Match of the Millennium

Description: In a battle between friends, who will win? NOBODY. (Result: DKO)

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
Welcome to the Golden Angel Waterpark!

Southtown's new hot sensation, the waterpark is remarkably popular amongst a population that a) wants to pretend that they have not, in fact, recently been in a war, if at all possible; b) have a good time in water that is less goddamned cold than the sea around Japan is in winter, and, because of the tournament being held there, c) enjoys seeing people fight, ideally while wearing not a whole lot.

One of those matches is, in fact, slated to start in just a few minutes, between Clio St. Jeanne and Makoto Nanaya.

Makoto Nanaya is a new, independent-as-far-as-anyone-knows fighter who most people have not heard of. She has gotten to the park early to get the best spot, though, so people have been able to find her before the match, though she's not in a convenient place to talk to.

The battle is supposed to start on craggy 'islands' that have the jets that regulate the temperature. Makoto has found the one with the hottest jets and is currently using a little depression in the crag as her own personal hot tub, sitting in water that comes up to her neck. It's hard to see below that because the play of the jet over the crag makes the water white and foamy here, which may have been why she picked it. Every once in a while there's a flash of brown, though - her tail, shifting underwater.

More likely, though, she just wanted to use it like a hot tub. Aaw yeah.

[CLIO]
Water warmer than the chilled ocean. A world away from war and enclosed from the elements. A place where attractive women fight while not wearing a lot.

Clio St. Jeanne enjoys most of those things. And for the others, she's willing to extend an open mind and accept that sometimes summertime fun and the heat of the sun might actually be something of a good time.

And Clio's had some practice on the rocky grounds of the island of bubbling hotsprings. Feeling fairly fresh off of a practice spar with one of the other contestants, Clio is actually awake and excited to have a first round match against Makoto Nanaya,

Makoto Nanaya totally being a person that Clio St. Jeanne has not known for many years, considers a very close personal friend and co-worker, and has willingly punched and been punched by for funtimes and practice. Totally not that particular poofy tailed and attractive darkstalker.

Clio arrives to the islands and takes off the aviators she's been using because you're supposed to wear sunglasses at waterparks and in summertime. Her suit is done in the NOL colors of white and blue. And though it's a style that's supposed to be more streamlined and sporty than many of the more revealing numbers about the waterpark, the fact that the two piece is virtually skin tight as a wetsuit is compensation enough.

Walking around the side of the craggy stone, looking around, tapping her water shoe covered feet on the ground. She looks about for the woman that she totally does not know in any capacity. "Makoto Nanaya?" she calls out, "If you're not here I'll just have to-,"

Clio stops, having walked around the little depression to see Makoto. "Hey, Mako," she says off-hand, for a brief moment forgetting the fact that she in no way knows Makoto.

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
Makoto figured she would make the lie easier on Clio (and, critically, herself) and claim that she knew the other woman, if not as well as reality; they just didn't work together. Fighters know all sorts of weird people, right? Right. Even if they are Darkstalkers knowing Librarium officers.

Of course, she never got a chance to slip Clio that memo. Oh well. Roll with it! See where it goes.

Makoto holds up one hand toward Clio, half in greeting and half in asking her to hold back for a moment. This is because Makoto practically vaults out of the water, landing on the craggy rock. There's not a lot of room on it, as they're glorified platforms/decoration/places to hide the jets, but you can certainly get two people on it.

Makoto is wearing white. Low on her hips - dangerously low - is a slightly frilled and very short wrap worn like a skirt; it might be indecent except there is actually a pair of swimsuit bottoms beneath it, so it's not. Her top is... actually it resembles the skirt-wrap pretty strongly, snug over the top half of her breasts while being loose and frilly over the bottom half. It's a little short.

She is also wearing a perfectly non-Golden Angel pair of thick metal wrist guards, which her tonfa are attached to, as usual. Makoto couldn't trust her weaponry to the strange stuff, after all.

Of course, Clio might not get much of a chance to look before Makoto snaps her tail to the side and then runs her hands through it, frizzing it up to maximum puff. It looks ludicrous, but it gets most of the water out, and it returns to being merely fluffy in a few moments.

"There," she says, with satisfaction. "Okay! NOW I'm ready. And of course I'm here, I'm not letting anybody get a win that easily." She grins, big. "You better get ready yourself, they're going to ring the bell once they see us both standing here."

