Description: In an uphill floral battle, Tenma Kiryuu faces off against the blossoming team of Ren Kurosaki and Kurenai Takayanagi... And all of them have to do it without energy attacks, or risk DISQUALIFICATION. Can Tenma overcome the restrictions set by the stuffy ladies of Seijyun? Will Ren get a new hula hoop for Christmas? And who really fights with a yardstick, anyway? The answers, as always, lie WITHIN. (Winners: Ren/Kurenai)
SEIJYUN HIGH, FLOWER GARDEN:
"Why are there so many old women here glaring at me?" wonders Ren Kurosaki.
"What'd I do to them?"
Nearby, a table several feet long has been set up, behind which have been seated an array of older women. They're dressed as if they've more money than they know to do with, and most of them are peering with scrutiny behind a set of glasses. On the table before them a few notepads have been set up, and already a few women have begun writing notes.
"This is dumb. I came for a SNF, not some hen parade!"
Ren stands several feet away from said women, holding a large steel hoop in the air by one finger. Absently it spins about before she tosses it up and catches it. Furrowing her thin black brows slightly, the yellow-eyed kunoichi keeps looking suspiciously at the women. They take several more notes.
"This is totally making me feel uncomfortable. Hey!" Glancing toward the nearest SNF coordinator, she waves her arms and hopes to get an answer. "Can we start already? I wanna get this over with! This is creepy!" Because old people are creepy.
It's Seijyun, you get used to it. Kurenai has home field advantage, being a student of the school, but even so, she's getting those same withering glares. It's just that, well, there's a different reason behind it... she's going to be judged far more harshly than the other two, because she /is/ a Seijyun student. Them's the breaks. Despite that...
Despite that, she looks calm, as she walks into the garden, the very picture of restrained femininty. Well, except for the bouncing puffballs of pink hair, and the cheerful grin on her lips as she hears Ren. Mentally, however, she's reviewing the rules of the fight, which include one big one: NO CHI. Probably because they're trying to avoid as much damage to the flowers as possible.
The pink-haired ninja makes a point of bowing to the old ladies, very precisely, which garners some approval, before she turns to look at Ren, curiously. "You must be Ren, my partner for this fight..."
Now, Tenma Kiryuu says this a lot, but this? THIS is the worst SNF stipulation match /ever/.
Sure, okay, there's no silly costumes to wear, and they don't have to fight while hugging each other and also grooming a weiner dog with their toes, or something bizarre like that... But /this/, this is the worst. Making him fight two opponents at once, while simultaneously limiting his ability to fight? Clearly, somebody out there really doesn't like him.
"Tch," mutters Tenma, hunkered down on the opposite side of the Flower Garden; he's sitting on his heels, with one arm resting on his knee and the other holding his bokken, which is slanted over his shoulder. The Guardian King's back is, notably, facing the direction his opponents are coming from... And he's also turned slightly so that he can similarly keep his back to the old biddies at the judges' table. "This is stupid. Why don't they make us fight with those dumb padded sticks from 'American Gladiators' while they're at it?" the young man complains to himself, scowling at the flowers.
For the moment, at least, he's ignoring everyone and everything else. Nothing good ever happens to him when he goes anywhere /near/ Seijyun. The place is clearly cursed by evil spirits.
Things are about to get REAL on the grounds of Seijyun.
No one is entirely certain how the upcoming match really came to be, but when one of the admin were told there was going to be a -boy- on the campus in all of this, there was an almost immediete backlash from parents and administration alike. Well it's apparent that a compromise of -some- sort was settled as now there are a group of admin about on the grounds and Tenma has still been included in this match.
Though what some may not expect is recent graduate Yurika Kirishima being one of those administration and thus there's a bit of weight on her shoulders in this situation, perhaps even more than Kurenai. By the way she NOT OLD.
