Description: When a Neo League match threatens to be called off due to a no-show, Neo League newcomer Aika comes enticed by food to unwittingly get cast as an understudy against Nataya! ( Winner: Draw )
In case you haven't been watching the show, Southtown was recently under attack by a lot of scary, uncouth and particularly nasty boogums of variety of shapes and sizes. This isn't opinion - this is fact. Sure, the heroes came to save the day, jumping in at the last minute to save the little people who mostly cowered in the shadow of the onslaught. Or so it seems. After all, what's a person to a hero? Whatever your views on the subject, Southtown is mostly war-torn, a mess of rubble and debris filled with sad people trying to pick up and salvage whatever's left of their lives from the mess.
And milling in this mess are would be saviors still. Pillars of the community all there to lend a helping hand. Kids, for the most part, seem to be the faces on TV, smiling and showing the world how it's done. It's a pretty standard affair, as long as you ignore the muttering and grumbling. Hero, villain... what does that mean to a person whose house burned to the ground in a NESTS firefight or a person whose livelihood was destroyed in a pitched battle with Shadaloo dolls?
But a hero is what a hero does. For whatever reason, to be in the limelight, or to honestly help, handouts are taken because... well, is there ever any choice?
People are once again willing to ignore the fact that their lives tend to be little more than playthings for people with power in favor for complacency. It's important to remember that. After all, the bad guys do. But for now, the powers that be seem all too eager to give people their free bread and circuses in the form of fighting. It's almost kind of grotesque how fast the sport seems to come back. You'd think people would have seen enough of insane people with insane powers smashing each other about a scenic backdrop. Apparently, it's different when it's sanctioned by a big name.
So when the Neo League popped back up again with nary a beat to give people pause and recover from the devestated landscape and contacted Nataya again to fight for the entertainment of others, an insatiable curiousity ran through her. Who would dare fight now? It's almost a mockery of what just occurred. As someone attuned to balance in all forms, it would have seemed almost negligent for her not to investigate further.
Untouched as she's been by the conflict for whatever reason, she gladly signed her name to the roster, submitted it to the committee, and calmly awaited to see who her opponent was. Her request was simple: a little fight with a few cameras near her de facto home. The little shrine has been quiet for some time now, and is flawless due to her repair, despite what some might think. Not even bulletholes ahve touched the place, and it's almost unnerving in the serenity here.
And while the cameras are set up, sitting on the stoop is one very quiet, somewhat dirty looking monk-trained girl, eating cup noodles that she's been storing for some time now in a plastic ice chest saved from oblivion that she found floating in a ditch sometime during the war. She eats it with a plastic fork, and seems altogether intrigued but generallyhappy, all things considered.
Then again, there's not much that makes her /unhappy/.
Just because Aika is homeless and impoverished doesn't mean she doesn't have her own things she's incredible at, like a penchant for being at the right place at the right time... or the wrong place at the wrong time, depending on how you look at it. As ... such, when coincidences happen that make fate look like it's playing with a stack of dominoes set to fall upon a house of cards, her appearance is made all the more remarkable.
There's a bit of a buzz and worry over all the effort made to televise and record Nataya's fight -- her opponent couldn't make it. Perhaps he had a cold, or perhaps he's in France. Whatever the case, thanks to a bureaucratic hiccup, it looks like it's going to be a nulled event... at the last moment, however, when all seems to have been lost, the trail of Nataya's cup noodles from miles away seem to have attracted the shambling vagrant to the steps of the shrine.
"No, look, isn't that..." mumbles the definitely nervous producer as he roots through a roster. "It IS! It's our lucky day! You! Neo League contestant! Up on stage!"
Blink. Double blink. Aika has no idea what the hell is going on - only that she positively smelled chicken noodle soup - but the sight of the cameras, that open space... could it be? Her sense of smell has finally led her to the fight?
The homeless warrior stares towards her opponent and exclaims with enthusiastic delight, "I'm supposed to fight you? Alright! I want your cup noodle if I win! Don't eat it all!"
