Description: Neo League brings together Lita Luwanda and Gertrude Verhangnis to fight at the Great Wall of China. To this date, whenever Lita had made an appearance, she brought her sword with her but never made a move to use it. Is it for show or does she actually know how to use it? These two tall, fierce fighting, women push each other to the limit. [Winner: Lita]
The beating that Urien gave her had put Gertrude out for the count, that's for sure. Thankfully, between the woman's natural fighter toughness and the medical treatment offered by the Neo League (Thank YOU Mister Mishima!) she's back on her feet soon enough, and she's got a few hundred dollars in her pocket!
Now we find her here, as the sun starts to set behind the Great Wall of China. The young woman whistles faintly at the sheer scale of it, and puts her hands on her hips. Her bike is propped up against the wall, and she looks pretty impressed ... with the cameras setting up to capture the second bout.
"You've got to admit, they really did know their stuff." She says, to nobody in particular. "... Yeah, I hope it goes better than the last one. Its hard to see how it could go worse. But, you learn from you losses, right? Nothing BROKEN, at least. Hahah, hah."
Lita for her part was once again told to take a break from training the Delta Reds. When she originally balk at having to 'take a leave' A folder with a plane ticket, and picture of her next opponent was slid across the table to her and comprehension set in. Assured that the trainees were in good hands, she finds herself on a plane to China.
When her ride drops her off, she steps out of the car, goes to the trunk and pulls out a giant sword and straps it to her back before continuing on towards the area cordoned off for the fight.
Where Lita's previous fight, she had plenty of video to study in preparation, this particular one had very little fight footage available and what little was available was inconclusive. She gives a nod to her opponent and says with light tone and an easy going smile. "I suppose this is where start getting ready for this bout. Let the best woman win."
Gertrude raises an eyebrow when she sees the woman step out of the car and strap on a huge sword. "Hm. A zweihander?" She muses, "Ah, well. I suppose it was too much to hope for that I might have an easy ride after the hard one!" Clapping her hands together, the tall woman - though not THAT much taller than Lita - straightens herself up, and cracks her neck before she falls into her stance - arms raised in front, feet spread far apart.
FIGHT!
There's no hesitation in her. The moment that permission is given for the fight to start, Gertrude's eyes meet Lita's, and she gives a small smile, a nod... and leaps into action! Springing forwards, she stays low to the ground, but her arm swings up over her head, and she aims to crash her palm right into Lita's shoulder - she doesn't want to give the woman time to get comfortable with that giant sword of hers!
COMBATSYS: Gertrude has started a fight here.
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Gertrude 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Lita has joined the fight here.
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Lita 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Gertrude
COMBATSYS: Lita blocks Gertrude's Sublime Comet.
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Lita 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Gertrude
The thing is when Lita takes her stance, she doesn't go for her sword. In fact her stance has more in common with boxing or some type of military combative than an actual sword fighting style. In addition, it looks as though she's fairly comfortable not reaching for her sword.
The referee gives the word to start and Gertrude is immediately closing the distance with a palm strike to her shoulder and she moves forward as she wards the palm strike off with an elbow block to turn the attack to the side.
She thenshoots her hands towards the neck and wrapping them around in a muay thai styled clinch. She then squeezes her forearms together to apply pressure on the sides of the neck as she performs a few knee strikes before twisting to swing Gertrude away from her.
COMBATSYS: Gertrude dodges Lita's Random Combo.
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Lita 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Gertrude
Surprisingly quick on her feet for someone of her size, Gertrude keeps moving after her attack is deflected, and uses the momentum to slide herself around Lita's left hand side. The wall is constantly kept in mind; being pinned up against it seems like a terrible idea, but in her last fight, she'd overthought it. This time, she wants to try and just go with the flow.
Reaching out herself, Gertrude aims to grab the soldier by the shoulders, and then really put her shoulder into the motion, hoping to bring Lita up over her head in a backwards roll - and release her towards the ancient stone wall. The other fighter won't give her much breathing room even if it all goes exactly according to plan, though - Lita will find Gert bearing down on her like a woman possessed!
