Take Me to your Leader (R | NDE | Yoko v Pavel)

[Deleted]

Thread Title: Take Me to your Leader.
Participants: Yoko Kusanagi and Pavel Fedoseev
World: Hueco Mundo
Death Setting: Non Death Enabled
Rating: R
Location: A generic office building in downtown Karakura.
Special Conditions: None.
Circumstances: Some Xcution grunts attempt to mug a UE employee. Yoko intervenes, finds out they work for Pavel, and goes off to take him down.

[Deleted]

You’d think people would’ve learned not to be stupid in front of large numbers of witnesses by now, but it seemed that there were still some in Karakura Town who hadn’t learned that lesson. The spiritual world was decently well under control with all the heroes running around, but petty street crime still happened from time to time. Lately, the crime of choice had been simple mugging. It was usually just the good old fashioned tactic of pointing a gun at someone and demanding their money. These criminals weren’t very bright, and this particular incident was no exception. A pair of thugs, armed only with pistols, had targeted an accountant leaving Uzaki Enterprises main office. They learned to regret that choice.

Music

Having noticed the disturbance, Uzaki Enterprises Chief of Security, Yoko Kusanagi, calmly walked out the front doors of the building. She instantly identified the weapons in use as UE1 handguns. She’d have to make sure Kazura was more careful about who he sold to in the future. Honestly, it was a bizarre picture. Two built men in suits, with shaved heads, were pointing guns at a businessman. A little girl, barely over five feet and a hundred pounds, blonde hair in a ponytail, was staring at them defiantly. [smear:00ffff]”Put down the guns, and I promise not to hurt you too much.”[/smear:0000ff:1] Despite the eerie calm in her voice, and the charcoal-colored Uzaki Enterprises security uniform, the thugs did nothing but laugh at Yoko’s request to disarm voluntarily.

[smear:00ffff]”I tried to give you a chance too… what a shame.”[/smear:0000ff:1] These two thugs were ordinary humans, in terms of power at least. Faster than either thug could realize what had happened, one was unconscious on the ground, with multiple broken ribs and a fractured collarbone. The other had his own gun pointed at his head. [smear:00ffff]”Tell me who you work for, and you just get handcuffed to that light pole. Last chance.”[/smear:0000ff] It took the mugger a minute to process what had happened. For a bit, he was just standing there slack-jawed, but eventually he managed to spit out a name. ”Pavel.” That wasn’t enough to go on, and a slight frown from Yoko was enough to make the criminal realize that. ”He’s a big-shot in Xcution. You can find him in suite 203 at the office building where 3rd street dead-ends."

True to her word, Yoko handcuffed this guy to the light pole outside of the front door. She crushed the ends of both guns they had. Without those, they weren’t a threat to anyway. It seemed that the victim had already run off, and the fullbringer had told the receptionist to call the cops before she stepped outside. Her work here was done, but there was still that one loose end to tie up. Pavel. The end of 3rd street was only a few blocks away. Yoko casually walked over to the location described by one of the thugs. She noted a distinct lack of windows, and only a single door on the outside. Not her favorite layout, but at least she didn’t have many details to remember. The fullbringer popped inside, made her way upstairs to suite 203, and kicked the door down without bothering to try anything more conventional.

[smear:00ffff]”Come out with your hands up and this’ll go nice and easy Pavel.”[/smear:0000ff:1]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats and Skills}
Strength - [400(800)] Points

Speed - [200(300)] Points

Spiritual Pressure - [350(175)] Points

Reiatsu Strength - [100(50)] Points

Light Aura - [40] Points

Dark Aura - [60] Points

Instinct - [165] Points

Senses [185] Points

Energy sensory - [0] Points

Healing Expertise - [0] Points


Total SP: [1400]

• [Martial Art: Kunlun] {3}
  
  
• [Weapon: Sword {3}
  
  
• [Pain Tolerance] {2}
  
  
• [Battle Analysis] {2}
  
  
• [Calm Mind] {2}
  
  
• [Anti-Stealth] {3}
  
  
• [Weapon:Guns] {1}
  

[Pavel Fedoseev]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Even Though Pavel isnt Communist}

As soon as the door collapsed under the force of the kick, there was almost nothing left of the door to be recognized. But the sound of music continued to play outisde of the office. The sound of a strong choir and confident soldiers ready to die for their motherland filled the ears of the intruder. That was when she would see what this office looked like, it was a temporary office with a simple bookshelf full of textbooks explaining the laws of Japan and other history books that mattered little to most temporary workers. At the far end of the office, opposite of the now missing door was a medium sized oak desk with a clock and lamp, at the center of this desk was a pile of paperwork and behind this desk was a man dressed in a simple olive military uniform. It was an olive long sleeved buttoned jacket with two breast pockets on both ends. Around his waist was a belt with a crimson star, the rest of the uniform was starndard to most military uniforms.

