The Last Sibling [Private]

Midori saw the woman begin to completely liquify, and there was literally only one thing she could do in this instance; she had to go for the win right here, right now, before the watery woman caught wind of what Midori was planning. If this didn't work, she knew for a fact that this damned itching powder was going to make it to where she couldn't fight effectively, and she would be stuck trying to face an opponent while dealing with this insane itch that she could feel on her hands. The close proximity was actually going to be what saved her more than likely.

As Riku gushed towards her, trying to poison her further, Midori smiled. She had a bit of Chakra left, but that wasn't the point... the orb that she had in her hand vanished, and another formed on her chest, point blank, and Midori was banking on the fact that she was in fact tougher than Riku was, and the fact that the explosion would probably send Riku out of the small ring. They were close to the border on her side, as Midori had relentlessly been pushing Riku to try to get her near the edge of the ring, after realizing she was a poison user, knowing that a prolonged battle would only make things much worse.

Chakra Ball

The explosion would detonate, and as the smoke grew from the point blank blast, Midori hadn't been able to see what had happened. Not banking on the fact that would be enough, Midori staggered backwards out of the smoke, her skin on fire from the contact with the poison. Centering herself in the ring, she waited for the counter-attack, her shirt tattered exposing the black spandex-looking bra underneath.

Riku was blasted off of Midori, liquid flying in all directions. Puddles of water landed on either side of the green haired girl and outside the ring as well.

A few moments later the water began to shivers and congeal. The blobs crawled towards each other, limbs occasionally emerging to help drag them forward. Once reconnected the puddle solidified into a bruised Riku. Half her body lay outside the ring.

Groaning, the blue haired girl sat up with one palm splayed behind her to support herself. Dazedly, she blinked, eyes still half lidded.

"Wow."

[]

Satori grinned at the exchange. It wasn't what he was expected, honestly, he didn't think that Midori's chakra orb was going to have that much of an impact against Riku's water form. But then again, the orb was made up of a state of energy far different from normal chakra. It was still chakra, and held the same concepts, but it weight more, held more raw power, and was more difficult for Midori to use.

It made sense that it had more effect than normal chakra. Especially considering Riku was still learning how to properly liquify her body to endure damage properly. Chuckling softly as Riku began to slowly re-constitute herself, Satori moved forward and slid his hands to his hips in bemusement.

"Midori is the winner due to ring out," he stated simply with a slight smile. "Though..." he glanced toward the reddening skin rapidly spreading over her body. It was obvious what he was entailing. If Riku had a more versatile or deadly set of toxins to use then those minor rashes would have been far more severe. It may not have ended so cleanly. It was a close match.

"Well done, both of you as always," he grinned softly as he walked toward Riku and leaned down, gently helping the girl up and touching his forehead to her own briefly--before his grin widened as he placed a water bottle from his hip-pouch in her hand. He knew how she got after being blown apart. He then looked toward Midori and motioned her to come toward him so he could look at the rashes.

As the smoke cleared and Midori was declared the winner, she gritted her teeth. Had this been any other type of match, she would have lost, hands down and without question. She had no doubts in her mind that this sensation of flame dancing over her skin and spreading across her body would have overwhelmed her with repeated exposure, and she could feel her nose, mouth and throat feel like it was being scraped with glass. Midori had a relatively high pain tolerance, but this wasn't pain, it was like an itch that she never could have imagined, and one that she knew if she scratched would only make it that much worse.

She would probably tear off her own skin.

Fists clenched in mental effort and strain at not scratching it, she walked forward slowly, focusing on each step. She would have lost this battle had it been anything more than a spar, and she knew that meant that she just wasn't good enough on her own. She had to rely on rules to save her, and that was not something she was going to live down anytime soon. Finally close to them, she heard Satori's praise, but wasn't able to focus on it. It was quite obvious that the irritant was working, and she couldn't even open her eyes anymore, slammed shut because some of the liquid had gotten there.
s

Riku simply groaned when Satori announced Midori as the winner, panting where she lay on the ground. Her whole body ached from Midori's last attack. Gritting her teeth, the blue haired girl let the spiky haired boy help her up, standing gingerly.

She brushed her clothes off, although they mostly looked fine with the exception of some wrinkles and minor tears. Patches of skin all over her body were reddened from absorbing the force of the energy ball and would likely bruise if left untreated. Picking the dirt from the back of her hair, Riku reflected on the fight. Had she managed to crawl to the other side of Midori's body, she wouldn't have been thrown out of the ring even if she had been pushed off.

Whatever this attack was, it was dangerous even when Riku liquefied. This would have to be written down in her notes.

