Match of the Millennium

Description: Chun-Li wraps up the after-actions on the Border Crisis. With Shadaloo's defeat in the United States, however, there are still a few loose threads to tie up. Gathering clues on the border, Chun-Li encounters one of Shadaloo's finest enforcers, Juri. Chun-Li may not be directly in her way, but she'll serve as an interesting plaything to alleviate her boredom... maybe somebody can finally put up the fight Juri thinks she deserves.

[CHUN-LI]
It'd been months since Chun-Li last investigated the Shadaloo cartel. During the organization's resurgence last summer, it drove violence in Sunshine City by flexing the criminal appendages it'd spent years entrenching in Mexico, following the seeming death of Vega during Mortal Kombat; beneath the spectacle of blood and rampant crime, it also kidnapped fighters and children en masse to feed its neverending hunger for new soldiers and fresh psychics. Chun-Li had only just begun to scratch the surface of its aims when attempting to halt a shipment of children across the border led her to a meeting with one of those fighters, 2017 King of Fighters finalist Zach Glenn.

Meeting Zach left her in the tender embrace of a desert laboratory for--

--

-- some time. Shadaloo's psych ops tried its damndest to turn her into yet another soldier, going so far as to ship in local low-lifes by the dozens to beat the defiance out of her-- as far as to use /her/ success as an excuse to punish those criminals' families when they failed.

It'd been months since the last time she investigated Shadaloo; before she got the text that brought her to the US-Mexico border, it might've been hours since the last time she thought about them.

She's spent those months on sabbatical, training; recovering. Fighting in whatever small tournaments would have her; straining for new connections with others whose hate runs as deeply as hers does. It took near-destruction and Gen's judgment to convince her that she needed to be /more/ than what she was before the next time she sought Shadaloo, and - bitter as it was - she accepted her new reality.

And then she got that text.

Direct from an Interpol colleague, it was an address in the border region and an implication: Shadaloo kept some its spoils hidden there, before opting to centralize.

The address was easy enough to pin down: it's the only home for miles in any direction, long-abandoned and showing signs of intermittent use by travelers all too happy to take advantage of shelter that - at /some/ point - probably would've looked right at home in a master plan community in Sunshine City. Chun-Li's in the garage, having climbed in through a window; currently, she's shining a flashlight on a row of cots and the tangle of cables snaking beneath them. The cables run past the wall separating the garage from the house. There's a toy chest in a corner of the garage, but it's long empty; not much dust, though.

[JURI]
Chun-Li unfortunately had some outdated intel on the facility, but that doesn't mean it's not entirely in use.

For one thing, Juri Han happened to be crashing here as she was investigating other situations on the border. Following the trail of the King of Fighters tournament, and its prize money, had pointed to some activity tryign to stir shit with Shadaloo in Mexico. An otherwise abandoned facility was a fine base of operations when Juri didn't want to deal with other people.

She hadn't taken a direct interest in joining the tournament. As much as Juri likes violence, she is a little anti-social for the teamwork component. But she figured that looking into the tournament, and its prizes, was going to scare up some action along the way.

Juri avoids the cots that were used by the kids. Too hospital-like for her tastes. There's an old couch tossed in the interior of the house proper, pushed against the back wall, where she's lounging right now, wrapping her feet up as she prepares to head outside.

There's a little noise coming from the garage now, though, and that has her attention. So she slowly stands up and heads in that direction, not bothering to turn on any lights. She is catlike quiet in her approach.

[CHUN-LI]
Flashlight in one hand, camera in the other; Chun-Li intends to make breaking her Shadaloo fast count for /something/, big or small. She doesn't hear Juri's approach at all, between the other woman's stealth and her own intent focus.

'Focus on /what/?' would be a fair question, here. The cots, the purpose-- in light of what Chun-Li knew coming in, studying them doesn't tell her anything /new/. There's old blood and worse on several; the one with the most stains has a small, cheap doll wedged between mat and frame. Stained linens are the only ones remaining; the rest went on to serve the first travelers to find the place. There's no telling from here where the wires might go; there /are/ leads for biometric devices attached to a good number of them... but this, too, is pretty much in line with the place's purpose as a storehouse for juvenile resources. The trail is cold; long dead. What's /left/ to focus on...?

