Description: Nothing can stop these two warriors clashing! Not even... the power failure of the server! (Which explains why color is lost suddenly halfway through the log). Marvel in wonder as Aranha and Takako clash together in a match which, whilst relatively one-sided, nevertheless promises many thrills along the way! When a spider meets a bokken, what outcome can there be?!
Aranha was seated alone at a cafe eating a breakfast sandwich and reading the sports section of newspaper, particularly of the fighter bios and breakdowns of the remaining competitors of the Test of the Dragons tournament. Aranha liked having information on the competition or potential competition in this case. In his previous line of work, an uninformed man is often a dead man. In this case, the fate isn't that dire for him. An uninformed man would just be eliminated.
After a few moments he finishes up reading the articles on the TotD and moves on to the Neo League articles. In particular, he finds himself reading the match about Takako and Adon... Which thankfully won't be played on prime time TV. He shudders a bit.
He doesn't quite finish the article when he hears the chime of the cafe door.
Takako hasn't really been following the Dragon's Tournament; it isn't her fight. Her fight is in the Neo League, and whilst she hasn't really done an awful lot to prove herself as a fighter, every fight she has had, has felt like it is building her up a little more. She'd rewatched the video of her battle against Adon, and, again, whilst she hadn't /won/, she felt that those last frantic moments, where she finally bloodied the Jaguar of Muay Thai, have justified her participation.
When she catches sight of Aranha, though, that does attract her attention. She and her loyal pair of Neo League officials detour into the cafe, and she wastes no time in walking right up to him.
"Aranha!" She declares, putting her hands on her hips. "My name is Fujiwa Takako! I have heard your style is a tricky one, and I would like to reiterate my challenge to you! Face me!"
A look of confusion appears on the Dancing Spider's face. "Wait. You challenged me? When?" He pulls out his cellphone and frantically checks through his texts and then his emails and even the deleted emails. Nothing. This makes things even more confusing for the young adult.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I received your challenge. But considering your current challenge was way more polite than Adon's, I think I could accept." He finishes his breakfast sandwich, chugs the remnants of his vitamin water and then stands up. "While I feel I could fight anywhere, I'd rather not have to pay for destruction of property so let's take this outside."
He moves to the door and opens it making the chimes sound once more and holds the door open for Takako. "After you."
Takako smiles thinly as she is informed that she's more polite than Adon. To a certain extent she'd just assumed that was the case, but it is always nice. "I sent you a letter some time ago." She says, "But, do not concern yourself. The majority of individuals did not respond, for some reason or another." Which, is perfectly accurate. She might not like it, and she's sure they all have their reasons, but, reasons don't change the fact that it happened. It is still annoying!
She strides out of the cafe, as Aranha holds the door open for her, and once outside, she draws her bokken. Carefully cleaned and cared for following the debacle that was her fight against Adon, the wooden sword seems almost to shine in the light of the new day.
"I am ready whenever you are." She reassures the more experienced fighter. "Whenever you feel ready." She herself readies swiftly; settling into a low crouched stance with her chosen weapon held at waist height.
"Letter? I haven't set foot in my place in awhile. I am so sorry." He calmly steps out of the door himself and then takes a breath as prepares himself for battle. When Takako declares herself ready for battle, he nods and then begins to sway from left to right.
For half a moment he wonders if he should let her take the first strike but then he reconsiders, considering the fact that she declared her readiness. He's suddenly in motion going into a cartwheel to eat up the distance between the two fighters and then suddenly dropping low to balance on one hand as he snaps a kick off into her side. Aranha tends to start slow. This is his information gathering phase of the fight.
COMBATSYS: Aranha has started a fight here.
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Aranha 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Takako has joined the fight here.
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Takako 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Aranha
COMBATSYS: Takako endures Aranha's Snap Kick.
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Takako 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Aranha
Takako is not a difficult one to read. The kick comes in, and she lets it. It smashes into her side, but she remains firm against it, shifting only a small amount as she steps into the kick, and raises her bokken up high. There's no more comment on the whole, missing letter fiasco; such things are unimportant in the grand scheme, and she is getting her fight now! That is all that really matters!
