Match of the Millennium

Description: Former Taiyo student Raiza is back on campus to put current student Nako through her paces in the gym. They may not be fighting for points or prizes but it's still sure to be electric!

[NAKO]
Nako didn't really know what to expect today.

She's a Taiyo student, but this is her first year at Taiyo even though she is enrolled as a second year student. She's never met Raiza before and doesn't know what to expect from her, except given that Raiza is a FORMER student she expects that Raiza has a lot more experience than she does. She's in a match that's officially set up... but not part of the official rankings, so she doesn't know what to expect from THAT.

What she does know is that she's nervous as heck about it!

It shows. Nako is at the gymnasium early, in front of a crowd, and that always makes her a little tense too! Her feline ears are flattened down slightly and her snakelike tail flicks back and forth, resembling a cat's in motion even if it is all scaley.

And really, should she have worn her gym uniform? Because she didn't. (She has problems with it anyway, those shorts are not built for tails.) Instead she has the main Taiyo uniform on, skirt and ribbon and all, along with a pair of yellow leggings. And her sword, of course! It's not a sharp sword though, but a bokken, a heavy wooden weapon used for strength and stamina training. She thoughtfully padded it... a little bit.

She's kind of milling around in the gym, along with a crowd of high school kids who want to watch that she isn't interacting with much. She's too nervous to push through and chat!

[RAIZA]
The last time that anyone saw Raiza in the public eye was her battle against Kenzo in Metro City, a fight wherein a number of things did not go according to plan for either competitor. She had intended to compete anonymously as 'Kunoichi Inazuma' in order both to avoid the public finding out that she had ninja skills and to avoid her fellow former Taiyo student Daisuke finding out that she had taken a contract with the NFG as a substitute to let her stick close to him as an apprentice on Team Frost.

One of the things that had gone wrong had been her real name being used on the fight card instead of her competitive identity. She'd also managed to defeat the Justice alumnus after a rather spectacular match that had involved the audience getting pelted with arcade tokens and Kenzo being attacked by one of the spectators. It was traumatic for both fighters.

But the upshot is that it led indirectly to Raiza being offered the chance to help out Team Taiyo by the school for the Rivals competition! She's even got fans amongst the student body, some of whom have made signs - several of which compare her to a certain evolved orange mouse Pokemon. She was never that popular when she was a student here. Perhaps she should have told everyone that she was a ninja sooner. It's not even that unusual, is it?

"Come on, Raiza-chan!" one particularly loud and squeaky first-year girl named Hina Suzuki is shouting, even though Raiza hasn't appeared yet. She'd be too young to remember Raiza from school, but she's the daughter of the couple that hosted the American-born ninja when she was in the exchange program.

There's a crackle like thunder and a cloud of smoke appears in mid-air above the gymnasium floor moments before a crackling Raiza-sized ball drops out of it, spinning and untucking into a crackling ball-sized Raiza.

"Konichi-wa, Nako-chan!" the ninja greets as the sparks disperse, clearly smiling behind the turtleneck collar pulled over the lower half of her face as a mask. She's dressed in a sleeveless cropped top with the aforementioned adjustable ninja neck, black hakama with side cutouts, and tabi with heels and toes exposed. (Weirdly, she still doesn't have a bright red scarf. The Edo-Ryuu school isn't the most fashionable.) There's a double-sickle variant kusarigama looped from a black sash that's holding up her hakama.

"It's nice to meet you! I'm Kunoichi Inazuma - I mean, Raiza."

She offers a hand clad in a fingerless elbow-length black cloth glove. "So, it looks like I'm gonna help you test your skills for Rivals! How're you feeling?"

[NAKO]
Nako wouldn't have minded catching some of those arcade tokens, but probably not quite in the way that it happened in Raiza's last fight.

