Starring:
Fuyu, Shemri, Tsukiko, Hinotori, Tosai, Azur
Date: November 11, 2010
Summary:
Shemri makes an interesting choice to alter her fighting style in this match. Will it cost her victory against Tsukiko, the mistress of mirrors?
"First World Ninja Competition - Fight Like a Mouse: Shemri vs. Tsukiko"
Peach Pit Stadium Arena 1 Ring [Kusagakure]
Peach Pit Stadium Arena 1 Ring [Kusagakure]
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TEMPORARY DESC! This is a fairly standard ninja fighting arena, plenty of space to run around in, a few things to hide behind, you know the drill. The main unique feature is the intricate line of seals drawn around the edges of the arena. When activated by a team of ninja technicians, these seals create a barrier which keeps the combatants (and any attacks they may fire off) contained, and an energy field within which protects them from serious injury. Rock out with your best attacks, you're in the ninja equivalent of a bouncy playpen!
*OOC*: look stands to see who's currently watching.
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Storm clouds have gathered over and around Kusagakure, and are presently sending down a deluge of cold rain. Thankfully for the spectators, there is plenty of shelter in the Stands. But down in the ring, the pounding rain has turned the dirt into mud. In such a state, the tromping of ninja upon the grass is sure to dislodge the plant life, as well as to send clods of moist earth every which way.
The trees provide some shelter from the driving rains, though the occasional gusts of wind send the droplets flying UNDER the canopies to get things under there wet too. Overall, it is not the most pleasant day in the world to hold a tournament match. But this is when the official match is scheduled for, up on the big board in the Stadium Lobby.
And yet the proctor is… Late? The only person down in the ring at the moment is an enormous, full-grown Bengal Tiger. He sits in the middle of the ring, ears laid back, fur soaked, with the most miserable expression imaginable on his face. He looks like he wants to die. Or maybe, if he is thinking more clearly, he may want the person who is responsible for him being out here in the rain for an hour to die.
Finally, a man in normal Chuunin/Jounin garb for Kusagakure comes leaping in from somewhere above. He has a rain coat on, and approaches the lethally perturbed tiger as though there were no threat whatsoever. Maneshi Kinji says, "Good afternoon, Tora. Sorry about the wait, I got held up." Tora-Tora-Tora turns his head towards Kinji and glares at him. Most of the time, only humans can generate 'Killing Intent', due to the fact that only humans are practiced at murder, whereas a non-human animal will always kill for a specific instinctive reason, rather than the variety of excuses humans come up with. But right now, Tora-Tora-Tora is radiating Killing Intent to such a degree that even in this chilly, humid, winter weather, people are probably sweating nervously up in the Stands.
Kinji seems to realize something is wrong, but misinterprets the problem, because he snaps his fingers and unslings a backpack from his body, before withdrawing a very large rain-proof poncho. It is pink. He holds this out to Tora-Tora-Tora. The tiger stares at it and then says, "What the hell is that." It does not sound like a question so much as disbelief mixed with fury. Kinji says, "It's a raincoat." The tiger's eyes are wide open now, rather than the slits of death he had previously. "I am aware it is a raincoat. Why are you holding it out to me and WHY THE HELL HAVE YOU KEPT ME WAITING OUT IN THE RAIN FOR OVER AN HOUR!?" the tiger roars in the Maneshi Clan Head's face. "It's for you to wear," Kinji explains calmly. "And I got held up. They didn't have a raincoat in your size, so I had to go to the specialty store for fat people." "…." Tora-Tora-Tora's Killing Intent cranks up another few notches. "And it is pink… WHY!?" Kinji, still holding out the raincoat, says solemnly, "It was the only color they had in stock." "…." Kinji starts to withdraw the poncho. "If you don't want it I can take it back--" "JUST START THE MATCH ALREADY, AION!!!" Tora roars loudly enough to vibrate the eyeglasses off of the face of an old man in the front row.
