Match 16927 Michelangelo (Mirage) vs. Whip (King of Fighters)

[RakaiThwei]

Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello watched intently as the battle between Leonardo and Leona Heidern kicked off immediately. The brothers knew that their eldest sibling had been experiencing a difficult time in coping with losses and draw matches in his battles, it was something which affected him in the run of things. They knew that their brother was someone who put in tremendous effort in his training and his fighting— and the loss to Terry Bogard and the draw with Rock Howard most certainly didn’t do Leonardo any wonders for his confidence. The reason why the Turtles joined this tournament was to acquire the experience in fighting other martial arts styles, but to the surprise of the siblings— they learned that many of the martial artists who attended this King of Fighters tournament utilized powers which were truly in the range of superhuman.

Leona came rushing right at the red masked ninja, and she swung her arms across as she slashed her hands through the air, taking aim for the Turtle’s face and his neck region. Leonardo hunched down as he evaded the incoming slash which Leona unleashed, and then leaned to his own right— evading the thrust strike which was moving for his neck. Leonardo turned in a spin and she quickly swung her left leg across to the left, performing a crescent kick and then followed up by a roundhouse kick from her right as she moved her leg diagonally across. Leonardo quickly leaned back away from the first kick, and again moved back away from the roundhouse. In retaliation, Leonardo would lean forward and he thrust his left arm outward, driving his ninjaken out for a stabbing thrust as he took aim for Leona’s mid-section but the young woman side-stepped from the path of the blade. The Turtle followed up by then swung his right arm back across horizontally in a reverse slash, intending on striking at his opponent’s mid-section. Leona hopped back away from the path of the sharpened tip, quickly evading the strike. Leonardo rushed forward, turning in a spin and he swung both ninjaken downward—intending on slashing his blades down to cleave through Leona’s head and bisect her into two halves. Leona widened her eyes as the two swords came rushing down but then Leonardo would pull his arms back, turn his blades in a spin and gripped the handles, only to then thrust his arms forward and out for the young woman’s mid-section.

The blue haired young woman grunted in discomfort now as the blunt ends of the Turtle’s swords now struck her, and she was forced to wheeze as air now was pushed out from her. Leonardo took this moment to then turn with his weight as he then would swing his left leg downward in a low roundhouse kick as he aimed for his opponent’s knees, and a powerful smack moved across the Ikari soldier’s legs— and she buckled as she winced her eyes in discomfort. Leonardo then would snap his left leg upward; firmly impacting his foot into Leona’s chin and caused her head to snap back. The red masked Turtle then turned in a spin to the right and he immediately swung his left leg across in a crescent manner, performing a jumping spinning arc kick and his foot would firmly meet with Leona’s head, causing the mercenary to drop onto the concrete floor of the parking garage.

Leonardo quickly rushed right in for his opponent, and the red masked ninja turned to a spin and then faced Leona. He took aim for the top of her head, and Leonardo swung both his arms downward as he intended to strike down Leona Heidern right there on the spot. However, Leona shifted her weight to the left and she quickly moved out of the way of the Turtle’s intended slash attack, and Leonardo only struck nothing but air and concrete.

The reptile ninja immediately shifted forward with a step and he took aim for Leona’s mid-section, only to thrust his right arm forward and out in a stabbing thrust. Leona quickly turned inward towards Leonardo, evading the blade but as she did so, she directed the internal flow of energy within herself to channel into her left arm and hand. Immediately, her hand shimmered in a bright blue glow as she then brought it down for Leonardo’s head, intending on performing and landing the Moon Slasher technique onto him. Widening his eyes, Leonardo instinctively raised his left arm up and positioned his ninjaken horizontally, blocking the strike almost on reflex. Sparks were created as the energized attack collided with the steel blade.

Leona immediately then shifted forward with her weight, then planted her right foot onto Leonardo’s left knee, pushed herself up to be airborne, turned her weight to the left as she then snapped her right and left foot out in two quick thrust, firmly impacting Leonardo in the middle of his face— sending the red masked ninja colliding in towards a nearby vehicle. He took in a deep breath of air, and the Turtle took a second to focus himself.

