Description: Another chapter in the endless fued between Todoh and anyone that has been drawn into Kyokugen circle. This time he's prepared. This time he has a plan. Is his diligent(?) scrutiny of Hotaru's matches going to pay off? ( Winner: Hotaru )
The amazing things about these big tournaments is that many hugely big names, often obscure and hard to find in between their SECRET TRAININGS or whatever else occupies their active time, show up out of nowhere to participate. Some people under... different circumstances, alternately, find the fact that they only show up for these things rather frustrating. Especially when they end up being a no show or somehow prolonging these events for unreasonable amounts of time. But this thread should perhaps no longer be further pursued for small commentary. No matter how much it applies to one Ryuhaku Todoh, almost its perfect embodiment. But then again, nobody wants him. Most of the time he, at some level, seems to oblige. After all, where was he in Hotaru Futaba's darkest hour?
The answer is... we're about to find out because it's just beginning!! (...Maybe.) Not that one could equate any sort of hour to being dark at all within the mighty Taiyo Dome arena which is playing host to this particular Strolheim match. The audience turnout is rather... modest. Last minute arrangement? Unpopularity of at least one of the contenders involved? Some other more exciting match going on? Who knows. But let us clear out one uncertainty.
At present, the grassy field is showing the proper lines of a rugby field. In the center, Ryuhaku Todoh is knelt on a cute red and white checkerboard blanket having some tea. It is good tea and he will have it wherever he likes, whenever he likes. He's actually been here for the better part of, oh, fourteen straight hours and they've given up on dislodging him. Which is why the field still looks more ready to host a rugby game than a fight.
...so with no teapot in sight, people having given him a wide berth, and being far removed from any appliances involved in dispensing delicious warm liquid sustenance, how the hell is it even still warm? (Go on, ask him.)
Some kids just seem to have everything go their way when studied on a cursory level. They have all the luck, all the good things in life and none of the bad. A shallow examination of the life of Hotaru Futaba could lead one to group her in that category. She has a small fortune to her name. She's a growing celebrity in a world obsessed with the sport of professional fighting. She's got students that look up to her and even one apprentice who thinks the world of her. She has it all.
Until one looks deeper. The estate is hers only because she has been abandoned by the rest of her family. Her road to fame within the world of fighting has been wrought with endless training, hard work, regular practice, and countless painful injuries incurred by the sport. Her students at the YFCC consume many of her limited free hours, and day after day she frets at the weight of having to guide a young boy into manhood with no real knowledge to draw upon.
The Strolheim tournament was a chance to get a reprieve from all of that. A extended event at a remote German castle; a veritable legend in the world of fighting. How could she NOT attend? Between matches, the fighters would be able to stay at the castle or in the area. It would be a vacation from her daily life. Maybe a retreat from the press and hide from the sponsor hounds as well. If she's lucky.
Dressed in her signiture blue and white Chinese styled fighting attire complete with her twin-tailed hairstyle everyone has come to expect of the young fighter, she steps out onto the rugby-painted field with a quiet smile and wave to those gathered before glancing toward the center of the field. Head canting to the side a little, she approaches the calmly kneeling veteran fighter, sapphire blue eyes studying the blanket and then the man who occupies it. "Master Todoh... are you actually my opponent for this round of the Strolheim tournament?" She looks mildly distressed at the prospect. Tea noticed. Steaming, warm tea. She has to ask, "At the sideline they said you've been here for a long time... Your tea is still fresh?"
"Hmm. She is here." He murmurs this simply to himself as he has another miniscule sip of this reality-bendingly eternally hot tea, or whatever possibly reasonable explanation there can be for this... event. His eyes, those terrible old man eyes, open ever so slightly from 'closed and enjoying this mundane delicacy' to 'it is THAT PERSON who I don't like' and then squints a smidgen to 'oh I am going to do mean things to that person' and then opens to 'maybe I should pretend to not want to do mean things to that person even though we both know I want to do mean things to that person' and then closes to 'nah, screw you subtlety.'
Referees talk to one another on the side, dressed appropriately for the sport. Despite their proximity to the two fighters and the heavy air of inevitability hanging around their heads, precious little of the discussion is truly related to whatever it is that's about to be going down. Much of the scenery speaks little of any true indication that a precursor to a truly prestigious event. It is, to all witnesses, merely a crazy old man enjoying tea that should not still be warm in the middle of a field still prepared for a game of American football being approached by a young lady who is likely as nonplussed as the rest of them.
"Why... Hotaru Futaba. Did you want some of this?" This little chain of dialogue could almost be confused for pleasantness. But there are no other teacups to be had. His is the only one. Has Ryuhaku Todoh ever willingly conceded anything to anyone other than himself and his daughter? He provides no answer to anything at all she asks.
Instead he takes another miniscule sip. If Hotaru takes a whiff of the aroma, it is verifiably tea. Cheap, common, altogether unappealing tea as far as tea goes. But it is there, and it is quite warm. What reasonable conclusions can be drawn from this?
The perceptive girl notes those changes of expression, eyes meeting Todoh's then averting a little to the side, before meeting his again a moment later, feeling a touch awkward. The girl has so rarely had to deal with people that didn't like her. Who doesn't like Hotaru Futaba, heartache for countless fans of all ages ( perhaps distressingly so, her appeal in the older demographic doesn't seem to scale down at a healthy rate ). So facing off with the old curmudgeon, rival of her eccentric Master Takuma Sakazaki, is a bit awkward for the girl used to being generally liked by all.
At his side, she glances over her shoulder toward the officials, but they seem lost in their own affairs. The entire situation has a strange vibe to it, the girl feeling as if perhaps she has shown up at the wrong place. A growing doubt that Todoh does nothing to assuage as he doesn't answer her question about being her opponent. "A-ah, that is quite kind of you, Master Todoh," the girl answers his question about the tea he must be sipping ever so frightfully slowly.
