Description: At the Shrine, Mizuki and Aranha clash in a classic battle of defensive versus offensive tactics... and at least this time, it seems as though the more defensive fighter wins... (Winner: Mizuki)
The Shrine--a place that is, while not hers, very dear to her heart. It has been a place of solace and of meeting; while much of her time is spent at the YFCC, nowadays, she still comes to the shrine to relax... to reach back to her roots. In honor of her first solo SNF being staged at the Shrine, she actually arrived in the morning and spent quite a bit of time cleaning it up--sweeping, dusting, all that kind of stuff... and so even though the shrine is dilapidated, it's spruced up and looking its best.
The SNF crews came to set up their lights and, with Mizuki on-scene, were gently, but firmly, directed away from some of the most run-down areas... Mizuki of course is dressing the part, her traditional white robes and red hakama tailored for combat-readiness--they won't slip or tear so easily, see--and her combat gohei tucked into her waist.
Finally, the marks are set and Mizuki kneels seiza on her mark, awaiting the arrival of her opponent...
It's not much time after the cameras set up that Aranha arrives. He doesn't exactly meet her eye first. The first thing he's looking at is the dilapidated, yet still spic and span shrine. In a matter of seconds he's getting a measure of the environment's interior, from the archway. Estimating distances and his ability reach the top of the miniature building's exterior as well. He even too the time to study the stone stairway just on the possibility of fight being taken outside.
Then his eyes go to his opponent dressed in white robes and red hakama and begins to rub his chin in thought before finally allowing his voice to take on laid back tone as he says, "Hey there. I guess you're my opponent. I hope we can have some fun." He takes a few more steps towards her with his left hand shielding his face as he reaches out with his right to shake her hand. Though if she opts to rise from seiza and bow instead, he'll back away to do so in return.
COMBATSYS: Mizuki has started a fight here.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Aranha has joined the fight here.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aranha
Mizuki raises her head, hearing Aranha's approach, but remains seated while he looks over the Shrine; she doesn't know what's going through his head, exactly, but he does seem to be analyzing something about the shrine. She loves the shrine for its beauty and its serenity... at least one of which is about to be disturbed and disrupted.
At his approach, Mizuki unfolds herself and rises, dusting her knees and shins off. "I am," she says, smiling pleasantly at her opponent. "And I think we certainly can," she adds, as she reaches out to shake Aranha's hand. After the handshake, she does step back and she bows as well.
"Good luck to you," she says, smiling, then, as the announcers shout the start of the fight...
Mizuki opens with a simple manuever--she calls up her chi, blue-silver energy flowing up around her in a swirling helix, a chill, 'wet' energy...
COMBATSYS: Mizuki gathers her will.
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Mizuki 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Aranha
While Mizuki calls up her chi, Aranha begins sway left and right as he goes into ginga his body seeming to relax as he moves. He raises an eyebrow as he watches her carefully before considering his options.
Deciding upon a more aggressive tactic he moves in launching himself forward as he lashes out with a glowing blue kick, immediately following it up with a glowing blue jump kick and then finishing up with a third and final glowing blue kick that he delivers by way of a back flip driving it down upon the Miko.
COMBATSYS: Mizuki blocks Aranha's Aggressive Dance.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Aranha
Despite her pose suggesting she isn't paying attention, Mizuki most certainly is; a moment after Aranha begins his combination, the redheaded miko is throwing her arms up, blocking each successive kick, even the final backflip kick. It stings, but she schools her expression after a moment; her gohei is then drawn from her belt, the paper tails at the end seeming to not affect its balance at all.
After a moment, she moves in on her opponent, switching from defense to offense smoothly. Her baton is gripped in a reverse grip, and as she moves forward she slashes outwards at shoulder level, towards Aranha--and moves forward for a second slash, this one an uppercut.
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Mizuki's Fierce Strike.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Aranha
The capoeirista seems ready for the attack. With poise he watches as the first attack comes in waiting until the last possible moment before leaning to the side to evade the baton before rising back up in time to see the second attack coming. He steps into her upward strike, seeming as though he's about to be struck when he suddenly leans backwards, one hand reaching out for the ground, the other guarding his face just in case he miscalculated.