“He’s nervous. I hope he’ll pull through!” Michelangelo sighed.

“Yeah, well he ain’t got no choice. He’s gotta win if he’s gonna get better at this.” Raphael responded.

Leona now came rushing right at the red masked ninja, who seemed to be working to regain his composure after that little surprise. And as she neared him, she quickly thrust her left arm forward and out for his head, and then swung her right arm across with her hand flattened out with the intent to strike him across the head. But Leonardo immediately pulled his head into his shell, evading both strikes only to respond with his own as he turned with his hips and then thrust his right and left arm forward and out—firmly impacting Leona in her mid-section as he slammed his fists into her, and then snapping his left leg out in a side kick as he took aim for her head. Contact was made, and Leona stumbled from the blow as her senses were rendered jarred.

Poking his head from his shell, Leonardo now rushed right in for Leona. Without any hesitation, he swung his left arm across back to the left and then motioned it across to the right, performing a double slash attack as he took aim for her mid-section. The mercenary dashed away from the incoming strikes, but then Leonardo shifted forward and then swung his right arm down, bringing the other blade down. Like before, Leona swerved to her left, evading the strike but then didn’t expect the Turtle to spin to his left and raise his left leg up and arc it back across—now firmly impacting the young woman hard across her head. Leona dropped to her side, but the Turtle dashed forward and he leaned with his right shoulder out—now ramming into the mercenary and sent her flying in towards a concrete support beam, causing it to crack upon impact. A moment of pain moved through Leona’s back and her chest, and he coughed from the discomfort, working to regain her breath which had been knocked from her. She raised her head, and now watched as Leonardo now rushed in once more.

She moved her left hand up to her right ear, and then unhooked it only to then press a button on the ear ring. Leona watched as Leonardo now moved closer and closer. She tossed the trinket in towards the Turtle.

Oblivious to the trinket, Leonardo continued moving forward only to suddenly be met by a brief explosion of flame and a rush of heat now moved onto his body, and Leonardo was sent flying back— only to slam down onto the roof of a car and crushed it. Burn welts and pain moved through Leonardo and the red masked Turtle was frantically trying to make sense of what had happened. Already flashbacks of his defeat against Terry Bogard moved through his mind, images of his draw against Rock Howard were fresh within his eyes still. He started to breathe rapidly, working to keep himself contained and to fight through the pain which he was going through.

Leona dashed and pushed herself up, now taking to the air once more as she threw her weight forward and down, now performing a somersault in towards her opponent. As he did so, again she focused that energy to move through herself and directed it to her hands—only to cross them and part them away as she projected a short burst of energy at the red masked Turtle, performing the X-Calibur slashing technique.

But Leonardo crossed his blades out, deflecting the energy with his twin ninjaken and the red masked ninja then threw his own weight backwards— rolling back along the crushed vehicle and landed feet first onto his feet as he removed himself from it. As Leona came down and landed onto the crushed car, and ran alongside the top of it—she quickly then flipped herself off from it and then aimed to bring both her feet down onto the Turtle. Hastily, Leonardo side-stepped out of the way as he moved to his right, allowing Leona to instead land feet first onto the concrete floor of the parking garage. He spun his twin swords in a figure eight motion, shifting his blades from right to left, and Leona quickly moved back away from the Turtle as Leonardo followed. He swung his arms part, performing a quick double slash, spun his blades and then he would slash them down vertically— Leona hopped away from the first strike, and as for the vertical strikes—she stepped forward and raised her left arm up and positioned it horizontally, blocking Leonardo’s wrist and stopping the blades from striking her. However, Leonardo tensed up his legs and he pushed himself upwards and threw his weight back, performing a somersault and swung both his legs up only to now impact his feet directly into the mercenary’s chin.

Upon setting himself back to his feet, Leonardo then had rushed ahead and he immediately took aim for Leona’s knees and he swung his left leg across for the specified regions and his foot would strike across her legs, causing her to buckle in place. The red masked ninja then would swing his left leg upwards twice, impacting his foot onto her mid-section and her head as hard as he could. Lastly, the reptile leaned with his weight as he snapped his right leg out, slamming his right foot into the Ikari warrior’s chest— causing Leona to fall onto her backside.

