Description: With the Time Spheres irrevocably charging to change the world, Mukai muses in the emptied headquarters of Gaea. Rust and Jiro connect the dots too little too late about the mysterious tournament... but find the hulking brute. And discover that although he may have had regrets about erasing the present and all it has accomplished, his true devotion to Saiki-sama is not something to underestimate...!
One can go into detail for the recent past for Howard Rust, but it's no longer important to worry about that when time itself appears to be unraveling around them. All he can do now is follow what leads he has, and cross his fingers in earnest that maybe, in some way, in some fashion... well, there's no way to neatly tie up the level of disaster so many parts of the world has suffered.
Current plan, in so much as time can be considered current when it's been hiccuping all over... Gaia Tournament. What's going on? He's got questions, but he knows someone else that probably has plenty too. One way or another, he got back in touch with them...
"Okay. Okay." Howard speaks up as he holds up a piece of paper. "Look, I, I... I don't have the best, uh, track record with... official... buildings. When they're, ah, open, or, n-not important," he says as he crumples up the paper and tosses it away. Littering. Things have become so urgent that now he's not bothering adhering to that either.
"This is... this is the place. Y'know... someone had to, ah, explain to me just, just... what's goin' on," he narrates aloud as he brings his right hand atop Ol' Rusty, "it's... it's still kinda... all right."
He bows his head, throws his hands up. "'m just gonna keep us here for, what... too long, if I, I... go over everything, so, uh. This place. That's, that's the HQ for the Gaia Tournament. If... if anyone's got answers, now, it's... it's them."
Heedless of any danger, knowing the clock is mooing (it has gone beyond ticking - it is making very strange noises), he draws Ol' Rusty smoothly from its toolbelt. Somehow, he puts on an air of serious business despite the fact he is now wearing a bright neon orange and lilac color scheme with somewhat paler complexion than usual - extending to that hairpiece. This oddity will probably not be acknowledged again.
The time of day doesn't matter, nor does the sounds of a world going mad, or an air no longer suitable for human consumption.
"You... you ready for answers?" He says, looking back over his shoulder to call the name of a young man who wears the name of one who had since passed on years ago. "Jiro? Jiro Kasagi... right? Y-You're ready, right?"
He takes no stock to the appearance of the headquarters from the outside. No matter if it's a big, grandiose building or some smaller office compound they rented for sake of organizing all this.... with Ol' Rusty drawn, Howard moves forward to lead them (and a protesting, creaky knee) inside.
"Oh, uh, j-just remember your... your indoor manners, 'cause, we, we don't wanna walk outta here over a... a misunderstanding." How can one misunderstand what he might possibly mean if Ol' Rusty is already drawn?
There are leads that would bring Jiro to this location. This single building had to be scouted out. It took a bit of assistance from the stray animals that befriended in order to help them scout for any sort of vibe that would give a clue to the building that should not be entered. After all, the last place that they felt uneasy of treading, Jiro was led to a path that gave off some sort of answers, even if it was incomplete.
It brings Jiro out to this location. However, he is not alone. He is out here with the old man and the first person that he encountered since his arrival, Rust. While the young man stares up towards the building ahead, Jiro's eyes narrow. He can feel the seeping darkness eroding within his grasp.
"...Yeah."
He finally answers. He is ready as he'll ever be. In truth, is he ready? In the end, it does not matter. He has already been unprepared since his arrival in this new place. Answers would be of great importance to him.
...Maybe he can get back to his own time.
Jiro looks over towards Rust, glaring over at him when he rolls his eyes, "... What's indoor manners?"
"N-Not... screaming at the top of your lungs," Howard murmurs out examples as he leads the way in.
"Or, uh, beating the hell out of the... receptionist." ...
"Leaving people you get in, ah, fights with in a closed toilet stall." ...
"or... throwing people through, like, four walls... they, ah, they prefer people fly out doors."
Southtown wisdom, gleaned after a good seven to eight years of being an expat to that highly eccentric part of Japan.
"...Basic human decency, I mean. I could just... sum it up as, uh, that," Howard instructs. "If... if it comes to a fight, you... you know what I'm sayin'." He hopes.
The headquarters is a large building; it has been around five or six years, and is not new. All pristine white and marble, it has been a beautiful standpoint of Southtown for a long time. The foundation itself has been well known for searching the world for notable fighters, although this is the first time it has officially endorsed a fighting tournament of any sort. Still, all the links and strings seem to tie to them. Coincidences that echo more to be fate.
And when the front glass doors are pushed open...
Darkness. It is empty. An investigation would reveal that there's not a single soul left. All papers and electronic effects are stripped away. Although the exterior still seemed normal, on the inside... it's apparent that the proverbial rats have left the ship. Such appears to have been done with care, instead of haste.
Until a thrum of energy can be felt high above, potent even through the multiple stories of the building. Something... strange. To Rust and Jiro, who have felt the odd resonance of chi ever since the activation of the orbs...
It is similar. Dangerously similar. And the presence of a creature. To call it human... might be too generous. The only manner of ascension is the elevators in the back wall. Despite the lights being off, the power remains, and the normally locked top level office appears able to be selected without a keycard...
"...And, uh, also," Howard adds one last thing, waving a finger with his free hand as he steps inside, "j-just be polite, I dunno if everyone here..."
Everyone... here? He doesn't finish as he takes in the darkness. No one. Nothing. He doesn't have to look far to be sure of that. No one here. No papers. No... chairs? Not even any magazines.
"This is the... this is the right place." Howard spits out. "There's, there's no mistake... did they kn--"
His head sharply turns upwards. He feels it. Jiro probably feels it more than he does, given their likely superior grasp of chi in comparison to himself - it's impossible not to. He points up towards the ceiling with Ol' Rusty for a good three seconds before he vocalizes what he has already aptly communicated.