Using the momentum from the motion of leaning back, Aranha whips his foot upwards in a kick of his own bringing him up and over his hand before landing back on his feet.
COMBATSYS: Mizuki interrupts Medium Kick from Aranha with Koori no Hebi.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Aranha
Maybe she didn't -intend- to connect with the strike; as she whiffs the uppercut, her chi surges, and even as Aranha's kick is arcing in towards her head, her baton is sweeping up again.
"Koori no--" *ungh* The last part of her vocalization is cut off by the strike to her head--but what isn't cut off is the surge of icy chi, a wavefront that flows up out of the ground, right into Aranha's body.
Unsteady, Mizuki manages to sweep her baton back downwards, completing the wavefront into a waist-high burst of chi that engulfs Aranha while Mizuki staggers back a step.
Attacks the come from under him that end up hurting him seems to have become an ongoing theme in his more recent fights. And while he knows that he hurt Mizuki, he can tell with absolute certainty that Mizuki won out on that exchange. And so attempting a direct approach might not work.
"Ouch. That attack has quite a kick to it," he says as he makes his dash to the walls forsaking his ginga for the time being and making plans for the likelihood of her coming after him, retreating, or staying where she is(with possibilities of her attacking from each scenario).
COMBATSYS: Aranha focuses on his next action.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Aranha
Most interesting, there... Mizuki smiles a little. "It's meant to," she replies, as Aranha dashes off. Mizuki can't hope to match Aranha's agility; even were she not wearing heavy robes, she just isn't as agile as he is, and she doesn't have the benefit of training in parkour. So, rather than chase off after the agile parkour-capoeirista, she kneels down...
... and finds a small chunk of rock, part of one of the many bricks around the area. Raising herself back to her feet, she looks troubled for a moment, before she pauses, tracks where Aranha is... and hurls.
COMBATSYS: Aranha interrupts Thrown Object from Mizuki with Sky's the Limit.
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Mizuki 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Aranha
As Mizuki lets the rock go, Aranha begins to pick up speed and then he suddenly darts left to what used to be a wall but with disrepair had became an ideal stepping stone for the traceur/capoeirista. In the process of darting left the rock just glances off of his shoulder. A fact that is ignored for the time being while he's focused on using the stepping stone to launch him to an intact wall which kicks off of allowing for him to grab on to an archway.
From there, he notes he's in perfect position to swing himself down upon her from above and he does so dropping into a roll after delivering a kick to her shoulders to run off to another wall. "I knew I was a stone's throw away but I didn't think you'd actually throw one." He knew it was a bad pun but he just couldn't resist.
Mizuki wasn't expecting Aranha to barrel through the stone like that--still, the impact is far less than it could've been, and ... well, now he's run off again. The pun is pretty much ignored; Mizuki doesn't pay attention to such things. She does, hwoever, remark idly, "This isn't going to be much of a fight if you just run away a lot..."
She, however, is staying right where she is--if Aranha wants to run away, that just gives her more time to set up. Once again chi spills from the ground, surrounding her in a rising column of silvery energy.
COMBATSYS: Mizuki gathers her will.
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Mizuki 1/--=====/=======|=====--\-------\0 Aranha
"Good point." He stops and kicks off the wall he had originally been going to before reaching another wall kicking off that wall as well until he's right beside her. Of course. he still realizes that the direct approach is still probably not the way to go
With this in mind he drops to the ground, lashing out with a low kick before going over to the side into a cartwheel stopping only long enough to lash out a second kick from upside down before finishing the cartwheel. They won't do much damage and are only really meant to provide harassment while he analyzes the situation a bit more.
COMBATSYS: Mizuki blocks Aranha's Light Kick.
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Mizuki 1/--=====/=======|=====--\-------\0 Aranha
Indeed, the kicks -don't- strike very hard; Mizuki still blocks them, however, utilizing the outside edge of her legs and her arms to fend off the kicks. She's surprised the comment 'worked'; though she wasn't really trying to taunt Aranha, so to speak, she -was- hoping to get him to come off the wall.
