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Doctor Strange      The Shrine has generated a pretty boilerplate arena for the match between Note and Doctor Strange. Perhaps someone advised the virtual architects that anything too extravagant was just going to get blown up or warped into some non-Euclidean bullshit. It's a raised platform above a field of grass, with spectator seating arranged around it.

     Protective wards have been put up to keep debris or errant attacks from injuring the audience, and there has been considerably more effort put into them than in the arena itself. The time has come for the match, and one of the contestants is making his entrance now. The arena's sound system pipes in a mysterious guitar and piano melody, as clouds begin to gather around a single point.

(THEME: https://youtu.be/-Wtj59opWKg?t=20 )

     The clouds slowly swirl into a funnel, and pinpricks of orange light begin to form around it. As the chorus of the song reaches its crescendo, the funnel cloud explodes outwards, seeding the daytime air with a sea of glimmering orange motes which slowly fade away. Stepping out of the mist to a round of excited applause and cheers is Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, with an arch frown. He lifts a finger, circling it once, and the music cuts.

     Strange presses his fist to his palm and bows at the waist when his opponent arrives.
Note     Sure. Some contestants have an elaborate introduction planned. Note, not being aware of this, watches from the participants chamber, jaw dropping slightly as she readies herself to enter the fray.

    The music isn't her style, but... she cracks a weird grin. "It's like the song was made just for him... is that really his name?"

    She rubs her lips against one another back and forth while pondering her own entrance...

    In the end though, she's got nothing. One of the staff members ushers her out, and so...

    She emerges into the grassy field far below the arena. Bracing herself into horse stance, the little martial artist kiai's sharply and ROCKETS up into the air, rapidly carried aloft on an explosion of filmy white energy coming from her body. Still wreathed in this power, she sails fifty feet higher than the stage... and cuts the lift, curling forward into a somersault. And down...

    DOWN she goes, unfolding herself only at the last moment to land in a strangely soft manner. Feet close together, she raises to her full height, claps her hands together, swishes her tail back and forth... and bows respectfully towards the sorcerer.

    But that gesture of respect finished, her left foot darts forward and her posture deepens into a warrior's stance... "I'm looking forward to this! A real one-on-one. Finally! And a doozy of an opponent, too. I'm pretty sure I'm a lot stronger... a lot faster... and a lot tougher!" That's a bold claim for the shortstack - who only comes up to just above Strange's waist, to be making, but...

    "... And yet, somehow, I don't feel any more confident. You've got some weird tricks. But, you know..."

    A single, long breath later, and---

    *KRA-KOW!*

    Without warning, golden energy bursts up around her, and her hair's instantly drawn upwards into an array of spikes, now shining with an inner golden light. Black eyes have turned green instantly, and narrowed.

    It's not like the previous displays though. Oddly enough, the transition wasn't nearly as violent. The ground didn't shake. There wasn't much of a burst of wind. And, the shining golden aura that surrounds her - thrumming at the air with a repeating pulse-whoosh noise - is much tamer, closer to her skin.

    "I've been preparing for this! Show me what you have!"
Doctor Strange      Strange raises his eyebrow at Note's introduction. It's true--she's almost certainly stronger and tougher. Likely faster. She's absolutely prepared for this, and spent more time practicing for it than he has. Her control over her own energy has improved much since they fought together against an Antegent. She may even have more experience than he does, strictly in terms of martial arts. Nevertheless, externally, he seems ready.

     He wants to demonstrate one thing today: the martial arts are not solely a physical endeavor. Past the feats of strength, even past the sorcery, he hopes to show her that she is right. An opponent's wits can be just as deadly as their strength, speed, or fortitude. Her invitation is thusly accepted.

     Strange performs a kata, and as his hands move, they pull lines of orange energy from the air. His motions weave them together until two small mandalas, flanked by slowly rotating rings of glyphs, form before his hands. The glyphs lock into place with another series of motions, and he pulls yet more energy, tugging it into the form of a whip--the first weapon he ever learned to create.

     Strange's cloak billows out behind him as he takes to the air, rushing towards Note's position. His weapon is raised, and he cracks the whip at her several times to try and draw her back. With each crack of the whip, Strange uses his other hand to lower the ground behind her, trying to trick her into losing her balance!
Note     Note's eyes go wide in shock as Strange simply takes her up on the offer without a word in edgewise. Then her eyes narrow. Instead of dashing in to charge at him, she observes his efforts. "... energy weapon...?!" A startled yelp is all that she can manage before the sorcerer is up and at her!

    Note expertly puts her everything into out-maneuvering the tricky lash. Strike after strike is side-stepped narrowly as she goes completely on the defensive... and only too late notices that Strange's other hand isn't idle!