What's this now? The young vagrant girl doesn't really blink, but this is certainly new. It's not like Nataya knows all the fighters in the world. In fact, she's met only a fraction of who she should have by now. It's just that between doing odd jobs to keep herself fed, wars, and just enjoying life, there hasn't been a great deal of time to actually get down to what she's really here for.
And that's to train.
Nataya's been very lax on that as of late. She's certainly fought quite a few people, and the amount of styles and attitudes she's met in her travels is certainly bewildering. Some can't be quantified, some are sports, and some... well.
What /is/ that chair for, anyway?
It's a lot for her to absorb. Nataya's a little hard to read, but the fact that she's honestly confused has never been so apparent since she did battle with Naerose. And for much the same reason, she's facing down someone that's dressed in something that really looks like they got dressed in the dark in the middle of a Salvation Army store... and much like Naerose is demanding food.
The monk girl doesn't give it much thought, though. She smiles, shrugs, and nods. "Alrighty," she says, putting the cup aside. "Then that's what you'll get if you win," she says, closing the lid on it and setting it aside on the stoop. This really is her opponent, then? She steps down off the front of the shrine, her sandal'd feet scuffing along the dirt-and-cobbled path, her robe smoothed out as she places her hands together and bows her head.
"I'm Nataya. It's a pleasure to meet you," Her smile is sunny and honest as she raises her head again. "Please, don't hold back when you fight me!" A simple request, sure. But there's something about the way Nataya says it despite the sunny sweet tone in her voice that indicates that, rather than a silly pleasantry, she means that with all the seriousness in the world. And with that, she falls into a stance best described as a Muay Thai boxer's. She's more curious about what Aika can bring to bear more than anything right now.
It might be something that can be used to Aika's advantage.
COMBATSYS: Nataya has started a fight here.
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Nataya 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Aika has joined the fight here.
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Nataya 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aika
'Muay Thai' may as well mean 'delicious tomato soup' when mentioned to Aika, who neither has the experience under her belt to identify the thousand and one different martial arts styles in the world... and plain just doesn't give a crap. All they mean to her is 'They're about to punch your face; en guarde!'
Aika reaches behind her shoulder onto her lower rails, and pulls the chair from her back and does a few warm-up spins over her head and to her side, ending with a dramatic flourish as she holds it aloft before her. "I never hold back! Hope you're ready, 'cause here I come!" she declares.
With that, the vagrant warrior is off to a running start, perhaps a little hardier than when she first started... but still putting much stock into her momentum over anything else. Her mouth stretches open with an epic "Too-ryaaaaa!" as her chair comes down for a swift downwards strike -- incoming chair to face!
COMBATSYS: Nataya blocks Aika's Medium Strike.
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Nataya 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Aika
Fair enough!
Nataya's not really cogniscent of the things she sees either. Certain styles just wash over her as something that's hard to beat, or easier to face down with her particular style. After all, she's new to the 'fighter' scene herself. But she's pretty sure nobody ever told her that she'd be facing down a bag lady attacking her with a chair any time in her career, no matter how long or short.
So when Aika comes screaming at her with Ikea furniture, her initial reaction is to raise an arm. The chair crashes down on Nataya's forearm with a rattling crack, the sound of wood and bone impacting filling the otherwise silent air as the cameramen catch all the action.
Most of the blow was absorbed by the strange beads she keeps wrapped around one arm, but it still hurt, and Nataya's smile only becomes more resolute. "Great! 'cause now it's my turn!" And with that, Nataya sweeps to the side a lot faster than she should be able to, and charges. The woman's foot speed is considerable as she closes in, and then leaps into the air, raising one arm. Then she decends like a ton of bricks, trying to bring the sharp point of her elbow crashing into Aika's collar with bone crushing force!
COMBATSYS: Nataya successfully hits Aika with Strong Punch.
- Power hit! -
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Nataya 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Aika
She's fast!
Aika whirls her head to follow Nataya's moves and her fist -- where most fighters have been trained to block or parry or evade or for the love of god anything but what Aika is doing right now, which is rushing headlong to meet the punch with her face, knuckles crunching against her skull with a bell-ringing sound.
