The Kirk Experience (Kirk)

Snickering as Kirk seemed to show confidence in her ability to pick all of this up, Yumi genuinely wasn’t aware of just how quickly she was picking this up in Kirk’s eyes, but again a lot of it was just advance, more professional forms of habits she tended to perform naturally. Tipping her head to the side she held a warm smile with her arms crossed over her chest. “Aw come on I’m really not that good. I’ll probably be at least like, half decent, before the obstacles course finally hits. Who knows maybe it’ll be delayed and I’ll be 3 quarters decent.” She held her smile in a wider, cheekier grin. She had just been teasing him with an exaggeration about the lack of drive, but the way he got right back at her about it had her feeling he was taking it with a good nature behind him, gently pokming his side in a ticklish spot as the two of them just seemed to be sharing a bit of back and forth teasing for the moment.


Thinking about the idea, Yumi was a little surprised by the suggestion. Most of the time when she dealt with her quirk she fired it off in streams, but even just the simple prompt had her wondering what it would be like if she unleashed it in more of a kinetic inpact…if she balanced the charges properly she could probably generate an electrical explosion, and for a quiet moment Yumi was clearly just thinking about how that would work, before shaking her head and clearing out the thoughts, giving a firm nod as she was assured that something could come of that. “Y-yeah! That just might work! I’d need to work a new output point into my suit but…Yeah! That could totally work! Thanks Kirk!~” She grinned nice and wide, clearly very happy to have a potential new technique in her repertoire. It’d take a lot of work to perfect but it was definitely possible.


Yumi pouted a little at what felt like a bit of Teasing from Kirk about how she didn’t quite know what she was doing in teaching someone else, but she supposed he had a point. Anything she did and could teach was something she made natural, but still, she crossed her arms with a puffy huff about it and spoke right back. “Well like I said, since it’s all natural, if you catch me doing anything You wanna learn just point it out to me.” She stuck her tongue out with narrowed eyes, feeling like she’d just been teased a little about her nature. Still energy was still high and the two could quickly move along, leading Yumi to give her displays of the cartwheels, both from a stand still, and with a run up alike.


She was glad he at least looked like he was taking it in, even if she wasn’t entirely sure if she was actually a good teacher he seemed engaged enough for her to feel that he was getting something out of her displays. She gulped a little nervously after her backflip landed solely because she felt worried that he might try to imitate that part, but his applause soon had her energized and giggling again, hands on her knees and snickering a little. “Aw come on that was nothing special really.” She answered. Backflips were a natural trick she’d learned to use when doing special dance routines, so she didn’t really register it as all that impressive. “Seriously now, sharpen up, and don’t do a backflip if you try the run up. No one wants you landing on your face in the snow.”


“Yeah.” She advised at his question. “Yaw anna make sure you’ve got momentum behind ya so your body flows more naturally in the motion. After some training you can start to do it from a stand more easily after that. It’s like er…there’s a trick to learn how to dive by aiming for a hoop? This is like that. Eventually you don’t need the hoop anymore and it all flows naturally, but for now your best bet is the run up.” She advised, hoping she wasn’t coming off too rambly and pulling back to make sure that he had the room to have his own attempt, resting her arms crossed over her chest. She snorted loudly into her hand at his haphazard cartwheel. She could tell something was there, but- “Yeah definitely a work in progress…try to keep your legs more straight and bend your hips so they’re ready to land before you go too far sideways.”


Smiling warmly at him as she watched him improve, she gave slow and quiet nods to his progress and stood firmly as she made sure to remain by his side as he learned this new little trick. While arguably they were ‘perfect’ Yumi could still see a bit of haphazardness in the balance. They were definitely strong but, yeah, she could tell that slip was coming and hissed out a chuckle as he finally managed to fall down, Yumi rushing over and offering a hand to help him up to his feet, pursing her lips to make sure they were shut tight against one another and he didn’t end up boldly giggling into his face.

“I dunno how on earth you went so wrong with Yoga you can compare it to falling on your face, but you definitely did good there hun.~”

Skip to 'present'

Yumi had been flat out exhausted after her fight. She'd pushed both her quirk and her physical body to it's limits and as such she'd nearly been rushed to the infirmary to recover, but managing to get her consciousness back before they fully decided on their course of action, the red head just asked to be left to have a nap on one of the couches in the waiting room for the students preparing for their next fight. It hadn't been the comfiest place to lay her head, but it was certainly a good idea to get some rest while she could. Drifting in and out of consciousness, she'd managed to catch just glimpses of Kirk's own fight, and from what little she could tell the boy managed to win against Melody. Huh! She wouldn't have called that but she supposed it went to show that even though Kirk's quirk didn't offer many combat advantages, it was great to see! Felt a bit bad for Melody, seemed her classmates were getting thrown at eachother left and right, but it was good to see Kirk leaving his own mark on things.

