Description: The mysterious, sinisterly yet grandmotherly Tomoko is a subject of interest for more than a few people by now. Now if only those people could actually work /together/ to catch up with her...
Port of Kagoshima, Japan -- 1:45pm
This sight really is quite majestic. One of Japan's southernmost ports, and one often serving cruise liners headed into the Pacific and other destinations in southern Asia, as well as ferries to the numerous small settlements and islands of the Ryukyu Islands, leading all the way down to Okinawa. The water is surprisingly blue today, thanks to a day on loan from spring, and the weather is warm. Now that you mention it, maybe a little too warm. In the distance from the port, the former island of Sakurajima -- a still-active, though quiet, volcano -- looms high overhead, dominating the landscape. A long time ago, it really WAS an island... and then one day, the volcano became angry, and erupted... and the lava flows surged, and cooled, and now over 90 years later, a toll expressway runs over what was one open sea.
Funny how time can change things.
And funny how some things, it cannot change. Take Tomoko Kimura, for example. Age has not dulled her wit or her energy... but it has, in some cases, given her a taste for comfort. This is likely why she's currently sitting on a bench with a paper umbrella over her head, resting her feet and reading the newspaper, while the space around her on the bench seems mysteriously empty. In fact, considering she's waiting for a ferry to the popular tourist destination at Yakushima, there doesn't seem to be that many people here at all, period. Just Tomoko, sipping tea from a thermos and reading her paper. Even the gulls and sounds of the docks appear to be quiet for the old woman's sake.
Perhaps the only thing to break the hazy silence is a radio quietly playing from inside a nearby building, the sound made tinny by distance and obstruction, but definitely giving a female news announcer's voice. "In other news, geologists at the Geological Survey of Japan have noted unusual seismic and thermal activity in Mount Sakurajima. While they do not forsee an immediate eruption, the phenomenon is strange for its suddenness: before two days ag--" It's then switched off by whoever happened to be listening.
"Oh, dear," Tomoko says, clucking her tongue. "It'd be just terrible if the old thing erupted again." A flip of the page, a sip of her tea.
MEANWHILE, ACROSS THE DOCK:
"Oi, Makoto!"
"What?"
"Where do you want this crate of melons, man?"
"Anywhere is fine."
The technique was definitely not a sure thing. There was a lot of variables in play. Scattering chi resonating paper cranes in all the regions where suspicious activity had picked up in recent weeks was pretty much admitting that there wasn't any better way of trying to find the targets of interest. 'The enemy,' they had called them. The enemy had made the first move. Now it was time for the world to react.
Most of the cranes would never come home. That was expected. Most of those that did come back had picked up chi traces that weren't interesting enough to pursue. Also expected. A few needed to be sought out... an ongoing effort the likes of which Ayame was busily engaged in most days as of late.
But most importantly, out of the thousands of scattered cranes, there were the scant few that wandered back with a trace of something important. "Of course it's in Japan," Ayame had observed dryly as she compiled and cross referenced dozens of reports. "The weird stuff always happens here." It was the only solid lead for now. She would have to find more cranes, more clues, and do more digging if they were to get any other leads sometime soon.
The next step was 'simple'. Capture the enemy. "I'm just a scout!" the strawberry blond had protested. Well, at least she wasn't sent alone. Vectoring in on the location, Ayame and her cohort approach from a distance. Using chi-based reconnaissance tools would be dangerous... no doubt their enemy would be sensitive to such jutsus. Good old fashioned field glasses will suffice.
"We're in luck... I know of that one. Tomoko. Responsible for that knickknack around that Glen bastard's neck. Dunno what else grandma badnews has been up to." Ayame communicates to her ally. The other girl is quite different from her... A huntress. Not to be taken lightly.
Her normal gaudiness has given way to functional practicality - a more simple, black shirt and pants combo worn beneath a lengthy coat. Better for stowing the tools of her trade and without sounding like someone's kicking around a bag of chains when she moves about either. "Keep distance for now... the cleared beach... mn... too convenient, ya?"
Peeking from behind a row of parked cars some ways off from the empty beach, Ayame's hand slips into the pocket of her coat. They'll only have one shot at capturing the target here. The moment has to be just right.
Close by:
After the day where his investigation went horribly awry in every possible way, things looked up for the ex-cat burglar. The next people not only knew about Tomoko's whereabouts they sang like canaries after Aranha utilized some 'diplomacy.' Diplomacy in the form of first asking for the information, getting sassed by the criminals and then making them wish they were never born.
With this new information in hand, Aranha decided to keep a low profile as he watched her. As long as the old lady didn't make any overt moves, he wasn't about to go in. After all, attacking an old lady in broad daylight for no reason was a bad look even if he knew the bitty had a nasty mastery of pressure points. And while there weren't that many people around, there were just enough to make him reconsider the idea of applying foot to face or kiester.
For now, watching and waiting will have to do. After all, he might just end up learning more from observation than running in with feet ablazing... with blue chi.
Communication is important. And really, chi technology might be marvelous, but it just can't beat good old fashioned human ingenuity. Never mind that the new model HTC Thunderbolt came out and, you know, it's _her thing_.
This is why the hunter-killer known as 'Shioe', currently not anywhere even remotely in plain sight, hears Ayame's description of the situation from the 'scout's' position from the crystal clear speaker of her new phone. "Ugh, has to be a setup," she says, in a bored monotone. And then the phone's away from her ear, flipped over, and there's Google, then a PDF reader, then nothing, and then her screensaver of Hello Kitty dressed as a ballerina. Shut up. The phone comes back to the ear, held in place with one hand. NEVER held with the shoulder. That's an amateur's thing to do, one that just makes the damn phones never last more than a few months. No, she's holding it in place, and walking through deep shadow. "That ferry's supposed to be busy as hell and there's nobody for miles. Trap. Gotta be. Wonder who for?"
She walks out from behind, of all things, an ice cream truck. Fully visible in broad daylight... for the span of about a third of a second. Now she's on top of a shipping container and lying flat, looking around. And scoffing. "As if I care."
How long has it been?! How long must poor Blanka go on, moving from place to place, always just a little teensy bit late for seeing matches going on? After his rather epic thumping and being thumped by Tizoc, the green beast of Brazil had only had his appetite whetted for battle - and more specifically, for a chance to be in the King of Fighters tournament. There was fame to be had, tv to be on, and possibly a mom to see and contact him. Sure, SNF and the Neo League were good enough for that, but with another tournament under his belt, how could he lose?!
However, doing this shameless self-promotion after missing the signups and the team-buildings was a very difficult task. He'd approached several full teams already, only to find that there was no room at the inn, so to speak. Dejected but not defeated, Blanka had taken back to the jungle to ponder new plans - and found himself carted up and accidentally stuffed into a box headed for the docks of Kagoshima. As the box was stuffed full of particularly succulent melons, Blanka did not seeem to mind this at all. Currently, he is all asnooze inside the mostly-empty box, his napsack of people's costumes stuck in his arms, hugged like a big teddy bear, while the green giant dreams of being accepteed and finding his mom through the televised beatings of other fighters of high repute! There might be slight 'weebweebweebweeb' sounds escaping the box as it's moved from the boat to the dock, the shifting not doing anything to wake him - at least, not yet.
Ignorance sure is bliss, isn't it? Well, the look on pleased little Kimura-baasan's face certainly suggests that what she doesn't know won't force her to hurt it. "Ahhh... a nice trip by boat is just what Granny needs," she says to herself, folding the newspaper and placing it inside one of the Gigantic Grandma Purses that old women typically have, full of whatever they can slam into its cavernous maw: makeup... their wallet... a full-size electric range with attached microwave. Whatever it takes. Ah, a sip of tea. This is the good li...
Everyone can feel it. Except apparently Tomoko, who doesn't appear to notice in any way as she drinks from that thermos. The air crackles with... something, briefly. And then there's the rumble of... distant thunder? Grey clouds converging in the sky? The sun's pleasantly warm yellow glow dulled to a thin veil of light over Kagoshima?
The wind picks up. The waves start to look a little choppy. And little Tomoko Kimura puts her hand out under the paper umbrella and holds it out, palm up. "Oh, my. Looks like a little storm is coming! Granny had best be on her way... shouldn't she, my doves?"
