Description: When Nataya faces off with Shurui, she expects a good, evenly matched battle. What she doesn't expect is the young Gedo High fighter to avoid everything she tosses at her and retaliate with tremendous efficiency! Even though Nataya manages to tag the girl at the end with a vicious attack, she's completely overwhelemed by the younger fighter despite her best efforts! (Winner: Shurui)
Let's talk about fighters. Specifically, let's talk about fighting women.
The average fighting woman is anywhere between 5'3" to 5'8", and tends to look like they just stepped off of a Hollywood movie set. Most of them are tall, leggy, busty and buff with great hair, bright eyes, and a lot of them have /power/. In fact, it would appear that most female fighters have power and speed in spades, generating enough chi or psychic energy to light up a New York City block. It's just the way of the world. There are exceptions of course. But that's what people come to expect with the likes of Mai's bouncy charms or Angel's revealing battle bikini.
And then there's Nataya.
She's not really all that amazing. Certainly, she's not a horrible, ugly person, but she's definitely no polished Madison Avenue Maiden. She's on the average side, with slightly dusky skin, dark black scruffy hair, and a serene smile that the smiling Buddha of Chinese fame would be envious of. If anthing, her appearance is best classified as 'scrappy', and there's a certain vibrance about her that gives her a sort of tomboyish appeal, if not for the fact that she still maintains minimal trappings of feminine demureness.
Overall? She's just sort of nice looking, clad in long sleeved robes and sitting in a little plastic chair provided by the Neo League, eating a ham sandwich out of a paper sack. It's been a little while since her battle with Frei and Zach. The fight had ended in a three way tie, and she's still getting used to the strangeness that is Neo League and Saturday Night Fights. Overall, she finds herself liking Neo League better. it gives her more one-on-one time with interesting people and in interesting places.
More importantly, she doesn't have to dress up in clothes meant for Mardi Gras or fight with blindfolds on.
And she's gotten to know the NL staff pretty well. Dominic is going to have a baby soon, and Ritsuko's having boyfriend troubles again. Right now, she's busy reading a book report done by Sanjay, one of the interns who's trying to pass his final English class in college. She likes the pre-fight hustle and bustle as she waits for the face she pulled from the fight card.
It said "Shurui", and the picture on the card showed a gray-haired face with sunglasses and a hoodie, which made he rlook like the most adorable Unabomber /ever/. Still, Nataya's not one to fixate on things like that. So she waits there in the arena, munching on a snadwich and conjugating verbs fron a very sweet punjab kid.
And then there's Shurui. Short, perpetual frown, dark brown eyes. Gray hair. Looks.... twelve years old at times, wearing clothes that do nothing to really enhance whatever petite curves she might've grown in the last year or so. Perhaps, there's fans of this look, but Shurui sure doesn't want to meet them.
She just wants the money.
Now, living with K' and Whip has meant that such matches aren't exactly needed; they bring a rather nice income that eclipses whatever Shurui's made in the past few months *easily*. Of course, this doesn't excuse the girl from perhaps getting a little money on the side herself, in Shurui's mind. Oh no sir. She needs to pitch in too!
Even if this means being clueless to whoever the hell she's supposed to fight. The photo looks like a blurry mess to her. Someone with.... slightly darker than usual skin? Or is it a bad print-out? "Are you the person I'm fighting?" Shurui's voice is heard, almost suddenly, as a dark-eyed gaze settles vaguely over at Nataya. There's the adorable Unibomber, an impatient frown on her face. "Nataya Kovit, right?"
Nataya's the only one sitting in a chair. However, it wouldn't be the first time Shurui's guessed wrong.
Nataya looks up with a mouth full of sandwich. She chews, swallows, and smiles, placing the ten page paper aside along with the highlighter she was using to mark corrections. "That's me!" She says with a honest to goodness, enthusiastic grin. She shakes Shuruir's hand whether or not Shurui is a hand shaker by nature, the prayer beads dangling from her sleeves waggling back and forth from the action/
"Nice to meet you," she says as she stands up, smoothing out her robes. Looks like she's got a few bandages and the sleeves on her robes looks like they've been subjected to a little needle and thread work, courtesy of Nataya's own skill and the fact that Frei tore up her clothes with his ice shards attack.
