Thunder King

Mali walked into the room but said nothing. Etain, she'd never met before. She'd heard a few things about her, but nothing concrete. It was obvious it was her, though. No one else would be dressed like that. Kat was harder to place, but didn't take long. They'd known many of the same people, just not each other. Mali was starting to feel more herself, now, better, actually. She wasn't covered completely up, like usual. Instead, she wore a tank top that displayed her muscular shoulders and arms, and her hair, having been shoulder length before, was now cut shorter, styled in an almost pixie-like cut. She had cut it a week prior, as part of her reaffirmation of her focus on self improvement and heroism. Etain handled the weapon with practiced ease, while Kat was a little less secure. Not completely useless, naturally. It was obvious that Kat had a little practice in combat, even if it wasn't with weapons. She doubted it would take long to notice her, but she did not want to interrupt their spar. She might be interested in sparring too, but for the moment, she watched them with interest.

Crimson Tiger moved her head back, just in time to avoid getting hit by the headbutt. She backed off and studied him for a moment, before throwing a feint. He fell for it, his body moving to dodge the hit. As her hand moved by his head, she turned and kicked him in the stomach as hard as she could. She watched as the light went out and he doubled over. He was doubtlessly out. She looked over the audience, making sure none of them stepped up. If Knuckles was the strongest they had, then it was pretty clear none of them would be able to compete with her. Still, a lucky shot could prove bad, so she stood and sized the crowd up, making sure none of them made a move. She wondered where Tsunami and Blodeuwedd were, and what they were up to.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3946707/ Damage shifted for four on an attack to Knuckles. Rolled a 23. That makes the DC a 25

25 on an acrobatics check with skill mastery. Will find out what that does before I choose how to attack

"Oh I hear you. I'm in the gym, well, pretty much every day. If you come into the gym, I'll give you a few pointers and let you go at the bag. Boxing, I know boxing. I mean, I'm no boxer, but I can teach you how to throw a punch, you know? It's not hard. Strong guy like you should pick it up in no time. Figure any little bit helps. And missing out on fifteen, twenty minutes of my daily training won't hurt me twice or three times a week. Besides, I wouldn't need to babysit you. Just give you a few pointers, watch you out of the corner of my eye, and resume helping. I mean, I can imagine you'd rather Cerys teach you this stuff, but I don't know how much about hand-to-hand Cerys knows, you know? She's awesome with that sword, but you don't carry one of those."

"Honestly? Any hard style would do fine. Boxing would be good, as would karate. Muay thai, which is what I use, would kind of be a waste on you, no offense. You don't look to be all that flexible or agile. I'd actually concentrate on boxing. It's simple, yeah, but it can teach you a lot about fighting and dodging. It's a solid style that's practically built for a guy like you. But like I said, virtually any hard style would do. You want something that can teach you a more practical way to apply the force of your strikes. Karate, boxing, both valid choices. With your power set, you don't need to be all that dodgy, but a little more dodgy wouldn't be a bad idea. I'd honestly recommend boxing, though. It's simple, straightforward, relatively easy to pick up, and ideally suited for your powers."

"Not really strict, per se. Just make sure I get plenty of vitamins and minerals, you know? I can still eat whatever I want, I just have to be careful about it. I probably could teach you a lot, actually. You look strong, but I'm not sure how much you know about fighting, and how much you just throw punches without knowing what kind. Not saying you don't know how to fight, but a lot of the students here haven't gotten much formal training, you know? I don't even know what bands I listen to, so I doubt I could recommend any."

"Hmm, well...I like rock, actually. A little bit of pop, too. Depends entirely on what I'm doing. If I'm working out, it's hard rock. If I'm just listening to music, pop. I do like some older stuff, but not a lot. I know I eat a lot, but I kinda have to. I eat a lot of protein, iron, calcium, that sort of stuff. Builds muscle and bones, which I need for what I do, you know? I know you were teasing, it's okay. I don't know Millia, or Kat, really. I don't know much about voudon, either. Not to judge anyone, of course, just don't know anything about it. Opera would bore me to tears unless there was fighting in it."

