Description: o/~ Whoa-oa, fightin' on the ceiling o/~ K' versus Setsuka and Hotaru. Though the swordswoman is taken out early in the match and proves to be of no match for the skilled, surly K', Hotaru and her Kenpo skills are given just that much more chance to shine... (Winner: K')
Ridiculous. _UTTERLY_ ridiculous. Even as far as Saturday Night Fights go, this setup is -utterly- ridiculous. Setsuka cannot believe she's going to participate in a match like this. Velcro. Her shoes... velcroed. Well, at least her boots are particularly well-fitting; they shouldn't lose her, even upside down. But this is... well, let's just say that Setsuka is not in a happy mood; as the velcro fittings are tested on her boots, the tech crew from Howard Enterprises gets a very dark look.
Now, if she were crazy -and- unrestrained, like Freeman, they might have some potential violence coming their way. She -is- crazy, but she is also self-restrained. But that doesn't mean some of her scariness doesn't just come out, as she moves her feet, getting used to the feel of the boots with the added velcro.
There's a little sigh; she checks her scabbard, tied on with a thin twine, looped around the top and then also around her belt, just in case she's made to drop her weapon.
And then, with one last, cold glare at the SNF officials gathered at the bottom of this 'Velcro Room'.. and begins walking up the wall, onto the ceiling. In deference to the fact of gravity, she's not wearing her usual dress, but a nice suit, black with pinstripes, a crimson red, silk tanktop under her jacket. *schrrip schrrip schrrip* Hopefully the sound techs can muffle that sound some... it's already getting to her.
One week she spends the fight literally tied at the ankle to her partner, Billy Kane, and this week she's got to deal with being stuck to the surface space of the fight. It's as if the SNF officials thoroughly enjoy restricting her mobility time and time again. The pig-tailed Kenpo artist is cooperative enough with the preparations, paying more attention to studying the walls and ceiling, getting a sense for how something like this will even work. Her training has been varied and disciplined, but there's some things no amount of training seems to prepare you for. This is one of 'em.
Boots affixed, the lightweight fighter brings her foot up and presses it against the wall, testing the adhesive strength of the velcro so that she can get a feel for how well it will hold her, and how hard she has to pull in order to break free. Her quick tests giving her a sense of the forces in play, the girl pulls her foot free and waits until the fight is closer to being ready to go. A matchup against K', hm? Last time she fought him she had her apprentice fighter, Kentou, on her side, and that went fairly well. But there were a number of close calls in that matchup. This time she's fighting with someone she knows nothing of. She's studied Setsuka quietly from the side, and even offered a friendly 'Nice to meet you. Let's see how we can do!' A sword fighter, she ponders. Seems that most of the entry level combatants as of late have gone with armed styles of fighting. Good thing she's brushed up on dealing with weapons a lot more in her training over the last few months.
The girl can't help but silently wonder how her own style will hold up under these restrictions, not to mention K''s. "Well, here goes," she muses, lifting her foot to stick to the wall and beginning the rather trying ascent to the ceiling. Stepping into hanging upside down, her arms dangle along with her pig-tails. And while the bottom edges of her vest curl down, her standing fighting outfit is snug enough to stay in place easily. The rush of blood to her head has her a little dizzy for a moment. "Something tells me this isn't going to go long either way." she observes with mild amusement.
K' would be upset over the velcro thing, but at this point he's been reduced to counting his blessings he isn't pitted with or against Kula Diamond yet again. If he'd seen that name on his card again this week, he'd have seriously considered not even showing. As it is, he -had- seen one name on his card this week that had actually salvaged enough of his interest to spur him to attend. Even if the concept was the most retarded thing he'd read in the past few weeks.
That, and there's been a lot of other stuff gnawing at his mind as of late... concerns and worries that run deep enough his yellow eyes stay distant and unfocused even as the nervous SNF officials prep him for the match. Seated in a slouch, jaw propped on the back of a hand as wardrobe staff flit around his ankles, he looks like he's got something on his mind that isn't related in the least to what's about to happen.
The staff usually expect at least some show of temper from K'... but today, they don't even get so much as a glance. Preparations draw to a close and match start gets nearer, and K' abruptly just gets up and walks off without a hitch. On the opposite side of the room as his slated opponents, K'-- in a slow and measured silence-- simply makes his unhurried way up the wall, hands hooked in his belt loops, moving with such a casual lack of care one would think there was nothing out of the ordinary about geckoing one's way up to a ceiling.
His resignation was, in large part, related to the decisions he had made in the past week. If others could improve themselves so much in so short a time, why not him? Unfortunately, this was one of the only ways in which it could be done... and so, he supposed, he would have to suffer for the time being.
Coming to a slow stop on the ceiling, K' narrows his eyes on the two opposite him as the effects of being inverted hit him instantly. With his silver hair swinging loosely the way it is, he looks distressingly like Krizalid: particularly when his gaze zeroes in, with a severe regard, on Hotaru. "Time to see," he abruptly notes, his voice breaking the silence, "if you listened to what I told you."
So at least everyone is in agreement--the setup is clown shoes. For Setsuka, though, the confinement of the velcro... well, it's disturbing. It has her not happy to be here; like Hotaru, she prizes her speed, her ability to move fast. And against a fighter like K', well, she's going to need as much of her reaction time as she can get. Maybe Howard Enterprises didn't think about gravity pulling blood down to the head; the blood pressure in Setsuka's ears is throbbing, trembling. The woman makes a shake of her head; her hair sways, unbound. Hotaru spoke to her; after a moment, she looks to the Kenpoist, and smiles.
