Description: Shoma goes for a walk. Not only does he run into someone more-or-less unexpected, but...
Place: Downtown Buri Ram
Time: Early Evening.
Shoma walks the streets of Buri Ram, looking for a snack and maybe some cold milk after that high-quality workout with Roberto. He is currently wearing a dark blue track suit, sneakers, and a thick leather strap across his chest. It supports the large red baseball bat that rests on his back.
It does not help that he does not speak a lick of Thai...
It's not exactly unusual for Shoma to speak a language other than Thai, here in Buri Ram, the "City of Happiness"; a good percentage speak Khmer, the language of neighboring Cambodia. But he may also find that a handful of people speak more familiar languages: Japanese and English.
Sakura Kasugano was here as a forward scout for Shadaloo. Territory has been lost to the south -- some may say it was inevitable to fall. So attempts are being made to rebolster the Shadaloo offensive line here, a region hosting numerous extinct volcanoes... and ruins of the violent Khmer past.
For now... the soldiers are far away. But the rumors of the "Angel of Death" are well-known to the locals -- so much that the Japanese girl has had to walk about in disguise even to continue her surveillance. A baseball cap, long button-down shirt, and baggy slacks hide most of the girl's Shadaloo uniform, with bandages covering her hands. She probably looks like a Muay Thai fanatic than a Shadaloo agent -- so at least that's a good thing.
... But it'd be hard to miss Shoma, especially when the agent is looking for signs of resistance like him. She was walking around the city in a systematic sweep of the area. No reason to continue that search now.
She approaches Shoma from behind, hands stuffed into her pockets, the brim of her hat lowered. ... But there's no mistaking that she's walking =straight towards Shoma=.
Not very diffcult; the bat's as big as he is. Unlike Sakura, however, he's not really that famous outside of Southtown. People know him more as the ace pitcher/pinch hitter for Taiyo Gakuen.
He is actually learning, after that run-in with Vega, to pay some attention to his surroundings. He picks up that he is being followed, and continues his walk.
...right up until he takes that sharp right into a side-street.
The shift is pretty obvious to Sakura, yes.
But Sakura continues walking forward, like nothing ever happened... at least until she reaches the point where Shoma made his sharp right turn.
At which point she stops. And turns her head right, her eyes following Shoma.
"A little out of your way, isn't it, Sawamura?"
Her voice is cold, crisp, and echoes pretty nicely thanks to the surrounding buildings.
But the second time she speaks, her crisp, mechanical voice takes on a slight tone of sarcasm. "I wouldn't suppose you're here to help the resistance."
Shoma didn't go too far into the alleyway; running isn't his style. He's facing Sakura, and blinks once or twice. The change was more sweeping than he thought. He takes a moment, trying to reconcile the woman standing before him with the energetic girl he remembers.
"Could say the same to you, Kusanago-san." His hand drifts for his bat, "If what I'm here to do helps the resistance, then that's a bonus. I don't really care about all of that." He grips the bat, the straps pulling loose as he brings the weapon over his shoulder to point at Sakura. "I'm here to bring you home. To your friends."
"You could... but it'd be laughably incorrect." A faint smirk, there... some small part of her true personality exists beneath layers of Shadaloo reprogramming. "My allegiances were made painfully clear," she says, stepping out of the street.
She never did really like hats anyway, and pulls hers off, folding it up and jamming it into her pocket. But when she does so... her face is stony, devoid of emotion again. "I find it terribly amusing that my 'friends' completely ignore my own feelings on the matter. You think, quite simply, that my place is =not= here, helping restore Thailand to its proper glory."
Kasugano pointedly eyes the bat for a moment, before looking back up to Shoma. "If you plan to use that, do it now." She spreads her arms wide, her fingertips splaying out as far from each other as possible. "I'm unarmed."
It's hardly the truth -- she carries a sidearm underneath that shirt. But it, like many words coming out of Sakura's mouth, is a willful deception.
You are telling lies! Sakura is also armed with that crazy Hadouken technique!
The tip of the bat trembles for a moment, "You are helping a guy who is worse than Hyo was during the Justice High days, Kasugano-san." The bat stops moving again, "Hinata cried when she found out. Natsu..." Shoma's features harden into a scowl, "Natsu's hurting. You can /tell/, but she won't say anything about it. We /miss/ you."
The Taiyo Slugger sets into a ready stance, "And if it doesn't get through to your brain, then I'll just have to beat it into your body!"
With that, Shoma leaps at Sakura, bringing the bat down towards her collarbone.
COMBATSYS: Sakura endures Shoma's Random Weapon.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Sakura 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Shoma
It wouldn't be hard at all for Sakura to get out of the way. In fact, it'd be laughably easy to. Kasugano doesn't. She just keeps her arms out for Shoma's strike -- unlike him, she isn't shaking one iota.
