[Date: Sept 12, 2020. Time: 5 p.m. Kurt gets a call from Warlow for to arrange his fight.] [Start] Is this a good time Mr. Petros? Sure, I got nothin' better to do. Good. Where do you want this fight? Somewhere wide open with lots of space. And I should introduce myself. The name's Ceilia and since Wraith isn't one for speech, I'll be handling Vanguard's end of the arrangements. And that's been done with the stadium fight, so we'd prefer a different locale. Actually, I was proposing a venue that would be best for you. But if you really want, name your place. That's very kind of you. Nonetheless, this fight is partially to gain the interest of its sponsor, so we're willing to forgo that advantage. Fine. Where would you like to fight? Well any of a number of locations would do. Perhaps a forest, a swamp, a high-rise office building, or a set of caves. Unless you have another suggestion. * Ceilia makes a point to sound particularly casual when mentioning the swamp. If you can find a forest the government doesn't mind having burned down, then by all means, let's go. We'll contact an arbor mage about one that wouldn't be overly hurt by it. [And so you go to a forest in Whales. The trees don't look that old end tend not to be more than a foot or two in diameter. There's a fair amount of underbrush as well. This would involve penalties if you didn't have all sorts of special movement bonuses.] [Wraith is there and just floats quietly. As it's getting on dusk and the forest blocks most of the light he's got an eerie thing going.] [The watch site is actually in the van from Miles again. Equiped with all sorts of monitors, safe distance away. You saw on the way here that there's a few fire control helicopters standing by.] [Ceilia, the Vanguard employee, and Hector, the cyborg are also watching.] [Today's food stuff: Ethiopian. You get this neat really big thin bread plate with lots of food in it.] [Time: 6 pm. Resume.] [Warlow and Breaker are there two. Breakers got a machete and makes her own path as they go.] So, how long until we get this party started? * Kurt is specially dressed for the fight, forsaking his usual street clothes for tightly wrapped black pajamas with plenty of pockets that could hold any number of things. He's even got an actual mask covering his entire face but for eyes, and even that area has been blacked in with paint. Breaker will call the start shortly. Does this work for starting positions? * Yvonne stretches. She's not actually in the van, but is near the doors, close enough to see what's going on. * Ceilia is calmly looking over a datapad and waiting for the fight to start. * Hector's been fiddling with the IR monitor, which is getting less staticky. Hasn't really notice you guys. You sure you want to start in sight of me, Wraith? * Wraith has a robe with a penchent for folding over on itself, making it effectively impossible to determine the shape of the figure inside. The hood hangs low, but it's possible to see where a face should be, but apparently only a void exists. The hood nods in response to Kurt's question. * Kahlya looks around the area as she approaches, muttering slightly to herself. "Geez, they got us way out in the boonies this time, don't they?" Yep! But it's kind of romantic. Don't you think? Fine. Whenever you ladies are ready. * Warlow nods. Even in mystical lines of work, it's important to consider environmental impact. I suspect this was the closest site they could find. * Kahlya eyes Yvonne calmly. "Um...not really. I'm a little too young for that sorta stuff..." * Yvonne giggles. * Hector finishes fixing the monitor and stands and looks you over. "Forests always seemed claustrophic to me." * Breaker looks over the two of you and gets a slightly spooked look when her eyes rest on wraith. She then starts hacking a different path out. After about half a minute she calls. "Start!" * Hector then looks a little closer at Ceilia. "Nice accessories." * Ceilia smiles sweetly. "Thank you. Vanguard does look after the needs of its employees." She shows off her fairly top of the line datapad. * Kahlya looks over the van and monitor, peeking inside. "Uh...I don't see what's all that impressive.." * Wraith begins moving towards Kurt at a sedate pace. As if nothing Kurt can do before he gets there will matter. * Kurt walks forwart, matching Wraith step for step, in perfect synchronization. * Wraith gets just outside of melee range with Kurt and pauses for a moment and its robes billow in a wind that suddenly springs up. * Yvonne glances at the monitor. "Oooh. They're standing off." * Hector chuckles at Ceilia's response but doesn't look at the datapad. "I'm sure they do." He then looks over the monitors. They're standing still is what they're doing. * Kurt lashes out with a punch straight at Wraith's gut, obviously holding the defensive just in case. * Wraith waits until the last moment and then skirts to the side, reaching out to touch Kurt as he whooshes past. [Kurt's defensive preparation proved sufficient and he avoids the icey touch.] * Kahlya sighs and leans slightly against the van, seemingly agitated. * Yvonne slides up to Kahlya. "You seem to be agitated." * Kahlya looks at Yvonne slightly and smiles slightly. "Busy night." * Yvonne grins, "Ooooh!" She elbows Kahlya in the stomach lightly. "Anyone I know?" * Ceilia helps herself to some Ethiopian food. Heh. ::He doesn't look away from the monitor though. * Kahlya glances at Yvonne and grins back at her. "Wrong kind of busy." * Yvonne pouts, obviously disappointed. "Oh." * Kurt backs off a few