Match of the Millennium

Description: Facing off in the Ring of Destruction, amature fighter Hotaru Futaba faces newcomer Honoka Inoue. Power SLAMS, high altitude SLAMS, and even some explosive crimson energy all make an appearance in the first round of SLAMFEST 2020!

[HOTARU]
While SLAMFEST was not her debut match at the start of Hotaru Futaba's public fighting career, it certainly was the largest event she participated in early on. Of course, back then, her match involved mostly being chased around the ring by a bear. A karate bear. It was not the most distinguished moment of her fighting career, but given the kinds of events organizers keep allocating to her, it also somehow wasn't the worst.

Now she's back at SLAMFEST, a bit more experienced, her style having evolved from what it had been back then. The stage fright is gone, the pressure of so many people watching, of the challenge of her opponents... it still brings a thrill to her heart, but without all the trepidation that threatened to overcome her in the past.

The Ring of Destruction is to feature the match in the nearly 'around the clock' SLAMFEST 2020 event. Audiences globe-wide are treated to match after match on their viewing platforms of choice, and tends of thousands more are packed into the island arena itself. When it's her turn to enter, loud rock booms from the speakers but she barely hears it, wide eyes surveying the tightly packed audience, head twisting left and right as she takes in the awe inspiring sight.

Expression giddy with excitement, she raises her hands over her head, waving them as she breaks out into a run toward the center of the arena. From a little ways out, she leaps up, making it over the ropes with room to spare, and lands on her side of the ring.

She turns, hands still waving over her head, beaming smiles to the crowd and cameras, not out of any intention to promote herself, but simply out of a youthful exhilaration for the opportunity to even be here in the first place. She shouts out thank yous toward the crowd, but there's really zero chance of hearing anything she says over the continuous din of music and cheers.

No matter what happens, she'll be glad to have made it this far. Will her brother be watching? Will he hear about how far she's come? What of her father? Lowering her arms, Hotaru turns toward the other side of the ring, making a conscious effort to calm herself, to not let herself be overcome by the excitement of the spectacle. In the end, this is about her art and her chance to show it to the world.

COMBATSYS: [Halestorm - Rock Show] It looks like they held nothing back for the new fighter. Powerful rock music fills the arena as Hotaru steps up. "Little girl, you like it loud, / Come alive in the middle of a crowd, / You wanna scream, you wanna shout / Get excited when the lights go down.. / At the rock show, / You'll be right in the front row / Heart and soul, they both know / It's where you gotta be..." HOTARU FUTABA is ready to SLAM!

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hotaru           0/-------/-------|

[HONOKA INOUE]
SLAMFEST wasn't Hotaru's first match.

It's not Honoka's either. Technically. Because she had exactly one match, about seven months ago, where she mostly embarrassed herself on stage, and decided to put off further matches until she was settled into university.

Which, as it turns out, is now. Which is why Honoka Inoue, hopeful fighter and rising star, spent the last five minutes before the match having a minor panic attack in the change room. Everyone is watching, which means *everyone* is watching. She can't embarrass herself again! It would be...

...well, embarrassing!

"Deep breaths," she tells herself, adjusting the little cartoony skull in her hair one last time. "You can do this!" She even sort of believes it. It'll be fun. She'll finally - finally! - get to fight.

So when Honoka comes out, wearing an outfit more expected for workouts than a match - yoga pants with bright stars and web-like patterns, a belly-baring crop top, one elbow brace - she still looks nervous, like any first-timer would... but eager too. There are more people than she thought, and she slows down for a moment to look and wave at them, wide-eyed, before she remembers she has to get in the ring. She pulls herself up into it, tugging her single wristband back into place as she does as she looks at her opponent. The music changes, but she doesn't pay any attention to it at all.

Well, she thinks to herself, at least her grandmother will never look for her *here*.

COMBATSYS: Honoka Inoue enters the arena, to the roar of the crowd!

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Hotaru           0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0     Honoka Inoue

[HOTARU]
The wait is short for Hotaru as she stands in the ring alone for a few moments. The lighting is intense, the sounds thundering, but with each passing second left to herself, she's able to find that inner calm she's developed from her experiences so far. Not that deep down there isn't that layer of hidden nervousness, but it is faint compared to the excitement coursing through her.