[CLIO]
Clio slips herself sideways in a subtle, practiced positioning. She flips her glasses in her hand and sets them on the ground at the edge of the pool. Not a lot of room, but there's enough places to keep things quick and paced. She's had a bit more time to mess around on these grounds and hopes to use that to an advantage.

After all, she's not carrying her usual chains on her and with a slightly open armed pose of herself for Makoto, she shows off that fact. "I wouldn't want that any other way, puffbutt," she says with a grin.

Her pose slips forward, crouching slightly, starting to sway, leaning on the balls of her feet. Ready to pounce. "You're looking good, by the way," she adds, smiling. "But don't think you can distract me that easily. Come on, show me what you got."

COMBATSYS: Clio has started a fight here.

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Clio             0/-------/-------|

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
Makoto does not expect to /stay/ on this island. There's several around - one she's pretty sure she could jump to, some others she knows she can get to if she doesn't mind getting wet. (And, tail or not, Makoto does not mind getting wet. If she minded, she wouldn't have signed up for this.)

No, she was perfectly willing to do whatever it took to get to the bottom of this. The fact that there was a lot to enjoy about this trip was not lost on her. It may be part of the reason she was an eager volunteer.

Her grin broadens. "Are you sure?" she says, before laughing. "You too. To both! C'mon, let's have a good time and see where it gets us." Makoto's tail flips absently to the other side as she raises her fists. Now all she has to do is wait for the bell...

...which rings, though slightly later than Makoto was expecting it to. Guess the battle is joined!

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya has joined the fight here.

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Clio             0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[CLIO]
"Sure, I'm sure. You look fantastic," Clio playfully mishears. Her eyes aren't fully on Makoto and her suit, though. They're darting, playing planning out her approach and where to follow through on. This is a fight after all, and fun as it may be, she's serious about bringing her A game to Makoto.

She's off like a shot the moment the bell rings. Her fingers flick behind her as she moves at a pace nearly an oily blur before she slows down to a more human speed, spinning in the air like a barrel toward Makoto. A streak of burning aftertrail colored a dark, crackling shadowy violet.

She spins out and the source of the flame, her fist, coming down with a hammering, infused backhand flying down toward Makoto's head like a meteor shot from the shady side of space.

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya blocks Clio's Power Strike.

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Clio             0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
"Right!" That with a wink as Makoto keeps her hands raised, ready to battle. Makoto always knew Clio was fast, but the confirmation is surprising every time... if only because you can never be sure exactly which way she's coming from. As usual, Makoto has to make a guess.

This time she manages to make it. The empowered backhand doesn't connect with Makoto's head but her lower arm, braced by one of those tonfas; it's still enough to slide her back slightly (though fortunately not far; Makoto was right on the edge of the island, given she only climbed on not that long ago) and for her to feel the impact rattle up her arm.

Makoto shakes the arm that took all that impact once while doing something with her other hand, some gesture that is mostly obscured. Switching her forward side as if punching with her off hand, Makoto strikes thin air, and a few inches in front of her fist a white-orange point of energy forms, bright and brilliant; it puts out an almost violet aura of chi around it like a bubble, ready to pop brightly as soon as it's touched.

"Comet... CANNON!"

COMBATSYS: Clio blocks Makoto Nanaya's Comet Cannon.

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Clio             0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[CLIO]
It was a chance, revving up the backhand like that. This time it didn't pan out. But Clio has her footing, she has purchase on the island. She is thankful she bothered with the water shoes. Grip is a godsend on hot tub islands.

She smiles, bouncing her weight from one foot to the other. Fingers opening and closing, ready, raring. It felt good for a punch up with Makoto. Now all she needed was for the signal.

And there it was. Makoto always loved her called out punches. And the truth is, Clio loved them, too. One of the endearing things about the darkstalker. Clio's arms cross in front of her face. The aura pops brightly against Clio's arms, a flare of violet fire dances and mingles, swirling with the orange chi as Clio slips back on the water, heels edging at one of the hot tubs.

The moment is fleeting, however, as Clio follows up with a shuffling crouch, ducking low. Her hand plants on the ground and she spins in a sharp arc, the violet chi flaring around her foot as she scythes for Makoto's knees.

COMBATSYS: Clio successfully hits Makoto Nanaya with Light Kick.

