Jinchuu - [R2] [Cut] Sheathed Sword

Description: The second round opponents haven't been anounced yet and Hotaru seems critical of Aranha's methods of fighting (or lack of) in the first round. Of course Aranha doesn't seem to have a problem with winning by giving a girl exactly what she wants. The traceur/capoeirista itching for some action decides to challenge the kempo artist to a spar. With less limitations imposed on his movement he seems to do better but he does call her on holding back.



Aranha has been spending these past few moments reading books from the Suiryuu Library. He had been focusing on the tactical literature as he tried to see if he could get a feel for the way the sponsors of this tournament think. Of course, Aranha still took this information with a grain of salt.

As Aranha sat out in the deck. outside the library proper, he often looked up from his current read, as if waiting for someone to shake things up by having a fight on the promenade deck. As far as what he's reading, it's a treatise on aerial warfare, and next to him he has Sun Tzu's Art of War and other various books.

Hotaru has become a regular figure aboard the Suiryuu over the last day or so, having walked (well, ran) aboard while the round 1 fights were still taking place mostly off the vessel. Thus it is that she's been able to see contestants make their way aboard, beaten or victorious, little by little, each one likely pensive about their future in this once in a life time event.

It's very rare that the chance to win a tournament comes along for those who have yet to prove themselves as upper echelon fighters. And being able to mingle in the midst of all this excitment has been a facinating time for the small fighter.

But while waiting for the next rounds to begin, there's not a lot to do. Which is why she meanders around the deck. Getting snacks now and then, sometimes spending time in the library. Right now, though, she is coming up from the cabins below, having enjoyed a pleasant night's rest. For the pig-tailed fighter, this entire thing is like one fancy vacation!

"Hotaru?" Needless to say, the ex-cat burglar is surprised to see the pig-tailed fighter make her appearance. He raises an eyebrow as the only outward indication of his surprise. "I didn't see you at the opening ceremony and so seeing you here is a bit of a surprise."

He places the book he was reading down on top of Art of War and slowly approaches, feeling no need to rush. "Surprise or not, it is good to see you again."

The voice sounds familiar to her, though she can't place it at first. Last time she heard him was in the midst of a cheering, eager crowd as they engaged in a little impromptu game to entertain the masses (And make some money in Aranha's case). But turning around to face the young man, the smile of recognition suggests that she remembers him now.

"Ah hah! I knew you were a good fighter," the girl laughs lightly as he mentions the opening ceremonies. But she shakes her head a little, hands clasping behind her back, a knowing smile in her expression, "I'm not here as a participant. Just to watch."

She leans forward a little toward him, "But I bet that's not the case with you, ne? You made it aboard the boat... so how did your match go?"

"Well, I know that I was the first on the boat since my match took place right after the opening ceremony. I'm sure I managed to win my match without having to make a single attack." And from the tone of his voice, there's a bit of uncertainty. His hand moves to his chin as he remembers the details of his match. "From what I read I satisfied the conditions for my win by using a loop hole."

The question does awaken concerns over whether he's still in the tournament or not but since the tournament is also about the mind he still figures he has a good chance of being in it. Aranha won't elaborate on the loophole that he used unless asked and deep inside he's hoping that question is asked. He's pretty proud of his methods elimination or not.

Of course Hotaru is curious as he mentions succeeding without having to had to land a blow. After all, it's a fighting tournament, isn't it? Or is there more to this than even she knows about yet... Standing up straighter, her head leaning to the side a bit, the girl can't help but ask the burning question. "If you don't mind, I'm wondering what you mean by that. What were teh conditions? How did you succeed?"

She glances to the side in either direction as if to confirm that no one is nearby them so that he can know his story won't be overheard by prying ears. After all, if he has a tricky way of advancing through the tournament, he might not want the idea getting around too much...

"My opponent wanted to bargain her way on to the boat. But when I looked at the the conditions it just said stop her." He glances around for a moment and then looks at the blue haired girl before continuing, a large smile on his face. "I noticed there were two ways onto the ship but we both needed to be on the house boat that I assume was provided for us. I prepared both methods for getting on. I took the most simplistic route to see but the hardest to execute and waited until my method for getting aboard was unavailable and essentially stopping her. They didn't say I couldn't give her a method for getting on after I satisfied the conditions for my win."

