Description: Another day, another chance for Hotaru's life to be made oh so very interesting while obeying the demands of Master Takuma. The girl takes on the arch rival of the Kyokugen Dojo, Ryuhaku Todoh. Staged in the environment that almost seems precisely designed to allow the least serious battle possible, this fight ends up being nothing like what the girl had expected.
The Todoh dojo! To some, a creaky little eyesore out in the Karuta district nearby a perfectly peaceful little park... especially ever since its wave of popularity waned. It was a sad time for the devout practitioners of Todoh-ryuu Kobojutsu, but few, they say, took it harder than one Ryuhaku Todoh.
Yes, underneath his bizarre ways of getting around just about anywhere he pleases, his apparent inability to do little things for the rest of the family like 'make sure the dojo doesn't nearly collapse to pieces while I'm out at the market' (let alone actually /clean/), and just barely having enough to pay for Kasumi's tuition for Seijyun this month, well...
All right, let's be honest with ourselves. He just keeps it on the inside and his seemingly limitless hopes for the future of his family's fighting style firmly out front, the very tinges of desperation only visibly hinted with the fact he has been screaming bloody revenge a bit more loudly than usual every time Takuma somehow showed him up. His own little one-man rampage against the Kyokugen Dojo may have been another indicator that somewhere, something in him snapped just a little bit more.
But enough about him and his personal issues. It's been a muddy, rainy day in this part of Southtown. The rain's just about to clear up, but the evening might find itself with yet another small shower headed its way later on. Thanks to this weather, the park outside the dojo is pretty clear.
The rain doesn't really seem to deter Ryuhaku very much, as he's pounding down a fresh new mailbox against some curiously stubborn dirt. A mailbox just large enough for him to hide in. Let's see those local teenage goons knock down his mailbox /THIS/ time, oh yes. He giggles at the prospects of this just desserts!
The falling rain /almost/ deters Todoh's next visitor, young Hotaru Futaba. She has managed via careful timing of never being in the wrong place at the wrong time, precisely managed diplomacy on her prior visit, and a lot of random luck to stay out of the endless fued that exists between the Kyokugen-ryuu practitioners and the Todoh-ryuu Kobojutsu users. But apparently Takuma had decided that the time had come to put an end to her practiced neutrality.
She had resisted and dragged her feet, pointing out that maybe another day when it wasn't so rainy would be better, but in the end, the old man wasn't to be swayed and Hotaru set out on what was absolutely most definitely going to be yet another mis-adventure entirely due to being a student at the Kyokugen Dojo.
She approaches reluctantly, wearing a rich, blue, Chinese styled long coat and huddling underneath a somewhat large red umbrella. While it would be hard to make it out without towering over the girl, the top of the umbrella has the letters KYOKUGEN MIGHT in large, black letters, along with a picture of Ryo's face in the middle which really just ends up getting distorted and mishapen by the natural curvature of the canvas. Hotaru thinks the thing is entirely ridiculous, but it's part of the latest advertising campaign for the Dojo and as a student, she has to carry it with her in the rain.
When she draws near, she notices Ryuhaku working on fixing the mailbox into the dirt in the middle of the falling rain. The girl pauses a little before stepping forward to raise her umbrella up higher and at an angle, blocking out some of the rain from falling on the old man with Ryo's FACE. "Excuse me, Master Todoh," the girl speaks up softly, not feeling too keen on interrupting his construction project even if he has picked the darndest time to do it.
Ryuhaku Todoh has certainly foregone the idea of procuring an umbrella for this noble(?) endeavor! He's drenched in what the heavens have poured onto this part of Southtown extensively. So much so that they probably won't let him back inside until he dries himself off or, mysteriously, procures another set of clothing to enter the dojo with. He's already gotten an earful from his wife about one of his last few escapades. Some cultural norms... do not really apply to the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Todoh.
He continues to stubbornly get the mailbox properly secured in some dirt that is giving him lip. IF this were where Takuma's ancestors were buried, Ryuhaku wouldn't bat an eyelash about this and try to hammer the stake down further in earnest. Instead, it's just plain ol', regular dirt that must have had secret dirt-practiced martial arts training to resist wooden stakes being pounded through it. This is, of course, frustration. But frustration is the origin of all redoubled efforts!
Sweat is washed off Ryuhaku's brow by the pouring rain, but he has to stop to get some water out of his eyes when a certain young girl approaches him. It's pretty easy for him to miss the footsteps, he's out in his own little world right now. But that bright, red umbrella... that's not so easy to miss, compared to that tiny little voice as his head slowly pokes out from the side. Even in this rain, one of the eyes appears very bloodshot. He must not have been sleeping well.
"Eh... ?!" The one eye Hotaru can see from Ryuhaku's position behind the needlessly large mailbox widens. Then it narrows. His head moves back behind the mailbox. Then, in one, sudden movement, his hands reach up to the top and manages to /shove/ the mailbox stake almost all the way through the dirt, far too deep into it. Wow, all he needed to get it done was to see some Kyokugen fan junk. Maybe Kasumi and her mother can use this to get him to do other constructive things.