When Kirk eventually arrived in the waiting room to await his own next battle, Yumi greeted him with a warm smile and pulled to sit up as she greeted him with open arms. "Heeeeeey!" She called out to him, her dreary, dazed expression meaning that it was a little too easy to tell she'd been napping on and off for the past god knows how long. She idly let out a yawn as she scratched the hair at the back of her neck, her eyes struggling to stay open but trying to put out her usual friendly energy towards her classmate. "Soooo. I heard you won? Congraaaats!~"

Rubbing at her eyes as she shifted to properly sit up, it wasn't so much the adorable little scrunched up fists into the eyes rubbing but more the exhausted, open hand face mush that pulled someone's eyelids a little too far apart, if anything just emphasizing how tired she was. Even rubbing her face set off a light injury though, hissing as her shoulder blade caught a raw nerve and leaning back into the couch. Okay maybe she should be in the infirmary but she was doing her best to keep her eyes on the action and she had no idea if the infirmary had TVs set for the match. Plus if she was here she could greet people after matches or wish them good luck on their way to the next. She was still a little out of it and found it faintly difficult to catch onto everything Kirk was saying, but at the very least he was giving a bit of a playful boast about his own skill while respecting Melodys before complimenting Yumi on her own match. With that she gave off a warm smile, not at all ashamed that she lost or anything and happy to face the elephant if it came off, but it was clear they both knew about it anyway, why make things awkward.

"Yeah? Aw thanks. I'm glad it at least looked good. I only got one round to show off so hopefully some hero or another found me-" She paused, putting a hand to her mouth to stifle a yawn and be polite. "I-impressive." She smacked her lips a few times to get a weirdly metallic taste out of her mouth from over-using her quirk, rolling back her neck and trying to feel at all better with how stiff her body felt.

"Hm?" She lifted her eyes with some intrigue at the comment about Risaka, Yumi ruffling the hair on the back of her head. Her memory was never the strongest especially right now, and she took a second to try and find that name in her files but she was coming up blank, giving a nervous giggle as she lifted a finger. "Er...remind me? Sorry I know my memory's always terrible. What was their quirk again?" She was in part curious just to see if she could offer potential advice. Apparently flight would be useful? Beyond that she had no idea what to go with there.

Yumi smiled warmly at Kirk's reassurance, but being knocked out in the first round, flashy or not, especially against someone like Kirk...she meant no offence to him, Yumi fully recognized the effort he put into his quirk and how potent it was, allowing flight, speed, and adding an extra kick to his punches, but to an outsider? Yumi was this living battery that just lost out to a guy who could fly. She shouldn't think in such simple terms, Darren totally earned the win and she knew what she was capable of too...but..."No-no." She shook her head, speaking aloud by accident but it helped drive the point into her head, letting out a soft sigh and calming down, shooting Kirk a more assured smile. "You're right. Totally. Win or lose I bet someone noticed me, even if all they want is a flashy sidekick...I should be fine yeah?"

At the comment of Kirk saying that he kept losing his racket in a fight, Yumi was quick to offer a potential solution, idly pointing at the racket. "Can't really do anything about it mid tournament, but maybe consider a lasso grip like wii remotes have or switch controllers. Oh oh! Or you could get it electrified with a rubber handle! If people grab it then they're gonna regret it, and even just with the lasso grip they're not gonna have an easy time getting it off you." She offered a sweet smile, hoping her advice would help in the future.

When he mentioned Risaka, Yumi snapped her fingers. "Oh her! Oh I er...I dunno why but i've never really experienced her? Like she seems so interesting and I'd love to have spent some time with her but...well apparently she's not the nicest person if she can't get along with you, but still, maybe something to put on my list after the festival huh?" She offered a warm smile, hoping that he'd take the odd sense of encouragement that she felt no one in their right mind should be capable of being rude to him. "Still though, fight wise I'm sure you'll be fine. I mean if all you need to do is stay out of her reach that's pretty much your ball house right? I mean what with the long range projectiles and all that?"

