Description: The Neo League provides the stark backdrop of Antarctica for the first meeting between these two young fighters with a difference in philosophy and outlook. Whose cuisine reigns supreme?!? (Winner: Kurenai)
Sure is cold in Antarctica.
What surprised Yuno the most was just how little stuff there was here. He always thought it was a bustling hive of penguins, polar bears, and men in fuzzy jackets trying to go from one point to another for no readily apparent reason. But that just isn't the case. There is cold death here, waiting for the unwary.
Today, the unwary is young Yuno. Wrapped up tight in a bright yellow parka jacket which obscures pretty much everything about the boy, and a pair of yellow mittens which grasp his three-sectioned staff, he had requested that Kurenai meet him here because, well, it seemed like fun. Now, even with the cameras pointed on him, it doesn't seem like so much fun.
It seems like cold. So cold.
COMBATSYS: Kurenai has started a fight here.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Yuno has joined the fight here.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Yuno
"Antarctica... geez... who wants to come here to /fight/?" mutters Kurenai. Geez. This is... about as cold as she's ever been, even with the heavy winter jacket she wears over her uniform (Seijyun issue, both!), the dark blue jacket covering her down to the knees, whereupon heavy-looking boots take over. She clomps onto the scene, noting the fight area marked out with bright, blaze-orange pylons and marker tape.
"This is nuts," she says, again to herself, as she ducks under the barrier tape and walks into the area. She, too, wears heavy mittens, and, like Yuno, the fact that she is wearing them doesn't seem to affect her grip on her weapon, which she swings aimlessly, before resting it on her shoulder, gripping it in her right hand.
And then she points at Yuno, with her left hand. "You got me out here for this!! So..." And without warning she starts running, leaps, left hand snapping to the grip of her weapon, and she brings it down in a vertical slash aimed for the young boy, her weapon flaring with bright pink energy.
"This is -divine retribution-! MY TOES ARE NUMB!!"
COMBATSYS: Kurenai successfully hits Yuno with Medium Strike.
- Power hit! -
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Kurenai 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Yuno
Pity poor Yuno. The boy had just been standing there, and, when he'd spotted Kurenai, he's actually brightened up considerably. Sure, it was cold, but this was going to be an exciting fight! How could he be upset when there was the prospect of learning how his style fared against a whole new array of techniques? No, Yuno even takes the time to bow to Kurenai.
"Hello!" He starts, cheerfully, "It is nice to meet you, I am Yuno, and I look forward to--"
*KRACK*
Before he can even begin to defend himself, the weapon smashes directly over Yuno's skull. The boy is not gifted with a great deal of grace, it seems, especially when taken by surprise in such a painful way. He falls into the dirt.
He doesn't stay down for long, though. Quite the opposite in fact. He'd been really hoping he could get to know his opponent. Instead, he finds himself smashed into the dirt in quite a painful manner.
The three section staff snaps together, and suddenly the boy is surging up in a blur of fire. His staff swung around in wide, sweeping arcs as he aims to just catch Kurenai in the midst of it, and batter her around. If her toes were numb, maybe this would warm her up!
"WE DIDN'T EVEN INTRODUCE OURSEEEEELVES!"
COMBATSYS: Kurenai blocks Yuno's Hong Advancing.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Yuno
"!!" It's an exclamation you can almost hear, even though she looks surprised. Well, she expected her opponent to get back up--but that was pretty quick! Still, she sprang back about ten yards after she landed, and that gave her enough time to be able to fend off the attack--swapping her stance, taking the parallel-weapon stance one sees so often in the movies--only to swing the weapon forward, parrying the wide sweeping attacks, though the heat of that fiery chi rakes over her regardless.
And then... she pauses. "/Introduce ourselves/?" She sounds... truly puzzled, as she stares at the boy in front of her with the three-section staff.
"Why would I wanna do that in the middle of a fight? That's silly. That just distracts from the real business at hand! If you wanted to ask a cute girl like me out, you should've done so before the fight! But I'll warn you, I'll only date you if I lose--I'm not going out with a loser!" There's little enough expression on Kurenai's face to tell whether she's being serious or not--in any case, she hops backwards again, bringing her weapon up to shoulder height, the tip bobbing, aimed in Yuno's direction, implicitly surrendering the next move to him.