Nako doesn't quite have fans the same way Raiza does. There are some people on her side, but mostly just because she's fighting for Taiyo... she's a relatively new student after all. And more than that, she's a Darkstalker. Some of the students still don't know what to make of her. She has some friends of course, and some supporters... even some who like her *because* she's a Darkstalker (or, more accurately, a pretty not-quite-a-catgirl), though she hasn't realized that herself.

But Raiza is much more popular today! And Nako feels it. It's not that the crowd's against her. It's just more for Raiza.

Plus, that was a very impressive entrance. Nako feels a little like *she* should have made some kind of dramatic chi-based entrance, but given her chi lends itself only to smoke and light, she's not quite sure what that would have looked like. Maybe she can learn to smokebomb -

Wait, no, this isn't the time for thinking about that!

Nako is a little startled by Raiza's sudden appearance, and impressed. Though, isn't she missing a scarf? Even Nako knows that. (Maybe ESPECIALLY Nako knows that, given she's spent some time watching anime and online.) Maybe Nako should have worn something other than a uniform too... too late now. The side cutouts on the hakama draw a quick glance because she didn't think anyone actually wore them that way except on TV. Isn't it... kind of exposed? she thinks, despite the fact that she usually wears a skirt and it doesn't always have the leggings underneath.

"Um... Hello!" Nako accepts the hand. She is trying not to show she's nervous but Nako is not possessed of a very good poker face on that front. "I'm feeling okay. I'm ready for it," she says, more firmly. She doesn't know if she can win against an experienced fighter but she's sure willing to try! "And, um, I'm Nako! Irie Nako. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

[RAIZA]
The handshake given by Raiza is short, firm, gentle, and mercifully free of electric shock. The kunoichi doesn't seem to be at all self-conscious about her choice of trousers. After all, there's at least two other ninja clans that wear the same style! And that's not even mentioning the Shiranui...

"The cat ears are really cool, by the way!"

Releasing Nako's hand, Raiza brings her own up conspiratorially to half-cover her masked mouth. "Don't tell anyone, but I'm friends with Lucky Chloe. I could introduce you if you want!" If Nako is aware of the cat-themed (but very human) Japanese idol, the connection might be obvious. Otherwise, it might seem a little random.

"Alright, ladies! If you're ready for your show match, get into position and I'll call for the bell!" interjects an official in a PFW uniform. Even if it's not an 'official' competitive match, they've at least got a team on hand to film, officiate, and provide (hopefully minimally necessary) first aid.

"Oh, right. I guess we can talk more after the match!" Raiza suggests before casually handspringing backward to a more appropriate distance from Nako for the start of battle. Finishing in a slightly bent and ready ninjitsu stance, her kusarigama unslung, the kunoichi calls out, "Alright! Let's see what you've got!"

COMBATSYS: Raiza has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Raiza            0/-------/-------|

[NAKO]
Nako didn't even consider that Raiza would be capable of shocking her on a handshake. She must not have seen those cartoons...

And for outfits, it's clear Raiza has more courage than Nako does in her usual fashion style. She's not sure she has the guts to dress like that, let alone the Shiranui! Maybe when she gets some more body confidence... hers is sometimes a little lacking.

Those mentioned ears quiver once, and then definitely flatten down a little further. "They're my actual ears," Nako says, somehow managing to both come off as sheepish and that she's very used to explaining this to people.

But it's clear she really does know who Lucky Chloe is. "Really...?" Nako doesn't know MUCH about Lucky Chloe, granted - she's only heard her music in passing, she's never really gotten into her - but that still means that Raiza knows an actual celebrity! "I'd love to meet her sometime!" she says, while privately making a note to actually listen to her music and see how much she likes it.

Anything else she might have said - well, she's not going to get to say it before the official pipes up. "R - right!" Nako draws herself to her full height (161cm, she's shorter than Raiza) before giving a polite bow to her opponent. "Let's have a good battle!"

