Description: What is it with the punk princess and Neo League matches set at the airport the second she's disembarking a flight? At least this one isn't taking place on the runway... which is good, because with Arika continually trying to toss Roberto to the ground, and a certain soccer star deciding to use her as a ball... well, grass is a LOT softer than pavement... (Winner: Roberto)
It is noon at Southtown Airport where a Neo League fight between Roberto and Arika is to take place. Or rather it's taking place on a patch of land on the outskirts of the Airport so as not to disturb the flight plans of the planes going to and from Southtown.
Roberto, dressed in a goalie shirt, with popped collar stands in the middle of the field with soccer balls covering the expansive ground as he waits for his opponent to arrive. An opponent he is quite familiar with.
High noon.
Cue the cheesy cowboy movie music, and get out the six-shooters!
Maybe not, but noon means that the pavement around the area is -extremely- warm, and not at all comfortable to be walking on without some sort of shoe. Thankfully, the fight isn't taking place on the scalding pavement, which means shoes can be kicked off and the punk princess can go barefoot.
Fresh off a flight from Providence, Rhode Island, she makes her way out of the airport and to the designated area in her typical fight gear - cargoes and a bikini top. As she spots Roberto, she gives him a slightly friendly wave (odd for her, right), and a nod of the head before getting into position.
Then she begins to stretch, waiting for the fight to be called. No time for small talk today, it looks like. As it is, she's already thinking she's running late!
The former goalie of Taiyo looks up to spot Arika with a giant smile on his face. "Hey, Arika!" His body begins to relax with the arrival of his opponent. His fingers curl a bit as he tests the tension of his red goalie gloves and not being quite satisfied he pulls the gloves taut.
"It's been awhile and I have to admit I'm grateful for the gift. It seems like you're one of the few people who actually know how to give gifts." Roberto couldn't resist the opportunity to take a very public stab at Yurika Kirishima.
And then Roberto slips into his stance looking much like a goalie waiting on a penalty shot. "I suppose we should get started."
It -has- been a while, because it takes Arika a few minutes to realize what the heck he's talking about when he mentions a gift. Once she does, she smiles a little, a slight twinkle in her eyes. "You're welcome. Took a while to find something fitting, but I'm glad you liked it."
Pausing, she glances at the camera with a quick wink. Just to be a bit playful. "I should be thanking you for the gift -you- sent me as well." Motives ahoy? Hard to tell with her!
Stretching her body again, she wraps a purple cord around her right hand, then nods. "Whenever the camera crew is ready to zoom in and catch the action, I'm good."
If it wasn't for the Golden Goalie's visor, a few blinks and a raised eyebrow would be visible. As it stands, a blank look followed by an amused smile on his lips is visible. When Arika takes her stance, Roberto begins to shift back and forth.
And then the fight is called to begin and Roberto comes straight out the gates with a quick run and a sudden dive, fist first at the Punk Rocker before drops to the ground in a roll.
COMBATSYS: Roberto has started a fight here.
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Roberto 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Arika has joined the fight here.
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Arika 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Roberto
COMBATSYS: Arika just-defends Roberto's Quick Punch!
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Arika 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Roberto
Arika can't help but look at the camera again, she seems to be hamming it up for this fight. Having fun with it, just to get back into the swing of things. As she sets her eyes back upon her opponent, she lets out a small eep. He's diving across the grass at her with a fist aimed for her cute little nose!
The punk princess is having none of -that- though. He comes at her and her foot shifts back, allowing her head to move back with the punch keeping the fist just a half-inch away from her at all times. Afterward, she's shifting around and ending a quick kick to his midsection in an attempt to catch him before he can spring back up to his feet.
COMBATSYS: Roberto blocks Arika's Light Kick.
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Arika 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Roberto
As the soccer goalie rolls to his feet, he curls up into a defensive ball attempting defend himself from retaliation. It is successful. Instead of finding his torso with her foot, she connects with the outside of his shin before he indeed springs up.
Once back to his feet, the striker gives Arika a slight grin before he lashes out with a trio of fast kicks to the Punk Diva's legs.
COMBATSYS: Arika blocks Roberto's Triple Kick.
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Arika 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Roberto
As soon as she spots those powerful legs coming in toward her, the punk princess twists her body to the side slightly and crouches. Her arms cross in front of her body, and the feet lash against her forearms, dampening the blows a little. They still manage to push her back a step or two though.
"Keeping up for soccer season, I see." Needless to say, she's not been paying attention to her accent at all only catching it now with a groan.