Aranha and Ayame both get the distinct impression she's looking *right at them*, for a split second, when that gets said.
And then she's getting up, and walking along the pier to the nearby gangplank for the ferry, so she can get on and leave. The crew -- the poor, baffled crew -- meanwhile make preparations to depart before this freak storm develops into something nasty.
MEANWHILE, IN A NEARBY UNLOADING ZONE
"Sure am glad I got that crate off the boat before this storm hits. Coulda swore I heard something, though, when I set it down..."
"Probably all in your head."
"Naw, man. Like snoring! Or something. I bet it's... I bet it's..."
"Don't start giving me all the business about spies for some freak cult hiding on our wharf again, man. How could you hear ANY snoring over all the crazy in your head?"
"No, they're real! Nostradamus said that in 20--"
"Kentaro?"
"Yeah, Makoto?"
"Shut up, man."
There's a distinct sense that something else is building up. The ebb and flow of chi... it is something of an area of expertise for Ayame. "Hold on, something's-" She peeks around the edge of the car again that moment, and makes eye contact? Tomoko glances in a second direction an instant later. "Someone else is here."
The old woman's voice crackles in her ear. The air becomes absolutely charged with energy beyond any normal level the girl is used to. Everything is building up so fast. "She's moving. I'm going for it. She glanced at someone else though. To the right. I'm guessing over near that shed." The implications are obvious - deal with the secondary target before they become interference.
Ayame pushes out from around the car that instant into plain view of the now more mobile woman and bolts forward. The drama of the unloading docks nearby goes entirely unnoticed. Her right hand slips into the pocket on the exterior of her cloak. There is a containment option prepared for capturing this woman. Kimon - the enduring barrier - a powerful tool first utilized in the events in Taizhou for controlling access along one of the main highways... This more portable version will be no where near as durable as the prototype, but it should buy her and Shioe enough time to capture Tomoko themselves.
"Not so fast, grandma!" Ayame retorts as she begins to dart across the sand. Wait, Ayame thinks to herself. What's the odds that old crone is going to outrun her /anywhere/!?
"I've been made. Fuck"
Thankfully none of that is said loud enough for the old woman to hear. Does he really want to be chastized for having a filthy mouth yet again? Not really.
Aranha looks around attempting to find out if anyone else is attempting to track the poster ch... elder for reasons you should be wary of smiling old people.
And in an instant he sees Ayame make her move. "Great... It had to be /her./"
Aranha then shoots out from his hiding location of a truck that was parked near the shed leaping up and over the hood right towards the gathering of Ayame and Tomoko. It's probably a good thing Aranha isn't privy to Ayame's thoughts of how fast Tomoko is capable of going or else he would laugh in her face. He has had practical experience with her speed.
Based on what he can see, Ayame's not on Tomoko's side which is a comfort. Whether or not he'll be able to get info is another matter altogether. Though he wants to say something snide about whether or not Ayame's going to attempt to mug the old woman, he feels no need to clue Tomoko in on their adversarial relationship if she didn't know about it already. Instead, he'll move to cut off another escape route, taking advantage of Ayame's position. "So we meet again."
"What the--" She's not 'chi-dead' -- no employe of Kagero could probably REALLY be thus, with a handful of notable exceptions -- but noticing big swells or ebbs in the tide of chi is not Shioe's thing to the level that it is Ayame's. Still, _it makes her phone's audio staticky for a second or two_ so it might as well be an atomic bomb in the hunter's dark eyes. "No, hold on a..." But it's too late. Ayame's leapt from her position, advancing on Tomoko, but desire to fulfill a goal can occasionally blind one to exigencies. Shioe surges into the situation, a sleek black cat darting from foothold to foothold, but it's too late. She drops to the wooden pier behind Ayame just in time for Aranha to arrive on the scene... and for Shioe to be facing the opposite direction of her teammate and her teammate's not-quite-rival. A simple knife flicks its way into her hand, but her dull monotone fails to convey the true urgency of the situation when she says, unexpectedly, "...you might want to look around."
Look around at what?
Well, for starters, the pier is no longer eerily unoccupied. It's VERY occupied, by guys in black cloaks holding kris daggers who appear to have materialized out of thin air, if you didn't know that was impossible(*). They're EVERYWHERE. They're certainly a looming, cannon-foddery morass that looks like is going to avalanche its way over Shioe, Ayame, and Aranha any second now. It's not entirely clear where they came from, but that unnerving feeling in the air that even the densest, unempathic, chi-hatingest of people could sense. It's good old every day malice.
(* it may actually be possible)
They are also chanting "For Gaia! For Gaia!" under their breaths in perfect synchronous rhythm, like this is a ska show or something.
Tomoko, meanwhile, looks shocked, SHOCKED, that there's all these people here, because she is a Classic Mark One Old Woman and when Aranha says you shouldn't take them lightly when you smile, he is 110% correct. "Oh my. Come to see Granny off on her boat trip, Mr. Spider?" she offers to Aranha with a ho-ho-ho-like chuckle under her breath, before tilting her head at Ayame. "And you've brought another young lady... scratch that," she amends, as Shioe arrives on the scene, "TWO young ladies. Now, Granny made her way around the block when she was a girl," Tomoko says, with far too lascivious an expression to be considered 'grandmotherly' at this point, "but two on one... I hope you've had some raw eggs and steak, my lad. Hahaha!"
Clearing her throat after that cackling laugh, the old woman's eyes narrow. And now... well. Now she's not hiding anything. "Sadly, I shan't be around to hear about your adventures, boy. Granny's got more stops to make before she's 'home' so I best be off." The air quotes... they're oh so very audible.
MEANWHILE, ACROSS THE DOCK
"What's that racket outside, Makoto?"
"Looks like... a buncha cultists in robes, been hidin' on our dock."
"Really?"
"No, man, of course not."
"You're a jerk, Makoto."
"The /hell/?" Ayame skids to a stop, a small plume of sand kicked up by her feet. Aranha is seen and recognized immediately. "You damned idiot, what're you doing mixed up with this nutcase?" For now, she thinks Aranha is aligned with the timeless woman. "Well, no matter," the girl slides one forward, lowering her stance slightly, a viper readying to strike. "Nothing you can do about-"
About a mob? "Ugh." This will be harder than she thought. The price of information these days is definitely going up faster than inflation!
The chants are actually noteworthy as they're completely new to her. This is the first time she's heard the name Gaia connected with anything going on surrounding the tournament participants. Details to hash out later. For now, the objective remains the same. Capture Tomoko.
It's when the disturbing old woman addresses Aranha that Ayame realizes he isn't on the crone's side either. That means he's /also/ after Tomoko... which means he very well will know something useful. "Don't let him get out of here either. Jerkface probably knows something useful-" Her voice cuts off as the rest of Tomoko's remark sinks in. Eyebrow twitching, Ayame 'eh heh hehs' in a completely humorless way that suggests she's thinking about a good old fashioned strangling over the more elaborate Kimon containment jutsu.
With a flourish of her left hand, Ayame is armed with her signiture staff, the weapon held out at her side, the top end of it tucked under her left shoulder as she prepares to clear a whole lot of space around her. "Sorry, bone bag, you're not gonna get to your retirement home just yet."
A couple cultists get too close - that is to say: within six feet of Ayame - and are summarially introduced to the business end of her staff as she whirlwinds the sturdy weapon out and around over her head in one swift motion. "Nothing's changed." she indicates, likely addressing Shioe. Get Tomoko. Get Aranha too, just in case. Or maybe she just likes inconveniencing Aranha?
Well since Ayame was the first to let their enmity out of the bag, he sees no reason to hide it anymore. "Quite frankly, granny, these ladies don't strike me as that kind of girls. And quite frankly, I rather not deal with black widows." That's when a cultist decides to approach him. He immediately goes for a eye gouge and then quickly follows up with a headbutt to drop the mook quicker than a bad date.
He then returns his attention to the three females "Jerkface? You must be running out of material. To think, I used to be able to count on you for creative insults." And that will be the last of his own sarcasm. He has enough to focus on like one, making sure Tomoko doesn't escape and two making sure he doesn't get captured and after seeing what Tomoko was capable of at Stonehenge, he knows that both objectives are pretty tall orders.
