Match of the Millennium

Description: Aranha and Masaaki are brought to an overpass in Southtown for Neo League Quarterfinals to determine who moves on and who gets to watch the rest of the tournament at home. Masaaki is the crowd favorite due to being born in Japan. While Aranha is decidely not. (Winner: Aranha)

[ARANHA]
While picked seemingly at random, this overpass in Southtown will play host to one of the Quarterfinals matches in the Neo League. Cameras are set up on the concrete stairs to get above the action angles with various cameras placed around the cleared out area for the fight surrounded by steel barricades to act as the boundaries. The neighborhood residents watch from the nearby enbankments as well as their houses if they happened to be one of the lucky ones to have homes in close proximity.

While he has taken up residence in Japan, Aranha decidedly does not have the homefield advantage, seeing as he is an American practioner of a Brazilian martial art. He calmly stretches though at this point, he's pretty certain he doesn't need to with his physiology changed.

When the stretches are complete, he adjusts the shades on his face.

[MASAAKI]
His opponent Masaaki meanwhile does indeed have a theoretical homefield advantage, being a local Yakuza Enforcer from Southtown. A detail that is less than hidden as he approaches, due to wearing an expensive suit with a pin attached to it which displays his allegiance to a minor Clan. The fact that he is carrying a sheathed katana with him likely also emphasises that fact.

"Well then. Lets not keep our audience waiting."

[ARANHA]
He had to admit that it was interesting that in both this and his previous match up, the powers that be had decided to have him face off against katana wielding martial artists. He didn't mind. After all when one's body recovers so quickly from injury when at rest, one tends to mind going up against bladed weaponry significantly less.

The capoeirista finds himself looking upwards as he eyeballs the measurements of the opponent he was dealing with as well as noting the suit and the pin. He'd probably be the last person to condemn the man's career considering his former profession. That being said, it gave him an idea of what to expect but nothing was set in stone.

"Indeed. Let's hope they enjoy the show."

It is at that point that the official gives the signal to start. In response, Aranha dances right where he's located in ginga.

COMBATSYS: Aranha has started a fight here.

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

[MASAAKI]
"Indeed. I can deal with being maimed a lot better when someone at least gets some entertainment out of it."

Whatever the Yakuza means with that or if its just a very laidback form of pessimism is unclear, but he immideately launches himself at his opponent, trying to ram hist fist into him with a combination of several wide hooks and an uppercut.

COMBATSYS: Masaaki has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Aranha           0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0          Masaaki

COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Masaaki's Dragon Rush.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Aranha           0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0          Masaaki

[ARANHA]
One of those eyebrows on the capoeirista rises above the sunglasses at the Yakuza's statement. He isn't given much time to contemplate it before the larger man is on him attempting to overwhelm him with a series of hooks. He immediately covers up as he moves with the punches, never letting them impact fully upon his face and body. When the uppercut finale comes in, Aranha leans backwards into a bridge before kicking himself up and over, back to his feet.

Already, Masaaki has deviated from expectations and this may be interesting.

"I suppose that's fair."

Aranha's body suddenly turns ais he reaches to the ground with a single hand. As he does that, his rear leg swings upwards as he hopes to connect with his heel as he delivers a wheel kick to his shoulder.

COMBATSYS: Masaaki blocks Aranha's Heel Kick.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Aranha           0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0          Masaaki

[MASAAKI]
Masaaki quickly blocks the kick by moving his arm in the way before the kick could properly connect, although the grimace on his face tells quite the story about how that hurt anyway. Not that it stops him from quickly responding with a snap kick aimed at his enemies torso.

COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Masaaki's Light Kick.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Aranha           0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0          Masaaki

[ARANHA]
It was somewhat reassuring that even when he didn't connect fully, he was able to elicit a cringe out of his opponent. As the arm takes a little bit of the brunt away from his kick, Aranha's foot reverses in the other direction to return to its point of origin. He has no choice since Masaaki stopped his momentum dead.

The yakuza enforcer's response is swift and the only thing the capoeirsta could do shift his weight to his rear leg as he rocks away, pulling his body out of the path of the kick, he then shifts his weight forward once more as he throws a roundhouse kick to the head, wreathed in blue energy, followed up by a jumping roundhouse and then turning his back for just an instant as flips backwards and slams his foot down upon Masaaki's head, both likewise engulfed in his blue chi.

COMBATSYS: Masaaki endures Aranha's Aggressive Dance.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Aranha           1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0          Masaaki

[MASAAKI]
The attack and the speed of the attack completely confuses the Yakuza who instead simply takes every attack in stride, more concerned with getting back into position after every kick, particularly after the last kick slams him into the ground only for him to bounce back onto his feet by pushing himself off the ground and tries to throw himself feet first into his enemy.

COMBATSYS: Aranha interrupts Dropkick EX from Masaaki with Sky's the Limit ES.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Aranha           1/-----==/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>----\1          Masaaki

[ARANHA]
The yakuza fighter was wading through his attacks with no attempt at defense. This was cause for concern for the capoeirista. As a result he decides to move towards one of those steel barricades serving as the boundaries while looking under his arm to see what Masaaki was doing.

