Seaside Fight Night: Kanae vs Natasha

Natasha was aching for any opportunity to grow stronger, improve on her current skill, and be of better use to her peers in the Vandenreich. To her, this tournament was an excellent little stepping stone toward working that fighting muscle. What better way to improve than a live-action setting, right? Of course, as she stepped through the hallway, walking out to meet the crowd, she found that she wasn't particularly fond of the way the crowd was reacting.

It wasn't nearly as entertaining as she thought it would be. Screams of terror? No, these should be screams of cheers. Requesting a microphone, Natasha sauntered along the clearing until she stepped into the pagoda. Pointing toward the crowd, the blonde-haired woman pointed toward the crowd. This was meant to be entertainment, and a way of solidifying bonds. If the crowd wasn't cheering, then it was kind of pointless. Time to hype them up.

"The hell type of crowd is this!? Is this really the best ya can do? All scared to death, screaming as if ya'll have seen a ghost or somethin! As the Queen of The Ring, I need to hear noise, I need to hear some goddamn' soul shinin' through! See me? Do I look terrified? Hell no! Because you see," she would point to Kanae, "As the Queen of the ring, I don't give a damn who ya' are. I'm fixin' to serve anyone who steps up a cold can of whoop-ass!"

Turning to the crowd once more, Natasha stepped forward, calling out to the crowd to rile them up even more, to raise their spirits up.

"Now, y'all can quiver and shake there in the crowds like a bunch of pussies or you can make some goddamn noise! And that's the bottom line, because Natasha Miller said so!"

Offering the best Stone Cold impression she could offer, Natasha threw the microphone off into the crowd, turning to face Kanae entirely, a wide grin crossing her face. Bold and braggadocious though she was, it wasn't as if she was expecting to pull some victory out of her behind'. According to public information, she was a newly appointed captain, a warrior from the past era of soul reapers. At best, she went in with the hope she could land a few good blows, and give it her all.

Forming Roxanne and Casanova within her hands, Natasha settled into an offensive stance. Forget any of that first move business. From the desert eagle and pistol in her hand, she loosed a volley of reishi bullets toward the woman with impeccable speed and clockwork accuracy, darting around her to distort her sense of balance. She wasn't going to wait to feel her out, or anything of the sort. It was pure aggression from beginning to end.

Consecutive Heilig Pfiel bullets missed the mark entirely as Kanae danced between each of them with relative ease. As expected, her initial attack was unsuccessful. She avoided that field of fire like it was nothing. The high-speed movement was impressive. She certainly was a captain through and through. However, she hadn't received a single counter - no, to be more appropriate the woman hadn't even engaged her in an exchange yet. She was standing ten meters away, her back faced towards the woman. A power move, huh? Well, she would've viewed the act as flexing until she casually uttered that callous comment.

The execution of their kind, huh? She was going on about that Quincy spiel in the past some of the ancient soul reapers liked to go on about, or perhaps to put it more accurately, the specific kind of men and women who despised the Quincy in their world. Phew, this was supposed to be a ceremony for Shinigami and Quincy to get along, and this is the first opponent she gets? Scary... Oh well. Battle was a battle. After hyping up the crowd, she'd be a hypocrite to be perturbed by ominous words. If she was aiming for a rise, it wasn't working. Natasha whistled as she deftly placed one of Star and Stripe's seven bullets within her chamber.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, honey, but all that genocide mumbo jumbo ain't gonna work on me'."

Without hesitation, she fired the bullet in a particularly meticulous trajectory, firing off another wave of bullets to follow along its path.

"But, if ya' wanna stop mid-match, that's just a free hit' or two for me."

"Nah, don't worry. I haven't even shown my full hand yet. Kinda' hard to justify it when all my opponent does is mock me thinkin' I'll let it get under my skin. As far as I'm concerned, yer not' even worth a drop o' piss in a bucket."

This lady was really trying to get a rise out of her, huh? The initial wave welcomed the same result as before, but Natasha was by no means a one-trick pony. She knew the woman was particularly fast on her feet, and as far as she was concerned, only capable of running off at the mouth with insults. This, too, suited her just fine. One particular beauty of Star & Stripe's function was that each of the seven bullets were the equivalent of a spirit weapon to her, capable of using the ambient reishi in the air to replenish and change course on the fly. Natasha's voice was vibrantly playful, a stark contrast to Kanae's venomous tone.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words from a looney won't ever hurt me."

Natasha casually remained in her position, deftly sliding another Star-Stripe bullet into Casanova's chamber, the act appearing so swift one might as well consider it another reishi bullet. Appearing to wave her hand dismissively, an onlooker may have assumed it was merely a way of playing up her taunt, but--- a bullet came roaring back toward her from earlier, aiming right for her neck.

