2830/WMAT CQ1 Sakura Kinomoto vs Lute

WMAT CQ1 Sakura Kinomoto vs Lute
Date of Scene:	17 August 2015
Location:	WMAT Arena - Devil's Hand
Synopsis:	Lute vs. Sakura
Cast of Characters:	172, 188, Sarracenia, Neuroi Girl, Tomoyo Daidouji, Sanary Rondel
Tinyplot:	WMAT 2015

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Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura Kinomoto can fly. So the fact that she's arriving in a dune buggy - driven by her brother - is a bit confusing. Maybe she's conserving her magic for the fight? She steps out of the buggy, streeeetching, before picking up her wand. It is... quite a lot larger than normal. It's more of a staff than a wand, really!

    She is wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled up. Its quite loose, in a way that makes it hang over her eyes, to better display the design on the front. It looks like the top half of a skull, pure white with empty sockets shaped like stars. Thus, it matches well with the bandana Sakura wears over her mouth! Its also black, with the bottom half of a skull in white on it.

    The hood has a zipper down the front, partially opened to reveal the gray shirt underneath. On the chest is a red design, with the top half of a heart shape melded with a skull. Drips of blood seem to be coming from it, running down the shirt.

    She wears a short, bone white pleated skirt over a pair of black tights. The tights have a design of the leg bones on them, running down each leg. Each one has several breaks in them. On her feet is a pair of platform shoes, making her seem a little taller. Theyre black with white toes, soles and laces, with white skull designs by the ankles.

    As the buggy drives away, Sakura closes her eyes, exhaling softly - before starting to do stretches to warm herself up.

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute arrives in style, as usual. Though he had intended to use Mr. Crabs for the majority of tournament fights, it has only been a short bit since his qualifier match with Maya. Mr. Crabs, sadly, took a fair amount of damage. Kaiju healing is long and difficult process. It's not like he isn't without numerous options, though. After all, as said. Style. He flies in, standing on Giratina's back. Arms crossed. He is wearing his dashing labcoat, blue jeans, hiking shoes, and no shirt. His labcoat flutters in the wind as he crosses his arms, smirking as he approaches.

     He is also flanked by a horde of Unown. The Unown are flying behind him, in a V-pattern. Following at ground level is an I-Class Destroyer. Imima Puddleduck. The group converges at Devil's Hand, Giratina landing just right in front of Sakura.

     Lute smirks, taking a moment to flip his hair a litle. He looks down towards the young magical girl, considering her. He has /never/ trusted her. She simply seems /too/ nice. There is absolutely no reason he should trust her, he feels. And, he expects an entirely tricky battle. He will not hold back for a single moment.

     "I'm going to punch you in the face."

     This is not a threat. This is a /promise/.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Is Sakura about to do a thing? Then you can bet on Tomoyo being there to catch it on film! She's as close as possible to the action, sitting in the front row of a row of seats constructed for the WMAT. Four bodyguards are with her, two on each side so no one will walk into her shot. The video camera she currently holds is brand new, cutting-edge tech. The incredible level of zoom is currently being employed to watch Sakura as she stretches.

    The outfit is an unusual one, considering every other outfit Tomoyo has made for Sakura. But, the Cardcaptor had requested 'something scary' and who was she to say no to her? She had gone with a skeletal look over a spectral one in the end because... well, ideally, it should be something Sakura wasn't scared to actually wear.

    "Sakura looks dashing as usual today~" she says, more to herself than anything as she fishes some popcorn from a bag one of the bodyguards is holding and munches on it.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     As the two near each other on the battlefield, the gentle whisper of Neuroi in flight might be heard. The Neuroi known as Evangeline floats down to land near Tomoyo, then headtilts as she looks at Sakura's outfit. "...she seems...very serious..." Evangeline comments. She then floats down into a chair, her long plane engine legs sticking out awkwardly.

     She reaches into the scarf around her middle, then pulls out a little flag with the word 'Petals' on it. Evangeline proceeds to hold it up at full arm length and wave it back and forth.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura's expression is basically unreadable in her current getup. Heck, her EYES are barely visible at all, although she can see just fine - Tomoyo obviously took that into account. She tilts her head back to look up at Lute atop Gitatina's back, then just produces a handful of her violently pink Cards.

