Description: Your Best Friend. We're all friendly in the cube room! Except for the part where we beat everybody up, but really, that's positively normal for fighters. Boxes are not used as much as expected, except for cover. (Winner: Nobody!)
SNF. It's the biggest gig in fighting if one is interested in participating in fighting on a weekly basis. But being a regular participant means one has to be ready for all kinds of unusual venues. Hotaru has fought in the artic on ice bridges, in ball pits at the amusement park, atop precarious rope bridges, and all number of other places that always served to complicate matches some... But nothing had prepared the girl for this week's event as she was transported to a large building on the outskirts of town.
Ushered out of the limo that brought her, the minor celebrity fighter was escorted to a door in the structure and told to head on in. The interior seemed like something out of a Science Fiction movie. Pristine, white walls, metal floors... here and there along the hallway she notices windows that look into offices off to the side, but no where are there any windows to the outside world. Curious but not slowing down, she continues on.
There's sealed off doors along the way in the corridor, forcing her to take alternative paths, twisting around various corners until she becomes completely disoriented as to where she even is spacially speaking within the building. The sound of air blowing through air ducts, generators and other electronics, and other various noises can be heard, causing her to wonder just what the deal with the place even is!
And then she reaches the end of the maze, stepping into a large chamber well lit by lights high up above. The chamber is featureless in that it has only the door she entered and another door opposite where she came in. No furniture. No windows. Just plain, boring walls. Oh yeah, and one other detail. Cubes. Lots of them. Stacked in piles in the corners, arranged like small forts in the middle. They're all over the place. Each one marked with a heart on each side. Finding the entire sight a little unsettling, the young fighter walks over to one tower of three cubes and reaches up to test the weight of the top one, finding that for their size, they're not really that hard to heft. "Weird." she grunts, putting it right back where she found it and clasping her hands behind her back.
With no where else to go, she hopes she's in the right place. She knows she's supposed to fight two fellow Seijyun students this afternoon. Hopefully /they/ find her...
Flora has, on the other hand, fought in SNF only twice; it would have been once, but they called her at the last minute and had her substitute. That was one very busy weekend. Although she's read a lot about SNF, and seen them on TV regularly, she still isn't used to the strangeness first-hand.
After this, she will be. Flora has spent the last fifteen minutes being lost in the maze. She walked around in circles for about ten of them, and she's entirely sure that some of the doors were locking and unlocking just so she didn't realize she was in the same place.
Finally - /finally/ - she stumbles in, nearly tripping over the doorway's edge and catching herself only at the last moment, brushing her hakama's front more or less flat again as she walks inside. "That's a lot of boxes," she says, thoughtfully, as she does.
Although arriving a little late, Van quickly makes her way through the maze. She climbs up one tower of the boxes, and looking around, spots Hotaru. She salutes her with the glaive she holds in one hand. "Miss Futaba. I believe this battleground favors me a little more than you. Shall I repay the debt from last time?" She twirls her glaive and smiles in a way that suggests this is a threat, if not a particularly malicious one.
She glances around, looking for her ally, but is not in a position to spot Flora from here. A slight frown. Even with advantageous ground, going one on one is....
Occupying the middle of the room, Hotaru can't help but notice Flora stumble into the room. First off, she's /tall/. Real tall. Second of all, she's bearing an interesting weapon that begs noticing. She grins a little as she realizes the other girl looks just about as flustered as she felt during the unexpected maze wandering. "Welcome. Flora is it?" Hotaru asks, hands reaching up as she idly reties her right hair ribbon, keeping her pig-tail in check.
Now they just need... Ah, there she is. Shifting her attention to the top of the pile that Van has claimed as her own, blue eyes studying the girl she's already fought once before. "Hello Van." Attention shifts to the glaive she's twirling, brow furrowing slightly. That doesn't look pleasant at all. "Does it?" she asks with regards to the battleground favoring her. "I didn't peg you for studying Box-fu. Otherwise I'm not sure how this place gives you an advantage." No foil this time, she muses. Interesting. But she did use a pole as a staff last time, so perhaps...
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she glances back and forth between the newly arrived Van and Flora, lowering her hands down from finishing retying her hair ribbon. "Two challengers at once. This'll be tough," she ponders with a grin. Dealing with multiple opponents has always been an area she's wanted to improve in. Well, this weird room in some strange building, full of seemingly purposeless cubes is as good a time to practice it as any.
As if to punctuate that thought, the door that all three of them came in suddenly slams shut with a metallic clang that echoes throughout the room. One of the dull, florescent lights over the head flickers with an eletric hiss before stabilizing. "...charming. Well then. I guess that means we get started."
