Description: Arika and Azrael have a showdown in the Southtown Village Mall. (Winner: Arika)
Injuries. Again. One of these days, Arika will learn that sometimes it's better to just leave the fray than to jump right in. The injuries she incurred the other night during SNF were not half as bad as a concussion, but she's still fairly bandaged despite the wounds that are healing. One bandage can be seen under the edge of her halter top, covering the top portion of her breast. The other, more prominent gauze bandage can be seen taped to her throat with medical tape.
It is the second injury for which she's irritated. Injuries to the throat of an artist of her caliber are never appreciated and often times mean the end of a career. Thanks to the quick thinking by that odd young man she received medical attention right away and provided that it doesn't become infected, she should be fine.
With such injuries sustained though, just -what- is the punk rock princess doing here at the Southtown Village Mall? Well, upon waking she had a message from the Neo League that the fight she -had- been requesting with Azrael was finally scheduled. What she's doing this time though is staying back until she verifies that they've sent the right person; after getting stuck in a ring with Zangief and suffering these current injuries, Arika is being rather cautious.
What she sees is a makeshift ring set up in the center of the mall, and around it are several curious shoppers pointing and trying to figure out what's going on. Camera crews are set up near each 'corner' of the cordoned off area so that they can see it from every angle.
If there's a ring being set up with cameras in Southtown, there's actually very little that it could be for other than the use of fighting in one of the various sponsors. In all likelihood a crowd is going to form fast. Some of these fights are only available if you pay to watch them, but not only that they're always more fun to watch in person. That's just one of the perks of living in Southtown, the odds are that eventually you're going to run into a pair of powerful people facing off against one another.
Azrael shows up a bit late today, having had a few things to take care of before he headed down to the mall. If this was a fight outside of the city, where he'd have to be transported there, he'd undoubtedly have been there an hour or so early. But because the fight is to be held in the city that he lives in he doesn't figure there's going to be a problem making it to the location, and thus he's a bit more relaxed about it. Looking the same as always, weapon still strapped easily to his back, he walks up to the ring, giving it a quick once over and then shrugging. It ought to do just fine.
He then walks up to whoever looks the most important around and announces his arrival, activity quickly becoming a pace much faster than it was just a few moments ago. Both of the fighters are present and accounted for, it's time to get things underway. Azrael casually removes his weapon from his back and then walks into the arena, twirling it around easily as a sort of warm up exercise. So he's going to be fighting Arika... he'll have to see what a singer can do.
Hopefully what she -can- do is not be grievously injured again. Once in a week is enough, and Arika is fairly certain she's reached her preferred quota.
Catching sight of Azrael and knowing that they haven't set her up again, she sweeps in from behind the crowd lifting both hands up above her head and waving them in the air. If there's any fans here, at least they'll know that her injuries weren't life-threatening. As she approaches the 'ring' she slips under the rope and then offers a friendly wave to the growing crowd; and despite the bandages a bright smile to the cameras that are currently rolling.
Her only hope?
That Azrael doesn't intend on marring her -too- badly with that weapon. Damnable things should be left out of fights with decent folks.
Azrael stops spinning his weapon around when Arika moves into the ring. When he met her he wasn't looking her over in an appraising fashion as a fighter, but simply talking as he would any normal person. Now, however, his gaze is a bit more focused, and intense.
Not that he's trying to bore a hole in her with his eyes, but moving in without knowing what you're up against isn't always the best idea. He didn't catch yesterday's match, so he's still unaware of what she's capable of doing. His mind moves through a few plans, one of which in particular has worked about half of the time. He'll have to consider it, but for now he's going to try something a little more conventional. When the fight actually starts, at least.
"Hello." A simple nod of greeting is given. It doesn't look like he's going to be overly friendly. He's been on a bit of a losing streak lately, so he's devoting all of his attention on winning. Pleasantries can be saved for later. He begins spinning his weapon a bit more quickly, his stance turning into one that's fairly solid. "I'm ready."
COMBATSYS: Arika has started a fight here.
