Description: How could a fight staged amidst dozens of rampaging bumper cars plus one full sized car possibly get complicated?? The diminutive fights Hotaru and Mizuki are pitted against the anything BUT diminutive Birdie and Katana. But the teams get rather muddled when a fifth joins the party in the form of one very angry Frei. ( Winners: Birdie and Katana )
Trampolines last week. Bumper cars THIS week? The match has yet to even begin and the young fighter already looks fairly annoyed, standing off to the side of the attraction, arms folded over her chest, mouth curled down into a faint scowl. What does a fighter have to do to get taken seriously around here?! What's with the endless litany of gag filled venues?
The various bumper cars are parked at the moment, but off on the opposite side of the smooth concrete enclosure a row of VERY somber looking SNF officials are standing, each holding a remote control in their hand that will be used to power and drive the various bumper cars once the match begins. The fighters are expected to stay /on/ the silly things as much as possible throughout the fight and forced to cope with the endless jarring collisions that are bound to happen.
And while the officials appear quite serious about this task, Hotaru is pretty sure that they're biting back grins and laughter at the clearly comical match to come. Clenching her right hand tightly, she half debates if it'd be more satisfying to just forget the scheduled event and go smack them around some for arranging such a ridiculous fight.
But for her sour expression and the fact that she has her hair let down, the girl looks much as she always has. Clothed in the Chinese themed outfit of blue and white, the Kenpo artist sighs softly, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "This is ludicrous," she mutters. Surely her brother would never have to suffer such indignities!
... for this, Mizuki actually agrees. This is... going to be difficult, at the very least--nearly impossible at the worst. Both Hotaru and Mizuki seek to use speed to their advantage... and this weird 'setup' sure will make things harder. Hotaru... well, Mizuki hasn't seen her in a while. She'd heard some rumors, of course... that the girl was 'different' now. But surely, they're just rumors, aren't they?
The redhead frowns at her 'ride', testing her balance a little. "This is going to be tough, isn't it, Futaba-san?" she comments, glancing over at her partner. Well, she does look annoyed, but that's understandable. The hairstyle... "You changed your hair," she comments, feeling rather foolish for saying it just after. ".. it looks nice." Well, that helps a little.
Mizuki turns her attention back to the fight. Katana, Birdie... she faced off against Birdie a couple weeks ago, and -with- Katana... so she knows something about these two... namely, that they in fact kinda hurt.
Mizuki seems pretty oblivious to the facts, as she mentions, "I've wanted to fight alongside you for a while now, Futaba-san... I'm glad we're finally able to." Oh Mizuki. Take another look at your partner, will you? If this were KoTOR Hotaru would have tattoos all over her face or be glowing purple or something.
You know what could make this event even better? If Birdie was to appear out of nowhere, and be pitted against some fighter named Hotaru, or at least Hotaru's team.
Oh... wait... That's exactly what happened. Geese is really slick these days.
Birdie stands tall, walking in towards the match enterance. He's really pleased with how everythings going. Very pleased. Looking around the field of officials and other such, Birdie just looks down at his own pitiful bumber car and shakes his head. "Hah. Please. I'm not getting in that shitty thing." Birdie states as he actually picks up the bumpercar, breaking the connecting right off and hurling it with a grunt out of the bumper car arena.
"ALRIGHT!" Birdie states as he walks off, "Now you'll see what I drive." Birdie states as he walks right out. For a moment, there's a thump. The sound of keys, and then a blasting stereo. Up the steps Birdie manuevers his own car. With spinners on the wheels, fuzzy dice, a rather nice paint job of a bird and a hair piece. Birdie even got a fake gold tooth for this event too. It's all here.
Birdie manuevers it through as its hydrolics cause it to pump up and down, the rap music blasting as he makes his way in a car way too smal for him. Hell, his accessories take up more space than he does.
"This is my bloody car!" He calls, grabbing the broken antenna of the other and stabbing it in his. "There. I'm ready!"
But... are you?
There are somethings that are unacceptable. But this.. is not one of them. While Mizuki and Hotaru seem happy with their dinky cars, Katana, unlike Birdie, does not want such a car. He does not drive a THUMPATHUMNPATHUMPA car. No. He drives only the BEST of Japanese cars.
Even worse. They refused his OTHER entry.
And so Katana arrives. But he arrives and breaks towards the bumpercar. He is carrying something. NO. Make that two somethings. Even three. Because as he races towards his bumper car, three things hang off Katana. A lantern. A flag. A koala painted like a panda.
Do you know how expensive a panda is and how impossible to fit in a bumper car? YEAH.
And jammed into the bumper car's plastic, the heavy flag is set, and on top of it, the lantern is perched, hanging over, infront of Katana's face. And then the panda/koala is left to hang on the back, as the MASSIVE BULK OF MUSCLES somehow fits into the tiny bumper car.. and then just plain stands.
"Hahahhaa... I HAVE GIVEN JAPAN A PROPER REPRESENTATIVE...." And then he finally spots Birdie's entry. He stares, for a moment, before looking back to his, the koala causing the lantern to slightly tip. "... Tauros, you are quite honorable. You have bested me in this today... BUT WE ARE A TEAM, SO WE SHALL BOTH ... I'll stay in my own, however... But with your entry, we shall defeat such puny, undecorated, honorless carts with our pride and glory!"
And then the SHogun raises both wakizashi, bellowing out a great laughter!
Mizuki's observations are tolerated by the moody Kenpo artist, Hotaru leaning her back against the wall, arms folded over her chest, not deigning to go near the mockery of a fighting stage until it was absolutely necessary. Mizuki comments on her hair and the girl nods her head slightly in acknowledgement, remaining distant in her interaction with the other girl. As she mentions wanting to fight alongside of her, Hotaru finally glances her way, blue eyes studying the Justice High student intently for a moment. "Yes, well," she states, looking away after a few seconds, "Do your best and it should work out okay."
The girl sighs softly. The only thing that would make this worse if it a certain gigantic mountain of meat was scheduled to be her opponent. The girl snaps her eyes open again at the sound of a car being launched right out of the arena, crashing into a wreck off to the side. The young fighter /stares/ at Birdie, mouth slightly agape as he walks right back off. "What was..." And then he comes back, pulling into the car pit with a real... car... "Good grief," the girl mutters.
The only thing that could make this ANY worse would be- Oh, no, nevermind. There he is. The small fighter stares at Katana as he strides confidently into the bumper car pit with the goods necessary to pimp out his ride. "You have got to be kidding me." Who comes UP WITH THESE FIGHTS?!
Officials off to the side start waving their hands, trying to get Hotaru and Mizuki into position so that the madness that is this match can get started. Who DOESN'T want to see this fight after all?? Tight lipped, Hotaru walks forward, hand reaching out to grab the antenna of one of the cars and stepping up onto its hood. Adjusting her feet a little, she taps the hood with her toe, testing the traction. Yeah, this is going to be... well... she isn't even really sure what this is going to be.
Snapping a glare toward Birdie, she points with her free hand, "What in the world is he doing with something like that in here?! That's not fai- ack!" Her protests are cut off as the cars lurch to life, the match firing up with sudden energy. Forced to pull back her pointing hand to get a grip on the antenna to keep from falling off right at the get-go, the girl fumbles with her footing for a moment, feeling a lot more goofy than she thought she would from the start.
Recovering her balance after a moment, the girl turns to look forward only to realize that her car is careening directly toward Katana's sweet ride with a high velocity collision course. There's no real choice to steer the thing, so the next best thing she can do is simply jump for it, leaping at Katana in an attempt to kick him in the chest at the same time their cars collide, avoiding getting just tossed off it like she would have /anyway/!
