Description: The three fighters have extreme misgivings about fighting on flying platforms, with a high pressure time limit and no safety nets. None of them think this is a good idea though getting dropped out of a plane onto said platforms doesn't give them much choice in the matter. (Winners: Aranha/Cherry)
A plane buzzes high in the sky.
To look at it from the outside, It's astounding to think that such a beat up junker of a plane could ever had made it past a safety inspection, let alone made it into the air. But it does, and the lonely retasked Soviet cargo plane sinks low in the sky as it prepares for the final checks before jettisoning its cargo over the Japanese coastlines. Of course, that's if evreything goes as planned.
The rust appears to have rusted.
If seems to have been painted. Once. Back in the 1950s.
More than 60% of the bolts for the plating seem to be conspicuously missing.
There is a loud pulsing thrum throughout the body. It is not the engines.
There is one civilian passenger who paid a premium to be on the plane.
He fainted long ago.
There is no health or life insurance for the pilots, the most talented questionably sane Korean contract pilots that money can buy.
But on the inside? Ara Heavy Industries has housed some of her greatest prides. They themselves are six sectioned platforms, each roughly the size of a tall man sprawled out head to toe, with small one-man canopies set just underneath them, similar in style to small electric indoor forklifts. THey are painted yellow and black caution colors and are secured in the plane's cargo bay only by a series of chains and a disturbing shape and length of primacord. As the fighters are gathered to them, a man in a tall beige coat and shades reads off a list of warnings from behind a security screen that looks a little too much like an airlock.
".. will drop the transilifts at an altitude of one point five miles in the sky. Once the desired altitude of one mile is achieved, the transilifts will engage their autopilot. Transilift air boost systems are dangerous. Though the majority of the craft's eight active skyjets are on the bottom of the craft, be careful not stick your hands or feet in any of the thrust trails, as limb loss may result. Their proprietary autopilot systems are a trademark of AHI. Any potential pathing malfunctions will be dealt with pending a full investigation of each qualifying incident, up to and including postmortem analysis and autopsy, so tampering with the autopiloting features by operating any of the controls will be subject to full culpability and prosecution to the extent of Japanese law.
"The transilifts in lift mode are capable of holding about 900 lbs and can move at speeds of up to 70 mph. Please be warned that speed metering is part of the autopilot programming, and will be tested routinely throughout the exercise. You are expected to stay aboard at least one Transilift. If you fall off, the exercise ends, and you very likely die. Please be advised that the operational limit for the Transilifts are around 16 minutes. If you fail to complete the exercise in that amount of time, the exercise will also end. Recovery vessels will be dispatched. Keep in mind that stealing the Transilifts are not advised due to our patented 'NukeItAll' Mutual Theft Deterrant Systems, which will cause them to self-actualize when removed from a certain operating radius. This system is also in early alpha and testing the limits of that operating radius is ill advised.
"You will be expected to fill out a short survey regarding your experience at the conclusion of this exercise. Good luck and good fight," he laughs.
Then he hits the large red button that will detonate the primacord and, in a gunshot symphony of consecutive explosions, dump the entire belli of the cargo plane--fighters included--into the wild blue yonder. Better hope this stuff works.
The SNF event organizers had put the girl up to a number of rather harrowing venues in the past. Wild mine rides, fighting across collapsing ice bridges in a frozen wasteland to name a couple. But this one strikes her as the all time worst idea ever. The girl is quiet as the corporate overseer drones on about the details about the platforms designed to carry the three young fighters over the island nation of Japan over a mile in the sky.
An idea so absurd it was only a matter of time before SNF officials came up with it. And as the girl stands in the belly of the plane, she can't help but wish they had come up with it for someone besides herself. She can sorta see why it turned out like this though. Not just she, but her opponents as well, are rather agile, acrobatic in nature, and not terribly heavy. The audience might not be terribly entertainined by the same fight arranged with Birdie and Brian Battler. Then again, maybe they would. The audience is... diverse in their interests.
There's something about a time limit and the girl almost didn't catch it, too lost in her own worries. "Wait, minutes? Just sixteen?" she speaks up, but her inquiry appears to go unheard, the suited overseer's hand hovering distressingly near a large red button.
