Match of the Millennium

Description: Ishida and Tanwen get a rematch in the quarterfinals round! No Odyssey-themed costumes this time, but Golden Delicious apples will still figure in somehow.

[ISHIDA]
It's been a while since Ishida's had to be in front of a crowd. Sure, he'd been "in public" since the traumatic New Zack Island experience, but... bumping shoulders with fans aboard the close confines of the Mermaid isn't -quite- the same as strutting one's stuff on stage in front of thousands of them at once.

Which is one reason Ishida's customary warmup routine was carried out behind stage. Sequestered away from the cameras, the overly serious fighter was able to clear his mind, and prepare at his own pace without the cheering and/or jeering from the crowd.

That's not all that's different though. As the fight time approaches, the Arena Mexico audience will be treated to a live instrumental performance of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' song 'Dani California' over the loudspeakers. As the song plays, spotlights roam the stage, hovering close to the stage entry door, but never really -reaching- it. There's no vocalist in the cover band -- but two bass players.

Just as the second verse of the song starts, the spotlight roams over to focus on one of the two bass players -- one wearing sunglasses, and an uncombed silk jacket and pants. He bobs his head to the music, grooving out to the crowd who has -- by now -- figured out that the player's actually Ishida!

Once the lead guitar starts to gain in prominence, Ishida sets his bass down on the stand and throws up the horns! With the RHCP cover band playing him on, he makes a small stop to reach into a small wooden bucket placed on a corner of the fighting stage.

It's here that he plucks out a golden delicious apple. And takes a big ol' bite of it as he approaches the stage. Tanwen was Ishida's second real fight in the NFG -- and he would have felt it criminal to -not- make some kind of callback to that one fight, in his own characteristically subtle way.

[TANWEN]
Meanwhile, Tanwen is backstage, dressed up in a set of bronze gladiatorial shoulder, arm and shin guards, with a white sports bra with the Welsh dragon on it and a green skirt. She's being interviewed by Tom Bradley, who was holding a microphone up for the two of them to share.

TOM: "Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and all of our other friends! I'm here with Team Atlantis alumnus and recent Zack Island champion Tanwen Cadwallader, who's about to face off with Akito Ishida right here in the Arena Mexico. How are you feeling, Tanwen?"

TANWEN: "Well, firstly, Tom Bradley, you should really be calling me Queen Tanwen of Atlantis, you should."

TOM: "I'm sorry, Queen Tanwen of Atlantis."

TANWEN: "Oh, it's okay. You can just call me Tanwen, Tom Bradley."

TOM: "Oh, thanks, Tanwen. And please, call me Tom."

TANWEN: "Aren't you worried that people will think that you're Sir Tom Jones if I don't say which Tom you are?"

TOM: "It would be a truly improbable honour to be mistaken for Sir Tom Jones at this juncture in our respective careers, Tanwen. So, how are you feeling about your match tonight?"

TANWEN: "You mean the one with Ishida? Oh, I'm sure it will be lovely. Did you want to ask me about what it's like being Queen of my own island?"

TOM: "I thought that you and Chevy Beaumont were joint Queens of Isla... err... I mean, Atlantis."

TANWEN: "Well, we are, but Chevy isn't here right now, so I thought you'd want to ask me first."

TOM: "Erm, quite. Well, what's it like being Queen of Atlantis?"

TANWEN: "Well, Tom, I'm still trying to drum up support in the United Nations for Atlantis to be recognised as a sovereign constitutional monarchy. Firstly, though, we're working on coming up with a constitution, so we're looking for ideas for what should go in it."

TOM: "Well, I suppose I could suggest some ideas if you want."

TANWEN: "Thanks, Tom, but you're an American, and your Constitution seems to cause nothing but problems most of the time. It's okay; I've got plenty of source materials to consult."

The dragon girl gestures behind her, and the camera pans to show Winn carrying a pile of what appear to be a thick stack of brown books in Welsh.

TOM: "Is that the Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition collection?"

TANWEN: "Of course. It's an Open License, so I thought it would be a good place to start."

TOM: "I suppose Constitution is an important statistic in that system. Shouldn't you have a legal team helping you create your constitution?"

TANWEN: "Oh, I know plenty of rules lawyers, Tom."

TOM: "This is all very fascinating, Your Majesty."

TANWEN: "Thanks, Tom! I think so, too. Now, when am I supposed to be shooting my promo for my fight with Ishida? I've always wanted to shoot a promo, I have!"

TOM: "Th-that's what we've been doing this whole time, Tanwen. Ishida's already in the ring."

Tanwen turns to the screen behind the pair to see Ishida biting into the apple, then turns to the camera with a look of horror.

TANWEN: "Whaaaattt?! Oh, no! Everybody's going to think I'm boring now! Cachu hwch!"

She tugs at her copper hair in angst.

TOM: "Oh, well, I don't think they'll -"

TANWEN: "It's too late for questions, Tom!"

Tanwen snatches the microphone out of Tom's hand, then turns around and kicks the books out of Winn's hands and into the air, sending looseleaf pages full of notes scattering everywhere before getting up in the cameraman's digital face.

