SNF 2007.12 - Laila vs Kiyoko, CA:Cherise

Description: SNF: A fight in a Canadian garden during winter proves that Laila may very well be too hot to touch! (Winner: Draw)



This match starts with people seperated, which pleases Laila well enough. She's seated at a bench on one end of the thick and complex underbrush of the Sunken Garden, watching some of the crew set up the network of cameras inside of the brush-filled area. She's slightly cranky because they told her 'no smoking in the valuable garden'; but then, she's expected to FIGHT here...

She glances at her cell phone's clock for about the sixth time in the last ten minutes, before she's given a signal. "Time?" she asks, before the explanation is given: With this kind of a distance, they can go in first and wait for the PA to declare when the fight proper will begin.

She shrugs one shoulder and steps down the stairs, hidden from view (and from viewing things herself) by a tall hedge. But not for long -- flowers, especially in winter, make for bad camouflage.

Canada! Kiyoko's never been to Canada. She was in Metro City a couple weeks ago so she's been to America, but not it's northern neighbor. The lovely garden that she's been ushered to is so much nicer than that city too. She's not going to waste her time, and since she got here early she's been wandering around and exploring the garden, likely unrecognizable from an ordinary tourist if she wasn't wearing her blue and purple Tai-Chi uniform.

True, the garden isn't as nice as nice as it would be in spring, but it's still completely enjoyable for her, and she seems to be having a good time. Even better is the reason she's here, though, another fight! That proves the first fight she had wasn't going to be the last as well. Not too long after Laila makes her descent, a SNF crewman approaches the teenager and tells her the match is almost ready to begin, and directs her towards the thicker part of the garden, where the shrubs raise above head level. As she enters into them she smiles to herself, "Alright, I'm going to try and have as much fun as I did last time!"

Fighting at the beck and whim of others is something that Cherise Bouchard is never going to get used to.

But in this case, the terms of the battle were too sweet to ignore, all too perfect and exactly something that she could latch on to. Two people fighting, and she gets to ... play...

Still, as she sits in one of the taller trees, one leg dangling down with the other cocked up a bit on the branch providing her some balance between the trunk at her back and the forces of gravity wanting to bring her crashing down to earth, the French assassin looks uncontrollably -bored-, waiting on and on for the match to start and for her prey to enter the field.

And when it looks as though the silver-haired French girl is about to -fall asleep- in the tree, a deep buzzing comes from the pocket of the sturdy, men's cut overcoat she's wearing over her usual dress, Cherise flips the phone open and brings it up to her ear, getting the signal that the two fighters are in the gardens. That things are about to get underway. Without replying, the phone is clapped shut.

Hooking her propped-up leg around, Cherise drops the good height from her perch to the ground, knees buckling on impact to cushion the landing.

Who does she go after first, now that is the question...!

COMBATSYS: Laila has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Laila            0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Cherise has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Cherise          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Laila


COMBATSYS: Kiyoko has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Kiyoko           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Laila
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-------|


The scene isn't quite as pretty anymore, as Kiyoko doesn't enjoy the sight of shrubs as much as winter flowers. Aware that Cherise is out there somewhere, able to do whatever, as well as her main opponent keeps her on her toes. She can't afford to let herself slip up and get caught unaware like she did before, where Katelynn started taking shots at her after quite a while of just standing in the ring.

She slowly makes her way around, almost sneaking as she sticks her head around corners before moving down them, making sure she doesn't walk into a trap. It doesn't occur to her that she could be the one setting the trap. Lucky for her the perseverance pays off, as she sticks her head around a corner and sees Laila there, walking towards her, about twenty feet away. Good, she won't get jumped! She steps out fully and smiles brightly to her opponent. "Hello! You're Laila, right?" It /could/ be Cherise, but she's making a guess based on what she little knows about the two fighters. "I'm Kiyoko. I'm ready when you are!"

After speaking she smoothly moves into her fighting stance, one leg straight and forward with the other back a little bit and bent, arms up in front of herself. Rather than rushing to attack, Kiyoko just hangs back and studies her. After all, she could still conceivably have a trap set up for her.

