Neo League 892 - #894: Viola vs Kaida

Description: At Le Petit Chien Cafe in Southtown, League regular Kaida faces off against a newcomer to the professional fighting scene who is looking to start things off with a literal bang. It's Gun X Sword only without the animated series or the robots! (Winner: Viola)



It's a fine winter day in Southtown, the oncoming rush of spring leaving the air much warmer than the earlier winter months, a nice overcast of clouds keeping in the heat and leaving the air quite comfortable, even if the shining sun doesn't beat down upon those who have ventured outside. It's good weather to be outside, and that makes it a perfect day for a street fight. But the outside dining area of the lovely Le Petit Chien cafe isn't to be the location for a fight between two random ruffians. No, instead it's a very professional affair, the area cordoned off by an experienced camera crew, the Neo League once more making it's presence felt in Southtown.

One of the entrants is a resident of the city, one Kaida Inoue. She'd arrived on the fighting scene a little more than a year previously, but then had vanished from the professional circuit when the city fell under attack. Not seen for quite some time, she was here to make her triumphant(?) return to the fighting ring, not about to let something like the near total destruction of her home and near loss of her family keep her from her dreams! ...though if she's as excited and pumped up as all that it doesn't show on her face. Quite the opposite, in fact, the teenaged swordfighter standing calmly by as she's reminded by the officials one last time that while the tables and chairs are still set out breaking any will come out of her paycheck. She seems fairly subdued today, though it does give her a look of quiet determination she might not deserve.

The crowd gives Kaida her due applause, as one of the contestants entering the arena, with a solid record. But where is her opponent? Isn't showing up fashionably late just a LITTLE BIT rude, all things considered? Shouldn't she be here on time?

Zoom the camera out. A little farther. There, now you can see the city, yes?

Pan up to that *whopwhopwhop* noise. See the helicopter?

Zoom in on the poor employee of the local Southtown Helicopter Tours company, who give visitors an aerial view of the city for a small fee. Visitors who typically speaking stay inside the helicopter, and have zero interest in doing anything but seeing things. Zoom in on his nervous face as the side door opens, and he faces a young woman in nice clothes, adjusting the straps of a backpack. "Ma'am, are you certain this is what you wa--"

He doesn't even get all the way through the sentence before the woman next to him pushes off the helicopter, dropping in face-first, supposed freefall toward Le Petit Chien. The crowd and onlookers gasp, not least of which because it seems as if this human meteor is about to make a very serious and final impact on the sidewalk. Soon, however, a parachute opens, and the figure rights herself, floating gently down toward the arena.

Viola Reinhardt lands moments later, in her corner of the arena, reaching up to cut her parachute straps in the same manner she might wave to someone as she casually walks in the door. The backpack and chute are discarded, not coincidentally suddenly covering a bunch of the crowd in red and white-striped nylon.

Turning back around, the brown-haired new arrival smiles at Kaida, indicating a canvas messenger back at her side, which she reaches into, producing a pair of leather gun holsters complete with dark silver pistols in them. "One second, there," she says in a friendly, British accented tone. "Won't be but a moment." The guns get buckled on, crosswise across her back, and Viola turns back to Kaida with a smile. "Well then! Thanks for being part of my glorious introduction to international professional fighting, my dear!" she says brightly. "Shall we dance?"

Angel arrives from elsewhere.

Despite the enhanced senses that fighting at her level brings, Kaida is not the first person to notice her opponent's arrival. In fact, it's not until the gasps of relief from the crowd can be heard as the parachute opens that she realizes what's going on, her head lifting towards the sky and now easily making out the white and red chute against the overcast sky. Her eyebrows come together slightly, and the corners of her mouth tug downward into a frown for a brief moment.

The green haired fighter steps forward, nearing the landing zone by a stride and a half and lightly setting her palm against the hilt of one of her two swords. When Viola does land and cut away her chute she nods once as she watches the gun holsters being pulled into place. "Isn't that a bit much," she asks in an even tone while looking up to the helicopter, "for something like this?" She sizes her up for a moment, trying to look past the nice clothes and the pair of guns.

"Dance?" That question brings some warmth to her features along with a faint smile. Her hand quickly shifts, gripping her wooden sword firmly and pulling it from it's sheath, the weapon spun gracefully through the air in intricate motion before being held in front of her, "I'd be happy to."

COMBATSYS: Kaida has started a fight here.

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Kaida            0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Viola has joined the fight here.

