Description: Reaching from beyond the throne room at his palace, Shang Tsung extends his sorcerous powers out into the world after the retreating warrior that mortally injured him--by stopping the warrior before he can interrupt the invasion, Emperor Kahn will be pleased, and surely restore him to his former glory. With his final hexes, he brings back a fighter long dead and another whose darkness is well known. He summons them to the site of Thailand, inflicting them with a strong compulsion to interfere in the white-armored creature's rampage. However, those two find themselves intercepted en route, trapped in a pocket world by a mysterious observer of the mayhem below... "Quaint," the diminutive vampire heiress comments. "So like marionettes you are.... it is a shame I'll have to cut your strings."
There really is no reason for him to be here. There really isn't. There's no attachment to this place for him, nor does he have any real business here. Not to mention, he had his own issues to deal with regarding Metro City and...you know, the kind of things you get stuck thinking about when you find yourself surrounded by a city completely displaced by a storm.
But despite having no reason to be here in Thailand, here Vernon Cross was. The man better known as Vyle found himself here as if drawn by some kind of magnetic force. One that seemed to possess him to find a flight to the southeastern Asian nation, chilled over as it was. And once he was here, he...well, he didn't know the place at all. He's never even BEEN to Thailand before except for a few...well...meetings.
Yet despite not knowing anything about the country for real, he found himself knowing exactly the way he should be going. As if he had a GPS installed in his head directing him to a specific location.
This disturbed the hell out of the luchador. It wasn't bad enough he had his own life outlook turned upside down in Metro City, actually rethinking his entire selfish life at one point, but now he felt...possessed. And it just made him really ****ing angry. "What the hell is this ****ing ****. I swear to god if I find the person doing this ****, I'm gonna drown them in venom and then break their godd-...." He stopped on his monologue as he found himself upon a road, scowling. Again, he know exactly the turn he needed to make here... "...if it's a ****ing ghost doing this, I swear, I'll find the nearest church, steal their damn holy water, and make them drink the entire goddamn bowl," he grumbled. So much for rethinking his dark, selfish worldview....
Everything had been darkness. A void of nothingness... Until she heard a voice. A voice that echoes in her head. Somehow, she knew who this voice belonged to...
It was the voice of her Master. His call to arms.
The voice whispered orders to her, made sure she kept her focus. All of her past was forgotten, there was only one thing on her mind now : stop the white-armored creature, to allow her Master to flee.
When her eyes finally open, Eve is in Thailand. Her location is the last of her concern right now, all of her thoughts dedicated to one purpose. She found herself on the same road as Vyle, and even if she did not know about this man, the whispers in her head told he was here to help realize her Master's bidding.
Unlike Vyle, Eve was fully under control of her body. It was her mind that was spellbound, all of her memories cast aside and replaced by the desire to aid one person. There was something weird about Eve, something a little eerie. Her skin was as pale as chalk and had heavy shadows under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept in days.
She follows him and seems to ignore much of his bickering. "It is the will of the Master... We must stop the white armored man.." Eve simply replies. As if it was just that simple.
Gosh, it sure is stormy here in Thailand. Was it five minutes ago? No? Must be your imaginations. Because right NOW, the wind is heavy, the clouds are roiling, and though no rain falls, the threat of it is an iron-like tang in the air, that charged feeling of a thunderstorm just on the horizon. Certainly, weather that is as dramatic as the seemingly supernatural purpose driving these two apparently unrelated fighters together in a corner of the world they've really no need, or even DESIRE, to be in.
Then there's a flash of lightning so close-by, so powerful, that the world itself goes white, and the ears of everyone in the vicinity are deafened by powerful thunder.
And when the spots clear from Eve and Vyle's eyes?
They're clearly not in Thailand anymore, that's for sure. Underfoot, a large, round lawn is filled with blood red roses, the garden itself encircled by a stone walkway, and that surrounded by a head-height wrought iron fence of Gothic shapes, including a motif of... bats? Interspersed at regular intervals are lampposts with warmly-glowing lanterns, topped with... jack-o'-lanterns? And that's to say nothing of the large, round greenhouses of orange glass and the twisting, ornate medieval castle in the distance, lit by a tremendously large full moon.
Yeah, probably not Thailand.
Seated at the edge of the garden in an ornate white metal chair is what appears to be a young woman, a pale blonde in a Gothic-looking black dress with curiously-shaped black hair ties around two long, thin pigtails. She sips from a white porcelain teacup before turning her gaze to the 'visitors' with obvious disdain. "My, my. You're quite early. Children should have better manners."
Scowling, Vyle looked back toward the pale, ghostly woman following him. "No one asked you. And who the hell are you anyway, you never answered that? And who the hell is this master you're talking about? And who the hell ist his white armored man? Nothing you've said since you started following me made any sense!"
And when he turns around, he...finds himself ducking his head down. Ok, he knew it was cold here in THailand now, but the wind was new. And the fact that it made walking harder than before just really annoyed him. "And where the hell did this storm come from? Goddammit, what the hell is wrong with th-"
And then the world goes white. And when his eyes clear, he's....not in Kansas anymore. "....and now where the hell are we?" he asks, stomping a rose underfoot as he looked around. They somehow took a wrong left turn at Vietnam and ended up in Transylvania, or a reasonable facsimile.
And when he starts to open his mouth, he spots a young woman sitting at a table, sipping tea as if she was expecting him. "....who the hell are you, you brat? What the hell is this place? Where the **** did Thailand go? And why the hell are we even here?" His eyes twitch, finding himself getting sick even of his own questions, his annoyance reaching a boiling point. "AND WHO THE **** DO I HAVE TO CHOKE TO GET A DECENT ****ING DRINK HERE?!"