Hotaru listens thoughtfully, her expression neutral as he describes his means of securing his way onto the boat without actually having to had to fight for it. On one hand, it strikes her as underhanded. After all, in a fighting tournament, isn't one supposed to fight? But... then again, this is a NINJA fighting tournament, so all bets are kind of off.

"Interesting," she replies at first, one eye narrowed thoughtfully as she seems to be judging how she feels about his tricky ways before saying anything. But a smile slowly creeps into her expression, eyes sparkling as she teases a little, "If I didn't know better, I'd say it sounds like you were scared of your opponent, hm?"

"Feel free to say it but my opponent was the one making the case for finding a way for both of us to get on the boat without us fighting since there was a distinct possibility that neither of us would be able to get on the ship due to injuries. She was the one who asked me to do so." He shrugs a short pause before he finishes his thought,"So feel free to call me a coward because I gave her what she wanted. Fine by me."

Aranha has no problems with her being critical of him. But Aranha had no problem with making what, considering his abilities should've been an easy win, even easier. "Besides she did have a point. The time we would've spent fighting would made certain opportunites slip away."

The pig-tailed girl takes it all in stride. She can tell she hit a bit of a nerve with the boy, which, well, was kind of the intent, but not to that degree. "Ja, ja," she laughs lightly. "You're not a coward. Maybe you're just approaching this whole event from a different angle than I would have thought to," she muses, tapping the side of her head as she watches him. "Maybe you're thinking more like the pesky ninja running this whole thing. And maybe... just maybe that's the whole point." She grins a little, shrugging in a way intended to be disarming, hoping to not annoy the young man further.

"They pretty much out and out said that the tournament would be about as much the mind as fighting ability if not moreso." He refrains from quoting the Art of War though in the back of his mind the chapter noting the benefits of winning a battle without fighting. The strategems of a sheathed sword as it were.

"On the other hand... I still don't know if I'll move on anyway. They may just decide to count it as not stopping her as she got onto the ship anyway." He's comfortable with sharing the methods because at this point, he doubts an opportunity like that will show up again.

He pauses and touches his chin. "There hasn't been much for me to do since I got on the ship. Mind if I have have a rematch?" He begins stretching as he watches the other fighter. "Might as well stretch my legs a bit, I must warn you though, I'l actually a few more strategies at my disposal than in that game."

"Such a weird event," the girl replies, grinning a little as the young man from the States continues. "To not even know if you're still in or not. I mean, in most fighting tournaments, it's pretty obvious, ne? Either you win the fight or you lose. But here..." Hotaru shakes her head slightly. "I guess here you just wait to find out what you're told. I noticed a lot of combatants are feeling vague as to whether they are still in the event, even if they made it onto the boat... I hope you're still in it though," she grins. It's nice to know the faces of some of the participants at least.

At his request for a spar, the girl is thoughtful for a moment. She hasn't fought at all since coming aboard the boat, but she can't imagine why that wouldn't be allowed. "All right," she grins, "I guess things have been kinda quiet. I could use the practice. I don't want to get too lazy while enjoying this trip. Besides, you have a very interesting style. It would be an honor to see more of it in action!"

Aranha shrugs, "Such is the nature of this tournament." He pulls out a pair of sunglasses and slides them on and slips the earbuds of his Oakley Thumps into his ears. With a click of the button his Capoeira music is on and he's ready to go.

His body sways to the rhythm seeming to move slowly as dances in closer and closer. A flowing motion allows him to start in low before performing a closed cartwheel however instead going to his feet the motion stopswith his torso resting on his elbow and his head about a centimeter away from the ground before his legs split apart and close together in a scissor leg takedown which if all goes well, will drop the kempo artist on her back. "I'm not exactly like other Capoeiristas." Well he's not proving that yet since he has yet to use a non standard Capoeira attack against her.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru has started a fight here.

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Hotaru           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Aranha has joined the fight here.

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Hotaru           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Aranha


COMBATSYS: Hotaru interrupts Quick Throw from Aranha with Quick Throw.

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Hotaru           0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0           Aranha


"Maybe it is, maybe it is," Hotaru replies with a grin. "I'm not so sure anyone knows what the nature of this tournament is besides those sponsoring it themselves..." She's tried to find out herself, but getting information out of the hosts is a very exacting science that she doesn't quite have down yet.

