Match of the Millennium

Description: The mysteries of the Blue Belt are revealed within the confines of the Academy of Magical Arts' signature clubhouse - in particular, the Pugillusionist's Paradise located in the back garden, set with classic brickwork and with no visible entrance on the surface, merely a towering structure of brick. (The entrance is through the club itself, you see_... there is a secret passage.) At the stroke of midnight, two mystics will contend with the depth and passion of their art - with the Belt itself as the bone of contention. But illusion and legerdemain will not be enough to win the belt - victory in the ring must be achieved!

[VELVET BLUE]
A secret entrance at the back of a club?! Well, Velvet Blue is no secret to such a thing, in fact he's actually kind of used to it--god knows how many of the older nightclubs had weird rooms backstage or in the service areas devoted to illegal gambling or even worse things. However this does mean he has no trouble navigating to it and through it--but just what kind of a funhouse is this supposed to be?

Under the tableau of midnight, the darkstalker performer arrives, blue spaded tail swaying behind them as they walked. Their boots made clacking noises, since well, kind of hard not to, given they were rather.. eccentric. The boots were stiletto heeled in a pearlescent indigo color with a kind of starry glitter-effect airbrushed into it, reaching well past the knees. A black spandex undersuit and a jacket matching the boots, left unzipped for now.

"What kind of Harry Potter shenanigans is this," Velvet muttered under his breath, reaching up to brush back long thick black hair and tilting their head this way and that. The large bat-like ears ought to be a clue in as to why, they were tilting to head to try and better locate the sources of sound around them.

Currently, Velvet was standing in what looked like a large indoor space, like a concert hall, with a dias with the belt sitting on it far off to the very center, seemingly no one else here...

[MENAT]
Seemingly nobody else here. The seeming is important.

Menat actually slipped in a while ago, in the late evening, but stayed nearly out of the way until much later. 'Later', in this case, meaning 'now'.

Menat appears out of nowhere with a violet flare that looks like nothing so much as a silent firework, floating above the dias. And in costume, too! She is wearing a pair of deep purple shorts, edged with gold trim, along with a matching-colour sarong-style wrap, along with a bandeau-style top with a long, extended stiff section pointed downward over her stomach. A shawl with hood rests on her shoulders, partially shading her face. Her crystal ball floats at her side, over her spread hand, lit with an inner blue-purple glow.

"Welcome," she says, sounding as imposing as she can as she points at Velvet Blue, "to your FATED BATTLE! I have seen it in the light of the crystal!"

Menat floats downward next to the dias, touching down lightly with a faint chime from her anklet bangles. She is, under her hood, grinning.

[VELVET BLUE]
Velvet, in contrast, doesn't call what he's wearing a costume--this was a way of life. One couldn't deny Menat's hood had a certain theatricality about it, however.

"Oof, little cold in this place in that outfit?, hon?" Velvet walks toward her with a grin, the boots he wears clacking--the light glinting off the metal caps over their tips. Think Majima's fashionable leather metal tipped shoes, it's sort of like that.

"Welcome to you too, hon--you ready to get this on? I think we both know that belt will at least fit on /my/ hips," and just like that, the negging battle begins, at least the first shot is fired from Velvet's side.

"Lets see if those snowglobes of yours are more than just for show--" Velvet is already rushing towards her, claws out.

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue has started a fight here on the right meter side.

                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                  |-------\-------\0      Velvet Blue

COMBATSYS: Menat has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Menat            0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0      Velvet Blue

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue successfully hits Menat with Quick Strike.
- Power hit! -

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Menat            0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[MENAT]
Menat can both be a seer and a mystic (she is) and wear a costume (she definitely is). They're not mutually exclusive!

"Snow globe? Oh, come *on*," Menat says, sounding a lot less portentious than she did mere moments ago. "This is better than any snow globe. And I'm quite comfortable, thanks! Don't knock it just because you can't dance - whoa!"

The 'whoa' was because Velvet covered the distance a lot faster than Menat expected him to. He slams into her side, and she vanishes in a flash of light - but not until after he's managed to rake her with the claws. When she reappears about three seconds later, she isn't quite as intact as when she left.

