Match of the Millennium

Description: The Darling Girl Next Door and The Brawny Burly Beast! It's a match that promises to bring new meaning to concept of 'Wet n' Wild!'

[CHEVY]
The SlamMasters Arena is packed to capacity on this night, with audience members buzzing with anticipations. Drinks are flowing, people are talking, high-strumming music is playing on the jumbotron -- it's a great time all around. New Fighting Generation series may have struggled to find its feet in the beginning, but now that audiences around the globe have been able to follow these twenty fighters to this thrilling finale, enthusiasm couldn't be higher.

Pre-roll footage shows a little bit more about the various fighters, building up the hype for both. Braun may have started in Metro City, but there's no doubt that the man has made an impression -- holding his own against the Genners fresh from their Rumble. The footage shown makes a point of highlighting Braun's feral tenacity -- and his fans in the audience are quick on the draw, roaring in chorus with each time he shows up on screen.

Much like the NFG itself, the current points leader took a while to build up speed. Chevy's pre-roll footage dwells a moment on her first-round elimination in Southtown, and her slow progress through Sunshine City, culminating in a dynamic performance at the tail end of the Rumble. Brief clips are shown from her Metro City fights -- along with a few moments of her supposed 'feud' with Coco at the end of her fight with Hawksley Moore. Just enough to build hype without showing -too- much...

The jumbotron goes into a slideshow of ads for local attractions like Vito's Restaurant and the Highlander as the lights go down. It's a good minute or so, giving people time to finish their drink purchases and find their way back to their seats.

And then the fast strumming intro of Misirlou rocks the house down. Chevy's fans leap up with their hands in the air -- and it seems -some- fans have been prepared enough to hold up white and blue sheets of poster paper for a 'wave!'

Lights snap on a moment later, above an entry door on one end of the arena. And a moment after that, the redheaded "Girl Next Door" of the NFG makes her appearance, holding her right hand high! Her left hand keeps her pole and buckets steady behind her as she surfs out along a wave that acts like a floating carpet! She's sporting the same look she had against Zarine: lightly distressed denim jacket and matching flared jeans. Name recognition is secure: 'Team' and 'Thunder' are styled upon her legs, 'THUNDER' upon the seat of the high-waisted jeans, and a fashionable 'Chevy' upon the back. And while the Rumble had her surfing the ramp at high speed, she chooses to slalom back and forth down the ramp this time, mugging for the audience to make the most of her stage time.

Flash bulbs ignite -- well, phone cameras, mostly -- as she pulls to a stop just beside the ring. She waves to the audience one more time -- then levels out her pole. She grins, as the water 'jumps' into her buckets like two obedient dogs -- drawing some measure of applause.

And in the next moment, she lifts her leg, and practically rolls into the ring, keeping her pole level throughout the process. She rises to stand, waving once more to the crowd!

"Hey, y'all...!" she cries out, as a microphone is extended to her by the event staff. "Are y'all ready for an -awesome- fight? I just cain't for you all to see it!"

Chevy is practically aglow -- and not just because all the spotlights are on her for the moment. She's heard great things about her opponent from Hawksley -- and if he comes well-regarded by the Irishman, she knows she's got a good chance of having a great time!

[BRAUN]
A bestial arena trembling roar begins to make its way through the arena as Chevy's finishes her entrance and the NFG's own burly, brawny beastman begins his. The loudspeakers blare with the echoing blast of the leonine thunderous cry which itself then seems to merge seamlessly with the revving roaring sound of a massive motorcycle as the brute slowly rolls into view atop a gigantic black and gold Harley CVO as rock music blares and the audience takes up the fading roar that had been played with cries of their own in support of the incoming massive man. Dark shades hide his narrowed eyes but he slowly grins, massive fangs and canines bared as he looks over the arena and the long ramp leading towards the ring while allowing the music to continue and the crowds to react accordingly.

There are some who are less inclined to be caught up in the moment. The sentiment towards Darkstalkers is well known these days and the shifter seems well categorized as one of them by both media and other fighters..but they seem largely in the minority at the moment as it's clear the would be NFG Beast has earned his welcome and place here.

A moment later and he's revved the bike up again and then takes it down towards the ring itself, letting its echoing rumble shake the audience closest to the ramp and then he does a slow circle of the ring, somehow managing to give the sense of prowling, despite riding the immense bike.

Before long, he kicks to a stop and then presses his gigantic body up to stand atop it...and then vaults from it, leaping towards the ring to land and balance atop one of the turnbuckles and then again to powerfully impact in a crouched pose on the far opposite end of Chevy. His garments are his usual battle gear, though cleaned for once. Vest and leggings of black and gold with his massive feet and hands bared and a tattered hip cape that is emblazoned with the symbol of Team Blaze upon it.

Upon standing, he reaches up and slowly removes his dark shades, revealing squinted golden-brown eyes that lock onto Chevy with that big grin still on his face.

"Weeeeellll.." he rumbles, "We finally meet up! I feel like I should bow or somethin'.." he drawls, a cheerful tone rumbling through his heavy dragging voice somehow. "It aint often I'm the clear 'underdog'..or should I say 'cat'.." The massive 'thundercat' looking brute flicks his glasses absently into the air, sending them tumbling back towards where his bike rests.

"I kinda like th'feeling..."

[CHEVY]
There's really no sense in trying to fight against the wave of an opponent's arrival. It's the moment of -peak hype-. Everything about the incoming fighter is just one hundred percent positive. It's just unfathomable.

Chevy wouldn't do that anyway. She's the NFG's girl next door. She -likes- her opponents, in all but a few select cases -- and even then, she wouldn't out-and-out try to down them.

