Description: Styles and Kasugano have fought before, but not in an SNF. Or a Friday Night Fight, in this case. (Winner: Sakura)
Howard Arena
Cavernous and huge, Howard Arena is the epicenter of public display
within Southtown. A multi-billion dollar venture by Geese Howard, the arena
paid for itself within the first two years. The enormous arena is able to
seat hundreds of thousands for any variety of spectacle--the most common of
which being sports, concerts, and of course, martials arts competition. The
latter has made Howard Arena famous, as it hosts various tournaments and
exhibitions each year.
There's only one primary arena, and every effort has been made to make it
impressive. The overall atmosphere of the arena is that of solemn magnitude.
Thousands of seats ring the main central stage, the front row seats dropping
to eyelevel of the flat stage. The stage sits in a large depression, with
enough space between it and the seats to allow for trainers, officials, and
other such people to run back and forth. These and exits in the stands lead
off to countless corridors for spectators and competitors to travel in and
out with ease. Naturally enough, these corridors are filled with vendors,
peddling everything from food to Ralf-style bandanas to authentic Mai
Shiranui thongs.
The stage itself is a massive rectangular block of stone. Six-inch thick
flat slate tiles cover a much harder core of reinforced granite, giving the
stage the look of a weathered, timeless mountaintop. Stairs on opposite sides
provide a dignified way for the fighters to approach the center, the stairs
appearing to be carved directly into the rock. Here, some truly spectacular
battles are fought under the eyes of an entire city and, indeed, the world.
It seems to be a normal, quiet, Friday night. Not a whole lot going on... but yet, rumor passed of fighting action at Howard Arena. Sometimes, things just happen, last minute calls get placed, and whoever's on the short list gets buzzed. Busy? Not busy? C'mon down and kick some butt. All depends on how slow things are at the home office, apparently.
Sakura was one of those people who got a call, just after finishing up dinner with her family. Right time, and the right place -- she figured, why not? Her parents just let her off probation from fighting, too! What timing!
And so, Sakura appears at Howard Arena, dressed in her usual school uniform -- more for tradition than anything else, really. Bright red handguards, bright red shoes -- apparently, she keeps one set just for these special events. She walks up to the center of the stage, a few dozen lucky and sufficiently excited people lurking about in the stands -- maybe it'll pick up once the announcements start! But in the meantime, Sakura waits in the center, taking her time to tie her headband on snugly, smiling eagerly to the awaiting crowd.
It was a hard road to take up--waiting by the phone at all hours, all the while trying to train and hold some semblance of a normal life. The fighter's path wasn't an easy one by any stretch, and yet actually /getting/ a legitimate fight was another hurdle to jump. When the call comes, one would be silly to ignore it...and so, Tony rushed to Howard Arena. Ever since his mentor's loss to his long-time nemesis, Tony had something to prove, a Sagat-shaped chip on his shoulder.
Half running, half jogging through the fighters' entrance, Tony surges through the hallway and out to the mouth of the long aisle to the ring. Obviously dressed to go in a pair of loose Thai-inspired boxing shorts and wraps on his hands and feet, his eyes focus in on the ring area.
"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we have a special treat for you!" Blah blah blah blah blah. Sakura never really pays attention to these announcements -- the speakers are arranged to give the best audio experience for the audience, not the participants, after all. She can hardly make out what the announcers even say! She just knows to hold up her hand and wave to the crowd whenever something vaguely approaching her name is announced. And that's what she does. Though, when she spots Tony, she smiles and waves to -him- instead. "Styles! Hey, long time no see! ... I guess we're fightin' tonight, huh?" Grinning brightly, she hops back into a ready fighting stance, one fist leading, the other guarding her neck -- though, even from the way she's bouncing, she seems a lot more experienced than at their last encounter. "I hope you've been training as much as I have!" she says, headband swishing around as she keeps on her toes.
