Budokai Preliminary Round - Fend VS Pracross

Pracross's quick thinking led to him releasing his attack, the bright purple energy lashing out against her attack. The Cosmic Cannon was briefly wrapped up by the threads of Fend's Cross Stitch attack, squeezing the blast in an attempt to rip it apart... But the energy was just barely too much, and her ki vanished into the greater power of Pracross's attack.

However, the brief struggle bought Fend just enough time to focus her energy. In a familiar blip of energy, the Shinjin vanished just as the blast was about to strike her. Pracross's blast struck hard onto the tiles, sending a burst of dust and rubble across the ring.

Reappearing a moment later, Fend breathed a deep sigh of relief. If she hadn't dodged- or worse, if she hadn't the energy to mitigate that attack... That might have been it, then and there, with how close she was to the ledge. "Well color me impressed, that's got a hellu'va lotta power behind it." She complimented, rolling her shoulders before readjusting her posture, pointing Palibur at Pracross from where he stood from the other side of the ring. "Just try landing it next time." If he wanted her and Palibur to go all out, he was about to get his wish.

Fend rushed forwards into melee range, lunging forward with a flurry of slashes from the blade. No ki was behind Palibur's attack yet- she just needed to slash open an opening first...

Fend activates her Kai Kai trait to use a free 40,000 PL Evasive Technique! She fully dodges Cosmic Cannon's bleedthrough. No KP action taken- +2 KP regained!

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KP: 4/6 (+2)
MP: 6/6 (MAX)
PL: 80,000
Damage: 17% / 250%

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Total Word Count: 2,187 (+243)

    At first, Pracross wasn't holding up well against her flurry of blows, but the saiyan began to adapt and better parry each of Palibur's strikes. Fend narrowed her eyes beneath her mask- as tempted as she was to act gutsy and get on with the fight with another big attack, she still needed a bit longer to catch her breath and time her next strike. Currently they were both in the combat equivalent of twiddling their thumbs.

    "Soooo..." Fend clicked her tongue, speaking nonchalantly between strikes. While they were taking a brief intermission, she figured she may as well start up some small talk. "Wonderful weather we're having." She casually spoke, despite keeping her onslaught of slashes ongoing. She wasn't putting too much thought behind her attacks for now, it simply busywork to give the audience something to look at for now.

    "Wat'cha gonna do if you win this thing, anyways?" She asked curiously, using her free hand to adjust her cloak. "There's like... I don't remember how much Zeni on the line, but it's a good chunk. I mean, I'm just here to practice and get some good fights in, that sorta stuff." She hummed in thought. If by some miracle she won, Fend didn't know what she'd do after. She'd cross that bridge when she got there.

No KP action taken- +2 KP regained!

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KP: 6/6 (+2)
MP: 6/6 (MAX)
PL: 80,000
Damage: 17% / 250%

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Total Word Count: 2,406 (+219)

    Simply fighting in the Budokai to meet other like-minded warriors was something Fend could relate to. Though her searches for a proper swordfighting teacher or someone that could help her restore Palibur left her empty-handed thus far. However the few she'd met so far on tourney grounds were people she could see herself getting along with in the future, Pracross included.

    "Eyyy, me too." She nodded, taking a step back and finally stopping her barrage of slashes. "If 'ya wanna chill sometime after tourney stuff, I'd be down. You seem like you got a good head on your shoulders, and I've been looking for some sparring partners as well." A friendly rivalry was always good fuel for strength, after all. "Maybe I can give you some pointers once I'm done winning this match." She teased- though of course she knew the fight was anyone's game, throwing teasing banter was all part of the Budokai experience for Fend.

    She reared back, channeling ki into Palibur's blade. "Allllrighty, time for take two..." Taking a slow breath in after a brief moment of hesitation, Fend rushed her foe again. Again she'd try to stab at him, instead directing the blow to his shoulder this time, careful with her aim to avoid any serious damage. Though still hesitant with the stabbing-sorts of attacks, Pracross had told her to not hold back... The only way to get over a phobia was through healthy exposure to it, right?

Fend uses Papercutter again for 32,000 PL!

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KP: 4/6 (-2)
MP: 6/6 (MAX)
PL: 80,000
Damage: 17% / 250%

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Total Word Count: 2,648 (+242)

    The fight was finally starting to pick up again! Fend couldn't help but to smile from the exhilaration- she couldn't help but to let a bit of the thrill and her own confidence start to get to her head. If this kid had more up his sleeve, she was eager to face it.

    Pracross lurched forwards- Fend quickly tried to raise Palibur in defense. His movements were incredibly fast, and it was hard to pinpoint exactly where he was and what he was doing when all Fend could see was a blur of motion. A chop to her stomach made her stagger back- Fend managed to just barely raise Palibur in position to block the blow to her throat, though it left her hands open for Pracross to knee her right in the wrist. She staggered back and hissed in pain- caught off guard, Fend couldn't dismiss the newfound ache in her wrist.

    Quickly, she swung Palibur around herself in a complete circle, aiming to knock Pracross away from herself with one all-encompassing strike. Deep within the cracks in the sword, there was a pale light...

        Pracross had been proving his mettle to more than just Fend in this fight.

