SNF 2015.02 - SNF: "Luck Be A Lady"

Description: Aracely "The Moonchild" Maria de la Azules feels right at home combining fighting and performing. Haru Sakuraba... not so much, but after his bout with Kensou, the young psychic wants to get back in the fighting saddle. He tries his best, but if chutzpah is power, then Aracely is shining bright indeed! (Winner: Aracely)



Aracely Maria de la Azules has gotten into another casino promotion, this one even more garish than her brief turn at a fighty-themed casino in Las Vegas. However, as this match promises to be much more straightforward than the others - and to involve a much less formal environment - she has forgone some of her... accoutrements.

Wearing fighting pants and comfortable shoes, 'The Moonchild' is not inked up with ominous painted-on glyphs in three dead languages. While she does have some ritualistic circles painted on the backs of her hands, and she IS wearing a tanktop with the masked head of Mano 666 on the front and a psychobilly-attired demon woman on the back administering a suplex to some generic masked joshi. So that's a thing.

The reason why The Moonchild has forgone all her paint is made clear when a panel of the fighting arena abruptly bursts with red light and fires a massive jet up in the air. Aracely, who had been lingering on the left side, lets out a wordless gasp of surprise.

Mano 666, who is eating a meat bun in a wrapper, looks unmoved. The water crashes down, splashing on Aracely's front - the tank top is thankfully dark and rather thickly weaved, making it merely slightly cold and annoying.

"Holy shit!" Aracely says. "And I'm gonna fight on this?"

"Don't tell me you're going to act surprised any more," Mano 666 says between bites.

Looking up at the laser blimp as it starts going through the red-black-purple light show that probably represents her, Aracely sweeps her hair back with one hand. "Nah," she says finally. "Nah, I'm getting used to this."

Mano 666 gives her a semi-filial pat on the back. "That's the ticket."

"I'm not getting on there til we start though," Aracely says.

"That seems like a good plan," Mano 666 says, squinting up at the MONEYROCK screen. Aracely, for her part, observes the fountains as they go through - a pattern? IS there a pattern? Hm, she thinks, scratching her cheek with her other hand on her hip.

MEANWHILE:

Haru Sakuraba had a rough week last week. One that he created himself, to an extent, really; he'd asked Sie Kensou if he'd train Haru, the less experienced fighter in a lot of ways, by giving him a sparring match. It was a sparring match in which Kensou utterly destroyed him, leaving him flat on a gym floor on his back, staring at the ceiling. And the truth is... that stung a bit. He only landed one real clean hit on Kensou, and after that it was all downhill. He knew he had a ways to go, but that sort of fight COULD be really demoralizing.

Plus there was... something not quite right about Kensou. A couple times, anyway. A hint of... well. Enough so that Haru left the room not just feeling glum, but sort of confused, too.

But he only sulked for so long. The sulking is normal, but so is getting back on the horse, in Haru's eyes. In a sense it WAS nice to see that he has room to grow. After all, Kensou and Athena have surprisingly different fighting styles despite coming from the same core place... and Kensou's assertion that Haru's 'power' might be different than just his psychic abilities is a thing the yoyo-user took to heart. And so he spent the week stepping up his training exercise, but he also threw his name in for SNF as well, the first time in many weeks. His last time on the show was uh... a little scarring, in his eyes. So this is DOUBLY a chance to face down his demons, as it were.

(Heh. *sips tea* demons.)

While Aracely may be a bit surprised at what's going on, at least she looks like she belongs here to some extent, the performer/wrestler/fighter being a thing that feels natural in a flashy setting. When Haru arrives from backstage, the incongruence is distinct: a medium-height Japanese high schooler who looks more like a lost prep school tourist on a class trip than a fighter. And the huge, intimidating spectacle of the Diamond Dragon does seem to cow him a bit.

