Match of the Millennium

Description: It's finally time for the filming of Lucky Chloe's new video "Kiss of Life' and Raiza, Daisuke and Djamila are playing starring roles. With an overly ambitious director and a cast consisting of amateur actors, what could possibly go wrong?

[LUCKY CHLOE]
The temperature in Sunshine City is sitting at twenty six degrees celsius. The sky is clear and the air is still. Upon the golden and still miraculously litter free sands of Daybreak Beach, there's a crowd of people hard at work. Dressed in hot pink polo tops, they busy around, making sure everything is in place for what's ahead. Today, Sunshine City will play host to the new Lucky Chloe video shoot, Kiss of Life.

At the centre of it all is a small, blonde haired figure wearing a white robe. She's standing with a bored expression whilst one woman dusts powder on her pert nose and another adjusts her pigtails to make sure they are perfectly symmetrical. Her aquamarine eyes drift to the area to her west, where a barbecue has been set up to make sure cast and crew are well fed. A huge cooler full of soft drinks is placed behind it in the shade, providing plenty of options to wash down the grilled goodies with. Both vegan and meat lovers are well catered for, as well as any other dietary needs. There's even both a dairy and non dairy ice cream stand set up.

Once she's finished being made perfect, the popstar shrugs off her robe, revealing the red one piece swimsuit below. Any fans of Baywatch will recognise it as a replica of those worn by the lifeguards in the show. She's not quite filling it the way Pamela Anderson did back in the day, but she's looking pretty cute nonetheless.

"Okay, time to get this show on the road!" she announces, clapping her paw free hands together and doing a twirl. "Where's my cast at?"

Chloe's cast consists of her backing dancer Raiza (also dressed in a red one piece), New Fighting Generation star Djamila and a boy named Daisuke who is today going to play the role of victim. Brian Storm was to be a last minute addition, due to his new status as Lucky Chloe's love interest, but following his dramatic exit (immediately after his entrance) in the recent Rumble, he is currently in a cast, rather than being part of the cast. It's not very convenient.

[RAIZA]
When the call for the cast comes out from Chloe, Raiza looks up from the spicy Buffalo chicken wing that she's in the middle of gnawing the meat off of. As usual, she's been running around trying to get everything that she's responsible for done; she had to squeeze a short shift at her dad's dealership shining up a couple of the cars for an advertisement happening around now between a breakfast of frosted cereal and driving to pick up Daisuke from across town in the new Rapid Red Mustang Mach-E that her father had bought her supposedly as a late birthday present but really in an attempt to lift her out of the spiritual black hole that the so-called first date with Rafferty had left her in and then she'd spent most of the mid-morning running all of the rehearsals for the choreography and now she's just trying to get some protein in a fit of ravenous chicken-lust but now Chloe needs /her/ and not whoever's been left to sub in for the practice shots for the *BIG KISS* scene and she hasn't even figured out where the napkins are!! DX

Taking the emoji off her face, Raiza finishes the last bites, tosses the bones in a bin and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. Then, with no better ideas, she decides to hastily wipe the back of her hand off on the seat of her red one-piece. It's red! Nobody will notice! She then discreetly pops a piece of Extra in her mouth (the gum, not one of the fame-hunters on site) and starts chewing, hoping to obliterate the smell of barbecue off of her breath. After all, that would be super awkward. At least now she can feel a fresh surge of energy as she starts bounding over to where Lucky Chloe and the camera crew are waiting for her. Hopefully it's excitement and not a disruption in her chakras or something!

"Present, Chloe-chan!" Raiza announces with a salute as she stands at attention next to the other members of the cast who are shooting today.

[DAISUKE]
The truth be told, Daisuke had kind of forgotten he had even remotely agreed to participating in any kind of shoot. He's been busy. And going through some stuff, for that matter.

For that matter, Raiza might have found the redheaded student unusually quiet on the way there after she picked him up (with her having been requested to pick him up on some street corner in an attempt to keep his involvement with NFG hidden for at least a bit longer). He didn't even comment on the fact that she *has a car* despite someone of that age being given a license isn't exactly common practice in his home country. Mostly he just... sat there in the passenger's seat in contemplative silence.