Another glance between the two and then the martial artist decides to get aquainted with Flora first, facing her directly, breathing in deeply then exhaling slowly. She hops forward then, closing the distance quickly. Coming out of the hop by landing in a very low stance, right leg forward, left leg bent at the knee to let her crouch extremely low, she immediately twists into a sweep with her extended foot, hands pressing against the ground to help her spin around. Coming out of the sweep she rises into a second kick with the same foot, this one aimed more at mid-torso level as she tries to knock Flora back toward the wall, hoping to leave her stunned long enough for her to shift gears toward Van. "KYA!"
COMBATSYS: Flora dodges Hotaru's Medium Kick.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Van
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Flora
Flora's weapon looks like a Japanese-styled bow, if yumi were made of something thicker and heavier than bamboo, with odd reinforcement around both ends. In fact, the way she holds it makes it look more like a curved staff, although almost nobody fights with a /curved/ staff... The weapon is actually taller than she is, although most Japanese bows are taller than their user, so that's not too unusual.
"Yes, I'm Flora," she says, smiling. Having no crowd around makes her a lot less uncomfortable. Sure, there are cameras around, but Flora doesn't see the cameras. She can pretend they don't exist, even if she knows they do. "And you're Hotaru, and she - "
Is Van, but Flora doesn't finish that sentence, because the door slammed shut behind her and made her jump. Being on edge works to her advantage this time, though, because she sees Hotaru coming, and keeps her distance; she literally leaps the sweep, then scrambles backwards, away from the rising kick.
She doesn't have an arrow in her hand and so Flora's first instinct is to simply not use one. She spins her weapon in her hands once, then lashes out, holding it high up so the top part of the weapon is held more like a club than anything else; Flora swings this at Hotaru's side, trying to bat her away.
Van shrugs. "Well, clearly reach is more important on uneven ground. So unless your movement skills are better than mine...." She laughs after a moment. "I was using this sort of logic last time too, wasn't I?"
She leans on the staff of her glaive and watches Hotaru quietly, seeing how she's moving today. A slight smile on her lips. She continues to watch as Hotaru attacks Flora, hoping that live observation can help her where watching various archived TV footage failed last time.
She bows to Flora. "Mitsubishi Van at your service. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Akahana." Apparently she'd rather introduce herself and watch than be useful. Her eyes flicker over Flora's movements as well, and her smile widens as she first evades Hotaru's attack then comes back with one of her own.
COMBATSYS: Van focuses on her next action.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Van
> ///////////////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Flora
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Flora's Spinning Staff.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Van
> ///////////////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Flora
Flora slips through both of Hotaru's kicks, the Kenpo artist ending up in a standing position as she snaps her leg back after the second one. She's got sharp enough reflexes to get herself out of trouble, the pig-tailed fighter muses, trying to get a sense for Flora's style of fighting without having had a chance to meet her before. She gets a quick lesson taht that bow isn't just for shooting things as the other girl takes a hold of that longbow and swings it out, aiming to crack Hotaru good on the side.
Proving the worth of her own speed, the Futaba girl ducks under the sweeping strike then springs backward, putting herself at range. She gives Flora a quick grin and nod of acknowledgement, a silent 'Nicely done', before turning her attention back toward Van. "Ah, but you see, from what I can tell," she replies, still grinning as she takes a step to the side, reaching out to grab the cube she had tested earlier, finding it as easy to heft as she had anticipated. "...this room affords /anyone/ range, if they want it." she finishes pointing out, turning to get a fix on Van as the long haired girl hangs back.
And then as if to prove her point, she hurls the heart decorated cube, sending it flying up Van's way with an accompanying "HAH!" of exclaimation, lowering her arms after having thrown it.
Everybody does get range indeed. Flora intends to take advantage of that, now that Van and Hotaru are much closer to each other. Still, it's rude not to introduce oneself, so: "Flora Akahana. Seijyun," she adds. It isn't that surprising. Van has probably seen her around before, because it's hard to miss Flora.
Flora draws one of the blunt-tipped arrows from the quiver she wears. They're not pointed; she doesn't fight to make people bleed and has no interest in accidentally hurting somebody worse than she meant to. Drawing the bowstring far back, Flora holds it, arms totally still despite the immense draw a bow that thick must require, waiting for an opportunity.
She thinks she has one once Hotaru throws the cube; there's an instant where she's not defending herself, during the follow-through. Flora fires then, a strong shot aimed toward Hotaru's gut.
COMBATSYS: Van stops Thrown Cube from Hotaru with Cube Deflection.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Van
> ///////////////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Flora
Van shakes her head slightly, and takes a step back as she jabs the staff of her glaive downwards, then tugs back, knocking a box off the stack she stands on, and into the way of the cube just thrown at her. The cubes collide, and fall back down, tumbling over the other cubes to the ground.
