Description: King vs. Sakura in Pittsburgh, PA, amongst the metal of a refinery. Neither walks out on their own. (Draw Match)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania! It's the home town of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but who wants to watch a bunch of sweaty old men punt a pigskin across some big grassy yard when there's hot chixx0rs punching and kicking each other's faces in, not far down the way? The Neo League is where it's at -- football be damned!
Pittsburgh is known for its steel, so what better location for a fight than a steel manufacturing plant? ... Well, there's probably =lots= of better locations, but none that are quite as dynamic, vibrant, or just plain... hot. It's a nice place to be in a heated building while the wintry weather rages outside.
Really, that's about the only way these fighters are gonna be comfortable. Luckily, the fight itself won't be taking place in the red-hot forgery, with lava-like liquid metal boiling in all directions -- rather, it will be just outside, in the cold-forming area, complete with rollers, mills, and presses all dedicated to producing equal-sized portions of the factory's primary output -- sheet metal! An area is cordoned off: naturally, the floor is solid concrete, with a wide open area. No creature comforts here -- it's cold on the left, hot on the right thanks to the forgery, and a whole lot of =nothing= in between. Unless you want to count the various sizes of steel pipes and tubes stacked up dangerously off to one side, that is... but who the heck would want to use those?
Sakura Kasugano strides out from the "cold" side. She's too young to know what a McDLT is, but that's how she's feeling. Curling her arms around her, she scowls, "Man... this place -sucks-. It's either too darn hot or too darn cold! Sheesh..." She walks out to the cleared area, glancing left and right for signs of her opponent, tapping her foot in the meantime.
COMBATSYS: Sakura has started a fight here.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|
Soon following Sakura into the refinery is the blonde to be her opponent. If it wasn't for the mass of hair, the smaller stature and the color of her skin, she might have been mistaken for the Southtown Pimp, Mr. Big, with the huge fur coat she has resting on her shoulders. Bundled up like crystal being sent overseas, the former Empress of Muai Thai shivers as she walks on into the to-be arena. "Wooo-ah," she mutters, moving quickly into the warm. "Colder'n a witch's tit out there."
And that it is, after all. Pittsburgh, well known for harsh winters, has found itself in another cold snap. With snow and high winds, the city is in the single digits for temperature. Shuffling off towards the "hot" area, King lets the opressive warmth of the forgery seep into her gloves before removing them and her coat, looking around for a Masters employee to hand them off to. Finally handing them over after a moment, she thanks the man and turns towards the Japanese schoolgirl. "Oi, Sakura," she says, color in her nose and cheeks starting to die down again as she steps forward. Offering her hand to the girl, she smiles. "Good to see you again."
COMBATSYS: King has joined the fight here.
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King 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
A =big= part of the reason Sakura's antsy right now is because she's wearing her usual school uniform. She'd worn something else to =get= to the factory, of course, but the numerous temperature changes are a little trying.
So she can definitely appreciate the levity introduced by King upon her arrival -- even if she's much too far away to hear the words themselves, she can recognize the sentiment. Flashing her elder a grin in welcome, she jogs in place, trying to get the warmth pumping through her veins in anticipation. "Yeah, it's been a while, hasn't it!" She stops jogging long enough to shake King's hand, bowing her head for a mish-mash of differing cultural greetings. "Been stayin' busy?" she asks, hopping back afterwards to resume her jogging in place as she gives a quick glance over to the referee.
"Ready, then...?" she asks, her long white headband rippling from the sustained motion, a bright grin across the smartaleck schoolgirl's face. "Been itchin' for a straight-up fight for a -while-, now..." Well... what were the last few she was in? Apparently, they don't count.
Pleased, the officials walk out to the ring. "Fighters ready?" And then the ref throws down his hand: "FIGHT!"
And Sakura, apparently pleased as well for the start of the battle, launches forward, hurling her momentum forward into a single, direct, punch to the jaw. "HYYAAAAAAA!"
COMBATSYS: King dodges Sakura's Medium Punch.
