"Good evening ladies and getlemen, to this day's last duel! This is

round four and have we got something in store for you!" Searchlights

dancing across the arena and the ever horribly dressed announcer make

this entire spiel complete. "Last round, our first competitor of the

night faced off against a certain catboy, and in that battle she already

met her current opponent! That's right, tonight we get to see Chibi

Usagi-tan battle Rei!" The spotlights quickly dance off into the

direction of the hallway, as the announcer begins to call out for the

deusses. "Now, come on out! In the EAST-O corner, Akaki Miina, with her

angel Chibi Usagi-tan!" When she would come out, half of the spotlights

aimed at the entrance would follow her. "And last but definately not

least, in the WEST-O cornerru! The Whit-o storremu! And her angel, REI!"

As Miina comes down toward the big layer in the middle of the arena, she

pauses and turns around to wait for Mikage to come out as well. She

doesn't exactly stand still, bouncing up and down excitedly on her toes

until the opposing deus comes into view. Once Mikage joins her in the

aisle, Miina happily hugs the older girl if allowed, giggling a little

and then slipping her hand into Mikage's to walk down to the layer

together, just as they had the previous year. It isn't really all that

often that the two get the chance to see each other, but Miina's still

very fond of the deus and her angel.

In these big public tournaments, it has always been a struggle for the

generally shy-natured Mikage to play the role of the 'White Storm'.

Trying to fit into a public persona, who really is only a shadow of the

real person is never easy. But somehow, the presence of Miina as her

opponent seems to change that. Instead of trying to act the part, the

pale young woman seems more calm as she steps out to meet her young

friend. A smile creeps on to her face as she returns the hug, seeming

relaxed as she takes Miina's hand and walks towards the layer. "It's

good to see you again." Miki leans down to whisper, "I think this match

will be the most fun one of the games for me." Because of all the games

of the touranment, this one, at least, Mikage feels as if she can be

herself. As they reach the layer, her hand gently releases Miina's.

"Good luck?" She offers, tilting her head slightly in a way that echos

how her angel usually responds to things.

Grinning happily, Miina nods her agreement. "I hope we get a good

scenery to play on. And I'm glad you like playing with me and Usagi. You

know what?" she asks as they near the edge of the layer. "You should

come to the Piffle Princess more often so we can play there, too. Then I

could see you more! Good luck!" she says, waving a little before she

rushes over to climb up into her own chair and pull on the visor. She's

just the same as ever.

In these big public tournaments, it has always been a struggle for the

generally shy-natured Mikage to play the role of the 'White Storm'.

Trying to fit into a public persona, who really is only a shadow of the

real person is never easy. But somehow, the presence of Miina as her

opponent seems to change that. Instead of trying to act the part, the

pale young woman seems more calm as she steps out to meet her young

friend. A smile creeps on to her face as she returns the hug, seeming

relaxed as she takes Miina's hand and walks towards the layer. "It's

good to see you again." Miki leans down to whisper, "I think this match

will be the most fun one of the games for me." Because of all the games

of the touranment, this one, at least, Mikage feels as if she can be

herself. As they reach the layer, her hand gently releases Miina's.

"Good luck?" She offers, tilting her head slightly in a way that echos

how her angel usually responds to things.

Grinning happily, Miina nods her agreement. "I hope we get a good

scenery to play on. And I'm glad you like playing with me and Usagi. You

know what?" she asks as they near the edge of the layer. "You should

come to the Piffle Princess more often so we can play there, too. Then I

could see you more! Good luck!" she says, waving a little before she

rushes over to climb up into her own chair and pull on the visor. She's

just the same as ever.

"Alright then, ladies and gentlemen! With our duelists in their seats,

we are ready for tonights performance! Duelists! Are you ready!?" The

crowd stand up from their seats as the billboard begins showing the

layer itself as it begins to flicker further and further until finally

it settles upon the scenery of a beautiful and untouched rye field! "Our

deusses will face off against eachother on the ryefield! Be sure not to

lose eachother! Now! ENTERY-ANGEL!"

