Match of the Millennium

Description: Both Aranha and Velvet Blue receive invites to Neo*Geo Land to put on a show in one of the last fights for the Neo League season. There's acrobatics, a light show, and even some brutality mixed in. (Winner: Aranha)

[VELVET BLUE]
The Neo*Geo Land arena?! Yes, it's somewhat of a weird place to find someone like Velvet Blue--all suited up in one of their black, fur-ruff collared suits and long high heeled boots. He's here by demand, of course--but he can seldom back down from a challenge, especially when there is recompense involved.

For a while before he was supposed to show up, he was likely making a spectacle of himself and entertaining the crowds of kids and people outside, until it was time to go on stage, as it were--the more revved up the humans around him, of course, the more energy he'd have to expend on tonight's match, it would appear.

Right now he was waiting in the arena area itself, where the match was to be held, after skillfully flipping himself up into the ring area, landing on his feet before rolling and springing upwards--just showing off, mainly, brushing the long black hair back from his long bat-like ears and face, giving the cameras a big grin.

"Don't worry lovelies--you haven't seen a show like this for a while, I fear--everyone's welcome to see my performance," he blew a kiss.

[ARANHA]
As for the capoeirista, there was a realization that he was just barely outside of the top 8 in the league and that he needed to talk to the league matchmakers to arrange a fight for him. Thankfully, he doesn't have nearly as much trouble with getting matched up as he did in the previous season.

Due to the last minute nature of this particular fight Aranha doesn't have as much of an opportunity to scout out his opponent that he did when he fought Banyu. He still not knowing what to expect sees Velvet Blue and raises an eyebrow.

"Hmmm... I'm fighting the Blue Pro Belt Champion, eh?"

He performs a quick hop on to the turnbuckle of the ring area and balances on it while holding his foot in the air with a held side-kick before chambering it, and then flips forward. While in the flip, Aranha's body is folded at the hip while holding his legs straight before ultimately landing on the ground and performing a bow to the audience.

He then moves to his corner to wait until the official gives the signal to start the fight.

[VELVET BLUE]
"Well, obviously, honey--it did say blue belt, didn't it?" Velvet turned to look at Aranha, able to hear him even if he muttered, likely--those ears weren't just for show. "I hope you don't mind having to beat up on a 'darkstalker' entertainer like myself, but I'm not gonna make it easy for ya--if you want a match, that is," he nodded, stepping back as Aranha pulled himself up and into the ring.

"You don't have to go easy on me however, if you're up for this--I'll promise not to scar that lovely face of yours either, if you do the same for me," Velvet grinned and winked, apparently not above flirting a bit with the 'enemy' here, though really Vel didn't consider very many people as such. Even if they were about to throw down.

"Sooo... may the best fighter win?" he checked the handle of his wakizashi, tucked into his right boot, spaded tail flicking about as he got down into a fighting stance.

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

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

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

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

[ARANHA]
Aranha let the eyebrow fall a bit but then Velvet Blue speaks and the capoeirista raises the eyebrow once more. He scratches his head before he responds.

"I would be a hypocrite if I minded that. And you're a bit late on the scarring part."

He indicates the scar below his right eye, before lowering the shades just enough to show the glowing blue eyes.

"And every since I've gotten those eyes, I haven't had a permanent scar. Not as much of a worry for me lately. That being said, I'll agree to not going for the face if you don't go for the family jewels."

Healing factor or not, low blows are not fun to endure.

The capoeirista goes into ginga and nods to the official to signal that he's ready to go and watches for them to give the signal to begin.

[VELVET BLUE]
"Please dear, I'll be gentle~" Velvet Blue says that, of course, but as the bell is rung and they are set to go at eachother, Velvet is already starting toward his opponent.

The performer, as it turns out, is very quick--closing the gap between his side of the ring and Aranha remarkably quickly, trying to lash out against his shoulder and side with a quick chop of his right arm--before retreating.

"Oof, you've got marvelous eyes--why do you hide them behind those sunglasses?" Velvet's own yellow, cat-like ones are quick to latch onto them.

COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Velvet Blue's Quick Strike.

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

[ARANHA]
As Velvet quickly moves in to close the distance, Aranha's just as swift to move in as well, getting inside the range of the wakizashi and stuffing it before he can perform the full strike with the sword. There's a bit of blood that flows for a few moments before it just suddenly stops and the skin seems to just start stitching itself back together. His healing being slightly faster than what would be normal for a human being.