Still a bit dazed, the blue haired teen looked over at Midori, whose skin was red and angry all over, eyes shut and clearly watering. Her irritant was quite effective, another positive outcome to this battle. Confirming her ability to use the substance in such a way was a valuable discovery, despite the loss.

"I can make something to help with the effects of the itching powder," Riku offered. The fight was over, so there was no need to leave Midori in such discomfort. If her point hadn't been proven, they could fight again some other day.

[10]

Satori examined Midori closely as the girl struggled not to rub at the rashes, it was impressive really how quickly the irritant was spreading. If Riku combined the spread with something more lethal, not many people would have a chance against it. Stepping forward as Riku offered to make a poultice, Satori nodded once in agreement.

"Definitely need to carry it on your person too, Riku-chan, for the aftermath of spars," as he explained this he then quickly went to work. She'd created it using poison ivy, which meant it was the oils that were affecting her body, normal water wouldn't do so...

Fiddling in his pouch for a few moments, Satori pulled out a bottle of oil from the tea tree leaves. The oil would counteract the effects more effectively than water and remove the oil as well. But they'd need something dry, a proper poultice to remove the effects completely.

Her eyes were a problem too. Grunting, Satori carefully began to apply the oil to her face first, soothing the itching sensation from maddening to annoying at least, and then continuing to the other areas.

"We have plenty of herbs in the compound but," he glanced up at the fact they were so close to the village now, "Perhaps returning to your home would be a better option? You likely have the dried herbs ready already," he pondered, looking toward Riku curiously. It was her call, she was the one that was going to be making the proper treatment. He was just doing what he could to ease Midori until then.

Midori, effectively blind now completely, listened to their voices and reached out, trying to gain anything that could be used as a point of reference.  She wound up touching Satori's arm, and quickly moved it up to his shoulder, using him to keep still, while her other hand wound up on top of Riku's head.  It was obvious she didn't mean anything by it, and was doing everything in her power to not scratch while Satori worked his salve over her skin.  Once that was done, she didn't let go, and as the pair of them moved, she would step with them, unable to open her eyes or rub them to clear them.  She would be feeling this tomorrow for sure.

"I won, but it was your victory."

There was no resentment in her tone, and it was a clear admittance that she acknowledged Riku's prowess in battle, stumbling behind them and trying her best not to trip on anything.  Blind and numb, she was glad she had managed to get a ring out when she had or she would be probably drowning in Riku's toxin at the moment, and the damage would be a lot more severe.

Riku nodded at Satori's suggestion. We can go to my house. We have things that can help already made. "I underestimated the strength of the itching powder."

She glanced upwards when Midori's hand landed on her head, frowning at the damage she has caused. The short girl knew she had gone too far in trying to prove herself. Her pride had been wounded and Riku had wanted a pound of flesh for it.

"There's no guarantee of the conditions in a real battle or the objective. You won in under the circumstances here. I'm a real mission, winning the fight isn't always the objective. You must complete your task within mission perameters." With that, Riku helped guide the tall girl towards her home.

[11]

[//Thread Exit]

Satori nodded in agreement with Riku's words, before gently taking Midori by the hand and leading the young woman alongside Riku. Making certain that she was careful in her footing as he smiled softly at Riku's words. They were correct, of course, but he doubted that would be enough for Midori. So he stated simply with a slight smile: "You'll just have to do better the next round then, won't you?"

Midori was a force of will. She just needed a nudge on occasion. Once she was able to force forward there wouldn't be an issue. Besides, if she wanted to develop ways to deal with opponents like Riku she'd have to keep fighting the girl in battles. The more she did, the more holes she'd discover for ways of seeing through the incoming damage.

He pet her back lightly, one of the few places not swollen, and carefully led her forward. They both were incredible, and he was proud of both their progress.

// Thread Exit.

Midori could understand where Riku was coming from, and she wasn't going to argue anymore, even if she knew that train of thought was wrong.  Even if she had somehow won, she had not done any sort of debilitating damage to the woman, while she herself was now blind and extremely ineffective in combat.  Sure, she might have been able to transform and that might have gotten rid of the poison on the surface level... maybe, but then she was open to simply be attacked again, with no sure-fire way to clinch the victory.  Riku would simply outlast her in any real world fight.

Midori lets these thoughts fade from her mind, knowing that she needed to focus because she already felt her hand twitching, and it was taking conscious effort not to start scratching.  This was worse that poison ivy for sure, and she wondered what the blue haired girl had done to make it so potent; perhaps something to do with that crazy bloodline ability.  But it seemed that she was exposed to a lesser version of the same effects herself, so perhaps there was a balance to it.  Trying to distract herself with these thoughts, she focused on putting one foot in front of the other so they could get to where they were going.

//Thread Exit