Description: Didn't Kula interfere with Vega's business? Yes, yes he did. Didn't Vega decide to punish her for the temerity? Yes, yes he did.
The invitation had been simple enough. A place, a time - and a request. 'This time, I think I would enjoy challenging you, instead of the person Geese Howard believes I should fight. You were, after all, the stronger.' It's signed with a simple '-M', a reference to the name he wore when he battled Kyo, with Kula's ice attacks providing the impetus for his loss. A loss, however, he feels no guilt for. After all, he went in not to win, but to raise Kula's interest. To build to the point where he might be able to catch her alone, to lure her somewhere where he might better be able to process his 'displeasure' for what she'd done in the past, and again more recently. The lingering numbness from her icy attacks in the latest SNF together was just another ramification, another impetus to teach her her place.
Ground beneath Shadaloo's heel.
And so he waits, on the upper edge of a high cliff, the blustery wind washing foam against and up the side of the rock, sending spray high enough to fleck at his fingers and face. He doesn't /really/ care, but efforts are made to remain presentable - every so often, he'll draw those marks off his thin face, and narrowed eyes will watch the pathway towards the town. She'll come, he's certain of it. After all, fighters hardly ever turn down challenges. Lord knows he never could..
Kula has little in the way of traditional fighting spirit. The matches NESTs sends her to participate are as interesting to her as homework are for the typical teenager. It's something she 'has to do', whether she feels like it or not. Sometimes the matches are fun, and she meets new, interesting people, that present to her new ideas and expand her understanding of the world. Other fights are miserable, and she wants nothing more than to get out of them and go home as swiftly as possible...
But, like most fighters listed in the Neo League registries, she does have an address by which she can be contacted. Naturally it's not a real address - some home on some street in Southtown serving as nothing more than a drop box for the girl. All to keep up appearances that she is in fact a normal person who just happens to be remarkably talented at fighting...
The letter reached her, after being read by her handlers first. Very little that transpires in Kula's life is a secret. Her hyperprotective caretakers see to that. But there is nothing suspicious about the letter. Sure, Mori came out of no where to be matched up against the legendary Kyo. But in the end, he lost, which meant nothing TOO out of the ordinary transpired from what people expected. That he has taken an interest in challenging their dangerous little Diamond doesn't raise any flags of warning back at the base.
Asked if she would like to accept it, Kula expressed a rare moment of interest. There was something about the fighter that piqued her curiousity. She wasn't sure why, and didn't even try to express the thoughts she had to the others. They were interested in having her fight the man anyway.
She arrives on foot, the last distance covered with a walk that suggests a mixture of patience and eagerness. Eager to meet this challenger. But patient as always, as if the ice she controlled also managed the rate at which her heart beat. Her hair is brown, long, draped over her shoudlers down her back. Her clothing is like last time - a violet colored, leather jacket and matching chaps, worn over a black body suit. Her hands are covered in thick, yellow gloves, designed to protect her from her own chi use.
Violet eyes scan the seaside cliff, taking in the environment before coming to rest on the man who called her here. Her expression is calm but bearing a smile. After all, he was polite enough during the SNF. She has no reason to think ill of this opportunity to face him in a more direct fashion. "Hello," the girl states brightly, right hand coming up to wave in greeting at her side. "Nice to see you again!"
Polite enough - certainly patient enough to bide his time. Smoothly, he nods his head in greetings - then responds to the cheerful words with a slight smile that doesn't quite reach his pale eyes, and a carefully worded response. "It is, isn't it. I hope you've been well since that last fight. Thank you for allowing me this... challenge." With that out of the way, he slips the long black jacket he wears off, leaving him in simple black pants and a sweater, both a slate grey. He offers a slight amusement, then motions to the ensemble. "I suppose that I should have worn something like this the last time you were in a fight with me - I may have stayed warmer." See? See? He's humorous, joking - perfectly safe.
It's all gone a moment or two later though - after all, this /is/ a fight, and one should take that serious as well - and on two levels, he's quite serioous. The one he shows, and then the dark undercurrent where he forces his /true/ power away and down, for a short time. Long enough to draw the other fighter in, and then perhaps he'll make his move - when the time is right. He draws himself into a simple ready stance, close to the cliff's edge. "Whenever you're ready, Kula Diamond."
COMBATSYS: Vega has started a fight here.