Here, though? It might not show up on the big jumbotron, but videos would definitely make their way onto the internet of Chevy's jaw dropping at the beautiful exhaust note of the CVO, or the gorgeous black and gold paint style. Braun's machine is a literal work of art and the shadetree mechanic makes absolutely zero attempt at hiding her enthusiasm. Of course, the jumbotron starts to show footage of the redhead's gaze following the Harley as it rolls its way around the ring, her eyes as wide as saucers.

Darkstalker? What darkstalker? The man has a killer bike. And as Braun leaps into the ring, Chevy hops back with feigned surprise -- and about the biggest grin she can manage.

"Hey, ain't nothin' written in stone! You've been kickin' butt out there, Braun! I got my work cut out for me!" His record's definitely better than hers was, considering...

"And I ain't -never- had a bike as cool as that. What a dang -entrance!-"

Miss Beaumont hands the mic back, smiling as the crowd gets their cheers on and the officials launch into their own schpiel. She bobs lightly from one foot to the other, twirling her staff around in a figure-eight as a light warmup. And when the time comes, she throws a hand up.

"Are y'all ready for the high tide? Wooooo!"

Her fans in the audience roar out in chorus, launching into another wave.

"Alright -- don't go easy on me, Braun -- cause I sure won't! Let's make some noise!"

COMBATSYS: Chevy has started a fight here.

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Chevy            0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Braun has joined the fight here.

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Chevy            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Braun

[BRAUN]
Her enthusiasm is infectious. Chevy's reputation is clearly not just all talk and the bubbling energy she brings is legitimate and drags another lopsided smirk off out of the roughened mercenary turned professional fighter. He paces back and forth a few times, rolling his massive shoulders and then bouncing up and down on his feet, shaking his immense frame as if building up a reserve of energy.

"Ooooh? Well, well, I wasn' expectin' you to be a connoisseur o'rides like that. Color me surprised! Y'can have a good look at it whenever y'want.."

He wags a finger back and forth, "And y'better not go easy on me darlin' and y'can sure as hell bet I'm not gonna just roll over. So..."

Braun's huge legs move back and forth in a bouncing display of footwork as he adds, "Let's 'ave some fun, alright!"

He seems to flash into movement, launching like a shell fired from a tank or a battleship as he bears down towards her as a blur of fur, fangs and claws.

His massive arm raises and drags behind him with chi beginning to crackle to life and then rend through the air behind the arcing movement of his arm.

An instant later and he's sliding to a stop and completing the swing of his arm to whip out in front of him and send an arcing jagged wave of physical force and burning energy cutting through the air in a wide sweeping wave for the other fighter.

COMBATSYS: Braun successfully hits Chevy with Shockwave Claw.
- Power hit! -

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Chevy            0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0            Braun

[CHEVY]
Water sloshes in Chevy's buckets as she sways back and forth, pacing to a short distance from center ring. She's been preparing for this fight for some time -- the anticipation is hot for the start of this tournament after a great run in Metro City.

The freckle-faced Southerner nods in reply to Braun as he invites her to take a look. "Oh, definitely!"

She seems more than pleased that he's going to give it his all, as well. At the beginning of her career she might've been okay with -less- than the best, but now she feels that she can stand up to the challenge. "Yeah! Hawksley ain't got no shortage of nice things to say about'cha. So I'm ready for ya...!"

Though the bell will signal the first test of that resolve. When the seven-foot-tall terror thunders forth, she raises her pole before her, defensively, thinking that such a dramatic push will send him forward into a punch -- and she'd be ready for -that-.

But when the burning shockwave rolls off that fist, showing no signs of slowing down... Chevy flinches, pulling her pole and buckets to the side at the last moment, ineffectively throwing her shoulder into the jagged wave.

It slams into her with the sound of splintering firewood, cracking against her -- and carriest her in reverse, slamming her back into the turnbuckle a moment later. Water splashes out of her buckets as she's hurled back, spilling the goods all along the mat. The audience gasps as the NFG points leader flails like a ragdoll against the post before doubling forward, teeth grit in pain. With the very first strike, the Southern sweetheart looks like she already looks like she could use a breather!

She leans on her pole for support.
Lifting herself up, she rocks forward with a grin.

And belts out a laugh.
"Hahaha! What's this you said about bein' an underdog?"

The denim jacket doesn't show it yet -- but the Southern fighter's shoulder is a bit more injured than she wants to let on. It's a testament to Braun's gregarious nature (and maybe also his kickass ride) that she's willing to give him the best performance she can.

"Alright..." she continues, brushing her nose against her jacket sleeve. "Enough wallowin' around... ah hope you're ready!"

Her buckets' contents have spilled all over the ring. But that's less of a problem, and more of a solution now. Misirlou may have stopped playing but the beat lives on in her mind as the beginner surfer runs at the nearest puddle. After the second puddle, she's collected enough water so that she can surf towards Braun -- and, riding the growing wave like a surfboard, she builds up speed with an intent to crash into him! Her intent would be to pin her pole against his body, using her waterbending to give her a mighty boost, lifting the burly guy right off his feet -- and slamming him against the opposite turnbuckle!

COMBATSYS: Braun blocks Chevy's Mudskipper.

