FIGHTER'S LEAGUE: Taiku vs. Dante W.

[Dain Gavyns]

(You guys have read the rules, I assume? Straight up streetfight on the roof of Legion this time, crowd all around you. Get your posts in by, oh, let's say 24 hours.)

[Kazuki Akimoto]

Cheers and cries of encouragement rang loudly in the afternoon air on the rooftop of Legion, and for good reason. The Fighters League had finally resurfaced after a long hiatus, taking it across the country, and whilst this would be its first presentation to the crowds at San Francisco, many had heard through others of the popularity the competition had held in New York. Topping it off, whilst several fights had passed already, the fighters would have been hard pressed to compete with the arrival of half of this event.

Whilst Taiku knew full well that many in the spectating ring around them were cheering simply because he was the owner of the very building they stood atop, he also knew that plenty of them were cheering him legitimately, anxious to see him fight again. Since his quiet, unremarkable step out of the last tournament, he had since made little effort to reintegrate into the underground combat circles. However, the Fighters League was one he would not miss, and for good reason.

Business.

His fists tightening quickly as the knuckles popped with a soft string of cracks, he stood dead-centre in the area sectioned off for the fight to come, raising his arms to the crowd with a faint smile creeping onto his face. No matter how he could deny it, the rush was one that couldn't be compared to anything else. This was his element, and whilst he might not have actively fought recently, he had still trained and sparred, not to mention a rather intense fight with Adam Rydell to settle a long-running rivalry. After the League, he wasn't sure, but maybe it would be the right time to hang up the gloves altogether....

'Perhaps....'

[Dante Williams]

Dante was slightly nervous. He had on a black hoodie, and underneath he had on a tight white T-shirt. He was wearing normal jeans and tennis shoes. Anyway, Dante was slightly nervous. No. Nervous was the wrong word, he wasn't scared. Dante was anxious, anxious for the upcoming fight.

He was getting into the Fighter's League, a group of stronger fighters than he was used to, not just whoever signed up, like the Tournament, and Dante was eager to start fighting again. He entered the roof of the Legion's Rooftop as he saw his opponent.

As soon as he saw him, he froze up slightly, and though he kept a nonchalant demeanor, he was extremely frightened on the inside. He was fighting Taiku Akimoto, the leader of Legion, and the man who finally killed Tank without hesitation. I'm in way over my head... Dante thought nervously as his eyes started to shift from side to side, and though his brain told them not to, his legs started to automatically walk towards the center of the roof to face Taiku.

He mentally shook off his fear of this man. It's okay, Dante thought to reassure himself, this guy's no different from you. He's no better than you. You can beat him, but you can't get too cocky... He calmed down a bit and took off his hoodie and threw it behind him.

"The names Dante." Dante said to Taiku, "Dante Williams. We've met before. You probably don't remember me though..." He smiled the slightest bit, getting less afraid of this man, or at least a bit more confident...

[Kazuki Akimoto]

ooc: Excuse tardiness. Had work. Same for tomorrow, I'll get my post up around this time, give or take.

ic:

"No. I do remember your face. You were one of the Watchmen who was there on the night a Hand member was killed."

As was to be expected of the veteran fighter, he had arrived prepared and ready to fight from the word 'go', and as such was clad rather simply in well-fastened track pants, fitted sneakers and nothing else. The loose overshirt he'd pulled on to save from walking about shirtless from the club to the roof had been tossed aside well before the younger boy had shown up, and Taiku made no qualms of making it certain his opponent knew what he was getting into.

"Be ready. You might be used to the usual tournament fodder, Dante, but there's no rules here. We fight to a knockout or submission. I'm sure you've already read the disclaimers you were given when you signed up..."

After the short remark left his lips, he raised a hand with a faint smirk creeping onto his face, nodding at the student. "So, shall we begin? Do go ahead and show me just what you're capable of, and I'll be certain to reciprocate."

[Dante Williams]

OOC: I'm nearing the holiday break, which means a lot of work. So my replies will be a bit rushed or late as well >.>

IC:

Dante was slightly surprised that he was actually remembered by Taiku. It wasn't like it was an honor or anything, but it was kind of nice to be remembered even though he had such a small part to play in that night's events...

Dante smirked as Taiku warned him, "No need to warm me," Dante said in no real purpose to offend, "...I know what I'm getting myself into..." Then he was requested to attack first. Goddammit! Dante thought angrily, but kept his cool, Why do I always have to attack first?! I know that it's going to end badly for me whenever I do! Dante shrugged it off, but was still simmering slightly.

