Description: We're whalers on the moon, we carry a harpoon--okay, no. But on this fake moon, there's a few fighters and a SNF. Isn't that good enough?? (Winners: Shihong and Cherise)
We like the Moooooon! 'cuz it is cloooooose tooooo uuuuuuuus! o/~
If you live in Toronto, then yes, you do indeed are close to the moon and are free to really like it. Or, at least, an expensive simulation of such. A highly picturesque replica, made of the finest synthetic materials to replicate the rocky surface of the moon, extremely dark save for key lighting patterns that represent the sun and various stars, and a most worthy photograph of Earth - the beautiful, blue ball of mostly water and greenhouse gases and white swirly clouds filled with all sorts of foul industrial chemicals - hangs up against the wall which serves as the mighty backdrop of one of the greatest triumphs of all of mankind. The journey... to space.
Or a place where some could pretend to actually go there, with the helpful and handy addition of oxygen. Sadly, it is only warm enough to be considered 'a little chilly' as opposed to 'impossible to survive in for any given length of time.'
Points of which never deter Ryuhaku Todoh, who has not put on a space suit for any measure of realistic effect as he suddenly trots along from the side of the camera in long, slow hops, humming the first several notes of Also Sprach Zarathustra in a most obnoxious and off-key way as he bears a large wooden board from some other part of Earth, the name of his dojo proudly inscribed upon it with nothing but glee in his eyes and cheekiness in his heart.
And so, he plans to claim the moon in the name of... himself! But, as he prepares to set the board down upon the dusty rock - is there someone out there to spoil this most glorious moment in all of human martial arts achievement?!
Having heard the details of her fight on the flight across the Pacific, the look on Cherise Bouchard's face was somewhere between confused and outright stunned. A zero gravity ... simulator? A device that would replicate the gravitational pull of the moon? She spent the rest of the flight planning carefully, calculating how she'll have to approach the fight... and likely how she would have to assist her teammate.
So when she enters the grand simulator, she isn't playing up the facade to the level of the master of Todoh-ryu. Wearing her large, sturdy wool overcoat over a new white blouse-- her second favorite, the first having met a grim fiery end-- and as usual, wearing a skirt-- but with the winter and Canada's weather, dark tights are worn on her legs. As for her boots? A little more sturdy than usual, flat-soled and with a little heavier traction around the balls of the feet.
Pulling off her coat, she throws it off to the side-- hopefully not sending it off to meet a simulated demise in a simulated lack of gravitational pull-- and she cranks her belt another notch tighter, checking the black pouches secured at her hips.
"How in God's name do I get myself into such silly situations," she remarks aloud in her native French. But ah! There is her quarry. Switching to a more understandable language, Cherise tilts her head. "Mao~! Were we supposed to come dressed up for this thing?"
@emit
First, it was a battle on some old Batman set in a costume.
Now? It's being on the 'moon.'
Before being ushered into the anti-gravity chamber, Shihong Mao was in a heated discussion with someone on the other end the receiver. As usual, the Chinese woman is talking on her cellular phone before the fight, and up to the moment when fighters should be gathering. 'I'll get there when I get there,' the woman ultimately snapped at a SNF crew member, who promptly frowned and swiftly recoiled in fear.
"Ahem. Now, where were we? Oh, right. Where is my damn money, Mickey!?"
For the next ten minutes, Shihong's conversation resumed as it once was, the woman positively livid as she yelled at the man, Mickey, on the other end of the line. Five minutes after the fighters were all scheduled to appear, another official steps forward, tapping miss Mao on her shoulder. A heavy, angry sigh escaped the woman.
"'scuse me, ma'am. You're needed."
"FINE!" Shihong exclaimed, throwing her arms into the air in defeat. Tilting her head, the woman's fingers gently pressed to the Bluetooth earpiece nestled on her ear. "Don't think you're getting away with this. We're going to have A Talk when I'm done here. You hear me? You OWE me." Moving her other hand, the woman closes the phone, removing the piece. Then, with a huff, she peeled her coat off and threw it at the man patiently waiting.
"You guys owe me too," she warned darkly.
That brings us to now.
Floating- -yes, floating onto the mock moon setup, the woman's expression is positively pissed off, thin lips drawn tightly across her lips as she slowly glides along. "This is stupid," she murmurs to herself, arms folded as she slowly rotates through the air. "Mickey's trying to pull a fast one...I know it. That punk. And I'm stuck here, floating through some silly space set...with a space man. Hey!"
Lifting her gaze, black eyes focus on the suited figure. "You...are you that Todoh guy we're supposed to be fighting?" Her gaze drifts, searching the set. Is that crazy Frenchwoman even HERE? .. .there she is, floating onto the scene and calling out for her teammate.
"Don't worry about it," she calls back. "That's not important, Cherise...
"What is, however, is that I have places to be, so I can't wait any longer..!" And with those words, Shihong's body slowly twists, descending toward the ground before she plants both hands and, with a fierce shove, pushes herself off and toward Todoh with both heels.
"No time to dick around! I have faces to punch in and money to get."
