Description: What should have been a clean sweep for Kula ended up in a surprising finish! (Draw Match)
It doesn't seem so long ago that Karin was in this very cafe, staring down an incensed and confident Mimiru Kasagi for what was one of the very first medal bouts. And now, she's actually here doing the exact same thing she was then: sitting at a table alone with nothing but her laptop for company, going over the fight records and footage and keeping notes. Her own fights haven't gone particularly well -- her hand is still sore from punching Shingo hard enough to dent a car door, and her backside is still sore from Xiangfei kicking it so dang hard -- but in reality, she didn't enter the tournament to win. What's the point in winning your own freakin' money?
Still, being 'in charge' is sort of fun for her. Plus, the blonde knows she's going to get a fight out of Sakura over it sooner or later, and those seem to be the only fights she really enjoys overmuch, lately. So she studiously types away, sipping an ice tea the whole while. Her laptop bag and jacket sit on the table next to her... with the shiny Kanzuki Tournament medal prominently displayed on the jacket collar. Just in case.
"Um...do you have bottled water? How about that one with the strawberry flavor? ...oh. Do you have anything strawberry flavored? ...okay, a smoothie sounds good..." Kula Diamond reaches down to the little 'Hello Kitty' purse she carries over her shoulder, and fumbles with the latch for a second before it snaps open and she can pull out several crumpled up dollar bills and spreads them out on the counter. She's feeling better after the fight yesterday against that 'Big' character, though it took some of NESTS more 'in testing' medications and serums to get her back on her feet this soon. It wouldn't do to have people at Taiyo High noticing how often Kula gets injured in her missions, though Kula silently wonders why they never think about people wondering how she can keep coming back from public fights with barely a scratch. ...well, they're in charge, so they must have an idea.
The girl shifts over from the 'pay here' sign to the one that says 'wait here', and hums some variation of several tv theme songs blended into one as she looks around. This is her first time actually being in the cafe without it being for one of the Saturday Night Fights, and she hasn't really had a chance to take in its atmosphere without having a chair thrown at her. It's pleasant, and from the crowd of people, it seems like the food is good. There's other students around, an-
Kula's attention is grabbed by the medal on the jacket as her eyes skim the room. Her own medal is pinned to the chest of the red sweatsuit she has on. She starts to take a step, when the familiar scent of strawberries hits her nose. Turning around to grab her drink and take a sip, she starts walking towards Karin, pausing for just a moment to put a gloved hand to her forehead. Oooh, brain freeze. Yes, there's irony in that somewhere.
Now isn't that a curious sight. Kula's face isn't totally unknown to Karin -- consider, Karin's been reviewing all of the fight footage to date and Kula's been especially active in the tournament -- but it doesn't necessarily leap out at her right away. Still, it does cause her to notice the other girl and look closer... and lo and behold, there's the medal.
Shutting her laptop, Karin gives Kula a little wave. Will the NESTS agent recognize the blonde rich girl? Maybe. Karin's got her own notoreity, not the least of which is being head of an international superconglomerate at age 17. Still, it's not like Karin is internationally famous. At this point, it's all up to Kula.
Sadly, Kula's knowlege of young business owners tops out at 'Richie Rich' references that people around NESTS labs made. But she is able to recognize Karin from the news reports about the tournament. She continues over to stand near the rich girl, and smiles, waving with her free hand. "Hey. You're, um..." C'mon, Kula, you aren't that bad at names. "Karin, right? The girl who's doing the whole thing with..." She trails off and points to the medal on her chest, and then towards the one on Karin's jacket. "Are you entered in it, too?" For some reason, that surprises the girl. "What are you doing here?" Kula then takes another sip of her drink as she lets Karin answer. Mmm, strawberry.
Normally, a cute girl with a Sanrio purse drinking an oversize strawberry smoothie would not make you think she's a gifted fighter. That type of person, however, probably hasn't spent extended time around Sakura (or Shingo for that matter), so Karin herself isn't deceived by Kula's deceptive appearance. "Ah, well. Have you ever seen 'Win Ben Stein's Money'?" Karin asks, shocking the audience with her pop culture knowledge. "It's something like that."
Strecthing her arms behind her head, the blonde gives Kula the once over. Karin herself is a master of the deceptive appearance; she doesn't look like a bodybuilder, but she sure as heck hits like one. Standing up, she brushes some of those adorable curls over her head and grins at Kula. "You've been putting on quite a show in the tournament," she says, with a note of approval. After all, if Kula does well, the Kanzuki corp profits, so. "Care to give the tournament organizer a go? I've been terribly bored the past few days as is."
