Description: Ever feel like you're just going in circles in a fight? Well, this time it's literal! Bring a barf bag. (Winners: Kasumi and Ayame)
"A historical landmark, eh?" Ayame grunted as she's pointed to the old fashioned looking carousel, hand scratching at the side of her head, expression unimpressed. "Doesn't look like anything special to me." she remarks to the park official standing at her side, trying to drum up what a big deal the site is. "Uh huh," Ayame replies, shuffling through a black pouch affixed to one of her multiple belts, "If it's soooo important, why you letting this fight happen on it? You don't think it's going to get wrecked? Are you sure you aren't just doing this because you secretly want to get rid of it but didn't want to deal with the community backlash?" the girl accuses, straightening the tie at her neck as she half shrugs, "Oh well, a fight's a fight. Not my problem."
"Hey Frank, we got the motors tuned up!" comes a shout from a man in overalls tinkering around at the center column of the large merry-go-round. "Guarenteed this thing will spin faster than anyone's ever seen one of these babies go before, haha!" Closing up the panel and turning around, the maintenance worker blinks at Ayame then shrugs, "Hope you got some way of keeping traction on this, kid, or this is going to be one hell of a short fight." And then he hops off, leaving Ayame to stare after the worker before shifting her gaze back toward the carousel, giving the innocuous looking platform covered with sadled, plastic animals a far more wary inspection. Just what is she getting into this time?
"You should pick one to start on!" encourages one of the SNF officials from the sidelines and Ayame shoots him a glare. Taking a step up onto the platform, the strawberry-blonde simply takes hold of one of the many poles fixing the animals in their positions. "They really seem to be blowing this whole thing out of proportion," the girl mutters beneath her breath.
Kasumi is actually interested in the carousel as a cultural landmark, unlike her teammate, but her reasoning for being interested is somewhat skewed. Simply put, it's a cultural landmark that /isn't/ Japanese, and thus her fascination with it on world TV will subtly give her mother, who plays at being the supreme classical Japanese woman, a little rebellious back-sass from halfway across the earth.
Todoh the Younger studies it carefully, looking it over as it gets tuned up; she then gives her teammate a quick glance. "I hope you're good," she says, sounding a little disappointed at being teamed with someone she doesn't even know. "Try to keep up, okay? I don't have time for you if you can't."
Climbing onto the carousel, she grabs a pole just ahead of Ayame, twisting her wrist a little, testing the integrity of the thing. She knows how quick and powerful the God of Battle is, at least by reputation -- she'll just have to be quicker, and if she can use the environment to get some mobility, it could be a huge boon in the battle to come.
And last, but certainly not least, is the two girls' scheduled opponent... Because who better than to fight two petite young women than the God of Battle?!
Shenwoo arrrives a few minutes after Ayame and Kasumi have both situated themselves on the carousel, striding out of the crowd with his usual confident swagger, his dark eyes hidden behind a pair of designer sunglasses. He looks at the carousel, the location on which he's expected to fight, and... He frowns.
It wouldn't be HIS first choice, you know?
But Shenwoo is nothing if not resilient, and he figures the chance for a fight outweighs the undignified location; besides, he imagines it could be worse. So, the Shanghai-born berserker steps up onto the carousel, turning to look at first Kasumi, then Ayame, sizing them up with his hidden eyes. And then, he lets out a slow huff of breath.
"Hmmph," Shen mutters, cracking his neck by rolling his head to one side, then the other. "I hope you two can make this worth my time." He came all this way... He'd better be able to have some fun!
COMBATSYS: Shenwoo has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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Shenwoo 0/-------/-------|
"Hey, that's my line!" Ayame retorts as Kasumi expresses hope that her partner is any good, only to sputter as the black haired girl continues on with such a dismissive tone, "Hey, look," the girl protests, releasing the pole with one hand to point at her teammate, looking the other girl up and down as if trying to figure out what to make of her, "...karate girl. I can hold my own, all right? But if you want to show how tough you are, feel free to take this guy on by yourself if you want," she continues with a half shrug.
