Chrono Zone - Reptite Tower
Built atop a dormant volcano, the Reptites have forged a citadel of stone, a tribute to their genius and power. Here, dinosaurs roam freely, the Reptites using them as pets, servants, and guards. This entire area is ruled by Azala, the most powerful Reptite in the world. Humans are not welcome here, and any mammals that aren't captives or food are killed on site.
Azala's castle is a fantastic example of Reptite design, stone hallways and bone structures almost as complex as the best the humans could ever do in Medieval Guardian, eons later. The Reptites are truly the masters of this world, but a red star glows in the sky, a star that promises doom to their kind, according to Reptite soothsayers.
High noon in 65 million BC, the sun beats down relentlessly atop Azala's volcano fortress. Few dinosaurs patrol the complex itself, heat too great for the pathetic, fleshy mammals to bother them (and rather nice for the repitites to sun in). Nothing can go wrong today...right? Wrong.
Upon the highest balcony of the Fortress, a dark form flies overhead, circling, then swooping down, dropping something. The teredactyl flies away leaving its passenger atop the balcony.
Paula draws a breath and shuts her eyes, taking a moment to observe the surrounding area-there are no guards up here, not yet, though this is prone to change-well, save for a strange rock-like creature that looks like it possesses a minature volcano on it's back, but it appears to be asleep. Holes populate the floor, all of which are large enough for someone to fall down. The balcony itself is also very, very high. While it is fairly large, the danger of falling off of it is still present.
Steeling herself, Paula shuts her eyes and quietly meditates while waiting for the others to arrive.
The prehistoric sun is a harsh thing. Which is probably why Cody is out there with several bottles of water to chug down. Sure, he'd enjoy beer more, but it's not good for hydration, ya know. Swigging down the contents of one last bottle, he gasps, tossing the bottle to the side and wiping his mouth off. "Geh...alright...time to do this," he says with a sigh, shaking his head.
Walking forward, he notices the rather...large wildlife here, making note to keep as far away from anything more than twice his size. Making his way to the arranged fight area, he sighs. "Alright...one shot...arms good...hands good...knees..." He grimaces as he shakes out his legs, feeling a twinge in his knee. "...bearable. Well, let's do this then," he says, trying his best to not give away that little...problem as he spots Paula in the distance, meditating. "So this is the place, eh?"
Ziggy has made a number of trips around Videoland, and visited many zones that would be considered antiquated compared to his own (by some people's logic). But this is his first trip to an actual pre-historic world.
You would think the cyborg would be far too heavy to be dropped off by a Dactyl, but they manage to fly Robo around, don't they? He was hesitant at first, but all the others got to the site via one, so he decided to take the chance. He leaps off his Dactyl as he flies overhead, and lands on the Balcony with a heavy thud, opposite Paula. He silently checks a few of his cybernetics while he waits for things to begin. Everything is in as good condition as to be expected.
Cody Travers sighs, finally making his way up onto the balcony. He probably should have used a pteradactyl to get here like everyone else. He slumps over to catch his breath, looking at all those gathered around the area. "Well...looks like we're all here then. So...we gonna do this or what?" Cody waits...probably for about 5 seconds before deciding, if no one else will start off, he may as well. HE's not patient, really. "Fine...lets do this then!" Leaping off, he picks a target at random, making his way with a nasty looking flying kick toward his chosen opponent: Xianghua!
Cody Travers strikes Xianghua with his Generic Fighting Game Flying Kick Attack! (...wasn't that a mouthful?) attack!
There's just enough time for Xianghua to do her usual bow as she gets into a fight and assume a defensive pose. What she was not expecting was the sudden kick that catches her in the left shoulder, sending her spinning around and nearly tumbling over. She manages to stay up, awkwardly holding up her sword defensively as she regains her balance. Once her footing is sure, she sweeps her gaze over the makeshift fighting ring, looking for Cody. She easily cuts the distance between them, being light on her feet, and swings her sword in a high arc, aiming the flat of the blade for the man's head. Should that succeed, a crackle of energy shoots through the blade and the ground below Cody crumbles and cracks, making it hard to stand. Hopefully.
Xianghua strikes Cody Travers with her Quake Step attack!
"Yep!" Paula says cheerfully to Cody, opening her eyes. She takes a look around at those gathered and stands. Wasting no time, she quickly backs her way up, pulls out her frying pan with a fluid motion, and focuses.
The meditating she had been doing wasn't just to bring her peace before the fight. It allows her to clear her mind and focus on her psychic techniques-which she expects to use heavily. Narrowing her eyes, she clenches her fists, and a red glow envelops her body, focusing her mental prowess further.
Paula strikes Paula with her PSI offense up! power-increasing attack!