steps and brings his hands up into guard position. And even if it were true, I wouldn't give you details anyhow. Aww. Why not? * Kahlya just shakes her head and concentrates on the fight. * Yvonne also watches the fight. She grabs some Ethiopian food, too. She looks at it, takes a bite, makes a face and puts it down somewhere out of sight. * Wraith turns suddenly and apparently flies a few feet into the air, skirting around a tree and swooping down at Kurt from above. * Kurt stands there helplessly as Wraith's hand pierces his chest where the heart should be. * Ceilia coughs politely and gestures towards a nearby trashcan. * Yvonne chuckles helplessly and tosses it in the trash. She peers at the screen. "Wow. Mr. Wraith got him good." * Kahlya shakes her head. "I doubt it." She points at the monitor. "Keep watching." * Wraith keeps moving and passes through Kurt entirely, not hesitating to follow up the attack. I do wonder what he has up his sleeve this time. What do you care? From what I heard you got toasted. * Kurt drops down right behind wraight and gives him a friendly pat on the back. "Hey buddy, you missed." * Kurt jumps straight back up into the trees, leaving a small white patch on the back of Wraith's robe. * Hector eyes Kahlya for a moment and then smiles. "If he wins, I look better for having lost to a real badass. If he loses, I get to watch him have the crap beat out of him." * Yvonne watches. "Oh. You're right." * Yvonne nods to Hector. "His ass is bad." [Wraith lands smoothly and seems to turn slightly to regard its back and immediately after the robes begin to collapse in on themselves and fall to the ground. However, before that finishes there's an explosion from the robes that scorches the nearby trees and leaves the underbrush smoldering. The badly damaged and apparently empty robes rest on the ground.] [The robes apparently had no occupant. Or at least no visible one.] * Kurt drops down to the ground near the border of the explosion. He pulls a small shuriken from one of the pockets as he lands, and swiftly ties an identical white paper tag to it. * Kahlya smiles at Hector. "There's always something about boys and their egos." * Hector smirks slightly. "And here I thought a young innocent thing like you wouldn't know all about boys." * Kahlya fumbles at that. "Uh...well, I...that is..." * Hector chuckles and looks back to the fight. * Yvonne grins at Kahlya. "Yeeeeeeees?" * Ceilia has a trace of a grin, but largely keeps her usual cheery but professional expression. * Kahlya blushes. "Nevermind. You're all impossible!" * Yvonne giggles to herself and watches the fight. [Kurt hears a strange sound something like a ruffling of leaves, but quieter than is typical. The sound actually comes from a tree near wear the robes hit the ground. It is instantly followed by...] * Phillip, a handsomely built black guy with dreads is wearing only a pair of boxers with a PK label. He swings out from the tree and launches a flying kick down at Kurt who needs a defense roll. You know what's cool? * Hector blinks and takes a moment to enhance and replay that image. Ringpops. They should have those at the next fight. * Ceilia sighs slightly. "Well, it was nice while it lasted." * Yvonne points at the screen. "Hey! It's that guy!" That guy who...! Who... Umm.... Who is he? Goes through things. Oh, right! ... He does? Cool! * Kahlya glances idly on the screen. "I believe there was a report on him. If you know where to look." But yeah. We knew he wasn't a real wraith. Silly really It gave us one free victory. That's who the boxers were for! It did? But he didn't win yet... First round. Oh. [The blow again goes through Kurt, although this time no second Kurt appears moments later. It actually doesn't cause substantial internal bleed, but Kurt feels suddenly sluggish.] * Kurt spins around and drops back a bit, putting a little space between himself and the black man. So it's a black guy against a wannabe black guy... * Phillip keeps moving, and appears to be diving into the ground again. He is incidentally somewhat scarred from the explosion, but looks like he avoided the worst of it. His boxers are incidentally unsinged. How come he has PK boxers? 'Cause he paid handsomely for them. It was a secret job though and Prudence didn't give me the details. I've been curious about that for months. No, no, I mean why is he wearing boxers and nothing else? He should be naked. * Kurt drops down into a lower stance, a shuriken held in each fist. [Kurt feels a slight change in air pressure from just below as Phillip's two hands appear before he swings up, using the ground as if it were an acrobats bar, keeping his head low and swinging a knee up towards Kurt's face.] [He isn't quite as smooth as he could be in his execution, it seemed like he had to adjust slightly for Kurt's stance.] ... Although now that you mention it, does he work for you guys? Are they technologically advanced boxers? Like, maybe they have airconditioning and an alarm? That'd be cool. No, he just bought from us. And really, I know sexy is your thing and all, but would you really want your groin exposed during combat? Prudence insisted on extra plating for me and I completely agreed. * Yvonne cups her chin in thought. [That attacked seemed focus on pain delivery, and man does it succeed as Kurt doesn't quite get out of the way as the knee hits and goes through his face.] * Ceilia smiles. "And he doesn't disappoint. Misdirection works best as a supporting, not a primary tactic." Do those boxers have rocket launchers in them? 