There's little subtly in Takako's style, and that much is displayed even this early in the fight. With a traditional cry of; "KIYAH!" She swings the bokken around in an overhead arc. Aranha is low, and if she has her way, she'll crash the weapon into him and bounce him right off the sidewalk! Takako does enjoy seeing what other fighters are capable of... but she rarely lets it influence what /she/ does all that much. Overwhelming force and brute determination are her forte!
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Takako's Power Strike.
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Takako 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1 Aranha
On one hand, Aranha was more than capable of evading, the attack if he wanted to. On the other hand staying close yielded more information for the capoeirista. As a result, he plants the other hand and crosses his legs at the shin to intercept the bokken strike leaving a bit of a sting on it. On one hand, Capoeiristas detest getting struck in the leg, on the other hand, this case was his own damn fault so he's not about to hold it against Takako.
Aranha tilts out of the handstand bringing him back to his feet and then he spins around to give himself just enough room to deliver a blue glowing roundhouse, followed by a blue chi enhanced spinning jump kick, and then finishing off by turning his back just long enough to to perform a back flip kick to drive the final chi engulfed kick down upon Takako's head.
For some reason, Takako reminds him of someone he once fought.
COMBATSYS: Takako endures Aranha's Aggressive Dance.
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Takako 0/-------/--=====|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
Still, Takako stands firm against the assault. This time she regrets it somewhat. The assault is painful! All that glowy energy adds an extra punch, and makes her grind her teeth together. In traditional Kendo, the kiai is a technique used to psyche up the fighter and intimidate the opponent, but it isn't /supposed/ to be an expression of genuine rage and anger. Takako's style, goes somewhat against that.
"HRAAAAAARGH!" She bellows, and as Aranha comes down from his kick, she is lunging to intercept him. The girl's movements are swift and brutal, aiming to slash her wooden blade out across the Dancing Spider's legs, and then swing upwards diagonally herself...
Before twisting, and kicking out with one sandal-clad foot. The girl's kicks are much, much rougher than Aranha's, but the swift boot, aiming to impact into his chest and throw him back so that she can keep on him, might /just/ be unexpected given how rarely she uses anything other than her bokken, as a rule. ... Well, that, and her forehead.
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Takako's Killing Flurry.
Aranha watches as the bokken heads towards his legs, and he decides he wants no part of it. He immediately plants both hands on the ground, splaying his legs wide as he twists causing his legs to spin around the initial path of the bokken blade much like a helicopter. He only has half a heart beat of time with both feet on the ground before the next bokken strike comes, forcing the capoeirista to bend backwards into a back bridge to evade that. Then the kick comes. The Dancing Spider spins around the kick and around the samurai-ko herself to bring himself right to her back.
Getting behind Takako provides opportunities from just the informational standpoint. How well does she deal with trickery? How good are her instincts? Can she recover from her attack quickly enough to cope with his positioning? To find that out, he delivers a side kick to her back.
"I think I know who you remind me of."
COMBATSYS: Takako fails to interrupt Strong Kick from Aranha with Kami's Roar EX.
- Power fail! -
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Takako 1/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Aranha
Takako's instincts are pretty good compared to the norm, but, compared to more experienced fighters? Well, she's proven in the League so far that she can show flashes of insight enough to compete with some of the biggest names around. But then there are moments like this, when she is just totally befuddled, and her natural instinct - to try and turn fast enough to headbutt her assailant - work against her.
She winds up smashing her own jaw right into Aranha's foot, and she's sent sprawling backwards with a painful choke. She doesn't stay down for long, though. Even if the skidmark of pavement across her cheek looks... pretty bad, actually. She's not going to let a little thing like extreme pain stop her from carrying on the fight.
"Who?" She demands, hotly. Adding, after a split-second's thought, "IF YOU SAY ARSHE I WILL FEED YOU YOUR FEET!"
"Nah. I've never fought her. No. You remind me more of Marisol O'Connell. Same type of fiery spirit though she has a bit less rage." Aranha dances closer as Takako picks herself off of the ground. He doesn't move in right away. He can see she still has some fight in her and he dares not hold back. While she's less experienced, he's read enough about her fights to know that she's shown enough insight to give problems to fighters that even Aranha himself has trouble dealing with. Exhibit A: Adon.
