Tournament: Kotono vs. Asuna

    Having seen some matches already, Asuna has settled in to Shibuya. She's taken her child to Pela's Cafe, she's been eying rings at Atelier Nox every single day, looking at rings while trying to not be seen to be looking at rings, and gotten quite used to the area. NWA has been pretty nice to her, alliance differences aside. Though honestly, with Yui as her child, Asuna's whole approach to tower clearing is now very much a problem.

    She shows up to her match early. Yui is with Klein in the stands and Asuna is just relaxing. She doesn't know her opponent very well. She knows they just ran Crystal Lake together, though it's a bit of a blur due to her strange mood at the time. Hm, and she may have seen her during the Shadow Festival a while back.

    Once Kotono arrives, she will of course approach her opponent and bow politely. "Good morning! It's a fine day to work together, isn't it? Oh, and I'm not sure if you remember me, but I'm Asuna!" She pauses then, and adds, "I'm going to apologize in advance. Once the duel starts, I get pretty.. focused? I'm sure you can understand. Once it's time to be The Flash, things all get a bit blurry." Puns! Great way to cut the tension with someone that she's about to fight.

Klein and Yui are already in the stands, with the young black-haired girl sitting down in his lap. They were nearly up at the front since there was no way he wasn't going to find primo spots to let Yui see her adopted mother in action. That, and there was also the fact that stand food tends to be great to snack on, but he's not mentioning that to Asuna.

As they wait, the scruffy samurai was showing Yui the best way to deshell the nuts he purchased earlier. These weren't exactly peanuts, but with them roasted and slightly salted, they'll be just as good. "And just pull on them here and...wa ha! See, easy!"

Smiling, Klein offers the deshelled nut to Yui, her mouth open wide...then with a flick, it goes sailing right into his mouth to meet a grisly crunch. The pout he receives from Yui has him chuckling as he gets two nuts ready for her. He just had to tease her first.

Their patience pays off as Asuna and Kotono meet each other in the field of battle and cheers ring out for both combatants. Two of which are totally not at all biased.

"You can win, mama!"

"Yeah, show her who's boss!"

Know who else is in the stands? Soujiro. He comes on in with a pat to Klein's shoulder. "Put in one hundred today, Asuna!" cheers the blue haired samurai. Based on Asuna's greeting to Kotono, thats exactly what he can expect. The samurai has already collected one of the plushies at the vendor. Really they pushed the plushies on him. He has a handful. Some of them are not even from the vendors but from fans. He takes one of them that looks like a poring and shows it to Klein and Yui. "This one is fun to squish if things get too tense." Sports!

She's swift.

She's a Spriggan.

She moves like the wind.

She's Kotono, and she's just arrived at the tournament. She proceeds to do some stretching to limber up, although it looks bit extreme, as one of them involves her standing on her hands and then going into an extreme backbend.

After a few stretches, she looks to Asuna and smiles. "Hi there. You must be my opponent." She grins. "Let's have a good battle!"

    "Absolutely! So.. let's get started, I suppose. Can't keep the fans waiting, right?"

    It's embarrassing, but Asuna does have something of a following. They aren't as devoted as Souji's fans are, but they are always there to make her feel self-conscious!

    Asuna takes a step back and composes herself. She lids her eyes for a moment and centers. A breath in. A breath out. Her eyes narrow and then she locks her attention on Kotono. The signal to begin comes and she tears forward, straight into a series of attacks.

    The first to strike means she needs not raise a defense immediately. Instead, her rapier darts out in a blur as soon as she gets in range of her opponent.

"Let's get this on!" Kotono says as she finishes her stretches before getting into her fighting stance.

Miyako isn't here, but she knows she's being cheered on by others as well. She watches Asuna and tries to anticipate what she's going to do. When she sees the rapier coming up, Kotono attempts to parry it and then dodge it while it's out of the way before landing a counterattack on Asuna.

Alas, the best laid plans go poorly sometimes...

Kotono is cut slightly by it. "Ow... that wasn't supposed to happen!"

    Asuna response with a defensive posture that turns into a sudden counterattack. Not dangerous exactly, but it's damage. Fortunately, the use of her technique avoids most of the damage, leaving just a minor blow where a bit of light shines through.

    Changing tactics suddenly, Asuna doesn't close distance this time. She uses a challenge, instead. It's a typical taunt mechanic. "I know you have more than that! Give me everything you've got!"

