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Takeda Takahashi
EARTHREALM

SPECIAL FORCES BASE

It's a wonderful day for Kombat today in Earthrealm.

Because it's -always- a wonderful day for Kombat here.

But it's also a special day. A day for FRIENDSHIP (Friendship? Again!?). For you see, Takeda is finally starting to know people in the Multiverse and thus he has invited the legendary Zekken to come hang out at the Special Forces base. While the invitation was very ambigious as it just said 'Come hang out'. That can defenitly mean 'COME FIGHT ME' around these here parts.

It is why Takeda awaits for Zekken not outside the base as one might expect, but already in the training room where he is currently sitting on a leg split position, arms crossed over his chest and already decked in full battle gear. Strange way to wait for a play date, but then again.. that's what people do around here.
Kung Jin Kung Jin's in the control room of selfsame training room. The monitors are blank at the moment, since they're not tracking anybody's vitals. They even have a screensaver -- wispy ribbons of various colors loop lazily around the screen, zooming in and off the screen like water bugs leaving wakes across the screen.

Jin's sitting in a chair and has his feet on the console. Away from anything he could possibly hit with a foot and mess up, though. He's decked out in full battle regalia too. Though his idea of 'full battle regalia' is his usual Shaolin outfit and a quiver. Being able to poof your weapon to and from your hand makes one lazy, it looks like.
Yuuki Konno     This may actually be a first! Yuuki's been invited to duel before of course, and she's had many invitations for company, conversation, food and whatnot. This may well be the first time, however, that she's been invited to meet a new face, get to see a new world, and 'maybe have a fight if you want while you're here' or however Takeda put it.

    The imp girl is more than up for social or duels, and so she comes dressed for both. She's wearing her armor and actually has her sheathed blade at her hip. She doesn't NEED to wear the sheathed sword. She can retrieve it from her inventory within a few seconds at will. But with it on her quick-bar, that is out of her inventory and actually worn on her body, she doesn't need to waste those few seconds drawing the blade. Besides, it makes it more obvious she's up for fighting, and she doesn't want to give the wrong impression!

    Of course speaking of the wrong impression, there's one thing Takeda might NOT be expecting. In all her talk on the open banter radio, her mention of a modern Tokyo with virtual reality computers and gaming and all that, she's never actually mentioned that... well, she's not precisely human. Built to a human scale if kind of short and slender for a duellist, she has rather exotic eyes and DEFINITELY inhuman ears; pointed in the fashion of faerie rather than elf. Plus there's the starry-patterened bat-wings she flew in on. Hopefully she won't cause TOO much of an uproar in the military camp.

    She's at least smart enough to not fly directly into the middle of it. Instead she sets down within clear sight of the fortifications, moving almost ludicrously fast until she delicately sets down. She then approaches the fortifications like a perfectly normal and harmless girl, stopping and identifying herself when such is demanded. Not deferentially, not exactly, but peacefully and with pride and self-awareness intact. She knows who she is, she knows she belongs here, whatever and wherever here is... and is at home in a war zone as much as anywhere else! So yeah, a bit of a story might precede the 'legendary' Zekken, and her legend may grow just a little bit more this day...
Takeda Takahashi
True enough, Earthrealm is still adjusting to the Multiverse and flying into the base might have ended in the the Special Forces opening fire. Because thus far the only things that have tried to get into the base via wings are Netherrealm demons!

But the soldiers have orders of letting Yuuki in with no trouble and she'll find no resistance as she's directed towards the Training Room where Takeda is waiting for her. If there is one thing that there is abundance here is warriors, and despite her foreign apperance the soldiers give her wide berth or oven salute her. Warriors recognize their own after all.

"Heya there!" Takeda waves from his leg split postion as Yuuki enters the room. "Glad you could make it!"

He hops up back to his feet and blinks a little, his skull mask hiding his pursed lips. Yep, judging by her chi those ears and wings are real! No costume there! Surely, Takeda wasn't sure what to expect but he didn't expect her to not be human.

"Whoa! I didn't think you'd be so cute!" Cue one of Takeda's signature social blunders. For a telepath he's terrible at keeping his thoughts to himself.
Kung Jin In the control room Jin rolls his eyes at Takeda's comment. There are a few of the soldiers -- technicians, mostly -- in there with him, and there's scattered giggles. Jin shifts, to sit up properly in his chair. Over the intercom, he notes, "Careful. Jacqui hears that, she's gonna make you eat your teeth."

But that's an announcement of his presence too, and he offers a pleasant wave at Yuuki from the control room. "Please excuse Takeda, he's still a bit unclear on what's a social faux-pas." That's the voice on the radio, the guy who's usually busting Takeda's chops.
Yuuki Konno     Yuuki's human, at least as far as chi goes. And yet at the same time all of her is truly her. Those ears are living, not prosthetic. They're as much a part of her as her arms are. She's got a warrior's chi for that matter. There's no exceptional magic about her, but her life energy is an equal for any that would be borne by one of the human defenders of earthrealm.

    As for being cute, this surely isn't the first time she's heard it! She doesn't take it amiss either. Sure, a young woman might normally take it a certain way when that's the first thing said by a young man, but Yuuki's not really that kind of girl. She likes boys just fine, but those kinds of relationships are for other people. So Tak's blunder affects her no more than if a woman had said it. She colors just a little but doesn't seem at all displeased or particularly given to false modesty. "Just don't underestimate me because I'm cute!" she says cheerfully, resting a hand significantly on the pommel of her straight blade with a slight smirk.

