SNF 2007.12 - Hotaru vs Vanessa, CA:Blanka

Description: Boxer and Kenpo artist face off deep in the rain forests of South America. But they aren't there just to test their skills against each other. They also have Blanka-hurled flying fruit to evade as well! The entire match falls apart by the end, resulting in a Three Way KO... including the amused Chaos Agent. ( Draw )



A week off from SNF events for holiday travels and now Hotaru's back into the reliable weekly appearances she can be counted on for. Each week presents a new environment in which to fight, each venue a new challenge, new styles to see in action, new people to meet. This week appears to be practice just in case either fighter wants to consider a future in standup comedy - Avoid the thrown fruit from the audience. Except in this case, the fruit is being propelled at great speeds by a master of the art, Blanka himself.

The fight is staged deep within the forest where there doesn't seem to be much in the way of clearings. A brook trickles through a somewhat muddy area and the trees are closed in thick, with layers of green moss around the gnarled, protruding roots at the base of them. The air is as hot as can be expected with enough humidity to make swiming through thin air like Nagare actually seem viable.

Dressed in a brown and green varient of her typical fighting outfit, Hotaru Futaba looks about ready to just blend into the environment as-is. Seated atop a fern covered fallen log, the girl enjoys the company of a Scarlet Macaw with bright, vibrant plumage on her shoulder. "You'll be watching, huh? Well, I'll have to do my best then!" the girl states to the bird as she runs her hand along the top of its feathered head.

Vanessa shows up in due course - her pants are the usual dark color, and she's wearing a very dark version of her usual shirt, blue tie...

...it almost looks a little villainous, except for the big, casual grin on the boxer's face as she steps up toward Hotaru, stepping over a root as she goes. "Not a bad place," she muses aloud. "A little hotter than I like it, but that's part of the ambience, eh?"

She puts one hand on her hips as she approaches, checking down toward the ground every so often to make sure she doesn't trip over anything inconvenient. "You're Hotaru, then?" the redhead asks, tilting her head a little as she gets close.

o/`Duhhn-duhn.

Duhhhn-duhn o/`

Has the theme from 'JAWS' ever been more appropriate? We think not! Today, this SNF has given Blanka a chance to goof off, to have fun and play with a person he'd made friends with, as well as testing a fighter he knew little about. Being told to not actually fight, but instead to 'liven things up' is a nice change, and certainly something he has been looking forwards to. He's done a pleasantly good job of preperation, the trees above having carefully set aside crates of more esoteric foodstuffs, as well as simply having fruit 'off the vine', so to speak.

Blanka doesn't make his presence known to the two fighters by speaking. Instead, near their fighting area, when they approach each other, a giant watermelon rind falls, the thing easily the size of a beach ball. It hits and breaks - which would be a messy thing indeed, were it not .. hollow. As if someone had already eaten the entire inside. Hmn! erhaps a clue of how this fight will begin when he chooses to interfere!? IT COULD BE.

As her opponent approaches, Hotaru gets up to her feet, her expression quiet but punctuated by a small smile. "Yes, nice to meet you, Miss Va-" the girl states, offering a slight, traditional bow, her hands pressed together in front of her. It's right about then that the watermelon rind breaks open right between the two, missing them both by just a little. Startled, the red colored Macaw takes wing, flying up to a nearby branch to watch from. He doesn't want to get fruited!

Hotaru shakes her head with a faint grin as she steps back from the splattered fruit. Silly Blanka. This has the potential to be pretty interesting. Of course, flying fruit is something to watch out for, but how will it compare to the strikes from her capable opponent? The blue eyed girl studies the taller woman. A boxing style fighter, hm? Vanessa has a bit of a rep. This could hurt.

"Ah, as I was saying, and might not get another chance to - thank you for the fight." The stage, er, forest is set for action now though and it's time to get things rolling. Hotaru takes a couple steps away, hands clasped behind her back as her feet kick at the dirt a little, trying to get a feel for the traction offered by the moist jungle ground.

