Match of the Millennium

Description: With Echo's entry in the KOF settled, it's time for the Midnight Channel. Tapping into the spiritual forces that lay in the corrupted soil of unhallowed ground, she makes a sort of cooking show of undeath. The necromancer however finds that her show is interrupted by Shadaloo free agent Juri Han.. While Echo can bank on the overwhelming necromantic power to keep herself together, Juri has a secret weapon: unrelenting sadism.

COMBATSYS: Juri has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Juri             0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Echo has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Juri             0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Echo

[ECHO]
There is the sound of lightning and a flash of thunder illuminates the dark heavens above the dark and desolate cemetery. Because of course this week's SNF would be done in a dark, dusty and remote cemetery when Echo, resident bat anthro lady is has signed up--that's some racial profiling right there!

The bat however does not seem to mind, instead having ran with it and set up what looks like a giant goddamn circus tent to make the set of her show, 'Cooking with the Occult!' The interior set is actually a half-wall of what looks like a Martha Stewart-esque home, though it's definitely... not right some how. It could be due to the fact the paint job is slightly more muted--or the fact there is a large wooden butcher's table nearby the stove and pot that looks like it's all streaked with some rust-colored substance. As the camera go live, the viewers are treated to the show's title card along with an appropriately selected muzak track, giving one the sense of something relaxed yet vibrant.

:(BGM: https://youtu.be/aelpt4GpoQg )

"Welcome to Cooking with the Occult, I'm your host, Echo Lacroix, and tonight we're looking to be frying up an old country style recipe, pot-roast and headcheese," Echo is smiling smarmily, dressed in one of her usual Elvira-esque looking black dresses with plunging necklines, along with a pair of red heels. She does /not/ look like she's here to cook, though she is tying on what looks like a thoroughly stained vinyl apron.

"Now if we can just get out tonight's lucky haunch of meat, Junior--...JUNIOR!"

A very broad-shouldered man easily over six-feet tall and wearing a very large stained yellow apron marches in from off-camera. He looks respectably dressed under the apron, in dress shoes, black trousers and short-sleeved dress shirt underneath. Plus the leathery mask-like hood that obscures his entire head.

"Mmpphhlrr! Mmhrr!" they make a kind of high-pitched attempt at speech beneath the mask, though it's not really muffled-it's more they seem to have some kind of learning disability or speech impediment.

"There we are," Echo is all smiles and grins again as a rather suspicious looking mass of /meat/ is thrown up onto the table and butcher block, there is the sound of a chainsaw revving up off-screen.

"Don't our friend Junior here, he /is/ from Texas," she nods as if this explains everything.

[JURI]
There is one person in the studio audience who does not at all crack a smile at these antics. She seems decidedly, perhaps terminally, unamused.

Juri Han is standing just behind a camera, with her arms crossed across her chest. She is in her combat-ready gear, with her feet wrapped, toes neatly painted purple, loose pants, and a light top tied with a spider-like configuration around her back. "I can't stand this kind of showmanship crap," she says, just loud enough that the camera easily picks it up. "I only signed up for this because I thought I might be able to see a little action." She takes a few steps forward. "I didn't realize I'd have to be fighting you." Juri cracks a knuckle.

"Go on, though. Finish your little show. I'll wait."

[ECHO]
"Now, normally I don't like to use a lot of processed additives in my cooking, but I'm sure as heck not doing the shopping around here," Echo peered around, giving a grin and shrug for comedic effect. Another crash of thunder and lightning heralds Juri Han's announcement. The woman's very presence seems to frighten the leather masked man away. And with good reason, one would think!

"Oh no, viewers at home, we have been invaded," Echo had just been in the process of clapping some part of the large haunch of meat off with a cleaver, leaving it trapped in the bone and meat.

"Lets give a big round of applause for famous Taekwondo master and foot model, Juri Han!" Echo leaped up onto the butcher block and table, grasping the chainsaw that had been left there by 'Junior' and revs it up, the motor coughing to life and spilling out exhaust down the side of her black dress, the haunch of meat still lying there between the bat lady's parted legs.

"Lets hit the lights, while we're at it," the audience starts to scramble for cover (at least further back away) as Echo snaps her fingers, what sounds like a wailing begins to come out of nowhere as phantasmic /shapes/ melt out of thin air!

[JURI]
Juri makes a little 'tsk' sound as the man goes scurrying off. She stretches her hands out, fingers folded together, slow and deliberate like a cat that's about to stalk down prey.

She raises one foot up, bracing it against the inside of her other knee as she enters a combat stance. But her expression is laid back, even as ghosts and ghouls from the show begin bearing down on her. "Gimmick or not, you know it's not going to take me long to be through with you. I just hope you last long enough that I can enjoy it!"

