Description: Taiyo student versus Taiyo Student... who shall win? (Winner: Kula)
Southtown is just a tad bit more violent than it usually is this past week. Particularly moreso then the usual street fights, gang, and criminal activity that usually goes down. This can all be attributed to the medals tournament that has been organized Kanzuki Zaibatsu. It just seems that a fighter involved can't walk down the street anymore eating an ice cream cone without his or her medal catching the eye of another participant on the other side of the street and then a brief but tense showdown begins followed by much ass kicking which may or may not involve the shouting out of 'Let's Duel!'.
By the way, this is exactly what Shingo is doing. Walking down the street eating an ice cream. The weather is a lot cooler now than it was during the summer so the dessert doesn't melt as fast, but that's about it really. His SNF earlier was a bust, opponent never showing. But at least he got the win. That much is something. Only question is how to make use of his time now...?
Some of that violence can be traced back through the television broadcasts of the Kanzuki Corporation's Ninja Television Crew that keeps popping up at the scene of every fight. Of course, it helps when they know who to follow and who's signed up in the tournament. Some of the major damage that's happened recently has been linked back to Kula Diamond, who's currently sitting on a table with her feet on a bench. Her hair is a bit frizzy, thanks to some aftereffects from her SNF match, but the girl is looking pretty healthy. She even has her medals pinned onto her sleeve, just underneath the sticker face of a happy smiling bunny. Some of the medical attention she probably needed undoubtedly came from the person she's talking to at the table, gesturing wildly now and again, and then pointing over to the taped off area just outside of one of the shops intended for teenage girls to shop at and spend all their money. Looks like something punched a hole through the road there.
She's quite careful, however, not to toss away the sandwich she's holding, and occasionally takes a bite from it. There's plenty of sandwiches there, though some are in a seperate bag near the other end of the table. Or, at least, they were a moment ago. It seems Kula doesn't want the camera crew to go hungry when they're following her around. Isn't that nice of her?
Candy, as expected, is still playing out the part of the 'older sister' of the two. She of course is quite proud of Kulas victory, and even still is constantly reviewing the data for suggestions that may further awaken Kulas true potential. At the moment, her gloved hand is helping out in smoothing out the younger girls hair, standing behind her at the bench- And then she picks up something slightly unusual, "Mnn. Kula, there is a potential opponent nearby," she then warns in her always flat tone, red eyes shifting to the boy with NESTS official dessert of choice in his hand. Those eyes flicker a bit as she continues to stare, ".. Shingo Yabuki, I understand his opponent this evening was a no-show. I suspect he would be up for a challenge."
Holes in the road? Not a problem at all for Shingo Yabuki. Who has yet, to the best of his knowledge, to cause any sort of property damage along rather large potholes in the roadways of Southtown. Sure these specific holes aren't the bane of any automotive vehicles being that it is within the pedestrian sanctuary of the Village Mall but still. It does put some people out of their way to walk around the pesky things. Shingo included. The boy finding himself to cut past the table Kula and crew are sitting at. His own singular medal displayed in plain sight for anyone looking on the left breast of his blue shirt-jacket-thing-uniform-whatever. The normally amiable Shingo simply excusing himself with a friendly "Excuse me please!" sing-song tone and attempts to pass by the staff and going back to his cone. Must be some damn good ice cream to not notice the robot doing Kula's hair.
"Hm?" Kula tips her head back a bit before going 'ow'. Silly Kula, pulling your own hair. She flinches, and then looks around. "Challenge?" Kula's eyes finally settle on Shingo as he gets up close, and the girl opens her mouth to speak...and nothing comes out. She /still/ can't quite get the hang of these 'challenges' she's supposed to be issuing. Instead, after Shingo excuses himself, Kula responds with a cheerful, "It's no problem!"
There's a few seconds of silence, and then Kula yells out, "WAIT!" She'd run over...but she doesn't want to risk scalpling herself if Candy is still holding onto her hair. So she just shifts a bit, and waves her arms to get Shingo's attention. "Y-you're Shingo Yabuki, right? Um, S-sakura's mentioned you a few times, and I kinda noticed you have one of those medal thingies too, and I was wondering if maybe, if you weren't busy, and you weren't on your way somewhere, cause I hope I'm not interrupting you, but if you were interested in perhaps one of those tournament fights against me..." Kula's even doing the motion where she pokes two fingers together as she rambles on, and on. One on one interaction still needs to be worked on, it seems. She glances up from her fingers at Shingo. "...but you can finish your ice cream first." She may as well be polite. "...please?"
