Description: On his home turf, local Gedo student Tenma Kiryuu faces down two lithe female invaders on Gedo's cluttered roof, poor footing and all. Although the fight goes down to the wire, it seems as if Tenma's indomitable Gedo spirit is able to pull him through. (Winner: Tenma)
SATURDAY NIGHT
(MAY INVOLVE FIGHT)
It's been a long time since Tenma Kiryuu was involved in any sort of high-profile professional fighting, and considering that the last time he was in a tournament it involved things like having to fight an army of insane robot M0M0s and almost getting thrown off a lightning bridge by Juri Han, it's probably not too surprising that even the perpetually overconfident Guardian King has kept what could roughly be approximated as a 'low profile' since then.
But... No longer.
With Saturday Night Fight putting a match on his own home turf, Tenma stands on the roof of Gedo High with a smile on his face. This is /exactly/ the sort of thing he needed, you know? It's kind of hard to get an /audience/ up here, of course, but there are cameras - on the rooftops of distant buildings, and even a helicopter camera crew, to ensure they don't miss a moment of horrible, horrible violence. Down below, in the courtyard, there's a number of Gedo High students spectating as best they can, calling up encouragement, advice, and maybe an insult or two.
Nobody ever said they were /couth/.
Waiting for things to get started, Tenma stands on the very peak of the curved roof, his hands balanced on the butt end of his bokken, the weapon's wooden point resting against the rooftop; he wears his school uniform, such as it is, failing as usual to deign to wear a proper Gedo one. Blue-grey slacks, sneakers, a surprisingly crisp white shirt left partially unbuttoned, untucked and with the sleeves rolled up (he's wearing a t-shirt underneath, don't worry) and a high collared uniform jacket in the same blue-grey as his slacks slung casually over his shoulders instead of being worn properly, its collar pins replaced with Gedo ones.
He does, indeed, look like he considers himself the king of this particular hill, and why shouldn't he? The roof is the Guardian Kings' territory, and he's their leader, so... If anywhere, this is the 'throne' of the King of Blood.
But his opponents...?
What a week.
Although it was nice to actually see Wang's skills in person, and nice to have a team for the King of Fighters actually beginning to form, but there was something unsettling going on in that battle. Working with Denji and Wang together is going to be a challenge in more ways than one; seeing them interact with each other (let alone with herself) has proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt. But she also met that nice policeman from Metro City, which wasn't so bad. And while his comment rings in her ears -- 'nobody wins, someone just loses faster' -- in regards to SNF, Farah made the attempt to appear a second time regardless.
There are some... feelings regarding competitive fighting she needs to sort out.
Also, she looks relieved as she exits the stairwell and comes out onto the roof. She had to walk through Gedo (and Gedo students) to get up here, and Gedo High School is not the best place to be 1.) attractive, 2.) female, and 3.) psychic. More than once she felt a powerful urge to really turn and give someone a piece of her mind, but some sixth sense told her that while she COULD do that, it wouldn't accomplish anything... it would only reinforce their beliefs and mark her as oversensitive and touchy.
But she felt the sweat in her palms as her fingers curled into fists, and out again. No different from the sudden, strange urge to strike back at fighters who've hurt her, to make them hurt just as much. The feeling that all she needs to do is exercise her power to make people understand or, barring that, make them pay.
Hopping nimbly across air conditioning units and pipes, she withdraws a length of cobalt blue ribbon from her pocket and ties it around her wrist. Up on the roof, there's plenty of breeze to make the long tails of the particularly lengthy ribbon billow out behind her dramatically as she enters the 'arena', giving Tenma a nod.
If one were to watch closely enough, they might be able to notice Nagase's on presence on the rooftop before she turns stealth mode off. While she's still moving, anyway. Little shimmers of refracted light here and there as she paces the area out and tries to memorize little details of the locale. But well... it doesn't take her very long at all to get bored with that and shut things down to conserve precious battery life.
