Description: Iori. Sakura. A spooky old castle. Will this abject bloodbath bring out DRACULA HIMSELF? (Winner: Iori)
TWO HOURS AGO, JUST OUTSIDE TRANSYLVANIA
'KYO KUSANAGI SAYS: "Stay in school kids, because not even my flames can beat out the fires of the MIND!"'
Iori Yagami squints for exactly five minutes at the poster plastered against the bus intended to take him to his Neo League match -- his first in nearly a year. Red eyes are practically slitted as his brows twitch. Clawed fingers scrape against his palm. The poster features an overly excited Kyo, giving a powerfully enthusiastic thumbs up and a grin that could give someone diabetes.
Iori can't even be amused by the irony.
The camera crew walks up behind Iori as he stares, looking for a moment at the poster. One of them grins, and makes the mistake of clapping Iori directly on the shoulder.
"HAH! That Kyo Kusanagi is some kinda somethin', huh? What a great gu--"
TCRACK
The Neo League crewman falls to the ground, blood splurting in a deluge from his nostrils as Iori wanders off, hands shoving into his pockets.
"I think I'll walk."
NOW
Roughly an hour late, Iori Yagami just begins strolling up towards the entrance of the Transylvanian castle, looking even more sour as he sweeps one visible eye across his would-be arena. The man turns a spiteful eye towards the nearby fields, where a horse stares at him with an unblinking gaze.
"... what the hell are you looking at?" For a second, Iori looks half-inclined to punch the horse, too--
"A--ha ha, well, it's about time to get started, eh?!"
Iori snorts, looking over to the Neo League officials. He frowns.
"Let's just get this over with, already. I hate waiting."
AN HOUR AND A HALF AGO
"So was this, like, where Dracula lived? I mean, the real Dracula, not the movie one or anything." Sakura Kasugano is taking pictures with her cell phone, mostly of exciting historical artifacts like 'walls' and 'stairs' and 'doorways.'
"Uh, n-not to my knowledge," says the Neo League aide who is currently double-checking some paperwork. "Don't you think you should maybe... prepare for the fight a bit?"
Sakura takes another picture, this time of a chandelier. "Nah, I'm good," she says with a confident grin, looking over at the aide and flexing one arm like Rosie the Riveter. "Besides, I'm not worried. I thought for my first match back in the Neo League, I'd get someone tough! You know, like... Ken, or Skullomania! Instead I just get this 'Rory,' and I'm like, 'Rory? Psssh. Never heard of him!' Actually, I should ask you, who /is/ Rory? Is he American? Or, wait, is he British? It sounds like a British name."
The aide stares, dumbfounded. "No, you... Did you not double-check your paperwork?"
"Nah, I just had my brother read it out to me, then I grabbed my gear and hopped a plane," Sakura says with a chuckle.
"You're not fighting 'Rory,' you're fighting /Iori/."
Sakura nearly drops her phone.
NOW
Stretching, then kata, then some more stretching, then running around the arena doing laps, then a Vitamin Water, then some more stretching, and finally, Sakura ended up just sitting around and waiting. She's in a cloth folding chair, visibly bored -- her eyes are heavy-lidded and her mouth has relaxed into a tedium-induced frown. She hammers at her cell phone's keypad with both thumbs, almost non-stop.
NO IORI YET PROBABLY SCARED TO FACE ME X) LOL I WOULD BE TOO HEY WANT TO SEE JULIE N JULIA WHEN I GET BACK :3
The message transmits to Kei back in Japan with a 'boop,' and Sakura has yet to realize how much it costs to text Japan from Transylvania -- but her father lecturing her about how a phone is a privilege, not a right is another exciting bout entirely, true believers.
When Iori arrives, Sakura jumps out of the chair. "Hey!" she cries, waving as she scrambles over -- apparently, 'walking like a normal person' is for losers, as Sakura runs so fast that she has to skid to a stop on the heel of her sneakers like she was Kramer or something. "So you're the legendary Iori, eh? Well, I'm Sakura Kasugano, and I just want you to know -- it's nothing personal!" Sakura balls up her fists and eases back into a loose fighting posture, nearly hopping up and down from the rhythmic movement of her body.
'Hey!'
Iori slowly -- very slowly -- looks over at the sprinting Sakura Kasugano. He squints. She keeps running. He squints more. The enthusiasm flows out of her like an unforgiving tidal wave. Iori's expression visibly contorts.