She chuckled into her hand as he called back to their training, yeah it would be pretty bad if he threw a cartwheel into the mix there and she let out a soft sigh as her own giggles calmed down. "Oh I dunno I'm sure you can throw in one for style points when your sack's almost empty. But as far as my 10 hours go..." She shrugged and smirked. "I was definitely out of breath by the end of it but that's nothing to do with my training." She giggled a little at herself and let out a long breath. "Darren is just....jeeesus. I was kinda hoping Jaz or Rin would be the biggest threads but he..." She chuckled and dipped her head. "Aaah...he deserves the win just...damn...sorry guess it stings a little I got knocked out so early...he deserved the win but damn I got an unlucky draw."

Well…Yumi wasn’t specifically wanting to be a sidekick but it seemed like the first step before making it out on your own so why not yeah? Though Kirk was so gung ho in his usual nature that while Yumi was tired and not functioning at 100% she read his enthusiasm almost like he was saying she belonged more as a sidekick than anything else. If she didn’t mildly agree she might have been offended, but of course she couldn’t stay angry at him, and once she got a bit of rest in her she’d probably view his words more clearly. Right now she just gave him a brief, tired, exhausted even, lopsided glare as she quirked her brow, wondering if she was hearing him right.

Her suggestion of lasso grips seemed to be put down pretty ready and Yumi sunk into her seat. “w-well you could always be aware of your opponents. Wear them when you outpower them, don’t when they outpower you, ya know just…I dunno. Sorry. I assumed they kept getting pulled out of a loose grip or something so I thought the idea may help.” She crossed her arms and looked off to the side, feeling a bit bad for the poor idea, especially when Kirk emphasized nothing would help him now. It was kinda nice that he liked the electrified equipment idea, but, yeah, the way he declared none of it would help had her feeling more bad than good for trying to suggest anything to him pre-match, knowing it couldn’t be utilized.

Her expression remained more on the somber, uncomfortable side as Kirk began with emphasizing that he didn’t have a good relationship with the girl he was about to fight. Wasn’t too nice hearing her classmates didn’t get along for whatever reason, especially given how uncomfortable her own relationship with Alex had felt when they’d started to butt heads in and out of class. “W-well it’s a pretty sizeable arena. Stay light on your feet and you can probably maintain a good bit of distance…plus you make it sound like she’s a transformation quirk yeah? Don’t most of them have a cooldown period? Catch them during that and I bet you have a huge advantage~” She chimed a little more eagerly, hoping to lift the mood of the conversation at least a little with a potential bit of hope, though Kirk worrying about their grandpa thinking they were a wuss… “I mean…you’re being a smart hero right? Using the situation to your advantage? Would your grandpa really think you’re a wuss for playing it smart?”

The tone at least remained just a little higher as Kirk seemed to try and emphasize that she woulda beet Jaz in a fight, Yumi chuckling and not believing it so much. They were both pretty potent emitters but Jaz’s ferocity matched Jaz’s a hell of a lot, and while Yumi had more experience fighting her and matching her pace, she didn’t trust herself enough to keep up in a setting where Jaz had any sense of reputation on the line and was self assured the woman was very likely to kick her ass more than she was Jaz’s. “Heh. If you say so.” She idly commented.

She smirked a little though as she was assured facing Darren was no easy task, and it definitely wasn’t. She kinda hoped he and Jaz ended up in the finals together, cause holy hell they were a fucking set. The two of them had very similar in your face combat styles that solely focused on keeping the pressure up, and ultimately Yumi felt pretty damn sure the two of them would create one hell of a fight to watch with all the pressure on them. “We sure Darren doesn’t just have a female clone named Jaz and this is one big conspiracy? Like, the two of them honestly seem so weirdly similar when ya watch them fighting it’s silly.” She chuckled at her silly comment, smirking as Kirk mentioned being called captain was a bit silly given he was behind them. “Whatever ya say captain.~”

She did feel a bit good thinking about the obstacle course however. While Darren outpaced her by a small marjin, he was a bit hot headed and could easily turn the blinders on himself without realizing. In her head it would be all too easy for him to lose site of the goal of keeping the fake civilians alive. Real world scenario she didn’t think he’d ever forget about civilians, but in a training scenario like this it felt incredibly likely. “Heheheh, yeah maybe. Then again I can also worry too much about the small things. We just need some perfect Yumi Darren Hybrid and then all the villains will be quivering in their boots huh?~”

