[VS] First Round - Fight! (Kohengi vs Gabriel)

[Shinku]

The noise from the audience was audible through the entrance to the arena, even through the thick stone walls muted the sound quite a bit. Kohengi stared at the big oaken doors for a bit, before she continued to prowl back and forth through the small waiting room that led into the fighting ring. She had already been waiting for more than an hour before they signaled her to leave the big waiting room and come to the small one right before the entrance where she would wait for her turn to fight.
Excitedly she hopped and skipped through the room before going back to push her body through some stretch practise as a warm up.
In fights, you didn't always get the chance to prepare yourself, but this was a tournament, so Kohengi knew what as coming, or at least she hoped that she did. The young woman was looking forward to the fight.
Although not very eager to fight in most normal situations, there still was a streak of eagerness to test herself and her abilities. The tournament provided such an opportunity.

Finally the doors started to open and Kohengi jumped down from the chair she had been balancing on to run outside, but the person who was opening the doors held her back and with a handgesture told her to wait a moment. As she did so she could hear the booming voice of the commentator flooding in.
„It's time for the fifth fight of the first round. Give a warm welcome to or next participants!“
The responsive audience obliged and Kohengi could hear a lot off hand clapping and whistling. Nice! The audience seemed to be as excited about this as she was! This got her even more pumped up that she could hardly wait.
„In the blue corner, from a group of little Islands which I never heard before and which's name I'm not even going to try and pronounce: KOHENGI!!!“
The young woman waited a moment longer, even though the doorkeeper was now signaling her to enter, but the commentator did not say the rest of her name. How mean of him, but also not exactly unexpected.

With a light jog she entered the arena, twirling and spinning her weapon in her hand as if it were a baton and then throwing it up for good measurement and nimbly catching it again, only to let the motion carry her into a graceful bow.
That got her a laugh from the audience and some applause, though maybe they were laughing about her CulaCula.
Since leaving her home, Kohengi had found out that most people didn't took her weapon, which she had named Kõkõ'wai, did not exactly get a lot of respect from the general populance. Most people though the paddle shaped war club was a toy or a joke. That could not have been farther from the truth.
Funny as it might look to the untrained eye, the weapon could be deadly if wielded with skill.
It was made of hardwood and the edges of the paddly part were sharpened into a fine and sharp edge. It might not be as good at cutting as a sword from steel, but cutting it could. And if she wanted she could inflict some blunt trauma with the wide side of the weapon.
Sure, the wooden parot head that sat on the other end as a pommel was more artistic than really serving a usuable purpose, but Kohengi saw no reason why a weapon could not be a work of art and useful at the same time.
How useful it would be against her opponent would be something she had to find out. She had trained from a young age but her actual fighting experience was basically zero. Which was the reason she had decided to join this little tournament.

„And in the red corner, we have a history professor who decided to join the fight. Let's hope he also studied the history of fighting! Ladies and Gentlemen, a warm applause for GABRIEL MOON!!!“

Exptectant, Kohengi watched the red painted door at the other side of the arena. Despite being called the red corner, the arena was actually round and in the classic build of an amphitheater. Who knew who and why they had decided to call it the red and blue corners.
Not like it mattered.
The fight hadn't started yet, but that didn't mean she could just let her focus wander around. As her father had impressed upon her, it was important to be ready at all times!
And so she watched the man who came out from the other corner, trying to judge his fighting capability by the way he moved and how he looked like.

„And just to remind everyone of the rules: No killing or maiming allowed today. This should be a fun fight! I think we even got kids in the audience, hey kids, make some noise!
If you accidentally kill your opponent, then you're disqualified as well. To win this fight you have to either make your opponent unable to fight or have him or her give up. To do so, you can use whatever weapon and fighting style you wish to. Should you leave the arena or his anyone in the audience with your attack, you're disqualified as well. Other than that, there's nothing else to say but..... FIGHT!“

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #1 

Professor Moon didn´t like fighting. After all, he originally started with Martial arts because of their philosophical not combat aspects. And as a loner he didn´t liked big crowds either. Yet there he was, sitting on a simple chair in a waiting room, preparing himself for his debut match in this fighting tournament. Why? Because he knew that for him to develop behind his current boundaries, practical combat experiences were must, and because he wanted to prove, that the Martial arts he created from the old manuals are no joke.

And so he was waiting there for more than hour before his turn finally came. As he got the signal Gabriel wen´t out of the door to face his opponent.