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Kaida            0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Viola


Viola can't suppress a faint smile at Kaida's response, and she puts a hand to her hip, tilting her head at the sword-wielding girl with an almost wolfish grin. "Is *what* a bit much, sweetie? The entrance? Or... these little darlings?" In one smooth motion she draws both pistols, one in each hand, holding them with the barrels pointed skyward just to be safe (and the crowd in the line of fire for the briefest of seconds backs up, not sure where she's going with this). With a shrug, the Swiss Miss continues to smile at her opponent... there's a bit of an edge to it, but it is a sweet smile by intention, at least. "In any event, frankly..."

The guns both get hurled up in the air, making spinning motions as they head upward. Hands reach to... some hidden place on that outfit, finding clips she holds on to carefully. The first gun thrown heads back down toward her and Viola literally 'catches' it with the clip, the gun landing grip-first onto the clip; the second landing soon after. The weapons twirl around her fingers for a moment before being slammed crosswise into the holsters. "...I don't believe in such a thing as 'too much'." Putting a finger to her lips in an impish gesture, she waggles it a bit. "But don't worry... rubber bullets for fights like this. I know a girl wouldn't want to get nasty, nasty scars."

With that, the Neo League ref looks the two over and, seeing them ready to fight, yells for the match to begin. "Alright then, my little kitten... let's see how you handle your wood." Taking off toward Kaida at a run, Viola attempts to step forward a little high once she gets in close, 'stepping' on Kaida's knee, then her chest. If she can pull that off, the gunslinger kicks off the green-haired fighter's body, leaping backwards to push her off balance and following up with a double-barreled barrage of pain to follow it up.

COMBATSYS: Kaida effortlessly blocks Viola's High Sierra.

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Kaida            0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0            Viola


Kaida's mouth opens to reply, but it quickly shuts again as she witnesses the display of flamboyant gun handling, her eyebrows coming together when she sees the skill with which the loading is performed. Flashy yes, but likely very hard to pull off as well. If she's spent half as much time perfecting her aim as she has with that trick this isn't going to be easy. Her grip on her sword shifts a little, and she smiles again, ever so slightly. "No girls I know would. But I agree with your sentiment, I refrain from wielding steel as well."

At this point she's not sure whether she likes this fancy gun toting fighter or not, but the use of rubber does much to improve her opinion of the new fighter. Not having dropped her guard during the display and exchange of words, Kaida appears quite ready for the attack that comes, even when it isn't an immediate report of gunfire. She backs off immediately, trading space for time so that the charging run doesn't have quite the impact as was expected, and though the run up her knee goes as planned her body twists to the side, forcing the rebound to go off of her left shoulder instead. The real tricky part is the gunshots, which she seems to have anticipated, her sword quickly twisting and turning flatways in front of the barrels, the rubber ricocheting off the bokken to god knows where, which sends several of the faint hearted audience members diving for cover.

As Viola flips off of her and lands, she plants her rear foot to keep her from being forced back too far and reverses her momentum to chase after, her body twisting around quickly while her sword seems to hover in place. The sword suddenly accelerates and arcs down in a fast motion towards the brunette's leg, the strike aimed for a painful blow to the shin that's quickly followed by a second swing from the opposite direction made possible twist of the body and fancy footwork, the swordswoman taking the opportunity to spin away after attempting to hobble her opponent.

COMBATSYS: Viola parries Kaida's Sacred Dance - Vanishing Blade!

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Kaida            0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0            Viola


Now, that was an impressive feat of defense on Kaida's part! Thankfully, Viola was a Girl Scout in a previous life and has come prepared, as it were. The nice part about the previous maneuver is that it lets her push backwards from the opponent, while facing him/her... and so as soon as her foot touches the ground, Viola is continuing her movements, not stopping for an instant. Which is precisely what she needs to be doing, as Kaida is coming for a counterattack immediately! The shin slice is avoided when the Swiss Miss suddenly twirls, half-spinning to the side so that the strike passes harmlessly by. However, that's not all Kaida has to offer, so Viola suddenly leaps upwards and over the sword-wielding girl, landing behind her and standing briefly back to back with the green-haired fighter, guns drawn.

"Well done, kitten!" she compliments, perhaps unexpectedly, in a hushed voice right by Kaida's ear. "Although I shan't be so crass as to make another joke about that weapon of yours."

With that, the gunslinger leaps backwards and away from Kaida in a cartwheel, flipping head over heels in a highly recognizable, Capoeira-style flip... but at the apex of it, when she's totally upside down, Viola suddenly lets loose with a volley from both guns as she cartwheels away. If Kaida doesn't notice and turn around soon, she might just get shot in the back! A terrible fate indeed.

