Match of the Millennium

Description: Pink-wearing popstar Lucky Chloe makes a guest appearance at the Gorin High fall dance. When one of the students (Natsu) disturbs her set by spiking the drinks - with a volleyball - the idol is not happy!

[LUCKY CHLOE]
"A school dance? Are you serious?"

Lucky Chloe's aquamarine eyes bore into her long suffering manager's brown ones and the older woman ducks on instinct, perhaps anticipating something being thrown her way.

"I thought I was supposed to be getting a rest after that world tour. Do you remember I told you I wanted to try writing some songs for my next album? Do you actually listen to anything I say? I feel like you're not taking me seriously as an artist!"

The manager opens her mouth to reply, but thinks better of it. Her face remains in this expression though, resulting in her resembling a startled fish.

"The money better be good at least" Chloe seethes, sucking angrily on her straw and filling her mouth with grape soda.

Two evenings later the pink clad popstar is getting ready for her performance backstage, which in this case consists of an empty classroom with the blinds pulled down. Adjusting her cat ears, she takes a last look in the mirror and pouts her perfectly painted pink lips together.

"Alright it's showtime, I guess. These brats better be grateful that they've got a real life star at their dumb dance."

Making her way to the main hall of Gorin High School, she stops to wave at a few starstruck students on her journey to the far end of the room. Her saccharine smile is fixed firmly in place and she's wearing her usual costume of a pink and black mini dress with a fluffy pink bolero jacket over it. The jacket comes with attached cat paws covering the singer's own hands and a cat tail and ears continue the kitty inspired theme.

As the teen idol dances her way up the steps to the stage that has been assembled for the purpose of her performance, she turns to look out at the crowd of students and gives them an enthusiastic wave. They are a fit looking bunch, their various sporting pursuits ensuring their bodies are honed and toned to perfection. There's even a few cute guys out there, but she's not here for that! Tonight is purely business.

"Hi Gorin High! I'm Lucky Chloe and I will be your very special guest for tonight. I hope you're having a great time so far. I'm gonna kick things off with a song I'm sure you will all recognise. It got to the top of the charts after all! Remember to join in if you know the words. Although maybe not those of you that can't sing."

"She gives a giggle and a wink before launching into her biggest hit so far, Pretty Kitty, complete with a series of elaborate dance moves. Although she has her detractors, noone can deny the blonde girl knows how to put on a show!

[NATSU]
Not everyone in Gorin High is interested in attending a school dance. Most of the people who aren't interested in such an affair have opted to be home for the evening. However, Gorin High is lso home to a significant amount of sports-oriented students. Many of whom are often more than eager to practice their sports even at somewhat unusual hours.

"Hey, senpai, look," one girl in sporty clothes says while passing through the main hall on the very opposite end of where the makeshift stage has been set up, pointing out the cat-eared woman performing there to the slightly older, six-foot girl in a red sports jacket and short shorts she is flanking along with another junior student. "They got Lucky Chloe to perform here! How do you think they managed that?"

"Hmm?" The tall, amazonesque girl in red slows down just enough in her steps, the hand not holding a volleyball tucked to her side coming up to brush a fringe of dark-blue hair framing her temple out to let her get a peek at the stage without fully turning her facing there. "Oh, her?" She says, sounding largely disinterested. "Who knows? Maybe she's desperate for gigs?"

"Come on, don't say that!" The underclassman on her other side pipes up. "She probably wanted to come inspire the younger generations or something!!"

"Uh... m-maybe?" The tall senior student doesn't seem convinced.

"Hey, hey, we're basically getting a concert without an entry fee here, right? Maybe we should stay and watch for a bit? What do you think, Ayuhara-senpai?"

The blue-haired girl in the red jacket frowns faintly at this, and stops in his tracks, turning to face her two underclassmen with an uncertain look. "Weren't we supposed to practice tonight?"

"Come on! We can make up for it tomorrow! When are we ever going to get a chance like this again?"

"Well..." She gives Lucky Chloe, all the way on the other side of the hall, a look. She really has no interest in idols like that herself, but she can at least sympathize with her juniors' own desire to want to enjoy a makeshift concert even if they aren't planning to attend the dance proper.

"I suppose..." She starts, just to be interrupted by the voice of a certain boy with a baseball bat passing by.