"Now now," the woman, now clad in black like some sort of nun, approaches the fighters with a mysterious little smile upon her features, "Things will get interesting soon enough. Welcome to the Seijyun flower garden, around this time of year I assure you you'd be hard pressed to find such a unique and eye-catching ensamble of flowers that will bloom decently during this time of year. The viewers of Saturday Night Fight could use a sight of such culture."
"Therefore it is imperative that the rules are stated clearly, there will be no use of chi during this duel. Such act will be penalized severely. Any motions to damage the flowers will also recieve a penalty, so it is encouraged to keep things on the the stone path. The people behind me will be keeping track of points, in which you all start with one hundred. Foul language will be kept to a minimum. There will be no flirtation, and no obscene gestures. Breaking of these rules will result in subtracted points. The more points you lose the more severe special penalty will be given." as she says this, her dark eyes at no point draw away from Tenma.
"And the final rule, the match will start the moment this," she slips a hand into her glove and withdraws a pristine kerchief with the seijyun emblem sewn at the corner, "Touches the ground. Are there any questions?"
When Kurenai speaks up, Ren blinks once before she turns her attentions toward the pink-haired student. Hey, she's from this school, right..? That means she likely knows these old biddies, and possibly why on earth they're sitting around glaring with nothing better to do!
"Yeah, that's me! Ren Kurosaki, from Taiyo High!" she chirps, waving her arms--and the large steel hoop--about before she settles a bit. "I'm going to help you beat up that Tenma guy. He's a real jerk, you know. I dunno if you've met him before, but take my word for it!" Because he totally is. You HEAR THAT Tenma?
He possibly does, as he's sitting not terribly far from the pair. Fortunately, with all fighters gathered, it means one thing for the SNF: ass-beating time.
Then the rules are given, to which Ren offers what is likely a blank stare at the woman in black. Something about not hurting flowers (which she is cool with, because, hey, flowers), being obscene, flirting, yadda yadda. Nodding her head absently, the young woman pretends to listen. And then, something about SIGNALS. Well...
That signals that.
"I don't care, let's fight!" Ren cries, even as Tenma crouches with his bokken. Reeling her arm back, Ren winds up before she lets it rip, sending that heavy steel hoop RIGHT AT HIS BACKSIDE. "HEY REMEMBER ME?!"
Did the kerchief hit the ground? PROBABLY NOT. "WAAAH!"
COMBATSYS: Ren has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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Ren 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Tenma has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Ren 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Tenma
COMBATSYS: Kurenai has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Tenma
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Ren 0/-------/-------|
No, she uh, she really hasn't met Tenma. But, well, she's heard /of/ him. He's been kind of infamous. And yes, she does know the 'old biddies'--rich and powerful ones, to the man. Woman. Whatever. But it's good to have her information confirmed. "Well then, Kurosaki-san, let's see if we can't visit some divine retribution on him," remarks the pink haired ninja, just before the woman in black speaks up.
She just nods, here and there, once or twice, having been informed of all this prior to the match--most of the rules are just Seijyun's own rules, really. And then Ren gets things started with uh, not a bang, but with a lot of boundless enthusiasm--a trademark of Taiyo.
Kurenai, however, prefers to stay back for the moment, watching Tenma with sharp eyes, as she settles into her fighting stance, drawing her weapon from her back, holding the yardstick as one would hold a sword, held up at shoulder height, the tip of it bobbing lightly as she bounces on the balls of her feet.
"Ganbatte, Kurosaki-san!" she calls, brightly, as Ren flings the hoop at Tenma.
COMBATSYS: Kurenai calculates her next move.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Tenma
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Ren 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Ren successfully hits Tenma with Medium Fling.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Tenma
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Ren 0/-------/-------|
Blah blah blah, we're incredibly stuffy. Yadda yadda yadda, nobody likes us.
That's what Tenma hears, while Yurika delivers her spiel.
The Gedo swordsman would rather be almost anywhere other than where he is right now, so that's something he and the elite of Seijyun's Old Lady Club can agree on. So he'd /like/ to get things over with as quickly as possible, but instead he has to fight with less than his full strength against these two girls... And the best he can hope for is that they're similarly affected by the rules.