    Her personal magic circle erupts into life at her feet, displaying her usual iconic imagery - a five-poiunted star flanked by a sun and a moon, similar to those at the end of her staff-wand. Chinese writing and western zodiac symbols fill the outer circle of the design, although anyone who can actually read Chinese characters will probably write it off as nonsense. "Fight." One card is tossed up above her, and she brings the wand up to meet it. The card vanishing in a blue flash, surrounding Sakura with a teal aura. "Power." Another card, and the same things happens - except this aura is pink. "Dash." Turquiose!

    She then takes a half-step back. She is, as Evangeline noticed, acting quite serious right now!

Sarracenia has posed:
     While Lute makes his entrance, Princess Sarracenia makes her way down the stands' stairs to the front row. She takes a seat and smooths out her dress, then smirks lightly as she looks toward the battle. "Alright, Lute! Show that little brat who is boss!" she calls out. Sarracenia has so far had no good encounters with young union girls. So bratty and defiant and dress-ruining!

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Sanary had been at quite a few of these fights before, but moreso as part of her volunteer duties as a healer. Today, however, she's dressed a little differently. Instead of her usual coat and pants combo, she's dressed in a rather flattering and low cut black dress. It's definitely not the sort of thing she'd normally wear, but today's also different.

     Today, she'd actually be around to cheer someone participating in the tournament! Or she would be cheering if Lute wasn't so damn high in the air. She couldn't exactly follow them up without breaking into the arena herself, so she simply stayed on the ground as she was, watching the two combatants from the safety of the ground.

     She could still try, at least. "You got this, Lute! Just aim low!" Even though she wasn't the largest person, Sanary still had quite a set of lungs on her. Spotting a few familiar faces in Sarracenia and Tomoyo, the healer gives the two a quick wave before smirking. "Hey, Sarracenia! Hey, Tomoy! We'll see who wins soon enough." Another curious glance is given towards the girl with the plane legs, and she's not all that subtle about staring for a short while before turning back to the fighters.

Lute (188) has posed:
     The moment Sakura starts to boost herself with support magic, Lute points forward. He stands as dramatically on Giratina as he can, with one food forward. Trying to make his entire pose dynamic. He shouts out a command as Sakura is casting her magic.

     "IMIMA! FIRE!"

     The I-Class Destroyer opens its mouth, a cannon barrel sticking out. The cannon fires, and an explosive shell flies straight in towards the young magical girl. While Imima is covering him wtih fire, the Unown move in. They fly to Lute, merging with his body. His body and his clothes become covered in a mass of blackness, and unblinking white eyes. Everything is covered but Lute's face. Lute just smirks some more. Chatting a bit while merging with the Unown.

     "At least, it's about /time/ you showed your true colors. That sort of outfit just shows /exactly/ the kind of tricky, terrible person you /really/ are!"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    "Jump."

    Two pairs of tiny wings appear on the heels of Sakura's shoes - and, just as the I-Destroyer is opening its mouth to fire that explosive shell, Sakura suddenly flickers and blurs, then seems to vanish! Did she just teleport-?!

    No, she just jumped. REALLY FAST. She's soon sailing through the air towards Lute, staff held in one hand, while her other arm is held back. As she closes in, her right arm extends, hand open, to roughly SLAM her hand into Lute's face.

    And then, her momentum tries to take her past Lute and either onto Giratina's back with him, or just... back to the ground.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia blinks as Sanary appears wearing that dress. She smiles warmly and waves to the shorter girl. "Hello Sanary!" she calls out, then hees. "That is a rather flattering dress. Did Lute get it for you?" she says before looking back to see Sakura dodge Lute's attack and Lute get basically slapped. She sighs softly. "Not exactly a promising start."

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Tomoyo takes her eye off her camera for a moment to acknowledge Evangaline, smiling politely. "I know~ She actually /requested/ a new costume from me!" She delivers that statement with a restrained excitement, like it was the most earth-shattering thing that has happened in her life lately.

    She glances towards Sanary, and only has a polite smile to offer. "It should be an exciting match~" she says, not wanting to pick a fight. But there's no doubt in her mind that Sakura will win this.

    And, as if to prove her right, Sakura effortlessly dodges the first strike in the match, Tomoyo smoothly panning her camera up to track her rapid ascent and descent. "Go Sakura!"

