Description: With so many people falling back to the more easily fortified campus, the stockpile of food that has been gathered in Taiyo's cafeteria is actually an item of some importance. Without food reserves, those seeking refuge at Taiyo will be forced to venture off campus in search of food. Which is why the place has become something of a target. While initially only attacked by small units of troops easily handled by whoever was stuck on guard duty at the time, it seems the invading force has decided to kick it up a level by dispatching NESTS' Candy Diamond and Shadaloo's Decapre to destroy Taiyo's cafeteria. With the recently displaced Tenma Kiryuu and Flora Akahana's turn to stand guard just starting, it will be up to them to save the food supply!
It's only been a few hours since a number of mysteriously vague, mysteriously platformer-like-moving individuals from the invading forces were dispatched. After all, being an unnamed fighter is like being cannon fodder, and if anything the brains behind the initial attack may well have been aware of just that. "They should be tired, but recuperating," the cold, emotionless voice echoed from behind a steel mask. Red eyes pulsed as they observed the cohort for this strike against one of the strongholds, Taiyo High.
That was about five minutes ago. Since then, the pair have done what they're perhaps programmed to do best, infiltrate. The cafeteria itself has been fortified, windows boarded with wood from shop class, exits barricaded with cafeteria tables. It's a recipe for a bunker, but also for a potential massacre.
And it starts as one of the boards is abruptly slashed from the outside, the windows having been blown out during the fighting earlier. With a vicious kick to follow it up, the protection falls away, revealing one of Shadaloo's Dolls. Decapre, with mask and fist full of claws, seems to be some odd blend between other notable Shadaloo members, Cammy and Balrog. But that hardly matters.
"Beginning mission," the Doll drones, leaping inside of the opening she's made. What her mission truly is, though...
Normally, one would see this girl attached to the hip of the Anti-K'. Normally, she'd be there to collect intelligence and data, and normally, she'd be the one person (in some ways) within NESTS you wouldn't see moving up into front-line combat. But the invasion of Southtown is hardly a normal situation, and so Kula's assistant, follower, and friend has been dispatched into action right alongside one of Shadaloo's Dolls, providing not only an excellent chance to measure the potential of the students fighting back so violently... but to get some intelligence on their "partners."
But to this effect, Candy Diamond appears in a fitted leather uniform much like Kula's own, though the colors seem to be reversed; chaps and jacket black with a muted purple bodysuit. Holding her usual, favored appearance, the short, flipped hair makes her look more like their usual fare of soldiers, though an odd belt is slung around her waist with a gun so overdeveloped it looks more like a toy ray gun than a dangerous personal weapon.
"Affirmative," the android replies, though her tone seems far too nonchalant to be any sort of militaristic. Following Decapre's lead, Candy takes a long-legged leap into the gap in the barricade, snapping up the gun from her hip and bringing it up to the right with both armored gloves holding snugly on the grip. "Please do not resist, or this will become far too dangerous for you all!"
Flora doesn't know a lot about 'base defense' or anything like that. But she does know that she likes things like 'food' and she would prefer that Taiyo, as well as everywhere else, continued to have some through this event.
She looks like she's asleep, sitting in a chair by a table, though. Her bow is on the table in front of her, her quiver of arrows (still mostly blunt-tipped) slung over one shoulder in a semi-uncomfortable position.
Unfortunately, she's a slow riser. She makes a sound best described as 'hrflg' when the barricade is kicked, opening her eyes blearily - but when she sees who it is (someone she doesn't know) she struggles up to her feet, grabbing at her bow.
In the time since Gedo High fell, Tenma Kiryuu has had the opportunity to put things in perspective a little bit; perhaps more relevantly, he's also had the chance to heal up, at least enough to get himself back into fighting shape. Most of his injuries - largely at the hands of Kula Diamond - have healed to the point of being irrelevant, most of the frostburn having cleared off of his skin. His hair, however... Patches had simply been rendered into brittle ice by the overwhelming freezing assault Tenma had fallen victim to, and in order to straighten it out, well... It had to get shorter, didn't it?
