Description: During this fantastic Neo-League fight, Sakura is thrown headfirst into a see-ment fountain! Angel is punched so hard in the ass that she has to apply for unemployment! GUESS WHO WINS (Hint: Sakura)
<Chicago, IL. 6:30 PM.>
Buckingham Fountain is considered by many to be Chicago's front door. This is understandable considering the structure's simplistic build and awe-inspiring effect; an enormous, sidewalk-bordered basin of clear water feeds a concentric multi-tiered central fountain, filled with inward-facing feeder fountains. While the structure is in the center of a wide-open park, it's not so far from Chicago's restaurants and food vendors that one cannot appreciate a meal while viewing it. This is precisely what Angel has chosen to do.
At the moment, she's seated on a bench nearby the Fountain itself, dressed in her standard (read: remarkably skimpy) NESTS Agent/Clubbing/stripping outfit of a half-jacket, bikini bottom, chaps, and floppy boots. The curvaceous NESTS bombshell's understandably attracted a crowd of some fifteen to twenty people, but her outfit's not the only reason. Another is -very- probably the hotdog she's working down, hands-free (the hands, you see, are manipulating a Blackberry currently browsing Angel's Twitter account). The third, and probably most prudent, are the Neo-League fans, clued in to the scheduled event for this very evening via whatever arcane messaging systems they subscribe to (a Neo-League spotlight shot into the cloudy nightline of a dreary, gritty metropolis?!).
Angel finishes her hot dog and comes to an abrupt stand - she glances around Buckingham Fountain, suspicious and irritable, before a head-rush sends her stumbling a step or two forwards!
"Where IS sh- oo- ough... head rush!"
Sakura Kasugano, meanwhile, has been busy.
This much is obvious: just look at what she's wearing. True, she's got on the half-a-schoolgirl-uniform that typifies her fighting gear, but over the blouse she's pulled on one of those cheap, touristy t-shirts that has nothing more to say than 'CHICAGO' in loud letters. On her head, a Cubs cap sits, slightly askew from screwing with her headband. A tote bag carries even crappier merchandise, as if her tour of the city has mostly taken her from gift shop to gift shop -- which, in effect, it has.
Sakura is also texting.
LOL still lookin 4 cathrine zeta jones will tell u if i c her
She has literally been making this joke at Kei /all/ /day/. Her phone is stashed away as she finally approaches the fountain, though, dropping her tote and taking the cap off when she sees her opponent. "Yo!" Sakura cries, in a friendly tone, before cracking her knuckles. It's only then that she actually /looks/ at Angel.
"Oh, uh... how... interesting!" Sakura struggles to save face. "Name's Sakura, and I'll be your server today... of a /total ass-whomping/!" Sakura goes for a high-five from one of the people in the crowd.
Disgusted, he leaves her hanging.
What a -dweeb-.
"You're a -Cubs- fan??"
Angel's normally pretty good at keeping a straight face despite herself, but Sakura's display leaves the Latina slack-jawed and wide-eyed, distracted enough that it takes her a good five attempts to find her jacket's cellphone pocket. Once she's slipped the tiny thing into the equally tiny pocket, Angel's all business. At least, as much as Angel's able to be all-anything. The cowgirl saunters up to Buckingham Fountain's very edge, propelled into idle twitching and unnecessary, exaggerated leans through restlessness that's doubtless built up over the last thirty minutes.
"Don't go giving out high-fives on the South Side when you're dressed like that!" Angel's amazement is underwritten by the slightest irritation - she adds: "S'amazin' you haven't been mugged or something, girl."
Eventually she works the kinks out, irritated rubs the side of her nose, and adopts a proper (if exaggerated!) Muay-Thai fighting stance, one leg bent and tip-toed, fists held before her face, forearms parallel to her chest. Her invitation to the fight is clear enough - a smile's pulled her lips tight, and a grin helps to lift and seperate them, exposing dazzling white teeth, undoubtedly supplemented by a healthy dose of 'lippy young chick'.
"C'mon, then! You're gonna whomp my ass or whatever, right?? Like some kinda, uh," Angel realizes she can't remember what's going on with the Cubs and Sox lately. A brief hesitation, Angel rubs at her nose furiously, then refocuses.
"Ah, nuts!! I'll think of something later on! Tell you what, if you beat me, I'll show you where to get -good looking- clothes!"
