Losers Bracket
The Setting:
Devyn Soyokaze made his way to the Nerima district train station, looking a little more pensive than usual. He thought to himself, "I've been defeated... It seems fate wasn't on my side this time. I'll have to redeem myself before I'm worthy to return to the Tendou dojo. Some day, I'll get my chance to do that..."
Meanwhile, Sukira Kurenai was also headed to the train station. He seemed a little under the weather as well, and he thought to himself, "Wow... I can't believe I was beaten. I guess the competiton was more fierce than I expected. Next time will be different, especially after I find out what moves that Noriko was using on me and learn them... Heh heh heh..."
His thoughts were interrupted when Tsubasa, dressed in his usual purple and while sailor-style outfit, came up to him with a giddy look on his face. The young cross dresser said, "Oh, brother dearest... You're not leaving are you? That's so sad..." His tone was definately not sincere. Whenever Sukira was around, it meant a greater than usual number of beatings.
Sukira looked over at Tsubasa, and said, "I am NOT in the mood for this, man.. I'm warning you, get out of here. I'm heading to China, where I can get rid of my curse, and get a break from seeing you."
Tsubasa just couldn't leave it at that, and said with a big goofy grin, "Oh, I don't see what the big deal is anyway... That girl form of yours is so cute! I'll let you borrow a few of my dresses if you want!"
Sukira had heard enough. He pulled out his memory metal staff, and clubbed Tsubasa on top of the head, very hard. His younger brother shouted, "What did you do that for?!"
Devyn, who was still walking toward the station, caught sight of what was going on, and frowned. Just as Sukira grabbed his brother by the collar, Devyn said, "Say... That's no way to treat a lady. Let go of her this instant."
Sukira, of course, was going to point out that Tsubasa was no lady, but he didn't have the chance. Tsubasa ran over to Devyn, and said in a frightened tone of voice, "Please mister, help me!"
Devyn nodded, and said, "Don't worry... I'll get rid of this jerk for you." He stepped forward in a protective stance, and then addressed Sukira. He said, "I don't know what the story here is, but I don't care. What you're doing is wrong, and you'll pay for it." Tsubasa, who was now standing behind Devyn, stuck his tongue out to further annoy his brother.
Sukira just growled at his younger brother's behavior... it was a disgrace to the Kurenai name. If this tuxedo wearing punk watned to fight... fine. Sukira definately had some steam to let off after being eliminated from the tournament.
As the elder Kurenai dropped into a fighting stance wielding his memory metal staff, Devyn snapped his fingers, and said, "Let us dance the dance of fallen dreams..."
Commentary:
Stephen Schlueter
Um... Is this serious? Devyn Soyokaze, who lost by a vote of thirteen to nothing to Eddie Wong? Sukira versus Noriko was a good match. Sukira versus Eddie would be a good match. Sukira versus Devyn? Sorry, but Sukira is way to strong to be defeated by Devyn. And if the truth about Tsubasa comes out, well then he's screwed.
HexxJo
Heehee... yeah, yeah, Tsubasa isn't actually a girl, but what does Devyn know. He's not exactly familiar with the current situation around town. Thus, he really does have that chivalristic thing going, at least in his own mind. Sukira may have the advantage in versatility, but Devyn has motivation, and because of said motivation, I think he can edge Sukira out. Now, after he finds out the truth... it'll be funny to see how he reacts...
Spanner
I think Sukira's gonna win this battle. He really seems to be holding all of the advantages in this case: First, Sukira has a much larger set of special moves available to him, and unlike Devyn, most of them do not require a spin before they can be used. Also, Devyn is much more of a gentleman than Sukira is - while that might be an advantage socially, in an informal, no-holds-barred battle like this, it is far more likely that Sukira will use Devyn's misplaced gallantry to take the advantage early in the fight. With Sukira's skill and wide range of techniques, it is unlikely that Devyn will recover from that early loss of control...
Hitman25
Let's face the facts. People have already said Sukira would be in the higher class in skill level of the world of Ranma while Devyn is supposed to be in the lower level. That may be somewhat of an exaggeration. I'd say Sukira is a little bit lower than Ranma's level while Devyn would be somewhat higher than everyone in the lower class. In terms of skill, Sukira would still have the advantage, but let's look at the situation. Although in some cases, motivation wouldn't make much of a difference. In this case however, Devyn has just enough skill for it to matter. And with Sukira in a state of shock, it should be harder for him to focus. In the long run, this will have an impact on the results. I give this match to twinkle toed Devyn.
The Fight:
Sukira gave Devyn an odd sort of look... People didn't usually say things that strange before a fight. A light breeze picked up, however, and fallen leaves began to blow around in front of the train station. Sukira charged forward and took a swing at the dancer, using his memory metal staff. The staff had a dull sort of glow to it, which was steadily getting brighter.
Devyn gracefully danced to the side to avoid the attack, but to him, it was a little too close for comfort. Sukira jabbed at him a few more times with his staff, but each time Devyn was able to barely evade. He stepped back a bit to create a little bit of distance, and then started his trademark spin.
Sukira didn't know what Devyn was doing, but he assumed a good smack with his staff would put an end to it. He rushed in, and jabbed, but Devyn had already started his Low Falling Arashi technique. Sukira's staff went through air at the same moment that Devyn went into his sweeing kick. The self-proclaimed Master of Martial Arts was swept off of his feet, and not in a good way. As he fell through the air, the balroom martial artist delivered a downward kick, which put him to the street painfully.
Tsubasa pointed and laughed at Sukira, fully enjoying the opportunity to see his brother get beat up. It wasn't often that it happened either... The elder Kurenai brother was very annoyed. He did not want to actually lose a fight here in the middle of the street, and especially not with his younger brother watching.
