Description: SNAPSHOT: A shot from behind of Sean's head snapping back as he gets hit in the face with one of his teammate's Hadoukens, with Sakura looking somewhat guilty in the background. (Winners: Seishirou and Yuri)
Scattered showers, but nothing too rough in the area.
Wouldn't do for the game to be called on the account of weather, right?
For the most part, the playground has been emptied out of youngsters, who might otherwise by used as random weapons or thrown objects (this is SNF, you know they would, and Geese would pay good money to see it. Sadly, the key grip and teamsters supervising the boom camera work never got that memo.) Spectators are gathered all around at the cordoned off segments of the area, all with their various signs and signed underpants, etc.
It's kind of a windy day, and some of the schoolyard equipment is awful creaky. Course, there is that one dumb kid set off near one of the fighter's entries into the arena. He got in underneath one of the nearby warning tapes, and is now in the process of poking at what clearly is a violent-looking ninja symbol on the ground.
The next to enter the cordoned off area? Well, who would that be? That would be none other than the Ansetsuken maiden, the heir to Ryu's arts... SAKURA KA... waitaminit. When did Sakura's hair get so long! Did she always have it in a braid?! And that's with the dark Converse sneakers and not...
Oho. It is a Sakazaki pretender! One that is coming in to the fight to express the true mastery of Sakura's chosen art. Or at least, to attempt to drive one opponent nuts with her copy-cattedness. Watch out, folks! Yuri's on the warpath! Dressed in an imitation of Sakura's time-honored (and well worn) school outfit, Yuri enters and rushes over to the kid. To move him away from the symbol? Heck no! To admire it with him! "Might want to back up just a little. I've heard these things can explode with like, the force of a thousand suns!" And with that warning, she picks up a piece of woodchip, and ... tosses it onto the symbol!
Random weapons? Thrown objects? Can kids be used like that these days? In the case of Sean Matsuda, no... No that is not the case at all, they are much better used for extortion and out-witting. While there's one dumb kid poking at a ninja symbol, there's another who's well -behind- the tape, making a deal with a brazillian boy in a yellow gi rather than the 'businessman' attire many have grown accustom to seing him in. The deal? "I'll trade you two Orange Containment Balls, and one Vegeta - Fueled by hate for your Vegeta - Unrelenting Super Saiyajin."
The kid takes a good long look, and replies, "What are you, stupid?" :o
"... Ok ok, I'll throw in one Black Overpowering Mastery."
"Nuh uh!"
".. You're killing me kid, come on, give me the card!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!"
Sean lurches back, plugging a finger within his ear, and grits his teeth in annoyance.. There's a long pause, and then he takes in a deep breath, "Ye-"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" the young one shrieks, with the force to knock Sean flat on his back.
It'd be even easier for Yuri to pass as Sakura, considering the Ansatsuken loudmouth is wearing a different uniform today! That is to say, she can be spotted in the crowd, behind the taped off area, walking about in a salmon-colored gi with the sleeves ripped off. She isn't about to be confused for anyone, considering she's much too scrawny to be mistaken for any of the other Shotoclones in anything *but* garb, but just the same...
... She finds Sean harassing one of the kids. "Aw man, knock it off..." she mumbles, mostly to herself. And when that kid starts shouting, she likewise has fingers in =her= ears.
When the kid shouts again, though, Sakura's at her limit! "SEAN!" One snapkick to the shoulderblades later, Sakura looks a =little= ticked off, fists thrown out to either side and her headband whipping about in the wind. "C'mon, quit bothering that kid! Geez..." If you want it so bad, I'll buy it for ya and you can pay me back!"
Anger fades a bit, in front of her friends, but she leans toward the kid, smiling as she flashes him a thumbs-up. "Just name your price, okay? If it ain't too ridiculous, I mean, we'll get with ya after the fight!"
On that note, she looks up and over to the swingset, musing aloud, "Where'd our opponents get off to-- Ack, it's =her=..." Can't you just feel the love, with the venom dripping off her tone?
Another moment, though, to assess what Yuri's up to, and what she could be about to unleash, has Sakura's eyes widening.
"HIT THE DECK!" she hollers, diving to the ground with her hands over her head. Sakura's fought Seishirou =one= too many times -- and she's just a bit paranoid!
As SakuYuri's specialty ninja-trap triggering wood chip flies towards the chi array, no less than six of the spoke-shaped radicals leading into the seal begin to crackle ominously with released energy. As Yuri and stupid kid may soon be aware, something loud is about to happen.
paf.
A plume of smoke and flying engineered playground dirt kicks up from the array.
"HIT THE DECK!" Sakura hollers, in the background.
"... hmph," Seishirou scoffs.
As the smoke clears, the ninja can be seen, holding Yuri's woodchip in a tightened fist. He's standing in the middle of the triggered array, which looks much less intimidating without the spokes around it. "You probably shouldn't do that in the future," he warns his teammate discreetly, before turning and looking towards Fallout Girl, on the ground. And the Card Shark/Drug Dealer, over there. "...Kasugano," he elects. "Always a pleasure."
He smirks.
Tossing the stupid kid something from his other hand that looks vaguely like a contained gyroscope, apparently to send him on his way, the ninja subsequently steps out of the triggered array and towards the others, little closer to the swingset. Pause. He looks back at Yuri.
Brief confusion.
"There weekend school I'm not aware of?" Frown.
Whoa.
That's a Keanu-style 'whoa' right there. Yuri doesn't think she'd ever seen anything like that before, and ... it's pretty darn impressive. She ponders briefly trying to learn how to do it, herself - then discards the idea. Better to just work on her own st... wait, to work on _Sakura's_ own style. As the new person turns on her, to ask about her clothes, she catches sight of Sean and Sakura in the crowd. She's a little dissapointed that Sakura isn't wearing her school outfit, but well.. it _isn't_ a school day. Suddenly, the joke falls pretty flat, and Yuri's shoulders just slump in defeat. "Nah, nah.. Nothing like that. I just.. was trying to dress up to honor a good fighter. That's it. Just like how Sakura's dressed up as Dan Hibiki, in his gi." She nods sagely, and then just starts to stretch out. Time to get ready, yup yup.
Sean is clearly going to do what it takes to get that card. Yes indeed. Even if he has to completely ignore Sakura to do it! However he soon pays the price, when his hands clench into fists, he's whalloped by the schoolgirls kick, knocking him onto his side, "OW GEEZ! Freakin'.." He stands up again, rubbing his shoulder with a frown.
This of course gets an obnoxious laugh in return from the young collector, that is until he then goes sparkle-eyed to Sakura and nods his head quickly, "Yes ma'am!" and once she's out of earshot, sticks out his tongue, "I'm trading my card with -Sakura Kasugano-. ... Loser."
"....................." There are no words from Sean. His expression dark, he points to his eyes as he walks backward, and then points to the kid. This isn't over, it's far from over.
It's Sakuras disdain that brings his attention over to Yuri, a somewhat familiar face that brings a bit of a dumb grin on his face, ".. Oh yeah, I had a match with her before. She looks way cuter than last time though."
Sakura's dive for cover goes unnoticed in favor of Seishirou's abrupt entrance, causing him to jump slightly in suprise, then frown deeply. It'd figure this clown knows Kasugano, he crossing his arms and shoots the ninja a dirty glare in retaliation. Damn ninjas.
"... Hmmmmm?" notes Sakura, cracking one eye open to see what's been released from the super cool ninja seal. And, verifying that it's just Seishirou himself, Sakura slumps her face back into her arms, making a big production out of groaning in dismay.
"... hey..." she finally responds, picking herself out of the heap she's made for herself, dusting the playground sand off her gi, and glancing over to Yuri.
Twitch-twitch goes her eyebrow.
The problem here is that most of Sakura's insults would focus on how her choice of wardrobe today is better than Yuri's choice of wardrobe. Or on how Dan's wardrobe sucks, but then she'd insult Sean too. But since Yuri is dressed =like Sakura=... well, you can probably imagine the gears turning.
"... Nah, Hibiki can just predict the future, whereas you're just a step behind him! You just watch, you'll be wearing this once I win all the =other= world championships!" She flexes her bicep here, stepping forward into the center of the playground. "Geez, Sakazaki. Always laggin' behind!"
Smirking, she turns back to Sean. "Hey, don't let that guy bother you. If you lose him, just remember our lessons 'bout chi!" The trading card kid... well, he'd get another smile and a thumbs-up from Sakura while she's talking.
That is, before she turns back to Seishirou. "Hey, Sei. I don't see any stairs for you to push me down here, so you're gonna have to think of somethin' new!"