Well, it'd only make sense that Shingo doesn't see a robot, as he'd be seeing a teenage girl with short, white hair and semi-gothic attire if he weren't so busy being... Um.. Off to wherever he was headed. She continues to make herself scarce though, releasing Kulas locks and slips her hands into her pockets with an amused look to her younger 'sister' at first..
But then Kula keeps talking.. And talking.. And.. Oh god.
She finally lowers her head, shaking it lightly. The girl still has so much to learn.
Shingo stops from immediately stepping away and looks down to Kula, because she is shorter than him, and grins and nods. "Sure am!" Pause. "Haven't we met before?" Cheesey pick up line it may be coming from someone that wasn't him, but in his case it's a genuine question. Mostly because he is pretty certain that the two have met. Where exactly has yet sprung to mind... "Oh right! You were that girl that was getting dance lessons from Bonne and Mai!" Her name escapes him. Though he thinks he might've seen her at the amusement park too one night when he ran into Shinobu. Or it could be his mind playing tricks on him. He does easily remember Kula from the dance lessons a few months ago. "I'm sorry, what was your name again?" Shingo laughs an embarrassed laugh and rubs the back of his head with his non-ice cream hand. Then it clicks. Oh right, medals. She's gone some too. "Oh yeah, right! Sure! I haven't had a match with someone in this tournament for a while, so I don't mind a fight if you don't." Grin.
Kula's fought Benimaru several times now. She's able to shrug off things that seem like cheesy pick-up lines. Had Shingo offered her a rose out of nowhere, she might have felt like she was doing the SNF all over again. But she does nod and smile when he remembers her, even blushing a bit that she hadn't been able to place him as fast. She would have been able to remember him, had she spotted him first, but the fact she had a name instead of a face to go by threw her off for a moment. That, and she was looking for medals first.
"Name? Oh, I'm Kula. Kula Diamond." She shuffles a foot, and then says, "Yeah, Mai and Bonne helped me a lot with learning how to dance. Plus, I've taken a few lessons." She seems just about ready to ramble off topic again, when he speaks up about the fight. "Oh! Yes, well, this is the first real tournament I've been in, so I'm really hoping to do well in it." She claps her hands together, and then looks around. "Um, I'm not sure where we should g-"
Oh, would you look at that. A small grassy area nearby has already been cleared of people, thanks to the Kanzuki Corporation's Ninja Television Crew. They even have a few lights up and TV cameras ready. Kula says, "Over there, I guess?"
Candy, doesn't really have much to say.. But there is a bit of a smile on her lips when things appear to be moving along smoothly after all. She'd heard a thing or two about the young Yabuki, and will likely be keeping a close eye on the boy.
Congratulations, Shingo, you may already be a Clone Candidate!
Not if you were to ask Foxy, Candy! Apparently she doesn't think much of the boy for anything involving NESTS. That's a little off the main topic of fighting for little pieces of metal that's currentonly on the table. When Kula points to the grassy area, he nods and agrees along with her. Seems that the television crew have already made up their minds for them.
He follows the younger girl over allowing her to lead the way while he does his best to scarf down what's left of his ice cream without getting much of an ice cream headache. Something he doesn't want to have to deal with right before engaging in combat. He fals miserably though. By the time they're on the grass, he's already feeling the effects of eating something that cold that fast, "Unnnng." It'll pass soon enough though.
As for Kula's sandwich? It gets tucked back into a zip-loc bag, and Kula spends the extra minute to press down and make sure the blue and yellow lines turn into green. Once done, it gets put in the little travel cooler they have, and Kula closes it. And even pats it, as if to say 'good cooler'. The fact their names and roles in life are very similar have nothing to do with it. Honest.
Kula makes her way over to the grassy area, and stretches once before she turns to face Shingo. "So, um, I-...you okay?" She's willing to wait until Shingo's all set for the fight, since she wouldn't want people to think she had an unfair advantage. While she talks, her own apparent immunity to ice cream headaches becomes apparent as her hair shifts to blue, and small snowflakes fall down from the long locks. That, and the grass around her catches a bit of an early frost.
COMBATSYS: Kula has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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Kula 0/-------/-------|
A hand is lifted to his forehead as the boy winces. Kula's question is answered with a some hand waving around to indicate he's fine. Just give him a minute. Really. He inhales deeply and then looks up with a wide smile on his face. "Yeah, I'm great and good to go!" It's then he notices the change in her appearance and remarks with a thumbs-up, "Wow...cool trick." Pun intended? Who knows? Not even Shingo at this point. That's pretty awesome she can do that. Wonder if he could do that to shoot flame...hrm. There's something to consider. Just not right now.