As she mentions their opponent the God of Battle himself steps into view and Ayame looks away from Kasumi to study the talented, unorthodox boxer, only to get another crack about being worth someone's time. Exhaling, Ayame releases the pole all together to point at Shenwoo with her other hand, "If by worth your time you mean beaten bloody, then I think you'll be happy enou- whoa!"
With a violent lurch the carousel begins to turn, catching Ayame off guard mid-rant. Flailing for a moment, she catches hold of the pole again to secure her balance as the platform begins to pick up speed. Eventually it reaches 'cruising velocity', which means that the only direction the momentum is likely to hurl the fighters is clean off if they're not careful.
From the sidelines, an official with a bullhorn advises the trio, "Okay, this is where you start fighting!"
"Gladly," mutters Ayame. "All right, Shenwho? Better be ready!" Not quite confident in her ability to stay on the spinning platform without a firm grip on something, Ayame resorts to not so fancy footwork to begin. Jumping up and releasing the mounted pole, Ayame hurtles herself in the young man's direction, only to reach out and grasp hold a plastic, white unicorn's horn once she gets in close, spinning herself around with all the momentum she has in an attempt to smash both of her feet into Shenwoo hard!
COMBATSYS: Ayame has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Shenwoo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
The surprisingly fast carousel takes Kasumi off-guard, though not as much as the God of Battle's comment about her potentially not being worth /his/ time does -- she is a Todoh! She is worth /everyone's/ time. And naturally, this gets her to fly off the handle -- much like every other time she's ever been in any situation, more or less ever. "Hey! We can take you on /easily/!" she declares, proudly; in practice she sounds more stilted and ridiculous, but then, that, too, is part of being a Todoh.
Starting to run in toward Shenwoo, Kasumi tries to keep her footing on the spinning platform; she doesn't know how to calculate her movements to take advantage of it offensively, unfortunately, so she does what she thinks is the smartest thing she can: she starts running full-speed for Shenwoo, leaping straight up into the air. Conveniently, this means that Shenwoo starts coming toward her even as she stands relatively still in midair -- and in turn, she can swing her arms down forcefully to meet him.
Crying out loudly, Kasumi yells the name of her family's signature technique; as that cry of "Kasane Ate!" issues forth, a series of pure-white energy waves lashes out at Shenwoo, threatening to cut into him. "Haaa!"
COMBATSYS: Kasumi has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Shenwoo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Kasumi successfully hits Shenwoo with Kasane Ate.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Shenwoo 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Shenwoo interrupts Strong Kick from Ayame with Tenrenshou.
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Shenwoo 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
Meanwhile, Shenwoo... Doesn't seem all that bothered when the carousel starts, and begins to pick up speed. He rocks a little as he works to keep his balance, but otherwise he doesn't appear to be overly affected by the momentum. Instead, he just watches the girls, though it's difficult to tell just where he's watching, since he's still wearing those damn sunglasses.
The nearly-simultaneous strike leaves Shen a bit open, as he seems to try to /ignore Kasumi's attack entirely/ in order to deal with Ayame's; this doesn't quite work, the Kasane Ate hitting him all the harder for his choice not to move, and sending him back a step... But that doesn't prevent him from continuing with the rest of his plan. A short, barked laugh escapes the brawler, as he twists on his heel and swings his other leg /out/, taking Ayame's double leg kick against his side, a grazing hit compared to what she was hoping for, while his own foot collides with the girl proper, stopping the rest of her spinning momentum. "Too slow, trash!!"
Finding her momentum brought to a sudden stop by a foot to the stomach proves to be a pain filled experience for the teen fighter. Bent in half against Shenwoo's foot at first, the girl finally gets kicked backward against the nearest roaring plastic lion where she flips over it to land on the other side with a grunt.
Shaking her head as she shifts her feet to brace against a pole, her back against the center column of the spinning contraption, Ayame pauses for a split second to get her breath under control. Okay, that was the part where she was so clearly instructed as to why this is a 2v1 instead of a 1v1. "All right, I get it," Ayame growls, using her seated position as a chance to slide two knives from sheaths in her belt. Flicking the butterfly knives open, the girl leaps up and over the lion, going for Shenwoo with bladed weapons this time.
