Description: After just 30 hours in Thailand, Hotaru has just about had it with the place. But there is one hope! Her bag of stuff she stashed near the beach her first night. Now if only she could finally /get/ to it!
Aaah... a nice, hot meal at the Kyokugen Dojo kitchen table, followed by a warm, relaxing bath which would then naturally lead to a comfortable, restorative long night of sleep to rest away all the bruises, aches, pains, and misery of the previous thirty hours. As Hotaru trudges through the jungle, following something that vaguely resembles a footpath, except for the part where it's actually clear of plantlife, rocks, roots, and vines, all she can think about is how nice it would be to be back home now.
Thirty hours in this humid, steamy jungle country. For a girl who had never really 'roughed it' in her life, this entire experience has been rather eye opening. Since she's been here, Hotaru has been attacked by tanks, forced to sleep the night on a rocky cave floor, and engaged in a fight to the near death against one of Shadaloo's most powerful lieutenant who just so happened to fight with a set of flesh and cloth rending /claws/ of all things.
Right now? All that matters to her is to get to the travel bag of belongings that she stowed away when she first made it to shore. She's been trying to get to it /all day/. Hidden in a bush, it would look like a large, brown backpack for the most part, stuffed full of maps, a compass, a couple survival tools, some hair ribbons, a brush, a couple changes of clothing... personal things!
And right now? Hotaru looks like she could use those. Her hair is in a pony tail, tied in place by a small green vine as both of her original hair ribbons had been lost. The red-brown vest she had on before has been shrugged off, as it was already ripped to shreads by Kurow's claws. The dark, forest green blouse and pants she still has are ripped in places as well, her fairer skin beneath showing thin red lines, indicitive of cuts from something sharp. The poor girl looks none too happy. But the thoughts of finally getting to clean up spur her onward until she comes a stop next to a bush, the sandy beach at her back, the thick jungle in front of her. Leaning forward, she pushes aside the leaves, "Hmn..." Which bush was it again?
Pig tails, pig tails. In this war torn jungle land of rampant chaos and tanks that get thrown into the ocean, it seems the most important thing to a one silver haired devil is pigtails. Oblivious to almost everything around her, Angel walks through the forest with a very specific walk. A walk not quite in a hurry, not quite drunk, not quite sexy- Just a walk distinctly hers. She manages this even in the topography of a forest, not a care in the world. Her one free hand reaches up as she fidgets with one of the pigtails, tied by very long ribbons. Silky, one is red, one is blue, the excess of the knot hanging well down to her shoulders.
Familiar, those?
"Something evil's watching over you. Coming from the sky above, there's nothing you can do? Prepare to strike there'll be no place to run? Uh.." She seems to ponder this more than anything. Angel hops down off of a log, the multitude of chains which hang off of her chaps jingle and jangle as they all collide with each other. She's looking for a way to egress from the hot, hot forest, jacket thrown over her shoulder, held there by her other hand. She seems to enjoy taking the scenic route more than anything direct despite the heat, though. Lazily talking to herself as she often seems to do. "Strong enough to break the bravest heart. We have to pull together, we can't stay worlds apart! Something.. something... how does it go? Ahh, who cares about that part."
You would think she would be more interesting in what's going on. Shadowloo. Are they working with NESTS? Why is she even here? What the truth? It doesn't matter to the silverhaired girl, really, it's just work. Business. Of course, work does nor belay her playful demeanor at all. She almost shuffles to one side, and then the other.
And it wouldn't be fate if she didn't pass by Hotaru. But then, what kind of scene would that be?
Approaching Hotaru, she fakes to one side, sliding to the other in a weird dance-like move. ... and then she skips to the good part, "TRANSFORMERS! More than Meets the eye. o/`" Other than her playful first move, she pays Hotaru only a passing attention, raising a hand up in the air as she dances past, spinning in a complete circle, fingers wiggled, "Hey." And then she raises her arms up to her forehead to wiggle cow horns with a playful smile, walking backwards with a dance-like sway of her hips, "Moo."
And then with another spin, she continues on her way, "Dun dun dun, Autobots wage their battle tooooooo... destroy the evil forces offfff.. the Decepticons. Yeah." It might take a second, it might be an instant realization on Hotaru's part, but, during that spin.. her coat flies up. And she might spy.. maybe.. possibly spy a bag of somekind. Brown. No wait, it was definitely there. Perhaps. But then, the raise of the hands together to make the devil horns confirms it- Under her jacket, she has something slung over her shoulder. Doesn't matter Angel though, who merely laughs at her own cornyness a bit.
Ironic. There's probably only one fighter in the entire mess who actually bothered to dress for the occasion, and it happens to be the one who's rarely more than half-dressed for /any/ occasion.
Okay, so truth be told, she's dressed more like a parody of someone who's well-prepared: a tiger-stripe camo jacket left completely open in front with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, a dark green tanktop, and a pair of fatigues belted so loose that they're ready to fall off her hips, leaving her jungle-camo underwear partially exposed. And, of course, a pair of jump boots and a weathered patrol cap to complete the ensemble. To be honest, she looks like she stepped out of a Vietnam era USO show lineup. 'Help build morale by showing the troops some skin!'
There's every possibility neither of the other women would notice, her, though. Right this moment, she's set herself up on a high branch in a tree, leaning back against the trunk with one foot propped on the limb and knee bent, and the other leg dangling down over the side. Her chin's ducked down toward her collar, and her cap's pulled down to shield her eyes from the light. Even odds are that she's taking a nap up there, and probably won't bother anyone unless roused, for a change of pace.