It's still long, but it's shorter than the Guardian King would like, certainly.
With his shorter new 'do, the Gedo swordsman ended up helping out over at Taiyo, in order to make sure that the students and civilians seeking refuge there during the siege of Southtown would be relatively safe, not to mention having access to nibbles. So, along with Flora, Tenma comprises the defense force of the cafeteria. Maybe he's more aware than the archer, because he starts to get up to his feet shortly before the barricade is broken open. Dark blue eyes survey the first interloper, Decapre, coldly. The second, well, that just means there's enough to go around.
"Actually, you're wrong 'bout who this is gonna get too dangerous for," the Kiryuu demon hunter replies, mouth pulling into a smirk. He was getting pretty bored you know, hanging around here with just Stringbean for company. Already, Tenma bites into the flesh of his thumb, drawing life's precious blood. Already, he draws his thumb down the wooden blade of his bokken, painting a red stripe along it, forging the chi link. And then, he sweeps the sword through the air, setting it alight with a violent aura of crimson, blood and chi combined inseparably. The tip of the bokken, of course, points at the invaders. "Hey, I'm feeling charitable today, so... Both of you walk outta here now, before you don't have any unbroken legs to walk /with/."
COMBATSYS: Flora has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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Flora 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Decapre has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Flora 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Decapre
COMBATSYS: Tenma has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Decapre
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Flora 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Candy has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Decapre
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Flora 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Candy
Behind the steel mask, Decapre feels herself sneering at the boy with the bokken, although she quickly smoothes away the expression. It relates to an emotion, and that is dangerous. "I hardly think you're in any position to talk a big game, boy," she replies to Tenma, voice slightly echoing within the mask she wears. Lifting her other glove, another set of claws snikt out into the air.
"We'll restate our intentions here. You're all going to surrender and..." Trailing off, the Doll shakes her head, long blonde braid swinging behind her. "I get the feeling that my words are wasted, and thus I shall stop using them. Prepare yourself for extermination!"
Without further adieu, the assassin strikes, leaping into a quick spin that closes the gap between herself and the Gedo Swordsman. Landing, she pivots, drawing all of her strength through into a linear strike aimed to bury her fist deep into Tenma's belly. The problem of course, is that the fist is encased in purple energy, and it isn't the type of energy Tenma likes to eat for breakfast -- which is well where that fist may end up!
A kindly young man stands up and deals himself a modicum of damage in order to smear his blood on his weapon, which now ... lights up with chi? And he politely, promptly informs the pair of invading agents that he will not aquiese to their requests. Well, maybe not that politely, but Candy's optics are more focused now on the young man wielding the weapon, as well as the chi that lights up. Already, she's committing this to memory-- every inch of this fight, every inch of the two that spring to life, will be recorded for later analysis.
But this brings her to the sleepy archer as her Shadaloo cohort steps up to the plate. Shifting her stance, Candy wields the gun and aims it the way of Flora, certainly much quicker than she should be. "Miss, please disarm yourself and surrender before my lesser-mannered assistant decides to engage you in combat as well!"
It's worth a shot.
COMBATSYS: Candy focuses on her next action.
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Decapre
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Flora 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Candy
Flora is still waking up. She wakes up much more quickly when there is a gun pointed at her. Perhaps it's the sheer panic; Flora has never fought anyone who used a gun and is vague on what a good fighter can do with one.
"I'm not going to disarm," she says, blinking her eyes quickly to try to clear them. "Sorry, but - yeah, I have to defend this place, and - "
Decapre strikes at Tenma with her claws. She doesn't know Tenma well, and most of what she does know is that he's a jerk. But she isn't just going to leave him alone. All in the same motion, Flora draws and fires one of her blunted arrows at Decapre when she strikes; the arrow splits in flight into some green, flickering copies of itself, chi bolts in the vague shape of an arrow. "Sorry!"
COMBATSYS: Decapre successfully hits Tenma with Axle Spin Knuckle.
