Description: At Seijyun High, Sada and Tiffany fight for Schoolpremacy! But who will hang in there as the vicious Sada gets her hands on Tiffany...? (Winner: Tiffany)
It's towards the end of the year, and the schoolgirls... are restless. Seijyun is not entirely emptied out over the Christmas season, as, of course, many people with wealth and power are perfectly happy to keep their teenage daughters out of the way as they enjoy a romantic bucket of fried chicken with their wives and/or foreign mistresses.
But it's thinner. Which means, on the one hand, that there are fewer people interested in this exhibition bout... And on the other hand, it means that what remains of this foreshortened population are...
Well...
Let us say, gentle reader, that there is a reason why Sada Asai is not necessarily considered all that unusual among some aspects of the Seijyun social structure.
The ring is lit by torches - real, authentic torches, if distinctly of the Polynesian/tiki style - supplemented by open air heaters to take off the edge of the late-december chill, to make up for the death of the sun. A small area has been set aside for what few spectators from other schools may come, but most of those present are Seijyun through and through.
Perhaps more ominous, though, is the line of approach for the challenger. Coming out of the main building, through a line of dead and thorny hedges, her route is marked out by a line of girls, one on either side of the path. All are in black coats and their winter uniform, and holding a white candle in their hands.
The house band (there is a house band) is playing something heavy and ominous with both of the rhythm guitarists who aren't back home. A piano is making this metallic sludge sound almost sweet and tragic.
Sada Asai is in the ring already, seated on a folding chair. She has a mandarin orange in one hand, which she's peeling with her thumb nail and eating slice by slice as she waits. She is in that same outfit she wore at the construction site. If anything, the Seijyun flower has gotten shinier, but maybe that's just the grim, near-dusk lighting.
Tiffany has stolen into Seijyun High quietly in hopes of seeing how they do things, a little, before her rematch -- for ALL THE MARBLES -- with Sada Asai... and as Sada makes her entrance to the ring, Tiffany stands transfixed. This is so -- so ostentatious! So unnecessary! So...
... incredible!
Her own entrance, though, is not so incredible, so marked; she doesn't come with near as much of an entourage, though some Pacific students have indeed braved the winter cold to head over to Seijyun to watch. Tiffany has to consider her own entrance carefully.
So, naturally, she decides to play the role of the foreign aggressor -- coming from nowhere, always ready to strike. From her place in the watching crowd, she tosses off her winter jacket, letting it fly through the air to land on some poor spectator's head; gloved fists clenched tightly, she stomps through an aisle in the crowd toward the ring itself.
When she actually /gets into/ the ring, though, she's once again all smiles and sunshine -- right back to the usual Tiffany, having completed the act. "All right!" she says, with a broad smile. "I've been looking FORWARD to this since last time... are you READY?"
She bobs back and forth, her stance as tall as it ever is. She glances out toward the pocket of support in the crowd, giving them a big, smiley wave before returning her attention to her fellow student.
As Tiffany walks in, the other girls file in as well, moving towards their seats and settling down.
Sada doesn't answer Tiffany right away. The music does stop, though.
All the girls are seated now. Sada rises up.
Some of the Pacific visitors and other sundry folks smile back at Tiffany. Most of the others - the locals - look at her. Are there the ghosts of smiles, or anticipation? Sure, here and there. But for the most part it is the candlelit faces of those who are watching with baited breath.
Well, one girl gets hit by a jacket.
Sada bows at Tiffany. "Welcome to Seijyun, Tiffany Lords," she answers with cool formality as she rises. It was a deep bow. "I am as ready as I will ever be." She raises up a hand --
and makes a little sweeping gesture.
The crowd takes a breath...
Literally so. Then they all blow out their candles.
In the suddenly dimmed light, Sada grins. "Are you?"
