Description: [Riko vs. Sarah] Nindo: "Way of the Ninja". But that means different things to different people. For Sarah, it's truth and justice, righting wrongs. For Riko - it's not.
18:25
South Thailand.
The fighting to reclaim the country from Shadaloo forces has already moved north, pushing towards the central provinces. The battle is over here, fought and won.
More or less.
Once, this was a thriving community. A small town.
Now...
...the sun sets on a ruined street - cratered and torn from explosions and warfare. Buildings lie, windows shattered, walls crumbling.
The people are gone. But tonight, there's still activity here. Of a sort. The sound of a helicopter engine, blades whirling as it rises into the air. Beneath the vehicle, chains and harnesses - as it airlifts the remnants of a Shadaloo tank. Around the chopper, left on the street, are other destroyed machines of war, burnt-out husks left over from the fighting.
A lone figure stands on the road, directing the helicopter's ascent with hand signals.
She looks...rather incongruous amid the debris. Whatever one might expect from a professional scavenger of war material, it probably isn't a little teenage girl in t-shirt, shorts, and in-line skates.
Riko Koganei.
Sarah has been in this area for a while, along with other parts either already taken back, or on the very edges of the conflict. Not for a lack of interest in fighting...she's just been picking opportune targets. A soldier ducking off from his buddies, or the tires of a Shadaloo vehicle left in the open...these things have been the focus of her attention for the last few weeks, along with trying to do what little she can for the people living here...what tiny handful might be staying, at least.
So the sounds of a helicopter draw her out, this time quite openly; there are supposedly no patrols to avoid. And it would seem to be the case: Ruined tanks, no soldiers...one helicopter that doesn't appear to be aiming to hose down the area in rockets...and one familiar face, up ahead. "There you are," Sarah calls out while walking -- and occasionally hoping over debris -- toward Riko. "I've heard some very bad things about you. I want to talk. Now's good."
Riko doesn't turn around, not immediately. It's not that she can't hear Sarah - no, she hears the other girl perfectly well, even with the massive noise of the helicopter's presence. She's just busy right now.
People come to Thailand...for different reasons. Self-proclaimed heroes, helping the resistance, fighting against Shadaloo. Fighting to liberate the country. People like Sarah.
Then there's people like Riko. Who are clearly using the conflict to achieve their own ends.
Riko makes one final wave of the arms.
Up above, a silhouetted figure moves within the helicopter's canopy. Lifting one hand, thumb raised. Riko returns the gesture. The chopper takes off, hauling the broken tank beneath it, flying towards the horizon.
Only then does Riko shift her stance. She spins round, skate wheels scraping against the rough asphalt of the village road. As the sound of the helicopter fades, she grins at Sarah, and replies:
"Oh, really?"
Sarah watches the helicopter lift, and this on its own is a pretty good confirmation of her worries. Sarah tries to stop it by flinging a shuriken at one of the cables being used to lift the tank...but even if she hits, it's likely to be futile -- anything built to lift a tank will probably shrug off a few ounces of high-speed metal. That leaves her with just Riko. "What was that just now? You just picked up a tank, I saw...but what on earth for? Is it like I've heard...and you're going out of your way to hurt people?" Sarah's staring straight at Riko, suspicion plain to see.
Riko tilts her head, peering at Sarah curiously. Then she folds her left arm over her stomach, palm cupping her right elbow. Her right arm reaches upward, such that her hand rests against the side of her face. Riko taps her cheek with one slim finger.
"You've been talking to that singer girl, right? She's like your teammate or something, yeah?"
Grinning broadly, Riko nods. Her eyes gleam with reflected light from the setting sun.
Behind her, the helicopter continues its flight, flying off with its cargo hanging securely from it. All the shuriken did was nick the paint.
"Naaaah," Riko says, "why /would/ I go outta my way to hurt folks? That's like.../troublesome/."
Sarah provides a few other words to go with the description of Arika. "Teammate, friend, seems to be a pretty nice person...and you knew exactly who I was talking about." She's walking right up toward Riko, trying to get literally face-to-face if she can. But even if not, Sarah talks while moving in. "So it all adds up. You really did hurt her, didn't you!?" Definitely not at all calm about this. "Why??"
