Starring:
Date: December 12, 2012
Summary:
Ogo and Kasuya square off in the ring, with Goh officiating.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Second Promotion Exams - Kumo Against Kumo: Kasuya vs. Ogosokamaru"
Kirigakure: Dammed Arena Floor
How did Goh get involved in all of this? Well, it was a simple answer actually. Though he wasn't keen at all to be involved in this examination process, he was offered something too good to refuse.
PRIME RETAIL SPACE IN THE MARKET QUARTERS!
That's right. If Goh officiated a match, as a reward, the Village would offer him some prime space in the marketplace to sell his cloud good pickled Vegetables. And he wasn't going to let the opportunity pass him by.
So with his tattered black cloak swirling behind him in the breeze, the blonde pickler strides into the open arena. With rapturous applause, the blonde holds open his arms, as if he's Caesar embracing his people or something.
"Good people of Kirigakure and surrounding nations!" He bellows loudly, the cloak blowing about him ina dramatic fashion. "I have recently been informed that it was indeed ME, Goh the Pickler, who has the great honour of introducing the combatants of our next fight!" He beams widely, turning around as he looks up into the crowd.
Kirigakure was typically overcast this morning, with heavy clouds in the sky /trying/ to rain, but not quite getting there. As such, people don't need their umbrellas. Yet, anyway.
"I would like to remind you before I get started, that if you ever feel hungry," He begins, again turning about, "…that you should go hit up my store in the marketplace. I pickle the best vegetables in all the land! Some say they charge the soul. Others say they feel TEN times younger!" He throws his head back to laugh in victory, before waving his hands about.
"Now… without anymore gilding the lily and no more ado, it is my pleasure to introduce the combatants for this round of the games!" Striding off to the side of the area, he lifts one arm up. "Two shinobi from Kumogakure grace us with their presence today. The first is Kasuya, a little-known Jounin who has proved her worth by advancing to this point. And the second!" He raises his other arm up, pointing to the other end. "…is Ogosokamaru! Ex-renegade to Kumogakure who was welcomed back to the Village with open arms. He's now here to test his mettle, hoping to prove to his home that taking him back was not a mistake." He may have taken a few creative liberties there. Oh well.
Kasuya grimaces as she walks out into the arena, she looks strangely reluctant. She'd come here to become the best not fight against the people of her village. But Kumo is doing well in the legendary rounds — too well actually — and it literally can't be avoided. She almost hopes Jon doesn't win the next match, so the victor of this one doesn't have to go against yet another Kumo nin.
She actually does get some applause. It seems people liked her rather showy performance last time, even if it was a bunch of lightning and nothing else. Though the applause is nothing compared to what the pickler received. Kasuya stares at him as he flamboyantly uses the time to not only announce the challengers, but advertise his wares.
She says, "Ten times younger…why would anyone want to feel two in their diapers? Or three?" she mutters. "Don't you mean ten /years/ younger?"
Kasuya sighs as she waits, and shifts from one foot to the other. But no, even if it's Ogo she has to concentrate; especially because it's Ogo. She glances over at Goh and her eyes narrow. He really doesn't have to bring that bit about Ogo coming back to the village after.
Today was a different one. Ogosokamaru was tired of having his clothes torn and mangled. In an effort to keep that from continuing, he came today in quite different attire. Along with his simple cream colored hakama, and his black sandals, he dons a set of black chest and arm armor. Spikes on the backs of the forearms, and a plated chest piece that hung down and split in the front to protect either side of his hips as well.
He tightens his black fingerless gloves over his wrists with the straps, and leaps from the top of the cliff, a bit higher than the stands, landing with sliding feet on the side of the cliff face that started to angle towards the bottom of the ravine below that was the fighting stage.
When he landed, he hit a pool of water, with no more than a ripple in the surface as he lands, standing up slowly to look at Kasuya. He was serious today. His swords were on his back in an 'x' setting, instead of how he normally had them on his hips. Ogosokamaru begins to walk towards Kasuya slowly, until he stops several paces away from her and glances to Goh about that comment he made about leaving the village and returning. Oh, if only he and Kasuya were switched right now. His dark mood beaming from him, and there was a specific reason as he looks behind him up to the stands to possibly pinpoint who it was that put him in this restpite from glee.
But as long as she knew he was looking up there, it was well and good enough, and his attention returns to Kasuya without all but three words.
