Description: Goes to show what making charity appearances can do for you. Helping a fund raising carnival, Hotaru catches the eye of a rather crazy French tourist. The fights are supposed to be for a good cause, but those freaky wires of hers don't seem to be good for anything but causing a lot of pain and suffocation!
It's a bright sun shiny day in Metro City. A perfect day for the park. An ideal setting for a charity fund raising event. The park is full of carnival style booths and exhibits. Shooting galleries, dunk tanks, a petting zoo, silly automated fortune generating machines... The usual money sinks one could expect to find at any fair. All proceeds will go to a foundation for orphened kids in the inner city.
As a fighter of some renown and an orphen herself, it isn't unusual for Hotaru to get invited to exhibition matches like this. Cute, small, and hardly dangerous looking, it's pretty easy to get people to pay a token donation in order to get their shot at beating her in a fight. Dressed in her typical fighting outfit with its pristine whites and regal blues, the venue is a raised stage near the front of the whole fair where the most seating can be accommodated.
For ten dollars, interested participants get to take their turn on a raised stage with the young Kenpo artist. If they can land a hit or get the girl in a hold she can't slip away from they get half of their donation back. It's advertised that if someone can actually best the minor celebrity fighter, there is a prize of a thousand dollars on the line. Naturally, the children's charity running the event doesn't expect to have to give up the prize money.
In order to keep from getting too injured, the wouldbe fighters are only given a turn that lasts until Hotaru knocks them off the stage in one way or another. A throw, a trip, a careful kick. She's trying not to hurt anyone too bad. After all, they /are/ donating to charity to face her, and no one really expects to have a prayer of beating her for the thousand dollar prize.
At the moment she is backed up to the edge of the stage by one tall, lanky fellow. But the moment he takes his chance to grab hold of the girl's shoulder, she snags his arm, twists it just right while sweeping his feet out from under him and sends him tumbling off into the thick, blue padding placed around the stage in order to cushion the loser's falls. "A nice attempt, sir," the girl speaks after him with a smile and friendly bow before she lifts her hand to re-tighten one of her red hair ribbons.
So, this is what an American carnival looks like!
Perhaps not the size that she was imagining, but a small park-side fair is more than enough to whet the appetite of the silver-haired girl from across the Atlantic, taking the time to enjoy the sights and play the games-- popping the balloons with darts and taking the time to get onto the line for the usual deep-fried fare of food that you'd see at an event like this.
Though she's only been on the line for a short time, her attention is caught by the sound... that unmistakable sound of violence down the way, toward the stage with the small crowd of people all around. Like a hound catching the scent of the prey, she ducks under the rope boundary keeping the line in a relatively straight shape and looks around quietly, head canting with the same speed and alertness of a bird. Where...? Where was it?
So she arrives-- somewhere around the end of the event that takes place on the raised stage, coming closer and closer as it proceeds on. Though her eyes are locked on Hotaru, she moves directly toward the people organizing the event and rifles her way into the handbag that hangs at her hip. Pulling out not ten dollars, but two -hundreds-, she shoves the bills into their hands and just keeps walking.
Likely before her unfortunate, fallen opponent has gotten off the stage, Cherise Bouchard strides up confidently onto the edge, past any line that may still be there. Unshouldering her purse, she drops it on the floor and allows a grin to spread across her face.
"If you don't go easy on me," she says in accented English, "I promise I won't break your arms..."
"H-hey," stammers the older woman handling organizing hopeful fighters into an orderly line after they pay their donations as Cherise strides right on by. "Young miss, you can't just-"
"It's okay," interrupts the middle aged gentlemen with a funny looking black top hat, seated at the money collection desk. He gets the old woman's attention and shakes his head, his expression serious. Don't mess with that one is the clear yet unspoken message. Besides, considering what she paid, she can cut right ahead of the 'cheap-seat' participants anyway, as far as he's concerned.
Which leaves Cherise stepping up onto the stage just as Hotaru turns away from the last opponent to get sent into the blue matting. Her hands are fiddling with her ribbons at the moment her eyes come to rest on the woman in the black dress. It's no surprise that /most/ of the participants in this event are males eagerly hoping to show off a moment of bravado before being helped off the stage by the teenaged fighter. So she does get a serious look at first, until she speaks.
