Description: Dr. Tran parties it up on a cruise ship like its the end of the world, joined by Roland, his new one-armed friend. The seas get stormy as they encounter Tran's natural enemy: Schoolgirls. Sakura and Hinata attempt to convince the doctor to help stand against the apocalypse. The boat sinks. (Winner: ???)
SOME TIME AGO
A BOAT
Tran sinks the goddamn thing and winds up stranded on a small, unnamed island for several months.
A FEW YEARS LATER
A DIFFERENT BOAT
It happens again.
NOw
THE FINAL BOAT
It's somewhat inaccurate to simply say that storm clouds are gathering. That would imply that a mere portion of the entire world's supply of storm clouds are currently in motion. Lighting crackles, dire winds blow, pouring rain drums violently against everything, and the cruise ship Magical Danger is somehow surviving in the middle of it. There are few passengers aboard, most people deciding not to trust their life to the open ocean for cheap thrills in these particularly turbulent times.
Dr. Tran is not most people.
"Three points! Tran takes the crown home, my god, what an upset, my god!" He is /shuffleboard royalty/.
Holding his dumb shuffleboard stick like a scepter in one hand, an actual honest-to-god gold goblet clutched in his other, the doctor crows out his victory over the poor deck hand he has forced to play with him. The man, a member of the skeleton crew that is continuing to operate the boat even in these desperate times (Danger Cruises: Have fun, or die trying!), clearly wishes that he were literally anywhere but here.
This only becomes more true when Tran saunters over, hugging the man with his cup arm and spilling some form of delicious tropical cocktail all over the man AND the deck. "Tell me the truth, bunsun." Somewhere along the way, he has forgotten what a bosun is, and has taken to improvising. "Do you think I'm the best at this dumb not-sport, or do you think I'm maybe better...er than that?"
Somehow, this world existed without two kindred souls coming together as one. There had been another person who decided that the end of the world meant to take advantage of how naive world economies and banks are. Now in debt enough that even the grandest assassins in the world would likely be sent against him -- and making sure that, if somehow there IS no apocalypse he's certainly not going to live long enough to find out -- Roland Brown found himself on the same ship as one Dr. Tran.
With a giant hole sucking in the ocean and sending the world into shrieking chaos, the fact that a boat was even willing to go out with Dr. Tran is one thing. But he is not forced to work with a mere 'deck hand'. Nay, as Roland was only off to buy another double handfuls of 300 dollar martinis. He's wearing an animal fur coat, a ridiculously expensive shirt that one can only tell if they see the logo, and covered in so much bling that he'd put a television pimp to shame.
"I've got more drinksh!" he hiccups. 'Double handful' is literal for a man with one arm, but he stumbles in Tran's direction to offer one, before draining his own in a few moments and then hurling the glass overboard. "Put it on the bill! Ahaha! Get it? Since we're all gonna die?!"
He then saunters over to Tran, wobbling slightly. "Iff'n there'sh some horror in dish world, it's that I never met a doctor'sh GREAT as you." He reaches out to grasp Tran by the shoulder, expression serious.
"I... I bet... you coulda REGREW my arm. If... if you saw it, back'sh then. S'TRUE. You're SUPER DOCTOR."
He them takes a shot at the shuffleboard, which goes nowhere near anything, sealing the loss. "YOUR FUCKING CHEAP EQUIPMENT IS EMBARRASSING ME IN FRONT OF /DOCTOR TRAN/!!"
Sakura got out of the hospital only to find out that she'd never resolve her issues with Honoka--due largely to Honoka having been, well, -assassinated- by some mysterious ninja named Ibuki who definitely isn't a schoolgirl. The fact of this distressed the Ansatsuken Prodigy more than she's willing to admit. Being charged to fight the real problem... to save the world... the words echo in her mind, long after she leaves the hospital. She'd gotten Kei to go away after that--for her own safety--and while Kei had adamantly demanded that Sakura join her, she knew, and Sakura knew, that that wasn't going to happen.
Since then, Sakura's been working like a madwoman, doing what she can, which has brought her here, to this boat, with one of her best friends. Seeking answers--seeking information--they've come to find one of the most legendarily irascible fighters ever. A man by the dubious name of Dr. Tran. Of course it's a name Sakura knows--so she knows that this won't be -easy-... but...
