Exhibition of Skills: Cloud and Ryuu do a promotional for Misha’s Fashion Line (07-04-2403)

Everything was in order and the stage was set for Cloud and Ryuu to go at it one more time, but this time their duel wouldn’t just be to satisfy a thirst for battle, it would be a favour for one of their running mates, Misha Teragi, to promote the launch of her new fashion line.

The gimmick behind the promotion would  be simple, the two scrappers would go a number of short rounds, each round would have a different them and a different number of stipulations.  During each round, they would they will both wear a different piece from Misha’s new line, and between rounds Misha would do her best to replenish their health and stamina so that they could complete the promotion.

As the two channelers squared off now in the first suits of clothing, they made their preparations for the Weapon’s phase of the duel.  Cloud would summon a single club and stand at the ready while Ryuu resorted to his Zeta Cleaver which he swung over his shoulder as he awaited Misha giving them to okay to start.  That signal would come and Ryuu would waste no time utilising his Burst Shell to close the distance between himself and the larger Stryfe.  Luckily, Cloud’s precod would allow him to pre-empt Ryuu’s rush attack, allowing him to guard the horizontal slash which the Itami launched before he guided the large blade downwards with his club.  Once Ryuu’s attack was effectively nullified, Cloud would shift his weight and arc the club back upwards forcing Ryuu to jump back onto his back and roll backwards.  Cloud would follow his movements and dash forwards while the Itami rolled back, taking to the air to descend with a powerful strike.  Ryuu would barely brace himself enough to guard the attack, which pushed him downwards into a small indentation before he deflected Cloud’s attack to the side and spun to launch a powerful spinning strike.  Cloud would clear the wide swing with a jump, actually stepping on Ryuu’s blade as he flipped over Ryuu’s head and launched a blind attack, thrusting his club backwards to send Ryuu stumbling forwards.  Cloud would spin now and summon his second, before delivering three swinging attacks as Ryuu started to turn.  Ryuu would be fast enough to dodge the first attack and guard the next with his cleaver, before launching a rising diagonal strike to completely intercept the last strike and reverse Cloud’s momentum.  Another quick burst from his Burst Shell would allow Ryuu to score a quick shoulder check to further offset Cloud’s balance, before Ryuu’s Trapshots summoned, mid-grab, allowing him to quickly grasp Cloud’s face.  This allowed Ryuu to more easily evade the counter strike which Cloud launched before hitting him with the hilt of his and knocking him back, providing Ryuu with enough clearance to launch a wide arching slash. 

Much to Ryuu’s surprise he would find his Cleaver intercepted by a pair of axes now, as the curved blade hooked around his cleaver and allowed Cloud to yank it out of his hand, before a savage slash cut across Ryuu’s chest and sent him stumbling backwards.  Ryuu would quickly break into a backpedal now as Cloud rushed forwards, boosting his speed with his massive internal reserve as he quickly closed the distance.  Ryuu would instantly cancel his momentum and Perfect Guard an incoming Cloud, who’s Overwhelming Force allowed him to nullify the guard.  But Ryuu was well aware of this and quickly shifted into a jujitsu stance, intercepting both of Cloud’s hands before clenched down on the Oyan’s forearms shifted his weight send Cloud spinning to the ground.  Cloud would not be entire sure of how he arrived on his back, but the quick snapping of his wrists would remind him not to think about it, forcing him to actively attempt to break Ryuu’s grib now.  Ryuu’s eyes would widen as Ki streams visibly manifested to augment Cloud’s movements, flinging Ryuu’s hands apart and leaving him open for Cloud to spring off the ground with a double press to Ryuu’s chest that would send him packing, launching him off the ground and into the distance.

Cloud would use his sheer force of will to snap his bones back into the right place, returning functionality to his hands as he summoned his Lawgiver and open fire on the vanishing Ryuu.  A Perfection Shell would deal with this incoming attacks as Ryuu unsummoned his Trap Shots and returned fire with his Iger V-AP, utilising his Force to boost the effects of the rounds, as Ryuu scouted the area for a good place to land.  A well placed Burst Shell would allow him to touch down without staying still too long, sending him and Cloud into an interesting military game now as the used the terrain to cover themselves as they closed the distance on each other, taking every opportunity to get a clear shot in on each other before they returned to melee range.