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King 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
"It has," she says, bowing with the handshake as well. Working in Southtown has forced her to keep up about seven different cultural greetings, and integrating them all. "I have been keeping busy, yes. Of course, it's mostly the Pao and all it's fun." Fun, yeah. Finances, ordering, hiring and firing... The fun. Whee.
After the gettingin, the blonde takes a step back and slips into her stance. Just as she does, though, King is forced to laugh at Sakura's statement. "You're always itchin' for a fight, Sakura," she says, just as the official comes on in. With a quiet nod, she prepares herself as the fight begins.
Sakura's initial strike is simple enough. King's reaction to it is similarly simple; she gets her head out of the way. Leaning to the side, she lets the strike pass by, snapping her elbow up towards the girl's chin in response. A grunt of effort escapes from between clenched teeth... The cold made her a little tighter than she remembered, and delivering the blow feels like a stretch...
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks King's Strong Punch.
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King 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Sakura
Well... yes. Sakura =does= tend to get involved more fights than the average highschooler. ... Probably more than her entire grade level at Taiyo put together, actually. So... she can't help but reply with a shy smile and a brief chuckle. "Guess you're right about that much!"
In contrast to King, the Taiyo youth is plenty stretched out already. She got here surprisingly early, in anticipation of the cold, and has been running laps. No need for stretching! Accordingly, she's quick to hop back, thrusting the padded handguard of her left hand up, taking the elbow in stride. "Hup!" she chirps, fluidly stepping to the side as a followthrough.
She twists around sharply afterwards though -- the goal here being to spin her foot around to clock King right in =her= jaw. Let's see how she likes that! But the attack hopefully won't stop there, as Sakura aims to wheel her foot around into a series of aerial spin kicks, one blue Chuck Taylor whirling around for up to three good kicks. "Shunpuuu Kyaku!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits King with Shunpuu Kyaku.
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King 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
Oof.
Well, the fight is going fast and furious to start. Good. However, those Converse slapping against her face do not leave much in the way of counterattack for King in this particular instance. She is thrown back from the impact, her shoulders slamming on the ground before she curls up and rolls over, her feet slapping on the ground and curling up under her as she slides. As her momentum comes to an end, the blonde immediately pops out of the crouch, whipping herself around in a very similar fashion as to the attack she just took to the head. Three spinning roundhouse/spinning back kick combos come flying at Sakura's chest. Hopefully, this will take some wind out of the young woman's sails.
COMBATSYS: Sakura interrupts Tornado Kick from King with Shou'ou Ken.
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King 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura grins brightly as she touches down from her kick. It's not often that it lands, but when it =does=, that means she's that much closer to emulating her master, right? Right.
Though she =was= a bit nervous to see King's inventive landing. She'd expected retaliation, sure, but not =that= fast. There sure are a lot of whirlwind-themed kicks in this fight so far! Edging back warily, she raises her left hand, hoping to swat the leading kick away before it can strike.
You can't do that with a Muay Thai master unless you =commit= to it, and Sakura hasn't -- taking the first blow and its successor squarely to the chest.
The first ones are free. For... by the time the =second series of kicks is crashing into her, Sakura's gotten her wits about the situation, squaring her feet up. Rather than simply let herself be struck again, Sakura tilts forward, rocketing her fist right up into King's abdomen, effectively bypassing the kick altogether. "SHOOOOU'OU KEN!" And she'd keep =running= with the uppercut too, hoping that her chi-charged fist can completely reverse King's momentum for her advantage.
Sonova... Ngh.
Her forward momentum coninues, even as she's taken out of the air with the uppercut. Kicks discontinue, and instead she tumbles to the ground, nearly faceplaning on the concrete before her instincts take over and force her into a forward roll. However, her speed and trajectory force not one, but two rolls before she comes back up to her feet. Good timing, too, for another roll would have put the back of her head into that pile of pipes, which likely would have ended the fight before it had really begun.
Turning around, King's expression hardens as she pauses for a moment, taking a moment to decide her next tactic. The moment is very brief, however, and she quickly wrenches herself around in yet another spinning maneuver. Her foot glows blue with the burning energy of her soul, launching the physical manifestation of her chi at the schoolgirl as she snaps the roundhouse kick. "Venom Strike!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura dodges King's Venom Strike.
