Toma vs. Hinako

The Setting:

On a fine, sunny afternoon in the Nerima district, an oddly dressed young man strolled down a street accompanied by three rather odd looking sort of men. This young man turned to his companions, and said, "Here, my friends, is where we will finally find our brides!"

One of the men, a rather tall one wearing a mask said, "But you said that in the last place we went... and the one before that!"

The youth made a face, but then quickly regained his good mood and said, "But THIS time will be different! We shall find our true loves at long last!" As if on cue, a loud bell rung across the street from the group, the source being a clock on a rather large building.

One of the other men in the group, this one having very distinct monkey-like features, said, "The sign over there says 'Fuurinkan Koukou... I wonder what that means." A few moments later, a lot of young people dressed in school uniforms left the building, and appeared to be very happy to be able to leave. A rather attractive group of young ladies dressed in school uniforms passed in front of the youth and his comrades.

The young one said to the others in a low sort of whisper, "See?! I told you!" He stepped forward, doing his best to look distinguished and charming. He said in a confident voice, "Good day, ladies. I am Price Toma of Togenkyo Island. I personally invite all of you to join me and my friends on my own tropical island, where you can all live in the lap of luxury." He paused dramatically, and then extended his hand to the ladies, "Come... join us and have the time of your lives."

The girls looked at him for a moment before they all burst out laughing. As Toma stood there, looking quite embarassed, and quite confused that anyone would refuse such an offer, The girls walked off, frequently saying the words, "Short little boy" between laughs.

Hiroshi and Daisuke, who had been passing by and heard the exchange of words, laughed out loud at Toma's embarassment. This didn't seem to brighten the young Prince's mood any, however, and he shouted, "How dare you? Sarutaro!" The monkey-man stepped forward on command as Toma gave his order, "Attack!"

Sarutaro grinned, and said, "I hate to have to use this on a couple of chumps... but here it goes! Shadow Fall!"

Before his attack even begun, however, a -very- young voice shouted, "Starting fights! You must be a delinquent!" All eyes immediately went to the source of the voice, a girl who could not be more than 7 or 8 years old. She wore an extremely long yellow dress, and was wielding a coin in her hand. Raising the coin up, she shouted, "Happou Goen Satsu!" And the battle aura was sucked right out of Sarutaro, through the coin, and into the girl. As more energy was absorbed by her, she grew in size. Toma and his comrades just stared at the girl, who had actually become a full grown woman wearing a -very- small dress.

Toma said, "His battle aura.. she took it right out of him." Sure enough, the monkey-man was laying on the ground in a crumpled heap. Toma shouted, "Get her immediately!" The tall masked man and the fat dog man charged in at her with blinding speed, but again, the woman said, "Happo Goen Satsu!" and a moment later they lay at her feat in similar crumpled heaps.

Toma regained his cool, and sized up this new opponent. He said, "A very interesting technique... You absorb the battle auras of your enemies and use their power as your own. You are a very beautiful woman... but I cannot allow this attack on my comrades to go unpunished. Prepare yourself for Toma, the Master of Illusions."

As a group of students gathered around, looking forward to what could be a very entertaining afternoon, Hinako said with much authority, "And I cannot allow you to threaten or harm my students. " She stood there, staring sternly at her opponent, but Toma did not give ground. He smiled, and said, "Then by all means, let's get started."

Commentary:

Wade Tritschler

Well, this one mostly comes down to who nails who first. However, Hinako simply put has no real skill, and only one good chance. Toma has a wide variety of skills that would give him tons of chances. Most likely Hinako will end up chasing illusions. Beyond that, Toma's power is illusion, which Hinako can't absorb, meaning she won't be ready for it (she'll likely assume it will absorb, but it won't and then it is too late).

HexxJo

Well, Hinako was trained by Happosai, was she not? And it seems that he actually gave her some decent skills, unlike some others I can think of *cough* Soun *cough* Genma *cough*. With the master of treachery and lechery as her teacher, how can she loose?