COMBATSYS: Gertrude successfully hits Lita with Tomoe Nage.
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Lita 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Gertrude
The Delta Red melee specialist is grabbed by her shoulders and is well versed enough in the techniques grappling to know exactly what Gertrude is attempting to achieve. She tries to perform damage control by shifting her weight around so she lands on her feet but there's something to be said for excellent technique. Lita goes up and over and lands on her back while the sword makes a clattering sound on the ground.
The Lieutenant scrambles back up to her feet and returns to her stance taking a moment to readjust her stance and then she's on the move again, lashing out a hand as she attempts to grab a hold of Gertrude's arm and then wrench her down to the ground face first and then attempting to apply pressure on the joint lock.
"I must say, that wasn't bad."
Lita has to respect her technique now or else she's going to lose.
COMBATSYS: Lita successfully hits Gertrude with Close Quarters Catch.
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Lita 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Gertrude
Gertrude is faintly surprised to find herself being taken down to the ground. She tries to force her way out of it roughly, but that doesn't work, and soon her cheek is pressing into the dirt as Lita employs more force to pull against her shoulder. "Nnngh... /thanks/." She hisses, and, when she does finally manage to wrench herself free of the grip, the German woman looks a lot less ... aggressive.
She's scrutinizing Lita more closely now. She can't help it. This already feels like a much more pleasant fight, and she's yet to see Lita even move to draw the blade... which is definitely NOT what she'd expected! One hand adjusts her (newly repaired, thank you Mr. Mishima) glasses to peer at Lita as she backs off a step.
"I was figuring you'd be trying to lop my head off by now." She says, in a tone which is only half-joking, "I wonder, is that thing just for mind games? It is effective, I'll give you that!"
COMBATSYS: Gertrude calculates her next move.
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Lita 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Gertrude
Is it a mind game? Or sheer cockiness? Is she keeping it aside as her ace in the hole? Lita hadn't even moved to draw her sword in her previous Neo League fight. For whatever reason, the sword has stayed latched to her back.
To her surprise, the British fighter doesn't receive an attack from the German so she takes a moment to take stock of her situation and smiles.
"I'm not going to lie. I've been wondering when someone would call me on that." Besides the media... of course. "I just didn't feel it was the right time." Her lips curl into a smirk as her fists go into motion delivering a few rapid fire jabs as she circles around in an attempt to get positioning.
COMBATSYS: Gertrude dodges Lita's Quick Strike.
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Lita 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Gertrude
"I see..." Gertrude muses, watching Lita very carefully as the woman cycles around her. Each punch is met with a shift - just enough to move her out of the way, as the German woman considers this revelation. It is fascinating. Urien had seemed overwhelmingly eager to show her everything he had - Lita wants to hold something back... she can definitely respect that.
"I suppose we all have our secrets, yes?"
Just as Lita starts to really get where she wants to be, that's when Gertrude seizes the moment. Suddenly, Gertrude pivots, and brings her left leg around to try and crash into the side of Lita's head. If she succeeds, she'll snap her leg back and, leaping around, bring her right foot up to catch her opponent on the return swing!
COMBATSYS: Gertrude successfully hits Lita with Double Spin Heel EX.
- Power hit! -
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Lita 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Gertrude
Lita had been having trouble for pretty much the whole fight getting into what would be ideal positioning for putting her opponent on the defensive or drawing out mistakes. She's at the point where she figures that she's going to have to create her own openings. So she moves into the that first kick. Take one hit to give a better one of her own. One problem. That first kick lands perfectly on her chin making her vision swim for a moment before that second kick comes in and rocks her.
The Lieutenant's balance is upset as she stumbles backwards. She wobbles and then blinks away the cobwebs before returning to her stance. She's desperate to give herself some breathing room and she reaches down to those kunai strapped to her leg and flings them out towards the German while she attempts to play for time and get herself together.