Tenma exhales a slow breath, still not looking back. "Bet Hakuya and Ashima are pissin' themselves laughing right about now," he mutters. They probably aren't, though. Well, not Hakuya anyway.
When Ren shouts at him and throws her hoop at /his/ hoop, Tenma moves smoothly out of the crouch, trying to vault back over the projectile; sadly, this doesn't work quite how he was hoping, and he gets smacked in the ass mid-flip. This draws a grunt of pain from the gang member, though he nevertheless lands on his feet, turning to face the two 'ladies'. He smirks lazily, tilts his head to one side as he regards Ren, then Kurenai, then looks back to Ren.
"Nope," Tenma says.
Then, the lean young man rushes forward at Ren, swinging his bokken at her in a short, vicious arc; as he attacks and moves, Tenma tries to hook his leading foot behind the other supposed 'demon hunter''s, subsequently aiming to use their respective momentum and a bit of brute strength to upend her on the ground.
COMBATSYS: Ren dodges Tenma's Armed Combo.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Tenma
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Ren 0/-------/-------|
"It's a deal!" Ren will call back to her pink-haired partner. And then, she starts THROWING THINGS AT TENMA. Because hey, he totally deserves it. "And good luck to you, Kurenai!" They may need it. MAYBE?
So while her teammate stands back, Ren is more than eager to make up for 'lost time.' He flips, but winds up flopping, struck in the ASS by that steel ring. Ren hops briefly, arms waving in the air before her hand shoots out and catches it on the rebound, her body reeling slightly. The thing IS hella-heavy for a girl her height and weight.
"You don't remember me?!" the girl squeals, furrowing her brows as Tenma charges. Puffing her cheeks, the girl hops back as he swings his bokken. When he snaps a foot out to snag her foot she hops up and flips into the air, landing back out of harm's way. "How could you forget my beautiful face? Oh that's right, probably because you're the inferior demon slayer!"
What?
Either way, Ren charges in with a shrill cry before she leaps and flies at him foot first. Why? To KICK HIM IN THE DAMN CHEST. "Remember now!?"
... Demon... slayer...? Kurenai momentarily looks askance at her partner, the words 'demon hunter' having clearly been heard. Surely the old biddies caught it, too--there's some murmuring and whispering suddenly going on. The Seijyun student shakes off her confusion, after just a moment, and moves to her right, taking the moment that Ren is neatly avoiding Tenma's attack to come around and get an opening--*there*, just as Ren attacks, charging forward...
Kurenai does, too, running forward and leaping, twirling overhead and, just when she's passing over Tenma's position, stabbing downwards, aiming to impact Tenma's rock-hard head with the tip of her yardstick; if she manages the hit she'll use it as a fulcrum to aid her in moving away from him.
The shrill cry that Ren produces is more than enough kiai for the two of them; other than the impact of her feet against the ground, her attack is silent. It must be tough, fighting multiple opponents--it's something Kurenai has considered how to do, but has never had the opportunity... not that she wants to do it anytime soon. Most opponents are more than enough for her solo.
COMBATSYS: Kurenai successfully hits Tenma with Medium Strike.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Tenma
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Ren 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Tenma fails to interrupt Light Kick from Ren with Head Breaker.
-* CRITICAL FAIL! *-
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Kurenai 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Tenma
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Ren 0/-------/------=|
When Kurenai does some sort of flippy attack at him with a /yardstick/ - seriously, if anyone ever gives him crap for fighting with a bokken again, he's basically going to laugh at them - Tenma doesn't even try to get out of the way, which might be a bad plan. He gets socked in the head, which knocks him a bit off-balance since the pink haired girl uses him to vault off of again, staggering a little as he closes with Ren, who is trying to kick him. Tenma's plan here is deceptively simple, and unfortunately for him doesn't quite work out the way he was hoping; he moves to reach /past/ her kick, trying to catch Ren by the scruff of her top.
Doesn't happen.
