Match of the Millennium

Description: What's could be better than Limbo?! The official Trinidadian dance contest has turned heads around the world. Rainbow Mika and Makoto Nanaya find themselves facing off in a secluded cove, not just in rounds of limbo, but in straight combat. Will both girls manage to make it under the line, without knocking down the limbo stick? To paraphrase Chubby Checker; Mika be limbo, Makoto be quick, which girl go unda limbo stick?

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
It's currently coming up on evening at a beautiful tropical resort, and boy, is it party time! Makoto didn't ask what the special occasion (if any) was because she was happy to have been invited... even if she is, technically, more like an employee than a partygoer.

Maybe she should sign up for SNF more often, she thinks. She's getting some pretty nice (if brief) vacations this way.

There was swimming. There was dancing. There was limbo (Makoto is not actually very good at limbo). There was dinner and drinking, and rest assured Makoto took advantage of that.

And now there is fighting.

In the evening sunlight, Makoto is warming up for a fight on a sandy beach with a surprisingly large crowd. 'Warming up' consists of bouncing in place while she tries to shake off the aftereffects of the several cocktails she has had recently, though currently she's mostly just hoping that the adrenaline when the fight gets going solves the problem the rest of the way for her. She's not really drunk, she tells herself. Just a little energized.

Makoto is wearing her usual orange and black fighting costume, with a single exception: because she is on the beach, she has taken her stockings and boots off, and is instead barefoot. The outfit still works, inasmuch as it ever works. She's also grinning. This ought to be fun.

[RAINBOW MIKA]
Getting to travel all over the world isn't so much a benefit to a fighter like Rainbow Mika: it's the whole point.

If you stay in one place to long, you start to stagnate and run the risk of letting yourself settle into a comfortable position. For far too long, Rainbowmania had been allowed to coast on the popularity she'd already established, and everything was beginning to get shaken up.

No more appealing to the crowd for cheers, it was time to let them boo. No more belt, she'd lost that in her last big title defense during SNF.

All those years of training were now being demanded to stretch in new directions, and it was becoming clear that she was going to need to keep trying even harder if she wanted to go from Fan Favorite Rainbow Mika to a figure that drew anger on the same level it had drawn adoration.

Still, the look hadn't changed too much, and that miraculously invulernable suit she'd first donned for the so-called "WORLD'S SEXIEST FIGHT" would be the right fit for this sort of event. Even compared to her normal outfit, the skimpy blue swimsuit that was somehow staying in place as she walked across the sand may well cover only about as much skin as her mask does in the grand scheme of things.

"Let's hurry and get this over with," the wrestler offers with some obvious disdain, loud enough that the cameras should be able to pick it up. "Just because they stole my belt off me doesn't mean my time isn't worth more than some bikini bunny filler match."

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
Let's be honest: Makoto's *normal* fighting outfit isn't all that much more covering than a bikini, especially when it's bare-legged. It's easy to mistake for one, given the majority of Makoto's most public matches have been in Golden Angel anyway. This isn't a case of her being a prude.

Especially when she looks at Rainbow Mika, still with that grin. "Well, it looks like someone's decided to be grumpy," she says. "We're supposed to have a good battle, aren't we? So why not smile about it a little?"

She pauses, and then adds, with at least some accuracy, "Plus, it's not like you don't /always/ wear bikini bunny gear." Makoto has watched a lot of Rainbow Mika matches in her time, which is part of why she's a little excited to be here. "And this is my usual fighting outfit."

She pauses again. "Want me to go back and change?" Okay now she's probably teasing. She may not have figured out Mika's goal in changing her attitude yet...

[RAINBOW MIKA]
This was going to make things a little easier. There wasn't a grand beach crowd standing around to draw attention, but for everyone watching at home, it would certainly make it easier to root against Rainbow Mika when there was someone to root for... and Makoto definitely seemed chipper and upbeat enough to make a decent Babyface.

"I'm not here to have my time wasted with more waiting," Mika retorts, brushing a few strands of hair from one ponytail back over her shoulder. "I'm getting paid to come here and fight, and it's not by the minute, so let's just hurry up so I can bury your face in the sand and get my check."

One hand moves to her shoulder as she carefully rolls it out, maintaining her best bored expression the whole while.

COMBATSYS: Rainbow Mika has started a fight here.

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Rainbow Mika     0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya has joined the fight here.

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Rainbow Mika     0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
"Suit yourself! But I'll warn you..."

Makoto rolls her shoulder, then raises her hands into a boxing-like pose, the weighted bars strapped to the outside of her arms catching the light from the setting sun. "I don't really know how to hold back, so it might not be me eating sand!"