The man wore light blue contacts and was sure to dye his hair so that it was light brown. Which was tucked underneath the military cap he wore "I was not informed that we will have sudden guests." the man spoke. When he spoke, his voice was soothing and was deep yet commanding. The way he spoke, it would be clear to Yoko that this man was off a Russian Descent. Sitting behind the desk, he could not help but stare at the young woman standing before him. She had the ability to devistate the door, despite her size and stature. "I'll amuse you for a second then. The fact that you knew where this temp office was would mean that you had met with some of the underlings that I supervise every so often. Is that correct?" regardless of her answer he would continue.

"And the fact that you are standing here, and ordering me to come out 'with my hands out and up and this'll go nice and easy' you have a vague idea as to who I am. Which is good. I do not want my public name getting me in trouble. It was a hassle getting all those files deleted. But I digress." the sound of the clock ticking echoed inside the building, the view from the office was pretty, if not nothing special. Yet this office was meant to house people for a few days if not a few weeks. And that was when Yoko would feel it, Pavel was not a good guy. He was never a good guy, his darkness aura was nearly full. The room was soon filled with an aura that would attempt to crush her with its presense alone.

"So how about you take a seat, girly. And we can have a chat about this." He gestured at a comfortable office chair that was posistioned across Pavel, exactly 5 feet away, the way that it was placed it would at least place her at eye level with the Major. He also removed a syringe from his pocket and placed it at the table. "Or we can settle this the wrong way and destroy this nice building along with killing everyone in it. All because you could not set ascide your pride and start a fight with me. These people have little meaning to me. All of them arn't even affiliated with us. So their deaths have no negative effects."

She had a choice, sit down and have a discussion about it or fight and risk destroying the building. Pavel's hand was still on the syringe, so any attampts at grabbing for it would be met with retaliation. "So what do you say... You can either take my offer and take a seat. Or you can charge and fight. But as far as I know. You are assaulting an official from the Xcution: Military Branch and this will brand you a threat to our organization. Which I will have no choice but to put an all out investigation on you and who you represent. Then have a discssion with your... Commanding officer." the man's eyes stared deep into Yoko's. What would she do in the face of this offer?

SPOILER: Click to show

{stats and skills}

Strength - [400 x 2.5 = 1,000] Points

Speed - [200 x 2.5 = 500] Points

Spiritual Pressure - [300] Points

Reiatsu Strength - [100/ 1/3 = 33] Points

Light Aura - [10] Points

Dark Aura - [90] Points

Instinct - 150] Points

Senses - [150] Points

Energy sensory - [0] Points

Healing Expertise - [100/1/3 = 33] Points


Total SP: [1,400] Points

[Disguise] {3}

[Acting] {3}

[Weapons: Swords] {3}

[Strength of Will] {3}

[Martial Arts: Systema] {3}

[Deleted]

Music

There was a good deal for Yoko to take in as she studied the room that she had forced her way into. The Soviet National Anthem played from a set of speakers within the room, and the clothes that Pavel wore matched the tune quite well. Was this guy simply nuts, or was Xcution a cover for some Soviet resurgence? Considering all that Yoko had seen in the last few years, either was equally possible. She’d fought a damn yellow lantern, so she wasn’t ready to rule out either alternative just yet. Regardless of which was the truth, it was already clear that this man was likely dangerous. Sane or not, she had to be careful with him.

As he spoke, Yoko listened closely. His words were chosen carefully, but they revealed a great deal. From the beginning, it was clear that he thought he was in a position of power. Yoko had nearly obliterated his door, but he wasn’t fazed in the least. Pavel was still calm and collected. More concerning, the man had claimed that this “amusement” would only last a second. This was viewed as no more of an interruption to his day than a boyscout showing up to sell him some popcorn. Years ago, that alone would’ve pissed off Yoko to the point that she would’ve leapt at Pavel right then and there, but she wasn’t that person anymore. Instead, Yoko saw it as a potential weakness to be exploited. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

The security officer left Pavel’s question unanswered. She saw no benefit in giving up information freely. Instead, she let him keep talking, since it seemed he enjoyed hearing the sound of his own voice quite a bit. As Pavel continued his monologue, Yoko felt his aura growing in intensity, as if it were trying to crush her. Their difference in strength was not so great that it had an effect on her physically. That said nothing of the mental aspect though. From his aura alone, even a child could tell that this man was almost completely evil. He was probably the kind of man who could laugh while kicking a puppy. Combine that with possible insanity, and it was more and more clear that he needed to go down.