COMBATSYS: Sada has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Sada 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Tiffany has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Sada 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Tiffany
At the sudden dimming of the room, Tiffany feels her shoulder blades tense up and her posture lock just slightly -- but she knows enough about fighting, at this point, to know that she's being played with. This is an attempt to get under her skin and she knows it; she has to treat it like one, and do her best to stay in /her/ groove, rather than letting Sada get into hers.
Accordingly, she bobs back and forth for a few moments, before taking the initiative with a firm, "HECK YES!" in American English, which gets a pretty decent pop from those members of Pacific's student body who've come to watch her.
She knows what had Sada's number last time -- but will the other girl have put in the training time to figure out counters?
There's only one way to find out: start out with something she /knows/ she used against her opponent last time. Springing forward, she throws her body into a cartwheel; her legs remain at max extension through the spin, aimed to pound one after another into Sada's face, and hopefully through her guard.
COMBATSYS: Sada dodges Tiffany's Groovy Wheel.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Tiffany
The crowd outside of the Pacific section remains silent as Tiffany springs forwards, cartwheels, and then Sada Asai folds her arms in front of her.
And then... she does the impossible, the unthinkable -- as Tiffany comes close, Sada weaves to the side, out of that oncoming path of the cartwheel! Yes, vindicating the promise of Shaw and the passion and demise of Vickers, she gets out of that incoming path!
Which means she's able to pivot around with one hand in front of her face, hair whipping as Tiffany completes her maneuver in one form or another, and just as Tiff is rebounding, Sada throws her hand forwards.
"I know your moves...!"
A mixture of sweat, saliva, and her residual orange-peel citrus oils make the burst in her palm smash outwards, spattering that sizzling-stinging fluid out against Tiffany's delicate European complexion! (Or tan Californian complexion, it comes to the same thing.)
"Please, do speak up if you're suffering," Sada adds, in the tone of a polite gloat. "Our school's nurse is standing by..."
COMBATSYS: Sada successfully hits Tiffany with Glow Bomber.
Glancing Blow
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/------=|>------\-------\0 Tiffany
The fluid just grazes Tiffany as she commits completely to her cartwheel, continuing forward as best she can; it stings, but at the very least, it's not /all/ over her. Her fists clench as she finally comes back up to a standing position on the opposite side of the ring, having lost her positioning.
Okay, she thinks -- Sada has a good sense of most of her moves, or at least the ones she used the last time they fought; Sada /also/ probably reviewed the tapes, which means she has a good sense of /everything/. That fact makes Tiffany's heart sink into her stomach a little bit... but only a little -- within moments, she's right back around to feeling okay.
"I have my own school nurse, THANKS," Tiffany says, with a small shake of her head as she does her best to ignore that stinging pain.
Redoubling her efforts, she resolves to do as much as she can with what she's got. Hopping up into the air, Tiffany re-angles herself downward, pointing her foot squarely for Sada; unlike the time she used this maneuver in their /previous/ fight, though, the angle is much deeper, aimed for Sada's midsection rather than her face. If she tries to get out of it by ducking under it, she's in for quite the surprise!
COMBATSYS: Sada blocks Tiffany's Exciting Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/----===|>>-----\-------\0 Tiffany
That kick is certainly exciting. Sada steps back a little, sweeping on one heel as Tiffany descends exuberantly, and her foot does in fact hit Sada right in the tum-tums, to the collective gasping of the Seijyun girls --
And she does hit the ground. The cold, cruel ground even as she twists around, raising up one knee as she wraps her forearm around Tiffany's marginally less exciting shin!
What's the point of all this business?
Well, partly so she can growl to Tiffany in a confidential but cruel tone, "Do you? Well, I hope she's here already."
Secondly to arc her knee up to slam into Tiffany's spine, and hopefully lead to her whacking her upper body (back first) on the cold, cold ground while Sada wrenches on that leg! After this little piece of ridiculous business, she rolls to the side, for better or worse. Hopefully, she's not about to get punched in the butt.