And when the bat crashes down onto her collarbone, she crumples like a sack of potatoes, the pained expression on her face quite obvious, though not as much as the very feminine shriek of pain she gives out. That =hurt like hell=... and she just =let= Shoma do it.
It was an engineered response. She =wanted= him to see her in pain, wanted him to realize that, yes, this is a =human= he is dealing with.
It'll just make her next response that much less predictable, ignoring her ravaged shoulder as she leads forward, rushing to uppercut the baseball star right in the chin. "You know, fighting solves nothing." Dry, emotionless... but her fist is anything but, sheathed with a dark, violet aura of hatred and negative emotions.
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Shoma with Shou'ou Ken.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Sakura 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Shoma
Shoma has taken his bat to humans before. He had to against Hyo, for instance. Shoma's eyes go wide; that energy...it's a lot like what Vega throws around all willy-nilly. He tries to get the bat recovered to try and block it...
...but he is too slow. The Shou'ou Ken slams into his gut, knocking him into the air. He gets buried in a pile of garbage bags about sixty feet away. He doesn't get up right away.
"You think...I don't know that? You think that I like..." Shoma emerges, gasping for breath, "You think I /like/ this?" He steps clear of the pile and flicks some food bits off of him as he measures the distance between the pair.
Sixty feet, six inches.
There's a ball in his hands, "I think, Sakura, that you need to go back to the bullpen!" Shoma sets, kicks, and flings the fastball at the Doll. The ball splits into two...into four...into eight...into sixteen... Soon, no less than one hundred and twenty eight fast balls are screaming for Sakura's midsection. "ILLUSION PITCH!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Shoma's Illusion Ball EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Sakura 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Shoma
To be fair... that =did= hurt. Kasugano's collarbone could, in fact, be shattered at this point, due
To be fair... that =did= hurt. Kasugano's collarbone could, in fact, be shattered at this point, due to her calculated display of bravado. But it's an acceptable loss. Intellectually, the Doll wants to show Shoma that she's deadly serious about this. She's not just spouting lines -- she's convinced Shadaloo will help Thailand.
"You seem to enjoy it, yes. And you always have." Kasugano quite obviously remembers him, and his past. And Hyo's. The correlation draws a slight twitch from her eyebrow.
But it's unlikely he'll notice from sixty feet, six inches away.
Sakura knows now why calling one's attack name gives the opponent an unfair advantage. Now, she =does= smirk. "Haven't played baseball in a long, long time." And, raising her arms, she focuses herself. A dark, inky-black aura spreads around her, as she blocks the incoming balls. In addition to the dark, viscous cloud providing some resistance, several metallic 'clangs' report the ricochets of the baseballs against her metal arm-guards.
Looking down at the balls, only a few of which managed to penetrate her guard and impact her defenseless thighs, she smirks faintly. "It seems you may need to return to the bullpen as well." Reaching down, she grabs three of the baseballs. One after the other, she fires them off at the boy in rapid succession... advancing towards him all the while. Sixty feet is a long distance to cover, after all.
COMBATSYS: Shoma fails to reflect Thrown Object from Sakura with Return Swing.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Sakura 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Shoma
Shoma tries to recover quickly, and bat the balls back at Sakura. He fails miserably; taking a pair in the stomach, and the third square in the forehead. He's sent flying again, back into the pile of trash he just extricated himself from as a matter of fact. He doesn't say anything to refute Sakura's claims; fighting /is/ a form of competition, and Shoma enjoys that. Shoma /also/ enjoys doing stuff with his friends, almost regardless of the activity. So if it appears Shoma enjoyed the fighting? Maybe he did.
He stays down for the moment, however.
Sakura had already made up her mind, already confronted her family. Kei. Hotaru. Even her former mentor and idol, Ryu. But her dearest friends, Hinata and Natsu... didn't even get a phone call. This is somewhat troublesome... but her mind has mostly relegated it to the back of her mind. Ignored it... in favor of the current battle situation.
That doesn't mean her subconscious can't make her =cry=. It wasn't visible from so far away, but Shoma might notice the moisture on the girl's cheeks as she approaches. Her face is still cold, impassive, her eyes soulless. It's =tough=, facing people like Shoma. People who can remind her of who she =really is=, without even blinking.
But she does it, just the same, as the Doll programming shoves the rest of her true self back into a corner. The girl walks up towards Shoma, shaking her head. "Tell them Sakura's gone, now. She's made up her mind."
And right then, the girl brings her steel-sheathed fist back, before slamming it down in a hammerblow for Shoma's shoulder. She can't use both her hands -- just the right. But it may very well be enough.
COMBATSYS: Shoma endures Sakura's Fierce Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Sakura 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Shoma
Shoma sees the punch coming. He /knows/ that it's going to hurt. However, he locks eyes with Sakura as the punch strikes home.