The tone for him seems to more or less continue on the set. He might not even be entirely sure *what exactly* he has (allegedly) signed up to do here today, so he has mostly contended himself with running odd jobs in the meantime. The redhead doesn't seem to even properly register the call for 'the cast', despite *definitely* being in hearing range of Lucky Chloe at roughly 5.21 meters to her left, currently in the process of holding out a tray with several bottles of sparkling water out for the cameracrew.

At least he is nominally dressed for the beach. The boy even has long-legged black swimming trunks on down below the... well, very "tourist-y" red-and-white hawaii-patterned button-up shirt. He might not have any idea what's actually planned for him, but he might have figured he could try to clear his thoughts with a quick dip in the water at some point.

Speaking of which, an assistant cameraman *is* trying to discreetly gesture towards Chloe for Daisuke, but the japanese redhead just looks kind of confused and clueless by that.

[DJAMILA]
Djamila,on her end, arrives walking to the beach in a tiny pair of orange shorts and a small orange top. It is more like a bikini, but not quite. She also has her trademark blindfold and staff. She seems in a cheery mood today.

She makes her way to the beach, spinning her staff slowly, only a bit of wind around her. "I am here!" She says when I am close enough. "Hello Chloe, Raiza, and I presume Daisuke is around too? Hello there!" She then settles herself nearby, while waiting for things to start or be told what to do in this case. It's fine. She wants to be there and she's no professional with things like this, so she will follow along.

[LUCKY CHLOE]
Thankfully Chloe didn't spot Raiza wiping the remains of the catering on her costume. So when she's approached by her energetic employee, the dance diva is wearing a smile. "You look good" she approves. "It seems like everything is going to plan so far."

She starts to stretch out her slim body, readying herself for the dance routine that will feature in the video. "Are you excited to be the hero and rescue Daisuke?" she probes playfully.

As the red haired boy stands around wearing a dazed and confused expression, Chloe calls to him. "You need to be by the shoreline, Daisuke! That way you can get blown into the sea by Djamila and Raiza will run through the waves towards you. In slow motion of course."

In the background the extras are all getting into position, perfectly placed at their designated spots on the sand. The effect is meant to be a casual day at the beach, the reality is anything but.

The aforementioned Djamila is dressed in an orange bikini, which clashes horribly with the red spandex swimsuits of those playing lifeguards. "You can tell she's the villain. She's come to create chaos in my colour scheme" Chloe stage whispers, before throwing a wave Djamila's way.

[RAIZA]
When Raiza notices that Daisuke is looking a bit lost, she sort of discreetly (well, not very discreetly - discreetness hasn't really been a big part of her ninja training) slips over next to him and grabs hold of his hand in an amicable manner, a sweet smile on her face. "Hey! Ground Control to Kubo-san! I hope you're not getting nervous thinking about our ~big kiss scene~!" She flutters her eyelashes at him before laughing it off as she starts leading him back toward the shoreline. The gum she was chewing has disappeared at some point. Where it ended up is anyone's guess.

Her ponytail swishes as she turns a look back over her shoulder toward Chloe. "I'm looking forward to it! I've been practicing running in slow motion all week!" she shouts over to her. She's also been brushing up on other things she'll have to do. Fortunately, her parents (along with the rest of the world) aren't aware of the training dummy that she keeps in her closet, and the training dummy, despite its trauma, can't speak.

[DAISUKE]
Getting his name called out is at least something that Daisuke does react to. The now-emptied tray is lowered away from his hands to the nearest convenience surface, before he turns to look towards Lucky Chloe, and he blinks rapidly.

"...I'm doing what now?"

The full weight of apparently having been drafted to be an actor of some sort doesn't even fully set in before even more shocking revelations come his way. First is his friend's hand grasping his own, which alone is enough to make him suddenly *incredibly* conscious of Raiza's proximity. And then the second is her mentioning the ~Big Kiss Scene~.

"Whu--"

Well, now he *is* nervous. The poor boy's face turns completely and utterly red. The brunette herself might laugh it off, but he can't just shake that off now! He's distracted enough by his own rapidly-speeding thoughts now that he doesn't evne have the frame of mind to even consider not getting lead along the beach by hand.