"Hey, hey," Riko protests, raising her hands, "nothing /personal/."
She rolls back an inch, her skate wheels shuddering as they run over the uneven surface of the battle-scarred street. Not that the rural Thai road was particularly well-paved to begin with.
While Sarah's irate, Riko doesn't seem worked up at all. She continues smiling.
"It was only -one- little kidnap, and we let her go afterwards! Totally harmless, see?"
Sarah stops as Riko backs off even a little, listening. It's when Riko outright admits what's going on, that Sarah stares in complete shock. "Do you really believe that? You sound happy about what you did...tell me." Her hands stay rigidly at her sides, "Tell me there's someone forcing you to do this. Some kind of blackmail or control or anything like that. If there's a reason you /have/ to do this, I'll listen. Otherwise..."
"Jeez," Riko sighs. She brings the back of one hand to her brow. Then she shakes her head.
"What -is- it with you people?"
She gives Sarah a look.
"We're fighters, right? We fight. No lasting harm, no permanent damage. We wanted to see her fight. She fought. What's so weird about that?"
Sarah has just one word for Riko, at first. "Okay." For a few seconds, that's all she says. She just stands and stares at Riko. "I don't understand why you'd think what you did was fun or has no harm or whatever...and you're not giving me any good reasons. The last time I saw you..."
Sarah begins pacing off to the side, moving in a slow, wide circle around the wreckage...and around Riko, keeping a firm gaze on her. "You wanted to fight me, right? I said no, because I didn't have a reason to fight. You remember that?"
"Yeah," Riko replies, that grin still on her face.
She links her fingers together, clasping her arms behind her neck. Stretching slightly.
In the evening light, the message emblazoned across her T-shirt is clear, spelt in proud white letters:
N1NJ4.
Riko regards Sarah, levelly, turning her head just enough to track the other girl's motion. Riko herself remains on her spot, standing in the middle of the war-torn street. Framed against the setting sun, amidst a ruined town.
"But what makes you think I'm having fun?"
Grin.
COMBATSYS: Riko has started a fight here.
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Riko 0/-------/-------|
Sarah finishes her circle by hopping into the back of a wrecked jeep. The cargo bed is still intact enough to hold her within, and it makes a decent perch. "The fact that you're smiling, admitting it, and not even trying to justify any of this. It doesn't make any sense to me, but you're a villain in the most obvious sense of the word...and now I've got my reason!" In a sudden motion, she's drawn a wooden shortsword, and a horizontal slash at the air creates a thin yet wide flame-wave, flying for Riko.
COMBATSYS: Sarah has joined the fight here.
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Riko 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sarah
COMBATSYS: Sarah successfully hits Riko with Dragon Fire Wave.
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Riko 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Sarah
Riko -yelps-, as the crescent arc of flame sweeps over her body. She tumbles to the ground, rolling to extinguish the residual flickers of spirit-based flame. She comes to a halt, thin wisps of smoke rising from her lithe form.
She doesn't seem particularly peturbed, however. For someone who's just been set on fire without warning...you'd expect anger. Alarm.
But no, Riko's smiling. That same smile she wore earlier. It hasn't changed, hasn't left her face.
Now she's at the edge of the street, right up against the cracked pavement. Besides the fallen length of what was once a street lamp, the metal pole cracked and dented, the light fixture broken. Glass littering the road.
"Hey," Riko points out, "-you- just attacked -me-."
COMBATSYS: Riko focuses on her next action.
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Riko 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Sarah
Sarah has plenty of anger to make up for that. It's not a full-out berserker rage, but she's quite upset with Riko. Enough so to leap off the jeep, aiming her open left hand to deliver a palm-thrust to Riko's jaw. As she sails in to make this attempt, Sarah's yelling. "You started it with someone who hadn't done anything, so I'm taking it up from here!"
COMBATSYS: Riko fails to interrupt Quick Punch from Sarah with Random Weapon.
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Sarah
Quick as a flash, Riko makes her own move. She drops a hand to the ground, scooping up the fallen lamp-post by the jagged broken-off end. She begins to -lift- the length of metal...
