Description: Challenge... Accepted! After hearing that Blanka has one of the mysterious medals that have been going around, Sakura decides, on a whim, to challenge her friend for it. As always, it's a knock-down, drag-out fight, one of the closest of margins. (Winner: Sakura)
Challenging Blanka to a fight is at once both simple and complex. Simple, because it's not like the challenges need to be wordy. Complex because -finding- him can be a chore. Fortunately, she has an advantage--she knows where he lives, roughly. And besides, he's her friend. So sending the challenge was a simpler affair... and now she's waiting.
He'll show. He always shows. She chose Howard Arena not because she wanted to -showcase- the fight, per se, though doing so isn't a bad thing in her opinion, it's just...
... well, she had a Groupon to host an event here. So naturally she invited a bunch of friends, mostly from Taiyo and the other schools, and she also made sure to invite folks who are fans of the Big Green Monster too--in fact there's a big guy all dressed up like Blanka, with the fake fur and all that. She's waiting on the stage itself, of course, tightening her gloves and working off some excess nervous energy with a series of punches and kicks.
"D'ya think he'll show?! I'm his biggest fan!" That big guy dressing as Blanka hovers antsily in the stands, clutching a plush watermelon and a sharpie. It's the pride of his collection, and a signature from Blanka would certainly make it all the more valuable. He cranes his head to watch Sakura warming up on the stage, eagerly excitable about being invited to watch the match! Then, from behind him, a amused gruff voice echoes.
"Blanka pretty sure Blanka come to fight. Never let biggest fans down. Never let Sakura down either, she pretty!" With that, the jolly green giant snags the melon, signs it quickly and does a few AWH-ROOOOS! with his fan. Clapping the other man on the shoulder, Blanka bounds towards the arena.
Two or three prodigious leaps later, the giant green man careens into the arena, a tumble and straightening up to face Sakura, vaguely looming over her. Toothily he grins, and one green hand plucks at the medal on his chest. "Blanka heard you want this. Not sure if Blanka should let you have it - gonna have to proooove Sakura want it." He winks lazily, and then hunkers down in front of her, his standard dangerous battle crouch, a flicker of white lightning twisting and flashing around him. "Want show Blanka how much you want it? Still have to fight more people after - Blanka want to find them next, you know.."
COMBATSYS: Blanka has started a fight here on the left meter side.
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Blanka 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Sakura has joined the fight here.
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Blanka 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Does she want the medal? Sure. Why not? But is it her -overriding- desire? Maybe not. It'd be hard to say, even for Sakura herself, whether she wants the -medal- or is just using it as a method to challenge her friend again. And, in any case, in the moment, it hardly matters, doesn't it? They're both here, and they're both ready to fight, as the cheering swells and doesn't lower--equal parts for Sakura and Blanka.
Sakura thumbs her nose and grins. "I don't want you to -give- it to me, Blanka! I want to earn it! So I'll -show- you just how much I want it!!" And so, with that, she starts. This isn't some Neo League or SNF fight. There's no 'fight!' shout from any referee. She just -goes in-, legs pumping as she takes quick steps forward and then suddenly stops, pivoting on her left leg to transfer her weight along the line of her body.
Her goal? To plant her right foot, side-on, right into Blanka's bread basket--perhaps right even into the medal itself.
COMBATSYS: Blanka dodges Sakura's Medium Kick.
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Blanka 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Sakura
So fast! Sakura always impresses with her eager beaverness, which just pushes Blanka all the harder himself. The green behemoth grins when Sakura makes her bold statement and just goes all-out, the eager kick skimming along his stomach as he spins to the side. It's enough to leave a trail of sneaker rubber on his skin, but with a inhalation, he misses the brunt of the attack!
"Always show good, Sakura. Blanka not be easy fight either!!" With that he lets out a fierce roar, and swings his left arm up and under Sakura's kicking leg, trying to knock it up high into the air and take the young woman to new limits of flexibility! At the same time, he whips his foot around low, trying to take her planted foot off the ground, to send her for a fair tumbling indeed!