Nataya can't really comment on her Neo League picture... it's not a great shot of her, but she hasn't looked at the thing since she got it... and Nataya's been getting a lot of use out of it lately!
"So, you're a schoolgirl here?" She asks conversationally as she waves the producer down to let him know that the opponent has arrived, and the place swings into action. "Must be exciting. I see a lot of kids here are into martial arts. Makes me wish I had started sooner!" She sets back into her corner, settling into what looks like a kneeling pose on her haunches. "'Scuse me. I haven't really done this in a while, and I have to pay some respects here." Nataya bows her head low, and thens tarts to engage in a ritualistic dance as someone hits play on a CD player. The reedy sound of traditional Thai instruments fill the air. Apparently, the NL is giving her time, thanks to her constant participation, to do her Wai Kru, which is a highly formalized pre-fight dance that practictioners of Muay Thai (and Muay Boran for that matter) engage in before a battle.
It looks a little odd, what with the knee bends, spinning of hands, and strange, deliberate steps. Nataya looks absorbed in it, however, which allows Shurui to make the preparations necessary for her own pre-fight rituals.
This woman's very.... cheerful. But not overly so. Shurui can deal with this. ".... N-nice to meet you too," the scruffy haired girl says as her hand is usurped by Nataya's overenthusiastic own. The direct contact doesn't scare her by much, thankfully; Shurui seems content to just let her hand be shaken with gusto as long as it's returned within a decreeded amount of time.
Is she a schoolgirl? "Gedo High," Shurui says, in her next breath, cutting ahead to the chase. "That's where I go to." The returned hand goes back to the front pockets of her hoodie. "..." She glances aside awkwardly, then bows her head, as if remembering herself. "I'm Shurui Chiang. Nice to meet you." Muda would have expected better manners out of her.
Shurui can at least stand still and allow Nataya's graceful dance to be performed. Of course, it's not as if it's a treat within itself, watching the performed movements as Shurui stands as unmoving and graceful as a log, propping her shades to the top of her forehead. Ah, much better. She can see the woman move through in aural vision, her particular energy moving along with as it's cast against a sea of other body energies, all glowing.
.... It's beautiful. And a sight she'll keep to herself.
The dance eventually subsides, the stepping and turning dies down and the cheerfully smiling woman stops. Her feet slide back in a more combat ready pose without any additional notice. The girl seems nice enough and Nataya's not going to judge. It's not her place to. However, there's something to be said for being engaging. After all, being a lump on a log is neve rputting your best foot forward!
"Thanks for coming out to fight with me," she says, focusing her attention on her opponent carefully. "Show me what you've got! I'm expecting the best from all the kids that I fight!"
And with that, Nataya's shooting forward. No warning, no nothing. Like a small 100 pound freight train, the woman's legs move her at an impossible rate of speed, chewing up the ground beneath her as her pump-sandals pitter-pat across the stone floor. A dust cloud froms beneath her... the brown dirt giving way to a silvery sheen as she shoots around and whips a snap kick towards Shurui's stationary form. However, that burst of activity is only a feint.
Dropping down low, Nataya actually goes in for a powerful body blow, her fist ramming outwards to smash clean into the young girl's breadbasket. "Look alive!"
COMBATSYS: Nataya has started a fight here.
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Nataya 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Shurui has joined the fight here.
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Shurui 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Nataya
COMBATSYS: Shurui blocks Nataya's Strong Punch.
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Shurui 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Nataya
The feint works- almost. The girl seems almost entranced by the woman's dance, so when the tides change in a sudden twist, there isn't much time to react. Shurui's body moves to avoid the silvery kick on its own volition, while her mind is noticing the redirection of energy towards another action. It was just to psyche her out?