When he leans close to look at the flashing colored lights on the floor, one of the fountains goes off, sending Haru scrambling backwards in an ungainly sprawl that only just doesn't land him on his ass. "Wh-whoa..."

Mano 666 watches the approaching Sakuraba. He doesn't know much about him, but if Aracely's going to learn she's going to have to learn to work without extensive preparation. He moves off towards his ringside seat, even as Aracely stretches for a moment, and then -

pssh!! There goes the fountain and there goes Haru.

Aracely strides forwards, walking in between the squares and pausing as that particular jet of water lets a huge SPLAT down, somewhere to the left. Despite the occult gimcrackery, she does not seem particularly Satanic.

"Haru Sakuraba, right?" she says, extending a hand with a grin. "Sup. Show me your best, alright? Let's put on a good show."

"Just uh," she says, gesturing towards the ground, "try not to stand over these things, huh? Like, that seems like it could be real bad." After this, handshook, bowed at, or otherwise, she retreats carefully back to her end of the space, not evidently eager to score a quick punch or anything vicious.

The MONEYROCK begins glowing, the slot machine preparing itself...

COMBATSYS: Aracely has started a fight here.

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Aracely          0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Haru has joined the fight here.

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Haru             0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0          Aracely


Aracely might not present as particularly Satanic... which is appropriate, since Haru -- whose powers have an actual divine origin -- isn't looking particularly like a bodhisattva right now, himself. Instead, he looks sheepish and grateful, giving his opponent a shy smile in response to her warning. "Y-yeah," he offers, stepping to the side and then looking down at the former fountain things, then up at the Moneyrock™ and slot machine monitors. "This, uh... well."

Then he realizes he hasn't introduced himself, though she clearly already knows his name, and Haru hastily bows in greeting, his too-formal personality shining through as he makes a V with his arms and tilts forward at the waist. "Ah! Anyhow, yes, that's me. It's a pleasure. I hope I can provide a good fight for you. And uh... that we both stay relatively dry."

Clearing his throat nervously as he stands, appearing tense. His hands slip into his pockets, and for a moment there is a surprising display of dexterity -- a flipping out into space of two whirring, silver-black yoyos, which snap back into his hands quickly and are gone from sight -- before Haru nods in satisfaction and smiles at Aracely, genuinely. "Good luck!"

"Heh heh," Aracely says, straightening up before Haru pulls out his weapons - yo yos, she thinks. This makes her look thoughtful for a fleeting moment, even as the Moneyrock starts spinning again.

That means he can tie me up, she thinks - knowing full well, of course, that this is not a ridiculous weapon at all. She jumps around and throws people with her ankles for a living; she can hardly condemn someone for using small weighted objects on a string that allows for precise control.

And then: it begins! One of the camera crew bangs on a bell, and Aracely rolls her head and advances towards Haru the same way she came. Only not quite exactly so - she shuffles to the side as she gets nearer, staying a few arms' length away, then moving closer. Stepping back, her hands held up in the air. It seems almost like she's making mystical passes.

The laser lights kick in then, a huge set of columns of blue. As two distant chutes erupt at the same time, Aracely lunges forwards, to lower one arm and try to sweep Haru up into a hip-toss onto his side.

Two more fountains spray, slightly less distant. Hey, are they closing in?

(yes)

COMBATSYS: Aracely successfully hits Haru with Moonset Toss.

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Haru             0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0          Aracely


Sensory overload is not exactly working in Haru's favor right now. Aracely knows how to approach an opponent for grappling, whereas Haru is more used to working at a slightly extended distance. Add on top of that the lights and sounds of someone who's still working out how to fight at his best in general, and it spells doom for the Justice student, who tries to twist out of the way of the toss and instead ends up rolling TOWARD his opponent, so down he goes. There's a moment where he is simply groaning on the ground, and then, well... he IS psychic. With a swift sideward roll he evades being geyser'd into the air by a hair's breadth.

