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Post by Graham Ashwood on Apr 3, 2020 14:15:16 GMT -4
Alright, this was where the tournament proper began. From Graham's perspective, at least, seeing how easily the previous match had gone. It hadn't failed to be a match to remember, certainly, though not for the intended reasons exactly. But enough on that, this fight would require his full focus.
His opponent would be Karen, after all. The class president, having taken that title in an election Graham lost. It wasn't as though he still held a grudge, not even after she was picked over him to be part of the Disciplinary Committee as well. No, he wasn't petty enough to hold it against her that she'd been chosen both by peers and superiors to be a better example, of course not! It was only friendly competition! A little rivalry can't harm anyone, can it? So it was only natural how thoroughly he felt a need to defeat her here.
And to that extent, he needed a few tools. There wasn't too much changed from his kit used against Kumoko; his carbon racing suit was still on, the damaged spot smoothed over to make it good as new. The notable additions were the two graphene katanas sheathed across his back. Given their assigned arena, it only seemed appropriate, but the dual blades should certainly have their purposes. Graham would admit he wasn't too well-versed in traditional swordplay, but his finer control of their material should make up for his lack of physical technique. As far as the rest of his weaponry went, there was the carbon wire wrapped around his right forearm, a series of small blocks of graphite stuck to his suit around the waist, and a pair of throwing knives attached to his legs underneath his suit. He'd left the shield behind, figuring that might just be a tiny bit too much. He liked to be versatile, but there was a limit to his focus.
The arena itself was quite a bit more complex than the last one, not to mention a thousand times more appealing than the hard concrete podium. While the thick bamboo forest might prove a bit restrictive for their movement, this could turn out to be a benefit for Graham since Karen likely had the upper hand in mobility. Not to mention, all the bamboo shoots might have their uses on their own.
So, walking onto the battlefield, Graham supposed this was as well-prepared as he could be. He had to face down the girl who embodied his failures at standing out, as much as he denied it. Whether he could overcome the one-sided rivalry was the question, but one thing was certain. Whether he knew it or not, his will to prevail was stronger than it had been, bolstered by his previous shortcomings and inspired by Kumoko's final show of defiance. If there was ever a moment he could overcome such a demon of his, it was right there, in that bamboo clearing. Every single trick up his carbon-fibre sleeves, every bit of strength his body and spirit could muster, this was what it was built up for.
They were about ten metres apart, standing on either end of the clearing, now only waiting for the signal to begin. An introductory remark of some variety was practically tradition, but Graham couldn't think of anything to say. Perhaps he was a bit too occupied with Karen and what her first move would be, though he wasn't sure of anything. Well, something simple would suffice. "I'm not surprised our wonderful class president got through round one! However, it's unfortunate that you won't reach the third," he bantered, feigning overconfidence. He was dedicated, certainly, but whether Graham had the strength to carry out his will this time would be determined.
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430 Posts
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"Shooting Star"
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Post by Karen Hoshizora on Apr 4, 2020 12:24:58 GMT -4
 Upon learning about who would be her opponent for the next round, Karen couldn't help but feel proud. Sure fate seemed to want her to go through a gauntlet of her classmates one after the other, but on the other hand these were all her classmates. 1-A was doing very well in this competition. And nothing would please her more than to see one of them be the tournament champion, even if it wouldn't be herself. Before heading out to the field she double-checked that everything was fine. The healers had done a good job and the injuries she got from the first round felt like they never happened. She had especially challenging opening match that gave her way more trouble than she expected. And this next one was probably going to be even more of a hurdle. The staff that she had lost in the earlier fight had been replaced with a new one. Given who she was up against she would definitely need it. Walking out into the new arena for the round, she would be greeted by a fresh scenery in more ways than one. First of all it wasn't just a plain ring. It was a bamboo forest. Large areas had been cleared to have some semblance of space but there were groups of bamboo growing here and there. There was plenty of cover which was nice but some of the taller ones served to be obstructions should she take things to the sky. Well the obstacles went both ways. She would just have to be more creative than her opponent in utilizing them. Unlike Graham who was armed to the teeth, all she had on her was her staff and line launchers on her wrists, though it wouldn't be obvious what they were. She had never used them before so that was one card she still had up her sleeve. Even her outfit that left her arms and back bare seemed to not really offer much in the way of protection. Well that's just how her quirk worked. The less covering her up, the better the performance, and she definitely wanted to be in top condition today. She waved at her classmate with her usual smile of familiarity as she approached the center of the arena, standing at her starting position. The greeting that she got from him was less than friendly however. But perhaps because they were classmates and rivals that they could say things like that in good sport. She decided to play along. "You're making me nervous already~ It's hard, you know, having to face classmates one after the other. But I guess I can think of it as personally checking everyone's progress on their way to become heroes. Let's have a good one Graham-kun~"She would twirl her staff a couple of times before taking up a weapon-ready stance, awaiting the signal to begin.