The girl remains silent as she follows Vyle. Not because she's giving him the silent treatment, but mostly because she had no answer to give to him, or any way to explain anything to him. Everything felt so intuitive, so natural that it was beyond word. She doesn't even share her name.
Eve lifts her gaze up when she feels the storm picking up. She wasn't afraid of thunder and lightning, but when the lightning strikes close to them, she instinctively lifts her right arm over her face to protect herself. Alas, a bit too late. The loud noise still rings in her ears the flash leaves her partially blinded and staggered. When she finally recovers, the scenery around of her had changed drastically.
Eve blinks a few times and she stares around of her, mouth agape. This sight felt like some sore of child's nightmare coming to life. Just a few moments ago, Eve knew exactly what path to take, where to go, but now... She had lost this bit of insight. She did not know where to go to accomplish her mission, to perform her deeds for her Master.
Eve turns on her heels toward the voice, scanning the area for a moment until she notices the black clad girl. She glances at Vyle and then back at the girl, "What do you mean? We must hurry, we have no time to lose... Are you responsible for all of this?" She asks, glancing around the various bat and jack-o-latern designs.
Despite Eve's questions and Vyle's... we'll also call them 'questions' in the interest of civility, the young woman is content to sip her tea, eyes closed, entirely unperturbed by the sudden appearance of people in her garden, let alone by at least one of them launching into an epic, profanity-filled battery of demands. "I suppose one shouldn't have any illusions that mere puppets from the lower world would show any kind of refinement," the young woman says in a distracted, airy tone. Setting down her teacup, the pale young girl dabs at her mouth with a napkin before slipping out of the chair and standing, brushing her bangs from her eyes idly. Even with the chunky platform shoes she wears, Rachel Alucard barely crests the height of a young child. Certainly, however, her speech patterns belie her apparent age.
"How dare you talk to the mistress so?!" demands a deep male voice from... nowhere? Everywhere? It's followed by a higher-pitched voice like that of an angry schoolboy. "You should be careful! You don't know what she'll do!"
Of all the things that's happened so far, it is surprisigly THAT which seems to catch the young girl's ire, but even then, the difference is practically impossible to notice. It's a sudden tilt of the head, a slight narrowing of the eyes. Her tone of voice changes not at all, though. "Gii... don't say anything you may regret later. And the both of you, it's rude to not present yourself to guests."
Both voices cry "Y-yes, mistress!" in terrified unison, and then, from seemingly nowhere, appear two strange creatures indeed: a rotund black cat with rosy red cheeks, and a flying... crimson... bat... thing that looks more like a plump stuffed animal than an actual bat.
"Now then," the girl says, turning to her guests. "You should be grateful that I've offered to entertain you while Mr. Hero goes about his work. Frankly, that I'm allowing you two miscreants to stay is a minor miracle. But if you're to stay, I'm going to insist that you act with social graces.
The feeling of a pulsing vein in his temple makes Vyle even more irritable, his blood pressure spiking as he finds his dander raised up more and more at the haughty, superior tone from the young girl...and the deeper voice in the ether scolding Vyle. Rather than being intimidated by the mysterious voice, the rudo simply gives the general area a...rather lewd gesture involving one arm thrusted in the air, bent around his other arm from beneath.
He doesn't bother arguing with the voice though. Even he can't really say anything about the 'puppet' parts. It does feel like he's been dragged around to this very place, and while that part has gained his rage, it's not a point he can really argue. Even when the cat and the bat appear at their mistress's beckoning, he simply scowls.
Turning back to Rachel, he narrows his eyes at her. "Hero? What hero? IS this that man in white armor she was babbling about?" he asks, thumbling toward Eve. "What the hell is that supposed to do with us? And you act like I want to stay here. I don't want to be here, I didn't even want to be in Thailand. What the hell are we doing here to begin with? And I swear if your pets have another smart word..." Social graces are...not Vyle's strongest point.
The sudden scolding that comes out of nowhere causes Eve to lower her gaze. The stern intonation made her react naturally, without a second thought, keeping her eyes cast on the ground meekly, standing straight and silent. Vyle's voice makes her snap out of it, allowing the voice in her head to remind her of her purpose, of her mission.
This woman was not her Mistress. She was holding her back, preventing her from completing her mission, from helping her true Master. Her posture changes, as if she had grown some spine, her hands tightening into fists as she lifts her eyes up to glare at Rachel.
It was a problem to solve. She was holding her back, Eve had to get rid of her. "Let us go," Eve warns, "We have to stop him, and if that means taking you down and beating you to a bloody pulp, than we shall.."
Eve's hair slowly rises over her head as static electricity builds up around her, some arcs of lightning flowing through her body, crackling louder and louder as she builds up the energy, manifesting her chi through the electricity that gathers inside of her body.
COMBATSYS: Eve has started a fight here.
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Eve 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Eve gathers her will.
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Eve 0/-------/=======|
Hm. Troublesome.
With a sigh, the blonde shakes her head, looking at Eve and Vyle with... stern disappointment? That's about the best one might be able to fathom from her general expression, which seems vaguely disdainful even at the best of times. "I had so hoped it wouldn't come to this. How quaint." She steps forward, brushing a hand down the front of her ornate dress, and looks at her guests in complete exasperation. "You don't even notice what marionettes you are right now. I suppose I shall have to cut your strings if I'm to see a moment's peace. Nago? Gii?"
