[center][h3]Detective Duel[/h3]
Big Band & Zenkichi Hasegawa
[b]Word Count: 3,488[/b] [/center]

Zenkichi decided that he’d take Band up on the sparring offer, and said as much to the man. [color=BFBFBF]”Not sure which way the beating’s gonna go, but I’m down to give a fellow cop a couple of rounds.”[/color] Standing up as the others started to get moving, he waited by the door for the cyborg detective. [color=BFBFBF]”Lead the way.”[/color]

“I appreciate it.” As more people began to splinter off from the large gathering in Banishing Flats’ lobby, which really hadn’t been built with so many people in mind anyway, the two detectives trooped down the right-hand hallway in the direction of one of the courtyard doors that Band had seen earlier. On the way, he tried to establish some expectations. “Now, I’m guessin’ we both know we ain’t exactly spring chickens anymore. Can’t afford to go breakin’ bones and tearin’ muscles the night before we actually gotta fight for real, ‘specially seein’ as this team’s light on healers. I don’t mean to go too easy, mind ya, but I figure we oughta pull our punches a li’l bit, at least.”

He chuckled dryly, keeping his voice down as he passed by a number of motel rooms. “Either way, this is fixin’ to expose the fact that I ain’t got much in the way of actual fightin’ skill. I can throw my weight around, sure, and I got a couple tricks up my sleeve, but I’m a big, slow target. If my opponents ain’t liable to get bullied, ‘specially speedy or long-reachin’ types, I end up strugglin’. Feels like tryin’ to slap mosquitoes.”

Zenkichi chuckled along with Band as they walked. [Color=BFBFBF]”When it comes to a lot of this sword and magic stuff, I'm kind of the same way. Valjean gives me some basic skills with the stuff I can summon, but I'm hardly a master swordsman or marksman. Though I'm no slouch when it comes to hand-to-hand, either. That matters a lot more when it comes to policing in Japan.”[/color] He added after a beat. 

“Sounds like we both got some stuff to work on. We only got a short time to iron out our weaknesses, but a li’l practice is better than none.” When he reached the hallway door, he gingerly deployed a little mechanical pincer and opened it, then pushed through, his massive frame scraping both sides. 

In front of him stood the courtyard with its wrestling rings, a little wetter than before but none the worse for wear after the rain. As the detectives walked in, four spotlights kicked on to illuminate the area, one in each corner of the courtyard. It was still drizzling, but thanks to his hat and enormous trench coat Band barely even registered the odd raindrop. The rings, dented by numerous heavy impacts, were uneven enough that small pools of water could be found on their surfaces, but Band’s sheer weight and low center of gravity would make it much harder for him to slip. Hopefully Zenkichi wouldn’t fall afoul of those puddles, either.

Rather than try and push through the ring ropes, Band jumped, then double-jumped by releasing a downward burst of sound energy to clear the barrier and land with a loud [i]thump[/i] inside the nearest arena. He turned toward Zenkichi, then walked backward to give his prospective sparring partner some room. He popped open each pair of keys on his sides in ascending order to vent steam, which seemed to be the cyborg’s equivalent of stretching, then bent his knees and leaned forward in an [url=https://i.imgur.com/ZYDaITR.png]unorthodox fighting stance[/url]. Without any means of inflicting harm or protecting himself on display, he might look defenseless, but if Zenkichi hadn’t already seen Big Band fight he would soon learn what his pneumatic body was capable of. “Ready when you are.”

Zenkichi hadn't made much time to get to know Band or his fighting style, so he was ready for a surprise, but as he climbed into the ring and transformed into his Phantom Thief attire, he at least got his comically-large hat to keep the water out of his eyes. Summoning his original Claymore, Zenkichi matched Band's gaze and sprung forward, closing in on Band with a heavy overhead swing perfectly positioned to fall just shy of the detective to bait out a response.

After mentally adjusting to his opponent’s rather drastic costume change, Band stood firm with narrowed eyes as Zenkichi moved in. Though no master of visual calculus, he did have pretty good instincts, so when the overhead slash descended he stood tall, ready to block. Instead the slice whiffed, but rather than step forward to close distance and counterattack, the cyborg stepped backward. If Zenkichi wasn’t one for fast close-quarters combat, that suited Band just find; the midrange was where he thrived. He deployed a huge drum pedal to slam the ring with a heavy [url=https://i.imgur.com/TiKlCuQ.png]Giant Step[/url], a slow but massively disjointed attack. It would knock Zenkichi down and bring him closer on hit, but even if he avoided it, he’d be in for a surprise as the ensuing unblockable shockwave knocked him down anyway, albeit without doing any damage.