"NO I'M NOT INTERESTED IN JOINING YOUR FANCLUB!" He yells, breathing in and out heavily before he gets a better look at who it exactly is... he doesn't calm down all that much. "Hmm?! You. Yeeees, you." He remembers her now, though his hands are firmly planted on his giant mailbox.
"Did... did you come to renounce that Kyokugen nonsense?!" Look, he's almost hopeful!
Frankly, he looks just about as crazy as everyone has told her he really is. Hotaru stands patiently as he delivers the finishing blow to the mailbox, driving it into the highly stake-resistant dirt with strength fueled by a family rivalry she has still only slowly begun to understand. And now the mailbox is so low that even she would have to bend down to put mail in it. And it's huge. Really huge. Either interest in Todoh-ryuu has really skyrocketed, or the veteran fighter is really optimistic about the future of the run down dojo behind him.
She looks at the bloodshot eye but avoids focusing on it for long. When he yells, she startles easily, taking a half step back as if expecting retaliation. But then he seems to reconsider her eminent demise and pursues a softer approach. "Y-Yes, Master Todoh, we met before. My name is Hotaru Futaba." the girl replies politely as he shows signs of recognition.
At his question, she hesitates, not wanting to start off talking about things that he isn't going to want to hear. Then again, that's practically the entire purpose of her forced visit, so she might as well get on with it. "I'm afraid not," Hotaru replies, shaking her head slowly as the patter of rain begins to diminish, the pattering against Ryo-sensei's face becoming less intense.
There is a pause, then a swallow, then Hotaru continues, clearly struggling for the right words, "Master Takuma has sent me to challenge you for myself. He wants me to see why it is that your family and his fight so much. He believes that if I face you in combat it will become readily apparent. Also," she pauses again, averting her eyes to the side a bit to eye the weathered, run down dojo, "He indicated that if you are able to defeat me I am..." She sways on her feet a little, the hand holding her umbrella adjusting its grip slightly, "to provide you with a check that is to pay for two months of Kasumi Todoh's tuition at Seijyun High."
The girl doesn't sound to thrilled with the money being on the line. It makes it sound like this is some kind of dirty street fight between greedy street thugs rather than a respectful fight between an honorable, experienced instructor and a young student. But those are Takuma's terms. He can be strangely cunning for a crazy old man, the girl muses idly.
The diminishing rain so does not match the tension that dawns between a young Kyokugen student, and a supposed master of his own style. Then again, maybe the clouds above don't want none of what's about to come. Ryuhaku has probably boasted at one point that the Kasane Ate can split the heavens and earth alike. This may not be complete exaggeration if the weather has decided not to intervene.
Anthropomorphizing weather is probably the last thing anybody present is really thinking about. Rather, Ryuhaku's mind wanders onto Hotaru's disappointing answer. No? Drat! But he is, fortunately, not so crazily bloodthirsty as to not just reach out and tear apart her little throat for even showing just mere apathy to having some Kyokugen swag bearing the face of the man that pretty much ruined him. But he clearly is demented enough to do relatively tiring labor (...if against resistant dirt) without a care for maybe even catching a cold.
Instead, he listens to the offer with something that almost approaches 'interst' above 'somewhat greater than mild disapproval of youngsters these days.' The latter becomes much more apparent with the choice of language Hotaru gives him. "Oh, is /that/ how Takuma feels about me now?!" He raises a balled fist and shakes it. Make a laughing stock out of /him/, will he. But something else hits his mind. Tuition for Kasumi for two months?! And all he needs to do is just beat this little Kyokugen groupie?! This seems almost too good an offer.
"Hmm." What comes out of his mouth sounds calmer than he appears, the fist lowering into an open hand that claps into the other one, equally open. He could just rub them up and down, yes. Knowing first-hand how much it costs to send even one child to Seijyun, heck, maybe he'll force Takuma to miss a mortgage payment or something. And then we'll see who has the money to throw around and taunt the other with, oh yes.
"Well then!! Why didn't you say so sooner?!" The exclamation marks punctuate his feelings on the matter as he edges away from the mailbox that will have to be pulled up a ways sometime in the future, and out towards the very front of the dojo grounds. It's a muddy, wet, and muggy evening. Definitely not the sort of place to do fighting.
A fan is withdrawn from within his gi as he opens it with a little practiced sleight of hand, the ever-omnipresent flag of Japan presented for Hotaru to witness as water is flicked every which way from it. "Then I, Ryuhaku Todoh, of the glorious Todoh-ryuu Kobujutsu style, hereby accept your challenge!"
If Hotaru were at all eager to get this over with as quickly as possible, this is probably as good an invitation as any to kick him in the teeth before he actually moves to attack.
COMBATSYS: Todoh has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Todoh 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Todoh
She had expected him to feel insulted, eyes widening as his enthusiasm for the challenge only seems to INCREASE once the promise of money is on the table. 'Mou...' she grouses internally. However, there is something on the line here. More than just the hypothetical honor of the two competing styles. Takuma has pit her against the most capable practitioner of Todoh-ryuu Kobojutsu alive and if she wants to do her own Master proud, she'll not shirk this fight.
