Description: Killers killing people? You can't make this stuff up! SNF pits a pair of assassins against a pair of magical girls(women?) in Howard Arena, and thus does Geese collect several more buckets of blood to paint his house with. (Winners: Heidern/Decapre)
It's been some time since Chizuru signed up for a SNF. She had some business of her own to deal with - business that is now concluded, so she can go back to watching the games for signs of unusual energy or activity. It may seem a little silly, but in her experience, it's been a fairly effective way to do so.
Still, she wasn't expecting to be placed with Naerose of all people. She's heard of the girl. None of it is anything but unusual.
Chizuru, as she almost always does, arrives early. It isn't to play for the crowd, because she can't be bothered to do that; it's just because she prefers to be punctual rather than casually late. She is not quite on the arena's stage but is just off it. People can see her fairly clearly. She is ignoring the crowd.
Likewise, it's been a while -- though not /quite/ as long -- since Commander Heidern of the Ikari Warriors has signed up for Saturday Night Fight. He knows nearly nothing about his partner, save that -- if the gimmick of the match they're in is to be believed -- she is an expert in the assassination arts, like himself. His enemies are a little more transparent to him, which is convenient; it allows him to coach his ally more effectively.
The old soldier climbs up the stone steps to the arena, tilting his neck to either side very slightly; he gives Chizuru one quick glance with his remaining eye. He tugs his gloves tight, salutes her, and discards his trenchcoat; all that remains, then, is to wait for the other fighters involved in the match. Hopefully, they will be every bit as punctual.
Naerose has no idea who anyone here is except maybe Decapre, and eventat is a maybe because the witch is known for forgetting stuff. What she does know is that this is Howard Arena and everyone knows the best food vendors for fight events set up here. Maybe with the second best that Red Arena in Metro, but she was in southtown, it was a twelve hour flight to get to Metro and then to get into that arena.. Whatever! So when Naenae enters the arena it is loaded down food from the vendors, some elephant ears sticking out of her hat, popcorn, hot dogs, burgers in bags and in her hands, she's practically over over flowing.
"So which of yas is totally Cheeseburger?" (Chizuru?) Naerose asks with a biiig grin
Decapre, for one, had no idea what she was doing in a main event. She's been in like, two or three SNF matches before this one. And sure, she thought her performance the week before last *was* pretty impressive, but not as impressive as Aprile's. And was Aprile on the fight card? Nooo. So the December Doll found this all just a little suspect.
However, once she found out Naerose was going to be on the other team, things finally started to click. The event promoters must have heard about that little Neo League match between herself and the witch, and decided that pitting the two against each other in an arena would somehow be even more entertaining. Especially alongside two more well-known fighters.
But yes, Decapre apparently has a forgettable name. Himeko couldn't remember it for even ten minutes it seemed like, so the chances of Naerose remembering it are almost zero. But the blonde is betting she'll at least recognize her mask when she steps out of the gate to appear next to Heidern. "..."
COMBATSYS: Naerose has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Chizuru has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|
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Chizuru 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Heidern has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Heidern
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Chizuru 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Decapre has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Heidern
"I'm Chizuru," Chizuru says to Naerose. The attitude of her partner doesn't really impress her, but it's not like she wasn't /expecting/ something of the sort. "Put your gear down and let's go. There will be plenty of time for it all afterwards."
She can feel the grease in that food from /here/. Perhaps it's her eldritch senses at work.
In fact, they're already calling them on. Chizuru walks onto the arena, hopefully with her partner because she's not going to wait for her. "I hope you've prepared," she says, as she does, standing in their side of the stage as she watches the others come out.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru focuses on her next action.
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Naerose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Heidern
Heidern glances over to the masked Doll. He recognizes that uniform even if he doesn't recognize her specifically. Shadaloo. Bastards. He doesn't say anything about it, though; he has a mission that does not regard Shadaloo today, though now it has a new element: seize the victory while offering the Doll as little tactical information on himself as possible. "Let's begin," he says, studying the other team carefully.
