A Learning Experience (Open)

Mokujin – the bizarre tree that came to life to defeat the evil of this world. But without any fighting abilities, he can’t achieve that goal. By fighting others, he learns their skills in seconds, and that was what he was here to do. What better place to do this than the Shadow Coliseum fighting club!?

Pushing open the door, the humanoid tree wandered into the club to see a gathering of people all in a circle around two in the centre, battling it out for a chance to prove themselves. The entire crowd were cheering on their favourite combatant, a lot of them with a few notes in their hands, presumably money that they intended on betting on the next match. As Mokujin entered though, a few of them that noticed stopped their cheering and turned their heads to stare at the animated tree in confusion, yet amazement at the same time. It wasn’t exactly an everyday occurrence. Feeling a little uncomfortable, Mokujin just looked round at those that were watching him, it didn’t bother him too much though, it seemed to happen all the time…

One man stood upon a crate, getting himself above the others so that he could be seen. This commentator and referee combo called out to the fans, his voice drowning out all others with the microphone to his lips.

“And the winner is… ”

The crowd roared as a body fell in a heap on the solid concrete floor, money was passed from hand to hand amongst the raging spectators. All of a sudden the noise became a still silence with the entrance of a walking block of wood. The referee ignored the tree man and stood up on a crate, above the mob he held a microphone,

“And the winner is…Yosh…Yoshi…That wired guy with the sword!”

He then moved the microphone from his mouth and turned to a large man at his side

“Surely this guy is cheating using that sword,”

“Why don’t you tell him to put it away then?”

“Why don’t you?!”

“Fair point…”

Yoshimitsu stood in the centre of the room; he stared over at Mokujin, his green eyes level with Mokujin’s glowing orange eyes.

“Senzai ichiguu!”
(A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!)

Yoshimitsu had seen this creature before in the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 and 5, its fighting style was based on mimicry and cloning the moves of others, but he had never had the honour to engage him in battle. Yoshimitsu then gestured to Mokujin to get into the middle of the room with him to fight…

'Senzai ichiguu' - a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; the same could be said about Yoshimitsu, it isn't often that you get to challenge the leader of the Manji Ninja Clan. Although Mokujin knew exactly what Yoshimitsu was saying, he was incapable of making any kind of understandable response, not verbally anyway...

"Who dares to step into the ring against this swordsman after that display of strength?

The ref called out, trying to convince someone else to challenge the current champion. The crowd all seemed to look to either side of them, waiting for someone else to enter the centre, some trying to shove others in so they didn't have to. But it all stopped after a short time, as Mokujin paced forward, accepting Yoshimitsu's challenge.

The room fell silent again, as these two misfits stood in the middle of the fight club, staring at one another. Mokujin stood up-right, straight back and arms by his side. He just stood completely still, simply observing his opponent. He didn't enter a fighting stance, yet, he was ready to begin. The commentator/referee wasn't sure what to expect from this match-up, but began the fight anyway;

"Ready... Fight!

The larger man then walked around the edge of the circle, on the inside, taking money off of the crowd as they placed bets on the fighters. It seemed that as he put money in either side pocket corresponding to each fighter, the betting was particularly one-sided. But, let's be fair, a ninja with a sword or a block of wood? Yoshimitsu would be the obvious choice. Especially since Mokujin still remained immobile after the call for the battle to begin...

With Mokujin stepping into the arena with Yoshimitsu the crowd watched on with anticipation, no one knew what was going to happen next as the tree stood motionless. Yoshimitsu then turned his body side on to his opponent with his left side facing him, his sword in his left hand and his right arm in front of his chest with an open hand near his face. His body then swayed back and forth a little keeping loose and ready for his opponent; but it seemed that Mokujin wasn’t going to move, perhaps he hadn’t chosen his fighting style…or had forgotten them all…it was said that Mokujin was awakened by evil and once it was defeated he would return to his slumber, maybe after each time he fell into his sleep his memory was reset of all the fighting styles he had learnt. This meant that Yoshimitsu was at an advantage, Mokujin had no fighting style, and the only one he would get would be Yoshimitsu’s; he would know every move Mokujin would use.

Lunging towards his wooden opponent Yoshimitsu lifted his right leg, turning his hips as he did his back leg then became his front leg. As his hips turned his leg bent at the knee and was brought up to his chest, he then positioned his foot in front of Mokujin’s torso before slamming it into the block of wood. His leg then fully extended hopefully knocking Mokujin flying backwards. This was a quick yet powerful attack using the sheer momentum and force of his body weight and coiled leg. After the attack Yoshimitsu landed with his right foot forward, not being used to it he quickly turned his body back so that he was back in his usual fighting style.

As Yoshimitsu took his fighting position, Mokujin's eyes just flashed before returning to their usual glow. Still, he remained motionless, like a real tree. Just how was he planning on winning this fight by standing there...?

Suddenly, the crowd let out a simultaneous cheer as Yoshimitsu turned side-on and powered a rapid kick into Mokujin's chest. He simply stood there like a punch bag! Without even a flinch, he took the strike to the chest and fell to the floor, sliding across the ground and knocking up dust. With no more than a laugh at Mokujin, one of the Shadow Coliseum fans grabbed the humaniod tree under the 'arms' and pulled him back to his feet before pushing him a step forward back into the circle.

"Come on, move you stupid block o'wood!"