COMBATSYS: Shihong has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
> ///////////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Kichiga
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Shihong
COMBATSYS: Cherise has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
> ///////////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Kichiga
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Cherise
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Shihong
COMBATSYS: Todoh has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Todoh 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Kichiga
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Cherise
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Shihong
COMBATSYS: Todoh interrupts Medium Kick from Shihong with Thrown Object.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Todoh 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Cherise
> /////////////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Shihong
Mere moments before the sign can slam down onto the finely crafted fake moon surface and kick up a whole bunch of dramatic space dust for the whole world to see that it is indeed Ryuhaku Todoh who claims the moon for himself, all of a sudden Cherise's coat manages to intercept him. Even if she wasn't even actually aiming to throw it at him to begin with, the flight of her third-favorite coat somehow finding itself smothered all over his upper body. The surprise is muffled as one arm grabs for it, the other throws the sign up on reflex. Who dares jump in on Ryuhaku Todoh?
"I am Ryuhaku Todoh!" He calls out from under the coat as he has to wrestle with a wool coat that proves far more persistent than he himself can be. A worthy designation, indeed. "And I c--argh! You stupid-- coat!"
Of course, as he wrestles, Shihong clearly has no time to waste and decides to kick off of the old man to begin with. But no, not all things go exactly as planned. In one broad, decisive movement, he brings up his right forearm underneath the mass of Discarded Cherise Coat(tm) which catches the hands Shihong plants upon him. Right as she kicks off, Todoh ends up giving her a lot more velocity than she may have been intending to achieve in kicking right back off, removing and shoving the coat away from him and into /her/ instead. He does a remarkable job of holding his footing otherwise.
"HOW DARE YOU DISROBE RIGHT BEFORE MY CORONATION?!"
Old man indignation reaches its ultimate expression with a pumped arm, and a clenched fist... which produces a finger he wags at Cherise in specific while Shihong goes flying off. "Bah! When this moon is mine," and he apparently takes this piece of coveted fake lunar estate very seriously, "first thing I ban! Flying clothes! Don't think I won't!"
Huh.
She didn't expect her coat to interrupt the ceremony for claiming the false moon as his own private kingdom and sanctuary. But if he's Ryuhaku Todoh, then he's the target! Moreover, a very surprising one-- using her discarded overcoat, sturdy and heavy as it is, to halt the advancing kick from her partner in crime. Rather than step up to help Shihong, Cherise just stands there for a moment and steeples her fingers together with her mouth open in a small amount with surprise and amusement. "Ohhhh! You sure know how to use my clothes."
And then her weight shifts, her body lowering itself. The purpose behind the reinforcement in Cherise's boots is made clear as the balls of her feet dig in and her heels lift, feet sliding along the dusty ground.
Cherise's hand moves to the pouch hanging from her left hip, snapping her wrist forward-- and the dusty ground next to her pops up with a puff of air, her foot shifting to stomp down hard on that specific place. Now that that's set...
Cherise's right arm reels back, fingers fanning out. Whipping her arm upward in an uppercut-like motion, palm upturned, blades of silver as thin as paper scream away from her hand, the odd force rocketing across the dusty moon terrain with the express purpose of slashing through Todoh's silly Spaceman Spiff costume and hopefully drawing a bit of blood. "Back to the sanatorium, old man!!"
Well, this was completely unexpected.
As Todoh wrestles with Cherise's discarded coat, Shihong takes it upon herself to launch herself into action, heels aimed for the clearly-insane old man's chest. But midflight, she realizes the error of her ways. That coat is in the way...and he's going to use it against her? It's too late for reaction; he shoves the coat away, right into the woman with a bit more 'oomph' than she anticipates. As result, she goes flying back--so far back she hits the wall with a muted 'thud,' eyes wide before she just exhales and shakes her head.
"Bastard," she mutters under her breath, a hand lifting and pressing into her forehead as she shakes the fog out. She didn't come as prepared as she would have liked. "How bothersome."
But there's just no time! Sliding her hands down the wall behind her back, the woman curls her body up tightly, heels digging against its surface. With Cherise providing one diversionary tactic, the least she can do is work in tandem with her teammate and cohort. "Good!" the woman cries, before she springs off the wall. Using it as a springboard, she launches herself for Todoh. Midflight her body spins, twisting as her feet ignite with fiery red energy, to drive right into Todoh's chest. The moment her energy-encased heels touch, however, a shocking burst of red erupts, to launch Todoh back, as he did to Shihong.
"Take THAT!"
COMBATSYS: Todoh blocks Cherise's Argent Claw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Todoh 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Cherise
> ////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Shihong
COMBATSYS: Todoh blocks Shihong's Strutting Crow.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Todoh 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Cherise
> ////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Shihong
Anybody who watches this fight on the air will realize that there is something strange about Todoh's appearance in these next few shots. This is because he was wasn't wearing a suit when the fight starts rolling on TVs worldwide. This is because he noticed the camera was unattended and decided to have a little fun. They ended up keeping the footage - but chased him off the set by some arcane means in order to get suited up to find some sort of excuse for him to not already be immediately familiar with how to navigate the zero gravity before the other two could come in.
Then after he /did/ properly suit up, he decided to try the whole stunt again. But from the waist up, at certain angles it would've been impossible to tell whether he was or wasn't to begin with from under Cherise's overcoat anyway. But now you see, it is true. Ryuhaku Todoh is in a spacesuit! ...With the red vest and large black trousers over it anyway.
