Description: It's a fight in the bigtop! Billy Kane faces off against the boxing beauty Vanessa and the punk icon Ayame, and between pie cannons, tightropes, clown cars and a whole lot of sticks catching on fire, the fans are the unquestioned winners! (Draw)
Another week, another random way to get horribly injured, beatdown, humiliated, and a bit more famous, all at the same time. There seems to be no end to the whacky hijinks Geese's people come up for weekly events and this venue seems to be pretty much right in line with what Ayame has come to respect now that she's practically a SNF veteran of at least five months! The circus seating has been filled by fighting fanatics frantically competing over the front row seats, not really taking into consideration that the downside to being up close to the fight ahead is... being up close to the fight ahead. With luck, not too many dangerous objects will go flying into the crowd this match!
The earlier events have been wrapped up. Animal antics, aerial acrobatics acts, and a classically catastrophic carnival clown show have all come and gone, leaving the main event, the reason anyone is here to begin with, for last. The circus actors have begun filing out of the three ring circle to make their way backstage and clear the way for the three fighters in this night's event.
Passing by the column of clowns on her way into the center, Ayame can't help but pick on the unfortunate entertainers at her side. "Wow, my income comes from getting the hell beat out of me on a weekly basis, but you guys are pretty much rock bottom," the long haired teen remarks with a taunting smirk. Picking on clowns. There's seemingly few lows she won't sink to. She even goes so far as to trip one with a staff jab between his feet, "Get some shoes that fit," she advises as she walks on by to take up a place on one side of the circle. Her trusty titanium staff is resting against her left shoulder as the young reprobate eagerly looks forward to encountering her side's opponent for tonight one more time.
Dressed in her usual assortment of reds and blacks and a few chains to boot, the teenaged anti-role-model looks like a parent's worst nightmare. "All right, let's get the real show started," she remarks, brushing her right hand's fingernails against her blouse.
Alarming to parents, maybe! But from Vanessa, Queen of the Punches, it merely elicits a disapproving shake of the head. "You know," the older woman says, hands in the pockets of her slacks, as she sidles along a little behind Ayame. "If you're a little more polite, when you're older, there will be less people trying to break you in half. It's a good tip to follow."
This, from the woman who regularly insults people like Igniz. Either way, the redhead, dressed in her habitual white button-up halter shirt, red tie, and black slacks, makes her way toward the middle of the ring, taking in her surroundings. She generally prefers to use her fists, but...maybe there's some surroundings she can use to her advantage...
A circus, eh? Well, Billy's in a relatively good mood for mysterious reasons, and has opted for something considerably less serious then he tends to bother with on Saturday Night Fight. It's rather ironic the method he has chosen to fight for the beginning, given Ayame's harsh treatment of the hapless laugh doctors. A few of the spotlights flash on, whirling around in a disconcerting manner before slithering to the main entrance for the circus rings. And, precariously riding a unicycle, is none other then Billy Kane. He's maneuvering the device rather well, although obviously winging it as opposed to having even a minute's practice. Using his crimson staff to balance, wobbling fiercely a time or two, he still manages to get to the center in record time. "Hey hey hey!" is offered to the crowd, wriggling around to remain safely upright.
"I didn't know you hated clowns." is mused towards Ayame in a mildly chastising fashion, resting the length of his weapon across the back of his shoulders. Although the smirk that follows belies the joke; as if Billy could care less in the best of circumstances. Stroking his chin in a contemplative fashion, eyes flit from Vanessa to Ayame in grudging satisfaction, head slowly nodding. "I think I'll win even if I lose. Far cry better to have some cute girls then angry generic people, ain't it? Alright, I'll give you first go!" A ‘come hither' gesture follows, which almost knocks him off his unicycle. ...Is he going to fight on that?
COMBATSYS: Billy has started a fight here.
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Billy 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Billy takes no action.
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Billy 0/-------/-------|
"Who asked you, you ol-" Ayame snaps back toward Vanessa, seemingly uninterested in her prudent advice in the slightest. But something cuts her off short, the girl scrutinizing Vanessa for a moment, mouth frozen mid-smirk. Changing her expression quickly into a bit of a grin, the teen street rogue gives Vanessa a thumbs up, "Nice tie." It seems both of Billy's opponents are sporting red ties!
