Emergence Day (Graded)

[DBIL Administrator]

Out of the battered and bruised opponent that was the fighter known as Tao came an unexpected attack. A mix of determination, desperation and perhaps even recklessness were the primary attributes of the unorthodox attack.

Indeed, this was an attack that was new even to a seasoned veteran like Cifer, an attack from all sides...

The crowd ooh'ed and aah'ed as they witnessed the strange technique, nobody noticing the trick behind it, or noticing the inhuman nature of this mysterious Tao.

All Cifer was able to do was focus on his defense, and hope to find a weakness to this technique. Relying on his eyes heavily, perhaps too heavily, Cifer attempted to keep his eyes on all three Tao bodies, hoping to be able to manage an attack from all sides. Without a doubt, Cifer had experience with a three on one battle before, but not quite of this type, with all three opponents truly being but a single person.

Descending back into his Crane Style fighting position, Cifer awaited the coming attack.

And come it did, as the copies of Tao began their assault, Cifer maintaining a defensive front against attacks that always seemed to miss...

Did they miss... Or were they never there in the first place?

As he finally picked up the trick, Cifer stopped, rising into a normal standing stance. The attacks that the holograms threw at this point went right through Cifer, who knew that it was too late. Accepting the fact, Cifer tensed up his muscled, and caught the right hook, which staggered him backwards.

He had to admit... That one hurt...

With no time to react, Cifer was again hit by a strike to his sternum, which indeed winded him, as he gasped for much needed breath.

But Cifer would not fall so easily...

Anticipating the leg sweep, Cifer jumped slightly to dodge the attack. Within seconds, the jump had been converted into a back somersault, which resulted, in a bicycle kick to the chin.

Taking a deep breath during the kic, Cifer would regain his lost composure to follow up with yet another vanishing flurry of attacks on his foe.

This was for real, and Cifer acknowledged the fact that this boy was both battle smart and powerful. How he had generated the holograms, however, was still a mystery to Cifer, as he neglected the thought.

[Shirin Tao Zhu]

Shirin almost wanted to smile. For the first half of his offensive everything had went according to planned. Then came that bold leap that Cifer made. Shirin wasn't so foolish as to completely forget about defense. He had hoped that attack would put Cifer down for the count, but he hadn't connected with his final planned attack. As Cifer attempted the kick to the chin, Shirin ducked down and away from the kick so that it zoomed by his face, barely missing him. This moment he began gathering energy in his palms for a couple of basic energy blasts.

He originally intended to us the blasts to attack Cifer, but when he saw that familiar opening move, the after image, he changed his mind. He shot both blasts straight down into the tiled arena floor. The blasts smacked the ground and exploded, creating a temporary cloud of smoke. At that moment Shirin used the explosion and his own leg strength to leap upward to evade the initial attack if Cifer decided to continue through the smoke based on Shirin's previous location. Shirin left one of the holographic images behind in the smoke in his place.

Shirin continued his ascent with flight. He was nearly running on empty. He'd expended a great deal of energy already and he was still feeling the effects of that last beating. He had an advantage in this however, with Cifer unable to see him because of the smoke cloud between them. Cifer was likely in the smoke, too, but it cleared quickly.

An image of Shirin smirking in his Crane Style stance would be staring at Cifer. The real Shirin was in the air, although not for much longer. In a few moments he wouldn't even have the energy for that. He had his holograph rush forward, floating an inch or two off the ground, hopefully as a distraction even if only so for a second or two. The image would disappear the moment it made contact with Cifer in any way.

The real Shirin would pull his left fist back and prepare for a dive bomb punch. All his remaining energy went into propelling him down at Cifer as fast as he could manage and into strengthening this last punch. Hit or miss, Shirin would collapse onto the arena floor unable to continue. If it did miss, Shirin's fist would smack the arena and send out a decently strong tremor in addition to sending moderate sized cracks running through the arena floor. Shirin was unsure how successful this would be, but he had determined that his chances for victory were incredibly low at this point anyway. At least he could go out in style this way.

I can't believe it...I guess even with the cybernetic upgrades I still have a long way to go....

[DBIL Administrator]

The final bout was underway, as Cifer saw his counter miss its' target. Still keeping his eyes on his crafty adversary, Cifer landed gracefully in his fighting stance, ready for yet another incoming attack.

At one point, Cifer could have sworn that he was going to be hit by one of Tao's charging Ki blasts, and so raised his left arm, ready to deflect the attack backwards.

But the attack never came

Taken aback, Cifer indeed did step back, as the Ki blasts unexpectedly collided with the arena floor. Smoke surrounded the area as Cifer searched for his now invisible opponent. Moving his head left and right, still maintaining his defensive stance, Cifer cautiously stepped forward through the thick, grey smoke, wary of his surroundings.

