Description: [Riko vs. Hotaru] Poor Hotaru. She's a popular girl. Being harrassed by all sorts of people. Unfortunately, her problems are just getting worse. Because she's been kidnapped. By ninja.
The Ryohara Dojo.
Well. It's called a dojo. But that's not really accurate. It's not a hall with rice-paper walls and wooden floorboards. It isn't even a modern airy training hall. No. This room is dark, cavernous, and deep underground - carved entirely from stone and renforced with metal plate and massive steel girders.
The lighting is dim, barely enough to see by - a soft blue glow cast by scattered electric lamps by the room. The shadows are thick and oppressive, with large mechanical shapes in the darkness - as well as cryptic scrolls upon the walls.
One lamp, though, is turned up higher than the others. It's the lamp shining on one Hotaru Futaba, a rare guest in this place. It's not like it often has visitors. Hotaru, though, is an honoured guest today. There's even a few cushions where she lies on the hard stone floor. And a cup of hot tea, resting on a low wooden table, upon a little serving tray.
Of course, there's the fact that she's unconscious.
But that shouldn't be surprising, really. Riko and Seishirou have strange ideas of hospitality. Because their idea of inviting someone...is to track them down, ambush them with a prepared capture technique, and drag them to a secure location.
Case in point.
Riko stands in the shadows, just outside the pool of light cast by that one bright lamp above Hotaru. She checks her watch. By her calculations, the other girl should be waking up around...
...now.
When one has been through what the young Futaba heiress has been through lately, ending up in these kinds of situations can be quite the guessing game. What is it this time? Do Elle and Marise have 'follow up' business with the girl? Did Eiji get tired of waiting on a response from his sworn enemies, the Sakazaki's, and decide to kidnap Ryo's student to provoke them into action? Maybe one of the any number of people she's fought recently has some kind of weird grudge they're out to pursue?
When Hotaru's eyes finally blink open, she lies still for a long moment. Seconds pass before she begins to test her ability to move. A week ago, Elle had her tied up so tight she couldn't even so much as twitch her thumb. But no such constraints seem to be a factor now...
And thus it is, unless otherwise prevented, that the Kenpo artist rolls to the side in the direction that she woke up facing, pushing off with her hands to come up into a standing position quickly, her feet sliding over the stone floor a couple of inches before coming to a stop. Her hands are already in front of her, ready to defend herself from unknown assailants.
But no assault comes.
There is only one other figure in the room, the silhouetted shape of a girl. Not exactly an imposing figure. At least she wouldn't be...under normal circumstances. It's the form of a girl in her mid-teens, younger and smaller than Hotaru.
In a clear soprano voice, she speaks:
"Hi, sorry about this."
A hand gestures, indicating the fine porcelain cup sitting on the low wooden table that Hotaru woke up besides - and the small teapot beside it. Wisps of sweet-smelling steam rise from both.
"I'm afraid," Riko continues, "we only have green tea with jasmine. /Someone/ forgot to do the shopping again."
Though for a moment there is a flash of panic in her eyes at the sight of a figure unknown, the expression fades quickly to be replaced with guarded curiosity. Hotaru glances from side to side, then over her shoulder - a quick, cursory inspection of her surroundings, before her attention is fixed on the girl that speaks up.
Three cautious steps forward are taken, bringing Hotaru next to the table. "There has to be easier ways of inviting someone over for tea," she murmurs, crouching down to pick up the cup on the table, cradling it in her hands as she brings it up near her face to let the scent of the contents waft over her nose.
She never takes her eyes off Riko now. "Well, it's been nice, but..." She seems torn at the moment, a bit of hesitation as if considering her next course of action very carefully.
There's another gesture in the darkness, one hard to make out - the other girl is standing just outside the pool of azure illumination over Hotaru's head.
"Oh, right, right. You're Hotaru Futaba, right?"
As she speaks, the girl glides forward, drawing closer to Hotaru. But her feet do not seem to move. She simply slides silently, ghosting along the ground. The reason why becomes apparent as she enters the light..Riko is wearing a pair of dark-coloured in-line skates, the wheels rolling soundlessly over the floor.
She's dressed simply, monochromatically, wearing a plain black t-shirt and a pair of bicycle shorts in the same hue. Her hair is black as well, though with a few streaks tinted blue - or that may just be reflected light from the lamps overhead. It's difficult to tell.