Cultists. Well that's just wonderful. "Oh, so you know each other," Shioe says in that bland tone of voice that is her default, as if she were bored with the world's mere EXISTENCE, let alone the irritating bastards in it. Almost instantly, her combat knife is in one hand, and her phone in the other. She keeps her eyes trained on the screen as she thumbs in a google search, using the software keyboard like it was an extension of her body... not to mention wielding the KNIFE like it's an extension of her body. "Funny story," she deadpans, arcing a kick into one cultist's face even as a gash across the stomach of another dissuades him from getting any closer. "A search for 'skirt girl tanned jerkwad' actually has a hit for you two on FightTube."
A third cultist swings a two-handed hammerfist at where Shioe used to be.
Behind him, she's still looking at the phone even as her knife sinks into his back. "Apparently the internet doesn't like you very much." Does she mean Skirt Girl or Jerkface? Since she's not looking at either of them, it's impossible to know.
Eventually, Blanka wakes. Eventually, even the lazy full belly of a melon-stuffed green monster can be overcome by the oddity and 'unnaturalness' of a malevolent chanting and general malice in the air. It picks at his brain like a little itch, one that he cannot scratch easily, what with all the hair in the way. As he lets out a yawn and stretch, there's the confines of wood around him, the crate that he'd been shipped in 'imprisoning' him.
That lasts only a second. With a larger stretch, Blanka's hands push out, breaking a few of the crate's boards, his head popping up out of a broken plank in the top a moment after. His giant orange shock of hair is in his eyes for but a moment, and with less than awake mental facuities, he looks about. It's suddenly so simple, so easy to understand.
It's a King of Fighters Match! Look! The crowd has gathered, all in their robes to celebrate 'Look Like A Cultist' day! Aranha's alone? Or else he's partnered up with the old lady, but usually old ladies are knitting quietly, not engaging in fighting things. Blanka realizes as soon as he sees the crowd around the people, that there is a imbalance - and this is his chance!
Ducking back into the crate with a few splinters of wood shooting out, he grabs his trusty napsack, and tries to decide just what to do, and how to approach this. So far, his disguising as teammates has not worked well - but it's simply because he has not tried hard enough. This time, this time he is ready. Really, how do people know him? Giant orange hair! So this time, this time he has /a plan/. The crate bursts open, and Blanka barrels out of it towards the crowds and Aranha, his hair neatly hid by a bright red witch's hat. Over the chanting, he bellows out in the way only a giant green behemoth can. "Aranha! Aranha! Naearoose is here to help fight! Naearoose will help!!" See?! PERFECT DISGUISE!.
Well, now it's just chaos out there, and if her expression -- and that laugh -- are any indicator, Tomoko is loving every minute of it. She's every bit the scary old woman, now; nothing like the gentle-seeming, if raw-speaking, person that Aranha met on Stonehenge. And while the storm that has appeared out of basically nowhere rages around the cultists and the four people who suddenly decided they were out for Tomoko's blood -- Well, three looking for her, and one apparently looking to help Aranha -- not a bit of it touches Tomoko. Her clothes are unruffled by wind, untouched by rain. If any more proof were needed that the supernatural weather is partly her doing, that would certainly be it.
"More your loss," she says to Aranha, smiling pleasantly now, as if she can turn on the 'nice granny' and 'cackling old crone' faces like a switch. "They seem like they've got their heads screwed on straight if they knew to come looking for Granny." With a swift motion, she kicks the gangplank off from the pier, and the ferry to Tanegashima starts to move away from the dock. It might be possible to jump on it and follow her... but unless one can swim strong or run on choppy water, it's unlikely there's any coming back from that trip. "But if you kids play nice, well... maybe Granny will bring you back a souvenir from her trip..."
And it's just that simple. A wall of cultists, a storm-tossed sea, and one accelerating ship stand between our... heroes?... and the departing Tomoko. Thankfully for them, the cultists the old woman selected were more for quantity than quality, easily dispatched by any trained fighter.
Staff in hand, first wave of proximity cultists smacked around some, Ayame is ready to get down to the business of dealing with Tomoko. Her ally can round up Aranha, she figures. Leave it to him to be in the middle of this mess somehow himself... that would certainly be consistent with his past performance. But she hasn't seen Aranha in action herself for quite some time now. She might be selling him a bit short if she expects Shioe to contain him that readily.
Her right hand slips into her coat pocket, pulling out a four inch, glimmering, cobalt blue rod of stone. "Okay, locking down the freaky old lady," Ayame remarks before being forced to duck then weave up around a three-pack of cultists (They come at a discount if you buy the combo). A kick back with her foot buckles the knee of one of her wouldbe attackers, and a secondary backsweep of her staff buys her another few seconds of time as she charges the glimmering rod in her hand, ready to contain Tomoko within the portable Kimon - Barrier field.
Unfortunately, by the time she navigates the crowd, the crafty weather bending saint isn't where Ayame expects her to be in the slightest, having situated herself on the escape boat in the confusion. "Huh? Where'd-"
She only gets one shot here before Tomoko will be out of range... Ayame holds out her right hand, rod gripped almost like a wand, her left hand occupied with trying to shove back a cultist duo with her staff, making for not the most ideal firing situation...
One eye narrowed, Ayame grunts, applying another shove with her horizontal staff as she takes aim... Right as she goes to fire, however, the girl gets jostled by a fourth cultist stumbling back from someone else's attack, knocking her extended left arm. This rather unfortunate event has a pin-point azure beam launching from the end of the rod not toward Tomoko but the very newly arrived... red witch?! The rod itself vanishes into the ray itself, leaving Ayame empty handed and minus one pesky old lady.
Blanka might not understand this strange welcome ritual to the fight, as four blue spinning mirror-like ovals spin into existence around him. Their swift rotation is such that trying to navigate through them is unlikely, and should Blanka try to simply jump over the barrier they will ascend with him, allowing him no capacity to move from the small containment circle... Of course, with his strength, that might not matter for long? "Naearoose?! This must be that crazy witch's fault!" Ayame grimaces, rubbing her face with her right hand. Tomoko is freeeeee! "Che. We'll have to get that guy now, he's our only lead." She isn't about to let this outing be a /complete/ waste as she shifts her focus toward Aranha.
COMBATSYS: Kimon has started a fight here in the center.
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Kimon 0|-------|-------
Aranha is powerless to do anything but watch as Tomoko escapes yet again. With each cultist that approaches him and each one kicks, elbows, headbutts and smacks into submission he curses the infuriating existance of Tomoko who he has yet to get a straight answer about anything she's done and what her motivations are. He knows that there's way more to her than meets the eye but he finds that every time he attempts to pierce the veil, everything moves away and he continues to be left with nothing.
But the appearance of the cultists does provide a clue about who she's working with the problem is in the fact that these cultists are little more than mooks that probably wouldn't have any useful information.
There are now other matters to think about. For instance, there's that Bulky Red Witch, claiming to be Naearooose. He isn't about look a gift ally in the Wild Fang, at least for now. Especially not when there's that other matter of Ayame wanting to capture him. "That damn geriatric bitch set me up."
The next thing he knows he's watching his new ally get caught in the center of mirror like ovals and he himself is getting surrounded not only by the cultists, but he sees both Shioe and Ayame surrounding him in the near future. He lets out a battle cry of, "Oh hell naw!" And after that, he delivers a front kick into a cultist sending him flying right at Ayame.
COMBATSYS: Aranha has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Aranha 0/-------/-------|
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Kimon 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Ayame has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Aranha 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
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Kimon 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Blanka has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Aranha 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Ayame
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Blanka 0/-------/------=|
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Kimon 0|-------|-------
Oh, what? No, no, no. This is not how this is supposed to go. Even as Ayame is displaying some impressive ability to multitask, Shioe has her own problems: namely, the cultists. Thankfully Aranha decides to focus on the other Kagero representative currently in evidence, and that Kimon field will probably keep 'Naerose' at bay, at least for a moment or two. "Ugh, getting _bored_," Shioe says aloud, groaning, as if this were a much greater crime than something else. Her tone implies that 'getting kicked in the jaw' would be acceptable, for example, but being bored is totally not going to be put up with in any describable form.