Another pop culture reference Kula doesn't get (namely, wasn't allowed to see). She /must/ have been born yesterday, from her total lack of pop culture knowlege. She'll never forget the stupified look Foxy gave her the time she asked, 'Wow, Paul McCartney used to be in a band, too?' That's part of what this 'real world' experience was for, to catch her up on what she should know if she's going to be even mildly well-adjusted.
The girl smiles and nods at the offer, and sets her drink down on the table after one more sip. "I was going to ask you if you wouldn't mind, if you weren't too busy. I'll be sure to do my best for you." Kula glances around and says, "...is it okay to just start one here, or do we have to move everything out of the way first or go outside?" Normally, this is where the Kanzuki Corp Ninja TV crew has been showing up and making sure the fighters have plenty of room. ...though, with Karin here, Kula probably doesn't have to worry.
COMBATSYS: Kula has started a fight here.
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Kula 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Karin has joined the fight here.
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Kula 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Karin
Sadly, Karin probably would have looked at Kula askance too on the Paul McCartney thing. Perhaps SHE IS REALLY FOXY IN DISGUISE OMG. Alright, not really. But she does smile when Kula accepts the challenge, falling into stance and tightening her handguards after she whips them out of her laptop bag, putting them on in record time; in fact, they're awfully similar to Sakura's, a fact Kula might notice. And indeed, the Kanzuki kuroko crew (complete with black veils) does arrive to swipe tables out of the way in record time. The crowd is also starting to get kind of jazzed.
And out of the jukebox? "Mama Said Knock You Out". This... will be awesome.
"Customer satisfaction is our motto," Karin says to Kula with a faint smirk, waiting for the other girl to get into a proper fighting stance before circling her a little bit, testing her defenses. "Alright, Ms. Diamond... let's give the people a good show!" And then Karin's on the move, stepping up onto a chair Coyote Ugly style and throwing out a kick at Kula's shoulders. "Hyah!"
COMBATSYS: Karin successfully hits Kula with Light Kick.
- Power hit! -
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Kula 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Karin
Kula adjusts her own gloves, and takes a moment to make sure that when Karin's table is moved, her drink doesn't get disturbed. ...oh, and she also runs over to set her little purse down next to it. It should be safe, woe be to anybody who tries to steal from Kula with Karin's ninja tv crew present. The girl then returns to her spot and takes her fighting stance. Kula's hair starts the shift to blue, a-whoa, look at Karin go! Kula's not used to people who are so eager to fight they jump on /furniture/ to hit her, and the kick catches Kula on the chin and spins her around to knock her onto the floor. "Ow!"
Pushing herself back up, Kula rubs her sleeve against her chin, small particles of frost falling to the ground before she charges forward, kicking out with one foot to knock the chair out from under Karin, and then twisting around with an elbow to try to catch the other girl in the back.
COMBATSYS: Karin dodges Kula's Medium Punch.
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Kula 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Karin
Lately, Karin has been showing an absolutely unheard of level of performance at surprise aerials. Reacting with surprising quickness even by her own standards, the heiress sees the kick coming and just... reaches out a hand for Kula's shoulder, literally using the ice-powered fighter as a vaulting point to avoid the followup elbow. This does indeed get a few 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' from the crowd... no matter how the fight goes, at leasty they'll get their money's worth. Even if... it was free. Look, shut up. >_<
In any event, with a wild grin, Karin inverts in midair, looking to use the sudden opportunity to her advantage... something the wiry fighter frequently has to, relying on tricks and strategy to see her through against fighters of greater raw ability. Tucking her knees, Karin aims to fall right at Kula's back, driving her feet down and then literally kicking off in an interesting variant on her rival's Sailor Shoot. She even gives a nice: "Yu-tah!"
COMBATSYS: Kula fails to interrupt Homura-geri from Karin with Slider Shoot.
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Kula 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Karin
Kula is, needless to say, very impressed with Karin's legwork, and even glances back with a smile at the maneuver performed on her elbow. However, this doesn't mean the girl is simply going to stand there and take whatever's coming next! No, sir, she's going to do her best to drop down and...uh, and slide, um...
