Match of the Millennium

Description: In Japan, every summer brings a new and exciting batch of heroes for all the children to look up to and spend all of their parent's hard earned money on the toys for. In celebration of this year's Cross-Over Super Sentai team-up, May Lee will get to live her life to the fullest upon the center stage as Mighty Yellow of Super Sentai Mightranger! Alexis, will be representing the leader of the upcoming team, Gomi Red from Super Sentai Bureiranger. Will May Lee's justice as Mighty Yellow prevail? Will Alexis show her stuff as Gomi Red? It doesn't matter, because either way the kids are going to love it!

[MAY LEE]
It's the middle of the day and things are popping at SNK's famous Neo*Geo Land. Dozens of visitors stream in and out the array of wide glass double doors set into the facility's corner entrance in an almost non-stop conga line of traffic. While the place is generally pretty popular, today marks a special event on the calendar for the museum/arcade, and people have come out in droves to get their chance to see this week's SNF match live at a local venue. Not something that's always possible thanks to the eccentric whims of the production staff who often send the contestants to myriad obscure and forgotten corners of the world in search of variety.

Today's bout also has another aspect to it that has pulled large numbers of nerdy fans away from the comfort of their caves to witness it in person - namely that the two contestants will be taking on the role of famous tokusatsu personas of the sentai variety! The addition of strange costumes is a pretty standard quirk of many a modern SNF match and Japan is nothing if not lovers of people willing to put on silly outfits and embarass themselves in public.

Fortunately, one of the two contestants is a big fan of doing precisely that! Infact, she's pretty much dressed like a super-hero wanna be 24/7, going so far as to believe that she herself can also fight for justice! That's right, it's none other than the adorably quirky May Lee, who finds herself practically chomping at the bit at the chance to play the part of an actual (television) super hero!

Unable to just sit back and wait for the match to start, the last half an hour has been spent schmoozing with the fans. She's signed so many autographs, shaken so many hands, and done so many weird poses that it's actually starting to tire her out a little bit. Being a public hero is harder work than it looks! The humidity doesn't help, nor does the fact that her sentai suit is made mostly out of latex and rubber, two clothing options not particularly well known for their ability to let air flow through.

The young teenager eventually cracks and pulls the large helmet off her head, wiping a hand through the sweaty mop of her black hair. She gasp down a few deep breaths of the humid air then chases it with a bottle of cool water, dumping the last couple mouthfuls on top of her head to try and help her cool off a little.

"Whew... sure glad I didn't include a helmet in my outfit... I can barely see anything through this darn visor!"

[ALEXIS]
==*== EARLIER THIS MORNING ==*==

The alarm came just a little too early.

Everything about the stay in the hotel was a little too something-or-other; the room was just a little too warm, the air just a little too humid. With the window open, the insects outside were a little too loud. It was a consequence of avoiding the better-known establishments, a failed attempt to have a night of peace and quiet.

Alexis wasn't in the hotel room. She was in a faraway place, watching a crimson pool form in the centre of the burial chamber below her, red spreading to the periphery of her vision as a muffled howling filled her ears.

Alexis woke with a gasp, not yet aware of the ringing coming from the bedside as it blurred with the sound in her dream. Fumbling in the dark, her sweaty hand found something and closed around it. Her free hand found a switch, and as the room was bathed in light, illuminating the ruby-jeweled choker in her palm. With a start, she let the neckpiece slide from her slippery hand and rattle on the wooden floor. She imagined the crystal shrieking as it hit the ground - at least, she would later believe she'd imagined it. Kicking the overbearing sheets off her sweaty frame, she stood and stumbled her way to the sink and mirror in the room's corner. She could still see red behind her eyelids as she closed them to rub the wet cloth against her face and brow. Once she was finished, she set the cloth aside, rested her palms on the sides of the sink, took a deep breath, and exhaled, clearing her mind of the scarlet dreams.

When she opened them again, she saw her vibrant red sentai costume for the upcoming match reflected in the mirror. Her shoulders sank. "Why'd it have to be red?"

==*== BACK IN THE PRESENT ==*== "I am going to die," the muffled sound of Alexis' voice states flatly in Japanese from inside the trademark helmet of Bureiranger Gomi Red, her arms folded across her chest as she gazes stoically at the crowd.

"No, no, you're not supposed to be pessimist. You're supposed to have attitude! That's what Gomi Red is all about!" the sentai acting coach says into her ear through a comm piece in her helmet.

"Try putting a popsicle in a toaster oven and telling it to have 'attitude,'" Alexis grumbles back.

"That's better," the coach replies. "Now, get out there and show the true spirit of a Bureiranger!"

Sighing, Alexis grabs her instrument of choice for the sentai motif - a plastic hybrid of battle axe and synth-guitar, coincidentally the weapon of Gomi Red in the Bureiranger series, available at a toy store near you and not recommended for children under three.

Slinging the axe across her back, Alexis saunters up to the stage, her scarlet costume squeaking with each step as the Bureiranger Theme starts to blare over the speakers.

"Alright! Now, remember your pose!" the voice says in her ear.

Expressionless, Gomi Red raises a hand up above her head, balled in a fist. She continues to hold the pose for a moment as expectation builds in the crowd.

"Okay! Next step! You remember it, don't you?" the coach says excitedly.

"...Nah," Alexis says into her helmet's comm unit.

"We went over this a dozen times! Gomi pose delta, then transition into Gomi gamma before reverting to Gomi alpha two!"

Alexis continues to remain stock still and silent for a moment. Then, finally: "Oh, wait. I remember now. Was it like this?" Hand still held aloft, her middle finger slowly extends to the crowd, who, being mostly pre-adolescent children, let out a burst of cheer and laughter.

"Oh, no..." the voice on the other end cracks.

[MAY LEE]
The sudden blare of the familiar theme song over the loud-speakers interrupts May Lee's short reverie. Her head swivels around like an owl's as she peers gormlessly up at the source of the noise, her brain only about half functional in the muggy heat, dragging the upper half of her body with it as if she forgot that it doesn't turn that far on its own. Several seconds pass before she puts two and two together, her eyes going wide with surprise at the sudden realization that it's finally show time.

"Oh, crap!"

Quickly slicking her soaked hair back out of her face, the teenager dons her helmet once again. Immediately the air grows hot and stale beneath the full head-covering mask, the thing a bizarre combination of motorcycle helmet and medieval bucket helm in design. The rest of her outfit shares a similar theme - thick bits of leather layered on top of body-tight latex and hardened rubber. A bit cumbersome at the best of times when worn indoors with heavy air-conditioning. Right now, May Lee is pretty sure most of her body has turned into a giant puddle of sweat only being loosely held together by the suit.

But, the show must go on!

Jogging lightly over to her own side of the wide open space which has been sectioned off for the exhibition match, a large patch of road where two highways cross over to create a four-way intersection, the young hero waits and watches the entrance of her rival for the day. There's no threat of errant traffic to worry about, as several police cars have been stationed along the outer perimeter of the venue and any crazed driver trying to make their way through this particular route would probably stall out before making it even halfway through the crowd.