As soon as the match begins Ziggy wastes no time charging forward. He slows a bit, though, as he sees Cody and Xianghua facing off against each other right away. That leaves him and Paula. Of course, it's a Free For All, there's nothing stopping him from jumping in their fight, save for common decency. But it IS a tournament.
He doesn't waste much more time with his decision, and resumes advancing on Paula. Part of him is still a bit put-off at having to fight a little girl, even if he IS fully aware of her abilities. He doesn't let those doubts stop him, though, he's had to do worse in his lifetime. As he closes in melee range he charges some electrical ether in his cybernetic limb and fires a small electric blade in Paula's direction.
Ziggurat 8 strikes Paula with his Laser Blade attack!
Cody Travers scores the first blood, yes...but he really didn't think his attack out well enough. This is evident as Xianghua quickly recovers and ends up smacking the poor man in the head with her sword, the energy cracking both his skull and the ground beneath him, forcing him to crumple. "Geh....ow..." he mutters. Still, from the ground, he can do quite a bit...such as snapping his good arm up in an attempt to hook Xianghua leg behind the knee.
Cody Travers misses Xianghua with his Arm Hook Sweep attack!
Xianghua is light on her feet. She steps back twice as she notices Cody move, scuttling away from his attempted hook. "Tricked ya!" she exclaims, a big grin on her face, as she suddenly darts forward. Her sword arm lifts in that same moment, making with as if she's going for Cody's head again, only to change in mid-strike and make a beeline for his chest.
Xianghua misses Cody Travers with her Tricked Ya! attack!
Call it part of Paula's natural defenses-you don't want to hit a little girl, do you? (...not that it stops most villains anyways)
The strike of the laser blade reminds Paula that she has yet to kick /other/ things into gear, namely, hitting other people. She levels her gaze at Ziggy for a moment, takes a deep breath, then takes a sudden step forwards. Telekinetic force rushes out through the air, invisible save for a slight thickening of the air around. For some reason, her hair seems to 'fan' out just slightly as she activates her telekinesis.
Paula misses Ziggurat 8 with her TK shove! attack!
It helps to know your opponents, and while Ziggy doesn't have much first-hand experience with Paula he DOES know what her abilities are. The power of PSI, the power of the mind, and many things that are related to that.
So while he doesn't see the Telekinetic burst, he does see Paula step forward. He takes the chance to quickly step to the side, gambling on the theory that she was about to launch an attack of some sort. Though he doesn't see it happen, he gets the feeling he made the right move. Taking advantage of his momentum, he places his left foot on the ground and kicks his right foot forward, a small wave of fire trailing it.
Ziggurat 8 misses Paula with his Flame Kick attack!
Random Smash Item: Lip's Stick
Yoko Suzuki moves around the arena, keeping an eye on the combatants to make sure they're not doing any type of illegal or dangerous attacks. Of course, what's illegal and what isn't is anyone's guess, so she's pretty much here to keep track of the fight.
Then she takes out a capsule and tosses it towards the fighters. "Capsule incoming!" She shouts.
Cody Travers doesn't get up when his arm hook misses. He simply just rolls the hell away as Xianghua starts after him, thankfully getting out of the way before the sword hits. HE doesn't stop, however, as he continues rolling on. Rolling on, on, on....right toward Paula.
Ever wonder what it'd be like to be hit by a DK barrel? Right in the back of the legs? Paula might find out soon if she doesn't get out of the way...
Cody Travers strikes Paula with his Roll out the Barr...er...Cody? attack!
Luckily, it's not hard to recover from that simple attack. Standing still for only a brief moment to survey the battleground, Xianghua darts forward with her sword towards the one who seems to be her closest opponent: Ziggy. It's a very simple attack on her part: just a leap and thrust. Nothing fancy.
Xianghua strikes Ziggurat 8 with her Sword Thrust attack!
You have taken 15 damage.
As her consciousness focuses back on the fight itself, Paula notices the purple and white capsule flying through the air and immediately lashes out with her telekinesis. The invisible force grabs it and yanks it towards the psychic. Just as she is about to open the capsule, she yelps as Cody nails her in the back and shoves her to the ground.
Emitting a faint uncharacterisitc snarl, Paula picks herself up off the ground, and cracks the capsule open. Part of her hopes to get one of those fun little proximity mines. Instead, it's a flowery-looking..wand. She stares at the object for a moment, trying to remember what the heck it does.
Unfortunately, she does remember. With a cruel little smile, she turns to Cody, and tries to bring the sparkly thing down on his head.
Should this work, he will find a nice large pink flower grown on his noggin.
Paula misses Cody Travers with her A BRAIN-SUCKING FLOWER! Muahahaha! attack!
