Description: [Naerose vs. Sakura] The Fishmonster Naerose emerges from the depths onto a once peaceful boat to encounter a waiting cog-ninja Sakura. The teacher teaches her student a valuable lesson about the secret technique she has been working on, the feared Shoedouken. Then the Red Witch is shown to her room.
So here it was, the hatch under the ship. A few things to note about the whole scuba diving thing. Naerose was not certified. She didn't know the concepts behind water current or air consumption or depth or decompression. So she struggled. A lot. And it's harder to see underwater than she expected, and it was dark and the ship was big. So when finally she managed to come up through the hatch, it's after a looong time.
Gasping for breath? You can hardly tell cause it's a fish head that pokes out of the water. What did you expect after all, it was a swimming challenge, so, Fishmonster Naerose would be the natural choice. Her opponent is no where to be found, perhaps she defeated him? The fish pulls itself out of the water and onto the floor of the room, gasping and between gasps you can almost hear her,
"Ohmygosh I thought I Was a goner for sure," but it sounds almost more like , "Omymgosheythoughteywasagoanerforsure," because apparently the suit does something to her voice.
No one told Naerose ahead of time things like if you rise too quickly you can get the bends. Which she had, while laying on the floor of the boat, gasping and making a big gooey puddle of seaweed and seawater. Yuck.
Naerose's opponent is nowhere to be found -- a minor problem, but not an insurmountable one. The Suiryuu's chief of security already knows this, what with the many guards and other crewmembers giving her regular status reports and whatnot. She barks into her radio, "Get another search party out there, just in case! Also, camera folks need to check their footage in ASAP so we can confirm he didn't hop in the water." Sakura Kasugano has some field experience, both from the battles in Metro City and her recent endeavor in Shadaloo-occupied Thailand -- a role of authority is something she's come to get used to, if not fully -enjoy-.
With power comes a few fringe benefits though. Someone =did= make it on board, with much less difficulty than she should have. ... Though it still seems she's gasping for breath. Sakura hasn't been scuba diving before, which means she'd never bothered to learn about decompression either. All she sees is a fish who has a bit of trouble keeping her head up, and blubbering something incomprehensible. But it's pretty obvious from the outfit just =who= the person is.
Shaking her head, she walks up to Naerose. Dressed in a dark blue ninja-like outfit, she might be less recognizable as Naerose's sensei, but the white headband and the tomboy haircut ought to be unmistakeable. As would the voice. "Seems like you got off easy, to me!" Crossing her arms, she stands -- dramatically! -- a fair distance from Naerose. "You're not getting lazy on me, now, are ya, Nae-Nae?" she asks, with a faint smirk.
"Gerrsommugle." replies the fish as it looks up at Sakura with a big sweatdrop over its head. Being still quite soaked, the previously mentioned sweat drop was probably due to having swam through the water, rather than in reaction to anything said thus far. She, or it, scratches its head with a fin an stares at Sakura for a moment.
"Hey, didiwin?" exclaims the fish monster, having no sight of her opponent and being told she got off easy. These were words she liked to hear, getting off easy usually meant she got off. Unless it meant she was out of the tournament without a getting a beating.
"Errrwhoerya?" asks the fish in the globbily gook voice that it can muster. Really this mask, head piece, thing, was not giving Naerose and ++ scores in her vocalization skill.
"Mmm." Kasugano rubs the back of her head. She knows full well what's going on here, but trying to hold a conversation with Naerose is... troubling. Kasugano can be pretty silly herself, at times, but Naerose always manages to outdo her on that front!
"So, yeah. I'm only expecting two people to walk through that hatch: Skullomania, and Naerose! Now, I'm =supposed= to allow any =person= passage onto the boat, but fish monsters are totally unallowed, so like..." She balls her fists up, grinning broadly. "If you plan on setting foot any further on this boat, you gotta get through me first!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura has started a fight here.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Naerose has joined the fight here.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Gimme a break. She already called her nae-nae. She knew who she was dealing with. This was clearly a farse.
