2006 TOA R2: Makoto v. Griffith

[LocoColt04]

OOC: Please forgive me. Nightshade (the split-decision judge) graciously accepted the task of writing the introductions for your threads this round, but had an incredibly long day at work and fell a bit behind. He will still be writing them, so I ask that you do not post until after he does. If, however, the posts are not up by late tomorrow evening, I will write them myself, so know that either way the rounds will be underway within the next 24 hours.

I will edit this post with the running length for the round; it will likely be 15 or 16 days. Good luck to everyone, and thank you for your patience.


Updated information:
The round will officially end sometime on SUNDAY, 16 JULY 2006. Please utilize the time allotted. Everyone, judges and readers alike, would love to see some highly active threads. Good luck to the eight of you.

[LocoColt04]

The sun rose early that day, breaking the horizon and flooding the estate with rays of dancing light. The sky was clear as a crystal; the breeze was completely nonexistant. Though the morning air was heavy, the day was otherwise perfect... perfect for more violence to please the gracious hosts.

It had been seven short nights since the first round of battle. Eight warriors had fallen; not dead, but defeated. Though they would have the option of remaining in their quarters throughout the duration of the tournament, some had already taken the liberty of leaving for their homes. Those who remained were allowed to sit with the hosts if they chose to do so.

It had been seven short days since the first round of battle. Bruises were healed, scrapes were scarred, and deep wounds were still vulnerable. The eight remaining fighters were ready for battle, but unaware of what was upon them.

Without warning, two attendants rushed into each competitor's room. It was barely dawn, and those who were not already awake were forced to rise. The day's battle was meant for sunrise. Each fighter had only ten minutes to prepare, whether fully awakened or not. The warriors were blindfolded and ushered to the courtyard; one was led to the tree in the northeast corner, and the other to the tree in the southwest corner. They were instructed to remove the blindfolds only upon the start of the fight. Without knowing who or what would be waiting, the fighters became antsy with anticipation, and perhaps worry.

The sun continued to rise. Low beams of light were slowly creeping over the edge of the estate, bringing the courtyard to a dim light. The water in the fountain glistened. The courtyard grew brighter, and the fighters continued to stand in their corners, impatiently awaiting the commanding voice from above...

"BEGIN!"

[Vicious]

Arashi had, had a rather restful night of sleep before that day as he found himself waking up with his naginata in hand like a stuffed animal. His kimono fell down past his shoulders while he sat up, eyes barely open. He then gently took a long breath before throwing both legs over to the side of the bed and finally standing up slowly, many parts of his body beginning to pop in a good sensation. When he was done, he placed the naginata on his bed and began his basic routine nearly every morning, walking around in a lazy manner as he pulled his kimono back over his shoulders. He began by picking up his sash and belt and wrapping it around his waist, tying them together and then placing both his katana and wakizashi on his belt. After he was finished, he put on his black split-toe socks, slipped on his geta, and placed on almost all of his accessories except for his hat.

It was then while he was bent over he heard footsteps hurrying towards his room and two attendants slid open the door rushing into the room. “My luck must be good today.” He said to himself, grabbing his conical hat and putting it on while tying it under his chin. The attendants spoke to him of what would happen next and he nodded while yawning. He tied his hair back and then stood up straight, grabbing his naginata and throwing it over his shoulder.

The attendants hastily wrapped a black blindfold over his eyes and began escorting him out of the room, the blade of his naginata accidentally scratching the walls before he apologized and tried to reposition himself to not hit anything else with such large weapon. When they walked outside Arashi immediately felt the warm sun against his kimono, smiling at the nice feeling and the cool morning dew rather refreshing. They then placed him at a certain spot in a corner a minute later and quickly fled the scene. When the words “Begin!” rang through the air he immediately ripped off the blindfold since he was wearing a hat and let it float to the ground, beginning to walk forward, stopping not long after to see his latest opponent, a girl.

He the continued to walk forward and in a carefree manner said, “Ohayo!” In a kind gesture while at the same time he gave a strong thrust into a piece of large stone in the ground with the blade side of his naginata, letting it fly upwards before swinging with the blunt side of the weapon to bat the large stone at the girl with a rather accurate hit and great speed.

