Description: Wakamoto had plans. Unfortunately, they weren't the plans that Yuu and Shihong necessarily had...
Taizhou may have once been a nice place to live. Now it only continues to exist in an oxymoronic state of controlled chaos. Chaos that has been provoked further by the arrival of the Chinese military. Helicopters roam the sky, tanks dot the land scape, APCs carried their geared up and well trained cargo to destinations of strategy importance throughout the wartorn city. Throughout the lengthy nights sounds of gunfire and explosions, voices shouting rapidly in Chinese, and the wailing of the injured and dying can be heard. For most people this sort of scene, this sort of situation would be seen as Hell on Earth. For most people this situation would be the kind of thing to avoid or escape from. For SANE people they would not be walking the streets simply looking for someone else to hurt.
Juri Han is not most people, nor is she what one could comfortably call sane.
For right now though she is in a quiescent phase: Motionless she stands upon a dusty hill overlooking the sprawling cityscape of Taizhou. Nearby there sits the wreckage of an APC. Broken bodies of soldiers lay sprawled out in front of it. From the cone shaped pattern in which their twisted frames lay it looks almost like some kind of EXPLOSION blasted them out of the APC.
-=The target has breached the exterior, repeat the target has BREACHED TH-grrrk=-
Nearby is a med-evac helicopter which presumably arrived to pull out the wounded troops. By the looks of things it failed its mission. It has crashed into several of the ruined cars on the highway and now produces its own personal smoke plume that travels upward and wafts through the evening air.
-=Negative command, I don't see the target. We will be landing to prepare triage shortly. Wait, what was that purple glo..!=-
Truth be told, the Taekwondo temptress isn't a hard woman to find. Merely follow the path of her carnage. Leading from the city is a bread crumb trail of injured Ryouhara lackeys and Chinese soldiers. Not all are dead, but then again, not all the living ones will fully recover. Almost all have a hollow-eyed stare and mumble incoherently about the 'Spider Lady': Their minds almost completely routed by psycho power.
But for right now she is quiet. Just standing there, eyes closed, listening to the wind. It's almost as she is waiting for something ... or someone.
"Well, it seems Wakamoto is only interested in people who have the subtlety of a brick.
"Or maybe a warhead. Such peculiar tastes!"
Standing a safe distance away from the destruction that Juri Han has so comfortably surrounded herself with, a young man with pale blue hair and bright yellow eyes watches with a bemused expression from behind a simple pair of glasses. His wide sleeves billow lazily in the wind as he tilts his head to the side, standing affably atop the smoldering carcass of an APC.
"Oh well," he ultimately decides with an exasperated shrug of his shoulders and shake of his head. "I guess it can't be helped. Let's begin, shall we? Let's try to be more careful with this one; she seems awfully scary!" It's not entirely clear who the man is speaking to as he amiably hops off the APC, smoke belching out from the wreckage as he lands silently on his feet. His fingers twitch, nearly invisible threads of semi-transparent energy glimmering only vaguely against the dying light.
"We'll just have to make our intentions especially clear with this one."
It is as Juri's eyes are closed that a non-descript form begins approaching her. Enshrouded in a thick, billowing black cloak, it is hard to make out just who the figure is, or even its gender. It says nothing, simply coming to a stop roughly a foot behind the intent Juri. Absolutely silent, the figures head seems to lull backwards against the hood of its cloak--
--before lashing out like a snake. Right arm whipping forward, only the whip-like cord that bursts free from the figure's wide sleeve can be seen as it lashes out, aiming to snag and snap around Juri's neck like the hanged man's noose, clenching somewhat uncomfortably tight before /whipping/ upward, to try and launch the intimidating woman into the air.
"This is going to be a very... /exciting/... time," muses Yuu the puppeteer in the distance as he pushes his glasses up to the bridge of his nose with an all-too eager smile.
COMBATSYS: Yuu has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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Yuu 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Juri has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Yuu 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Juri
COMBATSYS: Shihong has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Yuu 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Juri
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
"Mmn, yes. I agree."
Standing next to the blue-haired man is a woman impeccably dressed in pressed blacks, standing out against the war-torn landscape. With pale, slender fingertips idly pressed against the temple of her head, the red-eyed woman observes the chaos in the near-distance. "I can't say I fancy his interests myself. I prefer people with more...tact. As if it takes /skill/ to be reckless!"
Smirking at Yuu's warning, Shihong's red eyes draw to a lazy close, her head shaking absently. "As long as it doesn't end up like that last farce I think we'll be set. At least /she/ isn't wearing chi-powered armor." Shihong absently gestures in Juri's direction. Whether her 'partner in Jinchuu scandals' is speaking to her or not, well.
She doesn't really care.
When Shihong's eyes open again, a shrouded 'thing' makes its attack upon the woman. Lifting her hands, the woman offers a soft clap before she chimes, "Oh, it's always so much fun when you're around!" She, of course, means Yuu. Right..?
Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, Shihong bides her time carefully. Why? Well, after her encounter with Rako, it certainly wouldn't pay to underestimate someone again. She can only be /so/ lucky...
COMBATSYS: Shihong focuses on her next action.
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Yuu 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Juri
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Juri dodges Yuu's Miyama-Karasu-Ageha.
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Yuu 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Juri
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
The new arrivals do not come unnoticed.
They do, however, come unmolested: For now. Juri seems content to merely stands motionless with her eyes closed. The breeze blowing smoke and dust from the city also causes her hair to sway in front of her face, and the loose fabric of her pants to rustle gently. That's it, that's all the motion you get from her. Your words, spoken out loud, are nothing but a faint buzzing in the back of her skull. As they move closer this buzzing grows louder, and suddenly there's a fever pitched whine as someone ... or more accurately: SOMETHING comes up behind her!
