I'll try to throw my 2 cents in from what I can remember about this matchup. mind you some of this info may not be as effective as I'm thinking it is, so any and all tips regarding this are more than welcome. please, correct me if I say something stupid, it'll just benefit zappa players more.
naked/unsummon:
at the start of the match, you may be tempted to try and lock aba down while she's in normal mode, and keep her from getting mohora. to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't reccomend this. I would suggest getting backdashing and summoning off the bat, while she can't reach you. normal mode aba's pokes really aren't completely awful, just kinda awful. if you try to run in without a summon and attack, she has plenty to punish you with. bloodballs can delay pressure strings enough for her to start pressure of her own (wether she connects or gets blocked, she'll more than likely end up in mohora, since a 5HS connected or blocked gives her enough time to bloodpack, and she can easily combo into 5HS from almost any poke). f.S hits low and comes out faster than your 6P. I can't remember if this can actually hit you out of 6P's invincibility or not, but I'm fairly sure it does, at least if timed right. her 5K comes out faster than yours, so if she decides to use that then she can beat that out if timed right. trying to lock her down with spit won't keep her out of mohora well either. spit doesn't knockdown, and the stagger is minute at best, so assuming she doesn't backdash out, she could simply use a bloodpack and take the short stagger. now she's in mohora and you're sans-summon. not a good position to be in. also, from what oiboi tells me, aba can keygrab zappa out of his spit animation at the very beginning of a match, so that's out as well.
should you find yourself naked vs a mohora aba at any other time in the fight, don't spit very much. she can IAD over and pressure you easily. you're gonna obviously want to get a summon as fast as possible, and the best way to do that is to get a knockdown in one way or another, since none of your moves put her in blockstun long enough to get a summon off before she can repressure, nor do any of them push her far enough away from you to summon before she can cross the screen to get back to you. you'll almost certainly end up defending a blockstring of some kind in this situation, so stay focused, watch for high-low mixups, the unblockable kick, and throws. wait until she does something you can either summon through, or 6P through and go for that knockdown/summon. that's the best I can think to do, since naked zappa vs mohora aba is such a horrible spot to be in.
triplets:
the triplets aren't exactly known for their damage, and aba has I believe the 2nd highest amount of hp in the game next to potemkin. obviously, you're not gonna want to focus on damage with this, rather you'll want to go for those knockdowns. any damage is just a bonus. smart triplet management can really limit aba's options from a distance, just try not to be without one for too long at any time (duh). don't go into the air very much if you can help it. her anti air is insane, and if she gets in it's not hard for her to punish an aerial zappa K tossing ghosts at all. keep the pressure on. don't worry if she's blocking everything you throw. not only are you doing chipp damage/draining her tension if she's FDing, but also her mohora meter is slowly depleting itself. time is on your side here. just stay back and launch those ghosts all day long if you need to.
when a ghost finally lands, you have more freedom to move inwards and force some knockdowns on her. ghost toss FRC tick throws are a semi-okay option, however be careful she doesn't just danzai the ghost and knock you out of it. watch what items you get and try to capitalize on them. banana peels are okay for forcing her in the air if she's trying to get in close to you, however if you're keeping that epic triplet pressure on with haunting on her, there's a good chance she'll be turtling at this point waiting for you to do something stupid. keep any and all rushdowns as safe as possible, try for low blockstrings, dust or throw if she starts expecting your low attacks. this is all about patience for you. lower her guard bar as much as you possibly can, either through knockdowns or through zoning.
if she's in normal mode, just keep the pressure on her heavy enough that she can't transform. again, don't get too close unless you get haunting on her or have ghost tosses keeping you covered.
dog:
this isn't the prime ghost for this fight. aba can definitely powerhouse right through the dog. she can also get past it pretty quickly and be right on you. don't have the dog attack her until she does something with a large amount of delay, or until she's just in front of it, where she can't attack it. that's when you'll want to start poking with it. if you get any dog attack to make contact with her at all, blocked or not, start putting down some pressure. try to catch her with some unblockables, and watch out for ex danzai. aba has a ton of attacks that hit multiple times, so if you're gonna try to use the dog to eat an attack then counter summon, it may be tough. it's absolutely doable, however, and has great rewards if you pull it off. especially useful against regular danzai, since you can easily punish her out of it before her 2nd attack hits.
normal mode aba is kinda the same situation, however no danzai to worry about, and her limited mobility makes bite traps easier. just watch out for her FB slide, since she'll definitely try that if she gets caught in a bite loop, or in the corner whatsoever.
sword:
first things first, if you ever decide to do the slide, do NOT do the follow up. aba absolutely has the range to punish you on block for doing the follow up, assuming she doesn't just danzai the move in the first place. if she tries to punish after the slide, she'll more than likely either use f.S or 5HS. I believe a backdash as soon as possible will get you away from it. not sure what the uppercut would do vs them at that range, but it's not too safe of an option without the tension to FRC it anyway. assuming it gets you away from any kind of punish, backdash would work best. 6P may beat out a punish if they get close enough after the initial sword slide before they attack. all in all, I would avoid this move unless comboing it.
this summon is probably worse than the dog in the matchup. the swords normals have good range, but aba can beat it out without much effort. she has more range, and since the sword has very few multi hit moves she can danzai most of them pretty easily. the sword has decent enough damage once you get a hit in, but getting that hit in in the first place can pose a problem. generally, unless you'll get game winning damage from a combo, just go for knockdowns. early sword swipes may be able to counter some of her moves and knock her down, just make sure you can FRC it in case she blocks or danzais it.
as for normal mode, the swords pokes beat out the majority of hers in range, but she can still punish you for being reckless. keep your pokes safe, try to get a hit through, and combo her life away.
raou:
don't even bother trying to get a poke in with this guy. she can easily danzai or FB danzai most of what you throw at her. instead, just keep your distance and chipp her to death with DA's and bellows malice, and possibly the occasional 5/6HS. as long as you keep the pressure heavy, she'll be hard pressed to get in close enough to punish you for anything. pay attention to her tension as well. if she gets more than 25% and tries to rush in, assume she's going for a FB danzai. 5S can possibly stuff this before she gets in close enough to use it, not sure of 5S's exact range. bottom line, keep ranged pressure on her, chip her, drain her tension and mohora meter, and keep an eye on any counter offensives she launches. as a side note, if she's in normal mode and you have raou, she can and will FB slide through your super, so avoid doing that if she has over 25% tension.
that's all I can really think to add. been a while since I've played a zappa, so as I said before some of this may be a little shakey. at least this thread has more than 1 post now lol