Hotaru's probably had enough experience to classify that smile as 'not all there', in a dangerous, sharp sort of way, but Setsuka probably doesn't have the presence to discomfit her or K'. She is still a small fish in a large pool. Bending her knees, she adjusts to the way the gravity is pulling on her, as best as she can--which is still not very good. K' and Hotaru have history; Setsuka is probably going to be little more than a minor thorn in K''s side. She's read up on the man, what little information there is on him--but even old SNF tapes and transcripts are enough for her to know that he is an exceedingly dangerous man.
Dangling upside down, all pretenses of maintaining a quick stance are quickly lost. This is quickly shaking out to be one of those situations where expectations of an impressive showing are probably limited. Everyone expects the fighters to make clumsy fools of themselves with this kind of arrangement. Well, the blue eyed martial artist muses, she'll see if she can defy some expectations anyway. She glances toward her partner, studying the girl a second time. Something seems a bit off about her, but she can't quite put her finger on it. She's also maintained a certain disciplined silence so far, making it harder to get a feel for what she's like. When it comes down to actually fighting, it might not matter much, but she can't help but wonder all the same.
K' reaches the ceiling with a certain intense calm that has her studying him next. It's been a few months since they talked, but that doesn't mean the things he said to her aren't still fresh on her mind. A flicker of a smile, upside down as it may be, is the response he gets initially, until she finally nods, "Only one way to know for sure." Pulling one foot free and pressing it down a little further off, the girl grits her teeth. "Someday I'll get a fight without being tied down. But... it's good to force myself to try and deal with different circumstances, I suppose."
She looks K' over a second time, "You seem to be dealing with it all right though. Have a hobby of doing this?" She asks, her tone just lightly teasing. She suspects he's been trained to such a degree he can cope with any number of abnormal circumstances. But she isn't going to bring up the likely /origin/ of said training, of course. Another breath is taken, her head shaking as she tries to focus better, and then she falls quiet, drawing her arms in defensively as she gets prepared for this to begin.
With a muted sort of amusement, K' watches his opponents as they acclimate to the ceiling surface. Despite the flickering smirk that haunts his face, he isn't any -less- affected by their upside-down state; but years of brutal conditioning have forced him to be able to weather, with unnatural patience, through the most uncomfortable of circumstances. That, and he's stoically refusing to let any sign of the discomfiture he's experiencing show outwardly. Displaying weakness has, in his world, always been a suicidal mistake: and old habits die hard.
Mentally, he's already attempting to gauge how he's going to make this work. He already has an idea of how he can retain his usual agility even while forced to contend with gravity and the sticky nature of the velcro, but he isn't going to know if it'll work until he tries it. Putting it from his mind for the time being, he flicks his glance back up.
Hotaru's reply draws a humored sound out of him, K' leaning back slightly in a careless sort of way. "Oh yeah." His smirk-- an expression cocky enough it frequently causes people to erroneously attribute a great confidence to the boy-- cuts wider, graduating into a grin. Somehow, however, it still isn't an entirely pleasant look, and his voice isn't any less scathing. "I get stuck to ceilings all the time..."
Only one way to know for sure, Hotaru says. It's as good an answer as any for K'. Hands flexing idly, K' straightens up and narrows yellow eyes. "Then show me," he challenges, just before he tears himself free off the ceiling with a monumental -rip- and lunges in a sudden streaking cloud of his peculiar black chi: slinging a sharp kick towards the young martial artist's jaw. The move isn't one -usually- accompanied by any chi use, however, which baffles onlookers up until the point they realize that the energy-- which has always been applied towards unnaturally-fast relocation-- is now being used to give him a few seconds' grace period wherein he doesn't have to obey gravity.
COMBATSYS: K' has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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K' 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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K' 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
COMBATSYS: Setsuka has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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K' 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Setsuka
An impressive use of chi, and a testament to K''s power. Setsuka is actually quite honored to be put up against a man like him; she can probably really let go here. Let K' and Hotaru banter for now; Setsuka is content to let the single target start off this fight, particularly since she isn't the target. This will, likely, be a 'fast' fight, like Hotaru said--if only due to K''s ability to dish out painful damage.
Still, with the fight underway, perhaps folks are expecting Setsuka to just rush off after him; instead, she watches, as he moves on Hotaru. She certainly isn't abandoning her teammate, perish the thought--she's read up on Hotaru, too, and she knows that Hotaru is also highly-skilled--but sometimes charging in is the scariest thing that can be done.
And she's nowhere near ready to start making movements of the feet; she isn't entirely sure she won't just rip off the ceiling when she does. That doesn't mean she can't attack. But that not-entirely-pleasant grin helps keep that smile up on Setsuka's face as she turns to where she thinks K' is going to reappear, grasps her scabbard in her left hand, and the hilt with her right. The hiss of the blade being unleashed is unmistakable, though she's probably too far for it to reach; but the arc of blue-purple psionic energy =will= reach, cutting through just in front of Hotaru. Hopefully timed to strike K'.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru blocks K''s Minutes Spike.
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K' 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Setsuka
His grin, unpleasant as it may be... his scathing voice easily interpreted as being dismissive... they don't seem to phase Hotaru in the least, the girl merely responding with a faint grin of her own before she settles into being prepared to go. The moments before the fight begins can often be the most stressful for her. The anxiety in place due to not actually having begun yet. The questions and ideas whirling about in her mind. But when it begins, she's focused, years of arduous training paying off with honed reflexes come into play all at once.