"In a mission where the number of targets exceeds the number of operatives," he tells Decapre, somewhat flatly, "Focus attention on the enemy you think is the weakest on the defensive first. Do not ignore the other targets, but be sure to keep your attentions on the one you believe will fall fastest. There's strength in numbers."
As if to emphasize this point, he immediately makes a beeline for Naerose; he does not hit her very /hard/, insted choosing to use his fairly significant speed advantage to its fullest. Stepping in, he brings a knee up to strike at Naerose's chest, trying to soften her up a little for Decapre.
Decapre gives a slow nod to the commander, not recognizing him as anything more than a military man and someone that recieves top billing at SNF. Until someone actually mentions the words Ikari Warriors she probably won't even put the two together, if only because she's got a singleminded desire to crush Naerose.
"Understood." the brainwashed teen replies coldly, watching the taller assassin run out to meet the witch and attempt to knee her in the torso. The Doll herself then tries to rush in immediately after and sweep around to the rear, reaching out with both arms to drag her into that ought to make her pointy hat cave in.
COMBATSYS: Naerose blocks Heidern's Light Kick.
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Naerose 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Heidern
COMBATSYS: Naerose dodges Decapre's Medium Throw.
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Naerose 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Heidern
WOah, Naerose is forced to block the incoming attack with FOOD. She tosses the greasy mess up and manages to get enough in the way of the kick that she can avoid actually taking a great deal of damage. She gets kicked maybe a little lower than intended and goes with that feeling, just turns and runs away from Decapre's attack. There is already a big mess and the shouts of 'oooo' at the fact that somehow Naenae actually managed to get out of the way.
"Man. You have got to be kidding me," The witch exclaims, but if that is the way they want to play.
"Fine.. be that way," the witch mumbles,
"Come and get me then, but.. in the meantime, Eat this! Sagitta Minor!"
Meanwhile Naerose continues to run, flinging darts from her sleeves, chi attacks aimed at Decapre.
Chizuru stands back just a little. They seem to be rushing for Naerose, which is - well, it's not fine, but it's a valid strategy and she can accept that.
"Naerose," Chizuru says, raising her voice just a little. "Calm down and focus. You're going to do fine if you can focus. The key to victory is watching what they're doing and acting. You're a chi specialist, or so I'm told; you should be able to do that."
She considers a moment, then adds, "They'll work together. We'll have to, too." Chizuru steps forward - several times, in fact, as one clone after another darts at the melee and vanishes an instant before hitting. None of them are solid, but they are good distractions for Naerose to do her thing in.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru assists Naerose.
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Naerose 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Heidern
With the sudden distractions throwing off his game a little, Heidern says, "But, as I said before, sometimes it's better to split up -- you can't always focus on one person in a multi-man melee, as an untouched opponent is extremely dangerous." This gives Chizuru a little warning that Heidern may be coming for her, but that's all the warning she's going to get -- she'd better make /really/ good use of it.
Heidern knows Chizuru's type well, at least from a 'raw combat' perspective; he may not know her that well personally but he can make some good, educated guesses about how to fight her that will probably come in handy soon enough. She's so focused on her illusions, and on the ground-level combat; this may tire her out early, and certainly keep her from noticing everything.
So Heidern does something that several Ikaris are known for doing deceptively well: he takes to the air. Leaping up and swinging his arms out forward, the Commander calls, "Stay on target!" before coming down toward Chizuru at full speed, trying to smash his forearms and hands into her face. It's the Ikari way -- Heidern, Leona, and Fio can't /all/ be wrong!!
COMBATSYS: Decapre dodges Naerose's Sagitta Minor.
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Naerose 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Heidern
Ah, if she was running away already, then maybe the witch really did remember her. But there was still the question of whether or not Naerose would continue her retreat even after seeing Heidern break off to go after the Yata woman, and with said woman's illusions there to slow Decapre down.