The little girl smiles even more as she sees the layer shifting into

that open expanse of gold. Against Rei, it seems like Usagi-tan's best

bet is having lots of room to run through, and this swaying field seems

to be just the place to let her dash about freely. Miina raises her

angel up high above her head, her voice loud as she calls out to the

bunny more than anyone else. "Alright, Chibi Usagi-tan! Let's show 'em

how we play!" Since there isn't anything dangerous on the current layer,

Miina doesn't really need to be all that careful about aiming. As long

as the little lapine makes it into the barrier, she'll be fine. While

sending Usagi-tan sailing through the air toward the layer, it crosses

the little girl's mind that she should perhaps practice throwing things

for Usagi's sake...but it hasn't hurt her so far. The bunny-girl angel

flips through the air a few times before righting herself to land in the

rye. She leans forward onto that carrot weapon of hers, grinning just as

much as her deus and waving eagerly at the crowd on all sides.

Mikage lets out a sigh of relief at the sight of the wide open layer.

She'd had to fight on a clock, and a hamster wheel, and a few others

that certainly were not the most fair to either opponent. At least here,

it would be an even fight, and she could let her angel's skills shine.

She slowly gets to her feet, closing her eyes for a moment to settle

herself before raising one hand, holding her angel out on her palm.

"Spirits of wind and water. Power of my spirit, will of my heart. When

all is lost, be my wings... Rei!" Whatever meaning the fall-in has to

Mikage, it always seems to be for her and her alone. As her eyes open,

she moves quickly, tossing her angel towards the layer's surface.

As Rei passes through the barrier of the layer, her head tilts upwards

and her eyes glow briefly for a moment before returning to their usual

green shade. Her wings flare, sweeping her body upward and slowing her

decent towards the rye field below. With two swift backwings, she lands

softly into the field, folding her wings behind her and giving her tail

one swift swirl around her to clear some room. As always, she bows

slightly to show her respect, and then gives a somewhat cocky two-

fingered salute towards the bunny angel and her oversized carrot.

As soon as Usagi-tan sees Rei, her eyes light up even more. She waves

happily at the gargess, grinning from lop-ear to lop-ear. "Reeeiii!!

Hello again!" she greets, completely ignoring the announcer's order for

them to fight. That can wait...being friendly comes first! After a

moment, however, she straightens up and raises her weapon, preparing

herself a little. She personally wouldn't mind running around and just

playing instead of fighting, but...well...it /is/ supposed to be a

tournament, and she's sure Rei's eager to get started.

With the sound of the announcer's call, and the buzzer that starts the

timer, Rei snaps into motion. While she may go easy on people outside of

tournament games, she isn't one to not show her true potential here,

infront of everyone. She sweeps out to the right, making a line through

the thick rye as if she were a shark at the water's surface. Dun dun...

dun dun dun dun... She draws closer to Usagi-tan, crouching slightly so

that only her red hair can be seen like a flag over the rye. Then, she

turns with a quick sweep of her tail out towards the bunny-girl's legs.

It's a good thing the bunny had already been getting into a defensive

position, alert and watching Rei closely. Otherwise, that quick little

snapping attack might have caught her off guard, and she can't afford

that sort of lapse with this particular opponent. She stabs her carrot's

tip quickly into the ground in front of herself, stopping the tail from

reaching her. She then hops up and swings around the weapon, holding

with one hand and arcing around it to try and catch Rei with a quick

kick to the side.

There is a momentary wince as Rei feels her tail strike against the hard

surface of Usagi-tan's carrot. Her tail can be used as a quick,

impromptu weapon, but like any body part, it doens't appreciate being

struck against something hard. Still, she has little time to nurse her

tail as the kick comes towards her. With a small yelp of sound, the

gargoyle leaps up into the air and does a fast flip backwards to just

avoid the kick by inches. When she lands, she checks herself. Yep, still

in one piece. Then, it's back to the attack. She seems to focus,

gritting her teeth slightly before slashing her talons sideways through

the air. From the place where her hands had cut the air, a wave of water

seems to appear, rushing over the layer and sweeping through just the

upper surface of the rye. However, the pain in her tail seems to be

distracting her, so it doesn't seem 'quite' as powerful as in some

previous matches.

That's one she hasn't seen before...It takes Usagi-tan a little bit of

time to jump up, trying to get above the sheet of water. She manages,

for the most part, but it still washes over one furry foot. The bunny

keeps from toppling over, landing on the still-dry foot and running

toward Rei. She jumps up into the air again, this time to try and land a

kick against Rei's shoulder and maybe knock her off balance.

