Description: Lita had forgotten she had signed up for the Neo League until Takako gave her a reminder in the form of a Neo League challenge. The two weapon users clash in a brutal bout and only one is left standing. (Winner: Lita)
Once again, Takako has sent out a letter. Her caligraphy is perfect, her english... remains as poor as it has ever been.
Lita Luwanda.
As a soldier you are a warrior of much renown! It had once been the challenge of fighting on battlefields that I wanted. But no longer! Neo League glory and victory await! But it has become tradition to make the challenge by means of letter from me, Fujiwa Takako. Currently ranked 11th in the League.
I await your reply in Antelope Canyon. I will be taking a few days to walk to Las Vegas, City of Sleeping, after excitement of the Sunshine City declines. Are you coward? Then challenge not!
Yours,
Fujiwa Takako.
Naturally, Takako herself is as good as her word. Walking from Sunshine City to Las Vegas is a long proposition, especially when your knowledge of geography is as weak as your grasp of the written English language. But she does know that this is Antelope Canyon, and it has been a few weeks since her last challenge. Getting back to America after being thrown from Geese's boat had taken a while!
It was some time ago when Lita had signed up for a Neo League. Possibly around the time she signed up for the Saturday Night Fight and fought Lightning Spangles. Her memory is a bit hazy on the particulars. However to her surprise when she goes through her mail at Headquarters, she finds the letter. After a few moments of blinking and the fellow Delta Reds laughing at the surprise on her face, they send her on her way to Antelope Canyon.
Lita takes some time to sight-see(Read: gamble a little) in Las Vegas before eventually making her way to Antelope Canyon. True to her word, Takako is waiting right there. "Ahh... So you're the one who sent the letter to me."
Wait... How does she not know about Takako? Has she been living under a rock? Or perhaps, she had been spending more training the Delta Reds than catching up on current events.
Takako isn't the sort of person who dwells on their fame - hard-earned as it had been. She isn't particularly comfortable with it at the best of times. After all, she's famous... and she hasn't won a single fight. Half her fans are into her for her never-say-die spirit, the other half (well, probably more) feel a vague sense of pity for the girl.
Whatever the case, she stands up, and flips her bokken from across her lap, pointing it towards the Delta Red operative.
"That's right." She says, "I am Fujiwa Takako. And I look forward to seeing what a professional soldier can do."
And Lita for her part nods as Takako indeed acknowledges that she is the person who had sent the letter. The Delta Red Melee weapons specialist doesn't go for her large sword strapped to her back right away. Instead, she takes her own fighting stance that seems more at home on a special forces fighter than a traditionalist, and then Lita waits for Takako to do the same.
"It's not everyday that I get to fight people who specialize in weaponry." She pauses and then adds as an afterthought, "At least, not recently."
It's at that point the cameras surrounding them get into position and the official signals for the fight to begin. And then Lita's face becomes intensely focused as if some type of switch turned on. Her hand blurs as she moves to her bandolier quick drawing a Kunai and then flinging it towards the Japanese swordswoman's right shoulder.
COMBATSYS: Lita has started a fight here.
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Lita 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Takako has joined the fight here.
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Takako 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Lita
COMBATSYS: Lita successfully hits Takako with Kunai Throw.
- Power hit! -
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Takako 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Lita
Takako attempts to bring her bokken around to block the flung dagger, but instead, as she does, she swings around too far and winds up letting the dagger stab her right between the shoulderblades. It is enough to make her grunt, but, she doesn't let herself stumble. Instead, she slams one sandal-clad foot into the ground, and cracks her neck.
"I'm starting to learn." She says, slowly, "That the form doesn't matter. It is the strength and soul that counts. But my bokken is all I need!"
Coming forwards swiftly, the weapon is swung low, point seeming to seek Lita's left knee. It doesn't last, though. As she closes, it suddenly veers upwards, and she attempts to slam into the soldier's chest, and knock her back.