...but he can -see- what's going on around him. The destruction, the panic, sheened over on this boat with a light coating of hysteric calm. Finding Tran on the boat isn't hard, and Sakura puts on her most friendly face as she walks towards him. "Dr. Tran!" she calls, from a long distance away.
The whole end of the world thing has been a bit of a downer to Hinata. Not just the world ending orbs causing big problems, but the consistent issues in Southtown involving running a resistance movement and having to help talk down an angry madman from blowing up her hometown after watching the self-proclaimed Empress of Ezo get murdered right in front of her...
Let's just say that Hinata hasn't exactly been living in a Slice-of-Life/Romance anime for the past month or so.
Dramatic things are afoot, and when one of her best friends got out of the hospital and felt the need to get back into the action, there was no way that Hinata was going to turn down the opportunity to work with Sakura, even if it meant hunting down the infamous Doctor Tran on a boat in a disaster prone ocean.
As Sakura walks up to the Doctor, Hinata stays off to the side and let her friend take the lead on this one. She's pretty sure she'd met Tran once before, and he was sort of a gross crazy guy who maybe didn't like her.
"You," Dr. Tran says to Roland, "You are my best friend." He accepts the drink, staring at it happily in the storm. "No, wait, this is my best friend now." He guzzles it in a moment like the one armed bandit beside him, then smashes it against the shuffle...board.
"OK it's you again now! YEAH!" For good measure, he smashes his stick against the ground hard enough to snap it in half, sending one end careening off just over the shoulder of the trembling deck hand.
"I bet...I bet I could've got you something even better than an arm, probably, because you're the /best/." He hiccups, then reaches out to Roland with a steadying hand, more for himself than his brother drunkard. "You /understand/, so you should get, like...a chainsaw that shoots guns. Then you could shuffle /any/ board STRAIGHT TO HELL. Or my name isn't..."
"Dr. Tran!" But Tran doesn't get to say that part. Somebody else, who is not him, said that part, when he wanted to. The bones in his neck creak audibly as his head rotates independantly of the rest of him, slowly turning to look at the one /dares/ steal his thunder. His vision's a little blurry in the rain and the drunk, but he can at least make out a vague figure. Mostly white, little splashes of blue and red, chipper girlvoice. The prognosis is clear.
Schoolgirl.
"WATCH OUT!!" The doctor, a man of action in any circumstance, immediately gets to it, roughly shoving Roland to the side protectively. "She's coming right at us! DON'T PANIC!"
Then he throws his goblet right at the blur that is almost certainly Sakura, crying out in anguish immediately.
"MY DRINK! I PANICKED!"
COMBATSYS: Tran has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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Tran 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Sakura has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Tran 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Hinata has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Tran 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hinata
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|-------\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Roland has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Roland 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
"Nah it's cool bro. Bros come after booze and ho's. Whoever says otherwise just never gets drunk and laid. Hic." He then makes to bump knuckles with Dr. Tran but good, before looking all choked up at the whole cruelty of life that prevented him from now having some kind of robotic frankenstein super-arm to punch people with. "I,It's true. I mean... aren't weapons just arms you wear at the end of your handsh? I'd CUT THE MIDDLE MAN. You're a GENIUSH. No wonder you are a SUPER DOCTOR."
Turning towards Sakura and Hinata, Roland immediately perks up. "The girlsh I ordered! Hah... wait. They're flat. And young. ...I said not flat." Squinting towards them, he then jumps when Tran points out at the girls. "WHAT? --NO!"
Roland then bursts into a run, heading towards the drink.
He leaps, reaching out for it. Grazes the bottom with his fingers.
"NOOoooooooshit."
He then is liable to crash directly into Hinata with a surprising amount of force. That expensively dressed psychopath is /heavy/. Who is he, anyway?! Tran might be a celebrity, but ROLAND sure as hell isn't.
COMBATSYS: Sakura dodges Tran's Large Thrown Object.
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Roland 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
What the--
It's instinct for Sakura to duck to one side, the large mug of frosty, creamy strawberry-and-rum blended drink crashing to the decking, splattering across it as the umbrella bounces into the air, flipping over twice, picturesquely, behind Sakura. Of course she'd heard about Tran's legendary reaction to schoolgirls, but it can't be helped. They need whatever information he's got. Honestly?
