Of freedom and of pleasure (Ch. 4: Day 4, pt. II) [Finale?]

Mie · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:12 pm

Luckily, it was unlikely that Jam's horrendous abuse of language got much of an audience, or, at least once with the presence of mind to be appropriately appalled by it. Indeed, it was just her and her large, fuzzy steamroller, alllllll the way down. It was only at the last possible second that she remembered she was falling, and on the losing side of 200kg of gelatinous feline, at that. With agility akin to her iconic ability, itself, the monkey, seizing hold of fistfuls of fur for grip, skittered along the surface of Big's expansive gut, and emerging on his backside just in time to leap free of the jarring force of impact.

With a fleeting glance best described as deeply disturbed, the punch-hued primate was all too eager to put the experience behind her, and with a quick shake of her head, pointed herself at the too, too tall staircase and ran. She made it up in an impressively negligible amount of time, taking the steps several -- sometimes as many as ten or twelve in a single bound, before arriving on the landing with an excess of oomph, and not enough grip to stop without shoulder barging the fight's other moody spectator. Without so much as an "oops," let alone any kind of apology Jam steadied herself, leering as closely as she could into the barrier without actually making contact, in zealous attempt to discern the progress of the fight.

Kazz · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:24 pm

Big lay there like an incredibly poofy slug, almost completely unharmed (though perhaps a little bruised)... lying in a truly impressive dent in the floor, all the way at the bottom.

This freaking cat, man.

Mako, keeping a good deal of distance from the Geoff-versus-Rock scuffle, cast looks around him.
"Y'know, it'd be really neat if we could get out of this without killing anyone," he mumbled, fully aware that nobody would listen if they could hear him-- and thus making no effort, really, to be heard.

Sheff · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:50 pm

One should be wary on approaching Shadow in his current state, not to mention outright ramming their shoulder into him.

Having not expected any of the other unfortunate fighters who'd been thrown out of the ring to actually try to return, the hedgehog stumbled just a bit from the unexpected smack of monkey to his side. An audible growl was heard as a piercing glare abruptly snapped to the observing primate.

With a single step forward, Jam would soon find a flat palm simply shoving her to the side as if a child was trying to dispose of an annoying sibling.

Geoff pursued after Rock, silent other than the grinding of crystal joints.

In the time it took the white monkey to stumble away and return to a sturdier posture, a literal pole of rock had formed in the hedgehog's hands as he strode confidently forward. Raising the bar above his head, Geoff slammed the makeshift weapon down towards Rock's cranium with both hands, the momentum great enough to where the 'hog crouched forward slightly afterward.

To follow up on whatever success was met with the crystal assault, Geoff would jab forward with his fist, his knuckles even a little jagged at the edges. He would soon stand straight again, intending to continue with his assault.

psikeout · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:06 pm

Rock looked a little irked as he quickly (though not too gracefully) sidestepped the hard, but comparatively slow and narrow downward strike. In the instant between that and Geoff's follow-up, Rock's hand glode over his belt. He had dropped his pistol somewhere in the middle of the scuffle with Shadow, but it wasn't for that which he reached. Instead, he considered his plasma knife — the one thing he had that would probably punch right through some crystal.

With the barrier no longer at his back, he was able to backpedal just beyond punching range to render Geoff's jab moot. When it was all said and done, though, for some reason, he didn't go for the knife. Instead, he immediately replied with a snappy, noncommittal left hook at the side of the hedgehog's armored head, while shuffling and staying on his toes. It wasn't a haymaker, but with lead-loaded gloves, it wasn't a love-tap, either.

Mie · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:22 pm

Needless to say, after the last minute or so (or heck, we could even say the last month) Jam had slogged through, she was not in the mood to be manhandled by any dark Sonic wannabe. With surprising reaction time, and control to be proud of, she caught herself mere inches into the stumble, and stood rigidly, opposingly in place, glaring fleetingly at the hedgehog out the corners of her eyes, without the acknowledgement of actually turning towards him.

Sheff · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:47 pm

Geoff's head jerked to the side briefly upon Rock's punch. The hit, however, didn't have much effect on the armored hedgehog, his crystal taking a majority of the blow for him. His defense may as well be the greatest advantage he could have in this fight right now. Still, there was an obvious mark on the rock from the punch, but not one great enough to where he bothered adding an extra layer.