She opens her mouth again, ready to ask another question the instant there's a lull in the lecture, about what kind of safety precautions have been taken to make sure that no one-
And then the bay opens out beneath them, the six Transilifts, as the flying platforms are apparently called, jettisoned out into the open sky, along with the fighters. Hovering for an instant before the sinking sensation of having no support beneath her takes over, Hotaru flails her arms, fingers slipping against the side of the interior of the plane though giving her just enough control to push off into an aerial pirouette that brings her to a safe and sound landing on one of the six flying platforms.
Adjusting to the wind rushing through her hair and blowing against her traditionally styled, blue and white fighting outfit, takes a moment, but once that passes, it's not really all that hard to just stay standing on one of them. Inertia and friction seem to balance out just right to make it possible to stay upright. Though that doesn't exactly speak to being able to /fight/ from flying device to flying device.
Each surface appears capable of holding all three fighters if they pack in tight, but otherwise two is the more likely number to make sense. Stabilizing her balance, the girl raises her eyes, quickly trying to make sure her opponents fared well enough to get their footing. "Well, uh... be careful." the young figther remarks, as much for herself as anyone else.
Well... it'll be a challenge, anyway.
Unlike many fighters, Cherry Aguirre actually tends to relish the insane conditions of Saturday Night Fights; after all, insane conditions + wire-fu = oohs and aahs from the audience, which is what she's after more than anything. Plus she's a bit of an adrenaline junkie, so something a little dangerous isn't exactly out of her milieu. Still... as she gets settled on one of the transilifts in the cargo bay of the plane -- not an easy task even for someone with really sure footwork -- Cherry has to wonder, is this really a good idea? I mean, what kind of safety measures can you take in midair with a plane flying *away* while you fall *at the ground*? Even hitting water from that height might as well be a fall onto concrete. "Let me tell you what you can do with your survey..." she mutters during the safety lecture, under her breath.
Glancing around, the redhead realizes she knows both of the fighters here, or at least recognizes them. Hotaru was her teammate in that... strange SNF against Kain Heinlein, and she remembers her bout with the Dancing Spider in the Neo League particularly well. Aranha she knows is damned acrobatic; Hotaru she dimly recalls as being fairly speedy. "Well," she says with a faint smile, grinning at the others. "How nice that they picked fighters least likely to hurl themselves to the Earth below." It's supposed to be a compliment; it comes out like a dire warning. Good work, Cherry.
Of course, when the cargo doors open, the Fighting Diva is instantly regretting standing ON the platform she's on. Why? She doesn't have Hotaru's moment of control and the acrobatic entry; her eyes go wide shortly before she and everything else go flying out with a 'whoosh' of displaced air. In fact, Cherry's voice dopplers back, screaming "WHAT THE HEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeel-" to the people still in the plane. Gravity forces her flat to the platform, but *thankfully* she doesn't flip or slide off, and so as Hotaru lands on hers Cherry forces herself standing. "I think we're beyond 'be careful' level, Pigtails," she shouts over the rushing wind.
Aranha had never expected to be put in a situation where he'd be fighting on floating platform. Swinging platforms, buildings, jungle gyms. Flying rocket powered platforms? This is actually quite new experience to him. Of course part of it was from the fact that he did significantly less SNFs than he did Neo Leagues he was able to avoid the outlandish SNF fights for the most part.
He wasn't able to avoid this one. AS the instructions for the fight are given Aranha shakes his head in silence the look of disbelief playing on his face.
"What the hell were these nut jobs thinking... Oh hol..." And then the button is pressed and he's dropped along with the others and he goes into self preservation mode as he attempts to calculate distance and adapt quickly enough that he can drop into a roll on impact distributing the impact harmlessly before coming up to his feet. His parkour training saves him.
"Death around the corner. What a familiar feeling." After that he has to make his displeasure with the situation by flipping the bird at the plane. "I swear to god, my next fight is on--" The name of the fight league is bleeped out but every one knows which one he means.
Cherry's response provokes a soft 'Heh' from Hotaru. Way beyond careful indeed. Her well known pig-tails whip in the wind, the girl trying to put out of her mind that their fighting venue is anything other than a number of elevated platforms. Ignore the mile and a half high... seventy miles per hour aspect of it, and there's nothing TOO unusual, right? Hotaru swallows, trying to convince herself that that's indeed the case.
