Description: Rolento is called for a meeting by Rolento, who has noticed the new face. But is she here to create a positive revolution for the world in chaos, or is she an instigator and an anarchist? Either way, she is liable to get shafted... whether they work together afterwards is another matter entirely.
The message was direct and to the point: "May be able to use your services." Along with a security keycard, the location given was here, on this rooftop overlooking all of Osaka.
A strapping young man in a black hoodie sits in a small chair, looking directly at the entrance to this open-air rooftop terrace. An woman of average height, dressed in a wine-colored blouse and black miniskirt, leans on the glass guardrail. The woman has a faint smile and a faraway look in her eye. With enough money, it's not difficult to clear the terrace to ensure a completely private experience, and as far as anyone in building management was concerned, this was to just be a quiet date between the young woman and the young man she is currently paying zero attention to.
The security keycard would be all it would need to gain access. But other preventative measures have no doubt been taken to ensure the meeting goes according to planned -- or at least, not far south of it.
A keycard? Honoka has likely heard rumors about Rolento Schugerg. He is legendary, the man who conquered Metro City years ago, and who controls the largest completely private and self-funded army in the world. Explosive and overwhelming strength has been extreme in third world areas, with the ability to smuggle and funnel even heavy armored vehicles and helicopters between countries and across borders, specializing in quality that puts old export T-72's to shame, and modern anti-air missiles that can even take down low flying fighter jets of sub-par quality.
As such, it's the rising thrum of a helicopter that Honoka would notice. A sleekly built vehicle, it is disguised to appear like a civilian transport, and doubtlessly has falsified licensing to be in commercial airspace without rising any suspicion.
To those outside, nothing strange takes place. The helicopter simply passes over, about two stories up.
But a coiled ball of tan uniform is spiralling down, before suddenly landing with both disturbing force and disturbing silence in a three-point stance opposite Honoka and her random date. Slowly unfurling like a coiled viper, the commander of the United Soldiers for the People's Liberation shifts to stand at full height, scarred features and empty white eyes casting immediate, cold analysis on both those present.
"My times as a petty freelance mercenary are behind me." Rolento states without hesitation. There's a sharp and cold presence to him, unlike that of monstrous chi beasts. A strange sense of razors in the air, a sense of strained danger. He has been known to hang his men alive or cut them open for even minor insubordination. In terms of careful use of a silver tongue...
Honoka has her work cut out for her. His combative prowess is well proven, and there's no knowing just how many of his own forces are lurking in adjacent buildings...!
Honoka keeps a careful eye on the helicopter -- there's not many that would hover so obviously over top of the building she happened to be upon. She knows there -are- tour helicopters, but hasn't been really bothered to look up their schedules. She -did- bother to look up every bit of information she could find about the man who had the gall, the chutzpah to overtake Metro City -- if only for a short time.
She is a bit surprised to see the helicopter pull away without getting any closer. As her eyes follow it, she reaches for the watch on her wrist. It's not just any watch -- it's a yo-yo. And as she ties the string around her finger, she wonders just what that helicopter visit was all about.
SLAM. Honoka's partner leaps to his feet, fists balled and ready to strike at the sudden appearance of a hostile aggressor... before remembering that he's supposed to play nice with the guy, according to his earlier orders.
Honoka, to Rolento's credit, is taken aback by the sudden arrival, eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. "... Goodness," she claims, actually -dropping- her yo-yo, only to have it bounce lazily to a halt, dangling from a finger. "I must say, I hadn't planned on -that- entry."
Relaxing noticeably, she winds the yo-yo back into her palm. Times as a petty mercenary are behind him? Smiling warmly, she nods in agreement, sending her yo-yo back out to a lazy circuit by her knees as she talks. "This is good, because I'm going to be asking a bit more of you. I trust you've been following the news...?" Honoka allows her lips to display a small fraction of the pride she feels in her heart.