Her fighting outfit is simple but elegant, with clean white Kung Fu pants, black slippers, and a blue Chinese styled blouse with white puffy short sleeves. Gold borders the blouse, with golden laces running horizontally across the front of it near her neck. The girl's black hair is done up in two beribboned pony-tails, each decorated by a large red bow.

She leans her head to the side for a moment when Honoka pauses outside the ring, unable to see her opponent's nervous scan of the crowd. But when the other girl finally makes it up past the ropes into the ring, the Futaba girl breaks into a grin, lifting her hand to wave across the way.

Two things immediately stand out - Firstly, she isn't fighting a bear this time, so that's a great improvement. Secondly, while she doesn't recognize her opponent, she does recognize the nervousness of one experiencing some degree of stage fight. She can tell, she remembers the feeling well enough... But she can also remember her first match, the young man with the yo-yo. Having a friendly face to face off against in her first bout had helped tremendously... Can she be that person for this girl?

"Hello!" she has to raise her voice to a shout just to have any chance of being heard. "We're going to have a great match, I can just tell!" She lifts her hands, palms open, standing up straight. A deep breath in, a slow exhale, her smile never far from her lips. "Just do your best, that's all that matters!"

There is an announcement about the fight starting, but Hotaru doesn't move. She gives Honoka a quick nod, letting her know that she can start when she's good and ready to!

[HONOKA INOUE]
There are no bears this time. Just one girl... who even Hotaru is taller than, which may make her feel even better about her chances. Honoka doesn't pass five feet.

And though Honoka *is* nervous, she knows once she gets to fighting it will fade away, which helps. So does Hotaru's moment of kindness. It is a great relief to Honoka - she's here to test herself, since she doesn't actually expect to win more than maybe her first round. She's heard of prodigies who manage to ace their very first major tournament - but she's not sure she's one of them.

Honoka says something quiet-ish that is lost in the crowd noise, some sort of thanks or a greeting of her own. She seems to realize that it's hard to hear her and bows instead, straightening up afterwards with enough vigor to make sure her hair gets tossed backwards and out of her way. She gives a big smile.

A bell rings. Well, 'rings'. It sounds like someone really hammered it. It's enough for Honoka to know that this means go time, and Hotaru has given her the opportunity. Honoka seizes it - selfish perhaps, she's not really waiting for her opponent to gather themselves, but it *does* feel like Hotaru wanted her to go ahead...

Honoka's opening attack is a forward rushing knee. But rather than put her whole momentum behind it in a leap, she plants her foot afterwards and pivots, turning her speed into a wide-sweeping kick to knock Hotaru off her feet and bring her to the ground!

And for all that Honoka looked like a clumsy newbie getting into the ring, her actual kicks are a lot crisper - perhaps not perfect, but more skilled than she looked before, at least. Maybe she's going to get into the wrestling afterwards.

COMBATSYS: Honoka Inoue successfully hits Hotaru with Tropical Storm.
+=+=!= Power Slam! =!=+=+

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Hotaru           0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0     Honoka Inoue

[HOTARU]
Dark blue eyes take in Honoka's response, unable to hear the slightest of it but seeming to get the spirit of it all the same. She bounces lightly on her feet as she waits, staying true to her intent to let the other girl kick things off when she's ready.

And kicking off, she does, rushing in on the waiting Kung Fu artist with a bold, direct attack. Hotaru moves her feet apart slightly, bracing for the incoming attack, intending to guard against it and transition into something quick and light to get the match started easily enough. But her attempt to catch the rising knee with cupped hands fails, Honoka plowing through to catch Hotaru in the chin. Instantly seeing stars as her head rocks back, Hotaru staggers, making her an easy target for the sweep that follows, the strike flipping her legs out from under her and leaving the girl to fall on her upper shoulder sideways with a surprised gasp.

Shaking her head, she pushes off with her hands to roll away from the pink-haired brawler, eager to buy herself a little bit of room to scramble up to her feet. Her left palm rubs at her chin for a moment, a tiny sliver of crimson visible from a knee-inflicted abrasion, but she blinks her eyes and fights back the pain, pivoting so that her left shoulder is toward Honoka then.