TANWEN: "ISHIDA! I'm coming for you, butty! And, and, I hope you haven't got any worms in your apple, because sometimes wyrms are bitey! Like me!"

Tanwen flashes her teeth, which are a little bit pointy, and remarkably well-brushed.

TANWEN: "And that's not very nice!!"

Tanwen tries to make a scary face. Then, not convinced of her own success, she follows her instincts and headbutts the camera, causing it to smack into the camera operator's face. A second later she's leaning over it, looking horrified.

TANWEN: "Oh no! Are you alright??"

The camera cuts away and the lights in the arena start to dim as Tom's voice plays without video to accompany it.

TOM: "Uhh, ladies and gentlemen and, well, everybody: please bear with us for a moment while --"

TANWEN: "It's okay! I'm here!!"

Piano music that's somewhere between jaunty and melancholic - perhaps sanguine - starts to play over the PA system as Tanwen appears on the entrance ramp, dry ice mist filling the stage as she appeals to the crowd with her sword and shield.

o/~ Full the moon, the midnight sky
Through the dark they ride
Warriors of forever
Will sacrifice their right o/~

Additional woodwinds join in with the gentle vocals as Tanwen prances back and forth on the stage, saluting both sides of the arena with her sword.

o/~ One for all and all for one
The future time has come
Faces filled with torment
Your heart beats like a drum
Never you will look back again
You'll fight until the end
Together we will live on, forevermore
In this land we have defended
From all things dark and cruel
Now we are defenseless
In a land where dragons rule o/~

Tanwen finds herself back in the middle of the stage at the midpoint of the chorus, where she starts to sway her sword back and forth overhead as if it were a lighter.

o/~ In this land we have defended
From all things dark and cruel
Now we are defenseless
In a land where dragons rule o/~

Finally, the infamous guitarwork of Dragonforce kicks in as the song shifts from gentle piano ballad to rock anthem. Tanwen takes the Pavlovian cue to jump up on her feet with excitement before charging down the ramp toward the ring.

o/~ Dragons ruuule!!! o/~

As the vocals belt out after leaping an octave, Tanwen herself leaps, wings spreading behind her to flap and propel her over the ropes and into the ring, where she stumbles to a knee. The wings fold into her back and disappear as she picks herself up and waves her arms at the crowd.

Finally, as the music plays on, she turns to her opponent-to-be.

"Hello, Ishida! Have you got anymore apples? I'm feeling a bit hungry now. Or maybe that tummyache is because of the interview."

She quirks her lips and turns her eyes upward as she tries to judge the difference.

[ISHIDA]
Ishida has plenty of time to finish off that apple! It's a bit hard for him to hear the actual interview, but of course he and the rest of the audience are able to follow along from the giant screen.

His eyes go wide in mock horror at the terrifying look. It's... sold decently. He's starting to get the hang of the performance act. It's less 'fake' and more 'real' though, as Ishida bares his teeth from the act of Tanwen headbutting the camera.

... As the piano begins, he tosses the apple to a staffer hanging out just apart from the stage. Crossing his arms, he looks off beyond the audience with a stoic look -- trying to remain 'in character' such as it is and not detract from the mood the music is trying to set.

That stoicism lasts right up until the guitar starts, and Ishida starts to bob his head to the music. It's hard for the bassist -not- to be moved by Dragonfire.

But, he doesn't have to bob about for too much longer before Tanwen alights onto the stage. He stiffens up and gives her a formal bow. "Greetings, Your Majesty...!"

The question gives him a moment to look back at her with an arched eyebrow. Another apple?

Beat.

"Oh, of course!"
Ishida jogs over to the bucket and fishes out another apple. He offers it up to her with both hands, as if it were fragile like a piece of glassware.

"It is good to see you again, Queen Tanwen!"

He takes a few steps back, allowing his limbs to slacken. Which could mean he's ready for combat!

"May the best fighter win."
That -probably- means he's ready for combat.

COMBATSYS: Ishida has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ishida           0/-------/-------|

[TANWEN]
Tanwen takes the apple that's offered up to her with equal reverence, setting her sword and shield down in her corner of the ring so that she can hold it in both palms. She sniffs at the fruit for a moment, closing her eyes, before letting out the taken breath in a small puff of flame, flash-baking the apple and leaving the stem smoking at the top. The dragon girl smiles with satisfaction.

"It's good to see you too, Ishida! A great day for eating apples," she says, holding up the steaming Golden Delicious in her hand before taking a big, juicy bite out of it.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Tanwen expectorates the chewed-up bits of saucifying apple in a spray at her apple-benefactor!

"I spit in the face of people who don't want to be cool!" she declares, grabbing her sword and pointing to a rather shocked-looking crowd. Faltering a little at the reaction, she says more quietly, "Oh, did I do it wrong? I thought that was a tradition in the Caribbean."

"Your kayfabe is getting a bit chaotic, Tan," Winn calls from the ringside, where he's now acting as Tanwen's manager. "I didn't think you'd want to be a heel."

"Am I being a heel now? I don't want them to boo me!" Tanwen gasps, then turns around. Reaching into her bag of tricks for something to win the crowd over, she starts dancing the victory dance that she danced after her declaration as Queen of Tanwen Island, even as the bell sounds!