If Rolento happens to need it, the man behind him -- who has now stood down from his aggressive posture, goes over to retrieve the newspaper clippings detailing the string of bombings along the Philosopher's Walk in Kyoto, the National Museum in Nara, and the Umeda Financial Center bombing just down the street from this location. Among others.
When the man takes an aggressive stance against Rolento, he suddenly shifts into action. The movements are disturbingly fluid, like the flourishing motions of a master calligrapher who has spent decades repeating every shift and turn thousands upon thousands of times. It might be difficult to retrieve the documents, given that a brutal feint is thrown at Sudo, with the intention of twisting behind him and slipping an arm about his neck. His other hand would have the distinctive shine of a knife, intent on pressing it to his throat. In an eyeblink, the entire assault is concluded. One might be waylayed into thinking a man of his age was slow or weak... but there's none of that to be found. The mettle of Sudo against one of the foremost masters of raw technical perfection will be well tested.
"I do not condone terrorist activities." Rolento states, matter of factly. "My war is with those who use men as tools of combat, weapons to be discarded at their own convenience. Politics is the cancer of humanity. And as the pitiful foundations of this world are being shown in the wake of disaster, I have been keeping myself well informed on the opportunity... to send an entire government toppling down like a house of cards."
If Sudo's caught and doesn't struggle unduly, he'll speak as if he never moved, straightforward and with a disturbing confidence. If Sudo fights back... well. He'll still speak. But it might end up potentially worse for Honoka's false boyfriend.
"You would not make that mistake, would you, girl? Anarchy is not my goal. The common man deserves freedom from the oppression of governments without their interests at heart. If you are nothing more than a base instigator, we have no need for further deliberation...!!"
"Mmm. Threats?" Honoka steels herself as Rolento goes through the motions of someone about to kill another. With a lazy narrowing of her eyes, she might seem to be bored at the procedure... but from the small twitch in her left hand, it should be an obvious tell to the career soldier that there's something more at play here.
For Sudo, who had started to fight back... relents almost completely. Not quite limp -- he'd stand once Rolento lets him go -- but enough to show deference to Rolento's actions. ... No, not deference. Respect for his capabilities.
Exhaling a light breath, the attentiveness snaps back into Honoka's demeanor once she begins to speak. Her smile fades, lips pressed into a tight line at the mention of terrorist activities, a line that loses some of its intensity once politics are mentioned.
"I have little care for -anarchy-, Mister Schugerg. Anarchy is a state in which there is -no- control. I'm sure a man of your years can appreciate the value of targeting specific resources with the aim of arranging a specific, orchestrated outcome."
And only now does that yo-yo snap out, one downward bob down before returning to her hand. "Metro City is literally and figuratively drowning in the waters of the Atlantic, but Southtown -- and by proxy, this nation, is drowning in bureaucracy. Bureaucracy that spends days deliberating over which color to choose for their Olympic banner while citizens suffer."
Yo-yo snaps out again as she collects her thoughts. "You may find this difficult to believe, but I respect the common... man." The word leaves a bad taste in her mouth, but she continues after a moment. "Discrimination, as you are aware, is a despicable fact of life that this government sees no need in eliminating. Racism, classism... it's a pretty name for organized hatred."
Some people smoke. Honoka slings that yo-yo back and forth. "Let me cut to the chase, Mister Schugerg. If this government topples it will be a nearly bloodless coup. I'm inviting you to a ringside seat."
Despite how strongly the knife must have felt into Sudo's throat, when Rolento suddenly shifts to let him go, there's not a single mark on his supple flesh. "If your man raises his weapon to me again, I shall put him down like a dog." seems to be all he has to say about that. Oddly, there doesn't seem to be any demeaning arrogance to the statement. It's not even voiced like a threat. A statement of fact. There's none of the manipulative nuances that Honoka is such a master of to this man. How much that reflects on his reception to such is another matter entirely.