"..Yeah. She's a good fighter," Ryouhara concedes, flicking the wood chip onto the ground off his thumb. Watching the little kid as he rolls out, at least 15 seconds of Sean's deadly ninja hate is completely lost on him. He sticks his hands in his pockets as he looks back, murmuring to his comrade today, "but we'll see how far that takes her, today. Our job is to beat them."
He twists his neck a little, perhaps to pop out a kink. It has been awhile since he's fought at this level, hasn't it? He's been busy with his own affairs, of course. But he has to stay sharp.
It's at about that point he catches a sip of Sean's glass of cool haterade.
Levelly, Seishirou stares across the way at him. He blinks, once or twice, but ultimately he doesn't actually address Sean directly. Doesn't know him. And the value of a glance is worth a lot more between men. Curious, for a moment, Seishirou's eyes do not stray from Sean when he answers Sakura, getting into his own position in a silent affirmation of readiness. Let's go.
"Hey... Kasugano. You look like meat," he comments.
There has been dissing, there has been dissing in here!
Picking up another woodchip, Yuri balances it in her hand, and then does a little side to side swaying, her arms going in a modified swim motion. See, even if you're saying your _own_ style is out of style, Sakura, she'll try it on. Even that silly dance move, gosh darn it! She flicks the piece of wood in Sean's direction, giving him a grin and a wave.
"Looking forwards to this fight again, Sean! At least it's not anywhere crazy!" Like, y'know.. a zoo. She'll hold back - maybe she can taunt one of the others into acting first. Maaaaybe.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou has started a fight here.
COMBATSYS: Yuri has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
COMBATSYS: Sakura has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
Sean's gaze doesn't even waver; though he does hear Sakura, and it would seem to him that the two are... Some sort of rivals or.. Friends, or.. Something? He didn't really know, "Yeah, I guess. But I don't like the way he's looking at you." he grumbles,
And much like Seishirou, he addresses Yuri without even breaking the gaze, ".. Yeah. It should be a blast." he grumbles back, arms lowering and dropping into the classic ansatsuken fighting stance. But what is this talk about 'You look like meat?'. Was that some sort of ninja-style come on? Was Sean about to have to kick some ninja ass? Suddeny dropping his stance, he slaps his gloved hands to his temple, rubbing at them frantically. Yeah, he's about to go LEROY JENKINS in a minute!
COMBATSYS: Sean has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Yuri 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
"Y'get used to it," Sakura notes to Sean, scratching a thumbnail across the bridge of her nose. "He doesn't get out much."
Seishirou's comment, though, does get her attention -- even if she, like Sean, can't make heads or tails of what he'd actually *meant*. So if you don't understand it, mock it! "... I'm sure that sounded totally =awesome= in your head, Ryouhara! B-plus for effort!" She flashes the ninja guy a thumbs-up, walking up towards him.
Of course, in addition to the glaring Seishirou, she's also faced with a mockery of herself, doing a mockery of her dance. And to this, Sakura just extends a hand to Yuri, then Seishirou, glancing back to Sean incredulously. And, in typically =loud= fashion, she notes, "... Man, I don't =think= I checked the 'likes to fight total chodes' box on my SNF application. What gives?"
Shaking her head, she turns over to the SNF official who's been standing around shellshocked. "Hey, guy, no need to worry about it now, just start the fight, okay? I got some ownage to pass out here!"
Seishirou's expression is a little amused. Though it has fairly little to do with Sakura and Sean's failure to understand what it was he just said. Abstract? Sure. Why not? He doesn't really like to trade trash talk, to be honest.
It insults the nature of what he's trying to do.
But he'll make an exception, every now and again.
The SNF official almost falls over when Sakura barks at him, but for a newbie, he's pretty good about recovery. "Hey! Ladies and gentlemen! On the BLUE TEAM," he starts, assigning a color pretty arbitrarily, "SEAN MATSUDA and SAKURA KASUGAAANO!"
Somebody in the crowd throws their jock strap over Sakura's head.
"And on the RED TEAM, SEISHIROU RYOUHARA and YURI SAAAAKAZAKI!!"
Somebody in the crowd throws their jock strap over Seishirou's head.
Seishirou does his best to look nonplussed.
"You know the rules.. Ready? FIGHT! :O"
Seishirou tips his head. Looks like he'll be the first to go. "Be careful of her energy attacks," is his warning to Yuri. But by the time it hits her ears, he's already gone. Sakura he already knows about. But this Sean person. He'd going to gain some meaningful intelligence on him first and foremost.
Sheesh, Saku, work on your insults! Yuri's not really feeling the burn - after all, in the end, she's Yuri Sakazaki, and Sakura is Sakura Kasugano, and that's enough of a win over the other girl for any day. Mweh-heh. Yuri nods to the announcer, then gives both her opponents thumbs-up. It's just SNF, not life or death, so hey - why not?
"Wha... Hey!"
As her teammate gives her mysterious words of wisdom, Yuri is caught flat-footed, left behind by the blazing speed that is Seishirou. She'd offer insight on Sean, but she has no chance to, instead racing after to close the distance. But does she run straight at the pair? Oh no, not her - she comes in at an angle. Why? She's heading for the monkey bars, of course! She doesn't really stop at them, instead just leaping forwards, grabbing one back, and then using that as a launching point to swing her feet out towards Sakura's forhead, her skirt flying all up in the air, in a picture-perfect imitation of the Kasugano eye-candy style!
COMBATSYS: Sean fails to interrupt Medium Punch from Seishirou with Sean Tackle.
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Yuri 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Sean's straight face twists up a little; no matter how annoyed he may be, there's just no way he can keep that expression after Sakura's comment. Hand lowering to his mouth, he chokes what almost sounds like a cough, and then the fight is announced to start! "All right, LET'S DO THIS!" he then yells, fist extended toward Seishirou who.. Woah, who makes the first strike! Lucky for him he already had a plan though, as the Brazillian Bomber takes a huge leap up and back.
You know those rocking horse things? You know, the ones that're attatched to springs? Sean lands right on that bad boy, crouches, and uses the momentum spring forward to shoot himself right back at the ninja, his shoulder extended forward in an attempt to just barrel right through the guy! Though it doesn't work out quite as planned, smashing into Sei's elbow not quite exactly the way he'd like to, "Blaaugh!" his eyes buldge slightly as he's knocked off to the side and thuds rather ungracefully onto the woodchips, "... ohman.. *wheeze*"
COMBATSYS: Yuri successfully hits Sakura with Strong Kick.
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Yuri 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
... EWW. Sakura wrinkles her nose in disgust, blanching as she flings the athletic supporter off her head and back into the crowd. "Eww! Just =EWW=, man!" she recoils, pitching so rapidly to the side that she's actually seeing =double=.
Which means that she's still quite a bit disoriented when Yuri closes in, to the point that she ... well, actually has trouble seeing her impersonator basically high-kicking her in the face -- even =without= the disorienting effect of the skirt!
"Gyaaah!" she howls as she's rightfully *stuffed*, reeling backwards and kicking up sand in the process. Her momentum is such that she falls into the seat of a swing, which keeps her from falling down at the risk of her looking =pretty darn silly=.
It does set her back on her feet nicely though, her hand going to her bloody nose. "That kinda =stung!=" notes Sakura.
"Well, let's just see how you handle this!" Slapping the sand off her pants for a moment, she dashes forward -- then tucks into a mighty leap at Yuri! One, two somersaults in mid-air, and then the schoolgirl-turned-Ansatsuken-master-for-a-day snaps out with both hands towards Yuri's shoulders. "Yut-taaah!" One fighting fangirl, chop-chop!
He held up well enough against that attack, but Seishirou's sure he felt it. It wasn't a bad move, the spring horse angle. But it wasn't enough. An agile enough opponent, but Ryouhara will still have to verify just how agile. His hands flip past and into eachother, to the first bands around his wrists. Click.
He'll have to trust that Sakazaki's performing against Sakura. He isn't sure of her abilities, either. This is a situation where his intelligence-gathering wasn't entirely complete. As was stated: he was occupied.
Ryouhara splits both his arms wide as he breaks forward momentum into an abbreviated flip onto a nearby hand merry-go-round, the ones often situated near the spring animals. Catching one of the bars in his hand to swing and perch atop one of the sets, the ninja pulls a piece of wire around one, then sweeps his right arm wide.
Sean might at that point notice a glint settling around him in what Sakura would identify as very familiar loops. Very thin invisible wire. While Seishirou draws a set of kunai from his unzipped satchel with his free hand, intent is clear. His plan as it develops.. is to get Sean enwrapped in wires. And then kick off the round hard. Sending it spinning. The wire tied around one of the bars will, in fact, wind around the device rather quickly, creating a giant winch.