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Clio             0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
Makoto believes bare feet are a better grip on rock than shoes, though they're a little pointy and she sort of regrets her decision. At least she didn't try to fight in sandals - that would just be asking for trouble.

And, barefoot grip or not, the kick that hits low staggers Makoto back. It looks like she's about to pitch backwards into the water, but she manages to recover... barely... by staying in motion. She turns the backwards slip into a pivot, driving her fist toward Clio's midsection with the tonfa adding significant weight to it, and a bit of a blur.

The blur is real, as Makoto turns the impact - if any, and if not she'll just have to jump for it and hope - into a backwards launch of herself. She leaves the island completely, flying over a small channel between them (maybe eight feet horizontally) and landing on a different one. This one is more gently sloped, less craggy; it's lower on the side she's on, raising slowly toward the far side.

And Makoto is grinning. "Nice hit," she calls. "That really smarts!"

COMBATSYS: Clio dodges Makoto Nanaya's Shooting Star EX.

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Clio             0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[CLIO]
Aha! Clio feels that one get through. And with it the start of her momentum. But, she has to remind herself, Makoto is no slouch. Any time this fight could turn on her. At any point, she can be knocked and bounced off a dumpster like a toy.

Okay, so a repeat of the alley was less likely to happen in a water park, but there were plenty of other things to be bounced off of.

And then Makoto is at her! A blur of a woman with that weighted tonfa looking to, no doubt, make a mess of her insides for a good few hours. But in that moment, with just a bit of luck on her self, Clio twists and bends herself like a cat avoiding a bath. Makoto finding nothing but air as Clio retreats with a side flip and twist to land on a separate island altogether.

Focusing back on the island, Clio sees that Makoto has made the same point as her in dashing away from their initial fighting area. "Great minds!" Clio calls out to Makoto before adding, "Catch!" She makes for a quick dash and takes a flying leap. With reckless abandon, Clio hurtles like a shot toward Makoto before balling up, twisting, and coming square for Makoto's chest with a missile dropkick.

COMBATSYS: Clio successfully hits Makoto Nanaya with Heavy Strike.

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Clio             0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
That's the nice thing about a water park: you're not likely to be thrown into a Dumpster.

Okay, there are a lot of nice things about a water park. That's just one of them.

"Eeh?" This is a little more reckless than Makoto is used to Clio being. Missile dropkicks are not what she usually expects from the woman. She comes in faster than Makoto expected, and more aggressively, and though Makoto brings up her arms to cross in front of her in an X and catch the foot... she's late. "Aaah!"

Clio's foot impacts Makoto and lets her spring away, almost rebounding off the Darkstalker fighter. As for Makoto, she's just had all the air smashed out of her, and she staggers, trying to catch her breath. That doesn't mean Clio gets off completely safe, though; Makoto jabs with her left fist, then sweeps that arm, trying to shove Clio away as much as anything else.

Don't worry, she's not really badly hurt - this is perfectly within the bounds of normal for a fight like this. Just on the verge of being stunned.

COMBATSYS: Clio blocks Makoto Nanaya's Random Strike.

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Clio             0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1    Makoto Nanaya

[CLIO]
Clio is being more reckless and aggressive than she usually is. This is just a tournament. It's fun. No one's going to actually die. Demons from a hell dimension aren't trying to break your will. There isn't two virtual gods pulling flaming golem elementals out of the earth to swallow people. It's just, well, fun with a friend. And Clio is getting indulgent and reckless in doing so.

She hits, she lands on her back and kip-ups back to her feet in time to see the punching shove. It's not too quick that Clio can't get her arms up, but she isn't very heavy in her positioning. The push slides her up and back with relative ease. After all, Makoto is a very, very strong squirrel. Clio knows that all too well.

"Ice cream after, my treat?" Clio offers in the brief moment before she's moving like a blur once more. Her leg bursts into a fiery chi, swinging hard for Makoto's head. The sheer force of her kick spinning her around. Clio's fist grows hazy, shadowy in the flames as it snakes out hard in a follow up toward Makoto's gut. Two sharp swings in a the space of a moment. Clio is pushing down hard.

COMBATSYS: Clio blitzes into action and acts again!

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Clio             0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1    Makoto Nanaya

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya dodges Clio's Strong Kick.

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Clio             0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1    Makoto Nanaya

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya blocks Clio's Stygian Fist.

