3119/WMAT A2 Shin Tokuyama vs Shizune Nakamura

WMAT A2 Shin Tokuyama vs Shizune Nakamura
Date of Scene:	29 September 2015
Location:	Papaya Island - Stadium
Synopsis:	It's martial arts expertise in the quarter-finals of the WMAT as Shizune Nakamura competes against Shin Tokuyama!
Cast of Characters:	32, 369, 756
Tinyplot:	WMAT 2015

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Courier Six (32) has posed:
    Up in the announcer's booth, it's... JOHN TALLBRANCH! He's wearing his fancy ass cowboy hat and has got his announcer's headset on underneath that. He's also looking pretty jazzed about the match. "Welcome sports fans to tonight's Main Event. It's Shin Tokuyama taking on Shizune Nakamura in a rematch from earlier in the tournament. Now if you're the vaunted Combat Vagrant, you've got to be coming into this match tonight with at least some chips on your shoulder, maybe a full bag. So sit back and enjoy while we wait for this fight to get underway. Tonight's fight is brought to you by the Tops Casino and Multi-Moveable Systems, and you can head down to the Booths behind the concourses all around the arena tonight and get yourself some sweet gear from all our sponsors."

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    Really, this tournament has been something else. First a wonderful match in the preliminaries against a fellow martial artist, and then in her first round, a rematch with Madeline; both of them fights that pushed Shizune to her limit. And now, to get a rematch with Shin so soon? Shizune Nakamura is in person-who-punches-things heaven right now. It's little wonder that she practically flies up the steps, springing two at a time and giving the crowd a cheerful, energetic wave. She's gonna head all the way over to the far side of the arena and wait patiently for Shin, beaming all the while.

    Well, okay, mostly patiently. She might be bouncing in place just a little, every now and then.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    Johnny can't help but grin up in the booth. "And there she is folks, Miss Nakamura looking very excited to be here, maybe a little giddy, and she's got every right to be with a pair of excellent wins under her belt."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Of many ways people might expect Shin to look over this match, the least likely one is probably 'serious'. He never looks serious about anything, save for that time a dude whacked him with an axe, but that's a separate story. And yet, as he steps into the stadium ring, he looks completely focused on the match at hand and has an uncharacteristic focus to him.

    His jacket is left with someone at ringside and he's slowly rolling up his sleeves to the elbow, "Man, this kind of ruins the vibe I was going for, I won't lie. I didn't want to see you again until the finals, where we'd show eachother what we learned this tournament," Shin confesses to her as he loosens his tie and leaves that with someone at ringside along with his jacket.

    He undoes the top button on his shirt and then switches his stance up, "I don't wanna fight you the same way twice, though. That'd be boring. So instead, I'm going to try a new fighting style I've been working on against you," He tells her pointedly, taking a slow breath and then raising up his hands, keeping them flat, "I won't lose this time."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    "And Mr. Tokuyama... he is looking focused tonight. There's a bit of chatter out there on the field... and it sounds like the Vagrant might be coming at Nakamura with a new set of skills tonight. I'm excited!"

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    That look on Shin's face is promising. As he steps up, Shizune lets out a breath, still smiling with amusement but already looking more relaxed and calm. "Honestly, I'm fine with it either way. This tournament has given me two matches I couldn't be happier with, one of them a rematch, and now I get the rematch for the other. If I go home tonight, I go home happy." She slides one foot outward, falling into a now-familiar stance, with her own hands similarly flattened out. "And coming in with a new style, no less. I don't think I could ask for a better opponent. Shall we?"

    Shizune moves in, her steps smooth and steady, closing distance fairly quickly despite maintaining her stance. She's watching Shin's movement, appraising his stance, trying to get some idea of what his guard is like, what type of fighting style he might be using. But ultimately, the only way to be sure is to test it the hard way, and she's got no problem with doing that. It comes in a sudden forward lunge, Shizune allowing herself to drop low, using her body to extend her sudden punch to the midsection past the range one might expect of it.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin lifts up his hands and gets ready, "I'm sorta glad for the rematch too. Love interest is watching, so I gotta go all the way to the end with this tournament," He notes as he narrows his eyes at her and gets ready. That heterochromatic gaze of yellow and red affixes on her and waits.