"Ugh."
When Sakura comes to a skidding stop in front of Iori, the man's expression does not change in the slightest. Thus, as Sakura gives him her enthusiastic greeting, Iori Yagami looks like he wants to vomit, a sentiment that only increases as she continues talking. His hands slide out of his pockets. He looks towards the official with an unpleasant glare.
"I'm fighting /this/ thing?"
"Err -- thing? -- Yes, you're fighting Sakura K--"
"I don't care," Iori says, abruptly cutting the man off. He looks back at Sakura in a scrutinizing stare.
"... Tch. You don't even look remotely tough. What are you, twelve?" Iori doesn't move; does not deign to adopt a fighting stance. Instead, he just stands there, running one hand through his red hair.
"Whatever. Just try not to waste too much of my time, got it, Kusagano?
"I'm sure this is gonna be over with soon enough anyway."
COMBATSYS: Iori has started a fight here.
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Iori 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Sakura has joined the fight here.
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Iori 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura squints slightly under her shaggy fringe of hair. She knows this type all too well -- the stoic tough guy who can't even be bothered to fight. A frown crosses her lips, but only briefly: it's not that Iori's callous treatment demoralizes her, but more that she finds people with no joi de vivre so completely /tiresome/.
"Hey, you said it, buddy, not me!" Sakura snaps back with a grin, skipping a step backward as she waits to see if Iori comes at her -- but no, there he is, playing with his hair. "Besides, guys with Fall Out Boy haircuts shouldn't be calling other people twelve!" Sakura grins broadly -- it's not in her to tease someone and mean it, but she has to try and rile this guy up somehow, even if it puts her at a distinct disadvantage.
"So if you're tougher than a twelve-year-old," the teenage fighter says, "show me what you /got/!" With that, she takes to the air, hopping off of the ground and spinning in mid-leap. She gets fairly good air, too, easily able to bring her spinning, outstretched leg to Iori's chin-level.
COMBATSYS: Iori interrupts Shunpuu Kyaku from Sakura with Yumebiki.
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Iori 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Sakura
"Oh, look, it can make jokes."
Iori stares blandly at Sakura, irritation just edging at the corners of his gaze as the girl steps backwards. Despite his aloof actions, he keeps an eye on her -- watching her every movement like a hawk. His brow twitches at her taunts. If /he's/ tougher than a twelve year-old?
"And it thinks it's witty, too."
Sakura LEAPS into the air, and Iori's hand withdraws from his face, clenching into a fist.
"I hate idiots who think they're witty."
The very /second/ the sole of Sakura's foot makes contact with Iori's chin, his right hand /swipes/ outward in a wide swing, the sharp nails at the end of his fingers seeking to /rake/ bloody gashes across the young prodigy's midsection. His chin snaps upward from the blow... but -- "GUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!" -- he still keeps /moving/, spinning about, using the momentum of Sakura's initial blow to speed up his own assault as he literally seeks to just /backhand/ Sakura straight into the horse fields to the east.
"I've decided: I'm gonna beat the shit out of you until you stop thinking you're so fucking funny."
Originally, Sakura thought it would be cool to leave most of her midsection showing in her school-slash-fighting gear, just because it's proof positive that she does more sit-ups every morning than Rufus could manage if he tried his entire life. Now, though, she is strongly rethinking this plan. Not only is it the fact that she has a set of Bruce Lee lacerations running down her abdominals, but as far as she can tell, Iori isn't wearing /gloves/ -- those are his /fingernails/. "AAH," she hisses as he slashes her, "GROSS!" Sakura knows the undersides of fingernails are like summer camps for germs and bacteria. It makes the wounds sting all the more.
She doesn't have time to ponder this very long, though, as suddenly she's getting hit in the face, and hard. She goes sailing, her outfit flapping against the wind, and finally lands, feeling her face start to swell. That's not all she feels, though.
"Ackpth-- spuh-- ppp--" Sakura looks at the horse not far from her -- and realizes what her face landed in. "AAAUAUUUUGGGH!" she cries, leaping to her feet, throwing herself onto a nearby fence and hunching over it, dry-heaving. She then scrambles for a bucket of water, pouring it onto her head, knowing that she will likely never feel clean again. Her running around and screaming startles the horses slightly, and they trot away from her.