...but Sarah's faster. She's upon Riko before the other girl can complete the move. Riko's head jerks back. She staggers, skates slip-sliding against the ground as she plunges backward, nearly falling over. But amazingly, Riko stays on her feet. And she retains her grip on the lamp-post, dragging the oversized pole along with her as she rolls back.
"See, like," Riko replies, "what makes ya think she hasn't done anything?"
Sarah makes a high, but short, backflip away from Riko after the strike...and thrusts the striking palm off to her side in an obvious attempt at making a dramatic pose, despite her serious attitude. "You didn't say anything about it, is why! You just kept smiling and talking big, and most people aren't like you!" Then she's leaping over Riko, trying to run along the drug-along lamp-pole, and grab Riko's head. Should that succeed, a jump will give the momentum to hopefully slam Riko's face to the ground.
COMBATSYS: Riko fails to interrupt Quick Throw from Sarah with Metamysticparallectrolysis EX.
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Sarah
Blink and you'll miss it.
As Sarah's feet pound into the metal pole, little sparks of blue begin to crackle over the metal surface. Energy running through the cables at its core, surging out - in all defiance of insulation - into the old lamp-post's exterior casing. Building until it explodes in a crackling blast. Like a reverse lightning rod.
But the timing's off. The discharge occurs just a split-second too late, just after Sarah leaps off the end of the pole, grabbing Riko. So all that results is a massive azure /backlight/, framing the two girls...as Sarah rams Riko into the hard unyielding ground.
Kicking free, Riko rolls to the side, coming up in an abbreviated crouch. She exhales, ribs heaving, eyes closed.
But if she's in pain, her voice doesn't show it.
It's still bright, when she retorts: "Aren't they?"
Sarah has to look back in amazement at what could have just happened...and likely should have. Electrical current along a metal surface is, in hindsight, resoundingly obvious to her. "They aren't. They don't talk about stupid things like you do!" And as Riko is crouched...Sarah tries to literally walk over her. One foot tries to step onto Riko's knee, then another onto Riko's chest...and finally the first foot tries to plant itself onto Riko's head before springing away, if all goes as Sarah hopes.
COMBATSYS: Riko dodges Sarah's Light Kick.
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Sarah
One foot onto Riko's knee.
And then another foot into Riko's left palm.
And then the final foot into her right.
An intercepted attack - and then an electrical discharge, surging through the smaller girl's arms, azure lightning crackling through Riko's wrists, hands, fingers, surging at Sarah.
"Don't they?"
COMBATSYS: Sarah blocks Riko's Light Fantastic.
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Sarah
Sarah finds herself in a strange situation; she's standing in Riko's palms. Sarah immediately goes for one of her wooden swords, ready to slash down at an...*Bzzap* "Ahhh!" -- That would be the sound as Sarah's plan is cut short, and she jumps off to get away from the electrical pain.
She lands, even more frustrated now. "Shut UP already! You're arguing like a kid; 'I know you are but what am I?'" And while making this protest, Sarah dashes up to Riko, then makes a forward flip to go over Riko's head. On its own, this would be harmless.
But there is the sword held out to twirl with her, flames erupting around it as Sarah uses the flip to potentially drive the weapon into Riko a few times.
COMBATSYS: Riko blocks Sarah's Rising Crescent Slash.
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Riko 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Sarah
"You're arguing," Riko shoots back, "not me."
Oh yes. She did it again.
Riko catches the flaming sword on an upraised arm. The hard wood smashes into her muscle and bone, the chi-energy scorching her skin. It draws a wince from the girl, a hiss of breath. She withdraws, once again gliding back. The polyurethane wheels of her skates rattle and vibrate as they roll over the badly-paved rural street. Her legs pump as she propels herself away from Sarah. She moves with confidence - nevermind the fact that she's heading /backwards/, and clearly can't see where she's going.
Behind Riko?
The shattered carcass of a Shadaloo tank, lying on its side, turret ripped clean off. Riko rolls all the way up, until she's nearly pressed against the stripped treads.
"Like I said," Riko chirps, winningly, "I just fight, 's not -personal-."
COMBATSYS: Riko gains composure.