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Tenma 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Decapre
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Flora 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Candy
See, that just proves that Decapre is completely removed from reality as we know it. Tenma Kiryuu is /always/ in a position to talk a big game. Or maybe he just does it anyway. He seems undeterred by her mask and her claws, or really the entire situation; but hey, he went and faced off against Igniz without flinching, is this lot really going to to faze him?
Pretty much a 'no', there.
What comes next is somewhat problematic, though. Tenma knows Decapre is gunning for him, and he tries to intercept her fist with his bokken, but he sorely underestimates the Doll's speed, his half-raised guard knocked aside and then he gets punched in the gut, energy surging into him. No, not the sort he's used to at all... But he's felt that before. Stasya, and Shurui. It hurts, no doubt about it. But after a moment of surprise (and effort to avoid throwing up), Tenma's expression pulls back into a smirk. See... He's /beaten/ both of them.
"What's the mask for, anyway?" Tenma wonders, in a strained voice. "You just that baby-terrifyingly ugly?" And then, Tenma swings his bokken down in a vicious arc aimed to make a diagonal slash across Decapre's torso; at the bottom of the swing, the Gedo gang member suddenly reverses the wooden blade, swinging it back up, making a narrow V-shape in bloody chi. "Huaa-!!"
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Decapre with Ungyou.
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Tenma 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Decapre
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Flora 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Candy
COMBATSYS: Decapre endures Flora's Split Arrow.
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Tenma 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Decapre
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Flora 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Candy
The strike proves true, and a smirk appears behind the mask Decapre wears as Tenma displays one as well afterwards. This boy is sturdy, she decides. A potential candidate for the Male Doll program, that produced such wonders as Jesen. He just needs a set of wings, and a programming switch for singing... but perhaps she can encourage song from the lips of Tenma yet?
The question draws a simple slash at the air from the Doll, who refuses to talk about her mask. Those red eyes simply observe as Tenma closes the gap, and she seeks to defend herself as the bloody bokken comes into play.
Yeah, that doesn't work so well. Knocked thoroughly back, doused with that potent chi but thankfully with her clothing intact, the Doll twists in the air, landing neatly -- only to see a flurry of energetic arrows coming her way. With a quick shake of her head and her braid, she leaps forward, the arrows striking and somehow spurring her on, makeshift acupuncture in mid-air!
And through the air she goes, abruptly backflipping, aiming to land on Tenma's shoulders as if the boy were giving her a piggyback ride. Should she be successful though, she's going to throw herself backwards -- and flip the boy with her, to bury Tenma's face right into the ground!
It happens in all of a few seconds. Decapre and Tenma strike at each other-- and both strike each other, period-- and before she knows it, she has a clean, proper shot on Flora. Considering her weapon and the distance between them, it would be stupid to think that this was Flora's only means to fight, as it would make her quite limited in close-range combat. Still, with her attacking Tenma, it's entirely possible that she can catch her with a bit of a surprise action!
Taking one step before another, Candy vaults across the cafeteria to close the distance between them. A small panel presses forth from the tip of her booted foot as it sweeps up and tries so hard to plant a patently hard kick into the archer's stomach before twisting in a circle, using her heel as a pivot. Reaching out to grab Flora's arm, Candy Diamond takes a step back, and with an impressive feat of strength, seeks to THROW her into the very barricade they've constructed, and aim that complicated gun right at her.
"I warned you."
Pulling the trigger smoothly, the little ray pistol shimmers with an odd light and a buzzing sound effect-- before a concentrated 'bullet' made of concussive force is fired Flora's way to end it all!
COMBATSYS: Flora blocks Candy's Armed Combo.
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Tenma 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Decapre
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Flora 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Candy
Flora was, in fact, warned. It's the warning that saves her; she manages to turn away from the kick and into the throw. She's big, and hard to send flying when she's actually trying very hard not to be thrown; she stumbles a few feet and takes the shot to the small of her back instead.
