CAPCOM VERSUS SNK 2: EAGLE FAQ
-= SAL's guide to scoring under par =-

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NORMAL ATTACKS:
(Note that some of his moves are pretty basic and don't really need 
explaining, so not all of his normal moves are listed here. Just because a 
move isn't listed here doesn't mean it isn't useful though. It likely just 
means it's too simple and straight-forward to be worth explaining in any 
amount of detail. Also note that Eagle has no punches or kicks, per se. All 
of his attacks are made using his escima sticks, with the Kick buttons 
corresponding to low attacks and the Punch buttons to high attacks.)

MEDIUM PUNCH
Hits twice. The first hit can be cancelled into specials. Aims high, so it 
may miss crouching opponents. Good combo starter, though not quite as good 
as the standing Medium Kick.

D + MEDIUM PUNCH
Hits twice. Crouching version of his standing Medium Punch. Fairly good 
range. A fairly useful low attack to use when up close.

MEDIUM KICK
Strikes lower than the Medium Punch, but only hits once. Can still be 
cancelled though. The slightly better range and angle over the Medium Punch 
makes this his best combo starter.

D + MEDIUM KICK
A low poke. Pretty good range and speed. Looks just like the standing Medium 
Kick, but while crouching. Useful when you're too close to use the crouching 
Hard Kick. Can't be cancelled into special attacks, but it can be cancelled 
into his Union Jack Platinum super move.

HARD PUNCH (far)
A very long strike in front of him. Very fast, good damage, and good 
priority too. Use it whenever people get in range for it to whack at them 
from a safe distance. When used in conjunction with his crouching Hard Kick, 
he becomes a real threat as a distance fighter.

HARD PUNCH (close)
A two handed stick strike. Very fast and excellent priority. Doesn't seem to 
be cancellable though, which limits it's usefulness.

D + HARD PUNCH
Upward swing. Good anti-air technique against jumpers, but do it early 
because it's not invincible by any means. You might be trading hits a lot 
with this, but with Eagle's damage rating it should be trading in your 
favor.

HARD PUNCH (while jumping)
A long straight strike with the stick. Good against jumpers, not so good 
against grounded opponents. You should usually use the jumping Hard Kick a 
lot more.

HARD KICK
A double strike angled downward. Doesn't have the range of the Hard Punch, 
but won't miss crouching opponents like the Hard Punch occasionally does. 
Overall it's not useful though, since it can't combo. Just stick with the 
standing Medium Kick instead.

D + HARD KICK
A foot sweep that comes out fast and travels almost half screen. Use it 
whenever the opponent's in range for it. Can occasionally be vulnerable if 
they jump, so mix it up with his standing Hard Punch for a good long-range 
ground game. Easily one of his best normal attacks.

HARD KICK (while jumping)
Downward strike with both sticks. Good to use against grounded opponents. 
Excellent priority and combo starting ability. Somewhat vulnerable to 
jumping attacks, especially if the opponent is above you in the air. This is 
his best jumping attack overall though, so make use of it frequently.

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SPECIAL ATTACKS:

MANCHESTER BLACK - D,DB,B + Punch
Spinning Lariat attack. Counters some high/medium attacks, but is horribly 
vulnerable to low attacks. The button used determines the time he spins and 
the distance he moves forward. Light Punch just spins on the spot for a 
short time, while Hard Punch moves forward a bit and spins longer. Can be 
useful as an anti-air defense against cross-overs, due to it's ability to 
hit behind him as well as in front. Doesn't have all that much use aside 
from this though. Similar to Zangief's Spinning Lariat, but with a little 
less range and no ability to control it's movement once the move starts.

