Description: In his Neo League debut, Tenma Kiryuu challenges Seijyun's Sada Asai to a rather weapontacular battle! With Shinobu cheering her on from the sidelines, can Sada hand Tenma an early defeat? (Winner: Tenma)
A FORMAL CHALLENGE is somewhat irregular, but the school has long accomodated - grudgingly - to such a thing. However, these beastly sports and the sweaty men that accompany them should not take place on campus.
Fortunately, the school owns a park across the street.
In that park, Sada Asai is stretching to limber herself up. She doesn't have quite as unqualified a high opinion of herself now, and so, she doesn't want to strain a muscle AND, potentially, lose. Her kusarigama rests on the grass near her, coiled up neatly and gleaming faintly in the late-morning sun.
The park itself is one of those well-manicured sorts, with few trees and lots of Sun-Dappled Lawn. A gazebo suitable for holding a good dozen people, or a small band, sits with just the right amount of weathered charm to its white-washed timbers. (CR 7, AC 14, HP 66.)
Well, if you're going to do something like this, you should do it properly, right? To tell the truth though, Tenma actually picked Sada as his opponent completely by accident; he decided he was going to fight somebody, chose a name at random from the list of viable Neo League competitors, and then wrote an old-fashioned letter of challenge. Even he likes to do things properly some of the time.
Unfortunately, though, he's not exactly /prompt/; the Gedo swordsman actually arrives a good five minutes late, striding casually into the park where the fight is supposed to take place, a wooden practice sword slung casually over his shoulder. Given that there's only one other person present who seems to be getting ready for physical exercise, he assumes she must be his opponent - he actually has no idea what the person he challenged is supposed to look like.
"So you're Sada, then?" Tenma wonders, tapping his bokken against his shoulder. He doesn't even apologise for being late, much less offer an explanation. "Guess we should get this show on the road... Don't feel too bad once you get beat, hey?"
Traveling through this park is one Shinobu Ootsuka, guitar case over her shoulder as her coat flaps behind her lightly. Heading across the grass in blatant disregard for the paths provided, she passes by Sada, and slows... or is that just a drama crawl? Whichever the case, she looks over to the weapon, blinking in confusion, and then, she looks back to Sada. "Huh. Did you see the ninja that dropped that?", she asks casually. Looking up in thought, she touches her chin, "... I'd return it, but I think they'd kill me for knowing too much..."
Turning to Tenma, she blinks, and then walks away a short distance towards the Gazebo. She isn't eaten by it, thankfully. Setting her case down on the steps, she looks between the two, blinking, and then points towards Sada. "Eh? You're a fighter?!", she exclaims, and then turns to Tenma with her swirly fingertip, repeating, "You're a fighter?!" A pause, and she looks to the bokken over her shoulder as she rubs her neck. "Wait, that makes sense... ahehehe..."
Sada straightens up from her lean and looks towards the Gedo High swordsman with a warm, winning smile; the sort of thing they teach you if you're going to be a debutante instead of a simple schoolgirl. "So you're Tenma Kiryuu?" she asks, kneeling down to pick up her kusarigama. The weight's been wrapped with several layers of tape, and the scythe is a wooden practice version.
"Aaah," she says, "Ootsuka." She smiles at the hair-brained girl, before saying, with a slow, indulgent nod, "Yes... I am."
Her attention goes back to Tenma, and she grasps the scythe in one hand and the chain near the end of the weight in the other, letting the rest of the chain's links fall down, nearly to her knees. "Are you familiar with this style of weapon, Kiryuu?"
She lets the weight slide out of her hand, grasping the chain further down and giving it a single, gentle spin. She smiles a little more widely, waiting for an answer (or an opening shot?)
"Yeah," Tenma responds when Sada asks to confirm his name. "An' don't you forget it." The winning smile is met with a confident smirk from the tall young man, who starts to lift his free hand - his left - to his face... When Shinobu shows up. "S'right," he tells her when she asks if he's a fighter. Well, it SHOULD be fairly obvious, but even with his inflated sense of self-worth, Tenma knows he's not really a familiar figure in Southtown. All in good time, right?