COMBATSYS: Lita blocks Takako's Raging Tornado.
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Takako 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Lita
Lita's opening salvo ends up being a bit more successful than she expected. What she didn't count on was Takako recovering from the attack as quickly as she did. In less than an instant Takako has already covered the distance between them and as the bokken drops low as if going for the leg, Lita moves in closer as if trying to move inside of the attack and blunt it before the attack can be completed. While the initial feint was successful, getting inside the attack serves the Delta Red soldier well and Lita is too far inside to get incredibly damaged by the bokken strike.
"While strength and spirit do matter, there's something to be said for a technical mastery gained from perfection of form." Then Lita takes advantage of her current proximity to deliver a one inch punch to the rib cage.
COMBATSYS: Takako endures Lita's Fierce Strike.
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Takako 0/-------/-======|=------\-------\0 Lita
Takako doesn't budge an inch when the punch comes her way. Mastery of form, all that good stuff, yes, that's useful. But she wants to know how hard this woman can hit, and that means being prepared to take a few licks. The blow hammers into her, but already, Takako is bringing her bokken around. Though it connects cleanly, the weapon is raised overhead, and, she bellows!
"GRARGH!"
Not, perhaps, the most inventive warcry, but as she aims to bring the weapon down hard, that should speak for her. Swinging it around whether it connects clean or not, she intends to follow up with a second slash to the torso, and, whilst the 'blade' of the wooden implement is still in contact, slam her head forward into it with as much force as she can muster.
It is a pretty staggering strike, but what is more impressive is that Takako is refusing to be budged; now that she's closed the distance, she fully intends to keep it closed, and stay on Lita as firmly as she can. She's still got a knife sticking out of her back, she's learned that lesson keenly.
COMBATSYS: Lita interrupts Random Strike from Takako with Cannon Spike.
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Takako 1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Lita
When Takako refuses to budge from the impact of the one inch punch, alarms go off in the soldier's head. The realization that she's no longer controlling the range between them has become quite clear. It also makes quite clear that when people start becoming stone walls, she needs to break them down.
Takako's initial strike catches the British woman on her should and when she sees her about to lean in headfirst into the blade, Lita moves, leaning away as she raises a heel threading it past the bokken and right into her face just before she rises into the air and pushes off of her to regain control of range once more.
Upon landing, Lita's left hand moves towards the fast release latch on her sword but not quite touching it quite yet.
Takako grunts as the heel crushes into her chin. She's lifted off her feet, but, if Lita is hoping that the display of martial talent is going to shatter her resolve to fight, Lita is going to be very disappointed indeed.
Because as she lands, the young woman's eyes are narrowed. Raising the bokken up high, she comes hurtling back into the fray. "Your martial arts aren't bad." She says, "But I /had/ hoped to fight another weapon user! Just to see if it makes a difference."
A heartbeat passes, and her eyes snap open.
"Probably not! HYAAAAAAAH!"
She doesn't actually complete the forwards-charge. Instead, her voice bellows out between the pair as she advances, and just before she'd smash bodily into the woman, the air between them erupts into slashing winds, tearing around between them both and aiming to catch her by surprise with an explosive discharge of ripping energy.
COMBATSYS: Takako successfully hits Lita with Deafening Kiai.
Glancing Blow
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Takako 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Lita
Lita's eyes pick up on Takako moving in at a pretty good clip. She expects for the charge to be leading up to a sword strike and sidesteps as her right hand goes to the hilt while her left hand engages the quick release clatch. This would've allowed Lita to avoid a sword strike as she drew her own weapon. Unfortunately the real attack came from the bellowing from the diminutive swordswoman. The sidestep only took her partially out of the way of the roaring winds which slash at her sides before the wind dissipates behind her.
"That's the thing. I am a weapon user. My fists and feet are as much a weapon as the kunai I carry and sword now in my hands. If I can see it, I can use it." She then falls into her stance with sword in hand. "But I suppose you want to see my swordsmanship in action."
