Not To Be Confused With Linkin Park... (Kyria)

[Kanika Stryker]

Lincoln Park at dusk was a fantastic place. The air was cool. There was a coastal breeze. The sunset was easy to see rebounding off the choppy sea waters. Noise was at a minimum. People were scarce. And it left Kanika plenty of space to practice. Practice what? Breathing and relaxing. If she could keep herself relaxed in any situation, she'd be best able to deal with those situations. It was fact. A tense body slowed itself down. Since muscles opposed each other, tensing the muscles made the counter-resistance much stronger, slowing the movement speed. And proper breathing technique was key to getting the most out of each strike. The Cheetah had their legs linked directly to their diaphragm, so when they ran, they automatically too their breaths in tune with the speed at which they moved. This led to better oxygen flow through the muscles, preventing lactic burn, and increasing efficiency and endurance.

And where was more relaxing than a local park backed by a purple and orange sky? Kanika kept her eyes closed for the most part though, focusing on her breaths as she went through some generic Tai Chi breathing exercises. With the lack of people, she'd left her white dress shirt open and the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. She had a black sports bra under the shirt, so it wasn't exactly a revealing getup. She was in a wide horse stance, both arms fully extended, as she slowly brought them in, taking a deep, slow breath. It ended only when her hands reached an inch or two from her chest, before pushing her hands back out, letting the breath out as slowly as her arms extended. The slow practice was meant to teach her to breathe out when striking, and breathe in when retracting her arms. The same could be said for kicks, but she hadn't gotten to that practice yet.

[Kyria]

So far I was absolutely loving this state. The whether was so much nicer then I was use to, and I liked that I could actually get out and go for a stroll whenever I felt like it, and I didn't have to worry about snow or freezing weather to hold me back! I had gotten out of school a few hours ago, and the down time had been mostly spent practicing her guitar playing. I was slacking off, and I couldn't have that if Jasmine really decided that they would play live sometime. But unfortunately I had been playing hard all day, and now my fingers had needed a rest.

And I just happened to be in the mood to run. With my hair pulled back into a short ponytail, with a yellow headband wrapped around my head. I had slipped into something a bit more comfortable for the jog, which included a pair of black track pants, with a single yellow stripe running down the side of each pantleg, and a red and black striped t-shirt which hugged my frame. My running shoe had carried me all the way to a park, and where better to run then into the park, right?!

Eventually I'd come upon a peculiar scene. There was another female here, and it seemed like she to was doing some excersices. I recognized what she was doing from movies and other studies I had done, but this was definitely the first time I had seen Tai Chi up close and personal. She's Cute~ My jog would slow to a halt along the path, not too far from the maroon haired female. Immediantly I couldn't help but feel the urge of a spar calling. I needed practice anyways, the new school was going to be tough and I would need to keep up a good pace. All I wanted was a little spar. "Hey~! I know this might seem odd.. But I want to battle~" A large, friendly smile would sweep my face as I called out to my fellow woman, "Just a friendly little session?! I could use the exercise.."

[Kanika Stryker]

Footsteps. She could hear them just barely, slowly getting louder. They were harshing her mellow. Actually, they were rather rhythmic, and easy to get used to. Breathe in, seven steps, breathe out, seven steps. Even timing. That was always nice. Meant she had a natural rhythm to rely on to help her with timing. But then the footsteps stopped. Maybe she went far enough away that they drowned out in the ambient noise. No. They'd gotten louder, not softer, which meant she'd been getting closer before the stop. Of course, she was no Kung-Fu movie blind master. She had no bloody clue who or what was out there doing whatever. That's why she had eyes and finally decided to use them.

Hey~! I know this might seem odd.. But I want to battle~" She was right. That was damn odd. Weren't the fight supposed to happen in school? Instead she'd gotten through the whole day with one averted threat and that was it. Was it that she thought the school was more violent than it seemed as well? "Just a friendly little session?! I could use the exercise..."

"Daa... Uuumm.." Smoothness aside, she was taken completely by surprise by Stripey. Which was why she had no choice but to say, or rather stammer, "Err uh... Sure..." She wondered what exactly brought about this sudden challenge. Tai Chi was hardly considered 'challenge me' material, since most practitioners were middle-aged desk jockeys. Still, there was a spar to be had, no matter how awkward she felt. So off came the dress shirt and the glasses, which she bundled up with the shirt and tossed over to the side by a good ten feet or so. No sense in getting punched in the face with those on. She was nearsighted anyway, so losing the glasses for a fight was not a big deal at all.