COMBATSYS: Angel has started a fight here.
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Angel 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Angel focuses on her next action.
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Angel 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Sakura has joined the fight here.
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Angel 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura just rolls her eyes at Angel's criticisms and eminently logical observations, because that's how Sakura rolls. She pounds her Official Ryu Merchandise (Manufactured By the Masters Corporation) gloves together, making a small foomp of sound, and smirks, striding toward the selectively dressed NESTS agent. "You're gonna show me where to get good looking clothes?"
Sakura folds her arms, seeming to ignore the necessity of a proper fighting stance, spreading her legs wide and letting the breeze tickle her skirt a bit -- and the long trails of her headband. "Wouldn't you have to know how to get all-the-way dressed first?" There's that smirk again, the sort of expression that only comes from teenagers, because they're all pretty much shitheads when it comes down to it.
Then: Sakura moves.
She may not know how to wear a shirt that goes all the way to her waist, she may have a haircut that makes her mother habitually check her computer's browser history, and she may be so obsessed with fighting that her friends think she's got some sort of congenital brain problem, but Sakura /does/ have some things going for her. Namely, she's fast. She goes from 'standing there looking like a jerk' to 'spinning on one foot' in an instant, whipping one heel up in a low, stiff roundhouse designed to try and make an imprint of her sneaker sole on the area around Angel's navel. "HAAA!"
COMBATSYS: Angel fails to interrupt Light Kick from Sakura with Lost Homeland.
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Angel 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Wh-whoa! Did Angel act like that when she was younger??!? (yes, times two) The Latina's laughing half-way through Sakura's comeback -- she's never heard the dress-right line before, but when Sakura's backing all that -sass- up with speed and proficiency at kicking a bitch in the gut, Angel's reponse is cut short!
"Flaunt what you got, right? S'why you're wearin' the j-" It sounded like it'd be -good-, too.
Of course, Angel's sudden drop into a seated handplant -should- make it real easy for her to thread mocha legs through Sakura's significantly paler pair, but a significant hiccup arises in just how -damned clever- the Japanese girl's sneaker-clad feet prove to be. Suffice it to say that Angel's awkwardly stringing her knee around Sakura's midsection around the same time that Sakura's foot is colliding with her -forehead-; the NESTS agent makes a noise like 'Buh!' and collapses in a heap at Sakura's feet.
Sure, she's rolling to the side in a splendid recovery, but...
"Ugh! Maybe you're not so much a dork! How -old're- you, anyway? Like... you're too good for being twelve!"
Float like a butterfly and all that. As Angel topples, Sakura skips backward, and gives herself a few feet's breathing space. It's not much -- since, well, she's got to press her advantage -- but it's enough for her to adjust her stance and take up a more dignified pose. Turning her body to lead with her right, Sakura keeps her legs apart and moving, tensing and rocking on her feet like a Northern Soul backbeat were audible only to her. The teenager's arms swing up, right fist out, left kept to her midsection, fingers squeezed tightly, turning her hands from nimble tools into heavy bludgeons: ahead, knuckles, out.
Sakura's face, though, betrays a bit less sharpness. Her eyes widen at the comment about her age. "Hey, shut up!" she immediately retorts, because she's quick on her feet in a pinch. Then, given a second to think, she finds it somewhat relieving that the first comment was about her /age/, and not how she looks like a (pick one: boy, lesbian, amazon-wannabe, person whose mother cuts their hair at home using a bowl). "Hmph!"
Reminding herself of these insults that come her way often motivates Sakura to put a little bit of oomph behind her next swing, hoping to catch Angel right in the cheek with a powerful left hook as she's coming up. Sting like a bee.
COMBATSYS: Angel dodges Sakura's Medium Punch.
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Angel 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Sakura
"I was just askin' a question!" Angel's good at quite a few things - bad at quite a few others - but she's had quite a bit of experience being on her back in a heated situation. Kasugano's hop backwards, the way her face gets all RUDDY out of nowhere -- The NESTS bombshell knows she hit a nerve with that age joke, and -- hell, why not go with it??
Angel doesn't even care that she's practically mooning the entire -world- (this -is- televised) with the way she's reverse-somersaulting forward; what's important is that her delicate cheek isn't getting the heavy impact from Sakura's definitely practiced bludgeoning instruments (she's the type, Angel supposes, that gets in quite a few fist fights).