And then it's time to begin! Taking to the environment doesn't take much encouragement from the girl. She's done a fair number of fights in similarly dense locales. A backward leap takes her up onto a branch overhead. With careful balance, she runs along it, taking her to a position just to the side of Vanessa before she drops down from above.

Attempting to grasp both of the fighting woman's arms before landing, Hotaru will dish out a series of rapid, risking, stomping kicks up the front of her before backflipping to land on the log she was seated upon earlier if she manages to secure a good enough hold.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hotaru           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Blanka has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hotaru           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Blanka


COMBATSYS: Vanessa has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hotaru           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Vanessa fails to counter Shin-Jou Tai from Hotaru with Parrying Puncher.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Hotaru           0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/-------|


Vanessa grins a little, then WATERMELON.

She cocks an eyebrow, tracing the path of the fruit back up toward its point of origin. "Well," she decides, "I guess that means the other guy's here, too."

Vanessa knows enough about Hotaru to know what to watch out for, anyway, although perhaps her fighting style can't be as easily summarized as Vanessa's own. For the moment, Vanessa just laughs, replying, "Not a problem. I wouldn't sign up for these things if I didn't get to meet interesting people, right?"

And then Hotaru's off like a monkey! It's kind of surprising, and for a moment, Vanessa actually loses her...but then Hotaru is RIGHT THERE, and Vanessa's already moving, sniffing sharply as she prepares to dig her fist into Hotaru's head for thinking to try such an obvious tactic--

...but then it works anyway, and Vanessa's exposed form is summarily kicked to high hell.

She lands in a slump, shaking out her head. "Ow," she notes.

So much to watch! Blanka functions quite a lot like an animal when in the jungle, truth be told - bright colors and quick motions catch his attention easily, and hold it until the next movement drags his attention away. It's a natural defense mechanism, that allows him to seek out bright shiny things, while at the same time, avoid getting eated by strange big things in the area like snakes or jungle cats. Basically, 'anything bigger than Blanka' or 'hungrier than Blanka'. These things are few and far between today!

There's a reason for this. Blanka's head peeks out of the foliage above, his cheeks stuffed like a chipmunk, swollen out like he's got the worst case of mumps EVER. He inhales through his nose, chest swelling up, and then he purses his mighty maw and goes *PTHBTHBTHBTHBTHBTHBTHBTHBLBT* loudly. The rattling of black watermelon seeds that were unchewed but now very clean due to him having eaten the /actual/ watermelon around them can be heard, and there's a line of little dust clouds as they hit the trees and ground in a path between the two fighters as Hotaru tries to recover from her giant series of kicks to Vanessa's torso! He's not playing favorites today, no - equal time and equal melon for everyone!

COMBATSYS: Blanka successfully hits Hotaru with Quick Shot.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Hotaru           0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/-------|


Hotaru is fortunate that Vanessa underestimates her opening attack, much like so many opponents have done before her. Though she manages to catch the woman off guard with the surprisingly tricky technique, landing smoothly with an incoming rain of black seeds proves troublesome. Well, that explains the empty watermelon rind Hotaru ponders as she's trapped into coming down into the line of fire. Getting pelted a number of times, the girl puts her hands up to cover her head. "Ow! That's a lot harder than I expected!"

But the suppressive fire only lasts for so long before she's finally free to go back on the offense. Shaking her head, she reminds herself to pay more attention to what Blanka is up to rather than just focusing exclusively on her opponent. Sneaky guy in the bushes that he is!

Her next charge is a bit less tricky at first glance, as Hotaru barrels for Vanessa directly, left foot slamming down forward into the mud as the girl slides forward the last couple of feet before spinning into a reverse roundhouse, kicking from low to high. But her positioning seems off - she's clearly not close enough to connect! But maybe that swath of blue chi that trails out behind her foot will prove to pack a bit of a punch as it balloons outward just a little ways, striking with pure force should it impact.