The polished metal plate tied to her forehead also gleams in the light - a ninja hitae-ate.
In a cheerful voice, she continues, "It'd be terrible if I kidnapped the wrong person. Seishirou-sama would be /soooo/ mad."
She smiles, an earnest look on her heart-shaped face.
"I am," comes the reply. Deception isn't something Hotaru practices as a rule. Mostly because she's not very good about it. Her eyes widen, perhaps in slight surprise, as the smaller framed girl steps into the light.
"Who is this Seishirou? And what am I doing here? Is it about money? If it's a ransom you want, then just let me take care of it and be on my way." Paying off would-be kidnappers may not be the soundest investment of the family money, but when you're the one that gets kidnapped, it doesn't seem like that bad of a deal.
"Otherwise, I don't really know what business you have with me." Still she craddles the cup in her hands, as if just enjoying the warmth against her fingers for a moment.
"Oh, oh," Riko protests hurridly, holding her hands up, "it's nothing like /that/."
She motions to the pile of cushions strewn over the stone floor, besides the tea table, as if beckoning Hotaru to sit and make herself comfortable.
Explanations are in order, after all.
"Well," Riko says, in a breathless rush, "you're going out with that Jiro Kasagi guy, right? Seishirou-sama kinda had a...chat...with him recently. We're sorta interested in Jiro, though it's totally not /that/ kind of interest, so you don't need to worry about that, don't want you getting the wrong idea. He's kinda cute but not my type, and I don't think Seishirou-sama likes boys."
Pause.
"...I think."
Pause.
"Annnnyway," Riko continues, linking her fingers together and clasping them behind her head, elbows sticking out to either side, "that means we're kinda interested in you too."
"I-" Hotaru starts with surprise at the mention of going out with the Stray Dog of Southtown, but then falls quiet. She doesn't sit when invited and her whole body remains tense even as Riko continues speaking.
"Then-" she starts again when Riko mentions that Jiro isn't the right type for her... or this Seishirou guy.
"Interested in me? Jiro is away. If holding me here is some clever way to get him to do something you want, he isn't even around to find out about it." Hotaru breaths in then exhales with a huff, her tone slowly becoming more annoyed with this girl.
Riko smiles. It's a big and friendly smile, showing lots of teeth.
"Oh no," she says brightly, "if Seishirou-sama wanted Jiro, we'd have grabbed him. No, Seishirou-sama asked me to bring /you/ here."
Riko's cheeks dimple, as her smile widens, her lips pulling back. Her eyes gleam beneath the blue electric lights. She points a finger at the other girl, the movement of her outstretched arm stirring the wisps of steam rising from the teacup in Hotaru's hands.
"He wants to see...what /you/ can do."
The fine Chinese teacup is already warm against Hotaru's palm, the white porceline heated by the steaming beverage. But all of a sudden, it grows warmer still...
...before exploding into a million fragments, razor shards of ceremic flying outward with a spray of scalding superheated fluid.
COMBATSYS: Riko has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Riko 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Riko 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
COMBATSYS: Riko successfully hits Hotaru with Improvised Tactics.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Riko 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Hotaru
The surprise attack clearly catches Hotaru offguard, the girl's eyes narrowing a little, clearly trying to puzzle out what this is all about. By the time she becomes aware that the cup in her hand has somehow become a hostile weapon it's too late to do anything about it.
Ceremic shards splash against her along with the hot liquied, tea burning her skin as she staggers back, wiping the hot fluid from her face with both of her hands. A cut along her cheek and another on the opposite side of her neck both leftover traces of the once-cup. At least she seems to have not gotten anything in her eyes, for as much as that stung, Hotaru is glaring back at Riko with no apparent lack of focus.
Hissing as she tries to ignore the hot liquid soaking through her clothing, Hotaru sprints forward, attempting to take hold of Riko by the arms in order to lock her down long enough for her to follow up with a sequence of strong strikes with her legs. A kick aimed for her shin, a stomp for her knee, a knee thrust for her stomach, and a strong roundhouse for her face, each blow intended to punish as severely as possible.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Riko with Shin-Jou Tai.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Riko 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Hotaru
The blows rain down on Riko, fast and furious. She barely has time to widen her eyes before being unceremoniously grabbed and abused. The final strike spins Riko's head round, the rest of her body following in an airborne spiral...
...but she vanishes before she hits the ground, wisping into thin air.