Getting to his feet, Haru shakes his head and tries to summarily shake off the dazed feeling at the same time. Studying his opponent, he tries to engage what Haru himself thinks of as his primary fighting strength: tactics. She's got good footwork but, more importantly, she's at home in this setting, too... or so it seems. That's a big advantage over her opponent right now. Deciding to play it safe for the moment, Haru nods once, then snaps out his arm, throwing one yoyo low to the ground, seemingly looking to trip up Aracely... but at the last second he suddenly whips his hand *up*, sending the weapon sailing in a sharp ascent intending to snap it into the bottom of Aracely's jaw like an uppercut.

COMBATSYS: Aracely blocks Haru's Obsidian Serenity.

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


Aracely takes a small hop backwards, but then she sees the geyser erupt just after Haru's rolled out of the way. Huh, she thinks, even as water mists on downwards, biting her lower lip as Haru recovers himself. Up to his feet again.

Dropping his yoyo. /with malice aforethought/

But Aracely already saw it's a weapon. She hooks out her leg to avoid the ankle-wrap, but he's moving in a way that doesn't quite match it - and so she snaps her leg upwards as well, catching the yo yo, not in the chin, but rather in the meat of the calf.

Or as some would call it.. the veal!!

This would be pretty clever except that from the look on her face, yes, that did in fact still hurt. A lot, probably. Hopping forwards on one foot, Aracely's leg stays high, before she gets near enough to Haru to hook it downwards -- an improvised sort of throw effort, but hooking your knee over your opponent's shoulder isn't /against/ the rules.

Just usually not done this high up.

COMBATSYS: Haru counters Power Throw from Aracely with Moonstone Tenacity.

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Haru             0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0          Aracely


Someday, he's going to realize that his powers work best when he doesn't try to force it, when Haru lets his instincts take over. Maybe it'll be after he examines this situation. However, what he's feeling right NOW is that the sounds and sights are very overwhelming and that last attack of Aracely's hurt and as her upraised leg comes toward toward him with the promise of yet more hurting, he... more or less lets that lizard hindbrain take over. Which in this particular instance, at least, seems to serve him well.

With a shout of "aaaaaAAAAAAAAAH!" that slowly gets louder, as Aracely approaches, Haru squeezes his eyes shut, throws out both hands, and suddenly his entire body is surrounded by a perfectly spherical barrier of energy that snaps into existence around his body in a flash of pearly white light. Aracely's grabbing leg slams into the barrier instead of hooking on Haru's body, and the barrier then shatters into what looks like flower petals (specifically lotus blossoms)... but said petals are manifestations of Haru's psychic power, slamming into the poor wrestler's body.

When it's all said and done, Haru slowly opens his eyes, looking... well, just as surprised as anyone else, taking deep breaths. It's a pretty clear 'did that just happen?' situation.

Aracely's leg hook... has failed! Smashing into that barrier, she is reversed, knocked backwards, and toppling back onto the hard, cold stone. This produces a fairly hefty bump for her, though she did not in fact crack her head on the paving stone. Just one shoulder. Ow.

"What... the hell...?" she groans, before kipping herself back up and taking a step away from Haru, eyes narrowing. "Is that some kind of power trick? It seems... ...bright."

This is the best she can reply before the fountain she'd just hit her body against erupts in a sudden surge of upwards, a laser ray from the blimp hitting it and turning it into a column of searingly ruby-bright red! Aracely takes advantage of this moment, not to wipe her forehead, but to breathe swiftly several times, clenching her fists and waiting for the water to collapse downwards.

That will be her opportunity, she reckons. That is her chance...!

COMBATSYS: Aracely gathers her will.

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


He *actually looks embarassed about it* when Aracely asks which is prrrrrrobably proof that maybe pro fighting isn't going to be a good long term career move for Haru Sakuraba. "I... uh, I don't really know much about it," Haru says, deciding that honesty is the best policy at the moment. He seriously is blushing, what the hell. "BUt it's, um... yes. I guess you could call that my 'power'." A beat. "Sorry." STOP APOLOGIZING.