"U-Up there... there's... someone there..." He looks around to see which way's up... wait, those lights in the back... he points forward.
"Elevators." He murmurs out with a cough. "'scuse me," as he jogs along that way, expecting Jiro to follow (if he doesn't just beat him there to it to begin with).
Unfortunately, Jiro gets his answers. Not that he really wanted them, but he got the answers anyway. The young Stray Dog lowers his head dejectedly and then he bears a more annoyed look towards the older man. His eyes narrow at Rust, but then he looks ahead towards the building.
"Well, time to go in."
It is the moment that when Jiro steps in, he starts to shudder with uneasiness. His eyes drift ahead, noting the lack of office supplies. No printers, no chairs or tables. The place is shrouded in darkness.
"Damn, no wonder why the other strays were very hesitant on entering this place." He makes his way towards the path ahead, looking around to get a better look. At least, until he feels that thrum of energy emanating. It causes him to shudder violently as the fists tighten. He can feel that lingering anger grow. "Nnggh.." Instinctively, he clutches against his chest. It felt like a knife piercing him.
Feeling that chi, Jiro is following after Rust. However, his movements may have been slowed. He is unable to move at a fast pace as Rust can. Sweat is starting to run along his face as he continues to follow after the older man. "On... my way..."
The elevator is quite nice to say the least. Once the button to the top floor is pressed, the doors whisper closed and a musical number thrums overhead. A gentle, soothing symphony, as the movement is so fluid it's difficult to even tell... outside the growing sense of incredible power that the two are hurtling themselves towards. Each story is like taking a step closer to a bonfire, the sense of overwhelming presence and strength likely the same as a mouse standing in the shadow of a feline, cornered with nowhere to go...
The power begins to flicker, as the digital readout says they are on the right floor. But the doors do not open; instead there's a sudden crack and series of sparks, and the elevator goes dark. It will need to be forced open, now; although what is on the other side... Jiro's soul is likely drinking it in.
Something unnatural. And, the pair might realize quite suddenly... it feels very, very close to the well-hidden scent of Magaki. Only bared to the world, with none of it hidden or reserved.
A strange crackling is heard in the shadowed elevator; portions of the metal are starting to slowly turn to stone, and the air seems almost slightly... grey.
It is very, very rare for one Howard Rust to ever be the first of multiple people to go somewhere. This, along with the whole grunting and straining thing over there with Jiro, sees him slow his pace to help Jiro towards the elevator if need be.
"I... I know, people keep... saying, stay calm, and... and that's not always easy," he says. He's probably only a hair or two away from freaking out himself, given the circumstances.
He may only be able to keep himself together given how often he's seemed to run afoul of powers far greater than himself, even if giving said powers a blanket, uniform feel sells the individual ones short. One could never confuse Vega for Igniz, or Igniz for the fallen Guardian of Fire or... whoever... whatever this is, although...
Howard exhales loudly as he reaches out to try and touch Jiro's shoulder in reassurance, which is probably like igniting a powder keg of fury ready to explode. "We... we're gonna get to the bottom of this." He doesn't say what comes next. He doesn't know what Jiro wants most of this - can he go back, should he? Does he want to? Howard figures at their most basic, the two want the same thing.
The elevator starts to misbehave. Howard's shoulders slump as though this were a disappointment rather than a truly threatening thing even with the worrying display.
"If... if this isn't the floor, we're... takin' the stairs," Howard states the obvious as he steps up to the elevator doors. He coughs once as the air feels... thicker. With gray. He brings his left hand upon the cracks as an overwhelming sense of dread - one that now definitely feels familiar, in its own way - and pulls. One of his feet kick at the ground, a strange echo more akin to a boot slamming into rock rather than what an elevator should be made of.
"...Stuck," the man called Howard Rust spits, where even his notable physical strength seems to be at a loss. "H-Hey... Jiro, gimme a... a hand here, it's not..."
As they arrive in the elevator, Jiro leans his back against the wall. He is already mentally fatigued. Sweat running down his head, he looks like he is gasping for air. He takes a couple of deep breaths, gritting his teeth as he tries to control the growing darkness that seeps in as the rage draws out. His hand moves towards his face, trying to steady his mind.
His eyes lift up, listening to the gentle, soothing song of the elevator music. As they continue to step up into the path of destruction, Jiro's canines enlarged and the sea blue eyes have shifted to a green, beastial look.
"It's not... easy." Jiro heaves towards Rust, "... Not with this feeling growing. They will get to the bottom of it. Jiro gives the older man an uneasy smile. "...Hope so."
And then the power flickers.
"What the?!"
The boy is rather jumpy. As the elevator gives way to being locked, Jiro grits his teeth and he can feel that burning hatred seeping inside. His incomplete training from Kain to control the flames... To control that hatred, is starting to take effect. His rage is becoming poisoned.
And Rust needs a hand..
Jiro makes his way towards the door. "...Stay... back." His voice is a bit ragged. He can feel that heart beat grow louder. The Beast within... it is speaking to him.
Narrowing his eyes, Jiro starts slamming his fists against the stuck elevator. "Graarggghh!" He leans back, and then he pushes his body forward once more.
*THUNK*
"Grraagghh!"
*THUNK!*
A dent is made against the elevator doors. That is all that the boy needs. Within his bestial state, Jiro lunges towards the door and he starts tearing through the door.
"Grrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!"
Through his strength, Jiro is prying the door open. However, the ivory flames quickly become black and they explode out from the force where Jiro pushes towards.
His breathing is ragged. He is trying to control his mental state.
The door is difficult to force open, to say the least. The metal is well-armored, as if intended to keep a fighter sealed within. Add on the strange coating of stone, and it's a recipe for an anticlimatic finale where the duo starve to death in their slowly forming oubliette. Yet with Rust's persistence, and Jiro's surge of power, the doors suddenly SLAM open, shards of stone flying in all directions.