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Sarah
Sarah lands well short of where she had expected to, with Riko's arm resisting the strikes. That leaves Riko retreating to a tank, and Sarah deciding...to stay well away. "You sure make it personal with the things you do. But I'm not getting through to you at all, am I? You'll just giggle and joke no matter what I say..." And from there, Sarah goes quiet. She just watches, taking a moment to think this fight through...
COMBATSYS: Sarah gains composure.
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Sarah
"Well, yeah," Riko replies, glibly.
She raises one hand, pointing at Sarah, index finger outstretched.
"But you call yourself a ninja, right?"
Behind her back, her other hand flicks, once, bending at the wrist.
Riko angles her head to one side, her bangs swaying, partially covering her eyes.
"So ask this. Is she being silly 'cause...she's really silly?"
Riko spins round, her arms snapping out. Razor-thin wire gleams in the sunset, stretching from her fingers - running into the innards of the broken tank. As the girl moves, the lines grow taut...and then spring with releasing tension. Catapulting something out from the remains of the Shadaloo vehicle. A coppery shape, speeding through the air.
An intact cannon shell.
"Or...?"
Detonation.
COMBATSYS: Sarah endures Riko's Improvised Tactics!
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Riko 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Sarah
Sarah has a few seconds to talk...she thinks. "A true ninja knows the value of the shadows, of course. Keeping things hidden. But in your case, I don't see a good girl beneath the mask, so I'll..." ...Tank round. That's what Riko was really getting at, it seems. Riko has somehow gotten a cannon shot to come out of the tank, and Sarah responds in a truly strange way. She runs toward Riko, with the result of the shell detonating /behind/ Sarah. Well behind, but still with enough explosive force to send her tumbling and gasping. But Sarah rolls right out of her concussive-force-induced trip, continuing toward Riko.
And as Sarah closes in, she makes a high, shallow backflip...again with her sword held out. It's much like the attack she used moments ago, just going in a different direction, and likely landing just a few steps away from Riko.
COMBATSYS: Riko endures Sarah's Rising Crescent Slash!
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Riko 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Sarah
Riko blinks, once, as Sarah bursts forward, using the force of the explosion to actually boost her momentum. Riko actually looks impressed.
The chi-laced sword slams into the smaller girl. Hard. Breath whooshes from Riko's lungs. She hits the ground, knocked down, back. But her fall's controlled, her arms, elbows, and forearms meeting the earth. Her legs whip up and around, a skate-clad foot crashing towards Sarah as the other girl touches down in the wake of her attack. Sweeping low, aiming to send her spilling earthward as well.
"And what makes -you- the final judge of character, hm?"
COMBATSYS: Riko successfully hits Sarah with Light Kick.
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Riko 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Sarah
Sarah once again makes that arm-thrust to the side pose upon landing...she seems to like it. But she's /right there/ as Riko lashes out with a foot, and Sarah's hasty spin away is simply not going to do much beyond meaning she takes the wheels in her ribs, staggering. "When the case is this clear-cut, it's not hard to judge!" Sword stowed, Sarah hurries in to grab at one of Riko's legs, trying to lift her by it and spin just a little, tossing her toward the lamp-post from earlier.
COMBATSYS: Sarah successfully hits Riko with Quick Throw.
- Power hit! -
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Riko 0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1 Sarah
Riko -crashes- into the street. And the fallen lamp-post. With a resounding clang of metal. She skids to a halt on the rough asphalt, the street surface badly lacerating the skin of her legs and arms. She lies there for a second, just breathing heavily...
...before hauling herself to her feet. She wobbles, bent forward, spine curved, head bowed.
Then she looks up, regarding Sarah across the battlefield.
"To ninja," Riko says, dryly, "nothing's clear-cut."
She grabs the street lamp, one hand closing around the length of metal. With a hiss of exertion, Riko -yanks- it into the air, -swings- it at Sarah. Like a massive steel sword.
COMBATSYS: Riko successfully hits Sarah with Random Weapon.
Glancing Blow
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Riko 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Sarah
Sarah rushes to chase Riko, but there's some distance to cover. "Some things /are/ that simple! Right and wrong, nice and cruel.../justice/, it can be pretty easy to see!" Much like she's seeing an incoming lamp-post. Sarah aborts her charge, into an impressive backward cartwheel that should let the lamp sail right overhead. Except that Sarah's legs do not stay down; they go up and bang into the metal, causing her to drop with a wince. "Owowowow..."