    She looks around, catching sight of Jin from the adjacent room. She waves, bouncing in greeting. "Hello. Who's Jacqui?" she asks innocently.
Takeda Takahashi
Yuuki isn't the only who's cheeks who red as Takeda also reddens and even goes cross eyed. Can't believe he just blurted that out like that! And of course, to add insult to injury, Jin's voice comes from the control room to remind Takeda of certain duties of his.

"Aa-haha...Jacqui's my girlfriend.." He laughs nervously and adjusts his bandanna, mostly to keep his hands from fidgetting.

But enough of looking like a helpless boy, he's supposed to be a mighty warrior, and indeed, in other worlds his many brutal deeds would catapult him from fighter right into horrible butcher of people. He clears his throat a little and cracks his knuckles to find his center once more.

"Of course, I make a habit of never underestimating anyone ever!" That gets you killed around here after all. "Let's go a couple of rounds before I show you around the base! I'm excited to see what you can do!"

Around here its considered polite to fight your hosts before they show you their rest of their house. Its the equivalent of a guest bringing a gift to a dinner party.
Kung Jin "Such an innocent question... and such a massive can of worms it opens," Jin comments via the intercom. Though his tone is amused. This probably doesn't help Takeda's blush, either. But then, that's pretty much what Jin does, make things worse. Only when it's entertaining, though. And yes, there is a time and a place for everything. Once Takeda centers himself again, the teasing stops.

As Takeda begins his prep to fight, Jin starts to push buttons and flip switches in the control room. Takeda's vitals are easy enough to get. Though Yuuki's... are not. "...Huh." Into the intercom, he warns, "Be careful, Takeda. I'm having some trouble getting a read on our guest." If it's difficult to read her vitals, it's going to be difficult to monitor them.
Yuuki Konno     Yuuki laughs goodnaturedly, making it obvious she's taking no offense. If anything she appreciates that kind of bluntness. Living with the threat of impending death she came to the aceptance of who and what she is, and she doesn't have time to waste pretending to be somebody she isn't in order to make others happy. If that means she's seen as a bit of an idiot, well, she'll happily accept that! A well-meaning and honest idiot's far more appealing to her mind than someone glib and false.

    She seems pleased by the offer of a few rounds, though she blinks and looks around, puzzled, at Jin's caution. "What do you mean?" she asks. Then she seems to clue in. "Ah... the ... the imp thing." she says. Yuuki's no liar, and she's really bad at hiding the truth too. It's clear enough there's something that she doesn't want to get into, either from personal discomfort or just a matter of this being a long story. Still, she seems to have come to some sort of conclusion even if she doesn't outright share it. "It should be okay. I can't exactly duel you using the built-in duelling rules from where I'm from, but the principle's the same. We just decide on the rules and keep it friendly, right?" she offers.

    She ponders, then nods. "This sounds like a 'first blood' match." she claims. Then laughs. "And no, that doesn't mean a scratch or a split lip! When one person is able to land a significant blow, the match is over. It's not to the point where a fighter's unable to continue, though either fighter can call a halt at any time. Does that seem fair?" she asks.

    In Alfheim Online, 'first blood' gives the victory to the fighter who first brings their opponent below fifty percent health, rather than a fight to zero health. It's automatic, but she can eyeball it well enough and has no intentions of cheapening a fight by cheating on the terms of a duel! "I don't insist on any limits, but if you want to set some for safety or whatever, I'm fine with it. No magic, no weapons, no flying... whatever you want!" she offers impishly.
Takeda Takahashi
Takeda has a similar stance on life. Many in the realms have taken to life with grim determination to overcome any challenge that can be thrown at them. Life is a hard thing here and few smile or laugh as their skin has been hardened to nearly impossible levels by the challenges of Mortal Kombat. Takeda on the other hand never really wanted to fight, he was thrown into the chaos of Kombat from a cannon and while blindfolded, and the only thing he can do to cushion the pain is being a total dork. His social blunders may be entirely by accident but he's also not making any effort to stop them. The goofiness is the only thing that keeps him from going completely batshit insane and turning into a blood thirsting monsters-- as many have turned here.

"Oooh, well that just makes it even more interesting!" Takeda grins behind the mask as Jin reveals that the sensors can't read Yuuki very well, a nearly unprecendented situation here in the Special Forces base.

"Come at me with everything you got! Magic, swords, flight. Don't hold anything back, I can take it!" He says as he takes a very un-ninja like Muay Thay fighting stance. Despite the name Takeda is not a native from Japan at all and takes from his Thailand roots more than anything.
Kung Jin "The cautionary note was to make sure he didn't accidentally hurt you seriously," Jin replies. "We tend to, uh, play rough around here. And I'm having trouble getting a read on your vitals." True enough, one of the monitors, the one closest to Takeda, shows HIS vitals. The other? Shows places where vitals SHOULD be, but most have ---- in place of numbers.

Takeda's eager response gets a smirk from Jin. "Just be careful," Jin reiterates. "Not for your sake, Takeda. You remember the talks on the radio, right? A lot of others out there aren't quite so... brutal."

It seems strange for Jin to be the one to be underestimating Yuuki. Perhaps he's not really underestimating her toughness, though. Truth be told he's less worried about her physical state and more worried that Yuuki should be put off by how eager everyone here seems to fight to the death.
Yuuki Konno     "I don't mind playing rough." Yuuki claims innocently enough. At least her voice is innocent. Her smirk, on the other hand, is playful. "Magic's neat, and flying's wonderful..." she says, apparently out of nowhere. She then puts her hand on the hilt of her sword, drawing it out with a steely ring. Perhaps disconcertingly, because the sword seems almost translucent; a deep violet glass rather than steel. "But nothing beats fighting with a sword!" she finishes happily, lifting the sword to a ready position, holding it with calm poise as a kind of a salute. She doesn't prevent others from fighting with magic or bows or whatever... but she's never bothered to learn anything more than melee combat. It's what she lives for.