Hotaru smiles a little at her words. Ah, someone just trying to play to the crowd. That's cute. Standing there before the tourist from France would notice that the girl's white trousers and blouse aren't so much as even slightly marred and her expensive, custom tailored blue vest, complete with gold embroidery and a floral print in the fabric doesn't even have a wrinkle in it. Needless to say, no one's really gotten close to troubling Hotaru thus far. Thus, it comes as no surprise that she doesn't really take Cherise's threat seriously.
"All right," Hotaru replies back, making an effort to suppress the amused look on her face. She should try to play this up as being more serious than she thinks it is, after all. It helps get the crowd more excited. "I guess we'll find out what you can do, hm?" As if getting a bit cocky, the girl clasps her hands behind her back then, her head leaning to the side just slightly. Her smile gone, by sheer force of will, the expression she gives Cherise now is one of quiet intensity.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has started a fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru takes no action.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Cherise has joined the fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Cherise
Perhaps it comes as a surprise to the 'gentlemen' lined up on the way to the blue stage that another girl cuts right by them-- and yet, she's paid them absolutely no mind, her surprisingly light blue eyes kept, focused on the Japanese girl on stage.
Her hand lifts toward her face slowly as Hotaru addresses her, tongue flecking across the edge of her thumb as the grin on her face peels wider and wider. Her wrist briefly passes her mouth, biting down on thin air-- but a cautious eye may just see a light line bridging from her teeth toward the bracelet on her wrist...
The French girl lowers her weight and lunges, crossing a good two-thirds the impressive length between herself and Hotaru in two bounding steps-- and then her right arm whips upward in a swift, fierce clawing motion. Lines of silver energy lash through the air from the tips of her fingers and extend far enough to cover the rest of the distance between herself and Hotaru... and certainly not whatever she just pulled from her bracelet.
The energy itself feels like a harsh electric shock on contact-- but rather than exploding, the force tries to shred straight up the front Hotaru has presented to her in four lines...
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Cherise's Argent Claw.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Cherise
As Cherise takes a split second to deceptively prepare herself, Hotaru is only paying half attention. After all, dealing with the sorts that she's been handling for the last couple of hours hasn't even caused her to break a sweat. Paying attention when there's /that/ kind of gulf just isn't really that important. If she even looks at them, it's almost more from show than any real need to 'read' them.
But when Cherise takes that opening that the pig-tailed fighter presents her, Hotaru's eyes widen a little. Oh - this is someone who actually knows what she's doing! The girl is a bit late in reacting but her speed helps her make up for it a little in the end as she drops down to the side at the last second, just in time for the silvery energy to slash through the air right next to her.
"Not bad," the girl states as she rises back up into a standing position, doing pretty well at not looking too shaken by the unexpected surprise. After all, she did manage to avoid whatever pain that was going to involve fairly well. It's then that her left white sleeve splits a little; a thin slice though no injury exists beneath it. 'Hmn. Closer than I realized,' the girl ponders, finally bringing her hands forward from being clasped behind her back and slipping into a real fighting stance, her shoulder turned toward Cherise as if to provide a smaller target now.
Needless to say, the audience is all holding their breath now. Watching amateurs get rolled off the stage was pretty amusing, but it sure as heck doesn't compare to a fight against a girl that's able to dish out something like /that/.
Time to see if she's merely a one trick wonder though as the Kenpo artist crouches a little before darting forward, her hands seeking to snag a hold of the French girl's right wrist. If she can get a grip, she'll pull Cherise forward and then try to flip her right over onto her back with a simple, but effective judo throw. "Ha!"
COMBATSYS: Cherise parries Hotaru's Quick Throw!
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Cherise
Hoh? She's much faster than initially anticipated, given the performance she had been putting on for the people until her arrival. But then again, she couldn't ever judge the people that were lined up as people worth that girl fighting seriously. Cherise's smile becomes less toothy with the closure of her mouth, lips pulled into a look of ferocious amusement.
*rip*
Shifting her weight and her stance as Hotaru comes in to assault her, the grip taken of her wrist brings the girl in the short black dress to not pull back, but to move -with- the Kenpoist's movements, throwing her weight in an impressive display to literally roll shoulder against shoulder with Hotaru, landing on her feet with a harsh *th-thump* of her bootheels. The French fighter stands almost back-to-back with her, voice ringing out. "That vest is so cute. Where can I get one?"