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Vega 0/-------/-------|
While still a relative stranger, his polite manner makes him seem safe enough. Kula arrived with no suspicions, and being here now she feels no cause for concern. She glances off toward the vast ocean horizon for only a moment, just as another wave crashes against the cliffside and sends small flecks of spray over the top. There is a lot of energy in this location. It will be easy to power her ice attacks here, she ponders for only a fleeting moment.
He makes the subtly humorous remark about staying warm when contending with her icy brand of attacks and Kula smiles back, drawing her right hand up at her side, a few small crystals swirling about the end of her finger. "The thing about ice is..." She closes her hand then opens it, the crystals having solidified into a single, small, needle-sharp shard. "...it's more than just the cold that's dangerous." A fair warning, after all.
She drops the shard to the ground where it breaks upon impact, watching as he takes on a more serious demeanor. She can do serious, especially when it's time to fight. She gets drilled on it day, after day, after day. There is little fun to be found in fighting given her background in it. It's any wonder the young experiment has turned out to be at all sociable with how she's handled at 'home'.
A breath is taken in then released, a white shimmer of chi coursing over her figure, leaving in its wake frosty blue locks of hair and a small swirl of snow flakes drifting around her form. He's seen it before, that moment's preparation to unseal the combat potential she contains.
Her passive combat algorithms are already kicking in, watching how he moves, how he adjusts his position - his stance, his focus, all variable parameters being fed into the routines programmed into her brain. She doesn't remember well enough how he fought last time. She'll have to learn as she goes.
Insulated shoes dig at the ground a little, the girl readying herself to charge. "I'm ready now." she offers, making sure that he's on the alert as she aggresses. When she moves forward, it's swift, her feet slipping over the ground as if she was skating over it. The grassy portions slow her down a little, the dusty, clear parts where she moves the quickest, closing distance with remarkable speed.
A flare of white energy emanates out of her arm, conjealing into a sleeve of ice, a thin, steel-strike glove of frozen matter over her hand as she swings her fist forward. He may notice at the last second the small spike that juts out over her knuckles, threatening to bore his chest a little. No... for all her innocent appearance, there's nothing cute at all in the way the girl attacks.
COMBATSYS: Kula has joined the fight here.
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Kula 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Vega
COMBATSYS: Vega blocks Kula's Medium Punch.
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Kula 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Vega
He's seen the change before, that's true - he's seen it and knows what it portends. It shows that Kula's prepared, ready to lash out with that simple precision she has. In his mind, he knows what comes next, and knows where that will lead. At least to him, the subtle shift of hips and shoulders read and scream enough about her intentions that he can move out of the way. Does he, though? No. This is all about misdirection, about leading her on just that little bit more. Instead of moving from her forward charge, he brings his hands to intercept - letting his grip catch her wrist, /letting/ the blade of ice chill his chest as it digs in against cloth and skin beneath. Face to face then, he smiles - the smile of a shark before surfacing. "So much more than the cold that's dangerous, Kula Diamond."
With that, he uses his leverage from the position to try and hold Kula still - at the same time, he brings his foot up, chambers and then kicks straight forwards, intent on burying the heavy shoe in Kula's stomach - giving the girl something to think about, indeed! Whether he can hold on that long or not, she's released after, Vega reaching for his chest, as if to ascertain the damage.
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Vega's Medium Kick.
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Kula 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Vega
Her wrist is snagged, taking with it a lot of the momentum behind her intended initial strike. He has her held fast for a moment, locking eyes with the young thing. Up close, her irises take on a certain crimson color, especially contrasted against her sky blue hair that seems to shimmer with a thin sheen of ice. He paraphrases her warning back at her, with a possibly hidden meaning she doesn't quite grasp.
But she does demonstrate another aspect of ice that factors into her fights. Ice is slippery. That thin, translucent glove over her right hand shifts in form, some of it slipping literally beneath Mori's grip on her wrist before expanding just slightly. It's enough, just barely in time, for her to pull free completely, without having to try and do something as challenging as directly force his grip. His heavy foot fails to reach her stomach as she springs back out of range, her own feet coming down against the ground in a bit of a slide.
That was a close one, a risky dance, a trading of attacks that plays a role in any good fight. There are likely to be more like it, if this mysterious challenger's initial skill is any indication. It is then that Kula decides to respond from range, buy her time for her to see him in action further, to see how it is he acts against her various attacks so that her passive algorithms can identify the best responses.