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King 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Sakura
Shaking out her fist as she gives two quick sidesteps backward, Sakura squints back at her opponent. She =is= glad to see King was able to avoid the pipes, and then turn the disadvantage into an attack. Sakura remembers having some issues with that particular element of King's arsenal the last time the two fought -- and as such, she opts to simply get the heck out of the way. Diving to the side, she takes a tumble of her own, headband cutting a sharp circle as she rolls out of the way. Kasugano springs back to her feet well out of range of the blast, which sails onward. Hopefully, it won't destroy one of the expensive pieces of machinery!
But rather than press her assault, Sakura smirks a bit at at the Muay Thai practitioner. No words... just a steady gaze as she curls her fists, taking one moment to filter out the adrenaline. She's gotten pretty lucky, but she knows from experience that overconfidence can lead to bitter defeat! So... just a moment to think, here.
COMBATSYS: Sakura focuses on her next action.
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King 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Sakura
Hmph. No attack? Almost disappointing. The ball of chi continues on for a shot while, dissipating before striking one of the giant moletn steel pour buckets. Which is lucky, because the container did have a significant amount of liquidized metal inside.
The blonde takes Sakura's pause as a good thing, deciding that, she, too, should take a moment. Her game is off... Her game has been off on her other fights as well, but. It's time to stop and look at the moment. To get in the moment. Sloughing off the other baggage in her mind, she takes heed of the fight and puts herself into it fully. The air crackles with ozone as her chi condenses, preparing for the next movement of her opponent.
COMBATSYS: King gathers her will.
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King 1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0 Sakura
Nodding in affirmation, Sakura offers a brief chuckle. The mild disappointment from King doesn't go unnoticed, suffice to say. "Sorry! Hate to be lamesauce and all, but teach tells me I rush into things too much!" Clapping, she rubs her hands together, grinning brightly. "Okay then... here I come!"
And with that, the schoolgirl breaks into a wild dash for King. Taking a cue from Kim Kaphwan, she leaps into the air, giving one quick somersault before coming down at a sharp angle, delivering two rapid stomp kicks and a few brief flashes of highly unnecessary fanservice down at the Muay Thai master. "Hrii-hrii-HAAAAA!"
COMBATSYS: King blocks Sakura's Strong Kick.
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King 1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0 Sakura
"I can see that," the blonde responds with a smile. Getting back into stance, her eyes narrow and a long smirk crosses her face. Motioning her opponent forward, King prepares for the attack. As Sakura rises and comes back down, the former Empress of Muai Thai's grin breaks further, bringing her arms to bear and absorbing the impact like a spring. "Noice!" she exclaims, shoving back against the girl's feet before crouching down herself. "But it's done like this..."
Exploding off of the crouch and into the air after the schoolgirl, she also flips over at the apex of her jump. Like a missle, she plummets down on top of Sakura, feet slamming down repeatedly at the girl. "Surprise Rose!"
Kim Kaphwan does it a little different, but hers is still efficient.
COMBATSYS: Sakura interrupts Surprise Rose from King with Medium Hadouken EX.
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King 1/-======/=======|=======\-------\1 Sakura
"H...hey!" Wasn't that the same move Sakura just =did?= Albeit much less flashy, much less effective, and a completely different style, but it's still kin and kindred! Heck, just in this fight, King's followed Sakura's whirlwind kick with a whirlwind kick, and her take-a-break stance with a similar pause in aggression. And yet =Sakura's= the copycat?
Somehow, though, Sakura smirks at that. If that's the way the game's going to be played, it must be time for something King either can't do, or =won't= do. And that's throw a fireball with her =hands=. Sakura backs away from the demonstrative Haki Kyaku-- er, Surprise Rose, bringing her left shoulder and arm up in defense. But while bracing for impact, she's also conjuring up a 'rose' of her own -- a bright blue blossom of chi swirling about in the palms she curls behind her. And when King's feet slam into her shoulder, Sakura steps sharply to the Frenchwoman's left, pivoting sharply to dull the impact -- and to present a surprise blast in response to the Surprise Rose. One difference, though: she calls the gargantuan, four-foot-wide blast of concussive chi, "HADOOOOOOOOOUKEN!"