[ECHO]
"Oh I'm aware, however--I thought you might be coming so I cooked up a little of my own mojo to assist!" Echo grinned, bringing the chainsaw up and brandishing it in front of her, both hands gripping the handle. She wielded it almost like a conductor baton, bringing it down in wide arcs with the ghostly apparitions--shrouded, glowing eyes figures--wailing seemingly in constant agony--brought their own scythe-like arms down on Juri in the same loping, wide arcs.

"Hey, if I miss and swing low maybe you'll get a free pedicure out of it!!" Echo cackled, the wailing banshee spirits trying to cleave at her. From the pulsing aura Echo gave off--it seemed like this was almost a trap--a bat setting a trap for a cat? Were Juri's twin-tails supposed to be cat ears? she didn't know. There way too many freaking cats on this plane, even more than the Makai! It was like Gilligan getting off the island finally and then being confronted with a coconut!

COMBATSYS: Banshee Swarm has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Juri             0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Echo
                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                  |-------\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

COMBATSYS: Juri blocks Banshee Swarm's Corrupting Touch.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Juri             0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Echo
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                  |-------\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

COMBATSYS: Echo successfully hits Juri with Abracadaver.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Juri             0/-------/------=|>------\-------\0             Echo
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                  |-------\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

[JURI]
Juri raises her leg a little higher, and the banshee seems to ram up against it, its attack relatively fruitless against the block from Juri's knee. But it created an opening for where Echo herself was able to attack her with an aura of light. It's not a major blast that causes Juri to stumble, but she can feel the energy pulsing against her.

"You really think you're cute, don't you," Juri snipes. Juri doesn't focus too much of her attention on the swarm of banshees yet. They are irritating. But the terms of the fight are that if Echo goes down, so does her swarm. And Echo really is a little more irritating, on top of that.

Juri jumps into the air, almost levitating from the mists that are collecting around her. From high above, she turns her leg downward and arcs into a diving kick, the edge of her foot stinging like a knife.

It should be noted that despite her some-times feline posture, the spider is the animal she most commonly associates with. This is obvious when she turns her back, following up one dive-kick for a backfacing donkey kick, and the emblem of the spider on her back is briefly exposed.

COMBATSYS: Echo blocks Juri's Shikusen.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Juri             0/-------/-----==|>>-----\-------\0             Echo
                                  >  ///////////////////////////// ]
                                  |-------\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

[ECHO]
"I have been told such before! But I highly prefer 'mortifying' myself," Echo's chainsaw shrieks as the banshee's attack was blocked, her own attack causing her to be sprayed with dust and a few droplets of blood here and there.

"Sorry I didn't bring the cotton balls and proper clippers to this beauty sesh, Juri-babe--I'm a little rusty~" Echo grinned and gestured with a free hand dangerously close to the whirring blade of the chainsaw, noting the ambiguous rust-colored stains there.

As Juri prepares to fire off with her PRIMARY WEAPONS (hint: feet) Echo is jumping down from the table, somehow managing not to fall on the chainsaw or impale herself with it--bringing the flat of the blade up to defend herself--and receives a bonk as the blade is bashed back into her face, ow. She looks suitably confused and shakes her head for a moment, steadying herself.

"Whew, going to have to use some strategy here--" Echo's palm and eyes glow as what seems to be some kind of portable hole appears under Juri, assumedly to make her fall through it and out the other end positioned a few paces away to the right--meanwhile the banshee lets out a soul-shattering wail!

COMBATSYS: Banshee Swarm successfully hits Juri with Hue and Cry.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Juri             0/-------/---====|>>-----\-------\0             Echo
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

COMBATSYS: Juri fails to interrupt Another Gate from Echo with Shotenha.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Juri             0/-------/----===|>>>----\-------\0             Echo
                                  >  ////////////////////////////  ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

[JURI]
Juri tries to kick back at this, but it's hard to kick back at a portal in spite of her attempt. It opens up beneath her, causing her to fall...

Upward, as it turns out, and she is still in the air as she falls from the strangely placed teleport attack. This gives the banshees the opportunity for a little mid-air juggle. The wail strikes her in a way that keeps her positioned and stunned... and sadly ready for additional followups, as she seems a bit dizzied by the effort!

[ECHO]
Echo is a bit surprised that worked, apparently--she was wide-eyed and grinning. "Man, I figured I'd be a greasy spot on the rocks by now, just a lowly sorceror against a psycho power user," Echo shrugged and slowly approached the stunned form of the taekwondo practitioner, the chainsaw still buzzing.

"Oh, what have we got here--this little piggy went to the market--" Echo swung the chainsaw down and around, hovering it dangerously close to Juri Han's ankle.

"And this little one went 'wee wee wee'--she drew it back sharply and brought the blade down, violently. Was she actually trying to maim her? Or just scare her really badly?