"Don't hold back."
"Definitely ten times younger." Goh replies to Kasuya, a big grin on his face. "People love to have the energy of kids again. It's why lots of adults have problems growing up." o_o; Whatever he said. Somewhere, in the crowd, his salamander companion was facepalming. Here we go. "You see Kas — I can call you Kas, can't I? — Bubs are filled with a curiosity about life that can never be matched by anyone older. They are full of wonder, energy. A zest for life with no stresses at all. THIS!" He lifts up a finger, "…is what my pickled vegetables can do!"
With Ogo arriving not long after his ramble, seemingly from the heavens themselves, Goh looks over in his direction. Despite the angry glares that he's receiving, the pickler seems hardly bothered or intimidated. In fact, now that he's done his little piece of advertising, he looks downright bored.
"You obviously both know the rules." He begins. "I really don't think we'll have too much of a problem since you're from the same Village. But if need be, I will step in to stop the fight so no-one is killed. Okay, go fight! Do your thing!" And with this, the blonde struts away from the pair, his pinky finger picking at his ear.
Just giving them some room. Getting to the side, he'll heave a sigh and lean against the wall, arms folding across his chest.
"You do certainly sound like you're two-years-old," Kasuya murmurs dryly to Goh, though without any venom. She blinks when Ogosokamaru makes a much more flashy entrance than her. She looks him up and down, hmm that's kind of different. She herself wears much the same as she always does, except the bandages crossing through her hair are now used to tie it back into a ponytail to keep out of her face.
When the proctor gives the go ahead, Kasuya nods and then she starts concentrating chakra in huge amounts. It seems that she's going to take Ogo more intensively than her last match. "You gonna go all out against me?" she asks with a smirk. She'd go into a narrow stance, presenting only her side to her opponent.
Ogo knew what she was aiming at, noticing faintly the huge chakra push she just made. He wasn't a sensor, but that amount would even trigger the most insensitive to a chakra signature. At least a little bit.
"Should I?" He asks quickly after her, nearly cutting off her last words with his own. He wasn't being nice today. Maybe someone got to him about holding back.
That would show as he reaches back, and grabs his straight bladed sword, the metal singing against the sheath as it emerges, and very quickly, his chakra forces through his muscles and tendons in his own unseen transformation, and rocks leap up off the ground with the speed he rushes at her with, starting the match off very quickly, at a high pace to get her off track. One strick with the back of his blade as he slides past her, aiming the back of his weapon at her side to attempt to knock the wind out of her and stun her for a moment as he pushes up with his other foot, pivoting on his foot that was out in front of him to initiate the slide in the first place, rotating with a very quick three slashes at her backside in three spins right as he lands back on the ground with his second foot, holding there to keep his distance close. He knows she's ninjutsu and genjutsu user, so close-combat will likely be his best bet against her.
Kasuya frowns when she notes Ogo's demeanor. It seems this isn't going to be one of their spars back home. And no sooner does the match begin than she's taking two successive blows — one more than she'd endured last round. The first winds her and she's left struggling to draw a breath when the sword slices into her. Kasuya winces; that hurt. She gives a small chuckle. Then she starts laughing, as if Ogo told an irresistible joke. She…closes her eyes. No physical changes seem to be happening to her, and in fact she goes very still as if meditating — during a fight.
Then she opens her eyes and Ogo would be facing barrages of tightly controlled lightning blasts that hit whatever they touch with concussive explosions. No sooner would they end than he'd find chains leaping out from the shadows to bind him and hold him in place. "Fine," she says. "Let's see how long you last if I don't hold back.."
The lightning would possibly seem to pass through him to some, and to others he made a series of very fast and minute movements out of the way of every lightning spark that came at him. When the chains shot out from behind him to grab him, he grins, and not hearing any rocks breaking or moving behind him from the angle where they came from, definately genjutsu.
He alters the way he holds his sword, and slides his hips sideways, the tip of the blade protruding through the cloth at that point on his body, and into his skin just enough that the chains faded away to nothing from his point of view. "Then neither shall I, Kasuya-sempai."
The pressure from his transformation faded for a moment, then burst forward in a much larger amount of chakra coursing through his body, and a faint white glow eminated from around his body, armor and all. Not enough to be a light source, but from the stands and likely Kasuya, too, they could see the outline of him growing vaguely brighter.