The detective shudders through exhaling after her tenth picture and pushes the camera back into the belt pouch it came from. She's dressed for the job in a sleeveless black top and matching pants, both of which cling to every inch of her martially-chiseled form like a bad memory. Combat boots, leather gloves, and a tactical belt round the outfit out; there's just one big bun sheathed in black fabric with dark gold threading today, sans ribbons. Every breath that follows as she keeps the light beam moving over cots and creeps towards the door is slow, deep; tightly controlled. Her eyes are narrowed; her jaw, tight.

(Vengeance; that's what.)

It's an abandoned home; abandoned does not mean 'safe', 'unsecured', or even 'unmonitored'. She's almost glacial in reaching for and turning the knob; abandoned /does/ mean that she can take her time, a little. Enough to be mindful of soft clicks, weird resistence, or other tell-tale signs of danger worth diving and rolling away from.

[JURI]
Juri reaches the other side of the door, and continues to hear motion.

She looks down at the knob as it turns. She watches it with a tilt of her head, as it moves slowly. The extra senses provided by her eye allow her to watch every motion clearly even in the very dim light coming in through just the windows.

The door opens... and there she is, looking calm and collected as if she was expecting some visitor.

Now she sees who it is... the Interpol officer all dressed for business. Juri isn't dressed for an operation exactly; she was comfortable in loose white pants, a black tank with a purple-colored sports bra worn under that. Her feet are bare and freshly rewrapped.

She puts her hands behind her head, and pops up onto the balls of her feet just to rock a little backward. "Hey. Don't you know how to knock? I was hoping to get my beauty sleep for the night until I heard you, banging around in here."

[CHUN-LI]
It's been months, but how could anyone forget Juri Han's file?

Chestnut eyes grow wide as Chun-Li starts a couple steps back from the door, sudden enough to bring it swinging shut.

It doesn't particularly matter what Juri's dressed for; business, pleasure, operating or leisure... the lines bleed together where the Korean marauder's concerned.

The detective sucks in a quick, sharp breath; the one that follows shudders just a bit, but subsequent ones slide back into the proper pace.

/It's been months/. Why is Juri /here/?

The edges of her hands point towards the door as she slides one of her feet back, bends just so at the knees, and waits with tightly clenched teeth for her chance to find out.

[JURI]
The door swings back shut again.

That surely will-

Juri, always willing to use her feet rather than bother with her hands, kicks the door back open. It nearly flies off its hinges, slamming hard with a sound that rattles through the otherwise eerily quiet garage. "Ugh. What are you even here looking for? The kids? That was already handled." Juri takes a forward step, into the garage. If this ends up running her directly into Chun-Li, it's not like she's going to avoid this. But it's just a second of aggressive posturing before she looks over at one of the wires on the ground.

She casually picks it up with the knife edge of her foot, lifting it a little higher. "See? It's not even plugged into anything. But to be honest, I'm glad. I hate dealing with little brats."

[CHUN-LI]
Chun-Li doesn't move either, which leaves her just about nose-to-nose with Juri once she's recovered from buckling slightly against the initial impact.

"And I'm sure there aren't /more/ kids," she replies in a low growl.

Her heart's lurching into her throat, threatening to jump free. Steel corded muscle bulges, putting her pants to the test; she's too close to look anywhere else, but keeping her eyes trained on Juri -- on the violet glow with a predatory glint - takes /work/. Glaring helps; she's /good/ at glaring.

"I'm sure there /won't/ be any more, ever. Right?"

There's a single flashbang on her belt for emergencies; for all the good it might do, Juri qualifies. One of Chun-Li's hands twitched towards it the moment Juri invaded her space, only to be forced back into position.

"Tell me what /you're/ doing here."

In. Out. In. Out; steady and slow, deep and bracing.

