The All-Trench Karate War | Tournament Log!

[strikefirster]

Who: Combatants, teachers, helpers, and the horrified spectators of Trench.
What: The Sleeper combat tournament!
Where: Gate
When: May 16th





[ Welcome to the tournament! Combatants, please find the header for your match below. Feel free to thread anything concerning your match (the fight itself, the before and after, etc) under that header.

Please find network commentary here and feel free to jump in.

Combatants, helpers, and spectators, you can make OTA toplevels in the "Mingle" section. Tag around and go wild. Enjoy!

Posters like the one above can be found throughout Trench curtesy of Black Alice.]

Comments

[violetlies]

[Point: Kokichi.
Point: Shoyo.

Hitting the ground running with 1v1 it seems. Kokichi clicks his tongue and--hoh, yep! Good move for him to be on the defensive, then! Parry, parry--]

Oh, personally, I was hoping to make this run as long as possible. My best chance at victory is a time over...

[He clenches his teeth...and then one thrust makes it past him. His stomach. Crap.

Point: Shoyo. That's two Shoyo, one Kokichi.

He frowns, spinning his lance around. And, without a word, he breaks into a sprint again. He's hoping to get at his side--pooooke!]

[asas]

[ shōyō speaks no longer, neither does he realize there were words being spoken to him— he drowns oh the noise, he only hears his heart, his breathing, and the inner chants spoken to himself with every strike he gives, and every reaction he must take to evade a point being scored against him. he’s in the lead. one more.

one more he tells himself as he always had. shōyō is focused and highly determined— his eyes are mapping out places he should aim for, how he should step to keep balance, and what does he do, when he’s met with the quickness? there it is, and here it comes. the athlete tips his back into an arch to evade, his legs promptly readjusting beneath him for balance. he holds his bo defensively, across his chest—

but it’s not enough to deflect the tiny spot left unguarded a hand under it.

shōyō: two.
kokichi: two.

shōyō’s jaw sets tightly and he works his breathing as his heart threatens to raise how quickly it beats. relax. breathe. you can do it. watch his stance. don’t freeze up. don’t relax too much. remember the beach—

it was always the beach. the swiftness of his feet and how they would fight against the sinking surface. how he’d learned how to be a cover for everything. how he’d learned to take his name, his fame as decoy, and use it. he didn’t have to be the greatest ace.

he was the greatest decoy. and he would continue to strive for that name.

lead him, shōyō’s thoughts whisper, and just as quickly, his body moves to accompany: he leaves a spot open at the first arch of his ribs, so very tempting for his opponent to hit with his dominant hand and end the round. shōyō holds his staff in a stand that his closer to its edge rather than its middle.

he baits the other in, to leave the spot he had his sights on open, and simply relents his hold on the farthest end, allowing the staff to reach in a arch, with the momentum of an arrow let loose at the time that felt right—

not too close. not too far. just right.

he could feel his heart skip, then slow, all as he held his breath, then exhaled with his final strike. ]

[violetlies]

[Well, this was it. If he got this point, he'd be going onto the next round. If he got hit first, he'd be losing out round one, but Kokichi still considered this all pretty remarkable for someone who'd only started training in the combat arts about a month ago. He steeled his nerves. Alright. What's he doing?

There's a big open spot near his ribs, and this could be part of a feign to get him to go for it - Kokichi's more than aware of that, he'd do the same were he in his shoes. He was, however, in the finest sense a showman- he knew about being an open target. For killers, for heroes, for anyone who needed a target, Kokichi usually left himself wide open...with traps laid carefully in place to keep himself hanging on by the skin of his teeth.

So he considers, as fast as he can, if it's worth risking this being a trap of Shoyo's that he'd fall into. It could blow up in his face - he could win - but it's all a world of possibility. His brows furrow. To be or not to be, that truly is the question. He clicks his tongue. 50/50 was a gamble.

Well, he wasn't a coward. Not here, at least.

He reached out with his dominant hand.]

GOTCHA!

[...

Shoyo: 3.

Kokichi glanced down, and he huffed, flying back a bit. He landed on his feet, sighing and putting Pixieduster back into its holster.]

Aw, man. I thought I really might go onto the second bracket~...you got me.

[He folded his arms behind his head.]

But hey. Good game. I can't be too mad with this kinda close result. Nee-hee-hee.

[asas]

[ it hit. it hit before kokichi did. the final results are announced. shoyo's wide eyes take in everything with quickened breathing, beginning to calm it down, registering, registering everything— his brows crunched, his lips split into the biggest grin: ]

Hah—!

[ he balls his fists against his staff and pumps inward, collecting more than enough energy despite how much he's sweating to spring up and down with the balls of his feet. his first won match in fighting. the adrenaline, the rush of victory, the pleasure—! he absorbs the bomb and yells out one more short bark: yes! that means he could still stay out here, he could still look to the crowds rather than becoming part of them.

he was happy. he was happy that he managed to take such a big step for himself. months ago, he was only an athlete, a defenseless one, who got strung up in a bear trap and beaten to an utter pulp. he had spirit to fight, but he didn't have the skill. this tells him that what he's learned until now mattered.

he's taken a step on a very high flight of stairs. once the two are dismissed and shoyo bows himself out of the arena, he makes it to his opponent— despite being irritated before, he separates the challenge from the person. he knows well enough how to do that today, and meets the other with a clap of their hands together in well-handled sportsmanship. ]

Thanks! Your fake-outs, they were so annoying— [ that is meant as a compliment. and now, with a pat on his back! ] but you reminded me about decoying, too.

[violetlies]

[Kokichi snickers.] Hey, as long as I managed to make an impact with only a month to my name...I'm pretty contented. Even better if I gave you a little reminder. [Pat on his back. Jeez, yeah, that's athlete strength against his normal nerd strength.] Never underestimate the power of psychological warfare!

Buuuuut. Since you won against me...give the next opponent a good fight too, yeah? [He's got his doubts either of them would make it too far compared to some of these combat-borne individuals here.] And if you ever wanna go again, I could probably use the practice. Neeheehee.

[asas]

[ getting pat on the back might be worse coming from a spiker because, you know. flat hands means he just needs to spike it.

but shōyō is pleasant enough in that regard! he slips an extra bow in for thanks, and keeps his voice high. ]

I’ll give it my 110%!