"I'm higher up than you. Throwing boxes all the way up here is going to tire you out, and it's relatively easy to deflect. As long as we're far away from eachother, I'm afraid I still have the advantage, Miss Futaba. I definitely have the power to win this match, with Miss Akahana on my side." She tilts her head to one side. "Is this match important to you?"
...Which might not mean much if all she does is talk and defend. She looks over to Flora, and then slowly points to her uniform with one finger. "I... also go to Seijyun, Miss Akahana."
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Flora's Strong Shot.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Van
> ///////////////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Flora
Her two opponents are introducing each other, but Hotaru never stops moving for an instant, constantly glancing back and forth between her two opponents. With them no where near each other, she constantly runs the risk of being surrounded by the both of them, which just makes things even worse. She could go try to land a hit on Flora to put a stop to the rain of arrows she's anticipated from a bowuser, but Van's clever deflection of the flying cube provokes a soft laugh. "Not bad," she observes.
"Well then," she continues, "Let's see about this high ground of yours." The girl bounds up onto a lower tier of the ubiquitous cubes, springing to higher ground as she goes after Van's perch, narrowly avoiding the arrow that was sent her way from Flora's direction. "Important to me? No, not particularly. I do this every week," she spares a second to respond as she puts her legs to work springing up to the next level of boxes, closing in on Van. "But I do my best all the same."
She pauses briefly to crouch before springing the final distance, spinning into a very swift spin kick, attempting to take Van off her little box! Hotaru doesn't try to land on it though, dropping back down to a more mid level, hit or miss, not wanting to stay up there herself. "Guess that makes all three of us for Seijyun," she adds mid-kick.
"I know," Flora says, although she reddens. "That's why I said it, otherwise I wouldn't have - " She's flustered again. It might be best to stop talking, so she does, instead drawing another arrow and pulling it back.
She always finds that she does her best when she's focused. Flora breathes in and out, focusing on the tip of the arrow. She doesn't watch most of the rest of the fight; she's just trying to get her mind back where it needs to be if she wants to do anything resembling a good showing, to put aside all her (significant numbers of) worries and just focus on hitting Hotaru and helping Van.
It almost works.
COMBATSYS: Flora gathers her will.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Van
> //////////////////////////////]
|====---\-------\0 Flora
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Van with Light Kick.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Van
> //////////////////////////////]
|====---\-------\0 Flora
Van tries not to grin as Flora gets flustered, but she's clearing enjoying herself. Might not be the best way to win the fight, though, unnerving your teammate.
She raises the staff of her glaive to block the spin kick, but Hotaru's leg swings under it, and knocks Van backwards off the box. She falls down a couple of boxes, manages to get into a roll, but rolls too far, off the stack of boxes entirely. She jams the staff of her glaive in between two boxes as she falls, her arms jolting at the impact, but she also uses it to swing forwards, then lets go, flying back up into the air and onto the boxes.
She glances down at her empty hands. "That fight the other day was important to me, though." She picks up a cube with both arms, and spins around, then takes a step closer to Hotaru, attempting to hit her with it.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru full-parries Van's Heavy Kick!
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Van
> //////////////////////////////]
|====---\-------\0 Flora
Hotaru isn't sure right yet where Flora is, her attention fixated on Van for a brief moment. All she knows is that for right now, she's got just one opponent to deal with. Her kick connects and she dislodges the girl from her high ground, dropping down to the mid-level of that particular cube mountain, rising up to standing upright, "The early matches always are." she replies, blue eyes settling on the girl as she decides to make due without the glaive and reach for a cube instead. "Or was it more than that?" she inquires honestly, tensing up as the girl takes another swing at her, this time with the bulky cube.
But Hotaru is on the move already, springing up off the block she's standing on, her feet coming down on the very cube the long haired girl swung at her. She's there only for a fleeting instant, flipping forward into the air, avoiding Van's swing and dropping down toward the floor of the room, arms out at her sides for balance.
Mid-air, she spots Flora and decides to give the other fighter some more attention. She lands in a run, feet barely touching the metallic floor with a clang as she springs toward the bow-user, attempting to close distance before she can fire. Both hands reach for the wrists for Flora as she tries to twist her guard open and render her vulnerable to a series of rapid stomps right up the front of her tall body.
If successful, Hotaru continues up to her shoulders then springs backward, putting distance between her and Flora if possible. "Ya, ya, ya!"
