Description: In an old log that somehow never got posted (seriously, this is from like mid-February!) Tenma catches a certain British woman sneaking around Gedo Street... Naturally, Tenma asks Arika what she's doing there in a polite and genteel fashion, and then they bake cookies together. Some or all of this description maybe a lie.
Welcome to Gedo High territory. A street where many of the official businesses are now unprofitable, and many of the higher scale buildings have been abandoned. Several weeks ago, she was here, watching the Ryouhara hide something inside the ceiling tiles of a once-pretty cafe bistro along this strip of buildings. Several weeks ago, she fought the Ryouhara here and was left in a crater he forged in the road. Several weeks ago, she decided to search the area for other items of ninja-y interest.
Then she became sorely distracted with other things happening in her life.
Depression can do that. So can working your butt off to get a nightclub in proper order for opening.
Tonight, however, the punk princess finds herself here once more. Figuring the little cafe to be the best place to begin her search, she's currently atop the counter, poking and prodding up into the ceiling tiles to see if there are any hidden treasures (beside dead insects and rats - ew!) to be found.
Every so often, she pauses, gives her hand a shake, makes a face and then slides along the counter to a new position to begin the process again.
In many ways, the reputation Gedo High gets is quite undeserved; of course, that's only because of the influence of one Daigo Kazama, and his efforts to shape the student body into a unified force for good, instead of the disparate gangs out for their own fun and random property damage like they once were. Still, the Gedo Gang does what it can to keep the area safe, and even if the presence of a bunch of armed teenagers /fighting for justice/ doesn't provide any more of an incentive for people to stick around than armed teenagers just /fighting/, there's been some progress.
For one thing, sometimes people poking around in ramshackle buildings gets noticed.
So it comes to pass that Arika's poking and prodding doesn't go undiscovered, as there are Gedo students out patrolling today. And one of them notices a girl in an abandoned cafe, running off to tell a more senior gang member, which would be how Tenma Kiryuu arrives on the scene.
"An' just what the hell d'you think /you're/ doin'?" Tenma wonders, standing silhouetted in the shattered doorway of the cafe, the cloth-wrapped bundle of his sheathed bokken slanted against his shoulder. Poking around suspiciously on Gedo territory, that's what she's doing! So Arika should hardly be surprised she got some attention.
Contrary to belief, Arika was hoping that her poking and prodding around in the cafe would be noticed - just not by any members of the Gedo Gang. The -idea- was to draw out a certain ninja, in order to return something to him since she feels quite awkward about keeping it. People on the streets have been ignored for the most part, however, since she knows if the Ryouhara wanted a meeting he'd waltz right in or set up to ambush her again - like he did at the mall.
The search is not stopped as more shadow falls into the already darkened cafe. In fact, the punk princess doesn't even bother to glance over at the person as of yet, since it's not a voice she's been waiting for. Fingers prod around up in the ceiling tile, and there's a sudden snapping sound.
This gets the diva's attention, causing her to quickly yank her hand back and take a few steps back on the counter. "Bloody rat traps," she mutters, before finally allowing her eyes to shift to the doorway.
"Oi'm lookin' for somethin' someone left 'ere a few weeks back. Roight befor' 'e decided to blow a crater in the street. You got a problem with that?" Eyebrows arch upward, and her clean hand settles on her hip as she peers at the man in the entrance.
The tall, lean young man doesn't seem particularly sympathetic at Arika getting her - possibly dainty?! - hand caught in a mousetrap or whatever, but then Tenma doesn't seem like a very sympathetic guy generally. It might have something to do with the whole 'gruff delinquent' persona he projects every waking moment. Taking a moment to parse the rock'n'roll fighter's accent, his brow furrowing faintly as he does so, the Guardian King leader replies finally, and with an affected tone of strained patience: "Well, considerin' I walked in here an' asked what the hell you were doin', I would assume that yes, I do have a problem with it."
People stashing things on Gedo Street is, after all, technically his problem; it's not likely that anything hidden around here is going to be a good thing, after all. Dark blue eyes narrow slightly as Tenma gets a better look at Arika, though his attention lingers, uh, elsewhere than her face for a few moments. "You look familiar," he says.