Bureiranger Gomi Red's arrival is met with a great deal of cheers and fanfare from both children and adult alike, all of them united in their love for the action-packed hero show. May Lee has to restrain herself to keep from joining in, almost forgetting that she's part of the act herself this time. It's certainly not her first forray into public cosplay and acting but it's definately the one with the largest audience and she's determined not to mess it up.

Her fellow fighter, on the other hand, does not share her enthusiasm. The Korean visibly balks as Alexis flips off the crowd, suddenly glad that no one can see her face as she blushes with a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment.

"What the heck...?! Atleast, put a little effort into it..." she mumbles to herself, frowning sternly.

While the younger members of the crowd might find her antics funny, it would seem the producers of the show don't share their sentiment. The loud theme music dies down and is quickly replaced with the catchy squealing electric guitar riffs of the Mightranger theme song.

Another wave of cheers rises up from the crowd as attention shifts to May Lee. Hoping to atleast salvage some of the dignity of this momentous event from the quickly burning wreckage, the yellow suited teen takes a bold step forward, her body language exuding heroic swagger. She remains strangely silent for several seconds, stoically staring into the distance. However, once the heavy rock song hits the upswing of a particularly lively riff, she suddenly moves, shifting effortlessly into a pose that any sane person wouldn't be caught dead doing in public.

"Super Sentai Mightoranjar!!"

May Lee intentionally exaggerates her accent, doing her best to mimic the professional actress whose role she is filling in for today. One fist thrusts up into the air, much like Gomi Red had begun, but she quickly follows through with the next motion, dropping low to the ground as her legs splay outwards, contorting her body into something vaguely resembling a kung-fu pose.

"Mighty Yellow!"

She holds the posture for several seconds before popping back to full height. Her hands flutter around in a complex series of gestures that there is no way she learned to do that well in the one day they had to prepare, once more pantomiming martial arts as seen through the lens of cheesy television action. Eventually the intense choreography ends and she shifts to a new and final pose, one arms thrusting up at a dynamic angle while she draws the other in close to her body as if flexing.

"Against my mighty fists, no evil shall triumph!"

[ALEXIS]
Once her music starts to die down, Alexis relaxes her stance, slouching her weight onto one hip and crossing her arms beneath her chest as she observes Mighty Yellow May Lee's introduction with a posture as detached as the vacant gaze of her helmet's mirrored black visor. Serendipitously, the approach is not off the mark for her part as Gomi Red, the archetypical 'bad girl' out of a sentai ensemble themed around their generally edgy and rebellious attitudes while also doubling as a J-Rock band.

"What a tryhard," she says with a disdainful 'hmph' that's barely caught by her helmet's speaker. As May Lee finishes her declaration of identity, Alexis steps forward. As dismissive as she may appear, after all, she can't let herself be completely outdone. She starts to spin, almost looking as though she might not stop, before abruptly managing to arrest her own motion and thrust a finger (this time a less evocative pointer) into the air in the same motion without falling over.

"Super Sentai Bureiranger, Gomi Red!"

There's a shift in tone to her voice that suggests some hitherto-absent degree of enthusiasm for the role.

"With my axe and fearless nature, I shall cut all tyranny asunder!"

Swinging her synth-guitar around to the front, she flips a switch on the device. Her fingers fly over the buttons on the instrument's neck - it turns out that the Canadian rocker is as deft a Guitar Hero player as she is a guitarist - and fills the Neo Geo Land building with a spacey, electric riff before letting a power chord hang in the air. She swings her instrument back around to her back, stretching her arms back as she steps away from the metaphorical spotlight and toward her designated battle position.

"I hope you're good for more than just striking poses," she addresses Mighty Yellow as she prepares for battle.

COMBATSYS: May Lee has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
May Lee          0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Alexis has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
May Lee          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Alexis

[MAY LEE]
Tryhard is probably a good word for May Lee, though her efforts to emulate her heroic idols have yielded a great deal more success than most children play fighting in their back yard with towels tied around their necks usually manage. Her playful nature and love of the genre has been combined with an almost zealous love for martial arts. Even the great Kim Kaphwan was impressed by her personal brand of tae kwon do; even more so by her dedication to Justice(!).

For the young Korean fighter, the only thing really out of place here is the costume. Her own choice of heroic attire is much less flashy and formal, consisting of nothing more than a long yellow scarf, a pair of oversized gloves, and some riding goggles worn stylishly on her head. Easy to don and remove at a moment's notice. It's not quite as flashy as a power wand or a morphin' belt, but it does the job.

The sudden shift in attitude from her opponent catches the yellow Ranger off guard and she blinks behind the thin black strip of her visor at the excellent performance. After a moment of soaking in the slick impromptu axe shredding, her mouth parts in a fierce grin, fingers clenching into tight fists which she pumps in excitement.

"Yes! That's what I'm talkin' about!"

May Lee practically bounces backwards to the starting position, taking up a generic but heroically exaggerated combat stance. The teen points at Gomi Red dramatically, the tight latex practically creaking from the effort of moving. She's pretty sure she hear her arm slosh from all the sweat too. Guh, if this wasn't so cool and exciting she'd have keeled over from heat stroke already. Just have to hold it together for a little bit longer!

"The Mightrangers are more than just good - we're the best! So I hope you like Justice, Gomi Red, because it's about to get served up piping hot!"

The Yellow Mightranger does another quick pose, pausing long enough for the people in the crowd to snap off a few pictures. This also gives the other fighter a chance to prepare herself. Heroes always fight fair, after all!

Once she's sure Alexis is good and ready for her, May Lee lunges forward in a burst of motion on a bee-line directly at the crimson warrior. She spins at the last moment, snapping her leg up in a high kick at the side of the costume's thick helmet. The moment her leg starts to drop she hops off the other one, delivering a second powerful high kick aimed at Alexis' noggin', apparently meaning to daze her with a couple of clouts to the head or to make her attack rather obvious so it's easier to get out of the way. Both outcomes should be entertaining to the crowd!

COMBATSYS: Alexis blocks May Lee's Into Sky.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
May Lee          0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0           Alexis

[ALEXIS]
While her pre-battle posture may have waxed somewhat lackadaisical, Alexis' focus as the fight begins is as pure as any sentai ranger may claim. Her stance is that of a wrestler and brawler, with her hands open and legs apart.

"I'm about to serve myself up piping hot. I can't believe I thought these helmets were cool once," she mutters too quiet for the crowd to hear as her visor follows May Lee's approach. One gloved hand swings up to catch the first kick, the sound of leather and rubber smacking against each other filling the room, then again as the other hand comes up to intercept the second kick.

"Shit! Ow!" Gomi Red exclaims as the assault leaves her palms more sore than anticipated and staggering backward. Mighty Yellow can certainly kick. Alexis surges back to retaliate immediately, though - running across the battle floor, she leaps into the air, a low, but noticeable hum pervading the space as she swings her body sideways on course to collide with May Lee. Should she succeed, the vibrating sonic energy would be channeled into her opponent. Following that, she would attempt to hook her arm over the back of Mighty Yellow's neck and drop backward, driving her opponent's yellow helmet into the arena floor and releasing a resounding shockwave akin to a terrible chord from an electric guitar.