Without further ado, Kinji (aka 'Aion') turns to the audience and announces, "The following is an official match. We are a bit late, but we will be beginning now. Challenger: Tsukiko, from the Land of Fire, versus Challenger: Maneshi Shemri, from the Land of Wind. Participants, please come to your positions!"
Third match of the tournament for Shemri. Two matches behind her, one loss, one win. Shemri's done a bit of soul-searching since the last match, evaluating her reasons for participating in this event and how it stacks up against her actions within it. Her husband Fukanzen was a patient and insightful sounding board for this process, listening quietly as Shemri sorted through her feelings and interjecting only when she seemed to need a little nudge. Eventually, Shemri came to a conclusion. The frisky testing in her first match did not support her purpose here, but neither did the no-mercy eyes-on-the-win approach of her second match. This time, for at least one match, she needs to do something…a little bit different.
Shemri's family works their way into place up in the stands. They're aware this fight is going to be somehow unlike the previous ones, though only Fukanzen knows just how. Shemri's parents have an inkling that it will be sort of…less brutal than before, which is comforting to her mother. And Megumi? Well, she just figures Mommy's going to bust out some new move or something. n.n And what's it really matter? The important thing is, it's fight time! >D
Shemri enters the arena with Shiikaa trailing at her heels, as usual. She walks with quiet dignity up to the edge of the ring. After the introduction, Shemri gives the referee a bow. "Many thanks…but before I enter this match, there is one thing I must say. It is a fact that my clan name is Maneshi, and I have no wish to deny or belittle that heritage. However, I did not enter this tournament to bring glory to the Maneshi, for they have that in sufficiency. Today, I shall represent my mother's clan, the Satonezu…and win or lose, I shall fight as a Satonezu."
With that said, Shemri steps into the ring. Shiikaa sits down on the outside, watching passively. Shemri walks up to her mark, then settles into a pigeon-toed, defensive stance typical of the 'mouseling' clan. "I am ready."
Tsukiko had been contemplating many things since her match.. since her loss. Her emotions had been up and down. What did she do wrong? It took her a couple days before she got the nerve to enter an empty arena to practice again and even then two of her mentors were butting heads about how to help her prepare for this next match. She went alone to practice.. to focus.. to prepare. Despite her past insecurities, she stepped forward into the arena now confidently as her name is called. She looks across the arena to her opponent. No.. make that opponents.. she has to remember she is facing two, not one.. She has to remember she is out-numbered… or is she. Her opponent claims to not fight as a Maneshi today.. is this s trick? Tsukiko cannot afford to let her guard down. One last glance to the stands, to her friends and mentors who have come to watch, though she has no family present. She bows politely to the proctor, then to her opponent before she takes a deep breath and settles into a ready stance that seems very generic. She has no speeches to make, no statements to declare. She ignores the cold rain as it falls upon her and nods to the proctor that she is ready.
The sound of metal hitting metal resounds throughout the arena as a platoon of large men, women, boys, and girls, all garbed in full-bodied steel, stand from their seats and slam their mailed fists to the metal over their hearts in salute. They stood in silence, held in position.
Kinji nods as he finishes placing the enormous pink poncho on his tiger companion. The hood is tied under Tora-Tora-Tora's chin, making his head look a bit 'squashed'. He looks like pure anger in stripey feline form. Kinji raises an arm and then calls out, "Satonezu Shemri and Tsukiko… Ready… Begin!" Then he leaps out of the ring after several quick bounding dashes. Tora moves after him, but a bit slower.
The barriers come up. The match has started.
Typically, Shemri's strategy involves rushing into close range, attempting to overwhelm the opposition with fast, hard attacks, and relying on Shiikaa to alert her to any dangers attempting to blindside her. But this time, she doesn't have Shiikaa with her…and anyhow, she said she'd fight as a Satonezu, which means a few strategic changes. Shemri does dart forward, but quickly changes direction. She zig-zags across the field, hurling shuriken at Tsukiko as she moves. Swift and sharp, yet cautious and evasive--that is the way the mouselings fight when driven to it. Maybe there'll be time for close combat later, but for now, Shemri tests Tsukiko's defenses with steel stars.