Dainty indeed. The blonde may be something of a meat-wall brawler type when it comes to fighting, but she's not all that large, considering. "Everyone 'as a problem with somethin', mate," she says as she dusts her hand off on a rag she dropped on the counter earlier. Hopping down, she gives the man another look, cocking her head to the left.
"Oi ain't the only one that looks familiar." Arika is having a bit more difficulty placing him, than he likely is her. She's really only seen him once or twice, and it's highly doubtful that her mind was on him at the time.
Down on the floor now, she refrains from walking toward him. It's a dangerous thing to advance on someone with a weapon, even if you have the very best of intentions. "Arika Fade. Femme Fatale." Pause. "That's me band name." Pause. "Femme Fatale, Oi mean."
The possibly ironic part here is that if he knew, Tenma would be all for luring Seishirou out. Why? Because the younger man would dearly like to punch that ninja in the mouth. Right... Right in the mouth. But that's neither here nor there, since neither Tenma nor Arika is a telepath!
"Hmmm," Tenma murmurs, looking thoughtful, his eyes focusing a bit past the blonde. He's almost got it, though... "Never heard of 'em," is his response about the band. The name - Arika Fade - that is closer to remind him of the truth.
Oh right, of course.
"You're the one that fought Barbie at the end of that tournament," Tenma says, his attention focusing very directly back on Arika, his broad mouth pulling into a toothy grin. "She's stronger'n you'd think huh, lookin' like that..." But if Arika got that far too, then she must be strong as well! He doesn't really remember her too well from his earlier encounters with her, since when they were fighting Geese he was preoccupied with the guy who could break them all in half with his pinky. Not to mention Luc and Marisol being jerks.
Slowly, the Kiryuu demon hunter slides that bundle off of his shoulder, undoing the tie on it as he does so, the bluish cloth sheath falling to the ground. "'course, I ain't gonna be able to just let you do whatever you like... Y'know?" Besides, after his encounters with Elle, he's not a big fan of musicians!
"Barbi-- oh, you mean Tiffany." Rolling her eyes, she does her utmost not to twitch as she's reminded of the incident. "Could'a bloody well beaten 'er too, if Oi 'adn't been busy defendin' the ship and all." Though her voice sounds quite certain and confident of this fact, there is a slight wavering to it that could, if one were listening enough, denote that she's not at all sure that the outcome would have been any different.
Arika decides to ignore the fact that he's never heard of her band. They've got a solid fanbase as is, and it continues to grow now that they're out of the bar scene. She's really not worried that some guy she barely remembers hasn't heard of them.
Deep blue eyes narrow as he begins to move the weapon. A deep frown causes her brow to furrow and she pops her neck side to side. "So instead'a findin' out wot people are really doin', you'd rather just beat the bloody 'ell out'a them?"
It's possible that Tenma IS perceptive enough to notice that waver, but would he be keeping up appearances if he called attention to it? Still, he doesn't just let the comment slide, instead saying: "Oh, makin' excuses for losin', huh?" with a slight shake of his head. How disappointing! "Here I was thinkin' you'd be the type to own up to it... Role model for the kiddies an' all that stuff."
But there goes Arika, casting aspersions on his nature! Insinuating he's some violent thug!
"I can do both, it's called 'beatin' the answers out'." Tenma knows about this sort of thing, he watched a lot of movies and read a lot of comics when he was younger, much to his rather staid and stoic parents' disapproval and chagrin. "'sides which, if you're strong... It'll be /fun/ to fight you." Of course, if she's not planning to fight back, then he's just going to be disappointed! When the other Gedo gang members told him there was a weirdo lurking around, he got his hopes up.
COMBATSYS: Arika has started a fight here.
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Arika 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Tenma has joined the fight here.
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Arika 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Tenma
"Makin' excuses? Not bloody likely, mate. Just statin' the facts as they are." It seemed to her that life aboard the Suiryuu was a constant fight from the moment Rugal decided to launch his attack. Fight after fight after fight, can really wear on a persons body, mind, and soul. By the time the diva was setting out to fight Tiffany, she was getting to the point where she didn't care about winning or losing - just getting people off the ship before it sank to the bottom of the briny deep.
