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(Here's a peek-a-boo guard tucked low. Because of the way the hands are placed, it's very easy to simply slide them up and cover up through the top of your head. Mike Tyson and gentleman world champion Floyd Patterson used peek-a-boo stance, but I'd rather Mooo didn't use it as it kinda limits his options. I'll edit the entire section about the apparetly fictional third strike and then it's your post.)

(It'll ******** up the pages if we get rid of all the OOC now. Since it's related to the match, I think we can leave it here. By the way, it's all edited and it's your post now.)

Mooo rolling up into tight upright stance would usually be followed by him shifting his weight to figure out which way to go--only this time, he didn't have that option. Blade's foot came driving out toward him, this time using an actual combat-effective attack, or so it seemed.

Mooo had already started sliding forward as he saw Blade pivoting on his base leg--a spin kick was coming, that much was for certain, but in that chambered state it could be pulled back and turned into one of several different types of kicks. To prepare against that, Mooo shifted slightly to his right as he dove in, keeping himself low to the ground, head tucked down as he passed under the kick, his mind too focused to take real note of the buzz of energy above him as it passed.

At this point, Mooo was at the deadest of dead angles--ducked in very low, under the height of Blade's kick, his shoulder aimed to simply bump Blade in the groin and the thigh of his base leg, not actually hitting him, but simply intending to shove him over. Even if he jumped from that and managed to throw another kick, the height at which he'd be able to properly execute it would allow Mooo to just step in again and shove, and this time there would be nothing to push off of in mid-air.

Blade's kick drove hard up the inside of Mooo's left guard, Mooo's head tilting to his right as he just barely avoided taking a foot in the chin. Mooo continued pressing forward, but paused momentarily as the sudden crack of another explosion launched Blade backward--Mooo instinctively jumped at that, but his jump, powered inadvertently by the greaves, forced him maybe two feet into the air--a blast of air from the outlets at the heels and ankles of the greaves propelled him toward Blade, not keeping the distance he was hoping to keep, but remaining maybe a foot out of arms' reach.

Landing again in tight upright stance and following with the momentum he still had, Mooo dashed forward again, this time using the greaves to increase his dashing speed, the ground practically exploding behind him as he tightened his guard, wary of Blade's weapons and watching his opponent's shoulders for signs as to what his next attack might be.

To Mooo's knowledge, Blade had not been at ground zero when Mooo had punched that explosion. Therefore, he would not know anything about the shapechanging abilities of the gauntlets and greaves--and thus could not be prepared for what Gladius Install was completely capable of.

In a way, Mooo was getting to a point where he was getting sick of all this bullshit running around and was about two seconds away from starting the steps for Final Evolution--but he maintained self-control and decided against it, still holding to the fact that his opponent would fold like a card table the second he actually took even a glancing blow.

Mooo certainly did trip on the precisely-placed bar of energy that he couldn't have been prepared for--but the greaves did their work well, as the topsole piece on his right greave that connected with the energy detached, Mooo hopping over whatever had tripped him and stumbling forward onto his left leg, the shinpiece of the right greave sliding down a bit to cover his topsole halfway, the kneeguard concaving, then splitting in two and covering up the spot of the greave's base material that the shinguard had exposed.

As Mooo landed on his left leg, the left greave came to life as well, the anklepieces fanning out, his foot lifting onto its toes as the heel split in half--the same process happening a moment later to the right greave. In turn, Mooo's gauntlets changed shape as well, the topguards folding in to cover less of Mooo's forearms, the vents on the sides sprouting out more obviously, now leaking energy as the knuckledusters shifted down onto the points of impact on the gauntlets' "fists." Tensing his left leg, Mooo gave a slight push off the toes of his left foot--but in this case, it would be like giving the accelerator of a Mustang a slight push.

Mooo was off like a shot, the ground less than an inch behind where his left leg was placed exploding in a cloud of dust and debris. His guard was lower than usual, but he was heading in southpaw, his dominant side forward to take advantage of the fact that the arm and leg that would be facing Blade would be the side with finer motor control and reaction speed. From the takeoff, Mooo would be able to cross forty yards in about two and a half seconds--double what the fastest sprinters on Earth could achieve, his hair whipping in his face, the dry heat only now starting to be noticed by him. Having been in slugfests that could at times rage on for hours, Mooo was used to fighting dehydrated--and he trained accordingly. The heat wouldn't matter too much--for now.

Of course, there was always the matter of the quick-fix in his Final Evolution, but Mooo was also worried about the amount of collateral damage that might cause. No matter--Blade was still proving himself as a fleet-footed glass jaw with lacking melee skill. No matter the amount of power he had, Mooo would continue to press in, until Blade took the one hit that Mooo would need to drop his poncey a**.

Finally!

...even if he was rushing in with his sword still held in a reverse-grip, the right hand holding the weapon held backside, ready for another wide, telegraphed swing.

Two people infighting usually had the same problem--their heads bashing together on the initial charge--but as Mooo consistently trained for forcing fights into his own pace, he was used to the general flow of close combat. His opponent, used to seeing broad, powerful swings, was more than likely going to either duck-and-tuck and gut him, or do a stop-counter to try and go for a joint. Either common-sense strategy relied on Mooo colliding forehead to forehead with Blade, which seemed like an okay solution, but Mooo knew better than that.

The skull was a solid block of bone, and to do a truly effective headbutt, one would generally be encouraged to target the nose, which was only a mass of cartilage with a little base of bone, or the mouth, which could very easily turn into a fountain of blood and broken teeth with a single strike.

Oh yeah, several other good targets for a headbutt: the groin, for obvious reasons, the clavicle, which would break under minute pressure, and the target Mooo had in mind--the sternum.

It wasn't so much a headbutt as a bull-charge, Mooo's head lowering so the top of his head would smash solidly into Blade's sternum, so the lowering of Mooo's guard became apparent--should the top of his head ram into Blade, Mooo's shoulders would torque his arms into doubling up, launching a pair of fast, short uppercuts aimed for the top of Blade's abdominal muscles, actually intending to strike the diaphragm.

A note: Mooo's gauntlets, working in tandem with a properly-executed punch, and working at about 90% of Gladius Install's total destructive power, had previously negated a sizable explosion simply by punching it. As these were arm punches, which utilized about 15-25% of that total strength, they'd be very easy to stop should there be any movement of Blade's upper body, thus setting Blade up for a counter. In addition to that, by Mooo keeping the top of his head pressed against Blade's sternum even after the supposed impact, he would be able to respond quickly to those movements, possibly even faster due to the speed the greaves gave him.