The Doll seems to pass through them unflinchingly, though, whether it's because she didn't sense anything from them with her psychic empathy or simply because she would've been *willing* to take the hits in order to pursue Naerose. Odds are looking like it was the first thing, though, since she rolls to get out of the way of all those magic darts the redhead throws instead of powering right through the same way.
Decapre is, however, right back in hot pursuit after popping her claws out and feeding enough psycho power into them to make them ripple and seem ghostly in appearance, aiming to lunge and shear her target with them when she thinks she's close enough. "Hraahhh!"
COMBATSYS: Decapre successfully hits Naerose with Rippling Razor.
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Naerose 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Heidern
Nae nae continues to run but Decapre is faster and her claws, all sorts of rippling with psycho power reach her, before she can get to safety. Safety? Wait there is no safety. All the same she gets hacked in the back, because she's making a beeline for Chizuru who has that big fella making a beeline for her. She decides, after getting cut, to circle around behind Chizuru and shouts,
"Don't turn around!"
She winks to Heidern and shouts,
"Hey Headcase, have some witchcraft!"
Opening her palm, a token part of one of her moves creates a harmless but VERY BRIGHT flash. Like a flash grenade. If Chizuru doesn't turn around though, it should only affect people not wearing shades targetting her.
COMBATSYS: Naerose assists Chizuru.
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Naerose 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Heidern
COMBATSYS: Chizuru blocks Heidern's Fierce Punch.
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Naerose 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Heidern
Chizuru does in fact figure that Heidern is going to come after her, warning or not. She barely needs it. It's good tactics to.
When he comes at her, she is prepared. No illusions mask her movement this time; she just catches the fist with both hands and keeps it from impacting her nose, although Heidern is strong enough that Chizuru can feel her hands tingle with the impact.
She smiles. "As predicted," Chizuru says, holding the hand in place without doing anything else until the flash goes off. The distraction is her signal, as she pushes the hand aside with one of her hands while ducking low and reaching out with the other. She tries to get her hand behind Heidern's knees and bring it back toward her hard, a sweeping strike to knock him off his feet and keep him unbalanced.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru successfully hits Heidern with Reigetsu.
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Naerose 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Heidern
Momentarily stunned by the blinding flash, Heidern -- who only has one good eye, you punk kid, you don't go for the vision of a dude who's already not so hot there!! -- is not that hard to catch with that sweep; he falls to the ground, in spite of trying to use the momentum from it to his advantage. Naerose really has a good handle on how to augment Chizuru's abilities, Heidern thinks to himself; he'll have to get her down fast, not that Decapre doesn't have a handle on that.
And so, back to focusing fire. The Commander is a brutal, effective man, willing to use whatever tricks necessary to complete a mission; even when it's something as trivial as a Saturday Night Fight, he gives his all. To do any less is to accept failure -- and after that fateful mission so many years ago, Heidern does not accept failure and does not let weakness go untouched.
Leaping toward Naerose abruptly, he calls to Decapre, "Switching targets keeps opponents on their toes -- they don't know what to expect!" before trying to sink his hands right into Naerose's throat from his high leap. If he catches her, he'll start spinning around her neck over and over with those razor-blade-laden gloves, taking her off the ground a couple of inches with helicopter-like force before smashing her back down into it.
Decapre doesn't stop chasing after Naerose just because she got a solid lick in! But she does come skidding to a halt just short of reaching her when she runs back to offer her friend some cover. The flash doesn't seem to affect her from that distance, which is good, but still, how to approach her when everyone is all bunched up together like that? She wouldn't want to hit Heidern, and more especially not when he's already down.
So instead, she waits, and approaches calmly as the commander gets up and switches his focus back to the wounded witch. "True, I'll have to try it for myself." the masked blonde calls back, turning her head toward Chizuru now and edging her way more toward her, at least momentarily.
