Description: Nataya and Cherry set up a rematch to make up for the bizarre circumstances that surrounded their SNF match in Gen's restaurant. Shaolin Kung Fu clashes with Muay Boran and ancient Theravada monk techniques in an explosive battle. Both fighters trade blows, but Nataya manages to eke out ahead by a slight margin by virtue of just being able to weather through Cherry's final assault. (Winner: Nataya)
Big trouble... in little Chinatown!
The problem that Miss Cherry Aguirre is finding with her college education is that her *other* chosen road to stardom, fighting, is sort of lagging behind. While she knew from high school experience that being part of a dramatic production is a massive time sink, she was not truly prepared for the task of not only acting in school productions, but also taking classes not only in acting and movement, but also the good old fashioned liberal arts education. Time between rehearsals she had THOUGHT to devote to practicing and getting public matches in -- especially in highly visible venues like SNF and the League -- is instead taken up studying for physics tests and all that. While her public persona might not exactly resound with the markers of high academic achievement, Cherry *isn't* stupid. She is simply very, very focused.
Thus a lot of the calls for matches that get emailed from the League pass her by. But when she saw that there was an opening with one *particular* possible opponent, she made time. Thankfully, the League didn't hold her many absences against her and scheduled the Fighting Diva straight away. Truth be told, even her infrequent appearances are a draw; what the Boise Brawler lacks in experience she more than makes up for in style. Thus the assassin Gen's little old Chinese restaurant is currently... pretty full up, all things considered. Poor Yun and Yang, who toil away off-camera because they're not apped yet.
The Pacific University student has come dressed to impress. After all, when in Rome... or in this case, China. Her normal pleather pants and bustier combo has been scrapped for a more... ethic costume. Her red hair has been fixed into a pair of round braids that hang against her neck, loops on either side of the back of her head. Her body is practically sheathed in a dark red cheongsam with gold embroidery of dragons at play and patterns of 'flame', the entire thing slit up both sides and ending mid-hip so that she can move in it (and guaranteeing panty shots if she does any flying kicks). The slightly dark shade of sheer hose colors her legs right down to her red low-heeled shoes.
She's even got a lily pinned into her hair, and is carrying a folding fan.
When she walks in the door, a LOT of wives end up smacking their staring, open-mouthed husbands. Cherry, for her part, simply snaps open the fan and holds it coquettishly in front of her face. "What up, kids. Ho ho ho."
All of which pals in comparison to Nataya's... and... yeah. No.
Nataya doesn't do flashy because she's just not the sort. Even if she had access to all the high fashion in the world, she'd end up looking like she looks all the time: an exceedingly generic looking Asian woman that looks like she'd be better off dressed in a navy blue bathrobe with prayer beads hanging from the sleeves.
That's ostensibly a good thing, because that's basically exactly who she is, and that's pretty much how she's arrived. The last time Cherry and Nataya met, she was dressed in one of the most ridiculous outfits known to man at the behest of one of the most ridiculous men known to outfits. This time, she's able to relax in the clothing of her choice.
Genhanten's relatively well known, and Nataya's probably delivered groceries that eventually ended up here somehwere down the line. The fact that she's supposed to be fighting in such a crowded place is a little unusual to her. Nevertheless, she's long since learned to accept whatever comes down to her, passed in on cards or e-mails or however she's handed the information this week.
If she turns any heads, it's because she just came from a fish-rending plant that processes cod for oil, meaning she smells awful. Her face is smudged from working on a broken down delivery truck earlier that morning. Overall, she's an almost deplorable sight to behold not because she's ugly, but more to the fact that she doesn't cut the image she should. Fighting is about flashiness, presentability and appearances as much as it is about combat prowess. Showing up looking like a mess is almost a faux pas.
Nevertheless, that's basically how she makes ends meet, as clearly the money she gets from these things aren't going into her pocket at all. Still, when you're trying to restore a shrine singlehandedly, sometimes you need a little more scratch than regular old errad running gets you.
So here she is, looking all the world like th most ugly duckling compared to a swan, who's getting all the attention. Not that Nataya particularly minds, looking as serene as a person can possibly look, smelling of fish oil and deisel fumes. "Hi!" She says cheerfully. It's a simple 'hi', but it's filled with all the sincerity in the world.
Getting a glass of water from the waitstaff presumably isn't hard, unless Gen's so hard up for money that he can't spare tap water, which seems unlikely. A little thirsty after her walk here from Pacific's dorms (which aren't THAT far away), the first thing Cherry does is walk over and indeed procure such a source of refreshment. The fan -- mostly for the dramatic entrance -- is left on a counter or nearby table, or if he's really lucky the lap of a nearby admirer. It's not as if the American is paying too terrible much attention to where the thing goes, it was $4 at a nearby thrist store.
