Description: Wandering around outside of the school of Gedo proper... Adira runs into Ayame, who has just completed another mugging... and she tries to make Ayame pay for it.
That's the problem with Southtown. Sometimes it's hard to tell who is even the villain in a given situation. Case in point: a scuffle between a feather weight Japanese teen with long, strawberry-blonde hair and a middle aged male foreigner that looks to be from the States. At first glance at this back-alley alteraction, one might jump to the conclusion that the tourist was trying to get fresh with one of the local girls and she's struggling to free herself from the situation.
But it only takes a few moments of observation to realize that that's definitely not the case as the young girl is thoroughly trashing the completely untrained visitor, "Oo, nice," Ayame remarks, twirling a leather billfold as she shoves the poor American up against the wall with her other hand. "You must've just arrived, wallet is still full," she grins. "Welcome to Japan!"
Her pressing hand tightens its grip on the guy's shirt before she pulls him off the wall and over her extended shin, tripping him to the ground hard on his back. "H-help!" groans Ayame's latest victim in obvious pain.
"Oh, relax. I'm done with you. You're not going to get hurt anymore," Ayame remarks as she begins flipping through the contents of the wallet. The bills are taken, folded in half, and slipped into a plastic clip hidden on the inside of the hem of her skirt. Eyes skim over the rest of the items, but she hasn't much interest in passports - she can just forge those anyway. "Hm, hm..."
Now, Adira is kind of new to Southtown. She's visited before, sure, but this is her first time living here. And even though this isn't the best neighborhood around, she finds that she's strangely dedicated to the school and the surrounding area already, despite or perhaps because of the local elements. I mean, hey.
She came from Metro City--things like this, a kid mugging some tourist are daily occurrences there. Happens during recess, in fact. But Adira? She's never liked it. She does like that it gives her a chance to use her skills, though. School ain't in session--it's the weekend after all. That keeps Adira from having to wear her school uniform. So she isn't dressed like one of those famous (infamous) Gedo kids... and yet...
There's something about her, really, that just screams 'Gedo brat'. Whatever it is... it's not like she came running when she heard the cry. Instead, she casually bars the exit of the alleyway, looking ever-so-confident. "Hey," she says, sounding all casual and stuff. "Y'know," she comments, "if you're gonna roll some guy, maybe you should put him somewhere where he -can't- be heard from the street... it's just a little advice."
Then she advances. "Then again, maybe you shouldn't," she says, with a little grin, "maybe you like getting caught..."
Ayame's victim starts to try and get up, but the girl puts a stop of that with a firm foot against his chest. "Patience, I'm just about done..." the girl comments, eyes never straying from the personal items she's skimming. Pictures of kids, ID cards, addresses, credit card numbers memorized with merely a blink...
But a shadow from the end of the alleyway catches Ayame's attention and the young hoodlum glances lazily in Adira's direction, taking in the other girl with a glance. "Oh, hey, that's some great advice. Why didn't I think of that?" the girl retorts, head leaning to the side as she takes a step away from the foreigner in order to face the other girl directly. "Oh right.. right. Maybe it's because..." She tosses the pilfered wallet over her shoulder, letting it land right on the guy's chest with a light thud.
"...I'm not afraid of getting caught." she finishes with a smirk, her right hand slipping down to her belt, sliding out a thin metal object that she flicks open to reveal the sharp blade of a butterfly knife that the girl begins to twirl easily as she holds her ground. "You, on the other hand, should be quite worried about getting cut up for getting in my way. So why don't you just turn around and walk away... It'll be better for you. Trust me."
COMBATSYS: Adira has started a fight here.
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Adira 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Ayame has joined the fight here.
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Adira 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
"As if I would," she replies, with a dismissive snort. She gives Ayame the once-over, then shakes her head. "Not sure why you gotta roll bums in alleyways, but that seems kinda desperate to me. Ever thought of goin' to a shelter? I know there're plenty of places here that take strays..."
Oh, she sees the knife--but it doesn't give her pause at all, really, as she continues forward again, walking forward with a deceptive sort of speed. It's not a fast walk, but it holds some urgency to it, as if she were preparing for battle... and perhaps she is, as her arms come up. Fortunately, for some reason, she's wearing her leather armguards... they'll help against that knife, at least a little.
"*I'm* going to suggest that you stop with the crime. It'll only get you hurt, in the end," she remarks, as she brings her arms up to a fighting position, her stance widening slightly, her knees bending. One more step--and then she flicks her right foot forward, snapping a swift, low kick for Ayame's leading knee.
