SNF 2014.12 - SNF: "Sky Falling"

Description: It should have been a nice little fight on the city streets. Instead it became a summer blockbuster disaster movie's chase sequence wet dream with some... problematic consequences. (Winner: Scratch)



This is far from Metro City, far from home...not that it looks that much different, dilapidated as things seem to be in the Destruction Zone.

Of course, that suits one Scratch just fine. After all, with things as they are....it feels like a good time to do what she had intended to do from the start: leave her mark. Quite literally at that, as she finds the clearest wall in the zone near where she was told to wait. Trusty paint on hand, she starts on the usual 'Broken Gear' motif she'd been working on back home. THe shaking around her seems to be getting stronger, but she dismisses it for now considering how many big fights do seem to be going on.

Sure, it's not the Great Wall, but it's close enough for now. Besides....doing something she likes to do hides the fact that she's nervous as all get out. Being far from home, and having your first big fight at that does a lot for one's butterflies, after all....

SNF! Because putting two fighters in a ring and having them beat each other up all by itself is, somehow, boring and won't get ratings. No, instead it's gotta be a game show. Wrestling! Snowstorms! A school prom! And now? Well.

Haru Sakuraba is a rich kid from Japan and he Stands Out walking through the streets of the Kowloon 'Destruction Zone,' especially since he's out here in the shantytown and not in the probably nicer (though likely not that much nicer) arena. At least the place isn't necessarily teeming with people right now, since the entire affair has been scheduled to be not so much dismantled as literally destroyed, and while SNF is happy to send its competitors into danger, sending its AUDIENCE into danger requires more legal waivers than they're comfortable with.

As it is, the decidedly monochromatic outfit plus the deep shadows cast by very tall buildings and relatively narrow alleys and byways means that only the splotch of gold -- his Justice High uniform jacket, tied around his waist -- in his outfit is clearly visible. He's walking through the alley to the designated location for his fight with deliberate slowness, looking around him furtively with every few steps, as if he expects a wild jungle cat or a grue or a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle to erupt out of a shadow or manhole.

"This place has... bad energy," he murmurs to himself, reaching the designated location and then stopping, trying to reign in this premonition of Bad Vibes he's having, chalking it up to nervousness and being out of his element than oh, say, actual psychic powers warning him of possible danger. But how would that happen?

As he stands there, suddenly he almost pitches forward a little, then regains his balance and blinks, looking at the ground. "Did I... slip on something?"

As she continues to work on her tag, starting with the main outlines in black, she hears the voice of a rather unseeming young Japanese boy. Casting her eye over her shoulder, she frowns a little. "Yeah, try living in Metro," she says rather curtly. Sure, things are going to get destroyed here soon, but it really doesn't feel that much different from the slums of home. So it really doesn't concern her all that much.

As she finshes up the Broken Gear, she pockets the can of black into her cargoes, pants rattling as she fetches out some silver. Hearing the boy again, she frowns and looks back again...and realizes something. "Oh, right, you're the guy I'm going to be fighting, I guess? I don't know how this stuff usually works. Isn't there supposed to be a crowd?" she asks, shaking up her can.

And then feeling the entire ground around her start to shake. Brow furrowing, she looks at her can, giving it an experimental shake again. There's no following tremor, so she shrugs and returns to her tag....spraying just in time for another shake that sends her into a lurch and her spraypaint in an erratic line that cuts through her tag completely. "Dammit! What is this crap?" she shouts rather loudly and boisterously, spinning on her skates back toward her apparent opponent.

Well, that's... not what he expected.

Haru's first thought, seeing Scratch, is that she was wearing a normal outfit and had a normal hair color and then she accidentally rode through a Sherman-Williams. Still, there is something about her... probably the only-barely-suppressed energy burning under the surface, as if she's a kettle with a wildly rattling, flailing lid that is going to pop off any second. The graffiti is... interesting, but it hardly concerns Upright Citizen Haru, since this place is slated to be rubble in a few days.

Heh... 'a few days'.