Ziggy was a bit too fixated on what Paula would do next that he forgot this battle is a free for all. He notices Xianghua coming at him moments too late, and the thrust impales him partly in the side. He steps back quickly to put a small amount of distance between himself and the warrior and readies an attack of his own.
Snapping his elbow-blade up into the ready position, he crouches slightly, preparing to spring forward. Raising his bladed-arm up he leaps forward quickly, then starts rotating in place at a dizzying speed. The bladed cyclonic cyborg makes a bee-line in Xianghua's direction.
Ziggurat 8 misses Xianghua with his Cyclone attack!
Luckily for Cody, he doesn't have to suffer that strange humiliating fate, as he just keeps rolling away. Finally, he comes to a stop, blinking as he finally spots what Paula tried to whack him with. "...er...what the hell is that? Wait, no, nevermind. Don't need to know, don't want to know." Crazy things, these Smash items.
In any case, Cody finally gets up to his feet, deciding to fight normally finally. Well...as normally as he does, anyways. Picking up a rock, he simply tosses the sucker at a beeline toward Paula's head. No mercy, right?
Cody Travers strikes Paula with his Bad Stone attack!
Again Xianghua scurries backwards, doubletime, to avoid what surely would have been a nasty attack on Ziggy's part. She jumps forward when she gets an opening, thrusting her blade to wards Ziggy's chest once, twice... The same energy from her Quake Step attack courses through the blade emenating through the tip of the blade towards the target. Should she hit, the wave of force just might be enough to knock her opponent to the ground.
Xianghua misses Ziggurat 8 with her Advancing Tiger Thrust attack!
"Wanna find out?" Paula growls as she starts stalking closer towards Cody. That is until she takes a rock to the head and jerks back, falling still for a moment before her head rolls back, a trickle of blood trailing down the side of her head. Her eyes narrow.
She looks to her lip stick and wonders...just how pointy the other end is. Reversing her grip on the item, she suddenly throws it, like a dart, at Cody's chest. There's a faint blue aura around the object, indicating that there is /indeed/ some telekinetic influence behind this throw, perhaps an effort to accelerate it to impaling speed.
Paula misses Cody Travers with her Planting flowers the hard way attack!
This time Ziggy tries to keep a watch on everyone in the arena. He sees thaT Cody and Paula are sufficiently occupied with each other for the moment, so he turns his attention entirely on Xianghua. And not a moment too soon, as he her swinging her sword forward. Taking a similar gamble as he did with Paula earlier, the cyborg quickly leaps to the side, narrowly avoiding the force bolt and slashes.
Ziggy then raises his bladed arm and starts swinging his own edged weapon. A downward strike, a sideways strike, and a few quick jabs, all of which are accompanied with small blasts of fire, and meant to knock a foe back.
Ziggurat 8 strikes Xianghua with his Burst Blade attack!
Random Pokeball: Scizor - Fury Cutter
Yoko continues to monitor the fight, occasionally stepping in to check on a possibly illegal blow, but when she finds nothing bad occurred, she steps back, continuing to monitor the fight from her safe distance.
Then she realizes something and tosses a pokeball from her pocket.
Cody Travers is quick to duck as the stick is tossed. As stupid as the thing looks, he doesn't want to get stuck by it. "WHOA!!!" he shouts, dropping to his knees as the stick flies over his head. "Cripes...you act like I peed in yer Oatie O's," he mutters. He's never seen Paula this....well, pissed.
In any case, he figures he may as well focus on the psychic for now, making a quick dash toward her. As he nears her, he jumps up, attempting to grasp at her head. If he manages it...well, poor Paula will end up feeling the full weight of the brawler, feet planted in her chest as he falls.
Cody Travers misses Paula with his Bad Stamp attack!
"Oof!" comes the reply to the first blow, then assorted grimaces and grunts of pain as each of Ziggy's blows make contact with Xianghua's body, forcing her backwards until she trips over her own feet and knocks her to the ground. She rolls to avoid any more and keeps rolling until she can get up on her own feet. For a moment or two she does nothing, shaking the cobwebs out of her head. That was quicker than she expected. "You're not half-bad!" she exclaims, grinning. This might be a tournament, but no one said she can't enjoy it. Leaping forward again, Zingy only stays in front of Ziggy for a moment, enough to (hopefully) have him attack in that direction, before she jumps to her opponent's left, swinging her sword out in a wide arc towards Ziggy's side.
Xianghua strikes Ziggurat 8 with her Great Wall attack!
You have taken 19 damage.
"I /have/ to win, Cody." Paula mutters. If Ness can act SUPER SERIOUS and heartless about fighting in one of these, well so can Paula. "I have to talk to the man in black-he won't talk to me otherwise."
Cody will find Paula suddenly sliding beneath Cody to avoid his grasp completely, letting him stomp the ground instead. With a fluid motion, she holds her hands out, the pokeball falling firmly into her outstretched palms.