With a hiss of air, the silver light that led from Cherise's bracelet comes into full view for Hotaru at such close range. Thin, pliable steel wire hovers just in front of her eyes, dropping to about throat level-- and the silver-haired girl -pulls-. Should Hotaru not be able to avoid it and her neck is snagged, Cherise's fingers hook under the very same wire threatening to choke the precious air out of the blue-haired girl's throat with a backward reach and attempt a judo throw of her own-- one meant to put the martial artist into the mat right in front of her. "Hahahaha!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru blocks Cherise's Argent Filament EX.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Cherise
Up and over Cherise goes to land on her feet back to back with Hotaru. Okay, this is getting more serious than she expected. She might even be outclassed here considering how well her opponent is handling her so far. The question about her vest doesn't go answered as she has so very precious little time to react. Only just now does she finally notice the wire descending before her eyes darker blue eyes.
Both hands shoot up swiftly in order to defend herself against the attack, which means for a moment she ends up just getting snared with her palms pressed against her cheeks while the wire cuts into her arms a little. "Gah," she gasps, extending her elbows outward in order to stretch the wire enough for her to slip out from the attack and whirl around to face Cherise.
The cuts on her arms are glanced at but they're not severe. She managed to slip out before she got hurt too bad. But the look she's giving the gray haired girl is none too amused now. The audience is enjoying the show. All they saw was some neat tricks and the little wire technique happened too swiftly for the inexperienced crowd to be able to detect such a subtle detail. But Hotaru knows, and she isn't too thrilled with a nasty attack like that being pulled at an event like this. She does answer the question though. "I have them made at a tailoring shop in the Chinatown district of Southtown," the girl answers, trying to keep her temperment cool.
And with that, she's back on the offense. This time as her hands extend forward, each is reaching for both of Charise's arms. If she can get a grip, she'll twist them a little to lock the elbows, giving her the leverage she needs in ordert to launch a sequence of rapid yet still powerful kicks right up the front of the black-dress clad girl. If she pulls it off, she'll end with a backflip through the air to land back a little ways. "Ya, ya, ya!"
COMBATSYS: Cherise blocks Hotaru's Shin-Jou Tai.
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Hotaru 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Cherise
So quick! Cherise's brows lift high, though her cool front prevails, only the now-subtle smile on her face betraying her emotions-- and lord knows what else she's thinking. Turning around slowly, her arms hang low at her sides, her right leg cocking slightly to stay ready on the ball of her foot. "Do they cost much? I'd love to have one..."
But her question may go unanswered for now. Hotaru runs in and attacks again, he wrists captured and held for Hotaru's benefit. Her arms are more powerful than she may have originally planned on, however-- the French girl's arms tense and the muscle hidden beneath her skin grows briefly bulkier-- pulling right out of the Seijyun girl's grasp and with her hands poised to catch the rest of the kicks in gathered palms, skidding backward a foot from the force.
The smile returns.
Her arm jerks back harshly while Hotaru is in the midst of her backflip, lunging into the air to catch up with the girl in the middle of her descent. Her elbows turn downward and her knees spread-- legs hooking around with the intent to catch the girl around the waist and drive both of her elbows down against the Kenpo-user's collarbone in an elaborate and rather risky attempt to tackle her to the ground.
COMBATSYS: Cherise successfully hits Hotaru with Strong Throw.
- Power hit! -
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Hotaru 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Cherise
"Very much so," comes the hissed words as Hotaru launches into her sequence of strikes, only to have the French girl snap her arms free in time to defend against the kicks that follow. It ends up being problematic trying to complete the rest of the attack without the leverage she was counting on but she tries anyway, completing the backflip in order to try and get some distance /fast/.
The attempt goes south though as Cherise gives pursuit rather than staying to nurse any wounds. Caught in a precarious position on her way down, there's nothing she can do to defend herself as her opponent's legs wrap around her waist in the middle of the air. She tries desperately to fend off the elbow strike by bringing her arms together, but she's a second too late and those elbows drive into her collarbone viciously, stunning her completely for the remainder of the fall where she lands painfully on her back with a gasp.
The audience gasps at the direction things are going. All afternoon Hotaru has been dealing with easy opponent after easy opponent, but the gray haired, strange girl seems to be more than capable of dealing with her. The man over at the desk with the ridiculous top hat on begins to fidget nervously. They might have to cough up that prize money after all at this rate!
Stuck on her back, Hotaru's vision is a little blurry, but she doesn't waste time waiting for it to clear. Her right arm cocks back before she takes an open palm swing straight for the side of where she believes Cherise's face to be, hoping to strike with enough power to be able to work her way free afterward.