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Chevy            0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0            Braun

[BRAUN]
"Aww man. Hawksley talkin' me up eh? Sheesh. My cheeks are burnin' with all this good will and cheer from you folks. Here I was tryin' to be the 'bad boy' but I guess I just aint got the chops." Braun quips after recovering from his initial assault. His eyes do squint, having take note of the force of the impact of his assault on Chevy but he's no fool. A good first strike can be meaningless in the face of such talent. She's not the leader in points for nothing and hey, her last fight against that very self same Hawksley was one he took particular note of. He's not exactly the type of fighter that prepares in advance, preparing to live in the moment and adapt on the fly as opposed to come in with strategies ready to go...but it was hard to not sit up and take note and then do just a little bit of studying in advance once he saw who he'd be up against. To drop his guard now after what he counts as a lucky first hit would be basically just giving her the victory on a silver platter.

Thus when she comes in towards him, he's practically bounced back towards a ready position again, turning towards her as she rides the wave of water with skill to put any waterbender tribe member to shame. Both of his huge arms come up just before impact and he reaches out and manages to grasp for the pole to attempt to brace his body and push back against her assault. It's partially successful as he's still shoved backwards and lifted up partially with a grimace but his feet touch down perhaps sooner then she'd have liked and he pushes back against her to try and throw her off balance while also pushing away to continue sliding backwards a few more paces for the turnbuckle.

Just before impact he jumps, riding the momentum of the blunted attack to complete the distance on his own terms and land atop the turnbuckle which distorts under his great weight and then wobbles violently as he springs from it and kicks a massive leg out attempting to land one of his large feet powerfully into her torso.

COMBATSYS: Chevy blocks Braun's Light Kick.

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Chevy            0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0            Braun

[CHEVY]
"'Bad boy?' Maybe if you stutter it a bit, like: b-b-b-b-bad..." In Chevy's mind, Harleys and certain car models are inextricably tied to classic rock like 'Bad To The Bone,' and if Braun is quick to pick up on that, he might just have -another- point of commonality with the freckled redhead.

One thing leads to another, though -- and in this case, her waterborne rush results in Braun ending up atop the turnbuckle in a manner not -quite- like she planned. Kicking free of the wave, Chevy plants her feet on the mat and twists her pole free of Braun's grip. The wave crests upwards, its volume bifurcating into twin streams that splash up into the hydromancer's buckets as she steps backwards to recover. It seems she's been practicing a -lot- more with her talents as of late.

Braun's counterattacking kick is met with her raised pole. The water trembles with a resonant hum within its buckets, which might sound really cool if it weren't also rattling the handles at the same time. Still -- it's not doing all the work, as Chevy's arms shudder with the shock -- and one eye winces shut as the earlier bruise is brought back to mind.

"What year is she, anyway? The Harley I mean. You got 'er lookin' clean!"

Chevy seems to be wanting to think about anything -but- her injury as she ass with a grin. She's also making good use of her time, twisting the pipe back to a vertical and then changing her grip, as she manipulates the lower bucket to skate upwards and bump against its sibling with a light *clank*.

Once Braun is back on her feet, Chevy steps in with an attempt to modify that situation, reaching for his right wrist with her right hand. She'll try and hold on tight, while abruptly throwing her pole out to her left. She's been told that she could really inflict some damage if she used the water for brute-force attacks -- but that isn't the goal here, as she plans to use her body as a fulcrum for a powerful leverage attack, the full weight of both buckets hurled away from Braun in a counter-clockwise direction. If her plan succeeds, then -Braun's wrist will be pulled jarringly off-balance in that same counter-clockwise spin, resulting in him being flung shoulder-first into the mat!

It's the same move she'd tried unsuccessfully to land in her last two fights -- but it seems like she's putting a lot more oomph into it this time!

COMBATSYS: Chevy successfully hits Braun with Riptide EX.

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Chevy            0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0            Braun

[BRAUN]
He most certainly does recognize the inference of her words and he merely gives a hooded eye grin as his feet press against the pole and his great weight hurtles into it sending the force of his kick rippling along the length of the object and down into Chevy herself violently. He tries very, very, hard to break it in that one fell assault but it's not nearly enough and an instant later he's rebounded as the laws of transference of enegy kick in and send the giant brute hurtling backwards into the air into a full on twist that sends him landing with a firm bounce against the mat, great frame crouched and ready for another pounce.

Crimson energy crackles between massive fingers and talons as he rumbles out, "'Eeeeeey... lotta questions. Save 'em for the post tourney party, darlin'. I'll even let ya take it for a spin--wuugh!?"

Speaking of spinning, Braun's movements are intercepted by the water bender with startling ease. For all her concern about landing the hits previously.....he pretty much had no time to react and his world goes whirling and spinning as he's yanked off of his feet and sent spiraling away from her towards the mat without any sense of control he'd previously displayed when it comes to hsi surprisingly dexterious capabilities. It's succinctly possible that his own great mass worked against him there as though his speed could be seen as startling considering it, there's still that much more of him to wrangle with and with he slams to the mat it's snarling grimace from the force of the toss and a full body flip that sends him landing onto his back and skidding across the mat towards the other side of the ring.

His eyes are squinted in pain and then they snap open, a glow with red chi, as he spins and spirals back to his feet. He's barely righted himself before dashing off violently at her with a sudden burst of speed that he seems to almost flash out of sight only to re-appaer, face grinning, at her flank, and then lunge into a spiraling whirling uppercut that brings one arm in a wide arc from nearly the mat itself and then all the way up as he leaps into his asault while bringing contrails of jagged air rending chi behind him, the entire attack intent on lifting her off her feet.

Hit or miss, he flashes in movement again, blurring out of sight only to appear to her flank, sliding backwards with his body coiling and muscles bulking thickly and visibly as his senses sharpen further to angle in on a readied follow up assault.

"Let's run that again!".

COMBATSYS: Braun blitzes into action and acts again!

