Description: Objective: Mild idle harassment. Obstacle: Mini Flash Gordon. Alias: None. Summary: Ayame decides to take her boredom out on a harmless enough looking little boy. He turns out to not be so harmless afterall...
During the summer, the park is loaded with suckers and targets. Mothers leaving their purses unattended next to benches while running to retrieve children straying too far. Lazy students lying down beneath a tree to catch a nap only to wake up minus their wallets. Passerbys susceptible to scams from a fast talking con artist...
In the winter it's much thinner pickings and Ayame is bored. Chilly weather keeps folks indoors more, and the early sunsets cut down on 'Operating hours' significantly. That doesn't mean the girl isn't going to try all the same! Walking past a student on her way to Seijyun High, Ayame ends up with a new hair pink hair ribbon wrapped around her fingers. The oblivious girl doesn't even notice as she heads on into the campus.
Ayame sighs, twirling the ribbon idly. She might need to find better hunting grounds than this park.
Indeed, the cold winter nights are hardly the sort to find preoccupied people, unless you count the ones preoccupied with getting back inside because it's -so freaking cold-. Still, Ayame may just have a bit of luck to spare tonight. In rather plain sight, there is a single coated figure, making his way through the park, though not particularly in any sort of hurry. If one were to inspect his mannerisms, it might even suggest that he's enjoying himsel in the cold outdoors!
And so Chris makes his way through the park, stopping periodically to take a look at just about anything that catches his interest. He's wearing a rather uncharacteristically hefty black jacket, giving him a whimsical appearance that brings to mind a hen or turkey. He's even wearing an adorible blue stocking cap, fit to his skull, with a red poofball at the end. And, most importantly of all, if one were to look closely, they might notice a pair of silver electronic headphones settled upon each of his ears, his foot tapping to some unseen and unheard beat.
Suffice to say, he has yet to notice Ayame, if his serene expression and the fact that he's set to directly cross paths with her is any evidence...
Ayame is far less oblivious it would seem, her attention drifting over the mostly empty park only to pick out the young boy wandering along cheerfully unaware of what trouble lurks about this afternoon. Brown eyes take a moment to give Chris a cursory inspection. Young. Probably not packing a ton of money in his wallet. Maybe some lunch money, if she's lucky. But he's got earphones on. And earphones suggest a music playing device. This day and age, it's almost guarenteed to be one of those fancy, over priced mp3 players. Those are worth a bit. If she weren't quite so bored, she'd probably not really bother giving a little boy a rough time. She actually HAS a job now, for what it is. Now it's just about entertainment.
Tearing away her gaze to look around, it would seem that for this moment in time it's just her and the brown haired boy present. Sucks to be him, the girl decides with a quirk of a grin, turning back to face the jacket clad youth. She keeps on walking, never having slowed down while considering her options. Their paths will intersect and that's when she'll make her move...
And when that moment comes... if Chris really IS as unaware as Ayame takes him for, the collision between them will seem to happen in a blur. The girl's Doc Martin clad right foot coming down in front of Chris's legs, clearly an intent to trip him up. Her left hand raises, attempting to slap him against the upper back, intending to flip him forward right over her leg and plant him on his back on the sidewalk. If successful, she'll drop down to plant her hand against his chest and pin the kid there for a moment, mouth curled into a wide smile, "Watch where you're going, or something like this might happen...!"
COMBATSYS: Ayame has started a fight here.
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Chris has joined the fight here.
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Chris 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Chris dodges Ayame's Quick Throw.
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Chris 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
And Ayame's initial observations are, for the most part, corect and serve her well. Chris really doesn't seem to notice her even as she arbitrarily starts a collision course. In fact, a pleasant and dreamy smile remains on his face, his eyes seemingly closed right up until mere moments before his legs are tripped up. But slowly, blue eyes peer out from under the eyeslits at the girl, before they suddenly disappear.