This should be good~.
He would start off, with a very quick, very loud attack. Like a rock came crashing down in one sound to the bottom of the arena floor all the way up from the top of the cliff. It was like thunder, roaring up to the stands and past them and out, echoing down the canyon and as well eminating up and out and probably towards Kirigakure itself.
Kasuya is quickly learning why Ogosokamaru won his last match. He dodges her lightning and shrugs off her illusion easily. It seems parlor tricks won't work against him. She almost raises her hands to block against this threatening pressure coming from the transformation, and her eyes narrow against the light. When he comes at her in a roar of thunder he'd hit home. Nope, he was off by a foot. Ogosokamaru to the audience would simply be aiming a little to her left and missing her entirely, though to him it'd be as if he were wiping out a clone.
Kasuya whips around to face him and Ogosokamaru would find it hard to move swiftly, or even hard to move at all. It's like in one of those dreams where you're trying to run to or from something and moving agonizingly slowly and clumsily.
This genjutsu was for the birds.
When Ogo got through that clone, he shifts his eyes to see her out of the corner of his right eye, only to find it hard to move. This was a struggle. But, effectively he was able to fight it just enough, and twist his blade in his hand, and slide it slowly towards his shoulder, just below where the armor ended on his collarbone, and slice himself atop the trapezius muscle (muscle on top of the shoulder that replaces the neck on larger football players). Nearing the end of his slice on his shoulder, things begin moving easier, more fluidly again.
But for now, he has to resurge his chakra reserves, and he resheathes his weapon, leaping backwards and making a handseal, focusing a small amount of chakra compared to what Kasuya initially did, and reaching up to grab his weapon once more, wielding it towards her with both hands, ready for another round of attacks from her.
Kasuya smirks as Ogosokamaru breaks from her illusion with pain. "Hmm, maybe I should just have you slice yourself up," she says, but not seriously. Ogo isn't likely to get sloppy and inflict any unnecessary damage on himself. She notes that he doesn't try to make a quick comeback and instead focuses some chakra. Well, there's an opportunity. Ogosokamaru would suddenly find the ground tilting beneath him like a ship deck reeling under his feet. But it doesn't stop, and would proceed to do a complete rotation and dump him up into the sky. If he couldn't break the illusion he'd go hurtling past the stands, the audience, and down towards the clouds. It's not really happening, but the wind whipping around him and the cold in the air would certainly feel real and terrifying.
As the ground seems to fall beneath him, as everyone else would see, he gasps and seems to hold his breath, the tip of his weapon falling to the ground beside him and his body seems to straighten from some reaction, his eyes going to that one-thousand yard stare and going wide as dinner plates.
For him though, it's a torrentially terrifying feeling that he's never actually felt before without jumping off of a cliff himself. Flying through clouds with no control was one thing. But not knowing what was going on, was another. In his mind, he was looking around quickly, trying to find something that he could do or use to get himself out of this!
Kasuya doesn't wait to gloat or fight like…well, most of Kumogakure does. She's drawing a torrent of chakra to her in the shape of blinding lightning. It crackles and snaps in the air as it condenses into a volatile, glowing sphere. It's ridiculously large, not at all the usual fast flying lightning attacks. As the lightning condenses into an even stronger ball, it becomes smoother and takes on a dark hue as if she's holding a miniature star between her hands. Kasuya fires it right at Ogo. Upon impact it wouldn't fly apart but blast apart with a sound like metal flying into a wall, that'd break through any of Ogo's defenses even if he weren't stunned.
As the explosion ignites from the ball that strikes Ogo right in the breastplate, he's ripped from the skies of his mind and thrown right back into his body as he is slammed against the Dam wall with the impact. Oh, he's awake now. But as far as moving after that one for the moment, he probably won't be throwing any attacks any time soon. He falls to his knees, leaning down to his hands and coughs up blood, spitting on the ground below his head for a moment, and he looks up through his pale chalky white hair at Kasuya still in a bit of a daze, trying to stand up, lifting one leg to put his foot on the ground, and a palm onto his knee, but his palm falls off and he almost falls back down, but he's slowly standing, looking winded.
