imperial_stage | Women's Bracket -- Raisa vs. Katina

Entry tags:

location: imperial city

Women's Bracket -- Raisa vs. Katina

Who: Raisa and Katina
Where: Imperial City
What: SECOND ROUND FIGHT
When: Whenever the second round of the Spring Court Tournament goes
Warnings: Violence

One fight behind her, and Raisa was feeling fairly confident of herself. Much more so than she had coming into this beorc festival, when she was all wound up with nerves—even intimidated, as un-laguz and disgraceful as that thought was.

But no longer. It’s with that new confidence that she strides out into the sands, carrying with her neither weapon nor armor—not anything but a set of simple clothes and well-traveled sandals. Her tail betrayed her new anticipation, however, swishing faster than her steps.

“Beorc! Will you not come to fight today?”

Perhaps not all of these non-laguz traditions were nonsense after all.

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"Ha! I'm glad to see you're as enthusiastic as I am!" Through luck of the draw, Katina was fresher than her first opponent, and while she didn't feel that she needed the advantage, she wasn't going to go run laps to even things out.

Lightly armored, Katina twirled a halberd casually, almost like a toy a third its weight. She had a sword sheathed at her side to go with it, but she already expected a polearm to be particularly useful against an opponent who had nothing but her own body to fight with, and Katina had made a point of watching Raisa's first match closely. "Hurry up and transform, or you won't get the chance to!"

"Gladly!"

As she speaks, her stride doesn't even break; her human form smoldering away with her next footfall. Light ripples from head to toe to tail, until there is a large cat where there was a humanoid creature.

"I would not be able to call myself laguz if I did not meet a battle with open arms!"

The transformation completes, but the sudden change of tongues doesn't seem to stop Raisa any. Her voice had become more echoey and not properly from the jaws, but that was the only change in her voice.

The cat laguz has not slowed her advance once; she would be in leaping distance soon.

Until she watched Raisa's earlier match, Katina hadn't been aware of the transformation abilities of the Laguz. She'd been prepared for many other fighting styles, but dealing with this is one of the reasons she ultimately settled on walking out with a halberd in hand instead of any other weapon, fully intending to put the reach and power behind it to good use.

"Alright, then show me what you're so proud of!" Rather than meet Raisa head on, where the cat's size and speed could overwhelm her, Katina sidestepped quickly and took a quick, sweeping swing to fend off any immediate charges.

Raisa had sprung a step too early in her eagerness; she did not reach the beorc behind the weapon, but rather some point two-thirds up the handle. The cat's spine was still...well, catlike, and it abruptly torqued and twisted to evade the pointed end. Her front claws caught the wooden haft, but just so; they were only able to anchor the cat enough for the weapon's momentum to carry her along.

Raisa was thrown some distance away, but she landed on her feet.

"Speak softly yet carry a big stick, was it?"

Said big stick might need a bit more forethought to get around it. But thinking could come later. Raisa charged straight at Katina this time, rather than leaping again. She had some more complicated footwork in mind this time...

It was a bit jarring having to send an opponent like a cat laguz flying back, but Katina was able to set herself just right to turn her hips, knock Raisa back, then swing her weapon back across her body. Until she had a better feel for Raisa's speed and style, she'd have to rely on training and experience to play a little more defensively than she'd like, stepping back while slowly circling. "You should hear me when I get going."

Raisa didn't seem like the sort to simply charge like that again, not if she was capable of beating that Zeon general, so Katina steadied her stance, bringing her weapon in a little closer to try and react quickly to the cat's next move.

When she got within what would have been jumping range, Raisa shorten her strides as if to pounce--then veered left. Then right, her tail swinging about like a big rudder to allow quick changes in direction, all to trick the halberd into swinging the wrong way.

Then she flattened herself closer to the ground to dive beneath the halberd, so that she might have a better chance of avoiding the weapon and springing at the beorc's face.

For once, Katina is glad that she reined in her recklessness instead of lashing out at the first chance she got; failing to predict that swift change of directions would have gotten her mauled in short order, and while attacking might fend off another direct attack, most people don't do the same thing twice. With Raisa trying to slip in under her weapon, Katina slammed the butt of her weapon down against the ground, holding it straight up in front of the cat - if she pounces without changing direction again, she'll simply slam her head into the shaft of the weapon, and Katina's already shifting her weight back to react as quickly as possible to said change in direction.

