Ari Karamzov vs. Vince

[Dain Gavyns]

You know the drill.

Crowd for a ring, in front of a dilapidated old building.

Have fun.

[Ari Karamzov]

OOC: Sorry for pushing the deadline, I've been very busy with moving stuff.
IC:

Take three parts anticipation, two parts nervousness, and five parts fury, and you would have the ingredients to replicate the air in front of the dilapidated building where the huge crowd gathered. The second round of the Fighters' League had begun, with a new series of matches to sate the crowd's bloodshed. Ari Karamzov, giant, star of the Hircine wrestling team, and favourite of many of the betters, would be facing Vincent Crane. A member of Genaht, Ari didn't know much about him other than that he was much smaller. He had no idea what he was going up against, but he couldn't afford to let that get in the way. Stepping out of the cab he had taken to this location, he brushed some nonexistent dust off of the brown leather bomber jacket he wore today, he pulled down the brim of his Timberwolves baseball cap, which was ironically identical to the one Tiao Lei Shen wore except for the larger size, just a bit so that it would shadow his face some. It was a surprisingly chilly day for California's standards, so he had come prepared by dressing a bit warmly with the bomber jacket and sweatpants. There was another bonus too, it would serve as padding for any hits he took, further lessening the effect of Vincent's blows.

Just one more opponent I'll have to barrel through. I need the prize money from these matches, and NOBODY will get in my way!

Ari may not have known what to expect, in fact he didn't even know who Vince was, but just like with Cale he couldn't hold back against Vincent Crane, even if he was fighting in the dark. When Ari had first signed up to the Fighters' League, he had vowed to himself that he would not hold back against anyone, that everyone who stood in his way would be crushed. That was because, unlike seemingly all the other competitors, he wasn't here just for kicks. He had something to fight for, a reason to go all out.

Two more wins and I'm Points Champion. I'll get paid more in prize money than everyone else. I need that.

The crowd had detected his approach by this point, and they were now clearing out of his way, making a path to the designated fighting area-it did not feel right to call it a "ring"-where his showdown with Crane would take place. He paid them no attention though, trying to focus on the upcoming match and summoning up all his willpower. He was at a great disadvantage, he knew nothing about what Vince could do, not even if Vince knew anything about Ari's style. That, coupled with the knowledge of how much losing would cost him, made Ari incredibly nervous as he finally made his way through the crowd and into the circle that now closed behind him. Seeing nobody else in the ring, and a search through the crowd revealing nobody else, he nodded to himself and took off the cap, throwing it to someone in the crowd.


Not paying attention to that person's reaction, and resisting the temptation to look around the crowd again, Ari rolled his shoulders and bounced lightly on his feet for a second, a strange sight when considering how massive Ari Karamzov truly was. After a few seconds of that, he idly started to pace around the "ring" in a circle, his eyes always on the crowd. Pacing was almost a nervous habit of his, usually done when he was bored. This time though, it was a precaution. He had heard that Vince ambushed his last League opponent from the crowd, so he was making sure that if Vince was hiding in this crowd, he wouldn't be able to get the drop on the giant. Finally, getting sick of waiting, he decided to call out to his foe, still walking but talking loudly enough that he was easy to hear.

"Vince, if you're in the crowd don't even think of trying to ambush me, because I know you're there. Come out and let us fight like men!"

[Vince]

Vince could only grumble when he got news of his opponent. He had heard of Ari, though really he hadn't heard much more than "He's bigger than Ein". Those were unpleasant words in and of themselves, though the next few things he'd here would warm his heart and enlighten his mind abit.

"The guy is a hell of a lot dumber than Ein too though."

Vince would grin, he had gotten a ride from another Genaht member and they parked the car a far ways off. Deciding to walk to the point of interest. He knew he was slightly late, but it hardly mattered. Still it was somewhat annoying when he arrived the brute was already bellowing his name.

As tempting as it was to sneak into the crowd and get the jump on this one he would ever get the chance. Afew of the crowd, almost undoubtedly those that had bet on Alkaiser in the previous bout made sure to clear a way for the man.

"Wouldn't think of it, though you didn't know I was here. I only just arrived."

Vince would spit out quickly, he was on the opposite end of the ring, keeping his eyes on the larger boy. And he was, hell, Vince had beaten on some big guys but never quite this big. This would be...interesting to say the least.

"And if you really wanted to fight like men, you'd need to lay off the steroids so you could get your manhood back. Till then I'll be the man and you be the over sized whore."

The annoying smirk would curl up onto his face as the crowd let out a unanimous "OOooooOO" followed with shouts of "You're not gonna let that little shit talk to you like that are you?" and other similar things. The crowd enviroment was Vince's gain, get the big guy riled up, get him stupid....er than he was and capitalize on it.

