Match of the Millennium

Description: Both these schools are in the top half of the standings with Gorin's Tsukiko the only student so far to get a perfect score card. Can she continue to make the grade or will Nako cause her a cat-astrophe? The match is taking place in the school's state of the art theatre - the largest in the city. A perfect place for these female fighters to put on a memorable performance.

[TSUKIKO]
The third round of NFG Rivals finds Gorin and Taiyo competing on the neutral soil of Seijyun High. Given the girl's school's demographics, there's a substantial feminine presence filling the enormous Seijyun Theater, a venue as grand and representative of its associated academic institution as the Gorin sports dome.

A lot of the Gorin students are a little out of place in the regal environs; Gorin might not be Gedo (and would certainly be loathe to accept such a comparison), but a school built on sweat and athletic pride (for students of all genders) is still at cultural cross purposes with one that extols the virtues of yamato nadeshiko.

The teachers from Gorin are trying to keep the school chants to a reasonable level, which is proving a challenge in a space acoustically designed for things like piano recitals and operatic performances. The Seijyun teachers, on the other hand, are just trying to mitigate the influence of the jock atmosphere and avoid another outburst of teenage riot grrl energy of the likes seen in the aftermath of the CYS concert last year.

Still, both Shirakawa Tsukiko and her peer group could have just as easily been mistaken for Seijyun students. The gymnastics squad are sitting primly on the front row of the Gorin side of the auditorium, while Tsukiko herself stands on the stage in her white, red and blue gymnastic leotard, arms at her side, as if awaiting the start of a routine. Her hair is tied into dual looped braids in the back that end in red ribbons, with long, neatly combed bangs dangling over the left side of her face; an extra effort has been put in by Mrs. Shirakawa to make sure that her daughter impresses even surrounded by Seijyun's finest.

Tsukiko searches the auditorium for her parents, eventually finding her mom due to the distinction of being one of the few audience members on the Gorin side not making an unholy racket. The corners of Tsukiko's lips turn downward slightly as her brown eyes drift to the empty seat next to Mrs. Shirakawa.

"Well, at least there are no surprises to deal with," she murmurs under her breath.

[NAKO]
Truth be told, Nako - Taiyo fighter, Darkstalker - doesn't feel any more at home at Seijyun than the Gorin contingent does!

Some of the Taiyo students probably feel less awkward than she does... some of the girls, anyway. There's pretty much no way that the male students feel 'at home' in Seijyun, at least not for any longer than it takes to get shot down the first time.

Certainly a lot of them are making a lot of noise! They aren't QUITE as coordinated in their chants as the Gorin students, either because they aren't quite as into the athletic chants or because Nako is not as popular as Tsukiko, but if there's one thing you can count on a Taiyo student to do it is be extremely themselves. A couple are trying to counterchant the Gorins but they're mostly drowned out by everyone else.

(Sorry, teachers. You're going to have to deal with the atmosphere a little longer...)

But Nako doesn't feel at home. Seijyun is intimidating. It's a part of the world she hasn't ever experienced before and isn't quite sure how she feels about. It feels rich. Nako has never been rich. She's not particularly traditional either.

She certainly stands out. Not really outfit-wise, though the Taiyo uniform isn't exactly standard issue at Seijyun, and the yellow leggings she likes *do* kind of catch the eye. The ears and tail do, of course; feline ears, a snake's tail.

But right now she stands out for stage fright.

This isn't Nako's first time on the stage but it's more crowded than her other matches. Only the last one comes close and it doesn't count. It was at Taiyo. She *attends* Taiyo. She very much does not attend Seijyun and she doesn't attend Gorin.

So at the moment her tail is trying to curl around one of her legs out of her own anticipation or embarrassment or both whenever she stands still and she keeps shifting the wooden sword she uses in these matches.

Eventually she just gives up and make it worse. She steps out from where she'd been not QUITE hiding. The volume gets louder; her ears flatten down slightly but she forces herself to stand up straighter, chest out (no problem there), walking confidently even if her ears and tail give away her actual attitude. Nako does not have a good poker face.

She gives a bow. "Shirakawa-san?" she says, politely enough. "I'm Irie Nako, and I'm your opponent. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Nako rises back up afterwards, staying a comfortable distance away.

