Jackie, Jade, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo sat alongside Paco - the boy who had been handing out flyers - as they watched El Toro's championship wrestling match, which he won quickly and easily. They then waited around until the arena was empty, El Toro having requested permission from the manager to use the ring for a private match unrelated to the championship. As it emptied, Apple Bloom and Jade worked on making a mask for Jackie under Sweetie Belle's guidance, so as to give him a good 'masked' identity for the match.
Once everything was ready, Scootaloo took the place of the announcer, clearing her throat. "Today we have quite the match lined up, folks!" she called out from over the ring on Cumulo. "In this corner, we have the reigning champion, El Toro Fuerte!" She paused as Paco let out a loud cheer and El Toro stepped away from his corner. "And in this corner, our favored challenger...El Mono Bailando!"
As Jackie stepped out from his corner wearing a brown and gold mask, Paco's peals of laughter nearly drowning out the others' cheers. "S-Seriously?" he gasped out. "That is your fighting name?"
"Am I missing something?" Jackie asked, confused.
El Toro suppressed his own amusement behind a smirk. "You let one of the girls pick it, didn't you?" he asked consolingly.
"What?" Sweetie Belle demanded irritably. "It suits him and his fighting style! Isn't that how you picked the name El Toro Fuerte?"
El Toro shrugged his shoulders. "Fair enough."(1)
"Now, this won't be a standard match!" Scootaloo called out. "Unlike in a normal wrestling match, any combat technique is allowed here. The only rules are nothing lethal, and nothing below the belt! The fight goes until one of the fighters is knocked out or pinned for 3 seconds by my count, surrenders, or is thrown out of the ring! Are you ready, fighters?!"
"Ready!" El Toro proclaimed quickly, taking his fighting stance.
"You are getting far too into this, Scootaloo," Jackie chided as he took his own stance.
"Round one...FIGHT!" Scootaloo screamed out as Jade rang the bell.
El Toro immediately rushed forward as the Talisman at his brow briefly flared, tried to pin Jackie to the corner pillar of the ring, but Jackie quickly rolled to the side, kicking El Toro in his butt to force him to overbalance forward as he came to his feet. El Toro quickly recovered, now approaching Jackie more slowly as he realized that charging strikes would not catch him off guard.
As El Toro attempted a grapple, Jackie knelt down, ducking under the grab and delivering two quick, powerful jabs to El Toro's gut, briefly winding his foe and letting him dance back out of range of the grapple. El Toro got back upright, taking a few calming breaths as he reassessed the situation. Closing the distance again, he began swiping at his opponent instead for a one armed grab.
Jackie swayed back out of reach of each sweeping grab, watching until El Toro overextended himself and then delivering a swift kick to the open side, aiming at the back of the shoulder, the hip, or the belly with each kick to weaken El Toro's ability to continue fighting. In desperation, El Toro performed a low dive, trying to catch hold of Jackie at his waist, but Jackie leapt into the air, kicking down at the small of El Toro's back with both feet as he leapt out of the way. Although this briefly knocked El Toro prone, Jackie knew he lacked the size or strength to keep El Toro pinned from that position, so he allowed his foe to recover.
As El Toro got to his feet, he began to think about the fight so far. As Sweetie had said, the name chosen for Jackie was highly appropriate, as he danced out of the way of each strike, conserving his own energy while letting El Toro expend his, and striking at vulnerabilities. No matter how El Toro tried to grapple, Jackie would move just out of the way, sometimes mere millimeters between El Toro's fingertips and Jackie's flesh or clothes, before countering.
That 'mere millimeters' thought gave El Toro an idea of how to change the flow of the fight. He could tell there was a great deal of cheering from those watching, but he put it from his mind as he focused. Getting to his feet, he charged Jackie, his left arm outstretched ahead of him. As he'd expected, Jackie swayed to his right, and El Toro brought up his right arm in a wide sweep, managing to wrap it around Jackie's waist in a grapple.