It's probably a trick of the light. It almost certainly /is/ some kind of trick, considering the darkness of the room, the heavy shadows, the erratic illumination from those harsh flourescent bulbs. But it's a vanishing all the same.
There's a faint blurring across the chamber, several feet away, as Riko's outline resolves into being, against one of the metal-plated walls. She coughs, phlegm in her throat.
"Not bad," she manages.
Teeth gleam white in the shadows.
COMBATSYS: Riko gathers her will.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Riko 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Hotaru
Hotaru was in the process of taking steps forward after Riko when the skating ninja vanishes. Annoyance at being captured combined with dealing with an exploding cup of tea has put her on the offensive, making her more aggressive than she normally fights.
Sliding to a stop when her target is no longer in sight, Hotaru freezes in place, eyes wide with alertness though she seems to be paying closer attention to what she can /hear/ at the moment. "That was a cheap attack," she calls out to the shadows.
The moment Riko appears again, Hotaru whirls around to face her, switching from a dead stop into a full sprint in an instant. Leaping, she goes air-born, jumping just high enough to let her bring her knee down toward Riko's shoulder. If she connects, she'll swing her other leg around into a kick for the ninja's face before pressing off into a backflip to try and give herself a bit of space.
COMBATSYS: Riko blocks Hotaru's Rengeki Shuu.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Riko 1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0 Hotaru
A heel crashes into one raised limb...as Riko deflects the kick to her shoulder, intercepting it with her forearm. Then she pivots smoothly, silently, catching the second kick to her face with her other hand. It'd be a graceful, almost choreographed action ... if it weren't for the amount of effort, and the fact that even blocked, the force of Hotaru's attack still pushes Riko backwards. Her skate-clad feet are set such that the wheels don't roll...but she skids rearward all the same. Riko's shoulderblades press into the wall, her body slamming into the sheet metal - with a loud metallic ring.
The metal vibrates.
Vibrates.
And then...
Riko vanishes.
But it isn't the subtle wisping of a moment earlier - at least not quite. This close to Riko, Hotaru can probably see the faint afterimage left by her movement - and she can probably sense the chi in it, a flickering blue light, the soft crackle of electricity.
Then it's not soft anymore. The entire metal plate bolted to the wall comes /alive/, a giant conductor, amplifying and directing the sudden blast.
COMBATSYS: Riko successfully hits Hotaru with Light Fantastic.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Riko 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Hotaru
While Hotaru is able to press Riko pretty hard, her training has always been of the more traditional sort. Like. Dealing with punches, kicks, flaming balls of chi. The indirect attacks coming from Riko aren't on her list of things the Kenpo artist has prepared for, and it shows as she gets blasted backward.
Managing to stay on her feet, however, Hotaru ends up near the small table in the end. In one smooth motion, she reaches her hand down, hooking her fingers into the handles of the tea pot resting on top of the table, then hurls it roughly toward where she last saw Riko, pitching it almost like a baseball. Let's see how she likes a taste of her own medicine!
COMBATSYS: Riko dodges Hotaru's Thrown Object.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Riko 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Hotaru
Riko stands against the Japanese rice-paper door at the end of the room a framed rectangle of white. Clearly visible. She grins at Hotaru, as the other girl hefts her improvised weapon - a grin of apparent approval.
Then Riko slides to the side, the teapot flying past her head. She ducks beneath the falling shrapnel and spray of tea as it explodes against the door.
Her skates catch the ground. She rolls, and she melts once more into the shadows besides the doorway.
Leaving just pieces of broken ceremic, a puddle of steaming beverage...
...and an unmarked door, the white paper surface almost shining.
The sound of her skates reaches Hotaru's ears, polyurethane wheels against steel panel and carved flagstone.
Riko's voice comes floating out of the darkness as she breezes past, briefly passing through a pool of light cast by one of the hanging lamps.
"See? No such thing as a cheap attack," she says, cheerily, as she glides by Hotaru's left.
Then from the right, softer: "Just attacks."
A heartbeat...
...before Riko drops from -above-, coming off the ceiling, one leg extended, heavy skate-clad heel falling towards Hotaru's head.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru endures Riko's Light Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Riko 1/-----==/=======|=======\=------\1 Hotaru
Again with the vanishing. Hotaru turns around in circles, quickly at first, but then slowly, the sounds of her own movement becoming quiet enough for her to hear Riko's approach.