COMBATSYS: Tanwen has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Ishida           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Tanwen

[ISHIDA]
Ishida smiles.
He's happy to see Tanwen enjoying the apple.
He definitely wasn't ready for it to be spat into his face.
To his credit, he merely shuts his eyes and holds his ground.

Ishida doesn't even bother wiping away the spray of apple juice from his face, or the chunk of apple stuck to his cheek. He simply opens his eyes again as he takes note of what Winn's said.

"Definitely heel tactics," he notes dryly. Jaw motion and the flex of his cheek muscles is enough to work the chunk of apple loose, which strikes him on the shoulder before tumbling to the floor. He... finds himself smiling at Tanwen's sudden backpedaling, now that he understands it was meant as a greeting rather than an insult.

Of course... with the increased distance, Ishida prepares himself for combat. He squares his shoulders, widens his stance, and lowering his hips. His elbows drop to either side, his hands curling into fists. He draws in his breath. All key aspects of focusing his chi per the tenets of Iron Shirt qigong.

It's not quite as entertaining or invigorating as the Queen's dance, of course. But it's just as necessary for Ishida's state of mind.

"The fight has begun."
In one smooth motion, he rises up and takes one step forward.
"Here I come, Your Highness."
From his politeness, it's clear he doesn't want to be a heel, either!

And, in one lightning-fast burst of speed, Ishida rushes forward suddenly, delivering a rushing palm strike towards Tanwen's abdomen. His momentum will carry him forward into a follow-up strike from his left elbow, aimed at around Tanwen's shoulder height.

COMBATSYS: Tanwen blocks Ishida's Medium Punch.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Ishida           0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Tanwen

[TANWEN]
'The fight has begun.'

It's that phrase that snaps Tanwen out of the desperate reverie of her revelrous appeal to the Arena Mexico's audience. Of course, by now most of the fans have decided that Tanwen is clearly a rudo, having followed up her apple-spitting with what appears to be a mocking dance, full of air-punching and hip-wiggling. So, there's a cheer when Ishida takes his stoic stance in preparation for battle with the dragon girl, calling her attention to the spoken phrase as it fires up the crowd.

The dragonette does a quick about-face, copper hair whipping as she raises her shield up just in time to catch the palm that's being thrust toward her abdomen. The impact drives her toward the corner, and she lifts the disc-shaped bulwark higher as the follow-up elbow comes in, sending a clanging reverberation through both the shield and its bearer.

Deciding that she needs more space, Tanwen hops up backward onto the turnbuckles, balancing precariously for a moment on the ring ropes before using them to vault forward over Ishida's head. As she does, she'll loose the shield at an angle to spin toward his back, shouting 'AERIAL MAGIC MISSILE!' in case he might have been surprised by the maneuver. The shield will tend to boomerang or bounce back toward Tanwen depending on how Ishida deals with it, though for at least a moment, she'll be left with only the sword with which to defend herself.

COMBATSYS: Ishida blocks Tanwen's Magic Missile!.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Ishida           0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Tanwen

[ISHIDA]
Ishida offers a faint smile in appraisal of Tanwen's shield technique -- it's as solid as ever, in his estimation. The fact that his attacks are met with such a sturdy defense isn't a discouragement though: he's just happy to only have -one- opponent now, and a flesh-and-blood one at that!

Undeterred, Ishida keeps his feet light on the mat as he pivots to defend against Tanwen's nimble maneuvers. He's not -quite- so fast that he can keep his raised forearm towards her when she slings her shield at him -- but his positional awareness allows him to turn just enough so that the shield strikes him on the shoulder and upper arm with a dull *thud*, rather than squarely in his back. He grimaces; the force of the strike causes him to stagger back slightly -- but when he plants his heel, it's not with unsteadiness, but rather an intent to use the flexibility of the mat to his full advantage.

As the shield bounces away, Ishida is already springing into a counterattack! "... Unarmed Strike," he states with an abundance of calm, having looked up just enough D&D to settle on that as a rebuttal to 'magic missile.'

But while the attack call may be nondescript, his actual -attack- is a bit fancier. He leads in with a mid-level forearm strike -- making a calculated bet that his Iron Shirt conditioning will hold up against Tanwen's sword. But he'd follow that up with a slightly higher chop from his right hand, delivering a blow that would -- if it works as he planned -- impart such a sideways torque onto Tanwen that she might go flying into the ropes -- and twist herself up into the ropes in the process!

COMBATSYS: Tanwen blocks Ishida's Taken for Granite.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Ishida           0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0           Tanwen

[TANWEN]
The shield ricochets off of the sleeve of Ishida's Iron Shirt, flying toward a ringpost opposite. Meanwhile, Tanwen lands in the center of the ring, sliding back on her sandals as she raises her sword up protectively. "I don't think you have to say 'Unarmed Strike' if you're doing a real unarmed strike," she says with a helpful tone. "But I suppose you can if you like!"