Sitting within the middle of the large office is a massive figure, cast in black. Wearing naught but bare ribbons on his forearms and an almost Roman-style noble kilt and robe combination across the legs, Mukai seems to be... simmering, is likely the correct word. Shock white hair offsets his closed eyes, features solemn.
At length he opens his eyes, still remaining seated. "...I see. Proof stands before me... of this world's unravelling." Jiro is looked at directly. "An echo. Yes. For there to be an echo of a dead soul, then the barrier of this world is nearly destroyed. Little left... so very little..."
Rust would notice something strange. The feel of his wrench... before his eyes, it begins to darken and change. In the course of a dozen seconds... Ol' Rusty is back. The original, tried and true. Every nick, dent, and notch the same as it was before the sad meeting with the incinerator.
And Jiro... for a moment he flickers translucent. For a moment he feels like he wasn't there. Is he? Should he be? Everything is... surreal. But it is clear...
This man is at the center of it, one way or another.
"It is too late. The thread is undone. The world is lost. Hah. To think, I believed humanity had a chance against the overwhelming willpower and greatness of Saiki-sama. But nobody does... such is folly, even to me and Magaki!! All that is left... is to see who it is that shall remake this world...!!"
His fists slam down into his knees, and the huge man laughs. "Even me, a sheer novice, affect the world around me at this stage of the game. Were I Saiki-sama, with a glance you would find yourself in your mother's womb. Do you have any wishes?! Any great desires?! Perhaps you will see them in my presence, before oblivion claims you all!!"
Howard winces with every sign that Jiro might be losing it. He might not belong in this time and space. Forces that be may conspire to strip away his very humanity as something twists in him. For what little he may truly know of the young man, other than the impossibility of him being here...
He flinches as the black flames of Jiro's chi flare out, briefly bathing the bigger brawler as he tugs it open with Jiro's help, going off-balance as it is burst open.
"D-Don't lose it now," he tries to encourage, even as he has a hard time encouraging himself as he reaches out to try and get a hand on Jiro's shoulder again as he regains his own balance.
A balance that is not quite regained as someone speaks the facts. Ol' Rusty, already drawn, is pointed towards the man sitting there with his mouth hanging open to say... something. That's when he sees it. The pipe he's holding...
It's not even the pipe lost to the incinerator - it's the very original.
From the beginning, back in his twenties. Years and years and years ago... when he took a stand, once and for all, against some organized crime bullying his workplace. When he simply decided to take a piece of piping from a ditch and just go to town.
Every groove, every dent, it is familiar even though it has been many, many years since that pipe was lost.
A pipe he had honored the legacy of by calling each and every one of its successors the same thing, believing the spirit of that pipe will follow him in whatever form he deems as it being taken. Highly romanticized - and a fair touch out of reality.
This is that pipe. Howard doesn't give it another look other than perhaps, internally, confirming this one inner delusion as reality as the massive figure continues on. The pipe-wiedling Kyokugen fighter has no time to admire the return of Ol' Rusty's original form. That, or how Jiro seems to blink, fade... for a moment he experiences a moment of overwhelming unfamiliarity and bewilderment, shaking his head back to focus.
"Is that... is that what this was about?" Rust finally dares to speak above the laughter, not at all sharing the man's amusement. It's quite the opposite, his tone of voice carrying a fury and demand that fights past the usually passive, mumbling, gravelly tone of voice as Ol' Rusty is lowered down to his side, his thumb rubbing it every so often.
"I, I ain't here for games," he looks to Jiro's side, "we're here for answers, that... that... you probably... just... gave."
He goes crestfallen for a moment, frowning at what should be seen as somethign that saves the lot of them some time - as though maybe he needs another moment to catch that defiance he came here with to stand to that derisive laughter, the claims that it's all as good as over.
Once the door is busted open, Jiro is starting to look ahead, slowly regaining his senses. His eyes lever towards Rust with an uneasy look. "... I am trying." He shakes his head, trying to clear out the tingling senses of that hazy feeling, "However... I don't know how long I can hold on like this."
It is then that Jiro is able to see the presence ahead of the both. This person is here before them both. A man sitting in the office cast in black. As Jiro looks over the 'simmering' being, his eyes narrow and the fists tightens.
"...Proof...?" There is a sneer as the recollection of those voicing him as the omen and the memories of the past. Echo of a dead soul.
"I was $&%#ING RIPPED OUT OF MY OWN TIME!"
Jiro growls, stepping forward with that annoyed look. "I want answers! I want to know why was I ripped from my own time into a future where I do not belong!"
It is a moment later that Jiro looks down at his form. He feels... translucent. His entire presence feels ripped away from the world, "Wh---what the hell is happening to me?!" There is a brief look of fright on his face, unable to comprehend what is happening to him.
His eyes drift towards the man before them.
A growl bellows from the Stray Dog before he tightens his fist.
"My wish..." His gaze locks straught onto Mukai. The flames ignite along his hands as he feels the raging flames consume him. "...Is to know why I am ripped from my own time. Failing that, beating your face in will suffice." The black flames draw along his body, a faint glow illuminate around his body as the stance becomes more aggressive.
COMBATSYS: Jiro has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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Jiro 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Rust has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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COMBATSYS: Mukai has joined the fight here as a boss!
MUKAI
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Rust 0/-------/-------|
"Hahaha. Why not tell you?! What does it matter? When Saiki-sama decides something, it is so. If it means something to you... I will hold the memory of this world as best I can, when it falls. You will all not be forgotten, even when you vanish to a void transient of even death. Of non-existance...!!"
Suddenly Mukai pushes up to his feet, spreading his stance and raising his hands into the air. A completely open stance, full of more holes than swiss cheese, but it seems to be more a display. Even his ability to attack is compromised. It is one that defies technique, defies combat logic. One that is sheerly to display his own strength, and how that power overcomes such pitiable barriers.