Raisa doesn't quite react in time to the halberd ignoring heir feints entirely and planting in the ground instead. The cat manages to twist herself so that her shoulder takes the brunt of the blow rather than her face, with all the force of her charge and mass behind it.

Which was not a very nice feeling, let her tell you. Later, of course.

But, bruises could be tolerated. One of Raisa's big paws sweeps around the other side of the weapon to swat at the inside of the elbow to force it to bend and close the distance that way.

Having to retreat step by step like this is frustrating in a tournament, but she can't treat this like dueling another human. While her block worked pretty well, she still narrowly evades the swipe, losing a step on Raisa and letting her get a bit close for comfort - anything inside of a proper swing with her weapon is too close.

Even if she can't bring the ax head to bear, though, she's got the rest of the weapon at her disposal, and quickly swings the butt around to try and thwack Raisa with a nice blunt object.

Another swat, and Raisa could reach the beorc's ribcage now; with the bounded field blunting her claws, the blow probably just felt like a soft, almost velvety boxing glove. With all the force one might expect from such a glove.

Though speaking of sides.

The blunt end of the halberd smacks into Raisa's ribcage with a decidedly solid thunk--a crunching one, even. A very muffled crunch, but it made Raisa jump suddenly and awkwardly sideways as if burned.

Good thing too - even with chainmail under her clothes, she knew that this Laguz had to be powerful enough to damage it, or else they wouldn't be fighting without any weapons. Instead she's just going to have some bruised ribs, and while it'll make breathing a bit more of a pain, Katina knows that her opponent's just a little more banged up.

With a sound like that, she definitely had to be more banged up, but a moment needed to get her wind back keeps Katina from capitalizing. "Hah, that sounded like it felt good." Bruised? Cracked? Broken even?

Raisa came back to herself all at once, shaking her head as if to clear the cobwebs from it. She shakes herself briefly all over, snorts, and then twitches her ears slightly in a wince. Her beast form's face was hard to read sometimes, but that did hurt.

"Why, yes. Would you like a demonstration?"

She seems in remarkably good humor for a creature that just got her ribs cracked. The cat gathered herself again and sprang forwards. Her sprint was a tad slower this time, but rather than charging straight in, she looped quickly around behind Katina to instead lash out at the back of her knees.

Good, it'd be a shame if that one blow was enough to decide the whole match. In a tournament like this, everyone's supposed to be putting up an actual fight, not just rolling over and dying.

While Raisa's injuries slowed her down, Katina's do the same for her for a brief moment, and that's all it takes for the laguz to get in and get a hit. With her knee taking a solid blow, Katina is forced to roll with it, throwing herself forward instead of resisting and ending up in a crouch facing her opponent, weapon held out at the ready. Just a bit more, one more mistake on Raisa's part should be enough to know what she needs to do...

This beorc reacted as might a stream with a stone thrown in its path, and quite like a cat. Good. Raisa didn't feel quite so bad at having that blow landed on her now.

The cat paused a moment, to catch her breath--her sides heaved with the many shallow breaths she had to take lest her own bones set up a fit. Planning her next move was easier. She already had an idea.

Raisa took a deep breath--only one, no matter how much it hurt her and she had to force her body to cooperate--and roared, though coming from a cat the sound was more akin to a scream.

Once again, the cat sprang straight forwards. Not for another leap; that would be foolish, with that spearlike point aimed at her. Her movements were slowed, but deliberately so this time. When her next stride would have carried her into range of the business end of the weapon, Raisa put on a hopefully unexpected burst of speed to anchor her paws just past it and swing around. Her form began to glow bright white, and hind paws--while she still had paws--dug in to drive her towards the halberd; she wasn't in range of the beorc proper. But even closing that relatively small distance would take time, and she didn't have any to spare.

Hands--proper hands--reached out to grab the weapon's handle and hold it away from the cat-now-human. Though winded and injured as she was, the laguz' strength was still formidable.

As blunt as she preferred to be, Katina had the training and experience to fight as carefully as she needed to against an opponent like this. No matter how frustrating it might be, it also spoke well of her opponent, and now she could get at least one more fight to show off with.

With Raisa closing a bit more slowly, Katina was able to quickly rise to her feet, anchoring herself against another approach, the spear tip of the weapon pointed outward. As they wore out, she would have more time to react to any changes, so steadying herself might not be as risky as it would have been at first.

...then the laguz started to shift back. Katina hadn't expected anything of the sort, thrown off of her strategy as Raisa wrestled for the weapon. Despite her own strength, she couldn't simply wrench it away, so instead she twisted the shaft and threw a straight, almost wild kick to try and dislodge the now humanoid cat - if she could get her weapon back, or land an otherwise solid blow, she has this won.

