Description: For the opening exhibition matches of the Strolheim tournament, Raizo Imawano and Chizuru Kagura find themselves battling amid the chaotic waterfall on the American Falls portion of Niagra Falls! Raizo gets to show off his oft-unexpected agility, and Chizuru gets to show off her ability to throw a man the size of a house more than two feet! Who will triumph!? (Winner: Chizuru)
Welcome to...Niagara Falls. Seriously. The falls, not the city of the same name.
The smaller of Niagara's two waterfalls, the American Falls, is still pretty damn big. It's about a hundred feet from the river surface to the top of the falls, and mist and spray is everywhere. The reason these were picked instead of the larger and more photographed Horseshoe Falls is because of the fact that there are boulders all along the bottom, scattered around the base like very, very large dropped rocks.
The fight is to take place on those wet, slippery boulders. Aren't you happy?
Chizuru is already on one of the boulders, the one furthest out from the fall itself. She's getting sprayed - everything around here gets sprayed - but she isn't drenched, and her clothes seem to be designed to keep the worst of it from soaking her.
She still looks slightly less than amused.
It's wet. Raizo pretty much expected that, which is why he's wearing special fightin' shoes today, specially made to provide friction even on a slippery surface. He is, after all, a ninja, and ninja magic can only carry a man so far.
Especially a man of his scale. He is, as ever, enormous, and the sheer size of him means that the comparatively light spray of the waterfall at this distance means he's already nearing in on soaked, his suit and slacks already dark from water.
Still, he is smiling, albeit somewhat bemusedly. "Well then!" he calls because water is loud. "Shall we get started? I haven't had a fight in such a location in a while...it should be interesting!"
Chizuru is in flats instead of her regular shoes, but other than that, she looks to be wearing her usual sort of thing.
Of course, when you have money, you can make things /look/ like almost anything you want.
"It's rather unusual, isn't it?" Chizuru says, raising her voice as well. "Then yes - let us begin, before someone decides to come down in a barrel." That's a joke. Nobody is allowed to come over in a barrel anymore. Not even fighters.
Chizuru simultaneously stays right where she is and leaps across the rocks, stopping briefly on one halfway there before leaping to strike at Raizo with her palm. The standing Chizuru flickers and fades a moment after that - the real one is, in fact, the one that is right in your face - but it's a moment of confusion if nothing else.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru has started a fight here.
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Chizuru 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Raizo has joined the fight here.
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Chizuru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Raizo
COMBATSYS: Raizo dodges Chizuru's Choumon no Isshin.
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Chizuru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Raizo
Raizo barks a laugh at Chizuru, and then slips down into a fighting stance. "Yes, that /would/ be awkward, wouldn't it?" he jeers, ready, preparing himself mentally for what's about to happen--
--but it's always hard to remember the kinds of tricks a woman like Chizuru has at her disposal. Raizo's eyes widen, briefly, as she snaps at him while at the same time staying still. He thinks for just a moment that the real one is the one still standing, and shoves off the rock, leaping up and /over/ the Chizuru coming at him, and then comes crashing down on what turns out to be the illusion! "Hmph!" he rumbles, turning around quickly. No point wasting time - he skips forward, across the rocks, claws bared. "Tricked me!" he admits, even as he leaps up at Chizuru and slashes his claws sharply across her front!
COMBATSYS: Chizuru dodges Raizo's Claw Stab.
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Chizuru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Raizo
Chizuru is known for her tricks and her traps. Raizo should expect that they exist, even if he isn't sure what she's going to do /this/ particular time.
Despite her proximity, Chizuru still seems to be a slippery target. She moves left once she's landed, bringing her arm up in a wide arc, the edge of her sleeve tangling at Raizo's clawed hand and yanking it out of line, where it doesn't do any harm to her.