COMBATSYS: Flora blocks Hotaru's Shin-Jou Tai EX.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Van
> ////////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Flora
Flora can, in fact, not fire an arrow when her hands are being gripped; in fact she drops the arrow entirely. She does manage to twist somewhat, though, taking advantage of the fact that her arms are far longer than Hotaru's; she kicks up the side of Flora's body and not the front, and as an added bonus, Flora keeps the feet well away from her bow.
Hotaru tries to put distance between them, but Flora isn't having any of that (yet); she whips out one end of her bow to hook around Hotaru and drag her back, an instant before reversing it and striking with the other, a blow so fast her weapon blurs.
Then Flora looks over to Van. The look says something like 'Help?' although she is, now. It's a nice change.
Van doesn't answer, instead running up higher on the mountain of cubes, and stares down at Flora and Hotaru. Now, she has a very good view of the battle from up here, and she can easily knock down cubes....
But it seems like Flora needs help. Van hesitates for a moment, looking all the way down, then jumps off the ledge, plummeting towards Hotaru, aiming for the ground behind her. She's going to try to pull her opponent's neck back towards her using the power of gravity, which should be rather nasty on the off chance that it hits.
More importantly, unless Hotaru moves before she can even get there, she should get the opportunity to whisper something.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Flora's Mantis Snap.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Van
> ///////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Flora
COMBATSYS: Hotaru interrupts Strong Throw from Van with Tanshou Shin.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/-======|=======\=====--\1 Van
> ///////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Flora
At this point it's possibly becoming clear as to why the organizers have pit two fighters against the blue and white clad martial artist. She's /fast/. And she hits /hard/ for her stature. Both of these facts are perhaps best demonstrated as she contends with the two attacks coming her way. Flora is out to keep her from getting to range as she's trying, swinging out with that bow-staff, trying to hook the girl and bring her back into a second follow up hit. But in spite the incredible speed of the attack she makes out of the way just in time, dropping down into a very low crouch, much like the position she had adopted when she first charged Flora.
In the midst of this, she's aware that Van is jumping down to try and put the hurt on her, using gravity to lend momentum to the drop, seeking to hook her arm around the pig-tailed fighter's neck and slam her down to the groud with all that built up kinetic energy. The best she manages is to put some pressure on Hotaru's shoulder as the young fighter lunges up into Van with that same shoulder, collding into the other girl like some kind of charging bull. But the first hit is just to get the other girl off balance, as Hotaru continues into a second strike, hopping forward, slamming both of her hands out in opposite directions as Van has seen her do on other occasions. One palm smashing into the other girl's side, the other out in the opposite direction for balance. "YAA!"
She comes out of the second hit into a sort of skip as she slows herself down, trying to re-evaluate her position now that she's put herself at range from the bow user once again.
Flora is slow to react; perhaps she didn't expect Hotaru to come back so quickly. Too bad Van got hit so hard; she's not sure entirely what she was going to say, having not managed to hear it what with everything else going on.
Flora finally does act on Hotaru coming so close, though, as she slows down near to the tall martial artist. Perhaps surprisingly, though, she doesn't use her bow at all - instead she steps forward and, with the momentum of her forward step, brings her other foot up in a side kick. Flora seems used to kicking at people smaller than her and trying to force them to keep distance so she can use her long reach. Right now she's simply trying to push Hotaru away.
Her lips are set. She actually looks focused again, instead of vaguely uncomfortable and on edge. It was funnier the other way (maybe) but she's undeniably more effective right now.
Van looks into the light in the distance. Odd. She had never imagined death as being so flourescent. She blinks, and realizes that it is, in fact, not a light at the end of the tunnel. Her mind slowly replays over Hotaru knocking her up into the air and then smashing her with her palm, then her body falling back and hitting the pavement as all the sound went away for a moment.
Hmm. Well, it's not as if she thought it'd work, she mainly hoped that the element of suprise would manage to get her a moment. But clearly, if she wants to get close enough to whisper to Hotaru, her target is going to have to be immobile.
She slowly climbs to her feet, a grimace or smile spreading across her face, and walks back towards Flora, then holds out one hand towards her. "Miss Akahana. Please do me the honor of lending me your bow for a moment." Despite her words, the tone of her voice sounds a shade closer to command than request.
COMBATSYS: Van focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/-======|=======\=====--\1 Van
> ///////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Flora
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Flora's Light Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/-======|=======\=====--\1 Van
> ///////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Flora
Her feet barely touch the ground before Hotaru springs forward, constantly in motion, never pausing for more than a split second. When dealing with two opponents, she has to think fast and act fast, and right now she's really on her best game so far. Flora kicks out toward her, attempting to plant that foot into the smaller girl's side and send her stumbling, but Hotaru weaves around it, twisting out of the way in order to try and come in on Flora's right side.