He then hops on to the top rope of the ring and bounds off of it to deliver a kick to the chest.

"Many reasons."

He chooses not to go into detail because he has a feeling Velvet isn't going give him enough time to go into the litany of reasons he doesn't like showing those eyes of his.

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue endures Aranha's Sky's the Limit.

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

[VELVET BLUE]
"Many reasons don't apply to people like us," Velvet counters, even as Aranha stops his light chopping swipe of his arm. "You should never feel ashamed of yourself--I learned that lesson long ago--nnghh!" Velvet is hit square in the chest by the sudden diving kick the man comes at him with--shuddering and thrown back against the ropes and turnbuckle, though he comes back with a grin--as if the blow was innervating.

"Oof, that really hurts," he raised a brow, still with that grin, running towards Aranha and jumping--both high heeled boots sailing towards him in a double leg drop kick!

COMBATSYS: Aranha attempts to interrupt Double Dropkick from Velvet Blue with Bad Beat ES.

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

COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Velvet Blue with Bad Beat ES.

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

[ARANHA]
The Dancing Spider continues to be aggressive charging in after Velvet even after the more flamboyant performer is blown back against the ropes and turnbuckle. Aranha had opted to apply lots of pressure right away and see how Velvet dealt with it. While he seemed to be invigorated by it, the keen eyed martial artist could easily see that he felt it. A lot.

As Velvet bounces back and gets into range for that drop kick, the capoeirista can feel that very familiar warmth in his arms but he's too far into his reaction to verbalize any acknowledgement of it. From fingertips to elbow, both arms suddenly are covered in magma as he suddenly steps to the side, drop kick glancing his torso as he uses his forward momentum to deliver his first elbow, suddenly turning to deliver the second elbow, both to the torso, and then turning to grab both ankles with magma covered hands to yank the other darkstalker by his boots to drop him on his back before his feet can even touch the ground.

With voice dripping with sarcasm, "You're endearing yourself to me already by dismissing my reasons before even hearing them."

He steps back, with a frown on his face. Any plans of having fun with the fight are thrown out the window.

[VELVET BLUE]
"Augh!" Velvet Velvet is caught definitely unawares by this--the elbow causing his eyes to light up and face to gawk at the sudden impact and pain--the booted feet grabbed and he's just... plucked out of the air and slammed into the ground. Velvet coughs a fair bit as he rolls over, trying to get the breah that was pushed out of his lungs back before rising.

"I'm supposed to be endearing, it's what I do," Velvet shudders as he pulls himself up, cracking his neck a little before assuming a fighting stance again. For Vel, this is both feet apart, hunched a bit forward, behind him his tail snapping about.

"Lets try this again--" Velvet took a running step toward Aranha--this time though, he twisted and rolled--both arms and legs flying towards the Dancing Spidar as Vel flew into a cartwheel--trying to bowl him right over!

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue successfully hits Aranha with Wonder Wheel.

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

[ARANHA]
The remnants of the magma drip from the capoeirista's arm before dissipating as if it was never there. It was getting to the point where Aranha was almost expecting weird magma energy was going to show up even he never knew when.

Velvet takes those running steps, however, he's not as prepared for the other darkstalker to cartwheel at him. The combination of energy and limbs plow into the capoeirista and knock him off of his feet. A grunt leaves Aranha's lips as he rises back to his feet.

"You're not as endearing as you like to think you are."

Aranha dances his way back into kicking range before delivering a couple of kicks. First one to the leg and then second one to the ribs, right where he landed the first elbow of his previous combination.

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue counters Thrust Kick from Aranha with Spellbound Masquerade.

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

[VELVET BLUE]
"You've got some unusual chi energy there--and I don't mean just the usual," Velvet manages to stumble to a halt after coming out of the cartwheel, noting the magma energy that's literally steaming off of the Dancing Spider.

"Really? Oof, that stings baby--" Velvet studdenly has to content with sudden stabbing kicks at his chest--hopping back before the first one--and managing to grab Aranha's ankle with the second, lightning fast.

"Ooh, don't worry, we're gonna make a /star/ out of you tonight!" said hand that has grabbed Aranha is also charged with eerie blue energy that surges up along his arms in rings--straight into Aranha.

Suddenly, with a cloud of smoke, Aranha finds himself under a... spotlight?