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Chevy            0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0            Braun

COMBATSYS: Braun focuses on his next action.

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Chevy            0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0            Braun

COMBATSYS: Braun successfully hits Chevy with Whirlwind Fang.
- Power hit! -

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Chevy            1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0            Braun

[CHEVY]
While there is a giddy excitement to the Southerner as her much-practiced attack finally finds some success, it's mitigated somewhat by the fact that her bruised left shoulder is complaining all the more as a result. A light, pained yelp escapes her lips at the greatest extent of her torque maneuver, though she's able to bite her teeth down to keep from being a big baby about it. Hissing breath through her teeth, she tosses the pole from her left hand to her right, letting the buckets slide back into their usual respective positions in the process.

"Ah.. ah... I mean, don't feel like you -gotta-..." Again, Chevy tries to shift back to words to distract from the pain, even though Braun had just chided her for that. "A person's ride is -personal- for a reason, y'ain't gotta tell me twice..."

Perhaps if she'd heeded his warning, she'd have been more attentive to the assault he brings in response. As he closes in, she braces the pole, holding it at a diagonal, right-side high. She seems comfortable with the situation...

Right up till the leonine fighter vanishes from sight.
Blue eyes go wide.
And then suddenly she spots him on her left.
The moment of confidence falters.

She steps, trying to pivot -- but the angle of deflection is too much for her to compensate for in such a hurry, and her legs scissor up in the process. Caught in the tangle, she's left wide open for a powerful spiraling uppercut, that starts just below her bicep and works its way inward, her body rippling from the shockwave as its sent hurtling upwards. She starts to spin from the impact, and -- without the intense focus necessary to keep the water contained, the buckets begin to empty. A twin helix of water traces her upward -- and eventually, downward -- trajectory.

As Braun blurs back to the ground, Chevy's right shoulder impacts the mat. Buckets clang out in a clamor as she bounces once more. Landing on her front... she starts to push herself off the mat -- but she's clearly favoring her right side, here.

"Nnrgh... my arm'd like to catch on fire..." she laments, looking far stretched beyond her means. She's... flustered. And she considers just... stopping. There was a time in her career where she might have just... tapped out.

But then she remembers her training. Particularly her fight with Kenzo -- where she realized that she shouldn't stay stuck in the moment. That she should embrace the nature of water: to keep flowing, regardless of anything that might get in its way.

She pushes to her knees. And she begins to peel off her denim jacket. While her jacket was able to conceal the roughly Kentucky-sized bruise on her left shoulder, her white, one-shouldered t-shirt makes it a bit more obvious. Not wanting to make a mess, she tosses the jacket to ringside for arena staff to pick up on her behalf.

She's also mindful that there's a seven-foot-tall lion guy staring her down. So she's quick to leap back to her feet -- twirling the pole around in her right hand. To date, a positive attitude has done more for her success than anything else in the farm girl's arsenal, and as she jaunts backward, one foot to the other, it becomes clear she's not giving up the fight.

But what she -is- doing -- is idling a moment, pressing her left thumb against her deltoid. A moment ago, her bare shoulder was a vivid purple -- but now it's got more of an icy pallor. And there are mild specks of white spattered upon it: ice crystals.

"Now I'd seen people move like that before but I always thought that was special eff-ex."

She clears her throat, tossing a wink to the cameras. Gotta let her fans know she's clear to keep fighting. Her opponent's had time to focus. But as she steps the pools of water on the mat -- those pools begin to follow her. So while the denim-clad fighter may have paused her attack for the moment, it seems she's just taking the time to get her true game face on.

COMBATSYS: Chevy seeks out calmer waters.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Chevy            1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0            Braun

[BRAUN]
To be fair, he's surrpised. He wasn't expecting to be doing so well straight out of the gate and had resigned himself to just attempting to keep up with her. IT was a sense of simply acknowledging how good she was and a comparison of their relative performances. The fact that she trounced Hawksley, whom the brawler had a high opinion of, likely may have had something to do with it as well.

But he is not without his own capabilities and wouldn't have earned his spot in the final tournament if that wasn't the case. Still, his enhanced senses, hearing, smell, sight, picks up on her subtle shifts in attitude. Not enough to get a tactical advantage no. Perhaps if he honed them further but they are enough to sense her teetering on the edge of embedded frustration. He frowns ...and then she begins her rally.

"Theeere she is....."

Braun's deep voice rumbles out, dragging and rolling across the ring as he bounces up and down again a few times in a few short hops before stopping and bracing into a brawlers stance. More chi crackles about his raised arms as he grins at her.

"What can I say. I'm a walkin' regular ol' VFX. But you? You were lookin' like yer on the verge of a morale break. I thought I was the one that was gonna have t'worry abit but it looks like th'other way around... But you gettin' your game face on now so why don't you show me somethin' spectacular." He pantomimes the motion of a bear hug, vast physique pumping up under his movements as more chi crackles in tendrils of energy. " We'll wager you takin' a ride on and gettin' a look at the bike on it!"

With that, he thunders in, blasting forward towards her to close the distance in the blink of an eye and a burst of movement that ripples a loud warbling *boom* as he lunges to a stop in front of her. "Let's see that girl-next-door confidence!" he bellows before bringing both of his massive arms around at her in a wild haymaker as his club like arms bear down on her with strength likely easily capable of hefting that bike of his over his shoulder if he wanted.

COMBATSYS: Chevy blocks Braun's Aggressive Strike.