COMBATSYS: Kurenai calculates her next move.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Yuno
Yuno looks horribly confused. Going out? Cute? Girl? What were these mysterious words which mean nothing to your average cute young Chinese monk. The boy tugs his hood back, revealing the dark shape of the perfectly straight bruise which is already forming on his shiny head. It also makes it easier to talk without getting a mouth full of fur.
"I don't want to go out with you!" He shoots back, "Uhm, that is, I don't... get what you mean, uh, I just wanted to spar, and I thought, hey, I've never been to Antarctica before, so it might be fun! I didn't mean to upset you..."
The poor lad actually bows low to Kurenai then, bringing his hands together in front of himself. "I'm very sorry for upsetting you, Kurenai. Please forgive me."
COMBATSYS: Yuno gains composure.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Yuno
And... she busts out laughing. Sounds like full, genuine laughter. "Oh, gosh, that was too easy! You're fun to tease," she says--the politeness is a nice touch. She doesn't sound too mocking, though. Bowing low like that, though... there's something about it. It's not infuriating, but... "But, you know," she says, thoughtfully... and she lunges forward, weapon raised--flaring with that chi again, as she seeks to plunge it into Yuno's semi-exposed back, three times, in a long overhead stabbing motion--
"--didn't whoever taught you tell you to /never/ take your eyes off the enemy?!?" It's a harsh lesson, but one that would be well-learned by the young boy--the only indication he may have of her attack, prior to her speaking, is the crunch of her boots on the snow.
And of course, the weapon is a blunt one, so it won't tear cloth or slice flesh--but the impacts are going to be painful nonetheless...
COMBATSYS: Kurenai successfully hits Yuno with Demon Flurry.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Yuno
Yuno finds himself beaten and battered around pretty successfully by the assault. There isn't much he can do about it. This girl had completely thrown him for a loop. "You are very disrespectful!" Is all he can bring himself to say, after the beating has finished, and he skids back in the snow, shaking his head to try and recover some wherewithal. It was difficult to concentrate when he kept getting beaten up so badly.
Still, it isn't over yet, and he has no intention of giving up. Instead, he presses the offensive. The boys staff seems like it is striking at a downwards angle... until, at the last moment, it veers upwards, aiming to just smack against Kurenai's nose.
Should it land, blindingly fast, the boy reverses his grip on his staff, grabbing it by the top and forcing it into the ground, to leap up, and over Kurenai, hoping to get some good momentum going, he needed to take control of this fight back!
COMBATSYS: Yuno successfully hits Kurenai with Random Strike.
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Kurenai 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Yuno
Not her nose! Kurenai saves the cute, upturned, button appendage--but at the cost of her cheek, which takes the blow instead as she turns her head, her attempt to evade fouled by a patch of slippery ice. She cries out, a high-pitched sound of girlish pain, and dramatically falls to the ground, thrashing about. "M-my face! MY CUTE FACE!!" Maybe she likes overacting a bit much, but she's just having her own fun with it, in her own way.
But despite the thrashing, she rises, and she doesn't seem to be too badly put out. Injured? Sure. Is the fight over? Not for either of them, not by a long shot. She knows it, and Yuno knows it. And as she rises... she's reaching for something, it's almost hard to tell what it is--until it's sent spinning for Yuno's body, hurled with a backhand motion from her right hand as she rises.
If Yuno has the time to get a good look at it, he'll realize... it's... well, it's a protractor, one of those half-moon shaped things that kids use to measure angles and the like. It isn't sharp, but it's made of metal, so it'll impact pretty decently...
COMBATSYS: Yuno overcomes Thrown Weapon from Kurenai with Thrown Weapon.
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Kurenai 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Yuno
Yuno's eyes go pretty wide as the girl screams. He hadn't expected that. As he turns, there's a look of genuine concern on the young boys features. It wasn't like he wanted to hurt her, god! Honest he didn't! It just sort of happened! He knew you didn't go around beating up girls, but, but this was a fight, and she was a fighter, surely it couldn't have hurt her -that- much?!