Raiza... then waits for Nako. She doesn't have to wait long, because all Nako has to do is draw her own weapon, holding it two-handed in a modified kendo stance, the sword held forward and angled slightly upward. The stance is increasingly more modified as she gets experience, though, and her sudden lunge has no part of kendo, a surprise thrust that builds a shroud of pink-purple chi along the bokken, extending forward from the tip in a spike that extends her reach a foot or so! "Ha!"

COMBATSYS: Nako has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Raiza            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Nako

COMBATSYS: Raiza blocks Nako's Serpent Fang.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Raiza            0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0             Nako

[RAIZA]
There's a small salute from Raiza with her kama between the bow from Nako and the bell going - just enough to return the gesture in spirit before the action begins in earnest. She holds her ground as Nako comes charging in, a move some might say was not very ninja-like - instead of attempting to get out of the way, she brings the sickles of her weapon up in a cross pattern to intercept the thrusting bokken and redirect it, simultaneously tilting her head to the side. Her limbs shudder with the effort as she slides backward a pace on her slipper-like footwear. Several blue sparks fly from her weapons to match the chi emanating from the nue's blunt blade, and some of the stray energy strikes her about the cheek and temple. There's an audible hiss of air behind Raiza's mask as her expression is sharpened by the pain.

"That's cool! What do you call that technique?" she asks before pushing Nako's weapon aside with her kusarigama and backflipping away. As she's in the air, she manages to produce a large metal throwing star from somewhere and send it flying at her foe! It's not especially sharp or deadly - it's the lightning chi crackling around it that's the greater threat to a fighter.

As it flies, she shouts out in traditional ninja style: "RAIGEKI SHURIKEN!"

COMBATSYS: Raiza successfully hits Nako with Lightning Shuriken.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Raiza            0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0             Nako

[NAKO]
Raiza's maneuver seems pretty much normal for ninjas to Nako. Surely all ninjas fight like that? (Nako watches a lot of anime, movies... and fighting matches.)

"Um - it doesn't really have a name!" Nako has been pretty slacking on naming her maneuvers, apparently. Part of it is that it never occured to her that other people would be interested in it! Another part is that she's just never been very good at naming things. "It kind of looks like a spike, though, or a fang..."

Raiza pushes Nako's weapon out of line, and she steps back, putting her weight onto her back foot to avoid being shoved away. It also gives her a moment to brace, but bracing isn't what she should do when the electrified shuriken comes at her - it's going to shock her even if she is stable!

Nako's instinctive reaction is to strike at it, and she actually manages to clip it with her sword. Since it's wooden, it doesn't conduct the electrical chi right to her hand, but she also doesn't manage a very solid connection, and she only manages to reflect the throwing star into her shoulder.

It bounces. Unfortunately for Nako, it also discharges; her arm snaps either through a reflexive swing or a spasm and she lets out a yelp of sudden pain, having never been the target for a lightning star before. Sparks flash in her eyes, and she's partially dazzled.

She decides to go on the attack rather than let Raiza sit back and capitalize, and she rushes forward. This time she's slashing with the bokken, a quick X of a cut, and while it's no longer glowing with chi she's still swinging it pretty hard! At least it's not sharp, but it is fairly heavy for a training sword, a solid length of wood - closer to a surprisingly effective club than a lot of 'practice bokken' are. It's used for working out, and she's certainly getting her workout slashing like this!

COMBATSYS: Nako successfully hits Raiza with Medium Strike.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Raiza            0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0             Nako

[RAIZA]
"Nice one, Raiza-chan o/~" sing-songs Hina from the stands as the students start to cheer and applaud with the intense opening action.

The ninja girl can't help but give a wave to her proxy little sister - and in doing so, underestimates how quickly Nako can take back to the offensive and close the gap between them.

"Whoa - oww!"

