L.A.W. - League of Anime Wrestling

Spoiler

With a rare day with nothing planned out for either LAW or herself, Clara decided to give herself a rare day out, going out to Akihabara for some nerdy souvenirs, something for herself, something for her girlfriend. Her trip eventually lead her to a retro games store. Checking out old Game Boy Advance and DS games filled her with nostalgia, but the top of the store interested her the most.

The top floor had a bunch of 80s and 90s arcade games! She even found an arcade machine for Virtua Fighter 4! This was one of the first fighting games she ever played! She put a coin in, deciding to try out the game out of nostalgia...

Spoiler

Meanwhile...

"Guuhhh," issues a feminine moan. "It's just not the saaaame."

"W-we know, Oshiro-san." An uncomfortable-looking middle-aged man with mustache glances from the girl to his feet. "You keep telling us that."

"Make it more the saaaame," drones the raven-haired female plaintively.

"We can't, Oshiro-san. Especially me."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a janitor." The man lifts the long-necked dust roller at his side to drive the point home.

For the first time, Katsumi takes a moment to inspect the man and his drab gray jumpsuit. "Well, where's the owner!?"

"Tending to a customer-"

"-I'm a customer! I have a complaint!"

"Y-yes, they know. We know. Everyone knows. It's, it's been six times." The man politely bows his head. "They can't be taken away from their duties. So they asked me to hear your complaints from now on. But I don't mind. It is the only social interaction I get throughout the day."

Taken aback, Katsumi folds her arms against her modest bust and quirks a dark eyebrow at him. "Sheesh. Show some dignity! Have a little more pride in your work! A plumber can save a whole-ass kingdom, y'know! What's your excuse?" She punctuates the assertion with a backhanded whap on the man's chest.

"I-.. well, I guess it's nice that they put my name on my uniform." The man taps a patch prominently displayed on his chest that reads: TANAKA. "And the crowd there makes me feel important."

A small gathering of interested and terribly entertained LAW fans are huddled behind Katsumi, occasionally taking pictures. Suddenly reminded of their presence, she slowly peeks over her shoulder. CAMERA FLASH! When the whiteout fades, Katsumi offers a sheepish, if slightly dazed smile. Then it's back to the man, index finger raised. "You're off the hook this time, Tanaka-san!"

The man gives a stiff bow as Katsumi turns, feigning an aloof attitude as she waves her hands to the smattering of fans. This week's headline? 'OSHIRO BULLIES HELPLESS JANITORS'. But that's a problem for Future Katsumi. Present Katsumi has a big empty hole in her heart that only the blocky 'SEGA' logo can fill. Unfortunately, Club Sega is a thing of the past; she's had to take up gaming in places like this when she wants to be seen. And it just doesn't have the same magic.

Spotting a girl she totally doesn't recognize off-hand due to a number of reasons (normie clothes, normie activity, no mask), she drifts in her direction. Virtua Fighter 4. Katsumi isn't even good at that. But she can have a little fun with the audience, and potentially make a new fan in the process, right?

Before getting too close, the punkette whirls around on heel. "Who wants to see me smoke a random chick anyway?," she asks the four-or-five people trailing behind her. "See that girl over there?" She brazenly points behind her at Clara. "She's already put her money in the machine, totally unawares that her gameplay experience is about to get gotted by the Punk Princess! Is she gonna cry!? Is she gonna beg!? Let's find out!"

There is very little chance Clara didn't hear all of that. She's saying it like five feet away from her, loudly.

Whirling around again, she rather gracefully slides in beside Clara and clinks a coin into the slot. A new fighter has joined!

"Uh-ohhhh~," coos the punkette impishly.

Clara could hear someone talking behind her, talking a big game. Clara almost felt like it was someone from LAW talking about a potential match...but her worries were unfounded, as another lady slipped to the right of her, inserting a coin into the VF4 machine to start up multiplayer:

"You would look really silly if you don't back these words up...", Clara would say with a snide smile, as she swiftly chose Vanessa for the battle against her unnamed opponent, as her entourage took a look at Clara...and took a double take:

"Aren't you...?"

Clara gave a polite wave...with the response being several camera flashes in her face in response!