COMBATSYS: Blanka successfully hits Sakura with Fierce Combo.
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Blanka 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Sakura
She's just a touch late pulling her leg back. A bad mistake--because it lets Blanka take her for a ride, as it were. She hits the stage -hard-, the air driven from her in a single, fierce gasp, one that makes all her supporters wince, some merely going 'oohhhh' in sympathy, some outright hiding their faces. Sakura lays there for a few moments, then, painfully, kips herself back up to her feet. "G--good... good hit... Blanka," she gasps, because it was--gasping because she still doesn't quite have her breath back.
But that's never stopped her before, and Blanka'll have to knock her out to stop her now. Gathering herself, she draws her hands to her chest, and calls upon her ki, her life-force--the exuberant boundlessness that she's best known for--and concentrates it. When she flings her hands outwards, she launches a sphere of crackling white energy, tinged with blue, burning straight for Blanka. No shout--still getting her breath back.
COMBATSYS: Blanka endures Sakura's Medium Hadouken.
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Blanka 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1 Sakura
He'd taken a few steps back as Sakura went down, preparing himself for more shenanigans once the fighter popped back to her feet. He wasn't quite ready for the inhalation of power, and the exhalation of a firey ball o' pain. It's usually later in the fight that Sakura breaks out her fireball game, though with how well it works, he's not surprised that it comes out now. There's places to dodge, of course - but she'd be /expecting/ that!!!
Instead, Blanka bounds forwards into the attack, slamming through the fireball that singes him up and makes his hair go all afrizz. After the fight, he may have to borrow his biggest fan's wig, depending on how many more of the chi-filled spheres he has to eat! But still, when he powers through it, he's moving faster than before, and his intent and attack are brutal and straightforwards. He whips his head backwards almost impossibly far, then aims the bony plate of his forhead right towards Sakura's noggin!!!
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Blanka's Rock Crush.
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Blanka 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Sakura
Crossed arms, a lowered stance, and making sure her legs are limber enough to absorb as much of the impact as possible--that's Sakura's response. The impact is still pretty crushing, and admittedly, staying in close to the big bruiser is probably -not- Sakura's best option, but... she knows how fast he is. How strong. Running away just makes her back target and anyways... running away isn't her style.
From the crouch she pushes herself up and forward, whirling into her patented flying spinkick--the not-quite-a-Tatsumaki-Senpuu-Kyaku that she calls the Shunpuu Kyaku. She rises and falls in a quick arc, her right leg leading the way, and when she lands on her left leg, she kicks her right up and forward for one more strike.
COMBATSYS: Blanka blocks Sakura's Shunpuu Kyaku.
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Blanka 1/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Sakura
When he whips his head back up, Blanka sees that first spinning foot coming in towards his brainmeats. One hand gets up and around, but it's only enough to blunt the attack, not to stop it. Stinging, his block is battered and bruised and when the final strike catches him solidly in the stomach, he lets out a pained 'WHOOOSH' of air, eyes hazily dizzy. He staggers back a step or two, and then hunkers down onto his knuckles and the balls of his feet. He starts to circle in the arena, trying to decide the best angle of attack, the best way to get through Sakura's defenses.
"Sakura pretty tough nut to crack.." Blanka muses, though he's hopeful as he ends with an uplifting lilt to his voice. "Blanka have to try new technique - no technique at all!!" With that, he wades in towards Sakura in an inelegant way, his arms windmilling almost comically wildly. The only problem is that with no technique, how do you know how and when to block?! It's powerful, the full range of motion given into those wildly swinging arms - and his fists are like cinderblocks at the end of those lengths!!
COMBATSYS: Blanka successfully hits Sakura with Strong Punch.
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Blanka 1/------=/=======|=======\=======\1 Sakura
Really, it's an impressive thing. Sakura's seen something like it before, but Kei was on an ice rink, and heading towards Hinata, and about to fall on her face... and Kei doesn't have the bulk or strength that Blanka does. She tries to avoid, but earlier hits have already taken their toll, and she finds two or three of the impacts leading to two or three more before she gets flung away, bouncing and rolling across the floor. Still she rises...
