Description: Kerian Valentine, a man popular with the ladies. And now he's gained another teenage girl with a particular interest in him. Except...not quite for the usual reasons. Because whispers have been spreading about a gunman...who can take down fighters with his shots. A man who can focus spiritual power through the barrel of a weapon...
Liquid splashes around the bottom of a paper cup. A plastic straw pokes around the ice cubes, searching for the best angle. It's an art, it is.
Over the rim of the cup, a pair of dark brown eyes look over the main floor of the mall. Their owner sits at a table on the outer edge of the food court, her gaze roving over the atrium and escalators. Her location gives her an excellent vantage point - which is why she chose it, specifically, in particular. Nothing's an accident. There's always a purpose.
The afternoon crowd is just beginning to stream into the shopping centre. The indoor American-style mall is popular with the student crowd, and it's close to the end of the school day. That means there are lots of uniformed figures now coming in through the big sliding doors at one end of the building, roaming past the glass shop windows, congregating in small groups around the ornamental shrubbery...and making it harder to locate her target, given his similar manner of dress.
A complication. But not unexpected.
It just means she has to look harder.
Like so.
The tip of the straw presses to her lips. She takes a last final drink of soda, draining the cup. Then she stands. The paper cup goes into the bin as she passes it. She moves into the crowd, her long yellow raincoat flapping in her wake as she glides over the polished floor - the wheels of in-line skates rolling on oiled bearings as she picks up speed. Faster, faster...
Time.
Now.
Contact.
Riko Koganei, fourteen-year-old ninja, crashes heavily into an unsuspecting young man.
"Oh," she says, guilelessly "I'm so sorry!"
"Ah, it's quite alright," said unsuspecting young man chirps cheerily. Although really, if one didn't know better, it was pretty easy to mistake him for a girl - the long hair kept almost anal-retentively perfect, the slight delicate frame, the slender fingers and legs...if he had even one curve, he'd probably -be- a girl.
As it was, though, he's currently surrounded by a crowd of younger schoolgirls. Word about his fight in the park had gotten out in the usual manner by the usual girls, and now wherever he went it seemed like there were fangirls to crowd him.
He -hated- it.
He turns around and offers a hand to Riko. "Are you alright?" He asks. "Anything broken, luv?"
Sprawled on the floor in an awkward not-quite-sitting position, Riko makes a show of rubbing her thigh. She winces.
"Y-yeah," the girl says, shakily, "er, I mean, n-no, I'm alright, and no, nothing broken, yeah...I think. Sorry, sorry."
The last couple of words come out in a rush, blending together. She gives a toss of the head, her short bob-cut hair shifting as she does so. Extending her own hand, Riko grabs on to Kerian's offered arm and starts to come to her feet in a fashion that isn't /quite/ steady. Not at all. Her skate-clad feet slip and slide, wheels threatening to take her balance out from under her. She grabs onto Kerian a bit firmer, pulling closer to the young man. Very close indeed.
A fact that causes his crowd of fangirl admirers to hiss in a fashion best compared to those of the feline genus.
Kerian, on the other hand, probably would have a different reaction.
Particularly if he notices she's using the proximity...
...to try and pick his pocket.
Well, pocket's not the right word.
She's going for his gun.
His hand slips out as he notices her hand going under his coat, snapping for her wrist the -second- he realizes it.
"Now now, luv. Not on the first date." Those icey blue eyes narrow at her. "Going to have to get a few drinks in me first."
The fangirls sputtered. On the one hand, they had no idea what was actually going on, so it sounded like some -incredible- flirting. On the other hand, the girl couldn't've been much older than they were, and he'd revealed a critical weakness, so there was some understandable confusion.
But not from the Brit-shonen himself. Oh no, he'd been reading people for more than six years now - his master'd been an -expert- in bluffing and trickery, and Kerian had often suspected some ninja training in Ginyu's blood. He knew what she was going for, yes.
Of course, that doesn't mean he knew the why, the intricacies, or whatever else she was pulling with. Just the 'oh, she's trying to snake my gun'. It left him dangerously open.
Riko bats her eyelashes, doing her very best to look coy. Which is quite a lot, indeed. She brings a theatrical flush to her cheeks, tilts her head to one side, and makes a small fluttering motion with her fingers. Her hand's still caught in Kerian's grasp, just by the wrist.
It's an odd tableau. Her hand's more than halfway to his chest, nearly under the lapels of his jacket. It's the sort of picture that's almost certain to draw righteous indignation - and yes, confusion - from the hovering crowd of fangirls, and more than a few of the mall's patrons.
Riko pays them no heed. Instead, she merely blinks, innocently, at the young Englishman.
"Why, Mister Valentine," she says sweetly, calling him by name,
"What sort of girl do you think I am?"
-THAT- got an eyebrow-raise from the prettyboy. He leans in close, and at this, the fangirls just go absolutely berserk.
