -
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Gato 0|-------|------=
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Varvara 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Tabitha
"...Hrmph." Gato states, looking towards Varvara. There's a sense of a beast, one who's broken free of his chains. But beyond that, it is clear the sheer physical brute strength that he possesses. His every motion still seems to hold that within full force, despite his body drenched as if in the rain, breath continuing to go heavy and labored. And those deadly weapons clenched tight before himself... there is no restraint within them. He is well above both fighters, clearly. In single combat, there would be no question of the outcome.
But the orb seems to be thrumming now, as if in anticipation. The flashes stop; instead, it begins to slowly glow, bright enough to be mildly uncomfortable. All three fighters feel the fire of chi ignite within them, burning like the sun...
To Tabitha and Varvara, fresh arrivals, it is incredibly invigorating. Yet to Gato, who has long ago burned out the very last vestiges of his endurance... the very simmer of his soul begins to consume him.
Good. It shall make room for more strength...!!
And it seems Tabitha takes proper advantage of it. She lunges forward, and Gato slips backwards, avoiding the strike towards his legs. Yet the lunge forward catches him off-guard. Move... move, arms...
The air rings with the crack of her fist finding Gato's face, whipping him away and causing him to stagger backwards as beads of blood flicker into the air. The orb seems to thrum now, like an old, worn-out heart struggling to beat.
"...!!" Gato's eyes snap open, and there is fury upon them. While Tabitha is still moving to get back within a proper defensive stance, Gato suddenly slams his heel upon the ground behind him. The metal dents heavily, as he hurtles in her direction. Twisting, the heel of his left hand swings to strike her in the stomach with all the force he can muster, roaring out. The air billows out, a wall of additional force, before suddenly lunging up... with the intention of wrapping his legs about Tabitha's neck, and then twisting with savage force that would shatter the neck of an average fighter, to twist and send her hurtling away!!
Restraint was never one of Varvara's virtues for her part, but her motives then - or perhaps still now? - were far less pure other than strength for strength's sake. It was always strength to some end, seeing no other way. To her credit, there is no other way now. It is a matter of strength to rise above this--
Her muscles tense, fingers clench, as she takes in oxygen. There is an odd calm, a foreign one, considering her mind on average is addled by starvation, certain mood-altering chemicals, or some mixture of both. Clarity.
She holds her stance even when the shuddering platform threatens to rob her of balance, running forward with all due speed as he moves to strike at Tabitha with the elaborate sequence.
With a loud cry as she flexes powerful legs into a forward leap, she aims to put a bit higher of an angle to catch Gato as he goes high, arms outstretched in a forward dive to plow straight into him and roll a short ways across the platform before flinging him away, daring to match her smaller frame against his superior bulk with the help of superior momentum.
COMBATSYS: Tabitha blocks Gato's Mu-Ga.
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Gato 0|-------|----===
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Varvara 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Tabitha
As soon as she begins her punch - and honestly, probably before - Tabitha knows she's outclassed. Gato has the right of it; in single combat, even in a ring that Tabitha favours, it wouldn't even be a challenge.
But Tabitha lives to rise to impossible challenges. If she was being cruelly realistic, she might think of her attempts to help Metro City as one of them, even though she simultaneously really does want to help it. Gato is just another one - difficult, perhaps undefeatable, but that doesn't mean she's not going to give it a try.
The feeling of impact is sweet... for a bare second, before Gato gets his hands on her before she can recover. Tabitha takes the blow to her stomach, and the sheer impact is dizzying, enough to knock all the air out of her with a whoosh. She gasps as she staggers backwards - and somehow, impossibly, manages to get one arm next to her neck when Gato wraps his legs around them.
It's not a great position, but it stops her from being choked; Tabitha strains against Gato's iron grip with her half-pinned arm, which gives her enough slack that she can breathe. It also means she does not take the full impact of the twist on her neck; though she's thrown away, launched to roll almost to the edge, she braced against it sufficiently that her neck is not broken, her head is still in place, and she's more dizzy and pained than completely disabled.
Tabitha doesn't really /hop/ to her feet. It's more of a slow stagger. She has to focus to form a ball in her hand, across her fist; it looks like the northern lights, an auroric bubble that she launches with a fast jab and a sudden yell. It feels easier than usual, somehow, assisted by the surges; when it impacts, it bursts in a wash of cold air and tiny ice shards, a distraction and a pain rather than a knockout blow. It has the benefit of not interfering with Varvara too much, and it gives Tabitha another couple moments to get back into place - she needs it.
COMBATSYS: Gato blocks Varvara's Fleeing Musician.
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Gato 0|-------|----===
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Varvara 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Tabitha
COMBATSYS: Tabitha successfully hits Gato with Winter Bullet.
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Gato 0|-------|---====
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Varvara 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Tabitha
Strength. What is strength? How many years has Gato been seeking it?