COMBATSYS: Kaida fails to reflect Gone in 60 Seconds EX from Viola with Stoic Refusal - Spiral Blade.

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Kaida            0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0            Viola


With the wooden sword passing harmlessly through the air where Viola's leg once Kaida realizes instantly that she's in for something nasty. Seeing the gunslinger whirl out of her vision confirms her suspicions, and she's left following through with her second attack, her spin backwards giving her a brief glimpse of Viola before she lands and begins cartwheeling away.

Eyes narrowing as the whispered voice is heard so close to her, she once more changes the grip on her sword, holding it in a single hand with the tip hovering near the ground. "And I won't be so crass as to make a first one about yours," she replies, her body tensing. She doesn't move again until the guns fire, twisting suddenly and whirling around, her blade carefully aimed. But she made a mistake- she's aiming where she should be for a single bullet, forgetting to adjust for the second. A high speed camera captures her error, her eyes widening as the wooden blade cuts neatly between the two incoming projectiles, a hairs breadth between the each and the sword.

The twin bullets catch her in the chest a split second later, her spin continuing as she crumples to the ground, the wooden sword making a loud clatter as it hits the finely cobbled street, though still firmly in her grip. There's a moment of stillness, but the fighter is quick to get back to her feet afterwards, taking a retreating step back as she does so and flourishing her sword again, just to show she's still got some spunk left in her after the failure. "Nice shot. Hopefully there won't be a seco-" she frowns, "Third."

Well, it's good that Kaida still has fight in her... after all, Viola's entire reason for being here is the adreanline high, the thrill of the action. Even if her attempt to fire back Viola's own bullets didn't quite work out, it's clear that the sword-wielding young lady is preparing to go the proverbial extra yard for the fight and for the audience, which brings a smile to the Swiss gunslinger's face. Back the pistols go into the X-like cross of holsters on her back, and the older fighter crosses her arms over her chest. "Sorry, kitten," Viola says teasingly. "As the song goes, I could dance all night." Thankfully she's not quite so S&M or this would be dangerously approaching a Morrigan parody. With fewer bats.

Deciding not to let up, the brown-haired woman doesn't move, or alter her stance... she just gives a single wink to Kaida, before suddenly taking off running. As Viola nears her opponent's position, she suddenly drops low in what LOOKS like something like a baseball slide. Conventional fighting wisdom says she'll try to kick Kaida's legs from under her, but in fact, she's looking to slide *between* Kaida's legs, and right on past her.

Yes, you read it right. As did Viola, who -- as she tries to pull this off -- says: "I should stop being *quite* so naughty at my debutante fight."

If Viola can pass through to the other side unharmed, the slide comes to a stop as the gunslinger rolls forward, spins around breakdance-style, and attempts to scythe her legs right through Kaida's by opening them quite wide in a totally un-lady-like fashion. It doesn't have the physical sting of a kick to the shins... but rather the oomph of a sweeping trip to send the swordmistress to the proverbial mat.

COMBATSYS: Kaida blocks Viola's Medium Throw.

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Kaida            0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0            Viola


"I'm sure you could at this rate, but give it a moment and I'll be the one leading this dance," the swordfighter replies to the tease. She again finds herself being charged, but unlike before she doesn't move to retreat. She holds her ground as Viola charges her and goes low, spreading her stance somewhat and reaches down, pulling a bokken matching the first out of the sheath on her left hip, expecting to need to ward off another pair of bullets as the brunette slides between her legs.

Lucky for her the indignity of such a shot is avoided, but she finds herself guessing to the Viola's intensions- until her legs are forced further apart, sending her again to the ground. The second weapon doesn't help this at all! But she is, at least, quick to recover, bending down and planting both fists on the ground as she falls, catching herself from much of the impact and immediately thrusting herself back up to her feet.

And this time she's going straight for Viola with her swords the moment she fully recovers her balance, trying to strike while she's still on the ground and in a (relatively) vulnerable position. No fancy footwork this time, she reverts to the basics, sending a trio of hard low slashes towards her sides, trying to keep one blade free to parry with while the other swings in to strike- but even this is only a slight pretence. She needs to prove that she can fight back and the best way to do that is put the gunfighter on the defensive.

COMBATSYS: Viola blocks Kaida's Power Strike.