COMBATSYS: May Lee blocks Alexis' Stage Dive.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
May Lee          0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0           Alexis

[MAY LEE]
As expected, the obvious attacks were easy to deflect, though the effort might not have been worth it in the long run. As a student of Kim Kaphwan himself, May Lee can kick with the best of them and she's not hold much back in her excitement. The chance to perform as an actual sentai ranger is one of those things that comes along incredibly rarely and her passion is on fire, along with the rest of her body in this sweltering heat.

"Hah! Taste the power of Justice! Hiyah!"

Falling into a defensive stance, Mightranger Yellow allows her fellow warrior of good a moment to recover and launch her own spectacular assault. As much as this is a martial arts competition it's also a show for all the fans and the kids which means it has to follow a certain sort of pacing they expect, a methodical back and forth exchange of dynamic and overblown strikes.

Gomi Red certainly manages to get the dynamic part down as she comes flying into the fray, her entire body being used like a battering ram. May Lee manages to catch the flying rockstar in her arms rather than simply get bowled over by the attack, which puts her in a brief and awkward struggle as Alexis attempts to hurl her to the ground. In the end, both of them go down in a tangle of limbs, the sonic wave dispersing between them as more of muted warble than an earth-jarring blast.

The sonic wave is still enough to set her teeth rattling inside of the tight helmet and a wave of tingly jitters running across her skin. So, her opponent uses sound as a weapon, huh. That's going to be difficult to deal with if she isn't careful. Grunting with the effort, May Lee shifts and attempts to hoist the other girl off of her, pushing her up into the air long enough to bring both of her feet up and plant them in her gut, hopefully hurling her away long enough to get back to her feet.

"Gimme a little space here!"

COMBATSYS: Alexis endures May Lee's Kick Combo.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
May Lee          0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1           Alexis

[ALEXIS]
Alexis is happy to be the one on top; assuming the dominant position lends itself to her usual approach. After all, it's easier to punch someone in the face when you have them pinned down. However, May Lee's feet being pushed against Alexis' stomach complicates the matter, keeping her off-balance and awkwardly out of reach for the purposes of mounting a ground-and-pound offense. The entanglement remains cloying in the heat, making things still more difficult as May Lee's boots push into Alexis' diaphragm.

"Ugh! Just... hold...!"

It soon becomes clear that disengaging, even on the terms May Lee was pushing for, may be the best course of action. Alexis exhales behind her helmet as May Lee kicks up, letting the force dislodge her and send her flying, arms and legs flailing as one might expect of a sentai ranger subjected to an explosion of power.

Fortunately, Gomi Red's microphone is turned off, resulting in only a series of indistinct muffled expletives from behind the helmet as she hits the ground and rolls along and off of it. She ends up managing to tumble to her feet facing toward May Lee, using a hunched wide-legged stance and her gloved fingers on the ground to arrest her momentum.

"/You/ want space? Have you tried smelling yourself?" Surely Alexis can't have been able to smell anything outside her helmet. Perhaps she's getting into character? (Then again, baseless insults have never been beneath her.) Her voice echoes over the sound system when she speaks again - a dramatic feature meant for transformation sequences and the like.

"Here's as much space as you want - Gomi Red Sonic Eruption!"

It may be more shounen than sentai, but the echoing cascade of sound is quickly shaped, then released in a scarcely visible but fully tangible wave of sonic energy, issuing forth from Alexis and hurtling toward May Lee.

COMBATSYS: May Lee blocks Alexis' Power Chord.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
May Lee          0/-------/---====|=======\===----\1           Alexis

[MAY LEE]
May Lee's cheeks burn bright red at the insinuation that she smells bad, mostly because it's definately true, even if that helmet would make it all but impossible for that to be known. Whoever coordinated this event clearly did not take the weather into account. Yet another heroic struggle for which her idols get mad respect, since they probably have to deal with this nonsense on a regular basis. As it is, she's already about ready to melt.

The yellow ranger pops to her feet with about as much energy as she can muster, which under the current circumstances isn't amounting to much. It's enough to get her up and ready to face the incoming sonic blast in time, atleast. Crap, this is just what she was afraid of. How do you stop /sound/?

Fortunately, the thick helmet offers some protection against the buffeting waves of noise. As for the rest of it, she just does her best to shield herself like she might from any projection of energy, bringing up her arms to ward off the shimmering waves. Surprisingly, it works - mostly. Her bones clatter like dirty dishes stacked up in a sink and a wave of brief disorientation washes through her head causing her vision to swim for a few seconds.

"W-woah... that's pretty intense," she calls out, wobbling a little before snapping into another exaggerated pose. "But it'll take more than that to shake my resolve!"

Holding her pose for a few seconds longer than necessary, because it looks cool and definately not because she still can't see straight, May Lee hurls herself forward to re-engage at close range. As with her initial attack, she seems to favor using her feet, unleashing a pair of much faster kicks. The first one snaps out at Alexis's ankle in an attempt to knock her off-balance while the second comes in at waist height, aiming for her soft midsection with the toe of the costume's thick rubber boot.

"Try this on for size! Mighty Lightning Kick!"

COMBATSYS: Alexis dodges May Lee's Lightning Needle.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
May Lee          0/-------/---====|=======\====---\1           Alexis

[ALEXIS]
As May Lee defends herself from the auditory barrage, Alexis takes the brief pause to find her fighting stance again, crouching slightly and holding up her arms with fingers open. Her chest heaves as her heart pounds behind the T-Rex insignia emblazoned upon it (Super Sentai Bureiranger was sometimes accused of recycling elements from previous series). While holding the battle-pose instead of continuing on the offense may seem a theatrically-motivated decision, any chance to catch a breath and cool down is welcome.

This does give May Lee the chance to retaliate, though. The red ranger tenses as the yellow one closes the gap quickly. Spotting the first kick coming low, Gomi Red skips both feet up and over Mighty Yellow's foot. With the follow-up coming in above waist height, the red ranger drops backward, allowing the boot to pass over her, barely avoiding clipping her upper body.

Catching herself on her palms, Alexis ends up like so many songwriters before her - stuck in an awkward bridge with no obvious transition back to where she was. The costume affords her enough range of motion to kick her feet up over her helmet, though not without protest, and she ends up throwing herself back upright, tumbling back into a couple of handsprings before she finds her feet and faces her foe.

"Hope you can get a refund, I don't think it fits me," Red says, her breathing audible from her helmet's mic between her words. "But since you're taking things so seriously, maybe I should too, eh?!" She thrusts a fist into the air. "It's time to power up!"

In this case, it appears that powering up involves pulling her fist back down to her chest and holding the pose. From there, the crowd does most of the work for her - the collective cheer roused by the declaration pumps the noise levels to new heights, allowing Alexis to bask in the sound as she focuses her will toward harnessing the energy for her own ends. The growing power manifests as a rumble that can be felt through the floor as the anticipation of the crowd mounts.