He gives her a challenge - to show him, and the girl braces, turning one shoulder toward him, arms raised defensively. "I would have preferred to do so in a setting more focused on combat expertise, but I'll make due," she remarks idly, expression becoming more serious. The sharp kick comes in fast, his movements nearly a blur even to her experienced eye, but she manages to protect herself just in time, right hand smacking out, palm forward, aiming to push against his foot harshly, redirecting the momentum of his attack just enough to keep her from being struck directly. The jarring force of the impact is still enough to knock her to the side, one foot pulling free of the velcro attachment, leaving her flailing for a moment as she dangles by one leg.
When she finally acts, it's in an attempt to compensate for her loss of traction and launch an attack all at the same time. The free-fall nature of any take to the air makes it a little easier to pull this off, as Hotaru pushes off with her only attached foot and drops at an angle. Her intent is to get her legs around K''s neck and hang freely upside down, using /him/ as her connection for now. Her leap is a bit of an angle, taking her toward the wall should she miss, giving her a second chance to regain footing somewhere on the way down. If she does get her legs around his neck, the girl doesn't stay for too long, knocking that she risks being simply grabbed off and hurled straight down if she does. Instead she'll curl up, using K' as a momentary brace for her to get her feet affixed to the roof once again.
COMBATSYS: K' dodges Setsuka's Kuukan Zan.
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K' 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Setsuka
COMBATSYS: K' just-defends Hotaru's Medium Throw!
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K' 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Hotaru
> //////////////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Setsuka
Scathing, unpleasant-- surprisingly, neither of those qualities actually point towards K' harboring a dislike for Hotaru: something the girl might be able to recognize. It's simply his attitude towards everyone, his way of interacting with the world. He's never learned to be anything but harsh, even towards those he actually likes and can tolerate.
And despite his seeming focus on Hotaru, K' is not in the least disregarding Setsuka. His attack defended against, K' moves -with- the momentum of Hotaru's shove, blurring slightly around the edges as he forces himself to warp backwards in a constant haze of his odd spatial chi. The movement takes him out of range of Setsuka's arc of energy, K' landing in time to duck close to the ceiling and let the slicing energy pass overhead.
Hotaru comes in then on the tail of her reply, attempting to hook her legs about his throat in an attempt to off-balance him and probably rip him clear off the ceiling. "Think we'd all prefer not to be stuck to a fuckin' ceiling," K' observes sardonically with his usual charm, and he ducks further down, an arm interposing defensively where his neck once was. Once Hotaru locks about his forearm, K' abruptly cuts a wide swipe: slinging Hotaru off him towards the wall, and shedding her in much the same way he might shake rainwater from a hand.
With Hotaru all the way over there, his attention turns next towards Setsuka. There is something familiar about that odd, vicious smile and the look in her eyes-- something he's seen many times before, courtesy of his time in NESTS-- he recognizes what it means, and something about his expression closes: darkening perceptibly. The impression lasts only a moment before a sudden fire claims his arms, the leaping light throwing his features into sharp relief: the flames surge, and K' drives a kick into them with a sharp rip of velcro, sending a bolt of fire straight for the woman.
COMBATSYS: Setsuka blocks K''s Second Shoot.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
K' 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Hotaru
> ///////////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Setsuka
The hissing blast of fire... well, it'll obscure Setsuka's view of K', for a moment. He probably does recognize those elements in her smile--they are likely prevalent at NESTS, though Setsuka wouldn't know specifically. That blast of fire is -fast-, so fast that she doesn't even think twice about trying to avoid it; instead she throws her arms up, absorbing the fire as best as she can. There's still a sharp gasp of pain from the woman; the impact forces her backwards, ripping her from the ceiling.
It is only through presence of mind that she is able to stomp her feet upwards to reattach to the ceiling; that flaming chi hisses out off of Setsuka's body and she returns K''s attention with a bit of a wider smile. "My, my, Mister K', such a fiery response..." Probably she won't throw him off, but that doesn't mean she won't be herself.
And then she -does- move; her steps are heavier, of course, thanks to the velcro, ripping along the floor with that strange *schrip* sound. As she nears, she slashes outwards with her blade, aiming the blade to cut not deep, but shallowly, along K''s chest--assuming, of course, she can penetrate that leather. Her blade is plenty sharp, but then, so is K'.
K''s timely response to her attempt to catch him off guard has Hotaru finding herself locked around the wrong body part! Flung free a moment later, she spins quickly, landing against the wall with her feet rather than the top of her head, only to then undergo another moment of regaining control before she can shift her attention back to the fight at hand. K' turns his attentions to her partner, which leaves Hotaru free to move without retaliation for a moment. Which is good, as it'll take time to get back into close enough range to be a threat anyway.
Finding it easier to just hang upside down than keep herself from just flopping back against the side wall, she ascends as quickly as her velcro'd feet will allow her until she's back to the ceiling once again. Part of her wants to take a moment to rethink her approach, maybe come up with a more clever way of dealing with these strange circumstances. But with Setsuka pressing the attack, Hotaru decides she has to do the same. There's no sprinting up here, no hope of catching him completely unaware. All she can do is try to catch him at the same moment he's having to contend with the swordswoman's slash.
Striding over, Hotaru shakes her head, muttering softly. "With the trend my fights have had as of late, I wouldn't be surprised if they just have me bolted into one spot next week." Crouching slightly, the girl suddenly takes another solid step toward K', forcing him to figure out how to deal with the two attacks at once. Though her feet don't quite leave the velcro'd ceiling, she can still somewhat mimic one of her more famous techniques, her arms windmilling out as she attempts to strike him once with each palm before leaning forward into a hard, one-handed palm strike with all the power she can muster.
Of course, without the normal lunging start, she's not able to attack with the speed she normally does - but it does leave her a bit less committed to the momentum as well, helping her chances to defend just slightly. "YA!"
