2854/WMAT AQ1 Shin Tokuyama vs Shizune Nakamura

WMAT AQ1 Shin Tokuyama vs Shizune Nakamura
Date of Scene:	19 August 2015
Location:	WMAT Arena - Gizard Wasteland
Synopsis:	Shizune Nakamura takes on Shin Tokuyama in the WMAT qualifiers!
Cast of Characters:	369, 756
Tinyplot:	WMAT 2015

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Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    The Gizard Wasteland is not a hospitable place. Intense sun beating down the landscape, dry air sapping every drop of moisture, a hot wind blowing jagged lines across the san- wait wrong franchise. Ahem. It's a harsh place, but also very 'pure', in a way. And that sort of purity is not something Shizune Nakamura can fault. It's fitting for a meeting of martial artists, after a fashion.

    The lady of the fist stands upon a particularly broad mesa, arms folded behind her back. Few choppers or hovercraft in the sky today; it's just the prelims, after all. Few people in the audience too, save for those staunch supporters of the tournament's regulars and those curious to see what the newcomer can do. It's kind of nice here in that way, too. Nothing to distract from the upcoming match.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin's here too, though a bit late. The helicopter that drops him off at the Mesa that Shizune is on waits for a few moment as the blonde-haired martial artist takes off his suit coat and tie, leaving both of them on the floor of the helicopter before hopping out. When he hits the ground, it's with a soft oof and a look around to appraise the surroundings. Suitable, he decides, for a fight between martial artists, "Yooo. Amped to be doing this. Good to meet you, Shin Tokuyama." He presses his fist into his palm and bows to Shizune despite their relative distance. A show of respect on his part for the start of a match.
    After rising from the bow, he starts rolling up the sleeves on his dress shirt and undoing the top couple buttons, "I'm ready to go when you are," He says to her with a wide grin, "It'll be fun to face another traditionalist, everyone who usually fights me has some weird super power."

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    A classic martial artist's bow; one that Shizune reciprocates, enjoying the chance to exchange pleasantries with a fellow martial artist for once. "Shizune Nakamura. A pleasure. And a rare one, at that," she says, her own smile rather bright and cheerful as well. She's in full agreement with Shin, for that matter. Meeting a fellow bare-handed fighter without some kind of strange power or 'trick' is something that happens infrequently at best, in the Multiverse.

    Taking a few steps to close the gap somewhat, Shizune reaches up to adjust her glasses, before letting one foot slide forward a bit, and raising her arms into a simple, elegant stance. She takes a slow breath in, lets it out, and a faint cloud of dust ripples outward from below her - a moment to simply ensure her ki is flowing smoothly before they begin. And then there is that brief moment, the heartbeat that seems to last an eternity wherein she simply studies Shin, appraises him, gets a mental 'feel' for his stance-

    Only to suddenly lunge forward a good several feet in one gliding movement, opening with a quick but forceful palm strike. "Taah!"

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    As Shizune approaches, Shin shifts his footing on the ground a bit and takes a slightly different stance than her. He flexes his hands and puts one foot forward, lifting his hands and moving to a traditional Karate-style posture as he waits for her. He takes a slow breath and, much like her, a cloud of aura seems to surround him as he focuses his ki and prepares to fight.

    When she lunges in towards him with a palm strike, he takes a half-dash back, but not enough to avoid it in time. There's a heavy impact as it hits cleanly to the center of his chest and knocks a bit of wind out of him. His footing remains solid, however, and he tries to counter it with an attack of his own. One foot steps in cleanly forward, trying to hook behind her ankles and then trip her backwards with a punch to the shoulder.

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    Rushing in with a palm attack like that leaves Shizune overextended. The hope is that her opening hit will transfer enough momentum to keep Shin from capitalizing on that, but it's not to be; a solid stance allows him to remain close enough to hook a foot and drive a fist in past her defenses, taking her squarely in the shoulder and pushing her back in what looks at first to be a tumble straight onto her back.