They might be a bit disappointed if a robotic dinosaur doesn't get involved.

COMBATSYS: Alexis surges with the power of rock!

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
May Lee          0/-------/---====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2           Alexis

[MAY LEE]
May Lee is actually sort of amazed that her partner is able to move that nimbly in the suit. Personally, she feels like someone shrink wrapped her into the one currently glued to her skin. She's actually sort of grateful for all the extra bits tacked on the outside because she's pretty sure if they weren't there all of the spectators would be getting an anatomy lesson along with the show.

"Nice moves, Gomi Red! I can see why the Bureirangers have such a good reputation!"

It's important to work some positive reinforcement in between all of the sassy banter. After all, the two ranger teams aren't enemies. This is more like a sort of friendly rivalry that turned into a sparring match, a chance for them to show off their stuff to fellow warriors of justice. Have to keep it kid friendly and all that. Not that some of the tokusatsu sentai shows don't wallow in some darkness every now and then. That's what makes them appealing to the older audiences as well. But, a time and place for everything.

"What's the matter, starting to feel the pressure?"

Mighty Yellow makes a taunting gesture as the other sentai takes a moment to gather more of her strength, tucking both of her arms in close to her side in a stance that's pretty typical for heroes to use when 'powering up'. Ofcourse, she can't do that herself, so it's just to add her own bit of sauciness into the conversation for the sake of the viewers. They aren't the only ones who are going to be disappointed at the lack of robot dinosaurs.

May Lee gives an appropriate amount of time for Alexis to draw in her energy before hurling herself across the battlefield again. This time she does a little hop some half dozen feet away, spinning a full rotation in midair before she comes down in a low sliding crouch, one leg extended ahead of her like the blade of a bulldozer intent on plowing through anything in its way.

COMBATSYS: Alexis blocks May Lee's Dinosaur's Footprint.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
May Lee          0/-------/--=====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2           Alexis

[ALEXIS]
Being one of the newer designs and intended for stunts, Gomi Red's suit does allow for some basic gymnastics, but even then, Alexis' bodily dimensions do put some strain on the outfit when thrown about in such a fashion. Fortunately, it's managed to stand up to the pressure so far.

"Some people say the Bureirangers have a bad reputation, but Bureirangers don't care what people think! Bureirangers fight for what's right!"

Judging by the number of non-four-letter words she's managed to string together in a row, it seems that Alexis may actually be taking her role seriously for once. The unusually impassioned dialogue isn't even rehearsed, and is delivered even louder for the 'powering up' she's been doing.

When May Lee hops up, Alexis expects a high dropkick and raises her hands to catch it; instead, she's treated to a low sliding maneuver. The kick takes her feet clean out from under her, allowing the yellow ranger to pass beneath her as she flips head-over-heels in the air from the impact. She manages to soften the landing by hitting the ground on her hands and knees, then recovers quickly from the position, pushing up off the floor to her feet. With a glance over her shoulder to check her opponent's position, the red ranger whirls around, raising a leg high, a melodic trill tracing the path of her boot through the air before she brings it down like a hammer, the potential energy gathered by her charging ready to be unleashed with a resounding note upon whatever her heel connects with!

*RIIIP*

Unfortunately with that maneuver, Alexis finally manages to prove herself more flexible than her sentai suit...

COMBATSYS: May Lee fails to counter Hammer-On EX from Alexis with Blazing Intercept.
- Power fail! -

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
May Lee          1/-----==/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2           Alexis

[MAY LEE]
Well, that is one upside for suits made out of rubber and latex - you have to try really really hard to exceed their stretch tolerance. Which is good because May Lee's kick-based strategy tends to have her legs flying about in all sorts of agile ways that would most certainly lead to some embarassing moments if her suit were to have an integrity breach all of the sudden. It's kind of like a submarine that way, one little hole and the problem of all that pressure takes on a catastrophic cascade of unpleasantness.

Fortunately, what little she can see through the tiny strip of tinted plastic that constitutes the visor of her helmet is suddenly replaced with boot heel just as Alexis exceeds that threshold, thus avoiding the embarassment of seeing something she most certainly does not want to - and replacing it with the embarassment of getting kicked in the face like a dork while trying to look cool.

Whirling around just as the kick comes down at her head, the yellow ranger snaps her hands up to catch the attack, like a master martial artist attempting to snap their palms around the blade of a descending sword. But with most of her vision impaired, her body practically wobbling like jello, and her suit fighting her with every move like she's walking through a vat of fresh taffy, the effort is a resounding failure.

"Ghnk!"

The musically-inclined kick comes down squarely on top of her brightly-colored dome, sending a loud melodic chord blasting into the crowd underscored by a dull crack as heel meets hard plastic. Once more May Lee finds herself seeing in kaledo-vision though this time it's partially due to a minor concussion and not just the sound waves ricocheting through her skull.

[ALEXIS]
With the blow delivered, Alexis takes a step back and steadies herself, shaking out her boot and exulting for a moment in how cleanly her kick has connected. It's not until she the ringing in her ears starts to fade that she notices the sound of children laughing and a sudden sense of breeziness where there should not be. She reaches to the back of her sentai suit to confirm the status of its hull integrity. She finds that several stitches have burst, leaving a patch of white cotton visible beneath.

Shit.

It's not the greatest fashion disaster Alexis has ever been involved in, though, and as with all similar cases, she elects to ignore it and carry on. With May Lee dazed, Lexi reaches down to try and grab an arm and pull her up to her feet.

"Here, let me give you a hand~"

What might be initially interpreted as an act of good sportsmanship on the part of a fellow ranger is actually intended to exploit an opening, though - she doesn't intend to let go once May Lee is up to her feet, but rather to follow through with a hip toss to ground her again, before jumping with limbs extended to land across her with a classic pro-wrestling-style splash attack, charged with sonic energy ready to be released with a bass sound.

COMBATSYS: May Lee just-defends Alexis' Charged Combo!

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
May Lee          1/-----==/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>---\1           Alexis

[MAY LEE]
"T-thanks..."

Either too naive to suspect foul play or too rattled to think straight, May Lee reaches her hand out to accept the help up, completely oblivious to the ulterior motive until she's already being yanked over into the toss. Her eyes go wide in surprise as she's dumped unceremoniously back onto the ground but she manages to take the fall well enough to divest it of most of its power, grunting a little with the impact.

"Hey, what the-?!"

She doesn't even have time to sputter indignantly before Alexis is hovering ominously in the air above her like an acme anvil preparing to flatten some poor clod. Reacting on instinct, the yellow-clad ranger leans back and lifts both of her feet up into the air, creating a platform upon which the duplicitous rock star finds herself crashing into rather than May Lee's unprotected torso.

"Here, let me give you a foot!"

Holding Alexis aloft with one leg, she draws the other back and then slams it upwards at the other girl's midsection, attempting to kick her away once more with those powerful legs of hers before rolling back to her feet.