Aracely doesn't follow up, preferring to remain a little cagey for the time being. Thinking carefully about what that might mean for the next few moments of the fight, Haru decides that continuing caution is probably for the best. He warily circles Aracely for a time, watching her adjust her breathing, and when it seems like there's an opportune moment -- when she's just about to deeply inhale -- he suddenly snaps forward at snakebite speed, whipping one yoyo around in a wide arc to slam it right toward her shoulder, hoping the awkward angle will be enough to make defense difficult!

COMBATSYS: Aracely just-defends Haru's Random Strike!

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Haru             0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1          Aracely


"No, no, you're cool," Aracely tells Haru with a sort of big-sistery tone with a smidge of condescension, the sort of thing that would totally wreck her image if this fight was being closely miked. "It was real effective, you should practice it." BUT:

He's lunging inwards with incredible speed. A yoyo is coming towards her shoulder!?

Aracely ducks low then as Haru swings, /just/ as the water slams down in a huge distorting and beautiful splash! Soaked to the bone, Aracely can move forwards in a pretty straight line, and she ducks underneath the extended arm of the slightly taller but much lighter young man-- to hoist him up on her shoulders, abruptly and suddenly. He may be confused by this. It's understandable.

"Keep your head up," Aracely mutters into Haru's nearby ear.

This is because Aracely is doing a reversal of one of her normal moves. Her typical technique is to hoist someone up and dump them forwards onto her knee, but doing that like this seems like a recipe for giving Haru the opportunity to think: Hey, I can do my bubble trick and blow the Moonchild away, winning renown and a bunch of money! Instead, Aracely dumps him off her back with a bit of a fillip, so he falls with his face up --

And she kicks up and back with her still-sore leg, aiming to score a shot in the small of his back with his own bodyweight's power behind it.

COMBATSYS: Haru endures Aracely's Backbreaker.

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


Finding himself (harmlessly, but bizarrely) hoisted toward Aracely's shoulders is a surprise. And he could easily have leapt off in time, had it occurred to him to do so. But it didn't, or perhaps more accurately, he made a split second instinctive decision not to.

His inner monologue says: this is going to hurt a lot.

PROTIP: It hurts. A lot.

But the important thing to note is that while it hurts an awful lot, Haru was entirely prepared for it. That last second move may have saved Aracely from his attack, but it also telegraphs her intentions for a followup. And so Haru does what he can to steel himself against the pain, and slips one of his yoyos into his hand, hopefully before the lady wrestler notices, so that when her leg shoots for the small of his back? Haru's arm shoots out BACKWARDS, intending to snap that yoyo around Aracely's extended kicking leg.

If he gets a grip, then the resulting movements are vaguely slapstick in nature. He can't arrest his forward momentum so he doesn't even try, but if he's got an anchor on Aracely's leg then *she's coming with him*, the wrestler's body yanked forward as Haru lands in a crouch. He doesn't stand up; instead he heaves his arms forward too, flipping Aracely OVER him while that pearly white energy pelts her during the entire trip, Haru finally letting go and yanking his weapon back when she's clear of him.

Of course, that's IF he gets a grip. Considering how wily she's been so far there's a lot of ways this could go...

COMBATSYS: Aracely blocks Haru's Amber Grace.

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


This is a legitimate move!! Ryback uses it. Whoever he is. (He's probably still jobbing somewhere in this world.)

Aracely's gentleness was because she knew she could easily smash his head on the pavement, and she has no real interest in doing this to a man - a boy, really - who seems so obviously mildly out of his depth. Of course, Aracely is getting flipped forwards and around Haru, in a reversal of her attempted back punishing.