Immediately after the cloaking is turned off, though, it's all like 'WHOA, THERE IS A PERSON HERE' because of all the yellow and the bright orange highlights in her hair and just, what the hell? She's not being very silent anymore, either, typing on some kind of fancy new-age keypad on her wrist, and mumbling to herself as she does so. *clackclackclack* *beeeep* "Hmm. Tenma. Got it."
The cybergeek ninja then looks up slowly to turn her attention toward her arranged teammate, and fiddles with her petite little glasses. To scan now, or later?
If one could find the Russian girl, Farah could probably find a sympathetic ear - or brain - in Stasya Voronkova as far as being a psychic girl at Gedo High goes. And just think, Stasya deals with it /every day/! But then, the other students also know that she hangs out with some scary guys and that she can make energy blades come out of her arms, so they probably keep it toned down as best they can.
The wind from the helicopter crew stirs Tenma's hair, and the jacket he's wearing draped over his shoulders as the other two fighters make their respective arrivals, although only one of them chooses to show up in a relatively normal way. Tenma Kiryuu, being the sort of young man he is and all, tracks Farah's hopping arrival with his dark blue eyes, and it keeps him distracted enough that he doesn't notice when the Predat--I mean, Nagase appears out of what literally seems to be thin air.
"Geez," the tall, lean young man mutters, now taking in Nagase's rather, er, /loud/ appearance as well. That girl is not subtle, so - how did he miss her arrival? Well, he decides privately, it's probably not important. "Guess I should be flattered they think it'll take two girls at once to handle me," Tenma says, shrugging his shoulders to toss off his uniform jacket, and lifting his left hand to his mouth, he bites into his thumb, blood dripping from the wound.
Raising his sword, Tenma draws his bloodied thumb down the wooden blade, painting a stripe along its length from tip to just above the handle, initialising his peculiar chi link; sweeping his bokken through the air activates the link, a smoky red aura of blood and chi, the two mingled together so closely that they're the same thing, emanating from the blade. And then, he stands there, watching the two. He rests his weapon against his shoulder, almost negligently, while his other hand dangles at his side, drops of blood pattering, slowly and quietly against the curved metal rooftop as they drop from his thumb.
"So," Tenma wonders, then, tilting his head slightly to one side as his mouth pulls in a smirk. "You two ready to go, or what?"
COMBATSYS: Tenma has started a fight here on the left meter side.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Tenma 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Nagase has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Tenma 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Nagase
COMBATSYS: Farah has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Tenma 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Nagase
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Farah 0/-------/-------|
Whoa. Not just hidden from sight; Farah actually didn't sense Nagase until she just appeared out of nowhere, either. Thankfully Farah is able to keep herself composed, because she's standing on a not that substantial foothold of a pipe. Taking a deep breath, the Egyptian studies both her opponent and her temporary partner. Nagase seems surprisingly tightly controlled, to Farah, despite the ninja's easygoing demeanor, while Tenma...
She actually watches in some combination of fascination and horror as he deploys his wooden sword and his rather unique way of getting ready for battle. "That..."
There's a moment while she processes, and then she simply gets into stance, taking measured breaths. Normally, this is where she tells everyone she hopes to test their limits and go beyond. A little shaken, she falls back on, "...good luck, and do your best."
Nagase would almost take offense at the notion that she couldn't handle the guy without the help of an outside party, but... she's not *that* overconfident. At least not all the time. And it seems more important to her to point out the obvious in this case, giving Tenma a rather flat look as she remarks, "You say that as if you expected the match-up to be fair and balanced."
Seriously. Wasn't the whole SNF thing started by Geese Howard? That means the Southtown Syndicate would have to be very deeply involved in how it is run. And the stripey redhead is privy to a lot of that, being a part of said Syndicate herself, so she knows how cold those dudes can be.
As to the Gedo student's other comment, though, she's even quicker to reply. "Always!" And then she punches the roof, resulting in an arcing jet of flame that shoots up from the point of impact to go leaping toward her opponent across the expanse between the two, bounding up and down along its path almost like a living entity itself.