    But no sooner does she start to go over than the taiji-user takes control of her own fall, bending herself backwards and reaching 'up' and behind herself. Her hands plant and she uses her body to transfer the momentum down to her legs, whipping them upward to snap a quick, opportunistic kick at Shin on the way over. As soon as the flip is complete, she comes upward, launching another quick blow at her opponent's midsection as she rises to her feet.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "You're good," Shin says, once he gets a bit of breathing room. He rubs at his chest a couple times with one hand, feeling the spot where she got that solid impact earlier. He hops up and down a couple times to regain his stance and try to get blood flowing while he takes a few steps back.
    Shizune doesn't waste any time recovernig, though, and she's stapping in on him for a flipping kick and a body blow. Shin was, luckily, fairly fast on his feet and managed to bring his arms down, the forearms absorbing the impact of her kick before they change and cross up, also sponging up the blow from her follow-up.
    Trying to keep from being left on the defense too much, Shin immediately turns to the side and then lunges forward, trying to spin out of her arms reach before charging in with a shoulder-check to her side. Both of his arms are thrust in the opposte direction of Shizune, trying to lend some more momentum as Shin shouts, "Tetsuzanko!"

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    The impact is jarring, coming just as Shizune's getting her footing, but she does manage to get it in time to respond, and as a result the shoulder-check doesn't quite bowl her over the way it ought to. In fact, there's a certain shift to her body at just the right time that nullifies much of the force before it can transfer, though there's certainly going to be a bruise. But it's a hallmark of the Taijiquan family; management of momentum and force, a 'soft' style for people who aren't built for either throwing or taking more forceful blows.

    And as expected, her style allows her to take advantage of the check, turning that shift in her body into a grab, using herself as a lever and Shin's own inertia as the force. She shifts and heaves, hauling her foe around her body into what is very nearly a shoulder throw, but at some point during the maneuver she manages to find the time to deliver a light blow to the chest as well.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin is pretty cleanly grabbed, the soft style working well against his aggressive advance. His momentum is pretty heavy at the moment she pivots, and he hits the ground with a heavy thud of dust and dirt, wincing a bit from the impact. He did manage to spin in the throw at the last minute to avoid getting hit in the chest, but the impact to the ground is solid and definitely jostled him.
    He's quick to kip up, planting his hands back and then vaulting to his feet a moment later, "Oh yeah, I'm all fired up now!" He hops up and down, "Let's kick it up a notch! COBRA KAI TIMES TWO!" Shin shouts as a gentle aura of red ki surrounds him. It's not as roaring as it is some other times, and it doesn't actually do much besides let him look cool and psych him up for the fight.
    His follow-up attack, though, is a very real move. He dashes in towards her, stepping hard before launching a trio of advancing kicks in the martial artist. The first is a spinning heel kick, which follows up a moment later with a horizontal straight kick from the opposite leg, and then finishes with a dropping ax-kick from the original leg in a heavy three-hit combo.

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    The aura makes Shizune wary, but watching him for a moment has her instincts telling her that it hasn't done much, or at least much that she can see in his movements. She's still wary of it, but for now she'll simply continue as she has been. Nevertheless, her face is a mask of concentration, but there's a certain sort of vitality in her eyes. Wide awake and completely in the moment. It's a look Shin probably knows quite well.

    As Shin advances, Shizune retreats, sliding back a step for every two he takes. It's a way to take the momentum out of his attacks, and to force him to move further than he'd planned, upsetting his balance; small things, all told, but every little bit that mitigates an opponent's attacks is worthwhile. The heel kick comes out before she can prepare a proper defense for her shoulder blade, but she manages to slide her foot back and shift in just the right way to deflect the straight kick safely to one side.

    She can't save herself from the axe kick, however, and it comes down on her shoulder before she can properly brace her arms against it. Shin earns a soft grunt of pain on the last hit, but her retaliation is already in motion. She takes the chance to push forward, shoving her shoulder harder against Shin's leg, forcing him to keep it up for the moment, and lashes out with a quick elbow strike aimed at his chest - which she then turns into a fast chop at his thigh just above the knee, before finally sliding her shoulder out from under it. In the moment where his leg is still coming down, she pops up, almost as if on wires, and takes a quick snap-kick at his midsection before coming down again. "HAA!"