"Askin' is a much more pleasant way to do things," Arika responds with a shrug. Seems he's itching for a fight though, and even if she decides not to fight back, she's got to go -through- him to get to the door. Rolling her shoulders again in order to limber up, the punk princess sighs. "S'pose you're the type that likes doin' things the 'ard way though. You look it." Fingers on each hand curl toward her palms, causing her knuckles to crack.
"Fun? You think things like this are -fun-?"
A soft 'heh' is issued, and she wastes no time at all. He wants a fight, she'll give him one. Arika suddenly rushes toward him, sending her fist up to greet his chin in the hopes of knocking him out of the cafe. Truth is, she doesn't really want to destroy a building that may still have weird ninja devices or scrolls hidden about it.
COMBATSYS: Arika successfully hits Tenma with Jab Punch.
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Arika 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Tenma
Of course, Tenma knows how it is: He too was in a constant battle for survival during the invasion, trapped on the Blacknoah or hunted in the corridors of the Suiryuu, having to contend with R agents and Blackjack and stupid Momo, but at least he got the pint-sized Benedict Arnold back for her behaviour aboard the boat. Otherwise, though, there's still consequences from Jinchuu that haven't entirely expressed themselves. It's entirely possible that nobody who was on that dumb boat will ever be the same again.
Arika's sudden rush is met by Tenma just... Standing there, tilting his head slightly to one side. And when she tries to punch him in the chin, he actually just /stands there and takes it/, letting the strike hit home and rock his head back, causing him to stumble out of the doorway.
He miscalculated a little.
But he doesn't seem particularly put out by the fact, instead sticking the first two fingers of his left hand in his mouth, pulling them back out bloody. It seems he bit his cheek or something; regardless, he draws those bloodied digits down the length of his bokken, painting a red stripe along the wooden blade, forging the chi link between himself and the ritually blessed weapon. And then, swiping it through the air once, he activates that same link: An aura appears around the weapon, misty, violent red, blood and chi intermingled until there's no telling where one starts and the other begins.
And then, he lunges right at Arika, apparently trying to stab her in the throat with his energy-emanating blade. "Why, don't /you/ think they're fun?!"
COMBATSYS: Arika blocks Tenma's Weapon Jab.
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Arika 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Tenma
Good.
Great.
He's out of the cafe, which means that there's going to be very little destruction to the building. Favorable, but while her search wasn't heavy, she's decided that since she happens to know about this place, the Ryouhara would have found a new location to stash those secret scrolls now.
Her thoughts may drift, but the punk princess glances back to her 'opponent' in time to see him wipe blood along his weapon. "No offense, mate, but ew. That's kind'a all sorts of disgustin'." Not only is the weapon filled with germs now, it's covered in -blood-. Blood that could carry disease. Blood that can get on -her-. The energy is disconcerting, yes, but the bloody weapon is just -gross- in her mind. Thus, as the weapon is stabbed toward her throat, her right arm snaps up defensively allowing the bokken to thwock against her arm.
Sliding a foot backward, she pulls her body along with it. Feet bop back and forth, picking up something of a rhythmic dance before she pirouettes around. As she does, her right leg is chambered up, and she's suddenly lashing out with a quick snappy roundhouse to the arm that holds the bokken in an attempt to knock the weapon from his grip.
COMBATSYS: Arika successfully hits Tenma with Rhythmic Roundhouse.
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Arika 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Tenma
"Yeah, people complain about that a lot," Tenma says; he doesn't seem particularly bothered by it though, perhaps because he /has/ heard it complained about so much. Don't worry, though: He can do much, much worse.
Pulling back quickly to shift his weight after attacking, Tenma sees the kick coming and tenses, trying to get his bokken in the way of Arika's pirouetting kick, but he underestimates the strength behind it, and it does indeed get knocked out of his hands.
With a faint mutter, Tenma dives after his weapon, snatching it up before the aura around it manages to fade entirely; hitting the ground in a roll, he ends up in a low crouch, sweeping his bokken through the air as he does so... But he's harmlessly distant from Arika, what's he trying to pull?!