    When she comes in, her blow lands hard in his stomach. He lets out a wheeze of breath, the sound of air escaping him and causing him to slide back a bit. He coughs a couple times, "Ha. Nice hit."

    His hands lash out in retaliation, trying to grab that extended punch with one hand on her wrist. If he can get ahold of it, he flips her wrist over and then thrusts two fingers at three spots on her arm, trying to hit her once at the wrist, once in the center of her forearm, and once at the elbow before releasing and darting back.

    The strikes themselves are painful, but inordinately light. As if the hits were a formality. If the technique works, though, each one tries to leave Shizune with the unusual feeling of something not quite right where he tapped her. The best analogy is like a slight cramp, or the sensation of something being in your teeth. A nuisance, but not painful.

    Yet.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    "And we're underway folks, Nakamura taking the initiative here and swinging in with a gut check early on! Shes' fast and nible folks, and likes to squeak in those punches where you aren't expecting them! And Tokuyama isn't wasting time either, trying some fancy punches and grabs. Not sure what style that is, but let's see if it proves effective tonight!"

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    Shizune's eyes widen when her arm is caught, and before she can withdraw it there's a rapid-fire trio of strikes. She hisses in surprise and a faint bit of pain, and when she withdraws it's far enough that she can safely shake her right arm out, flexing her fingers experimentally. "A pressure-point attack," she muses, a brief frown of concern on her face. Experimentally, she takes a breath, cycling the ki within her body, but it seems to be flowing just fine. "Well, you've officially got me on my guard," she decides. That's not a bad thing in the least.

    But it does mean she's more cautious about a second approach. A careful step, cautious circling, watching Shin's posture - until a moment where she suddenly steps in, her arms flowing forward into a couple of quick, careful palm strikes; backed by ki, she can still hit pretty hard with lighter blows, especially if she hits at just the right angles.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Ssssssorta." Shin says to her as he hops back a bit and grins widely, "I've wanted to try this basically all my life, but I've never really had the guts to do it until now. I think once you catch on, you'll either be impressed or annoyed. If it works," He comments as he lifts his hands up again. This time, his stance is shifted and he's only holding up two fingers on each hand.

    "You're too good, though. I had to step it up and try a wild card or you'd already know my fighting style. Go big or go home, right?" Shin comments, sliding back a bit and bouncing on his feet. He nods his head a bit and watches her come in towards him. The ki-infused palms are watched, as best he can, and he tries to move around them. One misses, but the other cleanly connects with his side and causes a visible wince of pain.

    He lunges in towards her again. Now that he knows one part of the technique, specifically planting, can work? He gets a bit more bold. He tries to move past her with a focus on speed, aiming to tap close to her armpit at the side, at one of her shoulder blades, and then again at the small of her back before trying to clear away and get some distance.

    Each tap is accompanied by a gentle burst of ki and that same 'just slightly off' feeling, where Shin can make contact with his fingers. It's not painful, it's not impeding her, but it feels gently irregular.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    Johnny leans forward, trying to peer down into the arena a bit more as he grumps. "Well, looks like Nakamura is a little weirded out by the soft touch of Tokuyama. A wise move, as many styles don't react too well to being pinched off at the important bits. That said, she still seems to be moving okay as she comes in for some palm strikes at her opponent. But it looks like Shin is just rolling with it, and moving in with more of those soft touches. He's trying to poke her into submission folks, this is new! Jimmy, see if you can find anything on this technique!"

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    "Go big or go home," Shizune agrees, bringing her hands up in a brief flourish. "I wish I could provide something so flashy, but my only other option isn't suited for tournaments. So all I have is my Tenryuu Taikyokuken." Then again, when all you have is a hammer, you get very good at swinging it. But with Shin's choice in experiments and his sheer skill, there's nothing else for it, really. Shizune knows she's not going to be able to avoid all of his pressure point strikes, or whatever they might be, so the best she can do is shift her body here, deflect a fingertip there, and try to push ki through her system so as to lessen any interference. It meets with some success, but she can feel whatever he's doing finding at least some purchase.