Sarah doesn't stay still for long, despite that. She spins on her back, swinging a leg out at Riko's knees.
COMBATSYS: Riko interrupts Light Kick from Sarah with Dragon Seal Blue EX.
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Riko 0/-------/=======|=======\=======\1 Sarah
A kick that doesn't land. Not fully. Sarah's heel glances across Riko's kneecaps - but it doesn't crash into the other girl's legs with the force that Sarah intended.
Riko's palm intercepts Sarah's ankle, hitting it once, deflecting the kick. Then the skate-clad ninja girl ghosts backwards, her feet all but floating over the ground.
By now, the sun is sinking below the horizon, filling the air with hues of red and yellow. Riko moves, silhouetted against the setting sun.
"Those are absolutes."
A smile, teeth glinting.
"But everything's relative."
Upon Sarah's leg, where Riko touched her... a small sigal glows, shining blue. A circle, broken by a vertical line.
It's a technique Riko learnt from her master. The Ryuuouin, Dragon King Seal, a method of infusing your own chi into your opponent with but a single touch.
And Riko's chi...is electric.
And a moment later, that's when Sarah finds herself a brand new human conductor.
Sarah continues the argument even as her leg is deflected, starting to stand up while Riko retreats. "No it's /not!/ That's just self-justifying bunk used by people wh...."
Riko manages to end the debate very suddenly, as Sarah doesn't finish her words...so much as she collapses, shrieking and writhing. The electricity subsides eventually, and when it does...the blonde is much slower to get up than from any previous blow. That /hurt./ "What... ...what /was/ that?"
A head-shake. "Doesn't matter. I'm still going to put a stop to you right here!" Sarah then leaps right at Riko, in a very literal way. Sarah's feet are angled to slam into Riko's chest and stay there, potentially using the weight and momentum to 'ride' Riko down to the ruined street.
COMBATSYS: Riko dodges Sarah's Shooting Star Crash.
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Riko 0/-------/=======|=======\=======\1 Sarah
"Really?"
Riko twists out of Sarah's path, a startling act of agility. Now, given that Riko's no longer in her opponent's way, there's nothing between Sarah and the ground. Nothing but empty air. And unless Sarah can rein in her downward motion, she's heading for the street herself.
Which is something Riko's...obviously aware of. Since she slams a hand into the other girl's back, -shoving- her downwards. The same fate Sarah intended for /her/.
"And how ya gonna? -Kill- me?"
COMBATSYS: Sarah dodges Riko's Quick Throw.
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Riko 0/-------/=======|=======\=======\1 Sarah
Sarah is shoved, but goes with it and rolls smoothly, starting to retaliate with a backward kick...only to stop when she hears Riko's question. "What!?" Despite being in a warzone, the concept of using lethal means apparently stuns Sarah for a moment. "...No! I'm not like that!" And despite that protest, Sarah accompanies it with violence; a spin and wide 'ballerina' style kick at Riko's ribs.
COMBATSYS: Sarah successfully hits Riko with Light Kick.
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Riko 1/-------/=======|=======\=======\1 Sarah
This time, Riko -does- yelp. Sarah's kick blasts firmly into her torso, sending the smaller girl flying. She rockets across the street, her flight only interrupted when she crashes into a wall. Or what's left of one, anyway - the fighting between Shadaloo and Thai resistance forces was very effective in reducing this town to ruins. Brick and plaster crumbles around Riko as she collapses, coughing.
Quickly, though, she recovers, eyes narrowing at Sarah. Riko hops up.
"Yeah? Okay," Riko replies, quizzically, "then how were you gonna 'stop' me?"
Whipping her arm, she sends a brick flying at Sarah.
Yes, it's primitive. But you work with what you've got.
COMBATSYS: Sarah overcomes Thrown Object from Riko with Cloud Burst Cascade EX.
