Round 2
The Setting:
In the gardens of the Kunou estate, an area had been roped off so that the next match of the martial arts tournament could be held. The Kunou family was being payed a considerable amount by the events staff, which was probably the only reason that so many people were allowed to be on their property at one time.
In the roped off area was a rather large pond, which had a sign next to it that read 'Mr. Turtle.' There were also several stone ornaments which were common in Japanese gardens, and trees, and things like that. Tatewaki Kunou, who had recently emerged from his house, wondered if Kodachi had disabled all of the traps in the yard like he had asked her to. With a shrug, he dismissed it. The people in the crowd certainly weren't in danger.
Sasuke was supposed to announce the event, but he had turned up missing somehow. Tatewaki supposed that the burden now laid upon him. He picked up the microphone, struck a manly pose, and started to speak. He said, "Welcome everyone, to the magnificent Kunou estate... Truly a household without rival in all of Japan. I, the noble and righteous Tatewaki Kunou, Blue Thunder of Fuurinkan High, have been given the privelage to oversee this event..."
The events staff started to look nervous, and some members of the crowd started grumbling about the long winded young man. The staffers shut off Kunou's microphone, and decided to announce things on their own. Kunou didn't seem to notice that his voice was no longer being broadcast, and continued ranting.
The man who was selected amongst the events staff to announce picked up his microphone, and said, "Ahem.. without further ado, we welcome our first competitor. From the Gagema Family Piston Power school of fighting, and also a master of the dreaded Dragon Fang tennis style, it's none other than Noriko Gagema!" The crowd started to cheer as the young tennis player took to the field. She smiled, and gave bows to the crowd every now and then as she walked down a stone path to reach the center of the field.
The announcer then went on to say, "And our next competitor, who calls himself the 'Master of Martial Arts', and brother to the notorious pervert Tsubasa, it's Sukira Kurenai!!" The crowd started to cheer again as the young man wearing Chinese clothing took the field. Sukira looked quite upset that Tsubasa had been mentioned, and swore that he'd get whoever was responsible.
The two combattants met in the center of the field. Sukira spoke first. He said, "A tennis raquet? I'll tell you... There sure are a lot of unorthodox styles being used in this tournament."
Noriko smiled, and said, "Well, Mr. Master of Martial Arts, I'm sure you're not worried too much about it."
Sukira shrugged his shoulders indifferently, and replied, "Oh believe me, I'm not." He pulled out his 'memory metal' staff, and then continued, "I've got plenty of weapons of my own."
The two of them took combat-ready stances, and waited for the fight to begin.
Comments:
Tanu Kun
This will be a great match! I'll be supprised if there's anything left of the Kuno resedence by the time this match is done! Both competitors are incredible powerhouses, which will make for a hang onto your seats type match to the death! But then, Who's going to win? That's easy! Though Sukira has lots of skills at his disposal, he cannot possably deal with the shear power of Noriko's moves! Also, there is a water hazard here and since both competitiors don't want their cursed form revieled, we'll see them give it a wide berth. But, if one of them does happen to fall in, Noriko's form is much more powerful! So in conclusion, One Hellova match with Noriko coming out on top!
Stephen Schlueter
Most of Noriko's techniques are already known by Sukira (Hiryu-Shoten-Ha etc.) Yet again, Noriko's style is one of those over specialized types like Martial Arts Tea Ceremony. To add onto all of this Sukira *is* a grifter and has more that enough tricks up his sleeve to dupe Noriko. Plus there's the memory metal weapons. The only way I can see that Noriko can beat him is if she uses her dragon form (which according to her bio is unlikely) and even then it'll be a tough fight. This will probably be a tough match but I think Sukira will win again.
Spanner
Here, more than any previous Original Character match-up, I think, we have a near-dead-even matchup. Noriko's rating even unarmed is "near-Ranma", which would imply that, armed, she's even better. Sukira, again, is not quite as good, but can fall back on a wide variety of techniques to keep Noriko at bay. Were all other factors even I wouldn't have a chance of predicting an outcome. However, things aren't EXACTLY even... Once again, Sukira is pitted against a girl, and he doesn't like to fight girls. He'll likely be either reluctant to attack (unwilling to harm a girl) or overconfident (sure that a girl is no match for him) at the beginning of the fight, and that will cost him dearly. The winner: Noriko!
Hitman25
I feel Noriko will come out on top of this one. As much variety Sukira has, he has too much of it which makes his skill not very focussed in one point. Noriko on the other hand, has proved to be quite powerful on the offense. Also, the thought of fighting against a girl may be distracting to Sukira. I'm going to give this match to Noriko.