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Kaida            0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0            Viola


Apparently, the brunette didn't feel like pushing her luck. After all, some degree of good fortune was probably on her side to this point, and tempting fate is never a good thing. Thus Viola plays it a little safer than her more bold moves before, deciding to pick and choose her battles; as she rolls to her feet and tries to get standing, there's no real way for her to avoid the first of Kaida's slashes, which strikes true, slamming into her calf painfully. However, drawing on a bit of her capoeira training, the Swiss Miss uses the old standby of 'ginga' -- the rocking motion many fighters use to get into the rhythm -- to help her out here, letting the second of the third strikes pass harmlessly under her suddenly raised leg, and ducking a little low to push the third away. Not exactly the clean evasion she might have hoped for, but certainly one better than taking a wooden sword to the chin!

Never mind that the first time Viola saw a true capoeira master doing ginga, she asked him, point blank, if he was epileptic or had ADD.

"Oh my," Viola says with a smile, giving Kaida the once over. The girl is at least enthusiastic! "The kitten has a hidden claw. I need to be more careful." In this situation a normal fighter might stop, reassess, think things through, make a plan. Viola, unfortunately, is not those fighters; instead she lets her instincts move her. In this case, they move her to suddenly duck right back in at Kaida, again going low... but rather than a slide, this time, the brunette plants one hand as she drops toward the ground and pressing it palm-down into the pavement. The crouching rush suddenly turns into a handstand, both of the gunslinger's feet come up to hopefully meet the bottom of Kaida's chin. If she can connect with that, at least, Viola suddenly draws one gun as she gets to her feet, aiming upward at her opponent's hopefully still airborne body and squeezing off a shot for good measure. Behold gun-fu!

COMBATSYS: Viola successfully hits Kaida with Combo Attack.

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Kaida            0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0            Viola


Having gone completely on the offensive puts Kaida in a poor defensive posture- perhaps not the greatest thing to do when in a fighting stance with a distinct focus on protection. But she had little choice in the matter, it would be a greater folly to leave Viola to think she could attack with impunity, and even if not a fully successfully hit she'll now have to respect that getting hit with a bokken actually hurts.

It's also becoming pretty obvious to the swordfighter that those guns are far from the only thing the brunette is capable of using to hurt her. The fact that being on the ground isn't as much of a detriment as she had originally thought is a enough to give her pause, that slight hesitation giving her no opportunity to adjust her swings as her target is quickly moved away from her blows. And to make matters worse she finds herself immediately on the defensive again, trying to desperately shift to the side and get away from the inverted kick, her focused attack leaving her too slow to respond in time and netting her a pair of heels to the chin for her trouble, the fighter knocked into the air and then blasted with a pair of painful, but thankfully rubber, bullets.

Kaida hits the ground gracelessly for the second time, gasping painfully through gritted teeth as she hits. Much to her annoyance she finds herself struggling a little to get up this time, a look of displeasure showing on her face as she realizes how poorly she must appear to be doing verses this literal newcomer to the world of fighting. She'll have to do better.

"So far the 'kitten'," a tiny bit of spite seeps into her voice at that term, "has only pawed at you. Now it's time for the real claws to come out." She takes in a breath and lets it out, calming herself while she shifts back into her proper fighting stance. The attack comes only a moment later, her right arm whipping her sword forward as it suddenly flares with white energy that soon peels from the weapon and shoots towards the gunfighter, her left arm following immediately after and sending a second blast of chi barreling towards her opponent. "Twin Moonlit Swords!"

COMBATSYS: Viola dodges Kaida's Twin Moonlit Swords.

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Kaida            0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0            Viola


"That's what I like to hear!" Viola says, genuinely pleased. The more she's into it, the harder she'll fight... the harder Viola will have to work, but the more fun it becomes. All things considered, your opponent fighting back even harder than before is only a losing scenario if you give a damn about winning more than you do about having fun. Of course, the side effect of dramatic speeches and movename shouting is that while they are generally speaking pretty awesome and dramatic, they are also hella obvious. When they get busted out, you know you're going to have to put on the mojo yourself.

This is what Viola does, in fact. She's never been very talented at dealing with energy attacks, what with having spent more time in the minor circuits than the big international ones like the Neo League. In the minors you mostly have to be able to avoid big hulking bear men looking to body slam you and they are not, by and large, glowing colors. Thus the brunette does cringe a little when she sees the first crescent heading her way. But, improvising is what she does, and in the end it turns out to be in her favor. Hooking her leg around a nearby cafe chair, the gunslinger kicks it upward, the seat heading up into the air much as her guns did before. A split second before the first sword wave nears her -- close enough so it shears the bottom of her shoe -- Viola leaps upwards and over it, before pulling a midair bicycle kick and slamming the chair back down to earth. Kaida's second attack slams into the chair instead of her opponent, sending it skittering into tiny pieces behind her, while Viola lands where it just was.