"Ya' really should be payin' attention, sweetheart."

"Me? Arrogant? Ya' got me pegged all wrong, Miss Nagoshi. I'm just trying to put on a show for the crowd. Yer' the one who keeps duckin' and weavin' about. If anything, I'd say yer the one stiflin' my flow'. Impressive swordsmanship there, though. The good ol' draw and slash is pretty cool."

For her part, Natasha wasn't particularly fazed that her S&S and bullet had been sliced in half. Judging from the way she cut it down, she probably developed an idea of how her her spirit weapon's mechanics were. Of course, part of a good strategy was not revealing one's hand entirely. The bullet chopped cleanly and half began to replenish reishi instantaneously, rapidly returning to its original shape. At that moment, Natasha decided to get serious on her end.

She was realistically going to lose her. As much as she detested it, she wasn't anywhere within the realm of a warrior who could defeat a captain, not without some form of assistance on her end. She would have to grow stronger, keep on improving, tapping into her skills until her efforts bore fruit. For now, that was fine. She simply wanted to get under this woman's skin, and land a few good hits in. She's a fossil from the old age, so she probably won't expect her next salvo.

Quincy were no longer simply archers, and Natasha wanted to land a good haymaker on that ugly mug of hers'! Propelling herself forward through the high-speed moment afforded by Hirenkyaku, Natasha bolted forward swinging her arm toward her in preparation for uppercut, dropping one one of the guns in her hand, allowing it to dissipate into reishi. At the same time, she fired another Star-Stripe Bullet, using her arm as a guide for the weapon to race toward the woman in hot pursuit. And, of course, that also meant...

The bullet once felled now rose up to answer its masters call as she dropped the other gun, swinging at her neck from the left. Subsequently, the bullet from before came racing in from her Kanae's left. Two strikes, two bullets. It was time to put the pedal to the medal.

"Bring it on."

She really was playing right into her hand so far. It wasn't an all-out assault by any stretch of the term, but Natasha wasn't aiming to fight her on that front. By and large, a victory here was wishful thinking. She already concluded that. A moral victory, though? Against a woman like this, she could allow herself the indulgence. She stood in place waiting for two of Star & Stripe bullets to race toward her, and that suited Natasha just fine. It meant that she would constantly avoid taking a hit just to prove her superiority over a filthy quincy.

Another spirit weapon bullet of a nature much like the first two formed within her hand. Far from perturbed that one of her little guys had been manipulated and thrown toward the next, Natasha controlled the trajectory of one of them by swinging her arm, allowing the bullet under her command to avoid the one Kanae had utilized to deflect it. So as long as Natasha was free to move her arms, she could ensure the two of them would never collide. That was the beauty of her spirit weapon. Meticulous deception.

Now that it was no longer under Kanae's momentary constriction, she motioned her other arm around, controlling the momentum of the first in tandem with the second, maintaining her focus as the woman rushed to meet her head-on. It was so imperceptibly fast that she almost caught her off guard, especially considering she had surrendered her fist toward its charge, but Natasha utilized blut vene to mitigate some of the damage as the blunt edge of that blade collided with her gut.

Her blut was rather porous, but she was simply going to have to push through. Grimacing softly, she maintained her charge as she formed a platform of reishi in the air, kicking off of it to keep her momentum in constant rotation. Don't stop. Take the pain. She can't win the way she wants, but she'll damn sure win the way she desires.

"For a disgustin' Quincy, I'd say I'm doin' pretty good keepin' you on yer' feet. Keep runnin!' Can't see why the crowd was intimidated by someone who won't face me head-on!"

During her flight through the air, she reposition herself from above, kicking off of another platform to soar in with an impeccable source of momentum on her side, flying toward the woman from her left. From above, those reoccurring star bullets roared through the air once again, their target not in doubt, though this time they came packaged with even more reishi than before, feeding off of every reishi that could be utilized in an environment like this.

Natasha swung her fist forward as though she were aiming to repeat the same technique from before, to feign predictability, only for her to release the star stripe bullet from her hand, utilizing it as a makeshift explosive at the last moment. If successful, this would force the woman to pick her poison. Two bullets from above, the other shooting right toward her, packaged with a lil' surprise.

She could keep on doing this for a while. Her reishi absorption was top-notch, and her spirit weapon manipulation while leaving something to be desired merited enough attention to be a small threat in tandem. Of course, she really wanted to get a good hit in or two on her, and make her regret simply not going for the source. Forming another spellcraft firearm, courtesy of Gunplay, an assault rifle materialized within Natasha's arms --- Starpacker. If she thought that was all she had to deal with, she was sorely mistaken. Battle was a gamble, and it was never a safe bet to reveal your entire hand.