COMBATSYS: Sakura has started a fight here.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|
Getting into the ring with little fanfare, his attention hovers on the announcer, at least initially. It had been a long time since he fought for a crowd--since the Master's tournament. It was almost an uncomfortable feeling, being in front of a paying, discerning crowd. Still, it was something he was going to have to get over if he were ever going to advance to the level he needed to be. He'd have to shove the thoughts aside and focus in on his opponent...
...Whose words break into his moment of introspection, forcing him to consider her. Sakura. It had been almost as long since he saw her...and it was almost obvious that she had improved since their sparring. This...could become difficult. "We /are/ fighting tonight," He responds, voice sounding a little faraway. He had heard rumors about who had been training her. It was almost poetic, really. The road to besting Ryu and establishing his style as dominant oncemore went through his student, his progeny. Raising his hands into a middling guard, the ring of the bell announces his approach. Careful, yet crisp, a flitting jab snaps free for Sakura's chin.
COMBATSYS: Tony has joined the fight here.
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Tony 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Tony's Jab Punch.
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Tony 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Grinning, Sakura thrusts her leading hand up, knocking the quick jab aside with her padded handguard. Not the -best- way to block the punch, but effective nonetheless. "Good lead-in!" she comments -- though the unspoken suggestion is that maybe there should have been more to follow that punch up with. Since there doesn't seem to be, Sakura's already stepping forward with a move of her own -- her defending hand now bringing Tony's fist high as she delivers a thrust kick at his waist region. If he's truly been practicing Muay Thai, it should be a cinch to block with his knee, right?
COMBATSYS: Tony fails to counter Medium Kick from Sakura with Chokehold.
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Tony 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Sakura
You would certainly think so, right? The body-hardening techniques of Muay Thai are legendary, it wouldn't be too horribly surprising to block a kick with the midsection alone. Tony's guard hand moves in closer to Sakura, looking to hook in around her neck and press the advantage of the lead-in jab. Not fast enough, though, as the leg collides with the muscle just above his beltline. Wincing slightly from the impact, Tony slides backwards a half-step. "Nice," he comments, gathering himself and preparing for the rest of the fight to come.
Sakura withdraws her foot and backpedals a bit, throwing a wink back at Tony in acceptance of the compliment. She doesn't need to rub in the fact that she got a quick hit in -- it should be more than obvious from the pain. Maybe that's -another- lesson she's gained from her training -- keeping her mouth shut, especially while it's still early in a fight. But she stops backpedaling at a fair distance, legs shoulder-width apart, hands cupping at her side -- Tony ought to be familiar with this one, at least. A core of light forms amongst her curled fingertips, growing denser with each passing moment until it reaches the size of a regulation volleyball ball -- one which Sakura's more than happy to bump Tony's way. "Hadouken!" she calls it, but he should already know that by now.
COMBATSYS: Tony slows Small Hadouken from Sakura with Panther Shot.
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Tony 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Sakura
As Sakura backpedals in turn, Tony can't help but be a little surprised--why wasn't she pushing the attack? Shaking his head vigorously, his arms go back into their initial position at the middle guard before stopping dead in his tracks. He had seen this attack before, countless times in both secondhand accounts and firsthand 'impressions'. In their brief meeting, Ryu made him intimately knowledgeable about the business end of the Chi manefestation, as did Ken. Here it came again, and he'd have to deal with it somehow.
"Pantherrr...."
Tony pulls his leg back for a half-second before lashing out with a vicious looking roundhouse kick--missing Sakura by a goodly five feet. Arcing behind it is a thin, slashing line of energy, whipping forward and colliding with the chiball.
"...Shooot!"
Now, ideally? That would have been that. Unfortunately, Tony's inexpertise with the workings of chi comes to bite him firmly in the arse. When the initial explosion clears, Tony is left with a little blue orb still floating after him...lazily now, but coming regardless. There's little for Tony to do in time but take it like a man, the energy crashing against his chest and sending him back another foot or so now.