She can't be shown up by the silly dressed karate girl after all! The slash from her left aimed for Shenwoo's shoulder comes before her feet even touch the surface again. The right knife slides in for a more straightforward stab toward his chest right behind the first. If she connects, she finishes with a follow up knee aimed for his stomach before hopping backward to put some distance between them.
Kasumi, unlike Ayame, finds herself relatively unmolested; she seems to be pretty pleased with both this turn of events and herself. "Come on, keep up," she chides the other girl, rolling her neck a little as she lands; her footing is surprisingly steady, considering how fast the carousel is moving. ... at least, for now -- maybe she's just getting lucky at the moment.
Noticing how well it worked to take to the sky a moment ago, Kasumi decides to try the process again; this time, she starts off a series of hopping strikes after positioning herself in 'front' of Shenwoo again relative to the motion of the high-speed carousel.. First she swings her arm wide to the side, hoping to knock Shenwoo off balance; from there, she launches into a flurry of wide, sweeping kicks and strikes to match, trying to keep him both guessing as to where she's going to attack next /and/ swinging hard enough to make it a little difficult to catch the blows very well. "And who are you calling trash?!" she asks, mid-swings.
COMBATSYS: Shenwoo endures Kasumi's Tatsumaki Souda.
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Shenwoo 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Shenwoo with Assault and Battery.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Shenwoo 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
"Seems pretty obvious, to me," the berserker says. Once again, though, Shenwoo seems hardly inclined to do anything about Kasumi's attacks! The tall, lean blond fighter actually steps /into/ the hits, each one making him budge just a little bit further back, but they don't seem to do all /that/ much to him... Besides, the bulk of his attention is focused on Ayame, what with her having knives and all. He tries to dodge out of the way from the slash but doesn't quite make it, a shallow cut opening the shoulder of his shirt - his /silk shirt/ - and drawing blood, following up with his getting stabbed (?!) and then kneed in the gut.
He stumbles back half a step before heedlessly throwing his weight forward, blurring as he moves /against the momentum of the carousel/ at terrifying speed, careening towards Ayame with a rushing punch, throwing his left fist forward at the last possible moment. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
COMBATSYS: Ayame parries Shenwoo's Gekiken!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Shenwoo 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
When Shenwoo makes no apparent effort to avoid Kasumi's series of strikes, Ayame figures out real quick that he's going to be gunning for her a second time. Her fancy foot work after landing the three swift strikes proves to do her a fair amount of good as the blades are pulled back and flicked closed, returned to their sheaths inbetween the blink of an eye.
Brown eyes remain fixated on the young man as Ayame back peddles, her now empty hands reaching up to grab hold of a chain looped loosely around her neck a few times. Pulling it off, it appears to actually be a trio of chains linked together by a ring in the middle, each end adorned by a small spherical weight. "Speaking of obvious," she remarks as Shenwoo charges at her against the momentum of the spinning platform...
Utilizing that miniscule fraction of time gained by the speed of the merry go round working against him, the girl steps backward, slipping out of the way of Shenwoo's blazing fast strike, left hand smacking him in the back before Ayame backflips away to put distance between him and her.
But what he may need to worry about is the chain bolas spinning back toward him from the direction Ayame has gone. Aiming to ensnare his legs, she seems interested on throwing his frightful mobility into jeopardy. "What is it you said? Oh, right. Too slow!"
After that initial stumbling block with Shenwoo plowing through Ayame's attack, things have really gone swimmingly for the girls' team here; Kasumi is downright impressed with the other girl, and definitely has to reevaluate her earlier comment a little. She might want to team with her on a regular basis if they work this well together. "/Nice/," she says, voice somewhat distorted by the dizzying speed of the upgraded carousel.
In a move that her stomach will likely regret when the carousel inevitably stops, Kasumi rushes toward Shenwoo yet /again/, though this time she does not go directly at him; instead, she leaps up, hooks her legs around one of the carousel animals, and swings herself at the God of Battle arms-first. It /looks/ kind of ridiculous, but considering he's likely already staggered by having to deal with Ayame's swing at his legs, it can't be /that/ hard to grab him, fling him into the air, then come down on him with a harsh rising knee off of the carousel animal... right?