And here he sits. No different now, than when he left so many years ago. Hotaru... he watched her, kept tabs on her. Why... why does he feel, deep in his soul... she managed the answer that he never did?! The small, soft sister of his, whom he tried as hard as he could to keep out of his hellish world, found it within the same realm?!
Here. Here, in the wake of this sphere... Gato will finally know.
Varvara is coming at him fast. He is still slightly off-balance in the wake of his attempt to crush Tabitha, but still manages to brace himself, toes of his back foot slamming down. The strike of her body against his causes a brief, momentary burst of tension, before Gato snarls once more and explosively flexes, dismissing Varvara backwards in a display of sheer force that overcomes her delicate finesse.
And then he barrels down towards her once more, kicking forward with the same foot that had kept him from being launched away. In the midst, an explosion of ice-flavored chi strikes him in the side of the head, faltering... but he manages to follow through, aiming to strike the heel of his palm within Varvara's chest with every ounce of force he can. With intention of stamping down, and then bursting forward a second time, to use the second explosion of might to send her hurtling away.
In short order the ice melts away... Gato is -- steaming? Yes, his body appears to be visibly letting off a mist, flesh tinged heavy red. Burning... burning!!
The thrum of the orb glowing above begins to speed slightly; no longer quite so faint and hesitant as it was... And the storm reacts, appearing to thunder and crackle all the harder as what was once pulses of ferocity become a sustained, raising buzz!!
COMBATSYS: Gato knocks away Varvara with Shin-Ga.
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Gato 0|-------|-======
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Varvara 1/----===/=======|=======\-------\0 Tabitha
The careful timing and consideration of Tabitha's icy assistance is lost in the midst of this man's incredible power, hurling her off as she tumbles backwards with his mighty flex. Her landing against the ravaged platform is not terribly delicate, a pained cry as she tumbles into a kneel.
He's not just powerful - he's fast. Faster than anything she's ever faced, more decisive and sure in his movements than any opponent she could have ever imagined. Her forearms cross in front of her she bares her teeth, eyes widened. It's one thing to catch a blow, even as her forearms buckle and spasm before that first palm.
It's another when the follow-up ensures such a defense is entirely moot. She has no traction to speak of. Any force that may have theoretically been redirected or stopped otherwise transfers through by hurling her body into a wall at a sickening, bone-crunching velocity as her body leaves an indentation upon it. She collapses face-first, supporting herself with one thick left arm as she spits up blood.
Her rain-soaked hair hides her eyes as she growls, looking up as adrenaline attempts to pull her back to consciousness where the rest of her body does not seem ready to comply, staggering and stumbling unskillfully towards the blurry image of this man...
Tensing her left hand, she sucks in breath as tears streak down her right eye. The pain that runs through her back is so great that she can't hold them back, and yet, she doesn't buckle down to a kneel like a scared child. Something runs through her - something she's not sure she likes, but something she appears to embrace enough to stand up and fight again.
It takes her some time to dare herself to get back into swinging range.
It's her only range, as she attempts to pull back the battle with her own two hands. She starts to throw those punches rapidly. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right. They are fast. Furious. Almost endless, as she swings into the muscled man who walks to take the path of strength to its logical, ultimate, bloody conclusion.
What pushes her so, then?
After her single projectile, Tabitha focused on movement. It may not be raining here, but the whole platform is still damp from sea spray and mist and her own footsteps coming up here, and this is the kind of situation where she wants - needs - everything to be taken into account so she has a chance. Her eyes don't leave him, noting his own movement, the ... steam? The power of the orb, too, and Varvara. She feels the fight in her bones.
Varvara takes the worst of the fury this time, and Tabitha winces. It's not enough to put her off, but is enough to convince her to take a slightly different tactic. The problem is that all her instincts are for outlasting her opponent, but from the sheer force Gato is putting out, Tabitha knows there is no way she can possibly outlast him. She needs to actually strike.
Tabitha comes in from behind. She does not strike repeatedly at Gato because that's not her style, and never was; she delivers a single strong straight with her left hand, then a brief pause to get him to turn towards her, to break away from Varvara for a split second and let her take the advantage.
Tabitha follows this up with an enormous right-handed blow straight for Gato's face. Tabitha doesn't always hit like a truck but she's pushing herself this time, her entire body shifting with the sheer /force/ of the blow. If possible, she lets the impact push her backwards slightly, sliding slightly away, fists raises. She waggles her hands a little like they were gloved, a 'come on' gesture. It's not quite a taunt, not quite a challenge, but somewhere in between. His strength might be impressive but it hasn't put her down yet. She's still fighting.
"Keep trying," she croaks. That blow to her throat hit her worse than she thought if she sounds like /that/. Adrenaline, thankfully, keeps her up. She's had worse - just not, admittedly, usually all at once.
COMBATSYS: Gato dodges Tabitha's Impact Knuckle.
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Gato 0|-------|-======
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Varvara 1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1 Tabitha
COMBATSYS: Gato endures Varvara's Binding Seeds.