"How do you know my name?" He hisses, waiting for her to answer him before he moved. This close, their breaths were mingling against each others' necks...and the anger was almost -palpable-.
But not to the people outside this little tiny connection. One of the fangirls was busy vigorously writing his name down for later uploading to a server. Others were postulating theories as to the connection. At least one of them was imagining taking Riko's place.
One of them was making vigorous stabbing motions in her direction.
It was the makings of a problem, he knew. He'd been in the center of enough problems recently to recognize them.
"Saaa," Riko murmurs, her tongue flicking out to moisten her lips. Her expression looks distinctly playful, the corners of her mouth tilting up in a smile full of mischief.
She makes no attempt to pull away from the young man. Kerian's still got a firm grip on her questing hand. And by now, he's looking her straight in the eyes, while her own face is lifted towards his.
Somewhere in the background, the collective blood pressure of the fangirls spikes up another notch.
"That...would be...telling," she singsongs, her voice lilting in a high soprano.
His fingers clench around her wrist, those pretty and delicate digits -much- stronger than they seem.
"So start telling," he murmurs, his voice's temperature dropping at least as much as the fangirls' blood pressure was spiking. "I hate playing games. It's annoying."
He slowly pushes against her arm, trying to remove it from his coat. "Who are you, and what do you want? And if you're working with -them-, give me one good reason I shouldn't blow your head off right now."
Something about the tone of his voice implied that 'them' didn't mean the fangirls. It was a notch colder even than the already icey freeze of his lilting English speech, colder than the cool blue eyes currently staring at her. He purses his lips.
Again, someone makes a vigorous stabbing motion in her direction.
Riko, quite deliberately, looks away from the Englishman. Her eyes flit to the side. She takes in the sight of the other teenage girl angrily waving an imaginary dagger.
She lifts her eyebrows, arching them, even as she peers back at Kerian. Once again, she makes no attempt to pull away from their strange embrace. Instead, she makes quite a different move.
One of her hands is locked with his. The other makes a practiced motion - and something slides out from the sleeve of her raincoat, falling neatly into her waiting palm. In the space of a single breath, she brings her hand up and around, until the thin edge of her knife is pointing towards the tender skin of Kerian's throat.
Riko whispers, sweetly, "Will this do?"
COMBATSYS: Riko has started a fight here.
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Riko 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kerian has joined the fight here.
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Riko 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kerian
As the fangirls breathe a collective sigh, his knee juts upwards for her stomach even as his hand swings around to parry the knife. He needed to get her away from the gun, he knew, so he could draw it himself. The edge of his knee gleams with a burst of chi, ready to explode on contact and send her sprawling.
And now the crowd draws back and moves to take cover. Video cameras and cameraphones, as well as disposable cameras and digital cameras, are drawn. A moment ago, it had been a potential love scene. -Now- it was a fight.
Speculation raged about them, a storm of whispers and murmurs rolling through the crowd. But at the eye of them, the handsome young Englishman stands, unphased, the calm in the center of the maelstrom.
COMBATSYS: Kerian successfully hits Riko with Light Kick.
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Riko 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Kerian
Light bursts with flashbulb intensity. That and the sudden, very /rapid/ motion is enough to draw attention. In a second, there'll be a larger crowd than just Kerian's adolescent female admirers. In a few more, someone will think to call mall security.
But here and now, there's just the unexpected outbreak of violence.
Riko recoils, the knee slamming straight into her stomach, forcing the air from her lungs. It also knocks her clean away from the gunman - which was surely his intent. Nothing much she can do about that, now, given she's doubled over and rolling backwards, momentum keeping her going on her in-line skates.
She lifts her head, looking up, and turns it from side to side.
"Oh," Riko muses, as she waves the tip of her knife in the air, sketching circles with the glinting blade. The steel weapon reflects the strong sunlight coming in through the mall's glassed-over roof, a lethal pattern of reflections on metal.
"Are you," she says impishly, "gonna whip out your gun, Mister Valentine? Huh?"
COMBATSYS: Riko takes no action.
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Riko 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Kerian
Kerian does just that. The gun slides out easily, and he cocks the weapon, pulling back the barrel and readying it with a 'click'. There were no bullets...but she didn't need to know that. Somebody screams 'Kerian-samaaaa~!'.
"Yeh. I am. Got a problem with that?" He levels the weapon at her. "You pulled yours, so I don't feel particularly bad about it. This may hurt a touch, though." And then the pistol flashes, white light blasting out of it, a tightly-focused bullet of chi soaring at Riko, ready to strike her right in the chest and splatter, explode, or penetrate her soft flesh.
COMBATSYS: Riko parries Kerian's Magnum Blast!
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Kerian
She seems remarkably composed for someone who's just been shot.
Or shot at.
There's an important distinction there, really. The difference between something foregone, and something merely attempted, but not yet to completion.
The shot never lands.