"Ah... yeah, that's me," he says, sketching a swift and formal-y Japanese bow before straightening. "My name's Haru. It's nice to meet y--"

This is when overhead, there is a sound like four staggered, sometimes-overlapping sonic booms going off. That is followed by a horrible, too-long-yet-also-too-brief silence, into which Haru clears his throat. "Wow, that was kinda sc--"

He's then cut off by a huge rooftop air conditioning unit slamming into the ground approximately 4 feet to his right, and then bouncing off into the distance. THIS is when the ground starts to rumble ominously and the sound of collapsing masonry becomes not just audible but *close by*.

Unmoving, all a panicked Haru can say is: "...Um!"

With her attention now fully received, Scratch regards Haru curiously, a frown on the brightly colored girl's face as she rolls back and forth restlessly. "Scratch," she says, before the sonic booms overhead break , prompting her to stare up into the sky, befuddled. "What the hell is going on?" she starts to ask...

Before the air conditioning unit lands and crashes near Haru. "The HELL!" she shouts again before the ground starts to shake beneath them, and the walls nearby start to audibly crumble. "....screw this. I'm not staying around here," she insists quickly turning away from the sound of crumbling masontry and kicking off the ground with her skates. SHe's not about to get caught in a collapse herself. She's never been near an active demolition at home, but as far as she figures, the further away she can get, the better.

COMBATSYS: Scratch has started a fight here.

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Scratch          0/-------/-------|


This all goes to hell so fast. When Scratch decides that she is not staying, which seems like a good idea to Haru, he nods and takes off in a relatively similar direction. On foot, he's not likely to keep up with someone on skates, especially not a rider experienced with maneuvering urban environments. That said, Haru keeps himself in shape and he IS a fighter, so at the very least he's able to keep ahead of what he hopes is just localized destruction. Soon, they'll be safely away from the--

As that thought is going through his head, he looks behind him to find the two tall skyscrapers that he and Scratch were just standing near collapsing in on themselves in a fountaining cloud of dust, masonry, and impending disaster. This... compels him to pick up the pace.

The problem is that after our heroes have been running for a minute or two, a voice booms over a loudspeaker or megaphone from somewhere: "HEY WHY AREN'T YOU TWO FIGHTING, GET TO IT, WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY"

There's silence from Haru for a moment as he thinks that through, and then shouts in disbelief at the sky: "...Did you do this on PURPOSE?!"

You should watch where you're going, Haru. At the last second he looks down to find he's about to run into a lowered fire escape. An impromptu baseball slide at the last second saves him from a cartoony fate, but he's grimacing as he gets back up. "Ow ow ow that stung..."

COMBATSYS: Haru has joined the fight here.

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Scratch          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Haru


Skating at a hard clip, Scratch's ponytail bobs with every sway of her arms as she pumps her body forward with each kick. Unfortunately, as she tries to outrun the imminent collapse around them, she turns her head up as sh hears the speaker system around them kick on and shout toward them. "Are you all ****ing insane?! You want us to fight with this crap?" she shouts, turning forward, and going eyes wide, forced to jump over a collapsing light pole. As she lands, she finds herself breathing a little heavily, hand to her chest...but despite the risk, it was rather...exhilarating. "Holy crap...." she manages to get out breathlessly.

Looking to her side, she manages to see Haru sliding underneath a fire escape ladder that he nearly crashed into. "Well....if they want us to fight..."

Suddenly, she spins around, slowing herself down and digging out a spraypaint can, leveling it toward Haru's face. Focusing her energy through the can, she tries to charge up the paint within before spraying it out toward the boy. "No hard feelings!"

COMBATSYS: Haru blocks Scratch's Taggin' It.

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Scratch          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Haru


"Hard feeWHOA WHAT"

So despite what the megaphone man had said, Haru wasn't really thinking about this situation as 'likely to become a fight.' He was devoting considerably more energy to 'watching where he was going' because he'd really rather not repeat that unfortunate incident with the sliding and the fire escape especially because he's not sure he can outrun a COLLAPSING CITY. So when he hears someone talking to his left and then turns to look, he did not expect to find 1.) someone there or 2.) for her to be TRYING TO SPRAY HIM IN THE FACE WITH PAINT

Practically on instinct, Haru brings up a forearm in front of his face to shield himself, which is probably thankful since spraypaint in your eyes isn't... gonna... feel good. Heck, even taking it on the arm feels a lot worse than it should. It's then that Haru realizes the familiar tingle of a fighter's aura along his arm, and blinks. Spraypaint chi. Well... as long as we're talking unusual weapons...