The boy's blue-eyed gaze returns to Sada thereafter, in time to listen to her question about her weapon. "L'il bit," he admits. "'course the issue's more whether or not /you/ are, right?" Amused at his own joke, Tenma lifts his left hand again, and bites into the skin of his thumb, breaking it and drawing blood... Lowering his bokken, he draws his thumb along the wooden blade, painting a red line down its length, and then he sweeps the weapon through the air; as he does, a red aura surrounds the blade, misty and hazy, like a fog of blood. "So c'mon, show me what'cha got," he adds, beckoning Sada onwards, keeping a close eye on her movements.
COMBATSYS: Tenma has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Tenma 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Tenma focuses on his next action.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Tenma 0/-------/-------|
"Oh, you're a ninja? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone!", Shinobu says loudly, and then folds her arms, beaming proudly at that particular point. Such as it's worth, anyway. She tilts her head, looking between the two. "Hmmmm?" She looks as Tenma does his thing, and gives a little confused look. "Ehhh? Is that an exorcism trick?", she asks, and then leans the other way to fumble about in her pocket.
Pulling out a pair of white gloves, she takes out a pair of white gloves. Raising one arm to the air with a quick thrust, she then throws out a punch, saying, "Osu! Go for it, Seijyun!", she exclaims, and then folds her hands behind her back, grinning widely again as she watches on.
Sada clucks her tongue as she continues. "The kusarigama is the natural enemy of the sword; I'm sure you know all the details, so I won't bore you with them." That smile changes tone slightly, becoming what might have been a friendly grin if it wasn't for the lips still largely covering the teeth and the hair hanging slightly into her face.
She doesn't step forwards. Instead she spins the kusari above her head, once, twice, three times -- before suddenly leaning forwards and twisting the spinning weight around, twisting it under her arm and releasing it just in time for the up swing to send the chain flying up and then, sharply, down towards Tenma's sword-arms!
"I hope you enjoy them!" Sada calls, while the chain rattles merrily along its painful arc.
COMBATSYS: Sada has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Sada 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Tenma
COMBATSYS: Sada successfully hits Tenma with Odani Foundation Art.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Tenma
In fact, no, Tenma doesn't enjoy them; though he makes a valiant attempt to move out of the way of the chain, his sword arm is ensnared, which is a little bit problematic, and the impact itself sends him reeling. Well... This should certainly be interesting. "Pff... Hah," the Gedo boy laughs, digging his heels into the soft earth underfoot and, with his free hand, grabbing the chain of Sada's weapon.
"'least you're well-informed," Tenma says, yanking at the chain with all his might, and using himself as a pivot; his hope is to either make the Seijyun girl let /go/ of her weapon, or to use it to toss her into something, like a tree, or the ground, or Shinobu. Either way, things get a little better for him, as he grunts with the effort...
COMBATSYS: Sada counters Strong Throw from Tenma with Asai Harvester.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Tenma
"Natural enemy... I see...", comments Shionbu, and then crouches, snapping out her arm in a salute to the side. "Go!", she cheers on as Sada catches the attack, and then stands up again, looking after Tenma. "Maybe I'm cheering the wrong person on...", she muses softly to herself, touching her lip again before clutching her fists close to her chest. "Don't get overconfident! He could be a really good swordsman!... or worse yet, a really bad one!"
Sada laughs in agreement with the Gedo boy. Perhaps she's experiencing the fun and joy of a good, enthusiastic fight out in nice sunny weather. Perhaps she's just glad that he's got his sword arm wrapped up.