CANTERBURY BLUE - D,DF,F + hold Punch
An excellent but strange move that takes some explaining. There are two 
parts to this move, the wind-up and the strike. The wind-up is immune 
(auto-guards) against certain moves depending on the punch button used. By 
this immunity I mean the opponent's moves will will connect, but they 
register no damage, and Eagle will not react to them in any way. You can 
also hold the punch to slightly increase the delay time on the wind-up 
before he strikes. Using Light Punch will make Eagle immune to jumping 
attacks on the wind-up, and then strike high. Medium Punch makes him immune 
to mid-level attacks, and then strikes straight ahead. Hard Punch gives him 
immunity to low-hitting attacks, and then strikes low. This immunity also 
includes projectiles. The Medium Punch version is immune to normal 
horizontal projectiles, for example, while the Light Punch version nullifies 
air projectiles. Note that the strike part of the move does not have the 
immunity that the wind-up does. For example, while his Light Punch version 
makes him immune to jumping attacks during the wind-up, it is actually 
possible to hit him with a jumping attack during the strike afterwards. The 
strike does a surprisingly large amount of damage though, which is 
comparable to Geese's Atemi-Nage. For further analysis of this move, see the 
COUNTERING section below.

OXFORD RED - B,DB,D,DF,F + Kick
Rushing combo attack. Keeps attacking even if he doesn't connect, often 
leaving him open when it misses. The button used determines the number of 
hits, and the distance and lag time of the leap forward at the beginning of 
the move. Light Kick goes forward the shortest distance and delivers the 
fewest hits, but comes out the fastest. Hard Kick is the reverse, going a 
good distance and doing lots of hits, but also having the biggest lag time 
at the start. A good move to use in combos, but usually not on it's own 
because it leaves you too open if you miss. Make sure you always connect 
with it and you'll be fine. One block defense you sometimes have to worry 
about is counter-rolling. If your opponent is using N-Groove, watch out for 
that. Some characters also have moves that can hit you out of the Oxford Red 
after blocking. This can happen with any button version of the move you use, 
since although this changes the initial lag time before the hits, they all 
have the same lag time afterwards. So it's not a failsafe tactic to be using 
all the time, but overall it's one of his strongest assets, and should play 
a crucial part in your overall offensive strategy.

LIVERPOOL WHITE - D,DB,B + Kick
A leaping overhead dive. Must be blocked high. Can be used as an 
anti-projectile or just to cover distance. Fairly safe coming down, but 
going up it's vulnerable, especially against jumping attacks. The Kick 
button used determines how far he travels. Light Kick travels the least, and 
Hard Kick travels the most, going about half a screen distance forward. 
Similar to Necro's Snake Fang in Street Fighter III, but not quite as safe.

ST.ANDREW GREEN - F,D,DF + Punch
Projectile counter. He absorbs a projectile and sends back his own. The 
incoming projectile must hit the energy arc of the swing for it to 
successfully reflect. The Punch button used determined the trajectory of the 
return projectile. Light Punch sends it straight, Medium sends it a little 
bit upwards, and Hard Punch sends it higher upwards. Similar to Rose's Soul 
Reflect in the Street Fighter Alpha series, minus the ability to absorb 
projectiles into your super bar.

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SUPER MOVES:

MANCHESTER GOLD - D,DB,B,D,DB,B + Punch
Spinning Lariat attack. Super version of the Manchester Black. Makes for a 
good defensive super move. It has a vacuum effect similar to Ryu's 
Shinkuu-Tatsumaki-Senpukyaku, where it can pull an opponent into it and keep 
them there until the move finishes or they die. Can counter jumping attacks, 
but it juggles airborne opponents and won't deliver all the hits. It's main 
strength lies as a counter on the ground. It has tremendous priority, 
especially at the higher levels, effectively sucking in any attackers who 
get into it's range. Makes a great anti-roll technique as well. If an 
opponent rolls at you, just start this up and watch them get helplessly 
sucked into it. The level 3 version adds an extra strike at the end which 
tosses the opponent up and onto his stick (which looks very cool as a 
finishing move).

UNION JACK PLATINUM - D,DF,F,D,DF,F + Punch
Rushing combo attack. Super variation of the Oxford Red. Serves as an 
effective offensive super move. Nothing really too special about it, it's 
basically just an Oxford Red that does more hits and damage. It doesn't dash 
forward as much though, starting the combo out most like the Light Kick 
version of the Oxford Red. Most useful in combos, since like the Oxford Red 
it leaves you totally open when it misses. You can use it to replace the 
Oxford Red in any legitimate combos for it, and can also chain it onto a 
crouching Medium Kick, which the Oxford Red can't even do. Use it in combos 
whenever you can, or to catch opponents if they make a mistake and leave 
themselves open.