But then there's a protractor coming at him, and the boys eyes go even wider, "WAUGH!"
Using that momentum he'd started to build, he actually loses grip of his staff about halfway through the attempt to block. The weapon goes flying out of his hands and the protractor just bounces off, as the staff becomes a whirling disc.
Of course, he's already chasing it, but, it might just bounce off Kurenai before he gets to it, the question is, can he get his hands on it before Kurenai?
COMBATSYS: Kurenai fails to reflect Thrown Weapon from Yuno with Devil's Return.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Yuno
No, she won't--she's reacting immediately, but the staff plows into her even as she's responding, slamming into her shoulder--knocking her askew, her small body thrown off-balance. She does cry out in pain again, but it's certainly not a play-acted cry of pain, and she stumbles nearly to the edge of the 'arena' before she can recover herself.
When she does, however, Yuno might see that she's more serious now. The playfulness is gone--she wasn't taking Yuno lightly before, but she was toying with him a little, and that's disappeared from her expression almost completely, her green eyes holding a sharp, intent look.
COMBATSYS: Kurenai has left the fight here.
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Yuno 0/-------/--=====|
COMBATSYS: Yuno has ended the fight here.
Yuno leaps into the air to pick up his staff after it started to fall. The boy doesn't waste any time, though. He doesn't want to give Kurenai the time she needs to recover. If there was one thing that she'd made abundantly clear in the fight so far, it is that she could keep up with him even when she wasn't taking him seriously. Now that she was, the boy feels he really needs to work to keep her on the back foot.
"You are very good!" He compliments the girl as his feet crunch the snow underneath him, twirling the straight staff a few times. "I hope I've done well enough to make you forgive me for picking this place!"
He's not backing off, though, instead, he lunges forwards in a clumsy, weak, and, frankly, hopeless jab down at her feet...
And at the last possible moment, it suddenly comes shooting up, bright fire flaring at the end of the weapon as it aims to smash into Kurenai's stomach and drive her backwards! What a dirty trick!
COMBATSYS: Kurenai just-defends Yuno's Shen Misleading!
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Kurenai 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Yuno
"Don't want to hear... about how 'good' I am..." she says, "when I get hit by you. If I were good enough, I wouldn't be getting hit... now would I?" The words are conversational, the tone is not--that tone is in fact just a touch icier than the surroundings.
"As for forgiving you for picking this wasteland... you're going to need to do a lot more than just hit me for that..." It isn't until the very last moment that she even reacts--but she brings her weapon down, gripped in her right hand, blade flat against her left palm, and when the fiery weapon impacts...
It lifts her off her feet. It almost looks like a successful hit, until she gracefully arcs in midair, flipping around and landing lightly on her feet. "I thought I told you," she says, "This is... /divine retribution/!!" Shouting that last, she lunges again, driving forward aggressively, grabbing for Yuno's shirt as she closes--attempting to hiltbash him with her weapon, to stun him, so she can turn, twist, and hurl him to the icy ground.
COMBATSYS: Kurenai successfully hits Yuno with Armed Combo.
- Power hit! -
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Kurenai 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Yuno
Yuno is, perhaps, a little bit too wrapped up in the talking this fight. No doubt Mizuki would chide him endlessly for it if she saw the video. "Just because I am good that doesn't mean you aren't!" He says, conversationally. As the girl comes in at him again, he breaks his staff, "I don't understand what you mean by divine retribution, though. Did I offend your Go---*OOROGHKKK!*"
That is the sound of Yuno being roundly smashed upside the head, and then hitting the ground. Hard. The poor kid did not see that coming. As he picks himself up, the fact he has a second bruise layered over the first on his shiny head becomes painfully obvious, and he shakes, stepping forwards in a set of three, twirling steps...
The boy grips the top and bottom of his staff, just aiming to lightly touch the top of it against Kurenai's head...
"Ow."
And with that, he just nudges forward, his leg snaking around behind hers, hoping to just trip her up in a not-very-impressive kind of way.
COMBATSYS: Yuno successfully hits Kurenai with Quick Throw.