The water sweeps past Usagi-tan and to the end of the layer, where it

splashes upwards, causing some of the audience to jump as if they were

afraid it was going to come towards them. Luckily, it's all just

holograms, right? Having been focusing on her attack, Rei isn't quite

able to put up a good defense against the kick that comes towards her

shoulder. The best she can manage is to put her armored shoulder

forward, focusing some of her energy towards it, which causes the armor

to glow faintly blue. CLANG. The hit strikes solidly against her

shoulder, leaving a painful looking dent in the armor. Stepping back

away from the attacking rabbit, she steps into a spin, extending her

wings. As the angel spins, her wings sweep out and begin to break off

some of the rye-tops as the whirlwind pulls inward. Soon, there is

enough speed that it might just drag Usagi-tan into the cyclone, and the

dangerous attack that awaits her in the eye of the storm.

Well, the eye of the storm had worked out rather well for her once a long time ago, but this time appears to be slightly different. Usagi-tan tries to keep back away from Rei's spinning attack, but can't seem to brace herself well enough to avoid being pulled in. After getting smacked once by a wing, however, she drops down low to the ground and manages not to get struck by anything more dangerous. On the plus side, now that she's down here she may as well try to trip up the whirling stone warrior. It's not a very complex thing that the little bunny does...she just sticks her carrot out to try and tangle up the gargess's legs.

Normally, one would be satisified to strike their opponent, and get easily tripped up. Rei, however, is experienced enough to know that one hit is not enough to count an opponent out of the match. When she sees Usagi-tan duck down, her first reaction is to leap upward. However, that is made that much harder by the fact that she's still spinning. Due to that, it's a struggle to keep her balance sa she lands, and she ends up spinning outward, like some discus thrower who had overturned. Wobbling a bit, and seeming momentarily dizzy, Rei blinks and her ears fold back. She's not going to puke, right? Angels can't puke... oh wait, Rei's done that before. Look out! Well, actually she seems to recover after a second or two, and then charges forward, albiet on a bit wobbly feet, and seems to be a punch at Usagi-tan. Then, at the last moment, the blade concealed in her arm snaps out, closing the distance between the two.

Even with Rei not seeming quite balanced, the added reach of the hidden blade still makes the dodge a bit difficult for Usagi-tan. She leans back a little, but then has to stutter-step back even farther to get out of the way of the blade. She stabs her weapon down into the ground again to keep her own balance, then moves behind it for only a moment. Holding the carrot's stalk with one hand, she launches herself forward much more swiftly and powerfully than she had the first time, and with a definite target in mind. That armor had been dented by a much weaker strike, so perhaps this time Usagi might be able to do a little damage.

Denting Rei's armor isn't hard, but finding a way to pierce her armor is far harder. As she sees the carrot come at her, the gargoyle seems to focus her strength into her defenses. A shimmering aura glows briefly around her, absorbing most of the impact, but driving her back slightly into the rye, leaving clawmarks behind. However, she doesn't go totally unscathed. A huge bruise shows on her unarmored arm, and she seems to have lost a step or two from the impact. So, rather than jumping right back into another attack, Rei steps backwards and raises her arms defensively, giving a respectful nod, showing her appreciation of such a powerful attack. Yet, all she does for right now, is watch her opponent, and plan what her next move should be.

Well, that hadn't worked out quite the way Usagi-tan had expected. She had put all her strength into that strike, and it barely did anything...but then, Rei /is/ a rock. As the gargess gives her that little nod, the lapine angel grins at her, throwing up two fingers in a silly little V gesture. She doesn't strike again just yet, though. Instead she backs up a bit, taking a moment to rethink her own tactics. Apparently a straight-on assault just isn't going to cut it.

It almost seems as if the two might stare each other down, but Rei isn't one to give too much of a breather to any of her opponents, especially not one as strong as the bunny-girl. So, seeing as no attack comes her way, she shifts her stance slightly, pawing at the ground with her taloned feet. For anyone who has watched Rei fight for the past years knows what is coming. A click resounds as horns extend from the headset she wears. And then, a split-second later, the gargoyle is rushing forward across the layer towards Usagi-tan like a bull trying to run down a speedy bunny matador.

Ack! Usagi-tan casts a quick glance from side to side, but doesn't have anything she can really use as a cape. She can't do it quite as dramatically as she'd prefer, but the little bunny still dances to the side of Rei's bull rush and bows ironically at her after she passes by. With a little giggle then, she darts off in the opposite direction, deciding to have a bit more fun before the next inevitable clash.