And in the next moment, Ayame moves her arms towards Chris' back. But she touches no such thing and instead ends up grabbing only the large jacket Chris was wearing earlier, with the boy clearly gone from sight.
That is, until he appears moments later, settled upon a nearby treebranch, peering down at the girl with that same smile on his face. No longer in his jacket, he's wearing a black undershirt covered by a low cut t-shirt. But one cannot get a good look at him for too long, as a nanosecond later, he springs from the tree into the air, dropping down feet first... right onto Ayame's head! "Oh, sorry! I must not have seen you there!" he calls out in a pleasant sing-song sort of voice, obviously none too upset that someone just tried to mug him and the fact that he isn't adequately dressed for the weather.
COMBATSYS: Ayame parries Chris' Light Kick!
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Chris 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
Her left hand sits there holding an empty jacket, the wouldbe theif blinking in complete surprise as the boy she meant to trip up has vanished like a ghost. What is it with little boys and their vanishing on her lately, anyway? First that creepy painting urchin and now the music enjoying smiling brown haired kid. "...Nn," the girl grunts, glancing back and forth as she swings the coat in her left hand. Well, maybe there's something nifty in the pockets?
His voice catches her attention though, the long haired strawberry blonde glancing up to notice the youth comfortably situated on the tree branch. Settling her gaze on him, her right hand goes to rest at her waist with a shake of her head, "Now don't go running off like that. I'm sure fate brought us together." Her smile returns, annoyance visibly fading. She's got a squirrelly one on her hands. "Why pass up such a great chance to get to know each other?"
But then the kid takes a leap Ayame and the girl reacts with a burst of speed of her own. Both feet aimed for the crown of her beribboned head, Ayame predicts his trajectory with enough accuracy to step to the side just barely enough to put her out of range of impact. Her right hand snaps up to grab hold of the cuff of Chris's pants leg and tug down on it to speed him on his way down to the ground. She isn't trying to pants the kid per se, but pulling him down to the ground to throw his balance off. Anything beyond that would be an unintended side-effect!
"Welcome back," Ayame remarks, pulling Chris's jacket up with her left hand and trying to wrap it tightly around his neck, right hand gripping the other end of it as she attempts to cinch it tightly. If she manages to lock the hold, she'll bring her right foot up and drive it into Chris' lower back while leaning backward herself, locking her prey up in a painful strangle hold!
COMBATSYS: Chris dodges Ayame's Blackmail EX.
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Chris 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
But before Chris even makes his planned drop, his frame suddenly increases in its dfalling speed to the point where he becomes less of a substantial figure and more of a blur, before he once again completely disappears from sight. This time, there is quite a delay before he reappears, letting a cool breeze blow ominously through the park before he suddenly appears, his hands clasped behind his back, and an incredibly cheery, if also unsettling, cheery expression on his boyish features. "I see then. You're pretty tough, aren't you? I suppose I should keep my guard up..." he muses in a light tone.
But faster than the eye can see, the young boy almost instantaneously disappears from his casual position, and though it's incredibly hard to actually -see- him, there is one clear sign. Namely, the massive amount of snow being kicked up and snowprints appearing in a rapid fashion, getting closer and closer to Chris' assailant! And when Chris' body finally rematerializes, it's mere inches from Ayame, and the boy crouches and thrusts forth with a surprisingly powerful punch to the stomach!
COMBATSYS: Chris successfully hits Ayame with Slide Touch.
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Chris 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Ayame
Hand getting nothing but air a second time, Ayame doesn't even see the kid pull his move. She might as well have tried to grasp at fine mist for all the good it does her. What kind of demon child IS this? The girl turns around in circles in order to spot Chris before he speaks this time, eyes fixing on him as she drops his coat to the ground, raising her arms up, hands held out in front of her, assuming some kind of defensive position.