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COMBOS:
Eagle's combos aren't extremely long or complicated, just short and sweet. 
He has a lot of cancellable attacks though, and a lot of special moves to 
cancel them into, making a large assortment of variations to use. The only 
special attack that truly combos well is his Oxford Red, but moves like his 
Liverpool White and Canterbury Blue make for good cancellations on blocked 
combos. In fact, since the Oxford Red can leave him open against certain 
characters when blocked, it's good to get into the habit of only cancelling 
into it out of attacks that actually hit, and cancelling into something else 
out of attacks that are blocked. Listed below are his most useful true 
combos and semi-combos. True combos will register all their hits on the 
combo meter, meaning if you connect with the first hit, the others become 
unblockable. The semi-combos are cancellation patterns that don't truly 
combo, but can be very useful to use in his gameplay strategy regardless.

TRUE COMBOS:
MP/MK, Oxford Red (B,DB,D,DF,F + Medium Kick)
D+HP, Oxford Red (B,DB,D,DF,F + Medium Kick)
D+LP, D+LK, Union Jack Platinum (D,DF,F,D,DF,F + Punch)
D+MK, Union Jack Platinum (D,DF,F,D,DF,F + Punch)

SEMI-COMBO CHAIN PATTERNS:
MP/MK, Liverpool White (D,DB,B + Light Kick)
D+LP, D+LK, Liverpool White (D,DB,B + Light Kick)
D+HP, Liverpool White (D,DB,B + Light Kick)
MP/MK, Canterbury Blue (D,DF,F + Punch)
D+LP, D+LK, Canterbury Blue (D,DF,F + Punch)
D+HP, Canterbury Blue (D,DF,F + Punch)

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COUNTERING:
The Canterbury Blue (D,DF,F + Punch) is one of Eagle's strongest assets. 
Learn to use it well and it will improve your gameplay effectiveness 
greatly. For a brief description of the move itself, see the SPECIAL MOVES 
section above. Due to the move's complexity though, I will go over how to 
use it in more detail.

It's probably most easily used as an air counter. If someone jumps in 
normally, do the Light Punch version and hold the button. If they attack 
you'll hear the thud of their move hitting you harmlessly, and that's your 
cue to let go of the button. If they seem to be jumping in without an 
attack, then you can still make the call and let the button go early. This 
will knock them out of the air, or at least force them to block it somehow. 
In any case, if they land before you strike then it's likely to miss by 
going over their head, so you want to let go of the button sometime before 
they touch down.

The Hard Punch version is slightly more tricky, but not overly so. Low 
poking is a common strategy in this game. If you find yourself up against an 
opponent who uses a lot of low poking strategies, just stick this into their 
pattern to mess them up. They'll probably be more than likely to hit the 
wind-up right away in most cases. In fact, in this situation I wouldn't even 
really recommend holding the button down. Even if they don't hit the 
wind-up, three things will typically happen. Number one is that they'll see 
it coming and block. Not a problem because it doesn't really leave you open 
when blocked. Number two is that it manages to hit them out of a move 
cleanly. Don't expect it to happen all the time, but the strike even has 
enough priority to go through some things once in a while. Number three is 
you'll trade hits. Due to Eagle's already generally high damage rating, and 
this move being especially strong, the trade-off usually comes out in your 
favor. All you really have to watch out for is possible super moves here. If 
they pull off a super right away, you're gonna be eating it, since the 
Canterbury Blue is never immune to super moves.

The Medium Punch version isn't used so directly quite as much, but can be 
surprisingly useful and safe some of the time. The strike on this one has 
the most horizontal range of any version, sticking straight out ahead of 
him. Generally this makes it the best random poking tool among the three 
versions of the move. While it can be somewhat harder to use as a direct 
counter than the others, this move is great to throw out as a "cover move" 
after something like the Oxford Red. Typically a good strategy is to just do 
it without holding the button directly after an Oxford Red combo, regardless 
of whether that was blocked or hit. Sometimes people may try using a 
straight move as a counter after this, which will be effectively nullified 
by the wind-up. This strike should just barely reach from the ending 
position after an Oxford Red too, so even if they don't do anything it's a 
free poke.