Instead, Tenma ends up taking the kick hard in the gut rather than in the chest, which drives the wind out of him and sends the King of Blood staggering /backwards/, gasping for breath. He looks kind of surprised, but this is Tenma Kiryuu. It's going to take more than that to ruffle his self-confidence.
"Nope," Tenma repeats, despite his general lack of breath.
A tag-team effort!
Proving successful in their joint endeavor, Ren pegs poor Tenma in the chest and bounds off, flipping midair before she lands in a slight crouch. A glance is spared to Kurenai, to whom she gives a quick thumbs up. Yeah, that's the ticket. He'll be out of here in no time, at this rate! That's good for them, right? Of course it is!
Standing up as Tenma wheezes, Ren just offers a puffy-cheeked look of annoyance. "Well, whatever. I'll make you remember who I am when we BEAT you!" she cries, thrusting a finger in his direction. Confident now more than ever, the girl takes up her ring once more. "So I hope you're ready to hide your face in shame!"
Then, without further squawking, Ren races forward and attempts to snare the Kiryuu boy by the neck and pull him down to the ground hard, just narrowly missing a bed of flowers in the process. "HOOYAH!"
A tag-team effort, indeed! But the fight is far from over. Landing light on her feet, Kurenai spins about once on her feet, dispersing excess kinetic energy. Normally, of course, she isn't quite so... flowery... in her movements, but Seijyun prides itself on grace, and she /is/ representing the school in this fight. There's certainly something to be said for Taiyo's burning passion, though!
Ren attempts to straight up bulldog the Kiryuu scion (do they teach that in her school of ninjutsu?) which, while potentially very effective, puts Kurenai at a loss... momentarily. Then she remembers, and she crouches, leaping into the air again, reaching for something at her waist--and then hurling it down towards Tenma. What is it, though? It's... a protractor, a half-circle ring of metal, blunt-edged and actually pretty heavy--not one of those flexmetal things.
Taking the math theme a little too far? Or... /not far enough/?
COMBATSYS: Tenma blocks Ren's Medium Throw.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Tenma
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Ren 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Tenma endures Kurenai's Thrown Weapon.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Tenma
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Ren 0/-------/------=|
Don't be silly.
Tenma Kiryuu is incapable of shame.
When Ren runs forward and grabs him by the neck, his dark blue eyes narrow faintly; her attempt to pull him down just... Doesn't work, and instead he's left with her hanging off of his neck while he glares down at her. "Looks like you need to fatten up a bit more, huh?" he wonders, a grin playing along his mouth. This would be about when the protractor smacks him, driving him off-balance. But don't worry, Ren; his focus remains completely on you.
Tenma's foot swings up in the awkward position they're in, for a powerful kick to Ren's hopefully still exposed side. The plan there is to make her let go; if she's already let go, the plan is to kick her because it'll hurt. With that done, Tenma's next step is to lunge at her, sweeping his bokken up in a diagonal slash from low to high across the strange girl's torso.
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Ren with Fierce Strike.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Tenma
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Ren 0/-------/-======|
"I am a healthy weight!" the girl squeals as she finds her efforts otherwise futile. Meanwhile, Kurenai does her best to throw stuff at Tenma, hopefully to hurt him! It doesn't seem to help the fact she's hanging off of Tenma like a cheap tie, which she comes to regret shortly after. Why?
Because he kicks her really hard and then cuts her across the chest. Ren and her hoop go flying off, also like a cheap tie. When she falls, she hits like a sack of potatoes, the ring clattering noisily on the pathway at her side. Groaning lowly, the girl lays there for a few moments.
Reaching out for the discarded ring, Ren rolls onto her feet and makes a charge, despite feeling like she's just been hit by a small Sedan. Taking that heavy steel hoop into both hands, she closes in on Tenma and, with a bit of oomph, hopes to drive the thing into the side of his ribs. "I know you remember who I am!"
Meanwhile, the old ladies are being old ladies along with Yurika.