Shurui's eyes widen slightly, though that shocked expression fails to travel down to her lips. No, it's not just a shocked expression; she's opening the shutters on her mental eye just a little further, taking in that body energy she was studying earlier and attempting to read what will come next. "Ngh!" Nataya's fist collides against Shurui's arms, locked in a defensive pose. "Is this alive enough for you?"
One hand, freed from that blocking posture, closes in a grey smokey fist in that small span of time, though, it doesn't seem to be for Nataya. Instead, Shurui sends it to hit against the ground. The psycho power that was charging in that hand is suddenly discharged, shaking the immediate ground around her (which will hopefully include Nataya) with a single wave.
..... Oh, ow. Fuck. Shurui forgot that hand was still healing.
COMBATSYS: Nataya blocks Shurui's Little Earthquake.
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Shurui 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Nataya
"Sure is!" Is the chipper response as she hunkers down. The attack isn't direct, but the shockwave is palpable. Though she's thrown to the ground, she's not hit with much of the energy, which keeps her from getting completely blown back by the initial salvo. Hopping back up to her feet, she does a damage check. Scraped knees and a little pulled muscle here and there, but still good to go.
Her attack pace broken for only a moment, Nataya's already shooting forward with another attack. She seems to skip once, and then uses the torque of the landing to swing a high roundhouse kick wide. But that's not really the attack she's trying to land. The kick comes with a few added bonuses, such as the silvery cloudburst that swoops along the heel of her shot, concealing the glowing beads within.
Nataya's beads whip forth, connected to her ankle by a strand of silver. Should her attack connect, it'll wrap around Shurui's shoulder, and Nataya will use the connection to spin the girl into the ground and smash her into the hard stone of the arena not once, but three times with each fast roundhouse spin.
COMBATSYS: Nataya successfully hits Shurui with Three Marks.
- Power hit! -
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Shurui 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Nataya
Healing fast was always a nice quirk Shurui seemed to have, even if it wasn't supernatural or, well... especially quick. Case in point: Shurui's hand. Not too long ago, it had been wrapped in a cast as a result of its incessant slamming against a particularly unforgiving metal door. Said door was locked by Seishirou's shenadigens, of course, but Shurui didn't have any way of knowing *that*.
And now, a hand that was doing just *fine* had to be slamed into asphalt. Not dirt, not grass, not something a little softer, but hardened asphalt. Exploding lights sound off in Shurui's head from the sharp sudden pain. This will prove interesting. .... So interesting that when Nataya goes for her hit, Shurui is totally and completely off-guard. "Nfp-!" Did Shurui's hand feel lonely? Well, if not, too bad, because her entire *body* is soon going to be aching in unison from the slamming it recieves against hard rock. Once Shurui is released from the barrage, she flips to her feet, teeth grinding against the pounding of pain in her head. Alright. Just get through this, go home, take a cold shower, and ignore K' if he says anything at all about it. She can do it!
Moving over in a calculated step to engage the Muay Boran fighter, Shurui makes a swift turn into Nataya's side, attempting to lock her knee against the back of Nataya's knee, catching her for the small span of time needed to knock her over backwards with her arm.
COMBATSYS: Nataya blocks Shurui's Quick Throw.
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Shurui 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Nataya
There are no throws in Muay Boran, technically. Nataya's strange energy tricks aside, the style doesn't have any holds, locks, or braces. Instead, it's a technique used to deliver the maximum amount of pain through kicks, punches, and knee and elbow strikes in a limited amount of time. The power Nataya has is there to fill those gaps.
But that doesn't mean she's completely helpless against throws. When Shurui turns into her, Nataya angles herself, breaking free of Shurui's hold before the girl can do any major damage. Nevertheless, the woman staggers, twisting her weaker ankle that's still suffering fromt he ill effects of constantly being kicked or swept. It seems that poor ankle can never get a break, much like Shurui's hand.
