Match of the Millennium

Description: HARUNA ABE faces the immense challenge of her life in the form of a cheerful aquatic girl who has the power to summon watery tendrils from Hell. In the end, PUKAI prevails, while also rubbing a hippo. This is probably not a Pop Team Epic episode.

[PUKAI]
In a surprise to no one, the Golden Angel tournament manages to pull itself to the next round and avoid lawsuits, so far!

It just means it is likely to require a bit more pizzaz and flare, an even more sloped boundaries!

Covered in the Golden Angel stuff, Pukai looks rather odd. The translucent dress that is due to her curse cannot be hidden, but the costume underneath - the golden angel material, has managed to put in a wildly wafting colorsheme much like the rest of her body. A two piece, it's still hard to tell where it starts and where it begins. Rusty colored orange bottom shorts that fade into a somewhat cyan pink at the top. Bikini top that does the same. Both of them seem to match the translucence and coloring of the rest of the darkstalker.

"... I don't understand what this is about." She notes, staring atone of the staff. "I ... signed up for this?" She asks a bit surprised, "I did!?" Hopping back a step, the forgetful nature of the woman has come back to haunt her. Of course, she did. It was considered only right! The nautical nature, and nonsensical part, would make her fit right in! Friendly outreach! All of that jazz.

Standing in the center of the wide sweeping crescent is the gift shop - and within that, is Pukai for the moment. Spear in one hand with three little points and nothing else in the other, the girl tugging the jelly-dress, which is impossible since it is attached to her, down. "Maybe I'll get used to to! Yes. It is just another trial..."

For now, the gift shop has been emptied somewhat to give the competitors some space, though the cameras seem to have quadrupled with a clear reason. "How odd, to fight in these swimsuits without any water nearby, though!" She wiggles somewhat, anxious. Nervous. "I guess I can see the water from here, however. Perhaps it is close enough?" She brushes her hair back - and it moves mostly like hair. A little.

[HARUNA]
Haruna Abe is glad to be

A. Back in Japan
B. Not having to deal with extremely affluent and noble people sipping tea and looking incredible at each other while she is caked in jogging sweat
C. in a place that is not full of whistling Italian men or priests of a religion she does not follow

Although she's a little neutral on

D. her Golden Angel swimsuit, which is a reasonable tankini top and a bikini bottom with a pentagram right over the general pubic zone, both in a sort of nebular blue-purple with a suggestion of starlight spangles (not lightning spangles)
E. her apparent opponent

Haruna clears her throat. "Why... I assume so, yes!" she says to Pukai, smiling. She's been smiling a lot! It hasn't really reached her eyes, because Haruna is wondering what fresh hell lays for her inside of the gelatinous body of Pukai. She is put up against a Darkstalker of some sort, and she is not even sure if touching Pukai will give her searing horror-venom injuries.

But Haruna can endure this and hide her emotions. As she rests one hand on her hip, the other comes up to gesture with a small, polite laugh. "Sometimes people wear them for the sake of fashion, or as a comfortable way to stay decent without wearing too much. When it's hot, or if you want to enjoy the sun..."

Haruna is already calculating which angles she should press against if Pukai is not in fact horrifyingly acidic to the touch. Her estimate: Towards the juice bar and the pool: A-OK. Novelty soveniner mugs and collection of ceramic Almas: Not so OK.

[PUKAI]
"There are other reasons for wearing than the beach?" Pukai asks of Haruna, eyes blinking brightly towards the woman with a smile, head rocking back and forth along with the majority of her while she stands at attention.

Haruna Abe isn't escaping C, however.

"By the Goddess, I am glad then I remembered to come here! It must be by her will that I found myself here..." She bows her head, perhaps in prayer, as her hands place the spear before her and rest it briefly against the ground. She does not kneel or any of that, if she even can, before her eyes open wide again! "Okay! I'm reading then!" Pukai is much less bothered by Haruna's mostly normal looking outfit and mostly normal looking body.

Why, if she had anything to say... she'd possible trade! She can't, though.

The darkstalker takes a few steps left - then right. It's possibly not clear what's going on. It might not be long, however, before it is clear. "I've never been out to see it, it has been a long while since I have found much reason to leave the Order's area - and make it to the beach." She answers, "So that is the use? I think it looks nice on you." She admits, smiling towards Haruna.

She's doing her own set up - but it's not quite as clear. The translucent tentacles are thin - and long.

[HARUNA]
Haruna takes a deep breath and lets out a sigh as Pukai speaks, prays, and sets her spear down. She closes her own eyes as if to beseech her ancestors or the more generous and compassionate Buddhas for aid, and then she shifts back into a more prepared stance, one that is more 'fighty' than 'flirty'. Unlike some these things are distinct for Haruna...

For now.

"Thank you," Haruna says then with a slight raise of the eyebrows. "Your look's pretty remarkable as well. Tell me, if you'll indulge my curiosity - how did you end up adopting the speear as your weapon?"