COMBATSYS: Decapre focuses on her next action.
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Naerose 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Heidern
COMBATSYS: Heidern successfully hits Naerose with Neck Rolling Slashes.
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Naerose 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=------\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Heidern
She was totally not expecting ol' one eye. Nae takes it so hard so bad that she literally has no idea what happened. One moment she's doing something fairly cool and then the next, she's laid out on the ground, her memory catching up to her with a big blank spot. She realizes then and at once what truly out classed means. She has of course.. one option. Help her team mate or go down a complete failure.
"Ugh." Naerose says, coughing and pushes to her feet. That hurt. Hurt big. She finds her broom next to her and adjusts her shades. One lens is broken and through it you do not see her eye, for that eye is closed. It doesn't look injured, but she doesn't even try to open it. The witch struggles instead, with her broom.
"Ugh.."
She says again and starts to trace in the ground a circle, with the broom, it glows behind her.
"Soshite Tsuki ten suisei ten kinsei ten yaiyou ten.." the glowing glyphs respond to her hasty chanting and she mumbles some more before turning to Decapre and pointing toward her. Each wave causing her to swing her arm around like a dancing motion and end pointing at Decapre.. But each wave of what..?
"Star Fall."
Glyphs, in Chizuru's experience, are often just mistakes waiting to happen. You don't need symbols to focus, or you shouldn't. It's different when it's something like a standing seal, but this isn't; it's just power, slightly different than Chizuru's own but close enough that she can feel it and could probably stop it if she had to.
She doesn't, though, because they're on the same team. "Choosing to eliminate the newer fighter?" Chizuru asks Heidern, not terribly upset. It /is/ tactics, and he /is/ a military man. "Well, I'll see if I can keep you busy, for a moment at least."
Chizuru stands back. Her illusion does not - and this time it is solid rather than just an image, a Chizuru that comes in low and spirals upward in a rising strike with her hand and sleeve until, at the apex of her jump, she flickers out of existance. The real one is standing a couple yards away, ready to defend itself. If she can get the heat off Naerose...
COMBATSYS: Heidern endures Chizuru's Tenjin no Kotowari.
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Naerose 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Heidern
Perhaps it's Chizuru's concentrated effort on getting the heat off of Naerose that causes Heidern to turn and rush at her; perhaps it is just that Heidern wants to keep the opposing team on its toes by not giving them an opportunity to figure out who he's going to be shelling down with his pretty significant physical power next. Whatever the case, Heidern does in fact switch targets, coming at Chizuru as she sends that double at him.
He plows right /through/ the double, letting it crash into him and flicker out of existence, but keeps right on going just the same; even though it leaves him pretty badly beaten-up, he can't just stop fighting because he's taking a few lumps. No, that only means he has to focus his efforts even harder, push himself to the very limit -- the one-eyed man refuses to do anything halfway.
"Take this!!" he shouts to her, as he lunges in to grab /her/ this time; his is not a terribly delicate sweep, though. If he can seize her -- any part of her -- he flings her down to the ground as hard as he can, getting her on her back. From there, he just slams a hand into her back, letting the hidden razors on their surface cut and rend her. He calls, in the middle of this, to Decapre. "And whatever you do -- make sure to focus on a fast, wasteless finish!"
COMBATSYS: Decapre blocks Naerose's Star Fall EX.
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Naerose 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Heidern
Decapre is so busy watching the Yata guardian that she doesn't even see what happens to Naerose until right there at the end. She looks probably more bloody and broken than the Doll has ever seen her, and she pretty much completely missed whatever the tall commander did to cause it. It's a sad moment for her, rather than a happy one.
"Wow, did he even leave anything for me?" the masked blonde asks, only to be answered with... magic and summoning circles and a rain of shooting stars. This assassin has actually seen this attack before, though, and she's a little bit more intent on guarding herself against it than the first time, so she raises her arms up over her head and keeps those big bulky guards of hers up, so that the stars that are lucky enough to fall over her directly as she stands there in one place rather than running around in a panic smacks down on heavy ceramic.