... the fire in her heart burns forever, even if the body is unwilling. Fortunately, her body -is- still willing.. for a little while longer at least. "Heh... looks like maybe you've got my number, big B... but I don't give up..." And he should know that. Summoning her inner strength, she lunges forward, planting her left leg and hurling her entire body into a spin--and going -low- with it, looking to sweep Blanka off his feet with a series of four low spinkicks, to finish with a fifth back spinning heel kick. And these kicks have something special, something extra, gusts of wind speeding her way and adding a little more to the party.
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Blanka with Haru Ichiban.
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Blanka 1/-======/=======|======-\-------\0 Sakura
Blanka knows Sakura doesn't give up - he's seen the tough fighter get up from big impacts and keep on swinging too often to think that she'd just up and quit. Usually when she's gotten knocked around a bit is when the other fighter is most dangerous, in Blanka's opinion! He tries to be all aware and ready for the young woman's attack, the low swipes coming in fast and speedy. With him on hands and feet, he's simply got too many targets for the swinging leg! Heavy impacts crak at ankles and wrists, and he's upended into the back-heel kick, sent tumbling to the other end of the arena with a tumble thump crash!
Upside down, ankles by his ears, Blanka blinks back a bit of dizzyness and tries to gather and compose himself. With a 'whooof' of air, he rights himself, and then falls forwards. Rollin' towards Sakura, he picks up his speed, bounding into easy range - no subtlety here, no. Instead, he just tries to bowl the younger fighter over, letting momentum do his dirty work!
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Blanka's Rolling Attack.
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Blanka 1/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Sakura leans forward, her arms crossed, as Blanka literally rolls through the air at her. The impact promises to be ugly--but the reason she's leaning forward is so that she can then lean -back- as the impact happens, reducing it further. But it still hurts, and she's starting to feel the physical stress involved in the fight. Her breath comes a little shallower, a little harsher, but the grin on her face is completely genuine.
One breath, two breaths, and then she lunges forward, uttering a fierce kiai as she aims a two-strike combination, centering it roughly on Blanka's chest--a lunging right elbow followed by a left straight. They're in the endgame, for sure, but the only sadness Sakura will feel is at the end of the fight...
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Blanka with Aggressive Strike.
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Blanka 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=------\-------\0 Sakura
She's so tough
She's so tough!! Blanka is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at her, mostly because there is no kitchen sink available to throw! He makes a mental note to next time have a fight be somewhere with a kitchen sink, to properly attempt to understand this phenomenon. In the mean time, he batters at her defenses, trying to wind her down with powerful attacks. That grin is pretty infectuous, and he's got one of his own - matching up against Sakura is never ever a bad day!
He tries to go under her incoming strike, eeling out of the way - though it ends up with him catching the elbow right in his nose, the straight afterwards clocking him in the cheek. He drops down to the ground, head bouncing off the heavy floor, and he's dazed for a second - but not two. With a roar, he throws both his hands forwards, then up - trying to snag Sakura's feet and chuck her into the far arena wall with all his strength!! "AWH-ROOOOO!"
COMBATSYS: Blanka successfully hits Sakura with Strong Throw.
- Power hit! -
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Blanka 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0 Sakura
o/~ I wanna take you for a ride (da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da)
o/~ I wanna take you for a ride (da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da)
These are the lyrics--the terrible four-second clip from the character select of one of Tsukishi's favorite fighting games--that flows through her head as she's flung into the wall. She just manages to get her arms up, avoiding crushing her face against the wall... but as she slides down, she's thinking about....
... what she can do. After all, she's not just fighting... she's putting on a show. Wobbly, she gets to her feet, though her legs are literally shaking--her right leg trembling most visibly. She advances back onto the floor, then gives her friend a grin...
... and power swirls around her, briefly, blue and white, vacuuming into her hands, between them, the glow building, growing, fingers bent around it to control it, holding it as long as she can before hurling the sphere forward, somehow a bit more solid, a bit brighter, than the previous blast she'd unleashed...
