![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
[1]
A few weeks after the destruction of the Ladies' Good Men, and a week after the final fight with the Kijin, Dido tightens her grip on the controls, eyes narrowed, teeth bared.
"I can't give up now!" She declares. "I won't despair! If I stand by justice, and keep moving forward, a way will open up! I know it will–Aw Fudge! Fudge! C'mon! Fudge! That combo's broken! This boss is OP! Cheap! Hax!"
On the arcade game's screen, Dido's Qipao-wearing character twitches helplessly in the throes of hit-stun, then flies back across the stage. "K.O.!". The boss character, clad in a sharp business suit and fish-crested gladiator helmet, folds his arms and laughs."Pathetic! You're ten years too early to beat me!".
Dido's bloodshot eyes twitch. "I'll wipe that grin off your face!" She shouts, fishing quarters from her pocket.
For god's sake, someone drag her away!
[2]
[Private Chat, locked to Mizuki]
"Yo, 'Zuki!" Dido pops up on your tablet screen, shadows under her eyes, a grease stain on her chin. "Could I ask you for a favor?"
[3]
[Private chat, sent to Ken, Hetepheres, Sarah and Peola]
Dido pops up on your tablet screens, looking chipper and extremely energized. "I challenge you to hand-to-hand mecha combat!"
A few weeks after the destruction of the Ladies' Good Men, and a week after the final fight with the Kijin, Dido tightens her grip on the controls, eyes narrowed, teeth bared.
"I can't give up now!" She declares. "I won't despair! If I stand by justice, and keep moving forward, a way will open up! I know it will–Aw Fudge! Fudge! C'mon! Fudge! That combo's broken! This boss is OP! Cheap! Hax!"
On the arcade game's screen, Dido's Qipao-wearing character twitches helplessly in the throes of hit-stun, then flies back across the stage. "K.O.!". The boss character, clad in a sharp business suit and fish-crested gladiator helmet, folds his arms and laughs."Pathetic! You're ten years too early to beat me!".
Dido's bloodshot eyes twitch. "I'll wipe that grin off your face!" She shouts, fishing quarters from her pocket.
For god's sake, someone drag her away!
[2]
[Private Chat, locked to Mizuki]
"Yo, 'Zuki!" Dido pops up on your tablet screen, shadows under her eyes, a grease stain on her chin. "Could I ask you for a favor?"
[3]
[Private chat, sent to Ken, Hetepheres, Sarah and Peola]
Dido pops up on your tablet screens, looking chipper and extremely energized. "I challenge you to hand-to-hand mecha combat!"
From:
no subject
Anyway! I'm no expert at this like Suruga, but I think...
The computer is always bad at mixup, right? String a high-low combo maybe... can you even jump cancel in this game?
[Look, Izuru suddenly started to speak in an alien language.]
From:
no subject
"Yes!" Dido shouts. "Izuru, you're a genius!"
Across the screen, President Gladiator gets up, and then crouches, waiting.
"Dammit." Dido hisses. "He's trying to lure me in. If I get too close, he'll uses his Glory Meter to hit me with a Century Cestus special! What should I do?"
From:
no subject
And now that he's in a corner and turtling, can you punish him from afar somehow?
[It's not very heroic, but in a fighting game you counter cheese with cheese of your own!]
From:
no subject
"One Hundred-Percent Proof!" Suddenly, her Chinese kung fu character pulls out a wine jar and throws it at President Gladiator. It shatters against the evil world sovereign/pit fighter, and he starts glowing purple.
"What did I do?" Dido says, eyes widening. "What did I do?"
From:
no subject
[Izuru stares at the screen.]
He looks poisoned. It's a video game so purple is always poison.
From:
no subject
She sends her character crouch-dashing forward. Suddenly, President Gladiator takes a stance. "Fall in Disgrace! Nemian...Scyther!" He flies across the screen, fists outstretched!
"Oh fudge!" DIdo shouts, flailing at the controls. "Fire-Breath!" One the screen, Drunken Yue Rong sips some wine, then breathes fire on President Gladiator just before impact. The President catches on fire, flinches for several seconds, then falls down!
"Oh." Dido says. "Ohhh! It's a buff move that amplifies the damage from Fire-Breath! Nice!"
She follows up with a bread and butter combo of light kicks, punches, and a heavy attack where her character stiffens and falls backward like a plank! And then she hears two very sweet-sounding syllables!
"K.O.!"
"Yes!" Dido shouts, jumping into the air. "Yes! Yes! Hell Yes!" She's so engrossed in her win that she doesn't notice President Gladiator get up and start to glow...this time with a red aura!
From:
no subject
[Not only did Izuru remember the name wrongly, but he's too busy cheering to notice the boss getting up... until it's too late!]
... Huh?
From:
no subject
"Wha–?" Dido says.
On the screen, President Gladiator rears up and punches the ground, creating a shockwave. Druken Yue Rong goes flying into the air, stunned. The President leaps into the air to meet her...
...and what follows is the most ridiculous extended combo you've ever seen in a video game. There's air throws. There's projectile juggles. There's teleports. There's air teleports! There's air teleport throws where the President simply chucks Dido's character in one direction, then teleports across the screen to throw her back.
Finally, President Gladiator triggers his Glory Meter. "Century...Cestus! Bwahahaha!". His fists blur into motion, striking Drunken Yue Rong a hundred times, flashes of light emanating from each punch...
...and then a Lion leaps out from the screen's edge and bites Yue Rong's head off! "K.O.!"
"Dammit!" Dido groans. "Pathetic! You're ten years too early to beat me!" She recites in monotone sing-song. "Well, at least I can avoid that ground punch in the next round–"
"President Gladiator. Wins! Game OVer!"
"WHAT THE FUDGE? THERE'S SUPPOSED TO BE THREE ROUNDS!" Dido howls, gripping the arcade console with white-knuckled hands.
From:
no subject
[Izuru scratches his head as he looks at the game over screen.]
Some games really like to cheat, don't they? At least it happened in an arcade and not a real life battle.
From:
no subject
She pulls out her tablet. "Martial...Matchup III: New...Blood..." She reads the entry.
" Released in AE 49, this highly-anticipated entry in the 'Martial Matchup' fighting game series single-handedly catalyzed a wave of social unrest known as the 'Fighting Game Riots'. Hordes of video gamers and real-life martial artists took to the streets outside the headquarters of game developer 'Century' to protest CEO Gladter's alleged self-insert boss character, coded to be literally impossible to beat. CEO Gladter disputed the charges and challenged the mob to a real-life fighting tournament...."
Dido blinks. "Huh."
From:
no subject
Real life fighting tournament?
He was more than just a CEO?
From:
no subject
Then she shrugs and inserts another quarter into the machine. "Screw it. Wanna do a round of multiplayer?" She presses the two-player button. "PIck any character you like...except for President Gladiator."
*Beep* "The Tournament Roster is Up! Which Warriors will be Drawn Together by their Glory?"
From:
no subject
[Yours and everyone else's, Izuru.]
Alright! Which character should I pick, I wonder!
From:
[Feel free to make up your own fighter!]
There's this Okinawan Karateka with a cheerful smile, out to befriend the world one punch at a time, and a Muay Thai Fighter with extremely thick sideburns. There's plenty of Kung Fu Fighters like Drunken Yue Rong, and a French Savateur wearing a ballet dress. The Silat fighter looks pretty mean, face covered in jungle paint, while the Indian Kalaripayattu master is wearing gold chains right out of a Bollywood flick...
...ooh. There's a masked luchador with wicked shoulder pads and a long flowing scarf. The flowingest!
Which will you choose?