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Kurenai 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1 Yuno
Unceremoniously, she is dumped to the ground--too focused on the weapon, she doesn't notice the tripping leg until it's too late. She sprawls, but rolls away, and springs back up--and with the balance of the fight largely restored, so seems her balance in mentality. "Oh, I'm just trying it out as a catchphrase. Everyone needs to have a catchphrase, you know? It's all about marketing. The big-name fighters, they've all got recognizable phrases or trademarks that identify them immediately."
More blather? Probably so... that weapon of hers is bobbing again, her advance a little more cautious... Testing the waters, so to speak, throwing a quick jabbing attack here, or there, half-feints... and then she attacks, 'for real', throwing a high, stabbing attack to Yuno's right--and a moment later, coming in with a quick right roundhouse kick, aimed for his side.
COMBATSYS: Kurenai successfully hits Yuno with Light Kick.
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Kurenai 1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1 Yuno
Yuno just looks confused, "A catch-what?" He asks, utterly baffled. The blow crunches into his side and he goes skidding a few steps to the side, before he manages to recover himself. "You are very confusing!!!" He complains...
And then he brings his staff up, "I guess so long as I haven't really upset you, though! You are really good! I don't remember the last time I fought someone who could keep up with me... but who didn't just like, break me in half! This is fun!"
Yup, life is a game for Yuno, a very painful game played with pain. He demonstrates this again by throwing his staff forwards, the weapon aiming to smack into Kurenai's knee...
And then jerk around, the center piece bouncing to try and knock her other leg out from underneath her before he draws the weapon back.
COMBATSYS: Yuno successfully hits Kurenai with Random Strike.
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Kurenai 1/----===/=======|=======\==-----\1 Yuno
It is a rather back-and-forth situation--for every time that she strikes Yuno, it seems he strikes right back--the staff impacts against her knee, and then her other leg--she turns the fall into a back handspring, managing to keep her feet, in a fashion, grimacing when she feels the damage to her knee. "Fun? Well, it isn't serious... you're not going to lose your life over this fight, that's for certain..." she deep-knee bends, briefly, wincing as a *popping* sensation means the realignment of the joint.
"... itee..." She gaze at Yuno with a surprising amount of aplomb. "I used to think just like you are, right now, that this was just something fun. I've learned differently... although... I don't see any harm in fighting for fun, either. That's why I'm here, after all!"
If she knew Yuno, she'd know that he's seen his share of 'serious' fighting, too, of course, but she doesn't. Finding that she isn't so injured as to hamper her movements, she begins circling around again, shifting from the weapon-forward stance to a looser, wider stance, her weapon held across her back. Then she's lunging forward, suddenly, lashing outwards for Yuno with a three-strike combination, each slashing strike flaring with her pink chi, glaringly bright even in the sunwashed wastes of Antarctica. Each attack is accompanied by a sharp, crisp kiai from the girl, in perfect form.
COMBATSYS: Yuno counters Hell Splitter from Kurenai with Lightning Splits Mountain.
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Kurenai 1/-======/=======|==-----\-------\0 Yuno
Yuno shrugs slightly, "We all walk different paths." He says, calmly. The boy smiling brightly as he lets his staff swing in his hands, "I try to do what good I can, but, I have so much to learn, and so much to do! I can't really let people upset me, or knock me off my path... just because they are horrible people."
The boy looks just a little bit sterner then, "I hope you don't think that makes me a pushover, though!"
And then she's on him. Quite how the boy manages to move as fast as he does, when he's been having so much trouble keeping up with her attacks so far this fight, is a mystery for the ages. It's a sudden blur, though. One moment, he's about to be smashed into the dirt. The next, he comes up, and his staff smashes up across the girl before she can land the first blow. For a moment, Yuno hangs in the air above her, and then, he's touching down to the ground on the other side, turning to face her again.
No fair! Grr. Kurenai gets... nearly beaten, by that technique, and she didn't even really see what happened--she's just facedown on the ground the next moment. With a groan, she rolls onto her back. "Different paths... it's true..." Slowly, deliberately, she sits up, getting to her feet bit by bit. Hurts? Yeah, hurts a lot. But she'll deal with it... And she's betting that Yuno, from what she's seen of his personality, isn't going to attack her until she's ready. So she does sit there, stretching a little, before picking her weapon back up.