Rain, you have to love it. Having quickly rushed over to the stadium for the match that was about to begin, Hinotori wipes water from his face. He stops off in the bathroom real quick to get some paper towels to dry his hair and face. After taking some time in the bathroom, the Uchiha chuunin makes his way up the stairs leading to to the stands. Smiling, the match was just starting and well this was good. Hinotori finds a seat up front and watches as the two fighters start their match in the rain no less.
Tsukiko summons wind chakra to her hand and bats aside the first of the incoming weapons. The second and third were two fast for her reactions to keep up with as she flails a second wind buffer into the air and fails to draw her mirror replacement into place until she was already struck. The mirror falls and breaks against a rock on the ground. Tsukiko dashes sideways, trying to keep her movement fluid, hoping she is not such an easy target next time. She coats two of her bangled senbon with wind chakra and sends them towards her enemy.. this rain seems to be a detriment to her fighting style.
Soon, the rustling of boxes, would began right after the marching and clanking of metal upon metal would end. "Midoru.. What a class act.", would be mentioned with a chuckle, as Tosai, would have carried, in one arm, a dozen boxes of pocky, and chocolate crunchers.. Had be been the refreshment guy or something? Nope.. All for him. He'd look to the to the platoon, and wave, before he'd then look for Hinotori, who wouldn't be sitting that far away. After squeezing through the row, blocking the view of all those in attendance, Tosai would sit down, and ask, "Pocky?", to Hinotori, and smile.
Shemri watches closely as Tsukiko responds to the initial assault. Looks like she likes to rely on ninjutsu of some sort. Seeing the senbon incoming, Shemri hops sideways, trying to give the tiny missiles a wide berth. Good idea, as it turns out; she feels the familiar buzz of wind chakra on one of them as it passes by, much closer to doing damage than it had appeared. Shemri knows from her spars with Shiikaa how wind chakra can invisibly extend the range of such cutting assaults. Best continue to fight at a distance, Shemri thinks. "You are a worthy opponent," Shemri calls out. "Let us give you another chance to display your defensive ability!" Shemri reaches behind her back with both hands and pulls out more shuriken. She leaps and twirls in the air, hurling the contents of both hands at Tsukiko…then her sash flicks outward and launches a couple more!
Just before Shemri's attack, Tsukiko throws a hand seal up. She then dodges.. three different directions at once. All three Tsukiko's fail to dodge their incoming attacks, two dissipating away, the third trying to shake off the wound to her arm. She takes a deep breath, "Thank you for trying to appease my dignity. it is not needed though. You are obviously very strong.. I shall have to try harder, it seems" She draws a mirror from her pack, holding it to the side as one would a shield almost before she focuses her energies within. A soft white light emanates from her skin, as if she were bathed in the full moon's light. She holds the mirror in front of her, concentrating a jutsu through her hand seals at the back of it before she suddenly leaps backwards. The sound of stone sliding against stone behind Shemri is her only warning as a chunk of the stone of the wall behind the Maneshi come loose, following Tsukiko and her mirror, hurtling towards Shemri's back. Tsukiko then shatters her own mirror and summons the wind chakra to her hands. She hurls the miniature tornado through the pile of shattered mirror glass, sending a storm of razor sharp shards forth.
"At ease!" came Midoru's command, deep voice cutting through the sound of the heavy rain, command giving it weight.
Immediately, the iron-clad troops' strict conformity and discipline dissolved and degraded, leaving them shouting and cheering, their voices pounding through the tumult of the rain, individual words lost in the volume and quantity.
"Hmmm? She's shining now? Peculiar." Tosai, would then empty one box of the pocky down his gourd, just before Midoru's platoon would jar him, practically causing the Akimichi to choke on his food!! He'd turn blue for a moment, one of the sticks poking at the roof of his mouth, before swallowing, and now turning red with anger.. "Hey!!! I'm trying to eat over here!! Keep if down, the lot of ya!!!!", would be said with a shout before Tosai would then sit back, and fume, eating his pocky rather angrily as the match would go on.
