Description: Extreme Home Makeover! Thrill as walls get broken! Watch as...floor gets broken! SNF is nothing if not consistant. (Winner: Chizuru)
The housing industry is a competitive business. The property market's one of the great constants in the economy, after all. No matter how badly the financial world is doing, people gotta live, ya know? And cardboard boxes on the street just don't cut it. Then there's the social factor, as well. People are house-proud. People like good places to stay. Which explains the popularity of shows like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. They fill a primal need.
The primal need for nice glazed windows, wall to wall carpeting, and tastefully chosen interior high-gloss paints specially mixed with colours that do not fade and are resistant to household mold and mildew.
It's a basic human thing, you know.
There's just some urges that need to be sated.
And so it is that we come to this very SPECIAL episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - a /crossover/ episode with that /other/ television sensation...
...Saturday Night Fight.
Because violence and interior decoration are best friends.
Totally.
Now, there's a logical explanation why all the fight officials and TV crews are clustered around this nondescript two-storey bungalow in suburban Florida. Just last week, a horrible thing happened live on SNF, a terrible terrorist attack on Howard Arena. Audience members were injured. Now, since Geese Howard's a sympathetic and humanitarian sort, he's pulled all sorts of strings to make sure that poor Mister Stephenson, the worst-wounded of the lot, gets the best medical care money can buy. And when he and his family finally fly home, they'll have the best house money can buy too. A newly renovated place of their own.
Once the demolition crew finishes gutting it for the builders.
Guess who?
The heavy soles of combat boots sound against the wooden steps leading up to the patio. Acacia Gillespie walks up to the front door. She studies the white stucco exterior with a faint amount of distaste, before mashing her thumb against the doorbell.
DING.
DONG.
The person that opens the door is not a resident. She does not live here, and in fact has never set foot inside before today in her life. Nor is she likely to be back, as she does not generally visit suburban Florida without a very good reason.
However, the people who actually own this house are well out of the way. Some are at the hospital, and others are watching at a safe distance. None of them are inside, and so it falls on her to do it.
Chizuru Kagura looks quite calm and composed when she stands in the doorway. There is a camera set up facing out, over her shoulder. "Ah," she says, not seeming surprised by who it is. "Please, come in. I understand they wish to start soon."
Perhaps strangely, Acacia is not alone.
After all, she and her teammate tonight share something in common: They're both attendees of Gedo High, and during the recent absence of the gang leader Daigo Kazama and his top lieutenants, certainly two of the school's strongest fighters. The /other/ Gedite, one Tenma Kiryuu, is a newer face on the scene, but he's certainly made quite a statement in the little under a year since he started fighting professionally, his greatest accomplishment thus far perhaps that he reached the semifinals of the Jinchuu tournament, however dubious his ranking might have been.
Naturally, the arrogant boy considers any acclaim he's gotten recently to be exactly his due.
Standing behind the smaller fighter - indeed, at nearly six feet Tenma positively /looms/ over Acacia - the leader of the Guardian Kings matches his temporary partner's look of distaste with a faint snort; suburbia is the last place he wants to be! At least they're getting a fight out of this trip though, a televised fight that will make the whole trip worth it.
As a side note, the plane trip over was probably a little awkward, as Tenma was stuck beside Acacia the whole way, and the in-flight movie was terrible.
"Yeah, I bet they do," Tenma replies to Chizuru, easing the long, slim cloth-wrapped bundle on his shoulder. This is who they're fighting? Somebody's maiden aunt?
"Mmn," Acacia snorts, dusting the soles of her boots lightly against the welcome mat. Just a cursory sort of movement, before she strides into the hallway, moving past Chizuru - and vacating the entrance to allow her schoolmate in. She casts a half-lidded gaze round the somewhat dowdily decorated sitting room. It might be considered 'homily'. To Acacia, it's more or less alien. She exchanges a glance with Tenma.
