Starring:
Rockpath (emitter), Yoichi, Rise
Date: June 10, 2015
Summary:
Seven Swordsman Yoichi exhibition is again subjected to a challenge by Kumogakure visitor.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Steel Soul Tourney - Rising Lightning: Yoichi vs. Rise"
Dammed Arena - Floor [Kirigakure]
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At the foot of the great march of bones that dams this tall canyon of blue-gray granite, under the shadows of the stands: the Kirigakure arena. Rivulets of water still escape the base of the dam and dampen the gravely bed of the dry river. The length of the canyon is limited by a raised platform at the south end featuring the referee's post and a large display board announcing the details of the match.
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Kaguya Mai steps into the center of the arena. By now, there are less shinobi and more spectators. But that doesn't matter, really, because a crowd is a crowd. "We seem to have another challenger… Shirokiri Rise, Genin of Kumogakure, has called out to Kaguya-Hozuki Yoichi, Seven Sword of Kirigakure. And he has accepted this match. Will the two fighters please step forward?" She waits for them to approach, then says, "If either are close to death, I will make sure that death doesn't come. Fight for your lives. And begin!" Then she jumps back, the crowd roaring with cheers and applause for.. well, mostly Yoichi.
As they are called to the arena, Yoichi arrives in one of his usual fashions, by means of mist around the area clumping together to form his body. He appears on the opposite side of Mai from Rise and nods to both of them before reaching back to retrieve his blades. "One after the other, Kumogakure shionbi challenge me. Let's see if you do any better than your comrades," he says before stepping into stance with the blades as an enormous spike is felt in his chakra to prepare for the coming battle.
She didn't know what game Tsiro was playing, nor cared to know more about it. Rise knew that time was of the essence, so the moment an opportunity to arose, the woman made public her challenge to Yoichi, wholly unaware of the last few fights the man had to deal with from Kumo-nin. Rise arrived in no flashy fashion. Her rage had abated far too much that. In fact, she looked pretty drained at the moment, but the smack talk from Yoichi rekindles some of the fire folks have come to expect from her by now. "I have no idea what the float you're talk'n bout Hozuki-chan, but don't expect to throw me off my game that easily." She states as she slid into her own basic taijutsu stance, building chakra and taunting him a little.
"It's merely a statement and a challenge," Yoichi says shrugging his shoulders. Wasting no further time, however, he prepares, lightning beginning to spark along the Kiba blades as a long whip forms along. He swings it forward, intending to catch Rise with it and yank her forward as he spins into a kick while his foot takes on the shape of a blade intended to carve into her.
Rise glared at Yoichi, but refrained from commenting further. The time for talk had long since past. Her eyes narrowed further at the sight of the whip. Whereas others might panic, she stayed focus, nimbly springing over the whip as it came close. Yoichi is on her in an instant, but the moment her foot touched the ground she transforms into a blur of action. The bladed limb meant to cut her down would be struck over and over again if the Hozuki isn't careful following the initial deflection.
With every strike Rise moved closer to the center mass to continue the chain of punches and kicks before trying to send him flying with a rising kick to the abdomen. With success, the momentarily air borne swordsman would be struck again with a series of kicks meant to drive him that much further into the air. Though if not, there's always horizontal plane…
Despite some splashing, Rise's attacks actually seem to have some impact, knocking Yoichi back a bit. In spite of whatever damage has been done, he merely smirks and continues on, sending another whip of lightning the girl's way, this time aiming at her foot and letting the blade cover his arm as he flips forward toward her with intent to slash her across.
The weirdness of the impact — It was just too much to simply push aside. She might've even reconsidered recanting the challenge had she not managed to knock Yoichi back, showing that her attacks /did/ do something. That momentarily delay between reflection and the present cost her dearly. She cannot even choke out a cry, nor would have despite the debilitating pain of having her systems fried and her mesh exposed by Yoichi's slash. Rise reels back with a hand pressed over the wound. After only a glance at red stained fingers those same fingers are put through a series of seals. Twice over Yoichi would feel a crushing pressure try to send him to the ground, though only latter wave comes with an innate sense of terror behind it.
Not quite quick enough with using the zapping of the Kiba blades to break himself out of the jutsu, Yoichi is pushed to the ground. However, rather than a look of terror, his eyes only get more intense as he waits for the attack that will no doubt follow the Genjutsu attack. Actually making this one afraid is a hard thing to do. Chaining him off, however….
Anger spurned on by helplessness. Rise knew the combination well, and took no visible pleasure in it. It was just a means to an end today as far as the Shirokiri was concerned. Speaking of which…
"Now I'm gonna show you how we do things in Kumo." Rise states as she closed in on Yoichi. She grabbed him by the throat, crushing his wind pipe as much as possible with the maneuver before lifting him as far as her arms would reach. There was no way in /cumulus/ she could her next technique justice against so tall of an opponent, but nevertheless, she flipped him over her shoulder and slammed him into the ground by the throat, burying the man in a two foot grave.
His throat crushed, body fling and slammed into the ground hard enough to leave a small crater, Yoichi might be expected to let out some cry of pain or even throw in the towel… except that's not what happens at all. Instead he laughs… literally just laughs as he suddenly leaps up, water flowing over his form to begin healing him without seemingly much effort at all as he prepares to do battle once again.