She stood at a three-quarters turn away from the girl, almost so her right side was the only part presented. Her arms were up loosely, as she tried to relax them but still have them up at abdomen level. It was an awkward idea, relaxed, yet poised to strike. She hadn't figured that out yet. "I uh... I guess I'm ready when you are."

[Kyria]

Well it had seemed I had caught this other female offguard, because when she spoke back to me she seemed to stutter a bit. I wouldn't judge her though, because it was entirely possible that it wasn't something that happened all the time. Maybe she was just struck by my beauty~ Or maybe she didn't REALLY want to spar, but I did~ And she had accepted, so I guess that meant that it was going to be starting soon. And that was only confirmed when this other female said she was ready. Only after taking off some of her cloths~

All I did to get myself ready was stretch my legs. I was use to doing this kind of thing, and hell if I really wanted to I could totally lift my leg straight up against my body. It had a lot to do with my dance training, and the fact that I had been doing ballet since I was young girl. After a quick little stretch, I'd straighten up and then call out to my new sparring partner, "Can I get your name first?" was all I'd say, and after a few moments of waiting for her to answer, once I caught her name I'd begin to push forward.

My body would take off like a track superstar, and my ultimate goal was to reach this stranger before me. The distance between them would vanish in a mere moment, after all I was pretty damn fast when I wanted to be~ And due to the fact that Kanika's right side was forward, I decided that I'd pull a kick for my first attack. "Let the fun begin~!" My right foot would plant, and my leg would bend slightly, as my hips would twist to the right, and my left leg would sweep out lot. I was aiming to catch the top of my foot against the back of Kanika's right leg. I wasn't really aware of my opponent's ability to fight, thus I didn't want to plan anything past the kick.

[Kanika Stryker]

She took her deep breaths as the girl got herself ready with some quick stretches. Kanika was already loosened up from the exercises. So all she had to do was collect herself. This was a spar, not a real fight, so she had to limit her move set to attacks which would simply disrupt the flow of her enemy and keep the girl pinned down. Which could be hard considering the other girl was taller. She'd have the reach advantage. She was also a bit more muscular and toned than she was. For now, Kanika gave herself a superiority index of -13%. That meant she was at a decent disadvantage. And that brought in the feelings of inferiority. Envy would have to put aside though. There was pain to be inflicted. Most likely on herself.

"My name is Kanika." Not that it would matter, right? She was about to be smacked down, and that would be the end of it. Or perhaps she was being too pessimistic. This was a 'friendly' spar after all.

And the girl was fast. At least in a linear sense. Zero to assault speed in less than half the distance needed to reach her. But as the woman got closer, she started to see her much clearer. She was still more muscular, but her assailant's height was about even with her own. Still, the speed rose superiority index to -15%. Kanika drew in a deep breath, watching the chest. Despite the woman's admirable assets, her view was just a tad north, where the two centerlines of attack and defense crossed. Her hips thrust forward some. The right leg was planting. The weight transfer was obvious. At least in her slightly blurred eyes. Her right leg lifted, lashing out directly from point A to point B, just as she'd been trained. Point B was just below the navel, pushing past the surface and directing the force at the spine. That was where the weight was most supported. A harsh pushing kick would send the girl backwards and off balance. Not amazingly damaging given her meager strength, but effective to stop the attack. Breathe out, right at contact.

It was only luck that the woman had attacked her right leg, her forward leg, trying to use that to stunt her own start. It was only by the grace of her own training that that was the very foot she'd use to defend and attack. She had speed, but her style gave efficiency. A quick pushing forward kick was faster than a sweeping kick. It was a mere matter of base-level physics.

But the kick was all she had. No follow-up, no devastating reversal. She had one principle, simultaneous attack and defense. To attack now would in a way be pre-emptive defense, but this was only a spar. No need to hurt her without necessity.

[Kyria]

~OOC: Sorry~! Brain-dead -.- ~

My kick wasn't going to pass through, instead Kanika was coming forward toward me with a kick. Unfortunately for me, she had the simplier, more straight forward attack and I didn't know if it was going to hurt or not, because sometimes the look of a person was quite deceiving. Her foot would connect with my body, and I'd feel my body forced backwards slightly. It hadn't hurt too bad, but it had disrupted my kick. That was alright though~! I knew what I could do now.

I would stumble backwards slightly, as my right leg returned to the ground below. And the other girl's leg was retracting, my left hand would shoot forward and I'd aim to clasp that ankle before she could return it to the ground. Immediantly my upper-body would shift forward once again, and I'd shoot my right hand over her leg, and aim to connect her palm against the other girl's right side. I wasn't stupid though, those purple-tinted orbs of mine were locked upon her female opponent's own torso. Especially watching that arm of Kanika's.