She watches Tenma's arms. She sees the grab and she sees how he's moving, and before he can really start to pull, she's running forwards; the chain's yanked and twisted but without that tension in it, it doesn't do a whole lot more than rattle impressively. Over the four paces or so between Sada and the taller boy, she's able to build up some speed, and she runs PAST him, "slicing" across his abdomen with the blunt wooden blade! It may leave a big red scratch, but naturally, no blood will be drawn.
This leaves her in relatively close proximity to him, and she turns to face him, raising the kama and leaving the weight and chain loose for now. Tenma will either remain bound or shrug them off; either way, deal with it when it happens. "That's the Asai Variant's central form," she tells Tenma, her tone a little bantering. "Actually, it's a reversal; pulling on the chain was really a clever move!" It's gone from bantering to 'sarcastic', even if she's still beaming.
Her eyes flick momentarily towards Shinobu. An opening??
That was still an unexpected move from Tenma's perspective, and so he gets hit in what would probably be a very bad attack to get hit with were Sada using a live weapon, staggering back... And of course, he uses the slack to pull his arm and weapon free. That wasn't a very smart way to start things off for him, but it's not as though he's just going to lie down and give up, particularly since Sada is not, at the moment, paying attention to him.
Tenma's smirk comes back to life, and he swings his red-glowing wooden sword in a wide vertical arc straight up. It's nowhere near close enough to hit the girl, because that's not the point; the point is the crescent of crimson blood that springs into being in the wake of the sweeping blade, rocketing towards Sada. "Watch where you're payin' attention, Princess," he snaps as he attacks. Fighting a little dirty? Well sure!
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Sada with Dharmapala.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Tenma
Shinobu snaps her arm up in another salute before bringing it down. "Don't look at me!... uh... osu!", she declares as Sada glances in her direction, and then points in Tenma's direction. "Whatever school you're from, it's goin' down!... osu!", she says with another quick gesture of her gloved hand, leaving a white blur behind before her face falls a little. "... is that real blood?", she asks, but there's no time for an answer, only a wince as she sees the hit.
Crimson blood that flows --
Sada looks at the peculiar crescent with an inevitable sort of sinking feeling. It's coming, and she knows that even though she's already ducking it's not going to be enough to
WHAM
There we go, she thinks as she flies back several yards, landing in a half-crouch with the kusarigama stretched out in front of her. She shivers for a moment, even managing to say "guh". She staggers, but then she starts reeling in the lengths of chain.
"Well," she says, "that's... a neat trick. But..."
After a quick spin, she hurls the chain forwards in a wide, arcing loop towards Tenma, sliding one leg forwards to stand in a more prepared posture! Her breathing's quicker and she has a bruise over one eye, but if anything, she looks even happier now. (Seijyun is weirdos.)
"Can you dodge this?!"
COMBATSYS: Tenma dodges Sada's Spite Musashi Art.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Tenma
Though it's quite satisfying to Tenma as his rather macabre attack strikes Sada, his enjoyment is a bit stymied by Shinobu, shaking his head a little - in disbelief, not disagreement - as she talks. "'course it's real blood," the swordsman says. "And I go to Gedo!" Which is, in his opinion, the best school in the city. None of that stuffy uptight 'regular learning', and they don't actually make him wear their uniform. Which is good, because it's pretty ugly.
Of course, he hears Sada's remarks, and sees her spin and send her chain his way, but perhaps in response to her taunting question he throws himself into a standing back flip over the chain, landing in a low crouch on his feet. He springs out of that crouch pretty quickly, dashing at Sada at top speed, hoping to get to her before she recovers from her attack, thrusting his wooden sword forward and flicking his wrist... In an attempt to actually smack her in the face with it, though the bloody chi that surrounds the blade might make it a bit more than that.
COMBATSYS: Sada dodges Tenma's Weapon Jab.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Tenma
"Oh! I used to go there!", Shinobu replies to Tenma with a quick knife hand, before crouching to either side with quick salutes. "But... Seijyun's strong too!", she says, snapping back to attention, arms folded. Of course, the irony is that she's wearing a Gedo jacket while she cheers on Seijyun. Weirdos, indeed.