"So how about you take a seat, girly. And we can have a chat about this." Those words dug into Yoko far more than anything else. It was beyond simple disrespect. He was treating Yoko like a child, as if she was just some little girl who had gotten lost on the way home from a playground. Worse still, he’d called her out on being a woman, which really pissed her off. Despite that, her exterior remained placid. The most that Pavel got out of her was a quick exhale out of her nose. It was a sign of disproval, but it was so slight that he was unlikely to have even noticed it in the midst of his “I’m a bad guy” speech. This time though, Yoko did have a brief response. [smear:00ffff]”I’ll pass on the obvious trap.”[/smear:0000ff]

A retort followed quickly afterwards. The Xcution operative thought he could bait Yoko into doing as he wished by suggesting she was fueled by pride. The only problem with that was that the woman wasn’t here because of a sense of pride. She was here because, as Pavel had just proven beyond any doubt, he was a high-ranking figure in an organization full of threats to society. Honestly, were she younger, Pavel would’ve been her ideal choice to fill the supervillain role that she was always trying to shoehorn people into. There was nothing unclear about this guy though. This man had threatened to kill everyone in the building. There was no reasoning with someone like that. Despite his blunt threat, and despite Yoko’s clear disregard for Pavel’s wish for a chat, the man kept talking.

Frankly, this was not wise. Pavel continued his attempts at intimidation. His presence was daunting, but he made an error in his threats. Thought it was only implied, he threatened all of Uzaki Enterprises, including Kazura himself. No matter how slight, there had been a chance that this was going to end peacefully. Threatening Kazura had removed that chance. The acts of his henchmen had been nothing more than a minor nuisance, but Pavel was in a completely different league. A man like him, left unchecked, was probably capable of destroying Uzaki Enterprises singlehandedly. Yoko needed to figure out how to deal with him, and she needed to do it fast. She had the feeling that Pavel wasn’t going to wait around for long.

She assessed the circumstances, and what she knew. Based on the size of the building, which wasn’t that large, there were probably no more than 30 or 40 occupants. Size could be misleading though. She had only picked up eight unique scents, including Pavel’s, on her way up to his office. As good as her nose was, it was a safe bet that this building was far under capacity. It was only two stories, and quite compact. Assuming lazy occupants and a full building, a complete evacuation would take two or three minutes. Four on a bad day. It was probably too slow, but if she was able to get the place evacuated, it would mean she had a chance at getting to fight Pavel without fear of casualties. If, however, Yoko’s nose was right, like it tended to be, seven bystanders could probably get out in a minute tops. The only alternative she could see was trying to hit Pavel hard enough that went skyward without causing damage to anyone nearby. If he was even half as strong as his attitude implied, that had a slim chance of success. For now, she was on the defensive.

There was also the syringe to consider. Yoko hadn’t really attempted to assess Pavel’s fighting abilities, beyond the fact that he seemed confident enough in his strength. A moment passed as she studied every detail about him, and went back through what he had said. If he had no issue with the building being destroyed around him that implied either a powerful defense that could withstand tons of cement hitting it, or it meant that he was physically strong enough to shrug off that level of damage. His threat to destroy the building also meant he had enough firepower to wipe out the building. Both of those together lead Yoko to conclude he was more likely to be a physical combatant. Mage-types seemed to focus too little on defense to be so nonchalant about having a building fall on them.

Then there was the syringe itself. There were three possibilities. Perhaps it was some form of poison, and he was planning to inject Yoko with it. That one was a non-issue, as any normal metal would just break harmlessly against her skin, and her release provided an additional layer of defense. Next was the possibility that it was a super-soldier serum. Given the stuff Kazura whips up, it wouldn’t be too hard to believe that someone had made something like Venom or Extremis-enhanced Centipede Serum. That would wear off eventually, no matter how strong it made him. Yoko could win against something like that. Then there was the option that the Chief of Security really didn’t want to be the case. It could be a fullbring. If it was a type of power like her own, there was no way to know what it would do, or what its limits were. No matter which of these was the case, that syringe was bad news.


Yoko had thought enough though. It was time for action. With a slight pulse of her will, she initiated her plan. Per fire code, every independent office had a fire alarm in it. The one on the wall seemed to pull itself. It was a basic manipulation of the alarm’s soul. Instantly, it blared to life. Both of them had sharp enough ears for the alarm to be annoying, but it served its purpose. The people were evacuating. She just needed to buy enough time for them to all make it out safely before things got ugly. That being said, it was always worth trying to get the fight to move. [smear:00ffff]”It seems to have gotten a bit noisy in here. If you’re going to do the whole resisting arrest thing, would you care to do it somewhere quieter?”[/smear:0000ff:1] Despite all the threats, the evil aura in the air, and the assumed power that Pavel had, Yoko still didn’t seem that worried. She was ready for whatever Pavel had, but she was still stalling for time. Letting him take the offensive just meant more time for bystanders to get clear.