Bringing down his now blue-painted arm, Haru blinks at Scratch incredulously. "Here? NOW?!" he fires back... before whipping his other arm around. It's got, of all things, a yoyo in it. A yoyo that Haru attempts to loop around one of Scratch's exposed limbs before whipping her around in a circle into... well, basically anything handy. A dumpster, a wall, any hard flat surface will do. Kinda hypocritical there, trooper.

COMBATSYS: Scratch blocks Haru's Medium Throw.

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Scratch          0/-------/------<|=------\-------\0             Haru


As much as a fight with things collapsing around them right now, and the street underneath them rumbling seems like a dumb idea...well, the announcer seems to be demanding it. And considering she has no idea who's making things shake or causing everything to fall down around them, Scratch might not be taking chances.

Or maybe she is. After all, slowing down like this is a huge risk after all. But if it's a fight they want at this point.... Of course, her spray is off target, at least enough for Haru to stop it with his arm. Frowning, the skater tosses the can aside, not wanting to risk the chance of fumbling around trying to stuff it back into a pocket. It's a good thing too, as the sudden whip of a yo-yo toward her arm catches her attention. She can't pull herself away from it fully, but she's able to twist her body as she's tossed into a nearby wall, meeting it with her wheels and wallriding it before pushing off onto the ground.

Grunting as she lands in an awkward roll, she frowns before racing after Haru. At full sprint, she tries to glide right past him....and hook her arm under his. If she can, she'd use the hook to pivot around and jam her hand hard against his shoulder, trying to drag him with her in that spin. And that tingle he felt before from the spraypaint? He'd feel it right against his shoulder where his palm would meet him as he tries to swing him around into a mostly improvised toss.

COMBATSYS: Scratch successfully hits Haru with Rewind Whip.

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Scratch          0/-------/-----<<|===----\-------\0             Haru


There is just no way to keep running away from the collapsing city AND keep perfect tabs on Scratch AND be able to completely and perfectly respond to her attacks when they happen. As the saying goes, 'the hunter who chases two hares catches neither.' Haru makes a stunning example of this when Scratch wheels around to try and grab him up in a throwing technique. He's TRYING to keep an eye on her, TRYING to dodge falling chunks of masonry, and so when she tries to grab him he TRIES to twist away in time but it just doesn't work. He ends up flipping through the air and landing heavily on the roof of a rusted-out car with a loud crunching noise. At least he got thrown clear of the wave front of collapsing buildings.

Groaning as he gets to his feet, there's a sudden scramble of movement as an entire second floor balcony comes loose from the building next to him, raining down in twisted metal bars onto the car. Haru just manages to get himself free in time, and he sets back off at a run once again.

"Alright... I didn't... want to do this, but..." As he runs, the Justice student whips is arm around a second time, again attempting to snag Scratch with a yoyo, but if and when he gets a grip, the followup is quite different. Heaving the string back, Haru sends the skater into a tight, dizzying spin before letting go, the graffiti artist floating in midair a bit before he extends both hands and, with an inarticulate shout, lets forth an energy burst of his own... an opalescent white burst of light in the shape of a lotus flower which blooms as the attack unfolds.

COMBATSYS: Haru successfully hits Scratch with Amber Grace.
Glancing Blow

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Scratch          0/-------/---<<<<|===----\-------\0             Haru


With that whip-toss around, Scratch was able to send Haru away, just as some more buildings around them started to collapse. Looking around rather warily, the Metro City skater started to race away again, though her line is turned into a rather crooked path as she was forced to weave and pivot around plenty of debris, plus a few risky jumps to avoid more rubble.

It's this winding path that allows Haru to snag hold of her as he tries to wrap her up with a yo-yo again. As she's caught, she finds herself spinning rather rapidly in the air. It's a good thing she's used to spinning, but when she realizes she's being kept in the air for something, she spreads her legs outward, altering her profile and her air resistence enough to shift herself in the air. It's not much, only enough that when the blast of white light comes, she gets clipped in the side rather than hit dead on. But it's better than nothing!

