Description: Playground mayhem outside of Seijyun! Shinobu squares off against Hinata in a fight of evenly matched combatants. The fight comes down to the wire with unusual attacks off playground equipment! (Winner: Hinata)
It's not the cold, it's the winditity. A brisk gale flutters across the park, leaves and grass softly shifting it is wake. At the playground, swings and the merry-go-round creak a little with the air. While hardly frigid, it is a bit chilly out, and the sun verges on setting, leaving long shadows and the occasional distant glimmer.
Meanwhile, Shingo practices her moves. It's not quite an "Eye of the Tiger" sequence, though she might insert that into her memories later on. Right now, she's throwing out some clumsy punches, keeping a swing in the air with her hits, sending it jangling up as she "juggles it. With the chill and the hour growing late, it's free of kids, and then she turns aside, stepping out of the way of the swing before turning about and dodging it to the other side as it comes back. Then, she slumps a bit, remaining standing. "Man, this is-" Then, the swing whacks her in the head. "Aaaaa....", she moans, rubbing her head. "... boring."
As the evening darkens to night, the temperature takes a steady drop. Already, breath starts to fog in the chill air and streetlamps flicker to life unsteadily on automatic timers. The quiet park, however, in a matter of minutes returns to full life with the arrival of several non-descript and unmarked white vans.
In a flash of activity, the doors are flung open and a half-dozen people file out into the park, electricians, cameramen, and one very important looking woman looking like she doesn't want to be there. The judge. It is with this sudden rise to life that someone else arrives, Hinata Wakaba.
"Figures..." she mutters, hugging her arms tightly to her chest. Her last fight, all the way in Greece, must have just been the exception to the rule. All of her league battles are here in Southtown where the league administrators don't even have to give her bus fare. She had to leg it all the way from Taiyo over to Seijyun. In the cold. It just figures.
Breath fogging as she jogs in place to warm her extremities, Hinata scans the park for her opponent but only sees one person waiting there who's *not* on the crew. That weird girl who was at Taiyo a few days ago. Drawing a breath, Hinata waves a hand over her head. "Heeeeeey! Over here!" Toward the circle of cameras being set up. League fights have to be recorded after all. Most of the money comes from the pay-per-view sales and an unrecorded fight, even between lesser names, is money lost.
Shinobu blinks, looking surprised at the cameras. Sure, she agreed to this, but agreeing to it and remembering when the time comes are two different things. Still rubbing her head a little, her gaze swings past Hinata before she does a double take, and raises a hand in a rather informal greeting. "Hey.", she chirps, her expression mostly blank.
Wandering over and crouching, she moves from leg to leg as she does some quick stretches. She looks up to Hinata expectantly, not really speaking up at the moment, just giving her a good, steady stare. Springing back up, she stretches an arm over her shoulder, and then goes the other way, doing her other arm. It seems she's just keeping busy as she awaits... for whatever cue she's expecting.
Confidentially, Hinata crosses the distance to stand near Shinobu. Familiar conversation before a fight? It's just her way! "Man, you'd think they could at least let us fight inside or something.. and just after sunset too! It's only gonna get colder now!"
Cameras set up on tripods all around the children's park for multi-angle coverage. Sound checks, electrical checks, feed checks. The judge looks uncomfortable even in her black wool trenchcoat, stashing her hands in her armpits and looking around agitatedly. At last, every camera and sound check is complete and she raises a hand to Hinata and Shinobu. Technicals are set. Time to get this shindig underway.
Hinata claps her hands together a few times at the signal. "Hey, looks like they're ready. This is your first league fight, isn't it?" She grins, winks, and shoots Shinobu a happy thumbs up. "Good luck!"
The Sunshine Girl retreats a few steps in the park, surrounded by playground equipment of all types, some of them obviously unused from the thin layer of snow caking their tops. Not much call for metal slides in the winter, is there?
"Just give me your best and everybody's happy!" Hinata calls, throwing a few experimental punches in the air and stretching lightly. If she was worried about being cold, a good workout will cure that!
COMBATSYS: Hinata has started a fight here.
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Hinata 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Shinobu has joined the fight here.
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Shinobu 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hinata
Rubbing her neck, Shinobu says, "Man, I always give my best...", as if slightly affronted that could ever not be the truth. She seems more puzzled than angered, though, and slides her foot forward into a rather loose, amateurish stance. She then sways to the side before sweeping forward, as if swinging into motion not unlike the swings nearby!