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    He expected Shizune would have a fierce counter for his switch to a more offensive push, and she did not disappoint him in the slightest. When she shoves forward with her shoulder, it pushes him backwards and destabilizes his balance, causing him to lose out on the defensive options for a while as she elbows him in the chest and draws a grunt of pain from the martial artist. The chop to the thigh sends him staggering back, but the distance that stagger creates allows him to react as she jumps.
    It's a desparate attempt to mitigate the snap kick, and he actually front-flips into the blow, his free heel coming up over his head while his other leg is released by her. As her snap-kick comes out, his heel comes down to intercept it. The two collide in a fierce clash of red ki and Shin hangs in the air for a moment before reversing his momentum and backflipping away, landing on the ground with a bit of a skid as he regains balance and retakes his stance. His hands come up a bit as he grins through the pain, "Mmm, man. I can feel it in your fists. You're not just a trained fighter, you're a born fighter. You've made fighting your destiny, yeah?"
    As he asks this, he steps in towards her again. He jumps mid-dash, pivoting his body around for a powerful spinning kick as he descends. Despite the damage she's puttting on him, the level of martial arts he's showing is a testament to how much Shizune is actually drawing him to drop his slacker attitude and go all out. The followup to the kick is a quick palm thrust to her stomach, then followed by his hand whipping forward at point blank, "RYUKEN!"

    The finisher to his combo is that a red blast of ki releases from his palm, trying to catch Shizune at point blank with a blast of force.

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    Shizune comes out of the clash into a low, broad stance, but slides through a flowing movement up into a more guarded ready posture, her lips now pulled into a faint smile. A fine and proper foe, someone against whom she can fight in earnest and match skill against skill - she really comes alive in matches like this, and it shows. His remarks only prompt that smile to widen, and she moves into his charge this time to converse as they trade blows.

    "You're correct, I have." Despite her movement, Shizune rears back as the spinning kick comes out, sliding forward a foot or so and preventing the attack from hitting her in the face or body by deflecting it just far enough upwards that she can pass under it. "I'm on vacation now, but-" A grunt of pain, her body turned to take the worst of the bite out of that palm strike, but it still finds purchase, and she's unable to do much but take the blast of ki, stumbling back a few steps and falling back into her more guarded stance again. Interestingly, her own natural ki flow seems to have taken some of the sting out of it.

    "I'm planning to formally work as an employee at the dojo I learned from, and take it over some day when Sensei retires." She reaches up to push her glasses up her nose. "Martial arts is without a doubt my passion."

    She launches herself through a horizontal spin that covers the short distance in a single movement, and brings her leg around for a strong kick at waist level, before coming up from that into a simple body blow aimed as much to draw Shin's guard downward as it is to deal damage. The final hit comes when she launches her left hand at Shin's right shoulder, a quick palm that looks as if it will only just graze him - but though her ki shows no visual tells, it most certainly has some potent effects in her strikes, as even a glancing blow will hurt like a direct punch.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin bounces on his feet a bit, "I think you'd be a good Sifu when your old one retires. You've got the talent and the skill, for sure, for sure," Shin comments as he watches and rolls his neck to the side, popping it stiffly and trying to work out the soreness from her last few attacks. He's on his feet, but she's hitting him hard. Her style is refined, too, so he has to think of fighting someone more like Rock Lee or Domon than Allenby, like he was originally treating her.
    He steps in when she comes towards him, his guard goes down to try to stop the kick, but it swings past his defenses and connects solidly to the gut. Its followup to his chest leaves him staggered, but he has enough reaction to move out of the way and avoid that punch that, he suspects, would have dislocated his shoulder on a direct hit. He takes a few steps back and huffs, trying to catch his breath, "I'm still doing the journey thing. Wanna try to learn ALL the martial arts. Wanna see?"
    He grins before dashing in. It's at this moment that Shizune may notice that his stance COMPLETELY changes. And not in the way that shows he's offensive or defensive, but that he's using a different style completely. One that's not from the Eastern Schools of martial arts, but something more direct and western: He's Boxing.
    His next combo seeks to thread the enhancements of ki into the raw offensive power of a boxing strike as he presses an advance. His hands work quickly, throwing out two rapid jabs towards her mid-section with his right hand, his left immediately swings up to try to catch her on the cheek with a cross, and then finish it by pivoting his entire body into a hook-punch.