Shemri peers at Tsukiko. What's she doing now? Something having to do with ninjutsu, it looks like…um, what's that ominous scraping sound? o.o; Shemri glances behind herself and gasps, then throws herself forward into a roll. The stone block thuds into the dirt where she was standing a second ago. As she comes out of the roll, she senses something else coming at her from the front, something wind-y and clink-y and probably not pleasant. So she reacts with her strongest defense: SUPER not-being-there! With a swish and a blur bordering on body-flicker-level speed, Shemri leaps up and over the oncoming attack!
…Well, that worked, Shemri thinks as she looks down on the glass-ridden windstorm she just avoided…but possibly it was overkill. Now she's a sitting duck--or more accurately, free-falling cat--for anything that comes next! @.@; In an attempt to occupy Tsukiko, Shemri pulls out two handfuls of shuriken and throws them downward in a carefully-controlled spread. They clank and ricochet off each other, creating a difficult-to-read array of path-changing missiles streaking toward Tsukiko's general location. Shemri then draws two kunai for each hand and her sash, preparing to defend against anything that might still come her way.
The battle up until now has been good, Hinotori just continues watching, though his eyes follow Shemri a bit more then it does Tsukiko, but still he watches. His eyes having been given a bit of chakra, and his Sharingan awakens. He quickly covers it using a henge to have it show his regular eye color. As Tosai offered him some Pocky, Hinotori does smile and take a few, "Thanks Tosai-san." he smiles and continues watching.
Tsukiko wraps herself in wind chakra before leaping away from the rain of kunai herself> She thinks she has the attack dodged, but one last 'clink' and the kunai turns a cuts across her thigh. She tumbles to the ground, standing up from the roll as she moves. She looks over to Shemri and where she landed. the large chunk of mirror suddenly spews forth a swirling burst of wind chakra stored in the scroll symbols etched to the back. 'With some luck, this will occupy her long enough for this to hit' She rushes forward with a mirror in front of her. The mirror is not reflecting this arena, though. The mirror is reflecting a clearing in a huge, heavily forested area. A young Uchiha stands in the clearing, preparing seals before taking a deep breath. The mirror bursts open as the gout of flame bursts forth, enveloping everything in front of it. Immediately after, the fire returns to its true form, a cloud of mirror sharp shards.
Shemri lands in a crouch, feeling satisfied with her save. :3 She looks at Tsukiko to see what she's preparing to do next, and follows her gaze…to that mirror shard? Why is she--wait, she's going to do something with that, isn't she?! o.O Shemri leaps aside in time to avoid the wind trap. Phew, that was cl--NOW A FIREBALL!?!? O.O; Shemri tries to move again, but doesn't do so quickly enough to save her thigh from the hot slicing pain of the f--wait, slicing? It turned into mirror shards? Boy, this is a confusing match. c.c "You must have great expense in restocking your weaponry," Shemri remarks. :P
Well, they're in fairly close now, and Tsukiko's shown herself to have a pretty good distance-fighting capability…and Shemri's starting to run low on shuriken. :P All this adds into Shemri's decision to finally try some close combat. She dashes in and quickly swipes and stabs at Tsukiko with all three kunai, then follows up with a snap kick at her sternum.
Tsukiko gathers the wind about her and pushes off to retreat, but her movements are not fast enough to stave off Shemri's attack. She winces again at the stripe across her stomach. She releases half the wind she had gathered towards Shemri, knocking her kick aside, then slings the other half at her, trying to knock her off balance. She drops a kunai at the Maneshi's feet that bears a familiar looking tag.. an explosive tag.. before she pushes backwards. Through the explosion she launches small funnel of wind that gathers up the loose splinters of mirror glass from the battlefield
The rowdy section of soldiers got louder, completely ignoring anything other than the fight, such as screaming Akimichi and the like. Midoru allowed himself a small grin as they began slamming their metal fists against their armor, raising a rhythmic clamor. Steel clashed in cadence, loud people still cheering and shouting tips for Tsukiko. Most of them totally unhelpful, but spirited, and definitely supportive.