    Yuuki holds the sword not-quite-negligently, poised and still, still smiling. She doesn't seem to be taking this entirely seriously, though she certainly isn't dropping her guard. Definitely she doesn't seem to take this as a potentially deadly threat. It's possible, perhaps, that she doesn't even see Takeda as a dangerous opponent.

    He did invite her to come at him though, and she takes that for an invitation. Without warning Yuuki bursts into motion, going from a standing start into a dash that would raise a cloud of dust if they were on suitable ground. She leads with a lunging arc, deep and fast, fully prepared to abort the swing before lethal commitment should it turn out Takeda's unprepared or unable to defend. As a strike that's not fully committed, it's not quite as fast as Yuuki can actually swing. Just a testing blow rather than something intended to claim that first-blood victory.
Takeda Takahashi
"I know, I know!" Takeda calls out to Jin. Sheesh, cut a guy some slack over here! It's bad enough that its taken this long for Takeda to fight anybody from the Multiverse, it just so happens to be a potential friend too! That itch on the back of his head, you know the one, the one that craves blood and rage and violence, its getting out of control and though Takeda intends to fight will the honor that comes from being a Shirai Ryu warrior-- he really wants to get into it already!

"Hell yeah!!" Takeda agrees! He does quite enjoy swords and he has a pair of his own in his large arsenal of hidden weapons. The testing blow is met-- though not with steel as Yuuki might expect but with plasma. Takeda unleashes a pair of laser swords, which are for all intended purposes pretty much light sabers, and makes an X block with them to stop Yuuki's sword from connecting with his body.
Kung Jin Jin starts doing something at the console he sits in front of, pressing buttons and looking at readouts. Hm. He's getting something here. Nothing concrete yet, but the computer is still taking readings -- and mainly being 'whaaaaa?!' about it. Figuratively speaking of course, their computer isn't sapient.

For now, Jin stays quiet so as not to disturb either Kombatant. He looks back up at the fight. He's not sure how Yuuki's apparently species shows pain or injury, but he's an observant guy, he should be able to see it if something goes wrong with either one.
Yuuki Konno     If anything Yuuki seems pleased by the appearance of the plasma sabers. Light against darkness... very symbolic. It casts Yuuki as the darkness though, which doesn't particularly bother her. She did choose to be represented as an Imp after all, though in truth that was more for the coloration than the implied personality.

    Yuuki's blade doesn't clash particularly hard against the blocking weapons. As Takeda puts up his defense she's already spinning, moving obliquely, pulling the blade back and around her body as she ducks low. If Takeda's not careful she'll end up behind him, ready to literally kick his butt. Since he's not likely to so-completely lose track of where she is however, her attack's going to be somewhat more prosaic. A stinging pair of cuts with the sword's tip, one low and one high, just shallow enough to threaten to count as first blood without threatening anything worse.

    And no, Yuuki's not exactly going easy on Takeda. She's fighting to win, but she's also holding back. Measuring and testing rather than bearing any malicious intent; not putting her full heart behind her attacks more because she hasn't felt the need to rise to the challenge yet.
Takeda Takahashi
Takeda would argue that he's more shadow than light! Someone that works in the shadows and has killed as many people as he has gets no right to call the light his home! Still, he is one of the good guys and he has a sunny personality, so maybe!

That for neither here nor there though as Takeda backs up a few steps after blocking Yuuki's sword, giving himself enough space to follow the imp girl's movements. Indeed, Takeda exhibits many of the traits of veteran fighters despite his age. His eyes are focused on Yuuki's trajectory and he spins on his heel to keep facing her even as she tries to go around him.

Speed that Yuuki may posses, it takes a lot of conviction to win a Mortal Kombat match. Here, fighters always approach their challenges like if they're going to be their last, even if they're nothing but friendly spars. The thrusts with the swords are met with equal blocks. Left plasma sword blocking Yuuki's low attack and the right plasma sword raised high to defend his upper body.

A friendly spar it may be, there is a visible flash in Takeda's eyes all of the sudden. It's nothing supernatural, indeed, its a very natural and primordial look, the look of a killer. If Yuuki wants a reason to rise to the challenge Takeda is about to accidentally give it to her. He's as much a kickboxer as he's a swordsman, and as he blocks the second thrust thrown at him Takeda suddenly ducks low and takes a quick step to sneak inside Yuuki's circle of defense.

This is followed by a Muay Thay lariat kick very deliberately aimed at the side of Yuuki's knee. A blow that if it connects can shatter a human's knee joint and rip apart the ACL ligament. In the world of Earthrealm it's the equivalent of a love tap, but Yuuki might think otherwise.
Yuuki Konno     The problem with stepping inside Yuuki's circle of defense is she has no circle of defense. She's just as comfortable fighting at arms length as she is fighting literally right in someone's face, given her insane reaction speed and almost complete lack of grasp of personal space.

    Her expression tightens as Takeda's switch is flipped. She recognizes the change, and she frowns slightly in response, finally focussing fully on the fight. Just in time too, because she's quite fond of her knee joints! Fortunately she's fast enough to recognize the attack, and fast enough to respond. He's too close for her sword to intercept the blow, but she can move. Her knee simply isn't there to take the hit.