Standing, she SPIKES the pokeball on the ground, a large red bug-like creature with jagged crab-claws for hands emerging forth and growling. "Scizor!"
Paula blinks, then thrusts a finger at Cody. "ATTACK!" She has absolutely no idea what a scizor can do, but oh well! For good measure, she flings her frying pan past the creature, willing it to arc towards Cody's head.
Scizor dashes forwards with a dash worth of Megaman, swinging a large jagged crab claw towards Cody's gut. If he's really unlucky, he'll get juggled.
Paula strikes Cody Travers with her Totally not ripping of Strike Raid...really! attack!
Yoko Suzuki misses Cody Travers with her Fury Cutter attack!
"You're not bad yourself." Ziggy replies. It would probably be a stretch to say he was 'enjoying' the battle, but he doesn't hate it, either. He's almost glad Yuffie talked him into it. But he IS a bit disappointed his first match (and possibly his only) is against three other heroes. His main reason for signing up was to get some free experience fighting villains, but he may not get such a chance.
But this is all the more reason to fight harder, and make it to the next round. The tournament, or the glory, doesn't mean a whole lot to him.
Ziggy is unable to dodge Xianghua's giant slash in time, and takes a fairly deep cut on his chest. Both metal and flesh takes some damage, but loses no speed, despite the large gash. He leaps back to put some distance between them. This attack needs some space. He charges his fist with electric ether again, then slams it down into the ground sending a violent shockwave towards Xianghua.
Ziggurat 8 strikes Xianghua with his Lightning Fist attack!
Random Smash Item: Super Smash Icon (+FMV)
Yoko keeps tabs on the fight, as the fighters continue to show their prowess, with none of them seeming to show any signs of tiring anytime soon. Then she takes out a capsule and tosses it into the direction of the fighters. "Merry Christmas!" She shouts.
Cody Travers mutters as Paula slips out of the way of his stomp, landing harshly in a crouch. He grimaces, feeling that familiar twinge in his knee hit him again. "Ghnn..." Turning around, still crouching, he focuses on Paula....and the rather angry looking red bug staring him in the face. "....oh cra-" He doesn't finish, as he's clanged in the head by a frying pan. "OW!!!" Rather than fall down completley, though, Cody rolls off to his side, madly winding away from the Scizor as it rushes. "Screw that," he mutters, running as far away from the Scizor as he can, hoping to outrun any other attacks that might be tossed his way.
Cody Travers strikes Cody Travers with his RUNAWAY! defense-increasing attack!
The shockwave strikes Xianghua and forces her to the ground. She hits it with a thud, groaning in pain. She rolls onto her stomach, supporting herself with arms before pushing herself to her knees, then standing. Backing up as she does, trying to find another opening, makes her walk past the retreating Cody and brings Paula to her peripheral vision. She turns to face the small psychic, spinning on her feet as he sword swings in circles repeatedly as she approaches.
Xianghua strikes Paula with her Low Windmill Spin attack!
The Scizor continues to chase Cody. Normally, Scizors will chase until they've caught their enemy and smacked them. Unfortunately, their "enemy" translates to "anything in front of them", so while Cody flees, he finds that the scizor will suddenly stop chasing him as the pokemon strikes the strange rock-shaped creature in the middle of the arena.
The creature, referred to as a Volcano, is native to this particular region of the Chrono zone, called such because of the volcano on it's back. The strike awakens it and, noting the filthy mammals around it, immediately retaliates. The hole on it's back glows and, much like a real volcano, erupts in a spray of fire all over the battle field. These can be easily avoided, of course.
Paula catches her frying pan and yelps as she suddenly feels a sword cuts into her flesh. Spinning, she glares at Xinghua for a moment and backs up, pondering what to unleash upon her-however, the fire raining from the sky catches her eye. Instead of attacking, she stomps a foot to the ground and summons a luminous blue glow around her as she direcly places herself in the path of a falling ball of fire.
The fire, oddly enough, is absorbed completely, giving the blue glow a more purple tint.
Paula restores Paula with her PSI magnet minor healing!
The capsule is thrown onto the battlefield, and this time Ziggy is the first one to catch sight of it. Deciding the potential randomization is worth the risk in this case, he makes a grab for it. He's lucky Xianghua decided to turn her attention away from him, or else he may not have gotten the opening.
A quick dash, and a jump, and he successfully scores the capsule. Which promptly opens. In the shimmering light that follows a transparent image of MOMO appears. This causes Ziggy to stop in his tracks for a moment and blink, but he doesn't stay bewildered for long. The holo-MOMO readies her bow and fires into the air, her arrows bursting into ether. A moment later three large meteorites plummet towards the battlefield. By now Ziggy has realized this is just another trick of the tournament, and decides to make best use of it.