"You're tyrannizing your juniors again, Natsu?" The boy with the bat and a reverse-worn baseball cap looks all too smug when he makes that accusation in his own casual stride meant to just carry him through. He doesn't seem to be intending to pay much attention to this particular event either, but quipping at the familiar girl here was apparently too good of an opportunity to pass by.

Natsu promptly turns from her juniors to scowl at the boy with a huff. "You *know* I'm doing no such thing!"

"Sure, sure," he shoots back over his shoulder, in turn seeming not at all convinced, and still smiling. "It might look less like that if you acted more like that idol up there, you know?"

A vein pops in Natsu's forehead. Saying something like that to her face to begin with is a surefire way to draw her ire, but hearing it said by *him* of all people? That makes her irrationally angry, for some reason.

"Shoma, you..." She hisses, unfurling her arm from around the volleyball as she suddenly leaps up into the air?!

"ABSOLUTE IDIOT!!"

And the ball is powerfully spiked down, fuelled by all of the anger the boy drew out in her. The boy, thankfully, knows the girl well enough that he probably already knew what was coming, and he's quickly (though with no small measure of panic) leaping out of the side, so that instead of the ball crushing him, it instead rebounds off the floor with enough force to crack the wooden boarding, and...

...Continue in flight across the hall.

When Natsu lands on her feet, her eyes go tracking the path of the ball-- and all the anger suddenly disappears and color fades from her face as she realizes just what exactly she has done.

For the ball was spiked with such force that it still has a violent velocity behind it. Thankfully, it flies over the heads of all the students. There is still collateral damage. The ball smashes right into a ceiling-mounted speaker blasting music for Lucky Chloe's performance, damaging it to the point that a brief, high-frequency electrical whine is the only thing it has left to give out before dying down altogether.

And yet, the ball bounces off of it, too. By now, all of the kinetic force has been expended by that impact, so now it is falling down... mostly harmlessly. As harmlessly as a volleyball potentially about to land on someone could be, anyway.

And right now it looks like it's about to land on Lucky Chloe herself.

COMBATSYS: Lucky Chloe has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Lucky Chloe      0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Natsu has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Natsu            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0      Lucky Chloe

[LUCKY CHLOE]
"I'm a pretty pretty kitty" claim the lyrics of the pussycat popstar's song as she works the stage. Her cat pawed hands raise up into the air, clapping out the beat of the tune, which then rapidly changes to a much faster pace as the dance remix popular in Southtown clubs kicks in.

She's in the zone now, forgetting that she's playing at a lowly high school dance. She could just as easily be on stage at one of the stadiums she recently sold out on her tour over six continents.

"Come on, dance with me!" she invites the audience, although the moves on show are likely to be beyond the talents of the average teen.

She's about to launch herself into a showy looking backflip when the volleyball comes flying towards the speaker, abruptly cutting off the pounding pop in its prime and replacing it with a horrific whining sound. (Although perhaps some of her harsher critics would claim there's not much difference.)

Chloe sees it coming out of the corner of her eye, but it's too late to stop it from smacking into her equipment and then knocking her down on the ground face first.

Perhaps one would expect the girl to cry out in anguish, but instead she remains deathly silent, staying eerily still on the stage.

"Oh my gosh! Is she dead?" gasps a titan haired teenage girl, bringing her hand up to her mouth in horror.

"Nah, cats get nine lives don't they?" a muscular boy with a crew cut quips back.

Eventually the idol starts to move, bringing herself back to her sneaker clad feet and stretching out her limbs to test for damage. Finding that there seems to be nothing to be concerned about besides some soreness that will likely switch to some colourful looking bruises by morning, she instead changes her focus to the next area of concern. REVENGE!

Fixing an icy gaze upon Natsu, she extends her right arm and points a cat paw towards her.

"You! I know you did that on purpose! Why would you want to ruin the show here for all these people? Just because it might not be your thing, there's no need for sabotage" she chides.

"Or perhaps you are simply jealous!" she accuses, stepping lightly off the stage.

With a cat like grace she creeps closer to the volleyball player, her eyes locked on the girl the whole time as if fixed on their prey.

A paw moves to the waist of her dress, upon which is a pair of portable pink speakers. As she hits a switch, another one of her hits starts to play.

"Feline fine, because you want to be mine..."

