Neo League 001 - #8: Hotaru vs Seishirou

Description: Hotaru and Seishirou meet at last! (Winner: Seishirou)



Winter afternoon in the heart of Southtown--the business district. The day is bright and sunny, if still chill, but that chill hasn't kept people in their homes today. No, the business district is bustling with people. People who are shopping, window or otherwise. It's no Black Friday but the sales are on, like a horserace where the only winners are the kids and the retail outlets. With Thanksgiving over, Christmas has been in the air for a couple of weeks, Santas out ringing bells and Christmas carols wafting through the air, barely audible over the babble of people.
It is into this chaos that Hotaru has been thrown--well, okay, so she stepped off a bus, really, but it's the same difference. Nominally, she's out to go shopping for gifts for Jiro and Mimiru, since Jiro so kindly invited her to the Kasagi home for Christmas, but her mind is really on other things--her brother, of course, but also this Fighting League thing she joined up. As she told Jiro last night, she hadn't yet had a match, and given the open nature of the league, with public standings and challenges, Hotaru is wondering when she'll have her first challenge--or if she'll have to challenge someone herself, something she's a bit nervous about. After all, it's not entirely her way. Itokatsu rides along on her shoulder, because of the press of the crowd, standing tall, holding on to Hotaru's ear, a flash of gold and red on the girl's deep blue coat. Unlike most of the people, she's standing in front of a storewindow, contemplating a set of training gloves-for Jiro, maybe, or maybe he could use one of those uber-reinforced heavy bags...

*POP* *hssssss...*

This'll be .. what? His second winter or so in the city. It's never really bothered him. Something about the cold makes him feel more brisk, more alive than ever. Of course.. he wasn't one to get too much into the traditional festivities, either. He's been spending his holiday season rebuilding his ship that Kasugano sank. But now, with the invention of this new.. fighting league. Well. Let's just say Seishirou couldn't resist..

A dense smoke cloud washes over the collected crowd, causing some degree of confusion and having the added effect of dispersing some of the brighter folk from the sidewalk. Not that it actually matters. Ryouhara's intent will be made clear to them in just a moment. As the smoke clears, the ninja is standing there in his newest ninjitsu outfit, a night black ensemble with longer sleeves. Gone is his previous jacket. He holds a hand-seal (tiger, to be exact) visibly for a stretch of three seconds. Hitched to his back is .. a full size tree trunk. The ninja breaks his handseal and shoots a glare right through the few remaining folks in the crowd.

"Hotaru Futaba," the ninja pronounces in an exacting manner. In case you couldn't tell where he was looking, you can now. He certainly doesn't seem adverse to getting right to the point. "As of yet..in the Neo Fighting League: zero wins, zero losses, zero ties." He keeps up on his information. "... I don't expect I have to tell you why I'm here."

In case he does, it looks like he's brought along a few trainee LV1 cameramen, at the behest of fight organizers. The logos on those cameras might be a good hint.

Smoke clouds? What the--it must be some sort of promotion... oh, nevermind. Ninjas. Why is it always ninjas? (Actually, this is her first ninja. Hokutomaru doesn't count, he's just a monkey.) Hotaru spins around, hearing the surprised shouts of the crowd, and their rush of movement to clear the sidewalk--convienient, that'll make a good 'arena' for this match. Surprise and a bit of laughter show on her face as she spots the hand-seal and the man with a tree-trunk on his back... but if that's a real tree-trunk then he has her respect. That's gotta be heavy, yo. She doesn't recognize him on sight, but the mention of the Neo Fighting League pretty much, yeah, seals the deal there.
To the crowd--at least to those who don't really think Hotaru looks like much of a fighter--there's a bit of surprise when Hotaru just smiles, stepping away from the window (too dangerous to fight there). As she walks, Itokatsu chitters, looking at the ninja for a moment, before grinning widely and skittering down Hotaru's arm and finding a safe vantage spot. He's a lover, not a fighter.
"I don't recognize you," she replies, politely, "But I guess you're in the League, too?" Obviously not her brother. Unless he went through a total Radiation Mutation change... probably her brother hates ninjas. He hates just about everything else, it seems. Hotaru seems serene, calm, as she lifts her arms up, a flock of white doves descending out of the sky to grasp her jacket in their feet and lift it off her.
"Arigatou!" she cries to the birds, who drop the jacket over by Itokatsu before leaving. Hotaru stretches upwards a bit, bending back with her fingers interlaced and up over her head.
"I guess this is my first challenge," she murmurs, then bows to Seishirou, and calls out a hearty, "Ganbatte!" before settling into stance, leading with her left side, foot slid out forward and open-palmed hand out low and extended. Her right arm is cocked up and bent at the elbow, in position to attempt to defend against whatever the ninja may try.