And with that, Ayame's attention shifts toward the entrance to the backstage, hands tightening on her six foot long staff as she watches intently. It's not every week she gets to experience a bout against her favorite SNF icon, the world famous, master staff fighter, Billy Kane. He's already seen enough of Ayame's techniques from their prior spar to know the girl's watched him in action enough to blatently rip off one of his moves, even if it isn't sporting the scalding flames he's able to channel.
And then there he is, the Brit speeding into view... on a unicycle. The strawberry blonde facefaults just a little, doing a double take. "Is he serious?" she murmurs as Billy wheels on into position in front of the crowd, keeping himself upright by sheer tenacity, compensatiny for experience by skillful control over his staff. Shaking her head, the girl takes notice when the SouthSynd enforce mentions her clown hassling and Ayame musters a bit of a shrug and grin, "No more than I find most people annoying," she remarks.
As Billy offers his perspective on the fight, he provokes a laugh from Ayame as the girl nods, shifting into a ready stance, her hands tightening on her trusty staff. "All right, but I'm not going to go so easy on you this time," she remarks, knowing full well she's going up against someone decades ahead of her in talent. Glancing back toward Vanessa, Ayame gives the woman a nod of acknowldgement, "Okay, back me up here!"
And then Ayame takes off, speeding toward Billy directly, skipping past assortments of juggling-knife racks, pie launchers, and a loop on fire to just go after Billy directly. Can save the fancy stuff for later - right now she wants to clash staves with him, and if she can get that shot while he's 'clowning around' on that unicycle, all the better!
A leap takes her off the ground just a little as Ayame starts out aggressive, aiming to bring it down against his shoulder with enough force to use it to vault up completely over him in a flip that takes her to landing somewhere behind him.
COMBATSYS: Ayame has joined the fight here.
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Billy 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Ayame has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Billy 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
Vanessa grins, offering a thumbs-up of her own. SHE doesn't know about Ayame, but she knows the girl's type well enough. Won't give a damn what anyone who even /pretends/ to talk like an authority figure says...probably won't give a damn what /anyone/ says, really.
Oh well. Vanessa's not really in it to reform kids. Ayame seems competent enough, that's what Vanessa needs right now. "Thanks," the red-head supplies. "Yours isn't half bad, either."
And then Billy makes his BIG ENTRANCE, and Vanessa swivels her head to look. "That's new," she muses. "Didn't think of something like /that/." She turns more fully to face him, chuckling and shrugging, lazily. "Well, I do agree there. Two beautiful women is always a nice sight before you go to sleep, don't you think?"
She lets the innuendo stand, possibly as a direct tease to her LEGIONS OF FANS (and to the censors, ho ho ho), and drops right into her boxing stants, bobbing and weaving. "Thanks for the first shot, too! We'll pay you back real good!" With some LUMPS, that is, and Vanessa nods at Ayame as the teen indicates her plan. Ayame shoots in, and Vanessa darts in behind her. THe boxer is fast, just like she always is, skating along the ground like she doesn't even need to touch it. But while Ayame travels right on in, Vanessa actually stops at one of those racks Ayame bypassed, picking up a few juggling knives.
"Always wanted to try this," the redhead ponders, and then hurls one RIGHT AT BILLY, which will hopefully distract him a little from piledriving Ayame into a smoking crater.
COMBATSYS: Vanessa has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Billy 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Vanessa
COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Billy with Medium Strike.
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Billy 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Vanessa
COMBATSYS: Vanessa successfully hits Billy with Thrown Object.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Billy 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Vanessa
"I don't remember saying you were beautiful..." Billy mulls to himself, appearing to completely miss the comment on his own imminent lack of conscious. Having not expected Vanessa to hurl something at him, the hapless King of Fighters finds that his years long imprinted reflexes to dodging don't work when you are seated haphazardly on a wheeled item. Wobbling in a manic fashion, one arm pinwheeling, he gets a light gash in the arm for his trouble. Ayame's weapon similarly strikes his shoulder with a mild yelp of pain, glancing up too late to do anything useful. He slips off the unicycle, kicking it over with a clatter. "Worthless piece of shit!!" Grasping the seat, he advances upon Ayame in a way significantly lacking in any flourish, attempting to beat the living crap out of her upon the head and shoulders with the device, swinging the large hunk of crimson piped steel and hard rubber wheel as if it were weightless. He'll make it good for something, one way or another!!
COMBATSYS: Ayame blocks Billy's Fierce Strike.