The redhead is turning and taking a sip of that very water when Nataya walks in the door, and while she is far too composed to do anything so slapstick as a spittake, the liquid in her glass certainly does... bubble a little as it gets to her lips. Yet she still takes the rest of her sip with poise, handing off the glass to a passing server without really thinking about where it will end up; it's the sort of behavior that actually encourages the server to, in turn, take the glass, because Cherry has conveniently written out the possibility that he will not by sheer force of personality alone. It leaves a confused look on his face as he wanders back in the kitchen to deliver the glass to the dishwasher, for sure.
"I was going to say this would be just like an episode of 'Kung Fu'," the Fighting Diva says as she walks toward Nataya, giving a little wave of greeting. "But in thinking it over I figured that would make you David Carradine, or maybe the old guy who played Sensei, neither of which are terribly flattering." She pauses to give this a moment's more consideration, then smirks. "How about 'House of Flying Daggers'? I'd call dibs on Zhang Ziyi but frankly, that girl is tiny." She could ALMOST get away with that comment being inocuous if she didn't also tap her cleavage with one hand while saying it. Classy, Cherry, very classy.
But without further ado, the redhead taps her foot on the floor, and then gets into a nice and proper Shaolin kung fu stance. It might not look it, but she studied this stuff in China with authentic Chinese masters. Suck it, globalization! "I'm ready when you are. And no Cirque du Solei: Nihon Edition to get in the way this time, either."
COMBATSYS: Cherry has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Cherry 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Nataya has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cherry 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Nataya
If Nataya has any real clue as to what Cherry is even talking about, it doesn't really register. Instead, she just smiles, not really giving away any indication as to her level of comprehension to the words. She does, however, recognize the stance to some extent. In response, she raises her hands in a traditional Muay Thai pose.
Focused is the best way to describe Nataya, really. Even though she looks all the world like a person willfully oblivious to her surrounding and the sunny expression on her face making her appear as vapid as humanly possible, there's no mistake that she's sizing her opponent up as well as any other combatant just by being present.
"As long as you're ready," she replies when Cherry says something that she feels comfortable answering to, and she takes half a pace back, leaning her whole weight on one leg. Muscles relax, then quickly tense as she shoots forward like a coiled spring. The woman shoots by tables, the speed of her progression pulling silverware off tables as she aims a straight fist to Cherry's breadbasket, attempting to knock the wind out of her opponent immediately. "As the risk of sounding cheesy: show me your moves!"
COMBATSYS: Cherry blocks Nataya's Strong Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Cherry 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Nataya
It may have been cheesy? But the crowd just cheered when Nataya said it. Come on, they've been waiting for this all day!
In the spirit of such a statement, though, Cherry's defense is equally dramatic, though no less effective for it. Turning somewhat, she angles herself so her side is to Nataya rather than her front, and there's a surprisingly resounding *WHAP* noise as Nataya's fist slams into Cherry's palm, her other arm bracing the arm with the blocking hand at the elbow to help absorb the shock. Which is still prodigious; the redhead grimaces briefly at the tingle of pain running up her arm... but that in and of itself is probably a good sign that she didn't want to feel what it would be like had she *not* just done that.
"I don't get why people have a problem with cheesy," the Fighting Diva says, hopping back a step and shaking out her hand, like it had gone numb from her lying on it for a long time or something of the sort. "I like a little B-movie in my week. Gives it flavor." But they didn't exactly come here to talk, did they? Not that it ever matters to Chatterbox Cherry Aguirre, but she's come to put on a good show as well, so that's what she does. Leaping up and forward, she twirls in midair, bringing her leg almost entirely straight up (and disappointing everyone waiting for such an attack by revealing the short black leather biking shorts she's got on under that cheongsam) and then slamming it down toward Nataya in an axe kick, blazing aura of dragonfire erupting around her kicking leg in a twining pattern. "TEST! YOUR MIGHT!" she booms out, Mortal Kombat style. Take that, fourth wall!
COMBATSYS: Nataya blocks Cherry's Cherry on Top.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Cherry 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Nataya
Nataya cranes her head to watch the airborne attacker, and silver smoke immediately begins to pour out from her sleeves. She whips her arms upwards in a sharp arc, and the leg comes down. The burst of energy helps waylay a lot of the destruction that the chi would have caused, but it down't slow down the physical impact of the attack which slams against her raised forearms like a sledgehammer.