Kasuya watches impassively as Ogo coughs up blood. She smiles when he stands back up without conceding, and says, "Good. This isn't an act of futility. Shall we see who can surpass one another's defenses?" She's not standing and speaking though, as she already moves into her next attack. She fills the air with crackling lightning, not the type to bind but one to zap him painfully with a torrent of spheres that let out a burning electrical discharge. And then amid the flashes of light intending to half blind Ogo, Kasuya simply winks from existence. Of course she's just moved a few yards from where she was before she disappeared to the viewing audience. But unless he realized it wasn't an actual stealth technique he wouldn't be able to know detecting her through stealth was useless.
Ogo watches, and as the orbs of lightning come towards him, even from still being on one knee, supply met the demand and he was able to avoid all of them from that muscle memory of his clan's signature technique. He had picked up his weapon on the way, looking to where she was, and having never noticed she leapt away, for he would have been able to follow the speed of it, he's certain.
He's seen something like that before. He raises his sword once again, lifting it to place the backside in that same cut from earlier on top of his shoulder, and sliiiide the backside of the blade along the wound, fiddling along it a couple times like a bow on a violin until the sting returned, and she would reappear to his eyes.
The next instant would be very fast. A *shink* into the gravel behind her from where he was… an instant ago. It was his turn to look like he dissappears, coming up behind her, leaping up over her with some good force, but grabbing her by the the shoulders, and in swinging himself over the top of her and lifting with all of his might, he would throw her. Not even throw her..
Turn her into a meteor towards the cliff face that up above housed the stands, probably causing them to rattle if this wasn't some crazy trick of hers again. Either way, when he got back to the ground again, he's grab his weapon once more, and crouch… "Gomenesai… Kasuya-san.." he would whisper..
Kasuya tracks Ogosokamaru with her eyes as he…disappears? She has time to see him reappear beside her, and she throws up shells of charged force. It'd slow him down and make his grip less sure as he flings her. Her 'shield' when it hits the wall disperses, taking some of the impact with her. Kasuya is half huddled there, arms crossed across her chest. She's stumbling a little. But then with a surge of willpower she steadies herself almost instantly. And she starts gathering chakra in such amounts that the soil on the ground starts blowing outwards as if in an invisible wind. "No need to apologize," Kasuya says, wiping her mouth. "Come at me with everything you have, and I'll hold no grudges."
Ready….
Ogo finishes getting into his crouch, the ground beneath him trembling just a bit. The rock he now stands on that is flush with the surrounding ground cracks right down the middle.
Aim….
As Kasuya steadies herself, a very minute turn of his heel beneath him as he fixes both of his hands on his sword, gripping it tightly.
…Fire.
A cloud of dust and debris crashes upward behind him as a glint of light shines in the length and harline size of a strand of spidersilk. Ogo lands on the rock face on the opposite side of the arena from where he started, his feet grabbing the rock face and he stands, looking up and back at what the result was of that, dropping to the ground prepared for Kasuya to continue.
Drained of her chakra reserves Kasuya can only try to angle herself away from the blow. But it doesn't do much good. Without the sealing barriers the sword slices into her. It'd be a killing blow if Ogo had aimed as such. As it is, Kasuya reaches up to feel the blood that's now reddening her shirt. Not a fatal wound, not even a hospitalizing one unless she faints from the eventual blood loss. "Huh…" she huffs. "I'll make a deal with you Ogo. I won't move one inch from this place for the rest of the match. So if you can then come and get me." Her words aren't delaying her. In fact, if Ogo isn't paying enough attention he'd notice that the entire floor of the arena is crumbling, falling away into a black abyss. This time it'd be a descent into pure darkness in which he could see nothing, only feel himself falling towards some unknown doom.
Ogo would start walking towards Kasuya, her words didn't draw any response from him other than that. And once again he would, from the audiences perspective, stop, his body would straighten, and his eyes would get glazed over and wide. But this time, he would start to and even try sliding the blade along his side a moment later, but it was already too late, and he was off in a flying world again, steadily falling towards the earth, but never getting closer…
As soon as Ogo is caught in an illusion, Kasuya yanks the bandages from her arms and wraps them around her stomach to compress the wound against her side. Then she's gathering lightning hastily in unwieldy, gargantuan amounts. More and more comes together until it's like she's surrounded by a small lightning storm. Then it'd gather into a cannon-sized ball of lightning which she tosses at Ogo. It's fairly slow, more on the level with fire jutsu than the blindingly fast lightning jutsu. But it'd more than make up with it in pure destructive power, frying Ogo on the spot. Seems that as down as Kasuya is, she is intent on winning. As that would certainly startle him back to life, Kasuya says, "The first time I fought you I thought 'I can't lose to a Genin.' Well…can't to a Chuunin either." She smirks; that's a sad joke.