As Ishida springs forward with his forearm strike, Tanwen twists around, snatching the shield out of the air as it rebounds off the ringpost and finishing her spin by bringing the buckler up to block the blow. She follows up the defense by positioning the shield in the path of Ishida's chopping hand - and though he doesn't manage to impart that intended torque to the full degree, she does end up toppling back into the ropes with the impact, catching herself on them. Feeling the support of the semi-flexible cords, she pushes her hips into the middle rope, then releases the counter-tension in her feet, bouncing off as she essentially slingshots herself forward into a heavy overhand chop of her own!

Fortunately, as always, her sword is more of a heavy-duty prop than a real tool for violence, and the blunted blade is unlikely to penetrate Ishida's Iron Shirt - or anyone else's shirt regardless of fabric, really. Perhaps if it were silk, or paper.

COMBATSYS: Tanwen successfully hits Ishida with Crushing Strike.
? Strange Hit! ?

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Ishida           0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0           Tanwen

[KENZO]
Kenzo starts moving to his seat carrying an order of tacos in one hand and nachos in the other with a cup of pineapple Jarritos held to his body with his elbow.

When Kenzo gets to his seat, he ends up needing a moment to carefully maneuver the food and drink into a position where he can mostly be sure none of it will spill. Mostly because he can control his movements and actions but he can neither control nor perfectly account for the actions of others.

He finds himself cringing in disgust at the spat apple. Ishida seemed to be handling it with more calm than he himself would have.

Once the action begins, Kenzo is content to cheer on his kouhai with a shout of, "Ishida! FAITO!"

[ISHIDA]
"Oh." Ishida -is- trying to learn more about this Dungeons and Dragons thing, but... well. Maybe he'll need to sit down with an actual game or two before it really starts to sink in.

While his strikes are deflected once more by Tanwen's skillfield shieldwork, he's buoyed by the fact that his perseverence still managed to batter the dragonlet backwards. He tallies that up in his head, figuring that just a little bit more might be enough to wear down her defenses. Unfortunately, though -- her response comes a bit more quickly than he was anticipating.

Ishida shifts his foot backwards.
And a hunk of apple crunches underfoot.
Ishida grits his teeth.
But by that point the damage is done.
As he loses his balance to the puddle of fresh applesauce beneath his foot.

His arms shift sideways in an attempt to recover -- but the movement unfortunately leaves him open to an attack from above! The blunted sword bashes into the expanse between the Shaolin student's shoulder and neck! Crumpling to avoid further damage, he shrinks away, slamming hard on his back. The mat reverberates with a loud thrum, complicated when Ishida rolls onto his side to try and get away from a potential followup from Tanwen!

"Oof..." he laments, one hand snapping to address the injury. "Good reaction...!"

There's reasons to be upset -- and this isn't one of them. He knows Tanwen's worked very hard to be here, and so has he. And he knows he's got people rooting for him in the crowd -- like his senpai. And that's why he's got a smile on his face as he proceeds to execute on his prior plan.

He surges forward anew, throwing himself into what seems like it might be a shoulder strike.

It's not, though -- for he suddenly rocks both shoulders forward, as he seeks to slam his forehead into Tanwen's! Granted -- he knows the headbutt-happy dragon might have him at a disadvantage -- but he's hoping he can make use of the initiative and catch her by surprise!

COMBATSYS: Tanwen endures Ishida's Aggressive Strike.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Ishida           0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0           Tanwen

[TANWEN]
Tanwen has some fans of her own in the crowd - after all, the eccentric dragon girl has garnered more than a few admirers amongst the crossover demographic of NFG enjoyers and tabletop roleplay enthusiasts - but one in particular stands out.

Winn, the dragon girl's portly Welsh guardian, has been known in the past for his blend of book-collection-toting butler and easygoing, fall-asleep-in-an-armchair dad-vibes. Somewhere between the backstage and his seat, though, he's lost his collared shirt in favour of a black vest with the Griffon Mask's logo emblazoned on the back, a tank top with Tanwen's face on it underneath, and white, green and red facepaint that matches the colours of both the Mexican and Welsh flags. How he managed to get all that facepaint on so quickly is one of the universe's little mysteries. His operatic voice bellows out over the crowd.

"TEAR HIM TO PIECES, TAN!"

Tanwen blinks a couple of times toward her guardian before turning back to Ishida. He's coming right at her, head-first! Suddenly, she's flashing back to a similar incident in the Zack-of-All-Trades battle with Albert. Is Ishida going to try and kiss her, or is he going to do the same thing Albert did?

Freezing up with uncertainty, backing up toward the ropes, Tanwen closes her eyes, and -

*KLONK*

"It wasn't a kiss," Tanwen decides somewhat more certainly this time as stars flash in front of her eyes. "Just a headbutt between friends!"

And, because one good headbutt deserves another, she throws herself forward, aiming to catch hold and slam her own rather solid forehead into Ishida's in turn, potentially taking him down to the mat with her!

If that succeeds, she'll roll past and scramble to her feet, aiming to pull him up by his shoulders before he can rise of his own volition so she can trap his head between her legs and then drop down, smashing his head into the ring beneath her hips!