Sucking in a breath, she attempts to return the favor by charging right back for Honoka, whipping to the left as she tries to get in tight, her right arm raised, attempting to slam it into Honoka's neck and hook her to the ground with a a move that has nothing to do with the Futaba girl's normal fighting style and everything to do with the studying she put into SLAMFEST before the event. Lariats are an important part of SLAM!

COMBATSYS: Honoka Inoue blocks Hotaru's Medium Lariat.

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Hotaru           0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0     Honoka Inoue

[HONOKA INOUE]
Honoka wasn't sure what to do as an immediate follow-up to her sweep and actually hesitated for an instant longer than she probably should have. Her instincts are saying that stomping might work, but it feels so mean. It gives Hotaru an instant to react, and react she does, buying herself room to open with her own assault.

Truly, lariats are one of the most important part of SLAMFEST... but Honoka wasn't aware she was going to deal with them in the first ten seconds! Fortunately, it's not that much of a surprise. They are, after all, true SLAM.

Honoka catches the lariat with both arms and a startled squeak before Hotaru manages to hook around her neck. She feels the impact all the way up her arms, and it rocks her back, causing her to bounce on her feet for a moment and slide back before she catches herself.

It does mean Honoka stays on her feet, though she can't easily break away from Hotaru with the position they're both in. Instead she tries to transition it into a lock of her own, reaching for Hotaru's outstretched elbow with one hand and trying to hook her own arm around the back of Hotaru's neck with the other. Honoka isn't so much shorter than Hotaru that a collar-and-elbow tie-up looks ridiculous, even if she has to apply all her weight to try to get leverage because she's not very heavy. Then again, neither is Hotaru. Her face turns redder as she maintains the hold, more from exertion than lack of air.

COMBATSYS: Honoka Inoue successfully hits Hotaru with Tie-up Lock.

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Hotaru           0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0     Honoka Inoue

[HOTARU]
As Honoka proves resistant to attempts to simply SLAM her over on her back, Hotaru's forward momentum comes to a more abrupt halt than she had been counting on. An immediate effort is made to correct for that - to disengage and try a different approach. But her pink-haired opponent is quick to capitalize on the proximity, securing a grip on the Kenpo artist's arm before she can dig get enough footing to withdraw.

Eyes widen as she finds herself yanked back in against her momentum, Honoka's other arm securing the hold further by finding the back if the Futaba girl's neck quickly. Releasing a squeak-like grunt as she's forcefully pulled in tight, the twin-tailed girl tries to shove her way free with arm strength at first, pressing out with both hands toward her opponent's shoulders, but the effort is to no avail.

"You're pretty good!" she blurts out through clenched teeth before forging all attempts to break away. Instead, she suddenly reverses her own momentum, pushing back in toward Honoka, seeking a hold on the outside of the other girl's arms in order to use them as leverage to pull herself up into a series of rapid, light, stomping kicks, almost as if she's ascending the other girl like a set of stairs - knee, thigh, stomach, shoulder, before she'd aim to plant a foot atop Honoka's head and use it as a launching point to vault into a forward flip over her with hopes of landing in the center of the ring and having all the room she could want to manuever from there!

COMBATSYS: Honoka Inoue counters Shinjou Tai from Hotaru with Heishin-Geki.

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Hotaru           1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0     Honoka Inoue

[HONOKA INOUE]
"...Thanks!" Honoka has never really been praised by an opponent before. She's not sure what to do with it. "You too! I'm really - working hard!"

She is. Honoka is feeling the burn - not just of exercise, but the pleasant warmth she always feels in battle. Like there's something aflame inside of her, giving her the power to keep going, to see more of the battle.

And as always, she taps into it. When Hotaru goes for the hold, she almost manages it - but Honoka manages to crouch and shift her upper body too far low, and Hotaru's second step, onto what should be Honoka's stomach, hits her shoulder instead. The next presses against Honoka's upper back.

