Description: After a hiatus from the League (no thanks to an INVASION IN SOUTHTOWN) Hotaru Futaba returns! Her first opponent? ...appears late, and a little inebriated from a bit too much fun around Kazakhstan prior to the match. It's Kenpo versus Kyoko, Hotaru versus...whatever amalgamation of styles the Justice High nurse uses in the famous Bayterek Monument! (Winner: Kyoko)
It had been months since Hotaru had participated in a sanctioned fighting event. Trapped behind the walls of a siege on her hometown, her fighting skills were put to the test against enemies and, to her eventually horror, friends, without any of the sportsmanship, spirit of competition, or excitement of world travel that she normally associated with bettering her martial art.
But the siege fell and the long, arduous process of rebuilding Southtown has begun. Slowly the homes are being repopulated, stores attempting to re-open, and lives are starting to get back on track. As of late the young Kenpo artist had been participating in charity events focused around raising funds to rebuild the city. It was good to get back to the roots of why she fought. To compete, to improve, to meet others who shared her passion for the sport... It was a welcome change from the harrowing experiences of war she hoped to never have to see again.
And then she was contacted by the Neo League. She had always been a regular in prior seasons yet had shown no interest once things got rolling again after the Southtown War. The girl had reservations about the franchise as a whole. It had crowned Adon champion of the prior season even though anyone who watched the videos of the matches could see he was simply roaming the city, taking advantage of fighters already caught in distressed situations... That Master's organization recognized his so-called 'matches' at all was an afront to all the girl believed in terms of sportsmanship.
On the other hand, she had to square with the fact that there are in fact a lot of terrible people who are also fighters. She had been meeting them all her life. But Adon... seemed to cross an all new bar of /low as dirt/ for her. How could she participate in a franchise that was willing to recognize him as anything other than scum? Reluctantly, she decided to re-register.
And thus she was off to the distant land of Kazakhstan. She didn't know who her opponent was. But she had been assured that she wouldn't be facing Adon which allowed her to look forward to the match with some anticipation. The monument hosting the event rises up over the city. Rising over three-hundred feet into the air, the tower appears to be a golden egg nestled in 'fronds' of white-painted steel girders. The observation deck at the base of the sphere is where the match is to take place. Caged in with safety fences, there is no risk of the fighters falling the dangerous drop to the gardens below unless they /really/ want to put time into breaking through the mesh.
Ready and waiting, Hotaru stands with her hands clasped behind her back. Clothed in a combination of pristine whites and sharp, royal blues with golden embroidery, the pig-tailed combatant takes in a deep breath of the crisp night air. The night is overcast, leaving a starless black canvas above. But from this height, the entire city blankets out from the tower, forming multicolored 'stars' to replace the ones missing in the heavens. Cameras in place, Hotaru's heart beats with excitement. The match shouldn't be long off.
With the city's siege over and the "enemies" cleared out of the town, it has left Kyoko with a bit more free time to herself. Now that her medicinal services and care weren't needed AS much, she had plenty of time to reflect on her other talents. No, not drinking--fighting!
Her first venture back into the league was pretty bothersome. That Malin girl was a horribly knife-wielding delinquent who nearly cut her into pieces without so much as batting a lash! Her favorite sweater came out of the match ruined. Suffice to say it was a mildly troubling experience for the fashion-conscious nurse of Justice High. But she wouldn't let one bad apple ruin the bunch.
High above the city of Astana in Kazakhstan, Hotaru waits patiently for her opponent to arrive. A few minutes pass as members of the League scurry about and prepare cameras for the fight to be. Several minutes pass before the coordinator of the match makes a face and murmurs angrily to his assistant. The man nervously ducks away and scurries off.
TEN MINUTES LATER:
The young man returns, dragging what appears to be a bleary-eyed woman in a black coat behind him. Glancing around the observation deck with a bit of dumbfoundedness, she looks very much lost. The duo approaches the patiently-waiting Hotaru before he guides his luggage forward and gives her a gentle push toward the girl.
"Sorry about the wait, miss Futaba," the man apologizes. The woman laughs.
"Well excuse me for getting lost!" she slurs, sounding a just a bit tipsy.
"Y-you weren't lost! You were at a bar two blocks away!"