The intent is to get close enough to reach her, both hands grasping out as the Kenpo artist goes for Flora's nearest arm. A taller fighter like her, and trying to manage that large weapon... maybe Hotaru can turn that to her advantage with a very swift yank on that arm.
If she gets a tight enough hold, Flora will find herself being pulled forward and over Hotaru's leg as the girl tries to twist her down to the floor with a fairly standard styled throw. Her intent isn't exactly to go for blood but to stall her so that she can go after Van again!
COMBATSYS: Flora counters Quick Throw from Hotaru with Mirage Step.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/-------/=======|=======\=====--\1 Van
> ///////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Flora
Flora looks rather aghast at Van when she asks. "No!" she says, almost sounding a little squeaky. "I - that's my bow, I don't just /lend it out/! That, and it's way too big for you." True, at least if she wanted to use it like a bow; if Van wanted to use it like a seven and a half foot bent pole it would serve its purpose admirably.
Except for the part where Flora isn't lending it to /anyone/, of course.
She never gets the opportunity even if she was going to, though, because Hotaru comes back toward her. Flora shifts around so fast she actually looks, very briefly, as if she is in two places at once - about to be grabbed, and slightly to the side, her staff whistling around for Hotaru's own side to smack her arms away from Flora - and maybe the whole girl, too.
Van narrows her eyes as Hotaru tries to grab the bow, then blinks as Flora moves so quickly. She smiles a little, relaxing.
However, at Flora's refusal to give her the bow, her eyes narrow once again. "You haven't hit with the bow once, except a moment ago, Miss Flora. And with the technique which seems to be so effective against Miss Futaba, a bow is more of an addon. I have not had the opportunity to try my archery against Miss Futaba, as I figured with you here, bringing a bow would be redundant."
With her glaive left behind and the bow still in the hands of Flora, she's pretty much weaponless. Unless.... She glances down at her jacket, then shakes her head, and crouches down, pulls a cube up over her head, and, standing up, hurls it at Hotaru.
COMBATSYS: Van successfully hits Hotaru with Thrown Cube.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/-----==/=======|=======\======-\1 Van
> ///////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Flora
She's only vaguely aware of Van's request, the words only making sense to her as Flora refuses to hand over the bow. Of course the distraction isn't enough for her to get that grip she's looking for as Flora manages to catch her mid-attempt, spinning around incredibly quickly to bat the featherweight to the side with ease, sending Hotaru crashing into a tower of cubes. The blocks wobble a little but don't quite end up coming toppling down on the girl.
This changes when Van decides to heft and hurl one of those cubes at Hotaru as well, the girl turning to the side, raising one arm to try and fend it off, only to get struck hard in the upper arm and driven back into the wobbling tower, sending the entire pile of them collapsing to the floor. Landing with a grunt on the floor, Hotaru gets back up in a crouch, rubbing her sore side for just a moment, shaking her head. She definitely lost the speedy edge she had in that little scuffle, but that doesn't mean she isn't going to take another shot at Flora all the same.
When she springs into the offense this time, the girl spins in, windmilling her arms to try and strike the other girl high and draw her guard off. It's partially distraction, however, for while the strikes are quite real, they serve only to open the way for the powerful palm strike she aims for Flora's mid-torso the moment she's land, counter-balancing the aggressive strike as her leg and torso strength lend to the power of her striking arm to try and bowl the other girl completely over!
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Flora with Soushou Shin.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/----===/=======|=======\======-\1 Van
> /////////////////// ]
|=======\==-----\1 Flora
"And it's /my/ bow," Flora says, reasonably. "Just because you don't know a staff technique when you see it - I trained with a hakkaku-bo master!" She doesn't have much time to say anything more, though, because Hotaru is advancing again.
Flora blocks high, which unfortunately leaves her torso painfully open - and because of her size there is a lot of empty space for Hotaru to hit. The blow sends Flora back a few feet, rolling; she tucks the bow against her chest and curls up around it to avoid breaking it, although as reinforced as it is, it might just be tough enough to take it.
She comes up to her knees, no further, with a handful of those blunted arrows in one hand and her bow in the other, held almost horizontally in extremely non-recommended posture. Flora draws back the arrows and fires three at once - three that split into six, then twelve, the chi duplicates limned with flickering green light. "Is that enough for you?"
Van watches Hotaru get back up, then looks back to Flora. "I know a staff technique when I see it, Miss Akahana. I am familiar with all weapon techniques. The part which threw her off there was not, in fact, the staff. I would go so far as to say that it would've been more effective unarmed. Whereas, unarmed, I am relatively useless." Van removes her jacket in one smooth motion, sending one button flying, then swings it before her in a figure eight pattern as she begins to move towards Hotaru. "Seeing as you seem attached to that bow, however, I'll have to make do." For now.