Aranha is observed, the girl having had a chance to be reminded of his ability not too long ago. To deal with him and another up and coming fighter at once? Well, the league officials must have high hopes for her or been low on options this time around, she muses. Either way, she's going to make the best of it, even with the death daring circumstances. Drawing herself up into a ready stance, adjusted slightly due to how far forward she has to lean, hands raised, the girl glances back and forth between her two opponents, "Let's begin. Clock's ticking."
And then she's in motion. A spring from her platform takes her to Aranha's, but it's only in brief passing, as she kicks off from it toward Cherry's, having made the angled trajectory so that should she hit the other girl, she might knock her backward to another transilift rather than at a potentially more dangerous angle.
As she lands, she's low, arms out at her sides, legs crossed into an almost seated position, her back toward the red-head. It's a position held for only an instant as she spins out of it, swinging out for Cherry with first one palm, then a second, attempting to test her reflexes right off the bat. Aranha, she has a rough sense about. "Ya, ha!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has started a fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Cherry has joined the fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Cherry
COMBATSYS: Aranha has joined the fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aranha
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Cherry 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aranha
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Cherry 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Cherry has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Aranha 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Cherry
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Aranha has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aranha
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Cherry
COMBATSYS: Cherry blocks Hotaru's Medium Punch.
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Hotaru 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Aranha
> //////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Cherry
Normally, Cherry is a superball in combat, bouncing from place to place and trying her damndest to avoid taking damage at all. But even she is made a little cautious by this scenario, which is a little out of her depth. Or perhaps she's still shaky from that first jump out the plane. Thus as Hotaru leaps at her, she plants her feet as best she can and pushes forward into the punches, slamming her palms into Hotaru's and knocking each blow away rather than escaping around it. The grimace of pain on her face shows that doing so is still costly; sucking up damage is not her forte and it shows. It's a damn sight better than taking the punches to the face, anyway.
"Not bad, not bad. Of course, you dinged up that prettyboy in the white suit pretty well too, as I recall," Cherry quips carefully. However, she doesn't waste any time counterattacking; with a quick spin, she intends to kick Hotaru right in the side with a mid-level blow. In part it's intended to get her the heck off the platform, as well, but given the power behind it Hotaru should likely clear to another nearby platform if it connects.
Probably.
99% sure.
Aranha likewise is usually like a bouncy ball. Or rather given the right type of environment, Aranha moves like rogue ball of flubber. However given the fact that he doesn't want to interfere with what Cherry is doing, nor does he want to crowd his team mate due to the size of the platforms, Aranha hangs back.
Quickly bouncing from platform to platform he closes the distance somewhat as his right hand glows blue. He waits to see what happens with Cherry's counter offensive before he launches his blue chi spider web. After all, he doesn't want to hit his own team mate with the attack regardless of whether or not Cherry gets Hotaru away from her space.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru blocks Cherry's Light Kick.
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Hotaru 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Aranha
> /////////////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Cherry
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Aranha's Web Shot.
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Hotaru 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Aranha
> /////////////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Cherry
The two strikes come in fast, holding nothing back, but Cherry manages to knock them aside just in time. But the nature of Hotaru's stance becomes more clear as she finishes rising up to standing, bringing her right leg up sharply, bent at the knee, intersecting the kick meant for her side with her shin instead, releasing a soft breath as she does so. She slips a couple inches, but is otherwise well roted to the platform for the immediate moment.
"Thank you," she responds before dropping back down into an extremely low stance, her feet far apart, left leg bent beneath her for support as the projected web is sent flying just right over her head, the girl having managed to avoid it narrowly with her evasive duck. "That was a team effort though." The girl casts Aranha a quick grin, letting him know that while her focus is on Cherry, she knows where he's at as well.
From that low position, the next attack comes in the form of a sweep with her right leg, hands planted against the sturdy? surface as she spins around, rising up and rolling with the momentum into a follow up kick side kick with the same leg. "Haah!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Cherry with Medium Kick.