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Birdie has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Birdie
COMBATSYS: Katana has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
COMBATSYS: Mizuki has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Katana
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Birdie
... "Futaba-san..." Maybe those rumors are true. Mizuki watches, from her bumper car vantage point, as Birdie busts in... in a -real- car? Immediately she turns to the SNF officials and POINTS in the car's direction. "That is NOT fair!" she exclaims, sounding righteously indignant, because the other two are in BUMPER CARS. She... doesn't really care about Katana. It's not likely that Birdie's going to try to run HIM over with a CAR. Sadly, of course, the SNF officials don't have much that they can do about this thing, or that.. or the other thing.
It's too late anyways; Hotaru's finally up and running, and Mizuki watches, speechless for a moment, as the other girl is sent towards Katana. She briefly has a moment to wonder who is controlling the bumper cars; hers is jostled by other empty cars and then...
Well, she's headed straight for Birdie, now, isn't she? That's not a good thing... actually, it really sucks, doesn't it. Not much she can do about it at this point though, except to grimace, and crouch...
And leap -away- from Birdie's car. Because there is NO way she is going to take on a man in a car by herself, not like that. Instead, she propels herself towards Katana, as well--he gets a twofer this time, Mizuki choosing to attack low with a lunging kick of her own. This is.. this is going ALL wrong...
You know what Hotaru? You have to be joking. You hate these fights? What's wrong with you. Do you hate fun? DO YOU HATE LARGE MUSCULAR MEN IN PIMPED OUT CARS? YEAH, you do, DON'T YOU? I bet you do.
But Birdie, well, Birdie just looks towards Hotaru and gives her a thumbs up. "You like? Tell me you do. Hahaha." Birdie states, "C'mon chick-a-dees. You wanna ride? There's enough for all of us in here. Hahaha." Birdie states as he hits the horn. It beeps the theme from Happydays.
"You gotta be kiddin' me! These are the best fights. Why you hatin?" Birdie snorts. "It's my damn car. What the hell does it look like?" And then she goes for Katana?! Oh you!
Birdie just looks towards Mizuki. after. And, well. Birdie just shakes his head, "It's all damn fair! You'rejust a chicken to fudge the rules." And right then, she watches as Mizuki heads for Birdie. Haha. Yeah. Come to pa- WHAT. Oh come on! And then she leaps away. Well, Birdie knows what to do.
"HEY. KATANA. JAPAN." He calls, "JAPAN JAPAN JAPAN JAPAN. YOU STUPID BLOKE. JAPAN."
That oughta do it. Hahah. Those losers.
COMBATSYS: Birdie assists Katana.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Katana
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Birdie
COMBATSYS: Katana blocks Hotaru's Light Kick.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Katana
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Birdie
COMBATSYS: Katana interrupts Heavy Kick from Mizuki with Deep Strike.
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Mizuki 0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Katana
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Birdie
What is happening. Katana looks towards Hotaru, and then back to Mizuki. HAH. Such little girls, such little girls so easily defeated! And yet NO.
But Katana doesn't seem to care. As Hotaru asks if he has to be kidding, Katana laughs, looking towards Hotaru. "Far from it .. we are quite serious. QUITE SERIOUS!" It is amazing to what serious he means it. And then as they all go into position, Hotaru adjusts herself. The cars lurch. Katana stands on his, carefully, blades up as he positions himself behind the flag with the lantern lighting up his JAPANESE SPIRIT.
And then the girl launches towards Katana, leaping at him, attempting to KICK him in the chest.
At that very same moment, the Shogun watches on as Mizuki leaps away from Birdie's car. And then, she propels herself towards Katana.. a lunging kick low towards him... THIS IS ... INANE.
"Two on one!? Such a fight.. BUT I SHALL NOT FALL TO YOU!" He declares.. as they both come. Oh god he's going to get mangled BUT SPIRIT but .. but...
And then Birdie hits the horns, "Tauros!?" Birdie honks the horn, some alien theme before.
JAPAN. JAPAN JAPAN .. JAPAN!? DUNNNNANANANANNANA NNANANNANANAN! POP EYE THEME.
Flexing, his arms come up as he navigates forwards, one of them smashing Hotaru's foot away rather simply. "HAH! You .. are weak.. before JAPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" And then Mizuki's lunge is met with his own, both wakizashi slamming forwards, his helmet taking the blow, but softening it considerably. Both blades slam towards her, slicing into the girl's clothing, as he just STABS, his japan-cart bouncing against Mizuki's. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"
Bouncing back, Katana.. looks at Birdie. "Tauros... THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIMELY AID." And he poses. With a fan. As he promptly hits a wall, and ends up riding. WITH HIS FACE.
Smaller legs flail on the outside of the cart. "MPPHH JAPAN MMPPHH." HE'S ALRIGHT FOLKS.
She's already mid-jump when the sound of the horn reaches her ears and all the sudden the loud mouthed Shogun in front of her just goes /insane/, pushing her leaping assault off to the side, leaving her to fend for herself as he turns and tears into her poor partner. "Che," the girl grunts, feet coming down on the back of a bumper car with far too much momentum for her to slow. Slipping off entirely, she just about crashes to the ground on her back but for a last second grasp of another car's antenna, swinging around it, releasing such that she sails through the air... and comes to a stop on... the hood of Birdie's car with a light thud.
Shaking her head, Hotaru exhales sharply, forgetting about Mizuki and her troubles with the blade using Katana. She's bested him before. She expects Mizuki to do her job and keep him busy. The girl has her own agenda now. Stomping her foot down on the hood of Birdie's car, she shakes her right fist toward the man behind the wheel.
"Get out of your car and come fight me, Birdie! Or Tauros. Or whatever your riduclous name is! Or are you too scared, huh? Hoping to stay in there and make ridiculous noises while your partner does all the work?" Her right forearm flares to life, a spiraling red-orange aura churning down into her fist. "That's right. I remember our last fight. I bet you do too! No wonder you're going to try and just ride this one out in your car. I know you're afraid!" Another harsh stomp of her foot into his hood, merrily putting a small dent into Birdie's phat ride. "Come fight me. You call us Chick-a-dees but you're just a giant chicken!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru takes no action.
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Mizuki 0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Katana
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Birdie
Suddenly... Mizuki's been stabbed. Those aren't blunted wakizashi--they're the real thing. And they're currently probing her insides in about as painful a manner as she can expect. The redhead gasps, her back arching as the blades do the slide in and out--bumper cars? She's certainly thrown clear of the bumper cars--she's in danger of being struck by them, should the pilots deem it necessary. Looking down, she can't quite believe her eyes, as dark red spreads out from the two wounds; she staggers, suddenly, putting her hands to the injuries.
Keep Katana busy? It's all she'll be able to do to stop the bleeding--she concentrates as best as she can, with her nerve endings on fire, red tendrils issuing spidery legs through the edges of vision.
"Sorry... Futaba-san..." she gasps, a blue-green glow forming around her hands. "I--it'll be... just a moment..." It's a tossup as to which is worse--dealing with Birdie or dealing with Katana. Bladed weapons, though... the possibility of life-ending damage just -seems- more likely...
It took some doing. Asking for pre-release copies of a couple Neo League fights, once he heard they'd taken place. Paying very careful attention to dialogue in SNF reruns (thank you, TiVo and YouTube). The result, though, was a definite trend. The research went even farther back than the encounter that sparked its need in the first place. Hotaru's actions, her words, her fighting style... everything was consistent, when viewed as a whole. But in the end, it was her fight against Acacia and Blanka that really did, was the thumb placed in just the wrong place on the scale, the last tap of the hammer that's a little too hard.
Finding out the week's card wasn't difficult, and wonder of wonders, the fight was in Southtown. So Frei set things into motion. He was at the Park early, not saying much to anyone or anything. Not eating, not enjoying himself. He was just waiting. Interestingly enough, he'd also given up his russet-orange embroidered coat to go back to to black dragon coat with gold trim he wore when he first came to Southtown, a matching bandana as well. Eventually night falls, and the match begins.