COMBATSYS: Nagase successfully hits Tenma with Unrelenting Fire.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Nagase
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Farah 0/-------/-------|
"Fair?" Tenma repeats, apparently unaware of Farah's disgust as his peculiar ritual - he's been doing it long enough that he doesn't even think about it, and he's heard all sorts of comments about it by now, enough that he doesn't worry about /that/, either. "If this was fair, you think they'd need the pair of you?"
But then, fire!
Tenma bites off a curse as he tries to dive to the side out of the way, but he doesn't predict the bouncing fire's movement correctly, and instead his attempt to /dodge/ it turns into /jumping right in its way/, which is not very productive, and kind of painful, sending the lean young man careening off ot the side, rolling to break his fall.
Well, he supposes, they wouldn't be /fighters/ if they completely sucked right?
Springing back to his feet, Tenma wobbles a bit off-balance and... Lunges right at Farah, because he hasn't seen what /she/ can do, yet. "Hey," the rough young man offers, conversationally. "How's it goin'?" As he says this, of course, he thrusts his bokken out point-first at the Egyptian woman, the bloody energy gathering at the tip and, should it land, 'sticking' to Farah... Long enough for Tenma to then swing his bokken up overhead, presumably taking Farah with, and then releasing her to let physics do its thing.
Huaaah-!!"
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Farah with Asura.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Nagase
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Farah 0/-------/-======|
She had thought Denji's command of the forces of nature was impressive, but this? Well...
This is something different.
This isn't the greatest place int he world to try being an evasive type, even if you're a relatively nimble fighter like Farah... but there's also something hypnotically disturbing about the blood red field of chi that Tenma commands, something that is raging against Farah's sixth sense like a hammer. It's inexplicable and strange, but it also means when he comes for her, the Egyptian is highly distracted. She tries to twist out of the way but Tenma finds his mark, Farah's steps a moment too slow... and she is introduced to pain of a sort she had not felt before now.
The throw doesn't seem to faze her that much; she actually rolls with it relatively well, but the real hammer of that attack was something else entirely, and there's a very strange look on the dusky-skinned woman's face as she gets up. ~ Denji's power... ~ For a moment, she envisions the long-haired monk compared to the young man in front of her. No... Denji's power has a sort of joy to it. This power...
~ Who is he? ~
But this is a fight, something Farah seems to recognize at the last second, and she shakes her head at Tenma, before breathing out a somewhat strained-sounding "Sorry." But then she is on the offensive, nimbly stepping over obstacles to attempt to snag Tenma's non-sword arm, twisting it around his back before giving him a gentle shove forward to fall where he may.
Nagase rolls her eyes a bit, and opens her mouth to say something else snarky in reply. But analyzing his next move is a bit more important so she ends up closing her trap just as quickly, pushing her glasses up on her nose while watching the attack against Farah and following her rise and fall while readouts flash in front of her eyes. Then comes the part where she tries to capitalize on what she deems Tenma's misplaced focus. Twin blades are drawn from behind her, and she starts hacking and slashing vertically as she rushes the Guardian King down with what seems like surgical precision. This ought to make her partner a little less nervous over her chances of being hit with a stray swipe in such close proximity. And it may even be a secondary objective of the knowledge-thirsty ninja's to find out.
COMBATSYS: Tenma dodges Farah's Medium Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Nagase
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Farah 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Tenma interrupts Combo Attack from Nagase with Initial Breaker.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Nagase
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Farah 0/-------/-======|
Who /is/ Tenma Kiryuu? That's an interesting question.
From a perspective of 'power', though, Tenma's is... Unrestrained. Overwhelming. The manifestation of his chi is rather peculiar and to some people awfully disgusting, but the Kiryuu 'demon hunter' is constantly radiating an enormous aura, either unwilling or unable to keep all that power under wraps. And it is what it is: A weapon. There's no real malice there, no desire to actually go out and hurt anyone, but there is... Something buried. Something colder than Tenma's demeanor would lead one to expect.
Something that was born when he 'killed' Marise, in the basement of the Capital 7 building.