When Aranha is ready, Hotaru slips into her own ready stance. Loose, flexible, ready to move at a moment's notice. And that readiness comes into play when he lunges for her, legs striking out to scissor her down to the ground. But she's pretty quick when she needs to be, and even though he does manage to get the squeeze on her legs, Hotaru's footing adjusts swiftly to accommodate while she reaches out with both her own hands to grab hold of one of the boy's ankles tightly in order not just to pry herself loose but to also jump upward into a flip over him, hyper extending his leg a little as she goes to land on the other side.

The girl releases her hold on his limb before it goes too far. SHe just wants to wrench him a bit, not cause some kind of injury that would reduce his ability in the tourny.

"Ahhh," is all that he gets out before he's wrenched over in a forced split. It is an exclaimation originating from a combination of surprise and pain as he goes to the ground. Oh wait he was already on the ground though the difference is he's not on the ground on his terms which presents Aranha with a problem.

"The fighters questioning their fates, the fighters looking at different angles. It's part of it's nature at it's most obvious though it doesn't give details on what the true intent is." He says as he gets up, oddly enough, the completely abandons the ginga and all semblance of capoeira as he dashes for the nearest wall.

When Aranha gets to the wall he runs up it for about 9 ft and kicks off of it to give him just barely more height before coming down upon Hotaru. If he hits the ground on his terms he'll drop into a roll creating not only a small target but it would also allow him to get a good jump if he need to.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Aranha's Sky's the Limit.

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Hotaru           0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0           Aranha


As he recovers from her little surprise attack against him, Hotaru is then surprised in turn as he abandons his intricate, weaving stance in order to take to the air, running along the wall extremely fast until he leaps off and comes down trying to land on her, the girl steps smootly over to the side. "That's pretty tricky," she says, her tone suggesting amusement. This guy has some interesting variety to his style, she muses.

When he comes down into a land that sends him rolling away, she is left to strike swiftly in an attempt to connect with him, sweeping her foot along the ground simply to try and knock him off balance in his roll.

"That's true," she admits to his words spoken before he went running up the wall. "I guess to find out the details is just going to take time... So, who was your opponent anyway?"

COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Hotaru's Light Kick.

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Hotaru           0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0           Aranha


By the time Aranha dropped out of his roll, he didn't really enough time to truly study the attack as he probably would've wanted. However because of that roll he still had enough time avoid it. Launching himself up and over the kick he performs an aerial, towards the younger fighter's flank.

While this provides an opportunity to deliver an attack, Aranha opts to take advantage of it by moving around closer to her rear to set up further opportunities as well as seeing how she reacts to a capoeirista moving outside of her line of sight.

COMBATSYS: Aranha focuses on his next action.

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Hotaru           0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0           Aranha


The quick sweep she aimed to knock him with ends up missing the agile young man completely, but Hotaru hadn't invested a lot into the attack either, so it's easy for her to recover her footing, slipping her leg back into position swiftly. Though her stance is loose, her movements thus far have been fairly confined, as if she's intentionally trying to avoid wasting too much movement on unnecessary actions. Almost the opposite of how a capoerista may be perceived, with their swaying, dancing like style at times.

But the moment Aranha is behind her, the girl reacts swiftly, crouching for a moment then jumping backwards herself, both her legs snapping out as she attempts to jump right back behind Aranha for his trouble and knock him hard against his shoulders. If her feet find purchase there, the girl will then leap forward, essentially putting her back in front of Aranha, only to do a pirouette mid-air and strike out with one last kick toward his chest on her way down to landing.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Aranha with Heavy Kick.

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Hotaru           0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0           Aranha


Aranha is surprised by Hotaru's ability to adapt. Most people when he does something like tend to freak out and make mistakes. And as the first kicks come down upon his shoulder he studies the initial part of it. By the time the she's in mid air he already knows where she's going to be and where he ought to be.

The problem is he spent a little too long studying and not enough on acting and when starts the leap forward to dive under the kick but the kick indeed lands forcing him to stumble forward right into the pirouette kick which catches him in the shoulder instead of his chest due to his stumble.