COMBATSYS: Vanessa blocks Blanka's Quick Shot.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Hotaru           0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Vanessa blocks Hotaru's Kobi Kyaku.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Hotaru           0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/-------|


Vanessa hears it coming, suddenly looking up as the trees shuffle above. She brings one arm up, ably deflecting the incoming SEEDS OF DEATH. "You'll need to do better than that to catch me!" she jeers, and then oh holy damn here comes the foot AAAH THAT'S NOT A FOOT

But Vanessa's hands can block that too, and the Boxing Queen brings up her forearms again as the seed pelting slows. The chi impacts hard, but Vanessa doesn't let up from the force of it - quite the opposite, as Hotaru's guard opens in that second after she finishes her assault, Vanessa charges in - shoving off the ground and all but gliding forward across the moist ground, her fist coming around to drive into Hotaru's midsection as the charge completes.

Mwaah-hah! Blanka's gotten to get those seeds out and get them out of the way, which was something he'd been waiting to do for a few minutes. Whew! It was starting to get to be a little hard to focus and not drool all over the place! Taking in a big breath he laughs out loud, letting the two fighters hear his amusement throughout the jungle. He's grown to enjoy this plan, this 'chaos' that he's heard about. More than anything else, involving himself in this way is providing him with joy.

The first 'attack' was enough to surprise them, and now it's time to ... get serious. Bounding from tree to tree, Blanka finds a new angle to attack from. His hand scoops up a banana bunch from a tree, the leaves shaking and rattling from another high up area. He hefts it up, and then throws the projectile down to the ground, near where Hotaru is. He's picking on her a little bit, to start out with! Must actually test the girl's fortitude - and her potassium intake!!

COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Blanka's Strong Shot.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Hotaru           0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Vanessa's Dash Puncher.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Hotaru           0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/-------|


A bit more prepared for the incoming attacks this time around, Hotaru recovers from her chi laced kick swiftly and leaps backward just in time to avoid Vanessa's gut punch, the woman's fist grazing past the front of her vest just close enough that her knuckles brush the surface of the fabric, but the young Kenpo artist is otherwise unharmed.

The yellow banana-rang comes spin in next with a distressing amount of momentum behind it, but Hotaru manages to backstep out of it's path as well, the fruit splattering against the ground into a slippery mess as a result of the power that was behind the projectile. Y-yikes, muses the girl, stepping back another foot. Her hit and run style of fighting leaves her at a range from Vanessa now and now Hotaru pauses for a moment to focus her strength.

The chuckling from Blanka doesn't get missed though and the pig-tailed fighter shakes her head, her expression a mixture of serious concentration and mild amusement. "You're getting a kick out of this, aren't you. And I thought you preferred just /eating/ fruit." the girl tsks, sparing only a split second to glance toward the concealing foliage where the banana came from.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru focuses on her next action.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Hotaru           0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/-------|


Vanessa hisses a very quiet curse as Hotaru skips away from her fists, and spins around in short order, kicking up dirt and mud as she does. She gets ready to take a beating for the crime of missing, when she instead catches sight of a banana slipping right past Hotaru again. "Nimble little thing," Vanessa quips, not dropping out of her fighting pose to talk. "And wait--" She furrows her brow, slightly confused by Hotaru's comments. "You know this guy?"

She is at least courteous enough to not say 'thing', even though she has now at least glimpsed Blanka. There is a chance she thinks it's a mask.

There is also a chance she is going to try to punch Hotaru in the jaw right about when the girl looks in the direction that banana came from!

Blanka, enjoying himself? Perish the thought!! He offers Hotaru a big grin from the foliage, his red hair bristling with a bit of electicity as he bounds to another locale. He's not dissapointed at all that she dodged - par for the course, and it's just a harbringer of things to come. After all, the fight is young, and there are many melons yet to deal with!

Blanka has to find a new place to move to, a new thing to do. He's up to another tree, and then hauls himself through a few branches, to a barrel he'd set aside helpfully before. He starts juggling a few mangos, the orangeyellow fruits moving up in the canopy in a bright arc, then whipped down in a rapid patter, attempting to give Vanessa something to think about while she's confused.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru interrupts Hook Punch from Vanessa with Hakki Shou EX.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Hotaru           0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Blanka successfully hits Vanessa with Strong Shot.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Hotaru           0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/------=|


Time to put some of that Kyokugen Tough training to work or Ryo-sensei will be disappointed! No one likes getting hit. And when it comes to taking hits, that's something Hotaru's always stuggled with. But she understands the costs and benefits of trading blows from time to time. As well as the risks involved.

