Match of the Millennium

Description: Really, this is an incredible fight, set on the Centaur's Path between a champion cosplayer and... a boy who really doesn't seem to understand the meaning of 'costumes.' However, what we will not comment on is that a disturbing amount of this thrilling battle is absolutely just a boy running for his life, trying vainly to save himself from a savage wrestling-based fate.

[HOMURA]
"Ara, ara... the fighting organizers sure are interested in ruins atop mountains.. we could have stayed in Japan if they wanted.."

The boy has been striding through the lonely little forest path, amidst ancient stone and atop old wood bridging the babble of streams. Centaur's path, they call it? Something about it being the path Chiron took. Despite his idle grousing, he's in a relatively fair weather mood. He managed to escape the ship for a little bit, and with it, that demon Korean that's been peskily trying to beat and/or kill him, as well as settle his unconscionable stomach for awhile. And while he's much more excited to see the sights of Volos, he DOES have a mission to take care of.

Which is why the boy shows up at the blasted-out little hovel of a ruin with his hair done up in a little Achilles-esque side braid that hangs past his shades, and a set of Greek pauldrons that are absolutely not going to fall right off of him at the first sign of trouble. Of course, it being the NFG, it's hardly lonely, with the click and flash and pomp and circumstance of the fluttering drone cameras and audiences that are hungry and pay top dollar to see this sort of performance. That's -actually- what gives Homura the most trepidation, his peacebound sword untucked and in a hand as he waves to the staff, and probably gets blinded by a few cameras taking footage for what is almost assuredly going to be later commentary. NFG branded crates are also -everywhere-. Because there's nothing cooler than throwing an opponent through a bunch of crates as opposed to very expensive ruins. Right? Insurance purposes, things like that. Stuff Homura has noooo idea about. Just smile and wave, buddy.

Aa. A thought occurs to him, as he looks back, when a fightstaffer immediately joins him to apply the appropriate amount of makeup (which is none! stop that, hak cough) and microphones (I'm definitely going to lose th--AT watch where you clip it!) before he can set foot beneath the ruined archway and into the makeshift arena. "Ah-- this is supposed to be some kind of wrestling match?" he asks, more than a little perplexed. "I don't know how to wrestle. Isn't my opponent a girl? Is that even appropriate...?"

Someone gives him a thumbs up. You got this!
Homura makes a face.
"This isn't appropriate at all."

COMBATSYS: Homura has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Homura           0/-------/-------|

[SKYE]
-----

EARLIER

-----

Skye read the announcement of her next matchup with trepidation. The memory of rubbing in burn ointment for Xander's particularly spicy variety of karate was still fresh on her mind. But Skye had never been one to give up, even in the face of terrible odds. After all, she'd kept working at that one place even after her manager had told her she wasn't cut out for it. She later learned that was illegal, and that she wasn't going to get paid for those three hours, but that was beside the point. She was DETERMINED!

"Atlanta? Like, in Georgia?" Skye looked at the announcement again. Pulling out her phone, she did a quick search. "Ohhh. At-uh,lan-tuh. That's not confusing." Her nose scrunched. "So what does she look like--" The steady tap of her fingers on the phone echoed her question aloud. "...oh. That's weird. I like her design though, I can work with that."

-----

NOW

-----

Skye arrives to the Centaur's Path in full costume. She is wearing a teal and black dress and skirt combo, with a long tabbard in the middle. It seems a bit out of place for a Grecian costume, perhaps, but it does seem well made and well thought out. Her long blonde hair is styled differently, and she's traded her usual pink and blue highlights for green ones for her bangs in the front.

More strangely, Skye seems to have picked up a cat of cat ears that are poking out of her hair and a long, blonde cat's tail that seems to be attached to her or her wardrobe somewhere over her seat. She is carrying a bow but no quiver.

"Ahem," Skye puts a black-gloved fist to her mouth to clear her throat. "I, ATLAN--ATALANTA, HAVE COME TO CLAIM THE TITLE OF BEST WRESTLER IN GREECE! I WILL DEFEAT ANY CHALLENGES, MAN OR WOMAN!" Skyelanta puts her hands on her hips.