[ ||||||||||||| ]
Gato 1|-------|=======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Varvara 1/-======/=======|=======\-------\1 Tabitha
"Power... the ultimate power... to erase that man from this world..." Gato murmurs to himself, sliding to a stop after Varvara is sent flying by his blow. He glances down at his closed fist, faltering noticeably. The burn... the fire... what fuels the others is turning him hollow. Sunken eyes shift to take in Varvara once more.
"So you too... wish to find the answer to life in combat?" Slowly he seems to shift, stepping backwards and clenching his right hand tightly. The air seems to shimmer, growing hotter. Veins superimpose, tendons bulge, as it seems like Gato shutters every ounce of his strength straight to his fist.
"You will find it... within my hand...!!"
Varvara rushes towards Gato, and Tabitha leaps at him from behind. His eyes are... closed? Her brutal blow is weaved away from, before the second is avoided... by kicking forward. Varvara finds herself face to face with the other man, her rain of fists and blows falling upon him unhindered. But the power of his fighting spirit... it seems to be made of something incredible. To force his body so far past his limits like this...!
"Mou-ko..."
And then he twists. It is only a punch. That is what a spectator might say, who did not understand the sheer perfection behind it. But pushing up from his toes, boosting it by extending the knees, twisting the floor through his hip and along his spine, before like a shotgun, his palm is rushing forward.
Likely the only hope is to either get out of the way or dodge it before the strike actually begins -- there is a brief moment. But then the air explodes, the sound barrier shattered by his strike hit or miss, cracking like the thunder in the distance. Blood splatters in all directions, entire arm severely damaged simply by throwing the blow.
"KOU HAKAN!!"
The heartbeat of the orb is pulsing faster now. A quick, regular tempo... the entire structure seems to be keening and wailing, as the storm in the distance grows even more intense. The serene walls, the eye of the storm, is rapidly shrinking. Like a tightening noose, the destruction in the distance is coming towards the structure... and it has no hope of surviving it!!
Is the orb feeding on the battle? It seems to be activated... something within it has changed, although what it is gearing up for has yet to be seen!
COMBATSYS: Varvara endures Gato's Mou-Ko Kou Hakan but gets knocked away!
[ ||||||||| ]
Gato 1|----===|=======
[ \\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Varvara 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1 Tabitha
Her fists ache from every blow against the physical perfection that Gato has honed his body to be under these extreme limits that few would dare press, as the storms grow louder and louder yet. They must be growing closer. Her head is ringing too heavily from adrenaline and whatever else to comprehend it. It is her, Gato, and Tabitha.
At this rate she'd probably try and hit Tabitha too if she came too close, not out of malice - it is sheer instinct deeply ingrained in her person.
"I... I diiid." English is her second language. Is she using the wrong tense? She hisses those words out, as if having difficulty budgeting her oxygen between 'speaking' and 'punching.'
She is so focused on keeping on the offensive - her way of doing things - that she hardly comprehends the subtle, masterful touch of Gato's movements as he displays what he can do with one palm that she can't hope to accomplish with a hundred punches... no, a thousand.
One of her legs draw back as her fists tighten so much that the fingers in one hand completely break skin and go into straight-up bloodletting.
The blood that spatters outward is not just his when he calls the name of the blow that would be etched forever upon mind, body, and soul of whoever were struck by it. The incredible wind shear shreds away her top save for her sports bra, exposing muscled, oddly symmetrically scarred flesh underneath as the palm hits against her solar plexus.
Her upper body rocks back violently. She gurgles as her thigh muscles strain and come shy of bursting outright from stress and pressure as one of them bends in such a way to withstand the immeasurable force that should see her flying clean off the platform entirely.
Miraculously... she steadies. No, not quite. That's not steady. She's upright. Blood flows out of her mouth as she chokes and sputters, horrific bruising for all to see of her from where impact was made. Her hair drapes over her eyes as it's bowed.
Her bent leg that absorbed most of the momentum remains as such as she brings her arms, shaking in front of herself, as she shouts over the cacophony of destruction that draws closer.
"I ain't... I ain't... doing this for nothing," she sneers out, though her voice is weak. She sounds more despondent. Desperate. Her voice does not reflect the incredible amount of effort, or possibly willpower, she puts into this as she points her distant leg back...
She sweeps the leg forward down low in a sweeping motion as a yellow flickering light washes over her. A single slice of wind forms around her foot as she sweeps it across the structure, threatening to slice into Gato's ankle with the very tip of the cutting wind that nonetheless still carries her full striking strength.
It is not of Gato's strength, or his precision, or his skill - but it is what she is able to return even after suffering such a blow, arms held upwards against herself in what might be a defensive stance were she in better health.
Gato dodges Tabitha's punch; she actually overcommits, taking a single step further than she meant to. Even one step at a time like this is too much for her. She needs to be perfect. She forces herself to a better stance, a better position, as the orb flares behind her; it's speeding up somehow, she can feel it pulsing even when she's not looking at it.