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Clio             0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1    Makoto Nanaya

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
"You're on," Makoto shoots back, at the offer. Like Clio, she knows this is a game - a fun tournament. She has an ulterior motive for being here, but it is not (as far as she knows) world-threatening; it's just something she has to look into while she's here. She probably would have entered without it, too.

Also, she likes ice cream.

Makoto took advantage of the brief push to straighten. She can breathe again, though she's still a little off-balance; she shifts her foot to a steadier position just as Clio comes directly at her. The speed is impressive; Makoto isn't precisely slow, but Clio puts her to shame, as Makoto's more advanced techniques are mostly based on her staggering strength rather than her above-average-but-not-quite-as-staggering speed.

Makoto's response to the kick is to rather hastily duck. She goes under it, though Clio actually catches her foot in the still-damp floof of Makoto's tail, as ducking down tends to make it stick up a little further. It doesn't hit anything solid, though, just fur, and so doesn't slow Makoto down as she straightens back up. The punches against her gut are far too low for her to duck short of lying on the ground, and so she blocks those instead, taking the impacts on her arm and the tonfa lying across her lower arm.

One blow, then two, and then Makoto is giving back herself. She draws her fist back, power glimmering along the tonfa and engulfing her fist as she charges it up with force before driving it directly toward Clio's gut. "This week's special move!" If she connects, Makoto begins to windmill her arm, Makoto drives a punch (after about 720 degrees of rotation) upward, to launch Clio into the air. "Straight to the stars!"

Leaping up afterwards, Makoto drives her fist downward to slam Clio downward. Accompanying it is a giant fist made of chi, shimmering blue. "PARTICLE FLARE!" Who knows why she's playing to the crowd. Maybe she wants some fans? (She already has a few.)

Also, she's aimed to try to knock Clio directly into the water, rather than the rocky island. Why? Because.

COMBATSYS: Clio dodges Makoto Nanaya's Particle Flare.

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Clio             0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[CLIO]
Clio is, in all technicality here for the fighting, to give a more clear and present face for the NOL, to simply have a good time. And all of that is coming true right here and right now on the little bubble jet hot tub islands.

She's pushing hard on her speed, swinging hard and always moving. Trying to be, as she knows she can be, a one-woman-riot. Pressuring Makoto with her flurries. But it all seems that Makoto is picking up on the pace. But the sound of Clio's laugh as she kicks through Makoto's tail and meets the protection of the Makoto's tonfa with her fist suggest that's nothing but happy for Makoto's demonstration of skill.

And then comes the strike at her gut, but Clio's not stopping for long enough to take the punch. A quick burst of what looks like a formula circle and Clio has practically shimmer-stepped just outside of where Makoto was swinging. The look of surprise on Clio's face a sign of just how much the quick strike took Clio off guard.

"Gods you're good, Mako," she says with a gasp. And then she's at the squirrel again. A short swinging fiery uppercut to just hold Makoto off guard for the quick follow up, Clio swinging upwards to try and capture Makoto in a rolling head scissors to hurl off into the water.

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya dodges Clio's Charged Combo.

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Clio             0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
She really /is/ fast, Makoto thinks to herself. She's working hard, and she can't even land a solid punch! Which means she has to get better, of course. Maybe she should take it more seriously...? "So are you! You're keeping up with me, no problem!"

Makoto can turn her failed assault into defensive movement; the advantage of doing it the way she does is that it doesn't leave her too off-balance when it doesn't work. She does this time, taking a step to the side. There's just one problem there: that's the edge of the island.

Makoto hops off into the water and vanishes with a 'bloop'. Nobody sinks that fast unless they're trying to, and Makoto was; she pointed her toes and brought her legs in and all the things she learned how to do in a dive, as she thought that Clio would be less able to strike her in the water. Unfortunately, that's mutual.

Pushing off the edge of the island, Makoto glides through the water for several meters before cresting the surface and practically slamming into a fourth island. This one is smaller than the others, without a lot of maneuvering room, and Makoto claims it for her own almost immediately; bounding up onto it and holding her right fist back, preparing to do... something with the inevitably approaching Clio as she focuses on her striking power.

Though the audience may not be familiar with Makoto's ability to charge her punches, especially with the aid of her tonfa, Clio certainly is. That may be a bad sign.

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya charges her next attack!

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Clio             0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1    Makoto Nanaya

[CLIO]
Makoto is just, just too quick in the moment. Clio spins about, whiffing and nearly spiraling off into the water herself. She spins out and returns to the crouching bob of a posture she assumes without her chains and watches Makoto disappear into the drink.