Hmm. Well, it didn't work out all that great for Ren, but she's not out of the fight yet. That's good, because after seeing that hit, Kurenai definitely doesn't want to take on Tenma by herself. As she lands, she sees Ren already getting up, despite being in what looks like obvious pain, and Kurenai nods to herself. That's... good. Very good. Now then...
It's her turn to kiai, which she does, as she runs at Tenma, bringing her weapon around from her high guard, seeking to slam the butt-end into his back, right over a kidney--and then, to spin around him to his right side, to gain momentum to kick his ankles out from underneath him.
To be honest, she isn't so sure about getting up close and personal with the young man, but risks must be taken in order to win a fight--she can't just stay back and keep attacking from afar.
COMBATSYS: Tenma dodges Ren's Medium Strike.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Tenma
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Ren 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Tenma interrupts Piercing Sparrow from Kurenai with Head Breaker.
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Kurenai 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Tenma
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Ren 0/-------/-======|
"Whatever you say, fatty," Tenma tells Ren, which is in /direct/ contradiction to his earlier statement about her needing to put on more weight. However, he's never been one to be overly concerned with making sense, when he can instead use words to provoke someone he's fighting into, hopefully, making a terrible mistake. Still, it's incredibly satsifying when he kicks and slashes at Ren successfully, sending the girl sprawling; as she comes in for her return attack, the Kiryuu demon hunter steps around Ren's attack, putting himself behind her and giving her a little push. Nothing violent, just something to help her on her way.
Then, Kurenai.
Tenma's dark blue eyes swing towards the incoming pink haired girl, and his mouth curves up in an unpleasant grin. "Hey," he says, stepping into her attack; the swing of the yardstick hits, though the impact is blunted by Tenma controlling the distance the slash actually travelled. As he steps in, Tenma's left hand snakes out to grab the girl by the collar, and then he pulls her in, combining his strength with her momentum to SMASH his forehead into her face, releasing the ninja weirdo so she can go flying from the impact. "Your 'sword' doesn't have enough commitment behind it," Tenma chides Kurenai, wagging his bokken at her in place of a finger.
Ren's only response to Tenma's insult is to simply scoff, before she comes blazing in with her ring. When she swings he simply sidesteps, causing the yellow-eyed ninja girl to widen her eyes before she spins around and brings her ring UP in fear of a counterattack in such short notice. Nothing violent indeed.
Not at her, anyway. Kurenai, though...
"Hey LOOK--!" Too late. The girl is hit by Tenma's swordwork, causing the girl to furrow her brows. While he chides her teammate for her swordsmanship, the girl just grows increasingly annoyed. What an arrogant jerk! Why she'll--!
"Pfft, COMMIT THIS!" she cries, as she reels a foot back and swings. Her target?
Tenma's ass.
"Don't hit a girl in the face!"
Guhh--! Kurenai recoils, the impact smashing into her face--she just barely turns her head enough to keep her nose frm being broken, though he very nearly snaps her jaw where he hits. She does in fact go flying, twisting her path to avoid slamming into a flower bed--which costs her, as she lands even more awkwardly, on one shoulder, not her back--and she rolls once, thudding loudly against the ground.
But she picks herself back up, then, a bruise flowering across her lower jaw and up across her cheek.
It'll heal, but her pride is hurt worse than her face. Still, when he chides her for that... unexpectdly, she smiles just a touch. Not too much, because it hurts. "My teacher said the same thing, too, at times... guess he was right."
The pink-haired girl takes a different stance, now, laying her weapon across her back, held over her right shoulder, before running forward--and hurling herself into a full body slash, both hands gripping the weapon the moment she attacks, pulling hard to cut from her right shoulder down to her left.
COMBATSYS: Kurenai successfully hits Tenma with Random Strike.
- Power hit! -
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Kurenai 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Tenma
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Ren 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Tenma interrupts Light Kick from Ren with Intercepting Strike.
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Kurenai 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Tenma
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Ren 1/---====/=======|
"Pfft," mutters Tenma disdainfully, rolling his eyes a bit when his words actually get a /smile/ out of Kurenai. Ugh, some people.