His punch is perfect. Tabitha, who prefers the one solid punch style as well, can tell more about it than most onlookers would, and what she knows is that it's nothing she can do yet. Training may be hard, and dangerous, but it pays off. She almost breaks her stance in sheer awe - but if anything, it focuses her resolve. She doesn't look away even when the storm walls threaten to approach.
Instead she looks away from Gato, at her partner. "Varvara!" Tabitha sounds worried - not quite paniced but definitely concerned after a blow like that. There's nothing she can do to help her, except attract Gato's attention, to give Varvara a moment to recover. Even if she could do more, she's not sure that Varvara wouldn't count it as being looked down on. Tabitha might, depending on what it was.
"No, you're not," Tabitha says, rolling her head on her shoulders again. Her neck still hurts, her throat hurts, everything burns a little - from the inside too, that strange energy. This time Varvara takes the lead - but Tabitha follows it up, pressing Gato as she tries to get inside his guard, forcing him to turn away and look at /her/ instead.
Tabitha performs very short jabs, repeatedly, with one hand; she's crowding. It's not a knockout blow; it's preparation for one as she continues to circle and adjust. Her other hand is up, ready to block or parry. Her face - wet, slightly swollen around the cheek and more down the neck - is curled into a slightly feral grin. "Come /on/," she says. "Try me on for size, if you're going to stop us!"
COMBATSYS: Gato dodges Tabitha's Guard Knuckle.
[ ||||||||| ]
Gato 1|----===|=======
[ \\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Varvara 1/------</<<<<<<<|=======\==-----\1 Tabitha
COMBATSYS: Varvara successfully hits Gato with EX Swollen Foot.
Glancing Blow
[ |||||| ]
Gato 1|---====|=======
[ \\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Varvara 1/------</<<<<<<<|=======\==-----\1 Tabitha
"Haa... haa... ..."
She... she got back up? Impossible. The fist that Gato has honed for the last decade. The one he has sacrificed himself for, body, mind and soul... did not take her down? It is not a matter of the obvious damage being inflicted upon her -- one would be hard-pressed to find fault in such a thing. Yet he did not strike her where it was most important. The tenacity. The will.
Such a blow will never reach his father...!!
The furious series of blows that Tabitha sends catches Gato off-guard. He manages to weave and duck away, but kicks backwards a moment too late and the tail end of Varvara's brutal strike catches him. Blood splatters upon the metal ground, as Gato thumps and slides away, reeling slightly. He grasps his heart, breath coming in deep, heaving pants now.
"...Very well." The orb suddenly flashes, and Gato's body seems to grow. It seems to be in slow motion as he shifts backwards, clenching his fist and assuming a stance that seems at first glance similar to the one which nearly took Varvara down. But his eyes show something else.
"...I swear... on my pride. The next one to come near me... I will show you true power. Which of you... is willing to stake their life..."
His knuckles clench once more, blood spurting out.
"ON SURVIVING IT?!"
The orb's heartbeat is a frenzy now. Quick flashes of boosting strength seethe into Varvara and Tabitha, and it seems even Gato has managed to grasp the flame, enough for one last going away present...!!
The roaring whirlwind of the storm is close now. A heavy mist of water begins to spray across the platform, as the dark clouds shift overhead in a crack of lightning nearby. Minutes... in a few minutes, it will be upon them. And then what? The oil platform will be shredded and torn asunder, and a storm far worse than what was going on when they arrived will reduce Metro City to the foundation!!
COMBATSYS: Gato focuses on his next action.
[ ||||| ]
Gato 1|---====|=======
[ \\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Varvara 1/------</<<<<<<<|=======\==-----\1 Tabitha
Varvara doesn't look like she could stand for much longer. The degree of injury visible upon her person is stomach-churning. Her body shudders violently as she falls to one knee, gasping and vocalizing something that might be a quiet giggle... no, it's a struggle as to whether her lungs can really suck in air any more. Is it really her will that is keeping her going, or is it... whatever it is that courses through the air?
Gato's threat is one that he has now soundly proven, several times over, as one he can make good on. Varvara even visibly takes a step back, as though reason is starting to find its way through the heavy haze of grievous injury and adrenaline. She knew it was going to turn out like this. She should've turned around. She's going to die. She's going to die. She's going to die. She's going to die - this wasn't going to be an improvement of her miserable life at all...!
She casts a look over to Tabitha, the young boxer who seems intent to see just how far their fighting spirit can carry them in times like this, when she didn't give up and stoop so low like she has... many times over... for years.
She lowers her head... no, that's a nod. An almost imperceptible nod.
And she moves forward, the absolute first, the answer to Gato's question, throwing her entire body weight at him as she dares to try and slip behind him, to dare to challenge her strength against his - the leagues of difference between them aside - to twist an arm against his back as she draws back a fist.... to strike at his back, to utterly crush any hope of him gaining wind to stay standing.