"I believe my track record speaks to that perfectly." is all the commando offers in regards to surgical precision. Taking an entire city hostage as a ruse to loot the banks and insurance companies, hitting governments and corporate greed hard while leaving civilians unharmed? The girl probably appreciated such sentiments more than most would. His knife vanishes in a casual motion, although Rolento does not stand still. Eyes cast around, taking in every nuance, every inch, nothing escaping his perception. He ends up facing away, stance spread to the military 'at ease', arms behind his lower back and legs slightly apart.
"If you planned to say the appropriate words to prove compatibility with my agenda, then you have succeeded." He doesn't say her name. Does he not know it? She's been quiet as a mouse, after all. His information network cannot account for every sleeping insurgent threat. "As I am well aware you know. If they are the truth or not... that is what I desire confirmation on. There is a reason I have not attempted what you now imply. Failure would result in catastrophe. The conditions of a nation lacking a dictator, ultimately, are worse for the common man. The loss of infrastructure through no governing body a blight I have seen countless times. Within the Middle East, Africa, South America, even portions of Mexico, such things are inconsequential. But Japan is a fully functioning national power."
He finally turns to face Honoka, chin lifting slightly. "How do I know you are not some simple child, rushing carelessly into an agenda far beyond her means? I know nothing of you. In truth... one of the reasons I accepted this invitation... was to eliminate you if I felt you a danger rather than an asset." His fingers are twirling his baton then, the air whirling through so simple a motion. "Cut off the head of a cockroach, and it is slow to die. Blind, voiceless, soundless, suffering in the dark. I will not let you do such... unless you satisfy my doubts!!"
Honoka's expression brightens in an almost imperceptibly small degree at the release of her companion. Sudo has been with her through thick and thin, and she's grown rather attached to him. The nineteen-year-old idealist... is not a career military strategist, that much is obvious.
Surely Rolento had heard of the resources Honoka had acquired. Literally walking into a military base and rolling out with five humvees is no small feat; getting them transported off the tiny backwater island of Okinawa is even less small. And yet she doesn't feel the need to remind Rolento of this at all -- nor of the bank job which lined her pockets and those of her business associates.
"I don't make empty promises, Mr. Schugerg. Your track record, as you so notes, speaks for itself. But I value your experience at least as much as your political ideals. The people =are= the priority."
That yo-yo snaps out again, as she gathers her thoughts -- Rolento's disarming manner leaves no room for misplaced words, after all.
"Japan's government is stable... but it is too stable. A fully-functioning power... but an ineffective power, castrated by the United States, cowed by North Korea, bullied and pushed about by China. And yet we have the strongest resource known to mankind... milling about, busying themselves with petty conflicts. Fighters, Mr. Schugerg. People driven by ideals, not unlike myself... but able to put their dreams into practice. It's these dreamers, the fighters, who sit idle, choked by the oppressive might of the ruling class. Equality is a dream, and if they would but fight for it..."
Honoka shakes her head. She understands she was starting to babble, and with a quick flick of her yo-yo, she corrects herself. "No, they don't fight for it. They fight against the world. It's =much= more important that they save the world. But the rest of the people... need structure. Guidance."
Flick. She looks over to Sudo for a moment, who's stepped back for a bit of a breather. She can't blame him -- heck, she =told= him to, in a manner of speaking.
"Fighters are not big picture people. Take this... Sakura Kasugano, for instance. Was she not your most ardent challenger? Your most enthusiastic... opponent?" She smiles faintly, wistfully... and then frowns. Melodramatic, perhaps, but it suits her purposes: "She's defeated -herself-, Mr. Schugerg. Worn out. Depressed. Exhausted. And she's not the only one. This world needs strength. Vision."
Yo-yo flicks out again, and Honoka clasps it tight to her heart this time. "If the emperor will agree to it, he lives. If not..." She shrugs her shoulders lightly, leaning against the guardrail. "What do I need from you? =Insurance.= The rest of the world may not agree with whatever course of action the emperor and I decide upon."
