Hathiya vs Kaihua: The strings behind the curtains.

Kaihua wasn’t begging, so much as explaining his situation. The young tiger really felt like he was in a tough place going against one of Eros’s commands, and as much as Cirkot seemed to disregard him the plant man did ultimately step up to Eros on Kaihua’s behalf. He sort of owed Cirkot a favor for that, and to be played around with by Eros’s champion wouldn’t serve Kaihua and ultimately make the plant man’s sacrifice worth nothing. So, as much as he hated it, he took a page out of the plant man's book and explained things civilly. It was tough, considering Kaihua’s limited vocabulary and broken speech pattern, but he sincerely hoped he was getting his plight across. It was tough to tell when Hathiya sighed, Kaihua usually taking that as a bad sign.

Almost all of his previous owners hit him after they sighed like that…

But, Kaihua would experience a bit of an emotional roller coaster as Hathiya agreed to his request…only to grab him and throw him towards the ropes with a cute wink. After that, his emotional roller coaster became an actual one as he felt his body be flung through the air! Luckily, he rolled his body mid air so his feet were pointed towards the ground. But that didn’t really matter as he felt his back hit the arena ropes! There was so much momentum that he actually felt the ropes strain a bit before flinging him back at the Earthshaker.

Kaihua was returning back to Hathiya at incredible speed, and with so little time to think, Kaihua did what he could! Remembering an attack he’d seen in a picture book, Kaihua would tuck himself into a ball quickly, hoping that his own bodyweight and momentum would serve to be a decent return for Hathiya’s throw!

Hathiya had prepared herself for him to make a comeback attack, as she had hoped he would. If he really wanted to be what he said, he should be able to pull this off! And seeing him roll himself into a ball and come at her like a giant makeshift slingshot ammunition, Hathiya prepared herself...

and stuck a hand out to catch Kaihua like a ball, neatly fitting right into her hand. She looked at him for a few seconds, before tossing him upwards like a scholars hat, up to at least 20 feet into the air! She looked up, wondering how he'd deal with this one.

Scrunching up into a makeshift cannonball wasn’t the best idea, even Kaihua could admit that. But when he was flying around at disorientating speeds, it was the only one he could think of! Flying at someone who was tall enough to tower over most people and was actually the person who threw him made it difficult for the tiger to think up a way to take advantage of the absurd situation. With clear ease, Hathiya would snatch him out of the air with a single arm, holding Kaihua like he weighed next to nothing. The world stopped spinning, which was not the only thing he was thankful for. Honestly, had his cannonball idea worked, he might have been a little disappointed in both himself and Hathiya.

The prideful fighter didn’t get much time to think of his predicament, as the Earthshaker would suddenly toss him up high into the air! She didn’t spare any strength either, as Kaihua would sail up towards the ceiling! In a display of cat-like reflexes, Kaihua would twist in midair and actually dig his claws into the fibrous material that made up the ceiling panels. Up there, his claws kept him safe and secure as he blinked his bright blue eyes, peering down at the people and Earthshaker below. In a way, he probably looked like an albino bat, hanging upside down as he thought about how he could take advantage of the situation to topple his powerhouse foe.

Hathiya's eyes followed Kaihua going up and up, getting smaller as the vertical distance grew......and then raised an eyebrow when she noticed he wasn't getting larger. That can't be right, until she realized he must've clung to the ceiling!

Whoops, put a little too much force in.

But the small crowd was eating it up nonetheless! They were giving excited yells, looking upwards, taking pictures and sharing concerns on how the hell was he gonna get out of this debacle? It's not everyday someone gets flung into a ceiling, you can't just search that on the internet for a solution.

Nonetheless, Cirkot was fighting back laughter that was slowly leaking out of his mouth. He had been at first speechless on seeing that, but when the situation settle in, a sudden wave of laughter threatened to pipe out of his mouth that he had to keep his mouth clamped on. Looking upwards, he wondered if Kaihua was cursing his own pride right now.

Hathiya on the other hand, now had a growing worried look on her face, and then raised both her arms out towards Kaihua. It...almost looked like she was ready to catch him if he falls.

As strange as it looked, Kaihua wasn’t uncomfortable where he was. Being high up was an advantage for a hunter species like Kaihua, his blue eyes peering over everyone in the crowd with a startling amount of detail. With his eyes, he could even see things like what condiments the crows had on their snacks, details on their clothes, even Cirkot barely holding in his laughter! Kaihua huffed in annoyance, deciding to get Cirkot back by digging his claws further in the ceiling, leaving some noticeable claw marks. With his claws being curved, it was difficult to move anywhere but where he was. But it also meant he wasn’t spending much energy hanging on to the ceiling. In a way, he had a nice break to sit and think things over.

Peering down, Hathiya was patiently waiting for him with a worried look on her face. Even against an opponent, she was being nice. It made Kaihua grumble a bit, but he quickly devised a plan. Without any doubt, Kaihua unhooked himself from the ceiling and started his descent! He righted himself in midair, his four paws rapidly approaching Hathiya. But rather than fall straight down, Haihua shifted. His arms and legs moved outwards, much like a housecat did when they fell. It was said that a cat had better chances of surviving a fall from a higher story building than another. And since Kaihua was already rather high, he had plenty of time to properly land onto the floor!

