Losers Bracket
The Setting:
Chen-Shan Chin definately did not look forward to going back to work, and now that he was working his register again, he was a little under the weather. That hot springs vacation would have delivered him from this eternal punishment of working in a fast food restaurant. Every time a customer came and placed an order, it took everything he had not to snap and beat them into the ground. Still, he had barely managed to keep himself in check.
Noranov walked in through the door of the Burger Land restaurant, and approached the counter. Chen-Shan frowned at her, since she was carrying her trombone. He didn't know what was going on, but he was sure it was against store policy to let people play musical instruments inside.
Before he could mention anything to that effect, however, Noranov looked up at the menu, and then said in her cold voice, accented in some sort of Eastern European tone, "I will have a number three combo, with a cola drink."
Chen-Shan nodded his head, and entered the order into his register. After that, he left to cook up the meal, and seconds later, he returned with the finished product. After taking the correct amount of money owed for the meal, Chen-Shan said between gritted teeth, "Thank you... come again."
Noranov took her meal over to the conidments area, and started to grab everything essential to the fast food dining experience. She took a handful of napkins, but when she tried to fill up a paper cup with catsup, the dispenser only made a sputtering noise.
Noranov frowned. Things just hadn't been going her way lately at all. The Director would not be pleased to learn that she had failed to win the legendary Mute of Shaolin from the martial arts tournament. She wouldn't be surprised if she was demoted to second chair so the Director could make an example of her.
And now, just to add to her troubles, she didn't even have catsup for her french fries. Well, she was going to make sure that something was done about that. She walked to the counter, and said in a very unkind voice, "Excuse me, but there isn't any catsup in the dispenser out there. I demand that you fill it."
Chen-Shan's right eye twitched a bit... He said with an eerie calm in his voice, "Demand...?" The young fast food worker started to chuckle like one who has lost his mind.
Noranov was not amused. She said, "You think this is funny? Well, I'm going to have to teach you a lesson!" She took a step back, and readied her trombone.
Chen-Shan suddenly stopped laughing, and started looking very angry. He jumped on top of the counter, wielding his mop, and shouted, "No playing musical instruments inside the store!" With that, he jumped down onto the floor and took a fighting stance.
Noranov smirked. Some fast food employee thought that he could beat her with a silly mop. Well, he would soon learn the true terror of Trombitsu. She took her fighting stance which, to everyone else in the restaurant who was watching the scene unfold in disbelief, looked like she was getting ready to play a marching piece on her instrument.
Commentary:
Spanner
Both combattants are in really bad moods. This is likely to be, literally and figuratively, the most dirty match we've seen yet. Chen-Shan Chin has the home court advantage here, as the battle is taking place in his restaurant. But Noranov has a much, much greater stake in this battle. She's just lost an important battle, something she's utterly unused to doing. Her pride won't let her be further humiliated by this fast-food jockey. It won't matter whether she underestimates Chen-Shin or not, because she would be fighting all-out against him even if he was completely unskilled. This, plus the fact that she's a somewhat stronger fighter (she's pitted herself equitably against Ranma regulars, while Chen-Shan found his match in Mikado) would indicate that she will be the victor.
Hitman 25
I've been in plenty of sparring tournament matches myself to know how important the state of mind is. Both of these guys are feeling upset after their losses in the tournament. But they're both feeling upset in different ways. Noranov is feeling depressed, worried, and unconfident about how the Director would react. Walking into a fight like this is like standing still and telling the other guy "come and hit me here". Unless she is Ryoga (who she is not), her depressed state will not help at all. Chen-Shan on the other hand, isn't doing that much better of a job keeping his head on. But if I had to go into a match or fight as depressed or angry, I'd much rather go in angry. That would at least give me a source of motivation. Therefore, this match will go to Chen.
Mercedes
While Chen-Shan may have the advantage of home turf, after seeing both of them fight, I would have to say that Noranov would be the victor of this fight. Not only does is she highly skilled with her weapon of choice, her knowledge of fighting styles allows her to adopt the appropriate defense for almost any offense. Also, unlike Chen-Shan, Noranov is more likely to keep her wits about her during the battle, while Chen-Shan will most likely lose his temper early on, thus losing control. Both have a distinct style at which they are experts, but Noranov's military style training is more likely to pull through than Chen-Shan's freestyle.
Starphoenix
Noranov's techniques negate speed and can directly affect the person. Given it will be harder for her to fight with the difference in speed, she could probably manage and make Chen-Shan Chin's ears bleed.
The Fight:
Chen-Shan rushed in, and swing his mop at his disobedient customer. Noranov brought her trombone up and blocked the strike, although it was a pretty close call. The regular customers in the restaurant were surprised that she could block at all, and since she could, they all knew it would be a much better fight than usual.
The two combattants started off relying on just their weaponry. They were both interested in ending the fight quickly to make an example of their enemy, and they wanted to do it without wasting a lot of their energy on fancy moves. The two of them closed in on one another, and Noranov was the first to attack. Chen-Shan was easily able to block the strike, and counter with a quick one of his own. The trombonist ducked, but he was fast enough to take off her marching uniform's hat. As he prepared to follow up, Noranov extended her instrument's slide right into his throat.