Glancing Blow
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Hotaru 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Aranha
> //////////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Cherry
That actually makes Cherry laugh, a genuine enough amusement but coming from her, everything seems a little sarcastic. It's a personal curse. She's hopping back a step even as she feels her kick somewhat connect, raising an eyebrow as Aranha's blue web goes flying past. That was a little closer than she'd like. "I suppose it was." Dropping into stance again, she shakes her head. "Hard to come up with quippy one-liners when you're wondering how long you'll have at terminal velocity..."
Then the sweep! Blinking, Cherry doesn't have time to avoid it, even though she tries... but by some miracle, her defensive mojo kicks in even as she's dropping toward the ground. Twisting her body, she effectively rolls around the side kick to Hotaru's side by moving with the kick's flow, pushing off the platform with her hand. Deciding to use that momentum to make an attack, she turns the roll into a dive, looking to drive both feet into her opponent and effectively use her as a springboard to another platform.
Aranha does not want to get into a situation where Cherry and he are both on a platform at the same time because of two reasons his martial art has an emphasis on kicks and with both of them on a platform at the same time, it blunts the effectiveness of his kicks. Secondly even without the kick emphasis it's too damn crowded to fight effectively.
Aranha doesn't quite like the idea of Cherry absorbing all the attacks which is why when the red head vacates the platformer Aranha is quick to take her place. Besides moving there allows for the capoeirista to make a concerted effort to control the flow of the fight. Of course, in this type of fight chaos is par for the course and he can't plan for everything.
Aranha snaps out a kick hoping that he can atleast put a bullseye on his chest.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Hotaru with Light Kick.
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Hotaru 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Aranha
> ///////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Cherry
COMBATSYS: Cherry successfully hits Hotaru with Heavy Kick.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-======|=------\-------\0 Aranha
> ///////////////////////// ]
|======-\-------\0 Cherry
Her kick snapped out, the Kenpo artist draws her leg back in, planting it beneath her as she gets ready to transition into another set of strikes. Constantly in motion even while staying almost perfectly atop the exact same location of the rapidly flying platform, the girl finds herself having to contend with getting double teamed in short order as Cherry slips to her side and flipping into a two footed kick against the girl's chest.
The impact staggers her, knocking her out of her shifting stance, leaving her easily struck by Aranha the instant he lands. The force has her flailing, stumbling, knocked clear of her chosen spot, but she manages to regain her footing atop the platform all the same. Chasing after Cherry seems rather unnecessary now that she has another target in front of her right that very moment!
Stepping in closer to Aranha, the girl goes for his wrists, attempting to get a grip on his arms and pry his guard open. The intent is clear, as she tries to take several stomping kicks right up the front of him, using his shoulders as a spring board just as Cherry had done to her a moment ago. Should she get airborn, she's going after the red-head again, pursuing her with forward flip to try and land on the same Transilift(tm) the other girl has ended up on!
Secretly thankful that Aranha decided to step in, Cherry stops on an adjacent platform and takes a deep breath. This is exciting, but also truly insane. "Just like that pit of your stomach feeling when you jump over a cliff in Mario Bros.," she mutters to herself. The key is to just think of it as moving across water... rather than a 2 mile expanse of empty air followed by an extremely sudden stop. Thankful to take a moment, she decides not to attack just yet, watching Aranha and Hotaru battle it out. She knows the Dancing Spider's capable of holding his own (and then some), and thus doesn't stress it for now...
...until she considers that Hotaru's going to want to head back toward her again. Thus she's not attacking but she's not helpless, either; she sets one foot back and watches Futaba's movements very carefully. Hopefully an opportunity will arise to put this to good use!
COMBATSYS: Cherry focuses on her next action.
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Hotaru 0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Aranha
> ///////////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Cherry
COMBATSYS: Aranha fails to interrupt Shin-Jou Tai from Hotaru with Bad Beat.
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Hotaru 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Aranha
> ///////////////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Cherry
His instincts cry... no scream out to him defend himself somehow. Unfortunately, his logic dictated that he'd be better off in the long term making sure that the fight stayed on that platform since it would allow him to keep the pressure off of his team mate.
However Hotaru moves just half a step ahead of him and when he leans his head forward to put her upward progress to a dead halt instead he finds her climbing up him foot steps repeatedly impacting on him before that final stomp drives him face first to the ground and there's nothing he can do about Hotaru moving towards Cherry at this point.