Rolento hears everything; his mind is like a great beehive, with dozens of sources coming in with such mass that it seems impossible for any single soul to absorb it all. But with the same methodical precision of unity, he can recollect such as well. Certainly, he has his suspicions based on Honoka's operations and distinct appearance and mannerisms. Were he not to respect her accomplishments thus far, there is no chance that the U.S.P.L. officer of such acclaim would have bothered coming out to meet her in the first place.
Rolento seems content to listen as much as Honoka might care to talk, although she might find to her disdain... nothing. There's absolutely nothing to read. His expression mute, posture solemn, no hint to his next thought or even action. He could slam his baton into Sudo hard enough to brain him, or sip from a cup of tea, and both seem just as valid and likely in her mind. The only thing clear is the focused, attentive beam upon the girl opposite...
"Countless war potentials have fallen. ...But if you imply Sakura Kasugano lacks resolve and will, then I have seen through your first deception. You would be well advised to never consider her tenacity free from your plans. But I conclusively settled things with her multiple times, to no avail. But I am different now. I am no longer one man with two dozen ruffians. I own a private army that makes your military acquisitions seem like a child with toy cars. And I am certain that sort of power is, more than my experience, what you are interested in."
Slowly, Rolento steps towards Honoka. Again, impossible and motiveless. But what reason does he have to approach within range? Range of both her own yo-yo, and that brutal baton that records show put down dozens of people...!
"So you wish to assail the Emperor, in this time of strife? I see. He will never cede his power. Someone like him would prefer death to never knowing the petty strength of political machinations."
Suddenly Rolento looks curious, tilting his head to the side. For the first time betraying curiosity. A thought just came to him, but floating about.
"Spar with me, Honoka." Indeed, he knows her name. "I will assess your combative value. If I believe it sufficient for your gambit, then I shall lend my resources. Otherwise, there is no value in shifting my military to Japan for wasted efforts. ...Feel free to utilize /all/ of your assets..."
A glance to Sudo follows. After the knife to the throat, even his pride surely would like a chance to punch Rolento but good again, right...?
COMBATSYS: Honoka has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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COMBATSYS: Sudo has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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COMBATSYS: Rolento has joined the fight here as a boss!
ROLENTO
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Honoka has yet to master the art of conversation to such a degree that she can make simple silence quite so threatening. But she is learning -- and from a master at that. She watches him attentively, remembering in exquisite detail the moment at which he'd decided to dangle her companion figuratively over the brink of death as quickly as the blink of an eye... and release him just as quickly. For a moment, a flicker of doubt passes through her... but just one moment.
She reminds herself, as Rolento approaches, that only she knows the cards in her hand. That she herself is the lynchpin to the success of her strategem, that even if Rolento were to simply shove her off the balcony... her plan would fall uselessly to the ground before she were to hit. The individual puzzle pieces mean nothing in the absence of the master plan she hasn't yet shared. Her lips tighten into that line again -- determination, plus just an ounce of smugness that she =knows= she's right about this.
"Miss Kasugano is never underestimated. I related this story to tell you that even -she- is flagging. But a cornered enemy fights with the strength with a hundred." She gestures with an open hand to the city of Osaka behind her.
The Emperor? "... So be it. He is a noble man representing a once-noble people, but they have been brought lower. He has advisors. People who are, much though I'd hate to admit it, older and wiser than I. And whose information may prove useful. Or not." Again, that ambivalent shrug, the mark of adolescence, the body language equivalent of 'whatever.'
Honoka maneuvers to place Rolento squarely in front of her -- so squarely Sudo cannot be seen. She raises her hand, spreading her fingers wide -- but with such positioning Sudo cannot see the digits. "A demonstration, then."
Her fingers retract on sequence, as her eyes narrow into little more than slits. Five.
She looks up into Rolento's eyes, a faint pink glow suffusing throughout her brown irises. Four.
She's given Sudo no verbal sign, but the assistant has clearly moved into position behind Rolento, from the sound of his footfalls. Three.