Okay, maybe that wasn't the best idea Kula had. Maybe she's still rattled from the fight with Big. Either way, as Kula hunches slightly, the Karin's foot connects with her back and sends Kula stumbling forward into several chairs and falling over. "..." If only her friends could see her now. Kula awkwardly climbs out of the chair pile and stretches to make sure she's okay, nothing twisted or broken, and then retakes her fighting stance.
One the one hand, Karin is a master at keeping a calm, detached expression of smug contentment during fights. It's a strategic sort of thing. So perhaps it's better for her (and sad for Kula) that the other girl isn't a telepath who can sense the continual stream of "OH GOD, THAT ACTUALLY WORKED!?" running through the curly-haired fighter's head. But hey, if there's a business motto that applies to fighting, it's that you can't move forward without taking the occasional risk.
Falling back into stance, Karin watches Kula carefully, trying not to get overconfident. Still, a little good-natured ribbing is good for ratings. "Don't hold back on me," she says patiently, simply watching and waiting for her next opening. "I'd expect anyone who can give Sakura such a tough fight will do the same for me."
COMBATSYS: Karin focuses on her next action.
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Kula 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Karin
...but, Kula lost that fight...
Kula's forehead wrinkles for a bit as she tries to figure out if that was a compliment or not, and finally just decides to do her usual Kula response. She shrugs it off. Unlike most fighters, Kula doesn't talk much in battle. She doesn't scream out her fighting moves, she doesn't trash talk her opponents, and she doesn't try to unnerve them with heckling. However, here, she does smile and reply, "Sorry, I guess I underestimated you." Kula then pushes forward with one leg, skating along the ground, and then brings both hands together in front of her to grab at Karin's arm. In what most people would call 'awkward', Kula then ducks and twists around, swinging a leg out to kick out Karin's feet and flip her over the younger girl's shoulder. Somehow, Kula makes it look graceful, whether or not it succeeds.
COMBATSYS: Karin counters Quick Throw from Kula with Yasha Gaeshi.
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Kula 0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0 Karin
Perhaps it's simply karma at work, but after so many failed attempts at counterattacking -- her *specialty* as a fighter -- in her past few fights, Karin finally gets one right. "No use!" she snaps out, because that sort of thing is obligatory. Her hands dart out and catch both of Kula's, holding them fast; she steps out with her right leg and literally just puts it *down* on Kula's before she can finish the sweep and, letting go of the other girl's hands, brings her other foot up in a side kick that should send Kula spinning away, leaving Karin unharmed and giving both girls some space again.
Apparently Kula /still/ underestimated Karin. An action Kula doesn't plan on repeating if she hopes to get anywhere in this tournament. ...she'd be more sympathetic towards Karin, but they do seem to share mind of one thing. ...who would enter their own tournament hoping to win? It'd just be silly. The girl stumbles away, and then reaches out a hand to catch a table to stop herself. Turning her neck a bit so the audience gets a nice 'pop' sound, Kula then turns around and lifts up her hand to her mouth.
...to those watching, it probably looks like Kula is about to blow Karin a kiss. If this hits the airwaves, you /know/ it'll end up on some message board surrounded by text all in caps. But instead of a kiss, Kula blows a sudden cold gust of wind at Karin, a miniature arctic breeze complete with tiny ice and snow fragments to whittle down at her.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Karin with Diamond Breath.
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Kula 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Karin
That... stung. A lot, actually; Karin made the mistake of thinking she could get out of the way without considering unlike the projectiles she's used to dodging or blocking, Kula's unique breath attack isn't necessarily linear; thus Karin's sidestep just turns into a sidestumble as her flank is pelted with ice shards and the like. "...ow," she mutters, shivering at the cold. The skirt/fuku combo probably not helping there.
Still, she's not out of the match yet. Using the momentum of her aborted spin, Karin pivots on her heels, redirecting herself at Kula and making a sort of ducking dash, like in boxing, before swinging her body around and driving an upper stiff-armed strike right into her gut. Or trying to, anyway; not a particularly fast attack, but if it connects, it should leave a bruise or two. "Nice work, but it's not over yet!"
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Karin's Strong Punch.