As she leans forward, she takes a rapid, low series of steps forward, and leans into a sharp hook, leading with her right. "Gotcha!", she then declares preemptively, as her punch suddenly becomes a grab, and she tries to snag hold of Hinata's arm! Definitely an attempt at a slight feint, but what's she trying to do, exactly?...
COMBATSYS: Hinata blocks Shinobu's Spin Crasher.
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Shinobu 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Hinata
Though she tries to follow up with a spin kick, her attempt to open up Hinata's guard to give it free reign doesn't /quite/ work out.
And they're off to a fast start! Hinata skips back and forth on the balls of her feet in her own energetic stance. Motion is important in martial arts, or maybe it's just the fact that she can't stand still!
Gotcha? "As if!" Hinata retorts, ducking low at the incoming Shinobu. Her left arm rises to block the feint only to find herself grabbed! Hey, what's the deal?!
"Oh no you don't!" Hinata lifts both arms to break the grab roughly. Not much grace in the move, but it seems to work with only a slight wrenching of her wrists. Kind of like an Indian Burn, no? More annoying than seriously painful. "Hands off!"
Hinata's left arm stabs out quickly, twice toward Shinobu's midsection to test her defenses. And prepared or not, her right first crosses powerfully with the weight of her whole body behind it, and a split-second timed flash of rainbow energy as well!
COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Shinobu with Rengekiken.
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Shinobu 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Hinata
Nailed, Shinobu stumbles back with a wince, losing her balance a little. Then, her front foot comes down/, and skids on the ground as she shifts her weight back forward the hard way. She grins toothily, as if excited by the quick counterattack. "Good!"
"But... it needs to be faster! Like this!"
Throwing out a lightning-fast punch with her left arm, suddenly she explodes with a flurry of punches from that arm, throwing them out faster than most eyes can see! "Yayayayayayaya!", she kiais just as rapidly. However, the drawback is that it's a bit less like punching and a bit more like... random flailing.
COMBATSYS: Hinata blocks Shinobu's Rumble Punch.
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Shinobu 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Hinata
"Wah! Hey! Stoppit! Cut it out!" Hinata wails, arms covering her head and taking a minor pummeling of random flailing fists. A number of hits catch her in the shoulders, the side of the head, her forearms protecting her head, and... well, pretty much her entire upper body under the flurry of unfocused blows.
She hops backwards after the flailing of doom attack. "That was sooo not cool!" she fumes, fists balled at her sides in annoyance. She skips back another half step and grinds her feet into the grass to take off at a run straight at Shinobu. Gliding across the slush-dampened grass, Hinata kicks her right foot in a strong roundhouse that carries her entire body around in a spin kick and off the ground, not only intent on hitting Shinobu with her lead foot, but the left that is quickly following in the circle and faintly glowing!
COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Shinobu with Enbukyaku.
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Shinobu 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Hinata
Blown back off her feet, Shinobu tumbles back end-over-end before hitting the jungle gym. Blinking with a 'what happened?' look on her face, she frowns as she sits up, and then springs back to her feet.
"Not... cool...?", she echoes, looking more wounded by the comment. "That's mean...", she mumbles, and then punches forward a couple of times, kiaiing with each blow, and then pumps her fist in the air. "Man, I'm gonna make you sorry for saying that! C'mere!", she taunts, looking genuinely angry now.
COMBATSYS: Shinobu gathers her will.
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Shinobu 1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0 Hinata
Hinata allows a grin to spread on her face at having riled Shinobu up. Her chatty nature strikes again! Feigning boredom, she stretches her hands up and laces her fingers behind her head. "Maaaa.. make me do all the work and come to you? I don't think so!" She stubs the toe of a tennis shoe on the ground behind her with a disinterested-sounding sigh. Psychological warfare, yeah!
"How about I just stay back here and introduce you to a friend of mine, hmm?" The Taiyo girl balls her right fist tightly at her side, focusing her will into it and shivering slightly from exertion. "Wakaba Air Mail, Express Delivery!" With a loud "IYAAAA!" she thrusts her right hand forward, palm first to release a flash of chi that starts off blazing green and quickly blossoms, literally and figuratively, into a yellow ball with flaring petals like some neon sunflower. The ball separates from her hand, though she's yet to master exactly how to make it travel long distances, it doesn't have to!