The ponytailed kunoichi tries to elude the assault with a cartwheel to one side, but only ends up getting battered about the legs, taken down and landing on her back to stare upside-down at her opponent. A small woven sphere of some kind tumbles out of the side of her hakama - is that where she keeps her ninja tools? - and into Raiza's peripheral vision. Snatching it up quickly, she discharges electricity into it, instantly unleashing a thick, obfuscating cloud of smoke.

It smells strangely like peaches and cream.

"Sorry!"

Using the momentary distraction, the ninja girl launches herself up into the air, seeming to somehow achieve more hangtime than would be natural as she floats, tucking her body inward and beginning to glow with blue energy.

"Huaahhhh...!!!"

COMBATSYS: Raiza crackles with electricity!

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Raiza            0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0             Nako

[NAKO]
Nako may not be CONFIDENT precisely, but a lack of confidence does not mean that she's an easy target for Raiza. She wouldn't have been allowed to represent Taiyo if she wasn't competent!

Even half-blinded and a little jittery from the shock, she lands a blow and she realizes it as soon as it happens. She won't apologize for it, but she does wince a little at the 'ow' - but she won't let that slow her down! She needs to show her senior she's got some skills too!

Though, the smoke bomb is new. Nako recognizes it as a smoke bomb - it looks like one from TV - and she tilts her sword downward to flick it away from her. Her bokken is wreathed in smoke afterwards... more smoke than came from the ball, as it is emitting a faint smoke of its own, though at least the peaches and cream is a pleasant smell.

"...is this incense?"

So, that's a successful distraction all right as Raiza launches herself upward, catching a bit more air than Nako expects. She knows she has to get her down from there, but how...?

Maybe it's time to try something else she's been practicing...

Nako leaps into the air herself. She doesn't fall more slowly than usual - she just goes higher! And when she comes down, she just STOMPS down from the sky, dropping with a corona of chi around her legs - and when she hits, it explodes in a shockwave out in all directions, either in a two-footed kick against Raiza or a stomp against the ground accompanied with a thump of heavy impact.

COMBATSYS: Raiza blocks Nako's Tanuki Drop ES.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Raiza            1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0             Nako

[RAIZA]
The truth of the scented smoke bomb lies in Raiza's having attended Buford MacLanky's matches (particularly the one against Kenzo) live. Smoke bombs usually smell kinda gross, but Raiza realized upon encountering the Canadian samurai's vaporous emissions that smoke doesn't have to smell bad.

Given the turn that Buford's image took in the competition, though, Raiza would probably sooner claim that she got the idea from bath bombs.

At least they don't leave anyone covered in glitter.

Fortunately for her, Raiza has enough aerial control to turn her guard against Nako as the nue overtakes her. The feet come crashing down against Raiza's kama, sending her spinning down to the earth like a spiked volleyball - only to bounce off like one, cushioned in part by the growing field of electricity around her. As she catches air on the rebound, Raiza crackles and cries out:

"SandabadoBURINKU!"

Suddenly, she freezes in the air in direct contravention of gravity, before rocketing in a completely different direction - hurtling hip-first toward Nako like she's been fired out of a railgun and fully electrified!

COMBATSYS: Nako blocks Raiza's Empowered Thunderbird Blink EX.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Raiza            1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0             Nako

[NAKO]
Nako hits with enough force that she just kind of keeps going, spiking Raiza down and following her all the way!

She hits the ground with a dull crash that reverberates, vibrating the floor of the gym. Her tail straightens out behind her for balance as she crouches, then rises to her full height, ignoring the little ache in her legs. Worth it!

Of all the things she thought Raiza was going to do - shoot a superlaser? explode into a thunderbolt? - fly at her like she'd been shot is not one of them. Nako's eyes widen as her ears straighten up, and she holds her sword cross-body, bracing it in front of her chest with both hands. (The blade, after all, isn't sharp. She can grab it with her other hand just fine.)