Her right hand is raised to her mouth, palm up, fingers toward Vega. An inhale is followed by an exhale, a shimmer of white chi coursing up from her feet, over her body, and along her arm into her hand. It isn't a fancy kiss she's blowing his way, however, but rather a surge of wind with enough force to knock many fighters clean over.
The true threat is carried by that wind, however. Thousand of small, razor edged shards of ice, rings of crystaline with sharp edges, and needles of frozen matter race toward him as well. The only warning of their presence is the way the sun glints off of their surface, causing the incoming assault to appear as a small cloud of diamonds threatening to tear into Mori like rough sand paper!
COMBATSYS: Vega fails to slow Diamond Breath from Kula with Psycho Shot.
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Kula 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Vega
Off-balance from his missed kick, Vega lands poorly on the rocky terrain, watching Kula backpedal. He knows that from range, her skills are as formidable if not moreso than his own. If he's to keep this close enough to turn the tide on a whim, he's got to close the gap with her. Stepping forwards, he starts towards the girl, towards the ice-laden woman and her chill breath. As she inhales, his eyes narrow - he's seen this before /and/ knows what it can do. His own hands glow slightly, but he reins it back, waiting and biding his time. As she blows out, he channels his own power, holding it deliberately in check, wanting to make sure that none of it reaches the woman, to the point of perhaps.. holding it too long.
When he releases, it's slow, and certainly not enough to dent or dull the rough cutting crystals of Kula's Diamond Breath - instead, it rakes his body and sends him two steps back, teetering precariously on the presipice of the cliff, rubble falling under his feet and tumbling down like his chances for destroying her beneath his palme. A choice is made in that instant, though the ramifications will have .. some time till they come through.
Her icy assault manages to force its way into striking against the challenger, threatening to nudge him back against the cliff in a dangerous way. A fall from this height might not spell the end for a fighter in good health... but it might, depending on how sharp the rocks at the bottom are and whether or not the water is covering them enough to cushion the landing. If Kula were here to assassinate the man she would take a few steps forward and unleash one of her stronger attacks without getting in range herself, threatening to plow the man clean off the rocky edge with little chance for him to turn her momentum against her and send her over instead or pull her along with him.
But she isn't here to kill him and while she fights with dangerous attacks, she isn't striking with lethal intent. It isn't appropriate outside of missions, after all. She saw the faint glow in his hands, however, and isn't sure what to make of it. He manifest no such ability against Kyo Kusanagi. Then again, considering his power was insufficient to halt her attack... "Hm... still learning?" she wonders out loud. Maybe he has only recently begun to understand the nature of his own energy manipulation.
She's going to close distance this time, opting to not fight from range for a moment. Her intent may become more clear as she gets in close, her right hand reaching out, going for his neck. Should her glove close over his throat, the girl will exhibit a surprising amount of strength as she pulls Mori backward, turning around to face him away from the cliff, her left hand reaching forward to blast him backward with a torrent of ice unleashed at point blank range. It's a mixed blessing, taking him away from the crumbling edge of the cliff but sending him along with a helping of pain in the process!
COMBATSYS: Vega fails to interrupt Medium Throw from Kula with Head Press.
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Kula 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Vega
Still learning? Still learning?! Such an affront /almost/ pulls Vega from his play, almost turns him to the determined despot he truly is. The casual comment about his fighting is enough to make his rage howl to be let loose, the thuggish, brutish man he once was clawing at the sophisticated exterior, demanding to be let loose.
But still, he controls it, launching himself up and over Kula's arm, an attempt to get himself in the position he needs to be to come crashing down on her shoulders with all the force his mighty boots can muster. At the last second, though - he changes his plan, and allows himself to be caught around the ankle. The bite of cold and the throw tumbles him off to the side, away from the prescipice, but leaves Kula trapped between the cliff and himself. It's a small price to pay, o be tossed about ignomiously, for such an advantage. His eyes narrow as he pulls himself to his feet, one frost-covered, blue-white ice still caked around it.
"Maybe so. Maybe you should just put your all into it and finish this?" he suggests, his breathing calm and steady. He doubts she'd do such a thing, intent on fighting her her methodical way - but perhaps, just perhaps, he can get her to overcommit. If he can, he might still offer her his lesson - before he finds himself too weakened to fight.
If only she knew what a harmless observation regarding his energy use would do to him inside. The girl typically fights without guile, her attacks rather direct in their savageness. Mental manipulation of her opponents, or even the attempt thereof, isn't really a factor in how she approaches combat. The reverse is true as well, however; she isn't easily swayed by words.