She steps back again, spreading her arms out as a torrent of silver clouds rush from her sleeves. "You're pretty darn strong," she says, contemplating the force that Shurui's brought to bear despite Nataya's lucky streak of avoiding the brunt of the pain the girl has in store. "Okay! Let's kick things up a notch!"
Nataya's hands weave through the spreading clouds like she was creating a tapestry with her fingertips. The delicate motions contrast with her usual brutal ttack posture like a negative to a photograph. Nevertheless, her actions, accompanied by a subtle chanting, bear fruit almost immediately. The clouds swirl around, and ten beads shimmer forth like tiny stars, whirling in a complex spiral pattern.
With a short motion of her hand, Nataya sends them forth, little starffighters released rom their mothership as they fly towards the schoolgirl. The tny dots of light then start to open fire, blasting bolts of pure force at the younger opponent. It's a relentless torrent of power, and once it's done, the tiny beads shoot towards the girl themselves, like a storm of buckshot.
COMBATSYS: Shurui parries Nataya's Ten Perfections EX!
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Shurui 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Nataya
What Shurui's adoptive father would have liked is for her to use Wing Chun in the purest sense of the word. Graceful jabs, punches, and kicks that follow an opponent's hand motions, lightning fast and lethal. ..... Instead, Shurui keeps mucking it up with whatever the hell she's learned on the streets. Not exactly the best of combinations, but Shurui isn't an out-and-out expert. Just a little less than two years of training! And some people have been studying for what? Since they were five? She can't even remember anything past three years ago!
That is, if she *had* a life beyond three years. Whatever.
Shurui brings her hands in front of her, open fist, as Nataya compliments her. Her fist still stings, but the adrenaline's washing some of that away. "You can compliment me later," she replies, her eyes actively zeroing in and studying Nataya's form. "Tell me how seriously you take me by how you act!"
Which Nataya.... seems to do, summoning that familiar energy that Shurui knows so personally. No, she won't wait for that psychic buckshot to be released before she reacts; before that hand could wave, she's rushing towards the Thai woman, ducking down and sliding her body forward in a flattened roll. Here, timing is everything; as one of those energy bullets cascade past her eeriely close, Shurui can only thank whatever forces allowed her to commit to such a harebrained move and come out alive. "....!" Slapping her left palm against the ground, Shurui pushes herself onto her feet in a quick motion meters before Nataya, heady with the success of her manuver.
"My turn." Shurui's leg whips up high, the apex of the foot strangely coming to miss Nataya's chain and face. It's the psycho power that erupts after it, however, that proves to be a bigger problem, following the arc of her kick in a ghostly identifical record of her swing.
COMBATSYS: Nataya endures Shurui's Phantom Limb EX!
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Shurui 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Nataya
Nataya can only watch as her fleet of beads are avoided with sheer speed and agility. That's unusual. Most people don't really have the wherewithall to avoid her barrage of death. Nevertheless, Shurui managed to do so, and the retaliation isn't any kind of fun at all. The explosive strike slams clean into Nataya, the burst causing her to do a neat flip backward, slamming hard on her haunches
The wind is pounded out of her regardless of her defensive maneuver, and the best the Muay Boran fighter can do for a moment is just wonder what in the heck hit her? Normally attacks don't come in that quickly. But that element of rolling with the punch is just something Nataya's been trained to do. And now it's time to capitalize on that.
She takes a step forward, charging at the girl. It's a short distance, and Nataya's face, still smiling, disappears in a rush of smoke and silver. She leaves behind several hovering concentric rings, which are gathering a serious amount of the silvery cloud material.
And then Nataya's there, behind Shurui, chanting mantras under her breath as she goes into a wicked, destructive combo. She slams an elbow at Shurui's joint between the shoulder and neck. Once. Twice. three times she doe so, and then smashes a knee at her back, then another, and then a powerful front kick, shoving the girl towards the bolt of power that's issuing forth from the beads, attempting to finish her off with an ugly, wide-arced blast.