On cue, the cat and the... bat... thing... sweep over to their mistress. The fat red bat floats idly by her, while the cat... well. To be blunt, it suddenly shapeshifts into a black parasol with a scarlet lining, the top of the umbrella domed somewhat and featuring a cat's eyes, ears, and mouth. Does she plan to FIGHT you people? With a cat umbrella and Alexander McQueen heels?
"Well, then, shall we?" she says, blandly, before gesturing with her hand. On cue, the red bat goes tumbling through the air at Eve, its rotund body surrounded by swirls of wind, and looking to cannon straight into her.
COMBATSYS: Rachel has joined the fight here as a boss!
RACHEL
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Eve 0/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Vyle has joined the fight here.
RACHEL
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Vyle 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0 Eve
Rolling his eyes, Vyle simply glowers at Rachel. "How do we know you aren't the one pulling strings here, huh?" he saks. He knows something is drawing him here, but he has no idea what, and he can't even say if it's really something pulling him or just his own imagination. Of course, he's quick to blame some outside force since tthat's so much simpler. And it doesn't help that this little girl is being a haughty superior little...well, obviously someone that Vyle has taken to disliking instantly.
Of course, seeing the cat and bat transform into things like...an umbrella? And a bat? "...what the hell are you, lady?" he asks, sneering. Dropping into a ready position in case things come to blow, the rudo narrows his eyes. And when things start out, he finds himself skittering off to the side, even if he's not the target of that cannoning bat...thing flying out.
That suits Vyle just fine though, giving him time to leap out and try to lock his legs around the mysterious brat's head. "You messed with the wrong rudo, chica," he sneers, hoping to take her over in some kind of headscissors takedown and take her down a peg.
COMBATSYS: Eve blocks Rachel's Tiny Lobellia.
RACHEL
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Vyle 0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\1 Eve
Marionette? No, Eve was no marionette! The Sorceror's magic had stripped her of her free will, but deep down, she truly believes she is acting on her own, guided by his voice inside of her head that reminds her of his desires, of her purpose.
Eve glares at the gothic girl, legs spread apart, standing in her combat stance. When the bat is hurled her way, Eve defends herself by lifting her arms up to block it. The impact and the gusts of winds that comes with it knocks Eve away a few feet. The girl manages to catch herself though, staggering back and catching herself before she falls.
She kneels down and propulses herself into a high jump to quickly close the distance between them, manifesting some of her chi as a burst of wind to hurl herself in Rachel's direction. She lifts her fist in the air, charging it up with her electricity, the lightning crackling loudly and arcing from her hand as she attempts to punch Rachel's midsection and unleash a surge of electricity with it, hopefully after Vyle had taken her down, in an attempt to further pummel her down.
COMBATSYS: Rachel dodges Eve's Fierce Punch.
RACHEL
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Vyle 0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\1 Eve
COMBATSYS: Rachel fails to interrupt Viper's Coil from Vyle with Sword Iris.
RACHEL
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Vyle 0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\1 Eve
The little pink bat rebounds off Eve and then, with a *poof!*, reappears back near his mistress, who is watching the fighters approaching her with a sort of droll amusement. And what may or may not be noticed is that, on the ground nearby, a slender white pole topped with a bat suddenly rises silently from the ground. As the lightning-charged NESTS fighter barrels her way, Rachel suddenly sweeps out of the path of the strike, the wind subtly pushing her out of the way with a ruffle of black skirts and white lace. But it's Vyle who actually spoke to her, and so he gets her attention next.
Unfortunately, her riposte does not work entirely as planned; even as Vyle approaches her, Rachel gestures vaguely with one hand and the sky above suddenly opens up, releasing a bolt of pink lightning which aims directly for the pole that had risen from the ground. Rather unfortunately, Vyle had already moved too far past the pole by the time it strikes, and the bolt misses him by a hair's breadth, meaning he gets his attempted lock in, flipping the young girl over. However, at the last second, the umbrella-cat disappears, then reappears beneath her as a sort of... cat bean bag onto which she falls, substantially cushioning the blow.
Getting to her feet, the young blonde seems more annoyed than hurt, and the cat once again forms the umbrella in her hands as if nothing had happened. "Me? Your puppetmaster? Oh, how adorable. Why would I pick such unsophisticated, boorish louts as you two to do my bidding? I'm ably stocked with competent servants. You're primarily an evening's diversion for the time being."
Vyle is a fast bugger, at least for a normal human. Normal isn't exactly what one would call him usually, but compared to what Rachel appears to me, it's appropriate to say. That speed seems to help him avoid Rachel's plans for him though as he leaps after her and manages to take her down with his Viper's coil, flipping her over. Sure, he doesn't get her to slam to the ground as hard as he wished, but it's still a success in a way.
And that success gives him a bit of an ego boost, sneering toward Rachel as he gets back upright himself. "I dunno, maybe you should tell us why we're here to begin with then, if we're such boorish whatever the ****s. We didn't come here ourselves, so maybe....oh screw it." He throws his hands toawrd Rachel. No point trying to get her to stop looking down on him.
Besides, that's fine with him. He likes when people underestimate him as it is. And he decides to throw caution to the wind to give her what he sees as a necessary wake up, trying to rush her and then suplex her over his head in a quick belly to belly suplex, the old fashioned way.
When Rachel disappears suddenly, Eve's swing causes her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. She manages to roll on herself and get back on her feet though, using her feet to stop the impulsion that flung her in Rachel's direction. Even straightens herself up, the electricity still coursing through her body.