Huh. Not there. She must have the wrong bush. A couple steps are taken as she walks along the beach, leaning over from time to time to part the leaves of various plants, each looking less familiar as she goes. The teen girl's brow furrows with mild consternation becoming visible in her expression as she goes. The thought that she might not be able to find it after all causes Hotaru to shake her head. As if everything so far wasn't bad enough!
Wait, someone's coming! She hasn't really gotten gun shy about running into strangers here. So far, it's only ended in hostilities once afterall... Which is why she merely pauses in her search rather than desperately trying to hide in the trees. Eyes coming to rest on Angel as the young woman draws near, it doesn't take more than a second for Hotaru to notice the pigtails in her bright colored hair - or more importantly the ribbons that hold them in place. Hey, those do look a lot like what she had stashed in her own bag...
Staring at the other girl, Hotaru is looking right at Angel as she gets moo'd at. Blink. She looks over her shoulder, as if trying to see if Angel was making the gesture at someone else /besides/ her, since she can't imagine what she's done to warrant that. But seeing no one else, the girl goes back to watching Angel saunter off, one hand lifting to rub at her temple thoughtfully.
It isn't until she gets a glimpse of her bag that Hotaru suddenly seems to go from being an entirely passive bystander into a so very suddenly alert and somewhat cross young woman. "H-hey..." she calls out, starting after Angel in a hurry, "Hey! Hey you!"
Yes, she's talking to Hotaru. There's pretty much no one else around (except for Spiderman up there in the trees), so when Hotaru looks behind herself for someone Angel could be talking to, the silver haired girl actually takes the opportunity to shout, hands cupped up to her mouth, "Watch out, it's coming right for you!"
The silver haired girl laughs again, each step she takes just accentuating those bouncey pigtails tied up with what is most-likely Hotaru's ribbons! Her hands come up to her mouth as she turns to tilt her head, hair whipping up and those tails falling forward slightly as she inclines her head, "Be careful, the ocean may attack. I bet it's charging its laser!!" She seems to say it in this weird way where you're not sure if she's joking or serious, though if she's not joking it just makes the inner workings of her mind that much more mysterious. Again, she's back on her path. Doo dee doo.
Man, the way she moves around, it seems like captain booty there dances her way around instead of walking. As Hotaru chases after her, she spins around to face her mid-walk, the very special gate of her walk never lost. Walking backwards doesn't even seem to impede her speed at all, hopping down a small bank without even looking back to see it.
"Hay is for horses, not yews. Yews like sunlight, being that they're trees and not an animal. That's silly, who taught you yews were animals?"
She doesn't actually bother to ask Hotaru what she wants. She most likely doesn't give a half a damn, let alone a damn. Instead, she asks her a more important question. One that will be remembered for the ages, really. "You know the lyrics too, right? DADADADA, Robots in Disguise? How about I do the main lyrics, and you do the chorus?"
She jumps a little at the shout, and even glances sideways toward the ocean at the dire warning about whatever advanced weaponry it might bring to bear. As every second passes in Angel's company, Hotaru begins to look more and more confused. The weariness that was weighing her down at first has long since been forgotten. For the moment, she's feeling a lot more energetic, not about to let her only hope at some sense of normalcy get carted off by this stranger.
"W-what?" she stammers at the perfectly sensible explanation of yew trees. The girl keeps pace with Angel, shoe-clad feet sinking a little into the sand with each determined step. "Huh? Lyrics? Well, yes, I am familiar with- wait, no!" She practically suspects that she's somehow wandered into a Totally Hidden Video prank in the making at this point. What the silly TV show would be doing in the middle of war torn Thailand hasn't exactlly been figured out yet, but that's about the only way she can justify the random behavior in this other girl.
Shaking her head, Hotaru clenches one of her hands into a small fist while other hand is held out, finger stabbing forward as Angel walks backward in front of her, "I'm not going to sing the chorus... T-that's my stuff you're carrying! Those are my ribbons! You shouldn't take what isn't yours." She sounds very annoyed but also quite desperate. Why can't anything go right on in this blasted country?!
The ocean COMES CLOSER TO THE SHORE due to the mighty force of ROTATION OF THE EARTH! However, then it... goes out again, because the ocean does that. It comes in, and goes out. And now the duo keeps walking away. Angel is lucky she has what she calls 'shit kicking boots' on, herself- The sand no match for they steel toeyness, durable constructioness, and overall curb-bash-enabling quality.
"The ocean can't fire a laser, silly." Slight pause. "Well, except that one time."
She offers no further explaination on that, really. Of course, the next part makes her incredulous! "Oh, come on! You have to know! Transformers! Everyone knows Transformers. They dubbed it into like 3000 languages. Optimus Prime is really laid back in Mexico. I mean, they even released a sombraro accessory for him. It turned into a laser. Well, most of those things turned into lasers." She looks off to ocean now, "You ever wonder, like, how on that show they would always be like.. TRANSFORMERS, TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT! And then they're all.. CHA CHE CHEW CHA CHA and then BAM. Robot to lawnmower in like 4 seconds." She then raises both of her arms up in the air, "But like, when you do it, you try to do the noise, and you'll sitting there.. turning the pieces.. CHE... arm in..." She makes the hand motions, like she's transforming a robot really slowly, "... CHU.. CHA.. CHE... and then like an arm breaks off, and you have to glue it on, and then by the time your done, your friend comes up and is like.." She ahems a bit, deepending her voice, "'Hey, what's that?' 'A porchse.. that hit a median.'" She almost jumps here, looking at Hotaru with a whimsical enthusiasm that is unexplainable to someone who hasn't met the silver haired devil. A finger snaps, "And then Optimus Prime intones, 'Ahh, yes, Mediantron. Part of Megatron's evil scheme to take over the world by.. raising the Autobot's insurance premiums...!'