In ending, just practice with this and you should get the hang of it. It's 
not really that complex, but it can be easily overlooked or forgotten during 
a fight, especially when you're new to playing Eagle. Just remember that the 
Canterbury Blue isn't an invincible move, as alternate attacks can still hit 
the wind-up of any version. A low attack on the Medium Punch version will 
trip you straight out of the wind-up, for example. Also, none of the 
versions of this move are able to counter throws or super moves. So it's not 
to be overused to the point of getting blatently predictable, or it can 
cause you more trouble than good. But you should also try not to forget 
about it in situations where it's appropriate. This move is essentially the 
single strongest asset to Eagle's nearly-unbreakable defense, so it's 
important to really get it down.

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GENERAL STRATEGY:
If Eagle's gameplay style could be described by one word, that word would be 
"blitz". On offense, Eagle can be extremely fast and effective. His hits and 
combos do a lot of damage, and the speed and range on a lot of his moves is 
simply phenomenal. His defense is very technical, but nearly flawless when 
implemented correctly. He has an excellent assortment of special moves 
generally speaking, and two very good supers that are useful for different 
purposes. Overall he can really stand out as a powerhouse in this game, but 
the advanced skill level required in using him properly typically seems to 
turn most players away from him.

GETTING YOUR GROOVE ON:
The first thing you may be wondering is which Groove to choose for him. 
Well, I won't go and say there's any single best Groove for him, because I 
think a lot of this has to do with personal play-style. Using a Groove you 
feel comfortable using him with is more important than any technical reasons 
I could give about their benefits and shortcomings. That said and out of the 
way though, I won't leave you totally hanging with only that cop-out 
statement to go on. From my experience with him, I would say the most 
important Groove-related issue for Eagle is running. Running is a crucial 
part of Eagle's blitzing strategy, and without it he seems to just lose so 
much potential. So unless you're really set on using a Capcom Groove for 
some reason, I would strongly suggest choosing one of the SNK Grooves while 
playing as Eagle. Any SNK Groove will probably be fine, since they all allow 
running. But if you want my personal preference on the matter, I most like 
to use K-Groove with him. Why? Well, K-Groove has several important 
benefits. One of the most obvious is the Just Defend system, the potential 
of which doesn't really need explaining. When talking about benefits to 
Eagle specifically, the Rage mode really jacks up normal attacks. And since 
Eagle relies a lot on using them, he can benefit from that damage increase a 
lot. Another really nice feature is that if Eagle nullifies an attack in the 
wind-up of his Canterbury Blue, it jacks up his Rage bar just as if he got 
hit. This means the Canterbury Blue becomes even more of a bonus to him, 
because not only is it a great counter, but now it's also giving him loads 
of super energy every time it's used successfully. As for what K-Groove is 
missing, you don't really need to roll with Eagle, so I never miss that at 
all. The counters of N-Groove aren't really important with him since you 
have all sorts of better counters anyway, like his Canterbury Blue and Just 
Defend. Not having level 1 or 2 supers isn't a big deal either. Eagle 
doesn't really need to rely on his supers for any specific purpose in his 
strategy, so they're best used at level 3 for maximum priority and damage 
potential anyway. I admit it would be nice to have S-Groove's dodging 
feature, but overall I think K-Groove has enough other benefits over 
S-Groove to more than make up for that. But like I said, it's really up to 
you. The most important thing is to have that run feature, since 
Capcom-style dashing just doesn't cut it with this guy. Everything aside 
from that is more or less an issue of preference. I should also mention here 
that I like to use Eagle on ratio 4, and K-Groove has the most benefits for 
a character going it solo. I won't specifically go into all of those ratio 4 
related benefits here, but suffice to say that if you prefer using Eagle as 
part of a team, you may find yourself getting more use out of one of the 
other Grooves overall.