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Kula 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Karin
Kula breathes in after her gust is done. Doing that always makes her throat scratchy, a- Ooh. Kula reaches over and picks up her drink from the table she caught herself on, and takes a sip as Karin charges forward. It seems like Karin's about to deliver a powerful blow to Kula, but the girl suddenly twists to take the hit on her shoulder, a small coating of ice over it cracking from the impact. Kula sips her drink, and then sets it back on the table before smiling. "Thanks, I'll try to keep it up!" ...maybe these other teenage fighters are having a bad influence on Kula. She pushes Karin back, and then places her hands on the table to push herself up and kick out at her opponent with both feet. Yeah, the physical impact might not be much, but mind the chill that comes with it.
COMBATSYS: Karin dodges Kula's Medium Kick.
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Kula 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Karin
Sadly for Kula, you can apply "once burned, twice shy" to "frozen", too; as Kula comes in for a nice kick to Karin her opponent suddenly steps back, the ice-enhanced attack swishing *just* by her; apparently even nimble dodging isn't 100% proof against that sort of attack, as Kula only narrowly missed. "Good! We need to give the pay-per-view people something worth paying for, after all." Despite her position being slightly less dominating, Karin is in good humor; she hates losing, but challenging fights have an appeal all their own.
However, there's little time for witty retorts if she wants to keep the momentum moving. Flexing her fingers, Karin suddenly moves around to the side, dahsing back in at Kula and throwing out a pair of blindingly quick palm strikes, followed by a open shotei-form punch intended to plant itself right in Kula's stomach and bowl her over. Risky, but if it works the payoff could be big.
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Karin's Guren Ken.
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Kula 1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0 Karin
When Kula's feet land, the girl immediately pushes off from the table, sliding down and out of the way. THIS time, it works, as she's able to duck down and the only thing that gets punched is some ice crystals from her hair. Don't knock it, Kula once blocked a punch with her hair. Long story.
She's ready to try something new, though, and pushes herself up to stand immediately. There's a sudden dip in temperature, and ice forms over Kula's entire body, giving her a somewhat crystal-like appearance. Somehow, the girl still manages to step forward to swing a punch at Karin, but the fist seems to have no chance of reaching her opponent. Instead, at the end of it, the ice cracks and then explodes off of Kula, flying at Karin like a hail of ... well, hail, when you think about it.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Karin with Diamond Shell.
- Power hit! -
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Kula 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 Karin
Right then. Once frozen, twice shy. Third time's the charm. The blast of ice hits Karin *hard*, sending her flying backwards to land on a table with a loud, LOUD splintering of wood (well, hopefully wood and not bone). That table's a writeoff. Good thing the Pao Pao has good fight insurance... and that Karin's footing the bill for damages. It's a good while before the curly-haired fighter makes her way off the floor, and she's looking pretty wobbly. Kula must have hit her pretty damn hard.
"Heh..." Miss Kanzuki says, wiping some blood off the side of her lip. Ow, damnit. "I got a little cocky, I suppose. But this will be a well-earned medal for you. Good fight." Flexing her fingers, Karin circles her opponent a bit, trying to think of what to do next. However, she doesn't think long. "But it's not over yet! Allow me to show you one of the Kanzuki school's mightest techniques." And then she is simply a BLUR, lashing out at Kula with a flurry of hand strikes so quick they're impossible to follow; each individual hit isn't much, but in the aggregate it's like being hit with a telephone pole right in the gut. "Kanzuki-ryuu Shinpi... kaibyaku!"
COMBATSYS: Karin successfully hits Kula with Kanzuki-ryu Shinpikaibyaku.
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Kula 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Karin
Kula's shivering a bit when the move is over. It's the first time she's ever encased /herself/ in ice for an attack. ...she thinks a bit of it got down her sweatsuit. Ee-hee-hee. It leaves her off-balance enough that when Karin blurs forward, Kula blurs back with a sudden burst of spee-EEE! Ice down her pants! Kula flails and falls back right before catching the punches in her gut, and then being knocked back easily into the same pile of chairs in from before. This time, there's a lot more wood shattering and splinters flying as Kula lands with a hard 'thump'.
She doesn't move for a minute, and then weakly pulls herself out of the rubble and looks down at it. "...ow." She slowly pushes herself up to her hands and knees, looking at Karin. "Nice ...hit." She looks ready to fall over if someone threw silverware at her. But, she places her hand down on the floor, and starts to create a mound of ice there. "But...I'm not done yet..." She stands up, and then suddenly kicks at the ice mound, sending it flying towards Karin.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Karin with Counter Shell.