(Are we done with that colorful retcon? Good. Carry on. -Mgmt.)
"Yeh hah hah!" There's no mistaking it's Todoh under there, no matter how many instances of that terrible laughter they could use to fool audiences at home that it is indeed Todoh under that suit, and not a perfectly capable look-alike that's willing to risk the ire of the real one. Cherise sends the blades flying for the elder Todoh, an eyebrow going up with at least vague entrance. Didn't even notice the blades, although he crosses his arms at an opportune time to catch them as they puncture tiny - but not complete - holes through the suit.
The eyes narrow with that odd feeling that courses through him. That really strange touch that is not so foreign to him as it is... well... /wrong/. "WHAT?!" And with that, he starts to take a step or two through to close the distance between them.
Which Shihong helps to widen as she flies up against him almost from a blind angle, a twisty red fiery chi drill that he picks up on right when she comes close by holding his stance about as firmly against the ground as he can, leaning forward that when she gets her footing on him, he's ready to push forward with his forearms up again despite this. The burst of energy envelopes him in something more familiar! Yes, that's more like it! /That/ is chi.
But with confirmation that at least one of these youngsters aren't 'doing it wrong' comes with the unfortunate problem that, it doesn't stop him from being hurled back by the explosive impact! The gap between him and Cherise - and now of Shihong - widens as he's sent flying back at a much more manageable speed than Shihong may have liked. With a little backwards flip in the low gravity environment, he lands back on the dust. Through the helmet, his brow furrows from 'surprised and angry' to 'plain angry.'
"You! Gray hair! What was that you did?! Whatever it was, it was wrong! WRONG! WROOOOONG!" Zach Glen, somewhere else on Earth, may remember this designation. The finger waves scoldingly again, hand on his waistline. "Do it right this time! Like your friend there! OR ELSE!!"
Or else...?!
COMBATSYS: Todoh takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Todoh 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Cherise
> ////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Shihong
The blades of energy slam into him, as off as they are, and he manages to guard against the force-- ward it off, more than she had hoped he would be able to in this space. Now, she starts to review her options more closely, her often crazed mind thinking in situationals and theories... more than a lot of people would expect, anyway. A direct wire sting would be impossible to navigate with the room acting the way it does, cutting down on her options for attacking the old man with a whole lot of distance attacks... but forming the 'Claw repeatedly is an exhausting task.
Damn.
Reaching to the pouch at her left hip, the one she's interacted with the most thusfar, her thumb presses down on a plastic clip, one that issues a hard *clik* noise. Picking up on her heels and squatting as she leans forward, Cherise makes an impressive stride, one foot after the other, in large bounds. To the more perceptive eye, the item she buried in the ground behind her is now a little easier to see-- a wire leading from the pouch upon her belt to that one spot. A tether, perhaps?
Cherise reaches out to the wire leading away from her waist, fingers closing around the length as she continues to glide on toward Todoh. Using it as a speed brake of sorts, Cherise brings her knees up to her chin. The plan here seems to be to continually push the elder man back until he hits the wall-- as made evident as her legs thrust forward with a good deal of force, trying to strike the man right in the face!
Or faceplate, as the case may be.
Despite her attempts to knock the now-spaceman Todoh into a wall as means of giving back what he gave unto her, it would appear that Shihong's attempts are mild at best. Midflight, he flips and lands on the 'moon dirt,' kicking dust up as he skids a short distance. No matter; having used the burst of energy between her feet and Todoh's body, she is sent sailing back, toward the wall from whence she came.
This man is clearly crazy. He reminds her of...that crazy Shogun.
And now he's calling out Cherise! Black eyes flicker aside, glancing toward her teammate with a puzzled expression. She's doing WHAT wrong, she wonders. The two women, their 'power' are more or less identical...
Thin shoulders shrug easily, eyes snapping shut. "Whatever," is the woman's ultimate response.
"Come on, Cherise," the woman calls, eyes darting toward her cohort once more. A flicker of red flashes through inky black depths, thin red lips pulling back over pearly white teeth. "Go!"
And go the Frenchwoman does, the Chinese woman touches down on the wall once more. Only after the silver-haired girl makes her attack does the woman's black eyes widen, a flash of red haunting her gaze before she shoves off the wall once more. Pursuing Todoh once more, the woman glides through the anti-gravity chamber once more, head first.
However, midflight her body twists sharply, head over heels as she suddenly drives for the ...ground? Planting her hands as best she can, those Prada heels ignite with strange psychic energy - not chi! - as she swings her legs outwards and upwards, attempting to sock the man in his helmeted face with her heels, one foot staggered after the other as she rotates her body into an awkward airborne handstand. Give her a moment, while she attempts to straighten herself out.
"HIYAAH!"
COMBATSYS: Todoh blocks Cherise's Heavy Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Todoh 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Cherise
> //////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Shihong
COMBATSYS: Todoh interrupts Coiled Serpent from Shihong with Kasane Ate.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Todoh 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Cherise
> ///////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Shihong
A strange detail some at home may notice again. Roughly around the earlier exchange of blows until now, some may have noticed strangely glowing, chunky, not-entirely-spherical chunks of stuff with an energy trail behind it. They are angled as such that they streak across the background, but there was one that strayed much closer to the fight, which - perhaps fortunately? - just barely missed Todoh and Shihong when she was trying to kick him away with explosive force.