    Yuuki dives, letting Takeda's kick strike her thigh instead of her vulnerable knee. It sends her dive into a roll and, while the powerful kick probably must hurt, she shows little sign of discomfort. She's evidently a lot tougher than her tiny frame would suggest! And agile too, twisting her body in midair to compensate for the impact, coming out of the roll as if she'd planned it perfectly from start to finish rather than improvising.

    As she comes up she swings her blade, tip whistling. The blade cuts a broad sweep and she moulinets, bringing the blade sweeping across, back, up, then down. Stopping with the tip pointing at Takeda defensively, her arm extended, knees bent in a fencer's crouch.

    Abruptly Yuuki grins; not the playful smirk but a full expression of joy. She draws her arm back, keeping the point extended as she straightens. Takeda's not holding back. He's also keeping up! Aaah... no, there's nothing like a good fight to make you know you're alive!

    Testing is done. Respect is given, and presumably taken. With that, Yuuki launches a devastating attack series. One of her names is the Purple Lightning, and the flickering of her sword seems to bear out that image. Seemingly forking in from multiple directions at once she strikes with a rapid series of blows, aiming for any exposed flesh with a minimum of focus on her own defense. Her body's moving quickly, and her armor can protect her from vital hits. This is one of her own signature styles, an assault that disregards incoming damage in the intent to dish out more harm than she suffers. It means her health bar's sure to deplete against any but the most defensive of foes, but then likely so will theirs.
Takeda Takahashi
To say that respect was given from Takeda would imply that he hadn't respected her from the moment he stepped into the arena. Once you enter the ring, you have already proven your worth as a warrior and everything Yuuki has done thus far has only assured Takeda of this fact.

Once the switch hace been triggered, the only way for the bloodlust to subside is with a fight! Takeda's glare doesn't change even as Yuuki takes the blow to the thigh which sends her on a defensive forward roll. Takeda spins on his heel to keep track of her movements and stops short of following when Yuuki discourages pursuit with a large arching strike of her sword. The tip of the blade rakes through the front of Takeda's chest plate but his armor seems to take the brunt of the attack rather than his flesh.

Gone is Takeda's goofiness, and in its stead is only a wide eyed look behind a mask and bandanna. It's difficult to tell really, Takeda's stare is like a deer in headlight, almost as if he were terrified. Its a deceptive look though as his body speaks volumes of his real intentions, this is a man that has been trained to kill.

As Takeda resets his Muay Thay stance his eyes narrow quickly and despite Yuuki's blurring speed-- there is something that he notices.

Huh, Yuuki -really- likes to put in all the weight of her sword in. Against such recklessly powerful attacks; blocking is a poor tactic.

But why block when you can dodge??

Takeda goes into full defensive manuevers which may sound strange since it seems he suddenly does not want to play the attrition game with Yuuki. He weaves from side to side making himself a difficult target, and he is getting nicked for his trouble too as there's no way he can avoid that many attacks coming at such a high speed.

"HRRGGG!!" Takeda's armor gets slashed up as he starts taking glancing blow after glancing blow, ducking and weaving and blocking when just there's no way out. What is he doing? Has he lost his will to fight??

Takeda knows that he has no chance of beating Yuuki when it comes to trading blows. If he starts playing her game he might bleed her a little but he's the one that ultimately is going to go down.

But when faced with an opponent that reckless Takeda doesn't need a rain of blows to bring them down. He just needs one good one on the right spot.

And this is why, after being forced to backpedal and taking numerous smacks from Yuuki's sword, Takeda's eyes flick again and he sends a single straight punch sailing for Yuuki's throat aiming to collapse her windpipe.
Kung Jin Perhaps it woud be odd for the worlds outside this Earthrealm. But Jin, observing the fight in the control room, does not immediately react with alarm as Takeda throws a punch that could very well kill a normal human. He remains in his seat, quietly fiddling with controls occasionally, or quietly watching the fight. He may be putting combat data together, either in his head or in the computer. Perhaps both!
Yuuki Konno     In addition to being tougher than she looks, Yuuki's stronger than she looks as well. Just as well, because she looks like a stiff wind could blow her over. She puts plenty of power behind her blade however, and while it doesn't hit with the power of a greatsword or axe it's not purely a lightweight weapon.

    She's a master of melee, able to read weapons and body motion alike. But despite all her speed and perception she can still be tricked. Punches, from someone wielding a sword, still sometimes manage to catch her off-guard. Oh not fully defenseless of course. Her eyes widen as she sees the blow coming in, her blade already moving to parry the blade. Even if her reactions are up to seeing the changeup, she can't completely ignore physics and momentum. She'd never be able to parry the punch itself, not with Takeda's weight fully-committed behind it. No, she has to get out of its way, or at least redirect its target.

    The punch lands hard, but it impacts metal. Yuuki's armor has gorget of sorts, a projection of metal that's designed to protect her from just such an attack as Takeda is trying. Still, her armor's not designed to prevent blows from impacting. It just spreads the impact, reducing the chances of an opponent landing a vital strike. It does its job, but she still goes flying with a sharp cry of pain. Again, she can't ignore physics. She masses perhaps even less than she appears to, despite her strength and the light metal protecting her.

    Her eyes flick up to her health bar, visible to her if no one else. Yellow. Still high in the yellow. That wasn't a 'first blood' strike, though it was close. She grins a bit shakily, and laughs. The quaver is due more to the shock of the impact than any insincerity or fear. "I almost thought you'd given up!" she claims, smiling, panting hard to recover both from the exertion of her blitzing attack and from taking the big hit. "Did you want to continue?" she asks, tilting her head. Seems she doesn't think that was enough to make her choose to stop, but neither does she want to continue if her opponent doesn't.
Takeda Takahashi
A cry of pain.