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko focuses on her next action.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Kiyoko           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Laila
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-------|


Laila's head lifts and her eyes widen as she sees the other woman; no, she thinks, girl. She stands there, folding her arms against the cold air (thankfully, little wind today) as she regards Kiyoko for that fleeting moment of tension when fighting spirits collide.

She reaches then into her blouse and tugs something loose; a cigarette, apparently, which she slides between her lips. It lights, somehow; she doesn't demonstrate just how she manages this trick, although she does flick something small to the pavement. After inhaling and breathing out, she tugs it out of her lips, flicking it idly as she says, "Kiyoko Fukakami. From - Justice High, isn't it?"

The air around her seems to shimmer. "I've heard a little about you. Aren't you in tai chi? Or am I confusing you with someone else?" Her eyes narrow slightly, as if she's striving to look down at the younger girl. In actual fact, this is a side effect from gathering her own strength -- although it is the kind of strength that makes her look wide open to shanking.

COMBATSYS: Laila gathers her will.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Kiyoko           0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0            Laila
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-------|


No, Cherise looks far too different from Laila to be the right person. No, instead the Frenchwoman is the only other non-crewmember left within the boundaries of the Gardens and the contained woodland therein. She's the one off in the shrubbery a stone's throw away, hidden and watching with her hands in the deep pockets of that coat that swallows her form from collar to the middle of her bared thighs.

It seems like they're sharing plesantries when they should be fighting, too! Ripping and tearing each other apart, washing the beautiful array of colors of plants and life red.

Such a lovely color.

And from those bushes and trees, the girl with disturbingly light blue eyes emerges as calmly as anyone could ever achieve. Though she holds only a pleasant smile on her face, her presence absolutely -screams- of something predatory, made more clear as she walks out to step aside from Laila-- and though her eyes are on Kiyoko, her right arm is snapping up in a sharp arc to issue a harsh, merciless chop at the tanned woman's throat.

"Smoking is a disgusting habit."

Luckily for Laila, Kiyoko isn't the type of person to gasp and exclaim, 'Smoking is bad for you!' Nah, she doesn't have any grand visions of herself being some kind of heroic do-gooder who should warn the fighter about the evils of inhaling tar into your lungs. Instead she's the type to wonder why she's pulling out a cigarette and taking a drag when a fight is about to begin. She does wonder how she managed to light it, though, since she didn't see a lighter or anything.

"That's it, Justice High. I think you've got the right person, I definitely practice Tai Chi. I don't know very much about your fighting style, though." A disadvantage? Perhaps. It looks that, like her, Laila is the sort of person to prepare herself before an initial strike as well, the shimmering air giving Kiyoko some idea of what's going on. It's time to move! Not wanting to give up her advantage, even if Laila is waiting for her, Kiyoko bursts into speed, running forward towards her opponent. Oh hey, there's Cherise. Looks like she's going to go for Laila, but that's what Chaos Agents do. Kiyoko's sure she'll have a double up coming her way soon- maybe even right away. For now she has to concentrate on her attack, though.

When she gets close her arms begin to move, two fingers on each of her hands held forward. She stabs with circular motions towards Laila's neck, trying to jab the fingers hard into pressure points. As soon as one impacts, or misses, her arms are already swinging again, trying to hit times on her neck before trying to hit and possibly disable her right arm with a few jabbing pokes as well.

COMBATSYS: Laila blocks Cherise's Strong Punch.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Kiyoko           0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0            Laila
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Kiyoko successfully hits Laila with Autumn Leaves.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Kiyoko           0/-------/------=|=======\=------\1            Laila
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-------|


Laila's arm is already moving when the blue-eyed girl stalks out and makes that blow for her throat. This does get the cigarette out of her hand as well as making her grimace in pain, taking a step back as the awkward, if semi-effective defense maneuver doesn't seem to do what she'd wanted. "Right," she pushes out, through clenched teeth. "Unlike hitting people."