[Pavel Fedoseev]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Play Me}

"How troublesome." Pavel muttered to himself as the shrill sound of the fire alarm pierced through his ears. This would further prove to be an annoyance as the sound of doors and a crowed murmuring filled the halls. The workers that had spent their time in the temporary office was now leaving the building in an orderly yet confused manner. Pavel's eyes met Yoko as she began to speak [smear:00ffff]”It seems to have gotten a bit noisy in here. If you’re going to do the whole resisting arrest thing, would you care to do it somewhere quieter?”[/smear:0000ff:1] a small smile crept onto his face as Pavel twirled the syringe in his hand for a few seconds before chuckling. "You think you're tough with that kind of attitude. Resisting Arrest? My, it is you who will seem like you are aggressor. I am merely defending myself at this point."

Pavel placed the syringe onto his vein and stared Yoko in the eyes, his callous attitude made sure that his eyes seemed as dead as ever. As if this was a routine thing to do. The syringe entered his vein and the blackened liquid entered his body. This was a fairly quick process, as soon afterwards the syringe was empty. "Well. It is time to get this over with. We can always have the information beaten out of you. We are the military after all. The Government will provide us what we need. As we have to them." that was when the change would become apparent. In front of Yoko's eyes, Pavel's body would become engulfed in a smooth black material. This appeared like hardened muscles, covering every part of his body. It was spiked too, around the arms and legs they spiked outwards. Around the face there was no indication of where the eyes, mouth or any facial feature. Yet Pavel could see outside of the entire thing clearly.

The man's fingers became longed blades, they scraped against each other as Pavel immediately placed his foot at the bottom of the desk, his eyes stared at the woman as Pavel pressed all of his strength towards the table. This would send the table launched towards Yoko. As this happened, Pavel also placed strength onto his legs as he stood up. With his strength, he lunged towards the woman. If she was able to dodge the chair or strike through it, Yoko would have to deal with a different threat. The claws were aimed directly towards her body, where they would strike would be random. But the general area he was going for was the stomach area. If this would hit, he would tear out her lower intestines. Pavel was a brutal fighter, he did not have time nor the effort to waste dilly dallying.

"Are you prepared to meet what happens to disobedient runts who decide to try and bite a bigger dog?" Pavel growled. This fight had only started and it was already getting intense.

Remaining Reiatsu 2,600/3,000

Release:1/10
Post till Exaustion: 1/6

[Deleted]

Pavel didn’t seem to care much for the suggestion of moving somewhere quieter, but he did let Yoko’s ploy succeed a bit. He threw out some backtalk before anything else. Such a choice played right into the woman’s hands. Every word he said bought another second for the civilians to evacuate. Though it may not have seemed it from the encounter thus far, Yoko was actually being polite. She did listen to what the Xcution Major said, and she was kind enough not to laugh despite finding it absurdly hilarious. Pavel led a bunch of thugs around, threatened to kill innocent civilians, and had no qualms with either of those. Yet even in the presence of that much obvious evil, Pavel tried to play the victim. It was the kind of stuff that was too hilarious to make up, at least in Yoko’s mind.

Less amusing was the effect of the syringe. It brought about a transformation in Pavel. From what she could tell, it looked like the man had used a combination of the Venom symbiote and wolverine’s abilities. There was no way that it was going to be an easy power to deal with. Assuming that the powers matched the appearance, there was probably a good deal of physical power and speed under Pavel’s control. It didn’t look very …magicky though. Ruling out giant lasers was probably a safe bet for this fight. Still, the weird combination of powers meant this was probably a Fullbring, not just a drug. Great, just great. That was exactly what Yoko needed in her life. Another homicidal Fullbringer.

Music – Ether Saga Online OST – Kunlun

It was at that moment that Yoko remembered back to a simpler time in her life. Her training in the Kunlun Mountains. It was there that she had trained with the monks. They taught her many things, but the martial art named for the mountain range was the one that stuck with her the most. One of the lessons they had always emphasized was the importance of balance and bodily awareness. A master of Kunlun always knew where every last hair on their body was. This knowledge was central to Kunlun. The martial art featured acrobatic moves and careful uses of footwork. Without bodily awareness and good balance, the stance changes and finer movements of Kunlun were impossible.

Balance was drilled into her through a rigorous series of drills. Of all the drills, the favorite of most monks was to make Yoko hold a given pose, usually with only one leg on the ground, and then see how many different things they could stack on her before she fell over. Sometimes they just tried to throw lots of weight on one side, and other times they did silly things. Once, towards the end of Yoko’s training, they dressed her up like a Christmas tree. Monks or not, they still knew how to have a good bit of fun. Still, that training had taught her the importance of staying balanced at all times.

To truly prove the point to her, the monks engaged in “sparring games.” These were like normal sparring matches, but with special rules. The balance version of the sparring game had three rules. First, Yoko could not use her hands. Second, her opponent had to use a boxing stance and only punches. Lastly, Yoko scored points by knocking over her opponent, while her opponent scored points by hitting Yoko. These rules forced Yoko to work on her footwork until it was exquisite. By the end of her training, a good round of this sparring game had Yoko barely move from where she started, and her opponent was rarely standing. She had learned to use their aggression against them, much like practitioners of Aikido.