Off-camera, a Saturday Night Fight official smacks an old man dressed in a gi in the back. "Don't do that so close!" (Saturday Night Fights: so extravagant, they don't bother with special lighting, they hire people who use chi merely for showmanship purposes!)
Now, as may be relevant to this battle, maybe this missed gesture on Ryuhaku's behalf could be the reason for a mistake on his behalf. Angrily scolding them aside, he feels a certain sense of obligation at that last strike by Cherise. There is one kid here who is not using their 'chi' correctly! As a master(?) martial artist who has dedicated his life to the pursuit of mastery over his family technique, this is very worrying indeed. His eyes narrow with a kind of focus that may be befitting of how he sees himself. He is watching for one very, very specific detail.
Cherise's movements are not suspicious in the least. A clever floating offensive in which to strike at him with her legs with a solid blow or two or even more, which he heads off with a forearm again. How long can he last simply doing this, as fake moon dust kicks up behind him with every push. He's not giving up his footing, but he is being pushed back into the wall.
Now, Shihong. His other forearm's about ready for her as she draws closer after her friend. When she touches down, he doesn't quite get the read from those heels. Wait a minute! Both arms already raised, he throws them upwards in a most familiar gesture that some may have been waiting for all this time! Right as Shihong swings, outer space (...or not) is witness to a true miracle of chi! Three unappealingly shaped, blocky yellowish-orange blocks of the good stuff, packed tightly together as he leans forward and throws his arms down - the very motion that would actually let it descend upon Shihong proper with a most hearty kiai as she ends up spearing the heels through his left hand's suit, a painful yelp on his part as he draws it back and shakes it. Argh! Now she ruind the glove on it! And if he were in real space he'd be a dead man already!
"You thought... you thought you could pull a fast one on me?!" Ryuhaku yells with elderly indignation! "You... you little hoochees! When I'm done with you I'm gonna conquer Mars and see if /they/ get it right!!"
It stops him from suddenly turning around to whack Cherise for her efforts for the moment, but at what cost to Shihong?!
If at first you don't succeed...
Cherise's eyes narrow a little as her feet meet with a suitable amount of resistance, her legs tensing and her body going somewhat rigid-- not pushing off immediately, but leaning herself back in the lessened gravity to aim herself toward the ground when she -does- kick, allowing her to at least land on the ground... albeit on her back. Rolling backward to get into a crouch in the false moon dirt, the Frenchwoman digs her feet in again and lunges at Todoh, but keeps a good mind of the wire she has spooling out from that pouch-- gripping it again moments before it goes taut, the great distance halting her in a much harder way, but still just beyond the arm's reach of the master of Todoh-ryu. Cherise's grin becomes wide and somewhat crazed, her arm reeling back and her eyes bright. "Only my boyfriend can call me that!"
Wait, what?
Her arm whips upward one more time, releasing a second blaze of those silvery energy blades that want to bite, rip, and tear into the man and draw blood. If his own 'projectile' has such a short range and his arms and legs are only so long, playing the card of distance may be an advantage...!
Another surprise catches the woman, this time in the form of that dreadful energy she utterly despises. When she comes in for the strike, Todoh reacts swiftly, arms ascending and summoning that odd, orange chi before dropping his arms, sending the energy crashing down upon the Chinese woman. As result, she's forced back toward the ground, a puff of faux moon dust erupting beneath her, coating her black threads in a film of gray and leaving the woman momentarily breathless and aching.
Oh, this will not do at ALL.
"Feh, you crazy old fart," the woman murmurs, pushing herself up off the dirt. It's a bit too much push, but it works in her favor; floating up from the ground, her body twists and rotates, repositioning herself to a proper upright form. "What are you going on about?"
Lifting her arms, she gingerly dusts her sleeves off, followed by her dress hem and everything else about her. Those eyes, however, never once leave Todoh, even as Cherise whips into action once more with her unique energy...
Wait, boyfriend?
"Awww, did you and that weird ganguro kid finally become a couple?" she asks, still staring at Todoh.
COMBATSYS: Shihong focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Todoh 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Cherise
> /////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Shihong
COMBATSYS: Cherise successfully hits Todoh with Argent Claw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Todoh 0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0 Cherise
> /////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Shihong
"Did he teach you how to do that, then?!" The elder Todoh shakes the hand that got stabbed by those terrible heels about as wildly as zero gravity will let him, face contorted in indignation and maybe a little bit of stinging pain. His arms have already bore the brunt of quite a few good, powerful impacts. Maybe he was really on to something when he warded off Makoto's series of punches with his foot that last time.
His eyes narrow again. He knows what Cherise did a while back - he hopes she took his advice to heart about getting it right. All too soon, he notices she doesn't. He decides to move in to correct this even as she tries to make distance a priority.
"You say crazy fart now!" And Shihong may say it again as one Ryuhaku Todoh leaps off the faux lunar surface /into/ the blades. Into! Not holding back, into! But then something rather curious happens... because for all intents and purposes, he should be able to continue through it. But the concentration of those silvery blade things have their own way with him this time.