COMBATSYS: Kasumi successfully hits Shenwoo with Combo Throw.
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Shenwoo 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Shenwoo with Hijacked EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Shenwoo 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
Man, what the hell is going on here? Shenwoo is pretty impressed that Ayame manages to do anything at all against that fearsome attack of his, much less defend it so effectively... So when he gets those bolas thrown at him he naturally tries to get the hell out of the way. Unfortunately, even his own mobility can't do much about it, so he gets tangled up. This proves to be a problem.
A heartbeat later, he gets caught by Kasumi, hurled into the air and then kneed, which doesn't feel too spectacular! Indeed, he gets knocked down entirely by this point, and with the spinning and all it takes him a moment to start getting up.
Of course, in order to /do/ that, he has to pull the bolas off, which he does by breaking them through sheer main strength. "Ahh, I guess even losers like you can be dangerous if I goof around too much," Shenwoo says, shrugging a little as he gets his footing with one hand on a goddamn plastic animal. Once he's righted himself, he takes his sunglasses off - finally - and tosses them aside, letting them fly off of the carousel entirely. And then, he turns a wide, feral grin on Ayame. "Don't feel too bad once I put you in the hospital, okay?"
Normally, Shen's not that vindictive... But right now his pride is stinging a little!
COMBATSYS: Shenwoo gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Shenwoo 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
The entangling bolas don't keep Shenwoo down for long, but they do the trick to let Kasumi land her combination attack. Hey, the karate girl can actually hold her own it would appear. Ayame can respect that. If Kasumi can help her beat Shenwoo faster it means all the lower chances of getting broken in half by this guy.
As he gets back up, Ayame fixes him with faint grin and shrug, "If you don't take us seriously that's your problem not ours." Taking a step to the side, Ayame approaches the edge of the spinning contraption where the angular momentum is at its strongest. Gripping a support pole tightly, she gives the bare fisted boxer another glance before adding, "Besides, you'd have to catch me first to make good on that threat!"
And then she hops, hands clasping onto the edge of the roof of the carousel, and with a quick acrobatic flip, Ayame makes her way up onto the roof of the thing, immediately making her way toward the center. Perhaps she wants Shenwoo to go after Kasumi instead by getting out of the picture. Or maybe she just wants to secure the advantage of higher ground, forcing him to chase her up and buying herself an opening should he try?
COMBATSYS: Ayame focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Shenwoo 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
Ayame hangs back, indeed running away altogether and getting onto the top of the machine when Shenwoo's starting to get angry. Kasumi realizes, a second later, that this means that she is left on the same part of the machine as a Shenwoo with some wounded pride, and that is definitely no place to be.
"... crap," she says, putting a hand on another one of the animals in an attempt to steady herself. Looking up toward the top, Kasumi quickly launches herself off of the animal, hooking her arms up onto the top of the machine and then swinging up in a somewhat disorienting process. The end result puts her a few feet from Ayame and likewise on top of the machine, though she looks a little more disoriented for it.
She staggers toward the center, putting a hand on the top and trying to focus and steady herself. At least she can see a little better from up here, she thinks -- she'll at least know if someone tries to come up at her... even if she doesn't have as much environment to work with.
COMBATSYS: Kasumi focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Shenwoo 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
Oh sure, just go up top, why don't you. Maybe Shenwoo will stay down here, and then nothing can happen at all!
Though really, that's not going to happen. He'd hardly enjoy himself if he did that, and besides that... He has to at least make a point here. Grunting irritably as the diminutive girl posse makes their way up to the canopy over the carousel, the brawler is pretty much forced to do likewise, grabbing the edge with both hands easily and hauling himself up, at around the same time Kasumi makes her own ascent.
And once he's up there...