Well, as it happens, a red afterimage of energy follows in the wake of the slash, and from that streak erupts forth a crescent of blood, which tears through the air. Right at Arika.
See? Worse!
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Arika with Dharmapala.
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Arika 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Tenma
It's only worse if it hits, right?
Right.
Spying the slash through the air, and remembering several other attacks of a similar kind, the punk princess attempts to dive to the sidewalk and roll along the cement, avoiding it.
Bloody energy flings itself toward her mid-dive, and slams her back against the building.
It's worse. No doubt about that.
Gritting her teeth together, Arika narrows her eyes and focuses in on her opponent now. She looks none too pleased, and needless to say any answers she may have provided aren't going to be very forthcoming now.
Energy. The bane of her existence. One small dose of it, and she's nearly reeling with the pain. No matter how much she works with it, or fights against it, she can't seem to get more than a basic grasp of it and it's almost become hugely detrimental to her.
Hands clench into tight fists before slamming against the wall and pushing herself off of it. Advancing on him, Arika prepares to slam her fists out, looking as though she wants to cave his face in. This is clearly not her intent though, as she actually attempts to reach down and grab the Gedo student by the shoulder, and fling him behind her in a direct line with the wall.
COMBATSYS: Tenma interrupts Medium Throw from Arika with Head Breaker.
- Power hit! -
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Arika 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Tenma
Well, see: Tenma's social skills are a little bit catastrophically terrible. He doesn't actively set out to be completely unlikeable, though he manages it with surprising consistency, but a lot of his behaviour is, well... /Abrasive/. What's probably a marvel is that he has the friends he does, and that they're so frighteningly loyal to him. Not to mention the respect he's garnered around Gedo, for more than just his somewhat macabre fighting skills.
"So what /were/ you lookin' for in there anyway?" Tenma chooses this time of all times to wonder. He doesn't give Arika a name because he hasn't come up with a nickname for her; assigning people some other handle instead of their actual name is one of his more peculiar quirks. But he has his reasons.
When it looks like Arika's going to try to punch his face in, the Guardian King steps /into/ the attack, leaving him rather surprised when she grabs his shoulder. But not so surprised that he doesn't have a response; his free hand snaps up with terrifying suddenness and grips Arika by the throat - the studs on her choker hurt a little, owie! - and with a bit of a wild look in his eyes he brings his head downwards in a vicious headbutt, slamming his forehead into the singer's face.
Hitting a girl in the face isn't nice, but Tenma has never pretended to be anything of the sort.
Still, he doesn't manage to entirely avoid getting tossed, though his own attack turns it into more of an uncomfortable sideways wrench than a painful impact with the wall. But he didn't grab her chest like he usually would in that attack, so there's a plus.
TONK!
Thank goodness for the studded choker. It actually stops the grip from crushing her windpipe. Her face, however, isn't as lucky. She's no stranger to the pain of a headbutt, but she's very rarely on the recipients end of it. His forehead crashes against her nose, a loud cracking sound following it. Then blood. Glorious amounts of blood which spew from her nostrils. Reflexively her hands lift up to cup her nose as soon as Tenma is no longer gripping her throat.
Where Arika was just wryly amused prior to this, she's now in pain and quite a bit angry. Growling, she backs away from him and takes a moment to try and pop her nose back into place. Barring this, she just wipes the blood away with her hand, starting to make her way toward him once more. Feet slide forward, as they do, her head swings to the right. Another sliding movement, another swing. Then another, and yet another until she's right up at him. The last swing sees her head drifting to the left and then suddenly slamming forward to attempt returning the favor.
COMBATSYS: Tenma blocks Arika's Harmonic Headbang.
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Arika 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Tenma
So... That's a no on answering his question, huh? Tenma's ability at making women angry with him are all but unmatched, in or out of the professional fighting world; he could write a book or something! It wouldn't be a very popular book though, who really wants to piss women off intentionally?