Menat tosses the globe in Velvet Blue's direction. She accelerates it as it leaves her fingers with a flare of Soul Power, and when (if) it hits Velvet Blue it sticks to him.

That gets Menat to grin, and she raises both hands over her head, pressing them together. With a dangerous twitch of her hips, she sends the ball flying back toward her - and if Velvet Blue was struck solidly by it, he's dragged along with it like he was glued to it, pulled next to Menat by Soul Power!

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue dodges Menat's Soul Vacuum.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Menat            1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[VELVET BLUE]
Velvet is fast. Very fast, and unfortunately for Menat, she can't seem to avoid sashaying those hips of hers /away/ from Velvet's claw-like nails, catching a rake down her side.

"Jeez--I didn't even swing that hard, I think I felt bone, too," Velvet retreats back to flick the blood from his dark nails. "You gotta eat somethin' girl! Get some cushion," as much as Velvet truly feels bad for the unnintentionally vicious wound, they have to grin a little sheepishly, gesturing to the girl.

Hearing, or perhaps /feeling/ the 'buzz' of the soul orb Velvet allows themselves to roll onto all fours--then flat against their stomach as the orb whizzes by--just missing them--they are able to spring back up onto their boots fluidly after that.

"Low bridge, woo!" they lean up and back and bring their right boot up for a snap kick against Menat's front!

COMBATSYS: Menat dodges Velvet Blue's Stiletto Pierce.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Menat            1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[MENAT]
Menat catches her returning orb.

With her foot.

Kicking upward at just the right time, Menat bounces it right into the air, where it flies up - fortunately the Magic Castle has a *very* high ceiling, because otherwise she might have hit it. "That was one of my bracers, actually. Please don't wreck them! They're hard to fix." Menat is more careful with her clothes than her skin, apparently.

Menat sees the kick coming before it lands. She leaps backwards, and her crystal ball takes that opportunity to fall back down from the ceiling; she catches it with an upraised hand, cupping it with her fingers, and brings it downward like a hammer on Velvet before he can finish getting up. Or that's the idea, at least.

COMBATSYS: Menat successfully hits Velvet Blue with Power Strike.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Menat            1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[VELVET BLUE]
"Your bracers!? what about my nails?!" Velvet looked down at his talon-like nails for a moment, perhaps fearing they had snapped one or two off when the slash went down, once they delivered the kick to Menat, that was--they were off-balance from having missed the kick, having expected it to hit--the crystal ball comes crashing down against his head, however--knocking the performer completely off balance and sprawling on their back, quite stunned.

"Oowww--" Velvet did a karate-esque snap with their legs and flipped themselves up and back to their feet.

"Talk about sweeping guys off their feet, didn't know you had it in you, honey--" Velvet turns and throws a roundhouse kick at Menat next--should she be near enough--pivoting away just after, to try and avoid a reprisal attack.

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue successfully hits Menat with Evasive Strike.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Menat            1/----===/=======|======-\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[MENAT]
"Try not to chip them," Menat says, with another grin, which she obscures with a pirouette back into place. The little weights on her shawl chime as she spins back into place.

Velvet is a fast opponent. Faster than she expected; the roundhouse kick catches Menat solidly. She actually lets it push her, using a quick flash of Soul Power to send herself flying under the force of the blow; she lands near the dias, between Velvet and the belt.

"Let's see what's in your future..." Menat glides the crystal ball in front of her, the inner glow brightening and sending stark shadows in front of her face. Presumably she can see Velvet, somehow, but mostly it looks like she should be blinding herself with the light.

COMBATSYS: Menat focuses on her next action.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Menat            1/----===/=======|======-\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[VELVET BLUE]
It turns out Velvet had not, in fact, ruined their carefully filed and polished nail job on Menat's bracers--however, right now they had bigger things to worry about. He is sort of worried, at the moment--all that soul power the girl possessed--she was a different sort of energy user, he could tell that. He just feared being on the receiving end of all that might.

"Ohh, yeah? We could get you a gig as a TV Psychic--you okay with wearing a big silk headwrap? Or maybe just a beehive hairdo?" Velvet chuckles, taking initiative while Menat prepared herself there and sprang towards her.

"Lemme take you for a ride o/`" the lithe and agile performer was actually trying to spring into the air and /grab/ Menat out of it, and slam her to the ground!