    When the fighter moves in again, she does so as if launching a charge, but there's a wariness to her movements. She takes a quick hop, coming around as if to drop a heel on Shin - but stopping it short, and letting her own momentum take her to the ground, under her opponent's reach. This time, she spins one more time before launching her attack, adding momentum to an upward-angled kick aimed at Shin's midsection. "Haa!"

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "So we're about one-half of a proof of concept," Shin comments as he takes a few steps back, lifting his hands up, "This is gonna either make or break me," Shin comments, eyes looking over her. He rolls his neck, "Not gonna lie, if we hadn't wound up as weird semi-rivals, I totally woulda hit on you."

    "But you seem way too mellow to be my type," He adds, stepping back a bit and bringing his arms up to try to block the falling kick. It is a feint, of course, and he's forced to adapt to the change in her fighting style, "The Tenryuu Taikyokuken is a great style. Some day I hope to make a style half as good."

    His hands catch the kick as it comes upwards, hitting his palms and clearly giving them some abrasions from the impact. He winces before trying to tap his fingers several more times along her leg, hitting the shin, her calf, and the back of her thigh with firm taps. These times, there's more of the attack itself and less of that strange feeling from his ki-maneuver, but it still enters her body.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    "We're still in the feeling out process here, folks!" Johnny laughs a bit, and taps on the glass. "I can see that Nakamura is really trying to lands some good hits in, but the Vagrant is a slippery fellow and catches her... and keeps on landing those odd taps along her body. Jimmy's gotten back to me and says Tokuyama might be working on a style that builds up energy and explodes it all at once, but there's no way to tell yet, and I'm sure he's not telling either!"

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    The sting is there, but Shizune manages to turn her leg enough to not take those hits as solidly along her leg as she otherwise might have. It still stings enough to make her wary, and the martial artist finds herself more worried the longer it goes on. Is he setting up disruptions in her ki? Preparing some kind of delayed effect on her body? Altering her ki flow in such a way that when he lands a particular blow, it hurts far worse? There's no way to tell just yet. But she's got a sneaking suspicion that it will be bad for the parts of her body that have been tapped.

    "It's probably for the best, then," Shizune replies, adopting a teasing sort of smile. "I'm a taken lady."

    So, new game plan. Her right arm and left leg have been hit, but her left arm and right leg have not. The best she can do right now is keep them that way, so that she still has use of them later. "As for my style, I can't claim credit. It's a hundred and fifty years old, and from there it's an offshoot of Taijiquan, so it's got a very long history." Bringing her arms around, trailing faint ripples in the air, the young lady slides in, using her forward movement to lend momentum to a kick with her left leg, followed by a second and a third. The third comes across Shin's body rather than falling back, spinning Shizune around, giving her momentum and allowing her to drop into a crossed-leg crouch - and launch her right palm at Shin's abdomen with the momentum of her spin.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Taken. Figures! Unsurprising, but hey. Mostly joking," He notes as he steps in towards her again. He hoists up his hands, "Fun enough just to fight you," He adds, grinning a bit. The playful banter is nice, after all.

    When she comes at him again, this time using different limbs, he takes a note of it. ANd he moves with an ease and smoothness that tell he can remember her style and movements,g iving him enough time to adapt to the crazy maneuvers she's able to pull. The most she gets are a couple of solid grazes across his side and chest, which sting, but not enough to slow him down.

    "Well since the announcer already ruined the surprise, brace yourself!"

    Shin curls his hand into a fist and steps in towards Shizune for a counter. He aims a hooking punch right for her midsection with a hand that trails a red energy, "Ki Points!"

    He twists his hand a bit and the Ki rushes through her on impact, "BURST!"

    As the Ki pushes into her, the intent of the attack becomes clear. Every single one of the little pockets of energy where he tapped her all glow with a white-hot pain before painfully exploding into blasts of ki energy which try to rip through her body simultaneously with his punch.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    "Nakamura is looking very smooth out there, making strikes and talking fighting styles but it just like she's not landing an- MY GOD, MY GOD Tokuyama just did something and there's a massive rush of energy. I can feel it up here folks, he punched her and that was a heavy blow. Nakamura's gotta be hurting after that!"