"I felt that one -- whoah!" Aika gasps as she pulls back, the fire burning harder and more intensely within her. Her countenance sinks into a grin as she raises her two-handed weapon and delivers a series of powerful blows - first coming in diagonally to give her particular zone control, the second coming in horizontally to take advantage of her momentum... and the third coming in again from where she's already trailed in a pendulous finish. Each of these strikes are accented with very loud "HAA! TOOU! OOOOOOOORYA!"s worthy of the most hot-blooded warriors around.
COMBATSYS: Aika successfully hits Nataya with Couch Potato.
- Power hit! -
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Nataya 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Aika
Now it's Nataya's turn to get pummeled! It's not embarrassing for her to say that all these odd styles tend to catch her off guard. Fighting with a chair has got to be the second or third most bizzare thing she's ever had to deal with. As she recovers from her full assault on Aika, she finds herself a little at a disadvantage. She's a little too slow on the rebound, and then gets repeatedly chair'd in the face.
Each furious shout punctuates the fact that the monk girl is getting he bell rung, and Nataya's head kicks back in turn, her dark, straight hair getting knocked out of it's neatly set position and turning into little more than a frizzy mop that obscures that fact that she's bleeding from the forehead a little. Definitely a whallop!
But she tosses her head back, brushing strands from her face, demonstrating a focused look and a bright smile. This is more like it!
"Okay then! Your spirit's definitely something!" And that's the sort of burning spirit that Nataya likes. It's filled with a zest for just life. Nothing being sought out here, really. Just a contest of strength and skill... and possibly cup noodles.
It's about then when Nataya seems to toss three sparkling lights into the air. The tiny little pinpricks of energy expand as she does so, growing to the size of softballs as she's suddenly generating an odd, think silver-gray smoke from her sleeves. The smokey display hides her movements for a moment or two before the spheres fall down in front of her, and she snaps off one, two, three kicks, sending the energy bursts at Aika as the twirl three smoking contrails behind them, seeking to explode with considerable force on impact.
COMBATSYS: Nataya successfully hits Aika with Three Gems.
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Nataya 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Aika
Confusing and complex attacks work really well on Aika -- she just can't keep up with something that's designed to be tricky and not obvious! Not that she wouldn't just throw her face at it anyway, which she does - one ball knocks her back as it strikes her chin hard, and then the remaining ones smash against her chest and foot hard in a real bout of triple trouble!
She winds up flipping back onto her feet, however, and staring hard at her opponent for a moment. "Alright, don't get cold on me now, because I'm just heating up! He-yah!"
With a dramatic pose, the chair is thrown forward between them, twisted in such a way that it opens from its unfolded flat shape to a bona-fide chair facing the vagrant warrior, charging in towards her chair......
...and vaulting up on its seat and performing a somersault off the top rail of her own chair, lifting the entire weapon as she acrobatically vaults into the air and down for a meteoric SMASH!! that cracks ground and forms a small crater as the weapon lands - whether on Nataya or not.
COMBATSYS: Nataya interrupts Off Your Rocker from Aika with Five Skandhas.
- Power hit! -
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Nataya 1/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Aika
Well, it /does/ hit Nataya. There's no mistake about that at all. The problem is, Nataya hits back!
As the chair descends on her, the monk girl focuses her attention on the timing. Such an attack takes a considerable amount of setup, and the hangtime in the air, while doing Michael Jordan proud, only allows Nataya to concentrate as she raises a fist. Beads snake around her hand, shimmering and coalescing into a silvery wrap, surrounding her forearm and knuckles as the clouds swirl around her feet.
Crouching down, she then hurls herself up at the other homeless girl, rocketing upward on a burst of power, her fist shimmering with what looks like black licks of flame that seem to drip from her fist like burning gasoline.
The impact? Amazing. There's force behind both attacks, and a powerful shockwave bursts out as bodies connect in midair, blasting cameramen and weaker trees to the ground. Unfortunately for Aika, Nataya's just got a little more momentum behind her. As a result? Nataya's able to follow through. The devestating uppercut would do Sagat proud as the fist smashes into the Indian girl's chest and jaw right before the aftershock sends Nataya to the ground.