"You are an irregularity, echo." Mukai offers Jiro. "You will return to nothing. Perhaps now?" Mukai's intense gaze meets Jiro, and he'd feel himself begin to unravel for a few moments once more. Rust himself couldn't deny the time-related hijinx, as for a few seconds he'd have been sure he was confronting Mukai alone.
"Oh... you survived?! Hahahaha!! Even with the world as it is... I cannot manage a feeble feat of Saiki-sama's!! Fine. I will grant you your wish. Come!! Die to me in battle, echo!! At least then... I will have the memory of your fists upon me!!"
Mukai seems to be as much in the mood for battle as Jiro; although the precise mechanics of this foretold armageddon have not been said. Mukai implied that someone got to remake the world? Doesn't that mean someone could choose NOT to change it...? Of course, getting information out of him /now/ might require Ol' Rusty to take up a bit of negotiation...!!
COMBATSYS: Mukai stands in a loose stance, arms raised, grinning wildly.
MUKAI
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"Why the... why the hell does he get to decide?" Howard asks in a relatively civil tone, given the cricumstances, as Jiro whips himself into a frenzy. This Saiki-sama fellow, that's not a name he knows...
He has no time to ponder it, not when Jiro once again launches himself at this man - whoever he is, whatever he is - and the man who is christened the Hero of Nepal has the sense that... irregularity or no, he's not comfortable with the idea that a man ripped out of a timeline he belongs in has to end here, face growing grim.
He doesn't state any such wish out loud, but as he points Ol' Rusty anew, his forward charge alone should speak for itself how his desires may differ from at least one of these people involved as he comes into swinging range with the only hesitation being a sudden kink in his knee, teeth grit as he thrusts the pipe forward in both hands roughly around Mukai's mighty midsection, punctuated only by a kiai.
A kiai that probably speaks paragraphs' worth about his entire feelings on a lot of things in recent events, come to think of it.
"... Tsch." Jiro gives a distaste-filled look as his gaze draws towards Mukai at his explanation. "Right, whatever he says goes... I think I will say 'screw that', and do something about it." He grits his teeth.
However, as Mukai pushes up to his feet, the young man looks around to see that holes are filling around the air. The young man's gaze locks and he tightens his fist.
"Irregularity?" He narrows his gaze, then he starts to lock his eyes with Mukai. However, as it intenses, Jiro is feeling himself being unraveled. There is the struggle to keep himself within the world. There is a struggle to fight on.
... Jiro is the boy who will defy his existence fading.
He is the Boy That Has Defied Time.
"FUCK YOU!"
Jiro snaps, growling under his breath as Mukai finally opens up to challenge him and Rust. Once the man gives the welcoming, his eyes drift towards Rust to see his next move.
Good.
Just as Rust makes his movement, Jiro is already on the move. The black flames erupt around his form as he extends a hand out. Those flames form into a single black blade along his hand.
"Ha!"
He takes a swoop of a dash on the opposite side of Rust, aiming to swing his arm against Mukai's mid-section in efforts to slash against the being.
COMBATSYS: Mukai just-defends Jiro's Wild Fang!
MUKAI
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COMBATSYS: Mukai blocks Rust's Fierce Piping.
MUKAI
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"The strong get to decide, fools. Saiki-sama is the strongest. THE STRONGEST. And with that, his will shall reforge this world at his whim. Our failure means nothing before him!! Where others would be forced to lament such for an eternity... Saiki-sama can simply turn back the clock. And we can attempt it again... and again... and AGAIN!! If this is all humanity has to offer... then it is no great loss to erase it for our own ambition!! And no matter how many times it is reset again, each time you will be helpless to stop it!!"
Stone ripples into being across Mukai's stomach, and the hearty pipe strikes home, a CLANG! heard as it ricochets, leaving behind a few cracks. But then Jiro's fist strikes out with such fury...
And impacts Mukai's open palm. The fire snuffs out in the wake of his petrified fingers, before moving to clench tight with a laugh.
"You are truly an unrefined creature... Yes. Hah! A desperate, pitiful creature. I can see it now. You crave power too, don't you?" He tightens his grip upon Jiro's fist, before twisting with a roar, aiming to hurl him towards the stone-laden desk with explosive force. All of the windows, at one time showing a beautiful view, have long since turned to solid granite as well.
"Foolish echo!! This time or any other, you are worthless. Beneath the man who trained you to kill. A man who died pointlessly, a mere statistic to a superior being... there is no qualities to you that warrants your materializing anew... beyond the PITY of everyone who ever KNEW YOU!!"
COMBATSYS: Mukai knocks away Jiro with Strong Throw.
MUKAI
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As the Stray Dog charges at Mukai, he aimed to get in a homing strike. While the young boy is unrefined with his attack, he figured he could score a good open while Rust had moved in from the other side. The young man recalled that the two did not work well together at first due to his more aggressive and less tactical consideration.
Jiro was aiming to do better.
Unfortunately, his attempt is met with a fist being caught with an opened palm.
"...Buh?!"
Even worse, the flames snuff out like a candle from the petrified fingers, ".. What the hell?!" His eyes lift up, appraising the gargantuan man looming above him.
As the man belittles him, his teeth bares as he growls. Before Jiro could make a response, hs is already swept off of his feet with the hand yanking and hurling him across the stone-ladened desk.
"Aggghh!"
As his back impacts against the stone, the explosion of the impact sends the fragments flying all around the area. That explosive power sends fragments of the desk and granite all around... And Jiro's body feels like it has cracked all oer the place.
His eyes become blurry and he hears about his past.
...Kain.
Jiro's eyes lower. Then they snap up.
"... SHUT THE &%$& UP!"
Jiro stands up and he brings his hands together. The flames erupt with a cross as he brings his hands together.
An X-shaped blaze flies towards Mukai.
