Description: The debut of the Skyway of Death at the Seventh Circle! Watch the parkour virtuosso Aranha and the equally nimble and deadly Ayame negotiate an arena modified to become a lethal labyrinth of murderously spiked moving platforms and crushing walls! Another incredibly close finish as the battle goes down to the very wire. And a twist(ed) ending that clearly shows.. We play hardball here.
"Ladies and gentlemen!"
The feminine announcing voice echoes throughout the arena. Both in the door-less, reinforced concrete fighting pit below and the posh, one-way armored glass-protected seating high above. Though the two fighters below cannot see or hear their mysterious overseers, they immediately know that the voice addresses them all collectively. The view monitor above blinks to life, revealing a familiar beautiful visage to the two fighters below. A wicked, gleeful smile spreading over curiously sharp, pearly teeth as she continues, "Welcome to our maaaaain event for the night! A death defying spectacle that only the Seventh Circle can bring you! Behold!"
As attention then moves further to the pit, to see that the whole of the arena is fitted with several dozen platforms of varying altitude. Each perhaps a half dozen paces across, some longer, some even shorter. Individually suspended in the air by a series of mechanized crossbeams or swaying chains dangling from the darkness of the ceiling above. Each and every one of those platforms rimmed with vicious spikes.
"A little something our lovely engineers cooked up they call 'The Skyway of Death'!" Giggling to herself as her hands rise and rub together beside her cheek, "Ooooh isn't it lovely? Once I activate the Skyway, every platform will immediately begin to move! Crushing and stabbing any who dare to try navigating the aerial maze!"
Marise's index finger lifts, "BUT! Navigate they will.. For the purpose is not JUST to survive.. But to FIGHT! The only rule? ...Try not to die."
The cackling woman's visage is then replaced by a younger, lovely lady, "Our first challenger! This precious young thing has only begun her career on the fighting circuits, isn't she darling? However.. Don't let looks fool you, this vicious little number may be the only thing more dangerous than the grinding platforms beneath her feet! I give you.. Ayame!"
As a spotlight reveals the young girl, standing on one of the top-most platforms high above the vast stretch of yet-motionless platforms.
The next spotlight clicks on, revealing the dashing, if scarred young man at the opposite end of the maze. Close to the bottom but clearly in view of the girl high above, "You may have seen him in other circuits. A man who's blossoming talent is so great, we just had to put it to the test ourselves! If any fighter could dare a skyway as merciless as this, it would be the man known as Aranha!"
As Aranha's face then fades away in the monitor, Marise's once more returns to view as her grin has hardly faltered in the slightest, "You know the stakes and all bets have been placed. Lets see how this exciting battle unfolds.. shall we? KyaHA."
"FIGHTERS. BEGIN!"
At once.. The platforms immediately come to life. The loud, grinding hum of the powerful hydraulic presses and machine engines fill the air.. As does the thunderous clanging of spiked platforms alternately slamming into each other beneath their feet like a multi-tiered factory what's singular export is pain.
COMBATSYS: Ayame has started a fight here.
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Aranha has joined the fight here.
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Aranha 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Marise has joined the fight here.
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Marise 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aranha
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|
Quiet and still until the actual devices get fired up, Ayame stands on her platform, an impassive expression concealing the tumultuous thoughts going on in her mind. In matches she has less to hide, thus it is that she's already standing with a six foot long titanium polearm in her right hand. Coiled loosely over her left shoulder is a rope with a small, pointed weight on one end, and a larger, heavier blunt weight clipped onto the other end.
Not to suggest that that's all she brought to this fight, but the items that require the most preparation have been prepared. Dressed with her own modified clothing in which she has all manner of weapons stashed, the only other obvious ones are the two horizontal sheaths in one of her belts, housing those knives she introduced Aranha to last time. Her top and skirt hardly seem likely hiding places for even more weapons, but he'll probably know from experience not to expect anything less.
She really isn't sure what kind of world it is such that the very unlucky individual who's home she tried to rob a while back is now trapped in a fighting pit with her. Staring down at Aranha from her height, Ayame studies the young man, leaning over the edge of her spiked platform, left hand resting against her hip. "Nice to see you again. We were just getting to know each other last time too. No where to run this time though," she grins, lifting her left hand to her forehead to give him a snappy salute just as the platforms start to move.
From her vantage point, the girl begins to study the mechanisms in motion, memorizing their patterns, rotation speeds, and other variables as she starts to consider the dangerous environment for this match. Try not to die is the only rule. Heh. Slipping the coil of wire-thin cabling off her shoulder, she begins to whirl the pointed weight around a few times at her side, getting warmed up as the introductions are finally finished.