COMBATSYS: K' blocks Hotaru's Soushou Shin.
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K' 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Hotaru
> ///////////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Setsuka
COMBATSYS: K' interrupts Quick Strike from Setsuka with Crow Bite EX.
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K' 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Hotaru
> ////////////// ]
|=======\====---\1 Setsuka
K' surveys Setsuka with a certain... wariness as she cuts that leering grin at him. Obviously, there's something tweaking his memory about the way she looks. There's something mad about her, just like there was something mad about Krizalid, and it's bringing up recollections he doesn't really care to entertain right this minute. Her voice sounds teasingly, and K''s eyes narrow. "Haven't got any other kind."
She steps forward then, closing the distance, her blade biting out of its scabbard in a cleaving swing. And rather than try to move away as he did last time-- even though he does have the ability to do so without too much risk of falling-- K' just holds his ground, his tall frame chambering as the woman's steel pierces his leather and tastes blood. The edges of his eyes twitch at the sudden sharp pain as the weapon carves a thin line of red in its wake, but he doesn't recoil. In fact, he lunges forwards.
Fire sears to life down the length of his arm with a fierce hotness. There's none of the usual feel of chi about the flames, the roaring heat no different from a true blaze. With a characteristic cruel lack of clemence, K' claws a powerful upwards strike with his half-open hand, laying into the woman with a fire-riddled uppercut. It carves at a distinct angle, meaning she'll likely hit the wall before she reaches the ground, and momentarily K' chides himself for not adjusting so he could knock her straight into the floor.
He hasn't got a lot of time in which to entertain rueful thoughts, however-- he still has Hotaru with which to deal. The girl tries leaning towards him, dealing a sharp series of blows, and K' turns instantly into them, deflecting the first two before catching and slaking off the energy of the last. "Harder," K' enjoins harshly, severe eyes meeting hers briefly: and then, he pushes away into a step backwards.
The fire is hot, and though it isn't real, tasting it 'for real' causes Setsuka to -scream-. It is a pained scream, to be sure, but there's something a little off about it. As if there's some faint note of enjoyment in it. She is, undeniably, hurt; her body smokes with residual energies and she is literally scorched. Her boots find, by accident, purchase on the wall; for a moment, the sword-wielding assassin hangs there, falling back against the wall, stuck nearly upside down.
Then she begins to laugh. It's actually quite the delicate sound, though, like her smile, it is tinged with a silvery edge of insanity. She laughs long and loud, and then, with effort, she pulls herself up. Regaining her balance, she begins the trek upwards, back onto the ceiling.
"Harder? Perhaps I should be asking you for the same..." The suit jacket falls away, useless; the tank top underneath burned at the bottom but somehow still relatively decent on her, the sword-wielder 'raises up', or falls a little, onto the balls of her feet.
"Very well then, K'-san. Harder." Of course, he wasn't talking to her--but she hardly seems to be concerned about that. The shift of her body is subtle, at first--and then, much like K' managed with his black chi earlier, she's almost literally flying at the man, along the ceiling.
As she lunges, both hands are glowing with blue-purple energy, white at the core--a massive psycho-power bomb that she intends to plant on K''s chest, a bomb that would, if all goes well, explode a few scant seconds later.
The timing for his uppercut into her partner is time perfectly - K' slipping the chi-laced attack into his opponent just in time to draw back and fend off the Kenpo artist's series of strikes immediately after. Her striking palm is caught and the girl pauses for only an instant before drawing back quickly. She spares a fleeting, precious moment to see where Setsuka ends up, the other girl's unexpected laughter muted slightly by the velcro covered walls. Hotaru can't help but wonder what she found amusing in that punishing strike, but the time for pondering such is preciously brief.
She's gotten close to K', at least, and now that she's here, she's going to try and put the proximity to use. He wants her to strike harder, challenging her to make the best of the unorthodox circumstances in which she's forced to fight, and she tries to deliver. Crouching lower against the roof, the girl pulls her right foot free and sweeps out for K's ankles, twisting as best she can with her left foot rooted so.
She springs back to 'standing' quickly, however, drawing her right leg back with a hooking kick toward K''s side as a swift follow up, seeking to catch him with that second strike should her first one not quite penetrate his defenses. "KYA!"
COMBATSYS: K' dodges Setsuka's Yamikaze - Kuu.
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K' 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Hotaru
> ////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Setsuka
*whiff* Setsuka goes -flying- past K', that energy fizzling out as she misses completely--and with her momentum such as it is, she slams into the far wall, kicking outwards to try and get purchase on the wall--but perhaps she's just a little too pained from that massive strike, still. Or, maybe, she just wants to see if Hotaru can win on her own; in any case, she drops, missing her chance to stick to the wall... and thusly... is disqualified.
COMBATSYS: K' interrupts Medium Kick from Hotaru with Eins Trigger EX.
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K' 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> ////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Setsuka
A gasp might go up from horrified spectators at the sound of that terrible scream, but K' doesn't look in the least repentant about the viciousness of his attack. And really, neither does Setsuka-- strangely enough. Pulling back coldly, K' twists to handle Hotaru's attacks... and then cuts a glance back at Setsuka when the other begins to laugh. The quality of that laughter is, again, familiar. K' has heard a lot of insanity in his time, after all.
It's because of that experience with volatile, wildly-violent insanity that he knows: something is coming, and it would be best for him to prepare. He tenses, twisting to face the woman, working his heels loose from the velcro as he does; she abruptly -arrows- at him, her onrush spearheaded by a mass of energy he distinctly doesn't want to be hit with, and K' reacts on a hairtrigger, ripping himself clear of the ceiling and-- within the first millisecond of freefall-- winking out of mundane sight in a soundless burst of shadowy chi.