Jarvis
In my opinion, Noriko has this one. Not only does she have a great arsenal of moves, but she can quickly adapt in a fight, unlike Surika, who tends to get cocky and leave himself open. Surika may have vast knowledge of martial arts, but he can't compare with Noriko's bag of tricks. Chalk one up for her.
The Fight:
The head referee looked at the two combattants, making sure both of them were ready, and then shouted, "Fight!"
Once the signal was given, both Sukira and Noriko lunged at one another, swinging their weapons, which hit each other in mid-air. The two fighters struggled against one another for a moment, trying to force their opponent back. As Sukira generated more of a battle aura, his 'memory metal' staff began to glow.
As Sukira's battle aura increased, so did the strength with which he could wield his weapon. Noriko started to strain to hold her ground, and realizing that she'd be forced back, she threw a kick at Sukira's side. With a push, Sukira seperated himself from the tennis-player before the kick could connect. Both fighters recovered their stances, and took a quick moment to evaluate the situation.
Sukira knew his memory metal weapon would give him an edge over a regular tennis racquet, so he quickly advanced again, this time jabbing with his staff at Noriko from as great a distance as he could manage. The weapon was still glowing intensely, and Noriko had to struggle each time she blocked it with her racquet.
Sukira saw that his opponent was struggling, and sighed to himself. He thought, "I really don't like to fight against girls, but there's no other way I'm going to win this tournament. It's too bad, I don't want to hurt her." As he thought this, his will to fight was slowly diminishing, and so was his battle aura.
The glow on his staff started to fade, and Noriko had less difficulty blocking now. Taking advantage of her opportunity, she swatted the staff aside and stepped in toward her opponent to where he would be less effective with his weapon, while she would be more effective with hers. She swung her weapon at Sukira, but he was quick enough to block. His battle aura started to gain again, but he couldn't take advantage of it at such a close range. Pretty soon, he was getting worn down from all the frantic blocking he had to do, and several grazing hits slipped in through his guard.
Sukira considered his situation, and decided on a risky course of action. He was in a pretty bad situation as it was, and even if the plan failed, he was sure he'd still be able to recover. He swung his staff around wildly with as much of his battle aura focused into it at once. Noriko took a small step back to get out of the way, and waited until Sukira stopped swinging, seemingly tired out. She quickly started to step forward again, her racquet ready to strike.
Sukira ducked down as Noriko approached, shouted, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" and struck his finger into the stony ground in the middle of the Kunou estate's garden. The rock slowly started to crack outward from where Sukira struck it, and then suddenly exploded. Noriko was still in mid-attack, and was pretty wide open to the rocks which flew out and started to pelt her. Being a hardy martial artist, she wethered the blast without taking any significant damage, and dropped back into her fighting stance. She'd faced this attack in her battle against Perfume, and she wondered just how many people knew it.
Tatewaki Kunou shouted, "Fool! Are you trying to destroy the lovely gardens of this magnificent estate!? Argh! Prepare to feel my wrath!" The Kendoist charged out into the battle area, and the referees prepared to call a stop to the match due to the interference. However, before that happened Kunou's foot sunk into the ground, and he fell into a pit that was set up by Sasuke to deter intruders. With the threat neutralized, the referees turned their attention back to the fight.
Noriko saw Sukira standing on the other side of the pond in the midst of the garden. She started to get a little bit nervous, thinking to herself, "I can't risk going near that water... There's no WAY I'm going to change into that thing here... but I can't let him know I'm afraid of it. I'll just have to bring him over to me." She gathered her ki, and placed both her hands onto the ground while shouting, "Mizumi Rise!"
Sukira seemed rather surprised as his enemy projected her ki into the ground directly below her. He was even more surprised when the ground beneath him exploded. He was flung into the air, and started to fall toward the pond in the middle of the garden. He screamed in panic, thinking, "I don't want to change into girl form now! I can't deal with that in the middle of a serious fight! Heavens, don't let me fall in!"
In answer to his prayer, Kodachi's pet Mr. Green Tortise surfaced, and opened his jaws very wide in preparation for its new meal. Sukira wondered if he would have been better off not making that prayer. The crowd screamed as they saw the inappropriately named large alligator emerge from the depths of the pond, and all turned away, fearing what they'd see. After a few seconds of looking away, in which they heard no violent sounds, they turned back to see Sukira's staff wedged in Mr. Green Tortise's jaws, and the martial artist safely, and dryly, on the edge of the pond.