It stings enough to make Flora bellow in surprise and pain, but not nearly enough to drop her. She spins, hooking with that ludicrously long bow she favours - except she's using it to trip Candy and send her down to the ground, to give Flora time to recover from being shot in the back. "I - look, I don't even know what you want, other than to hurt people, why don't you just /go away/!"
Flora raises her voice again. "Tenma!" she yells. "Can you handle it, or - or - " What do you ask someone you don't know? It's kind of like saying 'you can't handle it', isn't it? Flora trails off.
COMBATSYS: Decapre successfully hits Tenma with Reverse Frankensteiner.
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Tenma 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Decapre
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Flora 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Candy
Seriously, how do you even ask Tenma Kiryuu that question? Is he going to answer anything aside from 'of course I can, go die'? One would think that Flora would know him better after their bonding experiences of endlessly fighting free for all matches to determine the Contender's Belt champion, or the time they had to fight Haggar in a building full of raw meat.
All Tenma has time to do, though, is give Flora a /look/ and open his mouth, and then he gets Decapre's thighs around his head. Which is distracting for various reasons.
Electing to just sort of go with it, Tenma miscalculates again, ending up flipped and smashing facefirst into the cafeteria floor, landing what might be charitably called 'badly'. But don't think that's enough to deter him. He rolls away to gain distance, coughing out a gob of blood onto the messy floor as he gets back up to his feet, and Decapre sure has his attention now. "Hey, Elephant Girl. I bet you were so ugly, your parents had to tie a steak around your neck to get the dog to play with you." Chortling at his own joke, Tenma flashes his teeth, red blood running between the white, highlighting them rather morbidly. "Ha ha ha! I bet... I bet you're so ugly, even your mirror puts a paper bag over its head. In fact, I bet--" The bokken comes up, and then sweeps back down, too far from Decapre to possibly strike her... But an afterimage of bloody red follows the motion of the wooden blade, and from that streak of energy is born a crescent of roiling blood, which slices towards the air towards the Doll. Its intent is murderous, and its effects are bound to be messy. "--YOU'LL BE EVEN UGLIER ONCE I'M FINISHED WITH YOU!!"
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Decapre with Dharmapala.
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Tenma 1/-----==/=======|=======\====---\1 Decapre
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Flora 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Candy
After disposing of Tenma into that heap face-first, the Doll smoothly rises to her feet, watching as the boy rolls away and starts ranting off a litany of insults. On another fighter, they may have an impact; but Decapre, she's a Doll. There's a high level of detachment, although she does reach for her braid as the insults continue. Playing with it, the red eyes of the mask remain fixed on Hiryuu, watching the Gedo student as more than just spittle flies.
The sweep of the bokken draws up the Doll's defenses -- too early! Lowering in hesitation as nothing immediately comes, the sudden surging crescent catches the Shadaloo Agent completely by surprise!
Knocked back, the energy threatens to cut through the woman like a hot knife through butter. She slams hard against a cafeteria table, upright as a barricade, and slumps down to the bottom. Covered in blood, it drips thickly off of her body, making it hard to tell what's hers and what's his. "Nunghh... This isn't going well," she reports into the transmitter inside her mask, painfully pulling herself back to her feet. Outwardly, she shows no real sign of harm, although surely, surely she's hurting.
"Eliminating target. Deal with your target, NESTS Agent," she says to Candy, before launching herself into what may well prove to be a final strike. Throwing herself forward, feet first, she literally drills through the air, kept buoyant thanks to the fact her legs are now glowing with that eerie energy from before. The gap between herself and Tenma evaporates.
But wait, there's more! If she drills into the boy, and even if he blocks, there's a follow-up, a sudden Cannon Spike vertically into the air to send Tenma flying away! The Doll is putting her all into this! There isn't much left!
COMBATSYS: Candy blocks Flora's Medium Throw.