And it seems the girl is going to just stay put, content to force the young man to work his way up the mobile platforms to get to her in the first place. "Catch!" she remarks as she lifts the spinning weight over her head then swings her arm forward, sending it hurtling straight down toward Aranha's head.
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Ayame's Medium Fling.
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Marise 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aranha
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Marise's Random Weapon.
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Marise 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aranha
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|
While the introductions were being done Aranha had studied the maze of metal looking for the best places to manuever each platform considered possible salvation. It takes him awhile to notice that Ayame is there he's so intent on studying the environment. Then he looks up and sees /her./ The girl who had robbed him that night.
A rage comes over him. It isn't a blind rage. He knows in the best of conditions he can't afford to make emotional mistakes. When the platforms begin moving, the need for precision becomes all the more clearer. He studies both Ayame as she reaches for her weapons and the moving platforms. The timing of each platform is carefully memorized from the spinning platforms to the crushing wall.
Aranha's mental preparation is what saves him as he leaps up and over the weight which puts him on top of a crushing wall as well. This puts him in danger of getting crushed by another wall but he manages to kick off of it to launch him to safety. From there he bounces from crush wall to platform making his way up much like the creature of his namesake before getting into close range and whipping a blue glowing foot for head followed by a spinning jump kick and then finishing with a blue glowing flip kick. "God damn it, bitch! Just shut up and fight. They aren't paying to hear you flap your gums."
COMBATSYS: Ayame dodges Aranha's Aggressive Dance.
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Marise 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aranha
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Ayame dodges Marise's Random Weapon.
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Marise 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aranha
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|
The agile young man seems to be one step ahead of Ayame as he avoids the sharp weight intended to smack him in the head. Hn... No matter. The girl tugs back on the cable, pulling the rope dart up to her while being careful to not let it get entangled on the less than savory spikes sticking out all over the place. She's a little miffed that he slipped around her attack, but no sense in getting caught flat footed.
By the time he gets up to her, Ayame has retracted the cable and flung it over both of her shoulders once, letting the weights hang down in front of her as she prepares to deal with him on the offense now. She's swift to duck under his foot, avoiding the chi laden strike and when he goes to flip-kick her, the girl steps back to leave dealing with it at all not much of an issue. "If I don't talk, how are you ever going to get better?" she inquires as she comes up standing a few steps away.
"I mean, were you aiming for my head there?" she asks, her left hand coming up in a half shrug, her right hand still busy gripping her metal bo. "Because if so, you were an easy five and a quarter centimeters off before I was even halfway done avoiding it." Her left hand joins her right in gripping the staff as the girl steps back in toward him, "Allow me to demonstrate."
The Capoeira artist is forced to deal with the staff now as Ayame stabs it outward like a lance, aiming to slam the blunt end of it into his gut, before pulling it back and spinning it around once over her head and swinging out for a second sweeping strike at the level of his head.
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Ayame's Medium Strike.
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Marise 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Aranha
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|
Aranha on the other hand has learned from previous experiences that often pride comes before fall so he doesn't say anything about that. It isn't like Ayame isn't telling him anything he didn't already know. While he was extremely confident in his abilities to avoid the attacks easily, he could tell that the motion to seamlessly dodge it would put him in the path of numerous pitfalls and traps and in this case the safer route was better and so he leans to the side as he deflects the thrust and cartwheels with the staff glancing off of his forearm as the second swing comes across the delay allowing him to barely avoid a crushing wall.
As he drops out of the cartwheel his legs scissor about Ayame's to drop her between two crushing walls if all goes well.
COMBATSYS: Ayame fails to interrupt Quick Throw from Aranha with Quick Throw.
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Marise 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Aranha
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Ayame 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Elle has joined the fight here.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Marise
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Aranha 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Ayame dodges Elle's Deep Strike.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Marise
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Aranha 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Ayame
Ayame's sweep with the staff wiffs through the air as Aranha plays hard to hit for a moment. The motion doesn't leave her too open to retaliation as she pulls the weapon back following the swing, holding it at an angle that would make it easy to defend against most attacks he might try to land next...
But he goes lower than she was expecting, his powerful kicking legs scissoring against the blonde's. An attempt is made to stab downward with her staff in order to pry him off her, but his attack is swift enough to send her tumbling before she can manage to pull it off.