He put both his hands in front of him and turned his right hand into a fist as he started to hop from foot to foot quickly, as was his normal starting stance, to gain momentum. As soon as he was ready, Dante dashed forward quickly and as soon as he was within striking distance, his right fist jabbed towards Taiku's face, but it wouldn't hit. The jab would be a feint and stop within an inch of his opponent's face, because while Taiku would be busy with Dante's right hand, his left hand would curl up out of Taiku's sight and he would attempt a strong fist towards Taiku's stomach.

The fist would would go in an uppercut motion towards Taiku's stomach. It would be hard for his opponent to block the attack, because one hand was already raised, and he probably wouldn't even be able to see Dante's left fist. And they were too close for Taiku to dodge. Hopefully this'll work... Dante thought as he carried out his attack.

[Kazuki Akimoto]

Taiku had no intention of dodging anything, calmly watching the younger fighter as he approached with his hands barely raised past his midsection. His approach was quick enough, and as Dante fired off the right, it would be intercepted before it even neared the elder males face. Firing his left palm up to grapple the wrist, knocking the limb up as Taiku stepped in, his right arm would follow a mere instant after to buckle the caught limb at the elbow, bending it backward as he continued to step through, now easily at Dantes right side.

'I'll humour him with this one, but only this one...'

The arm now entangled in the vice-like grip of the Aikido practicioner, Dante would potentially have been subject to some much more painful reactions from the veteran. However, instead of wrenching the arm back fast enough to separate the joints and seriously damage the boys arm, Taiku would twist his body to his left a little, pulling the limb enough to take his opponent completely out of balance and send him to the ground a foot or so away, a little scuffed and perhaps with some pain in his arm from the toss, but in no condition that would prevent him from continuing this fight....

"Get up."

[Dante Williams]

As soon as Dante tried to carry out his attack, in a flash, his opponent had counteracted it and had pushed him away. Dante was at a loss of balance and tripped over about a foot in front of Taiku. Dante was just really lucky that Taiku didn't take advantage of this moment and hurt him while he was on the ground. A mixture of sounds of awe and snickers were throughout the crowd surrounding them.

Wh-what the hell? Dante thought confusedly as he got up, as requested by his enemy. I barely even got the chance to see what happened... He dusted off his jeans and shook off his arm. It hurt, but the pain was healing slightly.

"Alright..." Dante said while getting into his previous pose, "You're good, I'll give you that..." It was obviously an understatement of what just happened, but he continued, "But now, I'll let you come at me first." Hopefully this time the next series of attacks would work much better than the last. After all, one of the reasons why last attack worked out so badly was because he was horrible at starting fights. Right after he said that to Taiku, his hops from foot to foot became shorter and more frequent, giving him more momentum. But he made sure to pace himself, so he would lose all of his energy.

Right then, Dante noticed something: That he was taller than his enemy. Not so tall that it would make an extreme advantage at his part, but he was just about two inches or so taller, and it was nice not to be shorter than his opponent for once... Let's see how good this guy really is... Dante smirked as he stayed in his pose.

[Kazuki Akimoto]

ooc: Yes, they'll be a little shorter from time to time, but I'll try to beef them up a little as well.

ic:

Letting the youth get to his feet, Taiku would take the brief moment required to shift his own body. Bringing his right foot back enough to put his body at an incline, he paused just long enough to hear what was said before he sprung. The two weren't a major distance away, close enough that he'd reach Dante within one, perhaps two small strides.

Despite this, he wasn't sprinting or moving at any pace he couldn't control, and if the slightly larger opponent were to sidestep him, he would have suitable ability to adjust his footing for his efforts. Dipping his body at the last moment, he would spring up and hook his left fist toward Dantes, stepping forward and twisting his body minimally as he did so. It sacrificed a little power in the blow, but his range of movement would be maintained as he opened his palm at the last moment, instead aiming to grasp the younger fighters shirt and drag backward, pulling the slightly larger of the pair off balance and shunting Taiku toward him a little bit faster. Assuming Dante was unable to prevent this, Taiku would push off his left foot, firing his right knee forward in a sudden strike. The unbalance would potentially make it far harder to dodge for the youth, and though such things were wishful, the elder of the pair was fully expectant and prepared to have his attack at least partially seen through.

[Dante Williams]

Dante was surprised at how quickly Taiku rushed towards him after Dante had spoken, but no matter, he would be ready for the upcoming attack. And… He thought as he kept his stance, trying to figure out Taiku’s move that was coming to him, I will give this fight all that I’ve got…. And as soon as he was done with the thought, his opponent was within striking distance of him.