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Tenma 1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0 Decapre
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Flora 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Candy
The bow strikes her shin, and while Candy stumbles, there's something noticably ... off... about the whole thing. Despite the leathery appearance of her clothing, despite how NESTS-normal she may appear to be, there's a distinct *CLANG* when the bow strikes against her. The gunslinging android does indeed stagger, and catches herself with a well-timed thrust out of the other leg, ending up in a very wide, bow-legged stance. "This is a situation beyond your comprehension. I am offering you the chance to surrender lest you--"
Tenma screams cross words, oh my.
"-- deal with my associate." For all her supposed lack of a personality, it seems as though Candy is putting the preservation of life first. But in either case, she's not going to be above harming these students in order to achieve her masters' goals...
Flipping her pistol over in her hand, Candy's fingers wrap around the oddly-designed barrel while she takes a step in closer to Flora, swinging the gun around in a hard arc with the intent to pistolwhip the girl right across the jaw.
COMBATSYS: Candy successfully hits Flora with Medium Strike.
- Power hit! -
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Tenma 1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0 Decapre
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Flora 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Candy
Perhaps she shouldn't have asked that, but Flora wouldn't be Flora if she didn't ask at least one stupid question a day.
"Um, right," she says, turning back to deal with Candy and, totally accidentally, turning right into the pistol whip slap.
The blow is hard enough to rock Flora back; only a fast step saves her from falling over at all, and she thinks she may have lost a tooth. She /does/ spit some blood out... and that's enough to make her angry.
Flora grips her bow differently, more like a staff, before yelling at Candy. It trails up to a squeak, but at least she tried. She leaps forward, bringing her staff downward in a two-handed smash toward the top of Candy's head. Maybe she knows some iron skin technique (the clang was a dead giveaway) but nothing's going to stop being hit in the head by a big stick with all of Flora's not insignificant weight behind it.
COMBATSYS: Tenma fails to interrupt Spin Drive Slasher from Decapre with Dead End Breaker.
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Tenma 0/-------/-======|=------\-------\0 Decapre
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Flora 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Candy
COMBATSYS: Tenma can no longer fight.
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Flora 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> //////////////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Candy
No, not going well at all... For either of them, honestly.
Tenma lets out a derisive sound when Decapre claims to be about to 'eliminate' her target, and he doesn't seem like he believes that's particularly likely. But he can tell that the Doll is about to go all out - he can /feel/ it, the way the energy around her ebbs and flows - so that just means he'll have to do the same, right? Things don't always pan out the way you hope, though.
Maybe he really isn't entirely recovered after his clash with Igniz and Kula. Maybe he's busy trying to figure out what's actually under that freaky-ass mask. Maybe it's just not his day.
When Decapre launches at him, Tenma actually lunges in, swinging his bokken down in a vicious arc at the air-drilling Doll, but this proves to be less than effective; rather than knock her out of the attack, Tenma's blow is turned aside, leaving him wide open and vulnerable to the punishing assault that follows. Finally, Tenma is indeed sent flying away, which... Probably doesn't bode well for Flora's chances.
Indeed, it does not seem t be Kiryuu's day at all, as the Doll barrels into him and then sends the youth flying away with that devastating upwards-kick. Landing neatly, but breathing heavily, Decapre spares a glance towards the other two combatants. "Can you handle her?" she inquires of Candy, even as the two tango as combatants are prone to do.
For her part, it seems the Doll has no intention of adding to Flora's worries just yet, instead sparing a glance in the direction that Tenma was sent off in -- just to ensure the boy is indeed down for the count and won't be surprise attacking.
COMBATSYS: Decapre takes no action.
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Flora 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> //////////////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Candy
COMBATSYS: Candy interrupts Leaping Surge from Flora with Crow Bite.
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Flora 0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> //////////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Candy
Scratch the surface, so to speak, and all of the NESTS android's secrets are just beneath. But Flora hasn't been able to interrupt that function of her systems, try as she might. The gun wracking across Flora's jaw is potent, and Candy is swift to recover with a quick flip of her hand and twirl of the gun on her finger. It spins, and her index finger is all it needs to end back up in her hand the way it's supposed to be wielded.