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Post by Graham Ashwood on Apr 7, 2020 8:29:22 GMT -4
The position of class president truly did fit Karen- or at least, she was acting accordingly, looking after her subjects even here. Not to mention, her greeting made Graham's sound rather mean-spirited in comparison. Again, however, it was all in the spirit of competition! No ill will at all, absolutely.
Their greetings weren't important in the grand scheme of things, though. One of the swords on Graham's back flew out its sheath and into his outstretched hand, as he took a moment to admire it. Oh, these were impeccable, weren't they? Their graphene was much more pure than most of the material he had available, it cut through the air softly as a feather to land in his palm. A reminder of what proper craftsmanship felt like.
Now, the silky-smooth manipulation of the blade's every facet was wonderful, but regrettably, he'd have to put it into use. Knowing Karen's quirk at least a little, that aura should be durable enough to sustain a few hits, so brutal injuries shouldn't have to be a worry. The main problem would likely be her speed and agility, something that could make long-range zoning and harassment ineffective, since she'd likely be quite evasive and could close the distance rather quickly in such a tight space. It could be possible to use the thicker bamboo to his advantage, but that'd be something to try later on. Another question, how aware was she of his capabilities? Surely, she knew the basic gist of Graham's quirk and the ways he tended to use it, but the only time he'd shown off his latest technique of independent flight was his previous fight, for the briefest of moments. If he applied it sparingly in this fight as well, it could work as a nice ace up the sleeve.
All this could be worked into his strategy, though that was more of a long-term concept, and he needed a short-term solution. Strategy wins the war, but tactics win the battles. That wasn't exactly how it went, but it illustrated his point. Karen was quick, she'd take control of the flow of the fight in an instant if he didn't figure out something against it. He'd have to try and predict her plan of attack, her movement, anything he could do to gain the upper hand in a short-range fight. How well this would go was unsure, but he'd try either way.
So, as the signal was given, he'd dash forward under the assumption he could meet Karen at least a few steps from his original position if she charged at the same time. He reeled back his blade, making it plenty clear he was about to slash, though this was of course all according to plan. He had a secondary attack in mind, relative to her reaction. One of the carbon projectiles around his waist would snap off the suit, launching itself towards Karen while she dealt with his first strike. A surprising amount of force could be applied through those little things, though Graham would have to see if it could catch her off-guard.
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"Shooting Star"
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Post by Karen Hoshizora on Apr 8, 2020 6:47:23 GMT -4
Graham's quirk was Carbokinesis. She had seen it in action before in rescue lessons and a few exams. But those were against cutouts and training dummies. She had never actually witnessed her classmate in a spar with another person. The memory that did stand out to her was that in one of their exams earlier in the year, Nimue-sensei had rated his destructive capabilities with his weapons much higher than what she could do with her punches. Of course they had both grown much since then, but this did make her wary about clashing with him directly. The other thing that test brought to light was that she was far above most of her peers in speed and mobility. She was able to confirm this to still be true in her match against Mia who was one of the few other notably quick members of the class. The Graham that stood before her was again well equipped. The multitude of weapons reminded her of Tetsuko whom she felt had a similar style of using weapons in combat. In this case however she didn't know anything about his proficiency with them. In her mind it was like he was telling everyone who saw him to approach at their own risk. There were too many unknowns for a direct confrontation. Not to mention she also had to watch out for him being able to manipulate his weapons telekinetically. Standard disarming techniques were probably going to be next to useless considering she didn't know his range either. This left her with only a few options to test the waters. After much deliberation, close quarters was still her best bet as she had yet to fully develop her own ranged capabilities. But she had to apply her own strengths where she could. Namely speed and agility. Her classmate pulled out his sword so perhaps he also wished to engage face to face. Unfortunately she wasn't planning to give him that chance. She activated her aura at the signal but unlike Graham she didn't immediately rush forward to attack. She was curious about how exactly he planned to approach her and waited for him to take a few steps before making her own move. She noted that, despite dashing forward, he wasn't really much faster than what she knew from before. Three or four steps later, she was satisfied and would finally break out from her own starting position. She would fly sideways to right, avoiding his initial attack, and using her speed and the scattered bamboo as cover to try and make him lose sight of her. She was actually circling around behind him, finding the ideal position to strike. Upon seeing an opening, she would then approach at high speed from his back with a single thrust from her aura-clad staff. Whether or not she was successful, she would quickly pull away, retreating behind the bamboo in a typical hit and run fashion. She would even deactivate her aura so that she couldn't be tracked through its signature glow, all of this while watching his moves and seeing if he could keep up.