He quickly locates Cody, who is attempting to put some distance between himself and the girls, apparently not noticing Ziggy. So Cody becomes the target. Leaping into the air, Ziggy flips over one of the meteorites as it passes under him, and kicks it in Cody's direction. As the second one approaches, the cyborg spinning kicks it towards Cody as well. Finally the third and final meteorite is met with a gratuitous, slow-motion kick which sends it flying in Cody's direction, but also sends Ziggy to the ground. Somewhat disoriented (and dizzy!), he tries to keep the world from spinning. But he'll be a sitting duck for a moment or two.
Ziggurat 8 strikes Cody Travers with his Power Strike finisher attack, but is stunned by the effort!
Cody Travers continues to run...especially as the fireballs erupt along the field. "HOLY CRAP!!" he shouts, running. He doesn't even realize Ziggy's taking aim at him...at least, until a meteorite smashes into him. "GEH!" Slammed to the ground, he slowly tries to get up...only to get smashed down by another one. And another one...and another. Finally, Cody's smashed completely into the ground, barely able to move anything at the moment. "Geeehhhhh....owww...." he grunts. He manages to slowly reach into his pocket for a stick of gum....but he's not going to do much else besides that.
Cody Travers restores Cody Travers with his Stick of Gum minor healing!
With Paula placing herself before a fireball to absorb it, Xianghua readies herself for what she assumes is an attack. When it doesn't come, she takes her opportunity. She darts forward, aiming her blade towards Paula's middle. At the last minute, though, she changes her mind and aims the point towards Paula's legs.
Xianghua strikes Paula with her I Can Make Up My Mind Where To Attack, I Swear! attack!
Taking a deep breath, Paula absorbs the energy into her entirely, leaving a purple hue clinging to her form just faintly. This glow doesn't seem to offer any defense whatsoever from being stabbed in the knee with a sword. She isn't unawares of what else is going on in the arena-such as Cody getting blown the hell away by Ziggy.
Perhaps in an attempt to cut off Ziggy's follow-through, perhaps to draw "aggro" (which may be a bad idea), Paula's focus turns to the man. Hands extended, she summons her telekinesis again, but this time not as a disorganized force to hit Ziggy with. No, instead she attempts to grab Ziggy with her telekinesis, lift him in the air, and stuff him into the fire-spewing hole of the Volcano.
Paula strikes Ziggurat 8 with her Someone needs to break that +stun I guess. smash attack!
You have taken 30 damage.
Ziggy is a bit too disoriented to fight off Paula's telekinesis... if he would even be able to, at any rate. Next thing he knows he's dropped down into the lava.
If Ziggy were Mario, he'd leap back out comically. He's no Mario, though, and his zone doesn't hold such rules. Ziggy is only lucky he's built to dish out fire damage, AND resist it a bit. The lava burns badly, but it snaps him out of his disorientation real quick too. He quickly moves to jump out, and rolls back onto the battlefield. Smouldering quite a bit. Ow.
Cody Travers finally manages to push himself up after that massive attack, groaning painfuly. "Nghh...demmit," he mutters, looking around to figure out what the hell happened. Unfortunately, he can't really single any of the other three out for it...but he still has some anger to take out. "Alright...someone's gonna get hurt fer this..." he mutters.
His fists glow blue as his chi gathers up. Finally, he rushes into the fray, once again choosing his opponent at random. Fist pulled back, he snaps it out in rapid succession, almost like a gatling gun, at his chosen target: Xianghua.
Cody Travers misses Xianghua with his Gatling Straight smash attack!
Maybe it's luck. Maybe she's trained to feel people approaching her. Or maybe Cody just makes noise that alerts Xianghua. Whatever it is, the Chinese woman spins around at just the right time, holding her sword in front of her to block the oncoming gatling fists. Once the attack ends, her replying attack is something nice and simple: a crescent kick to the head, courtesy of her right leg.
Xianghua strikes Cody Travers with her Crescent Kick attack!
Sapped after pulling off so much telekinesis in one spot, Paula quickly backs away to allow Cody and Xianghua to go at each other.
Paula herself takes a moment to concentrate and summon forth a PSI shield to protect herself.
Paula strikes Paula with her PSI shield endurance-increasing attack!
Finally, after cooling off a bit, Ziggy returns to the fray. He doesn't need to ponder over who is responsible for that most recent attack. Only one of them, to his knowledge, is capable of lifting him and hurling him into a volcano without any physical contact. And she's the least-assuming of them all.
Suddenly Ziggy doesn't feel /quite/ as bad attacking her. But there's no hard feelings, of course. Just a deeper understanding of exactly what Paula is capable of.
