Carmine in the Scavenger Tournament

[Deleted]

(I figured a good way to get started was a training thread to explain what happened with the tournament from my Beginner Presentation. If anyone perchance wants to jump in, just shoot me a message I guess, but I can just as easily solo this bad boy.)

Satisfied that Wayne was alive in the dumpster below, Carmine mounted up on the Cyclone and checked out his tracker. One step closer to victory and the Zeni it offered. Admittedly, Carmine had less use for Zeni than the average organic lifeform, but something drew him to the potential to earn it. Perhaps it was part of his programming, or a holdover from his forgotten biological life. Maybe he just wanted to buy stuff because stuff was cool.

Either way, he kicked the flying motorbike into gear and brought it back to street level, following the blips on his tracker. His new opponent was on the move, but this time it was different. Like Wayne, his prior opponents had all done their best to get to some kind of favorable battlefield where they might have the advantage. This time, however, his opponent seemed to be coming right for him. Carmine smiled.

Carmine decided to take a small detour, finding an area with less bystanders and more open space - he didn't want too many people getting hurt if he had to really throw down. Of course, this being Central City, it was nearly impossible to find a place that was entirely unpopulated. He set down on what looked to be an unused baseball diamond, got off the Cyclone, and waited. His opponent was coming fast. Win or lose, this would probably turn out to be an interesting fight.

"Come at me, bro."

[Deleted]

(Doesn't look like there's a whole lot of interest, so I'll move forward alone )

Within a few short moments, Carmine's opponent arrived. He was young, probably just entering his twenties, and wore a fairly obvious outfit - an orange and blue gi with the New Turtle school emblem. His hair was a dark brown, close-cropped. There was a fire in his eyes. Carmine could tell immediately that this kid loved fighting. The kid's obvious blue aura also said that Carmine was going to be in for some pain and repairs if he wasn't careful.

"You! You're my opponent!"

"That'd be me. Name's Carmine."

"I'm Oda. You ready to lose?"

"Probably about as ready as you are."

Carmine popped the Cyclone back into its capsule - he'd rather it not get blown up by a stray energy beam - and slid into a basic kickboxing stance. He beckoned at Oda, and Oda obliged.

Oda led in with a flying knee aimed at Carmine's face, which Carmine only narrowly avoided. Not one to waste a counterattack opportunity, Carmine launched a bicycle kick upwards, whiffing an inch from Oda's face and landing on the balls of his palms. He launched himself up and away as Oda elbow dropped into where he'd been only a split second ago.

Carmine was fascinated by how different each opponent could be, but this kid was way different. He was much more intense, not wasting any time. This kid's whole strategy was to win in round one. Carmine knew better than to try and beat this kid at his own game. He was younger, stronger, and quite possibly better trained. Carmine knew his only advantage was that robots don't run out of fuel quite so quickly as organic lifeforms - or at least, that robots like Carmine didn't run out of fuel as quickly. His only chance was to let Oda get hungry.

To do that, he'd have to keep on his toes and keep his hands up.

Oda came in with a series of jabs and hooks, with the occasional elbow peppered in. Some sports journalists like to romantically report that a boxer 'glides' over the ring, his feet so rarely touching it that he might as well be flying. Oda, however, was literally always flying. He never bothered to put feet to dirt, and used his lack of gravity to get in some creative angles of attack. Carmine didn't have that luxury, as his primary means of flight was a motorcycle. Instead, he did his best to dodge, weave, block, and move about on the ground.

Oda started to sweat and pant - his punches started to launch more sloppily. Carmine got ready, and finally returned fire, a right uppercut that connected squarely with Oda's jaw. The kid's head snapped back and for the first time in the fight, he hit the ground. Flat on his back, Oda looked to certainly be knocked out. Carmine brushed the dust off of his pants and pulled the Cyclone's capsule from his pocket.

That's when Oda managed to get up and utter - well, more like shout wildly - the one word that Carmine was really hoping he wouldn't ever have to hear. A word that he'd only heard mentioned by some of the fighters he would talk to on occasion.

"Kaioken!"

[Deleted]

Where Oda had learned Kaioken, Carmine couldn't say. For all he knew it was a Turtle School technique for particularly gifted fighters. All Carmine knew was that he was about to get his head quite literally punched the hell off if he didn't do something about it. He gritted his teeth and stood back, one fist at his side, the other hand raised to the sky.

"Time for a Gust of Wind!"

He sent a command to his belt, where his power source limiter existed, and felt it sputter and die. Energy coursed through his wires, every system and every piston overflowing with raw, environmentally-unsafe power. His own aura finally became visible, its fiery hue shimmering in the air as Oda launched himself forward.

The two clashed briefly at first, each launching and blocking attacks with the sort of expert precision and timing that only their individually harming techniques could provide. Carmine only hoped that Kaioken was just as potentially harmful as his Limiter Override was as he launched another barrage of knees and kicks at Oda's head, all blocked, deflected, or simply taken like a champ.

Carmine knew he would have to keep things close, because if Oda knew some kind of ranged energy blast all he would need to put Carmine in the scrapyard was just a few extra feet. Thankfully for Carmine, Oda didn't seem too interested in distance, and the fight remained a pure melee.

He felt a cooling fan sputter and die, its wiring fried by the overexertion. Soon its brothers would kick the bucket and he'd be a ticking timebomb of overheating machine parts. This had to end. Carmine leapt up as hard as he could.

"I SURE HOPE THIS AIN'T ALL YOU GOT, KID!"

"NOT BY A LONG SHOT!"

Carmine turned in midair, flipping and twisting as he brought his heel between himself and Oda, gravity pulling him as the kid flew upwards, his palm extended with his fingers crooked inwards. This was it, Carmine knew it and he knew that Oda knew it too.

"DROPPING TYPHOON KICK!"
"RISING WOLF FANG FIST!"

Foot and Fist clashed, and the resultant flash of fire and raw energy lit up the area as both combatants fell towards the ground. Carmine's limiter had kicked back on by itself, the reduced power sluggishly moving through torn up systems and ragged wires. Oda's aura had vanished and his eyes were only barely open. The two hit the ground together, one next to the other, and slowly turned their heads to look at one another.

An extended moment of silence passed between them.

"Can you move?"

"Not a finger. You?"

"I'm not gonna be dancing any jigs anytime soon."

Both of their trackers beeped, signalling a draw. The two would not have to fight again unless they were the only remaining combatants in the tournament.

"Fair call, I'd say."

"I almost had you."

"Look at yourself, you can barely keep your eyes open and talk at the same time, you were nowhere near having me."

"This from the man who won't be jigging for weeks."

"God I hope someone else takes you out of this."

"Ditto."

[Gray Callahan]

1350 PL or zeni.

[Deleted]

I'll take the pl