The young woman firmly planted her hands onto the ground, refusing to go down easy and then again directed her internal flow of energy to move through her right arm and hand. She dashed forward and took aim for Leonardo’s mid-section and again the blue shimmer surrounding her hand. Quickly, she swung her left arm across in a slashing motion, intending on cleaving through Leonardo’s plastron as she performed the Grand Saber technique. The Turtle seeing this attack before positioned his ninjaken blades in front of himself and deflected the attack but was forced to lean forward with his weight to prevent himself from skidding back.

“Shit, she is not making this easy for him…” Raphael muttered.

Indeed Leona wasn’t making this battle easy for him and why would he want it to be? If he was going to get better and recover from the loss and the draw which he had experienced in this tournament, then he was going to need a hard earned battle to be hard won. The reptile twirled his ninjaken within his grasp and he thrust his left arm forward and out, firmly impacting the blunt end of the sword handle firmly into Leona’s face. Following up, the Turtle then would move with his weight and then bent his right arm’s elbow out— firmly striking it across her face.

In a moment of frustration, Leona focused on the energy within herself and channeled it to project outward. She clenched her hands and parted her arms as she formed the energy into a ball which would burst in front of the Turtle. Leonardo found himself caught within the Baltic Launcher burst, now feeling it bursting onto him and was launched in towards a concrete beam, and then as he collided into the structure—the beam cracked as the Turtle rebounded off from it. Defiantly, Leonardo planted his hands down onto the ground and he pushed himself onto his feet. He watched as Leona now ran ahead and once more took to the air as she pushed herself and then directed her energy once more to her hands, and as she came down, she slashed her hand downward and upon landing feet first onto the ground, she leapt to the air—now leaving a reddish arc of energy in a V formation at Leonardo, performing the V-Slasher technique.

Leonardo was struck, and the Turtle dropped onto his carapace. He winced his eyes in a display of agony and pain, and he worked to now take in several deep breaths of air through his nostrils and exhaled from his mouth. He would repeat this breathing technique and work to ignore the pain which raked through his entire form.

“Damn it, this is bad! I don’t think he’s going to make it!” Donatello shouted.

“He’s gotta make it! Dude ain’t got a choice!” Raphael spat back.

Leona zeroed right in towards the Turtle, and the Ikari mercenary turned in a spin and she swung her right arm across in a slashing motion for Leonardo’s neck. The Turtle leaned back away from the strike, and Leona followed up by thrusting her left arm towards his face but the red masked reptile leaned to his right, dodging the strike rather quickly. Quickly thinking, Leonardo snapped his right leg in a front kick and smacked his foot into Leona’s knee, causing her to now stumble forward and drop onto her chest but she swiftly planted her hands onto the ground and once more rose up onto her feet.

Realizing that her opponent was someone who wasn’t going to go down without a fight, Leona decided to end it. Even if it meant risking her own sanity. She focused on the dark power within herself, and worked to bring it to the surface if she could. The mercenary took in a light breath of air and exhaled as she closed her eyes. She tapped into that power, and could already feel her blood burning as if she were lit on fire from the inside. Her eyes flashed a crimson red and her hair shifted from blue to the same color as her eyes. Leona could feel everything about her being cranked up to higher levels, such as her strength, speed… and her own lethality. Leonardo blinked at seeing this, and he had no idea what to make of it. But whatever he was seeing, was shaking him to his core but he worked to gather whatever courage was inside of him. He watched as Leona positioned her hands together, and red energy was being manipulated as it engulfed her right arm. The only way he could describe it was as if she created a sword of red flames from within her own arm.

“DUDE, SHE’S GOING SUPER SAIYAN!” Michelangelo shouted.