The puntastic words delivered by the dance divas's girlish tone don't quite fill the room like those coming out of the speaker did, but it's clear enough to be heard by anyone in the near vicinity. Some of the bolder students are starting to gather, whilst others back away, sensing there's trouble in the air.

"Chloe! Perhaps you should come away now. I'll make sure you will still get paid" her manager calls out, making an appearance at the back of the hall.

But her words don't come soon enough. The blonde is already airborne, spinning forward rapidly as she attempts to deliver a series of rapid fire chops into Natsu's stomach.

COMBATSYS: Natsu blocks Lucky Chloe's Happy Swing.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Natsu            0/-------/-------|>------\-------\0      Lucky Chloe

[NATSU]
Oh no. Oh *no*. This has turned into the most unfortunate series of events, truly. The color in Natsu's face is still drained away, and the sight of the idol brought down by volleyball going off on it's own wayvard path brings her to covering up her mouth with both hands. The ball itself continues bouncing off the stage and rolling smugly along the cleared path naturally created by the parting of the crowd of students, all too happy with the chaos it has now caused. And gotten away with it, too!

Natsu is not so lucky as to escape blame.

She's so taken off guard by this turn of events that she doesn't even manage to do anything but stare for a moment in silence. Not before Lucky Chloe is getting up on her own. That brings out a breath of relief from the six-foot volleyball player.

Only to get an accusation leveled at her!

"Wait, wha--?!" The bluenette manages, with the best effort of her willpower, to not get angry over the claim of jealousy, but some brief irritation still flashes in her eyes regardless! Still, she composes herself again quickly enough to defend herself with raised hands and a protest of "No, no, no! It was an accident! It wasn't meant to-- Shoma! Tell her I aimed it at--"

She turns her head to look, but the boy with the baseball bat has already taken the express train to Anywhere But Here.

"... Uh. In any case!! I formally apolo--"

But between the sudden renewal of music (though much more quietly) and the faux-catgirl herself spinning through the air to assault Natsu, her apologies may well have gone to deaf ears even if she'd had the time to finish saying them.

"Straight to violence?!"

Natsu Ayuhara may not be a practicioner of an official style of professional fighting, but she's still no stranger to fights themselves. She meets the dancer's rapid airborne approach with one foot dug in to the floor and both her forearms brought up to shield herself.

"Mou--!"

Instinct kicks in, mixed with the desire to push back this sudden and TOtally Unprovoked(?) assault on her person. The moment the chopping strikes from Lucky Chloe see a break between them, Natsu takes her chance. Stomping in to launch herself right at her, with her arm outstretched-- meant to strike it in a clothesline right at her collarbone, and continue using her weight and the momentum of the motion to bring the both of them down onto the floor.

"Would you listen to me, Kore-san?!"

"Senpai, her name is Chloe..." Natsu's junior calls out from a few paces back. In her defense, 'Chloe' is not a very easy word for a native japanese-speaker to pronounce.

COMBATSYS: Lucky Chloe blocks Natsu's Bulldog.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Natsu            0/-------/------=|>>-----\-------\0      Lucky Chloe

[LUCKY CHLOE]
Well that wasn't in the script.

The not so lucky Chloe looks askance as the high schooler is rude enough to block her beautiful move.

"You know, my therapist says there's no such thing as an accident" the popstar purrs.

As the blue haired teen launches herself towards Lucky, the blonde tries to get the hell out of the way. She's not quite fast enough to avoid the attack completely, which will no doubt add to her growing collection of future bruises, but she avoids the worst of the impact and manages to remain on her feet.

Is that a flash of excitement in her eyes as she moves towards the taller girl again? It seems Chloe is now up for a show of a totally different kind, although both forms of entertainment she's famed for involve fancy footwork.

Performing a dancing low kick aimed at Natsu's shins, the pink clad pop icon calls out "One two!" and then spins around with the intention of striking the sporty schoolgirl with a jab of her left paw. She'd then follow this up with a straight punch from the right, aiming upwards to hit her opponent's face. For good measure, she then tries to throw in two spinning horizontal knife-hand chops to the other girl's chest with each of her pink paws in turn.

