SNF 2014 - ...More.

Description: In the new world, they're going to ban fighting aboard boats. They literally always sink. Anyway, most everybody just barely survived. While Tran and Roland sit on an island drinking endlessly, Sakura and Hinata have found themselves washed up on a shore, on the edge of a massive gulf in time. It takes the form of an abandoned city being hammered by a crystalline rainfall. The city is not recognizable by any measure you'd know of--it seems like it's from a vast and far flung future, where no one survived. Except one Ryuhaku Todoh. He's been training for this moment for literally hundreds of thousands of years, perfecting the ultimate Kasane Ate, until each Kasane Ate gained life, sentience, and a headband of its own. This rainy, stormtorn city is filled with hundreds upon thousands of Todoh. Now, faced with his final opponents, he will show no mercy!! Can help from a mysterious ninja let the plucky schoolgirls stem the tide of Todoh?



After that little incident on a boat, the fates of Sakura and Hinata seemed uncertain.
No, maybe it still is... beyond the existence of a beach that seems to catch the two, to save them from certain death by the tumultuous ocean that violently whips about behind all of them....
Up to a point, where great waves of ocean water suddenly fragment into segments of three, gently descending upon the beach. The mists of crashing water seem to take something of a blocky form, for what vapors might be visible by the naked eye whenever the two of them come to.
The air is deathly still and, rather notably, completely free of the scent of any tobacco. (This is a strange trait to identify in specific, but it is nonetheless prominent and worth mention that someone likely would, improbably, acknowledge this fact.) In the distance... nature appears to have overtaken a city. Every home, every building, every street... it is either hopelessly crumbled, overgrown in plants that seem to bear oddly rectangular, triple-segmented shapes.
It is far removed from anything anyone has ever seen... except maybe some amateur video projects using a certain very popular game, but enough about that.
As if being spiteful to contradict the already written statement about the air being still, a colorful, crystalline rain descends harshly upon this landscape of ruin and neglect. Still oddly yet, the raindrops are highly visible, looking like three raindrops all barely connected to one another as they descend at a rate that seems to defy the laws of gravity, splashing against the ground in similar, smaller trios of particle matter with the faintest hints of yellowish-orange. It really gives an odd tint to the ground. It's all the more alien.
Even more baffling yet, in the distance... people mill about, as though something resembling ordinary life could possibly exist here. A lot of them seem to be playing hide and seek with one another, how they pop in and out of very strange corners. Flashing lights of yellowish-orange can be seen in the distance, almost like unnatural lightning flashes... or very large fireflies taped together in groups of three, maybe.
Curioser and curioser...

Standing in stark contrast to the otherworldly beauty of this strange island is some being from the depth. Weird, slimy tentacles writh about on its head as two giant eyes twitch about. Long, green tendrils hang all over its form as it slowly rises up from the light sand of the beach. The blubbering groan that emits from it is one that has never been heard by human ears, long ago banished into the blackest depths of the ocean, accompanied with a disgusting squelch with each step it takes as its arms raise in front of it, feeling around blindly under the sun whose light has never managed to reach its home. This must truly be a sign of the end times!

...Or it's Hinata Wakaba, reaching up to grab an octopus and yank it off her head, grunting as its suckers are forcibly peeled off her face, leaving behind light red circles.

"Ewww, gross..." she whines as she tosses the octopus back out into the water and begins to pull layers of seaweed off her body, hitting the sand with a wet swish.

Once she's managed to free herself from her oceanic chains, she looks frantically around the beach until she catches sight of another body, ignoring the actual surroundings for the time being

"Sakura!" Hinata cries out as she rushes across the beach, each step filling the air with a combination of the distinct sound of running on sand combined with water squirting up out of her oversized sneakers, leaving behind a trail of moist sand.

"Ugh... Hina-chan... did you really have to sink the boat?" It's a complaint, sure, but one made partially in jest--Sakura's voice holds as much relief at seeing Hinata as it should. Running towards the other schoolgirl, she briefly joins hands with her comrade, then lets go and shakes her head.

"Need to dry off..." She's pretty ragged, herself, her seifuku definitely having seen better days; her shoes squish a little with each step, her hems definitely disorganized. She falls into step with Hinata as she gestures towards the city with the odd rain.

"Looks like that's the only place to go... I don't... I don't know where we are but..." Sakura's voice falters a little, then she shakes her head.

"But we've got no choice. So, c'mon... let's hope we can find somewhere to hole up and at least dry off, hey?" she says, with a smile for her friend. She might be lost, potentially in space and time, but at least she isn't alone...

Perhaps 5 yards further up the beach, the oddly sparkly motes of light are drawn out of the rain drops and coalesce into an upright rectangle. The rectangle pulses several odd shades of orange and yellow, then, after a moment, seems to sigh in defeat and sag into a washed out grey with flickers of white around the edges.

A shadow shifts in the depths of the portal. At first a dark blip in the grey, the darker mass grows larger and more defined, swelling until it nearly fills the doorway completely. And then, the now man-shaped mass of shadow steps out through the grey opening and onto the sand.

"Hrrrrrm." grumbles the newly arrived figure in a deep, bass rumble. The illusion of being a shadow clings to him for a moment longer, but as the portal behind him flickers and fades, the colors of the surrounding world seem to rush into him. This reveals him to be a rather large, heavily built man, with shaggy golden-brown hair and mismatched blue and white eyes. Despite his size he is wearing a ninja costume. And despite the fact he just stepped through a mystical portal of doom, he seems unreasonably cool about it.

Who knows. Maybe he steps through mystical doom portals all the time.

Sparing a single, idle glance for the two school girls standing off to his left, the big ninja gives a single blink of his good eye, the scarred white one continuing to stare straight at them. After a moment, however, he inclines his shaggy head to them in greeting and shifts his attention off to his right, staring off toward the city and its hide-and-seek playing occupants. Something about that city holds his attention for considerably longer than the two girls.

AT least Noboru isn't punching anyone. He has been known to do that.

As they draw closer, the evidence of the presence of people wandering here seems to up and disappear. Their eyes were not playing tricks upon them - there were people here. Now, they are gone. Even the ninja, who might have a particularly gifted eye for this sort of thing... sees nothing.
The strange three-segmented precipitation continues as they might allow curiosity to guide them further in.
For lack of any visual feedback as they go deeper into this ruin of a city... There is evidence of occupation. Footsteps. Well-trodden streets. The buildings do look... existed in. It's hard to imagine anyone managing to live in these conditions, with the roads in such disrepair, with plant life infiltrating just about every nook and cranny. The roofing is clearly terrible and isn't keeping the water out.
There's really nowhere to hide, but yet, they've all seemed to vanish...?
No, there they are again. Figures, in... dresses? No, just pants with very very wide trunks... no wait, long hair, must be fema-- no, these are men. They are of identical height, of identical dress, and apparently, identical predispositions for liking to stand just at the very edges of one's vision.
They are there, watching. A few of them seem to be bearing fans. None of them say anything to the gathered. None of them approach.
The path, vaguely defined only as what might seem collectively interesting to the three of them, eventually comes up towards a mound of rubble.
Long-rotted, incomprehensible wooden slabs seem to make up the bulk of it as much as any other material that might be in there. Girders? Planks? Sliding doors? It is a hill of purposeful accumulation, much too specific about what it has collected to be seen as a proper landfill. It goes up higher and higher yet, threatening to even stab itself into the heavenly bodies above that are obscured by thick clouds.
Somewhere on the top... is a steamroller. One long decommissioned, rusted and worthless aside from managing to largely keep its shape.
Lightning flashes, the bolt triplicate and awful boxy in the composition of itself, revealing... a silhouette, that sits upon a lawnchair at the very top of this thing.
"Hm." That wasn't Noboru.
"You are here."
As the lightning thunders out into the city, it reveals the visage of... someone awful familiar. That long hair, that headband, that moustache... those pants...
He looks like a living corpse, dried and withered, and yet he doesn't seem to buckle under his own weight standing up. The wind whips his hair about dramatically, so greyed as to be whiter than even white, flesh wrinkled and full of liver spots. The wind is so intense that it should knock something like him over to an inglorious end, but yet...
"I've waited for this day," they speak. Are they upset? Enthusiastic? It's... hard to say, "just when I thought I was all that remained... I finally won... or so I thought...!"