To keep striking, if she can hold him. If... anything, ever, can hold back the fury of a man who has spent so many years perfecting his craft, against someone who is ultimately an above-average thug at best, actual martial arts training aside.
If she has that initial hold of him, she does try to twist and maneuver his upper body upright. It is a subtle signal, a signal that should communicate to Tabitha exactly her intent for what she wants to see from her.
One good punch.
It wouldn't be just a single person approaching Gato, if Varvara has it her way.
Tabitha is in better condition than Varvara. This doesn't mean a lot; /tons/ of people are in better condition than Varvara is right now. Tabitha is honestly impressed at her ability to stay upright - and coming from her, that's not a small compliment.
It's for that reason that Tabitha has been trying to press Gato, to force him to pay attention to her or be beaten down by constant, repeated blows. She doesn't know if she's tougher than Varvara or not - she only knows that Varvara has been struck more, and harder. She's hurt - and Tabitha brought her here. She's not going to let Gato kill her if she has anything to say about it.
This has been the biggest challenge of her life - the fight, getting Varvara back on her feet, the attempt to help Metro City. Tabitha isn't going to turn away from it, no matter what.
She doesn't stop even when the orb is in its full frenzy. The whirling wall of the storm is close enough that it tugs at her hair; she knows she has almost no time for the two of them to beat Gato so they can figure out what is going on, and maybe to stop it. (Not that Tabitha's instructions include anything on glowing orbs of power.)
"If you hit me..." Tabitha speaks only quietly at first. It might be hard to hear over the storm except she's pitched it just so; it's audible, especially when she raises her voice. "If you hit me, I'll take it and keep going! I didn't come here to get beaten, no matter how strong you are. Show me your true power, then!"
Varvara comes in. Tabitha returns the slight nod - and backs off, just for a moment. Just long enough for Varvara to go for the grab, which is what she expects from someone who fights like her; even before she's finalized it, if she /does/ finalize it, Tabitha steps back forward.
'Steps' is a bit of a weak term for it. Tabitha tenses her entire body, and then springs forward. The power moves up her legs, into her core, and into her overhand punch, a single massive blow with all her power and momentum behind it - and her hand is trailing light like the aurora, driving down in a colourful, freezing, chilling explosion of chi!
COMBATSYS: Tabitha and Varvara successfully hit Gato with Ice Cold Crypt of the Deluded Giant.
[ ]
Gato 1|=======|=======
[ \\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Varvara 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Tabitha
Ah. Both of them at once. Indeed, Gato cannot strike them in tandem; his finishing blow is intended only to erase a single person in this world from it. He has done no training against people in tandem. His every instinct, every moment... for that single battle to the death, that never came. Did his father ever even acknowledge him, after leaving him for dead? Has his pursuit of strength registered? Where is he now...? How cruel fate can be. How his life has been wasted.
If only he could start again...
"THEN... TAKE THIS...!" Gato roars, before he stamps down his rear leg. An explosive burst of power is begun. His ankle seems to snap. It continues, reaching his knee, which violently dislocates. A twist pops his hip out of alignment, before like a bolt of lightning it roars up his arm. Blood spurts from his mouth, nose, even his eyes and ears...
Before he swings, at the same moment that the two hit him dead on.
With any luck, they might finish the fight never knowing just how hard Gato might have been able to hit; the dragon's roar of his fist once more causes the air to belt out in defiance. Despite whether someone's flesh is in the way or not, his hand is destroyed, flayed to broken bones and muscle, as a body far beyond it's limits uses a technique deadly to the user when most hale.
"...!!" And then Gato is sent hurtling backwards, his back slamming into one of the four struts supporting the helicopter stand. It bends beneath him like cardboard, only barely stopping him from going cleanly through. Thumping down upon his knees, a final gout of blood leaves him before Gato's good hand catches him, doubling over and shuddering as his right arm thumps useless beside.
"Haa... haa... haa...!!" He may be conscious, but there is no question. He has no capacity now to fight.
But the orb up above is starting to pulse like a strobelight, and the roaring storm nearby is far stronger than when they barely got through it; already, the heavy waves are starting to strike against the base of the oil refinery, as it continues to loom high above, some horrible amber star that seems fit to doom all those present, and Metro City itself...!!
COMBATSYS: Gato can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Varvara 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Tabitha
COMBATSYS: Tabitha blocks Gato's Ten-Ryuu Retsu-Kiba.
[ \\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Varvara 0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1 Tabitha
Varvara's half of it all is savage. Relentless. Her strikes are not those of the singular precision Gato has mastered. She is but a student of perhaps the oldest known martial art, and even then, only that. The strikes, the holds, the basic forms they would take that would influence so many others over time... it seems almost too fitting that the way she wails upon Gato is like something primal. Savage.