To Jackie's credit, despite his surprise, he didn't go down without a fight. Swinging his leg up, he caught El Toro a firm kick on the kneecap, causing him to drop to the floor on top of Jackie before reaching the edge of the ring. El Toro was forced to release Jackie to get to his feet, but the impact had briefly weakened him, enabling El Toro to get hold of his feet. With a quick swing, El Toro attempted to hurl Jackie from the ring.
Jackie let out a desperate scream as he flew through the air, managing to catch the top rope of the edge of the ring, pulling him back to it and bracing his feet on the outside of the ring. El Toro turned his head to Scootaloo, expecting his victory.
Scootaloo flew over to where Jackie was. "...technically, he has not touched down outside the ring," she pointed out. "So...it's not a ring out."
"Seriously?" Jackie gasped out in surprise.
"You are a challenging opponent!" El Toro called out happily as Jackie threw himself back into the ring. "I have not had this much fun in the ring for a long time!"
"See?" Jade called out, turning towards Paco. "I told you Jackie was grea-WAUGH!"
Hearing that scream, everyone turned to find Tohru holding Paco in the air in one hand, while another enforcer - one they didn't recognize - stood in front of Finn, Chao, and Ratso with a knife to Sweetie's throat.
"The Talisman," Tohru stated firmly, holding out his free hand. His intentions were made quite clear.
Jackie swallowed convulsively as he stared at the scene, knowing he didn't dare take action. El Toro, for his part, stepped forward, knowing debate would be useless against that impassive face. "You will release the children?" he demanded insistently.
Tohru nodded. "One Talisman for two children. A fair deal."
"I have your word on that?" El Toro insisted.
"I swear by the blood of the samurai in my veins," Tohru confirmed. "The moment the Talisman is in my hands, both children will be released unharmed."
Nodding, El Toro reached up to his face.
"El Toro!" Paco called out desperately. "No!"
Grasping his mask, El Toro pulled it off without hesitation. "Take it," he called out, tossing his mask to Tohru, the weight of the Talisman carrying it through the air.
As soon as the mask landed in Tohru's hand, he dropped Paco. Once he'd pulled the Talisman from the mask, Sweetie was released.
Jackie quickly lunged forward, trying to kick the Talisman out of Tohru's hand...but it flashed, and Tohru drove his clenched fist into the floor.
And everything seemed to explode.
(1) For those not using google translate..."El Toro Fuerte" means "the strong bull", and "El Mono Bailando" means "the dancing monkey".
Man, that was a good fight, they should continue it after
El Toro made the right decision.
And, in more google-translate-fu, The title of the next big Far-East Wuxia Action Epic:
Qiángdà de duōtóu tiàowǔ de hóuzi!
...Yeah, I can see it.
Definitely loving El Toro here.
You'd think El Toro had to grapple with terms of Jackie being difficult but he enjoyed himself quite abit huh?
At least Jackie wasn't so thrown aback when facing El Toro.
Guess Tohru decided to... punch it.
Just out of curiosity, wouldn't kicking him in the butt and kicking at the kneecap count as below the belt? Not much of a wrestling aficionado so...
......Did Tohru just use Transformers Animated Lugnut's Punch Of Kill Everything?
Because explosions solve everything.
7412937
In fighting, "below the belt" specifically refers to groin hits.
7412965
And basically, yes.
7413003 Never underestimate the P.O.K.E!
So Jackie broke the rule against hitting below the belt with his first strike?
7413023
'Below the belt' specifically refers to groin hits.
Well, this went way better than canon, I loved the fight and can't wait to see Jackie and El Toro team up against Tohru. Can they do a Fastball Special for extra damage?????
Man, Jackie vs El Toro! Shame it has to get interuppted...
7413068
Unlikely, against a bull empowered foe Jackie does not have the mass or striking power to make the tactic viable, El toro does, but Jackie does not have the strength to preform the tossing part of the maneuver.