Chen-Shan staggered back a few steps, holding his throat as he coughed a bit. That musical instrument was a weapon in the hands of the right person, apparently. People watching had an even easier time accepting this, since both fighters were using very unorthodox styles.
Noranov said, "Well, I see you're rather skilled with that mop of yours. It's not enough to defeat me, though." She brought her instrument up to her lips, and prepared to move on to more powerful fare.
Chen-Shan seemed insulted by this, and said, "You think that's everything? Just wait..." He pulled out a bunch of frozen hamburger patties, and started throwing them at his opponent like shuriken. Noranov had faced attacks like this before, and by blowing into her instrument, she send out a blast of sound waves that deflected the projectiles, so that they barely missed her on either side.
With her opponent's attack defeated, she continued playing, but now it was a different tune. A very loud, harsh sound filled the air as Noranov started playing her Metal Scream attack. To the people watching the fight, the sound was simply annoying, but to Chen-Shan, the attacks target, the sound was very painful, and deafening. He growled, unable to do anything about the sound, and charged at his enemy once again. Swinging wildly, he tried to stop Noranov from playing, but she was quite expert at playing and jumping around at the same time, and he was unable. After a while, he attacked and left himself overextended, which the trombonist exploited by smacking him across the back of his head.
Chen-Shan stumbled, and hit the condiment counter head first before finally falling to the ground. Noranov smirked, and got her trombone ready to play again if he got to his feet. Meanwhile, the fast food martial artist was getting very angry indeed. He did not want to be made a fool of in his own store... If he lost the respect of his patrons, then they would stop coming, and if management heard about that, he could lose his job altogether. He had to put a stop to this right away.
Standing to his feet again, Chen-Shan wielded his mop. Noranov put her lips to the trombone's mouthpiece again, and started to play a different tune. This time, however, it was the Pedaltone Blaat. The low frequency sound waves that she played started building up, but Chen-Shan had other ideas. He dipped the end of his mop into a bucket (which no one watching remembered being there a moment ago) and swung his weapon across the ground while shouting, "Mop Scum Tsunami!"
Noranov wasn't expecting a large tidal wave of dirty water to come out of nowhere like that, but she was a well disciplined martial artist. As the wave closed in, the sound waves shot out in a blast, which hit the wave and split it in two. The two parts of it crashed down on either side of her, but she was unscathed by the powerful water attack, unlike several of the watching patrons in the back of the establishment. As the wave subsided, however, the water coated the entire tile floor of the restaurant. Chen-Shan was furious that his attack didn't work, but he didn't let it stop him from going onto the next phase of his attack.
He charged at his enemy and started using his regular fare of mop attacks. This time, however, as Noranov tried to block, she found that the floor she was standing on was very slippery, and she started to lose her footing. Chen-Shan, on the other hand, was wearing his slip resistant shoes, and he could tread safely. While she struggled to regain her balance, she was wide open, and the fast food martial artist attacked mercilessly. He attacked speedily, getting in several hits while Noranov could do little more than slip and slide all over the floor. Chen-Shan got one good strike in through her guard and managed to get her right under the jaw, sending her down onto her back.
The fast food martial artist chuckled, and started walking slowly toward the prone Noranov. He said, "You've caused a lot of damage inside of this store. Now, I will give you your bill." He produced a piece of paper from his pocket, and quickly scribbled down a list, and a price. As he drew near to his adversary, and prepared his final attack, she planted her hand on the tile floor, and sprung up onto one of the restaurant's tables.
Chen-Shan frowned again. He put the bill back in his pocket for later use, and considered his situation. Destroying the tables and making a big mess out of the whole restaurant was something he definately wanted to avoid. The owners didn't stop by very often, but if they saw a big disaster, it would cost him his job. Nevertheless, he jumped up onto another table, where the footing was no longer slippery to his advantage, and prepared to finish things. He could always fix the damage himself after the fact.
Noranov smiled. She raised her instrument again, and this time started playing the Glissando Vertigo. Chen-Shan, not wanting to be victim to another musical attack, quickly started leaping over the tables to try and reach his opponent before he felt the attack's effects. Unfortunately for him, Noranov was counting on that. The melody completely threw off his equilibrium, and in his haste, he fell to the ground with a very rough landing.
The trombonist quickly switched melodies to her Lullaby as she rushed over to where Chen-Shan has fallen. The fast food fighter found it very difficult to get to his feet, not only with the injuries he'd sustained, but also the fact that he was suddenly feeling very tired. He tried to bring his mop up to fight with when Noranov got close, but his movements were too sluggish. She stopped playing, and shouted, "Big Brass Bash!" Before slamming him very solidly in the side of his head. He growled, and then fell onto the floor once again, out cold.
The few customers who remained to watch the battle stood in awe of Noranov, who was able to hand defeat to this restaurant tyrant. Some of them even clapped for her, and she took a performer's bow. After walking over to where her hat was laying, she picked it up, and left, filled with a new sense of confidence.
The Results:
Noranov: 6
Chen-Shan Chin: 2
This match wasn't as close as I hoped it would be, but I guess things rarely end up as I predict that they will ^_^ Out of all the losers bracket fights, this one got the least votes... One person told me that they didn't usually vote unless they had a good comment to leave. If you are of like mind, I would encourage you to vote wether you have comments or not. It's not easy to be inspired to say something meaningful all the time, and I would like your votes ^_^