Sandals smash into the dirt, sending cracks down and through the rocks beneath her feet as she winces... but only a little. This is easily the best fight she's had in a long time!
Crap!
Aika's developed a serious distaste when people do the outsmarting on her! Not that it isn't easy, given that her attacks are like rhinos charging in headlong from a hundred miles away in clear green fields, but she still feels that sting when Nataya's fist drives straight through her to knock her back on her bum.
"Oh, ouch..." Aika winces at first as she springs to her feet again, the fire seemingly out... but then she throws her daisy hat off and pulls her head up, looking doubly resolute now as she takes a deep breath. "Fine... I've taught myself to go ALL OUT! with every fight, and then some!"
Finally, for the first time in this fight, her chi wells up around her as she evidently shows that she is more than just a physical fighter, erupting in a blaze of glory as a burning, ephemeral nightstand, lamp and other such fine bedroom upholsteries swirl around her in a dramatic fashion, filling her up with their power. "I'll show you what chairs are really for!!"
Filled to the brim with her surge of power, she takes her chair and draws it out in brisk fashion to its seated position. "RISE, MY CHAAAAAIR!!"
Staring with a fiery passion for battle evident in her two eyes, Aika punches the chair out, flying at hyper speeds to a distance that misses Nataya by inches and skids to a stop behind her. Has her ultimate attack missed? Is this all Aika al-Nadra's got?
No!
Here she comes, a locomotive on a full chamber of steam, her shining fingers stretched behind her as she declares a hot-blooded and regnant imperative to Nataya as she thrusts her palm forward at her:
"SIT DOOOOOOOWN!!!"
COMBATSYS: Nataya endures Aika's Do I Look Like Ikea.
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Nataya 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Aika
What in the /world/?
This battle has a lot of 'firsts' going on for the Muay Boran fighter. It's the first time she's ever fought someone with a chair, for example. It's the first time she's ever been this bewildered in a fight. It's the first time she's been stunned into complete, blank faced /silence/ at the sight of something that she never even thought possible because the concept was so far beyond her ken.
Nataya's /not/ precisely sure, but she's pretty positive that she's just been hit with /furniture/ based chi.
She instinctively sidestepped the chair. That came naturally. But the fact is, she's only slightly fooled by the ruse. What's she's amazed at are the images of bedroom furniture hovering around Aika. This alone roots her to the floor, forcing her to just /stand/ there, almost slack jawed as her eyes widen.
It's almost too late, really. Nataya is able at the very last millisecond to steel her 100 pounds of bone, muscle, and sinew against the furniture-shining power palm. The power and force crash against her sternum, more than pushing her into the chair. She tumbles back into it, crashing end over end along the dirt and smashing into the stoop of her home.
The clouds that raise up are half dirt, half silver-gray as Nataya seems checked out by the powerful attack. Is this it? Is Nataya out?
Well... not yet.
The clouds start to swirl about chaotically, and then like a shot, Nataya explodes forth from the boiling miasma of her own power. The smoke rockets after her, almost propelling her forward and her knee goes crashing towards Aika's chest. If it hits, she'll smash clean into the girl, rebound up with a flip, and then whirl her hands around in a complex motion before blasting a silver beem of light from them, smashing Aika down with a devestating amount of force.
COMBATSYS: Nataya successfully hits Aika with Six Seals.
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Nataya 1/---====/=======|=====--\-------\0 Aika
Aika al-Nadra is going to be popular in the future for being able to endure a ridiculous amount of punishment, some experts (that don't exist) predict. When she picks up her chair, she's immediately sailing in the air and barely skidding back on her feet before the beam blasts her head on, at the center of her mass.
"Not yet... I'm not calling it quits yet!" Aika announces with vivacious clarity as she wobbles back onto her feet, breathing laboriously as she struggles to sustain her current of chi around her. She grasps her chair and rears back, practicing her move as best as is possible with her current level of fatigue.
