Nox vs Ryou

Stage0: Preliminaries

Frostschild Memorial Park

The sun is shining, the audience is pumped, it's a great day to kick a**.

While in memorium of those whom disappeared in the tragic Unity incident, this park is a lively place. In preparation for the fight some HoH fans brought their blankets and barbecues to watch the fight. It's a good old fashioned cookout amongst the violence.

Terrain

General - The green grass and general outdoorisness, while nice looking, should be accounted for.

Weapons - Barbecues, grilling implements, potato salad, trees.

Bonus Effects - Watch out for errant spectators, they're not as contained as usual.

Red Player: Bellanox Fatalis

Representing: Team Cannon Fodder

Played By: Bellanox Fatalis

Blue Player: Rou Ji

Representing: Team Resolution

Played By: Shackled Servant

The looker's-on of the upcoming match obediently turned their heads to the curious sound of metal clinking, echoing dully in the air of the park. Sauntering to the open space in the middle at a brisk pace, it was noted that the sound was owned by that of chains, tethered to the wrists of a woman clothed in black and red.

Black boots covered the small feet of the lady, softly imprinting it's sole into the grass as she made her way towards her waiting opponent. Black hair hung in long, wavy tresses behind her that men would kill for. The thought eluded her as to if they actually had, but the thought amused her. Yellow eyes targeted that of the dark woman, meeting her anticipant gaze with a sharp grin.

Passing by the last few packs of picnickers, her chains rattled as she swept down to grab an apple from a stray basket, taking a full bite from it. As she swallowed and positioned herself opposite of Nox, she tossed the apple up and down, before tossing it over her shoulder and abandoning it in the grass. Nothing like a sour apple to give the taste of battle a perfect landing zone.

Her nose twitched, afraid the scent of fresh barbecue might soon become tainted with the smell of roasting a... different kind of meat. But Rou always did tend to like the hunt...

Flashing her toothy grin across at the woman across from her, Rou flipped her long ponytail over her shoulder, accompanied by the sound of rattling chains that hung about a foot and a half from each wrist.

"Name's Rou Ji," she introduced herself with a smirk, and a mocking bow, her hand pressed to her chest lightly. "And I'm itching to get fired up. You ready, chickie?" Her speech was fairly casual, a snide snarl in her voice as it escaped the lips of the one bearing the devilish grin. "Ladies first."

(1/10)

While Rou was confident that her shoulderplates and the chain mail covering her neck would be enough to withstand receiving a fatal gash, but the weight of the blow behind it would still cause injury. "Well, looks like I won't be able to slack off at all in this fight, if she's this eager to start playing rough," the sharp-grinned woman thought.

Good, Rou liked it that way.

Rou carefully waited for that axe to reach it's peak, keeping a keen watch on the supplementary knife through periforal vision. (Assuming) Her opponent was right-handed, Rou's left hand found the end of the end of the chain coming from her right wrist, wrapping itself once around, giving her about a foot of free chain.

Raising her arms as the blow came down, Rou pulled the chain taut, secured by the shackle on her right, and the wrap of chain links on her left. She bent her knees to absorb the shock for about a half-second, before launching up with her powerful thrust of her legs, taking a side-step to the left and lowering her right arm slightly. This should cause the axe to be parried away from Rou, since she had situated herself on Nox's right flank by her footwork, and used the tightened chain to push the axe off to her opponent's left side. If this hadn't just deterred her path of attack, it would most likely throw off her balance as well, if she didn't continue the range of motion by carrying herself a few steps forward.

"Nice try, chickie, but I'm not done yet!" her mental commentary cued in, as her left hand released the chain she was holding, before giving Nox way to go anywhere. Still tethered to Rou's right shackle, the release would send that foot and a half of chain going towards her own right hand, which was indeed next to that of her opponent. Conveniently, her favored axe was also in said hand. How nice. Too bad Rou had the intention of removing it from her possession.

The chain had swung towards Rou's right hand and over it, around the handle of the axe Nox was toting. And by gravity's command, as soon as it went as far as it could go, the only place left was down. Vaulted around the handle and back to Rou's hand, she caught it, and tugged her right arm back, attempting to rip it from Nox's grip and then behind her, out of reach.