Birdie's and Katana's entrances certainly get everyone's attention, which helps a bit as the monk tries to stay blended into the crowd; being short doesn't hurt there. For a while, he gets to observe, seeing everyone's reactions. Birdie and Katana are crowd favorites for their antics, and seeing all the people having fun gives him a tinge of regret at what he's about to do.
Which is why her sudden tirade against Birdie makes absolutely no sense to him. It's exactly the same sort of nonsense she's spouted at people for weeks upon weeks now. Nothing's changed. She didn't even spare her teammate a glance when Katana tore into her with what looked like a painful strike.
Someone in the audience hears a voice say, behind him, "...right." But by the time the man turns to look at who spoke, Frei is gone...
...and then he's on a bumper car, sending the SNF staff controlling them into a brief panic. It's not as if someone's guarding the 'arena'; who could, in a world of professional fighters? Oddly enough, he's standing on the seat as if he were on completely level ground. But that's not the shocking thing.
He's not smiling.
In fact if one were to try and describe Frei's expression it would be... angry. Really, genuinely angry. There's something about his deportment and carriage that is fundamentally different than normal; compared to his normal lackadasical quality everything is sharper, meaner, in clearer focus. And when he opens his mouth, the normally loud and jovial tone is quiet and smooth with smoldering intensity. "You know... I haven't ever really felt this way before." Considering how alien his tone sounds to people who know him, this is a believable claim. The jade-eyed gaze turns to Hotaru, however, after saying so. "But I am absolutely bored with the new you. You're being a jerk and I'm tired of it. I'm putting a stop to whatever is wrong with you right here and now, on national TV so everyone can see it." He pauses, turning his head toward Birdie and Katana, his voice still thick with quiet fury even if his words are not: "So forgive me, gentlemen, but I'm cutting in."
COMBATSYS: Frei has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Frei
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
Birdie looks towards Hotaru as she gets IN UP ON HIS GRILL. And she does. Really does. I mean she's really there, on top of his grill, standing there and looking down towards. Bitches be crazy.
Birdie shakes his head as she dents his card, slamming against it one... and then again later. "Hey! What the bloody 'ell do you think you're doing!" He snorts. Man. His car is a lot to him. What the heck is Hotaru on. "Y'know what? That story reminds me of something." Birdie states as taps his chin, "The one about the china store. Something about me beating the hell out of you for a chain." He states, "Y'know. Maybe you know that one?" He calls as he grabs the wheel.
Even as Hotaru continues to stay there, Birdie is already at the wheel. "Yeah. Thats right. The hell do you think I'm going to do. Fight you? Hah! Fat chance! I was waiting for you to come here, BLOKE. You're a daft one ain't ya?" Birdie sneers as he just lays back, hitting the gas, before actualy driving the car against the wall. It might make Hotaru 'bump' the wall of the pit. "Because your ally damn needs ya, no matter how damned stupid you are." He grunts.
AND THEN Frei comes. What the hell? Birdie looks over as Frei just decides to steal the show, well, Birdie knows what to do. Turning down the music, he spins the car around, offering Hotaru on his hood.
Whatever the hell you do," Birdie states, "Get her the f--- off my hood."
COMBATSYS: Birdie takes no action.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Frei
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
Hotaru does not come back. The Shogun is pleased. Or perhaps he just understand how it goes. But he is currently upside down. And as Mizuki finds out the Shogun REFUSES to use normal weapons, the painful way, Katana continues to kick, calming down in a way, as he is upside down. It's really a lovely thing. But for a while, he stays there.
And then he bumps into a wall again.
Sent out, The Shogun rolls infront of his Japan-cart, to the side, and turns to Mizuki. As she stays there, the shogun looks towards her .. and is slightly disproving. ".. You are the one with .. such a power." He notes, towards Mizuki. But then there is .. SOMETHING ELSE.
Such as someone .. joining. "What?" The Shogun looks towards Frei. "What." He repeats. Before he points a wakizashi towards Frei. "KNOW THIS, THAT YOU ARE LUCKY THERE IS THIS WARRIOR IN FRONT OF ME THAT I HAVE CLAIMED AND SHALL DESTROY." He spouts off his nonsense, as Frei joins in. "... So fight her and don't let her get near me with any of that sparkly sparkly stuff!" The Shogun commands far less commandingly, pointing now, a blade at Mizuki. "And you dear... shall... meet.... MY FIST."
Rushing towards Mizuki, Katana intends to, seriously, grab the girl. "You ... should not have challenged the shogun alone."
And then the blades attempt to jam straight into the girl. Poor. Poor. Mizuki. "DAIKYO!" And if the blades pierce and hold? He turns the japan-cart around, and just slams Mizuki into the path, letting the cart run the girl into the ground for him. "The Shogun.. LIKES THIS TECHNOLOGY!"
And then leap into the air and POWER BOMB Mizuki right into her bumper cart. "BURRRRRRRRRRRRNIIIIIIIIIIIIING!"
And then he'll leap back to his Japan-cart, leisurely. While looking at Frei. WATCHING HIM... FOCUSING ON HIM.
Birdie brings up /ancient/ history, in Hotaru's mind, a brutal beating on the street for a lousy bike chain, and the girl's cheeks flush a bit red, her temper only made worse by the recollection, "I was weaker back then, but I'm not the same as that anymore!" she snaps back. As if her horrible attitude didn't reflect that perfectly clearly. "I'm way stronger now. It should be obvious," she scowls, lowering her hand, the red chi flickering out like flame starved of its fuel.
But then Birdie sends his car careening toward the wall, the girl slipping into the barrier, her back smacking against it lightly as she grunts, flailing her arms to try and get her balance. This wasn't exactly the retaliation she had been banking on. Then again, careful planning isn't exactly her forte in her present state of mind. Just as she's getting her footing, he backs up and spins the vehicle around with precise control, bringing Hotaru facing Frei just as she finishes righting herself, standing up straight again. Okay. Time to get OFF the-
Blue eyes come to rest on the monk as he occupies a bumper car. A blink, followed by furrowed brow and narrowed eyes is the greeting he gets at first. "What do I care what you think about me?! You already proved last time we met that you didn't remotely understand how this is better for me." she snaps back. "What are you doing here? Can't you see this is already the most miserable match ever concieved in the history of fighting? You're just trying to make it even worse?" The girl shakes her head, inhaling deeply, before lowering her head and exhaling an annoyed sigh.
"Just what do you think you can do to me? What do you think you're doing here? You have already so quickly forgotten the incomprehensible difference in our ability? Last time we fought, I-..." The girl closes her eyes, half turning away. "I'm out of your league. Just go away, Frei." Whirling back around, the girl glares back toward Birdie, "I see you're still hiding in your car. Fine! Maybe if I go hit your partner some you'll remember you're supposed to be fighting me?"
And with that, the girl hops down off Birdie's car, ignoring both the large man in the vehicle and Frei, speeding directly toward Katana with an intent to leap onto him from behind and wrap her arms around his neck, intending to hang and choke him from there!
COMBATSYS: Mizuki successfully hits Mizuki with Iki no Mizu.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Frei
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
COMBATSYS: Katana successfully hits Mizuki with Daikyou Burning.
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Mizuki 1/---====/=======|-------\-------\0 Frei
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
Mizuki looks nothing short of incensed when Katana comes at her again. She'd just barely finished stopping the bleeding when the 'Shogun' is coming at her again. Her feet are frozen--and then she's stabbed. Again. Stabbed, and hurled into a wall, or whatever. She doesn't know. She's just in pain. And having been stabbed again... she's royally pissed off. Survive or not... she's going to make Katana pay.
"I -didn't- challenge you alone... you crazy, lunatic -freak-..." she hisses, out of a mouth suddenly wet with blood dripping from the corners of her mouth. When she's freed, she collapses to one knee, breathing hard, her beautiful uniform stained bright red with the color of her blood, a stain that is quickly spreading.