Spiritual energy explodes in the air with retina-searing brightness. When it fades, Riko's visible in the follow-through, her arm extended, residual power crackling down her outstretched sleeve - flowing from the slender, almost stiletto-like blade clasped in her hand, where she quite simply /stabbed/ the bullet, disrupting its chi matrix.
"You misunderstand," Riko observes, didactically, "this is not a knife."
Her lips shift, her grin growing broader.
"Nor that," she continues, "a gun. Isn't that right, Mister Valentine?"
Her arm moves, again, slashing down, rapidly, as she lunges forward, skate wheels spinning across the mall floor. But the edge of the knife never meets the man. It doesn't even come close.
No. It's the energy still dancing round the blade, turning increasingly electric with each passing moment, that lashes out as Riko exerts her influence.
COMBATSYS: Kerian blocks Riko's Light Fantastic EX.
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Kerian
Kerian watches the dance with a fair amount of interest. He's never seen a technique quite so...well...electrifying. His mind races against time, the chi flowing through his body heightening as he thinks about it.
Oh. Of course. Electricity requires grounding. Where to find grounding?
The escalators! Genius!
He darts back, one, two, three, four, five, six stumbling steps, letting her close a bit each time. His final step, however, sinks onto the escalator as the electricity burns into him, and the rubber, combined with his own flow of chi, slowly lessens the burn to nothing. He rises, a smirk on his face.
"Tough luck there, luv," he murmurs, leaping upwards as the escalator reaches its zenith and landing on the rail. Ginyu'd never taught him to be -flashy-, but this was too good to pass up - the escalator's rail would provide the speed he desperately needed.
"Kerian-samaaaaa~! Suugooooiiiii!" "Get her, Kerian-sama!" "We love you!"
He nearly facefaulted off the rail at his cheering section, but quickly steadied himself. The slide of the rail picks up substantially, and at the critical point, he leaps off, his gun charged with chi. Not for a shot, however...no, this was going to -hurt-, this metal and power-charged pistolwhip to the face. Oh yes. It was going to -hurt-.
COMBATSYS: Riko dodges Kerian's Deep Strike.
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Kerian
A fact evident to Riko. Her eyes widen fractionally, an instant before the pistol collides with her face. She can feel the energy coming off the metal, saturating the weapon.
She avoids it.
She leans backwards, her spine flexing, her whole body tilting at an extreme angle, knees bending. One hand touches the ground for balance. The other still clutches that knife.
Her feet, then, leave the floor, one skate-clad boot, a heavy shell of plastic armour and composite wheels snapping upward, the heel rocketing to the Englishman's centre of mass. With Kerian's back to the escalators, the blow would have enough impact to send him towards them - towards the /downward/ escalator, in particular. A painful trip to the floor below, if it connects.
"'Luv'," Riko echoes.
"Don't you mean," she pouts, "/them/?"
The fangirl shrieks escalate another decibel.
COMBATSYS: Kerian dodges Riko's Light Kick.
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Kerian
It really is impossible. One second, he's there; the next, his gun is rocketing up towards her chin, having stopped and ducked backwards a second before the kick rolled around. Again, the heat of the chi is radiating from the heavy metal; this time, at least, it's not backed up by nearly as much force. Not that those slender arms are nearly as weak as they look.
"It's an English thing," he says cheerily.
COMBATSYS: Riko fails to interrupt Medium Strike from Kerian with Metamysticparallectrolysis EX.
- Power fail! -
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Riko 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Kerian
"Well, Mister Valenti---"
Whatever Riko was planning to say, she doesn't get to finish.
Her eyelashes flutter as she twists up from the floor, her long yellow raincoat flowing behind her. The knife comes up, a charge of electricity conducting through the metal in a manner so like, yet so unlike, the form used by the British gunman. Her expression is one of triumphant glee as she intercepts the gun strike with...
No.
Riko has just enough time for surprise to register. Her expression changes, all in a flash.
Too fast!
The pistol smashes her across the face. She spins backward, tumbling to the floor and bouncing hard with the imparted momentum. She crashes across the threshold of a nearby cafe, spilling into a hastily vacated table...sending trays, a half-eaten meal and beverages smashing to the floor.
Riko groans as she struggles to rise.
The diners whose lunch she just upset back away from the fallen girl, quite unwilling to stand anywhere near her, much less help her up.
"Huh," Riko muses, rolling her head. A trickle of blood oozes down one side of her head.
"Saaa," she hisses, her eyes alight, "I wonder..."
Kerian doesn't let up. He's already charging her, even as she goes sprawling through the poor bastards' food. His foot swings forward, a black missile aiming for her chin, the end ready to explode with even more chi. Where the hell was he getting it all? It was insane.
Whether he hits her chin and sends her flying upwards or not, his foot comes falling down again, yet more chi concentrated in his heel. It was a dynamite attack, and one of his personal favorites; not quite the standby of his bullets, but it had quite a bit of kick to it.