"Don't apologise, this is a /fight/," Tenma responds, avoiding the attempt to grab his arm by suddenly skirting back out of the way, Farah's fingers only managing to brush his free arm, the blood red prayer beads on his left wrist. "And you're gonna have to buy me dinner before we go holding hands," he adds.
BUT THEN
Nagase rushes at him, presumably from his blind spot; initially, Tenma seems unaware of what's going on, but he abruptly twists and quickly assumes a 'gatotsu' stance, right hand pulling back in a single smooth motion to level his bokken horizontally, point aimed at the incoming Nagase, his left hand at the point of the wooden blade. And, as Nagase makes her first slash, he steps into it and pistons his arm forward, a blunted 'stab' into the ninja's midsection even as her blade cuts a shallow line under his eye. "Too slow!!"
Perhaps it was simply the contrast between Tenma's unfettered swirl of energy and Denji Akiyama's substantial yet airy emerald chi that got to Farah. But there is something oddly compelling about the Gedo student, nonetheless. Perhaps it's just because the Egyptian is drawn to strong personalities, one way or the other. But when she has a moment thanks to Tenma's evading her strike, she gets to see Nagase in action... and focus on the ninja's behavior. Farah's probably not quite perceptive enough to notice that Nagase is doing anything other than fighting, but there is something... slippery about the girl's aura. Hmm.
"Of course," she says to Tenma, realizing that the next natural words in that sentence are 'I'm sorry' and stifling them. She doesn't attack just yet; instead she stands her ground and watches carefully. "You have a very interesting... fighting style," is what she says at last. "Do many of the students here fight the same way?" Oh lord, I hope not.
COMBATSYS: Farah focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Nagase
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Farah 0/-------/-======|
Nagase staggers back and drops to one knee momentarily after having that blunt and bloodied weapon driven into her abdomen. That hurt. And even though her gear has plenty of readouts to tell her exactly how *much* it hurt, she still takes the time to look down and rub against the spot where she was stabbed to make sure none of that blood is her own. ...or at least, that's how she wants it to appear on the surface. She's really making inconspicuous gestures against the front of her puffy jacket in the hopes of setting Tenma's swordarm on fire with a little Iga fire spell.
And whether successful or not, she tries to go flipping back out of range while she still can, turning her gaze toward Farah and tilting her chin up at the other girl. "What about you? Please don't turn out to be some lame wrestler or something. Show me something good? Hm?" she chirps over, pointing toward their opponent with an index.
COMBATSYS: Tenma Toughs Out Nagase's Katon no Jutsu!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Nagase
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Farah 0/-------/-======|
"No," Tenma replies to Farah's question. "Most of 'em have their own style... Or they learn what the Boss teaches." His own talents have never run quite the same way as Daigo Kazama's, and by the time he came to Gedo he was too ingrained with his family's ancestral fighting style to pick up something completely new in the first place... Although he's nevertheless innovated somewhat, modifying the traditional combat style of the Kiryuu clan with his own tricks he's picked up here and there.
And then, Nagase sets his arm on fire.
"Ah?" Tenma wonders, looking down in what appears to be more mild annoyance than anything else. "What the hell is this weak shit?" Tenma's power flares, snuffing out the flames as he sweeps his arm in a wide arc, swinging his sword with it; but he's too far to actually /hit/ anything. A red afterimage follows in the wake of the blade, courtesy of the bloody aura radiating from the blessed hardwood weapon, and from that afterimage emerges a crescent of roiling blood and chi, cutting through the air towards Nagase. "COME ON!!"
She tries not to show it, but Farah finds that reassuring. A whole school full of Tenma Kiryuu? Oh, man.
Craziness.
It looks like Nagase has no fear about wading back in, but Farah has the impression the ninja might be able to handle Tenma's roiling energy much better than she could. Still, it doesn't mean she can just sit there and do nothing. "I see... well then. Let's get back into the game..." Her hand comes up, the one with the ribbon on it, and her own brand of energy starts to build up, an aura of starry night sky-blue Soul Power that flows down her palm and into the fluttering tails fo the ribbon. Kicking off the rooftop, she vaults over a pipe, leaps on top of an air conditioning unit, and lands on the ground near Tenma before almost gliding across the ground between the two, that fist extended and the tails of the ribbon making a perfect double helix behind her as the soul-empowered fist looks to connect with Tenma's head. "Spiral!"