[Kanika Stryker]

The thing about grabbing the foot was that it was hard for one arm to hold it up. This woman was not some super-strength heroine. When she reached out for the ankle, Kanika dropped her weight directly onto her leg. No single arm could hold up 110+ pounds directly away from the body, especially when accelerated by gravity. It'd break the hold outright, and get her closer to destabilizing her stance. However, if the grapples kept up, she would be at a huge disadvantage. She didn't know how to fight in a grapple too well. She only knew avoidance.

Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough to deal with the palm slamming into her stomach. And it wouldn't be the hands to watch out for. Because Kanika flinched hard. unintentionally hard, expecting a lesser impact. Expecting a pulled punch. Her body doubled over, but she was in such close proximity that instead of just bending over, her head would slam right into Kyria's, forehead to forehead. And it wouldn't be pleasant for her. She'd never been hit in the head before, so taking a blow there would cause her to get dizzy and stumble some, as a ringing started up in her ears.

[Kyria]

My hand connected, and I realized that maybe I was putting a little too much into my attacks, when this was really just meant to be a simple little sparring match. I'd not to adjust myself and not to be overzealous next time. After all, I wasn't really trying to hurt this female. She seemed friendly enough, and who knew what could happen after we finished this spar. I was new~! I still needed friends~!

Before I knew it though, I'd feel something crack hard against my skull. I winced due to the pain, and withdrew myself slightly, stumbling backwards a bit as my hand lifted to the spot on my head. My right eye would open to make sure the other female wasn't going to try to take advantage of me while I was soothing the pain from the blow. I wasn't sure if it had been accidental or if she purposely did that because I had hit her too hard. "Sss.. Sorry~! I didn't mean to hit you so hard before.. I'll be more careful this time, Kay~?"

Since I had dropped backwards a bit after the accidental headbutt, I wasn't going to move foreward this time. I myself preferred the art of counter-fighting, due to the fact that I was pretty good on picking up what attacks were what, on top of that I was very quick, to boot. So, with a renewed smile, I'd shift my body slightly, my left side leading, that left hand extended slightly, fingers loose and ready. My right arm folding against my right side as those purplish eyes of mine locked upon Kanika. "Your turn~!"

[Kanika Stryker]

The ringing in her ears made her stumble back a little, right palm to her forehead. It was fading quickly enough though. If the other girl had attacked, she'd have been easily tossed around. But there seemed to be a mutual stun. She took in a deep breath, calming down a little, collecting herself. And that's when she felt it. A wetness at her forehead. The other girl started apologizing at this time. Not good. If she saw the blood, she'd probably panic. Kanika instead smeared the blood hard against her forehead, trying to disguise the minor trickle amongst her bangs. It'd probably work for a while.

Am I really that weak? She growled, mostly to herself as she dropped herself back into her fighting stance. This was the difference between full contact and light contact. It was scary. It hurt. And it was necessary. Light contact might as well have been a game of grab-ass. "Don't hold back..." Her words were nearly silent, but hopefully the other girl caught them. Because she needed this. And she wouldn't be pulling any punches.

Kanika moved forward, right side facing her opponent the entire time. Her face didn't have the fun grin she normally wore. It wasn't angered either. Just dead serious. Perhaps even a little towards the sad side. All her training, and what did she get? A game of tag. It was time to break free of that limit imposed by her teachers. When she got inside the girl's circle of attack, which was about the same size as her own, her right arm lashed out. From down near her side to up at the jaw, twisting and hooking into the centerline at the very end of it's path. She couldn't hold back now. Hopefully this woman would understand that.

[Kyria]

~ OOC: I hope this isn't too confusing.. ~

I managed to catch a bit of what the girl said before she decided to come forward. I also managed to catch sight of the blood on her forehead. Now I felt a little bad, and I was surprised that she had actually started to bleed from that impact. But I wasn't given too much time to dwell on it, since the girl was closing the distance quickly. I was a little ancy, and I kinda wanted to hop step forward and attack while she didn't expect it, but I wouldn't do so just yet.

Instead, I would wait where I was standing, and the fingers on my left hand would twitch slightly, barely noticable. Once Kanika had moved in, I would watch as that arm of her's snapped forward toward my body. I let instinct take over, much like I normally did during my fights. I was a girl and all, but I loved fighting. And I had taken my time to learn how to combat people of all different kinds of styles. Fundemantally, Kanika's style wouldn't be any different. She still needed to throw kicks and punches, and I still had the speed advantage, or at least it seemed like I did anyways.