"W-w-wait, you mean, l-l-like-- actual k-... um..." He can't even bring himself to say the word out loud properly! "I m-m-mean..." He coughs, sending a nervous look back to the whole filming crew, before turning to whisper to Raiza. "I m-mean, are you... are you sure about this...?"

His friend's affirming to Chloe that she is in fact looking forward to going through with things damn near makes him sputter again. His heart's probably beating at a rate of an industrial jackhammer now. Though even amidst all of that, something else does catch his bemusement.

"Wait, what do you mean 'trained running in slow-motion', don't they film it normally and, like... edit it...?"

[DJAMILA]
Djamila's amused. Raiza seems completely ready. The one she assume is Daisuke seems completely clueless, like no one told him anything, and he was forced into this. Then there is Chloe, who "whispers" about her outfit and waves to the blind girl. She can't help but laugh at it all. "Chloe babe. You know, my hearing is pretty good, even if I don't think you were trying to hide it from me. But please, babe, how am I suppose to know you're waving at me? I am blind." She laughs again. She's not offended. But the fact is, she mentioned the waving, so somewhat she did notice it. "But I am fine being the villain today, because I know i still look amazing." She gives a wink.

She takes a pause and then asks Chloe. "Did Daisuke even know what would happen and what he would be doing? He looks really surprise... I really don't want to end up drowning him for real there." She seems to be a little worried about that. "So will he really be ok?"

[LUCKY CHLOE]
Chloe can't help but dance in delight, as she watches Raiza take control of the situation. "Good for you, girl! Show him who's boss" she giggles giddily.

"We did discuss this with Daisuke" she assures Djamila. "Or at least I thought we did" she ponders. "Wasn't there some choking or something? I'm pretty sure Raiza had to rescue him then too. Oh well! It's too late to change things now."

Within seconds the tittering teen is gone and she's got her game face on. "Right! Everyone get focused and don't fudge this up! I've got my heart set on a em tee vee award for this and none of you want to be responsible for getting in the way of my dreams coming true."

The crew are ready to get the cameras rolling and as the director counts them down, filming is underway! The first shot is Chloe running down the sand, holding a red rescue buoy. When the upbeat intro to 'Kiss of Life' kicks in, she begins to dance on the spot as several backing dancers sidle up behind her and she starts to sing.

"Felt like I was drowning forever. Like things would never get better. But then you came into my world to rescue me. Opened up my heart and set me free. Yeah, you've given me the K-K-K-K-Kiss of life, you've given me the K-K-K-K-Kiss of life."

The camera pans around to show the dark haired figure of Djamila watching Daisuke as he takes his afternoon stroll by the shore. Uh-oh, looks like danger may be coming!

[RAIZA]
"Well, yeah! I mean, it's like, mouth-to-mouth, but it's also supposed to be kind of romantic, right?" Raiza remarks as she leads Daisuke to their spot, looking entirely comfortable with the situation. She might have some slight nerves about it herself, or whatever that feeling is that's happening in her tummy right now, but she's just trying to follow the advice that she now gives her friend: "Just don't think too hard about it! I'm sure it won't be too bad!"

Then, Daisuke brings up that other thing she said, though --

==*== DAYBREAK BEACH, EARLIER THIS WEEK ==*==

The newly-revitalized beach was crowded with families taking advantage of the summer sun and the recent removal of broken glass and bullet casings from the sands. Children looked up from their sandcastles. Dogs and their owners looked up from their games of fetch. Men and women looked over from frolicking in the sea. All stared in bemused wonder.

However, Raiza noticed none of them as she ran slowly along the beach, her strides deliberate and exaggerated, singing along under her breath to the song playing in her earbuds.

"K-K-K-K-Kiss of life o/~"

==*== BACK IN THE PRESENT ==*==

"Oh, I was just joking!" Raiza answers Daisuke's question as her face turns nearly as red as her swimsuit and one could almost swear that a drop of sweat runs down from her temple.

"Oh, of course Daisuke knows what we're doing! We talked about it back in Japan!" she calls out in answer to Djamila's question. "I mean, I think we did. Right before Daisuke started choking on his noodles," she muses thoughtfully. "Wait, did we definitely tell him the plan, or did we just talk about it together?" she finally asks Chloe, her eyebrows twitching upward.