"Here we go!" from behind Aranha, rises up Velvet Blue, who is... hanging off the middle of a huge spider web? He's also casting a line straight down that wraps around Aranha, seeming to drain his energy away!

"When I say you dance, honey--you dance!" Velvet finally lets go as the whole magical charade poofs into an eerie violet mist, leaving them back in the ring.

[ARANHA]
Upon missing with the first kick, Aranha suspected trouble. Those suspicions were confirmed when the second kick kick was caught. After the puff of smoke the capoeirista looks around bewildered by the fact that there's a spotlight and the fact that Velvet Blue is no longer where he expected him to be. He can feel energy being drawn from his body and it's a sensation that he doesn't want to ever repeat.

When magical charade is over, the capoeirista finds himself on his back, staring at the sky. He takes a deep breath climbs back to his feet.

"I dance when, /I/ say so and not a moment sooner."

He drops low sends a scything kick to the leg which does absolutely no damage. It's not meant to do anything more than mess with Velvet's balance before balancing on one hand as he kicks out his other leg. At first, it looks the kick is going to be delivered to the face but he turns it downward at the last moment to deliver it to the neck and trapezius muscle instead.

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue dodges Aranha's Medium Kick.

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

[VELVET BLUE]
"Not when I'm making the dance card," Velvet lands back down from the disappearing web, rising to his feet and giving Aranha a cheeky grin. The performer's tail is lashing about behind him, more languidly now--like a creature that has taken in food, and is now a little lethargic.

Vel sidesteps the kick meant for his leg--not wanting his leg to get kicked out, or the thrust of the foot to crack open his knees like eggshells--that would be bad. Instead Velvet brings his elbow down and hard against Aranha's shoulder as he moves backward, trying to put some distance between them.

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue successfully hits Aranha with Evasive Strike.

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

[ARANHA]
The capoeirista raises an eyebrow as the other darkstalker dances away from the setup kick and grimaces when the second kick doesn't find its target on the neck and shoulders. Instead, he finds his shoulder taking the impact of an elbow and suddenly dropping to the ground once more.

The capoeirista rises to his feet and stares at Velvet Blue with a neutral expression on his face. He's gone dead quiet. In direct conflict with the philosophies of both capoeira and parkour, Aranha stops moving altogether. Aranha meant it when he says, he dances when he says so.

Meanwhile, Aranha is carefully studying Velvet's movements to see if there's something he can take advantage of.

COMBATSYS: Aranha studies the situation for a moment.

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

[VELVET BLUE]
"What are you waiting for, you know you wanna hit me," Velvet is chewing scenery here and getting the crowd riled up, course, he's also seen better days likely--the blows to his chest and body have taken their roll. He realizes that Aranha is going to make him make the first move here, and when he does, it's gonna be pain.

"Alright then, I know what you wanna see--" Velvet turns toward Aranha and one of those huge long boots snaps out--trying to mule kick Aranha right in the stomach as he stands there, Vel's tail whipping around!

COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Velvet Blue's Mule Kick.

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

[ARANHA]
The mule kick finds nothing but air as the capoeira practitioner spins out of the way of the kick, neutral expression still plastered to his face as he zeroes in on Velvet. He resumes dancing as he watches his opponent almost predatory.

It's almost sudden when the capoeirista attacks even though this time, he leans more on his parkour. He launches himself at his adversary with blue glowing hands. This time, his energy is stable and his chi is behaving the way it was supposed rather when the magma came out. Should Aranha manage to grab ahold of Velvet, he'll send a blast of chi into his shoulders while he curls up and then shove Velvet away with his feet as he flips off and lands on the top rope.

COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Velvet Blue with Hunting Season.

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

[VELVET BLUE]
"What the--" Velvet is alarmed of course, as is the priceless look on his face when the dancing spider alludes his kick--leaving the performer quite off balance!

As Velvet is straightening up, Aranha is able to grab him and BLAST him with Chi energy, leaving the long-haired, bat-eared entertainer positively smoking! Then shoved away. But perhaps not in the way that he'd intended...

"Oof.. fearing this dance has gone on too long," he groaned, turning to Aranha again, this time his eyes glowing yellow as he focuses a large surging laser of chi energy into a long stream towards Aranha, trying to light him up in return!

COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Velvet Blue's Vorpal Blast.