COMBATSYS: Haruna has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Haruna           0/-------/-------|

[PUKAI]
Some, like Pukai, don't even really have much of a flirty stance! However, she's certainly in a stance for now! Resting her hands on the normal spear, Pukai blinks for a few seconds, staring at Haruna and tilting her head. The gaze, the stare, seems like an alien out of this world - no real response to Haruna. Until her eyes blink once more. "O... oh? .... I've always just used it since a while ago. When I joined the order, it's what I was used to." The very short of it, really.

Then again, she wasn't about to admit that she became like this randomly. Though the rumors were 'she always was hiding it' vs the 'it was a family curse/bloodline etc/magic'.

"Oh, t-thank you!" She beams. It's remarkable. That's what they say when they don't mean pretty, normal, etc. 'Interesting'. That's another one. Her bell 'head' ruffles and the shorter Sacred Order Knight gets ready. The announcer raises an arm, "Aaaaand ACTION! Both sides, start!"

"Ah! Good luck Haruna!" The jellyfish woman moves closer now, charging towards Haruna with the spear pointed towards her. It's clear. At least it seems clear. That is, before Pukai slams the spear point into the ground before Haruna, small chi jellyfish emitted at point blank range, mixed with bubbles. Cute as they are, the bubbles are harmless - but the jellyfish would sting if they touched onto Haruna, clinging to her and detonating in a painful sting!

It might be notable as well, that there are tendrils about Haruna, now. Not on her - around. The ground, some of the aisles, and the merchandise has a thin, translucent strip in places. Waiting.

COMBATSYS: Pukai has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Pukai            0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0           Haruna

COMBATSYS: Haruna dodges Pukai's Cnido Phore.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Pukai            0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0           Haruna

[HARUNA]
Haruna may have mixed feelings about Pukai's entire thing, her very existence, but they are getting folded up and put aside, because whatever and whoever she may be, the battle is occuring here, now, for real and for true. "Thank you," Haruna says -

There! A rippling structure... the energy in the air makes Haruna feel a thrill up the back of her spine. It's rippling, yes, but that presentation of jelly and bubbles. The structures are deployed with shocking efficiency, thinks the distant descendant of Abe-no-seimei: But they're simple in and of themselves!

Of course then she sees the viscous shine on the stands. More complex, she thinks. She throws herself to the side, seeming to tumble forwards in a half-desperate way. If Pukai is familiar she might be able to spot that the flow of her energy was read, that the slamming point of her spear revealed things to Haruna...

But Haruna hasn't made a big show of advertising what she does, beyond 'exorcisms and energy work.' She hasn't claimed to be a knight, or even a great warrior! (To be fair, some of this has been her status of 'intimidated by glamorous rich white people.') As she tumbles on the ground, Pukai gets distance on her.

Haruna doesn't get up right away though she does swing her legs round. The right one lifts upwards in a sine wave, avoiding contact with one of those streaks. That wasn't a coincidence. "So you've always used it since a while ago, is that right?" Haruna says, and now her smile is positively sly.

Her eyes narrow. I've got you! she thinks.

"That's terribly interesting... was it a gift? Spears aren't too common these days."

COMBATSYS: Haruna tunes into the flow of energy.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Pukai            0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0           Haruna

[PUKAI]
The tendril peels off to grasp for Haruna - but she is a tad too fast. It grasps for Haruna, to pull her back down - to hold her in a stinging pain that would allow the smaller jellies to close the distance. It doesn't quite happen. Instead, Pukai finds that Haruna is fast. Perhaps incredibly so. It's not something she'd be able to catch normally. So Pukai intends to not do that.

"Since I was old enough to become a knight." Pukai claims, "Before that, I looked at the others as well." Or so she claims, but with Haruna making her stand, Pukai thinks on it all - what, exactly, will Haruna do?

It doesn't seem like anything. Blank eyes stare at Haruna without blinking, the girl once more watching as Haruna speaks towards her, the woman trying to ask question after question. "...No. It's from the armory of the Sacred Order." Pukai so plainly claims, "I'm a soldier of the Goddess, and of the people, if nothing else." She remarks, smiling towards Haruna as she does. "I have not yet earned the right to wield something greater."

With Haruna standing back, Pukai once more dashes forwards - or rather, trundles. Not too fast, Pukai seemingly bounces across the ground. The spear twirls as she closes the gap, swinging it towards Haruna in a quick swing - intent on swinging it!

Tendrils come to life near Haruna as well, making their existence known, as she the lash out - so very quickly?

Without any ado, they try to wrap around her legs, the spinning spear twirling towards Haruna, a prodding thrust towards her midsection as the tendrils pull towards it!

COMBATSYS: Pukai successfully hits Haruna with Armed Combo.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Pukai            1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0           Haruna

[HARUNA]
The tentacular slime is coming towards her. This is beautiful in its way, Haruna thinks, from an abstract perspective. Its origin irrelevant to that pattern. The motion is undulating on some current but she can't see what.