"Not bad at all, kitten! As for me, I prefer to do things the old fashioned way." In one quick motion, the Gunslinger Girl unholsters both pistols, held sideways John Woo-style, and crosses them in front of her. "Duck and cover, boys!" And with that, she spreads her arms in opposite directions, uncrossing them... and pulling the triggers. Repeatedly. Resulting in a spray of gunfire that Kaida's going to have to avoid!

Weirdly, despite their sudden panic, no bullets seem to come near the crowd... any stray shots that might somehow seem to just... veer off by a bit. Could that look of concentration on Viola's face have anything to do with that, or is she just trying to make sure her attack lands true...?

COMBATSYS: Kaida effortlessly dodges Viola's Reservoir Dogs.

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Kaida            0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0            Viola


And that's exactly why Kaida refrained from calling out her attack before it was already on it's way- but then altering from the norm might very well have thrown her off, judging by the way Viola sails over the first blast and easily nullifies the second. Despite her intent to focus on the fight, a small part of the teens mind ponders whether the fine for the chair will be on her tab or the other fighters when she sees it shatter from the force of her attack.

The swordfighter relaxes her stance when upon reaching the ground Viola doesn't charge her down immediately, having half expected exactly that since it's worked so well up to this point. But the reprieve is a short one, the intent of standing off at range becoming quite obvious as the weapons are drawn.

Unfortuantely for Viola what's true for Kaida is equally true for her. Drawing the guns, shouting that she's about to fire? It makes it obvious for the whole world that she's about to spray some rubber. That loosened stance proves invaluable now as the green haired fighter quickly darts about, shifting from side to side and weaving between the bullets, doing her best to anticipate the shots before they're made by the angle the guns are held at and making the whole thing look surprisingly easy- if it wasn't for the fact she'd been nailed by those guns several times already it'd almost make one wonder if they were viable.

Once the gunfire stops the teen does as well, sliding a bit on the ground as she comes to a halt. "Very good, but you're giving yourself away. You seemed a bit thrown off for a moment." She slides back into her fighting stance, but shows no sign of advancing, "You say you want to fight the 'old fashioned' way? I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, but what I just did is one of the 'oldest' tricks in the book." A light breeze begins to flow around her, visible at first only as a swirl in the dust upon the ground. But before very long at all that light wind is proved to be something else entirely as the air begins to glow around her, white chi whirling around her body and limbs and seeming to flow into her body from the air around her. "So if you have a problem with it you're going to have to learn to deal with it- and there's no time like the present."

COMBATSYS: Kaida gathers her will.

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Kaida            1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0            Viola


Oh, what a pretty lightshow. Kaida's deciding not to attack makes a lull in the action, but unlike before she's being a bit talkative, so Viola decides not to go on the immediate counteroffensive. Instead she stays where she is, watching the young swordswoman gather shiny air around her, one hand on her hip. It's hard not to call the look on her face a LITTLE bit... sarcastic, or maybe snide, but perhaps it's the cast of her features more than any desire to be belittling. "Well, kitten, I know a few tricks of that stripe myself. They're not, you know... rather flashy things, but I like to imagine they get the job done in the end." The barrel of the gun in her right hand comes up and gets a brief kiss, before both weapons go back into their holsters. "Of course your lightshow is a little better, so perhaps you're very truly serious now, hmm?"

Now, to put this next bit in perspective:

FAMOUS BRAZILIAN CAPOEIRA RODA, CIRCA 2 YEARS AGO:
Imagine, if you will, a slightly younger Viola Reinhardt surrounded by young Brazilian men, all looking keenly athletic and shirtless and moving back and forth in that swaying ginga way, dancing to some unseen beat. At this, the painfully European upper crust woman shrugs her shoulders. "I'm sorry, darlings, but I just don't see the POINT of all the swaying and swinging. But you look so lovely doing it."

"It's for the rhythm, girl," one says. "The song. It keeps you in the dance. Where's your rhythm without your ginga?"

At this, the brunette smiles, and points a finger at her head. "In here, darlings. Always in here."