As he accepts the terms of the fight, Hotaru steps forward, following him into the moist front yard. When she had seen the weather, she had hoped to fight indoors... but after taking a look at the drenched elder fighter, she can certainly see why that won't be happening. "Thank you for giving me the honor," the girl replies, bowing politely. With swift, precise movements, she snaps the umbrella closed, collapsing Ryo Sakazaki's face into the folded cloth.
Reluctantly, the girl opens the long coat that had protected her from water being splashed by the rain on the way over and slips it from her shoulders over her arm. "If you don't mind," she speaks as she walks toward the porch of the dojo, placing the blue coat on the first dry patch of roof-covered porch she can find. It's expensive! With intricate, floral patterns woven into the rich fabric, embroidered by gold dusted bands, she can't just put it down anywhere! The umbrella, on the other hand, she left out by the mailbox. She won't disrespect Todoh by bringing the Kyokugen advertising paraphernalia into his property.
Dressed in a mostly white outfit with an expensive, custom tailored blue Chinese styled vest, it's pretty clear that she hadn't planned on this bout taking place outdoors. Making it worse is her inherent tendency to be a bit of a clean freak. Fighting in this damp, muddy yard is definitely not her preferred environment. But she issued the challenge, so it's up to Todoh to pick where they fight after all!
Standing off a little ways from him, the girl bows her head one last time, "I trust that you are ready, Master Todoh." And with that, she's off, charging toward him with a bold, borderline reckless attack, her feet sloshing through puddles as she reaches out to try and snag a hold of his fan holding arm before twisting it a bit to try and lock him into place. If she can get that kind of leverage, the rest of her assault will be a rapid sequence of kicks with both of her feet - quick stomps right up the front of him, ending in her backflipping away to land somewhere safe - hopefully. "Ya, ya, ya!" Oh yeah, don't mind the muddy footprints...
COMBATSYS: Todoh endures Hotaru's Shin-Jou Tai!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Todoh
Ryuhaku Todoh is the sort of man that pops up in a whole bunch of strange places, this very property notwithstanding. It is probably not a great leap of logic that he is not quite above fighting anywhere, regardless of such petty things like 'dignity,' 'hygiene,' or even in some cases, 'logic.' This place of battle at least satisfies one of the above.
But he'll probably be throwing away that mailbox to begin with because of that accursed Kyokugen umbrella touching his perfect mailbox. Moving on.
Hotaru politely addresses him and goes on the offense, seemingly striking into him with a rapid climbing kick-flip shortly after successfully grabbing his fan arm with imputiny. It's a nice, solid arm for her to grab onto. The first kick gets him to double over, as if he weren't quite expecting such speed and grace from a Kyokugen student! Hell, this isn't much like Kyokugen at all!
"GAH!" So he said right after the first kick, but he takes a deep breath as the next few kicks hit his chest. He holds strong on the last series of kicks as she kickflips back into the air. His arms raise to the clearing heavens. Heed his call, forces of nature! And as his arms raise at the apex of her backflip, the fan closing itself and disappearing into his sleeve by some means as he calls forth the time-honored technique of his style! Almost exactly on top of Hotaru, were she to look straight up, is not the gleam of the setting sun from the rapidly clearing weather. Unless the sun has always been three large, chunky, blocky pieces of focused chi.
The rest... generally writes itself. It's a race against time, gravity, and the fierce "HEEYAH" kiai of one Ryuhaku Todoh. At least he didn't seem to mind getting muddied by her dainty little footsteps. But will she mind getting cleansed by a particularly fierce variation of what he calls the most powerful chi technique of its kind?
COMBATSYS: Todoh successfully hits Hotaru with Fierce Kasane Ate.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Todoh
The girl backflips off of Todoh after delivering her rapid strikes. There's a certain comfort to her acrobatic aerial maneuver, inconsistant with typical Kyokugen techniques. It's been an interesting experience blending their blunt force tactics with her own style, to say the least.
Hotaru lands, a splash of dirty water staining her white pants at the level of her shins. "Che," she mutters, not amused with this environment in the slightest. But fighting in all kinds of terrain is something to get used to. One never knows what type of places she'll be sent to fight for competitions. They've sent her to the /North Pole/ for a SNF before, after all.
What she didn't realize was that even while she was in mid-air, Todoh's follow up attack was already in motion, three cascading blocks of chi moving with free-fall like speed toward her. It seems slow enough, she considers. It shouldn't be too hard to side-step... And so she does, one foot moving out to the side and the rest of her body following, with her other foot trailing. Only, her first foot doesn't have the traction she thought it did and starts to slip out from under her. "Erk?" Trying to correct for that, her arms flailing, Hotaru ends up stepping right back into the crashing wall of chi, getting flattened to the ground by the force behind it, landing flat on her back in wet grass with a gasp. Ow. Okay, so that's the Kasane Ate she's heard so much about, she grunts, rolling to the side to get back up to her feet, now a lot more drenched than she had hoped to get in this exchange, dirty water turning her white outfit brown.