Wait, what? Hotaru said something else. Huh? Something about a bag? Oh, she has a bag. Her expression is a curious, though slightly bemused one. "What?" She then abuses her tallicity, holding the knapsack just above Hotaru's reach, "This?" She wiggles it there, as she explains. "Actually, I stole this from a bush! Being that bushes are non-confrontational and very giving by nature, it didn't bother to put up a fight as I snatched what was probably it's most prized posession."
Again with the Transformers!! Hotaru knows what they are. No one who has spent years growing up in Japan could possibly /not/ know what the toys are. But what that has to do with her poor, abducted travel back is /beyond/ her. "Are you even-" she tries to interject as Angel demonstrates how transforming the robots clearly took more than just four seconds. "I don't care about-" she cries out as Angel talks about the evil Mediantron and his nefarious role. "Actually, what I-" This time she cuts /herself/ off as Angel talks about having taken the bag from a bush.
"That's not a bush's bag. It's my- Wait. I can't believe I'm arguing that point. That doesn't even make any sense. Bushes can't HAVE bags. It's MY bag. It's got MY stuff in it!" Hotaru reaches up for her bag, only to have it lifted up higher than her hand can go without having to jump for it.
Now one will have to excuse Hotaru for a display of remarkably poor manners at this point. If she was back home, where all the clothing, ribbons, hair brushes, and creature comforts she could want were only a trip-to-home away, she'd probably let Angel walk off with the bag without really pressing the issue all that hard.
But here? Where she doesn't even know when she's going to get her next bite of food, let alone another set of clothing? She's not about to let that most precious travel bag out of her sight without trying something more than just begging for it. In the end, she finally reaches for Angel's other arm, the one that isn't dangling her bag over her head teasingly. "Give it back!" If Hotaru can get a hold, she's just going to dig her heels into the ground and try to stop Angel's pleasant backward jaunt along the beach.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has started a fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Angel has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Angel 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
COMBATSYS: Angel blocks Hotaru's Quick Throw.
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Angel 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
"What!" she questions Hotaru almost incredulously, shaking it above her head to illustrate what she's talking about! "Yes it was! The bush had the bag.. in it. That sounds kind of ew, but, it was in there!" She's not shaking it to be mean or anything, honest. "Maybe it stole it from /you/, but that would be one unasuming bush. Shify!" Her brow furrows as-if she actually believes what she's saying, "But like, what kind of fight gets attacked by a bush and lets it steal your bag?" A gloved hand reaches up to rub her nose, "I mean, beds have completely defeated me before, but those are wild beasts, especially when you're drunk, but... bushes?"
Her lazy, laid back demeanor seems to come to a hault as she suddenly raises an arm to block and dis-direct Hotaru's grab of her arm, moving out of the way of the heel digging throw. It's quick, but it's there. It would be hard to guess that someone as whimsical and laid back as this damned confusing mexican girl would have that fast of a reaction. But then, anything goes, in Angel's book. That's why she spins around, those baggy, crotchless chaps of hers filling a little with air as she spins around behind the young japanese girl. She holds the bag above Hotaru's head, then, just outside of her reach, "You mean this bag?" It swings side, to side, quickly in front of the other girl's face with a fast fastlyness. Just fast enough that it's too hard to snatch. "Then you know the right way how to get it."
She's decided to have a little fun!
The lead up, you know, spinning behind Hotaru? She didn't do that just to taunt the girl, though. No, really. As Hotaru's attention is hopefully placed upon the pendulum-like rhythm of the swaying bag, Angel takes this moment to take those previously described lovely boots of hers, and try to put a foot to the girl's ass. That is, kick her forward. The afforementioned foot comes up quickly, the sound of chains rattling against themselves and dull fabric as she thrusts that heavily booted foot of hers forward. Not hard, though it would be enough to make the girl stumble forward and maybe fall to her knees.
COMBATSYS: Angel successfully hits Hotaru with Light Kick.
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Angel 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Hotaru
"I didn't let the bush take my bag. I PUT it there. Because we were fighting, and I couldn't run around with it on my back, and I was going to get it after, but then one of the tanks exploded, and I wasn't awake then, and when I woke up I went to go get it, but then I ran into a whole patrol of tanks, so I decided to wait until later, and when I came later, I ran into a boy I know that I used to think was kind of creepy, but now I know he's a really really bad guy and we fought and I had to run away in the end, and now I came back to get my bag finally, and now YOU have it!" Hotaru rattles off rapidly, not even taking a breath as she struggles to get her fingers onto the satchel.
Finding her attempt to grab her arm smoothly deflected, Hotaru starts to turn around to follow Angel's movement like she really should. But then she gets distracted by her bag just hanging there, swinging in front of her face like it's ready to give up this little game and finally go home with it's /proper/ owner. Her.
She reaches for it, her hands missing it by less than an inch as it goes swinging back the other way. Grr. She's in the process of reaching for it on its swing bag when she is suddenly taught why she shouldn't really have turned her back on Angel. The boot ends up striking the girl firmly in the butt, sending Hotaru sprawling forward to the ground, catching herself on her hands and knees.
Ooo, that does it! Pushing herself back up quickly, spinning around on the soft sandy surface, she faces back toward Angel, face a little red from frustration and feeling flustered at having been knocked over so easily. "You had your chance!" she exclaims, reaching out to try and snatch hold of both of Angel's arms in her own hands. If she can get a grip, the girl is going to end up running right up the front of her like a set of stairs - all with the intent to put her in reach of that bag of hers so that she can snag it before leaping off Angel's shoulders.
COMBATSYS: Angel endures Hotaru's Shin-Jou Tai.