When the pink haired girl charges at him, Tenma faces her charge; this proves to be a miscalculation, again. The strike hits home, smashing powerfully into Tenma and driving him backwards... He's gonna get a good welt out of that one, but luckily he's, you know... Wearing a shirt. Tenma's shoes kick up a bit of dirt as he regains his footing, just in time to notice Ren coming at him from behind.
Once again, Tenma smiles. Uh oh.
Taking a step slightly to the side, Tenma twists around, taking Ren's kick grazingly along his hip instead of square in the ass. As he twists, he swings his bokken viciously hard, smacking it first against /Ren's/ posterior before pulling the wooden blade back... And then striking again, this time against the back of her head. "So more like that, then?!" he wonders.
Gosh Tenma, have some heart!
"Good job!" Ren cries as Kurenai hits him with her strike, the girl's arms flailing about cheerfully in the air. "Way to show him who's got things under control! Don't take that sass! Don't listen to the cut of his jib! Don't you--" A few old women give the girl a weird look, which promptly shuts her up.
That's about the time she goes charging in at Tenma to kick him in the ass. And that's also about the time when he smacks her a few times good in the head and in the backside, sending her sprawling into the ground. She hits hard, her body aching from head to freaking TOE as she simply lay there for a moment.
Then, slowly, the girl peels her body from the floor.
"Buh, that was not even close," she manages weakly, supporting her weight on the steel ring.
She hops back for whatever reason, distancing herself. "Good luck, Kurenai!" she calls to her teammate. Chances are, if this keeps up, she isn't going to be able to carry on any longer. "I will do my best, for sure!"
That said, Ren charges again--but stops short several feet. Why? To flip at him with her ring in hand, lashing out as she attempts to deliver a nasty downward strike before landing. Then, taking it in hand, she delivers two horizontal slashes before she twists her body around and kicks Tenma in the JAW with her heel through the hoop. Feets don't fail her now!
Feeling the strike hit is pretty pleasing--it's less pleasing to see Ren get her ass handed to her in such a fashion, as she's recovering from the strike. Just as he strikes that first crack against Ren, she decides to continue her attack--spinning, coming around hard.
"Hang in there, Kurosaki-san!" she cries, as she goes through one full revolution, balanced on her left leg, before halting her spin with her right foot, planting it--letting the built-up momentum transfer from her feet up into her shoulders and arms, adding that much more strength to the horizontal slash.
It actually looks like it'll end up working out as a 'combination' strike with Ren--who, despite herself, has grown on Kurenai a little, mainly due to her unhesitating enthusiasm for beating on Tenma. She can appreciate it.
COMBATSYS: Ren successfully hits Tenma with Araboshi.
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Kurenai 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Tenma
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Ren 1/---====/=======|
COMBATSYS: Tenma interrupts Power Strike from Kurenai with Deep Strike.
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Kurenai 1/---====/=======|=======\===----\1 Tenma
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Ren 1/---====/=======|
Man all this hugging and hair-braiding between his opponents is going to make Tenma sick to his stomach. Do they have to be so... /Nice/ to each other? Is there something wrong with them both? "You know what, you two can do each other's nails and practice kissin' on one another later," the Guardian King says, clearly totally offended. "This is a /fight/, would you goddamn act like it?!"
He doesn't even care what the old ladies of Seijyun think about that. They can kiss his ass!
However, Tenma seems to have some vexing troubles dealing with both opponents at once, still. When Ren comes after him, he /sees/ the attack coming, but he's giving too much of his attention over to keeping track of Kurenai as well. So Ren's acrobatic attacks land, smashing him with the hoop repeatedly before she does that pretty sweet kick through it, hitting him in the jaw and knocking him back, off balance.
Kurenai is less lucky.