Gedo students in American middle-class suburbia.
The world is doomed.
It doesn't look like anywhere Chizuru has ever lived, either, although for much the opposite reason. Her home is a lot older and a lot fancier than this. At least it's not as a cramped as a European home, though; Chizuru really doesn't know /how/ they manage to live in there.
Chizuru closes the door behind Tenma and trails the students into what is probably known as the living room. "Well!" she says, attempting to remain at least somewhat pleasant in the face of Gedoites. "A pleasure to meet you both." Despite the lack of actual introduction. "Now, I believe the camera crew is rather ... hmm, impatient, so perhaps it would be best for you to begin as soon as possible."
She stands there. She doesn't /look/ like much of a threat.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru has started a fight here on the right meter side.
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Chizuru
COMBATSYS: Acacia has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Acacia 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Chizuru
COMBATSYS: Tenma has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Chizuru
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Acacia 0/-------/-------|
In the interests of full disclosure, the Kiryuu main household is actually a very spacious, old-fashioned Japanese home near Osaka; Tenma, despite his, ah, eccentricities, is actually used to a comfortable - if staid, aescetic and very Traditionally Japanese - lifestyle. Though the fact is, he feels more comfortable in his grandfather's dingy old apartment on Gedo Street.
Kids today, honestly.
Returning Acacia's look, the Guardian King shrugs his shoulders, and removes the bundle he was carrying from its leaning perch on his shoulder; untying the string, he drops the cloth sheath of his bokken to the floor, holding the wooden weapon at ease in his right hand even as he lifts his left hand to his mouth. "Sure thing, Auntie," Tenma says, giving Chizuru a moniker both descriptive and somewhat dismissive with his usual charm and gentle nature. "We'll wrap this up right quick." And then, he bites right into the flesh of his thumb, drawing blood.
Red spatters onto the floor at his feet, welling into his mouth and over his thumb, before Tenma uses his bloodied digit to paint a red stripe down the blade of his bokken, forging the chi link between himself and the blessed weapon he carries. Grinning toothily, the red blood running between his teeth and highlighting their whiteness, Tenma swipes his bokken through the air and sets it alight, a violent aura of misty red, mingled blood and chi until the two are the same thing surrounding the blade.
It's a little gross.
"Go right," Tenma asides to Acacia, as without any further ado the lean young man rushes forward at Chizuru, aiming to catch her with a quick slash of his chi-emanating weapon right under the left side of her ribs. "GRAAH!!"
"Right it is," Acacia replies. Her tone is neutral, her enunciation precise. She speaks just loudly enough to be heard by the camera pick-ups scattered round the house - and no louder. Her voice, a low mid-alto, rises is calm...too calm, in fact. Devoid of even the slightest trace of emotion. Only her face betrays some sign of life. She regards the formally-dressed woman with a faintly suspicious gaze, her eyes half-narrowed into slits.
She waits. Waits - then moves, a heartbeat or three behind Tenma. The soles of her combat boots dig into the carpet, tearing pile loose from the poor abused fabric. She shifts her weight and muscles, the mottled green of her camouflage jacket swaying with the motion. As Tenma strikes to the side, a mid-range blow, Acacia drops low, her boots sending more of the shag carpet flying as she sweeps her leg in a kick towards the other woman's ankles.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru blocks Acacia's Light Kick.
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Chizuru
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Acacia 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Chizuru reflects Fierce Strike from Tenma with Tamayura no Shitsune.
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Tenma 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Chizuru
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Acacia 0/-------/-------|
Chizuru stands right where she is until the very last moment. It's like she's waiting for the proper time to act. She watches Tenma bite his thumb with a bit of distaste on her face, when intensifies when he starts swinging the blood-chi around - that gives her a bit of a bad feeling, which means it requires...investigation.