[JURI]
"Well, I'm NOT babysitting," Juri says. Her eyes drift away from Chun-Li for moment, half-lidded as if the other woman is a bit beneath her attention. She lowers her foot back to the ground, though a careful look will notice she puts no weight on it, as if she's coiled to spring forward again at a moment's notice. "But how should I know if there's going to be any more kids or not. He knows better than to send me after a bunch of brats. I'd end up pulping them out of frustration."

Juri folds her arms under her breasts for a moment, rocking her weight back on that one foot. "Tying up some loose ends Shadaloo left behind. I don't have any reason to tell you any more than that. But you're looking for something..." Juri now unfolds her arms, and lightly touches herself on the chest, opening up her posture. "Maybe it wasn't me, but you seem SO happy to see me. Your heart is racing!" She moves that same hand to touch Chun-Li on the waist, surprisingly lightly. "I didn't realize you were that into me."

She might be going for the belt, but she's doing it slowly if so.

[CHUN-LI]
Juri looks away from Chun-Li-- /disregards/ her--

-- leaves her stuck somewhere between momentary relief and annoyance-- it's been /months/ of - by /her/ standards - vacation, but she hasn't lost her edge... has she?

She's /worth/ Juri's attention... isn't she? Her nostrils flare--

-- oh. Now Juri's looking at her again...

Now it's /her/ eyes flying away, bouncing towards the ground as her lip twists in a scowl. Both are brief; whatever Juri wants, however she /sees/ the detective, she is not entitled to Chun-Li's consternation.

"Just," she begins, tracking Juri's hand to her chest, then scanning down further, towards a coiled weapon ready to be unsheathed at any time. Her own stance is similarly light and loose, poised on the tips of her feet and ready to explode into action at any time.

"enjoying a tour of the Cruelest Place on Earth," she continues in a low voice. "I don't"

Chun-Li's heart is /racing/. Juri's grab is slow-- /too/ slow. The file suggests a preference for kicks, but maybe she's hiding a few short-distance techniques in her arsenal...? Chestnut eyes widen; her tongue's still pressed to the roof of her mouth, holding the end of that last word hostage.

Juri gets a hand on the belt because Chun-Li's too consumed with /thinking/ about it to /do/ something about it. Contact changes things, however: the detective tries to slap the other woman's wrist away shortly after it's made. Aggressive or not, contact from Juri is /dangerous/; the file is /very/ clear on this point.

"Stop trying to scare me, Juri," she tightly murmurs, edging a step back. "You're wasting our time, I--"

There's a whole house that needs checking-- /moreso/ if there are (were?) loose ends worth deploying /her/ here.

But there's no reason to tell her that. It's true, even if just letting her mouth shut after a moment of silence and /watching/ Juri winds up feeling preferable to saying as much.

Watching; trying not to let the other woman see her scowl, sweat, or shiver.

[JURI]
Juri might have noticed the grenade. Or maybe she was just going for a light touch... it's hard to say now, as what she gets is a slap on the wrist instead. She is struck, and rolls her hand slightly away from the hit rather than snapping it back. She holds it out like an open claw. Her nails are long and neatly painted in neon purple.

"Wasting OUR time?" Juri makes a fake pout for a moment. "Aw. I thought you thought I was more interesting than that. It's not a waste of MY time, at least, not yet."

Now that one leg, the one she had not been putting any weight on, snakes upward. Then it strikes like a cobra, and she hooks it around the back of Chun-Li's knee. There she holds it, pulling herself in a bit closer, but with a posture that is ready for a trip or flip... close enough to feel the warmth of breath, and tell the difference between one eye that gleams slightly brighter than the other. "But it could be, if you're going to be shy. If you wanna get past me, you're gonna have to hit me a lot harder than THAT."

[CHUN-LI]
"I'm a thoughtful woman," Chun-Li says to the pouting predator. "One of Shadaloo's people playing scary isn't all th--"

A heartbeat's all the time Juri needs to close the distance. The detective's spine stiffens and she clenches her fists, ready-- /just/ ready, not-- panicking.

