Match of the Millennium

Description: High above Sunshine City, a hotel rooftop's been transformed into a feast of lights, sounds, and most importantly, foods from decades past. The New Year is a time to look backwards as well as forward, to reflect on the past and how it impacts the future, which might explain why Mai and Tremor have been brought in to lead competing demos on cooking their favorite traditional dishes-- or beat the aspic out of one another with kitchen equipment, decorations, and whatever else they can get their hands on, whichever comes more naturally. (Winner: DKO)

COMBATSYS: Mai has started a fight here.

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Mai              0/-------/-------|

[MAI]
The boozy celebrations of New Years have long ended, making way for the more melancholy practices of the season. And January brings with it another tradition: everyone seems to want to decide to change up their diet.

The hotel rooftop has been decorated with New Years decor, but also a big rooftop cook station, with grills, ovens, refrigeration, and countertops set up in two different cooking stations. There's a stocked pantry in the back, and big banners reading "Happy New Year" as well as "Saturday Night" and other declarations in both English and Japanese.

The camera crew has arrived to document this bout, along with crowds eager to witness whatever is about to happen here. Maybe Iron Chef? Onlookers are dressed against the wind with hats and scarves in some cases: it's cold on the top of a building after all! The safe distance from the cooking-or-fighting stations is marked off with a long orange ribbon.

Mai Shiranui steps onto the rooftop from an elevator behind the ribbon side. She has anticipated simply a battle appointment, and she's wearing her combat dress and carrying one of her seemingly infinite paper fans tucked behind her back. Unlike the crowd she seems unbothered by the cold, as it's more important for her to look good for the cameras. When Mai sees the decorations and the way this arena is set up, she rubs at the back of her head. "The SNF Committee must think I have a big appetite," she says.

Of course, she does.

[TREMOR]
A windy rooftop may not be the best place to perform an elaborate cook off in celebration of a new year, but when the SNF people decide to go, they tend to go all in. Crew and crowd alike braced against the chill, the food and prep tables prepped, the camera's await the contestants.

Mai's opponent is already there. Waiting, biding his time. The Black Dragon ninja, Tremor, steps forward from his spot just out of camera position. He had been given a wide berth, large and powerfully built. Clad head to toe in his earthen toned garb. His hands and his broad chest cracked and stone like. Much of his face is hidden behind his mask, and his eyes glow a dark and angry red-orange. Atop his head, and on top of the hood he also wears, a toque blanche sits in bold defiance of the wind.

The ninja points a cragged hand toward Mai, stepping forward and closer to a prep table laden with meats and vegetables. He slaps his other hand on the table, sending the food into a little jump from the force. "Kombat, or cookery, The Black Dragon shall dominate," he growls across the makeshift fighting and/or cooking ring.

COMBATSYS: Tremor has joined the fight here.

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Tremor           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0              Mai

[MAI]
Mai looks a little taken aback. "Wow. Are you my opponent? You're so...."

What's the word. What is it. "Creepy."

Mai walks over the cooking station and looks things over. She picks up a frying pan and holds it in one hand, holding her paper fan in the other. Though the frying pan wouldn't be her usual method of attack, there is a certain heft to it which she can appreciate. There's other implements here worthy of combat: a meat tenderizing hammer, glass carafes for juices that would be easily shattered, and more frighteningly a series of sharp butcher's knives.

All of these would be more deadly than a paper fan in theory, but Mai has her style and it's a habit hard to break.

She puts the pan back down, and it clanks hard onto the countertop. Then she leans forward a little, resting the hand with the fan on her hip as she takes Tremor in one more time. Yeah, it's going to be combat for sure, but she's got some questions. "Do you even eat food or do you just wear that big mask all the time?"

She pulls her fan out in front of her face and waves it a couple of times, first just to warm up the crowd, but then, spinning into a battle stance where she weilds it as a weapon. She spins a few times closer, then lashes out with the edge of the fan in a dancer's spin. It's a dizzying move but a test of her opponent's speed.

COMBATSYS: Tremor blocks Mai's Hakuro No Mai.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Tremor           0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0              Mai

[TREMOR]
There are many things to fight with, and most ninja should be trained in the art of fighting with any sort of weapon that may be available. However, the world of fighters tends to be a lot that are used to the tried and the true. Most of the meats, shiny and clean vegetables, cookware and other paraphernalia will most likely become victims of the brawl no doubt about to happen.

The stone face, masked ninja stands stalwart as Mai closes in. His arms down, the steady ebbing glow of molten light seeping up from the cracks in his chest. For a moment, he is simply stone faced and serious against Mai's verbal barbs. Despite his fanciful hat, he appears nothing more than consummately stern.