COMBATSYS: Ishida endures Tanwen's Arch Dragon.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Ishida           0/-------/-======|>>>>>>>\-------\0           Tanwen

[ISHIDA]
There's a lot of folks seated near Kenzo! One in particular is a young woman with her face wrapped up in a luchadora mask -- the cheap kind with elastic straps that the arena vendors would have for sale. It kind of clashes with the navy blue of the Club America FC jersey the woman's wearing. And it doesn't match at all the look of a pale blue scarf or denim jeans. But that's not all that marks the audience member as someone from out of town: her freckled and lightly-tanned skin marks her as a visiting American! The pseudo-luchadora's blue eyes cast over to Kenzo as he arrives. She smiles -- but doesn't say anything at first.

Back in the ring, Ishida doesn't know why Tanwen's hesitating. It can't be a bad thing, he reasons, if the headbutt lands! Though, the fact that she can take it might be some cause for concern, as Ishida recoils and plans to follow up.

He's a bit confused when she mentions it wasn't a kiss. "N-no, it wasn't..." he starts, before realizing the Welsh dragon is just talking herself through things.

He holds his ground for a moment, planting one foot behind him as he sees Tanwen about to return the favor!

In the midst of the strike, though, he decides to let his braced stance falter, and lets Tanwen's headbutt knock him backwards! Sure -- her headbutt likely hurts -more-, but one of the things he'd been working out with Kenzo was a better way to -deal- with up-close attacks like hers.

With him being slow to react, Tanwen's able to capitalize and trap his head between her legs. He might not have a plan for dealing with Tanwen's attack yet, but he's thinking...

"Yeah!" shouts the luchadora-masked woman from above! "-That- warn't a headbutt, -this- is a headbutt! Ahahaha! Keep it up, Tan!" The masked one pumps her fist high in the air -- and then, perhaps a bit self-consciously, looks back to Kenzo with a guilty grin. "Oh. Hey there, Kenzo! Enjoyin' the fight?" The freckled Southerner reaches into her popcorn tub for a little snack as she turns back to watch the fight unfold. Did Chevy Beaumont forget that she'd had a mask on, maybe?

Preparation counts -- just a bit, anyway! And in that brief interlude, Ishida's able to put a plan together. For when Tanwen's legs clamp about his head, he then clamps -his- arms about her! And when she continues using her forward momentum to slam his head into the mat, he's able to use his shoulders and core strength to stiffen up, reinforcing the joints so his neck isn't taking -all- the brunt of the damage...

Of course, he's also counting on the mat to be nice and elastic! So when Tanwen may be hoping to break free after her hold... Ishida is using the springiness of the mat to catapult himself into the air after her! Holding on to Tanwen's thigh, he'd seek to deliver four rapid bludgeoning elbow strikes into her ribcage while she's nice and close. And if the mat bounce gave the pair enough air that he could get his feet under him, he'd land in a horse stance -- and unleash a brutal backhand strike into Tanwen's abdomen to send her reeling backwards!

COMBATSYS: Ishida successfully hits Tanwen with Clean Slate.
- Power hit! -

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Ishida           0/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>----\1           Tanwen

[TANWEN]
Tanwen doesn't entirely anticipate having Ishida's arms around her legs after she's delivered her body-drop to her opposing fighter's head. Perhaps she'd forgotten how notoriously hardcore Japanese competitors could be in the wrestling ring. The wind is driven out of her as the elbows slam into her midsection, causing her eyes to go wide.

"Oh! So that's what an opportunity attack is like!" she wheezes as she bounces off of him and doubles over with an arm wrapped around her midsection protectively.

Unfortunately, the bent-forward position means that that backhand strike that was aimed at her abdomen... is aimed at the short-arse dragonette's face.

"NOOOOO!!!" a belligerent Winn shouts, spilling nachos and beer on those nearby as his hands clench into fists around his snacks.

Tanwen spins in a clean one-eighty from the backhand blow, stumbling away with one arm still holding her ribs, her tail flicking in the air behind her as her mouth gapes open at the turn of events. When she spins the rest of the way around and straightens up, her cheeks have gone an indignant shade of red, her face pulled into a scowl.

"That's not very nice!" she declares.

Quickly collecting her shield and sword from her feet, she flexes her shoulderblades. A moment later, a familiar pair of red wings stretch their way out of them, and matching scales sprout along her forearms and neck. A beat of her wings thrusts her forward as she jumps, aiming to smack the flat of her weapon against Ishida's upper body in a sideways spin before grabbing him with her shield arm to swing him around and into the ropes, attempting to execute a classic Irish Whip rebound setup! Hopefully Hawksley Moore is watching.

COMBATSYS: Ishida blocks Tanwen's Armed Combo.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Ishida           1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>-----\1           Tanwen

[ISHIDA]
"... I think so?" Ishida doesn't have a clue about the finer points of D&D mechanics, but he's content to discover more about the game with Tanwen's guidance. He is, however, more interested in having his attacks connect -- and, such as it is, Tanwen takes a blow to the face.

"Oh -dang-, ouch..." recoils a luchadora-masked Chevy from up in the stands. She passes a sympathetic look over to Winn, before shouting out her own reinforcement. "Hang in there, Tannnn!"

Ishida does, to his credit, refrain from capitalizing on his advantage -- at least as much out of surprise as of politeness. Hitting someone in the face is rough enough; hitting a lovely young lady in the face is even worse. "Sorry..." he responds, once called out for his not-niceness, shying backwards a step and raising his guard. His defending arms curl a bit closer to his body once the red dragon's wings unfurl. The Japanese fighter draws in his breath in readiness...