Not for a moment; not when warm breaths remind her that her own have frozen, nor when the steel grip coiled around her leg and inhuman gleam inches from her eye remind her of how close she is to death--

Not. One. Bit.

Swallowing the lump in her throat takes a couple of tries.

"If you wanna hold my interest, Juri..." she murmurs once it's down. Neither she nor Juri are the first people to come here since the kids were removed; nonetheless, there could still be /something/ worth digging for. After all: /Juri's/ here...

Chun-Li's heart speeds like a greyhound after a hare.

"... the /least/ you could do is show a girl something /new/," comes out after a brief halt, deliberate enough to be conversational. "You, intimidating me? For /them/...?"

Her trapped leg flexes and jerks back while the other snaps towards /Juri's/ balance leg. At roughly the same time, she thrusts her hands towards the other woman's shoulders, hoping to shove her-- /grab/ her, if she's lucky-- hard enough to shake her balance and, perhaps, steal control, if only for a moment.

If only long enough to flip /both/ of their bodies through the air and into a crash landing that leaves her mounted atop the woman with the baleful eye.

COMBATSYS: Chun-Li has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Chun-Li          0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Juri has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Chun-Li          0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0             Juri

COMBATSYS: Juri instinctively blocks Chun-Li's Power Throw.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Chun-Li          0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0             Juri

[JURI]
"Ha!" That sound, lound as the crack of a whip, is how Juri responds to Chun-Li's initial kick. It's a clever move on Chun-Li's part, Juri would have to admit, but with that strong breath outward, Juri rolls with the attack. Her training has taught her that in a grapple, it's better to roll with the momentum rather than against it, and she responds this time purely on instinct. This softens the blow of the attack somewhat. Juri still ends up on the bottom, but she isn't going to be there for very long.

Still, there's something a little interesting about having the other woman straddle her; there's a gleam in her eye. "Aw, not for THEM, princess. Just because I thought hurting you would be fun."

"But I didn't expect you to be SO interested in getting this close to me." Her face falls. "I guess that figures."

That's the only telegraph that Chun-Li has that Juri is about to attack again, and at first, the motion is subtle. She brings one leg back and tucks it under the pin, then kicks it outward, attacking with her shin. The plan is to upset Chun-Li's balance by kicking out one leg, and neatly slip out of the pin and back to her feet from there.

COMBATSYS: Chun-Li instinctively blocks Juri's Medium Kick.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Chun-Li          0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0             Juri

[CHUN-LI]
"Is it not as much fun if I'm fighting back...?" Chun-Li wonders when the predator's face falls. "I guess /that/"

"AaAH!"

Chun-Li's fortunate to feel some of the shift before Juri makes her play, because the strike's so quick that feeling it /barely/ makes a difference. Her left leg lifts, bends, then sharply twists towards the incoming blow, meeting Juri's shin with her own. This impact is better than the one it replaced, but it's still enough -- /more/ than -- to dislodge the detective: she tilts hard towards her other, unstruck side as soon as that knee hits the ground again, leaving all the freedom Juri could want to slip free. The woman in black rolls towards her good side and vaults to her feet a beat behind Juri; she's still favoring her left, but the featherlight poise of her stance gives her a /little/ cover, for now.

"I just wanna know what you're doing here, Juri... but you won't just /tell/ me, right? So."

She's still favoring her left when she--

-- 'approaches' is a small word for it. Chun-Li's standing over their grappling spot when that last syllable leaves her lips... and then she's close enough to thrust a palm swirling with blue and gold chi towards Juri's stomach, balanced entirely on her right leg.

Thanks to that /eye/ - not to mention the lethal skillset lurking behind it - trying to keep Juri off-balance with aggression can only go so far, as overclocked senses present a /much/ higher barrier for overwhelming via speed... but if she /must/ fight Juri, then the /last/ thing she wants to do is pursue a prolonged battle with her.

COMBATSYS: Juri blocks Chun-Li's Medium Punch.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Chun-Li          0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0             Juri

[JURI]
Juri raises a fast hand - she twists it around and deflects the strike, chi-charged though it is. She makes brief eye contact. There's something in her expression that seems pleased with this outcome. With the attempt at a strike. "I'll tell you. I was lookin' into something. See, who cares? What's it to you, anyway?"