"Kffahghhghl!" Rust emits one of his trademark strange string of consonants as the pipe violently rebounds off of Mukai. Striking him at all, even with his own considerable strength, is like... probably what it's like for most people to strike himself.
No, at a far greater magnitude. He is not striking against flesh. It is like he is striking at the hardest stone imaginable. Caught unawares this once, with a bit of strain running through his right wrist after the impact...
As Mukai mocks Jiro and hurtles him, Howard breaks his vocal silence.
"Jiro!!" Howard calls, remembering this scene all too well.
Howard takes in a breath, figuring the best way to give Jiro space to gather himself (unaware of how close he is about to put himself in harm's way) is to keep upon Mukai as he draws back his left hand...
"I, I don't know who's more worthless," Howard spits out, "a.. a guy who... who might not be able to, to do much on his own against... someone like... like that..."
In defiance of the sheer differences in stature and strength between the two of them, Howard dares to fling his left hand up against Mukai's throat, to muscle his way to try and thrust Mukai against a wall, to try and keep hold to keep that mouth shut as he continues...
"Or... or some jackass who... who's talkin' 'bout there's nothing to be done and just... just rolls with it," he hisses out, losing intensity only because a cough just barely fails to stop him from speaking his piece.
COMBATSYS: Mukai endures Rust's Medium Throw.
MUKAI
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COMBATSYS: Mukai overcomes Riot Cross from Jiro with Heavenly Shock.
MUKAI
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Right now, Mukai's focus seems to be entirely upon Jiro, rather than Rust. In may ways, that's probably preferable; standing near him is like standing near other legendary fighters in the world, whom have a presence that can reduce even the strong to being invalid. Like Kain, or Igniz, or Vega. Yet Jiro, like some retarded crow that had brain damage in the area of self preservation, seems yet again keen on staring at the headlights of a car coming towards him, ready to run him over. After all, the car never did before, why should this time be any different?
The stress to Rusts' knees and arms in lifting up Mukai is probably significant. The man weighs what feels like a couple tons, but he's grasped by the throat and hurled backwards, impacting the wall hard. All he did in response was suddenly heft his foot upwards, energy surging within. Having a bit of extra room courtesy of the toupee-wearing figure, he then slams it down...
Annihilating the cross beneath his heel, like someone snuffing out a lit cigarette.
A moment later, a great pillar of stone erupts from directly above Jiro, slamming down with brutal force in an attempt to slam atop him and drive him bodily into the stone-infused floor, with the force of a blacksmith's hammer slamming into raw iron.
"Anger is not power, fool!! No more than the fury of a child's tiny fists pounding upon an adult. Tch. To stand here... with no respect for your station..."
Suddenly Mukai lifts up both of his arms, eyes turning dark. His chi boils up once more, and his black form lights up with bolts of white energy. The air turns dark grey, and from his feet the stone begins to form once more.
"Whether this world lived or not, you disgust me... You will not survive this encounter, INSECT!!"
COMBATSYS: Jiro blocks Mukai's Heavenly Shock.
MUKAI
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The situation is not looking good for Jiro. Truth be told, the outlook is not looking good for either of them. Nevertheless, Jiro seems to be the focus of the fight. As the Stray Dog has been forced to endure such a fight, he has been trying to hold his own.
Even worse, Mukai snuffed out his flames like a candle.
"...God damnit."
He grimaces, then he ooks up to see a pillar of stone coming down at him in full force. "Shit!" Jiro, although unable to move away quickly, opts to curl up into a ball to brace for cover. The flames erupt around him, trying to shield his form from the impact of the colliding stone.
As the debris rumbles and moves about, Jiro emerges from the wreckage with a dazed look on his face. "Grrr.." Tightening his fists, Jiro is summoning forth the flames around him. A hand is lifted up towards the air, leveling his gaze at the stranger.
"I'll survive just to spite you."
In fact, Jiro brings a hand out and he twists his hand over to form a middle finger. Winding his fist back, drawing forth the erupting black flames around him. The explosive power roars around him.
"...I had enough of you."
He screams out.
"THIS IS MY BANG!!!"
The body twists about and then he swings his arm forth. The flames dance around his body and it trails off like a serpent's tail. Those flames roar to life as they travel straight towards Mukai's direction.
It's a miracle he doesn't completely destroy his knees outright or crush his legs under the weight, daring to try and lift Mukai like he might a burglar or a pickpocket. He staggers off to a kneel to try and take some of the stress off of his screaming joints, and it doesn't completely work.
It doesn't help when the floor shudders again under the man's foot, the aging man yelping with the tremors that run through him. He's in pain, even when he's not being directly struck... this man, who is reputed as perhaps one of the toughest men living today, whose physical prowess is magnitudes beneath the man he faces before him now.
What would it be like, were he to be actually, truly, physically struck by Mukai, if he shows signs of weakness even in instances where he technically is landing strikes on /him/?
"E-Enough." Howard speaks as he presses Ol' Rusty against the ground to stand up, knees be damned.
"This kid's... he's no insect... n-no insect to me," Howard grunts out as he rights himself up, as Jiro defiantly and angrily throws himself, time and time again, "I, I know a lot of... lot of... angry... kids, hell. If, if I were his age, right now, I'd... I'd probably do the same thing," he speaks up, clearing his throat as he flexes out a knee to try and get that ache out. He strains, as seen through clenched, grit teeth.
"Nobody... nobody gave him a chance, that's, ah, that's... kinda what it... it sounds like," it's an educated guess, maybe he's speaking out his ass. He never knew Jiro personally, but he's pretty sure he can glean a lot from how he's acted.
"I, I dunno why, but... he's, he's here now. Scared, around... around people he, he no longer knows, like... like that," he snaps his fingers in his left hand.