It was a scary tumble for those who did not know, but Kaihua fell down at a different side of the ring, his four paws hitting the floor without much sound as his body seemed to absorb the impact. He remained on the floor for just a second, before darting towards Hathiya like nothing had happened! He had effectively nullified the impact of the ground, and quickly looked to slip between Hathiya’s feet to get behind her! Taking advantage of his scary looking fall!

If he succeeded, Kaihua would rebound off the ropes and look to send a dropkick into Hathiya’s back, hoping to get a nice clean hit off his opponent!

Hathiya's eyes widened as she watched the young tiger make his fall! The crowd gasped as they watched his descent from the ceiling, following his downwards fall, with some holding their breathe, a few yelling in shock. Hathiya's eyes went from widened to surprised when she saw Kaihua turn in midair, and then as he got close, he actually stuck the landing!

Hathiya was so impressed by that display, she actually lowered her arms, realizing there hadn't been any need to raise them. But that was the same time as Kaihua darted towards her, then slid between her legs to get behind her! Hathiya didn't even bother to react to that, her head simply turning to look at the fighter running around behind her.

Kaihua came in with a speedy dropkick, and at first, Hathiya just seemed to stand there, as Kaihua sailed towards her through the air high, the dropkick incoming fast for her back! At least, it seemed to, until Hathiya suddenly ducked and struck her rump out to counter and hit Kaihua from below!

Kaihua’s strength is what helped him build such incredible speed in such a short time. His nails dug in the ground to help him pull himself faster! His muscles tensing up and releasing like pistons as he slipped between Hathiya’s legs and left a couple claw marks in the ring canvas. Every step he took was faster than the last, which only made his momentum when he hit the ropes that much more effective. The metal springs inside the padded ropes strained as the tiger pressed against it with all of his strength and speed pressed against it. Only for them to spring him forward like a pebble in a slingshot!

In the blink of an eye, Kaihua was practically on Hathiya, his attack just about to connect. But almost as fast as him, Hathiya would prepare her own counter attack by…sticking out her rump? Few might have understood what she was doing until Kaihua’s attack. Kaihua’s heels smacked into Hathiya’s rump, causing one HECK of a swat to echo out into the audience as the tiger accidentally gave the Earthshaker a spanking. At the end of his momentum, the tiger would spring off his large opponents soft rump, landing on all fours behind her as he blinked in absolute confusion as to how Hathiya was still up!

As the attack bounced/deflected? off of her butt, Hathiya shot up straight at the resounding noise that rang out from that clap. The audience was left flabbergasted as well, as everyones jaws hung open while Cirkot shrugged, "What a spank."

Turning halfway towards Kaihua's direction, rubbing her rump, Hathiya said, "I'll give it to you, Little Tiger. You got speed, all right!" she said with a good hearted chuckle, still rubbing her rear. She seemed pretty unharmed despite the volume of the clap that had rung out.

Kaihua stood staring in awe as the Earthshaker seemed to shrug off his attack with a good natured chuckle and a gentle rub. Kaihua may not have been in Tsubar for a very long time, but he knew he was stronger than the average species. He had broken apart a pair of metal guards that had tried to keep him from entering into the city when he first arrived to search for his rival, and that was part of the reason he had been imprisoned in the first place. Kaihua had dispatched those fake guards with a few swipes of his claws, and yet it felt like he couldn’t even make Hathiya even budge! He blinked, his sapphire eyes almost sparkling as he began to imagine just how many guards Hathiya could take down!

“Very heavy hit, but big butt save you?! How tough are? Champ ever be beaten?”

Kaihua actually seemed a little...excited? While it was true he had his pride, even the strongest warrior could be impressed by overwhelming strength. Despite being in the middle of a match, Kaihua inspected the impact site on Hathiya’s rump. There was a slight tear in the fabric, but otherwise little clue he was there. The force of Kaihua’s pounce was the equivalent to being hit by a motor vehicle, but Hathiya stood tall and proud. Even as immature as Kaihua was, he had to admit it was a pretty cool thing to witness. For the moment, he seemed to forget he was still fighting Hathiya, as he pointed at her muscular arms.

“How strong? In big way? Stronger than Kaihua’s rival?”

Hathiya still rubbed her butt a bit before turning to face Kaihua. She had not realized the small tear that had occurred in her fabric and just about near everyone except her saw. Cirkot had to facepalm calmly as he could only guess the storm this would eventually cause once this reaches the internet one way or another. He just knew it.

That aside, Hathiya took in Kaihua's questions with complete silence. She just blinked as she looked at the young tiger, who asked if she was stronger than his 'rival'. While she herself had not a clue who the heck this 'rival' was, she could certainly answer the other question. "I am tough, but I am still beatable." she answered politely, "And I have been beaten....once. Just once." Her eyes narrowed at Kaihua. "And maybe you can be the second to beat me ever."

She then took one step forward lightly that still shook the whole ring. "And to answer your second question, if I am stronger than your rival...."

Within a split second, Hathiya's stance had shifted forwards from a casual stand to a forward strike stance, her large arm having stretched forwards and her fist having stopped about a few feet short of Kaihua's face. But it didn't need to hit him, because an absolute explosion of gusty wind had burst out of it, like as if a small tornado had just been birthed. Kaihua would feel a prolonged gust of powerful wind right in his face, blowing his hair backwards, while the unfortunate cameramen behind who hadn't hunkered down found themselves getting thrown off their feet and falling backwards, their cameras clattering to the floor. The gust of wind continued roughly for 5 seconds before slowly dying down.