Like a villain

Oh fuck- was the immediate thought crossing Jasmine’s mind the second she realized her explosion wasn’t strong enough to further daze the large pro hero. Her leg had been caught - with her damn teeth?! What the fuck can this ogre not do?! - and Mia quickly established a very firm grip on the blonde’s appendage. Fuck fuck fuck fuck…! She knew what was coming next. It would hurt. A whole fucking lot. As the younger blonde’s whole body was yanked upwards she momentarily felt like Red Horn would very literally rip her leg off of her body. Grit her teeth?! I’m already doing that goddamnit!

“FUCK YOU!” She roared out, refusing to give up without a fight as she begun releasing explosions from her leg indiscriminately, attempting to loosen the grip Mia had on her and as a result lessen the impact. The desperate action unfortunately held very little merit as her whole body arced like a ragdoll, coming in closer and closer towards the ground. As a last ditch effort the lioness resorted to the very same tactic she had when she was dealing with the projectile Mia had sent her way. Bringing her arms in front of her to brace, she released a large explosion from each forearm in an attempt to soften the impact.

Yet if that helped, Jaz couldn’t really tell in the moment. The second she slammed into the floor, detonation or no detonation, she felt herself her reeling. Her whole body felt heavy as she felt the air being knocked out of her, mouth opening to gasp for oxygen as she spat out blood. Hell she was almost certain she had momentarily lost consciousness too but by some miraculous chance she managed to cling onto reality, her sheer reluctance to give up shining through as it forced her to keep fighting.

Gritting her teeth, she felt the damage riddling her body. The pain was there, and boy was it substantial. Yet none of it fucking mattered. Not now. No. Something inside Jasmine clicked. While the excitement was still very much there on her face, the bright glint in her eyes was now replaced by something darker, something more… sinister. Her eyes had begun glowing as she kissed the pavement, yet that glow wasn’t one you would see on a hero.

The damage had triggered something in the lioness. A defensive mechanism that had helped her throughout countless battles back in New York. Yet… it was clear that that state of mind hadn’t overpowered her completely. She was still very much there, yet much colder. Competitive still, but more threatening about it, almost as though it was now a battle for life and death.

Mia still held a firm grip on Ember’s leg, as a result restricting her movement. She needed to somehow break free but she knew that wouldn’t be easy. “Damn it…” She croaked out, slamming her hand into the pavement, cracking the already weakened surface as she did so. Grunting and growling, she forced herself up, turning over her shoulder to show Mia the most monstrous of snarls. Another round of explosions came splashing out of her leg, attempting to break free of the pro hero’s hold. If she found enough space to move, she would turn around to lie on her back and would aim both of her arms directly at Mia.

“EAT THIS!” The impact was instant as two massive explosions were released point blank at Mia. However so was the damage to her shoulders. Jasmine had, for better or for worse, attempted something that her body was not yet ready for - a detonation of a scale that far exceeded what her current maximum payload was. A pained howl left Jasmine’s mouth as she was sent flying backwards. It took a little while, but she managed to put some distance between herself and the pro hero. Coughing out blood, she was breathing heavily as she struggled to stand back up on shaky legs.

“I’m not… out of this… yet!” She hissed out in pain as she yanked on her own arm, pulling her dislocated shoulder back into place. Fuck, she cursed internally. She needed to do something otherwise she’d be done for.

Jasmine’s breathing was heavy and ragged, both of her arms shaky and legs barely able to keep her standing. Pain wracked her entire body as she glared back at Red Horn defiantly despite the now fairly visible dimness in her fire. Each and every breath she took was heavier than her last. She knew she was approaching her limit. Based on how much she had used her quirk and how much she was feeling it by now she was very painfully aware that two of her largest detonations would be her limit. Anything more than that and she’d risk breaking her shoulders. She didn’t even want to think what would happen if she tried to pull another stunt like the one she previously did. Irreparable damage was very likely and despite how much she wanted this fight to continue - hell, how much she wanted to beat Red Horn into the ground - she wasn’t as naive to believe that possibly ruining her future career as a pro hero was worth getting a W here.