His offer presents a conflict for the Futaba girl. She wants to make an effort to reach out to him if he's doing the same to her. Let bygones, past instructors, present affiliations, or old slights wash away in this new day. If she turns down his offer, than wouldn't she be prolonging a fued that could perhaps be on the verge of ending?
Trapped, the girl looks uncomfortably quiet for a moment before answering as demurely as possible, "If you have some that you wouldn't mind sharing, I would like some, sure. But not if it is an inconvenience." Considering /she/ sees no other cup or pot from which to serve, the girl is confident that she has managed to turn down the offer with utmost politeness. All in the interest of mending bridges 'n all that good stuff.
There is plenty to like about Hotaru Futaba, unless you fell victim to her most public mood swing but even then it seems impossible for anybody to muster anything but a net overall ':D' in her presence.
It sickens the old man to the core. The one drinking tea in front of her. Just to differentiate from any other old men who may also, for whatever reason, be drinking tea within the dome. /He/ knows the truth, yes he does, she went under that damned Takuma who has apparently somehow stumbled on his trade secrets for now that Kyokugen kook is nowhere to be found, she has humiliated him... how many times? And then she took one of his students! That treacherous little <<insert increasingly unintelligible ill thoughts here>>!!
It has been a long time since their last meeting. How much could have changed between them and their lives since then? Today could reveal all. Or, as is normal when Todoh is involved, absolutely nothing. Except if one were curious as to the temperature of the tea even after fourteen hours. Yes, it's still warm. Will the world be satisfied by this answer? They'll just have to be, won't they. Is this the right place at all? Is he even her opponent to begin with? Was he even /in/ the first round?!
"So you do!" The old man has another sip shortly afterwards. Long, and drawn out. Even when this hot! This is a man who sure likes this tea he is having, for how much of it is left. Was left? The tea is lowered gingerly onto the blanket, staying level. The movement is slow, deliberate, gentle.
Then it comes without warning as he shoots straight up to a stand. Well, okay, some warning. Like the hands going up into the sky thing, the warning that he will immediately surrender (for reals, cross his heart!!), which has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that three blocky segments of yellow, orange, or yellowish-orange (or orangeish-yellow) chi blocks are summoned from the aether and suddenly descend upon him throwing his arms downward with coincidental timing. Having no hand in this at all. Nope. None at all. Whatsoever. Yep. That's right.
"Ask for it with your power!" He shouts with such vigor and demand that Hotaru will, indeed, have to win the right to this tea with her power. So the mightiest master in all the land demands. Or suggests very politely with only the slightest hint of emergency. (pfft no)
COMBATSYS: Todoh has started a fight here on the right meter side.
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|-------\-------\0 Todoh
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Todoh
COMBATSYS: Hotaru fails to reflect Kasane Ate from Todoh with Kobi Kyaku.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Todoh
Careful not to step on the checkered blanket so carefully placed in the center of the field, Hotaru is the picture of non-aggression. Hands at her sides, head leaning to the side a little, she seems neither impatient nor short tempered at the general sense of confusion that seems to rest heavily in the atmopshere about the field. People gathered expecting a match observe a chat instead, and even the officials barely seem to be paying any attention to what is going on.
His voice rises to exclaim as the young fighter expresses a guarded, somewhat reserved interest in partaking of his tea. She blinks a little at first, not sure what to make of the long sip he takes following that outburst. "A-ah, excuse me a moment, I'm going to check with the referees about th-" She's already half turned when he has risen to standing; already committed to following through with her offer to confirm the particulars for this match.
She whirls back to facing him, discovering that he wasn't extending the olive branch-... tea leaf... tea cup of peace, but rather lulling her into a false sense of security before lunging to attack! It isn't the first time the girl has born witness to the Kasane Ate, and it's definitely not the first time she's been struck by it as she takes half a step back and sweeps her right leg into a reverse roundhouse that doesn't quite make it in time.
Caught too much by surprise to prepare properly, the girl suffers the brunt of the cascading chi, releasing a soft gasp as that familiar power crashes against her and forces her into a half bow before she rises back to standing, "Well," the Kenpo artist grunts, "That seems to resolve any questions I had..."
Some of the referees chatting amongst one another start paying attention when the shouting begins and the colors fly and, really, the fact that the crazy old man who wanted to have his tea out in the middle of the field who didn't want to leave so they can get everything properly set up is now actually doing something other than drinking tea that, physically speaking, should not still be warm. Did one of them call it? They're not sure about the particulars. They've had such a long day thanks to that man in the center that some of them just can't give a damn.
"Uh... FIGHT!" One of them yells as if to be prim and proper while discounting the fact that someone just fired off a little cheap shot. But how does Todoh feel about it?
Why, smug, thank you very much. "Hee hee hee," giggling in a way man should never do as he kneels back down the way he was, picks up the teacup, and has himself another sip. That's right. Barely has the fight begun, and that old fool has already knelt back down. "You have no asking ability! Try again," speaking so frankly, yet encouragingly. His eyes bear that slightest sign of fatigue, given how long he's been out here, as he has himself another sip. But his day has brightened ever so slightly. So ever slightly.
The fight may have begun, but perhaps a far more important question must now be answered - how badly does Hotaru want this tea? This terrible, cheap, certifiably pre-used tea that is already swimming full of old man cooties and maybe a moustache hair that gives it that added flavor of simply... disgusting.
COMBATSYS: Todoh drops his guard to recover.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Todoh
'Fight!' comes the call for the match to begin. After it's already begun. Todoh clearly wasn't waiting for that announcement. And after that sore trick of his, either is Hotaru, the girl's demeanor whipped into a state of indignation. She's ready to swing, kick, and toss the older fighter. She may reserve the title 'Master' for him, because properly speaking, he IS the undisputed master of his family's style, but that doesn't mean he automatically garners the respect the teen fighter gives to most veteran fighters. Besides, putting one's all into pummeling the heck out of one's opponent is a traditional means of demonstrating respect for the other's ability... right?