The gorgeous Englishman tosses a few dollars on the table as his foot lands back on the ground. He was nothing if not courteous, and it wasn't like he didn't have the money to spare, he reflects.
COMBATSYS: Riko dodges Kerian's Axe Kick Combo.
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Riko 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Kerian
The first kick lands, sending Riko's head snapping back. But there's almost no resistance - no sense of impact. Not just the feeling of someone going limp, but the movement of someone who anticipated the attack and flowed with it, her own motion twisting her body, not the force of Kerian's muscles.
And so she isn't there when the descending kick comes, sliding out of the way like water. The heel of his shoe brushes stray strands of hair from Riko's head, but that's the closest it comes. She continues moving to one side, the wheels on her in-line skates splashing through the puddle left by the spilled meal, carrying Riko as she rolls out of the cafe and back onto the mall floor proper.
"...ahhh," Riko says, with the air of someone thinking out loud, "you /are/ interesting, Mister Valentine."
"Initially, we'd supposed your weapon was special, to conduct chi as it does...well, I suppose that has yet to be disproved. But you're quite a chi adept in your own right, aren't you?"
Her eyes are slitted, speculative, sizing Kerian up. But not in the same way all the fangirls are eying him, no.
This is an entirely different sort of predatory gaze.
As she speaks, Riko's movement takes her past one of the bits of greenery decorating the mall interior, a small tree in a ceremic planter. Riko lifts her arm...and stabs her knife into the wood, ramming it up to the hilt. The plant quivers as she does this.
She leaves it there.
COMBATSYS: Riko focuses on her next action.
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Riko 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Kerian
Kerian pulls himself out of the charge. This was a bad situation getting worse, he realizes, as he watches her predatory gaze. He didn't have much of a chance against her like this; he'd have to pick it up. His gun swings up at her leg, and he fires off another burst of energy at her tender young thighs. It was a strike meant to cripple, meeting the predator with a predator's blow.
"I had a good teacher," he murmurs. He wasn't much of a talker during combat, and it shows. But those ice-blue fangirl-melting eyes were locked right on hers, and the fighting spirit was there - it was hidden, it was buried, but it was there, burning bright.
COMBATSYS: Riko dodges Kerian's Crippling Shot.
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Riko 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Kerian
If he's got fighting spirit burning beneath a cool facade...then what of Riko? What of the girl who regards Kerian with a distinct sense of bemusement, her eyes half-lidded and altogether dangerous?
She laughs.
A high bell-like sound, a songbird's trill from her throat.
"A -style-, then," she says, conclusively, snapping her fingers, "my, my, my, I must be remiss in my research."
That's when the bullet hits.
But Riko isn't there.
The projectile of highly-compressed chi slams into her leg. And passes through, as the illusion unravels with a roar of chi against chi. Riko's outline turns ghostly blue, and then there's nothing there but a few crackling sparks, spilling from the knife pressed into the ornamental tree...and the runic sigals carved into the hilt.
"Tell me," Riko continues, her voice now coming from a different angle.
She leans, almost casually, against a storefront, her back to the display window's glass.
"Who was your teacher, Mister Valentine?"
As she speaks, she pulls another blade from her coat, twisting it once, twice, before sending it flying at Kerian with a flick of the fingers.
COMBATSYS: Kerian blocks Riko's Medium Fling.
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Riko 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Kerian
He spins, his hand batting away the knife, sending it spiralling only to click into one of the soft walls. He doesn't wince at the painful slap of hand on metal - though internally he's berating himself, annoyed. He remains silent, inhaling and exhaling as he gathers the chi in the area around him, reinforcing his body, just in case. He doesn't reply. The girl was obviously a capable manipulator, and he'd be damned if he'd fall into that particular trap. The steady hum of chi fills the air, and it seems like he actually bulks up just a bit.
One of the fangirls faints in the background with a little 'ee'.
COMBATSYS: Kerian gains composure.
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Riko 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Kerian
Riko turns her head, following the trajectory of her deflected knife. She notes, with one raised eyebrow, where it lands, partially embedded in a nearby wall. Then she turns her attention back to Kerian. She pushes off from the storefront she was leaning against, pressing her palms to the glass and forcing herself forward. She rolls away from the window, tucking her hands into her pockets as she does so. Her skates make little rattling sounds as they roll over the mall flooring.
It's a decidedly relaxed poise.
Which means it doesn't make anyone feel at ease. Not at all. Certainly the crowd gathering in the vicinity, particularly Kerian's little fan club, are still giving her wary eyes.
"Mmm...I asked you a question, Mister Val-LEN-tineee..."
Riko almost sings his name.
Then she drops. Flat to the floor.
The first charge detonates. Pressed to the glass display Riko was resting on, the wad of Semtex turns the big plate window into so many shards of pinwheeling glass.
And the second blast, following so close it almost sounds like /one/ explosion, redirects the razor cloud over Riko's head.