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Kula 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Karin
Frosty. Karin does two things that seem to be at odds with each other. Noting the incoming attack's size, she sets her feet and makes for a defensive posture, as if she were about to block. But then she actually tries to get out of the *way*, and that doesn't work so well since she set herself up for the defensive. On the upside, it means that the ice block merely severely puts the hurt on instead of blasting her through the wall of the cafe. Much to the owners' relief, that much is clear.
Breathing heavily, her breath frosting in the air in the aftermath of Kula's chilly strike, the Kanzuki heiress gives her opponent a wide grin. "Ha... ha. Is this where I have some anime-type reaction at you surviving my ultimate attack?" she jokes, in surprisngly good humor. "Either way... time to settle this. Get ready!" And then she's dashing in, amking an upward-scything kick with her right leg... and the immediately following it with the same from the left, in a little hopping two-stage attack we like to call "Mujin Kyaku!"
COMBATSYS: Karin successfully hits Kula with Mujin Kyaku.
Glancing Blow
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Kula 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Karin
Kula doesn't even have the energy to dodge the attack. She just leeeeeeans to one side, then to the other. The second kick catches Kula's arm, and the girl topples onto her back with an "Umph." She doesn't seem to have the energy to stand up...rather, she reaches back with her hands to the ground, and then draws back her legs before pushing herself at Karin's feet and kicking her legs out. She might have fallen...but maybe she can make them both fall.
COMBATSYS: Kula can no longer fight.
[ \\\ <
Karin 0/-------/--=====|
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Karin with Slider Shoot.
[ <
Karin 0/-------/=======|
Yes, in fact. She can. Just because Karin had the energy to throw out one last desperate attempt at taking down Kula doesn't mean she's got it in her to get out of the way of the followup. When the sliding kick comes Karin makes a token attempt to hop over it that causes her to trip on a chair, sending her right down to the ground next to Kula, totally spent. "Heh," she mumbles, pulling herself sitting. "Figures. Sakura can barely pull off a win, but this is most assuredly a draw."
COMBATSYS: Karin takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Karin can no longer fight.
Kula simply lies on her back for a few minutes, and then weakly picks herself up to also sit. Her hair's back to being blonde (if damp), and she smiles at Karin. "...Sakura beat you, too, huh?" She winces a bit as she reaches back to pull the chair leg she was lying on out from under her. "...we made a bit of a mess." The fact she said something so blatantly obvious makes Kula laugh a bit, and then she reaches over to Karin to offer her a hand. "...good fight. I hope your customers like it." It's one of the few lately where Kula hasn't needed to ride in an ambulance afterward or have bones reset.
Wincing with the pain, Karin yanks herself back up with Kula's help, dusting her skirt off and looking around. "Ah well. I did the smart thing and signed an agreement with most local establishments ahead of time about compensation. Trust me..." and here she gets a conspiratory grin, looking at Kula with her head half turned away. "...what we're about to pull in from this fight will more than cover the price of some furniture." Stretching her arms up over her head, Karin tries to work out the kinks and immediately regrets it; thankfully, the Kanzuki ninja staff have already provided chairs and bottled water for both competitors. The benefit of fighting the tourney organizer, one guesses. "I can see why you've had such good luck so far. You're very skilled."
Kula happily flops back down in a chair that isn't in pieces, and rather than immediately drink the water bottle, she glances around for her smoothie. Spotting it as people start to move around again, she tugs on a tv crew ninja's sleeve and points over to it with her trademark big eyes and innocent look. Fortunately, it doesn't fail her, and soon she has her purse and drink and is sipping happily. Sure, it's a bit melted, but for Kula that's no problem.
She smiles and chuckles at Karin's happiness about being able to pay the repair bills, though she isn't sure how to respond to the 'good luck' part. She's pretty sure her supervisors would be less than thrilled with her progress. "Well, I've been trying my best." She glances at the medal still affixed to her sleeve. "...I just hope I have what it takes to make it to the end, though." Another sip of her drink, and Kula shrugs, all smiles again. "I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens, hm?"
"It's anyone's game at the moment," Karin assures Kula, uncapping her bottled water and taking a nice long swig before putting it down on the table and placing the cap back on. "I believe Chun-li is in the lead. I was looking at some of the footage before you arrived." She waves a hand lazily at her laptop, sitting across the table, before having another drink of water. "Time's running out, though. Still, with that horserace for second and third place, it's a tossup. I'm having to invent some new rules for the finals on the fly because of it."
Log created by Kula, and last modified on 06:22:58 11/12/2005.