The fight may be official now, but it's already begun. It began a long time ago, well before she came to study at the Kyokugen dojo. That fued between the Sakazakis and the Todohs that continues on into this match. Oh, no, the /fight/ has been going on for a long time. This is just another crazy chapter in the whole affair. And right now Hotaru, indignant at the free hit, wants to carry the fight on against her better judgement.
But when her fists clench then unclench, the girl taking her breath in between her teeth, ready to counter attack in an instant, Todoh kneels right back down on the blanket just as the girl's right arm is about to swing forward. The blue eyed Kenpo artist comes to jarring stop, almost to the point that she practically falls forward onto her face, "W-what are you doing?!" the girl stammers, having come within half a foot of striking an old man kneeling down to have tea. That would have looked real swell on all the press coverage the next morning - Hotaru Futaba, front and center, with a palm flying into the kneeling older fighter's face.
She looks torn. She should retaliate. He didn't give her a moment's reprieve to prepare before attacking, and now she should do the same right back. And with the way she's eying him, that most definitely has to be somewhere on her mind. What comes next, however, ends up being the only thing she can think to do. Dropping to her knees in the grass-staining grass in front of Todoh, hands resting on her thighs, Hotaru looks back at the master of Todoh-ryuu Karate evenly.
One of the officials in the back - who has been here far too long for his patience to sustain itself, groans loudly at what appears to be yet ANOTHER delay in this fight. "Oh /come on/!" Even the crowd has begun murmuring amongst themselves.
But Hotaru won't be deterred. She can keep herself from retaliating, she decides, struggling to keep a cool mind about the whole thing. "Master Todoh, I did not come to this field to partake of your tea. While your offer is appreciated, I am here to test myself against you per the arrangements of the Strolheim tournament we are both participants in." The words come out calmly, without a hint of patronizing him or an edge of malice, even if in her mind she can't help but feel she would be entirely justified in having just hit him instead.
"When you are ready, we can begin. But I will not beg you for this match." the girl states firmly, refusing to sacrifice some of her pride as a fighter over the ordeal. With the way she settles into that kneeling postion, eyes fixed on the eccentric old fighter, it looks as if the teenager has every intention of testing his AND her endurance in being able to sit still in this field for undetermined lengths of time until one or the other finally breaks.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru gains composure.
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Hotaru 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Todoh
The opinions of the world at large and the opinions of Ryuhaku Todoh are hardly ever within the same plane of /existence/. There are boos. There are gripes. He is not a man that tends to draw views on the Saturday Night Fight circuit other than people hoping that their illicit gambling on him will someday bear fruit. Or perhaps because they are his daughter and wife and they sometimes want to know why he has not yet tended to some matter he said he would as opposed to suddenly appearing halfway across the world in an incredibly disturbingly short amount of time.
This is not a man who operates on the same rules as the rest of society, or so /he/ seems to carry himself as such. This is a man who sometimes seems to forego some particulars of human decency. He brushes much of it off, enjoying the rest of that mysteriously warm tea that shouldn't be. Warm. It is rightfully tea, at least. Or was. 'W-what are you doing?!' He doesn't answer, blotting out his view of her and her bodily communicated struggles towards the whole situation. Perhaps he much prefers the sting of singing tea to having to see Hotaru face to face.
He loses that excuse when he starts to suck in empty air, the slurping the hint heard the stadium around. Which may be unsettling on this one little query: have you ever known anybody that can slurp loud enough that most of the people around the front rows of the stadium can hear it? You do now.
His eyes open again, back to that loudly proclaimed narrowed look of 'oh you little simp,' lowering the cup from his face and making eye contact once again. She wants to play the waiting game with him and he's already been waiting fourteen hours, what kind of head start is that? (Look who's thinking!!)
A low, hummed growl follows. 'When you are ready, we can begin. But I will not beg you for this match.' The cup remains held around lap level for several moments before he deigns to speak. Or shout. Or swear. Or scream. One of those proper s-word responses.
"You honestly think I would let you have some of my tea?" That cheap, bottom of the barrel tea. "You have much to learn." Ah, scolding, see, it was a response whose descriptor starts with the letter s! The tea cup is let down on the blanket with the same gentleness prior as he rises up again and takes a couple steps back.
He drops his stance slightly, arms forward. Incidentally, if Hotaru were looking to be ironic, there is that tiniest splash of that tea left in there if she were truly spiteful to claim that very last drop. "How long has it been? How long have I waited, hmm? I'll tell you!" He raises a fist and shakes it angrily to the heavens. "FOURTEEN HOURS!!"
...It's been longer than that, hasn't it? Hasn't it?! Seriously it has been far more than fourteen hours since they've last met face to face, right? Please say it ain't so!
COMBATSYS: Todoh takes no action.
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Hotaru 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Todoh
The grumbling crowd goes ignored as Hotaru brings her focus to rest entirely on Todoh himself. Blue eyes stare back at him, the girl's jaw set, lips drawn tightly into a neutral expression. It's a standoff. One that she might be hard pressed to win. After all, in roughly twelve hours, she has classes to attend. She can't exactly kneel on this grass through first period History. That wouldn't really hold up as a valid excuse. But she isn't going to punch someone who refuses to stand either. Her dignity as a fighter makes it impossible.
But his tea betrays him in the way it /runs out/ and Hotaru arches an eyebrow just a little, looking at him expectantly as the world's largest slurp echoes across the field. He points out that expecting him to be remotely civil regarding the tea was a big mistake on her part and, really, it's a valid point. But she doesn't flinch or reply, staring back at him quietly, her hands still resting on her thighs as she kneels in front of him.
But down goes the cup and up rises Todoh and Hotaru, not expecting any kind of warning him from, snaps up to her feet as well, hands raised into a defensive position, prepared to fight as he readies himself. Well then. So it begins at last. She'll have to forgo the moustache-hair seasoned splash of tea remaining. Her eyes widen a little as he declares the number of hours he's been waiting. The sheer idea of it is preposterous. "You're kidding me." she replies, unconvinced.