The hedgehog now strode forward, only giving the briefest of glances towards the weapon at the monkey's waist before lurching forward with his own right hook. In the meantime, it would be seen that his left arm appeared to be extending outward, his hand vanishing under the forming mass that was an extra foot of rock. Once complete, the lengthened limb would then swing across towards one of Rock's sides like a crystallized sledgehammer.

psikeout · Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 12:29 am

While a smoother, more flowing fighter might have gone for the dodge, Rock took the brunt of the stony punch with a rough forearm-to-forearm parry, only partially dampening the blow while it still struck his head. At this point, it was hard to tell if the hits were causing him pain or not simply because of the continually "hard" expression on his face, which didn't change much. Whatever the case, he jolted a step to Geoff's left as a result, but stayed on point and used it as a split-second opportunity to move in close.

When Geoff's heavy, weaponized left hand came swinging in, Rock reached at his attacker's upper arm to slow it, using his close proximity for control, and to stay out of its effective power stroke. It "bumped" him in the shoulder as a result, but lacked appreciable force. The heavier it was, the slower it was to swing, and with Geoff having to tote that much crystal, it gave Rock all the more brute strength advantage.

And there came the use of that strength: The primate just plain shoved at the hedgehog with both hands in a strong lunge to set him off balance, stepped, and fired a piston-like straight kick at his lower abdomen with his big, armored boot. It was one of those almost spartan-like "shield-breaker" kicks Rock was known to employ—low, ugly, and artless, but fast to trigger and to retract, and loaded with a good metric-ton-and-a-half of raw pressure on impact.

It seemed he was experimenting with injury by internal shock since he couldn't get through the armor yet.

Sheff · Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 1:04 pm

In the wake of his minimally effective attacks, Geoff had been absolutely open for the sudden push given by Rock, his crystal-covered feet shuffling back a couple of steps in order to retain his balance. His stance was low at this point, but with the combination of the weight of the crystal and the speed at which the next assault was coming in at, the hedgehog simply couldn't react fast enough to avoid it.

Pow went the powerful kick with a satisfying sound of cracking crystal, shards blasting outward. Geoff doubled over from the force of the attack, nearly losing balance yet again, his body staggering some as it retreated backwards. He wasn't necessarily in much pain, but just the plain old strength put into the kick jarred him a bit, armor or no. It was something reflected in his actions as one of his hands instinctively went down to cover the impact point, shaking his head as if the kick had simultaneously shot through the rest of the shell of rock.

Teeth bared and gritted beneath his mask of rock, Geoff took a few more hasty steps back in order to put some distance between he and Rock, not to mention at least a second or two to fix the damage done. Soon enough, the crater formed by the monkey's foot would soon crunch back into its usual smooth outer cover. The hedgehog would only stand there now, however, his crouched figure seeming to be the one waiting now for the next move to be made, eyes fixated on Rock.

MuffinUnsane · Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:15 pm

Never one for fighting, Ember soon found herself down and out. Being against those who were trained for this; mainly a guy who matched his name; was really beating her down. After the last knockdown she was anything but eager to rise up again. Battered and worn, the bird finally pushed herself back up. There was no way that was going to be done again.

Forget about this battle. She had no idea what was even being fought over. Stumbling back from the main scuffle, she found herself falling back to the side of a nerve-wrecked shark.

"Aw jeez man, lookit you. Not gonna go have fun man?"

Giving a weak laugh, she rubbed her cracked beak.

"Yanno' maybe this wasn't a good idea."

psikeout · Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:45 pm

There it was — that standoff moment. Seven had been downed by Geoff; Big had ejected himself and Jam; Ace had been downed by friendly fire from a grenade; Desmond seemed to still be down from Rock's attack; Shadow had been thrown out by Rock; Ember was on the sidelines, battered and resigned; and Mako was exercising the rare, exotic superpower known as "common sense." That left only Rock and Geoff in the action.

Rock did something opposite to his normal character. Normally, once a fight was on, he didn't stop moving until it was finished. With Geoff in backward motion, it would have been just like Rock to stay in his face and assail him unceasingly, but, in this case, he didn't. Instead, he stopped, stood straight, and started to circle the hedgehog slowly, like some sort of shark.

