Description: What better place for two fighters to clash than Mount Fuji? (Winner: Hinata)
Japan! (yooooh-ooOOOOooh)
The epitome of Japan, in fact. The sun is beginning to set in the eastern sky, and the rocky passes of Mt. Fuji are being bathed in the rosy glow of early evening. The chill winter air can cut through the warmest of clothing here in the mountains, even at low altitudes like thiese; but if you are a person with the right sense of appreciation, the beauty around here is enough to warm your heart. Frost has crystalized on the struggling grasses, and an ice-cold brook still trickles quietly amidst broken rock as a small squirrel scampers its way up a plum blossom tree. It requires an advanced aesthetic sense to appreciate a stark section of a mountain like this, especially in wintertime -- but perhaps even this is a sort of strategy.
See, Alma Towazu got to choose the location of this Random Encounter, and he chose this landscape over any of the more gorgeous plateaus higher up. Partly, that's because there's more air down here, and it's slightly warmer, and also because this little plateau has few innocent trees that might get blown away as collateral damage. But one might speculate that Alma, as someone who derives his power from inspiration and derives inspiration from beauty, has chosen this place because only someone with a sense of beauty as deep as his own would be able to unlock the true power inherent in this landscape.
That, or he didn't want to have to wear mittens.
Still, the tall youth cuts a striking figure in his snug white turtleneck, red courderoys, and dark green scarf, his long blonde red-tinged bangs fluttering lightly in a quiet chill breeze. Hands slipped into his pockets, he apparently ignores the cameramen setting up around him, and just gazes mild-eyed at the slowly setting sun, smiling softly.
"Wow," Hinata breathes into the chill air, her words forming a little rolling mist of steam. "Wow," she says again, because it really just deserved more than a single 'wow'. The trees, the beautiful setting sun, and Fuji-san rising majestically higher than she could care to climb just at the moment.
"Wow." She said it again, not really for the benefit of the mind-boggling scene but for hers. Her New Year's dream had in fact contained an image of the great mountain, which was supposed to be a very good omen for the coming year. Not so much that the top of the mountain, in her dream at least, turned out to be white chocolate, but that's beside the point. Mount Fuji was there, and that's all that mattered.
Some people feel the cold air of the mountain glade and wish they'd brought warmer clothes, but not Hinata Wakaba. Blue jeans and a red scarf, a bright yellow and white jacket, and of course, oversized tennis shoes and a white headband. That's all she needs. That and the sun, majestic as it is dying away into brilliant oranges and pinks over the treetops.
"I wish I'd brought a camera." No doubt there were pictures taken by more professional photographers than her, but the fact that she herself would have taken it would make it all the more special. The Sunshine Girl claps her hands against each other as if to stir life in them, but there's none missing. She just had to do something, aching as she is for the coming fight she can hardly stand still. Still quiet beauty of the solitude of nature, yes, but she can't stay still for long. It's against her nature.
"Hi!" she suddenly beams at Alma, offering a hand to him. He's the only one that doesn't look like part of the sparse Neo League crew, so he must be her opponent.
Alma is... impressed.
Sensing the girl's open-hearted enthusiasm before she speaks, his smile widens and his eyes soften, appreciating a kindred spirit until she approaches him. He looks over his shoulder at her, and then smiles winning before turning to face her. "Hello there," he murmurs, eyes now clear and warm. "You must be Hinata Wakaba." His voice is soft, but it carries well through the cold air. "I am Alma Towazu. Pleased to meet you."
The referee exchanges a few nods with the settled cameramen before finally calling out, "Fighters, to your positions!"
The young warrior-model grins as he extends a friendly hand to the girl, eyes sparkling. "Good luck to you," he says. "Please, do your best..."
And then he steps back and shifts his stance, subtly slipping his right foot forward as he relaxes his limbs but straightens his posture, taking deep breaths to put himself in an elegant yet eminently natural-looking position. It's a noble-looking stance, but his eyes reveal it to be uneffected -- for those eyes are calm, and the stance that at first looks relaxed begins to more resemble a spring ready to coil...
"I won't hold back."
His hair ripples in a wind unfelt.
COMBATSYS: Alma has started a fight here.
