Description: Sakura vs. Maki -- what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Except for when it's broadcast on TV.
What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas, right? Well, it all depends on what it is you're referring to. Things like big winnings (or losings) at the casinos tend to stick with you for awhile, but other things that aren't exactly discussed openly are left there. Whether this fight will be kept in Vegas, though, depends on how you look at it. Namely since the Neo League apparently has a big following in Vegas, and a huge crowd is gathered to witness the fight.
The first fighter to enter the fighting area is Maki Genryusai, a famous face on the Neo League circuit. Enjoying a drink of water before the fight begins, Maki takes a moment to wave to her fans with a grin. She can't wait to see who her opponent is tonight, having fought against many different fighters in the circuit.
What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas, unless you take four billion cell-phone pictures. Enter Sakura Kasugano, who is ensuring that her Facebook profile will be positively bloated with 'New Photos' updates as she snaps pictures of virtually anything that catches her fancy during the ride to the fighting zone, the car moving amidst huge, barricaded crowds of people trying to see through the tinted windows. Out of the car, stretching as she walks toward the circle, slapping a high-five or two with fans -- Sakura is ready. Finally, in a rush of exuberance, she dashes toward the ring, forcing herself to skid to a halt on both heels. "Hey! Let's do this!" she calls excitedly, a broad grin on her face as she falls back into an assured fighting stance.
COMBATSYS: Sakura has started a fight here.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Maki has joined the fight here.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Maki
As Sakura appears in the fighting area, Maki smirks and narrows her eyes a little. "Well, I haven't seen you in awhile. Although, I've heard about your continued fights and efforts to try to be like Ryu." She also gets into her fighting stance. "But enough of that chatter, I'm ready to go when you are!" The official then signals the beginning of the match, and Maki stares at her opponent, waiting to see what Sakura may have developed.
COMBATSYS: Maki focuses on her next action.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Maki
"I'll have you know," Sakura says, pointing at Maki, "I've got my /own/ style! Ryu taught me a lot, but I've got to prove myself as my own fighter!" Sakura may have developed a bit, blossoming into the fullness of womanhood, but her baggy, billowy clothes do their best to hide this -- even though they cover little. Plus, she's still an egregious tomboy. "HADOKEN!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Maki with Medium Hadouken.
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Sakura 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Maki
"I look forward to seeing your style," Maki says, half-teasingly. She watches as Sakura prepares a Hadouken for Maki, and the blonde smirks, thinking this is going to be a piece of cake to avoid. Unfortunately, Maki's timing is off, and she gets hit in the stomach by the projectile, knocking her backwards a little and causing her to lose her breath briefly, before she recovers. "Not bad, if I say so myself." As soon as Maki finishes talking, she approaches Sakura and attempts to give her a quick over-the-shoulder through.
COMBATSYS: Sakura interrupts Quick Throw from Maki with Shou'ou Ken.
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Sakura 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Maki
Sakura lets out a grunt as Maki grabs onto her, and in her attempts to break free she ends up wrenching her own shoulder just a bit. "Ghh! Ow!" This pain seems to spur her on, though, causing her to shrink back -- and then come up with a mighty fist, aimed squarely at Maki's jaw. "SHOU'OU KEN!" she cries, wincing inwardly at how she shouldn't have done that with the shoulder she just hurt.
Now that is a really big surprise Maki was truly unexpecting. Before she knows what's happening, she's staggering backwards and then dropping to the ground, holding her jaw in pain. A little blood can be seen coming out as Maki tries to shake the stars from her head. Meanwhile, a fight attendant is standing over her checking on her. Before he can take another look, Maki starts to get up, using her tonfa to prop herself up onto all fours, and then gets onto one foot. After reaching her other foot, Maki steps back a little, looking at Sakura and realizing that she's really underestimated the schoolgirl. "Not bad, actually, you have picked up some good techniques," Maki says. "But let's see how you like this!" At the last word, Maki takes a couple running steps, and then flies directly at Sakura with her leg extended like a horizontal flying kick! If Sakura doesn't do something, there's going to be an imprint of Maki's sneaker sole in her face!
COMBATSYS: Maki successfully hits Sakura with Hassou Kyaku.
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Sakura 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0 Maki
And so there is. "GUHNH!" Sakura gets nailed right in the side of the face, and tumbles backwards, landing on her back so hard that she flips and lands on her belly. Rubbing her face with a frown, and remembering just how freshly-healed it is from what Iori did to it, Sakura pounds the ground with her fist and kicks herself back to her feet. "Nice try!" Sakura says. "But here's a REAL kick for you!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Maki with Shunpuu Kyaku.
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Sakura 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Maki
"Come on, bring it," Maki says with a big grin, anticipating something simple from Sakura... But her anticipation is another case of underestimation, since Maki gets hit by the spinning kick hard and goes spinning around a little, dropping to one knee. Luckily, she manages to pull herself back to her other foot, which is a feat considering how bruised she is. In fact, she's breathing heavily right now, which is why one of her fighting assistants, hands her a bottle of water, which she gulps quickly.
COMBATSYS: Maki gains composure.
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Sakura 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Maki
Her spinning kick complete, Sakura hops back up and twirls on one heel, turning around to face Maki as she drinks. "Oh, come on, save it for after the fight!" she chides with a huge grin, attempting to jump forward, smack the bottle out of Maki's hands, and then leap up and spike it back down toward her forehead. Natsu taught her that one. It's called... volleyball.
COMBATSYS: Maki interrupts Fierce Combo from Sakura with Light Kick.