And following with the range of motion, seeing as Rou would have to pivot to bring it behind her, her left hand came swinging towards the open back of the leather-clad woman, flicking her wrist to curl the chains as she snapped at Nox's lower back. Would leave a pretty nasty bruise, if not a welt.

"Don't tell me that's all you've got!" she sneered, her yellow eyes bright with anticipation.

(2/10)

Her anticipant eyes quickly turned to surprised ones as she was pulled by the chain, leaning back to dig her heels into the ground in an attempt to stay where she was, her hand holding onto her chain links as tightly as possible. Rou was on her back, the two connected only by the metal tethered to the woman's wrist.

Rou denied herself any inclination of panic, forcing her eyes to watch the movements of her opponent. The arm began to swing backwards, the glint of the dagger coming straight for her, aimed low around her waist.

"Woah!" Rou shouted, her hand releasing the chain she was holding, and hopped backwards to stay out of the line of attack. The point had just barely scratched her midriff, narrowly making it away. Letting go at this point seemed like a wise idea, rather than waking up after a kidney transplant.

Her opponent was correct in that respect, seeing as Rou had no armor there. Her clothes were very open, and armor was very scarce on her person. The only place she was dressed for it was on her upper body. Around her neck she wore chain mail that wrapped completely around, draping just between her shoulderblades in the back, hidden by her red shirt. Connected to it was two shoulderplates, double-fired so it would stay light, but be just as strong as any other armor.

As Nox danced her way around to situating herself, Rou followed in time, in the opposite direction, by way of three consecutive backflips.

Rou grinned as she straightened herself, flipping her long black ponytail over her shoulder. "Lucky me, getting to have such fun with such a pretty woman," she chuckled, bouncing back and forth from the balls of her feet, swinging readily. "All the boys must be so jealous..." Rou snickered, letting out a snide laugh from between her sharp teeth and wrinkling her nose. Her right hand held the chain draping from it, twirling it around in a playful circle.

She leaned forward a bit, showing off a generous amount of cleavage. "I'm going to enjoy this..." Rou hummed in a low voice, seeming quite amused with fighting Nox. This all seemed like an entertaining game to her. "Is it just me...?" she asked, her voice almost taunting as she called over to her opponent.

"...Or are things getting HOT IN HERE?!" she finished, as she raised her right hand high above her head, before snapping it straight down with a pull of her wrist.

-CRACK!-

With a bright flash, sparks caught from the chain snapping against itself, as it ignited into a long stream of flame. A whip, that extended six feet from the end of the chain, the embers whisping as their own entity, connected to the metal.

Rou had created this type of weapon herself, using the chains as a starter, to prevent burning herself, by letting the chains connect directly to the fire. All her life, she'd studied the ancient traditional art of using chi, or spiritual energy, taking on an elemental affiliation. In the trade of blacksmiths, as the Ji family was, fire was your work.

By sending her chi through the end of the chain and out past it, she'd allowed the spark to ignite it into flame as a functional whip. Her chi gave it physical force, as well as burned her enemies. By using chi rather than a full chain, she'd be able to keep the versatility and speed of a real whip, without the weight of the metal. Quite the nifty trick.

"Allow me to turn up the heat!" Rou yelled with her sadistic grin, launching off on her feet as she lifted the whip over herself again. She closed the distance to equate the length of the whip, following Nox should she move. Rou snapped it forward in a cattleman\'s crack, by hurling it forward and snapping her wrist as it rolled to the end in a forward lash, cracking while aimed at Nox's stomach.

-KACHAK!-

(3/10)

Rou's whiplash had come down, missing Nox by her advance. "Tch... I'll have to anticipate next time..." she thought, "No matter..."

"Assuredly, chickie! I'll have those pretty little buns of yours served on a silver platter!" she retorted, laughing.

But it seemed even Rou's mental cockiness was a tad overconfident.

-Shink!-

"Oh shi--!" she yelled, forced to follow the path the axe beckoned, now having hooked itself one of the metal links tethered to her wrist. Rather than be caught off balance, Rou had no choice other than to follow them. Didn't look like it was going to end well either way.

She could tell Nox was preparing a counterattack, but due to being pulled forward and the aim coming directly behind her legs, it proved to be a blind spot... Crap.