"... don't know where you get off.. thinking you're anything like a real Japanese person... you're... YOU'RE NOT JAPANESE AT ALL!!" Yeah, it sounds silly, but she's expressing herself as honestly as she can. Alma would be proud.
Suddenly, her hands are glowing against, but instead of blue-green, it's a blue-silver, and as she pushes herself up to a half-standing position she focuses no-longer-kind blue eyes on Katana. He wants to know what it's like to be Japanese? She'll show him the power of a true Japanese person. Her hands sweep forward--and a storm erupts from her, a slashing whirlwind of icy chi reaching out, flooding the area between Katana and herself, blue-white power set to bursting forward like a storm.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Frei with Quick Throw.
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Mizuki 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Frei
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Hotaru 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
Sadly for Hotaru (but perhaps fortuitously for Mizuki), she doesn't reach Katana at all. There's not a lot of time in midair to form an effective defense, so Hotaru's throwing technique does land true... on Frei, rather than Katana, however. Flung through the air, the monk lands in a crouch on a nearby unoccupied car, and turns his gaze toward Hotaru again. It's like being stared at by the Terminator, and coming from the normally joyous and expressive boyish face, it's... well, depending on your point of view, it could be pretty unnerving.
"Shut up," Frei all but monotones in response. "You beat me up. Big deal. I beat other people up all the time. So did you, and that's before you turned into a raging bitch with no perspective." It's still his voice, and still his body, but it's like another person in there speaking. "But yeah, we're in different leagues, alright. I listen to my friends. I treat my opponents with at least as much respect at they deserve, usually more. You... you're lost in your own little delusional world where everyone's out to get you and you've got something to prove. Well alright, fine." He brings up one hand, tightening his fingerless handguards. "This isn't the church yard, Hotaru. I don't care about how you feel. I'm just gonna smack the stupid out of you like all your friends have been avoiding trying to do."
He doesn't even wait after delivering that statement, either; he snaps out a hand to try and grab Hotaru before she can get away and, wind chi swirling around his body, swing her into the nearest solid object, *hard*.
Birdie is ignored again. At least, to a point. He just listens to their infighting as he huffs, snuffs and snorts. He doesn't care. He doesn't care at all. But when they all start fighting around the car? Well, damn it just got personal. "Hey. Can you step away from the car?" Birdie huffs. Yeah, it's bumper car, but not punch the car until it breaks.
"Blah blah blah blah blah. Yeah. I get it. You two got a past." Birdie huffs as Hotaru storms off, complaining that he's not getting out of the car. Well Hotaru. You've done it. Even if Frei's coming at you, you got Birdie's attetion.
The car is now in reverse.
Looking over his shoulder, he turns it about, looking towards Howards, aiming the front as Frei speaks.
The car is in Neutral.
He waits, thumbing his steering wheel as Frei keeps talking, and then moves for a grab.
The car is in drive.
And it's going right towards Hotaru, if she's looking or not. Sorry Hotaru, bu- HE'S NOT SORRY AT ALL.
YEAH. THAT'S RIGHT. GET RAN OVER.
COMBATSYS: Mizuki successfully hits Katana with Hyouryuu no Arashi.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
What is this.. is she coming towards him now? ALREADY!? The Shogun of might somewhat stares. It's .. amazingly unfortunately for her to do such a thing! And she's launching off towards him, speeding directly towards the Shogun with an attempt to .. LEAP ONTO HIM!? And ... CHOKE HIM!?
Katana cannot take such.. JUST CANNOT. S.. SHE WILL RUIN THE LANTERN. And the kaola panda.. and the flag! EVERYTHING. She'll ruin his car especially. It.. can't be!
"What... DO YOU REALLY THINK THE SHOGUN SHALL BE BESTED BY GAMES!?" And the Frei jumps in the way. "What... YOU SHALL NOT DISGRACE ME LIKE THIS! The woman is weak and wishes to be defeated soundly.. fine.. I shall deal with her.. LATER!"
Oh hey. Katana turns back to Mizuki, whom is hisses out blood. And he's a crazy lunatic freak? Such complete lies! Katana is a Japanes-Oh dear god you did NOT. YOU DID NOT. Not .. Japanese .. at .. ALL!? The helmeted man stares at Mizuki behind the mask. Not .. not .. what..
Her hands glow, but Katana doesn't fear. Her hands erupts with that painful substance, this chi. But he does not budge. And then as she sets it bursting forwards like a storm.. he does not meet it with fear. He takes precautions. But he charges AT the raging cold storm. "You ... call me .. UNJAPANESE!?" The Shogun barks, rushing forwards. And then is struck head on.
Bouncing away, Katana lands in his bumper car again. Perhaps frozen completely.
It lightly bumps against Mizuki.
Dear lord the freezing pain.
COMBATSYS: Katana takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Birdie's Random Weapon.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
COMBATSYS: Frei successfully hits Hotaru with Charged Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
She's gunning for Katana, but suddenly there's a MONK in the way, taking the flying tackle meant for another. Hotaru recovers from the collision on her own two feet on the concrete, admist the roaming bumper cars, sliding to a stop as Frei gets back up. She's confused for a moment, but after a shake of her head, her eyes focus on Frei now. "You really do want to get in the way, don't you. I guess... I guess what happened last time wasn't clear enough. I didn't want to have to hurt you again, Frei, but if you still don't get it... if you insist on acting like this..."
Hotaru's eyes narrow as he tells her to shut up, falling quiet for a moment, her jaw clenched. "Is that so," she remarks, the words coming out slowly as he indicates he intends to beat her himself. "I'd like to see you try." And then there's a car bearing on her from the side, intending to smash her into the wall no doubt for the dents she put in the hood. "Fool," she hisses, slipping sideways in time to avoid getting run over, only to have Frei get an easy grip on her and spin her right back into the wall, slamming the girl hard enough to stun her for a moment, eyes widened with some surprise. That was... well, that's not really Frei's style normally, is it?
She doesn't think about it for too long, twisting just enough to slam her foot out toward the young man, attempting to drive it into his gut and shove him away, desiring distance between them. "Fine!!" Forgetting about Katana and Birdie for a moment, Frei has her attention at last it would seem.
Mizuki slumps back, against the wall of the bumper car arena, suddenly all too aware of the pain with which she's been endowed by the Shogun. Wincing, she probes her wounds--the fresh ones. The old ones aren't healed fully either... they're still dripping blood. She's light headed... surely that's why she missed Frei's Dynamic Entry. Suddenly she looks up... and blinks her eyes.
"Frei... why are you here?" whispers the girl. Mizuki hasn't fought the new and improved Hotaru--she'd just heard stories. But Frei's presence, his words--they finally start to fall into place. Something -has- happened to Hotaru. But is this the time or place to stage an intervention? Furthermore, she shouldn't have to see her friends fight like this.
Suddenly, a gasp; those wounds blossom with additional pain. She has to do something about this... she can't bleed to death in a stupid fight like this. But she doesn't have the concentration to fully focus her healing powers... it's a sort of catch-22. The invasive nature of those wounds... the shock of them.
Even Ayame wasn't able to do that much damage to her, to do this kind of lethal damage...
COMBATSYS: Mizuki gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
COMBATSYS: Frei interrupts Heavy Kick from Hotaru with Hyoushou Rengeki.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
Doesn't want to hurt him again, huh... in another time and place he might grin. Now he's just impassive and furious. No matter how expressionless his face is, there is a raging inferno in the emerald green eyes. Hotaru kicks at him and he doesn't even move. Why bother? The boot lands in his stomach, but he is far from bowled over. In fact, he doesn't even look down, his hands already glowing with white-blue chi... and as Hotaru attempts to push off and make her escape, he helps her out a little by sweeping his hands up, a swirl of ice shards slicing the air between them with a frosty chill. "Don't want to hurt me? Better get over that quick," he says evenly.