COMBATSYS: Ayame fails to interrupt Snap Kick from Adira with Quick Strike.
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Adira 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Ayame
"Cute. A lecture. Are you hoping that I just fall asleep? You seem to be full of great advice. Maybe you should go teach classes in 'How to get by in life' since you must be doing so well off yourself to be down here in an alley in a bad part of south Southtown, eh?" Ayame shakes her head, her empty left hand coming up to brush some of her hair back over her ear as she continues to flick her blade.
To be fair, she's at least mildly surprised the knife wasn't enough to get this interloper to book it. After all, is it worth risking getting stabbed to get into the middle of things that don't concern her? "Who you think you are?" Then it clicks, one eye narrowing as the knife flicking comes to a stop, "You from that dumb high school? You kids seem to have a knack for getting your faces into stuff that doesn't concern you." Vigilante student gangs. How ridiculous!
But it seems the posturing isn't going to get Adira to back off, causing Ayame to frown faintly. Well, fine then, she's been looking for someone to cut anyway and this spunky girl will do. Adira's foot comes in swiftly and Ayame attempts to step forward and around it, only to get tagged in the knee, her knife coming just shy of carving a line across the other girl's torso. The force is enough to knock her leg out from under her such that she is forced to drop to one knee in order to keep from tripping forward clean off her feet. "Che!"
"Not at all. I hope you don't," replies Adira, retracting her foot from that kick. She noted just how close that knife came to slicing her; she's not ignorant of it. But weapons? In as much as they are scary by themselves, this is something she's been trained for. She doesn't stop moving--thinking, probably rightly, that Ayame is going to stab her badly if she does.
So with Ayame forced to drop to one knee, that right foot comes around to Adira's left... and then up, and then down, in an attempt to make the heel impact against Ayame's spine. Or her shoulder. As for the question asked by the blonde, well. "Name's Adira. Sen'ou Adira," she replies, happy enough to give her name out. "And yeah, I'm from Gedo High. But hey, go figure. We like keeping the streets clean." Really, actually, she's a new transfer, but Ayame doesn't need to know that, does she?
Probably Adira is confident. Probably, she's overconfident. But she already knows--is resigned--to the fact that she's probably going to get cut today. The plan isn't to not get cut. It's to give as good as she gets.
COMBATSYS: Ayame parries Adira's Medium Kick!
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Adira 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
It's actually a moment of internal panic that powers Ayame's next action - Dropped into a low position in front of an advancing opponent is just a really dangerous place to be. Which is why when it comes down to it, she falls back on her most reliable weapon of all - her trusty staff. "Well, I'll make sure to clean up when I'm done here then," the street rogue snaps.
Adira would be hard pressed to see the movement in time but she might hear the noise. The sound of the butterfly knife hitting the ground, a hydraulic hiss as what seems like a small tube suddenly expands out into a full length staff... And just in time, as Adira's leg comes crashing down with a strike intended for Ayame's spine, the girl manages to spin her newly expanded staff up at an angle, leaving the Gedo student's kick sliding down the titanium pole rather than crushing her back.
The swift defense might be just the ticket Ayame needed as she rises up, sweeping the staff around from her other side, trying to capitalize on the opening Adira's threatened balance might offer. The entire length of the weapon flares bright red, one end of it slamming in low toward the other girl's stomach, intending to stun her with a powerful blow.
A second swing is made toward her chest, hoping to catch her after bending her forward with the first lower hit, Ayame rising up into the air with the momentum behind her powerful strike. And then she drops right back down, a chi infused weapon aimed to crack the cranium of the girl that introduced herself as Adira before Ayame lands in a half crouch.
COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Adira with Harvest's Reaper EX.
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Adira 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Ayame
Unexpected! Adira suddenly takes a major assault from Ayame, and she takes it hard; the girl might look like a little slip of a thing but man she hits hard. Adira is staggered back by the strikes, only barely managing to get enough a forearm in the way to avoid major head trauma--though she's still seeing stars.
"Unh... guess you can hit," she comments, sounding a little groggy. Hopefully that poor sop that got rolled has left by now; Adira can't spare any time for him. Suddenly, however, despite the grogginess... she's moving again. But not straight for Ayame; no, she's deviating slightly... heading to her right. Well, her goal's simple--a chunk of concrete, from the wall of the building it just came off of.
She picks it up, and hefts it. It'll do.
"Since you're all about the weapons," she quips, "guess you won't mind if I try my hand at one too." And really, a rock is one of the oldest weaponsa round, the oldest and most venerable.
And then, she hefts it one more time... and just as it lands in her hand, she pitches it forward, of course.