"But I'm on vacaaation!" the elder woman whines.
"Argh, whatever!" Giving up the assistant throws his arms into the air and signals to the coordinator, who looks thoroughly relieved to see the match can actually get started without any more of a hitch. Meanwhile, Kyoko looks to Hotaru with a curious gaze, black eyes half-lidded behind her glasses as she surveys the young Kenpo fighter.
"OH! I've seen you before!" the woman rather suddenly blurts, pointing a finger. "You're Hotaru Futaba? Oh my gosh, you're just so adorable in person!" Fortunately Kyoko doesn't go and hug poor Hotaru; instead she just puts her hands to her rosy cheeks and sighs, pouting. "I'm going to feel SO /GUILTY/ about fighting and hurting a cutie like you. You'll forgive me, won't you??"
The match is then signaled to begin, and Kyoko kind of stumbles into a stance.
"Ohhh, here we go I guess. Well, do your best, all right?"
As the minutes slip by, Hotaru shows no signs of impatience at first. She's used to matches running into snags, hitches, etc. Traffic. Delayed flights. Emergency wars to fight. The excuses are endless and she's seen them all. Sometimes fighters, especially new ones, lose their nerve. It's nothing to get too upset over. At least she got a free trip around the world and a day away from school, right? As the clock continues to tick, she wonders if they are going to call the match. A questioning glance is offered the event organizers, but she otherwise appears unhurried.
But the coordinater is a determined man. He didn't come all the way out here, book the site, set up the cameras, only to have no match. Off goes the assistant and ten minutes later, the girl is presented with her opponent. Azure eyes widen slightly with some surprise. Justice High's own resident nurse and fighter here to have a bout with her? The girl had always respected those who could hold down a teaching career and still find time to fight with the best of them. Much like Hayato-sensei, Rust-sensei.. wait a second, is she-
"It's quite all right," Hotaru stammers out quickly at the apology. "I'm sure-" she got lost or something, right? Wait. A bar? Vacation? Hey, wait a second here. Kyoko begins to address her and Hotaru blinks at the burst of volume, nodding haltingly to confirm her name before her cheeks begin to blush, "W-well, I-" Wait, wait. Guilty about... cutie... Is she sober? "It is an honor to fight you!" Hotaru chirps up, trying to clear her head so that she can focus on her demanding fighting style. "I will be doing my best!" she assures the more experienced fighter as she takes a couple steps back, unclasping her hands from behind her back. "So there's nothing to forgive, as I'm sure you will too." She even manages a supportive smile. Is she really going to be beating on a woman too inebriated to fight back? Well, she'll see how it goes. No sense in being too judgemental up front...
Rasing her hands up, palms open and parallel, the girl bouncing lightly on her toes, ready to respond to any incoming attacks with a burst of speed as appropriate. But with no attack incoming after three seconds, the girl bolts forward, seeking to take the initiative for herself. From a couple of yards out, she slides into a much lower posture, arms out to her side, as she assumes a stance she uses for lunging into harder hitting techniques at the cost of mobility.
It's a fluid transition as she drops into it, her feet wide apart, one foot beneath her, the other forward. Her hands plant against the deck floor to support herself before the girl sweeps out with her right leg. She'll continue with the sweep by rising up into a second, snapping kick to follow suit immediately. "KYA!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru has started a fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kyoko has joined the fight here.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kyoko
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Kyoko with Medium Kick.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Kyoko
Hotaru's respectful display draws a distantly puzzled look over the nurse's face, black eyes widening a little as she watches the girl address her. Then, slowly, her bottom lip wobbles a bit, her eyes watery before she lightly recoils back and holds her cheek. "Oh my, she's just TOO adorable!" Kyoko exclaims, looking comically heartbroken as she settles into a stance. "I just... I don't know if I can...oh what a cruel fate I've been dealt!"
Her concerns seem to give way to a bit of courage as the girl speaks further on forgiveness. "Of course! I will give my all, my very best! Just because it's been a while doesn't mean I suck!" Pause. "At fighting!"
From afar a man in the audience squeals the woman's name, causing the inebriated Justice High nurse to glance aside and stare in that general direction. "SHHH SHHH!!" she sloppily shushes, a finger lazily pressed to her lips before she stage whispers, "I'm TRYING to fight here!"