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Billy 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Ayame
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Vanessa
It's hard to not crack a short laugh as Billy cusses out the unicycle. Ayame completes her forward flip, landing on her feet deftly before spinning around to face him directly, "If I had known you were going to try and take us on riding that thing, I'd have made sure to grab my own," the girl remarks. "But as-is, you're gonna have to take us seriously!" Seriously, in her mind, probably didn't include getting smashed about by a rejected unicycle. But them's the breaks.
Billy comes in swinging and Ayame bunkers down behind her staff, twisting and turning to meet each attempted bash, slamming her own polearm out horizontally to intersect it. Each blow lands with the force to send her staggering, forcing her to recover her footing between each one just in time to block the next one. While she manages to keep from getting struck cleanly, just trying to fend off the strikes proves to be rather punishing for the girl as she at last steps back out of range of any further swings with the stupid one wheeled contraption from hell. She takes one swing back at it in the end, trying to break the stupid thing into uselessness, but either way she isn't staying close.
Releasing her staff with her right hand, the girl shakes her right arm, trying to work the ache out of it. "All right, that's serious enough," she allows with a shake of her head. Part of her wants to go tearing off after some of the props available, often one to enjoy improvising on the fly. But against Billy Kane, she's interested in only showing off her staff work. He gave her pointers last time, it's time to prove that she's kept them in mind.
Step one - avoid the flashy stuff, don't waste energy. It takes some self-restraint to avoid going in with something showy, but she somehow manages to keep her next attack simple and direct. Channeling a red energy into her weapon, Ayame starts from range, jutting her staff out in a sort of prodding attack while maintaining a safe distance, attempting to test Billy's guard without getting caught being overcommitted.
But following that, she pulls the weapon back, stepping forward into a spin that lends momentum to the next part of the strike as she tries to smash the long end of the weapon against Billy's rib-cage. The final strike comes as she spins back around the other way, jabbing out with the shorter end toward his stomach, each point of contact punctuated by a potential small explosion of that energy coursing over her weapon before Ayame finally leaps back, hoping to get some range from him for a bit to catch her breath!
Vanessa's chuckling, alright...right up until Billy's furious rage at the unicycle turns into furious rage at AYAME, and Vanessa has to stop laughing and start acting. "Whoa!" she calls, stepping forward quickly. She bypasses the rest of the props, dashing across the distance in a few steps, pounding toward Ayame, who is doing a pretty impressive job of resisting the unicycle beatdown with her staff. Vanessa's charging in quickly, but hangs back a second, letting Ayame take point for the moment, the smaller (and younger) woman beating the crap out of the unicycle, sassing Billy, and then moving in for the strike!
And while Ayame strives to pummel Billy, Vanessa hangs back, quietly watching...and then, as Ayame slips away to catch her breath, Vanessa charges in, with a single, vicious punch aimed right at Billy's chest!
COMBATSYS: Billy blocks Vanessa's Dash Puncher.
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Billy 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
> ///////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Vanessa
COMBATSYS: Billy dodges Ayame's Requiem For Fallen Blossoms.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Billy 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
> ///////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Vanessa
"Oye, I'll fight you seriously if I feel threatened. You don't wanna end up in the hospital ward with a unicycle down your throat, then you better make me try! I don't really care either way." Obviously he's not going to throw his A game just due to being asked. Laziness? Probably more arrogance then anything else. Although the mental image of himself jousting on unicycles with Ayame is momentarily distracting due to the too clearly visualized absurdity. The misshapen, utterly destroyed item is now less useful then even his fists. So he throws it towards some clowns who are lingering nearby, bowling them over like pins with a barrage of squawked horns and shrill high-pitch cries of alarm.
Yet Billy does seem surprised by the upfront strike of the staff, upper body pivoting sideways and barely an inch between half-bare chest and sizzling weapon. Her buildup to the second part is met with only air, vaulting skywards with his weapon. She cracks the base of it, but it's hardly good for anything. Too bad he has no skirt to look up. Of course, a blur of woman catches his eye. Sheer reflex interposes his staff, catching the fist dead center. He skids backwards half a foot, which appears to be half a foot more then he anticipated. "This is a circus! Don't waste this stupid environment for me!" Twisting up the end of his weapon, he tries to catch Vanessa in the throat, before whirling her overhead, streaming like some flag at the end of a banner. Up until he'd try to slam her into a nearby table full of pies, many of them missing from the finale of the clown show.