Straight towards Kerian.
And, for that matter, anyone or anything unfortunate to be between point A and point B.
COMBATSYS: Riko successfully hits Kerian with Improvised Tactics.
- Power hit! -
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Riko 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Kerian
Kerian was absolutely NOT expecting that. Not even remotely. His eyes fly up to the ceiling...and while he knows he could dodge it, there's a girl unlucky enough to have been trying to get a good picture of his bulked-up state in the way.
It takes him all of a millisecond to decide as he charges, tackling her to the ground. The girl squeals in surprise (and perhaps a little bit of joy) as Kerian takes her down, taking the brunt of the hit with his own body. He twitches as his chi is drained out of him into the defensive area, leaving him even worse-off than he was before.
A moment later, as the shards are gone, he pulls himself to his feet and pulls the girl up. "Are you alright?"
The red of her face is matched only by a dress in a store window. "Uh...uh-huh..."
"Good. Go on now." He gives her a bit of a swat, and she stumbles off and over to her friends, immediately gushing over being tackled by him and how he was so brave and omigod like wow.
His eyes swing back over to meet Riko's. Still, he hasn't answered her question.
The shot is so quick as to be from the hip. He doesn't even change stances; it's completely akimbo, and man, is it -charged- with anger.
COMBATSYS: Riko endures Kerian's Magnum Blast.
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Riko 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Kerian
"So," Riko observes, as she gets to her feet. She rises from her prone position, where she lay flat to let her own attack pass over her. "Selfless heroics. You're -that- sort, Mister Valentine, very interesting."
Riko beams at this, as if rewarding a bright child for something they've done in class.
"Is that moral code part of your training, mmm?"
By now, Kerian's shot is coming right at her, the blast of chi fueled by pure righteous rage.
Riko doesn't dodge it. She comes out of her crouch in a straight-line burst of speed, rising like a runner from the starter's blocks. Bits of glass crunch into dust beneath the wheels of her skates as she speeds forward, /into/ the blast. The chi rocks her small form, painfully, pounding the fabric of her t-shirt flat against her torso, blowing her hair back. But her eyes remain open all through this, as she comes straight towards Kerian, still accelerating, fast, fast, fast.
"Or," Riko carries on, "all you?"
She lashes out with one hand, trying to get a grip on the injured Englishman as she blazes by him. Trying to get a grip and /drag him along/, pulling him all the way across the floor of the shopping mall and clean to the other side of the atrium where the decorative fountain lies. And damned be anyone in her way.
COMBATSYS: Kerian dodges Riko's 88 MPH.
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Riko 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Kerian
He crouches, knuckles on the ground. "Me," he hisses, "And that's all you get."
As she nears him and lashes her hand out, he disappears; the sudden discharge of chi into the ground leaves a massive crater, shredding the ground beneath him, tiles flying everywhere, shattering against walls and trees from the explosion.
"And this," he amends, his foot swinging around as he reappears in front of her, lashing out with his foot at top speed. The chi is still so focused at the tip of his foot, so very small, but so very deadly. So very, very dearly.
COMBATSYS: Riko blocks Kerian's Light Kick.
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Riko 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Kerian
He might be fast enough to vanish from normal eyes.
He's not fast enough to vanish from /her/ sight.
The senses of a fighter are something different. And it's that hyper-alertness that lets Riko track his movement, that lets her react as fast as she senses it. Skidding to a halt, her skate wheels drawing sparks from the floor, Riko sweeps an arm up...
...and intercepts Kerian's leg with a slender forearm, knocking it off-target, forcing it to one side.
Riko clicks her tongue. "Your teacher trained you well," she allows.
Not bad at all. His speed must be comparable to hers. Perhaps a similar chi-based acceleration technique, at that. Without the need for a ninkou, it might even be more skillful, at least on paper.
The ninja girl smirks.
And attacks, driving her own kick from near zero range, spinning to punch the wheels of her skate-clad foot into Kerian's face.
"But you are not a master yet!"
COMBATSYS: Kerian dodges Riko's Heavy Kick.
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Riko 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Kerian
Kerian wasn't an idiot; he could see the counterattack coming from a mile away. Ignoring the jabs of her voice, he ducks, sweeping his foot out and around to meet her face. It was another nasty blow, or would be with the landing; he was counting on those skates sending her flying towards the fountain, or at least knocking her into a tree. With luck, maybe the force of the chi would send her bouncing around like a pinball.
That'd show her to piss him off, yes indeed. Maybe even get her off his back, and possibly even shut her up.
Okay, maybe not the last one, but perhaps he'd at least get her grunting in an unpleasant manner.
COMBATSYS: Riko interrupts Medium Strike from Kerian with Dragon Seal Blue EX.