That's all Takeda need to hear to know that the punch wasn't truly fatal. Although his strikes can crush stone and steel easily, hitting a steel bar is not the same thing as striking a person. For starters; a person moves and even something as simple as backpedaling can take out a lot of the power out of the strike.

Takeda's eyes lose just a glimmer of his killing intent when he sees that Yuuki is alright and that she's questioning his techniques. A chuckle comes from him and though she might not see he's grinning under the ninja skull mask. "Giving up? What's that??" He jests and readjusts his fighting stance. He is a warrior before a gentleman, and though good manners would cause him to extend a helping hand, as a warrior he has to respect her distance in case she tries to strike him when he gets near.

"Only if you still want to continue." Takeda answers even while in his kickboxing stance. All the gear he's wearing is good to hide the fact he's sweating pretty hard, but as far as his health bar goes only Jin knows if he's on the yellows or otherwise.
Yuuki Konno     For Yuuki, fighting is a good way to understand someone and to let them understand what matters most to her. She may not be able to see Takeda's grin, but she couldn't possibly be unaware of it.

    A red mark now shows where Takeda had struck. Not just the flesh of Yuuki's throat, but on her armor as well. It's a dull, angry red; not the bright crimson of fresh blood. She smiles. "It was a GOOD punch!" she claims, making her feet steady under her, not taking her eyes off her opponent. The fight hasn't stopped after all. It might be risky to take her eyes off him. Even worse, it'd show a lack of respect for his warrior's spirit!

    In a way, Yuuki's still holding back. She's keenly aware this isn't ALO, and she's not sure about the nature of this world's duelling protections. In Beacon she can fight without fear, knowing that Aura would prevent lethal blows so long as everyone respected the aura's strength. It's a system that shows like a health bar in official duels, and so it was instantly familiar to her. Fights were stopped before a combatant's aura was too low to protect them properly. Up until that point, the fighters were free to use blades, bullets, whatever they preferred.

    Here it's different. She doesn't know if there are any protections in place, so she's monitoring her own health and will stop before there's truly lethal risk. Even the throat punch or knee kick wouldn't have done permanent damage if they'd landed; Yuuki's avatar is tough enough to survive such hits without being driven to critical levels. But she can't say the same about Takeda. While she could hurt him with her blade, she's being very careful not to land a strike that could be crippling or fatal. It may well be putting her at a disadvantage, since she's unwilling to fight to her full potential. Not that her less-lethal attacks are easy to deal with of course! Even without her full heart in the battle, she's got enough speed and skill to put most fighters to shame!

    "All right, but you had your chance!" Yuuki says playfully, raising her blade in salute. Waiting on her opponent to show equal sign of readiness, she charges, changing her tactics to provide a new challenge.

    Takeda might notice, as she readies her first strike, her blade begins to glow with a sullen purple light. She swings early, deliberately aiming slightly before the ninja's face, trying to hit his sword instead of his mask. That magical energy, charged up into the blade, is set to unleash a blast of darkness right in his face. She intends to blind him with it, just for the barest second, but enough to let her move to somewhere unexpected and strike a follow-up blow!
Takeda Takahashi
If Yuuki wanted to do non-lethal fighting she's in the wrong place!!

All of Takeda's blows have been meant to be lethal or crippling. He's not entirely sure how Yuuki's avatar works, and he has very limited experience with people from other universes. In his realm though, fights are brutal like that, and getting a knee snapped in a fight or having your throat collapsed mid fight is a very common occurance.

That's why he seems to think very little of his attacks possibly being fatal. In fact, no one in the control room seems to be batting an eyelash at those strikes- attacks that could have gotten him thrown in jail if he had tried to do that in a martial arts competition. "Thanks! You're pretty good yourself!" He offers a wink and relaxes back into his Muay Thay stance.

As Yuuki charges in he begins to backpedal ever so slightly to give himself some room to react. He's not expecting that strike to hit since it's so far away from his circle of defense. He forgets that Yuuki has magic.

And forgetting is a really dumb thing to do in a fight.

"Oh crap-AAAGH!" Having not bothered to block his head is pushed back violently as the darkness hits him, his ninja mask going flying out. Ah, hello darkness my old friend. And indeed, Takeda is quite familiar with the feeling of not being to see his opponent. "Shit shit!!" Hitting full panic mode, Takeda doesn't even try to locate where Yuuki is. In a burst of flame, Takeda ninja vanishes out of the follow up attack and appears a few feet away from Yuuiki.

"Oooh you sneaky little--" Now that he has no mask on, Yuuki will be able to see all of Takeda's silly faces when he's trying to focus. Takeda decides that getting near this chick isn't a good idea, and thus trades his beam swords for his serrated whips to keep her in check. A long metal rope extends from his forearm and its sent whipping towards Yuuki's leg, aiming for to injure her already damaged thigh with the razor sharp teeth of his metallic whip.
Yuuki Konno     To be fair Yuuki doesn't have a whole lot of magic. This isn't an Alfheim spell either; it's a mana-boosted attack. As these things go it's pretty minor, and hardly effective against anyone who's aware of its potential. Just a trick in other words, but a good one.

    She's set to make an attack, one that'd surely draw First Blood. But Takeda vanishes, and the sudden burst of flame makes her recoil with uncertainty. By the time she tracks him down, he's tracked her down too, and they're still at range.

    She grins, once again displaying that Imp isn't purely a cosmetic description of her. She waits on his attack, letting him make the first move. The whip is interesting, but ultimately nothing she worries over. Arrows are too slow to be terribly effective against her. Even bullets, she might be fast enough to deal with. A violet flash of her blade keeps the whip at bay, though she misjudges the flexibility. A thin bright-red line appears on her leg, marking a small but significant injury, while her health bar drains closer and closer to the bright yellow cut-off of First Blood.