COMBATSYS: Shinobu blocks Hinata's Kikou Shoutei.
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Shinobu 1/--=====/=======|=====--\-------\0 Hinata
Rather than avoid the assault, Shinobu rushes forward all of a sudden, bringing up her arms to guard herself. "Nice try, but... get ready!"The blast hits her guard, and she stumbles aside a little, but then flexes her hand open with a flick of her wrist, forming a blue bubble of her own in her palm.
"You gotta make the ball hit the target!", she declares, and then, rather than fling it, tries to just slam it into Hinata with her open hand. It starts to expand suddenly, and hit or miss, it then suddenly detonates! In a spiral of watery chi, it blows nearby dirt and gravel away, as Shinobu takes all of her pain and /punishment/ she's endured so far... and transfers all of it into one suicide strike.
Being close as well, Shinobu flies away with the recoil of her own blow. Hopefully, this time, she can really make it count.
COMBATSYS: Shinobu successfully hits Hinata with Final Finish.
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Shinobu 0/-------/------=|=======\==-----\1 Hinata
Whoa! Totally not expecting Shinobu to pull something like that out of her bag of tricks, not after the show she'd put on so far. Hinata is taken by surprise, a victim of underestimating the other girl. The watery-chi spirally attack thing hits her straight on. Shinobu couldn't have asked for a more dead-center strike.
As the energy explodes, Hinata flies backwards and into the playground equipment to land on the slide and skid up its entire length, the wrong way than gravity usually says one should use a slide. She tops it and launches well into the air off the perfect ice-slick ramp, skidding to a halt ten feet away from the slide in the cold grass, on her back with her feet up in the air. How embarassing!
She stands quickly and shakes stray snowflakes from her hair. Harumph! "Okay... maybe I'll give you that one. That was pretty cool." Though her voice betrays a more than a little reluctance to give the compliment. "But it's not over yet!" Breaking into a run, Hinata leaps well into the air and grabs the railing at the top of the slide, executes a quick pivot to put her feet down and slide quickly down the icy surface. Slide surfing! At the bottom, she kicks off hard using the gained momentum and the strength of her own legs to propel herself into a flying jumpkick. "OYRAAAA!"
COMBATSYS: Shinobu dodges Hinata's Heavy Kick.
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Shinobu 0/-------/------=|=======\==-----\1 Hinata
Shinobu gets up just in time... and then just falls again, dropping under the striking zone of the kick. Slamming down on the Earth, she spins, twisting her arms around, and springs up facing the opposite direction.
"Man... you're still up after that? You're tougher than you look..."
Bringing up her fist, she follows after Hinata as she lands, and then hops onto the merry-go-round with one leg and one arm on it... and then uses the extra momentum for her punch, trying to nail her opponent before she can recover from her dramatic attack. "Yosha!", she cries, trying to turn the tide of the battle!
COMBATSYS: Hinata interrupts Strong Punch from Shinobu with Shouyouken EX.
- Power hit! -
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Shinobu 0/-------/---====|=======\===----\1 Hinata
Oh, could she ask for a more perfect setup? Merry go round and round and round, bring Shinobu straight into the waiting Sunshine Girl! Rather than being caught unaware by the merry-go-round punch, Hinata balls her right fist and grits her teeth. Wait for it...
"SHOUYOUKEN!" she cries loudly and leaps straight *at* Shinobu, upwards at an angle and spiraling powerfully while red chi-flames burst into existence all around her. Burning spirit! Go Taiyoooooo! The rising dragon-esque uppercut has the entire leaping weight of Hinata behind it, a paltry 90 pounds, but she's easily got a metric ASSLOAD of spirit to back it up! With a crack, she catches Shinobu squarely under the chin as the two fighters cross punching, Hinata taking Shinobu's punch glancing to the side of the head. But if just by sheer volume of their shouts alone, Hinata's got a lot behind that single spiral uppercut strike, enough to send the merry-go-round spinning around the other way!