Makoto practically explodes into action; if Mika says she wants a fight, right now, Makoto is going to give it to her. Kicking up sand from the speed of her acceleration, Makoto sprints flat-out to clear the distance between her and Mika as fast as possible. Apparently a very direct approach is her preference...

...except it isn't, not quite. At the last moment, Makoto ducks low and plants one foot, forcing her body to pivot on it by sheer momentum. She catches herself with her other foot and her tail, turning the remainder of her speed into power as she delivers a crouching punch aimed upward solidly at Mika's stomach!

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya successfully hits Rainbow Mika with Fierce Strike.

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Rainbow Mika     0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[RAINBOW MIKA]
Things are getting off to a quick start, which is good, but this really isn't the ideal terrain for Mika. Sure she's had a few fights on beaches in the past, but it's almost completely different from the feel of a ring, everything shifts in different ways that you expect.

The punch is obvious coming in, there's no way that Mika can miss that, and she starts to twist out of the way, but as she does, her foot falls out from under her, sending her stumbling instead of a clean motion. There's no room as that punch lands clean in the gut and sends her stumbling back, coughing painfully for a moment as she needs to recover.

"If I've got anything to do with it, by the end of this, your chubby chipmunk cheeks are going to be full of something besides nuts," she shoots back as she pushes herself back into the fray, charging forward without hesitation at Makoto... and then leaping up into the air as she aims to grab the other woman by the shoulders, using her both as a vaulting station and keeping a chance to build up momentum as she hauls her above head as the wrestler's own feet hit the beach, then slamming her down into the sand.

COMBATSYS: Rainbow Mika successfully hits Makoto Nanaya with Brimstone.

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Rainbow Mika     0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
Sand isn't exactly Makoto's preferred terrain either, but she's fought on it a couple times in the past.

Unfortunately that means she kind of overextends in her slide when she drops down, and though Mika doesn't immediately capitalize, the fact that Makoto isn't really any more experienced on the stuff than Mika is is pretty clear.

"Chipmunk? CHIPMUNK?"

Makoto's tail fluffs up to maximum frizz. "I have nothing to do with chipmunks! The blood of squirrels runs in my veins!" Pause. "I mean, not literally, but you know what I mean! And they're not chubby!" Makoto's ears flatten down against her head in irritation... just as Mika advances at her. Fast.

Makoto bounds backwards, but the sand betrays her; she kicks a large cloud of sand up at Mika's legs, which isn't exactly going to slow her down - and doesn't, given that Makoto finds herself lifted up and slammed back down on the sand.

"Agh! And now I have sand in my shirt!" Makoto rolls away from Mika, which doesn't help the issue; she rises quickly, trying not to show the ache from the landing. She tenses her body, her tail flicking again (and un-fluffing) as she gathers power into her legs.

Makoto charges again, but this time she's moving so fast she seems to blur. She delivers a straight punch as she rushes Mika and then uses the impact to launch herself away, accompanying it with a bright flash of white-blue chi to assist in her self-launch.

COMBATSYS: Rainbow Mika Toughs Out Makoto Nanaya's Shooting Star EX!

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Rainbow Mika     1/--=====/=======|======-\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[RAINBOW MIKA]
Settling back onto her feet, Rainbow Mika is preparing even before Makoto is back to her feet, shifting her feet in the sand and using her heels to dig small divots to settle back into, an opportunity to help ground herself that isn't all that frequently available in most matches, but should offer at least some benefit here.

With the squirrel back up to her feet and charging in, the wrestler prepares herself, a faint grin on her face, "What's it matter one way or the other which one you are? You're a rat with a fluffy tail, right?" (Okay, seeing as throwing insults out really isn't part of Rainbow Mika's toolkit, when she found out about this match, Mika Nanakawa actually sat down for almost a full day using the internet to look up potential insults to use based around squirrels. It was a lot of work, but it's important to put your all into being a hell).

Thankfully she didn't need to put nearly as much practice into how to take a hit, because as Makoto launches into her, Mika goes sliding back only as far as her sand bracing lets her, letting her even lean back in the hit to shake off some of the impact before rebounding forward without hesitation. Practically by the time that Makoto hits the sand, Mika intends to be there.

And once there, she goes to grab the fluff-tailed woman by the shoulders, throwing her head forward into a violent headbutt with every intent on making Makoto see stars (or acorns) before unleashing even more forehead violence, hit after hit, putting everything she's got into it.