COMBATSYS: Menat attempts to counter Strange Duet from Velvet Blue with Soul Reflect - Knot of Isis.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Menat            0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[MENAT]
"I've already got my own outfits, thanks. I don't need to mimic some has-been, or even my Master - I do a pretty good job in this!"

Menat reaches backwards, towards the belt. "But I think it would look a little better with this..."

She doesn't actually get it in her hands before Velvet is coming at her, but that was her plan from the beginning - she knows that getting her hands on the belt might be a good way to taunt now, but it's not going to win her the match. Only victory will do that!

As he springs toward her, Menat lets her ball glide away from her face, sending it whirling around in front of her her. Faster and faster, until the glow makes a loop in the air - and the interior of the loop is filled with a glass-like pane of Soul Power, hardened psychic power and telekinesis.

nd Velvet is flying right at it!

COMBATSYS: Menat successfully hits Velvet Blue with Soul Reflect - Knot of Isis.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Menat            0/-------/--=====|=======\==-----\1      Velvet Blue

[VELVET BLUE]
In retrospect, it was probably a really bad idea to vault after Menat--who was right near that pedestal--which was something one didn't want to take to the face--however, this does not seem to be what accidentally transpires! Velvet winds up taking the soul power orb as it does a loop and gets it right in the upper chest--the sternum, actually--it really hurts. Their entire body, head, arms and legs whip back as they are carried back through the air by it and wind up being sent tumbling to the ground with a very quite sickening set of crunches.

"Is that the best you can d--agh... ow..." Velvet tries to pull themselves up again, looking quite shakey, wavering in place. Which is probably not that difficult with the shoes he's wearing, to be fair.

"Okay then, kid gloves come off--" Velvet pulls the handle of their wakizashi from their right boot, hunching down and darting toward Menat with the blade singing out--lashing at her. The blade is held upside down in a 'stabbing' position, but they strike upwards and to the right with it--some kind of knife fighting technique.

COMBATSYS: Menat blocks Velvet Blue's Armed Combo.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Menat            0/-------/--=====|=======\===----\1      Velvet Blue

[MENAT]
This isn't the first time someone has pulled a knife on Menat, but it's probably the first time anyone has pulled a knife on Menat while she was fighting in an official match. (Please disregard the person who turned their wings into blades; that's totally different.) "I hope you didn't have them on before! This is serious!!"

The sphere returns to Menat, and she retrieves it, catching it on one fingertip and pulling it around as if it was attached there before flicking it out. A string of Soul Power connects her finger to the ball as she wields it like some kind of bizarre oversize yo-yo.

She cannot entirely deflect the incoming attack with it, though she tries; Velvet's blade skips off the apparently invulnerable ball before drawing a line down Menat's significantly less invulnerable arm. She lets out a pained yelp that totally wrecks her cool image.

At least for a moment, before she flicks the ball forward, toward Velvet. At this range she does not have to throw it to stick it to him; she just pushes it, trying to press it against him and knock him off balance. If she manages that, she leaps into the air (with the crystal ball still stuck to him) and delivers a mighty two-footed blow toward the orb, slamming it further into him but dislodging it and causing it to roll back to her as she recovers!

COMBATSYS: Menat successfully hits Velvet Blue with Overflowing Nile.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Menat            1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2      Velvet Blue

[VELVET BLUE]
Velvet winds up clashing with one of Menat's soul orbs as he tries to strike her with his blade--which seems to be doing an adept job at it.

"Oof--hey--what's the matter, use your wonder woman bracers to turn it away, I figure that's--nnff--what they're there for!" The strikes come up mostly empty handed, the psi-user apparently able to guard against the attack.

The darkstalker-dericed energy inside Velvet hisses and burns at the touch of the psi-energy ball, thrust against him--as does the rest of him. His body is wracked with convulsions from the pain and shock, nearly collapsing against the floor.

"Agh... curtain call, bitch!" wreathing his hand in his own magic, Velvet attempts to press it against Menat's body, trying to clutch at her, pulling her into the spell he's prepared for her!