A glance to the left, a hand raised to the right, but when the attack finally comes, Hotaru shifts just enough for Riko to come down on her shoulder instead of the top of her head.
And then, however the ninja decides to land, she'll find Futaba right there in her face, swinging rapid little punches, each one meant to break down her guard, seeking for any small opening in her defense in order to press on into stronger attacks.
COMBATSYS: Riko interrupts Sou-shou Tenrenge EX from Hotaru with Houdini EX.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Riko 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Hotaru
Riko gasps, air driven forcefully, involuntarily, from her lungs. She stumbles. It's hard to land properly when someone's -punching you- before you hit the ground. Her skated feet scrape across the flagstones, wheels spinning - too fast. Balance lost, she falls, just as the second punch from Hotaru snaps her head back.
Hotaru's third punch, though...
...that goes /through/ Riko.
Knuckles, hand, wrist, forearm, all the way up to the elbow. Through Riko's ribcage.
Except...
...there's no breaking bone, no sundered flesh. In fact, there isn't any solidity to speak of, no physical substance. Just a mass of crackling blue chi. It does have Riko's shape, Riko's features, Riko's smile. In a vague sense, at least. The impression lasts only for an instant, before it explodes. Forks of electricity spear Hotaru, a pillar of lightning reaching from floor to ceiling. The electricity smashes into the light fixture overhead, blowing out the lamp in a spray of shattered glass. The blue glow continues on the wire, running across the top of the chamber, before reaching another bulb. This too explodes, as electricity flashes downwards. Before it fades, Riko is visible, standing there, arms crossed in front of her - several feet away from Hotaru.
Dismay shatters the expression of Hotaru as her hand slips through the image. That's not supposed to happen! Realization sets in as she starts to pull her hand back and then it hits. Energy coursing through her body paralizes the girl as she serves as the unfortunate conduit of enough power to destroy the light fixtures. "A-ya!"
Finally she drops to her knees and crumples forward to her hands. Her Chinese styled vest is destroyed and the white shirt beneath it seared in places. She doesn't see Riko. Or much of anything at all, her blue eyes squinting at the blurry image of her hands.
Panicked and drained, all she can do is prop herself up for the moment.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Riko 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Hotaru
Darkness, now. With the two light fixtures nearest Hotaru...shattered by that explosive technique, the chamber is even further into shadow. There still are pools of light, of course, enough dim illumination to make out shapes and certain key features. But there's parts of the room that are now completely obscured.
Riko melts out from the blackness. She's only visible because of the backdrop, because of what's behind her. The small rice-paper sliding door at one end of the underground chamber. The paper would be white under normal light. Here, now, it has a faintly bluish cast. Riko crouches in front of the door, bending down. She picks up a wet porceline shard.
Once, it was part of a teapot.
That was before Hotaru threw it at Riko.
Riko holds it up to her nose, sniffs it. She turns it round between her fingers.
"Huh," Riko says, "you're pretty good, actually..."
COMBATSYS: Riko focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Riko 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Hotaru
Gritting her teeth, Hotaru's arms flex, finding the strength to get the girl back up on her feet. Her face shadowed as she turns back in the direction that she hears Riko's voice, it would be hard to make out the expression of doubt that she wrestles against.
The fighter's arm rolls back, a blue aura washing over her arm as she digs deep, creating a focus of energy in the palm of her hand. Finally she swings her arm forward, lobbing the shimmering sphere of pure force directly for Riko. The set up was labored enough that either she finds the attack difficult to do in general or she's just that worked over at this point.
But once it leaves the tips of her fingers, it sails through the air with a respectable amount of speed.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Riko with Hakki Shou.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Riko 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Hotaru
The blast smashes into Riko - who gives an abbreviated -yelp-. She crashes into the door behind her, an impact that jars the rice-paper screen in its frame...even shaking the wall. The girl slides down the door, head bowed, spine against the rigid surface. Her head lolls. She ends up at the base of the doorframe in a crumpled heap, motionless.
Then her fingers twitch.
Her eyes snap open. She hops back up, the wheels of her skates hitting the floor. Upright, now. Her hand opens. She tosses the porceline shard to the ground.
Her palm is bloody from the tight grip she had on it. A grip that grew tighter when Hotaru hit her.
Riko leans against the door, her hand leaving a smeared mark on the door's surface.