"Okay then," Shen says, settling into his casual boxing stance and getting his bearings. Now, up here, it's even more evident that they're spinning at high speed, as their surroundings rotate very quickly, blurringly quick, but it could be worse. He could be /on a boat/. He hates those things. "Hope you're both ready to get your asses beat." Maybe you should've resolved to do that from the start, /Shen/.
COMBATSYS: Shenwoo focuses on his next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Shenwoo 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
Ah, the nice, open space of the top. It suits Ayame just fine. While it means there's much less to grab hold of in order to keep one from flying off it also means there's far fewer things to get in the way of some of her more space demanding tactics, such as the rope dart she's twirling by the time Shenwoo gets up top to catch up with the two retreating girls.
Spinning the pointed weight at her side idly, the long haired fighter leans her head to the side, watching as Kasumi moves toward the center along with her. Guess she decided on the same course of action. Shifting her attention back to Shenwoo as he takes a moment to right himself, Ayame decides to strike as swiftly after his arrival as possible, leaving no time for words for now.
The moment he finishes dishing out yet another threat on the duo, Ayame sends the rope dart hurtling his way, the small projectile aiming to smack him on forehead if the girl has her way. She retracts it swiftly, spinning it around a secind time in more of a wide arc aiming to catch him if he's playing at being 'hard to hit' as well. With no where to retreat to, avoiding the little weapon might be trickier than it would be were they fighting somewhere NORMAL!
The more that Kasumi spins around up top, the more she realizes she really preferred being down below -- but it's too late now, she thinks to herself. She must comport herself in the way that only a Todoh can! (What, ridiculously?)
The young lady starts to move toward Shenwoo from an awkward angle, letting Ayame start off their assault with the rope dart strikes; she has to let the other girl get the first strike, but she is more than happy to take mop-up duty. Usually, that means the opponent is distracted, anyway -- it makes her look a lot better!
When the second rope dart swing finishes, Kasumi springs into action, stepping in toward Shenwoo with a surprisingly grounded, plodding motion; ducking low, she grabs at his legs, trying to hook one arm around each of them, and then elects to try a grappling technique she saw a far better grappler than she attempt once...!
COMBATSYS: Shenwoo dodges Kasumi's Rebound Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Shenwoo 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Shenwoo with Medium Fling.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Shenwoo 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Kasumi
Rope dart? Well okay then.
Once again, it seems Shenwoo can't quite avoid Ayame's attack, as he tries to dodge out of the way of the dart but gets tagged regardless; his teeth grit, but he doesn't make much noise at all despite it... But when Kasumi tries to grapple him, he simply kicks away from her grasp, turning to face her instead of Ayame. So the one with the weapons wants to be all troublesome, that's fine. Shen just needs to clear the field a bit before he finishes her off.
"Hey," he says to Kasumi, rearing back. "Get lost." And then he moves with all the terrifying speed he can manage - which is a lot - half-vanishing out of sight as he aims a rushing punch right at the Todoh-ryuu fighter, his left fist stretched forward at the apex of a shockwave of pure force, which envelops his body and seems to be directed to crush Kasumi into a fine paste. Or maybe just knock her off the carousel! "SHYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
The two strikes delivered, Ayame whips the ranged weapon back, watching from a distance as Kasumi tries to contend with Shenwoo's exceptional speed. Coiling the cable up into a few loops, she slings it over her shoulder, leaving it there for now. There's really nothing she can do to help the other girl deal with the shockwave suddenly sent her way, but the young bandit isn't going to just hang back indefinitely.
Slipping her hand into the pouch at her side, she slides out her collapsed metal staff. A press of a button near the center causes the device to expand outward with a hydraulic hiss, becoming a full six feet of shining metal in length. For a moment the girl waits near the center of the roof. It's kind of nice there, not having to constantly contend with being hurled off the thing.
But that isn't going to help the fight progress. "You really got a bad attidude," she snaps in Shenwoo's direction as she charges forward, risking a small hop forward in order to bring the staff slaming down in an overhead arc, attempting to slam his head, shoulder, or back, depending on how he moves. Of course if she misses, she'll probably just put a nice hole through the roof.