All of a sudden, Tao's figure came recklessly charging against Cifer. Readying himself for a possible attack, Cifer raised his guard, but no attack came...

The strike passed directly through his arms as he realized that the figure was a hologram. That same technique had actually worked on him twice. Cifer smirked at the thought, it was the first time in what seemed like eternity that someone had actually tested his battle smarts.

It was at this point that Cifer made his choice...

As the hologram disappeared, Cifer looked around to find his way out of the irritating smoke.

Suddenly, a painful feeling overcame Cifer's head as he realized that he had been hit... It felt as if a giant hammer had just smashed his head open, as he noticed a crater forming in the ground beneath him.

Struggling to maintain his consciousness, Cifer kicked himself inside for not remembering the basics of his art... Never to drop his guard.

Lying in a heap in the center of the giant crater formed by the sheer impact of Shirin's last ditch attack, Cifer slowly began to open his eyes. Very slowly, his black vision began to turn into a colored blur... And finally, it was back to normal.

The crowd was on the edge of their seats as they both cheered and booed at the exact same time, just as confused as the two fighters.

Rising to his feet, Cifer took the ascent slowly, rising onto his knees first, and finally onto his two feet. Preventing a forward fall with his right foot, Cifer looked behind at his downed opponent with respect.

For the first time in what seemed like years, Cifer had been challenged... Not only challenged... But nearly defeated.
And from what? An unknown...

The blonde haired announcer began his victory declaration speech...

"And people, Cifer has done it again! I declare Cifer the vict-"

Gesturing the announcer to halt, Cifer shook his head slowly, before giving his opponent another look. He knew that this opponent of his would go far with adequate training, and he did not want to taint that potential.

Walking slowly over to Tao, Cifer bent down to his former opponent's level...

"Tao is it? Enter the Sixty Fourth Tenkaichi Budokai in two months... Train hard, and we will meet in the Finals."

With that, Cifer gave a meaningful nod, before rising again, and slowly walking to the left edge of the arena. Once there, Cifer powered up, conjuring an aura, before bursting off, away from the arena to places unknown...

The crowd was left dumbfounded as they, for the first time remained absolutely still and quiet. On the arena stood the announcer, his jaw dropped, and his microphone still below his mouth.

"I guess.. This is it then... Cifer has... taken off... and Tao lies here... Unable to move... This match remains unresolved... And the... The Tenkaichi title is... *Gulp* Open once again... Unless Tao can stand within a count of ten..."

Still, the crowd remained silent, as they counted down from ten...

"Ten... Nine... Eight"

[Shirin Tao Zhu]

That was it. Everything Shirin had left in him. His attack had hit dead on exactly as he'd planned, but Cifer was too tough. His powerful foe had managed to stand up after being hit by his last attack. Shirin lay exhausted near the bottom of the crater his attack had created. He was too tired to even roll over. He was laying on his back, breathing heavily.

"Tao is it? Enter the Sixty Fourth Tenkaichi Budokai in two months... Train hard, and we will meet in the Finals."

Cifer's final words rang out in Shirin's head. They echoed through the depths of his thoughts again and again. Shirin knew that he had earned Cifer's respect at that point. There could be no mistake. He had looked at Shirin with disdain at the start of their match, but the tone of voice and the expression on his face as he spoke just now...Shirin knew. Before Cifer lifted into the air to fly away, Shirin called out in a low, raspy voice, "C-count...on..it!"

Shirin could do little else. He mentally ordered all his cybernetic support systems to go into rest mode until he became conscious again, and he fell unconscious himself. He had exhausted himself to the point where he could only sleep. Shirin never expected anything like this for his first day on the surface after getting out of the stasis chamber. This, by far, was the most eventful and surprising day of his life.

Shirin wouldn't be getting to his feet to claim the title. It was likely that he wouldn't even be conscious for several hours. But at least he had fallen unconscious with a smile on his face and some valuable data for furthering his skills in combat. Particularly useful data for improving his mastery of the Crane Style, and perhaps a chance to learn the after image technique that Cifer had used multiple times.

[DBIL Administrator]

Results

Old Statistics
Strength: 230 + 30
Ki Outlet: 170 + 20
Endurance: 220 + 70
Speed: 220 + 10

New Statistics
Strength: 260
Ki Outlet: 190
Endurance: 290
Speed: 230

No Ability Upgrades

Techniques etc gained from video recording will be added upon reviewing them in a training thread.

END OF "EMERGENCE DAY"