Description: Talia vs. Shinobu, in Chinatown. (Winner: Shinobu)
It's a cool evening, though not exactly cold, warm air coming off the shore to offset the season. Tourists and locals through the brightly-lit night, their paths criss-crossing as the smell of local restaurants and stands waft through the air.
Meanwhile, Shinobu steps out of a restaurant, a small paper bag in hand. She looks back and forth as she walks up to street as she swings the bag idly, spreading her other arm out slightly for balance as she starts to walk along the curb, not seeming to pay much attention to the cars slipping by only several feet away. After a moment, her arm swings across her to snag a small, bite-size pastry from the bag, and she wings it up into the air. It goes off-course towards the street, though, and she steps out right into the path of a car. Brakes squeal as she catches it in her mouth, and then quickly leans back out of the way just in time. A curse is thrown her way, and she stares after the car, seeming more puzzled by the near-accident than concerned.
As Shinobu has her closs call with traffic (albeit riskier for the car than the girl), Talia steps into view on the sidewalk, only now visible to general passersby despite having been trailing Shinobu for quite a while at this point. She's dressed in her traditional garb, and seemingly unaware of everyone except her 'target'. Talia slowly walks towards the shorter girl, waiting until she's a few meters away to call out, "Ootsuka." Her face and expression are as flat as always, her voice only louder not more intense with the shout.
Shinobu hops onto a bench, walking along, and then turns back towards Talia. She doesn't seem to zero in on her, thought, and looks around as she puts her hand to her brow. Looking puzzled as to who might have called out her name, she points to herself, looking around. "Ahh... there's only one Ootsuka here, but..." Her hand goes to her hair as she scratches her head, and then shrugs, popping another small pastry topped with chocolate, chewing as she gives another visual search.
Talia slows her approach to Shinobu's bench, looking at her intently. As Shinobu vocalizes confusion, Talia reaches into a pocket, producing an ID card; it's her Neo League ID. Talia holds it out as she steps directly into Shinobu's field of vision, coming to a stop before her. She doesn't say anything else; instead she waits for Shinobu to react.
Shinobu leans far foward, holding her bag in both hands as she stares at it for a moment with an "Ohhhhh." She swings back up, and quickly hops over the back of the bench, landing on the sidewalk. "I wasn't really expecting that... well, okay!" She tilts her head from side to side. "So... this is a challenge?", she says, rubbing her neck as she rolls it around. She continues to rub for one more moment, and then opens up the bag, looking into it as she evaluates the contents.
Putting the card away, Talia steps back, reaching into her pocket. She presses a couple of buttons on the cellphone produced, then returns it to her pocket. It doesn't take long at all for the camera crew to start showing up; apparently they were waiting for some sort of signal. Or they live here, hard to tell. Talia looks at Shinobu expectantly, even as part of the street gets roped off to allow room for combat.
Tipping the bag back, Shinobu pours what's left back into her mouth, her cheeks heavy with food as she chews and swallows. Crumpling the bag into a ball, she folds her fist into it, holding her knuckles up with several pops. "Ah, well, try whatever you want, okay? I don't go down too easily..." She swings her arms, seeming unconcerned as she doesn't even seem to take up a stance. "... but if you can, show me something cool, alright?", she says with a wide, shameless grin.
As Shinobu finally acknowledges the situation, Talia gives one short nod, backing away into the street. She glances around once, to make sure the bystanders have cleared out.. Then fixes her gaze on Shinobu again, the intensity of the gaze greatly increased. She waits for a couple of breaths to see if Shinobu has anything interesting to do herself before bursting into action.
Talia drops into a crouch, her coat flying wide as she reaches back to draw a pistol. In a smooth motion she has it cocked, aimed, and fires, quickly letting out three shots in a wide triangle formation. They're positioned to make dodging difficult without at least getting clipped.
COMBATSYS: Talia has started a fight here.
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Talia 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Shinobu has joined the fight here.
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Shinobu 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Talia
COMBATSYS: Shinobu blocks Talia's Burst Fire.
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Shinobu 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Talia
Dropping to a low crouch with the pulls of the trigger, Shinobu takes the shots as grazes rather than full-on hits, and blinks. "Eh? Is that legal?... well, whatever!", she mumbles, before then springing to her feet and then running forward. As she does so, though, one of her shoes goes flying, and she loses her balance, stumbling forward. "WaAaAaAa!" Pinwheeling her arms as she goes forward, one swings out by seeming chance towards Talia's jaw as she moves past, trying to regain her balance.
COMBATSYS: Talia interrupts Monkey Mistake from Shinobu with Sleight of Hand.