"Youeraliar!erer." exclaims the fishmonster with a dramatic point of her fin.
*pause*
"Youjustlikesushi!" she concludes and then takes on a fighting stance of her own. Perhaps Sakura wanted to test Naerose to see how far she's come along, perhaps she just loved to fight that much, perhaps she really did like sushi. *gasp*
The fish strikes a dramatic pose made less dramatic by the fact that it's a person in a fish custom who is managing to fool no one. Fishy eyes focus on bad ninja outfits.
COMBATSYS: Naerose focuses on her next action.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Of course Sakura knows. But if Naerose is going to insist on fighting with that ridiculous fish outfit on, so be it! Besides, she could always use an extra bit of insanity.
Really... she has a few objectives here, and just -one- of them is to test her student to see how much she's advanced. It's a little overdue, after all!
"Yeah, actually, I =love= sushi. 'specially fugu! The uglier it is, the better it tastes, oddly enough!" Smirking, the Ansatsuken disciple lunges forward, not wanting to give Naerose a whole lot of time to catch her breath. See, another purpose is that she wants to make sure Naerose can withstand what's coming =next=: endurance training, in a sense! Which would be why Kasugano's lashing out with a pretty powerful punch to the fishy jaw -- enough to do some hurt if it lands, but also serving as a good warm-up for sloppy reflexes. "Hyyaaaa!"
COMBATSYS: Naerose fails to interrupt Fierce Punch from Sakura with End Creation.
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Naerose 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Sakura
Sloppy reflexes indeed. It was going to be a real challenge to get moving in that outfit. Instead of hitting Sakura with, who knows what, the fish gets hit with a big fist and goes skidding toward the back wall of the ship and bounces off. She's still sliding and trying to get herself steady, but to hardly any avail. The ground is slick, she is slick and fins do not work well on solid anything.
"Woah!" she exclaims before trying to struggle out of her suit. This requires a lot of effort and time, it seems for the moment she is going to be too busy doing that to worry about her opponent, besides, who can fight in a fish custom?
... Well, ow! Kasugano was trying to ease the girl into a fight, but not like -that-. But rather than show mercy... she's going to continue being a bit antagonizing! "Oooh, yeah. Gonna eat me some sushi tonight, yeah buddy..." she drawls, shaking her fist out.
At least until Naerose starts crawling out of her costume, much like Kasugano had hoped! It's time to GETTO SHIRIASU!
... and yet Sakura's still goofing off, hands going to her cheeks. "Oh my god! It's =molting!= How am I supposed to eat my sushi if =people= are crawling out of it!?"
The act doesn't last too long, though, before Kasugano laughs: "About time you decided to bring the fight on... let's see if you're ready for this whole Jinchuu thing, huh?" Shuffling her feet for a moment, the security chief raises her arms in defense. But when she lurches forward, it's not in a punch, but rather a spin-kick... one that isn't intended to hit Naerose, but rather slingshot one of Kasugano's soft-soled shoes at her. "Hyyyaaaa!"
COMBATSYS: Naerose overcomes Thrown Object from Sakura with Sagita Major.
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Naerose 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Sakura
"Hey, I'm not ready yet!" exclaims Naerose, but far to late to stop Sakura. Instead of moving out of the way like she might of liked, Naerose slips some more and manages to get a fin off. Meanwhile there is a shoe sailing at her head to deal with, so in a moment of panic, Naerose summons an icicle over her head and impales the shoe and sends it back at it's owner.
*gasping* "That first attack totally doesn't count. I've been thinking about trying to make that technique faster, I figured if I could somehow focus more on a quick charge I might send off a more effective, though bit weaker version.. Whatcha think- Hey! Are you calling me a slacker? Whose supposed to be my teacher huh huh!?" She exclaims, then after a moment of getting her fish head off she adds,
"Oh yeah, Sagita Major."
COMBATSYS: Sakura overcomes Sagita Major from Naerose with Medium Hadouken.