"Keep your guard up? You should just give-" she starts to retort when the blur goes back on the move. Cutting her retort short, the long haired girl tries to follow the rapid approach through the flurry of kicked up snow. But Chris is there in front of her before she even registered him having gotten that close, his hand slamming directly into her stomach. The impact is felt immediately, Ayame's eyes widening as the girl is sent sliding back into the tree Chris had lept from moments before, the thick trunk bringing her to a sudden stop. "Ugh," Ayame gasps, both of her hands pressing against her stomach, her complexion paling slightly. Growling, she starts to push off from the trunk to strike back when a large patch of snow, jostled by the thud against the trunk, drops out of the branches to splash over the girl's head, causing her to pause a moment.
Gritting her teeth, Ayame shakes her head, her right hand going to her belt where she draws a thin metal object from a sheath sewn there. A flick of her wrist flips open the object to reveal it to be a sharp butterfly knife, the blade glinting in the bright light reflected by the snow.
"I hadn't intended to take it to this level, but you're tough for a little squirt," the girl snaps, pushing off from the tree again, charging Chris. Her left hand swings forward, attempting to twist a grip on Chris's top in order to hold the speedy kid in place for the follow up slash with her right hand across his torso. Maybe seeing a little of his own blood will make him understand how serious she is!
COMBATSYS: Chris dodges Ayame's Quick Strike.
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Chris 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Ayame
The young Swedish boy, watching as the hit registers, seems to only observe with a smile. And despite the fact that he must be getting rather cold at the moment, his calm aura still remains. He even lets out a short chuckle to himself as the snow begins to fall. Indeed, there is something unnerving about how casual and calm he remains. And as Ayame draws her blade, his smile clearly widens, demonstrating either naivety or complete confidence. "Wow, that's pretty dangerous! I wonder what I should do..." he says, once again, in his bright tone. This time, as Ayame draws close to him, he merely stands there, seemingly amused. His eyes track the blade specifically, recognizing it as element to any sort of dangerous strategy. But out of the corner of his eye, he finally catches the free hand, and using his almost unnatural speed, Chris chooses to make the first move. This time, he steps forward, and if that step connects and he manages to connect at the time where the balance of his opponent and his own momentum is correct, he'll plant a foot right on her stomach, he'll take a step onto her chest, and then end by dropping a foot right into her face, and -spring- away to a safe distance, all while giggling as if using someone as a stepladder was nothing more than a game to him.
But really, given his behaviour, would that be any surprise?
COMBATSYS: Chris successfully hits Ayame with Step Turn.
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Chris 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Ayame
Her hand caught while in the midst of trying to get a grip on the kid, Ayame is in a poor position to defend herself as he turns her momentum right back around on her with a quick stomp right up the front of the girl. Landing flat on her back with a gasp, she drops the knife into the snow, bringing her right arm up to rub across her face where his final stomp had connected.
"Ugh," the girl grunts, rolling onto her side and then rising to her hands and knees for a moment as she hesitates.
"You must be taking your vitamins..." the hapless theif mutters, pushing herself to her feet and turning around to face Chris again. But her weapon has changed from the small knife she was using against him a moment ago. A half-foot long metal tube occupies her left hand but a moment later, the small weapon expands swiftly outward, forming a six foot long titanium pole that Ayame grips tightly with both hands as she glares back at Chris.
"All right," she growls, tightening her grip and charging for Chris a second time, sweeping out low with one end of the weapon to try and trip him off his feet before following up with a second swing more at neck level, trying to clock the kid hard right in the jaw.
Coming out of the turn, Ayame stabs the staff out toward him like a lance, aiming to jab him in the stomach before she freezes, holding that stance and standing perfectly still.
COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Chris with Random Weapon.