Well, sonovab**ch.
King's not calling you a copycat, Sakura. She's following by example here. But she's not following exactly, per se, otherwise things would be a little more even, no? Taking the Hadouken in the torso, the blonde is forcibly blown back and into that pile of pipes. The bindings holding the pipes snap, causing the pipes to clatter loudly to the concrete, slamming against other materials and generally causing chaos amongst the workers watching on and the Masters employees. The noise is nearly deafening, and that's not if you're the one on top of the metal. AUGH.
King, a little woozy from the ringing in her ears, takes no time to worry about the pain in her back (or the growing wet spot that rests there) and instead runs toward Sakura, dropping and sliding towards the schoolgirl feet-first. She coils up as she slides, and, instead of attacking low, she pops her feet up, trying to drive her feet into the Ansatsuken student's face and perhaps stunning her. If King succeeds, then there's a lovely series of rapid roundhouse/hook kick combos that will slap the girl in the cheeks... and a finishing spinning roundhouse to the temple. If not... Well, she'll just flip back over and go back into stance. "Trap Shot!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks King's Trap Shot.
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King 1/-======/=======|=======\-------\1 Sakura
Sakura didn't exactly have time to voice her thoughts on the matter of attack parallelism, but... it's probably just as well! She's enough of a smartaleck anyway.
... Though once the ringing from the pipes starts, the clamor is more than enough for the schoolgirl -- she departs from the defensive stance she'd adopted after her fireball, clamping both hands down onto her ears and wincing one eye shut. She'd make some snappy remark, but again, it's hardly necessary. Nor would it be heard anyway.
But with her arms held up, she's also in a pretty good position to defend against a high attack -- it's a simple matter for the girl to bring her elbows together in front of her face without taking her hands off her ears. It looks =goofy as hell=, but it seems to do the trick well enough for Kasugano to back away before the =real= damaging strikes can land. ... Even though she might not want to use her arms for a little while as a result.
It's a good thing she's not a boxer, then, because that leaves one really good option: kicking. And even though she can't even hear herself shout over the clanging metal tubes and the hands over her ears, she's still twisting around to slam a balanced medium-level thrust kick at King's midsection. And she still -shouts-, "YAAAA!"
COMBATSYS: King dodges Sakura's Medium Kick.
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King 1/-======/=======|=======\-------\1 Sakura
No point in holding one's ears when you can't hear anymore anyway. Small trickles of blood from her ears are likely easily not noticed as the fight continues, her eardrums both broken. It has a side-effect of forcing her attentions at her opponent's movements rather than voice and the noises outside. This helpfully allows King to see Sakura's twitch just before the kick, allowing her to side step as it is delivered. Stepping in as her foot comes back, she quickly raises her knee towards the midriff of her opponent, hoping to double the girl over and change the momentum of the fight. At least, a little bit. "Urah!" the blonde kiais as she jams the knee forward.
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks King's Light Kick.
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King 1/=======/=======|=======\=------\1 Sakura
Well... at least the racket has calmed down enough for Sakura to remove her hands. And it's a good thing, for King's already closing in on the schoolgirl! Sakura fortunately has a quick recovery in store. Though, again, it looks goofy as hell: thrust both palms at the knee, curl up and let the transferred momentum shove her back through the air, as if she were practically handspringing back from King's knee.
Her flight lasts all of a half-second, before the schoolgirl's sneakers slam down at an angle. Her goal -- ricochet right back at King, snag the extended knee if she can, and pull it up and over to send King crashing into the concrete floor. "Teyaaaa!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits King with Medium Throw.
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King 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\==-----\1 Sakura
King's lack of hearing does have it's downsides, however. Because it's also causing her to blink a little more, and that's what happens when Sakura launches off of her and then grabs her leg. Oh, crap. Slamming hard into the floor, King winces hard as she drops onto that wound she previously suffered. Quickly, she rolls away from the schoolgirl, leaving a smear of red on the concrete where she landed.