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    "GUAGH-!"

    Shizune's world is filled with pain. White-hot, all-consuming pain, enough to blank her thought process out for a moment. Every one of those points on her body ripples, her own ki flow disrupted badly. She cries out in pain and surprise, her body going rigid briefly before collapsing backwards. She very nearly lands flat on her back, but manages to twist and get her arms under herself. It's a bit of a mad scramble to get away, and when she gets back up, there's a stumble as her right leg tries to give out. "Aah... that..." Her whole body aches, but especially those points Shin has hit. It leaves her breathing hard, hunched over, shoulders rising and falling as she tries to recover...

    ...no, that breathing is entirely too regular for trying to recover. In, out. In, out.

    Pushing ki through her body. Ironing out the flow. Lessening the pain, somewhat. Her palms in front of herself, pushing downward towards the ground, then turning and lifting upward towards her face. Basic Qigong.

    And by now Shin probably recognizes the little ripples of dust.

    It lasts only a moment or two, Shizune forcing herself to recover to a fightworthy state, drawing in her ki. She lifts her head and looks Shin straight on, and while there is nothing but sheer iron determination in her body, the martial artist is smiling ever so faintly. And in the next instant she's moving, sliding in. It's times when her back's against the wall that she truly seems to find her flow, and when she does it becomes a long, unbroken sequence of attacks, a palm strike flowing into a counter-chop into a spinning kick into a body punch- it just seems to keep going, like a river.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "It worked!" Shin shouts triumphantly, proud that he can add another esoteric ability to his roster. If nothing else, his two fights with Shizune and his battle with Ivraala have given him a bit more of a rounded knowledge of his martial arts. However he leaves the WMAT, win or lose, he'll be a better fighter for it.

    But he doesn't have much time to soak up the self-satisfaction, because he knows that even with as much as he did, Shizune won't be stopping any time soon. He hops back and away, bringing his hands up defensively, "Told you I had a surprise. And that I wanted to win."

    And then she's coming in on him. Her first blow connects cleanly, but then he's feeling out her rhythm and stepping into it himself. The best way, he thinks, to counter a style like Shizune's is to flow with it rather than block it. So when she makes a move, he turns away from it or steps backwards, forcing her to follow up. Some miss, some draw much lighter impacts, but the total sum is still a very effective attack.

    Of course, eventually he plants a foot down and curls his hand up, "My turn!"

    His combo is much less long, instead being very short. He throws a counter series of punches, stepping in towards her to try to break the flow of her attacks as he, just like in their last fight, segues smoothly into in-fighting boxer tactics when an opponent gets too close. He tries to drive her away with a series of powerful blows aimed to her head.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    "Well after that DEVASTATING blast from Tokuyama, these two are right back at in, getting stuck in. It looks like The Vagrant is very pleased with himself after that one and well he should be! This is a fantastic fight folks, and if you're not here watching it in person you are missing half the show!"

    Johnny slaps at the table and hoots a bit. "Some very fancy back and forth going on again, with Shizune trying to get back into the roll of combat here, she's got a number of hits in, and they keep coming, like a flowing river. Tokuyama is doing his best to respond, but i think that exploding thing took it out of him a bit!"

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    Shizune's first dodge comes almost automatically, somehow flowing right out of her ongoing attack and taking her head backwards enough to evade the first blow entirely. For the second and third, she shifts it left, then right, but doesn't quite manage to evade having Shin's fists glance off her cheekbone and then her jaw, leaving behind read marks that will be pretty wicked bruises fairly soon. But the attack fails to push Shizune away, and even as he's pulling it off, she's moving to counter.

    Up come her hands, striking a palm at Shin's elbow as he punches, another at his wrist on the next, little bursts of ki aimed at causing pain and inhibiting his future arm attacks - a trick used on her too, boosted by her own ability to strike at just the right angle, with just the right momentum, enhanced by just the right amount of ki, to cause the most damage with the least overall force. But her disabling strikes to the arms aren't the core counterattack. That comes as soon as Shin's blows pause.