But before they can come to a consensus, the shooting is already underway! Raiza is in the formation, which she's always thought of as kind of being like on the Ginyu Force - something she reminds herself of whenever she needs some motivation. Her execution of the moves is flawless, her smile operating at just the right kilowattage and her face emotive as she delivers her part of the choreography for the camera. This isn't her first music video with Lucky Chloe, after all - although the acting part will definitely be a first!

Just don't think too hard about it! I'm sure it won't be too bad!

[DAISUKE]
"Did we?!" Daisuke's prompt to protest when people try to assure everyone else of the fact that this was, in fact, planned out with Daisuke's knowledge and consent.

And for the record, Daisuke doesn't seem particularly convinced about Raiza's claim she was just joking about the slow-mo running. It's a very blank, disbelieving look for him. He probably doesn't even need his psychic empathy with it's broken filter to end up with the conclusion he's made in his inner thoughts. But in spite of all that, he decides to just give her a hopefully-placating response of, "Right..."

With him left behind on the beach, he... well, he looks lost again. He still kind of feels like no one's told him anything! It probably takes an AD or something to yell and make signalling gestures at the redhead for him to actually turn and make to walking alongside the shoreline. He looks *very much* nervous. Hopefully that won't translate to the camera. A trained actor he is not, and the understanding that everyoen here is apparently planning to throw him into the ocean... *somehow*, is making matters worse for him.

Maybe if he picks up speed some he can just mosey on out of here like nothing happened, though...

[DJAMILA]
Djamila is amused. The way both Chloe and Raiza tried to assure her Daisuke has been told of all this... It makes her think he basically had no idea of it all. The slowmo from Raiza,5 in all her denial, sounds more plausible. Hopefully she doesn't run in slowmo. Because Daisuke might drown. She doesn't want him to. She will just have to believe there is someone on set that really knows what they are doing.

She starts "observing" Daisuke as he wakes on the beach. It's weird how her head follows Daisuke's moment. She can definitely give the impression she is watching him. So she's the villain, huh? So lets play it. "She makes a face, half between annoyed and smirking, then she spins her staff over her head, gathering wind. Then she puts it toward Daisuke, spinning it faster. The wind pushes Daisuke and if everything works as planned, in the water. She gave the wind a bit more force than not to be sure he would crash in deep water and not in the sand or shallow water. She don't really want to hurt him. But now it's up to Raiza, as she stops spinning her staff and slams it in the sand.

Then a thought occurs to her. Does Daisuke even knows how to swim?! Until she knows otherwise, she decides to keep the comforting thought that he does.

[LUCKY CHLOE]
As the bewildered boy is swept into the sea, it's time for Raiza to take her moment in the spotlight! Breaking off from the pack, the petite Pikachu fan is scheduled to set about sprinting towards the water. (Slow-mo to be added later.)

When she reaches the drowning Daisuke, she will dive into the depths of the waves, supporting him to the safety of the sand before recognising him to be in need of some mouth to mouth action. Whilst the catchy chorus of 'Kiss of Life' plays, it's time for the two Taiyo teens close-up!

At least that's how it's supposed to go down. Lets's see how it works out in reality...

[DAISUKE]
This is gonna be fine, Daisuke tells himself. Like Raiza said, surely it couldn't be that bad, right?

Sure, he has no idea what exactly he is going to be doing when it's time for him to be in the ocean. And his mind might also be caught up into what's supposedly going to be lined up after. Fun fact: Daisuke has not kissed anyone in his life before, and now he's put up to be doing something like that on camera? Sure, it's supposed to be mouth-to-mouth, but still! And with a friend of his too! The boy's cheeks start turning a bit red while he thinks about the absurdity of everything, and how that might affect his friendship with--

And wouldn't you know it, the wind catches him completely off-guard, amidst his now-interrupted thoughts. One second, the boy's feet were on the sand, and the next, a tornado-like gust of air practically slams against him, and he finds himself up in the air at a statistically-unlikely height.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH?!"

The redhead from Taiyo practically ragdolls through the sky like a character from Smash getting hit at 1000% gauge. But instead of the poor boy turning into a twinkle in the sky and disappearing, he inevitably falls down into the waves.

SPLOOSH

Daisuke breaks the surface of the water back-first. He didn't have the time to get a full, proper breath before sinking through. At least he doesn't start flailing in panic underneath the water... yet, anyway.