On the other hand, the Banshee was currently emitting a roiling noise that sounded like wind through a turbine, or perhaps CRT television static--it was enough that Echo herself was tempted to cover her ears! Perhaps this was the edge Juri needed...?

COMBATSYS: Juri just-defends Echo's Random Weapon!

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Juri             0/-------/----===|>>>----\-------\0             Echo
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

COMBATSYS: Juri dodges Banshee Swarm's Noise Cancelling.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Juri             0/-------/----===|>>>----\-------\0             Echo
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

[JURI]
Juri apparently was not quite so stunned as she seemed, or at least, recovered quickly. Perhaps it's the impending doom of a chainsaw that spurs her to action, but she snaps a foot out...

She catches it by the handle, rather than the business end, and with the flat of her foot deflects it away simply. Now where it comes to the banshees... she moves quickly, stepping to one side with a deft move. She seems uneffected by this wailing attack. One cannot dodge sound itself, but the vibrations weren't quite enough to phase her.

Her eyes narrow... and her left, in particular, starts to light up with a purple haze. "You know how Psycho Power works, don't you? You just have to get me pissed off first."

"Bad for you that I'm getting there."

Juri crouches for a moment, charging energy not just in her eye, but around her foot. Then she suddenly leaps up... flipping over, she spirals out a tornado of kicks. Purple energy flies from her feet, striking in an area around her with the charged pain of psychic energy.

COMBATSYS: Juri knocks away Echo with Kaisenrenkyaku.
~~ Alluring Hit! ~~

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Juri             0/-------/--=====|>>>>>>>\>------\1             Echo
                                  >  ///////////////////////////   ]
                                  |==-----\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

COMBATSYS: Juri successfully hits Banshee Swarm with Kaisenrenkyaku.
~~ Alluring Hit! ~~

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Juri             1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>------\1             Echo
                                  >  //////////////////////        ]
                                  |======-\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

[ECHO]
"Holy shit--she's like a damn monkey!" Echo has time to utter that, her blow with the chainsaw turned away just by Juri's kick--had she grasped the handle with her toes, or something? She isn't sure! When Juri releases her next kick--or kicks, really, it's hard to keep count in a whirlign flurry like that--the chainsaw is knocked from Echo's grasp and bounces off the edge of the butcher block, before running crazily along the ground of the tent as the blade is still spinning for a few moments. The next few blows catch Echo dead on and she's thrown back--wings unfurling as if trying to catch herself--to act as a cushion of some kind. Her back impacts against some sound stage equipment, creating a rather large squeal of feedback.

"Yeesh... guess those things are not just for balance," Echo coughs, dusting white fur off which has gotten a fair bit dusty, and brushing long black hair out of her eyes. She cracks her knuckles as her palms glow again, the ground beneath Juri perhaps feeling quite... chill.

"Somehow, you don't look like the kind of girl that minds... restraints," Echo gestured with her hand, a rusty and blood-stained metal stretcher ERUPTING from the ground behind Juri, trying to close it's leather straps around her arms and legs with whip-like tension!

Meanwhile, the Banshee swarm wails in pain, having finally been damaged in Juri's assault, multiple smaller ones breaking off from the larger mass to attempt to wind around her!

COMBATSYS: Juri blocks Echo's Necroscopy.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Juri             1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>-----\1             Echo
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                  |=====--\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

COMBATSYS: Juri instinctively blocks Banshee Swarm's Her Own Drummer.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Juri             1/------=/=======|>>>>>>>\>>-----\1             Echo
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                  |======-\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

[JURI]
Juri lands gracefully on her feet, and leans over slightly after coming down from the attack. It's almost as if she's taking a bow. Her left eye is glowing brightly now, and as she starts to soak up some bloodlust, she licks her lips.

Her left leg snaps backward quite suddenly as Echo pulls the trick of bringing a stretcher to a street fight. Juri kicks the thing seemingly square in half. "I think you might be a little confused. I guess I wouldn't mind using them on the likes of you!"

Juri twists her hip around and suddenly kicks at one of the banshees. The kick is still infused with that purple energy, trailing behind it like a ribbon of power. The kick strikes out, then she uses another, speeding up with each successive hit... She's becoming a vortex of energy the angrier she gets... and there is something about being angry that, paradoxically, makes her happy.

Three kicks come out fast, and then she lunges forward. "Ora ora!" With one more strike, not only does Juri kick at the air, but the purple light that she's been building flies out in a wave in front of her, striking at Echo and the banshees alike.