Her attention seems distracted toward Blanka for a brief moment, but her right arm is curled out to her side, a little bit behind her, her hand open, her forearm suddenly flaring a bright, vibrant blue. She snaps her eyes toward Vanessa, watching her path, waiting for the moment that the other woman has to traverse the spot where the banana splattered, hoping to catch an opening there in case the boxer has to correct for the slippery surface.

And then when Vanessa's hand comes in, Hotaru swings her arm forward as well, taking a solid blow to the cheek at the same time she discharges the chi blast at nearly point blank range into Vanessa's stomach with enough force to knock the two fighters a little bit apart. Stumbling from the blow to her jaw, the girl lifts her hand to rub it tenderly, wiping away a little fleck of blood on her lip. Not the end of the world, but that definitely was a painful trade for the smaller fighter.

Today is not a Vanessa day.

Her simple attack leads to Vanessa blundering straight into Hotaru's blast attack, sending the Boxing Queen hurtling into but fortunately not quite THROUGH a nearby trunk.

Then she takes a mango upside the head.

She lies there for a moment, wiping mango off of her face.

"This..." she notes flatly, "is not working."

COMBATSYS: Vanessa gains composure.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Hotaru           0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/------=|


Mwahaha. Blanka is having a hoot and a half! It's not quite every day that he gets to pepper people with fruit and make them all goopy! Blanka is a melon connesoiur, a fact that he hopes they'll take well later. He selects his melons with pride, making sure they are just the perfect amount of mush to go *splatter* and such against people, trying to do more of a distraction than actual damage. He is, after all, here to cause chaos!

There's an appreciative clap from the treeline as Hotaru steps in and goes toe to toe with Vanessa, the boxing queen's stamina applauded, her verve and willingness to go to round ten is excitedly admired. In fact, that draws Blanka out to help her in a much more up-close and personal sort of manner. Leaping down and into view, the bright green beast-man lands in front of Hotaru, between her and her opponent. In his hand is a very, very overripe and goopy honeydew, well and duly peeled. He offers her a fangy sort of grin, and then atttempts to smush Hotaru in the mush with it, before bounding back up and away! It hopefully won't hurt /too/ much, but he doesn't /always/ know his own strength!

COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Blanka's Random Weapon.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Hotaru           0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/------=|


As Vanessa has to take a breather, Hotaru gives her that chance, holding back for a moment. It's understandable that anyone would want a second to wipe their face off after taking a mango splatter! "Yeah, I've known Blanka for a while now. Don't let his appearance lead you to draw the wrong conclusion..." Like, uh, she did the first time SHE saw him!

And then the green beast comes out to play in person, armed and dangerous with a honeydew that he swings out for Hotaru but the small fighter weaves and steps back, buying herself precious time to put a little distance between them. She gives Blanka a faint grin and a shake of her head, her expression saying 'Nice try, but not quite!', before she darts off at an angle to charge back toward Vanessa at full speed.

It's hard to tell what she's going for at first as the girl makes a beeline for the boxer, hands close together in front of her as if preparing for a strike of some kind. It's only once she's in close that she leaps, flipping up into the air and attempting to plant her hands against Vanessa's shoulders. If she gets into position, she'll turn around by swapping shoulders and drop down behind her, attempting to drive her feet into Vanessa's upper back and knock her down.

COMBATSYS: Vanessa counters Quick Throw from Hotaru with Parrying Puncher.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Hotaru           1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/------=|


Don't let the appearance deceive you, huh? So, what, does he dress like a goth?

"oh," Vanessa says, finishing her own thought as Blanka APPEARS FROM NOWHERE and holy crap he's a... ... ... a /thing/ is what he is. "That's not quite what I had in mind," she adds.