"Ah," Haruna says. "I understand better, now. Terribly sorry to be so nosy," and here she smiles, "but it's the best way I have to understand people!" Also, she doesn't say, it's a distraction and a testing sort of thing. Of course, this poise of analysis and understanding and all this other happy stuff falls apart somewhat when Pukai STRIKES

Haruna finds herself gripped with an abstract twinkle of 'oh!' and a much deeper feeling of 'shit' as she tries to pull her torso to the side, to avoid being impaled on that spear directly. Her face is a momentary mask of cartoonish anxious fear even if she is able to jerk her legs up, breaking loose of the gelatinous GRIP

Sort of. It's not a fluid leap so much as a half-hop and a stagger forwards. Pukai's blow scrapes across Haruna's bare belly as she grimaces, feeling the hot line and a red scratch that, thankfully, does not erupt outwards. It's a good thing she had it happen here, Haruna muses in that eternal internal Haruna-to-Haruna conversation...

A devil might have been less loving.

Either way Haruna staggers upon resuming her footing. But she stays close to Pukai - closer than the length of her spear. She's sweating now, which is perhaps not the image the gift shop seeks to present but be that as it may. She grins at Pukai for a moment and says, "When I say you're interesting - I don't mean it as a filler."

Haruna lunges inwards, and aims what looks like a fast but poorly aimed strike with a badly wrapped fist at Pukai's side. This is a lie of course; she has crinkled her hand up to lead with the small surface of her thumb tip, aiming to hit a nerve cluster just SO, scrape over a nearby energy meridian whose displacement she thinks she's figured out, and - more prosiacally - hook her arm up to try and set up a half-nelson.

"You're seriously interesting!"

COMBATSYS: Pukai fails to interrupt Celestial Prison from Haruna with Miss Shipwrecker.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Pukai            0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0           Haruna

[PUKAI]
"I understand... it's good to get to know someone new!" She beams, a smile across her face - even as she pulls back on the spear, sliding it across Haruna's form - it may not be the one she fights monsters with. Of course. It might also be.

These days anything is possible.

With Haruna able to half-hop and stagger forwards, the endril slides away. The trap set already being set off so quickly. A boon, a blessing, or a curse? It is still too early to figure it out! Yet Haruna staggers forwards, sweating. She's not alone, but Pukai's more dripping than staggering. It's not quite slime, but it's certainly not a wonderful fluid to those that are not herself. No matter how hard she is trying to 'act human'.

It doesn't really come off as well as she wants.

Eyes, wide, blink at Haruna s she calls her interesting once more. She doesn't respond immediately either, seemingly lost to Haruna's focus and misdirection. As that badly wrapped fist shoots towards her side. The first notable impact against Pukai in her staring state is that the membrane around her dress and about her head seems to puff up, rippling out momentarily make it harder to get the full force outwards.

The second is, Haruna touches a tendril hanging oh so carefully nearby her. It sets her off.

She's not fast enough. The impact from Haruna causes Pukai to jolt 'awake', "UWahhaa!?" Is her sudden response as she aims, instead, to shoot down into the ground - a pool forming beneath her. Instead... Haruna's grasping her head as she only sticks halfway out of the ground, flailing a bit as she does so!

"T-Thank you!" She proclaims as she flails, tendrils attempting to loosen herself, body wrapping itself up as she attempted to be free of the terrible grasp! It's hard to hold onto, but Haruna is managing very well to do so, her body a bit slimy in places!

[HARUNA]
*splorrrrch*

I've got her! Haruna thinks. Ha ha! Gramps would shit! I've caught a squid with my bare hands! Her grip attempts to transition into a proper lock even as Pukai speaks, the need to squat putting Haruna's legs under tension before she rakes out with the right one to anchor herself better.

All of that rippling, though, she thinks. What is she? She doesn't feel like some kind of jellyfish at all, not really. The tentacles are a trick, aren't they? Haruna thinks further, even as she shifts round and - if Pukai can't or won't turn her head - possibly ends up giving her a faceful of armpit. This isn't what Golden Angel is about?! Is it?

IS IT?

"Something about you... it's unusual, isn't it? I can't say I've felt anyone like you before, Pukai," Haruna murmurs, her free hand coming round to caress the other side of Pukai's head. It's a slow trailing of fingers. (In actual fact, Haruna is feeling a possible alternative theory out, but the evidence she thought she'd felt - the presence of a singular mass of water, protected by some energetic barrier and simply spread around - is disproven.)

"What does it feel like, to control those..." Haruna trails off, perhaps not sure just what to call those things.

"Let me see - if I'm reading this right - then I should have to strike --"

Haruna's grip loosens. HOPE FOR PUKAI? Maybe - because a moment later Haruna slams a hand down with two fingers leading straight for a significant spot of the puddle. If she was parsing the meridian distortion network there right, Haruna reasons, that should be her equivalent of the near occasion of the sacral zone; a blow that would disrupt focus and produce an exhausted feeling.