The girl takes to the air with a graceful forward flip after reaching Aranha's shoulders. Difficult to confine, it seems, she never truly holds still, though her movements are hardly erratic or overly flash either it would seem. Even before her feet touch the platform, a trail of blue chi is left behind the movement of her hands. The cause for that seems rather apparent as she doesn't even seem to land before she's after Cherry with a second hop and a series of air-born, windmilling palm strikes, the blue chi spiraling around her as she dishes out hte series of attacks.
Should the girl manage to get in through Cherry's defenses, however, she'll slip in behind her while her guard is crushed and continue with a swift mule kick from behind, driving her back the opposite direction she was originally forcing her.
All part of keeping the fight afloat on the small fleet of transilifts. That they're holding up at all is somewhat a marvel to the girl. That they're staying in a nice, tight formation so far is more like a prayer answered. "HYA!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Cherry with Sou-shou Tenrenge.
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Hotaru 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Aranha
> //////////// ]
|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Cherry
When asked about this later, Cherry will describe her thinking as: "Well, fuck."
She frowns, and the attack isn't *quite* as fast as she might expect, but it's fast enough. Without much room to move, the Fighting Diva tries her best to try to get to some unoccupied corner of the Transilift, but there just isn't enough space. The result is that the relatively lightweight Cherry goes flying through the air like a rag doll after the final strike, slamming face-first into an unoccupied lift a surprising distance from the one that Hotaru just delivered a beatdown from.
It's a good long while before she gets up, and puts a hand up to her face, covering it for a moment. When she brings it away, she blinks down at her red-stained palm with a bit of surprise. Not that Cherry is fantastic at handling damage, but that was extreme even by her standards. Wiping a hand across her bleeding nose, she pauses, then smirks at Hotaru. "I thought I recognized you," she says offhandedly. "You were the Yellow Ranger in that first season, weren't you..."
There's a pause. And then Cherry LEAPS across the distance between herself and Hotaru at a speed perhaps rivalling Miss Futaba's own, looking to slam a simple palm strike into her stomach after she lands...
Aranha slowly peels himself off the ground and is instantly greeted by the sight of Hotaru delivering savage beatings in the form windmilling strikes. And while Aranha wasn't the recipient of those strikes Aranha unbeknownst to either fighter shares a moment where the same exact thought pops into his head as Cherry's. 'Well, fuck'
At this point, Aranha has to abandon the idea of saving Cherry. If she still can fight on to the end, good but protection tactics are out of the question for him. Still, Aranha is going to make sure that his presence is felt by the younger fighter.
Aranha begins leaping from platform to platform closing the distance before he reaches a higher platform and then descends upon Hotaru with a kick before bounding off of her to land on another platform.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Aranha's Sky's the Limit.
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Hotaru 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Aranha
> /////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Cherry
COMBATSYS: Cherry successfully hits Hotaru with Disco Inferno.
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Hotaru 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Aranha
> /////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Cherry
...and contact is achieved. "My turn," Cherry says with a wild grin, suddenly twirling and kicking *extremely* high and at extremely close range, sending Hotaru's body skyward. What follows is an aerial dance of kicks and punches delivered at extremely high speed, each one seeming to take the pair higher and higher into the air, away from the platforms. "FIRE IN THE DISCO, BABY!" the Fighting Diva bellows, a massive fiery aura in the shape of a phoenix exploding around her body as she spins and kicks Hotaru like a human meteor RIGHT at one of the platforms; Cherry herself spins and lands on a nearby platform in a full crouch, taking deep breaths.
Dishing out the rapid, punishing combination, Hotaru comes to a stop, standing up straight, spinning around to take in both of the fighters as she occupies her own transilift. If they come at her, she'll be forced to act, but for the moment, she's content to stay still, needing to recover from the efforts of such an energy dependant assault. Cherry's comment provokes a short laugh from the pig-tailed fighter as she shakes her head, "I'm not quite ready to take on giant monsters," she answers.
And then she has Aranha coming down, his foot swinging out swiftly as he attempts to use the girl like a spring board. Seems to be a lot of that going on. Lacking walls, ceilings, or, well, anything at all besides the six hovering platforms, that's bound to happen, one supposes.