[Lucid]

Even before dawn, two attendants rushed into Akai's room to wake her. One of the attendants gasped as Akai groaned when she slowly sat up in the bed, her long hair hanging down over her groggy face, only leaving one eye uncovered which made her appear as if she were some lost soul looking for a nice young attendant to feast on. Yes, she got that alot.

With a bit more coaxing, and much cursing, she finally got up and started to get ready in the time she had left. She was a bit more prepared this time, already dressed in her short kimono, but that was only because she had passed out in it after drinking sake the night before. All that was left to do was fix her hair, since she didn't want another mishap like the last time. She quickly brushed her hair, taking a small part of hair and forming it into a bun and placing her deadly hairpin in, then braided the rest, not trying to make it perfect, but just well enough that it would keep from going all over the place when she moved. She then grabbed her two tessen and tucked them both into her obi.

Before she left the room, Akai walked over to the window and looked out at the clear sky. Although it appeared to be a nice day, Akai was a bit annoyed. She preferred battling under the moonlight, since she clearly wasn't much of a morning person, but it couldn't be helped. The attendants then blindfolded her and walked her out into the courtyard. As she stood in her corner, she could feel the warm rays of the sun as they cascaded over, lighting up the enclosed courtyard. She could tell it was probably just going to get hotter as the day progressed. A loud voice then interrupted her thoughts. "BEGIN!" she heard the voice say and she slowly removed the blindfold, smiling as she gazed upon her opponent. Not bad, she thought to herself as she gave him a small bow.

"Ohayo!" the man said with a kind gesture, then suddenly batted a large stone towards her. Akai quickly opened the tessen in her left hand and swung it outwards to try and knock the stone away, but she had been a little too slow and the stone struck her hand.

"Kuso~!" she cursed as she held her hand for a moment. Akai hadn't been entirely ready for that since she had been so tired, but now she was fully awake. Her hand was stinging where the stone hit it, just a reminder that she wasn't going to let herself be so careless next time. She pulled her other tessen from her obi and opened it as well, holding it down at her side.

"I'd like to see you try that again!" Akai taunted to her opponent.

[Vicious]

The first attack was nothing more than a mere observation, but it was not at a stopping point. The moment the stone had hit her hand he wasted no time in letting her think. As his naginata floated behind him from batting the stone he tilted forward and gave a strong thrust with the large weapon at the ground once more, lifting up another large piece of stone, quickly batting it with a more precise aim sending it speeding towards the left side of her torso. This was both an observation and attack as to seeing if the rock that had successfully hit sprained or broken his opponent's wrist due to the size and weight from the momentum behind it. However, this was not just another attempt of observation.

"I'd like to see you-!" before she could finish her sentence he began the combination of his attack, taking a strong step forward on his left foot, letting the momentum carry him in a spin clockwise. During the second his back was turned he had pressed and released a mechanism upon his naginata and would come spinning around with the front half of the weapon propelled outwards with a wire attached to it. His body movement was graceful as to swinging the top half of the naginata at her bicep, but at an angle to which mainly could be blocked from the pole part of the top half trying to let the saw blade rip at her arm and then continue down to strike at her right torso.

When the weapon would swing away from his opponent he would then pull it towards himself, pressing another hidden mechanism for the top half of the weapon to be pulled back and reconnected to the bottom half of his naginata. There he would at the same time thrust his palm forward in a defensive nature and twirl the blade once to sit under his arm with both legs positioned carefully, yet with his left side to her. He said nothing.

[Lucid]

((OOC: Forgive me. I haven't had alot of time lately...))

As her opponent sent another piece of stone flying towards her, Akai quickly turned to the left and knocked the stone away with the tessen in her right hand. She hadn't really been serious about wanting him to do it again, she had merely wanted to make him mad...but what was he trying to do?