Ziggy charges his cybernetic arm with electric ether once more, and uses it to gather the bits of debris that are scattered around the field. They all form a giant, eletrically-charged, mass in the air above Paula. That mass then shoots downward like an executioner's blade.
Ziggurat 8 strikes Paula with his Executioner attack!
Well that went knowhere. Cracked in the head with a kick, Cody's easily knocked down, falling to the ground once more. Grunting, he decides on the simple and tried and true tactic of....the SWEEP. It doesn't hurt that he's already on the ground, so why not? Maybe this way, he can get Xianghua down to his level. If not...well, he'll just have to find another way around this...
Random Smash Item: Metal Box (Enemy can only weak attack next round)
Yoko simply tosses the capsule again, without saying anything.
Cody Travers strikes Xianghua with his SWEEP! attack!
Xianghua goes down faster than a Metro City hooker! She hits the ground and grunts, narrowly avoiding slamming her head on the rock, only missing because she tilted her head at the last moment. She doesn't rest long, rolling on the ground to place her at a perpendicular angle to Cody's grounded body, lifting a leg and trying to bring the foot down on his stomach.
Xianghua misses Cody Travers with her Foot Meet Belly! attack!
Paula tries her best to absorb the electricity of the mass, though while she does that, it does nothing to stop the debris that rain down upon her, momentarily burying her.
A few crackles of lighting spider over the small pile before the debris are scattered as Paula emerges from it, both electricity and fire energy that was absorbed earlier swirling around her. She looks a little paniced, and as if she's having a hard time controling the power she tried to absorb. Eventually, she gives up, releasing it all in a small blast around her body.
Paula misses Ziggurat 8 with her The closest Paula'll ever get to shorting attack!
Ziggy makes the mistake of approaching the rubble pile just as Paula climbs out. However, before he can be shocked by her massive Point-Blank Area of Effect attack he happens to notice another capsule. Making a dive for that causes him to escape the radius of the attack. Huzzah.
Opening the capsule he discovers... a metal box. That's right. Full Metal Ziggurat.
The foot, however, misses, Cody catching the lethal dropping heel before it catches him in the stomach. "Uh uh," he says, before he simply tries to toss Xianghua away forcibly by her leg. Who knows, maybe smack her into the newly metallized Ziggy! Hey, simple's good right now, right?
Cody Travers strikes Xianghua with his Heave HO! (hey, she brought up the hooker bit...) attack!
Poor Xianghua goes flying into the air, slamming not into Ziggy (Thank gods, that would've hurt even more!) but eventually comes to the ground, rolling as she does so. She grunts and stands, her legs wobbling. Her No Name sword game, instead, Xianghua pulls out a sword of the same length, but it seems to be made out of blue crystal of some kind. The aura it radiates indicates this is a weapon of power which, if one knows where Xianghua is from, immediately reveals its identity. Instead of attacking, though, Xianghua concentrates. What is she concentrating on? As she walks, the sword pulses briefly, as does Xianghua. The smaller scratches and cuts, visible where her pants do not cover her legs, start to close up, thanks to a regenerative power of the sword.
Xianghua restores Xianghua with her Better Healing Through Magic Swords minor healing!
Regaining control of her own power, Paula backs off, fairly embarassed, and stares at Ziggy for a moment.
Since he is made out of metal, Paula decides to test how conductive Ziggy has become and points a finger to the air while backing away. In fact, she backs all the way up to the wall of the repitite tower.
Despite there being no clouds from the sky, a bolt of lightning lances downwards at Ziggy, hopefully drawn to his metallic coat.
Paula misses Ziggurat 8 with her PSI thunder! weak attack!
Given how much of his body is metal, chances are Ziggy is fairly conductive ANYWAY. Despite this, he still quickly jumps back to avoid the PSI thunder, he doesn't want to find out how much MORE conductive he is. At about this time his temporary invulnerability wears off. Aw well.
With a decent bit of distance between himself and Paula he opts to rely on another ranged attack. A rather large missile launcher is summoned into existance on his arm. Don't ask how. The technobabble in Xenosaga can be so darn complicated even his player doesn't understand everything. Regardless of how it got there, it fires a volley of missiles in Paula's direction. A bit overkill to use on a little girl? Well this same kid levitated him into a volcano, and nearly struk him with lightning.
Ziggurat 8 strikes Paula with his Missile 4 U attack!
Random Pokeball: Staryu - Swift
A pokeball drops into the arena...
Now that XIanghua's away, Cody has to decide on a new target here. However, he's not really...picky anymore. He just wants to hurt something. So, who does he go afte? Well, the only one he's not touched since. Charging, he ducks his shoulder low, and as ZIggy fires off toward Paula, the brawler simply tries to spear tackle the cyborg right down to the ground.
Cody Travers misses Ziggurat 8 with his THE SPEAR! MAH GAWD! attack!