Aika /punches/ her chair forward with a hammer-esque throw, the piece of furniture just showing how effective it can be in the hands of someone mad enough to try it, racing towards her basked in a glorious chi with speed lines wrapped throughout. "GO!"
COMBATSYS: Nataya blocks Aika's Assembly Required.
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Nataya 1/-======/=======|======-\-------\0 Aika
The impact of the hit is considerable, especially since Nataya's starting to feel the wear and tear of an intenstly pitched battle. That maneuver tends to take a lot of energy out of her, and this time was no different. The destructive force Nataya can bring to bear is considerable, and with that comes certain expectations. One of those expectations is that Aika was going to be put down and out with that maneuver.
Instead? She gets burning spirit and chair in the face.
The monk girl is only able tobring up her hands at the last second, smashing the chair away from her and only succeeding in taking damage as a result of the blow. The chair clatters to the ground some distance away from her as she swings her hand around. Once again, three lights appear in the air, winking into existance as she hurls herself at them, letting them grow to the size of softballs once again.
With three staccato cracks, Nataya's foot sends them flying. "Never call it quits! /Ever!/." Is the response. Pushing a fighter to their limits is what respect is all about in this game... and Aika's definitely showing what sheer gumption can do, notwithstanding formal training! It's definitely something she can respect! The whirling spheres once again seek out their target, trying to blast Aika away one more time...
COMBATSYS: Aika dodges Nataya's Three Gems EX.
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Nataya 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Aika
Potential indeed - when the chips are down, and the fire is about to be snuffed... a wind will blow that threatens to make it burn out, and instead lets it burn for just a bit longer.
The gems come, indeed! Aika's eyes flare open with a moment of perfect clarity as she takes one step, performs another... and then she is brought to rush further as the last of the kicked orbs whizzes past her face - blowing her sandy blonde hair up in a dramatic close-up of what's probably going to be her last stand!
"Hope you've got some oomph left in yourself!" Shifting to a ready stance, she charges forward as soon as the last of the orbs passes her, those steps the foundation to what looks like a set of pivots as she begins to whirl around at high speeds, a furious blaze of chi and chair as she swings high and low in the form of a human tornado careening straight for Nataya!
COMBATSYS: Aika successfully hits Nataya with Musical Chairs.
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Nataya 1/----===/=======|=======\-------\1 Aika
Well, whatever 'Oomph' Nataya had in her has been knocked out. Whatever lead Nataya had been building up seems to have been promptly removed just based on the fact that she has no idea how to react to someone fighting with a chair. The end result?
Nataya gets knocked for a loop.
Maybe she zigged when she should have zagged. Maybe it's the fact that she's just out of juice. The fact is, she's caught up in the explosive force of chair and chi to the point where she's battered about like a rock in a blender.
With a series of thuds, the Muay Boran practioner rattles to the ground, rolling end over end. But she's not quite done yet!
Slowly bringing herself up, she's got one more card to play. The swirling clouds seem to boil up out of her, and Nataya produces even more glowing lights. The little pinpricks of energy materialize into what look like four solid, glowing spears that whirl around her as she concentrates carefully.
And then, with a motion with her hand, the weapons fly forward, whipping around like mad baseball bats as they attempt to smash into Aika, battering her around between them until Nataya's concentration finally leaves her, finally falling backwards with little swirlies in her eyes.
COMBATSYS: Nataya can no longer fight.
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Aika 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Aika fails to slow Four Stages of Enlightenment from Nataya with Small Thrown Object.
[ <
Aika 1/-======/=======|
COMBATSYS: Aika can no longer fight.
"No ... cup noodle...!" Aika gasps in despair, trying everything she can to focus on evading those spears of light that Nataya's sent her way as a parting gift, but it's just all too much. No matter how much passion and guts she has, no matter how much desire, she's been pushed beyond her edge and they strike and batter her to the ground, where she collapses groggily with a groan.
"Cup noodleee..."
Log created on 22:43:03 06/19/2009 by Aika, and last modified on 21:33:12 06/20/2009.