Match of the Millennium

Description: The Kasumoto Heir clashes with the Kuzumi Capoeirist in the first round of the NFG's final tournament! It's a bout of steel (literal) against steel (figurative) and in the end, under the roar of the crowd, only one can come out on top!

[ICHIKA]
The time is finally here.

Twenty thousand people roar as Road to Resistance fills the arena, and Ichika smiles broadly as she makes her way to the arena proper. How many more thousands would be watching across the world? Even if this was the end of her time in the NFG, it's incredible to think of. Not that she had any intention of stopping here - she would give it her all, as she always did. There are so many people who know her now, so many who were following with her on this journey. A journey which she now knows absolutely cannot end regardless of what happens here.

The girl vaults up into the arena, jumping straight over the ropes and landing with those heavy boots of hers thumping into the ground. She then raises her fist to the sky and throws the devil horns. Her fans go absolutely wild, and she feels her heart pound even louder in her chest. This, was everything she had wanted. To be seen. All grander plans and projects aside, it is time to revel in the simple and purest expression of truth there is...

She's ready. Time to FIGHT!

[SARAH]
A wrestling ring?

That's an interesting place for a fight. Then again, these aren't punches being pulled or anything like that. This is the real deal!

Sarah sometimes watches professional wrestling, but for her there's nothing like the thrill of the real fight! Not to mention, another fight means another challenge and another chance to improve her skills!

Clad in her trademark baseball cap, Sarah walks into the arena and waves to everyone with a smile on her face. After taking a moment to greet her fans, the blonde haired disk jockey runs towards the ring, taking a quick jump onto the apron and then doing a somersault over the ropes without using her hands.

The girl lands on her bare feet effortlessly and then waves once again before proceeding to her corner, where she proceeds to warm up and stretch. Even if she loses, Sarah knows that she's still improving by learning where her weaknesses lie and taking on a new challenge!

[ICHIKA]
"It is good to see you, Kuzumi-san." Ichika says with a smile as the young woman touches down into the fighting arena. The crowd go wild for her opponent too, of course. Everyone has their favourites! And that only makes Ichika more excited. There's a lot on the line here for both of them, but now that the moment is finally here, Ichika finds those doubts and fears fading away, as they so often do. The fight was the only thing that mattered now; finding her way through it, walking that Warrior's Road.

"Let's give it our all!"

And then the announcer shouts, "FIGHT!"

And Ichika bursts forwards. Her hand finds the hilt of her sword as she rushes to close the distance with the capoeira expert, knowing that she's going to need to do her best to get inside that guard as quickly as possible. The sword flashes out, carving a glittering arc through the air as she seeks to slash down the outside of Sarah's left thigh, a testing strike! How would the DJ respond to this probe of her defenses...

COMBATSYS: Ichika has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Sarah has joined the fight here.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Ichika           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Sarah

COMBATSYS: Ichika successfully hits Sarah with Quick Strike.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Ichika           0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0            Sarah

[SARAH]
"Good to see you too!" Sarah says with her trademark smile. "Let's give it our all and remember that, whether we win or lose, it doesn't matter, because we're challenging ourselves and learning how to improve ourselves!"

She claps her hands together twice and says, "Let's get this party started!"

As soon as the announcer gives the order to fight, Sarah immediately gets into the ginga, moving from side to side as she watches Ichika come at her. Her instinct is to attempt to defend against it, but she's a little too slow and she winds up getting hit by the blade, leaving her reeling back in pain for a moment.

Sarah looks and sees that her jeans have been cut and she's bleeding a little, but she rubs at the wound briefly to try to reduce the bleeding before looking up again. Despite being hurt, she's still got that smile on her face. "Looks like you got the best of me, but now that I'm aware of your abilities, I'm more alert than ever!" With that, Sarah drops down and attempts to deliver a sweeping kick towards Ichika's ankles.

COMBATSYS: Ichika blocks Sarah's Light Kick.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Ichika           0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0            Sarah

[ICHIKA]
Ichika flicks the blood from her blade and slides it neatly back into the saya at her side as she turns around to meet Sarah head on. "I've watched your fights." She says, "You're fast, and difficult to predict. Nothing beats seeing it in person, of course."

The kick comes in, and Ichika ducks down low into a crouch, taking it on a low guard as her hand wraps tighter around the hilt of her blade. A good start, then, in the initial clash, but those bright blue eyes of hers are shining - she knows that she can't afford to take it for granted that everything will go her way; Sarah had proven a dangerous and difficult opponent in her fight against Buck in particular. She's not going to underestimate her for a moment.

And then, quite suddenly, she's lashing out again - hoping to catch the DJ whilst she's in close, her sword slashes three times in rapid succession, carving bright, beautiful blue arcs of chi across the air as she throws herself forwards to try and capitalise on the early offense!