He looks a bit serious. Almost sad, even, as you hear something /crunching/ under the heavy guards, "I can't change your mind, can I." This sounds more like a statement than anything else. As if he's realized what has been said here. That there is no going back as far as she is concerned. He pushes the fist aside, and stands up. He screams as he puts too much weight on the shoulder; it hangs strangely once he is on his feet. An injury like that could end any hopes of pro ball that Shoma might have entertained, but he stands anyway. He sighs, "Then...it looks like I don't have much choice." With that, Shoma leaps with a yell; one part pain one part spirit. A golden glow sweeps around his feet as he hovers for the briefest of moments over Sakura's head. "I'll just have to stop you here, for Hinata and Natsu!"
And then Shoma drops, feet first, like a ton of bricks. He aims for Sakura's other shoulder, hesitant to go for the face...
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Shoma's Base Stomp EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Sakura 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Shoma
Sakura calculated the risk already, damn her programming -- the blow was intended to bruise, not cripple. She's positive Shoma will be ready for baseball again in a few days -- most fighters from Taiyo heal up fast!
But really... it'll be hard for Shoma to talk sense into someone so utterly dominated by =two= forms of brainwashing -- both Vega's, and Kurow's. If it were possible for Sakura's true self to convey a message, it'd be 'Don't give up, Shoma!'
It's not, though. Not yet. Kasugano tracks Sawamura as he leaps into the sky, nearly hovering over top of her. She... quite simply raises her arm, letting his feet crash into her stainless steel gauntlet. It won't cripple her, as she's also crouching, letting her full frame disperse the impact.
"Noted. Hinata and Natsu must be proud." Cold, dry... hardly the passionate voice of one of Hinata and Natsu's bestest friends. But the girl nonetheless is Sakura, somehow -- and she's determined to show Shoma she means business. Pulling back from his stomp, she wheels forward, slamming the heel of her boot in a rather direct thrust kick at his stomach. It's mercifully light, considering her previous barrage of attacks.
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Shoma with Medium Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Sakura 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Shoma
Shoma is thrown back by the kick; it's only the bat being jammed into the ground that is keeping him upright at this point. He looks up at Sakura. He knows already. He won't give up. Not here, not now. Not ever!
"I...WILL NOT...GIVE UP!" Shoma pulls the bat free, takes two more steps forward. There. That's the spot. He brings the bat around in a brutal arc. Sakura's right in the sweet spot of his swing...
...he swings. And then he falls over.
COMBATSYS: Shoma can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Sakura 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Sakura dodges Shoma's Grand Slam Smash.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Sakura 1/-------/=======|
Shoma swings, Sakura falls over, and =then= Shoma falls over; the Shadaloo agent's analytical mind had computed that the reaction with the best chance of success was simply to fall onto her back, catching herself on her one good hand, and in doing so prepare for kicking him out of whatever follows.
Being that Shoma falls over afterwards, she sees little point in delivering another blow. She was simply giving Sawamura the fight he'd wanted, after all -- and it's clear he wants no further.
Springing back to her feet, the young woman stands over top of the defeated Shoma, one hand clasping against her collarbone. "An admirable quality." She pauses for a moment, then benevolently speaks again. "You managed to fracture my collarbone with that initial strike, and forced me to react with optimal efficiency. Congratulations." She's... trying to be complimentary, really she is.
Taking a deep breath, she shakes her head. "But I will not be going back with you. I have decided to stay here." She takes five, six steps back, giving him the proper distance before turning around. She'd be able to hear him and prepare an appropriate defense at this range, should he get back to his feet. "Please..." There's a hitch in her breath, a slight, but meaningful hesitation. Her voice is partially recovered by the time she continues, but it's still noticeable that she's holding a bit back: "Please, accept my apology. And convey my apologies to Hinata and Natsu."
Kasugano begins to walk off, at this point, leaving Shoma behind in the alley. Some friend! ... But she could have done a =lot= worse, granted.
COMBATSYS: Sakura takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Sakura 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Sakura has ended the fight here.
Shoma raises a hand, weakly.
"WAIT!"
The Slugger glares at Sakura defiantly.
Sakura stops in her tracks, looking back at Shoma over one shoulder. ... Coincidentally, her bad one. Twitching for a moment, she levels a half-cocked glare at him. "Yes?"
Shoma slowly, painfully pulls himself to his feet. It's apparent that he's in no shape to fight despite the angry look on his face. He turns, and spits some blood on the ground.
"Tell...tell them your/self/," he says as he props himself up on his bat. "If you really mean it, if this," he jerks his head to indicate her outfit, "If this is what you really want...tell Hinata and Natsu yourself. They'll...they'll understand better than any of us."