"No he's not!!" cries out one of the refs.
The girl inhales then exhales, shaking her head a little as she digests this revelation. "Well, I guess it's high time we got started then, Master Todoh."
She darts forward, foot tipping the cup as she bounds across the blanket out of necessitty in order to bear in on him. She is a yard out when she swings in low, arms out at her side for balance, legs apart - a temporary stance from which she lunges up into a palm strike with her left hand, leveled at his chest. Her right hand follows as she twists toward the left, bearing in with a second punishing strike with even greater force than the first. "YAA!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Todoh with Fierce Punch.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Todoh
Not enjoying that tiny splash of tea with the moustache hair in it is completely to Hotaru's loss as the last of its contents spill out onto the blanket or at least the walls of the cup, there may not be enough tea to even fall out of it. It is a rare delicacy of sleaze and poor food service one would be hard pressed to find elsewhere, lest one is male and thus have facial hair to donate themselves. Actually, come to think of it, no, it's not worth it, let's not bother with this subject any more. Ever. Never again.
The fight has begun, everyone here is more interested in seeing the drama of fists and feet as opposed to disgusting drinks in their foul little cups rested on ratty little picnic blankets on an American football field. Hotaru's speed and agility, one of her greater assets. (Two. Editor is fired. -Mgmt.) Todoh's mindset seems to often extend largely in two dimensions - lean this way, lean that way, and when most infuriating, lean into that vague beyond out on either side he is still sure that few are aware of. Hotaru's speed is as such that she fakes him out on where the attack is going to come from. He thinks she's going to kick him with that foot towards him so he simply leans a step back and exposes his ribs for the blow, which the fairly far reaching palm strike strikes a strike while Todoh's defenses are out on strike, strikingly making him lean forward with a sharp exhale while she strikes her second strike tonight with the greater force that is advertised, knocking that much more wind out of him as he arbitrarily slides back against the turf.
To this day he still thinks she's doping up from that time she wrestled him into an arm lock as he straightens himself out, rising while dedicating a hand to the clothed side that is no doubt bruised. He shuts an eye, grimaces coyly, and waves a scolding finger for that briefest exchange before he drops back to that ready stance in a poor attempt to pretend that his side is not hurting and that twin blow never actually happened, nope, she did not just get him back.
At which point he drops down on his hands against that stadium turf, one or two coy remarks prior having cemented his particular feelings on any subject they may discuss for the moment. Oh wait, come to think of it, his right foot has some stuff it wants to share. Throwing much of his body forward with only his hands on the ground to keep him from just flopping into a faceplant, he strikes out a slightly raised foot from his position as he slides forward, looking to let his foot talk to Hotaru as long as it wants to, wherever it may be! If she crouches back down again like she was at first, it'd be face level or thereabouts.
Meanwhile the refs try to pay utmost attention to the fight in order to deliver absolutely accurate information when the fight ends in hopes they get on with their lives. The cheer squad of Taiyo High sees their stiffness and fear. They do not like this. They must instill the school spirit back into the refereeing group at once! This is Taiyo High after all!
COMBATSYS: Hotaru effortlessly blocks Todoh's Sweeping Kick.
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Hotaru 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Todoh
First one strike, then the second. The girl hits hard for her stature, having practically mastered the art of coordinating her entire, diminutive body into each strike. Legs, torso, arms, shoulders - every muscle group acting in tandem to transfer as much force as possible to the point of impact for a girl of her size. She may never be able to hit as hard as that brute of a girl, Makoto, but she can certainly dish out her fair share.
Drawing her hands back, coiling back up in a tightly wound, defensive position, once again low to the ground as if to provide a more challenging target, Hotaru holds her ground. Given the time it takes Todoh to set up the next attack, watching for it isn't too hard. Thus it is that it doesn't take the most refined timing in the world to draw her arms up into the path of Todoh's foot and weather the strike out.
That doesn't mean she doesn't feel it though. Grunting as she's pushed back a little from the force behind the, well, sweeping kick, Hotaru spins up out of her low stance, stepping to the side, turning her back to Todoh for a moment as she drops her right hand to her left knee, watching him over her shoudler. She can't help but wonder back to the time his daughter attacked her at school. It seemed Kasumi was carrying on the same fued established between her old man and Ryo's eccentric father. She didn't blame the girl - fighting for her father's honor. It was something Hotaru could appreciate. But now that she watches the master of Todoh-ryuu Karate, she can't help but find her initial flash of temper soothed. As cantankerous as the veteran fighter might be, he's still someone deserving of a modicum of acknowledgement. After all, practically every critique she could level at Todoh would apply to her own father. Except Todoh actually came /home/, which is more than she can say about her dad.
Shaking off the minor throb in her arms after having defended the kick directly rather than simply skirting out of the way, the girl decides to take advantage of the fact that she hasn't lost any ground by swinging right back into Todoh with her next attack.
It comes as a graceful spring from that reverse position, into a pair of swift but hard hitting windmilling palm strikes, drawing his guard high. And the second her feet touch the ground - she's slamming out with another one of those palm strikes of hers. "HAAH!" She'll fight him seriously, giving it her all. It's her way of showing respect.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Todoh with Soushou Shin.
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Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Todoh
Hotaru's fighting lineage is an interesting one, the principles sound, and beauty in motion. If you asked Ryuhaku Todoh as to what the point of that slide kick is, he wouldn't tell you. But in the rare instance he cops up to it, he'd tell you it is simply the move he developed to counter the Hien Shippu Kyaku, that detestable Ryo Sakazaki's favorite technique! Nothing like a sliding raised kick to the groin of a man that is flying to show him what for! Only it... hasn't... worked. Yet.
This particular scenario is only marginally less troublesome in comparison to that one time but he'll show them! He can only assume Hotaru has not yet caved into a fountain of tears because of a lack of any pained squeaks or what have you as his foot makes impact with something. A grunt, sure, but grunts are way higher than 'pained squeaks' or 'tears' on the rather chauvinistic scale of 'taking hits like a man' that could really use some updating in the 21st century. There's also the matter that Hotaru's suddenly jumped off the ground as if she effortlessly guarded the thing like it's nothing, and he has yet to get up!! Argh!