Today is becoming one of those days where weird things stop being so weird. Alright the boat fight was just a little strange. Getting covered in sea life a bit more. Now some ninja steps out of a magic doorway. Obviously this is just going to be one of those days where things decide not to make any sense.

"...Do you know any giant gaijin ninja, Sakura? ...I guess he looks a bit like Batsu and Kyosuke, maybe he's related to them." Hinata muses at the new arrival. She's about ready to ask him what he's doing here, but the way he turns and wanders off down the path without saying anything kind of makes her rethink the notion.

Whatever, then, this is really the only place to find shelter and maybe get to dry off. The slow, dramatic walk down the pathway into this unusual land is sort of ruined by the fact that Hinata's shoes cannot stop squelching with her soaked socks. It probably couldn't be much more annoying unless she was actually wearing squeaky clown shoes.

"...This place is weird. And I don't really like all those weird guys spying on us like that and-"

The sunshine girl's observations are cut off by the sudden flash of lighting revealing some weird old guy. The sort of old guy who gives speeches and looks really familiar...

"Hey, you look a lot the guy who kept showing up to Seijyun sporting events and kept trying to attack the kids from other schools, shouting about how his daughter is the best..." She turns to look at Sakura, apparently not giving this dramatic moment all that much weight. "Wasn't he Kasumi Todoh's father or something? I think he got arrested for trying to run over Yuri's family's dojo with construction equipment last year."

With the way things have been going lately, very little actually fazes Sakura. "I... he looks familiar," she muses, to Hinata, about the appearance of Noboru. Doors of space and time? Sure! Why not? It's no stranger than a... uh... an army of Todohs...? Her first instinct was to greet him--she's seen Mr. Todoh before, of course. She's been friends with Kasumi, too. So she's heard some of the stories.

"I--yeah, I think so. Rumor was he tried to hire the woodshop guy at Pacific, I think, 'cause he's got a lot of construction equipment, but that guy wouldn't do it so he just went and got one himself or something. I dunno, Kasumi wasn't too up on the details... or uh, at least, she didn't tell me too much," she says to Hinata.

Raising her voice, Sakura cups her hands over her mouth and shouts from where she is. "MR. TODOH!!" she calls, noting how her voice almost feels like it's got a strange echo to it, though she can't confirm it.

"MR. TODOH!! ARE YOU OKAY?!? ARE YOU IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE" she calls, walking towards the city still. Her own shoes squelch and squish but aren't as thickly built as Hinata's--a little less material to deal with--so her steps aren't quite as bad as her friend's.

"Gosh, there are a lot of them," she notes to Hinata, distractedly.

Moving along ahead of the two girls, Noboru doesn't stroll or walk as much as prowl along the overgrown streets of the abandoned city. He has that uncanny knack of ninja to move quietly, and lose himself in the shadow of an overhanging roof, only to appear a moment later stepping through a beam of misty light that shines down through the rain. he doesn't seem to be trying to hide, it's probably just a habit.

He does look sort of old for a ninja. Don't they usually explode when they hit 20 or something? That must make him nearly as ancient as principal Raizo.

As Noboru prowls he tracks the figures that watch him from the corner of his eyes. He has faced opponents with skills that allowed them to thwart his normal vision. As sharp as his senses, and as trained as he is, Noboru is still only human. However, he has never met someone who could hide from his second sight.

The hulking shinobi's brow is creased in a mild frown as he watches a figure vanish out of the corner of his bad eye. His eye that can see all the chi and psy in the world. See the surges of power in people and through the air, manifested or not. But these men. Whatever they're doing to vanish and re-appear, they can hide it from him. That, more than anything else, troubles the ninja.

Luckily Noboru does at least recognize these men. And as he comes to a halt at the foot of the giant mountain of debris, he recognizes the man standing atop the rusted out hulk of a steam roller. Ryuhaku Todoh is known to the Miyama clan. They never expected him to become much more than a surprisingly talented nuisance. However, he has been known to do statistically improbable things on a fairly regular basis. So, they try to keep tabs on him.

Sadly, Noboru had no idea that he'd taken over a destroyed city and made thousands of copies of himself. The Miyama must be slipping. That, or this portal has taken him somewhere very strange indeed. it's impossible to know which when dealing with Todoh.

"..." Noboru replies, staring up at the crazy old man in utter silence. As he clasps his gloved hands neatly behind his back, he reflects idly on the fact that he would have grumbled a bit more, but Todoh's own grumbling has disrupted the flow of grumble. it would be too soon for him to do so now. So it is that the shinobi is left standing quietly in the rain, shaggy hair plastered across his masked face and midnight blue coat hanging in a sodden mass from his shoulders.

At least Noboru isn't wearing squishy footwear.

"Hmph." Just that? Is that all that wrinkled man has to say?
"Ahh. I almost forgot all about that!" He muses? Spits? There's a strain to his throat, from tired muscles that no longer wish to continue to be, but yet are fated to continue suffer being a messenger of his voice, as all throats are. Surely, he has a humorous comeback or response to these... anecdotes? Misunderstandings? Rumors?
The Miyama clan is probably equal parts right and wrong to pay this man any heed, for what absolute nonsense he spews, for what improbable places he appears... on some level, he never quite seemed to be on the same wavelength as the rest of the world, but rarely has he ever ascended to anything remotely threatening.
"Assistance?!" The aged, well past expiration date Todoh bellows back to Sakura, which melts into... laughter. "You'd ask me if I want... help?"
"Ah, those innocent days, indeed!" There is nothing innocent about terrorizing young men and women to strange criteria and stranger motives that largely tie, in some way or shape, towards the aggressive promotion of his fighting style, but if it's by the measure of Todoh himself...
"How long has it been? A hundred years...? A thousand? Ten thousand? A million?"
Beat.
"Seven and a half? Ahh, doesn't matter... it hasn't, not for a long time..."
The aged figure reclines in their lawnchair throne, which is really a terrible choice of throne, especially precariously balanced upon that ruin of a steamroller.
"I have made many enemies! I have unmade many enemies. For years, I bode my time... and as you can see... I am all that is left!" He gurgles out, and it is really hard to tell if he's upset about this, or if he's actually bragging.
He sweeps outward with a hand. "The Sakazakis... I outlasted them! I wept with joy when I saw Takuma's defeated look in his eyes, when I at last won... but it wasn't enough...!"
"Nothing drove me more than overcoming everyone who seemed out of my reach. No one went unchallenged... and every time, every time, I outlasted them... not even time itself would take me away... and now...."
"I've even outlasted my own family. Of calamity, of sissy slap fights between nations and their really big loud and bright explosive things... for years, untold years, I was all that remained! The undisputed, surviving, sole master of martial arts... I dare not even sully it with my name..."
"They are all the martial arts that exist, and will ever exist...!" He brings his hands up high - a very familiar, and dangerous gesture! - and summons yellowish-orangeish blocks of segmented chi that he guides gently downward...
They descend down the mountain. Most of the time, the chi manifestation would disappear back into the aether, but then...!
In its wake, three of him spring forth from it.
"No one else is left... or so I thought," Ryuhaku Todoh, the now ancient master(?)... are we still doing that bracketed question mark thing? Has the narration not paid attention to what just happened?! Right there?!
"All I've had for company is myself! Me, myself, and I! All I've had for friends! Enemies! Disciples! Villains," his teeth grind, "I tire of it... I knew someone had to have survived, to have hidden their lesser ways from me..."
"No more!" Todoh thunders out, as he brings his hands up upon high. "To see the likes of YOU, now, has made me reconsider my fatalistic nihilism! You are stains! You are unpleasant! You are dweebenheimers!"
Some things never change. Some things also typically do not involve showing those... extras... come out of every nook and cranny, entering the unmistakable ready stance of the Todoh way.
"If you dare wish to continue existing, to redefine martial arts as anything other than my way, then... you know what to do...!"
In unison, thousands upon thousands of voices boom out those challenging words...
"ASK FOR IT WITH YOUR MIGHT!"