"Don't be so sensitive about it! You look a lot older, promise! I bet all sorts of guys would go for you if you didn't dress like a dork!"
The way the Mexican's propping herself up mid-roll with an expertly extended arm and essentially -launching- herself, feet-first, into Sakura's face...? Well - that's all benefits!
COMBATSYS: Sakura dodges Angel's Medium Kick.
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Angel 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Sakura
"Wh-- HEY!" Sakura whiffs with her punch, but has the good sense to arrest her follow-through before she ends up lumbering around like a Zangief. "HEY!" she repeats, dropping low to avoid the boots FedExed to her face. Scrambling in this stance, Sakura isn't quite on the ropes, but quarters are too cramped to bust out a Shou'ou Ken, and thus a little improvisation is called for.
SOME TIME AGO
Sakura and her BFF (even though she's kind of a bitch) Kei are walking down the street. "Pff. Self-defense lessons at the YFCC?" Sakura cracks her knuckles, sounding pretty full of herself, like she usually does when talking about fighting to, you know, /common people/. "I could teach you to beat someone up. And I'd teach you way better than those guys would. It's probably just some, like, fifty-year-old woman telling you how to buy a whistle."
Kei makes a face. "No offense, Sakura, but I think we already spend enough time sitting in your room watching videos of Ryu from like forty years ago. Well, you watch the videos, anyway. I do my homework. That's what being friends with you is like. I'd rather do homework."
The girls make faces at each other, and then break into a fit of laughter. "Haha, shut up," Sakura says, clearly not offended. "Don't complain to me when just, like, kicking a guy in the crotch doesn't work."
NOW
Sakura has probably forgotten that that exchange ever happened. Right now she's too angry with Angel. Let's face it: Sakura has gone through the better part of puberty, and even though she's only really interested in one wandering hobo, she's been forced to accept that men are, indeed, part of the world. A part she is way less experienced in than most. And she's a little sensitive, sue her.
But that doesn't change the fact that Sakura's leg swings up while Angel is on her way down from her jump, sneakered foot poorly aimed, so that it's headed right up between Angel's legs. "I HAVE PLENTY OF GUYS GOING FOR ME!" she screams, on live, worldwide television.
Somewhere in Southtown, her father nearly has a heart attack, while her mother is given new hope.
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Angel with Deflowering Kick.
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Angel 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Sakura
There are a great many things that Angel's predicament might bring to mind in the eyes of this fight's dozen-plus onlookers. One man dimly remembers a time wherein he'd jumped on his seatless bicycle UNAWARES. Another, younger audience member doesn't really understand the significance of a kick quite like that - he's more focused on his handheld video game. Still a third briefly wonders whether or not this is even a big deal for women -- is there anything worse than getting the dreaded, near-legendary sack-tap?!
The third man is, of course, absolutely incorrect; Angel lands squarely on the rounded point of Sakura's worn sneaker, leather-clad hands lance towards her pelvis, protectively, and she topples forward, knees crashing together, shoulders hunched, eyes narrowed in pain!!
"AAAAAAAAAAAW --=FFUUUUUUUC-"
In the audience, a child's mother screams and covers his ears.
Angel hobbles forward, -away- from Sakura and her flashback-spurred Inappropriate Kicks - briefly, she shakes her head to clear it, and whirls about, fists leading the way! "That's it!! I come out here and offer fashion tips -- what kind of girl ARE you?!? I'm bein' all nice, and you've gotta act like Gargamel or something!" Angel's fingers grasp at Sakura's hat and hair with inexorable, industrial-strength efficiency -- if she gets a solid hold on the Ryu-fan's scalp she'd LUNGE to the side, brutally pulling Sakura's head around to act as a cushion for the impending fall!
Sucks that Sakura's head'd happen to hit the very edge of the Buckingham Foutnain's see-ment basin.
COMBATSYS: Angel successfully hits Sakura with Medium Throw.
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Angel 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura is in shock. That impact was -- softer than she expected. It takes her a second to process what just happened, and then she looks down at her shoe, and reacts as if it'd suddenly been replaced by some sort of mysterious and unprecedented landshark chewing at her angle. "AUGH--!"