Lowering her chin, she passes the soldier a faint smirk. Three.
And then she =breaks= the established rhythm, knowing full well that Sudo can't see her fingers -- 'two' and 'one' count down with a fraction of a second. Her hand lashes out towards Rolento's feet, that yo-yo snapping out to snare around his leg. Should it manage to do so, she'd fling herself bodily to the side, with her aim being to topple Rolento off-balance--
-- Just in time for Sudo to send an elbow flying at the back of his head from behind, scything downward to send him slamming into the terrace. It's a long shot -- but if nothing else, it shows the coordination she hopes to demonstrate.
COMBATSYS: Rolento dodges Honoka and Sudo's Polar Inversion.
ROLENTO
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"I am afraid in that, I disagree. A cornered enemy is the most desperate. And the actions one takes in such madness... are predictable and easily countered. The best approach is a progressive noose, and enduring the struggles. You wish instead for a thrust of the blade. In both cases, in those final moments, the desperation is violent and destructive. But with the slow approach... in the worst case, you have a much better foundation...!"
The juxtaposition of Sudo and Honoka ends in nothing but Rolento assuming his own combative stance. It seems strange; shifting one foot behind the other as if on an invisible tightrope, weight maneuvering. As a master acrobat and former Circus performer, the girl opposite can likely see what he has done better than those far above her.
His center of balance... is perfect. There is literally no direction he cannot go with explosive force. Up, down, sideways, in a ball, cartwheeling. It is perfect. Three hundred and sixty degree mobility. And all without a single tense muscle to betray his predilection in response.
The moment the yo-yo flies out, Rolento slams down his baton, and it thumps into the rooftop. What follows may look strange; he simply raises up to perch on it a moment, feet no longer anywhere near the ground. The flick meets only open air, before the commando kicks upwards in a spiralling backflip, clearing Sudo's descending elbow with room to spare.
"Textbook tactics for assaulting an opponent two on one. And your ability to break the rhythm of an opponent is similarly commendable. I presume you are used to sucking another into your pace and then destroying them..."
In a moment, a blade is spiralling down at a sharp angle. Aiming to strike into the girl's thigh, dead on. Like before, in the blink of an eye, an attack is completed in the time most register it even began. Yet it's completely blunt... were it to hit clean, it would only bounce off, ergo with a large bruise.
It seems the comment on a 'spar' was genuine.
"...but you will find that approach impossible against me...!!" He lands heavily upon a table, crouched on the tips of his toes, baton held behind and looking like a crouching tiger ready to pounce once more. "Still. Your tactics remain commendable. Victory is no perquisite to my involvement here!!"
COMBATSYS: Honoka reflects Stinger from Rolento with Around the World.
ROLENTO
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Rolento's stance did not go unnoticed. Balance is probably one of the skills Honoka knows and appreciates most -- which is why her move to destablize the man was so crucial. But as an entry into the combat... it's necessary for her to follow through with her plan, even as her yo-yo whiffs harmlessly beneath the experienced soldier.
Mostly because, in order to follow through, her yo-yo's momentum is essential, and even though she misses, she can still use the speed from the action as an accelerant to the pivoting motion she takes next. Inserting a finger in the path of the pendulum, she spins the yo-yo ever faster -- such that when knife screeches down at her thigh, it's not knocked out of harm's path, but instead redirected into a tight circle. A lateral sweep of her arm is not just a requirement to send the dulled blade right back at Rolento's projected landing trajectory... but also a damn good replica of his own throwing motion, punctuated with a faint smirk. "Perhaps so."
Sudo's been no slouch either -- even though his elbow whiffed, he drops low, following Honoka's lead in harnessing his momentum. His approach, though, is to coordinate a whirling roundhouse kick at Rolento's midsection, if his read on the trajectory is good. "Hrraaa!"
COMBATSYS: Rolento dodges Sudo's Light Kick.