'Cause that would be sooooo cool. * Hector shakes his head. "Again, explosives in the groin area. Not a good idea." * Yvonne pouts. "Don't they do anything?" * Kurt jerks his head back out of the knee as his entire body uncoils, launching a powerful uppercut straight into Phillip's gut. * Kahlya watches the fight quietly. "Mmm...I don't know who to root for honestly." I can't tell who's winning. [There's a sound of ribs cracking as Phillip is thrown back into the air. The fist actually penetrates far enough that it leaves a fragment of obviously jutting out through the skin. Phillip groans loudly but apparently stays conscious as he manages to catch a tree branch and swing into a tree.] Damn... I'd say Kurt. * Yvonne watches. "I... guess so." * Ceilia frowns. [Meanwhile the underbrush keeps smouldering.] [And all is still and silent for a moment. Aside from the firs. Fires don't really pause like that. Kurt's turn.] * Kurt drops back into the same stance and waits for his target to come to him. [Another six seconds pass. Still Kurt's turn.] * Kurt waits patiently. * Kahlya watches the proceedings closely. "He's playing too defensively. He needs to get out there." He needs rocket launchers. And nunchucks. Or at least he could put an angry squirrel down Kurt's pants. Why rocket launchers? 'Cause they're neat. And besides, without some ranged attack he won't be able to hurt Kurt. Every time he tries he keeps getting beaten up. [Kurt notices the attack coming from the trees in his peripheral vision. However as he readies to defend against it, Phillip leaps up through the ground and through Kurt grabbing for his fist. He's fully naked now as the pair of boxers was providing the distraction.] * Yvonne points excitedly at the monitor. "See? SEE? I told you he was better off that way!" [Kurt tries to shy out of the way and manages to avoid taking any damage, but Phillip has successfully latched on to both gloves. Treat it like being grappled for any hand attacks.] * Hector's eyes widen. "The man has cajones. I'd have yielded." * Kahlya blinks at the monitor. "Um...that was supposed to happen right. Eww, I hope he doesn't do that when I'm fighting him." * Ceilia gets a thin smile. "That's why we pay him what we do." * Yvonne grins. "Wow. He gets paid for fighting naked?" * Kahlya looks at Ceilia. "To get naked?" * Yvonne pouts. "SAB doesn't pay me for that." * Ceilia shakes her head. "No, for doing what it takes." Oh. ... You should pay him for getting naked too. * Ceilia keeps the thin smile. "I prefer those willing to work pro-bono." * Hector snickers as he watches the fight. * Kurt snaps his knees straight, sending himself up into the air, using Phillip's grip on the gloves as leverage to catapult himself up and over, twisting just as he's overhead to cross the guy's arms, forcing him to let go or choke on his own arms. * Yvonne watches, Pfft'ing. "Big deal. I could do that." [Phillip manages to spin with Kurt, but not well enough to pull of a twist of his own, he's clearly being choked by his own arms and likely isn't getting in any air. From the sheer damage to his body anyone can tell he can't keep this up. But for the moment he does, pulling up with all his strength to attempt a head butt through Kurt's head.] Poor guy. He's gonna lose if he doesn't do something quick. * Kurt jerks his head back in time with Phillip's headbut, then slams his hands together. Given that they, along with said gloves, are on either side of Phillip's hand, this is going to ring his bell. * Phillip is rung and his head rolls back. He loses his grips on Kurt's fists. Is it over? * Kurt reaches out to grab him, just in case he doesn't phase back in when he goes out. * Phillip does phase back in. Because the molten core of the earth is not a fun place to be. * Ceilia frowns. "It is." * Yvonne pouts. * Kahlya peers at the monitor. * Hector runs a hand through his hair. "Well..." * Kurt slings Phillip over his shoulders, fireman style, because big black dudes are heavy, and heads off for the edge fo the forest, calling out, "Oooooi, where are all you crazy spectators?" * Breaker and Warlow head in a bit. And a few copters dump water to deal with the still moderate flames. * Kurt pulls his mask down as they appear. "Hey, wasn't there anybody else watching my glorious victory?" [Van meanwhile approaches, with appropriate time for everyone to get in. Gets you pretty close. You can then walk into the main channel.] E! G! O! Ego! * Kahlya shakes her head. "Not even close. Sad really." * Warlow goes over to help Phillip. "Lay him on the ground, I'll heal him up." Yeah.. they're coming. ::She stares at Phillip for a bit:: Nice fight. Thanks. * Kurt drops Phillip unceremoniously on the ground. He should've known a bad gimmick wouldn't stand a chance of winning the tournament. * Breaker half nods and keeps looking at Phillip. * Yvonne slides up to Breaker. "Like what you see, eh?" * Warlow strategically positions gets to healing Phillip and then thinks for a moment and strategically positions herself block Breaker's gaze. She rolls her eyes at Yvonne's comment. * Yvonne giggles. Huh? ::She then gets with it and looks up to Yvonne:: Didn't quite hear you. * Yvonne smiles. "Nevermind!" * Breaker just nods. * Kurt rolls his eyes. You'll get your soon enough, Yvonne. * Yvonne nods. "Yeah. Tonight!" * Hector walks off in the direction of the fight. Not long after he comes back and tosses the briefs over to Warlow. * Ceilia makes a call and can be heard arranging for medical care. * Yvonne arches her back and stretches. [End!]