A long streak of his distinctive chi marks his progress, literally crossing -through- Setsuka's trajectory-- and seeming untouched by it. When K' resolves back into sight-- sticking his heels back to the ceiling before the vast forward momentum afforded by his chi can slake off and he starts to fall-- he's several feet past the woman, breathing hard from the exertion and angling a look over his shoulder to see what's going on. Setsuka doesn't manage to gain purchase again before dropping to the ground-- apparently, that's a disqualification, but nonetheless K' is slow to take his eye off her.
It takes the sound of Hotaru's approach before K' looks back forward and reroutes his attention. He can tell that this environment is really hampering the girl, and he... almost regrets the fact. He was curious to see how she might have changed since he last saw her. Still, that vague regret doesn't militate against him striking with his customary unforgiving cruelty. The girl tries a kick, but K' presses forward abruptly with a sudden surge of flames, one wide arcing swipe slinging a lash of fire straight into her.
The intent of the blow is not to knock Hotaru from the ceiling. And from the expectant, sharp look in K''s yellow eyes-- a wordlessly demanding gaze which might almost be familiar to the girl, given her family history-- that is because he's still waiting for her to impress him.
He fends off her kick with a lash of fire and Hotaru gasps, her attack cut short, forcing her into a backward stumble, her arms coming up to fend off further attacks as she contests the flames washing over her form with a resilliant inner aura. Hissing as the last of the flames die down, she chances to open her eyes, finding herself singed, but all together capable of continuing just the same.
Her eyes flash to K' next, taking him in, regarding his gaze for a moment, knowing he's expecting more from her than what she's been able to manage thus far. She isn't sure why it means so much to her - that desire to prove herself to him, as if over the course of their scarce few, but meaningful encounters, he's been added to the list of people who's opinions matter a great deal to her. Hands close and unclose as Hotaru rights herself, standing up straight before she lunges back onto the offense.
Her attack seems direct at first, as she comes in closer, but she steps to the side once near, both hands reaching out to try and grab hold of K''s right arm. If she gets a tight enough hold to use him as leverage, she'll pull her feet free and whip them down, attempting to hook his left arm on his other side. If she pulls it off, she'll end up wrapped around his back, two hands wrapped around his right, her legs, crossed at the ankles, hooked around his left, before she simply tries to pry his limbs back, hoping to contend with him a little better when the speed of her footwork isn't so much a factor. It'd be a temporary arrangement at best, either way, as she tries to figure out something else to transition into, trying to remember back through every trick technique she knows of to figure out what else can possibly work effectively in this setting.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits K' with Quick Throw.
- Power hit! -
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K' 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> ////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Setsuka
K' retracts in the wake of his attack, straightening up-- relatively speaking. His dangling hair belies the flat severity of his gaze-- but only just a little. And just as Hotaru isn't quite sure why she wants to prove herself quite so much to him... K' himself isn't quite sure why he's even interested in her at all.
Maybe it's because she's the only girl he's met of her particular type-- nauseatingly sweet, seemingly gentle, and infuriatingly normal-- who seems to have some kind of real personality beyond that. Maybe it's because what she said to him, the last time they spoke, hinted that-- despite her affluence, despite the fact it was easy to peg her as some spoilt normal girl with a good family and a good life-- her life was in actuality oddly parallel to his. It lacked much of the horror and brutality, to be sure... but there were similarities nonetheless.
Overshadowed by family, eternally attempting to prove something, always feeling left behind and overlooked... always feeling like a -failure-: no, they were not entirely different. But K' still feels Hotaru has a lot which he never had, and which she should be grateful about. She doesn't seem oblivious enough to that to draw his anger quite yet; but he won't hesitate to remind her forcefully should she ever forget.
That is, perhaps, the reason for his intense scrutiny of her. His regard lingers as Hotaru recovers from his attack and tries to retaliate with one of her own. She's having trouble, he knows, and that's probably why he misjudges what she's trying to do. He moves to defend against the direct assault he sees coming... and her last-minute feint catches him off-guard, the girl eeling up agilely and getting him in a surprisingly -painful- lock before he can react appreciably. A sharp intake of breath translates quickly into a growl, K' exerting pure brute strength to finally break free of her lock.
He immediately opens distance between the two of them, pulling free of the velcro'd surface in order to skim a short distance and turn back to face her. He's aware that he has a mobility advantage over her right now-- but he's also aware that the longer this goes on, the faster Hotaru is going to learn to cope. Wordlessly, he studies her, attempting to gauge how she's going to act.
COMBATSYS: K' focuses on his next action.
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K' 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Hotaru
> ////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Setsuka
Known for being a talented striker, Hotaru has often caught her opponents off guard by her impromptu grappling techniques. Knowledgeable in a healthy mixture of basic judo slams, simple but effective limb locks and joint twists, she does have the ability to fall back on them from time to time when her more pure Kenpo style isn't working out all that effectively. And here, stuck to the ceiling, so far it doesn't seem to have been working out well at all.
She maintains the hold as long as possible, pulling the young man's arms back in a painful angle. He resists at first, but her positioning is perfect, letting her put all of her combined strength into one last yank before he manages to wrestle his way free. Hotaru recovers quickly, kicking her feet off his arm and against the ceiling, making sure to not leave herself lacking traction once she no longer has K' to use as her brace. Exhaling as she regains control, the girl stands up straight, drawing her right arm out to her side, an aura of blue washing over her forearm.