Aranha quickly plants a hand on the ground to regain his balance and spins around on it in a sort of crouched run catapulting himself up into the air his legs straight as he folds at the waist while twisting in the air to come down upon Hotaru. "Sorry I didn't answer your question. I believe her name was Eva."

COMBATSYS: Hotaru blocks Aranha's Armada Dupla.

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Hotaru           0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0           Aranha


Her acrobatic sequence of kicks ends up connecting pretty well, leaving Hotaru time to land and catch her breath - something she sorely needs after exherting herself like that. Aranha seems to have weathered the assault pretty good, even though the experienced fighter can tell it hurt to some degree.

When he coms down, Hotaru looks eager to get the heck out of the way. Having a young man crashing down on top of her isn't the best way for her to do well in a fight, even if it is just a friendly spare to pass a little time. But she isn't confident of the angle he's taken, finding his moves difficult to read, which leaves her uncertain about her own abilities to correctly avoid him. So in the end, she simply buckles down and protects herself, lifting her arms to block her face from getting struck, bending her knees to absorb some of the weight of the impact. "Eva, huh?"

Hotaru blinks, lowering her arms as she goes back on the offense, "Eva's a friend of mine. But fair is fair. She agreed to your varient of the fight after all," the girl grins, implying there's no hard feelings that he might've taken someone she knows out of the tournament.

And then Hotaru is back on the offense, reaching out to try and grab hold of the young man by the arm. If she can get a tight enough grip, she'll literally try to pull him down to the ground in a bit of an armlock, her legs pressed over his chest to allow her to pull back on the limb a little. With the leg stretch and now this, maybe she's just trying to help him make sure he's limber!

COMBATSYS: Aranha interrupts Quick Throw from Hotaru with Change-Up Kick.

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Hotaru           0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1           Aranha


Aranha does indeed get jerked down to the ground but before she can plant her knees on top of his chest, he bucks his hips upward, plants his free hand down on the ground, and then performs a twist allowing for him to snap off a pair of quick kicks to her torso to encourage her to relinquish her grip on him.

After that he's free and he spins around again this time attempting to get a bit more distance, keeping just barely out of her ideal punching/grabbing range.

The quick kicks to her stomach do more than encourage her to let go as he manages to strike her hard enough to knock the girl clean off onto her back where she lands with a squeak, rolling back up to her feet to get back to the ready. She huffs a little, looking a bit miffed that he was able to rebuff the attack so well. But on the other hand, she's still trying to figure out what kind of things work best against his style anyway.

Well, kicks seemed to work, especially airborn ones. So when Hotaru goes back on the offense, she takes to the air, jumping directly in for Aranha, diving knee first as she attempts to drive her knee into his shoulder. If she pulls that trick off, her left leg will swing forward as a follow up kick to strike his oppsite shoulder before the girl backflips off of him all together.

COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Hotaru's Rengeki Shuu.

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Hotaru           0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1           Aranha


This time, Aranha finds the right balance between study and action and he he leans back as the diving knee bounces off of his forearm and shoulder blunting the damage of the first attack before leaning to the side to try to avoid the lashing kick but finding that kick landing on his forearm as well.

The attack is dealt with and as she back flips into the air the Dancing Spider leans back once more touching the ground with his hand as he swings his back leg at the air born school girl attempting to catch her before she can land.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Aranha's Strong Kick.

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Hotaru           0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1           Aranha


As Aranha's foot swings out, Hotaru reacts mid-air, forced to cope with the kick from an unexpected direction. A brief panic sets in - she hates getting swatted out of the air like some kind of fly, which causes her to react with an extra burst of speed, tucking and weaving her body in order to allow the strong attack sweep past her.

This gets her on the ground, though her balance is a little bit off due to the last second aerial evasion. She's quick to recover, however, "Whew," the girl allows herself a chance to catch her breath. "Where did you learn to fight? Are you from... um..." She always forgets where the dance-like style originated, which is why she throws out some random country that seems right. "Portugal?" Uh huh.

No rest for the weary though as Hotaru goes back on the offense, leaping forward in an attempt to clock him with a quick combo with her right elbow, followed by a straight knuckled fist with her left hand. If she can stagger him with those two hits, she'll finish with a much stronger palm press into his stomach. "YA!"

COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Hotaru's Strong Punch.