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Chris 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Ayame
The Swedish boy doesn't seem to be well used to opponents who switch their means of fighting in mid-combat. In fact, his eyebrows raise slight his serene demeanor gives way to something a bit more shocked. The momentary lapse in Chris' judgement is more than enough for Ayame to close the distance. And though Chris -just barely- manages to hop back out of the range of the initial sweep, when Ayame comes full-circle the staff lands squarely against his chest. And unfortunately for Chris, she doesn't stop there! While he reels back, the staff stabs right into his gut area, sending Chris buckling over forward. His hair drops forward, obscuring his eyes while his gaze is directed downward. And after a few moments, a stream of blood mixed with bile trickles down from his lips and into the snow below him. He remains still for a few long moments, his hair shaggy and no longer in its bowl cut. But finally, he raises his head slightly, a pair of brilliant blue eyes lifting up to gaze directly into his adversary. A trial of blood still remains dripping from his lip and chin. But that isn't nearly the most unsettling thing about him at the moment.
It is perhaps the most gleeful smile he has shown yet, but there is something twisted about it. A light, boyish chuckle escapes him... and then in the blink of an eye, he's once again in action. His -thrusts- his hands downward onto the pole, displaying a -very- impressive amount of strength for someone of his age and stature, and redirects it right into the snowy ground. And without a moment's hesitation, his nimble feet quickly shuffle... onto the diagonal pole, and in a display of tremendous agility and balance, he -runs- along the shaft, heading towards what he hopes is Ayame's chest and aiming to drive a hard knee right into her nose!!
COMBATSYS: Ayame interrupts Light Kick from Chris with Harvest's Reaper.
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Chris 1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1 Ayame
Chris is proving to be one of the trickier opponents the girl has ever tried to take down. And to think, she thought he was some unlucky kid she could punk for his lunch money and be on her way. And here she is, battling him out in the snow, having to pull out all the stops just to keep from getting her face and stomach kicked and punched in!
Finally she gets some strikes with her staff, her trustiest weapon out of all of her tactics. "Gotcha," the long haired bandit smirks, "You're pretty quick, but you were bound to get hit eventu-" It's then that he looks up. Expecting the smile to have been bashed off his face to be replaced with a pout or a tear streaked face of a little boy that's been given more punishment than he can take, Ayame blinks.
And in that blink he's forced her staff into the snow and is already running up it like a quick ramp straight for her nose. It's a good idea, all things considered, but Ayame is quick to account for it. A prodigy with the metal staff, it's hard to catch her off guard with a sneaky trick like that. ALMOST, but not quite.
As his knee slams out, the girl shifts the staff up with both of her hands, destroying his little perch at the same time he strikes her, fending off a portion of the attack and steering the strike into her cheek instead of her nose - her nose shall go unbroken for now!!
It's then that the entire weapon begins to glow a violent, churning red as Ayame pours an incredible amount of chi into it all of the sudden. Chris may still be airborn when the first strike comes; an upward, vicious swing with everything the girl's got, she hits with enough momentum to carry them both into the air. A second swing comes next, the red chi trailing out behind the staff in a blur, looking like the sharp blade of a scythe rather than just raw energy.
The final strike comes from above as Ayame slams Chris back down, both of her hands dropping the staff against his shoulder like an axe to send him back toward the snow. The girl lands in the snow herself, her staff out at her side, one end of it dipping into the damp snow bank, hot steam rising up from where the chi laced metal meets with it. "I didn't want to pull out all the stops, but you're a tougher kid than I thought." the girl states. "Let's just say that you should give up now or it's only going to get more unpleasant for you..."
And once again, Chris' naivety seems to get the better of him. To say that he didn't expect his opponent to be proficient in both using the staff and wielding chi with it would probably be an understatement. Needless to say, the defensive measure succeeds, and Chris is flung into the air by the sheer power of the blow, and at the height of his arc the staff comes down and -smashes- him right into the snow. A geyser of powdery flakes rise up where Chris lands. His body doesn't move for a few moments. That is, until the boy's body seemingly... -peels- itself from the ground, seemingly requiring no source of balance as he rises. And as he stands, he doesn't seem to bother getting back into any sort of stance. In fact, he holds his hands behind his back and looks thoughtful for a moment, though to anyone's surprise, his smile still remains on his face. "Hmmm. Maybe you're right. This is pretty boring." he says casually, "... I wonder if there's anything good on TV..."