Though Tenma isn't sure just what Arika is up to when she starts taking those sliding steps forward and swinging her head around, but his keen instincts as a fighter tell him that whatever it is, it's probably not good for him. This is borne out by the sudden lunge, as the smaller combatant tries to level a headbutt of her own against the Gedo swordsman, and Tenma is forced to skirt backwards, throwing up his left hand to intercept the attack, catching Arika's forehead with the palm of his hand. This sends a stinging pain across his palm, and up his forearm, but... It's a fair sight better than getting his face smashed in.
"Too slow!" Tenma chides, because talking smack is an important part of fighting. Then he ducks low, trying to pass by Arika and, as he does so, slash at her side with his chi-emanating bokken, right below the ribs.
COMBATSYS: Arika blocks Tenma's Light Strike.
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Arika 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Tenma
Arika tends not to talk much when she's angered, or... you know... bleeding profusely. Especially when the blood is dripping down her face. There's that whole grossness factor again, and she really doesn't want the coppery, tinny taste of blood gagging her while she's trying to concentrate on things.
It's a good thing, too, seeing as how when he attempts to crack her with the bokken she's able to slam her hand down and push the weapon away. It leaves a stinging sensation along her arm, but she's choosing to ignore that for now. Her reasoning?
Well, she's busy moving forward. Attempting to take hold of him. Lift him up. And quite possibly crash his back against the knee which she'll slam upward should she manage the initial grasp.
COMBATSYS: Tenma dodges Arika's Strong Throw.
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Arika 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Tenma
Yeah, stinging sensations in the arm are usually better than extreme pain in the vitals, in Tenma's experience. What's rather alarming to him, though, is that he gets grabbed as he tries to move by Arika, and despite having a good sixty pounds on the blonde, gets /hefted into the air/. But while he might seem like a no-finesse power fighter, it's never a good idea to underestimate the Guardian King; he actually manages to flip in Arika's grasp, over her knee strike and back onto his feet.
Of course, his shirt is pulled halfway up over his head, but he can fix that.
"Ain't it tough to fight dressed like that?" Tenma then wonders, apropos of nothing, but he tends to be a talkative guy anyway. "I mean, I ain't complainin'," he adds, leering a bit. "But between those boots an' that top an' your underpants stickin' out..." Rushing in close, Tenma twists to keep his bokken behind himself, slanting it behind his back like something out of a wuxia movie, the energised tip rising out over his left shoulder. His left hand, meanwhile, lashes out at Arika's torso in a series of quick, carefully placed punches, targeting where her chi flows through her body, to disrupt it; he's also trying to herd her back, up against the wall of the cafe.
COMBATSYS: Arika fails to counter Flow Breaker from Tenma with Diva Allegro.
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Arika 1/----===/=======|=======\-------\1 Tenma
Tough? To fight dressed like this? Has Tenma not seen her regular fighting outfit? Or that crazy harem-girl outfit she was forced to wear (due to losing a bet) during the fight against Geese? The punk princess has worn crazier outfits to be certain, and none seem to have hindered her movements at all yet.
As the first punch lashes out toward her, Arika jabs her right fist forward, trying to swat his arm away. A slight miscalculation sees her fist grazing off of his arm, sending her into the next several punches and leaving her with several bruises. The energy that was beginning to envelope her left hand dissipates as she's pushed back toward the cafe wall.
Oh, Tenma saw what she wore against Geese, that's for sure. ...And he saw it several times after the fight too.
Ewww!
But regardless, he doesn't associate that person with the person he's fighting now, due to his previously mentioned distractions during that fight. What he IS well aware of, though, is how nearly he came to getting into some serious trouble there, with Arika's energy charged right fist; but it's that risk that keeps the blood pumping. The danger, the excitement. Otherwise, why even bother fighting? Why not go be an accountant, or a doctor or something?
"All right, seein' as how you ain't feelin' chatty anymore," Tenma says, sounding resigned. "Guess I'll havta finish this up quick, then we'll find out just what you were lookin' for. In the meantime..." He swings his bokken back in front of him, twisting it so that the point is aimed down, and then he collapses into a crouch, driving his wooden sword into the ground as he does.