And then he comes back in a couple steps but then he suddenly spins, whipping his arm outwards as he sends a web of chi web right for the diminutive swordswoman. Soon after, he chases after the web attempting to close back in.
COMBATSYS: Takako interrupts Web Shot from Aranha with Explosive Tornado.
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Takako 1/------=/=======|=======\====---\1 Aranha
Takako braces herself as the web comes in. She knew enough about Aranha's style to know that she'd probably need to deal with that at some point, and she had actually thought about how she'd do it, too! Which is why as it comes in for her, the wind around the makeshift arena begins to pick up.
She waits until it is actually wrapping around her, constricting her, and /then/ she steps forwards. With a loud yell, "KIYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The webbing EXPLODES off her, swallowing herself, and Aranha, briefly in a lashing storm of ripping wind energy. It lasts only a few seconds, but it is long enough for her! When the wind has cleared, she is recovering her guard, raising her weapon high.
"If it helps, I'm not angry with YOU!" She shouts, slamming her foot back into the ground. "I'm angry because I can do BETTER! I know I can! And I will! This fight isn't over yet! So long as I can still stand, I will fight with everything that I have, Dancing Spider!"
That would be the first time the capoeirista had seen anyone draw in wind and then cloak themselves with it like that. While Aranha is pretty sure Frei is more than capable of doing exactly that, he never saw him do it... in person.
Aranha ends up getting blown away by the assault even with him practically charging into it, not quite knowing what he got himself into. While it did do some fairly good damage physically, to lesser experienced warrior or one with a more vulnerable ego, the greatest damage would've been done to morale.
The capoeirista slowly picks himself off the ground and smiles. What Takako said to him rang so true with him. She's showing him that she has heart, she's showing him that she has a drive to improve, and most importantly in his eyes, she showing him that she's not so convinced of her superiority that she can't acknowledge that she has flaws.
"Fine then. Show me what you can do!" He performs a roundhouse into back hand spring into a somersault with a half twist to close the distance before attempting to slide beneath Takako and then leaping up to bound off of a parking meter and reverse direction launching a kick right into the side of Takako's head.
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Takako 1/------=/=======|=======\===----\1 Aranha
COMBATSYS: Takako blocks Aranha's Sky's the Limit.
Takako's quest is in many ways one purely to overcome those flaws. That she has a great deal to learn is obvious; if she did not, she would have crushed all opponents underneath her sandal'd foot and continued the path to League victory as though it were nothing. Takako knows for absolute certain that she is far from perfect. But she's also absolutely certain that she has what it takes. She has proven, in her own eyes, that she has enough potential to cross blades with absolutely any fighter in the world.
Now she has to find the path that will allow her to reach that potential. To turn every moment of every fight into the pinnacle of all that she can be!
Aranha comes in, and this time, Takako comes in to meet him. Her bokken flashes out to meet each strike in turn, dancing in her hands as the Capoerist dances about her. Each impact sends a shudder through the implement, but when it is finished, she's turning around, and there's no more energy about her. Instead, she throws herself forwards, sword leading the way, as she attempts to catch Aranha in the gut, and forcefully fling him into the air - the wide, forward-sweeping arc the best thing she has to deal with sneaky, dodgy sorts like him!
Should it succeed, she will take off into the air after him. Lunging up, the girl puts everything she has into this; the full expression of her swordsmanship. Five blows come lashing out so fast as to be almost instantaneous to an untrained eye. Each diagonal, horizontal, another slashing blow up, before she aims to send him crashing back down to the earth with the hilt of her sword.
And for once, should all go according to plan, when she lands... she does /not/ immediately fall over again. Though she is breathing a little harder already.
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Takako's Fujin's Echo.
Aranha dares not blink. A moment lost to blinking is moment lost to being where he needs to be in order evade. Her movements don't give him a chance to do anything flashy to evade. He has to maintain a closeness to the wooden blade that if it were metal, it would be truly a dance of death. One mistake and a vein would be cut, another and a artery would be cut there, and he would be left in a puddle of blood.
Though he evades, he does so with a fearlessness of someone with confidence in his technique and his ability to keep calm in spite the intense amounts of pressure placed upon him by the young swordswoman. When Takako, lands, Aranha lets out a breath. "Wow."