Way to go, showing her more 'refined' side in the fight. She's getting careless!
Trying to ignore the foul-up, she springs upward to attempt cinching her arms around Roberto's waist to simply flip him over in a basic hiptoss maneuver.
COMBATSYS: Roberto interrupts Medium Throw from Arika with Strong Punch.
- Power hit! -
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Arika 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Roberto
Roberto has a snicker at Arika's expense with her keeping up with the accent though it's mostly at her groan in realization afterwards. Of course, the hip toss that comes next is no laughing matter. Roberto, knowing that he can't get away completely from her grip, pulls in closer.
What happens next is hard to pick up on camera due to the close-up nature of his response. His gloved finger tips on both hands touch for just an instant before he shoots his hands forward in a two fisted one inch punch. Delivering it just a moment before he's tossed up and over her hip but with much more control on impact than Arika would've wanted.
Is she going to get a decent hit on him? Looks like she might.
That is, until she goes -flying- back out of the hip toss, hitting the grass and sliding for a few feet.
From the way her stomach is feeling, it's a -very- good thing she didn't eat on the plane. Arika's left arm clenches about her stomach as she staggers back up to her feet. She pauses a moment to ensure nothing is intending on coming up, then takes a deep, shaky breath. Were he anyone else, she might accuse him of trying to kill her. But this is -Roberto-, and there's no way.
Except for the time they got really angry at each other on the beach, but bygones!
Popping her neck side to side, she begins to rush toward him. Her movements are somewhat erratic though, feet hopping from left to right, right to left, right to right to left, and so on. As she draws closer to him, she whips her body into a three-sixty spin and pops out a quick roundhouse kick aimed for his torso.
COMBATSYS: Arika successfully hits Roberto with Rhythmic Roundhouse.
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Arika 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Roberto
Roberto recognizes that dancing motion having seen many times before. Each time is less predictable than the last. And it's this unpredictability that makes it hard for the soccer player to slip around it with a fancy spin move he'd use to get around defenders. He takes the impact on the side of his body, curling with the impact of the roundhouse before he gets his balance again.
Roberto finds himself with plenty of room to work with and so he moves in with a couple quick steps before dropping to the ground and sliding in with a foot extended to connect with Arika's legs.
COMBATSYS: Arika dodges Roberto's Sliding Kick.
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Arika 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Roberto
Oooh. This is just like playing with a Skip-It(tm), kind've! Foot extends to connect with her legs, and in an amazing display of agility, the punk princess hops up and over the leg, spinning around in the air for good measure.
Once she faces him again, Arika grins. Wow. She managed that without bungling it up! She'd give herself a pat on the back, but there's a fight at hand and she's got to concentrate. Running back toward him, she throws herself into a small somersault-type flip and attempts to land with her feet against his ribs or stomach. Mean, sure, but effective if it works!
COMBATSYS: Arika successfully hits Roberto with Medium Kick.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Arika 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Roberto
Roberto's sliding kick while fairly fast on delivery has one flaw. It's a flaw that Arika takes advantage of. Roberto's inability to recover from the slide tackle sets him up perfectly and Arika not only stomps on him, his mouth gapes open as air is driven from his lungs along with a pained grunt from his lips.
His own action born out of desperation and a need to breathe, is to swing a glowing foot to her body to if not kick her off then to at least get her off of him.
COMBATSYS: Arika counters Thrust Kick from Roberto with Diva Allegro.
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Arika 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Roberto
Glowing foot meets a quickly jabbed punch to knock it off course. It's almost an instant reaction to seeing the glow of the kick that comes toward her. Even so, it forces her to get off of his stomach, and should allow him to breathe a little better.
Arika doesn't let up, however.
While her normal one-two-punch attack is to jab and follow up immediately, she's got to take the time to get her feet to the side of him before she can continue. This allows the bright violet energy to surround her left hand fully before she twists to the side and drops down at an angle in order to drive a palmheel strike to his already badly abused midsection.
Roberto's visor covers the bulging eyes at the attack to his mid section in the form of the violet palm heel strike wasn't by itself enough to cause this wild look on his face. It was the stomp that softened him up and now the soccer goalie wants nothing more than to create room for himself so he can get himself together.
As a result, Roberto finds himself swinging a fist at her ribs while he scrambles to his feet. It's a miracle that as desperate as Roberto is to get some air, he hasn't taken another shot at her face.
COMBATSYS: Roberto successfully hits Arika with Quick Punch.