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    There's a certain purity to this. Nothing but their fists and the hot desert wind. Shizune is breathing hard, coming out of their exchange in a more low-to-the-ground stance, one arm low and forward, the other high and back. Her body aches already, but they're a fair ways from done just yet. She can't help but tilt her head at what Shin says next, though; all the styles? Interesting. "Trying to find your own style? That's not a bad way to go. 'Find the kung fu that works best for yourself' - something my sensei teaches all his students. Alright, let's see it."

    She draws herself up again, watching and waiting. In he comes, and that's not a surprise, but then his form changes entirely, and the attack that comes of this is something she hasn't prepared herself for. The first jab she's able to avoid, but the immediate follow-up catches her in the abdomen, the cross clips right across her cheek, and then the hook drives her back with a solid blow. Dust kicks up around Shizune's feet as she slides back, finally lowering her arms... and lifting her eyebrows.

    "You're a natural mimic. You've got better form than some professionals I've seen. That's rather impressive." She sweeps a hand up, then turns it palm forward. "You might consider learning some soft-style techniques, in case you ever have to face an opponent even bigger and stronger."

    That's all she has to say for the moment, it seems, because her next course of action is to re-engage. Sliding right in to unload a quick body blow with her right hand, then bring it around and up as if to launch a quick back-hand at Shin's head - but it's a feint, meant to draw his arm up so that she can cross hers under it and temporarily prevent a defense while her left leg comes up to swing a kick for his side. She retracts her leg quickly, and uses the moment it hits the mesa to pop up into the air, another one of those floating hops that allows her to launch a quick pair of kicks at Shin's jaw, one-two, almost like a bicycle. "SEI!"

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "I learned a lot before I came to the Multiverse. I wanted to get real good like all the heroes and villains I read about in the comics, or in the news," He explains with a grin, lifting his hands up, "So I'm really glad I got to fight one of the people I read about from the WMAT in the first round. This way, even if I get knocked out, I still got the fight I wanted all along," He comments as he hops up and down on his toes.
    "Soft style could be fun, I only know a bit of Aikido, but Wing Chun always fascinated me," He brings up his hands as she comes in again, lifting them to stop the strike to his head, only to find that she feinted him out and get him with a kick, launching another one of her agile combos at him. He's beginning to understand that while his ki usage is forceful, hers is a more fluid enhancement into everything she does, making her a dangerous opponent.
    He snaps his head to the side to avoid one kick, but the second lands square on his jawline and sends him staggering back with a whip of his head and a bit of a daze. He stomps his foot down to steady himself away from the initial reaction one has to a jaw hit: To fall over. Instead, he shakes his head a few times and then spits some blood out, "Woah that was scary. Almost blacked out for a second," He admits.
    He flexes his hands, cracking his knuckles again and then stepping towards her. He's blending both styles together now, throwing a standing uppercut at Shizune to try to draw her guard up before throwing a two-kick combo at her mid-section and then a leg sweep, trying to blend Karate and boxing into a single style that is dangerously offense-oriented.

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    "I can honestly say the same," Shizune replies, bowing her head faintly in response to Shin's praise. "If this is the only good match I get out of the entire tournament, I'll still go home content."