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Riko 1/------=/=======|=======\====---\1 Kerian
The sound of a patent-leather shoe meeting flesh echoes like a gunshot through the mall. Just as loud as one, really, comparing very favourably to the sound generated by all the prior attacks and explosions. Riko's head curves back, straining her neck and spine almost painfully. She arcs into the air, flying through space, and lands in the fountain's pool with a splash of water and breaking masonry. Riko lies on her back, water running down her face, her ribs rising and falling as she takes ragged breaths.
Then she sits up, easily, fluidly. Ignoring the spray of the fountain, she peers across the atrium with bright eyes.
"Boom," she says, simply.
The sole of Kerian's shoe starts to glow, a warm electrical current building from the tiny seal inscription left by Riko's touch.
Then comes the thunder.
Kerian looks down, then looks up as the strike explodes around him.
Girls scream. Glass explodes. Wood shatters. Kerian grits his teeth, the charge burning him to his eyebrows, but he manages not to scream only because of the last-minute switch in his own chi flow.
Or was it last minute? The power'd been flowing for a while, into his arms and legs, and he narrows his eyes at her.
"You brought this on yourself," he says simply.
The ground just shatters where he'd been standing. The crater was even bigger than the last one, and the reaction is the same; tiles exploding against walls, et cetera, et cetera.
But this isn't like the last one. No, somehow, this is more...potent. More dangerous. And then, her senses would realize...he's circling her.
The godlike speed attained, afterimages slowly begin to appear. One after another, until finally, there's a ring of identical Kerians, each one in the middle of running.
Each one with a gun pointed right at her.
Another fangirl faints.
Then comes the hailstorm. Bullet after bullet, shots of chi lancing from all sides simultaneously, closing towards her, ripping through the fountain like paper. A wagon wheel, encircling her; a deadly, efficient, and absolutely destructive wagon wheel, but a wagon wheel nonetheless. The ultimate technique of Shinosokuhou-Ryu - Godlike Bullet Rave - an unending assault from all sides at once.
As the afterimages continue, they actually begin to sink into the trench forming in the mall, burned there by the incredible speed attained by the young Brit-shonen. Slowly, the edges of the fountain, too, are caught in this destructive attack.
Finally, he skids to a halt, exhaling, panting, in the trench. He gathers himself for a moment and stands, closing his eyes and righting himself.
"Boom yourself, luv."
COMBATSYS: Riko fails to slow Godlike Bullet Rave from Kerian with Level 360.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Riko 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Kerian
Another knife drops into Riko's hand, sliding from the mechanism in her raincoat sleeve. She spins it, starts to drive it into the cheerful art-deco cherub sitting atop the fountain...
Which is when the first bullet hits, and she's already out of time.
The chi projectiles detonate all over her lean form. When the smoke and sound fades, Riko lies in the shattered ruins of what was once a reasonably nice indoor water feature, now leaking rivulets all over the mall floor and spewing geysers from broken pipes.
Slowly, purposefully, Riko rises on one knee. She picks up the knife she dropped, fingers tightening round the seal-inscribed blade. Identical to the other two she's used in the fight so far, she lifts it - and, purposefully, as if she hadn't been interrupted - anchors it in the ruins of the fountain.
Then, and only then, does she address Kerian, lifting her voice to be heard over the murmur of the crowd.
(and the breathless gasping of his fangirls)
"Mmm, so," Riko says, between breaths, "what -is- your style, Mister Valentine?"
Kerian runs his fingers through his hair, swings his head back and forth, and cracks his knuckles against his gun. Then he drops to the ground, nearly on all fours, the very image of the White Wolf his underground tourney nickname embodies, and charges her. His gun slides up, aiming for her chest, the gleam of light peaking at the end of the gun. His feet splash through the water, leaving a trail. He's dangerous. He's deadly.
He's a goddamn -wolf-. And here comes the fangs.
COMBATSYS: Riko dodges Kerian's Fierce Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Riko 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Kerian
If he's a wolf, then Riko's smile is like a cat.
Of the breed Cheshire.
Which fits with her movement, then, as she ghosts away from his strike. She leaps, she flips, cartwheeling over Kerian's head and landing with inhuman grace on the ground behind him. She taps one skate against the floor, folding her arms across her chest.
Riko shakes her head. Her hair's soaked, plastered to her scalp, but she manages to convey a look of wounded dignity, wrinkling her nose.
"So uncooperative," she chides.
Uncrossing her arms, Riko produces a fourth dagger, tossing it from hand to hand.
COMBATSYS: Riko gathers her will.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Riko 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Kerian
Kerian spins as she leaps over him, brutal as the wolf he appears. His foot swings up to kick her in the face, to wipe that grin away...or maybe just to enjoy himself.
"Because I'm not stupid," he hisses as the tip of his foot crackles with left-over electricity, stimulated by the glow of chi at the tip of his foot. Maybe he'd get lucky, and her own toy would pay her back.