My left hand was already extended slightly, so it would snap like a venus fly trap, looking to clasp the girl's wrist from a downward angle, upward. And if I managed to grasp it, that left arm of mine would look for force her right arm to my own right, across Kanika's own body. It was a jerky movement, so I hoped that I'd be able to pull the girl to my right slightly, and my own body would twist counter-clockwise as I'd bring my left arm which had been folded slightly against my right side, around with the aim to connect my palm against the other girl's brest bone. And following immediantly after that, if it had hit, my left leg would shoot forward the girl, sliding across the ground as I'd aim to hook it around that leading foot of hers and use the palm attack to push her into a trip.

[Kanika Stryker]

The girl was faster overall. This wasn't going to end well. Her adversary was faster, stronger, tougher, and more experienced that her. In all likelihood, this was a loss. Superiority index had dropped to -38%. That was a long-shot. Like having a teenager fight Butterbean. One shot, ten count, it'd be over quickly. But she felt the need to keep going. The need to keep fighting. A raw determination that told her to screw the odds and keep fighting no matter what the numbers were.

And in came another attempt at a grapple. It was a wrist-grab, thankfully. Wrist grabs were incredibly easy to break. All it took was a simple twist, her entire forearm twisting against the thumb while prying loose. It worked on anybody. Because of the bi-direction force of a grab done by the hand, the irresistible force of rotating the forearm made the two bones widen the grip, spreading the thumb and fingers apart, while the continued twisting moved the forearm out of the grab while the grip was still loose. It never failed when used properly, and anyone could learn it.

And that loosened her arm to cover her torso, folded into a V across her chest as she prepared to lash out with a backfist. Unfortunately, the twisting motion took long enough that the second attack was coming in, pushing her collarbone while she felt her leg get swept. Her backfist turned into a quick grab for the woman's shirt, while her other hand came out to do the same. Sure, one could say it was the whole "if I go down, you're coming too" philosophy, but really, she'd just panicked. She needed something to hold onto. Unfortunately, it wasn't stable enough to support her fall.

[Kyria]

My hand struck the girl's body, but now how I originally intended. I had planned to try and make it unblockable, but instead the girl had wiggled her way out of my grasp. But that was fine, because while my palm didn't connected with the intended location, it still struck against some part of her body, which was good enough for me. The trip had also been successful, the only downfall to this? Well the girl's hands had shot out and grasped her shirt, and unfortunately for me the material which made up that black and red striped shirt was rather weak.

My eyes went wide when I heard the tear, and my shirt ripped right off my torso. "Eeeeh~!" At least I had decided to wear my own sports bra~! Yes, it was also black to match the clothing scheme she was currently wearing. After all, it only made sense to wear this kind of thing when you were going to do running or other heavy exercises! It would have been embarrasing, had I not had anything on under it. I'd quickly recover from that slightly little shock, and it was already behind me as my head snapped down toward the female that was now grounded.

My left leg, which would have been closer, would lift slightly and I'd bring it forward in attempt to kick toward my downed opponent, just a simple little stomp aimed to land upon the girl's stomach. I wanted to push her a bit, test out everything she had. After all, I was a fighter who learned by fighting someone for the first time. I would use any info I gathered this day if Kanika ever decided to try and face off with me in the future.

[Kanika Stryker]

At a place called Sacred Heart Hospital, a man dressed in bright green scrubs with a flame-pattern bandanna around his head looked up from his tray of cafeteria food. His face was lit up in pure amazement and joy. For him, this moment was perfection.

"Something wonderful just happened..."

Kanika's eyes went wide as she saw the shirt getting torn away. Not as expected at all. So much so that the girl was blushing a bright red. Sure, it was just a sports bra underneath. She saw them all the time. She wore them most of the time. But it wasn't her sports bra. It was a complete stranger's sports bra. And she'd just revealed it to the world. Or at least to anyone in Lincoln Park, which just seemed to be them thankfully.

She hit the ground solidly with her back, her body curled up a little so that she rolled rather than just fell flat. She was still on her back and all, but it lessened the impact by diverting force. She'd need all the HP she could get, especially with. "Awwcrap!" She brought up her own foot, a small sweeping circle of a kick against the girl's ankle, pushing it off course and off to her side, rather than on her stomach. Then her hand lashed out, middle finger knuckle aimed right for under the kneecap on the outside. It was kind of like the funny bone of the knee. Not as intense of a lasting sting, but then again, one didn't need an elbow to stand up.