Regardless of success, he would then flee to one of the tall poles and start scrambling up it, which leads to both the trapeze and tightropes. And no, there is no net.
When it becomes clear that Billy's speed is going to keep him safely out of harm's way of most of her attack, Ayame steps back just as her staff rebounds off of his. Taking a couple steps backward, the girl ends up being safe from immediate retaliation, especially as the veteran appears to have turned his attention toward Vanessa instead. The energy that powered her staff a moment prior flickers then fades as she stops channeling anything into it to avoid wasting her strength.
Billy's remark about not letting such a ridiculous venue as this go to waste has her thinking though. The Southtown Syndicate lieutenant looks interested in taking this act to the air with where he ends up heading after trying to toss Vanessa around, and Ayame decides that's not a bad idea. With her dexterity, it might even level things out a bit to face Billy in a more precarious environment.
With the press of a button, the staff in her hand collapses down to a more portable length of six inches before she stuffs the device in a pouch affixed to one of her belts. Darting back toward a parallel pole to the one Billy is going for, the girl snatches one of the large, oversized juggling knives from off a rack before scrambling to ascend her own tower. More like a machete than a knife, it'll be fun to swing it around for a bit compared to the normally small butterfly knives she utilizes. "Time to put on a show, I suppose." she ponders out loud as she begins climbing. As she does, she focuses on remembering everything she learned about Billy from her last encounter with him. The way he moved, the speed of his strikes, the advice he gave her as they exchanged attacks. "It's going to take a miracle to keep up with him," the girl mutters as she climbs onto one of the platforms half-way up.
COMBATSYS: Ayame focuses on her next action.
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Billy 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
> ///////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Vanessa
COMBATSYS: Billy successfully hits Vanessa with Fishhook Throw.
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Billy 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
> ////////////////////// ]
|======-\-------\0 Vanessa
Vanessa narrows her eyes as Billy manages to catch her fist with his stick, preparing for a quick, vicious followup! Unfortunately, he does it first, and better: he grabs her by the throat before she can get a fist in his jaw or even in the path of the attack, and then she is COVERED IN PIES.
... .... ...
She just kind of lies there, attempting to process this particular event.
"Oh, he's gonna GET it," she growls, rolling out of PIE HEAVEN, shaking her head vigorously to get PIE out of her EVERYTHING, and then...staring up the poles, trying to decide how to get up there.
...and then she sees the pie cannon Ayame passed earlier.
"Heh heh heh," quoth the Boxing Queen, ambling over toward it, trying to gauge the right trajectories.
COMBATSYS: Vanessa focuses on her next action.
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Billy 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
> ////////////////////// ]
|======-\-------\0 Vanessa
Covering Vanessa in whipped cream has already insured this to be the most monetarily successful of the Saturday Night Fights this week. Now if he can get an Ayame skirt flip filmed, it will be one of the most successful of the year. You're almost there, Billy. Given that Vanessa is busy on the ground level, this leaves poor Ayame as the sole proponent of his aggressions. Backing up along the tightrope line, he grins in a forebodingly sadistic fashion towards the girl otherwise. "Looks like she'd rather leave you up here alone with me..." Assuredly he doesn't sound like he's adverse to such, rushing forward abruptly while twisting the weapon around. The thickness of the line is much more then might be thought; as such, he loses little in the approach, raising up one heel and trying to drive it into Ayame, totally heedless of the fact success might very well kick her off the massive pole. To her MILD INJURY. And potential death, were she less pliable.
COMBATSYS: Billy successfully hits Ayame with Light Kick.
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Billy 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Ayame
> ////////////////////// ]
|======-\-------\0 Vanessa
Reaching the platform, Ayame stands up straight, glancing down to notice the distance at which she's climbed with mild trepidation. A mixed expression on her face suggests that mingled with the excitement of contending with the famous fighter in an environment like this is a healthy amount of fear at what could happen if something goes wrong. One nasty fall could put her out of comission for some time and she really doesn't have a life style that supports being /invalid/ for weeks.
"Yeah, guess so. I'll make the best of it," she states, stepping forward out onto the thick wire, machette-like knife still in her right hand. A couple of wobbly seconds pass into a more controlled advancement, but she doesn't have anything on Billy's level of ease on the precarious perch. Maybe if she can keep him busy for a moment, Vanessa will make use of the time she's buying her?