While she's figuring out what to do other than 'burn her foot,' Sakura is off her game for a moment, and that lets Angel grab her by the hair and, well, smash her skull into the side of a fountain, really, really hard.
So hard that this is the noise Sakura makes: "GRONK"
Tumbling to the ground and leaving a conspicuous red stain on the stone, Sakura lies limp for a long moment. Finally, though, she coughs and pushes herself up. The first thing she does is hurriedly pull off her shoe and throw it away, wheezing, "Grossssss." The second thing she does is spit one of her teeth out, causing blood to flow more freely from the side of her mouth.
"NNNGH!" Sakura cries, rushing upward, not seeming to care that she's missing both a shoe and a tooth -- if anything, she's just spurred onward by these indignities. Her string of inspiring war cries continues as she summons strength from deep within herself, causing it to flicker to life between her hands in a spark of energy. The spark grows and buzzes until it's shot forward, whizzing through the air like a foo fighter. "I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT A GARGAMEL IS!"
COMBATSYS: Angel dodges Sakura's Medium Hadouken.
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Angel 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Sakura
How could somebody not know what Gargamel is?! Nevermind the slow realization that Angel's very possibly -concussed- her opponent, nor the perhaps daunting concept of having to deal with a projectile-gifted foe; Angel simply cannot fathom the notion of growing old without the Smurfs there to guide you. "...You don't know who Gargamel is?!? What about Handy? Hefty?! Clumsy?? I mean, gawd, Smurfette was --" The Mexican's eyes widen, and it's only through the courtesy of NESTS-endowed speed that she's quite able to duck beneath that sudden explosion of blue chi.
As a matter of fact, that NESTS-endowed speed is a hell of a thing -- it's almost like Angel's teleporting!! Sure, there's the blurred image of her ducking beneath the fireball, but, like, she's getting -closer-, and her feet aren't moving... now she's coming up, hand leading the way...
Suddenly, Angel 'phases' back in, slowed up given the way she's -gripping Sakura's still-extended arm and falling backwards! Provided Saku's not got some bullshit tricks up her too-short sleeves, her considerably less-pure opponent's gonna continue rolling, eventually planting both floppy-booted feet into the schoolgirl's midsection and -catapulting- her into the nearby Buckingham Fountain's lowest basin.
"Haaaaaugh! We're gonna watch like a whole marathon of the Smurfs after this!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura interrupts Lost Homeland from Angel with Shou'ou Ken.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Angel 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura played a lot of softball when she was younger. Beyond just being something to keep her out of the house and not punching holes in the drywall, it taught her a lot of useful skills. One of the most useful is that old truism: 'keep your eye on the ball.' No matter how fast Angel moves, Sakura focuses, keeping her attention on the NESTS warrior's manifestations as she blurs closer and closer. A pattern sort of emerges. Or at least Sakura thinks one does.
Then her arm gets got. Sakura lets it happen, although she's still trying to figure out in the back of her mind what the hell kind of arcane code Angel is speaking in. Hefty? Clumsy? Is that some kind fighting slang she never heard about?! No, Sakura, focus -- she's got you by the arm, and she's pulling you back --
What would happen, normally, is that Angel would roll up into Sakura's guts and kick her so hard her kidneys fail. Unfortunately for the curvier combatant, Sakura indeed has bullshit tricks up her too-short sleeves. When Angel moves, she grips back, her own hand locking onto Angel's arm. "The Smurfs?! What the hell are you talking about?!"
The roll continues. Sakura's the one leading it, though, and she pulls Angel backward, tumbling with her until Sakura's on her back and able to use her legs to launch Angel into the air. This is immediately followed by the teenager springing up so fast that it might as well be some sort of CGI special effect, fist spinning as she comes up to meet Angel with a righteous fist. She shouts so loud that another gush of blood squirts out of her mouth. "SHOU'OU KEN!"
Someone in the observing crowd is disappointed at the way this fight is going; she had hoped to see an exciting conflict but it seems to be coming a lot closer to watching an older blonde woman who has a distinct resemblance to her getting beaten up by a gawky Asian girl with a dyke haircut!