The world situation's been building some stress in Sakura. She's more than willing to work some of that out--and get some information--by beating Tran's face in. "Hinata!" snaps Sakura, sounding a little more eager than she should.
The grin in her lips is matched in her voice--neither is entirely pleasant. "Let's /do/ this," she finishes, and then her pleasant walk turns into an all-out lunge, Sakura going low and sliding for Tran's ankles, to just... dump him on his ass.
COMBATSYS: Roland successfully hits Hinata with Large Random Weapon.
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Roland 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
And a fight just starts. Nobody could have predicted that at the end of the world, when two groups of people who maybe don't see eye to eye meet up that a fight would start. Except for everybody.
While Sakura is faced with a chalice, Hinata is faced with a target barreling in at her trying to intercept the chalice. It's incredibly easy for her to settle back and wait for the strike. Wait for the strike...
Wait, that's not how you attack somebody! As Hinata does her best to be ready for the attack, a real attack never actually comes, which ends with her taking a mysterious one-armed man (who is comparitively quite large) right to the face as Sakura turns to offer her encouragement. It makes it really hard to respond when she's suddenly trampled to the deck.
"Ow... watch where you're going." She frowns as she wipes the smudge of her cheek on the back of her hand. "When's the last time you took a shower? You smell disgusting!" In an effort to keep away from the drunk, she jumps up, kicking back in mid-air as she whips her legs around in spin-kicks that are nowhere near her opponent... but a trio of shoes does come flying right at Roland's head.
COMBATSYS: Tran blocks Sakura's Aggressive Strike.
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Roland 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Sakura
For a brief moment, hope flares in Dr. Tran's heart. Roland goes for the miracle suicide dive...and fails. The doctor takes the time to curse fate.
"Why has it come to this? Why couldn't your gun-arm have a grappling hook?" He lowers his head solemnly, tears(?) obscured by the constant, pouring rain. "Why most good drinks pay the price when modern medicine fails?"
Conveniently, this allows Tran's attention, ever fickle, to settle back onto Sakura as she rushes him low. He takes a single step back; this is enough to stabilize him enough, even drunk on the open ocean, to keep his balance when Sakura tries to kick his shins apart. It takes a second for the pain to filter through the haze of alcohol and hedonism, but when it does, Dr. Tran gets real mad real fast.
"You!" He points dramatically downward at Sakura. "This is your fault! And I'm not gonna, I won't let you, uh..." He trails off, confused, then seems to get angry all over again.
"YOU WON'T GET AWAY wITH WHATEVER IT IS THAT You'RE DOING HERE!!" To prove his point, Dr. Tran hunches over and grips the front of his shirt with both hands. With one solid, fluid motion, he straightens and rips it right off, arms extending triumphantly to either side, large scraps of fabric still clutched loosely.
And then he just tries to jam one fistful of shirt right into Sakura's mouth because that's the only way you can deal with her people.
COMBATSYS: Roland dodges Hinata's Renkyakudan.
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Roland 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Sakura
It was easy to miss how Roland shifted near the end and kicked slightly off the ground, turning a random tumble into a genuine attempt to thump into the surprisingly dense and wirey youth. He just collapses on the ground before her, hanging his head despondant. "So many regrets... in the end..." he allows Tran, dipping his head forward, leather wide-brimmed hat -- the only item on him that's still old and ratty -- covering his bearded visage.
"THEY ARE HERE TO KILL OUR BUZZ, TRAN!!" Roland states, suddenly slamming his good hand down on the boat. Splayed fingers push him up with a strange burst of emerald energy, giving him a burst of strength that sends him airborne as the rapid shoes fly off into the distance, one thumping a confused looking attendant in the face in a spurt of bloody nose.
"AND YOUR PANTIES ARE INFERIOR TO SAKURA'S!!" He then whips off his hat, a concealed blade erupiting from the worn brim. Shimmering with crimson energy, he then sends it hurtling towards Hinata's torso, landing face-first nearby right after. Urk! Okay, maybe he shouldn't be attempting acrobatics when drunk off his ass. Off in the distance, the storm seems to grow more intense, rolling waves making the boat jump up and down with a wild crack of thunder.