And then Lita's off once more swinging the sword at the Japanese swordswoman slashing three times one after the other before performing a slight step afterwards to the side.
COMBATSYS: Takako Toughs Out Lita's Triple Slash!
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Takako 1/----===/=======|====---\-------\0 Lita
Takako remains focused through the slashes. They tear into her clothing, but the body beneath remains firm and unyielding in the face of the assault. It isn't until Lita steps that she makes her move.
"THERE!"
It is the first time in one of her league fights that she has verbalized so clearly, so exuberantly, what she believes to be the key moment. Lita's foot touches the ground, and in that instant, Takako snatches at the energy she had summoned just a few seconds ago. Forcing it crudely around her weapon, sweat beads on her brow. She's clenching her teeth so tight she's drawn blood - her body protesting the wounds that she's just /taken/ in order to buy this moment.
And in a flash, she brings her sword around horizontally, and is behind Lita.
Blink and you'll miss it. The moment when Lita's foot touches ground, and Takako makes her move. Slashing energy and the striking wooden practice sword moving with all the speed that she can possibly muster; everything she has put into that moment. It is a testament to her appreciation for Lita's swordsmanship; that she feels she must seize the opportunity whilst she still has it.
COMBATSYS: Takako successfully hits Lita with Raijin's Strike.
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Takako 0/-------/------=|=======\=------\1 Lita
Once again, Takako proves able to stone wall Lita once more. Takako once again remains unbudged when Lita makes a show of strength and then that inability to move her makes the Delta Red soldier incapable of responding adequately to the powerful strike and sends her tumbling and in agony. And for the first time in this match, Lita gets taken off of her feet.
The heavy sword wielding soldier brings herself to her feet with sword tightly gripped in her right hand as she rises. The remnants of the wind from the last strike blows her hair for a moment before the wind suddenly dies down. Lita breaks into a run, kicking up dirt in her wake as she makes her way back into sword range of Takako and then a little beyond that barreling right into the teenager shoulder first and then whirling into a three spinning slashes with her huge sword.
COMBATSYS: Lita dazes Takako with Bum's Rush!
- Power hit! -
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Takako 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 Lita
It is probably the shoulder barge that does it. Knocking Takako to the ground, the girl is sent sprawling and completely open for the next three slashing blows. One after the other, it turns out that even she needs to be able to see the attack coming to be able to shrug it off with that implacable toughness of hers.
When she rises to her feet, it is with an angry roar. Her head is throbbing, she doesn't /know/ if she's going to still be standing after this assault, but she'll be damned if she is going to let that be the last of her! Throwing herself into the attack, she swings her sword upwards, once, clear and true, aiming to smash it in a wide sweeping arc to take Lita off her feet...
COMBATSYS: Takako can no longer fight.
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Lita 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Lita parries Takako's Fujin's Echo!
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Lita 0/-------/------=|
... and then she falls over, face-first into the ground. She does not, in fact, get back up. When she has time to review the fight later, she is going to be very interested to figure out what it was, exactly, that hit her just then.
Lita draws back her weapon after delivering the last of the spinning sword blows, stepping back, and watching for what the smaller sword fighter will do. She takes a deep breath and then Takako gets up swinging wildly. This then goes back to what Lita had said earlier about a technical mastery gained from perfection of form.
Lita's movements are calm and done as though the movement had been practiced a hundred times a day. She sidesteps the strike as she lets her sword travel along with the blade of Takako's sword and continues the movement bringing the sword around to have the sword waiting right in Takako's path. Lita is quick to see that Takako's consciousness has left her and so she pulls back the final strike before Takako could actually fall into Lita's blade. Not taking the opportunity to attack, Lita lets the teenager fall to the ground.
And then Lita relatches her sword and then bows to the fallen form of Takako. "Thank you."
Log created on 11:09:05 07/26/2012 by Lita, and last modified on 12:01:54 07/27/2012.