Munching away what's left of the waffle cone, the boy dusts off his hands of any remaining crumbs and puts up his dukes ready to battle. The blackness of his Kusanagi gloves tightening around his fists as they clench. "Let's go!" A curtesy nod is given and then he gets to it. Shingo dashes forward and before he can lose momentum from screeching to a halt he plants one foot down and uses it to hop at Kula while the other leg aims to launch her airborne with a spinning kick using the sole of his shoe to her side. The chase begins as he's in the air as well with another spin kick to send her even higher right before she's sent crashing to the ground with a heel kick from overhead. "Teya! Toriya! Shoaa!"
COMBATSYS: Shingo has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Kula 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Shingo
COMBATSYS: Kula endures Shingo's Oboroguruma Mikansei.
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Kula 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Shingo
Kula knows that somewhere, Candy is off to the side recording information about Shingo and how well Kula fares against him. Which means, they're going to need some data about how hard he hits. Kula seems almost...distracted as the first kick catches her, and she goes up as expected, and down as expected...though it's funny that each time Shingo's kicks hit, they didn't hit any of her softer, easier to damage bits. When Kula lands, though, she's immediately planting one hand on the ground and pushing forward with it to catch Shingo's feet as he lands, determined to knock him onto his rear onto the ice that's forming around them.
COMBATSYS: Shingo counters Slider Shoot from Kula with Tsuki Hiji.
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Kula 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Shingo
The joke is on Kula. Why? Because Shingo doesn't land on his feet. In fact, he lands on Kula. With a elbow driven into her side and a loud battle cry of 'Hiji Otoshi!'. What basically happens is that while technically Shingo was done with the technique when he knocked Kula towards the grass and she was already planning on her retaliation, he kind of overcompensated on the last hit and it threw his balance off. By a whole bunch. Sending him instead plummeting towards Kula at a different angle than she was obviously planning on him coming in at. In cases like this he would've landed on her with his face, but he's lucky enough this time to shift his body to turn it into a flying elbow drop. Once he hits her, he automatically rolls off and pops onto his feet.
Gee, lucky Shingo. Of course, Kula had heard he was really lucky in his fights, so it comes as no real surprise to her that he's able to pull off a bit of a miracle like that. Kula rubs her side a bit when Shingo rolls off, and then stands back up as well. Retaking her fighting stance, Kula clicks her tongue against her teeth, and then charges forward to test his defenses. She does two quick jabs at his side, trying to see how quick he is to defend from them.
COMBATSYS: Shingo blocks Kula's Jab Punch.
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Kula 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Shingo
A slight chill rolls over Shingo as he bats each of Kula's punches away from doing the most damage they're capable of doing and at the same time getting in closer to the girl. Really though. Does someone with his size advantage and longer reach really need to get in even closer to an opponent smaller than him? Of course not. But it sure helps in making sure that there is less space to cover and therefore meaning slightly quicker attacks. Or so it pans out in his head.
As he steps into Kula's guard he first swings an elbow in at her shoulder and then with his body twisted the way it is, comes back around from the other side with a swift punch to her other shoulder region. Kula being a girl and all. Want to avoid those head hits as much as possible. "Ya!" A shout for each swing is given though the first is most memorable.
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Shingo's Jab Punch.
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Kula 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Shingo
Kula's arms are quick to shift to take the hit from Shingo, a small, hastily-made layer of frost over her sleeves taking some of the damage away. The girl actually wanted Shingo up close, as it gives her an opportunity to ...jab at him again? That's what it seems like, as Kula has apparently confused herself for someone with muscle power in her arms. She just lightly 'pafs' her fist against Shingo, and then gives him a helpless look. It's yet to be determined if it fools him, though, as Kula's actually focusing her chi into her hand to try to suddenly condense the moisture in the air around Shingo into a layer of ice around him.
COMBATSYS: Shingo fails to interrupt Ice Coffin from Kula with Dokugami Mikansei.
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Kula 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Shingo
First off? Ow. Yeah. Seriously. That hurt. Secondly? That also failed miserably. Totally. He wasn't about to stand there and look at her as she copped a feel free on his chest with her fist. Heck, they're in a fight and so figured he'd take the preemptive strike by taking a step back into a pivot and bring around a heavy fist to slam into her shoulder again. Apparently the 'Force' wasn't strong with this one as he thought and is overcome with the frost surrounding him. "C-c-c-cold..." His teeth chatters. But so long she doesn't tightly clench her fist to make the make-shift prison crush his body to splatter fluid everywhere, then he'll be a-ok. For now, he'll chill. Get it?