That same wire happens to be the one currently encircling Sean.
If an opportunity comes to escape the ensnaring, it might be a handy idea to take it.
COMBATSYS: Yuri blocks Sakura's Sakura Otoshi.
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Yuri 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
Recovering her feet, Yuri's looking pretty pleased, right up until she's suddenly presented with a leaping, grabbing Sakura Kasugano! She is pretty impressed with the move - after all, she has one remarkably similar, and it's quite cool, in her own mind! However, it shall be... denied! Sakura's hands are batted at as Yuri falls backwards with the leap forwards, eeling underneath Sakura with a cry of "Not today, little Miss Grabby!"
The slight knock on her head as she bounces it off the woodchips and one of Kasugano's knees, well - it'll go away soon enough. She tucks herself up into a roll to get away from Sakura, and the second she's back to her feet, she's winding up and tossing an arm out towards Sean. Admittedly, this wouldn't mean much, except for the fact that her hand currently contains a reddish-gold ball of energy, whipping out towards Sean nice and fast!
COMBATSYS: Yuri successfully hits Sean with Ko'ou Ken.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Yuri 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Sean slows Leafwalking from Seishirou with Basketball.
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Yuri 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
Hold on to your asses, ass-holders, because this one is going to be a DOOZY! Sean is well aware that he can't keep too much of his attention off of Yuri, even if Sakura does managed to keep her busy for a while, but the bottom line is, Sean is determined to check and then wreck the ninja.. And really, he isn't exactly sure what it is that Seishirou is up too until, one might think, it was much too late.
"... What the-" Seans eyes draw sideward, then widen as he sees the energy from Yuri bursting his way and cringes slightly.. This was not going to bode well. That is unless... "HRAAAAAH!!" he may not be able to channel his chi as well as the other two, but getting ensnared by the wire, he manages to cause a large enough upwind to send the woodchips bursting upward, that momentum actually helped by the impact of the Kou-ken slamming into him. FROOMPH! there goes a cloud of dirt guysering upward as well, the impact sending Sean back yet again and tumbling along the ground with swirls in his eyes and a dazed grin on his face. But.. But wait.. Wasn't Sean wrapped up in those wires??
Well if one would look to the ensnared object, they would find instead of a boy getting giant swung by the amusement spinner, it is in fact a basketball swinging around in his stead! Who's the ninja now??
Oof. Sakura bounces off Yuri, taking a good sharp crack to her knees in the process. Not =quite= what she intended! But now she sees that both her opponents have decided to make Sean their intended target... and that there's just =lame!= "H-hey now, Sean's cool an' all, but take turns!" To wit, Sakura had found herself alone on the wrong end of the playground! What's up with that?!
Then again, there's this giant spinning *wheel* in the middle. Sakura smirks, breaking into a dash for the merry-go-round. Leaping forward, she grabs onto a bar, holding on for the ride as she's *flung* around from the momentum, swinging her legs front and foremost so she can sideways trapeze-kick Seishirou right in the jugular! .... Not that she can really =aim= at that velocity, but with the thing spinning like crazy, she's bound to get close, right? "Hyaaaaaah!"
COMBATSYS: Seishirou counters Light Kick from Sakura with Calculated Tactics.
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Yuri 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Sakura
Well, all was going according to plan. Until some serious energy went whizzing past the seat of his pants and on to ruin Sean in a very fundamental fashion. This somehow results in Sean .. kawarimi'ing with a basketball. Seisihrou isn't sure what to make of that. But he isn't sure he likes it.
He'll decide later.
Ryouhara gives a quick glance to the side as he lands in the chips. If that came from Sakazaki, then that means Kasugano proved to be too formidable. Which means--
Seishirou at this moment notices the girl having fun on his merry-go-round and building up a .. terrible sum of momentum that he has calculated will be aimed at him, shortly. Well, despite the problems he's encountered thus far, he'll move onwards. One handseal is all that will be necessary.
There's a massive explosion on the merry-go round as a bright red Ryouhara clan symbol explodes on it in a fiery blast. It's situated on the side of the bar Seishirou used to mount the 'round in the first place. However, it's opposite of the side Seishirou used to kick backwards off of it. The first result is, the merry-go-round suddenly is very quickly impelled in the /opposite/ direction. Second result. One might notice that the fire from the seal Seishirou used.. has caused a fire to creep up onto the wire he just used to catch a basketball. With no more bracing momentum to cause a winding effect in the opposite direction, the ball is merely swung, as opposed to wound. As the go-round suddenly and violently reverses direction, it becomes kind of like a spinning fiery NBA leashed death top.
The ball is, quite literally, on fire.
Further attempt to do anything to Seishirou's jugular may be penalized by meteor.
When did this place become a war zone?!
There are explosions and /flames/ and they LEYVEN.. HOOI. Er, wait. There's just things going 'foom' all around, that tend to attempt distracting the youngest Sakazaki. She's not quite where she needs to be, in the right headspace to have this fight. But even if she isn't, well, she's gonna do her best, and team up with her cohort in an attempt to work things out.
Sakura's cry is not in vain - 'take turns!' is something that the Kyokugen girl can do, and will gladly do. With Sean suddenly half-vanished, Yuri turns back towards the spiraling, spinning merry-go-round. She attempts to reach in, and grab Sakura by a hand, shoulder, lapel, something. If she can, she's going to ratchet the other girl over her shoulder and use the merry go round's momentum against her!
Sean is up.. He's up!! A little disoriented, but he's back in action and ready to fight! "... Oof.." he doesn't have much time to just dilly-dally, he takes note of the situation and can really only come up with one conclusion; Sakura's in trouble! That's right this was a team match, it'd probably be a good idea at this point to just stick by Sakura's side and work up from there, "Ok!"
Sean slaps his cheeks and makes his way over toward said teamate.. He may not be about to intercept Yuri in time, but he just might be able to make her think twice about pressing the attack! Once he's close enough, he attempts to get behind Yuri and lock her into a sleeper hold. Should he get that hold, he then leaps and twists to the side, following up the maneuver with a simple takedown slam, which he'd give the neck one more squeeze before rolling away into a crouch.
Well, Sakura can't quite follow along with everything Seishirou is doing at the moment. All she gets is the cliff's notes version -- instead of kicking Seishirou, she gets a Hurl-o-Rama for the appetizer, tangling her legs up in the merry-go-round's 'safety' bars. Then the first entree of basquetballe flambé to the face is served, knocking her into the center of the merry-go-round. With her hair still on fire, Sakura's able to snag the basketball, palming it and swinging it around to absorb the impact from Yuri's grabby hands. "Hot potato!" she hollers, becoming quite= dizzy in the process.
Well, that didn't work as smoothly as Sakura had intended. Kids, the moral of this story is: don't trust anything Seishirou's touched recently.
And that's about where Sean joins in, giving Sakura a chance to catch her breath. With a brief nod to Sean, she leaps off the spinning wheel, leaping over his head in another somersault, and lands in a crouch on the other side of the boy.
With her hand over her mouth. This won't be the =first= time she's almost vomited in a fight, but hopefully it'll be the last.
And her new positioning places her and Sean in the center, with Seishirou and Yuri on either side. With the Ansatsuken pair surrounded, could this be their Last stand? With how this fight's shaping up, it very well could be! But Sakura's going to try her hardest to make sure Seishirou won't be getting the drop on =either= of them, coughing lightly as she rises back to her feet, and taking =just= a moment to catch her breath after this wild series of attacks. Damn ninjas (x2).
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Yuri's Tsubame Otoshi.
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Yuri 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Sakura gains composure.
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Yuri 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Sakura
They'l be shortly surrounded. As the merry-go-round winds down, Seishirou settles himself. He could get into a position for a superior attack as Sakura makes her landing, but for some reason, he doesn't feel it necessary to. Or maybe--he can't.
Right now, Sakura is as wary as she possibly can be. Dizziness won't decide that factor.
Time, however, will.
Ryouhara breaks from his fighting pose briefly. Hands plant squarely on knees, fortifying his position and his frame just enough for him to take one controlled breath outward. His eyes narrow.
The ninja does nothing else. He just watches.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou focuses on his next action.
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Yuri 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Yuri fails to interrupt Medium Throw from Sean with Yuri Chou Upper.
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Yuri 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Sakura
"Wuh-WHOA!"