COMBATSYS: Tran successfully hits Sakura with Dr. Tran Takes Off His Top.
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Roland 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Sakura
Clearly, Tran is... disturbed. Drunk, perhaps. Either is equally likely. Sakura doesn't know what the hell is going on. Dealing with this... it could be fun. But with the stakes at hand, Sakura's got no patience for it. This... sparring, verbally and mentally. Suddenly she's kind of angry. Getting a punch in the mouth--even from a drunken Tran who isn't punching very hard at the moment--doesn't help that. Sakura suddenly just snaps.
"WAKE UP!" she shouts at Tran, her eyes burning with emotion, her own fists raised up into guard position as she advances in on the diminiuitive doctor.
"We don't have time for this!! The world is--it's coming apart! We have to stop it!!" Two more steps. She's... probably not getting through to him at all.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" she shouts, in frustration, then pushes off, spinning through the air in her own version of the famous Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku, looking to, well, kick Tran upside the head.
COMBATSYS: Hinata blocks Roland's Blackjack.
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Roland 1/-----==/=======|>>>>>>-\-------\0 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Sakura
Okay, so when Sakura said that they were going after Doctor Tran, Hinata was pretty sure things might get weird. This is more weird than she was quite ready for as shirts explode and hats get thrown as her opponents decides to make comparative assessments of underwear.
First things first, Hinata brings both of her hands up in front of her to ward off the hat, absorbing as much of the impact as she possibly can... which, perhaps unsurprisingly, doesn't mean it doesn't really hurt. Spinning blades are not fun, even if they don't hit you right in the stomach.
"What's wrong with you?! Why are you talking about other people's panties like some sort of huge gross pervert?" Hinata cries out as she does her best to rush her one armed opponent while he's face planted on the ground. She runs up right above him and brings of both fists, now suddenly wreathed in chi flames as she attempts to slam them down right on his back.
COMBATSYS: Tran blocks Sakura's Shunpuu Kyaku.
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Roland 1/-----==/=======|>>>>>--\-------\0 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
"My buzz??" Tran continues to be perplexed, about as in control as anybody else in this situation(not at all). It takes a moment for it to really sink in. "My buzz!"
"You /murderer/." It is fairly clear that Tran's buzz is in zero danger, having reached a point where it may, in fact, be self-sufficient and unending, persisting well through the end of the world until at the end of time, there is only the empty black void and Dr. Tran's buzz.
Willfully unknowing and uncaring of Sakura's desperation in the face of the endtimes, the doctor regardless finds himself under the world-famous schoolgirl's kicky-strong assault. He raises both arms to expertly block it, fending off the kicks just enough to merely feel his own fists roughly knocking into his face.
"Shut -oof- up -oof- don't -oof- care!" He takes a step back, gaining both breathing and talking room. "It's not my problem, and it's not yours either!"
Moving back in, he gets grabby, trying to get a hold on Sakura's arm. "Because I am a shuffleboard king, and you!" If successful, he'll whip her around, trying to slide her across the deck.
"YOU ARE A SHUFFLE!"
COMBATSYS: Roland dodges Hinata's Rengekiken.
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Roland 1/-----==/=======|>>>>>--\-------\0 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
"Goddamnit. The world coming apart is PRECISELY WHY WE ARE DRUNK IN A BOAT!! You are the one that's not HELPING!!" Roland states with a scathingly accusing point in Sakura's direction, only to suddenly twist and roll away. It's strange; Hinata probably feels like she's battling some inept fool, but his seemingly wasted and random motions always allow him to wriggle just shy of being hit. He's easy to underestimate, but that also disguises a lethality that many don't discover until far too late.
And there's really no functional difference from him fighting drunk and sober.
"TAKE THIS... MY ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE... ...I FORGOT THE NAME!!" Swishing a foot backwards, he flares with emerald energy. Muscles bulge outwards, his eyes seem to shine with focus, and then he explodes forward, leaving a dent in the wood floor. His good hand moves to strike the elbow brutally into Hinata's stomach, twisting up to impact her beneath the chin with a literal explosion of force, only to grasp her by the front of the shirt, aiming to twist and, amidst a wild snarl, /slam/ her into the floor with a shoulder throw.