    A few wisps of light crept from the sword's crevasses and around Fend's hand- barely visible, and something Fend herself didn't even notice. Her eyes flashed with a similar pale light. If Pracross was to go all out, so too would Fend.

    Fend's cloak billowing in the wind as her energy flared out into a bright aura, and it began to flow into Palibur. Fend pointed the blade at Pracross as her aura flared in the wind. No words were needed in this language of combat- something big was soon to come from them both.

No KP action taken.

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KP: 6/6 (+2)
MP: 6/6 (MAX)
PL: 80,000
Damage: 17% / 250%

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Total Word Count: 2,945 (+297)

Fend dug her heels into the arena tiles as Pracross stood his ground, intensifying his own energy with a mighty shout. The mighty gusts from both of their energies made her cloak, torn from combat, billow in the wind- as well as one unsuspecting audience member's hat go flying. The crowd sat on the edge of their seats as they awaited to see the powers of the two finally unleashed...

Fend narrowed her eyes as she felt her power start to increase. With the focus and strength her blade was briefly gifting her, she had more than enough power for one mighty attack.

Leaping into the air with the sun glimmering behind her, Fend brought Palibur down in a sweeping, vertical arc well over twice her own size. A cutting crescent of energy was formed in front of her- though before it could fire, two more diagonal swings formed another pair of arcs of ki that layered over the first. Forming a shape akin to that of a six pointed star, one last pulse of energy from Fend would send each of the three massive arcs soaring down to strike Pracross in rapid succession, aiming to strike him one after the other.

Dropping back to the ground, Fend landed on her knee as she took a deep breath in, winded by her technique. Though Pracross would likely have one hell of a onslaught to deal with, his opponent was now tired and open to attack...

Fend activates a +x1 Transformation Boost with 4 MP! Her PL is 100,000 for this post.
Her Otherworldly Training trait activates. She can use three techs in this post now!
Fend uses THREE SEPARATE Papercutter attacks. Each has 40,000 PL!

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KP: 0/6 (-2, -2, -2)
MP: 2/6 (-4)
PL: 100,000 (+x1)
Damage: 17% / 250%

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Total Word Count: 3,190 (+245)

    Fend slowly managed to catch her breath as the dust cleared. She pushed herself back to her feet, clinging to Palibur as a clutch as its point buried into the tiles. Lo and behold, Pracross had been knocked right down from her barrage, dangerously close to the ledge of the ring. As the announcer began to count down, Fend kept her eyes narrowed. Could victory really have been that easy...?

    Of course not.

    A mere second before disqualification, Pracross stirred and stood back upright, still ready to fight. "Dang," Fend hummed despite her own exhaustion, clearly impressed. "You're pretty durable, I'll give you that much." Still, the saiyan had a long fight if he wanted any chance of beating Fend. Behind the Shinjin loomed the countdown clock of the preliminary fight, buzzing ominously as the timer ticked down to one minute remaining.

    "We're on a strict schedule, though, so I hope you're quick enough to pick up your slack soon." She raised her blade and began to gather flecks of ki in her free hand. Though much more fatigued than Pracross, her injuries were comparably minimal. Unless he had a trump card up his sleeve he could pull out soon, then Fend's last blow was a decisive one.

    Unable to defend in time, Fend winced as Pracross's punch bonked against her mask- thankfully it was durable enough to stay intact, though Fend felt a brief pang of panic surge through her as a bit of its wooden surface cracked and chipped off. Sidestepping around his kick, Fend would try to grab hold of the leg Pracross had tried to send right at her face, attempting to spin around and throw him to the ledge if successful. "Hey- watch the mask!" She snapped, readjusting the purple, feline-like mask to make sure it was going to stay on...

No KP action taken. +2 KP restored!

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KP: 2/6 (+2)
MP: 3/6 (+1 Passive)
PL: 80,000
Damage: 17% / 250%

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Total Word Count: 3,496 (+306)

Pracross gave some brief ominous foreshadowing to one last trick up his sleeve, earning an entertained laugh from Fend. "Oh, you sure can try." She challenged. Shifting her weight off of Palibur and properly balancing herself now, she held the blade in a low, defensive posture. The dull glow in its cracks brightened ever so slightly. Though Fend was nearly out of tricks, perhaps Palibur had a few more secrets it had yet to divulge, unknown even to its wielder.

The fact that Pracross seemed intent on going for a ring out, if his words were anything to judge, did concern Fend slightly. She'd have to distance herself from the ledge if she wanted a better chance at withstanding whatever he was planning to throw at her, though with Pracross smack-dab in the center of the arena that would be difficult.

Using what energy she had regained, Fend vanished from sight. Kai Kai was much easier to use without an imminent attack to worry about. Quickly reappearing right in front of Pracross, Fend aimed to sweep Palibur at his feet, mimicking one of the saiyan's very own earlier strikes from when he'd tried to sweep Fend off her feet. To complete her attempt at dishing out some karma, Fend would try to give him a swift punch to the stomach to send him away from the precious center of the arena...

No KP action taken. +2 KP restored!

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KP: 4/6 (+2)
MP: 4/6 (+1 Passive)
PL: 80,000
Damage: 17% / 250%

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Total Word Count: 3,727 (+231)