Then, she snaps back into action, cheering Sada on. "That's the spirit! Go! Go!", she calls out, and then flips back, hopping into the gazebo proper, turning about with a quick turn to face the action... and almost slips right down that short staircase. Thankfully, she pinwheels only for a moment.
Sada can live with not dodging other people's vicious energy projectiles, but it's another thing entirely to not dodge it when they're trying to stab you in the frigging face! Sada answers the thrust towards that beautiful, dainty face by ducking low, suddenly.
She draws the chain back in, letting the weight drag on the ground for a moment as she lunges and twists forwards, trying to scratch and strike at the man's upper legs in a short flurry of blows as she steps to the side and /away/ from his easy 'slam sword down' arc of motion!
She doesn't seem to take notice of Shinobu for the moment, perhaps due to being caught up in the spirit of battle (or not wanting to embarrass herself against the swordman). That, or she's taking the girl's advice to heart!
COMBATSYS: Tenma endures Sada's Medium Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Tenma
So, Tenma's wooden sword whistles through empty air; that's okay, he can deal with that. But then the girl attacks him some more with her chain weapon, amd he... Doesn't even try to avoid it? Instead, the Gedo High student stands his ground, letting the weapon hit him repeatedly, gritting his teeth against the pain as the Seijyun girl moves away... And then at the first opportunity he gets, he lunges forward.
But it's not with his sword that Tenma attacks, instead trying to catch Sada with a regular-looking punch, following the first strike with a few more, a seemingly random flurry of strikes aimed to alter the way chi flows through the girl's body, as well as carefully herd her into a better position for him, hopefully without her realising it.
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Sada with Flow Breaker.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Tenma
Shinobu regains her balance, and snaps out some quick gestures. "Go, Seijyun, go!", she says, as the chain strikes home, but then adds a "No, Seijyun, no!", as Tenma counterattacks. Holding her fist before her, she calls out, "All he's got are just evil exorcist tricks! Show 'em what your... um... chain... sickle... thingy... yeah!", she tries, but fumbles at the cheer line. "Whatever, just beat him up!", she says as she raises her arms to the air more unceremoniously.
Sada is not sure if it's her chi, but she certainly feels the breath go out of her underneath that brutal onslaught. She gasps like a landed fish as she takes a step back, eyes watering as her teeth grit. She doesn't laugh or say anything, likely to reserve that very breath.
She does glance at Shinobu with faint annoyance for a moment, even as she twirls the kusari around again, slinging it with much less grace around her head towards the noggin of the tall young man!
COMBATSYS: Tenma interrupts Thrown Object from Sada with Initial Breaker.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Sada 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1 Tenma
After that series of punches, though, Tenma settles back into a stance of sorts, facing Sada sidelong and holding his sword horizontally across his body, point towards her; his free hand held near the tip of the wooden blade. Just what he's doing this for isn't entirely clear until Sada goes and whips the chain at his head again, at which point he... Steps into it.
The chain crashes into his apparently rock-hard cranium as Tenma thrusts his sword hand forward, in what would if it were a live blade surely be a dangerous strike, smashing the wooden point into Sada's chest to knock her away with the actual physical strike, and the mingling blood-like energy that seems to follow all of his attacks. "Hey! Pay attention here!" he taunts, as Sada seems to be distracted by her airheaded friend over yonder.
Shinobu stops in mid-gesture as she gets the glance, and freezes, surprise slowly dawning on her face. Then, sadness as she slumps a little, and then winces again as both attacks connect, but to Sada's misfortune. She slumps a little, and then glares to Tenma, getting a more serious look on her face. Her eyes narrow as she frowns, but she remains quiet for the moment, simply staring at him.