However, Rou was trying to struggle to break free from the axe's hook, turning only slightly towards Nox with her left foot forward, right foot back, pulling with her entire body's weight. The two seemed equally matched, strength-wise, but it hadn't given her quite enough leeway.

"Nnnnngh!" the sharp-toothed woman grunted, as it pierced the side of her right calf, due to Rou's turn. The pain was familiar, subject to torture within the prisons that held her but not a year ago, from which she was bestowed with her shackles. Her concentration was broken, her ki repealed from the chain as the flames whisped away. No matter, she'd be able to ignite it again later.

Luckily, her boots gave the razor some material to go through, before striking Rou's skin underneath. The black Twaron material was only slightly thicker than her clothes, meant to prevent the fire-user from burning herself. She was human, too, after all. It reddened slightly, blood dampening the side of her boot.

Rou was still fighting, despite the pain in her leg. She could ignore it, for the most part, she'd have enough time to nurse it when the fight was over. She was having far too much fun to feel hurt...

She was tugging with all her weight and strength at the shackle, red marks around her wrist apparent. Rou wasn't unfamiliar with this pain, either. The two girls were pulling opposite from each other, like a battle of tug-of-war.

Rou's teeth were gritted, but her lips were curled in an entertained grin. That pit of jello wasn't starting to sound half-bad, to Rou's mind...

"Since you liked the first course so much..." she snarled, despite the obvious smirk upon her face, "How about a SECOND HELPING?!"

Rou had two sets of chains connected to her. Nox was currently at a stalemate with her right, but the woman was also capable of using the left.

She swept her left arm up, the chains snapping against each other and igniting to it's six-foot length. Swinging it around her side as she toted it above her head, it lashed at Nox's knees in the fashion of the Snake-Killer Crack, the whip slapping against itself just before it would attempt to strike her, with a loud -crack!-. Sparks flew from it, in a flurry of embers in front of her opponent. Should they fall on her, they'd probably just mar her clothes slightly, and leave a small burn should they hit her skin, such as on her face.

"Still hungry for more?!"

(4/10)

From their stalemate, both of their right hands were connected by their weapons, Nox having managed to hook hers on to one of the links on Rou's chain that connected to her right wrist. Her left hand was thrown out from her last attack, embers whisping about in the grass at Nox's feet, still aflame in it's limp 6-foot length.

That sound of pain seething through Nox's teeth made Rou shiver and grin with delight. Such a lovely lady, and such a lovely voice; Rou wanted to hear it to it's full extent, one way or another. The only other way she knew wasn't exactly... decent. But she'd make do, for now.

Despite Rou's efforts, Nox was still raring to go. "This girl really is a feisty one, isn't she? Mmmmm..." she thought. It seemed that Rou's mind wasn't entirely focused where it should be. But against such a beautiful woman, who could blame her?

Rou really seemed to be enjoying the playtime, but she knew better than to become sidetracked in a battle like this. While a fight was all in good fun, weapons meant business. Time to be professional.

Their right arms were connected with somewhere between a foot and a half to two feet separating them, due to the length of Rou's chain and the handle of Nox's axe. That was more than enough wiggle-room.

"We'll see about that!" she retorted, a wider smirk presented to Nox.

Rou's nimble feet took a single side-step to the left, leaving her weight on that foot, sticking in that direction rather than have a friendly chat with the eager dagger toted on her opponent's left side. As the blade came toward her, she lifted her right arm, ducking her head only slightly, revolving on her left-weighted foot. It looked very much like a turn most often seen in soccer, where the player rotates their body over the ball to revolve around the opponent. Rou, ever the agile athlete, used a simple move to an effective result.

By ducking, she'd lowered herself, creating a barrier for the path of Nox's axe between her shackles to her shoulderplates and chain mail around her neck. Her back was turned to Nox at that point for only a moment, while Nox advanced forward, as it sliced through a few lockes of her ponytail that followed the motion of her spin. Rou's shoulderplates and mail would keep Nox from injuring her at that angle, should she try to divert the weapon mid-strike. Completing her 360 degree clockwise spin on her left foot, her body had turned around to face opposite again, Rou's right foot coming forward to balance herself at the end.