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Alma 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Hinata has joined the fight here.
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Alma 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hinata
Hinata beams back under Alma's winning and presumably well-practiced smile. How did he get his teeth to glint just at the right time? He's good. "I am. Hinata Wakaba, that is. It's a pleasure to meet you too!"
Her pre-fight chatter and introductions are cut a bit short by the referee, the girl craning her neck over her shoulder to look at him and then nod. Once back looking at Alma, she nods once, decisively. "I'll do my best!" she promises cheerfully. She hopes Alma will do the same. She wouldn't ask for anything less.
Skipping lightly to her position, just away from Alma, Hinata unzips her jacket and whips it quickly off to throw behind her. Heavy jackets don't help much in the maneuverability department, and she'll be fine enough as it is, even though it's just a plain white t-shirt with red ringer collar and sleeves. The crest of Taiyo High School is plain on the left hand side of the chest. She doesn't look cold, though.
Smiling again, Hinata cracks her knuckles underneath the bright orange armwarmers belted around her wrists. Not quite padded fighters gloves, but it's the best she can do on her allowance. Raising her fists, her own stance is loose and above all else, mobile, actively bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet as if standing still, even for a moment, would be sacrelige.
"Here I come!" the Taiyo girl announces cheerfully. It's not much of a giveaway, as she was already starting to move forward anyway. So maybe surprise attacks aren't her thing, but sure as hell an indomitable spirit it! "Kiyaaa!" A simple starter, a fast right cross followed by an equally fast left jab to the stomach. Alma's quite a bit taller than her, so even a jab to the stomach has to be aimed slightly upwards.
COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Alma with Quick Punch.
- Power hit! -
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Alma 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Hinata
My, she's coming from down low. Well, time to ease into this battle. Alma takes another quiet breath and then steps forward, feet skipping lightly as he closes in to weave around her first punch, tilting out of the way as he prepares to lunge in -- and, psychic senses apparently not quite ready yet, fails to notice her sudden and surprisingly fast second punch, which elicits a surprised cough from the tall youth as he staggers a step back from the force of the blow.
Huh, these little Japanese girls can be so tough...
Alma recovers quickly, though, and gets the fight flowing immediately, stepping up the rhythm of battle to get himself more engaged and igniting his fighting spirit... literally. His right hand suddenly flashes with a halo of white light, white-pink flames beginning to dance around his fingers, little sparkles rising up in the telltale sign of Psycho Power as he lashes out toward the girl's forehead. Rather than touch her, however, he's too far away to actually strike -- which might allow the sudden point-blank blast of soulfire to her face to catch her by surprise!
"Hmph!"
COMBATSYS: Hinata blocks Alma's Self Expression.
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Alma 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Hinata
Hmph, indeed. Hinata had to give Alma credit. Despite his larger size he moved with incredible ease. No.. it was *grace*, dodging her first punch almost laughably easily. But that's why she doubled up anyway, just in case. So when her jab hits something tender and vital in his midsection, it's a good feeling. For her, at least.
And likewise the retaliatory strike. He said he wasn't going to go easy on her, and it's when the flaring palm makes a break for her forehead, she reacts instinctively. Thrusting her own palm upward, she leans *into* Alma's strike and tries to knock his forearm away from wherever it might be pointing and waiting to inflict something on her that Hinata is sure she doesn't want any part of. The energy.. the same not-quite-chi she felt from Juli once. It glances off the side of her head as she knocks the arm aside.
"Woooo!" she squeals suddenly, not in pain but in... exhiliration. The cold air? She barely notices it anymore. Glorious Mount Fuji? Well, it's just there to watch over her, isn't it?
"Let's get this started!" Hinata Wakaba bubbles loudly. She pivots in place on the ball of her left foot, swinging her right around fiercely. She is not a subtle manipulator of chi. She just can't help it sometimes. And as the bright orange-red sputtering flames manifest around her strong roundhouse kick to Alma's side, she just keeps spinning in place like a top, whipping her right leg around and around as fast as she can manage.
COMBATSYS: Alma interrupts Enbukyaku from Hinata with Divine Intervention EX.