"God, what a pain..." she says, idly slamming her fist sideways into the face of an approaching cultist, sending him staggering backward holding his nose, until the black-clad huntress slams a kick into his stomach. The result is a Keystone Kops-like chain reaction that sends a number of cultists into the storm-churned waters of the bay. Hopefully they can swim. Probably not very well in those robes, though. It's really too bad.
"Remember," Shioe says simply, performing a backflip kick that sends another cultist into the drink, "this is why cosplay is awful."
At least now the number of cultists has become much diminished, perhaps because 1.) Ayame, Aranha, and Shioe have dispatched a number of them and 2.) without Tomoko's bolstering presence, a non-trivial number have decided to do better things with their lives.
"I don't want to die without reading all the Harry Potter bGHRK!" one exclaims, trying to run, before Shioe elbow-slams him into the dock and blissful unconsciousness.
"It's good to have goals," the girl says blandly, straightening and resuming what she was doing before: thumbing through menus on her cell phone.
COMBATSYS: Shioe has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Aranha 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Shioe
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Blanka 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Ayame
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Kimon 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Shioe takes no action.
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Aranha 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Shioe
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Blanka 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Ayame
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Kimon 0|-------|-------
Step 1: Infiltrate SNF Fight dressed as Naerose: Successful! Blanka is pleased as punch when people just let him bowl on into the impending brawl, though he still hasn't gotten it through his head that there is more going on than a normal everyday match. The cultists are just a little too good at being creepy, the weather is just a little too ominous. And Blanka, well - Blanka's just a little too thick.
His bounding towards Aranha is stopped abruptly by Ayame's little surprise - a quartet of oval-shaped 'mirrors' surrounding him, a spinning barrier that he quickly tries to get over, around and through, each way finding that the device moves with him. In a flash of insight, he understands. He'd forgotten to check his makeup, and Ayame was sending him a subtle reminder! "Thank aroo, Ayame!!" he calls out, the circling mirrors catching a cultist on the noggin that tried to rush through from behind to stab. He adjusts his hat to make sure it is perfect, then snags the broom from over his shoulder.
"Naearoose be there in just a ... minute!" he calls out to Aranha, before winding up and taking a swing at the first mirror using his best Babe Arooth swing posture, intent on knocking it out of the way, to give himself some room to move and engage with his 'teammate'.
COMBATSYS: Blanka successfully hits Kimon with Random Weapon.
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Aranha 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Shioe
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Blanka 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Ayame
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Kimon 0|-------|--=====
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Ayame with Large Thrown Object.
- Power hit! -
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Aranha 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Shioe
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Blanka 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Ayame
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Kimon 0|-------|--=====
Ayame takes a long moment to stare at the captured Blanka. "This is so not going well." The barrier that keeps the be-hatted new arrival contained splinters slightly at the forceful impact but otherwise holds firm. "Just... just stay right there, I'll let you out in good time," the girl waves at Blanka. She really doesn't need the distraction now that she needs to focus on Aranha - the guy can be elusive as hell when he puts his mind to it.
What she didn't anticipate was his clever use of the crowd to send one of the cultists barreling toward her. A second robed figure is in the process of retreating, running in the opposite direction, really unable to see much of anything going on due to the hood and all. The two collide then in turn crash into the staff wielder when she was least expecting it! "W-wh-" This sends her bouncing backward into a third zealot and then the whole group falls over!
Crashing to the ground beneath a bundle of black robes, Ayame is taken out of the picture for a few frantic seconds of wild scrambling and kicking!
Half crawling out from beneath the pileup, Ayame extends her right arm, her left hand pulling back the wrap from over her wrist, allowing the small crossbow attached to her arm to unfold into an armed position. She aims, then fires! Then... goes back to prying herself free of the disaster. "Stop checking your text messages and get that guy!" she snaps at Shioe.
The dart, should its aim prove true, is venomous - coated in a numbing poison that would work extremely well against someone with less constitution than a trained fighter... in this case, it might still prove to be irritating.
COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Aranha with Sudden Fling.
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Aranha 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Shioe
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Blanka 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Ayame
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Kimon 0|-------|--=====
Aranha all of a sudden has a fleeing cultist bumping into him which ends up distracting him from seeing the poison dart making a b-line for him he takes the shot to the chest and growls when he pulls the dart out. He can feel the venom going through his system and mutters as he tosses the dart to the ground.
He works himself in closer as he makes his way towards Ayame and then he whirls around as he lashes out with a glowing blue roundhouse kick followed by a jumping roundhouse which also glows blue with his energy and then he finishes with a back flip kick which drives a blue chi engulfed kick down upon the top of her skull.
No more will be spoken from him for now.
The last cultist near Shioe goes down just as Ayame admonishes her to stop doing what she's doing and 'get that guy,' unquote. But from the expression on Shioe's face, you'd think Ayame just told her to dress up like a banana and wiggle around on the dock.
"_Text messages_?"
She turns and sees Aranha -- the 'guy' she is presumably talking about, since whoever it is in that's trapped in the Kimon field is wearing a hat and carrying a broom is OBVIOUSLY A WITCH, who are women -- launching a combination of glowy kicks at Ayame's head. Part of her would like to let the smart-mouthed staff-wielder get kicked in the face, just because. Sadly, her job is to do otherwise, and she'd rather not have The Argument when reviews of this operation come around. The Argument always makes Shioe want to cut someone's face off.
Instead, she decides to help. But she doesn't need to LIKE IT.
"Text messages..." she scoffs, again, before rushing forward, raising her leg, and then attempting to bring it crashing down on Aranha's back while he attacks, slamming him to the floor nastily. She doesn't stop thumbing menus while she does this, but she DOES have the time to look up at Ayame and go, in her blasé, bored tone, "There's no reason to be _insulting_."
%TSmash! Crack, shatter goes the first mirror, giving Blanka a beetter view of the growing fight. Two girls starting to pick on his teammate, this is certainly not to be allowed! He tries to make his way through, bit the circling mirrors have seemed to have picked up speed, confounding and frustrating Blanka's groove. Through it, he can see the attacks chucked at Aranha, and his urge to help overcomes his urge to protect his identity.
Not that he was doing good hiding it, but hey.
"Coming! Gonna have to get through..!" He puts the broom down, and then hunkers down against the ground, bringing the mirrors to their lowest point. He then springs into action, a quick barrel roll balled up to try to bounce between the three, timing his actions to rebound off of two, then a flip upwards to grab the third, trying to shake all three loose from their orbits. This trap is causing him so many years of bad luck - at least he is not too sarooperstitious!
COMBATSYS: Blanka successfully hits Kimon with Fierce Combo.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Aranha 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Shioe
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Blanka 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Ayame
[ |||||||||||| ]
Kimon 1|--=====|=======
COMBATSYS: Ayame blocks Aranha's Aggressive Dance.
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Aranha 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Shioe
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Blanka 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Ayame
[ |||||||||||| ]
Kimon 1|--=====|=======
Ayame isn't having a very good day. To the side, she notices Blanka is in the process of enacting all levels of devestating damage on the barrier that's hassling him at the moment. He seems really enthusiastic to get out of that thing. The mirrors shatter on in turn as he impacts them, leaving a whirlwind of swirling crystals lingering to keep him contained. It's... not going to hold up for much longer. "Ugh."
Then she's got attitude coming from Shioe. At least she's making a move to deal with Aranha. Progress? Maybe. "Yes, yes, that's fine, there will be plenty of time to deal with your phone after-" Ayame, it should be noted, is still trying to extract hersel from the human pile. And now she's got Aranha trying to stomp her head in while she's at it!
Unable to pull herself completely free, she is at least able to get her staff loose - and not a second too late, either, as she rolls over, bringing the weapon into the path of Aranha's kicks, deflecting the blows intended for her head with little room to spare. "Lovely."
And then? Random flailing, perhaps. At least, it might seem that way, as the girl starts using the polearm to smack the cultists off of her and get a solid hit or two on Aranha while she's at it! "I've had it with you people! Go get a hobby!" There is a brief window of opportunity to stand up and thus Ayame finds herself back on her feet at last, exhaling as she erects herself. Her right hand flips her hair back over her shoulder and out of her face, her left hand gripping her staff at her side. She doesn't look happy.
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Shioe's Fierce Strike.