COMBATSYS: Tiffany interrupts Medium Throw from Sada with Groovy Knuckle.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/-======|>>>----\-------\0 Tiffany
"No, because unlike yours --" Tiffany starts, ducking low immediately; she has a decent read on Sada's oncoming offense at this point, and a smile crosses her face as she meets Sada's grip. She hasn't encountered many people who try to ground-fight... but she has a tactic for dealing with just that thing.
As Sada brings her knee up to meet Tiffany, Tiffany whirls around in her ducking position, fist taking on a bright golden glow. Just before that knee would hit her, that fist finishes its rotation in a forceful back-knuckle, sending the offending limb well to her side and defusing just about all of its momentum.
Hopping back from Sada just slightly now that she's gotten herself the freedom she needed, she finishes her sentence with gusto.
"... /She/ has FAITH in me."
With that declaration made, Tiffany slips back into her stance, calm and confident now -- her body's still stinging from Sada's unnatural chi, but at the very least, she's not /actively/ being grappled at the moment.
As Tiffany smashes down, Sada hits the ground, staggering and crab walking a little. It's embarrassing.
BUT...
"ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh" goes the crowd, even as Sada pulls herself up by one of the assembled torches.
Sweeping her hair back with one hand, she sidles nearer to one of the space heaters. "Miss Lords... I'm sorry... but are you implying that our staff, here at Seijyun... do not care about us? Do not have faith in everything we do, to become a perfect example of everything that a Japanese woman can be?"
Sada grasps at her chest with one hand, at the Seijyun logo on her breast. She's grinning like a devil even as she speaks with an impassioned plea. "At this school, we pride ourselves on developing our skills and our talents. Even as I am fighting against you, look at everyone we have here. It's brought us all together over winter break... The music club!"
The guitarists and the piano person raise their hands.
"The choreographers!"
Two girls in front raise their hand.
"The drama club!"
So does another.
"The audiovisual group...!"
The girl working the video camera leans over to wave, even if she's not being recorded, since she's behind the camera.
"All of us are growing together, and our wonderful teachers and staff are the greatest friends we could ever have."
At this, there is a chorus of polite applause as well as a sick heavy bass riff. Sada nods to herself, once.
And then she runs towards Tiffany, kicking off the ground and leaping up to try and bowl her over from the side!! Which may not be the best thing to do in the world, but perhaps this entire moment of shouting out to the local crowd was meant to give her an opening to execute this without getting immediately punched in the precious girl parts by those foxy boxing gloves.
From here, Tiffany may know the drill - leg lock around the neck, smearing her with the sweat she built up by standing next to a space heater for like thirty seconds, and giggle in a subtle, cruel way.
COMBATSYS: Tiffany dodges Sada's Sadaplata.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/-======|>>>----\-------\0 Tiffany
Sada's reach for Tiffany comes up empty this time; Tiffany has a good sense of Sada's offense from last time, and she's /desperately/ trying to use it to the greatest extent she can... because she knows that if she doesn't, Sada is going to have her number /right/ quick.
"Yeah, well -- I don't need all this CRAP to get excited for a match!" Tiffany counters, whirling her body around and hopping out of that grab attempt. "All I need is some of them CHEERING for me -- and knowing I'd CHEER them on, too!"
Clenching and unclenching her fists inside the glove a few times, Tiffany tries to work through the last little stinging pains of Sada's earlier splatter of bodily fluids, considering her options carefully. That hop was a little longer than she'd intended, and has given her opponent a little /too/ much space to work with...
... but she has a plan for just this situation. Rather than aggress, she rears her arm back, locking it into place; it looks like she's getting ready for a particularly vicious punch.
All the while, of course, she keeps talking. "Look -- it's GREAT that you have all this pride in your school, but... Don't think it's SPECIAL, either! You just had time to set up because you're at HOME!"
COMBATSYS: Tiffany focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/-======|>>>>---\-------\0 Tiffany
Tiffany whips away. Sada lands, breathing heavily, even as Tiffany shakes loose that horrible splatter of whatever it is that she oozes out of her every pore. She sucks in a breath.