As Band stepped backwards, Zenkichi stepped in to close the distance and follow up with a diagonal slash. The pedal appearing gave him pause, but he was too committed to his own slow slash to cancel now. He was caught at the end of his slash, knocked down, and dragged forward. He recovered fairly quickly compared to his attacks, scooting backwards on hands and knees before pushing himself up to draw his revolvers. He let off a quick burst of gunfire to keep Band back before summoning the larger, heavier Greatsword. 

“Whoa!” At the sight of Zenkichi’s sidearms, Band quickly deployed two sheet music racks to block with, reducing the gunfire to manageable chip damage. He stepped back for a second as he caught his breath, and as he did he looked around at all the potentially inhabited motel rooms within earshot. “Where I’m from, bullets kill people, hotshot. You lucky I’m made of sterner stuff.” That same fortitude meant he’d come out okay from the trade earlier, and he was about to put it to the test again. A giant mechanical arm appeared as he charged forward with a hit of armor, able to shrug off any one attack as he delivered a [url=https://i.imgur.com/pUV2f8C.png]Brass Knuckle[/url] punch, carefully dialed back to a sustainable strength. “Gimme a hit!”

Zenkichi balked a little at Band's comment, then let out a breath. He knew Band was a cyborg, and he'd seen almost every Seeker shrug off what would be lethal damage to a normal human, so to say that he was a little surprised was an understatement. [Color=BFBFBF]”I've seen a schoolgirl shoot fireballs out of her hands here, gauging appropriate force is…kind of impossible in this world. But I'll keep the guns away for this.”[/color] As Band charged forward, Zenkichi stood firm and blocked by holding the Greatsword before himself like a shield, the Brass Knuckle crashing into it with a cacophony of noise. Zenkichi groaned from the hit, taking a decent amount even through the chip, before going right back at Band with his sword, taking several swings at the cyborg, keeping the pressure up.

With a medium Brass Knuckle’s disadvantage on block, Band had to salvage the situation as best he could. His opponent landed a couple sword swings as he tried to find his footing and strike back, but while their damage was not insignificant on their own, none led to a series of follow-up hits.  Band put up his defenses at the first opportunity, one eyebrow raised beneath the brim of his hat. [i]Does this guy not know combos?[/i] After warding off a couple blows, Band countered the next one with [url=https://i.imgur.com/RAAmA5d.png]Beat Extend[/url], becoming briefly strike invulnerable as he grabbed Zenkichi in a tambourine clash. An extra shake of his instrument inflicted Sound Stun to keep his opponent dizzy, and while Band could have launched into a full combo from there, he stuck with a simple double [url=https://i.imgur.com/wV3R8X1.png]horn honk[/url] as Zenkichi fell followed by an [url=https://i.imgur.com/HpU80Jp.png]organ pipe sweep[/url] to knock his fellow detective down. 

From there Band waited a brief moment, then slid forward as Zenkichi rose. What started as a [url=https://i.imgur.com/yF0eqoT.png]bell ringer[/url] turned out to be a fake-out as he canceled it into what looked like another Brass Knuckles. This time, though, it was a light [url=https://i.imgur.com/sn5MA1j.png]Take the A Train[/url], a true command grab that would beat Zenkichi’s block at the cost of vulnerability to strike or jump.

Zenkichi found himself well and truly at Band's mercy. The Phantom Thief had no more than a basic slash combo to his name, with some improvised switch-ups he could fall back on, but with the cyborg's brass body, he was wary of going into fisticuffs, and he'd promised to keep his pistols stashed for the rest of their bout. All he could do as he rose was try again. While he wasn't a fighter by nature, he could tell when he was being bluffed. When Band slid forward to fake-out with Bell Ringer, Zenkichi put it all on the line, activating Fury. His energy blasts were fairly short-ranged and wouldn't destroy the hotel around them, and he needed some kind of edge on Band, though from the punishment he'd already taken he had the feeling this would be a case of mitigating just how badly he ended up losing. 

With speed unlike his previous attacks, Zenkichi launched into an offensive as Band charged forward, the Phantom Thief swinging in a simple three-part combo. Diagonal, horizontal, diagonal. If the sudden rush caught the cyborg off guard, the moment Zenkichi took to reset and draw in a deep, ragged-sounding breath would give him time to re-center. 

Surprised by his opponent’s sudden power-up and interrupted by the ensuing onslaught, Band instinctively dashed backward as soon as he could, though that amounted to little more than a hop. He worried that his somewhat panicked response might have been too predictable, but when Zenkichi didn’t take advantage, Band paused as well. He gave a brief nod of respect for Zenkichi’s instincts, and the timbre of the other man’s breathing did not escape him. 