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Sakura 1/------=/=======|=======\===----\1 Maki
How rude of you, Sakura! Maki doesn't appreciate having her bottle slapped out of her hands. Which is why Maki decides to teach Sakura some manners by delivering a kick to the girl's leg as she leaps into the air. Unfortunately, the girl still hits the bottle, sending Maki to the ground again. Looks like she's taking a moment to catch her breath as she gets to a seated position, before struggling to get back onto her feet again.
"Oof!" Sakura gets kicked right in the thigh, causing her to land funny on one leg and then tip backward onto her ass. "Oof!" she squawks again, and then comes up to her feet. "Okay, I opened myself up for that one, I admit!" she yells, apparently as much to chastise herself as anything. "But you won't get that opportunity again! Kiii-ya!" Sakura then swings forward, spinning and attempting to deliver to Maki's chin a righteous backfist.
COMBATSYS: Maki dodges Sakura's Strong Punch.
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Sakura 1/------=/=======|=======\===----\1 Maki
"Nice try," Maki says in a somewhat weak voice, but it still shows strength, as she drops down into a crouched position, causing the punch to go over her head completely and hit nothing but air. Meanwhile, Maki decides to take advantage of this and deliver a strike to Sakura's shins. "Watch out below!" She yells as she swings her tonfa at Sakura's right shin.
COMBATSYS: Sakura fails to interrupt Medium Strike from Maki with Shinkuu Hadouken.
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Sakura 0/-------/-----==|=======\===----\1 Maki
Sakura seems more frustrated by her whiff than anything else, her jaw jutting out and her lips tightening in a stern frown. She leans back to try and charge up a potent hadoken, snapping, "Yeah, well, /you/ watch--" then her leg gives out and she eats pavement, the chi charge lost as her hands part to brace her fall. "UNGH!"
Maki smiles, albeit weakly, as she watches Sakura go to the ground. "Got a bit ahead of yourself, did you?" Maki says with a smirk. "You really should watch what you're doing!" Maki grabs another bottle of water and gulps it down while Sakura gets up.
COMBATSYS: Maki gains composure.
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Sakura 0/-------/-----==|=======\==-----\1 Maki
Sakura grimaces, her knees scraped and bloody as she stands up. "Yeah, yeah," she grouses. "And you shouldn't take so many /breaks/!" Sakura lunges for Maki, attemping to grab her around the neck, swing around, and pulse her surprisingly strong bicep manfully, to choke the blonde Japanese fighter out.
COMBATSYS: Maki blocks Sakura's Sakura Strangle.
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Sakura 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 Maki
Maki feels the bicep going into her neck the first time, but then she quickly reaches up with her tonfa to try to pry Sakura's arm off of her, and then let her get down. When she's sure Sakura's in fighting range, Maki decides to give her a demonstration of her signature maneuver. She drops onto the tip of her tonfa(!) and then spins around like a whirlwind, with her leg outstretched.
COMBATSYS: Maki successfully hits Sakura with Bushin Senpuu Kyaku.
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Sakura 0/-------/--=====|=======\=====--\1 Maki
Sakura is knocked free of her attempt to choke Maki out, and then suddenly besiged by whirling feet, Maki's upturned figure striking her with several passes of her powerful kicks. "Uhggf!" Sakura cries, knocked clear onto her back. She slowly gets up, shaking the chirping birds away from her head, and glares at Maki. "Okay! /Done playing around/!" The teenager pounds one fist into the other palm, and around her, blue chi energy flares -- visibly.
COMBATSYS: Sakura gathers her will.
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Sakura 1/------=/=======|=======\=====--\1 Maki
"I've been done playing around since this fight began," Maki says with a sly, evil smirk, albeit hunched over somewhat. "You know, I think it's time we ended this fight once and for all, what do you say?" With that, Maki begins to show blue chi energy flaring around her as well... Except it's only a brief flare, before Maki rushes at Sakura and attempts to deliver a swift flurry of tonfa strikes and kicks.
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Maki's Bushin Gou Rai Ha.
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Sakura 1/--=====/=======|=------\-------\0 Maki
Unfortunately, Maki's blows fall on Sakura's defensive skills...
Sakura just squints, like she imagines Ryu or Clint Eastwood would in the face of such tough talk. As Maki soars toward her, she focuses not on fighting back, but on indulging pure instinct, letting her forearms and elbows smoothly flow to meet each blow Maki sends out. It hurts like hell, and it definitely shakes her resolve a bit, but Sakura still emerges from it better than she could be, given the circumstances. "Okay," Sakura replies, lowering a fist and preparing to launch into not one, not two, but three consecutive spinning uppercuts. "MY TURN!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Maki with Midare Zakura EX.
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Sakura 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Maki
Maki gets hit not once, not twice, but THREE times. She failed to defend in time, and finds herself getting hit very hard. In fact, she goes up into the air and then heads back down, looking like she's gonna be knocked out once she hits the ground. Of course, her tonfa is aimed at Sakura's shoulder, meaning she might want to watch out...
COMBATSYS: Maki can no longer fight.
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Sakura 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Maki successfully hits Sakura with Medium Strike.
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Sakura 0/-------/---====|
And the tonfa hits Sakura's shoulder, while Maki hits the ground, and she doesn't get up...
The tonfa actually misses, and smacks Sakura right in the forehead. "GUH!" the teen cries, landing on her knees, and struggling to keep from passing out, even though Maki is slumped right next to her.
COMBATSYS: Sakura takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Sakura can no longer fight.
Sakura's attempts to regain her wits come to no avail, though, and she falls face-first into Maki's ass, causing everyone watching in Vegas and around the world to just kind of... grimace uncomfortably.
Maki doesn't notice the face in her ass. She's too out cold to be able to notice it. Meanwhile, the official looks at both girls, and waves his arms to indicate the fight is over and has ended in a draw.
Log created on 19:03:22 10/09/2009 by Sakura, and last modified on 14:55:48 02/21/2010.