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Naerose 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Sakura
Now that? That was impressive! Kasugano smiles at her student's ingenuity -- that quick adaptation is the sort of thing she was hoping to see! "Sweet..." she mumbles under her breath, not wanting to give her student too much encouragement. Builds confidence, sure, but overconfidence can be a fighter's undoing.
And it seems there's an icicle flying towards her, which really ought to be the more important part of that exchange! Kasugano seems to have an answer, though, as she curls her hands back with little delay, gathering a rather sizable mass of blue energy to contest Naerose's. Smirking at the explanation, Sakura plunges her hands forward with a cry of "Hadoooouken!", her ball of cerulean flame engulfing the icicle whole, continuing onward towards Naerose.
After which point she cracks her knuckles, shoulders shrugging noncommittally. "I think it's a great idea... but you're whining again! Focus on the fight!"
COMBATSYS: Naerose blocks Sakura's Medium Hadouken.
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Naerose 0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
"Aww dang," she exclaims, and wrestles her broom out of the suit in time to raise it in front of the energy. The Hadouken bursts all around in a colorful and unpleasant display of why children shouldn't play with firecrackers.
*pant pant pant*
"I'm so gonna get outta this thing, " she mutters and holds onto her broom before doing whatever it is that makes it go while hooking part of the suit against a hook probably used for hanging something, like cargo. The result is the witch shoots off at Sakura with a big grin on her face, departing from the costume. It would appear as though her aim was to crash into Sakura while evacuating the suit at the same time, but even if she should fail at one, she's seemingly succeeded at least in the other.
Meanwhile you might be wondering what she is wearing beneath said suit. The answer? A swim suit, her shades and her witches hat. It's not a very skimpy one, but it is red, which is the color of awesome.
COMBATSYS: Naerose successfully hits Sakura with Delphine Charge.
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Naerose 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Sakura
Red is, indeed, quite awesome, which is why Kasugano was a bit miffed when she was asked not to wear anything red. Nope, just black and blue... the colors of bruises! Yay.
But yeah... Kasugano's intentionally keeping the pressure on Naerose as she crawls out of her suit. She wants to help you, Naerose... help Sakura help you!
... She's also rather pleased that she's trying to attack =while= getting rid of the outfit, to the point that she's a bit slow to get out of the way. Unexpected, inspired -- everything Sakura wants from her student! "Good job!" she says, while flying backward and landing on her back! Maybe she would've done better trying to stop Naerose than getting out of the way, but who's counting?
Besides, this way Kasugano can roll to the side, trying to spin about sideways while kicking at Naerose! She calls it: "KUUUUHA DAN!" ... Even though the start was =totally= wrong.
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Naerose with Strong Kick.
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Naerose 1/--=====/=======|=====--\-------\0 Sakura
"Ooouch!" she exclaims cause she got it and it hurt. Sakura had learned to pack a lot of punch in a tiny frame.
"Urgh." The witch says as she tries to get herself up from that.
"Okay.. Here I come. She says, struggling a bit cause her hips hurt now. She tried to get out of the way, failed and instead drops on one knee. "Shin kuuuu..." Naerose begins and does the charging motion of the move she was totally doing a parody of,
"En Criento En!" she cries and sends a whole wave of whirling torrent at Sakura. At this point though it seems to be just plain chi.
"Take that!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Naerose's End Creation End.
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Naerose 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Sakura
Oof. Yes... Sakura may be going a bit =too= painful here, but she's still got a fairly important point to deliver.
More on that in a moment! Because right now Kasugano hears the word 'Shinkuu' and whatever comes after that is usually quite painful! Springing backwards, she raises her handguards, preparing for the inevitable strike. She smiles broadly, admiring the shape, size, and form of the imitation Hadouken... which may as well be a real one, really! Curling her arms up, she staggers back a fair amount from the impact, nodding appraisingly. "Excellent..." she comments openly, "You're keeping up with 'em..." Nodding once more, she even gives a bit of a chuckle. "But you know... there'd be heck to pay if I just let you onto the boat without any fight at =all=, right?" Rising to her full height, she balls her fists up. "And there's a =ton= of people on this boat who could give you a tough time in a fight. The folks running this thing are sneaky, and they can strike at any moment, so you gotta be on guard =all= the time!" Smirking, she twists to one side again, asking, "You think you can handle that?" At which point the Sakura snaps into another spin kick, sending the second shoe hurtling at Naerose. Shoedouken!