COMBATSYS: Ayame parries Adira's Thrown Object!
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Adira 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Ayame
The alleyway behind Ayame has been vacated as the two girls do battle, the poor tourist booking it for the exit, waving his hands over his head as he rounds the corner. Ayame grunts, realizing that the situation has a good chance of escalating rapidly out of control and that's not even counting the trouble this girl is trying to cause for her. Shifting her gaze back to Adira she notices that while she just took one of the hardest single combinations of strikes Ayame is able to dish out, she's holding up all right. Yeah... Gedo attracts some durable students. She can't deny that.
"Yeah, I think I tried to warn you about that part," Ayame remarks with a faint grin, tapping her staff against her shoulder idly. Maybe the girl will move on now and she can get back to her daily business of being a general no good reprobate? But Adira comes in for the rock and Ayame takes a hesitant step back and to the side, perhaps thinking she's trying to feint her.
But Adira pauses and Ayame's eyes narrow a little, the girl not sure what to make of someone so eager to fight her. "Do you just go around looking for trouble?" she asks. Look who's talking?! In comes the rock and Ayame spins into action again, whirling her staff off her shoulder and into the rock, sending it flying off to the side while Ayame continues forward.
But her next strike isn't from the staff as she comes out of the spin, the long weapon gripped tightly in her left hand, giving her some defense... but rather from her right arm, the girl slamming it forward as if simply meaning to punch Adira... If only it was that inocuous though, for from beneath the cloth wrappings over her right forwarm a two foot long, narrow blade shoots forward. Attached to her arm, it's almost like a short sword of sorts.
As if the blade wasn't bad enough, Adira has the crackling white chi coursing over its surface with almost lightning-like randomness to worry about as the sharp weapon comes bearing in squarely toward her torso. "But maybe you're a slow learner!!"
COMBATSYS: Adira endures Ayame's Dream Crushing EX.
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Adira 1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0 Ayame
Whoops. Well, her focus isn't on weapons, so it's probably forgivable that her attack was so easily dealt with. Still and all... she's not surprised to find Ayame's so skilled. She knew skilled fighters littered the streets of Southtown. She's just surprised to find one of her caliber slumming... she grimaces. The girl's just too fast... not much Adira can do in this situation.
Except... she shifts just to her side. It isn't a dodge, just a way of ensuring the blade doesn't hit anything too vital; she hisses as the energy and the blade pierce through her. "'least I'm 'fast' enough to know that mugging people is about the lowest form of 'work' you can have... probably be better off selling yourself on the street! At least it's more HONEST!" she shouts.
Reaching down, she grabs that hand, and the blade attached to it, and pushes backwards, hissing loudly as the blade is forcibly withdrawn. She's bleeding already, profusely... but she can't worry about that now. Instead, she keeps her grip and tries to throw Ayame at a wall--to pin her in place as Adira concentrates... crouches.. and lunges to follow Ayame, attempting to bury a knee in the weapons-user's chest, first one, then the other, a two-hit flying knee kick to make Tony Jaa proud.
COMBATSYS: Ayame blocks Adira's Dragon Hunter.
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Adira 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Ayame
Ayame's blade slips in as intended, though not striking the more vulnerable parts she was aiming for. No matter... the gaping wound will be its own problem for Adira to deal with in due time, Ayame figures. "Hey now, I'm not really interested in knowing how you get by," the blood thirsty girl grins, leaving her weapon in place... only to realize that she should have backed away as quickly as possible rather than sit there and smack talk.
A trigger in the palm of her glove has the blade attached to her arm retracting back beneath the cloth wrapping that had concealed it, leaving a smear of blood on the back of her hand, but that doesn't do anything for her hand being gripped! Shoved backward into a wall, the weapons user grunts, shaking her head, feeling a little disoriented. When she fixes her attention back on the other girl, Adira is already too close for her to get her staff in the way to defend herself and the best Ayame can manage is moving her right arm in the way.
The metal clang of Adira's knee striking the hidden blade that had just skewered her is the only explanation for why the crushing assault didn't just completely power through the more fragile fighter. The second knee comes, crushing down on Ayame's guard even harder, the long haired menace starting to crumple a little under the pressure.
Fearing a follow up combination of painful knee strikes, Ayame finally ducks to the side and comes up standing a yard to the left, lowering her bruised right arm, wincing a little from the pain of impact. "That does it. You're really pushing your luck, girl. I already gave you a chance to run before, and this is your last warning before I'm going to tear you to shreads!"