COMBATSYS: Nagase dodges Tenma's Dharmapala.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Nagase
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Farah 0/-------/-======|
Nagase would probably agree with Farah were she to say so out loud, just by virtue of her own overinflated ego. She can totally dodge-tank this guy! But if Farah proves to be some lackluster DPS then this party could be over pretty quick. After all, this isn't a computer game. She doesn't have unlimited energy to burn or quick ways to refill said energy, so she's going to get tired of moving fast eventually. Also, she doesn't have the option of hacking or putting in a cheat code if things start getting too difficult!
*flip* *woosh* "Oh, hey. One of my favorite words. Nice." the redhead offers in response to Farah's display of power, even in mid flight, upside down, flipping and somersaulting several more times on her way back over to Tenma seconds after avoiding his energy slash and trying to hook her arms around his waist to draw him up into a wicked ninja piledriver.
COMBATSYS: Farah successfully hits Tenma with Spiral Heart.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Tenma 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Nagase
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Farah 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Nagase successfully hits Tenma with Nagase Spiral.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Tenma 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 Nagase
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Farah 1/-------/=======|
.../Ninjas/.
Tenma's dark blue eyes narrow in annoyance as Nagase manages to avoid his bloody projectile, which unfortunately provides a moment of deadly distraction that proves detrimental to the Kiryuu heir's defense.
He twists to try and get his bokken in the way of Farah's energy punch, but his guard comes up a second too late, the strike ploughing through it and hitting him right in the head, which staggers the tall young man... And makes him stumble right into Nagase's attack.
When he gets piledrivered, there is a sound remarkably like 'KLUDD' from his head hitting the curved, plated roof.
He has enough presence of mind to roll clear, though, preventing any immediate followup, and gets his footing back under him promptly. "Not bad," he allows, although that was, all things considered, pretty good... And then he's rushing right at Farah, looking to reply to her punch by kicking her right in the head.
...And /then/ slashing at her with his chi-emanating bokken, right across the torso.
COMBATSYS: Farah fails to counter Fierce Strike from Tenma with Gekirinju.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Tenma 1/----===/=======|======-\-------\0 Nagase
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Farah 1/-------/=======|
This is seriously not her day.
Farah understands that if she and Nagase are fighting together, then Tenma has to be a powerful and experienced fighter. But even Fei Long's searing flame was nothing compared to the bloody arcs that Tenma's blade slices through the air. Farah doesn't let the charge of Soul Power leave that ribbon, so it too leaves sparks of cobalt blue in the air as she twirls her arm back, attempting to snag the Gedo student's weapon with the tails, but she's a moment too slow. Unfortunately, there's considerable power behind that blade and it meets practically no resistance striking Farah; the Egyptian literally flies across the distance as if hit with a wrecking ball, slamming into a chimney and slumping to the floor. Thankfully it doesn't shatter on top of her, but man, in a mere two strikes Tenma's brought her to the brink of unconsciousness.
When she stumbles to her feet, it's shaky, and she doesn't have anything to say. Instead, she's thoroughly jarred by the aura she feels, conveyed through Tenma's attacks. Nagase is mysterious and hidden, but for her own sake, the Egyptian actually feels a sort of sadness in that bloody blade. "Ngh..." is all she can get out. That hurt an awful lot.
Well okay, Farah's not a wrestler, and she's not bad DPS. That was a good combo they had going for a minute there. But well, like most DPSers, the poor girl drew too much hate and her nin-tank wasn't able to pull the elite off of her in time. That's how Nagase sees it in her own heavily PC-oriented brain, anyway. She *was* already trying to insert herself in between them, and as previously noted, she's fast enough that it's kind of ridiculous. At running, and flipping, if nothing else. But the failing in this case is that she had no time to coordinate with the Egyptian woman first, and they're both complete strangers, so...