COMBATSYS: Todoh has started a fight here as a boss!

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                



COMBATSYS: Hinata has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hinata           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Sakura has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hinata           0/-------/-------|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Noboru has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hinata           0/-------/-------|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Noboru           0/-------/-======|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: These Todohs has joined the fight here.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0     These Todohs
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Noboru           0/-------/-======|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: These Todohs has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0     These Todohs
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Noboru           0/-------/-======|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Those Todohs has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0     These Todohs
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Noboru           0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0     Those Todohs
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: More Todohs has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0      More Todohs
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Noboru           0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0     These Todohs
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Sakura           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0     Those Todohs


Look... this is all really weird stuff. It's the sort of revelation that should be accompanied by dramatic music, incredible lights and shadows, and most of all gasps from the heroes. Some great villain has revealed his plan and now threatens the heroes with copies of himself.

Which makes it a bit disappointing from a dramatic stand point that Hinata is just sort of standing there looking bored with it all. Over the last month she'd fought against ane Empire, helped convinced a madman to not blow up her home city, and been in a battle against two drunk idiots that ended with her destroying a cruise ship and washing up on the shores of this island to be threatened by the ultimate form of a guy who everbody in Southtown knows is a crazy idiot.

Somewhere else the world is ending and there's big, dramatic, important fights... this is just silly.

"...Why are you acting like a butt face, you crazy old man?" Hinata points over toward the neawly appeared Todohs stand in their identical stances, looking like some lazy trick by a game designer to make an extra challenge mode in their fighting game. "This is the dumbest thing ever. You just want to throw a ton of moronic you's at us and then make us fight them to prove that we're better than your moronic fighting style that nobody cares about?"

"FINE!"

Hinata suddenly leaps up into the air, swirling her legs dramaticly in kicks that completely miss any target at all, but send her shoes flying right out at the nearest Todoh.

One shoe

Two shoes

Three shoes

...Wait there's a fourth object... did a fish fall out of one of those shoes?

Regardless, somehow Hinata's feet are both clad in new shoes and completely dry as she comes back toward the ground.

Sakura spares Hinata a brief millisecond look. This suddenly went from weird-but-comical to weird-and-dangerous... that Todoh-ryuu mania gone from 7 to 11,000. Hinata leaps into the air, but Sakura circles around, sizing up a group of Todohs. Hinata's right; the world is ending, disasters are occurring around the globe, and here they are, dealing with the mental state of a man who's been mental for years. That doesn't, however, make this any less dangerous for any of them.

Sakura has no idea how Todoh managed to learn to copy himself--she knows that Chizuru Kagura had that ability, at least for short times, but this... this is well beyond that. No more time for talking and thinking, though--instead she bursts into action. With a great yell, she dashes forward, towards the nearest group of Todohs not engaged with anyone, and leaps into the air, twirling around.

her right leg is her weapon, scything repeatedly through the air and, hopefully, through the Todohs, as she goes flying into the midst of them like a little bomb of a schoolgirl.

"Hinata! I know he sounds crazy but -be careful-!!" she shouts, as she goes, adding a last spinning sweep to her Shunpuu Kyaku. Hopefully that'll clear them out some...

Noboru had a feeling this was going to happen.

As his young companions literally leap into action, the big ninja takes a moment to calmly assess his surroundings. Each of the girls seems to have a group of Todohs to deal with. There is another group nearby eyeing him with intent. And, just in front of him, the great big mound of garbage Todoh Prime has balanced his throne upon. Between that and the scattered buildings behind the groups of insane old men, Noboru could probably escape if he needed to. But, the girls are fighting. So...

A long, tired sigh ruffles Noboru's mask as he unclasps his hands from behind his back. Wandering forward a step, the big shinobi stoops down and thrusts his hand into the base of Todoh's garbage mound, withdrawing a 4-foot section of ancient steel girder. Hefting the think length of metal in his right hand, Noboru wheels casually about and approaches the unmolested group of posing old men at an easy walk.

"Perhaps some day, I will be given an option that does not lead to violence." Rumbles the ninja quietly, apparently speaking to the nearest Todoh in the group facing him. His tone is thoughtful, even a little wistful, but he doesn't give the old man a chance to reply.

Taking the final step into smacking distance, Noboru lashes out toward the nearest Todoh, attempting to grab him full by the face. If he can get that grip he'll drag the unfortunate man forward and toss him to the ground, driving a heel hard into his spine as he stomps right over him to get in amongst the crowd of opponents.

Surrounded by crazy old men, the brutish shinobi's left hand lashes out again, attempting to grab a second Todoh by the throat and haul him into the air. Using this new Todoh as an improvised shield, a shield that he happens to be strangling like a chicken, he swings the scavenged girder in a backhanded swipe toward the head of a third red and white clad oldster.

COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits These Todohs with Shunpuu Kyaku.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0      More Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Noboru           0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0     These Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Sakura           0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0     Those Todohs


COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Those Todohs with Renkyakudan.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hinata           0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0      More Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Noboru           0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0     These Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Sakura           0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0     Those Todohs


COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits More Todohs with Spinal Tap.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Hinata           0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0      More Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Noboru           1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0     These Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Sakura           0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0     Those Todohs