Getting knocked off the wheel, Shinobu hits the ground. After a moment, she scrapes herself up, wincing, and then brings her leg up, slamming it down again. She lets out a deep breath as she slides out into horse stance, and rubs her neck. Time to get ready for the endgame. Rolling around her neck, there's a popping sound... and she winces a little. Now, how did Shingo-sensei do it again? She's going to have to remember quick, or it's all over for her. Pondering quietly, she tries to figure out the best way to deal with the more energetic fighter.
And spirit's supposed to be her thing, dangit! Clenching her fists, fire burns in her eyes. She isn't going to fall so easily, if she has anything to say about it!
COMBATSYS: Shinobu gathers her will.
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Shinobu 1/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Hinata
Sieze the momentum, Wakaba! A voice cries this in her head, sounding very familiarly like the voiceover on her Saikyo correspondence course. In a moment, she ties this voice back to The Man himself, whom she only just recently met. Dan Hibiki, of course!
Her eyes brighten visibly, eyebrows rising a notch. That's right! She can't let up now! What Would Dan Do? Lesson 7 of the Saikyo Correspondence Course, 'Knowing when to give up'. The gist of the lesson? NEVER give up! "OOOOORYAAAAA~!" Hinata grabs a passing handle of the spinning merry-go-round and lets it drag her along for a full revolution, legs flailing outward before she finally lets go, not to fly straight at and attack Shinobu, but to execute a perfect feet-first slide along the ground, spring up at the last second and bring both fists together upwards at once to catch Shinobu again and send her skywards!
COMBATSYS: Shinobu blocks Hinata's Rival Launcher.
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Shinobu 1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0 Hinata
Bringing her arms up in a boxing guard, Shinobu is indeed launched by the attack... about nine inches off the ground before then coming back to the earth, her feet kicking up gravel as she lands. Looking aside for a moment, she hmphs derisively, but her body tells a different story. One of bruises, scrapes, and a pounding she hasn't had in... well, about a week.
Rather than wait for Hinata to do a full circuit of the wheel, though, she jumps towards it, landing on one of the railing as it spins, and then leaps up, landing near her foe as she takes a "shortcut!". Balling her fist, she says, "Again!", suddenly, and then it's return of the flailing fist, as she fires off a barrage of attacks at Hinata. "Yayayayayayaya!"
But that's not all, this time, switching to her other arm, she continues the assault, trying to batter away at Hinata's guard as she continues to cry out! Stopping for just a moment, she takes in a deep breath... and then launches out with both arms, flailing almost in exaggerated anime fashion as she fires off punches with both arms. "YAYAYAYAYAYAYA...", before suddenly slumping forward and looking utterly exhausted.
"Had... enough...?", she pants.
COMBATSYS: Shinobu successfully hits Hinata with Dragon Entry.
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Shinobu 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Hinata
Hinata puts up her arms to guard, and for the first few blows it's rather stunningly effective, punches rebounding off her forearms and elbows and rarely striking elsewhere, but quickly it takes a turn for the worst. One punch catches her elbow and knocks it aside and before the Sunshine Girl can even recover, more punches rain down. How long can Shinobu keep this up?!
Hinata's guard weakens and breaks completely, every time she tries to raise her arms to counter or block, three punches land before she can. The punches themselves are light and wild, but combined? Daaaaaaamn. Rattled repeatedly, Hinata staggers back as more and more hits keep landing. Doesn't Shinobu ever freakin' stop?!
Then the flurry is over, Shinobu panting to catch her breath. Hinata is similarly out of breath, nose bleeding and hair all messed up.
"Oh, so it's like that, huh?" Hinata growls. She looks actually... upset. "Let's see how YOU like it! Yaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The Sunshine Girl stamps a foot angrily. This is unsurprising, but it does signal the start of her own counter-offensive. She throws herself bodily at Shinobu, leading with a shoulder check, then a hard elbow, finally spinning in place to start jabbing with crazy speed with her left fist, punctuating it every so often with a chi-ball right cross until she grits her teeth and launches into a spiral upper yet again.
COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Shinobu with Hisshou Rengekiken.
- Power hit! -
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Shinobu 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Hinata
Where, oh where will Shinobu fly to next?
Smashing into the swingset, Shinobu spins as she collides with one of the seats... and then it twists, the chain catching around her leg, and she swings up... but with the moments before unconsciousness, she has a chance. Clenching her hands together as she hits the apex of her swing, she forms a new bubble in her hands. And as she comes towards the earth, hanging upside-down, she... pitches the projectile at Hinata, throwing it at her... before slamming down into the gravel below with a painful crunch.