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Shinobu 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Talia
When Shinobu comes charging forward, Talia steps back, adjusting her stance. Her firearm lowers, and her empty hand raises, Talia watching Shinobu's actions carefully. When the flailing starts, Talia narrows her eyes. She launches her empty hand towards Shinobu's arm, quickly jabbing a pair of pressure points on the forearm in time to slow the wild strike, b ut not stop it. Afterwards, Talia leaps backwards, landing in a defensive crouch, pistol held to one side.
Skidding back to her balance with her remaining shoe, Shinobu turns about with a quick, fluid motion. "Ehhh?", she says as if confused by what just happened... if not for long. Wobbling, she makes a fist and then steps forward unsteadily but quickly, throwing out a simple, lightning-fast straight punch aimed at Talia as she slides out into a horse stance. It's not subtle or fancy, but she has a lot of power despite her build. "Here we go!"
COMBATSYS: Shinobu successfully hits Talia with Strong Punch.
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Shinobu 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Talia
Talia moves with the same fluidity she's displayed so far this fight, sliding one foot as she prepares to move out of -- misjudged. Talia finds herself slammed solidly in the chest as she discovered that Shinobu wasn't aiming the way she expected.. She didn't read her opponent right, and that's troublesome. Grimacing from the pain, Talia takes several quick hop-steps backwards, holding her pistol at the ready.. But instead of firing, she stands in place, staring at Shinobu. Considering.
Planning.
COMBATSYS: Talia focuses on her next action.
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Shinobu 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Talia
Retracting her fist, Shinobu exhales slowly. "That's a pretty scary weapon you have there... I thought I was gonna die." She then straightens up a little, and grins slightly. "But I'm not gonna lose in such a lousy way!" She slides her feet together, sock against shoe, and puts one hand behind herself as she narrows her eyes, raising an arm and flexing her fingers in a simple 'c'mere' gesture.
COMBATSYS: Shinobu gathers her will.
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Shinobu 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Talia
There's another moment where Talia simply stands there, continuing the tradition of immobility. Finally, she slowly steps to one side, watching Shinobu to make sure that the girl is genuinely going to wait for her. Determining that this will be the case, Talia returns the pistol to its hiding place within the coat. She takes two more steps, circling Shinobu, as she raises one arm. She takes but two more steps before breaking into a run, sprinting around Shinobu to try to catch her from the side. Instead of closing with her target, however, Talia leaps into the air.
During the leap, there's a flurry of motion as Talia twists into a spin, her coat spreading wide to obscure her exact position and actions. That's when the needles come. A dozen tiny little lances of surgical steel darting towards Shinobu, in small bunches, each aimed for a different nerve cluster on Shinobu's body. None of them is dangerous enough in itself to do physical damage, but the disruption to the body's energy flows can do quite a bit.
COMBATSYS: Talia successfully hits Shinobu with Biting Gale.
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Shinobu 1/----===/=======|-------\-------\0 Talia
Lykaio heads south down the main road to the downtown area.
Lykaio heads southwest to the Business District.
Lykaio enters the Business District from Chinatown.
Shinobu blinks at the attack, and then suddenly crouches, covering her face and head with her arms. Then, quickly, she stands, springing up swing her arms out, ejecting some of the needles... if not all. She definitely looks peppered, and it looks like one needle got through to scrape her cheek. "Man, you have a really ugly style...", she whines. Wincing, she folds her hand into a fist as she turns towards Talia's landing point, and rushes up, throwing a fierce flurry of single-handed punches. "Yayayayaya!", she cries out as her left arm blurs, aiming to try and just overwhelm her opponent with quantity rather than quality.
Lykaio heads north to the Southtown Village.
COMBATSYS: Talia dodges Shinobu's Rumble Punch.
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Shinobu 1/----===/=======|-------\-------\0 Talia
Remaining silent, Talia doesn't give any indication at all that she's heard Shinobu, much less that she has an opinion on the comments. When Shinobu closes, Talia simply leaps backwards. Just as she's landing, Talia reaches into her coat to pull out a shotgun. Taking a moment to load a grey shell into the weapon, she pumps it once before levelling it at Shinobu casually. The armor piercing slug that follows is not aimed for anywhere in specific, but it does have quite a bit of force behind it.
COMBATSYS: Talia successfully hits Shinobu with Power Shot.
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Shinobu 1/-======/=======|=------\-------\0 Talia
Shinobu gets blown back, tumbling across the ground for a moment, bleeding from her sweater as she gets up, swaying once more. "Annoying...", she mumbles, wincing, and then rushes forward, trying to lay down a double-palm strike aimed to try and blow her foe off her feet. "Really... annoying!" As she connects - or fails - she sways to the side, stumbling a bit with the wound.