Groaning as she lands in a heap, she finds herself forced to rolll away on her side as an awning starts to fall down where she had landed initially. Scowling, she looks around...and instantly finds a long line of rebar, one she races toward and leaps toward. Locking onto it with her skate wheels, she grinds her way up it before flying off it toward Haru. As she nears, she tries to extend her hands outward, hoping to catch him by the head. If she can, she'd spin around while in the air, trying to drag him backward while kicking into his back.

COMBATSYS: Haru blocks Scratch's Aggressive Air.

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Scratch          0/-------/---<<<<|====---\-------\0             Haru


Following all of this together is proving quite difficult. But as his weapon snaps back into his hand and Haru resumes running, a thought occurs to him: maybe trying to pay attention to it all ISN'T the best idea. After all, when he managed to stop Scratch's technique before, he was acting mostly on instinct. It might be better, he surmises, to just... let instinct be his guide. And so he stops trying to maintain control of all the variables on the board, as it were, and tries to calm his heart.

It's not easy. The sensory overload of a disintegrating city is hard to block out, especially when it's happening with YOU IN IT. But meditation and trying to find a pocket of inner calm are a thing Haru has lots of experience with, and so as he runs, he tries to do that. Blocking out sounds, letting his feet guide him across the rubble-strewn path. Letting his awareness transcend mere sensory overload.

...*There*.

As soon as Scratch gets back in his guard, he prepares himself. She gets her grip, snapping him up and into the air, but rather than be the victim of her midair assault, Haru actually *pushes off the ground* as he feels Scratch about to toss him, giving him too MUCH velocity and sending him farther up than anticipated.

With a metallic *CLANG!* he snaps a yoyo onto a nearby fire escape ladder, effectively using it as a short-range grapple line away from Scratch.

Flipping through the air, he lashes out with a second yoyo, snagging it around a nearby streetlight that has been slowly falling over as the ground under it cracks. Slingshotting BACK at Scratch, he whips out a second yoyo in his other hand in a wide loop, looking to smack it straight into the side of Scratch's head like a punch to the jaw.

COMBATSYS: Scratch blocks Haru's Crushing Strike.

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Scratch          0/-------/-<<<<<<|====---\-------\0             Haru


The attempted fancy flying attack from the skater seems like it might work, as scratch winds behind Haru. But as she attempted to kick him in the back, he ends up leaping up just as she pulls back on his head, finding him going further up into the air than she would have liked.

Landing on her butt and rolling through, the blue-haired punk doesn't waste time, pushing herself up to her feet and trying to sprint away rather than lose too much ground with all the collapsing stuff around him. Of course, that wish finds itself arrested as she looks back, and finds Haru flying off a fire escape ladder, flying another yo-yo straight at her. Eyes widening, she spins around rapidly, her harm meeting the yo-yo before it can crash into her jaw.

A yelp escapes, as she spins around again, shaking her arm out as it tingles from the impact. "AUgh...." Looking back at Haru, she turns back and sprints forward again, leaping over an angled piece of concrete, and ramping up off a stop sign to stall against a shaking walking signal. Pushing off, she drops down and double backs toward Haru, hitting that angled piece of concrete like another ramp and flying toward the Justice High boy. Tucking one leg back with her hand, the other flashes out in a slashing kick, her wheels charged with energy as they cut toward Haru. The other held leg suddenly snaps forward, like a bent branch finally being released, a second slashing kick upward as she backflips.

COMBATSYS: Haru dodges Scratch's Method Slicer EX.

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Scratch          0/-------/-<<<<<<|====---\-------\0             Haru


He had landed in a crouch after striking out at Scratch, but as with every exchange of attacks that's gone down this fight, Haru's instinct is to keep on running as soon as his footing is good. He's never going to have the mobility that she's displaying on foot, so momentum is his only saving grace. Plus there's the effort put into trying to keep calm in a world gone mad, but once again, trusting to his instincts appears to be helping. What should normally result in tunnel vision, the focus on just pushing through the debris, instead helps as he relies on... other senses to protect him.