The monk-girl is driven back a little, but not enough to slow her progress of attack. Relentless as ever, she charges foward at a considerable pace once more, planting her left foot onto the ground firmly before swinging it around in a hard arc. "Hup!' Is the short cry that announces the attack just a split second before it's executed.
The heel of her foot swings in a roundhouse blow. It's not a fancy attack by any means, but at heart, she's just not that fancy of a person. The cloud and lightshow that she weilds is pretty much just what she was taught, and has little to do with her own personal attitudes. Nevertheless, that cloud does a good job of obscuring vision and making things harder to see, masking her rather slow kick which whirls out... and misses.
Right before she bursts forth from the cloud, her shoulder low as a shimmering energy screen fires up in front of her, suspended by four pinpricks of light. Nataya tries to smash the energy burst straight into her opponent, knocking her back and away should she manage to connect.
COMBATSYS: Nataya successfully hits Cherry with Four Noble Truths.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Cherry 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Nataya
It really IS 'House of Flying Daggers' in here, with assassin's smokebombs and everything! Kinda. Cherry rebounds off Nataya like a superball, tumbling backwards in a tucking somersault and landing in a crouch. She doesn't want to give the sturdy monk-lady any time to recover, and thus barely waits at all before kicking off the ground and setting toward Nataya at a dead run. This... proves to be a monumental mistake. Thinking (as one might) that the somewhat telegraphed whirling kick is the only thing Nataya is trying, Cherry feels entirely safe when she plants her foot to stop her forward momentum and hops back a step, the blow scything the air between the two.
She should know better, because when the shimmering wall of force erupts out of the 'smoke', she's not prepared for it and, worse yet, has no footing to make a strong defensive effort. The best she can do is try to twist her still-moving body around the blow, and that's sadly not enough. If this were Charlie's Angels, there'd be a momentary bullet-time shot of the energy smacking into the Fighting Diva, right before real time started again and she literally goes flying over the heads of diners, landing quite literally in the lap of a male restaurant-goer, the two crashing to the floor.
An angry wife looks down as the American flips her hair out of her eyes and stands up, brushing off her dress. "Was it good for you, too?"
Turning back to Nataya, Cherry smirks a bit. "Tricksy, the hobbitses is, yes," she manages. That smarts a little. But the fight has just begun, and she's going to keep trying to make a good show of it. Setting off at a run, the Pacific student suddenly makes a low-angle leap for Nataya's shoulders, looking to basically lock the other girl's head between her thighs and then twist her center of gravity, effectively slamming her to the floor headfirst but on her back.
COMBATSYS: Nataya interrupts Strong Throw from Cherry with Six Seals EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Cherry 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Nataya
Here she comes. The woman that rivals Mai in sheer bounciness is coming in like a zaftig torpedo, and Nataya's caught dead in her sights. The low leap is slow enough, however, that Nataya can crouch down a little. Focusing herself, the explosion of action that occurs shortly thereafter is definitely cinematic if anything else.
The monk girl goes into a full force, three sheets to the wind uppercut the likes of which would make Sagat nod in approval. The collision of bodies causes her to take a significant amount of damage, but not half as much as she would have if the hit had landed clean. The blow smashes clean into Cherry with full force as she knocks the woman away from her towards the center of the restaurant, giving more male patrons an ample view of Cherry.
Already waiting for her at the other end of the restaurant, however, is a shimmering silver cloud, swirling and swarming with beads suspended within. Just before Cherry lands, the beads snap into formation, funneling the silver cloud into a bolt of pure power. The concentric rings fire like a short range cannon, blasting Cherry towards the ceiling, causing terrible levels of damage to the surrounding restaurant just on the expulsion of power alone as Nataya heaves a short breath, rensting her hands on her knees. "Whoof!"
Now that's interesting. The entire affair leaves the redhead quite literally hanging from the fixtures; she's busty but not really all that heavy, and a significant amount of force went into that attack. That is to say, welcome Cherry into the ranks of the Flying Wallendas, because that is exactly what she does. Spiralling out of her tumbling flight, the costumed Diva snaps a hand out at the last second to grab a thick cord holding a lantern much farther down below, where she hangs for a moment, catching her breath.
The crowd claps. Let's be honest, that was a pretty sweet lightshow.
"Alright..." Cherry murmurs, reaching up her other hand to the cord and starting to swing back and forth, Tarzan-on-vine style. "No more Mr. Nice Guy." Physics be damned... even if she's going down, she's going to make this look REALLY GOOD in the process. When she's got enough momentum, the Diva lets go, tumbling through the air until she reaches a support beam, running from the ceiling to the ground near Nataya... and lands on it feet first, before *running down the beam*. If she's got anything, Cherry has speed and training in keeping her balance in the most absurd situations. She was trained by people who do the real-life 'plum blossom pole' thing lampooned in Ranma 1/2. This is doable.