Her lips twitch. "But if you think I don't like it when you fight back-"

Juri lifts her leg suddenly. Before, she wrapped it around Chun-Li's leg as if to trip her, but this time, she reaches all the way around her back with it. The speed of this manuever shows impressive flexibility on her part. Juri does not linger long. She slams the leg down, to pull the other woman with it - if this so far hits, she follows it by stepping on the back of Chun-Li's neck, pure cruelty.

"You're WRONG! So come at me."

COMBATSYS: Juri successfully hits Chun-Li with Karen Geri.
- Power hit! -

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Chun-Li          0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0             Juri

[CHUN-LI]
"Looking into /what/?" Chun-Li presses when their eyes meet.

This time, Chun-Li /sees/ the other woman's impressively snaking leg, and it isn't enough. No sooner than she sets her feet to dodge, the beginnings of her motion are shunted downwards, driving her face-first into concrete with a muffled cry. Her whole body spasms through the vicious stomp that follows, but she plants her hands on the ground after barely a second of it to start pushing back against the other woman. Blood streams from her nostrils as soon as she leaves the ground, twirling through the air on its way towards forming a little puddle beneath her.

"Did they /leave/-- something-- /here/--?!" gets pushed through clenched teeth, and the last syllable comes with a handstand into a high-arcing somersault. It's meant to take her /just/ past Juri's head, relying on the abruptness of it to make up for the lack of an unexpected angle.

"I don't want /any/ more children being exploited by your bosses, Juri--"

The officer snaps into a thrust kick towards the back of Juri's skull like her leg's spring-loaded.

"-- /that's/ what it is to me...!"

She's hoping to use the Shadaloo destroyer as a launching point to buy herself a little distance afterwards, but that'll require making contact-- and avoiding letting Juri do the same.

COMBATSYS: Chun-Li successfully hits Juri with Kaku Kyaku Raku.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Chun-Li          0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0             Juri

[JURI]
Chun-Li's attack is fast, but more than that, it comes from an unexpected direction. Juri tries to move aside, out of the way, but she doesn't correctly anticipate the exact vector of the strike.

The kick hits her hard enough that she goes flying forward. In the close quarters of the garage, she smashes into one of the cots, hitting its side and dinging off. It puts her at a bad position to retaliate for a moment, and she rises up slowly. She bites at her lip, which seems as if it's swelling.

Moreover, she's less happy and energized now, more pissed off. "I don't care about some BRATS. I HATE dealing with stupid kids... and I'm glad they're gone!" Juri raises a leg up toward her chest. It looks for a moment like a defensive posture. But something is warming up. There's a shift of energy, a glowing aura around her leg...

"That satisfy your curiosity?"

She kicks that leg out abruptly, and there's a flash of purple light. The energy collects in her foot, and then, like a burst of wind, slams outward across the room, flying free as a psychic projectile. The flash lights up the darkness as the psycho power streaks ahead, splashing purple against the dark walls.

COMBATSYS: Juri successfully hits Chun-Li with Fuhajin.
~ Cruel hit! ~

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Chun-Li          1/----===/=======|=======\-------\0             Juri

[CHUN-LI]
Chun-Li ducks and the projectile catches her /anyway/, snatching her in its tailwind as it rockets overhead. The unnatural movement only lasts for a foot before she finds herself clashing painfully with the purple slash, then lurching forward and landing on her hands and knees, shuddering.

"Nnnh--" wavers past her lips, between pants, while she glares up at Juri-- and then, gradually, down at the concrete, as lifting her head gets progressively more painful. There's space between them. Juri's /fast/, but there's room, and she can still move; she could just--

There's a grimace as she lifts her head again, this time checking on the window she came through--

Just pick herself up, and--

"-- no," she exhales. Her head falls afterwards and her breathing quickens. There's room, and she can still move; if she can steal, just, a couple seconds to collect herself...