    Shizune goes from leaning back to shifting forward in an instant, swiveling on one leg in such a way as to swing her upper body down and forward, and plant both palms forcefully in Shin's abdomen. "TAAH!"

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Despite the heavy hits he's taking, Shin wants to keep crowding into Shizune and not give her too much room to either go airborne or to use any of her more flowing movements. He knows he's up against a WMAT Champion for the second time, and trying to hold his own against her after a very close fight last time. He wants to press in on her and use any edge he can get.

    So, despite the blows she's landing against him, each one being blocked by a forearm or a knee where he can get them up, he's pushing in. She lands a couple really good hits on him, easily feeling her hands coming into contact with his chest and landing firmly. But he leans into it, trying to asborb the blows against his body so he can continue crowding her space.

    His own counter-attacks are fairly swift and brutal. He's trying to angle his arms, favoring one over the other due to wrist damage from her last attack, and bring in some tight bodyblows against her. He wants to work her midsection and stomach to try to wear down her relaxed breathing and diminish her flow.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    And now we're really getting stuck in here folks! Nakamura's unleashing just wave after wave of attacks here, And she's... YES she's got an opening in there and shoves some energy palms in at the Vagrant's chest. He's... He's tanking it folks! He's moving right in and isn't giver her an inch. Those fancy pressure point attacks are gone and he's just trying to beat Nakamura before she can react. He's... well he's not holding back, but he's trying to work his blows in time with hers. I think he's trying to break that famous cool and calm of the Champion."

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    Shizune's body twists and turns. There's only so far she can take her battle momentum before Shin turns it around on her with that overbearing combat presence he has. She manages to avoid the first, to turn her body such that the second glances off her abs, but that just puts her right in position to take the third to her midsection with a startled "Whff-!", and the fourth she only just manages to avoid taking directly by shifting back and to one side. It still glances off her midsection hard enough to be painful, and once again remind her just how skilled an opponent she's facing. Even the slightest misstep here could end the fight in his favor, and even if she does everything right it's no guarantee. He's keeping the fight close-in, trying to press her into a losing game.

    So she decides to fall back to some more basic taiji, and change the game.

    When that last punch hits her abdomen at an angle, Shin finds his wrist captured by her left hand, her right palm coming in to grab his bicep just below the shoulder. It all comes in as one smooth move, and Shizune flows through it into a turn that plants her leg in front of Shin's, bodily hauling him around on the momentum of his own punch with intent to slam him to the arena floor. Without skipping a beat, she continues her turn and hops into the air a good five or six feet, swinging her left leg up until it's completely vertical, and then bringing it down as she herself falls for an axe kick she hopes will land squarely on a fallen opponent's sternum.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin's wrist is grabbed. He had been trying to avoid that, but he couldn't forever. His back collides on the arena floor with a massive impact that kicks up a spray of dust when he lands. He lets out a grunt and then tries to catch his senses and shake the disorientation. By the time Shizune's kick is coming down, he's rolling to the side and getting out of the way, letting that move break the floor of the arena rather than his ribs.

    He flicks his body a bit and vaults to his feet, landing back and hopping a bit, "Hoo boy. We're getting all beat up again. Win or lose, I'm gonna be proud to go out here in a second fight with you. Truth told, though?" He says, holding up a hand and looking at her before slowly closing it into a fist.

    "Still gonna try to win."

    He dashes in towards her, taking a page out of her books as he spins a powerful heel kick aimed at her head. Hit or miss, that foot touches the ground and then braces, seguing him into a new stance and letting him lunge straight in towards her for a corkscrew blow using his fist. Almost as soon as that move is done flying, Shin curls the punch back in and holds it against his body, aiming to deliver a powerful shoulder-slam to his opponent. There's a grunt of effort before he moves the shoulder-slam into him spinning, trying to drive the opposite elbow into the side of her head.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    "These two are really digging deep now folks, it looks like Nakamura finally got a hold of Shin and has given him the old heave-ho, trying to use the moment to drive a kick into his chest... But I'm not seeing anything dow- Ah ha! Tokuyama got out of the way of that one, and he's launching right back in at her. A MAGNIFICENT spinning display of agility and power. He's a tornado of strikes here folks and I think he rattled her a bit there. She's looking very determined, but they're both starting to take out the stops here!"