PROJECTILE PITCH-HITTING:
For dealing with projectiles, learn to use his St.Andrew Green. I'd go to 
say straight out that it's the best projectile counter move in the game. It 
has literally no delay time, and the return projectile comes out quickly, is 
fairly large, travels very fast, and can be angled. The only trick is to 
train yourself to use it instinctively against any incoming projectile 
attacks. And to get a feel for what your opponent is going to do after a 
projectile, so that you can angle the return appropriately. If they like to 
stay on the ground and fire another projectile, a Light Punch St.Andrew 
Green is what you want to do. If they like to jump, then use the Medium or 
Hard Punch depending on how close they are. The Medium Punch version can 
actually hit opponents on the ground if they're close enough, but can 
usually be jumped at that point. Alternatively, at long range the Medium 
Punch angle will go over their head, but will be better at hitting them out 
of the air. Just adjust your angle depending on what they're likely to do. 
If you really don't know, then making a guess usually won't leave you open 
even if you're wrong. I can't even count the number of times I've knocked 
Guile players out of the air with the Hard Punch angled return projectile 
just on a hunch. It shouldn't necessarily be your only projectile defense, 
but make this move your friend and it can really help you out against them.

THE BLITZ:
Eagle's offensive game is one that's fast and furious. Generally speaking, 
about 90% of the time should usually be spent running and attacking with 
this guy. The run is a crucial factor for him for several reasons. For one, 
although Eagle is kind of on the slow side in terms of movement overall, he 
has a very fast running speed. This lets him close distance quickly and 
safely, and increases his overall mobility dramatically. His running jump is 
also a big plus. It takes him far and fast, allowing him to dash-jump over 
projectiles and attack helpless foes with ease. And even when they're not 
specifically vulnerable Eagle's running jump is very hard for opponents to 
deal with. His jumping Hard Kick is an excellent attack to use out of a run, 
allowing him to fly in with a high priority attack at high speed. His 
jumping Hard Kick can trade hits with most anti-air moves, such as Ryu's 
Shoryuken and Guile's Flash Kick, and usually in Eagle's favor for damage. 
And if anything of less priority is used against it, it's likely to slam 
right through and provide you with an easy combo setup to boot. 
Alternatively, you can just run in and attack on the ground rather than the 
air. Running just into range of his foot sweep is an ideal tactic that's 
sure to trip people up. Cancel the run into his D+HK and just let them try 
to anticipate it. Even if they do see it coming there's often not much they 
can do but block. You should still way out of the reach of most characters 
at this range, and even if they roll through your foot sweep you can usually 
recover in time for them to do anything. Going a little further in, you can 
cancel the run into his standing Hard Punch or Medium Kick. The Hard Punch 
can be good in this situation because it's really hard to get around. Again, 
they're often forced to block or get hit. The Medium Kick is an ideal cancel 
for the run as well, with one of the biggest payoffs when it connects. If 
they try to attack it's likely that the Medium Kick will connect cleanly, 
due to the move's amazing priority. And when it does, just cancel it quickly 
into the Oxford Red (B,DB,D,DF,F + Medium Kick) or the Union Jack Platinum 
(D,DF,F,D,DF,F + Punch) for a nice big damaging combo. If the character 
doesn't have anything reliable to hit you out of a blocked Oxford Red with, 
you can even cancel into it out of blocked Medium Kicks to wear down their 
guard bar. One of the best things about running is that you're never really 
left too open while using it. With Eagle you don't have to get right in 
close, so you're usually stopping early to attack just out of other 
characters' reach anyway. If they try to jump or roll at you, you can easily 
cancel the run into a block or defensive move in time. Since a lot of 
Eagle's attacks leave the opponent flying to the other side of the screen, 
running is also important for closing the gap of distance while they're 
down. Eagle's best played at medium range, and running lets him avoid being 
stuck too far away from the opponent.