Leonardo looked all around, frantically and then noticed that the nearest support beam had a fire-extinguisher on it. He turned his attention forward, and moved his arms up and slipped his blades back into the sheathes which serves as their arm, now allowing himself to be hands free. Leona rushed right in towards the red masked ninja, and she thrust her arm forward and aimed to drag it across to the right to slash at the mutant Red Ear Slider. However, Leonardo pushed himself forward and up—leaping over Leona and landed behind the young woman. He reached out, grabbing the fire-extinguisher and pulled the pin, only to grip the trigger and released a cloud of carbon dioxide as he positioned his aim at Leona.

The mercenary raised her arms in front of herself, shielding herself from the cloud. Seizing the moment, Leonardo gripped the extinguisher within his grasp and he swung it across to the right, and then back to the left—firmly smacking Leona hard across the head twice—and then he would swing the extinguisher upward, slamming it directly into her chin and Leona was sent stumbling back and dropped onto her side. Her red hair returned to it’s natural blue color, and her eyes reverted back to normal as she could feel the dark power within herself now leaving her grasp as she was slipping into unconsciousness. She closed her eyes and allowed darkness to take her.

Leonardo tossed the extinguisher to the side and he took a moment to do a countdown—and when enough time had passed and Leona hadn’t awoken from her unconscious state… The red masked leader of the Turtles took in a deep breath of air and breathed a sigh of relief. The battle was over and he had won a hard earned fight. It was something which he had needed since his loss and draw— rather than an easy win. He had no idea that his opponent was someone who possessed such strength… and the power which she summoned at the end, he had no idea where that even came from but he was none the less quite glad that he prevailed.

“HELL YEAH! YOU DID IT, LEO!” Raphael shouted.

“Alright! Bro totally got some serious EXP and leveled up!” Michelangelo chuckled.

Battered, bruised and exhausted— Leonardo turned and moved over towards his brothers. Donatello had moved his hands to Leonardo’s shoulders, guiding him to the safety of his siblings. The genius Turtle took a moment to examine the bruises which were on Leonardo’s form, and quickly examined to see if they were going to be a serious problem for the field leader of the Turtles.

“Does any of this hurt when you move or when I touch it?”

“…What do you think, Don?” Leonardo sarcastically answered.

Whip had looked over to the fallen forms of her comrades. Ralf, Clark and Leona were eliminated from this tournament, and this was something which didn’t bode well for her. Frowning, she took in a deep breath of air through her nose and then released a sigh from within. Lowering a hand down, she took hold of her namesake weapon and then flicked it, the tip of the weapon cracking onto the concrete floor of the parking garage.

“Alright, you Turtle boys definitely haven’t cut us some slack… But we’re not out of the woods just yet.”

Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo looked to one another.

Leonardo was unable to fight, not after such a grueling battle against someone like Leona who had tapped into a power which he didn’t understand but felt was… unnatural. He would need some time to recuperate if he was going to be participating in any more fights. Donatello meanwhile was too busy examining over Leonardo’s injuries, making sure that his brother wasn’t going to need some further medical treatment.

Raphael then clasped his hands together and bent his hands back as he cracked his knuckles upon doing so.

“Well, I’m always up to bat.”

“Dude!” Michelangelo turned his head to look over to his hot-headed sibling, raising his left brow in a quizzical manner as he gave a hard stare over to his brother.

“Oh, right. You didn’t get your chance to fight.” Raphael spoke.

Michelangelo stepped forward and he looked over to the woman who was wielding the whip, and the red masked wily reptile moved his hands down to his utility belt and then took hold of the twin chained nunchaku within his grasp and drew the weapons out. He nudged his head up and smirked to Whip.

“Guess we’re gonna dance now.”

Whip flicked her weapon down onto the ground twice, and she watched as the red masked Turtle now spun his nunchaku within his grasp before he had entered into his own fighting stance.

The final battle between the Turtles and Team Ikari would take off between Michelangelo and Whip.