In any case, she can't exactly stop her own attempt to get in the way simply because Farah's already been smacked down. She was already in motion. So one moment she's dashing at Tenma, then there's a burst of noxious smoke that floats right toward him on the wind she just kicked up as she suddenly disappears, and then promptly reappears on the other side of him, spinning and slashing with both of her ninjato one after the other as she does two full rotations, aiming for vitals.
COMBATSYS: Tenma interrupts Tricky Rounder from Nagase with Dead End Breaker.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/-----==|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Nagase
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Farah 1/-------/=======|
Unlike a lot of fighters, Tenma's refinement has come less as a result of being in traditional tournaments and more as a result of horrific life or death situations which, though they've managed to make him somewhat more serious than he used to be, actually don't seem to have made any horrific psychological scars on the young man as of yet. Both Jinchuu 'tournaments', the battle with Marise, the Siege of Southtown... After stuff like that, a Saturday Night Fight match is practically a form of relaxation.
Also after that, Tenma's strength has blossomed perhaps much more quickly than the average fighter's.
With Farah blasted away despite her attempt to turn his attack against him, Tenma is free to deal with Nagase. But then, he's given another demonstration of ninjas being ninjas as Nagase closes with him and then /vanishes/ in a cloud of totally gross smoke and then is right behind him attempting to stab him in the back.
"...GOT YOU!" the Guardian King roars as he whirls around on Nagase, and just as she cuts him, drawing a bleeding gash down his side, Tenma slashes her across the chest with his chi-emanating bokken and stops her dead.
On the other hand, /he/ doesn't stop in the least, unloading a combination of slashes and kicks on the cyberpunk ninja, finishing the whole thing off with a thunderous, brutal headbutt, his forehead smashing into Nagase's face with tremendous strength.
As she stumbles back to the battlefield, as it were, Farah tries to take stock of this situation. Tenma is a fearless sort, that much is clear; he'll leap head-on into an attack, confident that his counterattack will more than make up for whatever damage he sustains. As things are going now, that appears to be a well supported assumption indeed. The Egyptian looks over at the newly-headbutted Nagase and grimaces. Neither of Tenma's opponents seem particularly adept at taking blows... the best option is to put him down hard and fast now, in her opinion.
If that's even possible.
Yet one other thing is gnawing at Farah. That feeling from before... that need to strike back savagely when she's been so thoroughly beat down... hasn't come back. Was it a fluke, she wonders to herself, or is there something about Tenma or Nagase that calms her heart? Or perhaps she *knows* that she's not expected to match up to Tenma, whereas with Denji or Wang she'd hoped to stand on more equal footing...
Either way, her decision is made.
"Miss Nagase..." Farah begins, hand coming up, ribbon fluttering and the cobalt glow of her Soul Power gathering. "I think you'll know what to do..." Or so Farah hopes. And then she... well. To be blunt, she starts dancing in place, a complicated series of arm passes and spins that makes the now-sparkling tails of her ribbon dance through the air in glittering, unpredictable patterns. More importantly, however, whenever the ribbon tails arc through the air toward Tenma, a burst of Soul Power flows outward. Once, twice... five such arcs in all before Farah's dance comes to a stop. Normally, these blasts fly out one after another at her opponent, but in this case they spiral unpredictably through the air, travelling in strange elliptical orbits until they start to finally re-center and gather on one particular spot...
Nagase gets rocked, pure and simple. She obviously either hasn't scanned this dude enough, or he's reacting in such a way that neither computers or nerds like her can guess his next move. Also, her HUD-shades are very nearly smashed in the ensuing headbutt. But hey, it's not like she's going to be needing them for the rest of the bout if all it's basically doing is helping her miscaclculate!