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    The tile under Shizune's heel shatters outward, and she lands in a front-back split from which she quickly recovers with a windmill of her legs. She knows she's missed, and first priority is to clear the space around her and hopefully prevent counterattacks; if not, then to move out quickly. It comes to wasted effort, however, when Shin outright clears the area on his own, and this late in the fight, 'wasted effort' is lost stamina that could make the difference between victory and defeat.

    And yet even now, she's smiling. "I think if you didn't, I'd be rather insulted."

    Once more does Shizune force herself to adopt a ready stance, this time sticking with a stance that is fairly placid, almost passive in a way. She can see the determination, smell the storm on the wind so to speak, and the only way she's getting through it is to ready herself and weather it. The heel kick prompts her to lean away, his heel clipping her cheek just enough to open a cut, but leaving her in a good position to shift sideways and avoid the corkscrew fist entirely. It's the shoulder slam that hits her hardest, rocking her entire body at just the right moment that she can't further avoid his attack, and the elbow coming around manages to hit her exactly where his heel clipped her cheek, opening the cut wider despite her best efforts to roll with it. She turns herself yet again as he finishes his combination, letting her attempt at lessening that last elbow bring her around and back - and taking in a deep breath as she does so. The ki in her body flows, swirls, and when she drops down to the ground, crouched low with her knees bent and arms out to either side, it almost seems to compress within her body, the 'pressure' rising. And then her arms sweep in towards her body, and-

    "TOH!"

    Into the air Shizune hurtles, launching herself skyward with a billow of dust from her launching point. The simple movement forces all the ki in her body upward, concentrating it towards her head and shoulders, leaving her almost dizzy for an instant... until it rebounds at exactly the moment she reaches the height of her jump. And with a loud kiai, she pushes it down through herself, even harder than the natural flow would otherwise.

    She descends down, bringing that ki through her body to her leg, extending that leg out, turning it into a singular flying kick - the complete antithesis of the Jyuuretsukyaku. Not ten unceasing back-to-back kicks, but a single devastating one aimed at the center of mass. "ORYAAA!"

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin is huffing and puffing, trying to catch his breath after the combination of moves he launched on her, the act of throwing them out at all tiring him. He tries to calm his breathing down to a reasonable level and gain some balance again, but he doesn't have much time as Shizune prepares for her own attack. His foot slides back and he prepares for another one of her epic combos, of which he has seen many now.

    But he doesn't get to see that. Instead, he's treated to her heading skyward and condensing ten kicks into a single blow that comes down at him like a comet. His feet dig into the ground and he infuses both of his arms with about as much ki as he can spare to put into defense, both of them glowing with a red energy as he prepares for her to descend upon him. His arms cross up, meeting her foot with them as they strain against her foot. Deep down, they get some hairline fractures as they sponge damage and Shin is forced to react.

    Now, lacking many more creative moves, and having used up his trick very early on, Shin makes a somewhat stressed noise. He groans a bit in pain and then does the first move to counter an aerial attack that comes to his head. It worked on Ramuh, after all, so it should work here.

    He lowers his arms and lets Shizune carry through with her kick as he tries to slide under her. If he can angle it right, he hoists an arm up to grab her by the chin and brace the back of her head against his shoulder. And then he drops to the ground, trying to pull her straight down so her skull smashes against his shoulder.

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    Shizune's body is already at the point where she'd normally be considering conceding the match. But something about having Shin as her opponent keeps her on her feet, even when she puts everything into one strike and it doesn't bring her opponent down. Whatever injury he may have taken in the process, he's still managed to outright tank the single strongest hit she can produce, and remain on his feet. And already so exhausted, she finds herself grabbed around the head from behind, and pulled downward. It is to her credit that she manages to turn herself around even in Shin's grasp, such that she takes the blow to her chin rather than the back of her head, but it's still an incredibly jarring hit that leaves her dazed for a moment, and feeling closer than ever to her limit.