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Angel 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Hotaru
As Hotaru falls to her knees, Angel then puts her hands on her hips, and then with a slightly haughty, though not too snobby grin she says, "Kneel before Zod!" She blinks a bit, looks off to the side. As-if the ocean holds all of the answers! It takes her a moment to ponder if that line was good enough or not. "Uh, yeah, that'll work. If you don't like it, remember it as something cooler." She then stops, and then leans forward to listen to Hotaru's story. She could easily kick the girl in the head right now, but she doesn't. She actually listens. It's really long, maybe that's the key. "Uhuh." Nod nod. "Okay." Blink blink. "Yeah.." She huhs! "Oh snap, dawg." She nods sagely, "Well, that sucks like a sucky thing! Really. However~!"
She's going to get to wording again. And you know how she gets when she gets to wording. There's usually lots of words. Too many words. "I had an elaborate pie chart laying out the highly scientific study I did proving how your chosen method of bag retrieval is wrong," Silence comes for but a second. Comedy timing is crucial, you know. "but I ate it." Another slight pause. "It was made of apple."
She raises her hand with the back to illustrate it, hand on her hip, "But I'll give you a PROTIP: The correct method is not bad manners!" What?
Yeah yeah yeah. Of course, during all of this talking... Hotaru gets the jump on her. She sure does get sidetracked quickly, doesn't she? It's amazing how.. oooh, something shiny! I want the shiny thi-And then, BAM! Gotten! This particular gotten is Hotaru using her as stairs! Holy crap. In fact, she says that, "Holy crap!" And then she follows up with something she doesn't think first. "What the hell!" All she can do is take the stepping! Oof, oof, oofity oof. She leans to the side to keep her balance. Once Hotaru makes it up to the silver haired devil's shoulders, though, and grabs onto the bag, she, instead of letting go, holds onto it as tight as possible. She doesn't go to yank it down, and topple Hotaru over. That would be too easy. Instead, she lets the younger girl hold onto it, and she herself spins around to unravel herself as Hotaru lands with the bag in hand - both their hands: Angel holding on one side, and Hotaru on the other. It's an amazingly well constructed bag, apparently.
Angel didn't spin around and stop, though. All of her attacks are smooth, almost unending motions. Like a kind of dance, or a waltz, though always improvised. When she comes around again, her free hand eventually goes to grab the top of Hotaru's by the head, sparing the girl the normally heavy choking grab she does when she tries to pull this off. She lifts, and throw her up in the air, before then returning with a spin kick. Of course, on the spinkick she's actually going to YANK at the bag, to try and get it back so she can actually COMPLETE said spinkick. But then, it all depends on fate!
Actually, make that: The correct method is not bad manners.
COMBATSYS: Angel successfully hits Hotaru with Mad Murder Roulette.
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Angel 0/-------/--=====|=======\===----\1 Hotaru
Up, up, and kinda not away! Hotaru, having snagged one of the arm straps of her bag, hops back down to the ground, "Ah hah!" she gloats briefly at her victory, her back turned to Angel. "See, if you had just given it to me in the first place, I wouldn't have had to go and do that," she begins to apologize, sounding a little sorry, but not, you know, a /lot/. Ready to go, she tugs on the strap, slipping it over her shoulder. Only, that doesn't quite feel right at all. Slowly looking over her shoulder, Hotaru's eyes widen as she sees that her silver-haired antagonist still tightly grips the other half of her bag.
Awh, come on! She tugs on it harder, but Angel's grip is a pretty sure thing. It's quite likely that the bag itself will give up before she does, spilling all of Hotaru's Things all over the sand. Stuck in place, she lifts her hand as if ready to just walk over and sock Angel once and for all. But that really just ends up with her walking right into the other girl's hand. Hotaru tries to lean back when she realizes that the strange girl is ready for her, but she finds her head caught all the same, unable to move as well as she would normally with the bag holding her mostly in place.
Flailing her arms as Angel hefts the girl off the ground, she lets go of the bag once more right before she's struck soundly in the stomach by Angel's less than soft boot. The kick bends her over before sending her back down to the sand, sliding some ways on her back before coming to a stop. O-ow.
She's back on her feet quickly, but the beating she's getting after all she's already been through is wearing her down fast. Her face is just a little pale, feeling a bit sick from that last kick. "Okay, that's it," Hotaru replies, rolling her arm to her side, her forearm bathed with a deep blue aura. When she brings her hand forward a second later, a small, shimmering chiball launches from the end of her fingers on a somewhat speedy path. She's trying to hit Angel right in the stomach back, then maybe she can get her bag back! "Ya!"
COMBATSYS: Angel dodges Hotaru's Hakki Shou.
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Angel 0/-------/--=====|=======\==-----\1 Hotaru
There's every possibility Cross would have slept through the entire brawl going on down below, left to her own devices. However, midway through a monkey climbs down the tree to the branch she's perched on, ooking around and about as it inspects her. The curious primate finally grabs hold of the branch above with its feet and swings straight down to face eye-to-eye with her, albeit upside down, and swings forward to give her a big fat monkeykiss.
"Tch. Iori-kun, you need to shave..." Cross mumbles dazedly, reaching out to give a blind, sleepy swat at her arboreal visitor. The tiny ape swings out of the way with a shrill 'OOKAA!' and starts climbing back up into the tree, while she's left to gradually blink her way out of her slumber. "... meh?"
Cross blinks her bleary eyes at the sound of enthusiastic violence down below, not quite recognizing Hotaru's voice in her half-awakened state. Very slowly, she thumbs the brim of her cap upward so that she can see and leans over the side of the tree branch, waving very casually at the battling duo down below. "Oro? Angel-sempai, what are /you/ doing in Thailand?"