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Arika 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Azrael has joined the fight here.
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Azrael 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Arika
Deep blue eyes focus upon the weapon, peering at it intently. So much so that she's not really paying any attention to her opponent at all. Arika needs to size up that weapon and determine damage factor before she's ready to start.
Anyone that's followed either of her careers well at all may notice that there's a faint hint of fear flashing in her eyes as she looks at the weapon, and subconsciously, she brings a hand up to her throat where the bandage rests.
Turning toward the announcer, she nods to show that she's ready as well and waits patiently for him to go through his pre-fight babble to the viewers at home. Instead of calling 'FIGHT' this time, he bangs a small mallet against a loud clanging bell to signal that they're to get started.
For all of a second, Arika stands there not certain that it's the right signal. When no others are forthcoming, she moves in quickly toward Azrael. Time to start things off!
Normally she'd rush in with a one-two-shot to the face, but this time she decides to toss it up a bit. As she draws closer, both fists come up in a simultaneous manner and she aims them for either side of his temples hammering them as rapidly as she can manage. Effectively using his head as a drum.
COMBATSYS: Azrael fails to interrupt Drum Solo from Arika with Weapon Jab.
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Azrael 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Arika
Perhaps another day, another time, Azrael wouldn't have noticed the fear in the eyes of his opponent. However, he's fairly focused today. At first he only notices that she's looking at the weapon instead of him, but after a moment he can see the fear. As the fight begins he begins wondering how he should take advantage of that, or if he should at all. A few thoughts cross it, but he finally decides when she comes in and tries to smash him in the head.
Rather than making any kind of ordinary defense, he tries to simply stick his weapon in the way, trying to send a quick slash with a single blade at her side; not enough to do serious harm, but probably enough to knock her off her game, maybe make her miss. It doesn't quite go as planned, however, because the intended shot misses wide, leaving Azrael completely open to attack. His head gets pounded painfully, and he staggers backwards, stumbling a little and finally catching himself. A slight frown forms on his features. That... was a mistake. Now not only has he thrown himself off balance, but now she might not be so afraid of his weapon, now that it's proven ineffective.
Not afraid of the weapon? Not a chance. Arika has quite decided after the SNF fight she just had that she -hates- weapons. With a passion. The blonde watches him stagger and then catch himself, eyes narrowing at him slightly.
Good. He's getting back up. Bad that it looks like she's frustrated him a little though. Just because she's got an edge here at the beginning doesn't mean it's going to last like that and if it doesn't... that weapon looks like it could do more damage to her than those sharp pointed claws of the audience-idiot.
No time for reflecting upon the other fight though. Seeing as he's not down, Arika rushes him again. This time she -does- do a one-two punch; sort of. First, her right hand swings toward his chest with a knife hand chop which is immediately followed by her left hand aiming for the same section of his chest with an open hand chop.
COMBATSYS: Azrael blocks Arika's Strong Punch.
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Azrael 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Arika
This time Azrael isn't going to be trying something crazy. Despite the fact that this attack is even slower than the last one, he doesn't want to take another risk, at least not yet. He spins his weapon around a little, passing it from hand to hand. The first chop comes in and his hands slide to the sides, about two feet apart from each other on the pole. The fist hits solidly, but rather than being Azrael's chest, it's the weapon, held out in front of him. The next blow comes to exactly the same spot, not requiring him to move it at bit, the palmstrike hitting the pole as well and causing him to slide back just a bit.
Once the attack is completed Azrael quickly removes one of his hands from his weapon and holds it out, palm up and aimed directly at Arika's chest. He doesn't immediately strike with his weapon, but instead a small ball of energy shoots out of his hand, the hope being that it'll hit her cleanly and drop her guard. That's when Azrael strikes, twirling his weapon quickly and slashing out for her midsection, each blade moving to hit several times.
COMBATSYS: Arika counters Necrotic Slash from Azrael with Diva Allegro.