Uh-oh.
Tohru used Earthquake! It's super effective!
7413042 Wikipedia shows it differently:
But in a match involving wrestling, one would expect to target areas of the body like the legs.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
7413142 But Jackie is inventive, at the very least he'd grab on and distract Tohru so El Toro could go for a pin or set up a flank.
I thought it was dancing doll actually, but that works too I guess.
Chapter Thirty:
"Aiyah!"
Chapter Count: 0
Total Count: 23
"One More Thing!"
Chapter Count: 0
Total Count: 42
The Dancing Monkey.. ok yea that does fit Jackie's Style, IRL Jackie does use Drunken Style sometimes called Drunken Monkey style (also like 15 other names with a variation of drunk)
Bull.
Tohru.
Toro.
I can't be the only one wanting to bend pronunciation here.
7413560
No idea.
7413824
Well, in series Tohru never used it.
As far as this story, I personally think the Talisman's catalyze the entirety of their wielder's chi towards their natural effect. In essence, with the Ox Talisman, the more chi a person has, the more strength it gives them, further amplified by natural or trained attunement (which El Toro has).
7413867 7413851
And that goes along well with his other headcanon earlier in the story it said that Jade had very high Chi and in the show when she actually got the Ox Talisman and she was the only one that it actually show the visible effect remember T-Girl
7414234
7414260
I'm pretty sure it was season three the one with the masks you know?
7414313
I would tell you what's wrong with your statement but I'm tired and going to bed. goodnight
7413716 "Tohru, Toro. Toro, Tohru. Tohru, Toro. Toro, Tohru. Tohru, Toro. Toro, Tohru. Tohru, Toro. Toro, Tohru..."
7415127
Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda!
I think I actually like this one more than the original episode. well done.
An idea for the next story:
Freedom Planet with Princess Ember?
7415512
One, not enough of a timeline to work with.
Two, story suggestions go on my user page, not on an unrelated story.
7415517 Oh darn! And I thought Pip Squeak being raised by Papa Smurf would be mentioned.
I actually typed Jackie's wrestling name into Google Images; finding Spider Monkies rather than a random assortment of monkies.
It should be "El mono bailador".
El mono bailando means "The monkey dances" but that would explain El Toro finding it funny since is not a correct use of the Spanish language, so just leave it like that.
7415517 My bad
I loved that little nod to Street Fighter II when Scootaloo said "Round One: Fight".
7425351
I was getting a Mortal Kombat vib myself
anypony else read that in the mortal combat announcers voice?
7426485
I did
Try El Mono Bailarin, or El Mono Danzante instead.
7426485 ...Do I get to keep my nerd card if I did?
8148751
7426485
7440246
Same except it was in the MK I voice instead of the modern ones and forever will.
(I'm old fashioned, deal with it)
These days, I immediately think of Vergil's new Hell on Earth move from DMC5.
...I'm 161 chapters too early to say for sure, but I might start keeping up with this story again. I really did love this fic, and I still love these early chapters which, aside from Zecora dropping "fuck" in the first chapter, feel just like Jackie Chan Adventures with the CMC thrown in to make things even better. Maybe it'll turn out that I just needed some time away to cool off and let the story be updated more than once. Rereading Mother X: Father made certain parts a lot better, so maybe what made me give up before will be easier to get through now that I'm not waiting between chapters.
At the moment, I still stand by my comment on chapter 191. If I do decide to read past that point, I'll comment on that chapter replying to the people who initially replied to me and explaining in further detail why I will have decided to continue. And I hope, really, truly hope with a great deal of my heart, that I will choose to keep reading when I get back to that point. And with the rest of my heart, I hope nothing past that point drives me away again. I want to enjoy this story, all the way through.
I hope I don't sound like I think I'm some big deal or anything, I just figured if I'm going to comment at all, I might as well explain why I'm coming back to this story after what I said in that comment two years ago...