But Flora isn't content to stay down, and instead decides to come in at her with a violent strike with the bow, wielded like some kind of godforsaken cudgel. Her left hand sweeps up from her side as Candy springs into the air. The bow cracks down across her shoulder with a degree of violence, but what's in store for the archer is possibly worse.
She'll feel it quickly-- the burning sensation as a small, intense flame on par with a metal-cutting torch flares up from the tip of her left index finger, guiding her through the air with a massive, powerful swipe. Carried in a path much like K' or Kula, she sails beyond the student and lands lightly on her feet, twisting back around to face the girl with a decidedly neutral expression.
Apparently she /should/ have asked about Tenma, if he's being thrown around so easily. Flora didn't expect him to go down - well, any time before her, as they tend to be pretty evenly matched. Look at how many times they keep fighting to a draw!
Flora was not expecting Candy to have a /laser finger/, or a fire finger, or whatever it is. It does hurt, charring a hole right through her jacket and her blouse a little bit above the hip. Flora yelps, jumping back, both startled and pained. "What..."
Flora hesitates a split second before trying to keep Candy down. If she's battered and beaten, she can't fight back, right? She uses the bow like a curved staff now rather than just a club, lashing out with the tip - but that's a feint, as she follows it up a moment later with a much more powerful blow with the back end of the weapon. First Candy, then Decapre... she's not sure how much she can take from the two of them.
And still, the Doll seems content to simply watch. She's cataloguing the actions of both fighters, filing tidbits away to report back to her superiors later.
COMBATSYS: Decapre takes no action.
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Flora 0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> //////////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Candy
COMBATSYS: Candy dodges Flora's Power Strike.
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Flora 0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> //////////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Candy
The cutting torch burns with a low, fierce 'pshhhhhhhh' for a few moments, cutting out with a small puff of air and lingering heat at the tip of her finger. Bringing it up to her lips, she mimics the action of blowing smoke off her fingertip, although there's no smoke... and no air to blow out. Perhaps she'll be more willing to talk, now--
Nope.
Flora takes a strong, powerful swing with the bow-staff (self-contained pun?) and Candy seems to fall for it, stepping out of the weapon's path. Unfortunately for Flora, the android is more agile than she seems, throwing her arms back over her head and somersaulting right out of harm's way. Candy stops in a crouch, seeming to make her next attack more than blatantly obvious. Bringing up that pistol, both hands wrap around the grip as it near-comically hums with energy and light before releasing a narrow-beamed laser, a potent, fast burst of energy intent on shooting Flora right in the stomach.
COMBATSYS: Candy successfully hits Flora with Diamond Shot.
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Flora 1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> /////////////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Candy
Being shot with a ray gun is kind of ridiculous. Flora's eyes widen when she sees this one charge up. "What /is/ that?" she demands, an instant before the bolt hits her.
Flora doubles over, in obvious pain from the shot; she lets out a little gasping sound as she tries to catch her breath and largely fails. She's going to lose, that's what her body is telling her; she's going to lose and that is unacceptable. Not here, not now, not to people who don't even seem to have a goal beyond causing pain and suffering to the people of Southtown.
Flora straightens up. It's hard for her, but she reaches and draws an entire handful of arrows, pulling them all back between her fingers and letting lose with a spray of arrows. She has aimed fairly well; two bank left and one right at Candy's shoulders, while others streak toward various sensitive spots and pressure points. There must be six or seven of the arrows at once.
She lost track of Decapre. That might be bad.
COMBATSYS: Candy reflects Split Pressure Shot from Flora with Counter Shot.
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Flora 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> ///////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Candy
It seems as though Flora isn't going to let up on Candy one bit. Moreover, she's going to finally use that bow the way that it's intended!
Eyeballing the various arrows as they're lined up, fired, and flying towards her, the android's supercomputer brain begins to process and analyze at speeds rightfully inhuman; plotting the trajectory and planned path of travel for each one.