Mai moves first. Her fan whirls with deftness and speed, and it meets Tremor's arm with a loud smack. "It would have been sad to remove your beauty from the world," Tremor tells Mai in that still moment as deadly fan meets stony arm.

"I thank your mouth for doing it for me!" He taunts. A heavy hand twists and slams down toward Mai's knees. A stomping, shoving and shaking open palm press to put a quake into Mai's core and take her off her base.

COMBATSYS: Tremor successfully hits Mai with Shock Wave.
- Power hit! -

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Tremor           0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0              Mai

[MAI]
Mai tries to deflect this attack, but...

She miscalculates it entirely. A strike to the knee is one thing; she can deal with that. But the aftershock that comes after that isn't something she can figure out how to deflect with a hand and a fan. She takes the strike harder than she expected, and it cracks into her leg mightily. She cries out with a yelp and drops down to her uninjured knee, then takes in a sharp breath.

This is going to be tough, she thinks, her face curling into a cringe as she bears the pain. But she tries to put on a smile, working hard at it with her cheeks turning up again. "Aw, thanks, that's so sweet of you to say... I think...?" There was an insult there. It went over her head, almost.

She gets back to her feet... quickly, with the fan leading her hand. This is merely a pop-up, rather than the familiar weaponized uppercut, but then she lunges forward with the same motion in reverse, sweeping the fan back down again with a sudden crack toward Tremor, shoulder and body. "But you're so right, so let's keep it a clean fight, okay!? For the fans!"

Was that a fan pun? Maybe that was a fan pun.

COMBATSYS: Mai successfully hits Tremor with Sayo Chidori.
- Power hit! -

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Tremor           0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0              Mai

[TREMOR]
A crushing blow. The woman dropped to the ground. Another lesser ninja, it would seem. Tremor looks down at the woman. A disapproving snort comes from his chest when she's down.

A sudden bounce and Mai shows that the strike hasn't done much to cut Mai's incredible speed and grace. Tremor looks up, stepping back from the presumed uppercut. The feint works and with a crashing snap, Tremor is sent scattering into the prep station. Food and cookware is tossed up into the air and falls to the ground with clatters and splats.

The ninja rises up to his feet with a slow and methodical concern. The toque blanche is no more, lost in the devastating attack. Tremor breathes, chest rising and falling. The glow of molten heat under his skin shines outward, and shifts toward a brightly glowing green.

Wordless, stone and shimmering crystal build and bulge around his forearm and settling around his hand. He holds up the conglomerate, stepping forward, and smashes his free hand into the sphere of shrapnel.

A blast, violent and tearing, sends spears and shards of crystal and stone hurtling to Mai with a sharp and deadly force. As for the "fans" both paper and watching, Tremor does not much care about collateral.

COMBATSYS: Mai blocks Tremor's Krystal Shatter.

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Tremor           0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1              Mai

[MAI]
Wow, that's ... pretty cool! It would be just plain pretty in fact if it weren't shards of crystal headed straight for her--

"Hey - have... you considered a career in jewelrymaking?" Mai asks, as she sees the crystal growths building on his arm.

But they're not just for show, are they? A paper fan isn't going to block that; it's going to get shredded, but Mai didn't forget about her other weapons on hand. She reaches for... a cookie sheet, and holds it up in front of her face. The shards are set loose. The metal baking sheet gets pelted like a car roof in a hailstorm. A few members of the crowd dive out of the way reflexively at this display, but Mai catches most of it. Really, the worst of it is the sound, the slamming of crystal denting metal until the tray Mai used defensively isn't going to be good for much else.

She tosses it aside, and it makes a terrific clatter. She has to close the distance again, but she's got the speed. She braces herself for a moment, then hangs back and leaps up into the air. She shouts, "Musasabi no Mai!" as she dives forward, using her shoulder and driving her body behind it. There's more speed than weight behind this crush, but the angle of the leap and the following downward strike also angle her to leap entirely over the broken prep station and into the back kitchen area where there's even more ways to do damage!

COMBATSYS: Tremor fails to interrupt Musasabi no Mai from Mai with Klean Slate.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Tremor           0/-------/----===|=======\==-----\1              Mai

[TREMOR]
A quick swinging hand. A heavy handed counter to the acrobatic leaps and bounds of Mai's athletic display. But Tremor's strike is all for naught as the strike hits hard and potent.

Even for a big man, Tremor falls hard. He crashes along the floor and slides bodily toward the camera. There he lay for a long moment. He slams his hands on the ground and pushes himself up to his feet.