"ow."
Sakura seems a little weirded out by the fact that Tony's slinging fireballs at her now, equally because he's throwing fireballs in the first place and because of his unique methodology for doing so. Grinning, she wastes no time, breaking into a run for Tony as soon as her blue chi explodes into a shower of sparks upon his chest, shouting back, "Hey, nice one! You -have- been training!" But the congratulations are short-lived -- for right after they're delivered, they're shortly followed up with a deep, lunging jump-kick, leading arm extended in a fist to channel her full momentum into the attack. "HYAAA!"
COMBATSYS: Tony dodges Sakura's Strong Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Tony 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Sakura
Tony sucks in a deep breath, recovering his stance to some degree. The burn of the chi bolt is readily evident on his chest, the hairs looking almost singed from Sakura's effort. From the crowd, it creates a healthy round of applause...from Tony, it merely draws his otherwise neutral expression down into a pained grimace. His eyes focus in on Sakura's flying kick, his feet sidestepping the effort--committing everything a little too early, perhaps. He couldn't fault his opposite number for it, as it's something he was prone to do, but he could still see the fault in it. On the second step sideways, Tony arcs his body around, lashing out with a backhand meant to catch Sakura in the back...although if he simply hit her /somewhere/ he couldn't really complain about it too much.
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Tony's Spinning Knuckle.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Tony 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
Yeah... she -does- still have the tendency to overcommit herself to certain moves. It happens -- but when up against someone who weighs almost three times as much, she tends to want to deal as much damage as possible! But... that's something she's working on. Indeed -- even while she may get herself in bad situations, she's able to extricate herself from them better, lately. While she's flying through the air, she notices Tony step out of her way -- and senses that she's about to get the smackdown from behind. She immediately turns ninety degrees sideways, catching that backhand in the crook of her arm. She still takes a good portion of the hit in the process, judging from her light grunt, but it's not enough to slap her down or anything, due to the way she'd also put one foot down in the process. Also, due to the way she latched onto Tony's arm, it was enough to slow her forward momentum. Her other foot -- the one that was originally kicking -- is now able to swing -back- towards -Tony's- head, in an improvised attempt to leverage his armlock and send him to the ground. "HAAAAAAA!" she shouts -- spirit counts when you're trying new moves!
COMBATSYS: Tony fails to counter Medium Throw from Sakura with Chokehold.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Tony 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Sakura
While Sakura is going about securing himself to his arm, Tony is caught for the most part offguard--left in the role of spectator as she busies herself flitting about. It was impressive, from an acrobatic point of view, and only draws a response out of him once it's near completion--attempting to sprawl his weight out behind him and maneuver Sakura into a guillitine choke. Too little, too late though, as Sakura secures her submission and Tony goes down to the ground.
This..This is not good. He needed to come up with something, otherwise he might be forced to tap in a somewhat embarassing manner. Pushing himself backwards against the ground, Tony loops his foot just beyond the ropes--hoping the referee will break the hold and bring them back to their feet. It paid to know the rules...or were those Jersey Rules? Vegas Rules? Pride Fighting rules? Hopefully he had the right ruleset in mind, otherwise he was going to be in for an amazingly short night.
Sakura holds Tony down for just long enough to make her point -- when he starts reaching for the ropes, she'll hop off! It's just that simple. She was honestly just trying to bounce her opponent off the mat, really. But ... that done, she springs back to her feet, bouncing lightly from side to side as she waits for the man to climb back to her feet. "See! Last time you said I'd never had a chance of getting -you- in a hold!" Laughing a bit, she keeps her distance, warily walking a wide arc around Tony as she considers her next move...
COMBATSYS: Sakura focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Tony 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Sakura
Tony's grimace drops a bit further down into a scowl as he rolls himself over onto all fours. Thinking back on their last spar, it was true--he did say that, and at the time it was the truth as well. Now...he had been proven a liar, the embarassment sinking in deeper and deeper. Tony's eyes narrow as they follow Sakura's circling motion for a few moments before pushing hard off of the mat. Jumping high into the air, Tony somersaults once before bearing down on Sakura's location.