"Oh, god, I landed in the same stuff that comes out of your /mouth/!" Sakura finally calls to her approaching opponent, trying to will herself back into the game. "So lose the Mister Cool act, and maybe I'll believe you're as tough as you say!" Sakura hops the fence and begins to run toward Iori, before leaping at him, one fist drawn back -- seeking to put the momentum of her jump behind her punch, as well, and increase its power. To say she feels Iori has it coming would be an understatement of several thousand degrees.
COMBATSYS: Iori endures Sakura's Aggressive Strike.
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Iori 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Sakura
Shaking his hands, Iori slips his hands into his pockets. His eyes drift again, towards the entrance of the castle. Distantly, he wonders:
Is this really where the /real/ Dracula lives?
He doesn't get much of a chance to wonder over such fantastical things, however, when Sakura's screaming and hollering shatters his reverie. He looks over as the girl dumps water on herself, and his frown just grows.
"... I hear you jabbering, but I don't see you doing anything even remotely worthwhile. If all you're gonna do is roll around in shit like the worthless loser you are--" Sakura slowly begins to advance even as Iori calmly strides forward. The man cracks his fingers one after the other, as if he had all the time in the world. Yet, as Sakura begins to run again, with all that speed, when she /leaps/ into the air like a blur --
--Iori is suddenly /right there/ to greet her in mid-air.
"YOU SHOULD'VE JUST STAYED AT HOME!!"
The Orochi-tainted Yagami heir spins violently through the air as Sakura's fist pistons into his side, just letting out a blood-curdling howl in response -- disregarding all pain as her fist cracks into his torso as his own hands clasp together, and EXPLODE into violet flames. Aiming to use Sakura's overcommitment to his advantage, Iori violently spins around, seeking to HAMMERBLOW those fiery fists into the side of Sakura's head, the resultant impact setting off a massive, violent /explosion/ of purple fire.
COMBATSYS: Sakura fails to interrupt Tsumagushi from Iori with Shou'ou Ken.
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Iori 0/-------/--=====|=======\====---\1 Sakura
Sakura rushed that one a bit too much -- she didn't think to consider that Iori might /want/ her to run at him, flailing and screaming. As his fists ignite into brilliant flames, Sakura is stuck scrambling: too close to mount a decent defense, too late to mount a decent offense. Still, she tries. Her fist swings upward, trying to uppercut the taller fighter before he can connect.
No dice. Sakura isn't fast enough, and just as her arm is shooting upward, Iori's flamin' fists box her ears. She's not sure what hurts more: the force, the heat, or the tinnitus, as she tumbles forward, clutching her skull. She ends up at Iori's feet, holding her head as her hearing slowly comes back, forehead pressed to the ground. Her feet bang helplessly on the earth as she tries to will herself to work through the post-brain-smash dizziness and get up on her feet. Her ass hangs in the air.
Really, only a heartless bastard would take advantage here.
Landing deftly, Iori Yagami slowly rolls his neck as Sakura crashes into the ground at his feet. He takes to idly scratching the sid eof his head as she rolls about on the ground, presses her forehead into the dirt. He looks down after roughly ten seconds, his expression mockingly concerned.
"What's?" he asks, sounding surprised. "No witty comebacks? No hopping around like some sort of retarded jumping bean? What's the matter, is this not /fun/ for you anymore?" Iori waits, as if expecting a reply. He waits, as if giving her time to get up. Patiently. She doesn't move, save to bang her feet into the earth. It's almost pathetic -- certainly something that would evoke sympathy in even the least sentimental of people--
"... Get up," Iori orders after a moment. "Come on. Get up. Hit me. Is this all you've got? Really? This is all you've got to show me for all your big talk? /Come on./ Get up and FIGHT me! Here--" Iori's right hand ignites into flames, the pain stabbing into his brain like a red hot poker. He ignores it.
"--I'LL GIVE YOU A HAND!"
His right hand slings forward through the air, and suddenly those flames transfer. At his feet, purple fire BLOOMS outward like a flower of chaotically writhing tongues of flame, /churning/ through the ground like it was made of hot butter. Tearing through earth, the plume of fire /shoots/ forward -- aiming straight for Sakura's hanging ass.
"SHOW ME HOW /STRONG/ YOU ARE!!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Iori's Yami Barai.
