Battle Beneath the Moon: Jade Cho vs Kuki Kagawa

[Misfit_Alien]

The first real mistake in the match would be awarded to Jade as she failed to see through Kuki's plan, getting smacked in the head by the Question Mark Kick and reeling from it. She was left partially groggy, stumbling and trying to find her footing as she was knocked back and away from the savage kunoichi fighter. She let out a grunt, wincing in pain as her back hit the ropes, bouncing off of them for a moment. She let out a brief pant as she tried to breathe, trying to analyze her situation and find a way out of it...she had to wait for Kuki's next move, she needed to react to the woman's next plan against her. Either to run, to defend, or to try and counter...soon Jade would be forced to choose as she brought up her guard and prepared herself.

[BuckleBuster]

Finally Kuki had managed to find the chink in Jade's armor. It had taken quite a bit of time and effort on her part, having exhausted a few options in her hand-to-hand arsenal, but it was her ingenuity and flexibility that ultimately rewarded her with the first successful strike. The question-mark kick had elicited a loud THWAP as it smacked into the side of Jade's head, accompanied by loud hollers from the crowd as the girl was sent tumbling towards the ropes.

Kuki didn't imemmedialty initiate another attack, instead swinging her leg back around until it landed gently on the mat. Both her fists were still raised up to her face and poised to strike. She could tell Jade was rattled, and with her being trapped against the ropes, there was nowhere else left to run. So Kuki sprung into action, taking two large strides before leaping into the air for an awe-inspiring superman punch!

[Misfit_Alien]

Jade tried to think quickly, she saw the look in Kuki's eyes...she was in danger. She saw Kuki approach in such a short span of time with such a big burst of speed. She had to do something...but WHAT? She saw Kuki leap up into the air, gaining massive height after an impressively executed leap off of the canvas and into the air, she was poised for the Superman Punch with a near-perfect form. As she built momentum on her descent, time sort of slowed down for Jade in the moment, she tried assess her options, thinking hard about what she could do. Taking a risk the first time worked...maybe she needed to take another one.

So she tried exactly that, aiming to try and dodge the punch by dropping straight down, but not just that. She also pulled down on the top rope, trying to remove the sort of 'safety net' so that when Kuki landed, she'd land on the ropes and fall for Jade's trip up, sending her to the outside of the ring. It was a huge risk and it meant that if Jade failed, she'd be taking that punch directly to the face and would most likely end up on the outside of the ring herself and suffer a pretty nasty spill as a result.

[BuckleBuster]

So far Kuki's attack had been performed with perfection and grace. Even if some of them didn't land, they were still swung with a certain poise that screamed skill and elegance with every blow. Her next fumble however, was anything but graceful. Unable to change trajectory mid-flight, Kuki was left powerless to outmaneuver Jade's quick thinking as her opponent dodged the punch and pulled down on the top rope.

Rather than collide with the rope and rebound back into the ring, Kuki was sent soaring directly overtop of it! She tried to control her landing, but it was to no avail as she landed harshly on the cool floor outside the ring. Her momentum rolled her over a few times, before finally making her way up to her hands and knees with loud groans. She tried to make her way back to the ring, stopping just short of climbing back onto the ring apron before her eyes caught sight of something.

The barrels of kendo sticks that accompanied each corner of the ring had remained entirely untouched throughout the match. But now that Kuki was outside the ring, the weapons were conveniently within her reach. Shifting devious glances between the sticks and her opponent, Kuki quickly leapt onto the ring apron and grabbed a shinai mid-jump, waving the weapon precariously from behind the ropes to taunt her opponent.

It dawned on Kuki that the honorable thing to do would be to allow her opponent to acquire a weapon of her own. But an unarmed opponent was still an opponent nonetheless, so Kuki decided to continue the fight regardless. Still on the edge of the ring, Kuki began deftly climbing up the ropes, placing her feet on the middle layer and using them to propel herself up into the air. Mid-flight, Kuki would grasp onto the kendo stick overhead with both hands, aiming to hammer it down on her opponent in an improvised springboard kendo attack!

[Misfit_Alien]

Jade took a moment to breathe, thanking her ancestors above for granting her the grace to achieve success with her risky play. She let out a deep gasp, trying to take in as much air as possible as she got away from the ropes. She stumbled to the other side of the ring, falling down against the ropes as she kept panting fervently. She saw Kuki stand back up and she caught her gaze as it flashed from her to the barrel full of shinai. She knew EXACTLY what Kuki was thinking and as she saw her reach for one, she knew that she had to act fast.

She glanced over to the barrel of shinai just outside the ring behind her, she witnessed Kuki leap from above, getting to the apron and making it one step closer to getting to Jade. She quickly turned around and pulled out a wooden sword from the barrel, reaching as far as she could and quickly slipping back in and just BARELY making it in time to block Kuki's downward slash. She was slammed into the canvas from the impact, grunting and pushing against Kuki as much as possible. She let out a groan but was quick to shoot a leg out towards Kuki in order to try and knock her back to get some room to get back up.

[BuckleBuster]

Soaring through the air like a comet hurdling down towards earth, Kuki knew that if her kendo stick landed where she wanted it too, the match would most likely end right then and there with a knockout, assuming Jade's head hadn't been split open. Instead, kendo stick met kendo stick as her opponent managed to grab a sword of her own in time to deflect the devastating overhead attack. Her landing was enough to cause the whole ring to shake, but she had landed steady enough to continue putting unrelenting downwards pressure on Jade's stick as the two pushed against each other.

Too focused on the shinai duel, Kuki completely missed Jade's leg as it swung at her from the side, causing her to wince as she was knocked back slightly, separating them by a few feet and relinquishing the pressure between their sticks. That was enough for Jade to find her footing, and soon both of them were steady on their feet, face to face.