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     "...Sakura is not a terrible person..." comes the soft voice of Evangeline. Those close enough might notice the voice does not come from her face (such as it is), but from the watch around her arm. She keeps waving that flag until she feels a pair of eyes on her. She turns her head to face Sanary, and stares back. And with no facial features, it might be a bit unnerving. Then, just as it is getting uncomfortable, the strange dark girl raises a sleeve-like arm and waves it gently at Sanary in an obviously friendly fashion. Have they met? No, but Evangeline has found that a friendly greeting can overcome most uncomfortable first impressions.

     Once she has greeted Sanary, Evangeline turns her head back to the battle and resumes waving that little flag. "...gooooo Sakuraaaaa..." Though she says it with the drawn out vowel sounds associated with cheering, her voice is so soft that it probably doesn't even reach Petals. When Tomoyo speaks up, Evangeline turns her head just slightly toward Tomoyo. "...she...requested it...?" Even Evangeline seems surprised. With a nickname like Petals, and her generally upbeat and friendly attitude, the costume just doesn't seem to match.

Lute (188) has posed:
     As Sakura comes in, Lute is ready. He lifts a hand, swinging it to block the punch. His forearm passes across his face, aiming to hit away Sakura's punch. Sadly, it only serves to redirect the punch to graze along the side of his face. With Sakura's strength, that's still nothing to scoff at, either. A bit of a bruise is on Lute's cheek.

     But he's going to attack back immediately. His left fist moves in, upwards towards Sakura's own face. Aiming squarely at her chin. Trying to hit her as she tries dashing past Lute. Trying to use Sakura's own forward momentum against her, to make the fix impact even harder.

     And once Sakura is behind him, Giratina takes off into the air. His massive black wings are spread out, and flapped hard. A massive burst of wind accompanies his takeoff. Lute is now circling the arena, on Giratina's back. Imima is placed near the center, preparing to aim and fire at Sakura as needed. Lute's own hands are reaching for his Pokeballs, preparing for the next attack.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Lute finds his fist connect squarely with Sakura's jaw. It feels almost like striking wood, rather than flesh and bone, as the strength of the Power hardens her jaw muscles to absorb some of the impact. The hit still knocks her off course, however, falling to the ground below.

    The wings at her heels flare, and she suddenly flips back upright, landing in an easy three-point crouch. She glances around, up towards Lute and his legendary nightmare Pokemon. Then she looks at Lute's I-Destroyer.

    Another card is produced, flipping through the air to the tip of her want. "Shot," she says, softly, while extending the index and middle fingers of her left hand - the oen still holding her wand - to point at Imima almost like a gun. Energy gathers at the tip of her wand, right in front of the sun ornament, before streaking off through the air towards the ghostly metal... thing.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     That slap draws just a bit of a snicker from Sanary. Definitely not the best start, as Sarracenia had said, but it /is/ just the start. "Ah, he'll recover. Might just make him angrier, even." Laughing softly, she watches their midair melee before turning to Sarracenia with a quick nod and fidgeting a bit. "Y-yeah, a while back. Uh.. Guessing that's the same case with yours, too?" She doesn't look too comfortable wearing it here despite how it looks. That, or it's because of how it looks that she's fidgeting so much.

     "Whoa. You made that?" She blinks a few times while glancing from Sakura to Tomoyo, an impressed half-whistle escaping her lips. Not quite there yet, but she's improving at making the sound! "Huh... I gotta stop by your place again, then. N-not for that outfit, though! But... Erm." She trails off and says nothing else on that matter.

     She'll probably want something similar, though.

     Evangeline's appearance and lack of a face, strangely enough, doesn't seem to throw Sanary off to much. She's even grinning back, although her attention is mostly divided between the girl's upper and lower limbs. Just how does she walk? Or hold things? The healer's got enough sense not to actually ask about that, of course, but her staring might give it away.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia nods to Sanary's question. "Yes. I felt it would be appropriate to honor him by wearing the dress he gave me. He should see something lovely while he is getting pummeled, after all." Sarracenia says, giggling a bit at the end. She then gestures for Sanary to sit beside her. "It is a rather grown up dress. I am surprised you agreed to wear it after the incident with...oh what was her name...Summer, I believe." Sarracenia smirks lightly at Sanary.