t all begs the question, truly, if what is going on before them is 'silly.' With the rifts of time as they are, odds are as good as not that this could be their very future they're staring at - even if it might be some slim silver lining that there is a future, somewhere. (At least, a future that extends at bare minimum, seven and a half years, and in the scope of that minimum amount of years there is nothing but ruin, so... it's not that reassuring after all, is it?)
The shoes pelt a bunch of those Todohs, to an effect that is about as equally silly as Hinata inwardly accuses it of being, for grown men born of chi manifestations suddenly being felled by thrown shoes, dissipating into smaller segments of yellowish-orangeish blocks of chi as they disappear into nothing...
No, this fact may well be what gives these three a fighting chance, as Sakura digs into an encroaching mob of them with the Shunpuu Kyaku as she pays the potential issue the gravity it deserves. No lingering strings of 'maybe, probably, sort of.' They, too, dissipate and disintegrate in the wake of her mighty kicks!
Noboru, in hopes of an alternative in the future, hefts a steel girder and goes about brutalizing those in his way. To his hold, they seem to carry the weight of a normal human being of that particular size - the weightiness that 'feels' right disappears after significant force is exercised with the brutal combinations of girder and heel, leaving disappearing colors of yellowish-orange in his wake.
"Ah, Saikyo, how ironic a name!" Boasts the Todoh atop the pile. "Throwing shoes! Is that what they taught you?! Let me show you what martial artists throw!" To this, those near Hinata throw their hands up, summoning that familiar energy wave in a cascade of descending segmented waves... which puts forth a worrying proposition: /the chi manifestations are manipulating chi themselves/.
"Ansatsuken is dead, girl!" Screams the Todoh atop the pile. "There was this crazy little girl who liked to mimic her idol and she might've actually convinced someone she was the real deal!" Does... he know who he's talking to? That it's the same person? As if already having ideas of their own, six of those Todohs all pick up a nearby fallen neon light sign that has somehow managed to maintain shape - if none of its functionality - fo rmany years, hefty, heavy, and busted as they all fling it at her. These chi manifestations... they're capable of manipualting heavy objects?!
"Bah! You Miyama people are all the same, speaking oh so profoundly while you go and do... that thing," the ancient Todoh says, "for you! I will play your game... I disapprove of you! I disapprove of you harder than any disapproval you could dis me with!!"
Tellingly, for those Todohs that draw near the pile to defend it from Noboru starting to pull the thing apart from underneath it, they cross their arms, narrow their eyes, and go at him in unison...
"Hrrrrrm," is their collective grumble, grumbling in such unison that it is a grumble for the ages... and a most certainly petty waste of time and effort in the arrival of the first three to ever challenge - no, exist - in tandem with this Todoh, and... ultimately harmless, aside from the SICK BURN. (Which is probably not harmless.)

COMBATSYS: More Todohs takes no action.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Hinata           0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0      More Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Noboru           1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0     These Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Sakura           0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0     Those Todohs


COMBATSYS: Hinata parries Those Todohs' Kasane Ate!

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Hinata           0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0      More Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Noboru           1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0     These Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Sakura           0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0     Those Todohs


Nobody insults the shoe throw. It is the most powerful technique of all time. And the Kasane Ate is stupid only for jerks!

As the chi builds its own chi in front of Hinata, the girl readies herself, settling back in an effort to let each of the waves go flying past her... right up until she notices the timing. As each wave comes flying at her, there's just enough time for her to bend around it as she moves forward, ducking in closer as each of the Todoh's launches their attack on her.

By the time the last Todoh has fired her wave, Hinata is right in front of the crowd, appearing solidly for a moment as the dull blur around her motions disappears. "My shoes are better than you guys. You're just a bunch of dummies who need to learn how stop being such jerks!"

As she lets out that cry of intent, her fists whip out, hands sheathed in glowing blue chi as she slams a punch one by one into each of the nearest Todoh's, aiming a crushing blow direct center for each of their chests before her hands draw back behind her for a moment

"The last time you interrupted a school event, you destroyed a cake before I got to have a slice, you moronic doofus!"

That battle cry flares as she throws both fists forward and aimed a double fisted explosive punch at the nearest Todoh's face.

Hey, it looks kind of like a flower.

COMBATSYS: Sakura parries These Todohs' Huge Thrown Object!

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Hinata           0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0      More Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Noboru           1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0     These Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Sakura           0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0     Those Todohs


Is he trying to wound her pride? To impugn her master? Her arts? She almost loses that thread in finding out that these chi manifestations disappear when hit. It's... very weird but it heartens her. Then her heart falls again when they start throwing chi at Hinata. This just became frightening. She never really /dismissed/ Todoh as an actual master of the martial arts, but this goes -beyond- mastery...

The large, heavy neon sign is definitely real, though, and Sakura responds instinctively, using a combination of a deft spin and quick hand placement to redirect herself--not the sign. Pushing off from it lets her launch herself forward, drawing her hands into her stomach as she flies--when she lands, her eyes blazing, she cries, "Ansatsuken is a dead art? TRY THIS! HAAAAAAAAA-DOUKEN!!"

A veritable wall of energy flares out from her hands, hissing and roaring and spitting as she sends it flying at the next Todohs.

"C'mon, you guys," she shouts at Hinata and Noboru, "Let's get up there and show him what for!"

There is an attitude of detached observation that the Miyama employ to deal with exceedingly difficult circumstances. Separating your self from a situation, maintaining objectivity, can really help you maintain focus and ignore distractions.

But, despite all that, the method isn't perfect. when the group of Todohs surrounding Noboru pull back, the big shinobi watches them go with a mild sort of interest. His left hand still clutches the throat of a strangling Todoh, while his right dangles the heavy girder at his side.

The Todoh's form up to guard Todoh Prime's garbage heap. Well that's perfectly understand--

And then the 'HRRRRRM' comes.

For a moment, the brutish ninja simply stares at the group of Todohs before him. His eyes blink once, and he attempts to figure out what he is feeling. it might be annoyance, exasperation, or puzzlement. At the moment he's leaning toward exasperation. Doesn't nature have safe guards in place to make sure something like this doesn't happen? Is Todoh the final result of natural selection?

And then...

"Hrrrrrm." comes Noboru's rumbled response. His shaggy head shakes once, water dripping from his sodden hair, and he directs a thoughtful gaze down toward the Todoh still choking in his left fist.

That'll do.

Releasing his captured Todoh's throat, the ninja instead reaches down for the old man's belt. Getting a firm grip on it, he hauls the oldster effortlessly up over his head. Returning his mismatched gaze to the group of squint-eyed Todohs guarding the garbage heap, Noboru measures the distance, winds up, and takes a single step forward before pitching his captured Todoh at them like an oversized misshapen baseball.

While it's true that Noboru can throw a grown man pretty awesomely far with one hand, that isn't the important thing to wonder in this situation. The real question is. Did Noboru just use the Kasane Ate? If the only requirement is that he throw the energy...well...

COMBATSYS: These Todohs fails to slow Large Hadouken EX from Sakura with Fierce Kasane Ate.
-* CATASTROPHIC FAILURE *-

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Hinata           0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0      More Todohs
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Noboru           1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0     These Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Sakura           0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0     Those Todohs


COMBATSYS: Those Todohs endures Hinata's Rengekiken EX.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Hinata           0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0      More Todohs
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Noboru           1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0     These Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Sakura           0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0     Those Todohs


COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits More Todohs with Large Thrown Object.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Hinata           0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0      More Todohs
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Noboru           1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0     These Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Sakura           0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0     Those Todohs


To say that these clones 'endure' anything when they appear to all disintegrate from the lightest hit seems something of a paradox. This is more from the sudden increase in swarming that they're all but dogpiling on top of one another to get to Hinata.
"Feh, cakes!" The old Todoh dismisses with a handwave. "You kids don't know what it's like to fight for something really important, like... pie! I haven't had one in years! I don't even know how to make one!" He laments, as the clones all swarm to try and pick up Hinata and slam her right back down into the ground. It's more like a body surf of body slams.
In the face of the gigantic Hadouken, the Todoh on top grins as the clones underneath all raise their hands in preparation to receive it. What can one measely, bloated fireball do against an endless number of the perfection of chi manifestation as an efficient, powerful, awful blocky-looking /thing/?
He stops grinning as the mob of Todohs that Sakura fires at - to prove the life of the Ansatsuken style as it lives through her - dissipate in not small numbers as it crashes through them absolutely heedless of their expressions of power, only losing shape and momentum after it's taken out a significant chunk. (One of the chi-clones even, uh, chis itself, it just dissappears into its base components after grimacing and cowering.)
The Todoh on top blinks for a bit, the feat of mastery in which Noboru effectively turns a Kasane Ate-turned-Todoh against the clones that have started to swarm him in order to keep pushing him - and everyone else - away from the mountain-trash-steamroller-lawnchair throne of which the ancient master resides.
"DON'T LET THEM GET TO THE TOP!" He shouts, as from nearby rooftops, more Todohs appear, all of whom start to converge upon Noboru - who is the closest to actually setting foot given he took a girder from that pile - in flying kicks.
In the chaos, Sakura might be able to have an opening to start climbing, but the numbers of Todohs present are... many.