COMBATSYS: Shurui blocks Nataya's Six Seals EX.
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Shurui 0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Nataya
It was a close dodge, that's for sure. If Shurui tried to do it again, it probably wouldn't work. This time, she probably won't be so lucky. Shurui's eyes warn her of Nataya's impending approach, both in how she's simply closing in on her, and the inner workings that she can see so much more clearly than the blurry shape her eyes on their own can see. Reflexes move in time with the realization of each move, then-
Nothing. What the h- oh.
That sense doesn't just extend to what Shurui sees, of course. It extends all around her, though it's through through the lens of her eyes that this radar-like sensing becomes something even more useful. Shurui turns around; she won't have much time to react, if at all. And elbow hits a hand, attempting to dislodge it from its intended course. (OW. THAT WAS HER RIGHT HAND.) Then the elbow hits an arm as it comes back, and again, two arms. Then, as the knee comes at her back, she allows herself to fall with its momentum, falling to the ground and rolling away from any repeat of the onslaught.
God, it doesn't *feel* like she blocked, but that might be the pain from her hand speaking. The same hand which she clasps together against her left, body twisting around to send the clasped hands swinging directly at Nataya's chin.
COMBATSYS: Shurui successfully hits Nataya with Strong Punch.
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Shurui 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Nataya
And it connects clean. Any hope Nataya had of getting out of the way pretty much disappears as she backs up and just gets her bell rung, the clean blow knocking her aside so that she staggers back. The hit was definitely painful, but each round seems to be a series of blows being traded between the two fighters. Neither seems to be gaining a huge foothold here.
Now it's time to try to push ahead on that gap and try to narrow it up.
This time, Nataya spares all the flashy light gimmicks and goes in for her own straight attack. Her fist rears back, and she strikes out, slamming a straight punc towards the other girl's face... and misses so that she can use the feint to go ahead and slam her opposing elbow against the other girl's temple. The attack is fast, merciless and really doesn't leave a lot of room for error.
Still, for all the force Nataya's bringing to bear, it's clear that she can't keep up the pace forever. Flagging strength from all the repeated punches is starting wear her down by quite a bit!
COMBATSYS: Shurui parries Nataya's Strong Punch!
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Shurui 1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0 Nataya
Simple, yes, but powerful. And that's where Shurui tries her best to avoid them, pressing her hands up against each attack if possible to divert its path elsewhere. First, it's Nataya's punch, which, strangely, needs little in the way of diverting. Energy's being diverted someplace else. No, Nataya's psyching her out!
No pun intended.
The real attack is forcefully diverted away from Shurui's temple, the elbow hitting direct air instead of skull. "Ugh-!" Shurui narrows her eyes, now pressing into Nataya for the kill while Nataya's still recovering. Gritting her teeth, Shurui sends her left fist just below Nataya's fist, knuckles grazing against Nataya's abdomen as another closed fist closes in to mime that move, cycling around in a dual battering wheel of punches against the woman's ribcage.
COMBATSYS: Shurui successfully hits Nataya with Iron Lung EX.
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Shurui 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1 Nataya
Well, this is just getting more and more unpleasant all the time! It seems that no matter what Nataya can manage to fling out, Shurui is just failing to get hit by it either by blocking or just jumping away. Chalk it up to injuries incurred by constantly fighting everyone on the planet, or just flat out being schooled, Nataya's looking less liek a trained fighter and more like she was still blindfold fighting with Frei and Zach. It's a rough life, sometimes.
Still, she's got that same upbeat attitude about her that's keeping her going. Sometimes that's all you need, and when she prepares herself to roll with the punch again... she pretty much mistimes the assault and gets her stomach pounded in and her lungs emptied of all the air she could have possibly had.