But his side does sting like something fierce now. The truth is, Daisuke's shirt has been hiding some pretty heavy bandaging along his side, courtesy of getting cut by a sword a week or so back. The wound... *probably* didn't reopen, but the effect of the impact against water tension definitely hurts enough now to take some wind out of him. It leaves him just sinking for a few seconds before he finally gets enough of a conscious thought in him to try to struggle against the water.

Unfortunately, that shirt isn't designed for swimming, either. It weights on the poor boy -- enough so that while he does manage to bring his mouth above water for at least fraction of a second, enough to get a little more air to buy him a bit more time to survive? Between that and the horrid pain in his side and his still-healing arm, he can't quite bring himself *up there*.

And down under he goes again.

[RAIZA]
When the scene kicks off, Raiza is sitting in a beach chair with a pair of sunglasses on, tapping her fingers against the arm of the chair to the time of the beat. The video's director, as a fan of theatre, was weirdly into the idea of trying to do as much as possible in one take, even though most of the actors are total novices. As she rises, Raiza tosses aside the sunglasses, her hair blowing dramatically in the wind generated by Djamila's chi manipulation as she spots Daisuke dropping into the sea. Then, she's off and running - at first in slow motion, due to the unfortunate buildup of muscle memory, but when she realises that Daisuke looks like he might /actually/ be in danger, her speed magnifies multiple times over, genuine distress appearing on her face!

"Don't worry!! I'll save you!!" she improvises a line whose audio will probably be cut from the final video, pulling her goggles down over her eyes before diving into the sea! She's a pretty good swimmer and accustomed to the ocean, having grown up near this shore, and her hidden diving camera (and maybe some aquatic drones) captures her pursuit of her beleaguered classmate. Her arms wrap around him, and she uses her athletic legs to push the pair of them up to the surface, treading water until the tide can push them toward the shore. As her feet find the sand below, she starts dragging him up toward the dry beach, where a designated towel has been set up as a marker for the next shot.

A nervous tingling is running through Raiza, and she can't tell if it's adrenaline from the sense of genuine danger, excitement to be doing her first acting gig, or anxiety about her first -kind of- kiss with a real live boy.

It's probably all three.

Then, with Daisuke on his back and in position, she starts going through the basics of CPR, if only in a cursory manner, timing the light compressions to the beat of the song, being played live in her hidden earbud to assist with syncing up with the eventual video. The tingling intensifies in anticipation...

'K-K-K-K-KISS OF LIFE o/~'

Closing her eyes, Raiza leans down, her lips pressing against Daisuke's mouth, breath fresh with winter mint -

I'm sure it won't be too bad!

- then, suddenly, the tingling becomes overwhelming, and an electric shock jumps from Raiza directly into Daisuke and back! The girl recoils, wide-eyed, the camera capturing her literally shocked expression.

Oops?!

[DJAMILA]
She listens and she does her things. She really hopes Daisuke won't drown. This is not fun at all. But Raiza does save him, and everything goes everything to plan apparently. Daisuke will not die today by drowning. Then it happens... Daisuke will die of electrocution or something. Well what can she do anyway. She just "observes" so to speak. Though she is worried for the young man, to a point... let it not become a mess. Or the kiss of life will become the kiss of death.

[LUCKY CHLOE]
As Lucky Chloe revealed to Djamila on their 'date night', it wasn't so long ago that she had never kissed anyone herself. But now she has had a total of six whole kisses with a certain Mister Storm. She's practically an expert!

Not only is the director of this video a fan of theatre, her favourite film is Before Sunrise. Ever since she had studied it in film school, she'd wanted to pay homage to Richard Linklater's nineties classic. Pretty cool this may be, but it also puts pressure on things to run perfectly.

Thus, when Daisuke basically starts to drown, there's no opportunity for the crew to cut. It's all down to Raiza to be a hero for real. Can she rise to her role?

The brave backing dancer dashes into action, showing significant strength and swimming skill. When she locks lips with the limp lad, it looks like all will be well, but then comes the shock.

