Match of the Millennium

Description: It's a hot summer smackdown in one of Japan's famed bathhouses. See the roving American icon, Clarity Reece takes on the Southtown Syndicate Hotshot, Tairyu Katashi.

[CLARITY]
Cameras are go for this grand showcase of the next season of Neo-League! Taking place at a picturesque bathhouse, two fighters are set to meet each other for the entertainment of the both clientele and fight fans around the world. And while the saunas are normally segregated between male and female, today only there is a section partitioned for those who wish to view this battle of the sexes fight!

Over on the woman's side of the sauna, fighter Clarity Reece is readying herself with a few photographs for her feed. "Going to rep myself and my country in the Neo-League!" she beams, snapping another selfie with her in the classic patriotically inspired U.S. flag bikini. The blonde grins for her camera and when she's done she tosses it into a duffel before it's on to the stage.

"So, I heard I'm fighting a local boy, which one of you is it?" she calls out, striking practiced poses as she slips her way in front of the cameras. With a laugh and a small bit of bouncing on the balls of her feet, she grins and puts on the show she was meant for. "I want to see just what kind of spirit Japan has!"

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu has fallen into a strange spiral, all started from such a simple thing as one throaway order from a Syndicate goon. A spiral that saw him spinning into the ranks of the Neo League beyond just one throwaway fight he was meant to lose in the first place.

But a bathhouse as a place to fight in? Not exactly what he was expecting, no. And though the stage itself might not be inside a sauna proper, the temperature is still likely much warmer than it would be otherwise, with humidity spread all throughout the rooms. And that makes him coming along, dressed up in black suit pants and jacket all the more bizarre. Not that he doesn't realize it right after.

"Hhhaah... Hot.." Tairyu mutters underneath his breath right as Clarity makes the call, and he himself steps into view on his way to the stage. Already shedding the jacket away before he's even halfway there to facing Clarity, and a couple more buttons get opened on the collared red shirt as well.

"Hm...? Another american girl...?" The japanese man mutters thus when his eyes sweep over the pattern on her bikini, prior to actually settling on her face. And with that, of all things-- he leans his weight forward into a formal, japanese-style bow. "Tairyu Katashi. I will be your opponent."

Springing upright again right after from the bow, his feet already shift to adjust his stance, lowering slightly with both hands curled into fists, the other raised up nearly parallel to his chin. "May you fight well."

[CLARITY]
"Good to see you, Tai," Clarity says with a laugh. "You're really formal. It's kinda cute. Say, you know I've been busy fighting Darkstalkers around here, but it always pays to keep up the skill!"

She cracks her knuckles and shakes out her hair before stepping toward Tairyu. "Can I ask you one question, Tai? What have you done to help your neighborhood with all the monsters and gang bangers running around?" There's a blunt earnestness to her question as she adopts a ready fighting pose. Her arms lift, her head tucks, and her lead knee starts to bounce to an internal rhythm.

"Cause there's so much bad in the world today, and if you fight good enough to be a Leaguer, you can't just be spending your time ogling cute girls at bathhouses."

COMBATSYS: Clarity has started a fight here.

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Clarity          0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Tairyu has joined the fight here.

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Tairyu           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0          Clarity

[TAIRYU]
"Is there a reason I shouldn't be?" Asks Tairyu with a quirk of one dark eyebrow, head canting slightly. "You are not my 'enemy', but you are my opponent in a pure contest of fighting skill. Someone like that has to be treated with respect."

Even that utterly bizarre woman who treated a fight as a series of product placements.

"...What I do for my neighbourhood, you ask..." His brows knit together for the briefest moment, there, before he shakes his head. "I keep busy looking after my own. That should be all that needs to be said, shouldn't it? People like us..."

The fist held near his chin turns to bring a thumb brushing over the lower side of his cheek. "We don't advertise ourselves with words, afterall."

"... And for the record, I'm not the one who picked this place."

[CLARITY]
A sprightly laugh and a wink. "Because it never hurts to have a little fun. Being too serious is bad for your health. You'll wear down your heart and get headaches if you're too stiff."

Random advice aside, the woman's feet squeak against the floor when she very swiftly moves toward Tairyu in a low rolling lope of an approach. "And so who is. . ." she starts to talk as she closes in. Twisting on toe and bringing up a hand, snapping forward with a sharp finger strike right to . . .