When Kyoko looks back, Hotaru is charging in, already hand-planted before kicking the nurse. She hits her--hard--causing the woman to stumble back before she loses her footing and hits the ground. For a moment she just tries to deal with the pain that comes with being hit for more than she'd bargained for from such a petite young girl.
"Mwaghgh," is her incoherent response before she pulls herself back onto her three-inch heels. "So maaaybe I deserved that. But don't think I'm out yet!"
Moving with surprising agility for an inebriated woman, Kyoko leaps up and swings a leg out, attempting to check Hotaru with not one but three midair spin kicks, one after another. "YA! HAH! HIYAA!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru blocks Kyoko's Kaishin.
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Hotaru 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Kyoko
Trying to figure out how to react to Kyoko's expression of how adorable she is leaves Hotaru slightly confused. She should be complimented, right? Or is she being patronized? Should she be offended? She's a world class fighter, right? She should be taken seriously! But the woman seems nice behind the layers of tipsy slurrs. She shouldn't assume the worst. The woman /is/ a school employee after all. She must like teenagers to survive working at Justice, right?
Her thoughts race to catch up with the shift in the fight as her pair of swift kicks deliver all the crushing force the young martial artist is able to muster. She snaps her foot back, hesitating as for a moment she wonders if maybe the match still needs to be called. Visions of her Stallheim bout against Todoh in which the old man insisted on simply sitting there as if to bait her into attack him come back to her mind. She isn't in the business of fighting people who aren't fighting back. No hollow victory, no collection of irrelevant points is worth sullying her conscience.
But Kyoko demonstrates that she's quite capable of fighting back as she springs into the air with a trio of swift but crushingly powerful spin kicks. Sliding one foot back, the girl brings her arms up in front of her, chosing to defend herself against the forceful impacts, one after another, by guarding with her forearms. The strength behind them is a firm warning that Kyoko, for how she comes across, is plenty threatening. Hotaru decides she can take the woman seriously. "I never meant to imply that you-" she blinks as she recalls the woman talking about sucking... as a fighter, that is, but then shakes her head. She needs to stay focused or she'll start slipping up!
Sucking in her breath as she staggers back a little, Hotaru makes an attempt to retaliate, dropping backward down into her stance, her left foot beneath her, her right foot forward. It's simply to center herself before she attacks back. A quick roll to the left brings her close to Kyoko's side as the nurse must land from her spinning kicks. From that position, Hotaru springs, attempting to seize her nearest arm with one firm grip before applying her other palm to Kyoko's upper back in an effort to pull her forward off balance...
It's somewhat a feint, however, because just as smoothly, Hotaru reverses her direction, her palm switching around to pressing against the woman's chest right at the base of her neck while her hand gripping her arm tries to twist her right back over her extended knee and basically drive the woman to the ground on her back with a solid, somewhat disorienting slam. "HA!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Kyoko with Medium Throw.
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Hotaru 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Kyoko
With three kicks--all of which are successfully guarded by the young Kenpo fighter--fired off the woman lands in a slight crouch, though wobbling a bit before she finds her center of balance. Giving her head a light shake, she exhales before lifting a hand to her face and commenting quietly, "Oh my, I don't think that was a very good idea..."
It comes as a slight surprise when Hotaru quickly takes to the offense shortly after, rolling toward the woman and grabbing her arm. Pulled forward, the woman lets out an awkward "Bwah?" before she's suddenly reversed and toppled over the girl's knee and palmed by the neck into the ground, back-first. A loud gasping 'worf' escapes the nurse before she lightly coughs.
"Well this isn't looking too good for me, is it??" she wonders from the ground, staring up at the top of the dome-like roof overhead. "My, my, I'm thinking..." Groaning a bit, the woman pulls her body back onto its feet before she gently rolls her shoulders. "Ahh, hurts--as I was saying, I think drinking a bit before the match wasn't a good idea...but we'll see!"
Grinning to herself, the woman makes an attempt to lunge forward, closing in the gap between herself and Hotaru, stepping off to one side as she drives a shoulder into her chest before snapping an arm out and driving her forearm into the girl's shins to send her stumbling back from the force!
COMBATSYS: Kyoko successfully hits Hotaru with Shusseki Kakunin.