Spanner

Well, I gotta say, there was really only one possible way that Miss Hinako could have won this fight, and she blew it by draining Sarutaro and the others. Miss Hinako's battle skills are pretty much limited to a few techniques (the 5-yen satsu and it's variants, and the Coin Return blast). With the element of surprise on her side, she can easily take out even very formidible opponents at the start of the battle, as the 5-yen satsu is extremely difficult to avoid if one isn't expecting it. However, when one DOES know about it, even a relatively weak martial artist can take steps to avoid it. Toma, with his powers of illusion, will doubtless have an even easier time dealing with the attack, as he could use those powers to distract Miss Hinako into aiming her attacks incorrectly. After that it will be a relatively simple matter for him to use his rather formidible bare-hands fighting ability to bring Miss Hinako low. I think that there's little doubt that Toma is going to win this battle.

Argustar

Toma pretty much defeated himself by admitting that his powers were of illusion. All Hinako would have to do is remember that fact, ignore whatever Toma pretends to throw at her, and suck his battle aura dry.

The Fight:

Toma just continued to smile at Hinako, standing completely still with one hand resting upon the hilt of his sword. He looked to be taking his usual defensive stance, waiting for his opponent to act so that he could react. Hiroshi and Daisuke, who were standing in the crowd that had gathered around the newly started fight. Hiroshi leaned over and said quietly to his friend, "Wow, he's smart. He's already figured out how to counter her move."

Daisuke nodded, but said in response, "Yeah, but that's not all she has, remember?"

As if on cue, Hinako began to lower her arm, and her 5 yen piece with it. Toma smiled, and said, "You're giving up? Good... Now, all I need is a sincere apology from you for what you've done to my assistants, and we'll be on our way."

Hinako raised her arm again. She continued to look sternly at him, and gave her reply, "Happo Gojuu-en Satsu!"

The sensei let out a 'hmph' as she began to absorb ki through her coin. A moment later, however, her eyes went wide as Toma started to laugh. Daisuke raised a brow, and said, "What is he laughing about? Why, she's draining the ki right out of him!" Hiroshi could do nothing more than shrug in response, trying to figure out what was going on.

Toma seemed to overhear Daisuke's comment, and turned to him. The young prince said, "My ki? I think you're mistaken." With an amused look on his face, he took a step to the side, revealing a number of students who had been standing behind him who were now laying on the ground in a withered heap.

Hinako's eyes went from wide to narrow in 0.2 seconds flat and she said one word, and one word alone, "Illusions." She looked completely serious about this fight, while Toma just chuckled.

The prince said, "Oh, so you figured it out, did you? It's a pity you don't know where I really am. At any rate, I don't think I could bring it upon myself to hit such a beautiful woman... So I'll finish this quickly." The illusion of Toma started to draw his sword from it's scabbard, the blade giving off a bright glow.

Hinako was neither in the mood for Toma's theatrics, nor in the mood to chat with him. She closed her eyes, and concentrated. Years of using her ki draining technique had taught her the importance of being able to sense an opponent's battle aura, even when it was impossible to see them. Hinako's eyes came open again, just as Toma began to speak.

He began, "Behold my ultimate technique! Yogan Ran..."

Hinako chose this moment to interrupt. She said, "Happo Tsurisen Gaeshi!"   With a sudden turn, she aimed her open hands at Hiroshi and Daisuke. They both let out a reflexive yelp, and started to scramble, although it proved to be unnecessary. A ball of energy quickly formed in the sensei's hand and shot out, striking something in mid air.

Toma's illusion dissapeared, and the real him appeared right where the ki blast had struck. He was picked up off of the ground and thrown through the air, his back slamming hard into the stone wall which surrounded the Fuurinkan school grounds. The wall cracked, and dented inwards, letting all the fight's observers know that he had taken a very hard hit indeed.