Lute (188) has posed:
     Imima is hit dead-on. The impact of the energy causes some of the metal to peel from her frame, and causes her to tumble backwards before landing on the ground. She is slowly starting to lift herself into the air again. Lute can not let Sakura get another hit in immediately. Yes, this is just a tournament. He still doesn't like seeing his pets hurt.

     "You are going /down/. GO! REGISTEEL! TYRANTRUM! And... TENTACRUEL!"

     Lute opens the two Pokeballs he had pulled out earlier, while swwping near Sakura. Registeel and Tyrantrum appear right next to her. Giratina makes another sweep around, and Lute pulls out the third, containing his Tentacruel. His starter Pokemon. While Registeel and Giratina are strong and powerful legendary Pokemon, there is nothing quite like the bond between a person and his starter. Lute is going to be putting a large amount of trust into this Pokemon.

     "STEALTH ROCK! STEALTH ROCK! TOXIC SPIKES!"

     These are the orders given to the three Pokemon. Registeel and Tyrantrum both begin to shoot stones up into the air. These start to surround the battlefield. Specfiically, the sections that Sakura is in. Should Giratina move in? They will be moved out of the path. The Tentacruel then starts shooting out various spikes from its body. These look like caltrops, but they're covered in a purple poisonous sludge. They are aimed all over the battlefield, but a large number are pointed right at Sakura herself.

     Lute smirks, "Yeah, you know what? I'm /going/ to win this! And I'm going to win this for my /friends/!" He gives a thumbs up towards Sanary and Sarracenia, looking at them as Giratina sweeps around the battlefield.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    A gasp slips from Tomoyo's lips as Sakura catches that punch in the jaw, but her three-point landing makes for a very cool shot! A part of her is starting to regret the face-concealing aspect of the outfit though. How is she going to get good footage of Sakura's 'serious face' like this?!

    Again, she pulls her face from the camera lense to smile at Sanary. "I did. Before I opened my store, most of my tailoring experience came from making Sakura outfits to wear while catching the Clow Cards~ I'm always happy to dress her up!" She looks back, just in time to see The Shot land a solid hit on that creature. But now Lute is pulling out multiple giant monsters, and spamming area-controlling attacks!

    "Sakura, watch out!"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura is just lining up for another shot at Imima when Lute reacts negatively to her shooting at his pet monster. Who knew?! She looks up just in time to see a bunch of FLOATING ROCKS and POISONED CALTROPS flying all over everywhere, including right at her. She dodges to one size, but a few of the Poison Spikes nick her anyway, tearing her clothes and cutting her skin. "Oh that's not good..." she murmurs to herself. She glances around for a moment, before taking out a card. "Fly," she calls, pink feathered wings erupting from her back and propelling her into the sky.

    Where she promptly slams right into a couple of rocks. Pow! She 'staggers' back in the air, before pulling another card. "Earthy."

    The green, crystalline form of the Earthy materialises before Sakura, gesturing in Lute and Giratina's direction - propelling about half a dozen of the floating rocks in an artillery barrage.

    Meanwhile, Sakura is using the Bubbles card to clean out those cuts - hopefully getting rid of the poison before it can be drawn away into her bloodstream. Hopefully.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Sanary snickers lightly and nods at Sarracenia, crossing her arms behind her head. There's another half-whistle as the fight starts moving to longer range, although she's not quite sure what she's looking at. Flying rocks, weird spikes, and... Magic bubbles! Oddly enough, the bubbles seem to be the most 'normal' thing coming out of this whole fight. "You, too? Well, great minds and... Whatever the rest of that saying is." Taking that seat next to Sarracenia, her cheeks flush slightly at being reminded of what had happened last time. "W-well... That was a lot smaller than this! And it probably wouldn't have been so incident...-al if you wore it, too." She's pouting a bit by the end of that, although there is a hint of a grin on her face.

     "Sounds like a good way to practice, yeah... I'll ask about that Card thing another time." Was it related to Miko's thing? Or those magic girls? She'd definitely have to make a mental note to look into that when there wasn't something to watch. So much stuff to watch. So many... /Everything/ in the arena.

Lute (188) has posed:
     The rocks cut into Giratina, and Lute. Lute's wounds are kept somewhat closed by the Unown covering him. They help keep him a bit more together. Giratina itself is bleeding puffs of some gaseous smoke as its struck, stumbling a bit as it flies. The legendary Pokemon moves in towards Sakura's location. Lute frowning a bit.