"/Pantherrr..../"
Depending on the fate of the maneuver, more may or may not be a'coming. Oh, the tension!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////. ]
Tony 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Sakura fails to interrupt Panther Assault from Tony with Small Hadouken.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Tony 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Sakura
Aww, yeah, there's the magic.
Bearing down on Sakura, Tony lashes out with a lead-in flying kick, driving a knee up once range has been closed. It's an awkward looking move, although it more than makes up for it in pure ferocity. Once his feet meet with the ground, Tony looks to followup with an elbow to the side of the head. Lastly, a roundhouse meant to put an exclamation point to the combination.
"/Assauuuult!/"
To her credit, Sakura knows full well the disadvantage of a jump kick. She'd learned it first-hand from her own low kicks -- and from the looks of Tony's jumping kick, she figured she'd have time to whip out one of her faster fireballs to blast Styles out of the sky.
She was wrong! For even while she's able to forge the orb of chi to a satisfactory size for launching, she only gets it halfway to the proper firing arc before Tony's surprisingly quick kick knocks her off-balance, the fireball sailing off towards the audience -- only to land just short of the stands, lacking the final propulsion needed for a full-bore launch. Tony, on the other hand, is at full momentum -- that first kick having landed on Sakura's shoulder, the knee ramming into her still-lightly-bandaged ribcage, the elbow smacking her in the headband, the roundhouse contacting with her cheek and sending her spiralling to the ground. Sure, she has her hands down, and springs back with a quick recovery, but that's clearly a reflexive action by this point -- for she looks -dazed- when she gets back up, snapping back into her fighting stance. She shakes her head out dizzily, eyes focusing back on Tony -- she thought for -sure- that would work! "... Nice one there!"
Tony doesn't stop long enough to acknowledge wheather or not it was indeed a good shot--He's feeling for all the world like the caged animal, having been slapped about for most of the early portion of the fight. Sucking in a quick breath, Tony exhales sharply as he drives a fist downwards--Looking to connect with the crown of her head in a vicious looking, potentially nasty shot. It's almost a call back to his earlier days as a mostly-untrained fighter, using whatever attacks happened to be handy at the time.
COMBATSYS: Sakura dodges Tony's Medium Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Tony 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Sakura
Rather than stick around where she is, Sakura quickly shuffles to the side, Tony's fist catching only the long tails of her headband as they flit by. But, like any true warrior, every strategic evasion is a setup for the next attack -- in this case, a harsh uppercut driving right back at Tony's sternum, aiming to pay him back for that last hit to her ribcage -- boosted by launching herself into the air with her slightly more powerful legs. When you've got as light a frame as Sakura does, you need to throw your whole body into each attack! "SHOOOOOU'OUUUU KEN!"
COMBATSYS: Tony counters Shou'ou Ken from Sakura with Panther Ambush.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Tony 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0 Sakura
"Damnit," Tony mutters as Sakura moves off to the side, leaving him with little more than the red headband in his visual range. Straightening back out into his stance, Tony's eyes widen as the rising upper comes to greet him. Another Ryu-inspired move, another thing he managed to experience firsthand from a considerable number of sources--Ken's interpretation on the theme, Ryu's own, and even Sagat's answer to the Shoryuken. If he were ever to fulfill the promise he made to Ryu, he would have to learn how to deal with these attack styles.
"Pantherrrr...."
In a disturbingly quick motion to be coming from the big man, Tony goes backflipping backwards a few moments before impact, Hovering in midair for a second. In a surprising display of air-control, Tony contorts his body and changes direction back in for Sakura. Extending a foot with designs for Sakura's gut, Tony crunches back into the Anasatsuken disciple.