She slips around him, clasping her hands behind her back for a moment, letting him leap free without any attempt to retaliate just yet. When she brings her arms forward from behind her back, a blue glow encases them, the girl readying her defenses against Cherry's next attack.
The palm strike slips through, however, catching her in the stomach, stunning her as she starts to crumple. She realizes there's more coming, but she just can't quite recover in time before she finds herself punted straight up into the air with a jarring kick. It's disorienting, and leaves her less able fend off the strikes, though she does manage knock aside a couple of the kicks and punches. By the time Cherry plows back into her with a gigantic explosion of chi, however, the girl has no more wherewithall to defend herself and she's sent tumbling back down.
She lands in a roll, slipping off to the side of one platform, hands snapping out in time to take quick hold, keeping her from skidding clean off all together. A soft exhale, and then she's twisting herself back to her feet, shaking her head, hand coming up to rest against her side to nurse a hidden bruise, "Pretty good," she states quietly. And with that, she's back on the offense. Springing forward, she goes after Aranha, attempting to land close enough to hook an arm around his waist.
If she can get the momentum she's looking for, the girl will sweep his feet out from under him to slam him down flat on his back, dropping down to add additional pressure by flipping up into hand stand on his chest and pushing off to land on yet another conveniently positioned platform!
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Hotaru's Medium Throw.
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Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Aranha
> /////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Cherry
Wobbling a bit, Cherry gets up from her kneeling and rubs her eyes. That... was insane. At least Hotaru seems to be in reasonably good humor about things, but the Fighting Diva is more than happy to see her run off to fight Aranha, quite frankly. She brushes herself off, even though the whipping wind made dust a memory a long time ago; the motion is clearly either for drama or a rote motion rather than actually intended to clear her of any filth. "I'm full of surprises," she says evenly.
Three people on one platform... a tight fit. But what if Cherry should strike Hotaru without actually LANDING on that platform? Tensing for a moment, she suddenly leaps forward toward the Kenpo fighter as she dives for Aranha, leg extended in a Bruce Lee-style flying kick, a roaring dragon's head of fire surrounding her body. She shouts a loud "WATAH!" as she seeks to smack Hotaru... but not be STOPPED by her, instead intending to keep flying right on by to the NEXT platform. It's very, very risky... but it might pay off big.
Aranha manages to spread his stance just wide enough that when Hotaru goes to take one of his legs out from under him, she only catches one of his legs. Granted, this is still enough to knock him off balance but he has more control over his fall than he would have otherwise. He drops to the ground with one leg extended as he drops to a seated position over the folded leg's heel as he catches the fall with hand.
When Hotaru goes to bound off of him from a handstand, it ends up being done off of his shoulders instead. Aranha quickly spins to his feet and launches himself into the air to follow Hotaru up to the same platform before whirling around with a roundhouse kick.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru blocks Cherry's House of Ninja.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1 Aranha
> ///////// ]
|======-\-------\0 Cherry
COMBATSYS: Hotaru fails to interrupt Change-Up Kick from Aranha with Hantentou.
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Hotaru 1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
> ///////// ]
|======-\-------\0 Cherry
Chosing to spring off of Aranha's shoulders has its costs and benefits. On one hand, it gives the girl a chance to contend with Cherry's incoming kick mid-air, retaliating with a deflecting kick of her own to redirect the majority of the momentum past her in exchange for a minor pain against the side of her leg.
Twisting out of the deflecting kick, however, the girl has to contend with Aranha coming in with a kick of his own. Spinning around, she attempts to hook an arm under his arm in an attempt to try a secondary throw, this time with the benefit of height to increase its effectiveness by dragging him down to a platform on his back.
His roundhouse has an other idea in mind, however, catching Hotaru in the side before she can quite get a hold. A gasp of pain marks the hit as she drops to the side, rolling into a low crouch, hand coming to rest on her side as she pants for breath. She doesn't move for a moment, simply eying both fighters, trying to figure out how best she can get through their combined efforts.
Her right hand comes up to wipe across her mouth as she slowly pushes herself back up to standing upright, turning one shoulder toward the other two and raising her hands. She hasn't much left in her, but she'll make the best of it. A flicker of a smile is all she offers, no words to say to either for now.