“You holdin’ out okay?” he asked, straightening up. “I’m well aware that even with me pullin’ my punches, I got a whole lot o’ weight on you. I don’t think the tournaments distinguish by weight class, but still.” He cracked his next first to one side, then the other, flexing some of the few muscles left to him. “Your swings ain’t half bad, but don’t be afraid to show off your combos. Ain’t gonna get far without ‘em.”

Pulling himself to full height and letting out a long sigh, Zenkichi nodded. [Color=BFBFBF]”I'm hanging in there, though I'm starting to realize just how out of my depth I am with this kind of fighting. I don't really have combos or much actual skill with this thing. Shadows were never too much of a hassle to just wail on. I've relied a lot on just powering through and sheer strength for the most part. I've got a lot more skill with hand to hand, but punching a guy half made of metal…probably not too good for me.”[/color] 

“No combos?” Band’s eyebrows went up. “Well, there’s your problem! Even a novice like me knows that’s where your damage is. They ain’t easy, of course, but if you can figure out somethin’ that works and get the execution down, pilin’ on the damage becomes the easy part.” He let out a rueful chuckle. “Findin’ an openin’s the tough part. But nevermind all that for now. Since it’s been a long day, how ‘bout we pivot and figure out a combo for ya?”

He looked around, hoping to find something that the detectives could use as a training dummy. At the same time, Band explained as best he could. “See, a combo’s when you put together a chain of moves that flow into each other, leavin’ the other guy staggered just long enough for you to hit ‘em again before they can fight back or start blockin’. I ‘specially like launchin’ ‘em way up high, then whackin’ ‘em in the air. Jugglin’ fools like a clown juggles balls. Or, you could use moves that leave ‘em reelin’ for a while. See this?” He used Beat Extend again, his giant tambourine halves clapping shut with nothing but air between them. “If I hit someone with this, I can play ‘em a li’l tune to stun ‘em with the sound, givin’ me a nice an’ easy follow-up. Lets me combo off hits I couldn’t otherwise, but it only works once per combo.”

Band paused his explanation to narrow his eyes at Zenkichi. “Course…might be that you just ain’t built for this kind o’ fightin’. If that’s the case, ya might wanna consider fusin’ with someone who can, pronto. It ain’t pretty, but we gotta do what we gotta do.”

Zenkichi took in the impromptu fighting game lesson from Band carefully, trying to figure out a way he could apply it to his fighting style. He managed a decent mix-up against Kyanta, but that involved shooting them in the face before unleashing a full-power Eruption by catching them off guard with its hyperarmor. In a friendly spar, that was hardly sporting conduct. [color=BFBFBF]”That…sounds good. I was probably going to push myself a little too far, to be frank.”[/color] When the idea that he wasn’t built for tournament fighting came up, he gave a noncommittal half-shrug. [color=BFBFBF]”You might have a point there, but finding a…Spirit this late in the game? Might be tough. And no guarantee I’d get something I meshed with.”[/color]

Left unsaid was the moral implication of killing somebody to fuse with them for the tournament. They might be after the Guardians, but he already wasn’t terribly fond of killing people and fusing with them. The battlefield from the day before was a bit of a different matter, those being an actual horde of soldiers trying to murder everything in sight, but Esaka was filled with people just trying to get by. Going to the outskirts could have yielded more…unsavory folks, but that brought with it the ramifications of fusing with that kind of person.

[color=BFBFBF]”I think I’ll stick with trying to come up with a combo.”[/color] He finished, simply. 

Band nodded “Alright. Hold up a sec.” The cyborg left and went inside, giving his comrade a chance to take a break as he searched for a Mecha-Zangief. A couple minutes later, he returned carrying a spare model without any AI set, little more than a giant-size action figure. Human-shaped and movable but unable to fight back, it would be the perfect training dummy. After getting it into the ring, which turned out to be pretty tricky given the Mecha-Zangief’s bulk, Band stood him up and faced him toward Zenkichi.

“Go on, try out whatever comes to mind,” Band said. “Just remember, the longer and more complicated a combo is, the harder it’ll be to pull it off without droppin’. Chances are, the second you let the other guy slip free, he’s gonna dodge away, start blockin’, or catch you off guard with a jab or somethin’ and start a combo of his own. Ya dig?”

With a few minutes to catch his breath and recover some of his energy, Zenkichi was ready to get to work when Band returned with the Mecha-Zangief. Summoning Ragnell and putting himself close to the robot, he thought about it. He typically started with an upward diagonal slash, which left his sword on his left side. Thinking on how he’d seen Geralt fight before, the only frame of reference for a similar blade, he got an idea. 