Then Kiyoko moves; her own strikes are unblocked, and Laila makes a distinctly unpleasant choking noise as she staggers back, eyes watering as her lips work, trying to say something else but, for the moment, failing. Her arm twists out of the way, barely avoiding the disabiling strike, and she has to leap abruptly and quickly to the side - landing on top of a scenic bench.

"Gh," she says to Kiyoko. She gestures with one hand: "Gh," she says again, with somewhat more emphasis. She then grimaces and reaches into her blouse again, tugging two spikes of dark metal out, waving them in circular gestures ahead of her: "/Gh/." She glances at Cherise venemously, but does not speak up.

Because she can't! Instead, the metal starts to glow a dull cherry red, as well as lean slightly forwards, the dark and heavy spikes giving partly way; they're lead, it seems. She leaps forwards, jamming them down with a twisting motion of that arm towards Kiyoko, aiming to slice the 'blades' from the girl's left shoulder down to her right hip. Of course, they're melting; they won't cut, but the half-molten lead streaking across her body might be more memorable in any case!

Apparently pleased that Laila's done so well with warding off her assault, Cherise's pleasant expression turns into more of a demented leer, both impressed and hungry for more now that she's had just that little taste. Her hand pulls back and away, lowering a bit to her side-- and Kiyoko darts on in to assail Laila-- as well she should!!

Cherise steps back for the moment, watching with interest as the metal spikes are drawn out and-- is she infusing them with her power? The heat, the apparent melting point reached, and reached in such a time that she can actually use those spikes as thrown projectiles. How interesting!

She's going to have to tell Mao all about this one in detail.

Her arms fold under her chest, an apparent snug self-hugging gesture as she tries to get her bearings here-- studying both Laila and Kiyoko's styles, all the while the tip of her tongue glides across glossed lips. "Interesting..." she says through her smile, though her voice uses native French.

COMBATSYS: Cherise focuses on her next action.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Kiyoko           0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0            Laila
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Laila successfully hits Kiyoko with Full Metal Madness.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Kiyoko           0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0            Laila
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-------|


Kiyoko's fingers hit all the right spots! Not hard enough to completely disable Laila of course, though she does have to seem to be having some trouble speaking properly. She's ready to retaliate though, and those spikes cause Kiyoko's eyes to widen momentarily. Ok, she's fought people with knives before, this'll be okay! Except that's not how Laila intents to use them, is it? She tries to turn just enough to avoid the attacks, moving in quick bursts of speed, but she fails to get out of the way. Even worse, it's not just a sharp heavy object, but a heavy /melting/ object.

This is where we get to hear the purple haired girl screaming loudly as the lead melts through her clothing and burns into her skin, making a nice 'slash' of glowing red across her body. She does what she was taught to do in this situation- stop, drop, and roll. It doesn't do much to help, but at least it keeps her clothes from catching on fire. She slowly picks herself back up to her feet, and shows the result of the attack- cooled lead caked and sticking to her skin, with cloth stuck inside of it. Free weight training?

"Oh my god! What were you, why were-" She can't quite figure out what happened, or how she managed to use liquid metal as an attack. Real metal! "That /HURT/!" She finally exclaims, letting anger and pain get the best of her by balling up a fist and trying to smash it into Laila's face.

COMBATSYS: Laila dodges Kiyoko's Strong Punch.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Kiyoko           0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0            Laila
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-------|


Laila hacks and coughs and clears her voice, before that fist comes right at her! She ducks low and twists to the side, rather gracefully kneeling in the path as she chuckles, still rasping slightly. She steps aside, reaching back into the jacketlike shirt as she raises an eyebrow at Kiyoko. "Hmm? You seem a little astonished."

She laughs then, taking a step back. "Did you expect this to be based on tagging? This is Saturday Night Fights, not Saturday Night Sparring Matches with Full Body Padding. Really, Kiyoko, try to keep up!"

She then steps forwards, twisting around to slam one hand forwards in a rather quick but not particularly graceful punch aimed at Kiyoko's face, arcing slightly downwards - perhaps she's REALLY aiming lower but faking out. Fortunately, there are no spikes or molten lead droplets in this one!