"Ow." She seems to have poked herself in the calf with her bow.

COMBATSYS: Skye has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Skye             0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Homura

[HOMURA]
"Hmmmm.. oh no," the boy notices.

There is something strange about his mannerisms, when first laying eyes on the young shugenja. He has a polite enough manner about him, very careful to turn the sheathed edge of his blade away from the lady when she extends her boisterous challenge, away from her and most of the gathered staff as he unloops the varying ropes wrapped all over the hilt. Of course. He's perfectly pleasant to speak to, even if he doesn't smile -- not exactly -- while stepping into the kitbashed little arena. But the boy's eyes, covered by amber round-lensed teashades, don't ever really seem to match what he says, as if he takes very great care with what he says, even when it seems completely unprepared.

A finger points to the woman, dressed to the nines in full on Greek-inspired catgirl wardrobe.
"Iyaa. I guess I _should_ have worn the rest of the outfit this time." Really, the NFG has been sending him promotional costumes. There was a full bull outfit last time... "But I don't know if Myo-o would forgive me. Should I say a mantra for peace?" He seems genuinely confused on that notion, scratching the side of his head. No one ever said the boy was an expert at religion just because he does religion. His sneaker shifts in the dirt, finding a solid footing as he swings his arm, smoothly whipping the beads off of his other arm, catching the rosary and tucking it away in a pocket. Immediately with the gesture, the pressure is different around him. Like he just released Bankai or something like that. If you were the type of person to watch garbage on TV. Or read it. Whatever. "Ano..." Homura thinks aloud, thinking on it some. "I guess it should be okay. You're not 'the target' I'm looking for, so I'm going to use a little less with you too. But, I mean, maybe we don't need to just wrestle?"

=== AN INSTANT LATER ===
"I'd hate to have to grab you by the tail.."

There is no real variance in his calm tone, even though he's crossed the distance between them in an eyeblink. The boy is literally in midair above Skye, hand braced against the spine of his katana, and causing the entire blade to seethe with moonlit chi as he drops towards her. It's a peculiar little pouncing motion he starts off with, jumping all but onto the well-dressed wrstler like a shugendo meteor. A guillotine blade drop, that sends the boy careening either into her, or probably -- more likely, honestly! -- going on to savage some poor NFG crate which absolutely was not put there just to be busted up. It might be a mix of the two, honestly.

Seriously. Do all the fights have these branded crates just laying around for them to trip on? Is it because he answered a survey question wrong? What if he has to shoot around one??

COMBATSYS: Homura successfully hits Skye with Fierce Strike.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Skye             0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0           Homura

[SKYE]
Skye does express anything that indicates that she finds Homura's mannerisms odd. She doesn't react that strongly, even, to the release of energy, the surge of internal power that serves as a prelude for his opening manuever. What does finally get her attention is the last statement.

"Target?"

Skye is at times, a bit slow on the uptake.

This does not work in her favor when suddenly the shugenja is upon her with a meteoric strike. She turns and trips over her own bow, failing to avoid the powerful hit that splits the back of her costume and cuts through what was, in part, a wig before smashing the crate nearby with the impact. Skye is thrown clear from the explosive delivery of moonlight chi, tumbling into a roll that's not really as much of a tumble as a cannonball. She smashes into another crate before stopping.

"What the heck!" Skye protests, "I wasn't ready! And is that a real sword?! Ow ow ow." She reaches back toward her damaged costume, but between her hair and what's left of the wig, it's difficult to tell if she's sliced open yet or if it's just going to leave one nasty bruise. Skye takes several heavy breaths, psyching herself up and getting back her composure before breaking into a sprint.

Charging toward Homura with a full run, the wrestler ducks low as she gets in close, shifting to the side only briefly to get a better approach angle before aiming to go in, shoulder first, with a spear.

If she tackles him to the ground, Skye will when push Homura along before hefting him up over her head---weight does not seem to be an issue for her---and shifting into a tombstone piledriver: up into the air, upside down, then hopping to slam him down on his shoulders and back once he's inverted.