COMBATSYS: Kasumi fails to counter Zetsu! Gekiken from Shenwoo with Sasshou Inshuu.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Shenwoo 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0 Ayame
> ///////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Kasumi
Kasumi is told to get lost. This is not something she takes well to; her entire life is structured around people getting lost, and it's pretty terrible! She definitely does not cotton to that particular bit of sass, and as such, her hands come up and she stares Shenwoo's incoming strike down. Unfortunately for her, she isn't quite fast enough to catch that rushing punch, and it catches her dead-on.
The only thing that saves her is a little twitch -- one of the few things her father /didn't/ teach her or even point her at. When she sees that attack slip through her hands, she reflexively brings both hands in, leans forward slightly, and braces her stomach; it's somewhat awkward, but she doesn't actually go /flying/ like she should when the Gekiken hits her and sends her back.
Her body collapses in a heap, but in spite of the immense pain and dizziness, she pulls herself back up to her feet... and really doesn't look that bad-off, overall. "Nhh," she groans. "Gonna' have to... do better than that..." Leaning forward, she coughs a little. "... owww..."
COMBATSYS: Shenwoo dodges Ayame's Medium Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Shenwoo 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0 Ayame
> ///////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Kasumi
Taking a turning step to bleed off the remaining momentum of the Zetsu! Gekiken, Shenwoo is shocked and alarmed to see that Kasumi is still there. His brow furrows, and he looks down at his fist. Is there something wrong with it? Did he get fist-itis or something? That would totally explain why things are going this way.
He almost doesn't notice that Ayame is attacking him.
But notice he does, and without looking up Shenwoo moves; he's simply NOT THERE ANYMORE when the staff comes down, moving through a flickering after-image of the God of Battle, who honestly should not be that fast, but there you go. This, of course, results in that hole in the roof, and it also results in Shenwoo being /behind/ Ayame, suddenly lunging forward to thrust out both fists at the back of the girl, apparently trying to pulverise her entire spine in one blow. "GRAAAH!!"
COMBATSYS: Ayame endures Shenwoo's Strong Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Shenwoo 0/-------/-----==|=======\====---\1 Ayame
> ///////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Kasumi
This is not going to be a fight that lends itself to long, protracted, conservation of energy. That much became clear in the opening exchange of attacks. Swift, brutal, aggressive attacks are the meat of this match and that's all there is to it. Not normally Ayame's game but one she can play when the situation suggests that it would be the optimal choice...
Her staff crunches through the roof, making an opening for a nice, future sun-light someday. But rather than try to pull it right back out to give her more freedom of movement, Ayame simply wedges it further into the roof and turns around in time to meet Shenwoo's incoming fists.
Denying him a clean hit on her back, the girl takes the double punch to the chest, steeling herself for the blow and gripping tightly on her wedged weapon, using it to help keep her from getting sent sailing clean off of the contraption's top like she would have otherwise. The force is crushing, but the more fragile fighter is in a very solid position to strike back now that Shenwoo is in close. And strike back she does.
Wiping the staff out of the hole, the girl jams the top end of it in toward Shenwoo's stomach, attempting to stun him long enough for her to be able to unload a flurry of strikes. The entire weapon ignites in a bright red energy that flickers a bit like fire. And should any of the strikes hit, each one is accompanied by a small discharge of chi to add force to the impacts.
Spinning, hopping, turning, slamming, jabbing, smashing, the girl unleashes as many swings as she can until her arms simply get tired or Shenwoo puts a decisive stop to the assault.
Now that she's back on her game, Kasumi locks her attention right back on Shenwoo -- and boy, does she look mad, now that she's mostly over being disoriented and hurt. "Ngh," she starts, "I'm /really/ not impressed... with you yet!" She stretches a little, her gi starting to pull a Geese Howard-style slide; she quickly rectifies this, though, after the last embarassing incident in Seijyun. Increased mobility or no, that ended up embarassing.
Deciding to go for the direct approach to combat now, Kasumi charges in, screaming, "You call yourself the God of Battle?!" as he starts exchanging blows with Ayame; leaping up into the air, she pulls exactly the same sort of trick she tried at the start. Using the spinning of the carousel to help her, a bit more /consciously/ this time, she rears her arms up into the air...