It would seem that this tactic is fairly successful in the end, as she's able to come out of it with little more than a powerful stinging in her arms. But it's not so much that she can't still spin herself toward the witch and try to backhand her with psi-charged claws in an attempt to finish her off!
COMBATSYS: Naerose blocks Decapre's Axle Spin Knuckle.
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Naerose 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Heidern
Nae is not doing well, even as she manages to block the attack, just barely though, her energy nearly spent, Nae is pressing her advantage on Decapre. Wait what advantage? She has to try and work things up for her team mate. So the witch presses forward, giving a palm towoard Decapre and then a shout of,
"En Criento!"
A blast of chi issues fourth toward Decapre in a swirling torrent of straight up damage.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru dodges Heidern's Backstabbing.
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Naerose 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Heidern
Chizuru is not there to be grabbed. It's not teleportation and it's not an illusory trick; Chizuru is just a little faster than Heidern this time, although he almost gets ahold of her long, trailing sleeve; it rustles slightly as she whips it away from him.
"I agree with that," Chizuru says. "You should always focus on doing things right - " She glances back at Naerose, who is pretty much getting beaten. So much for Chizuru's help; she's not sure how to help Naerose recover from /that/, and so she doesn't.
She keeps Heidern's attention by swinging her arm in a wide arc, letting her sleeve billow out behind her open-palm sweeping strike, aimed solidly at the side of his torso.
COMBATSYS: Heidern blocks Chizuru's Strong Punch.
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Naerose 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Heidern
Teleporters are the bane of Heidern's existence. He never has great luck with them, since usually they have a wide variety of tricks that defy conventional tactics; he's very good at directing soldiers and fighting in straightforward battles, but like all huge, dour Germans, has a little trouble with trickery. As she swings that palm strike for him, he brings his arms up, deflecting it; it stings a little but not as bad as a full-on hit to the gut.
"She's on her last legs!" Heidern shouts to Decapre, no doubt referring to Naerose. "Finish the mission!" He, meanwhile, has his own task -- Naerose, beaten as badly as she is, is not his concern. He has to focus on Chizuru now -- single target is where he does his absolute best, anyway.
Deciding to be a little more wary of the illusions she might throw out, Heidern decides on a far wider strike; as he comes in toward Chizuru seemingly for another punch, he concludes on the fly that doing something with his feet might be a little better. Abruptly, his motion stops, and he swings a leg upward; his massive height gives him particularly punishing kicks. Perhaps he should look into bladed /boots/, too?!
COMBATSYS: Decapre interrupts End Creation from Naerose with Rippling Razor.
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Naerose 1/----===/=======|======-\-------\0 Decapre
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Chizuru 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Heidern
Decapre, being quite used to taking orders just like the one Heidern just barked out to her, commits herself to doing exactly that. And as the witch tries to thrust that palm full of chi out toward her and make her eat a chi attack, she stabs it. Stabs right through. If she hadn't lit her claws up with psi to oppose the ball of energy in Naerose's hand then this probably wouldn't have worked. The Doll's fist would have probably been blown back instead. Which does kind of still happen a little, but not before the redhead is given all kinds of psychic pain. "Got you~!" the psychotic teen croons.
Yes Decapre does and it is more than enuogh to do great harm to the witch who just wanted to have a nice day. Well. She slumps over, over her broom, the broom then shoots off at Decapre and it seems like she's going to crash into Decapre and drag her along with her into the air if Decapre isn't careful. No words, jsut a collosal flop after that.
COMBATSYS: Naerose can no longer fight.
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Chizuru 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Decapre
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|======-\-------\0 Heidern
COMBATSYS: Heidern successfully hits Chizuru with Medium Kick.
