Proving Ground [ Open To All ]

[standaloneshell.livejournal.com]

The sensoriums made for a convenient training ground for all the right reasons, but most of all because they allowed Motoko to cheat. It hardly seemed fair for the world around to be controlled by whatever constituted the strongest mind, or the most established, but on these proving grounds, as ever, fairness was not part of the equation.

The world was a sleepy summer day, warm with cicada song and dry, ragged grass, knee-high in places, scorched to the earth in others. An abandoned, decrepit skeleton of a Soviet military base dominated the landscape, dotted here and there with holes like dark hollow eyes among the crumbling walls and roofless, exposed innards. Once, this place had been alive, and now it was as bleached as bones in the grass, as nature retook what man had conquered.

Here and there the rusted-out remains of tanks slumped where they had been abandoned. Red paint, incongruously fresh, marked a series of them as targets at the far end of a carefully 'makeshift' firing range, though most sat aimlessly, unmarked and unattended. The place nearest the door was dominated by one such tank, perhaps in slightly better repair than the others, and perched upon it was the reason for all the fuss and trials. Major Kusanagi folded her arms and leaned her back against the treads, casting a sidelong look at what was left of Section Nine.

It was going to be a long day.

[ OOC: Wait for Subthreads, please. OKAY, GO GO GO GO! ]

Comments

[standaloneshell.livejournal.com]

It was the shape of the legs that gave him such a burst in his leap. The same design had given A.R.M. suits their vertical mobility despite the ungainly design.

Motoko didn't bother trying to catch it, deftly turning the strike aside and ducking under to deliver a punishing uppercut with all her shoulder behind him. For a similar opponent in the field she'd have gone high and used her weight to bring meaning to the impact, but she didn't know the strength of Sangheili bones and actually cared if this one died before she'd had proper use of him.

[shroudedintent]

Hmm, not bad. The Sangheili rolled with the blow, lessening the force and impact it imparted. His combat harness taking the remainder of the force.

Not one to give an opponent time, 'Vadum spun as he rolled to his feet, a quick step forward bringing him back into range of where she had been. At the same moment he struck forth once more, striking first high with a quick jab before he would sweep his other arm through with a powerful blow aimed lower.

:3

[standaloneshell.livejournal.com]

Motoko again ducked the high blow, but this time crouched, blocking the low sweep with knees braced to catch the impact. The sound was incredible and she slid on the loose soil with an expression that might have gone with an impressed grunt of pain in someone who couldn't turn off their pain receptors.

He was fast.

So was she, reaching for the arm even as the strike's impact lessened, dropped deep into gunfight mode in a way that painted glowing edges around every movement in the world in slow motion as her mind raced ahead at computer speeds. IT was taxing, the world pressing in on her, every detail, every speck, everything everything everything at it's brightest, but it gave her an accuracy in speed that she would not have otherwise been able to achieve with consistency. Motoko seized his arm and let her weight tell, pressing into him to bring the shoulder down, and extending one arm to distend his head at the neck, holding it there with a velocity and force that said quite clearly that she could have killed him.

[shroudedintent]

There was far more to this major than met the eye, that he could tell for sure, especially she blocked his second blow. There was a weight to her that far exceeded that of any normal human.

This was even further confirmed as she seized his arm, her weight drawing him down. He would no go down without a fight however, reacting even as she pulled, leaning down of his own accord into, swiveling his torso at the same moment to strike with his other arm even as the Major struck upwards. That final strike aimed to wrap his powerful hand around the Major's neck even as his head was forced up and neck to distend. A stalemate of sorts should he hit, one if it had been on the field of battle may have ended with both down, if the Major's neck was in anyway vulnerable.