A moment later, when Tanwen whips out with the flat of her weapon, Ishida addresses the blade with a raised forearm, deflecting it away! This has the unfortunate side effect of leaving his arm open for grabbing -- and in the next moment, the Japanese fighter finds himself slung forward and around into the ropes! Perhaps more unfortunately, he doesn't consider using the ropes as a way to accelerate his travel, and wraps his arm around them to arrest his motion entirely.

So, when Tanwen may expect to see Ishida rebounding back at her, he is... not there. He's just rooted next to the rope, his cheeks starting to turn a bit red.

"... Hmm. This could have worked out more efficiently," he admits while stepping free of the ropes.

He curls his hands back into a proper defensive stance, stepping forward lightly. He squints back at Tanwen, hoping the little dragonette isn't -too- disturbed from his prior attack. But rather than give her the pleasure of another attack, he soon charges forward with a lower attack angle. He swings a backhand strike at her sword arm, hoping to knock it aside so that he can leap in to deliver a crushing headbutt! And if he manages that, he would follow that up by scything a foot overhead, seeking to drop it down onto the dragon like a guillotine!

COMBATSYS: Tanwen interrupts Fissure King from Ishida with Dragon Crown EX.
- CRAZY Hit! -

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Ishida           0/-------/----===|>>>>>>>\>>>----\1           Tanwen

[TANWEN]
As she sends Ishida to the ropes, Tanwen stoops forward slightly, her ram-horned head lowered but eyes ahead as she anticipates Ishida's return trip from the whip. However, she's soon disappointed to find that her technique has gone wrong, and there will be no ricochet. Hopefully Hawksley Moore isn't watching.

"COME ON, TAN! GIVE 'EM THE HORNS!" comes the bellow of her painted guardian up in the stands.

Tanwen looks bemused for a moment before holding up her hands with index and pinky fingers extended in Ishida's direction. Metal fans in the crowd cheer.

"THE OTHER HORNS!!" Winn bellows further.

Still not looking confident, Tanwen stoops forward and hooks her index fingers at either side of her head. This draws a more general cheer from the audience due to the reference to a local wrestling icon.

"THE OTHERRRR HOORRRR-"

By this time, Tanwen can no longer afford any distractions, as Ishida is charging in with another backhand strike. Her sword arm is smashed aside, temporarily (she hopes!) disarming her of the weapon, and then comes the headbutt. Despite quickly identifying that Ishida doesn't intend to kiss her this time, she's still caught out.

*KLUNK*

However, Ishida has made a crucial mistake.

Much like marching on Moscow, one should never challenge a dragon to a headbutting competition.

Certainly not the breed of dragon that Tanwen belongs to, anyway. The blow to the skull is just enough to remind the Welsh lass of what Winn means about the 'otherrrr hoorrrr-'.

And thus, as Ishida is raising his leg for the follow-up in the moments where his opponent might normally have been left open to further punishment after the meeting of mind-meat, he'll suddenly find himself tackled out of the kick animation, bowled onto his back by a horned dragon as she crashes into his midsection head-first. Landing astride him as they slide across the smooth mat toward the edge of the ring, she remarks, "He meant these horns!" before pointing to the ones on the side of her head. Then, grabbing onto the ropes to pull herself up, she puts her feet on the bottom rope and bounces on them before dropping backward to land bottom-first on Ishida's head with her own follow-up!

She only gets a bit of a cheer from the audience, seeing as she didn't even do a backflip.

[KENZO]
Kenzo starts eating the tacos, after all, when in Mexico... There's a bit of fancy shifting of food to avoid spillage from other spectators' enthusiastic cheering.

When a masked Chevy greets him, he waves to her.

"If it isn't La Marea!" He leans closer to her and says softly enough that she can hear over the crowd but not so loud that anyone he didn't want to hear it did, "Also known as Chevy."

Kenzo cringes at the attempt to give a 'Glasgow kiss' aka. a headbutt and the rest of the exchange.

"Ooh... Akirameru na!" (Don't give up!)

[ISHIDA]
Ishida doesn't seem to notice the exchange between Winn and his charge; he's a bit too intent on trying to take down Tanwen. It.. doesn't work as great as he'd hoped, though, for a couple reasons. One: Tanwen has a really tough cranium. And two, she wasn't as incapacitated by his strike as he'd hoped. Consequently, he's taken by surprise as the promised horns are delivered to his abdomen, slamming the stocky Shaolin student into a supine state, with the sonorous sound of stretching springs from the surface below. "... Aa, sou da..." he responds weakly, having had the wind forced out of his lungs.

And just as he's starting to get up, the roar of the crowd and the silhouetted form of a falling Tanwen blot out most of his other senses.

The collision knocks him out for an instant. And when consciousness returns, and Ishida rolls over onto his side so that he can press himself back to his feet, his field of vision is filled with stars.

