REVIEWS AND POWERSTONES PLSSS!!!!!REVIEWS AND POWERSTONES PLSSS!!!!!REVIEWS AND POWERSTONES PLSSS!!!!!Chapter 48: All-Style Judo's Ultimate Throw -- Fireball Spike!
Back in reality, the Sonic protagonist mapping dropped off him -- or more precisely, it reverted to a state where it could only run through Real Mode. The Flame Shield, though, was exactly as solid as it had been inside. Its existence didn't depend on the Sonic mapping to sustain it; it ran on its own terms, and even without any mapping active it was usable. The only difference was that after a Flame Impact, without Sonic's speed carrying it, the velocity would decay rapidly back to his natural movement pace.
From the state of the Little Tyrant's console -- floating intact, the nest and the tree's upper half gone -- Ross read the situation. Someone had found the console and hit it with enough force to take out the surrounding structure. The console had survived thanks to the "indestructible" rule property and stayed in place thanks to "immovable" for the duration he was inside the Secret Realm; once he exited and the Secret Realm's return-coordinate anchor was released, it had started falling normally.
Ross ran into the forest without a second thought, filtering the available information as he went.
Recalling the console had given him a clear downward view. He had seen, at the point where the tree had been cut apart, distinct charring and carbonization marks. That specific type of damage, against the list of the thirty-one remaining candidates, narrowed the culprit to two people: Kazemaru, who carried the Explosive Tracking Shuriken, and Shaolin -- Rando -- who possessed the Fire Palm Fist. The latter was his own hunting target with no particular reason to come looking for him unprompted. That left Kazemaru.
He knew Kazemaru was a ninja. Back in Phase 1, Tonpa had specifically mentioned that he and Hanzou were from the same school, that they specialized in concealment and tracking. The attack on the console was not a coincidence. Kazemaru had been hunting him.
Which meant he was probably following this trail right now.
Fine. Counter it directly.
Two or three hours inside the Secret Realm, and Ross had adapted in some basic way to a more intense combat rhythm. The "hands shaking before the first punch" state of before wasn't going to hit him the same way. The cost of acquiring that adaptation had been running for his life in front of Eggman's bomber, which had been genuinely life-threatening in the most literal sense possible -- in Sonic mapping state, no rings meant instant death.
He was running a bit hot right now. Within controllable range. Physical conditioning wasn't there yet, but he had two cartridges in hand, and how the counter-attack went was entirely a function of how he chose to play them.
Ross kept pushing forward in a straight line, burning through his aura in repeated Flame Impacts without varying direction -- building the impression of panicked flight for anyone following. Right before the fourth Flame Impact, he made the cartridge swap.
Sonic 3 out. Nekketsu New Record in.
One hand supporting the keyboard-body of the console, the other pulling and inserting cartridges in a clean motion. Materialize, operate, return to storage -- three seconds total, with obvious room to improve.
When he hit the power button again, the Flame Shield still burning across his body, the protagonist mapping in the core of his identity shifted from Sonic to Kunio.
[Current cartridge: Nekketsu New Record]
[Current protagonist: Kunio]
[During Real Mode, you temporarily gain:
"Enhancement Affinity (Grade A)" "All-Around Athletics (Grade B)"]
[All-Around Athletics: Grade B, Lv1 (1/1000), composite ability. When your current situation matches any of: "400-Meter Combat Hurdles/Running," "Hammer Golf/Throwing," "Swimming Combat King/Swimming," "High-Rise Pole Vault/Jumping," or "All-Style Judo/Fighting," you automatically gain situational adaptation and may use the corresponding exclusive techniques. Some techniques may require additional aura.]
As an all-rounder protagonist of the Nekketsu series, Kunio was genuinely comprehensive -- every kind of athletic contest, structured rules or open field, all within his range of mastery. As a New Record protagonist mapping, he carried some differences from his appearances in other entries of the series.