It wouldn’t take long for their massively boosted statistics to start obliterating their cover, forcing the two channelers to close distance even faster now, until they both simply abandoned their ranged weapon and rushed straight for each other.  This time Cloud would be the one to get the upper hand as he faked a running hook punch and actually delivered a slide, locking Ryuu’s feet and causing him to topple before Cloud rolled over to launch a powerful strike to Ryuu’s throat, winding him temporarily.  This would allow Cloud to roll backwards into a brief handstand, before flipping to his feet and launching an axe-kick that would obliterate the earth beneath his feet.  Unfortunately for the Stryfe, Ryuu would not be there when the attack landed, vanishing from the location and forcing Cloud to attempt to track him using his scanners.  Cloud’s eyes would widen as Ryuu materialised right in front of him, his precog once again telling him to guard, but it would be too late.  An elbow to the temple would knock Cloud to the left before an uppercut to the cut sent him skipping back to the right, allowing Ryuu to score another clean hit to his sternum before launching a knee which Cloud would block.  Cloud would counter with a front thrust kick of his own, forcing Ryuu to spin, jamming his hip into the side of Cloud’s foot during the kick and launch a back fist which knocked Cloud to the right once more before he could steady himself.  Cloud would cancel his own motion before Ryuu completed his spin, utilising his Sambo to perform a rushing taken down, and slam Ryuu into the flow once more, this time assisted by the Ki Stream itself allowing him to drill the Itami into his knee as he flipped and landed on his back.  Cloud would once again scramble to his feet, literally clawing out chunks of earth as he closed the distance on a still recovering Ryuu, sliding to a stop to launch a powerful elbow strike of his own.  Ryuu would take the attack but would guard the follow up with his forearm and bicept, launching a quick jab counter.  Cloud step forward and to the side to dodge the attack, ramming his shoulder into Ryuu’s gut and causing him to curl forward before his foot trailed over his back to knock Ryuu back to a standing position.  The Itami would go with the momentum however and throw all of his strength into a powerful flash kick which would break their melee exchange and launch Cloud straight into the area as the shockwaves from the attack radiated outwards from them.

“Okay, stop!” Came the sound from Misha as she brought an end to the first round, noting that the two had actually gotten a bit carried away there.

Ryuu would smirk as his Auto-Regen kicked in, lessening the load on Misha as she simple awaited Cloud’s return from the Itami’s launcher.  Seconds later, Cloud’s Sky Cutter would be sensed, allowing him to emerge from a portal next to the two with his usual serious look on his face.

The two would quickly change clothes while Misha did her healing and set up for the next scenario.  This time, they would start some distance apart, charging their energies about them once again before starting the match.  Cloud would waste no time releasing a powerful blast toward Ryuu, one which the Itami easily cancelled with his own Lumina projectile, utilising his Beast Drive to fuse his stats enough to facilitate useful blasting potential.  As Cloud’s blast dissipated, a green blast would pierce the ethereal mist, heading directly for Cloud.  The Stryfe would waste no time replying with his own Obsidian projectile blast, which audibly shattered the Veranos blast causing glass like energy particles to rain temporarily.  This would continue as the two blasted and moved, at first simply countering each other’s projectiles before turning to actually dodging the initial strikes and releasing charged versions of their attacks in an attempt to actually hit the other.  Cloud would be the first to actually score an attack, buut Ryuu’s Perfection Shell would ensure that there would be nothing to celebrate, allowing him to quickly return a Lumina modified Veranos blast that clipped Cloud’s Ultimate Guard and was deflected harmlessly into the environment, detonating a random mound into a hail of dust.

Noting that this particular display was becoming very pointless very quickly, the two now wasted no time in powering up their energies to max, a task that only took a few seconds, before they unleashed their full powers into a massive, concentrated Projectile beam.  The beams would clash in the middle to provide a deadly lockup between the two, each generating enough energy to instantly revert the other.  Ryuu would grimace slightly now as Cloud’d energy inched towards him before he managed to push it backwards Cloud to gain the upper hand in the exchange.  This would be short-lived however as the blasts once again met in the middle before the two pushed all that they had left into the assaults.  Once again, Cloud’s Ki Assist and Manifest Will would come into play now, overwhelming Ryuu’s energy as a black and blue wave just literally washed over the pale green attack and engulfed the Itami’s entire form.