There's a fervor in those sapphire blue eyes as she watches K' back off. It isn't hostility. Not in the slightest. It's something else - she wants to prove herself, perhaps. Prove that she can contend with the higher tier fighters. He's studying her. She's starting to figure out ways to compensate for being grounded. He may have started off with a good edge in that regard, but as the seconds tick past, the clever girl is adjusting quickly.
When she next moves, it is to take one step forward, her right arm swinging out and then forward as well, the vibrant blue energy coursing over it washing down the length of her arm and discharging as brilliant, churning, blue ball of chi. Should it hit, it will strike as concussive force before splashing away. "HA!" Drawing her arm back, she isn't idle, taking the opportunity to try and close ground with K' even after unleashing her signiture chiball, though not going so far as to charge recklessly into striking range until she can tell what is going to happen next.
COMBATSYS: K' dodges Hotaru's Hakki Shou.
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K' 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Hotaru
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|=------\-------\0 Setsuka
Again: it's like looking in a mirror. That fervent desire to prove herself-- to stick it to every last person who told her she was weak or worthless-- is something K' himself has felt many times before. He can recognize it in her because of his own extensive familiarity with that terrible, crushing feeling. He knows exactly what it's like to be where Hotaru is now.
Still. He is not one to cut another person any slack, for any reason. In fact, he thinks, it would be insulting for him to hold back... and more than that, it would run counter to what he himself told the girl. K' is a hypocrite in a lot of things, but for whatever reason... he's not going to be one here. He is, at the end of the day, a rather fickle creature.
And so, when Hotaru steps forward and flicks that surge of blue chi at him, K' likewise moves. There's no puff of shadow this time, no cloud of chi-- the boy just sways with an agile swiftness to one side, letting the bolt of energy sear just past his shoulder. It's only then that he uproots from his spot, closing the distance if Hotaru won't do it herself: a flickering, chi-laced lunge bringing him within inches of the girl in the space of a heartbeat.
His stance sets solidly, anchoring him, and his left hand lifts, loose and open, mere instants from the girl. It aims to come within a breath of Hotaru, stops-- and then it slams shut and fires directly forwards with shocking force considering how little space to wind up K' had. It pierces straight ahead in a violent movement, K''s entire lean frame thrown behind the spearing blow.
COMBATSYS: K' successfully hits Hotaru with One Inch.
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K' 1/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Hotaru
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|=------\-------\0 Setsuka
She stops short when the intended distraction fails to meet its mark and K' continues advancing on her all the same. The projectile splashes against the wall instead of her target, and Hotaru takes that opportunity to draw up defensively. If she had blinked then, she would have missed his advance all together. But her eyes are wide open, attentive, not risking losing sight of him for even a millisecond.
She turns to the side, trying to fend of this strike the same way she had weathered the kick earlier, trying to steer it into her braced arms, left hand bracing her right wrist. It isn't that she's unfamiliar with the technique, having seen him perform it against Kentou in times past, or that she doens't understand the mechanics of it, having studied Kentou's own varient. But the force behind it is more than she can hope to contend with with direct defense and in that final inch, he powers through her defense easily, his knuckled fist crunching into her fragile side, knocking the girl completely free of her footing.
Velcro'd shoes meet the wall quickly as Hotaru lands hard, legs bending to absorb some of the impact and regain control as quickly as possible. The damage from the punch is felt immediately, her hand going to her side, her complexion losing its color quickly. But she forces it out of her mind, determined to keep fighting as long as she can. She hasn't fallen yet and she has some strength left in her still. She curls up, hand pressed against the wall as she looks to K', judging his position carefully. It's going to be tricky to catch him at this angle, but he's close enough, she decides, and her endurance isn't going to hold up for long at this rate. Time to pour what strength she has left into something much bigger.
Gritting her teeth, the girl springs from the wall, a surge of blue chi powering a reverse flip kick aimed to collide with K''s back with enough force to perhaps dislodge him at last from his solid stance. She rises at an angle such that should she miss she'll simply land in a crouch on the ceiling, the energy dissipating upon landing. "Ten-shou...!"
COMBATSYS: K' blocks Hotaru's Ten-shou Ranki.
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K' 1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0 Hotaru
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|=------\-------\0 Setsuka
Drawing back, K' considers the results of his attack. He had thrown it with no compunctions, no thought as to mercy, and absolutely no eye as to holding back-- he is not surprised he was ultimately able to overpower her defense. Nonetheless, Hotaru manages to recover, clinging to the wall she's knocked against and shaking off the instant disorienting effects of that brutal attack. There is something to be said for her determination and refusal to go down. They're qualities with which K' himself is intimately familiar.
Briefly, there is a gleam of something that could be termed disappointment in his yellow eyes. It's not a disappointment directed at Hotaru, however-- rather, it's a disgruntlement with the SNF match itself and its ridiculous stipulations, which have effectively made this exercise largely a waste of his time by critically hobbling his opponents. It -has- served some purpose in that it's forced him to practice his unnatural speed and chi-augmented agility more than he otherwise would have, but otherwise it's done nothing but prevent him from having any kind of a real fight with Hotaru.
As for why he's even interested in a real fight with her-- in seeing what she can do now-- well, call it curiosity to see what kind of effect he might have had. A respect for the similarities between them.
His mind races with those thoughts, considerations, doubts, plans, and observations chasing avidly around the constant hum that is his focus on Hotaru. That undercurrent of attentiveness alerts him instantly when Hotaru lunges abruptly in a surge of blue chi. He doesn't have the time to even get out of the way of this one, there's just no chance; instead, he just braces, letting the girl cannon into his back only to find that he won't be able to retain his stance through this one.