Aranha sees the enforcer spring to his feet and leaps towards the barrier. Just as Masaaki takes to the air, Aranha launches himself off of the barrier with a drop kick of his own. The two men collide and because Aranha was coming in from above, only one of Masaaki's feet connect as both of Aranha's connects with Masaaki's torso.

Both men hit the ground with Aranha in particular landing with a grunt before he scrambles to his feet.

[MASAAKI]
The first thing the Yakuza does upon impacting with the ground once again is to spit blood and grimace again. In fact, its an ammount that should be about as concerning as his shortlived coughing and wheezing as he abruptly gets up.

Surprisingly the coughing quickly stops as he removes the jacket of his suit to show off an enormous tattoo of a Dragon on his back only to smile, take a quick step forward and rip the katana out of its sheathe to slash at Aranha in one swift motion aimed at his chest.

COMBATSYS: Masaaki successfully hits Aranha with Hidden Blade EX.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Aranha           1/---====/=======|>------\-------\0          Masaaki

[ARANHA]
And now the sword finally comes out.

When it does, the capoeirista is completely unprepared since up until this point, all capoeirista had seen from his opponent was brawling. He only could register the fact that the draw was going to hurt alot before the slash connects to his chest, leaving a deep and bloody gash. The t-shirt he's wearing is completely slashed apart and his enhanced durability shows its worth in that moment. He didn't even want to think about how that would've felt without it.

He once more rises to his feet, takes a deep breath and then skips forward before delivering a front kick to the enforcer's chest.

COMBATSYS: Masaaki dodges Aranha's Thrust Kick.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Aranha           1/---====/=======|>------\-------\0          Masaaki

[MASAAKI]
Masaaki quickly jumps back the very same step he took to attack to get out of the way of the kick as he sheathes his katana, only to draw a hidden throwing knife from the side of the sheathe and throw it at Aranha.

COMBATSYS: Aranha parries Masaaki's Blade Fang!

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Aranha           1/--=====/=======|>>-----\-------\0          Masaaki

[ARANHA]
Aranha's foot meets nothing but air as Masaaki steps back from him. When the sword moves back to the sheathe, he manages to glance at the scabbard just in time to see the manipulations required to free the hidden blade from the scabbard. He darts in after him, and just as the blade is about to be released from Masaaki's hand, Aranha pushes the hand downward to redirect the knife down to the ground.

He then starts glowing blue as he leaps towards the yakuza enforcer, bouncing back and forth between the barricades and Masaaki from a variety of angles like a rogue ball of flubber. When he's finished, he rolls backwards and comes out of it in a three point stance.

COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Masaaki with Joker's Wild EX.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////                         ]
Aranha           0/-------/-======|=======\===----\1          Masaaki

[MASAAKI]
Masaaki can't even remotely react fast enough against that kind of attack and is slammed across the whole arena as he is hit repedeately only to crash into one of the barriers in the end. He even only manages to get back up barely and with greatest effort as by the way he holds his side and winces at every move in addition to the various quickly forming bruises there is likely a lot broken or at least cracked now. Even when he throws himself back at his opponent with a series of Tornado Kicks the movement is rather sluggish.

COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Masaaki's Dragon Kick.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////                         ]
Aranha           0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0          Masaaki

[ARANHA]
Aranha knew Masaaki would barely be able to stand if he didn't knock him out with that. Aranha doesn't see his best case scenario, but he doesn't see his worst case scenario either. He'll take it. The problem is, when Masaaki manages to stand, he still capable of making his life painful, at least until he can get some rest. That series of tornado kick come in and instead of trying to get out of the way, he raises his arms to perform a three point block, spreading the impacts across his shoulder and forearms. Each one eliciting a grunt and the final one sending him stumbling.

Aranha quickly steadies himself before spinning around and lashing out with his arm as he sends a blue energy spider web right at Masaaki.

COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Masaaki with Web Shot.
- Power hit! -

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //                            ]
Aranha           1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0          Masaaki

[MASAAKI]
It hits as the Yakuza is way too injured and tired to put up any kind of reliable defence as he moves too sluggish to evade or block the attack. All he does manage to do now is to draw his Katana once again at slash with it at his opponent several times with wild abandon before he abruptly collapses after the last swing.

COMBATSYS: Masaaki can no longer fight.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Aranha           1/-------/=======|

COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Masaaki's Blade Rush.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Aranha           1/-------/=======|

[ARANHA]
%Aranha cannot help but be impressed by how his opponent manages to fight through that energy web to draw his sword and charge him down. Each attack, he can see coming. After the battering Aranha delivered with his Joker's Wild and the energy web clinging to him, Masaaki isn't moving at what would probably be his ideal speed. This gave Aranha ample opportunity to avoid all of the sword strikes before he collapses to the ground.

Upon seeing Masaaki hit the ground. Aranha lets out the breath he didn't even realize he was holding. After that, he bows to his opponent and takes a seat on the steel barrier to start letting his own injuries start to heal.

COMBATSYS: Aranha has ended the fight here.

Log created on 17:56:58 09/14/2018 by Aranha, and last modified on 13:05:32 09/15/2018.