While her long weapon failed to keep her safe against Aranha, it does come in handy against the crushing walls as the girl manages to plant each end of it on opposite walls before falling between them, allowing her to swing herself to the side, landing on a mid-level platform without picking up a scratch from the spikes as Aranha might have hoped.
Landing in a crouch, she holds her ground, glaring up at the agile fighter, chosing not to go up after him. Of course, she has to say something. "See? He can be taught!"
Aranha doesn't go after Ayame right away. Instead Aranha carefully crafts his web with careful and deliberate movements as he leaps over a swinging platform, and ducking another before leaping out to grab ahold of a chain and then swinging out from chain to chain as he gradually closes the distance between the two fighters.
When Aranha is right above her he swings his body upwards so that he hangs upside down much like the super hero of comic book fame. Even still he's careful to remain just barely out of staff range. He remains silent as he watches her and waits for her move. He has his eye on both the platform with the crushing ceiling and the fast spinning platform with spikes on it.
COMBATSYS: Aranha focuses on his next action.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Marise
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Aranha 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Ayame
As Aranha gets back on the move, Ayame braces, bending her legs slightly, slipping her feet apart just a little, the staff angled in front of her defensively like before. Brown eyes track his movement as he leaps down via the chains, taking chances but gaining valuable ground very quickly in the process without being left open for easy retaliation.
Hands tighten on the titanium tube as he ends up over top of her, ready to retaliate the second he moves into her extended range. His own positioning is just right, as the girl can't reach him with the weapon where he's at without jumping upward herself, which might leave her open to retaliation in the process. Being caught in mid-air in this particular setting would be a really bad spot to be in, with the entire environment hostile to trying to land after such a precarious position.
A faint smile crosses her lips as Ayame leans her head to the side, looking up at Aranha, taking a step back so that she isn't /immediately/ under him, mind racing at the options left to her. Trying to jump up to higher ground might just make her an easy target for him to leap at mid-jump...
Well, what the heck. People wanted to see blood, right? "Cute," comes her evaluation of his hanging upside down just outside of her range. "I can see you're thinking, and that's good. But you've made a mistake." She lifts up her staff, angling it toward the dangling spider. "You don't realize... I think of /everything/."
An application of pressure near the center of the long weapon results in a half-foot long blade extending from the top end of the staff. As it slides into the open, Ayame shoves the weapon upward, aiming to skewer the young man with the extra range afforded by the hidden blade. The staff may not be able to hit him, but that extra foot of sharpened steel just might.
COMBATSYS: Aranha interrupts Fierce Strike from Ayame with Sky's the Limit EX.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Marise
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Aranha 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Ayame
Well that was an unexpected development. In Aranha's plans he didn't make a provision for a hidden blade within the hollow tube. If anything, Aranha was expecting a thrown weapon to come his way. Luckily for him he's able to adapt. When the blade thrusts out at him Aranha knows he's in no position to dodge but he really doesn't want to either. He drops down feet first on top of Ayame's shoulder before leaping off to a crushing wall and kicks off of it catapulting himself towards her chest and attempts to drive her towards the platform with the crushing ceiling.
As for Aranha, after his foot makes contact with Ayame, he rebounds off of her and drops into roll bringing him to stop right before his body can touch the spikes on the edge of the current platform.
Well, that wasn't the clean hit she was hoping for, but she's pretty sure she drew some blood all the same. Blood sports the want to call it? She isn't shy about that in the slightest. She isn't keen on getting kicked around though either, but Ayame doesn't have much say about that. Used as something to stomp on before he takes to the wall, the girl brings the staff up, ready to defend herself from the followup strike, only to have the extended blade catch on a spike above, keeping her from getting it into position in time. She doesn't often fight with the blade out, and it does seem to affect her control over the weapon.
This earns Aranha his solid kick to her chest, sending the girl reeling backward, feet having a hard time finding traction. Whipping the polearm down to brace against the surface of the platform, Ayame uses it more like a vault, pushing herself up and over the spikes he had in mind for her, landing on a rotating ledge just a little ways higher. The blade retracts back into the pole as Ayame looks at Aranha more carefully, crouching at the edge of her landing. That's twice now he tried to send her into the deadly contraptions. "You're more ruthless than I took you for," the girl observes, smiling faintly again. "I thought you were just a chump, but now I know you're willing to do what it takes to win..."
She frowns a little, then shakes her head. "Too bad you don't apply the same determination to the rest of your life. The stuff at your apartment a few weeks back didn't seem like the belongings of someone who's willing to go to any lengths to get what he wants... ne?"