Cloud’s eyes would actually widen at this before a sickening rumble could be heard, Cloud’s right eye would glow now as he watched his energies and Ryuu’s energies swirld uncontrollably into a sphere before exploding off in a massive shockwave which rocked the earth and blanketed the area in dark energy.  Misha smiled now at the theatrics, at times these boys were too much.  Taking this as his cue, Cloud activated Sky Cutter once again and vanished from the area as the environment darkened, allowing the glow from his eye to linger as he appeared some distance away, and suppressed his energy to reduce his ethereal signature, before combining the power of his combat suit and his natural obsidian based abilities to cloak his location from his opponent.  Ryuu would brace himself as he scanned the battlefield now, attempting locate Cloud.  Ryuu would watch as a rock in the distance split in half, wasting no time in blasting the area which went up in a small green mushroom shaped explosion.  Cloud would smirk deviously now as he appeared behind Ryuu armed with his Ice Pick and Combat Knife, jumping into the air and diving down with two strikes, one aimed for Ryuu’s neck and the other for his kidney.  Luckily for the Itami, his fourteen metre personal space would give him just enough to get wind of the attack, allowing him to Perfect Guard at the instant that the weapons actually impacted his form to save him from an embarrassing soft reversion.  As expected, his guard would be shattered, but it would shave enough of the damage off of the attacks to prevent him from being stunned, allowing Ryuu to once again lock Cloud’s arms and prevent a follow up.  Quickly extending his arms would stretch Cloud to the fullest before Ryuu dropped his weight and caused Cloud to stumble forward, before spinning to cross Cloud’s arms and deliver a quick sweep to leave the Oyan bent up like a pretzel, before Ryuu activated his Detonation Drive to add insult to injury and end yet another round.

Another quick wardrobe change would be accompanied by Misha’s rejuvenation, allowing Ryuu and Cloud to make their way into the final rounds.  The next would be Ryuu’s favourite, involving no stipulations and allowing the Itami to just go all out.  This would be seen from the get go as he activated both of his Special Abilities, doing his best to suppress the Demi Dragon features of his Beast Drive to avoid taking attention away from Misha’s clothing as he activated his burst shell and rushed Cloud.  Cloud would instantly put up his Maximum Guard but Ryuu’s sheer power would rupture his guard, allowing his now clawed hands to grasp hold of Cloud’s face before pumping the energy from his Dissipation Drive and Detonation Drive into the large Oyan’s form.

Cloud would instantly activate his own defensive concoction to counter Ryuu’s abilities, but with the Itami’s Veranos Black draining his very channelling potential; it would take all of the will that Cloud could muster to keep his form’s cohesion.  Cloud would waste no time powering up his Gravity and Gaia expansions as he increased gravity’s downwards effect and raised pillars to impede Ryuu’s movement, but between Ryuu’s Overwhelming Force, Perfection Shell and Perfect Guard, he would not be able stop Ryuu before he imbedded Cloud in a lithified casing and detonated it, quickly stunning the Stryfe before he braced himself and unleashed a Veranos Black breath attack that sent his opponent sailing into the distance once more.  Ryuu would stand his ground now and flex his form, feeling good to unleash his form after all the previous rounds.  He would watch as Cloud blasted back in his direction now, watching as the environment was destroyed in his wake.  Ryuu would brace himself, but Cloud would not just simply attack, instead activating his Sky Cutter and vanishing from his location, reemerging, super charged with Dias, from behind to literally separate Ryuu from his environment and shunt him into a virtual void.  Ryuu would be forced into his Omega Drive to dispel the effects, detonating the entire area with a Pyre-Lumina cocktail that would shunt both him and Cloud violently from the area.

Misha would notice the two channelers getting carried away and would end this round prematurely, deciding to forego the final phase of this theatrical showdown until both channelers were a bit fresher.  This of course would be much to Cloud’s displeasure, who was rather eager to show Ryuu the move that he had designed especially for him.  Cloud would emit the mental equivalent of a sigh, resolving to save it for another time.  Clearly, this battle had dragged on too long. 

Cloud: 400 Exp (healed)

Ryuu: 410 Exp (healed)

Misha: 300 Exp