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Aranha 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Shioe
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Blanka 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Ayame
[ |||||||||||| ]
Kimon 1|--=====|=======
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Ayame's Random Strike.
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Aranha 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Shioe
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Blanka 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Ayame
[ |||||||||||| ]
Kimon 1|--=====|=======
Aranha's not having all that great a day either. The person he was after got away without even having much of a chance to get information from Tomoko, now he's dealing with the fact that he's had to smack up bunch of jokes with their only purpose being to serve as a legion of meatwalls between himself and his objective. Now he's dealing with the fact that he has both Ayame and Shioe attacking him at the same time.
Though it's a bad situation, he deals with it fairly well, performing a cartwheel to move away from that brutal kick that Shioe attempts to use to drive him to the ground and then rising in time to be greeted by flailing which he doesn't quite have the speed to avoid completely instead raising an arm to catch the staff on it as he spins with the strike, whirling around to deliver an outside crescent with the goal of slapping the staff wielder in the face with the outside of his foot.
It would appear Aranha is choosing to focus attention on one target while he waits for his ally to come to his aid.
Well, that's troublesome. Looks like That Guy (Shioe has little time or energy for _names_; thus 'That Guy' and 'Bossy Staff Girl' are sufficing in her head) has some speed to him. But what these people don't seem to GET is how IMPORTANT what she is DOING is. This hunter nonsense pays the bills and gives her an outlet for her more destructive impulses, but. "Hmmm." Thumb, thumb... and then she stops. Apparently Shioe found what she was looking for? "Excellent." There's a final tap, and then the phone goes into one of the many pockets of her black jacket, the girl shaking out her hands and looking around at the gathered people. Ayame, Aranha, cultists, big green witch thing. This is totally doable.
"Time to get to work, I suppose," she deadpans.
On cue, the phone in her pocket starts to play, rather loudly, the themesong to the newest Power Rangers incarnation. That is some really amazing sound quality she's got on that thing.
"Hey," she says nonchalantly, to Aranha.
She says it to him from about a foot to his right, which is not where her voice, OR that song, were coming from less than a fraction of a second ago. "Do you and her have some thing? Because, FightTube." As if that explains the question in any way.
She punctuates this sentence by attempting to slam her fist into Aranha's stomach as hard as possible; if she accomplishes that, her other hand comes up, fingers crooked in a 'cat's paw'-type pose, which she then hooks forward, upsetting Aranha's balance and slamming him to the ground, hard.
So many sparklies! Blanka can almost get through, but as he reaches out each time, the thing cuts at his forearms and stings enough that he pulls back into the contained space he is stuck in. This will not do! Wincing and shaking his wounded paw, he peers through, seeing Ayame still trying to work up Aranha. Poor guy, set upon by two people at once, while Blanka's been kept out of the battle ever so long!
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!" His exclamation is hardly one of a ditzy witch, instead the one of a full blown jungle monster, and he starts to spin up and around. As he reaches appropriate speed, he whips his hands out and directly into the sparkly amounts of remaining crystal. He gathers them up with his mighty meaty hands, and crunches them into teeny tiny bits. Huffing, puffing, he tries to break past what's left - through if possible, and directly towards the pair that pick on his 'teammate'!
COMBATSYS: Blanka successfully hits Kimon with Strong Punch.
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Aranha 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Shioe
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Blanka 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Ayame
[ ||||| ]
Kimon 2|<<<<<<<|<<<<<<<
COMBATSYS: Ayame fails to counter Spin Kick from Aranha with The Lament of Chronos; To Forget.
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Aranha 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Shioe
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Blanka 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Ayame
[ ||||| ]
Kimon 2|<<<<<<<|<<<<<<<
Weakened by his previous Blanka-ball'ing, the barrier designed to only temporarially contain its target is no longer able to keep Naerooose locked down any longer. Scattered cobalt-blue shards go flying harmlessly as the fourth addition to this not-really-a-KOF-match-but-good-luck-telling-him continues. "Uh oh."
Gripping her staff with both hands, she whirls in on Aranha, attempting to defeat his own momentum and buy herself time to plan for the incoming red-hat equipped Blanka. "I think he's mad." Her weapon snaps up in a bid to intersect the incoming kick, but the space she has to work with doesn't allow for the oft-attempted yet not mastered technique and for her trouble, she gets a kick to the temple that sends Ayame reeling a few steps.
Jamming her weapon into the sand, she stops herself short, using it for support. Shaking her head, she blinks once then side glances. Shioe isn't likely to detract Aranha as much as she had hoped... so who deals with the incoming Blanka? Ayame twitches a little. "No more target wrangling after this." Reconnaissance is definitely more her speed. "You've done this more than I have, what do you think we should do?" she asks of her partner in crime.
COMBATSYS: Aranha fails to interrupt Black Cat Style from Shioe with Dead Man's Hand EX.
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Aranha 0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Shioe
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Blanka 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Ayame
[ ||||| ]
Kimon 2|<<<<<<<|<<<<<<<
COMBATSYS: Kimon takes no action.
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Aranha 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Shioe
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Blanka 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Kimon has suffered catastrophic damage and fallen offline.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Shioe
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Blanka 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Ayame
And Aranha seems poised to ride this momentum for all it's worth. The kick sends Ayame reeling and he whirls around to see Shioe moving in to deliver a punch to his stomach. He lashes out at his other attack attempting to deliver the mother of all chi enhanced pimp smacks to the mouthy hunter but her fist strikes first upsetting his balance before the other hand finishes the job of taking his feet from under him.
He refuses to dignify any of Shioe's commentary with response other than a grunt though it's debatable whether or not the comment or the impact to the ground caused it. He rolls over but he's not back up on his feet just yet though.
Even as she pulls her hand back, that very same cat's paw that dropped Aranha to the ground goes back to her pocket at snakebite speed, withdrawing her phone from it. With yet another deft series of thumb taps, the music abruptly stops, and without even looking at Aranha or Ayame, she makes a few more gestures on the touch screen of the phone and then raises an eyebrow, then BOTH eyebrows, before talking in that same bland, high-school-principal-giving-a-speech tone: "Maybe I was wrong about the internet not liking you if that video was any indicator." Wait. Someone made a YouTube video about Aranha and Ayame? To Power Rangers music? That implies they are LOVED rather than hated?
Mysteries that will never be solved. <3
A hand comes into Shioe's jacket as she grips the black-handled knife that is her trademark, the object becoming a black and silver blur as Shioe's ADD kicks in, the girl flipping it open and closed in rapid cycles. Blanka -- excuse me, 'Naearoose' -- appears to be free, Ayame's getting beaten up, and is now asking Shioe for advice.
"Well," the huntress in black says to her partner's query, watching every opponent on the field carefully for an opening, "I think we should never screw up the beginning of the mission this bad again." Is there no hope, Shioe?!(*)
(* probably not)
COMBATSYS: Shioe focuses on her next action.
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Aranha 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Shioe
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Blanka 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Ayame
Ok, quick situation recap. Aranha has been being double-teamed by Ayame and Shioe, and could probably use a hand or two. Luckily, Blanka's now free of the the glittery trap, and has two hands and two giant feets with which to assist the other fighter with. As he bolts forwards, he hunkers down into a loping, four-limbed gait with knuckles and feet hitting the ground and propelling him forwards.
As soon as he's within striking distance, he drops down flat and then bounds straight upwards, a ball of Blanka that attempts to knock Ayame off her feet while she's reeling from Aranha's prior attack. "Blank... Naearoose think you should take nap!" he declares, all full of witchiness!
COMBATSYS: Ayame blocks Blanka's Vertical Rolling.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Shioe
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Blanka 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Shioe has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Aranha 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Ayame
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Blanka 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Ayame has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Aranha 1/-------/=======|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Blanka 0/-------/---====|
Ayame barely has time to notice Aranha's unsuccessful counter attack as at that very moment, she notices an incoming green bowling ball of red-hat-equipped destruction coming her way. Turning to face him head on, the girl jams the end of her staff against the ground before bracing it with both of her hands and her shoulder... this is going to hurt, she can tell.