(Honestly, Nako was surprised how small she was in person. She's not used to having a good five inches in height over her opponent. She doesn't want to tower over her even by accident.)

COMBATSYS: Nako has started a fight here.

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

[TSUKIKO]
It's hard not to tower over Tsukiko; she has the sort of stature that's typical of top-level gymnasts. Her mother still makes supplications on behalf of her never hitting a late-stage growth spurt.

Tsukiko turns away from the audience to face toward Nako, the corner of her lips that was previously quirked downward quirking upward instead. "Hello, Irie-san." She gives a bow as well, her stance not needing to shift much to accommodate the gesture. After straightening, she raises one hand to flutter her fingers in further greeting. "Sorry for the noise. My schoolmates are rather... bold."

"COME ON, SHORT STACK! DESTROY THAT NEKO-NAGA LIKE YOU DISMANTLED THE MECHA-GIRL!" comes the voice of a particularly fiery front-row gymnast.

Tsukiko winces at the order. "Sorry. That's Reika. She's the loud one on our gymnastics team," she apologizes to Nako.

"TSUKI-CHAN! TSUKI-CHAN!"

"And that's Sora. The other loud one," Tsukiko elucidates further as more students join in the gymnast's chant.

The others on the squad have historically been a bit unsupportive of Tsukiko - seeing each other as competitors more than comrades - but with her undefeated streak so far, the number of supporters on the squad has at least increased from one to two.

zz Ladies, gentlemen, and all of our other friends, welcome to Seijyun High! It's time for a battle between Gorin... zz

A roar comes up from the Gorin side of the theatre.

zz ...and Taiyooo! zz

The roar is counterbalanced by the noise from the Taiyo side of the auditorium.

As the announcer is speaking, the secondary stage curtain reels back toward the wings, revealing a set depicting the fronts of both school buildings across from each other with a backdrop painted to show Southtown's skyline. In between the wooden faux-brick structures are various statues, sporting nets, and flagpoles. Tsukiko scrutinizes the set thoughtfully as it's revealed.

"Looks like the art department at Seijyun had a lot of time on their hands," she remarks.

zz Fighters, take your positions! And let the battle... BEGIN! zz

Unlike the usual bell used for NFG matches, a *TING* of a triangle held delicately by a girl in a frilly Seijyun uniform is what denotes the initiation of hostilities, piercing through the noise in the chamber.

"Good luck!" Tsukiko bids calmly as she tilts forward, springing into a largely unnecessary flip to try and vault over Nako. As she does, she'll send a ball of adhesive web of silken energy flying from her hands in an inverted backward shot toward her Taiyo foe!

"Show-off," Kana, squad captain, comments from the sidelines.

COMBATSYS: Tsukiko has joined the fight here.

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

COMBATSYS: Tsukiko successfully hits Nako with Orb Weaver.

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

[NAKO]
Nako isn't *really* tall - 5'3 might be above average for Japanese schoolgirls, but only slightly - but compared to Tsukiko the difference is obvious. She doesn't have the same kind of gymnast's build either. Nako feels a vague desire to slouch a little that she fights down, visible mostly as a twitch.

"No, it's okay," she says when Tsukiko's teammates yell. Nako, who is not on any team, does not have the same kind of squad support, though she does have her fans (which is something else she's still not entirely used to, but increasingly likes). A couple boys in the front of the Taiyo increase their volume in response: "YEAH, but she's OUR neko-naga and she can kick your butt!"

Though... "Short stack? ...Neko-naga...?" Her ears droop again. At least 'neko-naga' is new, but even so... and that seems to be catching on, too... She reddens along the cheeks a little bit.

The reveal of the set draws an involuntary 'ooh' from Nako, because say what you will, it's impressive. "Maybe they wanted to get involved too," Nako says. "It's not like they have anybody in this match, and we're using their place and everything... or maybe they had some of it left over from a play?" Surely they didn't do all of this *just* for today.

Take your positions!

Nako is already not far from where she wants to be but she does actually grip her sword properly, the heavy wood bokken (slightly padded these days) that she uses instead of a sharp blade. It has more impact than a shinai like Hayato uses would and is also a lot heavier. She gets her upper-body workout just swinging that thing around.