"Sounds like... to me, he got... he got another chance," Howard stands up a little taller despite himself. Jiro doesn't seem to quite have a hold on the rage that drives him - as Howard said to someone else recently(...ish, time is currently making quacking noises instead of ticking), he was an angry kid too. He had someone in his corner to get him through it all, even when he flew off the handle on /them/...
"That... that he's still fighting, even, even like this, when you're... you're laughin' 'bout... how there's nothing we can do, well," Howard reiterates an earlier point, "that... that puts him higher for me, than... than you."
A ballsy thing to say, knowing this man's strength is comparable to even Vega - a man who he couldn't really stand to face entirely on his own even now with having somehow overcome him a number of times.
"If, if you're so... so dead set on stomping him out 'cause you... you envy that 'bout him," Howard says as he firmly affixes himself just behind Jiro's flames, singing himself slightly in their wake, but firmly placing himself between Mukai and Jiro so that he wouldn't have much a choice /but/ to strike through him, Howard points Ol' Rusty forward.
"You... you go through me first." He says this with utmost honesty, tensing his left fist as his body goes rigid. The trademark defensive stance that gives him enviable protection from duress...
And also to lock up his muscles from the usual signs of fear, of second thoughts, keeping his eyes firmly square upon Mukai.
COMBATSYS: Rust assists Jiro.
MUKAI
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COMBATSYS: Mukai endures Jiro's Big Bang.
MUKAI
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Rust 0/-------/-------|
"Shut up." Mukai states, with a gravely tone. "I have seen into the heart of this boy. His past. His being. ...He had friends. Rivals. Mentors. But all of it meant nothing, beside humanity's greatest sin. Pride. The pride of the weak. The pride of the insect...!! And if there is one thing in this world I will not condone..."
"It is the barking of a helpless stray dog!!"
Mukai suddenly kicks off the ground, rushing forward. The very building seems to rumble with each footstep from the monstrous figure. His entire body ripples into stone, and the great serpent impacts him dead on. A massive explosion of flaming chi sprays all around...
Before Mukai's foot stamps past, hissing smoke from his graven features, eyes burning red. Blackened but undeterred, his inertia was not slowed in the slightest.
"If you are foolish enough to stand before me... to throw yourself away for so unworthy a being... THEN SO BE IT!!"
A huge hand moves to grasp Rust by the face, and palm it like a hearty basketball. A white flash of energy rushes up it thereafter, moving to explosively petrify Rust from head to toe in a skin-tight casket of stone. Only to follow it up with a fierce, brutal backhand, intended to send him spiralling head over heels towards one of the adjacent stone-covered glass; a good thing they were armored as well, as if they had not been, and reinforced on top of such, then this attack's success would have ended in Rust plummeting a dozen stories to the ground!!
COMBATSYS: Mukai successfully hits Rust with Execution.
MUKAI
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Rust's face is gripped, and given the tension of his body, the way his joints don't want to move, there's not much to do about it as he is encased in stone in whole. Petrified. Defenseless - is there such a thing as a meaningful defense to this sort of thing? To be rendered as stone, to be struck as such. It's hard to follow where he is between that moment of petrification and where he ends up, as he slams against that seemingly invincible layer of stone. He rolls down to his knees as he grunts something out. Probably foul. Probably not worth reprinting.
And yet, with such a traumatic sequence, a vulgar expression of what frightening power Mukai has to wield... a true taste of it... one that reflects not only his power, but a perspective on where he truly stands in regards to matters of might and what one can do....
Howard Rust, the Hero of Nepal, just gets back up with a loud exhale. He sounds more irritated than injured. This is, of course, a lie. He is exactly as irritated as he is injured. He can feel weakness in his upper back. His right shoulder is numbed in pain, and yet he still manages a hold of that pipe.
Worse yet, even with every crinkle in his joint asking him not to move, he walks back.
"Jiro," he speaks up, not even bothering to face the man who could be poised to do that to him again, or worse, "l-look at me. Don't... don't look at him. Look at... me."
He rests his left hand on Jiro's shoulder, if allowed to. He'd like to at minimum, probably for balance and support.
"He wants you... wants you gone. Why? Making... all the, all the fuss in the world 'bout... it being over, that... something's not, not up to his standards, I," he shakes his head as he coughs. He also makes sure Jiro has his attention, not Mukai's, as he slowly maneuvers around to place himself between Jiro and Mukai again, should Mukai feel the need to step up and strike once more.
"You... you gotta get a grip on yourself. This, this ain't the way to live, just... bein', mad, all the time, at... everything not goin' your way, at, at everyone that... pisses you off, look. Y'know what I think?"
He doesn't care what Jiro or Mukai thinks.
"I think... I think this guy's just... just wastin' our time." He brazenly says this, even through pained words, to someone who he has his back to. "We, we don't got much time left... right? I think... I think we can... we can do a lot better than just... just deal with his... temper tantrums, so... so what if he, he thinks it's all... pointless?"
He exhales loudly, shakes his head... and doesn't look at Mukai a second time as he tries to start guiding Jiro back towards the elevator.
"I, I got work tomorrow, and you... look, whether it's... it's goin' back... home, or, or staying here, maybe... makin' somethin' new of your life from here... it's, it's better than this." Better than being surrounded by unbreakable stone, of a being who believes it to be too late.
"C'mon. We're goin'. Save that for... for that Saiki guy, at... at, whatever that place time forgot is..."
COMBATSYS: Rust takes no action.
MUKAI
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This actually earns a blink from Jiro. Where as Jiro thrusted forth his power, what surprises him the most is the fact that Rust comes in to his aid the way that he did. His eyes shift over towards the older man, just staring agape.
... Jiro can only recall so many people turning their backs on him. His father, Taira, Kain, and Mimiru. He can only recall so many people leaving him to fend for himself. ... As such, he sought to fend for himself. He -had- to fend for himself. Otherwise, he would be weak.
However, his focus turns towards Rust as he speaks out for him. Another chance.