Naerooose just about topples the girl even with her preparation, but the staff wielder manages to stay upright, barely. "W-wait, what are you /finding/ out there?!" Videos about her and Aranha?! Implications that they are any kind of duo to be combined in an internet meme /ever\?! She backsteps, buying her a bit of breathing room as Blanka finishes coming out of his crushing grand entrance.
"Well," she continues to muse, her temper at Shioe surprisingly mellow for the moment, "You saw how fast she moved. If we hadn't rushed, she'd have escaped anyway. And if you're so good at this, how come you didn't factor a /Naerooose/ in the crates on the dock, hm??" Yeah, that's reasonable.
"As for you, I'm not sure what loyalty you have for this guy-" She leans back, lining her staff up more like a cue stick, before jabbing it right back at Blanka to poke him directly from range, "But it would be best if you just moved along and minded your own business!"
To Aranha's knowledge, there are only two fights Ayame and Aranha have gotten into that were recorded. Both of them were the Seventh Circle fights and in both cases the situations were so messed up for so many reasons only a psychopath with way too much time on their hands would even think about shipping them through videos.
Aranha chooses not to voice particular thoughts deciding that it would be more prudent to figure what the best way of getting the staff wielder off of his case. He decides to continue to attack Ayame if only so that the one person who wants to capture him will either get knocked out or be forced to beat a hasty retreat.
He works himself into a crouch before rolling forward and then pushing feet first at her attempting to shove her a bit.
COMBATSYS: Blanka has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Shioe
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Ayame 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Ayame has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Shioe
The videos she finds are a secret to everyone(*).
(* except the internet)
Apparently both Blanka and Aranha have it in for Ayame, which isn't good. Tomoko got away, the normally recon-focused staff fighter is having a hard time adjusting to the nonsensical way in which these events have panned out, and perhaps most importantly the impending storm is threatening to get *water* on her *cellphone* which means that Shioe has to -- with a reluctance bordering on the acceptance of ritual suicide -- put the damn thing back in her coat, patting her pocket down. "Ugh," she mutters, clearly annoyed. "Now I just don't have anything to _do_."
That's right, folks: despite Ayame's two-front battle and a rapidly retreating recon target heading toward Okinawa by boat, Shioe is *bored*.
This might be why she suddenly leaps at Aranha, attempting to slash her all-purpose combat knife across his chest in a lightning-fast motion... a quick but nasty strike. She's not here to make friends!
"Have you read some of the fanfics about you, by the way?" she asks Aranha, in that same bored tone, even as she tries to cut him open. Maybe she IS here to make friends.
COMBATSYS: Blanka blocks Ayame's Medium Strike.
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Aranha 1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Shioe
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Blanka 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Ayame
Leaving his 'newfound teammate' Aranha to his own devices, Blanka has to try and deal with Ayame. He spares his partner a quick look - watching how the other man moves, as if cataloguing his moves for future use. After all, Naearoose may not work as a disguise forever - perhaps next up, he'll have to pretend to be Aroonha to fool the witch girl! Such is the joy of sneaky infiltrator Blanka! As the staff comes in, Blanka catches it on his forearm, the *CRAK* of wood on tough skin and bone a nice loud thing indeed.
"Not sure what fan-fic is... But bets lots of stories written about Aranha. He famous! Tough fighter, good teammate!" is Blanka's reply towards Shioe - though his attacks are currently left for Ayame alone. Isn't she special!? He'd fought her before, once upon a when - and with all her tricks, well - he's intent on seeing just how invested she is in the fight. Giant green mitts come up and around, and the green giant closes, then flips backwards and up, big green feet swinging right towards Ayame's chin!
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Ayame with Thrust Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0 Shioe
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Blanka 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Ayame counters Backstep Rolling from Blanka with Final Solstice.
-+- CALCULATED HIT -+-
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0 Shioe
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Blanka 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
She's not surprised Aranha's got nothing to say. They've done this dance enough by now for Ayame to be used to his terse nature in combat. And she'd really like to avoid taking her attention off Aranha for an instant but the persistence of the latest addition to this utter chaos is making that incredibly difficult. For a fleeting moment, she has to ignore him in favor of trying to push Blanka away with the end of her staff. At least, that seemed to be her goal when Aranha's feet smash into her side, sending Ayame sliding sideways in the sand just a little.
"Tch, wait your turn!" Another pause, brow furrowed, "And no one needs to know anything about any fanfics!" The second is exclaimed, her staff sliding out to prod Blanka in the forearm fairly harmlessly. It seems an innocent enough attack - it would be hard to know it was the setup to something far more punishing when Blanka goes in for a strong counter attack.
"Time for you to learn a lesson in minding your own business-" the girl growls, twisting the back half of her staff a quarter turn, keeping the forward end extended. A twist then downswing of the half of her staff nearest Blanka smacks his feet as they come flipping up for her chin. Ayame, herself, is already twisting around, however, the back half of her staff brought crashing around into the jungle-grown fighter's side with crushing force.
Sliding a quarter of a step forward, herself, Ayame jams both ends of her now split staff against Blanka's chest before he can recover from the initial two smacks. A sudden manifestation of crimson energy builds like a gathering storm at those two points of contact before exploding with a violent amount of force, knocking the two fighters apart. Ayame slides back over the sand, spinning to a stop in a half crouch, her hands still gripping the two pieces of her staff. "Should've stayed in the crate." she points out. 'Should've stayed in bed.' she grouses to herself silently.
COMBATSYS: Shioe successfully hits Aranha with Medium Strike.
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Aranha 1/----===/=======|==-----\-------\0 Shioe
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Blanka 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
Aranha manages to land on his feet the moment he catches Ayame with the kick. When does he ends up finding that Shioe doesn't really give him a moment to breathe as she's already on him.
There's a difference between how Aranha planned to respond to the pressure from Shioe, what actually happens. Aranha was sure he couldn't get away from the combat knife scot free so he attempts to raise an arm as he leans away from the slash however the attack manages to get into a small gap in the capoeirista's defenses and manages to catch him before he can lean away causing him to grimace in pain.
The capoeirista manages to get his feet back under him and then he is back on the attack with a spin and then a side kick right to Shioe's stomach. "Do these look like the eyes of someone who gives a damn about what fan-fics I'm in?"
COMBATSYS: Shioe interrupts Medium Kick from Aranha with Bankozan.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 1/--=====/=======|===----\-------\0 Shioe
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Blanka 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
She really doesn't look like much of a fighter at all, does she? Waify-looking in her own way, in her bizarre black outfit and spending all of her time on a cellphone. Sounding bored with the least little thing. Certainly, one might expect that they could simply show a bit of force and then Shioe would be off their case, right? That she has better things to do?
Yeah, she's counting on that.
There's a dull *thud* as Aranha's kick smacks into the girl's stomach, but then there is also a vague little... *crunch!* sound, as well. Even as her non-knife-wielding hand comes up and grabs Aranha's leg, holding it in place, the remains of a cell phone -- crushed to death as it absorbed the majority of Aranha's kick -- drop out of her shirt and clatter, uselessly, onto the grass. The Kagero hunter-killer looks back at Aranha, paying *special attention* to the eyes, because he asked her to.
Then she rams that knife of hers into a very carefully selected spot in the man's *stomach*, a place intended to leave a non-fatal but really horrible and bleeding internal wound. 'Bankozan', the 'Eternal Slash'... so named because it seems as if the pain will go on forever.
Shioe's monotone response, as she withdraws the blade and lets go of Aranha's foot, never once taking her eyes off his, is: "I guess not."
"Meddling witch gotta help people, nothing else to da-rooo!" Blanka's voice is cut off in the midst of his speech, his 'roo' stuffed by a fierce slam to his side by Ayame's staff. He starts to recover, landing and bringing his arms to bear - but only to have the twin-sticks slam into his stomach, the hard ends digging into his gut, and the explosion of energy catching him off-guard and then throwing him backwards towards the crate he crawled out of - and really, given the choice and no consequences, he might very much have wanted to crawl back into.
Shaking his dizzy head, he starts to gather himself - looking over and seeing Shioe bring her knife-hand to bear, seeing the split-second of the hit. Eyes go wide, and he stumbles to his feet. "Aranha!" he howls, gathering up energy as the adrenaline rushes through him. As he hunkers down and bounds forwards on hands and knees, his body crackles with electricity, the flaring blue and white that flickers around him a definite warning of his eventual intent when he finishes closing the distance, barreling directly towards the knife-wielding girl.