Tiffany pulls back a punch. She's winding up...
Sada stares ahead as Tiffany speaks such words.
"Don't think it's special!?" Sada suddenly shouts. And how does she answer that windup? First she throws a glance towards the band. Who do something.
Sada steps to the side then, not getting nearer to Tiffany. She reaches out to the side even as the band hastily set down their guitars and move from their piano. One grasps a tamborine, another a horn of some kind --
And then Sada grabs the tiki torch even as the music surges up, rattling a tamborine and playing dissonant, energetic, brassy notes! Twisting it around to shake off a banner of Seijyun's school flower, she holds it forwards.
"This school... is the most special place in the world!!" Sada says, holding the torch before her like a spear and lunging forwards, jabbing the flaming oil lamp towards Tiffany several times. "I'll show you what it means - to become a truly traditional woman...!!"
COMBATSYS: Sada successfully hits Tiffany with Small Random Weapon.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/-======|>>>>>--\-------\0 Tiffany
That's mildly on fire! Tiffany hurls herself out of the way, but does so /backward/ rather than sideways, and that spearing motion makes this a lot less effective than it might otherwise be. Accordingly, though it doesn't do /too/ much to hurt her, being a relatively small flame, she is pretty well-bludgeoned.
Lips pursed, Tiffany thinks about the possibility of this getting a little bit out of control; the fact that Sada has the home field advantage has her worried in a substantial way. She's saying the right things to get them whipped up, too... are fight riots a thing in Japan? /She hopes not/.
Unsure which parts of her are burning because of that little torch and which are burning because of Sada's earlier maneuver, Tiffany resolves to finish this quickly. Even though she'd been thinking of using the punch as a feint... now, she's starting to feel like it's her actual best play here.
Accordingly, she dashes straight forward toward Sada, hoping to bypass the spearing torch entirely and introduce the other girl's face to a very --
COMBATSYS: Sada dodges Tiffany's Strong Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/-======|>>>>>>-\-------\0 Tiffany
The crowd is getting more animated now, that's for sure. They aren't saying very coherent things beyond 'yah!!' but it's there. It's happening. Oh yeah. Riots aren't imminent, but...
Sada is not really able to do much beyond administering hurtful stings with the touch of the tiki torch. While this stuff is no joke, and children should not play with fire at home, you can whip your hand through a flame fast and only be a little hurt.
When Tiffany comes in with that lunging straight, Sada raises the tiki torch up to block the incoming blow -- and as her personal house band surges up, the bamboo shatters, pushing Sada back! She drops the weapon immediately, this blocking having been enough to function as a fully evasive maneuver; she throws a hand up to grasp onto Tiff's wrist, twist around, and put her sweaty ol' legs around Tiffany's less-sweaty, substantially larger leg.
Her arms lace around then as she presses against her and aims to stretch her backwards, if Tiffany doesn't jump quick or snap-toss her loose. "Do you understand us now...!?"
COMBATSYS: Tiffany fails to interrupt Sparkling Abdominal Stretch from Sada with Very Groovy Knuckle.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Tiffany
Tiffany thinks she has an idea of how to fight into Sada's grabs... but she really, really doesn't, it turns out, and it costs her substantially. Her legs get wrapped around and her body stretched vigorously before she really manages to get whatever she was planning going; she cries out in pain as Sada asks her her question, not really managing a coherent answer at first.
By the time she manages to wrestle her way out of the hold, though, she's /starting/ to feel more like a human being, even if she's still pretty significantly worn down; she says, a little weakly, "Not especially," as she tries frantically to get herself up to her feet and in fighting form again.
Sada doesn't let up!! "Our school is more than a place where we take classes... it's a home!! A place we take seriously, and we don't take kindly to being told it's anything otherwise. The real nature of the Japanese woman, as we traditionally construct it, is..."
Which is worse, the abdominal stretching or the lecture?