A soft snicker left Jasmine’s lips when she heard what Mia had said, her shoulders heaving up and down with each inhale and exhale. Damn… I’m spent… she thought to herself as she tasted metal on the tip of her tongue. The girl was exhausted and it would show regardless of how tough she tried to be. She still felt bitter about the whole fight, though. All of that and she hadn’t even managed to draw blood. No, she’d keep fighting alright. She wasn’t stupid enough to risk her life when she didn’t need to, but fuck a tournament and fuck the painful healing process that was inevitably about to come back and bite her in the ass. The prideful lioness would not back down until she had given every last drop she had and boy did she have one more tidal wave of chaos remaining.

“You really…” she coughed, the dizziness clouding her vision intensifying yet it only served to increase her focus, “...can’t tell what… ow, fuck… my answer’s gonna be, Horny?” She replied in kind, once again motioning for Red Horn to come at her. “Come on, granny. I’ll knock you into next week.”

Now that she was as injured as she was, Jasmine didn’t need to focus on so many things at once. Only a single thing mattered and it was how Red Horn would begin this next sequence. She would bide her time, watch the older American until the last second before unleashing her final move. A move to end all moves. Jaz knew she had her work cut out for her - regardless of how much progress she’s made it was made fruitless in the face of this monster. That just wasn’t good enough. Yet she was, at the same time, grateful. This fight served its purpose. It showed Jasmine exactly where she was and exactly how much farther she needed to go.

It would be this final move that would break open the gateway towards this new path. She’d make sure Mia would fucking feel it.

Tank it, was Jasmine’s immediate order to herself. It didn’t look like Mia was going for what the lioness had expected. Then again it would come as no surprise that the Oni would go for a grab instead of a simple punch. She doubted Mia would take her as lightly. And just as Jasmine had thought, a grapple came. Ember groaned aloud as she was once again treated like a ragdoll yet the lioness did very little to fight back. Instead she bid her time, waiting for the opportune moment as she analyzed Mia’s movements, trying to find that sweet spot for a counter attack.

It wasn’t long before she saw it. True to every word the air was Jasmine’s domain and she’d be damned if she let Mia beat her in aerial combat. When the strike came Jasmine could see it almost as though it was in slow motion due to her heightened focus. Thus she acted accordingly, pushing her own arm forward to meet Mia’s strike. Yet it wasn’t meant to slam into it. No, instead Jasmine’s hand snaked behind Mia’s before she launched one of the two explosions she still had in her arsenal, forcefully blasting the Oni’s arm away and forcing her whole body to rotate.

Another small detonation followed at Jasmine’s feet, minuscule in comparison to what she had already displayed in this fight. Small it might have been but it was enough to propel Jasmine very slightly above the monstrous pro hero. Gritting her teeth, Jasmine grabbed Mia’s horn with her hand and held on tight, growling as she did so. Her other hand quickly aimed at the ceiling and she fired, roaring as the explosion ripped into her shoulder.

Mia’s idea flipped against her, Jasmine turned both of them into a meteor as they flew towards the ground with Mia at the head of the blast. The speed at which they descended was mind boggling, further increased by the force generated by Jasmine’s last detonation. Before long the two of them would crash into the stadium with Jaz standing atop of Mia’s back. The action would result in a massive explosion, rocking the entire stadium and launching debris into the air.

Jasmine then flew out of the debris and rolled to a halt, flat on her back. Breathing heavily, she knew she was done. She could barely feel her arms anymore, let alone continue the fight. She chuckled in between coughs, “I give…” she said, grinning as she looked up towards the debris, “but you can’t say I didn’t have you eating dirt.”

“Ow… careful with the merchandise, will ya?” Jasmine groaned out, her frame clearly unhappy with the treatment Mia was giving her. It’s not like she had gone through the wringer just now or anything, a little care would be appreciated now and then, geez. She sighed and chuckled, not at all surprised. Honestly the blonde lioness would’ve likely been a little angry had Red Horn treated her like damaged goods after a fight like that.

Though, truth be told Jasmine still felt angry with herself. The realization that after she finally managed to go all out and could only do so little was a bitter pill to swallow. Then again at the same time this very information was a blessing in disguise. The mere idea that there were people so much stronger than her out there gave her so many new things to reach for. So many new things to strive for. Having nobody above you meant that there weren’t anybody around to give you a challenge and that was boring. Now Jaz was very painfully aware of how large of a gap there was between herself and Mia, and she could only imagine how many people were out there that were stronger than the Oni. The possibilities were endless and only one thing was firmly stuck in Jasmine Noir’s competitive mindset.