He seems to be keeping his cool rather well. Something she can't deny. But that doesn't mean the girl won't keep poking at him verbally anyway. She's bound to find a button eventually. But she isn't going to wear him down with words. There's more violence to inflict! Leaning her staff against her shoulder, her right hand slips beneath her left wrist guard, coming out with three small throwing knives. Snapping her hand forward, she sends the three of them flying down toward the young man, her right hand already returning to grip the titanium bo tightly. "Let's see how your luck holds up!"
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Ayame's Thrown Object.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Marise
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Aranha 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Ayame
And yet Ayame hasn't found that button or perhaps the gravity of the situation has forced him to push it aside or atleast express his rage in cooler fashion than would be normal for him. Whatever the reason Aranha keeps his silence. Instead focusing on the trio of throwing knives that are flying towards him.
Aranha still has confidence in his ability to move out of the way however he once again plays it safe snatching two daggers out of the air and though he gets cut he's better off than Ayame intended. The third gets knocked aside with the handle of the knife in his left hand before he leaps from platform to platform.
When he gets close he quickly flips the blades around so he can grasp the knives in his hand then slashes out with a feint to set up a heel whipping around to Ayame's torso.
COMBATSYS: Ayame interrupts Change-Up Kick from Aranha with Harvest's Reaper.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Marise
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Aranha 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Ayame
His solid defense against her kunai provokes a frown from the girl as Ayame watches Aranha ascend up to the platform she's on. Brown eyes narrow as he makes the feint, and in truth, she actually believes he IS trying to stick her with her own kunai. It seems a lot of people think it's cute to try and make her feel the prick of her own blades, as if a stab here or there might turn the girl off flinging all that weaponry around.
No luck here though, as Ayame channels a bright, angry red energy into the length of the polearm she's weilding while simultaneously swinging upward, clearly aiming to both knock aside his knife-wielding hand while also delivering a powerful strike against his chest. She swings with enough momentum to take herself into the air, crushing him with not just arm strength but torso and leg strength powering the attack as well. His leg strikes her side as she rises off the ground, but the girl's momentum is going to carry her up all the same without knocking her too far off course.
The chi trails behind the swing, a thin red streak of slicing, hot piercing energy. The second slam comes from the other side as Ayame twirls the staff around after leaving the ground, both slamming him and slashing him with the lancing energy trailing behind.
Finally, pulling the titanium pole back over her head almost like an executioner's axe, she brings it crashing down on top of the spider, clearly intending to squash this arachnid flat. Again the shreading chi follows behind the pole, aiming to dig into the young man's flesh and give the blood thirsty audience a bit more of what they're looking for.
Ayame lands in a crouch, herself, angling her staff in front of her defensely, expecting retaliation, but also evaluating how well the young man is coping with one of her most brutal assaults. "Well, well..." the girl speaks quietly. "You can give up at any time, you know. The audience might not like it, but if you can't go any further, then what's the point, right...?"
COMBATSYS: Ayame has saved the state of this fight.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Marise
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Aranha 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Aranha has left the fight here.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Marise
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Ayame 0/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Ayame has left the fight here.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Marise
COMBATSYS: Elle has left the fight here.
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Marise 0/-------/-------|
That was a response Aranha had not prepared for. Nothing in their first fight even gave Aranha the idea that she was capable of something like that but it wasn't like he had even forced her into such a situation. The first strike does catch him in the chest and while it hurt it was the least of his worries.
As he rose from the kick he threw, the blade of hot chi slices into him. Causing him to actually scream. Not just because of the pain but because he wasn't prepared for the attack and he falls to the platform looking much like a wounded animal.
The Capoeirista slowly makes his way to his feet. Taking deep breaths, he moves in swaying, weaving left and right as he makes his approach and then he skips forward just a bit to allow for his kick to get greater depth before he thrusts it outward to jam it into her chest which if it connects will direct her into the a swinging platform.
COMBATSYS: Ayame fails to counter Colossal Kick from Aranha with Requiem For Fallen Blossoms.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Marise
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Aranha 1/----===/=======|=======\-------\1 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Ayame counters Random Weapon from Marise with Weapon Jab.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Marise
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Aranha 1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0 Ayame
Aranha pulls himself back up to his feet and Ayame remains standing near, bracing to deal with him if he decides he isn't ready to give up yet. She'd rather he would, on some level, as playing hopscotch with spinning blades of death isn't really anywhere near as entertaining when one is stuck actually /doing/ it. "Just keep coming back for more, I-" the girl retorts, swinging her staff up early, looking to intersect his course with a violent blow that would open the way to further strikes.