Yumi smiled warmly. Even if Kirk was still a bit shaky about it he still seemed much better about the idea of his granddad seeing him and she affirmed “Hey whatever happens, you can always explain it to him later yeah? Sure maybe it won’t be the best view of you till you can tell him what you were doing, but you got a smart head on your shoulders, don’t let some weird sense of pride or shame stop you from performing your best yeah?” She beamed brighter still for a moment, hoping her words had some merit to them and would be taken in well by her classmate.
As they started to get into lighter spirits again Yumi giggled at the idea of Jaz or Darren blowing themselves up. “I dunno about that, the way Darren throws himself at danger he may as well be blowing himself up.~” She smirked wide and giggled along with their little jokes, snickering louder and shoving her hands over her mouth to try and stifle her giggles at the joke of them both being ball kickers in their individual ways. “I mean ya never know maybe Darren kicks balls for two different hobbies. Something tells me he’d pick up the habit once he started dealing with rude criminals!~”

Her snickering continued at his oddly loud reaction to being called captain, quirking her brow, wondering why he was so against being called it but mostly just finding it funny. It was an easy nickname, playing on his sports captain roll and the star trek pun that was all too easy to make, but she did wave him down. “Okay okay.~ If it bothers you so much I won’t go with it, but your outburst was pretty cute there Kirky~” She offered a playful but faintly cheeky wink as she replaced one nickname with the other, though she’d stop that too if he was against it.

Yumi had no idea what managed to throw Kirk off so much but it gave her a second to breathe and calm down from all the giggles, smiling much more consistently now that she’d calmed and flashing another smile as she leaned back into the couch, stretching her sore arms lightly over her head, but it was a bit painful to get a full energy stretch out of them, leading to them falling back to her sides as she took a slow breath. “Well, best of luck to you, in the tournament and the cavalry. May luck be-“ She stopped, giggled, then did a three finger salute, holding down her pinky. “May the odds be ever in your favour.~”

She offered a last bright smile, not wanting to keep him since he seemed ready t go, and his next fight could be announced pretty much any second, but whatever happened she offered a simple “Got me rootin’ for ya Kirk.” Before he went, shooting him a firm thumbs up even if that itself hurt from how she’d thrust her thumb out to try and seem energetic.

Yumi shot Kirk an almost proud smile as he seemed to take his worries and put them to the side for a moment. What was important was he did what he felt was best, not look flashy or big. Sure, a lot of heroes needed that to stay in the spotlight, but great heroes also knew when a different approach might be needed, like a raid over a street battle, or a stake out over an initial bust on a lesser part of an operation or something. She gave a chipper nod that…honestly made her feel dizzy, but she still held a smile as she held her head, looking through just one of her eyes now. “Yeah, just remember, no matter who’s watching, the pros will see what you’re doing, and anyone else who matters can hear you out later. Right now you gotta do whatever you can to get the upper hand…well. Within reason.~”

She smiled a little as Kirk seemed willing to put up with the name, but even more so as he seemed to enjoy the one she made up on the spot. She’d thought about calling him ‘quirky’ since it still had a bit of a ‘kirk’ sound to it, but Kirky had ended up coming out and it seemed he liked it enough to give her one hell of a grin, leading to her giggling softly into the back of her hand, rolling her eyes at how enthused he seemed to be as she shifted a little more comfortably in her seat on the waiting couch. “Yeah? Well I guess that’s your new one from me then.~ Apparently I’m real good at coming up with nicknames. Yuyu-er.” She paused, realizing they wouldn’t recognize the nickname. “Yusaku, the robot cat in…1 A I think? I call him Yuyu. He really likes it…thoooough may be cheating a bit there since I’m his girlfriend. He may just feel he has to like it.” She rubbed the side of her neck with a nervous little chuckle.

Yumi was running low on energy for sure though by now, the wooziness that her nap had staved off coming back to her with a long yawn as she slumped slowly into the arm of the couch, shooting a tired but last bright smile towards Kirk as he headed off likely to his next round. She rested her cheek on the arm of the couch and mumbled out a little. “You too…just…restin’ my eyes…they’ll be open again once the action starts.~” With her eyelids finally slipping closed, she let out a relaxed sigh from her nose as she snuggled her cheek into the arm of the couch.