She blinks as she sees Flora pull out some flashy chi projectiles, halting her movement for a moment, then rushes forwards again once they pass her. Best time to strike someone is right after they've been hit by something else, after all.
When she closes in, she tries to manuever so that she's on the opposite side of Hotaru that Flora is - after all, she can't keep her eyes on both of them at once... right? As she does so, she swings the edge of her jacket upwards, trying to swipe the edge of it across Hotaru's face with suprising force for a jacket, so as to drive her back and put her offguard for a moment.
COMBATSYS: Flora successfully hits Hotaru with Thousand Flight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/-======/=======|=======\======-\1 Van
> ////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Flora
COMBATSYS: Van successfully hits Hotaru with Quick Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/=======/=======|=======\======-\1 Van
> ////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Flora
Her powerful strike delivered, Hotaru begins to scramble backward, seeking to take stock in the situation again and figure out her next plan of attack. But the opportunity doesn't quickly present itself as she would hope, with Flora coming up on her knees, a fistfull of arrows readied in the bow. At the same time the Kenpo artist has Van flanking her, keeping her penned in place a little.
As Flora unleashes the three arrows, Hotaru tries to follow them, thinking she can avoid a trio. But there's far more than a trio as each arrow duplicates, and then they copy again, leaving the pig-tailed fighter facing down a small swarm. Unable to escape cleanly, she swipes her hand in front of her, leaving in its wake a trail of blue chi. The chi buffers some of the assault, slow two of the real arrows and blocking a few other ones. The rest get through, striking the girl squarely, sending her stumbling back.
She's about to recover herself when Van comes in with the jacket swipe, smacking her across the face, provoking a surprised squeak moreso than hurting her significantly. "Ow," she murmurs, blue eyes shifting back and forth between the two fighters. Finally Van has her attention again, it seems, as she's the closest of the two, and Hotaru goes for her, trying to step in close, past the spinning jacket, to bring her knee up into the torso of the other girl.
Flora takes advantage of the swarm of arrows to stand up the rest of the way and step to the side, putting her lower body behind one of the boxes. She can fire over it, and has every intention of doing just that; why not take cover when you have it?
"I don't fight unarmed," Flora says, already disliking Van; she only sounds a little uncertain, which by Flora standards means she's totally made up her mind. She debates firing into the melee and not really caring which of the two she hits.
She doesn't. She watches instead, still breathing slowly and carefully, almost meditating just like she was taught to do before she looses an arrow. It leaves her a little open, but really, sometimes you just need to.
COMBATSYS: Flora gathers her will.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/=======/=======|=======\======-\1 Van
> /////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Flora
COMBATSYS: Van fails to counter Light Kick from Hotaru with Quick Strike.
- Power fail! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Hotaru 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=====--\1 Van
> /////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Flora
Van spins smoothly to the side as Hotaru closes in, holding her cape like a matador. If Hotaru was a bull, this might've been effective. As it is, however, she gets kneed in the torso, and stumbles backwards, tripping over the cube she had thrown at Hotaru a little while ago, and falling back onto the floor.
She stumbles back up to her feet, and looks over to Flora, but she can't summon the energy to say something yet - that last hit took quite a bit out of her. So she looks back to Hotaru and raises the jacket again, holding it a neutral position as she gives herself a moment to recover.
That turned out better than she had anticipated after getting thudded by those blunt arrows and struck by what chi arrows managed to fly through her desperate barrier. She's back on her feet now, and moving at that. A quick sweep of the area around her leaves her stumped as to where Flora is immediately. She could go hunting her down to figure it out, but she's got Van right here already and she decides she's going to follow up on that instead.
Turning back toward the girl who seems to be trying to defend herself with her jacket, Hotaru breaths in for a moment, taking a second to center herself, concentrating on putting all of her effort into her strikes. "You two are doing well," she observes quietly, feeling her self grow tired from running around keeping up with them while trying to keep from getting smacked around for her trouble.
And then she's after Van, closing distance, only to crouch and spring into another set of whirlwinding strikes not unlike what she charged at Flora with earlier! Only this time there is no follow up palm strike, Hotaru merely landing again and shifting into trying to slip sidways so she can try to form a triangle of positions and keep both of the girls in view at the same time.
Flora is not that hard to find. Even half-behind the box, she sticks out a lot.
Flora stays back there, though. She keeps her distance, ready to fire another arrow into the fray; this time she's sure she could hit Hotaru as she slips sideways, without benefit of using Van as cover.
But she doesn't. Instead she picks up her box and flings it - with one hand, no less - at Hotaru. It's more of a distraction than anything else. "Hey, over here!" she says, almost squeaking with surprise that she's actually trying to /get attention/. Freaky.