Yuri saw Sean coming! Really she did! Unfortuatnely, seeing Sean coming and being able to stop him from wrapping her up in a sleeper hold are two different things! Yuri moves as soon as he steps in and goes for his grab - but fails when she tries to whip an uppercut around. The sad truth? An uppercut puts you in the perfect position to get latched up in a sleeper hold, and Yuri's suddenly found herself wrapped up, pretty as a picture! Augh! This is not the way things are supposed to go!
Locked on! Not bad at all! So now Sean knows that he can get Yuri onto the ground, but it's probably going to be a lot trickier in the ninjas case. Once the hold is released, Sean grins and brushes off his shoulders, "Pretty slick move, wasn't it? But recess is just beginning!" a quick glance is given to Sakura, whom he gives a slight nod, and then attacks again, this time leaning in to smack Yuri in the gut ideally making her double over. Should that connect, he suddenly drops down and sweeps a kick out heel-first to knock Yuri right off her feet, kicking up plenty of woodchippness in the process!
Sakura was wary enough =before= the match. This ain't helping: she hasn't been able to follow through on the execution of most of her strategies thus far.
But if there's one thing the loudmouthed teenager can do, it's be as blooming =annoying as possible=.
Which is why, when Seishirou drops into position, pausing to stand there, Sakura does something that might look pretty darn stupid.
Well, first, she's got a stupid grin on. But even more stupid than that.
She just... starts walking towards Seishirou. No, not running, not jogging, not even a brisk pace -- she's just taking slow, measured steps.
"You're gonna have to hit me sooner or later, Sei." She smiles pretty sweetly, even if she does, in Seishirou's words, 'look like meat.'
But from the way the wind's picking up around her, sending her billowy gi and the woodchips around her into motion, and the way a faint blue aura clings to her form... well, the schoolgirl might just have a plan.
Hopefully, that plan comprises more than 'meatshield for Sean' as it may seem thus far.
COMBATSYS: Sakura gathers her will.
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Yuri 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1 Sakura
.. That's almost intimidating.
Seishirou's eyebrows shoot up as Sakura begins to advance on him with what is obviously mischievious intent. He can trace the lines of her chi, and feel the power welling up in her. This isn't something Seishirou's going to half-step. Yuri seems to have failed.
He'll have to make use of some of this intelligence. And gather further information.
"Hey, Sean..."
Conversational, the ninja is. His voice hits just far enough to be clear. Just far enough to carry.
"You know. Me and Meat-chan here. We talk a lot. And... I think she likes you. It's a shame."
Seishirou leaps away. Far. And fast. All the way back as far as the slide, spinning through the air. Those kunai? Tucked into his belt, for an easier draw. He'll only need one for this. Only one second. A gamble? On his distraction? Hardly. Seishirou is a downright deadly shot. He gets one look at Sakura, and the force with which he throws the kunai at her from that vast distance is enough to send him spinning a second time. The kunai *whistles* and *hisses* as it flies through the air. It's a grey streak that will land right between Sakura's shoulder's, if rRyouhara's aim is right.
It'll land, then explode.
Seishirou will land on the very top of the slide in a crouch. Hard.
Schoolyard tactics indeed.
COMBATSYS: Sean successfully hits Yuri with Medium Punch.
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Yuri 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1 Sakura
Gutpunch! Okay, this is no longer fun. At all. Yuri isn't able to deal with Sean in-close, they've discovered this before. In the last fight, whenever he got near her, she kept taking pretty heavy hits. She tries to scramble out of the way, but finds herself rocked by the impacts of his fists, and finds that the taste of 'ground' is not very good at all. Not good.. at all.
Rolling back and out of the way, she tries to get her bearings. And suddenly realizes that she's ... all alone. Where _did_ her partner go? This bodes very poorly for the young Kyokugen student, and she just tries to keep from being caught in the middle of the two. As she does, that familiar flare of chi starts to build around her as well, bringing her own power to play - something for Sean to watch out for, that's for sure!
COMBATSYS: Yuri gains composure.
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Yuri 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1 Sakura
A grounded opponent = a good oponent in Seans book! But.. We have already discussed this fact before. Hopping lightly on his feet after his quick compination, Sean looks about ready to apply even more punishment. Does he feel bad? Well, maybe a little bit, but being wishy-washy about things isn't going to help him so long as his partners about!
But then he just freezes, back to Seishirou, but it should be obvious from his occassional twitching that he heard the ninja, "....."
His response is an abrupt turn around and he goes storming then at Sei like a man posessed, zipping right past Sakura and clomps his way up the slide three steps and then a jump, can you see that gleam in his eye? The gleam of anger?? It could be that he's going for a drop-kick, but that's proven wrong when one foot hits the very top of the side, the other attempts to plant on Sei's belly while grabbing at the collar area, "OH -HELL- NO!" he finally outbursts; and assuming things go his way, he drops backward, dragging the ninja along with him and they both go tumbling down the slide, wheeeee! But astoundingly precise calculations would stop Sean right at the very bottom, feet kicking outward to launch Sei right toward something solid. Hopefully a jungle gym!
COMBATSYS: Sakura slows Kunai Critical EX from Seishirou with Medium Hadouken EX.
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Yuri 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura has often been called a bully back in the halls of Taiyo, but it's rare that she ever actually walks the walk. Now's a perfect opportunity, though, as the schoolgirl cracks her knuckles just for effect!
...Okay, maybe it's *not* that intimidating, but what remains is the fact that Sakura's still 'on fire' with her bright blue aura in full force.
Meat-chan. What a name. But Sakura's fought Sei enough to know to keep him in focus, to track his every movement -- and =ignore= the bluff and bluster. And his attempts to derail Sakura by mentioning that she might like him are fruitless.
In this case, the truth doesn't hurt.
The kunai could, though, which is why Sakura moves in concert with Seishirou's strategic replacement, her hands sweeping from that knuckle-crack to her side, and then ramming forward sharply towards that slide, loosing her accumulated energy in the general vector of withdrawal -- the slide. It's a reasonable guess for where the ninja would be.
And in her mind, it made =perfect= sense for the utter force of the Hadouken to sweep the knife right aside, like a cork in the ocean.
But the knife is special, and Seishirou's a deadly shot. Accordingly, the Hadouken makes a nice little hole for the knife to go through, slowing it down a little. But it still nails her right where he'd planned. Sakura's body silently floats backward for a full second before the sound wave finally reaches a human ear. It's that damn quiet.
And Sakura, at least for the moment, finds herself unable to get back to her feet, a kunai sticking right out of her.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou dodges Sean's Tomoe Nage.
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Yuri 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Sakura
... That seems to have gotten a notable reaction.
Ryouhara is dimly aware of his kunai piercing the hadouken. The blast was too large and Sean too immediate for him to get much more of a read than that. But it's something he suspected would happen. The wedge shape of the kunai forms a perfect splitting mechanism. A kunai thrown with enough precision can split a log in two. You just need to know where to hit. Ballistics training, along with a very harsh taskmaster at school has given Seishirou the benefit of being able to pull off such a shot.
But he can't /afford/ that kind of attention now. HE has to maintain awareness, becuase there is, as he expected, a very upset man about to break his head.
Troubling thing is, Seishirou's not exactly sure why. Not yet.
Ryouhara rotates.
He slides just out of the way of the grab--Sean was literally centimeters from touching him. Then, his arm goes up to block any sidewards attack from the outstretched leg. This is a very tight area. And Seishirou's options are extremely limited as to what he can do. Therefore a reverse axe kick is best.
"A shame..." Seishirou repeats.
As he kicks straight up, on an angle neatly crossing with Sean's head.
Okay, okay. Even _more_ explosions. Yuri gets it, yup. It's crazy-time here, population four. Yuri, Seishirou, Sakura, and Sean. The Kyokugen girl is amazingly untouched for all the crazy going on around her - she's pretty used to getting thumped with the 'bad things happen' stick, and she's been very lucky that her partner is a lot more of a threat than she is.
Waitaminit. She's a threat too, darnit! She's useful in a fight! And she's gonna show.. er.. someone that she means business! Between the two of them, though - there's only one choice. Sean's still standing, Sakura's not. If the other girl is out cold, well... it's time to focus on the banana yellow gi of Sean. Yuri approaches him and Seishirou again quickly, swiping her leading leg out in a shot at his knee, trying to keep him off her partner! .. And hopefully Saku will get back up soon. That looked _hella_ painful...
COMBATSYS: Seishirou successfully hits Sean with Strong Kick.
- Power hit! -
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Yuri 0/-------/--=====|=======\======-\1 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Sean blocks Yuri's Strong Kick.