But he skips forward a second step, the kick not coming when she had expected it, and Ayame's swing misses, leaving her wide open for the real fancy footwork on his part. Realizing she got too eager, Ayame tries to make up for it by slamming her staff down against the ground at her other side to keep her from being easily dislodged.
But the force behind the young man's foot is a lot stronger than she had anticipated, crushing against her chest and driving her completely off her feet toward the platform he was targeting for. Mid-air is no time to really make remarkable acrobatic recoveries, especially after a strike like that, but the blonde is swift to put the titanium staff to use again, whirling around to slam it into the spiked edge of the swinging platform before using it like a lever to change her trajectory to be a bit higher and bring her standing on it instead of potentially skewered to the side of it.
The girl's eyes are wide as she lands in a sliding crouch, just barely coming to a stop before she would inevitably tumble off the opposite side. Left hand raising to press against the center of her breastbone, Ayame gasps for her breath back, in no position to retaliate yet.
It's one of those cases is relieved that his plan partially succeeded. On one hand he's disappointed that he wasn't able to drive her into the spiked edge but he was able to see what she had attempted to turn his attack against him and the relief overtakes the initial disappointment he felt.
He doesn't want to give Ayame time to recover let alone give her a chance to open her mouth. He leaps up into the air above a swinging platform of his own to contend with as he grabs onto a chain hanging high above him. When he grabs hold of the chain he whips his legs back before swinging up and out at Ayame landing just in front of her.
After that, Aranha begins to flood Ayame with a string of attacks as he leans away while moving his arm to shield his face and his body and then he leans forward to push away his opponent with a head butt 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 driving it downwards on top of Ayame's head.
COMBATSYS: Ayame counters Full House from Aranha with Weapon Jab.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Marise
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Aranha 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Ayame
For once, the staging highly favors Ayame as it gives her time to recover from the crushing strike to her sternum while Aranha is forced to navigate the chains, spiked, moving platforms, and other hazards to get to where she landed. By the time his feet touch down in front of her, the girl has slowly started to push herself back up to standing.
An ugly sounding cough is indictivie of the damage his last strike did, but Ayame is still at least aware of her surroundings, not taken out of the fight quite yet. Though that chain of kicks he has coming for her heads most definitely /will/. "Not," the girl grunts, leaning out of the way of the headbutt that would have left her dazed and easily struck by the rest of his attacks.
"Fast." His opponent raises that long staff into the way of the first of many kicks to come, defending herself from it just in the nick of time, then leans it back the other way to block the second kick, and then back to defend against the first. But she's barely keeping up as-is, and being driven back toward the edge of the platform where she'll be in no position to leap while also trying to defend...
"Enough!" she snaps, ducking low, taking her head out of striking range for his kicks as she sweeps the titanium pole along the floor of the platform with just enough strength to jepordize his handstanding position, only to miss as he switches out of the handstand a moment before.
Spinning around a second time, the girl brings the staff up over her head in a horizontal position, striking against his incoming flip kick with enough force to stop him and maybe reverse his momentum just a little... The strain on her arms is enough to budge her feet back against the very edge of the platform, her heels sliding over but her toes diging in just enough to stop her from losing those last precious inches of ground.
Not fast enough. But /almost/.
The impact of the metal staff stops his momentum and truth be told the damage done by the attack is negligible at best but it forces him to react quickly to keep himself from landing on his head and so he throws out his hands to stop his fall and swallows a breath of air as he holds himself in a handstand. A look of disbelief touches his face before he gets his mind back in the game.
If that wasn't fast enough, he'll need to move faster in an attempt to press her enough that she can't mount such a powerful offense again. He stays in that handstand and begins twisting, becoming a whirling dervish as he he attempts to catch the strawberry blonde with a series of of kicks before dropping out of the handstand once again.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Ayame with Inverted Tornado.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Marise
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Aranha 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Ayame dodges Marise's Random Weapon.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Marise
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Aranha 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Ayame
Tired of being pushed toward the edge of the platform, Ayame isn't eager to test her timing in fending off the young man's swift sequence of strikes. Maybe she really should quit taunting him. He's getting closer and closer to taking her down, and the girl is clearly acting on borrowed time now even as Aranha has to catch his own breath for a moment.
"Been fun sharing this platform with you, but I think it's time we saw less of each other," the girl remarks, moving her staff to the side as she turns to crouch and make a leap for another deadly landing at roughly the same level in height. But this time he's quick enough to catch her before she can jump, his feet striking her in the upper back even as she was beginning to crouch.