COMBATSYS: Those Todohs successfully hit Hinata with Bodyslam.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Hinata           0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0      More Todohs
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Noboru           1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0     These Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Sakura           0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0     Those Todohs


Alright, fine, maybe putting yourself right in the middle of a crowd of enemies isn't the best option. Hinata can admit that as she suddenly finds herself bathed in the shadow of a thousand Todohs swarming all about her.

...Okay, maybe dozens of Todohs is more accurate, but it's a lot, and it's a lot more dramatic when there's thousands of enemies suddenly drop down on top of you and bury you under the weight of their bodies.

Also, even if they are made of chi, it's honestly pretty creepy for a bunch of middle aged men to suddenly pile on top of a school girl like this. The Taiyo High morals commitee would have some complaints to make about this.

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT CAKES, YOU JERK!"

Under all those bodies, its kind of hard to hear Hinata's shout, but the fact that it's coming out as clearly as it is means that Hinata must be shouting pretty loudly.

"I know all about how to cook things, and there's no chance I'll tell you anything about pies after you besmirched the reputation of the finest dessert in the world!"

This is all accompanied by a glow of red chi from underneath the pile, soon followed by Hinata bursting up into the air, her right arm sheathed in flames of chi as she rises up into the air in a spiral!

So she's hit upon it, huh? Good. Her blast blows away several of the Todohs--fortunately they're not as tough as she expects the -real- Todoh to be--and now she changes her angle of attack. That is... now she's heading for the top of the trash heap. "TODOH!!!" she shouts, as she makes her way up, "LET US HELP YOU!!!"

...help you with a bit of a nap that is. Of course she isn't just walking up there--there are Todohs to contend with. But, knowing their fragility now, Sakura attacks relentlessly--every step accompanied by a fist, a kick, a grab by the lapels and a throw, a stiff shove.

Her determination is clear--she *will* get up there. And then Todoh will find out just how 'dead' Ansatsuken really is. And she has all the faith in the world that Hinata will join her atop that peak. And who knows?

Maybe Todoh will know how to get them home... if they can smack some sense into him.

COMBATSYS: Noboru interrupts Medium Kick from More Todohs with Large Random Weapon.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Hinata           0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1      More Todohs
[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Noboru           1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0     These Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Sakura           0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0     Those Todohs


Being a ninja has taught Noboru to be clever, resourceful, and difficult to take unawares. However, being a Miyama ninja has taught him to play to his strengths. And Noboru's biggest strength is, well, his strength.

So. When you hand a burly brute a length of metal, and put a bunch of flying objects in the air around him. You should expect him to get swingy. And get swingy is exactly what he does.

Crumbling pavement crunches under Noboru's feet as he shifts them, split boots creaking as he spreads his toes wide to grip the ground like an oversized ape. Now rooted to the spot like a tree by his freakishly strong toes, the shinobi takes his makeshift weapon in both hands and swings it up over his shoulder. He has a split second to gage the time, measure the angles, and wind up. Then...

'FWoooooosh!'

The metal girder roars through the air toward the oncoming Todohs, and...

'CLOOOONG!'

Resonates in the big ninja's hands as it strikes the first airborne figure, blowing him apart in a burst of orangish-yellow chi. Continuing on its arc, the girder smashes through the whole first line of kicky old men, each blow sounding with a slightly quieter 'CLONG' and causing the length of steel to vibrate harder in the masked assassin's gloved grip.

Ending the giant swing with the girder held over his left shoulder, Noboru glances aside, seeming to sense something.

One of the flying Todohs, a bit craftier than the rest, had delayed its attack just enough that it missed being smashed to bits. The old chi projection comes flying in and lands his fierce kick to Noboru's right side with a slight 'thump', though the impact doesn't even seem to rattle Noboru, braced as he is.

"Hrr." Grunts the brutish Shinobi, releasing the pipe with his left hand so he can whip it back around in a casual backhanded blow that smacks the straggling Todoh off his shoulder and explodes him into his base components.

That being done, Noboru glances over his left shoulder again to check on the girls. They both appear to be fine, but Sakura has decided to go after Todoh Prime. Well...If she does that, he can cover her on the way up.

Twisting back around to face the army of approaching Todohs, the hulking Shinobi crouches, releases his toe hold on the pavement, and launches himself up and back toward the pile of garbage. Easily clearing the heads of several scrambling Todohs, the big ninja crashes down just behind Sakura, smashing a Todoh into the garbage under his feet, and lowers the steel girder to his side. There might be a few more stray Todohs between Sakura and Todoh prime, but Noboru can probably finish up the rest of his group, and distract what's left of hers too, if she wants to fight the creator. With his back to Sakura and the peak of the trash mountain, he plants his feet and waits, empty hand and girder at his sides.

COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Those Todohs with Shouyouken.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Hinata           0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1      More Todohs
[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Noboru           1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0     These Todohs
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Sakura           0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0     Those Todohs


COMBATSYS: These Todohs interrupts Combo Grapple from Sakura with Hakuzan Tou.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Hinata           0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1      More Todohs
[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Noboru           1/-----==/=======|=======\=------\1     These Todohs
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Sakura           0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0     Those Todohs


"You appear in a place your kind no longer has the right to exist in," The Overtodoh - let's keep that term, it's great - sneers as he slams a hand against his lawnchair throne, "and you dare deny me the ability to enjoy something lost forever that might actually be worth tolerating-- gaaah!"
It's not just the upwards spray of all those Kasane Ate pieces as Hinata bursts free of the dogpile, but also how Sakura is very slowly and steadily making her way to the top, knocking aside anyone that might be in her way to go meet the Overtodh up at the top in a display that would do Ryu and maybe even Gouken proud, each blow well-placed, and clean - even with the seeming caveat that any good hit destroys them, there's no slouching. She's landing clean hits--
Up until one of them crouches slightly under a high kick and delivers an uppercut that might cause Sakura to lose ground, the face of the manifestation in question giggling and grinning as they fan themselves.
She'll have room to keep trying to climb, thanks to Noboru's decisive girder play that swats aside and smashes quite a few. The crowds might look like they're thinning, and... they are, to an extent, but the outer edges of everyone's vision is all swarming in Todohs, indeed, each one just as noxious and overbearing in their movements to crawl over one another to get at the three of them...
If that ancient man could break into a cold sweat, he might have, as he brings his hands up above him in a deafening clapping motion.
"YOU THINK YOU'RE WORTHY OF MY TIME?! Well, you are!" Oh, that's nice and accommoda-- "You are after all! All ten thousands of me and my time! Ten thousand times!!" He swings his arms down to summon another Kasane Ate, which in turn reforms into another Todoh. One at a time, he's sending new ones sliding down the hills towards the three of them.
Hinata, specifically, now has to deal with some of them sliding down like they're at a playground, one leg outstretched to try and trip her.
Noboru, meanwhile, finds them all starting to try and cling to him to simply weigh him down, to test the limits of his amazing brutish strength - like some kind of massive multi-man glomp. A dogpile.
"Is this as far as your precious imitations of TRUE MARTIAL ARTS takes you?!" The Overtodoh cackles.