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Iori 0/-------/--=====|=======\=====--\1 Sakura
Sakura closes her eyes tightly. Inside her head, she's berating herself -- didn't train enough for this comeback, didn't focus like she should have, got soft, got weak, never going to catch up with Ryu -- so when Iori starts mocking her, it's more like he's just joining the chorus. Tears well in Sakura's eyes as she tells herself what an idiot she must be.
Then, the ground ignites. Sakura's eyes snap open, and she sees the light of the flame coming up from behind. No cover, no time to jump -- so Sakura simply spins around, tackling the flames head on. The purple chi fire clashes into her forearms, her hair, her face even, but Sakura just growls through it until the wash is over. She's a little singed, but altogether okay -- still being sopping wet from the bucket of water she poured on herself put her upper body at a bit of an advantage, as did the earth caked on her forehead from resting her face on the ground.
Slowly, Sakura stands up -- a bit wobbly, but gaining strength with every movement of her lithe muscles. "You want to see how strong I am?" she says, brown eyes burning even hotter than Iori's flames. "I'll show you how strong I am!" Sakura's cry is loud, and so emotionally charged as to almost make her hoarse -- she's all but shaking in defiant anger. She scrambles to rush forward, letting out an even louder battle cry, her fist leading her charge.
Sakura goes for a rising uppercut, such that her feet leave the ground as the blow soars up and up and up, seeking to bring Iori with it. But it continues past that -- as she drops, and gravity takes hold again, Sakura simply wills herself to spin around and keep going. And then again. She puts every ounce of frustration and anger -- at Iori's attitude, at her own performance, at how gross horse pens are, and so on -- into the attack.
But then, Sakura always did wear her heart on her fists
Yurika arrives from elsewhere.
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Iori with Midare Zakura.
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Iori 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
With an explosive impact, the horrible flames of the Yagami wash over Sakura Kasugano...
... and she still stands up.
"... How annoying."
%Letting out a disgruntled noise, Iori turns his stare away from Sakura only a moment after her defiant stand -- as if she isn't even worth the effort. "Why don't you just give up already?" he asks, pointedly, his voice filled with venom. "We all already know how this is going to turn out--"
As it, in fact, turns out, it was a mistake for Iori to look away from Sakura.
The girl's fist suddenly makes impact with Iori's chin before he even knows she's charging forward. His eyes snap wide with surprise at the impact as his teeth stab into the underside of his tongue, blood surging from between his lips as he is blown upward into the air. He soars, but even as gravity seems to take hold, /another/ fist /jams/ into his solar plexus, sending him bending forward as he vaults further into the skies.
Iori Yagami spits blood. His eyes going unfocused for a moment... before a /third/ blow cracks into his jaw one last time. His posture is straightened like the snapping of a springm sending the Yagami heir flipping backwards, /crashing/ into the ground with such a tumultuous impact that dirt and grass and other far less savory things go kicking up into the air, creating a natural veil around the man. Tanned mist floats around aimlessly, and silence settles over the outer limits of the castle... that is, until a blood-curling shout of rage suddenly BOOMS from the crater that Sakura has made:
"YOU THINK THAT'TH THTRENGTH?!"
It'd probably sound more threatening if not for the lisp.
What IS dangerous is the red-haired man that /shoots/ out of the veil of dirt like a speed bullet, puncturing through his unintended cover; bloodied, bruised, but still very much active -- and moving /very/ fast. Fire swarms his arms, racing down to his hands.
"I'LL THHOW YOU THTRENGTH, YOU THTUPID BITCH!"
And then an elbow DRIVES forward, aiming to JAM into Sakura's throat like a battering ram. The right hand swings down to /plant/ a flaming palm directly into Sakura's face, burning her with that terrible fire as he drives her /straight/ into the earth... before all those flames EXPLODE, threatening to consume her whole.
"HYUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOGH!!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura dodges Iori's Koto Moon Negative.
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Iori 0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura isn't cruel enough to laugh at Iori's unfortunate new lisp. Besides, she's too busy to be smug -- to keep her head above water in this fight, she's putting all of her mental effort into just being /ready/. Her momentary crisis of confidence is over -- that demon is confronted, bested, dead and done for. But a victory of self-esteem is not quite a victory over Iori Yagami. As the fashionably coiffed monster rises, Sakura brings her fists up, not taking her eyes away from him.