Advancing her left side with a scuff of her shoe on the floor, Candy's left palm turns out with an odd dome of light forming just off the palm of her hand. The air shimmers just an inch further than that, as if that dome is projecting an odd light all of it's own-- and a barely-visible sphere of light seems to catch, re-angle, and release all of those arrows right back at Flora in a mimicing pattern!
"You have no chance. Lay down your weapons!"
COMBATSYS: Candy successfully hits Flora with Reflected Split Pressure Shot.
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Flora 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> ///////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Candy
Flora has never, ever seen anyone who could return all of her arrows at once. Flora covers herself rather ineffectively with her arms as her own arrows fall in and around her, thunking against her with fleshy and rather painful sounds.
It gets Flora riled up, but she's starting to move more slowly; her bruises are stiffening, and she simply can't take much more of this. "No!" she yells back, stubbornly, as she picks one of the fallen arrows off the ground, draws -
The arrow flickers and vanishes in flight, reappearing visibly only at the end of its flight path. She figures this will make it impossible to return to sender. She might be right, but then again...
COMBATSYS: Flora successfully hits Candy with Secret Hunt.
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Flora 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> ///////////////// ]
|=======\-------\0 Candy
She doesn't react in the slightest when Flora's arrows strike back at her. She doesn't wince, smile, or laugh, nor get that psychotic gleam in her eye at pain. She's become somewhat calm, though that left hand lifts, the bubble disappearing as instantly as it formed, and offers her hand slowly. "Will you lower your weapon now?"
In return, another arrow comes flying out toward her. Candy tracks it instantly, considering her options.
And then it disappears.
It cracks against her face with startling speed and accuracy when it reappears, slamming right into the odd girl's eye. And for a moment, just a moment, her true nature is revealed with an odd flicker of light, the skin around her face broken back into what seems like hex panels to reveal a solid yellow eye and metallic skin all around it. Straightening, the holographic illusion reforms to show no damage whatsoever... as much as it did, actually, cause damage.
"Then I won't ask you to surrender again."
Charging forward with a heavy run, feet thudding hard against the floor as she moves, Candy ducks low before coming up to point-blank range with Flora, seeking to wrap her arms around the girl's waist and LEAP backwards, backbending the entirety of the way with the full intent to drive Flora face-first into the cafeteria floor.
COMBATSYS: Candy successfully hits Flora with Candy Drop.
[ \\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Flora 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> //////////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Candy
Oh my God, Flora thinks, I'm fighting a Terminator.
Her eyes widen, and she starts to stutter something out, but doesn't manage to finish it before she is literally just picked up and thrown around like she didn't weigh anything. Almost nobody can do that. She's simply too big to fling around unless you are Zangief or Sagat.
Candy manages.
Flora stays on the ground for a moment, seeing stars... but she rolls and manages to force herself halfway up, to her knees, and then the rest of the way to her feet with a muffled groan. She wobbles for a moment, unsteady, before managing to react.
She punches. It's not a lazy punch. Flora has a nasty, if untrained, right hook; she basically throws all her weight behind it and hopes for the best, which has mixed success under most circumstances. It's made worse by her pain and exhaustion.
COMBATSYS: Candy dodges Flora's Fierce Punch.
[ \\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Flora 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> //////////////// ]
|=======\-------\1 Candy
She hits the floor-- they hit the floor-- and Candy herself needs a moment to properly align herself to keep from smashing her own head into the floor, height differences or not. She lets go of the archer, planting her feet and letting her shoulders hit the floor with a metallic *thang*. Pushing off with one leg to flip herself over, getting a hand underneath her body, the android gets herself up into a squatting position one more time while Flora throws one more punch her way.
She takes all too much into consideration at once. The fist very nearly comes in contact with her head, but perhaps not in the way that the student had originally intended. Her footing shifts suddenly, legs spread wide and thrusting the whole of her weight forward with a heavy-footed stomp. Her left hand comes in and closes into a fist, and the knuckles of those oddly armored gloves extend forward just a little bit as she thrusts her fist ahead... and seeks to plant a violent, powerful punch into Flora's chest.