She goes flying backwards, her leg hurting, and she would be about to hit the cold, wet stone with agonizing bump force, if it wasn't for the fact that things are about to get a lot wetter. As she sails forwards, a huge jet of water BURSTS beneath her -- and Aracely finds herself propelled up nearly ten feet, her arms windmilling.

But then wisdom comes to Aracely.

I'm up high, she thinks. I was expecting to fight without ropes to leap off of.

"The water... is my rope!" she declares aloud, even as she hugs her legs together and turns around, aiming to smack the back of her thighs into Haru's own personal noggin and probably crush him like an unusually handsome and slim ant.

COMBATSYS: Aracely successfully hits Haru with Fall From Heaven.

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


A knit brow. "The water is your wh--"

*WHAM*

This is basically exactly what happens. Haru cringes a little bit when the geyser of water sends Aracely skyward, the wrestler's body floating... well, way up. His eyes track her up in the dark heights and he struggles with his guilt and then basically she drops on him like a meteor impact, slamming the Justice student into the ground. HARD.

It takes a second for him to get to his feet, really, and when he does it's... you know. He's swaying a little bit. That stung, really; it hurt, but he also just took a heavy hit, AND this was on his head. It's a lot to bounce back from.

"That was..." Haru starts, before stopping and shutting his eyes for a brief second, then opening them again. He's clearly trying to re-focus. "...inventive." He means this as a sincere compliment, at least. To all three Aracelys he's seeing right now.

COMBATSYS: Haru calculates his next move.

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


As Haru struggles with both guilt and the fact that he just took a monster bump, Aracely grins at the complement. "Thanks bro," she says, before she slides behind him. As he studies the sudden lack of Aracelies, Aracely is looking around for when the next set of --

Ah! Aracely sees a leaky sputtering from the ground on one of the squares. Just as a purple laser shines down on her, she leaps backwards - and indeed, the jet of water does catch her right on the back of the thighs, vaulting her upwards, this time more like /fourteen/ feet.

The Moneyrock starts spinning its reels...

It is at this point that Aracely realizes that her plan to do a twisting suicide dive into Haru's side and totally punk him would have worked way better if she wasn't moving up in a parabolic arc rather than trying to smash into him from the side.

Twisting around, she hooks her leg up again - relaxing the other one, bracing to absorb her own impact shock, but aiming another of those shoulder-under-knee power leg-throws to put Haru on the ground. For the pin, perhaps!?

Of course, she's also revealed this move before. Tsk tsk!!

COMBATSYS: Haru counters Power Throw from Aracely with Topaz Vigilance.

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


Aracely intends to grab Haru once more. The lady wrestler's skills are first rate and she's persistent and strong. And maybe this is why, like a light switch snapping on in the back of his head, Haru subconsciously realizes he's not going to be able to handle her without stepping things up a notch. So... this is what he does.

The whole time she's coming at him, Haru still looks sort of dazed and confused... not so much that it might give her pause, but it's hardly the sharp-eyed focus he showed at the beginning of the match. The fatigue is real! But as she comes closer and closer after her second attempt at using the water to slam him, his vision actually starts to get clearer and clearer. And more to the point, that pearly white light starts up again. At first, just a flicker around his hands, but then it spreads, limning his whole body like faerie fire. Is he going to barrier himself to safety again?

Nope. Instead, just as Aracely is upon him, he snaps out a hand and a yoyo with it, then the *other* hand. It happens so swiftly -- his body amped by the sudden burst of internalized power -- that it's hard to follow, but one minute the wrestler is about to connect and the second Haru is reeling the yoyos back in, having directed Aracely's descent *right* into the ground instead of to him. Really hard, actually.

Haru says nothing; instead he just stares at his opponent, waiting for her reprisal, taking deep and obvious breaths. This is clearly taking a lot out of him... it's not likely it'll last for long.

Aracely is twisted around and hits the ground hard. There is a loud CRACK.