Called one of the crowd members as he threw an empty can at Mokujin. Although it wasn't actually that guy's provoking that got him going, Mokujin did begin to move immediately after. His arms raised up and his head began to spin round, and after a couple of roatations, Mokujin assumed a fighting stance. But not just any fighting stance - Yoshimitsu's. He mimicked the stance perfectly, in fact, a wooden sword seemed to slide up from his metal ball of a hand. How he made that, or even how he holds it is a mystery, but that had made the crowd wonder what was going to happen next...

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Fighting Style Learned: Yoshimtsu
- Stance w/ sword (unuseable)
- Basic kicks

Mokujin was knocked back and onto the ground as Yoshimitsu had expected from his powerful thrusting kick. He was then aided to his feet by a crowd member before being shoved back into the middle of the horde. The tree then stopped and placed both feet together before spreading its arms out stood in a cross shape, his head then began to turn round. As it rotated the crowd silenced and Yoshimitsu stepped back. Mokujin then moved again, stepping into Yoshimitsu’s fighting stance including a wooden sword that extended from his metal ball on his left arm.

Watching with amazement as the tree mimicked his fighting style, Yoshimitsu then spun round quickly 360 degrees before bringing his leg up at head height towards Mokujin’s wooden face. He then spun again doing the same kick, then a third time with a more powerful kick trying to this time knock Mokujin off its feet again. As he stopped spinning Yoshimitsu then dropped down to the floor with his legs crossed, he then put his hands on his knees and his sword sat in his lap still in his left hand. This was Yoshimitsu’s Meditation stance, although it looked useless and left Yoshimitsu unguarded, from that position he could do a number of techniques that would confuse the opponent and give him a quick sneak attack from behind, the sides, above, or even bellow…

With a fighting stlye now in use, Mokujin could begin to move and function properly. So, when Yoshimitsu spun round with his first kick, Mokujin pulled his arms up to defend the blow from his face. With each of the three kicks striking his guard, Mokujin took a small step back to absorb the impact, because if he hadn't, he wouldn't have been able to keep his guard up or even stay on his feet.

Following this, Mokujin was about to kick back in a counter-attack attempt, but his opponent fell into a sitting position. What was with that? What was that supposed to achieve? Although it seemed useless at the time, Mokujin took note of this 'stance'. In fact, it appeared that he thought that it'd be worth doing now. How he planned his strategies would be impossible to understand, I don't think Mokujin knew what he was doing. The mimic must not have had a good enough understanding of Yoshimitsu's techniques to plan out a good fighting strategy just yet, so kept to copying him for now.

This left both Yoshimitsu and Mokujin sat on the floor looking at one another, the crowd not sure what to make of the situation. Maybe they thought they were taking a break, or maybe they were waiting for something impressive to happen. Either way, Mokujin knew just as much as them what he was going to do next... Absolutely no idea...

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Fighting Style Upgraded: Yoshimtsu
- Stance w/ sword (unuseable)
- Basic kicks
- Meditation

Sat on the ground, Yoshimitsu stared up at Mokujin after defending all three of his kicks. Watching him Mokujin moved to kick but stopped after noticing that Yoshimitsu had dropped to the floor. The tree then copied this too, sat exactly the same opposite Yoshimitsu. Staring at each other neither one of them moved and the sounds of the roaring crowd began to fade into nothingness followed by a weak and muffled cough,

“What the hell!? DO SOMETHIN’ YOU PAIR OF FREAKS!”

An angry spectator yelled then threw a can into the middle of the arena, it bounced of Yoshimitsu’s shoulder, but he didn’t react; he simply continued to stare his opponent in the eyes. Neither of them moved a muscle.

Yoshimitsu then quickly moved forward into a roll and propelled his feet towards Mokujin’s face, trying to knock the animated block of wood into the air. After the forceful kick Yoshimitsu pulled his feet back tucked into his body and continuing his roll. Placing his feet on the ground Yoshimitsu then stands up and leaps backwards with his hands landing on the ground and his legs flipping round trying to hit Mokujin again, or for a first time if he had managed to evade the first attack. Crouched after his flip Yoshimitsu looked on with anticipation of Mokujin’s torso smashing into the solid concrete floor. This move would surely get the crowd going again even if it didn’t hit…

The crowd shouting things at them didn't affect Mokujin in the slightest, he didn't care what they thought. This fight was between him and Yoshimitsu. It would be those two that set the pace or the fight, not the fans. But, it appeared that Yoshimitsu wanted to speed things up anyway, to Mokujin's delight, I might add. After all, he can't learn a thing if his opponent just sits there. What good's that...?

But, with Yoshimitsu rolling forward with a powerful thrust of both feet, Mokujin had little time to do anything other than pull his arm over his face to protect himself as much as possible. Though, with the power behind the kick, it hadn't stopped him being launched into the air. Letting the momentum guide him, Mokujin allowed his wooden body to flip round backwards until he was horizontal to the ground. Suddenly, his eyes flashed bright as he saw the ninja's follow-up move coming towards him. Mokujin had already taken enough of a beating so far; a quick counter-attack was needed this time!

As Yoshimitsu's legs came up to kick Mokujin, the animated tree extended it's arms to grab hold of his opponent's ankles. Not only would this prevent the kick before he got full swing, but would allow for a stunning athletic counter. After grabbing his legs, Mokujin tugged in an attempt to pull Yoshimitsu beneath him so that, hopefully, he would be beneath Mokujin when he laneded his backflip with a heavy landing on Yoshimtsu's gut...

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Fighting Style Upgraded: Yoshimtsu
- Stance w/ sword (unuseable)
- Advanced kicks
- Meditation
- Athletics