Chloe clocks it from a distance, fighting the urge to cry, as the prospect of her video award starts to crumble. Digging her nails into the palm of her hand, she summons all her willpower and blinks back the tears. Whilst the beat of the song becomes more frantic, she darts towards Djamila, intent on reaching her destination for the next part of the story.

Once up close to the vile villainess, she throws herself sideways into the air, performing a vertical spinning kick that knocks Djamila to the floor.

[DAISUKE]
At least Daisuke didn't seem in *terrible* danger anymore. Mostly. He probably did end up swallowing some unfortunate amounts of saltwater before Raiza got to him, but... at least she brought him up for air before anything else could happen.

He does cough faintly when his chest is suspected to even those light compressions. Good thing she's not actually going seriously about it, though, or his ribs might make some complaints. He turns out to be conscious, too -- Raiza will spot one of his eyes peeking open a little bit, dazed as he might be. The instant he sees the brunette above him, he closes his eyes again. suddenly realizing what's coming. Nerves strike through him like electricity, too, part of him potentially wondering if this is the most appropriate thing to do afterall.

But then she comes down, and for just a second, he forgets about all his worries.

After the aforemenetioned second, his worries are replaced by entirely different ones

"BWAGHAGAGAGAGA?!"

Daisuke surely has much less of a resistance to Raiza's electricity than... well, she does, to begin with. To make matters worse, it turns out psionics tend to have a natural incompatability with anything conjured by chi. While Raize herself might recoil with at least relative safety in comparison, there's actual sparks flashing off of poor Daisuke's body while he arches and shakes off the ground like a glitching model in an extremely buggy computer game. There might even be a bit of smoke rising off him towards the end!

At least it doesn't last for too long, before the redhead's convulsions cease and he slumps into a fully limp position on the sands again. Eyes open but, also very much rolled up towards the back of their head while his lightning-struck body lays there, steaming and all.

%".....ggguuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh......."

[RAIZA]
Raiza places the fingertips of one hand on her lips as she looks back down to see the state that her kiss of life (?) has left Daisuke in. Well, at least if he was in need of defibrillation, that might have done the trick. Then, she remembers what the script dictates happen next. The show must go on, right?

So, Raiza lifts Daisuke's limp upper body off of the sand, cradling him in her arms and smiling brightly as she stares longingly at him. It's probably a completely inappropriate expression in this context, but according to the script, her kiss of life has 'worked,' and it's supposed to be implied that it's the start of some sort of sweet teenage romance.

Knowing that the camera will have just switched to Chloe to catch her spinkicking Djamila off the beach (or something like that), though, Raiza does manage to murmur through nearly-clenched teeth, "You okay, Daisuke? I'm so, so sorry!"

At least the redness of panic and embarrassment looks strikingly similar to that flush of blossoming infatuation on her cheeks. The director is surely impressed with her acting method.

[DJAMILA]
Chloe and Djamila talked about this, about the former attacking the latter. It's just with everything happening, she forgot about it, until she has a face full of kick. She makes sure to make her body spin more dramatically, even if the kick hurts like a bitch. Might as well play it out as best as she can.

But she has been kicked, and instinct kicks in. Her staff staying in her hand and it moves up, helped by some winds. That instinct is what makes her appear so quick at times, but right now, it lodges itself so that most likely A body part of Chloe will land on the end of it, perhaps the soft flesh of an inner thigh. Perhaps something else. It probably won't be pleasant. Can one really faults Djamila for reacting on instinct? She's not a professional actress, she's a fighter. A fighter who does everything she can to better herself.

She falls to the ground rather hard. She feels the tension in her staff, but she says nothing at the moment. She follow the script. Hopefully Chloe won't be too hurt or upset.

[LUCKY CHLOE]
This should have been her big break. First step a pop video, second step a Netflix series, third step, the Cannes Film Festival. Paige Taylor had it all planned out but then, disaster struck!

Not only did the red haired and red faced boy appear to have been actually drowning, he's now possibly dead after a series of convulsions. Meanwhile, the star of the show is engaged in a scrap with the staff wielding woman and it seems to be getting increasingly violent. With her heart pounding and her mouth dry, Paige calls "CUT!" before sinking down on the sand in sorrow.

"We're gonna have to take it from the top."

Log created on 09:28:52 08/27/2023 by Raiza, and last modified on 17:28:26 08/27/2023.