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Yuri 0/-------/-======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Sakura
Teetering around on a slide wasn't exactly Sean's plan of action today, but at least he does have the balance to keep from falling off the thing currently, "Hrrk, hoboynotgood!" he grunts, twisting around not quite fast enough to even -see- Seishirous kick snapping out at him. POW! Sean lurches backward from the blow, completely star struck. It's by complete and total chance that in the moment of his flailing he redirects Yuris kick, thrusting it away with his palm as he plummets and crunches once again into the somewhat cushiony surface of the woodchips, "OOOF!" curling into a ball he rolls backward once and plants firmly onto his feet in a crouch, both hands pulled back, "... Ok ok, I'm still good, I'm still good," he hisses to himself, wincing in serious pain, but dawdling isn't going to win the match! Woodchips fly upward again, an unseen gust making his gi billow as well as an orange orb of chi forms within the arch of his palms.
'Just remember our lessons 'bout chi!' Sakura said.
Well now seems a better time than ever to let the good times roll, and he thrusts his palms outward, the orb decorated with a white aura about it as it races toward the two fighters, "HyAaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!"
Well. That's not quite what Sakura meant with her little reminder to Sean. It's =relevant=, sure, but she'd been expecting vastly different tactics from Ryouhara.
Which is probably how she ended up flat on her back with a knife sticking out of her chest. Minor inconvenience, that.
Not an inconvenience Sakura's going to let keep her down though! Kipping back to her feet, Kasugano decides the knife's just fine where it is. She doesn't wanna deal with blood gushing out any more than it already is afterway. And... seeing that her opponents are basically double-teaming Sean, and he's already getting waaaaaaay beaten up... well.
"Sorry, I gotta strike while the iron's hot..." Gulping, she couples her hands by her right side, taking two long strides forward while a prodigious amount of bright blue chi swirls into existence. Closing her eyes for a moment, she draws in a deep breath. Sean will forgive her if they win, right?
Stepping forward once more, she shouts with a loud cry, with hopes of engulfing the entire slide with one ginormous blossom of energy. Conveniently enough, it just happens to be named: "HADOOOOOOOUKEN!"
COMBATSYS: Sean successfully hits Seishirou with Hadou Burst.
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Yuri 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Seishirou dodges Sakura's Medium Hadouken.
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Yuri 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Sakura
As Yuri and Seishirou very briefly meet on the top of the slide, Seishirou sticks his hands in his pockets absently. Yeah. Sean should be remembering that for a good long time, he figures. Long enough to check on Sakura's position. "Keep the pressure up," he snaps towards Yuri, a clipped thing. Not exactly an order, but a suggestion not quite yelled.
"--"
Seishirou stops short of jumping off the slide. He's spotted Sakura. She looks determined. And she's got hadou. Historically, Seishirou hasn't liked it when she's gotten that look on her face. ... And there's a lot of wood chips floating in the air behind him. "...."
"Also, run," Ryouhara helpfully suggests.
This is about when his lofty perch is just about ruint from both sides with a double hadou crossing megablast. Seishirou, to his own merit, manages to avoid being completely destroyed, bracing a foot off the back steps and at least trying to put distance between himself a ground zero. But.... not quite fast enough. While the ensuing lightshow will probably obscure who hit what or broke who, it is clear Seishirou felt some of that, from the way he goes spinning through the air and colliding roughly with the ground near the perimeter behind the swing about near his initial entry point to the arena.
More telling is the smouldering his clothes are doing.
Groaning, also a key detail.
He's going to need some time to recover.
On the plus side, at least he wasn't the slide.
That's gonna need a much longer time to recover.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou gains composure.
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Yuri 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Yuri with Medium Hadouken.
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Yuri 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Yuri fails to reflect Hadou Burst from Sean with Saiha.
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Yuri 1/--=====/=======|=======\-------\1 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1 Sakura
'Run.'
Yuri will eventually learn to listen to people. However, this was not the time to do so. This is a time to strike while the iron is hot - the play of energy back and forth is quite possibly one of the things she's best at. After all, she's been known to stop people from smacking her quite often when they pull energy out and throw it towards her. However - she's never had to deal with it coming at her from both sides at once. And in this case, well - that's just a little bit more than she's prepared for.
As Seishirou gets out of the way, Yuri's left, bracing and preparing for the incoming blasts of energy - and sadly, she's not nearly ready enough for them. Both blasts slam into the weak chi shield she throws up around her, battering her from both sides but leaving her standing - solely from the fact that they hit from exact opposite directions. She's barely concious, her body tingling from the massive amount of chi she's just felt first-hand.
Wobble.
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Sean with Medium Hadouken.
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Yuri 1/--=====/=======|=======\====---\1 Sean
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Seishirou 0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1 Sakura
Hmmn.. If Sean didn't say so himself, that was indeed a two for one deal! That.. That is pretty freakin' sweet! In fact, it brings a smile, a BIG smile on Seans face as he crosses his arms, "Ha.. HA HA HA HAAA! And on that day, Sean Matsuda mastered the art of ch-" ....... Errr.. Wuh oh. Now, he was well aware his partner was singing the Fireball song, but he -didn't- expect himself to be caught in the line of fire, "..... OHDAMN!" Jump, Matsuda, JUMP! and leap he does, but a little too soon, as his drop is early. The boy's just sent reeling by the blast, somehow twisting around to land on one foot, and stumbles onto the local see-saw, hands crossed in a 'time out' gesture "Wh.. Wha... I'M ON YOUR SIDE!!" he yells to the taiyo schoolgirl, "What-- Hmmm."
Ok, Sean gets over that quite quickly actually, for he has AN IDEA. He hand-springs up into the air, and whips his basketball at the see-saw just a split second before he lands on the opposite side. This LAUNCHES the sperical ball of terror! ... Right into his face. *BAP*
His arms windmill and he falls over yet again. Alas, Sean.. But the GOOD NEWS is, the ricochette only made the ball move even faster, and it is spiraling, SPIRALING toward one of his two opponents with a vengeance! But toward whom?? WHOOOOOOOOOM?
Seishirou.
COMBATSYS: Sean can no longer fight.
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Yuri 1/--=====/=======|=======\====---\1 Sakura
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Seishirou 0/-------/----===|
Some people may ask, 'But Sean!! Where did that Basketball come from???'. Well, if you weren't paying attention, you missed your chance. :|
... Well.
... It looks like she =might= already be forgiven.
... That's what she keeps telling herself anyway. "Could dodged it, maybe..." she mumbles to herself as Sean gets caught up in the crossfire. At least, she rationalizes, Yuri and Seishirou both got nailed.
"I told you guys to take turns, but you just didn't listen!" she chastizes, making a motion to roll up her sleeves at that. She winces upon realizing this outfit doesn't really =have= sleeves. OH RIGHT, THAT. Thanks, Mike Bison! ... She also winces when Sean beans himself in the face with the basketball, but at least that's doing something.
Even still. Seishirou's gone over on the other side of the swingset. There's a brilliant opportunity in the making here, and Sakura's juuuust starting to see the tactical possibilities here.
Leaving Sean and Yuri behind like the self-centered upper-middle-class girl she really is, she calls out, "BRB, you two!" Yes, she actually said bee-arr-bee. But that's because she's in a hurry, running over to the swingset. And with a little hop, she slams her bare foot right down onto the swing seat -- "TEYAAAA!" sending it flying =right= off its chain and in the direction of Seishirou's jugular. Don't think it'll be able to flee forever!
COMBATSYS: Seishirou blocks Sean's Basketball.
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Yuri 1/--=====/=======|=======\====---\1 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seishirou 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Seishirou dodges Sakura's Thrown Object.
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Yuri 1/--=====/=======|=======\====---\1 Sakura
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Seishirou 0/-------/----===|
Seishirou manages to get to his feet, recovering from the slide crash and his brief nap resulting from it with only a minimal set of injuries. It starts merely with his aforementioned feet, bracing on his knees and breathing in a slow, deliberate fashion, a small cut on his cheek bleeding freely. He's dimly aware of something--happening--to Yuri. Something bad, but he only spares a glance to his wobbly comrade after he's appraised of the individual locations of his opponents. He spits out a wood chip.
"Hey... you alright? Don't give--"
That's about when he finds his jugular in more mortal peril.
"!"
Seishirou doesn't have a lot of time for any cool ninja flips--you just don't do that when someone kicks a spinning piece of well-oiled leather at you, seasoned with the behind of many a five-year-old's behind--so instead he bridges back and to the side to a painful degree, reaching out with one hand and--snatching--the seat out of the air as he does so, letting the seat drop to the ground even as he stops it. He'll stomp on it once before he uses it as a slider, taking a rotating step on it (wood chips don't provide good traction) and then belts it forward to an area somewhere behind Sakura, coming to face her again. He's figured it out. It's time.