    But it also puts Shin right in her reach, and by now things are getting desperate enough that she's willing to just go for broke on the basic, opportunistic attacks wherever she can get them. Her hands both come up, and then in rapid fire she begins raining down palm strikes along Shin's back, primarily his shoulders and shoulderblades but going as far down as the edge of his ribcage, all backed with ki. Nothing fancy any more - just a simple barrage taking the chance to hit Shin and reduce the amount of power he can bring to bear as much as possible.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    "Well now this is just turning into a slobberknocker folks, these two REALLY want this win and they are not shy about it any more. Shizune is up up up in the air like she's known for and she's coming back down like a rocket. DIVE KICK! IT'S A DIVE KICK, FOLKS and such POWER behind this. It's an over-kick, the mathematical perfection of a kick and it catches the Vagrant right in the arms. He's blocking it but he's not happy about it! A- oh! Oh my! He's come out of that kick and he's grabbing her... and it's an RKO! That's a massive hit but I think Shizune's back up and out of it. But she's looking a little dazed out there. That next set of hits weren't very accurate and I think both of these competitors are flagging now."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Damnit. I am running out of stuff to throw at you!" Shin cries as she gets up after the counter to her strongest maneuver. Despite the despiration creeping into both of them as they start to reach the bottom of their wells of maneuvers, Shin is determined to not be defeated by Shizune twice in one tournament.

    Shin's feet move quickly, stepping backwards again and again to try to shallow out Shizune's strikes. The ones he can dodge, he does, but the ones that have to land he tries to reduce. He's panting with every movement and trying to catch his breath as she presses in with her own desparate attacks. He shakes his head, wanting to clear the stars.

    Eventually, he stamps his foot down and tries to put a hand right to Shizune's jawline. Hit or miss, he tries to follow it up with one or two more blows, trying to aim for the head and dizzy her up to much to keep fighting. Boxing proves, as always, a reliable fall back for him. But he wants to take Shizune out of action desperately, rather than let her regain momentum and turn the fight around.

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    Shizune has learned quite well to protect her head, especially in combat against Shin specifically. After he displayed that boxing skill last time, she took some time with her sensei specifically to focus on dodging head and upper body hits. It's come in handy, allowing her to even last this long, but after the first one just brushes past her jaw, the next two collect more solidly, and even Shin can easily see she's on her last legs, looking a bit woozy.

    And yet determination is keeping her on her feet, even though she stumbles back a step, shaking her head to try and clear the cobwebs, giving Shin something of a squinting look as if trying to focus. She sways on her feet, her hands come up as if to keep her balance, her fingers curl just slightly-

    And then suddenly she lurches forward, her movements very briefly nothing like the Tenryuu Taikyokuken she's been using. Her whole body lunges in with a pecular, slightly off-balance movement, swinging her arm in towards Shin's midsection in a backfist attack that, contrary to her usual carefully-aimed, precise blows, simply swings with a surprising amount of brute force and a burst of ki much more explosive and less controlled than usual. "SEI!"

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    "This is just amazing folks, neither of these kids has anything to be ashamed of after tonight. This is some of the strongest fighting I've seen all tournament, and they are still standing. Sort of. Tokuyama's just... beating in on Nakamura's face now, like some boxer in the clinch and she follows back by a HELL of a haymaker that looks like it rang the Vagrant's bell something fierce. I'm not sure how much either of these two have left in the gas tank, folks."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin got the hits he needed, but Shizune is still on her feet. This is as dishearetening for him as it is exciting. After all, she has yet again proven to be an amazing fight on his path through the WMAT. But his tank is running low and he can't tell how much Shizune has left in her. After all, the last time they met he threw everything at her that he had and she managed to claim a victory.