THE RETURN (VERSUS AIR):
Eagle's offensive game should be your primary concern, but certainly not the 
only concern. Defensively, Eagle is very technical but well-rounded, having 
a counter for just about any situation imaginable. For jumping opponents, he 
has a few main moves to make use of. The crouching Hard Punch has great 
upwards range and is ideal for high jumping characters who like to fly over 
your head. It doesn't have the best priority, but has the best upwards range 
of anything he can do from the ground. Use that range to your advantage, 
doing the move early before the opponent gets into range to attack, and 
there's very little the opponent can do about it. The Canterbury Blue 
(D,DF,F + Light Punch) is obviously a great air counter as well. This is his 
safest move for use against jumpers overall. The key is to make sure the 
opponent's jumping trajectory will fall along the angle of the move's 
strike. This way, if the opponent attacks you can use the wind-up to absorb 
it, and even if they don't you can still hit them with the strike. The only 
time this is really ever ineffective as an air counter is in a situation 
where they're in a position where the strike just won't hit them at all. So 
basically, just watch out for weird angled jumps that will avoid the strike. 
One such jump would be the cross-up. If an opponent jumps over you and tries 
to hit you from behind, the Manchester Black (D,DB,B + Punch) is probably 
your best bet. The different Punch buttons can be used to adjust your 
position to match where the opponent will land. The key is to get them 
behind you, not on top of you. For this the Hard Punch version of the move 
can come in handy, to move you forward slightly and hit them cleanly with 
the back swing. If they're already landing behind you, then you may want the 
Medium or Light Punch version so you don't move too far away. Remember 
during the Manchester Black Eagle's head is still vulnerable, so you want to 
try to make them land behind you on your arms, not on top of you on your 
head. Finally, if they're jumping some distance away, out of range of all of 
these attacks, you can swing the standing Hard Punch and hit opponents out 
of the air from quite a distance away. It should basically only be used when 
they're not even close enough to hit you with anything out of their jump. 
While each of the moves listed here has limitations on their own, when 
combined they can effectively take care of all his anti-air needs. Instead 
of having just one dominant anti-air attacks, he essentially has four 
seperate moves that each excel in different circumstances. Taking all these 
moves into account Eagle's air defense is superb, but the trick is in 
learning to make use of all of them accordingly.

THE RETURN (VERSUS GROUND):
Ground defense is typically dealt with by his high priority poking and 
offensive blitz, but there are a few points to bring up here. Against 
rollers, you can do several things. Number one thing to keep in mind is that 
like most of his other moves, Eagle's throws (F+HP/HK when close) have very 
good range, priority, and speed. I don't encourage people to throw too much, 
but I do think it's useful to get in the habit of instinctively throwing 
rollers in particular. You can also use moves like his standing or crouching 
Medium attacks. They pretty much all have good priority, and stick out for a 
little bit so tagging people out of rolls with them tends to be pretty easy. 
These allow you to go into a quick combo if you're fast enough too. Finally, 
you can just start up a Manchester Gold (D,DB,B,D,DB,B + Punch) and watch 
them get helplessly sucked into it out of their roll. Great fun with the 
level 3 version in particular. Also worth mentioning, there are a few 
characters Eagle's offense doesn't work so well on, and he occasionally has 
to take a little more defensive appoach to. Luckily, the range and speed of 
his moves makes him as good at the block-and-counter techniques as anyone in 
this game. He can block Blanka's rolls and hit him out of it with a standing 
Hard Punch, for instance. He can counter pretty much any attempted foot 
sweep by blocking and then using his own long-range sweep. Anything that's 
too fast and risky to counter directly with his Canterbury Blue can 
typically be dealt with in some way after a block. Use moves like his 
crouching Hard Kick, standing Hard Punch, and Canterbury Blue to keep 
opponents at bay. When in close, use his combos and semi-combos (see COMBO 
section above) to stay on the offensive. Using a pattern like cancelling his 
crouching Light attacks into a Liverpool White (D,DB,B + Kick) can be very 
useful for confusing an opponent up close. Or if you think you can predict 
an attack that's coming, just use the Canterbury Blue. Opponents usually 
think twice about playing an offensive ground game against Eagle after being 
knocked back by that a few times.

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To "wind-up" this FAQ, remember the main points about Eagle. His aggressive 
blitz style of play makes him a primarily very active offensive character. 
His ability to simply overwhelm most characters with a constant barrare of 
well-used attacks is amazing. Add to that a rock-solid technical defense and 
you've got one impressive character on your hands. The skill required to 
play him properly is definately well above average though. He has a large 
assortment of complicated and unusual attacks that first have to be figured 
out on their own, but then you also have to learn put them together like a 
jigsaw puzzle, with each move filling an improtant cooperative role in his 
overall gameplay style. Don't feel discouraged if you find yourself somewhat 
lost when starting out trying to learn him though. Eagle can take a good 
deal of practice to master, but if you hang in there with him it can really 
pay off.

See you at the arcades, Eagle fans... "The show must go on!" :)

email me at: bitoku_no_kishi@hotmail.com