Some seem to stab through the suit proper this time, letting that odd, foreign feeling of 'whatever this crap is THIS ISN'T RIGHT' stuff he so despises kids these days doing that is not the wholesome, good chi that he practices with every day! Ten thousand Kasane Ates, count 'em! (lies! more like... eight thousand)
But the blades also have the audacity not only to beat his forward momentum, but also work against his traction entirely as he goes flying backwards across the chamber in a back spin. The old master doesn't quite right himself up until he reaches the wall, leaving Cherise in the clear. His little red vest garment he always loves to wear seems to hide any bleeding, if any - for now. But it'll certainly be darkened with stains over the next few seconds, as the blades clearly punctured him... this time!
Todoh hits the wall upside down, where he slumps down a ways, A foot taps against the wall as if he would be metaphorically tapping his fingers in thought, until that large wooden dojo board banner thingamajig he threw up a while back finally descends back in his direction. Ooh, an idea, while he briefly meets Shihong's stares.
"Maybe when I'm done with /her/, you'd like a lesson on the MIGHT OF TODOH?!" You'd think this would be the moment where he suddenly springs up and does something so unbelievably awesome as a feat of masterful agility that those watching couldn't help but rush to the dojo. But, no, he just lazily kicks the thing as though it did not carry the reverence he seemed to treat it before, sending it hurtling across the lunar landscape like a spinning wooden panel from some ancient early 3D graphics video game where giant flatshaded panels were perfectly fine methods of enemy attack by their standards of art direction.
How does Cherise fare against the greatest advert the (fake) moon will ever see?!
COMBATSYS: Todoh successfully hits Cherise with Large Thrown Object.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Todoh 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Cherise
> /////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Shihong
Her energy-- that claw-- finally breaks through the offense and the solid defense of Ryuhyaku Todoh. It isn't chi, not in any way, shape, or form. It carries a latent sense of wrong, like a jolt to the senses or an intensified, almost painful tingle like a shiver up the spine. Whichever the case, it brings Cherise to form her usual sort of twisted, distorted smile. A leer, her eyes wide and lighting up with joy. He's hit! He's hurt!
And now he'll have to hurt more!
However, Cherise is going to learn well the pride of the Todoh-ryu, in the form of a large wooden sign with the decorative family name painted upon it's surface. Her first instinct is to dodge-- pulling hard on the wire she's laid out as her tether, trying to pull herself back. The sign proves to be the faster draw, and the silvery-haired French girl doubles over the edge with a gasp and a harsh rush of air.
Cherise is carried further than anticipated, only getting her footing back by digging hard into the surface of the "moon" with the toes of her boots. "Sort of~! I found out where he works and we had the most -delightful- chat!"
It's good to see her priorities are straight.
Cherise grips that wooden sign hard and looks at it-- then at Todoh. It, then Shihong. Letting go of it long enough to swing her left wrist around the width twice over, Cherise puts the limits of her tether to the test as she takes a large, lunging step forward. Bringing back her arms as hard as she can, she begins a rather impressive swing to bring the sign around spinning once, twice, and a third time-- the portable "platform" picking up speed on each swing. Setting herself at a bit of an angle, she calls out to her partner:
"Mao!! Rebound!!"
COMBATSYS: Cherise assists Shihong.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Todoh 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Cherise
> /////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Shihong
"I'd like nothing of the sort," the woman sharply replies, black eyes narrowing dangerously as she gazes at the elder Todoh. "You keep your energy and your crazy shit to yourself, old man. I'm having none of that." Though she floats midair, she half-turns by swinging an arm lightly to the right. Then she lifts her arm, waving her hand dismissively over a slender shoulder.
"I've never even HEARD of Todoh, or the might thereof," she adds, eyes drawing to a close as she smirks to herself. That's right, old man Todoh. This woman has NO IDEA who you are or what Todoh-ryuu is! And what's worse, it's likely she doesn't care. Oh, the humanity..!
Her finger lifts, idly rubbing at her chin, eyes lifting ceiling-ward as she muses aloud. "However, now that I think about it..." Black eyes shift from the ceiling, back onto Todoh before she sports a look that's a mix of uncertainty, confusion and...disgust. "Were you coming onto me?" The woman's nose wrinkles lightly.
But the old Todoh isn't out yet! Wincing lightly as Cherise is struck, the woman slowly opens a single eye afterwards, observing the girl as she gets back onto her proverbial feet. "Really? That's great," she offers, smirking lightly. She knows what that means. K' has a stalker. Fortunately, the girl has her wits about her to fight properly.
This is why she likes her crazy French teammate!
"Roger," the woman returns, as that odd sign is swung for her benefit. Watching it carefully, the woman's thin red lips ease into a wry smirk, eyes narrowing slowly but surely...
And then she springs off the ground, her aim for the platform. Landing on it and aided by her cohort in all things violence, Shihong springs off of it, diving through the air with a hand outstretched, to grab at Todoh's arm.
And should it connect, the woman will snare it harshly, locking it into place before she runs up his front, digging heels into his chest and coming to rise above. There her legs ignite with psychic energy once again, and in one harsh movement down, those heels drive harshly into the man's shoulders, with every intent on driving him face-first into the moon dust.