He doesn't try to cling to the wall, or to weather through Hotaru's entire attack. The moment he feels his heels peeling away, he immediately he wrenches himself free and lets Hotaru's forward momentum knock him into the opposite wall. He twists agilely in midair, landing in a crouch against the wall. "...I would rather," he suddenly raises his voice to say, uncharacteristically breaking the silence, "have fought under more normal conditions. I think I'd have seen more. More of what I wanted to see..."
It could almost be an insult, were one thin-skinned enough to construe it as one. But for once, K' doesn't mean it as one. Either way, he's not explaining-- all he's doing is gatherinng himself, fire igniting about his right arm, the tongues of flame searing up to flicker over his shoulder. He hesitates only a moment before-- in a sudden trailing corona of streaming, wind-whipped fire-- he /slams/ straight back up towards the ceiling and at Hotaru, moving at a dizzying speed, aiming to crash straight into her with a combination of searing fire and consummate force.
COMBATSYS: K' successfully hits Hotaru with Heat Drive.
- Power hit! -
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K' 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Hotaru
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|=------\-------\0 Setsuka
She lands after forcing him away, the power of her own momentum forcing her into a grunt as she crouches, hands bracing for a moment against the 'floor' as she slowly recovers, stretching back into a stand and turning around to face K', eyes blinking as she finds herself feeling extremely disoriented by the constant shifts in perspective. One minute she's struggling to stay standing, one leg forward, relying on the velcro to keep her from just flopping limply against the wall, and the next moment she's dangling from the ceiling where it's hard to do anything OTHER than stand straight.
She narrows her focus on him after a brief moment, not quite sure where he ended up after defending against her attack. Spotting him, the girl breaths in deeply as he speaks. "Nn," comes the soft response - an acknowledgement, perhaps, sharing both his sentiment and knowing she's been fighting an uphill battle the entire time. "Perhaps anoth-" she starts, only to cough once, right hand going to her mouth to brush away the specs of blood at her lips. She should probably stop now. Her partner taken out early on, contending with an arena that does everything it can to hamper her methodologies, she's not going to get an edge against the more powerful fighter she faces. But she's not about to give up just like that, no matter how poor the odds. Her lips cleaned, she grins just faintly, "Sometimes it's good though - to be forced to improvise."
She pulls one foot free, setting it down in another position more favorable to her being able to be mobile. "Not going to find everyone willing to cater to what you're strongest at." The hunted NESTs project affixed to the wall in front of her probably knows full well of what she's intimating at, the girl having heard all about the happenings at the YFCC directly linked to that Cartel seeking the young man's life.
When he attacks again, she doesn't see it at all. His previous bursts of speed pale in comparison to this one, the young man launching forward at a rate that defies even her experienced ability to see. No time to react, no time to even fathom a defense, he collides with the girl violently, a battering ram of physical force and a blazing conflagaration. It happens so fast even her nerves barely register the impact until after the attack has completed, smashing her flat against the opposite wall, the divine, grafted flames overpowering her attempts to fend them off in her weakened state. "AH!"
That she can even try to retaliate is more an aspect of how he smashed her against the wall than any real ability on her part, the girl using the brief moment she has sprawled on the wall to lunge back at him with all that she has left. "Soushou...!" A leap takes her toward him, four sets of windmilling palm strikes trying to crash through his defenses. And if she should manage, she'll plant her feet against the ceiling for one final moment, her body flaring to life with energy, encasing her entire form in a bright blue chi as she tries to lunge him him with her shoulder. "Tenrege!"
This time, however, hit or miss, she hasn't the wherewithall to plan a recovery out of her attack, and that lunge will easily turn into free fall as her forward momentum begins to fail her.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru can no longer fight.
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K' 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Setsuka
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits K' with Sou-shou Tenrenge.
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K' 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Setsuka
The odds are against her. Her style is extremely ill-suited to this arena, she's lost her partner, and she's facing a young man frankly stronger than her. But despite the uphill battle with which she's faced, she's persevered-- and that keeps her in K''s favor. Were she to give up so easily as that, he would have immediately lost whatever respect he had for her. Tenacity and determination are things he can appreciate, being that they are qualities he himself possesses. Qualities without which he wouldn't have LIVED as long as he has.
She replies him optimistically, and K' lapses into silence. She's correct, of course-- displaying, in her response, the kind of real-world pragmatism so many sport fighters don't have. However, the further implication under her words doesn't entirely escape him, and for a moment a troubled look haunts his expression. "That -is-," he eventually confirms, a heavy and sardonic cynicism weighting his tone, "how things really work in practice." And then, he goes quiet again-- just before he abruptly lunges in attack.
He -collides- with Hotaru in a relentless impact, his claim that he'd never hold back against her continuing unbroken. Latching on all fours to the ceiling again in the wake of his rushing attack, K' sways forwards briefly before he can fully kill his momentum. Once that momentum does slake off, gravity takes over and he's forced to 'stand' straight, his hands coming up defensively as he perceives Hotaru coming right back for him.
Her retaliation is faster than he had anticipated. He isn't given enough time to put up a proper defense before the force of her whirling strikes smashes through it, crushing into him in a sudden rush of pain. He's forced a few ripping steps backwards by the assault, and if not for the velcro taping him in place that final blow would have knocked him clear away again. Stumbling as his stability is compromised, K' eventually gets his balance back and opens his stance: securing himself in time to watch Hotaru start to fall out of her final lunge.