"You're still here," she hisses, hoping to keep the other woman occupied - if only for a couple seconds - with anything other than fighting, "even though you don't care... /why/ are you still here, Juri? What-- what /do/ you care about... that you're still /here/?"

COMBATSYS: Chun-Li gains composure.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Chun-Li          1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0             Juri

[JURI]
"I WAS..." Juri stretches her arms all the way above her head, hooking her fingers together. It's slow, almost cat-like. "About to get a nice rest, before YOU showed up. Do you really think I wanted to sleep out in the desert?"

She licks her lips again. Yeah, the bottom one is defnitely puffy. Chun-Li is notoriously strong, and she hits hard. Juri's head is still ringing, but she kind of likes the pain, in some ways.

"But if you aren't here to keep me company tonight," she says, her voice dropping a little...

And then she dashes forward.

This garage is too small - the ceiling is just too low for her to really get proper air, to use her strongest arts - or is it?!

"Then GET LOST!"

Juri leaps up. There's a wave of purple energy again behind her kick, as she somersaults backwards... and up, and up. The kick crashes toward the ceiling --

And through it. It breaks a rafter, and then the roof, and even that back window that Chun-Li was eyeing as the purple flames grow brighter. Juri is of course aiming to launch her opponent through this brand new exit, not caring one whit for this part of the structure if she can cause this level of violence to it. But even if she doesn't strike directly, the debris is a hazard.

COMBATSYS: Juri knocks away Chun-Li with Senpusha.
- Power hit! -

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Chun-Li          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=------\1             Juri

[CHUN-LI]
"I don't know WHAT you wanted here," Chun-Li hisses, "because you won't-- /can't/ just /tell/ me, like--"

Juri gets quieter and the detective still lets her finish. Predatory menace lurks in the Taekwondoyenne's movements, her gaze, and of course her voice. Loud, quiet, rough, soft-- the tone doesn't change what lies beneath. Psycho Power boiling through her nerves and blood trickling from her nose ensure that Chun-Li is fully aware of what Juri's capable of; at this point, deferring is a matter of atavistic reflex.

Chun-Li's hands tighten until they shake, a beat later. She clenches her teeth--

-- tenses and begins to flinch when quiet becomes LOUD while Juri closes in--

-- then clenches even more.

"/You/," she spits, tracking Juri's incoming-- rising movement with a scowl, "are abso/lute/ly gonna be keeping me company, but I don't think you're gonna--"

She flips backwards as purple flames grow. Her boots hit the ground, "-- like--" falls from confidently curling lips,

and the flames

keep

growing.

Chun-Li's in the middle of another flip when psychic fire rushes to meet her-- and give her a helpful boost out of the garage. It's less helpful after that, of course: she just slams into the sand several yards away, bounces into the air, then rolls for several more feet after her second crash landing.

But she could leave, now; there's that. She can still...

...

... she can walk. She can still feel her legs; it's awful, but not awful /enough/. It'll probably be more of a limp... but she can do it. This is worse than an off-the-books operation: she's in total vigilante mode right now. Even if Juri decided to leave something worth finding, who could she call to follow up? And she'd /have/ to wait: she wouldn't /dare/ subject another Interpol officer to Juri Han. Whatever brought /both/ of them here won't last through the night, for all intents... but there are other nights. Other nights, with other things to fight for...

Chun-Li's limbs shake as she pushes herself to her knees and beyond, groaning and grimacing through every inch until she's on her feet again. The final push comes with a sharp yell and briefly leaves doubled over, clutching her chest. She sets one foot in front of the other-- tilts drunkenly--

"G-God-- /fuck/--!" screams through the desert. "Auggh, God-- J-Juri...!" It hurts to raise her voice - it takes so much /air/ - but she's already staggering, trailing a bloody zig-zag towards the garage-- already breathing /anyway/... what's a little /more/ pain? "Can you hear me?! You kicked a fucking-- can you /hear/ me?! Through the roof?!" The detective squeezes her eyes shut as waves of pain and nausea roll over her; she staggers onwards.

"Y-you-- you really-- /really/-- need to work on your game, if you wanna get a girl to sleep over /here/!"