Oh, what a scream! Nothing more than music to her ears, something to make her laugh and smile. The laughter is kept behind the back of her raised hand, her weight shifting from heel to heel in those expensive, polished black boots. "Perhaps saying 'astonished' is putting it lightly," she says, resuming a more understandable language, though her accent remains thick.

Hands back in her pockets as she begins to walk in a circle around the two engaged in battle, the student and the unusual spike-flinging woman, setting herself up to stand for a clear shot at Kiyoko's right side.

"Cry some more!"

And with that, Cherise's right arm whips upward in a swift swing, her fingers fanned out and palm turned toward the heavens. A shrill hiss cuts the air as paper-thin blades of silver light cut the air-- hard to see at a dead-on-edge angle, but almost like four cloudy waves with razor-sharp edges. All four seek to rip into Kiyoko and cause her more pain... and despite being a projection of energy, those blades have enough power in them to cut and shred clothing and flesh!

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko just-defends Cherise's Argent Claw!

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Kiyoko           0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0            Laila
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Kiyoko just-defends Laila's Quick Punch!

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Kiyoko           0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0            Laila
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-------|


They're... they're laughing at her! They're laughing at her because she had molten metal flung on her? What is -wrong- with these two? "I know it's not going to be easy or soft, but melting metal and throwing it on me? Jeeze!" It's not like the burns under the metal that dried on her isn't still hurting like crazy, either. At this point she doesn't even really care that her punch missed as they laugh at her, realizing that with two people like this around her she could be in real, very serious danger.

And just as she realized was going to happen earlier, both fighters come at her. She backs off a couple of steps, realizing she has no hope of evading both of them at the same time, and prepares to defend herself. Her left hand lifts up, glowing faintly with green energy, and catches the punch that's aiming for her 'face', releasing it immediately to try and stop the next attack coming at her. She whirls to face Cherise, who apparently enjoyed her scream way too much, and swings her right hand in a wide motion, leaving a long trail of chi that the blades of light batter into, holding strong upon the impacts and then fading away.

Kiyoko continues her rotation all the way around to face Laila, her left hand swinging again while still glowing, also leaving a trail of energy in the air. Unlike the other trail this one is offensive rather than defensive; a crescent of energy that, once formed, shoots forward quickly to try and impact the secretary, Kiyoko's face looking rather fierce. She knows this isn't a silly sparring session, and hopefully she just proved it!

COMBATSYS: Laila fails to slow Spring Blossom from Kiyoko with Hot Rolling.
- Power fail! -

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kiyoko           0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0            Laila
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-------|


Laila grins as she draws out more damn sharp metal objects - three of them, less dark than the ones she'd thrown before. They glow, she flings them forwards with a twist of her wrist - and curses as those half-hit pressure points trigger at last, causing her throw to go wide. The skewers fly useless off to the side, landing in a small patch of half-melted snow shoveled to the side and left to dry. Steam rises - a lot of it. Good luck for Kiyoko!

The strike from that crescent wave hits Laila in the side, and she yelps in brief agony as she goes flying back towards a bush that would be bright red in the shape of a maple leaf, were it in season. As it is, it's dry and brown, and there's a complex crunch as she lands in it. Several seconds later, she starts rising to her feet.

This is one of those moments where Cherise can't decide which is more proper: Laugh unendingly, or act completely surprised that someone managed to negate her attack to such a degree. The blades hiss and rip against the makeshift chi barrier before the force comprising it is spent, scattering it left and right while vanishing from sight. On top of that, she's even caught the punch that was thrown at her-- commendable! Hilarious!

And Laila hasn't been so lucky. And that's just not right!

With the hopes that all of Kiyoko's good luck will soon run out, Cherise makes a hard lunge to run just beyond the Justice High student, lowering her stance, using the tips of her fingers as contact points to slow herself down and change direction. Her arms snake out and her right hand balls up into a fist, seeking to hook her arm around Kiyoko's neck. She'll try locking her arms and applying a rather brutal headlock-- all with the intent to cut off her air supply, no matter how much squirming or writhing is applied!

"Scream a little more, hnn?"