His opponent’s fist shot towards Dante mid-torso, and luckily his hands were right in front of him, so he could try to block or do something about it. While his left hand was open and nearing the area where Taiku was going to hit, he was confused for a flash second as Taiku’s fist opened up into an open-palm, then he got what Taiku was going to do and tried to get ready for the split second that he had left. As his shirt was grabbed and pulled, Dante’s left open palm had already gripped Taiku’s wrist, and yank it off and to his left side as quickly and powerfully as possible, and though Dante had a loss of balance, it was to his side because he was being pulled forward.

If his attempt at pulling back Taiku’s arm and making Taiku lose balance, Taiku couldn’t perform any attacks involving the legs or knee because they would be busy trying to gain balance, unless Taiku wanted to fall flat on his face. But as Taiku would lose balance in a forward momentum, Dante would fall forward because Taiku pulled on his shirt but plant his left foot in front of him, and then attempt a right uppercut aimed right for Taiku’s chin. Though Dante relied on mobility rather than strength, if this all worked well enough, then it was possible for Dante to have the advantage for the fight, and possibly win…

[Kazuki Akimoto]

Grabbing Taikus wrist would be a good strategy for the slightly larger fighter, but two things would create a difficult problem for Dante. Firstly, his size advantage over Taiku was minimal at best, secondly, with the lunge forward that would still be made regardless, instead of Taikus arm being pulled off to the side the Hircine student would find that attempting to maintain his grip on Taikus wrist, the hand having already made a grip on Dantes shirt, would in actuality be pulling BOTH of them in the same direction. His fingers clawed into the material tightly, it would be a case of Dantes grip failing or his shirt ripping that would cease this as Taiku held fast.

Simply put, whilst it was a mild inconvenience that Dante would go for the wrist, it would serve its own purpose in itself as the elder of the pair continued to fire forward, his arm folding in at the elbow to keep his body from being pulled off course as he sharply drew Dante in, using the boys own grip to pull him into the oncoming strike as he stepped through with his right, shifting his weight from foot to foot, and instead shot forward with his left knee, bringing the limb up high enough to send the blow on course with the younger students ribs, or unbeknownst to Taiku, directly against the attempted uppercut his foe was trying to throw, potentially able to crush the limb against his own body...

[Dante Williams]

OOC: Sorry for the wait and length, arse-ish parents don't give me enough time to reply

IC:

Dante's teeth gritted together inside of his mouth as they were both being pulled in the same direction instead of just Taiku. Shit... he thought, didn't count on him actually keeping his grip on me...

Soon after that though, Taiku would pull Dante in and attempt another knee, but this time towards Dante's ribs. If Dante's ribs were hit by that knee, there was a big possibility that one of his ribs, or more, could break. So he decided to instead redirect his opponent's knee to a different area. Keeping his grip on Taiku's wrist and moving his right arm out of the way, he pulled it to the left a bit, to help him shift more to that area, so instead of Taiku's knee being targeted towards his ribs, it would be directed towards his stomach.

Unfortunately, it hit, but due to the slightly shift, it might've thrown Taiku off a bit, and possibly make the knee lose a bit of effect, though it still threw the wind out of him, obviously. He gasped in as much oxygen as he could as he let go of Taiku's wrist, and tried to shoot out his hand towards his right shoulder, by that time the oxygen had reached his brain and he could really think and preform actions now. Quickly he tried to slam his right fist into Taiku's face.

Taiku couldn't dodge this, because Dante was holding his shoulder and even if he could break away in time, which would take much too much time for the fist not to reach him, he was also grabbing Dante's shirt, and getting rid of the grip would also take some time. And blocking or counter-attacking would be near-impossible, because while one hand was on his shirt, the other had just punched his stomach. Hopefully this could hurt Taiku a lot, or at least break his nose.

[Kazuki Akimoto]

ooc: I'd like to point out I'm not comfortable with you stating I can't dodge something. Assume anything but guarantee nothing, you never know how it'll turn out. Also, don't worry about the wait, at least you posted eventually .

EDIT: I note you say I punched you in the stomach, yet my last post states my actions were changed in regard to your efforts to shift my movement. I don't know if you spotted that or if you misinterpreted something. Just pointing out.

ic:

Dantes shift would indeed cause a redirection in the strike, and Taikus knee would instead find itself slamming into his gut violently, albeit with a lesser effect than he would have hoped to gain from the intended target. Winding his opponent, however, would work out fine in the long run. Getting your breath back from a hit like that wasn't immediate for anyone, and it even took Taiku himself a good few seconds to fully retain his composure from such a hit if it were not expected or prepared for.