COMBATSYS: Gertrude blocks Lita's Kunai Spread.
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Lita 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Gertrude
Gertrude is having a tough time predicting her opponent's strategy, too! When the kunai are hurled at her, she raises both her arms over her body to shelter herself as much as she can. Still, the sharpened blades cut at her, and she grunts with vague annoyance. She should have expected that the woman would use her weapons eventually; she just hadn't seen it coming in that position!
Dashing back in as quick as she can, though, Gertrude does her best to keep the pressure on. "Very sneaky!" She says, though there's absolutely no malice in her voice with it - more a compliment, if anything. "You must've trained a lot to have so many options!"
She is hoping that the soldier is dazed enough, though, that she can carry off a more brutal and direct assault of her own. If she can close up fast enough, she'll sweep the woman's legs out from under her with a heavy kick - and bring her elbow down sharply to propel her into the ground with enough force to bounce her back up into the air.
COMBATSYS: Lita interrupts Rebound Grapple from Gertrude with Rising Slash.
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Lita 1/-----==/=======|=======\=------\1 Gertrude
And as Gertrude closes in, Lita begins to reach for her sword's quick release latch. She's coming in too fast to prevent the sweep from dropping her down to the ground, she has enough awareness to roll before Gertrude leaps upward.
She hits the quick release latch just as the German fighter takes to the air and as she descends elbow first upon her, Lita leaps up to meet Gertrude with a rising slash of the huge sword.
She finally touches the ground and takes her stance that seems more natural to her but only slightly so. "Now, was the right time."
Gertrude may just have to check the video replay of that moment when the fight is over, because she's not exactly sure what happened; just that it hurt. A lot. She hits the ground hard, and she has to roll back up to her feet - to find that the front of her jacket has a neat slice diagonally across it. Damnit. Neo League is proving to be a real tax on her wardrobe.
"I suppose I should take that as a compliment." She says, bringing her hand, briefly, to her stomach. "But I would have preferred not to have it!" She laughs, a soft smile...
And then she's taking to the air again. That had been a very unpleasant experience... but she can see Lita has the sword in hand, now. This time, her hand leads the way in a powerful downwards chop - aiming for the side of Lita's neck at an angle she hopes the sword won't be able to intercept so easily!
COMBATSYS: Lita parries Gertrude's Utopian Crusher!
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Lita 1/----===/=======|=======\=------\1 Gertrude
Lita's steps forward and at angle as she gently brushes aside the chop with the flat of the blade with way more command of the weapon than one would expect of a wielder with a weapon that size. She finally has the positioning that she wants. Or at the very least, she thinks she does.
She looks at the wound on the stomach but then nods. It seems like Gertrude could take the damage from the weapon. Less than an instant is needed for Lita to decide upon her next course of action. She charges into Gertrude, shoulder first in an attempt to upset her balance and push her around. The follow up will be much more vicious. She goes into a spin giving that sword swing as slashes once, then spins into another powerful slash, and then follows up with a final spin into one last slash.
COMBATSYS: Gertrude blocks Lita's Bum's Rush EX.
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Lita 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Gertrude
"... What!" Gertrude exclaims with open shock in her voice as the sword turns away her hand. The German woman recovers quickly, though. Her jaw clenches tight and she snaps out an angry, "I can SEE that!" Which... might just be a bit puzzling, but it seems to work for her.
Because she manages to spin on her heel as Lita returns to the offensive, and the shoulder is met by a strong guard of her own. She stands firm, refusing to let herself be moved, and when the sword comes into play, she brings her forearms up to meet it, smashing into the weapon with a ringing of steel. It STILL hurts, a lot. The German woman is forced to give up some ground, but when the final spin comes in, she kicks upwards and sends the blade bouncing away.
She's actually breathing hard by the end of it. The impressive defensive display obviously did not come cheaply, and the German woman's composure is starting to crack a little bit, "You know, I think I liked it more when we were throwing each other around!" She huffs.