COMBATSYS: Alexis endures May Lee's Thrust Kick.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
May Lee          1/----===/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2           Alexis

[ALEXIS]
Once again, Alexis finds herself getting drilled in the gut by a hard kick. The Taekwondo champion of justice is turning out to have a better ground game than the red-clad rocker might have anticipated, if she were the sort to anticipate such things. By the time that she hits the floor several feet away, Alexis has officially achieved more air time in the match than Killasaurus Orphanage's debut album.

"Nnngh..."

Gomi Red pulls herself up off of the ground, crossing an arm against her ribs where the kick struck her. Sucking in a deep breath through her helmet, she levels her visored gaze toward Mighty Yellow.

"You should be careful... you give me a foot, and I'll take a mile!"

Before a definitive measure of the lameness of her retort can be established, Alexis whips out her axe-guitar, powering it on in the same motion with which she wields it. She throws up the horns with her right hand as her left positions along the instrument's neck.

"Buckle up, Buttercup! It's time to rock!"

With that, Alexis tears back into a guitar solo, her weapon lighting up electronically in time with the Bureiranger battle theme. This time, though, the solo is backed by polyphonic force, waves of sound flying from the instrument to buffet the yellow ranger with their musical might.

COMBATSYS: May Lee parries Alexis' Shredding Solo EX!

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
May Lee          1/---====/=======|>>>>>>>\-------\1           Alexis

[MAY LEE]
Fortunately, cheesy one-liners are a core part of what makes tokusatsu. The bad puns are flying back and forth just as quickly as the kicks and energy blasts and the crowd is eating it up with a fork like a delicious piece of cake. This is exactly what they came here to see!

Alexis's shift from martial arts to shredding axe offers a warning to the beleagured yellow ranger as she once more has to pull herself back to her feet after being sent to the ground. Another sonic attack, no doubt. The teenager grimaces, unsure just how much more of a beating her skeleton can take from that nonsense. Weathering the onslaught has only proven marginally effective and she can still feel her ribs rattling from the last one.

A thought comes to her in a flash of inspiration. Her physics class in high school had taught her about sound waves; in particular, that they tended to lose power very quickly. Maybe if she puts enough distance between herself and the axe-grinding red ranger she can avoid the problem entirely. It's worth a shot atleast. And if it fails, well she can still ham it up for the sake of the audience. Crouching low to the ground, May Lee gathers up her strength and with a great kick, hurls herself backwards through the air just as the blast of sonic destruction comes warbling her way.

She's almost too slow. The distorted waves of noise crash across the large arena, bits of asphalt and loose trash flying in all directions as they scythe towards her. The sonic blasts are faster than she is, closing the distance at unpleasant speeds, but just when it looks like she might eat it in the face the audial assault stalls out.

The ripples of air wash over her helmet like a strong breeze as she falls to the earth once more, fluttering the long yellow scarf out behind her in a dramatic fashion. Instinctively, May Lee shifts into a heroic pose, one arm held across her torso at an angle towards the sky as she puffs out her chest.

"Meant to do that, yep, totally planned. Hahaha..."

The teenager mutters to herself, glad that no one can see the wide-eyed stare she's sporting underneath the helmet. That was a crazy close call. Well, no reason to squander this opportunity. Justice never rests! And neither do actors, apparently, as much as she'd like to pour herself into the nearest shower right about now.

"Sounds like you're a little flat, Gomi Red! Let me put some *spark* back into that playing of yours!"

Mighty Yellow's fist clenches as she draws it back, her body coiling up like a spring. She takes a deep breath for focus and then lets it out in a loud and dramatic kiai, concentrating her power into her hand. The teenager suddenly lunges forward in a burst of motion, flinging herself on a ballistic arc across the entire battlefield.

A blast of purple lightning explodes from her feet as she launches from the ground, the energy seeming to propel her like a rocket. One arm is extended before her as she crashes towards her target like a human missile, her body bent forward to give it as much reach as possible. Yet more violet energy crackles around the out-stretched fist, sheathing her flying knuckle sandwich in an aura of electrical power.

"Mighty Thunder Fiiiiiist!!"

COMBATSYS: May Lee successfully hits Alexis with Shining Thunder Blow EX.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
May Lee          1/-<<<<<</<<<<<<<|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2           Alexis

[ALEXIS]
Alexis isn't up-to-date enough on her tokusatsu lore to recognize whether the Mighty Thunder Fist technique is canon to Mighty Yellow's arsenal, nor is she familiar enough with her opponent to gauge its power. In her time, though, she's been assaulted by fire-breathing demons, killer trees, inhumanly strong businesswomen, and exploding candy. Whatever the degree of the electric threat, only two thoughts cross Alexis' mind:

'I can take it,' and 'Hey, I wasn't fla-'

The latter also happens to be her last coherent thought before she's sent flying, separated from her weapon by the power of the impact. Her body spasms from the shock as she sails through the air, then hits the hard ground on her back with a painful-sounding thud followed the crack of her helmet bouncing off the asphalt.

"God... damn...!"

Apparently, the blow is hard enough to knock Alexis not only back out of character, but also back out of the all-audiences rating that no presentation she's involved in should ever have been given. Several parents cover their children's ears as the red ranger lies cursing on the ground.

When Alexis starts to pull herself together, it's slow at first, and she's still holding the back of her helmet with one hand in a daze as she finds her feet. For a second, it seems like she might be out of it. Then, abruptly, she snaps her visor toward May Lee, one arm pulling back and the other thrusting forward in a threatening battle stance. Whether by intent or not, her words are empowered with the echo-effect from before:

"I'm gonna wreck your face!"

Apparently seeing more red than she would in a mirror, Alexis charges straight at May Lee, all sense of sentai solidarity abandoned in the boiling heat of the moment. She throws herself at the yellow-clad fighter, attempting to catch her head-on, lock her legs around May Lee's waist and ride her down to the ground with the momentum. Should she succeed in the execution, she would then hammer down punch after punch on Mighty Yellow's helmet, each blow sounding off with a different note as though she were using May Lee's head for arpeggio practice.

COMBATSYS: May Lee dodges Alexis' Beatdown in Three Four.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
May Lee          1/-<<<<<</<<<<<<<|-------\-------\0           Alexis

[MAY LEE]
As it turns out, it isn't actually a canon attack but one sometimes has to improvise in the name of progress! Maybe the fans will adopt her sweet flying thunder punch or file it away into an alt-u timeline. Or maybe they won't. Either way, you can't just use a big flashy technique like that without giving it a name! It just isn't done!

May Lee hits the ground /behind/ Alexis, such is the speed and force of her self-propulsion across the arena. The moment her feet hit the ground she immediately whirls around, leaning all the way over to place her hands on the asphalt for extra traction in slowing herself down. As it is she almost plows right into the audience ass-first. Fortunately, she manages to keep from having a wardrobe malfunction but she's all but sure that's an image that's going to wind up on the internet before the day is over. Stupid skin-tight rubber suit.

The red ranger's momentary daze gives her enough time to skid to a halt and get back into the center of the arena so none of the spectators catch an errant sonic blast in retaliation. Infact, she even has enough time to circle back around to her original spot and take up another pose that any sane person would find terribly embarrassing but most everyone present instead finds entertaining, judging by all the cheers.