The proper time comes, and Chizuru acts all at once. Her left hand goes down, catching Acacia's foot and shoving it aside; it makes her hand sting but does not appreciably seem to hurt her very much. It appears to leave her open for the slash higher up, but her other hand comes up at the last moment, holding a sphere of chi in her hand; when she spreads her fingers, it flattens out into a sort of oval-shaped bubble.
The bubble catches the chi, seems to pull it into itself for a moment, and then burst, spraying energy out at Tenma and keeping Chizuru quite safe on the other side of it. More than just a push away, it let Chizuru get her first 'taste' of the bloody chi. She needs more to actually determine whether it's safe or not.
Straightening, Chizuru edges sideways, putting her back near one of the interior walls that needs to come out. She looks from one to the other, trying to get a better sense of how they move.
Sadly, this is not the first time something like that has happened to Tenma; it seems to be an unfortunate side-effect of his combat style that he sometimes gets his own attacks rebounded on himself like that. "What the he--?!" he wonders, though the expletive is cut off by the impact of his own energy, bolstered by Chizuru's against him, the force driving him back and sending him stumbling.
Apparently, Auntie has a few tricks up her sleeve.
"Okay, fine then," Tenma grouses, pushing his bangs out of his face and taking a low stance, his bokken held in front of him diagonally with both hands. "Guess I'm gonna have to be a little careful." So he actually... Doesn't rush in headlong again? Instead, he seems to be looking for an opening.
Also, hoping that Chizuru keeps her attention on him, so Acacia can hit her from behind.
COMBATSYS: Tenma focuses on his next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Chizuru
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Acacia 0/-------/-------|
"She's not bad," Acacia observes, casually, trying not to sound too impressed. Far as she can tell, the woman just flat out /redirected/ Tenma's energies back in his face. Given the notoriety of the Guardian King's sword, that's saying something. So Acacia's wonder would be something of a compliment...if she actually directed it at Chizuru, at least. As it is, it's something she says to /Tenma/, referring to the older woman entirely in third person...
...while she moves to support her partner by attacking Chizuru. Acacia's boots slam into the abused carpet, once again.
Now.
Demolition's the name of /this/ game, right?
And she's already started on the carpet. Might as well handle the floorboards, while she's at it.
Shredded carpet geysers into the air, followed by a spray of razor wood splinters - as the floor itself erupts beneath Acacia's feet, concussive chi blasting out in a furious wavefront to Chizuru's blind quadrant.
They're gonna fix that later, right?
COMBATSYS: Chizuru dodges Acacia's Mass Breaker.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Chizuru
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Acacia 0/-------/-------|
If Chizuru is teaching /Tenma/ about patience and thinking before you act, she is already performing a miracle.
This time she acts a little earlier, not waiting until the last moment like she did at first; when the shockwave bursts out, she is already moving into the next room, using the wall for cover against the destructive wave. It works about half as well as she was hoping, as it leaves her more or less unharmed between taking cover and spending some of her time in the air, but damages the base of the wall enough (by which we mean the bottom third of the wall) that it is no longer standing, and Chizuru is visible again.
Two Chizurus, actually, standing next to each other. One of them throws herself at Acacia with an amused laugh, while the second one stays put, hand raised in a vaguely defensive stance.. "You're quite a bit better at the destruction than I am," they both say at once, although only one of them actually makes a sound. It's hard to tell which one because of the sound of cracking wall and falling bits obscuring part of it.
The one staying behind starts to flicker and vanish while the real one, the one that jumped at Acacia, brings her hands forward in a downward thrust with the heels of her hand and a flicker of chi.
Now, hey; Tenma is actually quite capable of patience and forethought. He just tries to cultivate the image of being anything but. Image is important, when you're a teenager! Especially a teenager at a school full of gang members.