Holding the crystalline weapon, Xianghua's eyes follow Cody as he tries to tackle the cyborg, and they naturally move to the opponentless Paula. She runs off in the direction of the psychic, darting forward to drill her sword towards Paula multiple times, before twirling the sword in a tight spiral, hoping to catch Paula for each attack.
Xianghua strikes Paula with her Enter Cool Sounding Chinese Attack Name Here! attack!
Paula has been knocked out!
Paula was not opponentless. She was busy dealing with Ziggy, who was in her /face/.
Which is why Xianguah's attack catches her completely off guard and knocks her off balance and into one of those aforementioned holes in the floor. Woops.
Ziggy's reflexes are actually quite good, normally. Cody's are probably better, being a much more agile person, but in this particular case the cyborg is able to have just enough agility to dodge Cody's tackle. And as he jumps back he spots another capsule entering the arena. Luck seems to be on his side, if he was one to put faith in luck.
Grabbing it, he seems it's a pokeball. He has NO experience with these creatures, but now's as good a time to start. Clicking the button on the side, he throws it on the ground, to release ... a sea star?
"Err..." Ziggy blinks. This is not quite what he expected, but it'll have to do. "A-alright... might as well make the most of it. Attack!" He orders, pointing at Cody. The Staryu complies, and fires off a bunch of stars at the Final Fighter.
While the pokemon does its thing, Ziggy takes a moment to activate a minor healing ether to mend some of the damage he's after recieving. Paula is down, so now there is only three. That means things are about to get a lot more heated.
Ziggurat 8 restores Ziggurat 8 with his Medica minor healing!
You have healed by 28%!
Yoko Suzuki strikes Cody Travers with her Swift attack!
Well, that sucked. Cody simply flies past...and he gets shot in the back by the stupid star....fish...thing. "Geh...dammit," he mutters, twisting about and wining out wildly with a kick, with no care at who it hits. It just happens that it flings back to Ziggy anyways.
Cody Travers misses Ziggurat 8 with his Quick Kick attack!
Well, one down? Xianghua actually takes the time to bow to the fallen Paula. Once she straightens herself and looks around, she spots the other two. She looks between Cody and Ziggy and decides on the cyborg, being closer to him than the other. She quickly strides forward, opting for a simple slash with her weapon.
Xianghua strikes Ziggurat 8 with her Slash attack!
You have taken 15 damage.
Now there are three. Ziggy is, at least, a /bit/ refreshed from his self-heal, and faces Cody's attack with renewed agility. A qucik leap back puts him out of range of the kick, but unfortunately it puts him IN range of Xianghua's slash. The sword cuts into his back, prompting a bit of a wince on Ziggy's face, but the damage isn't as bad as it could have been. Since turning around would take time, and now that the battle has become decidedly more chaotic, Ziggy ignores Xianghua for now and keeps on Cody. He dashes forward, plants one foot into the ground, and delivers a series of kicks to Cody, each one blasting fire at him as well. If he ever fought Chun-Li then this may seem a bit familiar.
Ziggurat 8 strikes Cody Travers with his Cyber Kick attack!
Cody Travers has been knocked out!
Kick...boom...down. Wait, you want more than that?
well, ok, Cody ends up falling to the quick, winging kicks Ziggy sends at him, his desperate kick missing as the fighter finally drops, slumping down to the ground.
Yoko is checking out Paula to make sure she hasn't sustained any serious injuries, and has just declared her officially knocked out, when she hears Cody get knocked down. She rushes over to him, and after analyzing him, she declares him officially knocked out as well. Then she moves to supervise the final two combatants: Xianghua and Ziggurat 8.
With the other man down, Xianghua waits for Ziggy to face her. Once that's done she gets close to the cyborg. As close as she dares, having seen how dangerous he can be; once she's close as she feels is necessary, she pivots on one leg, sending the other across Ziggy's face. Well, that's the intent, anyhow.
Xianghua strikes Ziggurat 8 with her Shan Kick attack!
You have taken 10 damage.
Actually, Paula's not actually knocked out, but ringed out, which still counts as being put out of the fight in both Smash and Soul Calibur standards.
She's also a bit busy dealing with the consequences of picking this particular place to fight. Specifically, the dinosaurs. "Aiee!"
Throughout the lower halls, she runs, chased by a small mob of repitite guards and one of those larger, lightning-flinging dinosaurs.
Ziggy's kicks send Cody to the ground. That's two. And now the battle has quickly gone from potentially chaotic, to smooth and orderly. Now there is only one opponent, Xianghua. This is much more simple.
While the cyborg is in /relatively/ good condition he has already seen what the warrior is capable of. This is far from decided, so he makes no assumptions. Readying his elbow-blade, he slashes diagonally downward at her. This attack lacks some of the punch of his others, though.