     "...Man, aren't you even going to verbally joust with me at /all/? FINE! BUBBLE BEAM! ZAP CANNON! SHADOW BALL!"

     The orders are given, and Lute's team gets to it. The Tentacruel turns to face Sakura, firing a beam of bubbles. It is a large linear burst of them, more and more popping at her. The Registeel turns to Sakura as well. Its body sparks with electricity, and then a beam of it flies towards the hopefully soaking wet Sakura.

     And then Giratina moves in. It flies straight towards the airborne Sakura. Its mouth opens up, a ball of Ghost energy forming in. It fires forward, sending the powerful burst right towards Sakura.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura ignores Lute's attempt to make her banter back at him, and instead focuses on the attacks heading her way. Her eyes widen a bit, and she throws her hands out in front of herself. "Shield!" she calls out. Her magic circle appears again. For a moment, a wing-shaped kite sheild appears in front of Sakura, before being replaced by a yellow, translucent sphere. The three attacks colide with the sphere - and the Shadow Ball just passes right through it, striking Sakura fully. As the Shield tends to convert attacks into momentum... The combined energy sends Sakura flying back.

    The Earthy waves both hands, before bringing them together - gathering up a bunch of Stealth Rocks and fusing them together into a solid - floating - platform of rock, which Sakura promptly bounces into before coming to a stop. She gets to her feet.

    "..." She glances between Tentacruel and Registeel. Giratina will probably be able to resist this... So... "Maze." she calls out, pointing her fingers at Tentacruel as she activates the spell. Suddenly, space around Tentacruel seems to warp inward, and... unless it escapes pretty sharpish, it vanishes!

    "...Glow," she says, almost as an afterthought. A mote of yellow light appears just adjacent to where Tentacruel was. Why did she do that...? (So that she doesn't end up blundering into the entrance to the Maze by accident, that's why.)

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline unintentionally answers Sanary's wonderings when she floats up into the air with seemingly no effort. The little Neuroi doesn't go too far, but she does float up to where it is a bit easier to see. She keeps waving her Petals flag as she floats there, about 10 feet above the front row of the stands, possibly blocking the view of any of the people behind her. "...Sakura does not wish to talk today..." Evangeline says in her soft, demure voice, though those with radios might pick it up.

     More barely audible cheering ensues while Evangeline floats there waving her flag. "...Sakura will win this...because you talk too much, Mr. Lute..."

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    "Mmm, well~ Sometimes I feel as if the Boutique is how I practice for making outfits for Sakura," Tomoyo says in a vaguely dreamy kind of voice. Clearly, this particualr topic really makes her happy!

    But you know what doesn't make her happy? Sakura getting blasted by three seperate attacks, one of which somehow goes right through The Shield! Another gasp, much louder this time, and tinged with horror. Thankfully, The Earthy helps to protect Sakura, and she's still going!

    As the Tentacruel phases into an alternate world, Tomoyo cheers! "Good thinking Sakura~!" She looks to Evangaline and nods, smiling softly. "Whenever Sakura gets this focussed on something, she makes miracles happen!"

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute blinks, spotting his Tentacruel just /dissapear/. He knows that he'll be fine. Sakura wouldn't just off one of his Pokemon right in the middle of a fight. Still, this is giving him quite a bit of reason to worry. He bites the side of his lip for a moment, considering his best options.

     And he comes to a conclusion.

     Just hit her more.

     "BITE! LOCK ON! SLASH! CANNONFIRE!"

     Again, Lute uses every resource he has. His Tyantrum is still out. It makes a massive leap into the air, its fangs trying to bite onto Sakura's leg. Registeel, meanwhile, just looks straight at Sakura. Trying to lock onto her. Preparing for its next attack. Giratina moves in after, the spiked claws on its wings trying to stab into Sakura.

     Lute himself is beginning to glow with energy. The eyes of the Unown are emitting a soft light. He's planning something.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia hmphs at Sanary. "I would never wear such an outfit, except perhaps in the privacy of my personal quarters." she says, arms crossing over her chest. Then, she ponders a moment. "Perhaps...if a more modest outfit were made modeled after it. A tight-fitting garment designed to give the appearance that one is wearing a more revealing outfit than one actually is. Not only would it draw attention, but after the initial double-take, people would likely find it amusing and attractive."