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue successfully hits Menat with Spellbound Masquerade.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Menat            1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>------\1      Velvet Blue

As Velvet Blue's long black nailed hand clutches at Menat's face... the sparkling prismatic glamour of his magic takes over--the space around them... and over her!

"And now, for one night only--I give you, our new rising star!" Velvet is there, in tophat and tailcoats, unveiling a curtain of magic.

Suddenly, Menat is joined by several actors in full cat costume and makeup, complete with black noses, contact lenses, even little fabric ears and tails. For the concert hall now serves as a stage. To the rousing chorus of "When will the summer day delay--when will time flow away?" Menat is there, in full on Felicia DLC costume regalia--the white fur, the magenta nails, the huge 80s blue hair. It feels (at least externally) like the time of her life, all the other costumed actors gathering around her and striking a pose along with the evening's newest star~

But... as all great performances do, she begins to feel a drain--physically and otherwise, the performance exerts it's toll, sending the dark-skinned psi-user crashing down as the spell comes to a crescendo!

[MENAT]
"Wow, rude," is Menat's immediate reply. "IF you were anywhere near my Master she'd get you for that one!"

Velvet Blue grabs at Menat, and pulls her into a spell. The hallcuinatory image seizes her for several long moments; it doesn't hurt, really, but it saps at her energy even as she dances, something she is actually pretty good at -

But the difficulty with grabbing a psychic and putting her into a phantasmal image - one who's known for seeing beyond what most can - is that they see the truth. Menat breaks out at about the same time the spell hits the crescendo, the image shattering around her.

Well, not quite around her. It's broken around the ball, which she has thrown directly at Velvet Blue's face. She looks like she's about to fall over, but she has at least one chance left, and she intends to use it!

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue blocks Menat's Soul Sphere.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Menat            1/------=/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>----\1      Velvet Blue

[VELVET BLUE]
Yes, it was a full-blown production of CATS. I mean, what else was appropriate?

"What's the matter? This is your BIG BREAK ON BROADYWAY!" Velvet can be heard calling to her once the sudden, terrible pull of the performance begins to take it's hold on her, and it very much wasn't all in her head--though it's not like they had an audience here... except the folks at home. This was a Saturday Night Fight, after all!

The spell does break--but so does Menat, at least the part of her that can keep her fighting--and this time he's ready for that soul orb--the blade of Velvet's long blade brought up to impact against it--it still pushes the performer back, boots skidding and screaming against the floor, of course.

"You're a natural kid, but while I'm around you'll only be be a bit part in this show!" Velvet then projects a chi-based laser attack--right out of his eyes. Yes, you read that correctly, FRICKIN' LAZER EYES. They scorch across the floor of the audience hall, right towards her!

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue successfully hits Menat with Wishmaster.

[                                < >  /////                         ]
Menat            1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[MENAT]
LASER EYES are a pretty impressive counterargument for basically everything.

They win the day today; Menat's eyes widen in sync with Velvet Blue's, but hers fail to produce any lasers whatsoever. She pulls up her orb in an attempt to catch the beam but is a little too late; she can neither reflect it back at him or even refract it in random directions that mostly are away from her.

So instead she curls up around the ball and vanishes in a cloud of violet. She reappears a moment later, about five feet directly above Velvet, having decided to go to a last-minute pin!

She is also mostly unconscious, so it's more like a rough belly-flop. At least she tried.

COMBATSYS: Menat can no longer fight.

                                  >  /////                         ]
                                  |===----\-------\0      Velvet Blue

COMBATSYS: Menat successfully hits Velvet Blue with Quick Throw.

                                  >  ////                          ]
                                  |====---\-------\0      Velvet Blue

[VELVET BLUE]
Of course, even after all that, Velvet isn't really looking too hot. Well, not hot in /that/ sense, anyway. They were actually looking pretty dizzy, and unsteady--so when Menat came down on him--well, the tailed darkstalker went with her, crashing to the floor and knocked out.

"Ow... hey the cat outfit didn't look /that/ bad, right?" hopefully Menat doesn't wake up first and shiv him for that. Either way, it doesn't appear there is a clear victor here today!

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue takes no action.


COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue can no longer fight.

Log created on 17:12:36 02/26/2019 by Menat, and last modified on 22:40:41 02/27/2019.