And, somewhat winded from the effort, she attempts to just grab Lita by the front of her uniform, and roll her into the dirt with a harsh downwards wrench.
COMBATSYS: Lita blocks Gertrude's Quick Throw.
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Lita 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Gertrude
"Ahh... 'Tis the price of earning my respect," Lita says playfully a sort of impish smirk appearing on her face.
And that is the point where Gertrude gets her hands to throw her down to the ground. Lita is forced to react quickly planting the blade flat on the ground as goes into a handspring to keep herself from hitting the ground face first and she flips up and over picking up her sword in the process.
She dashes back in towards Gertrude before skidding along the ground and using the forward momentum generated by the dash to thrust the blade into the German woman's stomach. "But to be fair, you did ask about the sword."
COMBATSYS: Gertrude interrupts Heavy Strike from Lita with Rising Knuckle.
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Lita 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Gertrude
Gertrude nods her head faintly... it is a fair point, she DID ask about the sword, and it is oddly reassuring to know that Lita can actually use it, even if the fact that she can is also proving frustratingly painful. Her fingers curl into a fist as Lita comes running in a second time...
The sword stabs hard into her side as she turns into the blow, and Gertrude grunts... but she doesn't stop. Twisting, she brings her knuckles up in a powerful rising uppercut, slamming her fist right into Lita's jaw as she does, and when she's finished... she concentrates on hanging back, watching with a careful eye. For once, she's really hoping her opponent just stays down; she doesn't know how much more she's got in her!
"... I'll have to be more careful with my questions in future..."
The rising uppercut connects with her jaw and the combination of the blow and her opponent's turn keep her from connecting cleanly with the attack, which all things considered wasn't exactly the worst thing in the world for the Delta Red Melee specialist. She knows she still hurt her.
Lita brings her sword behind her and re-clasps the sword to her back and rubs her jaw. That strike still smarted. She then moves in close delivering a few hard shin kicks and attempting another muay thai styled clinch. If she can get that clinch locked in, she'll attempt to squeeze her forearms around the neck before delivering multiple knees to the ribs and then pushing her away with a front kick.
COMBATSYS: Lita successfully hits Gertrude with Savage Combo.
# Disabling hit! #
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Lita 1/-------/=======|=======\======-\1 Gertrude
Gertrude tries to move away; she's fairly confident she sees where this is going, and she doesn't want any of it. Unfortunately for her, winded after having to deal with the sword, she finds herself being grappled, and though she tries to wriggle her way out of it, Lita lands several telling hits - most severely, into the wound she'd already made in her stomach.
"Ack, you... schwein!" Gertrude chokes, tears of pain in her eyes. That REALLY hurt, damnit! Now the pair of tall women are basically just grappling and rocking back against one another, and Gertrude can feel the strength slipping out of her limbs...
With one last desperate move, she plants her leg down firmly behind Lita's leg, and then just collapses. Ordinarily, she'd try to push the woman to the floor and stand over her ready to strike when she gets up...
But in this case, she's just trying to pin her to the ground beneath her as she loses consciousness. If she's going to lose, unlike last time, she's going to try and make the judges call it on a photo finish!
COMBATSYS: Gertrude can no longer fight.
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Lita 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Lita dodges Gertrude's Graceful Fall EX.
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Lita 1/-------/=======|
Lita, for her part is feeling the fatigue and the pain take over her as well. Her legs wobble and oddly enough, that's what saves her from getting her legs from swept up from under her. Her legs buckle and it moves her foot just barely out of the pathway of Gertrude's foot. For a moment the two women are pretty much the only thing holding each other up on the ground and then Lita's the first to catch her breath.
She steps back, letting the German woman go and then stumbles backwards swaying back and forth as she struggles to remain standing.
"That," she says as she gasps for air. "Was... intense."
Log created on 13:48:41 12/11/2014 by Lita, and last modified on 22:18:02 12/11/2014.