As for the bubble? It wobbles a bit as it tumbles towards the other schoolgirl, actually seeming a bit harmless. But that belies the fountain-like explosion set to erupt as soon as it connects with something solid. Like horseshoes and hand grenades, close /does/ count.
COMBATSYS: Shinobu can no longer fight.
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Hinata 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Hinata dodges Shinobu's Petite Pop.
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Hinata 0/-------/-------|
Already panting from near-exhaustion, Hinata keeps her eyes closely on Shinobu. Never think the fight is over, no matter what. So it comes as little surprise that the other fighter still has a trick to pull. Wakaba shifts her feet, bracing for a powerful impact and instead sees...
A soap bubble? Her immediate urge is to simply reach forward and touch it to see if it pops. No! Don't get careless now!
"Hut!" she grunts with exertion, leaping up and spreading her leags to leap frog straight over the wobbly bubble and letting it pass harmlessly underneath her. Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?
Behind her, the bubble floats gently toward the ground and...
BOOM!
The force of the explosion just behind her makes Hinata's eyes go as wide as dinner plates as she stumbles forward a step. HOLY FREAKING CRAP! If she had gone with that urge and just popped it with her fingertip... sheez! She puts a hand to her heart, feeling it pound underneath her palm like a jackhammer.
For a long quiet moment, she just waits for Shinobu to get up and keep fighting. After a silent count with Shinobu not rising, the judge raises a flag for a TKO!
"Yahoooo!" Hinata dances in place, twirling her fists around each other and hopping back and forth. Full of energy again, she skips to the downed Shinobu and puts out a hand. "That was great! I've never seen anything like it!"
COMBATSYS: Hinata has ended the fight here.
Don't get so close, Hinata! Because then Shinobu swings forward, and... taps Hinata's hand with her fist, too tired to throw a real punch. "Ahhh, why won't my body fight anymore...", she whines, trying to twist her leg out of the chain feebly. "... this sucks." Then, she grabs Hinata's hand feebly, and grins widely. "Ah, you're strong... I need to get tougher..." Then, inexplicably, her leg finally works free and she fully - and probably painfully - hits the ground.
Lying there, her fists in front of her face, hiding all but her eyes, she looks ahead, as if trying to think on her loss seriously, for a change. "..."
Already the camera crews are wrapping up, having captured the climax of the fight and packing up to leave. Without so much as a backwards glance to either fighter, they pile into the vans and take off down the streets of Southtown again, no doubt to whatever fight they have scheduled next.
Hinata frowns. She just wanted to offer congratulations on a really intense fight! The Taiyo girl squats down next to Shinobu, chin resting in one of her palms. "You're really strong too, y'know. ... D'you... need help getting home?" she offers, cocking her head slightly to one side and sniffing, wiping at her bloody nose.
Quiet for a moment more, and she stands up slowly, sitting up, getting into a grouch, and then wincing as she gets up, stretching her back. "Ah, no, I'm fine, I'm-", she manages, smiling before her eyes roll back in her head and she falls back into the swing, which slowly starts to untwist, taking Shinobu for a lazy spin along with it. Is she unconscious?
"I want cake!", she says, suddenly bolting upright again with wide open eyes. Apparently, somebody blacked out for a moment. With a deliberate, almost robotic quality, she turns to stare at Hinata. "Ohhh.", she realizes, as if realizing where she is again.
With a grimace, the Taiyo girl offers a steadying hand to Shinobu. "C'mon, I'll take you home." It's not really as if she's offering *much* mercy here. In reality, she could use as much help to stand as Shinobu could, but if they mutually support each other, everything will be okay.
"Up you go!" Hinata says cheerfully, putting Shinobu's arm around her shoulders and helping her stand. Then a thought crosses her mind as the winter wind starts to take its toll on her body temperature some more. "Your house isn't... far, is it?" Oh for the money so she could take a cab. "Oh well.. no matter. C'mon, you did great. That thing with the bubble? I mean, like, wow..." Hinata babbles quickly while helping Shinobu walk, the two girls exiting the park and back to nice warm beds at home. They both earned it.
Log created by Hinata, and last modified on 08:53:46 12/23/2005.