COMBATSYS: Cherise parries Hotaru's Strong Punch!
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Hotaru 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Cherise
Amusingly enough, Cherise didn't listen to the rules of the battle long enough to even know there's a prize-- she just handed the man money and pushed her way to the front of the line. What did the money matter, anyway...? But then again, it could always go toward buying her replacement clothes for what's been ruined on this trip already.
After impact, her legs pull out from under Hotaru but she remains straddling the girl's waist all the same. Her voice becomes disturbingly sing-song. "Ca~ught you~."
The hand that shoots up at the silver-haired Frenchwoman's face is batted away with a simple smack of her hand, leaning forward to all fours to get nearly nose-to-nose with the martial artist. "Aren't you one of the girls I've seen fighting on television?"
Metal scrapes across the blue mats before her wrist rolls hard. A small rip forms in the surface of the mat as the hooked tip of the small weight at the end of her wire finds purchase, the French girl jumping up into the air with a harsh push-off. Her wrist pulls a second time to make the wire taut once more-- and uses the momentum to rocket back down at Hotaru with her leg drawn back, looking to rack the girl across the chest with a fierce axe kick.
COMBATSYS: Cherise successfully hits Hotaru with Stiletto Axe EX.
- Power hit! -
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Hotaru 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Cherise
Her arm swatted aside, Hotaru's attempt at a quick escape is thwarted, leaving her mentally reeling for a plan B. As the girl leans on her, she grits her teeth and mutters a quiet, "...maybe," and leaves it at that. And then her opponent backs off, making her think that she has a break to get back up finally while Cherise goes jumping off to somewhere else as best she can tell.
What she missed were the wires hooked into the mat at her sides which leaves her oblivious to the sudden change of trajectory on Charise's part as she comes slamming back down into her with a vicious kick to the chest that sends Hotaru crashing back down to the mat, landing hard. Where did that hit even come from? is all the confused girl can wonder as she struggles to scramble back up to her feet again.
Everyone watching is pretty convinced that the minor celebrity has met her match with this otherwise unknown black clad girl. And right now, Hotaru has to imagine that they might be right. Wasting no time to catch her breath though, she tries to strike back in a similar fashion by taking to the air. A tight, forward flip at the apex of her jump allows her to shift direction into a steep knee dive right back down toward Cherise. If she ends up landing on the other girl's shoulder, she'll swing her left foot forward to drive it into the side of her head in hopes of dazing her like she's been feeling nearly this whole fight. "Kya!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Cherise with Rengeki Shuu.
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Hotaru 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Cherise
With Hotaru back on the mat, Cherise lands with a hard stomp of her boots, pulling her arm back to rip the mat a little more-- and bring her wire free of the ground, the nigh-invisible length reeling back toward her bracelet with a whistle of wind. Hotaru's a little faster to react than she had planned for this time-- now with a knee plunged into her shoulder and a harsh kick cracking her across the temple. Cherise staggers to her own left, fumbling a few steps before one leg gives. Dropped to one knee, a shuddering breath crosses her lips. "Heh... heheheh... that's more like it. Let's keep the momentum going!"
Standing straight once more, the silver-haired Cherise swoops back in at Hotaru like a hawk, her head and shoulders dipping down as one leg lunges ahead far. Half-sliding to the side, her right hand reaches out to 'pass by' the pigtailed girl's own, a loop of wire seeking to carry with the momentum and grab the Seijyun girl by the wrist. If it succeeds, the French wire-user turns hard to present her other shoulder, wire-slinging arm pulling back to jerk Hotaru's trapped limb horizontal from a distance and leave her unsteady-- then lunge back in and swing a hard punch at the side of the ribcage, a burst of silver sending a harsh, shocking blast into the girl's side. "More!"
COMBATSYS: Cherise successfully hits Hotaru with Argent Striker.
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Hotaru 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Cherise
Landing back on her feet after a backflip away from landing her attack, Hotaru touches back down, brow furrowed a little after having finally landed an attack against her tricky opponent. A student of styles, she can't make any sense of the way Cherise fights and the wire tricks are starting to fray her concentration.