Clenching her weapon with both hands, the girl holds her staff in front of her in a somewhat defensive position. The build up of energy around the girl is impossible to miss. A chrismatic display of multi-colored chi swirling up around her legs and up to the level of her chest. "You have three seconds to get the hell out of here..."
"Three..." Her jaw clenched, she keeps her focus on the powerful build up of energy around her. "...two..." The look on her face betrays just how hard it is for her to pull this much power in from the world around her. It must mean she's either deadly serious about what it is she's going to do next or she's trying to scare Adira off before she gets pummeled any more!
COMBATSYS: Ayame gathers her will.
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Adira 1/-----==/=======|=======\==-----\1 Ayame
Scared? Adira? You don't -scare- Israelis. You have to knock them out at -worst-. Her knees didn't hit properly, she knows, but she's alright with that for now. No blade to deal with right now, either, which is doubly good. As she lands, she puts a hand on the wound. Deep, but just a flesh wound. It'll hurt, all the more so if it's attacked, but it won't impair her for now, and the blood less is acceptable. Adira bares her teeth. Maybe she's losing, but she's going to make Ayame pay for the privelege of winning, that's for sure.
"Heh... hah... hah... you think you're gonna scare me off...??" Once more she lunges, taking the straightest path for Ayame's position. Her hands are raised, feinting a strike high--Ayame can't know that Adira is purely a kicker, her work with her legs along. While she's striking high, she's also striking -low-, though...
Her right foot sweeping out, aiming to pull Ayame's legs out from underneath her in a low sweep.
If that connects, well, then Adira'll just have to follow up, with a axe kick to the gut! Or the back, whichever's left exposed in the case of an attack.
"I don't scare so easy!" she proclaims, maybe just to try and distract Ayame some more... she's not complaining about the weapons, at least. Hey, she figures, you take what you got to take in order to live. Ayame's got her weapons, and so does Adira.
COMBATSYS: Adira successfully hits Ayame with Slipping Axe.
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Adira 1/-----==/=======|=======\====---\1 Ayame
"...One!" snaps the girl. Well, it seems like Adira hasn't run. She was given her warning. And here she is, coming in with a high strike? Ayame lifts her staff up, holding it horizontally in the way. "Time's u- GAH!" The foot sweep catches her off guard, her feet taken out from under her. Falling forward, she's introduced to Adira's kick to her stomach which knocks her backward instead of forward, the thief landing on her back on the alley ground with a pained gasp.
Feeling a little sickened by the stomach blow, she rolls onto her side and pushes herself up quickly, her hand still firmly on her staff. Back on her feet, her eyes glare daggers toward Adira, even if she isn't using knives right now! "Well, it was for your own good that I warned you!" she growls. The staff in her hand flares to live again, this time with a green energy coursing tightly over its surface. Dense and heavy, it makes the staff weigh more than the normally light weight titanium does. The flaring red from before flickers in secondly, flaring out toward the ends.
"But now you're going to get it!" And then she's attacking, swinging out with the weapon as she spins into a short staff dance, aiming a strike at neck level, then for the knees, then ending with a powerful sideways slam for the stomach. With each point of impact, should it connect, the air is filled with a small shower of red sparks.
COMBATSYS: Adira fails to interrupt Requiem For Fallen Blossoms from Ayame with Dragon Slayer.
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Adira 0/-------/----===|=======\=====--\1 Ayame
"YOU THINK I'LL JUST LET YOU?!?" shouts Adira, lunging forward fearlessly, prepared to take some damage to GIVE some damage... unfortunately, she only gets to the first part. Her lunge is cut short, the range on that staff deceptive, and she's left open for the series of strikes, and the shower red sparks--the combination of attacks forcing Adira back into the wall.
At least one of those attacks hit her already-injured side, drawing a short, depserately-choked-off scream from the girl, despite her best efforts... now, she's leaning against the nearby alley wall, her green eyes flinty, like glass, hard with anger... shit. She's lost this one... the best she can do, the most she can hope for... is to do a little more damage. Che...
That defiant gaze in her eyes, she levels it at Ayame. "You haven't won -yet-," she proclaims, the bold statement almost ruined by a wet cough at the end.
The violent strikes delivered, Ayame slides to a stop, holding her staff out at her side, the red chi flickering out as if a flame that had lost its fuel, the green chi cracking as if it was a solid shell, fragments flaking off and falling toward the ground, fading out before ever reaching it. The girl exhales, having exerted a fair amount of effort into the combination attack. But it was worth it, managing to power through any attempt to retaliate against her.