Grrr. Something in the back of her mind tells her that she should calm down, take a moment to hold her ground and get her focus. But she isn't listening to that reasonable plan right now. Following instead the Kyokugen way of perhaps not really thinking things out thoroughly, Hotaru charges Todoh again, sliding to a stop... or trying to, while spinning around with her foot to land a swift kick to his side. Of course, she meant to come to a stop and deliver multiple swift kicks, but since she ends up just slipping along all the same, she'll just have to settle for one very poorly aimed attack. "Ya?!"
COMBATSYS: Todoh interrupts Light Kick from Hotaru with Jab Punch.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Todoh
Todoh claps his hands together and emits a low giggling noise as Hotaru eats but a mere sample of his limitless (in his own mind) power! That, and also to reaffirm his balance on the muddied, slippery ground. This ends up going against him when his right foot starts to sink into some of the mud. Man, this yard is full of potholes. Hotaru might notice the back yard looks a lot better, as that is where Todoh's wife tends to arrange the flowers. But up here, out front, the main way people come in? It... could use a lot of work.
"Eh?!" Ryuhaku's vocal accompaniment to his predicament comes along as he tries to pull his foot out, giving Hotaru ample time to recover and set up her attack. As he tries to yank his foot right out the mud, Hotaru comes in closer, closer, closer yet as he tries to simultaneously adopt a counter stance while freeing the foot in question.
He is met with... some success. Well, nothing about a muddy, lunging kick hitting him fairly solidly in the side, prevented from being worsened as his body goes with the momentum of the kick rather than actively resisting it. But right on that impact, his left hand forms an open palm that was to try and catch the foot to begin with, but in the hit, it thrusts too high. His collapse causes it to go lower in its trajectory.
It ends along the lines of "failed block that became a slap to the face," very literally, as Ryuhaku Todoh goes down into the mud with a surprised groan of "Kiya?!" and a splash of mud for both parties involved to love and cherish.
Imagine if this were all jello.
Of course, Hotaru has no idea what the intent of his flailed reaction was, only knowing that she just got slapped hard in the cheek for her careless kick toward his side. The combination of the slap and the strike actually manage to keep her upright, of all things, rather than having her other foot slip out from under her and have her splat on her back again. But that means she's standing there right when the old man's splash ends up drenching her even more, her hair muddied and matted, pig-tails dangling limply down her back.
The girl's hands ball into small fists as she grits her teeth. "No wonder the Sakazaki's have a fued with this guy." He fights really dirty. Literally! Cheeks both tint red, one a bit moreso than the other. Normally she would let a fallen opponent get up again before pressing any further attack, but not now!
Taking steps forward, the girl reaches down to try and grab the older fighter's arm a second time, attempting to get a tight grip on his forearm and wrist. If she can pull it off, she'll twist it a little before bending it back at an awkward angle, attempting to cinch him into a bit of a limb-lock. Even in her current state of mind she isn't going to endanger joints or tendons. She just wants to make that slapping arm of his hurt a little as payback!
COMBATSYS: Todoh fails to interrupt Quick Throw from Hotaru with Quick Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Todoh
That stupid sinkhole! Ryuhaku Todoh finds himself ever-more entrenched in mud as he tries to dig out of it with a certain effort that only a bitter family feud can empower! He does not get very much success other than getting his other arm free. Somehow, that fan's found itself in that hand again, and it's... clean? It opens again to reveal not a speck of mud or dirt as Hotaru grabs at his offending arm.
"Yeh hah hah! Do you think you can trap me so easily?! Why, I ought to--" he gives a sharp tug of his arm at the exact moment in time that he suffers a very sharp pain that goes through his arm. "Ow! Why you," he winces so very loudly as a tiny little girl is getting her tiny little hands around his big beefy arm and shows him what for in an embarrassing limb lock. "Do-do they-- ACK!! Quit that!! You have steroids for lunch?!" He swings his fan rather harmlessly, and uselessly, in Hotaru's vague direction as her efforts to keep him locked in place end with his upper body tilting forwards, crashing into the mud.
Infuriatingly enough, he keeps his other arm, and the fan, well above the mud. How did it survive the splash unscathed to begin with?
CINCH. TWIST! Hotaru has learned to compensate for her lack of raw force by precise, careful application of joint manipulation, which probably ends up making that attack a lot more painful than one would expect from a fighter of her size. She holds his arm for a long moment as he flails at her, somehow keeping that fan up and out of the mud, leaving it pristine and unmarred.
"No!" she snaps back about the steroid comment, releasing her grip at last to take a step back from him. "It doesn't take a lot of strength to do something like that," she replies, sounding a little irate. Is he calling her a brute?? "Just a little know how, that's all."
At last, Ryuhaku is given a chance to extricate himself from that embarrassing situation he finds himself in, as Hotaru hmphs! and takes a moment to twist her now not-so-puffy not-so-white sleeve, causing water to pour over the muddy ground at her feet. That done, both of her hands come up to her face and brush back her wet hair that was sticking to her cheeks, pushing it over her ears before flicking her hand out toward Master Todoh, sending droplets of water back his way.