NOW:

In a flurry of movement, the guns are drawn, and Viola's arms move up over her head, crossing at the wrist, before she drops both guns... then suddenly 'catches' them with quick moves of her feet, bouncing them back in the air before she catches them in her hands this time. One arm goes behind her back, and the other points straight forward at Kaida, the gun an extension of her arm, pointed at her opponent. What was that little show for?

Foreplay.

"Well then, kitten... let's see how sharp those claws are."

COMBATSYS: Viola enters a trance-like state.

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Kaida            1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0            Viola


A lull in the battle. Whose favor is that in? It's hard to say, but there is one universal truth: it's not in the favor of the fans. Oh sure, they love the smack talk and the building excitement of things coming to a head- but they'd rather all that happen in the middle of two women trying to kick each other's asses, not standing at range and focusing on themselves.

But for her part, Kaida doesn't care very much about the crowd, at the moment. If she cared enough to sacrifice ability for working them up she would have just charged in to try to prove her point about chi, but instead she held off. "Very serious. I don't mind being defeated by an equal... but I refuse to fight so poorly as to bring shame upon my family!"

The sudden rise in her voice gives warning of her oncoming attack, one that's fairly obvious to see coming by the way she charges straight for Viola, tossing caution to the wind for the moment and trying to get in the gunfighters face. As she rushes forwards the energy that had pooled around her seems to all focus in her swords, the weapons glowing brightly as the distance between the two melts. And when she's close enough she attacks, swinging with all the strength in her arms, grunting with exertion as the swords swing in one after another, any contact that's made resulting in large detonations of white energy. Three paired strikes are made, one flowing easily into the next, before she reels back for a seventh and final strike, both swords coming at the same time as she whips her entire body forward, trying to rock Viola with an shatteringly powerful blow that's combined with a massive explosion.

COMBATSYS: Viola dodges Kaida's Fury Blades.

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Kaida            0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0            Viola


It's all about escalation. The taunting, the friendly jibes, even the exchange of attacks... it's all about escalating the moment over and over, taking it to a higher and higher level. If this were an H-game Viola would practically be staring at the camera and saying, in a decidedly sultry and probably somewhat scary voice, 'more... give me more...!' Thankfully, Kaida DOES give more, each and every time. Of course, the deal is that this also sparks Viola to give more, each and every time. The harder Kaida fights back, the harder Viola has to work... and the more fun it is.

As Kaida comes in for the kill, however, Viola slips into something like... well, she calls it 'the zone,' where a tiny part of her just KNOWS what's going to happen next, one attack after the other, and rather than the look of concentration she wore before, now it's almost a glassy-eyed look of distraction. She doesn't back up very far; if anything, she stays in dangerously close as Kaida makes one vicious, empowered strike after the other, but each sweep of those wooden swords passes just an inch of two away from the Swiss Miss as she weaves between them at the last moment. The final double slash Viola avoids by doing a sudden backflip, landing in a crouch a few feet away as Kaida's white chi sizzles the air between them.

When she stands up, though, it's with the wild grin of the adrenaline junkie. "What a workout, kitten!" she says, thoroughly impressed. "I've never had to push myself so hard... what an amazing experience." NOW, though, she doesn't wait; she charges right back in, ducking low and spinning. The first spin seems as if Viola is just... turning away, but the spin turns into a second step, and then a whirling, spinning, high-angle Meia Lua de Compasso, directed right at Kaida's HEAD. A slow, flashy, telegraphed attack... but woe betide if it can connect!

COMBATSYS: Kaida interrupts Heavy Kick from Viola with Unstoppable Blow - Crescent Slash.

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Kaida            0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1            Viola


That kind of close in dodging- it can be infuriating when someone manages to pull it off, moving just out of the way from your blows that makes you swing all that much harder for wanting to hit them, which makes it just that much easier for them to narrowly avoid the next blow. Though Kaida isn't whipped into a frenzy by the display of agility, but she's definitely feeling a deep rooted frustration with her inability to make her attacks connect.

By the time her final double bladed swing is made sweat is running down her face. She seems almost bent over from being winded, but as Viola reverses the assault and goes in for her own it's quickly made apparent there's still something left in her, even if winded. When the woman makes her first spin Kaida figures out what she's going for and quickly slides one sword away, the second one, perhaps going unnoticed, still flaring brightly with chi. She twists back and grips the sword in both hands, letting out a loud yell of, "Crescent Slash!" as she unwinds with considerable force. The attacks meet in the same moment, Kaida's head cracked hard by the kick just as the wooden sword crushes into Viola's side.