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Alma 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Hinata
Alma's right-handed psychic strike misses, but the youth seems unfazed; at least, he *looks* unfazed. Still, he overextends himself as his attack is parried and redirected, and Hinata's wild spinning kick first impacts him fiercely on the leg. But rather than resist the attack, he allows his leg to buckle with the strike and drops to one knee, and then thrusts out his now fireless right arm to block her next spinning strike even as he draws back and lashes out with his *left* hand... which appears to have ignited itself while no one was watching!
"Huh!" he exhales fiercely, and eyes flashing once with a purplish glow, he unleashes a beam of rosy white light directly into the girl's body, shearing through her as it attacks her mind rather than her body. Though her body feels the sensations of pain, it is only the result of the bewilderment resulting from the psychic attack, as mind is cut off from body and the ego and fighting spirit are attacked directly.
He manages to halt her attack and knock her back a bit, and takes the time to rise to his feet again, smiling a little, brow lifted in what looks like either admiration or his own mild sort of enthusiasm. Maybe both. "Careful what you wish for," he says, deadpan, but his eyes warm cheerfully, and sparkle with inner mirth.
The Taiyo Girl wasn't expecting such an... unusual counter, to be sure. But it hits, and it hurts. A lot. Driven back for the moment, she just executes a hopping backstep and puts a hand to the center of her chest to feel for whatever he might have hit her with. A knife, a pressure point... but there's nothing. Her Taiyo gym shirt is as perfect and unmarred as when her mom washed it yesterday.
This gives the Wakaba girl a bit of pause, eyeing Alma warily. No malice in it, no anger at being hit, then her face just breaks into a huge grin. "Alright!" she says, oddly happily, and stamps a foot onto the grass in front of her before raising her fists again. "That's what I'm talking about!" Such a strange, strange girl, actually more enthusiastic after getting nailed dead center with a technique she'd never seen before.
"Come on," she beckons with a smile. "Let's do this."
The dying sun has fallen a few notches in the sky, starting to send long tree shadows across the clearing the two fighters occupy. But for a split second, the entire area brightens considerably with a warm yellow light, as if the sun had decided it wasn't quite ready to go away yet and was just popping back in to see how things were going. The faux-sunlight flares again between Hinata's palms before she thrusts them both toward Alma and the light intensifies even further. "Orrrryaaaa!" The growing chi-ball in her hands is bright yellow, greener toward her hands, with gently fanning petals of flickering energy. It looks very unmistakably like a large sunflower made out of energy just before Hinata lets it fire off in a straight line.
COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Alma with Kikou Shoutei.
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Alma 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Hinata
"Heh..."
Alma grins as the girl beckons to him, and he immediately lunges forward, air rushing around him as he closes in with one powerful leap -- but the sudden surge of light takes him by surprise, and rather than evade, his instincts foolishly tell him to shade his eyes, at just the wrong time--
"Unf!"
Alma is sent hurtling back from the attack, failing to reach the girl, but manages to land in a poised three-point crouch. This time, though, he takes his time rising to his feet, taking deep breaths as he does so. A halo of rosy gold begins to highlight his features, verticle streaks of white and pink rising off his body as he re-establishes his stance.
~ If I can get my momentum going, I can turn this around... ~
COMBATSYS: Alma gathers his will.
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Alma 1/----===/=======|======-\-------\0 Hinata
Again the indomitable smile is on Hinata's lips, firmly intent on staying there the whole time. She's *enjoying* this!
Dirt and the few sparse fallen leaves crunch underneath her tennis shoes as she charges to close the distance quickly, a cry forming in the back of her throat and slowly gaining in volume as she closes in. "Shooooou-"
A half-step in front of Alma, Hinata suddenly pivots to put her right shoulder towards him. "Yooooou-"
Then in a quick move she balls her right fist, crouches slightly, and raises the fist into the air along with her entire body, leaping from the ground to put extra force behind her Rising Dragon-inspired corkscrew uppercut. And again, even though she didn't exactly will it to happen, a spiralling trail of bright red flames leaps from her fist and encircles her entire body as she spins around two full revolutions in the air. "KEN!"
COMBATSYS: Alma blocks Hinata's Shouyouken.