The energy-wreathed blade cuts into the concrete like a hot knife through butter, and for a moment, nothing happens... Until cracks begin to spiderweb out around the point of impact, widening as gouts of blood begin to flow out of them. The gouts turn into lines of energy and blood, serpentine forms like dragons, which race towards Arika and converge on the Punk Rock Princess, seeking to collide with her with brutal force! "Go to HELL!!"
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Arika with Hell of Blood.
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Arika 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|-------\-------\0 Tenma
Bloody lines of energy, racing toward her. Arika makes the mistake of trying to get the heck out of the way again, and once more she's greeted with the energy slamming her against the wall with enough force for the bricks to crack behind her body. There's no cry of pain, no sound uttered as the diva simply slumps forward, crashing her already injured face to the concrete of the sidewalk below her.
Lids drift down over her eyes, and for a moment it looks as though the punk princess is welcoming the state of sweet unconsciousness. With a sharp wince, she struggles to get back up to her feet. Faltering twice, she nearly doesn't make it. A third attempt sees her up on her feet, clutching her stomach and yet still rushing to slip in behind Tenma. While she moves, she attempts to lock him up in a half-nelson hold...
COMBATSYS: Arika has reached second wind!
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Arika 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Tenma
COMBATSYS: Tenma endures Arika's Punk Rock Breakdown.
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Arika 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Tenma
Securing the hold as tightly as she can, Arika smirks. Her body is in severe pain. She's regretting the actions she's taken thus far in this fight, and she knows she's going to have to stop for medical attention before heading to the hotel and freaking the crap out of her manager again. The diva may not be a model, but she's basically the face of the band and so when her face becomes injured, Marcy tends to yell at her.
But still, she smirks.
She's quite certain he'll be feeling quite a bit of pain himself in a second.
Jerking her body to the side, she twists him just enough so that she can hoist him off of his feet and begin to lift him into the air. Each drift upward sees her spinning about faster and faster, until he's directly above her head. At this point, she stops abruptly, allowing the momentum of her previous movements to carry the throw the rest of the way through. Shoving him down to the cement sidewalk as roughly as she can, she actually snickers and switches up the move enough so that he lands face first.
The weird part is this: There's no resistance to the move. None whatsoever. Tenma, for whatever reason, simply goes along with it, letting himself get grappled and twisted and hoisted, and then /spun/, which is less than ideal. But the younger fighter grits his teeth and deals with it, even as he ends up driven into the sidewalk facefirst, which isn't doing him any favours.
Plus it hurts. A lot.
"Keh..." the Gedo swordsman mutters, his shoulders shaking as he starts to get up off of his face, and it becomes quickly apparent that he's /laughing/. "Ha ha ha ha! An' here I thought you were just for show!" Tenma declares, suddenly whirling around and swinging his bokken without even getting to his feet, aiming to catch Arika right across her bare midriff with a vicious slash!
COMBATSYS: Arika just-defends Tenma's Fierce Strike!
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Arika 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Tenma
Attention is given to the whirling, swinging bokken. Arika, hurt as she is, is unmoving. Yet when the bokken angles toward her midriff, she drops her body back into a bridge, moving at the same time the weapon is in order to avoid being damaged by it.
She says nothing about his laughter, or her being merely for show.
Instead of coming up out of the bridge, she kicks her feet upward. She doesn't seem to care too much if she slams them into his face or not. If she does, bonus. If not, she'll just use the opportunity to get back to her feet and in a position where she can see what that weapon is up to, in the hopes of avoiding it some more.
COMBATSYS: Tenma blocks Arika's Medium Kick.
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Arika 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Tenma
This has turned around... Pretty quickly. Perhaps Tenma has squandered his advantage, or perhaps Arika just decided to pull out all the stops at the end, but whatever the reason... The Gedo gang member is pretty surprised when Arika manages to avoid getting hurt by his slash, squandering the opening he thought he'd created, but no so surprised that he can't react to her kick; instead, he throws up an arm and moves back a bit, taking the kick on his forearm rather than his face. Okay, this could... Probably be going better, now.
Straightening up at last, Tenma lifts his bokken up to rest it against his shoulder, his left hand at his side, thumb hooked into the pocket of his school uniform slacks. His posture relaxes, a little; a lion on the hill, confident in his own strength. His whole body language is insolent, arrogant. But what's he got planned?