"Mako shark," Clio cracks, mostly for her own amusement as she looks out into the water for the sleek and swimmy squirrel girl. She watches, ready, looks out to the islands and, there! A squirrel cresting the waters and prepping for an assault.

But Clio is there to keep up the pressure. She leaps to the air and comes down onto the island. Her body immediately buckles. This is stupid, but Clio's feeling reckless and needing to take advantage of the spur of the moment that Makoto may be busy having to prep up.

Clio knee slides like a rock star, spinning around, sharing the island with Makoto close in. Her fingertips touch the ground and spark. She scrapes her fingertips along the ground like striking a match. Her lips mouth quick words and there, together, in close with her close friend, Clio springs up a gout of violet chi flame in a flashing show for all those watching these two dance around like blurs.

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya blocks Clio's Whipflash.

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Clio             0/-------/------=|=======\===----\1    Makoto Nanaya

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
Excellent, she followed! Makoto was counting on it, because - if she's being completely honest - if Clio had stayed back and thrown stuff there wasn't a lot she'd've been able to do about it.

Makoto grins again, showing teeth - even in the water she heard the 'Mako shark' crack. Well, her ears /do/ stick up; maybe they were above the water at the right time. But mostly she's just braced against Clio's assault, and she's not disappointed. The whirling chi gout impacts Makoto but fails to move her despite the pain. She's starting to tire, and it shows.

But she's already started to power through it. "SMASH!" Makoto yells, as she drives her fist directly toward Clio's midsection. She's not holding her strength back at all; it's just one single strike delivered with very ounce of her power. At least she's angled so that if Clio goes flying, she's going to land in water again - Makoto seems to be pretty reliable at turfing people into the water, as it turns out.

COMBATSYS: Clio blocks Makoto Nanaya's Empowered Impact!.

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Clio             0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1    Makoto Nanaya

[CLIO]
Clio can do quite a bit, but she's never quite gotten down using her energies as anything more than an extension of self. It might be some time in the future that she bothers to study on her shortcomings. But right now, she's having too much fun hurling her energies at Makoto.

She can always trust Makoto to power through. And the power of that fist hammers Clio's arms hard enough to get a pained squeak and a sharpened hiss as Clio's heels slide off the edge of the smallish island. "Fffff-,"Clio bites her tongue, she's being watched now, "You hit hard. Good to see you're really trying, Mako." She laughs and bounces again, up and down on the balls of her feet, and she is in that skintight Golden Angel suit.

Clio seems to still have a degree of fight in her as she's dashing off again. Not much room to build up a head of steam, but Clio slides on up and close to Makoto for an uppercut. Close enough for them to nearly touch even without the intend to hammer each other with violent force.

COMBATSYS: Clio successfully hits Makoto Nanaya with Fierce Strike.

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Clio             0/-------/---====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2    Makoto Nanaya

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
"Well, of course I am! I don't know how to hold back," Makoto says, with more energy than accuracy. (She knows how. She just doesn't like to.)

Makoto watches Clio carefully when she bounces on her feet. It's important to watch how your opponent is shifting their weight, because their core is the hardest part of their body to fool you with; they can move their arms, they can change their legs' position, but their center of mass is always truthful about their balance.

Right.

There's not a lot of room for Clio to build up velocity, but she doesn't need it. Makoto /is/ getting worn down, and she's not really used to fighting for an audience yet. She can feel them watching, and though some people probably like her, there's plenty of people that won't, either because they prefer to cheer for Clio or for... other reasons. If anything is going to make her uncertain /and/ make it so she won't admit it, it's that. No wonder she's focusing so much on a fun match with Clio... /that/ she's done before.

Though, as mentioned, not in the swimsuit.

The uppercut drives home against Makoto, launching her into the air. It's all Makoto can do to take control of her accidental aerial bound; going up she's uncontrolled, but she seems to recover in midair, flipping around so that she can drive an almost vertical punch straight /down/ at Clio on her descent. "Haaa-AAAA!"

COMBATSYS: Clio dodges Makoto Nanaya's Meteor Dive.