That may be something to feel guilty about, Haru! Fortunately it seems to be cartileginaeous cracking, or perhaps she's just rolling around in agony from it - not her head, but the Moonchild doesn't rise up immediately. She's clutching her right leg; finally, rolling over, she gets one foot under her.

She starts rising up with slow and agonizing motion, even as the laser lights turn green and a column of water - no, four of them - appear around the location of the two fighters. The slots roll again. Aracely sucks in a huge breath --

Her eyes widen and she leaps upwards, aiming to rise... past Haru? This may seem peculiar, but it will seem a lot less peculiar when Aracely's right arm goes out, whiplike, to try and lash round his head and pull him backwards in a full-body slam on the pavement himself!

"I see you're learning, cabron," she hisses, if possibly to the air.

COMBATSYS: Aracely successfully hits Haru with Bat Out of Hell.
? Strange Hit! ?

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Haru             1/-----==/=======|>>>>>--\-------\0          Aracely


So, things get weird. For starters, just as Aracely heads at Haru, the monitors overhead suddenly come up:

[BAR] [BAR] [BAR]

This means that either Aracely just won a 1Up in the post-stage mini-game OR the Diamond Dragon casino's 'stage gimmick' is about to turn this into Smash Bros.-style madness. SPOILERS: it's the latter.

Haru watches his opponent carefully, still flickering with opalescent white flows of energy, but suddenly there is a 'doot-doo-doo-doot-doot-dooooooo!' noise from overhead as if played on a kazoo... and then the world around him is suddenly full of exploding pachinko balls raining down. On the upside: none of them explode ON HIM. On the downside, this means when Aracely comes his way, Haru is ill-prepared to defend against her attack and finds himself rolling away across the ground in considerable pain, victim to one of the lady wrestler's most potent attacks, it would seem. Though perhaps the volley of exploding pachinko balls might have some impact on her, as well...

When he stands up, Haru can only hear Kensou's voice in his head: 'power can mean many things'. Combined with Aracely's assertion that he's 'learning,' Haru simply breathes out and says: "Yeah... I guess I am." He presses a hand to his chest, closing his eyes for a second, and lets the power coursing around him briefly flow THROUGH him as well. This won't last much longer... but maybe he can make the most of it.

EXPLOSIONS??
Her one weakness. How did they know!? Aracely's rising DDT is interrupted to some extent by this vast burst, and she finds herself standing upright, if staggering, with a half second or so of awareness missing. She blinks repeatedly, even as she looks at Haru, squinting.

As he puts a hand on his chest. Is he about to pledge allegiance to Lucha Libre? No - he isn't. As he lets power flow through him, Aracely doesn't know quite what he's doing. She does know, at least, that he's going for some kind of recuperation moment. And when he closes his eyes -

She runs.

Behind him! To leap her knees into his back and hopefully push him forwards, her legs spreading out and getting forwards to hook under his arms as her hands cup together to grasp his chin. If all goes according to plan, he'll hit the ground -- caught in this, the hellish reinvention of the Camel Clutch known to the savvy as the...!!

COMBATSYS: Haru successfully aids himself with Ruby Warmth.

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Haru             1/-----==/=======|>>>----\-------\0          Aracely


COMBATSYS: Haru blocks Aracely's The Clutches of Satan.

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Haru             1/----===/=======|>>>>---\-------\0          Aracely


In this, the battle of the unknowingly divine and the performatively Satanic, do we find drama.

Whatever he did certainly seems to have helped Haru recover, which is good; he needed it. But as he opens his eyes, and Aracely is right behind him, he appears to be prepared for this eventuality in some way or another. The lady wrestler's push sends him stumbling forward, but her attempt to hook her arms under and grab his chin is less successful; he's able to wriggle free and then dive into a forward somersault, coming to a rolling stop as geysers of water explode all around him. It's POSSIBLE they were conjured up out of drama alone.