Devyn was uncertain as to wether he should offer his opponent a helping hand to get back up. After all, this jerk was harassing a lady, and he seemed to be quite skilled with that staff of his. Still, it was the gentlemanly thing to do, so he walked over and offered his hand.
Sukira thought, "Sucker..." With his opponent this close, he saw his chance. He shouted, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" And struck the ground right between them. Devyn's eyes went wide as he saw the street's pavement crack, and then explode underneath him. He was battered with bits of rock, and thrown clear of his opponent, landing hard on his back some distance away.
Sukira, who was still at ground zero, was mostly unharmed by the attack, and got back to his feet. He said, "Well, dancer boy. Now you know what you're really up against."
Devyn got back to his feet, and dusted bits of rock and dust off of his tuxedo. He replied cooly, "Someone who attacks women and takes advantage of a gentlemanly gesture?"
Sukira felt a little insulted by that remark, especially the part about him attacking ladies. He blew it off like most of the insults that came his way, though, "Stuff like that has no place in real martial arts... Let me show you." He pulled out his ribbon, one of the tools that he learned to use in Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, and gave Tsubasa a menacing look.
The younger Kurenai recognized that look, and weakly said, "Help....!" Devyn growled... Attacking a lady to get at your opponents was despicable. He had no choice but to defend her, however. Sukira lashed the ribbon out toward his younger brother, and as Devyn ran over in defense, he wrapped the ballroom dancer up. Giving the ribbon a sharp tug, he lifted the dancer off of his feet and threw him into a wall at the side of the street.
Sukira chuckled to himself, and said, "Have you had enough, yet? There's no reason for you to get -seriously- hurt over nothing."
Much to the elder Kurenai's surprise, however, Devyn got right back to his feet. The tuxedo was a little worse for wear now, but his determination was much stronger. He said in his calm tone, "I can't stand to see a guy like you walking the streets. I'm going to put a stop to this right now." He started his trademark spin again.
Sukira just shook his head... It looked like Devyn was going all out for his cross dressing brother. It was probably way too late to stop the fight with words, though. As Devyn started spinning, the Master of Martial Arts pulled out his ribbon yet again. He threw it out and wrapped it around his adversary again, but when he tried to throw the dancer, he met with a nasty surprise.
As Devyn continued spinning, Sukira felt himself being pulled quickly toward the dancer, because the ribbon was winding around him. The ribbon didn't manage to wrap itself around Devyn's arms, so when his opponent was close enough, he grabbed him, as though they were both dancing.
The elder Kurenai didn't know what the dancer was doing, but he figured he didn't want to be a part of it. Even though his hands were being held strongly in place, his legs were still free. He delivered a few kicks to his opponent's gut, but it didn't slow his spinning at all. Sukira started to feel way too dizzy to keep on attacking. After a few more seconds, Devyn threw him into the air. While Sukira was still falling, he went into his Low Falling Arashi attack again, and caught him with a vicious sweeping kick on the way down.
As his opponent started rising to his feet again, Devyn said, "No one needs to be seriously hurt, like you said. Just leave her alone, and get out of here."
Like most people who give themselves a title like Master of Martial Arts, Sukira had a lot of pride, and while he might normally have revealed the truth about Tsubasa at this point, he was not going to be beaten by a guy who used dancing as his martial art. He got back to his feet, and said, "Thanks for your concern, but you should worry about yourself. Those tricks of yours aren't going to work on me any more."
Sukira thought about his opponent's trademarked spin, and then smiled. Suddenly turning to Tsubasa again, he said, "This is gonna hurt you a lore more than it will me." Shooting out his ribbon again, he grabbed Tsubasa, picked the young cross dresser up off of the ground, and slammed him into the street, head first.
Devyn was outraged. This jerk could even wait until the fight was over before he was abusing that lady again. It was intolerable... The dancer lost the composure that he had always carried with him into battle, and charged right at Sukira with surprising speed. He grabbed the Master of Martial Arts in his dancing hold again, but before he could start spinning, Sukira beat him to it. Sukira was a quick learner, and could pick up martial arts moves after only one first-hand demonstation, usually.
The ballroom dancer had never been the victim of one of his own attacks before, but he knew ways to defeat it. Full of rage at his immoral opponent, he brought his legs up and shouted, "Tap Dance Tenchuu!" Using tap dancing speed, he delivered several kicks right into Sukira's stomach. The elder Kurenai kept his cool, however, since he needed this attack to work. As Devyn got more furious, and stepped up his barrage, Sukira's hold started to weaken.
Suddenly, Sukira let go, and right as he did, he shouted, "Hiryuu Shouten Ha!" By spinning the angry Devyn and all of his hot ki around him, Sukira created the spiral that was necessary to complete the move. As the dancer flew free from Sukira, he was picked up in the tornado and lifted high into the air, before the twister finally died out and he fell to the ground. A small crater formed from the impact, drawing, 'Oooooh...'s from the onlookers.
Sukira took a moment to recover from the diziness the spinning had caused him before he looked over at his opponent. Devyn did not stir. He shook his head, and said, "Well, that was a fight that probably didn't have to happen. Oh well, at least I learned a neat trick." He looked over to Tsubasa, who had been knocked out a while ago by his ribbon toss, "And I taught him a lesson at the same time." Shrugging, he dusted himself off and started walking toward the train terminal, bound for other parts of Japan to continue his training.
The Results:
Sukira Kurenai: 6
Devyn Soyokaze: 4
This one was tied for quite a while! Thankfully, a couple of people casted the tie breaking votes. Thanks to everyone who was still interested in this tournament stuff to come back and vote!