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Clio             0/-------/---====|>>>>>>-\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[CLIO]
Keeping a focus on your opponent is key. You learn the ones you fight the most. You know who is who and how they move and how they strike. If anything, that's why Clio has been this aggressive so far. This wild with abandon. At first, simple joy, but now it's beginning to harden into a tactic that she can exploit. After all, Makoto would be very familiar with Clio's moves should Clio have brought her chain or used the weighted sash she had considered.

Instead, Clio is fighting with a style and a method that is still fairly raw and uncooked as combat approaches go. And right now, it's favoring Clio against her long time friend.

When Makoto is in the air, taking control of the force of the blow, turning it into her own positioning, Clio gets a smile on her face. A familiar trick, and she gets to watch Makoto do it. Makoto in a swimsuit. A touch of red comes to her face when she catches herself watching with a bit too much admiration than the moment calls for. Thankfully, Makoto hasn't yet figured out how to make herself fall faster.

Clio twists out of the way at the last possible moment. Arcing backwards, a backbreaking bend of her body turning and slipping away as Makoto comes down to the planet. The people are cheering, some for Makoto, some for Clio. Clio may have the advantage in some people's eyes, after all, Makoto is Makoto, a darkstalker. Clio would personally invite all of them to face her head on if they ever voiced that reason for supporting her over Makoto.

And even if she wants to win this, it's not to win, it's to show Makoto what she can do, what she's capable of. She, in her way, wants this fight to impress the squirrel girl.

Clio keeps her hand planted on the wet rock island. She turns away from Makoto and keeps the spin to boost momentum. A hammering, fiery kick meteors around toward Makoto's backside as Clio pivots a full 360 degrees on her handplant.

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya dodges Clio's Medium Strike.

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Clio             0/-------/---====|>>>>>>-\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
Makoto is /already/ impressed. She didn't know that Clio could fight this way, not without her chain (or a sash, or a rope, or something like that). Not only can she do it, she can do it well enough to keep up with Makoto and put a show on for the crowd. That's real skill.

Makoto lands in a crouching position, her fist touching the stone of the artificial island. Though she pushes herself up immediately, it's still a disappointment that she couldn't land the blow, and Clio is already in motion. With a boot right toward Makoto's...

...tail.

It doesn't connect. Makoto turns her body just so, taking one dangerously long step that looks like it puts her even further off balance than she already was, and the foot brushes past her tail without really connecting. Makoto turns the step into a pivot, whirling in the opposite direction as Clio just spun and delivering a hooking punch. "How much - longer - can you keep dodging??"

The hooking punch turns into a rapid-fire flurry of punches, Makoto's hands moving so fast that they appear to be engulfed in flickers of blue chi before she ends it into a massive uppercut, her fist now very obviously trailing that blue-white energy in a huge trail behind her blow!

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya successfully hits Clio with Event Horizon EX.

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Clio             1/------=/=======|==-----\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[CLIO]
Spinning, caught on one hand. Without a hope to keep up and too invested in the flow of the kick to correct. Clio gives Makoto the answer to her question. Just about until this moment is how long Clio can keep dodging.

The blast of the fist. The second and the third. They strike harder and harder against Clio. She's dashed back and forth and then she's launched well into the air. A near firework of blue-white power left in her hurtling wake.

And this time it's for Clio to crash into the waters around the island with a splash. All still for a moment before Clio's hand slaps the side of the island. A quick circle, scratch marks. A symbol normally etched into her chains being drawn and focused on. And with a slap, a ring of violet flames circles about the small hot tub rock.

Clio makes her attack through the chi flames. She bursts from one side, heel kicking out for Makoto's head. No, she's from another, a fist for Makoto's midsection, fist and forearm ablaze. Or maybe it's the one coming from the center, grinning like a woman possessed. The one that approaches with a graceful backward summersaulting kick.

Attacked from all sides by a woman moving like three at once.

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya counters Cerberus Rush from Clio with Space Counter EX.

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Clio             0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
Makoto lowers her fist, breathing hard. This has been a hard-fought battle regardless of who actually gets a win out of it. She wants to run her hand through her hair and get it out of her eyes, or brush out her tail and let it finally dry out (it feels unpleasantly waterlogged, like very long hair /but worse/) but it's not over yet. She can tell - that wasn't enough to disable Clio.

And she's right, as it turns out. The ring of flames is enough of a warning for Makoto to get her guard back up, and she can /feel/ what is coming - though it helps that she's seen Clio do it before. One Clio, then another, then another, and no way for Makoto to tell which one is the real one.