ROLENTO
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COMBATSYS: Rolento blocks Honoka's Reflected Stinger.
ROLENTO
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Oh? That was beyond Rolento's calculations. He had thought he had a grasp on Honoka's capabilities, both mental and physical, even after so brief a foray. Well beneath him, but competent on the global scene as a whole. This is another matter entirely. Manipulating a seemingly mundane object with such sheer efficiency -- it's Rolento's turn to be impressed. The knife whirls right at him with surprising speed, but suddenly a hand snaps up, catching it by the blade with a gloved hand. It stops so close to impacting his cheek that it's impossible to tell whether it truly connected or not.
"Interesting...!!" What seems to be a fraction of a second before Sudo's assault appears an eternity for Rolento to dodge. Although the physical time between the pair's attacks is perfectly coordinated, only Honoka is not telegraphing herself a memo five minutes in advance. This time Rolento curls into a ball, a brutal swish of air bursting overhead.
Only for Rolento to hurtle himself at Sudo, aiming to strike him in the throat with his extended baton. And then move to /flip/ over, hooking beneath him in the motion. With the follow-through, he aims to use both sheer power and superior centrifugal force to send the other man hurtling head over heels across the glorious rooftop estate, hopefully to crash into a table.
"Your potential is difficult to estimate. ...And it is a true test to conceal such from me."
COMBATSYS: Rolento successfully hits Sudo with Strong Throw.
ROLENTO
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Honoka retracts her yoyo, attaching it back to her wrist in good time. It's nice for casual conversations and all, but for a real battle... barely sufficient. There is a small planter on this terrace not far from where she was watching the skyline, and it's to this planter that she starts to dash...
... as Sudo takes one for the team! The young man rises from his roundhouse kick to find Rolento's baton smashed against his windpipe. It'd likely kill a man with lesser reflexes, but the security guard's sparred with Honoka enough to expect the unexpected. The lack of pretense doesn't save him from Rolento's followup, though, which sends him flying backwards into the table, knocking the flimsy thing right the heck over and sending the metal deck chairs clattering off to the side. Oof!
Honoka has, by this point, cartwheeled over the planter as she'd intended, snaring the diabolo wands she'd stashed there in preparation. Continuing her axial rotation, she lands in a low crouch, translating her momentum into a standing pirouette. A keen eye would note that she'd let go of one wand, allowing it to sail back in the direction she came -- and pick up the two diabolo companions that had been stashed there as well. "I appreciate your tactful insight, Mr. Schugerg, but if you're trying to make me blush you'll have to work harder than that." Slowly rising back to her full height, she continues whirling the diabolos around upon that vertical axis, wands imparting just enough acceleration to imbue a healthy dose of threat to her cautious, narrow-eyed stare.
"That said, I appreciate the notable difference in our combat strategies. I look forward to learning more from your experience."
Stalling? Not so much -- the heavier diabolos take a -lot- more energy to wind up, after all...
A bruised and battered Sudo peels himself up off the ground, gritting his teeth. Nodding back at Honoka, he grits his teeth and launches himself at Rolento yet again, aiming to, at least once, present the combat veteran with a knuckle sandwich to remember him by. Maybe even -two- knuckle sandwiches.
COMBATSYS: Honoka focuses on her next action.
ROLENTO
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COMBATSYS: Rolento dodges Sudo's 1-2 Punch.
ROLENTO
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The new weapons from Honoka don't seem to concern Rolento any. He simply remains crouched where he was, one hand planted on the edge of the table. Eyes are upon the girl as she acrobatically arms herself in earnest, continuing to twirl his baton around with his free hand. "A prudent display... although my methodical approach will not be so simply countered, as your ally's attempts." Rolento, already fully tensed, simply leaps forward and straight over Sudo as both brutal swings hit only the empty air, one moment his vision filled with the tan commando and the next, nothing.
Rolento then hurls the knife he caught towards Honoka, but it is off by a couple feet. What possible harm could that have...?