"You know," Bonne Jenet observes to nobody in particular, a finger going to her chin as she thinks to herself, "I don't remember that Smurfs thing eith-"
Something skitters down and bumps against the toe of her shoe, which makes Jenet bend over to pick it up in curiosity. (Two Lillian Knights and one guy who was walking by lean in behind her to see how much her skirt rides up.) "What," she says as she picks the little white object upwards, "i-"
"Oh gross!" she squeals, hurling it blindly into the general direction of the fountain. "Ew!!"
W-whoa...! Angel's been all sorts of things before -- beaten, double-teamed, forced to take K9999 on his first (and only camping trip) -- the list goes on, assuredly, but if there's one thing Angel's been even remotely proud of in her experience, it's been that she has -never- been copied. Maybe it's the augmentations. Maybe it's the random attacks! It might just be that Angel's not -really- the most technical fighter around; but you'd never hear -her- admit to that.
Whatever the case is, Angel's definitely been copied. She even emits a brief, "H-eyyyy, you ca-" Suddenly, the Mexican is airborne. Not even a second after suddenly, she's being smacked in the stomach (HELLA smacked) by Doogie Howser in drag. Briefly, everything slows down -- Angel's vividly aware of Sakura's shoe flying towards the fountain once more, as well as the 'innocent bystander' 'tying his shoe' behind Bonne Jenet's rump. She's even got the presence of mind to sneer, despite the shooting, crushing pain in her guts.
Ultimately the vocalization goes like this: "Hnnnnnnnnnnngmnh!! What the HE-" It is replaced with a curt, disbelieving shriek as gravity takes its cue and tugs the NESTS agent at -least- twelve feet downwards to splash into Buckingham Fountain's lowest basin.
Angel arises in a huff, soaked to the bone (it is a good thing she wears leather!). She adjusts her hair, one hand clutching her stomach, and is -about- to tell Sakura off when the high-schooler's shoe kind of innocuously bumps her thigh.
"What's -with- you, kiddo?? It's like you're freaked out or something! Are you jealous??!?" Angel plucks the shoe from the fountain, hefts it with practiced ease, and -whips- it towards Ryu's sole protege.
COMBATSYS: Sakura dodges Angel's Thrown Object.
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Angel 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura begins running toward the fountain basin -- normally, this would be accompanied by the slaps of her soles striking the pavement, but in this instance, it's the sound of one sneaker and one ankle sock. (Said ankle sock has little yellow chicks -- the birds, not the Bonne Jenets -- patterned up and down.) She's about to let out another snappy comment, or maybe just a "YAAAAAA!", when the shoe whizzes by her head, coming so close that it causes her hair to flutter.
Sakura's advance suddenly stops. "Wh--" she says, running a hand along her head, then looking back over her shoulder to where her soaking wet sneaker lands with a tiny clatter. "--grosssss!" she repeats, her voice a curdled groan.
"And hey! I'm not jealous of you, lady, any more than I'm jealous of..." Sakura pauses, trying to think of someone who she wouldn't at all be jealous of. "...that smelly pirate hooker from Whore Island! It's like you two shop at the same boutique!" Sakura has no idea that Bonne Jenet is in the crowd. For that matter, she has no idea that the mic is so close. Neo League producers have their faces in their hands.
"But I'll give YOU something to be jealous of! YAAAAAAH!" Sakura starts running again, going from 'zero' to 'leopard chasing gazelle' in about no seconds flat. Running all the way up to the edge of the basin, she jumps, and /springs/ off of it, sending her body hurtling into the air. She tenses, bringing her knees in, and then jerks them out, sending both feet ahead in a flying jump kick aimed for what may be Angel's most prominent target: her chest.
COMBATSYS: Angel counters Fierce Kick from Sakura with Survivor's Banquet.
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Angel 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1 Sakura
"Oh my Christ," says Beu Borge, David Bowie cover expert and piratical crewman, who is now both hearing Sakura and envisioning the chain of events that's going to keep him from playing at that nice little Portuguese bar tonight.
The other Lilien Knight, who has no name, looks uncomfortable as Jenet's head turns like a periscope of terror towards Sakura, her eyes narrowing as her fingers curl into slightly loose fists in front of her. (She has to mind her nails a little.)
"Did that," Jenet says aloud, "little /tart/ just call me - /smelly/???"
Beu Borge blinks several times. "Er - yes ma'am," he gets out in his thick, coffee-like accent, "I think yes, she did."