So she hits all of them.

Makoto's defensive stance deflects the Clios in such a way that, if they were all real and individual people, they would get smacked into each other. The punch aimed at her gut is pushed upwards at an angle, to smack into the heel of the first kick, before Makoto shoves the pair violently in the direction of the third. Since they're all Clio, of course, she doesn't expect mass chaos as they stumble and slam into each other, but her counter-blows add up, and Clio finds herself badly off balance after the series.

Makoto is just hoping Clio's as worn down from battle as she's getting, because she doesn't think she'll be able to pull that trick twice.

[CLIO]
When presented with multiple options, taking them all at once is a tactic that Clio would normally approve of. Normally in this case because she wouldn't be taking a barrage to various very sore parts of her body otherwise. The blows strike, and the dangers of fighting someone with familiar tactics starts to show themselves.

Back, to the side, rolling on the ground until she's nearly in the water once more. The crowd is loud but a distant roar when Clio gets back to her feet. She's battered, hair a wild mess where it isn't plastered due to wetness. She thumbs her nose and looks up toward Makoto once she's back on her feet.

"I'm really looking forward to that ice cream," she says with a tired laugh and a near lumbering forward. "And you still look better than me."

Another laugh, but then Clio shows she still has a degree of gas in her tank. A twisting, turning strike that sees her feinting one way, then pulling to the side with a rear hooking kick. A forceful strike that seems more intent on pushing Clio to a better momentum position than she might otherwise be in to be aware of another of Makoto's hammer blows.

COMBATSYS: Clio successfully hits Makoto Nanaya with Random Strike.
Glancing Blow

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Clio             0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
"I look like a drowned squirrel," Makoto objects, which is only partially correct. Her tail does not look at its best when soggy, though everything else is fine. Even her ears don't really have much of an issue. "But I totally am, too!"

Makoto is in fact ready to deliver one of those hammer blows, but Clio is faster than her. The hooking kick doesn't actually hit her directly, but as Clio twists, she can use her momentum to smack it into the side of Makoto's flank, causing her to stagger off-balance.

But not, enough, to stop her from doing what she was doing. Makoto successfully grabs Clio (and probably drags her along with that stagger); though both her hands are full with holding the other woman, Makoto has another less common limb to do the beating with.

That means that Clio gets smacked around by Makoto's tail. The angle is bad, and it's not really as painful as getting hit with Makoto's hands, but it /does/ sting - something amplified by being waterlogged, but not unique to it, as Makoto apparently even has a strong tail.

But she puts a foot wrong as she tries to regain her footing and slips, releasing Clio and thumping down onto her back. She elects to stay down - she's a little dazed at the moment.

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya can no longer fight.

[                       \\\\\\\  <
Clio             0/-------/---====|

COMBATSYS: Clio blocks Makoto Nanaya's Tail Barrage.

[                         \\\\\  <
Clio             0/-------/-======|

[CLIO]
Ha! It worked. It worked. Kind of. Clio catches just enough of Makoto to stagger her. Clio is safe. She has the opportunity to stay ahead of her opponent and take a victory.

Or, maybe not so much. Makoto feels something grab onto her arm. She tugs and stumbles to the side. Her other hand goes out more to stabilize Makoto than to do any sort of offensive strike. Exhausted and blown from the back and forth combat. She laughs and then looks to see Makoto's tail whipping around. Oh yes, Makoto has that thing.

Clio puts her hand up to deflect the blows. Coughing and sputtering as she's puffed in the face by a stinging fluffy limb. After the barrage of tail whacks, Clio just shakes her head and twists when Makoto slips and takes a tumble.

Clio goes with her, nearly faceplanting if not for Makoto there to break most of her fall. Clio lays still, arm and part of her torso draped on Makoto. She breathes heavily and waits for the world to stop spinning around her. This whole ordeal has been painful, but possibly more completely free fun than she's had in a while. But now she's dazed and spent and just wants to nap.

"Fuck it," she mutters, patting Makoto's belly in a distant way to get the squirrel girl's attention. "Why don't we call it a draw and just go get some ice cream? After a little nap."

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
Makoto gives a thumbs-up.

She does not actually get up to do it.

COMBATSYS: Clio takes no action.


COMBATSYS: Clio can no longer fight.

Log created on 17:06:05 01/20/2018 by Makoto Nanaya, and last modified on 23:24:30 01/20/2018.