"Gomi Red!" She waggles at finger at the rock star, frowning behind her visor. "That's not the sort of thing a hero says!"

It is the sort of thing a pissed off teenager says though. May Lee's eyes boggle at the sudden vehemence behind the bellowed threat and the aggressive bull charge. "Wuh oh..." She might have gone a little overboard with that last one but this chick is getting way too worked up over it!

"Hey, slow down there, you might actually... gah?!"

The flying tackle sends May Lee's protests scattering to the wind as she hurls herself to the side in an attempt to get out of the way. The outreached limbs barely miss her; she's pretty sure she felt atleast a couple of fingers slide off the outside of the slick surface of her awesome life-saving skin-tight rubber suit! As much as she wants to this to remain fun, she...can't pass up an opportunity like that.

"Sorry about this...!", she whispers fiercely, before shifting back to her heroic loud voice. "The only thing about to get wrecked here is your reputation, Gomi Red! Prepare to face my greatest attack!"

Pirouetting on the tip of one foot, May Lee spins around dramatically before hopping forward to strike at the rock star. Both of her hands press together into a double-fisted axe blade, which she swings up and over her head precisely like an axe, hence the metaphor. The crushing blow comes down hard and fast at Alexis's head, trying to knock her senseless yet again so that further awesomeness may be unleashed without interruption.

COMBATSYS: Alexis Toughs Out May Lee's Key of Victory EX!

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
May Lee          0/-------/----===|>>>>>>>\-------\1           Alexis

The overhead chop lands home with a solid *CLONK* sending the enraged ranger reeling; maybe not long, but long enough. May Lee immediately holds up one arm, pointing it at Alexis as if it's the barrel of a cannon which she steadies with her free hand as it recoils in pantomime of ejecting a massive round.

What comes out of her fist is not a giant bullet or a cannon ball, however, but another May Lee. The yellow ranger's body seems to split apart as a perfect copy of her lunges forward to slide into the rocker and send her hurling into the air, further staggering her for the epic set up. Just as the teenager herself had done only a few moments before, her clone turns and skids to a halt like a cat sliding on ice, putting their victim in a pincher between the two twins.

May Lee the First crouches down to mimick her shadow and together they both leap as one into the air, catching Alexis at the apex of her skywards journey with a pair of flying kicks. The two Mightyrangers cross over each other as they collide with the unfortunate pop star, striking her from opposite angles in an epic manuever. The kicks are apparently also infused with some sort of special energy as she finds herself helplessly suspended in the air even as the original yellow ranger falls to the ground and her clone fades back into the ether.

"Ultimaaate Thundaaaar...!"

May Lee rises to her feet and turns to face the crowd, taking up an iconic pose, one arm crossed over her torso at an angle. She slowly lifts that arm up towards her head like the arm of a clock progressing from 10 o'clock to 12 o'clock. The moment that her arm is completely vertical, she lowers it swiftly, slashing with her other arm across her.

"EXPLOSION!"

Just like the name implies, a massive ball of fire engulfs the trapped red ranger in a dramatic blast that forces the crowd to shield themselves from the shockwave. A few seconds of silence fill the air as everyone stares gaping at the spectacle before the entire crowd busts out into wild cheers and applause.

For her part, May Lee does what any badass hero would do in this situation and stares stoically into the distance, refusing to look at the massive explosion behind her. Surely that's the end of the fight and she has nothing left to worry about. Nothing could withstand a direct hit from her ultimate technique!

[ALEXIS]
Failing to connect in her attempt to ground May Lee had left Alexis sliding on her backside to a halt on the asphalt, the combination of discomfort and an awareness that her suit likely hadn't taken the landing well in its already-ruptured state distracting her for too long to get up or prepare a proper defence from what was to come.

The force of the initial axe-handle smash is enough to open a fissure along the crown of Alexis' plastic Bureiranger helmet and cause the black visor to spiderweb with fracture lines. Staggering to her feet, she's caught out by the clone, launched to the air, and engulfed in the explosion. As the fireball clears, Alexis drops from the sky, her suit covered in burn marks and holes where the heat has eaten through the fabric. Nearly lifeless in appearance as she falls, she only barely catches herself on her shins and forearms, keeping her face from hitting the hard ground. The sound of plastic hitting pavement is mostly drowned out by the crowd as the helmet is jostled from Alexis' head, the protective gear split like a giant red pistachio shell. The Canadian's head is revealed, obscured by the mess of matted dark brown hair, save for pink lips that part to suck in a hollow breath. As she raises it, there's a faintly audible tearing sound, and the seam along the spine of her suit splits from the small of her back to the shoulders, leaving her back bare as the jumpsuit is physically reimagined in a low-backed leotard-like design. One hand lifts up to push sweat-soaked bangs aside, allowing one aquamarine-coloured eye to peek out and fix on her axe-guitar, lying some short distance away and flanked by its wavering twins.

The punk rocker's entire body trembles with effort as she pulls herself forward along the ground. She reaches out and tightens a gloved hand around the electronic instrument's neck.

%TThe sound of the crowd cheering for both tokusatsu heroes masks Alexis' staggering, zombie-like approach, the guitar-axe brandished as a weapon. If May Lee doesn't turn around, the only warning of the clobbering she's about to receive to the back of the head is the last moment in which Alexis' instrument of destruction buzzes and screeches to life as its sound box powers on to emit the result of all the buttons on the neck being held down at once.

The blast of sonic energy released if the attack connects will likely be a mighty one - but whether or not it does, the struggling songstress looks as though she may collapse from the effort...

COMBATSYS: Alexis has reached second wind!

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
May Lee          0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0           Alexis

COMBATSYS: May Lee endures Alexis' Tribute to Townshend EX.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
May Lee          0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0           Alexis

[MAY LEE]
So busy caught up in her moment of awesome is May Lee that she doesn't even notice when the crowd starts to react to the other fighter climbing back to her feet. Some are drawn by the sheer tenacity of her drive to keep fighting; others are just eager to snap some pictures of her rather sizable wardrobe malfunction. But everyone suddenly takes a deep breath of anticipation as she shuffles over behind the oblivious yellow ranger and prepares her mighty axe for a final chaotic blast.

"Look out, Mighty Yellow!"

A cry comes from the crowd, the voice that of a young child. While the older people in the audience might find it entertaining to watch these two 'heroes' brain each other into quivering blobs, they seem to have forgotten that this is a venue for kids as well! That kind of foul play doesn't teach a very good lesson, now does it?!

Warned mere moments in advance, May Lee blinks in confusion and slowy turns around, her eyes nearly popping through the visor upon seeing her fellow ranger, demasked and poised to unleash a point-blank audial assault on the sly. With the axe-wielding girl so close, she doesn't have time to do anything fancy other than grit her teeth and brace herself for the onslaught. And boy is it a doozy.