Whoa! o.o; Yeah, looks like Tsukiko's got a decent close-range game too! Shemri topples back after the two-part wind shove with a gracelessness which doesn't do much credit to her as a Maneshi /or/ a Satonezu. u.u; The explosive blast afterward catches her totally unable to defend, and of course the vortex of shards--wait! Shemri redeems herself as a cat-kunoichi by reaching down and grasping the grass, thus causing her flying body to rotate in mid-air and slam her feet into the ground in a crouch, then flinging herself sideways in a barrel roll, narrowly avoiding the glass. Shemri lands on all fours and grins toothily. "Ah. Aha. That was an excellent attack!" Shemri springs forward in a full-on shoulder tackle, then attempts a swift elbow to Tsukiko's gut and an uppercut to her jaw.
Up in the stands, Shemri's father shakes his head ruefully, though a smile play about his lips. "Cat or no cat, it looks like she's forgetting about Satonezu and fighting like a Maneshi again." Shemri's mother smoothes out her kimono. "Honestly, I don't see what being down there in the first place has to do with being a Satonezu. I never encouraged this crusade of hers, you know that don't you?" Fukanzen chuckles. "Well, I think Shemri made her point well enough with the match up until now, even if it was only one she ever really needed to make to herself. Right now, Shemri is being Shemri, and that means Maneshi and Satonezu and so much more." Megumi just waves her little flag with the apricot sash symbol. "Go Mommy!" n.n
Tsukiko's supporters in the crowd were not just her cheering squad.. they were her sparring partners. She had trained extensively to learn to defend herself against close range taijutsu attacks using her wind jutsu. She uses a graceful motion of her hand to parry the Maneshi's attacks with concentrated bursts of wind, turning the first two aside. She oofs as the third lands home though, sending her stumbling back. She regains her footing and takes a deep breath. It worries her that after the beating she's taken so far, she could have been facing two for the entire fight. She tries to put that worry out of her mind and sets her feet. She takes a deep breath and draws her strength from the ground up, just as the Kuroyari captain had taught her, and sets herself for the rest of the fight.
Shemri tilts her head. "Ah. Aha. Are you growing tired? I know what that is like. But, I shall not disgrace your efforts by taking it easy on you!" Shemri lunges forward, and her sash whips around her body to throw its kunai at Tsukiko. Then, anticipating another gust of wind from Tsukiko, Shemri feints sideways. Her sash reaches out to curl around Tsukiko's wrist and yank her close, and Shemri's knee shoots up at her gut.
Late, as per usual, a henged Azur slowly ascended the stands. His disguise consists of a dull brown, full body suit with a Sunagakure forehead protector sewn into his mask over his mouth. He is a bit shorter than his normal height, standing at only five foot three now. He takes a moment to check the stands for any Sunagakure nin, and avoids sitting directly next to any. After becoming comfortable on his perch, Henged-Azur woots and shouts out, in a pre-pubescent voice, "Go Shemri, show 'em whatcha got!"
Tsukiko knows better than to allow herself to be too predictable in a fight. By this time her opponent expects her to parry with a wind push.. but instead the clone of Tsukiko takes the hit.. unfortunately the second attack is just too fast for her to defend, the mirror clone she made left looking helplessly on as the real Tsukiko takes the hit. The two Tsukikos.. Tsukiki?… well both of them respond by counterattacking. Once the attack is made, the mirror clone reverts.. not just to a mirror.. but to a booby trapped mirror… as the seal releases a sudden spinning wind vortex.