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Post by Graham Ashwood on Apr 10, 2020 19:31:08 GMT -4
While Graham charged forward, Karen had remained remarkably stationary. The luminescent red that had started to surround her was a tell that her quirk was indeed active, and dashing at her with that knowledge was surprisingly thrilling. The fighting hadn't even properly started but he knew he was in for a good time. Particularly so if he managed to win, but for the moment he should keep his eyes on the prize instead of salivating over it prematurely.
A miscalculation right off the bat, Graham realized, as neither of his attacks was humoured. His sword slashed at nothing but the wind and the graphite projectile flew silently past where its target once stood. Graham's eyes darted after the red silhouette flying off to his left, however, following it into the woods. He certainly hadn't misremembered her being a quick one.
Fast she certainly was, but not invisible. The lack of light in the bamboo thicket almost made her stand out more, glowing red and all, but she must be thinking of using her speed alone to find an opening. She might have started defensively but likely didn't plan to keep that up, Graham should expect her to pop out from behind a bamboo shoot any second. Now, he might still not be particularly fast, but at least he'd become a decent bit more agile over the past while, not slightly due to his flight practice: the fine art of pushing and pulling himself around by the suit he was wearing was getting more and more familiar.
Showing too much of that, however, wasn't a good idea. It was safe to assume Karen was as acutely aware as he was regarding the difference between their movement speeds, and that was about as much information as he was willing to give for free. He'd prepare a slightly less revealing counterattack, then, for when she did reach his blind spot. Leave an opening just long enough for Karen to catch on, then punish her approach- it shouldn't be too difficult a tactic to put into play. With how fast she was going he wouldn't have to keep patient for too long either.
So, after keeping his back turned for just a moment, having the crimson blur lost from his sight, the katana remaining on his back shot out of its sheath. As Graham's neck turned to let him see what he was doing just in time, the blade intercepted the pole thrust, deflecting the strike away from the young man's back. Now he could turn around, ready to attack himself. He'd try to grab onto Karen's staff with his left hand before she could fly off again, before giving it a yank to either disarm her or bring her in closer. In case of the latter, he'd have another go with the sword in his right hand, striking at Karen with a rather plain diagonal slash while she'd be getting pulled towards him.
What to do past that point he hadn't figured out exactly- vague suggestions and ideas, yes, but those didn't add up to much. Nevertheless, he'd make it work, though how well this exchange went would likely determine a large part of the outcome.
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430 Posts
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"Shooting Star"
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Post by Karen Hoshizora on Apr 13, 2020 5:16:43 GMT -4
One of the pieces of information she was lacking was the degree of protection that her classmate's suit provided. She figured that, among other things, this would come to light after her first hit. Unfortunately for her she wouldn't be allowed that. Whether it was quick reflexes or simply predicting the course of her approach, Graham would make use of his manipulation abilities to launch his sheathed sword as a measure of intercepting her attack. As she wasn't aiming for anywhere specific in particular, readjusting her aim at that moment was something she passed on attempting. Instead she was satisfied with knowing that more obvious attacks were probably not going to work, as well complimenting in her head, her opponent's skill with utilizing their quirk. As for what came next, this was where she would reassert her control of the battle to put even more theories and assumptions to the test. With her staff already being deflected away from her opponent, pulling back out of range of his attempt to grab it was fairly simple. In the time he would spend turning around to face her, she had already circled around to his back again. Such a thing was something she could only pull off thanks to the large difference in speed between them. She was confident that given her opponent was limited to motions on the ground that she could maintain this position of being always at his back whenever he would try to turn around, unless of course he brought out a different range of motion from just spinning in place. It was from this position that she would execute her next attacks. The theory behind this strategy was simple. Most manipulation type quirks rely heavily on sight to be effective. So she was essentially testing her opponent's ability to respond to a situation where his target always just out of his range of vision. She would use his back as reference instead of his head, so at best he would probably catch glimpses of her from the very edge of his line of sight if he turned his neck as far as he could. Meanwhile from this position she would strike him with thrusts aimed at different points of his back to try and find a vulnerable spot. Specifically she would try aiming for the base of the spine, to where the kidneys would be, to even the back of his neck. Hopefully at least one of those would connect and give her results.