"We don't have time to waste on those games..." Eve growls. She bites her lips as she assesses the situation, electricity sizzling in her right hand. Vyle was too close to her and if she tried anything, she feared she might end up frying him at the same time.
As of sort, Eve readies herself to jump in action the right moment, trying to find the good opportunity to strike when Rachel's guard will be down and when Vyle might not be in her way.
COMBATSYS: Eve focuses on her next action.
RACHEL
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Vyle 0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\1 Eve
COMBATSYS: Rachel just-defends Vyle's Strong Throw!
RACHEL
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Vyle 0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\1 Eve
"I already told you why you're here," Rachel says in a vaguely bored tone, watching Eve and Vyle with something between detached amusement and boredom... though honestly, her expression is so minimal it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what she's thinking at any given moment either way. "But as long as we're asking, can you tell me honestly where you were going and what you were doing before you came here? Not that I care, of course," she adds, closing her eyes for a moment and flicking a hand past one of her pigtails, brushing it aside, "but we seem to have all this time to kill and neither of you appear to be much for conversation..."
And then Vyle is rushing her. Despite her aura of casual disdain, Rachel is no fool; she's been hit once by Vyle's techniques and really has very little desire to experience it again. Even the most basic of mortals can surprise you with their abilities and strengths, after all. Calculating her time remaining carefully, the vampire doesn't appear to move as the rudo charges her, watching him carefully. At the very last second, when he attempts to move in and grab her, there's a *pomf* sound, and Vyle finds his arms closing around... well, the red bat thing, which squeals and struggles, while its master looks on from a few feet away.
For the record, though, that bat thing is warm and soft. If Vyle were into stuffed animals, he'd appreciate it a lot more.
Meanwhile, Rachel holds out her hand, and in the air in front of her appears a... pumpkin? A jack-o'-lantern a little smaller than a person's head, carved with a vicious grin and floating in mid-air, limned with a haze of fairy flame. If she was planning to attack with it, this doesn't seem terribly effective, since it just sort of floats there.
Until she gestures with her hand. In an instant, the wind in the area kicks up, a sudden quite strong gust that might even move the other fighters across the ground an inch or two in the process... but more to the point, a gust that picks up the apparently weightless-seeming pumpkin projectile, which looks to barrel directly into Vyle at high speed.
COMBATSYS: Vyle blocks Rachel's Impish Gypsophila.
RACHEL
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Vyle 0/-------/----===|=======\==-----\1 Eve
Trying to put that speed to good use, Vyle continues to rush in, and it seems like Rachel isn't about to move out of the way in time for her to avoid him...but when he closes his arms around to grab her for the suplex, he's holding onto....a bat? "...what the hell? Where the..." Dropping the bat, he quickly turns around and spots the haughty girl holding a pumpkin.
"What the h-..." he starts, before the wind picks up. Eyes widen and his arms cross over to stop the pumpkin before it crashes into his face. He manages, but the force still ends up tossing him backward, flipping end over end before he can get settled on his feet again. "The.....what the **** are you?!" he snaps. No jokes, no taunts, none of his usual barbs. Vyle is clearly off balance already and it's hard to provoke an opponent you have no idea about. And that frustrates the hell out of Vyle, enough to throw him forward at the mysterious foe and simply try and drop kick her in the face.
While Eve carefully waits for the opportunity to attack, Rachel's words slowly get to her. The gears slowly turn inside of her head but everything seems blank before she had heard her Master's commands. Everything was darkness, just the void.
Then there's a sudden flash in her mind, something that obviously unsettles her. It seems to daze her for a moment, the free hand not holding the electric charge going up to her forehead. The blurry image slowly grows more vivid in her mind as it tries to fight this compulsion, seeking out memories before the darkness...
As she tries to remember, the spell and grasp the sorceror held on her punishes her, wracking her body momentarily, whispering and repeating the same commands to her, to chase away Rachel's questions from her mind, "Yes, my Master.. Must get rid of this nuissance..." She says to herself, or rather, to the voice in her head.
She lifts her gaze up, glaring menacingly at Rachel. She was the reason why her Master was so displeased with her. She had to pay.
The moment Rachel avoids Vyle's grapple and disappers a few feet away, Eve decides to strike. Eve rushes toward Rachel, waving her left hand in front of her, her chi manifesting in a sudden geyser of boiling water at Rachel's feet, meant to engulf her for just a a second or two. At the same time, Eve lunges foward and she throws her crackling fist at her, discharging a part of her electricity into her, the lightning arcs erupting from her fist as she tries to smash Rachel's midsection making a thunderous roar.
COMBATSYS: Rachel endures Eve's Torrential Impulse.
RACHEL
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Vyle 0/-------/----===|=======\==-----\1 Eve
COMBATSYS: Rachel interrupts Light Kick from Vyle with Sword Iris.
RACHEL
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Vyle 1/=======/=======|=======\==-----\1 Eve
"Who am I?"
Here is the unsettling part about this: she is answering Vyle's question *while Eve punches her in the stomach with lightning*. This is not to say that the NESTS fighter's blow doesn't register; indeed, not even Rachel's sangfroid is that good. A grimace floats across her features for a moment. Her haughty expression of boredom replaces it swiftly, but it's there long enough to be noticable to both of the people she's fighting. Clearly, the young woman is capable of being hurt and feeling pain. But damned if she'll show it.