"And good luck to you too!"

She's expecting Tsukiko to be fast off the jump, but she's even faster than Nako predicted. She vaults forward, and Nako twists to try to follow it, intending to parry the web of energy. The turn means it hits her in the side rather than the back, sticking and clinging along the side of her torso, the impact making her stagger awkwardly sideways. The only good part is that it doesn't hit her arm, which is raised - it's not stuck to her side!

Expecting Tsukiko to jump again, Nako tries a rising cut - a vertical slash upward that leaves a crescent-shaped 'cut' of pink-purple chi in the air behind the blade, which lingers for a few moments longer before fading away. "Ha!" She's still hampered by the adhesive web, though, and doesn't quite have the flexibility she's used to... but she'll push through it anyway!

COMBATSYS: Tsukiko counters Roaring Tiger ES from Nako with Trapdoor Spider Elusion.

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

[TSUKIKO]
Tsukiko comes out of the other end of her fly-by webbing by hitting the stage in a controlled tumble. Twisting around as she rises, she slips into a Taijiquan stance, hands open and shifting through the air in circular waves. The tips of her fingers gleam as a volley of threads fly forth to zig-zag across the stage as Nako advances with her uppercut slash, and though Tsukiko does indeed leap forward, two further cords of chi let loose toward the ceiling allow her to suspend and lift her lower body over her upper half like a trapeze artist.

As a result, Nako's attack passes narrowly under Tsukiko, and a scarcely-visible silken patch beneath the nue's feet causes her to fall onto the webbing on the floor. Within a few seconds, though, the patch turns hard and brittle as crystal, allowing freedom to be achieved more easily than it otherwise might have been, while Tsukiko remains suspended above, her feet on the threads she's hanging on to hold her balance delicately as she observes the aftermath like a dangling spider.

Except less gross. She only has the two eyes.

"That's weird," she murmurs to herself.

[NAKO]
Nako's approach clearly did not expect anything underfoot - tripwires, nets, webs to trip and catch. For all her tricks - and she has them! - she is pretty straightforward in her combat style, most of the time.

So when her foot skids out from under her, the silken patch tugging her off-balance, she ends up falling onto her ... tail with a jostling impact. Her face turns brighter red - being tripped and thrown without ever laying a finger, or a blade, on Tsukiko is embarrassing! What is the audience going to think? That she isn't even able to fight...?

Nako starts to rise, but the silk clings to her backside until it hardens and she manages to stand with a series of audible cracks as the crystalline silk gives way. She doesn't hear the statement of things being weird (but it is weird) because she's more interested in knocking the remains of the hard silk off her tail, which is twisting this way and that to try to dislodge whatever's left. A couple times her energetic tail movement hikes her skirt a little too high for modesty... which is why she has opaque leggings on, but it does get a cheer from one of the male Taiyo students until the student next to him smacks him upside the head.

Okay, Nako thinks to herself. I need to concentrate! I have to take this seriously, but I can't let her get to me...

Gripping her bokken more tightly, she considers Tsukiko, dangling. She brings her sword to her side as if she was going to sweep it up and release a shockwave of chi - she's done that in several of her matches before so it's pretty well known by this point.

But instead Nako leaps!

She leaps toward Tsukiko - no, just above her! She rotates forward, but not enough for a full flip. Because it's on the downward drop that Nako strikes, her entire body surrounded by a flare of chi as she tries to simply pull Tsukiko down, off her strings, and... Well, land on top of the other girl, body-splash style. Her impact against the ground causes the chi to burst away from her (or them) in a shockwave. If she can pin the smaller girl, great! But Nako is only really counting on the impact.

Since when is this a sword technique, though?

COMBATSYS: Tsukiko blocks Nako's Tanuki Drop.

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

[TSUKIKO]
Tsukiko's eyes go wide as Nako flies up at her, both visible as her bangs are dangling down from her head instead of over the side of her face. She twists and braces herself in the air, positioning her legs so that the impact of Nako crashing into her sends her flying loose from the strand of chi without overpowering the direction and control of her descent. All told, while she does end up hitting the ground, it's mostly on her own terms - even if she does bounce lightly across the stage after impact.