"HERE!"

Of course, Haruna is still thinking that Pukai is essentially a translated human being. She may be in many senses, such as the philosophical sense, correct. In other senses - such as the 'Pukai may be energetically analogous to a live human but is actually made of water that can also produce weird stinging death tentacles' - it may not be.

COMBATSYS: Haruna successfully hits Pukai with Female Protocol.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Pukai            0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0           Haruna

[PUKAI]
The woman, half in the pool, slides out of it as she doesn't end up entirely within it! Pulled out, even, as Haruna grasps and pulls! Pukai writhes about as one sea creature would, attempting to delay, and deny, the inevitable! Yet the inevitable still comes to fruition as the lock around her head manages to pull her out!

Cursed as she was, Pukai was part darkstalker, part human - but she would called herself easily.. an undyne. Monster is such a bad word, isn't it?

Rippling about - Pukai doesn't turn her head! Eyes close as she writhes more-so! "I-It's not unusual! It's different. Each of us, u-unique under the gaze of the goddess!" Even if it is a god. The free hand clasps the bell like head, Pukai presses back more-so! "It's not... it's nothing special! I just feel a bit more around me! I'm ..." Just normal! She claims. Can she? The grasp loosens - and then the puddle is assaulted! The break of chi that would interrupt the pathways between her and Esca! "Ah!" Pukai gasps.

The impact is immediate. The chi flow disrupts and the pain is almost deafening. A testing grasp or touch might be one thing, but the sudden link is severed. If only momentarily, Pukai's tendrils writhe at once, wrapping around her as she curls up - still, apparently, healthy. The impact of her body and the pool, vanishing, is clearly not helpign her - as she rolls towards one of the gift-shop stands. A bit of 'Come visit the Golden Angel waterpark!' postcards falling on her.

Her control over her form somewhat disrupts as well. Somewhat.

Hair slides out from the 'bell' as it faces Haruna - and then all at once, the mass swings towards her, tendrils on all sides attempting to grasp and wrench limbs - the main body trying to push back to her knees, hands, and keep her form human. "I .. A Apologize that I must restrain you! It's... what you've done is ... it's fine! Really..."

The tendrils, not quite stinging, would try to wrench harder.

COMBATSYS: Pukai successfully hits Haruna with Medium Throw.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Pukai            0/-------/----===|=======\==-----\1           Haruna

[HARUNA]
It's not unusual, not special, not weird, and she just has a little more to her than other people, Haruna thinks as she levers herself free. Haruna doesn't struggle against the water, though she does rise upwards.

"Restrain me?" Haruna says, with a laugh.

She puts a hand on her hip, sweeping her hair back with a toss of her head and taking a deep breath. "I appreciate the effort, Pukai, but I don't think -"

splrrrch

Haruna's eyes widen in consternation as she looks down and is immortalized, explicitly, on the Golden Angel promotional cameras, as having been thorougly bound, wrist and ankle and midsection, by glistening tendrils that are wrenching her into contorted postures. "Guh! Kyahh!! Wh -- H, hah - I guess - I suppose that I have - earned this -" And then she's bending over backwards.

Sweat runs down her back and she strains before Haruna realizes the sudden flaw in this plan. If she strains against these bonds, she'll injure herself further. The solution, she realizes as she closes her eyes, is to just

r e l a x

Which is exactly when she gets scrunched up into a loose ball, arching one leg in reaction into a blind kick that doesn't so much hit Pukai as the ground with enough force to crack a tile in a lingering shower of sparkles. However, the timing, the vector of this, and Haruna goes flying out through the giftshop doorway.

She comes to rest against a poolside deck chair. Against? No. On. It crunches beneath her, absorbing impact force. "gwuh" Haruna says, shaking her head as she pulls herself upright. Her eyes squint forwards. What power...

Haruna gets up, like, eventually.

COMBATSYS: Haruna tries to pull herself together.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Pukai            0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1           Haruna

[PUKAI]
It likely is a bit weird. Special. Unusual. But it's nice to tell yourself that everything is fine.

Nearly being burned, excommunicated, or executed, at first dawn was rough. Yet despite that, she had stayed with the Sacred Order. It is just... you never accept yourself fully, even if you lie to yourself a little bit. "Y-yes! I need you to ... slow down a little." Pukai remarks, smiling a little as those tendrils, in her hair, manage to make contact with Haruna. Her 'hair' as it were doesn't even seem to be. The 'hair' instead thin tendrils that apparently now wrap and glisten, bioluminescene glowing gently in the light. It's barely visible. With the spear in her hands, Pukai takes another step closer to Haruna as she is bound and wrenched about.

Yet she relaxes. Then tenses up right after!? Pukai gasps as that kick slams into the ground, flying out of the gift shop and towards the poolside deck chair, which crashes down! Pukai didn't do that - no, Haruna did! Haruna's power is quite apparent! Pukai looks over the edge, down at Haruna, and tilts her head. Yes that... is quite a fall, isn't it? "I'm coming down!" She decrees. It really shouldn't be announced - but the Sacred Order Knight pulls herself up and throws herself forwards - and spins the spear as she does so.