Caught mid-leap, Ayame is knocked clear off the one shared with the Parkour master with a gasp. Spinning around in mid-air, she flings her entire staff back at the young man, sending it whirling like a helicopter prop right for his chest.
A necessary move as it frees up both of her hands to grab loops of the cable she's kept coiled over her shoulder. A last second toss of one of the loops over one of the larger spikes jutting out just over head and a tight hold on the cables leaves Ayame dangling instead of free falling the rest of the way to the lowest portion of the arena or any of the potential painful stops on the way down. "...whew." the girl exhales as she hangs in place for a moment, arms straining a little as she starts to look at where she should leap to next.
COMBATSYS: Aranha negates Power Fling from Ayame with Large Thrown Object.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Marise
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Aranha 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Ayame
Aranha watches as both the staff and another platform make a b-line for him. He knows he has no choice but to act fast or one or the other and possibly both will severely injure and quite possibly kill him. And act fast he does. Aranha drops down on all fours not to dodge the staff but instead to dodge the platform with a leg extended backwards. This leg becomes important later.
As the platform passes over Aranha's head, he whips his heel, which looks like a scorpion's tail striking, at the platform aiding its momentum as well as ripping it away from the chains that held it suspended in the air. It still needs to be said that the staff was still on a collision course for him but instead of his chest it would slam into his raised leg which is only saved by the fact that the platform was flying right for it.
Even still Aranha was still aiming that platform for Ayame but he didn't quite put the platform where he needed it to be and so he misses wide of the other thief and so he rises with a bit of frown. "Damn..." It's probably the first thing he has said since the opening of the match. The pained scream doesn't count.
Hanging via the chains, Ayame's in the perfect position to watch that sequence of near hits play out... and quite relieved that she isn't going to have to defend herself while stuck in such a precarious spot for the moment, especially once she realizes what he was /trying/ to do. Whelp, no sense in just hanging around...
Swinging her legs forward and backward, she finally plants the bottom of her shoes against the wall and uses that to push off with enough speed to land on another platform. A tug and her cable catches up with her as the girl wastes no time going back after the young man. He's proven himself a lot better fighter than she took him for the last time she met him... Of course, last time she woke him up in the midst of breaking into his house, so that might not be a fair comparison.
Rather than hop from landing to landing, she leaps up, grabs hold of one of the spikes stiking out, and swings herself the rest of the way up to land next to him. "Time for me to return the favor," the girl remarks, lunging at him directly rather than trying to pull weapons on him this time. Going for his arms rather than his more dangerous legs, she tries to get a tight enough hold to pull him toward her before twisting his arm around behind his back. Her left leg comes up, thick soled Doc Martin trying to give him a good shove in the seat of his pants as she angles the young man toward the spikes - He's certainly tried to skewer her on the things enough for one fight. It's almost like he doesn't like her!
COMBATSYS: Aranha interrupts Medium Throw from Ayame with Short Kick.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Elle 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Marise
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Ayame
When Ayame showed up in his house she also used similar tactics. This time Aranha seems ready for them he allows his hand to be grabbed and then he struggles against the attempt to lock in the hold and he gets out of the hold before she can really do damage with it. He manages to get just far enough away that he has room to snap kick out at Ayame's ribs, which while it isn't his most damaging kick it serves his purpose of punishing the attempt to put him into the pit fall.
He begins to backtrack carefully watching her for her next move because right now he knows that Ayame is probably at her most dangerous.
She thinks she has him exactly where she wants... up until he wrests his hand free. Looks like he knew what was coming well enough to not get entangled by her in close holds. The snap kick to her ribs just about drops the girl, Ayame feeling the fatigue of the number of blows that have landed throughout the course of the fight. Nothing singularly devestating, but her side is hurting - to say nothing of the bruise she earned dead center on her chest.
He backs away and she gasps for breath, slowly crouching as if about ready to kneel down and submit all together and hope he's not eager to drag past experiences into this fight. But it's only to brace herself for what comes next. The rope resting around her shoulders is readied once more, the small dart weight whirled over her head once as she pushes off, closing the distance toward the young man.
The rope is swung forward, attempting to ensare him completely, while her left hand begins to reach for another weapon...
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Ayame's Grand Theft Your Heart.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Marise
[ \\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Aranha 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Ayame
The moment the girl is in close, her left hand is occupied by an opened bladed war fan made of sturdy iron. Slash after slash is attempted on the young man as she tries get through his defenses while also hoping to hold him still with the rope.