With Usagi-tan giving her something to chase, Rei turns from attacker, to hunter. She flaps her wings slightly, jumping up in the air and then using those large appendages to give her the gift of flight. She beats those wings to gain some height, and then begins to swoop around the layer to build up speed, spying the bunny like an eagle going for the kill. Then, she folds her wings and dives, only flaring them again at the last moment as she swoops past with a quick, powerful attack that also gives her an element of surprise that just might give her an edge.

With a rather loud squeak, Usagi-tan dives forward into the rye to get under Rei's attack, hoping that she won't risk crashing into the ground just to sink her claws into soft little bunny flesh. Her luck holds as she rolls forward a little distance, looking up to find the flying gargess again. She sits up into a low crouch, deciding she doesn't really want to come out after Rei just yet. Instead, she launches her carrot with one hand, sending it flying like a dart after her opponent.

As the dart comes sweeping at Rei, she sweeps her wings backwards and actually turns in mid-air to sweep a blow of her arm at the large carrot projectile. It turns the weapon back down towards the ground, causing it to drive deep into the earth, sending stones and rocks and clumps of rye-filled dirt up at Usagi-tan. Hoping to use this as an opportunity, Rei sweeps down towards the ground once more and comes to a skidding landing. She reaches both claws up over her head and roars outward, slashing them through the air. Like her previous attack, glowing lines form from where her claws had sliced the air, but instead of forming water... shards of ice begin to shoot up from the ground, threatening to spear the unwary.

It's nice of Rei to give Usagi her weapon back, but she could have done it a bit more gently. After the bunny shakes her head a little to clear away the dirt so that she can see, she opens her eyes just in time to find Rei dangerously close and already sending spears of ice toward her. She begins to stand, but can't get up any kind of suitable defense, and there's no hope of getting out of the way. The lapine angel is knocked back down to the ground, and it seems almost as though she won't be able to stand again. It takes her a bit of time, but she finally gets back to her feet, a touch unsteadily. Usagi doesn't even bother trying to retrieve her weapon, instead taking her chances and rushing forward to try and punch that weakened piece of armor. She's not out yet!

This late in the match, it seems difficult for Rei to react to such attacks. She's so used to Usagi-tan using her carrot as a weapon that she isn't really expecting the punch towrads her shoulder. With a yelp, she draws backwards, falling down onto her rear end and just managing to avoid the blow by a few inches. However, from this low position, it seems that she's at a better position to attack the bunny-girl's legs. So, pulling herself to a crouch, she pushes off and tries to dive herself right at Usagi-tan's legs, with the intention, perhaps, of trying to drive the bunny girl right off the edge of the layer.

Without the added weight of her weapon to keep her grounded, it doesn't really take very much effort to send the exhausted little bunny flying. She doesn't even seem to see the attack coming, unable to react in the least. Miina blinks in a bit of surprise as her angel passes through the layer barrier, able to hear the little clatter as she hits the arena floor in the momentary silence of the audience. It lasts for a moment more, and then comes the cheering for Rei and Mikage. Miina laughs a little shaking her head. "We were doing pretty good in the beginning, I think, but you got us again!" she says as she removes the visor.

"Rei! Win!" The announcer had been in suspense the entire game, and now that the buzzer went off, he pointed at Mikage. "With a perfect streak so far this tournament, miss Aogiri has done it again!"

With the voice of the announcer rinning in her ears, and the buzzer announcing the end of the match, Mikage looks up and blinks slightly, seeming almost surprised that that was the end. Her angel seems surprised as well... her chest and face covered in mud as she sits in a crouched position and looks as if she really, wanted a bath badly. Mikage can't help but laugh at her angel's sad state, but then looks across the layer to nod at Miina. "You're getting a lot better." Her voice comes across the headset speakers. "Thank you for fighting with all your strength." And with that, she removes her visor, gives a shy wave towards the audience, and then lowers the chair to retrieve her angel. As usual, she doesn't linger out infront of the crowd, and quickly makes her way off the arena floor, and back into the quiet of the waiting rooms.

Seeing that Mikage is already in the process of leaving the arena, Miina quickly rushes forward to grab the carrot off the layer and scoop up her fallen angel from the floor. Without seeming to care a bit about the tournament setting and all of the people, she darts after Mikage, catching up to her before she gets very far down the hall. Just the same as she had the year before, Miina slips her hand into the older girl's and grins up at her, walking together with her then. "We'll always fight hard, and always for fun!" she answers finally.