Then, Iori comes at her -- the purple flame obscuring his exact intentions, but marking plainly his towering form. Sakura's lips tighten inward, and her expression turns into a sharp, thin look of concentration -- so that when Iori comes just close enough, Sakura jumps up and leapfrogs the burning man. When she lands, in a somersault that brings her into a sitting position, the hem of her skirt is burning. She quickly beats it out with her hands, and lets out an "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" of discomfort as she fans her thighs, which took the brunt of the exposure to Iori's flame.
There is, of course, a joke about Kyo Kusanagi in there somewhere.
Still, Sakura only lets herself be distracted for a second, hopping back to her feet and slipping back into a fighting stance. "You sure like to throw your chi around," she notes, grinning with that same exuberance that Iori found so detestable when she greeted him. "Well, two can play at that game!"
Sakura draws her hands back, a sphere of blue glow forming between them -- and then she sends it forward, the chiball whipping forward fast enough that it leaves an afterimage, a contrail of bending blue light.
COMBATSYS: Iori dodges Sakura's Small Hadouken.
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Iori 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Elbow slides through the air as Iori's momentum carries him forward. He doesn't even allow himself a moment of surprise -- like this, the man is functioning purely on instinct. As soon as he feels his initial blow jam into emptiness, feeling the slightest tap of his opponent's touch as she leaps directly /over/ him. Already he's spinning around, preparing for the counter-stroke--
--only to find her beating her skirt and thighs and hissing.
"... Are you theriouth?"
Iori grimaces, smacking his bleeding, sore tongue against the side of his cheek as if in irritation at the injury before Sakura once more jumps into the fray. His expression is a look of disgust as Sakura speaks again, noting the sudden surge of chi -- sensing it even before it begins to gather into her hands. "Hmph."
The distinctive form of the Hadouken launches forward in spiraling trails of light blue energy, like a will-o-the-wisp released from the confines of Sakura's palms. Iori /rushes/ forward, as if intent to run /headlong/ into the thing... before he /twists/ at the last moment, spinning awkwardly and yet effectively in mid-run to send his body curving just out of the range of that small burst of light and power.
"/PATHETIC/!" The gutteral roar is accompanied by Iori suddenly seeking to /pierce/ into Sakura's defenses. There are no mythical flames here this time; just a left hook, aiming to hammer into Sakura's jaw. "HUAAARGH!!" Black and white fabric rustle, bleed together with the speed of Iori's movements as he commits everything into his forward momentum, hooking his right fist forward to drive a hellacious uppercut into Sakura's jaw, intent to launch her into the air... where he'll meet her in a violent forward leap, bringing /both/ hands down, clasped together, into a brutal hammerblow designed to crash into her gut and send her back-first towards the doors of the castle.
COMBATSYS: Iori successfully hits Sakura with Aoi Hana.
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Iori 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Sakura
Iori isn't the only one spitting blood now. Sakura doesn't bite her tongue, but rather the inside of her cheek -- a cheek that will no doubt be huge and purple by the time she hits the ground, thanks to her possibly-broken jaw. Then, before she can even recover, she's tagged in the face again, her head turning downward at exactly the wrong moment -- Iori's right fist drives directly into her nose, causing a torrential downpour of blood from her nostrils. Her jaw may be broken -- her nose definitely is. Finally, she's smashed right in the stomach -- already wounded from earlier, dirt and dust making the deep scratches burn -- and sent hurtling like a human football toward the castle doors.
Sakura hits the ancient wooden portal so hard that the antiquated metal hinges snap. The doors slam to the ground with a THUD, knocking up a cloud of grey dust around their impact zone. Sakura lays on them for a moment, sputtering up blood as she tries to regain the use of her spine, which slammed right into the gargoyle-faced door knocker. Rolling onto her side, the teen fighter groans, and then forces herself back up. "Ghhh... rhhh..." she moans, words unable to be distinguished in her mushmouthed slur. Then, just to show she means business, Sakura takes hold of her jaw with one hand. With the other, she grips her nose between thumb and forefinger, and snaps it back into place.
Sakura assumes her fireball stance again. Her feet spread and lock apart -- her hands move back, shoulders tense, elbows bent. Between her palms, bright light begins to shine, that crackles and flickers outward like licks of lightning. Then, with a howl of fury, Sakura shoves her hands forward. The beam that shoots out from the castle doorway -- not a ball or a puff of chi, but a /beam/ -- is as tall as Sakura is, and lights up the Transylvanian night.
COMBATSYS: Sakura has reached second wind!