Aranha drops backward with one hand on the ground and a forearm raised expecting to be struck with the dart and not quite expecting to get wrapped up. It's when the rope catches him he realizes his folly. He becomes desperate and maintains the crouched position as the fan slashes his forearm adding to the already vast battle wounds he carries not just from this battle but battles in the past. When the onslaught ends he rises to his feet.
Aranha knows he's currently trapped but he tries to use the rope to pull Ayame forward with it and as she stumbles towards him he swings his foot upwards as kicking off a sandal. The kick reaching its peak at her chin. It's the lightest of his kicks but he's hoping to use it to end the fight.
COMBATSYS: Ayame fails to counter Light Kick from Aranha with Bright Renewal.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Marise
[ \\\\\\\ <
Aranha 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Ayame can no longer fight.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Marise
[ \\\\\\\ <
Aranha 1/-------/=======|
He defended himself a lot better than she had expected against the violent assault with the sharp edged fan, but she's intending to finish whatever strength he has left by continuing to strike until he can't guard himself any longer... Unfortunately, staying so focused results in her not noticing when he tugs on the cable her right hand is still gripping tightly, pulling the girl forward.
Caught off guard, the fan is brought up for one final sweep as Ayame tries to knock his foot aside before it can connect. But her balance is off and the tip of his foot collides with her chin before she can yank herself back. Jarred by the impact to her glass jaw, her eyes lose their focus, her hands releasing the hold on the fan and the rope. The iron weapon rattles against the platform just before the long haired girl slumps to her knees.
"Saa... Better than I remembered..." she mumbles.
While Ayame's on her knees Aranha can already see that there's no more fight in her left and so he immediately descends upon her with his hand going right for her neck with a devious smile on his face. While generally a nice guy certain people and situations awaken a more sadistic side of him that if Ayame saw highlight films of Aranha in particular wouldn't show up.
The Dancing Spider, remembered those knives that she had thrown at him earlier in this fight. He spreads her arms wide apart and stabs a knife through each of her hands leaving her pinned down to the ground. "You said you were wondering why my effects in my apartment didn't look like the stuff of someone who would do anything to win."
Aranha then unwraps the rope from his forearm and binds her ankles together. Apparently Aranha has no interest in repeating the same mistakes Ayame made with him. "Well every since that night I've thought about how I'd make you pay for breaking into my house and each and every insult you made both in that fight and this particular fight made me even more determined, more focused."
Aranha takes the third knife into his hand and begins to cut a circle into her stomach. "I replayed each and every mistake I made in that fight over..." he retraces the circle "and over..." he retraces the circle once more "And over again..." He then draws lines from those circles, legs of a spider.
Aranha then takes his free hand and grabs her hair as he wipes the blade of the knife matting her hair with blood. "I then got handed this fight right here..." He takes a clump of unmatted hair and pulls it before cutting it away with the edge of the weapon. "You're nothing but a fly caught in a web."
Some in the audience have questioned how a fight between such nobodies could possibly merit a 'main event' billing for the evening.
Those same individuals have long since been silenced, sitting on the edges of their seats as they watch the spectacular mid-air acrobatic battle unfold. The odds shifting back and forth throughout the entire battle as no winner was ever clear until the final few seconds. Even then, collective jaws continued to hang for a few silent moments before the thronging crowd finally reacts. Some who wagered on the girl seem disappointed, but not TOO disappointed as a complete nobody.. a little girl at that.. did incredibly well against an accomplished young fighter some are familiar with in underground circuits. The loss was near enough where she beat more than a few spreads against her and made more than a few richer.
Unquestionably however, the amazing performance has certainly put the dancing spider on more than a few radars. Perhaps this little revenge has been a looooong time coming, showing up Blackjack--The very outfit that spurned Aranha--In their very house. And against one of their number with whom he had a very personal grudge with. A grudge that begins to play itself out to a horrific conclusion as the victorious thug begins to torture the poor fallen girl in front of the sadistic fans.
Even the wicked Marise can appreciate such deliciously cold vengeance, even against her own. As the Devil's visage returns to the central monitor, her voice booming in a truly delighted tone, "We have our winner! By a single hair, Aranha is victorious! Do we here at the Circle know how to bring you the very best in entertainment or what? KyaHa! Alas.. A dreadful lack of skewering this time.." A vaguely pouty look as she taps a frighteningly-edged nail to her plush lower lip. A look that sharpens into wickedness as she chuckles, "Well.. there's always -next- time.. haHA. I guarantee you my dear friends.. this is not the last time you'll see this little rivalry in this hallowed Circle.. that is, unless the Spider has his way here and now hrmm? What treacherous confrontation awaits the next contestants? You know where you need to be to find out, my darlings.."