A stagger, he presses his fist into his hand to center himself. The glow shifts from green to a steady, thrumming gold tone. He goes still and steady. He has missed his opening, but it seems that in whatever eldritch capability granted to him by his technique, that for the moment he is entirely unhurt by the failure to fight properly.

[MAI]
As the counter has missed, Mai has a second to regroup herself. She lands from the initial dive and takes a quick hop backward - not too far, though, because there's a stovetop back there! She nearly butts up against it...

But beng there gives her an idea. Fire is good, actually. Maybe it's what she needs to turn the tide and take this big ninja down. She takes one more step back, and ignites the gas on the stovetop by bumping up against it with her behind. "I'm ready to turn up the heat in this kitchen!" she shouts.

One might think the increase of flame from the stove would ignite her hair, but she whips it aside, and runs one of her fans through it. She's going to try to press an advantage from the missed counter... and hope it doesn't, well, burn her. And then, as Tremor has shown off his talents, Mai uses her chi... to transform a little stovetop heat into a conflagration of flames! The stove itself bursts up in in a red flare, with a dramatic timing that makes the crowd gasp in awe. The fan in Mai's hand flares up along with it. She slides forward and throws it, with a streak of fire racing behind it.

But she isn't quite done, reaching into her top and pulling out another fan, and another. She spins slightly and these fans too, ignite, picking up heat from the stove and from Mai's own passionate aura. She throws them following the first in a spectacular display of fire prowess.

COMBATSYS: Mai successfully hits Tremor with Suichou no Mai.
- Power hit! -

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Tremor           0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0              Mai

[TREMOR]
The fire flares, the crowd roars, a pun turns out to be successful. Two whirling gouts of fire, a pair of fans twirling, and Tremor is awash in the heat of the kitchen kombat. Pushed back, taken off his feet, the earthen ninja is sent splaying out and back and nearly crashing the crowd off the roof itself.

And yet, when he stands, he simply dusts himself off and takes a slow, determined, steady step forward. Each breath glows with heat and fury. His chest rises and falls, the stone heated a dull orange from the inside, and from the outside by the heat of Mai's passionate aura. "You are not untalented," he commends, but there's a distant mockery to his tone.

"I may need to take you seriously," he says, taking three quick, long and heavy strides toward Mai. With a surprising leap for a man his size, Tremor hurls himself like a boulder into the air. A slow turning summersault as he soars, he twists himself around for a heavy diving kick aimed straight for Mai's chest.

He may as well attack the center of mass, after all.

COMBATSYS: Mai full-parries Tremor's Diving Kick!!

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Tremor           0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1              Mai

[MAI]
Mai thought for a second she might knock him totally off the roof and win the bout that way, but Tremor clearly has better balance than that. She smiles a little at hearing his compliment, as backhanded as it sounded. Everyone knows what 'talented' really means, right?

Mai, however, is rather used to assaults being directed at her talents. And, sure enough...

Mai tries to duck for cover, and grabs the next thing that's handy to deflect this incoming kick. It happens to be the heavy door of the blast freezer. She pulls it open and ducks for cover behind it. This is an awkward angle, but the incoming attack is so fast, that it immediately smashes into the door and breaks it completely off its hinges. Mai remains safe behind it as it knocks Tremor away. But Sub-Zero, Mai is not, and the cold blast of air that comes from the damaged freezer isn't exactly her element. Still, it's titilating for the audience, for reasons related to her other natural talents.

While her body gets a little cooler, her face gets hot. But there's no time to waste. She has to capitalize on the opening.

Mai tosses her makeshift shield aside. Tremor is close, well within her reach, especially if she puts her entire body into it. She leans forward and then into a hand-stand - another crowd pleasing move, but somehow her top remains stubbornly covering at least what it needs to, especially since the move is so quick. Stretching her legs all the way out, she wraps them toward Tremor's neck, then throws her whole body into a dramatic forward flip! The idea, of course, is that his is also brought along for the ride.

COMBATSYS: Tremor blocks Mai's Fuusha Kuzushi EX.

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Tremor           0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1              Mai

[TREMOR]
Landing, deflected, opened for a quick and stylish counterattack from the beautiful ninja, Tremor is left clearly exposed for the strike from Mai. He twists, his feet planted, his arms crossing up to hold tight when she grips him tight and turns to toss him bodily into the air.

Tremor rolls with the toss, a ninja in his own right, he has a depth of agility more than expected from a man his size and one also apparently mostly made of stone and earth. He crashes, rolls and turns to his feet. Seemingly unhindered by the attacks put upon him so far.