That sparring game had also forced her bodily awareness to improve drastically. Her opponent didn’t have to hit her hard to score a point. He only needed contact. Yoko had to be aware of every part of her body at once. Not even a single finger could get touched without the monk getting a point. Luckily, the monks were honorable, and would only claim a hit if they actually landed one. Yoko was able to get away with hairline dodges without losing a point, and she became quite skilled in them. Using the minimum amount of movement required was a good way to conserve energy. Outside of that sparring game, Yoko also realized it brought about good opportunities to counterattack, but that’s a story for another time.

Change Music – Koori Sejin

Back in the present, Pavel had sent some furniture flying at the Chief of Security. It was an obvious distraction. Even with the fire alarm going off around them, Yoko was still able to hear Pavel moving. No piece of furniture in the room was any real threat to her anyways. The Kunlun Master stepped back with her right leg. Her left arm came diagonally across her chest before speeding downwards in a block. That forearm tore straight through the desk that was about to hit her. No matter how much strength had sent it flying, a mere piece of wood furniture could not survive being struck by 800 strength. It split in half fairly cleanly. Each part flew into the wall on either side of Yoko.

Blocking had put Yoko right into a firm Kunlun stance. She was light on her feet, with her front arm down low and her right arm raised across her collarbone. In this stance, she saw the sharpened claws coming right for her and did what any sane person would’ve done: she moved. Pavel’s attack was obvious enough to a martial arts master. It was too linear to be disguised well. Three steps were all that was needed to complete Yoko’s counter. The first step took her right foot forward and to her left. This had her pass through where Pavel’s arm was a split-second later. She had stepped out at an angle, going just past the Major’s right side. That alone had kept her safe.

In an attempt to keep the edge on her side, a counterattack followed immediately. The second step was less of a step, and more of a sweep. The Kunlun Master dropped down and pivoted on her right foot. Her left leg swept around in an arc, aiming for the base of Pavel’s shin. Leg sweeps were an effective tool in the Kunlun toolbox, especially when being charged at. In this case, the man’s own momentum worked against him. Had he been standing still, it would’ve been possible to hold balance. That wasn’t the case though. This leg sweep had the whole of Yoko’s strength behind it, and Pavel’s forward momentum just added to the efficacy of the technique. If it connected, there was little that could be done to keep him from falling.

The third step was the one that brought Yoko out of future harm’s way. Another step of her right foot brought her past where Pavel was, regardless of whether or not he had gone down. From there, a simple pivot had her facing towards her opponent. She was in her fighting stance, the same as before, and was ready for either outcome. If Pavel hadn’t countered the leg sweep, then Yoko’s right knee swung forward to catch him in the small of the back. If Pavel was still upright, or if she’d successfully landed her attack, then she simply took a double step backwards to get some distance. She didn’t fancy melee against claws much, but she was still trying to buy time for the evacuation.

Once more, Pavel helped with that. "Are you prepared to meet what happens to disobedient runts who decide to try and bite a bigger dog?" In combat or not, Yoko was thankful he kept talking. At this rate, most of the civilians were probably already outside. It was probably only a straggler or two left. [smear:0000ff]”Big dogs still have a soft underbelly.”[/smear:00ffff:1] A fight this serious really wasn’t the place for witty banter. The woman couldn’t think of much beyond that one, but hopefully it had bought enough time for everyone to finish getting out before the fight got truly serious. Pavel was strong and fast, but Yoko could tell he was far from going all out still. Thankfully, she was just warming up too.

[Pavel Fedoseev]

His attack had missed, the being that stood before him had enough instincts to know where he was going and dodge. He was caught a bit off guard, but that was okay. As he tumbled out of the office and into the halls, he glared at the young woman that had broken through the door of the office temporarily given to him. He remembered, this was Karakura town. Anything was possible, and this was one of the many situations that can get one in truble. With the fire alarm blaring into their ears, it would be clear that first responders would be here soon. Pavel had no records with the Japanese Police, nor did he have any records with the Japanese Government. His connections to Xcution allowed him to effectively become a Ghost, if not a fairytale to any body of government around the world. This person, just from the dodging and stance was someone of a martial art decent. This caused Pavel to remember too, of his training in youth. His eyes trained on Yoko as his mind played the images that played of his youth.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Play this Here}

A hardened swing would smash itself across the young Pavel's face. He was thrown back a feet or two as his eyes gazed onto the ground. Blood began to drip from his mouth as he gazed at the person that had swung at him. It was the daily training that he recieved when he was a teen. The man was dressed from head to toe in a typical Russian attire, his face covered from a Balaklava and his eyes shaded with sunglasses as he extended his hand forward, calling for another go at it. "Get Up." he heard a cold voice command him from behind. "Yes... Papa." the teenage Pavel obeyed as he got up. "Fight." with that same resolve, Pavel charged forward at the masked man, with his fist raised. The soldier quickly grabbed onto the arm with his left hand and punched Pavel with his right, directly aimed at the chest.