Actually, it probably is. Taking the trunk by it's sling and unshouldering it carefully, Ryouhara drops the trunk to the ground. And when it lands, it's not too hard to feel the force of landing that reverberates through the pavement. Now.. Seishirou isn't her brother, but he doesn't seem too intent on introducing himself. It'd just be pointless theatrics at this point, as far as he's concerned. He only nods lightly at her guess and cracks a bit of a smirk. As far as he's concerned, he's already transmitted all the information she needs to know.

She can check the league fight logs if she needs to know his name.

Satisfied with the idea that she doesn't seem to be against the idea of this challenge, Seishirou takes a step forward, and a step back, widening his stance just so. The trunk skids across the pavement and slides into the street, forming an impromptu traffic redirect as it's idly kicked with a boot. The matte grey bracer around his fingerless gloves doesn't present much of a shimmer, but like with most metals, it does shine just a bit as he closes up his upper body's positioning, narrowing his profile to Hotaru. His last prepation .. is to unzip his satchel. Just so. He takes stock of her briefly. She seems bright enough. This might be interesting. Even Itokatsu is sized up briefly. Hn. Ganbatte...?

Heh. He likes that.

"Then there isn't much left to do but begin. First.." he cues, "show me what you're made of."

COMBATSYS: Seishirou has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Seishirou        0/-------/-------|


There's not much of Itokatsu to size up. He's a ferret, about a foot long with that much tail. And he's sitting on Hotaru's jacket. Hotaru gauges Seishirou's profile with surprisingly serious eyes, betraying no surprise as the trunk is kicked out into traffic. Makes a nice stop sign of sorts, she supposes... Hotaru is kind enough, or innocent enough, or confident enough, to let Seishirou go through his whole opening rigamarole, waiting, ignoring the cameras and the bystanders--of which there are definitely more than a few. Like Diggstown, Southtowners love them their fights. How can they not, living in a city with so many per capita.
At Seishirou's invitation to 'show me what you're made of', Hotaru merely concentrates for a moment. As Yoda might say--beings of energy are we, luminous, not this crude flesh. And that luminous energy gathers in the palm of Hotaru's right hand, blazing a white trail edged with dark blue as she thrusts it forward, with a kiai, the energy pulsing off into a fast-moving, beachball-sized chi projectile, tearing through the intervening space between Hotaru and her ninja opponent.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hotaru           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0        Seishirou


COMBATSYS: Seishirou dodges Hotaru's Hakki Shou.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hotaru           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0        Seishirou


Hmm. Yeah. That's not bad.

Ryouhara looks on as Hotaru focuses her energy, preparing, measuring. He can get a decent bead on her chi index at that point. Good intelligence for sending back. Of course, if he gets too caught up in the pretty for too long, he'll be mulched. When the beachball blast slides towards him, the ninja so too slides, just a bit to the side and out of the way of that projectile, the energy rising--grazing so close it causes the fine hairs on his skin to stand on end.

Definitely not bad.

He'll keep an eye on Itokatsu--though the ferret isn't much of a fighter, Seishirou doesn't know that. She has an interesting rapport with animals and he'd rather not be caught off-guard. Still, the ferret doesn't seem too intent on doing anything stupid right now, so Seishirou will continue as is normal. Moving naturally, the ninja will rotate on his forward heel as an extension of his leaning dodge and with a sudden whirling of fabric and--oddly, a soft ringing sound--the ninja will try and dagger-kick Hotaru hard to her torso, right around her center of gravity as far as he can tell.

Simple. Straightforward enough.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru blocks Seishirou's Strong Kick.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hotaru           0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0        Seishirou


He dodged the Hakki Shou; fortunately it'll dissipate before hitting anyone. Hotaru is just on the recovery when he leans, whirls, and comes in with that kick, but she's swift enough to snap her arms down and block; taking the kick right on the cross of her forearms, it's still strong enough to push her back and do some damage. But forearms heal easy. Hotaru summons up a smile for the ninja.
"That's a good kick!" she comments, and you know what they say... one good hit deserves another. She drops low, striking at Seishirou's grounded leg with a palm strike, hoping to push him off balance.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Seishirou with Quick Punch.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Hotaru           0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0        Seishirou


She's got some promise in that block, but she still felt that. He can tell. Ryouhara draws his leg back as he pushes her back, shifting his momentum just in time for her to slide in low to hit him with a strong palm to the shin. "Nn!" The force reverberates through his bone and knocks his balance off by a great deal. While he tried to use the force to add to his momentum for his next move, now it's all he can do to swing his other leg down and kick off the ground with his disrupted leg. This will send him into an inversion kickflip over Hotaru's head. He won't make a good landing with that level of disruption.