She watches Blanka for a bit more. She's used to many things, been trained to roll with all sorts of weird crap. She's after the overall MASTERS of weird crap, after all--but, well, it's hard to really adapt to something like Blanka right away, and Vanessa can't help but stare a little, even if Hotaru seems to think he's not going to eat her or anything. Not being eaten is a good thing!

So is not getting thrown, and as Vanessa at last clambers to her feet, Hotaru is coming - and the Boxing Queen moves immediately, her fist lashing out suddenly and smashing right toward Hotaru's jaw knocking her right out of her attempt at tossing Vanessa around through sheerest virtue of punching her in the face before she can even try it.

Too slow! Drat! Blanka is not quite quick enough to smush Hotaru inna mush with melon. The peeled honeydew flies through the air as she slips out of the way, landing in a pile against a tree, the splatter of green-white 'flesh' showing the strength behind the effort. Yike! He turns and spins, hunkering down into a little ball of Blanka, bright gold eyes eagerly watching the two women go at it with all the skill and power they have. As they close in on each other, he grins wickedly, possibly even downright mischeveoulsy!

Blanka's planted a trap, why yes he has! As Vanessa steps in and brings her fist into contact with Hotaru's jaw, Blanka starts to spin, a sudden blur of red and green. He bounds towards the pair in a bounce, a zoom, and then hops up and oer them as he's tucked into said Blankaball. He hits the tree they stand by feet first, his impact rocking the firmament and setting the branches to shaking violently, dropping pre-planted watermelons down on the ground in a surprising, shocking, speedy drop. Unfortunately for Blanka, he's right in the middle of it, too - and with a slight lack of foresight he's directly underneath the biggest one!

COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Blanka's Quick Shot.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Hotaru           1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/------=|


Squeak. Hotaru is send reeling backward from the solid blow to her face, left with no chance to defend herself as she was readying an aggressive lunge forward. That'll definitely slow her down for a bit as she recovers, feet having dug ruts through the soft soil before coming to a stop several yards back.

Ow. She gets her bearings in time to catch sight of the dropping watermelon bombs. Blanka sure went through a lot of trouble to set up so much fruit just for them. Isn't that touching? Stepping around one exploding melon and weaving just under another one, Hotaru decides to use the cover of the falling fruit to deliver another attack.

A swift snap kick before hopping back sends one of the fruits off course, giving the boxer a second obstacle to cope with out of this mess!

COMBATSYS: Blanka successfully hits Vanessa with Quick Shot.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Hotaru           1/------=/=======|=======\===----\1          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/------=|


COMBATSYS: Vanessa blocks Hotaru's Thrown Object.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Hotaru           1/------=/=======|=======\===----\1          Vanessa
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/------=|


Vanessa is somewhat pleased with herself for managing to actually TAG the fast little kid. It's somewhat troubling, getting this easily manhandled - especially in light of some of her other recent fights, which have all pretty much been some variation on 'bad' except for that one time she eradicated Zach on the most fundamental of levels.

But she won't give up just from something like this, and indeed, Vanessa moves to charge right back in as the watermelons fall all around her!

This does not end well, as it means she gets a watermelon to the skull, which sends her reeling - she actually falls, dazed enough by the impact that she trips over a root, but she catches herself on her hands, quickly pushing herself back up. Hotaru's cunningly redirected watermelon isn't such a big deal by comparison, and Vanessa handily snaps her forearms up to deflect the incoming produce. She's getting tired. But she needs to--

Vanessa shakes out her head, smirking a little. OK. OK! She's not done yet! "Didn't see that one coming," she remarks, not really to anyone in particular, as she drops back into her stance, bouncing back and forth on both feet for an instant, and then charging right back downrange toward Hotaru, fist cocked back once more. That stumble with the fruit and having to take a second to block Hotaru's own attack has taken some of the wind out of her charge, so she makes up for it by making a quicker attack this time, a short, brutal punch that probably won't hurt so much, but at least has a good chance of striking home.