Keep the momentum going? Hotaru is having a hard enough time just staying on her feet for more than ten seconds with how this exchange of attacks has gone. But now she's at least somewhat more aware of what to expect with all that wire flinging around all over the place. At least, she thought so. When Cherise slips to the side, Hotaru withdraws her hand, as if expecting her to try and snag a hold of her. What she hadn't factored in was the extra length provided by the loop of wiring.
"What-!" she squeaks as the loop draws tight against her wrist. She starts to lean back to counter it, but Cherise is already on the ball with countering that with her own yank, sending Hotaru stumbling forward hard into the punch into her side. The blast of energy frays her blue vest at the point of impact on her ribcage and sends her feet sliding back a couple of yards.
Though she doesn't fall over, the wince of pain belies just how bad she's faring at the moment. "Fine," she replies, sounding just a little irate. Too much of her training in traditional styles against traditional fighters has left her woefully unprepared for something this unorthodox. Time to see if she can dish out enough to show this girl what she's really capable of.
When Hotaru charges for her next, she hops from a little ways out as if going airborn - but rather than jumping high, she simply spins low before coming down on her feet, swinging out with two rapid whirlwinding palm strikes. But those are just the first thrown at Cherise. Afterward come more swings, as she tries to get a hit in strong enough to open the way for more, or to pry her way past the the gray haired girl's defenses. "Soushou..."
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Cherise with Sou-shou Tenrenge EX.
Glancing Blow
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Hotaru 0/-------/------=|=======\===----\1 Cherise
As Hotaru comes to a halt after the strike, the lack of pressure around her wrist is a clear sign that her wire is returning toward the wielder-- other cues include a harsh snap of her wrist, and the small gold twinkle as light hits that hooked weight at the tip of the silver length. Straightening up, the girl in the black dress rests her cheek against her bare palm, looking genuinely upset-- or as upset as she can manage, considering the detachment and rather unusual attitude she's shown so far. "Ohhh, I damaged it. I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen."
With Hotaru charging in, Cherise stands ready-- but not as ready as she'd prefer. Silvery-gray bangs frame around her eyes and cast a bit of shadow around them as she starts to push off with one foot... and still gets a harsh pair of palm strikes to the chest for all her efforts. More swings pull in and rack against her with heavy grunts to confirm the connection. Cherise doesn't let it end the way she wants to, though-- with a harsh lean to one side and pushing off with both legs, she ducks and rolls with the precision of a lifelong martial artist.
Cherise spins hard on her heel, rotating the one-eighty with her arm lashing out wide-- and the audience may feel a woosh of air over their heads as the Frenchwoman's wire surges out to once again find Hotaru's throat. If it manages this much, she pulls it taut-- taut enough to start cutting off the supply of air. But ... that's not all...
COMBATSYS: Cherise successfully hits Hotaru with Argent Sniper.
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Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Cherise
The wire tightening around Hotaru's neck, the girl slowly licks her lips and brings up her left hand to grip the wire a little ways ahead of her-- and to the abstract eye, it looks almost like she's holding a rifle.
Silver energy flares at the back of her right hand as her left hand hooks and her index finger plucks the wire-- and the silver energy fires along the length and bursts into Hotaru's neck. A second, a third, and fourth-- before she pulls the wire down a bit and plucks harder for a final, large burst on the fifth. While it doesn't have enough power in and of itself to knock Hotaru over, the combination of a lack of oxygen and the powerful shocks to the neck may prove to harm the girl more than anyone watching the match would think.
And at the end, Cherise's wrist flicks again with a second tug-- and the wire snakes away from the student's neck, fluttering in the air before landing in a pile at her own feet.
"Got you."
Swing, swing, swing, strike, strike, wiff. Erk. "Che." Having quite committed herself to delivering the attack, the girl stumbles a little as Cherise rolls out of the way. If the French girl had been a fraction slower on her recovery, she wouldn't have been able to snag the Kenpo artist in time. But as is, with her back to the other girl, the only warning she has of the next attack coming is the whistle of the wire through the air.
The audience has a clear view of where it's coming from, but she sure doesn't have a clue. Turning around to figure it out ends up being too costly as the wire snaps onto her neck. The look of dismay in the deep blue eyes of the younger fighter makes it clear that she knows she's had. As her opponent raises her hands, she attempts to turn the tide by just charging forward and attacking her outright in spite the wire around her neck, but the blasts that start coming down the wire end up jolting her into at first stopping, then knocking her backward with each subsequent charge. She would gasp if she had the ability to breath but it isn't until the assault ends and she drops to her knees, her face red with the lack of oxygen coupled with pain that she can finally breath, exhaling and inhaling the precious air at last.