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Hotaru 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Kyoko
Her risk of getting in close to grapple pays off by taking Kyoko to the observation deck's floor with a fairly solid slam. The young fighter continues to demonstrate that size is not the only factor of hitting power. A knowledge of how to manipulate limbs and convert an opponent's momentum can let even a girl with her stature take opponents down with some success. Of course, Kyoko isn't the biggest foe, stature-wise, either!
The Kenpo artist has already hopped back by the time Kyoko is on her feet. "It's... good to be clear headed," she offers as the most equivocal agreement she can come up with under the circumstances. The woman /does/ seem borderline out of it, but she displays a surprising amount of ability to attack back all the same. Case in point - the sudden lunge forward, sweeping in close to Hotaru's space where she slams her shoulder into the teenaged girl with enough force to stagger her backward, a soft hiss escaping her lips even as the follow up force from her forearm sends her flailing backward rather than being put into a position from which she can retaliate immediately.
Her balance shattered, Hotaru flails a few steps before coming to a stop, her back against the rail of the deck for support. Swallowing back the pain from the force of that impact, the girl leans forward as if getting ready to sprint...
And when she at last makes her move, sprint she does! Bolting for Kyoko with more speed than she had even demonstrated thus far, she brings her hands together at her side as if she's intending to slam her palms forward with a crushing double palm press. The true intent of the attack would become clear at the last instant as instead of a slam she tries to grab hold of Kyoko's arms and then convert her forward momentum into a rapid series of rising kicks right up the front of the woman before using her shoulders as a spring board into an aerial backflip! "Ya, ya, ya!"
COMBATSYS: Kyoko counters Shin-Jou Tai from Hotaru with Katayoku no Kamae.
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Hotaru 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Kyoko
"Oh no!" the woman almost immediately responds as poor Hotaru is sent flailing backwards from impact. Immediately Kyoko snaps back up, posture straight as she looks to the young Kenpo fighter with a vague expression of horror. "Did I overdo it? Oh dear, I didn't mean to, I'm sorry!" The nurse's eyes seem watery again before she simply bites her lip and puts a hand coyly to a cheek. "I'm such a mooonster! What will mister Imawano or Hideo think of me??"
Nevermind the fact Kyoko has been made well-aware the Hotaru is a very capable (and painful) young fighter. Those are trivial details, right??
Looking up and toward the girl, Kyoko startles visibly as she comes charging in with a surprising sprint. An audible sound of surprise escapes the elder woman's lips before she responds by...standing there? Watching, waiting, the woman seems to actually try and focus through the haze of inebriation until--!
Hotaru's feint is avoided by a simple sidestep before she snaps a hand out, knocking her offending arms as they try to grasp her away. Only after does she draw her arm back before she snaps an elbow forward, driving it with a bit of force into Hotaru's sternum!
...before she realizes what she's done and frowns. "Oh I am so sorry! I couldn't help it!"
She's bolting in - a blur of blue, white, and red hair ribbons, when all of her forward momentum is brought to a screeching halt by a solid elbow burried into her sternum. Her arms slam forward, the girl's breath knocked from her entirely as she half crumples on the spot, eyes widened slightly by the unexpectedly sudden stop. That's going to leave a bruise! One knee touches the deck as she begins to collapse before she catches herself and, rather than risking being caught vulnerable by falling, she springs backward, sliding to a stop, only then sparing herself a brief moment to catch her breath. "N-no- nothing to apologize for," she stammers, the color returning to her cheeks once she's had a chance to collect her breath.
Gritting her teeth as she stabilizes her breathing, Hotaru shakes her head, forcing herself to get her wits about her. She needs to take the woman seriously. /Very/ seriously. These attacks are starting to add up very quickly! She musters a faint smile, an indicator that she's still okay if but a tad more wary now after two punishing strikes in a row...
And then she's back on the offense again. Swooping in low to her Swallow Stance, the girl lunges forward out of the attack with her left palm leading with an opening slam toward Kyoko's center of mass. Her torso twists to the the left, however, bringing her right hand forward second as she aims to drive that in as a follow up strick every bit as punishing as the first. "Ya- YA!"