Another strike to the chest! Sada's face contorts in a grimace as she staggers back. Perhaps she blames Shinobu for this indignity; Shinobu, or herself, or God, or fate. She does not, however, intend to go quietly into that good night. Perhaps out of sheer semi-impotent fury, or perhaps in order to emphasize to Tenma that she still has fight in her, she steps towards him, drawing one leg back --
And then slamming it forwards! It's aimed at his groin, perhaps inevitably, although the force she puts into it -- twisting much of her body -- means it'll probably sting wherever it happens to connect, even if he only does so much as turn a little away from it.
"I AM!" she shouts. Perhaps because she wasn't, but now is.
COMBATSYS: Tenma endures Sada's Strong Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Sada 1/-----==/=======|=======\===----\1 Tenma
What is it with people in this town and groin shots? Of course, Tenma's been known to hit people there too, but he's not trained to be prim and proper, is he? Which ostensibly, Sada /should/ be. Anyway, the point is, Tenma stands there and lets her kick him right in the balls, and then he forces himself to grin a big ol' insolent grin about it, despite the fact that he kind of wants to pass out then and there from it. Then he puts his left hand up in her face, fingers slightly contorted in a simple mudra position, while his other hand, with the wooden sword, swings back.
"Hope you like this," Tenma grits out, suddenly twisting to swing his bokken as hard as he can at Sada's exposed side, under her ribs; his bloody chi is so concentrated on the weapon that it's nearly obscured by it, a red arc following the blade as he attacks with it. If it hits, it will probably hurt quite a bit, but more importantly... His chi will actually pass /through/ Sada, stealing her energy and leaving cold and numbness in its wake, chilling the fire in her blood. "GO DIE ALREADY!!"
COMBATSYS: Sada fails to counter The Sealing Sword from Tenma with Cut Trapped Grain.
[ \\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Sada 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Tenma
Biting her lip at the repeated - and painful - exchange, Shinobu sits down on the steps, and raises her hand before saying dully, "Go, go, osu.", before taking off the gloves and resting her cheek on a fist... and the connected elbow on a knee. "Man, don't kill her, or you're gonna face me next." She switches the hand she's leaning on, waiting to see how the finish turns out. It's not long now... and though she hasn't given up hope, her enthusiasm has been curbed.
Sada takes a half step back, looking satisfied with herself. A moment later, she feels something coming - she lifts up her head, eyes going wide! She twists, bringing the scythe around, trying perhaps to redirect the blow -- but it's too late.
It's like being hit with an icicle, she thinks, as she's hit, her eyes seeming to widen and go slightly hollow. Her mouth opens and gapes for a moment as she staggers to the side, clutching at the bruised spot. When she breathes out, condensation is visible, but in a horrible sort of reverse; the air in her LUNGS was chilled, and the air is cooled by it.
She breathes in, and it's like surfacing, as her lungs are saved from any sort of permanent maiming. She says, her deep voice hoarse as if she'd been in the cold for hours, says, "Is that... your best, Kiryuu...?"
Stumbling back a bit after his attack, Tenma catches himself, managing to catch his breath; that attack seems to have taken a lot out of him. Also, he notices Shinobu again, and her apparent lack of understanding of the concept of 'trash talk'. "Shut it, Osaka," he grits, dismissively, towards the spacey girl, demonstrating both a lack of irony (as he is Osakan himself) and a distressing familiarity with shoujo anime for an apparently no-good delinquent boy.
Anyway, he has more important fish to fry.
Straightening up, he rests the wooden sword on his shoulder, the aura of red having died down a little in the aftermath of his attack, and he walks over towards Sada. "Matter of fact, it is," Tenma responds, before he swings his bokken down in a fast, single-handed strike. Not very nice of him, but hey - the fight's not over yet!
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Sada with Light Strike.
[ \ < > ////////// ]
Sada 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 Tenma
"Shut... it?", Shinobu echoes, and seems to look away, considering, and then shakes her head. "Ah, I'm not from Osaka, so..." She looks to Saka, and says, "Ah, c'mon, show me the really cool part!", she exclaims, and thrusts a fist into the air again more casually. "Stand and fight!", she says, and slowly stands up, awaiting the big finish.