As the skater doubles back, then comes flying at him, Haru doesn't seem too concerned... or doesn't even notice? But as that decidedly nasty kick comes sailing for the back of his head, the Justice student can *feel* it coming, far enough in advance that before Scratch would even land he suddenly stops entirely short, bending his knees to suddenly present a lower profile target. Scratch's flying kick shears over his head by mere inches, the heat of her strike all too real in the end.

Rising to his feet, Haru wastes no time in striking back. He doesn't like this situation, not one bit; fighting her while this is happening seems entirely silly. But the faster one of them wins, the sooner that... maybe the SNF people will send in a rescue chopper? Or something along those lines. Which is why he's fighting at all, right now.

As he gets back into a run, Haru whips out a yoyo low, in almost a 'walk the dog' angle, as if he's striking at Scratch's feet... but within a few seconds, he's also snapped out his OTHER hand, too, whipping out that weapons-grade toy at a higher angle. Unless she's quick on her feet, it might be tricky to dodge both!

COMBATSYS: Haru successfully hits Scratch with Obsidian Serenity.
Glancing Blow

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Scratch          0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0             Haru


The attempted Method Slicer (as Scratch figured she'd call it) was always risky, so while it was annoying to miss it when Haru manages to slide under it, it's not a big stress it seems. Right now, she's more concerned about landing properly, forced to catch her wheels on a bent poll and slide down it with an awkward landing.

With her legs shaky so, it takes her a moment to readjust, and by that time, Haru is back on her. Eyes tracking the yo-yo, she desperately jumps despite not having her footing yet. And she's able to avoid the first one...just...not the second, that flicked up yo-yo catching her ankles and sending her down painfully with a trip. Falling on some uneven rubble, she grunts and pushes herself up despite the scrapes she's getting. SHe can feel the impending danger around them as things rattle and crumble and even the street underneath them threatens to give way. Not to mention the pain triggering her fight-or-flight reaction.

It's all really kind of exciting, actually. It's a strange thrill she's finding, not sure whether to keep at it or run off before something falls atop her head. And it seems like she's about to simply run off and skate away...but instead as she pumps her legs, she makes a hard hook back toward Haru, trying to take his arm and twist it on the pass, hoping to flip him over before making another break for it.

COMBATSYS: Haru fails to counter Quick Throw from Scratch with Moonstone Tenacity.

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Scratch          1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0             Haru


Here is a problem: Haru does not really know that he's using his powers to bolster his defenses right now. Generally speaking, this is not a problem, because flashy displays of energy are not at the core of his fighting style. But one of his more common techniques *is* one of those flashy displays... and it's one that operates on instinct too, a lot of the time. Truth be told it's a technique he's not always *capable* of calling up through conscious control. Problem: this means when Scratch comes sweeping at him, and he can *sense* her getting close, so his mental process says 'okay time to make a conscious decision' and...

Basically what happens is that he turns to her in surprise, and the air fills with sparkles of that opalescent pearly light which swiftly blink out into nothingness when Scratch flips him face first into the dirt and rides off.

Groaning, he comes up into a kneeling position, and is about to stand up when... well, to put it bluntly, the street he was on suddenly starts sinking into the ground below. More accurately it starts crumbling into pieces to drop into the sewers and sub-basements below the collapsing city. Blinking in alarm, he tries to get standing and discovers that he CAN'T, not with his footing unstable. Looking around in a panic, he espies a nearby sewer pipe and desperately tries to snag it with a yoyo, hauling himself off before he falls into the abyss, but hardly saving himself. Flipping upside down to grab the pipe with his legs and free his arms, Haru slowly works his way back to street level as the pavement crumbles behind him.

Setting off at a run once he's to safety, the Justice student's composure breaks, and he simply says aloud, just shy of a 'wail': "I don't think I wanna do this anymore...!"

The arm flip stops whatever Haru was planning on doing to Scratch, and she's not willing to ponder just what it actually was. Instead, she drops low, bending her knees before kicking off the shaking street again. And none too soon, as she hears a much louder collapse, feeling the shaking beneath her feet as she looks back and sees the street collapsing behind them. Eyes widening, Scratch pushes herself harder, not wanting to be caught in THAT.