Keeping him busy starts out with an unpleasant heel to the chest, however, the girl left with no where to backup or dart to in order to avoid Billy's foot. The impact is fierce on the light statured fighter as Ayame is knocked back hard. Flailing arms do little to salvage her balance and after a couple of steps backward she completely tips over to the side of the wire into what would become a head-first dive to the ground below.
Quick thinking spares her the unpleasant plummet, however, as at the last second before her fall she hooks her feet around the wire at the ankles, leaving her to simply fall upside down and dangle beneath the wire, hanging on by her crossed ankles. Long hair and arms dangling freely for a moment, the brown eyed teen just sits there for a long moment, seemingly dazed at the situation she's found herself in. Of course, the forces of gravity see to it that the audience and cameras get all the skirt flip one could ask for, but Ayame isn't particularly bothered by that.
"All right, you want it rough do you," she grunts, swinging her arms out to the side to grab an idle trapeze and draw it closer. Two quick slashes with the big knife leaves her with a long length of rope. A moment later, with the knife held in her mouth by her teeth biting down on its edge, Ayame is whipping that rope up in an attempt to snap it around Billy's shoulders or neck. A successful ensnaring would result in her pulling as hard as she can to threaten his balance on that wire. Let's see how HE deals with being knocked off, the girl seems to be thinking.
Otherwise, she's content to dangle there for the moment until a better plan comes to mind. It makes her a bit trickier to hit unless he goes for her crossed feet, in which case she's going to need to think of a new plan. Fast.
Vanessa, COVERED IN WHIPPED CREAM AND FANBOY DREAMS, examines the pie cannon very carefully. She's not completely sure how it should work, but while Billy and Ayame pummel each other, she has a chance to look it over, get a rough idea of the principles involved (insert pie, aim, pull funny-lookin' lever, HILARITY ENSUES), and start loading. Indeed, overloading. In fact...she seems to be filling it with every pie she can find!
And then she doesn't close the breech, instead aiming it very carefully in Billy's direction, and when she's satisfied, she steps back, clenches her fist, and it ignites in golden chi and hurricane-force winds!
She doesn't alert anyone. She just steps up behind the cannon, and with a slash of her arm and a boxer's snort, stuffs a hurricane up one end, sending a GALE OF CREAM, MERINGUE, AND APPLES (but mostly wind chi) screaming along a direct path toward Billy's FACE!
COMBATSYS: Billy dodges Vanessa's Gaia Gear.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Billy 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Ayame
> ///////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Vanessa
COMBATSYS: Billy interrupts Hijacked from Ayame with Whirlwind Cane.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Billy 0/-------/--=====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Ayame
> ///////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Vanessa
And Billy as well has prime skirt-flip vantage point, staring down in mild surprise before offering the girl a thumb's up once she glances in his direction, beaming the happier she's seen him in the short time they've associated. The gathered rope and bit knife earns a loud laugh, doubling over slightly. "You a pirate or something?!" But the flash of connecting item surprises him, hearing the explosion of cannon. This gives him a couple seconds to realize he's more or less shit out of luck, before deciding to use the yanking intent of Ayame to his advantage; hurling himself towards her, spiraling his staff before himself in the same moment. The onslaught of wind and dessert blows through where he just was, vibrating the line dangerously. After beating the dangling Ayame, Billy realizes the bad part of his plan was that he has nowhere to go but down. Heard cursing loudly, he flips once and impacts the top of the clown car, severely denting it in a spray of glass and falling off the side with an anticlimatic thud. After a few tense seconds, he begins cursing again. He's alright, folks!
His crack about pirates actually provokes a short laugh, muffled as it is by the knife in her mouth. But when she gives that rope a good tug, Billy gives her nothing to find amusing with the savage staff smacking that follows. The force of the blows knock the girl loose from her less than modest perch, sending her careening off to the side at an angle that risks a nasty fall but for the hold she managed to maintain on the remaining rope of the grasped trapeze. So instead of free falling, she ends up swinging over to a lower tier platform, where she lets go and tumbles into a rough landing against the pole rather uncerimoniously.
Landing on the platform, the girl rolls over and gets up to her feet shakily. Grimacing, she peeks over the edge to figure out what became of the veteran fighter, only to find him having crashed into the clowncar down below. "Let that be a lesson!" she calls out, forcing a smirk in spite the ugly bruise on her forehead that's threatening to bring with it a raging headache any minute now.