Her pace spikes up into a light jog after that-- a light, weaving jog. Blue and gold chi sparks erratically around her legs, intensifying every few steps until there's a breeze whipping sand around her ankles and lightning crackling at her heels. When she draws within a few feet of the garage door, she lurches forward, letting it hold her up for a second after she crashes against it.

"No talking," she loudly gasps, "no... no opening up-- no trying to get to know me, just... threats. Broken ribs..." She holds her breath for a tick after trailing off, then goes on a tangent:

"SPINNING BIRD KICK!"

The door's sheared from its tracks and sent flying into the garage. Chun-Li's close behind it, slicing towards Juri like a top made of thickly muscled legs and desperation. What was a light breeze and crackle outside has blossomed into shredding winds and searing, golden arcs storming around the detective's body, threatening to suck the Shadaloo enforcer into the heart of her tempest as she rises towards the hole Juri made. Whether it works or not, it'll only last for a few seconds: eventually, she runs out of momentum and tumbles out of the air, panting hungrily for air... and in an instant, she finds a second wind.

Buoyed by an impossible rush of speed, she goes from tightly balled to violently uncoiling, seeking to crush the other woman's skull beneath her heel as she hurtles split-legged towards the ground. The chi storming around her legs rushes to coalesce around her right foot as she unfurls, ready to burst into a small, radiant column on impact.

COMBATSYS: Chun-Li blitzes into action and acts again!

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Chun-Li          1/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=------\1             Juri

COMBATSYS: Juri blocks Chun-Li's Spinning Bird Kick EX.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Chun-Li          1/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\==-----\1             Juri

COMBATSYS: Chun-Li successfully hits Juri with Hazanshu EX.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Chun-Li          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=====--\1             Juri

[JURI]
Now that's the fire that Juri was hoping to see. Or at least... hear, as the shout comes from outside. Purple light is still flaring all around Juri's feet. If Chun-Li had used the launch as an excuse to retreat, to run away and leave her in peace, Juri would have been, in her heart, disappointed. So when the door BURSTS off its hinges...

A light flares up in Juri's bright eye.

Juri raises her foot to greet her attacker. She kicks out - one-two, fast, and with the swift motion she slices the door itself into pieces with the Psycho Power charged knife edge of her kicks.

Juri is in control of all of the incoming motion... at first. The whirlwind rises, and she rises with it, but she is trading against Chun-Li's powerful legs blow for blow as they're both lifted into the air.

But then, the follow up. One strike, the kick over head that changes the direction of the combat flow. It gets past Juri's tight defense, and slams into the front of her skull. She goes smashing back down...

Hitting hard, with a crash that breaks one of the cots, sending its pieces flying.

For a moment, still.

Juri is there in a heap. She rolls onto one side, and runs her hand down her ribs. Her whole body now throbbing with pain.... she starts to laugh. It's hoarse, and somewhat tired at first, then creeps higher, up on edge. "Ha ha ha! Did you think I was serious? Come on. This, right here? This..."

Juri laughs again, and this time, it comes with a cough. She moves to her feet. "This is my EXACT idea of a great date!"

She leaps up. There's another gleam in her eye as she drives her foot downward. There's a crack of purple energy leading it, a diving kick to hopefully knock her opponent while she is still recovering from her own blitz of attacks.

COMBATSYS: Chun-Li parries Juri's Shikusen!

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Chun-Li          2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=====--\1             Juri

[CHUN-LI]
Chun-Li rolls over onto her side right after hitting the ground, still save for panting.

The first laugh that hits her ear provokes a full-body jolt, as if it's got mass. Not that it's /that/ surprising Juri's still functioning, but it would've been /nice/ if...

But nothing about this place is 'nice', despite the best intentions of its architect and decorator.