"You're very agile," Tsukiko comments as she rises back into her Tai Chi stance, taking in a slow breath through her nostrils and embracing the flow of energy through her body. "Are all neko-naga that good at leaping?"

Despite her conversational detachment, she doesn't let her rhythm lapse, stepping forward into a right-handed chop, then spinning into a left heel kick, followed by a thrust of her left palm, all aimed at Nako's san jiao, located in her core - intending to suppress the 'triple burner' and disrupt her chi, leaving a spreading sensation of cold throughout the body should she succeed!

COMBATSYS: Nako just-defends Tsukiko's Frozen Meridian Atemi!

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

[NAKO]
Nako comes down harder than Tsukiko does because she'd been hoping for a pin, which involves pressing down, but she turns what looks like it might have been a painful bellyflop into a more controlled tumble, springing back up to her feet afterwards with a sharp exhale.

"I'm not a neko-naga," Nako says, before hesitating and adding, "I think," which kind of takes some of the effectiveness out of her denial. Maybe she *is* a... whatever that is. "I've always been pretty fast, though... And jumping high's not hard, you just have to push harder. The strings must be harder!"

Nako has perhaps a bit of a skewed image of how strong she is compared to how strong the average person is. She's not wrong about the web threads though.

Nako also doesn't know very much about any sort of Chinese medicine, but she does know that she doesn't want to let Tsukiko lay hands on her - whether or not she recognizes an attack on pressure points and key meridians, she *does* recognize it as an attack!

She takes a half step back, bracing her weight on her rear leg now as she uses her sword to absorb impacts. With Nako's blunt bokken she can do something you can't with a real katana; she uses her other hand to grip high up on the 'blade' so that she can absorb the force with both arms, spread along the blade, instead of just one or with both on the same end.

On the last hit, though, Nako weaves, giving herself an opening she didn't have before - and she capitalizes with a sudden jab with her blade, having let go with her high hand to hold it 'properly', if one-handed. It's more than just a plain jab, though; the tip of her bokken glows with chi, and extends her reach by a few inches in a spike before the actual impact of the blunt blade! "Ha~a!" Nako yells, a more or less proper kiai.

COMBATSYS: Tsukiko blocks Nako's Serpent Fang ES.

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

[TSUKIKO]
"Sorry, Irie-san," Tsukiko says with soft sincerity as Nako challenges the term that the students have been assigning to her. "I only meant it as a compliment - and a question, of course."

Unfortunately, Nako's bokken doesn't appear to have any meridians - or at least not any that are susceptible to Tsukiko's techniques. While she certainly has some physical prowess of her own, as necessitated by her sport of choice, her combat style is soft and unlikely to damage the Taiyo fighter's weapon.

The chi-laced counter-jab demands a swift response from Tsukiko, and even though she manages to redirect its course with a push of her palm, it still glances off of her side, eliciting a pained grimace as the chi strikes her through her leotard.

"Rather dangerous, if blunt," Tsukiko quips as she feints a combination of palm strikes to cover her swift sidestep and retreat, weaving her hands through the air to draw forth more threads of energy as she falls back into her rhythmic, rolling Tai Chi stance, positioning herself amongst the various equipment on the Gorin side of the set.

"So, are you saying that you're not sure what you are?" she asks curiously as she guides the formation of threads of webbing anchored to the pieces of the set around her.

COMBATSYS: Tsukiko gathers her will.

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

[NAKO]
Nako's bokken is good solid wood. Meridians were not high on the crafter's priority list.

And it's true that it's dangerous, even blunted; Nako would rather strike another student *without* a weapon designed to be lethal, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt and that she couldn't do actual damage with it if she really tried. Fortunately a glancing blow is not going to do much... she's pretty sure she did more with the chi.

"Ah, um..." Nako's response is a little delayed, but: "Not really! I'm just me, you know...?" This isn't really the time to get into the fact that she's a foundling, and she doesn't need to add the part that she's a Darkstalker because Tsukiko certainly already knows that. As far as Nako's concerned, she's just a person, right...?