"Um... am I going to have to pull you out of that?" She asks after a long moment, a touch of her ire slipping away at the sight of a poor elderly fighter trapped in a very disconcertingly deep sinkhole.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Todoh
Even though the elder Todoh's face is half-buried in mud, it is very easy to her angry grunts and yells about his close encounter with a muddy little sinkhole, and now he knows why door-to-door salesman don't bother him on rainy days. Once Hotaru lets go, his upper body thrusts itself up as he brushes mud away with his freed hand. Water droplets splash against his face, doing little to really get any of it off. The fan closes as he clenches it in his teeth and places his hands down in the mud.
"Nmph! Mm hmmf hmmf!" He insists in his muffled, gagged voice as he strains to pull himself up and out. He got wedged into that sinkhole, all right. With a heave, and a ho, and another heave, maybe another ho, and one more heave for good measure, he yells out (...sort of), "HMM HMMM HM HMMFFM HM HM FMMMFFF FMMHF HMF HMMMMF!!"
And with one last effort, he pulls himself up out of the mud. But the mud, itself, flies every which way with this powerful pull of his upper body in freeing the lower half. However, that mud has to go somewhere. It's thick, gritty, dirty, chunky mud. About the muddiest mud that young Hotaru Futaba will ever have to experience if she's lucky.
If she's even luckier, maybe now would be a good time to step away before she gets drenched in an exaggeratedly sizable amount of it.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru reflects Thrown Object from Todoh with Kobi Kyaku EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Todoh
When he doesn't ask for her health, she isn't sure if that's because his mouth is half burried in thick, unforgiving mud, or if it's because he really is just that proud as to not accept the offer of aid from a Kyokugen student. Hotaru hesitates, wincing a little as Todoh continues to struggle getting himself out of his predicament. "Yesh, did you dig that hole for something?" the girl asks, sounding mildly bewildered. "There's no way that's a natural occuring phenomenon, unless this whole property is built on top of some kind of underground cave complex..." Her voice trails off as she takes a wary glance around the lot, perhaps actually worried that the entire place is about to cave in, dooming them to a muddy, dark demise.
But Todoh is determined to extricate himself and Hotaru is certainly inclined to let him keep working at it. And then finally he's out, freeing himself from the sinkhole with enough force to send a torrent of mud flying in all directions. "What - h-hey!" squeaks Hotaru, already upset about the dirty water she's covered in. Thick, pasty, mud caked on would just add insult to... well, insult, and she isn't settling for any of that. Kicking out with a reverse roundhouse strike, a swath of blue chi trails behind her foot, forming a thick barrier that blocks the mud sent her way.
Her foot landing on the ground again, Hotaru presses her palm out against the chi shield, causing it to explode, sending mud flying out in every-which-way... except her way. "KYA!!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Todoh with Reflected Thrown Object.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Todoh
"Yeh hah hah! Now we--" Ryuhaku Todoh is laughing as soon as he frees the fan from his teeth, ready to boast about the accomplishments of his seemingly perfect physical health despite his rapidly advancing age despite the concerns of this little Kyokugen kook. Sure, any semblance of color differences in his clothing is hidden under a nice layer of mud, to the point he just may very well be wearing clothes fashioned... in mud.
Then the deflected mud comes back, forming a glob that is inexplicably shaped into a perfect outline of Ryuhaku Todoh in his current pose and posture, down to the very inch, as the fan flies right out of his hand, twirling about in the air before it flies on a nice, gentle arc towards Hotaru as he yells angrily, stumbling backwards somewhere away from the sinkhole as he tries to wipe mud off of his face. That stung.
Compared to that little mud issue, Hotaru's in no danger of physical harm if she doesn't catch the fan. Rather, she now gets to watch a larger grown man look ever-more increasingly pathetic against a young Kyokugen fighter as he hurriedly gets some mud off of him. That was no small amount of mud!
'Raggin' fraggin' Kyokugens' is the short, easy summary of what falls out of his mouth all the while. The longer version probably should not be reprinted by any given publication, and is better construed overall as 'angry old man noises,' because that's what it is.
COMBATSYS: Todoh takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Todoh
Hotaru hmphs as the wall of mud cascades back into Todoh, one hand coming down to rest at her waist, water droplets falling from her elbow to the swampy grass at her feet. "Do all Todohs fight like this? You're not even taking me seriously," the girl challenges, brow furrowed a little in mild consternation. Why, she is starting to sound like a little Kyokugen upstart after all!
Well, she'll give him something to make him pay attention to her! Takuma has been teaching her something special as of late, and right now she feels like it's about time to actually try it in a fight. And who better to give it a shot against than the old fighter who just toying with her at this point in her mind.