Twisting it downwards, it's much like an expected assault - a 'dragoon dive', the knight leaping in a simple and straightforwards strike downwards towards Haruna, which may preclude her getting up!

Limiting the eventuality! "That was pretty shiny!" She announces as she, a meteor of tentacles and tendrils, makes her way down towards Haruna!

COMBATSYS: Pukai successfully hits Haruna with Power Strike.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Pukai            0/-------/--=====|=======\====---\1           Haruna

[HARUNA]
"Kiiih!!" Haruna gasps as she is launched once more, landing in the water with an emphatic k-THLOOSH, floating there and not immediately coming up for air.

But the water itself, though simmeringly warm from Alma Towazu's sensual heat, is cooler than the air. Haruna's dizziness is dispelled immediately and she swims towards the direction of Pukai, kicking vigorously. I have to get out of the water, she thinks with determination. It's her element.

Soon enough slim hands with rough fingertips crest the edge of the pool and Haruna vaults herself up in a glistening shower of water!

Glistening, Haruna gasps, "Well - you're quite shiny yourself. But I suppose this is a stage on which all of us can shine!" Upright again, she beams at Pukai, even if the glittering smile on her face belies her interior fuming and seething at this effrontery here. How could she have gotten this far along?! She even announced she was coming, Haruna curses herself.

She's not even hot like Haru was!!! Mostly!!! Haruna seethes further.

She exhales. Centering herself, Haruna's eyes focus on the woman before her. Stepping forwards with almost a strut, she says, "I should warn you that I'm getting quite the feel for how you operate. It's really just one big thing that's keeping me from cracking this puzzle."

Haruna comes near the wreckage of the deck chair she just owned with her butt due to being thrown a moment ago. Her arms fold loosely before her, fingertips tapping on her own forearms. "I felt that there was a certain [Connection]..."

This is a distraction for when she kicks the wreckage at Pukai.

COMBATSYS: Haruna successfully hits Pukai with Huge Thrown Object.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Pukai            0/-------/--=====|=======\=====--\1           Haruna

[PUKAI]
The trick is, as Haruna might notice, the odd pool of water she disrupted earlier. Though Haruna's actions are still making it a tad hard for Pukai to get in close - to stay where she wants to! Infact, that's the safest place for Haruna to be. Juuuust out of reach. Yet Pukai, launching herself out of her 'pool' and into THE pool, manages to land in water that she'd much prefer to be in. "Am I?" Pukai asks, blinking dull eyes. "I .... I'm ... what am I again?" She asks, her momentary lapse in attention and memory providing Haruna a moment to escape - to retreat, and to ~glisten~.

Pukai, in the water, then sees Haruna's beaming face! That is, before Haruna struts forwards, asking about a connection. "A ... you've almost figured me out? You noticed a connection..?!" Pukai is either surprised, or doesn't understand - "You know what I - " ALL HANDS ON DECKCHAIR.

Or face. Surprised and distracted, Haruna's attempt, to /really/ punt her with an object - works. The deck chair slams into Pukai rather solidly, causing the woman to crash backwards in the water, sinking underneath as the impact is made clearly. Infact, she sinks... pretty far! Is she okay!? Dazed, the darkstalker knight sinks even more-so, deck chair a bit stuck in her noggin..

Finally, there's rippling as Pukai erupts out of the water, towards Haruna! "You really did have me figured out! You must have! Then I'll have to surprise you...!"

Splashing out of the water, her entire body throws her forwards, like it's skipping stones across the water. Splashing in and out - but it's clear she's coming. Especially as part of the deck-chair trails on her, from her, weighing her down! The spear is swung out towards Haruna as she gets closer, spinning~! Her entire body, spinning!

COMBATSYS: Haruna blocks Pukai's Medium Strike.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Pukai            0/-------/-======|=======\=======\1           Haruna

[HARUNA]
Haruna watches Pukai - listens to Pukai - feels the flow of Pukai - but Pukai, damnably, does NOT explain more about that strange thing that Haruna felt, and she curses her for a moment under her breath when the jellyfish knight staggers and hits the water.

Haruna has already turned round. She is capable, like most fighters (not Billy Kane) of basic pattern recognition - of course someone with such affinity for water will be only briefly deterred! The leap that clears the lip of the pool is an unpleasant surprise. Haruna's arms cross in front of her, throwing them up into a guard as the first strike hits home!

Haruna feels herself chime like a bell. A second strike! That one had less of an aetheric, energetic insight to it and simply hurts like a son of a bitch; the third one she declines with a leap back, and when Pukai is recuperating from the blow, she leaps in again.

Moving in between the moments... that's the real way to win, Haruna thinks!