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Iori 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Iori negates Shinkuu Hadouken from Sakura with Ya Sakazuki.
Glancing Hit
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Iori 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Iori lands with a forward stagger as soon as his hammerblow makes impact, spinning across the dirt and earth in an attempt to correct his forward momentum and recover himself. He comes to an ultimate stop just beyond the now collapsed castle doors, clawed fingers scraping across the earth as he stares at the fallen girl. A moment of silence passes. And slowly, Iori scoffs, straightening himself as he turns his back to Sakura.
"What a wathte of my time--"
And then she stands. He doesn't notice this, or even care, really; Iori is fairly self-assured that Sakura isn't going to be able to lay a finger against him even if she /can/ somehow stand up. It's as that sense of chi building up starts scratching at the back of his soul that he comes to a stop, fingers closing in on themselves into tight fists.
"You've got to be kidding me."
By the time that Iori turns around, Sakura is already shoving both palms forward. Blue light illuminates the corridors of the castle behind Sakura like the bloom of a sun before a radiant beam of chi rockets from her hands, released in a brilliant shockwave. Iori's eyes widen for all of a second before his right hand lashes out, snaps its fingers--
--and a single, tiny spark unloads to meet Sakura's massive, monstrous pillar of energy. It was too fast, not enough preparation time-- the energy /crashes/ into that spark, and for an instant seems like it will simply engulf it...
... until a MASSIVE pillar of pure, Orochi-borne energy ERUPTS from the ground like a bolt stretching to heaven, cleaving the force of the hadouken clean in two and disrupting it completely, leaving only a very angry-looking Iori to stare at Sakura past the screeching embers of colliding chi.
"... You're /dead./"
Sakura looks like she's about to collapse. Her arms drop down when her Shinkuu Hadouken is dispersed, so sharply that it's like her hands were weighted. She breathes in heaving, ragged gasps, making wet gurgles each time she tries to breathe through her thoroughly abused nose. "Yeah?" she says, forcing her eyes to snap open, pushing herself past the point of exhaustion, past the nagging pain. "Bring it on."
Sakura draws herself up, forcing herself not to shudder as her injured back is straightened. Her hands are spattered with blood and earth, and her red fighting gloves -- official Ken Masters branded products -- are discarded, leaving her bare-fisted and exposing the clean flesh beneath like she had developed tan lines. Sakura brings her hands together and cracks her knuckles.
Then, the girl warrior dashes forward. She knows she's running on fumes, and thus has to make every blow count. Iori won't go down unless she keeps hammering away at him, doesn't give him a moment to draw those horrible purple flames. So that becomes her plan, beginning with a potent punch aimed right for the other fighter's already-injured mouth.
COMBATSYS: Iori dodges Sakura's Strong Punch.
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Iori 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Wiping a hand across his face, Iori haphazardly smears darkening crimson blood across his lips, barely looking coherent of the face that it is now unpleasantly marring the rest of his face. He stares down at the blood against his palm for a moment, before purple fire flares across his hand, slowly burning away the blood at his skin. His features contort as if in pain, but it doesn't last --
--Not the least of which because of Sakura defiantly, desperately presses her offensive. His entire body going loose, Iori sloshes awkwardly to his right, limbs swaying back and forth as if in a trance. A blow aims for his jaw -- and he suddenly /bends/ backward, moving /with/ the momentum of the punch as his face moves -just- underneath Sakura's fist, the palm scraping scarcely across his jaw. And suddenly, that loose posturing tenses. Suddenly, that trance-like state becomes a blazing fire of hate as Iori's eyes snap open wide.
"GUUUOOH!!"
And his entire body suddenly /rights/ itself violently, aiming to /smash/ his forehead into Sakura's face in a violent headbutt before she can completely recover herself, not even holding a single ounce of force back.
COMBATSYS: Sakura parries Iori's Strong Punch!
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Iori 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Sakura
Iori's skull comes screaming toward Sakura, who's busy whirling around after her punch failed to connect. Her bloody nostrils flare with a bullish-snort, and in her anger at Iori, she refuses to obey logic or common sense -- and sends her /own/ head forward, meeting the taller and stronger man quite literally head-on.
The result is a resounding /crack/ of skull on skull, but Sakura is so jacked up on adrenaline that she can't even fall down from it. She lets out another gurgling noise, and her brown eyes remain wide, an almost delirious quality spread across her bruised, beaten, and broken face. "Hhhh," she says, but it's not clear whether this is meant to be a word, or just a labored breath.