His eyes cast low, thinking about his sister's statement and then Daniel's. Him being here meant a second chance to try to bring back the relationship that he had with Mimiru. In that moment, Jiro can reflect over and think about his relationship with Mimiru.
Before the departure from Metro City, he was a doting older brother who always carried Mimiru around.
There is a longing look. The time he took the power of darkness... was to protect his little sister. He did not want to be weak. He wanted to protect his little sister, right?
"...How much have I deviated...?"
It is a question that he asks himself. When was it that he deviated from protecting his sister.... and going for power for the sake of power? His pride. It is what turned him from those who he cared for.
And here Rust is... fighting for him.
Jiro looks up towards Mukai, trying to fight against the rage that threatens to consume him. He has to fight that feeling. The call of the Beast. His teeth grits as he tightens his fist. The beast is trying to take over Jiro.
...It draws him to keep fighting. Keep fighting. Rip. Tear. Destroy.
It becomes even stronger as Jiro witnesses Rust getting gripped and petrified. "RUST!" Jiro's eyes widen and the flames are becoming wilder. Those dark flames threaten to consume him.
However... he hears Rust.
Look at him.
Jiro's eyes look over towards Rust, trying to keep his gaze at the older man. Jiro is struggling. He is sweating. He is biting back his rage which threatens to tear him up. He looks over at Rust. He lowers his head.
... His mind thinks back to Mimiru... and the day that he hurt her when he went to follow after Jira.
After a moment, Jiro finally concludes, "...Yeah."
The flames extinguish. He is unable to completely draw away the flames. The sensation is burning him too much. However, Jiro is trying his hardest to fight it. Instead...
He turns around and follows after Rust, "...Let's go."
COMBATSYS: Jiro takes no action.
MUKAI
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"...Go?" Mukai states, simply standing there in place with his grin slowly growing. He had said and done nothing for such a period of time, that it seemed certain he was simply going to allow them the carefree egress they desired. "...What did you say, insect?" This is stated with an almost casual manner, the parting banter of an opponent when a fight is decided.
But Rust might then realize the coming storm that is Mukai's explosive onslaught, coming to a stop to loom over the other man.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT OPPOSING SAIKI-SAMA?!"
A massive hand descends, trying to /slam/ Rust downwards at the same motion his huge foot stamps into the ground, at the same moment summoning a pillar explosively from the partially-petrified ground to strike him in the chest. The tandem strike intended to literally put him between a rock and a hard place, and send Rust hurtling backwards into what was once a glorious stuffed bear, now only quite, motiveless stone.
"I don't care... how small and feeble you are... every tyrant you opposed fell. The potential of humans... I, more than Shion, more than Magaki, know... NEVER TO UNDERESTIMATE ANYONE!!"
He slams a fist into his open palm, chi surging throughout his hulking body with a savageness that seems more true to his nature than the philosophical beast that many see. The fanatical devotion he has, that chained so powerful a body and mind. His utter loyalty to Saiki, and Saiki above all else... even when every ounce of his honor, pride, and desire went opposite...!!
COMBATSYS: Jiro counters Wrath of the Earth from Mukai with Backlash.
MUKAI
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It was their intention to leave. Rust wanted to keep Jiro's mind sound. In fact, Jiro wanted to remain in hs peace of mind. Even though the darkness is lingering... Even though that beast is seeking to urge him to kill...
Jiro is doing his damnest to ignore it.
However, Mukai's words ring true. Jiro is tensing as the voice of Mukai calls out towards Rust. Even worse, the storm comes forth as Rust is targetted.
Just as Rust had been there for Jiro...
Jiro will be there for Rust.
"Shit."
He is going to help out, but Jiro has to act fast. Although he was following Rust out of the elevator, Jiro has to push Rust aside. He has to keep Rust out of the harms way. And this puts Jiro within the path of destruction.
... Jiro is the target. He was the original target.
However, Jiro is not going to take it lying down. In that split second to act, Jiro reaches out towards the massive hand descending towards the path that was once made for Rust, then Jiro shifts his body, aching from the agonizing pain from the earlier crumbling of the earth.
Jiro instead shifts his weight out to push Mukai away. Even if he is unable to knock the big guy completely off balance, he can at least push him away. With the pillars rising from the ground to strike out at the chest, Jiro is shifting his weight over to avoid it. However, it is not without consequence. Jiro loses his balance and he stumbles back, "Shit...!" However, he manages to catch himself to keep from being flatfooted.
"We're done here. We're leaving."
Jiro suddenly interposing himself before Mukai catches him off-guard. And moving him is really all that Jiro manages to do; there seems to be no particular damage in the slightest despite such, although neither of them has been brutalized as a result.
"..." Mukai just grins toothily, looking nearly manic. "Go...? Go?! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE IN?! Ha... hahahah... such insanity... He is not the dangerous one here..."
Eyes shift to Rust. It might be strange to him. To be seen by someone of such power -- as a threat. As opposed to a simple disturbance, barely worth someone's time.
"I'll test your fate, warriors. Here...!!"
Suddenly Mukai slams down either hand into the floor, sinking in his talons. His entire body shimmers, suddenly becoming stone. Energy starts to thrum out of Mukai like the beating of a heart.
BADUM.
BADUM.
White flares across his form as he begins to roar, before massive spikes explode from all directions. The windows explode outwards, stone though they are...
As the very foundation of the building begins to crack.
"GAEA... MOTHER OF EARTH... MOTHER OF OROCHI-SAMA... TAKE BACK THIS IDOL OF SIN...!!"
And then, the ground splits open.
Those in Southtown are treated to the alarming report of the centralized disturbance; a completely structurally sound twelve story skyscraper suddenly imploding upon itself without warning. In the midst of the global catastrophes it ranks rather low... especially given that the owners had transferred out only a few days earlier. It is what happens next that makes national news...