Without even opening her eyes Juri simply steps out of the way of the attack. Her eyes remain closed as she stands still once more. For now it might seem like she's not going to do or say anything to her guests. That is until her eyes snap open. Startling violet in color, very sharp and very distinct. The left one, in particular, seems to glow in the dim light of the evening. Without even having to search her eyes immediately snap to Shihong and Yuu, and an amused smile plays across her lips. Her voice wafts over the warm breeze as a menacing purr: Like silk scraping across metal.
"Well ... what do we have here." Her left eye shines bright and nearly within an instant she is a meter closer, "Two individuals..." Another flash, a blur, and a cloud of dust ... and another meter closer. "... attacking right out of the blue, without warning, without the decency to say 'hello.'"
Yet ANOTHER flash, another blur. Only this time she doesn't move any closer. Instead she's suddenly hovering in mid-air it looks like! With incredible speed she streaks toward Yuu, attempting to kick him once with her right foot. Then she'll launch him into the air with her left knee. A final one-two kick in mid air, the first a light jab with her right foot and then followed with an incredibly powerful thrust kick with her left! Assuming it all goes as planned it should send Yuu sprawling backward in an incredibly painful looking fashion.
Regardless as to what happens at some point Juri will say: "I guess I should thank you for rescuing me from my boredom!!!"
COMBATSYS: Juri successfully hits Yuu with Shikusen.
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Yuu 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Juri
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
"Oh, my, it seems we were expected."
Yuu's tone never loses that light-hearted air to it as he lifts both of his thin brows in a slightly exaggerated expression of surprise. The figure far in front of him snaps that coil backward, retracting it into the folds of its cloak once more. Yuu's fingers twitch in an idle, erratic dance, his smile thin and ineffably polite as he bows his head.
"Sorry, sorry!" he apologizes as if frantically, clapping his hands together. "We're being terribly rude, aren't we? Where are my manners, I'm--"
Suddenly, Juri is gone. In an instant, she is /flying/ towards Yuu, one foot outstretched. The young man's eyes widen--
--before that cloaked figure abruptly interposes itself between the two of them. With titanic power, the taekwando fighter /hammers/ the mysterious figure with one kick; something sounds like it shatters, but not bone. Something wooden and plastic.
The second kick simply /blows/ through the figure as chunks of strange, polished wood shred through the air, the cloak covering the figure blown clean off as that foot penetrates Yuu's defenses and knocks right into his solar plexus, launching the Kagero operative through the air. He lands in a sprawl, rolling into a sudden spring and landing in a simple crouch. Blood drools down the corner of his mouth, but it could have been much worse -- but the thick rivulet of dark crimson that rolls down Yuu's nostrils suggest the damage might be more than just physical. The figure, meanwhile, lands seconds later just beside him -- a female puppet, its wooden torso shattered, dead, lifeless eyes staring vacantly up toward the skies as the bladed appendages at its back twitch as if in the throes of death.
"--... as... I was saying..." Yuu groans out, still sounding unalterably pleasant. "... I'm... Yuu. I'm afraid we're not... here to entertain you too much. We were told to remove the problem child interfering with our employer's plans. In other words...
"... we're here on orders to kill you."
Not what Wakamoto told him, but fortunately -- Juri doesn't know /that/.
"Shihong... if you could? I need to relish for a bit longer..."
COMBATSYS: Yuu focuses on his next action.
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Yuu 0/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Juri
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
Juri's impressive display seems lost upon the likes of Shihong. She watches with an unimpressed expression upon her pale face, thin, rouge-colored lips pulled in an impassive line across her features. So she can teleport, big whoop. Lots of people can! And that spooky glowing eye and the energy pouring out of it?
Well, it's certainly a LITTLE refreshing to see someone /else/ who can use Psycho Power.
"Pft, don't apologize," Shihong asides to Yuu, smirking.
But before she can finish any further thoughts, Juri snaps into action, tearing into Yuu--well, something connected with the man, anyway. Seconds after impact, however, his wooden shield is splintered and the man sent spiraling into the air and back. The Chinese woman seems surprised. Then, quietly, she offers an impressed whistle.
"/Well,/" she notes, slowing shifting her gaze back onto Juri. "That was pretty scary!"
Grinning darkly, the woman's red eyes hood, glowing dimly beneath her dark lashes. "Just take your time, pretty boy," Shihong notes to her 'partner' in this affair. "I'll handle things for now. Are you ready..?"
But, whether Juri is or is not, Shihong springs forward, attempting to close in the gap between herself and the other woman with a three-hundred and sixty degree turning kick, followed by a heel kick at the woman's chest, THEN a side-kick aimed for the exact same spot.
COMBATSYS: Juri blocks Shihong's Prancing Stag.
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Yuu 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Juri
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Shihong 0/-------/-------|
After her attack lands against Yuu and his ... doll, one supposes? Juri lands with the effortless grace one might expect of an expert fighter that has drawn the attention of Wakamoto. Not that she knows who Wakamoto is, nor would she care. What she does care about is the fact that she just kicked through a wooden doll! Oh sure she hit her intended target as well, but when she lands she has to idly shake bits of broken wood off from her foot. That menacing purr of hers returns, "Hehe ... wow. I can see that this 'tournament'" can it even be called that anymore? "has its share of oddballs. But you really take the cake.
Once finished shaking the bits of shattered wood from her foot she relaxes and lowers the foot to the ground. She listens to Yuu's description of who he is, of who his friend is, and of what their boss wants from them. The immediate response: Juri grins. Oh, and not just a little bit. She practically splits her face in half grinning so wide, "Oh... to /kill/ me? That sounds interesting. Of course, I'd like to see how you two are going to pull that one off."
As she speaks Shihong seems to be trying to do just that. The three-hundred and sixty degree turning kick is met with a hand that deflects the blow. The heel kick is blocked by an elbow, and the side kick is blocked by her other arm. Throughout all of this though Juri seems unimpressed. "Well well well... aren't you cute." No, she's not talking to Yuu. Her piercing violet eyes narrow into sharp little slits as she stares at Shihong, and then continues by speaking coldly, "I wonder how cute you'll be missing your nose."