COMBATSYS: Skye successfully hits Homura with Skyescraper.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Skye             0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0           Homura

[HOMURA]
The boy lands quickly, easily in the wake of the two of them crashing into and through the crates, the boy doing exactly one forward roll before stopping in a crouched position, his blade flicking back quickly and held at his side, the flat of the blade held even with the ground, hilt and guard balanced precariously in his hand and used as a brace to keep himself stabilized.

"Ano---! Oi, oi!" Homura exclaims eloquently, as he leans back, finally lifting up his sword, and pointing at it. "Why would you mistake this for a prop?! It's so much better quality than the stuff that these guys have been sending! Even better than the best movies! Like, I bet you there's even an internet fanclub about it already! That Lyraelle girl had like twenty of those! And I bet she was only in the tournament for like four times as long! -- wait, was she in the tournament? .... I guess I'm still not sure who she is, actually-- WAH!"

Of course, Homura got off on a tangent and apparently didn't notice the charging rhino attack headed his way. Interesting fact: It is -far- easier to run him over and grab him than one might expect. The boy, for all of his equipment and jewelry and things doesn't -actually- weigh a whole lot, if anything at all, like he's 90% clothes, truthfully. Flicking him up into the air results in mostly a cataclysm of white cloth and a warbling squawk of smashed shugenja. Seriously, it's like piledriving a whole memory foam bed, and the boy goes fluttering and bouncing off like a ball, seeming to remember he's supposed to weigh _something_ at the last second, only to eel up into something vaguely resembling an upright position as he thrusts a hand out. "Whhhoohhhh---! I can't compete with those kinds of moves! What do those Turkish oil guys do?? Hey, you stay back!"

That selene power builds in the core of his hand, his fingertips and palm lighting up with a cat's cradle of silver light, before linking together in a circle, with the lines spinning rapidly enough that a spray of white/silver blasts the size of fists chain out, tracering after the well-dressed cosplayer's position, and woe betide any destructible terrain that gets in his way!

COMBATSYS: Homura successfully hits Skye with Tsukiyomi Buster.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Skye             1/----===/=======|======-\-------\0           Homura

[SKYE]
"I don't know!" Skye says, "some people don't have swords and other weapons and stuff! It's not that it's a bad sword or anything! It just seems a little, ya know, unfair?" Skye bounces a bit, stretching after her sudden shift into action.

"Oh! Lyraelle, she's uhhhh," Skye chases the words as though they are just so slightly out of reach. "She's like, a big celebrity with the whole Midnight Channel thing, yeah? At least, that's what I think?" The wrestler seems uncertain. "She's not really a New Figh--aah!"

There is suddenly a storm of lunar chi heading her way, and Skye is trying to move to react. Her arms go up defensively, but the blasts weave past her guard and create an opening by striking her in the ribs. When the first one finds purchase, Skye drops her guard---and promptly takes the rest of the volley head on before stumbling back and falling over.

"Ugh, ow. Ow ow ow." Skye writhes, then rolls over enough to push herself back off her feet. She staggers, once, almost losing her balance after the rise.

"Oh right, character," she mumbles to herself. "Atlanta will not be defeated that easily, Pellayoos!" She pronounces it just like that, "My PanCAKEtion is unmatched by any in Greece!"

Skye charges toward the shugenja again, bobbing and weaving to get a good angle. When she's in close, she vaults forward---and to the side, swinging a prodigious hip to try and bowl Homura over and soften him for what follows: Skye chases him down to try and grab hold of his feet, flip him around to take him by the waist, then back-fall into a German suplex.

But on the note of cake, the amount that Skye is swinging around coupled with the heavy lifting and the wardrobe damage does not seem to be doing any favors to her cosplay. An ominous ripping of fabric may be faintly heard over the din of the battle.

COMBATSYS: Skye successfully hits Homura with Skyedive EX.

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Skye             1/--=====/=======|=======\===----\1           Homura

[HOMURA]
"Let me see, stancing, stancing..."

The boy moves easily, fluidly, sneakers skipping quickly between the dirt and the sandstone ruins. He tries his best to keep a fighter's rhythm, not quite staying in the same spot and keeping at least a thin veneer of mobility in the fight.