And then his baton swings up before himself, in a striking motion.
A slight glimmer in the air might betray the nearly invisible wire. The trajectory of the knife was altered sufficiently enough that it skips off a wall, and a masterful whirl of the hand causes a single loop to shoot out.
And right about Honoka's neck.
Leaping up as it goes taut, Rolento hooks it upon an overhead light fixture. Twisting violently, the dancing girl is liable to find herself suddenly hurtling airborne, and slamming into the partial ceiling overhead.
"GO!!"
After exerting his full strength for a few long moments, Rolento twirls his baton before pressing it beneath the wire, pulling hard up. When he releases, the built-up tensile force would cause it to snap, and allow the smaller fighter to descend back towards the ground anew...!!
COMBATSYS: Honoka fails to interrupt Take No Prisoner from Rolento with Anomalous Space.
- Power fail! -
ROLENTO
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Honoka doesn't let herself be swayed by Rolento's confident precision. He seems to have the advantage, naturally -- he's able to see the battlefield from a completely different perspective than she, tempered by decades of experience. Ten years ago Rolento was rolling tanks around, riding high from one successful mission after another. Where was Honoka ten years ago? Running rigging on a small fishing boat.
So Honoka doesn't see the knife to be much more trouble -now- than it was scant moments before. Especially when it falls short. She does, however, see the telltale shimmer of monofilament flicker in her peripheral vision. She's been aware of Rolento's battle tactics before, she knows what's coming -- and she snaps both wands close to her neck in anticipation.
Either her aim, or her timing, are off -- the diabolo twine -around- the monofilament wire, sending both diabolo clanking together right in front of her face.
The added entanglement does nothing to stymie the garrote looped about her neck, as she is hauled upward, not unlike the sail of one of her parent's fishing vessel.
Sudo loses his goddamn mind. The simple, quiet man has been Honoka's companion since the day she joined the circus, and here she is... about to die in a sparring match. Sure, Rolento said otherwise, but... well, Sudo just doesn't trust mercenaries, especially ones that say and do the sort of things he already has! "CUT HER DOWN!" he shouts, launching himself at Rolento with reckless abandon, and a good brutal fist to the chops! (... Or it could whiff again. WHAT TENSION)
Honoka would scream if her windpipe weren't compressed from the sudden constriction -- as it is, it's all she can do to keep from passing out due to the sudden loss of airflow. She's already starting to turn purple when the wire snaps, mercifully letting her drop back to the ground -- which she does so, clasping her throat as she eyes Rolento warily. Panicked. And maybe even a little sick, actually...
Suffice to say, there won't be any smart remarks from her for the moment.
COMBATSYS: Rolento interrupts Quick Punch from Sudo with Mekong Delta Escape.
ROLENTO
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Sudo 1/----===/=======|
Rolento suddenly skips himself backwards, before hurtling /forward/; after so long spent trying to get away from Sudo, he finally leaps headlong into the favored minion, letting out a snarl. The fist finds the side of the mercenaries' face, but slides off with a sharp headtwist that mitigates the damage significantly, before Rolento's baton *SMACKS* home right between his eyes, pressing both feet on the thug and then hurtling backwards in a tight barrel roll that lands him upon a nearby pillar; to which he clings with one hand, looming down with baton loosely held in his grip.
"...Enough." he allows then, letting go and dropping to his feet. "I believe going any further will escalate this beyond a simple spar. ...Take your parting shot against me. Through it, I will pass my final judgement." Invitingly, he slips back into his seamless stance, thumping his baton into an open palm.
"Ready...?" is all he offers. After manhandling her minion and stangling her thoroughly, both should have one last, good attack in them, right...?
Panting heavily, as the unexpected garrote had taken -way- more out of her fighting spirit than she would have liked, Honoka gives but a simple nod. Rising to her feet, she swings both of her diabolo wands to the right, then swings them lazily left, sweeping the two diabolos from the ground and into the air. The young woman manages to roll them into a wide figure eight pattern, as she slowly, cautiously approaches Rolento.