Raiza's hip hits it with enough force to drive it in, pressing against Nako's chest as she lets out an involuntary grunt, the two of them still for a moment - Raiza, supported by Nako, who is braced with the horizontal bokken and feeling exactly like she's trying to do a bench press against the ninja. The electrified ninja. Little arcs of lightning crawl across Nako's body, grounding every which way. Her hair stands on end, and though it's only shoulder-length, it looks really puffy... as do her ears, which are practically drowning in fluff!

A moment of that, and she manages to lift the wood sword from her chest, launching Raiza back up into the air! Nako follows it up with a one-handed swing, since she can't get her off hand on the grip fast enough: a powerful horizontal cut aimed to smack Raiza away from her and give her some space.

"That was - really impressive!" Nako is also trying to catch her breath, because having Raiza slam into her torso is a great way to have it all knocked out of her. She's fine! She'll just be a moment. Nako reaches up to try to smooth down her hair again, too.

COMBATSYS: Nako successfully hits Raiza with Power Strike.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Raiza            1/-======/=======|=======\-------\1             Nako

[RAIZA]
It's only after she's finished sparking that Raiza seems to become aware of the fact that she's just smacked hip-first into a solid wooden stick, causing her to pull a face.

"Oww --"

Of course, it's when she gets shoved off like a ball being set up for a pop fly that her distress becomes more prominent.

"-- eahhh!"

She tries to flail for some control but manages to find none before Nako cracks her bokken across Raiza's backside, sending the ninja tumbling back across the floor!

"Th-thanks," Raiza stammers as she lifts her face off the floor, having come to a stop on her knees with the seat of her hakama in the air. She grimaces as she resists the urge to rub her rear end, instead rising up to her feet in a partial crouch and taking hold of her chain as she starts to spin one of the blunted sickles vertically to one side of her. As it circles through the air, blue sparks of chi start to dance around it, and Raiza levels her gaze at Nako, her normally brown irises flashing blue with the reflected light.

"I promise this next move will be a lot more impressive, though!" she says, sounding more chirpy than threatening despite the obvious bravado of the declaration. Indeed, more and more energy does seem to be arcing around her kusarigama - and even the overhead lights in the gym seem to be flickering as electricity is channeled!

COMBATSYS: Raiza crackles with electricity!

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Raiza            2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1             Nako

[NAKO]
Nako feels a bit guilty about that hit. SHE wouldn't like it if someone smacked her butt! But it was a really good hit...

"I'm sorry, Raiza-senpai!" she blurts out anyway, when she sees the rather undignified way Raiza has come to a stop. Nako is at least focused enough on the battle to not drop her guard when she apologizes, though. Her sword remains up, ready to defend herself.

And it looks like she's going to, though perhaps not immediately. Raiza is spinning one of her sickles, gathering energy to it. At first Nako assumes she's going to swing it, but it looks like she's just going to keep gathering power, the sickle spinning around and around and around...

Great, now she's made herself a little dizzy trying to watch it!

Nako keeps her sword held defensively while she takes a step sideways, shoes squeaking on the gym floor when she repositions. She decides to try to break the spinning sickle's gathering ring of energy, pulling her sword back as if she was going to sheathe it and then slashing it out, an iai-style back-to-forward movement even if it's not really iai.

A cutting line of pink-purple light rockets from the shining blade, a spike of chi trailing a foggier, dimmer line behind the spike that's intended to hit Raiza's arm as she spins it - maybe she can discharge all that energy? She can hope!

COMBATSYS: Raiza blocks Nako's Cat's Claw ES.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Raiza            2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1             Nako

[RAIZA]
The colour reflecting in Raiza's eyes shifts from blue to pink and purple as the line of energy soars through the air toward her. The dedication of her energy to the motion of her swinging sickle makes it difficult to move out of the way of the incoming wave. Instead, she brings the spinning chain around to her front, adjusting her swing so that it extends further from her body, circling in front of her like a motorized fan. It's this spinning wall of steel that the line of chi crashes into, dashing it apart and sending trails of energy scattering around the kunoichi. Some of the stray bolts manage to still strike her in the arms and legs, and the electrical energy seems to escape into the area as the lights flicker harder, but the kusarigama continues to spin until she turns and slings it toward Nako, attempting to hook onto her with the kama.