... and then comes back down, seemingly more invigorated than fatigued by the whole affair, crying out "Kasane Ate!" and letting loose /another/ series of white, blade-like energy waves, trying to keep him from getting out of Ayame's raining, fiery blows. She's not /quite/ her father, but she does seem to have a certain fixation on that particular move, doesn't she?
COMBATSYS: Shenwoo Toughs Out Ayame's Final Solstice!
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Shenwoo 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Ayame
> ////////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Shenwoo dodges Kasumi's Kasane Ate.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Shenwoo 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Ayame
> ////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Kasumi
"Heh," laughs Shenwoo quietly as Ayame manages to exert some control over how she takes the hit; but his amusement isn't enough to distract him entirely, his dark eyes swiveling over to see Kasumi coming, and swinging that energy attack at him again. Naturally, there's only one solution for this: He gets out of the way. "Learn some new tricks!" the former gangster barks at Kasumi, and then he gets hit in the gut with the butt of Ayame's staff.
The full combination hits home, every single strike; but there's something wrong about it, somehow. Shenwoo barely seems to move, from all the power Ayame is exerting, and by the end of the attack, he's actually laughing aloud. There's something wrong with /that/, too, a faint edge of madness, a bare hint of the berserker's true nature shining through. "Ha ha ha! That was pretty good!" Shen declares, before lunging forward and trying to grab Ayame by the hair, so he can yank her head down. And knee her in the face. "DIE!!"
COMBATSYS: Ayame blocks Shenwoo's Heavy Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Shenwoo 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Ayame
> ////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Kasumi
Swing, spin, slam, bash... and he just seems to TAKE it. At first Ayame wonders if she's fallen prey to some sort of illusionary trick she's seen other fighters pull off in the past. But he SEEMS solid enough, her blows bouncing back, the chi sparking and exploding as it's supposed to... But how is it he's just laughing then?
"Che," the girl grunts, finally slowing the assault, her arms just too tired to keep going, the damand of keeping the chi funneled into her weapon becoming too demanding. Sliding to a stop precariously close to the young man, the weapons maven's hair proves easy to grab a hold of. And but for that pesky staff of hers, it would have been a devestating strike.
But the quick thinking girl gets the metal weapon in the way, tightening her grip on it and letting Shenwoo's knee strike /it/ instead of her face. The impact is stunning, and were the weapon made of any flimsier craftmanship, it would have surely bent in half easily.
But the young boxer better watch out, as Ayame doesn't even seem to try and pull away or wrest her hair free, instead releasing the staff with her left hand while still bent forward. Raising it up and forward, she points her palm toward the God of Battle's stomach and unleashes a point blank blast of swirling, red chi, trying to blast him back and free herself all in one smooth motion.
Still trying to keep her footing and her head on the increasingly dizzying top of the carousel, Kasumi is definitely starting to feel the fatigue; as she pulls herself back up from that ridiculous gambit with yet another Kasane Ate, she feels decidedly ill. She knows she's not going to want a bunch of cheap carnival food after this, that's for sure -- couldn't they have at least slowed this thing down a /little/?!
Staggering toward Shenwoo, Kasumi takes a deep breath, trying to re-center herself; as the red chi blast issues forth at Shenwoo's chest, Kasumi moves in behind him and readies herself to either press an offensive or add to the pain depending on how successful her partner is. In either case, the result is the same -- she comes up behind him, hooks her arms underneath his, and then begins to push forward forcefully on the back of his head, in a surprisingly vicious full nelson. She definitely seems to know her way around a hold... or twelve.
COMBATSYS: Kasumi successfully hits Shenwoo with Strong Throw.
[ \\\\ < > ////////// ]
Shenwoo 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Ayame
> ////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Shenwoo endures Ayame's Midsummer Fantasy.