The shockwave of sonic power washes over May Lee like a tidal wave, threatening to sweep her straight off her feet with its ferocity. Leaning into the whipping force, she brings her arms up to shield her face, curling them close to her body to try and make herself as small of a target as possible. Even this merely seems to buy her a moment of time, sending her scooting back on her heels across the pavement.

"That's... that's not how... a hero... fights...!"

Digging deep for some measure of resolve left in her weary body, the tokusatsu fan turned cosplayer finds herself filled with righteous indignation. Sure, neither one of them are actually members of the sentai teams they're representing, but that doesn't make it okay to act like a total douche and hit someone from behind when they aren't ready! It's cowardly and dishonorable and... and... not nice!

Weathering the last of the terrible noise, May Lee lets out a wordless shout of outrage and hurls herself at her opponent. Her body contorts in midair, her slender torso whipping to the side as she swings her arm out in a powerful vertical chop. Her target - that damnable guitar that was used to commit this heinous deed!

"Such poor sportsmanship must be punished! Justice will be served this day!"

COMBATSYS: Alexis blocks May Lee's May Lee Cho~p!.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////                          ]
May Lee          0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1           Alexis

[ALEXIS]
As May Lee's open hand descends on her, Alexis lurches backward. For a moment it almost appears that even the breeze from May Lee's chop could be enough to finish off the red-clad combatant. At the last second, though, the toe of Alexis' boot digs into the ground and she raises the the axe defiantly to ward off her opponent's Real Karate (?) Chop Action. The force drives Alexis down to one knee as the plastic half bends under the heel of Mighty Yellow's hand before being wrenched free from Alexis' grip. The effort of defending the blow takes its toll as Alexis skids back across the asphalt and falls back on her ass and palms.

It's just enough to jolt Alexis back to the present, recognizing her role here and how it's gone off-course. Her aquamarine eyes sweep over the crowd, the parents and children and the shock and awe on their faces.

Time to improvise.

And possibly get sued for breach of contract.

Neither of which are things Alexis is unaccustomed to.

"You shoulda recognized me without my helmet, Mighty Yellow!" Alexis calls out to her opponent as she pushes up to her feet and sweeps her bangs from her face with the back of her hand.

"I'm not Gomi Red at all. I'm Dark Ranger Metal Lex, and I'll stop at nothing to win!"

She accentuates the declaration by jutting a gloved thumb toward herself, then scoffs dramatically. "So forget about justice..." She turns her back toward May Lee and looks out at the audience. Then, abruptly, she spins around into a kick aimed at May Lee's gut, heel humming as she aims to drive the wind out of her. "...and fighting fair!"

Should the opening attack connect, she'll attempt to follow up by grabbing May Lee and forcing her helmeted head between her thighs.

COMBATSYS: Alexis successfully hits May Lee with Drop D.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
May Lee          1/-----==/=======|=======\==-----\1           Alexis

"And remember..." Hooking her arms under May Lee's to trap her in that position, she'll address the crowd:

Don't try this at home, kids!"

Immediately after, she'll kick her legs out and let gravity take over, using her hips to drive May Lee visor-first into the ground and releasing a crunchy guitar chord sound with the impact.

[MAY LEE]
May Lee pauses after her attack is deflected, staring quizzically for several seconds at the young woman as she loudly announces that she's not a ranger at all. What the heck is she... oh... oooh! The teenager's heat-baked mind finally catches up with the sudden shift in narrative and she recoils in 'surprise' at the revelation, the motion overexaggerated to make up for the fact her face is hidden behind a visor.

"D-Dark Ranger Metal Lex! I should have known!"

Her finger extends to point dramatically at the de-masked 'villain' with an accusatory gesture, only to find that she's met in kind by a hard boot to the gut. The yellow ranger doubles over, only partially exaggerating the impact, putting her in the perfect position to be drawn into the somewhat (highly) suggestive wrestling manuever.

It's May Lee's turn to have her helmet give out on her now, the jarring power bomb a little too much for the poor costume piece to take after that smashing heel drop she face-tanked earlier. The egg-shaped covering splits apart like Humpty Dumpty taking a tumble off a very high wall, freeing the bedraggled teenager hiding behind it from the near suffocating heat.

She sucks in a huge gasp of air, which is still hot, but atleast not 'recycled inside of a tightly-fitted helmet for the last few minutes' hot. The ringing in her ears is less of an improvement to her overall situation but she's actually starting to kind of get used to it. It's not so bad. That or the delirium of heat stroke is setting in.

"Grrgk..."

That elegant retort is all she can manage at this point, flopping over onto the ground like a limp noodle. She tries to stand up but with Alexis sitting on top of her it's a bit of a chore to manage. There's few options to rectify that situation other than 'kick her and make her go away'. Well, it's worked twice, why not a third time?

With a grunt of effort, May Lee rolls over and throws her legs up to try and give the rock star a taste of her own medicine. Her ankles snap together like a pair of scissors, attempting to clamp shut around Alexis's neck so she can toss her somewhere that isn't sitting on her face.

COMBATSYS: Alexis interrupts Medium Throw from May Lee with Shoulder to Cry On EX.

[                        \\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
May Lee          1/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\===----\1           Alexis

[ALEXIS]
Down to the ground the two rangers go. Even as the dominant party in the exchange, Alexis is both rattled by the buzzing aftershock running up through her and winded by the exertion. This gives Mighty Yellow the opening she needs to loop her legs around Dark Ranger Metal Lex's neck.

"Hurk!"

The ground-based grapple is a totally different sort of drama to what one would normally expect of a tokusatsu battle (perhaps sharing more in common with certain wrestling franchises not recognized by the PFW franchise), but it's enough to have all of the kids in the audience cheering for their favourite of the fight - mostly for Mighty Yellow, as the fans of Gomi Red have been indirectly robed of an idol for this match.

As May Lee tries to toss Alexis away, the Canadian grappler wraps her arms around the yellow-clad fighter's legs, causing herself to instead be pulled from astride May Lee and onto her back against the ground. Tightening her hold as her face starts to redden, Alexis summons a penultimate surge of adrenaline, bending her knees and planting her feet, then forcing her way up to a sitting position with May Lee atop her shoulders. From there, Alexis pushes herself up further, shuddering with the effort as she rises to her feet with May Lee atop her shoulders in a precarious Electric Chair position. Then, abruptly, Alexis pushes up and steps forward, forcing May Lee off her shoulders and catching her on the way down. She kicks her legs out again and drops with May Lee, causing May Lee's jaw to knock off of Alexis' shoulder when the latter hits the ground first.

The red-clad fighter winces from the landing as she rolls a few feet away, where she ends up prostrate and panting, one palm pressed to her pained posterior.

It's a lucky thing for the Bureiranger franchise that her dignity has been dissociated from that of Gomi Red.

[MAY LEE]
It's a rather complex ballet of twists and tugs that ensues but the dark rock star is the one that comes out for the better. May Lee's unprotected face ricochets off Alexis's shoulder with an unpleasant crunch but after being hit in the head so many times already she hardly seems to notice.