Instinctively, Raisa's arm abruptly let go of the halberd to drop to her side and defend her injured ribcage; the kick instead collided solidly with her elbow, making the entire limb go numb and prickly. She's still holding onto the halberd with her other arm, but there was far more wiggle room with it now, rather than an inexorable strength wrenching it away. Clumsily, Raisa grasps for that foot to catch it.

"Now what will you do, beorc?"

Despite her deceptively calm, even bemused demeanor, Raisa's chest still heaved. As much as she tried to bury them in her speech, she couldn't help but speak through shallow breaths.

Katina's stuck balancing on one foot, wrestling with Raisa for her weapon. Even with the laguz looking worn out, it was a difficult situation, and she's not all that better off herself. She could try to twist away, but getting into a ground fight with an opponent more used to fighting without weapons probably wasn't a good idea. Twisting the halberd away would almost be a coin toss between whose muscles could hold out longer...

Waitaminute. Doesn't know what to do... if she has a weapon.

Then she can have it! Grinning triumphantly, Katina simply lets go of her halberd, finally remembering the short sword on her hip, her backup weapon, only in such close quarters it's a far superior one as well. Even if Raisa lets go, even if she falls, Katina simply throws her weight forward as she draws, swinging with all of her weight and strength, and relying on the element of surprise to bail her out if she misses.

Well, that was unexpected.

Raisa stumbled back when the tension on the halberd abruptly wasn't there anymore. The weapon was hers, now, but...what was she supposed to do with it?

Then her numbed arm slipped and the beorc had turned the tables on her--and had produced a sword as if from nowhere. A short one, but so much the better for this equally short range. The sword hit Raisa's numbed arm, so she barely felt it--but she did feel the beorc's weight crashing into her and bowling her over. As comparitively slight of frame and off balance as she was, there was little resistance as she went down.

Raisa dredged up a bit of energy left and shifts forms again as she's on her way to the ground; she doesn't make it in time to escape being pinned crosswise in the dust. Raisa's spine curves to bring her claws to bear again, this time on the beorc's back and side, and entirely abandoning the halberd.

Her claws catch and make a hideous sound as they pull the chainmail open at the rivets, but the armor does precisely what it's supposed to. Katina is spared anything more severe than bruises, but the armor will have some interesting battle scars on it later.

She wedges her hind feet up and underneath Katina's torso, to kick and throw the beorc off of her. Something. Anything. Because by Fortune that hurt.

Now that she has the advantage, even with Raisa shifting back to her laguz form, Katina has nothing in mind but finishing the battle. She can replace chain mail easily, and even without protective magic in place she could fight through the wound as long as nothing important was falling out of her body.

Bearing down with all the strength in her body, Katina locks her knees around her shifted opponent, taking the kicks to her back with a grimace. Weathering the blows, she draws her arm back - she's not quite sure what would happen if she simply slammed the tip of the blade straight down into someone, even in an arena like this, so instead she puts all of her strength and weight into swinging the pommel of the sword straight down at Raisa's head. Hopefully a blunt strike like this is enough to knock her clean out, and if it isn't, at least it might keep her from bucking Katina off.

Ow ow ow ow get off get off.

Raisa disengaged her paws from the chainmail to bat at her opponent again and again--on her back as she was, she would normally be able to bring all four of her paws to bear, but she also had to work against the excruciating pain in her torso. While the blows left bruises, they didn't remove the beorc.

The cat snapped her head forward and clamped her jaws around the beorc's hand and fingers, biting down very hard and stopping the pommel from directly hitting her head.

...but all that force from the blow had to go somewhere. Even garbed with sand as it was, the arena floor was still quite hard. The last things Raisa would recall later was the beorc's hand--then stars, then black as her head bounced against the ground like a child's ball.

ALL THE BRUISES IN THE WORLD ARE ACCEPTABLE. Mostly because, despite the pain of those jaws closing around her hand, she's able to slam Raisa's head against the ground. It might be a different story if they were able to more seriously hurt each other - actually losing her hand would be awful - but like this? Katina could deal with a bit of bruising.

Grinning as she saw the cat relax against the ground, obviously unconscious, Katina rolls off to the side and onto the ground, panting to catch her breath. She won. SHE WON. "That's... just the start!"

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Women's Bracket -- Raisa vs. Katina

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