'Is he—!?'
Oh yes, without a doubt, Yoichi not only sprung back to his feet after taking a blow that felled a snake summon, but also laughed as if it were nothing! Joints pop in her hands just from clenching them into too tight of a fist from building anger. The rapidly healing damage does not even fully register to the girl before she takes off, form transforming into an indistinct blur. At the last second she changed course to rush around in a loose circle, leaving behind what looked almost like afterimages in her wake.
After unlocking the first two gates, her speed nearly doubles, and in an instance, she is before him again, striking hard and fast with an uplifting kick, then following in his shadows and trying to throw him again into his original creator. Even if the kick doesn't succeed, she brazenly tries to ram into his center mass.
Watching Rise power up, Yoichi literally just stands still with a hint of a smirk. He watches her carefully, not even seeming to try to dodge, only for Rise to literally splat straight through his body. Once the kick passes through and then her whole body, he reforms undamaged, his body healing more from her first round of attacks as he steps back into stance in preparation for the next round.
Rise hits the ground rolling on the otherside of Yoichi, rage dimming for a moment from surprise. After shaking off what bits of the jounin that managed to cling to her form after the exchange, the woman stares hard at the man before coming to a decision. Genjutsu worked before, but how it didn't feel as if it might second time. She didn't bother second guessing her intuition. Instead, she formed an X with her arms and murmured, "Gate of Life.. Gate of Pain.. Release." Her arms snapped away at that final word, revealing more clearly a red-skinned demon in her place, and healing at a rapid pace by the looks of things.
Watching the woman step into her next level, Yoichi smirks and links his blades together, starting to spin them to cause a bolt of lightning to crash down upon himself, creating an aura of lightning that steps up his abilities even more. With that ready, he draws the blades back, creating a set of nine tails on each one that he swings toward her, intending to wrap her up and nullify her ability to get away from his next attack.
Rise spared no expense escaping from the concentrated lightning storm. Earth shatters in the wake of her high-speed movements. Some of it purposefully done so to create barriers against the whips. She doesn't stop moving even once out of danger, but instead accelerates as another two gates are broken through. The girl was reaching her upper limit. Anymore and she might not be able to fight her real match properly. In the heat of the moment, Rise didn't care. The only thing that mattered to her was seeing the smirk wiped off of yoichi's face!
As his attack is evaded, Yoichi smirks slightly and watches her carefully. This match is actually becoming the best of the tournament thus far, at least the most challenging. It's not often he fights someone on his own level, so he plans to make the most out of it. He whips the blades back again, this time creating DOZENS of the lightning whips to rain down upon the Kumogakure Genin to try and capture her… Genin… This level she shows makes him a bit curious what the girl's done to manage to still be labeled a Genin.
This time Rise didn't even try to evade the rain of whips, but stood her ground instead, gambling everything on sweeping everything away in one fell swoop. The gamble didn't pay off, to say the least, for once one whip caught her side, the nerve wrecking pain insured the rest would find purchase. She couldn't cry out even if she wanted to…
As the whips bind Rise, Yoichi lands on the ground and stabs the blades into the ground. His immense chakra control is shown as this jutsu remains while he raises his hands into the air, funneling a single bolt into the sky, where it goes into the clouds and creates a charge that grows and grows by the increasingly bright flashing of light from them until at last an enormous pillar of lightning strikes down directly up on her with vicious intent.
She could no more brace for the attack than she could think straight. So she suffered it, finally crying out, though the sound of it would be swallowed up by tearing earth and crackling electricity. When the light does finally die down, Rise is barely standing in frayed clothing, body smoking, and flesh thoroughly seared in just about every way.
She should've been unconscious, if not dead from the attack. But that wasn't the case. And while it wasn't in her nature to surrender even after suffering through so much, she fell to her knees, and bowed her head in defeat. Gate after gate is gradually closed, but not without some of her less critical injuries mending from the transformation.
Lifting an eyebrow in interest, Yoichi pauses. Were this actual combat rather than a mere competition, Rise would probably be getting shredded to bits right now. Since this IS just a contest for enjoyment or whatever, the Swordsman withdraws the lightning whips and simply waits to see what she decides on if she's going to keep fighting or concede. This is one one those times when one mistake can change the outcome of a battle, but there's no need in someone dying in this situation.
No attacks? No announcement? Confused, Rise furrowed what remained of once immaculate brows. 'Oh? I have to say it…' She thought, and yet even after a nearly a minute has passed, not a word comes out. The very thought of surrender left an unmistakeably bitter taste in the girl's mouth. It should've been enough to rekindle her anger, and by extension her will to fight. The whole purpose of the challenge had been to remain in that state long enough to face Tsiro as herself one last time.
But this does not happen. Ultimately, Rise did manage to stand up again, bowed fully at the waist, then turned to walk out of the arena without another word or raising her head enough for eyes to be seen beyond the shadow of her bangs. Every muscle twitch kept the pain inflicted by Yoichi from dying down. She walked on still. Short of a demand or forced attempt to keep her still, any attempt to offer aid is ignored or evaded by the Shirokiri.