%Sudo shakes off the stars that keep glittering into his vision, staggering backwards. He's vaguely aware of Rolento saying something, but it's not until a brief twitch of Honoka eyelid that he seems to fully understand what was just said. Raising his fists once more, he stands in a boxer's stance, feet shoulder-width apart. It looks... pretty cheesy, really.
Honoka's stopped approaching at a fair distance away. Equally from Sudo. They're both in Rolento's field of vision.
And then suddenly, with the blinking of an eye, both of their attacks are =right in his face=. Sudo is bringing both fists to bear on Rolento's scarred face. Honoka has stretched the diabolo string into a taut star pattern, the string glowing and projecting a wide beam of violet light, veined with iridescent strands of pink fibrous matter, with Rolento caught right in the middle. Either one would result in one whopper of a headache -- but the effects of Honoka's would probably leave some -really- lasting afterimages.
Those inside the helicopter, if it were still in the vicinity, would report a different view: that Honoka and Sudo never actually stopped moving.
COMBATSYS: Rolento dodges Sudo's Double Fisted Fury.
ROLENTO
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Honoka 0/-------/-------|
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Sudo 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Honoka successfully hits Rolento with Event Horizon.
ROLENTO
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Honoka 0/-------/------=|
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Sudo 0/-------/----===|
Sudo, once more, causes Rolento to easily evade. However, amidst the entire fight, Honoka has seen a habit; he always seems to go in the same direction that an attack is coming from. If it's angled down, he rolls away. If it's forward, he leaps backwards. Perhaps such a habit is due to the gulf of skill. In a real battle that stressed him, there would likely be no pattern of such basic instinct.
But it might be that minute weakness that lets Honoka finally nail the relentless mercenary for the first time in the fight. Sudo's brutal swing is easily evaded... by a leap backwards. Yet fully compensated, Honoka's beam fires out true. Already in the air, Rolento has nowhere to go; throwing up his arms, the onslaught of energy is not the sort such does anything for.
He mis-steps his land, crashing to the ground and turning it into an awkward roll, balled up like a hedgehog and unfurling beside a table hard enough to send it flying away. He's grasping his head, baton at his feet and other hand holding a grenade -- thumb having halfway pulled the pin free.
"...Hmmhmm...." He slots it back before standing up, unsteady. "Unbelievable. I was absolutely certain evading in that direction would have been sufficient to stop both attacks. ...And still, I am left questioning your strength." He slowly rotates his jaw, mind reeling from the dull burn. "...Especially with the potency of that assault."
The helicopter can be heard rumbling overhead. "Judgement! Grade B! Impressive leadership qualities combined with a deceptive combat style. For a girl of your age, it is truly commendable. And I feel you are far from peaked. You will have my aide in the coming fight... although my goal will not be the Emperor, but something else..."
Reaching up, he grasps a black line descended. The helicopter never slows or stalls; he simply whirls up it, just barely clearing a large piece of the roof as he coils the line behind. And then he has boarded it once more, door sliding shut before he exhales.
Indeed... any longer, and that would not have been a spar at all. A few bruises and a sore throat for the next day or two should suffice... but Honoka will cause all of Japan to turn against her, with success or failure.
His gambit... might end up being far larger...!
COMBATSYS: Rolento has left the fight here.
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Honoka 0/-------/------=|
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Sudo 0/-------/----===|
Sudo grunt.
It would seem Honoka passed the test. Sudo... Well, the girl can't fault him for trying?
The young performer pops both diabolos into the air again, spinning them around into a lazy axis. "C'mon, Sudo. Let's... go grab a smoothie or something."
Both of them need it.
COMBATSYS: Honoka has left the fight here.
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Sudo 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Sudo has ended the fight here.
Log created on 17:44:07 09/16/2014 by Rolento, and last modified on 00:16:00 09/17/2014.