Oh, don't worry, Shingo fans! Ice is extremely brittle, and once Kula stops focusing, it should be easier than a chick breaking out of a shell for Shingo to shatter that little prison. Kula doesn't do the fist-closing, but rather she takes a step back to give Shingo a chance to break free a little (after all, the body needs oxygen), and then she decides to do her own part to help him out. Kula does a quick hop forward, and then brings her foot up to kick Shingo free. ...wait, Kula? Have the force to kick someone free? Well, it helps that she's encased her foot in a solid block of ice to give it some oomph. ...it's really the only way she can compensate for lack of muscle.
COMBATSYS: Shingo counters Medium Kick from Kula with Tsuki Hiji.
- Power hit! -
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Kula 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Shingo
Well. Someone should've told Shingo that he could crack this ice egg once Kula was no longer intent in turning him into a Shingo-cicle a lot earlier. Then again. If they did then he wouldn't have been able to pull off his Super Secret Surprise Spectacular Escape Ambush technique! Kula may have had the best intentions in wanting to kick the boy free, but he thinks he's got it from here thanks.
"GECCHU!"
A shower of icicles explode outward from Shingo's formerly encased form as his leg, literally, shoots straight out and passes within a centimeter of Kula's frozen kick aimed for him. Thankfully, it is because of his taller height and therfore longer legs that he is able to hit her before she is able to hit him. He may not have her ice powers, but he's got the muscle she's lacking to send her reeling back.
Ack! Kula wasn't expecting ice shards in her face! She stumbles a bit, with her leg weighted and arms coming to protect her eyes when suddenly POW, a foot to her that knocks her back. The girl stumbles, trips, and falls, with the ice shell on her foot cracking and falling off into two parts. She rubs her side, and then looks at Shingo. Okay, time to keep some distance from the young man. She grabs a handful of frost from the ground, and holds it up to her mouth. For a moment, it seems she might be about to blow Shingo a kiss, until one realizes she's inhaling. And then she blows out, and a chill wind gusts towards Shingo, tiny fragments of ice and snow appearing in it to pelt at him.
COMBATSYS: Shingo blocks Kula's Diamond Breath.
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Kula 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Shingo
It's too be expected. Shingo knows it. There are often times when people realise that going literally toe-to-toe with the Taiyo student in a fight isn't always the most effective way of fighting him as he tends to be quite good with the close-combat skirmishes. Unknowing of Kula's exact repetoire of techniques, he even slightly planned ahead for this contigency. That is to say, wait for her to throw something at thim then block it. So far it's working like a charm. Shingo forming an 'X' with his arms to brush off the full effects of the snowy 'kiss'. "Brrr..."
Then it's back to the offensive. He is fully aware that his strengths lay in getting as close as possible to an opponent and then just letting loose with his physical attacks. To that end he dashes in at Kula again. But there's no going high. He's taking the low road this time. With a technique he devised almost two weeks ago. Shingo drops to the ground with his leg forward as though he were in a baseball match sliding home. Only he's sliding to kick out Kula's shins! "Shingo's Humbly Made Original Style! SHINGO SLIDAAAAAA!"
COMBATSYS: Kula interrupts Medium Kick from Shingo with Claw Bites.
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Kula 1/----===/=======|=======\====---\1 Shingo
Fortunately, Kula generally does better when it comes to people charging at her than her charging at people. When Shingo slides down into the frost, Kula's ready. She lets her ankle get clipped, but twists sideways as to sets of blunt claws form over her hands, and she jams them into Shingo as he slides past. Yes, slides past. Wherever Kula stands, sheets of ice generally form. It's using that advantage that Kula drags the claws up Shingo's body (leaving some red marks and bitter cold, but she's not piercing the skin over a medal) and then rolls away to push herself up, breaking the claws off on her legs as she watches Shingo.
There's pain, yes. That's pretty much to be expected when one just holds a set of claws right over another as they slide on by. Does Kula watch the Happy Tree Friends or something? Because man, seriously. The only good thing that Shingo can get from this is that because of the sheer temperature of the ice, the pain felt is subdued somewhat. But just because he doesn't feel it as much doesn't mean it's not there. His body doing it's self-protecting thing and increasing blood flow to the affected areas to warm up. Shingo is instantly on his feet with wincing, grimacing, and fidgeting around as he deals with it in his own way. The red marks from where the blood has increased clearly showing on his face. "That hurts!" Said to no one in particular. Statement of fact. Despite this he doesn't seem to be really mad or anything.