The fact they're busy fighting doesn't seem to have occured to her, or at least doesn't seem important in her lofty, tree-sitting opinion.
And sand goes flying everywhere due to Hotaru and Angel's fighting, and, well, Hotaru getting knocked onto her butt into said sand. Angel moves to regain her footing on the sand, swaying her hips - and legs - left, and then right. Luckily it's not wet sand, or particularly hot sand they're fighting on. It's in that mid drying out, slightly hardening state which is a good thing, considering.
After that move, Angel actually takes a moment to shake a fist! The one with the bag even, "What the heck, Baggirl! You stepped on my boobs!" She then takes another moment to actually adjust her top again, fixes her zipper - She has long since lost her jacket somewhere during this ordeal, though she only just noticed. "I mean, seriously. I don't go using people's chests for all sorts of horrible things!" She blinks slightly, eyes looking up to the sky a bit. "Well, maybe that one time with Megumi, and the lit cigarette. But she was a bitch, and, you know, they looked like big trashcans." Much like the ocean, the sky, too, also holds a lot of answer.
"I came to look through all of the bushes and rob them of their stuff. I read in a book that bushes aren't very good at fighting back, you know, and I heard Thailand had a lot of bushes." The truth, from Angel? Never. Then again, knowing her it could actually be the truth. "And then Baggirl here decided she had a bad case of me too and the gimmie gimmies, and them it went all tits up!" Her eyes go to the ground to see if it has as many answers as the sea and the sky, "Or.. the reverse of that."
She shakes her head, "Anyway..! How about we..." And then, bam, Hotaru goes for it. She goes for Angel's face with her powered up fist! Angel moves around and manages to dodge the thing, and yes, yes it does look cool. It's almost like she just walked around a slight inconvenience and takes stock of it, "Whoa whoa whoa, no need to go all glowy on me there girly!" Her hands actually go to her pockets, actually, and she does her best K' impression as she walks forward, though no amount of impression can take away her overly feminine walk. After the girl has landed from missing her 'glowy' punch, Angel leans her head back in an almost solemn manner. She doesn't go for some kind of grand attack or masssive combo, but instead she goes to HEADBUTT Hotaru from behind. Somehow, and this is really hard to pull off, it doesn't even seem that malicious! It just is, somehow, what it is.
COMBATSYS: Angel successfully hits Hotaru with Quick Punch.
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Angel 0/-------/-======|=======\=====--\1 Hotaru
Wait, who is Angel talking to anyway? Hotaru starts to wonder that after finding her last attack missed entirely... Oh! It's Cross. Yet someone else that is way up high on her list of /favorite/ people. She spends way too much time thinking about how she'd like to take this out on someone, but Angel is being oh so difficult about being that someone. Then she realizes that Cross called her Angel. That means they know each other. Or something. In fact, isn't that the name that Cross is always mentioning? Someone in the secret can't-tell-you-or-I-have-to-kill-you group Cross works for? Maybe she could ask her to ask Angel to kindly hand over her /bag/ already.
She's really spending too much time thinking and not enough time moving though and said thinking gets interrupted abruptly by a crashing pain in the back of her head that sends the girl stumbling forward again, though this time she keeps her footing. Bringing her hand up to rest on the back of her head, Hotaru turns around, teeth gritted, the corner of one eye a little moist. That /hurt!/
"My name isn't Baggirl, it's Hotaru!" she states, not liking that nickname in the slightest. "And I never would have done anything to you if you'd just give me my stuff back!" She looks a little upset now, to say the least. Breathing in, she shakes her head, trying to forget the headache she's getting. She isn't even really sure it's coming from getting brained in the back of the head either. She suspects just /being/ in Angel's company is enough to cause it.
When she finally charges Angel again, she hops a few feet out, spinning around once before swinging out to deliver two quick strikes, aiming high, like toward Angel's shoulder and base of her neck, to try and get her to block high. When Hotaru's feet touch the ground, she keeps swinging her arms forward with rapid blows, each one attempting to find a hole in Angel's defense that would let her press a harder attack if possible. Holding nothing back, the girl is putting a lot of effort into this attack, considering all she's already been through.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Angel with Sou-shou Tenrenge EX.
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Angel 1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0 Hotaru
The second she finds an opening though, Hotaru continues to swing, each light punch accompanied by a small spark of chi as well. When she thinks Angel has been hit enough to knock her off her balance, the girl crouches for a second before leaning hard into a Kung-Fu like shoulder-slam intended to finish the job of toppling the silver-haired girl.
Following the slam, the girl leaps into the air only to dive right back down at Angel knee first, her entire body covered flaring with a blue aura of chi that will burn a bit, but other than cause pain, it won't have any other side effects. The glow is gone after the girl lands though, sliding to a stop in a crouched position some distance away. She wasn't even going for her bag at that point. She was clearly just trying to hurt the girl that's driving her crazy right now!
"Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh... yeah? Baggirl--errm, I mean, Hotaru--did that? That's not like her..." Cross nods along with Angel's explanation, and eerily enough, it seems to make perfect sense to her. The camo'd punk pops up to sit in the lotus position on the tree branch, propping her hands up on her knees as she leans forward to intensely watch the match going on down below. "Oh, I see. She's in one of /those/ moods. That bag of hers, it makes her /crazy/."
The young lady looks to her right at the monkey that awakened her and, without any real warning, snaps her fist out to suckerpunch the primate right in the face. The furry critter gives a shriek and hops off, but more importantly leaves behind the banana he was pealing, which she happily recovers. She takes a quick bite, then gestures to Hotaru with it, "You know, she gets really sloppy when she's in bag-rage, though. You just gotta bob-and-weave. Float like a butterfly, sting like a monarch butterfly. Poison, yeh?"