No one.

The blow a feint, not meant to touch Tairyu, just to bring her fingers close enough to snap, and when they snap, a blinding light and concussive force flash from the girl's fingertips. "Your own?" she asks, her voice echoing after the suddeness of the snapping light.

COMBATSYS: Tairyu blocks Clarity's Flash in the Pan.

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Tairyu           0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0          Clarity

[TAIRYU]
"You haven't seen me in my off time," Tairyu notes with a subtle tug pulling one corner of his mouth upwards.

But with her coming in, he instinctively sways his head to the side to dodge the incoming strike and-- wait.

One eye briefly widens with realization, and he sends his hand to smacking into the wrist of her outreached arm, right on time with the flashing force. It sweeps her hand away, quick enough to avoid burning him but not quick enough for the sound to pierce into his ear and leave a faint fuzz into the retina of one eye.

"Those who need it!" He growls in answer to her then, while he turns within that terribly close proximity to aim an uppercut for her midsection in time with a foot sweeping through hers to throw her off balance-- meant to help send her off her feet with that blow. "And the stronger ones deserving of respect!"

COMBATSYS: Clarity blocks Tairyu's Rise And Sweep.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Tairyu           0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0          Clarity

[CLARITY]
For being her size, shape and currently only wearing a bikini, Clarity proves herself someone whose kenpo derived style has a remarkably sturdy base. That fist smacks loud against a suddenly shot down hand. And she turns her heel against the sweeping blow, angling the scything and giving her the position she needs to push back, but not hit the ground hard.

With a laugh, she rights herself and adjusts her top. "Cool, cool. But have you looked at what's happening right now? The pain and suffering? I've fought no less than a werewolf since just coming here on vacation. Japan needs people, people like you."

She smiles and winks. "Let everyone out there," she states, pointing to the cameras, "Know that Tairyu is out here, fighting for them. Say it so they can here it and fight like you mean it!" She kisses her fingers before pointing them at Tairyu with a laughing, "Bang" and a bolt of scintillating light streaks out for Tairyu's heart.

COMBATSYS: Tairyu dodges Clarity's Spectral Shot.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Tairyu           0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0          Clarity

[TAIRYU]
"Only second-rate punks boast like that," declares Tairyu while he shifts his feet in a steady footwork after seperating away from his intercepted assault, now slowly stepping in a perimeter along Clarity while keeping himself faced towards her. "Men like me speak with our actions. So the only thing I have to say is... watch me."

A sudden sweep of his left leg backwards and to the side has him turning and swaying just besides the sudden bolt, leaving it going past him instead of striking true. "My heart isn't that easy to capture!" He declares before ducking in closer to her.

With a focused glint in his eye, he launches his left fist towards her, first, in a quick jab, followed quickly after by a right uppercut and a left hook. Each blow turning his body one way along with it to help wind up for the following blow. The left hook is followed up with, then, with his body turning the opposing way again, but this time carrying his right leg in a swinging kick towards her rib. Again, that foot lowers down, and his turn continues to carry his left leg into a back kick aimed for her center -- and the completion of his turn sees that foot, upon lowering, kicking at the ground to send him up into the air with his right leg brought in for an aerial spinning kick.

COMBATSYS: Clarity fails to counter Soaring Assault from Tairyu with Flashdance EX.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Tairyu           0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0          Clarity

[CLARITY]
Strong words. And a strong strike. For his talk of not-talking, Clarity can feel the pulse of emotion. He still trades quips. He isn't so stoic and philosophical as he might seem to think. And that's a thrilling point.

"Is it?" she asks. And it's then she's already beginning to envelope herself in a brilliant glow before the strike hits. But hit it does. Thundering down, hammering. LEft and left again. She rolls in the air under the careful control of Tairyu's kicks. Until he plants her hard, bouncing against the tile floors of the bathhouse. Water splashing up from the force of the hamming blow. There she lay on the ground, slowly recovering from the mistiming of her own assault. And she smiles. "Sounds like a scaredy-cat, to me," she speaks, low, but loud enough to hear.