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Alma 1/--=====/=======|======-\-------\0 Hinata
Alma is ready for this one, now. The younger girl spirals into the air but fails to break his guard -- but his guard was rather unconventional. With a sudden flash of his eyes the youth thrusts out his palms as her attack commences, but she never reaches him. A flash of light in the shape of a rosy gold shield absorbs the rising uppercut, and Alma grits his teeth slightly as the force is distributed throughout his body and into the ground. Defensively, his manipulation of his aura to take the impact hasn't help him resist the attack any more than using his body would've; the difference his, as there was no physical impact, he isn't forced to absorb any physical force. He doesn't have to lean or step back. He's free to lunge immediately.
So he does.
Attack immediately, Alma jumps into the air and suddenly explodes into action and flame, attacking with a stream of blurring jabs as he flashes forward, suddenly in Hinata's face. If he's able to penetrate her guard with the suddenness of this attack, he'll launch into a series of fiercer punches and low and medium kicks, all ignited with white-pink flame and all blurring confusingly. The furious and fantastic combination ends with a powerful uppercut and a cry to the heavens--
"Uuurryahhh!"
Let's see if that's the momentum Alma needs.
COMBATSYS: Hinata blocks Alma's Destined Duel.
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Alma 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Hinata
Well, okay, that was weird. Hinata had never expected her Shouyouken to be stopped by an invisible wall, but there's always a first time for everything, isn't there? Nor did she expect Alma to follow her on the upsurge of momentum her move also had.
The first strike pulls her out of the euphoric moment of executing one of her favorite techniques, jarring the spin inexplicably to a stop and leaving both fighters facing one another in midair, but Alma's assault doesn't stop there. The first few relatively softer jabs catch the Sunshine Girl unaware, at least three (she honestly lost count) hitting her in the stomach and chest. Feebly at first, she raises her palms to try to catch the next incoming punch and kicking in retaliation so the fighters end up negating the other's strikes with precision timing, fists impacting open palms and legs crossing to intercept kicks. Were it not for the timing and perfect placement of counterstrikes (a hard thing to notice unless you're looking), it might look more as if the pair were slapping ineffectually at each other.
Hinata breaks from the aerial assault to land skidding backwards in a crouch, straightening slowly. She's panting slightly, the concentration of blocking the attack having taken a bit out of her enthusiasm.
"Alright," she says, then has to draw a breath to keep talking. "That was pretty cool, I'll give you that. But tell me.. you ever seen this one?"
The Sunshine Girl draws a quick, sharp breath and launches herself straight at Alma again. On the way there she throws her hands out in front of her and executes a perfect tuck and roll (a 10 in P.E. from Hayato-sensei, if anyone asked her, which they never did). Instead of springing back to her feet, she keeps going for another half-roll to plant her palms on the ground and kick both feet powerfully forward with a flare of energy from both her hands and her feet simultaneously. From the hands, the energy is like a muffled blast, throwing the Wakaba girl's weight forward, and from her feet a blazing aura of energy like a rocket on re-entry through the atmosphere. The attack is angled sharply upwards and straight toward Alma's chin aiming to send him airborne. "WAKABA SPECIAL, HIGH TIME!"
COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Alma with Rival Launcher EX.
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Alma 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 Hinata
The sturdy chin-strike lands with a powerful and painful-sounding *CRUNCH*, taking Alma airborne along with Hinata, but it's far from over. After the initial strike, she flips backwards and levels herself with him in the air. "Oraoraoraoraora!" she cries, lashing out with both fists as hard as she can, catching him first on the right cheek, then the left, over and over and knocking his head back and forth like a tennis match in fast forward.
Just as gravity starts to take hold of the pair, Hinata finishes punching and siezes Alma by the collar, plants a foot in his stomach and takes the pair tumbling backwards in a roll. Alma is gratefully there to break her fall, as he lands first, Hinata's foot driving powerfully just below his ribcage, at which point she springs backwards and raises both fists in the air. "WOOOOOOOO!"