The fact that her new friend and her company 'handler' are having at it doesn't seem to bother her in the least. Angel doesn't seem like she's particularly intent on /hurting/ her, after all, and she doubts Hotaru can do much to the platinum-blonde regardless of her bagzerker state. So, she just keeps munching her 'nana. "Heyh Anhll, yrr okhh? *gulp* I think she just stepped on your boobs again."
"I don't believe that headbutt didn't knock you out!" is all she gets to say. Because, wow.
Hotaru just totally effed up Angel's Christmas. She snuck down her chimney, took her presents, jumped on them, lit the Christmas tree on fire, ate all the candy canes, drank Santa's milk, at the jolly old-man's cookies, and then flung the crumbs all over the couch.
"BAGZERKER. YOUR BURNING FIST IS LIKE A TRUCK. BAGZERKER.. LIKES TO MAKE THINGS KINDA.. SUCK."
This is what she gets for listening to Cross, though, in the middle of the bag game. Leaning back, she manages to flip back up to her feet, immediately back up into her 'fighting stance.' Leaning back, weight heavy on her feet, looking like she's almost drunk. She doesn't bother to bitch out Cross, though- Not only is getting hit her own fault, but, it's not in her character not to roll with the punches. It makes a person really wonder what you would have to do to make Angel actually mad. "Hotaru, huh? That was pretty damn spiffy, Hotcakes. I was wearing my own ass as a hat for a second there, but..." Somehow after getting completely trampled and hosed Angel still manages to keep ahold of that bag. Which she waves out in front of her, "...I still got this."
She winks to Hotaru, leaning forward to blow the girl a kiss.
And then she moves. Quick, deadly. The mexican girl moves as much as she talks, her run kicking up more dirt as she leaps forward. She fakes left, and then right, landing close to Hotaru. Her knee comes up high into the air- Does it hit Hotaru's chin? Who knows. It doesn't matter, since it's only the beginning of her mass of complicated wrestling moves that she tends to like to chain. But wait, doesn't that mean it DOES matter? What is she even thinking?
'Man, I could actually go for some hotcakes.'
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Angel's Unknown Victim Consciousness.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Angel 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Hotaru
Pushing herself back to her feet, Hotaru turns around to glare back at Angel, leaning forward a little, the girl panting a little from the effort she put into that last attack. But then her attention snaps up to Cross, "BAG-RAGE?!" Hotaru exclaims back, "I'M NOT-" Blink. Er, well, okay, so maybe the peanut gallery does have a point.
"H-hotcakes??" she balks at Angel next. What is it with people and her name, anyway. Sometimes it's Princess, sometimes it's Hotsie Footsie, and now apparently it's Baggirl or Hotcakes, depending. When Angel waves her bag though, Hotaru fixates back on it. Oh yeah, that's right. That's what she wants more than anything right now. Though, kicking Cross and Angel once each is kind of up the list a ways too. She tenses up at the blown kiss. She doesn't like not being taken remotely seriously. If only she knew that not taking anyone seriously is pretty much the norm for Angel...
When the bagnapper comes at her again, Hotaru finally manages to keep herself together well enough to move into a sidestep around Angel, deftly avoiding the rising knee. "Ah hah!" It's from the side that she reaches out to try and grab hold of Angel's arm, intending to twist her down into the sand with a simple judo-like throw. Anything to pin her down long enough to get her stuff back! "Gotcha!" she exclaims, feeling more confident now.
COMBATSYS: Angel blocks Hotaru's Quick Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Angel 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Hotaru
The peanut (or, more literally, banana) gallery continues to observe from on high, putting her feet together at the soles and then rocking back and forth slowly. "Hotcakes! I like that one. You know what's awesome? Hotcakes with strawberry, banana, and whipped cream. I wonder if they make those in Thailand?" That statement seems to snap her out of her reverie for a moment, and she turns her gaze more directly on Angel rather than watching the fight as a whole. "Hey... you didn't come here to take me back, did you? I mean, it wasn't easy getting back in here. We had a blow up tanks. Not like those little Tachikoma or Fuchikoma tanks, these were big tanks, like way bigger than Bonnaparte but not really as big as Big Fau, you know?"
The banana finishes, she carelessly tosses the peal, quite possibly right into the middle of the fray. Then she plants both palms on the edge of the branch and unfolds her legs, shoving off to drop down to ground level with the other two women. Her patrol cap sits almost sideways on her head, but she doesn't seem to mind; she just sort of props her hands up on her hips and watches Angel with a petulent pout.
"I swear, I've got a plan, here! I'm going to hit a big score--the biggest you've ever seen! I just need a little more time for things to develop..." Her gaze falls on Hotaru, and she whistles appreciatively. "Hey, nice duds. The acid-washed and torn look is kind of 80's, but I'm totally feeling the retro-punk vibe. Did you consider Thai-dyed?" Then, one moment of partial clarity later, "OH! Hey, Hottie's my pal, Ms. Angel. Don't hurt her too bad, yeh?"
Angel actually laughs a little as what Cross says gets to Hotaru. It's pretty funny, really, this whole situation. Angel probably would've ended this all much more sooner if it wasn't fun for her.
"Yeah, like, you know, Pancakes!? I didn't meant it sexually!" Yes, she actually says meant there. Grammar isn't something she really cares about it seems. "Not that you're not a cutie-pie or anything, I mean, you got it going off like fireworks and all that wacky fun diatribe, but not what I meant!" Shoot, she calls Kula 'Smurfette' all the time, and Iori Elvis. If only Hotaru knew the depths of Angel's disturbed psyche. But is it disturbed? Like she's from the Addams Family or something. They're disturbed, right? A close knit family, always attending events, involving the children, and cheering them on even when they fail, with two parents who could not have been more in love, always complimenting and loving each other! Nice to everyone who ever just showed up in their house like they owned the place! If that's disturbed, then maybe she is!