If this were DBZ, there'd be some mook on the sidelines right now talking about how Haru has almost reached the limit of his Kaioken or whatever. He feels it in every limb of his body as he stands up, the light still flowing around him. After this, well... unless he puts Aracely on the mat NOW she's going to wreck him. He gambled everything on this moment.

Appropriate, really.

"Okay. Here I go," he says to his opponent. "Luck be a lady, I guess..."

And then he's surging toward her, whipping out one yoyo and attempting to grab ANYTHING he can: an arm, a leg, even her waist or neck if it'll work. And if he gets his grip? Into the air she goes, with a snap... but Haru's not done. From there he flows forward into an increasingly complicated loop of attacks: a slingshot with the yoyo, followed by a strike, followed by a burst of that white, lotus flower-shaped Psycho Power. Over and over and over, the pinnacle of his training.

It really better work, because whatever happens, when he's done, Haru drops to his knees, the light flickering out, the Justice student taking big gasping breaths.

COMBATSYS: Aracely just-defends Haru's Crystal Ferocity!

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Haru             0/-------/-------|>>>>---\-------\0          Aracely


Aracely has had little idea of Haru's pushing it to the limit. She's seen he improved, but she thought perhaps he was warming up. Mano 666 has been observing, eating his meat bun, but he's not exactly about to spoiler-alert the moonchild's daring do!

The yo yo snaps out - and Aracely reaches for it with one hand. The chin lock is broken, but that's not what Haru wants here. He wants Aracely to keep trying to make him tap, because she just caught the yo yo.

Of course, the looping bursts of Psycho Power come outwards despite this, even if they appear in their gorgeous swaths in a different and far more diffuse pattern. Perhaps all the more lovely for that. Aracely feels a sharp stinging burst, recoils, and does a moonsault off of Haru's back, landing on her feet and saying with wide eyes, "What the hell --!?"

But the lights fade out - even as that electronic screen fades out as well. Aracely is upright, she's standing and he's on his knees. Gassed out and down. A moment of guilt passes through Aracely's face -- but then she sees another spout pass by.

Reaching forwards, she grabs for Haru's arm - and if he's not able to react, he gets yanked up and shoved forwards, towards one of the burbling fountains. "I'll catch you," Aracely assures him, before the twist comes -

A toss forwards, to catch one of those spouts! Involuntarily.

COMBATSYS: Aracely successfully hits Haru with Irish Whip.

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


It's probably a good thing she says she'll catch him, because Haru is so incredibly exhausted that Aracely can literally just walk up and toss him. He kinda looks like he's trying to get out of the way, but he really isn't; or rather, he really can't. He more or less literally turned what was left in his body after Aracely's continual assaults into a last-ditch gambit at turning things around which the lady wrestler more or less no-sold (as is the wont of wrestlers).

"At least," he says, without rancor, as she draws close, "I tried."

But the truth is that he flies sort of bonelessly through the air toward one of the geysers which, with appropriate dramatic timing, sends him spiralling upwards into the air. In reality, it doesn't matter if she's going to catch him or not because Haru is out like a light before he even hits the ground.

COMBATSYS: Haru takes no action.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Aracely          0/-------/----<<<|


COMBATSYS: Haru can no longer fight.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Aracely          0/-------/----<<<|


Aracely is as good as her word, at least, it seems - a warm embrace from SATAN'S DAUGHTER, which involves a gentle twisting around her shoulders for the sake of screaming "KYAAAAAHHH!!!" to the crowd, rolling him over her head, and then marching with rather quick swagger towards the standby medic. Whereupon she 'dumps' him down onto the stretcher (it is not a dump, it is mostly just done very insouciantly).

"Oi, take care of him, I think he busted something doing those tricks," she tells the medic, wiping off her forehead - and leaving a pentacle imprint on her forehead, wholly on accident.

COMBATSYS: Aracely has ended the fight here.

Log created on 19:34:58 02/28/2015 by Haru, and last modified on 15:43:43 03/01/2015.