Three determined steps are taken forward as Hotaru cups her hands together, holding them at her side. The concentration and effort visible on her face is impossible to miss... unless you flat out aren't looking at her, which very well may be the case with the mud-scraping Todoh. Normally when she tries to bring her chi to the forefront, it becomes blatently obvious due to a bright, blue aura, similar to the shield she made to stop the mud. But right now there is only a vague sense of a rumbling around the girl, a power building up that can't be seen with the naked eye.
And then she's ready to give it a try, taking another step forward and swinging her arms out toward her, the cupped gesture shifting as she projects a blast of invisible force at Todoh at somewhat close range. "Koooooou-" It can't be seen, but it will be felt if it strikes. Pure force at moderately short range, meant to strike with Kyokugen MIGHT. "KEN!"
COMBATSYS: Todoh blocks Hotaru's Hakki Shou.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Todoh
Ryuhaku Todoh was, when hotaru met him again this night, a soaking wet man whose collective saturation of rainwater may have been enough to quench the thirst of a small nation. Now, several exchanges of attacks later, he is covered in mud and probably more than a few pounds heavier than he would be without being drenched in rainwater and heavy, wet dirt. There is something to be said about being owned by a little girl who can turn even flying mud into a potent attack on the rebound!
But even if he is not looking at her, there is a little something he has a certain knack for, other than his strange appearances worldwide as she yells at him for his apparent foolishness. That feeling of chi gathering - it's a bit harder after heavy precipitation to detect, but he can feel his little neck hairs stand out at the little phenomena that fighters regularly tap like it's nothing much.
Hotaru takes a step forward. "What kind of crap do they teach you?!" He yells much more intelligibly than he has earlier as he swings his upper body around, his forearm leading this, as the Ko'ouken forms and flies at him at such a short distance. It dissipates around his arm at impact without much drama to it - his footing doesn't falter very much other than a slight slide back from the meager impact. "You little Kyokugen upstart!!" She sounds the part, she looks the part, she must be the part!
He takes another broad step forward to dry and compensate for the pushback from Hotaru's already advantageous distance, thrusting the arm that doesn't guard upwards in a fierce, completely vertical uppercut intended to try and take the young Kyokugen student off her feet. In this motion, he'd already have one arm perfectly in place!
Unless, of course, our current favorite Young Kyokugen Upstart decides to surprise her opponent even further.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Todoh's Hakuzan Tou.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Todoh
All of that heart that she poured into her first combat Kou'ken, and it seems like it managed to do practically nothing at all. She should know better than to expect her novice Kyokugen skills to so much as dent the very man who lives to defeat that art! But it did get his attention. No doubt about that. Hotaru blinks as he shakes off her attack without so much as being slightly phased.
And then he's coming at her again and the girl scrambles backward, finally managing to get her footing in the soft, forgiving ground. The uppercut fails to connect, lacking much forward range unfortunately, and Hotaru is left with the opportunity to strike back before he recovers, "They teach me..."
She leaps into the air now with a mostly low, horizontal hop, her right foot snapping forward into a straight jump kick. If she manages to connect with it, her left leg will swing forward for a follow up strike before the girl will backflip away from Todoh again. She might not shout it out, but the style of the move is impossible to miss for one with his knowledge. Todoh, meet the Hien Shippu Kyaku, Hotaru-style. "YA!"
COMBATSYS: Todoh interrupts Light Kick from Hotaru with Kasane Ate.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/----===/=======|=======\-------\1 Todoh
Ryuhaku Todoh has one advantage going for him, even if that particular uppercut catches nothing but the moisture in the air. It's that one hand is already in proper position for the very thing that any given Kyokugen fighter who knows even the slightest way of the Todoh should watch out for.
...Though, Kasumi, the somewhat more public face of the two (recent times notwithstanding) had put a somewhat different face on the application of their techniques. Kasumi is a very capable, technical fighter whose mastery is in the defensive techniques used for turning one's offenses against themselves. Her father... well...
The other hand shoots up as Hotaru talks about what Kyokugen is teaching her as she goes into the Hien Shippu Kyaku. He /hates/ this move... so much, in fact, he pioneered one specific technique to counter Ryo's favorite. A specific maneuver, with a very specific purpose, and Hotaru is much, much too short for it. But that's quite all right, as he had already set up his particular standby.
"THEY TEACH YOU CRAA-" He is silenced as the leaping kick more or less makes its mark around stomach-level, but victory is not so sure for one Hotaru Futaba and her Kyokugen ways! Right as both hands were up in the air, a formation of a most beautiful thing that makes the stars jealous (or so /he/ says) form in a perfectly harmonious link of three segments of that well-honed, bright yellowish-orangish chi that quickly descend now that Todoh's merciful arms are thrown asunder by the force of Hotaru's leaping kick. Ryo would be so proud, regardless of the ensuing comical mishap that is bound to follow.
It played out so differently in her head. Her feet were going to strike home, first one, then the other, knocking the Kyokugen hater senseless with her perfectly delivered Hien Shippu Kyaku, followed by a careful backflip through the air, beneath clear blue skies (it's still cloudy out and is probably due to rain again soon), with her perfectly pristine white clothing and vibrant, beautiful blue vest (they're pretty much all brown at this point), where she would land in a dazzlingly perfect stance, just waiting for the Todoh-ryuu master to concede her victory, giving in to her superior talent and Kyokugen Might. And then Ryo would walk around into the courtyard and praiseher for her flawless execution of his favorite attack from the Kyokugen arsenal. It would be a moment like no other.