Grunting faintly as Acacia's attack is avoided by... Two Chizurus? That's pretty weird. But the momentary confusion leaves Tenma largely unable to go and help Acacia, at least until the false Kagura flickers out of existence, leaving Tenma open to charge at the other one from behind, twisting his bokken to slant it behind his back, the point poking up over his left shoulder as he tries to catch Chizuru with a series of quick, precise punches... Each one individually unremarkable, but as a whole carefully calculated to disrupt the flow of chi through the Yata heiress' body, as well as to drive her into a disadvantageous position.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru successfully hits Acacia with Choumon no Isshin.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Chizuru
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Acacia 0/-------/---====|
Acacia's not surprised. No really, she isn't. The fact that her eyes are wide and her mouth is hanging open...that's just coincidence. She has just enough time to make a muted exclamation before Chizuru's attack drives the rest of the air from her lungs. She goes flying backwards, tumbling across the living room and crashing into an upright piano. Glossy wood turns into so many toothpicks under the impact, a musical explosion tearing the air. Acacia rolls out of the debris, groaning. She levers herself back upright, scowling. Her head rises.
Not good. She's got /moves/.
Acacia presses her assault, then. As Tenma charges, so too does she, coming in a Chizuru from an oblique angle. While Tenma moves in a complex flurry of sealing techniques, with Acacia - just one coiled fist.
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Chizuru with Flow Breaker.
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Tenma 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Chizuru
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Acacia 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Chizuru dodges Acacia's Quick Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Chizuru
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Acacia 0/-------/---====|
Chizuru was going to use her new proximity to unleash some simpler, although equally skilled, maneuvers.
She is somewhat interrupted by the need to dart backwards, away from Acacia, to avoid the punch. This moves her into range for Tenma's blows, which are not /quite/ sealing but still disruptive to the flows of her chi. She's going to have to show him how that's done - but not quite yet.
For now, she twists around, bringing her foot forward on a hooking arc at Tenma's legs as she tries to yank him off-balance, then use her palms to shove him to the ground. It looks graceful when she does it, even though it probably shouldn't.
COMBATSYS: Tenma fails to interrupt Strong Throw from Chizuru with Head Breaker.
- Power fail! -
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Tenma 1/---====/=======|====---\-------\0 Chizuru
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Acacia 0/-------/---====|
And now, good idea, bad idea.
Not getting hit: Good idea. What Tenma tries to do: Bad idea. The Gedo swordsman doesn't even attempt to get out of the way of Chizuru's hooking leg, instead lunging forward at the same moment as the initial strike... Which unfortunately leaves the younger fighter pretty open, even as his fingers clench on the front of Chizuru's shirt - or whatever - and his lack of having anywhere to move /to/ at the palm strike just makes it hurt all the more, the blow blasting Tenma clear off of his feet. And through a wall.
"Ghhk," mutters Tenma. Hopefully he didn't take any of Chizuru's shirt with him. What a scandal that would be!
Acacia takes a breath, drawing in gulps of air. Her torso's still throbbing from that blow she took - the hit Chizuru landed after Feeling pain like this isn't something she's used to. She winces, bits of broken piano sloughing off her jacket as she moves. Half a shattered faux-ivory key bounces jauntily off her shoulder, pinging against the scarred floorboards...before getting ground into fragments underfoot, turning into a million white plastic shards.
She gives a quick glance at the fresh Tenma-shaped hole in the nearest wall. Just enough to ascertain that the other teen is still /moving/ after that apocalyptic collision. Then her eyes snap back to Chizuru.
"Well," Acacia says, with a lopsided smile.
Then she punches Chizuru.
One clenched fist, black leather taut across her knuckles. But as she swings, Acacia's arm surges with released chi, as she unleashes her own power again. Raw concussive energy explodes in an /audible/ signature, a deep roar that shrieks higher up the register until it's a ear-piercing whine. Acacia's fist trembles as she drives the punch at Chizuru.
If she misses, well. At least she might take out another wall or something. Get rid of that nasty wallpaper. Free the place up a little, let 'em turn this place into a nice open-concept house. Unless it's a load-bearing wall, anyway.