If she manages to do so, she'll then proceed to try and reel Nako in with a tug of the chain, potentially pulling her into a... side hug?

At this point, assuming all has gone according to plan, things might suddenly seem a lot more friendly.

"You know, nobody's ever called me senpai before," Raiza would tell Nako, eyes lighting up as the hum of electricity would fade into near-silence (aside from all the noise the crowd is making, anyway). And then she'd pull out an umbrella and open it with her free hand.

(One: Opening an umbrella indoors? Unlucky. Two: Where did she get that from? Three: Is she expecting rain??)

A moment later, though, all that electricity that seemed to disappear would suddenly come down like a bolt of lightning from the light fixture directly above the pair of them, potentially striking them both and sending them flying!

COMBATSYS: Nako just-defends Raiza's Empowered Spark of Romance!

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Raiza            0/-------/--<<<<<|=======\-------\1             Nako

[NAKO]
Having failed to break Raiza's guard, Nako brings up a guard of her own, raising her bokken and bracing herself against a chi-imbued impact. Her weight shifts as she sets her feet just so; her internal energies shift too as she instinctively protects herself.

But she was expecting a strike, or a thunderclap. Not to be (relatively) gently pulled in by the hook!

"...!" Nako lets out a surprised squeak as she's brought into a side-hug. Which is when Raiza gets to find out that, one, it's probably good it's a side-hug for a couple reasons, and two, Nako is a blusher. She turns beet red even at just this little hug and her heart is going a mile a minute. Her ears are perked straight up, and her tail constantly moving. "Um - but you are, I mean, you're more experienced than me - "

Is this romance?? she thinks to herself. Nobody has ever done something like this with her before. And Nako wanted to be accepted as a normal teenager, to make friends... she was only hoping for romance as kind of a wistful future dream. She's not entirely sure this is how she expected to find anything! What is she even supposed to do in this situation -

Wait. This situation is a fight! Raiza is just trying to distract her!

Nako comes out of her startled stillness with a sudden motion. One of her arms is still free, at least, and she jabs her bokken up, poking it past the umbrella. It's wood, so it shouldn't conduct electricity... but it's also still shimmering with Nako's aura of chi.

The lightning bolt strikes it. Nako was intending to just deflect it as best she could, but the bolt catches in her bokken, causing the pink-purple chi to shine brighter, but more than that it makes a dark smoke leak from the blade - not actual smoke, it's not burning, but more chi in a different form.

The bolt also does drive them apart at the same time it leaves Nako with a rather overcharged sword. She staggers, straightens, grips the sword tightly and delivers a massive two-handed strike horizontal, parallel to the ground - and then a second, vertical, forming a cross! The chi from the slashes hangs in the air for several long moments, leaving a dangerous zone just in front of Nako, but that's nothing compared to the original strikes.

Also she's still kind of red, despite having figured out the trick. Probably a trick. Ninjas are tricky!

COMBATSYS: Nako successfully hits Raiza with Great Lion's Blade.
- Power hit! -

[                            \\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Raiza            1/---<<<</<<<<<<<|-------\-------\0             Nako

[RAIZA]
Would a kunoichi ever use romantic wiles to distract an opponent to their demise?

Nay, surely; one must assume that Raiza merely uses the garb and techniques dictated by her dojo out of tradition, comfort and pragmatic utility. Just like her idol, Mai Shiranui.

Raiza had never considered that an opponent might redirect one of her summoned lightning bolts by raising a rod to a higher point than Raiza's own umbrella. Come to think of it, though, it kind of makes sense.

"Science," Raiza mutters with quiet disgruntlement.

