Back Alley Brawlin' [OPEN]

Though it might not look like it from an outsider's perspective watching the fight, but it was difficult for Rhuba to not use ki to enhance his attacks and defenses. The mishap earlier made it obvious, it was training that was quite literally beat into him, the scars on his body attested to that. There were days when he was only a child, his The Grandmaster would only allow Rhuba to sleep as if he could sleep while floating using his ki. Ki was a huge part of his life, and here he was having fun without it.

"Y'know, it feels like taking off gloves you've worn a long time." He said to himself, but also aloud to her, maybe if she could tell his struggle with not using ki, she'd realize what he meant, if not it could have multiple meanings. Their mid-combat banter interrupted by her tail, though only for the second, before he landed and was able to get his kicks off successfully, the chaotic splaying of her body made him unable to tell where his kicks actually landed. Unfortunately for Rhuba, the one thing he could tell was that his foot was now caught. Lolo had been able to grab his leg in the last exchange.

'I can finally try it!' he thought loudly in his head, his mind had raced for ideas and one snapped directly into view mentally for him. Rhuba began twisting his body and dropped backward into the ground, using his elbows to brace himself, he then twisted and using his core muscles and that force combined with the extension of kicking his leg he had limited room to hit her, but it was enough to potentially reset the brief initiation again, as he now aimed to try and hit the Lamia in the head with his unorthodox kick. The kick itself relying on the momentum caused by Rhuba using his core muscles to rotate his body and arm to swing his using that momentum then adding the kicking force of just his knee joint.

Rhuba had hoped that either she defended and released his leg, or the attack landed and she released his leg. The attack itself wasn't actually taught to him, he had just witnessed something similar on Earth briefly after he landed here. There had been some cool cats on the street with a boombox in West City, they had set up some cardboard to do some breakdancing, Rhuba saw one spin his legs around using the force of his arms and core muscles and thought that might be cool to implement into a fight. The smile on his face said it all, after all it was exciting when he saw something that looked cool and then did it himself!

  WC: 440
TWC: 3,769

Base PL: 29,195

HP: 0%/250% (+-0%)

KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Burning Ki (Unused) | Combat Learning
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)

Rhuba felt his leg impact something short of her face, even though the kick wasn't that powerful if he had been able to fully hit her in the head it could have caused some serious damage. "Tch," he sucked his teeth, knowing the shallow strike of his hit meant he was not on target. The move was a gamble anyway, but it definitely felt cool to pull off even if he failed to do damage.

Rhuba could feel the snake's grip on his right leg loosen just as he felt his left leg in another. Reflexively, he began to spin his torso using his core muscles to do another weaker and shallower kick to her head using the same move he did earlier. Unfortunately this fell right into the Lamia's trap, as he tried to spin she had tried to throw him. The momentum between the two meant her throw was extremely successful, as he slammed into the ground skidding over to the edge of crowd. The crowd cheered Lolo, seemingly counting Rhuba out already. Unbeknownst to Rhuba, and likely Lolo, the crowd had silenced during the last exchange. The blow for blow and movements they were doing had them all gasping, and as Lolo threw Rhuba a cascade of shouts erupted.

Rhuba wasn't down for the count, as he quickly got to his feet. Making sure not to shield himself from any damage, he could feel the ground rub his skin, some areas of his exposed skin now looked red, from the friction of the ground during his tumble. "I saw that move in the city," he said, as he began to imitate the break dancer, holding up his guard the whole time. Rhuba only shifted his feet and bounced around, the movements breakdancers would do before they would start spinning on the ground.

Rhuba paused briefly, holding his hand to his chest, the light pain still there. It was not a big deal, it hurt but he could still fight in this condition easily. Rhuba then realized something, something that made him very angry but couldn't deny. Taking a glance around, he saw the crowd was on her side, and that feeling stung even worse as he sighed heavily, closing his eyes as he said, "You win this one," he then bowed dramatically using his right hand to flourish the ending of his bow by twisting it outward away from him, then bringing it to his chest as he finished the deepest part of the bow.