She is leading with both feet. Her goal is to strike against Pukai and leap off, perhaps all the way to the outer fringes of Cafe Angel.

As she does, Haruna speaks eloquently. How can she say so much in one moment? She speaks from the heart.

"You ARE full of surprises... I'm glad to know I'll be able to rely on you. But there is just one thing that you have been overlooking, though I can't blame you, for I don't advertise..."

COMBATSYS: Pukai blocks Haruna's Hidden Virtue.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Pukai            0/-------/-======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2           Haruna

[PUKAI]
The strike impacts, spear and body managing to strike before Haruna herself leaps away! Ending up at the mercy, perhaps, of the woman - Pukai lands on the edge of the pool that Haruna has vacated. Tendrils stream down from both her 'dress' and the bell atop her head. The glistening water about her - and it's making it harder for her to actually fight. Just a tad. So much movement! The tendrils move to reposition about, but Haruna is leading her on a chase all around the battlefield!

"I am? I thought you alread knew everything about me... even about Esca!" The knight proclaims, "I'm still surprising?" But it's said with a smile! That is, before Haruna leads with those feet of hers! To strike against her and to leap off - and with such softness on her body, it's very possible! "What have I been overlooking?" The woman asks, "I don't .. think it's important about any other connection though! Not really .. for now! This... it's not how I used to be but!"

Oh there are feet.

Arms come up, body tensing, as the impact shakes Pukai, causing her to shiver from the assault! She'd still be a springboard for Haruna, but a less effective and useful one! The bell was far more softer, more bouncy! Staggering back a bit, but not quite falling into the water, Pukai flails at the edge, about to topple! Yet the tendrils all pull at once - causing her to regain her balance. The movements are slower, the strike apparently more staggering!

That's when as Haruna leaps off, there's a glistening behind her. Just a little.

Pukai follows, leaping off as she swings the spear once more - but not in a slashing motion. Her leap forwards is highly telegraphed - begging for Haruna to avoid it, smaller body kicking off and 'blooping' towards her, her body wriggling about as it undulates to help her movement, bringing it forwards!

COMBATSYS: Haruna manages to escape Pukai's Fierce Strike!

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Pukai            1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2           Haruna

[HARUNA]
Esca? Who or what is Esca? Haruna thinks. But she doesn't have time to get past it. She gives her best noble smile back to Pukai and straightens herself up after landing.

She thinks about the bell she touched with her feet. No, she thinks, I don't have time for that.

I'm one of their peers, Haruna tells herself. I can stand with the same nobility they did. They may have shone brighter - but that's just experience. If anything, I may one day eclipse them, and become the ascendant in the sky of this Western order!!

Thus inspired, Haruna's arms fold and she twists herself a little, fingers half-veiling her mouth as if she owned this place and most of the rest of Southtown. "Hm, hm~ I suppose that I should clarify matters. I'll be open to you, for we're comrades. I don't 'Know' everything, because that might be impossible. I know the basics of astrology... but I am no fortune teller, or intuitive, or an ancient master reborn. I do know a great many things... but everything I have learned from you in this bout, Pukai, is the fruit of..."

Haruna's arms spread.

"EMPIRICISM!"

"The flow of your energy is interesting, for it's like nothing I've seen before... but it felt a bit as if some aspect of you did not exist in this dimension. Whatever this 'Esca' you speak of us, I could sense great depths in you... and those depths were fluid-filled, Pukai!"

Haruna's head tilts back, eyes half-lidding. "My initial blows sounded you out. It was when I grasped you closely that I could feel the quivering pulsations within the subtle shape of your body. A - shall we say, conventional? - human body is perhaps seventy percent water, but your meridians floated like glistening strands in a living sea. If I were to taste you, I imagine it would be salt water - hm hm! How decadent that must sound!"

Clearly this is the true power of the Abe bloodline. Haruna watches as Pukai prepares herself, drawing back for this great blow. Either she's desperate, Haruna thinks, or... no; she's innocent, perhaps, but she's canny too

"But you can't dam the sea. Instead of my conventional methods - of guiding some flows of 'Chi,' of walling off others - I had to resort to working with those subtle trails... for I could neither imperil them, nor try for cause and effect. And so, though it's a bit crude, I sought to induce vibrations within you - though I'll admit that the chair was me trying to buy time!"

Haruna tosses her hair back as she sees the glitter of something coming up behind her in the garish gilding of the building. Either this is going to be a titanic screwup or I am going to look astonishing, Haruna thinks - and she spreads her hands out with a 'pap!' as the tendrils surge around her. There might be a feeling to Pukai, like a muscle twitch -

And they part! Haruna is untouched! (Mostly. Her hair gets caught up in one and pulled forwards, splaying out.)

"And now the moon rises...!"

Haruna lunges forwards, hand splayed out, to chop in a rather clumsy, poorly formed way along the centerline of Pukai's front. Her fingers wiggle out because she is trying to brush key points and apply the neccessary microns of force and her own subtle inner flows. A mote of stardust blossoms at each touch.