Honoka straightens, breaking the hold and literally flipping Hotaru over her back. She got the distance she wanted - but she's likely to bounce off the mat when she gets it, as Honoka has managed to toss her quite a ways using mostly her upper torso and arm strength.

Honoka looks momentarily taken aback. Not enough to drop her fighting stance, fist raised, but... well, surprised, anyway.

[HOTARU]
Eyes widen as she's caught by surprised once again this match. Of all the defenses she anticipated Honoka might utilize, this certainly hadn't been anywhere on the menu of possibilities. Then again, she has yet to actually grok the girl's style of fighting. Maybe if she could recognize the fundamental core of her art, she could better predict what might be coming next.

Of course, SLAMFEST itself might be partially to blame with her being unsure, with its intoxicating allure of all things SLAM related regardless of how one normally approaches the fine arts of combat. Hotaru isn't sure she'll be adopting reckless charging lariats into her own style anytime soon after having given the improvised attack a shot!

And now she finds herself flying through the air. Whipping her slender frame around, she isn't entirely helpless against an attack like that, and while she doesn't manage to land on her feet, she does succeed in cushioning the landing against with her hands a split second before her side crashes down. The bounce that follows almost gives her enough clearance to fully land on her feet, but she gets close enough, scrambling to catch herself on her knees and rise back up quickly.

Whirling around, she brings her hands up to a defensive position, blinking as she finally locates Honoka in her finally clearing vision. The girl's surprised expression gives way to a grin seasoned with a touch of chagrin, "What style do you practice, anyway?" she has to ask.

Then again, is she even really using her own art that much? Time to try another one of those 'This totally looks like it worked on TV' moves!

Sucking in her breath after a moment, she rushes forward into a charge to close distance before leaping, twisting herself sideways in the process, arms out as she attempts to literally body splash Honoka to the ground! Given her featherweight stature, there isn't a long list of fighters in the world this would remotely work on, but unfortunately for Honoka, she just might be on that list. "HAH!"

COMBATSYS: Honoka Inoue blocks Hotaru's Audacious Slam.

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Hotaru           1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1     Honoka Inoue

[HONOKA INOUE]
"My style? Um - well, I guess I don't really have one," Honoka says, surprised by the question. "It's just me-style. Honoka style!" Nobody has ever asked her that before. Fortunately, the answer doesn't sound *too* bad... if you don't think about it too hard.

Honoka approves of trying things that work on TV. It always seems to work out for her. And, indeed, Hotaru has picked a good target on size alone; Honoka, standing a whopping four foot eleven, is smaller than just about everybody and that includes Hotaru.

But, this time, it doesn't work out.

Honoka has a surprising amount of upper body strength - well, maybe not that surprising. Not enough that she's comfortable picking up Hotaru and holding her over her head from a dead lift, but enough that she can sort of stagger around with Hotaru once she catches her from the body splash. She can't keep holding her up; her back muscles are complaining even more than they were moments ago.

So Honoka does what comes naturally: a mighty powerbomb, along with a mighty roar (that is rather less imposing because of her high-pitched voice)! That way she doesn't have to keep holding her up.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru blocks Honoka Inoue's Brutal Powerbomb.

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Hotaru           1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1     Honoka Inoue

[HOTARU]
"Honoka... style?" Hotaru blinks, echoing the declaration with a few degrees less confidence than Honoka had in sharing it. After a moment though, she grins, nodding, before darting into her daring albeit less than terrifying body splash.

A split second later, Hotaru can't escape the feeling that she basically just leaped into another pending SLAM from Honoka when the other girl manages to catch her fairly handedly. Hefted up overhead, the Kung Fu artist flails her arms for a moment, trying to twist and squirm her way free, probably not lending anything to the challenge of keeping a hold on her.

When the high-pitched but still crowd pleasing roar erupts from the pink-haired brawler, Hotaru finally manages to wrench herself into an angle more favorable to not getting utterly SLAMMED against the mat. Rather than landing on her back, she bounces off her left side, bracing the impact with her arms and hands, feet kicking to get beneath her before she comes back down from the Powerbomb!