Of course, with the two stuck together by tethered right arms, Nox's axe would still be following the path of Rou's right, not able to stray too far from it. She kept it above her head when she'd ducked before, so as to keep it away from the blade. It made a slice through the medial side of Rou's right hand, a small incision that ran from her wrist to the knuckle of her thumb. She didn't know how deep it was, but she knew that would sting later, and would need a good stitching when this whole thing was over.

"Let's see how much heat you can handle!"

Rou's spin didn't take more than half a second, a sharp turn that involved her entire body. As such, the ignited whip tethered to her left was also revolved, sweeping away from Nox's feet, and around Rou, on the outside of her revolution. Keeping the momentum of the swing going, Rou extended her right arm again. Because of it's trail of motion, Rou was unable to crack it with the same manner she had before. However, if it kept it's spin going, six feet was plenty of room to extend back to Nox and whap her in the side, and wrap around the waist. Hopefully that'd leave a mark, and start burning up that pretty little leather jacket.

After a moment, Rou would continue with two more side-steps, circling around Nox's right side. She attempted to jerk at the right chain again, to remove the weapon from her grasp. Should Nox have varied her concentration to any recent pain, she figured her hold on the handle would be considerably lessened. And this would keep her momentarily out of the way of Nox's secondary weapon, held on the opposite side.

"I have to admit, you've got spunk... but if you're gonna play with fire, you're gonna get burned!"

Was it just her, or were those spectators getting a little closer? Looks like Rou wasn't the only one who wanted a good view of the breas-- erm, action.

(5/10)

The metals sparked as they hit each other, the loud shriek of the metals screaming in Rou's ear. She ignored it, used to the loud sound of metal hitting itself, familiar with the sounds of blades scraping against each other, just like back in the smithy she'd spent her youth in, watching intently in her past as her brother had excelled in the art of the sword.

Rou gritted her teeth, the sound having reminded her of her brother's tireless efforts to train in the arts of the blade. "Brother..." she thought, mentally distracted for a moment, "By being here, I grow closer to avenging you... The man who permanently took you away from me shall pay with his life."

"!!"

That moment seemed a moment too long for her to get distracted. The axe she'd pulled from Nox's grip as she battled with the flames that crept up her jacket was flinging towards Rou's face. She tried to avert her head to the side, but it resulted in the blade slicing across her right cheek, directly under her cheekbone.

Nox was currently putting herself out in the grass, as the chi flowing through the chains to create her flaming whip had faded. Rou raised her hand to her cheek, staining her fingertips with her own blood. Her yellow eyes glinted as she looked at it, as well as the long laceration on her right hand. Nox had managed to mar Rou's face, even indirectly, which seemed to surprise the sharp-toothed woman.

Looking back over her shoulder for a moment, she noticed something on a picnic blanket directly behind her. A small condiment bottle. "That might be of some use to me..." she thought.

"Give me that," Rou ordered in a low voice, pointing to it, "Then back up, if you don't want to be fried." Her threat was menacing, as one of the reluctant picnickers handed it to her, and then fled a good thirty paces back to avoid the wrath of the firey woman. "Barbecue sauce... this might come in handy later." She wriggled the nose of the bottle under her belt, to keep it secure behind her for now. Then noticing Nox's disguarded blade not too far from her feet, she ducked her toes underneath the handle, and kicked it away.

Rou's gaze shifted to the woman across from her, and licked the blood from her fingertips. The metallic taste of blood stuck to her tongue, beads of the red liquid dripping down her cheek. Best not to stay in this condition too long, or Rou might start having problems.

"You can tell my tastes that easily?" she chuckled in a taunting voice, hungrily licking the stray blood off her lower lip. Rou's left hand had wandered to her side pocket, discretely.

-click-

She'd flicked up the top of a small flask, toted in her left hand as she pulled it from her pocket. Rou lifted it up to her mouth, tipping it back as she seemed to drink from it.

But the bulge in her throat hadn't moved; she wasn't swallowing. Rou didn't intend to, either.

-clack-

The top of the flask closed, and was immediately stuffed back into her pocket. Without a moment's warning afterward, Rou vaulted herself forward, dashing quickly at her opponent.

She ran across the grass to about a body's length from Nox (about 5-6 feet) , chasing her by following with intent yellow eyes as she advanced with an agile dash. Her nostrils had flared, taking in a deep inhale as she skidded to a stop in front of the half-seared woman, before leaning her face forward, her lips puckered, blowing out a burst of flames.