Juri's eyes widen suddenly, her irises constricting tight as she cackles in delight, "KILL! KILL! KILL!" Suddenly her body spins into motion! Her body spins vertically with respect to theg round, her feet seemingly propelled by trails of purple energy as she spins once... twice... then three times! Each time delivering a kick intending to find purchase against Shihong's body.
"Oh my. Oh my. Oh... my." Yuu cups his face gingerly with his right hand; his fingers press flat against his jaw and under his nose, scraping them in a slow movement across the lower half of his face. The action smears bright red blood across his face, staining his hand as an iron-tinged scent overwhelms his nostrils. "Such fury, such sadism, such power... no quarter, no relent, focusing strength into single bursts of might...
"... how beautiful..."
Slowly, Yuu comes to a stand once again. He staggers, swaying almost drunkenly on his feet. Tilting his head up, the puppeteer looks up with a blood-stained smile as both Juri and Shihong unload upon each other, head tilting slowly to the side. That energy. Not chi. Then like Shihong...?
"How strange!" he remarks gleefully, tugging his left hand up gently. "But I'm afraid that you've been causing too many problems lately. Mister Wakamoto has been very upset with you. I believe his exact words were -- 'such vermin has no place here in our designs'? He can be awfully rude, don't you think? But, business is business!
"No hard feelings, right?"
Something large bursts upward into the air from behind Yuu. Spiraling through the air, the puppet, large and bulbous and almost spider-like, rapidly begins to descend upon Juri. The many pained faces carved into its oblong body open their lips with wooden clatters, its human head focusing its dead black gaze on the Psycho Power-user as wires spew forth from all of those twisted mouths. High-tensile wiring seeks to ensnare Juri and then reel her in, pinning Juri to the puppet's back just as it twists around -- apparently intent to do nothing less than body slam Juri straight into the earth.
COMBATSYS: Juri successfully hits Shihong with Senpusha.
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Yuu 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Juri
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Shihong 0/-------/=======|
"Yeah, he's kind of weird, but he's pretty useful," Shihong casually notes, shoulders rolling lightly before she smirks. However, at the odd response to being targeting for a kill--and otherwise laughing them off--that smirk sheds into a sort of lazy frown. Slowly, the woman's dimly-glowing red eyes hood.
"What a bitch," she notes in a dull tone.
It's about then that Shihong makes her move, lunging in after the woman. Each kick blocked, Shihong is left with a bit of a sour look on her pale face before she sneers. "Like hell, you'll have to catch me first, you tramp--!"
Not that such a feat is hard, because when she kicks thrice, Shihong is caught in the flurry, battered and ravaged by the psychic fire and physical strikes before she's left to free fall and hit the ground painfully. For a moment, the woman doesn't get up; her body aches far too much to make the effort.
"Pfft," is the sound she makes as she rises like a shambling corpse, blood trailing out of the corner of her mouth. Her garments singed, she looks quite ragged, but like hell she'd just lay down after that. "Is that the /best/ you've got?" she wonders, wiping the top of her pale hand across her mouth.
Then, with one fluid and smooth gesture, the woman's pale hands lift. Between her palms, a spark of vermillion energy springs to life, rapidly growing and swirling into a large sphere, tendrils of red lapping at her sleeved arms. "I'll show you it'll take more than just some silly kick to stop ME!"
With one graceful wind of her arms and a stomp of her Prada-heeled stiletto both hands are thrust forward, and from her palms the large swath of energy leaps forth, vaguely serpentine in shape as it roars at Juri with an open maw.
COMBATSYS: Shihong successfully hits Juri with Coiled Dragon.
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Yuu 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Juri
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Shihong 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Yuu successfully hits Juri with Kuro-Hikage.
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Yuu 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 Juri
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Shihong 1/-------/=======|
To be truthful, Juri's combat style is a very atypical Taekwondo variant. Once upon a time there was a 15 year old girl who used standard Taekwondo. She no longer exists. Instead, the Spider of S.I.N. was forced to practice and intensify her deadly art for many years. The result is, notably, what Yuu and Shihong are feeling right now. As Juri finishes her violent three-kick assault, she lands with sublime grace and sighs softly. Her hand reaches down now to playfully twirl the loose end of her belt as she looks at Shihong with delight filling her eyes, "Aha... so you think you can outrun me then? I'd like to see you try ... hm?"
Looking down at her arm, Juri is surprised to see that suddenly it can't move. Then she notices that many, many threads are wrapping around her body. Just in time for Shihong to recover and send a flash of crimson energy flaring her way! She is knocked back further into the awaiting threads and is dragged helplessly into the body of the strange puppet spider creature. "You...!" She manages to snarl before the spider lands atop of her in a bodyslam of sorts!
A momentary stillness ... then suddenly a flash of violet energy and the spider is launched nearly a dozen meters into the air! Juri cackles softly before licking some fresh blood from her lip, "Oh, oh I see now." Her left eye glows vibrantly as she turns her sights on Yuu, "Hard feelings? Between murderers? AHAHAHA!" Her body seems to spasm with uncontrollable laughter before she shakes her head, "Of course not. If you can kill me, do it quickly. QUICKLY! I want to see it happen. If not..."
"Then you better run."
If one could look closer at Juri they'd notice that her iris and pupil are suddenly covered by two sides of a Taijitu snapping closed. The glow increases alongside a high pitched whine. A faint sheen of violet colored energy seems to flow along the surface of her body as she glances toward Shihong, "Your friend goes first." Then she is gone - or rather, she is moving so fast that she is naught but a blur. Chaotic trails of dust whirl around in the path of her movement as she swiftly closes the gap between herself and Yuu. First things first though: She attempts to slam her foot into his marionette companion with a mighty mule kick. Should that be successful she'll deliver an intensely painful looking elbow to Yuu's stomach. The intent it seems is to knock him down. If successful ... well, that's where the real fun begins.