The pain acknowledged, Sakura's face returns to its now-normal level of moderated control, her true personality cowed back into its corner. She considers Shoma's current state, eyes glancing over his form for a moment before returning to his eyes.
And for a moment, Sakura actually declines to answer. Thinking, considering.
... at which point she speaks again. "It's doubtful they'll truly 'understand.' They'll attempt to convince me my feelings are wrong. They'll say I'm brainwashed, that Lord Vega put these 'foolish' thoughts in my head. That I'm incapable of making these important decisions on my own." Pause. "I know, because I've heard it from everyone else who's tried."
She pauses for another moment, then smiles, very faintly. "You of all people should know how frustrating it is to behave like other people =want= you to behave."
Shoma hangs there for a moment, "Wh-what do you mean, me of all people?" Shoma's mind is racing, Vega's really got this girl twisted in knots. He's...not entirely sure what she's talking about now.
Sakura's voice =sounds= pretty close to her usual voice, at this point. The illusion is deliberate, and shallow... but there rings a tone of truth just the same. "I just mean... aren't you tired of adults telling you how things =should= be? I mean, you're angry. Passionate about what you believe in. People tell you you shouldn't get so angry, should learn to control your feelings." She smirks for a moment. "Doesn't that piss you off? Doesn't that make you =angrier?"
Shoma stares at Sakura for a moment. She raises very good points. After all, that seemed to be the trend of the conversation he had had with Chizuru and Rose not a couple of days before. And it /did/ make him angry, to a point.
Shoma's eyes narrow at Sakura, "And I suppose...I suppose you have the answers?" he asks, not entirely certain where Sakura is going with this.
"No." Kasugano shakes her head, with that same detached smile. "Just that... we've always been the same sort of person, Shoma. Stubborn as mules. And the more people that tell me I'm wrong, I'm deluded... the more people that tell me I'm brainwashed..."
She raises an open palm. "The more likely I am to not come back at all, hm? I can be just as stubborn, after all," she says, her smile a hideous caricature of her usual, at this point.
"But if you'd like to join me..." she admits, smile dampening to a reasonable level, "... and perhaps =find= the answers... then I'd be happy to introduce you to Lord Vega. Personally."
Shoma's eyes go wide as Sakura makes her point. And it /is/ a valid, even a good point. It makes total sense when it's put that way. He narrows his eyes, pondering this.
It looks like Shoma's usual confidence may be wavering...
Artifice isn't... exactly Sakura's forte. But this isn't exactly the same Sakura that Southtown knows and loves, either: it's a Doll, programmed to identify and attack weaknesses in valid Shadaloo targets. Shoma is... really no different.
"... You're considering it, then? Heh." The brainwashed Taiyo High star rubs her shoulder tenderly as she turns around squarely to Shoma once more. "It might not look like it... but Lord Vega actually cares a lot for people. He's looking out for us, treats us all as family. He gives us meaning to life, rather than all of us acting out some script passed down by our parents on 'how we =should= act'. He helps us become stronger. More powerful. Able to =protect= those we care about." She smiles warmly, walking back to Shoma. She offers her hand to him. "I'm not ready to face Hinata and Natsu yet. They won't understand, just yet. I'm not ready to explain it to them yet. But I know... I'm fighting to protect 'em. Not to get them caught up in this stupid war in this country no one back home even cares about."
Her hand is extended, as an offer. "You can help 'em too, Shoma."
Shoma looks like he's considering it. Maybe it's the similarities between the two that allow Sakura to speak so eloquently to Shoma. He listens for a moment. Maybe she's right. That this is really /Sakura/ talking. He pulls the bat out of the ground, and restraps it; a habit born of a lot of practice. He reaches over, gripping the shoulder Sakura punched earlier, and gives it a good jerk to force it back into place. He regards the Kasugano girl for a moment.
"All right," he says firmly, offering a hand to her. "Let's get this done with."
Sakura clasps Shoma's hand, shaking firmly. "Alright, then! I'll take you to him. Might have to make a few stops on the way, but it won't be long! It's glad to have =someone= on my side for a change..." Chuckling, she turns and starts to walk out of the alley, withdrawing her hat from its pocket, and placing it back atop her head. Sure... she's pretty injured right now... but probably not quite as much as Shoma is, she considers.
Her Doll mind is simply calculating this approach as a rational exercise. Is this really Sakura speaking? No more than before -- Kurow's just taught her how to use small aspects of her =real= personality to make endeavors like this more convincing. It's a perfect tool.
Perfect, except for the moisture beading up on Sakura's cheeks as she escorts him to the nearest Shadaloo rendezvous point.
Shoma follows, not entirely sure what he's gotten himself into. This may not have been the smartest decision Shoma has ever made, but Shoma is not known for thinking with his head most days.
Log created on 18:45:54 06/26/2007 by Sakura, and last modified on 06:24:02 06/27/2007.