Regardless, Sakura lunges at Iori, hoping to take him unawares in the aftermath of that head-to-head collision. While he's bent down, she snaps her arm up, trying to wrap it around his neck -- and squeeze -- and squeeze -- and squeeze. Though she's not exactly known for having 24-inch pythons, there's a surprising amount of strength in Sakura's grasp, provided she can maintain the will to exert it.
COMBATSYS: Iori endures Sakura's Sakura Strangle EX.
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Iori 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Sakura
"Wh--"
CRACK
The impact is surprising; not the impact itself, of course. Iori had been planning for /that./ But /where/ he impacts. Forehead meets forehead in a ram-like clash of hard heads as the sound of bone striking bone rings deliriously loud in Iori's ears.
It doesn't hurt -- but it is incredibly disorienting. His brain almost knocked about in his skull, the fighter staggers backward drunkenly, swaying from side to side as he shakes his head. His vision blurs for a moment, lights piercing his eyes painfully as he squints. He sees a form of smeared whites, reds and blues bleeding across his line of vision. He shakes his head again --
--just in time to find Sakura /right/ in his defenses.
Before Iori can even properly defend himself, Sakura is gripping at his neck, aiming to constrict. His airflow is cut off, and Iori's eyes widen. Gasping sounds issue from his throat, as if struggling for breath. He bucks up as she continues to exert, and the gasping continues, growing more and more coherent until--
"... hah!..."
"... hahahaHAHAHA! HAH--"
Iori's hands suddenly /swing/ towards Sakura, attempting to grip her by the shoulders, /dig/ his clawed fingers into cloth and flesh, and then /swing/ her around, aiming to just /smash/ the side of her face into the nearby castle wall... and then DRAG her across is just as violently as possible.
"Die! DIE!! /DIE/!!!!"
COMBATSYS: Iori successfully hits Sakura with Medium Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > / ]
Iori 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura flails her arms, trying to claw at Iori's face in order to get free of his grasp. To put it bluntly, she doesn't, and she goes head-first into the castle wall, the noise nearly enough to convince the Neo League producers that they've just been made party to a snuff film. Sakura survived her collision with Iori's face on pure adrenaline, but there's only so much blunt force trauma a brain can take. Her thrashing body briefly grows limp, and her thoroughly wrecked face is scraped by the way Iori callously drags it across the stone, ripping her flesh.
Sakura can feel herself beginning to black out. She's left alone, for a half-moment that feels like forever, with her thoughts: 'I hope my mom doesn't see what I look like after this. I hope my brother doesn't see this fight. I should have trained harder. Ryu would have clobbered this guy. Ryu would have taken me out in half the time it's taken this jerk. Oh God. What's going to happen when they see my face at school?'
Sakura's mind goes in one direction, but her body twitches and tries valiantly to go in another. When Iori drops her, having ground her against the rough, ancient bricks enough, she lands on her knees, blood seeping liberally from places blood ought normally seep. Her hand rises, and rather than feeling her malformed, puffed and shattered face, she feels her headband. Dragging her face across the castle wall damaged her headband -- the one Ryu gave her, one of the things she treasures most in life.
Sakura barely has anything left to offer -- but she snaps her arm forward in rage, knuckles seeking the inside of Iori's thigh. She can barely see, and can't even tell if her face is numb. She may well lose consciousness before her fist can even get close to the redhead. Still, at least she may give him a particularly vicious charley horse.
COMBATSYS: Sakura has reached third wind!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Iori 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Iori interrupts Fierce Punch from Sakura with Oniyaki.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ]
Iori 1/-------/=======|=======\=======\1 Sakura
Panting, Iori Yagami releases Sakura, barely even coherent in his rage. Fire begins to bubble at his hands even as Sakura falls to the ground, as if he simply doesn't /care/ that she's fallen --
--he's going to beat on her all the same, whether she's fighting or unconscious.
Fortunately, Neo League executives don't have to deal with /that/ particular disaster today. Even though Sakura's mind may be a disaster area, her body doesn't seem to register the damages its received yet. Mystic fires bubble at Iori's hands, tongues of flame lashing outward maliciously as Sakura drags herself back up, and, with no regard to her continued safety and health, presses the attack. One fist. Aimed for Iori's thigh.
His mind snaps.