Bouncing off the unpleasant impact, which is most definately not the sort of kid-friendly combat that was meant to be on display here, the Korean flops over onto her back, lying on the ground like a dead fish for a few seconds. It would be so nice if she could just stay down here and relax for a while. Maybe if she closes her eyes the planet will stop spinning...

May Lee grimaces and shakes her head, attempting to clear the cobwebs out of her brain. No, she can't give up yet! The heroes aren't supposed to lose! What would the kids think! Okay, they'd probably think it was a temporary loss and the rest of the rangers will show up to rescue her at some point, but it's the principle of the matter! Justice never dies!

Despite her limbs being about as stable as jello at this point, May Lee pushes herself slowly off the ground and back to her feet. Her breath comes in long heavy wheezes and her head is all but drenched in sweat but after a few moments she manages to focus hard enough to see straight again, atleast for a few moments.

"You... you won't get the best of me... Dark Ranger...!"

There's a great deal less energy put into this declaration than she was hoping to convey but atleast the words managed to get out successfully. That seems like a pretty solid accomplishment right now.

"I've got... one more trick... up my sleeve...!"

Indeed she does. May Lee sucks in a deep breath, drawing every last bit of strength she has left into one final display of epic heroism. Her fists draw in close to her sides as she focuses that energy into a sharp exhale of power, a soft but drawn out kiai building in her chest. This is pretty much it. If this fails to take out her opponent she'll be down to flailing weakly in her general direction.

Lunging towards Alexis, the hero wanna-be puts on her game face and snaps her leg up, driving it nearly vertically at the base of the villain's chin to launch her into the air. That one kick alone has some pretty nasty bite to it but it's what comes after that's truly impressive - assuming it manages to find the target.

COMBATSYS: May Lee keeps on fighting!

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
May Lee          0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1           Alexis

COMBATSYS: Alexis endures May Lee's Disposition Frog.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >                                ]
May Lee          0/-------/----===|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2           Alexis

And indeed it does. The powerful initial kick launches Alexis skywards with almost disturbing ease considering how tired her dance partner is for this particular ballet. However, the moment that she feels a solid impact, May Lee seems to get a burst of fresh energy, hurling herself into the air after the ragdolling rock star.

A quick flying kick is delivered to the airborne Alexis, knocking her further aloft, only for her to be blasted straight back down towards the ground a moment later as the yellow ranger's legs fulcrum down onto her like a hammer, flipping over completely in the air to give herself more power.

May Lee's body becomes a sudden blur as she speeds towards the ground, actually beating the pummeled punkster to the ground with what looks like some form of minor teleportation. Ofcourse, anyone who watches tokusatsu knows that sentai don't teleport, they just move really fast! Duh. Either way, what's waiting for Alexis at the bottom of her fall isn't the ground but a powerful uppercut that bounces her right back up into the air, adding another twist to this horrible roller coaster of martial arts.

If she was tired of getting kicked around, well there's some good news and some bad news. The good news is that May Lee isn't punching her any more. The bad news is that she's leapt up into the air and is now holding what looks like a beachball sized orb of glowing energy in her hands and sporting the kind of grin people only get when they're about to rake you over the coals.

May Lee assists the villain's trip back to the pavement, bringing her hands down to unleash the first of what is to be a whole lot of energy blasts. Like... an almost ludicrous amount. The sentai ranger hangs in midair, her arms pistoning back and forth in alternating thrusts that send blast after blast of rippling white-hot power slamming down into her target. The onslaught lasts for what seems like forever before she finally appears to run out of steam and gracefully drops back down from her lofty perch.

And yet it still isn't over. Pulling one leg up at the knee, May Lee tilts her head back and spins around like a figure skater, whirling a good half dozen full rotations at rapid speeds before she slams her foot back down and comes to an abrupt and dynamic halt, her body snapping into a heroic almost on auto pilot.

"Mighty Yellow Cascade... ERUPTION!"

Just like last time she announced such a ridiculous attack name, May Lee isn't bluffing when she calls for an explosion. All of the energy that she has pumped into Alexis over the past few seconds detonates in a violent fiery burst of noise and sound, once more sending the audience scrambling to shield themselves from flying debris and dirt.

And once more May Lee doesn't look at the explosion. Partly because she's too tired to move much and partly because she doesn't seem willing to give up the cool factor. Comon, what are the odds that girl can survive /two/ epic finishing moves in one fight?!

[ALEXIS]
Her face hovering inches from the asphalt, sweat dripping from her brow, her ravaged red outfit barely hanging from her shoulders, Alexis closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. With that decisive stunner, the fight is over, and now, all she has to do is breathe. It's only in moments like these, where adrenaline and exhaustion merge into an insensate state of mind, that Alexis truly feels free of the creeping horror that's nested in the back of her mind for some months now.

"You... you won't get the best of me..."

Crap.

Her mind blots out the rest of May Lee's words as it focuses on... well... trying to focus. She raises her head slowly, elbows extending as she pushes herself upward. Her eyes open just in time for everything to go white, and then she's airborne again.

When the energy bath finally ends, Alexis' battered form is barely censor-friendly. Mottled bruises and burn marks cover her bared skin as she lies shuddering on the ground behind May Lee, her costume in crimson tatters.

When Alexis does battle, there is one driving force that outlasts all others. A force that can sustain her when all of the adrenaline, the excitement, the fear, the rage, and the will to survive run dry. It's that force that drives Alexis' fist upward from her prone position with an instinct beyond consciousness, aiming for May Lee's vitals from below and humming with ill intent.

That force is spite.

COMBATSYS: Alexis can no longer fight.

[                       \\\\\\\  <
May Lee          0/-------/----===|

COMBATSYS: May Lee blocks Alexis' Hitting the High Note.

[                        \\\\\\  <
May Lee          0/-------/---====|

[MAY LEE]
May Lee has to struggle to remain standing as the blast washes over her, every last ounce of her fighting strength spent on the dazzling display of destruction. She gives it a good few seconds before she finally turns around to see the aftermath, only to find her opponent has bizarrely not fared well after being tenderized like a piece of lumpy meat in positron accelerator.

"Oh... uh...."

The teenager kneels down to check on Alexis and make sure she's alright, only to get a spite-filled punch to the crotch for her efforts. Were it not for the thick plastic bit of the costume in place there, she'd likely have found herself curled up in the fetal position after that. As it is, she just gets some really awkward vibrations and enough of a thump to sap what's left of her energy, sending her teetering over onto her side next to the rock star.

"You suck..."

She manages to wheeze out one final insult before even talking becomes too much of a hassle. The audience waits for one of the two rival characters to rise up and claim victory but it seems both of them are quite comfortable on the ground for the moment. Yep, nice and cozy down here.

A man in three-piece suit steps forward into the arena, microphone in hand, and announces the end of the match which sets off a confused buzz of conversations. Who won? Did justice prevail? Did evil triump? Who the heck is Dark Ranger Metal Lex? These are questions that may never be answered...

COMBATSYS: May Lee takes no action.


COMBATSYS: May Lee can no longer fight.

Log created on 18:52:23 06/28/2018 by May Lee, and last modified on 20:13:41 07/01/2018.