COMBATSYS: Lucky Chloe successfully hits Natsu with C Uprock.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Natsu            0/-------/--=====|>>>>---\-------\0      Lucky Chloe

[NATSU]
"Eh??" Her therapist said what now? "That doesn't seem like something a therapist should be saying...?"

She doesn't have more time to question the validity of Lucky Chloe's therapist, since right after she's getting rebound off of her attempted tackle, she's finding the idol continuing her attack still!

And here she was hoping she might be able to get her to stop before things went too far...

Instead, the blue-haired volleyball player finds her leg giving way a bit under the reprisal of a kick down below, disturbing her balance enough to clear the way for Chloe to strike her with a series of punches! Recoiling particularly from the sudden paw-gloved strike to the face, before she's pushed further back from the double-knife-hand.

That *hurt*. A gentle flower Natsu might not be, but the vicious combination of strikes still visibly pained the girl and served well to send her reeling back. Even instinctively wiping her hand over her face where she was hit.

But, in her recoiling backsteps, her sneaker-clad foot bumps against something. Something very familiar. She manages to look down with the eye that has not been squinted shut from pain, and what she sees is...

The cause of this whole mess.

"...I guess I will just have to show you..." She mutters, kicking the volleyball she stumbled upon high up into the air. "...What it's like when it's intentional!!!"

And up into the air she leaps, high enough to get herself above even the considerable air given to the volleyball.

"FIREEEEE--!!!"

And SLAM goes her right fist from overhead to strike into the volleyball, spiking it furiously down at Lucky Chloe. But now it's not coming down at her in some gentle rebounding fall, no. It is coming with the full force of Natsu's signature spike!!

COMBATSYS: Lucky Chloe interrupts Tokkun Spike from Natsu with Aerial Arc EX.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Natsu            1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\-------\0      Lucky Chloe

[LUCKY CHLOE]
Natsu is not the first person to wonder about the credentials of Chloe's therapist, but that's an argument for another day. Right now the perky pink wearing popstar is intent on punishing the girl with enough gall to interrupt her show, be it intentionally or otherwise.

Her paw punches the air in delight as her series of blows batter the Gorin student and there seems to be a rather gleeful grin on her youthful face.

The idol's manager is looking nervous now. Although the saying goes that there's no such thing as bad publicity, it probably isn't good for her client's image to be seen beating up members of her most high rating demographic. Several of the dance attendees have taken out their cell phones and are recording the fight. By the time they've uploaded their videos online and then other users have shared the footage to their acccounts, they could have a full blown scandal on their hands! Although at least if Chloe wins then it would be a good advertisement for her fighting career.

"Come on Chloe!" she calls out, hoping to claw back something good from the fiasco.

The bouncy blonde watches as her enemy (the volleyball of violence) and Natsu rise up into the air with the aggressive sounding cry of "FIREEEEE--!!!"

"Oh shit!" the cat girl murmurs. Maybe that can be bleeped out later?

As the ball comes hurting towards her, the dancer knows she has to act fast. She rocks onto her back foot, claps her paws together and then rears back, before launching herself forwards to hit the ball back towards Natsu with a double axe-handle smash. Wincing with the impact, she then lets out a sigh of relief as she manages to hit her opponent with their own weapon of choice. Maybe she should take up volleyball as a hobby? Although her technique could do with some work.

[NATSU]
That is... unexpected. Even in the stage of her chosen sport, when someone is faced with that ludicrously powerful spike, most people try not to receive and rebound it straight on.

"Ugh--?!"

And even more unexpected is for Natsu to find the spiked ball to come right back at her, striking her square in the forehead and sending her form flipping around a few times over before landing onto her butt on the floor.

Groaning out in pain, she still manages to scramble back up to her feet quickly -- and even give a squinting smile back to the way of the idol. "Hah... Your form's not great for that kind of thing, you know? YOu're going to break your wrists if you keep trying that..."

She could still try to just leave it there. There's that briefest moment of calm where no blows are thrown quite yet, afterall. But despite the rational part of her brain telling her to try to settle this without any further violence-- now it really is starting to become a point of pride, too.

So instead of an attempt at calming words, the volleyball player launches herself at the catgirl-idol again! There's no complicated technique here this time, either-- just the amazonesque high school girl sweeping in while, hopefully, she's still recovering from her improvised receive, and--

Simply aim to slug the idol in her face. We *did* say Natsu isn't a professional practicioner of any martial arts. But damned if she doesn't have a naturally strong right hook anyway!