    One step backwards too far. "Awk--" One mis-step into ground that just isn't where she expected it to be has her briefly flailing an arm out...

    In an agonizing half second of peril, she looks over her shoulder, seeing a large depression ready to swallow her up...

    There's only one problem with this strategy.

    Note's tail lashes out with lightning speed to slap the ground with SURPRISING power, sending her swooping back and away from him. She turns the tumbling maneuver into a backflip through the air and lands across the depression, perilously close to the ring's edge.

    CLEARLY put on edge by that trickery she narrowly evaded, Note picks a conservative strategy. She leans into a low dash to her left and thrusts a single palm out at Strange, circle-strafing but drawing closer.... and unleashing a half-dozen small rays of pummeling blue-white light from that palm!
Doctor Strange      If she's taking this seriously, he'll pay her the same courtesy. Besides, he knows well enough from Yang and Lezard not to assume people aren't going to bring the A-game to this. He pivots in place to track her movement, his brow twitcing as she approaches. He readies his sling ring, preparing to cut a portal in the ground beneath him and simply drop through it.

     Note's energy blasts catch him in the stomach mid-drop, knocking him up and out of his planned escape route. The whip flies from his grasp and burns away into nothing upon the ground. His Cloak of Levitation snaps wide, tugging him into the air in a wide arc to keep him from landing on his back. Strange levels out in the air and makes use of his momentum to dive-bomb the Saiyan.

     With an audible warble, the glyphs which flank the two hand-mandalas lock into place, and Strange lays a field of globe-shaped projectiles in his path. Each one is black as night, with unique fields of stars or nebulas visible. They linger lazily in the air for just a moment, before Strange makes a U-Turn in the air. His arms make a motion similar to a joint-lock, catching some invisible opponent's limb in his hands.

     The orbs explode, creating several bursts of white-hot light around Note's position!
Note     Note's eyes are on that cloak the moment it moves - SEEMINGLY OF ITS OWN VOLITION, tugging Strange free of her assault. What a WEIRD way to fly, that... looks uncomfortable.

    Note makes ready for his assault though, but her senses feel weird energy building up around her at the last moment. Inwardly she curses herself for being a bit too slow to catch on to the trickery, the sudden turn. Because... OF COURSE he wouldn't think to tussle with her in hand-to-hand... right?

    But she's smarter than she looks. "...HAYAAAAAAH!!!" A fierce yell, Note throws her hands out to either side and... unleashes a wave of pure power of her own. Golden-white dome spreads from her, sizzling and crackling and dissipating fast, but it competes with the explosions and partially disperses their power. Still, the dome doesn't hold - it was never 'solid' to begin with, its existence too ephemeral to be any real 'wall.'

    She's slammed by the power that gets through, singed and scorched and knocked clear to the ground...

    But before she's even done skidding to a halt, Note flips to her feet.

    "How... how...?! Energy comes from within. How did I not feel it coming from him properly...?!"

    Beads of perspiration now trickle down her forehead. Exertion and worry both are mixing together. She was right to be on guard against him!

    "Hope you're ready for this!" With a whip-crack of air rushing unnaturally about her, Note blurs into motion. She covers the distance between her and Strange all but INSTANTLY, phasing back into sight... behind him?!

    "EIIYAH!!" And from there, she aims a spinning DROP KICK for his shoulder, aiming to send him crashing into the arena below!
Doctor Strange      Note can clearly see that Strange is preparing another spell of some sort up there. He seems to look past her as his arms move, the motions now resembling a form demonstration for some sort of soft martial art. An imaginative mind might draw comparisons to the crashing of waves against rocks, gently rolling back to sea after flowing around their stubborn opponents. Confirming her suspicion is the formation of blue-green rings along the length of his arm. They number seven in total by the time she teleports behind him.

     Her kick strikes him square in the shoulder, and he drops to the ground like a lead weight. His cloak is unable to stop him from falling, and the sorcerer impacts the ground hard enough to crack the boilerplate platform in places. A ragged cough escapes him, though the rings remain upon his arm. He struggles to get up, and for a moment it might seem like he's about to tap out.

     A chorus of gasps erupts from the audience, some of them pointing. Following their shocked expressions, Note will see another Strange in the air, fists striking at invisible opponents similar to the famous 'sticking hands' exercise of Wing Chun. Called forth by his strikes are a barrage of angry red lasers, heading straight for Note's position!