Staggering sideways, he manages to plant his feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. He drops his elbows alongside his waist, and spreads his fingers wide. He takes in a long, long breath, finding his chi once again. His grey eyes focus on Tanwen -- not out of rage, or frustration, but as a simple actualization of Kenzo's encouragement: he will not give up. With the renewed focus on Tanwen, he seeks to banish the stars to the periphery of his vision -- knowing that he only has a limited amount of time to seal this supposed deal.

The audience roars. They might not be sure what's about to happen -- but anticipation is rising!

COMBATSYS: Ishida focuses on his next action.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Ishida           0/-------/----===|>>>>>>>\>>>----\1           Tanwen

[CHEVY]
The pseudo-luchadora's smile fades to a line, as an expression akin to a 'loading screen' washes over her face. Is there someone behind her named La Marea? Is that the name of some famous wrestler? Is that the name of some -non- famous wrestler? It isn't until Kenzo clarifies that he knows her real name that Chevy realizes what's going on: he made up a stage name for her.

"Ahahaha! Si, si! It's always good to run into a fan!" She breaks into a snicker, turning back just in time to see Tanwen reversing Ishida's momentum with a brutal exchange of her own! "Oh, rock on! Go Tan-Wennnnn!"

Chevy munches on a handful of popcorn for a moment, before leaning over towards Kenzo again. "Hey, they're really close! Y'all did a great job together, your guy looks super intense!"

[TANWEN]
"YEAAAHHHH!!!"

Apparently, something about the wrestling arena has unleashed Winn's full enthusiasm. Or perhaps it's just the joie de vivre that comes with surviving an [REDACTED]ing [REDACTED] on a [REDACTED]-infested island finally being let loose. Either way, he's on his feet as Ishida reels and recovers from his encounter with Tanwen's tail end.

Tanwen is also on her feet soon after, climbing up onto the top turnbuckle at the nearest corner to her opponent. She turns around to face him once she's ascended the uppermost reaches of the ringpost, nearly doubling her height in the process. She knows that the crowd knows that she knows what they're thinking that she's thinking: with an opening like this, it's time for a high-flying maneuver.

And few can do high-flying maneuvers like a dragon. Some might have been disappointed by the lack of acrobatics in her springboard hip splash maneuver. This time, though, she leaps off of the ropes, wings flapping as she swoops down and up - aiming to fly over Ishida's head in what might be a fake-out - before rising up into a loop, effectively initiating a wing-assisted Shooting Star press. There's a cheer, then a gasp as she swoops down again, only to pull up once more, ascending even higher. By the time that she comes down for a third swoop, she's effectively pulled off a 900 degree flip, and glowing heat is emanating off of her body as she drives it down toward Ishida, aiming to crash into him and knock him to the mat once more!

Should she succeed in doing so, she'll lift up her glowing shield, then smash it down at him, unleashing an explosive blast that could send both flying!

"IT'S THE DISGYNIAD Y DDRAIG!!!" someone (we all know who) in the stands shouts. Or something like it, at least.

COMBATSYS: Ishida fails to interrupt Dragon's Descent from Tanwen with The Hard Place.

[                         \\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Ishida           0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0           Tanwen

[ISHIDA]
It's... not an exaggeration to say that Ishida's still a bit disoriented. He'd taken a big blow to the abdomen and an even more crushing strike to the head. And while he's -trained- for both of those eventualities, suffering them one after the other takes a bit.

Add to that the difficulty of keeping focus upon a (relatively) tiny dragon as she's flying around the arena lighting -and- competing with them on which is going to be brighter right now. Suffice to say -- Ishida's still seeing stars, and her aerial acrobatics aren't helping! He swings one way to address the fake-out, only to stagger backwards as Tanwen draws upward.

Gritting his teeth, he begins to realize that Tanwen's using the loops to build up speed. He clenches and unclenches his hands in anticipation, focusing a steely-eyed gaze onto the anticipated flight path. All he has to do is ... punch her out of it. The moment of truth approaches...!

Tanwen soars in...! And Ishida lunges forward!

But -- one thing he -doesn't- account for is just how fast Tanwen really -is-. His Wing Chun short-strike punches -might- pack enough force to blunt the charge, but his own wingspan -- er, armspan -- ends up being the most critical shortfall. With his punches falling short, the Queen of Atlantis blazes right into him, taking him right off his feet and smashing him into the mat!

His body flies backwards, bouncing once upon the mat, then twice. He's not allowed to rest too long, though, as a shield and an *explosion* send the downed Japanese fighter bounding into the air again!

The audience goes -wild!- The very thought of a built-up fighter like Ishida being tossed around so freely just goes to show how much stronger Tanwen's become!

Ishida lands a good distance away, in a heap. His skin and silk jacket are charred from the explosive blaze. And yet -- the heap of muscle and bone rocks to one side, starting to move. Letting out a long groan, Ishida plants his hands on the mat. He draws in his breath. And he pushes back to his feet -- perhaps the quality his fans admire most about him.

"I'm still in this, Tanwen. There is one last apple to claim."

Ishida's whole body may be wracked with one kind of pain or another. But he still finds the strength to smile as he resumes his ready stance.