[Ari Karamzov]

OOC: Change in plans. Move will finish tomorrow.
IC:

Midway through his calling-out of Vincent Crane, he saw the crowd parting on the other side of the "ring" from where he was at the moment, and stopped his pacing. However, as he had almost finished speaking when Vince showed up, he elected to finish off what he was about to say despite looking the man right in the eye. Grinning slightly as the crowd would close behind his adversary and walking towards him a slight bit, Ari offered up a light shrug at Vince's words, all the while sizing him up. Vince looked to be almost as easy a match as Cale had been, possibly easier since Vince didn't look anything like a fighter from what Ari could see. Fighting was almost literally Ari's life, his purpose. Almost every waking moment of every day was spent either fighting or preparing to fight. He lived and breathed fighting, without fighting he would have nothing, and with that in mind he couldn't imagine the possibility of a scrawny motherfucker like Vince Crane ever defeating him in a fight. The prick probably couldn't tell at sight a right hook from a triangle choke to save his life.

Then again, I thought the same about Tiao.

"Well," he said in response to Vince's initial comment, an oddly friendly tone to his voice, "I knew you'd BE here, so it still counts. Besides, I assumed you were already there waiting to pull something like you did with Alkaiser, so you know what they say: better safe than sorry."

However, Vince's next comment stopped the giant flat in his tracks, wiped the grin from his face, and killed any semblance of good humour or sportsmanship that Ari had tried to stir up. Ari had worked hard and long all of his life to obtain his muscular figure and nearly unrivaled strength, and accusations of steroid usage never failed to piss him off, especially from someone who looked like they had never done a day of weight training in their life. To him, calling him a juicer was equivalent to calling him a cheat or a coward, which really had him seeing red. His jaw clenched shut, his fists balled up, and for about a second he just stared the smug bastard down. There was now nothing more he would like than to pummel Vince until there was nothing left but a red smear on the concrete, but really Vince wasn't worth it. However, Vince must not have noticed Ari's stepping forward before, because if he had he would have been smart enough to try to move out of Ari's range before he mouthed off. A malicious grin creeped across his face as he glared at Vince.

Oh, I'm going to enjoy hurting this kid.

"What's the matter, Genaht dog?" Ari asked, one of the few things he knew about Vince being his membership of the gang called Genaht, "Pissed because that emo bitch of a boss you pussies worship so much refused to give you a dick sucking for luck before you came here?"

A collective gasp came from the crowd, hushed whisperings of "did he just say that about Ein?", "Who does he think he is?", and the like. Sure, it was a bit of a typical insult, a bit half arsed, but he didn't care. The point was to temporarily knock Vince off guard as his left hand lashed out with startling speed for a man of his size as if in a jab. However, the hand was open, as once it reached Vince's throat or collar it would clamp shut in a vice grip strong enough to be almost unbreakable, after which he would pull the bastard towards him. To be honest though, he didn't much care if the grab succeeded, though it would be satisfying to pull him into a knee in the gut, the move was meant to force Vince Crane to react lest he find himself beaten to a pulp two seconds in.

[Vince]

Vince would drop and kick off to his left, sending himself away from attack. Ari might have been fast for his size, but Vince was watching him evenly and knew the likelyhood of attack when he took a small step forwards. While the rather small insult might have gotten the crowd riled, Vince was still of Genaht and a level head was required.

"Ya know, I hear the Juice decreases your capacity for decent insults."

Still, Vince knew he wouldn't be able to get a decent attack from his dodge, there simply wouldn't be enough time. Ari would be turning and maybe even throwing another attack by the time Vince was fully ready to attack back. He would have to stay on the run for the moment, until the right opportunity presented itself.

Vince was simply hoping that'd be sooner rather than later. Later might mean a good hit on him, and that couldn't be afforded. Not from this brute.

[Ari Karamzov]

OOC: Sorry, moving took forever. Had to throw this thing together quickly, so I apologize for the shortness. If there are any problems, you know how to contact me.
IC:

Perfect

Academically, Ari might not have been exactly an honour roll student at Hircine, but that didn't mean he was as stupid as people seemed to assume. This was especially apparent in fighting, as the Ari Karamzov that stood before Vince today was far more than the typical musclebound brawler as he had been in his younger days. It was true that he was big, but years of experience had turned him into a person who also knew how to use that size. That same experience, though, made him know full well ever since he had heard Vince was his next opponent that for all of Ari's boasting Vince had two advantages over Ari: he was faster, and he had a much lower centre of gravity. Because of this, Ari not only knew Vince would expect an attack from Ari and be able to dodge it, he had counted on it. Vince may or may not have known it, but he was playing right into Ari's hands by jumping to his left to dodge Ari's attempt at a grab. Quickly retracting his left as he would if it had really been a jab, Ari took a step forward and turned to his right so that he would be right in vront of Vince again just about as soon as the smaller boy had reached that position. A second in and the bitch with a mouth bigger than his body was already on the run, which worked just fine for Ari as he crouched slightly almost as he would if he were going to charge Vince in a takedown attempt, his hands up in an almost boxing-esque guard while his elbows were off slightly to the sides. Crane's second verbal attack had no effect on Ari, both because it was a rather dumb attempt at an insult and because Ari was already enraged and focused entirely on the fight, his adrenaline flowing enough that he had all but tuned Vince out anyway.