"Brave," Ayame remarks, a glimmer of amusement in her brown eyes, as if watching a game play out rather than a violent, blood shedding struggle. "I'll give you that. But are you not even afraid to die? It could happen, you know. I have no reason to hold back. You wouldn't be the first. Is this where you wanted to perish? Some back alley in the slums of Southtown?" The girl clucks her tongue, her strangely cheerful expression making it hard to tell the difference between truth and lies with her.
"But you're pretty serious about your fighting. You're no slouch, I can tell that much. It would be a shame to let such talent get cut off at such a young age..." Lifting her right hand, she glances at the streak of Adira's blood on the back of her fist, gazing at it thoughtfully for a moment. "Well. If you want to put it all on the line, then now's the time to find out, I suppose. Here goes!!"
And then she's shifted one end of her staff toward Adira. An explosion of smoke and then a net goes hurtling out across the short distance between them. Made of fine wire, the entangling mess promises to cut and slice any where it happens to land. And Ayame is right behind it, swinging out with her staff, intending to bludgeon the fight right out of Adira while she's trapped by the netting. In the end she'll attempt to sweep the other girl's feet out from under her and drop her to the ground. "Stay put!"
COMBATSYS: Adira endures Ayame's Entrapment.
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Adira 1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0 Ayame
Stay put? Stay -PUT-? As if. She's caught by the netting; Adira doesn't bother even trying to get away or get around it. She just covers up, protecting vital areas, making sure Ayame doesn't get in a killing strike. A little light mutilation is ok with her; she heals well. It's even character building. Death, not so much. In the end, it all pretty much goes according to Ayame's plan, even down to the tripdown.
Only, she doesn't -stay- down. She breaks free of the netting once she hits the ground, rolling backwards to get some room. Bloodied, covered in a network of cuts... she glowers at Ayame then gathers herself. And she leaps, pushing herself through a low arc. She kicks out with her right leg, in a slightly downward-angled heel kick, that kicking leg sheathed in fire...
COMBATSYS: Adira can no longer fight.
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Ayame 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Ayame fails to reflect Tiger Slayer from Adira with Midsummer Fantasy.
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Ayame 0/-------/-======|
And even though she's on her last legs... she's not going to let Ayame go unscathed. The heel kick hits Ayame in the chin--a stunning blow that leaves her open for the furious storm of knees and kicks that Adira lays out, swift shots that range from a gut-targeted knee to a low snap kick to a high roundhouse--it must be at least fifteen or sixteen attacks all in a row.
Notably, none of those have Adira's chi effect--but then, after that last high roundhouse, Adira crouches. The resultant leaping knee strike -does- have that crimson chi-fire around the knee that knocks Ayame upwards, and Adira, as injured as she is, is able to follow, her leap carrying her up with the thief. Her body still in a tuck, she untucks, extending her legs, as she rotates around in a fiery, double-footed flip kick--not once, twice, but three times, to knock Ayame away... and then Adira plummets back to the earth, landing on a trash heap of discarded particleboard...
Truth be told, Ayame was just about to take a seat on her newly defeated victim, confident that the girl can't go any further now. Imagine her surprise when the netting is ripped clean off, "What, you should-" she begins to snap. Oh hell, she's going to-... Ayame brings her hand up, attempting to create a barrier of chi to defend herself with, but Adira's momentum crashes right through the energy shield before she can fully manifest her defenses.
The combination of strikes that come afterward send Ayame flying, the girl pummeled, kicked, bashed, struck and finally slammed far with the final chi laced flip kicks. Her opponent crashes down hard but then so does Ayame, her back striking a wall, followed by her slowly sliding down to the ground, landing in a seated position. Her mouth bloodied, her nose bruised, and hell knows what kind of pain is concealed beneath her clothing.
Turning her face to the side, Ayame spits a mouthfull of blood, her hand tightening on her staff as she pushes herself up slowly back to standing, glancing back in Adira's direction as she wipes her hand along the back of her mouth. "Damn Gedo kids, what do they make them out of over there - stone?" Ayame grunts. The staff is collapsed and put away and she takes a moment to search for her butterfly knife and flick it back into its sheath as well. "Well, Adira," she remarks, rubbing her bruised cheek, "You better hope we never meet again."
A slow exhale and then Ayame turns to shuffle out of the alley. In her mind she realizes she's made a lousy amount of money for the percentage of pain she just got handed her. Good thing she doesn't really do it for the money anymore... she just can't help herself. Old habits die hard with her.
COMBATSYS: Ayame has ended the fight here.
Log created on 22:58:35 03/02/2008 by Adira, and last modified on 03:26:44 03/03/2008.