There's also the rather troubling fact, from Eve's point of view, that Rachel appears to be *gathering* the discharged lightning chi that is currently being pumped into her torso by that vicious blow. And the fact that despite the pain she can remain quite conversational MIGHT be the warning sign to Vyle that something Very Bad is about to happen to him.
"I'm a rather busy woman," she says to Vyle, the rudo's intended drop kick suddenly slamming onto her upraised arm. Against all logic -- and the laws of physics -- Vyle hangs there for a moment while Rachel gives him an even-keeled look with the faintest of smiles tugging at the corner of her lips. "One who's actually doing you quite a favor."
This is when a pink lightning bolt -- threaded through with coruscating arcs of the lightning chi that Rachel handily 'stole' from Eve -- erupts from the heavens and strikes Vyle with... surprisingly pinpoint accuracy, given that it's lightning.
"Honestly," she adds, putting a hand to her chin once the dust settles, "I'd have thought you'd be a little more grateful."
Normally, when one does a drop kick, they have to immediately turn over lest gravity take over, and you find yourself landing straight on your head.
The fact that Vyle does this out of muscle memory and yet stays in the air after his feet impact the smaller girl's arm concerns him...for all the second that he remains in the air. After that? Well...the lightning that strikes THROUGH him is enough to give him significantly more worries. He doesn't even get the chance to cry out or anything, just the involuntary shuddering of body, tongue, lungs, diaphragm, etc. that results in a sort of gibbering sound before he finally hits the ground.
When he finally manages to get control back of his body, Vyle is understandably NOT quick to get back up to his feet. "W-what the h--h-h-hell are y-y-y-you?!" he repeats, his voice shuddering. But if Vyle is anything, he's persistent. Annoyingly so, to the point of still trying to go after the mysterious 'benefactor'. A gout of green spit sprays toward her...mind, this is one of the rare times where Vyle truly did NOT mean to do this, his body still having issues retaining proper controls of his motor functions. But you know what? When he realizes he's doing it, he just goes with it. Better than shuddering with nothing to show for it.
A faint smirks spread on Eve's lips as her patience paid off this time. She was able to give her a clean it, discharging a part of her electricity with that punch into her. Her smile fades away though when she realizes Rachel did this to empower herself, to absorb a part of her electricity.
Eve takes a step back, stunned for a moment by how Rachel uses her power to summon a pink lightning bolt to strike Vyle. "You call holding us against our will a favor? Keeping us here?"
"Let's see if you can more of that..." Eve says, gritting her teeth. She was definately not happy with Rachel absorbing a part of her. She brings both of her hands back, lightning arcing from between both of her hands. She then thrusts both palms up in Rachel's direction, unleashing a large undulating bolt of lightning in her general direction. It was always hard to aim with those sort of things. Plenty of smaller little arcs of lightning erupted from the main one that was more or less going in straight line for Rachel.
COMBATSYS: Rachel dodges Vyle's Venom Breath.
RACHEL
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Vyle 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=------\-------\0 Eve
COMBATSYS: Rachel blocks Eve's Lightning Bolt.
RACHEL
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Vyle 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=------\-------\0 Eve
As you might expect, the young vampire's face turns... quite an interesting shade when Vyle spits actual poison at her. She spins away from the oncoming rush of green mist with a quickness, an actual low-angle aerial pirouette that lands her well away from the attack... but which also required such effort on her part that she is unable to do much more than bring an arm up, interposing it between her body and the bolt of lightning, which... well. It travels up her arm and grounds itself in the cat umbrella, for the most part, though the blonde girl winces in pain at the portion of the attack she is unable to redirect.
The umbrella, on the other hand, is a different story: it gives an ululating, deep-voiced "wah-wah-wah-wah" as it is basically electrified for the sake of its master.
"It's not my fault you can't see the forest for the trees," Rachel says to Eve with a shrug, regarding the young woman with an appraising eye. "I could have let you puppets walk out on to the stage, but I'm afraid the lead actor is... a bit of a spotlight hog," she continues, smiling faintly, as if telling herself some private joke. "Instead I gave you a chance to enjoy the spotlight here at home as the heroes. Isn't that grand?"
And then she is sweeping through the air -- somewhat literally -- toward Eve, her feet not touching the ground as she glides toward the NESTS battler on the offensive. When she gets close... well let's just say if Vyle was freaked out before, this isn't going to help. The woman's blood red waistcoat appears to... animate, shifting shape into, of all things, a huge knife and fork, both of which attempt to stab Eve right in the gut.
Well, if Vyle expected his involuntary spitting to do much, he's sorely disappointed, watching the spittle go past as Rachel pirouettes away from him and simply sweeps herself toward Eve to stop the other pale girl's own lightning. While it's not the best of things, at least he's finally gotten some control over his own body to actually straighten up.
Just in time too, to see that waistcoat...animate all of itself, shifting into a set of dinnerwear to try and carve up Eve. "....ok, you are officially the weirdest ****ing brat I've ever met. And you haven't helped your case far as being a puppetmaster considering all the crap you're controlling...."
It takes quite a bit to actually freak Vyle out too, and Rachel has clearly met that standard. ANd that just makes the rudo even more edgy and ready to lash out. Lash out he does too, trying to drive his hand straight into Rachel's back and give her a taste of his own energy, sickly green chi surrounding his stabbing hand.
COMBATSYS: Eve fails to interrupt Crushing Strike from Rachel with Electrifying Takedown.
RACHEL
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0|---------------|----===========
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Vyle 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0 Eve
Eve lets a snort escape her throat to answer. This wasn't the sort of game she wanted to play, nor did she have the time for such nonsense either. When Rachel glides in her direction, Eve dashes in her direction to meet her, intending to interrupt her offense before she can attack her.