It's hard to tell how much of the blood on her hands is hers versus Gato's as she finally loses her wind to keep punching him, even as her eardrums ring in the wake of that last, thunderous blast after he is violently released from her hold with Tabitha's help. She doesn't look Tabitha's way so much as she falls to a kneel herself again, the displaced air flitting about wet hair.
She feels the mist left in the wake of a crashing wave as the oil platform falls under assault of the storms. Where Gato laughs, she wheezes. Her bloodied hand reaches out for one of the nearby supports. No, she all but embraces them like one might someone they truly care for, shuddering and shaking.
She mutters something in her native tongue that can't quite be heard, perhaps because of the oncoming storms. She doesn't even look towards them.
Tabitha can see it in her - she is not one who stands triumphant over a foe that neither of them have a chance against individually. She is not gloating. There is no swagger nor mockery to it all.
She's frightened, beyond belief, feeling the walls all close in on her at once, with nowhere to run as it all starts to collapse upon them - no amount of attempts to cultivate her body into the unnatural and kind of gross size it is can hide that she is, once all the layers of brutishness, impulsiveness, and seeming disregard for a lot of societal norms away...
She's truly as scared as anyone else would be here.
COMBATSYS: Varvara takes no action.
[ \\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Varvara 0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1 Tabitha
Tabitha's contribution is that single strike. One is enough for her; she's yelling as she does it, not in fear or anger but in sheer determination - and, if she admits it to herself, the enjoyment of the fight, the challenge of going up against someone so powerful it takes two of her (or, more accurately, one of her and one of Varvara) to even stand a chance.
After her blow, she immediately shifts to a more defensive stance, just shy of aborting her attack to do it. She expects to be hit back - she challenged him, and he was fighting to hurt, to kill, in a way she doesn't like to and never has - even now she's not trying to kill Gato, only stop him. Nobody shatters their ankle and their knee for /fun/. And she sees it's coming for her -
Tabitha takes the blow. There is no graceful way to do this, and she isn't graceful about it; even braced she can't just stand there and absorb that kind of punishment. But the blow hits her, and for a moment, it seems like she has, because she doesn't move. The metal under her feet groans as Gato spends his force against Tabitha's waiting hands.
And /then/ the shockwave comes. It blasts Gato one way, and Tabitha the other. She hits the platform heavily and rolls, slamming into the stairwell; she was about a half instant from falling /down/ the stairwell, but she managed (probably not on purpose) to hit the post that the railing is attached to instead and practically folds around it. The broken-off door, picked up by the shockwave, slams into the doorway it had once been attached to with a huge metallic bang before falling down, squealing as it slides down the wall.
It seems, for a moment, that Varvara might be on her own.
And then Tabitha comes out of the doorway. She's half-staggering when she does it, hunched over around her stomach - it took two blows there, one from Gato earlier in the fight and one from the post Gato just launched her into, and either one of them is more than she would have liked to take. But she's moving, her coat flapping in the new winds. battered but - however technically - unbroken.
"Come on," she croaks at Varvara. She looks at Gato, moving but not fighting. They'll have to take him with them, she thinks. He's hurt - and even if he was fighting to kill, that doesn't mean she'll leave him for the storms. But first... "Are you okay? We need to look. I need to look. Are you with me?" She is moving toward the stairway toward that orb. Or ladder, if it comes to that; she can unfold long enough to use one. "If you'd rather watch him..."
"...This... is not power." Gato suddenly mumbles. Suddenly he pushes himself up to his feet unsteadily. The throbbing of the orb high above seems to be at a manic pace. Whatever it's 'ready' for, it's waiting... although where is there to run? The boat will be sunk by the time the trio could hope to get down to it, with the orb's gathered energy at full.
"HNNNGH!!" Suddenly Gato kicks off the ground with his good leg, grasping one side of the support. He kicks off it hard, landing in a crouch on the crumpled side of the other, before a last upwards lunge lets him grasp the bottom of the helicopter pad. With effort, his one arm drags him up, the entire oil platform shuddering as rain begins to pour down upon him.
"Power... is above me..."
Trembling, Gato drags himself into the middle of the helicopter pad, a gust of wind knocking him down. Lightning strikes one of the long metal antenna, sending sparks cascading across Varvara and Tabitha. Above him... above him, in that amber sun... is his answer...!!
It takes every last bit of will to summon his broken body. But Gato suddenly leaps straight up, roaring into the deafening wind of the storm. He snaps up his good hand... and just barely reaches the orb.
The moment he touches it, his body begins to shine brightly. His eyes are wide, in obvious surprise. Flesh and skin ripples back over his brutalized other arm, before he grasps it in both hands.
Power. Yes. This. This is what he always wanted...! What seems to be flames ripple and lick over Gato's body as he descends and lands heavily, denting the entire pad downwards a meter. His body seems to grow, muscles expanding, as that simple, resolute desire starts to turn him into something monstrous and inhuman. The flame within it slowly starts to extinguish, and even the coming storm falters.