The same result happened, Pavel was sent a few feet backwards, with most of his air gone from his lungs. These were the moments of his life that he was left defenseless and was not able to fight back. These were the moments in his life when he was too weak to fight back. "Sometimes, when you know your opponent is too strong or too fast. There are ways to bring them down." With that Pavel charged in again, but instead of trying to get the soldier from the front, he decided to tackle the legs, using his weight. Pavel was able to lift the man enough to the point where he was falling backwards. "Now for the next of your lesson. Brutality is the normality of war. There is no such thing as a Calm War. Only War. Brutalize your opponent." With that said, Pavel got on top of the soldier before he was able to get up and began to punch left and right on the man.

He was able to knock the shades off but that was it, the man was able to recollect himself and grab the young Pavel by his head and headbutt him. His memory faded from that as he remembered being put onto the ground and had the same done to him. "Brutalize the enemy. Make sure that you use your strength against them and crush them. Like the might of the Red Army. You will roll over anything that comes in your path. Do you understand me boy?" "Yes... Papa." Pavel replied.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Play Me}

Pavel stared at the woman for a bit and figured out what to do. She was able to dodge easily because it was a pretty predictable attack. With that, Pavel was sure to quickly get up and use airground, allowing a centimeter above ground so it appeared that he was still connected to the ground. As soon as this was done, Pavel was sure to raise his left arm and thrust it towards the room that Yoko was in, it was not aimed directly at the doorway but towards the ground. Once that was done, he quickly resumed running into the room, crashing through the wall he raised his left arm and swiftly extended it towards Yoko, what happened next may not be exactly what she expected. With speed double to his own, five long blades were speeding towards Yoko as the ground under her collapsed from the shockwave he created, if she was able to stop herself from falling, she would more than likely be impaled by a few of the blades. With that, Pavel stood on the air ground and regenerated his fingers. His body was beginning to steam from the stress that he was putting on his body, and his breathing was becoming a bit harder as the fight continued. Pavel was not the type of fighter that would last too long in a fight, but he was a strong fighter.

Remaining Reaitsu: 2,500/3,000
Fullbring Count: 2/10
Stamina: 2/6

[Deleted]

Music – Ginyu Force Theme – Bruce Faulconer Version

Partial success was better than nothing. Yoko’s dodge had been effective, and her leg sweep had caused Pavel to lose control and roll out into the hallway. She had been prepared to follow up with a knee strike, but he cleared the distance too quickly for it to be worth trying. Instead, the Chief took a few steps back towards the middle of the room. She faced out towards the hallway. Her mind continued to analyze the Xcuxtion Officer’s capabilities. His reactions to the leg sweep gave her quite a bit of useful information, as did his present condition. He was definitely physically strong. Against a normal human, a leg sweep from Yoko would have shattered their leg instantly.

Strength seemed to be all Pavel had going for him though. His attack had no finesse. It was an attempt to force his way to victory through sheer strength, and that was rather unlikely to work against someone like Yoko. For most of her life, she had been the weak one. It was only in recent years that she had found strength enough to stand among the most powerful humans on the planet. She had the strength to destroy everything around her, but that never got to her head. No, she was perfectly calm and collected. There was always someone out there stronger than you were. Until proven otherwise, it was best to assume that person was the one in front of you.

In terms of raw strength, Pavel was probably stronger than she was. He was definitely faster. Yoko didn’t need any more than his first few steps to determine that much. His movements were fast enough to put any animal on the planet to shame, but the Chief had plenty of experience fighting people faster than her. Her first battle against someone with powers had been against the Shinigami that showed up to her sparring night at the dojo. He had been easily twice as strong and twice as fast as Yoko was, but he couldn’t lay a finger on her. And that was when Yoko was still a normal human. Since then, she’d gone against the insane speed of the man that cost her an arm. If she could follow his movements, then she could follow Pavel’s easily enough.

Then there was the issue of the strength gap. Since Yoko had grown into a physical powerhouse, she hadn’t actually fought anyone stronger than she was. Sure, Kitai could match her blow for blow, but they were equals in that regard. Fighting an uphill battle in her area of expertise was tricky. The only times she had done that was against Itou and against the Arrancar. One of those had gone well… the other not so much. The outcomes weren’t important though. She knew how to fight against people who could take her punches and laugh at them. There were different methods that some people employed, but it all boiled down to being smarter than your opponent. She had to make him fight on her terms.