Her hands lower after having completed her fling, thinking nothing of her current positioning near the edge of the cliff. She's fast, and thus far, proving to be far quicker than her opponent. There's no fear in her now. Nor is she over eager. Provoking her into over committing may be a difficult challenge, the girl possessing a certain patience rare in extremely capable fighters.
She hangs back at first, the ice crystals swirling about her body drifting slowly to the ground into a very small ring of snow. But the request to put her all into it does prick a bit of a nerve, as if she's being accused of simply toying around. Her mouth opens, expression one of slight surprise, "Have my attacks not left their mark?" She remembers him lasting quite a while in Howard Arena, even under assault from her and Kyo both.
Slowly she leans forward, hands planting against the ground, a shimmer of white chi coursing over her and down her arms. "Perhaps," she continues, as an ever expanding slick of ice begins to form at her feet and grow outward, "You should show me what else you can do." comes the suggestion as she rises back upright slowly, now standing at the center point of a half-circle of slick ice, the other half of it having gone over the edge of the cliff.
Patiently, she blinks, watching the reserved, controlled man, knowing nothing of the rage that broils beneath the surface.
COMBATSYS: Kula focuses on her next action.
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Kula 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Vega
Impossible to shake, no better than a machine. Where was that fear that she had before - where is that emotion that he called out of her when he fought her so long ago. Was it possible that the battle then was nothing more than a fevered false memory, or just a completely different person altogether? No! Vega knows, deep down, that he can affect her - he just has to be willing to give everything up, lose and cast off this garb, discard it and throw it aside like the useless disguise it has become. If he cannot defeat /her/ with what he pretends to be, let that experiment be over. Instead, let her now face the true power of Shadaloo - even weakened, he has much to offer her in the way of pain.
"As you wish, Kula." It's said with almost a hint of resignation, the man seeming to draw in upon himself, to grow taller. His next steps are heavy, sure even as ice crakles from his boot. To the edge of the ice circle she's made, and then he stops. Eyes open wide, grey falling into white, leaving them blank and empty. A black and purple aura swarms around him suddenly, and envelopes him. He darts forwards, fading and at the last second, appears to go /through/ Kula. From behind, his voice echoes, husky and dark, full of old evil, like a nighttime horror. "This.. is what else I can do, Kula Diamond." With that, hands reach for her in a lashed rushing attack, attempting to pick her up and hurl her towards the edge of the cliff, to bounce her off of it.
COMBATSYS: Kula fails to interrupt Psycho Fall from Vega with Behind Slash.
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Kula 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Vega
She may even come across machine-like to those who haven't seen other facets to her personality. Cool, distant, seemingly unemotional and uninvested in the very fights she participates in. Until threatened, trapped, cornered, menaced. Even then it can be hard to shake her. Months and months of mental conditioning have seen to that. NESTs doesn't want their star killer breaking down due to fear at the slightest provocation.
That her eyes betray her, the man beginning to seem taller, larger, more imposing as he speaks, responding to her so helpful suggestion that he'll need to try something impressive to get a chance to hit her, does begin to bother her. The girl's mouth curls into a slight frown, red eyes narrowing, hands tightening. But she's surrounded by ice. In order to attack her, he is going to have to tread onto her turf, brave her ice slick to get his chance. And there's no one who can hope to move faster on her ice than she. Of that she's certain.
Energy course over him, an aura, unnaturally violet, reflecting off the mirror at his feet. He's going to try to use energy again. This time far more than he demonstrated before. But she's ready, her stance relaxed, her reflexes as sharp as ever. But then she notices. It isn't just energy that's different. It's his eyes. Empty, soulless eyes. He rushes onto the ice slick with miraculous speed and Kula draws her right hand back, closing it into a fist, then slamming it forward, intending to meet his reckless advance with punishing force, leaving him vulnerable to even further attacks while caught upon the ice.
But her fist rushes through air, the man passing through her. She looks bewildered for a moment. She should sense him. That much energy should be easy for her to notice... but for a fleeting moment she has absolutely no idea where he is. Drawing her hand back slowly, the young thing blinks. Until he speaks. And then she freezes, a chill running down her spine - one not born of cold.