Shemri's starting to feel a little too cocky at this point with her successes. An extra Tsukiko shows up and attacks simultaneously? Hey, here's an idea--use the sash again to yank real!Tsukiko over to take the blow from clone!Tsukiko! :D Yeah, doesn't quite work out that way. X) *POW* Shemri stumbles back after taking both fists. Then there is a whooshing of wind, and Shemri finds herself lifted off her feet. Hooboy. o.O;
Tsukiko gasps. Her gamble paid off. She had taken a beating and had worn herself pretty badly thus far but her booby trap worked. She has to work quickly before Shemri escapes the grasp of the wind funnel. She draws a mirror from her scroll and holds it forth, forming the seal for release from it. Reflected within is a nondescript man who draws his hands back, channeling electricity through his body before firing it forth. The lightning busts forth from the mirror before striking the tumbling Maneshi sending her tumbling away. Tsukiko dashes to intercept, holding another mirror out. Inside that mirror is the image of a huge, armored man wielding a sword taller than Tsukiko is. The huge Kuroyari warrior charges through the mirrors front, shattering it and striking at the helpless Shemri before reverting into broken mirror glass.
Oh, this is not fun. >.<; Less than a minute ago Shemri was winning this thing, and now she finds herself wrapped up in this spinny-wind-thing and being bombarded by glass shards. She tries to reach out with her sashes to make contact with anything solid, say the ground, but fabric tends to be pretty easily whipped about by wind. As another barrage of glass goes by (ow), Shemri promises herself she's going to prioritize avoiding these wind traps for the rest of the match, just as soon as she gets out of--
*TWEEEEEEEEEET!!!* Huh? A whistle? c.c Where'd that come from? What's it mean?
Kinji has been carefully following the entire match as his miserable tiger companion sits next to him and mutters darkly. Now, however, it looks like Shemri is quite beaten up… Shredded even. Tiny amounts of blood and so forth being thrown around in a vortex, all of that. There is some weird whistling noise that might be the wind blowing through the trees, but Kinji decides enough is enough. He holds up an arm once the vortex ends, dropping Shemri to the ground.
"Stop!" he calls out. Once he is sure both combatants have ceased, he says, "This match is over. Satonezu Shemri is in no condition to continue." Adrenaline is a wonderful thing, but Shemri may notice now all those nasty lacerations and other injuries she has received. Nowhere near as bad as they would have been without the barrier, but still not pleasant. "Winner: Tsukiko! Medic-Nin to the field!" The barriers come down and healers rush onto the field.
Tsukiko was declared the winner, but it was she who fell to her knees. She leaned forward breathing heavily, trying to catch her breath. She was exhausted. She knew Shemri hadn't had to push herself very much most of the fight, only Tsukiko's lucky trigger of a vortex mine gave her the victory. After a minute she gets back to her feet slowly and limps off with the medics. She looks up to the crowds, smiling, thankful for the rain now.. because it hides her tears of joy.
Henged-Azur rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, it seemed like his cheer earlier was more bad luck than anything. Either way, he managed to catch a bit of the match and make a few mental notes on the techniques used. Konoha was wrought with surprises it seemed, showing up was a good idea after all. For now though, he would rise from his seat and shuffle out with the dwindling crowd.
As Tsukiko is declared the victor, the group of soldiers nearly doubled their sound, their uproarious cheers drowning out any sound of the rain and causing the benches they sat on to shake, gently. "Fall out," calls Midoru, his voice barely reaching over the clamor, and immediately, they all rush out to meet up with their Lieutenant Colonel, their Captain following not far behind, the 6'10 man's face holding a slight grin.
He nodded to himself.
Oof! >.<; Shemri finds herself landing gracelessly once again. The action seems to have stopped, and she vaguely hears something from the referee. Well, Shemri wasn't doing too well when the match was stopped, so it must've been decided in Tsukiko's favor. :P Shemri sighs and picks herself up, pulling some stray bits of glass from her skin. "You most certainly snatched that victory with your own hands," Shemri remarks. "Congratulations." Still feeling a bit dizzy from all that spinning, Shemri lets the medics walk her off the field. For better or for worse, her run in this tournament is over.