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Chevy            1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0            Braun

[CHEVY]
The heat may be draining from her shoulder, but Chevy can feel it flooding up to her cheeks as Braun calls out her morale break for what it was. "I... I ain't about to skip out on somethin' I done started!" she insists, perhaps a bit too loudly and a bit too boldly. She does realize the potential 'cringe' tags that would probably get associated with that clip in the near future, and breaks into a more honest smile at the insinuation that she might get to try the CVO out for herself. "Mm... I reckon you got yourself a deal!" Any protest to such an offer would just look clumsy and awkward now -- and she's ready to move past that.

The lion-man signals his readiness to pounce. And this time, the waterbender is ready for it -- bringing the pole down low and level, making it easier for the water to cling to the underside of her buckets, where it freezes into solid ice. And in the very next instant, she raises her pole, twisting it so that she can interpose the pole and weighted buckets in between Braun's arms, using her waterbending skills to keep the pincer jaws from slamming their full force onto her comparatively small frame. Confidence? Oh, she's got that in spades -- and it shows in the tense smile she shows off even as the pain ripples through her bared arms.

While she can make ice, she can also unmake it -- as a result, the icy grip turns into chilly liquid, allowing her to slip free and spring backwards into her preferred range. Sticking around Braun is -not- where she wants to be right now, clearly. And as the water falls in a pool by her feet, the hydromancer decides she wants to break out a water cannon.

With the center of the pole remaining fixed, she twists the pole like a twin drum-fed gun, drawing water up from the pool before her. Each half-turn sends another high-speed bullet of chi-laced water hurtling towards Braun, as she hopes to pelt the lion-man with enough rounds to take some of the spring out of his step!

"Somethin' like this?" she chirps in reply, with a hopeful grin!

COMBATSYS: Braun blocks Chevy's Rinse and Repeat.

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Chevy            0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1            Braun

[BRAUN]
He would say that a little bit of cringe is good every now and then! He's certainly capable of it himself! Thus her embaressement at her own words only draws a bemused smirk from the beastman in the instant before his assault draws near.
rDraws near and is turned utterly aside.

"Alright! That's th'spirit!" bellows Braun, eyes wild and wide at Chevy's interception of his attack, massive body recoiling away. The weight of the ice and force of her swing causes his arms to be thrown upward wildly and shards of ice to flicker brilliantly into the air from the collision.

He staggers backwards a few half steps in order to regain his footing. only for the cannon fire to begin filling the ring in rapid fire succession to try and force him back even further.

One glances into him as he brings a massive limb up to swing for it...and he dashes into the other, bringing his other fist up to claw violently at the torrent and rip through it wildly as he attempts to regain the lost distance between himself and the water bender. The third and fourth strikes are met by his large arms crossing up in front of him but he then bursts ahead and breaks through, lunging into the air into a wide leap to try and close the gap.

Upon landing, that crackling red chi engulfs him, rippling over his form and bulking his immense body up even larger.

"BEAST MODE!!" roars out large portions of the audience, his garnered fandom leaning into what's happening as they chant that out repeatedly while Braun's frame seems to bulk up more then a foot in height and his brown hair flashes out into a glowing red mane and large beard. A lion's tail even crackles into being, his garments shifting and sorting with the aid of chi to accomodate his gigantic form and his features becoming more truly lion like as opposed to the more 'mean looking Thundercat' face he usually has.

"Yer gonna need a bigger spray bottle, darlin!" he thunders before dragging a massive arm forward and down again and then lunging at her with a chi dragging swipe that sends a huge swatch of energy scything behind his swinging arm as he attempts to club and claw it all into her with truly earth rumbling force.

COMBATSYS: Chevy counters Raging Thunder Roar from Braun with High Tide.

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Chevy            0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1            Braun

[CHEVY]
Chevy hadn't figured on the Gatling water-cannon holding the beastman at bay for long -- but it's a bit of a crowd favorite -- judging by the response from her cheering section -- and she's been on the defensive for a bit too long in this particular battle. The redhead draws in her breath, though, upon realizing that he's wise to her tricks -- and starts to get a -bit- nervous as she realizes she'd just flung most of her water supply at him in her ploy to slow him down.

Gulp. Well no time like the present, she figures. Even as the roars of 'BEAST MODE!' begin to drown out her own fans' cheers, Chevy is already anticipating her response.

He's bigger -- it's intimidating! But she's seen his true heart -- and she's determined to stand strong against him. To give him her best, just like she'd promised.

One high-top sneaker slams into the mat.
Water leaps from the mat into her right-facing bucket.
Chevy twists the pole to a near-vertical, grounding its left end on the mat.

She breathes a silent prayer that the material won't buckle from the stress it's about to endure. The air begins to turn very, very frosty, as crystallized clouds form from the breath she releases. In the very next instant, she can feel the heat from Braun's attack searing the air in front of her face, melting those same crystals from before...

But then she sharply steps to her right, locking both her elbows as she keeps the pole in the same position. The water bolsters her motion -- fixing the pole on the top just as effectively as the friction from the mat anchors the bottom. The momentum from the strike is redistributed outward, as the metal of the pole shudders, turning a bright cherry red...

And then she leans sideways into the inside of Braun's arm, forcefully pivoting the pole downward -- and leveraging him out of his determined charge! She rams her right elbow into his ribcage, keeping a firm hold of the bucket-boosted pole as she twists him down to the mat, pleased that her waterborne powers have allowed her to stand toe-to-toe with the hulking beastman -- and slam him down once more!

Though... all that chi can't just -evaporate- with a successful counterattack. It still burns like heck! So the frosty freckled Farmville continues rolling with her momentum after slamming Braun down, rolling over top of him and twisting back to her feet on the other side of him.