COMBATSYS: Blanka gathers his will.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 1/--=====/=======|===----\-------\0 Shioe
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Blanka 1/-======/=======|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
For a moment, Ayame has a chance to catch her breath, with Blanka having been knocked a ways away. Whirling around back to the subject of her interest, in a purely academic way, and Shioe, just in time to see the vicious stabbing slipped in past the wilely Aranha's defenses. "Hn." Now she's fighting more seriously. Good! She has a reputation of being something more menacing than a cell phone addict, after all, it was just a matter of time before she'd see evidence of where it came from. She glances back toward Blanka, catching a glimpse of the red-hatted interference charging up with that world renown electricity chi of his. "Uh... this might be bad."
Standing up straight, Ayame puts the ends of her staff together and twists, combining them back into the single six foot long length of titanium alloy with a metallic clink. Twirling her weapon once, she slides her back foot a little behind her in the sand, gripping her weapon in front of her at an angle, assuming a very defensive posture. "Our green skinned guest of honor is a bigger interference than we might be able to resolve just now..."
COMBATSYS: Ayame focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 1/--=====/=======|===----\-------\0 Shioe
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Blanka 1/-======/=======|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
There's a reason that Aranha spent most of his career both as a fighter and a thief by himself. He isn't at his best when working with others. Take for instance, his SNFs. Only reason he hasn't lost a team match was Shoma was messed up in the head due to brainwashing and the baseball player's own team mate slugged him and decided to call it a draw and when he was fighting alongside Rylee, Todoh was sabotaging himself by hitting himself with his own traps.
A better example would the second Jinchuu tournament. When Alan and Aranha took on people as a unit, they didn't do that well. The fact that he fought well alongside Wing was either a fluke or could be chalked up to the two having fought each other so many times that they knew each others capabilities and knew how to complement each other well. Even in his team Seventh Circle fights, Aranha didn't begin to shine until his team mate got knocked out and he was all by himself.
Here's another case of Aranha not being able to work well in a team. When he had moved towards Shioe, he was planning for 'Naearoose' finish the job on Ayame, while he would go beat on the knife-wielder. His plans go to hell in a handbasket because not only does Shioe stop his attack cold and stabs him so that he bleeds like a hemophiliac, he turns to find Ayame, not only unfinished but his ally cutting off his own attack out of concern for him.
He clutches his stomach with his hands covered in blood and then he completely throws out the plans he been making since every plan he has made in this fight has backfired. Now his only plan is to deal as much damage as he can before he goes out. He know he doesn't have much consciousness time left and he also knows that he's can't exactly depend on his ally to keep him from getting captured, let alone questioning whether or not it's in 'Naearoose's' best interest to keep Aranha from getting taken prisoner.
He continues to press his attack on Shioe, lashing out with glowing blue kick after glowing blue kick from a variety of directions and angles in an attempt overwhelm her and make sure she doesn't get out of this fight without feeling some pain.
COMBATSYS: Shioe dodges Aranha's Royal Flush.
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Aranha 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Shioe
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Blanka 1/-======/=======|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
It's like trying to kick a shadow. Every time ti seems like one of Aranha's strikes is about to hit home, the dark figure of Shioe that was standing in that spot shifts JUST a little bit. Looking at it from the outside is disconcerting, as if the knife wielder's image is distorted somehow, flickering in and out, made more of air and darkness than actual physical substance. As the last glowing kick lashes out, there's a blur of dark black that passes by Aranha's side, and then the hunter-killer is standing right there next to him, glancing at him with her dull expression and lightless eyes.
"So they were right," she says evenly. "She's got reach, but you've got... flexibility."
_What is she referring to._
But the jibe is a split-second distraction; now she attempts to sweep a leg through Aranha's to set him off balance, then drive her elbow into the small of his back to send him sailing forward, face-first, onto the pier. She didn't have time to think about Blanka, which is why Ayame's words make her frown ever so slightly in consternation... perhaps the most emotion she's shown to date.
"Are you suggesting we bail?" she asks of the staff-wielder, genuinely curious. "I wonder what el jefe would have to say about that."
Blanka moves with alarcity and speed - but Ayame knocked him so far away! It's slow as he trundles and picks up speed, hands and feet digging chunks of the ground up as he propels himself fowards. Watching Shioe move, the strange flickering motion throws him for a split second - and makes him change his plan.
Instead of barreling straight towards Shioe with the intent of burying a shoulder in her stomach, he launches himself into a ball in mid-air. While it might even make him a smaller target, harder to hit her, he has plans! As soon as he comes a foot from her, he explodes into a burst of blue-white light, lightning crackling around him like a giant lightbulb, full of electricity that he's just dying to share with Shioe!
And for a moment, Shioe seems to be the focus of their combined efforts. Ayame can't say she isn't relieved for that, needing a breather from the combined assault she was having to weather for a moment. But now she's got to get in there and help her partner out too! "Oh," Ayame waves her left hand idly, "He's an understanding guy, I'm sure it'll be fine." Understanding is probably not the first word someone would pick to describe Seishirou which means Ayame is probably just focused on trying to keep from getting beat up even further!
But she isn't going to leave Shioe on her own with both of the other fighters cooperating against her now. Gritting her teeth, Ayame bolts forward, chasing after Blanka. She isn't going to be fast enough to intersect him now that his course of action is locked in - Naeroooose already has far too much momentum going there. "I have /got/ to find out who's putting all these notes out there," she remarks after another moment's thought. "And make them regret that."
She may be thinking about whatever these rumors are Shioe seems to know way too much about, but that doesn't mean she isn't trying to get Blanka too! The fiercesome surge of electrical chi surrounding him is a well known techinque and leave it to Ayame to know almost the exact duration he's able to sustain it before having to recharge, as it were. Approaching Blanka from behind, she waits until his current surge of power has run its course, then /leaps/, lifting her staff up over her head and bring it down around his thick neck while staying behind him.
If she gets into this position, she'll pull back hard with her staff against Blanka's throat, doing her best to keep her own feet on the ground or at least, staying behind him at all costs. Another infusion of crackling, crimson chi explodes down the length of her staff, promising Blanka a shocking taste of his own medicine if he isn't able to escape the attack!
COMBATSYS: Shioe successfully hits Aranha with Armed Combo.
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Aranha 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Shioe
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Blanka 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
Aranha tries to hop over the sweep if only to avoid getting his legs trapped. Unfortunately that, much like his attempt to defend against Shioe's slash across his chest isn't quite as successful as he would like, so he gets caught with the follow up elbow to the back and his face hits the pier hard enough that his face breaks through the plank.
The clock is ticking for the capoeirista and he knows the amount of time he has to do anything else in this fight is limited. He brings himself up to his feet. His vision begins swimming. His ginga is sloppy and he seems to be teetering on the edge of consciousness but he grits his teeth determined to find some type of opening on the knife wielder and so he swings a wild roundhouse to her head, if he can connect with that initial kick he'll swing his foot back around to hook his heel behind her head and violently pull her down face first into the pier.
COMBATSYS: Shioe dodges Aranha's Face Down.
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Aranha 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Shioe
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Blanka 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Blanka successfully hits Shioe with Direct Lightning.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Aranha 0/-------/-----==|=======\====---\1 Shioe
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Blanka 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
Two things happen. Well, technically, three things happen:
1.) Shioe ducks under Aranha's roundhouse kick, dropping low.
2.) She turns to say something deadpan sarcastic to him.
3.) What she FINDS is an electrified Blanka who knocks her clear off the pier.
It's actually very impressive to watch, from an outside standpoint. The green machine plows into her like a horizontal meteor and Shioe, who weighs practically nothing, literally cannons off the side of the pier with a loud *splash!*. It's like a cue ball hitting the 8 ball, if the cue were powered by a fission reactor and a mile of pneumatic machinery. As it is, it's a few moments before -- admist loud splashing -- Shioe finally gets back onto the dock, dripping wet. Looking... well, not angry, so much as typically impassive, she shakes her arms out and tugs at the bottom of her shirt.
A cod flops out, flailing around on the pier. Apparently, there's a lot of room in that jacket.