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

[ARANHA]
As surging laser of chi comes streaming at the traceur, the entirety of Aranha's body glows blue with chi, in a similar color as the eyes that Velvet had seen earlier in the fight. He taps into the speed that was enhanced by his unwanted prize from the Majigen Series, tight rope /running/ out of the way of the beam before he launches himself at Velvet Blue with kicks from every imaginable angle as he bounces from the top rope and the turnbuckle to deliver them and leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake.

When the onslaught is over, the traceur lands and rolls out of it to turn and face the other darkstalker.

"Finally. Something we both agree on."

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue blocks Aranha's Joker's Wild.

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

[VELVET BLUE]
There is a small splatter of blood as the performer is assailed by running, jumping kicks as Aranha vaults at him from the top rope like that--it's enough to make the teeth clench till he can feel blood running between them, not even minding that he's getting blows to the upper body, now. He's incensed, staggering back, needing to make a good performance, here--on some level.

Staggering now, Velvet is able to work on impulse--sending his weight into a hammerblow with both arms, bringing them down on Aranha!

COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Velvet Blue's Medium Strike.

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

[ARANHA]
Aranha's still pushing his body hard to squeeze as much speed out of it as he possibly can. He knows he fighting on borrowed time and needs to finish it before everything he's putting his body through finally catches up to him. The capoeirista sees the axe handle smash coming down upon him. If the capoeirista had to be honest with himself he'd rather not get hit with that so he leverages that speed and agility to dive between the other fighter's legs before scrambling to his feet once more.

He takes a deep breath desperately trying to get air into his lungs but his body is diverting way too many resources to recovering from the hits and that energy draining that he's endure during this fight. Blue energy gathers in his hand once more as lashes out with his arm sending his own energy web at Velvet Blue.

COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Velvet Blue with Web Shot.
- Power hit! -

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

[VELVET BLUE]
"Gah--" Velvet even feels shame at having missed that hammerblow like that--he's not going too great here. And he knows it--however with as tired as he was, he was behind the 8 ball, so to speak. Then suddenly...

Caught in a web!

Velvet finds himself pinned to the turnbuckle and ropes at one corner, looking a bit like a fly in the midst of a spider's web. Would be kinda funny, if he didn't feel like a train just hit 'em.

Wrenching one arm off the web, Velvet directs a spray of chi--coming out in colorful red and green and blue triangles, squares, and other little shapes like bats and hearts, too--probably. Darkstalker stuff. The spray is however kind of a brisk blast though--and Velvet is still unable to fully free himself.

COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Velvet Blue's Neon Carnival.

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

[ARANHA]
The Dancing Spider rushes at Velvet as the spray of energy flies at him. The capoeirista ends up going into a spin as he raises an arm to intercept the energy. The energy gets deflected slowing the capoeirista a little before he finally can manage to get to his opponent.

Aranha manages to deliver one last kick, a hard roundhouse to the ribs before the fatigue of pushing his body beyond what is reasonable finally catches up to him.

Aranha suddenly drops to one knee, panting heavily as his darkstalker physiology temporarily gives out on him.

COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Velvet Blue with Strong Kick.

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

[VELVET BLUE]
"Oof... no use going any harder than that--" Velvet collapses from the web after having been kicked in the chest, struggling against the floor before settling against it, the performer's body rising and falling as he lays against it, with his elbows drawn up underneath his face.

"You can hide yourself from others all you want, but you'll..." he leaned over to cough and retch, "Need to accept yourself eventually... or don't, I guess," he drew himself up, bleary eyed toward Aranha, signalling submission to the ref.

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue takes no action.

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

COMBATSYS: Velvet Blue can no longer fight.

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

[ARANHA]
To capoeirista's surprise, There's no attack incoming. All he needs to do is rise to his feet and he can claim victory. As the official starts to count him out, Aranha gasps desperately for air. The count gets to six before Aranha finally rises to his feet with his hand raised.

"You sanctimonious asshole. How about actually hearing my reasons before you jump to the fucking conclusion that I haven't accepted myself as my reason for wearing sunglasses?"

He turns to go to the rope, stops to turn Velvet before practically spitting out the words with a tone filled with venom, "Only thing you've made clear to me is that you're another one of those darkstalkers who wouldn't listen if I were to tell you my reasons."

With that Aranha slides out of the ring and walks off towards the med tent so he can lay down at let his healing factor take over while he rests.

COMBATSYS: Aranha has ended the fight here.

Log created on 16:30:55 07/20/2021 by Aranha, and last modified on 09:29:08 07/21/2021.