“Ah, look at this! Professor Moon forgot that he isn´t at school anymore? Or is he that confident that he will be able to lecture his opponent?”

The spectators burst in laughter as Gabriel arrived to the ring in his usual clothes, meaning dark two piece suit with tie and formal shoes. How else than unarmed.

However professor completely ignored the crowd and focused solely the fighter in front of him. Small girl who didn´t look really robust armed with something that looked like wooden paddle. It would be really easy to underestimate her based on her look alone, but Gabriel had way too many experiences with Myra just to do this kind of mistake. Yet...the gentleman in him didn´t feel very well about fighting girl. Usually he would simply turn around and walk away, but in that case he would get absolutely nothing for all that waiting, so right now this wasn´t an option.

“Man, why it has to be a girl in the first round”
He sighed for himself as the referee was repeating the rules.

“Alright, let´s test her out first, maybe I´ll be able to finish this without hurting her too much.”
With that Gabriel started walking towards the girl as if he was on some kind of stroll and not in the beginning of his match.

[Shinku]

Wait... that was strainge! Wasn't this supposed to be a fight? Then why was the commentator talking about school and giving a lecture?
Kohengi had assumed that this was going to be a fight on equal footing, but now it seems as if she would be lectured by her opponent instead?
Actually, now that she thought about it, that wasn't so bad!
Wasn't her goal in fighting here to get better and explore her style? If she could get a serious feedback from the nicely dressed man, then there was nothing to complain about!

Shifting her set of mind from fight to fighting lession her attitude shifted as well. She stood straight, arms to her side then gave a big and honest bow to her opponent.
Maybe too big. Her father would have scolded her for letting her opponent out of her sight. To bow before a fight was polite in such a setting, but she shouldn't have lowered her head but kept her eyes on him, no matter how difficult that was for her.
Yet the man was just slowly walking towards her and didn't seem intended on using that opening to strick, so everything was still fine.
„I'm in your care! Let's have a nice fight! I can't wait to get some feedback from you, teacher Moon.“
Her voice was bright and there was no mockery in it. Kohengi really meant what she said there. Though after saying it, she started to worry that she'd used the wrong word.
He wasn't really her teacher, even if he would give her a lession today. Teachers were more of a long term thing though. And teacher usually cared for proper clothing. Kohengi wasn't sure if what she was wearing right now would count as proper though.
Her shorts were long enough and almost reached her knees, so far so good. They also had some nice and useful pockets at their sides. Her shirt however was a little short and left her belly free while the spaghetti straps were also something most teachers criticised. Would the man find her getup to be unfitting? She had chosen it because it was easy to move in it, but really it might not be considered proper for a teaching situation.
Should she have called him „professor“ instead? That's what the commentator had called the man. But the word was strange to her and she wasn't really sure of its exact meaning, which made her hesistant to use it.
Whatever, the words were said and there was no taking them back. She couldn't change her cloths either. All she could do was go forward and do her best.

Not waiting for him to get to her in his leisurely pace, Kohengi started into a run. Kõkõ'wai spinning in her right hand, she rushed directly at him until she was almost in his reach. Before entering his striking distance however, she danced around him and swung the blunt side of her paddle from behind, aiming at the back of his head.

„Põrewarewa!“ she shouted the name of the attack as she swung her weapon.

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #2 

As he was walking towards the girl who was supposed to be his opponent, Gabriel noticed sudden shift in her behavior right after the commentator mentioned that he may try to school her. As if she took him seriously Kohengi suddenly became relaxed and almost cheerful, saying that she can not wait for his feedback, before charging at him with full speed.

Gabriel stopped on the spot utterly confused about this turn of events. Wasn´t this supposed to be combat tournament? Did he, by accident entered some kind of weird school for fighters, instead? He would like to think about it a bit longer, however he didn´t have enough time, as his opponent, (Or should he rather think about her as about his student?) Got almost into his striking distance. Professor Moon expected that she´ll try to leverage the longer reach her weapon gave her and attack immediately, however she suddenly changed the direction of her movement and tried to get behind him.

“Very well than...”

Muttered Gabriel for himself as he switched from still stance into his favorite spiral footwork of the Imperial Phoenix. Keeping the spiral very tight, almost as if he was walking in small circle he was keeping the running girl straight in front of him until she finally attacked. At the moment he swiftly jumped backward only far enough to barely dodge her attack.