"Okay," she says to Blanka evenly, "I'm afraid you have to die. Nothing personal."
And then she's just... THERE, in his grill, as if she didn't even move through the intervening space. Knife in hand, the girl in black lashes out with an uncounted number of knife slashes, compressed into precious little time. In fact, she is slicing the air with such force and precision that the air ITSELF becomes a weapon, each carefully-positioned slash creating sharp shards of vacuum from. Twenty-two slices in all, counting double from the wind-based cuts. A most terrible technique indeed...
COMBATSYS: Blanka blocks Shioe's Forty-Four Saya.
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Aranha 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Shioe
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Blanka 0/-------/-======|==-----\-------\0 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Blanka fails to interrupt Creation's Twilight from Ayame with Electric Thunder.
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Aranha 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Shioe
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Blanka 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Ayame
"Blanka no want to die - but best leave Aranha alone!!" Simple self-preservation gone by the wayside, Blanka seems to invite the soaked girl up and onwards, hopefully giving Aranha time to vamoose, or some such. After all, Blanka's not the one they want, so him taking the brunt of this is actually for the best. Right? Maybe.
He's caught off-guard by the sheer speed she has, the vanishing/reapppearing act catching him flat-farooted. He bats his hands here and there, instinctively slapping where the blade will be. His palms are cut up by the end of it, but save for the red stains on his fingers, and the steady drip-drop-drip of blood on the ground, Blanka's still standing. He looks a little relieved, and starts to speak. "Not dead.. yet!"
And from above, Ayame stikes. A sixth sense catches the impact coming in, and there's a dangerous flash of blue and white around the beastman - but Ayame's timed it far too well, and Blanka's batteries aren't quite recharged enough to do more than flicker before he's smacked upside the throat and sent to the ground in a burst of crimson chi and staffly goodness!
To say that it was a close one is putting it mildly. Ayame gets in, delivers the rather painful, chi-infused strangle hold with her staff, then just before it gets to be possibly too late, she's backflipping away, landing back in the sand a few yards away, crouching, her staff out at her side, as she evaluates the situation as it presently stands. There's no denying that the altercation has been a violent, affair and it's a bitter pill to swallow that Tomoko got away from them this time. But if she can get information out of Aranha, then maybe it'll have paid off...
"Well, well," Ayame muses out loud, glancing between the injured Aranha, the shocked Shioe, and the momentarially stalled Blanka. "I think we have a firm handle on this situation." A feral grin crosses her lips as she zeroes in on Aranha next, darting forward through the sand to close distance with him, "I'm feeling generous, though. If you surrender now the beatings will stop. Ultimately, we want the same thing here -"
"- to catch that old crone that gave us the slip." She leaps, going air born, spinning and driving her staff down toward the sand behind Aranha to try and hedge him in. The real point of the attack is her right knee that comes swinging forward as she lands, attempting to drive it into his sternum while her staff is wedged in behind him, limiting his avenues for escape. "Give up and answer questions, and the hurting can stop!"
COMBATSYS: Aranha interrupts Light Kick from Ayame with Bad Beat.
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Aranha 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Shioe
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Blanka 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Ayame
COMBATSYS: Aranha can no longer fight.
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Blanka 1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Shioe
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Ayame 0/-------/-======|
Aranha can't vamoose as much as he would love to. He has two things working against him. Exhaustion, and the fact he's lost so much blood that a lake(forget a pool) of it is forming on the ground of his current location. Any attempts in retreat would end with Aranha passing out within visible distance. Aranha's hope in evading capture lies in him taking down one and Blanka taking down the other and seeing as the green skinned witch in red has been proven to be able land blows on Shioe, where as his attempts with his better moves in his arsenal haven't found their marks, 'Naearoose' is the best suited candidate for taking down Shioe. The problem is the green skinned creature has established a pattern of going after someone to protect him and so he doubts that the creature execute things the way he needs to without him telling 'Naearoose' and he can't tell the witch without the other two getting hip to the game.
Aranha is pretty sure he's screwed. But the knowledge that he's screwed hasn't always prevented him fighting on. The problem is Ayame does something unexpected in the form of attacking him which doesn't leave him enough time to do what he actually wanted to do and because the staff wielder cuts off his avenues of escape(which truth be told were already cut off by that massive amount of bleeding he's been doing) he has nothing to lose and he charges in head first with a short burst of speed catching the knee in the side of the ribs instead of its intended target. His head then collides with Ayame's stomach. "Fuck..." He snaps his head upwards to catch the Kagero agent in the chin before dropping low to grab her by the back of the knees and lift his entire body upwards as he pulls her feet from under her. "...you."
And then the capoeirista falls backwards hitting the ground as bloodloss induced unconsciousness takes over him.
At the very least, Shioe doesn't seem bothered by Blanka's defense; it's set the jolly green giant on the defensive, which is enough for her. Ayame's promise that the pain will stop when they give up also seems spurious, but whatever gives Aranha and Blanka hope... of course, right after the staff-wielding spy delivers her ultimatum (or offer for clemency... they often sound so much alike) Aranha goes down like a sack of potatoes that's been drained of all its blood.
Potato blood.
Shut up.
The young huntress doesn't press the attack against Blanka. Instead, she just... looks at him, flipping her knife around expertly in one hand while she stands there. "I suppose I should tell you that no fewer than two separate points in his lower torso are currently bleeding internally, and while he... you know, will probably survive or something, I mean, I'm just saying, you can choose to keep playing with us or you could, like, get him to a hospital or something? I guess."
And then out comes the phone, totally unharmed from her drop into the bay. How did she DO that? And considering the lack of attention she's giving Blanka, it certainly indicates which course of action she expects the big guy to take...
COMBATSYS: Shioe takes no action.
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Blanka 1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Shioe
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Ayame 0/-------/-======|
Hooboy.
Blanka is not doing phenomenal at the moment, but at least he's standing. Aranha, well - ok, he's not doing nearly as well. Blanka clutches his fists as he gets back to his feet, debating reaching out to try and smush the pair of women again - but Shioe's right. Poor Aranha needs professional medical attention, much like the Holodoc would suggest, and Blanka does not think the pier is the best place for that.
"Naearoose say the answers are blowing in wind! Naearooose... AWAY!" Without a seconds' hesitation, Blanka makes his decision, and scoops up the injured fighter, throwing him over one shoulder, the other giant mitt grabbing the broom he'd come into the fight with. He tosses it between his legs and gallops off, the way a child would pretend to ride a horsey. After all, if they fall for it, perhaps they will ponder his words of wisdom long enough to allow him to make his escape with Aranha! :|a
COMBATSYS: Blanka has left the fight here.
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Shioe 0/-------/-------|
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Ayame 0/-------/-======|
Ayame lands out of her spinning leap, driving a hard knee into Aranha's torso. It's possible she was deliberately targeting one of the already existing stab wounds in the process, just to further wither his silent tenacity. But his response comes back decisively with a headbutt to the stomach that stops Ayame short, "Hgh-!" The crack to her chin with the sturdy part of his forehead is staggering, the girl seeing stars for a moment. It's easy to pull her feet out from under her, sending her landing in the sand with a grunt in spite trying to catch herself with her staff on the way down.
Kicking back up to her feet, she looks irritated now, right hand clenched in a fist in front of her, "That does it! I try to give you a chance to put an end to-" She lowers her hand. "Oh, that's swell. He's passed out. What did you do to him?" she asks, glancing over her shoulder at Shioe. "Now we're going to have to drag him off, fix him up, THEN question him!" She exhales, emphasizing the incredible hassle this has become!
Naerooose comes to the rescue, saving Ayame of the awful chore of actually finishing this job by scooping Aranha up and bolting... sorta... with a broom between his legs. Ayame blinks, then stares, then slouches her shoulders a little. She could catch up... Bruised from being kicked and Blanka-balled around some, she could bite back the aches and give chase. But right now she's too busy trying to process what she's seeing. "Well."
She rubs her cheek, sticking one end of her staff into the sand then leaning against it lazily, "I hope you're at least getting that on camera."
COMBATSYS: Shioe has left the fight here.
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Ayame 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Ayame has ended the fight here.
Log created on 21:33:37 03/22/2011 by Ayame, and last modified on 13:36:16 04/14/2011.