COMBATSYS: Kyoko dodges Hotaru's Fierce Punch.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1 Kyoko
Looking more worried than before as Hotaru drops to one knee, the Justice High nurse just seems to be feeling terribly guilt-ridden about the entire fight. "Oh, I can't believe what a terrible person I am!" she laments, looking away with both hands pressed to her face. "Hitting such an adorable girl--I should be ashamed to call myself a responsible adult!" Not that she...is.
When Hotaru says there's nothing to apologize for Kyoko just makes a very sad, puppy dog face. "R-really?" the elder woman replies at the smile, distantly hopeful in an expression that seems incredibly guilt-ridden--well, comically-so. "Oh, what a relief!" Exhaling loudly, the woman waves a hand near her neck. Well if everything is okay by Hotaru...
"Whoa!"
The girl comes forward into a low stance, attempting to drive a palm into her chest. Leaping back, she avoids the strikes altogether, wide-eyed before she grins and takes a step back into the girl's personal space. Lashing out, she attempts to snare Hotaru by a wrist and pull her in before she she'll twist around and attempt to throw her from over a shoulder. "Ha!"
COMBATSYS: Hotaru fails to interrupt Medium Throw from Kyoko with Tanshou Shin EX.
- Power fail! -
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Hotaru 1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Kyoko
First her left, then her right slams out into the air as Hotaru attempts to catch the Combat Medic off guard with another one of her punishing combinations, but Kyoko slips aside, avoiding both attempted attacks handily. The attack seems to be part of a greater plan, however, for even though Hotaru failed to connect with the palm strikes, she's quick to start drawing back, right leg sliding back a little as she pushes off, planning on recoiling into a tight posture from which to lunge into a more punishing counter attack.
The plan goes awry as Kyoko goes for her extended arm however, catching her by the wrist just before she would have snapped it back out of range. Already in the process of shifting back to a stance more akin to a tightened spring from which to lunge, the sudden jerk on her right arm catches Hotaru off guard and her entire momentum ends up hurting herself rather than lining herself up for the intended slam. "Erk," she squeaks, yanked up, her arm twisted painfully, and then she's up and over the woman's shoulder, planted against the deck with enough force to rob her of her breath again.
She doesn't stay put, pushing off with her other hand into a backward roll, coming up into a low crouch, wincing slightly at the pain in her arm but insisting to fight on past it all the same.
Not about to lighten up on the girl--especially after being made to feel a little less guilty about fighting her--Kyoko advances swiftly, attempting to snag her arm. Doing precisely that, even as the girl's stance remains wide and in the process of preparing for a nasty counterattack, the nurse pulls the young Kenpo fighter in close before tossing her waif body over a shoulder. It doesn't take as much effort as she'd normally apply to heavier opponents. That doesn't account for the slam, however.
Releasing Hotaru's arm as she hits the deck, the now a-little-less-inebriated nurse frowns a bit to herself. She really can't help but feel bad about fighting with someone like Hotaru. She's such a nice and polite young girl and so adorable that it's like kicking a puppy!
A puppy with a Great White Shark's mouth, anyway.
Watching the girl roll backwards into a low crouch, the nurse grins before she draws her eyes momentarily shut. "Ah, you gave me quite the scare there!" she confesses. "I thought I was done for! Kenpo, right?"
Before she really gives her much of a chance to properly respond Kyoko's already moving in again, crouching briefly before she springs high--only to angle downwards, attempting to deliver a swift flying kick at the young fighter. "I envy your agility! I wish I could be that adorable!"
COMBATSYS: Kyoko successfully hits Hotaru with Light Kick.
- Power hit! -
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Hotaru 1/----===/=======|=======\==-----\1 Kyoko
Back on her feet, Hotaru has bought time to collect herself again, staying back in her defensive crouch. Now that Kyoko is starting to show her true ability. Hotaru isn't surprised. She's come to expect as much from teachers bold enough to brave Southtown school campuses. She's faced Hayato more than enough times to learn /that/ fact. That the nurse turned fighter has a style she doesn't entirely recognize isn't helping things for the young style-reader always trying to stay one step ahead by a small amount of prediction.
She's being forced to learn quite a lot on the fly, and so far it's been a painful lesson. Appropriate for a school employee, she imagines to herself with a quiet, rueful smile. Kyoko speaks and Hotaru blinks, nodding her head in response - one must answer one's teachers after all. "Nn-" Erk!