COMBATSYS: Yuu blocks Juri's Feng Shui Engine.
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Yuu 1/=======/=======|==-----\-------\0 Juri
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Shihong 1/-------/=======|
"Hm!" Yuu's voice comes out thoughtful as he tilts his head to the side, cradling it against a blood-smeared glove. Said blood continues to flow freely from his nostrils as he snorts once, his eyebrows lifting in a sort of muted curiosity. "It seems she's not completely invincible," he muses softly, entirely to himself.
"Maybe we'll have to hold back a bit... hm?"
Psychic energy pulses, and the puppet Dukkha is launched skywards. Spindly legs flail, wires snapping free and retracting into its many mouths; its limbs literally rotate a full one-hundred eighty degrees so that they face downward, bringing it to land on those powerful legs with a tremendous -=boom=- of impact just beside Yuu. Dust kicks up around Dukkha as its head slowly rotates back into place.
"... My, my," the puppeteer breathes out.
"How delightful!"
Juri once more makes her presence known on the battlefield with that violent laughter as Yuu turns his head to stare, contemplatively. "Even if it's not us, eventually someone else will be sent. Until you die or Wakamoto dies... and I very much doubt the latter." Yuu's tone remains cheerfully conversational, even as power wraps around Juri like a semi-transparent cocoon. Yuu's brows lift, and he leans forward. "That power..." What is that in her eye? He can only vaguely make it out. It's intriguing. That power, even so different from his own, is terrifyingly palpable. Enough to urge anyone to try to flee.
Enough to make Yuu want to experience it first-hand.
Suddenly, Juri moves. She can barely be seen at the speeds she moves. The pale-haired puppeteer's eyes widen in the very fraction of a second that Juri's body shifts. In the next fraction, Juri is smashing a single foot into Yuu's spider-like puppet; Dukkha almost subtly shifts, its sturdy main body interposing itself into the path of that kick, deflecting the blow at the cost of a solid chunk of its wooden body. The marionette goes flying in the same motion that Yuu's head knocks backward, as if feeling the full force of the blow first-hand. Blood splatters through the air, and Juri is suddenly within Yuu's defenses--
--at just the same time his face snaps down with a bloodied and pained, yet utterly delighted grin.
"I understand you perfectly--"
The elbow strike comes. And rather than try to avoid it, Yuu interposes /both/ his arms into its path. His palms slam into that singularly powerful blow, a battering ram of raw kinetic force hammering into his arms. Distantly, he hears something snap, but Yuu is laughing far too much to register the pain. Rather than resist that overwhelming force any further, though, Yuu literally uses the point of impact to ride off Juri's momentum, suddenly BACKFLIPPING through the air at a dizzying acceleration to avoid further retaliation in an instant. Dark clothes blurr together as the man /slams/ into the earth roughly twenty feet away like a ragdoll, rebounding off the harsh ground and SMASHING into the back of a ruined APC. Metal shrieks, and collapses on the puppeteer, kicking up debris and dirt in a thick fog. There is silence--
"That feeling... I /love/ that feeling..."
Something large rises up from behind Juri. A low-pitched whine like metal grinding against metal at high speeds can be heard as abruptly, a full volley of accupuncture needles lance out, aiming for the various vulnerable nerve clusters on Juri's body, to shock her into place. Behind her, a massive, armored puppet rises up, its chest slowly parting as if to bloom the massive cannon that lies within like a morbid flower.
"I wonder... and I forgive me if this sounds too forward..."
The puppet collapses downward, the cannon glowing. The whine pitches higher before, from its depths, a MASSIVE gout of /magma/ erupts forward in a powerful high-speed burst for Juri, molten steel ignotes forming into a spear-like chunk to pierce the powerful psycho power warrior with searingly hot magma. In the opposite direction, Yuu slowly peels himself up out of the wreckage, his right arm completely disloc
In the opposite direction, Yuu slowly peels himself up out of the wreckage, his right arm completely dislocated and clothes torn viciously to reveal a number of bleeding lacerations.
"... could I cut you open to see just how that body of yours works...?"
For once, Shihong actually pities Yuu.
Watching with a dimly-pained expression on her face as he and his puppet take a beating, to be expected after the pair managed to tag-team assault the odd girl rather successfully. When Yuu winds up crashing into the APC, Shihong frowns deeply.
"You bitch," she notes in a harsh but casual tone. "I /liked/ him."
She begins to move--but stops when that 'something large' rises behind the young martial artist. Widening her red eyes, Shihong at first appears surprised--then delighted. She knows that thing, and that means he isn't /dead/ yet. Useful!
Grinning to herself, the woman exhales softly through her nostrils. Turning, she looks back toward the APC and the rising, battered form of the Puppeteer. "Don't /worry/ me like that," she notes, despite his creepy address to the Spider-Girl.
With glowing red eyes, Shihong looks back to Juri. As the magma-cannon-spike makes its assault upon her, thanks to one of Yuu's many monstrosities, Shihong bursts forward with surprising speed. Her intent is clear: get in close, fast, and catch Juri off guard. Then?
Then Shihong will throw out a flaring side kick, Psycho Power lancing down her leg as she seeks to collide into the girl with the sharp heel of her shoe. Should that succeed Shihong will land in a deep, elegant crouch, one leg stretched far before she flip-kicks Juri into the air, then finalizes the assault with another, diagonally-angled flying side-kick ALSO ON FIRE at her stomach. The connection results in a shocking burst of vermillion-hued energy lancing through, to knock her senseless (WITH HOPE) and send her flying even further away.
"AS IF I can't keep up with you!"