Running out of time as she may be, the girl isn't down and out quite yet. Deciding to draw heavily upon her chi techniques, she holds her ground up on the plank, gripping her big knife in her right hand, her left hand clenched white-knuckle tight as she focuses on drawing heavily from the world around her.
Fiery red energy wisps up around the girl in gradually growing swirls, shifting to blue as it reaches higher. The chi is absorbed, as much as she can manage, reinvigorating aching muscles and mending some of the less severe injuries she had sustained thus far. "Going to make... you pay for that!" she declares boldly as she buys herself a bit of a second wind with that technique of hers.
COMBATSYS: Ayame gathers her will.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Billy 0/-------/--=====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Ayame
> ///////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Vanessa
Vanessa bites out a curse as Billy sweeps away from her CUNNING REVENGE. She will get you yet, Billy Kane! Just as soon as she has a mustache long enough to twirl!
But for now, she settles on punches. She watches the exchange between Ayame and Billy, clenching her fist tight. He's good. She knows that, of course - she's fought him before. But the tables are turned this time, and she can't seem to switch them back! This is a pretty big problem.
She doesn't waste time griping, though. Billy hits that clown car, and Vanessa's already sliding forward, one dash leading into another, leading into another, leading to Vanessa's fists bombarding the car's side hard enough to tear through it, and maybe push some of it into Billy! Or maybe she'll just beat on him, instead, it's kind of a win/win thing. After she's punched the doors off, she finishes with a vicious uppercut that on an upright person would end up in their chin, and on a broken clown car with a Billy on top might just end up launching a Billy with a backache atop a severed roof!
COMBATSYS: Billy interrupts Machine Gun Puncher from Vanessa with Red Lotus Requiem.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Billy 0/-------/------=|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Ayame
> //////// ]
|=======\====---\1 Vanessa
"I look forward to the next time your skirt is up over your hips." is offered towards Ayame by Billy, even as he rubs his head and spits blood to the side. This is not nearly as fun as a circus should be, but falling onto a clown car from a massive height can do that to a man. Unable to easily reach Ayame, he waits for her to come, and instead deals with Vanessa's approach. Her focus on punching him, hunkering with only one arm raised defensively, hides the sweeping preparation of his other. Before his spiraling staff sweeps up with a snarl, catching her in the chest and stopping the machinegun onslaught dead. Kicking off the ground, the rotating barrage is leveraged with a loud snarl, before finally unleashing a torrentous explosion of flame at the peak to send her spiraling away, smoking and hopefully full of aesthetic burns and tatters. "DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!!" He's still, however, not fully trying. Ayame might not manage that after all!
"Che," Ayame responds to Billy's remark, shaking her head, looking mildly amused, "So easily distracted," she observes. "Though this time it doesn't seem to be throwing you off your game. You sure are cut out for the circus fighting gig it seems!" She relaxes her concentration, letting the chi built up around her slowly collapse down around her feet, vanishing as she ceases to draw it to her. Feeling a bit more daring now that she's had a moment's reprieve to gather her stranght, the girl steps to the edge of the platform, eyes scanning her options, twirling the large knife in her right hand idly. "All right, time to bring this tent down!"
Climbing up just a little ways, the girl takes to slashing a climbing net mounted to the tall pole. Returning the machette to her mouth, two small throwing knives are used to severe the other two corners of the netting that were out of reach. As the final corner is slashed, the heavy net drops out of the sky down toward Billy himself, threatening to entangle him and the car he landed on. "Let's get him!" Ayame shouts Vanessa's way, hoping the female boxer still has any fight left in her at all after taking such a rough hit as that. Leaping off the pole, the agile girl takes to swinging down in on Billy feet first, catching up with the descending net in time to reach him at practically the same moment.
Should she manage to land that high momentum drop kick, she'll segue into a number of quick slashes with the borrowed knife, hoping to catch Billy enough off his guard from the large net to leave him open to the swift strikes. If she's lucky enough to catch him unable to defend himself, she'll just keep landing those slashes until it looks like it either isn't going to be necessary any more or he looks like he's about to retaliate. At which point a hasty retreat is called for!
Oh look at that, there was a /lose behind those two wins! And it's a nasty one, as Billy plows into her, launching her into the heavens, pummeling her thoroughly, and then EXPLODING HER FACE.
Vanessa screams, as anyone sane would scream, her shirt and pants alike scarred, the various ingredients she was so recently dipped in fried to golden perfection and perhaps a little beyond. She should be down. She should be screaming. She should be...doing anything but what she does next: Landing on her feet.