And explode him with a second psychic burst of fiery red energy.
COMBATSYS: Todoh fails to interrupt Savage Tiger from Shihong with Fierce Kasane Ate.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Todoh 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Cherise
> ////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Shihong
"Yeh hah haaaa--ack," and that chill runs up his spine, all right - an aftereffect of letting down his guard even post-stabbing of that weird NOT CHI stuff. Powerful enough to bring the unaware down, yes... well, based on all his blathering, he is probably not terribly aware of the true nature of what it is. But those little nagging feelings of 'this is wrong' or 'scary' get pushed down almost completely by sheer ego, cussedness, and being old and stubborn. It counts... just enough, that he is not so easy to topple with such a rare and unconventional attacking style in comparison!
Righting himself back up is a bit of a small challenge after stomaching being trumped in an earlier gamble through the Argent Claw, having to settle with tumbling himself forward with a little grunt from what stabbed him before righting himself up. And he had to press off that stabbed hand, too. A perfect time for Shihong to proclaim how much she's never heard of him. "What?! You haven't?!" He pivots around carefully on the ball of his foot - or rather, the ball of his make-believe astronaut suit. "Bah! Well then! Have the full tutoria-- hit on you?! Pah! Who'd fall for a young lady that doesn't even know how to /use/ it right." It?
With a muddled huff under that terrible mock spacesuit, he brings his hands together around chest level, hunched over a bit. "Where to begin?! Hm, yes, yes. Perhaps we shall take it from the top!" And he's saying this while they coordinate a powerful offensive to, hopefully, grab the upper hand off this old crazy fool. "Now! The first thing you should notice! Watch carefully, because soon the whole universe will know this!"
KNow what, exactly? What is there to know when Shihong springboards off of the ground, the platform, and then at him? He raises his arms again, which provides the absolute perfect target for Shihong to work with as she grabs his arm. Exactly as planned for her.
"HEEYAAH!" One part kiai, one part surprise yelp as his legs drop apart a bit further to hold his place on THE MOON. It need not be said, but it must. The bright yellowish-orangeish chi blocks Shihong bore witness to personally, formed right above her. The hairs on the back of her neck might rise from it being so close, and in nearly all instances it is too late for Ryuhaku's attacker in all circumstances... but this very single one!
Gravity usually takes over if he doesn't guide it down. This chamber makes it impossible for it to do so, leaving it to hover over Shihong like a guillotine a bit higher than he can usually form it and little else as she digs the heels into his chest without complication, earning another new wheeze for her collection of affirmative claims of pain, doubling him over as she completes the action by forcing him to the moon dust.
Followed by the explosion of that TOTALLY WRONG NOT RIGHT YOU FAIL THIS CLASS energy that does exactly as needed, burying him further into the make-believe moon dirt briefly as the residual psychic blast sends the idle Kasane Ate on a happy trek across the universe! The lack of gravity means it doesn't quite dissipate as quickly, either.
It'll enjoy the sights of the fake moon for its short time in existence as it floats past Cherise harmlessly waaaay to her left, like a joyous flying tourist made out of chi.
Shihong's landing on the makeshift platform as well as her swing unstabilize the wire's grasp on it. She lands, it shifts. She springs off, her wires creak.
Cherise snaps her wrist hard, allowing the wire to slacken further and the Todoh-ryu's sign to spike against the ground and bounce off into parts unknown while her partner delivers a rather painful strike to Todoh himself. Another swift snap of her wrist, and Cherise's weapon returns to her with a hissing noise and a distinct *ping* against the surface of the bracelet.
Staying right where she is, too, the shorter of Asura leans forward and cups her hands around her mouth, as if they're actually needed. "Rip his face off while you're over there, Mao~!"
Seeing as this happens, the gray-haired young woman regards her tether wire with a squinting eye. Snapping her hand around the length twice, she gives it a rather hard pull-- and off in the short distance, the dust again puffs up for her to pull the other wire free. Pressing the clip in one more time, the wires spool back toward the pack, allowing Cherise to take a moment and watch her teammate-- as well as the elder man, trying to ascertain a good idea for what she should be doing next...
And stare at the longest-lingering Kasane Ate in the history of martial arts...
COMBATSYS: Cherise gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Todoh 1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0 Cherise
> ////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Shihong
The woman stares, a flat look given as Todoh pivots as best he can without gravity, facing the Asian woman down with an incredulous shout. "That's what I said," the woman replies, eyes drifting to her nails as she absently eyes her manicure...while floating. Or hovering. Take your pick. In either case, she seems to be ignoring him.
At least until he mentions she can't do 'it' right.
Those eyes lift, and her gaze is filled with newfound resolve. To make him hurt. To pay for saying that..!
Thus with the aid of her French teammate, the woman springs into action and ultimately snares the older man, driving him into the dust with a burst of awful psychic power. The impact of her energy against his body sends the woman rocketing back upwards, nearly crashing back-first into the ceiling. Fortunately, the agile-bodied Chinese woman twists, flipping around so as to land feet first.