Her eyes regard Hotaru.
She smiles.
"Yeah, definitely not bad."
Then she moves, pushing off the entryway, skates whirling. She races straight at the other girl - when she's close, whipping one knee up to Hotaru's gut.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru interrupts Light Kick from Riko with Tenshin Shou.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Riko 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Hotaru
As the fireball sails off the blue aura over her forearm fades away and Hotaru brings her opposite hand over to clench her arm tightly as if reacting to some burning pain resulting from the use of the projectile. Yes, that definitely isn't an easy attack for the girl to do.
As the Hakki Shou finds its mark, Hotaru stays put, much of the aggression she demonstrated earlier in the fight seems to have bled out of her demeanor a little. Controlling her breathing rate, she crosses her arms in front of her, then exhales slowly, crouching into a ready stance that she has yet to actually demonstrate thus far into the fight.
Legs spread far apart, her arms are out flat out at her sides like birds wings as Hotaru switches into a Phoenix stance.
When Riko comes for her this time, the girl lunges directly into the kick like a spring uncoiled, driving her shoulder into the ninja girl with all the strength she can muster from her legs to her torso. The momentum is enough to carry her into the air. At the apex of the momentum, she extends her arms again and drops back down to the ground, landing in a defensive crouch.
"Ow," Riko says, succinctly.
She lies on her side, sprawled on the stone floor, partially lit by a swaying electric lantern.
Swaying, because Riko actually /hit the ceiling/ when Hotaru tackled her. Hit it as part of her upward arc...before bouncing back to the ground. Slowly, Riko pries herself off the floor, pushing herself up with elbows and knees. She doesn't rise fully, but remains, instead, in a crouch. She looks at Hotaru, rubbing her face with the back of her hand, bloodied knuckles against her cheek.
Again, Riko smiles.
COMBATSYS: Riko gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Riko 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
As no retaliation comes, the pig-tailed girl rises up to her feet, breathing labored, movement slowed by the cumulative wear and tear she's been through - both inflicted by Riko as well as the effort she's put most of her attacks. Hotaru Futaba rarely swings lightly, putting her all into almost every attack.
She doesn't reflect Riko's smile in the slightest, looking focused, determined now. After all, Riko wasn't the one captured off the streets and dragged to this place to fight without any preparation. And she uses the most infuriatingly tricky attacks at that!
The sight of blood makes her pause for a moment though. Hotaru isn't a vicious fighter and the sight of a girl her age wiping a red streak across her face almost stays her hand. She convinces herself to press the attack, however, though perhaps with a bit less vigor than she had started. Pressing off from her standing point, the girl moves forward quickly - not quite running, but not leisurely ambulating either. When she gets in range, she'll swing out with a open palm press toward Riko's shoulder, whether she's standing or not, attempting knock her off balanace or just keep her on the ground if she's not up yet.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Riko with Quick Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Riko 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
Maybe Riko...really is injured. Maybe she's tired. But whatever the case, she doesn't move fast enough. She attempts to intercept Hotaru's palm strike as the other girl approaches, but her force, her leverage, isn't enough. Her bloody hand brushes across Hotaru's forearm, but it doesn't stop the attack.
Riko hits the ground, again, with a yelp. She rolls away, putting some space between herself and Hotaru. She manages to flip herself on her skates, rolling backwards. Backwards. Rolling away. Her ribs heave, as she breathes in heavy ragged gasps.
COMBATSYS: Riko focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Riko 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
As Riko backs off, Hotaru pauses again. There's reluctance now. It's written all over her face. "Look. I don't know what point you hoped to prove by dragging me here..." She starts to step toward Riko. Slow, deliberate steps.
"But we can put aside the kidnapping, the attacks, and all that..." Another step.
"Just let me go, and we'll call it even. I won't hold a grudge." She smiles a little. A tired, weary smile.
The next time Hotaru's foot comes down, she sprints forward again, putting everything she has into forcing her body to carry her through one last attack, digging deep for energy that she almost doubted she had.
Again reaching out to try and lock down Riko so that she can unleash a series of strong kicks. If she connects this time, she'll leave out the roundhouse to the face, settling with kneeing Riko in the stomach and then pulling her over her own knee to slam her to the ground.
COMBATSYS: Riko interrupts Shin-Jou Tai EX from Hotaru with Level 360.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > // ]
Riko 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Hotaru
Contact.