Using her chi, a quick blast of wind under her feet propels Eve upward, lightning arcs manifesting around her leg as she lifts it in an attempt to smack Rachel's chin. The knive cuts her thigh, but what really stops her is the fork in which Eve literally impales herself. She more or less literally threw herself on the fork and it pierced her gut. It knocks the wind out of her and causes her body to bend as it's brutally stopped by this. She coughs up some blood, soiling the fork with some blood that comes out from the wound. While she was not fully alive, her body still had her fluids left inside it seems..
Eve winces painfully. It takes her a second to actually recover from that, and her hands reach out for the fork so she can push herself back from the prongs. Once they leave her midsection, more blood spills out and Eve's right arm reaches out for her gut.
COMBATSYS: Vyle successfully hits Rachel with Injector.
RACHEL
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|---============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Vyle 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0 Eve
Perhaps the thought of getting someone's blood all over her nice clean dress is what distracts Rachel, but for whatever reason, when Vyle decides to make his move, the vampire princess is slow to notice. She attempts to turn out of the way, but perhaps her arrogance trips her up in this case: she doesn't move far enough, or fast enough, and the wrestler's chi-imbued strike lands squarely in the small of her back. Of course he was also just ~*rude*~ to her before he struck and that's what's REALLY on Rachel's mind. Plus the man is simply far too close for what Rachel considers her personal space. Something must be done about that.
"Are you referring to this?" she asks, almost sweetly, before extending her hand. On cue, the wind picks up... violently. It is no less than a brute force attempt to simply PUSH Vyle out of the way entirely, creating significant distance between the two fighters. At range, such an attack would be less than useful -- the amount of wind being generated in order to do so requiring a tremendous amount of energy to maintain -- but at point blank range, a 'casual' gust is all that's required.
"Such parlor tricks are hardly 'control' in the way you might imagine it," the blonde responds, bringing a hand to the side of her head with a sigh. "Though I imagine they must seem impressive to uncultured louts such as yourselves."
COMBATSYS: Rachel successfully hits Vyle with Silpheed.
RACHEL
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|-==============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Vyle 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0 Eve
He managed to stab into the seemingly supernatural girl, sure, but Vyle isn't exactly in the best of places to celebrate just yet. Especially when he feels the wind start to pick up. The force is not the kind that he could capitalize on, hoping to provoke a more physical attack. Instead, he finds himself sent flying, and landing hard on his back, feeling like he was just flung from a speeding car.
Trying his best to get air back into his lungs, he slowly pushes himself back up to his feet, shuddering and glowering toward Rachel. "I'll show you culture of your face in the ****ing ground, you brat!" he shouts...or at least tries to. IT comes out more like a gasp, how much it hurts to speak much less scream.
Not that it keeps him from charging anyway, though, trying to tackle Rachel to the ground, and then fling her bodily into the air by her legs enough to flip her end over end. He'd usually do more to follow up but...well, jumping hurts right now.
While Eve's bleeding and recovering from getting impaled by a fork, Vyle provides her with just enough distraction so Rachel doesn't keep on smacking on her. This is all the time she needs to lunge at Rachel once more, to make her pay for impaling her with that fork.
The girl attemtps to get a hold of Rachel's arm and twist it in her back into a painful armlock, holding her close to her. "Let's see if we can impress you with some of our tricks of her own!" Eve draws deep into her inner reserves of chi, using her body as a catalyst to discharge herself. She shouts as the electricity surges through her body and into Rachel, unleashing the lightning out of her to electrocute Rachel to the point it even hurts her. After a moment, once she can no longer bear the charge, Eve completes her grapple by tripping Rachel by sweeping her off her feet and slaming her down.
COMBATSYS: Rachel dodges Eve's Excessive Discharge.
RACHEL
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0|---------------|-==============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Vyle 0/-------/---<<<<|======-\-------\0 Eve
COMBATSYS: Rachel blocks Vyle's Outbreaker.
RACHEL
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0|---------------|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Vyle 0/-------/---<<<<|======-\-------\0 Eve
It's difficult to describe the expression that crosses Rachel's face when Eve's tactics shift from "blitz" to "electrocute myself," that's for certain. It's somewhere between amusedly curious and vaguely confused (in the sense that Rachel's emotional state is almost impossible to accurately gauge from her lack of expression to begin with). Unfortunately for Eve, this puts the vampire substantially in the Time To Not Be Here Anymore camp, and another gust of wind propels the seemingly feather-light vampiress away from her opponent at speed...
...and directly into Vyle's path.
There's no escaping the grab, and the rudo manages to bear the Alucard heiress to the ground, but his attempt to flip her up and over goes rather differently that he'd intended, almost certainly. Again, the wind seems to dance at her command, so what should have been an ungainly backwards flight followed by a painful fall becomes the blonde girl rising into the air, aloft on gales of her own making, before she rights herself and -- against all logic -- Mary Poppins-falls her way safely to the ground with her umbrella.
The umbrella that is also her talking cat servant.
Yep.
"Well, at least you're giving it your best effort. How fortunate for you that I'm not Mr. Hero. I doubt he'd be as kind to interference as I am. Well, then... shall we play a little more seriously?"
With a twirl, the girl's umbrella collapses and the black cat becomes... a raincoat? Yes, a raincoat, complete with a red lining and a cat-eared hood. And then the gale-force winds start, and the rain. These are no mere gusts intended to make the young vampire dance through the air: these are hurricane-force winds with a vengeance. Yet even the wind itself is not necessarily the problem.