"I was watching," she remarks, folding her arms as she 'stands' on the ceiling. "But I'm not impressed." Poor Ryuhaku. Poor stray Kasane Ate, sent sailing past the Frenchwoman to vanish into non-existence. A glance is spared at Cherise, eyes narrowed slightly as she squints at the silver-haired girl...before she exhales and shrugs.
"I can't do that. He's harmless!"
Further glance reveals...Cherise to be biding her time. That's fine with Shihong. Still poised on the ceiling, the woman flashes a grin, lips curling at the corners of her mouth. "Anyway, here I come again, gramps!" the woman calls, crouching against the ceiling and using it as a springboard, pushing herself forward, driving herself like a human missile at him. Halfway she rotates her body, so as to drive her heels straight into his chest. Or face; whichever gets in the way first!
COMBATSYS: Todoh fails to counter Strong Kick from Shihong with Random Weapon.
- Power fail! -
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Todoh 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Cherise
> ////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Shihong
And there Ryuhaku Todoh lays, face-down and buried fairly deeply in the wannabe moon surface. Rock bottom! Schooled! By the traitorous lack of gravity! Damn you, Earth's magnetic field and gravitational pull! He will have a word with you when this is all said and done. But, some may say, this is indeed the karma of how much he has long bullied the term 'physics' for as long as anybody cares to remember or notice him.
'Not impressed,' it barely echoes past the cracked helmet and frayed fake spacesuit. 'He's harmless,' which is slightly more clear as that sensation passes through him that he's not so familiar with. Or is he? Helplessness? Vulnerability? Incompetence? Second-rate? His right hand weakly rises from the crater shaped exactly like himself, shaky as though to signal surrender. It goes limp on the edge of the crater. Is he spent?
'Here I come again, gramps,' she calls! The hand that came out of the crater pushes up against the ground for a brief second. But, something clicks in his head. That single, kind of hard-to-hear sound of her jumping off the ceiling. Is it too late? Is he prone to simply be stomped upon yet more by these ungrateful kids that don't know how to respect their elders and superiors (yeah right!)?!
"YOU FOOLS!" The movement is uncharacteristically sudden. Well, not uncharacteristically, given he does this /all the time/ when people aren't looking. He shoves straight up, throwing the body strength he can muster against the ground, kicking off of it with a foot. Looking upon his dome, it is cracked, maybe even already broken and open in places. In real space, he'd be dead and gone by now from being in the vacuum.
But, somehow, a fan has found its way into each hand, one through the glove that didn't get punctured, opened to bear the proud flag of Japan! Immediately, he spins in his upward momentum, like some kind of crazy zero-G fan dance. Interestingly... the heels, at first, are caught by the blade of one open fan. It doesn't puncture the feet. He quickly spins around, as if to maneuver past them and strike her with the stroke of another with such vigor and force that--
That it'd look about as painful as it would if he didn't end up ascending into the heels he held at bay a split second ago, the damage fully because of his /own/ momentum as they land squarely against his face, just underneath the eyes. Close shave on avoiding blindness.
He starts into a backwards spin, allowing Shihong to kick off to wherever she may as he goes to a long, obnoxious pained groan as the flans fly off to wherever they may through the chamber. The touring Kasane Ate, after reaching a wall, finally disappears into the aether itself after a loving tour of the facility.
He's harmless?
Paying attention only to the wire as it spools back to her hip, Cherise offers the slightest of glances back to Todoh and Shihong. "Mao, did he not throw you around a bunch already?" she asks, her thick accent still unable to hide the amusement she's feeling right now. Cherise is only joking by now-- joking as the weighted end of the wire pack hanging from her belt is finally fully returned to the proper position.
Looking back to Todoh just in time to see her powerful kick once again override his attack, Cherise licks the tips of her scarred fingers, the corners of her mouth returning to that insane leering grin. "Oh~! Let me have some fun, too!"
Moving with harsh, long-lunging strides, Cherise's left hand swipes around in the air as Todoh is kicked right on back in the chamber. Putting more muscle into each step, the gray-haired girl does her best to intercept Todoh and drag the tips of her fingers around his left wrist as she glides by...
"Not so fast!"
Cherise pulls hard at the air-- and a wire hovering around the elder man's wris attempts to clamp down and possibly threaten the circulation into his hand. Planting her toes into the earthen floor, the state of the gravity and her attempt to hold her stance as well as possible results in her attempting to pull Todoh -towards- her, using the angle of his arm to attack the opening-- to swing in a harsh punch at his ribs, just below the armpit. Before her fist can fully make contact, however, a burst of silver light erupts from her knuckles and at his side-- and with enough force to blow him back the way he was going originally.
Midflight, Shihong's eyes suddenly go wide, as the man rises from the earth and bellows, cursing their 'foolishness' as he procures a pair of...fans? "What the," the woman mulls, as her attack drives a hard, unforgiving path right for Todoh! The plight of his space suit, helmet and whatever else is forgotten. She has to worry about a potentially angry old man now.
At first, the woman flickers with brief concern, those black depths going wide once again as she looks down at the old man. But the moment those sharp heels meet the fan, she finds herself resolved again, to drive through and make her attack hit! ...and hit it does.
A little too hard, maybe.