Gripped before she can recover, she isn't immediately threatened by the hold he has on her. Flexible as she is, it isn't immediately menacing... but that violet energy that surges into at his touch most definitely is. Mouth open in a silent shout, her breath stolen from her, Kula goes limp in his grasp, easily flung hard against the rocky edge. Only in that moment does she seem to come to life again, the impact jarring her back to her senses, the girl flailing out and snatching a hold of the ice she had created. What would be a uselessly slippery surface for others serves as plenty of friction for her to stop herself from being flung any further along.
She stops in a low crouch, her feet apart, her gloved hands clawed into the ice, her grip sufficient to stop her motion. Wide eyes stare back at Vega, the girl stricken speechless. She thought he attacked without any semblence of power or committment, but that attack was from someone else entirely. A completely different person. The lingering energy racks her nerves, leaving her slow to even start moving again. Engineered to defeat a dangerous chi user, with a psyche that's over a decade behind her physical age, her ability to contend with attacks of /this/ nature is woefully undeveloped. "Y-you..."
Completely different. From calm and collected to barely restrained fury, held in check with the strongest will in the world. Even so, power claws and crazily bashes against that inner wall, desperate to be let out, to /prove/ what all the Kula Diamonds of the world should show. His eyes are narrowed as he stands on the circle of ice, then with a show of pure power, floats above it, unbound to mortal soil. The intensity is tremendous, but he makes it look... easy. His voice is sibilant, dark as he speaks not just with his voice, but with his /mind/.
'Do you know how easy it was to allow you your 'victory' last time we met, Kula Diamond? Dodging Kyo Kusanagi was child's play - acting ineffective to /you/ enough that you'd fight me... /that/ was the difficult part.'
He throws his head back then laughs, a harsh thing indeed, before he brings his hands up, looking at the girl holding on to the edge of her power, held precariously where she is. He could shatter the platform she stands on, an attempt to crush her on the rocks below... But that isn't /personal/ enough - and after all, he has a message to deliver. "You've interfered in my life again - you've cost me /this/ body, and you've interrupted Shadaloo business. I told you before that it would cost you - prepare to be reminded of the price." With that, he lashes out with a fist, a punch that would normally not hurt, as 'Mori' - but as Vega, with all the power of his incredible psyche behind it, the blurred purple aura is intent on battering that childlike mind into submission.
COMBATSYS: Vega successfully hits Kula with Jab Punch.
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Kula 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Vega
The ice beneath his feet begins to give way, retreating from his presence, turning to water then steam that rises up around him. Her slick crumbles, losing its diamond like strength as the girl that controls it loses her focus over it. Scrambling, Kula has positioned herself back on solid ground before the rest of it gives way, losing its form immediately.
She doesn't even rise to stand yet, staying crouched, her hands digging into the grass for a moment as he begins to speak. What happened to the man she was fighting? Who is this? Where did he come from? Her breathing comes faster, each breath visible as it escapes her mouth, a frosty vapor that fades quickly in the summer heat. He refers to the SNF event. One she remembers well. Explains how he baited her into accepting his challenge. To come out here foolishly and face him alone.
As he speaks, her eyes dart to the side. She's thinking of running. Thinking of testing her speed against his super natural mobility. He reminds her of the triffling interference she has caused him and her white features pale slightly. The man is a monster - the sort of which lurk in nightmares and scary stories. And right now he's very much intending to teach her a painful lesson. "Igniz... Igniz will..." she starts to stammer, her calm composure shattered as easily as brittle ice.
And then he moves, closing in on the trapped girl, his fist, cloaked with power, lashing out toward her. Her left hand comes up, the girl finding the wherewithall to try and defend herself. A sheet of ice is painted as she waves her gloved hand into the path of Vega's fist. But his strike powers through the barrier easily, catching her in the chest, driving her back harshly, feet slipping near the edge of the cliff once more.
Stopping just shy of falling, the frightened operative tenses up, "I can fight back," she warns, her right hand tightening into a fist, a halo of shimmering energy emanating out of it. Taking a bold step back toward him, the halo conjeals into a sphere of translucent ice. His experience in watching her batter Kyo may prepare him for what comes next, as the girl leans forward, extending her right arm, the half of the sphere nearest to Vega morphing.
Ice, strong as steel, yet malleable as water to her touch, juts out. Three long, sharp spikes attempting to skewer the horror from her past, to draw blood and teach him that laying hands on this diamond might not be such a safe thing to do after all!
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Vega with Critical Ice.