It's the cows.
Seemingly from nowhere, this sorcerous tempest has picked up a series of... well, cows, each of which plows through the air directly at Eve at a ridiculously high speed. If you've never been hit by a cow before, needless to say that properly propelled, that much heavy bulk can hit rather hard. And then there's the giant jack-o'-lantern from some horrible garden... and finally a gigantic frog wearing a red cape, tumbling end over end.
While Eve is clearly the victim, here, perhaps Rachel is just waging a rather more psychological war on Vyle.
Cows.
COMBATSYS: Rachel successfully hits Eve with Tempest Dahlia.
RACHEL
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|---------------
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Vyle 0/-------/---<<<<|=======\======-\1 Eve
This gothic girl is quite slippery! Before she can get her fingers on her, she propels herself away from her, leaving her with her own electricity discharging and sizzling her arm some. At least, this allowed Vyle to get his hands on her for a moment...
She keeps her eyes on Rachel and follows her as she glides away with her umbrella. When she approaches her though, Rachel unleashes her next attack, powerful gales of wind. Eve has to brace herself not to be knocked away, shielding her face with her arm. She takes a step back, using all of her strength to stand still. In this position, she hardly sees the dozens of cows flung at her by those powerful gusts of winds. It felt like being hit by a truck -- those things were easily much heavier and larger than Eve, and once after the other they knock her away and smack her in different directions, followed up by other huge objects that crashes into her.
By the end of this, the impact of the multiple cows and objects has sent her flying a good distance. She's lying on the ground and for a moment, it little storm was enough to get rid of her.
Her fingers twitch a bit. Eve growls, electricity crackling through her one last time. She draws into her reserves, draining all of her remaining forces to force herself to her feet. A powerful blast of winds propel her foward, allowing her to get back to her feet. Her body is sizzling with electricity and as she rushes toward Rachel, Eve seems to blink out of existence, closing up the distance between them both.
Lightning arcs from every blows she unleashes at Rachel, slowly discharging her from every bit of energy she has, every strike coming with a loud thunder clap. She blinks and zaps around Rachel while she performs this flurry of blows.
She finishes this with a high-rising kick, getting a hold of Rachel's head with her legs and flipping her over and hurling her off with her last remaining bit of energy.
If there's one thing that a wrestler tends to hate, it's someone who refuses to stay grounded. Usually, it's metaphorical for someone who tends to use a lot of aerial or top-rope moves. But in this case, Vyle is finding the literal instance even more infuriating than the figurative. He was almost sure he had the brat dead to rights and even managed to fling her up, but by the time he gets up, he sees her...floating down. Like something out of a Disney feature.
It was almost enough to get that vein pulsing in the luchador's temple to pop. Almost. "You....little....****ing..." He growls, still shuddery from the lightning strike from earlier.
And then the cows come out, and simply leave Vyle dumbstruck. "....what." No curse, no raised voice, no rising blood pressure. Just the flattest stare and the flattest 'what' he could manage. "......."
He remains like this for a good 5 seconds before he shakes his head out of his fog, backing up a bit. "You are...without a doubt, the strangest ****ing person I've ever had the horror to meet..." he says, trying to hang back for an opening.
Cows. Really, ****ing Cows....
COMBATSYS: Vyle taunts proddingly in hopes of creating an opening.
RACHEL
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|---------------
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Vyle 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Eve
COMBATSYS: Eve successfully hits Rachel with Power Surge EX.
RACHEL
[ |||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|---------======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Vyle 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Eve
Well then. Apparently even mortals can acquit themselves admirably when they're of the mind. The NESTS fighter seems rather determined to make a reprisal against being hit in the face with a series of cows and, let's be honest, if it were you, you would too. And the fact that Vyle has decided to engage her in conversation -- well, 'conversation' -- doesn't help. The vampiress gives the rudo a roll of the eyes. "Really? Such parlor sorcery is the strangest thing you've ever seen? What a cloistered existence you mu--"
She doesn't get that sentence out because right about then, Eve decides to make her reappearance. Considering that Rachel had written her off, this is... both unexpected and kind of a problem.
The blonde girl attempts to interpose her cat servant into the path of the attack, but there is precious little time. After the NESTS fighter's explosive combination comes to an end, Rachel indeed goes sailing through the air, only to land at the last second on Nago becoming that fluffy black beanbag shape once again. The Alucard scion lies on her comfortable perch for a moment, looking... confused?
And then annoyed.
Getting to her feet, she brushes herself off. Perhaps it's magic that keeps her outward appearance from looking anything other than pristine -- no blood, no bruises -- but any fighter with half a sense can tell: that stung and then some. Apparently, Eve's revenge was quite effective. Which might be why the air suddenly feels static charged, and not from all that lightning.
"Ungrateful, naughty children. I've really done my best to be merciful this entire time." The unspoken rider: the kid gloves are off.
%Or are they? Rachel turns to Vyle and makes a waving gesture with her hand. At which point something green seems to fly from her sleeve to the ground, but quickly enough that it's not clear wha--
No, it's a frog. It's definitely a frog, marching slowly but inexorably toward the wrestler. Yep.
COMBATSYS: Vyle dodges Rachel's George XIII.
RACHEL
[ ||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|----------=====
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Vyle 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Eve
But Vyle is a spoilsport with no interest in frogs. Poor George the 13th, let out to play at last at the very end of the world, and left to wander the rose garden alone. Let us mourn.