The feeling would be like a glorious tide. Supercavitating water erupts into cosmic and nebular light.

"Shine, O sea!" Haruna cries, just to gild the lily.

COMBATSYS: Haruna successfully hits Pukai with #Northern Dipper#.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Pukai            1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0           Haruna

[PUKAI]
It's true, Pukai looks a bit odd out of water - unlike Haruna! The declaration that she doesn't know everything is actually quite the surprising turn of events! "Empiricism...?" Comes from the Sacred Order knight, to the other, as she is spoken to. Oh, my, how she is spoken to! There is a bit ... too much shared to others for Pukai's taste. As Haruna speaks, explaining how she is - that some of her simply doesn't exist in the dimension, Pukai would possibly glow gently pale.

Oh no! Would she... and then Esca was spoken of!

She could... read her mind from the blows!? (not really) Yet Pukai believes it to a degree. Quivering pulsations, and how she might even taste! Frozen in place, Pukai's attempt on Haruna is still in play - the tendrils from behind taking much time to fully entrap, ensnare, and use the space provided to her best. Almost a drapery of them swing from the food shop (and it's not a seafood shop!) as Haruna goes on! Almost ... a little more!

The tendrils reaching out to grasp Haruna suddenly PAP as the vibrations wiggle through her, muscles suddenly going numb for them. It causes the rest of her assault simply to cease in surprise. "H--huh!? What did you do...?" It's an odd feeling when you suddenly lose what you had, after you never were to have it all at all. The tendrils, translucent, glow when affected. Some, longer than others, seem haphazardly draped around the battlefield. One even still is draped atop the bridge where they started towards the Gift shop. Multiple around, nearby, Haruna. None on her.

"By the Goddess!" She declares in surprise, as her body puffs up once more in surprise. The bell and the dress, swelling somewhat to make the clumsy chop that may make access to those key points that much more difficult. The body spasms, and the 'dress' and bell deflate upon impact, as she stagger backwards. "Hah.... hah...." The pinpricks cause the feeling to well up inside of her, chi dancing along the impact points despite the rather solid attempt to prevent the assault! Yet it still burns, it still hurts, and it twitches - her entire body feels sluggish. "Huuh?" Her tendrils all around don't immediately respond. "A-Amazing..." She declares, "But I ... I still must do my best as well!" She declares.

Hefting up her spear - the effort is now more than she expected - the woman begins to stagger forth as she swings - her head! The tendrils about the head seem to still function well enough, wrapping around Haruna if at all possible, trying to grasp her, preventing her from escaping! "So ... maybe you can meet her as well!"

Not the best promise, though it's accentuated by the spear thrust forwards, grazing in a slash to somewhat pin her close!

COMBATSYS: Pukai successfully hits Haruna with Dire Straits.
- Power hit! -

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Pukai            0/-------/-======|>>>----\-------\0           Haruna

[HARUNA]
EMPIRICISM!!!!

"Hm hm hm," Haruna says as she folds her arms, seeing Pukai puff up like she got stung by a particularly ornery bee that she was also incidentally allergic too. Her eyes narrow for a moment, and she says with a sort of smug lushness, "Don't fight it! I have no interest in actually causing h--"

Oh no, Haruna thinks.

She didn't just blow up and finish off!

Pukai has KEPT ERECT and is coming right for her with that spear as well as her tendrils lashing out and grappling at her upper body, including the all important sensitive PRINCESS ZONE. As she's squelched into place, she says, "W, wait, meet who!? I'm not trying to put any shade on - bluhh!!!"

Having lurched somewhat to the side, Haruna avoids making Cafe Angel Cafe BLOOD Angel, but she gets another stunning strike on her bare abdomen, because that's the problem with swimsuits: no real toughness in 'em despite their many other attribute advantages.

Lacking a good plan otherwise, Haruna reaches down to grip at Pukai's shaft and try to twist round, to use the momentum of that thrust and Pukai's possible confusion and general verklemptery to throw her towards the -

THE

THE HIPPO?? THE SEXY HIPPO?? #TeamGoldie

COMBATSYS: Pukai endures Haruna's Medium Throw.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Pukai            0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0           Haruna

[PUKAI]
As Haruna is super squelched into place, Pukai is a bit sorry! It wasn't the intention to do the very worst! "Ah... but I can't just...!" So she doesn't give up - though Pukai is overwhelmed, she's able to fight through it! Barely. With Haruna assaulted once more, and herself apparently kept standing quite tall, Pukai shakes her head! "No! If you know, then...!" Her head bobs up and down as she avoid stabbing Haruna horribly, and that's a good thing! The woman manages to stay standing as well. Haruna is a tough cookie!

Though the spear is found to be grasped, Pukai's lunge turned on it's side as she's thrown towards THE HIPPO.

Toppling through the air, Pukai goes head over heels as she loses her contact with the ground! Tendrils, surprisingly stay about Haruna. Feeling returns. All of this as the other knight topples through the air towards... THE SEXY HIPPO.