    She's charging though, and seemingly not slowed down by either the new injury or the older ones. Yuuki lives to fight, and losing isn't something she does lightly. She never surrenders, not to enemies, not to death itself. If a loss comes, if death comes, then it comes. But not before she's lived and fought with everything she has.

    Wheeling into a spin, Yuuki once again brings violet energy to her blade. Spinning around full-circle she unleashes a horizontal power strike, backed by the blade's darkness energies.
Takeda Takahashi
SECRET SHIRAI RYU BASE

MANY YEARS AGO

A bloodied young Takeda, can't be more than fourteen years old stands before a rugged individual dressed much like Takeda himself. A black body suit with a yellow tunic on top and a yellow bandanna. Young Takeda looks up to this somber man with fear and admiration in his eyes, at least whatever part of his eyes can be seen through the blood soaking his face and his visibly swollen eyelids.

"But master Hasashi.." Does protest young Takeda. "I don't know what to do when I can't stay outside of range. If my opponent gets in I'm done for.. what are ninjas supposed to do without their mobility??"

The man, the alleged master Hasashi, gives Takeda grim look and narrows his eyes.

"When the only path is forward."

"JUST GO IN!!"

PRESENT TIME

"Just go in.." Takeda whispers the words of his sensei as he looks up to see Yuuki descending upon him like a diving eagle. This girl, whoever she is, he can't keep her completely at bay. Playing the dancing around game with her is an effort in futility, she has nearly as much mobility as he has, and this whole time he's really been avoiding the war of attrition that Yuuki seems obsessed with. Really, the girl just wants to get all up in his face and trade hits! Who does that?

Takeda grits his teeth and brings his plasma beams to bear.

Sometimes all you can do is give your opponent what they want.

"AAAAAHH!!!" With a defying warcry, Takeda jumps upwards right into Yuuki's direction leading with his shoulder. He takes full brunt of the sword on his armor which buckles under the pressure and cuts deeply into his collarbone and further down on his chest skewering his heart. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a fatal wound, but if Yuuki is aware of whatâs happening around her she might notice that Jin and the Special Forces engineers wouldnât even blink at that.

And they wouldn't blink either at what happens next..
Takeda Takahashi
"SHIRAI RYU KEN!!" Takeda's plasma swords burn bright with his chi as he does a double upwards strike at his opponent. He swings the burning blades up into the Zekken's abdomen, up her chest cavity, and out on opposite sides of her collar bone. All betting on the point that Yuuki will remain immobile because her sword will be stuck in his body.
Takeda Takahashi
SECRET SHIRAI RYU BASE

MANY YEARS AGO

A bloodied young Takeda, can't be more than fourteen years old stands before a rugged individual dressed much like Takeda himself. A black body suit with a yellow tunic on top and a yellow bandanna. Young Takeda looks up to this somber man with fear and admiration in his eyes, at least whatever part of his eyes can be seen through the blood soaking his face and his visibly swollen eyelids.

"But master Hasashi.." Does protest young Takeda. "I don't know what to do when I can't stay outside of range. If my opponent gets in I'm done for.. what are ninjas supposed to do without their mobility??"

The man, the alleged master Hasashi, gives Takeda grim look and narrows his eyes.

"When the only path is forward."

"JUST GO IN!!"

PRESENT TIME

"Just go in.." Takeda whispers the words of his sensei as he looks up to see Yuuki descending upon him like a diving eagle. This girl, whoever she is, he can't keep her completely at bay. Playing the dancing around game with her is an effort in futility, she has nearly as much mobility as he has, and this whole time he's really been avoiding the war of attrition that Yuuki seems obsessed with. Really, the girl just wants to get all up in his face and trade hits! Who does that?

Takeda grits his teeth and brings his plasma beams to bear.

Sometimes all you can do is give your opponent what they want.

"AAAAAHH!!!" With a defying warcry, Takeda jumps upwards right into Yuuki's direction leading with his shoulder. He intends to drive himself into Yuuki's sword shoulder first so that her blade gets stuck in his body and thus giving him the opportunity he needs to counter attack, even if its at the expense of his own body.
"SHIRAI RYU KEN!!" Takeda's plasma swords burn bright with his chi as he does a double upwards strike at his opponent. He swings the burning blades up into the Zekken's abdomen, up her chest cavity, and out on opposite sides of her collar bone. All b
Takeda Takahashi
SECRET SHIRAI RYU BASE

MANY YEARS AGO

A bloodied young Takeda, can't be more than fourteen years old stands before a rugged individual dressed much like Takeda himself. A black body suit with a yellow tunic on top and a yellow bandanna. Young Takeda looks up to this somber man with fear and admiration in his eyes, at least whatever part of his eyes can be seen through the blood soaking his face and his visibly swollen eyelids.

"But master Hasashi.." Does protest young Takeda. "I don't know what to do when I can't stay outside of range. If my opponent gets in I'm done for.. what are ninjas supposed to do without their mobility??"

The man, the alleged master Hasashi, gives Takeda grim look and narrows his eyes.

"When the only path is forward."

"JUST GO IN!!"

PRESENT TIME

"Just go in.." Takeda whispers the words of his sensei as he looks up to see Yuuki descending upon him like a diving eagle. This girl, whoever she is, he can't keep her completely at bay. Playing the dancing around game with her is an effort in futility, she has nearly as much mobility as he has, and this whole time he's really been avoiding the war of attrition that Yuuki seems obsessed with. Really, the girl just wants to get all up in his face and trade hits! Who does that?