The audience is a little disquieted after they start to realize the nature of Cherise's attacks. A few mumbles and mutters at the violence being dished out against the girl they thought was untouchable can be heard and a few nervous glances back and forth. Should someone do something about this?
Hotaru doesn't leave them time to deliberate for long though as she goes back on the offense after pausing to rub at her throat for a moment. Pushing off from her kneeling position leaves her a little bit slow strike back, but when she closes the distance, she swings out with three rapid kicks, each one strong in its own right, aimed for Cherise's shin, stomach, and chest. "Ha, ha, ha!"
COMBATSYS: Cherise parries Hotaru's Heavy Kick!
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Hotaru 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Cherise
Should they? Would they?
Would they -dare- step up to challenge this stranger with gray hair? Would they dare get her attention and see the cold blue eyes that turn toward her? Cherise's head tilts back as the color starts to return to Hotaru's face, her lungs piping up with the only thing she can manage to press beyond her lips:
"Uuu... aaaaaah HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA~!"
Palm lifting to her face to rest over her eyes, the French teenager's laughter can easily be heard by most anyone that turns their attention toward the center stage-- the event that was there for charity, entertainment and for the kids. Even as Hotaru comes in to attack, the assassin's attention is barely paid to the martial artist's attack-- her leg lifting to catch the first kick on the sole of her boot. The second is brought to a stiff halt with the smack of her palm, and the kick to the chest is batted away with the hand that falls away from her head.
Without another word and her demented smile still so wide, Cherise's arm whips upward one last time-- and as it was with her first attack, silvery lines of light rip upward from her fingertips rather than any of the wire she's let loose for the entirety of this fight. It travels upward, looking to rake Hotaru with four shocking bursts of energy-- with enough force to slice through clothes and skin.
COMBATSYS: Cherise successfully hits Hotaru with Argent Claw EX.
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Hotaru 1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Cherise
As her striking leg is dealt with fairly effortlessly, Hotaru is sent stumbling off to the side to try and recover from the aggressive stance she took in attempting to land a blow. It ends up leaving her wide open for the four raking enery bursts that slash their way right up the front of her, the rending of flesh and cloth impossible to miss.
Her vest, shreaded for good, falls open and the white blouse beneath is streaked with thin red lines from where the energy cut through deeper, leaving marks not visible to the normal eye. Color draining rapidly from the young fighter's complexion makes it clear that she's slipping fast. The last thing she manages is a sudden surge of a blue aura along her forearm, her hand swung forward to discharge a small blue projectile of pure force, before she drops to her knees and collapses against the mat, her arms sprawled out at her sides.
Off to the side of the stage where the event organizers are huddled, barely peeking over the top of it, the man in charge of handling the exchange of money raises his hand up, waving a thin paper check wildly over his head, "Here, please, just take this and go!" he pleads desperately.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru can no longer fight.
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Cherise 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Cherise with Hakki Shou.
Glancing Blow
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Cherise 0/-------/--=====|
With Cherise's attention turned toward the final attack, she thinks Hotaru finished with that-- but the small fighter still seems to have some spunk left in her yet!
And she does -love- spunk.
Twisting hard to the side, the blast impacts with her side on the rotation, the burst of blue force ripping across her side and leaving a tear across the side of her dress. Coming to a halt with her back to the fallen fighter, the French girl's shoulders again quake as a laugh starts to build in her throat.
Despite the frantic waving of the thousand dollar prize, Cherise's attention remains on Hotaru, walking over to the fighter and kneeling down at her side. "You won't die. I didn't cut you deep enough. But please, when you recover, let's meet again."
Leaning forward, Cherise plants a quick kiss on Hotaru's forehead, standing back up and turning around. Walking to the edge of the stage, she picks up her handbag and hops lightly off the edge, turning her attention to the organizer. "Use the money for her care."
And just like that, Cherise Bouchard starts walking away from the fair, arms at her sides and looking somewhat bored. Only once she's a good distance away does she look down at her side, tugging at the split fabric and the ugly welt forming on her skin. "... Another one ruined," she sighs, rubbing her forehead.
COMBATSYS: Cherise takes no action.
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Cherise 0/-------/--=====|
Log created on 21:27:38 09/19/2007 by Hotaru, and last modified on 01:41:39 09/20/2007.