All truth told, the shugenja seems to be more focused on getting his own rhythm in line, distracted and trying to get a good reading what is apparently a more direct relationship with the horizon or the sun than most fighters have, mumbling to himself and closing his hand at his side, his sword bobbing at his hip with his easy motions.

"Ohhh. Am I going to have to do more research...maybe our programming is going to do a ... what's it, collaboration? I hope it's not something silly like an unrequited crush. Hmmm... that'd just be troublesome--what? Oh, right, character. Um. Chiseled, steely glare! Don't make me have Achilles at you! ... hey, isn't it Pankration? Are you a baker? I-is that the joke? wh-- ACK--! That's very nice but it's not edible in the slight---ESTaaa!!"

She really doesn't need to bob and weave much at all. Homura doesn't seem exactly ready for his opponent to bring the entire can of sugar biscuits as he's no less than assailed by a flying hip, checked by softness and thrown over a barrel, flipped like a blackjack and driven headfirst into a well placed crate that explodes -mostly- into pieces as he lands in it, catastrophically scattering NFGebris everywhere.

"ugh... who keeps putting these things everywhere.." it definitely must be the Korean. Homura manages to kip up, tilting the remains of the crate until he can get a piece of his sword into the part that's lodged around him like a comical hula hoop, putting a knee against the spine of the blade and bursting through it, cutting through the crate in one awkwardly smooth (that a thing?) motion.

Energy is flickering erratically in the palm of Homura's hand, bright halo effects cascading down to his elbow when he lifts it, motes and droplets of flickering energy orbitting his hand like the brightest sunlight caught in raindrops on an otherwise cloudy day.

After a moment's study, the boy braces his hilt under his arm, stabilizing with the back of his hand and holding his sword parallel with his unsealed arm. Energy begins to gather, selene power slowly yielding to something much brighter, and hotter, a corona half the size of the shugenja building up as he whispers that sounds a lot like a prayer.

"Hey... uh, listen... about your cosplay?" Homura begins, deadly placid as he gets control of the varying solar leylines. The ball of energy is powerful, and damned hot.

"It was pretty nice, so...sorry."

The blast, when loosed after Skye, has visible recoil, the boy's entire body skidding back as he discharges what has gone from very cool to what is now essentially a tiny little sun of power, flash-frying the grass and scalding the stone as it descends upon the wrestler.

COMBATSYS: Homura successfully hits Skye with Amaterasu Gear ZERO.

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Skye             2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|===----\-------\0           Homura

[SKYE]
After the latest daredevil slam, Skye rolls back away from the shugenja, plants her palms on the ground, then flips through the air and back onto her feet in a daring display of agility and flexibility. Unfortunately, the same flexibility seems to be lacking in her costume, which creaks again as Skye bends her knees on the landing. The catgirl tail---still hanging on---swings back and forth.

"ATALANTA!" Skye abruptly corrects. "That's my name! Ha ha ha!" She rests her hands on her hips.

"Programming? Collaboration? Are you some kind of cele--oh, oh ho! I'm no baker, I'm the strongest woman in Greece!" Skye taps her chest with her thumb, holding her fist up in front of her. "Maybe it's Socrates?" She mostly definitely pronounced that wrong, and it's hard to tell if it was intentional or accidental as she boots a piece of an NFG-branded container out of her way.

"Oh," Skye gets a little pale. "That looks scary," she says quietly to herself as the corona surges and then Homura gathers a miniature sun of power to hurl her way.

"Oh, um, thanks! I made it myself. It was kind of a rush job but--aieeee!"

She does not succeed at catching the miniature sun. Instead she is burnt, scalded, and blasted back through another crate that has the misfortune of being the crash pad for her backside before splashing into a small water feature to the side that erupts into a haze. She lays there for a moment, steaming from residual heat from the searing sphere of power, and does not get up. The water seems to be gone, at least. Her costume is not only heavily torn but also singed. Some of her wig seems to be smouldering.

"Ow ow ow," Skye says, "HOT! Why is everyone throwing fire and like, SUN at me?"