He takes out his other kunai.
Sees something in the corner of his eye.
"!!"
In a full shelter block, a basketball bounces off the ninja's shoulder. What the?!
COMBATSYS: Seishirou focuses on his next action.
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Yuri 1/--=====/=======|=======\====---\1 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seishirou 0/-------/----===|
Luckily for all people involved, it looks like Yuri is still here. Well, sort of. Physically, she exists - she has height, width and depth. There is a minute amount of gravitational pull that exists in the specific space-time coordinates that make up 'the place where Yuri is'.
Sadly, for a fair chunk of the few seconds that have passed, there is noone home _mentally_. She's managed to lose a fair amount of her fighting spirit all at once, and she's still dazed, confused and just... oof. She slaps her cheeks a few times to try and refocus, only managing to make her jaw hurt. Stupid Kasugano weighted gloves. Rar! Slapping her feet into the ground, she takes a deep breath, and tries to pull up the energy to continue fighting.
It'll.. uh. Just be a moment or two.
COMBATSYS: Yuri gathers her will.
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Yuri 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\====---\1 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seishirou 0/-------/----===|
"... hey, you gotta gimme points for effort here..." states Sakura... then she sees Ryouhara duck and cover.
And promptly BUSTS OUT LAUGHING, pointing her finger out at Seishirou. "BWAAAA-HA-HA-HA-HA, that was the LAMEST block I think I ever did see, paw!"
But then something catches =her= eye, and it would happen to be Yuri trying to refocus. There's Seishirou looking dangerous in his huddled-up little ball, and there's Yuri.
But more importantly, there's her teammate, freshly Hadoukened, about to be pulled out of the park by the medics.
The operative phrase for the evening is 'strike while the iron is hot,'. Y'know, after 'don't touch anything Seishirou touched.'
To Sakura's knowledge, Yuri hasn't been touched by a ninja yet.
But Sakura's about to fix that, as she darts in close to Yuri, hoping to take advantage of her dazed and confused state. What a pal, huh?
"Hey Yuri, what's this one called?!" she calls out, ducking low as she runs, hoping to slam her shoulder into Yuri's stomach. If she manages that, Sakura would keep running, leap up a bit, and then, if she's *really* lucky, she'd powerbomb her right into the merry-go-round! "HYYYYAAAAA!"
Hnn--frown.
"Nobody dressed that badly has any place saying that here."
Ryouhara isn't normally a very heroic person. He doesn't necessarily see any need to help the wobbly Saku'zaki. But he can recognize exactly what she's up to. And there's also the fact that--as long as Sakazaki is up, that's another target to throw Sakura off her game. Seishirou is not so honorable as to consider that a bad thing.
Besides, he RECOGNIZES that outfit from the unspeakable pink thing of years past.
He hates being reminded.
Clenching the kunai in his teeth by the rayskin, the ninja pulls forward his wires, this time from a second set of rings around his sleeves as he kicks off into the air and away from the two. He darts a hand forward towards Sakura as she begins to dart.
And a familiar set of loops will fall around Sakura.
First Seishirou's hand braces against the wire, then he flips upside down in the air, bracing his foot against the wire, bending his knee. This creates a great deal of tension, which will draw the wire loops shut.
It might only slow Sakura down enough for Yuri to do something meaningful.
That would, in fact, be the plan.
We'll just have to see though, won't we?
COMBATSYS: Yuri interrupts Strong Throw from Sakura with Hien Hou'ou Kyaku.
[ \\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Yuri 0/-------/---====|=======\=======\1 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seishirou 0/-------/----===|
See, Yuri realized something. She realized that this was a fight that she wasn't going to win by being Sakura. There's a lot of Sakura already in the fight. And some Dan. And some Ninja. But there hasn't been near enough Yuri Sakazaki! And this, well.. This my friends, it much change.
Yuri sees Sakura coming in, and instead of backing off like she normally does when the Ansetsuken girl comes racing for her, she steps _into_ the attack. Her feet come up in a leaping attack, and she seemingly defies physics in an attempt to stay up. How does she stay balanced in midair, one might ask? Oh, that's easy! She stays up by KICKING SAKURA INNA FACE a whole lot. Many, many Converse shoeprints for the other girl, yes indeedy doo!
The only bad thing is that Sakura's forward momentum does take the girl back, knocking her against one of the bars of the merry go-round. The CLANG that echoes around is amazingly loud, and Yuri staggers back to her feet, pointin at Sakura. "Nuh... Nuh... Don't... NEED your style to beat you...!"
Please excuse if she does not make sense.
COMBATSYS: Sakura overcomes Leafwalking from Seishirou with Shinkuu Hadouken.
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Yuri 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seishirou 0/-------/----===|
Apparently that wire did a heck of a lot of good, because... well. Sakura wasn't able to slam Yuri down =quite= so fast as she planned on doing!
That, and, y'know, the Hien Hou'ou Kyaku to the face.
But since she's busy being sneakered, and Seishirou =obviously= wants that to continue, Sakura has a few moments before that tension kicks in.
Which is a tense few moments in and of itself.
Kasugano may be headstrong, but she's no fool. She felt the wires tickling across her skin, she knows =something= caused her to keep from tilting forward with Yuri in her grasp.
And as soon as Yuri delivers the final flip kick, Sakura's counting on there being =just= enough slack in that wire to do something. She flips backward, thanks to Yuri's help -- but in midair, she lashes a hand out and =grabs= that wire.
And tugs on that bundle of wires, tugs =very= sharply to her right.
Where, there in her very hands, blossoms a rather distinctive mass of electricity and chi, crackling away. "SHINKUUUUU..." It's such that when Sakura lands, not only does she land on her feet, but she lands with a rather large Hadouken in her hands -- along with the wire bundle now wrapped around her wrist.
She throws her hands forward, loosing the Shinkuu Hadouken along with it. Oh, but not without the distinctive cry: "---GET OVER HERE!!!"
That wasn't it, but considering she also doesn't -normally- have wires in her hands, well. Hopefully it will be enough of a detriment to Seishirou getting out of the way.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou overcomes Shinkuu Hadouken from Sakura with Kunai Critical EX.
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Yuri 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seishirou 0/-------/------=|
Don't be mistaken--Seishirou is swung. And Sakura is probably much stronger, absolutely, than he is.
At this point, he sees the welling of energy. He remembers this--he knows how much those hurt. Remembe,r he's fought Sakura no less than twice before. The ninja has legitimate reason to fear. But. His plan worked. THat alone would justify the damage he takes here.
More importantly, he still has a frame of reference with the ground, which will make the next part of his plan easier. The ninja switches directions in the air, using the grounded girl's stance and pull as a /kind/ of anchor. As a result, the ninja kind of unrolls, like a yo-yo, the spinning he previously did now reversed, and changing his position in the air, giving him some 5 or 6 feet of valuable distance from that chistrosity. At this point, given he was rather close to the perimer of the park to begin with, he is low literally floating over the crowd.
He needs to time this exactly, else the burning ninja fallout will probably take a few bystanders with him.
As prior.. one hand. One eye. One foot is all that's needed. The foot, to stabilize his spinning in the air, to give him gyroscopic force as he begins to spin back up the line. The eye, to measure the death bloom of chi currently careening towards him. To get a fix on its stuctural makeup. One hand, to grace up to his lips and pull the kunai free.
Very explicit aim. Very explicit timing.
He spins and throws the kunai with all his available force. It'll hit the bloom right dead center, the eye of the hurricane. Sakura might--might--be able to tell that the kunai has a bit of spin on it. Corkscrewing. Seishirou can't hope to match Sakura's force of chi. His kunai /cannot/ dissipate it. But chi, like anything else in the world is based on structural principles. If you hit it just right... you can split it into pieces.
Pieces which are now floating past Seishirou harmlessly, as he pulls back into the arena. He's trying to get Sakura off balance and regain his footing at once. As a little now-molten piece of sharp metal careens on through to the girl. Is it actually going to be anything but kunai vapor when it gets there?
Aw yeah. Ninja FTW. Yuri pumps her fist as Seishirou splits the ball of energy in two, cheering her teammate on and hoping quite happily that the blazing-hot kunai will go through and take Sakura down. Yuri's kinda wiped out, and trying to come back from the edge of unconciousness like she has doesn't leave her much space left for tactics. The only tactic she is sure of right now is staying well and far away from Sakura. Wounded animals are quite vicious, that much is certain!