With Makoto, hopefully, too dazed to do anything about it, she twists around, hooking an arm over the back of the squirrel's neck and clenching her in tight, squeezing her cheek up against the side of Mika's bust before she goes charing forward, leaping up into the air with both legs forward and dragging Makoto after her, aiming to slam her face first into the sand, with all of her weight pressed into the back of the other woman's neck.

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya dodges Rainbow Mika's Heavenly Dynamite EX.

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Rainbow Mika     0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
Makoto is depressingly used to getting insulted based on her species and appearance. Nothing Mika is telling her is anything she hasn't used before; one presumes that because it's not usually in Mika's toolkit, she's not really as cruelly inventive as some people.

It's starting to grate. Her eyes narrow slightly, but the smile doesn't quite entirely vanish... even if it looks a little forced. "Well, I don't really expect you to know the difference, I guess, but this - " Her tail snaps left, then right, almost like a banner. " - is definitely a squirrel's!"

When Mika grabs for her, Makoto is already in motion. She moves to the side in a streak of movement, kicking up sand incidentally and leaving a slight furrow as she skids the last half-step; Mika manages to get one hand on her shoulder, but can't confirm it into a headbutt.

It does convince Makoto to stay close, though - which is honestly fine by her.

"Try and keep up!" Makoto calls, as she delivers a flurry of fast strikes with her left hand while circling. Even jabs from Makoto hurt, though; her improbable strength is on full display, and though she may not be hitting as hard as she can, that doesn't mean she's hitting *lightly*.

But it's her right hand that's the real threat. Makoto keeps it held back for several seconds during the one-handed flurry, focusing her power into her fist. There's no visible effect, but when she finally delivers the finishing blow, it has a preposterous amount of force behind it - it's liable to launch Mika halfway down the beach unless she deals with it somehow. "SMASH!!"

COMBATSYS: Rainbow Mika fails to interrupt Impact! from Makoto Nanaya with Peach Gator EX.
*KNOCKED AWAY*

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Rainbow Mika     1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1    Makoto Nanaya

[RAINBOW MIKA]
If the opposition wants to stick close, that's just fine with Mika. Keep people in arm's reach against a grappler like her and they're going to end up finding themselves in a nasty position.

With Makoto starting to move right into things, this is a clear opportunity to take control of this fight. All Mika needs to do is slip the right hit in. As the squirrel throws her first punch, Mika lashes out with a quick boot, aiming to catch Makoto in the gut and knock her out of all of this, trying to sort out just what sort of retort to throw out as soon as she gets the chance.

Only that never comes.

The fist flying into her spine knocks her hard enough that the foot never manages to get all the way back. Each hit following it is a following reminder, a nasty sting of pain running through her until that right hits hard, sending her flying, rolling out across the sandy beach in pain.

What the hell is keeping that bikini on?

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
It stays on the same way as Makoto's top. It may as well be magic.

Makoto starts to chase her opposition down as soon as Mika gets away from her. They're reaching the edge of where the camera can easily point - thanks, SNF! - but they're still within it, and in any case there's no chance of disqualification; it just might make some of the SNF staff a little grumpy.

As a result, Mika doesn't get a whole lot of time to recover before Makoto is attacking again. And this time, she's doing it from the air; she leaps, picking up a whole lot of air as she bounds upward, over Mika.

"I'll show you the power of a squirrel tail!"

As Makoto starts to drop, she flips forward, assuming something almost like a sitting position with her legs held up rather than allowed to dangle. Her tail curls under her, fluffing up as she tenses it. Most people don't think of the tail as a threat; it's just a big pile of fluff, right?

Wrong.

Makoto angles to land on Mika, tail-first. The curled mass of her tail absorbs the impact of landing - either against Mika or the sand - and bounces her up, letting her hop to a standing position a few feet away. The whole procedure doesn't actually make a 'boof' sound, but it really seems like it should.

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

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Rainbow Mika     1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1    Makoto Nanaya

[RAINBOW MIKA]
When you go down, you've got to get back up. Never let your opponent keep you on the ground, or they'll get to go for the pin.

Even after the hit sends her sprawling, with bruises forming across her back, and faint scratches across her skin where the sand got to her, Rainbow Mika pushes right back up to her feet. The fight hasn't gone well, but even if she's put in a spot where everything is going wrong, she's going to get back to her feet until she can't get her legs to work anymore.

It's just too bad she's feeling sluggish from the last hit, but there's still enough pep in her that she's able to barely hop out of the way as Makoto comes crashing down, only catching some of the extra fluff on the side of that massive tail and some of the sand that's kicked up.

"So you're really good at getting sand everywhere? That's hardly impressive." Rainbow Mika readjusts herself, trying to recenter herself as she adjusts back. She's got to work all of this right, it's her big option. "I can't imagine why you'd have even wanted to do that, you're just going to have to spend all night trying to get your puff ball clean after this."