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Naerose with Thrown Object.
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Naerose 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Sakura
A catch? Wait no, the shoedouken hits her square in the face and brings TEARS to her eyes.
"Oh it REEKS!" she exclaims and suddenly seems to think she undersant
Understands the sneaky tactics coming up as she sits down to cover her nose and try to fan away the smell, the terrible smell. Fishy smell. Sea smell.
"IS that ME?!" she exclaims, realizing all to soon that, yes, it was her.
"Dratit," she exclaims so more and sighs, looking spent. The swim, the fight, mostly the fight, had taken a lot out of her.
"I understand sensei," she says and takes a more umm bow approach, they do that in dojo's right? But, hey, she can have something sneaky up in her head too, right? She'll use the bowing thing to get closer to Sakura before trying to just.. nudge her.. a little, into the water.
COMBATSYS: Naerose can no longer fight.
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Sakura 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Sakura dodges Naerose's Quick Throw.
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Sakura 0/-------/-======|
Oops. One bad thing about throwing shoes at people is they tend to lead remarks like Naerose's. "H-hey!" ... And then Naerose realizes where the smell is actually coming from, getting a smile out of Kasugano. "Y-yeah, it's totally you, Nae-Nae..." she admits with a snicker. But really... there's only so far to go. Kasugano didn't want to actually -hurt- her student so close to a battle, but really and truly... there'll be another few days before the next planned battle, if she remembers her schedule right. So... wait, is she actually =bowing?= Kasugano bows back, a bit stiffly, and if it weren't for noticing that little motion that came afterwards, she might be smelling funny herself! "H-hey!" she stammers, stepping sharply to the side. "Don't get me caught up in that gunk!" Laughing, she holds both hands up -- she's done fighting, clearly! "But seriously now... welcome to the Suiryuu, Naerose! There's, like... a room for you upstairs!" Pause. "And showers."
COMBATSYS: Sakura takes no action.
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Sakura 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Sakura has ended the fight here.
"Really"! exclaims the witch, instantly imagining vegas, .. as in the place and not a bunch of dictators with large chins *shudder*.
"So wait, is there a mini bar and room service and tv?" Tournament? What tournament. Two months later, after everything is long done and gone, a janitor will find Naerose in her room still curled up in front of the TV, wrapped in a blanket, watching some cheesy soap. You can almost see this in her shades, reflecting the dream, a life of luxery without having to do ANY work at all.
"Er wait, why are you dressed like that?" she asks.
"... I dunno about any of =that= stuff..." Though, knowing Riko, she wouldn't put it past the organizers.
But Sakura can see that reflected in the young woman's shades -- or at least she can guess! "Y-yeah, but don't get cocky about it! I =still= don't know what Jinchuu is all about, but they ain't exactly gonna be telling =me=. They're gonna tell =you=."
And why is she dressed like that? Maybe that'd give more background to her remarks, huh? "W-well, duh! I'm chief of security for this boat! Don't I look authoritative enough for ya?" She smirks at that, crossing her arms again. "I wasn't kidding about =that= part."
And... like a good friend, she walks over and tries to pick up the fish monster costume. "Guess I oughta show you to your room or somethin, huh?"
Hearts appaer in her shades, no joke, they actually do. She's in love with this idea. Food, free food, shower, tv. What else could a girl want? And why would she bother showing up to fights? She has everything she ever wanted right here.
"Thanks," she says, tears streaming before she picks up some of the costume to be helpful. Luckily she has little luggage.
"Oh wait, just a moment," The witch pulls something out of her hat, a celluar repeater and convientally drops it on the ground.
"Forget you saw that." she sayas ad tries to distract Sakura with, "SO umm you're gonna teach me stuff right?"
Okay, the tears? Little freaky there. But Sakura chalks that up to the idea of free room and board, really!