COMBATSYS: Hinata blocks Those Todohs' Sweeping Kick.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Hinata           0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1      More Todohs
[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Noboru           1/-----==/=======|=======\=------\1     These Todohs
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Sakura           0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0     Those Todohs


As the massive brawl continues, Hinata manages to offer a glance toward her comrades now that she's out from under the dog pile. Sakura is definitely doing better than her, managing the scramble up the pile, even if she is taking a few hits. As for the big ninja guy? Well, apparently he's really good at hitting people with pipes and girders and stuff.

"Guess I need to keep up..." She mumbles to herself

That said, her focus turns back up toward the top of the heap as Overtodoh takes offense to her refusal to release the secrets of her baking knowledge unto him.

"You're the one who went around insulting cakes, that means you don't have the right to exist. Also, you smell really bad, and that's even compared to having an octopus on my face!" She shouts back, doing her best to keep up at least in the battle of words, if not fists.

The fact that anybody would insult cake is outright sacralige, and that just inspires Hinata to get into it. As Todoh's come sliding down at her, she manages to bring up her oversized shoes, absorbing most of the blow of each foot on the cushiony athletic sole. These are really comfortable shoes, so comfortable that not even sliding energy old men are enough to do that much real harm. Honestly, if the world wasn't ending, they manufacturer should really get Hinata to do a commercial for them...

That aside, once the sliding Todohs are past her, Hinata leaps up into the air, grinning down at them as she cups her hand around a small spark of blue chi, wind spiralling around her hands as the chi begins to grow larger and larger until it's practically a basketball in size.

"So long, losers!" She yells as she tosses the chi seed down at the Todoh's below her, using the force of it to send her flying further up the hill as the chi blossoms into a sunflower shaped explosion among the lesser Todohs.

"UNGH!" Sakura definitely loses ground--the uppercut sends her up and back, arcing gracefully back. At the peak of her rise, she flips out of it, however, landing back atop the heap in a crouch. Reaching up, she wipes her mouth with her left hand, rubbing briefly at the bruise forming there. "Good hit," she acknowledges, and then, grimly, she begins rising back up the trash pile.

"But it's going to take more than -that-!" she shouts. Once again she pulls her hands into her chest, and that blue glow flares around them, between them, so unlike Hinata's own sun-flavored chi, but just as powerful, as she charges up, power building and building...

And then she releases it, a large sphere of power meant to bowl over--and blow apart--these false Todohs. To clear a path towards the top. Sakura's determination and persistence are amongst her greatest traits--and they're in full force now.

COMBATSYS: Noboru blocks More Todohs' Strong Throw.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Hinata           0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1      More Todohs
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Noboru           1/-----==/=======|=======\=------\1     These Todohs
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Sakura           0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0     Those Todohs


One, two, five, 10? How many Todohs will it take to force the big ninja down?

As the oddly attired old men swarm him, Noboru allows his shoulders to slump and his shaggy head to bow. With every passing moment more Todohs swarm in around the brute, piling atop those latched onto him, flopping across his shoulders and trying to force him down.

Then, Noboru lets the heavy girder slip from his fingers and clatter away down the garbage heap. Both hands now free, the ninja reaches up calmly and grabs hold of a Todoh in each hand. Then, letting out a deep, grumbling grunt, he starts to shove forward against the mass.

Despite what must be a couple dozen Todohs piled all around him, Noboru drags the entire group a step down the garbage heap, then another. One of the Todohs draped across his shoulders twists about and elbows him in the side of the head, but that only spurs the shinobi on. Hunching his shoulders further he bares his teeth behind his silk mask and surges forward, attempting to send the entire mass of old men tumbling down the slope ahead of him. If he can get the whole tangle moving, he will twist to his left and burst out of the press, almost calmly reaching over to grab a combatant by the head in one gloved hand and squeeze until his fingers clench shut on empty air. Nothing but a flash of orangy-yellow chi remains where the Todoh used to be.

COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Those Todohs with Kikou Shoutei.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Hinata           1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1      More Todohs
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Noboru           1/-----==/=======|=======\=------\1     These Todohs
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Sakura           0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1     Those Todohs


COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits These Todohs with Medium Hadouken.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Hinata           1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1      More Todohs
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Noboru           1/-----==/=======|=======\====---\1     These Todohs
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Sakura           1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1     Those Todohs


COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits More Todohs with Power Throw.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Hinata           1/-------/=======|=======\====---\1      More Todohs
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Noboru           1/----===/=======|=======\====---\1     These Todohs
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Sakura           1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1     Those Todohs


It seems all one-sided now, doesn't it? Almost as one-sided as a lot of bouts between the Todoh they knew, and whoever he felt it important to bother. It's become almost routine enough that barely a sentence is needed to describe the level of devastation. Sunflower-shaped explosions scatter and disintegrate Todoh clones that surround all three of them. Sakura's Medium Hadouken carries through mobs so nicely that in its upward it actually narrowly misses the Overtodoh who sits there (he appears unfazed). Noboru dumps untold numbers of an already disclosed untold amount of Todohs on the way down to help cover for those coming up to follow the fighters.
"Where you stand right now, there might yet be signs for your schools!" The Overtodoh waves a finger. "They're so faded and forgotten because of just that... and that's how they'll stay, if this is the best you can do..."
He holds his arms upwards, and there is a sudden silence among the mob of Todohs. The armies pay attention.
"ALL TOGETHER! I am probably the Epsilon or the Zeta or something but I'm the Omega for sure! I have closed the book on what true martial arts are! This world, bereft of those who thought otherwise, is my legacy, and this," energy gathers in truly uncomfortable amounts all around, more than a few Todoh clones disappearing into their base components to be absorbed.
"Will be how I finish this pitiful chapter... HOOOOYAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
No matter where they stand, they now all face sudden, sharp waves of blue... thinner, wafer-like waves, tinged in white that expand and spread outward from the collective focus of the Todoh clones, many sacrificing themselves to be gathered together.
Those who know Kasumi may remember that this is visually much closer to how she performed the Kasane Ate. To this madman's time-ravaged mind, this may be the only true fragment of memory he might have left of her, this particular expression of the time-honored Todoh technique as the waves all crash outward, scattering debris and other Todohs in their wake.
Even without these sacrifices (it's hard to call it a sacrifice when their creation appears so effortless), the three of them destroy them faster than he can make them, and the way they all sacrifice themselves to form into a more traditional vulgar display of power... soon, they'll be able to reach the Overtodoh who mocks them, who threatens to consume them as another forgotten foe in a world remade in his image.
Or at least just the image of all the enemies he's outlasted by attrition, if what he's said about all those faded wooden boards making up a significant part of his special hill is true. He could just be exaggerating. They may just be stolen fast food menu holders.

COMBATSYS: Hinata parries Those Todohs' Cho Kasane Ate!

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Hinata           1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0      More Todohs
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Noboru           1/----===/=======|====---\-------\0     These Todohs
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Sakura           1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0     Those Todohs


This guy won't shut up. It's getting incredibly annoying to have this old man keep shouting all of these stupid things and going on and on about how he's the ultimate being, the last entity in the world, how he's perfected martial arts... He's coming across like a real creep.