Jenet's eyes narrow to slits, even as the front tail of her dress flaps, the skull and crossbones on it passing over her mostly bare thigh.
Angel's learned from a very young age to be perhaps the slightest bit protective of her chest. So it comes to pass that Angel's -right on the ball- when Sakura "Eternal Preteen" Kasugano lances a sneaker-and-adorable-sock-clad pair of feet out at the NESTS agent's chest! The duskier woman is all -about- turning to the side and letting her spunky opponent basically torpedo past like some kind of runaway anime fanboy -- except Angel's stopping this fanboy with a brutal bear-hug to the waist that turns her perfect landing into a sudden, tornado-inspired whirlaround-cum-bodyslam.
"So you're saying you're jealous or something?? S'that what this is all about?" Angel's a little hard to hear over the CRACK and SPLASH of Sakura's shoulder and back hitting the Buckingham Fountain's pillar, but she's also pretty aware that Sakura's -hopefully- not gonna be moving for a few. She's OK with yelling, even OK with taking a second to dramatically fan her throat.
Hell. She's even OK with theatrically rolling up a sleeve, tossing a glove to the fans (Look out, Beu Borge!), and dashing to Sakura's far side!
"Well it's not -MY-" Angel's moving quickly enough to be 'phasing out' of sight between exaggerated poses on either side of her foe - her words follow the movements, but awkwardly, disjointed.
"--fault that you're a twig! I'm tryin' ta be nice! Why're you bein' such a bitch!!?" Angel pauses forreal this time -- she wheels one arm around in a wide windmilling movement, starts tightening the motion up -- and then she's pitching forward, anchoring that free-wheeling arm in place with her opposing hand, and driving her now-extended elbow straight into Sakura's throat!
The impact -- she is harsh. Angel's even pausing afterwards, momentarily feeling sorry.
"Ah... shit, girl, I-- wow. Y'know.." She's rolling back, getting to her feet -- slowly. It's like she's convinced the fight's over!
Sakura -- to use the technical term -- gets the crap beaten out of her. She gets bodyslammed like she was facing Randy Savage, and as if crippling spinal trauma wasn't enough, she gets popped in the throat so violently you'd think she was married to Charlie Sheen. The girl lets out a gurgle (girlgle?) before collapsing forward into the basin. Bubbles form in the water from her breath, proving she's at least still alive for the moment, although she doesn't respond to Angel's apology. Nor anything, really.
And she flashes back, the frame going all watery, reverbed harp washes on the soundtrack.
SOME TIME AGO
Sakura and her family are at the beach. Her brother's off doing some stupid kid brother thing, her dad's reading a book in his cloth chair under the umbrella, and she and her mother are taking in some sun. Her mother sits in a folding chair, while Sakura is laid out face-down on a towel. Both women have their shoulders bared, although Sakura's swimsuit is a two-piece, in contrast with her mom's suit, which totally just straight up looks like a mom's suit.
"Really, Sakura," her mother says, on her fourth amaretto sour of Beach Day. "You're going to get skin cancer if you don't put some sunscreen on."
"No way," Sakura responds, eyes closed. "I could totally kick skin cancer's ass. Besides, I can handle the sun, because look at R--"
"Sakura, if you say 'look at Ryu' one more time, you're grounded until you're out of grad school. I can understand being a fan of someone, but you could really do better than a... homeless person. He's a bad influence on you. Do you think those sweaters you ripped the sleeves off of just grew on trees?"
Sakura's face tenses into a frown, although she doesn't open her eyes.
NOW
Suddenly, Sakura awakens with a start, splashing in the water -- and spitting some up. She thrashes, gaining her bearings, vision a little fuzzy, but she grabs the first thing she sees, which is Angel. That's got to be Angel looming over her, mocking her, taunting her.
What Sakura doesn't quite process is that in instantly doing this before she can see straight, what she's doing is /not/ grabbing Angel by the collar, pulling her down, and trying to punch her in the face.
In fact, what she's doing is grabbing Angel by the belt, pulling her bikini down, and trying to punch her in the ass cheek.
While screaming "NNNNNGH YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ME AT /ALL/!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Angel with Fierce Punch EX.