"Perfection in thought, form, grace, speech, and action!!"
At least it ended quick. With this, Sada lets go of Tiffany's mighty thigh, twisting around as she does. An opening, yes, but it's an opening with a perilious purpose behind it, as Sada's raising one hand up to grasp Tiffany's blonde mane and land behind her.
At which point she yanks down. Hard. The purpose being, first, to bend Tiffany double backwards; second, to slam Tiffany's back into Sada's ruthless, bony knee; third, to uphold the public trust, by which we mean, of course, give the girls something to cheer about.
COMBATSYS: Sada successfully hits Tiffany with Hair Pull Backbreaker.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/-----==|=======\=====--\1 Tiffany
The lecture is definitely worse -- though not worse than the followup, as Sada yanks forcefully on Tiffany's hair and then slams her into her knee. This is almost a total reversal from their last fight, and Tiffany's visibly upset when she hobbles, weakly, back to her feet. Her teeth grind, and she clenches a fist tightly, trying to hang in there.
Wobbling back and forth, the Lords heiress makes her plans; she sees a path to victory in this fight, and while it's clean, it's not exactly... exciting. She'd /like/ it to be, but it really isn't -- it's just pugnacious. She has to hammer through to victory.
Fortunately, that's how America does things already, so it's fine.
Wobbling forward, Tiffany ducks low, eager to use that last moment of studying her opponent to the fullest; her body goes into a whirl and her fist glows with golden light again as she aims a back-knuckle right for Sada's face, half-shouting, "EVERYONE ELSE feels that way too!!"
COMBATSYS: Tiffany successfully hits Sada with Groovy Special EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Tiffany
Once she gets that first hit, Tiffany doesn't stop; she keeps her body whirling, building more and more golden light in her hand with each repeating back-knuckle. Once she gets the /fourth/ -- and most importantly, once Sada's good and dazed -- she takes a moment to breathe, whirling her arm around and around.
With each whirl, it becomes brighter, sparkles shooting off of the Lords heiress's entire body. With each spin, she murmurs, "Guru, guru, guru, guru," -- spin, spin, spin, spin -- before finally finishing, "Guru-VY SPECIAL!!" and swinging that sparkling fist straight forward.
Four punches! Four punches for the FOUR HEAVENLY GUARDIANS THAT FOUNDED AMERICA:
George Washington, the General of Air and Cherry Tree Lumber!
Thomas Jefferson, the General of Earth and Intensive Slave Agriculture!
Hyman G. Rickover, the General of Water and an Incredibly Reliable Nuclear Power Safety Record!
William T. Sherman, the General of Fire and We Really Don't Have To Explain This One!
Images of these brave Americans flip through Sada's mind, propelled by Tiffany's gorgeous golden chi and then a final blow smashes her in the face, hard enough for her to whirl around with a screech.
The crowd murmurs with restless concern as Sada staggers out. One of the girls props her up, pushing her gently back towards the ring and then looking with puzzlement at her own hand.
Breathing heavily, Sada reaches up to wipe off her lip, which is bloodied. She looks at her fingers... and the blood on it sparks, burbling unpleasantly.
She looks up to Tiffany then, and smiles. "Good," she says. "Let's see how much more you can TAKE --"
Sada lunges inwards, leading with a swift if not particularly fanciful kick at Tiffany's knee. There's some squealing in delight here; perhaps the crowd anticipates EVEN MORE blood.
COMBATSYS: Sada successfully hits Tiffany with Light Kick.
Grazing Hit
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Sada 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Tiffany
The kick from Sada just barely grazes Tiffany across the knee; it doesn't hobble her, and that's the important thing here. It stings, and the Lords heiress is really feeling the burn now. /Everything/ hurts, and it feels like it's not going to /stop/ hurting any time soon -- which means she needs to end this before it becomes too much.
"I can keep taking it as long as you keep GOING," Tiffany shoots back, watching Sada carefully; she can see what's happening with that burbling blood, and while she doesn't /quite/ know what it is, she has a guess. The Asai girl wants to end this too -- perhaps she sees her fortunes reversing?