She's only just picking herself up from the floor when Nako's supercharged sword comes slashing toward her. She tries to lunge out of the way, but the first strike catches her in the side, sending her off-balance and setting her up for the second vertical strike to catch her in the head.

*CLONK*

Raiza would probably be spitting a dramatic spray of blood into the air, but she's wearing a black mask, which means it's grosser than that, but only for her.

"Mmmmff..."

She lurches forward toward Nako, swinging one of her kama. It would seem like a sloppy attempt, at best only catching the weapon in her clothes -- but it's only the opening feint of her plan. From there, she'd suddenly burst into a final surge of motion - dashing past Nako repeatedly with kicks, kama strikes, and elbows, all the while trying to entangle Nako with the chain of her weapon, before delivering a final uppercut kama strike as she'd leap astoundingly high into the air. A final explosion of blue electricity would course down the kusarigama's length and into her opponent as Raiza would seem to float above the arena before falling slowly down to the earth, already unconscious by the time she'd hit the ground...

COMBATSYS: Raiza can no longer fight.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Nako             0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Nako parries Raiza's Billion Volt Battery!

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

[NAKO]
Nako may be a weird Darkstalker, a figure of fear to some, just discomfort to others, and uncomfortable (to her) interest from yet a third group. She may be a humanoid nue, to those who know enough about nues to recognize her. To a few people, who don't worry about the rest of it, she's some sort of cute (or hot) kemonomimi mascot.

But she's also a teenager with relatively little life experience, since she doesn't remember anything beyond a couple years ago, and one who flusters easily.

Some things just work.

Nako winces at her bokken's impact and actually pulls back a moment, taking a completely defensive stance. It only lasts a couple seconds before she realizes she can't waver at a time like this and she steps forward, just as Raiza tries her last-ditch assault.

Nako's bokken is still faintly misting smoke when she brings it down to catch the hooking kama. This time she manages to deflect it entirely instead of being pulled in and over, skipping it past her on the left. It comes within about a half inch of catching her tail anyway as it drops, but she snakes it just up and out of reach as Raiza dashes, keeping herself protected.

She almost fails it at the last lightning bolt, but Nako is NOT going try that lightning rod trick again. The bolt conducts down the chain into the kama, which she's just made very sure to flick away from her. There might be a new char spot on the floor for someone to scrub out (hopefully not me, Nako thinks) but she remains un-jolted.

Wait, she actually won? Nako has one moment to be very surprised about that before worry wins out. "...are you all right?" she asks, stepping forward. This time she does lower her guard a little. "Raiza-senpai?" What? It's still true the second time, even though she has to speak up to get it past the audience - it was a more exciting finish than anyone expected!

[RAIZA]
There's a strange distortion in the air around Raiza when she falls, almost imperceptible to anyone further away from her than Nako. Like things feel a little lighter than they should - and then heavier. It fades away along with the ninja's consciousness, though, and doesn't return when her eyes flutter open.

'Raiza-senpai?'

"Whuh?"

The bell rings to signal the match's end as an announcement comes over the intercom.

"Your winner is... Irie Nako!"

Raiza lets out a groan -- not of displeasure, but pain. "Ouch... jeez -- maybe I should be getting fighting tips from you instead!" Raiza says with a laugh that turns into a cough and then a bit of a gagging. She quickly pulls the cover down from her face, wiping blood away hastily with the back of her glove as she sits up. "You definitely had some nice moves there -- especially at the end. I thought my Romansu No Hibana would be impressive, but you stopping it the way you did was even more impressive! That's one of my clan's most secret techniques. In fact, it's so secret I shouldn't be telling you how secret it is."

"Are you okay, Raiza-chan?" Hina, the first year girl who had been supporting Raiza before arrives to ask.

"Of course! That was just a practice match!" the ninja girl assures Hina. "Hey, I got something for you, by the way." She pulls out a folded piece of paper, fortunately somehow unharmed, and hands it over. It's a manga-style portrait of Lucky Chloe, signed by the singer herself, with a little paw print.