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Post by Graham Ashwood on Apr 16, 2020 15:19:01 GMT -4
If it weren't a certainty before, it was now unshakably known that Karen's agility was her greatest asset. The wooden bo-staff slipped right between his fingers, Karen herself remaining in his line of sight for who knows how short a period before vanishing out of his sight. It almost seemed impossible, but the speed on display was simply entirely out of his league. There was certainly room for improvement on his part, but catching up to this... unimaginable, almost.
Whatever the case, he had to adapt, very, very fast. If there were any playing field on which he could try to outmatch her, it was the mental one. He didn't have the time to construct a proper barrier, to start with, the little blocks he had were greatly versatile but so long as they were all on his belt there wasn't much he could do to surprise her- the little block... Oh, Graham was a genius, accidental or not!
A countermeasure against whatever she might be planning to hit his back with: two spinning katanas, the one in his hand having flown out to assist the other one, helping to cover his actual back, though the legs were still decently open on the lower end. The hope was that that'd keep her busy and away from actually attacking for just a moment, as Graham continued to turn around, hoping Karen would in fact follow along, until he hit a certain spot. He'd turned around 180 degrees a moment earlier, and now with another full rotation, he should be in perfect position.
If all went to plan, the piece he'd flung and missed right at the start of the fight would come flying out the bushes, Graham pulling it back to him as hard as he could. So long as she was keeping to her own plan, she should be right in between, ready to be hit in her own blind spot, or somewhere in her back anyway. He couldn't pin down her exact location after all, so the widest area of the body was a decent place to aim. Any of the particularly weak bits of the human back would be especially nice, though who could tell. As far as he was aware she didn't have eyes on the back of her head either, so this should work. Either way, if it did connect, the idea was that it would stun her for long enough of a moment for him to follow up. For a plot this ingenious he'd like to get a little more out of it than the one hit, after all.
In the event his scheme succeeded, there'd still be a decent amount of space for him to cover during his opening, so by continuing to force the piece into her back hopefully she'd get a little closer, the katanas clattering to the dirt just out of the way. Close enough for him to take two of his graphite blocks in either hand, push them onto and around her wrists deforming them into elementary cuffs, then battle her to the ground by them for him to start wailing on her face with his not-so-bare, carbon-control-powered fists. It wasn't his simplest offence, though the idea sounded solid to Graham.
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430 Posts
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"Shooting Star"
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Post by Karen Hoshizora on Apr 19, 2020 2:00:54 GMT -4
Impressive was her first thought upon seeing Graham's countermeasure to her annoying tactics. While it was true that he probably couldn't make precise manipulations against something he couldn't see, he was at least certain about where she was coming from so something as simple as putting up a general defense on his back was going to have some effectiveness. And indeed for the first couple of blows, Karen found that trying to thrust through the spinning katanas only resulted in her weapon being knocked away just enough that he probably barely felt anything. Still she wasn't going to miss the parts of her back that were exposed though. Spinning katanas could only cover so much. It seemed he hadn't given up on still trying to turn around but Karen kept on his back. In the meantime she would aim a couple of thrusts at his exposed legs to try and trip him up. She wasn't really that particular where to strike for as long as they were a gap in his defenses. And after the last few clashes she was less worried about the dangers of getting too close to his spinning weapons. That is to say her staff which was still coated by her aura was perfectly fine, meaning her shield did hold up against his blades after all. Whether or not she was successful in tripping Graham or hurting his legs, it would escape her notice that her classmate was actually leading her on somewhere. She did pay attention to her surroundings to not bump into anything or be forced into a compromising position but never did she consider that he had set something up before. Right up until it happened, she was caught bu surprise. She didn't know what it was but a small object had struck her back. More specifically she felt the pressure of the impact from her aura shield. Since in order to keep up with her speed tactics she had to keep the aura up the whole time. It didn't hurt, but she could sense the intention here of trying to push closer to Graham and all she could think about was when he managed to set it up and if he had set up any others. She decided to play his game and see where it would go. She would briefly halt her own attacks, feigning being momentarily 'stunned' by the the little block striking her back. True enough her classmate would use this opportunity turn around and attack her. Except that Karen wasn't actually stunned. As soon as Graham managed to face her, he would be greeted by a high speed barrage of thrusts, hopefully before he could mount a proper defense. This time Karen would attempt to overwhelm him with pure speed and martial arts ability in a straightforward assault. Whether or not she had enough power to actually hurt him through his suit was still unknown but she would be striking as many points as possible, both what was obviously exposed and not. It was time to see how well her classmate could actually keep up.
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