"../Ambusssh!/"
As much as Sakura -thought- she'd have landed that hit soundly into Tony -- she was again proven wrong! For it's not until she's turning, while landing, that she realizes Tony's coming right back for her, and his foot streaking right into her belly. Coughing sharply, she tumbles backwards from the transferred velocity, stopping herself with her hands and springing forward again as if nothing happened. ... Well, until she stumbles, arm wrapped around her chest, with a short series of coughs. "Heh ... yeah! I can tell someone's been eating their wheaties!"
A half-second later, Sakura's dashing into motion again. Enough with the Ryu impersonation -- it's time for attacks of her own design! It looks like she'll be delivering a quick shin kick with her left foot -- but instead, she drops her foot short and wheels her -right- foot around in a high arc, dropping it down into an overhead axe kick, her skirt flapping up in the process to reveal the bright red Taiyo High gym shorts beneath her skirt. So much motion to keep track of! "Hriii---HAAAA!"
COMBATSYS: Tony blocks Sakura's Flower Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Tony 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1 Sakura
Whoo, a panty shot guaranteed for every match!
Of course, Tony's attention isn't on that little detail. Sakura was proving herself, once again, worthy the title of 'fighter', and he needed to pay attention to /the fight/. Besides, Sakura was considerably younger than he was. That...just isn't really a good thought to have at all.
The maneuver proves to be one of those situations where the fakeout may have ended up working to Sakura's misfortune--Tony's middling guard being too high for the shin kick, but at the right level to prevent most of the damage from the axe kick. Raising his arms slightly, he allows the foot to crash into his defenses before sneaking his own leg out in a quick whipping motion--looking to catch her on the inside of the thigh and maybe take her down with the kick.
COMBATSYS: Tony successfully hits Sakura with Medium Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Tony 0/-------/----===|=======\==-----\1 Sakura
Caught, kicked, and dropped to one knee just as Tony planned, Sakura finds herself in a precarious position! Though, luckily, Tony didn't -grab- her leg per se -- so she can bring both legs down, catapulting herself backwards and to a more advantageous position. "Heh... not bad at all!" As she's flying through the air, though, she's already summoning another round of blue fire into existence at her palms, such that when she lands and re-steadies her stance, she has a bigger blast ready and waiting to unleash at him. This one's more along the size of a spare tire, churning air into steam as the Taiyo schoolgirl thrusts it at Tony: "HADOUUUKEN!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Tony with Medium Hadouken EX.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Tony 0/-------/-======|=======\===----\1 Sakura
Fast and Painful. There's not too much more out of a maneuver that you could ask for. Tony pivots to one side, preparing to whip off another of his own shots in order to attempt to overwhelm hers...but seems to second guess it. The first didn't work, after all...and he still wasn't comfortable enough with how these things worked to want to experiment with them now. The indecision works against him though, as the bolt proves to be faster than his ability to switch his defenses. Another experience to file away and consider once the fight was over. Maybe he'd even meditate on it. Sagat was fond of meditation, after all.
Of course, that was all for later. He had to live in the here and now, before his chances to walk away with a victory skated away from him. Launching himself in a quick sprint forward, Tony's legs begin to leave the ground--launching himself forward, gunning for Sakura's midsection oncemore with a flying kick.
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Tony's Light Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Tony 0/-------/-======|=======\====---\1 Sakura
Ohhhh no. None of that again! Sakura nimbly steps to the side, throwing her arm down to sweep the kick away. But... rather than counterattack immediately, the schoolgirl takes another step to the side, panting lightly from all this leaping around and stuff. It was bound to happen sooner or later! But she only pauses long enough to give Tony time to get back to his feet -- at which point she'll be plunging her fist right into his shoulder. Nothing flashy, nothing advertised -- just solid, direct force, channeling the full weight of her upper torso into those four leading knuckles.
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Tony with Medium Punch.