Lowering his feet to the football field and pushing back up, he's just in time to show off his years of mastery and technique and earth-shaking power as he takes the approaching windmill palm strikes along the shoulder and face, a little spittle to water the fields, an uncomfortable crouching position that is not resolved because Hotaru leaves no intermission between strikes. Right as he'd raise his forearms, she brushes the palm past the top and gets him in the nose, nearly throwing the man right on his back. She will have to content herself with the world accepting the force of her might with uprooted grass where Todoh slides back a couple inches. When the caretakers come to the field, they will know exactly where the old man was when she hit him.
A lingering sting where the palm brushed both forearms close to the palms and a trickle of blood going down his left nostril (it'll be going down the opposite one if he ever turns around), he stands. A little shaky, pride bruised just that much more, and already hatching inane things in his head as to how to deal with her now.
"Hmph! So you've somehow improved despite the trash they teach you!" How long ago was Hotaru learning Kyokugen under Ryo and Takuma? Is she even /still/ training under them? (Never put faith into old men to get with the times!!) In this window of time Hotaru may or may not already be plotting to keep coming at him with his best or otherwise prepare herself for the next move that gets the crowds all riled. She's a favorite. The fighting world loves her despite how she could've murdered some of her fellow competitors cold not long ago!
The world will see it his way eventually! He throws his hands up in all the telltale signs. Hotaru has spent much time refining her technique, learning, and growing. Here, it is the same stuff. She should recognize this intensely. The hands going up as though he were to surrender (did this gag already get made?), summoning what breath he has within him to bring forth a mighty "HEEYAH!!"
Assuredly, those same chunky colorful chunks o' chi that come crashing down, the three segments almost barely connected given how hard he wills to just throw this thing so hard into the timestream that it wraps around and eats the lunch Hotaru Futaba had thirteen years ago on the day of April 17th that reality backlashes and can only manifest the same way it has every other time, or will manifest, from here on out to however long it takes for Ryuhaku Todoh to remember he is starting to get really old as he throws his arms down so that he doesn't completely leave it up to gravity alone to deal with this young little menace of a girl.
He'd have much more faith if it were magnetism, but no, magnetism is a lazy bastard and doesn't want to yank these things down on people!!
COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Todoh's Fierce Kasane Ate.
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Hotaru 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Todoh
The young fighter holds her finishing stance for a moment before at last drawing her hand back, shifting to standing up straight as she closes her fingers then opens them again, watching Todoh take a fall from that hard hitting blow of hers. He's going to be hard pressed to get tears out of Hotaru Futaba given the types of fights she's found herself in over the last year and a half. A cry of pain? That might be more viable. She's not the most durable thing around. Speed and coordinated, hard strikes are her forte.
She rarely aims for face blows, but given Todoh's positioning, that's where he got struck all the same. She winces a little, tempering the expression with a fleeting, half smile, as if feeling awkward at that sense of feeling bad for such a strike. It seems the old man is getting pummeled by the smaller fighter - a fact no one in the viewing audience can possibly miss after his opening cheap shot. Not a vicious fighter at heart, she isn't filled with a cruel satisfaction at seeing Todoh bleed. When he barks out his taunts, however, it's hard to keep that demeanor in the forefront. "My Kyokugen training taught me a lot about rolling with hits and striking back, putting my all into every hit." Something she just demonstrated to great efficacy.
"Every style has things that can be learned from it. Only by being open to new ideas is my Kenpo able to grow." Her tone isn't quite lecturing, she acts more like she's answering a legitimate question posed to her by a master level fighter rather than just a goading, childish taunt. Todoh seems clearly set in his ways as he raises his hands to prepare for his next attack, dropping a large, cascading wall of chi directly down toward young Futaba's position in the grass.
Quickly, she springs to the side in a forward dive, rolling out of it into a crouch as the fearsome variant of the Kasane Ate crashes against the grass, flattening it in the process. She can't help remember his daughter's dedication to the technique when she attacked her at school. "Seeing that attack in action," (for the N'th time ), "Kasumi has learned your technique very well. You must be proud of her." the now polite tempered girl states calmly.
But she isn't out here to carry on conversations. Now that she's up on her feet, the girl is going to continue her attacking. And her style of attacking remains aggressive as she goes from standing still into attacking in a blur of motion. She's barreling toward Todoh, acting like she intends to plow him over again. Drawing her hands in tightly, another palm strike might be in the mix but for the way she changes her approach at the last possible instant.
Both hans snap for Todoh's wrists, attempting to pry his guard open enough to leave him vulnerable to a series of rapid, rising stomps, one right after another, up the front of him before Hotaru springs from his shoulders to land somewhere behind him. "Ya, ya, ya!"
COMBATSYS: Todoh fails to interrupt Shin-Jou Tai from Hotaru with Hakuzan Tou.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Hotaru 0/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Todoh
He's not hearing tears or a cry of pain either!! Unless they're his own, which one supposes would be nowhere near as fulfilling, but the fight hasn't gone quite there yet.
It is unknown how people have gotten their hands on Hotaru banners given this all was in short notice. Maybe they carry it around all the time, every day, every night, just for moments like this, but there are a fair amount of banners flying for Hotaru. The Cheer squad of Taiyo High roll out behind the unsuspecting, dull, tired referees who are waiting for this thing to be over and for that insane son of a bitch to leave so they can adjust the field for whatever purposes are needed in the near future. They are showing dangerously low levels of spirit. These referees need a pep boost.