Kyoko drops in with a swift flying kick even as Hotaru pushes up out of her crouch to try and slip just out of the way in time. Trapped with the railing at her back, however, she has no where to go and the flying kick connects cleanly with the side of her head, sending her sliding several meters to the side before coming to a dazed stop.
Shaking her head again, she attempts to fix her eyes back on Kyoko though her vision is getting blurry after that last hit. Taking in her breath, the girl leans forward and then suddenly *bolts* back at Kyoko with all the speed she can muster! A sudden burst of chi - her first manifestation of it in the fight, explodes around her in a sapphire hued trail that lags a split second behind her own figure. "Tenshou...!"
The intent is to slide into a crushing backflipping kick powered by so much chi as to lend more strength to it than any other single attack she can muster. The hope is to shatter Kyoko's guard and take her into the air with her before shifting into a dive at the apex of her flip in order to tackle the school nurse to the ground. "Ranki!" All the collected chi would catch up in an instant, exploding on impact as Hotaru tries to drive the entirety of it into the nurse with her palms pressed firmly at the base of her neck, kneeling on her to try and keep her from escaping the worst of it!
COMBATSYS: Kyoko blocks Hotaru's Ten-shou Ranki.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-------|=======\=====--\1 Kyoko
In the back of her mind, Kyoko really does feel kind of bad about offering her a question before breaking out with an assault on the young fighter. But really, it's a mix of general interest with her interests in fighting with the skilled Kenpo practitioner--doing both at the same time seems legitimately okay with Kyoko! A little part of her just hopes the girl doesn't hold it against her.
Especially when she hits her in the head. Wide-eyed, the woman bounds off of Hotaru from the recoil, flipping midair before she lands. "Oh my, oh my--I'm really sorry!" she apologizes again, still red in the face and looking (again) like she's near to tears. Shying away from Hotaru, the woman recoils in her own self-disgust and whines, "I really /am/ a horrible person! Horrible! Surely they'll fire me!"
Unbeknownst to the nurse, Hotaru takes it like a trooper, already pulling her body back onto its feet--and hella /fast/, too. When the woman finally builds the nerve to look toward the (she presumes to be) felled young Kenpo fighter all she sees is a blur of white and blue, coupled with a brilliant shimmer of chi. "You're okay!" the woman chimes.
Oh right she's coming to ATTACK her.
"Wait--!!"
That nasty chi-empowered kick SLAMS into Kyoko, striking her forearms with a painful blow and enough force to feel like she'd just tried to dead stop a linebacker. Still, the woman manages to (somehow) maintain her guard, even as she's launched upwards. Black eyes witness as the girl attempts to tackle her midair--that cannot be good.
Wiggling a bit in the air, she hurriedly attempts to correct herself in her descent, even as Hotary flies down from the apex. The midair collision results not in tackling the nurse but, instead, the nurse's hands gently pressing against the girl's head and all but leapfrogging over the fighter in the air to avoid it outright. Only then she'll land a few feet away and drop her arms.
"Ohhh, I can barely feel them," she laments, lanky arms hanging loose at her sides. Furrowing her thin brows a bit, the woman fixes her black gaze on the young woman. "That was...scary. Where did you get so much power?"
This time she'll give her a little bit to recover. Only when Hotaru's back on her feet does the Justice High nurse move in, attempting to deliver a quick jabbing thrust of her hand before drawing it back, bending it and driving an elbow at Hotaru's shoulder. After that she'll attempt to spin on her heel and swing a leg up, to strike her in the side with the back of her heel. "Hoah!"
COMBATSYS: Kyoko successfully hits Hotaru with Combo Attack.
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Hotaru 0/-------/-----==|=======\======-\1 Kyoko
The leap over her head on her downward dive isn't immediately a problem as Hotaru manages to shifted into a controlled slide across the deck the instant her feet touch down. The immense chi drawn to her aid for the big attack fades quickly, the girl having spent the last of her strength in trying to land a decisive counter attack. Coming to a stop in a crouch, she pushes up to standing, whirling around, Kyoko's voice giving her a pretty good sense of where to expect the woman to be. One eye narrows slightly. That was a very creative way of escaping the punishing second phase of her signiture technique. She'll have to watch out for that trick in the future and see if there's a way she can account for it.