Rather than keep up her attack, Kuki used the brief break to circle her opponent and re-steady her breathing. Her shinai was held out in front her like one would hold a katana, both hands firmly around the grip with the edge pointed towards her opponent. One foot crossed over the other, her eyes never leaving Jade's as she continued to circle her within the confines of the ring. "Kendoka huh? Well let's see what you're made of then!" Kuki growled, not even giving her opponent time to respond as she leapt towards her, immediately thrusting her kendo stick forward and aiming it's tip directly for Jade's gut.

[Misfit_Alien]

Jade readied her 'blade', getting into her stance...the stance of her family's kendo style, Moonlit Gale. She let out a calm breath and quickly parried the thrust from Kuki, deflecting it and quickly trying to twist her body and bring her shinai around in order to perform an incredibly fast 360-degree slash. The blade of the shinai closed in on its target of Kuki's body with both speed and precision, it was as if Jade was moving even faster now that she had her weapon of choice in her hand, even a basic strike was carried out with grace, accuracy, power, and urgency as she swung with a brilliant form that was so refined one could say it was practically perfect...

Spoiler

[BuckleBuster]

Kuki raised an eyebrow as her thrust was deflected with relative ease, the point of the shinai stabbing into open, empty air. Her opponent adopting a unique posture not quite familiar to the young kunoichi, but one that was equally effective nonetheless. The counter had reveled a brief opening, one that Jade quickly took advantage of as she swung her stick around and struck at Kuki's exposed side.

"AAGH!" Kuki shrieked, the tight bamboo slashing across her unclothed abdomen. It was the first audible sign of pain from Kuki, revealing just how effective the strike had been. She whipped herself around, kendo stick held in front of her once again to parry any follow up attack should they come. The skin around the impact was a deep shade of a red, a testament to just how painful the weapons they wielded could be.

The slash was all that was needed for Kuki to assess her opponent's skills. Clearly the girl was more skilled with a shinai in hand then when they had been engaging bare-fisted. Nevertheless Kuki refused to relinquish her offensive, only taking a few seconds to recover before attacking once again. This time she opted for a three point strike, a staple kote-men-do attack that saw Kuki aiming for a thrust towards the head, then a downwards slash across the torso , and concluding with a strike towards her arms! Kuki wanted to test just how advanced Jade's knowledge of the shinai was by putting her up against a skilled combination attack!

[Misfit_Alien]

Jade focuses, watching Kuki's movements with a killer amount of precision, quickly smacking her shinai away yet again, but this time Kuki was way closer to hitting her. This kept reinforcing the fact that Kuki was highly skilled as well...if she really wanted, Kuki could very well have severely injured if not outright hospitalized Jade. These facts kept barraging Jade more than the actual strikes that Kuki sent at her, plaguing her mind like an infection. She zips backward, dodging with a few back steps. Once repositioned, she bolsters her stance and waits, looking Kuki in the eyes. Her stance changed somewhat, it tightened further and the intensity she was radiating changed, her demeanor got more serious as she gripped her shinai tighter.

"I have to thank you Kuki...I was so lost in the haze of pro-wrestling I nearly forgot where I came from. If I'm going to fight someone like you...the flash and flair of pro-wrestling isn't going to cut it, no...it'd be disrespectful to a warrior like you. So allow me to earn it properly...I came here to make a future for myself, but I also came here to spread the teachings of my family's ancient style. I know you see me as an enemy but please allow me the honor to show you, the style of my ancestors...known as Moonlit Gale." She said, trying to speak to Kuki as a fellow warrior, snapping out of her mental funk. She let out a soft breath, focusing once Kuki was prepared...

" 渦巻く月の突風, 逆転 !!!" - ("Whirling Lunar Gust, Reversal!!!")

Whirling Lunar Gust (Reversal) - 渦巻く月の突風（逆転)

Jade leaps forward to get in close, attacking from above with a heavy downward slash with a great deal of force and speed. Following this move would be an immediate slash upon closing the distance and striking, regardless of if the first attack was blocked by Kuki or not, this style made use of continuous attack and speed, a warrior needn't do a single thing in battle...and that was to hesitate, for hesitation was defeat. Immediately after the follow-up, she quickly flips back to gain some ground again, putting distance between herself and her adversary.

[BuckleBuster]

Kuki listened intently as her opponent laid out her ambitions and desires in the ring. In that moment she felt a creeping comradery with her opponent, a sense of honor so rare in LAW but was now being shared between the two fighters. But that wasn't going to stop her from holding back, especially not against someone as skilled with the shinai as Jade was. As masters of the weapon, neither one of them underestimated it's usage in tonight's unarmored battle. Enough successful strikes would bring with it torrential amounts of pain, a feeling both toughened girls were capable of enduring, but not wanting to experience nonetheless

Almost as soon as she finished her statement, Jade launched forward, unleashing what Kuki immediately discerned as a powerful downwards slash. Kuki threw her kendo stick upwards to block the attack, wincing as the bamboo bent and strained under the immense pressure but ultimately withstanding the devastating attack. However, Kuki found herself unprepared for what came next, as an immediate slash soon found itself buried once again into her side, the exact same spot where Jade first successful strike had landed.

"AAARGH!" Kuki screamed as she stumbled backwards, clutching her side with one hand while keeping the shinai pointed at her opponent with her other. Her scream transformed into one of rage, frustrated that her opponent had managed to land two successful hits on her. She glance downwards to observe the damage, her hand trembled away to reveal a large welt and a blotch of purple skin. It hurt to touch, But Kuki would have to endure it if she was to stay in the fight. She gripped both hands tightly on the kendo stick's handle, hovering it in front of her in a defensive stance as she tried to recover from the devastating blow.