For a second, everything is very Wild West: Hotaru stands defiant, while Aranha is to one side and Cherry, on another platform, is at her opposite. The wind is even obliging, thanks to the physics of freefall, sending pigtails and dark red hair alike flowing out. The vastness of the sky is all around, the depth of the blue at this height an intense cobalt color rather than the pale powder shade one finds on the ground. Truly, it is an awe-inspiring sight if there ever was one, the fierce pride of fighters against the awesome majesty of the sky.
Cherry ruins it by looking over the side and saying, in a curious tone, "I think I can see my house from here."
If anything, the momentary jocularity is a distraction for herself, but it's also a way of getting comfortable with the height, giving herself some confidence. Amazingly, it sort of works. Details can be made out. The ground is familiar. This is going to work out. We can do it. WE CAN WIN </minmei>.
With a yell, the Diva leaps forward, effectively diving at Hotaru as if to deliver a powerful overhead kick. However... she misses entirely, possibly because the axe kick is feint. She hits the ground and immediately rises up, looking to slam her palm into the underside of Hotaru's chin. "Gonna be hard to do all that fancy maneuvering," she says simply, "with three of us on this thing!"
If there was one thing Aranha did _not_ want Cherry to do, it was that. Throughout the fight Aranha had been fighting in a way that no more than two people at a time would occupy a platform and with such a reduced effectiveness Aranha's not about make an attack.
As a result, Aranha gives up the high ground to the two women, opting instead to drop down to a lower platform rolling the moment his feet touch the surface. Either Hotaru will come to him or he'll go to her on his own terms and not Futaba's. "I think I'll pass on squeezing in up there, thank you."
COMBATSYS: Aranha focuses on his next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
> ////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Cherry
COMBATSYS: Cherry successfully hits Hotaru with Quick Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
> ////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Cherry
The time Cherry takes to go look over the side, Hotaru spends just catching her breath. Like any other match that pits her against a duo, these two are proving to be more than capable of keeping up with her and getting their hits in. If not for the fierce training the girl has been through over the last year and half of constant fighting, she wouldn't have been able to take so many hits and even keep going. But what doesn't kill you, like a mile long plunge to the earth, makes you stronger, or so the theory goes!
She misreads the kick, weaving low, only to eat a palm strike to the bottom of her chin. It knocks her up on her toes, staggering backward a step, but she stays standing, albeit slightly dazed. The retaliation that comes is almost uncertain, the girl stepping forward once, finding just one opponent within her blurry vision to attack back at.
It's a double-palm press Cherry has to contend with next, as Hotaru attempts to push her back with enough force to strongly encourage her to retreat back to another lift. The clock is running low, perhaps, but Hotaru knows that she's just barely hanging in there as it stands. "YA!"
COMBATSYS: Cherry dodges Hotaru's Strong Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
> ////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Cherry
Apparently that boost in self-confidence paid off for Cherry; that double palm strike comes perilously close to striking her but at the last second she vaults sideways. It's not the smartest of evasions; in fact, she ends in a sort of baseball slide that sends her careening over the edge, a last minute hand grab the only thing between her and certain death. Shoving herself back up and landing in a crouch, her eyes go wide but she's grinning like a maniac. "I've wanted to make a big splash in Japanese media," she says breathlessly. "I'd prefer it to be with my stunning good looks and charm, though."
The redhead notices that Aranha has fled the scene, and realizes that he's just as skittish about three on one of these things as the Diva was on getting all three in same place. Thus she all but mirrors Hotaru's strike, stepping forward with both palms and looks to shove her right off into the path of another platform. "SERVICE!"
As the two women exchange attempts to shove each other Aranha develops some ideas of his as to how to finish the fight. Since Hotaru left the traceur unharassed he begins to make his way back up to the platform and before launching his body off a glow with blue chi as he bounces from platform to platform delivering fast kicks engulfed with chi as he attempts to plow into the Kempoist over and over from a variety of directions and angles before kick off of her and landing on platform on a higher level.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Hotaru with Joker's Wild.
[ \\ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/--=====/=======|===----\-------\0 Aranha
> ////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Cherry
COMBATSYS: Hotaru interrupts Strong Punch from Cherry with Hakki Shou.