COMBATSYS: Riko blocks Kerian's Light Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Riko 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Kerian
The chi charge doesn't. At least, not quite. But the sheer impact does sting, as Riko lifts an arm. It's a sure sign that the girl's tiring now, the fact that all she manages is a simple guarding position, letting the blow diffuse against the tensed muscles of her forearm.
"No," Riko replies, her voice conversational, "you're not, are you?"
She drifts back a step, then two. The crowd by now is giving both fighters a /very/ wide berth, the battle having spread to encompass much of the mall's main floor.
The knife in Riko's hand spins once, twice, as she twirls it with her fingers. Then she lets it go, towards Kerian, naturally.
COMBATSYS: Kerian overcomes Sudden Fling from Riko with Magnum Blast.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Riko 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Kerian
Kerian doesn't even bother to get out of the way. He turns in mid-run, skidding and sliding up against one of the trees in the wall. The knife soars at him, closer, closer, closer, whistling through the air...
...in two pieces as the bullet from his hip rips straight through. The knife thunks around his head, narrowly missing those gorgeous locks of flowing white hair as it sticks in, sinking deep - apparently, the bullet wasn't enough to kill the momentum.
But damn, it was enough to penetrate. It's still soaring at her, a little bundle of chi ready to pierce through her as easily as it pierced through the knife.
"No," he agrees.
COMBATSYS: Riko endures Kerian's Magnum Blast.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Riko 1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0 Kerian
The blast of chi rocks Riko's form, causing her to sway dangerously.
But somehow, she remains on her feet.
She didn't move. Didn't make any attempt at all to evade it. She just stood there, just /took/ the blast head on. And having absorbed the concussive force, a fresh trickle of blood's now flowing from the side of her lips.
She didn't move, because her eyes are focused on Kerian. She's staring forward, with almost laserlike intensity. Or more correctly...staring at the broken-off knife embedded in the tree next to the Englishman's head.
The complex seal carved into the hilt of the weapon glows, a pulsing blue.
Riko's voice comes, now, one word, and one word only:
"No?"
Chi surges, then. Chi is not just the energy of the body, but the energy of the world. And the entire spirit of this place /convulses/, now, as the seal array Riko's laid down bends the elements to her will.
Lines of force flare to being, linking the points of the matrix:
Each of the daggers Riko's used and discarded in this fight.
The charge builds as it jumps from point to point, finally grounding in the last element of the array.
The dagger embedded right next to Kerian's skull.
COMBATSYS: Kerian blocks Riko's Level 360.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Riko 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Kerian
Kerian stares for a few seconds before he realizes what's going on. Instantly, he drops the gun, sliding up his foot to kick it back up as soon as the maneuver is complete. His hands whip around, grabbing the daggers in his grip and -hurling- them forward; the electricity crackles along his fingers, and he grunts as it leaps up his body, around him, and down through his boots. The daggers, still crackling, soar forward, now charged with an extra little bit of chi for that final blow.
COMBATSYS: Riko dodges Kerian's Thrown Object.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Riko 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Kerian
"Maybe," Riko says, ruefully, "actually no."
She sounds disappointed, but amused all the same, as she makes a little motion with one hand. The dagger -explodes- in mid-flight, the hilt blowing apart with the detonation of a buried plastic explosive charge - keyed to the spark of Riko's chi.
"Still, -my- teacher," Riko continues, "taught me to never let my weapons be used against me. Far as it can be helped, anyway."
Fragments of metal rain to the ground. Riko ignores them.
She begins to move, then, skate wheels rolling over the debris-encrusted floor. By now this whole level of the mall is increasingly beginning to resemble...not so much a commercial shopping paradise of a good-class Southtown suburb, but rather more postmodern urban renewal in the architectural style of terrorist insurgency.
Except most urban war zones don't come equipped with a teenage female cheering section yelling for their favourite bishounen.
Riko ignores them too. Quite studiously, in fact.
And concentrates on accelerating up to speed.
Before spinning into as rapid a kick as she can muster, the heavy heel of her skates racing towards Kerian's torso, aimed at the critical sections of anatomy around the lower ribcage.
COMBATSYS: Kerian interrupts Light Kick from Riko with Sideways Shot.
[ \\\\ < > /////// ]
Riko 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Kerian
Kerian swings up his gun. He's hit in the face, but he goes limp midway through the fall, a grin on his face. His gun swings up, pointed sideways down the viewfinder...and he fires. The bullet speeds out of his gun, soaring straight through her leg, and taking full advantage of her off balance and everything else. It was the sort of shot somebody makes in the movies, and he skids against the ground, rolling over and landing on his feet against the trench.
The fangirls squeal. One of them's camera refocuses.
This was -good- footage.
The explosion is incredible.
Skate wheels break apart, polyurethane surfaces and metal bearings fragmenting in the air. The damage ripples up Riko's leg, peeling her skate boot apart, cracking plastic armour and metal fasteners. The girl herself is sent sprawling, tumbling to the ground - hard enough to fracture the tiles below.