Takeda grits his teeth and brings his plasma beams to bear.

Sometimes all you can do is give your opponent what they want.

"AAAAAHH!!!" With a defying warcry, Takeda jumps upwards right into Yuuki's direction leading with his shoulder. He intends to drive himself into Yuuki's sword shoulder first so that her blade gets stuck in his body and thus giving him the opportunity he needs to counter attack, even if its at the expense of his own body.
"SHIRAI RYU KEN!!" Takeda's plasma swords burn bright with his chi as he does a double upwards strike at his opponent. He swings the burning blades up into the Zekken's abdomen, up her chest cavity, and out on opposite sides of her collar bone. All b
Takeda Takahashi betting on the point that Yuuki will remain immobile because her sword will be stuck inside him.
Yuuki Konno     Yeah, Yuuki really isn't bothered by pain or threat of injury. As fast as she is, as good as she is at dishing out damage and moving quickly, she has little fear of trading blows. Let other people flinch; she'll use that time to finish a fight! But the one thing she truly doesn't expect, that she's never experienced, is for someone to be willing to take a blow to hit her. Not just take a blow, to literally run themselves through on her blade in the hopes of finishing her.

    Even so, Yuuki's speed is incredible. Not her physical movement speed though that's exceptional, but her reaction speed. In the first moments of Takeda's charge she sees what he's doing. Sees, possibly even more than he does, what the results of the attack is going to be. Not his intended attack, but the results of her sword piercing him if she doesn't do something about it.

    Yuuki can't do much. Even in the near-infinite time of her reactions, she still has sheer physics to contend with. Still her sword is light, and she nudges it out of line with considerable effort. Enough so it won't drive up into Takeda's neck, and that it should glance off ribs instead of penetrating his body cavity. It'll still be a ghastly wound, but she'd rather have that than a surely-lethal attack that'd penetrate lungs or possibly his heart!

    Still, she doesn't even realize his own attack is underway. She's too focussed on avoiding manslaughter to fully grasp Takeda's intent. And really, that's just her. More concerned about the lives of others than about her own. Again though, her insane reaction speed is there for her. True, her blade's useless right now. There's no way she could parry, and no way she could avoid the attack and still keep her weapon. But then, that's fine with her. She was already pulling back somewhat, thanks to not wanting to actually run Takeda through. In her own defense, she releases her weapon and falls away.

    It's not enough to completely avoid his attack, but instead of his blades wrecking their way through her armor and carving her through the middle they're partially-slowed by that armor and by her own avatar's toughness. The resulting cuts are shallower, still great bright red slashes that bleed pixellated light rather than viscous fluids. She doesn't need to check her health bar, surely. There's no way that attack didn't drive her well past the point of 'first blood'. The duel's clearly over, but then she already knew that when she'd decided to release her weapon.

    The only question now is, does Takeda realize the duel's over? Or, with her weapon gone, will he follow her and try to finish her off? Yuuki's seriously wounded, but it's not a fatal blow and she'll likely never be as vulnerable as she is now, wounded and without her blade...
Takeda Takahashi
When Takeda reaches the apex of his double sword uppercut, he does a full backflip that puts his feet back in the right position for a proper landing. As he descends his body immediately shifts back into that ever present Kickboxing stance of his, meaning that even if he had gotten run through his spirit was more than prepared to continue on with the fight.

However, thanks to a combination of recklessness and Yuuki's own unwillingness to perform a potentially fatal blow, he finds that his opponent is now unarmed and indeed terribly wounded. Now isn't there something that he usually does with opponents of his that find themselves in that situation?

FINISH HER

Yes, when presented with such an opportunity, fighters of this universe have a call to them that beckons their spirit to do most horrendous things to defeated warriors. Even one such as winsome as Takeda is not safe from this maddening bloodlust. And he grins a sadistic smile, his eyes now shifting back to that same murder look he was giving Yuuki through-out the fight. A laugh comes from him as if he were already savoring what he was about to do. "Hehehe! HAHAHA!!"

But hey, this wasn't Mortal Kombat, it was just a spar!

"Woo!! That was awesome!!!!" Takeda returns to his usual boyish personality and smiles brightly at Yuuki. First blood is first blood though and considering they are both bleeding rather profusely he figures that is a good spot to end the fight. "You okay there, Yuuki?" Naturally they got doctors here if the Zekken is in need of medical attention.

But as for Takeda's own wounds, his shoulder plate has been torn off completely as is his body suit showing a deep gash all across the length of his bicep exposing muscle and bone. He doesn't even bother calling the medics as he takes his plasma sword to his own arm and presses the burning blade into his flesh to cauterize the wounds. The kid doesn't even flinch even as the smell of burnt flesh fills the air.
Yuuki Konno     Weaponless and seemingly defenseless, Yuuki even closes her eyes as she and Takeda face each other across a narrow battlefield. She could hardly seem more helpless, though it might seem a bit odd for a warrior to put herself in such a state. Perhaps she assumes such a submissive act will stop her opponent's bloodlust, or perhaps she's just shutting off her sight to ensure her other senses work at a finer pitch.. or perhaps her wounds are just that serious that she needs to focus. Either way she doesn't move, and she doesn't have to watch that look of murderous bloodlust.

    As Takeda calms though, she opens her eyes again and looks up. She smiles as he starts to laugh, though her smile is wry. She sighs and makes a few short gestures with one hand. A potion bottle forms, seemingly summoned from nowhere, and she knocks it back with the quaffing skills of a mighty adventurer. A faint musical anthem plays and her wounds begin to slowly darken, the angry crimson cut-marks beginning to shift hue, beginning to look somehow older and less severe.