He just sort of... stands there after that, eyes tracking Hotaru. There might be other people on these bumper cars, but it's not like the monk is paying them too much mind. Mizuki, of course, does merit a response, but as with all the speech he's given so far, it's cold and methodical and entirely out of character. "I'm here because little miss drama pants finally flipped my fury switch." For a second he actually laughs, but it's a humorless laugh, the laugh of someone assessing a situation as hopeless. "I haven't been this angry in a really long time, in fact." Only once, and that was the fight that set his life path on its current trajectory...
"Anyhow. I want all the people she's hurt lately to see this. Roberto... Acacia... that green guy. You. Zach. Me. Alma. Jiro. Not people you've hurt with fists, you jerk," he says, directing this last at Hotaru, "but with your total disregard for our love and our trust. I'm tired of it. If you want us to be bastards out to hurt you, then I can do that. I can be anything you want. But believe me, if turning into a right bastard is what it takes to beat whatever insanity's crawled into your pretty little head lately, I'll do whatever it takes."
Birdie just sits back in his chair. He sips some coco in his car and just takes notice of the great scenery as Frei beats the hell out of Hotaru so he doesn't have to. Of course as he misses Hotaru with HIS CAR, he stops, and begins to turn around. The process of turning around in such a small space is long however. It's all encompasing, and mostly, well, time consuming.
Looking towards the two of them, both Frei and Hotaru, his eyes wander over to Mizuki.
Should he help out Katana and beat the girl to a pulp with Katana and then leave for the others to find and get beat up when they do? It's awfully appetizing. Birdie will think of it as he's busy TURNING THIS DARN CAR AROUND.
COMBATSYS: Birdie takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
Eventually, Katana rises again. The chi has aten at his monolithic body, and his muscles are .. shaking. "Ngh.. J-Japan... n-not .. s-so weak..." He calls out to Mizuki, wincing, but it's neither the time or place of this. And Frei is fighting Hotaru.
So is Birdie.
The only one not fighting Hotaru, even as she leaped at him, is Katana. Mizuki takes her time to repair herself, waiting, focusing. Katana .. could probably re-inflict those wounds. Easily, actually. But that's not important. This girl is focused on POWER. This girl is being MEAN. This girl is making Frei ANGRY.
This girl is generally just always been a problem. "Are .. " He asks, quietly. "We looking for reasons to hurt her?" He asks to Frei. "Well.. NO ONE ASSAULTS THE SHOGUN IN THE ATTEMPT TO STRIKE HIM DOWN... AND GETS OFF UNHURT!" Without a single regard, he turns his bumper car around, the ice freezing him still, as he lets it charge towards Hotaru. "You .. before hand... I HAVE MET YOU BEFORE.. but something has told me .. something tells me.. the spirits.. everything.. THAT YOU ARE STILL WEAK! IF NOT WEAKER!"
Katana just lets the car do the talking then, as it charges at Hotaru.. Katana and his blades leaping towards the string like girl. To really. Really hurt her. "Shogun.. STRIKE!" It's not an enjoyable slash. The blades are coated with blood. Already. She might recognize it. IT'S YOUR PARTNERS BLOOD.
But hey, Who focuses on what's ON the blades! Except when it's poison.
Is Mizuki's blood poison?
COMBATSYS: Katana successfully hits Hotaru with Fierce Strike.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/--=====/=======|=======\=------\1 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
Her attempt to kick Frei off of her is met with almost nothing in the way of success as the monk blasts her back against the wall, Hotaru gasping in pain at the frigid chi that strikes her. Somewhat cornered by the young man, the girl simply holds her ground at first as he starts speaking to Mizuki... and, well, to her as well, indirectly, her mouth clenched shut, her blue eyes somehow fierce in spite their permanently calm hue as she glares back at him.
Finally he directs his words back toward her and the girl merely glowers, hands tightening. Birdie is enjoying his comfortable seat in his car, the only one at this match smart enough to bring something so nice to sit in! Mizuki, confused at what has happened to this insane fight, trying to make sense of what Frei is doing here and perhaps what is wrong with her supposed partner as well. And Katana... well, Katana doesn't want to be left out on the Hotaru Intervention Via Pain!
So fixated on Frei the girl is completely oblivious that she's about to be sideswiped. "Very well, Frei." Her voice is calm enough though her hands tremble, pushing herself off of the wall. "You present a compelling reason for me to simply do to you what I did last time. I thought it would be a waste to repeat the lesson all over aga-"
Her voice is cut off as she finally realizes Katana is barreling in on her atop one of those infernal cars. Turning slowly, a somewhat bewildered look on her face as if she's completely confused what the hell he thinks he's doing getting between her and the monk. If his desire was to hurt her, he gets his chance, the girl skewered hard where she stands, driven against the wall by the momentum of the Shogun's rolling bumper car. A savage wound, it cracks ribs and perhaps harms vital organs as the girl's mouth opens, then closes wordlessly, staring back at the masked fighter with a look of abject shock.
Clenching her teeth, blood appears at the corner of her mouth as the girl simply reaches out with her left hand, attempting to get a grip on the swordsman's foreward rightarm. Unable to speak, her right arm comes forward a split second later, encased with a swirling gauntlet of red-orange chi that the girl attempts to drill directly into the man's chest. Call her weaker, will he... then she'll prove otherwise!
Oh, man... man, she has to make a choice... what does she do? What -can- she do? Yes, she's committed to the fight... but Frei is committed to something else! Something... more important. Mizuki cries out, in sympathetic pain, as she sees Hotaru get skewered much like she had just been skewered, her first instinct to reach out for the girl. But... but Frei is trying to beat her up too... and yet it isn't fair, three on two... or even three on one the way it is right now.
"HOTARU!!!!" shouts Mizuki, as she moves to close with the girl... to get close enough to enact her healing abilities upon the blue-haired girl. For better or for worse, Hotaru is her teammate and no matter what problems she's facing... "F--Frei-san! Please, don't--" Whatever she was going to say is lost, as suddenly, two bumper cars crash in front of her, titanically, both of them flying into the air, forcing Mizuki to stop, spending the next few moments dodging bumper car debris and trying to find a way around.
"I have to hurry... before something really bad happens...!"
COMBATSYS: Mizuki takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/----===/=======|=======\=------\1 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
"Don't what?" Frei snaps, turning on Mizuki with that fiery stare. Apparently if you get him angry enough, Frei turns into Jiro, or something approximating him. "Don't hurt her? I tried that. I tried telling her we cared about her. I tried telling her that she was strong and didn't need to prove it. Nothing worked, Mizuki." He turns to see Hotaru get... well, stabbed. Hard. Real hard. Something in him relents for a moment, you can see it in his face; he's here to prove a point, not to actually do Hotaru irreperable physical harm. Not that Hotaru is anything but just really hurt, right now... not yet anyway. And he won't let it get that far. That would be defeating the purpose of his coming here altogether.
One of the bumper cars that just flew at Mizuki suddenly comes his way as well, and he's forced to backstep to keep his footing and to dodge flying debris. Just as well, though... Hotaru and Katana can settle their drama, and he can get some more speechifying in. It's all for the best. "I'm so *tired* of it. I'm supposed to be wise, that Russian girl said. Or knowing, or something. It hasn't got me anything so far. All it's done is turn someone I care about into a raging, blind bitch. Well, I'm going to do something about it. No matter what."
COMBATSYS: Frei takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/----===/=======|=======\=------\1 Katana
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Birdie
Birdie just sits in his car, looking towards Frei. He's looking at Mizuki. He's looking, he's talking again. He's talking agian to everyone, and Birdie, here, is absolutely not going to have any of that. Actually openning the car and getting out, he begins to walk over towards him. Yes, walk right over towards Frei. But he doesn't walk.