"Right... I guess it's about time to finish this, wouldn't you say...?" And she takes her stance again, bouncing the yardstick against her back, eyeing Yuno with a cool gaze, her lips curving upwards into a little smile. "I'll grant you, I've learned a little bit. So I might forgive you this location... once... But only once."
COMBATSYS: Kurenai calculates her next move.
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Kurenai 1/-======/=======|==-----\-------\0 Yuno
Yuno does indeed wait patiently for Kurenai to get back up. There wasn't any point in beating her around when she wasn't ready, was there? It wasn't the sporting thing to do!
Instead, the boy swings his weapon up into his hands, and grasps it firmly, positioning his feet carefully. "Okay, if you want to finish it now!!" He declares, "I'll give you my best shot!"
The staff is swung around, and then, suddenly, he's running forwards, "Cloud!" He declares, as he leaps up into the air.
"Touches!" He shouts, the weapon swung up above his head. At the apex of the leap, it seems to stick straight up into the air, trying to mimic the very motion he was describing.
"Heaven!" He finishes, as he descends, fast. The staff comes down in a graceful arc, such that the middle section, if uninterrupted, will crash into Kurenai's head, and the top section will bend around to strike her in the back, every part of the move coming together so much better than his other techniques- far more polished.
COMBATSYS: Kurenai parries Yuno's Cloud Touches Heaven!
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Kurenai 1/=======/=======|-------\-------\0 Yuno
Is she beaten? Is she beaten?? The move is fast, the staff whipping downwards, and with Yuno coming down out of the sky, judging distance and movement rate are much more difficult. And yet... moments of clarity, moments where everything comes together, where all the training she's had and all the math she's learned conjoin, forming an instant where she knows exactly what she has to do.
To her, it's like slow-motion, bracing herself, watching the descending staff... waiting, waiting, seeing the joint between the first and the middle sections separating... thrusting her wooden blade up, shifting the falling weapon to her left, sidestepping to her right to avoid the swinging blade... waiting for Yuno to finish falling, until he's -just- about to touch the ground. Then she rushes him, aiming a shoulder to plow into him... and immediately following up, running forward, attacking him with first an elbow thrust, to push him away--to give her room to start slashing, her blade lighting with that pink aura as she slices and dices, throwing in knees straight jab shots from her offhand, until she finishes the combination with a powerful, leaping uppercut slash--and then finishes with a downwards cut to send Yuno down to the floor... But it all hinges on that shoulder rush.
COMBATSYS: Yuno fails to counter Devil Dancing EX from Kurenai with Wind Blows Grass.
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Kurenai 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Yuno
COMBATSYS: Yuno can no longer fight.
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Kurenai 0/-------/--=====|
Yuno was certain that he had her. So sure that there was nowhere for her to go; this was his moment, wasn't it? Too fast to dodge, a block would have it bounce right over, and he has packing enough force to just go straight through most attempts to counter it.
But he's not fast enough. Somehow, she was just... not there. The weapon slams into the ground, crashing through the ice--
Yuno tries to raise it again, starting to drag it up as he starts to step to the side, but it is far too slow. The shoulder bowls into him, and he is sent crashing backwards, the boy lets out a surprised squeal as he finds himself slashed, beaten and battered around by the powerful assault.
When the last blow finally lands, the boys small frame actually /spins/ in the air, before he hits the ice, face down. He doesn't get up.
When she lands, she drops to her knees, panting, exhausted, but... still clearly conscious. She stares at the unconscious Yuno, still subject to a touch of concern for her fellow fighter. After a moment, though, she shakes it off, and pushes up to her feet. "Almost, kiddo, almost," she says, though he can't hear; with a final sigh she puts her weapon back in its holder and turns away. She did learn some things about herself--and about Yuno--and about fighting. For that she's grateful.
But for Antarctica... ugh. "Hey, can we get out of here? It's cold. I want to go bathe in hot cocoa." And she sounds /entirely serious/ about that, too.
COMBATSYS: Kurenai has ended the fight here.
Log created on 17:19:26 11/21/2009 by Kurenai, and last modified on 14:57:02 02/21/2010.