Raising up from his blow slightly, he frowned as he pointed at the right side of his chest, the area he shielded himself with ki, "I blocked your punch earlier, you seem like someone who wouldn't care, but I do. It's not fair anymore." Rhuba would break rules, but he always wanted things to be as fair as they can be during situations like this. The only reason he started using his legs was because he felt like fighting her the way she wanted meant he was at an unfair disadvantage. At least that's how Rhuba rationalized it. Even if Lolo would want the fight to continue, it was obvious in his face that he was already defeated. Being a showman, he found it depressing that Lolo was being the center of attention. Rather than seriously upset about losing, his expression was more akin to someone being scolded.

  WC: 566
TWC: 4,335

Base PL: 29,195

HP: 0%/250% (+-0%)

KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Burning Ki (Unused) | Combat Learning
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)

The cheers died down as he turned his head to look at the Lamia, finally responding to her statement about his dancing. "Is that what that was, it was dancing? I only saw it once, haven't seen them again though..." The fact that he didn't see them again even after going back to the city and visiting other cities... made him sad too. The compounding effects of him feeling dejected from the earlier cheers began seeping into his voice and demeanor.

When the Lamia approached him, he would have felt threatened had he not felt how fair the Lamia fought. Rhuba didn't think using her tail was unfair, as he had done the same with his legs. If she used every part of her body to fight, he'd have commended her, and she mostly did. Glancing off in the distance as the crowd began to disperse, "I prefer using my energy to do everything. Make myself stronger, shield from damage... I blocked your strike earlier, I was completely caught off guard and it was my fault. I blocked your first strike with my energy, I barely felt it... but also, you're right. I could have powered up and basically quadrupled my strength, maybe even more..." Rhuba looked down at his fist as he talked about powering up, and briefly entered Wrathful state, he had just about mastered the form. Just as quickly as his muscles bulked up, they receeded and the aura only briefly glew around him. Sighing to himself, the memory of reflexively enforcing his body to stop the attack. Grazing his hand over the strike that actually did do significant damage, he couldn't help but feel he lost this bout.

"I didn't realize it before, but the world feels different. It's nauseating... but familiar." Perhaps she wouldn't understand those words again, and just as he was about to clarify he glanced back at her as she slithered over to him and wrapped her arm around him. "A-Another fight? Now?" The stutter of surprise took over him as he looked up at her, meeting the weight of her arm with his shoulder. "But can you fight with energy?" He asked, raising his hand to the sky he fired off a quick beam of condensed ki, the cloud above parted from the blast. "Flash," he said, trying to act cool and call out his attack as he always did. "I would have lost to you eventually without my energy, and I would have lost if both those hits had fully connected..." he looked toward his chest once more and glided his hand across it with the arm that had fired the earlier blast.

Rhuba briefly enters Wrathful form x5 145,975 PL

  WC: 441
TWC: 4,776

Base PL: 29,195 

HP: 0%/250% (+-0%)

KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Burning Ki (Unused) | Combat Learning
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)

Rhuba listened intently as she explained her disdain for ki. For Rhuba who was forced to learn to master his ki, he didn't quite understand what she was saying. Perhaps neither of them would truly understand each other due to the difference in how they wanted to fight, Rhuba himself was looking for magical artifacts to enable himself to fight with magic effectively. "What about magic? Some people are born with it, some aren't..." Stretching a bit himself, as she moved away from him briefly. "When I use my energy..." he looked down, and flexed his bicep by closing his fist. "I feel like I'm flexing a muscle." He said, as he was trained to use it just like any other muscle, it was ingrained in him to see it that way.

"If you're okay with fighting me using all my abilities..." he looked up at her, smiling now. "I'll fight again. Maybe next time we do it in front of more people." He said, looking at the crowd dispersing still. Amazed that many people had stopped to watch them fight, and how many people seemed to be into it. "Y'know, maybe you should," he said, replying to her comment about learning to use ki. He began to float above the ground, and slowly ascended into the sky. "You'd be very cute flying in the sky like this!" he chuckled, waving at her as she finally said her goodbye.

Rhuba then shot off into the east, hoping to find something to fix the anger from his recent defeat.

Rhuba exits!

  WC: 258
TWC: 5,034

Base PL: 29,195 

HP: 0%/250% (+-0%)

KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Burning Ki (Unused) | Combat Learning
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)