Eyes narrowing, she knows things aren't going her way. Well, time to try and change things. Launching herself at Sakura, she flips in midair to try and drop her feet on the girl's head. Landing in a crouch, she unleashes a fury in kick form, lashing out with a spinning roundhouse kick to Sakura's head, then two sidekicks to her waist and thigh. Two spinning hook kicks to the face are followed by a backfist, which leads to a spinning backfist, a series of three spinning roundhouse kicks. A savage right cross is sent at Sakura's throat, a roundhouse kick to her knee, a sliding elbow to the face and a knee to the groin. The final flurry comes as she hops into a backspring, feet trying to pop the Ansatsuken student into the air to suffer the onslaught of two more leaping, spinning roundhouse-back kick combos.
The Illusion Dance has begun.
COMBATSYS: Sakura fails to interrupt Illusion Dance from King with Small Hadouken.
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King 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Sakura
... Blood? Ew. Sakura hadn't noticed the ears before, but after seeing the stain, she recognizes the source. She didn't think she'd hit her =that= hard -- indeed, she usually aims for parts that =won't= bleed -- but there's not much one can do about =noise=.
But there's plenty one can do to get out of the way of a series of kicks. Sakura just, y'know, fails to do anything like get out of the way, or mount a defense -- it's so quick that she doesn't even get to make use of the burst of blue chi she'd been forming in her right hand. Her upper torso ratchets back from that first kick, only to have the disabling strikes dealt to her knees, and then =another= series of blows to her face. The knee to the groin is pretty much the killer though, leaving her stunned enough for the rest.
And this time, it's Sakura's turn to go flying -- though with the pipes already loosed, her collision is just one relatively tame roll upon an unsecured tube. It just happens to send her flipping around to bonk her head against the concrete. Ow.
Let's face it. While King has great respect for Sakura and her abilities, and the fact that they've faced off before definitely helps that, but she's in pain. A lot of pain. Her back, bleeding from contact with a binding screw at velocity, is clouding her judgement as much as the loud noise that popped her eardrums. Which is also painful, but not so horribly to knock her out.
Thus, while Sakura may be down, King's not letting the onslaught end. Quickly following the young woman's fall into the tubes, she spins, her foot balling up in chi as she rotates. Kicking out, she launches another ball of manifested chi at Sakura, roaring out at a much louder volume that is probably necessary, "Venom Strike!"
COMBATSYS: King successfully hits Sakura with Venom Strike.
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King 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Sakura
Well, one can't exactly fault King for shouting when she can't =hear=, really. But in that same vein, can one really fault Sakura for being unable to get out of the way of that blast of chi rocketing towards her, when she's still struggling to regain her footing? Staggering forward, she takes the blast right in the face. And considering how bloodied and bruised it was from the previous onslaught, that's =not= good -- it knocks her backwards, forcing her to backpedal for balance -- and slip on that same tube once more for another crash to the concrete floor. Whoops.
As Sakura starts to push to her feet, she comes to a realization: the tube is roughly eight feet long. King is roughly eight feet away. *Ping!* So rather than aim for a risky head-on attack, Sakura instead takes advantage of her situation -- planting her feet on opposite sides of the tube, and then shuffling her feet in opposite directions sharply. End result -- a sweep kick at King's ankles that just happens to be eight feet longer than usual. "Yaaa!"
COMBATSYS: King blocks Sakura's Light Kick.
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King 0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1 Sakura
The feeling of having one's eardrums breached is not a pleasant one. It's what causes King to pause in her attack for a moment, trying to clear what feels like pressurized water bubble out from her ears. The water is actually blood, however, and it confuses her for a moment before she notices the incoming pipe.
Her heavy, laboured breathing is but another sign of her hurt, but, despite this, she is forced to action. Fingers covered in her own blood, they curl back into her gloved palms as she twists her leg into the pipe, which cracks her nicely in the shin. With a grunt, she takes the pain as just another part of this nice and painful exchange between herself and Kasugano. Hopping back quickly, she takes aim and attempts to kick the end of the pipe with her heel, which, hopefully, might slide into the schoolgirl and do a little injury.