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Chizuru 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Decapre
> /////////////////// ]
|======-\-------\0 Heidern
Bladed boots are totally cheating, but then again so are bladed gloves and Chizuru hasn't complained about them either.
Yet.
Chizuru keeps her hands high to block and as such is left a little open for the strike to her leg. That /does/ lift her off the ground and pitch her several feet, although she twists around - somehow - to land on her feet instead of on her back. That stung a lot more than she wants to let on.
Feeling the surge of psychic energy - oh, Chizuru can't manipulate it, but she spends enough time around Rose to know what it /is/ - she glances over at Decapre, frowning. It might be time to deal with her soon...
...But first, Heidern. She's fought Heidern before, and she knows he's a bit of a sucker for this type of attack; he leaves himself open when he comes in and doesn't always deal well with low, rising attacks. Chizuru pulls back, hand cupping around a point in space, her hand filling with an orangish sphere of light.
Suddenly, she darts forward, hand rising to shove that sphere into Heidern's torso, using her hand and arm as striking power. It shimmers as she drives it at him, threatening to seal away part of his energy.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru successfully hits Heidern with Reigi no Ishizue.
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Chizuru 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Decapre
> ///////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Heidern
Heidern takes a rather nasty hit to the body from that energy, chi smashing into him and leaving him worn out as he gets back up. Still, there's a disconcerting tenacity to him -- that looked like a positively catastrophic hit, yet in spite of it all, Heidern keeps pulling himself back up. Talk about 'being made of sterner stuff' -- that's Heidern's biggest strength. At least, the biggest strength that comes into play when Chizuru is sending him flying with energy strikes, taking advantage of his openings.
For now, he decides that it is prudent to hang back rather than rush in; he can do better than this, but it takes time and planning to do so. Glancing over to Decapre as she finishes up with Naerose, he says, "Don't be afraid to slow down a little, even when the opponent has you. Sometimes it offers you a different set of advantages -- it's not always stalling."
His hands start to crackle, faintly, with red light, even through the sealing spell Chizuru just put on him. His single eye regards her coolly, waiting for her next move.
COMBATSYS: Heidern gathers his will.
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Chizuru 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Decapre
> /////////////// ]
|=======\====---\1 Heidern
COMBATSYS: Decapre dodges Naerose's Aquila Charge.
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Chizuru 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Decapre
> /////////////// ]
|=======\====---\1 Heidern
Decapre is still looking pretty fresh, since Heidern softened Naerose up probably a lot more than he initially intended with all those neck slashes. This not only made it easy for his partner to finish the other girl off, but it left her with more than enough energy to be able to react quickly to last-ditch efforts such as the one the witch made as she went down.
So basically 'Rose goes whizzing past on her broom as the brainwashed teen leans back out of the way, and then she watches her crash, and walks over to nudge her with a foot just to make sure she's out before looking back to Heidern and giving a little half-salute. She then, once more, does as he suggests, turning toward the Yata woman but remaining right where she is for now. An intense aura of dark and sinister energy flares up around her as she scrapes her claws against one another slowly like some impatient person at the dinner table playing with their knife and fork.
COMBATSYS: Decapre gathers her will.
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Chizuru 0/-------/------=|=======\==-----\1 Decapre
> /////////////// ]
|=======\====---\1 Heidern
The entire other side is waiting. Apparently for her to act again. Well, isn't that just great.
Chizuru straightens up after delivering her seal. She says nothing; Naerose is out of it (probably back on the sidelines and eating by now, she thinks to herself) and she has, by some readings of the rules, already lost this match. It's not a reading she personally believes, but she can understand why people might think that.
She steps back, too. They can wait better than she can. That's a given. And so Chizuru presses - but not Heidern again, but Decapre instead. She drops low and slides across the ground, attempting to deliver a kick to the wielder of the more noxious type of energy in this fight. She doesn't like the feel of /that/ psychic power, no sir.
Or madam, in this case.