Noriko let out a breath she'd been holding, since she did not at all want Sukira to be eaten, and allowed her attention to return to the fight. Sukira was on her side of the pond now, and was moving away from it as quickly as possible... she guessed it was because of the alligator.
The young Kurenai noticed that he was now without his weapon, while his opponent was still armed and didn't look very injured. "I've still got another ace up my sleeve..." He thought to himself, and moved over toward a more open area in the garden. Noriko, sensing her advantage, charged in and started to attack.
Sukira did his best to evade the attacks that were coming at him from the tennis raquet, but every so often he had to block, causing a great deal of pain in his arms where he did so. He was a martial artist, however, so he didn't let it phase him. He just kept stepping back with each blow of Noriko's, doing his best to keep himself from being knocked out.
The crowd watched the turn events with held breath. Noriko obviously had the advantage. Sukira was just stepping back time after time, doing nothing to counter attack. He looked calm, but all he was doing is walking backwards in circles...
Sukira was starting to get annoyed with the tennis racquet, so he decided to use a move he'd done in the past match. When Noriko's weapon descended upon him, he met it with a blow from his finger, shouting, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" Noriko realized what was happening, and tossed her racquet some distance away before it could explode in her hands. Wasting no time, she resumed her attack with her fists, continuing to drive Sukira back.
She wondered why he was even continuing on with the match. Even now that they were both fighting hand to hand, he was doing nothing other than blocking and stepping back. Maybe he was just too proud to give up... Noriko noticed that they were both still in the grassy clearing that they were in when this exchange started, and that she was starting to get dizzy from running around in circles... in circles...
Noriko suddenly stopped attacking, and Sukira worried that his plan had been discovered. They were so close to the center of the spiral now, and Noriko had been putting out quite a battle aura.
The tennis player thought to herself, "I can't believe I didn't recognize the Hiryuu Shouten Ha being used on me. I guess this guy really does know his martial arts. However, I have a plan. It might be risky, but I want to put an end to this!" She gathered as much of her ki as she could, and started attacking again, this time with an even stronger battle aura.
Sukira grinned inwardly, although he did his best to look weak and near defeat. His enemy's own strength would be her downfall. As they reached the center of the spiral, and the hot and cold ki were in the right balance to create the whirlwind, Sukira closed his eyes, and raised his fist to the sky. As soon as he closed his eyes, Noriko stopped, and called upon a technique her grandfather had taught her for qucikly diminishing her battle aura. She took in a calming breath, and the aura started to fade away just as the young Kurenai shouted, "Hiryuu Shouten Ha!"
The crowd gasped, and expected some sort of grand explosion. However, all that was created was a small funnel of wind between the two fighters. Sukira opened his eyes, giving a, "Huh?!" Noriko was standing right in front of him, her battle aura almost completely diminished.
Noriko reacted quickly, shouting, "Ki Web!" Sukira's ki slowed down, almost to a halt. It took everything he had to keep himself conscious while his body went completely numb and immobile. He tried gathering more ki to shake off the effects, but Noriko had other plans. She shouted, "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" and started to pelt him with punch after punch. Luckily, he couldn't feel the attack, but it was starting to take it's toll. He felt his consciousness start to fade before he recieved one last powerful punch from his opponent, which sent him flying through the air.
Sukira fell onto the grass, and Noriko stood still, watching her opponent. Miraculously, he started to rise to his feet again. She thought to herself, "How in the world am I going to put this guy down?"
Sukira wasn't feeling in the best of spirits after recieving such a thrashing, but he did his best to try and get to his feet. He'd never give up, he thought to himself. Grabbing on to a stone ornament in the garden, he started pulling himself up. Strangely, though, the stone ornament turned as he pushed against it.
The ornament turned, and a series of traps suddenly went off in the garden. Noriko yelped, and ducked down as several arrows flew out at her from the bushes. The crowd had to duck down too, since the arrows were coming from everywhere. After the attacks stopped, Noriko stood up and tried to see where her opponent had gone. She saw him lying on the ground with several tiles from a nearby wall broken over his head. The referees saw this too, and announced Noriko Gagema as the winner.
The crowd went wild with cheers, and Noriko breathed a great sigh of relief. Now, she thought, it was time to begin preparing for the final battle.
The Results:
Noriko Gagema: 7
Sukira Kurenai: 1
Thanks to everyone who voted. This one wasn't as close as everyone's comments made it out to be, but that's just the way the voting system works, I guess. I'm sorry these second round matches weren't very even... Hopefully it'll be different in the last one. Make sure to vote in the final match!