COMBATSYS: Juri endures Yuu's Tsumajiro Ura-Janome.
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Yuu 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Juri
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Shihong 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Shihong successfully hits Juri with Kirin EX.
- Power hit! -
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Yuu 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Juri
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Shihong 0/-------/-------|
Disappointment!
That is what Juri feels. While her blow met with the puppeteer's body with all the force she could deliver, she had intended for him to fall down and not spring up. It's regretable, and a wasted opportunity to deliver the rest of her stored up energy for a brutal attack. Further more it is clear that the fight thus far has begun to wear on the Taekwondo fighter.
Her body slumps forward, her breathing heavy, and her eyes stare at Yuu with a violence-promising scowl. But for the immediate moment she does not move. This unfortunately does grant her opponents quite a bit of time to set up their own responses. Which they use to great effect it turns out!
Many many painful needles assault Juri's vulnerable frame. As they do she feels her muscles spasm, cramp, and lock in place. For now, at least, she's immobile. That's when she hears the loud rumble of /something/ behind her. Unable to turn around and look at it she just grits her teeth and shuts her eyes tight. That previous sheen of purple energy grows brighter as she steels her own will in order to reinforce her vulnerable body.
This turns out to be very important, for first comes the magma cannon. The super heated liquid metal splashes against her frame! It is only through pure will alone that she is able to keep it from touching her skin directly. Her clothes are not so lucky, and very soon her pants are alight from ankle to knee. It's very pretty, to say the least, and perhaps Shihong can catch a glimpse of them before she closes in to finish the assault!
Juri is caught mostly off guard by Shihong, thanks in part to the heat assaulting her flesh. She is doubled over by the sharp heel kick to her stomach. The flip kick launches her into the air effortlessly. The fighter's body is completely limp, completely vulnerable, and the final strike against her stomach sends her rocketing away with incredible speed! She crashes into the burnt out remains of the med evac helicopter the had destroyed earlier. An unruptured fuel canister detonates from the force of her entry, and the result is ... needless to say: INTENSE!!!
The evening sky is now nearly as bright as the day as the massive fireball belches from the now-gutted remains of the helicopter skyward. Surely no one could have survived that. And yet, from within those twisted remains a body does move. It stumbles forward, entire body colored black with soot and slick with fresh blood. It crashes down to one knee and gasps for breath: its back lined with many sharpened metal fragments from the helicopter. She hardly looks /human/ anymore, but Juri is still there. As is obvious when she looks up at Shihong and Yuu with that baleful glowing eye.
So Juri stands once more. And then, Juri sprints once more. SO FAST for someone so gravely wounded. As she runs bits of shrapnel fly from her back and clatter against the ground, splattering crimson dots across the surface of the road. When she gets close enough she will spin like a demented top from Hell before delivering a swift thrust kick intending to send him rocketing back once more into the APC. "SHUT UP AND DIE ALREADY!" She howls, like an angry beast.
COMBATSYS: Yuu parries Juri's Thrust Kick!
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Yuu 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Juri
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Shihong 0/-------/-------|
Yuu spits rather distastefully, blood and saliva splattering against the ground beneath him as he drags back up onto his feet. His right arm hanging limply at his side, the puppeteer dully looks to the side as Juri is buried under a mess of metal and flames.
"Sorry, sorry!" Yuu apologizes with a teasingly over-polite lilt to his voice, yellow eyes rolling back to the helicopter wreckage. "Perhaps we should start going easy. It'd compromise things if we actually /did/ kill he--"
And then Juri's bloodied body stumbles forward, and the equally battered Yuu looks on in obvious suprise at that hateful eye.
"... ... ... Oh, good!" he says, relieved. "I was a bit worried you were going to die before you could answer my question--"
Juri bursts forward once more in a brutal explosion of raw speed. Yuu's left hand twitches, fingers jerking back, blood dripping from his gloved fingertips; strings shimmer just as Juri lunges, a calm smile dancing across his lips.
'SHUT UP AND DIE ALREADY!'
"Is that a 'no,' then--"
Juri's foot slams forward the exact moment that the armored puppet interjects with the broad side of the massive spear it wields. With a powerful rotation, it seeks not to eliminate Juri's momentum, but instead redirect it, sending that extending leg slamming /just/ to the side of Yuu's head, mere inches away from just crushing in the man's skull. The gush of wind blows his pale blue hair wildly, straining against the cheeks of his disappointed face as his lips pull into a vague pout.
"You should really learn to be more generous."
Panels along the large puppet Izanagi's left arm open up, and a series of kunais attached to thick black cords shoot out of the inner launch tubes. The cords whip about, to ensnare Juri's limbs and stab each of those kunai into her battered flesh. If they do, the puppet will /whip/ Juri into the air -- at which point each of those blades spark and then /explode/, one-by-one.
"You shouldn't horde beauty like that, you know."
"That," Shihong notes, her form descending, hitting the ground with a graceful crouch. Slowly the Chinese woman rises from the ground, the psychic fire once roaring down her long legs violently winking out of existing before she shifts her weight from one foot to the other. Casually, Shihong places her hands upon her hips, a wide sneer cutting over her pale face.
"Is more like it!"
The massive plume of fire is enough to bring the former Syndicate enforcer some semblance of relief; the girl had been a handful up to this point, and now there was seemingly some chance of her and Yuu beating the crap out of her as SHE HAD HOPED. "Think she's dead?" she wonders to the Puppeteer, blinking slowly. However, a sudden sound draws her attention--
It's that damn girl again.
"Oh come ON," Shihong exclaims, arms flailing into the air before she juts a finger toward her angry, blackened form. The baleful glare is met with an angry look from Shihong, red eyes dimly glowing as she just glares right back at the angry, potentially-gravely wounded girl. "You should be /dead/. What is this bullshit?!"
