Description: Kurow and Makoto rock it down in Chinatown! (Winner: Kurow)
Chinatown in Southtown (does that make it South China?) is always a very busy place. The fact that this is the place where all sorts of general oddities can be found, as well as a very busy marketplace section, makes it even busier.
One part of Chinatown has some free space, though, because the Neo League stole it. It's one of the side streets; even a fight cannot stop people from using the main ones. A fair section has been cleared of people, although not objects, and judging by the crowd along the sides of the street, they're all watching.
Makoto is already there and already prepared. She stretched. Now she's waiting.
After his particularly humiliating loss to Rock Howard last night, consisting of Raging Storm over and over again, Kurow is more than happy to humor another challenge from someone who doesn't know his style as well as Rock Howard has started to know it. After all -- it lets him have the element of surprise, at least a little. Of course, it also gives it to the other person, but Kurow's watched enough Saturday Night Fights to know that Makoto is like a very tiny female M. Bison.
The boy arrives on the side street, already prepared as well; he's wearing his typical fight attire rather than his Justice High uniform, and seems like he's ready. He studies Makoto for a few seconds, with the brief opportunity he's afforded to do so; he doesn't say anything to her, just examines her with that somewhat-eerie intensity.
Makoto isn't that tiny. Actually, she's pretty big for a sixteen year old Japanese girl, although yes, Bison is bigger.
Makoto does not seem particularly put off by Kurow's gaze. He's a little weird. So was Vice, and she looked /her/ in the eye without flinching. She holds it for a few moments before balling her right fist and holding it back, bringing her left hand and foot forward.
She holds this for about two seconds before the command to begin sounds, given by the official hiding somewhere in the crowd. Makoto rockets forward in a sprint as soon as it comes, leaping into the air with enough force that she performs a spinning flip in the air. Her right foot whips out as it passes horizontal, and Makoto attempts to plow her heel into the back of Kurow's head and leap off.
COMBATSYS: Makoto has started a fight here.
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Makoto 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kurow has joined the fight here.
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Kurow 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Makoto
COMBATSYS: Kurow dodges Makoto's Tsurugi.
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Kurow 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Makoto
When you're talking M. Bison, as said, everyone is kind of tiny except, like, Sagat.
As Makoto leaps up, Kurow slides forward; this puts his head somewhere completely different than Makoto was likely expecting, and he doesn't get acquainted with the world of hurt Makoto can put out. This is probably a good thing, though it does make him a little cocky.
Turning around and running toward Makoto, the Kirishima-style ninja goes with his usual opening tactic; he lunges in with intent to claw Makoto's legs, then leaps up with a quick uppercut slash with his other hand, then jabs outward toward her chest. The boy's trying to unbalance her a little... though unfortunately, she doesn't seem like the type who particularly /needs/ her balance in more than a cursory sense.
COMBATSYS: Kurow successfully hits Makoto with Yami Kagura.
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Kurow 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Makoto
Makoto is, on the other hand, acquainted with Kurow's claws very quickly - and she's getting a little tired of fighting people with them. The low slash is hard enough to almost take her off her feet; the rest causes her to stumble back, nearly but not quite knocked over.
Regaining her feet, Makoto halts, taking a breath and focusing herself. She keeps her hands near her navel as she breathes in, shallowly once and deeply once. Some fighters get nifty chi flares; all she gets is a very determined look.
COMBATSYS: Makoto gathers her will.
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Kurow 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0 Makoto
Kurow doesn't let up, and even as Makoto's expression takes on that determined cast, he decides, perhaps wrongly, to continue his assault. He knows what he's running toward, but he can't fight defensively in a situation like this; that's where fighters like Bison or Makoto really shine.
Kurow breaks into a full-on run toward Makoto, dropping one of his clawed hands very low. With a cry of "Roppu Zuki!" as he gets close enough, he swings it upward toward the girl's chest, trying to sink it in and start crudely shredding the flow of chi in her body.