That was where Pavel’s physical condition came into play. Truly, he was a wonderful physical specimen. Were he not trying to brutally murder Yoko, she might have taken some time to admire him. Unfortunately there was no time for such a luxury. They were in the middle of a fight, and she needed a way to ensure she was the last one standing. His current physical condition revealed something though. Despite his strength and speed, he already seemed to be feeling a bit drained. His chest moved visibly with every breath. They had barely started, and yet it seemed he was no longer fresh. Yoko, on the other hand, was perfectly fine. Kunlun’s practice of deep breathing meant she had needed only a few breaths to reach this point. Her movements had been conservative as well. She was just warming up.

Clearly, that was her advantage. She could beat Pavel in the long run. Honestly, the idea came to her from a classic fight: Android 18 vs Vegeta. Now that she thought about, she was a bit too much like 18 for her own liking. They both had nearly limitless energy reserves, were female, blonde, and didn’t take shit from anyone. But wait… 18 was a bad guy. She was one of the androids that almost eradicated the entire future of Earth. 18 killed Gohan. Could Yoko really take after a character that utterly heartless and evil? Yeah, she could, and she did. Even if 18 was a horrible person, she was a strong fighter that used a good strategy against Vegeta. There was no shame in borrowing tactics from a master, even if that master was evil. And let's be fair, in the prime timeline, 18 wasn't that bad. She married Krillin for god's sake.

Against Vegeta, 18 had just taken the defensive for the first half of the fight. Super Saiyan transformations were incredibly tiring compared to fighting at a normal level. She had used that to her advantage. By staying on the defensive and using minimalistic movements, she was still perfectly ready to go by the time Vegeta was panting like a bitch in heat. Once Vegeta had been reduced to a sluggish, tired heap, it was easy for 18 to wipe the floor with him. With a similar approach, Yoko could stand a good chance against Pavel. His transformation seemed to tire him even more rapidly than Vegeta was tired by the Super Saiyan transformation. All she needed to do was stay alive until he gave her an opening.

Change Music - Darker than Black OST - Contract

Pavel had taken his sweet time before he followed up. That had given Yoko plenty of time to do all her analysis. Most of it was subconscious though. She was an experienced fighter and a master of Kunlun. Figuring out the best way to deal with an opponent was second nature to her. Nonetheless, the monster before her renewed his assault. He threw a quick punch while he was still quite a bit away. There was no way the punch itself would hit, but Yoko figured what it was there for. She was physical fighter as well, and she knew a shockwave punch when she saw one. Despite that, she didn’t move. It was aimed too low for it to hit her.

Movement was pointless because the floor had been Pavel’s target. Oddly, it didn’t give way immediately. The fact that his leg wasn’t broken meant he was strong enough to do that much. It was just a normal office building, so the floor was just cheap wood over concrete. Either he had held back his strength, or Yoko had misjudged how strong he was by a massive amount. Regardless of why the floor was still there, the Chief fully expected it to give way sooner or later. There wasn’t much time to dwell on that though. Pavel was already charging back into the room. This time, his arm was pointed right at Yoko, and she actually had to do something in theory.

Theory and practice were quite different though. As Pavel entered the room, the ground beneath him gave way. He didn’t fall, likely thanks to air ground. The Chief wasn’t quite as unaffected. She had predicted the ground giving way, but she opted to go with it. If Pavel was going to try and charge into her… well that wouldn’t work so well if she was down a story now would it? In order to speed things up, the Chief shifted her weight lower. She had changed into a stance that most would associate with something like Kung Fu, but that stance was only there for a brief second. As she continued the downward motion, she curled into a tight backflip whilst falling into the first floor of the office.

A faint click filtered into the busy web of sounds that surrounded the two Fullbringers. Amidst the blaring of alarms and settling of debris, it was impressive that either of them noticed it. Yoko had her extraordinarily sharp senses to thank for that, but she knew not whether Pavel had heard it or not. The Chief recognized the sound easily enough. It was a part of everyday life. The click was the handle of a door popping back into its frame. From where it had come from, it seemed that was the sound of the last person in the evacuation shutting the outside door behind them. She couldn’t hear any other signs of life inside the building, and that meant she didn’t need to hold back any longer.

Once the Chief was back on her feet, she wasted no time in determining the best course of action. Pavel was a story above her, on air ground. Yoko was safe from his charge, and unbeknownst to her, she had avoided the claw shot entirely. Since she had reacted to his entrance into the room, she didn’t even need to worry about that. Her defense to what she had assumed was just another bull rush was equally effective against the projectiles. All that gave away the possibility of the projectiles was a series of loud thuds as they slammed into the concrete wall on the far end of Pavel’s own office.