[Callisto]

Learn More About
Michelangelo (Mirage)
Read more about Michelangelo (Mirage) at Wikipedia
Official Site: Nickelodeon Links: Wikipedia

Whip (King of Fighters)
Read more about Whip (King of Fighters) at Wikipedia
Official Site: SNK Playmore Links: Wikipedia SNK Wikia FightersGeneration

[RakaiThwei]

So the next match up in my TMNT storyline has been posted up, and this is the final match between the Mirage Turtles and Team Ikari. When it came to the recap between Leonardo and Leona Heidern, I did my best to utilize whatever techniques Leona had available and also keep Leonardo consistent with his struggles in dealing with powerful opponents, especially considering that he had suffered a defeat at the hands of Terry Bogard, and a disheartening draw against Rock Howard. I wanted to write the recap as something of a grueling battle, something which would've definitely made Leonardo confront his short comings from his previous fights and make him somewhat panic a little bit, as when it comes to dealing with failures, Leonardo often struggles to cope with a loss and has to overcome it-- so I hope that aspect of the character came out a little bit here. I also wanted to write the match as being something visceral but not... overwhelmingly violent to where there's blood, guts and gore as this isn't something like my previous Predator storylines, but still keep it visual for a reader to imagine.

But right now, here we have two fighters who have contrasting weapons which I think would make for an interesting match up. We have Michelangelo with his twin nunchaku, which is meant for close range combat and we also have Whip, with her well-- whip, which is meant for mid to long range offense. So if anything, I felt like as if this might be something of a match up here, and it also happened by process of elimination. None the less, it's happening and here it is.

For new readers who are just hopping onto this storyline here, I suggest you look at the Mirage TMNT Respect Thread to see what the Mirage Turtles are more than capable of.

 

Michelangelo is Low Tier Superhuman in terms of physicals. Think Above Peak Human due to his mutation and training.

Michelangelo possesses his Twin Nunchaku, Shurikens, Smoke Bombs, and Kunai.

 

Whip is in Peak Conditioning due to her training.

Whip Heidern has her moveset from the KOF games.

Battle Environment Map

[Pizzaguy2995]

Rolling with Michelangelo this time around. Cowabunga dude!

[RakaiThwei]

Just now, Pizzaguy2995 said:

Rolling with Michelangelo this time around. Cowabunga dude!

Yeah! Mikey is surprisingly the Turtle with the most potential out of all the brothers since he's a natural athlete in most incarnations of TMNT!

[DSkillz]

On 8/15/2021 at 10:00 AM, RakaiThwei said:

“DUDE, SHE’S GOING SUPER SAIYAN!” Michelangelo shouted.

Ah, Mikey. 😆

Another great set-up, Rakai. The Leo/Leona got fairly ferocious there, just as expected between two of the most serious fighters in this round.

As for the match, Mikey may have to be a little careful against Whip. She looks pretty skilled and has the reach advantage with her weapon of choice and maybe a bit of a brutal streak. Still, I think Mikey's skill, improvisation, and agility should allow him to close the gap and get the win. 

[RakaiThwei]

4 hours ago, DSkillz said:

Ah, Mikey. 😆

Another great set-up, Rakai. The Leo/Leona got fairly ferocious there, just as expected between two of the most serious fighters in this round.

As for the match, Mikey may have to be a little careful against Whip. She looks pretty skilled and has the reach advantage with her weapon of choice and maybe a bit of a brutal streak. Still, I think Mikey's skill, improvisation, and agility should allow him to close the gap and get the win. 

Thanks for the comments here!

Yeah, Whip definitely has the reach advantage but Michelangelo has his shell, which should offer him some protection as well. If he gets inside past her range, Mikey will put her to work.

Again, thanks for the comments!

[Z451]

I like the feel of this one too, as it feels intense, brutal, and in a sense reminiscent of the Yojimbo style of samurai sword fights that lent itself to the genre and inspiration for Leonardo in the first place. Put in practice, I feel like this fight is certainly very modern in style, but works to act as a flashback to earlier sword dueling styles based on the different aspects of the story and actions of the characters that make the connection work in terms of the reader's mind. Admittedly, I haven't watched all or much of every sword fighting movie, anime or work, but in this fight, it becomes all the more apparent how Leonardo operates and with the sense of honor and respectability with which he operates as a figure and in battle, which works not only for his character but for the feel of the story and for the story itself based on how well it links all of these things together. These aspects, which to some many seem tertiary at times, can be very useful in storytelling, and I probably feel like a broken record at times in saying it, but I do appreciate your use of them and encourage you to continue to incorporate these elements into your stories Rakai, as they benefit the overall arc being portrayed, more so than just the individual matches(s) themselves.