COMBATSYS: Blanka successfully hits Blanka with Quick Shot.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Hotaru           1/------=/=======|=======\===----\1          Vanessa
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/----===|


Awp! What is left of our Chaos Agent?! What of Blanka!! He's currently stuck in the mid air, his feet grabbing into the bark of the tree to support himself as the melons rain down around him and towards the fighters below. He only gets a moment to glance down towards them, to see how the attack fared, before he has to plan his next move. And in that moment, he's distracted. Whoops! Blanka had prepared well, with a variety of melons all above. He'd managed to stick them in a good place, to keep himself safe, save for that very last one. And boy, it's a doozy. Catching him on the back of the head, there's a goopy, puply *SMUSH* sound, and Blanka falls to the ground with a thud and a comically large puff of dirt, leaves and jungle foliage. He hops back to his feet, and paws at the melon, which is now stuck on his head.

He pats the melon's outside for a moment or two, flailing blindly near the two fighters, coming close to them, but then eeling away afterwards. His grunt of frustration can maybe be heard, muffled by the rind around his head, and then he finds another tree branch. This time, he grips it with both hands and brings his head forwards, slamming his noggin into the trunk and splitting the rind open, setting him free. This tree isn't an actual fruit tree, no - it's a shower of hard-shelled nuts that fall towards the ground, pelting and pounding down on Blanka and Hotaru, coming in close just before Vanessa can close the distance. Sometimes, not being able to rush in due to a wind loss can be a benefit!

COMBATSYS: Vanessa successfully hits Hotaru with Light Punch.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Hotaru           1/---====/=======|=======\====---\1          Vanessa
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/----===|


COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Blanka's Power Shot.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Hotaru           1/---====/=======|=======\====---\1          Vanessa
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/----===|


Erk. Rain of nuts this time? And not just a couple. A literal storm of the things pouring down around the fighters. Hotaru thought she was safe after having hopped back, but the number of them dropping down all over the place force her to take even more evasive action, leaping to the side... and right into Vanessa's sock to the side. The punch crumples the girl a little and provokes a gasp, but she doesn't stay put for long as there continues to be a destressing torrent of falling objects.

Finally the girl slips in under one of the gnarled roots, allowing the falling nuts to clonk against the hardened wood rather than against the top of her head. "Saa..." Hotaru muses, shaking her head. That silly guy. He's really having fun with this chaos he's responsible for! But this enjoyment seems to be rather one-sided!

Darting out from under the root, Hotaru takes a slight detour, slipping and skipping over the now far less stable ground. Mountains of fallen nuts make for poor footing as the girl discovers really quickly, arms flailing as she quickly loses complete control over her traction. "Wa-ah!!"

In a desperate bid to get control, the girl tumbles sideways, leg sweeping out as she tries to right her balance... An unintentional kick flying carelessly toward the poor jungle raised fighter's chest! "W-oops!"

Vanessa smirks a little to herself as Hotaru takes the hit cleanly - finally! A clean shot! And for an instant, Vanessa has some respite to observe as Blanka gets a melon on his head, and Hotaru gets nuts on hers, and Vanessa just stands back to snicker. But then Hotaru is moving again, and Vanessa drops back into the game. She's coming from an odd angle -- oh.

...well, now she's not! Vanessa grins to herself, and can't resist an opportunity like that. She scoots in, all but /gliding/ across the fallen nuts, her fleet tootsies managing to skip along and between the fallen nuts...

And just as she gets in range, Vanessa lashes out with her arm toward Hotaru, an attack that might just fall a little short. Then she sweeps her spare arm UP, a slashing motion that drags with it a veritable whirling hurricane blast, sweeping across the fallen nuts and kicking up all kinds of debris en route to smashing right into Hotaru.

But it's not exactly the most well-controlled blast, even with Vanessa focusing as well as she can, so Vanessa can't really do much about it potentially plowing right through Hotaru and into Blanka and possibly from there through a couple trees or something.

On the upside, the nuts are now gone! ...up. That will probably end poorly in a little bit.

COMBATSYS: Blanka Toughs Out Blanka's Power Shot!