At first he stands there, against his car, closing the door. He over hears him say something about doing something. Well, Birdie can help you there. Birdie is real good at helping.
%So as Frei speaks his mind to everyone, like Mizuki and Hotaru and MAYBE Katana, Birdie just doesn't want to hear it.
Precisely the reason why the bull man is hurling himself head forward towards Frei with a simple message. "JUST FIGHT HER ALREADY YOU BLOODY GIT!" ALL BETS ARE OFF.
All Birdie's heads are down. Pointing forward. With a hair piece.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Katana with Maou Satsujinken.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Hotaru 1/--=====/=======|=======\====---\1 Katana
> //////////////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Birdie
Katana can feel it. Honestly. And as The girl is skewered, Katana grins towards her from behind the mask. "Still so weak. Still. So. weak. You haven't learned a thing... you've just GROWN SO WEAK." Katana responds over and over.. before she simply drills a form forwards, attempting to drill into his chest. He takes it head on, even as he attempts to get out of the way.
And it hurts. Dear god that chi. You'd think they'd make an icy hot patch. For chi. But they just don't! They'd make millions.
And all after this.. Katana backs off, the Shogun taking a few steps backwards, drilled. "Hah... so you can hit hard.. everyone can hit hard... " He argues. Even if he's not looking too good. The man is lurching. He staggers backwards, onto his japancar, it spinning around and heading away sloooowly then faster.
"WHY DO YOU CARE SO MUCH FOR HER. She's just some girl who's gone insane. She'll get over her head eventually. She's lost. SHUT UP. Just let her fight. Fight until she falls. AHAHAHA! The shogun doesn't care for some girl..." And he's hurt. Bad. It hurts a load. But Katana's grow more, more, more scary when they fight back as such. And in the end? He tosses the lantern out to the side of the bumpercars. The lantern cracks open, a bright flash. He doesn't even seem to be paying attention.
"Really bad happens? Don't worry about that... and YOU. Guy who ran in. YOU DO SOMETHING. I don't care about her enough." THE SHOGUN SPEAKETH.. buuuut usually he ain't like this. What gives?
"Yeah.. nothing really bad is going to happen here. Not at all!"
COMBATSYS: Katana focuses on his next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Hotaru 1/--=====/=======|=======\====---\1 Katana
> //////////////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Birdie
The blast of violent chi gets Katana to back off, leaving Hotaru alone for a moment. There's a choking noise, her right hand lowering, her left arm drawing back, no longer in possession of an arm to hang onto, her hand coming to rest against the brutal wound she just took. Even with no one else attacking her for a moment, she isn't going to last long with something like that. She can hear the words spoken around her, as if a distant echo across a wide distance.
Mizuki calling for her, no doubt a tad concerned by the way she just got skewered, pleading for Frei to relent. She stumbles forward a step, perpendicular to Frei, as she hears, vaguely, the way he describes having tried to help her. She doesn't even really understand most of it, her mind in a bit of a haze. All she knows is that she drew upon the technique once again, and it felt good to do so, to unleash the Koga's legacy on yet another foe.
She doesn't even particularly remember anything about a fight. The bumper cars merely randomly moving objects in her present blurred vision. Above all else echos the voice of Katana as he had her stuck against the wall. Calling her weak. Weaker than even before. How is /that/ possible? She's so much stronger now. To suggest otherwise is... it just doesn't make sense at all. Shaking her head, hands coming up to rest against the sides of her head, the girl closes her eyes for a moment. And then she finds her next target, a rather large blur moving to the side of her. He isn't attacking her, but he is moving around a lot, which means he probably needs to be blasted!
"I'll show you I'm not weaker!" the girl growls, changing direction. Birdie barrels in toward Frei, HAIR FIRST, but Hotaru is right behind him, sliding to a stop, he vision clearing just enough to find her target, she believes, as she slips into a crouch. The surge of chi is incredible as she launches up into a energy laced backflip, attempting to catch the large fighter unaware!
It's long, precious seconds before Mizuki finds a way around the wreckage. Undeniably, what Frei has said is true. Hotaru has changed -- has -been- changed -- and not for the better. This side of her, this darkly aggressive side, it is disturbing, to say the least. To see her so bloodthirsty... so willing to injure. In this fight, truly, Mizuki is out of her element. She is nothing like any of these people anymore. And yet... -and yet-.
"I'm sorry, Frei-san. I know... what you're saying... what you're trying to do." What it means to him. Frei has been faced, indirectly, with his opposite number; Mizuki had to deal with her own not too long ago. So she can say she understands. Although Kimi never did anything like this...
Mizuki finally closes in with Hotaru--not close enough to touch, but close enough. "Hotaru... Hotaru!" she cries, sounding despairing. All Mizuki has left are her feelings, her emotions... and this, her unique talent. She stands stock-still; she may be in trouble from a bumper car, not to mention the real car Birdie's driving or any of the other myriad threats on the field right now.
She can only hope that this, her gesture, will reach Hotaru--physically -and- emotionally. Yet again, her hands glow blue-green; and now, despite the pain of her wounds, she -can- focus... the urgency of the situation helping... and that power flows from her, to Hotaru. No raincloud, this time; just a warm, blue-green glow that transfers from Mizuki to Hotaru.
Given Hotaru's status as a master of chi, it's true that Mizuki's efforts may not amount to much, materially... but she hopes to reach her with the -feeling- of her chi, a chi that is warm, tender, a soothing and healing touch... Hotaru once asked her if she could heal the mind. Strictly, this is only true physically. But perhaps emotion can do what physical power cannot... in her own way, she's trying to reach Hotaru, too.
COMBATSYS: Birdie successfully hits Frei with Bull Horn Final.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 Katana
> //////////////////////////// ]
|======-\-------\0 Birdie
He knew it was coming sooner or later, but there's not much Frei can do about Birdie or Katana interfering in the process. After all, this was their fight before he basically ruined it for everybody. Of course the problem is that the monk isn't exactly paying attention when Birdie comes running at him, and he ends up getting gored? or something by the Shadaloo thug's ridiculous hair... but also the heavily muscled body that comes with it. Even for a surprisingly sturdy fighter like the monk, that hurt quite a bit, slamming him against the tall antenna of the car that he's perched on.
Not that he seems to care or notice.
"You still don't see it yet," he growls at Hotaru, eyes flashing. Who knows where he is emotionally, anymore. "Still so hung up on proving you're not weak. You know who must have thought you were pretty weak, Hotaru?" he suddenly asks, prismatic chi suddenly swirling in his hands. Last time he faced her, his emotions were unfocused... rage and sorrow combined. He couldn't call on this power. But now a higher purpose has transcended that rage... and he's 100% capable of drawing on his capabilities. Slow though this attack may be... trivial it is not. "You did. After all, not a single one of us ever said it, or expressed it, or even mentioned it. Not to your face, not behind your back. You cooked it all up by your lonesome to justify..."
And then he hurls both hands forward, palms out, and a person-high shockwave of elemental chi rushes forward, tearing through bumper cars and debris alike to get to Hotaru, as he shouts the last of his imprecation: "...TURNING INTO A COMPLETE AND TOTAL ASS!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Birdie with Ten-shou Ranki EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 Katana
> ////////////////// ]
|=======\====---\1 Birdie
Poor Birdie. Beating on poor Frei. Who's trying to get poor Hotaru to stop acting like a damn spaz while poor Mizuki is trying to heal her and poor Katana is, well, actually, no one is sure what he's doing. The instant Hotaru's kick impacts the much larger fighter, it's clear that she's not going to knock him off his feat or anything remotely like that... At least, not with that hit alone.
Raising into the air, the girl drops back down on him from above and behind, however, crashing into his upper back to try and drive the much larger foe to the ground. All around her the air crackles with energy surging up around the diminuitive fighter, building up into a sizeable sphere of power before collapsing back down, channeled directly into Birdie's back by Hotaru.