That stream of skilled counterstrikes might look funny to some, but to Alma, it's another reminder of what a fierce opponent he faces. Panting quietly himself, he drops at the end of his attacks, landing on the ground and shaking his head once to clear the post-Psycho Power haze, trying to reassert himself into the flow of battle as he glances up, bangs shifting out of his eyes, to see the girl rocketing towards him--
"Oh."
Crunch! The successive attacks batter the young man dramatically, eyes widening as he's slapped around mercilessly and then gasping as he's planted in the dirt and has the breath knocked out of him by her final stomp. Moaning quietly, Alma rolls on his side and takes a moment to blink a few times and get his vision to refocus -- but his resolve, though subtle under that mild visage, remains steeled, and he rises calmly, body battered but gaze clear and steady. And warm. Warm with the song of the fight.
He can't help but smile slightly.
And then, quick-stepping forward back into battle, he sneaks in, rears back, and just throws a fierce punch right at the girl's noggin.
COMBATSYS: Hinata endures Alma's Strong Punch.
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Alma 1/------=/=======|==-----\-------\0 Hinata
Hinata is kind of surprised Alma could get back up from her aerial beatdown so quickly. It speaks quite well of him. Not that she was ever one to underestimate her opponent, because on the few occasions she did it got her a much harder beatdown in return.
Beads of sweat stand out on her face, naturally the headband there dually to keep her hair out of her eyes as well as sweat. Extertion is showing on her face, but the boundless energy is still there. It's always there. So when Alma quick-steps in to throw a punch, Hinata does the last thing he might expect.
She leans her head in to help him with it. The punch is strong, pounding forcefully against the very center of her forehead and right against the lovely white headband which gives a good marker of where people ought to hit her if given the chance. Hinata's head snaps backwards, lingers there for a moment, then rolls forward again.
"Hah!" she laughs gleefully. It's not a derisive laugh meant to convey 'oh, what a wimpy punch', but a true and powerful joyous laugh. She really is enjoying this.
Tennis shoes skip back a half step in the grass, Hinata rolling her left hand at the wrist and still beaming as brightly as the sun at lunchtime. "You're really good!" From the 'safe' half-step back, she hunches her shoulders down and tenses every muscle in her body that she knows the name of, and a lot of them that she doesn't, charging her frame with tense energy ready to spring. And then it finally does, the girl lunging forward, fast and low and jabbing out repeatedly with her left fist in a blur. It's a calculated guard-breaker, then just as quickly and with the entire weight of her body leaning behind it, delivers a sterm straight-armed punch with her right fist, a semi-translucent bubble of chi flaring to life just before the strike.
COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Alma with Rengekiken.
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Alma 1/---====/=======|====---\-------\0 Hinata
It looks like Alma's strategy, if it actually was a strategy, has backfired on him today, because Hinata definitely has the enthusiasm he's lacking. He's not fatigued, per se, but the beating he's taking and his failure to summon his power into any truly devastating blows has left him too slow to react to the attack, and he blows him back, sending him staggering, his eyes glazing over for a brief moment as his body recommends taking a break from consciousness--
--but a split-second negotation between mind and body somehow keeps the boy standing, and he rights himself, ignoring the small trickle of blood that's emerged from his mouth with the impact. "You may be better," he says with an air of serene cheerfulness, and it appears that throughout this whole ordeal, his young eyes have retained that warmth and clarity. "But this fight isn't over until I show you my full power..."
His eyes flash. He blurs. He lunges.
And then he's behind her.
"Surrender."
Alma opens his heart, and the ambient chi surges in, the beauty of the battlefield and the joy of two fighting spirits confronting each other sparking his energy and causing it to surge up within him. Finally he really feels the flow, finally he feels himself both empty and completely full...
He grins, and reaches out to tap the back of the girl's head -- and unleashes a devastating wave of mental energy, blistering away the mind's conception of self and other, destroying the boundaries and seeking to let the beauty carry Hinata away... into unconsciousness, preferably.
COMBATSYS: Hinata dodges Alma's Absolution.
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Alma 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Hinata
A split-second of panic. Then another part of Hinata's mind, one which sounds very much like, of all people, Dan Hibiki, hits her over the head with a crescent wrench and tells her to focus. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Alma had gotten behind her. That much she could grapple with for the moment, resolving to tackle the issues of how he accomplished this at a much later time. So, situation check. Alma behind her, telling her straight out that he's about to dish out some serious pain and telling her to surrender. She does what comes naturally.