(Then it'll just be, er, very messy.)
COMBATSYS: Chizuru dodges Acacia's Mass Driver.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Tenma 1/---====/=======|====---\-------\0 Chizuru
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Acacia 0/-------/---====|
By the time the blast of force comes, Chizuru is already gone.
It is hard to tell, at first, what exactly Tenma did to her or her outfit, because Chizuru is moving quickly to the side and forward, at an angle. She comes in low, in a half-crouching run.
She rises up at the last moment, bringing up her hand in an open strike toward Acacia's chest. If it hits, it's likely to not just impact but lift her off the ground, putting her in a position where she can't brace the way she has been and throw her back, at a different wall.
Actually, that's not a wall, that's a staircase. Or, rather, the railing to a staircase. "Keep it up!" she says, somewhat encouraging. Is she /trying/ to be insulting?
Meanwhile, where is Tenma? Was that trip through the wall enough to fell the leader of the Guardian Kings? Could he perhaps have decided that this particular uphill battle simply wasn't worth it?
Nah, don't be silly. He was just making sure his spine wasn't broken.
But, intact and definitely not crippled, the younger Gedo gang member emerges from the hole in the wall that he made at a dead run, his left hand extended in front of him in a mudra position, lightly contorted to aid his concentration as he focuses on a single point. His /right/ arm is stretched behind him, holding his bokken horizontally so that the weapon forms a shallow arc behind his head, the glow around the weapon intensifying as he runs, reaching a fever pitch until it obscures the wooden blade entirely, making it seem as though Tenma were holding a blade made entirely out of energised blood. And then, suddenly, he leaps into the air, headed directly for Chizuru and her hopefully precarious position on the railing... And once he gets close enough, he twists to swing his bokken in a single, mighty slash...!
COMBATSYS: Acacia fails to interrupt Strong Punch from Chizuru with Unyielding Stance.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Chizuru
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Acacia 1/-----==/=======|
Ow.
Oh that -hurt-.
Acacia groans, the faint sound coming from across the hallway. She lifts her head, just in time to catch sight of Tenma dropping in on Chizuru, sword ablaze. But there's little she can do to help him one way or another, sprawled as she is at the foot of the stairs, surrounded by the twisted fragments of what was once a bronze bannister. The partially shattered steps dig painfully into the small of Acacia's back as she struggles back to her feet.
Ow.
Who is this woman? She's fast. She's strong.
Acacia doesn't know much about this Chizuru Kagura, but it looks like the lady's living up to her SNF billing. Being able to fend off both her and Tenma without so much as breaking a sweat. That's almost intimidating.
Acacia breathes. Inhaling. Exhaling. Her ribs heave as she draws in air, forcing it through her labouring lungs. Acacia's pushing herself to the limit, but she's not even /scratched/ the other woman. And meanwhile, she's been slamming her and Tenma around like child's toys.
Acacia's face shifts, her expression turning from a grimace into a feral grin.
A -challenge-.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru blocks Tenma's The Sealing Sword.
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Chizuru
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Acacia 1/-----==/=======|
Chizuru cannot, at this late instant, get out of the way of the edge of the chi-imbued bokken, and her senses are fairly well screaming at her: that is not something she wants to let work on her.
She turns her open palm to catch the blade on it, her entire arm shimmering with chi; none of it makes it up the blade to Tenma, but it stops the worst of it from acting on her, the blood-imbued energies skipping off her own aura. "Impressive," she says, as she looks at it from one side and then the other.
Chizuru lets it go, moving back and considering for a moment as the chi on her hand condenses down to a glowing ball that her hand can cup around, and then nothing as she closes her hand all the way. Her palm aches, now, and despite Acacia's belief that she was getting through this unscathed and unwinded, Chizuru actually /is/ sweating a little, even if she isn't all that badly hurt yet.