'It'll do. Wait for another opening.'

Aware that with his left hand currently gripped into Dantes shirt, Taiku was unprotected on his left side, and as such made no wasted movement in leaving his head a target as the knee struck. Immediately upon connection, and whilst the initial intent had been to apply more pressure to the injured ribs, it would still have suitable effect against the currently afflicted area, Taiku gave one last, violent wrench of Dantes shirt, bringing his body closer still, and aiming to force the knee harder against the younger fighters stomach whilst bringing his upper body in at a much quicker pace, his head shooting forward to butt the youth on the bridge of his nose if all went accordingly. The close range would make any direct dodge difficult, but as Dante had demonstrated, he knew well enough to shift targets to minimise damage from otherwise dangerous strikes. The punch that had been thrown, on the other hand, would possibly either clip Taiku on the back of the head, causing a sharp discomfort, or depending on how loose the punch was thrown out, skim past him.

His opening was there, he just needed to a second or two to devise exactly how the Hircine student intended to react before he made his move.

[Dante Williams]

OOC: Sorry, what I meant was that Dante assumed that it was almost impossible to dodge if my move is carried out ^^;;

I’ll be sure to stop doing that, and so sorry that I didn’t read that, to be honest I didn’t even know that that little note existed. Really sorry ‘bout that… >.>

IC:

As soon as Dante was pulled forward, Dante knew that defense was a higher priority than hitting Taiku, he was roughed up enough as it was, and due to Dante’s movement, he knew that his fist would probably miss or barely even skim against Taiku anyway. He pulled his fist back as quickly as he could as soon as he felt his shirt being tugged and Taiku’s knee being further pushed into Dante’s stomach, which Dante admit, didn’t feel like a picnic, but he held his breath and flexed his stomach so that the damage would be a bit less.

As the knee was sinking in, he saw Taiku’s forehead coming in to slam into Dante’s nose. When it connected, a shot of pain went through the middle of his head. His nose was probably broken. At this moment, he was reminded by another fight that he’d had when he had broken his nose. In fact, it was the first bone he’s ever broken, a fight that changed his life, My God… Dante thought, this is just like my fight against Taio… I get into a fight that’s way above my league, and while I desperately try to land at least one hit, he’s beating the crap out of me… This filled him with rage, I swear I’m going to beat the ever-loving shit out of that guy… An image of Tiao’s body over him while he was coughing up his own blood, preaching at him flashed in his mind as he angrily gripped Taiku’s shoulder harder. Luckily, he had kept his grip. After that, he quickly went up straight and put his left leg in front of him and his right. He leaned back to put his weight on his right leg, and quickly pulled Taiku towards him and tried to pull another uppercut with his free hand right on Taiku’s chin. If it connected, then Dante would keep his grip on Taiku’s shoulder as he would pull his free arm down from the uppercut and bat away Taiku’s hand on Dante’s shirt, if it wasn’t already let go because of Dante’s uppercut. Right after that, Dante tried to push forward on his right leg to slam his knee into Taiku’s stomach, copying his opponent. While he would be attempting the knee, he would be pulling Taiku towards him so that if the knee connected, then Taiku would be bending over. If it all worked out the way he wanted, then while Taiku was disoriented, then Dante would raise both his arms, clasp them together, and slam them both down on Taiku’s head. If it all really worked out the way that Dante had wanted, then there was a good chance that his opponent would be out cold.

I’m going to have to be in good shape if I want to fight Tiao again… Dante thought, So I won’t be losing. At least, not today… It would be hard for Taiku to block the first attack since he would slightly be disoriented because his forehead would probably be a bit sore, and Dante was still grabbing Taiku’s shoulder and pulling him forward, causing a loss of balance for his opponent. And his opponent would obviously be off balance and disoriented if the uppercut so it would be very hard for Taiku to recover in time to react. And he would be bending over, out of sync, and in pain after the knee attack if it connected, then he would probably have enough time to slam his hands down on Taiku’s head. At least one of these attacks had better actually hit…

OOC: Since I’m lazy I’m just going to change around some stuff, I hope it’s okay

Oh yeah, and I'm just editing this to add italics since I made this in word earlier and forgot to make this BBS code-ish

[Kazuki Akimoto]

Dantes face, now most likely beginning to soak in blood from the successful headbutt, would most likely be tearing up at the eyes...No matter how well-trained a fighter, a solid hit to the nose was almost guaranteed to make your eyes water, and it was something very useful for speed-based fighters to take advantage of. However, watering eyes or not, it would appear Dante would still throw his punch.