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Hotaru           1/---====/=======|=------\-------\0          Vanessa
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/=======|


COMBATSYS: Blanka endures Hotaru's Heavy Kick.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Hotaru           1/--=====/=======|=------\-------\0          Vanessa
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           1/-----==/=======|


COMBATSYS: Blanka endures Vanessa's Gaia Gear EX.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Hotaru           1/--=====/=======|=------\-------\0          Vanessa
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|


Ok, sure. He was /supposed/ to stay out of the way and chuck melons. He was /supposed/ to be the beast in the background, the jungleman in the junipers, the ... you get the picture. However, he had a plan. A /plan/! And it must be the important thing to do as a chaos agent. To bring chaos to a fight, to plan and plot and ... right. He would do SNF proud! After all, Geese Howard needs to invite him back again!

The nuts on the ground make footing treacherous, Blanka's giant feet unfortunately more settled to gripping around tree limbs than spreading out on ground that is suddenly almost impossible to stay up on. Comically flailing, he skids to the left, to the right - and right into Hotaru's kick. With a 'whufhff!' of air rocking out of him, he sprawls out flat onto the ground, slightly dizzy. He's gotten back up onto his feet and then some by the blast of hurricane-level force from Vanessa, the sweeping swirl of power sending the beastman up into the air, his voice quickly receding from hearing... then back, louder than before as he falls towards the ground.

The impact as he hits is quite thunderous, the green man sinking a few inches into the ground as he lands, laid out. Hurting, beat up and bounced about, he looks at the two fighters, and just lolls his tongue out, mouth moving into a wide, wonderful grin. He staggers to a seated position, leaning back against a tree marked with an 'x'. One that he'd been aiming for on his way down. He latches his arms around the heavy trunk, and then pulls, ripping roots from the ground with a hard tearing sound. His voice hacks out a laugh, and he simply offers them one word of advice.

"Look... up."

Above in the tree he's landed in are two HUGE melons, obviously mutant science, from the fact that they are the size of the fighters themselves. He shatters the trunk in his arms, letting the tree fall towards the two, the melons on a direct course to smushing both of them and trapping them inside!

Tropical Hazard, In-DEED!

COMBATSYS: Hotaru full-parries Blanka's Tropical Hazard!

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Hotaru           1/-======/=======|=------\-------\0          Vanessa
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/--=====|


COMBATSYS: Vanessa successfully hits Hotaru with Gaia Gear EX.

[                           \\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Hotaru           2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=------\-------\0          Vanessa
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  <
Blanka           0/-------/--=====|


The kick against Blanka's chest goes a long way to helping Hotaru right her balance as she slips backward and has the good fortune of having her feet come down on a point devoid of the pesky nuts threatening to leave her clumsily open to all sorts of attacks. This has certainly been one of the more chaotic battles the girl has had to deal with in a while. Without a doubt, Blanka puts the Chaos in Chaos Agent!

"Whew," is all the girl gets out before the chaos factor gets kicked up several notches courtesy of a gigantic attack from her opponent! She isn't so quick as to be able to avoid the solid strike that staggers her, sending her stumbling backward - an easy target for the hurtling mass of wind and debris that slams into her next, driving Hotaru hard against one of the thick tree trunks nearby. "A-ah..." gasps the girl as she slips down off of the tree, shaking her head. That just about took the fight out of her, but she's not done yet. Gritting her teeth, the Kenpo artist clenches her fists and charges forward again.

She only becomes vaguely aware of Blanka's mutant melons from space attack, her vision blurring as her grasp on consciousness wanes. But Blanka calls for them to look up, and Hotaru does... just in time to see the behemoth fruit from above falling toward her. "Where did he /get/ these?!" the girl squeaks as she dives forward toward Vanessa as the boxer is having to deal with one of the giant weights as well.

It's an all or nothing shot to try and tag Vanessa at the same time as the giant front falls, coming out of her forward roll into a crouch at her feet, arms out at her sides. "Ten-shou..." The surge of chi is impossible to not notice as Hotaru launches into the strongest attack she knows!

COMBATSYS: Hotaru can no longer fight.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Vanessa          0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0           Blanka


COMBATSYS: Blanka successfully hits Vanessa with Tropical Hazard.