The girl drifts through a few instants of free-fall before a sudden hand snares her by the shirtfront: catching her before she can complete what is likely to be a pretty painful descent to the ground. With a muted sound of effort, K' tugs her back 'down,' planting her back against the ceiling and sticking her there. He's quick to let go afterwards, breaking even that impersonal contact as if it were something dangerous. His gaze tilts downwards until it finds Hotaru's, his assessment of how she's changed since the last time they met taken. What is he going to say about it?
"All things considered," he eventually says lowly, as if actively wanting to -remind- her of this, "you're -lucky-." His gaze has moved to her right arm: it is clear what he means. Perhaps Hotaru's example could have given him some hope as to his own ability to someday take off that glove... but their situations are different enough K' is not overly optimistic.
The surge of chi that encompasses her form flickers after the impact, the girl having given all she had into that last, determined attack. Her forward trajectory starts to shift, her momentum lost, her path converting swiftly into a free fall from which she just can't quite pull herself together to take control of. He catches her, his hand clawing into her vest with enough strength to bring her downward plunge to an early, benign stop, and hangs for a moment. A red hair ribbon, dislodged by the forceful assault that brought about the end of this fight, drifts down the remainder of the distance, landing in a coil on the floor below. Blue eyes open, still cognizant, she's simply too beat to move much at all.
Hefted up, her feet stick to the ceiling on their own, the velcro doing its job just fine. Placed there, the Kenpoista simply dangles for the time being, her arms dangling over her head, along with her remaining pig-tail and her now half-unrestrained hair. Blood trickles from her lip, 'down' her cheek, until she draws one hand up to rub against it absently, making no further attempt to carry on the fight. But for all the agony she's in, she can't help but grin just a little, a silent thanks for the save goes unspoken, communicated simply by her expressive eyes.
But when he speaks again, her grin fades, her expression becoming something else entirely. Somber, a strange mixture of nostalgia, joy, and reflection visible there. She knows precisely what he's getting at, her perceptive nature cluing her in immediately. But as to his assessment, she isn't so aggreeing, taking a moment to catch her breath before speaking in turn. "Lucky that I didn't kill anyone, perhaps." She came close, a few times. By all accounts, she even hurt Roberto to the point that he will never make a complete recovery - a fact she will never forgive herself for. "But for where I'm at now?" She shakes her head, her hair, slightly dampened from perspiration, flopping back and forth with the gesture. Her flicker of a faint smile returns as deep appreciation settles in. "That's thanks to the people around me. I wouldn't have made it without them... Lucky to meet them? Maybe... But you've met nearly all of them too." It hasn't escaped her attention that her circle of friends overlaps with K''s.
"You don't have to be alone in this." Her eyes drift toward his own glove clad hand for a brief moment before focusing back on him, meeting his gaze clearly in spite her present condition. "You helped me." she continues, her voice extremely soft, her words for him and him only. "Someday, I hope you let me do the same in return." She shakes her head, testing the strength of the velcro on her boot clad feet a little, "Now." she continues, wincing a little, her hand lifting up to press against her side. "I'm afraid I need to get down. Any longer like this and I'll never get over the headache I'm going to have..." she finishes, a glimmer of a pained grin, suggesting that she's half-kidding, but... only half.
K' says and emotes nothing in response to the obvious thanks in Hotaru's expression. In fact, he glances only a moment at her before he avoids her gaze again, looking away with a gruff impassivity. His eyes travel to her arm instead of her eyes, resting there with a troubled regard that mixes pensiveness and a distinct jealousy; and in time... he says what he has to say in regards to how she's managed to recover and move on from her ordeal.
He tells her to never forget that she's lucky-- to never take anything for granted, because there are people who are not so fortunate. One of them is standing in front of her right now, regarding her with that odd mix of grudging tolerance, faint intrigue-- and an angry, resentful envy. She rephrases his words gently and K' flares a sudden sharp gaze at her.
"Lucky," he clarifies in an uncharacteristic burst of verbosity, "that you could escape being trapped. That you could just shed it, leave it behind, go on without it." She goes on to talk about the people who've helped make that possible and he lapses into silence, having no counter for that. He doesn't even fully understand interpersonal relationships, much less the benefits they can bring in terms of support. Other than maybe one or two people, he's never really had anybody he could rely on but himself.
As such, when Hotaru offers her own support, his first instinct is to recoil-- to avoid bringing her into his problems. He has always been alone, ever since the start, and he has always figured that he would come out at the end of everything still alone. He never planned on other people ever coming into his life, but now they're starting to do so-- an inevitable consequence of his entry into society, with an aim towards someday being 'normal' and having what everyone else stupidly takes for granted. Family. Memory. The freedom to walk around without fearing recapture every minute of their lives.
If he didn't want to be part of it so much, he could -hate- society for how much it's shown him he doesn't have and will never have.
He doesn't know what to do or say about Hotaru's last few words, and he's perceptibly awkward in receiving them. When they last spoke, he'd talked to her first out of mere idle curiosity, and then out of an angry desire to -correct- her mistaken beliefs: not out of a desire to altruistically help her. He rather obviously avoids the topic, skating around it back to the topic of his own aloneness. "I don't have to be," he finally says slowly, his eyes turning aside, "but it's better if I am. Most people got a lot more to lose than I do."
And with that, K' pulls himself free from his semi-permanent stapling to the ceiling, starting to make his slow rip-rip way across the sticky surface and past Hotaru. Far as he's concerned, the discourse is, for now, over. Hotaru herself said she wanted to get down also, and staff are already bustling about below with ladders towards that end. K' ignores the lot of them, even when they offer-- he's moving slow, but he intends to get down on his own power.
It's like he said. He doesn't need others... or so he thinks.
Log created on 19:35:02 07/20/2008 by Setsuka, and last modified on 20:12:03 07/25/2008.