She clenches a fist, other arm loose at her side, possibly broken. Fights like this are always nasty. She'll recover soon enough. For now, she pushes on: She dashes, full throttle, at Billy, fist clenched tight, body not any slower despite all the wounds! She covers the distance in a second, and then the golden sparkles of chi around her fist explode into a hellish whirlwind of power, and with a sudden howl, she screams, "THEN LAUGH AT THIS!" as she drives her fist, and the whirlwind, into Billy's gut, hard enough to punch a hole in...well, for instance, the pole behind him, which fractures.
COMBATSYS: Billy blocks Vanessa's Puncher Finish EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Billy 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Ayame
> //////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Vanessa
COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Billy with Entrapment.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Billy 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Ayame
> //////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Vanessa
"Oh, definitely. Flashing me is the best way to drop my guard. I recommend tryin' it as often as possible." Squinting upwards, the rapidly descending net is surprising, but doesn't immediately incite him to any rushing defense; he jogs lightly before realizing that is insufficient. Yet this is entirely a hypothetical turn of events, as he notices Vanessa rushing at him like a bat out of hell. All too late he sees the blatant danger in the combat thus far, letting out a curse while hefting up his staff. He catches her fist once more, but this time is still slammed into the pole, feeling his entire body vibrate. Then a net falls on the pair, and amidst his disorientation, is viciously kicked across the face. A few slashes slither across exposed flesh, hesitatingly parting to show crimson beneath, but he almost doesn't react to that. Leveling a gaze towards Ayame that is almost murderous. More then sufficient for a retreat. "Alright..." is growled, spiraling his weapon in a sudden flash of flame that sears the containing net to ash. A split second later, as burning embers and ash are blown into Vanessa's face, there he is; unleashing a straight-up flash of his staff, extending it while trying to smash right into her kisser and send her, hopefully, flying away for her trouble. GLOVES ARE OFF!
Skipping backward, Ayame is out of range when the entangling net goes to ash and Billy lunges after Vanessa to met out punishment for the attacks he just weathered. Oh yeah, payback is going to be a painful experience when he gets around to coming back after her. Of that she's quite certain. But at least, on the inside she can be glad that she managed to get him to take the fight serious in the end. Even if that just means all the worse the misery is going to be as a /result/!
"Here he comes!" Ayame calls out to Vanessa, tossing the slightly reddened knife over her shoulder idly. She's had her fun with it. It's time to get back to the basics. Her hand darts into the pouch at her side, the girl fishing out her staff and expanding it with a twirl out to her side back to its full length.
Well, she can't leave Vanessa on her own against someone like Billy now can she. Gripping the polearm tight, the strawyberry blond darts in from Billy's side, "Yeah," she remarks mid-step. "Seems to work really good. But I can't keep doing that for free, I should be getting something out of this arrangement!" she points out as she steps in with a sweeping, mid-level kick that has her turning around with the momentum. Coming out of the kick, she swings out with her staff as a follow up strike, either adding to the injury of the first hit or trying to catch him should he be trying to slip out of the way.
COMBATSYS: Billy successfully hits Vanessa with Sparrow Drop.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Billy 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Ayame
> /// ]
|====---\-------\0 Vanessa
Vanessa allows herself a grin. It hit! Sure, it didn't hit CLEAN, but that attack doesn't really need to hit clean; as Billy is no doubt realizing even now, that whirlwind, the FORCE of the whole thing, tears and rips and snarls, even through that cane.
But Vanessa, despite having fought Billy before, underestimates the King of Fighters' speed. She knows he'll retaliate; it's all over his stance. Her arms come up before he's even moving to reply, ready to block, and the staff slips through, smashing into her jaw, crushing bone beneath it, and sending Vanessa hurtling backward, where she lands on a table, quite unconscious.
COMBATSYS: Vanessa takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Billy 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Vanessa can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Billy 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Billy counters Bright Renewal from Ayame with Water Dragon Pursuit Cane.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > // ]
Billy 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Ayame
Huh, that worked better then anticipated. Well, just being able to get up after the Red Lotus was more then he anticipated, so at that point she could have only done more. Letting out a small exhale, his attention returns to Ayame, with a sort of leisurely manner that can only be bad given the exploited chasm between. "Oh really?" As she spirals out the kick, he suddenly lashes up his staff, catching the back of her heel. At a prime angle to blatantly get said pantyshot, given he'd not push her backwards and break apart his weapon for a savage beating right away. Truth that nobody can deny Billy what he wants. Cackling madly, chain snaps around as he strikes Ayame with either end before backing away, spreading his stance and slamming the assembled weapon besides. "I don't give charity!! " is exclaimed, grinning mischievously and raising a fist to the crowd. Apparently quite complacent in his belief of his VICTORY.