    "Are you an idiot?" Yuuki asks, not really sounding angry or even terribly accusatory. "Throwing yourself on my sword like that, what were you thinking? You could have DIED doing that!" she claims, more in shocked surprise than in accusation. She doesn't like that sort of thing, and she flinches enough for both of them when Takeda cauterizes his own wound.
Takeda Takahashi
Takeda's smile turns into a surprised expression when Yuuki accuses him of being an idiot. His eyes widen and he blinks a couple of times, glancing first towards the engineers and Jin are.

"Well, first of all, yes I am an idiot!!" At least he admits it and he laughs about that as well with his usual dorkish giggling. "And second, nah, I wouldn't died from that." He assures her as he powers down his beam swords and starts counting his fingers, looking up to the ceiling. "I've gotten my spine broken, my skull cracked, my liver and lungs ripped out, my heart and my brain pierced and I've still survived. And all in one match too!" He smiles big and goofily. "Really, if ya ever need a training dummy or something, just give me a call. I can assure you I don't break easy."

Takeda then turns to the engineers and shoots them a victory sign. "Alright, I hope you guys got all the data you needed!" He chirps before turning to Yuuki. "Sorry for scaring you like that-- eh, you still up for lunch and a tour I hope?"
Yuuki Konno     Yuuki laughs at that, but she sounds troubled as well. She'd laugh at her own dorky behavior, but ... well, this is more than a little creepy. Is this guy even more inhuman than Yuuki herself is? Not that that's too big of a deal really. Yuuki's friends with plenty of nonhumans. But it's still kind of against what Yuuki believes in, treating life so casually.

    Still she's not going to freak out, or show any major sign how weirded out she is. Well, she'll try. Yuuki's absolutely lousy at such things, and tends to wear her heart on her sleeve. She'll show concern and worry for a while, whether she wants to or not. "Well I don't survive things like that! Well, probably." she adds. "I'm not really sure any more, and I don't intend to go looking for the answer!" she fusses. "And besides, just because you CAN take a hit doesn't mean you SHOULD. After all, you DID lose the duel because of it!" she adds, grinning just slightly.
Takeda Takahashi
Once again, Takeda makes a face akin of a little kid being scolded. It's a funny look for a guy decked in military and ninja garb, plus also having a scorched up arm that is still sizzling from getting cauterized with what's essentially a light saber. However, somehow it fits Takeda's silly demenour and tightens his lips again in confusion. It's very unusual for someone to be so concerned about him, even his mates Cass, Jac and Jin usually just tell him to walk off and not be a wuss.

Kindness; something almost unheard of in Earthrealm.

But Yuuki is right, he should not have tried such a reckless move on her. She is not from his universe and thus he's unsure what can her body take. It would have been quite a diplomatic fiasco if he had injured Yuuki severly. "Whoa, okay, okay. I'm sorry. You're right, I apologize. I'm still not sure what's proper fighting around here... I'll make it up to you, okay?" He grins with a hopeful look until Yuuki brings up the fact he lost.

"Wazzat?" He looks at his arm. "Oh! Well, I guess I did eh? Heheh!" Takeda rubs the back of his head and grins his goofy grin. "Does that mean I have to call you Zekken from now on?"
Yuuki Konno     In spite of her kindness, Yuuki's also pure tomboy; perfectly willing to take on any boy in a boy's competition, proud to kick butt in doing so, and having no idea why some people seem to think it's not girly. She grins, obviously cheered both by Takeda's apology and his accepting the outcome of the duel. She gets up, apparently not too pained by her injuries. Already the pixellated wounds have visibly faded, both from the potion and from her taking time to recover. They've faded to the color of dried blood, and the width of the cut markings have perhaps reduced by a third.

    "Well, generally it's probably a good idea to assume that people die when you kill them." Yuuki offers. "Especially if they offer to fight only to first blood! I only duel to the finish in a game zone these days, or in a proper arena where they've calibrated everything so they're sure no one takes serious injuries. You might end up going easy on someone I guess, but I think it's better to do that than to risk really hurting someone!" she smiles cheerfully. Again that simple kindness, something she thinks nothing about, lifting her mood visibly. She's just not the sort to dwell overlong on negativity. "And hey, you can call me Yuuki or Zekken, whichever you like! Just don't call me late for dinner!"
Kung Jin Jin is sitting calmly in the control room, not to worry. He doesn't seem to be too terribly bothered about it all, nor does he flinch either, when Takeda sees to his wound with his own plasma sword. "Probably want to get that seen to later, Takeda," he suggests over the comm. He doesn't seem to be too worried, as his tone lacks urgency.

However, there is a bit of worry when he asks Yuuki, "What about you? Are you all right?"
Takeda Takahashi
Takeda opens his mouth and raises his finger as in protest but seems to think better of it. "Huh, yeah, that does make sense!" People die when ya kill them, who knew!?

He does dash towards Yuuki when he sees her go to her feet, offering a hand for her to get up. He can afford to have good manners now that they're not fighting -allegedly- to the death.

"Well, going easy around kiiinna gets you real quick. Maybe you'll have the opportunity to check it out!" Fighting people to the death! How exciting! Or at least that's how Tak has decided to view it. "But hey, totally invite me to play at your place sometime. I love vidya!"

Jin's comment over the comm makes him flinch, yeah, he should probably get that disenfected and what not. But once again Yuuki brings laughter to him with her pun. "Noted! On that note we should prolly get something to eat. I'm starving!" Yeah, fighting to the death does kind of make ya work an appettite.