Hotaru's movements are so fast and precise that she's right in front of Ryuhaku right as he kneels like he was still in the middle of swinging it down. Which he is! And she invokes the name of his beloved daughter, his only child, the one who will carry on his family legacy to smash all the other schools (starting with Kyokugen and okay maybe the Kusanagi kids and whatever that missile fist guy's family is and the NICE LAAAADY) and bear the throne of an entire martial arts empire etc etc etc, one has to trail off into etc etc etc because Hotaru generally does not leave time for one to reminisce over that as a rule. Describing further would be cheating that speed.
"Why I am!" A tear rolls down his eye as he shouts this, raising his left fist in a straight uppercut that goes so straight up that his misgauging of her attempt costs him. If she kept going to barrel him over, that'd be that. But nope.
His guard is so open that there are no wrists that need grabbing in the least, allowing Hotaru to give whatever little flourish she might add to compensate (or even build further upon) the opening as Hotaru climbs up him with a series of steps to the midsection, chest, and - yes - chin - before Hotaru leaps off of him who may also have an opportunity to pose all threateningly as he coughs, doubling over while he rubs his nose with one hand.
His eyes narrow towards nobody in particular. Yes. It will be soon time to play his ultimate trump card. The one he has been preparing for months. Well... he's also squinting because he doesn't know where she went to, the deafening roar of the cheering crowds betrays his senses which, mixed with the pain and the slight difficulty in drawing breath, makes it impossible for him to tell.
For now. Are her days numbered?!
Each kick, on its own, isn't the most impressive attack ever. But combined all together, in rapid succession, and the magnitude of the technique can certainly add up fast. Her series of quick stomps delivered, Hotaru comes to a landing out behind Todoh. Which works out well seeing as how he seems to be at a loss as to where she's even gone after that blitzing attack. Whirling around the moment she lands, hands are raised, fingers parallel as she gets ready for the swift retaliation that nearly always follows in the wake of that attack that leaves her vulnerable for a fleeting moment in the aftermath. But no such retaliation is coming.
In fact, Todoh, for as surly as he looks, also seems confused as to her whereabouts. The girl relaxes a little as a result, dropping her guard, standing up straight. She waits another moment. The cheers, the roar of the crowd, the impatience of the tired refs. All of that doesn't spur her into immediate action. Though it does apply some pressure to her. After a moment, she coughs to clear her throat. But that isn't loud enough to be audible.
She inhales then exhales slowly, then speaks up at last, "I've met her. She's a formidable fighter." The compliment paid on Kasumi's behalf leaves her realizing that the girl is probably going to dislike her all the /more/ once this match gets around on broadcasts. Alas. There's nothing she can do about that.
Hopefully having gained his attention, the girl steps forward again, closing distance, going for his nearest arm with both hands. It's a simple judo-styled slam she's aiming to perform, grabbing Todoh by one arm, pull it up, twist it around, and flip him to the grass once again. A technique effective in that size, stature, or even brute strength aren't a factor in its chances of success. Perfect for the small fighter to draw into her arsenal of attacks.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Todoh with Quick Throw.
- Power hit! -
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Hotaru 1/-------/=======|=======\=====--\1 Todoh
Where /is/ she. His head is ringing. He sees all the cheers and, by some arcane means given how he lives in his own little world, manages to identify the waving banners for what they are. Oh, they like /her/. This whole world seems to dote on her! Little makes him angrier at this prosect other than the world doting over, say, Yuri, which would be even worse. Imagine his poor daughter, being booed at simply because she'd thoroughly kick her keister to the curb! And then Ryo and Robert and her dad each! It'd be a sweep, he's sure! And they'd still boo her.
He doesn't turn around when Hotaru speaks up. He's slightly disarmed that her statement seems to touch upon something he's thinking! A light bulb goes off on his head. Yes, she probably sees you, the mighty you, as a joke. Oh, he'll play to her expectations. At least, his exaggerated opinion of her expectations, yes, playing it up a bit too much by looking around aimlessly. He spreads an all-knowing smile for the crowd to see. Yeeeees. They'll know he's in total control.
"Why yes, she is, very much so," he intones slightly. He'll just wait for that hint of movement. She didn't want to rush him straight up when he sat for tea, he figures she'll just jump right in front of him. She doesn't. His face flattens to irritation. Oh, she's going to play him again now, is she?!
He finally turns a full 180, at which point the nostril he is bleeding out of changes and the other is as though it was never bled from to begin with (pay no mind to this). She tries to tug at his arm, which he slides out of her gra-- oh, nope, she still has hold of it, damn her nearly undetectable slight touch! In fact the way he tries to pull it up leans into it as she pulls it up, twists it around to a bug-eyed shout, and flips him onto the grass, where his clumsy attempt to catch himself sees him going face down.
The lead of the cheer squad whistles. The referees are disarmed as they each point their right arms straight out and ahead with a mighty, spirited shout! "THIS MATCH MUST NOT BE OBSERVED HALF-HEARTEDLY!" The lead cries. "COME! SPECTATE! CHEER! JUDGE WITH ALL YOUR SPIRIT!" Everyone else follows his steps as he delivers a series of punches and broad, macho gestures at thin air. He's a manly man for a nondescript Japanese high schooler. The crowd grows wilder!
"It ends tonight!! For I have watched you. Your victories! Your failings! Your every movement! Yes. It all comes down to this." Standing tall against Hotaru's nearly flawless performance, which has improved tenfold since the two last butted heads over matters. But has he /himself/ improved any? So far absolutely every movement and gesture has been roughly the same, of the same speed, the same quality, the same everything. He has fallen roughly for the same tricks, been foiled roughly the same way, and all with added panache... on Hotaru's part. Does everything up to this point speak much of a man who has given as much thought towards overcoming a specific foe as he claims?
The elder Todoh's eyes narrow into little angry slits, his voice taking on a far more sinsiter tone as he claps his hands above him to nearly deafening effect even against the noise of the stirred crowds. "I will shame you before the world stage and make you regret having ever slighted me..." The cold as ice mood is swung back into sweet, jovial insanity as he belts out in that absolutely irritating laughter. "YEH HAH HAH HAH HAAAAAAAH!!"