"Keep trying," she suggests. "But this is just an exhibition... so you needn't exert yourself /too/ badly." She's sort of curious how Raizo reacts; he's fast, too, she hasn't managed to get ahold of him. She keeps circling around him, giving a hard push to his back with the palm of her hand to try to shove him across her leg, tripping him to the ground.
Or probably water in this case.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru successfully hits Raizo with Strong Throw.
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Chizuru 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Raizo
Raizo narrows his eyes, slightly surprised when Chizuru slides away from his claws. It's an exhibition match, true, but it's hard for Raizo to fight 'nice.' He would pretty much have to just use his fists, ignoring the majority of his style. Still, when Chizuru bounces away, Raizo lands on the rock he started on, looking back toward her, ready again. "True, true," Raizo calls. "But, what's the point if we don't exhibit ourselves a little, I say." He grins, as friendly a look as his ursine face can manage, and then readies himself to fly away from Chizuru's grabbin' hands!
Except it doesn't work, and Raizo is flung to the ground, his mass making it difficult to roll with the blow. He falls into the water, dying instantly!!
Or at least that's what Kurow wishes. Instead, his huge hand suddenly flashes out of the water, digging claws into a nearby rock. Raizo emerges, soaked and shivering, but he only stands still long enough to note, "Bracing!" with the scary smile only a true fighter can manage, the kind of terrifying man who does this /all the time/ and at least gets some small amount of pleasure out of it.
And before anyone can think about that too hard, Raizo attempts to give Chizuru a dip, in a somewhat more blunt way: Which is to say, he leaps at her with a hard right punch, which if it hits will knock her clean into the water! And if it misses, it might crack open the rocks she's standing on...!
COMBATSYS: Chizuru blocks Raizo's Strong Punch.
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Chizuru 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Raizo
Chizuru is a lot /stronger/ than she looks, too... although her idea of blocking is to move with the blow so it doesn't hurt quite so badly rather than, as Raizo might, to simply bull through it with raw strength and speed.
She uses those hands again, moving in arcing paths, to attempt to guide Raizo's fist aside. It doesn't work as well as last time, perhaps because it's moving far too fast for her to tangle it properly; the blow knocks her down, but doesn't /quite/ knock her off the boulder. She has one foot still on it!
The second foot is on another boulder, slightly higher up and closer to the falls, at a bad angle. Chizuru pulls herself the rest of the way up onto that one, bowing slightly. "I am impressed. Most would have not climbed up after a dunking." She does not, however, attack.
No, she stays back, letting Raizo come to her. She works through a mental exercise as she does, letting her chi suffuse her body and build up for later use, refreshing her mind and spirit.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru enters a meditative state.
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Chizuru 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Raizo
Raizo's manly fist is guided aside by Chizuru's skill, but he's skillful as well - his bold rush has gotten him up and onto the boulder, within striking distance. Chizuru offers her praise, and Raizo chuckles deeply, sturrling some to keep himself balanced on the slippery rock. "They say that I am a man full of surprises," he offers, stepping toward her.
She enters that meditation - he's seen it, before, although it's not quite Raizo's style. He prefers to simply power onward, hammering the enemy with sheer bull strength, surprising them with his skill but relying every bit as might be expected on his might.
So while Chizuru focuses her power inwards, Raizo bears his claws, smiles an almost apologetic look - and then he's there, coming right at her, claws slashing with tearing force again and again as he rips down with vicious strength!
COMBATSYS: Chizuru dodges Raizo's Kyoujyuu Reppa.
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Chizuru 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Raizo
The problem with expecting Chizuru to stay put and fold to a hit is that, generally... she doesn't. Focusing inward does not mean she's not also looking outward, even if she isn't actually attacking, and thus she sees the slash coming before it actually comes.
She moves, leaping forward and right past Raizo, onto a slightly higher but much smaller rock. She almost slides off it, her shoes not actually being particularly suited for this, but she corrects for her motion and springs back the other way. This time, though, she's coming right /at/ Raizo - foot-first.