[                          \\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Vanessa          0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0           Blanka


COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Vanessa with Ten-shou Ranki EX.
- Power hit! -

[                                < >  //////////                    ]
Vanessa          1/----===/=======|====---\-------\0           Blanka


It's somewhat a photo finish as the melon slams down over the two girls at the same instant Hotaru powers into the attack that has the tendency to be 'a technique you don't soon forget'. The heavy mass thuds down to the ground, concealing both of the female fighters from the cameras and for a long time everything falls still.

The stillness is broken by a low rumble eventually, though. It starts as a sound but builds in intensity until finally the melon itself visibly trembles. Eventually cracks begin to form, brilliant blue light eminating out from within the melon. Finally the entire gigantic fruit explodes outward, covering everything in a huge mess of fruit, rind, and nuts raining back down from being launched into the sky by Vanessa's attack.

Hotaru is kneeling over the boxer, hands pressed together at the base of the older woman's neck, shoulders slouching as the last of her strength escapes her. She gave it her all so she has that much solace as she finally slumps to the side, rolling off Vanessa to lie on her back, releasing an exhausted sigh.

Vanessa watches Hotaru get back up - probably beaten, but not going down without a fight! And alas, it seems she's fully intent on beating the tar out of Vanessa for her will to capitalize on a little comedy. Vanessa smirks, ready to take the assault with all she's got left--

And then Blanka advises them to look up, and Vanessa squawks "WHAT the FLYING--"

And then Hotaru runs her the hell over at the same time as she is Super Meloned.

Vanessa doesn't really move for a few seconds, even as Hotaru wilts after her attack. But soon, Vanessa rises up, wobbly and barely able to move.

She wedges a knee under her, and looks over at Hotaru. "Not bad, kid. I don't...think I can take any more myself."

But then she looks up at poor, poor Blanka, and gives a big, nasty ol' grin. "But I think I can manage just a little bit more to make this a real interesting view!"

She plants one foot on the ground, and then shifts enough to plant the other, and then plods, almost dragging herself across the distance to Blanka. Has this ever been done before? Probably not. Is it necessary? DEFINITELY not.

But it'll be fun!

Vanessa finally draws up next to Blanka, raises up to her full height, grins at him in a somewhat dangerous way, and says, "Clench yer teeth."

Then she lashes out with a single, graceful punch...

COMBATSYS: Vanessa can no longer fight.

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


COMBATSYS: Blanka Toughs Out Vanessa's Crazy Puncher!

[                        \\\\\\  <
Blanka           1/-----==/=======|


And as that single punch lands, Vanessa screams a thunderous "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" as she unleashes a dizzying flurry of punches, her fists streaking in AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN in a barrage far, FAR too fast to ever even attempt to see, uppercuts and gut punches and hooks galore!

She finishes it off with a dizzying right hook, wobble backward, wobble FORWARD, and then falls flat on her face, muttering, "/Christ/ that hurt."

Ok, Blanka's laughin'. Laughin', laughin. He's had nothing but fun, and the ability to drop melons on the two people who are supposed to be fighting /each other/ is hilarious. He claps and hoots as the melon covers them both, applauds and staggers to his feet to close in and watch, much like the cameras must be doing. He flattens out at the explosion, and then nods sagely as the pair seem down and done. Such as it should be!

But wait! What is this?! Vanessa comes towards him, smiling in a dangerous way. He offers her a big smile, and more than willingly proffers his face up for the punch. After all, she's almost out and down, he's going to just get popped once, and that's it, right? Right?

Wrong! Pummeled and pounded by punch after punch, Blanka is rocked left right up and down and center, b,a,b,a, select start! At the end, a particularly nasty uppercut puts him back on his feet, his hands on either side of his head as he dizzy-dances left and right. He's still standing though! Still standing!! His jaw drops, and laughter lolls out from his bruised maw.

"Ah-ha-ha-haha-hahaha...ow."

With that, the green giant falls forwards, out cold. THUD.

COMBATSYS: Blanka takes no action.


COMBATSYS: Blanka can no longer fight.

Log created on 21:36:52 12/28/2007 by Hotaru, and last modified on 18:58:33 01/01/2008.