With that, the viewer image flickers out and the windows to the pit darken and fade to black. Letting the ultimate fate of this poor girl become a question to those who, frankly, adore watching such viciousness.
However, a few moments into the cutting and the view monitor within the pit flickers on. This time, a signal only being sent to the contestants within the arena itself as the platforms grind to a halt. Why do they grind to a halt?
So the next time a sniper fires, it won't miss Aranha's head by two inches like that.
The sparks fly from the platform near the boy, and the gunshot rings out a fraction of a second later. A jarring, high-calibur impact meant to get the youth's attention, just to make sure he's listening.
The next sound he'll hear, is clapping, "Bravo dear boy, Bravo. I admit.. When I first saw you I took you for a bit of a pushover. I rather like that sadistic streak there, made for great entertainment. Though, I'm afraid you missed a nerve cluster in her left hand.. You really need to work on your technique. Unfortunately! I fear I must politely ask you to refrain from butchering a beloved ally of mine. As adorable as I find your burgeoning heart of darkness, I'm afraid failure to comply will result in your CSI report resembling a Rorschach test."
%Backing this up is the chorus of more than a few snipers within hidden bunkers chambering extremely high-powered rounds very, very audibly.
"Now.." Her hands clap together as Marise grins, "..Why don't we have you cleaned up, my compatriot looked at, and we can discuss your winnings and your future. That is.." Her head tilting slightly as her eye's flutter, still awaiting him to move away from Ayame, "..Should you decide to have one."
As his hand descends to her neck, Ayame doesn't expect much. Surely he's just going to make sure he's won... any fighter probably would, especially with how often she plays the white-flag card if it will buy her so much as a half-second's advantage. But when her eyes come to rest on his, she quickly begins to realize that that isn't what's on his mind at all. 'It's nothing personal,' she had said, time and time again to those she's waylaid over time. It looks like someone took it very, very personal.
Slammed to her back, she starts to move one hand down toward the hem of her skirt. Poisoned needles are sheathed there, always reserved for dealing with desperate situations like this. But he's quick to stop her hand, pulling her arms apart and impaling them against the wooden platforms with her own blades. The girl hisses, wincing as she gets ready to kick him off of her and perhaps off the platform all together, but he puts an end to that struggle by binding her ankles together.
Gritting her teeth, she's stuck at last. "More determined and focused... huh?" Still not keeping her mouth shut, "Then I guess you should be thanking me, you were a a little better this time." Never knows when to shut up, perhaps. "Should... get... robbed... more often." Though her tough girl act is put to the test when he starts cutting her, deciding to leave her something else to remember her by.
The camera feed dies to the audience as he cuts the legs of the spider into her stomach, the girl starting to tremble as doubts about how far he might go begin to push against limits of anything she's been through before. Avoiding what she's probably due by always getting away, or staying one step ahead, finding herself the victim of another is a foreign and very disturbing experience to the girl that glares silently at Aranha, jaw clenched tightly, trying to shut out the pain.
The yank on her hair before several long locks are severed by her knife elicits a surprised gasp from her just as the rifle round strikes the platform nearby Aranha.
Aranha slowly rises from his crouched position and turns towards source of the clapping and voice. "Don't worry... I'm done." The knife drops down to the ground with a loud clatter and then as final act of disrespect he lets the hair drop from his hands as it flutters to cover the face of Ayame. His voice barely above a whisper, "Beware the fury of a patient man."
And with that Aranha makes his exit his footsteps silent as he makes his way out. He has nothing more to say or do here.
And Marise's response?
Oh, she just laughs. Clearly pleased beyond words, especially as she hears Ayame's pained words on the matter.
Oooh yes. Hatred's power to strengthen. Marise knows it very, very well.. a lesson Aranha has learned by Ayane's hand at its most pure. And Aranha's cold, patient vengeance? This is easily one of the most gratifying fights she's yet witnessed in the Circle. And its only just begun..
That maniacal laughter continues to ring throughout the arena as platforms slowly lower towards the contestants, offering Aranha the way out of the otherwise inescapable pit and medical teams immediately looking to them both.. The blood splattered platforms and walls slowly beginning to resemble the shores of Hell a little more every night..
Log created on 22:41:38 11/26/2007 by Marise, and last modified on 04:12:39 11/28/2007.