COMBATSYS: Decapre blocks Chizuru's Heavy Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Chizuru 0/-------/-----==|=======\===----\1 Decapre
> /////////////// ]
|=======\====---\1 Heidern
Heidern keeps his eyes -- or, well, eye -- on Chizuru as the energy around his hands starts to subside and ebb away for the moment. He studies her movements toward Decapre carefully, waiting for an opening. He can wait for a very long time -- but he doesn't have to, as that kick comes in and he feels the sudden need to act. Heidern has a great deal of power, and can put all of it to solid use against Chizuru -- someone who, while very skilled, is every bit as pressed for options against Heidern as he is against her.
She's still relatively hearty, whereas both he and his ally are weakened. This is suboptimal but not insurmountable, especially with all that power that Heidern has drawn into himself. "Your final lesson for the match: if you have the capacity and you are sure there are no further targets, push forward with everything you have!"
And Heidern, of course, does just that. Leaping up toward Chizuru, he comes in at an odd angle -- it's a lot like what he tried before, with Naerose. /Unlike/ what he tried with Naerose, however, he has something far more punishing in mind -- something that may become apparent if he gets those hands of his on Chizuru...
Decapre can maybe not wait as long. As the earlier metaphor implied, she's sort of impatient. But she doesn't get all jumpy just because Chizuru comes straight for her, and waste all of that psychic charge trying to avoid being kicked. She can at least wait until she's powered-up fully. After all, those big red gauntlets of hers are can block a lot of stuff.
So she blocks, and she even waits for Heidern to finish his demonstration on how to assassinate a priestess before she crouches down to prepare for a strike of her own, dashing forward with afterimages trailing behind as she starts with a heavy spinning backfist, then flows into a series of slashes and whirling claw-filled uppercuts.
COMBATSYS: Heidern successfully hits Chizuru with Final Bringer.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Chizuru 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Decapre
> /////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Heidern
COMBATSYS: Chizuru fails to reflect Spin Drive Slasher from Decapre with Tamayura no Shitsune EX.
[ \\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Chizuru 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Decapre
> /////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Heidern
Heidern fights a lot like any claw fighter on the circuit, really; the trick is that his claws are not /obvious/, but rather hidden entirely by his gloves. So when he comes in toward Chizuru for something punishing, it is likely no great surprise that it is for what basically amounts to a really nasty stomach-stab.
"FINAL BRINGER!" comes Heidern's powerful shout, echoing through the arena, as he suddenly flips downward from his awkward leap and drives his hand right into Chizuru's stomach. A perhaps-familiar trick begins, as he starts to suck the chi right out of Chizuru -- it is not draining the way some other techniques like this are, though; merely cripplingly painful for a few moments. That chi begins to coalesce into a ball just between the two opponents, a blood-red ball that hovers in midair; after a second, though, it floats toward Heidern, 'breaking' across his chest and into nothingness.
Then he gets the hell out of the way for Decapre.
Everything starts to fall apart pretty much at once.
Chizuru, attacked by two sides, does what she normally does and summon an illusion to baffle and confuse and so that she doesn't feel quite as outnumbered; Heidern gets the illusion while she holds her ground personally against Decapre. Unfortunately it doesn't really /work/.
Heidern goes right through her illusion, which wasn't done appearing, and drives his hand right into her. Pained and startled, Chizuru staggers back, the illusion vanishing and giving her only an instant to defend herself before Decapre comes at her.
She doesn't have time for /that/ either. The chi shield she forms is kind of malformed and weakened, possibly because she's just been stabbed through the stomach by Heidern's fingers. It fails to do anything with Decapre's energy other than put out an impressive light show as it's broken, flashing shards of orange in the air for an instant before she has to deal with the crazy claw woman.
Eventually, it ends, and Chizuru stands there, barely upright, one hand raised to defend herself in case they come /back/.