Shingo realises that this match is getting awfully close to being over, one way or the other, so he might as well give it his all right now. He should've learned from earlier efforts that charging Kula hasn't worked out to his advantage. But that's just how he is. Optimistic and positive to the very end! "Feel the heat of..." He breaks off into a full out blitz at the girl. "Burning..." Normally he would just run up and wail away with his fists or take to the air for a dramatic looking Shingo Kick. But he knows his body isn't really in the mood for such displays of flashiness. What everyone gets is a plain and simple yet effective shoulder tackle. Imagine him as a charging bull minus the horns. "SHINGOOOOOOOO!" The boy aims to impact his entire right side starting from shoulder and going to elbow against the small frame of Kula.
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Shingo's Burning Shingo.
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Kula 1/---====/=======|-------\-------\0 Shingo
Kula...really doesn't think she'll be able to dive out of the way of this one. Which is why she stays her ground, and braces herself. Her feet rise slightly on a small platform of ice, and her arms frost over, a plate of frozen water being formed as fast as she can make it to shield herself from the incoming 'burning' pain. Granted, it probably won't sting like Iori's flames, but Kula gets antsy when anything is refered to as 'burning'. ...why people shout out their attack names, she'll never understand. She doesn't give her enemies a heads-up as to what she's planning.
Shingo hits the plate, and Kula slides back /quickly/ as the ice on her arms cracks and starts to crumple. She topples over backwards and rolls a bit, and then lands on her hands and knees. She takes a few deep breaths, and then smiles at Shingo. "I'll do my best as well, then!" She focuses for a moment, closing her eyes, and then slams her hand down onto the ground.
There's silence.
And then suddenly a blunt-tipped spike of ice emerges from the ground towards Shingo. Followed by another, then another, then another, all heading towards Shingo. It won't be a /lot/ of pain...just blunt force, is all.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Shingo with Diamond Edge.
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Kula 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Shingo
Gamma Wave it is not. But dang, with how much that hurt? It might as well be. It's been a while since Shingo has been hit as hard as he just was by Kula. Actually feels good. A notch or two right above being hit by a Large Hadouken to the face. The Diamond Edge catching him as he made one last desperate attempt to get out of the way. Might as well. He had nothing else to lose and everything to gain. The spikes grinding into his torso as he makes the dive to the side and tossing him high into the air.
A loud cry is heard as the boy streaks back towards the earth. "Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" Ok. Maybe it's a bit of an exaggeration but his shouts is that loud even if he didn't get knocked that far high up into the air. Through sheer coincidence again, his form seems to be plummeting right towards Kula. Though it'd be nothing for her to just shift to the side to avoid being landed upon. He's like a fly ball in a baseball match.
COMBATSYS: Shingo can no longer fight.
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Kula 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Shingo's Hatsugane.
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Kula 0/-------/--=====|
Kula...isn't a very good infielder. She's never been invited to be on a NESTS baseball team at company picnics. Of course, she's also not aware NESTS has ever had either a baseball team or a company picnic, so the point is rather irrelevant. But, she'd rather do her part to make sure Shingo doesn't hit his head or anything on the ground. Her hair shifts back to a darker red, now that it's wet, and the ground around her thaws pretty quickly as she tries to shift and catch Shingo. This makes her fall down under him, but at least she was ready for it. "Umph."
Squeezing out from under Shingo, she crouches down near him to make sure he's all right. She even moves a hand in front of his eyes to see if he follow her finger, like they do in the later evening medical shows that Foxy used to snort at back at HQ. "...you okay, Shingo? I didn't hit you too hard, did I?"
All things considered, the dazed look on Shingo's face is replaced with one of his goofy doofus grins and the rubbing of his head, "Ow..." His eyes flicker to Kula and he says, "Of course not! It'll take a lot more than that to keep me down!" Like hitting the ground had Kula decided to step out of the way. This would be when he does his best attempt of getting back onto his feet...and much like his interrupt with Dokugami Mikansei, failing horribly to plop back down on a patch of still cold almost frozen grass. "Ok...maybe you did hit me just a bit hard..." Another goofy grin. "Oh!" He still has some coherency for reaching under his blue shirt as if he had some sort of secret inner pocket there and producing a medal for Kula. "Here."
The smile that spreads over Kula's face is evident, even to those with concussions. She reaches out to take the medal, and then gives Shingo's hand a squeeze in thanks. "Thank you. We'll fight again sometime! You'll probably beat me next time. I think I just got lucky." She shrugs a bit, and then pushes herself back up to look around for her 'sister'. "Candy, look!" She holds up the medal, and then looks back down. "Bye, Shingo! See you around!" She runs off to give her 'sis' a big hug and show off the medal she's won. She's a happy girl.
Log created by Kula, and last modified on 04:15:29 11/08/2005.