Beyond that, the capoeirista is almost speechless at the techinique. However, he would be wrong for not continuing the fight if not for his own sake, then for the sake of Takako and her pursuit of improvement, and the audience. He's already close in so he lowers his head to Takako's stomach delivering a first headbutt there, then he whips his head upwards to deliver another headbutt to the chin.
Once the initial headbutts are delivered, Aranha drops low to grab for Takako's ankles and pull them from under her.
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Takako 0/-------/-----==|=======\==-----\1 Aranha
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Takako with Bad Beat.
- Power hit! -
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Takako 0/-------/-======|=======\====---\1 Aranha
Takako attempts to tank the headbutts coming in for her. The trouble is, though, that she was already out of breath when this began. The first crashes into her stomach, and she chokes. For once, it is nothing more than her iron stamina which fails her. It is rare that she feels that is the case, but so it is. She bends over almost double, and the second sends her reeling backwards, dizzied and confused. The final throw, well, she's in no position to deal with that, and throws have ever been the bane of her fighting career. When her head impacts the concrete, it is with a resounding *CRACK*.
She still refuses to stay down, though. Stumbling back up to her feet, one could be forgiven for thinking that she really ought to. Blood stains the pavement and her head has cracked! She shouldn't be carrying on in that kind of condition!
But she refuses to even consider staying down. She can still fight, damnit, and she will! If it is her head which has betrayed her, THEN HER HEAD WILL PAY THE PRICE!
With a sudden bellowing roar, Takako flings herself forwards at Aranha all over again, this time, her forehead leads the way, and she aims to just SMASH her face directly into his. Capoeira teaches many ways to use one's head in combat; but this isn't Capoeira. This is Takako's determination to plough on through given form, and she fully intends to do it!
COMBATSYS: Takako successfully hits Aranha with Kami's Roar.
[ ................. < > ///////////////// ]
Takako 0/-------/-======|=======\====---\1 Aranha
One good headbutt deserves another. Aranha isn't able to duplicate what his Mestre once did. No weaving out of the way to return another headbutt. Instead, Aranha's vision goes temporarily white the moment Takako's forehead connects with his jaw.
He stumbles backwards in a struggle to keep his feet under him.
Eventually Aranha is able to regain his composure though a head shake to get his mind together helps a bit. He goes into ginga, dancing as he sways to music playing only in his head though that ringing in his ears normally wouldn't be there.
Slowly he moves in and then all of a sudden he leans backward, reaching the ground with one hand as he kicks a foot up to her chin and using the combination of the lean backward and the upward kick to flip himself up and over.
COMBATSYS: Takako fails to interrupt Change-Up Kick from Aranha with Determined Breeze.
COMBATSYS: Takako can no longer fight.
Takako has come to the conclusion that the only way she's going to hit this guy, is to be unafraid to exchange hits with him. He isn't Gato; he isn't going to try and kill her with his powerful techniques. All she has to fear from him, is pain. And what kind of thing is that to be afraid of? No, she steels herself when he comes in for her, and in the same moment that he kicks up at her, she drives her bokken forwards--
But Aranha's reach is greater, and his kick hammers home into her chin, snapping the girl's jaw shut tight. "Ooghnk." She says, reaffirming her grip on her bokken... and striking out blindly!
At where he had been a few moments before. The flip takes him clear to safety, and at last, Takako hits the ground and does not get back up, slipping away into unconsciousness; that welcome stranger whose arms are always warm and who always provides some brief release from the rigors
Aranha's practically blind when he delivers that kick. All he has to go by is the feeling of his foot connecting and his own trained physical awareness to not only tell him where he connected but the fact that Takako will not be getting up from the attack. He glances to the officials that Takako was traveling with then moves towards them to take a few moments to make sure they can get her to a hospital or hotel room or whatever.
After that, he rushes into the cafe and buys a gift card for the samurai-ko. Even if it wasn't the most challenging of his fights it was one of the most enjoyable. When she wakes up she'll find a note attached:
I hope to one day see a match between you and Marisol and I look forward to seeing the warrior that you'll become.
Aranha [Insert Spider Doodle Here]
Log created on 07:55:34 06/29/2012 by Takako, and last modified on 10:23:25 06/30/2012.