    She follows this up with a ranged attack, where her dark artes generate a scythe of darkness. The devilish weapon is swung in a dramatic arc and magically extends to attack from a distance far greater than its handle.

Kotono thinks she's underestimated her opponent as she leaps back a little after being hit. "Come on, you can do better than this," Kotono whispers to herself before she looks at Asuna.

"I'm just warming up! I can give a lot more than that!" The Spriggan says as she goes at Asuna again, this time, rolling a little before dodging side to side and then attempting to give a direct sharp strike.

Unfortunately, Kotono gets caught off-guard and gets tagged by some thorns. "Ouch!" She says. "That wasn't very fun!"

    While Asuna outside of duels is sweet, fun, playful, nice, inside a duel she is all business. Pure ice and terror. The Flash glides on her feet, drawing herself up powerfully to meet the attack. At the last moment, she further protects herself with the Vanguard Rush. The technique Souji taught her serves her well, soaking up a fair bit of the attack and allowing her to strike back.

    In the midst of her attacks, she calls upon the wave artes of darkness one more. Around her a cloud swirls, held in place by a curtain of air to conceal her presence.

Try as she may, Kotono just isn't having it. She tries slashing and defending, but in the end she still gets hit. It's obvious the Spriggan is having some difficulty here. But she refuses to give up. "Not going down that easily!" She yells.

    Asuna is working methodically at her opponent's defenses. She is getting a feeling for what she's up against. But she learned patience and restraint from the best. It's not time to put forth all her power. Almost there, just a little more.

    There are two exchanges. The first is similar to what Kotono has seen already. A mix of rapid speed and that same, dark scythe attack from earlier. After that, Asuna rolls into some more swift strikes. Pushing her opponent's limits, but not going all out. There's a clear sense in her, though, of a coiled spring, just waiting to burst forward.

Kotono does her best to try to keep up with Asuna. She's trying to give it her all. But at the same time she feels like she's way out of her league. She finds herself getting worn down by every moment.

Even with things like her starting to feel worn down and her blades starting to feel heavy, the Spriggan refuses to give up. "Gotta fight to the end."

    Asuna stops for a moment. Then it happens. She taps into her observational powers to augment her attack, and then rockets into motion. First, there comes the scythe again, wickedly attacking in three rapid slashes from afar.

    A blink later, and Asuna is almost on top of Kotono. Lambent Light is drawn and the rapier is stabbed fourth four times, guided with deadly precision by the buff and striking with brutal efficiency.

Despite her best efforts, it seems Kotono just wasn't up for it today. She does her best and gives it her all, but in the end, it's too much for her.

Kotono ends up being knocked out, which means Asuna is the winner here. She fought well and has learned her lessons about improving, but for now, she's down.

    The moment the battle is over, Asuna puts away her weapon. The iciness of her focus is gone in an instant and she moves swiftly to help Kotono. Asuna is not the best healer, but she has healing potions to spare. While duels are generally kept safe, she's taking no chances.

    "Are you alright, Kotono?" Asuna's tone is gentle, the same voice she uses with Yui, actually. The mom side of the Flash has kicked in.

    "You did pretty well. I'd love to help you train later, if you'd like, though! I mean, you don't have to answer right now."

Kotono accepts Asuna's help up. "That was a good battle," She says with a smirk. "I admit I need more training. Perhaps you could, indeed help me sometime." With that, she offers Asuna a handshake. "Thanks for the battle, it was quite a challenging one."

    Asuna accepts the handshake, but also bows. Samurai and all that.

    "Thank you for being my opponent today! I look forward to working with you again in the future. Though maybe next time we'll tear through a dungeon together, instead."

    With the match done, Asuna is free to focus her attention on a little girl cheering wildly in the stands for 'mama'. She scoops up the little Lander, holding her up high, and then spins around with her. "How is my little angel? Did you have fun?"

    Yui loves these moments where she gets to be taller. For a little girl who wants to be a brave samurai someday, it's true wish fulfillment. "Yaaay! You did great, mama!"

    Of course, Asuna has two other fans she wants to say hello to. Klein and Sourjiro both get hugs from her. "Thank you so much for coming to the duel! I feel stronger with the people I love around me. It really means a lot." A pause and she adds, "Let's go to Pela's and celebrate together!"