Rather than rushing to get up to standing, Hotaru drops into an even lower crouch, right leg out in front of her, left leg bent beneath her to prop her up, her arms out at her sides like wings for a fleeting moment. Before surging forward, leaning into a leading left handed palm strike toward Honoka's chest, pivoting into a second strike with her right hand. To this, she leans in hard, pouring all of her leg, torso, and arm strength into what she hopes is a decisively strong blow! "YA!"

COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Honoka Inoue with Engan Soushou Da.
+=+=!= Power Slam! =!=+=+

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Hotaru           1/---====/=======|=======\=====--\1     Honoka Inoue

[HONOKA INOUE]
"Honoka style!" Honoka confirms. She's never had to call it anything before, but hey, if it works...

Honoka was expecting Hotaru to rise after that blow, and actually took a reflexive step back so that she'd be in prime position to strike downwards once she did. She was not expecting her to dip into a full crouch, leaving Honoka out of position to capitalize and an easy target for Hotaru's palm strike.

Hotaru's strikes impact Honoka's chest with a thundrous SLAM. The first one only rocks her upward and back, forcing her to hop on her feet to retain her balance, but the second blow literally sends her flying, recoiling back several feet until she touches ground on the mat again and skids back another few.

Honoka recovers from her awkward impact and landing with about as much grace as she can hope for. It's not great. She feels like she needs a moment to recenter, but she doesn't have it, and the fighting spirit within her builds as she turns back to Hotaru, right fist clenched in a fist and raised.

Honoka usually wears a glove on her right hand, but it looked weird with this outfit so she left it off. Her ungloved hand appears to be shimmering slightly with a reddish energy, and when she takes a step forward and drives her raised fist toward the hopefully-rising Hotaru, it trails a deep red haze like faintly glowing mist or smoke.

On contact with Hotaru - if she does make contact with Hotaru - the energy bursts, forming a faintly visible shockwave in the air radiating away from the impact point - but most importantly, it sends Hotaru flying, trailing that energy from the blow for the first part of her flight.

"Aah! Sorry!" Honoka's hand looks perfectly normal again - no glow, and the haze is fading away like smoke - and she seems as surprised as anyone. And maybe a little embarrassed. Not that there is anything wrong with using chi in a fight, but usually a fighter only has it happen when they want to!

COMBATSYS: Hotaru interrupts Exploding Fist from Honoka Inoue with Senkai En EX.

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Hotaru           0/-------/---<<<<|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2     Honoka Inoue

[HOTARU]
While the first palm strike was no small hit itself, the second slamming blow with her right was a demonstration of the small girl's strongest possible hit with her hands. Even as she finishes the attack, she's left leaning forward, right arm extended, a slight tremble in the limb, her head lowered slightly. It takes a second for her to move again, sucking in a breath, drawing her arm back.

A moment later and she has settled into a low stance again, recentering herself, arms out at her sides, right leg forward, left leg bent beneath her center of mass for support. In this stance, she seems fixed to the spot, no longer showing the bounce to her step or acrobatic energy she had while running around at the start of the map. Instead, she seems focused, rooted, and calm. Head lifted, eyes on Honoka, Hotaru's expression reflects the intense concentration she's maintaining as the pink-haired prodigy recovers from the last attack.

Dark blue eyes flick to the softly glowing right fist after a moment. A new fighter still early in her career, she's still no stranger to the energy projections other fighters manage to bring to the foray, and the gathering crimson hue is enough clue that something bigger is coming her way in a moment. She tenses, tightening up in her low stance, like a spring being tightly wound. She had committed to her next course of action - she knew what she wanted to do. She just had to have the courage to see it through, and perfect timing to avoid making things even worse for herself... courage and the payoff of all her training would be required in the next instant.

The moment Honoka punches, Hotaru launches herself into a backflipping kick, rising into the chi infused strike rather than guarding against it. The glowing fist slams into her side at the same time her feet slam into her opponent, the sound of the impacts audible over the continuous din of the thoroughly engaged audience. The transfer of force is enough to send herself flying, airborne as she is without anything to brace against, and rather than a graceful arc back through the air to land on her feet, she's sent tumbling sidelong toward the ropes, sanguined colored power trailing behind her like the tail of a pint sized comet.