As always the KoF characters shouldn't be underestimated based on just their looks, ironically something they have very much so in common with the Turtles, as Whip does look like a pretty fierce opponent to face for those who would care to make underestimations based on face value. Her trademark whip is quite dangerous and can be a very tricky thing to combat, especially since it can be used at blindingly fast speeds, and would likely be very difficult to monitor in a fight while addressing her other combat abilities. Added to that, Whip does possess the ability to create wind balls with the aforementioned whip, and explosions with her earrings and the whip once again, which when combined with the things we are know about her and about Ikari Warriors' fighters makes her a pretty difficult opponent to face.

I don't think it will be enough necessary to bring down Michelangelo however, as Mikey has faced opponents before whose skill and abilities likely surpass Whip's and come on top somehow in spite of the difficulties inherent in said fight. For this one though, he'll have to be careful around that Whip and find ways to continue to attack and pursue an offensive against Whip herself, with the whip not always being in his line of sight, not an easy feat, but Mikey is no slouch himself either. If can see her whipping speed though, he can utilize that in working to perfect the timing of his attacks and defenses in battle, by analyzing when and with how much force the whip strikes whatever it does, something more in line with Donnie's line of strategies perhaps, but not altogether out of the realm of Mikey's capabilities either. The plastron too, will definitely see some use here as well, as any plan of attack is going to require Mikey getting by Whip's range of attack with the potential threat of getting struck, something that he can do well perhaps normally, but will do better due to his natural mutation as the biological armor he packs with him will due well to deflect much of the damage inflicted from this fight with Whip and the whip she uses.

[JohnnyChany]

Although Raphael has always been my favorite turtle, I think Mikey has been my favorite character in your arc. His references are always great and very much inline with the character. I am a little dissapointed in Leona's performance, but I think you handled her abilities well. 

As for the current match, I can see Michaelangelo powering through the whip lashing to get his licks in. I think the contrasting weapons and styles give you a lot of room for creatvivity in your always in depth and unique recaps. I look forward to it. As well as the reveal of their next opponents, because I don't see Whip pulling this out.

[RakaiThwei]

1 hour ago, JohnnyChany said:

Although Raphael has always been my favorite turtle, I think Mikey has been my favorite character in your arc. His references are always great and very much inline with the character. I am a little dissapointed in Leona's performance, but I think you handled her abilities well. 

As for the current match, I can see Michaelangelo powering through the whip lashing to get his licks in. I think the contrasting weapons and styles give you a lot of room for creatvivity in your always in depth and unique recaps. I look forward to it. As well as the reveal of their next opponents, because I don't see Whip pulling this out.

Writing out Leona's fighting style was difficult because I know that a lot of her attacks are revolved around cutting and ridge hand techniques. Also, I never really played her that much in the KOF games, so if I came up short in presenting her abilities or even her style, you now know why although I did my best by referencing her techniques with a Youtube video that showed her special moves and abilities.

The funny thing about writing Michelangelo, especially Mirage Michelangelo, is that in the original Mirage comics-- he's not really the party dude as later incarnations made him out to be but he's still the more easy going of the Turtles.

As for the next opponents, well... I have a few ideas on who the next team might be, although I cannot say which ones are going to be the next because even I don't know.

[Callisto]

Match Final Results

Member Ratings:
4.30 - Pizzaguy2995
4.80 - JohnnyChany
5.00 - DSkillz
5.00 - Z451
5.00 - ViceCityMobster86
5.00 - leroypowell3

FPA Calculation:
6 Total Votes cast
29.10 Total Combined Score
29.10 / 6 = 4.85 Final Rating on the match

MATCH SCORE
Michelangelo (Mirage): 9
Whip (King of Fighters): 2