Piercing his counterattack, the woman strikes his face with considerable force, almost instantly recoiling by springing off his face and rotating weightlessly through the air. "Ha ha, that was clever!" the woman calls after Todoh, as he too spins backwards, his fans weightlessly drifting away, their fate the same as their Kasane Ate brethren. At least until Cherise calls out to her.
"I didn't mean like that. He's like a kitten!" she clarifies, grinning wryly. "Sure, he has his claws but in the end, a bit of string and he's harmless. Or something of that nature. You catch my drift." It's as if Todoh doesn't speak the same language or something!
But...she's left to her own devices now. Floating toward the opposite wall, the woman drifts along, observing as an aforementioned fan drifts past her face through the air. Hm.
"Hey, old man!" the woman cries, a hand snapping out to snatch the object out of the air just as it dares to leave her peripheral. Clutching it tightly in her grasp, she lets a smirk cross her lips, eyes hooded as she looks toward Todoh.
"Clearly my colleague wants to have her fun so. Here. Catch!"
And with that she sends the fan flying right for Todoh's face! Oh my.
COMBATSYS: Cherise successfully hits Todoh with Argent Striker.
[ \\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Todoh 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Cherise
> ////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Shihong
COMBATSYS: Shihong successfully hits Todoh with Thrown Object.
[ \\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Todoh 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Cherise
> ////////////////// ]
|=======\=------\1 Shihong
Ryuhaku Todoh is, presently, a nearly weightless ball of Old spinning about around the chamber without showing much ability to really slow himself down, let alone any real velocity to reach the wall to use to stop himself. So, as it is, Cherise has the perfect window to follow up this last, desperate maneuver as she manages to get the wire right around the wrist. When she touches down, he is suddenly yanked forward! The choked hand twitches, clenching as if to fight the grasp as she strikes at him. "Ah! AH! AH!" It's like a pinata-balloon! The silver light erupts, reintroducing that 'wrong' feeling through him as he is blown away at a far more dangerous velocity than he could have been going were he to not have set /himself/ up to get stabbed in the face. Little droplets of blood from his face fill the weightless chamber for effect. Bloody stars! Space bloooooood!
He misses the polite call by Shihong to catch the fan handily from his head spinning along with the rest of him, a corkscrew as she, by some miracle, manages to angle the flying fan just right that it somehow smacks him upside the head along his flight towards the upper-most corner of the room. Even stranger is that it does so with just enough force that it stops his movement and cause him to spin about in free-fall again. If anybody's looking beat now, well, it's him! It's him, flung about like a plaything for the two of them. He soon descends somewhere close to the ground, before coming to a twisty, corkscrewy stop at the bottom with a long, drawn-out groan.
"Oooooooooh~." Bloodied, beaten, bruised, INFERIOR NOT-CHI blasted. He lies prone somewhere near where Cherise is in another dramatic cloud of FAKE MOON DUST, which would make her the prime candidate for making sure he's not about to shoot up defiantly with a free refill of piss and vinegar. And, really, for several moments, that seems to be the case.
Until his right arm comes up, makes a cupped motion as if he did indeed have claws, and swings it downward before it goes limp. Happy old man kitty need a nappy? Maybe. But, in that single motion comes three very thin plates of that same color of chi that appears so terribly blocky and misshapen as if to appear poorly conceived compared to all the flash you see from the kids these days with their FIRE and LIGHTNING and WATER and SILVER BLADES and FEATHERS and crap.
They descend, unsurprisingly, in a diagonal fashion towards Cherise's upper legs given the angle. Clearly just mild, impotent spite. Maybe not as spiteful as the time he tried to kick Hotaru in the shin.
This might be #2, though.
COMBATSYS: Todoh can no longer fight.
> /////////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Cherise
> ////////////////// ]
|=======\=------\1 Shihong
COMBATSYS: Cherise blocks Todoh's Aogi Kasane Ate.
> //////////////////// ]
|======-\-------\0 Cherise
> ////////////////// ]
|=======\=------\1 Shihong
One explosive fist of energy later, and Todoh is sent flying as fast and as far as the wire tethered to his wrist allows-- and before it gets -that- far, a deft gesture and some clever tugs loosen it while he flies, keeping her from either joining in the trip or having her shoulder dislocated from the sudden pull. Or in worse case, she loses her bracelet.
In -Canada-.
And likewise, Cherise is the final target of the old man's ire, turning a hard shoulder and arm into the brunt of the old man's assault, letting the forceful chi thunder against her arm and side. Cherise weathers it well, though-- well enough that it'll certainly make her arm hurt a whole lot more later, as well as being stiff in the side. Stacked on with her little tiff with K' at the youth center the other day, and... well.
Massage therapy may be in order.
"Mao~! I think he's done for."
The exclamation is punctuated with a long-strided prance to her partner. Cherise is a physical person, yes, the point reaffirmed as she stands next to the Chinese woman and tries to hold her arm, to lean against Shihong, head and all. It's somewhat endearing and childlike, plus the leering smile's died down a little bit. But the French girl still finds it in her to lift one arm up toward the great Todoh spaceman and gesture. "Are you done, grandpa?"
Log created on 21:02:30 01/06/2008 by Shihong, and last modified on 00:23:08 01/09/2008.