But... his resolve wavers. Being strong... is that really what he wanted? For what purpose? To strike down his father? Hotaru is happy and content. She has moved on... in a long, hard battle he refused to ever face. Even him... has she given up on her fool of a brother? If he accepts the strength offered by this orb...
He'd never be able to look at her again.
"...!" With that, Gato suddenly throws the orb away. The result is nearly instant; the power it had been conduiting into him does not stop, but now it is raw, and primal. His fingers blacken, and his body begins to shimmer.
Ah... if only Gato could do it all again... There must be a better path. He had been right all along. Nothing is more lonely... than a human...
A great burst of light erupts upwards. The clouds are pierced by it, before great bolts of energy start roaring across the clouds. And then, at the base of the oil platform, there's a massive eruption of force. All of the remnants, all of the gathered power, are unleashed at once.
The clouds are blown away, but with it comes a great, monstrous wave of water. In all directions, a monumental tsunami forms, crackling with extinguishing energy... Energy meant to sunder the world run rampant.
The storm assaulting the city is gone. But with it, one last, brutal strike... as the growing, growing wave rushes out in all directions, the last defiant echo of the orb's faltered use.
Will Metro City fall? How much damage will this do? Such is beyond the reach of Varvara and Tabitha now. There is nothing atop the helicopter pad now but twisted, melted metal; before the orb thumps to the ground, hissing with heat, beside the two. Deep within, a smoldering ember of the strength it just exhibited....
And, after long moments, almost imperceptible, they can each feel a *thump* of power as it begins to rev up once more...
Varvara's breathing is labored. There is absolutely no telling how her body looks on the inside. Those bruises from what impacts she did suffer directly... can suggest far worse as to what's going inside. Blood comes out of her mouth, her nose... her hands... she continues to uselessly gasp as Tabitha comes towards her.
'Come on.' She struggles to turn her head at all towards her. 'Are you with me?'
She stares at Tabitha through a face now obscured by hair that has washed over her. She's cold... shivering. It's not even just fear, now - her unhealthy, dangerously low body fat percentage means her body has no real natural protection against the chill that washes over.
There is an absolute absence of an answer... up until Gato moves again, and even then it's negligible at best other than the turn of her head. But yet, she does very little to move, to say much of anything... other than the appropriate, minimal flinching that still seems a touch under-reacted to. Given her physical state, this is probably understandable.
But yet, she can still see clearly, watching Gato go up, to... touch the orb... to come down, to become...
She raises her arms, but doesn't quite make it back to the typical stance of her martial art, her hands too shaky, her legs so unsteady that if she were to bend a leg, she might fall over. If Gato were to strike anew, like this, to push aside someone like her would be a trifle...!
She doesn't quite follow what happens next, because it is so... violent. PRimal. Blinding. She hides her eyes from the light, as everything just explodes outwards, and she falls to her seat in terror...
The loud noise of rushing water slowly grows further away... everything feels like it falls silent. It may be because of ruptured eardrums, but yet... as it all clears, in spite of that last, horrifying burst...
She flinches as the orb hits the ground, going between the two of them.
'Come on,' she hears Tabitha's words echo again. 'Are you with me?'
The battered, brutish Greek-Cypirot looks to Tabitha, to the orb... to Tabitha... to the orb... she grabs for her arm for support as she helps herself up, brushing hair away from her face.
"That," she finally speaks clearly at long last, "that... should not... be..."
She is afraid to approach it, as her fingers twitch... "but... but what... can be done... it's... something..."
Something over her head - is this the sort of thing she's going to run into as just some run of the mill laborer, too?
Tabitha has no comfort to offer Varvara. She has a raincoat, but it's open and not especially warm. She can't heal her bruises or broken bones. All she can do is offer mental support, which she does - she's concerned for the other woman. There's just something else important here, too - important to everyone.
She did not think Gato could move, much; he wasn't fighting, certainly, but she expected him to be down for the count. As battered as he is, why wouldn't he be? /She/ would be; even Tabitha's resistance to pain isn't infinite.
Gato leaps past her, and Tabitha cries out in surprise. "You shouldn't - " What? Grab the orb? Over-exert yourself? Try to use it? Tabitha doesn't finish the statement. There's no time before he actually has it; he's moving faster than Tabitha is, for those few important moments.
Gato gets his hands on the orb while Tabitha is still getting ready to move toward it, and the storm's tenor shifts in a way even /she/ can feel. Lightning sends sparks nearby, which she hops away from, trying to get away from the metal antenna and the part of the grate she was standing by. He's changing, somehow, and Tabitha doesn't know why.
She doesn't know why he throws it away, either. But he does, and for a moment Tabitha can't see /anything/ through the burst of light. She does scream, then; she throws herself flat at the wave of force, feeling it more than seeing it. She doesn't know where Gato went; she can't see him now.