But right after he says this, he disappears from sight once again. And in a moment's time, he's soaring high into the air above Ayame. "I'm up here!" he calls out in a cheery sing-song voice, and suddenly his body -propels- itself downward and he extends a leg, aiming to drop it right against Ayame's chest! And should the attack succeed in hitting its mark, he'll bring his other leg out and -spring- off of her body and make his landing in the snow.
COMBATSYS: Ayame blocks Chris' Glider Stamp.
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Chris 1/------=/=======|=======\====---\1 Ayame
"Eh? TV?" And again Ayame is forced to be on the defense as Chris takes to the air. He wants her to know though. Wants to her to realize just how damn fast he is, as he calls out his cheerful warning from above, dropping down foot first. It's her quick mind that lets her react to his trajectory in the nick of time, twisting her staff up, gripping it tightly with both hands as she puts the polearm between Chris's shoe and her chest.
The force of his dive alone is enough to drive the girl backward a little all the same, Ayame gasping as she pushes back on the staff to try and get him off her. "Hey now, you're too young to touch me like that," she states, her mouth a faint smirk, her eyes narrowed as she shakes her head as she studies the creepy kid. He reminds her of another creepy kid she fought a while back. Where are all these creepy kids coming from?!
He springs off her and Ayame darts through the snow on a collision course for his point of landing, swinging out with the staff early as she spins her body around. The staff strike is going to miss, but that's on purpose. The attack to watch out for is her boot clad foot coming around as Ayame spins out of her twirl, aiming to snap a quick kick to Chris' chin. "Ya!" It's a high kick in a skirt, but while Ayame does play flirty against older opponents, she's really not thinking of anything other than landing the next strike, which she's already twirling around to prepare for.
COMBATSYS: Chris dodges Ayame's Light Kick.
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Chris 1/------=/=======|=======\====---\1 Ayame
But at this point, Chris is well aware that Ayame is just as tricky in her attack strategies as he is. And as a result, he is far more wary in his actions. Immediately upon his landing, eyes narrow in apparent confidence he shifts his weight backwards and easily leans his way out of the path of the staff, and when the kick comes, Chris hardly skips a beat. Of course, he's a teenager, but given the fact that his teammate and band member is none other than Shermie, the master of using her thighs instead of her hands, it hardly catches him off-guard. Instead, he spins his body and ducks under in the opposite direction, and then, hopefully catching her in mid-spin, he aims to drive an elbow right into the back of her head!
COMBATSYS: Ayame counters Quick Punch from Chris with Final Solstice.
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Chris 1/---====/=======|=------\-------\0 Ayame
He's fast. Almost too fast for Ayame to keep up with. His abilities to almost seem to teleport on raw speed alone blows anything Ayame has ever seen out of the water. But she can count on one thing in the end, and that's that he'll come back to strike her. And it's THEN that she can work her staff magic.
The strike for her head doesn't have a chance to connect as Ayame spins into a violent dance of twirling staff, whirling, explosive red chi, and smack after smack against the boy as she tries to work him down with everything she's got. It's her most challenging technique, but it can really come through for her in a pinch like this. She's NOT losing to some little kid!!
Smack after smack comes, the girl aiming for joints like elbows and knees, and even a good clonk on the top of his head. And with each strike comes a small explosion of chi to accompany it. She's going to made the snow red with Chris's blood if she can help it... it doesn't even matter that he's just a child, Ayame is sparing nothing to beat him savagely. "I've," she growls between swings, "have had enough," another slam upward into his chest, "of your crap!" One final, spinning slam comboed into an overhead strike intended to slam him down to the snow.
And then she stomps forward, intending to jam her staff into his back and pin him face down in the snow. "...It's over, little boy. You're beat."