When she rises and then runs in an attempts to beat the living Hell out of Yuu, a whistle quietly escapes the woman as he and his puppet do well to redirect the girl's very lethal assault. "You're so amazing~" chimes the Chinese woman before she too moves, hoping to capitalize on Juri being snared by Izanagi and drive her heel--very, very painfully--into the girl's lower back.
"/You/ have some serious anger issues, girl."
COMBATSYS: Juri full-parries Yuu's Hisamatsu-Midori Shijimi EX!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Yuu 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Juri
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Shihong 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Juri interrupts Heel Kick from Shihong with Kaisen Dankairaku EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Yuu 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Juri
[ \\\\\\ <
Shihong 1/-----==/=======|
When Juri feels her attack completely deflected by Yuu, the blinding hot rage smoldering behind her eyes turns to blood crimson. "YOU!" she hisses behind her teeth, unironically nearly getting her target's name right. Her foot grinds against the spear, but ultimately slides past him. This puts her in a rather unfortunate and unbalanced position. Pressing the advantage her opponents both seek to finally put the seriously unbalanced woman down for the count.
But luck is a capricious bitch.
As the cords come from her Juri does not move. Instead she grabs the cords with her hands, catching them out of the air! When the kunai are fired there is a moment in time it looks like she will be hit by them. Her violet, blood-shot right eye glares alongside her also violet but not bloodshot left eye as she coldly states, "Whatever." With her other hand she skillfully deflects each one as it comes, each flying off in a random direction. She does so without even really concentrating it looks like. When the last one comes for her she actually catches it out of mid-air and attempts to flick it behind her, hoping to catch Shihong off guard with the weapon!
Of course she didn't quite expect the sudden explosion from all of them. No, and soon the entire battlefield is covered in a dust storm worth of smoke. Shihong's kick does find purchase on Juri's back through the mire, but it is not a direct hit. It quickly slides off the side of her waist and the frightening woman's voice can be heard coldly stating, "Do you think you can kill someone like me so easily?"
Juri and Shihong are soon seen rising above the choking cloud! Juri is producing a swirling vortex of violet energy and Shihong is caught by the circular kicks that produce it. When they reach the apex of Juri's attack, Juri's body can be seen rising above the other woman's with a storm of purple energy swirling vibrantly around her! A mighty overhead kick is delivered sending Shihong crashing back down and into the smoke cloud. Astoundingly, and without adequate explanation, Juri manages to propel herself down faster than Shihong is - disappearing into the cloud a full second before Shihong reaches it.
When the smoke clears the image is dire. Shihong's body will be bent over Juri's upwards facing foot: Her spine curled around it painfully by the combined force of the fall and Juri's upward kick. Meanwhile Juri herself reaches up to gently stroke Shihong on the chin while cooing in her ear, "But please... tell me what it's like." The garish purple in her light becomes even brighter before, suddenly, Juri spins on her heel in order to deliver Shihong face-and-neck first onto the ground below!
Once she is finished with her attack, Juri will kneel while breathing painfully. One hand will reach up to grab a piece of shrapnel in her shoulder and with a feral howl of pain she pulls it THROUGH her shoulder and tosses it aside. It appears to be a pit of a rotor, at least a one point, and is now caked with a combination of blood and Juri's shredded flesh. Juri hisses softly. From the field of vision of her left eye there is a readout:
[Grievous Bodily Harm Detected. Third and Second Degree Burns. Multiple Lacerations. Two Broken Ribs. Engaged Recouperative Mode y/n?]
With a flick of her eye Juri select no, and then with another flick of dispels the warning screen. An unfortunate turn of events, because she would have noticed that it would advise her to disengage. Otherwise if she continued to take damage the Recouperative Mode would go into override mode and leave her vulnerable. But that wouldn't be a problem would it?
Juri laughs softly to herself after catching her breath, "Wow. You two are really something. I'd almost be convinced you two were trying to kill me. But no... you'd like to kill me but neither of you are really planning on doing it."
"My goodness," Yuu observes considerately.
"Our target seems to be quite unforgiving!"
The only sign of the puppeteer's true feelings comes with the faint furrowing of brows as Juri so effortlessly deflects those cord-tied kunai, lasting less than even a second before a lock of exaggerated concern graces his pale, bloodied features. This, by happenstance, coincides with Shihong getting her fool self kicked with a broiling mass of psychic fury. The puppeteer whistles faintly in return, a delicate frown tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Hmmm," he muses, softly. "Are you still alive?
"It'd be a little inconvenient if you aren't, so please let me know if you're dead or not."
Dusts bursts forward from the impact point, gushing out around the ankles of Yuu's feet. He barely registers the dull ache of white-hot pain that continues to sting his mind over the sensation of sheer, overwhelming delight that continues to overtake him. That psychic power of Juri's is vast. Greater than Shihong's by far. Is it natural talent? Or -- there's something about that eye. Is it--
"Oh no, not at all," Yuu assures Juri with an apologetic smile, lifting his still usable hand to rub the back of his head. "We really are going to kill you.
"You're just too frightening, that's all!"
This point is, perhaps, oddly accentuated by the twitch of Yuu's fingers and the forward thrust of Izanagi. Its tremendous spear hefted into the air, it seems to be intent to impale Juri with the bladed tip of its weapon, were it not for the incredible distance between them. This distance suddenly becomes less of a problem as the lance's blade detaches along a long metal chain, elongating abruptly and swinging high into the air -- before the large puppet /yanks/ that chain lead downward like a whip, intent to bring that lance blade downward toward Juri like the executioner's blade.
With the sudden flick of the lethal kunai at her face, Shihong blinks. That was not expected.
Her steps falter somewhat; this, of course, gives Juri the opening she needs to slam a kick into her and send her flying upwards in the vicious vortex of psychic fire she herself is too familiar with. The kicks are painful, even more so when the overhead kick sends her into the churning clouds of smoke below. She hits the ground hard--
Or would, if Juri hadn't inexplicably caught her on her foot and likely broken her spine in HALF.