After which the burst of energy swishes away, leaving him unsteady. "And YES, I am a horrible pervert. DON'T JUDGE ME!! TRAN, THESE GIRLS ARE JUDGING US NOW, TOO!!"
COMBATSYS: Tran successfully hits Sakura with Medium Throw.
? Strange Hit! ?
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Roland 1/------=/=======|>>>>>--\-------\0 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura's never been good at anticipating the actions of people like Tran. Unpredictability is not even the worst of his attributes. So she's caught even more off-guard by Tran's declaration of being the shuffleboard king, and Sakura--she is indeed a shuffle. Fortunately, the shuffleboard floor is pretty slick--she lands and slides, skidding along the polished parquet paneling, unable to stop herself for several yards--until she slaps her hands down and back and skids to a halt.
Pushing off, she flips herself back up to her feet, her face redding with anger, and she launches immediately into a headlong run at Tran. Seems like she's gained a touch of insanity herself, or something masquerading as such, as she shouts at Tran, hurling headlong towards him, "I'm going to MAKE YOU LISTEN!!!"
In a flash, she lands right at Tran's feet and, lacking anything but pure momentum, simply slams her head forward, looking to smack it straight into Tran's nose. A pure, classic headbutt. Something that Kei once called 'speaking Gedo'.
COMBATSYS: Roland successfully hits Hinata with Three Card Monte.
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Roland 1/-----==/=======|=======\=------\1 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Sakura
Whatever is going on here, it's REALLY not in Hinata's favor. At this point she's beginning to wonder if the one armed man is a drunken master. His moves are so unpredictable in his current state that she's got no way of knowing where they're coming from!
Or maybe he's just really drunk and the rocking of the boat is making it even harder for her to figure out what to do.
Maybe big boats aren't really her thing; the last one she was involved with got her beat up by a russian mobster and chased by a robotic tennis player...
Enough of that, though. He's make a great big annoucement. He's going to attack, and so Hinata settles back into the moment, getting ready to jump out of the way of his big, overblown attack. It's going to be easy enough in the moment, right?
As he comes flying in, Hinata grins as she clearly sees where he's coming from, the elbow is so obvious... and her shoe goes sliding right out from under her, as she steps into the Tran's spilled drink from earlier and goes falling back just in time to take the elbow to her chest... and then a whole bunch more pain follows that ends in stars spinning around her head as she hits the deck.
No, she didn't duck, she literally got thrown into the deck.
"Y... you're a real butt." Hinata chokes out as she pushes herself up off the floor, frowning at the colorful drink stains in her uniform. "We just came here because Tran knows important stuff and we wanted to talk to him. Why do both of you have to be such jerks?"
This is where you should probably give somebody an opportunity to answer a question, but this is a fight, so nobody is going to actually do that. Instead Hinata kicks herself up off the ground right toward Roland as her legs suddenly burst into flames. "Take this, you stupid butt face!" She screams as she attempts to send Roland flying up into the air.
...It's probably a bad idea to do big leaping attacks near the railing.
COMBATSYS: Tran endures Sakura's Medium Punch.
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Roland 1/-----==/=======|=======\=------\1 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Sakura
"I FORGOT HIS NAME TOO!" Dr. Tran proudly proclaims in the wake of another perfect shuffleboard victory. "TEN POINTS, TAKE A DRINK!"
It's about now that the doctor realizes he does not have a drink to take. He also realizes that Sakura's shouting and also suddenly she's right up in his grill. Her whole forehead is just not respecting his personal space. His grill is /reserved/ for other parties, parties with drinking, and women. "It's MY party!" And here is about the time where Sakura's head smashes into Tran's. His head stays perfectly still, even as a small trickle of blood rolls down the side of his face. "And I don't have to listen to /anybody/ except Captain Jack Morgan...rum."
"COME, BAYLIFT DILL CUJO!" He beckons to Roland. "Court is in session, Judge Tran presiding, and I sentence you to get HAMMERED!" Except Sakura is underage so instead of drinking all she gets is a double-fisted hammerblow. See, cuz he said she was gonna get hammered, and, and...
Nevermind.
COMBATSYS: Roland dodges Hinata's Enbukyaku.