"Whoooo-ey! I thought I was jus' about done for...!" she shouts, to thunderous applause from both sides of the house. She whips the pole and buckets around into a quick revolution, giving the burly beastman an opportunity to recover -- and herself another chance to cool off!

[BRAUN]
The entire ring shakes. Quite literally. She did just manage to redirect the momentum of a literal giant and send the monstrous lion-man tumbling mat wards with an explosion of force that would make any bonus round car destruction attempt look positively child like in comparison.

"Whulgh!" grunts Braun, his deep voice even more resonant and laced with the rumbling grunt of a irate great cat. Pain wracks through him, rippling up and down his immense body and throwing his sense of orientation into complete disarray. Needless to say ...he was not expecting that.

The force of the impact practically sends the ring bouncing up from its moorings and Braun himself certainly ends up rebounding up again, twisting in mid air to land violently upon all fours, tail whipping, mane waving and chi trailing behind him like a comets tail as he slides backwards, back hunching up and body bracing to arrest his movements.

"Hrngh!" he rumbles out again, perhaps for a moment having lost his ability to speak. He huffs, taking a deep breath . Then:

"Eeeeey...not bad. Where'd -that- come from. Hn. I get it now."

He sniffs, pressing up from the mat, looming up to a more upright stance as he rubs the back of his broad nose. "Yeah. Yer hot stuff." he concludes as his body tenses, coiling up and crouching backwards. His physique, enlarged and vast as it is now, rippling visibly and straining his altered garments, nearly buckling them under the building tension..

And then= he suddenly flashes into movement. A semi truck hurtling at her. A gigantic corona of chi explodes around him as he lifts off into the air in a charging leap that tracks him across the entire massive ring fright for her. One arm raises as he thunders in, intending on slamming his enhanced body right into her with more earth rocking force and to carry her backwards and to the mat from the force of the impact.

COMBATSYS: Braun successfully hits Chevy with Beast Roar's Impact.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Chevy            1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0            Braun

[CHEVY]
With Chevy rolling over top of Braun at the moment, she's mostly unaware of the ring bouncing about -- it's not till she finds it really hard to nail the dismount that she realizes just how turbulent the whole affair was!

And even then -- when she sees the gigantic cat-man sprawled out, it's then that she starts to take in just how much of a feat she'd managed to pull off. It's awe-inspiring, really... to know that she can stand up against someone of Braun's size. Granted, it's a long way to go until she could hope to stand against Abigail, or even the lion-man's mentor Kongou... but there's hope for her yet!

She makes use of her momentary advantage to run towards the biggest accumulation of her miniature ponds, as Braun manages to rumble his way back to his feet. When he rises, she turns, and...

Gulp. She realizes she'd have to do something like that -again-. Her skin turns cold and clammy -- from concern, this time, rather than any special waterbender tricks.

"Ah... you think so?" she calls back, the anxiety clear in her voice. Buckets reloaded, she swings her pole around, gripping it tightly in both hands. And when he leaps into the air, Chevy makes as if to dive into a roll out of his path.

She leaves the ground.
But she's caught in the midst of her escape attempt.
And she's slammed backwards into the mat, and gets to find out exactly how much it hurts to be on the receiving end of that sort of attack.

"Aaaargh!"

It's not great. Her body hurts all over as she flails around. Her bones hurt. The muscles she knows about hurt. The muscles she -doesn't- know about hurt. It's just a whole world of hurt as the hayseed bucks and kicks to work herself free of the body splash. Finally, the hydromancer manages to figure a way to work herself loose with her water, and, though completely soaked, she springs back to her feet, victorious!

"Okay, okay... we're good! Bike ride on the line, bike ride on the line..." It's pretty clear she's talking to herself in this desperate moment, even if she is, well, speaking -out loud- and all. But as she holds her pole in front of her, she wiggles her fingers, stepping nimbly from one foot to the other as adrenaline begins to stream throughout her system.

Her eyes light up with an idea.

"Hey, big guy. I got a new trick for you...!"

She suddenly throws her hands into her buckets; her pole drops a moment later, clanking against the handles.

She pulls her hands out -- and the water clings to them, like super-sized catcher's mitts.

And as Braun rises, she suddenly rushes forwards at him, aiming to grab hold of him by his right shoulder and left hip. Should she manage that -- she'd abruptly throw herself backwards, throwing her full weight -and- the full might of her waterbending skills into hauling him right off his feet and over her shoulder, onto the mat.

And if she manages all that? She'd continue rolling over him -- and do it -again-, whipping him around into the turnbuckle!

COMBATSYS: Braun blocks Chevy's Spout Toss.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Chevy            0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0            Braun

[BRAUN]
He's a monster alright. Normally a seven footer but now clearing eight by a considerable distance with the added bulk and mass to truly draw emphasis to his bestial capabilities. So imagine how surprised he's been at Chevy just being able to toss him around. He had some awareness of her grappling abilities but the skill by which she handles his great bulk and her ability to bounce back so quickly and easily from his own assaults clearly of signifigant method. In time she may indeed be able to manage the likes of Hugo, Abigail, Potemkin, Kongou and other goliaths. Braun's certainly a good practice run - especially as in his current 'condition' or 'curse' as Tom and Lou have liked to refer to it, he's not exactly able to maintain the bulk characteristic of the likes of these other behemoths.

Instead, after his impact, his beast form drains away from him in a rushing wave of chi that rolls across him, pulling his size back down to his mere 'seven foot' form.