"AHEM," Skye clears her throat, trying to get back in character. "E-even the power of He--Helios (is that right). HELIOS'S POWER WILL DEFEAT ME!" Skye seems to have psyched herself back up, even if her knees wobble a bit as she tries to keep standing and she looks to be in quite a bit of pain.

But suddenly "Atalanta" drops onto all fours--a runners-stance--then breaks into thunderous run toward the shugenja. "As a true Grecian, the marathon is also my specialty!" She proclaims, aiming to clear the gap quickly and looking ready to clothesline the man.

Until she abruptly dives forward into a roll, tumbles toward Homura, then plants her palms and vaults up into a double-kick packing the power to launch him into the sky. If she does, Skye flips over and leaps after him, aiming to intercept her opponent midflight, grab hold, and twist him into a spinning piledriver!

COMBATSYS: Homura interrupts Kiss the Skye from Skye with Gravity of Nagano.

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Skye             2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1           Homura

[HOMURA]
"Ano... sorry," Homura replies. "I guess it was just a half-caked idea...-- aa-- nmnh! I mean baked. Will editing issue a confection? -- I mean correction!! ano..." Is he blushing?

It's actually a little inappropriate, because Homura is mostly chattering to himself in the aftermath of a solar blast, little embers that used to be an NFG crate curling in the air, and his fierce opponent mostly cursing at him. He does kind of notice that, really.

"Oh -- it's because a lot of new fighters start out with fire, I bet! It's the easiest to learn, but the hardest to master, my teachers say... aaa, but-- oh!" He stares, kind of taken aback as Skye makes her declaration, eyes lidding and the boy cringing very slightly. Ginger, definitely more than a little concerned. "...did you mean, 'Helios' power will _not_ defeat you'...? Oh, I don't like Helios, though. Myo'ou is a much better role model to - hey, why are you crouching like that? Wait, if I'm King Peleus, am I supposed to be judging? Your, ah, form is great? ACK! Atalanta nooo--!!"

The young man is certainly not going to stand for being treated like this. Most importantly, he's not going to stick around for a clothesline! The shugenja literally just turns and books it the hell out of there when Skye busts out in a full sprint towards him, the sleeves of his jacket fluttering behind him as he flees, with Skye in hot pursuit the whole way.

What follows is the most fearsome chase in history, as Homura ducks under a cameraman, vaults a low-hanging boom mike, and knocks over half of a lunch table on the way to avoiding being attacked by a vicious tiger.

Note. It does -not- work. -wham- "Augh!"

Homura is -resoundingly- knocked sky-high into the air with a double piston kick, ragdolling end-over-end helplessly, his katana flipping end over end with him. And wouldn't you know it, just as he manages to pinwheel himself into getting some form of air control, so too does the brutal daughter slice in, gripping onto him and reorienting him into a perfect spinning piledriver.

"Aaa.. y-you're so rambunctious..." the boy laments.
And then slips right out of her grasp.

It's not that he breaks her deathgrip, or eels his way out from between her hands. No, it's more that the boy whispers something that sounds suspiciously like a prayer, and simply decides to not be held anymore, no heavier or easier to grip than the morning mist. The sudden subtraction of his mass from the spinning piledriver interferes with the centripetal rifling of the move, and the boy doesn't -- truly -- seem to weigh anything at all in that wild moment.

He catches the flat of his katana on the soles of his sneakers, and runs down the length of it as it whirls in the air, using it as a reverse springboard to reorient himself in midair. For a sick, twisting parkour moment, the boy is inverted and backflips downward, sending off a volley of selene blasts into curtaining rainfall circus after the young girl.

"But don't calm down on my account...!"

End over end, the boy grips both of his hands together and drops onto the wrestling princess, intersecting every neat line of his blasts with a double-fisted hammerblow to break her piledriver and send her careening back into the ground.

Homura will hit the ground in a crouch, standing only when he can catch his katana as it finally drops to the ground.
"...the kings of heaven shine proud light on those who give their best every day."