- Power hit! -
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Arika 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Roberto
The swing at her ribs definitely works to his advantage. Not only does it force the punk princess back from the goalie, but a distinct cracking sound can be heard as his fist strikes true. Once more, Arika brings her left arm up to clench at her stomach. She'd shoot him a glare, but she knows he's doing his best to keep the face-strikes at bay, so while she's in pain, she'll suffer through it quietly.
But that doesn't mean she's going to stop at all. Cracked and bruised rib or not, she's not the type to give up that easily.
Forcing herself forward, she comes in with a full on body tackle. Running much like a bull, her head lowers and she attempts to lift him up and over her shoulder so that he'll land on the ground once more.
COMBATSYS: Roberto fails to interrupt Medium Throw from Arika with Heavy Kick.
- Power fail! -
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Arika 1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Roberto
When Arika bull rushes him, the soccer goalie feels as if he's in a penalty shot situation where it doesn't so much come down to skill(though skill does play a part) it comes down to making the right decision, at the right time.
The soccer goalie makes his decision to leap forward knee first at the Punk Diva. It's only after the soccer star's feet leave the ground that he realizes that he made the wrong choice. His knee never does connect as she ducks down as she catches him and launches him into the air causing him to hit the ground head first with a thud.
Though Arika appears to be in the zone at the moment, she's not about to let that get to her or make her feel cocky -- that's the best way to make a mistake, right? So, she calls out to make sure he's okay.
Only, a plane takes off at that moment, drowning out whatever it is she was attempting to say.
Shrugging her shoulders when she gets no response, she makes a decision of her own. She begins to run toward him again (boy, she's doing a lot of running), and her weariness is beginning to show a little. Normally she'd try to make a big show out of what she's about to do next.
In this case, she just does it. The punk princess angles herself toward the goalie, then drops sideways in an attempt to crash her elbow into his body.
COMBATSYS: Roberto blocks Arika's Jab Punch.
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Arika 1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Roberto
Roberto's in a daze as he rolls onto his back. He can't really hear anything because of the planes and because of that annoying sound of birds circling his head because of him falling on his head.
It takes him some time but he finally gathers up enough awareness to watch Arika coming. It's just in time since she's about come in with an elbow drop. His hand suddenly snaps upwards to catch the elbow in his gloved hand before he rolls from under her and lets her drop to the ground.
He quickly scrambles to his feet deciding to finally bring the fight to her. He rushes forward with an initial kick to lift her off the ground before running the give and go by himself using Arika as a human soccer ball.
COMBATSYS: Roberto successfully hits Arika with Pass and Shoot.
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Arika 1/--=====/=======|==-----\-------\0 Roberto
And here it comes. The one reason she dislikes fighting with the soccer player at times (other than the fact she keeps wanting to call him a football player).
He likes to pretend she's a soccer ball.
While the audience watching the fight on film are likely all in awe over this, Arika is pretty much just in ow.
That's right.
Ow.
Lots, and lots of ow.
The initial kick is nothing! She can handle it! Things are going to be fine! It's the successive kicks that have her crying out in pain as her body is lobbed around the grass. When it finally ends, she lays there. That's all she does. Just lays there. Trying her best to get up to her feet. It's an arduous task, but she finally manages to push herself up in a shaky manner.
"Damn it, Roberto! I'm..." Cough-cough. "I-I'm not a bloody football!"
Though her body is reeling in pain, she jumps back from him a little. Her right shoulder raises at a slight angle, and she shoots a flirtatious look toward the camera. At the same time, her left arm comes out from her side, about three inches lower than her shoulder with her elbow bent slightly -- as though she's holding the neck of an electric guitar. With her right hand resting just an inch or so from her stomach, she strums it in an attempt to hit an imaginary power chord. Just as she mimics the motion an extremely bright array of multi-colored energy explodes behind her, arcing off in Roberto's direction.
COMBATSYS: Roberto just-defends Arika's Siren Song!
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Arika 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Roberto
Roberto watches as Arika strums those chords as the energy streams towards him. He takes a deep breath and prepares himself for the worst. The multi colored stream of energy is about to collide with him but he brings up a pair of hands to move between himself and the energy. He slides backwards as it strikes but when the energy subsides, he finds much to his own surprise that he no worse for wear. He takes a moment to breathe a sigh of relief before moving forward.
The soccer goalie's steps are slow at first but then he picks up speed before slamming a foot into one of his soccer balls, driving it hard into the Diva's hip.
COMBATSYS: Arika blocks Roberto's Long Shot.