Ziggurat 8 misses Xianghua with his Jack Knife weak attack!
Elbow blade? That must be handy. The Soul Calibur comes up in the nick of time to block the blade. Ziggy, however, is likely stronger than Zingy, so there's not a good chance that the diminutive Chinese woman is going to be able to throw Ziggy back. Instead? She does the next best thing and lifts one foot to kick, while maintaining her balance.
Xianghua strikes Ziggurat 8 with her Shin Kick weak attack!
You have taken 11 damage.
In a contest of pure strength, then Ziggy would have Xianghua beaten. Good thing combat requries far more than brute force. The kick connects, and impacts strongly on Ziggy's chest, which will probably leave a bit of a mark for awhile. The jolt of the hit causes the cyborg to take a few steps back.
He hasn't used THIS attack from his aresenal yet, so now's as good a time as any. Leaping into the air, he hovers in place for a few moments, while forming some giant fireballs with his feet. Yes his feet, most of his cybernetic weaponry is equipped with fire ethers, and his feet count as weapons. Blame Ziggurat Industries. At any rate, he sends the foot fireballs down towards Xianghua with a few spinning kicks, before landing back on the groudn. And don't let the name and attack similarity fool you, this is nothing like Power Strike. It's nowhere near as potent.
Ziggurat 8 misses Xianghua with his Meteor Shot attack!
Fire feet?! This cyborg is equipped with things Xianghua would have never dreamed of! She has to double-time back to avoid the oncoming fireballs, more than once nearly getting her feet singed. She waits, then, for Ziggurat to either land or stop firing the fireballs. When and if he lands, she quickly moves forward, electricity crackling through the blade. She swings it in a wide arc for Ziggy's head. Assuming it connects, there should be sufficient force to knock Ziggy down for a moment or two. Then again, Ziggy is a cyborg. Maybe it won't knock him down at all.
Xianghua misses Ziggurat 8 with her Mei Hua Divide attack!
This attack is close. Very close. But Ziggy's reflexes barely win over the speed of the sword, and he ducks backward to avoid the sword's swipe. Doing a small backflip to get back to his feet, Ziggy dashes forward again. Raising his elbow-blade, he slashes twice, once vertically and once horizontally, but both with impressive speed, they almost look like one fluid motion.
Ziggurat 8 strikes Xianghua with his Cross Lancer attack!
Even when she's struck, somehow her clothes don't get ruined. She gets hurt, surely, but her clothes stay intact. She staggers backwards, clearly in pain, but manages to suck it back. "That's some handy blade," she says offhandedly, as if nothing was wrong, she wasn't in pain, and they weren't in a tournament. She dashes towards Ziggy after those words, leaping to his right side after a moment, slashing again, but this time, at his legs.
Xianghua strikes Ziggurat 8 with her Lower Great Wall attack!
You have taken 12 damage.
"It gets the job done." Ziggy replies, just as simply. He's focused enough to be able to spare a few words in the heat of battle without ruining his concentration. His focus fails him this time, though, as Xianghua's sword connects once more. This time drawing a bit more blood than before. By this point the wear of the battle is starting to show a bit on Ziggy's features. It's obvious they're nearing the end, but he's not finished just yet. His weaponry is just about spent on fire ether, and he plans on saving what he has left for another attack he may use later, if he gets the chance. For now, he opts for a simple spinning kick. It may not seem like a particularly damaging attack but his legs got enough size and weight in them to hit pretty darn hard.
Ziggurat 8 strikes Xianghua with his Spinning Kick attack!
Xianghua has been knocked out!
And hit hard he does. Her legs swept out from under her, Xianghua hits the ground hard. This time, she doesn't get up. "..Ow," she murmurs quietly, as she lays back on the ground. Oh, she is going to be sore tomorrow morning. With bruises from here to Timbuktu. Maybe if she's lucky her sword will help her regenerate more quickly.
Yoko Suzuki runs over to check Xianghua, making sure she's still got a pulse and no serious internal injuries or anything like that. Then she waves her hands over her head. "The winner of this battle: Ziggurat 8!" She says, pointing at him.
When Xianghua goes down Ziggy waits in a battle stance for a few moments to make sure she's not just taking her time. Then he waits a few more moments. Finally, he can see that he won. Straightening up, he snaps his elbow-blade back into place.
"The first rule of survival, is to only think about oneself."
Is his victory quote. Does it particularly mean anything? Sort of. In a 4-way melee you only have yourself watching out for you. No allies, no help. So you have to save your own skin. This is Ziggy's way of looking at it, and it seems to have carried him past the first round.
Xianghua is fine. She'll be okay. Maybe a bump on her head, a few scratches and cuts, and some nasty bruising. But she'll live.
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