The size shift may have actually worked in his favor, for though he huffs with exhaustion from the strain, it means Chevy's initial gauging for her incoming grapple now has about a foot and a half and a few hundred pounds less bulk to deal with and the smaller and yet still nimble Braun is able to reflexively capitalize on this as she takes hold of him and sends them both into a roll but does so without quite the same grip on him from those giant watery mitts. The two tumblre backwards but Braun is not without his own skills as a grappler even though he's opted for more brawl like tactics and the giant recovers before teh second roll fully begins and he twists and pushes out of the clinch, launching away from Chevy with a trail of water behind him as he vaults, lands with a hand stand and then pushes up from that towards an upright position near the turnbuckle she'd been hurtling him towards.

This time he says nothing. There's no time for a quip as he instead vaults at her again, claws bared and energy building up again alongst his trunk sized limb as he commits to the assault.

A instant later and he's swing, attempting to rush past her in a cross up attempt while again dragging his arm around in a wide arcing upwards swipe that sends another shockwave of energy along his swinging path to follow behind his actual limb should it impact against her.

COMBATSYS: Braun successfully hits Chevy with Beast King's Decree.

[                        \\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Chevy            0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0            Braun

[CHEVY]
Chevy's introduction to the supernatural was provided by Zarine just a few matches prior. At that time, the vampire had been the first to face her head-to-head with something akin to her own waterbending -- albeit on a much more macabre level. And now, Chevy faces someone who can face her in the grappling arena -- only in this case, he fares much better due to his sheer bulk and upper body strength.

The hayseed won't even pretend to understand the shapeshifting madness that's taking place though. That's a question she's gonna have to talk through with Ichika later. Right now, the transformation back to 'regular old seven-foot tall Braun' is met with wide eyes. Though, she sure wouldn't complain if he were to shrink down to five-foot-eight.

It's a long ride that she takes with Braun in the next few seconds. At first she thought she'd had him -- but as he breaks free of the clinch, she finds that his size does, in fact, count for something. Unable to press forward, she raises her hands and their oversized, watery gloves, with a cheerful grin. With no quip forthcoming, it seems the hayseed has no material to work with.

And not much -time- to work with, anyway, as Braun suddenly surges forward -- aiming not to -punch- her, so much as lariat her across the body. Without her pole, she would need to be much more accurate with her 'gloves' -- and against such a broad attack, she has no true defense.

A well-muscled arm slams into her.
An instant later, the aftershock wave slams into her.
She flies back, forehead wound tightly in pain.
Steam is left in her wake.
Condensation collects on her brow.
It's definitely something fight fans are going to be watching again in slow-mo.

Chevy lands just shy of the boundary ropes, sitting up but only barely -- her eyes dazed as she looks back at Braun. The audience is starting to get hazy to her. Their shouts are like bare whispers, a tickle at the edges of her periphery.

No, she assures herself. This... ain't the end, yet. This is her moment. And she'll be damned if anyone takes that from her.

Water splashes at her sides, as she reaches up to slap herself in the cheeks. The stinging sensation helps to wake herself up.

She belts out a laugh -- and rolls to her side to stand up. As she does so, he plants her hands back into the pools of water she dropped. And the water sticks, once more, to her hands as she rises.

"Well, you're givin' me a thorough beatin', Mr Braun..."

She scrubs her forearm against her face. And when she pulls the water-shrouded limb away, she seems like she's ready for another round.

"But you're gonna have to do more than just beat me."

She starts to walk towards Braun, a confident smile on her face, despite the big bruise on her shoulder, and the fresh red welt across her bared midriff and the number of smaller red pops from the shockwave -- the colors a stark contrast to her soaked denim and lycra attire.

She snaps a quick wink at the ferocious cat-man.
"You're gonna have to -stop- me."
And then she breaks into a quick dash to close the gap.

She seeks to grab hold of his right hand with her big watery mitts. And if she manages to do so -- the water would flash-freeze, -instantly-, as she abruptly hurls the limb to her right -- spinning Braun counter-clockwise so that his back is to her!

At that point -- with her ice still entombing his limb -- she'd leap up, grab hold of him by the neck, and kick forward, using her momentum to carry her forward and slam Braun into that turnbuckle -- or the ground, whichever comes first!

COMBATSYS: Chevy successfully hits Braun with Battleship Chains.

[                         \\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Chevy            0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0            Braun

[BRAUN]
Between the two, where grappling is concerned, it's clear that Chevy is the superior artist. For Braun, such elements have been more utility at best. He doesn't live it though he -can- do it and does it enough that he's managed to keep the odds even on her attempts to sweep him off his feet.

Not so for the past few efforts thrown his way, and as he attempts to recover from his wide sweeping strike from before, he finds his massive arm encased in a freezing block that sends sharp pain and chills racing up and down his body from that limb.

He's barely any time to snarl a response to her previous words. His deep voice instead rolling out a rumbling, "Wharagll!!" as his cry of pain intermingles with...something..he was trying to say, and then it's all utterly yanked from him as he goes flying, pulled around by her momentum and his own weight to go tumbling violently into the turnbuckle -and- the mat itself with force that shakes the entire ring.

BUt even in that movement, as his jaw grits in pain and his eyes squint and bruises and welts wrack and torment his body, energy boils up like a volcano and ripples through his form, ripping free the ice from part of his entombed arm to reveal his massive claws glowing beet red. HIs other arm braces against the mat and then shoves upwards with his bestial inhuman strength and the great dexterity he's displayed through his matches. Hie spins, trying to pull Chevy with him and also free hinself from her as both of his claws drag whirling energy behind them to follow the twisting movements of his body.