She does not verbally respond. Perhaps that comes later, when she's not doing her acrobat impression.
COMBATSYS: Raizo blocks Chizuru's Heavy Kick.
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Chizuru 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Raizo
Raizo's hammerblows fail to strike home, and the big ol' bear looks up, frowning, as Chizuru flies away...she slips, and Raizo sets himself, already expecting what comes next.
And indeed she does as he anticipated, redirecting her force down at the bear man. Raizo needs to start scoring hits, he knows, and he can't rely on his agility forever; he swings an arm up, absorbing the full force of Chizuru's kick onto his arm. It's a solid blow. It hurts.
And then he counters hard, swinging his massive fist up at Chizuru, hoping to catch her ankle before she regains control from the deflected kick, and then HURL her right back at the rock she just bounced off of!
COMBATSYS: Chizuru auto-guards Raizo's Quick Throw!
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Chizuru 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Raizo
Chizuru leaps up, off Raizo - and right into his waiting hand!
All to plan, she thinks, when he pitches her back at the smaller rock. She sees it coming, and twists just so, stretching her hands out just before the moment of impact and bracing her arms and shoulders -
She hits the rock and, for a few instants, holds herself up on her hands, perfectly inverted. Then she pushes off, flipping back right way up and dusting her jacket off. It doesn't really need it. The dampness means it's pretty much plastered in place.
"A very good attempt," she says. "I salute it! But - yet, we will need to keep going - " She leaps /back/ one last time (for now), both her and her illusion. One goes left, and one goes right, and both of them perform mirrored sweeping punches at the same time to Raizo's two sides.
One of them, as usual, starts to flicker afterwards and vanish.
COMBATSYS: Raizo fails to interrupt Shinsoku no Norito from Chizuru with Yasha Guruma.
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Chizuru 0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1 Raizo
The Principal of Justice High frowns, surprised somewhat but that agility. He's seen that sort of movement before, but the ease and grace - yes, Chizuru is certainly a top-tier fighter. He braces himself, getting ready to react to whatever Chizuru does next, offering, "You're not doing badly, yourself. Interesting style, the...illusions? I suppose. And agility. Quite unique."
He's talking, talking, letting Chizuru close in...and then at the last microsecond, Raizo LEAPS at one of the incoming clones, switching from a conversational tone to a savage roar, claws bared, chi sheathing his body, ripping, slashing, tearing through the incoming flurry of punches!
Too bad he hit the fake one. A few lucky hits break him out of his rhythm before he can really get going, and before Raizo knows it, he's flat on his back.
Chizuru does not let up, not quite yet. "Oh, it does well enough," Chizuru says, pleasantly. "It keeps my opponents on their - toes - "
The pause for breath is because she's going forward one last time, dropping low and planting her hands on the rock to hold herself up. She comes in low, snaking one of her long, slender legs between Raizo's big bulky ones and pivoting her entire body at the hip, attempting to sweep him off his feet and back to the ground!
She gets back up afterwards, an almost liquid movement straight upright. She's been practicing.
COMBATSYS: Chizuru successfully hits Raizo with Kaiten.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Chizuru 0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Raizo
Raizo is sure on his toes!! Or he /was/, until Chizuru sweeps in, and exploits Raizo's preposterous enormity to kill him again: A snake of the leg to whip him off his feet, and then a shove of the hip, and down Raizo goes again, lying there, staring up blankly, looking completely surprised. "Oof," he supplies.
He doesn't get up right away - lying there on that rock, just sort of...watching. He eventually, when he's satisfied Chizuru isn't going to throw him through eight walls again, does rise, slowly, but his eyes are fixed on her now.
He's ready for her, this time.
COMBATSYS: Raizo focuses on his next action.
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Chizuru 0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Raizo
So he's waiting. Chizuru stays a slight distance back on the next rock over, ignoring the spray in her hair and across her upper body to focus intently on Raizo. The gusts don't rock her; she's at peace, for what it's worth, in the middle of the fight.