COMBATSYS: Van blocks Hotaru's Enryuu Banda.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Hotaru 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=======\1 Van
> //////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Flora
Van pulls the jacket taut and raises it upwards as Hotaru strikes with whirlwinding arms. The jacket is ripped up by the force of the whirling arms, and Hotaru manages to hit Van quite a few times, but it's still less than it would've been without the jacket.
She takes a step to one side, so that she's hopefully close enough to intercept if Hotaru runs towards Flora, but won't get in the way of another arrow. Unless Flora's aim is a little off, but no plan is perfect, right? She blinks, and looks around, realizing she has no ready weapon at the moment. She could run for a cube, but that would mean giving Hotaru an opening towards Flora.
A slight shrug of her shoulders, and she places both hands on the collar of her shirt.
COMBATSYS: Van focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Hotaru 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=======\1 Van
> //////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Flora
COMBATSYS: Flora successfully hits Hotaru with Thrown Cube.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Hotaru 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=======\1 Van
> //////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Flora
Hotaru rips through Van's jacket as she strikes, even though she hadn't really intended to destroy the garment in the process. "Oops," she murmurs as she touches down after the hop, looking briefly apologetic. She doesn't have much time to fret about it though as her attention is drawn toward the shout, turning to see what's going on, only to get clocked in the chest by the hurled cube.
It sends the Kenpo artist staggering backward with a grunt as she shakes her head, hand coming to rub the sore spot briefly. Blue eyes shift back and forth between the two fighters. Van seems to be moving to intercept, which is going to let Flora just keep pegging her from range. It's time to do something about that other girl, Hotaru resolves. And /fast/. She can't take too many more hits like she's had so far, feeling the aches catch up already.
As Van moves into an intercepting position, Hotaru darts in the opposite direction, leaping up onto a tower of boxes and then springing off on the other side, taking the long way around the room as she darts back toward Flora swiftly. Gritting her teeth, she jumps down from off the row of cubes, sending several of them tumbling along with her unintentionally. In the confusion she still tries to land her attack, leaping to land right at the feet of the other girl in a deep crouch.
And then she's launching, a chi-infused backwards flip kick, packing far more power than /anything/ she's remotely attacked either girl with thus far. She's got ground to make up for, after all, and this is her one shot to do it. "Ten-shou...!"
COMBATSYS: Flora fails to counter Ten-shou Ranki from Hotaru with Slide Step.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/----===|=======\=======\1 Van
> //////// ]
|=======\====---\1 Flora
The flip kick alone is punishing, striking harder than anything else she's got. Even the taller girl isn't immune to being knocked off her feet by the strike. Both girls rise into the air as the Kenpo artist adjusts her trajectory into a dive to intercept the other Seijyun student on the way back down to the floor.
They land in a slide with Hotaru kneeling over her, her hands pressed against Flora's stomach as she builds up a tremendous surge of blue chi churning all around her. She kiai's with a cry as she pulls all that built up power back into her and blasts it into Flora, channeling it down her arms into the other girl's torso. The invisible blastwave that results in the end sends nearby cubes tumbling out of the way, and at that point, the Futaba girl finally gets back up to her feet, feeling drained, having given that last attack nearly all she had.
Flora sees Hotaru coming toward her but there isn't a lot she can do about it. She's big. She's not as fast as she would like to be, except in short bursts, and that takes serious work to do. And she is not, for all her height, very good at avoiding being thrown around; her size is her only defense. She tries to dart back, to do one of those blurring near-teleports out of the way, but Hotaru catches her mid-slide and launches her.
Flora goes up and has no idea how to stop herself. She is a sitting duck for Hotaru to flip over and ontop of, driving her to the ground. She starts to get up, then, pushing herself halfway to sitting, but the blast of energy knocks her back down, leaving her firmly planted on the ground. She is still gripping her bow, very tightly now.
She stays down for a moment, dazed.
Van runs after Hotaru, but she's not in peak physical condition at the moment, and she arrives at Flora's side much too late, watching Hotaru pour blue energy into her, and just stares. Actually, she seems a little distracted for a moment by watching this, then shakes her head, clearing it.
However, when she sees Flora staying down, her eyes widen, genuine concern appearing on her face as she blurts out, "Flora! Is your bow all right!?" She fights the urge to pry the bow away from Flora, and places her hand back up on her collar, ripping her shirt off to reveal the black swimsuit top underneath.
She swings the shirt while taking a couple of quick sidesteps around Hotaru, trying to twist it around her opponent's neck and come up behind her so she can both finally pass on that message, and pilfer some of those ribbons out of her hair.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru parries Van's Medium Throw!