"It's shoooowtime!" Well, it's not exactly a reply to Cross, tho.. it sorta kinda counts. Maybe.
The mexican beauty is always disgressing, isn't she? Be it verbally or mentally. Hotaru's coming up with another attack again. Woo. This is kind of fun. She doesn't merely block it though- What's the fun in that? In fact, when Hotaru goes for the throw, she leans into it. Letting Hotaru use her own weight, and a bit of a helping hand, to flip her over Ms. Chaps Mckenzie and into the sand behind her. It doesn't take her more than a moment to turn herself over, back to her feet. Her stance is crouched, and as she STOMPS the ground really quick, one would swear a slight flame erupts from the ground. Though, the sight of such a flame is moot when she aims to smash her fist into Hotaru's gut. Or, whatever part of Hotaru's body is there to take the place of her gut.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru reflects Repunkamui from Angel with Kobi Kyaku.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Angel 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Hotaru
As Angel leans into her attempt to grab hold of her, Hotaru finds herself getting flipped right over her into the sand where she lands with a grunt on her back. "Ermph." Oof. Good thing it's just soft beach sand instead of something hard, like Cross's head!
When Angel stomps down, leaning in to deliver the punch to the fallen girl's stomach, Hotaru flips right up off the ground into a backwards summersault. "Kya!" Her foot misses the silver-haired /thief/ all together, but trailing behind is a swath of blue energy, not unlike the glowy thing she tried to hit Angel with earlier.
For an instant the trail of chi shimmers, becoming as solid as steel for a split second, just in time for Angel to slam her hand into it. By the time Hotaru lands on her feet a few yards away, the energy 'wall' has already started to dissipate, scattered by the off-shore breeze.
Breathing hard, Hotaru looks like she doesn't really have the breath to speak back much longer. But she eyes Cross all the same, expending precious energy to retort, "My clothes didn't look like this at first! I've kind of had a rough day, okay?!" She definitely doesn't have the strength to charge Angel again just yet either, so the girl just stands there for a moment, catching her breath.
Angel's punch is blown away like so many civilizations that came before it. Only here, it takes a matter of seconds! What's up with this girl? She's gotten good all the sudden! Giving the babe from NESTS a run for her money, even! Angel lands on her ass uncerimoniously as possible, the chains and everything on her non-pants going asunder in the air for a second beforehand. So yes, uncerimoniously. But really, when do you ever land on your ass.. cerimoniously?
There isn't even really a few seconds between her flipping forward and all her talking, though. Really. You would think she's getting ready to play some football... you know, soccer, in the manner that she bring her foot back. You see, she's gotten distracted enough during this fight, nay, her lifetime, to know that she should take this opportunity where /Hotaru/ is distracted to try to kick her square in the gut. Those chains probably wouldn't feel so great, either.
COMBATSYS: Angel successfully hits Hotaru with Light Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Angel 1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Hotaru
Hotaru looks pretty surprised at how excited Angel got about that last attack of hers. /Hotaru/ is pretty happy with it, since it did take a pretty precise amount of timing to pull it off. But it wasn't supposed to cheer up her opponent too! But at the same time, she can kind of understand where Angel is coming from.
In all of this scuffle, the girl begins to realize that she's actually enjoying the challenge the silver-haired young woman is presenting. In fact, it starts to show in the very faint glimmer of a grin she acknowledges Angel with now. Still, no time to get caught up in thinking about it too hard, she reminds herself.
When Angel's foot comes for her, Hotaru tries to simply weather it out, bringing her arms forward to cover her upper body. Unfortunately, this means she ends up taking the kick right in her stomach, breaking her guard completely. Her feet slide through the sand a little ways, but the smaller girl manages to stay upright even as she leans forward, hand pressing over her stomach. Grimacing, she focuses back on Angel. "You know, I have to admit, you're really tough. It's my fault for not taking you seriously from the beginning," she replies.
As Angel hefts Hotaru's bag over her shoulders, the girl squints a little. She's gotta stay focused on her opponent, not on her bag of stuff she wants back so badly! Running forward, she lashes out with a fairly fast, but lightweight palm press toward Angel's shoulder. She's probably just trying to get the tan skinned girl to stumble a little - maybe she can press an advantage after that.
COMBATSYS: Angel blocks Hotaru's Quick Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Angel 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 Hotaru
Cross moves further down onto the sand to observe the match, and when she's about ten meters away she crouches down to sit back on her haunches with her chin braced by the heels of both palms, looking exceedingly small and childish for just a moment; not the 'immature' sort of childish, though, so much as overwhelmed with childlike glee and wonderment. She's even /smiling/, really smiling and not smirking or sneering or leering. Even more remarkably, she's not trying to asspunch anyone.
"Don't feel bad, Hottie-chan," Cross offers sweetly, then quickly adds, "I don't know anyone who can beat Angel-sama. She's the best!" The punk rocker certainly hasn't forgotten the debt of friendship she owes to Hotaru, but that doesn't mean she's going to back her in this fight. After all, the platinum-haired goalie/biker chick/Latina is larger than life, as far as she's concerned. Like Captain America, or Superman, or... or, some iconic hero who isn't getting killed all the time.
"Do it, Ms. Angel! I wanna see your super special secret ultimate final mega technique!" Her fist pumps in the air for a moment, and she gives a hoot of excitement, declaring, "Senbonzakura Kageyoshi Senkai!" ... what? Okay, so maybe that has nothing to do with Angel or her moves, but at least she seems happy.