When she gets reasonably close to the ground, the redhead kicks off the pole in a spiralling dive at Nataya, arms twirling in a spinning hand strike that's just the beginning, if she can make it connect...
COMBATSYS: Cherry successfully hits Nataya with Wild Cherry.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Cherry 1/----===/=======|=======\==-----\1 Nataya
The palm strikes are just enough to disorient. What comes after is a rapidfire barrage of fists to every conceivable vulnerable spot on Nataya above the waist, Cherry's hands moving with blurring speed until the final strike, a disorienting nerve strike right in the center of the chest before the redhead blurs to Nataya's other side, grips her by the arm, and with a near-full pirouette turns and chucks her into the restaurant at large.
Pummeled into near senselessness and then heaved into a table in the middle of the restaurant, Nataya ends up covered in spilled drinks and entrees. This does nothing to fix her already pretty deplorable condition. She takes a moment to reorient herself, and just has to wonder how someone can natter constantly and fight at the same time.
She gets to her feet, which isn't exactly a graceful affair, and clouds start to seep from her sleeves again, the shining pinpricks of light rising up and around her as she focuses her attention again.
"Alright then," she says, still smiling despite the fact that her face is already showing greenish marks from where bruises are sure to set in. "I guess we're even in the 'hit each other really hard' department." Lame quip, to be sure, but she's not really a bantering type for the most part. She's trying. Leave her alone.
And with that, she projects the swarm of beads. The glowing lights zoom toward Cherry like tiny space ships attacking the Death Star as the fire off bursts of silver energy on their approach. If the attack connects, each blast isn't much, but together it's a crippling assault, followed up by the impact of the beads which feels a lot like getting a sandbag tossed into your gun by a shot-put thrower.
COMBATSYS: Cherry endures Nataya's Ten Perfections.
[ \\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Cherry 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\====---\1 Nataya
----------------------------<Paste from Cherry>----------------------------
Hitrate bonus for Endure reaction. Your next action, if an attack or interrupt, is more likely to succeed. (18%)
Hitrate penalty from Projectile effect against Nataya. Your next action, if an attack, is less likely to succeed against that target. (10%)
KO: As you are below 0% health, your next attack will have a 8% reduced chance to hit.
---------------------------<Paste to Genhanten>----------------------------
Fool me once, shame on me (or you?), fool me twice, shame on you (or me?). Whichever way the saying goes, when the 'smoke' makes an appearance, Cherry is in no way going to sit idly by and get suckered again. Nataya's control over that silvery energy hits particularly hard... and the Fighting Diva's use of chi is almost entirely instinctual, so her ability to muster it to her defense isn't exactly highly complex or purposeful either. The redhead knows that this is going to hurt, no matter what. Her options are to try her hand at ducking out of the way or batting the attack down -- not likely, in her estimation -- or simply plow right on through it.
She's American. Which do you think she picks?
The Death Star metaphor gets turned entirely on its ear. Now Cherry is the lone X-Wing braving that trench, beads and bursts of light slowing her down but not stopping her at all, the Boise Brawler putting all of her energy into *getting to* Nataya, just close enough. Her strength is sapped by the time she gets there, her swing slowed by fatigue and stumbling through that assault, but there's enough in Cherry to suddenly strike out at Nataya's stomach with an open palm, hand glittering with gold-red dragonfire...
COMBATSYS: Cherry has reached second wind!
[ \\\ < > //////////////// ]
Cherry 0/-------/---====|=======\====---\1 Nataya
COMBATSYS: Cherry successfully hits Nataya with Disco Inferno.
[ \\\ < > ///////// ]
Cherry 0/-------/---====|=======\=------\1 Nataya
Just like before, that first strike is merely setup, a disorienting blow to give her an opening. But if Nataya didn't like the first version, she's gonna HATE this one. It's not just fist strikes, this time, but kicks, too... delivered at a blurring speed you'd need a camera slowdown to see all at once. At the culmination of the crippling combo, the Fighting Diva gives an inarticulate yell, leg kicking *straight up* so that her toes practically hit her forehead, knocking Nataya into the air. Cherry leaps after her, however, back arched... and the air around both fighters explodes in a fiery aura, taking the shape of a phoenix in flight.