COMBATSYS: Makoto blocks Kurow's Roppu Zuki.
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Kurow 0/-------/------=|=======\===----\1 Makoto
Makoto's enormous hands and arms are enough to shelter her from at least part of the chi-empowered slash; it rakes up her arms instead, which are much better-equipped to take something like that without being too badly hurt.
Without moving out of her block position, she snakes one foot forward and tries to loop it around Kurow's and yank. If he goes down - or even if he doesn't - she finally breaks her defensive posture to strike downward, to smash his gut if he's on the ground or just smash if he isn't; she's not picky. "Haa!"
COMBATSYS: Makoto successfully hits Kurow with Araiso.
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Kurow 0/-------/----===|=======\=====--\1 Makoto
Kurow gets suckered, and goes all the way down; the strike hits him in the gut, too, which leaves him winded and in no small amount of pain. He rolls away from Makoto, trying to get a good read on her movements, at the same time spending a little while catching his breath. "So that's why they call you 'Steamroller Girl,'" he says, circling around her.
COMBATSYS: Kurow focuses on his next action.
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Kurow 0/-------/----===|=======\=====--\1 Makoto
Makoto rises up after her strike, letting out a puff of air as she does. "Of course it is!" she says, watching Kurow in return as he circles and watches; it looks like it is about to be a very boring few seconds.
It isn't. After a few moments of watching, Makoto has seen enough; she steps forward and brings her foot up into a high kick toward Kurow's face, putting a good deal of her strength behind it. "Haaya!" she yells, as her leg extends to its full length.
COMBATSYS: Kurow dodges Makoto's Medium Kick.
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Kurow 0/-------/----===|=======\=====--\1 Makoto
Twirling to one side, Kurow pulls his face out of the way of Makoto's kick at his head. "Is that the best you can do?" he asks, sounding almost disappointed, or at the /very/ least, unimpressed. He doesn't keep himself from taking advantage of the opportunity Makoto's given him, though; she's nice and close, and he's got a very good sense on how she moves.
So, of course, Kurow takes the direct approach, aiming a hard, vicious strike at Makoto's breastbone, using the momentum to -- if successful -- pick her up and leave her open for another hard strike with his other claw, at her stomach.
COMBATSYS: Makoto interrupts Deep Strike from Kurow with Hayate.
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Kurow 0/-------/-======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Makoto
Despite the lack of room to wind up for her movement, Makoto still tries to perform a rather unexpected, unorthodox maneuver: she moves into the blow, not away from it. The claw strikes her side, having hit early, and digs in, but it gives Makoto an excellent opportunity to transfer her entire forward momentum into a solid punch to the ribs with her free hand.
She backs up after that. The wound on her side is bleeding; she ignores it entirely in favour of concentrating on Kurow, breathing harder now.
As the punch nails Kurow dead-on in the ribs, he's actually sent flying back a few feet; Makoto hits like a truck, and trucks are not what Kurow is used to fighting. He doesn't let her have much of an opportunity to collect herself, though -- that's another way to get torn apart in a fight, after all. Instead, he lunges for her legs, trying to catch her and toss her away. It's a crude technique, yes; sometimes, however, crude is the way things have to be.
COMBATSYS: Kurow successfully hits Makoto with Medium Throw.
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Kurow 0/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Makoto
Makoto attempts to do something tricky to minimize the odds that Kurow will grab ahold of her and throw.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Makoto goes flying and hits, completely by accident, a wooden newspaper stand; she breaks the counter that she lands on and rolls behind it, to where the owner would stand if he was not making up part of the crowd. (It's easy to find him, because he's the one who just hit himself in the face with the palm of his hand.)
Makoto clambers back out a moment later and stands in front of the stand, back in the same position as before - hands near her navel as she watches and focuses. It also gives her an opportunity to catch her breath, which is nice.
COMBATSYS: Makoto gathers her will.