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko blocks Cherise's Strong Throw.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kiyoko           1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0            Laila
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/------=|


More melting metal, not more of those! Kiyoko begins cringing as Laila pulls them out, moreso as they melt in her hands and begin to glow. But darn luckily for her when they're thrown they go wide, not only sparing her the pain of having to try and stop herself from getting burned more but also ensuring that the woman is unable of defending herself, allowing the green energy blast to hit her straight on. A sigh of relief, from the purple haired girl.

She doesn't get a complete rest, though, as Cherise has decided that this turn of events is completely unfair. And besides, she wants to hear Kiyoko scream some more. The French woman slips behind her before she can fully react, slipping her arm around her neck and beginning to strangle her. "Hrk!" Kiyoko's windpipe is forcibly closed off by the pressure, but before it can go on for too long she slips her hand up beside her neck and then shoves it upward with all her strength, managing to stop the stranglehold before managing to slip away by ducking down.

She gasps as air refills her lungs and speaks up quickly, before she thinks a moment to realize what she's about to say isn't in her best interest. "You know I can't scream if you're choking me, right?" It's not a taunt, but rather an exclamation. Newly freed, she attempts to make use of her mobility, taking a couple fast steps towards Laila and lifting her foot up to try and plant her heel in the center of the womans chest, trying to kick her right back down to the ground before she can get all the way up before moving away again.

COMBATSYS: Laila blocks Kiyoko's Light Kick.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Kiyoko           1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0            Laila
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/------=|


The foot comes towards her chest and Laila grits her teeth as it connects. She can't resist it where it's at, so she does the reverse; she ends up shoved backwards, half-sprawled back in the bushes. The difference? She moved with it; this means she's there on her own account!

She rolls slightly to the side, springing back up and taking several steps away from the woman presently getting choked. "I suppose that's true," she says thoughtfully, folding her arms and tilting her head forwards. "But you know, /I/ don't really want to hear you scream."

The air around her seems to distort slightly again; as she comes near another patch of half-melted snow, it sizzles. "Be careful with her," she calls to Cherise, "I just need a minute here." A minute for WHAT?

COMBATSYS: Laila gathers her will.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kiyoko           1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1            Laila
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/------=|


The things easily noted about Cherise's grip is the strength, the practiced motions leading to a lock that makes it very hard to break-- but still, Kiyoko's relentless resolve gets an arm under the offending arm and the insane blue-eyed girl's arm is snapped up and outward while her prey scuttles down and out of the path of danger.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha hahahahahahahahahahaha~!"

Laila defends herself well, and now remarks on how she'll 'need a moment'-- no, no. Moving from one target to the next, the French girl dashes low to the ground along the garden path and whips one leg around in front of her, somehow managing to powerslide a bit on the treaded soles of her boots. Her left arm hooks upward once more, her fingers pressed together and sweeping another 'claw' of that unusual silver energy. The air hisses and screams as the sharp, cutting blades make way toward Laila, intent on teaching her a lesson for 'needing a minute' to do much of anything!

Kiyoko's kick is met with an apt defense- one she'd probably use herself in that situation if she wasn't of the mind to try to roll out of the way. That does, at least, let the young woman move away easily as she had wished- especially when Laila decided it was time to melt the snow instead of throwing more hot melting things at her. Even better, Cherise figures that giving Laila a break isn't a good idea, leaving Kiyoko with her first moment of free time since the fight began.

One might say that this is the perfect time to go in and pound on the woman, but Kiyoko decides to hang back. She's expecting something else big coming her way, so she wants to make sure she sees it as broad as daylight when it does come for her. That means taking a step back and observing. It makes for boring fights, but hopefully it'll keep the metal off of her.

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko focuses on her next action.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kiyoko           1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1            Laila
[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/------=|


COMBATSYS: Laila blocks Cherise's Argent Claw.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Kiyoko           1/------=/=======|=======\===----\1            Laila
[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/------=|


Allah be merciful, Laila thinks, another crazy bitch. Her eyes narrow when the Frenchwoman approaches half laying on the ground, sliding forwards - Laila takes another step back, scowling in some dismay, and says "What the hell are -" Then she kneels abruptly, bringing one arm down with a clatter to absorb some of that energetic blow. She hisses; the cloth is torn, revealing hints of some kind of a harness or a hold-out holster up her arm. Did she bring a gun to a fistfight?!