An exhausted sigh and the girl starts to push herself back to her feet wearily just as Mizuki reaches her side...
Birdie just looks towards Frei even as he speaks. Obviously Birdie loves goring people. He's a Shandaloo thug and he loves work. It's amazing. But even as he does slam into Frei, he doesn't continue on. Instead, Birdie just turns around and moves towards his car. You see, Birdie turned on Frei's super button, and that's all he really needed to do as he put on his sunglasses and walked towards his car.
BUT THEN. SUDDENLY. HOTARUS. Lots of them. And then he's actually grabbing Birdie's hair, and well, Birdie is launched upwards from the way back. "Hey. HEY I DID NOT PAY FOR FIRST CLASS." Birdie fights, but he cannot stop Hotru Express. He's thrown and struck and hurled. He's driven to the ground before the energy is shot right into him. It's a real bad drug. Real bad. Don't take that at all.
As for now, Birdie's just moving back to he car to rest, bleeding profusedly. He needs to sit back in that rich tiger skin seat coverings.
COMBATSYS: Birdie gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Mizuki 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 Katana
> ///////////////////// ]
|=======\===----\1 Birdie
All of them are just focusing. Katana hangs back. The Shogun is looking out. Out into the distance. But if it was dark out, they would see of all things. Something large heading this way.
'Until something bad happens' will continue to be the worst words ever spoken by a Mizuki a round before something bad happens.
Katana, meanwhile, doesn't ever care about the recipients. They are going to play bumpercars. Katana has followed their rules long enough. "ALRIGHT. I'm adding an addition to our side. THE SHOGUN DECREES IT. The guy, is on our side. He has a lame bumpercar." He points out. Then pointing at Birdie.
"TAUROS? He's got a really nice bumpercar! It even jumps. BUT." Katana cries out, raising both wakizashi. "Japans.... might... is... SUPERIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!" And with that, suddenly, his voice is drowned out.
There is a loud heavy honking.
Then the side of the freaking Bumpercar track erupts outwards, something huge, bullet like, and LARGE rams towards Birdie and his car, and keeps going. Even if Birdie jumps out of the way, Katana's Bumper car, HIS TRUCK, is rushing straight towards Hotaru and co'. They want to play those games. Katana can play those games.
"GO MY VALIANT STEED! AND SHOW THEM .. the power.. OF JAPAN!"
Out of the windows, a guy is drinking. There are people inside. But really. None seem to care they are rushing head on towards Mizuki and Hotaru, bumpercars crashing to the side and out of the way. "You will always be weak...."
"COMPARED TO A TRUCK."
COMBATSYS: Katana successfully hits Mizuki with Run Your Ass Over.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Mizuki 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Katana
> ///////////////////// ]
|=======\===----\1 Birdie
Katana disappears--and then... Mizuki is at Hotaru's side, the way it was meant to be for this fight. "Hotaru-san... are you alright?" She reaches out, to touch the blue-haired girl on the shoulder... so concerned is she that she actually isn't focusing on the world at large for a moment.
This proves to be a mistake. Because suddenly, out of nowhere, a truck is slamming its way through the bumper cars--an honest to god Mack truck. Spectators scream, the SNF officials freak out, though they should've known that this would've happened...
And Mizuki reacts instinctively. Reaching down, she grabs Hotaru around the waist--she plants her feet--she spins, and -hurls- Hotaru out of the path of the truck. Towards Frei, if she can. She doesn't hav time to check her trajectory--
The truck strikes her. The only thing that saves her? Her spin gave her -just- enough movement to avoid getting hit full on--instead, she only takes three quarters of the impact. Suddenly, her body is flying through the air.
Not gracefully, not in a controlled manner; she crunches into a wall, back-first, air forced from her lungs in a choked-out gasp. She's out, at least for the next few moments, her body suffering massive injury... probably none fatal, what with SNF having excellent medical staff on hand, but she won't be healing -herself-... not this time.
A final example, for this fight, of selflessness and sacrifice... things that Hotaru used to know.
COMBATSYS: Mizuki takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Mizuki 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Katana
> ///////////////////// ]
|=======\===----\1 Birdie
COMBATSYS: Mizuki successfully hits Hotaru with Iki no Mizu.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Mizuki 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Katana
> ///////////////////// ]
|=======\===----\1 Birdie
COMBATSYS: Hotaru blocks Frei's Hadou Souran.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Mizuki 1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Katana
> ///////////////////// ]
|=======\===----\1 Birdie
As Hotaru rises up off of the gigantic Birdie, Mizuki is there, at her side, but the girl barely seems to notice her, only glancing in her direction as if to evaluate her threat level and/or if she is eligible for a Satsujinken or not. Exhausted, hurt and bleeding, the girl seems lost in a completely different world. Alone, friendless, her only decisions being who to hurt and how bad. Mizuki is dismissed as being a non-threat and the blue eyed girl spins back toward Frei, eyes narrowing. He's the one she wants now. Out of what everyone has said, it's his words that have struck the most sensitive nerve.
A blue-green aura surrounds her, visible evidence of Mizuki's gift and Hotaru pauses. A portion of the choking pain subsides. Her blue vest still stained black by the mixture of blood, but the injury from Katana has diminished in its severity. The interaction gives Hotaru pause, the girl freezing mid-step, eyes shifting back and forth as she finally turns to face Mizuki but for a moment, mouth curled into a scowl, "Good," she states. "You're good for something in this fight." The tone is... forced, cracking, her mouth trembling, and for a moment her eyes seem to shimmer before the girl blinks and turns her attention away from Mizuki, focusing back on Frei. "Now go do something useful."
The girl starts to stalk toward the monk, her right arm flaring red again. He knows well the energy she's channeling now, he's seen it before, from another 'soul' even. 'You did.' The girl stops again, her stance wavering, the fatigue of battle and the assault from all directions catching up with her now. And then there's Frei's words, echoing over and over in her mind. "But..." she opens her mouth to start to protest. "I..." she continues, but the words won't come. Where's the excuse now? Where's the justification. What can she cite? How can he be right? She was so certain... she KNEW they were always talking about her. Kataki told her so-
She's aware of Frei's incoming blast of chi and the girl raises her arms up, bracing for the impact, her aura battling against his energy to mitigate the strength of the shockwave as it crashes over her with a loud noise. When the massive blast has passed, the girl lowers her arms, mouth frowning, eyes searching back and forth as if she might find the answer elsewhere. Her right arm lights up again as she grits her teeth, "When you get to be as strong as me, maybe you can judge me then!" she snaps back.
And that's when she starts toward him agian, her arm aglow once more, blind to anything and everything else going on. Including the really-hard-to-miss signs of impending doom. Oblivious to Mizuki's touch on her shoulder, asking if she was okay, as the truck comes crashing through the walls to plow under everything in its path. She doesn't even have time to look to the side before Mizuki has taken hold of the lithe fighter around the waist and twisted around to send the girl hurlting toward Frei!
COMBATSYS: Hotaru takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Mizuki 1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Katana
> ///////////////////// ]
|=======\===----\1 Birdie
Judgment, huh...
Frei doesn't attack. He just looks at Hotaru dispassionately for a moment, letting her stumble right at him. If she wanted to, she could spend this time aiming a strike right at his heart, break him in half, do whatever she wants. The look on his face becomes less furious now, though, and more sad... or perhaps disappointed. He doesn't attack. What he does so is reach behind his head and undo the knot on his headband, before pulling it away from his head with one hand and then letting it flutter off to the side, carried into the crowd by the wind.