Impact is made. So is a hug. "Thank you, Goldie!" She asks, hugging onto Goldie and /rolling off/ so that she gains momentum. Smallish and bloblike, it's easier than you think! The toss dizzies her, making her somewhat nauseous (yes it is possible!) and causes impact damage about where she's thrown! It's nicely cushioned in others!

The tendrils around Haruna, limp, suddenly grasp at her from all over - will Haruna be able to escape from the unknown!?

COMBATSYS: Pukai successfully hits Haruna with Lost At Sea.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
Pukai            0/-------/-----==|=======\===----\1           Haruna

The tendrils would suddenly catch and pull, dragging Haruna across the make-shift battlefield... towards a pool, the same pool that Pukai had once before splashed into.

As Haruna is drawn in, the murky water is overpowering - as is the sense of negative energy, or simply evil. The first bright light that allows sight is that of what seems to be a sunken angel, head bowed in prayer, bound against a gate as it kneels against the 'sea floor'. Bioluminescent light about the back light it up.

"That's Esca! She's ... doing her best!" A voice comes from the darkness. So does light. From all sides. Small jellyfish surround Haruna from all sides, trapping her except for up - but above, a far greater light. Tendrils. What seems to be Pukai! Except she's ... far more jellyfish like at the moment. "I'm sorry you had to see me like this...!" Is her declaration, "I'm really sorry!" The stings all happen at once. The three pronged spear may just prod, but the tendrils sting all over with her chi, the small jellyfish doing the same, as more and more tendrils wrap over...!

Until finally it all ends, a surges of 'water' flooding them all out, Pukai, more human, floating down on the water from the pool before standing there, legs on the floor!

[HARUNA]
The tentacles. The tentacles are holding onto her.

Haruna's mouth hangs slightly open as she says, "I don't know! I only observe! Don't - don't -" And then Pukai grasps onto Goldie and rolls blobbily off of the majestic, some might say sensual hippo of doom; she finds herself freed.

Haruna exhales.

HARUNA LEARNS A VITAL LIFE LESSON: DON'T RELAX UNTIL YOU'RE CLEAR OF MONSTER PARTS.

Drawn inwards towards that vast and yonic depth, Haruna starts to kick and thrash. "Aahh! What --" There is a horrid glimpsed vision, a vast and majestic figure, a surreal visage that seems to transcend depth and scale and sanity with the sight of what lays in truth beneath the veil of reality, deep in the womb of the abyssal earth, the fruit of the crushing cold depths of the hadal zone--

"I'm glad she's doing her best," Haruna says. Well, thinks. It comes out more as a glub. What the hell else do you say in a situation like this? And then with a horrid torrent, Haruna is sent flooding outwards, sprawled on the ground, dizzied, perhaps spent! At least she's not steaming.

Haruna curses Alma Towazu in her soul, for just a moment. Why couldn't she have fought some hot guy? Her eyes stay shut, and as she pushes herself up --

"Winner!"

TOO SLOW. Though from how Haruna slops back down with a splsh, that would have been a forlorn hope in any case.

COMBATSYS: Haruna takes no action.

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

COMBATSYS: Haruna can no longer fight.

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

[PUKAI]
'Floating' to a stop, Pukai watches as Haruna fights to get up! As she slops to the ground with a slpsh, Pukai watches as Haruna... stops. Especially as she isn't able to get back up in time! The jellyfish knight tilts her head somewhat, the cyan tendrils moving with it as she walks over, letting the spear fall to the ground as she does so. The tendrils all around begin to slide away, shrinking, slipping back to the head of the woman. And the dress!

"Haruna! I'm sorry, I just wanted to have you meet Esca, since you seemed to know her!" She declares, a bit apologetic, before she slips (it happens) on herself and topples over neary Haruna, splashing down as well, on her back.

It's not so bad actually - for her at least.

"All my body feels weird still... what did you do? I barely was able to push myself." She claims, flopping back. "You can tell me later. It's okay." She notes, staring at the sky. "We should grab something to eat, too! I will treat you, when you are ready!"

There is a pause, "But let us not order water, just in case..."

[HARUNA]
LATER.

"What I did, abstractly explained, is encourage your body's natural energy flows to rise up and eventually flare off," Haruna explains. She has changed into street clothes, dried and tied up her hair, and looks vaguely like a disapproving Office Lady now; all she'd need are the glasses to complete the style.

"I can use it in other modes, but this one is the equivalent of... hmmm... think of it as a harmless release. Not completely harmless, b ut you're probably feeling drained and sapped now, not -- ruptred."

"Ma'am, this is a MOS Burger," says the attendant.

Haruna's head slowly turns to look in the attendant's direction, eyes closed.

Her eyes gradually open.

"Ah... you are... mother--"

REEL ENDS

Log created on 20:16:16 01/26/2018 by Haruna, and last modified on 19:21:54 02/02/2018.