COMBATSYS: Natsu successfully hits Lucky Chloe with Improvised Punch.
- Power hit! -

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Natsu            1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1      Lucky Chloe

[LUCKY CHLOE]
As the track switches to 'Cat That's Got The Cream' Lucky Chloe gives a satisfied smirk. It feels good to beat someone at their own game and she allows herself a moment to celebrate her little victory before regaining her focus on the fight.

"You worry about which parts of you get broken and I will take care of myself" she suggests to Natsu, shaking out her fluffy paws to prove they are still working.

When the Gorin girl comes at her with a good old fashioned punch, Chloe finds herself smacked hard on the nose, bringing tears to her bright eyes.

"I'm not crying!" she insists, the salty liquid coming from a natural reaction to the impact, rather than any sorrow. It's soon joined by a trickle of blood running down from her nostril however, which she hastily wipes away with her paw. That's some dry cleaning that her assistant will have to take care of. For now though, the Lucky lass shrugs it off, instead focusing on how she can hit back. Since she's still slightly shaken, she keeps it simple too, aiming another kick towards the Amazonian athlete's shins and again calling out the familiar cry of "One two!"

COMBATSYS: Natsu interrupts Medium Kick from Lucky Chloe with Knock It Off!.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Natsu            1/-----==/=======|=======\======-\1      Lucky Chloe

[NATSU]
That felt surprisingly good. Natsu isn't one for a mean kind of streak, but she can't help but allow a faint smile to sneak onto her lips over Chloe's reaction to the punch. Still, she has the good modicum to not call her out on the tears that came out.

But she does *not* have the mind to let her just get another kick in free of charge, no. The amazonian girl's eyes narrow as Chloe comes sweeping in--

And suddenly, she stomps forward, thrusting her hand out to grab her by the collar of the bolero jacket just before her foot finds proper purchase. Natsu herself still finds herself lightly wincing, as she can't hoist her up by that particular hold quick enough to stop the momentum of the kick in full.

But she did catch Chloe nonethless.

"Would you just listen and...!" She practically growls out, lifting her free hand up, palm open, and--

"CUT!"

SMACK! Her palm slaps across Chloe's cheek.

"IT!"

Her arm swings right back for a backhanded smack across the idol's opposing cheek.

"OUT!!"

And one more hit, with a slightly longer wind-up that sees Natsu's hand smashing violently enough into Chloe's face to smack her right back away from the volleyball player's grip.

[LUCKY CHLOE]
The singer startles as Natsu comes at her again.

"These costumes are expensive" she yells, when the bluenette takes hold of her fluffy feline fashion statement.

There's a brief hint of pleasure as the kick hits its target, but the smile is wiped off the idol's lips rapidly when she's slapped across the face. Natsu's hand strikes her right on the cheekbone, causing Chloe to wince and then yelp when the second blow hits. By the time the third one lands, she's reeling and fighting to stay stable on her feet. Eventually she loses her balance, landing on her backside and causing her cat tail to be pushed sideways.

Those aquamarine eyes narrow and she gets slowly to her feet, keeping her gaze locked on the other girl the whole time.

"You're not bad" she admits. "I'm not done yet though."

Pressing a button on her speaker, the music becomes fast and frenzied. As the relentless beat echos around the high school hall, Chloe starts to clap in time to it, before dropping down on to her hands. She begins to breakdance, causing numerous gasps from the crowd.

"Here we go!" she yells out, whilst attempting to kick Natsu repeatedly with her outstretched legs.

If she manages to strike her she will then kick the girl up into the air with both feet and then aim to smash her with her right paw on the way back down. Should her attack go to plan, she will give a victorious shout of "Oh yeah!" and then strike a pose with one paw up to her ear. It's an image that's been mass produced on posters and adorns the bedroom walls of many tweeners and teenagers.

COMBATSYS: Natsu blocks Lucky Chloe's Here We Go!.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Natsu            1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0      Lucky Chloe

[NATSU]
"You really still want to keep going...?" Natsu wonders out loud with a somewhat displeased frown. Did she actually think smacking her several times over would just... make her want to stop? After everything else that has gone down?

Maybe a girl can hope at least a little.