The first blow brings a new eruption of pain, screaming through Riko's nerves. It's followed quickly by Hotaru's knee to Riko's abdomen, a new spike of agony.
She's surprisingly strong.
Speed. Riko expected speed from Hotaru...but her striking power is remarkable too.
Hotaru Futaba is a skilled fighter. In terms of raw chi and physical prowess...
She's better than Riko.
Riko isn't too proud to admit that. No, there's no room for pride, not for a real tactician. One has to consider all the factors, completely and objectively.
Hotaru is faster. Hotaru is stronger.
But maybe, just maybe, Riko is smarter. Sneakier.
Then there's the fact she prepared for this.
And...
...this /is/ the Ryouhara Dojo.
When Hotaru tries to deliver that final blow, tries to slam Riko to the stone floor...she moves. Breaking free in a sudden explosive movement, her body once again fluid, her reflexes once more razor-quick. Riko flips through the air, landing on the -ceiling-. She doesn't drop, just balances upside down. Her hands come together.R
Her eyes are bright, as her blood-smeared palms press against each other.
Her hands glow. The blood glows.
As does the blood flecks Riko left on Hotaru's sleeve when she apparently failed to grasp the other girl's arm a moment earlier.
So does the wet red handprint Riko left on the door when she touched /that/.
It's a rice paper door. Paper and wood. Traditional Japanese style. Rather out of place, in fact, with all this heavy industrial stone and metal construction.
There's a reason for that, of course.
It's a paper door. And on it, the blood glows. The blood spreads. Until ornate and complex ideograms appear, oozing on the paper surface. Loops and whorls, runic inscriptions, spidery lines in shining blue.
Then...
The seal releases.
The entire dojo electrified, the walls and floor sparking, releasing thunderbolt after thunderbolt. Homing in on Hotaru, and the blood-forged tracer planted on her arm.
Consider it...closing a circuit.
As Riko breaks free, Hotaru pauses, her stance an awkward mid-step, her legs not really in the position to move evasively and her strength lacking now to correct this problem quickly enough.
Besides. She can't even really figure out where the attack is coming from. She glances up, and then to her sides. She's learned that the obvious is not usually the source when it comes to the techniques that have been used on her thus far.
She feels the build up, the changes, the runes that glow, her eyes locking onto the luminescent blood on her sleeve. Maybe she figures it out by the time the energy strikes her. It's hard to tell.
The young fighter's back arcs as she's electrified, the girl crying out in pain, her body spasming from the power that courses through her.
She's finished. But not before one last attempt is made, Hotaru crouching down then leaping up at Riko, attempting to strike her one last time with her shoulder. Or her head. At this point she's beyond being too accurate.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Riko 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Riko with Tenshin Shou.
Glancing Blow
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Riko 0/-------/----===|
After the attack though, Hotaru comes back down to land. For a second it seems like she might stay standing, but the illusion doesn't last long as the girl slumps to the ground unceremoniously, unconscious before she even hits the floor.
"Ow," Riko says, again, into the silence of the dojo. She sits carefully, drawing her legs close to her chest...then rubs her face gingerly. She pokes carefully at the bridge of her nose, ensuring nothing is broken. That final upward /headbutt/ from Hotaru...a headbutt, of all things... /hurt/, damnit.
It should be noted that while Riko is indeed sitting...she's still on the ceiling.
She's sitting upside down on the ceiling.
She peers down at Hotaru, studying the fallen girl carefully. Once she's certain that Hotaru isn't getting up, Riko finally dismounts, dropping to the ground gracefully. She claps her hands, and the chamber brightens slightly, a few more lamps coming on.
"Well," Riko says, apparently to thin air, "she -is- pretty impressive, isn't she, sensei? Decent flexibility in thinking...reasonable improvisation...I liked when she threw the teapot at me."
Pause.
Riko nods, as if agreeing.
"Hai, Seishirou-sama."
Riko scoops up the unconscious Hotaru, staggering for a few moments before she establishes a somewhat sloppy fireman's carry.
Then she heads towards the /real/ door.
"Okay! Back home with you!"
As she approaches the exit, Riko stops. She frowns at the broken teapot.
"Hm. You didn't finish your tea."
COMBATSYS: Riko has ended the fight here.
Log created on 20:29:51 06/03/2007 by Prime, and last modified on 17:12:16 08/01/2007.