"We have enough here, I think, where we can begin experimenting on it. And, hopefully, learn to synthesize it. I'm curious, though, how the Curator got a hold of it. I don't know if the Curator could have invented it, do you? Did he acquire the knowledge from his creators? If that's true, then it's possible that information on it's creation is present in these systems. At least a clue on how it's created..Any information would put us ahead of where we are now on it." Voltage was basically trembling with excitement. This was amazing. He was right there, on the cusp of what may end up being one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 21st century, and he was here, with two of the greatest minds of his time. This would be amazing.

"I'm a Buddhist, Subito. I was taught that other people don't believe what I believe, but that good people are good people all the same. Buddhism is a life philosophy and belief system. I don't...I don't like hurting people, but I do like fighting. Does that make sense? It's like, if I could fight people for fun, and nobody got anything worse than a couple of bruises, I'd be happy with that. Criminals, though, I injure to stop. I hurt to wound, to stop them from doing what they're doing. Never any more than I have to, you know? Never any more harm than it takes to stop them. Once they're down, that's it, it's over. It's a necessary evil, to hurt someone to stop them from hurting others."

She nodded. "I chose the chakram because they're very versatile. I don't need to be able to kill, I need to be able to drop foes. I can sneak, I'm agile. I hit really hard and I can feint well. I really just need to get more tactical knowledge, and learn how to read my environment better, you know? I see some people and they can just read the whole area, get an idea for tactics instantly. I've got to learn how to do that. Just punching people isn't going to keep me alive out there forever. I need to learn to adapt. I appreciate the offer. I mostly need to learn to read an area better. I think that's what you can help me with."

"I've learned a lot on my feet, but I'm still learning. I've picked up on some techniques others do, and I've started carrying these chakram and learning how to throw those. I've started trying to train in other areas. Actually I think you would help me a lot. You seem to be good with training in other ways. Physically I'm fine, it's other areas I need work. If you'd be willing to help, i can probably teach you some more takedowns and such."

"Well, self improvement is always a noble goal. I can certainly appreciate that. I'm trying to learn to be a better hero, too. Focus more, fight the battles I need to fight, that sort of thing. I...enjoy fighting more than is good. Not to a lethal extent, or even severe injury. My faith teaches that murder is never forgivable. But there's something about the thrill of competition that I have to make myself resist. I meditate to refocus and realign myself. So I don't go out and just beat people up. I've learned a lot though." She decided that if he was confessing, she might as well, too.

Going to sneak, taking 10 via Skill Mastery for a 22. Gonna sneak up to try to spy on the voices. Got a 16 for perception in case I need it

"Actually, I think I have a good idea about you." She said with a smile. There really wasn't anything she needed to know that she didn't already know. He wasn't exactly hard to understand or difficult to know. He was exuberant, energetic and friendly. Pretty much all that she needed to know, was obvious and easy to understand. She could tell that he wanted to ask Cerys out, which was fine with her. Cerys was a cool person, and Subito seemed like the kind of guy that could do good by her. Friendly, nice guys were never a bad thing, at least not to Mali. "Well, there is one thing. Why did you want to try to meditate?"

"I've studied other things, other styles. I've picked up a few things here and there. I want to be a Muay Thai hero, like my great grandfather, but I know that I don't want to have too narrow a focus. So I try my best to keep things mixed up, different. It works out for me, mostly. I've especially studied takedowns in other styles, as well as watched some SEAL training videos. Anything that makes me better at what I do is a good thing. Even if that means I'm not a pure Muay Thai fighter."

"I get you. We're all a little crazy for doing what we do." She said with a shrug. His strange statements garnered no reaction from her. After all, she was on a team with an alien, a ghost and a living computer program. Strange was part of her daily bread and butter nowadays. Took a lot to faze her, and nothing he could say would. Especially considering all the stuff that went down around the 15th. That stuff desensitized her to almost everything. "Life's like that, though. Bold reaction is often better than paralysis in indecision.Kiss the girl or boy, ask someone out, do something bold. Fortune favors the bold, after all."