He started with the typical diagonal slash, but instead of transitioning to a horizontal slash from the left, he hit the motionless robot with the pommel of his sword, then took a quarter-step back and slammed his sword down, taking the Zangief to the floor with it. [color=BFBFBF]”Hmm. I don’t hate that one.”[/color]

The pair lifted the bot back to its feet, and Zenkichi circled around it. Throwing it around would be a little tough with its weight, but he had an idea. He summoned Valjean and boosted his strength with Tarukaja. It didn’t seem like this would work in the tournament, thanks to the Heavenly Principles doing their best to keep fighters on a roughly level playing field when it came to their abilities, but it would let him throw this thing around more like a regular-weight person. 

When he wasn’t fighting with a greatsword, Zenkichi’s style changed drastically. He eschewed power for speed and control, all the better to use his less-than-huge Japanese frame. Sure, he was plenty tall for a Japanese man after his fusions, but he was no sumo. His leg bent behind the Zangief’s knee as he grabbed its left arm with his right hand and pulled it across his body, while the other hand pushed into its shoulder with a practiced burst of force, sending it to the ground as its legs disappeared from underneath its torso, blocked behind Zenkichi’s own leg. [color=BFBFBF]”And a simple throw. Could stomp its chest from there, or get down and grapple, though without any handcuffs or anything I don’t think tussling on the ground will be my best plan. Could also follow up with some sword attacks.”[/color] He mused.

“Time it right, and even throws can lead to a combo. The trick is to keep poppin’ ‘em back up and not let ‘em touch the ground. Check this out.” Band stepped forward to take center stage against the hapless Mecha Zangief. He deployed two halves of a [url=https://i.imgur.com/TujTsbp.png]giant bell[/url] that slammed shut around the robot, then rang it, albeit as quietly as he could. When the Mecha Zangief slumped down afterward, he used a medium-strength Giant Step. Deploying the drop pedal caused it to pop up beneath his target, then knock him closer to Band, which allowed him to follow up with the soundblasts of [url=https://i.imgur.com/mygvIpk.png]Bass Drop[/url] and a [url=https://i.imgur.com/wbaQVDw.png]saxophone uppercut[/url]. From there he jumped up into the air after his target, belted out a middle and then high lateral soundblast, then send Mecha Zangief flying with a [url=https://i.imgur.com/AfwWHPz.png]five thousand pound dropkick[/url]. As he landed on his back, then teched forward off the ground, his opponent bounced off the ring’s ropes and back toward him. Since Band wasn’t really trying to show off, he cut the combo short there with an unceremonious horn honk.

After his makeshift training dummy toppled, Band relaxed and took a deep breath. “See what I mean? Oh, one other thing.” He deployed two small mechanical arms, one with a little mallet and another with a cymbal. “Just in case you ain’t in the know, the game works like this. Block beats strike.” He struck the tiny cymbal, then changed the mallet out for a pincer. “Throw beats block.” After grabbing the cymbal and twisting it sideways, he traded the cymbal for a mallet. When the pincer tried to take hold of the mallet, it struck back before it could be grabbed. “And strike beats throw. So if you run into folks who like hunkerin’ down, you best be layin’ on hands. And if someone gets grab-happy, give ‘em a good slap. Sound good?”

Zenkichi nodded. [color=BFBFBF]”Block beats strike, strike beats grab, and grab beats block.”[/color] He repeated to help commit it to memory. [color=BFBFBF]”Got it.”[/color] Seeing what Band could pull off got Zenkichi thinking. He didn’t have ‘moves’ per se, but he got the jist. Summoning Ragnell again, he got to brainstorming and whaling on the Mecha-Zangief, trying out different combinations of attacks and grabs to see what could work out for him in the upcoming tournament. 

Though by no means an expert combat instructor, Band offered pointers where he could, and when his words failed him he stepped in to try out some moves for himself and attempt to explain via demonstration. His own combos could use some work; he had a few routes committed to muscle memory, but he wasn’t very flexible, and when it came to converting stray hits into full combos he had a tougher time. Unfortunately, between his efforts and Zenkichi’s, the Mecha-Zangief could take only so much punishment. After losing one limb after another, its body finally fell to pieces, which spelled the end for the detectives’ training session. Given their labored breathing, it was probably for the best, as well. Still, both had made some progress, and they had a lot to think about. In the aftermath, Band gave his comrade a pat on the back with a giant mechanical arm. “Wanna grab a bite to eat?”

Zenkichi, tired as he was, had to catch himself from going tumbling, but he laughed and gave the larger man a nod. [color=BFBFBF]”Yeah, that sounds good. I could use a good dinner.”[/color]