-FWOOOOOOOOOM!-

The air between the two was lit like a match held in front of a propane tank. In the flask was oil, when propelled through Rou's mouth had sparked by use of her chi, allowing her to breathe fire.

It was limited, of course, only a five-second sequence of flames was used. In the entire bottle, she'd have about thirty seconds worth, but she doubted she'd need to use it all.

As she'd finished releasing the flames in a hot frontal attack to Nox, her left hand readily fingered the bottle she'd tucked behind her...

"I like 'em extra crispy, chickie..." she snarled with an amused grin.

(6/10)

A hosebeast: a woman who is crazy, ruthless, and evil; crazy to a stupendous degree. Nox just about hit the nail on the head. Or rather, in the ribs.

As Nox had come up to forcefully retort, Rou's left hand was behind her, reaching for the bottle she'd hung from her belt. Adjusting her thumb and pointer finger to slide the top, the lid had come off, as Rou swung it high in front of her, the brown sauce flying through the air, aiming to splash itself in Nox's face. Notably, her eyes.

However, in Rou's attempt at a move, she neglected to figure the possibility of Nox having yet another weapon. The woman was starting to look like a busty arsenal. Rou would've wondered how much she could hide in what was left of her clothes, but there really wasn't much time to think about it.

And Rou (with no armor to protect her ribs) was full to the brunt of the attack. She received it just above her stomach, a red welt threatening to break the lovely skin of her revealed midsection, and had torn through the red shirt she wore, slashing through the material. Twaron may have been fire-resistant, but it wasn't whip-resistant, unfortunately.

"Kkk-uuugh!" Rou gurgled, as the look in her amber eyes transcended pain, starting to double-over, clutching her stomach and ribs. Refusing to let herself go down with her teeth gritted, she shuffled her feet backward to put an extra body-lengths space between her and Nox. Hopefully if she'd blinded the woman with the surprise sauce-attack, she'd have a moment to gain her composure while her opponent cleared her vision and reset herself.

"Nice move... She's rather dangerous when she puts her mind to it. I'm starting to like her... Not much time left for me to have my fun..." she thought.

(7/10)

"N-no!" she thought, "I can't go down... Not like this..."

The sauce splattered onto Rou's face in retort from Nox, the cold condiment bringing her attention to her face rather than her ribs for the moment. A snap back to reality was the alarm she'd needed.

Trying to secure herself out of her stumble, she moved her left foot back to support herself, leaving only her left hand to clutch her welted ribs for the moment, the pressure of her palm helping ease the pain.

But here came the leather bullwhip again! In Rou's loss of concentration while being knocked back, hers weren't ignited; only lone, cold chains that hung from her wrists. Rou had no other choice than to try to evade.

Pushing off the balls of her feet, Rou dove, keeping her left arm tucked in at her stomach, her right arm going just above her head to cushion herself as she went into a dodge roll to Rou's right.

However, since Rou had to cross over herself to go to the right to evade the whips, as Rou pushed herself up out of the roll and onto her feet, the part of her that was facing Nox... was her back!

"!!"

Rou's pupils constricted as she tried to look back over her shoulder at the approaching Nox. That glint in her hand didn't look very inviting at all. Her teeth were gritted, and Rou had the feeling that while Blackened Gypsy may not have been on the menu, Skewered Psychopath may be.

(8/10)

Rou had to do something. What did her brother always tell her? Never turn your back on your opponent! Rou had just done something very stupid, and was about to pay the price.

In the feeble attempt to prevent herself from damage, she raised her right arm, clenching her teeth and tightening her muscles to brace herself for the attack.

The first lash came, Rou's pupils constricting to further reveal her yellow irises, saturated in pain as the leather pleats struck her in the back, shredding the back of her shirt and the hem of her black shorts, clothing now torn open by the whip that had targeted her.

"Brace yourself! Stand firm!" Rou's mind mentally scolded herself, demanding that she withstand the pain. The words were that used by her brother, Wei, throughout Rou's training at the smithy, and briefly in swordplay. It was that mentality that kept her alive within the prison she was sentenced to for the attempted murder of the man who eternally deprived Rou of her brother. The shackles tethered to her wrists were the same that she had been imprisoned in, the symbolism of her fight for revenge. The shackles would not be removed until Rou had been able to avenge Wei.