"Tch," she says as she rises, stepping out of the way as she shakes her head once. "You're all psychos in this business... I can't think of any woman I've seen, who didn't scream and cackle her way through a fight..." She sounds vaguely disappointed, but such is life. She breathes heavily for a moment, and then turns her attention to Kiyoko.

She raises a finger to waggle it at the backing-up young woman. "I'd like to make a challenge for you," she says, swinging her arm just /so/ and producing another of those bar-shaped shuriken. "I'm going to attack you from behind in five seconds - can you dodge it?!" She holds up the spike of metal, grinning and then counting as the tip of it grows hotter. "Five - four - three - two - /now/!"

She is lying out of her nose, because she immediately leans back and slings the skewer towards Kiyoko. It doesn't do anything beyond scream through the air towards her; of course, perhaps what she was /really/ predicting, with her doubtless immense psychic powers, was that she'd turn around...

A gun!

Not that Cherise can point fingers and yell about hiding weapons; spools of pliable wire hide in her bracelets, and numerous throwing knives are secured around her thighs just under the hem of her dress-- and god knows what else she's carrying around under there. But her tongue sticks out, eyes wide and mouth twisted into a demented grin. "Shut up and enjoy it," she says, all too amused. "Talking too much ruins it!"

Laila's announcement leaves Cherise a little puzzled, but very much so curious-- will she somehow hurl those bolts in a manner that will make it seem like they're attacking from behind? Is it a trick? Or is Kiyoko going to be in for a whole world of pain if she stops to turn around?

Sharp eyes, fierce eyes... they watch every second, breath held behind slightly parted lips in anticipation.

COMBATSYS: Cherise focuses on her next action.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Kiyoko           1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0            Laila
[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/------=|


COMBATSYS: Kiyoko auto-guards Laila's The Riddle of Steel!

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Kiyoko           1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0            Laila
[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/------=|


COMBATSYS: Kiyoko has saved the state of this fight.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Kiyoko           1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0            Laila
[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/------=|


As Cherise runs in cackling and sends those blades of energy shooting out towards Laila, Kiyoko simply holds back and watches. The woman seems to take the blows harshly despite forming a defense against them. It's probably a good thing Kiyoko managed to protect herself, with the way they affect Laila.

But when Laila speaks up about crazy women fighters, the purple haired fighter frowns slightly, "Hey, I'm not acting like that." She did scream once, but that was because she was hurt, not because she has loose screws rattling around inside of her head. But soon enough the woman is issuing her little challenge, which definitely gets Kiyoko's interest. Especially when she's holding a spike of metal that's turning very, very red. This time, she knows what that means.

And this is where keeping such a detailed account of what Laila is doing helps the fledgling fighter out. He eyes narrow slightly and she waits for the attack to come, not taking her eyes off of her. And the attack comes. From the front. If Laila had some kind of portals or teleportation she'd likely be in real trouble, but she just flat out doesn't fall for the ruse. Instead the weapon comes straight at her, and she holds up her arms to defend herself. This isn't just a normal defense, though. When the weapon is just about to hit her arms, perhaps half an inch away, a blazing barrier of green energy forms around her in a hemisphere, the metal melting against it and dripping to the ground before the shield winks out of existence.

Letting out a brief sigh of relief, Kiyoko lowers her guard, "I guess the answer is 'I don't need to'." Sending a quick look to Cherise- the girl is probably going to be looking to cream her after that little stunt, she asks a question of her own. "Now it's your turn. Can you dodge this?" Kiyoko doesn't use any tricks, only the fact that she just got a good long look at how Laila moves. Her hands begin to glow once more, and she slashes them through the air one after the other, forming two intersecting crescents of energy. Her body twists around and she moves her feet to make a full turn, swinging her right arm one last time to make a horizontal crescent that merges with the other two, the all three forming a large 'shell' of energy that surges forward towards Laila.