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Kurow 0/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Makoto
Kurow watches Makoto's motions carefully -- what's she playing at, he thinks, as he sees her start to catch her breath. Whatever it is, he's more than happy to /let/ her play at it; after all, when someone stands still and waits it means they're ready to snap at a moment's notice. He stays back and does the only thing he can do in this situation:
He goes to another small business, this one a food-related one, and eats a delicious Chinatown snack.
Mmmm.
COMBATSYS: Kurow gains composure.
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Kurow 0/-------/--=====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Makoto
"You're going to pay for that!" one of the other shopkeepers calls, possibly the one who just had his products eaten.
Makoto keeps staring at Kurow right until the point that he eats delicious food. Then she actually half-drops out of stance to stare at him a different way. "You're as bad as Kensou!" she says, and she doesn't mean it as a compliment. "Nobody eats food in the middle of a fight with me! That's saying that me - that Rindoukan - isn't worth your while!"
She charges, fist low as she attempts to drive it up, solidly, in his gut. Unlike when she goes after Kensou, that is not the end of it; she follows it up with a rapid trio of punches slightly higher up, to his ribs and near his throat. There is a very brief, momentary pause as she winds up - and then attempts to deliver an enormously powerful smash upward, toward Kurow's chin. "SEICHUUSEN GODANZUKI!"
COMBATSYS: Makoto successfully hits Kurow with Seichuusen Godanzuki.
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Kurow 1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0 Makoto
Kurow calls to the shopkeeper, "Later!" Right now, obviously, he is too busy to pay for things.
Too busy being PUNCHED. Each punch hits its mark, knocking him oh-so-slightly back, back, back... and eventually, we get to that coup de grace, which sends Kurow into the air for a good four or five seconds, and leaves him on the ground for another two or three. "Nngnhh.." he groans, as he gets back up...
... and promptly swings a clawed hand high into the air. "Shinkuu Yamiarashi!" he yells, as a whirlwind of bladed chi springs up beneath Makoto, trying to send her flying up into the air; if that wasn't enough, he swings his other hand into the air, causing the attack to layer itself with even more yellowish blades, making it even /more/ painful.
COMBATSYS: Kurow successfully hits Makoto with Kirishima Shinkuu Yamiarashi.
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Kurow 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 Makoto
Makoto is not content to end her punching after /one/ set. She darts forward to continue the series of blows against Kurow, fist still at the ready.
Unfortunately, she is in no position to dodge the whirlwind of sharp chi. Makoto hates projectiles: fireballs, ice darts, people throwing knives. She has decided that she hates bladed whirlwinds worst of all, at least for today, as this one forms and swirls around her, launching her straight up into the air a good thirty feet.
She lands, hard, just behind Kurow, amazingly on her feet (although at this point it's a near thing). Makoto staggers forward one step and repeats what she just did again - but, unfortunately, slower this time, and the last uppercut lacks a lot of the vim and vigor she normally puts into it.
This is because she is almost unable to stand, and halfway through her post-punch pose, simply collapses backwards.
COMBATSYS: Makoto can no longer fight.
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Kurow 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Kurow dodges Makoto's Seichuusen Godanzuki.
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Kurow 0/-------/------=|
This time, Kurow's on the ball; perhaps it's because Makoto's slower, perhaps it's because he /really/ doesn't want to get hit like that again. He leaps forward, away from her, the second he hears her footfalls behind him; he spares himself the agony of the ultimate Rindoukan technique a second time, and is much, much happier for it.
He looks down at the Rindoukan heiress's fallen form briefly, smiles, and figures that's the end of that. He realizes, though, that he does have to do one more thing before he can consider the match complete; reaching into his pockets, he pulls out a heavy coin of some sort and flips it toward the shopkeeper from earlier.
/Now/ he's done.
Log created on 18:49:10 05/16/2007 by Makoto, and last modified on 09:20:57 05/27/2007.