"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME?!"
Suddenly, Iori SWOOPS low, his face meeting Sakura's, his eyes wide -- barely even looking /human./
"THTAY!"
And then, he SWEEPS upward, SMASHING one clawed hand /directly/ into Sakura's body to take her upward with him. Flames roar from his hands like jet contrails as he rises upward off the ground in a violent spin, purple flames twisting around him in a distinctive double-helix patterns, their sheer heat burning anything around them. Fists batter into Sakura over and over combined with those horrible, cursed flames as Iori rises higher and higher, aimed to simply /launch/ her into the air like a ragdoll.
"DOWN! GUUUWAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!"
Into the air Sakura goes -- her arms are loose and her legs are limp, so it's a bit like watching a ragdoll toy being thrown about by an overzealous child. Sakura's mental haze continues, as images flash through her mind, free-associating and creating a vague scatterplot of her life so far. By the time her mind turns back to Ryu, Sakura realizes that not only is she far too young to have her life flash before her eyes -- she's too good to go out to Iori Yagami.
Feeling like she's broken her everything and aching smartly from the very act of /breathing/, Sakura nonetheless finds her will. After Iori's rampage sends her flapping into the sky, she lands -- on her feet. One eye is swollen shut, and the other is barely open, tinted a disgusting color in one half from blood vessels breaking. "Hhhh, hhh, hhhh," she gasps, lips broken and bloated, her jaw and cheeks so painfully swollen that it looks like she's had someone else's skull installed under her skin. She can't talk -- she can barely see -- but all anyone needs to know is right there in the way her one good eye fixes on Iori.
It's not quite a lunge -- Sakura nearly /falls/ at Iori, her body tilting downward rapidly as she tries to take a step. She's saved by her arm -- her fist shoots up, the memory of the motion programmed into her limb by years of practice. She hisses in an attempt to breathe, blood squirting from her mouth in process. She lets the force of her uppercut carry her. Whether this works or not, it's taking all she's got -- she's running on reserves she barely even knew she had.
And then another uppercut. And then another. She wants to yell, to cry out, to unleash a defiant battle cry as her succession of spinning Shou'ou Kens whirls toward Iori. The most she can manage, though, is an unhinged gurgle.
COMBATSYS: Sakura can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Iori 0/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Iori interrupts Midare Zakura from Sakura with Large Random Weapon.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Iori 0/-------/=======|
With a resolute /slam/ into the earth, Iori Yagami lands just outside the busted fence leading outward toward the horse fields of the castle. His hands are still aflame, burning away at the grass and shrubbery surrounding them until they both abruptly snuff out. Standing, Iori looks down on the fallen Sakura, his bloodied lips pulling back in a sneer.
"Lookth like you don't think thith i--iiiiisssss--" he forces himself, wincing slightly against his tongue-- "very /funny/ anymore, huh?" Slipping one hand into his pocket, the bloodied and battered -- and yet not nearly as worse off as Sakura -- young man strolls back, taking in the sight of Sakura struggling to get up.
"When are you going to learn to stay down?" he mutters, looking behind him -- eyeing a horse straying too close to the broken fence. Sakura lunges forward in an uppercut. Iori grins spitefully. It's the grin of insight -- not a particularly good one, at that.
"Even a DUMB ANIMAL IS SMARTER THAN YOU!!"
Iori lunges backward. Sakura lunges forward. He grips onto the tale of the nearby horse, /tugs/ violently--
It's just as the horse is ripped off its feet in a startled neigh and swung at Sakura like a mace the second that her uppercut makes contact with Iori's jaw that the video feed cuts off--
WE ARE EXPERIENCING SOME TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, PLEASE BE PATIENT WHILE WE WORK TO CORRECT THEM.
THIS MESSAGE BROUGHT TO YOU BY: THE AMERICAN HUMANE ASSOCIATION -- PROTECTING HUMANE TREATMENT TO EVERY LIFE!
--and cuts back in with a collapsed Iori next to a sprawled out horse.
"... urgh... did I... did I... just land in horse shit?"
By the time the transmission comes back on, Sakura is being put on a gurney. A couple stagehands have been handed stun-guns, just in case Iori still has some fight in him. The producer's face is in his hands, trying to count how many millions of sponsorship dollars they just lost.
Log created on 17:03:05 10/01/2009 by Sakura, and last modified on 23:14:13 11/28/2009.