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/---====|=======\=======\1 Van
> //////// ]
|=======\====---\1 Flora
Hotaru isn't sure if Flora is still even in the fight. The attack she just used on her... will being distressingly hard to forget once it's been seen also happens to be the strongest attack she can dish out. It might have been enough to leave herself with just Van to contend with. Either way, she backs away quickly, turning around to face Van, certain the other girl would be coming to chase her down for having circumvented her to get to Flora.
And her assumption proves to be right as Van comes in, suddenly sans-shirt. Or, well, not /wearing/ a shirt. In better condition that surprise might have been enough to leave Hotaru baffled at what was going on. Sure, she's hot herself, perspiration rolling down from her hairline, but the room at least seems air conditioned or she'd be sweating a lot worse after all that running around.
Her reaction is swift and aggressive at once. Van tries to get that shirt around her neck, but now that Hotaru is facing her, it's going to be a lot trickier to pull off, the girl ducking low and spinning around, exposing her back to her opponent for just a brief moment as she narrowly avoids the attempt but leaves herself in /real/ close to Van then.
The attack comes swiftly - the long haired girl might remember a slower version of it in their Neo League match, as Hotaru whips her right leg out behind her extremely fast, leaning against the motion as she aims to deliver a punishing mule kick to the other fighter. Sadly, this might make it hard to deliver that message Van has struggled to do thus far. "KYA!"
Flora looks like she's going to stay down.
And then, eventually, she does not. The bow is fine, although Flora does check it just to be sure as she stands; she gives Van a nod although nothing else, letting her know without actually having to say anything. Her face is red again; she's embarassed for her failures. It's just like her first night!
Well, maybe she can fix that. Flora is almost out - she's really exerting herself just to stay up at this point - but she still moves forward, slinking toward quietly and slowly at first before lunging forward, leaning low and hooking with her staff to literally yank Hotaru by the leg and drag her closer!
This is followed up by a series of blurringly fast staff strikes, whether she's gotten Hotaru down or not, enough to remember her by. Hotaru may have used her most powerful technique; this is Flora's. Of course, by the time it finishes, she looks barely up at all... but she's trying.
COMBATSYS: Van fails to counter En Bi Kyaku EX from Hotaru with Perfect Information.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Flora
COMBATSYS: Van can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Flora
sees the kick coming, and swings her shirt up to wrap around Hotaru's leg, and tries to tug it away. Between her awkward positioning and Hotaru's superior power, this barely alters the course of the mule kick, and Van is hit cleanly in the stomach. She blinks in suprise, slowly looking down to the swelling purple bruise forming there. "...Let's talk later." She goes limp, and falls to the ground.
COMBATSYS: Flora successfully hits Hotaru with Hunting Mantis.
- Power hit! -
[ \\ < > /////// ]
Hotaru 1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0 Flora
She kicks Van down and rights herself with a grunt, having pushed herself hard to keep going this long, dishing out that many attacks, one after the other. The other girl asked to speak later and Hotaru merely nods slightly, even though by then Van might not be able to notice it.
Tired, Hotaru turns toward Flora, hearing the other girl speeding toward her. She's expecting something higher, however, and her arms come up in anticipation, completely missing the low lunge that has her leg hooked an instant later. A flail of her arms comes just before Hotaru crashes to the ground on her back, dragged unwillingly into the flurry of staff strikes that follow. The girl is completely unable to defend herself by that point, winded as she is and caught so off guard by the difficult to predict attack.
Strike after strike catches her as she tries to roll to the side and scramble out of the way, only to eat another blow to the side of her head, banging her temple against the floor. She can tell she's not going to be able to get back up after that, her vision blurring, her head feeling dizzy... but Flora had better watch out for the swift sweep of her leg that comes while she's on her back, aiming to take the other student down with her with what speed she has left in her, "Good fight," she allows with a wince as she catches another strike against her forearm before going for that last ditch sweep against the other girl then lying still.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru can no longer fight.
> /////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Flora
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Flora with En Un Kasou EX.
> //// ]
|====---\-------\0 Flora
"It was," Flora says, sounding just as tired and worn out as Hotaru does. In fact, she wasn't actually expecting her to do anything else; she thought that was the end.
The sudden sweep causes Flora to stumble, and fall - right into a box, in fact, which she manages to crack her head against hard enough to make a clearly audible sound. Although it doesn't /actually/ knock her out, it comes pretty close; she can't get up afterwards, though she tries and fails once or twice before giving it up as a bad cause.
COMBATSYS: Flora takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Flora can no longer fight.
Log created on 19:43:40 06/14/2008 by Flora, and last modified on 13:39:45 06/17/2008.