As Aranha comes out of his cartwheel, Mizuki seems to almost -slide- forward; her baton held in a forward grip, she thrusts forward at Aranha's position, the weapon surrounded in a blue-green glow of chi; several times she strikes out, maybe eight or nine, with a final lunging forward strike to finish.
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Mizuki's Kouryuu no Renda.
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Mizuki 1/---====/=======|======-\-------\0 Aranha
here's a moment where Aranha looks vulnerable after he comes out of it but then he manages to lean to and fro as he moves to avoid each of the attacks not doing quite as well as he'd like but having his hands in the way as he does so allows him to not feel the worse of the onslaught of blue and green chi slamming into him.
On the final lunge, he spins out of the way while bringing one of his legs behind her and then dropping one hand to the ground before bringing his other leg above her knee to attempt a scissor leg takedown. While he's doing that he's looking at a closeby window for other opportunities.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Mizuki with Quick Throw.
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Mizuki 1/-======/=======|=======\-------\0 Aranha
Mizuki -is- taken down, quite easily, in fact; she grunts, as she hits the shrine's stone flooring, then simply rolls backwards a couple of times, before rising to her feet. With a little smile, she inclines her head to Aranha.
"I probably shouldn't say this in the middle of a fight, but you seem to be really skilled... I appreciate you showing me your skills." That said, she raises her hands, her baton dangling from a loop at one end, around her wrist. There's a sense of gathering energy, chi building above and around Mizuki... and then it breaks into a literal waterfall of blue-green chi that spills down her body, a warm, cleansing fall of energy that fades just as it reaches the ground.
Aranha was surprised by the fact that she was bringing all of this gathering energy to bear. And while he couldn't quite feel it seeing it in this case was a suitable substitute. The thing that surprised him the most was that this energy was practically raining down on her instead of raining destruction on him.
"Thanks. You know, I heard a little about you from another fighter before this fight." He won't elaborate on details though. Instead, he's going to take to the air twisting as his tucks his straightened legs towards his chest before dropping downwards upon the red headed miko feet first.
COMBATSYS: Mizuki successfully hits Mizuki with Iki no Nagare.
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Mizuki 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Aranha
COMBATSYS: Mizuki dodges Aranha's Armada Dupla.
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Mizuki 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Aranha
The energy flows over Mizuki, bringing a great deal of soothing and healing; fatigued muscles revive, bruises reverse and disappear, and Mizuki seems to come out of it looking much better. Of course, she also doesn't miss Aranha dropping down on her; with a hard kick to the ground she backskips, neatly avoiding the dropping kick.
"Oh? I--I bet I can guess who." Her good cheer fades a little... she hasn't fought that many people, really, and so it isn't hard to pick out the memorable fights. "If it's alright, I'd like to leave that be for now," she says, as she comes at Aranha again--not from the ground, but from the air.
Gripping her baton in a forward grip, she leaps forward, striking downwards with the baton as she reaches Aranha, then, again, following up once she lands with a ripping upwards uppercut.
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Mizuki's Fierce Strike.
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Mizuki 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Aranha
"I see... Let's just keep the party going then!" Aranha lands from the acrobatic maneuver not expecting her to dodge it but even still he manages recover quickly enough to perform an aerial to move him away from the downward stroke and then performing a back handspring to move him neatly out of the way of the upward strike.
A good capoeirista doesn't stop moving and Aranha keeps in constant motion throwing out a side kick to the chin before dropping low to the ground to touch the ground with one of his hands as he whips his heel around at his opponent's head before leaning over and bringing himself into a handstand.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Mizuki with Strong Kick.
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Mizuki 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Aranha
Apparently the person who 'told Aranha' about her... also told him to kick her in the head a few times. This time, however, he's successful; Mizuki lets out a cry of pain as she's kicked in the head--but she doesn't falter and she doesn't fall. Staggering, she catches her balance low--
--then, as she rises, finally brings her legs into play as well, seeking to snap a kick right into Aranha's chest. Of course, he's faster than she is--but she'll give it her best, anyways.
COMBATSYS: Mizuki successfully hits Aranha with Strong Kick.