Juri's remark doesn't elicit a response from Shihong; after all, she's in quite a lot of pain. It only adds insult to injury when she's slammed face-first into the asphalt, the cracked earth haloing around the woman's head.
For several moments, Shihong does not move. Instead, she lays there, barely breathing and possibly on death's door as Juri rips shrapnel from her body and chides the pair. Only after the girl teases them does Shihong's body twitch slightly, her shoulders shivering before her hands move. Like the living dead she shuffles slowly and awkwardly on the ground, peeling her bloodied, scraped-up pale face from the asphalt and dirt. Red eyes are fiercely glowing as she looks at the girl's back.
Yes, Yuu. She's still alive. Barely, but still alive.
As Izanagi's spear makes its strike upon Juri, Shihong utilizes what is very likely the last of her energy to rip swiftly from the ground and leap at Juri's backside. Doing so legs-first, she seeks to slam her heeled feet into her back--
However, if they touch it's a harmless touch at best; instead, it's the sudden swell and surge of intensely concentrated Psycho Power that churns and summarily ERUPTS through her that will be the real impact, a vicious spike that will seek to lance through Juri before it explodes, to send her flying--and possibly into Izanagi's incoming spear!
Either way, Shihong merely screeches:
"BITCH!"
COMBATSYS: Shihong successfully hits Juri with Bird of Paradise.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Yuu 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Juri
[ \\\\\ <
Shihong 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Juri parries Yuu's Asama-Ichimonji!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Yuu 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Juri
[ \\\\\ <
Shihong 0/-------/------=|
Juri's voice rises in an uncontrollable cackle in response to Yuu. She responds in a cold tone, "Oh! Really. Really. That's too much. No, I've faced many people who have really wanted to kill me. You two" She pauses and closes her eyes. Exhaling softly she continues, "This fight doesn't feel like that." She glances toward Shihong's fallen frame and grins in a manner that can only be described as predatory, "If you want to know what it feels like to fight someone who really wants to kill you. Ask her later, if her neck isn't broken anyway."
But things aren't over yet. Right then the bladed tip of a spear comes rocketing toward her! Juri doesn't even glance back to look at it before raising her foot to kick the flat side of the spear! It is sent rocketing upward into the air. Just in time for Shihong to come rocketing in with all her fury to try and deliver a final killing blow against Juri.
For this, Juri is less prepared.
The sudden kick to Juri's back, and accompanying explosion, sends her rocketing forward! And toward, well, Yuu. She arrives in a crumpled heep at his feet. Her body limply skidding across the ground with enough force that she leaves a trail of blood from the bare skin that scraped against the asphalt beneath her. All in all she looks in pretty bad shape now. Skin charred, hair now loose from their familiar horned shape but in a tangled mess. Her clothes are in tatters, and were it not for her extensive injuries one would suspect that she would be showing far too much sensual flesh.
Luckily the flesh is now less sensual as it is horrifying to behold.
Even in this state Juri rises up suddenly and very powerfully right before Yuu. Her cracked lips split into a bloodied smile as she whispers in his face, "Boo." Her foot raises suddenly and attempts to press down directly against the top of his head!
COMBATSYS: Juri successfully hits Yuu with Assatsu Kick EX.
[ \\ < > ///// ]
Yuu 1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0 Juri
[ \\\\\ <
Shihong 0/-------/------=|
Juri's voice can be heard cackling loudly as she presses Yuu's face down into the earth beneath her heel, "Does." She delivers a kick to the base of his neck, "This." another painful kick is delivered to his upper back, "FEEL GOOD?!" The final kick slams into his lower back with enough force that she leaps up and away from the downed ninja. She lands gracefully, but panting loudly. Her entire body it seems is trying to fall apart on her, and there's very little left that she can manage.
"Oh? Do you know how many ways one can desire to kill a person?" Yuu asks pleasantly, his cold yellow eyes holding a hint of unbalanced malice behind them.
"There are so very many. Believe me...
"... our employer wants you dead. And we are quite dedicated to his desires."
Yuu shrugs helplessly just as Izanagi launches forward, wincing only slightly at the tense pain at his shoulder. "Though I'm afraid we can't muster up the passion you do!" Despite the fact that Juri so effortlessly deflects his puppet's spear with her foot, the intent behind the movement is clear: Yuu meant with every fiber of his being to kill Juri with that blow, just as much as the others. Behind that calm politeness, there is a murderer's gleam in his eyes. The kind that one might find from a child tugging off the wings of a bug.
"And there's so much I'd like to learn about your insid--"
Of course, that look fades to one of surprised as Juri uses the momentum of Shihong's own attack against -- him? Juri moves far too fast to react to in time; before he can do so much as move, the charred and bloodied form of Juri rises up like a spectre, like the undead, her foot impacting the top of his head with a sickening crack of bone. Pain lances through him like a spear, and Yuu bites his tongue from the force, blood and spittle splattering from his lips as he smashes face-first into the harsh burnt ground. More sickening crunches come as Juri begins to literally stomp him into the earth, blood smearing across dirt and dust in an unsightly display. Another kick to his upper back, and the sound of bone snapping can be heard; final to the lower back sends a soundless spasm through the puppeteer, concealing the twitch of his fingers expertly.
Does it feel good?
"... ttt..."
Suddenly, Izanagi lands directly in front of Yuu. That spear is thrust forward again, detaches again -- but this time, explosive rounds imbedded in the tip go off one by one before the blade can reach Juri, explosions blooming in brilliant plumes of heat, fire and force in a halo around the blade. The spear's chain yanks /backward/ the moment the explosions go off, the backward force creating a swirling vortex of heat and kinetic force aimed to funnel directly into the panting Juri.
Does it feel good?
"... flls...
"... WONDERFUL...!"