This is worse than that time about a year ago (or longer from this aged version) when Seijyun and Taiyo were having a girls softball game and somehow Todoh managed to obtain 23 professional fireworks mortars and had set them all up to fire at the Taiyo team... all because Kasumi had offered to sub in for a missing player that week.

...Taiyo still won, but that doesn't make Todoh not a complete butt.

"Just shut up about how great your fighting style is! I don't even care! I bought Saikyo-Ryu training videos off an infomercial and it only cost me 5 payments of $9.99! And your stupid energy wave moves aren't even that great, just watch this!"

As all of the power begins to build up, Hinata settles carefully into a relaxed state, taking in a deep breath as she settles into a relaxed state. Well, relaxed for her, she's still bouncing anxiously from back foot to front foot, but it's a restrained bouncing that seems to have purpose.

Then the energy comes flying at her, and once again Hinata moves with frightening speed, seeming like a blur, as if she ceases to exist between each wave, suddenly closer to her particular group of Todohs until she bypasses the final wave to stand right in front of them.

It would be intimidating if she wasn't so much shorter than the Todohs were... And dressed in a school uniform.

It might get a lot more intimidating when she actually lets loose, though. Suddenly her arms become a blur as she throws out punches faster than the eye can see, her arms bursting into flames as she starts throwing punch after punch at every Todoh she can see, moving slowly through the crowd with a surprising ease before finally clapping her hands together and forming a giant red, flaming sunflower. "HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks These Todohs' Cho Kasane Ate.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0      More Todohs
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Noboru           1/----===/=======|====---\-------\0     These Todohs
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Sakura           1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0     Those Todohs


Duck and cover? Sort of. Sakura grimaces again, but with the waves of energy coming at her, doesn't think getting out of the way is prudent. So the only thing she can do is cover up--raise her shields, so to speak. The impact forces her back but, on the whole, is much better than dealing with taking those blade-like chi waves to the chest. She loses a few steps--but those can be made up.

And she does, forcing her way up, growling under her breath. This is dangerous but it's also... tedious. Now she knows why Kasumi so often expressed frustration with her father. This spark of insanity that's blossomed into a lightning storm... Sakura couldn't live with this. Once again she forges ahead, swatting Todohs out of her way--her blood is up, her attacks are simple but precise. This time, however, she keeps her feet underneath her.

%So her approach is more like a boxer's, her stance widening for balance, hands up, whipping left and right and forward as she launches crosses and straights and hooks at the Todohs as she advances, that hunch even coming into her shoulders.

COMBATSYS: More Todohs successfully hit Noboru with Cho Kasane Ate.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0      More Todohs
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Noboru           1/----===/=======|====---\-------\0     These Todohs
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Sakura           1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0     Those Todohs


Noboru can see the energy building, trace the structure the attack is going to take even before the chi constructs start to burst apart.

Unfortunately, Noboru is furthest down the trash heap of the three new comers, and surrounded by Todohs on just about every side. Also unfortunately, the big ninja, for all his strength and toughness, lacks the speed and endless supplies of chi that the school girls seem to have. In fact, to those able to sense chi, the shinobi doesn't appear to have ANY. He has no chi signature to speak of, his body perfectly mimicking the ambient chi of the world around him, making him invisible to extra senses. This is probably a useful trait for a stealthy assassin. it is, however, a horrible trait when surrounded by exploding old men.

Resigned to his fait, the big ninja drops into a seated position just before the first Todoh explodes, left hand lifting to cover his eyes. Dipping his chin he hunches in on himself and braces for impact.

'Impacts' would be more accurate.

Razor wafers of chi slice into the shinobi's hunched form from all directions. In moments his coat his shredded, as are the shirt and pants beneath. Little spurts of blood spray out of a few of the cuts, but the ninja continues to sit there, letting the attack roll over him.

When the energies finally die down, Noboru lets out a sigh and removes his hand from his eyes. Slamming both fists into the garbage heap beneath him, he explodes to his feet in a wave of shredded cloth and blood droplets. There are many less Todohs left after the sacrifice attack, but one is unfortunate to still be within striking distance of the bloodied assassin.

The ninja strikes out without even turning his head toward the chi construct, attempting to drive the stiffened fingers of his left hand straight through it's body. Like most of the assassins' attacks, this would be irresponsibly violent if the Todoh's didn't explode on impact. Has Noboru been making these attacks up as he goes along? or, is he using attacks that he normally employs on people. If the latter is the case, then the big shinobi has likely crushed a man's skull one handed. Perhaps these school girls should look elsewhere for positive role models.

Still dripping blood through tears in his ragged clothing, the masked warrior turns to start trudging up the garbage heap after his two young companions.

COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits More Todohs with Medium Punch.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////                          ]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0      More Todohs
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Noboru           1/---====/=======|====---\-------\0     These Todohs
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Sakura           1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0     Those Todohs


COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Those Todohs with Hisshou Rengekiken EX.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////                          ]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0      More Todohs
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Noboru           1/---====/=======|====---\-------\0     These Todohs
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Sakura           1/-----==/=======|=====--\-------\0     Those Todohs


COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits These Todohs with Medium Punch.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////                          ]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0      More Todohs
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////                          ]
Noboru           1/---====/=======|======-\-------\0     These Todohs
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Sakura           1/-----==/=======|=====--\-------\0     Those Todohs


"YOU SEE THE RESULTS RIGHT HERE!" The Overtodoh screams as Hinata represents Saikyo in this hellish landscape that has long lost the spark of Dan Hibiki, of all the joy and courage he has inspired in others (or... mockery). Hinata represents her by-video training well as she punches so fast that her crowd largely disintegrates into those trios of yellowish-orange chunks.
"CAT GOT YOUR TONGUE?! Got your style too, kid! Your lack of it!" Overtodoh mocks with a finger point. Sakura Kasunago, who may not be the King of Fighters or the World Warrior, nonetheless matches the attitudes that have helped get her inspiration so far down the path of self-mastery as they have, choosing to face these challenges head-on even in the discomfort of the distinct possibility this is their future, Todohs being swatted out of the way as they all tumble and explode back into the breath of the earth. She will not be deterred.
"And YOU," he sneers down to Noboru, "I ate your kind for breakfast! They thought they could keep tabs on me! They could UNDERSTAND me," like a child whining about their parents, this guy, as Noboru all but obliterates the clones around him in a truly bloody, gory fashion except the gore is replaced with bits of chi manifested a particular way. (Some of it gets stuck on his hands. It's easy to brush off, though. It's kind of like glowing yellowish-orange glitter!)
For all his mockery and deriding of the three of them, however, a path at long last opens. A real opening - it's just a short climb up to the steamroller on top, and let's be honest - if he manifested like four or six more in the span of time between then and now, they wouldn't stop them.
"So you'd show me with your might after all," the Overtodoh remarks as he stands all the way up. From above, he casted a truly frightening visage. The way he stood, the way he glared, even with how the ravages of age far beyond human limit have weighed upon him...
Standing toe-to-toe, he is visibly even less impressive. One might even hear wheezing coming out of his nostrils as he stands with legs slightly apart. His hands clap together over his head again, and lightning crashes.
His entire posture is visibly shaky. Is he afraid... or could this body no longer really support itself any more? Still, he puts forth at least some degree of sincerity, and what he has performed before them... cannot be denied so easily.
"You have no battle ability," he sneers, "and after you fall... you'll never get a chance to try again!" His hands part from his head as he falls into his stance, ancient decayed teeth bared, showing perfect comfort in his balance atop this precarious pile of garbage and this old long destroyed steamroller.
This is it. At last, the three can now come face to face with the Overtodoh. (Sure, there are /those/ Todohs all the way down there who are clambering up after them, but this could be the cleanest shot they can get.)
As time and space all fall apart around them, time is running out... as is, well, space is too since they're encroaching, but now it is down to just the four of them as they are coaxed atop the derelict steamroller to make the final stand.
This is the beginning of a truly epic battle to span the ages!!