The green haired fighter seems to get the better of the exchange, the impact somewhat stopping the deadly rotation that makes the kick so strong while managing to follow completely through on her own assault. She goes stumbling off to the side as the brunette is violently thrust away due to the impact, however, a tripping as she goes and needing to use her bokken to keep herself from falling, putting it's point against the ground and leaning onto it heavily before righting herself. Good thing she's using a wooden sword- it'd be a huge dishonor to a real one! She turns to face Viola then, trying to pull back into her fighting stance and having a tough time of it, ears ringing as she struggles for breath.

And now you know why Viola is such a dancing, darting dodger in combat: because when that slash hits her, she literally goes flying. It's not pretty, actually, especially because she was caught mid-attack by Kaida's sudden reprisal. The brunette ends up smacking into the table from which she grabbed the chairs before, and while it amazingly holds up under the impact -- which you wouldn't expect from a glass table -- there is absolutely no grace about the way Viola just sort of... rolls down the side and fwumps onto the ground in the aftermath. It really takes her a second to get back up after that. Kaida really put her heart and soul into that strike, and it absolutely shows in the results. However, it's not enough to down Viola, not quite yet, and the Gunslinger Girl hauls herself to her feet, dusting herself off.

And despite that beating, she's still smiling at Kaida.

"Oh, that was well done, kitten... a nice reminder for why you never, ever want to get hit in one of these affairs..." she says, gingerly rubbing her exposed midriff. That's gonna leave a red mark for a few days, but it's nothing that any serious fighter's resilience won't take care of in a few days. "But you know what they say, kitten... payback, she is a bitch..."

At this point, quick as lightning, Viola draws her gun and fires a single shot at Kaida. Just one...

COMBATSYS: Kaida blocks Viola's Hudson Hawk.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kaida            0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0            Viola


...which is a feint.

The Swiss Miss has run in AFTER the bullet, ducking at a low angle. The intent? To do a second handstand, but rather than a kick to this jaw, Viola looks to lock her ankles around Kaida's neck and drag her down to the ground, then roll backwards, and when Viola's back is to the ground, 'pop' her up into the air with a push from both legs before drawing both guns and, lying on the ground, firing a rapid burst UPWARD into her body. Of course, that's complicated stuff... plenty of chances to extricate onesself if the timing is right...

As quickly as it was sheathed the second sword is once more pulled free from it's scabbard, but this time Viola might be pleased to notice a distinct lack of glowing energy about it. Yes, she's decidedly on the defensive now, knowing from more than spoken words that the gunfighter is going to be coming for some payback. The time it takes her to get up before attacking are precious moments the swordswoman takes advantage of, doing her best to calm her breathing and prepare herself.

She's ready when she's shot at, the bullet grazing off one of her swords and ricocheting off her shoulder afterwards. She's surprised when it's the only one to come, but luckily does not drop her guard, ready for the charge that comes immediately after. And when it comes down to it, isn't that what she's seen of Viola's fighting style so far? Shooting, charging, and combinations of the two. At this point, such an assault should be expected- not that she realized what going to happen until it did.

When the legs come up to wrap around her neck, the swords interpose themselves as if expecting a kick. They end up trapping between her neck and the legs, which could be a detriment if not for Kaida's respectable upper body strength, prying them against one another and loosening the grip so that when the attempt to throw her skyward is made she doesn't go nearly as far as intended- perhaps a foot and a half, and then lands. The first pair of bullets from the guns hit, but the ones that follow fly harmlessly into the sky- hopefully not raining down on anyone in the audience later!

Again Kaida finds herself close to a partially ground bound, Viola, and she takes a moment to consider her options. Narrowing her eyes she moves forward with a large step and swings hard with her sword, checking it at the last moment before it hits and twisting low, her off hand whirling back to try and smash the hilt of the sword into the side of her head, attempting to quickly withdraw afterwards.

COMBATSYS: Viola interrupts Random Strike from Kaida with Bottle Rocket.

[                          \\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Kaida            1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0            Viola


Hmm. Not a good position to be in, is it? On the ground, recovering from her attack, and Kaida in perfect position to deal a very nasty-seeming strike with that wooden sword, which she has proven is capable of doing considerable damage, all things considered. What's a girl to do? Is this it for our gun-toting heroine, the girl from Switzerland making her fighting debut?!

The sudden smile on Viola's face should be Kaida's first clue that the answer is 'no'.