“Nice one, but you are obviously slower then me, so don´t waste your energy. Either attack directly or use distraction.”

He said as his feet landed on the ground.

“Ooooh, I can not believe it!”
The commentator yelled to his Den Den Mushi.

“True to his name, Professor Moon is really instructing his opponent how to fight!”

Surprised Gabriel blinked.

“Wait a second, did I said it aloud?”

He quickly looked around but the reaction of the spectators was more than enough for him to confirm his suspicion.

“Ah, well...”

Moon muttered for himself.

“When I started I should probably finish it as well.”
After all what he just said was true. Compared to Myra with whom he regularly sparred or even to himself, she moved more slowly.

[Shinku]

A miss!
Body tense she stood where her rotary momentum had moved her, close to her opponent and weapon raised to either attack again or block and dodge should he go for a counter immidiately. Her dark brown eyes were fixed on the man in front of her, ready to take in any sign of shifting that would hint at his next move. Meanwhile her brain was working at high speed to consider the situation.

Her opponent had not fallen for her feint but moved along with her sudden change of direction and even managed to dodge her strike with seemingly no effort at all.
The teacher had only barelly dodged her culacula, but the way he moved suggested that this had been intentional, an economizing of his movement, rather than the pressure of her speed.
Indeed, the man even went as far as to inform her that her speed was no match for his and that further attempts to outmatch him that way would be futle.

Still, he did give her a valuable hint there. One for which she went to return the favor by actually waiting a second as he had asked and answering his question.

„Yes! You did say that out loud.“ she informed him with a chirpy voice.

Saying that probably took more than a second, so Kohengi felt like it was fine to attack again, even though the man seemed distracted and was paying more attention to the audience than to her. But if she managed to get a hit in because he wasn't focused on his enemy, then at least she would be able to tell him that it was bad to get distracted during a fight. She might be the student here, but even students could give advice when they saw it fit.

Right now though, she first wanted to try out teacher Moon's suggestion of going with a distraction. The crowd seemed to have him distracted already, but it felt weird to use something she wasn't responsible for. It wasn't as if SHE was making the crowd do that, they just did so on their own, so Kohengi felt the need to try something else.

She stepped back lightly, scooped up some sand and dirt from the floor with her culacula and flung it at Professor Moon's face.
Then she swung her weapon and tried to hit his head again, this time directly though.

„Põrewarewa!“

It was the same attack as last time and likely he wouldn't be surprised by it, sure. But even if she missed, by trying the same thing again, she would be able to judge how much difference the distraction and the directness of the attack made, compared to her previous effort.
Getting an hit in early was something that could be important, but Kohengi liked to analize her opponent and choose her strategy accordingly. Right now she was still gathering imformation.

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #3 

Few seconds too late Gabriel realized the irony of his own actions in the context of the previous advice he gave to his opponent.

“Now, now, look who still isn´t used to fighting...”

He sighed for himself as the girl answered his question and drew his attention back to her.

“In that case, please accept my sincere apology. It´s a old habit of mine, I didn´t meant to be disrespec...”

He couldn´t even finish as Kohengi went back in her offense, but this time adding a bit of distraction into in the form of a sand and dirt, just as he advised her a moment ago.

With silent curse, Gabriel covered his eyes with his forearm, while at the same time stepping backwards to avoid her attack.

Phantom Step!

Disappearing from the sight of anyone who wasn´t used to follow a blinding speed movement with their naked eyes, Gabriel appeared again right afterwards putting between them enough distance to safely clear his eyes.

“That was pretty low...”
He muttered, before wide smile lightened his face.

“Good job, you are really quick learner. Now let´s see how can you cope with faster opponent who is on offensive.”

Phantom Step!

With that, Gabriel dashed towards Kohengi so fast, that it looks like as if he appeared right in front of her almost instantly. Guarding her weapon with left, Moon attacked with simple cross punch from his right, aiming on the girl´s nose, scaling his natural speed down to a level of regular human.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Phantom Step}
By using his bio electricity to stimulate muscles in his lower legs, Gabriel can for short period of time surpass his natural limits and move with blinding speed. That allows him to close the distance between him and his opponent or to create distance between them almost instantly as at the moment he is moving so fast, that eyes of regular human can not follow him. The week point of this technique is that it allows him to move only in straight line, however on the other hand it allows him to carry the momentum of his movement into follow up strike.