- Power hit! -
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Mizuki 1/------=/=======|=======\===----\1 Aranha
Aranha did have something in mind when he went into the handstand since it would set up one of his moves, however when that kick comes in he's not quite as prepared for it as he thought he was and so he ends up attempting to push himself up and above the kick to the chest but when it came time to execute he doesn't get high enough, quickly enough and so he catches the kick to the forehead instead of its intended location.
Aranha leans away while moving his arm to shield his face and his body and then he leans forward to push away his opponent with a head butt which is really little more than nudge to the torso in order to set up a turning kick off of his rear leg before placing his hand onto the ground and then throwing himself into a handstand where he launches a series of brutal snap kicks down upon his opponent's head. He drops down from the handstand and then performs a back flip kick.
COMBATSYS: Mizuki fails to interrupt Full House EX from Aranha with Deep Strike.
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Mizuki 1/---====/=======|==-----\-------\0 Aranha
With Aranha being so damn fast, Mizuki doesn't like her chances in a traditional exchange of blows--so she instead tries to cut Aranha's attack short, pulling her baton back and two-handing it for a blow that would, if it landed, most probably end the fight.
Unfortunately, Aranha -is- fast, and his headbutt opens her guard right after she pulls her baton back... and as a result she gets kicked in the head a lot and even more. Rolling backwards after the assault, she gasps, "God, I think I'm gonna have a concussion," slowly rolling herself to her feet.
Aranha after that final kick lands he spins low to the ground for just a moment before vaulting over Mizuki as he moves. If his quickness allows for it, he'll deliver a donkey kick using it to push off of her and in the direction of the previously mentioned window.
For all of his quickness, he won't make it to that window yet but the push coming from his kick will make easier than without.
COMBATSYS: Mizuki interrupts Change-Up Kick from Aranha with Kongou no Kagami.
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Mizuki 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Aranha
Mizuki's battle senses are sharpening--of course, she's skilled. -Every- fighter who enters SNF is skilled--or they go home broken. Mizuki doesn't intend to ever give up, no matter what. Despite her failure to stop Aranha during his last attack, she'll try again, and damn her chances. In this case, it certainly seems to work out for her.
Mizuki stumbles forward as Aranha vaults forward, and she's already turning, her baton gripped tight, describing a circle even as Aranha's leg contacts her chest. It hurts, but she doesn't let it stop her.
"Kongou no... KAGAMI!" And then...
...then, Aranha's world is searingly cold pain, as the circle is completed, and Mizuki's chi flares, surrounding her opponent in the freezing disk for a long moment, before bursting into brief flinders of energy.
Cold pain indeed. Aranha's body, which was only wearing those white pants and the black tank top is completely unprepared for the cold energy and his lack of experience in dealing with chi attacks has cost him in this fight.
After the burst impacts with his body, he drops to one knee. Smiling for a moment as he senses how close he was. It's also the fact that he's so close that is what drives him to perform a final gasp.
He breaks into a run right for the window as his entire body glows with blue energy. When he gets to the window he hops off the sill launching himself off of it and right at Mizuki before running for another wall and launching himself feet first at her. Then to the alter, kicking himself off of it to grab on to one of the supports and launching himself from there.
This continues for awhile as he drops down from various angles delivering kick after kick before he finally collapses.
COMBATSYS: Aranha can no longer fight.
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Mizuki 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Mizuki blocks Aranha's Joker's Wild.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Mizuki takes no action.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Mizuki has ended the fight here.
Mizuki doesn't know the fight's over, one way or the other--but she suspects that this is very close to the end. So she does the prudent thing--she -covers up-. Kick after kick slams into her guard, and her arms start to weaken--but the final kick comes and Mizuki's still standing--if barely.
"... that... was a great fight," she says, towards Aranha's direction, stumbling with the renewed pain of her injuries... but she's still standing, and the SNF officials announce her the winner.
The shrine wasn't too badly abused, she thinks... but even so... the shrine is a fighter's shrine. It understands the ways of battle, the outcomes and probabilities. It's withstood many fights and will withstand many more... When the medics come for Mizuki, she smiles, and waves them off.
"Go to Aranha-san, I can take care of myself..."
Log created on 19:04:56 08/05/2007 by Mizuki, and last modified on 19:31:01 08/07/2007.