Though not a human... Her ears flatten down slightly. She'll show them that she belongs. Taiyo's already more on her side than they ever were before. If she can just win this...

Tsukiko is setting something up. Nako can tell it even if she can't tell exactly what she's doing. And she's not interested in letting Tsukiko finish her preparations without doing something about it! She tries another lunging thrust, though this one without the chi extension.

But it's a feint! Nako turns it into a wide sweep to try to catch Tsukiko and her webbing, tearing through it like she'd push aside a spider's web and maybe clip her in the bargain! It's wide, but it's not the most powerful strike, and Nako uses the step forward for her swing to pivot herself around to try to keep Tsukiko from tangling her up right away.

COMBATSYS: Tsukiko blocks Nako's Evasive Strike.

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

[TSUKIKO]
Tsukiko's lips quirk in consideration of Nako's response, but after a moment, she nods with a slight smile.

The stick stabs toward her, and this time she leans to the side, letting it fly past without risking another energy flare grazing her - but the shift of her own weight makes it harder to avoid the sweep that follows. She quickly turns her palm against the attack - fortunately, it's not a real sword, making such a defense feasible - but visibly winces as the shaft connects with her hand. There's a reason she tends to prefer redirection to direct interception.

"You're destroying my nest. That's not very considerate," she says with what might be irony as Nako withdraws. The nue might notice that threads continue to cling to her weapon from where it hit Tsuki's hand before the spider fighter slings another set with her other hand, aiming to ensnare Nako's non-dominant arm. If she doesn't, she may be in for a surprise when both hands pull taut and Tsukiko pivots to face perpendicular, throwing her whole body into her wrenching motion. If Nako doesn't manage to avoid the tugging, she'll find herself flying toward the Gorin fighter's back - and then slamming into Tsukiko's hips as she thrusts them backward, aiming to redirect the nue into a web spun between a basketball goal and flagpole. While the intent may be to trap, the webbing would rapidly harden when stretched, before exploding into crystalline fragments!

COMBATSYS: Tsukiko successfully hits Nako with Silk Moon Atemi.

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

[NAKO]
Direct interception is hard, and Nako's bokken doesn't help - it's heavy! Practice swords of that sort are meant to train strength and stamina as much as anything else. The wood blade is actually heavier than a real sword would be because it's thicker (a wood sword the thickness of a real katana would splinter and break).

But you can do it and Tsukiko does. Nako refuses to let herself be pulled too far off-balance by the impact, pulling back herself and returning her sword to a more defensive position... which is when she notices the threads are still stuck on the blade. It's blunt, after all; it doesn't cut the web, it just sweeps it away. She snaps it downward to try to dislodge them by pulling suddenly -

Tsukiko, though, has caught her other arm by this point, and Nako is worried about being caught entirely! She anticipates an attack, starts to move, but pulling the threads taut surprises her and DOES pull her off-balance, enough that Tsukiko can hip-slam her right into the large net-like web!

Nako hangs there for a moment before she starts flailing, just as the web starts to go crystalline. It shatters enough to free her with a sound like breaking glass, dropping her roughly back onto the floor with a thump.

"Ow," Nako whines, into the sudden silence - until she's realized she's said it and starts to turn beet red. She bounces back up to her feet - she had better take control now or she never will! Chi surges within her as she steps forward. Her free hand, not the one holding her bokken, presses against her side - and pulls out a second sword, this one made out of swirling smoke around a chi core.

Working entirely on instinct, Nako slices the air, causing an eerie whistling sound as it actually *cuts in*, creating a smoke-lined slash. She steps into it without hesitation. It closes up, leaving nothing behind.

A moment after THAT, an explosion of smoke appears overhead with another one of those eerie whistling wails. Nako drops out of the cloud in the the air above Tsukiko, still trailing smoke from the second blade as she brings both down in a matching X-slice! The bokken is still her bokken, but the chi blade doesn't leave any sort of bruise behind; it jars her internal energy, causing her to 'bleed' misty, foggy chi of her own from the slash, sapping her energy! If it connects, anyway. That's always a big if...

Whether she manages it or not, Nako lands on her feet, breathing hard after her new trick. She's done about half of that before, but never all together... It took a bit out of her.