     They are all, every last one, completely illusory. The /real/ attack comes from the grounded sorcerer, who leaps to his feet with an agile kip-up. A singe-palm thrust fires a wide beam of blue-green energy, burning brightly enough to illuminate his face even in the daylight. As the energy flows from the mandala before his hand, the seven rings dissipate one by one to fuel it.

     As the fake lasers strike the scenery and the protective wards near the spectators, they explode into confetti. The illusory Strange shatters like glass, the shards transforming into butterflies that fly away and vanish.
Note     Note doesn't need to look to see. She can FEEL that there's something above her that wasn't there before. And just like lawst time she's drawn to look. She HAS to. Because what she sees is more than a little threatening! ... And nonsensical.

    "WHAT the..." She's quite versed in the Afterimage Technique through her New Turtle School teachings, but... she can tell at a GLANCE that this is no speed-based trickery. Which means... "... duplication...?!" Not UNHEARD of... not entirely, but...

    "Gr... HAH!" She answers the lasers with a far simpler movement. A simple palm thrust that looses one of the same bolts as before. It... tears through the laser as if it wasn't there. Because, effectively, it isn't. The Ki disperses this illusion... but she CAN'T CHANCE IT. As the rest close in, Note simply SPRINGS UPWARDS, climbing higher into the air and turning about to look down and focus on the one she knows SURE FELT REAL a moment ago...

    "Yeah... full of tricks... just like I thought!" But definitely more tricks than she could've imagined. There's little she can do to evade the sea-colored beam flying at her. She doesn't bother. Instead Note braces herself in the air, holds her hands out and...

    The beam SLAMS into her outstretched hands. Sparks fly. Pain screams through her palms and fingers as she digs them - roiling with her own Ki for extra protection -into the blast. It breaks against her, slamming into an almost iunmoving object. She's pushed back, back, and back some more as the rings dissipate... but the moment the beam's strength begins to dwindle...

    "EEEEEEIYAH!" Gaining her momentum back, she flip-kicks upwards. Her foot catches the beam and KNOCKS IT OFF COURSE, high up into the sky and away from her. She emerges from the blast looking quite worse for the effort, but far from down. "You're good... REALLY good... never seen techniques like these!" Sadly, he's probably seen all of hers by now.

    Well, it's not like she doesn't have a FEW left over. And since she's currently high above the sorcerer... she swoops about in the air, placing the false sun at her back to make it VERY hard to see what she's doing...

    "He seems REALLY fond of flashy energy moves... alright then! I've got some of those!" Extending her arms out to either side, Note gathers power in her hands... it sizzles and crackles brilliantly, but good luck seeing that too well against the bright light at her back!

    In no time at all she brings both hands forward and..

    ANd unleashes a TORRENT of shots. Two dozen bulbous rays of Ki all swoop in at Strange from different angles and speeds, flying in like missiles. They'll explode at the first perturbation of any sort!
Doctor Strange      "And you've improved since Lilian's world."

     Strange puts up an illusory wall--it's a reflection of Note and the artificial sun, and this one is immediately obvious as an illusion considering it springs up from the ground beneath him. The hand not busy with that spell makes a series of one-handed mudras, and from the mandala before it there emerges what looks to be a Chinese straight sword. It's the last thing Note sees before the wall is completely up. Does he intend to engage her in melee combat, or is it merely another trick?

     The first of her projectriles shatters his wall, and ends up exploding. The force of the explosion throws Strange through the air and sets his sleeve alight, forcing him to extinguish it with a ray of cold and reveal his strategy. The sword rests in one hand, and on the other, there is a hole in reality, a burning ring of sparks--one of his portals.

     The other one opens in the air near Note. As the ice sloughs off of his sleeve and reveals the burn from her attack, Strange makes a series of tumbles to evade her projectiles. The last two are 'blocked' with the portal, sending them harmlessly into the air.

     With another tumble, the sorcerer dips through his own shield and emerges on the other side, facing her side rather than blinding himself with a head-on approach. Raefusing to let Note's energy be wasted, Strange tosses his portal-shield in front of the errant ki-blasts, then plays a confusing shell-game with them before finally making them collide in front of her! They've lost most of their energy, but that's fine--the intention was less to injure and more to blind with the resulting flash.
Note     "It was embarassing! That report! I've got a lot to learn if I'm supposed to help protect the Earth." Well, that would be the first time she actually SAID that was her goal. Though if anyone researched Kokkara enough...

    She HAS seen Strange work some of his tricks before. The portal's recognized instantly. Her eyes narrow with suspicion and- just in time, at that...

    Because just like that, Strange is RIGHT UP THERE WITH HER AGAIN, and everything is a brilliant flash! A pained well pierces the blinding burst. The explosion chars chunks of Note's outfit and scrapes away some flesh, leaving her forearms bloodied... but the big problem is...