Drawing energy from around her, she winds up and throws another ball of energy at Sakura's feet - trying to trip her up and keeping her in line for the attack from Seishirou. Even if Yuri's mostly down and out, she can aid her partner for the win! That's the hope, at least, one that the Kyokugen girl is desperately praying for!
COMBATSYS: Yuri successfully hits Sakura with Ko'ou Ken.
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Yuri 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seishirou 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Seishirou successfully hits Sakura with Kunai Critical EX.
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Yuri 0/-------/--=====|=======\==-----\1 Sakura
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seishirou 0/-------/------=|
Can Sakura see something corkscrewing? Sakura's having trouble seeing much of =anything= except her hopes and dreams being slowly crushed by the machine called Seishirou. Yeah, she's watching as the knife pierces through her ultimate fireball attack yet again. Doesn't believe it any more =this= time than the last, but hey, the surprises are why she likes fighting so much!
Even if it does take a toll on her body, and she ends up hating it the next morning, it's still =fun=.
Anyway. She's watching a hunk of metal corkscrew towards her, thinking that, y'know, it might be =positively awesome= for her to run into it before it hits. Maybe even uppercut the crap out of Seishirou while she's at it.
And while she has this brilliant strategy formulated, she gets tagged in the feet by a wave of energy from the side, upsetting her timing like whoa.
And also allowing the kunai to slam into her shoulder, knocking her to the ground.
Sakura kinda screams when this happens, because it *kinda* hurts.
From Sakura's perspective, her next action comes down to attacking Seishirou or attacking Yuri. Money's on Yuri actually getting hit, and as completely ineffective as Sakura feels right now, worries about bullying are =not= on her mind.
Which is why she springs to her feet, and delivers a jackhammer of a punch to the Sakazaki copycat. No flash, no smartaleck remarks, just down-home, Ryu-style punching! "HAAA!"
The time for cool, witty and/or heroic sayings has ended.
And the ninja doesn't seem to find a need to start it back up again.
Ryouhara lands in the wood chips just inside the arena, with a deep crunch, on his hands and knees. He was fairly fortunate that worked. If it hadn't, he didn't have anything left to do but eat energy. He breathes. Hard. Despite not being appreciably beaten in any way, Seishirou couldn't say that wasn't a test of his endurance and ... to be honest, flexibility. No amount of fancy wirework is going to help him catch his breath.
Cutting the wires using the hidden blades in his rings by rolling his shoulders in their sockets, Seishirou gets to his feet. This has probably gone on long enough. Playing a cautious game here would just be pointless nonsense. And, in characteristic fashion, he doesn't intend to cut Kasugano a break.
You should see what he does to his apprentice.
He braces a foot forward in the chips, and kicks up a huge plume of them, bearing down on Sakura the instant she reveals her attack. He's not foolish enough to believe she'd leave herself completely open. No. That would be a gross underestimation of the talent he's facing. But if he's fast enough with his whipping needle press kick to her side, it might not matter. He can see it in her breath and her body. She just wasted a lot of energy.
With Sakazaki there, he won't need to expend a lot more effort.
If he can just knock her off-balance...
Might be enough.
COMBATSYS: Yuri fails to interrupt Medium Punch from Sakura with Jab Punch.
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Seishirou 0/-------/------=|=======\==-----\1 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Yuri can no longer fight.
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Seishirou 0/-------/------=|=======\==-----\1 Sakura
See, witty banter is a lost art! The times where people could get along and have great conversations, enjoyable repartee.. No, in the end it all comes down to a 'HAAAA!' and a very, very strong swiping arm that pounds into the barely-standing Sakazaki's feeble attempt to meet the attack. She wobbles, then just collapses without further preamble, without any more than a '... oh.' of surprise. The mighty Kasugano punch has pulled her out of the battle, that much is for sure!
COMBATSYS: Sakura interrupts Medium Kick from Seishirou with Haru Ichiban.
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Seishirou 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Sakura has reached second wind!
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Seishirou 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Sakura
Kasugano doesn't want a break from Seishirou! All she wants is for the ninja to =fall the heck down=. She's... pretty exhausted, and her typical inventory of snappy put-downs and repartee has been depleted.
Pulling back from Yuri, she snaps a quick salute to her rival in move-cribbing. As much as she puts up a fuss, she still enjoys fighting the littlest Sakazaki. And... in a different manner, she still enjoys fighting Seishirou.
It just requires different tactics, such as waiting for him to come close to =her=, since it's increasingly difficult for anyone to get close to =him=.
It's a good thing Sakura's been refining her inborn talent for sensing the ebb and flow of chi. Seishirou may be difficult to =see=, but his chi signature... is pretty distinct. Hence Sakura's earlier, partially-heeded warning to Sean. And once she senses him coming hard from the left, well... she continues exposing her vulnerable side to him in the midst of a rather innocent rotation.
A rotation just happens to speed up as the girl whips around into a reverse spinkick, catching Seishirou at around the same time as he =should= have nailed her. "Iku yo!" she cries in her native tongue, a prideful smirk finally finding its place on the tomboy's face. While his blow resounds off her hip instead, Sakura continues with her attack, elbows gyroscoping as she begins a series of spinning kicks. Normally, she'd be on the ground for this -- but it seems the tides are with her, as she hammers three consecutive blows onto the ninja.
She's pushed back, naturally, from the considerable momentum of Seishirou's attack. But by the time the fourth kick lands, Sakura can get her other foot back on the ground to stand and deliver a crushing roundhouse to Ryouhara's midsection. "HA! HA! HA! HAAAAA!"
If there's one thing Sakura loves more than trash talking, it's the adrenaline rush that comes from nearly =fainting= in such high-tension fights. Leaning forward on her knee, she flicks a thumbs-up back at Seishirou. "Heh... *pant* Wanna try that one again, Sei?"
She's not supposed to have that much power.
According to the figures Seishirou has been keeping in his head--something based on the muscle density measurements he's taken of Sakura's figure crossed with how much blood he's estimating she has left in her body--she shouldn't physically be able to hit him that hard. Or that many times.
Seishirou can't really say he can avoid it, or even block the onslaught, once Sakazaki is down.
Not for lack of trying, but a barrage of kicks lands through his guard on his shoulders, his chest, his neck, and finally his midsection, sending the ninja not /flying/, but skidding back, sending twin plumes of woodchips flying in all directions as Sakura nails him solidly. His chest shakes for a moment, choking, holding something deep within before he finally ponuds his chest, coughing blood and something that--looks vaguely like a tooth.
Ugh..
Seishirou stands up straight, wiping excess spittle from his face, looking over to the downed Yuri. Damn. That'll make this harder than it would have had to have been, then.
He'll breathe once outwards.
And then stick one hand in his pocket, shifting to one side.
Yeah, he sees what happened.
He points with his free hand. "Gyroscopic stability to keep and regain momentum. Not a bad move, but.. only temporary. I admit, Meat-chan.. it'll be interesting to see /how/ temporary it is." That's something beyond his measurements.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou focuses on his next action.
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Seishirou 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Sakura
"What is =up= with this 'meat-chan' crap anyway? If it's just you trying to start your own internet meme, I'm gonna be severely disappointed, lawl!" Okay, so maybe conversation =has= been resurrected from the ashes of Sakura's bad luck -- if you can call that 'conversation'.
Though, Sakura notices upon glancing down, that something's Still Not Right(tm) about her. Namely... the kunai still embedded in her.
Looking back up to Sei, she raises an eyebrow. "Y'know, there's a lot of payback here with your name on it," states Sakura, raising her arms in defense, and preparing for the next wave of assault. "That's just the free sample to get you started, right? Plenty more where that came from!"
And with her narrowed eyes, and collected stance, it seems that Sakura =won't= be doing the headstrong thing. She's learned a little too much from this ninja.
"Cuz, like, I can stand here waiting waaaaay longer'n you think I can." Geese might not like it so much, but Sakura's determined to find a way to catch up to Seishirou's commanding lead! ... It'll just take a few moments.
COMBATSYS: Sakura focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Seishirou 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Sakura
Seishirou smirks as Sakura notices the knife in her.
"I thought even for you, it would be simple," Ryouhara explains.
He reaches to the cut on his cheek. His thumb--digs into the injury. This gets messy pretty quickly. Twisting his thumb, he parts the flesh, his brows crinkling in what obviously stings to no end. For a moment, the blood subsides as he wipes it across with his thumb. For just a second, an inner pink flesh reveals itself.
"Like this," Seishirou says, nodding at Sakura's gi. "But lighter."
He shrugs, his hand falls to his side again. His wound is obviously bleeding more openly now. "Not that it matters. It's served its purpose, Kasugano." If Sakura's paying attention, she'll realize what Seishirou is talking about.