Even as Chloe is getting up and declaring her intent to keep going, Natsu is making one more effort to try to convince her, with her hands held up while she speaks. "Come on, this is getting ridicilous, we really shouldn't--"

But the music changes? Natsu halts her diplomatic attempt with a confused blink. "Wait, what are you...?"

And breakdancing?! Natsu stares at her in confusion for a few seconds before she realizes what she's getting up to! "Ah?!"

Good thing it wasn't a second later, too. Otherwise she might not have had the time to bring up her arms to guard herself. Taking the brunt of the first windmilling kick to her left forearm in order to give herself enough time to back up away from the advancing assault. Her eyes narrow in the meantime-- and when both of Chloe's feet come for the finale, she suddenly stomps forward and thrusts her hands up, like she was deflecting an incoming volleyball! Except now it's catching the idol's feet instead of a ball, and just giving enough of a thrust to shove her kick away.

"Guh, won't you just listen?!" Natsu groans out after, in frustration, stomping after Chloe while she's landing and straightening up from her rebuked assault. "I said cut it out!!"

The fact that Natsu decides to try to reinforce this command with a quick uppercut aimed for Chloe's chin probably doesn't help with persuading her at all.

COMBATSYS: Lucky Chloe blocks Natsu's Medium Punch.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Natsu            1/---====/=======|=======\-------\0      Lucky Chloe

[LUCKY CHLOE]
"Lucky Chloe never gives up!" the dance diva defiantly states in response to the sporty schoolgirl.

The blonde is certainly determined, it's how she's made a success of her career so far, but determination can only go so far. There is also ability to consider and luck, which doesn't seem to be on her side right now.

As her most famous fighting footwork is thwarted, her jaw tightens in anger. She's starting to realise there's a very real chance she could lose this fight she picked.

The Gorin girl's athletic prowess shines through, as she reacts to Lucky's lithe legs. The popstar is sent toppling backwards. She's agile enough to turn it into a backwards roll, which spares her from the brunt of Natsu's uppercut, but it does manage to catch her slightly on the chin. Rubbing at her face in silence, she gets to her feet and gives her opponent a thoughtful look.

It's the most still the idol has been all night. It almost seems like she's trying to catch her breath. Is she struggling to keep up with the pace and pressure?

Then, within a split second she's back in motion again, spinning repeatedly in the air and starting to sparkle with purple coloured chi!

The energy is shining so brightly that it is difficult for Natsu to see what's coming next. She may only know if Chloe manages to make contact.

COMBATSYS: Natsu Toughs Out Lucky Chloe's Lucky Corkscrew!

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Natsu            2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=------\-------\0      Lucky Chloe

Lucky lands on Natsu, kicking out her foot to smash it into her head. As the purple energy starts to disperse, the curious crowd of students watch intently, trying to see how much damage the girl hired to entertain them has managed to do. Will she prove value for money?

[NATSU]
Natsu's foot stomp down to stop her from sliding too far ahead after her knuckles just barely grazed Chloe's chin. The amazonian bluenette narrows her eyes while the idol just stands there.

"Well? Had enough afterall?" She asks of the idol.

The answer Chloe gives her is definitely not one that she wanted.

The bright flash of light takes her off guard, and damn near blinds her. The volleyball player even brings one arm up in a vain effort to shield her eyes from the brightness. She can't see her. She can only tell she's doing something-- and whatever it is, that energy is sure to be trouble!

"...Oh, screw it."

So it's time for a gamble on her part, then. Stamping her foot down, she lunges right at Chloe, blindly, with her arms held up to brace herself--

Only for the attack to come from above instead.

"Ghah?!"

Chloe's foot lands square on the center of Natsu's skull. Time seems to stand still, in that moment, with Chloe suspended in the air by her foot slammed atop the poor girl's head, Natsu's head recoiling downwards in slow motion and knees visibly buckling. There might be a concussion coming...

But maybe it's just a pure force of defiance, but... When time seems to resume, Natsu does not, in fact, fall down.

"...HHhhaaaaahhhh!!!"

Instead of giving away underneath her, her legs continue the blind charge, and her arms, braced for frontal assault, snap further up and grab at Chloe's leg. Still blinded temporarily by the light, it's not a very effecient grab. It's just enough for her to give a shove with her own momentum. Not so much to hurt her anymore, but to just send her away from her, and disrupt her intended path of recovery.