She bursts into action again, moving /past/ Tenma rather than into him - and from behind and to the side, she goes lo and performs an odd-looking legsweep, trying to pummel him to the ground while simultaneously tripping him with one of those enormous sleeves. They do have a use!
COMBATSYS: Tenma endures Chizuru's Kaiten.
[ \\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Tenma 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Chizuru
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Acacia 1/-----==/=======|
Well, nobody can say he didn't try; Tenma's strongest technique, albeit the incomplete form of his family's secret arts, tends to be kind of a dealbreaker for him. Unfortunately, against opponents much stronger than he is... It tends to break the deal /against/ him! When the strike is blocked, the massive wave of chi that came with it dissipates oddly... As if it were trying to get /into/ Chizuru, but unable to defeat the stronger fighter's defenses. And then, Tenma is placed in a BAD SITUATION.
Once again though, Tenma doesn't even seem to so much as try to avoid the trippy-legsweep thing, instead simply going with the momentum of the attack in the hopes of creating an opening; he strikes the floor, quite hard, his head bouncing once in which looks really uncomfortable, and otherwise it seems like he's pretty much finished.
Except his bokken is buried in the floor.
For a moment, nothing comes of this, until the floor begins to crack around the point of impact, the cracks spreading and widening as gouts of blood begin go spill forth, reaching out and turning into serpentine lines of force, draconic shapes seeking to collide with Chizuru en masse in a powerful - and very messy - assault!
Also, it tears the /holy hell/ out of that poor floor.
COMBATSYS: Tenma can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Acacia 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Chizuru
"And," Acacia says, from where she's slumped against the hallway wall, "there goes Kiryuu."
The unearthly glare of Tenma's crimson chi casts Acacia's features into stark relief, turning the whole lower floor of the house into a macabre canvas of light and shadow. Acacia watches this with narrowed eyes. She flexes the fingers of one hand, open, close, in a reflective gesture.
She stares down the length of the passageway at Chizuru. Watching her from the other side of Tenma's final attack, as the blood-red chi races towards her.
It's clear now.
Acacia's grinning.
She doesn't move. The air in front of her, though, ripples. Motes of dust and loose debris kicking up around Acacia's feet, suspended in the air for a fraction of a second. And then a shockwave explodes from her body, an invisible fist of force smashing all the way from walls to floors to ceiling, a truly massive release of concussive energy that shatters everything around Acacia. The blast is just -barely- contained by the narrow confines of the hall - as it is, it pulps the staircase behind Acacia and what's left of the railing, destroys the light fixtures, and all in all...
...races down the corridor on the footsteps of Tenma's own attack, spiralling towards Chizuru on a wave of debris.
Rule of warfare. Focused fire.
And pray.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru dodges Tenma's Hell of Blood.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Acacia 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Chizuru
COMBATSYS: Acacia successfully hits Chizuru with Ground Breaker.
Glancing Blow
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Acacia 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Chizuru
Chizuru starts to melt under the onslaught of bloody chi. She vanishes in the draconic blasts, bits of her appearing to vanish into fine whitish mist laced with the red of the bloody chi. The shockwave does the rest of it, causing Chizuru to crack along some lines and emit more of the mist, fading away entirely.
The /real/ Chizuru is some distance further away, and would have gotten entirely clear of everything had a light fixture not detached itself from the second floor and landed on her head, triggered by the shattering blast from Acacia.
She steps back out from where she'd taken cover in the kitchen attached to the hallway, holding the now rather bent decorative metal fixture in her left hand. "An intriguing method of attack," she says, calm despite the headache. "Very good at the destruction we were asked for, I have to admit. Would you like to attend to your teammate?"
Chizuru waits. But now...she's watching. They don't call her the Watcher for nothing.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Acacia 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Chizuru
"He's tough," Acacia replies, blandly, as she sways forward.
"He'll live."