When all is said and done, she's bruised, bleeding, dizzied, and barely able to stay on her feet. But even then, she's too proud to back down or even try to take a breather. Besides, Farah seems to be expecting something of her, and she's still got this 2-hour to burn. So she taps out a few sequences into her keypad and fades out of view during the distracting lightshow and begins to summon as much Iga ninja fire as she possibly can at one time, looking to concentrate it all on the same spot she sees Farah targetting. Tall, streaming jets of blazing heat and mystic flame explode out of the ground beneath the Guardian King and cross with each other on their way up toward the heavens, forming a blazing helix along with Farah's own incandescent blasts as they try to fry the bloody highschool student in retaliation.
COMBATSYS: Farah and Nagase successfully hit Tenma with Astral Heat.
[ \\\\\ < > //////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Nagase
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Farah 0/-------/-------|
Basically: Farah is a good judge of character.
Tenma finds himself facing the peculiar 'dance' of Farah's ribbon that unleashes her Soul Power, and then the added technical ninja skills of Nagase that summon forth flame, combined with Farah's light to streak towards him in a tremendous blast, one which is perilous to both life and limb for the Kiryuu heir, even with the 'gap' that exists between them. Tenma, though, just lets out a short breath, directed upwards to blow his dark bangs out of his face, and then he grins, and he runs forward.
Into it.
Hitting the blast of fire and Soul Power head on, Tenma staggers, and he stops briefly, unable to quite achieve what he was going for... But he forces himself onward, forces himself to keep going, erupting out the other side singed and battered and visibly worse for the wear... Could this be the finish?!
"Heh," the King of Blood chuckles, grinning through the pain as he closes with Farah. Maybe he's drawing strength from his 'home field advantage'? But once he's close enough, Tenma slashes once, and then a second time with his chi-emanating bokken at the Egyptian woman...!
COMBATSYS: Farah fails to reflect Medium Strike from Tenma with Soul Reflect.
[ \\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Tenma 1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Nagase
[ <
Farah 0/-------/--=====|
COMBATSYS: Farah can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Tenma 1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Nagase
He just walked right INTO it. However you slice it, that's amazingly gutsy, but more to the point, it's tremendously confident. Despite herself, Farah is impressed when Tenma emerges from the carnage... well, 'intact' is maybe hopeful but 'not unconscious' which is relatively surprising. The Egyptian was not expecting the intensity of the flame that Nagase brought to bear; the Iga ninja produces a pyroclasm of astounding proportions.
And there he is, trying to put Farah down for the count. She blinks in surprise, a bit, murmuring, "Tenma Kiryuu... you're one surprising young man."
If she were smart, knowing how little it would take to shove HER over the edge into unconsciousness, Farah would do her damndest to get out of the way, or deflect the strike, or something. But perhaps some of Tenma's attitude wore off on her, or is resonating with her empathically, or something; she feels like the best way to answer his attack is to try one of her own attacks in retaliation. Even as he sweeps in with the first strike, that blue ribbon sweeps in out of nowhere, and the 'weapons' clash then part... but Tenma has a second strike in store and Farah can't get her arm up fast enough. The strike isn't viciously powerful -- it forces her to stumble more than knocks her about -- but it's enough. The Soul Star comes to a stop next to a tall generator box and leans against it, then slumps to the ground, clutching her stomach. Not exactly unconscious... but definitely out of the fight. Looks like it's up to Nagase, now...
Nagase's breathing is noticably more ragged when she reappears due to the effort she expended whilst still hidden from view. But she steels herself and tries to keep up appearances for the camera, straigtening her posture and bringing an index finger up to rub it under her nose, placing the other hand on her hip and putting on that same subdued expression as before. "Che. I got this. You just rest over there."
And then that finger whips out and points at Tenma rudely as she shouts, "You're gonna get stomped, kid!" before literally flipping out on him, aiming to slam her feet down onto his shoulders, flip *again*, and then come down on him with an even harder stomp.
COMBATSYS: Tenma interrupts Nagase Stomp from Nagase with Initial Breaker.
[ \\\\ < > / ]
Tenma 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Nagase
One down, albeit barely. Tenma isn't sure how to react to being called 'surprising' - and he was already busy with trying to hit Farah at the time, anyway - but by the time he's knocked the Egyptian woman down and taken her out of the fight, he just gives her a grin that's somewhere between 'smug' and 'rueful', and shrugs his shoulders... Before he turns to see Nagase, who is still very much a danger. A tricksy, unpredicable and very non-traditional sort of ninja danger.