As she comes in from the opposite direction, Kurenai builds up rotational momentum for her attack, and Tenma is stumbling right into it. Just as the strike would hit, though, Tenma lashes out in turn; his bokken comes down on the shoulder of Kurenai's strength arm, and he twists to blunt most of the impact. "Too slow," he says, slugging the girl in the jaw, shoving her back, and the lashing out once, twice, and then a third time with his bokken in quick, violent succession.
Bloodied but unbowed, Tenma still stands in the aftermath, straightening up and shouldering his bokken, his other hand resting as his side, casually. "It's a good thing you two have got the old hag squad on your side, huh?" Tenma wonders of the two girls. "If I was fighting at full strength, heh... This would already be over."
"UHM," Ren pipes up, shaking her head a bit before she barks, "I think we are taking this PRETTY SERIOUSLY. I think YOU'RE the one that's not taking this seriously at all! But hey, that's expected of a second-class demon hunter like you!" Neener neener!
Smashing him with her hoop and kicking him, she'll leave him to his own. But when he all but breaks Kurenai in half, Ren looks just a bit spooked. That looked pretty painful, she quietly surmises. Is she even still alive??
Hopefully.
"Pft, full strength." Ren just waves it off before she looks worriedly to her teammate. "Oh man, are you okay?? I'll do my best to carry on without you, if you need a break!" She is a team player, after all. Except for Tenma, of course, because eff him!
So, with newfound resolve, Ren reels her hand back and releases the hoop as she swings forward, attempting to drive the ring straight into Tenma's chest like some blunt-edged buzzsaw. Take THAT.
Her world is pain--quick, violent pain. The first punch catches her in the jaw, bruising it instantly--the followup strikes are on clothed areas, thankfully, hiding the bruises that she'll have in moments. The last strike bowls her over, and she lands flat on her back, coughing as she tries to find breath. "... is that... such a big thing to be proud of...?" she asks, to thin air, before forcing herself up to her feet, abandoning her wilder stance in favor of her first one, the more cautious stance.
"I could beat up two girls at full power... is it? You must be the pride of your family..." Drawing a shaky breath, she steadies, and then whips her right arm forward--hurling her weapon for Tenma's head, point-first.
It must be weighted, because it flies straight and true, practically whistling through the air. Hit or miss, the weapon is drawn back when Kurenai snaps her right arm back--like a yo-yo, it has a thin, elastic cord attached to the grip, the other end around her wrist, for just such a thing.
COMBATSYS: Ren successfully hits Tenma with Medium Fling.
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Kurenai 1/---====/=======|=======\=====--\1 Tenma
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Ren 1/---====/=======|
COMBATSYS: Tenma fails to interrupt Needle Threader from Kurenai with Intercepting Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Kurenai 1/--=====/=======|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Ren 1/---====/=======|
COMBATSYS: Tenma can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Kurenai 1/--=====/=======|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Ren 1/---====/=======|
Also this is why Tenma went out of his way to forget Ren entirely after their last encounter: She's so /embarassing/, with her yap yap yapping about demon hunters. It's bad enough when he has creepy zombie vampire Grudges that know what his upbringing was like and get all up in his business about it. From crazy girls, it's somehow even worse.
Maybe because it's just expected from, you know, supervillains.
"No, I'm pretty much the black sheep of the family," Tenma says to Kurenai, shrugging one shoulder. "What about you? Bet /your/ parents are gonna be super proud that it took two of you to fight me when I practically had one hand tied behind my back." And a blindfold on. But... Things aren't done yet. Not quite yet, at any rate.
Ren thows her... Hoop thingy at him again, and Tenma tries to avoid it. He can't quite make it in time, but by gravy he /tries/, the blow staggering him, knocking him down to one knee. Then comes Kurenai's yardstick on an elastic cord, which is pretty crazy. Tenma lunges into it, throwing his sword arm forward... And then he gets clocked in the head, stopping his charge short.
Tenma sags to his knees, and looks at Kurenai with one bleary eye... Then back at Ren.
"Heh," mutters Tenma, before he falls flat on his face. Ow.
Log created on 21:32:36 11/23/2009 by Tenma, and last modified on 18:34:20 12/12/2009.