COMBATSYS: Tenma gains composure.
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Arika 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Tenma
Noticing Tenma has backed off, the punk princess considers doing the same for a moment. She really should stop and catch her breath, but she's almost afraid that it will cause her to lose whatever consciousness she's got left. Fighting is really the only thing keeping her alive at the moment and, as she likes to remind herself, survival is key.
Arika will quite likely regret that thought in a second or two.
Nonetheless, she sprints forward. Both hands clasp together and she slams them upward toward his chin, trying to wipe whatever arrogant smirk might be displayed upon his face at the moment.
COMBATSYS: Tenma interrupts Fierce Punch from Arika with Initial Breaker.
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Arika 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Tenma
Hell, it was all but an /engraved invitation/ to come and attack him, wasn't it. Of course, that was kind of the point. Tenma seems inclined to stand down Arika's charge once again, but this time as she gets closer, a split-second before she attacks, he drops his sword off of his shoulder, twisting to the side as he pulls his right hand back, holding his chi-emanating bokken horizontally across his body, point towards the Punk Rock Princess, his free hand near the tip of the wooden blade.
The hammerblow smashes into Tenma's head as he starts to twist again, stepping into the attack to thrust his right hand forward, the blow rocking his head one side, but the highschooler follows through anyway. He /stabs/, right in Arika's chest - scandalous! - but unlike the cement before it doesn't penetrate skin, instead colliding with blunt force at a single point, bolstered by the bloody chi he's been slinging around so carelessly, like it was nothing at all. "HAAA-!!"
Hell, it was all but an /engraved invitation/ to come and attack him, wasn't it. Of course, that was kind of the point. Tenma seems inclined to stand down Arika's charge once again, but this time as she gets closer, a split-second before she attacks, he drops his sword off of his shoulder, twisting to the side as he pulls his right hand back, holding his chi-emanating bokken horizontally across his body, point towards the Punk Rock Princess, his free hand near the tip of the wooden blade.
The hammerblow smashes into Tenma's head as he starts to twist again, stepping into the attack to thrust his right hand forward, the blow rocking his head one side, but the highschooler follows through anyway. He /stabs/, right in Arika's chest - scandalous! - but unlike the cement before it doesn't penetrate skin, instead colliding with blunt force at a single point, bolstered by the bloody chi he's been slinging around so carelessly, like it was nothing at all. "HAAA-!!"
Okay, ew?
That's about the reaction it gets from her. Arika can handle the energy - albeit not well - but she's really, really grossed out by the fact that the bloody bokken has just collided with her chest.
Disgusted as she is, she's not going to lie about the fact that it hurt like all Hell. She's in pain, and she staggers back from the Gedo student to avoid having the weapon thrust up toward her face. She doesn't get too far before she decides once more that catching her breath would just be a waste. She rushes forward, trying to loop her arms about his waist. Managing this, she simply goes to hoist him over her shoulder and to the ground. Nothing special. No bells or whistles. It's just a flip.
COMBATSYS: Tenma endures Arika's Quick Throw.
[ \\\\\\ < > // ]
Arika 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Tenma
See, there's probably some dirty jokes to be made in there somewhere, and while Tenma is certainly not too much of a gentleman to utter them, at the moment he's a bit busy. Much as he's trying not to show it, Arika is turning out to be a lot tougher than he expected... So he's left with only one choice: Do something completely unexpected. When Arika rushes forward, he just lets her catch him by the waist, and he goes with the flip... To his detriment. He lands on his back, and while it doesn't hurt as bad as some things might, it hurts /enough/.
But not enough that he doesn't drive his bokken into the ground a second time, with a faint 'heh'.
The cement cracks around the weapon again, and the cracks widen to once more emit those bloody dragons, which streak towards Arika while she's hopefully still recovering from throwing him.
If you can't win, well... Take the other person with you.
COMBATSYS: Tenma can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\ <
Arika 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Arika with Hell of Blood.