Bearing in mind how close Taiku was going to be, in the immediate aftermath of the headbutt, the uppercut that his younger foe was throwing would be unavoidable, however, it would also be logically impossible for Dante to land a clear shot to his chin without having to contort his body, especially after pulling the pair even closer in to one another. Instead, and with an impact that the elder of the pair would grunt angrily through, it would strike into his upper abdomen and snap the wind from him. It would also be the first clear hit the Hircine student would land in this fight thus far, and one that Taiku was not content to have been reduced to taking.

His right arm, surprisingly, had remained unused during the entire skirmish, held ready throughout for the opportunity to intercept a hit, but none had come. Now, with a rare flash of obvious anger from the club owner, it shot forward towards Dantes throat, palm open and fingertips ready to grasp the vulnerable area. Again, their proximity to one another would pose an important factor, with the two as close to each other as they were, it would be so much more difficult for Dante to even be able to react in time, let alone actually stop Taiku from grabbing him by the throat...In the reasonably likely chance of success, he would immediately clamp his fingers around the airway and begin to choke the boy, his grip held fast on Dantes shirt as he kept him in place and prevented him from wrenching away.

His eyes remained fixed on Dante the entire time, never flinching from the younger student as he continued to clasp his neck, the precious air that the older of the pair was strangling out of him, his grip crushing like a vice and digging into the weak flesh...

[Dante Williams]

Dante smirked mentally as his hit finally connected where it needed to, though his eyesight was being slightly being smeared by a mixture of tears and blood as a result of Taiku’s head butt. Dammit… He felt that his attempted strike towards Taiku’s chin didn’t hit it’s exact mark. But, a strike was still a strike, but he just couldn’t complete his current combination that he was planning…

Suddenly though, Dante saw a blur as his opponent’s right arm rocketed towards Dante’s throat. And unfortunately, this attack seemed pretty much unavoidable, they were too close for Dante to try any blocking or dodging, and that would be difficult enough even without the factor of their distance. He felt Taiku’s open palm make contact and start to close in on Dante’s throat. Dante made a broken choking sound as he shook his head slightly to get off some of the blood and sweat off of his face. He then made a desperate attempt to grab his enemy’s wrist that was grabbing his windpipe and made sad attempts to wrench his opponent’s hand away from Dante’s throat, with most likely no luck.

Sh-shit… Dante thought as he started to feel everything slow down, his eyes were starting to tear up again. He was still going to lose? After all of this? The chances were great from the beginning, and ever since Dante had learned who his enemy was, he’d been expecting an outcome like this. Well… Dante thought angrily with the last couple of thoughts he could muster as things were starting to slightly black out, I’m sure as hell not going to lose without at least giving this guy one last brain jolt… He let go of his opponents wrist with both of his arms, and lay them at his side, at that moment, he released his right leg from under him. His right leg was the leg that he was keeping all of his weight and momentum on. As soon as it was in the air, and with basically the last of his strength left, he attempted to slam his right leg into Taiku’s left knee. If it hit, it would probably make Taiku collapse. Then he relaxed his entire body so that Taiku would have to hold it up.

Now the fact that Taiku would have to hold up all of Dante’s weight this instantly without letting him fall to the ground was pretty unlikely, the fact that he would hold up Dante while his leg was being kicked with enough force to probably at least trip Taiku up, and Taiku already had forward momentum because of the weight that he would be holding, was extremely unlikely. If Dante was let go, then he had saved enough energy to roll away far enough to let some oxygen reach his brain and to recuperate…

[Dain Gavyns]

"Yeah! Woo! Kill him!! Kill him good!!"

Dain stepped through the crowd, a smirk on his face as he surmised the situation of the two fighters. Dante's kick was a decent enough idea, but it was an idea of desperation, and the point-blank distance would insure the kick would only do minimal damage. At this point, it would have only been a matter of time.

"Sorry, Dante, but you seem to be in a situation you aren't getting out of anytime soon. Taiku's about this," Dain hovered his index finger and thumb just a few millimeters apart, "close to just taking you down, so I'm stopping you guys here. You did well, man, real well, but Taiku's got the edge, he's had it all along. Akimoto's picking up the win here."

Taiku would release his grip and step back, and Dain would raise his hand for all those present to see.

"Good job, both of you."


WINNER: Taiku. Dante, you did well though, keep your shit up.