Hinako shrunk back to her child size, still in after-attack pose. Toma's eyes managed to open again, focusing intently on she who had just dealt him the ki blast. His eyes reflected a very drastic change in mood toward his foe. He no longer saw her as a beautiful battle maiden, but as an annoying little brat... even shorter and younger than he was! In a flash, he sprung away from the wall, charging the young teacher. Hinako reacted in the only way she possibly could, raising her 50 yen piece and shouting, "Happo Gojuu-en Satstu!" However, nothing happened. The young prince's image vanished, and the crowd gasped as he appeared right behind Hinako-sensei.

Holding back nothing, and with one hand on the hilt of his sword, he slid his weapon just far enough out of its scabbard to deliver a blow right into the center of Hinako's back with the very bottom of the hilt. Following his attack up quickly, Toma opened his palm and sent forth a force wall, which sent the sensei sprawling across the pavement and onto her face. Shouting, the prince leapt high into the air, his foot brought back in preparation for a devistating airbourne kick.

He shouted, "The final blow!!!" But his eyes went wide as the little girl on the ground looked back up at him, tears in her eyes, and a cute but hurt look on her face. Toma completely lost his focus, waving his arms in front of him frantically as he said, "Im sorry! I'm really really sorry! Please don't cry!" He altered his path in the air, landing some distance away from Hinako, facing away from her and shaking his head, "Geez... I can't believe I'm beating up kids. This is riddiculous."

Hinako recovered quickly, however, giggling as she stood up, and produced her 50 yen coin again. She aimed it at the distracted Toma, and shouted again, "Happoooooo Gojuu-en Satsu!" Toma felt his ki beginning to be drained and reacted quickly in surprise, leaping to the side and dissapearing with his illusionary powers, not enough of his ki drained to knock him out of action. However, the students standing behind where he was just moments ago gave Hinako enough energy to transform back into an adult.

"Time to finish this." She said in her serious, adult voice.

An image of Toma replied from behind her, "My thoughts exactly." He drew his sword in a flash, it's blade gleaming in the sunlight. Hinako raised a brow, thinking to herself that the prince had already tried this move, and it had failed him miserably. Still, she closed her eyes, and began to focus.

She heard Toma's voice, "This is it! Yogan Ran Digi-Dan!" Hinako payed little attention to his words, trying to search out his battle aura. She sensed something off to her side, moving in very quickly. The image of Toma was still standing there, holding his sword high and blinding the student onlookers as Hinako-sensei spun around to face empty air. She said, "Too predictable." Her arms raised, hands open as the energy gathered. Shouting, "Happo Tsurisen Gaeshi!" she unleashed another ball of white hot ki at her opponent. Toma's image appeared again, just scant inches away from the edge of the blast.

He closed in fast, shouting, "An opening!" He struck forward with the hilt of his sword, aimed right at the forehead of teacher. However, the attack flew through air as Hinako, in post-attack position, shrunk down to her child size again. Toma looked down in shock as the child Hinako struck him in the chest with a 5 yen coin, shouting, "Happo Go-en satsu!"

There was nothing Prince Toma could do, caught in mid air and not able to counter attack as his energy was rapidly drained from his body. The sensei grew back to her adult form again as the crumpled Toma was picked up by the wind, and was carried off. He rasped, "Help!"

Sarutaro, who had finally woken up, still looking quite drained, started to chase after his master. He leapt into the air, trying to grab onto him, but just managed to get caught in the same drift. As the two floated off, Hinako tossed some of her toussled hair over her shoulder, and said, "Delinquent. Let that be a lesson to anyone who thinks about causing trouble at Fuurinkan High."

The Results:

Hinako Ninomiya: 18

Toma: 10

Not a lot of votes this time, but that's to be expected. After all, I didn't wait 3 months before fight rotation this time! Thanks to everyone who came back and voted again, and everybody, check out the mailing list I set up (There's some stuff at the bottom of the voting page about that... please take a look!) Bai bai!