Though to a careful eye, the gouges, cracks, and crumbling stone that trail and tumble from the man suggest a great deal more impact than he is revealing.

He pauses now, clapping hand to hand and focusing on his inner strength. The heat within him rises, the magmatic light bright and searing. His eyes, molten in color, dim just a small bit. He steadies, and he readies, and he pauses. No words, no quip, and no strike back. The former Lin Kuei finds his center and reorders himself so that he may yet bring the fight to this talented woman.

COMBATSYS: Tremor gains composure.

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Tremor           0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1              Mai

[MAI]
Mai didn't quite get the superior hit she wanted there, but at least she manages to slide back up to her feet. She leans forward. She too, needs a moment to catch a breath, but she makes it a bit shorter. She decides to bridge it with a little forward poke, to see if she can still keep Tremor on the defensive. She jumps forward, feints an attack, then slides a foot back... "You know, you aren't too bad yourself. Do a lot of ninjas train with your style?" It's always good to learn about rival ninja clans, and he definitely fights in a ninja style, but it's different from Mai's free-wheeling bounce.

She jumps forward again suddenly, and this time, she whips out a fan to smack it toward Tremor. It's a slightly defensive manuever, one that's interested in protecting her while keeping him awake all the same. Mai wonders if the fan will catch fire, but it wouldn't be too bad for her if it did.

COMBATSYS: Mai successfully hits Tremor with Quick Strike.
- Power hit! -

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Tremor           1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1              Mai

[TREMOR]
Speed kills, and Tremor isn't fast enough to get his guard up against the whipping of the fan. A loud smack fills the windy air and Tremor is sent off his base, lurching to the side. Stone crumbling to the ground. His mask clatters nearby, knocked from his face. He drops to a knee.

"None worth discussing," he speaks to her, "Traitors and cowards them all." He goes silent, and then he is still as a statue.

The head of Tremor crumbles to the ground, stone breaks and shatters, the arm is next, and the torso. All of him falls to pieces there among the fallen cutlery and cutlets.

With a roar, he appears again, rising behind Mai and swinging his heavy, stone encrusted fist down toward Mai's head. The sheer force spinning the ninja around into an off hand back hand, and a final pounding knee aiming straight for Mai's belly.

COMBATSYS: Mai blocks Tremor's Rock On.

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Tremor           1/-----==/=======|=======\====---\1              Mai

[MAI]
"What the-" Mai is stunned for a moment with the sock of Tremor suddenly falling apart in front of her. Sometimes ninjas are fast enough to teleport around in a blitz, but seeing someone literally fall to pieces is really a shock, especially since it happens so... seemingly slowly.

Is he dead? She wonders for just a second. But that wouldn't make any sense-

No, it was a ruse, ninja magic! He's suddenly behind her, and Mai can barely spin around fast enough to catch him with a block. She raises her hands just in time, but the knee still gets past her defenses, and she staggers backward. She understands now what he did, though most ninjas would just replace themselves with a log, right?

"Wow, that... sounds rough for them! So, not a very tight knit family."

He's close to her, so she takes another in close attack, jabbing forward with an elbow strike for the torso. But before this strike can connect, Mai's fingers burst into chi flame, and she spins around into a quick firey uppercut. Her entire body turns into it, her skirt spinning, though the flame is so brief that it dies down after just a flash.

COMBATSYS: Tremor interrupts Ryuuenbu from Mai with Mountainous Pain.
*KNOCKED AWAY*

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Tremor           1/---====/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2              Mai

[TREMOR]
Close in, trading blows, strike after strike as the two ninjitsu fight with a fury that sparks the crowd into a tense silence. No more great flashes and stunts, combinations and quickness are prevailing. A fiery uppercut blazes across Tremor's chest, but it doesn't seem to find full purchase. The upward momentum swiftly pushed aside by a hammering hook of a fist to Mai's face.

The initial blow is followed on by a rounding backhand, strong enough to lift Mai just off her feet. And it's in that moment of unplanned flight that Tremor slams both hands into her, spiking the woman down and away like a fleshy volleyball.

He lands, his legs quaver for a moment. He steps forward. He is unstable, but he fights on, pulling himself together and rolling his neck. His face exposed, his cragged face rough hewn and stony. He frowns with a stern fury. He lifts his hand and beckons for Mai to come back to her feet. "Finish this," he bids her in a rumbling voice with the dirty grind of a rock tumbler.