That's right, punk. Keep talking until they have to hold that jaw of yours shut with wire.

Ari, determined not to let Vince have the time to launch a counter-offensive, immediately launched his next attack. Sliding his left foot forward and to the left just a bit, as it was the forward-facing foot in this stance, he brought his right leg up and around in a semicircular, counterclockwise direction towards the ankle of Vince's left foot in what could best be described as a low roundhouse kick. Ari usually did not use many, if any, kicks, but he knew that the quick and low-placed kick at Vince's leg would not be expected from one of his size, and it served his purposes without compromising too much of his balance. The kick was by no means a knockout blow, though if it hit it would definitely hurt, but he knew it would most likely end with Vince off balance, as the kick was too low, fast, and strong for Vince to just stop without any effort, and most people at least stumble if not outright fall over when kicked hard in the ankle. With the crowd on his right, a kick heading towards him on his left, and going forward most likely not doing much to stop the kick, Ari figured that Vince's options would be limited. However, it didn't really matter to him if the kick connected or not as long as he kept Vince on the run. If he kept Vince in that position, he would eventually be able to land the hits he needed to end this thing.

I'll show you why they call me the Blitz.

[Vince]

OOC: Yay for delays. Gotta love stupid people stressing you out.

The eyes would stay upon the quickly turning Ari as Vince righted himself. He didn't expect to have much time to do anything really, and was prepared to keep moving. When Ari lowered his body, Vince was prepared to jump back to give himself more room, then go from there.

It wasn't much into the awkward kick movement that Vince would take the jump back in caution if nothing else. He didn't know what the hell Ari was doing, but being close to it didn't seem like a brilliant idea either. Even so, he would witness the impressively strengthed, if somewhat awkward kick, even if he didn't feel it and with it being a round house kick of sorts, Vince had the time to capitalize on it.

Vince would dash in, deliver a quick, if somewhat weak left elbow aimed in the general area of the side of Ari's head, then dash clockwise around Ari, while throwing in a right punch to Ari's hopefully now exposed kidneys.

The idea was simple enough, get in behind the swath of the bigger man's strong attack, get him to raise his guard just enough, then give a good blow. Even so, Vince wasn't expecting miracles and would jump back and away from Ari, regardless of connection or any sort of real impact from his attacks. It was his typical hit and run style, one that was rather well suited to taking out alot of the larger fighters.

[Ari Karamzov]

OOC: Again, sorry for the delay, I've only just now had any real time to post. I hope there are no real problems with this, as I mostly assumed that Vince was at Ari's side for the elbow and thus if Ari were to turn around before it finished Ari would be facing Vince's side, please tell me if this assumption is incorrect.
IC:

The kick missed, just as Ari had expected, but Vince promptly dashed in during the rotation, not leaving Ari much of any time to respond as he was following Ari's own rotation. Still, such events were why he had chosen such a low kick, it made recovering his balance much less awkward. Snapping the leg back quickly as Vince started to dash in, he brought the left leg forward in a clockwise semi-circle quickly and in a short burst, while moving the right leg counterclockwise allowing him to turn around to face Vince as the boy threw the quick elbow. Stepping back just slightly his right arm would reach upwards in an attempt to meet the elbow, his huge right hand closing on the joint and using his strength to pull the arm slightly down and forward, the close proximity of his hands to his head area (what self respecting fighter doesn't keep their hands up?) hopefully compensating for the opponent's superior speed. Vince was faster than him, but Ari was hoping that his having brought the leg back after Vince had stepped back would help even matters out, the plan being that he would have already recovered his balance as the time came to react. He wasn't much of a kicker, but he had done so enough times to not be totally clueless about it.

Not too hard.

Presumably, Ari grabbing Vince by the elbow would cancel his plans of dashing around Ari as he would be more or less held in place, he could move but a quick jerk from Ari would stop him with little effort. At the same time as Ari lowered the elbow, his left hand would form into a fist and he would shoot his arm up and around towards the back of Vince's head in a hook punch, the pivot of his legs and hips turning him slightly with the punch and adding more power. After this he would give the arm a hard pull forward to Ari's right and down again, letting go suddenly and extending his right leg forward at about the level of Vince's shins to not only trip him, but throw him. That was the original idea, anyway. Obviously though, he would have to completely rework his strategy if this idea didn't work.

[Kyukaku]

Hmm, while nothing has been exactly solid in this fight given its short development, I'll have to give it to Ari due to his control of the fight's pace. It would have been interesting to see it pan out more, but alas, it was not meant to be.

Interesting regardless, though.