Ogo was definately taking a beating. But without the abilities and raw power that he has in his body, someone would definately be toast. Burn marks and singed flesh were open to the elements now, anywhere on his upper body there was armor, it had exploded away, leaving him bare-chested and burnt in a lot of places. He was still standing, taking a single step forward towards her, lifting his weapon to his side, each slow step he takes towards her lumbering and slow, but getting slightly faster as each one lifts off the ground to move in front of the other..
As for Kasuya she has kept to her word and hasn't budged an inch. It's almost comical — the once high profile fight is now one fighter standing there bleeding and the other limping towards her. Kasuya doesn't need to move though to use her attacks. She makes a few hand seals and lightning once again starts coursing through the air, pressing down into a dark sphere of pulsing dark energy. "This is the attack you took awhile back," she says, and though she rarely raises her voice she calls out loudly, "So just go down!" Kasuya hurls the dark star at Ogosokamaru, though this time he has a chance to dodge properly rather than trying to do so while hurtling through the air. Kasuya lets out a deep breath; sweat is rolling down her face.
His slow, calculated steps take him forward slowly. But an odd thing. As she throws the attack, he sidesteps very quickly, the ball rushing past him exploding the rocks behind him and sending fragments back in front of him, a few rock chips bouncing off of his shoulders and back, some flying over his head and beside him as his steps quicken now towards her. His blade flipped around, and it aimed for her neck, right at the side on that little nerve. It was a wild swing, but then again, she said she wouldn't be moving. He would try to change that with what little energy he had left, and go right for her stomach with a haymaker. Slow, but a strong punch hopefully she would be stunned from that bladeback strike..
Kasuya is now kneeling down and it's hard to tell whether it's from exhaustion, wounds, or the fact that she pledged not to move right from the spot. She's gathering lightning towards her in small almost shaky balls, and then she flings them out towards Ogosokamaru not towards his head or chest but right at his legs. To keep him from getting any closer. This match has literally slowed down to a standstill. Kasuya lets out a deep breath and says, "Yup. I could do this…all day." Though usually calm and detached, there's a sharp glint in Kasuya's eyes. She's not going to lose here. She can tell he's tired too…well, hopefully.
As the next attack comes at him, Ogo blurs out of the way.
But there's a problem. He goes too far, stumbling to the side, attempting to catch himself and falling over to his knees, trying to get back up again, stumbling again to the other side and falling onto his back, staring at the sky and just laying there, turning his head to look at Kasuya while the cool water of the shallow pool he fell into ripples from him landing in it, and he smiles faintly, before his eyes slowly close, his body slowing down from exhaustion, and forcing him to sleep right then and there.
One could assume very easily that he might have died, with the way he fell over and his breathing is so shallow that from the stands one couldn't see it. But he's still there, alive if not well, but alive. He'll wake up tomorrow feeling like about ten bucks… out of a million he had the day before. And for now, Ogosokamaru had lost the bout to exhaustion and chakra exertion. Kasuya had won.
At this point, Goh looks to have nodded off. He leans against the wall with his arms folded across his chest, head tilted to one side. However, with Ogo now done and sleeping on the ground, he seems to awaken, opening his mouth to yawn loudly.
"Oh — uh, a winner!" He cries out, before marching over to the female Kumogakure shinobi.
"After a brutal fight that lasted right until the end, it seems that Kasuya has taken out this round! Ogo fought hard and fast, but it seems that he was just unable to get past her powerful illusions. Well done to both contestants." And with this, the pickler begins to march out from the arena, leaving the medics to enter and do their thing. The blonde had his shop to prep!
Kasuya raises her hand briefly to acknowledge the applause. Then she'd go over to Ogo and heft him over her shoulder, literally sagging under his weight. Heavier than he looks. Then she'd limp out so they both could be taken away for some much needed rest. Hopefully she can get patched up in time for her next match. That'd be a sight…if it happened too soon and she had to limp right back in. "This day," she says with a sigh. "Once ya wake up I'll treat you to a smoke and some ramen." Then she'd be out of the arena.