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu, in contrast, lands onto the moist floor of the stage, letting out a low huff of air as he does. With the humidity in the air and the high temperature, perspiration is starting to gather, clinging the red shirt to his body and forcing him to open another button for the sake of gaining more ventilation.

He approaches her again, then -- no less carefully than before, watching her recovering there. Waiting for her to work her way back up towards her feet.

"Show me, then."

The urging words are the only ones he has left to give her in that moment, just before she gets up-- only for him to use the slippery floor itself to send his foot sliding across it, and quickly carry him that much closer, right past her before he sends one foot swinging right back, aimed towards the joint at her ankle.

COMBATSYS: Clarity just-defends Tairyu's Improvised Kick!

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Tairyu           0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0          Clarity

[CLARITY]
Show him.

The slip-sliding kick swings for Clarity's ankle. Time again his strikes a solid back, but this time the kick slips through, following as she rolls a clean back handspring and lands with a bouncing flourish before the cameras. "Ta-da!" she calls out with a laugh. Her hands go to her hips and she looks back toward Tairyu.

"If you never put yourself out there, never let yourself shine, then you just stick to being a big fish in a little pond." A little wink, and then she turns around on heel. Her hands behind her, they flash and fire with light as she launches herself forward. A surging rush straight for Tairyu's midsection. She brings to bear her shoulder first, and then her charge shifts to a rapid fire series of thundering chest blows and explosive bursts of fireworks and shine.

COMBATSYS: Tairyu blocks Clarity's Dawnbreaker EX.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Tairyu           0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0          Clarity

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu continues on his slide, turning around in the middle of it to bring himself facing Clarity again-- only to see that her acrobatic motion along managed to fully soak it all up.

And... he smiles. It's not a theatrical smile -- but in it's subtleness, it feels all the more sincere and warm.

"That's good."

The cannonball-like launch from the woman herself, though? He didn't apparently expect that one. His eyes widen out, and he only barely manages to bring his hands up to catch onto the woman's own shoulders to brace against her. With the floor as slippery as it is, it still sends him - and her - sliding across the floor. ANd in the middle of it, he doesn't have the time to intercept the first strike from her that slams into the center of his broad chest, groaning out in pain as his ribs creak underneath the blow.

"Hhhhgh--!"

With one hand stil braced against her shoulder, the slide across the stage continues, but his other arm moves to sweep and brace into the further oncoming blows. Blow after blow, a bruise begins to build up underneath the red sleeve...

That is, up until his hand suddenly lets go o her shoulder, and with the ensuing blow slamming against his arm ending up pushing him further back away from her, he uses the same momentum to drive the now-freed hand, curled up into a fist, for the side of her head.

COMBATSYS: Clarity counters Improvised Punch from Tairyu with Trip the Light Fantastic.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Tairyu           1/----===/=======|=------\-------\0          Clarity

[CLARITY]
Pressure on, pushing hard. Wet and wild as they slide back with each crushing strike from Clarity's surprisingly heavy blows. "And," she calls out with one blow. "When." Another blow. "You." A third. "Fail." She grins, eyes bright, hair flowing in a banner behind her. Close in, and waiting.

Because when Tairyu swings for head, all he sees is a world of white light.

And then a spark of pain. A hammering heel palm blow cracks against Tairyu's chin. Momentum of flashing bursts of explosive force carries him skyward, and along with him, Clarity herself. Firing her whole body like a missile, she rises with Tairyu, and then drops her hand, rolling from her momentum to angle Tairyu back to the earth before she plants her feet against his chest and with a double leg stomp, careens down to the wet floor of the bathhouse.

"Who's to know you ever even lived?" she asks, looking down at the man. Smiling.

[TAIRYU]
Oh. The feeling of floor underneath feet is suddenly gone. The sting on his chin was so sharp he didn't even fully register he was sent up before he was already well up there. And Clarity's hand was coming down for a slam meant to sent him right back down all over again.

Landing with a bounce, and a sharp grunt of pain, Tairyu's left slumped on the wet floor for a good moment while his opponent lands on the ground again. While she speaks, he manages to push himself up to sitting, first, rolling along over to support himself on one knee.

"...I don't even know what you are talking about anymore," he mutters quietly, before his eyes snap up to her, with a wild glint.

In an instant, he's no longer on the floor. Not even standing on his feet. But rather-- up high in the air, above her.