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Hotaru           0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1           Aranha


When Hotaru asks that question he's tempted to quote lyrics from Welcome to Metro City. Instead he laughs at her guess. Portugal? He finds that thought hilarious. So what if Brazilian's speak the same language. He finds it somewhat outlandish that one would think that Capoeira originated from there.

He isn't laughing for long though since the elbow/punch combo is quite sobering when you get down to it. He does have time to say, "Actually the art originated in Brazil but..." before the dancing spider weaves out of the way of the elbow and ducks under the left fisted punch to propel his body upwards as he whips his own elbow to catch Hotaru in the chin. Capoeiristas throw 'bows too you know. "...I come from and learned how to fight in Metro City."

COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Aranha's Random Weapon.

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Hotaru           0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1           Aranha


The combination of swings are dealt with masterfully well by Aranha, leaving the girl to wonder if she needs to stick to something faster to cope with the young man's speed. "Metro, huh?" she asks as she pulls her fist back and leans out of the way of his elbow, sparing her chin a severe blow! "I know someone going to the police academy there!" she beams.

But this time her movements are back to being minimalist. While she avoided his elbow, her feet stayed put, allowing to shift right back onto the offense with literally no slowing down. The next attack to come is a brazen leap right onto him if she can pull it off, trying to plant her hands against his shoulders and flips up into a handstand on top of his shoulders. If that works out, the girl will swap her hands to the opposite shoulders in order to turn herself around, then drop down behind him, driving her feet into his upper back before flipping away.

COMBATSYS: Aranha interrupts Ten Ranku-Tou from Hotaru with Joker's Wild EX.

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Hotaru           1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0           Aranha


The one thing that Hotaru might notice when she switches herself around on his shoulder is that his entire body is glowing blue. By then it's already too late for her. He shifts his body so he's only partially caught by the swinging kick. Once she's in the air, that's Aranha's retaliation begins.

Aranha followed by trails of shadows as he runs for a wall and kicks off it to launch himself at her foot first to catch her in the air before she even hits the ground.

He then dashes to another wall and then launches himself at the now grounded Hotaru from different angle. He follows up with a run to the piano, jumps up top, makes a running jump to grab ahold of the rafters before swinging himself to land on Hotaru once more. He opts not to go for the glowing Armada Dupla. That would just be be unnecessarily vicious all things considered.

"What-" the girl blinks, realizing only after she has committed to the acrobatic attack that she hasn't quite caught him as much by surprise as she would have expected. The burst of energy followed by the kick while she's still mid-air send the girl down to the ground with a gasp, leaving her a sitthing target as Aranha leaps off the Piano, takes hold of the rafters, then comes down to land on top of her again.

She doesn't know, of course, that he spared her the rest of what he could dish out. The two blows to the fragile fighter were already enough to curl her up for a moment on the ground before she rolls over onto her side and gets back up. Her left hand rest against her stomach as she bends forward a little, looking like she's feeling pretty worked over by that attack sequence. The girl chides herself a little. She's been trying some new stuff out on Aranha, but sometimes it's better to just stick to the basics.

Speaking of basics, that's what comes next, as Hotaru finally gets her breath back, charging toward Aranha to jump into the air with a lateral jump kick, her right leg snapping out to strike him dead on in the chest. If it connects, her left leg will swing forward as a follow up, before she backflips away, having delivered her own version of the Hien Shippu Kyaku of Kyokugen fame. "Ya!"

COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Hotaru's Light Kick.

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Hotaru           1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0           Aranha


This was a move that Aranha has had some familiarity with. In the King of the Hill game it didn't see much success and in this sparring match her luck doesn't seem to change much with it. This time instead of stuffing the attack to deliver one of his own, he just drops below the first kicks as they pass over him before leaning into a cartwheel.

When he's standing again he whips a low roundhouse to the torso following it up with a backwards flip kick bringing it down on top of her. It's almost like the Aggressive Dance only without the chi and the aggression is dialed back a bit.

COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Hotaru with Change-Up Kick.
Glancing Blow

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Hotaru           1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0           Aranha


Landing, Hotaru's feet slide a few inches before getting firm enough traction for her to deal with reacting to Aranha's incoming attack. Avoiding the young man's kicks is a pretty high priority for her by now. He's already dealt enough attacks for her to start to feel a bit worn down. She's lucky he held back a little too.