And she keeps charging forward still, even after bowling past (through?) Chloe. She has a target elsewhere.

"I tried to be reasonable!" She yells out when she reaches her intended target, spinning around with one wide-sweeping foot catching the earlier-forgotten volleyball, kicking it up in the air again. "But you had to challenge our pride too!!"

Just like before, Natsu - with blood dripping down over her forehead now as evidence of the hit she just took a few seconds earlier - leaps high after the volleyball. But something is different now. Faint, blue glow emenates around her arms. And around the volleyball.

"So I will show you what it's worth!!"

Her hand reaches high, and spikes into the volleyball from above.

"FIIII--"

BAM! THe volleyball descends upon Chloe with a trail of blue energy. But wait. Her other arm is lifting up now, too, and... there's *another* volleyball?!

--REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

Seemingly suspended in air, the girl sends a veritable *mass* of volleyballs raining down upon Chloe, saturating the area around her enough to likely encourage the onlookers to start backing away, lest they turn into collateral damage!

COMBATSYS: Natsu successfully hits Lucky Chloe with Thousand Spikes.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Natsu            0/-------/---<<<<|======-\-------\0      Lucky Chloe

[LUCKY CHLOE]
Chloe can't but help but admire the guts of the Gorin girl. Flying towards danger instead of away from it is a brave choice and one that is certainly paying off for her imposing opponent.

Paws For Thought, the track that gave her recent tour its name starts to play at the exact same moment that Chloe makes contact with Natsu's noggin. The hit is clean, but doesn't do quite as much damage as she'd anticipated. At least if the volleyball player's response is anything to go by. She somehow remains on her feet, causing cries of approval and encouragement from her schoolmates. School spirit is strong and the crowd are definitely on Natsu's side now, even those who are devoted fans of the kitty cat crooner.

As the schoolgirl uses her own motion against her, Chloe finds herself hurtling through the air. This isn't where her torment ends though, as she's soon followed by an onslaught of volleyballs heading her way. She starts to desperately wave her cat paws, attempting to punch them out of the way, or at least block them from battering her body and face. They have been launched by a Gorin student though and everyone in Southtown knows how skilled in sports those kids are. Every single ball except one smacks into the songstress. It's perhaps only her avoiding this one that saves her from being knocked out. Instead she is still able to function but barely and it's with none of her usual nimbleness that she scrambles up from the ground.

Staggering towards Natsu, she waves her now bloody cat paws, causing even more of the students to back away from the fighting females.

"That all you got?" she questions, with an almost amused expression.

She starts to wave to the crowd, perhaps hoping to claw back some support and then drops down on her paws to perform a breakdance spin. As she kicks out towards Natsu with her legs, she calls out "Lucky!" and then transitions into a handstand, before attempting to follow through with a double vertical spin kick to the other girl's chin and upper torso. She will finish off upside down, facing away from Natsu and using her own hands to support herself. From this position she will bend her knees and strike a pose before flipping back to her feet. Well, that's her plan at least!

COMBATSYS: Lucky Chloe successfully hits Natsu with Air Tracks EX.
?!? Weird Hit! ?!?

[                         \\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Natsu            0/-------/-<<<<<<|=======\-------\0      Lucky Chloe

[NATSU]
Natsu lands down on the floor after the final duplicated volleyball has been spiked down. She does almost buckle when she does land, on account of... well, everything. And by now she has to wipe her arm over her face to prevent blood from getting into her eyes.

But Chloe is, much to Natsu's own shock, still up on her feet, too. She stares at the songstress, unsure of how to respond to her taunt and bloody-pawed wave.

She doesn't quite manage to come up with a decent response to it before she has to defend herself again, either. She sees the faux-catgirl's motion, knows how to expect it this time too. But her legs don't move quite right, everything feels a bit dizzier after that sharp strike to her nogging.

And her arms ultimately don't come up far enough, quick enough.

"Aghuh--" Comes out from the bluenette's throat as her head is sent recoiling back by the initial kick -- and no sound is left to be let out once the spinning kicks pummel into her. The violent force sends her buckling back again, and hopelessly stumbling backwards... and her balance dipping dangerously back...