She doesn't have time to fully stand up, nor to even mount a 'normal' sort of blocking defense. What she does have, however, is marksmanship skill that has very few equals in the world of normal people, and perhaps even among fighters. An arm snakes out, and fires off a shot seemingly at a completely random angle. It wouldn't even register that Viola was firing at Kaida at all, frankly... the gun was in the entire opposite direction. That done, the Swiss Miss does her best to get to her feet before Kaida can smash her in the head. Unfortunately, the green-haired fighter is pretty swift, and the resulting blow looks like it's about to at least catch her a very resounding blow to the shoulder, as Viola tries to twist away...

...but what're those repeated *pwang!* sounds?

Those would be ricochets. Carefully chosen, somehow calculated in the blink of an eye... or maybe there's something else going on there. Either way, that single shot, having bounced around the cafe's exterior while Kaida prepared her strike, slams into the swordswoman from behind just as her strike is about to reach full extension. It still hits -- it was inevitable -- but the sudden strike is doubtless going to put a damper on the follow through, and it gives Viola enough time to roll backwards and get to her feet.

She's breathing heavy, though, one gun trained on Kaida. This is the supreme moment, as it were... the apotheosis. What will happen next?!

That the gun was shot was recognized, but Kaida assumed that the shot was a miss. Even if she knew Viola's intent she would have continued with her attack, but having a rubber bullet come from seemingly out of nowhere to strike her in the back? That is completely unexpected, and it throws her completely off. Not to mention, those bullets HURT. Perhaps not as much as if they were made out of lead, but there's non-trivial force in each and every one of them, and the time's she's been shot- well, it's been quite a few.

They say the third time's the charm, and despite knocking Viola in the head with her sword the green haired fighter topples to the ground, letting out a cry as the pain from getting struck in the back radiates through her. It takes her a moment as she's laying there on the ground to realize what just happened. The kitten has been beaten one too many times, and you can almost see the energy draining from her.

But she isn't here to give up. She's here to go down fighting, if she's going to go down at all, and give every last ounce of strength to try to win. Leaving one of her bokken on the ground, having dropped it when she fell, she slowly- very slowly, peels herself up off the sidewalk. Breathing heavily she sways unsteadily on her feet and utters two words. "One...more..!" One more try, that's all she's got left. But she's going to use it. She stumbles towards the gunfighter as fast as she can manage while swinging her sword around in front of her by the hilt in a motion that would be completely unthreatening. Except, perhaps, by the surge of energy building up inside her. After a full revolution of the sword a quick, brilliant thin shell of chi flares in front of her.

Normally used on the defensive, there's nothing stopping it from being an extremely potent concentration of energy. The only problem? Exceedingly limited range. It should be easy to escape from, and considering Viola's speedy talents the chances of her stumbling close enough to make it work are, well. Remote.

COMBATSYS: Kaida can no longer fight.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Viola            0/-------/---====|


COMBATSYS: Viola blocks Kaida's Grand Refusal - Moon's Punishment.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  <
Viola            0/-------/-======|


No sense taking chances... well, that, and Viola would have been quite disappointed had Kaida not gone on to the very last of her energy. Of course, this also means that the brunette is pretty much prepared for Kaida's final assault, which works in her favor. As soon as the swordswoman starts getting up off her feet, Viola's preparing herself, guns holstered, arms crossed, hunkering down. Yes, she's mostly here for the thrill of it... but, well, it's looking like the fight's been drained out of Miss Inoue, and as long as she CAN win, Viola would LIKE to. That means weathering that final assault, however.

And hoo boy, 'weathering' is the right word. As she herself pointed out, shiny lights are not the Gunslinger Girl's forte. The force with which that shell of chi slams into her is considerable, even greater than some of the partial hits she'd taken from the bokken itself earlier in the fight. Pushed back a few feet despite being on the defensive, Viola nevertheless has enough left in her that the final strike does not do her in. She's ragged and bruised and hurting, but still standing. The crowd cheers for both fighters, and the Neo League announcers and promoters get to doing their work.

And Viola? She retrieves her messenger bag, pulls a chair up near where Kaida collapsed, and sits in it languidly, sipping bottled water that she pulls from the bag. "Ahhh, that was fun. Completely different thrill from, say, bungee jumping." Turning to Kaida -- who may have got up by now, or may be unconscious, who can say -- she salutes with the water bottle, touching it to her forehead and then pulling it away in a not-quite salute. "Thank you very much, kitten. I was bloody impressed with you."

Log created on 23:02:55 03/04/2010 by Viola, and last modified on 22:08:14 03/08/2010.