COMBATSYS: Sakura has reached second wind!
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Blanka 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|-------\-------\0 Sakura
COMBATSYS: Blanka interrupts Medium Hadouken EX from Sakura with Electric Thunder.
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Blanka 1/-<<<<<</<<<<<<<|====---\-------\0 Sakura
And what a show it is - both fighters teetering, but still letting loose with their best and most showy moves. Sakura still standing even after the damaging attacks Blanka's given - and the brazillian beastman meeting every charge head-on..! It certainly will be good for whatever MYSTERIOUS ORGANIZATION is tracking this! Luckily, that sort of thing is far and beyond what normal beastman should know. So instead, for him it's just an awesome fight.
He's less winded than she is, Blanka estimates, when she pulls back her hands. He knows what is coming - and he's (mostly) ready for it. When the fireball sparks into life, his eyes go from gold to white. He opens his maw wide, blue-white electricity snapping and crackling, arcing between his teeth. He throws his own hand forwards, /through/ the fireball, using his natural built-in electricity as both a shield and a powerful hit itself, hitting Sakura square in the chest. When it flickers out, he's the worse for wear - barely standing, eyes dull and a bit wobbly. He tries to gather up his breath and composure, but he's so slow to recover. "So... hard to keep you down, Sakura. Keep tryin', tho... Blanka gonna... win!" he huffs out in eager enjoyment.
The sizzle is, fortunately, not real electricity, or Sakura's heart might've stopped. As it is, she can't help but shriek, just a little bit, but, surprisingly, that electricity seems to have woken her up a little. "R--right..." she gasps, slamming her hands together to wake herself up further. Can't let her friends down. Or her fans. Or Blanka. There's just too much on the line to collapse or wimp out.
"... alright then.. -here- I come!!"
And indeed, she does, jumping forward, hopping really, throwing both feet down and forward in a modified drop kick--only to land and fire off a continuation to the combination, throwing a left uppercut to a double palm strike. Desperation? Probably, but it's all good.
COMBATSYS: Blanka endures Sakura's Fierce Combo.
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Blanka 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|====---\-------\0 Sakura
Blanka's still standing when Sakura makes her move. He's still standing when she leaps in - and he's running on adrenaline when her sneakers come in towards his chest. He's more confident than he was expecting, and certainly far more beat up than he was thinking he was, the battle wearing on him far more than he was thinking. He tries to move through Sakura's kick, but the length of the fight trips him up, and his positioning places him in a very good situation - if his plan was to get uppercutted and knocked off his feet with both of Sakura's hands!
The green giant lands in a heap again, dazed and dizsied, near unconcious. He manages to scramble up to his elbows and tries to get all the way up - but it doesn't work at all. Slumping back, the battered and still-grinning beastman falls back so he can stare up at the ceiling. He tugs the medal off his chest, and then holds it up for Sakura to take. "Sakura.. Blanka no can fight anymore. Sakura win.." he starts, then finishes off with a wink. "... medal /and/ chance to take Blanka out to snacks after... quick nap." He leans his head back and kinda tries to keep awake long enough to let Sakura take the medal - it's a close thing though!
COMBATSYS: Blanka takes no action.
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Sakura 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Blanka can no longer fight.
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Sakura 0/-------/---====|
It takes Sakura a long moment to realize what just happened. When she does, she slumps, panting, and takes the medal, tucking it into a pocket for a moment. "S--sure... snacks. Just as soon as... I'm done being bruised, 'kay?" she says, as she finally goes to her knees, sprawling back with her hands supporting her. Frotunately, even for a non SNF or Neo League event, the arena keeps medics on hand, who are more than happy to rush out and help the two fighters to their feet. First it'll be bandages and painkillers... and then? Sakura's treat to an all-you-can-eat buffet that she discovered with Ryu a couple of years ago.
COMBATSYS: Sakura has ended the fight here.
Log created on 20:37:05 01/16/2013 by Sakura, and last modified on 11:23:50 01/27/2013.