Suddenly she's taking on a much more casual posture, as if the fight isn't really her focus anymore. "I guess if I was running around with weird ears and buck teeth, I'd be pretty picky about what type of rodent people said I was. Although, you've got to have more in you than just that, right?"

COMBATSYS: Rainbow Mika issues a challenge!!

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Rainbow Mika     1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1    Makoto Nanaya

COMBATSYS: Rainbow Mika excites the crowd!

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Rainbow Mika     1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1    Makoto Nanaya

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
Mika is right about one thing: Makoto is going to be brushing her tail out for /hours/ just to make sure there's no surprise sand in it after this. She's never bounced off a beach before and she's not sure it was the best plan she's ever had.

But that's fine. Makoto doesn't need to plan too far ahead. It works better if she doesn't.

Makoto's expression tightens further as her smile becomes more obviously forced. There's nothing wrong with her teeth, dammit! She doesn't even /have/ buck teeth. (She does have nonhuman ears, though; she has to give Mika that one. Even if she doesn't want to.)

"You want to see what I can do, huh," she says, raising her fists again. "I guess I can punt you across the beach again if that's what you want. I'll show you just what I can do!" Makoto slams both her fists together, causing an audible 'thump' that carries well enough that the cameras can pick it up.

Makoto's forward rush looks similar to ones she's done before. Mika may be getting the idea that Makoto is a very... direct fighter a lot of the time; she doesn't use a lot of fancy tricks, though she has a few that really help out, but prefers to operate on pure speed and power.

It's power that's on display this time, again. Makoto tries to slam her fist upward at Mika's gut to launch her into the air, but this time she doesn't leave it at that; she bounds up after her, trying to keep punching in midair and launch her even higher.

If she manages it, Makoto lands first and punches upward even before Mika lands - and a gigantic fist made of chi forms in the air, shimmery blue and trailing away into wispy energy. "Something's shining inside of me!" Makoto roars, as she strikes upward. "Cygnus... COMBINATIOOOOON!"

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya knocks away Rainbow Mika with Cygnus Combination EX.

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Rainbow Mika     2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|===----\-------\0    Makoto Nanaya

[RAINBOW MIKA]
Always be ready for the hit, and don't be afraid to take chances. It's all about needing to go big or go home. She just needs to be able to take care of whatever Makoto can throw at her, and if it works, Mika's got plenty of potential to turn this fight around. It's all down to just a little bit more...

With the squirrel charging in at her, the need is identified, and Mika starts to move, pulling her arms together as she attempts to block that first hit.

Only, Makoto really is a hell of a lot faster than Mika expected.

That fist comes in hard, catching her in the gut, sending her flying up and knocking the wind out of her. From this point on, there's nothing really should'd be able to do against what comes next, and that next chi fist sends her flying, crashing painfully back down onto the beach a dozen feet away, her body sore and broken. Everything refuses to work.

But that's not a good enough reason to stay down.

Pushing back to her feet, legs shaking, every muscle screaming, Mika just stares at Makoto with intensity.

There's nothing left in her for words... but that's not enough of a reason to stop.

In a flash, she puts everything she has left into a charge, barreling down on the squirrel like a freight train before she launches herself up into the air, both feet forward in a drop kick.

COMBATSYS: Rainbow Mika can no longer fight.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Makoto Nanaya    0/-------/----===|

COMBATSYS: Makoto Nanaya blocks Rainbow Mika's Sardine's Beach Special.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Makoto Nanaya    0/-------/-======|

...but that's it. She doesn't have anything else. When she hits the sand this time, she can't find anything left to drag her to her feet.

[MAKOTO NANAYA]
Makoto absorbs the drop kick with crossed arms, letting it impact against the X formed by the metal bars she wears as weapons strapped to her outer arms.

Mika might be about out, but Makoto still feels it; it stops her forward movement entirely and shoves her back with her feet dragging a furrow in the sand, impactful enough to interrupt whatever she was planning on doing as a follow-up.

She snaps one hand out, wildly - but she doesn't get a hand on Mika, because she didn't rise as Makoto was expecting her to. Overbalanced, she nearly falls forward but catches herself at the last moment, breathing hard to steady herself.

"Well, you asked for it," she says, quietly enough that the camera won't pick it up. More loudly: "Hey! When you get up, that was a good match! But I did tell you I wasn't going to eat sand."

Log created on 18:43:10 06/25/2018 by Makoto Nanaya, and last modified on 09:47:09 06/26/2018.