Tenma Kiryuu rarely bothers to look 'wary' even in life-threatening situations, and he certainly doesn't here. Instead, he grins a bit wider as Nagase asserts that she's 'got this'. Only one way to find out, right?
As Nagase leaps towards him, Tenma sort of repeats his earlier action; he draws his sword arm back, levelling his bokken so that the 'blade' is turned up, the point forward, but as it becomes clear what the other fighter is doing his positioning of the blade shifts, holding it lower so that it points /up/, and when Nagase lands on his shoulders he springs into action.
He stabs, naturally, upwards into Nagase's midsection again - carefully avoiding hitting her anywhere /weird/, thank you very much - rather than allowing her to jump on him a second time... And then he staggers back, worn and battered but, as yet, undefeated.
Guhhhhh. This so would not have happened if she weren't already so sore and had her brain rattled around inside her skull by that earlier headbutt, she tells herself. Falling for the same thing twice just isn't like her! But whatever made it happen, it happened. Let's just concentrate on *not* puking, right now.
The smaller fighter's vision starts to darken as she ends up down on all fours, hacking and coughing until she's able to push herself up at least into a more dignified position, with one leg stretching back behind her like she's about to start a marathon. And then there's a final explosion of blinding smoke as she attempts to ninja teleport for the Nth time, next appearing on the edge of the roof directly behind Tenma and trying to haul him back with her into an Inazuma Drop meant to take them both all the way down to the ground below the school building.
COMBATSYS: Nagase can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\ <
Tenma 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Tenma dodges Nagase's Nagase Spiral.
[ \\\\\ <
Tenma 1/-------/=======|
In some ways, this is the best kind of fight: Everyone pushed to their limits, everyone seeing just what they're capable of.
Tenma Kiryuu has, honestly, never been on /this/ side of an unbalanced numbers match before, so it's something of an experience. All those times... When he and Stasya fought Rock Howard, or when he and Hotaru fought Ryo Sakazaki... Was it like this for them, too? It's, well, it's pretty exhilirating, all things considered.
Tenma stays on his feet largely through sheer toughness and pure will, dark blue eyes fixed on Nagase now that she's the only opponent left, and knowing that the Iga ninja must have at least one more trick up her funny looking sleeves. Smoke erupts again, and Nagase moves with impossible speed despite her injuries, but...
"Shit!" Tenma exclaims as he feels a presence behind him, diving forward to avoid Nagase's grip...
...Although she might end up falling anyway?
"Shit!" the Guardian King repeats, because come on, seriously.
COMBATSYS: Tenma has ended the fight here.
Well the fight is basically over, and Tenma has won, and there's been enough moments passed that Farah can at least haul herself to her feet, stop seeing four of everything, and move around a bit, even if she's not exactly savanna gazelle-ing it over the various obstacles the Gedo roof has to offer. In fact, what she does is walk up slightly behind and off to the side of Tenma, looking down over the edge. She pales a little when she processes what might have just happened.
As the camera helicopter starts coming downward, the wind it whips up sending dark brown hair and cobalt blue ribbon a-flutter, the Egyptian turns to Tenma with a questioning look... and it becomes clear she didn't look down there herself.
"I'm sure she's fine," Tenma says, a bit awkwardly, even as the SNF officials (on the helicopter, naturally) declare him the winner via loudspeaker. "I mean... Nobody's ever died falling off of this roof." Mostly because very few people have ever /fallen off if it/, and the last time someone did it was Kula Diamond.
Regardless, he heads towards the exit from the roof, the aura around his bokken vanishing as he goes. "See ya," he offers without looking back, waving his free hand once. He really needs something to eat.
And maybe he'll check to see if they're hosing anybody off of the courtyard below while he's at it.
DUN DUUUN
Log created on 19:54:39 11/13/2010 by Farah, and last modified on 22:01:37 11/16/2010.