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Kula 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Vega
Oh, he remembers this. He remembers this well, the spikes of ice that slash and thrust towards him. He starts to eel between them, but Kula's skill with her chi is far beyond the simple 'easy' attempt Vega makes at avoidance. The impacts shatter against his ribs, ice leaving great rents in his clothes, bruising and battering flesh and bone beneath, though he still stands. Those white eyes of his spark in the chill of the attack, and the shock is intense - but he soldiers through it, powering on in the face of what she throws his way. After all - he is Vega, and his will shall be done.
"Igniz will accept this.. in the interests of keeping the peace between us, little girl. After all, we've worked well together - and I promise what is left of you will still be able to be /repaired/."
Not healed, not like a person. Fixed. Like an object, like something that needs krazy glue and pressure. Something inanimate, something nonhuman. Who's /really/ the monster here, Kula Diamond? The man who walks in total control of his own power, or the girl who pretends to be older than she is, to walk like a human when she's obviously just a pile of gunk in a lab dish? He doesn't /know/ all the secrets of her birth - obviously, noone would ever tell him - but the mind he senses behind the girl is enough of a hint as to something odd about her - something he'll take great pleasure in crushing. His hands come up, and then he yanks them down before her, a speedy wave of psychic energy exploding in front of him - from this close range, how will she be able to escape, to eel out of the way?!
COMBATSYS: Vega successfully hits Kula with Psycho Wave.
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Kula 1/=======/=======|======-\-------\0 Vega
The icy spikes find their mark, but it seems the man will not be so easily slowed, pressing on into the attack with enough force of will to literally shatter the lances of ice into small fragments, even as Kula fought to sustain them, to keep him at range. He speaks of Igniz and the fact that the Cartel leader isn't likely to make any issue of it. Isn't likely to make war with Shadaloo over the fate of one special, but ultimately expendible operative.
The implications of his threat aren't lost on the girl who has struggled so hard to pass herself off as a normal person. For everything she has done to present herself like anyone else, the cold, unmalleable truth remains - she isn't. With his special perception, he can no doubt sense it. The mind struggling to keep up, overwhelmed with the circumstances she finds herself in now. Only a couple years of life experiences, but the raw knowledge of a talented, deadly assassin, her thoughts are troubled, difficult to settle and control. She just doesn't have the maturity to cope with something like this.
The girl draws her hand back, the sphere of ice collapsing from off her hand, falling to the ground like glass.
She takes a step back, trapped again, unable slip around him to freedom, and no where behind her to go. His hands raise and then fall, unleashing before them a torrent of that very power against which she has demonstrated absolutely no defense. She tries to leap, but as frazzled as she already is, the attempt is insufficient, the girl not getting off the ground before the wave smashes her right back down into it.
"AH!" is the only sound that escapes her lips as she lands, sprawled and weak. Where this just some sanctioned fight, she might simply roll over and stay put, content to lose some irrelevant match. But there is nothing safe or sanctioned about this. Right now all she can do is try to survive.
Rolling onto her knees, Kula rises slowly, body trembling as she does so. But it's clear she's not out of power, for the surge of white, swirling energy encompassing her personal space suggests she's got something big left to give. Red eyes focus on Vega, the girl's breaths coming harshly. "I-I'm not a thing." she stammers back, "I'm a real p-person!" Slowly she raises her arms, her hands reaching over her head, the power around her surging even further - a point blank cyclone of ice and chi.
And then her tone cools, the girl collecting herself for a moment, as her emergency combat algorithms all point to a single course of action. Her ultimate attack. "And so are you. Which means, like any other person..." And in that instant, Vega must make his defense. The girl lowers her arms suddenly, unleashing all that pent up power into a localized frenzied storm, ice lancing through the air like the devil's pitchforks, ice cascading down around the cliffside point like ash raining from post-nuclear skies. "... you can die!!" The girl's voice raised, an extremely rare thing for the normally cool, passive child. The ice takes on a life of its own, a storm seeking to close in on Vega himself. And should it catch him, it would cake onto him, piling up and around him, becoming a literal frozen tomb of frozen death. In the center of it all, a child, a doll, an engineered life, her hair whipping around her shoulders, her arms extended forward toward Vega, as she attempts to execute the man who has already tasted death once before.
COMBATSYS: Vega dodges Kula's Freeze Execution.