COMBATSYS: Juri knocks away Echo with Fuharenjin.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Juri             0/-------/--=====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2             Echo
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                  |======-\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

COMBATSYS: Juri knocks away Banshee Swarm with Fuharenjin.
- Power hit! -

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Juri             0/-------/-======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2             Echo
                                  >  /////////////                 ]
                                  |=======\===----\1    Banshee Swarm

[ECHO]
"I bet you would!" Echo laughs a little, jeering back as Juri remarks that, her eyes going wide when she kicks out with that purple, psycho power energy. The banshees scream and are dispersed--around a quarter of them disappearing in one fell swoop of Juri's leg, the psycho power dissipating them. Echo finds herself lifted up and thrown by the vortex of energy that Juri whips up with her psy-infused roundhouse, hit next by the purple energy waves--throwing herself to the ground and leaving her blood--her head and ear coming dangerously close to the still running chainsaw that danced along the ground nearby. She reached out and switched it off as she got up.

"Heh--ow," Echo cringed as she pulled herself up, drawing herself closer to Juri. She was in rough shape. Rearing back her hand, it glowed with red, hostile energy--swinging her white-furred and red-nailed hand out to try and catch hold of Juri's arm or shoulder. Some kind of Hex?! It didn't look good, whatever it was.

Meanwhile, the Banshee swarm lashed out in pain and madness, the psycho power was doing terrible things to it--releasing waves of energy outward to harass all nearby!

COMBATSYS: Juri dodges Banshee Swarm's Funeral Dirge.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Juri             0/-------/-======|>>>>---\-------\0             Echo
                                  >  ////////////                  ]
                                  |===----\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

COMBATSYS: Echo successfully hits Juri with Grand Guignol.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Juri             1/-------/=======|>>>>---\-------\0             Echo
                                  >  ////////////                  ]
                                  |===----\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

Once grasped by the hex-powered hand of Echo, Juri would find herself being bathed in red light--finally finding herself spotlit...?

"You'll like this one, it's a real doozy!" from somewhere, Juri can hear Echo's voice resonating from the darkness around her--no time to react as a pair of GIANT MALLETS come down and clap together from either side, squishing her right between them!

Then as quick as the strange magical apparition has appeared, it fades--leaving Juri again in the tent/set!

[JURI]
Juri is a bit disoriented as suddenly the environment seems to temporarily shift...

Well, that's how magic seems to be, sometimes. It's hard for her to strike back against the big mallets, though she does her best to roll out of the way...she's still whalloped. She ends up striking the ground and rolling back a ways, pulling her away from her opponent.

The banshees are thinning out a bit, but they still are around, and enough to be annoying. But Juri thinks Echo must be wearing down now. Maybe one more powerful hit, maybe two, would be enough to take her down for the count. It's time for Juri to pull out one more of her strong attacks...

She leans back into the fight, getting to her feet. With a dash, she closes on her opponent.

"Senpusha!" she shouts, as she rises into the air. Her body becomes a pinwheel of purple fury. The banshees around her are sent scattering, but this attack is squarely aimed at Echo. Light and and psycho energy are the flashiest part of this attack, but Juri also has the power of her own legs backing it up.

COMBATSYS: Juri knocks away Echo with Senpusha.
~ Cruel hit! ~

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Juri             1/-----==/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>----\1             Echo
                                  >  ////////////                  ]
                                  |===----\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

[ECHO]
"Looks like those pendulums cleaned her clock, lets clean up guys--maybe we can still wrap this up in time for the headcheese!" Echo grins through a bruised face (it's hard to discern bruises beneath fur, though the areas of her face do look noticibly puffy or swollen) when Juri comes out in her cartwheel of energy. Juri has apparently gathered that the spectral beings assisting Echo are not the cause of the danger here--but rather the bat herself. As she is bowled over, the bat necromancess howls in pain and fury, a bolt of energy released from her hand at last and hurtling through the air as the wailing Banshee swarm dissipates fully, leaving behind a green flash of light and a whiff of ozone as the only evidence of it's existence.

COMBATSYS: Echo can no longer fight.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Juri             1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

COMBATSYS: Juri dodges Echo's Spirit Wrack.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Juri             1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0    Banshee Swarm

[JURI]
Make no mistake: this battle from all sides put her through the wringer. She's scuffed, smashed, and bruised...

But that's kind of how she likes it. She wipes some dust off of her shoulder, and straightens her hair, one 'horn' of which seems just a little askew. But then, swiftly Juri takes a step to one side....

The energy flash of light whizzes by her... and the rest of the banshees disappear too.

She lets out a little sigh, though there's a bit of a hiss behind it, as if she's irritated. "Well, that was kind of fun," she confesses. "But I don't get your sense of humor at all."

She grins, showing teeth. "The funniest part was when you screamed!"

COMBATSYS: Banshee Swarm has left the fight here.

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

Log created on 19:55:01 05/22/2019 by Echo, and last modified on 00:01:33 05/23/2019.