"Oh, thanks... but I'm more of a CYS fan now," Hina says, taking the picture. "Are you friends with them, too?"

"Umm, not really..." Raiza says, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly before looking at Nako. "Hey, do you mind if I draw you sometime? Your ears and your tail are really cool!"

"Yeah, she's right!" Hina agrees, turning to Nako. "Are your mom and dad darkstalkers, too?"

[NAKO]
The strange sensation of gravity - well, Nako feels it, close as she is. A little lift - and then a drop, not big enough that she shows it beyond a bit of surprise. Maybe her hair fluffs up a little on the lightening, and maybe she shifts her stance slightly at the heaviness, her tail drooping a little bit as her core tenses in case the effect intensifies, but it doesn't, so pretty much nobody's going to notice that but her! And it fades, so Nako assumes it's a remnant of an attack that never came.

Nako is very relieved when Raiza sits up again, and her worried look turns into a sudden smile. She's going to have bruises too, of course, but she's not as badly off as Raiza this time.

"I'll forget how secret it is," Nako says, solemnly, but the slightly nervous grin afterwards lightens the tone a little bit. "Was that the grab...? I'm glad you're all right. I think I could learn something from you, though - even if I won, I don't have that much experience, yet!"

It just sort of comes naturally, Nako thinks, her grip tightening on the bokken as she lowers it, tip touching the ground. I don't even know where it comes from!

She watches the handover of the portrait, but doesn't interrupt. Until she's asked a question, anyway! "...draw?" This is another thing nobody has ever asked Nako. "Um, sure! Maybe we should trade numbers before we leave. Or before they make us do all the official stuff after a match," she corrects herself, looking up toward the person who'd made the victory announcement. "...I draw sometimes, too, but I didn't bring a sketch pad or anything." She reddens a little, again, at calling her ears and tail cool.

But are her parents Darkstalkers? "...actually, I'm adopted," Nako explains. "Maybe my birth ones are, but mine aren't."

[RAIZA]
"Well, I'd be happy to help you train, as long as you're okay with me not teaching you any secret jutsu!" Raiza says amicably as she seems to recover steadily from the bout. She doesn't clarify which technique she was referring to, because the first step to forgetting a secret technique is presumably to not mention it.

"Sure, we can trade numbers, or you can always DM me on Hitter," the ninja offers. Since she happens to have a small pad of paper and pencil on hand anyway - just in case she gets an idea she wants to doodle - she goes ahead and writes both her number and her user name down on one of the pages and tears it out to hand to Nako.

"So you're away from your birth family here at school?" Raiza says, her voice soft with empathy. Sure, it's not -exactly- the same thing, but she knows what it's like to not feel like you fit in. "We'll definitely have to hang out sometime. And congratulations on beating me! You've been doing great in the competition so far," she's saying as a PFW medical tech is trying to wave her over for her after-fight checkup. "I'll see you later!"

[NAKO]
"I'd love that!" Nako is excited by the offer, apparently - and surprised. Don't worry, Nako has already forgotten about the secret technique!

Well, not really. But she seems to be making a friend and the last thing she wants to do is say something wrong...

Nako accepts the paper. She doesn't have any paper of her own on hand, but Raiza will get a DMd message as soon as she's at home with her own contact information, so that's handled. Nako isn't going to leave her hanging.

"...something like that," is her response to her family situation. Nako, of course, doesn't know where she came from, really; she doesn't have any family but - well, the one she has! Her 'not fitting in' is for other, completely understandable reasons. "Sure, we can! For sure! But definitely go, get checked out!" That medic is looking insistent.

"And thanks!" For the congratulations, or for being friendly, or both? Nako doesn't explain before it's too late to.

Log created on 12:29:57 05/15/2025 by Nako, and last modified on 10:38:21 05/28/2025.