Sakura picks up about as much of the outfit as she can, tossing it over her shoulder and such. She's pretty much gotten used to the scents of the ocean yacht, so it really doesn't bother as much as it would have, like, a week ago! ... As for the cellular repeater... =should= she be worried about that? She figures, if it survived a trip underwater, and Riko's own security precautions would probably make =use= of such a thing difficult. Besides, there's no blackout policy on communications, so... whatever! Kasugano simply asks, "Forget I saw -what?-" Smartaleck.
So she begins escorting Naerose out of the engine room. The quicker out of there, the better! "Mmm... really, you just need to focus on discipline. I can't =teach= you that, really, it's a state of mind, right?" She laughs, wrinkling her nose a bit. "I'll try and get some things in here and there, but you've got the reflexes, the =reaction= parts down pat, it seems like..."
Naerose was preparing for the worst of course, not being able to text! So with that dealt with she is ready for the next stage of moving into the ship, the free stuff. This was gonna be the best tournament ever.
"So who is the girl ninja who was on this boat when they first brought it up? She looks fun to hang with, does she live here and if so does she have an music thing?" Naerose means an iWitch of course, the hottest new technology in mp3 piracy. Or so Naerose thought.
"I'm all ears for lessons course." she says, after a moment.
"Uh, her? Riko... Koganei, I think." Kasugano explains as they pass several bulkheads, heading up deck just a bit. She collected her shoes back then, but didn't put them on, preferring barefoot for the moment... but it means she steps on the grated stairs a little tenderly. "Egh... Anyway, just think 'Seishirou's Fangirl' and you'll be pretty close to the idea." Pause. "I'm pretty sure she =has= an iPod, but I dunno if she actually likes listening to it." Just that she's seen it be used for... other purposes.
She stops by one of the doors on next level up, gesturing to the door. "This one's pretty empty -- you might have a bunkmate coming but I'm not =entirely= sure who or when just yet!" That is, many battles are still taking place, but Sakura's not gonna say it. "I'll try and pop in here and there for some real lessons, you just rest here and take it easy in the meantime! There's a bar-type thing on the promenade deck too -- map's right on your bed. I'd stick around and chat, but I gotta finish walkin' my security patrol thing..." She seems honest about that, she'd =like= to spend more time with her student! For once, she hasn't been terribly frustrated with the witch!
"A bunk mate? I hope it isn't someone maen like Elle," Naerose says, but even as she says it, the thought seems to occur to her that it is entirely possible to happen that way anyway. Ugh.
"Does the bar cost money?" She asks, pressing her fingers together in that, 'cause I don't have any money' sort of way. Then she asks the next burning question
"Adn you've been around this boat, you said er the fights weren't jsut about fighting right? Tricky? So can you give me some tips? How to keep ahead of the game?" She smiles with that big winning smile she gives that makes most people want to flee in terror.
"Heh, I dunno, it's all free for =me!=" She flashes a thumbs-up to Naerose. "'Course, I'm the hired help, so. You just gotta ask, I guess, and I'm pretty sure if you eat up =too= many free snacks, they're gonna charge you for it, so just, like, use common sense and stuff!"
Tips and tricks? "... Heh. I wish I knew more about the ship, honestly... but I can tell you this." Kasugano raises one finger. "Focus. It's like you said, it's not about winning fights, it's about using your brain. And..." She gestures about the ship. "Stuff's weird here. It's all about chi, so... you gotta respond to that. Go with the flow, and make use of your environment. Don't let yourself get backed into a corner -- keep an eye on what's =around= you, and figure out ways to use that to your advantage." She smiles, shaking her head. "I can't give you tips on everything though... you just gotta feel it. There's no better place than here to figure out how chi works... inside you, and around you." Stepping away, she raises a hand. "But most of all, have fun with it. I'm pretty sure this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance here." Winking back, she resumes her patrol. Fleeing in terror? N-nah, she's, uh, got a job to do!
Log created on 10:17:54 09/01/2007 by Naerose, and last modified on 15:52:15 09/02/2007.