COMBATSYS: These Todohs can no longer fight.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////                          ]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0      More Todohs
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Noboru           1/---====/=======|=====--\-------\0     Those Todohs
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           1/-----==/=======|


COMBATSYS: More Todohs can no longer fight.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0     Those Todohs
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Noboru           1/---====/=======|
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           1/-----==/=======|


COMBATSYS: Those Todohs focuses on his next action.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0     Those Todohs
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Noboru           1/---====/=======|
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           1/-----==/=======|


COMBATSYS: Todoh focuses on his next action.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0     Those Todohs
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Noboru           1/---====/=======|
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           1/-----==/=======|


"You should just shut up already!" Hinata shouts up at Todoh as she glances over her shoulder to give the old man an annoyed look.

"Maybe you are from some weird future where you're the only one left... or maybe you're just an idiot who washed up on a deserted island and never thought that maybe he should go out looking to find other people. Did you ever think of that, you moron?"

That said, Hinata lets out an annoyed sigh. Clearly this isn't going to end without him getting a nasty punch to the face, but right now she's got the last remnants of her group to deal with. Everyone else has taken care of their part of things, so this one is all on the sunshine girl, who actually looks a bit tired by the whole situation.

She turns back to look at the last remaining Todoh, and just decides to let it all go. Time to find out what's what! Hinata suddenly surges forward with a low punch aimed right for this Todoh's gut. "HYAAAAA!"

Sakura crests the top of the trash heap. Her eyes are blazing. This has been perhaps educational and a good test of her skills. But she hasn't enjoyed it. It's been creepy and weird and dangerous. She hasn't liked doing this. As she clears the top of the ridge, she shouts, "MR. TODOH!! _CONTROL YOURSELF_!!" And she just hauls off for a big punch.

Her intent is simple--to knock some sense into Todoh. By hook or by crook. Or in this case, with a sharp right hook, a snapping, hard punch that she steps into, still emulating the boxer'r stance and the boxer's movements. That's it. Just.. knock some sense into him. This isn't what she wants to be dealing with, right now...

Noboru's steps are slow and deliberate as he makes his way quietly up the trash heap. Idly he flicks bits of glittery Todoh goop from his gloved fingers, not seeming especially bothered by the fact he just rammed those fingers through the chest of another being.

Taking note of Hinata rushing past to confront the last nearby Todoh clone, the big Shinobi gives her a slight nod of his head. Blood and water drip from his hair and run down his shoulders, spattering across the rotting faces of wooden signs as he walks across them.

"If you do not see reason," States the brutal shinobi as he nears Sakura and Over-Todoh on the crest of the hill, "Then I will give you the warrior's death you so clearly desire." The words are ground out hoarsely from the big ninja's throat, quiet and without warmth. His good eye is equally cold, icy blue and implacable.

That's the trouble with assassins. Always so serious.

COMBATSYS: Noboru focuses on his next action.

                               TODOH                                
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0     Those Todohs
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Noboru           1/---====/=======|
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           1/-----==/=======|


COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Todoh with Strong Punch.
- Power hit! -

                               TODOH
                               
  [                                                             ]
                 0|---------------|---------======                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Hinata           0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0     Those Todohs
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Noboru           1/---====/=======|
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           1/----===/=======|

COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Those Todohs with Aggressive Strike.

                               TODOH
                               
  [                                                             ]
                 0|---------------|---------======                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Hinata           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0     Those Todohs
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Noboru           1/---====/=======|
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           1/----===/=======|

Hinata, for sake of her friends in allowing them a clear shot at the truly fearsome Overtodoh, slams a fist into one of the clones' guts - it's so profoundly full of BURNING VIGOR that it causes a chain reaction of bursts into segments of chi, neatly cleaning up the threat behind them.
Up ahead, Noboru holds back to study his foe. To take in this man's unthinkable mastery over the energy of the world after so many years (like, seven and a half from that crazy man's final estimate) of isolation, with the promise of giving him a proper warrior's death... which could well be his desire, after so many years of loneliness, only himself for company...
Sakura, above it all, is the one who rises to his immediate challenge as she hooks him in the face as he's still posturing and challenging, and calling out names.
His neck snaps upward with far more slack than a human neck ever should. Her fist hits soft, wrinkled, weak flesh as he gurgles, spraying spittle and blood in equal measure in three-segmented droplets. One leg kicks into the air feebly as he loses his balance from this one single punch to the face alone.
"Aaah... ah!"
He plummets off the side of the steamroller, wheezing out a pained syllable for every edge of something his body hits, of every surface. It is gut-wrenching to watch, as the sounds stop a good five bounces in.
Clouds of dust seem to burst out with every impact as the body contorts and twists along the path all the way down to the very bottom of the stack, where a final spray of fine granular matter fills the air. It smells like... death.
Perhaps... he grew so old that he actually couldn't ever climb back down from where he was without risking a nasty fall that would completely break him. Bereft of the mockery and the moxie, he looks more and more like a well-preserved mummy than someone who might have been a human being to begin with.
Suddenly, it all fades to nothing. The bizarre inclination for nature to take shapes in segmented form... it disappears. The horrible weather does not subside, but the nature of the rain that falls... it's more in line with what they're familiar with, without the weird colorful afterglow on impact with the floor.
More figures fill the streets now. The buildings change form, back to a... lesser state of disrepair. This part of the world has not fared well with the planet's collapse.
Yet, over there, Hinata can see her classmates staring out to the sea, as if hoping and praying that she'd come back alive.
Sakura can see from where she stands - no longer a mound of garbage, but a watchtower - Ryu wandering away into the distance, to seek one last challenge as everything comes to an end.
OVer a ways away, Noboru can witness members of his clan keeping watch... one spots him, and nods with approval. Were they there with him? Were they watching?
They return back to the world they know of, the world that faces imminent collapse... but the world with people who love them, the world they all chose to fight for to the bitter end. The strange nightmare has left them, once and for all.
...Save for a truly ancient fan bearing the flag of Japan, partially embedded into the ground, as raindrops run off of it in segments of three.

COMBATSYS: Those Todohs can no longer fight.

                               TODOH
                               
  [                                                             ]
                 0|---------------|---------======                


[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hinata           0/-------/------=|
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Noboru           1/---====/=======|
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           1/----===/=======|

COMBATSYS: Todoh can no longer fight.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hinata           0/-------/------=|
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Noboru           1/---====/=======|
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           1/----===/=======|


And so Hinata stands there in silence, taking in the moment as everything changes around her. It's a moment where one can consider the very fundamentals of reality. The fragility of the human mind trapped with no company other than its own madness. It really gets the mind pondering existance as we-

"...That was the dumbest thing ever. Let's pretend it was a dream we had while we were drowning."

COMBATSYS: Noboru has left the fight here.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hinata           0/-------/------=|
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sakura           1/----===/=======|


"What--... what was -that-...?" Sakura just looks... confused.

COMBATSYS: Sakura has left the fight here.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hinata           0/-------/------=|


COMBATSYS: Hinata has ended the fight here.

Log created on 12:27:47 10/19/2014 by Todoh, and last modified on 23:21:26 10/19/2014.