Lesson one of combat: a sudden, sustained assault can take out just about anything -- even the most insurmountable-looking opponent can wither beneath enough raw force, and Decapre and Heidern have proven to be able to let loose an absolutely massive amount of raw force. Studying Chizuru carefully, seeing just how much she has left in the tank, Heidern draws a conclusion: he can finish this effortlessly.
However, he doesn't want to let a Shadaloo Doll know that he knows that... so he decides to go for something a -little- more than what he needs to do to win. From some, this would be seen as 'showboating,' which is exactly the sort of thing the Commander wants Decapre to see -- he wants Shadaloo to underestimate him.
So naturally, when Chizuru raises a hand in defense and indicates she's still willing to fight, he goes for something massive and punishing rather than light and efficient. Coming in toward Chizuru, he grabs at the tall woman and goes for a technique that he learned from Ralf and Clark. If he can catch hold of her, he'll toss her up into the air, catch her as she comes down, and then smash her into the ground -- classic Ikari backbreaker.
Decapre seems to fall for it. If she didn't, then she'd probably feel the need to try and add a little something of her own. Insult to injury and all that. Though there is of course the possibility that she just needs a minute to calm herself back down after going comepletely psycho on someone like that...
In any case, she watches the commander's attempt at showing off and gives what passes for a confused look with her, tilting her head. She's still got her guard up, though. And she *is* still watching for openings, just in case something goes wrong.
COMBATSYS: Decapre focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Chizuru 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Decapre
> //////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Heidern
COMBATSYS: Heidern successfully hits Chizuru with Strong Throw.
[ \\ < > ////////////////// ]
Chizuru 1/---====/=======|-------\-------\0 Decapre
> //////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Heidern
Generally, Chizuru is pretty good at not getting her arm grabbed and then flung around by it. Her general fighting style involves that upraised arm; if you keep offering it to people, you have to expect people are going to grab.
The injuries are not working in her favour tonight, though, and Heidern actually /does/ yank her off balance successfully, grab her, and throw her up in the air. She lands rather heavily on the ground, accelerated by Heidern shoving her downward with all his strength.
"Enough," she says, from the ground, when things stop spinning quite so much (this takes a few moments). "I yield. You did admirably, the both of you, and your teamwork was excellent."
Chizuru doesn't get up though. It hasn't stopped spinning quite enough for that.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru takes no action.
> ////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Decapre
> //////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Heidern
COMBATSYS: Chizuru can no longer fight.
> ////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Decapre
> //////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Heidern
"You performed well, but you don't defend yourself well enough without illusions," Heidern says, nodding to Chizuru; he tries to be constructive when he defeats an opponent that isn't, you know, Satan or something. It comes off as a little bit harsh, though, a lot of the time -- much like a lot of things Heidern does in the name of justice!
Turning to Decapre, he says, "Good work. You know what you're doing -- I look forward to seeing more of you in the fighting world." He doesn't let on that he actually knows anything about the Dolls or Shadaloo, enemies he's fought many times -- he has to be pretty careful about that sort of thing!
Taking off his gloves, he turns to each other fighter who's still conscious in turn, and gives them a firm handshake if they take it.
Decapre hears Chizuru's surrender well enough, but she doesn't actually drop her stance until the announcer calls the match. And even then she seems to forget to sheathe her claws until the Ikari leader removes his gloves and offers a handshake. It's not entirely her fault though. It's a lot harder to push the blades back into the gauntlets than it is to release them.
Eventually, she gets the springs in at least one to cooperate and reaches out to return the gesture. "Thank you. Your instruction was helpful." Obvious. But you're probably lucky she spoke at all.
Chizuru accepts the handshakes with good grace. She is not a poor loser, really.
She does look a little offhandedly back at Decapre, though, as she heads back to her own side. That woman... Someone else she'll have to keep an eye on, in the future.
Log created on 20:40:03 05/18/2008 by Decapre, and last modified on 17:49:21 05/21/2008.