Whatever the case, Tiffany commits to finishing up; she's been more conservative with her evasive maneuvers, trying to stay closer with her strikes. It's all been building up... to this.
Leaping up into the air, she brings out something that she'd been saving across both of their matches! If Sada wants to turn this into a very physical grappling battle -- and indeed, her multiple grabs seem to indicate just that -- then Tiffany will show her just how physical it can get! Her legs move toward Sada's head as she sails through the air, threatening to grab on...!
COMBATSYS: Tiffany successfully hits Sada with Groovy Screw EX.
[ \\\\\ < > //////// ]
Sada 1/--=====/=======|=------\-------\0 Tiffany
Using all the momentum from that jump, Tiffany throws herself into a high-speed spin; her body whirls around and around and around, wrenching Sada's neck and subjecting her body to tremendous force. The Lords heiress seems to have finally found her groove again, after a significant downtick.
The Pacific crowd members roar mightily at her success -- and cheer even louder as she finally hurls the other girl down into the middle of the ring with her legs, popping up with a kick off of her opponent's body!
Damn it no no no NO NO NO NO
Sada leans back, about to warily pull away from her assault, but she's in too deep, much like America in Vietnam. In the end, she is grasped. Indeed, it's quite a groovy screw. Her neck pops, not agonizingly but enough to evoke a shriek from her as she's wrenched off the ground by Tiffany's raging American power!
After that leaping throw and a slam down in the middle of the ring, Sada doesn't get up again, not right away. She twitches, in point of fact, but there is something which Tiffany may have forgotten.
Namely, that there was an awful lot of blood on Sada's face. Which was just in between Tiffany's legs.
And what does her blood seem to do pretty reliably?!
If nothing else, Sada thinks, at least... she'll suffer too!!
And that, perhaps, is a very characteristic Sada Asai thought.
COMBATSYS: Sada can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Tiffany 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Tiffany blocks Sada's Haemolacria.
[ \\\\\\ <
Tiffany 0/-------/----===|
Tiffany had only partially planned for the agonizing sensation of that boiling blood on her thighs; fortunately, though, the combination of the sheer /speed/ of her movement and the sliding-down over the course of the hurricanrana-style assault has managed to send most of it flying away before she takes the meat of the damage.
The components of it that remain as Tiffany lands, she frantically rubs off with both hands, doing her best to mitigate the pain as best she can; when all is said and done, she takes a seat over in the corner, not getting up but not /quite/ as far down as Sada is as she recuperates, and presumably much more responsive to any attention or refereeing that needs to happen.
Weakly, she says, "Hey... GOOD fight," clutching at her head.
COMBATSYS: Tiffany has ended the fight here.
The assembled schoolgirls don't seem to know quite what to do. Finally, a member of the band runs out to sort of flip Sada over.
She turns one bloodshot eye towards Tiffany. "I won't forget this," she huffs, even as she's hauled off towards - oh, you thought that was a Gedo student, but it seems it was the school nurse! She must like Janelle Monae, based on that hairstyle.
But it would seem that the winner is Tiffany Lords...
FOR NOW.
(yeah, actually, permanently, at least for this moment.)
Slowly, groggily getting back to her feet, Tiffany breathes out a long, low sigh, looking out toward the Pacific section of the crowd. Gesturing them over, she pinches the bridge of her nose with a still-boxing-glove-clad hand (which is a little awkward), and says, dizzily, "So, like... can you carry me home?"
Perhaps not entirely shockingly, there are immediately four members of Pacific's sports teams -- two footballers that aren't Roy, a soccer player, and the relatively small school's sole weight training club member -- ready to catch her as she slides out of the ring. They proceed to quite literally hold her aloft the entire way to Pacific High.
Log created on 21:03:09 12/30/2014 by Tiffany, and last modified on 02:00:00 12/31/2014.