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Azrael 0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0 Arika
When the first blow hits the weapon, Arika is unphased. When the second blow hits the weapon, she blinks and furrows her brow slightly. Not that she wasn't expecting him to have blocked the first one-two punch. He likely saw it coming a mile away. Just that she wasn't expecting him to use the weapon defensively.
Shaking her fists out and bouncing back and forth on her feet the way a boxer might, the punk rock princess watches as Azrael turns the defensive weapon into an offensive one. The energy ball is almost missed as she reaches out with her right hand to grab for the weapon. Peripheral vision allows her to see it though, step to the side to avoid it and instead of grabbing for the weapon as she originally intended, she reaches around it and sends a light jab toward his jaw. Before her left hand swings up for another 'one-two' style punch, a bright violet energy engulfs it and she strikes him with the flat of her palm directly in the breast bone.
Azrael is shoved roughly backwards once more as he's hit in the jaw and then smashed in the chest, energy added to the equation. He grits his teeth, reaching behind himself and grabbing onto the rope back there to keep himself from falling. So far he's done a pathetic job in this fight. He hasn't managed to land a single blow on her, and already his body is starting to ache.
Now that he knows she's capable of reversals he begins to circle, essentially staying away from her and getting himself off the ropes. He's not sure what she's capable of, but he does know that if he lets himself get backed into a corner she'll likely just begin wailing on him. Rather than attacking he watches her, trying to figure a way to slip an attack in without her sending a fist for his jaw and then smacking him in the collarbone again. He can't afford to fight offensively anymore.
COMBATSYS: Azrael focuses on his next action.
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Azrael 0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0 Arika
Noticing him circling her, Arika smirks a little. So, looks like he's not so focused on his weapon that he hasn't noticed that she's trying to come on hard and strong. Could it be that the diva is getting a little cocky?
M'nah!
Not unnerved by his eyes upon her, Arika hops back away from him. For all accounts it looks like she's ready to lunge in with another set of punches. Arms give a few false air punches toward him, then she swings her body around in a somewhat graceful and dextrous pirouette which ends with her sending her foot toward his head in a spinning heel kick.
COMBATSYS: Azrael fails to interrupt Heavy Kick from Arika with Morbid Massacre.
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Azrael 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Arika
Now. This should be the perfect time to strike. She comes in for him and simply lunges, and when she does he chokes back on his weapon and holds it like a spear set against a charge, hunkering down and trying to simply catch her on it before she can get to him. It's that feint that ends up making him miss, the weapon stabbing forward and barely missing to the side as she pirouettes, the heel coming at him and smashing into the side of his head, this time knocking him clean to the ground flat on his back. His face is a mask of pain now, and he reaches up to his head and rubs where he was kicked, not surprised when there's a little bit of blood from broken skin when he looks at it. He picks himself up and shakes himself off, trying to not let this get the better of him.
An apologetic look is shot to him as Arika notices the blood. Now -that- isn't what she was intending at all! Still, a fight is a fight, and she'll have to keep whatever concerns she has for the artist until the end.
Giving him a bit of respite as he lands on his back, she doesn't rush in with an elbow drop or a submission hold. It's a good thing she held off as well, as he seems to be getting back up. Deep blue eyes focus on the man in front of her as she tries to focus on his position.
Without warning, the punk rock princess reaches out toward her opponent and tries to take hold of his shoulders. Synchronous to this, she brings her knee up sharply which will hopefully result in a hard hit to the abdomen and double him over.
COMBATSYS: Azrael blocks Arika's Femme Fatale.
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Azrael 1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0 Arika
Azrael isn't mad at her; she's doing just fine. If he's mad, it's at himself. For one reason or another he just can't seem to pull a coherent strategy together, or at least not one that works. She comes at him and grabs for his shoulders, which she manages, and then goes to knee him in the gut to get him to double over. The problem here is that he realizes what's about to happen, and quickly raises his right leg, the two knees smacking into each other and stopping him from putting himself in a position to get picked up and tossed.