And she smiles. "Principal," she says, "this doesn't suit you. You're a man of action, not a reactionary figure. Please, allow me to convince you to act."
She comes in suddenly, a run across the uneven ground - it almost looks like she takes one step on the water itself, although of course she couldn't possibly manage such a feat. Her hand shimmers gold as she cups it around a point, holding it back for an instant while the pulse of chi builds - before she releases it, reaching to touch Raizo surprisingly lightly.
No, it's the sudden gold burst of chi and the surge of sheltering, sealing energy that does the job, not her force of arm.
COMBATSYS: Raizo interrupts Reigi no Ishizue+ from Chizuru with Ursa Ultimate.
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Chizuru 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Raizo
COMBATSYS: Raizo can no longer fight.
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Chizuru 0/-------/=======|
"Ahhh," Raizo murmurs, smiling quietly. It's difficult to believe a man like this can be at peace with anything - a man who looks like a monster, a man who looks like he should be the head of Shadaloo, or "R", or any number of villainous conspiracies, who instead claims to be a man of honor and peace. It is difficult to believe that a man who looks like that can ever truly be thinking about something other than violence.
But the monster of a man rumbles, "You think so? I do believe in /action/, yes, but there's something else, as well."
She's coming. Gathering for a chi assault - but she closes in. Not a projectile. Bingo.
He keeps talking. "A man like me...believes in more than simply savaging my enemies. I am a man of action, oh yes, but you see..."
She's in range.
"Reaction.../is/ an action, Miss Kagura!" Raizo suddenly bellows, and then LEAPS at her, claws and teeth bared, and roars riotously as he leaps INTO the assault, fists swinging in a sudden, savage flurry of blows, designed not so much to do a lot of damage as for /spontaneity/. This is an attack intended not to knock someone out with a single blow; it is an assault designed to disrupt a person by simply unloading into them with such fury and power that they can't finish an attack because they are too busy trying not to die.
But the damage Chizuru is able to do before Raizo's claws rip her defense wide open is enough; when his flurry is done, Raizo simply grins, as he falls past Chizuru, toward the water, unmoving.
Chizuru made a mistake.
She 'read' Raizo as being aggressive, violent - not a planner. Oh, she knows he plans /sometimes/, but he, unlike her, prefers to act rather than react, to take the lead while she adapts on the fly. When she charges in like that, she is trying to play /his/ game, and that is a mistake.
Chizuru, after her first blast of chi, does not have time to build another, or follow up her attack. She is busy trying to deal with the assault and largely... well, she's not unconcious, but she is a lot more sore than she was a few minutes ago.
She lands afterwards, breathing much harder, bruised, but not beaten - it will take more than one mistake to drop Chizuru entirely. She waits for a few moments to regain her breath, and then: "Principal, that was a well-done fight. A /very/ well-done fight."
It's easy to mistake Raizo's fighting style - that's why he can be such a troublesome fighter for people who aren't ready for him. He is a man who can pick you up by the head and then throw you, one-handed, across the room; he can also do a standing backflip, or balance on the limbs of a (sturdy) tree. He can tear into you with savage intensity, or wait for an opening in your guard, and focus all of his strength into that single moment, unraveling your guard with a single stroke.
Chizuru did not make too many mistakes today. She beat Raizo rather handily, in fact. The old man isn't actually unconscious; after a few seconds, he slowly clambers himself back upright on a boulder a ways down the falls, sopping wet and breathing heavily.
After a few seconds, he looks up at Chizuru, and flashes a big thumbs up. "Yes, I'd say it went...huff...well! Had me on my toes, young lady!"
Raizo is like sixty, he gets to call everyone 'young (gender)'.
Log created on 19:33:19 10/01/2008 by Raizo, and last modified on 13:40:58 10/02/2008.