[SKYE]
"I didn't get to learn any fire," Skye says, almost sounding like a petulant child who didn't get her turn on the monkeybars. It's a feeling she leaves behind in the chaos of the charge and the assault on Homura's person, and it seems replaced by a bit more...satisfaction, when she nails her daring double-kick and goes into an aerial pursuit.

But then he is slippery. He is out of her grip, and she's grabbing empty air like suddenly her handhold is abruptly -missing-.

And as Homura descends back toward her to intercept, Skye's eyes widen. In that moment, she seems to have no idea if up is down or left is right. First he was in her grasp, and now he's not, and now she's being driven back down by a double axehandle and another line of that energy that feels like the sun's very reflection.

Cratering the ground on impact, Skye lets out a low groan, taking several seconds to get her composure enough to even rise up. When she does she sways, staggers, and finally gets enough of her balance to make a fist and try to rear back and take a solid, haymaker swing at Homura. It's not especially well aimed.

"That'ssss not how you take a bump!" she protests. And then, most likely, she falls flat on her face.

COMBATSYS: Skye has reached second wind!

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Skye             2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1           Homura

COMBATSYS: Homura interrupts Fierce Punch from Skye with Oni Accel.
- Power hit! -

[                                <
Skye             2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|

COMBATSYS: Homura can no longer fight.

[                                <
Skye             2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|

[HOMURA]
"I guess it's not really that big a deal. Forbidden seals and training in the mountains aside and all that. Oh wait, what, you're still going?"

Homura looks genuinely impressed. Then he registers that she's kinda winding up for a punch, his expression turning more than a little tilted. "H--hey," he says, "I'm too sore from all those brutal cuddles for all that right now, y-y-y-y-ou sh-sh-should DEFinITEly-- give up. Wh--wah!"

Homura clips his sword back into its scabbard, and untucks it from his belt, gripping his wrist tightly as he holds his saya, a sudden branch of white light arcing off of his arm with the audible incongruity in his voice. Eyes, selene silver, rise just barely over his teashades as he leans in, catching the whole of her fist on the flat edge of his sheath, rolling into the motion, as a brief energy flash bleeds off of his arm. Channeled into the hilt of his sword, the boy leans in to try and give the Atalanta cosplayer one last stiff -crack- over the head with the sword's pommel, the entire hilt glowing in a silver halo with the motion, even as he starts to trip...--- uffh!

"th--this is for our own good!"

Homura tries to stun her, just long enough that he can sit on the wrestler's back and force her to the ground. So he can fall into a deep meditation and avoid ... what he keeps alluding to as some sort of disaster.

Really, even if he can't sit ON her, Homura's going to be sitting in a trance for awhile, at least until his chi levels stop splitting random bits of vegetation.

Probably just a coincidence, really.

[SKYE]
Skye is running on fumes, barely able to stand as she delivers a punch that is, for lack of a better term, already punch drunk. The world is spinning around her. She's sore from strikes, cuts, and burns. She can't remember her lines. Only one thing lingers in her mind: her teacher telling her not to get pinned.

The hilt clonks against her head solidly, but she does not immediately go down. It's remarkable, really, that the punch packs as much power as it did---perhaps its a testament to whatever training Skye has done to build up her strength which definitely, totally did not cut into her learning her lines or even how to properly pronounce her character's name.

Even so, as she helps empty Homura's reserves with the punch, the strike to her noggin seems to do the same to her. Skye sways left, then right, and then she feels Homura try to hop up and sit on her back for the pin, and it seems to set off a reflex.

"N-nuh uh!" Skye protests, and she shifts. Instead of catching her back as she falls, Homura likely finds himself pushed back as Skye repositions and shoves back against him with her own bottom. It lacks the power to be an attack, but with them both running on empty (and Skye's natural advantages in a hip-shoving match), Skye tries to push him back up, press back-to-back, and slide down as beside him as he enters a meditative state.

"That'ssss really good," Skye mumbles. "ow. I'm...I'm done."

She may be sitting upright, but Skye is definitely out cold.

COMBATSYS: Skye takes no action.


COMBATSYS: Skye can no longer fight.

Log created on 01:01:59 03/15/2024 by Homura, and last modified on 17:27:21 03/26/2024.