- Power hit! -
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Riko 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Sarah
Sarah continues spinning, minus the kick. Just...twirling in place while Riko talks. "Haven't thought that far ahead yet!" But she seems to have thought about the brick, as a hurried downward throwing gesture sends a smoke-bomb to the floor, exploding around Sarah and concealing her from view. The brick is met with a large, loose chunk of pavement that shoots it down...and in retaliation, just off to the side of where Sarah stood, a few shuriken fly out at Riko. Then another smoke-bomb creates 'cover' a few feet away, which Sarah leaps to, and flings a few small firebombs; tiny explosives that might hurt Riko's legs when they detonate. And immediately as those go out, another smoke-burst springs up, which Sarah retreats to...and throws all sorts of random stuff at Riko. A few kunai, one of her wooden swords, a grappling hook, a few coins, and other junk is in there. Sarah is still inside that last cloud of smoke, apparently not too bothered by it.
COMBATSYS: Sarah successfully hits Riko with Cloud Burst Cascade.
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Riko 1/---====/=======|====---\-------\0 Sarah
Amazingly, she's still standing.
That's really quite remarkable, considering that the wall behind Riko is riddled with weaponry. Kunai blades embedded in the crumbling brick, shuriken stabbed through mortar...
...and quite a few such things stuck in Riko herself.
She sways, head lolling. She makes a small choked-off sound, blood trickling down the side of her face.
She makes that sound again. Louder, this time.
Her shoulders shake.
She's...
...laughing?
"Pretty cool," Riko replies, honestly. For once, she appears genuine about it.
"Yeap," she says, "pretty cool."
COMBATSYS: Riko gains composure.
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Riko 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Sarah
Sarah emerges from the smoke while Riko talks, and looks genuinely amazed. "...That actually worked?" And then she sees it really did work, and quite well at that. Riko is understandably bleeding, and for once in this fight, Sarah has lost some of the edge to her anger. "You're hurt. Let's stop. I'm not here to kill you, I just wanted to show you how this sort of thing feels. So," Sarah's hands fall to her sides.
And then she makes a rather pacifistic offer. "I'll let you walk away. I don't gain much by hitting you until your unconscious, and I don't think you have much use for /me/ unconscious, if you've been after military hardware. So if you'll think about what you did to her...I'll let it go at this. Okay?"
COMBATSYS: Sarah gains composure.
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Riko 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Sarah
"I don't think," Riko replies, tilting her head, "I need your -permission-. But hey, point taken."
Riko grins again, looking incredibly composed for someone who currently represents a little human pincushion. She pushes away from the wall, skate wheels digging into the ground. She begins rolling down the Thai village street, idly picking at one of the bits of metal stuck into her flesh. Poking her finger at what seems to be an honest-to-god /coin/. Not even a sharpened one, either. Just spare change.
"See you around, then."
Riko smiles, impishly. Waving jauntily.
"I think you earned -your- invitation too, with that last move!"
COMBATSYS: Riko has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Sarah 0/-------/----===|
Sarah watches silently as Riko begins to leave, wondering if it might be a trap or ruse... ...but it seems it's not. An eye raises at the mention of an 'invitation', but she doesn't ask about it. More pressing concerns right now, such as cleaning up....gathering the random weapons she threw, since it's a little hard to get real 'resupplying' done in war-torn places like this. Best to just let things go for now, with Riko.
COMBATSYS: Sarah has ended the fight here.
Riko, meanwhile, continues rolling away, on her way out of the battlefield. Normally, she'd do some kind of ninja vanish at this point. But really, it'd be sorta pointless.
Waste of energy, anyway.
But that fight was worthwhile, definitely, Riko nods to herself. She takes another glance over her shoulder, at Sarah, just before she rounds a corner and skates out of sight.
Yeap, she thinks, this whole Thai thing is working out really well.
Fishing in her pocket, Riko pulls out a cell phone. With the telecommunications network in war-ravaged Thailand rather less than stellar, there's no way she should be able to get a signal in this place. But she hits the speed dial regardless.
"Hello," she chirps, "Seishirou-sama? Yeap! You won't guess who I ran into!"
Riko rolls down the street.
Pause.
"...oh. You guessed."
Log created on 21:59:57 06/29/2007 by Riko, and last modified on 16:32:29 08/01/2007.