    But for that matter, there's no more that needs to be said. Graceful as ever, Shizune holds her ground and then begins to smoothly retreat and circle when Shin advances. Rather than guard against the uppercut, she lits her head enough that it only just barely grazes her cheek, but that leaves her just as open to the pair of kicks that slam into her midsection.

    The sweep, however, passes through empty air. Shizune pushes off, light on her feet, and once again takes flight, living up to the name 'Heavenly Dragon' with her style's signature acrobatic movements. Up she comes, turning a forward flip and twisting as she does, such that she's effectively coming back down towards Shin 'upside-down'. And the momentum of her flip continues, bringing her right leg down towards Shin from overhead with a simple, powerful ki-infused kick - one that will kick up dust underneath her opponent as a mere side-effect.

    If Shin finds a moment to look, the kicked up dust has resulted in the faint imprint of a yin-and-yang symbol on the ground around him.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    WHAM!
    The impact of her leg against Shin is monumentous. Enough of a hit that it drives him down to a knee into the dirt and a palm on the ground as she hits him. He grits his teeth and the shoulder she connected to creaks under the weight of her impact and momentum, while the chi she exudes draws patterns in the dust under him.
    He struggles to think of a good comeback, and in that moment only one comes to him. It was when he had used an similar attack to this on Rock Lee, and he had countered Shin. So Shin's counter is simple and fierce, he lunged forward and under the kick, spinning around underneath her to grab her belly-to-belly. If he can get his arms around her waist, he'll throw his entire weight backwards and try to slam the airborne martial artist into the ground in retaliation.

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    "Whoa-!" WHAM.

    There is just no coming back from that. Not when she's grabbed before she can land, her arms pinned to prevent any real retaliation. Her head and shoulders slam into the ground, and she's sent for a skidding roll that ends in a one-knee crouch and Shizune reaching up to brush her face off a bit. "My goodness, you really do have a broad repertoire. More importantly, you've got the quick thinking to use it. That was well-done." She's just not built to take big, solid hits like that, and her body is protesting pretty hard at the moment.

    And even so, she stands up properly, bringing her guard up again and taking a breath. She's having too much fun to stop now. And she's still got a trick or two up her sleeve besides. But those can come at the opportune moment. First she has to create that moment; or, perhaps that simply an excuse for her to move in and start in again. She advances slowly but smoothly, once again circling, as if waiting for some opportune moment-

    Only to spring forward in a single snap kick at around chest level, followed by driving her left fist in slightly lower than that. It's a quick one-two movement, each an attack all its own, but also a set-up to get Shin's guard high so that she can use her left arm to forcibly push her opponent's arms upward.

    The real kicker comes in the form of her lunge forward into a double palm strike aimed right at the center of mass. "TOH!"

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "And you are the epitome of fearing not the man who has practiced a thousand punches, but the same punch a thousand times," Shin says as he tries to catch his breath and roll his shoulder. The arm is going numb, a bit, and that worries him. She is really powerful. His chest heaves as he tries to catch his breath, her hits to his torso making it sore and painful to breath.
    "I'm gonna wanna fight you again some day, at the end of my journey. I hope that will happen," He notes as he rubs his chest and then gets ready for the advance. He loses track of her on the snap kick, though, the impact hitting him square in the chest and staggering him enough for the fist to touch home. His arm shoots up, pushed by Shizune's arms as she delivers two palms square to his center, lifting him up off the ground, pushing him back, and landing him face down in the dirt with some heavy coughs from the impact.     "Damn..." He grunts as he pounds a fist into the ground and pushes himself to his feet, "Alright. This is it, Shin, the first time you've used it outside training," Shin murmurs to himself as he tries to stand again and quickly regain his footing. He is looking injured and worn, but definitely having fun. That said, he also looks about to fall over, so Shizune's damage is more than apparent, "Hey. Fair warning, watch your glasses! I don't wanna break em with this next move!"
    He's a nice guy to warn her like that, since moments later he darts forward and begins shifting his styles fluidly again. He delivers a lunging haymaker, trying to either divert or break her guard with a powerful blow. The momentum of the forward punch is quickly turned into a lunging kick that tries to catch her right in the stomach. He presses forward into his combination, throwing a dropping axe-kick to keep her staggering before a left jab to press a little more.
    The final move of the combo sees him lunge forward for a downward punch. It might seem like he's aiming for the Solar Plexus, but he's actually trying to emulate a move Mordred taught him the last time he met her, and the punch actually lands square in the ground as Shin shouts, "POWER GEYSER!"
    Moments later, the floor immediately underneath Shizune tries to explode in a huge blast of red ki and fire.