[ \\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Tony 1/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Sakura
Indeed, from the looks of things Tony's new lease on the fighting arts seems to be taking a toll on his body as well--Entirely too much jumping about, especially in comparison to his earliest style--essentually a brutish, uncontrolled, undisciplined ground and pound, bludgeon and beat. Sweat streams down his body, a miracle that it hasn't managed to impare his sight by getting into his eyes.
Or...maybe it has. It would explain why the simpler strikes and attacks seem to solve the Muay Thai fighter easier than the big, sweeping strikes. Grunting loudly as it collides against him, Tony's shoulder rolls away from the impact, knocking him off balance somewhat. Sakura's reward for the strike, outside of personal satisfaction, comes in the form of retaliation--looking to loop his hand around to the back of Sakura's head. Should he happen to be successful, the followup is a pair of quick, hard knee strikes aimed for her upperbody--ideally, the head.
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Tony's Clinch Maneuvers.
[ \\\\ < > /////////// ]
Tony 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura's vambrace snaps up sharply, knocking that grabbing hand aside and giving her the delay she needs to pivot out of the range of those vicious knees. More like a pirouette, really -- though ballet was a class Sakura highly detested. Cramming her feet into those tiny little shoes -- the horror! Luckily, she's not thinking about any of that -- instead, she keeps up her spinning momentum, swinging her arms and one leg around in a wide circle, her other leg bending lightly, then sending her airborne. Kasugano is once more attempting to emulate her master's moves -- though she still has trouble spinning fast enough to -stay- airborne, resulting in a bell-curved arc as her leg wheels around once, twice, thrice for Tony's upper body. "SHUNPUU-KYAKU!"
COMBATSYS: Tony counters Shunpuu Kyaku from Sakura with Panther Ambush.
[ \\\ < > /////// ]
Tony 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1 Sakura
More emulation moves.
Tony couldn't help but laugh at it, on the inside--it was actually a great thing that Sakura was demonstrating these moves on a level he could more or less handle, as these were the same moves he had to look forward to should he ever reach Ryu's level--Simply faster, and much, much more puissant. Granted, the Hurricane Kick wasn't a move he experienced firsthand, but it was one that he saw on tape repeatedly.
"Pantherrr..."
Again, Tony goes airborne, flying backwards. It's not enough to take him out of Sakura's range of attack, not entirely...but then again, he doesn't want to be that far back. Again, his body half-somersaults in midair as he rights himself for a Driving kick into Sakura's midsection. If he's lucky, it'll knock her out of the air...but on the other hand, he would have to deal with landing himself. Half landing, half crashing, Tony moves back to his feet quickly.
"/Ammmmbuuuusssssh!/"
Ugh. She thought for sure her speed would be enough to overcome any possible evasion her opponent would have had in mind -- but apparently she needs to work on that a bit more. She's already too far in rotation to be able to evade Tony's driving kick entirely: it catches her in the back. Oh, -that- took the edge off her rotation, sending her flying forward from the impact. "Ow!" she exclaims, stumbling forward with her arms windmilled to the side for balance. She eventually regains it, face going a bit red with embarassment as she gets nailed -twice- with that same attack.
Which can only mean she's going to try pushing her luck yet again. Clutching her hands by her side, she summons forth a quick vortex of cerulean chi, squeezing it into a tightly-packed, white-hot center, before whipping the bloom forward with a cry of "Hadouken!". As far as her emulation goes, this is one of the schoolgirl's better copies!
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Tony with Small Hadouken.
[ < > ////// ]
Tony 0/-------/---====|=======\=------\1 Sakura
Sometimes, taking risks is what's necessary to win a fight--to live by them, and to die by them. Both fighters thus far took risks to get themselves to this point...and to their merit, produced a very even, very intense bout. The crowd, originally expecting a squash got one worth their hard earned money...but now, it looks to be coming to a close.