The ropes give a little as Hotaru slams against them in an ungainly fashion before they flex back the other way, sending the girl rolling to the mat with a gasp and wince.

Grinning a little, resolved to not rub her tender side in spite the pain, she presses her hands down to start scrambling back up, looking amused toward her opponent, "You seemed about as surprised by that attack as I was!"

[HONOKA INOUE]
Well... "It was a little surprising..." Honoka admits. She knew she could do it, of course; the energy doesn't come as a total surprise. She just didn't really mean to do so now.

But it's gone now, even if the fiery spirit still burns inside her. She's back to looking like an ordinary college student, if ordinary college students got into SLAMFEST 2020. Which, of course, they don't, but work with it.

The backflipping kick slams into Honoka's side. Hotaru goes flying backwards; Honoka, who already has her feet on the ground and can brace, merely skids back, though the impact was... significant. She can't take too many more of those; she can feel her body straining to keep up with the battle.

Honoka has two options here, that she can see: Let Hotaru recover, or try to seize the advantage. Part of her - the polite part - thinks that she should hold back, give her a moment to finish rising, maybe catch her own breath and recover from that blow.

But the part that knows how to fight, the part that's *good* at fighting, has a different opinion: Seize the moment, and go for the victory. Show what she can do - to herself as well as to everybody else.

The second part of her wins out this time. This is SLAMFEST! Go for the slam!

All of this thought takes place in mere instants. Honoka doesn't give Hotaru enough time to recover; she pushes herself through the pain in her side from the blows Hotaru has put on her and rushes, trying to get to her as she rises. Honoka herself gets her feet on the ropes, stepping up once to get the added height she needs to...

...pick Hotaru up the rest of the way and fall backwards with her, demonstrating a crowd-pleasing powerful SLAM as she tries to superplex Hotaru off the ropes! "Aaaaaaa!" she yells, having no idea what else she's supposed to be yelling at a time like this.

COMBATSYS: Honoka Inoue successfully hits Hotaru with Grand Superplex.

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Hotaru           1/------</<<<<<<<|>>>>---\-------\0     Honoka Inoue

[HOTARU]
Empowered by the collective will of wrestlers everywhere, Honoka's next attack comes in fast, catching Hotaru just as the twin-tailed girl is almost done scrambling to her feet. Hotaru's eyes widen, raising her hands, taking a step backward, which only ends up putting her closer against the ropes that her opponent is interested in having her take a fall from!

Hefting up the featherweight is not exactly a miraculous achievement, and within a blurred second of action later, Hotaru finds herself hauled up to an all new, elevated, upside-down view of the arena from atop Honoka's shoulders with the added height of the ropes. Unlike the previous time she got thrown around, the Futaba girl can't find any recourse for mitigating the pending high altitude SLAM, and just as the blood starts to rush down to her head, she finds herself flying through the air all the way back down to the mat, slamming with her upper shoulders with a ring shaking impact!

The pint sized martial artist bounces out of the landing once before coming to rest sprawled in the center of the ring on her back, blinking her eyes against the bright lights above. Heart racing with adrenaline, she's breathless for several seconds from the wind being knocked out of her by the fall. Did Honoka show up already a certified SLAMer or is she figuring this stuff out as she goes?!

Gritting her teeth, Hotaru winces, forcing herself to roll into a seated position. The audience's shouts and cheers make it clear they don't want this match to be over just as much as she wants to be able to keep going, if just to enjoy the moment for a little while longer.

Getting her feet beneath her, Hotaru spies Honoka's location through a narrowed eye just as her lungs remember what breathing is all about. A cough followed by a much needed inhale follows as the young fighter surges up. She isn't going to be out of this fight with one last attempt at a dedicated, unorthodox and potentially life threatening SLAM approved technique.

Grinning with an almost giddy expression on her face, Hotaru centers her thoughts on pulling off her next attack. When she bursts forward, it isn't barreling toward Honoka for once. Instead, she rushes to the side, skipping up the ropes with dexterous ease and launching herself up from there into a high arc. Her hands grip hold of one of the bars holding the camera mounts, causing anyone watching that feed to see the world shake a little on their screens before the board operators undoubtedly change to another camera for a view of the insanity to come.