     The battle continues, and Sarracenia is confident that Lute will win. "Come on, Lute! I don't care how strong this little girl in the halloween costume is! You must win! Just imagine how unheroic it would be to lose to a skeleton!"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    The combined attacks from Giratina and Tyrantrum manage to momentarily breach the Shield - wasn't it supposed to be able to block any attack?! Stupid Elites, breaking the rules of magic...

    Not that the Shield has ever really blocked -every- attack. Clow might have talked it up a little more than it deserved. Maybe he never tested it on anything but Un-Elite mages and swordsmen.

    Regardless, the Shield is breached, if only for a moment, Giratina slicing through the arm of Sakura's outfit and drawing blood, while Tyrantrum manages to clamp onto her leg!

    She quickly reacts, taking her staff in both hands. The staff makes a full rotation, before the bottom points right down at Tyrantrum's head. And then, the aura around Sakura flares pinker, and she slams the five-foot long practically-indestructible blunt instrument down at Tyrantrum's head.

    The force of the blow promptly causes the platform to shatter.

Lute (188) has posed:
     The Tyrantrum is struck on the head, and hard. This powerful strike manages to send the Tyrantrum hard into the ground, knocking it out. This T-rex shaped Pokemon just lays on the ground now, unconcious.

     Giratina is flying in fast during this. Lute gave the order as he saw Sakura moving in for Tyrantrum. It's not fast enough, sadly. With luck, Lute will be coming in from behind for this. He leaps at Sakura, trying to fling his own Unown empowered body straight at her. If he succeeds, he'll grab at her. Wrapping his arms around her waist. Smirking.

     "You /really/ have a lot of tricks... But, you /are/ going down!"

     And suddenly from each eye on Lute's Unown covered body, a burst of Hidden Power. Mysterious energy flying outwards in all directions. Hopefully, engulfing Sakura in the explosion.

     Of course this is incredibly dangerous and puts Lute right at Sakura's range for a direct attack.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia is on the edge of her seat now. The battle has really heated up! And to her it looks like Lute is winning! Sure, that pokemon just got totally clobbered in one hit, but Lute just blasted Sakura with an explosion. And Sarracenia is a fan of explosions herself. "Take her down, Lute! You can do it!" she exclaims, hopping up out of her seat and bouncing in place a few times.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura is, unfortunately for her, caught completely by surprise by the... surprise attack from behind. Okay so maybe that was the point.

    As the energy suddenly floods her, she screams, before going momentarily limp. She's even -smoking-. Her clothes are... actually still doing fairly well. Tomoyo made these for fighting Elites in, after all. They'll need some repairs, but...

    Sakura suddenly rears back, aiming to slam the back of her head into Lute's face. Banking on the attack causing him to reel back even if she misses, she then aims to bring up her wand and smack him with the blunt end in the stomach, before turning, and pulling out another card. "Firey."

    Exactly what you are expecting promptly happens. Copiously. In a very large jet.

    Almost fifty violently pink, tarot-like cards promptly swarm out of Sakura's pockets and hover in the air behind her, almost like wings. As if she's saying 'yes, I do have a lot of tricks'. How smug.

Lute (188) has posed:
     The head attack and the wand hit Lute dead on. The explosion of flames covers Lute completely, burning at him. The Unown help shield him from some of the damage, but not completely. He goes flying back to the ground.

     But this is the opening his Pokemon need. And, the opening that Imima needs. Giratina flies in towards Sakura again, just after the burst of flames. Its shadow stretches forward, almost as if it is a mass of its own. The shadow tries to strike at Sakura, to take her by surprise.

     And at this point, Imima opens its mouth again. The cannon points forward. It sees its master, its own equivalent of the Fleet Daughter's 'Admiral' being struck. And it won't let this be. Despite being a wrought iron spirit of past battles, brought forth to take revenge on humans? It still views Lute as a member of the Abyssal Fleet. As an ally.

     A large burst of cannonfire flies towards Sakura, as Imima tries to unload everything it has upon her.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     "...she does have a lot of tricks..." Evangeline says softly as she continues to watch. She was a bit concerned when Sakura went limp, but her natural stoicism made it impossible to tell. As things are heating up, Evangeline waves her flag more emphatically. "...you can do it Sakura..." she says as she continues to float there, silently thinking to herself she is glad she is not fighting Sakura.