COMBATSYS: Ichika successfully hits Sarah with Lambent Assault EX.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Ichika           0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1            Sarah

[SARAH]
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" Sarah is helpless against this assault by Ichika. This leaves her shirt ripped and her body bleeding. "Good thing this I've got many more where this came from," Sarah gasps out, the pain flowing through her as a reminder that her defense isn't doing well today. "But I can't give up just yet!"

As soon as she's gotten herself back into the ginga, albeit with some grimacing due to the pain her in body, Sarah says, "You really know how to wield that thing, I will give you that. But an unarmed opponent can be dangerous too!" And then, Sarah suddenly performs a backwards somersault, attempting to twice strike Ichika with her bare feet as she flips backwards.

COMBATSYS: Ichika blocks Sarah's Flip It Good.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Ichika           0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1            Sarah

[ICHIKA]
"Yes. Weapon or not is irrelevant. What matters is the skill of the wielder. I use the sword because physically, I am weak. It only levels the playing field between us."

Is that entirely true? Well. There are a thousand reasons why she wields the sword, but that is the one she had used to justify it when she'd first picked up the blade. Now she knows so much more about the art, it is almost difficult to tell which is the primary purpose. But she does know that some of her most devastating defeats have been at the hands of people who use nothing but, well, their hands.

She takes a deep breath, exhales, and when the woman comes back at her, she raises her sword in a crossed guard, taking the blow on the flat of the blade - though it has her flinching. She responds smoothly, twisting around as Sarah lands from her flip, to try and slash across the capoeira-wielder's back with her blade as she leaps backwards in turn - going for more distance, now, it seems. The first two exchanges had gone in her favour, but she's clearly wary about a comeback...

COMBATSYS: Ichika successfully hits Sarah with Evasive Strike.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Ichika           0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1            Sarah

[SARAH]
Ever had one of those days where your timing was off? Where all your records were skipping? Where nobody came to your show? Where-- OK, you get the picture.

Sarah gets hit once again and is left badly injured. Meanwhile, Ichika has moved away quickly, and now the disk jockey is weak in her ginga, bloodied and badly injured. Despite this, she still has some fight left within her. "Gotta... keep... going..."

Advancing on Ichika, Sarah attempts to catch her off-guard by appearing to stop, then she attempts to deliver a cartwheel into Ichika in hopes of stunning her. If successful, Sarah will then drop down and spin around on her hand twice, delivering a kick with each foot one at a time as she goes around, before throwing a chi infused uppercut.

COMBATSYS: Ichika blocks Sarah's My Favorite Remix.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Ichika           1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0            Sarah

[ICHIKA]
Ichika, by contrast, is perfectly in her groove. The girl doesn't seem to slow for an instant, and just as she'd said - she's giving it her all. She doesn't underestimate Sarah at all, and she wouldn't do her fellow competitor the dishonour of holding back against her. There is a firm nod given to her, when she says that she has to keep going.

"It isn't over until the very end, Kuzumi-san."

And then she comes in with an attempt to trick her out of her guard. Instead, Ichika brings the katana in a wide arc, bright blue light following the movement. When Sarah lunges in a cartwheel, she meets the shield of chi full on, and the energy thrums against it, absorbing the assault before shattering into a thousand sparks of light.

And then Ichika launches her counterattack. Her sword is glowing again, carving brilliant trails through the air as she slashes again, and again, and again - each blow aiming to try and force Sarah into maintaining a guard to protect her upper body...

Before the schoolgirl suddenly blinks out of existence, coming in from behind with an attempt to smash the hilt of the blade into the back of her opponent's head.

COMBATSYS: Ichika successfully hits Sarah with Future Perfect EX.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////                         ]
Ichika           0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1            Sarah

[SARAH]
Sarah was overwhelmed this fight. Hopefully her next one will be better.

In a last ditch effort to leave one last mark, she throws forth a large butterfly shaped projectile before falling flat on her face.

Despite this, she gives a thumbs up.

COMBATSYS: Sarah can no longer fight.

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

COMBATSYS: Sarah successfully hits Ichika with Flash Butterfly.

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

[ICHIKA]
The butterfly finds its mark - Ichika's attempt to cut it out of the air as she lands doesn't quite hit true, and there's a hiss from the girl as she stumbles backwards a couple of paces. She pauses, for a moment. And then she flicks her blade one last time, cleaning it, before she returns it back to its sheathe. Then, she bows.

"Thank you for the fight, Kuzumi-san." She says, "I am glad to have taken another step along the Warrior's Road with you. Your courage and determination are inspirational."

And then she raises her fist, and the crowd goes wild! On to the second round! She hadn't fallen at the first hurdle this time! How much further can she go?

COMBATSYS: Ichika has ended the fight here.

Log created on 02:46:05 11/05/2023 by Ichika, and last modified on 04:30:55 11/12/2023.