Angel holds a hand up in the air, "You're not so bad yourself!" Her hands go to her hips, overly dramatically. "Etc. Etc, regular fight banter, nodding acknowledgement that looks cool, acceptance of mutual respect!" She laughs a bit, there, and then starts to walk forward, hands still there. Hiptified.
"I'm surprised you're still standing, actually. I've seen at least half of the reason you've been having an unhappy hanukkah here in the land of Thai." Has she? She doesn't actually even look at Corss, though she does laugh a bit, "You know, Pancakes- All you had to do was be like, hey, Ms. Angel - My name's, like, you know, Angel - can I please have my bag back? I'm sorry I tried to trip you and stuff!" Her movement doesn't abate at all, just like the flapping of her lips, "And I then I would've been like, oh, greetings and salutations, you fine, young, upstanding citizen, I made a grevious error in absconding with your bag! Here, I will return to you your receptacle of object containing made of fabric and thread. And you would've had your bag. And you would've said thank you. And I would be like, oh, you are quite welcome, young woman! Good manners prevail, always! Pip pip!" She actually claps her hands together with the pip-pip. That must be what she was talking about before- the manners thing. "And then a gigantic flying turtle would've came, and we would've sailed off through the skies to find some ice cream."
Okay, so maybe not the last thing. But she's going for it again- the move that Hotaru managed to block last time, to her surprise. Run, Run. Side to side. Knee. Knee toward Hotaru's face? It doesn't matter where it hits- So long as it hits, she's got the rest made.
"But isn't it more fun this way?"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru fails to interrupt Unknown Victim Consciousness from Angel with Tenshin Shou EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Angel 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Angel 0/-------/------=|
Even if Hotaru tries to interupt, it doesn't really matter anymore. Angel is so pumped, she manages to counter it. The knee to the face does not delay the swagger of her hips as she grabs Hotaru around the hips, lifting her up, and over her head. BAM. She flips backwards, dropping the girl into the sand (probably head first) in the most discourteously abrupt manner possible.
"It's judgment day and now we've mad our stand. And for now the powers of darkness are driven from our land. Battle's over, but the war has just begun. And this way we'll remain 'till the day when we are won... Transformers! o/~" Again with the song?
You can just hear the multitude of drums beating as she spins around to line it up just perfectly- She raises her arm up, linking her hand with her shoulder. She grips her hand to her forearm to brace it, and she's ready for it. Yes, the elbow drop. Mere seconds later the tan skinned girl with the albino hair lets the weight of her body completely DROP. She slams down hard, with all her force it. Her elbow hits its intended target- the sand a mere inch from Hotaru's head.
Eh?
That laughter is heard. It's doubtful that Hotaru actually was able to keep her eyes open during all of that, but if she did, props to her! It's not a moment later before Angel's already standing. "Here." She tosses Hotaru's backpack to her. "Let's go into town and try to scare up some chow, I am fucking starved like one of those little ethiopian kids who speaks only in clicks. His name is 'Bob.' That's a hard name to say in clicks, you know." Eh eh? "I know a place which makes some bombin' Tom yam gung- They might have some left in there even if it's deserted." Slight pause. She motions a hand for Cross to come along as well. "Don't worry, I'll keep the Shabadoodoo guys from messin' with ya', an' you can change." Eh nombre three?
.. force into it, rather. :O
COMBATSYS: Angel has ended the fight here.
When Hotaru hits the sand, she sprawls out flat, the fight finally knocked out of her. Too dazed to roll quickly, her eyes widen as all of Angel comes falling toward her head. There is an eye-closing flinch, hands coming up in a desperate attempt to spare her face the Angel's Elbow, and then she just stays like that for several seconds, taking quite a long moment to realize the thudding sound she heard was skin striking sand instead of her /nose/.
Lowering her hands, she blinks up at Angel, still just lying there on her back, looking really confused now even at the sound of laughter. She starts to breath again, not even having realized she had held her breath from the moment she had hit the ground. When her backpack comes sailing her direction, she reaches up, catching it with both of her hands before it lands on her stomach. She's already been hit there once, thank you very much!
Rolling onto her side gives her the leverage she needs to get up to her feet, sanding falling off her clothes once she's back to standing. Oh? An invitation to get some food? Well, she doesn't NEED your food, so there! Hmph! *stomach gurgle*
Resting her hand behind her head, her other hand holding her bag by the strap, Hotaru smiles sheepishly. "That sounds really good. I guess I can't really say no to that." There's a pause, then she adds, "Er, ah, sorry for not asking nicely earlier." She kinda doubts a polite request would've gotten her bag back sooner, but she can't completely dismiss the posability too. Breathing in, she falls in step quickly. So many interesting people here in Thailand!
"Hotaru-chan...!" Cross pops up from her crouching posture and she's just right in Hotaru's face. No 'teleporting' for a change, just sheer youthful energy and excitement. Though, that might actually be scaried, especially with the way she's smiling from ear to ear. "You gave Ms. Angel a really good fight, thanks a ton! I haven't seen her that worked up in weeks."
"You should probably stick to sparring me, though," Cross grins wolfishly, propping her hands up on her hips and puffing out her chest. "There's no way you're gonna beat her, she's the best of the best, and she knows all sorts of moves, and--"
After a moment she realizes Angel's already started off in the direction of the city and erks, whirling to chase after her. "--wait for me, Angel-sensei!" The smaller girl dogs the Mexican chick's heels like an obnoxious little brother, practically skipping she's bouncing around so much. "You were great! Like, BAM! And POW! And BORT! And she was all, BARF! And 'Oooh, bury me with my money'! And--"
Log created on 22:02:23 06/15/2007 by Hotaru, and last modified on 14:58:14 06/16/2007.