Feeling that vein in his temple start to throb again at the vampiress's continued condescension, Vyle scowls from his place at a distance, narrowing his eyes toward Rachel. It's a perverse pleasure he finds when he sees Eve's explosive strikes land flush on her. "That's one way to shut you up, I guess," he says with transparent glee, especially as annoyance actually reaches Rachel's expression.
Of course, that glee gives way to confusion and worry as Rachel sends out a...frog?...toward him, having leapt from his sleeve. "...the hell..." Giving the frog wide, wide berth, even if it forces him to take the long way around toward Rachel, Vyle finally turns himself back toward his target, and sneers. "Mercy my left athlete's foot," he snaps out before leaping out, trying to grab hold of the vampiress's head and spin her around before falling back, the aim to drive her head straight into the ground and finally stop her from pirouetting about the two of them.
All this electricity channeled through her body makes Eve's body ache all over. Her muscles feel very tensed, and she's panting loudly from exhaustion. Her blonde hair have finally fallen back straight on her back once she has discharged most what she had left in her.
Eve staggers a bit but draws closer from Rachel. In her current condition, she doubts she'll be able to overcome this woman, though with a bit of luck, she might be able to defeat her and give Vyle a chance to help out her master. "I'm not done yet..." Eve shouts at Rachel, to try and get her attention.
She clenches her hands into fists and shouts again, gathering her energy and forcing more electricity, though this time painfully so, letting the current flow through her and crackle visibly over her body. She focuses on giving it one last shot with all of her remaining energy, shouting to help her canalyze...
Unfortunately, Vyle goes up close to Rachel to attack her, and he ends up being too close for her not to catch her in her incoming attack... And it's too late for her to cancel and repress the deadly electric charges she has been building up inside of her.
Once she can no longer hold the electricity inside of her, Eve lifts her arms up and shouts, arcs of electricity dancing from her in all direction, a spherical blast of electricity erupting from her and away from her, expending away. The various arcs of lightning swirls in chaotic patterns away from her, blasting and hitting everything around her.
Rachel was close enough to be caught in this shocking nova, but Vyle also got in range... And any other things close to Eve are quite at risk from getting blast by those dangerous arcs of lightning.
COMBATSYS: Eve can no longer fight.
RACHEL
[ ||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|----------=====
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Vyle 0/-------/---====|
After this onslaught of electricity, arms up in the air, Eve's body literally fumes. Her body trembles, a few spasms caused by the electricity that's still in her but this last attack drained her totally, sapped her of her remaining strength. She collapses to the ground afterward, her body growing limp, almost lifeless.
COMBATSYS: Rachel dodges Eve's Shocking Nova.
RACHEL
[ ||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|----------=====
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Vyle 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Rachel dodges Vyle's Dead Spiral.
RACHEL
[ ||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|----------=====
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Vyle 0/-------/--=====|
To cap off this bizarre experience for everyone involved, Rachel doesn't appear to move or even take much interest in the attacks coming her way. Instead she watches the onrushing attackers with interest, murmuring faintly, "Ara... I suppose I've done enough for now. Congratulations," she continues, and now -- despite her quiet tone of voice, both Eve and Vyle can hear her quite clearly, as if something was carrying her words directly into their ears... the wind, perhaps? "You've entertained me sufficiently. I suppose that'll do for now. Killing you would be such work for poor Valkenhayn, after all." For who? Although there is something in just the SOUND of the name that suggests 'Valkenhayn' is... probably not normal, either. After all, her servants so far have been a bat that looks more like a stuffed animal and a shapeshifting cat.
"I won't say I'm impressed, but... perhaps I'm intrigued? Maybe we'll meet again in the next world. Not that you'll remember..."
What does THAT mean?
And then both fighters arrive to deal indiscriminate death to Rachel and she's just... not there anymore. Literally gone in the blink of an eye and a flash of black-limned white visible from the corner of the eye. As Eve collapses -- and Vyle deals with being potential collateral damage -- the wind picks up to gusting, again, and the pair are surrounded by a tornado of rose petals, swirling in every direction, blocking sight of basically anything.
When they finally settle down -- and in fact, fade from existence -- the two are right where they last were in Thailand, safe and sound... and as a bonus, finding themselves waking up from Shang Tsung's spell for good measure.
What... just happened?
COMBATSYS: Rachel takes no action.
RACHEL
[ |||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|---------======
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Vyle 0/-------/--=====|
COMBATSYS: Rachel has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Vyle 0/-------/--=====|
COMBATSYS: Eve successfully hits Vyle with Shocking Nova.
[ \\ <
Vyle 1/----===/=======|
COMBATSYS: Vyle takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Vyle can no longer fight.
It's an old wrestling axiom that a GOOD wrestler could put on a good match with a broom. Some have gone on to have good matches with nothing at all. That said...usually, those instances happen when the wrestler expects to be wrestling nothing.
This is not the case with Vyle, where he fully expected someone to be there for his attempted technique, and finds nothing at all. His anger is quickly replaced by befuddlement when he lands in the empty space that Rachel used to occupy. The landing is...ignominious, falling straight on his shoulder as he drops down. That's bad.
Then the lightning storm from Eve happens and fills the general area with chi-lightning. And seeing as he's the only person left to actually get hit by it, Vyle ends up taking the full bront of it. That's...worse.
It'd be a lot of cursing and rage and sputering from the luchador if he wasn't passed out at this point. Perhaps that's a small mercy for all involved.
Log created on 20:22:21 10/18/2014 by Eve, and last modified on 07:20:06 10/20/2014.