"It's either that or you fall down into there, and I know what I'd rather have happen!" she insists. As Haru comes to a run again, she slows down, but only long enough for her to divert herself sideways and try to sidecheck Haru with her shoulder. "Like I said, no hard feelings, but I'm not about to let someone outrace me!"

COMBATSYS: Scratch successfully hits Haru with Medium Punch.

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Scratch          1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1             Haru


It's kind of hard to keep up a strong defense when your heart's not really in it, unfortunately. Exhausted from running -- and, you know, saving his own life back there -- as well as fighting, the tiredness shows on Haru's face when he finds that Scratch has dropped back to keep the affair going. She tries to slam her shoulder into him, and he... makes a token effort, but being able to see it coming doesn't really help much. Instead of sidestepping, as he'd hoped, the Justice student sort of walks right into it instead, stumbling backwards with a sharp exhalation.

He doesn't really feel like running anymore, but the memory of having almost plummeted to his death is a pretty good motivator for getting him back on his feet. Stumbling at first, he breaks back into a run and keeps things going, trying very hard to convince himself that just... running out of the city and away from here right now wouldn't be the right choice. "I'm gonna... see this... through..." he says, between heavy breaths. But a part of him says: as for the future, however.

Continuing to raggedly run forward, Haru knows that his only chance at this point is to try and tap into whatever internal well of strength he can. It's difficult, with the destruction raining around them, but just as before, it comes down to tuning out everything else and trying to find your moment. And survival, well... it's real good at helping people find their moment.

With an inarticulate shout, Haru finally finds what he's looking for, and as that pearly white light begins to flow around his body like faerie fire, his pace suddenly increases, his steps becoming more sure. If past experience is any teacher, this won't last long... and it's going to extract a heavy toll, but hopefully he can wrap this up before that becomes an issue.

Swinging around, he attempts to snag Scratch with a sudden, swift yoyo strike, as he has many times before. If he gets his grip, the skater is pulled in a fully ciruclar horizontal orbit parallel to the ground before being floated into the air and then yanked down to earth, hard, with a second grab.

A tiny part of Haru considered sending her BEHIND him if this worked, but perhaps thankfully for both Scratch AND Haru, he wouldn't inflict those last few terrifying moments on anyone.

COMBATSYS: Scratch blocks Haru's Jade Turbulence.

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Scratch          1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1             Haru


It's a good thing that for the most part, the street in front of them is a lot less cluttered with buildings and various debris, meaning that for the most part, it's a straight break away from the crumbling street behind them. That's good news, considering that it's one less thing for Scratch to worry about. Especially as she looks to her side, and sees...one more thing to worry about as Haru suddenly starts to glow white aroudn him.

"Oh hell!" she shouts, before kicking off the ground hard. That fight or flight instinct triggers to a whole different level, adrenaline shooting through her as her brain tells her to keep skating. Unfortunately, Haru has different ideas about it, her leg snagged around by his yo-yo. "Hey!!" he shouts before she's pulled clear off her feet. The grip swings her around the air, but she's able to twist herself out of it before she can be spun around any further. Mind, it takes her all the bodily control she can to turn herself into something approximating a good landing, and even then, her muscles are screaming with the burn of lactic acid when she finally does land. "NNghh...."

Still, that adrenaline high has her, and she's not about to let it pass too easily. Kicking off, she barrels straight after Haru this time, flipping over onto one hand as she has some speed and using all that momentum to flip herself upside down, heels of her skates snapping overhead to kick hard into the Justice HIgh fellow.

COMBATSYS: Haru endures Scratch's Handplant Hammer.

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Scratch          1/-----==/=======|=======\===----\1             Haru


Desperation can do interesting things. Haru's not exactly the toughest fighter out there, so he very rarely decides to simply walk into an attack to put himself in a better position. However, the situation how is hardly what you would expect in a normal fight, and if he doesn't try to put an end to this now he isn't sure when he'll get a second chance. So as Scratch decides to smack into him with two feet (well, skates) he grits his teeth, braces himself, and lets her basically crash right into him. It takes every ounce of strength in his aching, battered body not to be bowled over, but somehow he manages it, leaving the two combatants strangely clinched for as long as physics holds out.