Tucking her legs up, Hotaru spins herself up and around onto the bar like a gymnast. Turning while balancing on the bars, she pin points Honoka's location, gives the pink-haired girl a warning point to herald her impending doom, then leaps into the open air over the Ring of Destruction!

"HAAAAAH!"

Plunging out of the sky, she drops toward Honoka, arms flailing at her side as she tries to maintain some semblance of control of her descent. She had initially thought to dive foot first into her opponent, but somewhere along the way flails her way into a fair less elegant collision course rear first, threatening to violently sit on her opponent if Honoka doesn't manage to escape the dangerous high diving Hotaru!

COMBATSYS: Honoka Inoue just-defends Hotaru's Extreme High Spot!

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Hotaru           0/-------/-------|>>>>---\-------\0     Honoka Inoue

[HONOKA INOUE]
Hotaru may have been the one who got SLAMMED, but Honoka isn't actually very used to slamming people around either. She's watched it on television dozens of times, she's even seen it live before, but - even for her - *doing* it isn't the same as *watching* it.

She didn't precisely daze herself, but she isn't as fast to get up as she could be; not so slow that Hotaru beats her to her feet, but with enough of a delay that they get up together. Or perhaps not *quite* together; she's not grabbing the camera mount. Honoka looks up in startlement as Hotaru ascends well past her, her mouth dropping open just a little bit before she realizes *exactly* what Hotaru is up to.

"Aaaaaah!"

There is no way at all that Honoka is going to get up there to counter it. She doesn't even try; Hotaru is already accelerating down at her, foot - no, side - no, rear first. It might not be elegant, but Honoka has done it before (she got it from wrestling, in fact) and she knows it can be effective enough. She'll just have to deflect it instead -

Honoka puts both her arms into half-blocking, half-catching Hotaru. She looks very surprised indeed when this actually works, wobbling about with Hotaru held awkwardly in front of her. She's unbalanced; she starts to weave before realizing she can turn this into a success. Maybe.

Honoka... drops Hotaru, and then she leaps into the air! Not so high as Hotaru went, but she flips in midair, spreading her arms and descending in a mighty body splash! But more - if she lands it, Honoka holds it, trying to turn it into a pin and keep Hotaru under her long enough for the count!

When in wrestling, do as the wrestlers do, right?

COMBATSYS: Hotaru interrupts Firebust Splash from Honoka Inoue with Tenshin Shou.

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Hotaru           0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1     Honoka Inoue

COMBATSYS: Hotaru keeps on fighting!

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Hotaru           0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1     Honoka Inoue

[HOTARU]
Hotaru's attempts at high diving theatrics doesn't go anywhere near as smoothly as she imagined it in her head. After this is all said and done, she'll have a new appreciation for those who devote their training and passion for fighting to the skills of professional wrestling. But for now, just keeping her thoughts on the match is challenging enough. She's had enough chance to get air back into her system that she's not feeling quite as dizzy as she was after getting suplexed from the heavens. But that isn't helping at all with the bouncing around her head has endured from all the techniques her opponent has managed to land. From knee strikes to trips to impressive SLAMs, there's only so much the Futaba girl can take in one match!

For a moment, held by Honoka from behind, Hotaru tries to kick free. Arms swing wildly as the girl tries to make herself as terribly awkward to keep a hold of as possible. And then suddenly she finds herself dropped unceremoniously. Landing in a seated position on the mat with another grunt-like squeak, she blinks her eyes as her mind finally processes what all just happened. But now she needs to figure out what's coming next - the small shadow that suddenly passes over her gives the only clue she's going to get as Hotaru whirls up to her feet, knees bent as she turns to face the angle Honoka's own more refined body splash is coming from.

Grinning, Hotaru throws caution to the wind, crouching down slightly more before rocketing upward straight into Honoka's torso, positioned to collide with her shoulder in the other girl's abdomen.