COMBATSYS: Nako successfully hits Tsukiko with Wicked Bird ES.

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

[TSUKIKO]
Tsukiko swings her stance into reverse to survey her handiwork as Nako winds up trapped in her web. She nods slightly in approval to herself at first, but frowns when the silk turns to crystal and crackles into pieces around her opponent. "I seem to be experiencing a surfeit of earth chi in my battles," she says thoughtfully. "Maybe I should try eating more ginger."

Her visible eye goes wider as Nako appears to pull the second weapon out of her own body. "Amazing. Turning your own chi into a sword?"

She tries to follow the movement as Nako vanishes, but only realizes that the nue is above her at the last moment. She attempts a backward flip into her webbing to avoid the cross slash, but she's not fast enough - instead, she's driven into the strands as both bokken and blade connect with her body, causing her to leak chi from her side as a bruise forms on the opposite side.

"Euf..." Tsukiko groans as she finds herself gasping for air, suddenly weaker and more tired than she's felt in any of her fights so far. It should be the kind of thing she can deal with - manipulating the flow of chi is fundamental to her style, after all - but she finds herself struggling to focus her mind on a solution.

Instead, she sets her jaw and pushes away fromm the webbing, sweeping her arms to either side to send strands scattering around the equipment. Then, she spins, guiding strands from all angles to fly toward Nako, releasing a volley from her own hands as well. Should she succeed in connecting the strands, she'll continue to weave her hands through the air as the webbing would threaten to envelop Nako in an immobilizing cocoon!

COMBATSYS: Tsukiko successfully hits Nako with Silk Cocoon.

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

[NAKO]
"Is that how it works?" One of Nako's ears flicks in curiosity as Tsukiko speaks. She wonders, "What am I supposed to be eating...?" Mostly she eats 'whatever', though sadly she can't have her favorites (meat dishes and ice cream) quite as often as she'd like.

But no! She has to focus!

Tsukiko seems to be having some trouble pushing through Nako's strange chi slash, and Nako decides that's all to the good - if she keeps that up, maybe Tsukiko won't have the advantage anymore. She steps forward -

"Eh?"

One of Tsukiko's strands of webbing has wrapped partially around Nako's waist. She twitches away from it, only to be caught by another one going the other way sticking to the side of her chest. And then another, and another, as Nako is rapidly tangled up in threads!

Tsukiko doesn't quite get her in a full cocoon. But she *has* caught her torso; from her shoulders down to her hips Nako is wrapped entirely in sticky threads. Her arms can't go quite all the way down to her sides because of the tangling around her shoulders and the mess on her torso, and her movements are significantly restricted. Though she's not completely wrapped there, some strands stick to her upper arms and legs, slowing her down.

But not she's stopped. Nako pushes through it even though it's hard and she looks ridiculous, with layer after layer of webbing wrapped around her torso. It makes her look almost comical as her head and limbs stick out of the thick, lumpy mess, which squeezes and pinches every time she tries to move.

And it's the embarrassment as much as anything that powers her. Nako knows she looks ridiculous right now. She's used to being teased, but just this once, it's okay for her to do something about it other than just take it.

"Aaah! I'm going to have to clean *all* of this off my shirt...!"

Well, some things have priority.

Nako lumbers forward, picking up speed as she goes. She may be temporarily made more awkward but she still manages a surprisingly smooth cut with the chi blade - and this time when (if) it impacts, it breaks apart into smoke, drawing more chi out of Tsukiko while Nako pivots, jabbing with her bokken!

COMBATSYS: Tsukiko dodges Nako's Nightbird.

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

[TSUKIKO]
"Maybe," Tsukiko says of her self-diagnosis. There are so many factors that go into the manipulation of chi; she can't really claim to be a real authority on them, and she's definitely not sure if they hold true for neko-nagas and cyborgs and such.

And to be honest, this whole crystal thing has her pretty flummoxed.

"It'll go away on its own eventually!" Tsukiko offers helpfully as Nako charges toward her. She dives forward as Nako swings, passing under the slice of the smoking sword and taking advantage of the nue's half-bound state to roll between her legs, managing to make herself especially small in order to execute the maneuver. As she comes out of the tumble, she's already spinning, aiming a heel kick at the middle of Nako's back! It's only meant to be a light kick, more to knock her down than deal real damage, but if it should impact, a burst of crystalline chi would erupt from the point of contact mere moments later!