Sada, for her part, is from Kyoto. The sword swings around; Sada tries to lean back out of the way but manages only to catch it along the ribcage rather than on the head or the shoulder. The glowing force of that strike sends her staggering to the side. She sinks to one knee, breathing heavily. Her vision seems to wobble in and out; she lifts her head to look at the man...
And then she grips the kama, lunging forwards with one last rush of force that will send her sprawling after she completes it. The final technique, though, comes upwards fast, aiming towards Tenma's midsection in a rising sweep --
Before she keels over, landing (if not stopped) on her face in the warm Japanese dirt. Mmm -- grass.
COMBATSYS: Sada can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Tenma 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Tenma endures Sada's Fierce Strike.
[ \\\\\\ <
Tenma 0/-------/----===|
With most of the wind gone out of Sada's sails, her final attack is pretty obvious to Tenma; he sees it coming from the proverbial mile away, and he decides... To stand there and take it. He doesn't budge, not an inch or a hair, instead just letting the rising sweep smash into his midsection and on up, staggering back from the force of the blow, watching Sada tumble towards the grass. For his part though, Tenma stands, battered but unbowed, and giving his bokken a last sweep through the air he ends the mysterious chi link, the red glow fading from the weapon with a sound like a slowly exhaled breath.
"So much for the 'natural enemy' of the sword, huh?" the Gedo swordsman says down to the fallen Sada, rubbing his gut a little. Man... He's gonna be sore in the morning. Especially after that kick in the balls!
COMBATSYS: Tenma has ended the fight here.
Shinobu walks over to Sada and crouches down nearby, looking down at her. "You okay?", she says, before looking up to Tenma. "Man, don't act like you know everything...", she adds annoyedly, and then looks down to Sada again, and starts to take off her jacket. "Hello?", she adds to the fallen fighter, tilting her head a little to see if Sada stirs at all.
Sada rolls over onto her side, her hair hanging into her face...!!
She groans, and then says, a little thickly, "You're not fighting with a sword... you're using that damn energy, aren't you?" She sits up, with a bit of difficulty, and shakes her head to get rid of stray bits of grass. She wipes a faint hint of blood from her lips with the back of her wrist, and looks up at Tenma. "Besides," she continues, "now I know how you move."
Ignoring Shinobu entirely, Tenma fishes something out of his pocket; a cloth sheath to carry his bokken in, tying it closed once he's concealed the wooden weapon entirely. "I'm fighting with both," he says to Sada, shrugging his shoulders. "You ain't gonna be a sore loser about it or anything, are you?" That's how it works after all, to him; you fight with what you've got. /Not/ using something you're gifted with is pure foolishness. "But if that's how you think, I guess we'll see what happens next time, huh? Train hard, Princess," which seems to be his nickname for ever Seijyun student he meets, because he's kind of a jerk. "Only the dead stand still." The cloth-wrapped bokken resting on his shoulder, the Geo student turns to walk away...
"....", Shinobu says, ignored on both fronts. "... whatever." She gets up, and walks over to her guitar case, picking it up and putting it over her shoulder. Then, she walks to walk off herself, and pauses, looking back to Sada as if to make sure she's getting up on her own. After all, it's bad form to belabor the point with another fighter, but it's also bad form to leave one of your own behind... however shaky her connection with her classmate might be.
Sada lets out a throaty, short laugh to Tenma. "No," she says, "but you're nice to give me a chance to learn how to beat you." She pushes herself to a kneeling position, before looking over at Shinobu, blinking twice.
"What's wrong?" she asks, putting a hand - gingerly - to her sore hip. "Are you sore 'cause I wasn't talking to you?" She extends a hand towards Shinobu before saying in a tone that may be meant as authorative, "Help me up, my side hurts."
Log created on 19:28:36 05/16/2007 by Tenma, and last modified on 09:16:34 05/27/2007.