...Is he really on to something or is it hot air, made all the hotter under the Taiyo Dome lights and the pressure of a losing battle?!
COMBATSYS: Todoh focuses on his next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Hotaru 1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Todoh
She almost makes it look easy - the grip on his wrist, the tug up, the spin of her own body, the graceful ease with which she finishes, using her knowledge of simple holds and locks to twist the larger opponent to the ground with a deceptively strong thud. She lets go of his arm, fingers extended, arm drawn back as she recovers out of the smoothly executed technique - a careful demonstration of how brute force need not always be the answer.
Todoh takes the fall hard and the girl backs off, giving him time to recover. She's not the sort to kick a downed opponent no matter what kind of history exists between them and that's not about to change. Standing upright, her hands are raised, the girl waiting in a defensive position as the veteran fighter rises and declares his speech. He declares the finality of this encounter - that this is it, that the record is going to be set straight here. He claims to have been preparing to deal with her style of Kenpo blended with the Kyokugen approach to hard knocks she's added. And throughout all that, she quietly listens, blue eyes focused calmly on Todoh.
In her mind she ponders how the same techniques she tried a year ago work just fine now, yet she's seen enough of the Kasane Ate to figure out how to avoid it now when it isn't coming at her out of the blue. Her brow furrows as she contemplates further upon the differences between her style and Todoh-ryuu Karate and how she's always believed there's something to be learned from almost every style. But what can she learn from /his/? One might imagine nothing GOOD for certain. Perhaps, she ponders, it's the steadfast reliance upon that most famous albeit short ranged projectile of theirs. Normally a bad thing to be so dependent on a single move, but take it to a certain point and perhaps it ascends into being a respectable devotion. She isn't particularly sure on this point.
What she does decide is that it's high time to show off another facet of what she learned studying under Ryo-sensei. Todoh's laughter doesn't seem to phase the girl. She returns with a neutral, tight lipped expression, as if she's tempted to snap out something less than polite but is making a dedicated effort to refrain. He's watched her learn, has an idea of how she fights in theory... Time for her to give her something he's absolutely seen before and see if he can prove his point!
Stepping forward, she closes the distance quickly before drawing back, planting one foot forward, her whole body tightening as she readies herself. "If you have been watching me, then..." She crouches slightly then springs forward into a very shallow leap, spinning into the air as she snaps her right foot forward to lead the way. It's very much Ryo's Hien Shippu Kyaku, the technique she studied and practiced more than any other while learning from the Kyokugen teacher, "... you'll be able to handle this!"
The momentum would carry her forward with surprising force, her right foot crashing into place first, her left leg snapping forward with a secondary, follow up kick used to push herself backward into an acrobatic flip away from him, adding her own agile take on the technique. "YAA!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Todoh with Medium Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Hotaru 1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Todoh
He is so very sure of this. Of course he is, why wouldn't he, they've been at this for a while. Perhaps the whole of Todoh vs. Hotaru doesn't quuuuiiiiiite have the stretch of official matches to follow as much as, say, Zach Glen vs. Kateylnn Molina but the hostility between the Todoh and Kyokugen schools is well known for those who follow the fights and matches and behind-the-scenes stuff very closely. Largely because of Kasumi. Some people still don't know what the deal is with the old guy that dresses up like her and fights like her.
Indeed, what does Hotaru have to learn from him? There is quite a league of difference between Kasumi and her father despite drawing from the same style. She demonstrates proficiency in many holds and physical strikes along with a fair mastery over chi itself in the same vein as her father. Her father... well... okay, he has the chi thing down. (Maybe all the little good OC boys and girls out there can taste Advanced_Evade, if it even exists. No, it doesn't, shut up.)
Hotaru steps forward with a technique that Ryuhaku Todoh shall surely defeat or overcome if he is telling the truth. Is he? Maniacal laughter is the perfect poker face, c'mon, delusions of grandeur, if they are such delusions, are also lots more fun than people with plain neutral expressions like all those losers around card game tables. Rich, successful losers. But still losers!!
He recognizes the very technique she is pulling right now... Ryo's!! And as damnable luck would have it, the way she pulls it is far too low to the ground to go about it the very way he would intend, but every student just has to put their own spin on everything, and today she had to do hers in a way his beloved counter-technique couldn't get. But then again...
He crosses his arms and soaks up the first kick the expected way, but the force of that dreaded technique is simply far too great, forcing him to a stumble and those bugged out eyes on his face that tells all as the second kick gets him in his unguarded chest full bore, allowing Hotaru the satisfaction of knowing that perhaps there wasn't much to it any more.
He goes flying back in strangely slow motion. The referees, spurred on by school spirit, suddenly lunge forward with raised flags representing whatever color flag it is for Hotaru. "KO!!" They call in unison with awesome speed lines. Where did the speed lines come from?
The elder Todoh, however, perhpas to be spiteful of this spirited call, lands maybe a little /too/ smoothly for something that takes all the wind out of his lungs, rolling backwards into a pained kneel right before his teacup. "All right... all right... just... just the failings!!" He can still manage the exclamation marks? The 'master' complains at being called on the dramatic showboating and bluffing while the referees look at one another and sigh. No doubt he's shaky. Seeing double, wheezing... fumbles around his pocket for... something? Oh, let it be clarified.
It is an object forged from a site of a former defeat of Hotaru's on the Saturday Night Fight circuit. Something old Ryuhaku has spent countless hours and resources researching, identifying, and obtaining. An object born from a gigantic corporation specializing in the very forging of this object, having once sponsored a Saturday Night Fight within the largest formation of their product on record. Great pains were suffered in ensuring that one of these made physical contact with Hotaru Futaba at the moment she fell in the battle. In fact, it was the very one under her foot when she failed that critical Kobi Kyaku, verified through multiple camera angles of that one moment in that distant past battle.
This object of great interest, able to fit in the hand of any grown adult or even a child, is withdrawn from virtually nowhere, the old man more than telegraphing its existence as he rears back as though he were going to throw a traditional baseball fast ball. In fact, given what little fight is left in him, he almost falls over the fallen teacup behind him.