All-Around Athletics needed specific situational triggers, but anyone who had used it in actual combat would quickly discover that the situation judgment was actually fairly broad.
With the Kunio mapping active, Ross pushed off with both feet and went airborne without effort. In mid-air, he twisted, turning himself around to face the direction he had come from. Then he expended one aura unit and fired Flame Impact.
The opposing force wiped out his remaining forward momentum, and he shot back the way he came.
The sudden reversal put real stress on his body. The Enhancement Affinity A boost bringing him to full efficiency across Enhancement techniques handled it, the baseline stat increase absorbing what his physical conditioning couldn't.
As the Flame Impact's push faded and he was about to let Newton's laws bring him back down, Ross hit the rapid-fire A.
[Field Adaptation: 400-Meter Combat Hurdles/Running
Available techniques: Whirlwind Kick, Slide Tackle, Shoulder Charge, Board Cyclone, Board Throw.]
[Whirlwind Kick: derived ability from "400-Meter Combat Hurdles." When airborne, execute one Whirlwind Kick; player briefly sustains airborne state; can attack surrounding targets and actively deflect projectiles; usable once per airborne window.
Cost: 0.5 aura units. (No cost inside a Secret Realm Stage.) Controller: press B to jump, then A or rapid-fire A to attack.]
The Whirlwind Kick's brief air-sustain was the key. It extended the airborne window and kept him off the ground.
Normally, the Whirlwind Kick's air-sustain reached about eight and a half meters of additional distance -- the gap between consecutive hurdles. The Flame Impact's speed boost roughly doubled that to somewhere over fifteen meters. It still ended eventually. He would still have to land.
And then the interesting part arrived.
While the Whirlwind Kick was spinning, Flame Impact's "once per airborne window" restriction simply wasn't there anymore.
And the reverse was also true: Flame Impact reset the Whirlwind Kick's per-window limit.
No time to think through what kind of mechanic interaction this actually was or whether it was intended. Ross worked with it on instinct -- alternating the two short-sustain techniques one after another -- and without quite planning for it, achieved short-range flight entirely through his own doing.
Because he never touched the ground, he barely produced any sound he should have been producing. Kazemaru, following behind, didn't detect anything wrong until the wind-noise arrived, and by the time it did, the combined Flame Whirlwind Kick had already driven into his raised forearms at the full force of something approaching an orthodox technique.
Even behind the defensive cross, his head snapped violently, his mind went blank for a moment, blood pushed out from his nose, and he crashed down to the ground in a spectacular backward tumble.
Kazemaru was built tough. That didn't change the situation.
Ross was, after all, the same person who had explained to two delinquents in thorough detail why you finish the fight while the opponent is down.
The moment the Whirlwind Kick stopped spinning and his body faced Kazemaru again, Flame Impact fired. With the sharp push of acceleration at his back, Ross slammed into Kazemaru's still-disoriented, still-falling form a second time.
Six Flame Impacts at one aura unit each, plus three Whirlwind Kicks at half a unit each: ten minus seven and a half left approximately two and a half units in reserve. Enough for the finish.
Kazemaru was rolling across the ground, dazed. Ross coasted in alongside him, both hands closing on what was left of the ninja outfit, scorched and shredded by fire and friction in equal parts.
In that instant, the runner full of tricks became a judoka with killing intent.
[Field Adaptation: All-Style Judo/Fighting
Available techniques: Shoulder Charge, Jump Kick, Power Suppression, Judo Throw (multiple derivations).]
Kazemaru: no capacity to resist. Power Suppression judgment: success.
Force transferred from Ross's arms and through Kazemaru's entire body, massive and unhurried, lifting him off the ground as if his weight was a non-issue and throwing him into the air.
Ross jumped. Arrived at the same height as the airborne Kazemaru. Right hand raised high. Nen erupted. He drove it down.
All-Style Judo's ultimate throw -- Fireball Spike!
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