Rou had duty to uphold.

The whip had stricken her, and the pain seared throughout her body, her skin and muscles screaming at her, wishing they could drop out now and nurse themselves. But after Rou had come so far, she wouldn't allow it! Just strive a little farther, fight until the end!

"Never back down..." she murmured, as her eyes continued to search over her shoulder. By the way Nox was moving, she was familiar with the movement, seeing as Rou was a whip-wielder, too. It meant Nox was gearing up for another attack, added with the momentum of her last shot.

Rou's right hand came down, her chi flying through it, and exploding out it's length. She could feel her energy draining, the cut down her hand stinging, her right leg damp with blood streaming down within the captive boot, the welts across her ribs and back aching. So much pain, but she could endure. Just a little longer...

The whip sparked to ignite its embered length, pulling the whip behind her. With a turn of her wrist, the whip swept across the ground behind her feet, then curved upward, only to be flicked downward by command of her wrist, cracking right above Rou's lower back in a Tasmanian Cutback Crack.

Nox's whip would indeed hit her with some force, but Rou's aim was to tangle the leather bullwhip with her own fire-imbued one. It would keep it from wrapping itself around her, the path of Nox's lash thrown off by the interference from her own whip. It did hurt as it slapped against her, but she was so close to the home stretch!

Her grin returned, spreading like wildfire across her lips. Last time she checked, leather wasn't fireproof. Taking her left hand from her welted ribs, Rou pivoted around on her left foot, dragging the tangled whips and flames around her side. It was starting to get hot, but at least the twaron shirt that clung to her front managed to keep her from burning her skin. She tried to keep her right arm back, in an effort to keep the flames away from her shirt's recently-split back.

Rou's left hand raised up, before vaulting forward in her retort to Nox, performing a Flick Crack, aimed to lash at her just above the chest, around the collarbone/neck area from the front.

"I WILL NOT BACK DOWN!" she growled, the embers flying as her whip cracked forward, a stern vision of a warrior drawn onto her face. She needed to pass onto the next round... If Rou ever wanted to be able to reclaim her honor and allow her brother to pass on, she needed to fight on. And she was going to make it go out with a bang.

(9/10)

Rou's yellow eyes gleamed with obvious pleasure as her weapon struck Nox across her lovely chest and neck, wishing so dearly that she wasn't required to mar such beautiful, smooth skin. Pity, really.

But the girl was ready for a counterattack. Nox had known just as well as Rou did that this was the home stretch.

However, as the kick from the razor-tipped boot came, Rou couldn't help but grin. Had Nox all but forgotten about Rou's armor? The obsidian chain mail, and the shoulderplates that protected that part of her body specifically.

Rou bent her knees to brace herself, and raised her arms to protect the sides of her face, the rings of her shackles around her wrists would keep any stray attacks away from her face.

The kick collided with her left shoulderplate, sparks dancing off it as the metals clashed, Rou pushing on her feet to absorb the pressure coming from Nox's attack. Rolling her shoulder back, she'd allow the girl's foot to slide off to complete her attack, Rou realizing that the timer was up.

That was it. It was over...

Rou panted, letting down her guard. There was no reason for Nox and herself to fight any longer.

Rou was panting, Nox had really worn her down. Blood dripped from her right leg, hand, cheek, and welts had painfully adorned across her ribs and back. However, despite her pain and sudden paleness of her face, she could only grin.

"That's the most... fun I've had... in a long time..." she commented between breaths. She took a few slow steps forward, coming with Nox face to face. Non-agressively, she leaned forward, her red lips hovering over Nox's soft left ear. "...So sorry it had to end so soon... things were starting to get so exciting..." she whispered, grinning.

As a parting gesture, Rou spotted the barbecue sauce she'd splattered on the lovely woman's face. The smell entranced her; Nox would briefly feel the sensation of Rou's tongue and exasperated breath against her cheek, licking the sauce away from a portion of her fine skin.

Giving Nox a final and almost pleasant smile, Rou passed Nox, dragging her bloodied self away from the battlefield, to nurse her wounds and fight another day...

Should she and Nox meet in the ring of battle again, she'd enjoy it very much...

(10/10)