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Arika 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Roberto
Twisting quickly to the side, Arika avoids being struck full-on by the soccer ball. She doesn't do anything fancy like bop it back at him with a hip-bump though, just lets the ball drop to the ground and roll a ways away.
Spinning to face him once more, she just -stares- at him. She's seen people dodge the explosive energy. She's seen people block it, but what he does? Nothing like that before. But being as how that didn't work at -all- against him, she takes two steps toward him then swings her body around to try and nail him with a double-fisted swinging punch to the stomach.
COMBATSYS: Roberto blocks Arika's Medium Punch.
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Arika 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Roberto
Roberto's own abdomen has seen enough abuse in the opinion of the soccer goalie and so he has no choice but to catch the impact of the double-fist in a pair of open palms which in turn move to turn her hands away from her body.
This is to set up a fairly desperate move on his part. It's one of those things that just might be crazy enough to work. On the other hand, he's put so much energy into it that if he fails to connect he might lose the bout.
Roberto takes a diving leap head first for the Punk Princess. The only thing the soccer player has to say for himself, "I know you're not a football, but this is the only way I know how to fight."
It's true. That one time he took on fencing didn't turn out so well.
COMBATSYS: Arika blocks Roberto's Diving Header.
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Arika 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Roberto
Uncertain of where he might hit her, Arika brings her arms up. She wants to avoid getting hit in the face, after all her nose -- while mostly healed -- doesn't really want to be broken again any time soon! So his head hits her forearms, her body is pushed back, but she avoids any face damage or torso damage for which she's grateful.
Those kicks from earlier did a number on her though, so her breathing is a little more labored and there's a very obvious beading of sweat along her brow. She takes a deep breath and comes at him again, her hands splayed out as she attempts to grab him by the shoulders and clench in tight before flinging him away from her.
COMBATSYS: Arika successfully hits Roberto with Quick Throw.
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Arika 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Roberto
As short of breath Arika is, Roberto shows it much more. Though in the case of the soccer star a lot of the fault lies squarely on his shoulders for pushing himself harder than he ought to. His body is too tired do anything about the rock star's grip on him and he only manages a token defense before he's tossed to the ground.
Roberto is barely able to pick himself off of the ground. As he gasps for air, he can only manage a simple punch to Arika's chest. There's not enough in the tank for anything fancy.
COMBATSYS: Roberto successfully hits Arika with Quick Punch.
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Arika 1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0 Roberto
Hands come up to block the punch, but they don't move swiftly enough. The punch strikes true, hitting the center of her chest and causing her to be stunned for a second. She very nearly falters and goes down, but damn it, she's just not the type to let something like that drop her to her knees completely.
With her remaining reserves of energy, she presses on once more. Again at a run, as swiftly as she can manage it with how worn down she is from the fight. Swinging herself behind Roberto, Arika attempts to lock a leg between his in order to hold him in place. Her right arm comes up to latch around his head and draw him back toward her, while the left hand makes a distinct claw shape before moving in toward his poor abdomen once more. If she manages to squeeze in against his abdomen with her clawed hand, she's got every intention of twisting the fingers into the muscle and force him down to the grass.
COMBATSYS: Arika can no longer fight.
[ \\\\ <
Roberto 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Roberto dodges Arika's Dominant Diva.
[ \\\\ <
Roberto 0/-------/---====|
The soccer star doesn't so much evade the diva as stumble out of the attempt to lock his legs in pure exhaustion. The soccer player's legs, which at this point are like jelly, slip away Arika's leg before he trips and wobbles with a lack of grace that is uncharacteristic for the star striker. On the other hand, it's rare for Roberto to be this tired after a fight.
The wobbly soccer player to his credit still manages to keep standing, if only through force of will alone. He knows he should probably on the ground himself though he won't allow himself that luxury until the official calls the fight. Then and only then will Roberto allow himself to fall to the grass alongside Arika.
COMBATSYS: Roberto has ended the fight here.
It... he...
How can he move that swiftly still?
Arika is completely baffled when her attempt to bring him to the grass fails. But with all that effort exerted, and the fact that her ribs are -killing- her after they were used as an impromptu football, the punk princess just slips to her knees and signals that she can't continue.
Immediately after that, she lets herself drop to the grass so that she can take the time to catch her breath, and then worry about collecting her luggage from customs or wherever it wound up when she didn't grab it right away.
Log created on 21:59:18 07/01/2008 by Arika, and last modified on 11:35:17 07/02/2008.