But alas - her foot digs deep into his stomach, giving her the first false hope that what she was planning is going to bear out. Her trailing leg swings forward, ready to deliver a painful follow up - a follow up that never comes as the Kasane Ate crashes down on her, the wall of chi stopping her assault short and smashing the girl into the mud once again. "Ermph!"
Hotaru pushes herself up again, freshly applied moist dirt clinging to the front of her outfit as she gets back onto her feet. "Why you...! You decided to fight out here on purpose, didn't you!" she challenges, lifting her hand to shake a fist back at the older man. For a heartbeat it occurs to her that throwing the Kyokugen attacks that he knows so well his way isn't really likely to work wonders, but in the next instant she tosses such caution aside, determined to show him that her master's style is not to be underestimated!
Grrr'ing, Hotaru charges forward, hopping into the air, spinning once to lend momentum to her attacks before coming down on her feet right in front of Ryuhaku. Two rapid strikes swing out toward him, one after the other, small sparks of chi accompanying the attack. And then she just keeps swinging her arms, attempting to probe through his defenses in order to deliver a more devestating sequence of attacks. It may not be the Ranbu per say, but it sure seems a lot like it, with the way she just keeps swinging rapidly, hoping anything will get through!
COMBATSYS: Todoh fails to counter Sou-shou Tenrenge from Hotaru with Random Weapon.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1 Todoh
"What do you mean?!" Ryuhaku yells out above the ambience that, somehow, goads people into yelling when they can be heard clearly at lower volumes. "If I tracked mud in there my wife would kill me again! Do you know what it's like to be married, huh?1"
The Fear of the Better Half fills the elder Todoh in that very moment. The sharp tongue. The look of scorn about the /things/ he does, yet that reassuring feeling that she has some fleeting hope in her loving husband to raise a very fine daughter that they could be proud of.
The clouds mysteriously part. A thin, but brilliant sliver of moonlight shines down past the cracks, bathing Ryuhaku Todoh in its beautiful luminescence as he draws his other fan out of his chest, holding it outwards as though the world were moving in slow motion. With elegance and grace, he brings it about to chest level and hides his face with a little shake, eyes narrowing as Hotaru leaps towards him. Yes. She is still young and has much to learn of his ways. A simple movement of his arm and she will be stopped cold as the heavens declare the truth she does not want to hear!
Time feels like it speeds up. As does Hotaru's offense. She strikes him down twice with attacks that go just right under his arm and cause him to double over with a grunt and a spray of saliva. The globs form together into little trios that descend much like Kasane Ates as Hotaru lays into him with a bunch of seemingly random, unfocused strikes linking basic movements together in something that's not quite the Ranbu one may have come to expect of a Kyokugen student.
The finishing blow, whatever it may be, knocks the elder Todoh off his feet as Hotaru takes her place in that magical moonlight beam. Instead, he gets introduced to the mud and his DREAM MAILBOX as his head hits a corner of it with an impact and velocity that can only be described as... 'violently.'
He hits the muddy dirt with a groan and a slow slump as little descending Kasane Ates circle around his head. Whether it was being 'HotarOWNED,' as the youths say, or that impact with the mailbox, none are too sure.
But quantum physics will clearly state that Ryuhaku Todoh just got served. Beeyotch. Werd up. (When he gets up, he's going to beat someone senseless until they drop that ridiculous street talk.)
"YAAAA!" Hotaru exclaims as her final double palm press sends the man reeling backward into his beloved mailbox. She freezes there, paused in the moon beam spotlight, her stance strong and sure, one foot forward, bent at the knee, her other foot slightly back, keeping her perfectly balanced, her two palms held outward for several long seconds even after the attack has finished.
Finally the girl lowers her arms to her sides, releasing a long, drawn out exhale as the pent up frustrations seem to have been bled out of her systems through the course of that relentless assault. There was something he said though, before her psuedo-ranbu connected. The exclaimation of concern about what his wife would think were they to have dirtied the interior. The desperate question as to if she knows what it's like to be married. Hotaru glances over her shoulder toward the run down dojo of the Todohs, her shoulders slouching a little.
There's nothing to be proud of about this, she tells herself with a slow shake of her head. Beating on some poor girl's father as he stumbles and waves about his own muddied front yard is hardly the type of fighter Hotaru's mother would want her to be. She isn't sure what kind of fighter Todoh was years ago, but right now she feels like she's not only caught him out of his element, when he had been outside working in the rain for who knows how long on that mailbox of his, but also fought him in an environment where the outcome was based more on who the mud hated as opposed to actual execution of techniques or skill. Is that the proper way to leave the once proud patriarch of the Todoh family?