One leg stretchces out while he spins through the air in a sommersault, crescending his foot over his horizontal axis as he falls back down, towards her -- that viscious foot aimed right for her.

COMBATSYS: Clarity endures Tairyu's Dragon's Descent ES.

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Tairyu           0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1          Clarity

[CLARITY]
Clarity puts her arms out at her side. "If the world can't see your brightness. If it cannot hear your song. Then your humility is nothing and you're no more impacting on the world than a thug." She speaks with reverent earnestness. She holds hands out to beseech Tairyu, almost welcoming him for an embrace.

She continues to beam, metaphorically, when Tairyu rises into the air. "Yes!" she shouts, "Show them who you are! Make a difference!"

Down he crashes, and down goes Clarity. Dashing against the floor, she's just made the man close. She's let him come into her. The bursting pain in her breast is but a moment passing in order for her ends. A brief sufferance in order to shine like diamond.

At the end of Tairyu's foot, sucking for breath, she still holds out her hands. And now the moment of truth reveals. Two prisms of light flicker in her palms. Gleaming color strikes out and meets at the center of chest, right above Tairyu's foot. And then a stellar beam of iridescence flares outward in a cascade of chi energy built up and waited for that moment to explode out at Tairyu.

COMBATSYS: Clarity successfully hits Tairyu with Sunshine and Rainbows.
-+- CALCULATED HIT -+-

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Tairyu           1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0          Clarity

[TAIRYU]
"Hhh-!"

Tairyu's too late to try to jump away. All he has left is to try to bring up his arms up in an effort to brace himself against the sudden overflow of energy--

And it just goes right through him.

The light envelopes the man entirely, as if momentarily erased away from existence altogether.

When the light fades away, though... he's still there. But much worse for wear as he is. The front of his shirt has been burned away entirely, and portions of his skin have been charred while steam rises from seemingly every inch of his body. Head hung down, shoulders rising up and down wth heavy breath. Wobbling on his feet.

But. Despite all those signs pointing towards his imminent fall down over, his head suddenly snaps up, directing those brighly-glowing green eyes upon the woman.

No more words. Another step carres him over forwrd, for her. Posture lowered from the earlier wobbling step, he rises up again in the middle of that step to drive an uppercut aimed for her chin-- only to continue his forward momentum right after, that upraised arm brought down again to shove at her side with his elbow.

COMBATSYS: Clarity blocks Tairyu's Rise And Fall.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Tairyu           1/------=/=======|==-----\-------\0          Clarity

[CLARITY]
Still standing. Surprising.

Clarity flashes a pair of V's with her fingers. "Look at you! I knew you could do it!" she laughs happily. Her hands go to her hips and she waits, watching with a sparkle in her eye as her own meets those glowing green from Tairyu.

She gets her arms up properly when he closes in. Block, crack. Block. crack. The smack of flesh to flesh is loud as the two have stopped talking. The sound of blocking, cracking and clapping. The damp sound of the fight and the slaps of skin on wet tile echo.

The next strike hits a tucked posture with a huffing exhalation. She slips her foot back, adjusts her posture, and refinds her footing. No words if that's what the super serious man needs. Clarity exhales and looks forward. She's feeling the pulse of the fight. It's coursing through her. But even as the conflict's taken a lot out of body, she's still pushing on for the dance. She moves forward with a pair of well aimed, flashing strikes. A jab and a cross. A short hammer strike that follows with a quick and snapping chicken kick, first to step into the man's chest, and a second to kick her foot right to Tairyu's chin.

COMBATSYS: Tairyu counters Blinded by the Light from Clarity with Tiger Drop.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  ////                          ]
Tairyu           0/-------/----===|=======\==-----\1          Clarity

[TAIRYU]
Steam still rising from Tairyu's burnt body, he stumbles back slightly again upon his fist recoiling away from the woman's limb. Halfway-destroyed shirt, only held up by his sleeves fluttering lightly with the motion along his perspiration-covered torso.

But she's still coming. For him and his battered body. One foot stumbles in a slight slide along the wet floor evne while she does, and though his eyes may have an illusion of a glow within them from the sheer conveyance of spirit inside of the man... his vision isn't entirely clear. Swaying. Blurring. He can make out the approaching silhouette, but he can't tell the exact shape.