She bounces once, twice, three times.
And then she flips.
Landing in a crouch.
Her intact skate takes the bulk of her weight, her ruined boot and bleeding leg stretching out behind her.
Riko's breathing comes slowly, calmly, now. By all rights, she shouldn't be conscious, not with physical trauma like that.
But she is. And her fingers have nary a tremble as she unfastens her ruined skate, hefting the remains with both hands.
She throws them at Kerian.
As the ruined skate arcs through the air, it's evident, then, that the inside of the shattered plastic is inscribed all over with seals like she's employed all through this fight.
COMBATSYS: Kerian dodges Riko's Sudden Fling.
[ \\\ < > /////// ]
Riko 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Kerian
Kerian charges at the knife. It's one of those stupid little things people do; diving at weapons, rolling through gunfire. He nears the knife, closer, closer, every second getting closer to what could be instant death.
He ducks. It's like the whole world is slow motion as he moves to punch her in the face with the gun, a light, quick blow with only a little chi backing it up, all that he could spare at the moment. It's one of those defining moments, those things you see people do once in a blue moon.
Well, okay. It's not -really-. But it's damn cool.
One of the fangirls - the one he'd tackled earlier - draws in a breath and holds it. Tight.
COMBATSYS: Riko dodges Kerian's Weapon Jab.
[ \\\ < > /////// ]
Riko 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Kerian
She'll have to keep holding that breath. Possibly until she passes out from lack of oxygen, resulting in a terrible concussion as her vapid skull hits the floor.
Well, no. Not really. Certainly Riko entertains that thought, briefly, at the back of her head - part of her usual tactical sweep of the environment. Riko takes notice of the girl from the sound she makes, but almost as quickly dismisses her. No threat.
And probably no real metric in putting her life in danger to manipulate Valentine. Not again. She already did that once. Not really the sort of thing one ought to make a habit of.
Too predictable.
She lifts a hand, batting Kerian's strike aside - the palm of her hand impacting the Englishman's forearm, knocking his attack just a fraction of an inch to the side. Enough such that it meets air and not the ninja girl's flesh.
"Mm," Riko whispers, "I see we've entered the silent desperation phase of the proceedings."
With one skate utterly destroyed, one leg injured, Riko's badly off-balance.
So no more kicks.
This doesn't stop her from trying to turn her parry into a solid grip on Kerian's arm.
An attempted alteration of his trajectory - towards the floor.
COMBATSYS: Kerian dodges Riko's Quick Throw.
[ \\\\ < > /////// ]
Riko 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Kerian
Kerian slides out of her grip. He rolls around her once, evading her throw and winding up right back in front of her.
It was his turn to screw with her now, he decides. He swings in and kisses her on the cheek, a hell of a misdirection as his knee slides up, the kneecap gleaming with energy in a mirror of the opening of the fight. "Enjoy," he murmurs. "From Valentine with love, sweetheart."
-This- sets the fangirls practically ablaze. But he wasn't paying attention to that. All that was left was the fight.
COMBATSYS: Riko fails to interrupt Light Kick from Kerian with Metamysticparallectrolysis.
[ < > //////// ]
Riko 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Kerian
COMBATSYS: Riko can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Kerian 0/-------/---====|
Symmetry. It began with that move.
It /ends/ with that move.
Riko's eyes widen, first at the kiss to the cheek, then an instant later, as the knee and its chi charge crashes into her midsection, pounding her ribs into her chest. Hypercompression is the technical term. For all practical purposes, it feels like being punched in the torso with a jackhammer.
She stumbles, coughing. Riko drops to the ground, barely managing to stop herself from going face-first to the floor with her hands.
Her head bows, and her shoulders shake.
A tremor runs through her small body.
She'd be the very picture of pain and agony, if she weren't...
...laughing?
"Maa, maa," Riko manages, "you win, Mister Va-len-tine."
Kerian smirks and spins his gun, holstering it. "I'll tell you what you wanted." He says after a moment. "The style's name is...."
Why this sudden burst of kindness? Who knows. He brushes some of the hair out of his eyes and walks over to her, offering a hand. He leans in close, to her ear, and whispers...
"Shinsokuhou-Ryu."
A moment later, he plants another kiss on her cheek and ducks backwards, his grin as wide as could be. "Call me Kerian, luv," he says as he turns, "I hate being called by my last name." He holds up his hand in a half-assed wave. "Anyway...surely you've someone you want to tell that to. So you ought to get going. I'd hate to force a lady to keep waiting." With that, the brit heads for the door of the...well, okay, who are we kidding? There's no door. There's a shattered place that probably -was- a door, but no door. Not now. He pushes some of the shattered glass away and walks out, calm as can be.
Kerian's grin widens a bit. "Ta-ta, luv."
COMBATSYS: Kerian has ended the fight here.
Log created on 20:43:50 10/15/2008 by Riko, and last modified on 02:35:05 10/16/2008.