"Hmph," the girl grunts with a shake of her head, her right hand slipping into a pocket in her pants, withdrawing a slip of paper. She glances at it, eying the damp check she was sent over with. The ink is waterproof, however, and it's still perfectly legible. Hotaru glances up at the collapsed Todoh before walking over to him, her feet squishing against the wet grass with each step. Her hand tightens into a fist around the slip of money as she draws her arm back and slams it forward into Todoh's chest - it's hardly her strongest punch ever. In fact, it's more of a light shove with her palm. But whether it lands cleanly or not, she'll try to take the opportunity to slip the check into the folds of his wet gi top, intending to leave it behind no matter how this turns out.
COMBATSYS: Todoh fails to counter Quick Punch from Hotaru with Kuzu Otoshi.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Todoh can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|
Any competent spectator would tell you that Ryuhaku Todoh's basically had enough. He's taken more than a few solid hits in the torso, his bruises and cuts hidden underneath his clothing. He is barely even moving after his head hit the giant mailbox. It would be easy to confuse him for being unconscious after that last, dizzying array of powerful techniques.
But no. One of his eyes pop open, just about as bloodshot as they were when Hotaru first found him trying to negotiate some very tough soil. Sure, he could've stuck the mailbox down somewhere else, but no! He'll put that mailbox where he wants it, when he wants it, damn it!
He catches the thrust hand in an impromptu shift of his arm positions into the famed Kuzu Otoshi stance, lifting Hotaru over him briefly as he ascends because, well, he doesn't want to damage his poor brand spankin' new mailbox just showing this Kyokugen punk what for!
"YEH HAH HAH!! Thought I was--" His footing is not so sure. He shuts up when he tries to rebalance his form to complete the follow-up in its entirety, but this is not quite to be! He loses balance not once, not twice, but thrice as he is drawn back towards... you guessed it.
He loses his footing at the edge, grimacing and making a noise that would be hard to describe with any sort of written enunciation as he virtually disappears entirely underneath the sinkhole, both hands still holding Hotaru up. She doesn't fall in with him, and would be perfectly capable of getting out of those hands of his without dirtying herself any more than she has already been.
She also probably wouldn't have to worry about him drowning, if that time he burst out of his own advertisement banner at Howard Arena were any indication...
"Eep!" Hotaru flails. She succeeded in giving him the check as intended, but the old man is suddenly so very spry, hefting the girl off of the ground and into the air as he teeters backward toward inevitable doom. While the girl struggles to free herself from the precarious position, she doesn't quite manage to do so, leaving her stuck all the way right up until the moment she feels both of them sinking down toward the ground. And then everything becomes quiet and still, Hotaru suspended over the mud by the upraised hands of the sunken Master Todoh.
It's with a certain confused calmness that she slips free, getting back to her feet, blinking at the two hands sticking up out of the mud hole. "Ano..." It's with an almost dazed look on her face that she walks over to the porch to collect her coat, folding it over her arms now that she no longer needs it to fend off the rain. While there she calls into the house, "Come, quick! Master Todoh is stuck in a sink hole!"
The sound of movement from within tells her all she needs to know. Someone will surely come take care of extracting him. Hotaru decides not to stick around though. "Thank you for the fight, Master Todoh!" the girl offers, bowing formally toward the two hands sticking up out of the mud before she turns and runs. Someone's going to accuse her of stuffing him in that hole or something and that's the last thing she wants on her reputation!
Coat slung over her arm, the girl turns and hurries toward the street, slipping around the corner and vanishing out of sight. In her haste, however, she did end up leaving one thing behind besides the check for two months' tuition.
That closed umbrella leaning against the mailbox. Bright red in all its glory. In its currently folded state, it would be impossible to make out the charming face of Takuma's favorite son (Erm, kinda by default), Ryo Sakazaki, blazened on the center of its canopy for all the heavens to see anytime someone decides to turn to Kyokugen Might to fend off the falling rain. Ah... advertising gimmicks. Gotta love 'em.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has ended the fight here.
All is silent for a while. The missus only briefly considers whether or not to go outside and see what sort of silly trouble her husband has gotten into now. She is married to a man who goes almost wherever he pleases, consistently "borrows" heavy construction equipment, and manages to find strange places to fall asleep at while accumulating something that is close to breaking the world record for most loitering tickets ever fined. Among... other things, that could only be attributed to him.
Moments after Hotaru leaves the dojo, with a stir Todoh's head pops up slowly out of the much, his entire upper body leaning out the side of the hole. He supports his chin under one hand and starts to tap at the considerably more solid mud around the edge of it rhythmically with the other hand. It is much akin to a scorned Wile E. Coyote already contemplating the next scheme to achieve any actual success on what should be such a simple, easy-to-attain goal.
Then his wife dumps a whole bucket water of him from the outer edge of the structure to wash the mud off of him, looking down upon him with a certain look of scorn. He looks up and realizes, just now, how much trouble he's in.
We're not going to get into what he'll do when he sees that umbrella still on his property.
Log created on 20:32:30 08/18/2007 by Hotaru, and last modified on 03:43:37 08/19/2007.