The nickname was just a distraction. It was clear to him from the beginning Sean had some sort of relationship with Sakura. Inventing such a name while reading Sean's reactions closely revealed that to him. If he could even imply a deeper connection--the more abstract and incomprehensible, the better--he'd be able to seal Sean's mind. Control his movements. And as a result, allow his teammate to operate unimpeded for a time.
.. But that time is now over.
Seishirou's feet plant forward in the wood chips, digging deep to find solid ground. "I'm coming."
His body flickers. From his pocket, the dashing open-handed--what can only be described as a /slap/--comes like lightning, his literal explosion of movement sending wood chips flying everywhere, indicative of the sheer momentum Seishirou builds on and accelerates into.
COMBATSYS: Sakura interrupts Jab Punch from Seishirou with Jab Punch.
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Seishirou 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura may be on edge, but she still finds time to be utterly disgusted by what Seishirou's doing right in front of her. That's the =point= of his little display, she realizes, but only after running through the full spectrum of expressions from 'intent staring' to 'ew man what the hell'd you do that for' and back.
"... yeah, well... this is between you and me now," states the Ansatsuken Angel with a smirk. Before training with Ryu, such a feat would hardly be possible. By this point, she's been in more than enough fights with people who deal out intimidation and injury hand-in-hand.
And, while she =does= act plenty paranoid about Seishirou's sudden strikes... she's had plenty of time to get used to them, and anticipate them. Sensing chi, or whatnot... it's less important than her reflex, built up through training and self-conditioning -- to punch something when it comes close. And when that 'something' happens to be a one-handed slap... it may as well be instinct for Sakura to twist to the side and fire back a stiff-armed punch to the slapping party's jaw.
Not the jugular, though. She'd never practiced that far.
In the end, she does get slapped, but it results in a boxed ear rather than a handprint to the cheek, which is enough to bring the smirk back to Sakura's face. He announced he was coming. It's a little late, but Sakura offers her response anyway. "And I'm ready!"
As Seishirou's anticipated.
Sakura's a stiff hand-to-hand combat as well as a handy chi specialist. Technically speaking, she's strictly better than he is in strength and control alone. He might be capable of a faster speed due to his own training, but that alone won't decide the course of the match. Sakura's superior endurance, no matter how she looks now, may be just enough to break his own. And that's not something, should he be able to handle it, he's intending on allowing.
There's nothing he can do about the punch to his jaw. It's mildly suprising to him, but his stance widens to absorb the shock, his slapping hand going nerveless with the rotational force of his own slap--it's a fighting grade slap--in addition to the shock of the hit he absorbed. But all he needs is his shoulder for this.
With his bloodied hand, he makes a handseal.
paf
A pop--there's a sudden billowing of smoke /right underneath/ Sakura, the two enveloped in a fast cloud of smoke. In close quarters, it won't be enough to conceal the pertinent part what he's about to do, but it might be enough to distract her. It might be unclear what just happened, but Seishirou knows. His hand--the bloodied one--draws a quick sigil on the back of his slapping hand with his thumb, that same Ryouhara clan symbol. In blood.
The display really had nothing to do with grossing Sakura out.
She might notice at this point, with the widening of his stance against Sakura's punch, one of his legs has positioned itself between Sakura's legs and very slightly behind her left ankle. He'll seal her movement in this way, making it more difficult to evade his next.
His last attack--a slap, really--was not enough to break Sakura. This he already knew.
It was nothing but measurement. Positioning. Placement.
But an exploding backhand to the face, albeit one that /ruins his own hand/, might be enough.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou successfully hits Sakura with Calculated Tactics EX.
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Seishirou 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Sakura
Sakura was hoping Seishirou would try something else. She =wants= him to stay up close and personal, so she can, hopefully, win by out-muscling him. There's a significant slope for her to work her way up, after all, and that's one advantage she's confident she has.
The smoke bomb was one way of disrupting her calm focus, though. Logically, she =knows= he's still there. But sensing his chi... well. That mostly works outside of tactical range. Her sensibilities aren't such that she can tell what =part= of his body's doing what -- she still relies pretty heavily on sight for that.
The only thing she =can= tell is that he's playing footsie. And if =that's= the case, she'd just have to block a little lower than she would if he were standing normally.
The split-second calculation forgot to account for Seishirou's height, however -- for while Sakura =is= able to interpose her padded handguard in front of her chest, and the rather =large= kunai still embedded within her -- it's not enough to stop a hit to the face.
Much less, an =explosion= to the face: one that forces the schoolgirl backward, and nearly topples her over again. Somehow, she's able to work her ankle free in the process.
Her face is still too shrouded in smoke to be able to tell =how= bad off she is -- that and her hand clasping at it. But with her ankle freed, and her =utter= lack of balance, another gyroscopic measure may be her only hope.
That is to say, she flings her left foot up, balancing on her right leg as she whips around, hoping to bring the kick scything down onto Seishirou's shoulder. "Mriii-maaa!" comes the muffled shout from the schoolgirl whose only sign to quit comes from her body utterly failing to respond!
COMBATSYS: Sakura can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seishirou 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Seishirou with Flower Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Seishirou 0/-------/----===|
It might not be immediately clear how Seishirou managed to create that smoke. Given he was standing over the point at the time, it's easy to assume he dropped something that did it a second before he moved. But no, he would have had to adjust his positioning to reach his satchel for that.
What will eventually be found out by looking at tapes...
Is that it was his /tooth/ that did it.
More accurately, a carefully constructed replica of a molar.
They won't be able to find this out for certain, as all evidence is now burned away, but it's important to remember that Seishirou somehow lost a tooth without actually taking a blow to the face.
He did, however, take a blow to the midsection at the time. Which is perfect for facilitating regurgitation of partially swallowed items. As a result, he was able to plant and kick a smoke bomb underneath Sakura without her notice. It would have been a higher grade explosive, but there's only so much you can do with common materials in the size of a tooth.
That said, Seishirou is clobbered pretty soundly--the explosion ruins his hand, as calculated, and then the schoolgirl puts up an impressive effort, smashing underneath her foot and sending the ninja rolling away. BEcause of her percarious position on his leg, even his own movement was impeded, preventing escape.
However.
When all's said and done, Ryouhara, grasping his shoulder with his good hand, gets up.
We now return Sakura to her regularly-scheduled reality.
Gravity takes effect, belatedly, one wobbly moment later, Kasugano finds herself collapsing to the ground. The shower of woodchips that ensues is hardly spectacular in light of the battle that preceded it, but notable for the fact that it could make for a pretty picture once the girl makes her bed there. Eyes lid over as if the girl could fall asleep at any moment -- but not without glancing over to Seishirou, that self-important smirk on her face telling volumes more than she's capable of stating with her exhausted, beleaguered lungs.
"Almost..." she whispers, "... had you."
And that kunai is pointed =straight= up for no reason other than Sakura being too lazy to pull the damn thing out.
Ryouhara walks, with some measure of labored breath, over towards Sakura's bed. His hand and face are bleeding freely, his good hand also finally finding it worthwhile to be in his pocket as opposed to trying to squeeze out the pain in other locations. He got beat up pretty handily, and all within a few solid seconds.
He looks down.
"Yeah... not a bad game, Kasugano," Ryouhara admits.
He looks towards the downed Sean, the downed Yuri, all scattered in various locations throughout the park, and the horrible mess they've made of it. Bit of guilt? ... Hardly.
The announcer, who's been waiting the entire fight to do this, finally is allowed to interject. He's considerably more excited before. It's time to put down childish things _and become a man_. "WOW!! Can you believe these fighting machines!? Winners! SEISHIROU RYOUHARA, and YURI SAAAKAAAZAAKI!"
Ryouhara will think on it a moment, before letting Sakura keep the fused kunai in her chest. Call it a present, if you will. Besides. He's not about to take something out that's already probably cauterized itself in. He'll let the medics sort that out. "Hey.." he remarks to a nearby grip who's working on cleaning up the scene, as he starts to make his exit, apparently intent on doing so under his full power. "There's still a mark over there," he notes, gesturing with his bloodied hand to his initial entry point, a few handfuls of feet behind the slide. "Make sure nobody goes near it for at least the next half hour. Wood chips burn."
With that, Seishirou quietly steps over the tape barriers and leaves the park.
No less than thirty seconds later, the slide, or more appropriately, what little is actually left of it, just collapses.
COMBATSYS: Seishirou has ended the fight here.
Log created by Sakura, and last modified on 19:43:28 09/16/2006.