COMBATSYS: Talia dodges Shinobu's Strong Punch.
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Shinobu 1/-======/=======|=------\-------\0 Talia
As Shinobu lunges, Talia simply hops back, holding the firearm with both hands as she watches her opponent. She tilts her head to one side, watching Shinobu's motions with curiosity. Instead of picking a defensive position and waiting, Talia decides to continue her observation while in motion. She begins walking slowly around Shinobu, keeping distance with the casual movement. For the first time since stepping up to Shinobu tonight, Talia speaks: "You are undisciplined, and achieve what little ground you do through luck and brute force. Concede, or I won't be held responsible for your state of health when this ends." Her tone is emotionless, her face an expressionless mask. It's not clear if she's goading Shinobu.. or simply stating a viewpoint.
COMBATSYS: Talia focuses on her next action.
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Shinobu 1/-======/=======|=------\-------\0 Talia
Shinobu turns around, and narrows her eyes. Raising her chin, her pupils narrow a little before her face lowers, her bangs falling forward. "What kind of a lame excuse is that... to end a fight?" She grins toothily, and pulls off her sweater, whipping it towards Talia as cover for her advance, and then suddenly slams out a punch from the right side of the sweater with her left fist, obscuring her attack until the last second.
COMBATSYS: Talia endures Shinobu's Strong Punch.
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Shinobu 1/--=====/=======|=====--\-------\0 Talia
When Shinobu pulls off her sweater, Talia simply halts in place, looking at her opponent with that same dead expression. She stays there up until Shinobu actually makes an attack, and even then, Talia makes no move to avoid the strike. Instead, Talia ignores it as she seperates her arms, reaching towards Shinobu's shoulders. Even as the fist impacts, Talia only grimaces, but doesn't hesitate in lunging past Shinobu, attempting to wrap the very thin wire around Shinobu's neck with the intent to slam the other girl into the ground as though a broken marionette. Only afterwards does she allow herself a soft 'uff' from the pain.
COMBATSYS: Talia successfully hits Shinobu with Flexibility.
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Shinobu 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1 Talia
Shinobu slams down to the ground... and it looks like she might not move for a moment, and then her fist slams into the concrete and she pushes herself up, getting to her feet. She coughs, tugging at the wire, and then gets up slowly, narrowing her eyes. She steps back, and manages a breath as she closes her eyes, and then opens them slowly, her attention becoming more deliberate, more focused on the opponent before her.
COMBATSYS: Shinobu gathers her will.
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Shinobu 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\1 Talia
When Shinobu gets back up, Talia simply resumes walking around the other girl, looking at her with that steady intense gaze. Looking over her opponent, Talia finally takes a few steps back, loading two more grey shells into her firearm. Another ominous pump later, she aims the armor piercing shells at Shinobu's head, only giving Shinobu a brief moment to understand what she's doing before firing.
COMBATSYS: Shinobu negates Long Shot from Talia with Large Thrown Object.
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Shinobu 1/=======/=======|=======\-------\1 Talia
As Talia loads, Shinobu's foot goes down to the sidewalk, her heel slamming down on a manhole cover with an heavy *clang* as it flips up, and she turns as the trigger goes off, spin kicking the cover in the way of the gunfire. The shots slam into the metal piece, deflecting away as she punches through. Shinobu completes the spin, sliding her sock against the pavement as the cover clatters down. "Tch.", she says, raising a hand in a guard position.
Talia can't help but arch an eyebrow at the trick with the manhole cover. Shrugging, Talia opts to crouch, setting the weapon in her lap as she disassembles the firing mechanism. She proceeds to go through some sort of cleaning process, for the moment seeming to ignore Shinobu. Her attention appears wholly fixed on completing the procedure without dropping any components onto the ground.
COMBATSYS: Talia gains composure.
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Shinobu 1/=======/=======|-------\-------\0 Talia
Shinobu crouches, speaking quietly as she keeps her eyes on Talia. "Shinobu..." And then, she explodes off the ground with a cloud of dust, launching herself out with her fist before her in a blur, trying to nail Talia before she can manage to recover. It's almost like a flying uppercut, though it's tilted at a rather steep angle. "... Rocket!", she shouts, determined to make her impact count.
COMBATSYS: Shinobu successfully hits Talia with Shinobu Rocket.
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Shinobu 1/-======/=======|======-\-------\0 Talia
By the time Shinobu crouches, Talia's already finished the procedure. In truth, she could have had it done within a couple seconds, but it helped calm her, and prepares her for what she needs to do. As Shinobu closes, Talia stands up, slipping to one side as she -- misjudged. Again, Talia knew what she needed to do, but her knowing was in error. Getting slammed back, Talia does the first thing that comes to mind: turn her ad-hoc launch from the ground into a spin. After gaining a little momentum, before she's gotten far from Shinobu, Talia reaches out with the shotgun itself, using the force of her spin in an attempt to quickly slam the firearm against Shinobu. As for Talia, she manages to recover into a graceful flip that lets her finally land in a crouch, but it's very clear from her expression that she's in a great deal of pain.