He's got to turn things around, and fast. He's not sure if he's going to be able to, but he's definitely going to try. With the attack effectively blocked, he breaks her hold on his shoulders and then backs up quickly, until he's a good ten feet away from her, and then holds his weapon out in front of himself. He quickly begins to spin it around, speed building up quickly as the blades whirl in the air. It looks like it might just be an intimidation maneuver, but after a few moments black energy begins to seep out of the razorlance as it spins. The energy builds quickly, and a black glow begins emitting in the center, and then all of a sudden a huge beam of energy four feet across comes flying out, heading straight for Arika. If it manages to connect she'll notice an odd quality about the energy; it's almost frigidly cold, as if it's draining her life out of her.
COMBATSYS: Azrael successfully hits Arika with Darkness Reborn.
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Azrael 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0 Arika
Silently cursing when he blocks her knee, Arika backs up a few steps. Hers probably doesn't hurt as much as his does, but bone smashing into bone does throw her off the piledriver she meant to be punishing him with.
Taking a chance, she leans forward and rubs her knee with her right hand, trying to stop the inevitable throbbing. In the brief moment she takes to do this, Azrael begins to spin that weapon. Deep blue eyes go wide and she begins to back up against the rope as she watches him, trying to make out what he intends to do.
The four foot wall of energy that's coming flying towards her? Proves extremely difficult to dodge. The diva does try to drop low to the floor, but as she's coming down the full brunt of the blast hits her, pressing her against the rope. Frigid air surrounds her, forcing her to shiver slightly.
Did the mall just turn on the air conditioning?
Another shiver and she reaches out into the crowd. Partially this is because her arm is already flung out over the rope. Hands try to connect with something, and she gets a rather dirty look from a man as her hand hits something that is decidedly something she -shouldn't- be hitting. Gritting her teeth together, her face flushes despite the cold and she leans just a little more to take hold of an umbrella.
Immediately after obtaining said umbrella, she uses the rope to spring herself toward Azrael and attempt to impale him with the metallic point of the 'tool', coming in at an angle to his stomach.
COMBATSYS: Azrael fails to interrupt Random Weapon from Arika with Morbid Massacre.
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Azrael 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Arika
COMBATSYS: Azrael has reached second wind!
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Azrael 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Arika
COMBATSYS: Azrael has left the fight here.
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Arika 1/------=/=======|
If Arika is going to come and try and impale him with a short umbrella, Azrael is going to try and impale her with his long polearm. Rather than just hunkering down like last time, Azrael charges towards her full force, weapon held out in front of him. He pulls it back right before impact and then thrusts it forward, once again missing the mark. Arika, however, doesn't miss at all. The tip of the umbrella his him perfectly, tearing past his shirt and sinking into his stomach. He looks down at himself, and can't help but let a frown form on his face. "Shit."
A bit above where the umbrella sits is a rather nasty scar, one that was made when his own weapon was shoved into him in much the same manner. ...except it went out the other end, too. The doctor isn't going to be pleased with him, getting something stuck into his stomach so soon after the last time. He sways on his feet a little, but manages to keep himself from falling, reaching down and ripping the umbrella out of himself. Rather stoically he puts his weapon in it's harness on his back and says quickly, "You win, I've got to go to the emergency room," and begins moving off.
Normally, Arika would be seriously overjoyed at a win.
Normally.
Once her eyes fall upon the scar though, and the damage that the umbrella has done to him, they go extremely wide. Before she can get out an apology though, she's moving off. The punk rock princess is in shock. No showboating comes from her for this win, she just kind of stands there and watches him for a few moments.
"WINNER: ARIKA FADE!"
The announcer is about to send a medic toward the young man, and in fact he does motion one over. Emergency room being mentioned isn't a good thing, and it's got quite a few of the crowd spectators all wide-eyed too.
After a moment, the diva calls out, "Azrael?" She takes a step forward and then bites her lip. "I'm sorry..." But it's likely falling on deaf ears.
COMBATSYS: Arika has ended the fight here.
Azrael just keeps on moving, as much because of how annoyed he as at his performance as he is at needing to take an impromptu trip to the doctors office.
Log created by Azrael, and last modified on 10:43:46 05/05/2007.