Winded, she opens her mouth as if to reply then promptly shuts it again, realizing that answering questions was a habit she really needed to cut out if she was going to be able to hold her own against one of Southtown's impressive teachers. Instead she manages a gasp of a smile, sliding her left foot back, right foot forward as she gets ready to defend herself, not having enough time to launch another counter attack before Kyoko charges.
After all she's been through, she decides she needs to avoid the attack outright, lacking the strength to weather another staggering blow. She leans around the jabbing thrust but the followup elbow catches her on the shoulder, forcing her into a stumble that leaves her vulnerable to the spin kick that follows with crushing impact against the side of her head.
The jarring hit sends her sliding again, this time she knows she isn't going to be able to get back up again. Gritting her teeth, she clenches her right fist, a burst of cerulean chi coursing over her forearm. As she begins to feel her strength wane, the girl slams her right arm forward, firing off one last pulse of chi to span the distance before, driven beyond the point of being able to keep her balance after so many hits to the head, she wobbles and slumps forward to the deck.
COMBATSYS: Hotaru can no longer fight.
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Kyoko 1/-======/=======|
COMBATSYS: Kyoko dodges Hotaru's Hakki Shou.
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Kyoko 1/-======/=======|
Making her move, Kyoko drives an attack at the young fighter who, bless her heart, gets struck fiercely by the incoming elbow and spin kick that comes after the jab. It sends the poor girl sliding to one side, to which Kyoko responds with a sudden gasp, black eyes wide as she watches the girl. For all the guilt she's likely feeling no thanks to being a bit tipsy from her pre-Neo League adventures prior to the match, there's a bit of sincere and genuine concern.
She really does not feel good about fighting a girl as nice and polite as Hotaru Futaba.
So guilty, in fact, the woman steps forward and lifts a hand, asking, "Are you oka--whoa!"
Kyoko is cut short when the girl gathers that energy in her hand and sends that cerulean energy screaming toward her. Immediately the woman twists to one side, the blue burst missing her by scant inches; so close, in fact, she can feel her skin prickle beneath her lightly-singed blouse. A heavy exhale follows.
Once she assumes it is 'safe' Kyoko looks back--and sees the poor girl slumping into the deck. While the League announces its winner for the fight, the nurse just seems to be ignoring it all in favor of going to Hotaru's side and offering help.
"Ahhh, I am so sorry," the woman apologies. "Let me help you out. If you're sore or hurting anywhere, let me know, okay?" So determined is she that she'll accompany the young woman to the medics if need be to see to it that Hotaru gets the best treatment possible!
COMBATSYS: Kyoko has ended the fight here.
Rolling onto her side, her hand goes to her head as she stares up at the base of the golden sphere nestled amongst the white girders. That was... a very instructional fight, she muses. She'll need to give careful thought to what she learned in trying to deal with someone who didn't seem all together cognizant at the start of things. Did she not take her seriously enough? She wonders. Maybe she hesitated a little? Narrowing her eyes as she tries to focus, she shakes the doubts out of her mind. No, as expected, the famous nurse of Justice High is just really skilled.
Her eyes come to focus on the face of the more veteran fighter as Kyoko offers her help. Though her smile in return is a little loopy and hedged by a touch of a wince brought on by the painful headache she's weathering, Hotaru extends her hand to take hold of the nurse's grip to be helped back up. She needs support at first, leaning more heavily on Kyoko than perhaps she would like to, but she seems to be recovering her wits gradually at least.
"N-nothing I haven't felt before," she manages after a moment, taking a step away and getting a firm grip on the rail for support before glancing over her shoulder, her expression warming. "A-ah, no... no need to apologize. It was an honor to face you in a match. I'll have to think about how to do better next time..." She pauses, head canting to the side slightly, "That is assuming you instead to stay active again." An inhale is taken then an exhale, the girl shifting her attention over to the League provided medics enroute to check her out. "Thank you, Kyoko-sensei."
And with that, she's ushered off just to make sure that she'll be all right. Nothing worse than a few bumps on the heads and a couple of bruises to worry about though!
Log created on 00:16:15 06/27/2009 by Kyoko, and last modified on 07:02:03 06/27/2009.