But this time, Chris seems... unsurprised by the outcome. In fact, he doesn't even show a reaction at all. He simply stands there, with that serene smile upon his face. And when it all connects, he makes no effort to stop it from connecting fully. Blow after explosive blow lands upon the boy, the marks of damage only increasing, until the finale of the blows finally comes into fruition, and Chris' body is hurled sickeningly face down into the snow. Moments pass as the boy lay motionless, and it appears that Ayame's brutality may have even had -more- of an effect than she was planning. When the staff pins him against the ground, he doesn't even move. A light breeze picks up in the wind, and for a moment, there is a peaceful silence.
But ever so slowly, Chris makes a sound. For a brief moment, it's very weak and hard to distinguish. Is he sobbing? Grunting in pain? Trying to talk? For the moment, it's completely impossible to distinguish. But soon, it begins to increase in volume. And then, it becomes hauntingly clear. The boy is... laughing.
His laugh grows in volume, but there doesn't seem to be any hint of malice or insanity. Under any other circumstances, it would merely be a chuckle. But there's something -seriously- wrong with the way he's laughing.
And slowly, Chris' body seems to move, almost according to its own will. And against all possibility, his body seems to rise on its own, again as if some invisible hand was peeling him off of the ground. And by some force, he manages to push the staff off his body as he rises. Finally, he stands, and though bloodied and beaten, he is composure doesn't seem any worse for the wear... But there is a minor difference. Where there were once sapphire eyes, there are now a pair of dark brown...
"That's it?" he asks, his voice a mixture of its usually cheeriness and something far darker. "That was your best technique? Even for a maggot like yourself, that was pitiful." he declares, his cheery voice making the cruelty of his words almost indiscernable. "And yet you think you've won. That's the funniest part right there." he muses. But before any response can be made, Chris once again makes a sudden move.
Remember when Ayame had earlier admonished the unfortunate placement of one of his attacks? Well, it seems it has only made Chris more brazen. As his only move is to simply aim an open palm... right to her chest area. The motion seems nothing but feeble. But as they say, sometimes it merely takes one touch...
COMBATSYS: Ayame fails to counter Chain Slide Touch from Chris with Bright Renewal.
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Chris 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Ayame can no longer fight.
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Chris 0/-------/------=|
... and upon contact, the sheer force of this 'simple touch' is realized, as the air around the two fighters seems to -explode- from the force of the blow, serving as added pressure and damage from the attack. And he doesn't stop at the first strike. He through by sliding his body forward at incredible speed and thrusting a palm out once more to the same effect. And then, three more times he connects with the blow, before finally he finishes the assault by sliding forward and -thrusting- a fist straight into Ayame's abdomen, with enough force to send her flying back a considerable distance. It's an incredible feat that someone so small and young can attack with such force. But then again, it's an incredible feat that he's still standing in the first place.
He's coming in for another strike but it doesn't seem like there's much to it. A little faster than before. Well, really, way faster than before. But Ayame thinks she's got him pegged all the same. Her staff swings out only to jab at a point Chris is no longer at.
The next thing she knows, the girl is sliding down the trunk of a tree into a seated position in the snow. Any thoughts of eating any time soon are certainly far from her mind as the girl rolls forward off the tree and curls up, her hands pressed against her stomach as she struggles to breath. A pained groan is the only indication that she's even still at all vaguely aware of her surroundings, her mind consumed with trying to figure out how a little freakshow like that could unleash so much pain.
But conscious or not, she isn't moving from her spot at the base of the tree, managing an ugly sounding cough as she finally gets air back into her lungs following the concentrated assault on her torso. "Little demon," the girl hisses as she pushes herself onto her knees, one hand propped against the snow, the cold ice freezing her fingers as she tries to pull herself back together well enough to scram as soon as possible.
Log created on 21:59:47 12/20/2007 by Ayame, and last modified on 13:47:57 01/05/2008.