But before he hits ground, he can try and secure his landing spot.

As he spins, the ninja reaches to his satchel and looses no less than three throwing knives in a spray at Hotaru, sending the daggers cutting through the air at her with a very obvious aim and speed. While he'll hit the ground somewhat roughly and roll to recover, his hands pressing firmly into the ground in an apparent attempt to recover more quickly, Ryouhara assures Hotaru will have to find a way around those knives first before she can press her advantage.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Seishirou's Kunai Flight.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Hotaru           0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0        Seishirou


Success! Hotaru is a bit elated--though she doesn't celebrate. One hit doesn't mean much, and she's probably still taken more damage at this point. She remains crouched as Seishirou kickflips over her, wheeling low as he flips over. Her eyes remain on him and so when that flight of knives comes down like rain, Hotaru isn't there to receive it. She lunges forward, tumbling into a roll to come up in a crouch... and from there she uses her legs to push off into a low, arcing hop.
But it's enough to take her past Seishirou's landing point and as she goes by she stomps down with one heel, aiming to hit him in the head, or shoulder, and also add some more momentum to her flight to ensure a safe landing.

COMBATSYS: Seishirou fails to counter Kou-shuu Da from Hotaru with Ryuuouin.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Hotaru           0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0        Seishirou


Hmm. She got around his kunai, Ryouhara is dimly forced to note. She rolled underneath them. Fortunately, he has a plan for that. He claps his hands together, getting his timing /just right/... keeping an eye on Hotaru. One handseal--

.. hell. The timing's off!

Seishirou has just enough time to watch Hotaru roll past the point and .. land directly on his head. Hard. As if bidden, Seishirou's chin hits pavement. Equally hard.

Well. He /had/ a plan for that.

Hotaru lands, lightly--as if she were skipping down some steps and hadn't just headstomped Seishirou. Any other situation she'd turn to him and ask if he's alright, just to be nice, but she bets he wouldn't appreciate that during the fight. But neither is she completely ruthless. She got her hit in, she'll let him recover and at least get to his feet. She can take the time to prepare for him, re-focusing her attention and sharpening her mind. Ninja are tricksy business after all.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru focuses on her next action.

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Hotaru           0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0        Seishirou


He puts a hand to the pavement, groaning quietly. That was pretty rough. Looks like he'll have to step things up a notch. He puts his hands together, back facing Hotaru. "Not bad, Futaba," he admits, low. Somewhat grudgingly. But he's past the point where the realization that there's someone slightly stronger than him bothers him much.

He stands slowly and turns.

Resecuring his headband with rough, jagged ties, the ninja will gives her the once-over again. She seems pretty good with chi, but that solid blow to his head wasn't as rough as he thought it'd be. She has an unnerving habit for getting around his attacks, so he'll have to be careful in the future. He doesn't seem to be very adamant on trying to regain the advantage, after that strong set of hits. Instead, he just leans forward, sniffing roughly and putting his hand on his knee.

He's watching her. Working, quite idly, on a number of items, including her previous actions and his next move. Interestingly enough... he seems to be allowing himself a moment or two to recover.

It's not like he's in any hurry, right?

COMBATSYS: Seishirou focuses on his next action.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Hotaru           0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0        Seishirou


Hotaru may be nice, but she's not stupid. As Seishirou rises, she's got wary eyes on him... the casual use of her name slightly irritating but minor, all things considered. But she isn't going to just let things sit. When Seishirou tries to give himself a moment to breathe, Hotaru picks up a trick that she learned from Xiangfei. She's not great with it--not like Li is---but it'll suffice for now. Reaching into her pocket, she withdraws it and, with a subtle hand movement, flicks a quarter right for Seishirou's forehead. Hey, at least it'll make him do -something-, right? That's the plan, at least...