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Roland 1/-----==/=======|=======\==-----\1 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Sakura
"H-Holy shit, you are a JUDGE, too?! I,I got a TON of criminal shit you--Wait, the world's ending, who cares anymore?! HAHAHA!" Roland comments, looking to be just as insane as Tran. If not moreso. Is that possible? In any case, Sakura can probably tell two things:
Hinata is getting the crap beaten out of her by the drunk.
And that Tran has no chance of reason as long as he's still able to talk. And that chance starts out very low.
"Tran knows many important things. But he's on a trip with me right now. What makes you think you can just--just RUIN what we have?! Two new best bros!! It can't be more important than FRIENDSHIP. AND DRINKS!!"
And then Roland suddenly lunges backwards, skidding before taking an aggressive-looking stance. "I'M SICK OF THIS--THIS NOT DRINKING! THIS NOT LOSING TO TRAN AT SHUFFLEBOARDING AND BLAMING OTHERS!! TAKE THIS!!"
And then Roland hurtles himself at Hinata. He's a green blur now; far faster than normal, whenever he manages that strange self-empowering technique. And then he strikes out with his hand -- which manifests an arcing blade. Twisting into a palm strike into Hinata's chest, a groping maneuver follows...
Before he TWISTS, trying to just up and throw her overboard!!
COMBATSYS: Sakura dodges Tran's Strong Punch.
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Roland 0/-------/------=|=======\==-----\1 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Sakura
This is not a good fight to be having right now. As it is, the storm is starting to close in--the singular superstorm. The skies? They've gone from bright blue to dark gray. The sea is rolling, roiling, and thrashing, and as a result, so is the ship. Other cruise attendees are fleeing into the ship as the spray starts to raise itself, crashing and hissing. Time... is running out.
Sakura is at least briefly, in this moment, aided by the increasing pitch and yaw to the ship's movement--it gives her a little extra swerve, letting her sidestep the hammerblow. The rubber soles of her Converse help her come to a stop, and with her feet planted just outside her own arm's reach, she decides to try something else.
She takes just a second to ground herself--mentally and spiritually--and opens her energy channels up. Power surges through her, collecting between her hands, and the buildup is quick and intense, forcing her hands apart wide before she simply releases all that energy in a searing blaze of blue-white chi, her yell echoing a little oddly with the surcharge of power.
COMBATSYS: Roland successfully hits Hinata with All In.
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Roland 0/-------/-----==|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Hinata
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Tran 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Sakura
Alright, so things really aren't going Hinata's way. Like, this is super terrible bad. She just went flying right up past Roland...
Oh, and now he's flying right up at her.
...Yeah, so there's not much room to dodge at the moment, what with how she's just now starting to fall only to have this self-admitted pervert grope her chest as he throws her off the boat!
THIS IS UNFORGIVABLE!
This is when things start to get weird. Or more weird. Maybe just different weird, it's really hard to tell in a fight like this.
Rather than have the chi flames around her legs die down, they actually begin to flare up even stronger than before. That throw puts even more of a spin on the young fighter that she seems to take advantage of, rapidly beginning to fly up further into the air as she spins around like a top... or a helicopter in this instance.
"DON'T TOUCH ME LIKE THAT, YOU BIG CREEP!"
If Roland's super-natural ability to not be places isn't still going off, there's quite a lot of kicking involved as she flys up past him in a flaming whirlwind... and starts falling back down in a flaming whirlwind...
...Right along side the boat...
...which is suddenly getting torn up as her legs whips through the side of it like a buzzsaw, sending chunks of wood flying everywhere as she continues to spin all the way down toward the inky black water, shearing the entire side of the boat open in an impressively clean circle before she vanishes beneath the waves.
...From one of the now open lower decks, one of the sailors stationed in the engine room suddenly sticks his head out, fear swelling in his eyes as waves begin to splash in.
"WE'RE SINKING!!!"
COMBATSYS: Hinata can no longer fight.
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Roland 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Sakura
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Tran 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Tran with Large Hadouken EX.