"Madness is relative, I mean. Take me for example. Am I a little crazy for being a hero? Probably. But I'm careful, crafty. I sneak, I assess. Then I strike. I don't rush in stupidly. If I had, I wouldn't be alive right now talking. Can't be dumb about it. Have to be careful, have to be crafty. It's the dumb ones that end up dead." She said, matter-of-factly. It was true. She hadn't just trained to fight, but had also trained to sneak and size up her opposition. Have to play it safe, be careful. Can't charge in blindly. That's how you get killed.

She chuckled. "Gun, super drug, magic...all the same, really. Give someone a shortcut to power and watch them think they can take on the world. Then they get their heads knocked together and end up losing more than they thought they would. Seen it a dozen times, too. Common sense isn't common, unfortunately. But if those people want to keep taking shortcuts, I'll keep knocking them out with good old fashioned hard work, every time."

Mali sat down on her bed and sighed. She'd just started truly understanding Sharl's death, and now this? Hope? She shook her head. Apparently, there was a chance that Sharl could be brought back, that a backup could be made and brought in. She realized that Corbin, the guy she'd spoken to earlier in the day, would probably want to know about it. She picked up her phone and dialed the number he gave her. "Corbin? This is Mali. This is going to sound weird, I know, but it seems that Sharl...might not be dead. I know it sounds weird, but apparently he has a backup. His guardian might be able to use some technology to bring him back. There's no guarantee, but...yeah. That could happen. I knew you'd like to know..."

"Well, yeah, Aikido's not the kind of style most criminals would bother with. Heck, I've rarely fought anyone better trained than an amateur boxer. You'd think if you were planning on risking the ire of a super hero, you'd be better prepared than a solid right hook, but it happens time and time again. I mean, there's desperate, and then there's downright stupid. But, I guess if the criminal element of this city were all that bright, most of them would have moved out of town a long time ago."

Mali winced visibly at the sound of that. "Capoeira...boot knives. Have to give someone like that a wide berth before coming up with a strategy. Have to shut down a capoeirista's momentum down hard or they can do serious damage. Luckily, I have ways of dealing with them, but I'm glad I've yet to have to. That's one of those things you're pretty sure you can do, but aren't certain you want to try. There are a few fighting styles I hope I never run into, though. Aikido is at the top of that list. An Aikidoka could shut me down hard if I'm not extremely careful."

"I'm actually grateful whenever I see someone holding a gun like that. It means they have no idea what they're doing with it, and I can take them down without much risk to myself or others." She said with a hint of sardonic wit. "They don't mess martial arts up nearly as bad as they do weapon handling, though. I mean, there are only so many ways to mess up throwing a punch. Still, I see them mishandling melee weapons constantly. I trained in a few weapons, and it's always hilarious to see someone in a movie swing a sword like a baseball bat, or otherwise handle a weapon incorrectly."

Normally, fighting didn't bother her. Heck, she rather enjoyed it herself. But, an underground fight league could definitely mean trouble. Gangs, the mafia, drug dealers, all sorts of bad people with bad intentions putting money down on fights. Could lead to even worse problems. She knew to stay well out of the way of the view of anyone else entering the building. Bad form to show her face when there were so many people who wouldn't want her there. She also had no doubts about the idea that some of them would be armed, and that some of those who were armed would have guns. Last thing she wanted to be was a target for people who didn't want a super hero around. Still, she couldn't do any investigating if she stared at the building from the outside all night, so she approached, carefully, and from the shadows.

She laughed. "I can't -stand- romantic comedies. Two people too stupid to tell each other the truth for two hours of forced drama. I like even fake looking martial arts movies...though mostly because it's fun to make fun of bad technique and silly special effects. I find it entertaining when they're that stupid, you know?" She said with a smile. "John Woo makes some good movies, even though they're also a bit silly."