Though Yoko had dodged that attack, and had not seen it, she had sharp enough senses to hear that there was more than one distinct noise. Whatever he had done wasn’t a shockwave. That would’ve just made one noise. It wasn’t a gun either, as that sound was far too familiar to her, and she would’ve recognized it immediately. Without having seen it, Yoko was still able to figure out that Pavel had some kind of projectile ability, and it was most likely part of his body. His hands had been empty, and shockwaves had been ruled out, so that was the only likely conclusion. Based on the form he was in, the claws were the most likely culprit. Then again, they were still on his hands. Either he had regenerative properties, or there was an explanation that the Chief had missed.

None of that mattered much at this moment. Yoko was in a fairly spacious storage area. It was mostly filled with filing cabinets, but those were primarily around the walls. There was only one large one, right in front of her, that wasn’t against the walls. It wasn’t like the normal filing cabinets that most people thought of either. It was several times as wide, and was taller than the Chief. This was one of the business class cabinets that could hold enough paperwork to bury most people alive. Though it was quite large, and weighed several hundred pounds, it was still amusingly light to the Chief. Still, it was big enough that it made for a nice projectile.

All it took was a quick low kick to topple the cabinet over. It was heavy, sure, but Yoko’s strength was great enough to knock it down without much effort. Her instincts were also fast enough to actually do something useful with it. As the cabinet fell, the top moved towards the Chief. After only a split second, it was at an angle where it completely obscured her from the view of Pavel. That was when her second strike came into play. A right palm strike hit the center of the sizable hunk of metal. Given the strength that these two were throwing around, the result was fairly predictable. Well, that was the case for a skilled battle analyst at least. Someone without analytical talents might just have thought that Yoko done goofed.

Mistakes weren’t the Chief’s style though. She was obscured from Pavel’s view for only a split second, but that was enough to hide her attack. The filing cabinet flew up at the comic book looking monster above her. If it hit, it’d have Yoko’s full strength behind it, and that meant it’d hurt even someone as insanely powerful as Pavel. He was the stronger of the two of them, but that gap wasn’t so great that he could hope to walk away completely unaffected. Well, that was what Yoko hoped at least. Still, she wasn’t quite done. Her right arm swept back while her left arm circled forward and up in a hammerfist aimed straight for where Pavel had been standing.

Neither of them could see the other at that moment. While that meant Yoko couldn’t be one hundred percent sure where Pavel was, unless he was invisible, he was still somewhere on the other side of the filing cabinet. The upstairs layout was too crowded in that area for him to not have made any noise. If he had moved, she would have heard it, and redirected her attack that way. If he had come down to the first floor before she could finish moving an arm, she again would’ve altered the aim of this hammerfist. Neither was likely though. Pavel was fast, but he hadn’t shown speed so fast that he could get Yoko to lose track of him completely. Unknown to her, because of the filing cabinet blocking her view, Pavel was indeed still there, having just finished regenerating his claws.

Regardless of where Pavel ended up in the split second after the cabinet was sent at him, there was a strike aimed for him. Now, obviously, the hammerfist itself wouldn’t reach. Unless Pavel used a step technique and charged right at Yoko, but that option was right out due to how little time had passed. Even if he had done that, it wouldn’t change one important detail. Yoko was able to use shockwaves, just like he was. Both of her attacks had a shockwave in them. The first shockwave pushed the filing cabinet along far faster than Yoko’s own speed was capable of moving it. The second shockwave followed right after it. If Pavel was cocky enough to tank the filing cabinet, everything would hit him for sure.

Even if he dodged it by just a bit, the invisible shockwaves had a far wider reach. The entirety of Pavel’s office, and a good chunk of the hallway next to it, were in Yoko’s line of fire. Unlike Pavel, who had held back a bit to try and get a surprise in when he blew up the floor, the Chief went for widespread destruction. If Pavel was still in the building, he was getting hit by this attack. Thus far, there wasn’t much for him to go on either. Yoko hadn’t demonstrated truly monstrous strength. Worse, she was obscured from sight when she had launched this attack. As if things weren’t hard enough, there was no visual indication of the shockwaves aside from a slight ripple in the dust caused by the broken floor. Given that Pavel didn’t seem like much of a strategist, what with the bull rushes and all, predicting the entirety of this plan would be rough for him. Escaping it without taking a hit would be harder still. Either way, Yoko was in a fighting stance, and ready for anything.

Thought it might have seemed like a lot, all of this still followed Yoko’s game plan. Her strikes weren’t large sweeping movements. The entire sequence had taken only a second or two, and they were basic strikes that didn’t involve a great deal of body movement. To her, this was still a warm up. If she inflicted meaningful damage to Pavel that was nothing more than an added bonus. She was still fighting conservatively. The Chief hadn’t used a single drop of her reiatsu yet, and she had only made a few movements. Her stamina was perfectly fine, but it was likely that Pavel was wearing down even further already. If his appearance a moment ago had been any indication, he wasn’t going to last too long. For now, Yoko didn’t need to beat him. All she had to do was make sure he kept burning through his energy at the same rate.