COMBATSYS: Sakura overcomes Thrown Object from King with Shinkuu Hadouken.
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King 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura's pretty darn desperate right now -- that's why she's taking a chance with hit-and-run tactics like her last attempt, and why she'd already started backpedaling away from King rather than facing her head on. 'Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee' seems to be the philosophy at work here.
Though... it might be nice to just -finish- this, Sakura is realizing. And she has been holding back a bit. Sakura's already curling her hands back, the telltale electrical crackle signalling the start of her most powerful fireball attack. "Shinkuu--"
And then King kicks a pipe towards her, a lance rocketing straight for her knees.
This will simply not do.
Sakura makes a snap judgement, deciding to proceed as planned -- thrusting her hands forward and unleashing the dreaded Vacuum Surge Fist at her opponent. "HADOOOOUKEN!" The pipe, being rather light, is drawn sharply up into the spinning blue vortex, but when it meets the wavefront there, it's forcibly churned aside, clattering as it hits the floor a good distance away. But yet the crackling, coruscating Hadouken plows onward toward King...
COMBATSYS: King endures Sakura's Shinkuu Hadouken!
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King 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Sakura
There's very little that she could really do at this point. All she wants to do is go see a doctor, since she can't hear ANYTHING. She's praying it's not going to require surgery to repair... Plus the blood loss from her back is starting to make her feel a little woozy. Right after the kick to the pipe, she tries to close that eight feet of distance and is reqarded with a rather massive blast of Chi to the face. Five feet forward, one foot back... and with a resolve and determination she's not exactly used to showing, she charges forward, her senses all starting to fade. Hearing's gone, smell is right out due to the blood running from her nose, her eyes are losing their sight, and feeling is lessened due to overwhelming pain. Taste is pretty much just copper anyway. With the last of what she's running on, she closes the distance, and proceeds to backflip.
Repeatedly.
Driving her feet towards Sakura's chin over and over and over again, King's final onslaught ends with a leaping kick intended to drive the Ansatsuken student into the air, and then back down to the ground with a spinning axe kick as a finisher.
And no matter the outcome, King then plummets to the ground, unable to continue in her state. Check please.
COMBATSYS: King can no longer fight.
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Sakura 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: King successfully hits Sakura with Silent Flash.
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Sakura 0/-------/--=====|
COMBATSYS: Sakura takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Sakura can no longer fight.
Well... as shaky as Sakura is, the chances of Sakura escaping are pretty slim. She =could= throw herself into a grounded tumble, but she'd probably not get back up. And she =could= throw her arms up to attempt a block, but that'd pretty much seal her fate too. So she picks the path of least resistance -- a backwards leap to carry her out of range.
She'd forgotten that King had kicked her pretty darn hard in the knee and hip earlier, though. As she leaps back, she limps slightly -- juuust enough for the backflip's kick to crack into her chin. King's forward momentum is enough to keep Sakura in range even as the girl staggers backward from each blow.
And she's also set up perfectly for the aerial kick, which sends her flying back against the rather large sheet metal press. It's built Ford tough, so a little schoolgirl crashing against it won't damage it... but boy, does it hurt =Sakura=. Her arms and legs flail out to either side, as she then slumps to the ground, landing on her hands and knees, and spitting up blood. She's conscious... but there's simply no energy left to bring herself back to her feet. And the energy that allowed her to remain upright seeps away as well, leaving her to flop unceremoniously to her left, shortly afterward. "Aaaaah... " she groans, "...tsukaretaaaa..."
... is she falling asleep? Not yet, as she's still got her eyes barely cracked open, but it's definitely not far off.
Medical personnel swoop in to take the two fighters off to the hospital. Meanwhile, the Masters camera crews wrap up their involvement, packing things up and reporting back to the home office the results... A draw.
Log created by King, and last modified on 02:47:57 03/06/2006.