     She looks over as she hears Tomoyo. "...Sakura winning would not be a miracle...it would be expected...she is quite strong..."

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Tomoyo's camerawork remains steady, even as she squirms internally at the sound of Sakura's screaming, the sight of her smouldering slightly... the sheer affront to all that is good that is her being hugged from behind by some Confederate weirdo. She's standing now, one hand on the railing, the white of her knuckles shining through even her porcelain skin.

    But, she's still going, and as long as she is, Tomoyo will keep cheering for her! "GO SAKURA!" she yells, as Lute reels from the headbutt and is blasted back by The Fiery! Also, the shot of her with the 52 Sakura cards fanned out as wings is so amazing that Tomoyo actually swoons a little. "That's going on my desktop~" she says to herself.

    Evangaline's comment draws a significant look from Tomoyo, a quietly respectful one. Wordlessly, she takes the popcorn from her bodyguard and offers some to the Neuroi. "You're right~"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    "..Oh, right, I forgot about that," Sakura manages to say, before a cry of "Shield!" erects that yellow barrier again. Imima's shot hits and detonates, throwing up dust and smoke that obscures Giratina's attack - which, again, just passes right through Sakura's shield, wracking her body with pain and weariness.

    She stumbles back as the smoke clears - then glances towards Imima. "...Arrow." A card is activated, swooping down from those 'wings' - sending a flurry of arrows, materialising from nowhere, flying at the I-Destroyer. "And... Sword." Another card flits down, its activation swathing the staff in blue chains of energy. As the chains vanish, Sakura is holding a two-handed, European (possibly German?) longsword, already swinging it through the air to slice into Giratina and its shadow as the legendary Pokemon flies past.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline headtilts slightly as Tomoyo offers the popcorn, then the little Neuroi floats back down to 'stand' beside Tomoyo. In quotations because she doesn't actually touch the ground. She floats a few inches above the ground beside Tomoyo. As the battle continues, Evangeline reaches a sleeve-like arm toward the popcorn, and slender fingers emerge from it, just as black and metallic as the rest of her. She carefully takes a single popped kernal and brings it toward her face. Then, a hole opens where a mouth should be, and she carefully places the popped corn kernal inside before the opening slowly closes.

     No chewwing ensues. There is really no action at all after her 'mouth' closes. She just goes back to watching and waving her little 'Petals' flag. After a few moments of silence, Evangeline turns her head slightly toward Tomoyo again, as if she forgot something. "...thank you..." Then, back to watching.

Lute (188) has posed:
     Imima is hit by the arrows, the various bursts impacting into her. She falls down to the ground, unconcious. She at least fought bravely for her commander, even if she has fallen now. Giratina is cut across its body by the sword, a trail of gas leaking from its body. It lets out a cry of pain, roaring out as it does so. It keeps flying forward, before crashing into the ground.

     Which leaves Registeel, and Lute.

     Lute stands up tall, frowning at Sakura. He points forward, giving a command. It's a simple one, but it's one that many people know the weight of, just by the name alone. One of the most famous Pokemon attacks.

     "Hyper Beam."

     Registeel glows with an intense light. Its entire body fills with energy. A ball of light forms in front of it. Finally, the light is shot forward in a glorious beam, strong enough to push Registeel back along the ground a bit. The terrain near Registeel is blown apart a bit, while the powerful burst flies straight in for Sakura.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura lets out a sharp yelp as the glorious beam of energy is shot out at her. She dodges to the side, but it still clips her Shield - which promptly shatters, causing her to stumble. Even though it barely hit her, she's still somewhat charred all down her right side from the beam going past...

    She glances at Registeel. But, after an attack like that... It should take a few seconds to recover, right? So instead she just fixes her eyes on Lute and charges.

    "Thunder!" she cries out, another card activating, sending crackling blue lightning crackling over Lute - but it's aimed more at the Unown than at the trainer!

    No, the trainer's getting a much more personal attack. Sakura keeps on charging, before leaping up slightly, her right knee coming up to SLAM into Lute's stomach, the remaining energy of the Power enhancing the blow as much as it can.

    ...Oh Jesus, if that had been two inches lower...

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute is slammed straight into the stomach. He falls down, onto the ground, unconcious. It seems Sakura has managed to pull out a complete victory.