[TANWEN]
Even as she's sailing away from ground zero of the blast she's unleashed, Tanwen's wings are retracting into her back, the mystical dragon energy required for her to keep them available at human size having been rapidly depleted by the off-the-top-rope arsenal of aerial maneuvers and especially by the decision to do a triple loop-de-loop on her most recent assault. By the time that she hits the mat with a ring-shaking thump, the red scale patches have disappeared as well, leaving only her tail and horns as evidence of her human-adjacent nature. It takes her a moment to pull herself up to a sitting position against the ropes, breathing heavily. As she does, she spots her sword caught in the ropes next to her. She pulls herself up with the help of the uppermost rope, then takes hold of the sword with one hand and tugs it free, stumbling away from the side of the ring as she does so, only to come almost face to face with Ishida as he's getting himself back on his feet.

Tanwen quirks an eyebrow at his words.

"There's another apple?" she says in wide-eyed wonder. For a moment, she appears to struggle with what to do with this information.

Then:

"We'll have to split it, we will."

She raises her sword and shield.

"But that will have to wait until after the fight!"

Then, charging forward across the ring with her shield guarding her advance, she turns into a spin, flicking her tail toward Ishida's waist! If it collides, she'll attempt to encircle him with the scaly appendage before tossing him into the air with a violent jerk of her hips and body, only to come out of the spin with a mouthful of flame ready to blow in a blazing gout up at him!

COMBATSYS: Ishida barely endures Tanwen's Dragon's Embrace.

[                             \  < >  //////////////                ]
Ishida           0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0           Tanwen

[ISHIDA]
Perhaps Ishida's stoic comments are burdened with far too much subtlety for the Welsh dragon. He -had- meant it as a challenge for her, but this works just as well! He breaks into gentle laughter at her response.

"Yes. We'll split it."

The Japanese fighter raises his guard at roughly the same rate that Tanwen raises her sword and shield. He readies himself again for the contest of strength and speed. He launches himself at Tanwen, palm-first, hoping to plant his hand on that shield and roughly shove it away.

The Nara native makes contact -- but it's a bit less than ideal, as his hand slips off the shield, only serving to move it a slight amount to the side. The shield slams into his shoulder all the same, jarring him backwards enough to allow for Tanwen's tail to coil around him -- and then tug him skyward!

When he flips around in mid-air though, he does seem to have channeled -some- of his focus into ensuring that he's not completely helpless against the dragon's machinations. He's able to flip around in mid-air, reorienting himself so that he can drive downwards at Tanwen, with his elbow leading the charge! His elbow strike pierces the air with such speed that -some- of the flames whip to either side, even while the tongues of flame continue to raze his skin and ripple his clothing...

If his all-or-nothing strategy succeeds, he'll be content to continue to torque himself about his center of mass, twisting into two rolling sobat kicks aimed at bringing his legs around to bludgeon Tanwen's guard. And if, by some odd twist of fate, those strikes land, he'd pivot forward to deliver one final clearing backhand strike to knock Tanwen into the ropes!

He has, quite honestly, no way of knowing whether his strategem will work -- and no illusions about getting up afterwards. But he's satisfied that he's done what he could with the cards he's been dealt, against one of the most potent competitors the NFG has seen in its short history. And that ... is worth half an apple to him, at the very least!

COMBATSYS: Ishida can no longer fight.

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

COMBATSYS: Tanwen blocks Ishida's Rolling Stone.

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

[TANWEN]
As she finishes unleashing her burning breath, Tanwen keeps her eyes raised, her lungs slowly filling again as she inhales -

And then, suddenly, Ishida appears through the conflagration, flying at her elbow-first! She brings her shield up in a last-moment defense, hiding behind it as the hardened joint slams into the bulwark, sending a rattling reverberation through shield and fighter and the ring itself. Two more clangs of flesh and bone on metal ring out as Ishida's sobat kicks connect with the shield in their turn. And then, finally, the backhand blow hits the shield, sending a shockwave rippling through the air and into the crowd, ruffling hair and disrupting snackage all around! Tanwen is sent staggering back into the ropes, where she catches herself heavily, arms resting against the top rope and tail end perching on the middle one as she gasps for breath. Slowly, she pushes herself upright, her equipment feeling heavy as she steps away from the ropes - just in time for the ring to shake with Ishida's collapse.

Breaths are bated throughout the Arena Mexico as Tanwen raises her sword and shield at the ready for continued combat...

Before it erupts in a cacophony of noise as victory is announced.

<< Your winner... TANWEN! >>

"YEEEAAAHHHH TANWEN! THAT'S NOT VERY NICE!" Winn bellows as he jumps up and down in the stands.

The copper-haired girl tilts her head to one side in confusion as she picks out that remark, wondering what she did that wasn't very nice. Then, she realises what it means.

"YAAAAYYY!!!"

Tanwen jumps in the air, pumping her arms as her sword and shield feel suddenly weightless. She has completed a rite of passage, and joined the ranks of some of the greatest wrestlers of all time.

Sure, she's won a match in the Arena Mexico. But, more importantly...

"I have a catchphrase!!"

COMBATSYS: Tanwen takes no action.

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

COMBATSYS: Tanwen has ended the fight here.

Log created on 11:40:05 11/21/2024 by Ishida, and last modified on 06:20:42 11/27/2024.