She's brought to her knees for a moment. It's hard to recover. "Wow... you're just beating the tar out of me, aren't you?" She says, desperately trying to suck in air so that she can still keep going. This just isn't going well, and she's frankly a little embarrassed to be getting pummeled so bad by such a young opponent. Neverthleless, she's still got more cards to play. The woman mutters under her breath, closing her eyes. The swirling mists come back to her, feeing back inside her robes to provide her with some level of succor. At least enough to give her the fight she needs to at least even things up!
COMBATSYS: Nataya enters a meditative state.
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Shurui 0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\1 Nataya
".... You're lucky you have the same type of energy I got, or else this'd be a lot worse," Shurui says in response to Nataya's comment, cautiously holding her hands out in case of an attack. "From here on out, it's just you and your will."
It's going well- *too* well, in fact. When Nataya begins meditating in the middle of their fight, Shurui feels at odds with what she should do next. Should she attack? Well, Nataya didn't show any hesitation earlier, Shurui probably shouldn't do so here, either. The fight's coming to a close, so who knows what might come up if she allows it to continue. Shurui can still lose, even as tired as Nataya's aura may seem.
You have to watch out for a person when they get tired. They usually pull out all the stops then, for fear their next move will be their last.
A compromise, then. Shurui'll just attack from afar. Stepping backwards a few paces, the short girl presses her arms close to her, pausing for a moment before casting a once hidden barrage of psycho bullets towards the misty mass. "... I'm not holding back until you tell me to stop, or if you knock me down."
COMBATSYS: Shurui successfully hits Nataya with Riot Act.
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Shurui 0/-------/-----==|=======\======-\1 Nataya
And that's pretty much all she wrote. Nataya's just not on her game today, and nothing that she managed to try seemed to tage the nimble opponent at all. The explosive bullets smash into her, causing her to stumble, then fall over. The accumulated damage doesn't leave much left to deal with
Still, the fact that Nataya doesn't seem very upset about getting the stuffing knocked out of her should allay some of Shurui's concerns. After all, sometimes you're on it... and then sometimes you're not. And Nataya still has one card left to play.
"Wow... I've never been beaten this badly," she says, a little helpless, a little sheepish. Chalk it up to a still woefully small level of experience. Still, she has enough presence of mind to gather up the remaining power she does have for one final attack.
The clouds boil up from her, a pillar of just straight energy lancing out from her, carrying along with it the entire kit and kaboodle of beads that she carries with her. The rolling energy collects the tiny lights into one massive sphere the size of a beach ball. Should they hit, the result will be catastrophic. The explosion of energy will blast the hapless schoolgirl up, where she'll be relentlessly blasted by those little lights until the power finally dies, fading away as Nataya just sort of clops onto the ground, letting out a little bit of a groan and wondering exaclty how embarassing this is going to sound when she contacts her master and tells him what happened.
COMBATSYS: Nataya can no longer fight.
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Shurui 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Nataya successfully hits Shurui with 37 Factors of Enlightenment.
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Shurui 0/-------/=======|
Shurui may not show it as she moves, but she's beginning to get tired as well. Those nearly impossible feats of dodging took a lot of her body, and, as she manuvered through each strike, her body began to show her its own exhaustion. After she swings the final blow, figuratively, Shurui steps back, hands hung limply in her usual defensive pose. So. The fight's coming to a final close, huh?
Not quite, no. Nataya has one final trick up her sleeve, and that's to let everything out at Shurui in one final show of her own brand of psycho power. Shurui can't even block; the attack is so completely and utterly fast that she can only make the motions to defend herself at the very last second. ..... And that's not quite fast enough.
Psycho energy pummels the girl, blasting her into the air with a parade of bullets until she's finally let down, falling down against the pavement. ".... Ngh."
..... This will be an interesting story to tell Whip and K', yes. ..... That is, if she doesn't get away with it. Shurui can only hope.
COMBATSYS: Shurui takes no action.
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Shurui 0/-------/=======|
Log created on 22:39:13 09/13/2008 by Nataya, and last modified on 13:44:41 09/15/2008.