Her voice is deceptively conversational, but the strain shows on her face, betraying the effort required to simply stand. She's only taken a couple of blows this fight. She shouldn't -be- so worn down. But whoever she is, this Chizuru hits like a freight truck.
Acacia can respect that.
She stops herself from falling, resting her hands on her knees. She takes a ragged breath, then another.
Acacia lifts her head, meeting Chizuru's eyes.
"We've got demolition..."
A cough.
"...I mean, a fight. To finish."
One step. Two.
She moves forward. Slow at first, then steadily faster. Acacia charges at Chizuru, regaining strength with each step, until she whips one tightly balled fist up in a straight-line punch.
This isn't over yet.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru dodges Acacia's Strong Punch.
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Acacia 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Chizuru
Chizuru keeps her hand held out in front of her, trying to look at least reasonably cool and collected rather than under stress - which she is. It's work to concentrate on a fight, even if she makes it look smooth and graceful.
"Very well," she agrees, inclining her head slightly. "You'll forgive me if I don't wait any longer, then - I think we've made nearly enough of a mess."
Two Chizurus charge forward with only a brief shimmer to indicate the seperation. One of them seems to favour windmilling her arms into a series of palm strikes; the real one, however, is more flexible and tends to mix up her attacks, focusing low because the image only aims high.
The real one, however, actually levels one last strike /through/ the image - and not just a normal palm strike. Her hand glimmers with the sealing chi Chizuru is best known for, and when her hand passes through the torso of the illusion, the illusion vanishes like a popped soap bubble, leaving only a vaguely prismatic haze in the air for a split second.
Chizuru straightens, afterwards, as the orange sphere in her hand vanishes.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru successfully hits Acacia with San Shingi Kore Mittsu.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Acacia 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Chizuru
It's almost anticlimatic.
Acacia was /expecting/ a world of pain, when she saw Chizuru split again like that.
That's what she braced herself for.
But this?
As the orange light fades, Acacia's still on her feet. Then her eyes go glossy, unfocused. She trembles, an uncontrollable shudder racing through her lean frame. She drops, then, just collapsing like a puppet with her strings cut. Her knees hit the ground, denim jeans scraping on scarred floorboards. A ragged hiss escapes her lips, as her eyes nearly tear.
This is /worse/.
All at once, she understands what the woman did.
Acacia's entire /style/ is based on the channeling of chi through her body. That's how she performs feats of strength, that's how she achieves her legendary durability - using it to renforce her body's structure. And that's why when she does release chi for attacks, it's always something that /undermines/ the structural integrity of her targets.
"Ow," Acacia murmurs, with a tone of understatement.
She's been living under her body-manipulation technique for years now.
She's never had someone turn it off.
But she gathers what power she's got left, fighting the intrusion, forcing energy through disrupted pathways. Acacia rises, slamming one foot into the ground. She hauls herself up, leading with one fist in a swift uppercut, pooling what strength she has remaining.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru blocks Acacia's Quick Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Acacia 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Chizuru
The sealing does not last forever - it doesn't even last very long, not against a trained fighter when Chizuru only has instants to set it up. Maybe she could make some sort of longer-term seal with time, cooperation or both; isn't that what the Orochi Seal is? Acacia, however, should be feeling better shortly, although probably still a little exhausted from reimbuing herself with chi.
The fist looks like it's going to strike solidly and only doesn't at the last moment, when Chizuru catches it on her arm instead of her face. Even so, that hurt; the number of minor hits she's taken are starting to add up, and she's starting to get more than a little sore.
That, and she's starting to need to give her chi a moment to regroup; when Chizuru attacks, it's without benefit of any spiritual pressure at all, instead just a fast kick toward Acacia to get a little bit of distance. Chizuru has long arms for her height and likes her reach.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru successfully hits Acacia with Light Kick.
[ \\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Acacia 1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0 Chizuru
TAcacia's -always- channeling chi through her body. To a level that exceeds that of most fighters. On the one hand, that lets her recover faster.