- Power hit! -
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Angel 0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1 Sakura
"I ought to get out there and beat her scrawny ass!!" Jenet shrieks, to Beu Borge's evident distress. "No ma'am, you can't - the league, you know, it invalidates it, you have to wait -
Jenet cups her chin in one hand, scowling. "Hmmmmmmmmm - I suppose you're right, Borge..."
She cups her hands in front of her glossed-up lips and shouts, "You can do it! YOU CAN DO IT --" Voice lowered, "What's her name?"
"Anhell."
"AHN HELL! -- Clench up!!"
Briefly, Angel's able to emit a disbelieving yelp while her damned -briefs- are tugged downwards by --==Skankura's==-- grasping fingers. It's all she can do to lift a thigh and prevent onlookers and international television both from getting dangerously graphic shots of the Mexican's personal grooming habits - and this is decidedly -not- defensive enough to prevent the Japanese girl's gauntleted fist from drilling into her exposed, tender ass-cheek like some kind of stiff, too-large invader.
With a yelp of "What the HELL!?", Angel's dropping to her knee and gently rubbing at her violated rear. The fury, it is slow-coming -- but eventually, Angel realizes that she's going to be wearing that punch for at -least- the next two weeks.
"You -bitch!- People are gonna... aaaaahgh..." Angel's to her feet in a moment, aches and pains forgotten, eyes narrowed, blazing! "They're gonna be all," she affects a fake baritone. "'Hey baby, can't help but notice that bruise -- you like it rough??' 'Looks like you got taken for a -riiiiiide-, sister' 'You're -my- kind of cowgirl..'" The Mexican's expression darkens, considerably -- she sprints forward, headlong, arms coming together halfway through her bull-rush and finally upwards into a hammer-fisted uppercut!
"I'M NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL! I'M A PLAYFUL, FRIENDLY LADY!" If Angel hits - and hopefully, she will - Sakura'd find herself airborne, helpless in the face of Angel's lightning-fast, afterimage-supported follow-up. This being a fist to her stomach, a spinning high-kick to tug her back down, and then a brutal, apalling combination of every single ad-hoc attack the Mexican can -think- of. Angel eventually finishes her rush with a simple (if superhuman) mount-kick -- one foot is planted on Sakura's shoulder, and the other makes use of her face as a springboard, propelling Angel high into the air!
COMBATSYS: Sakura dodges Angel's Blue Monday Parade.
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Angel 0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1 Sakura
Sakura very, very slowly comes to her senses. She probably /is/ concussed, but that's really nothing new -- at this point, she's probably had so many brain injuries that it's a miracle she's even legally allowed to walk through Taiyo's front doors. Stumbling upward, Sakura does the only sensible thing -- and tips backward, evading the potent uppercut completely by accident. "Guh," she gasps, coughing wetly.
Okay, think, Sakura. You're in a fight. You're -- you're all wet. This woman is screwing with her belt and yelling about being a friendly lady. Remembering the past thirty seconds is kind of hard. She just avoided a punch, and this chick is seriously pissed. "I think... I think I hit my head? I -- wait a second!"
Sakura lunges forward, hoping to catch Angel on the rebound from her attempted murder, and wrapping a thin but muscular arm around the other fighter's throat. "This isn't over yet! HNNNGGGGH!" She makes that noise like a hog while flexing, trying to use her bicep to choke Angel out.
COMBATSYS: Angel blocks Sakura's Sakura Strangle.
[ \\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Angel 0/-------/------=|=======\=------\1 Sakura
"Oh that is just GROSS!" Jenet, who has gotten to the front of the crowd and is clearly considering whether or not to run in with a karate kick, shouts. This may or may not help.
Angel's really... starting to feel the hits. The kick to her -head-, the ass-punch, the uppercut--! She's hardly even aware that she's -missed- Sakura, really -- rather than whirl around to search for her opponent, the Latina simply places a hand to her head, eyes half-lidded, expression woozy.
"Ah... ooh. When'd she hit me in the -head-...?" Angel's hardly gotten through the first of her doubtless several questions as to 'what's just happened' when Sakura's leaping onto her back like some kind of crazed badger. It's all the beleaguered NESTS agent can do to shoot both hands' pointer and middle fingers to either side of her neck as a means to keep Sakura's hateful pressure -off-, but really, there's not much denying the Taiyo High prodigy.