COMBATSYS: Seishirou dodges Hotaru's Thrown Object.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Hotaru           0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0        Seishirou


And what's Seishirou do? Hand moving to his forehead protector for just a moment, he considers the incoming projectile.. and nullifies even the bullet-speed projectile roughly by pulling down the steel plate just so. As a result, the quarter goes flying back and over Hotaru's head. It's a neat trick. One Seishirou will have to remember himself. But He's got his own response for that sort of thing.

He braces his trailing boot against the ground.

In the /instant/ it takes for Seishirou to get from point A in front of the girl to point B behind her, she has a fist to deal with, in the stomach, with all the velocity of Seishirou's ninjutsu dash behind it. A rough fist, that will probably look to either knock her to one side, or simply stun her and pass by.

If Hotaru can't see fast enough to stop him, he'll catch the quarter behind her before it hits the ground. "Nice move." He'd need a soda later, anyway.

Chen has arrived.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Seishirou's Fierce Punch.

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Hotaru           0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0        Seishirou


Nice move, indeed; Hotaru smiles as Seishirou deflects the quarter.
"Saw someone do it once and it seemed kind of neat!" she exclaims--then notes the ninja's already in motion.
Seishirou's speed is impressive, that's for sure. But then, whoever heard of a slow ninja? Still, Hotaru's pretty fast herself,and as Seishirou's fist comes in at her stomach she redirects the force forward, simultaneously twisting out of the way of it. The quarter? Seishirou might catch it. Hotaru doesn't know. But she's going to try and reach out and touch the ninja-man-boy--that is, as he passes by she's going to try and give him MORE forward momentum. Hopefully more than he can handle, as she'll also be trying to stick a leg into his path to trip him up.

COMBATSYS: Seishirou counters Strong Throw from Hotaru with Ryuuouin.
- Power hit! -

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Hotaru           1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0        Seishirou


Interestingly, Ryouhara has little trouble with the trip, going down to the ground and.. managing to catch her leg just briefly to break and roll past her. She was fast enough to see that attack and get out of the way--he's impressed, in a sort of detached, clinical fashion. However he does manage to catch that quarter before going down. Catch it for just an instant.

As he flicks it back up at Hotaru. It spins through the air, flipping end over end. It doesn't seem to be aimed at her, however. And, if she's quick, she might notice in the second or two Seishirou had the coin, it's sides have been totally reconfigured. Now, the 'tails' end is a blank face, with a very, /very/ small rendition of Seishirou's "whirling leaves" family crest (seen on the back of his shirt) on it. However... the point of style is not that impressive, in perspective to the fact that the coin is glowing white-hot.

Seishirou slides to a stop, one handseal made at his side. He's currently focusing a lot of heat chi into a very small place. The effect is such that Ryouhara has effectively reengineered the quarter in an instant into what is best described as a 'chi grenade.' It goes without saying what's going to happen in the next instant or two.

Ow. Ow, ow, ow. God, that hurt; unbelieveably so. As Hotaru lands, she rolls, partially to let some snow on the ground cool the heat, partially to absorb some of the impact. She's a bit slower to get back on her feet, or so it seems... because suddenly she isn't slow at all. Suddenly, Hotaru is flying forward, spinning her body around the long axis as she attacks Seishirou with a barrage of palmstrikes and wrist-blocks, whirling at him like a miniature tornado. Twice 'round she goes, and then...
...then, she switches it up. But not much; in close to Seishirou she suddenly redirects herself upwards, striking with elbow and hand, and unless Seishirou can defend himself he'll find himself carried upwards...
For the coup de grace, for Hotaru has one last attack. The chi that's been building in her throughout the series of attacks is suddenly released--as a burst of speed, motion, and pure energy, flowering around her suddenly bent knees as she dives on Seishirou's body with a double-knee strike, blue energy flaring up, giving her the momentary appearance of a falling star.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Seishirou with Sou-Shou Ten-Ren-Ge EX.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Hotaru           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1        Seishirou


Hmm. That's not good.

Or at least, that's the conclusion Seishirou comes to as Hotaru begins to become a small tropical storm in herself, whirling at him in a flurry of mighty attacks, all rebounding off of him in a hail of palm. The only thing he can do is try and shore up his defenses against it, raising arms against her to -- well. Obviously little avail. He also becomes dimly aware.. there's more chi. This is gonna sting. Blasted into the gronud with her falling star strike, the ninja bounces off the pavement. Hard. Rolling, clothes /sizzling/ from the blast, the ninja skids to the ground, just barely recovering as he does. Ngh..

Fingernails claw the pavement.

He's not out yet!