[ \\ < > ////////// ]
Shenwoo 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Ayame
> ////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Kasumi
There's an important thing to know about Shenwoo: While he enjoys winning - who doesn't? - victory is not the /goal/ to him... It's more of a side benefit. No, what's important to Shen, really, is the fight itself. Which is part of why he's so willing to take bizarre and possibly insane risks, and to do things that seem entirely counterproductive, just to increase his own fun. Sometimes, though, it manifests as him more trying to prove a point than win a match, and that would be more of what we have a case of here.
When Ayame aims her blast of energy at him, Shenwoo doesn't even try to avoid it, though he does let her go as he's forced to skid back a few inches. "Is that it?" he wonders, sounding quite disappointed, when Kasumi gets behind him and puts him in a full nelson. Uh... Ow?
"QUIT THAT!" bellows Shenwoo as he throws his upper body forward, flipping his shirt and possibly Kasumi herself in front of him as he suddenly starts to /move/. It's not as fast as it could be, he's taken too much damage to keep fighting much longer, but he has every intention of colliding with Ayame, and Kasumi, like a freight train.
The impact, if it all works out, will take all three of them right off the top of the carousel. Might hurt a bit!
COMBATSYS: Shenwoo can no longer fight.
> ////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Ayame
> ////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Ayame fails to counter Zetsu! Gekiken from Shenwoo with Bright Renewal.
> ////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Kasumi
COMBATSYS: Ayame can no longer fight.
> ////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Kasumi
The energy blast delivered, Ayame is finally free, part in thanks to Kasumi's decisive interference. Shaking her head, she glares back at Shenwoo as he dismisses her attack, "Well, you ain't doing much better yourself, you know." she snaps back, sounding annoyed. "I haven't seen anything from you that suggests you remotely deserve your reputation," she continues with a shrug, taking advantage of the time provided by Kasumi's limb-lock. Of course she's lying - his speed alone has already placed him in a league way above what Ayame herself can muster, but she hasn't been broken in half yet, so she can still talk.
That's probably the wrong thing to say just then as he struggles free of Kasumi's hold and comes flying toward the two of them with that incredible speed of his. Of course she tries to defend herself, whipping her staff up into an attempted collision course with the young man, hoping to vault him right over her with his own momentum and send him flying off... but that isn't to be.
Even if she had gotten her weapon in the way it's dubious that she'd have had the strength to stop Shenwoo with the kind of speed he's launching at her with now. Struck head on, the girl gets clocked clean off the top of the carousel, landing somewhere down below in the park, sliding several yards before coming to a stop. Arms out at her sides, her staff is imbedded in a tree trunk over her head. For a moment the girl tries to sit up, her face contorted by the pain coursing through her after that impact of strength and energy.
"...ugh. Lucky hit," she grunts before flopping back onto her back, eyes closed.
COMBATSYS: Shenwoo successfully hits Kasumi with Zetsu! Gekiken.
> //////////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Kasumi
Flipped right over Shenwoo, Kasumi closes her eyes; she knows what's coming -- he sounds like he's gearing up for yet another ridiculous punch, and once again, she isn't in a position to defend against it anywhere near adequately. However, lizard brain takes over when consciousness has no answers, and amazingly, it kicks in /right/.
Slamming both of her fists down into the top of the machine, Kasumi anchors herself; when that ridiculous blow actually comes, she roots herself in as tightly as possible, and though the punch strikes her, she somehow manages to stay right on top of the carousel, not carried off of it with the other two. The fact that she doesn't join them in flying off seems to get her pretty smug, as right before she opens her eyes, she cracks a wide smile.
Then she opens them. Sure, she didn't fly /off/, but she has somehow managed to drag her hands the entire length of the top through several studs and finally smashed one of them into a pole, stopping herself.
She is pretty sure her hand is broken in at least five places and her arm in another three. Oops.
Meanwhile, Shenwoo? Out like a light. He was out of the fight even /before/ careening off of the top of a high-speed carousel at even higher speed. Even the God of Battle can't stand up to a collision like that in his current state. But the worst part? In an hour or two he'll be up and around like nothing even happened.
Life just ain't fair.
Log created on 20:44:00 02/23/2008 by Shenwoo, and last modified on 16:35:12 02/26/2008.