    She's having a hard time opening her eyes. All reflexes say keep them shut. But she knows she can't!

    Strange is RIGHT THERE next to her... right...?

    Having realized that she can't entirely rely on her Ki sense with this opponent, Note decides the next best thing is to ENSURE THAT SHE CANNOT MISS. And so...

    After a sharp hiss of breath.... "Huuuooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!"

    A surge of power ripples through her ENTIRE BODY. Her little arm and leg muscles BULGE OUT, gaining an extra inch and a half to them. The golden aura she's been putting out this whole time rages into full fury, thickening and turning into an almost-tangible wave of force. Her hair, oddly enough, splays out even MORE radically, waving wildly. And all of it culminates in a STORM of outrushing power, a wind powerful enough to be akin to a hammer to the everything. Her intention is clear: knock Dr. Strange backwards and give herself a chance to recover!
Doctor Strange      The Sorcerer Supreme's body is knocked backwards, tumbling end over end like a paper airplane in a wind storm. The sword flies free of his grasp, falling to the earth. He goes limp, held aloft only by the Cloak of Levitation.

     The Sorcerer Supreme's /soul/ continues on its path, a translucent Strange flying straight through the shockwave of physical force, as would a ghost through a wall. Behind him, the Cloak ceases its magical flight, dropping his body into a portal conjured beneath it. It tumbles out of a portal placed above the Astral Strange, yanking him bank into the world of the physical and closing the distance between the two fighters. A split second later, the sword drops into his hand.

     Sweat beads on his brow as he makes his advance, going toe-to-toe with Note for the first time since the start of the engagement. There are no tricks this time, just the careful application of physical force. Leading with a series of kicks and elbow strikes, the sorcerer weaves in slashes from the sword of burning energy, attempting to catch the Saiyan off guard with decently passable martial arts!
Note     Who knows how much of the audience can see this apparition of Strange. But NOTE sure can. The moment his spirit and body separate she...well. Her face turns a ghostly pale color. Horror shines in her widening eyes. "Oh no no no I didn't kill him did I...?!"

    It's easy to forget, in the heat of battle, that such things cannot happen here in this arena. "No no... NO NO NO! You better not be dead!" She's less than concerned about the match now... as her mind churns, paralyzed, on the possibility she might be facing an angry ghost out for vengeance. Just like in the stories to scare kids.

    But then flesh and spirit unite again. And her jaw simply DROPS in disbelief. But a SOUND THUMPING of body blows rattles her out of that. The first few blows from Strange aren't met by any real resistance. Note doubles over in the air, body bending from the strikes.. but that shakes her out of her confused panic. "N-not dead! Whew..." She decides that the best thing to do would be to wage an all-out melee offensive and beat him back to buy time to sort this out.

    And so, whitish-blue ki swirls around her hands, taking on a stylized pattern of streaks that quickly coaelsces into vague animal maw forms. It binds around her hands as she uncurls her fists into claw hand style and... "WOLF FANG FIST!"

    Driving inward, she uses her gleaming palms to SLAM at the sword and deflect it to create an opening, and dive her other hand in for a sharp solar plexus strike!
Doctor Strange      The sword is not only turned aside, but torn into ribbons by Note's claws. In the heat of the fray, her attack tears into the fabric of Strange's tunic, leaving a nasty cut on his arm. It strips what's left of the weapon from his grip, and as he busies himself with a quick healing spell to staunch the wound, her hand strikes him directly, knocking the wind out of him...

     His emerald eyes flick upwards, locking with hers. They flash with determination, and he rolls with the blow, attempting to trap her arm in a joint-lock. Successful or not, his next move is quick, the sorcerer controlling his breathing to counteract the effects of Note's effective strike.

     "Bolts of Benthak," wheezes the sorcerer. He might have gotten the shit knocked out of him, but he's not going to pass up the opportunity to say 'Bolts of Benthak,' even if he doesn't have to. His stuff sounds cool, too. The so-called bolts arrive when Strange makes his counterattack, sweeping his arms upwards one after the other with fluidity that invites comparison to Baguazhang.

     Each sweep calls forth a ray of green energy with crackling yellow lightning around it, spat forth from the mandalas which float before his hands.
Note     "Wuuar--" Getting suddenly GRAPPLED isn't even close to what Note was expecting from the winded Sorcerer. Her surprise is evident as she's trapped in a hold. The problem here is... THAT actually hurts, despite her superior physique. "Nhh..." How did she let this happen?!