"W-wait until I beat this lady first...mwahaha..." Clara would say, peeking at her soon-to-be game opponent, and having a feeling that she knew who she was...

Any recognition from the small gaggle of fans is completely missed by Katsumi, for her eyes are now dedicated to the screen before her.

"Nononodon'tyoudare-ooohh, you sniped the hot one," Katsumi foux-seethes. It is clearly not a big deal. This is puffery for its own sake; to be entertaining, not only for herself, but for the onlookers. And heck, maybe even the lil' squirt she's sidled beside! After all, not everyone can say played an arcade game with a... mid-tier?.. celebrity?

She's not sure what her celebrity status is. For some people, it's pure gold. For others, they think she's from Mars. But the main point here is to goof off and salvage the day.

"Don't you worry about me backing it up," asserts Katsumi, complete with theatric uptilt of her button nose. "I'm about to back it up so hard you're gonna hear beeps."

There's a pause as she immediately realizes what she would say in response to that, and she quickly jumps back in with, "And-not-'cuz-I'm-fat."

A few snickers rise from the gathering behind her, and that puts her a bit more at ease. And finally, she bobbles the joystick over to land on, who else, but Sarah Bryant. "I guess I'll use this chick to school ya." The fact that she doesn't even know their names should probably be telling. But she suddenly tilts her hips to bump-check Clara beside her. "And no evil cackling when the fight ain't even started yet! Have a little class, would'ja!?"

At last, she flits her bright emerald gaze sidelong to the girl beside her, accompanied with a subtle, but playful smile. And recognition still hasn't quite landed yet. She's just too used to getting glimpses of that cute face only when there's been a mask involved.

"Mweheh...that's the idea!" she would tell her rival as she chose Sarah Bryant instead, still continuing their "pre-match" with a bit of trash talk to play to her crowd, but also herself. Clara was happy to oblige. She liked how confident her opponent was, and a part of her wanted to bring her down a peg the right way via the fighting game. She definitely was VERY rusty when it came to this game...but then again, she doubted that her opponent was practicing a 20+ year old fighting game to be a big threat.

She snickered at her rival's joke as the character select finished, and the character intros on the snowy arena loaded in, with her fellow raven-haired woman bump checking her for her evil laugh:

"Oh? Sure thing...but once that HP hits zero, cackling will ensue!" she would say, briefly turning to her cute opponent. Neither woman recognized the other yet, though Clara was sure she saw her opponent somewhere...

During their little talk, the character intros played through, as the announcer let out:

ROUND 1!

READY?

GO!

As lame as it was, Clara did not want to lose in front of a crowd of people, and as such, took the fight seriously. Her fault in fighting games was always rushing in too soon, and as such, she chose to stay back, crouch and defend!

Catching the other girl turning to her, Katsumi briefly turns her attention her way in return. She's got a cute face and pretty eyes; but both of those things run contrary to anything the Punk Princess would recognize her for! So as far as she knows, she's a random, albeit pretty girl in the arcade who so far seems kind'a fun. A good foil to play off of. But she hasn't quite gotten the girl's proverbial goat yet. She'll find it somewhere!

"Oh my god, you nerd, it's a health bar. This ain't D-n-D, that's not a dwarf. I mean little person. Fuck."

In truth, Katsumi has no intention of losing, either. She'd prefer to assert herself here and save a bit of face after the fiasco with the janitor. Perhaps the main difference between the two is their eagerness to entertain a crowd. Both clearly have a heart to do it, but Katsumi is perhaps just a little bit more of a wildcard. And this is perfectly exemplified the moment the fight starts. Whereas Clara adopted turtle tactics, Katsumi is what you might call a high roller. She whales away at the buttons while marching and hopping Sarah's skinny ass across the stage, hoping to land exotic combinations and hitherto unknown offenses through sheer volume and force of will. If it takes 100 rolls of the dice to land a perfect 77, 100 button mashes will see her way to victory.

How does this manifest?

A confusing and unpredictable opponent who would, no doubt, be the most frustrating player to lose to. There is no skill involved here. Only Zuul.

If Clara cannot meet the rising tide of pure chaos, her defenses may find themselves penetrated with a throw, then an unrelenting barrage of nonsense, all starting with a single phrase: "Get rotated, idiot."