Glancing Blow
[ \ <
Arika 1/---====/=======|
It doesn't take Arika long to recover from the fast little flip she forced him into. Turning around just in time to catch the cement cracking with the movement of the weapon, she grimaces. Diving toward the sidewalk, she gets partially down again and WHAM! Energy crashes right into her. Not as hard as the previous attempt, perhaps, but hard enough that she goes tumbling toward the cafe again. Her body curls into a ball as she rolls along toward the doorway.
Just before she enters the cafe in a ball of punk princess, she stops rolling and lays there, staring up at the night sky. There, she debates getting up again or simply letting herself fall unconscious. Then she remembers that she's in the company with a guy she wouldn't trust to be alone with a single-celled organism, let alone her unconscious body, so she tries to get back to her feet at the very least.
COMBATSYS: Arika takes no action.
[ \\\\\ <
Arika 1/---====/=======|
COMBATSYS: Arika has reached third wind!
[ \\\\\ <
Arika 1/---====/=======|
Meanwhile, Tenma gets up... Rather shakily. He's got no fight left in him, but he's not exactly going to go fall unconscious either, despite one /really solid/ blow to the head. But by the time he's gotten to his feet, and pulled his weapon free from where it's driven into the street, the glow around that wooden sword of his has faded entirely, along with the line of blood he drew down its length.
And Tenma is perfectly trustworthy, that's vile slander!
"Ohhh... Looks like you're in better shape than me," Tenma muses aloud, looking over at Arika. How can he tell? Well... He's a LOT more perceptive than you might think. "Guess you ain't half bad either, Music Girl." There we go, demeaning nickname applied! "Most people can't take that kinda punishment an' keep goin'. Well, you win," he adds, with a slight shrug of his shoulders. Nevertheless, he works his way over to the door of the cafe, to retrieve the cloth sheath for his bokken. "Hope you find whatever you were lookin' for."
Unless Arika stops him, the youth /is/ going to start heading back towards the school, stopping only to turn and look back at her with a serious expression, pointing his wooden blade at her. "Next time, I'm gonna kick your ass. So you better not go gettin' slack, or whinin' about chipped nails, or anythin'." Tenma is... Gruff, you know? He tries /really hard/ to be that way.
No one is perfectly trustworthy, so far as the diva is concerned. Someone was granted that, and the trust was abused, so now she's back to thinking the worst of everyone until proven differently. Arika catches sight of the sword first as she leans back against the cafe wall, inhaling slowly and steadily in order to catch her breath.
The glow may be gone from the weapon, but she's not going to underestimate him again.
"Heh. Did you think Oi got all the way to the end of that tourney due to special favors?" She wouldn't blame him if he'd thought that. She's thought it herself after a few of the things the Ryouhara said to her. "Wot Oi'm lookin' for ain't in there," she says, jerking her thumb toward the cafe. "Not that it's any'a your business, but... keep an eye out for any'a those weird ninja markings 'round 'ere."
Why is she giving him a heads up? Well it never hurts to have another person looking around the area, even if she doesn't trust him.
She doesn't stop him from leaving though. The sooner he's gone, the sooner she can slump down and try to relax a bit before seeking medical attention for her poor nose.
COMBATSYS: Arika has ended the fight here.
"I dunno, maybe they just wanted t' see two hot chicks end up fightin'," Tenma suggests. Yes, he just implied that Arika was just t&a to the Jinchuu organisers. He is, after all, a kindly-spoken gentleman. Besides, the choices for the semifinalists were... Odd anyway. Tenma himself didn't exactly have the best record in the tournament, in fact /losing/ his first round match, and yet he ended up there! Whatever the criteria were, only Seishirou knows for sure.
As for the rest of it... "What? Oh... Great, that stupid Pervert Kidnapper Ninja is nosin' around here?" Tenma grouses, taking a moment to turn and spit on the ground. It's mostly blood. Ewww. "I hope he shows his face so I can hit him in it," the tall, lean youth adds with his characteristic even-tempered nature. "Thanks for the warnin', anyway," Tenma says finally to the British woman, before he indeed heads on his way.
He needs some aspirin!
Log created on 21:12:35 02/16/2008 by Tenma, and last modified on 22:09:14 03/19/2008.