    He slides away and tries to prepare, watching her. He recognizes that new stance, but from where. He knows it, but why? He should recognize it. And in an instant, it dawns in him, "Oh shit, Drunken Fi-"

    The end of his sentence is cut off by her forearm hitting him with a powerful, crushing blow to the midsection that lifts him up off the ground. It's like her attack came from a totally different person as he lands again, hunching over and spewing blood from his mouth onto the floor of the stadium battlegrounds. Any judge that comes to check his status gets waves off, not wanting them to actually see how damaged he really is, since he doesn't want himself disqualified for the injury she just put on him.

    He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, panting a bit, "Well. Unexpected. It seems you were holding back a secret power."

    The blood-smeared hand is then flicked to the side, droplets coating the arena floor, "And your secret power is that far above me. I see..."

    "I'll just have to STEP IT UP," Shin calls as he charges in towards her. His bloody hand curls into a fist, "IKKEN HISSATSU!"

    He dashes in towards her, bringing the fist forward. As it moves through the air, it seems to roar with energy, "Ryuusoken!"

    He tries to slam the fist into her chest. Hit or miss, though, once the fist is fully extended or it makes contact, it will release a massive burst of Ki that lets out an almost draconic roar before vanishing.

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    In the aftermath of her blow, Shizune sort of stumbles to one side slightly, shaking her head to clear the cobwebs once again; already she's recovering from the blows to the head, at least enough to be more fully aware of herself, and when she stands up straight with a confused look on her face, looking at her right hand as if surprised, perplexed, and perhaps a little worried. "Holding back? Secret power? No, I..." She shakes her head almost violently, and to one with eyes as keen as Shin's, the fact that her confidence and calm has been thoroughly shaken is immediately obvious.

    So close to defeat, so battered already, that spells 'absolute loss' for Shizune.

    She steps back, she tries to evade, but the hit slams directly into her chest and knocks the girl back completely across the arena. She lands, she slides, she goes mostly still, coughing a few times. The hoarse, "I concede," is just loud enough to be heard, and already the medics are rushing to pick her up. There's no way she's getting out of the arena on two feet this time, and for once she's not even bothering to try.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    "HE'S DOWN. He's down folks, get the medics in there I... wait wait no, the Vagrant's still up and moving, folks, he's still moving and he's waving off the support staff. There's still some energy left in Tokuyama tonight. He's talking with her and... AND THERE IT IS! What a DAGGER on this match, he just pinned Nakamura with a MASSIVE STRIKE. I... I can't see down there, there's a lot of interference! But I can hear her from the ringisde mics. See's throwing in the towel, folks, Nakamura is OUT and SHIN TOKUYAMA is your Winner!"

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    By the time he had spotted her change in posture, Shin was too far into the attack and too far lost in his own desire for a fight to be able to slam the brakes down on his attack. So it hits her to the results everyone would expect. And in the aftermath of the attack, the sleeve of the arm that threw the punch has burned away to cinders up to his shoulder. His hand slowly unclenches as he watches her, not sure precisely what the attack he just used was, since he lost himself a bit there.

    He remains standing long enough for the concession and to be declared the victor. Slowly, his arm raises up into the sky as if to signal that he acknowledges his victory, narrow as it may have been, over his opponent. However, after a suitable amount of time has passed that it won't be declared a double-KO, Shin seems to topple forward and slam face first onto the ground, cheek resting against the arena floor with blood pouring from his mouth.

    Her last attack definitely did some immense damage to him somewhere deep inside, and it's about all he can do to meekly burble out a, "Yaaaaaaay...." As he's placed onto a stretcher by some of the medical staff.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    "And that's our show for tonight folks! I'm Johnny Tallbranch and behalf of all the staff here at New Vegas Radio and the production team at the Tournament, I want to thank you for tuning in tonight. Again, the winner of tonight's Round of Eight match is Shin Tokuyama over Shizune Nakamura and what a fight it has been tonight. Tonight's match has been brought to you by The Tops Casino in New Vegas. You'll dig us baby... we're The Tops! And also by MMS - Multi-Movable Systems. They're your little friends... with a heart. Stay tuned for after match coverage and analysis from the fellows back at the Home Office. Good night everybody!"