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Kula 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Vega
A real thing? Hah! It is to laugh. Vega twists the emotional knife just a bit as she defends herself, the stammering denials battered at by both emotional content and sheer /scorn/ emenating from the Shadaloo Lord's cold eyes. Oh, he doesn't believe her, one bit. No, no, he's /quite/ sure she's wrong, and more than intent on passing on every instruction on just how incorrect she is.
As the weather shifts, the wind and ice starting to whip around, Vega prepares - hands folded in front of him, stance looking powerful, seemingly part of the cliff, he /allows/ the storm to lash at him. He's quickly wound up in white, ice and snow caking to his form, leaving him obscured, buried inside her attack.
Or so it seems.
As the storm dies down, the shape left behind a mass of snow and ice, Vega's voice echoes from behind Kula again, the lord of Shadaloo standing there, watching her effort, judging it... lacking. "And in the end, little girl - you're as empty as your futile attacks." With that, he reaches over, touching the mass - which collapses under its own weight, leaving a heap on the cliff's surface. He spins then on her ice, showing fluidity, poise and grace, and simply tries to bring his leg up in a swiping kick - aimed at hurling her off the cliff. After all, she deserves nothing less than his most efficent - in his mind, she doesn't have the emotional content to allow him to savor anything more brutal.
COMBATSYS: Kula fails to reflect Medium Kick from Vega with Counter Shell.
- Power fail! -
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Vega 0/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Kula can no longer fight.
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Vega 0/-------/=======|
Slowly Kula lowers her arms, closing her fingers into loose fists, releasing a long, slow exhale, her frosted breath visible for a fleeting moment. Crimson eyes gaze over the frozen mass left in the wake of her attack, snow flakes drifting down over the entire area as the temperature slowly returns closer to normal. No movement, no sign of struggle... Is that it then? Did he just become another statistic? Another notch on the belt of the young assassin? It seems hard to believe at first, but all evidence seems to point to the affirmative...
That sense of overwhelming relief washing over her fractures the instant the voice speaks up from behind her. Exhausted, she's slow to turn, eyes wide, breath held as she comes to find the menace she had thought she had killed is very much alive and well. The empty shell collapses at his touch and Kula gasps lightly. With that last attack, she exhausted nearly all of her strength. It is, after all, a failsafe option. There isn't supposed to be a fight afterward - just a body.
Slowly her shoulders sink, her held breath escaping from her lips. She attacked him with the best she had and it wasn't enough to slow him down. She won't have the ability to do something like that again. All she can do is try to defend. "No," she whispers, her voice strained, "I can do everything everyone else can. I can learn." She pauses for breath, "I can chose. That makes me real!" she insists, finding his mocking laughter amongst the most horrible sounds she has ever heard.
But he attacks then, her protests rendered irrelevant, as he moves about on her ice with seemingly no trouble at all. Falling back on a more defensive option, she sweeps her left hand through the air, leaving in its wake a flurry of ice flakes. Her right hand extends next, and upon contact with the small cluster, turns it into a highly reflective, shimmering mirror. Anything to stop him from striking her with that energy that courses over his limbs with every strike.
But perhaps his analysis of her ability to stop him is all too accurate, for the effort is in vain, the kick smashing through the mirror with ease. His boot collides with her extended hand, bending it back painfully, her wrist giving way against the power of Vega's attack, sending burning agony twisting down her arm. The pain in her arm is debelitating, but the nerve fraying energy that strikes her squarely is literally blinding. The force sends her flying to the side, her trajectory taking her head first over the edge of the cliff. The fragments of her shattered mirror fall to the ground, glittering in the air like a thousand frozen tears.
In a head first, spiraling dive off the side of the cliff, the girl's hair loses its frosted hue, becoming her natural light auburn locks once again. Her eyes blink open as she drops and the girl tries one last desperate attempt to spin herself about, in hopes of getting a grip on that unhelpful cliffside before her drop comes to an end as she lands hard on her side on a flat rock below with a sudden thud.
And in the end, all that is left for her to see, high above her, is a smirk and pale white eyes, glowing in the light and spray of the surf. He's passed his message on - and assauged his temper, fed the ravenous beast within him that cries for vengance. The cost? He'll examine that later, in the privacy of Shadaloo's fortress. For now, he simply laughs, and turns to walk away. His fingers dip down, to gather his coat, and he walks away from Kula's fallen form - uncaring, really. After all, this was just a message ...
And it's been delivered.
COMBATSYS: Vega has ended the fight here.
Log created on 22:36:54 07/13/2008 by Vega, and last modified on 23:39:01 07/15/2008.