On the other, the very fact of the attack shocked her more than anything else of this fight. She's been maintaining her body renforcement for years now, a fact of life as unconscious as breathing. To have it taken away for even an instant - that rattled her.
She doesn't let that show, though. Even as Chizuru's heel digs painfully into Acacia's ribs, sending the smaller woman spinning back to the ground...Acacia barely makes a sound. She ignores the pain, ignores the lingering weakness in her limbs. She comes up in a crouch, and then in a full-blown leap, lunging towards Chizuru. Aiming to slam her against one of the few intact walls on the ground floor.
Not.
Over.
/Yet/.
COMBATSYS: Acacia successfully hits Chizuru with Quick Throw.
[ \\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Acacia 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 Chizuru
This time, Chizuru is hit solidly, and she really feels it as she's plowed into the poor, remaining wall. Fortunately, she misses the support pillar; what is left is an oblong hole in the wall close to Chizuru's size and a cloud of dust from the drywall.
She does not come back out in person, although a series of illusions do; one of the jumping ones from before that fades away quickly, a horizontal swinging one that vanishes just as fast, and finally, one rising up in a swirling arc.
Chizuru, coated in white dust, stays on the far side, in the dining room, focusing on the images as she launches the series at Acacia. She looks to be concentrating.
COMBATSYS: Acacia endures Chizuru's Tenjin no Kotowari.
[ < > //////////////// ]
Acacia 1/=======/=======|==-----\-------\0 Chizuru
But Acacia doesn't dodge. She doesn't evade. Instead, seeing the shadows come at her...she makes a decision. She charges. With all the damage she's taken in this fight, she can barely stand. But she finds it in her to run all the same, the soles of her combat boots crossing the churned-up floor, crunching debris underfoot. She crashes into the first illusion, stumbling. She weathers the assault of the second. And finally her head snaps back upon contact with the third, her torso arcing with the blow - but she grounds her feet back upon the earth, stumbling...yet somehow retaining her balance and forward momentum.
And now she's upon Chizuru, tumbling through the hole in the wall into the dining room. With the last of her rapidly fading strength, Acacia lunges at her. She can -feel- herself blacking out. She can feel the cold grip squeezing at her consciousness. Her vision's beginning to blur. She can barely focus...
...but she's got enough, just enough, to summon her diminishing reserves for one final attack. She chambers a punch, her arm flexing at the elbow. She throws it.
It doesn't look like much. But to a chi adept like Chizuru, the surge of power should be clear as day. All the power left to Acacia, every mote of chi she's able to channel - all gathered into the bones and muscle of her fist.
Ready to release, on contact, in one immense subsonic vibration.
If Chizuru isn't there to receive it, at least it'll get something done.
Battered as she is, maybe she'll totally blur past Chizuru, hit the floor, and open up a new basement.
The homeowners could use a wine cellar...
COMBATSYS: Acacia can no longer fight.
> //////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Chizuru
COMBATSYS: Chizuru blocks Acacia's Godshatter.
> ////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Chizuru
Chizuru sees, in the instant before Acacia comes at her, the last wave of power summoned up by the other woman, and she does her best to meet it, bringing up her hands and /pressing/ with her aura.
It doesn't work, or not perfectly; Chizuru does not completely repel the attack, having not had the reserves to focus into doing so, and thus the force washes over her and through her. She vibrates in place as she pushes, feeling the wave wash t hrough her and making her feel a little like a bell; the floor under her feet vibrates too, giving her a slightly blurred look for a few instants.
It does down, and Chizuru lowers her hands, still feeling a little shaky on her feet. She takes one breath, then a second, as a revitalizing technique - and then she goes to Acacia, and then to Tenma, to make sure they're all all right.
And, knowing her, to congratulate them and wish them well.
Log created on 19:10:02 02/29/2008 by Chizuru, and last modified on 14:14:54 03/06/2008.