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko successfully hits Laila with Vernal Equinox.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Kiyoko           0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0            Laila
[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/------=|


How ironic, Laila thinks, she's using the crescent against me - she raises her arms to try and block herself with the metal stored up her sleeves, but manages little save to keep her face from being blasted. The strength of the blow sends her staggering back, gasping as her eyes open widely. The scarf tying her hair back is knocked askew, black hair hanging behind her as the ties go the same way. She staggers back another pace, ending in a half-crouch, breathing heavily.

"Not bad," she says, finally, rising up next to the ruined metal and steel chains that kept people from straying off the path. "Usually, people DO at least glance... but perhaps you're more than you look. But," and here she reaches down to grasp the end of a chain, sticking one foot down to yank the damaged link loose and pull it free, whirling it around her hand twice for better grasping traction.

Her head tilts to the side. "You're the WORSE kind. All cheerful and sweet and bright -" And then she steps forwards, snapping the chain forwards like a horrible whip of cold metal! But at least it IS cold, Kiyoko; there is that much consolation.

Crazy women fighters? Yes.

But by this time, as Kiyoko counterattacks and brings Laila to defend herself in desparate measures, speech and all, the crazy woman fighter assigned to make this bout more interesting has found herself sneaking back a few steps, moving from observation to stealth.

Studying just isn't enough at a time like this. She needs to make someone hurt!

Standing back a distance as Laila hurls her chain at the Justice High student, the likes of the silver-haired French girl is smoothly rolling her wrist about-- and with a harsh gesture with her hand and arm, casting her wire out to get a good snare of Kiyoko's wrist. If it succeeds, Cherise tugs-- and uses the small amount of raised arm to dart in from the side and hook her fist in for a harsh punch at the ribs-- but moments before contact, a burst of silver energy released from her knuckles will try to send her staggering!

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha~!"

Crazy.

COMBATSYS: Cherise successfully hits Kiyoko with Argent Striker.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Kiyoko           0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0            Laila
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-----==|


COMBATSYS: Kiyoko interrupts Random Weapon from Laila with Quick Punch.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////                          ]
Kiyoko           0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1            Laila
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-----==|


Kiyoko's blast of energy crashes into Laila and staggers her backwards. It's not enough to send her down though, as the young woman was hoping. No such luck. Instead despite being severely hurt she picks herself right back up and starts thrashing at her with an abomination of a chainwhip. "I didn't look because I knew I'd be able to tell if there really was something coming from behind me. It's kind of obvious when you just stood still, you know."

It's likely that Kiyoko would respond to the insult, if it can be called that, but she has a matter to attend to- namely that of Cherise using a sort of whips of her own to snag her wrist. The young woman lifts her arm and tries to dig her heels into the ground. Really though, she isn't all that strong, and is easily overpowered, dragged in towards Cherise and then blasted back away by a powerful surge of energy. A pained yelp comes from the girl, only to find that she has no time to lick her wounds, as Laila's coming right for her with the chain.

Thinking on her feet she rolls up off the ground and lifts her left forearm up, the chain whipping against it harshly and wrapping around it the wire that was around her other arm moments ago. But this time she's using it to her advantage, pulling her arm backwards to accelerate herself and quickly rush towards Laila, momentarily ignoring the pain it causes to use her free arm to pull back and deliver a sold smack across the face of Laila with one of her small fists. "You have a really bad attitude, you know that," She shouts.

The smack strikes Laila's face with brutal force. It's enough to send her spinning, the chain rattling as she lands on the ground, skidding for a moment. She breathes, laying there, feeling her vision gray. Always the strike to the face, she thinks. That's always it. Her gaze turns on one of the bent over cast iron pillars. Could...

No, she thinks. She forces herself to roll over, twisting her wrist. More objects fall into her hands, more of a rough grasped bundle than a carefully held set of spikes. She tries to think - what should I say here? Then she gets one foot on the ground and the dark metal starts to glow cherry red again, deforming - uh oh.