By the time the rippling heat dissipates, both Izanagi and its master are gone, leaving only a deep depression in the ground and an large, bloody smear in their wake.
COMBATSYS: Yuu can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\ < > ///// ]
Shihong 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Juri
Well...
Oops.
Scowling fiercely as Juri actually capitalizes on her efforts to send her sprawling into the oncoming spear of Izanagi, Shihong lands in a deep crouch before shakily rising. "Oh that is such bullshit," the Chinese woman harshly muses aloud, red eyes--still glowing--glaring at the girl as she beats the shit out of Yuu. "You're supposed to be /dead/. God."
Then Yuu orchestrates his final assault, utilizing the exploding spear into a vortex of pain sent right at Juri. When the proverbial smoke clears, he's gone.
Shihong frowns. Big.
"That coward," she grouses, biting at her bloodied, bottom lip before sneering. No matter, she thinks. She can do this by herself /anyway/. She was already, wasn't she..?
Coming up from behind Juri again, Shihong attempts to make use of the Yuu-orchestrated distraction to GRAB the girl by one of her arm's wrists. Should she snare her, that arm will be severely pulled--to the point where it's dislocated and has her temporarily at Shihong's mercy, so she can- -with Psycho Power-laden heels- -literally climb the girl's backside heels first before she leaps briefly over her shoulder and SLAMS both feet into her, intent on shoving her face-first into the earth and causing an explosion of vermillion energy to add insult to injury and hopefully maybe kill her.
COMBATSYS: Yuu successfully hits Juri with Oh-Uraginsuji Hyomon.
Glancing Blow
[ \\\\ < > /// ]
Shihong 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Juri
COMBATSYS: Juri dodges Shihong's Savage Tiger.
[ \\\\ < > /// ]
Shihong 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Juri
Juri just shakes her head and sighs. As she does, small bits of cooled metal flake from her hair in an odd prismatic shower. "Whatever. It's not like you're in any condition to do anything anywa---."
Spoke too soon apparently, eh Juri? Her eyes scowl as she sees the spear thrust toward her again, and once again she prepares to deflect it! But it's different this time. Instead it erupts into a fire explosion. One fierce enough that it leaves her digging in her heels just to keep from being dragged in! She grits her teeth and scowls angrily through the vortex at Yuu as she yells, "You little bastard! I'll FUCKING RIP YOUR SPINE OUT!" This is, of course, when Shihong decides to interject. She is already hurting from the flames of the explosion licking at the front of her body, and in that state that is all that it takes to send her over the edge. But it also sends her adrenaline into overdrive allowing her to detect Shihong's presence, and quite quickly spin out of the way!
She lands on all fours: Fingers digging into the cracked asphalt beneath her. She breathes deeply as she stands. The warning in her left eye glares brighter now warning her that recouperation mode is imminent and telling her to flee. As if Juri even knew the meaning of the word. No, instead she stands defiantly in front of Shihong. Her left eye glows brightly while her bloodied teeth grit an angry smile. She speaks in that soft menacing purr of hers though, "Well... you two have been the first to push me this far in a long, long time. It seems our play time together is about to be at an end."
She leans down, arms stretched out before her with palms facing upward and fingers tightened into a claw-like pattern. Her voice hisses softly, "Before that though ... I have one more gift for you." Like a wobbly rocket Juri suddenly STREAKS toward Shihong. She'll attempt to hit her with a final turn kick aiming to bring the top of her foot directly against the other woman's stomach. Regardless of its result, Juri will end up slumped forward against the ground and breathing heavily. Will she ever move again? Well ... time will tell.
COMBATSYS: Juri can no longer fight.
[ \\\\ <
Shihong 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Juri successfully hits Shihong with Light Kick.
- Power hit! -
[ <
Shihong 0/-------/----===|
Well, at least something went right for them.
While Yuu's flaming spear of explosions manages to at least /graze/ the psychotic young SIN woman, Shihong's efforts are for naught. Missing the girl completely as the girl swerves out of harm's way, there's an obvious expression of annoyance upon the woman's battered, bruised and bloodied pale face. "Tch--bit--" is her comment before she's kicked really, really hard.
The force send the woman flying backwards, her back skidding across the ground before she stops--thanks to her crashing into a pile of twisted rubble. For several moments Shihong sits, eyes staring up at the skies overhead…before they simply close. With one final exhale, Shihong simply loses consciousness, her body finally relaxing as she's forced to sleep in a sea of chaos and fire.
But that's okay, of course. They managed to beat up Juri in the process, somehow. And that's good enough for Shihong. For now, anyway.
COMBATSYS: Shihong takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Shihong can no longer fight.
[Recouperation Mode Override Engage. Feng Shui Engine rerouting Psycho Power to heal physical wounds. Stand by.]
That glaring red message occupies the otherwise static-filled view point from her left eye. She laments, silently, on how annoying it is to have something that is visible even when you close your eye - particularly when it is glaring red and blinking. This brings a rueful chuckle to her lips, "Fucking Seth..."
If there is one thing she can take as a consolation it is the force with which she kicked Shihong that one last time. Juri's head feels heavy as she raises it to look across at the woman, now laying unconscious and staring skyward. Maybe once she has recovered, Juri and the woman can have a brief heart-to-heart. Maybe not she thinks to herself. Who knows how long this repair system is going to keep her hostage.
So Juri lowers her head once more as she remains slumped over the ground. Now wisps of purple psycho energy can be seen rising from her wounds as they slowly stop bleeding and begin to heal. Bits of shrapnel are forcefully ejected from her body by mini-gouts of violet colored energy. None of the pain of these events are dulled any, and some bring whimpers of pain from Juri followed by her whispering once more under her breath:
"Fuckin' Seth..."
Juri is now unconscious.
Log created on 21:03:53 06/16/2010 by Shihong, and last modified on 19:05:29 06/21/2010.