"Ghhhhhhhhkghk...! Wh- What are you -doooooing....." Angel's eyes lid further - she's dangerously close to passing out, stumbling around the fountain as though she were some kind of tranquilized cow. "Le-- leggo... I'mnnnnnnhmmmmmmm... mmmmmmtoo bored t'sleep, Ig..." Angel's remaining fingers find some sort of hold on Sakura's forearms, and while it's very likely ONLY muscle memory supplying the sudden movement, muscle memory's saved Angel more often than not.
Though she sure is tired to hell, the Latina's brutally throwing her weight forward, -hopefully- slamming Sakura -straight- into the bottom of the Buckingham Fountain's basin!
COMBATSYS: Sakura parries Angel's Quick Throw!
[ \\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Angel 0/-------/------=|=======\==-----\1 Sakura
Sakura is grabbed. This is all going way too fast -- and the temperature's way too hot -- and it looks like she's once again going to introduce the outside of her brain to the inside of the fountain in such a way as to further mix herself into the water content of the fountain. Sakura's up and flipped --
-- and then the teen prodigy's feet come down. Still in Angel's grasp, she arcs her spine in such a way that it's entirely possible she had a hinge put in, and with a loud splash, slams her feet flat on the floor of the fountain. This awkward position is maintained for a long moment -- Angel bent forward, Sakura bent over backward. "Hnngh," Sakura comments. "This -- really --"
Then, summoning all of her strength, Sakura attempts to complete the forward flip. Keeping her feet locked on the ground, she lifts with her back, which is an awful idea but she's too headstrong to listen to anyone telling her to lift with her legs anyway. Throwing as much force as she can into that sudden jerk of her midsection, she attempts to flip /Angel/ up, and give the Mexican assassin a taste of her own medicine.
"HURTS! AAAARRRGH!"
COMBATSYS: Angel fails to interrupt Strong Throw EX from Sakura with Full Moon Evening.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Sakura 1/-----==/=======|
COMBATSYS: Angel can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Sakura 1/-----==/=======|
Angel's losing conscousness - that last sleeper hold has -really- done a number on her. "H-hey..." Her tone, manner, and posture are essentially Teenaged Sleep-Over After Hours, which is not nearly as interesting as its unrelated movie counterpart. "How'd you... land on your -feet-...??" Vaguely, she attempts to extrict herself from Sakura's grip, but this is much like trying to outrace time or drink the ocean -- Sakura is one of those people who happens to be -very, very good- at blindly clinging to things.
"L-listen," she continues to mutter, very probably delirious. "I---- uh, look, we can go shopping or something, it'll be great..! You'd look cute in, uh.." Again, she's fumbling at Sakura's forearms, perhaps leaving little, piddling scratches into the other girl's doubtlessly trunk-like flesh. "A... dress..."
It's -here- that Kasugano's launching Angel, and it's -right afterwards- that the NESTS agent is landing upside down against the Buckingham Fountain's central fountain, back-first. The whole affair ends with a sickening *crack* and that ugly sound people make when all of the air is leaving their body - Angel collapses, head bent at an awkward angle, arms strung out to either side of her, ass in the air, legs bent inwards. Aides hurriedly run out, clambering through the fountain with the looks of people who really were hoping they wouldn't have to go into the fountain - one shrewd man drapes a blanket over Angel's more exposed bits while another approaches Sakura, notebook in hand.
"You're feeling OK? Do you want to take over the world right now? Let me see your eyes." He checks Kasugano's eyes with a pen-light. "Give us a statement for the papers, little lady." Orochi checks come first - then the victor's statement and the recording.
Sakura stumbles out of the fountain, wandering around with a loose, loping step that makes her seem like she's doing some sort of weird, half-thought-out dance. "Huh?" she asks, turning to face the person looking for a statement. She stares at him blankly, blinking a few times.
"I... has anyone seen my tooth?" Sakura tugs at the side of her mouth with her fingers, opening wide so that the reporter can see the missing molar that Angel knocked out. It's grisly.
And that's the picture that makes it all around the blogs tomorrow.
And Sakura refuses to come out of her room for an entire day.
All's well that ends well!
COMBATSYS: Sakura has ended the fight here.
Jenet doesn't say where she threw it because she got called a /smelly whore/ >:(
Log created on 18:04:27 03/07/2010 by Angel, and last modified on 19:33:15 03/11/2010.