The waves... "No!" They came here, they found it, and now - now there's going to be a tsunami anyway? Where's the fairness in that? Where's the justice? There's not even going to be a way for them to get back at this rate.
Tabitha hears Varvara's words. Maybe it's that that spurs her on, or anger at failing to do something so far beyond her comprehension - what does she know about magic balls of light? - or of Gato's last (?) act, wherever he is now. She'll look in a moment. But right now, Tabitha acts out. She's afraid, too, but there's something she needs to do.
Tabitha looks down at the orb. She takes a deep breath, focusing. She's punched people before, doors a couple times, punching backs more times than she can remember. She's never punched a ball. She's not sure if it's going to explode or shatter or what. But Varvara's right. It shouldn't be, whatever it is.
Focused, with all her remaining strength behind it and ignoring the protests from her battered body, Tabitha delivers the single bone-cracking knockout blow she's known for in boxing with a kiai - almost straight down, into the orb as it sits on the deck. She and Varvara, working together, can destroy it before it regains all its power, and causes another disaster.
She hopes.
Varvara continues to babble as Tabitha moves closer, as she focuses herself. Is she going to... is she really going to...
Varvara staggers a step towards it, where Tabitha's ability to keep going gives her much smoother movement of purpose and clarity behind it... the brutish woman beside the boxer looks at her hands for a moment. They're numb from when she managed to dig her fingers into her palms deep enough that she broke skin, not to mention... everything else.
As Tabitha raises her fist to drive it down, Varvara, too, raises her fist side-by-side hers in unison, shaky as it is...
It stabilizes at the apex of the rise of the fist, and matches the exact timing Tabitha thrusts her fist down as she does the same. Punch for punch, two young women cast their strength into the spherical object that seems at the entire heart of Metro City's suffering.
No, the world's suffering.
It is not out of any sort of altruistic motive, or maybe even so much a budding friendship and respect with Tabitha...
She's cold, she's hurt, she's starving, and she wants to go home, and that... is enough for one more punch.
The blows rain down upon the orb from Tabitha; and in short order, Varvara does so as well. It feels... strange. The raining strikes seem to just... lose all their energy, the moment they touch it. All that follows is a strange sense of exhaustion... and the ember within the orb glowing stronger than when they started. No; Violence and fighting is not how you resolve these. Not as if breaking it would somehow cause the tsunami to stop in the /first/ place... but one thing is for certain. They are in possession of something powerful enough to reshape and destroy the world. Will they hide it? Throw it into the ocean and hope nobody finds it? Hopefully, the magnitude of the acquisition is realized... before the opportunity is lost -- for good or ill!!
Tabitha certainly tries.
But it's not going to work, and Tabitha isn't quite dim enough to fail to figure that out, even now. She didn't take /that/ many blows to the head, and she's not headbutting it now.
Breathing hard, Tabitha falls to a crouch next to the orb. She eyes it with distaste and distrust and discomfort in about equal measure. "This isn't working. Something else..." Which means there's only one other thing she can think of to do with it. She actually thought of it first. She just didn't want to end up like Gato, who she can no longer see - well, he'd be out of sight, wouldn't he? She'll have to check.
Tabitha removes her raincoat. It's either not going to help because it's not raining or it's not going to help because the mother of all storms is about to hit her; either way she's not going to miss it for very long.
And then she very gingerly, very carefully - she saw what happened to Gato! - tries to pick it up, her hands wrapped in the coat so as to never touch it directly. Not that that will stop it if it decides to do anything. She felt it before when it was just floating there, and now she's thinking about taking it, or at least moving it somewhere that is not here.
"We can't just leave it," she says to Varvara, almost defensively. But she doesn't want power, not like that - she wants to be able to fight, but she wants to get there on her own. If she wants the sphere to do anything, it's to make things calm down, to even out, to give people a /chance/ to live again even with the world as messed-up overall as it seems to be now.
Of course, the fact that she's dealing with what appears to be (to her) a literal magic ball is putting her more than a little on edge. Tabitha can't /remember/ the last time her heart was going this fast. Is it... fear? She hopes not. Or maybe she doesn't. Fear is pretty rational right now.
"No"
This goes without a punctuation mark because it is impossible to gauge a proper one for it. It seems like it encompasses all the proper emotions for it - all parts a question, an exclamation, and a reaffirmation, muffled and made ever harder to narrow it down because her voice grows a bit weaker as her strength becomes sapped.
Where Tabitha scrambles for some sort of solution, Varvara merely doubles over and lies with her hands pressed against what survives of the platform following those traumatic exchanges of Gato's power and nature's fury alike... she's exhausted.
Also, grievously injured.
She appears to have little else to add between the two of them as to what to do, with no original ideas of her own as to what comes next with it... but she never was that much of a thinker to begin with.
Log created on 19:07:51 09/14/2014 by Gato, and last modified on 00:18:13 09/17/2014.