Without a word, still limned by that white light, Haru steps back and then whips both yoyos forward as hard as he possibly can toward Scratch's stomach. The intent is absolutely to stagger her with the force of it, to give him a momentary opening.

If and when he gets it, Haru snaps the yoyos back into his hands and then thrusts out his palms, creating another burst of lotus-shaped light and 'petals' just as before... but this is followed by snagging Scratch and whipping her into the landscape, and then a second physical yoyo strike, then another burst of energy... this cycle of strikes looping three times in total, the strongest attack that Haru knows. Whether it was worth the gamble or not... remains to be seen.

COMBATSYS: Scratch blocks Haru's Crystal Ferocity.

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Scratch          1/-======/=======|-------\-------\0             Haru


The entire exchange was rather uncharacteristic, considering Scratch had chosen to stand and fight rather than use her manuverability first and foremost. So it shouldn't be too surprising when her scorpion kick-like attack ends up run straight into. At first, the skater simply thinks that the strange glowing kick just made a mistake, as she pulls her legs back again.

However, when he comes forward again, she stares right into his glowing form...and gulps. "Oh no..." she whispers, before bringing her arms back up in front of her. She feels the white energy searing at her as she covers her face, a cry out of pain as she manages to do her best to cover up...but when he's snagged by the yoyos, mostly lightblinded at this point, she doesn't really have much of an answer.

The yo-yo strikes after? She thankfully has some answer, still hunched up and able to spin to knock the last one away with a kick. But as she lands, she lands right at the edge of where things are starting to seriously crumble. And with her skin feeling like she has a full-body charlie horse, she finds it hard to scramble away and get her feet back under her.

She's barely able to pick up again though, pushing herself off the ground with her hands before rolling at Haru again. Gritting her teeth, she leaps at him again, hands extended.

Like before, she tries to grab him by the head...but unlike before, she'd try to handstand right atop his head, and give him the feeling of her energy gathering in her hands. If allowed? She'd fall back again, trying to keep that energy grip upon his head and slam him down onto the street by it.

COMBATSYS: Scratch successfully hits Haru with Graffiti Soul.
- Power hit! -

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
Scratch          0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0             Haru


Here is what happens:

Scratch masterfully defends against Haru's attacks, as she has the entire fight so far. Meanwhile, that was Haru's last hurrah; after he finishes the final loop, he has to stop running, putting his hands on his knees and slumping forward, taking big gasping breaths. He really needed that move to put her down, and it did not. When she comes sailing back at him, hands extended, he makes a token attempt to reach up and meet her grip, perhaps deflecting the force of the strike elsewhere, but it just isn't in him. The skater's technique goes off without a hitch, and the Justice student goes flying backwards toward the continuing street destruction, slamming loudly into an abandoned newspaper box.

Crumpling, Haru takes another deep breath, tries to get to his feet, and seems to fail. Gritting his teeth, he splays his hands palm down on the pavement and appears to try again...

...shortly before it gives way and drops him into the darkness.

It makes no sense for Scratch to wait around and see, but even if she does... Haru doesn't come back up. It looks like she won the match by virtue of not disappearing into subterranean tunnels thanks to accidental city destruction.

For a neophyte, Scratch is quite elusive as she's shown...and live having to deal with Mad Gear territory has given her enough thick skin to help her take a few hits, even ones as crazy as Haru's white light flashing and everything. But her true strength seems to be her sheer unconventional attitude, knowing how to attack from angles that aren't exactly expected. It's a good thing too, as Scratch finds herself shaky despite her adrenaline rush once she lands. Even if she managed to stop a lot of Haru's attacks, she could only stop them so much, and her entire body still feels like its burning along her skin.

Looking back, she sees the street continue to crumble and fall apart behind her...and Haru falls in as the continued collapse follows. Swallowing, she makes a rather lame paean to try and grab Haru before he falls....but it's too late. Shaking her head, she turns back forward, and simply breaks hard down the street to avoid falling in after him.

Log created on 20:28:33 12/12/2014 by Haru, and last modified on 19:16:07 12/14/2014.