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    Shizune's smile is warmer now. "When that day comes, I hope to be a fitting challenge for your completed style." It's all that she can offer such a splendid opponent - strength that will serve as a challenge. If it comes down to it... well. Maybe, just the once, she'll use her trump card willingly when that day comes.

    But that's a far-off day for both of them. For now, there is this fight, here. And Shin is bringing out a move that he has never tried in a proper match before. As much as she's on guard (and she gives a grateful nod for the warning about her glasses), a corner of the young lady's mind is curious. So, she takes a deep breath, steels herself, pushes her focus to its absolute limit...

    And then Shin is in her face. Her arm comes up on sheer autopilot, turning aside the haymaker with a sidestep in the opposite direction. But that puts her in a perfect spot to take the followup kick, staggered back a step or two; only through sheer force of will does she manage to push herself out of the way of the axe kick, and it leaves her in just the right spot to take that left jab straight to the face.

    It doesn't, thankfully, connect with her glasses.

    But the eruption of power from below is absolutely a surprise, and it's only the instinct to leap away from a blow towards her feet that saves her from the full force of it. Even a glancing hit stings. She comes down on her feet breathing heavily, visibly tired and in pain, working hard just to stay on her feet. She's just about done. But if it's drawing to an end, she'll just have to give him everything she can still spare. And that begins with a slow breath. Steadying herself. In, out. In, out.

    The dust at Shizune's feet puffs and rolls, settling in another yin-yang pattern.

    And then Shizune lunges forward, pushing her body for everything. She hauls her body around, giving herself as much force and momentum she can handle to throw behind a single, straight-ahead kick. "YAA!" But it's only the first. It's followed by a second, her leg retracted and snapped out again, pushed along by her ki. And then a third, a fourth, a fifth. One after another, straining herself to her limit to put as many kicks into as short a time as possible.

    She can only manage ten in total. Other masters of Taijiquan might be able to push it further, but ten is her limit. However, for her, ten is all she needs, and even those ten come almost impossibly fast.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin, after his attack, adjusts his stance and prepares to switch to defense. He put almost all his energy into that final push, but Shizune didn't fall down and that means he needs to muster his defenses and prepare for her counterattack which, if she has proven anything to him today, will be fierce.
    And she does not disappoint him in that aspect, lunging forward and hitting him with a massive kick that lands right in his chest. And is followed up by another kick that catches him in his stomach. Her powerful snapping kicks rock his body with each of the ten impacts that she puts out. Each one slams into him and sends him reeling, but before he can come up with any reaction, there's a follow up.
    After the tenth kick, Shin seems to wobble on his feet for a few moments. His hands come up carefully, almost into a fighting stance before, instead, he manages to clasp his fist into his hand and bow to her, "I... yield. I can fight no longer, much as I wish to..." He comments before toppling forward.
    He's not unconscious, but he lands with his knee on the ground and his hand in the dirt, unable to get up and continue fighting, since her onslaught has caused his body to lock up and refuse to press on.

Shizune Nakamura (369) has posed:
    Shortly after Shin's palm hits the dirt, Shizune's hand appears in his perephiral vision, offering him not just a hand up, but a shake along the way. "Here, up you go. We can limp onto the medical airlift together." A bit of a joke on her part, but the next part comes with a warm tone. "That was an absolutely wonderful fight. It might be a bit bad of me to say something like this, but I hope we both make it into the tournament proper so we can have a rematch."