The low roundhouse is avoided all together as Hotaru hops back out of range... but the added range from his backwards flip toward her allows the second kick to knock her right on the top of her noggin, causing her to stumble forward a little, hand coming up to rub her head. "Ow," she winces a little, glad that she at least managed to avoid some of that combination attack.

She'll have to dish out her own combination attack in return. She won't be outkicked if she can help it! Charging forward, Hotaru attempts to snag a hold of Aranha's arms and pull them both out toward her, twisting a little to lock the limbs and give her the leverage she needs in order to charge right up the front of him with a sequence of rapid stomps, each one pretty strong in its own right, but all together adding up to be a pretty powerful attack. "Ya, ya, ya!"

COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Aranha with Shin-Jou Tai.

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Hotaru           1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1           Aranha


Hotaru dishes out an incredibly powerful attack that Aranha is just helpless to avoid. And while Aranha is good at dealing with aerial attacks, he just is unable to cope with the girl's incredible talent which goes beyond his and speed which is every bit a match for his own.

When Hotaru finishes her stomp session, she's at quite a distance while he is on the ground. He slowly gets up and sways to the younger fighter. Of course this swaying motion isn't as clean as the ginga he started out with but he still manages to close in.

Aranha leans away while moving his arm to shield his face and his body and then he leans forward to nudge away his opponent with a head butt 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 before crumbling down to his knee.

COMBATSYS: Aranha can no longer fight.

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Hotaru           1/---====/=======|


COMBATSYS: Hotaru blocks Aranha's Full House.

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Hotaru           1/--=====/=======|


When he comes in for her again, Hotaru doesn't try to play 'hard to hit', having had mixed experience with that against his sweeping kicks and unpredictable strikes thus far. So in the end, she just bunkers down, arms coming up to weather as many of the attacks as possible rather than allowing them to get a clean strike in.

A kick or two manages to knock the girl all the same, in spite her timing, but all in all she comes out no where near as hurt as she would have been if her defenses had failed. When Aranha drops to a knee, however, she can tell that for the purposes of the spar, this exchange of attacks is over. Which, for her, is just about right. Much longer and she would have been straying in to territory best reserved for actual tournament fighting, which this spar was not.

Relaxing now, her shoulders lowering a bit, the pig-tailed fighter smiles at Aranha. "You're good. I'm not used to dealing with your style or your ability to run around so much in the environment." the girl states, clasping her hands behind her back as she releases a long exhale, getting her breath back. "Well. I do wish you the best with this tournament. It's nice to know some people in it so that I know who to cheer for," she grins.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru has ended the fight here.


"Perhaps..." Aranha says as he slowly rises to his feet. "This fight I wasn't drawing dead, but I get the feeling you held back a bit." But while he's not as skilled as Hotaru, Aranha is very perceptive when it comes to fights. Sometimes not hitting as hard as she was capable of and not completely pressing him.

"As a matter of fact, it wasn't until near the end that you really began to back me into a wall. Of course, I'm not surprised. You're on a different level than me in some ways. A bit more speed, more refined technique." He says it matter of factly. He knows where exactly he stands(perhaps better than most outside observers) and he's not ashamed of it. "Needless to say, it was a good fight and I think I might be better prepared for whatever happens next. Take it easy"

Aranha slowly hobbles over to his stack of books and sits down again to continue reading..

Hotaru listens to Aranha's critique with a quiet smile. It's true that she refrained from using any of her energy attacks - something she has come to reserve for more demanding fights, but that doesn't mean the hits he landed weren't real enough - not to mention, painful enough. But he's also correct in there being a reason the Kenpo artist isn't in the tournament. This event is meant for him and others like him. Up and coming fighters ready to prove themselves after all.

"Thank you," the girl finally replies, looking a little sheepish at his words of praise, cheeks blushing a faint pink. "You're getthing there yourself though. Just hang in there, ne?" She offers the final words of advice before turning around, "I'm going to go check into the bunking arrangements now... I'll seeya around," the girl grins and waves before slipping off.

Log created on 12:39:17 08/31/2007 by Aranha, and last modified on 22:05:02 09/04/2007.