COMBATSYS: Tsukiko successfully hits Nako with Light Kick.

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

[NAKO]
On hearing that it will go away eventually, Nako is immediately relieved. She won't have to pick all of it off! Right now she's not even sure she could get it in the washer without it sticking to the sides. Would she have to do it by hand? The relief shows on her face.

She doesn't say it out loud, though. She is aware that she's embarrassed herself a little bit with what she says, and she's being made to look ridiculous - oh, it (probably) isn't Tsukiko's goal here. Even most of the crowd is just taking it in stride as part of a battle between a webmistress and a swordswoman. But Nako herself is flustered, off-balance mentally as well as physically, and feeling like she looks like an absolute idiot. Her self-esteem is not always that great to begin with.

So she's decided: she's not going to give Tsukiko *anything*. She's the first person in this tournament that Nako has felt that way about. If she's not an enemy - well, she may at least be a rival!

Tsukiko rolls between her legs. That's a hard target at the best of times, but this is a long way from the best of times for Nako. All tied up, she doesn't have the flexibility she's used to! Her tail snaps down to intercept Tsukiko, but first, the base of her tail is in the cocoon so she can't bend it as far as she's used to, and two...

...well, it's not that thick a tail, really. Her arms are bigger. Getting swatted with it while it lacks its full mobility might be surprising, but it won't stop someone who's at all determined.

So Tsukiko passes behind Nako, and Nako leans forward as if trying to follow her movement, but she can't actually *bend* her midsection enough to either look through her legs or somersault forward to evade a follow-up strike! She tries, but she's still caught in the cocoon and it's like a vice around her stomach and chest. She moves to turn instead.

But not fast enough! Tsukiko kicks her in the back and Nako stumbles forward. She's already kind of unbalanced and she feels herself going forward, pulled down and unable to stop herself. That would be bad enough, but the burst of chi spikes her, and she actually *rolls*, the bulk of the cocoon round enough that she makes a complete revolution before she catches herself with her feet and bounces up.

Nako knows she's almost out. She can feel the ache through her entire body and she can't seem to catch her breath. But she gives it one last shot anyway. Her chi smoke-blade is long gone, so she grips her bokken with both hands, heedless of the squeeze she has to do to do it with the cocoon holding her shoulders. Nako manages a two-handed strike, horizontal, leaving a pink-purple line of chi behind - and then another, vertical, to form an X (well, a cross) in the air, and hit Tsukiko in the bargain!

But on that slash, she overbalances, tumbling down, and this time she doesn't get up, breathing hard, desperate to catch her breath, and just trying to steady herself.

COMBATSYS: Nako can no longer fight.

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

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

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

[TSUKIKO]
Tsukiko spins back around to face Nako as the Gorin side of the crowd erupts into a cheer at the success of her offense. Nako appears to be on the ropes (literally, even though there weren't any ropes at the start of the match), and a third successive victory for the sports school appears imminent.

Thinking that her opponent might even be down for the count, Tsukiko allows herself a moment's distraction, her eyes swiftly scanning the sea of faces to locate the seat occupied by her mother once more. They shift to the empty seat next to her, then back to her mother's face. She sees her mother's expression shift from hope to anger in slow motion as she starts to shout something inaudible over the din.

Tsukiko turns her attention back to the fight just as Nako is bearing down on her with the horizontal chi-slash - and too late to deflect the blow, despite her effort. She's caught by the bokken, crumpling slightly as it slams into her stomach, leaving her vulnerable to the follow-up blow, which sends her to the floor in a heap.

A collective cry of dismay rings out from the Gorin side.

It takes a few moments of neither competitor getting up for the announcer to cut in with the verdict.

zz Looks like we have a draw, folks! Both competitors have been counted out! zz

COMBATSYS: Tsukiko takes no action.


COMBATSYS: Tsukiko can no longer fight.

Log created on 12:08:58 06/08/2025 by Nako, and last modified on 09:16:45 07/01/2025.