[MAI]
The heavy hands of the other, bigger ninja grab onto Mai, and smash her downward. The first strike is hard, against her chest, hitting the bone between her breasts and rocking her entire body downward. She slams onto the rooftop. The impact shakes the entire roof, and the countertops in the kitchen arena shake, one literally cracking down the middle from the aftershock. Even the onlookers look off-balance. The impact was felt on camera.

Mai sees Tremor beckon for her. Her legs are unsteady, like a newborn doe, as she wobbles back up to her feet. In spite of the pain, she feels as if she accepts his challenge. But is it ninja honor that invites her next blow? Or is it a ruse?

Whatever it is, there's really only one thing left for her to do: Give it her everything.

A fan flips into her hand, and she waves it at her face, steadying herself a little further. She turns around and looks at the crowd for a second. Their presence gives her some energy.

Her fan catches fire, and her eyes sparkle with the flame as she turns them back onto Tremor. She leaps for him, with a little wordless shout. Her skirt, trailing behind her, seems to pick up the flame as if she were a flying meteorite.

She almost levitates. The first strike with the fan is deceptively light, mostly quick, but it leaves behind a bit of flame. Then there is another to follow, and another, each spitting an ember that seems to stick to Tremor's brick like body.

Then Mai leans backward. It wasn't much, really... Did she really give it her best? But she's smiling. "Okay, but remember you said so!"

Mai turns around and bows for the crowd one more time, dipping over low, then spinning and lifting up her skirt at her opponent. This draws a bit of laughter, but there is a reason for it. Not only does Mai get a lot of energy playing to the crowd, but she also loves the art of distraction.

She snaps back up and raises her hands. "Nippon -- Ichi!" Mai cheers.

When she says what is apparently the magic words, all those little bits of flame suddenly explode into an enormous conflagration! It's New Years fireworks all over again, flames shooting up into the sky in a superheated column of dazzling red light!

COMBATSYS: Mai successfully hits Tremor with #Shiranui Ryuu Kyuubi no Kitsune#.

[                             \  < >  //////                        ]
Tremor           2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|-------\-------\0              Mai

[TREMOR]
He asked for it, she did bring it. The woman is a ninja of a different stripe. She hides in plain sight, obfuscates and dances and distracts with the apparent obvious before storming forward with raging flame and dire power.

Lights flash and flare and crash. Tremor hurtles up and back, crashing down to the ground. There he lay, still. A trick? Another doppleganger left behind to distract? Only to crumble when opponent lets her guard down? Time is still and the air is pregnant with anticipation.

Slowly, Tremor stirs. It is no double. He rolls his hefty frame over and onto his knee. His head is bowed. "Your strength matches your beauty," he says, his hands splay over the ground. "I wonder if your fires rage as they should?"

With those words, the building begins to rumble, what plates remain on tables still standing begin to shake and quake and fall to the ground. Glass cracks and steel groans in protest. People worry, cameras lose their stability. Tremor brings his namesake to the rooftops. The world seems to threaten to tear the very building down as, despite the height of the skyscraper, stones from the ground far far below tear up and through the structure by shear force of Tremor's call. Two pillars of rock that stand tall and make the rooftops buckle and groan under their weight.

The downed ninja looks up toward Mai and rolls back to his knees. He brings his hands clapping together, watching, judging her. She has proven her strength here, but he has one final bout of destruction to bring down upon Mai before he makes his escape. His kneeling form already coating over with roughhewn, faintly mystical stone. The Black Dragon making his escape through one final offense.

COMBATSYS: Tremor can no longer fight.

[                        \\\\\\  <
Mai              0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Tremor knocks away Mai with Stone Tomb.

[                                <
Mai              0/-------/-<<<<<<|

[MAI]
Mai bows for the crowd again, and then Tremor compliments her. How sweet! But of course, she knows.

She waves her fan at the camera, then looks back at Tremor. Her plan was to simply thank him of course, and she opens her mouth to do so... But then the building begins to rumble... as if he were going to tear it down. She looks frantic as she hears glass break. She really does worry the entire building is going to come down, crushing cameras, onlookers, and her, all at once. Then, Tremor creates these huge blocks of stone, seemingly from nothing.

Mai isn't sure which way to roll. She rolls anyway. One pillar comes crashing toward her, and it seems as if she chose wrong. It topples toward her, smashing down as the roof continues to buckle. She lets out a yelp as she's pinned beneath it --

Giving the other ninja plenty of time to escape as he also transforms to stone and vanishes in the chaos and confusion.

Log created on 10:08:48 01/25/2019 by Tremor, and last modified on 15:49:03 01/26/2019.