Of course, that also means she's still directly beneath the pink-haired battler and still takes a significant portion of the force intended to flatten her to the Ring of Destruction's floor. Another cry of surprise is heard as Hotaru crashes right back down, bouncing off the only slightly pliable surface before coming to rest. All senses tell her that she's not going to manage another attack after re-dizzying herself with that reckless leap. But the spirit burning in her demands otherwise, demands that she give this match her absolute best, sparing no effort, allowing for no regret.

Grimacing, she presses down with her hands, getting up to her knees, before starting to rise. If she can just get up, maybe... maybe she can be the last one standing!

[HONOKA INOUE]
Honoka slams... herself, into Hotaru and the mat.

Or that was the idea, but she was cruelly interrupted by a shoulder catching her in the stomach. The air whooshes out of her as Hotaru checks her downward descent with a painful blow; Honoka lets out a squeaking yelp followed by a gasp as she's launched up by the force of the rising shoulder.

She lands on her back about five feet away with a thump. It looks, for a moment, like Hotaru is indeed going to win by sheer tenacity; Honoka breathes hard but does not immediately rise. Is she too dazed to manage it?

Not quite, as it turns out. She rolls, picking herself up to her knees at least, struggling the rest of the way to her feet. Honoka manages it slower than Hotaru - she's just about wiped - but she manages it, and that's the important part.

Honoka throws herself into a half-running, half-lurching lariat, trying to catch Hotaru before she recovers any further. It's rather awkward to look at - it lacks even the grace she was putting out before - but the last-ditch effort just might be enough! Or that's what she's hoping, because she doesn't have too much more left in her.

COMBATSYS: Honoka Inoue successfully hits Hotaru with Medium Lariat.

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Hotaru           0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1     Honoka Inoue

[HOTARU]
Dark sapphire eyes widen as Honoka closes in, both girls clearly on the verge of collapse after a grueling match. Only half risen by the time her opponent's intent is made clear, the the Kung Fu artist won't be able to twist elegantly out of the way - or even flop to the side for that matter. Instead, she starts to lift her arms in hopes of pulling off a traditional arm braced block.

But she's too late. Not only does Honoka slip past right as Hotaru's arms come up, but her forward momentum is enough to hook the girl at the neck, taking the twin-tailed fighter off her feet into a rather amusing (if you're not the one experiencing it) backflip through the air. It is a moment certain to be captured in slow motion replays when the highlight reel of the event rolls out.

With her own arms hooked around Honoka's lariat, Hotaru's flip ends up less a completely uncontrolled crash to the mat, and more an ungainly vault into the air up and over her opponent as her momentum carries her forward.

The viewing audience wouldn't really be able to tell if what comes next was a conscious choice or simply the byproduct of how the collision of forces played out, but either way, Hotaru's final 'attack' of the match is to drop right back down toward Honoka from above, knees first. Or stomach first. Or, well, there's a chance she'll land on her one way or another if her opponent doesn't manage to scramble out of the way of the falling schoolgirl!

COMBATSYS: Hotaru can no longer fight.

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Honoka Inoue     1/------=/=======|

COMBATSYS: Honoka Inoue dodges Hotaru's Tanshou Shin.

[                      \\\\\\\\  <
Honoka Inoue     1/------=/=======|

[HONOKA INOUE]
Well. That worked.

And Honoka is really glad it did because she didn't have a Plan B.

Hotaru does an uncontrolled tumble that will probably be the delight of slow-motion replay that likes the dramatic moment, and Honoka... just follows through with her run, then plants her hands on her knees for a moment, catching her breath.

But Hotaru is still coming at her... possibly unintentionally but she's descending nonetheless! Honoka attempts to scramble to the side and only manages to throw herself into an equally awkward tumble that will probably look just as ridiculous in slow-mo; she hits the mat with her shoulder, bounces as she rolls in a tumble across her back to her other shoulder, and sort of ends up landing awkwardly on her knee, about two feet from Hotaru's fallen position.

Breathing hard, Honoka forces herself to get to her feet, raising one fist into the air in SLAMFEST-designated victory! (She'll check on Hotaru in a moment. That was fun! She'll need to tell her so.)

Log created on 17:11:59 01/18/2020 by Hotaru, and last modified on 23:40:12 01/19/2020.