Rock was scuffed, and a little burned, bruised, and tired. This meant nothing, as it concerned the same guy who, not so long ago, was fighting with an arm nearly obliterated and the side of his head so blown apart that he was missing an ear. He was still comparatively fresh. Geoff had hardly even been scratched, so there was a lot of fight left in both combatants.

"Y'know, Hawkins, I just gotta say, I think you're one of the only people on your side who could be trusted with this," Rock commented out of the blue, and not even in jest. "Think I'd actually be at peace with it if that computer decided you were the new Eggman — if not for one thing."

Sheff · Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:49 pm

Geoff had stood there in his defensive crouch, completely on edge as he awaited the monkey's obligatory assault. Yet, much to his surprise, it appeared to be delayed for the moment, his eyes tracking Rock as he began to trail around him like some sort of waiting predator. Feeling uncomfortable with the sudden need to shuffle in circles, the hedgehog did the first thing that came to his mind; starting his own circular march in time with his opponent's.

If the whole situation didn't scream final showdown yet, the new revolutions being made by the two would only cement the idea.

But then Rock spoke.

At first, Geoff could have almost been perplexed by just the tone of the comment. It wasn't in a mocking manner, nor trying to infuriate the hedgehog. It almost, almost was as close to a compliment he would ever receive the monkey, in fact. Yet it didn't make Geoff any less tense. Whatever this was, it probably was only a lead up to some sort of incendiary statement.

Chips of stone crumbled as Geoff's face, and his face alone, was uncovered from beneath his armor, like removing a fragile visor. If there was another thing the crystal limited on, it was speaking.

"And what would that be?" he said brusquely, as if impatient to get to the point of the matter.

psikeout · Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:41 am

"It's the same thing that makes you trustworthy, funny enough," said Rock with a flat-looking smile that was either bitter, pitying, or sad. "You've got no idea what you're doing."

He stopped. He gestured toward the stairway

"Walk out now, and you won't have to worry about it."

Nuzlocke Griff · Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 1:28 am

While Rock dealt with almost getting his head ripped off his shoulders and the one on one duel with Geoff, Desmond was putting himself together.

The hammer arm sure did a number on him as the force almost broke his arm, leaving him with another serious injury to tend later. Most of the time regaining his composure, the ferret was looking at the ceiling, having his eyes dilate as he recollected the right amount of light for his vision to clear up. Also while laying on the ground he had the time and partial leisure to rock his head side to side, which gave him the chance to reconfirm his surroundings.

The EMP Grenade laid to the right of him, rolling itself to an "upright" position. Maybe with it he could break whatever that monkey was using, which he found quite annoying seeing as the guy mostly aimed for him (probably because he had a gun but still...). Attempting on getting himself up, his right arm sent excessive signs of pain, causing him to stumble as he grabbed his arm and pushed himself upright with one working leg. In all honesty he wanted to sit the rest of the brawl out, but something was causing him to progress into possibly, another beat down.

His pace hastened as he began to hurry towards his weapon, determined to cause the tides to change for their advantage.

Sheff · Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 1:57 am

Geoff stopped as well, facing the monkey, and it seemed he considered his words for the briefest of moments.

But then, he grinned. It was a light sort of grin, one that held a certain understanding yet contained an amused look to it.

"Last thing I expected was you to try to talk me away from this," he mentioned in almost a calm manner, his hands gesturing to the platform they stood upon. "So, bravo to you for trying a different approach. Getting ugly with the fists doesn't always work out, eh?"

The hedgehog smiled then, as if utterly entertained by the whole situation.

"But hey, I'll admit it. I have no friggin' clue. Nada. Not one bit." He shrugged, a small smirk of spite now evident on his lips. "Ain't going to stop me now, though."

psikeout · Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:05 am

"You know I'd just kill you if I was really out of options," Rock said bluntly and humorlessly, unamused to the point of deadpan by Geoff's reply. "I don't enjoy hurtin' people when I don't have to, but I'd sooner do you a world'a harm than see your incompetence hurt anybody I actually care about. I was only tryin' to give you a chance to walk away."

He started forward.

Of freedom and of pleasure (Ch. 4: Day 4, pt. II) [Finale?]

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