COMBATSYS: Flora counters Crushing Strike from Candy with Mirage Step.
[ \\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Flora 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> ///////////// ]
|=======\=------\1 Candy
Flora overextends on her punch, slightly - enough for Candy to take advantage of, although honestly she wouldn't be surprised if Candy took advantage of a fractional mistake. She's kind of frightened - an actual Terminator! Or someone who's very good at pretending to be, she supposes.
Pulling back with a jerky, too-fast motion, Flora twists away from the fist - away and right past it, in fact, as she sidesteps so fast she almost seems to blur around the other woman. The butt of her staff whips up as she goes past, driving into Candy's side with the same instant of blurring speed that she used to get the heck out of the way.
She lets a big puff of air out afterwards, blowing her hair upward and out of her face. She can do it. She just has to keep /telling/ herself that.
Her fist strikes air, as much as she's trying. It's a surprising twist of events, and Flora seems to capitalize in an admirable manner that even Candy can't keep up with, blurring into speedy movements and striking her with the bow-staff hard enough to send her staggering off to the side. The NESTS agent rolls with it a bit, throwing out an arm to the side to tumble and minimize the impact and damage as much as she possibly can.
Still, this girl has done some dangerous amounts of damage. Shifting her stance, moving her weight just so, Candy takes a step toward Flora before leaping into the air with a long-legged stride, bringing the gun up over her head before taking a hard downward swing, seeking to slam the gun right down onto the top of the girl's head and ring her bells a little bit. It only goes to show, don't doubt NESTS technology-- their androids, or their guns!
COMBATSYS: Candy successfully hits Flora with Medium Strike.
- Power hit! -
[ \\ < > ////////// ]
Flora 0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> ///////////// ]
|=======\==-----\1 Candy
It probably takes a bit of a reach to smack the top of Flora's head, but it's not /that/ hard. She's not a titan, even if she gets called one sometimes.
Flora tries to defend herself by (counterproductively) hunching over and getting her hands over her head. Candy's strike crunches into Flora's fingers, possibly breaking one against the unyielding wood of her staff; it /also/ slams her staff into her head, along with Candy's own strike.
Dizzy, Flora lets off a swing with her staff, awkward because of her smashed fingers; she spins herself so hard that she actually whirls around on her heels once to hit all the way around her, stumbles, and slips to the ground. That just might be all out of her for the day.
COMBATSYS: Flora can no longer fight.
> ////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> ///////////// ]
|=======\==-----\1 Candy
COMBATSYS: Candy blocks Flora's Spinning Staff.
> ////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Decapre
> /////////// ]
|=======\===----\1 Candy
The bone-crunchingly hard strike from the gun lands right and hard, even while Flora does her best to defend herself. In the meantime, Candy lands flat on her feet with only the slightest of bends in her knees to absorb the impact. The 'leatherclad' agent of NESTS seems to have changed her expression from cheerful to blank to now almost melancholic, even while the archer attempts one last ditch effort to attack.
The staff crashes against Candy's waiting forearm, and does little in the way of actually harming her. There's a heavy, metallic *THWANG* against that arm, and the holographic image that gives her a human visage disrupts again for a moment, but it's less the recovering image to worry about ... and more the gun being pointed at Flora's head.
"I do not wish to harm you further, please refrain from further struggle."
Flora is very near to unconciousness, so Candy does not get a response for a few moments.
The response is probably not one she wants, either, because - having been hit on the head several times, hard enough to get a concussion - Flora is seeing the room spin around her. She rolls to her hands and knees and is abruptly sick, although not much actually happens other than she gags and chokes for a few seconds, then slumps down again. She may be technically awake, but she's not going to fight very much anymore.
COMBATSYS: Decapre has left the fight here.
> /////////// ]
|=======\===----\1 Candy
Log created on 21:52:11 03/17/2009 by Tenma, and last modified on 17:00:01 03/29/2009.