[ < > ////////////////// ]
Hotaru 1/=======/=======|===----\-------\0 Aranha
> /// ]
|=======\=======\1 Cherry
COMBATSYS: Hotaru can no longer fight.
> ////////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Aranha
> /// ]
|=======\=======\1 Cherry
Drawing her hands back after Cherry manages to slip around her palm strike, Hotaru takes a step back, pushing herself precariously close to the edge in order to gain a modicum of distance to work with. Her right arm is drawn down to her side, her left shoulder toward Cherry as the blue eyed Kenpo artist keeps her focus on the other girl. She knows Aranha is around, but he's slipped out of her field of vision and she can't possibly try to keep track of him and contend with the American fighter at the same time.
A blue, vibrant aura courses along her forearm, the girl readying her next attack. She sees the palm press coming, but rather than retreat, she steps forward, slamming her right hand out, unfurling her fingers, and trading hits - the palm press hits her stomach but does nothing to stop her from blasting the other girl back from nearly point blank range. The chance to react in time would have been miniscule with the way the pig-tailed fighter waited to the last moment.
She doesn't even have time to draw her arm back before Aranha is upon her, however, dropping down with a series of chi-laced kicks that pummel Hotaru back and forth. A sharp cry escapes her lips when he finally drives her flat against the Transilift, forcing the device to wobble a little as if it might end up tipping to one side or the other. But the innovative technology ends up holding true and steady in the end, sparing the disoriented fighter any further trials to contend with.
Her hands slam down, the girl readying to push herself back up to continue, but even in trying, her arms tremble and give out and she lies back down flat, gasping for breath. The series of small hits, only to be finished by the swift combination on Aranha's part proves to be more than she can really handle. "W-whew," the girl gasps, rolling onto her side, "Okay, I give," she grimaces, curling up a little.
It'll pass, like all the others. "You two do pretty good together," she observes, folling onto her knees and pushing herself into a kneeling position, hands resting in her lap. "But I'm ready for whatever recovery vehicle they promised..." She frowns a little, glancing to the side to scan the horizon. "...there better be a recovery vehicle."
COMBATSYS: Cherry takes no action.
> ////////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Aranha
> //////// ]
|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Cherry
COMBATSYS: Cherry has reached second wind!
> ////////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Aranha
> //////// ]
|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Cherry
Right back over the edge. That flaring blue light reflects eerily in Cherry's green eyes, which do indeed widen when she realizes she's probably about to get dished out considerably more than she just served up herself. Indeed, Hotaru's powerful burst of chi slams into the Fighting Diva at point-blank range and so fast that any sort of evasion is absolutely out of the question; only a miracle could have saved her from that. The problem with being relatively light (and light on your feet) is that such blows tend to really pack a wallop, and indeed as Hotaru is dealing with Aranha's flurry of kicks Cherry goes *right over the side*.
Except for one hand.
For her it is the most harrowing experience of her life, because she was already fighting hazy vision and serious fatigue... Hotaru's final blast really, really put her out of the fight, bodily. Reflexes alone kept her from hurtling off the side, though it's like another Transilift(tm) would have broken her fall. But the American looks down, and sees the ground that gave her confidence before. Now, it is terrifying. Despite all her bravado and swagger, Cherry *really does not* want to die.
Her climb back up is agonizing, but that wish to survive is incredibly strong; with supreme effort, she hauls herself back on top of the lift just as Hotaru gives her surrender. Laying on her back, the Diva stares up at the (higher) sky for a moment, breathless.
Then she starts laughing hysterically. Oh yes. This is going in the scrapbook.
As for the other American, he finally lands right next to Hotaru with one knee on the ground as he the aura of blue chi fades away. The surrender is offered and Cherry pulls herself up from near certain death. The adrenaline from the high pressure situation finally wears off and the aches and pains become more and more pronounced.
In spite of it all, Aranha rises back to his feet. "I swear... I'm not signing up for another one of these for awhile." He pauses to take a deep breath and fill his lungs with sweet sweet air. "These people are f*bleep*in nuts."
COMBATSYS: Cherry has left the fight here.
> ////////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Aranha
Log created on 22:54:37 08/25/2008 by Aranha, and last modified on 22:34:30 08/26/2008.