Dropping to the ground in a crouch, breathing heavily, Cherry touches a hand to the ground and stares... apparently, she's not done quite yet. "Ha... ha... izzat so?" she says breathily. "I barely... felt a... thing!" You fucking liar, Cherry.
Too slow to get out of the way, not fast enough to dive into the assault to land her own, Nataya's got very few options to work with. In fact, she only has one. Her eyes gloss over for a split second, turning into spheres of solid silver as she does so. Each powerful blow meets it's mark, and it certainly does a mind-numbing amount of damage, but a significant amount of the damage that's inflicted is deflected away by the subtle machinations of the clouds that seems to follow her around like she was Pigpen.
It's enough to leave her still concious at the end, and that's all that Nataya's concerned with right now as Cherry seeks to draw the fight straight down to the wire.
Snapping out of her semi-meditative state, Nataya takes a second to survey the damage. The vicious pummeling that she's taken in the last few rounds has definitely cause a severe amount of pain, and she's not exactly operating at peak efficiency anymore. Still, there's no reason to get discouraged about it, since this is the sort of fight that she's always looking for: the closer, the better.
"She smiles at Cherry, taking her first breath in what seems like hours. "Well, I know I'm hurting," she replies as the clouds around her feet boil up, twisting and wrapping around four colums of light as they slowly solidify into what look like spears. Nataya then snaps her hand forward, and sends them on their way as they whirl like frenzied pinata sticks, attempting to pound Cherry into the ground as Nataya is forced to put her hands on her knees again. This has taken a lot out of her!
COMBATSYS: Nataya successfully hits Cherry with Four Stages of Enlightenment.
[ < > //////// ]
Cherry 1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0 Nataya
'Second wind' is such a misleading term. Certainly, it represents this rush of energy, something that keeps you on your feet when your body says it shouldn't be. Certainly you become more alert, trying your damndest not to go down before your time. That said, this is all *relative to the original state*. That is to say that yes, Cherry is certainly paying attention, shaking off some of her fatigue, but not all of it. And Nataya may have been hit hella hard, but not QUITE so hard as Cherry. She's also a very capable fighter who knows what she's doing. The result is that even as Cherry attempts to leap up and over the bead-based beating bats, she badly botches and is boisterously bashed. Say that four times fast.
To top it all off she lands on her back, knocked out of midair, right onto a table. Thankfully, a recently-cleared table. Speared through the small of the back with chopsticks is not the ending she'd hoped for.
It takes a second to get off that table, which is less 'graceful recovery' than 'rolling off to the side'. Lurching forward a little, Cherry puts her hands on her knees, taking deep breaths. "Yeah..." she says, slowly. "I was... lying." Well, hey, at least she told the truth now. "But now I have you... right where... I want you!" she says, smirking a little. "Across... the room."
But Cherry is determined to give this one last shot. Rushing forward, slowed by fatigue, by the distance the bats knocked her away, and a host of other factors up to and including grievous bodily harm, she nonetheless looks to duck low toward Nataya and then, in a simple but brutal move, rise *UP* from the floor, hand first... effectively palm-striking the monk-girl in the chin with enormous force, enough to pop her quite a distance into the air. If it connects, of course.
She then promptly...
COMBATSYS: Cherry can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Nataya 0/-------/------=|
...topples over on her face. *thud*
COMBATSYS: Nataya dodges Cherry's Black Cherry.
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Nataya 0/-------/------=|
Nataya is trained extensively in the art of Muay Boran, and is a practicioner of ancient, heretofore unseen mystical monk arts involving prayer beads and mystic power. The energis that lurk within Nataya are powerful, but largely fickle... and sometimes they act as if they have a mind of their own, which truthfully worries Nataya on some occasions, not that she'd ever share.
But it's that razor-line training that makes for amazing fights, and Nataya always gives her all when battling her opponents which is for better or worse in some circumstances: sometimes she's to beat up to give a lot of 'all'.
Nevertheless, battered, bruised, beaten, and bewildered, the beaming beleiver in basic balance faces her incoming opponent with strength, resolve, and aplomb. She steps forward, ready to engage...
5rAnd then stomps hard on clear rice noodles, her leg flying clean into the air as Cherry's palm shoots past her jaw just short of taking her head clean off like a rock-'em-sock-'em robot's.Witha rattling thud, nataya is clearly unaware as to how close she was to having her bell rung by the racous ravishing redhead.
There's a deathly silence, and then a small voice emits from a pile of dim-sum that collapsed on her face a split second after.
"Owwies."
COMBATSYS: Nataya has ended the fight here.
Log created on 14:00:23 10/26/2008 by Nataya, and last modified on 11:46:20 10/27/2008.