THe end result is her being at point blank range as a sudden renting gash of energy ripples through the air in an X shaped gouge of crackling red black chi that rips out away from Braun and hopefully into the body of the plucky water bender girl.

COMBATSYS: Braun successfully hits Chevy with Sky-Rending Claw.

[                                < >  ///////                       ]
Chevy            1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0            Braun

[CHEVY]
Wrestling hogs is obviously different from wrestling people, but there are some similarities. Hogs don't really have empathy, for one -- if they kick you with all their might, they won't feel guilty about it for the rest of the day. Hogs are almost entirely muscle -- and they're extremely difficult to keep hold of. It seems ridiculous that someone of Chevy's size would be able to tangle with them -- and yet, sometimes that's the only way to get the stubborn bastards where they need to be.

Braun's brute strength and size definitely remind her of the biggest and baddest beasts back home. -Some- of the skills transfer -- and that body of accumulated experience is the main reason she's seen any kind of success within the squared circle this evening.

Indeed -- one thing she learned is when to leap free. It's true that Braun may have expected the hayseed to keep holding to him -- but whenever he spins, the redhead is quick to use that momentum to catapult herself a fair distance away from him. As the treads of her high-top sneakers hit the ropes, she drops into a low crouch, holding her hands up for balance - another picture-perfect image that's sure to make a good round on the social media sites.

"Hey there, big guy... " she starts -- only to have a front row seat as the bruiser shatters the ice cube around his big meathook. She grimaces -- not having planned on -that-. Her hand starts to pull at the shattered fragments of ice, managing to steer them towards herself as they fall...

But then her grimace grows laeger as the claws are brought to bear. Her hands sweep in close, as she uses the springiness of the ropes to try and spring free...

But that's not exactly something she's -practiced- much, and she starts to pitch forward unsteadily. It's right then that the X-shaped shockwave slams into her, blasting her backward -- and -almost- knocking her clear out of the ring. It's only a last-ditch grab onto the ropes by her two outstretched hands that manages to keep her from being sent into the audience stands.

Chevy's fans start to bellow out in alarm. It's no mark on Braun -- he's earned every bit of the fight to date -- but it's something of a surprise to see her literally on the ropes like this...!

Chevy's legs fall down -- but she manages to bring them up to her chest, so that her knees don't slam into the side of the ring.

One curious thing that begins to happen, though... is that the ice melts rapidly. And another is that the water begins to swim across the mat, pooling into one place. And then the air over that pool starts to get... really cold.

Huff, huff. "... Dang... I think you done... got me."

One foot scrapes for purchase at the edge of the ring. She catches -- and the other foot follows suit in a moment. The hayseed winks back at Braun.

"It's been an honor!"

With one last surge of all her strength, she pulls on the ropes with her hands at the same time as she kicks up with her feet, launching herself back into the ring at roughly a 30-degree angle. She tumbles as she hits the deck -- springing back to her feet right beside that pool, and the curiously cold region of space...

Wait. Is... is it -raining- inside? Or did the SlamMasters Arena spring a leak in the ceiling?

"But... I did promise you I'd be givin' you my best..."

Chevy's eyes gleam with determination. When she'd lost to Tamaki -- she seemed content with just rolling over. But Braun seems to have inspired her to leap to even greater heights! She slams both hands on the mat beside her pool.

And, almost suddenly, a veritable -tsunami- erupts out of it, almost three times larger in volume than the water that -had- been collected there! The summoned tidal wave roars outward, drawing cheers from the crowd as it rushes towards Braun, threatening to slam him into the ring's boundaries yet again...!

But Chevy, for all her effort, pretty much just collapses there, with her hands on the mat, too exhausted to lift her shoulders any higher. That tidal wave was the last she had to offer -- and she wonders if it might be enough to even out the score...?!

COMBATSYS: Chevy can no longer fight.

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

COMBATSYS: Chevy successfully hits Braun with Gulf Stream EX.

[                                <
Braun            1/--=====/=======|

[BRAUN]
It'll even it up alright. Probably a little more than that!

But still, though exhausted and disorientated, Braun is finally able to right himself enough and get a bit of air into his lungs after his previous assault. He catches sight of Chevy hitting the mat as the trailing energy of his previous attack echoes off into the distance, dissipating before it gets to far away and so not threatening any of the onlookers.

"Bring it on, girl!" he bellows, grinning wildly as he rolls to his feet, staggers, and nearly drops forward to one knee as the full scope of hsi fatigue hits him.

"Ergh....I"m just about...tapped out.." he mutters to himself, feeling the lead weight of his body begin to truly seize hold of him.

Then the sound of churning water fills the air and Braun snaps his attention towards the blossoming wave of water. He sees her collapse behind the wave as it reaches its height and then begins crashing down towards him. There's really nothing for it but to just attempt to brace..and so brace he does.

It's about as effective as....attempting to brace against a tsunami, yeah. Braun holds his ground for a few seconds and then is ultimately lifted up from his feet, awash in the rushing waves. He tumbles, spins and spirals and then goes crashing violently into the far turnbuckle once more with the pressure of the water continuing to bowl over him, drenching and crushing him against the corner of the ring which by some miracle manages to not simply buckle or sunder in half.

When the water finally passes, he drops down, landing heavily onto his knees and for half an instant, balances there as if grasp for what shreds of consciousness he can reach.....but ultimately failing and falling over to land sprawled out against the mat in a large puddle of water.. Out like a light.

COMBATSYS: Braun takes no action.


COMBATSYS: Braun can no longer fight.

Log created on 20:49:59 11/03/2023 by Braun, and last modified on 05:46:44 11/06/2023.