COMBATSYS: Shinobu blocks Talia's Weighted Matter.
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Shinobu 1/=======/=======|=====--\-------\0 Talia
Shinobu raises her arms, sliding a little with the impact but not taking serious damage... but damage, nonetheless. But she doesn't wait this time, instead keeping up with her offense, advancing with rapid steps before then falling towards Talia, landing on two hands to whip out a two-legged spin kick probably borrowed from Capoeira. As she does so, a flowing mist of blue chi trails behind her attacks as she then flips over, using the momentum of her spin to do a one-handed, upside-down twirl with both feet as the mist starts to coalesce into a cyclone of fog and wind...
COMBATSYS: Talia dodges Shinobu's The 37th Chamber.
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Shinobu 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Talia
This time, Talia won't miscalculate. She's prepared to move when Shinobu approaches, but as soon as she sees the energy enter the picture, Talia's eyes narrow. She becomes visibly more determined, her expressionless mask cracking slightly. Not that there's a very large window for Shinobu to notice this; Talia quickly returns her shotgun to its own hiding place within the coat as she dives into a cartwheel out of the way of the spinning kicks. On clearing the technique, Talia quickly draws her pistol again, taking very careful aim at her opponent before firing. This time, her target is a nerve cluster in Shinobu's back. If it hits just right, not only will it hurt, but it'll disrupt coordination as well.
COMBATSYS: Shinobu dodges Talia's Nerve Lance.
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Shinobu 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Talia
Rather than dodge in a graceful fashion, instead the cyclone abates with the the miss, and rather than go through the rest of her attack, Shinobu crashes to the ground. It's a little uncertain whether that was fast reflexes or simple luck, but she quickly kipups, spinning about as she turns out. Rushing at Talia, she steps to the side before turning in towards the gunslinger, letting out a swift punch as she bobs to the other side, hoping to at least throw off her foe's relentless aim.
COMBATSYS: Talia interrupts Strong Punch from Shinobu with Weighted Matter.
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Shinobu 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1 Talia
When Shinobu comes in with her punch, Talia steps into the punch with a very abrupt spin. Instead of getting struck directly, the fist glances off of the thick (and apparently armored) coat as Talia whirls, slamming an elbow into Shinobu's side. Once that lands, Talia leaps back, taking her defensive posture again, pistol held at the ready.
Hopping on one foot as she keeps from falling over, Shinobu then springs after Talia, landing hands-first as she spin-kicks repeatedly, apparently trying to succeed where she failed before. This time, there's a bit of forward momentum as she starts to whip up the cyclone of water and dust, her skirt whirling as she continues to give it her all despite the pain, the blood loss, and the utter frustration bringing a gun to a fistfight inspires.
COMBATSYS: Shinobu successfully hits Talia with The 37th Chamber.
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Shinobu 0/-------/------=|=======\=======\1 Talia
As she catches Talia this time, the tornado carries the two up, and then Shinobu whips out a swift, powerful haymaker in midair as the cyclone starts to fade, dropping them both towards the ground.
Despite her best efforts, Talia has simply had too much battering today to get out of the way this time. She's caught both in the initial whirl of kicks and the final haymaker. When she finally slams into the ground, she lets out a soft 'uff', clearly not prepared to get up again. Instead, she rolls over, raising the pistol she never let go of, and takes aim one final time. This time she's aiming for a critical point near Shinobu's heart, one which should if struck cause her circulation and chi flows both to stutter for a moment. With that, Talia lowers her weapon, and closes her eyes, unable to fight further.
COMBATSYS: Talia can no longer fight.
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Shinobu 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Shinobu dodges Talia's Chakra Pierce.
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Shinobu 0/-------/------=|
Shinobu slamd down to the ground, and gets up... only to have a gun leveled at her once more. She springs up with one hand, avoiding the shot... but then there's a slight popping down, and she collapses to the ground. More slowly, she gets to her knees, breathing heavily. What little wit she has has been beaten - or more properly - shot right out of her. All she can think to do is just "Biiii!" at the gunwoman as she barely manages to sit, waiting for the inevitable medic to take care of her relatively nasty injuries as she flops back down again. She may be conscious, but that fact isn't exactly heartening at the moment.
COMBATSYS: Shinobu has ended the fight here.
Log created by Talia, and last modified on 12:53:15 02/23/2007.