Only for her to forcefully swing herself back forward again, wobbling forward a few steps worth and almost falling over on her face instead, only avoiding such a fate by her sneaker-clad foot defiantly stomping onto the floorboards.

"T-...that..." She lets out as she lifts her head up again, to smile at the idol with a bloodied face of her own. "...All you got...?"

One last stretch, she thinks in her mind. One last charge to make at this pop singer. And it's one last charge she makes, too, seeming to gear up for another punch to swing at the woman.

But halfway there, she suddenly drops her whole form down -- knees going down to the floor and sending her into a quick slide the rest of the way. "Ikeeeee--!"

And as she just comes to pass Chloe, her arm swinging in from down low to an upward arc, mimicing one of her own trusted ball-intercepting maneuvers-- except aiming to slam her fist into Chloe's knee, instead, hoping to take that leg out from underneath her!

COMBATSYS: Natsu dazes Lucky Chloe with Sliding Receive!

[                          \\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Natsu            1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0      Lucky Chloe

[LUCKY CHLOE]
Chloe the cat girl holds her position long enough to earn her a few murmurs of appreciation from the crowd. Once she's back on her feet, she gives the gutsy Gorin girl a grin, each of them now marred by the brutality of their battle.

"I think I may have one of my nine lives left" the popstar purrs.

Watching curiously as Natsu kneels down and then starts sliding towards her, she tries to get the hell out of the way. She's not quick enough to avoid the impact from the Amazonian athlete's fist of fury though and she mews in pain as she's struck straight on the kneecap. She rocks back, smacking her head on the hard hall floor and dazing herself in the process.

She groggily gets up, but not fully to her feet. Instead she throws herself into a backwards roll, seeing stars in the process. As she moves across the ground towards Natsu, she stretches out her foot, aiming at the girl's chin. She then scissors her legs together, trying to smash her opponent's torso between them, before releasing her limbs and pulling her knees up to her chest. From this position she will try balancing on her hands, again kicking out, this time aiming for Natsu's stomach and then attempting to use the momentum to throw herself feet first at full force into the blue haired teen. If she can still manage to, after all that exertion, she will get back up to her feet and strike another pussycat pose, with her paws punching the air.

COMBATSYS: Lucky Chloe can no longer fight.

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

COMBATSYS: Lucky Chloe successfully hits Natsu with Kick Up.
- CRAZY Hit! -

[                                <
Natsu            1/---====/=======|

[NATSU]
Natsu manages to get herself up on her feet again just barely before Chloe does, between the distance covered further by her slide and... well, the multitude of bruises built up on her body. Not to mention the blood still dripping down from her scalp and trying really hard to blind her.

And she wobbles more. It's about all she can do to *stay* up...

Which, honestly, doesn't leave much room for margin of error when it comes to Chloe's final challenge. The bluenette just manages to turn around, and she even tries to use her own wobbling to duck herself down out of the way, but in the end...

WHAM.

It might be considered a miracle that Natsu isn't simply knocked over by the rapid array of kicks by now. Maybe the momentary squeeze from Chloe's legs actually inadvertantly kept her balance up? But that continued upright stance does result in her being left there in the way of the final few vicious kicks that send her skidding across the floor.

Natsu's left coughing and hacking in pain at the end of it all. And yet, wobbling back forward with one step, two steps, as Chloe lands on her feet ahead of her.

For just a few seconds, the volleyball player stares at the idol, panting heavily, blood dripping down...

And then, finally, loses all the strength in her legs. Her body sweeping over forward, and collapsing down in perfect synchronization with Chloe herself -- landing face-first right next to her on the floor.

And that's all that is left. A soundsystem ruined by the ricochet of the first volleyball not even intended for Chloe, the floor shattered here and there by the violent spikes of volleyballs that followed-- and two girls who beat the snot out of each other left laying there in the middle of it all, surrounded by the Gorin High students, most of who had gathered here for the dance and the concert.

"Ano..." One of the two juniors who had accompanied Natsu earlier chimes out, to break the akward silence otherwise only broken by the continued playing of music from Lucky Chloe's mobile speakers. "Should we, like... call the nurse...?"

COMBATSYS: Natsu takes no action.


COMBATSYS: Natsu can no longer fight.

Log created on 05:37:04 09/25/2021 by Natsu, and last modified on 02:07:35 09/29/2021.