Tear all of them down and take the top for herself.

A snort left the lioness as she was lifted off of the ground and Mia spoke some random nonsense. “Applause… please. I lost,” she said, rolling her eyes when some of the gathered kids began clapping. A groan of apparent annoyance left her but she’d be lying if she said appreciation of her efforts wasn’t appreciated.

“Let… go…!” the younger blonde groaned out, still managing to wrestle out of Red Horn’s grip. Her feet landed on the ground then abruptly and all wobbly and then and only then did Jasmine feel exactly how exhausted she was when she almost fell down on her ass. Sheesh, she couldn’t remember the last time she went all out like that. She’d have to search her memory as far back as three years ago, she reckoned.

It was then that she turned to Mia, a smile still very firm on her face as she clutched at her injured shoulder. The prideful lioness looked like a mess; face bloody, hair charred and all over the place, arm practically cut to pieces and parts of her clothes had been ripped off, revealing quite a few nasty bruises. Yet despite all of that Jaz still gave the older pro hero the meanest stare she could. A stare that reinvigorated the fighting spirit in the rowdy Ace of 1-A, a blazing wildfire swirling in those still-crimson irises.

“I’ll kick your ass next time we fight, Horny,” she said, her words laced with confidence and determination. They weren’t just fighting words either. They were a promise. A promise that the teen was coming after not just Mia, but everyone standing in her way to reach the spot as top hero. “Count on that.”

Jasmine rolled her eyes in an all too overdramatic fashion, “Unless you plan to fight me on the job then I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be awkward, dunce,” she said, elbowing Mia as she did so… and immediately ended up regretting it. “Jesus, ow. You’re built like a tank,” the blonde then complained, rubbing her own elbow as she did so.

Another groan left the younger American as she fell back and laid flat on the ground, stretching her arms and legs, “Aaaaaah I’m beat,” she then complained again, her eyes, which had long since turned back to her usual vibrant lilac, were staring at the ceiling as she remained relatively quiet. Jasmine was still taking in the defeat, the fight itself running through her mind sequence by sequence, replaying every part of it in her mind’s eye like an old black and white movie. She was already thinking about what she could’ve done better in the fight, running through multiple simulations in her mind and thinking about how to improve for future battles to come. Defeat was a strange mistress. She didn’t mind it; hell, on some level she even welcomed it. Failure was something Jasmine was used to and used to learning from. It was the whole reason she asked for this fight to begin with.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. The exhale was like a sigh of relief and a weight off of her chest. She then glanced back to Mia, “While I absolutely hate the idea of being a sidekick, I guess that’s the natural way things progress in this society. Sure, let me know if you hear about it before I do, I’ll sign right the fuck up to kick some villain ass then.” Yeah, she might as well thin out the villain population before she started obliterating heroes. Didn’t want to fuck the world up, after all.

“Yes, please, rub it in how your costume took all the damage, ass…” Jaz muttered under her breath through another deep sigh. Exhaustion was finally beginning to wrap its fingers around the blonde lioness the more she kept her eyes closed. She tried to keep herself away but found herself fighting a losing battle. How many fights can she lose in one day, Jesus fucking Christ?!

“I mean…” she began, her shoulders shrugging before a deep yawn escaped her… one that she didn’t even bother covering her mouth for. “It is what it is I guess. If the school wants me to learn by being someone’s side show then I’ll just have to play along. Stick around to watch what’s up. Take in everything I can and learn from it. Take any and every opportunity you can get and learn from it, y’know? Yeah, I’d love to just say fuck the rules and do what I do but things just don’t work like that and I’ve already learned that complaining about it won’t get me anywhere. The more I bow my head and play by their rules the quicker I’ll get to a position where I can do what I want to do,” she explained, having already gone through this with both Kobayashi and many other teachers and Yuuei. Heck there was even a point in time where the younger American almost reverted back to her vigilante ways when she was fed up with all the bullshit rules the students were governed by. Yeah, they made sense… only in most cases and for most people, though.

“But naw don’t sweat it. I actually really appreciate the invite. Consider me in under your wing the second I can sign a document or whatever they got planned.