Akai then tensed herself as he stepped forward and began to spin around then suddenly swung the front of the weapon that was attached to a wire towards her. She wasted no time in holding her right tessen up to try and block the attack, but at the same time she backed up, catching the back of her zori on an uneven stone on the ground and falling backwards, barely missing the saw-like blade as it sliced through the air passed her. She sat on the ground for a moment looking completely dumbfounded at what had just happened. She hadn't intended on having something like that happen. She slowly stood up and rubbed her butt. That sure was embarrassing, not to mention it hurt too.

She then quickly straightened up and looked up towards her opponent and covered the bottom half of her face with her tessen. "Ohohohoho..." she laughed. "I bet you didn't expect that did you? Ohohoho!" she then moved the tessen in her right hand from her face, revealing a more serious look, and held it across her chest. She suddenly made a dash towards him and as she appraoched him, she brought the tessen in her left hand up as if she were going to make a slash towards his arm, but at the same time she closed the one in her right hand and thrust it towards his chest.

[Vicious]

(OOC: It's alright. I was almost sad when you didn't post the first time for awhile because I didn't want to get through this round by default. I'm glad you got here though.)

As a bit of luck it seemed, his opponent had fallen backwards in just enough time to evade the attack. It did surprise him somewhat, but he already knew things like this would happen in battle. Within the engagement of a fight, anything can happen.

The moment she began to stand back up he stepped back a few feet into the same spot he stood before and once again took a defensive stance, this time holding the center of his weapon tucked under his right arm and his left arm tucked next to his left rib. This would be the first time he would let her attack instead of taking the initiative first. She finally got back up making a nervous boast, and finally…she made her first assault.

Seconds before she came thrusting towards Arashi, he gave a twist to his balance from the waist to create momentum and swing his swords around. As he was doing so the momentum he had created was still in motion, legs spread apart diagonally with just enough power to twist his body sideways towards his opponent. At the same time, the tip of her blade caught the kimono and he smiled. Her thrusting attack had ripped through the silk material of his kimono, but at the same time screeched with a metal against metal sound, the special chain-mail stopping him from getting cut, but before she could finish he had already began his counter attack.

He immediately pulled out his twelve inch wakizashi from it’s scabbard and twirled it upright into his left hand and swing it into the soft upper area of her forearm and try to shred her arm downwards to possibly rip off the arm or at least give Akai a deep wound. At the same time he had released the switch mechanism upon his naginata once more to throw it upwards and become a two piece weapon again. However, he had thrown it at an angle so that the wire connecting the poles would slide in-between her head and raised left arm, trying to get it to land on her shoulder as to continue his combo, hoping she would jump backwards or to his right so that the sharp wire would either slice into her shoulder or if she jumped to the left, rip off her head.

To continue, he would then twirl the bottom half of the naginata in-between her tessen and his kimono to push it away and give a straight kick at her waist with his right leg to create some distance. Lastly, he would immediately bring his right leg back and use to jump backwards with just enough distance to get into an offensive stance.

In this stance, his wakizashi would be pointed straight towards Akai while having bent his left leg while the right would sit outstretched holding more than half his weight. His right arm would be also outstretched and letting the front end of the weapon hang carelessly, though even without the emotion of his facial features could one tell his focus.

[LocoColt04]

OOC:
Hate to be so brief, but it's a friend's birthday and I'm not exactly at home right now. That said, round two is over, and judgement can be expected within the next 72 hours. I look forward to reading the posts for this round, and I can only assume the other judges share that sentiment. Enjoy your evenings.

[Shan'do Spike]

Another close battle, but I think I'm going to give this one to Makoto.

If this were purely a battle of length, I'd give it to Griffith, but length tends to be one of the smaller factors in deciding. Overall, you two were a fairly close match. Makato, I'd suggest trying to work on fleshing out some additional length in your posts--what you write is good, it really is, but there doesn't tend to be much of it. However, your flow is really good, and your sentences tend to work well without dragging much at all. Griffith, you tend to have the opposite problem. You have a good amount of stuff, but sometimes your sentences don't make complete sense, or they get too wordy.

Either way, good fight both of you, and best of luck in the next round.