[center] [color=f49ac2]Sakura Level 9: 35/90[/color] Location: Seiran Tunnels Word Count: 1,173 Points Gained: 2 New EXP Balance--- [color=f49ac2]Sakura Level 9: 37/90 [/color] [indent][/indent] [/center] — Sakura backed up as the Rut began to spin, but the extended prongs, sharp and dangerous, caught her off guard. One of them slashed across her face. Sakura gasped and rolled back to her feet. There was a spark of defensive ki that kept her head from splitting open, but she felt warm blood trickle down her cheek. She was lucky it was below the eye. Gotta be careful. Just then, the other Rat Rut backed up its buddy, and fired a barrage of oil her way. [color=f49ac2]”Guess it’s a two-on-one!”[/color] She dove out of the way of incoming oil. It pooled hotly onto the spot where she just was. Coming out of her roll, she launched a hadoken at the base of the spinning Rut. [color=f49ac2][i]”Hadoken!” [/i][/color] Right for its wheel. The impact launched it up and it had to stop spinning and speed off to prevent itself from falling on its side. Avoiding more oil with a jump, she advanced on the Rut #2. It charged at her and she jumped over it, slamming it on the armored behind with a hammer swing for its trouble. Just then the Rut #1 came around for a charge and she avoided it with a sideways leap. Time to adapt. She followed it and slammed her fists into it, focusing it down. She backed up before it started spinning. Some of the oil hit her in the back and she hissed, jerking forward from the impact. One probably wouldn’t be a problem. But two was a real fight. Sakura, however, was getting a sense for the ranges of the creatures. They were predictable. Too close, they span. At their ideal range, they did donuts. Avoid that range. Far away, they charged. Close to another rut, they shot oil. It was just a pattern, like in the training arena. All she had to do was figure out when to strike, when to dodge, and when to switch targets. It didn’t take long. Sakura was smart. She knew she was smart. Knee strikes, hammer swings, dodge rolls and leaps. She could play them. Finally, she found it. Her goldilocks zone. Grinning now, her headband trailing behind her, she skidded to a stop in the center of both of the Rat Ruts. Not quite within spinning range. Not close enough to the other rut to trigger oil barrage. They only had one option- charge. So they did. At the last moment, Sakura jumped, her arms over and behind her head in victory, pulling her legs in tight. With a tremendous crash the Ruts crumpled their mighty shells against each other. Their front facing prongs snapped and bent. [color=f49ac2]”Oops!”[/color] Sakura taunted as she dropped back down. Right in the middle of them as they wheeled back from each other, she used her saved up meter to do a super art. [color=f49ac2]”Here we go! [/color] She turned into a spinning top, her outstretched leg trailing blue energy as she flashed with power and swiped both the wheels out from under the stunned Rat Ruts. They crashed onto their sides. Sakura leapt up on Rat Rut #1, the more damaged of the two, and wrapped her fingers underneath the front of the bent up shell. Fortifying her position with Telekinesis, she wrenched the metal upward, peeling it like an orange! Yelling from the effort, she bent it up enough to hop underneath the bent up portion. What she saw under there skeeved her out a little bit, but she punched at the interior organs of the beast nonetheless. With a wet thud, she struck true several times and the Other turned to dust all around her. That was when Rut #2, who had, unbeknownst to Sakura, landed at a recoverable angle due to some debris, charged at her. Sakura barely heard it coming and stepped out of the way to avoid being impaled. The heavy metal shell crashed into her and she was sent spinning and tumbling. She fell down the side of the platform and rolled into the water. Breathless and face down in the water, she used the rail to pull herself up where she emerged, coughing and sputtering. Squinting, she saw the ramaged Rut #2 begin to wheel its way towards her. It was going to come tumbling down that ramp and squish her flat. As it picked up speed, it came at the Street Fighter like an oncoming train. Sakura was angry at this thing and at herself, for thinking she had it in the bad only for her victory to get torn out from underneath her by some unexpected variable. [color=f49ac2]”Come on.” [/color] She said to the Rat Rut, clenching her fist and teeth. [color=f49ac2]”I’d do it if I were you.” [/color] When the Rut charged at her while she was crouched in the water, it picked up a little air. That was all she needed. [color=f49ac2][i]”Kurae!”[/i][/color] She cried, zooming forward with another burst of energy. She hooked her fist underneath the spinning eel wheel and rocketed upward once, halting its momentum in mid air. As it began to fall down on her she dropped and gathered even more power into her fist before exploding upwards with a spinning uppercut. [color=f49ac2][i]”Midare Zakura!”[/i][/color] There was a pop and spherical burst of energy that turned into sparkles and spiraling flower petals. The Other flew upward, spinning, and crashed mightily onto the platform, cracking the tile. Dust fell from the roof. It was on its side thoroughly now, with no way to recover. A strange bulb emerged from its form, ready to be Crushed. Sakura, now on the platform herself due to the forward velocity of her attack, jumped into the air and punched victoriously. [color=f49ac2]”Yes! Yeah! The crowd goes wild! Victory for Sakura!” [/color] She cheered happily, hyped up. Then she winced. She her hand on her knee and with the other, held her side, taking a moment to compose herself. Slash across the cheek, hit by oil in the back, and then the left side of her body had been hit with some pretty serious blunt damage. [color=f49ac2]”I’ll be okay.” [/color] She said aloud to herself with a nod and a laugh. She looked over at Sina and Dexio who had finished their fight against a Rat Rut. She was tempted to ask them to go over and finish the job for her, but Peach and Raz were still cleaning up their active threats and might need the help. So she just offered them a congratulatory raising of her fist. [color=f49ac2]”Nice. Heh. Y’know I tried to get a friend of mine to do that kind of stuff with me but she wasn’t down for it? I don’t know why. It’s cool.”[/color] She rubbed her nose and went over to the Crushable Bulb, doing literally that. They had some kind of practiced duo motto. No doubt the others had done all the cleaning up at that point. If not, she would pitch in with a few obligatory Hadokens. But all the major threats, be they singular or in number, seemed to be taken care of.