One hand comes up, brushes aside the dark red bangs falling into his face. Above the freckled cheeks, above the bright green eyes, is a scar, just to the right of his mid forehead. The anger mostly drains out of his voice, which remains quiet and intense, as he speaks. "You see this? I got this from Kentou." He pauses a moment, then lets his hand move and his hair fall back where it was. "Surprised? He was willing to undergo a test... maybe you'd call it a ritual. Something painful and terrible, something that hurt him probably deeper than he actually expressed to me. Because I wanted to show him some of the energy that's sleeping in that body of his. And when it was all said and done, that was the result... a backlash. It hit me right across the head, and there's my scar."
His eyes close, and his head tilts up. It's almost like an animal baring his throat for the slaughter, offering himself up to the predator. But he doesn't stop talking. "He did that for *you*. Because he was afraid of... of that red glow that's eating you from the inside out. Don't think I haven't noticed that, because I have. I egged him on, but he made the ultimate decision. Not to make me proud, not to be a better fighter, but because he's worried about you. Do you understand, now?" And now his head tilts forward, his eyes open, boring into Hotaru's cruel expression with that emerald stare. "Mizuki just risked her life for you. I just found... some well of fury I haven't felt in 14 years, so I could somehow make the POINT to you. If we're judging, it's because we see this place you've gone to and seen that it's not the you that we knew and loved. But there's only so many sacrifices people are willing to make, Hotaru Futaba. There's only so many roads we can cross. And I am warning you now, you're crossing the border into a country where we won't follow."
He pauses, then shakes his head and swallows hard. "That's all. I don't know what my brother said to you. I intend to find out. But for all this power you've supposedly obtained, you've lost your ability to love and trust others. You've turned all of us into your enemies. Not us... you. So yeah, I'm judging you. And perhaps in terms of making someone bleed, I'm weaker. But when it comes to true strength -- the strength that matters -- I'm on a plane you can never reach as you are now... a place I reached with the help of the woman you used to be."
With that he falls silent, shaking his head.
COMBATSYS: Katana successfully hits Birdie with Run Your Ass Over.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Mizuki 1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Katana
> ///////////// ]
|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Birdie
And then Birdie, while he sits in his car, has to deal with a truck coming at him out of nowhere. Well, that certainly put things into perspective. Okay, it really didn't. It just mean that the truck really was coming at him. Really, really fast. It's just chugging down the tracks and running him over. Breaking right through. And Birdie's car? Smitheriens.
Even as Birdie sits there, he tries to his the reverse. It doesn't work. He tries it again. Nada. Over and over again before his car explodes backwards, outracing Katana's truck as it goes, faster and faster and faster. But then it strikes him, driving him still away from the field of battle.
After it's totalled, Birdie doesn't really give a damn any longer. He just needs to take what is left of his car and make as much of it as he can.
You know how expensive that was? Well, FIGURE IT OUT.
YEAH, YOU.
COMBATSYS: Birdie has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Mizuki 1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Katana
And Mizuki takes the truck. The Shogun looks on. He sees kindness. He sees compassion. He sees a lot of things.
He especially sees a little girl getting HIT BY A TRUCK. HELLLLZ YEAH. But more importantly.. wait there's a more importantly? Katana sees it FLY THROUGH THE AIR. Man did you see that body?
OKAY. More importantly, Hotaru is tossed away. And Katana stares at this. Hotaru is talking about strength. And Frei talks. Lord does he talk.
Okay. Katana is certain what he needs to do now. It's important. There's alot of talking. But there isn't enough of THIS.
The shogun rushes towards Hotaru. "You .. all.. keep TALKING." The Shogun runs at Hotaru, both wakizashi out. "JIIIIIIIIIIIGOKU SCRAPE! IF I GET RID OF THE GIRL... YOU WON'T ACT LIKE THIS ANYMORE."
And then he aims to stab it straight into the girl, almost sliding. "SO EITHER GET OVER YOURSELF.... or let me show you what REAL power is!"
COMBATSYS: Katana successfully hits Frei with Jigoku Scrape.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Mizuki 1/------=/=======|=======\=====--\1 Frei
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Katana
And now everything's come full circle. The monk turns and sees Katana running for Hotaru with both blades drawn, and rather unceremoniously shoves her out of the way. The problem is the act of doing so means defending against the actual attack is basically impossible and both blades sink into his sides in a whirl of red blood, the monk grimacing in pain and stumbling backwards, but not quite knocked out yet. Grimacing in pain, he puts a hand to his torso and brings it back sticky with blood from one of the cuts, and sighs. He seems more annoyed than worried. "Not exactly chivalrous," he murmurs. "Whatever happened to bushido..."
Hotaru stumbles into Frei, finding him the object necessary to stop her trajectory courtesy of Mizuki. But as she backs up, the girl doesn't take the opening made by Frei's discourse to attack him. Instead she merely stares, eyes wide, breaths coming roughly as she tries to put together what just happened - the sacrifice made by Mizuki to move her out of the way of the impending truck...
Frei mentions Kentou and Hotaru is dead silent, hands clenched tightly at her side. He speaks of the ritual the boy underwent for her sake, so that she would be proud, and she simply stares back. Frei speaks of the anger her actions have brought to light in him - emotions he perhaps forgot he even possessed on quite this level, and the girl takes a step backward, and the great risk Mizuki just took to save Hotaru from being struck. "I don't need anyone to follow me. I don't need anyone's help. That-... that's what Kataki showed me. I'm strong all by myself. It doesn't matter if anyone abandons me now!" she hisses back through clenched teeth, her voice full of emotions she's fighting to keep in check. "The woman I was... she... she was weak..." she insists again, taking another step back. "I'm not her anymore, and that's fine with me. I hated being that way!"
Katana decides to put an END to all this talking with his charge, weapons drawn, and for the second time Hotaru is saved by another stepping into the way to take the attack for her. Turning around to stare at the bleeding Frei, the girl swiftly glances over to the fallen Mizuki, then looks back toward Frei.
"This is... forget this... this fight is ridiculous. I-... You haven't..." she closes her mouth, taking another step back, pointing toward Katana, "You and I will battle later, without all this... interference." she glares back at Frei, eyes narrowed. Another glance toward Mizuki before her eyes come to rest on Frei in the end. "You... you should talk to your brother." The words echoed from the last time the two fought.
But for Mizuki's intervention she wouldn't be in the condition to make the exit she does as she turns to swiftly stride away, hand coming up to rest against the wound caused by Katana. Brushing aside offers of help, the girl storms off, not looking back.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Mizuki 1/------=/=======|=======\=====--\1 Frei
> /////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Katana
And then Frei jumps in the way. Katana is silent for a moment, before he turns to Mizuki, crumpled against the wall. She looks really bad off. Katana? Doesn't care. Then he turns to Frei, whom gets stabbed horribly and then sighs. Sighs from a cut.
That boy needs therapy.
And then he turns to Hotaru. He turns to Hotaru, and then he looks on. Hotaru is challenging him. He has a feeling that Mizuki, and Frei, are going to be near him when he goes nearby Hotaru. To fight her. "You want to fight me?" Katana responds, before cracking a smile behind the mask. "Hahahahahah!... Just leave." He turns to face Frei, looking to him, down on him, and pointing a wakizashi towards him. "You have a bad taste in friends. If this is the best you can do, the Shogun merely laughs at you .. she wasn't always like this. But then... that time of the month." He remarks, shaking his head. "Is a scary one."
And so that is how Katana was claimed the victor, through blatant use of trucks and Hotaru leaving.
Birdie too. MAYBE. What does SNF say!? IS IT A WIN!? DOES IT MATTER?
VIOLENCE.
COMBATSYS: Katana has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Mizuki 1/------=/=======|=======\=====--\1 Frei
COMBATSYS: Mizuki has left the fight here.
> //////// ]
|=======\=====--\1 Frei
COMBATSYS: Frei has ended the fight here.
Log created on 22:37:01 03/14/2008 by Hotaru, and last modified on 14:31:01 03/19/2008.