Which is simply to duck. Being short has its advantages every now and again, Hinata ducking down as low as she can and gripping her knees. Using only the strength in her ankles, she pushes off the ground to roll backwards straight through Alma's legs and very narrowly avoiding more pain than she wants at the moment. Which is to say, none at all.
So, the tables have turned! Hinata now stands behind Alma instead! Hooyah! Untucking from the roll she is immediately back onto her feet, standing behind the taller fighter with her right fist cocked backwards and about to go off.
COMBATSYS: Hinata successfully hits Alma with Shouyouken.
Glancing Blow
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Alma 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Hinata
A split-second of panic. Then another part of Hinata's mind, one which sounds very much like, of all people, Dan Hibiki, hits her over the head with a crescent wrench and tells her to focus. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Alma had gotten behind her. That much she could grapple with for the moment, resolving to tackle the issues of how he accomplished this at a much later time. So, situation check. Alma behind her, telling her straight out that he's about to dish out some serious pain and telling her to surrender. She does what comes naturally.
Which is simply to duck. Being short has its advantages every now and again, Hinata ducking down as low as she can and gripping her knees. Using only the strength in her ankles, she pushes off the ground to roll backwards straight through Alma's legs and very narrowly avoiding more pain than she wants at the moment. Which is to say, none at all.
So, the tables have turned! Hinata now stands behind Alma instead! Hooyah! Untucking from the roll she is immediately back onto her feet, standing behind the taller fighter with her right fist cocked backwards and about to go off.
It's not that she bears any ill will, but there comes along every so often a moment that just begs, cries, and screams for a witty one-liner. Hinata never turns these moments down. "Price check on kicked ass!" She leaps in another spiral, driving her fist into the small of Alma's back and scraping along his spine with another of her patented chi uppercuts.
Man.
That's a fighting spirit, right there.
As Alma spins instinctively to try and confront the attack, he gets a last glimpse of the sun, fully setting now, casting its pinkish glow over the slopes of the mountain, and for that one shining moment, he feels himself swell with warmth. Whether he hit or he missed, he forced her to give this fight her all, as she pressed him -- so what is there to regret?
The uppercut clips his chin as he spins around, and his head snaps back. My god... the sky... it's full of stars...
Yet he's able to open his eyes slightly as she rises up past him, and looking into her eyes, eases into another calm grin. "Free," he says lightly... and punches out with one last short-range burst of Psycho Power, to try and catch her in midair.
Then he staggers back, and...
COMBATSYS: Alma can no longer fight.
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Hinata 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Hinata dodges Alma's Self Expression.
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Hinata 0/-------/---====|
...topples backwards, his resolve spent.
Alma hits the ground with a sigh, and his eyes close.
"Waaaahaaaa!" Hinata yells joyously, rising up past Alma from the leaping strike of her Shouyouken. She wasn't expecting a counter after that, having hopefully caught him off-guard enough to stagger any kind of retaliatory blow. But that's not to say it wasn't in her contingency plan.
At the height of the spiral, she does a mid-air splits and lets Alma's unfocused energy strike pass harmlessly underneath her before reaching forward to grip the top of his head in her right palm, vault over him, and land safely seven feet away in a crouch, just as Alma's body falls to the floor, the two thuds coinciding nicely into a single sound that echoes across the pleasant mountainside.
The referee waits the proscribed three count, doesn't see Alma rise, and raises a simple yellow flag. The match is over, Hinata the winner.
"Oh yeah! Oh yeah! I went there!" she calls, dancing in place, twirling her fists around each other and punctuating the victory dance with little hop-skips to either side and a fist raised toward the sky! She'll see to Alma soon enough. Right after the victory dance. He fought well and she will definitely make sure he's okay. She doesn't doubt it for a second, though.
"GOOOO TAIYOOOOOO!" Hinata's voice echoes over the peaceful slopes of Mount Fuji. Oh yeah, it's gonna be a good new year.
Log created by Hinata, and last modified on 21:28:20 01/01/2006.