This must be what impending defeat feels like. For a split second, his body yells at him to give up, muscles and joints loose tension, and he can feel the floor about to approach, even if the flashing fists of the american woman don't reach him first.

But then. Then his vision clears. Blurred vision focuses, but he doesn't see Clarity there.

He sees a vision of a massive, ferocious tiger, leaping towards him claws-first, jaws open at the ready to bite down upon flesh.

In a split second, his body moves with a sudden surge of energy. Every single inch of him seemingly shifting to carry himself towards her in guidance of momentum, further intensified by a dropping of his right knee down towards the ground and body leaning subtly towards his other leg to further add to the total sum of momentum. In that same split second, his right fist is launched in an explosive, straight punch that crosses straight past Clarity's incoming jab.

And collides with her approaching solar plexus with a sharp sound akin to the sound barrier breaking.

The sheer explosive channeling of strength doesn't permit the woman's assault to go through, instead launching her back off her feet and away from his target.

In the next instant, that steaming fist is already pulled back to his side, but Tairyu can't quite manage to bring himself up standing from that one knee quite yet; instead left panting there from pain and exertion alike.

[CLARITY]
A thunderous blow. The tiger pounces. And in this case, it is tiger over lady. A blindsiding strike shatters the wind in Clarity's rhythm. She exhales painfully. There's a quick 'crick' barely audible over the sounds of her shuddering to the ground, hurled by Tairyu's force. She lands and slides along the ground, nearly bouncing over and into one of the bathing areas.

A cough, a slow, pained writhe. She turns and rolls to her knees. "You could shine," she says, "You have the strength to save worlds. But you can't do it the way you are."

Herself, Tairyu, hard to tell exactly who she's speaking with the tone she's using. "But I'm going to be my best. You'll see," her voice comes back to her as she stands. Up again, and moving toward Tairyu with slowly building speed. She dashes past him, and in a strange echo, as she cuts the air with a tiger claw slash, slicing streamers of light trail with her. But in her passing, she hurtles forward, hitches, and then falls to a rolling, beaten mess on the floor.

COMBATSYS: Clarity can no longer fight.

[                       \\\\\\\  <
Tairyu           0/-------/----===|

COMBATSYS: Tairyu counters Spectral Slasher from Clarity with Dragon's Clutch.

[                        \\\\\\  <
Tairyu           0/-------/----===|

[TAIRYU]
When Clarity finally manages to bring herself to rising up, so does Tairyu. He doesn't say anything in response to her words... but there is a strange glint in his eyes. It's not the same battle-focused one as before, it's something... else. Just as intense but entirely different in nature.

He still wobbles in place when he gets to standing, but he's much quicker to respond to the woman's incoming attack. Weight leaned forward, he swoops forward to meet her halfway, and as he does, what is left of his shirt flutters up high, momentarily exposing his back -- and the unfinished, un-colored-in lines of a tattoo depicting a dragon taking up his entire back.

A rapid footwork carries him to the side just at the last second, taking further advantage of her own forward hitch to get right up in her personal space, with one arm pressed to her upper back by her shoulder to redirect the incoming 'claw' -- and push her down towards the rising knee that slams into her center.

"We're only different in just one aspect, really," he murmurs then, as his other arm moves in, wrapping around her to stop her body from pitching over entirely. THe technique's meant to flow into a hold anyway, so it works just as well for keeping her up for just a moment longer.

"I don't care about fame or anything. All the things I achieve, for everyone else... they're rewards in their own right."

"But your way is fine, too." Slowly, he lowers down to one knee, settling the woman all-too-gently towards the floor. "You mean to bring hope to people by shining for them. You have the same emotion behind them. We just soar in different ways. With all your emotion, all your will..."

His arms slide away, then, once she's fully set down.

"I receive you."

And just like that, he lets out a heavy, shaky breath he didn't evne realize he was holding back, and his weight stumbles back. Falling ungraciously onto his ass, and just managing to keep himself from knocking back completely with a hand set to pressing against the floor behind him.

COMBATSYS: Tairyu has ended the fight here.

Log created on 16:08:11 07/11/2020 by Clarity, and last modified on 01:06:22 07/12/2020.