Running on nothing short of pure focus and resolve is Ryouhara's disturbingly immediate response. His rocketing kick attack, using his free hand as a brace to launch himself into the middle of Hotaru. It was a lot of punishment he absorbed, but despite his speed, he hasn't neglected his physical training at all. His goal here will be to be to try and capitalize on an expectation for him to fall to hit her back. Unfortunately, he can't exactly execute this perfectly because--well.

Focus or no, that /was/ an unhealthy amount of damage he just took.

COMBATSYS: Seishirou successfully hits Hotaru with Medium Kick.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Hotaru           0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1        Seishirou


Pulling that attack takes a lot out of Hotaru; she's just rising to her feet as the kick comes in and there's just not much she can do about it except take it right in the stomach. It takes her off her feet, flipping her over to land face-first--which does let her slap the ground to absorb the impact. In fact, she's able to time it so that she handsprings back, getting right back to her feet. But she's hurt, and she knows it--but, nothing she can do about that until after the fight, i.e. rest and heal. She continues to press the fight--sort of dash-sliding forward, letting a short step carry her forward, using the momentum to attack Seishirou with a double palm-thrust--it looks very similar to Chun-Li's technique, and it attacks the same area, the midsection.

COMBATSYS: Seishirou dodges Hotaru's Strong Punch.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Hotaru           0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1        Seishirou


Seishirou skidds across the ground, bleeding off his forward momentum and kicking up a plume of dust as Hotaru springs back to her feet. He ends off in the street, raising an eyebrow briefly as she recovers. Overall.. he's been able to collect a great deal of intelligence from her. But if he didn't hurry up and end the affair soon, she'd probably end up defeating him.

That's why he puts his hands together, marshalling his chi. This time, rather than one or two handseals, he goes through an entire series. Very quickly. To put everything to an end.. "Katon.. Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" He inhales... and breathes fire.

A lot of it.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru fails to reflect Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu EX from Seishirou with Ko-bi Kyaku.

[                        \\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Hotaru           1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0        Seishirou


The fire is--almost expected. She knew Seishirou was building up to something important, after all. Just what, she had no idea--and she gets a crazy one as that fire comes in. But--for naught, as it's simply too fast for her to react to. And so she burns, and burns hard. Though it doesn't knock her off her feet, it does leave her standing there, swaying, soot-burned, almost out... but not quite yet. As she raises her head, Seishirou can see the fire of determination burning in her eyes.

By the time Ryouhara is finished, most of the area is absolutely scorched and/or smouldering. The dragonfire technique is one that's almost grown obsolete in recent times, but one that still has its uses on occaision. This was one of those times. Standing now, the ninja pulls on the wrists of his gloves. Stepping across charred an in patches, molten concrete, he watches Futaba carefully. He wouldn't dare underestimate her in this situation.

But it's a fact that, as far he can tell, she simply doesn't have a whole lot of fight left in her.

"Let's go."

Seishirou takes off towards Hotaru, pouring off speed into his own angle of attack, taking the form of a fast jumping whip-kic as he tears past her in the new, charred battlefield.

[OOC] Seishirou says, "Sorry bout that. Kittens started freaking out U_U"

[OOC] Hotaru says, "Well. It's not like I have much of a choice of what to do here..."

COMBATSYS: Seishirou successfully hits Hotaru with Light Kick.

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Hotaru           1/---====/=======|=------\-------\0        Seishirou


The kick hits, as Seishirou must surely have known it would; but though it hits, Hotaru doesn't crumple and fall. Not yet. NOT... -YET-. There's one last thing she can do, and it takes the form of a forward flipping kick, blue chi streaming up from the ground, exploding into a fountain that follows Hotaru's feet as she attempts to kick Seishirou right in the face.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru can no longer fight.

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


COMBATSYS: Seishirou interrupts Ten-Shou Ran-Ki from Hotaru with Quick Throw.

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


Slammed hard in (and almost through) the chest by the rising fountain of chi kick, Seishirou is forced to consider the fight and it's virtues briefly. You would do this, being kicked full on in the chest too. He skids back with the force of the girl's momentum against him.. but it's only an instant later he /catches/ her foot between his gloves, tensed. An instant later, Seishirou will use her own momentum to roll her swiftly into the ground.

"Hey..." he sniffs, in rough shape himself. He won't let go of her ankle until he's relatively sure she's either unconscious or is otherwise intending not to come after him again. (he wouldn't be surprised if she did) "....this one's over."

Log created by Seishirou, and last modified on 13:48:52 12/05/2005.