    But the few moments she has to ponder how to escape it - there's options! - are used up when he starts sweeping his arm. She uses that moment to back up through the air... but can't quite outmaneuver the freaky emerald bolts! They strike her in a sizzling display of PAIN AND AGONY, knocking her backwards. She wobbles woozily from the onslaught, whole body smoking and clothes looking tattered. She's not really in any better shape from Strange...

    But instead of looking worried or disheartened, she's GRINNING. Like she's having the time of her life here! "You're pretty good up close... way better than I thought. But you're gonna have to be the best to deal with this!" Steeling herself, Note clenches her fists tightly again against her body... and erupts with a resurgence of golden ki. Her power output skyrockets as she throws all hope of conserving her stamina to the four winds.

    In a smooth, practiced motion she brings both hands to her waist, palms facing each other...

    "Kaaaa Meeee Haaaa Meeee... HAAAAAAA!!!"

    A tiny spark of blue-white light glimmers into existence at the very center of the space between her hands... and rapidly grows with each syllable until it's straining for release. Pouring an enormous pile of power into it, and compressing it down to a single point... then unleashing the rebound in a single direction as a wave. That's the secret behind the move.

    A technique that's squarely targeting Doctor Strange as Note thrusts her hands forward and spreads her fingers out to unleash a solid, roiling beam slightly bigger than SHE IS!
Doctor Strange      "No, I don't," says Strange, his chest heaving with exertion as duplicates of himself begin to fly impossibly from the very space he occupies. They line up in formation, increasing in number until there are easily a dozen illusory copies of the Sorcerer Supreme. All of them fly erratically in a swarm, and all of them speak up at once.

     "I just have to be lucky."

     The blast fires, and the Stranges break off in a star pattern, each one flying in a different direction. The sheer size of it shaves half of their number, shattering them into their constituent orange motes. As the other Stranges flee, take up positions and fire off illusory attacks to try and startle her into folding. It fails.

     One of the Stranges happens to be the right one, and turns around at the last minute to try a defense. Intricate magic circles of orange energy form before him, layers upon layers of protective sigils meant to move Note's attack to some barren dimension or other. It barrels through all of them, and it grinds the hasty portal to the Mirror Dimension into dust when he tries that, too, finally punching through and carrying him high into the sky.

     The heat from the blast blackens his robes and sears the skin beneath, setting the reagents and magical trinkets in his pouches ablaze and turning them to ash in an instant. As the attack finally ends, the Cloak of Levitation spreads out like the wings of some giant crimson bird, momentarily blotting out the sun.

     "Alright, uncle, uncle," he calls from above, after a solid ten seconds of putting out various and sundry fires of both ki and magical origin upon his person. He ends up with swaths of his body encased in ice or covered in sleet, dark bruises and cuts visible beneath the ice. "Uncle," he calls one more time, dispelling the mandala glyphs before his hands.

     "I don't wanna test the Shrine's healing from up here," he says. Muttering under his breath, he adds, "And my pride's not worth taking another one of those."
Note     The problemw ith trying to startle her into folding is that even if Note did stop, the Kamehameha has been unleashed. The worst of it is going in one direction and that cannot be easily changed. If Strange was gambling on her trying to SHIFT the beam to hit one of the others, thinking that he would OBVIOUSLY be among them...

    Well, there's a moment where Note's face is very 'oh crap now what!' with panic as she sees the pile splitting off... but there's nothing she can really do at this point.

    Except trust in luck.

    The results leave her feeling... not so sure of this victory. It's clear to her that Strange has far more skill and control than she does. If there's any advantage she holds, it's... "This weird bloodline of mine..." Is murmured. Her tail snaps about in the air once for emphasis... But she withdraws her hands, the beam dwindling into nothing quickly. She's left panting in the middle of the air, struggling to catch her breath. The golden glow dies down and her muscles deflate back down to normal. They weren't terribly inflated to begin with, but the change was noticeable when she cranked it up to high gear. As well, her hair and eyes change back to their original black, the hair falling down in silky strands as whatever weird force held it into spikes has given up as well.

    "Eh....eheheh... oh my arms are TINGLING..." That was DEFINITELY a surge of too much power through them... "You... okay?! Cutting loose in here still feels weird... I wouldn't have used that in a normal spar...!"
Doctor Strange      The Shrine does its work upon both combatants, sealing cuts, soothing burns, mending bones. Strange hovers back down to Note's level, weaving a repair spell that mends his robes, seeming to turn back time on his wardrobe as the Shrine does on his person. "C'mon," he says, opting not to answer her question. "Let's touch down." The sorcerer nods towards the ground.

     "Can't hear the crowd cheering from up here."