She rises with an upward staggering lunge, aiming another ragged strike along Kiyoko's front, droplets of melted lead following after her; she stumbles afterwards, managing to land on her front with /some/ control rather than just keeling over. She doesn't do more than roll to her side, and certainly seems to have the fight taken out of her.

COMBATSYS: Laila can no longer fight.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Kiyoko           0/-------/-======|
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-----==|


Silver wire snakes away with a whistle of air and a whirl in the light, Cherise's arm pulling back and arm whipping about in small circles at the elbow. It's a cute whistling noise, the golden weight at the end blinking and twinkling as the weapon reels back toward the owner. With one more sharp snap of her wrist, the wire snakes back from whence it came, back towards the bracelet she wears around her wrist. "Ha ha ha ha, oh~! This is beautiful!"

Laila's lunge becomes a point of interest, watching intently as the metal is superheated and swung at Kiyoko. Her left hand lowers to the bottom of the overcoat she wears, reaching underneath it-- underneath her own dress, to the sturdy strap worn around her thigh, hidden by clothing, and pulling a single throwing knife free. With half-lidded eyes and a leering smile, Cherise rolls her shoulder and brings her arm back-- running at a swift pace behind Kiyoko to grab her shirt by the collar and trying to ram the ordinarily-thrown weapon into the back of the student's thigh.

COMBATSYS: Laila successfully hits Kiyoko with Full Metal Madness.
- Power hit! -

[                           \\\  <
Kiyoko           1/----===/=======|
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/-----==|


COMBATSYS: Cherise successfully hits Kiyoko with Random Weapon.

[                                <
Kiyoko           2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/----===|


It's at this point that Kiyoko is finally going to pay attention to her arms, both of which have just been entangled and yanked on rather hard. Unfortunately they're not the only places that hurt, pretty much everything does at this point. Unfortunately for the girl, her opponents are far from done with dealing with her, even if one of them is on their last leg. Swallowing a bit as the metal begins to melt in Laila's hand, she prepares to bolt.

Her feet plant solidly on the ground, and she moves to jump away, but to no avail. Snow might be slick, but half melted snow and soggy ground created by intense heat is even worse. Her feet slip in the slush, and she goes all of nowhere, the molten lead once again pouring across her skin and burning through her clothing, only to dry and stick. A horrified scream comes from her as she's burned, but unfortunately her ordeal isn't over yet. Cherise is coming for her, and as desperately as she tries to scramble out of the way she doesn't manage it, mind too clouded by pain to effectively escape.

The dagger plunges into her leg, digging deep and drawing blood. What's more, it's far too much for the Tai Chi practitioner to handle, the pain overriding her senses and causing her to fall down to the ground limply, where the snow will at least help to cool down the incredibly hot metal.

COMBATSYS: Kiyoko takes no action.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/----===|


COMBATSYS: Kiyoko can no longer fight.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/----===|


A burn, a scream-- and at last, blood. Blood stains the small steel knife, soaking the tips of Cherise's fingers and the grip of the blade, watching as Kiyoko pitches over lands in the snowy ground with a *thump*. The dagger stays in her hand, though slick.

And then she frowns a bit.

"That's it?"

Uttering a sigh, the French guitarist lowers herself to a crouch, wiping off her knife as clean as she can on Kiyoko's clothing, calmly and much like someone who wasn't standing over a burned, bleeding battle victim was at her feet. The knife is slid cleanly back into the strap under her dress, and the French girl turns about. Her fingers grip the collar of her oversized coat, pulling it a bit closer while the crews come running down the path to attend to Kiyoko and Laila, folding her arms snugly under her chest while she starts walking away.

As she walks, she looks ... empty. Unfufilled. Troubled, even. Her bangs splay in and out of her blue eyes, eventually parting her lips and breaking her own awkward silence.

"That was a big let-down."

And she walks.

COMBATSYS: Cherise takes no action.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Cherise          0/-------/----===|

Log created on 22:56:53 12/07/2007 by Kiyoko, and last modified on 02:13:49 12/30/2007.