Spiting injury and fading consciousness, he yells loudly with all the spirit of these collective insanities and delusions and innermost wishes as he throws his entire body weight, or at least the body weight that doesn't want to become dead weight, and lets the crazy thing representing the culmination of his intensive 'study' (more like imagination) to bear.
A yellow plastic playpen ball, more or less entirely harmless for the sake of being safe for small children to play in, is fastballed in Hotaru's direction, with the words 'HOTARU KILLER' childishly scrawled in katakana using cheap black ink, parts of these words are already smudged to near illegibility. It is otherwise simply just that, a yellow plastic playpen ball.
A yellow plastic playpen ball that now bears the label of being a HOTARU KILLER. HO-TA-RU-KI-RA, I guess, if you have to be... specific.
COMBATSYS: Todoh can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Hotaru 1/-------/=======|
Post-fastball, he loses balance off the picnic blanket that won't support his weight and movement and shuffling under the field at which point he crashes face-first onto the turf.
The judges have another go at this again in order to capitalize upon this 100% unambiguous moment with the necessary speed lines and other dramatic special effects that only exist because of the building TAIYO SPIRIT and the victory of the sure favorite.
"KO!!" They cry again in unison, but what about this deadly last ditch weapon?! Everyone is on the edge of their seat!
COMBATSYS: Hotaru reflects Thrown Object EX from Todoh with Kobi Kyaku.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Hotaru 1/------=/=======|
The backflip comes to an ending with Hotaru standing roughly at the point from which she launched into the air, arms out at her sides, lowering slowly back into a guarding position. Ever prepared, ever expecting something. The old man has been building up for something extreme. Something ultimate. A second of leaving her guard down might spell significant trouble. She knew her kick was able to crush its way through his guard but it isn't until she lands that she's able to fully survey the results of Ryo's signiture technique in action by the comperatively more dimunitive Hotaru Futaba.
Todoh admits that his study of her broadcast fights might not have been as thorough as he at first implied. But he *DID* study the important parts. The parts where she failed to come out on top - facing a superior opponent, losing to brute force over form, challenging one of the masters of their arts, out numbered, or just out performed. The girl has a plentiful trail of losses stretched across the expanse of her short career as a professional fighter. And of all those... of all the possible ways Todoh could have sought to study her undoing, he picks that second trip to the ball pit for her as part of SNF. But rather than focusing on the combined skill of Nagare and Hokuto, he fixates on the balls themselves. It's not the first time he's tried to use one of those deceptive, hollow, plastic spheres of pure menace on her before. But this time he's more prepared. This time it's emblazoned with purpose, with kanji that declare its solemn intent.
The Kenpo artist quietly watches, standing up straight out of her half crouch landing, staring back at him, eyes widened a little. What could he possibly have in mind? What is this ultimate moment he has brought to bear? Her reaction comes almost instinctively in spite the surprise. Speed lines of blazing yellow trail behind that ultimate ball pit ball. But rather than colliding squarely against the girl, the Hotaru Killer smashes into a wall of blue created at the last moment, the girl drawing upon her defensive technique once again.
Her leg snaps down as she comes out of her reverse roundhouse, but by then the job has already been finished. Sent flying back toward Todoh, now imbued with a sheath of that deep, rich blue of Hotaru's, is that very ball, its speed lines having become azure instead. "KYA!!" The refs are shouting the end of the match, the crowd is eager to see if this is truly the finish they were promised, and the cheer squad, well - they're cheering. But of Todoh?
Turf is not delicious and don't let anyone ever tell you this unless you are a cow or some other grass grazer and even they would think this stuff is really toxic and not tasty at all, so I guess it's still not delicious, is it? Defeat sometimes goes well with fatty tuna, in comparison. You should ask Ryuhaku sometime, he knows a lot about what side dishes go very well with defeat. Whether you will get anything coherent...
Her chi-laced foot strikes up like clockwork against it. She shouldn't even feel anything against it. She may even be fooled into thinking both she (and Todoh himself) missed because there is absolutely no impact to be had. Yes, for all intents and purposes, it was - is - a yellow plastic ball named the 'HOTARU KILLER.' That's right. His ultimate technique to show to the entire world today, for what part of it has seen it, was to throw a playpen ball at her. A harmless(?) plastic playpen ball.
It streaks back at a high arc with a glowy azure trail, obscuring the nature of its writing for as long as it is still in play, at which point it descends down on the prone Todoh's head. It is imminent. Inevitable. Inescapable. They want to see how this last ditch technique ends now that it has been fully turned against him, his trump card having turned up short! A bust! Any moment now, gravity will have its way.
It soundlessly bounces off of the back of elder man's head with hardly anything more than an extremely quiet 'pif,' bounces a negligible height, and rolls a short distance on the field. The whole stadium falls silent. Not from awe, but from wondering... was that it? Was that all really it?
The closest hand suddenly snaps out from motionlessness to grasp the ball, shaking with impotent rage without raising his head to show his discontent/vow of revenge/manly tears/irreverent glee/whatever. Nope. There is just shaking of that one fist. And the Hotaru Killer. He spins it around in his hand a few times, as if to confirm it is at least whole and not punched into a not-sphere shape nor disintegrated outright. Would this knowledge actually accomplish anything of worth towards self-improvement, Hotaru's downfall, or the advancement of his family's fighting style?
...Um. That one is best decided by everyone who sees it. What the hell, man, Ryuhaku Todoh tried to defeat a prodigy of a young girl with a playpall pen. Do some things have to be seen as more than they really are?! A few officials start to try and drag Todoh off so that, at last, they can get him out of here and get on with their lives.
Nobody wants to touch the blanket or the teacup. Maybe this will be the birth of a new folk legend around these parts.
Log created on 23:51:01 10/08/2008 by Hotaru, and last modified on 11:49:05 10/21/2008.