Drawing himself up as Sakura readies her seemingly endless supply of energy blasts, Tony debates his options...and in doing so, finds himself oncemore run down on time. Throwing his arms up a few thoughts too late, the chi ball explodes against his chest oncemore, burning in and knocking spittle loose from Tony's mouth. A real bellringer, as some might say.
In a break from form thus far in the match, Tony rushes forward--using his battered body as the weapon to hopefully /end/ this thing in a rude and potentially overbearing tackle. As he comes in, it's obvious he's on his last legs, and looks to almost fall over by the end of the attack.
COMBATSYS: Tony can no longer fight.
COMBATSYS: Tony has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\ <
Sakura 1/-----==/=======|
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Tony's Quick Throw.
[ \\\\\ <
Sakura 0/-------/----===|
Grinning with the knowledge that she probably rung his bell a bit -too- hard with the quick blast, Sakura bucks up and prepares for the worst. There's a definite tensing in the girl's form as she curls up in preparation -- though as Tony leaps in, the schoolgirl trades a light shot on the shoulder for a pivoting sidestep out his way, coupled by a light shove upon the tackling Tony's back to help him to the ground. Not like he needs the help -- but Sakura's rather be a little bit safer than sorry, especially from how ragged her breathing had gotten. The fight was a lot closer than she thought it would be -- but Tony's had some rather surprising developments in his training, it seems like! "Wow, Styles... that Panther Ambush was pretty sweet... you must've been practicin' that one like crazy!" She takes a few steps away, to prevent sucking down anything like a Metsu Panther Uppercut that might result from helping him to his feet. Cleared, she rests her hands on her thighs, panting heavily... "Man... what a -workout- though!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura takes a breather.
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Sakura 0/-------/----===|
And so it is, Tony crashing into the ground one last time, still and silent beyond the quick rise and fall of his chest trying to accomodate everything that had happened. The referee moves to check the fallen Muay Thai fighter briefly before motioning to the ring crew to have the bell rung--They had a definite winner. It was something he would have to consider before answering the challenge again...find out where he went wrong, and correct it. At least the meditative techniques proved useful to this end. For now though, he had little to do but catch breath and drag himself out of the ring.
Sakura throws her arm up as the bell sounds, a light breeze whipping through the arena. ... Or maybe that's just the air conditioning system in here, who knows. But whatever it is, Sakura seems to be stretching a bit. The fight took a lot more out of her than she thought, and ... well, after standing around for a bit to accept accolades from her fans, she starts heading out of the arena after Tony. "Hey, Tony! Wait up... that was a good fight, man! You really kept me on my toes!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura takes a breather.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Sakura 0/-------/----===|
"Ugh," comes the eventual reply from Styles. His forward momentum isn't halted by Sakura's call, although it's slow enough to the point where someone could leisurely walk after him and catch up. Turning slightly to regard the Anasatsuken progeny, Tony raises a hand to the back of his head. "Hmm? Thanks. Been trainin'. Been doin'...a lot. Ain't where I wanna be yet, but I'm better than I was before."
COMBATSYS: Sakura has ended the fight here.
Sakura smiles cheerfully, giving Tony a hearty pat on the shoulder. "It's an endless journey! Even our masters still feel the need to keep training, and they're the best in the field, right?" Laughing a bit, she pats him on the shoulder. "I'm always up for a fight with you though, if you ever want it!"
The thought of a return bout seems to put a little bit more...spring in his step, for lack of a better phrase. Pitting himself against Sakura would make an excellent test for him, and gauge his progress as he goes. "It sure is," Tony acknowledges, "And they certainly are. I'ma look you up when I'm in Southie, we'll hook up for a go."
Sakura says, "Will do! Thanks a lot, Tony! It's been fun!" Kasugano then dashes off to get a soda. Some sugar could do -wonders- for her energy level!
Tony, on the other hand, continues on his way back into the locker-room area, presumably to lick his wounds and take a second look at the fight that just transpired.
Log created by Sakura, and last modified on 07:23:44 05/30/2005.