All that is left in Mukai's wake is a giant mound of twisted rubble and steel, as he bursts his way out from it, unscathed.
"So. The endgame has begun. ...There is no hope for humanity to save itself anymore."
Huge feet stomp across the street, to the terror of those who came to see the smoking remnants of the once gargantuan building.
Before in a flash, all of them are immediately petrified, forever locked in their look of shock and awe.
"Then... all those who will not go quietly to their fate... all those who dare point their fangs at Saiki-sama..."
"SHALL BE ERASED!!"
When Mukai screams, there is no playing off the one who commands the hardes,t strongest of stone as Howard looks back over his shoulder. His eyes widen, teeth clenched, and it's right there in his face.
Oh no. Not a swear word, just simply that - oh no. For all his incredible physical endurance, that one brutal series of strikes was all he really wanted to suffer - what was he hoping to expect by telling him this was a waste of time, or... well, more accurately, that he'd be going to see whoever this Saiki-Sama is (he would hope, if he had more time to hope and not go 'oh no' that the offense is over mistaking the true disrespect being not using the suffix, or...)
Jiro shoves him aside with a strength that belies the view of the Stray Dog in the eyes of those mysterious organizers of the Gaia Tournament - unfortunately, in doing so, against parts of his body already tender from a high-speed collision against rough stone.
"G'kaaagh!" Comes the oddest cry of pain in some time as he rolls on the floor after managing to slam his right shoulder against the floor in atypical fashion. He's normally very good about taking hard falls, thanks to a good, long history of occasional workplace accidents like falls and spills in his construction worker years.
...It's not so much a good history as much as it is long, come to think of it.
From his vantage point, he doesn't quite see how the slimmer, smaller Jiro, in a moment of self-control and true confidence - not his rage - overcomes matters of things like Mukai feeling like he weighs far more than any living being his size ought to. The way he overcomes such a great difference in mass, in such a fashion, even to a simple but dramatic stop, it's...
Improbable (so would think the man that somehow survived hard vacuum and came out the end of a collapsing pocket universe of sorts, he has no room to think about that), and yet... for all the way the world seems to give Jiro Kasagi crap, dead or alive, in that moment... above all odds...
Before Howard can give any sort of praise or thanks as he lies on the ground to temporarily nurse his shoulder, Mukai screams again, and Howard places his left hand under his right shoulder to point Ol' Rusty at him as a precaution... for what good that's shown to do against a man - well, a /someone/ - built like that...
The way Mukai looks upon him, Howard coughs once to get the dust out of his throat as he sits up - as though he were to stand a chance against someone like that seated, at all... it is indeed odd to think a man like him, somehow, would be seen as anything more than a deluded middle-aged man swinging around an old length of pipe who gets by entirely on lucky circumstance more than... anything else.
When the floor shakes, Howard braces his left hand against the ground to hold about as steady as he can hope to in the wake of the violent shaking of earth. (His bones do not appreciate him doing this, and his joints are sure to remind him of this fact later.)
"Shit, shit," Howard finally has it in him to curse as he swings a foot outward towards one such spike, putting the Kyokugen-honed kicks to use, swinging somewhat clumsily outward with Ol' Rusty to try and batter aside another... how high up, are they? What was his record for surviving falls...?
"Jiro, Jiro," he calls, signaling him closer as he uses a spike that just barely misses him to pull himself up, "Stay... stay with me."
This is not a gentle suggestion. This is a demand, despite his tone of voice, as he grabs hold of Jiro in a tight hug, whether he likes it or not, he uses his keen, experienced eye to watch how things collapse... there's no way they could run out in time, but he needs to minimize a) how far they fall, or b) how much crap falls on them. He's more comfortable fudging the former rather than the latter.
It's a tense game of chicken to decide when to tense up and use himself as a shield against whatever collapses, as he escorts the two of them down a gap in the floor one story own. His knees take that well enough.
"H-How high up," he looks out a window in brief and has a good guess... and frowns, yeah, lower... lower...
A piece of ceiling from above crashes down, opening another drop. One more floor down...
Staircase... no, that one collapses immediately, what's he thinking. This time, he kicks at a weak section of floor to create another one story gap to fall down, putting tired and aching joints to their limit with every small abuse.
"W-Worst case scenario, I hope... not this high, but... but, but I think I can do... six," he says to Jiro, hopefully still holding tight in his tow.
Jiro's body is wearing against him. The beast is calling for him to continue. It's presence lingers within him like poison. This puts the Stray Dog in a very tight spot. Nevertheless, Jiro looks over at Mukai as he goes to the point of manic.
"...Test..?"
The ground is slammed and the talons rip against the area. As Mukai suddenly becomes stone, Jiro's eyes drift towards the back.
"Shit...!"
The very building starts to shake. As the building begins to collapse, Jiro is feeling the rage wearing him thin. His blood is boiling and he is starting to lose conscious. "...Shit..." He tries to hang on.
He tries to brace for the worst of it, but it is now becoming difficult. He hears Rust, and he is rushing over towards the older man quickly. He is losing his ability to continue moving on its own. However, he tries to remain holding onto that sliver of survival. Once he is held int he tight hug, Jiro is getting escorted out from the building.
"...Heh... to find ourselves in a situation like this..." He grimaces at the sight of the stair case collapsing. "...Shit." He looks at Rust. "...Well... let's see if I can do this..." He is trying to use the last bit of his energy to gather the chi. With the chi swirling around him.... If he can time it well, he can at least create an explosive blast around them to help push them further down while. ...If he can manage to hold onto the energy to do so. However, that energy is slipping fast.
COMBATSYS: Jiro has left the fight here.
MUKAI
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0|---------------|---------======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rust 0/-------/-======|
Log created on 19:16:04 09/14/2014 by Mukai, and last modified on 00:21:02 09/17/2014.