Foot caught, the girl tries to pull back quickly, correcting her staff swing into a downward jab in a bid to get control over her balance by using it against the ground. She just about pulls it off too, whipping her staff back up in a last second attempt to get it into the way of Billy's staff. Only he isn't attacking her with a single weapon now, but rather taking advantage of his weapon's ability to seperate into segments, and the girl is just too far outmatched to muster a reaction to deal with that in time.
The smacks knock her from side to side, sending her stumbling first one direction then the other as she falls sideways to the circus floor with a grunt, only just catching herself with her hands as she gasps for breath, trying to ignore the painful agony Kane's staff strikes dish out. Planting her staff against the floor for support to keep her from falling over entirely, the girl glances over her shoulder toward Billy, gritting her teeth. Look at him, gloating already. The nerve of that guy!
Bringing her hand up to her mouth, she wipes blood from her lips, evidence of some deeper injuries than she really cares to think about at the moment. No way she's going to let him get away with such carelessness, she determines with a grunt, shifting into a crouch. Her right hand reaches into the front of her blouse, withdrawing a folded up metal object from a sheath hidden there. Her left hand goes to the back of her head, drawing her long, black ribbon out of its bow with a swift tug.
Thus 'armed', the girl darts forward, offering no shout of warning, willing herself to try and get one last shot at the legend before she can't move any more. Coming in from behind, the girl makes a completely unapologetic attempt to whip the ribbon up and around Billy's neck into a surprisingly sturdy garrote.
If she gets a tight enough hold around his neck, she'll follow up by flicking open that metal object in her hand into a sturdy, iron Japanese style war fan, complete with a sharp, serrated edge. "Time to collect..." Using the ribbon-noose as a means to yank Billy back, Ayame would take advantage of the opportunity to lay into him with a number of swift fan slashes anywhere she can get a shot, saving one special last ounce of strength to give him a swift kick in the ass before she finally drops to the ground exhausted.
COMBATSYS: Ayame can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Billy 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Billy with Manslaughter.
[ \\\\\ <
Billy 0/-------/=======|
A cleavage fan was not the way Billy had envisioned losing this fight, although cleavage was hopefully somewhere in there. Finding a ribbon caught around his throat, his initial reaction is to twist and grasp it, bucking like a bull; he doesn't flail as might of been desired, which makes closing in immediately vital if any advantage is to be taken. His large weapon is hardly a liability in close quarters as many have found painfully, but it's still not much good for smacking someone slashing into his ribcage. A few heavy swats would probably hurt like hell but not save him from the end result, fingers digging enough into the ribbon to begin yanking it away. Only to find his ass dutifully kicked. He pinwheels forward, crashing his face right into the edge of the circus ring. He begins to raise to his feet, but then thuds back down, rolling over too disoriented to manage much. He's lost a lot more blood then he wagered, from her crazy pirate knifing shenanigans and fan batting. "Ugh." After a few seconds it's called a draw, much to his chagrin. "You're feisty... I like that. Even if you're too much a slacker to train with me again." Billy muses to himself, finally managing to get back to his feet. "Good thing, too. I'd ride you into the ground!" Propping himself with his staff, he brushes a splatter of blood upon the ground as if it were dust, and begins a calculated stagger towards offstage. He needs himself some BANDAIDS.
COMBATSYS: Billy takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Billy can no longer fight.
Way slower to get up than him, Ayame just stays where she lands, having picked up a few more smacks for her trouble. But at least she didn't let him get away with all that careless gloating of his. She manages to roll up onto her side, pushing herself up on an elbow to watch the legendary staff user. Wincing at a sharp pain in her side, she grunts, unable to shout anything after him as she'd like to this time.
Flopping back down, she decides to be content with being carried out of the ring after all that she's been put through. But it sounds like he's issued her a challenge she's going to have to take him up on... as soon as she can fight again, that is.
Log created on 18:32:33 06/21/2008 by Vanessa, and last modified on 20:28:06 06/25/2008.