"You're a sadist-- you're Shadaloo's /attack/ dog," she wheezes out. "I KNOW you to wanna hurt people... I know you wanna hurt ME... but you just gave me a chance to /LEAVE/--"

An airborne Juri would have all the room she could want to crush what little fight remains in the detective's body. Chun-Li's eyes are, thus, glued to the other woman as she replies... but for all her attention, she still doesn't make it back up until Juri's dive brings her within precious feet. There's not enough time to dodge-- there /isn't/, not at the speed Juri's moving at--! And God /forbid/ she try to /block/ a kick from Juri at this point. Her shoulders are /shot/ after crashing into the desert--

"HrrrRRAAGH!"

Another burst of instinct fires through her hips, along her right leg, directing it up, back-- /into/ Juri's strike. The sole of her boot meets the other woman's foot and a few bolts of electric chi arc from the point of impact.

"You... haah... you... were gonna let me /go/... and I don't /get/ that. I don't know WHAT you want-- what, other than /blood/... and now that I KNOW I don't know... I can't LEAVE until I DO!"

A sharp push and a small hop backwards finally disengages them. She trembles slightly after her one-legged landing, only to launch herself right back towards Juri, now lashing out at her with a flurry of kicks aimed all across her head and chest. Mercifully, it only lasts for a couple seconds; less so, Chun-Li can fit dozens of kicks into a couple of seconds.

And less merciful still, the moment her foot touches the ground, she pivots on it and thrusts her other leg forward to throw another storm of kicks. Blue and gold begin to swirl around her foot, this time around, creeping progressively higher up her leg until there's radiant energy swirling around her hips and waist.

A couple seconds later, it's back to the first leg, only this time, there's only one kick.

One explosive kick outlined, trailed by a dense, crushing tide of chi like a glowing brush stroke, one kick backed with the roar of thunder, but still: just the one.

COMBATSYS: Chun-Li successfully hits Juri with Houyoku Sen EX.

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Chun-Li          0/-------/---<<<<|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2             Juri

[JURI]
Juri was pretty battered as it was - her last kick attempt wasn't enough to get Chun-Li knocked down. Which, as she did articulate in her weird way... was fun, seemed to make her happy.

She hits the ground after her kick, which was too slow to strike Chun-Li now.

And she's still too slow to avoid what's coming for her. The flying storm of kicks, striking her again and again... one last, that strikes her hard in the stomach, and sends her reeling back.

Juri collapses backward, and braces herself against... broken rubble now. Her hand slips as she falls a bit. That perfect balance before was so delicate and now is weakened by the series of blows. "Okay..."

A long pause. "I'll tell you. Since you were SO nice to me. But not today. Today, I think I'm going to go ahead and take that nap."

COMBATSYS: Juri has her eye on you! Play time is over!

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Chun-Li          0/-------/---<<<<|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2             Juri

[CHUN-LI]
"Thaaat's me," a woozy Chun-li drawls as planting her foot on the ground turns into dropping to her knees, doubling over, and straining for air. Everything's swimming after that... and Juri's still conscious.

Resting, granted, but--

"World's Nicest Woman-- agghh..."

She didn't bring cuffs or ties because this was supposed to be an abandoned house. At /worst/, she expected someone a little more readily receptive to being kicked in the head than Juri.

Maybe if she-- just-- searches the house-- she could find...

"... fuck..." the grimacing woman whispers as both arms wrap around her ribs. She slowly tilts until upper body's awkwardly leaning against the undercarriage of a capsized cot.

"Is-- hh, is calling a /truce/ gonna work, here...?" she tentatively groans, turning a wary eye towards Juri.

COMBATSYS: Chun-Li takes no action.

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Chun-Li          0/-------/---====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2             Juri

[JURI]
Juri leans, too. "You know what? You wanna search the house? ... Go... Go for it. You earned it." She manages all those words. Then she collapses again, bracing herself on the bit of the bed...

She doesn't want to lay on a dumb cot a kid laid on, but she will have no choice in a second.

She didn't say truce. But so be it. For now. She finally finds at least the energy to sit her dizzy self down, and she may not keep moving for a while yet.

COMBATSYS: Juri has left the fight here.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  <
Chun-Li          0/-------/---====|

Log created on 19:47:50 06/10/2019 by Juri, and last modified on 19:57:04 06/23/2019.