Glancing Blow
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Roland 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Sakura
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Tran 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Roland with Rasen Enbukyaku.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Roland 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Tran 1/-------/=======|
It turns out that the boat was already strained; hairline creases and bends were reported all over from the unusually powerful water stream. What Hinata did as she spiraled into the unforgiving arms of poseidon was essentially the same as cutting a taut string. The ship explosively buckles, throwing Roland into the armrail as the entire thing just rolls 90 degrees portboard, sending shrieking assistants to the water. "ARGH! Tran... I-I want you to know... we've been sailing with a love of cargo and love and devotion... ever since our voyage began... your touch has thrilled me like the rush of wind..."
Then he slowly disappears into the water.
"They rocked the boat, Tran..."
"THEY TIPPED THE BOAT OVER."
His hat floats beside.
COMBATSYS: Roland has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Tran 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Sakura
"DECK BOY!" Dr. Tran is quick to recover in the wake of his whiff, his agile if twisted mind quickly juggling and prioritizing the existing threats and appropriate countermeasures for each. "I will give you FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS and a THREE STROKE HANDICAP on our next game if you can find a keg!" The plan for priority one has been set into motion.
The downside of this plan is that it takes valuable time; time that Sakura has decided to spend like cash on wrecking Dr. Tran's face with a hugeass fireball. He decides that responding with a headbutt is too poor a life decision even for him, and instead dives for safety.
There is none.
Thankfully, Tran's quick action does manage to avoid enough of the fireball that it merely clips him in midair, adding a severe rotational force to the airborne man which turns him into kind of a corkscrew. However, as he is merely a man and not a blazing schoolgirl, the end result of this is just him smashing into a wall and landing in a twisted heap.
"All I wanted was to drink and shuffleboard one last time before...wait, what?" Tran pushes himself up as the cry goes out, they're sinking! Untold danger suddenly abounds! As a man of action, a man of honor, and a man of FRIENDSHIP...there's only one thing left he can do.
"Rolex! MY BROTHER!" With despair in his heart, Dr. Tran sprints to the railing, not even pausing a milisecond before gracefully diving like a resplendant man-swan into the water below.
BAD END????
COMBATSYS: Tran has left the fight here.
> //////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura is pretty focused on Tran. But then... -things- happen. Explosions. Fire. Trans and Rolands, living together. /Mass hysteria/. Sakura's head snaps around; she abandons the fight immediately as she sees Hinata go overboard. Hearing the screams and seeing the boat tip visibly seal the deal for her. Roland goes down, then Tran dives after him...
And Sakura, while she's concerned about the two, uh, reprobates, if she's honest, she has to admit--she's more worried for Hinata than any of them. Fortunately she's young, athletic, well-trained. She starts running--up the sloping side of the ship--towards where Hinata disappeared over. THere's no hesitation in her at all as she crests the top of the sloping ship, then, running across the side of it, she leaps out into space--arching perfectly into a dive.
As she plunges into the water she's shouting Hinata's name, resolve and fear mixing in her voice. Fortunately, there are some boats coming in to perform rescue...
COMBATSYS: Sakura has ended the fight here.
There are no boats that can save Roland and Tran's dreams. Floundering underwater, Tran does manage to get to him in time. He has to ditch his coat, which is apparently full of METAL, and the primary reason that he was sinking to his grave. When they surface, the current has swept them so far from the remaining wreck that there's almost nothing but a speck left. Roland sputters in Tran's arms, looking up at the skies.
"If this is the end of the road... I hope... Ayame dies painfully also..." he states, mournfully. "Worse than dying-at-sea. Koff. If only... we could have met before... You were... the best doctor lawyer I ever met... Tran... T,Tran can you hear me...?"
"I... I lied... the shuffleboard equipment... was impeccable. You were just... TOO GOOD."
** TWO DAYS LATER **
Tran and Roland are upon a desolate island. There is a single palm tree on it. They have been sitting there for countless hours now, peering at the endless gray sky and watching waves burst up for almost a mile in the distance.
"If I had one wish, Tran... It would be...
"..."
"...For a lot of beer."
There's a great, white frothy splash. Deposited between them is a crate, marked LIQUOR, somehow surviving the sunken ship with a healthy coat of seaweed.
A single tear goes down Roland's cheek.
"...There is a god..."
Log created on 14:42:16 10/18/2014 by GLaDOS, and last modified on 14:42:48 10/18/2014.