Blondy Mc.Explodey [Jaz]

- The Pride -

It had not been a great day. Frankly Jaz was just about done with all of it. Shit classes, shit at home here, shit back home in NYC. Just shit everywhere. People were fucking annoying and she didn't want to deal with anyone. And then she had the luck to forget that she had some kind of training spar scheduled with none other than that fucking frozen weeb who kept peeping at girls with his camera. Ugh. That was so fucking annoying. You know what? A spar might have been a good idea. She could let off some steam against a kid who actually needed his nose broken once or twice. That was a really enticing thought.

It probably wasn't a good idea. And while an argument could be made that carrying a positive mindset into this would've benefited both Jasmine and Maximillian (not that she cared but... that was his name, right?), she wasn't exactly in a positive or talkative mood right now. She swore to Christ if this motherfucker even thought about a PMS joke she'd shove her fist down his throat and make that shit pop.

Honestly she didn't really have anything in particular against this kid. Sure, his 'leisure activities' pissed her off a little, but it wasn't like she cared enough to actually say anything to him as long as she didn't catch him snapping pictures of her. But she was in a foul, horrid mood right now. This honestly just came up at a very bad time and it was likely that Maxi was going to pay the price for it.

Or she would. Unlikely, but possible.

She was late, having to trudge through Yuuei's campus to get to the training facilities from her dorm room. It took a little while for her to get there on account of having completely forgotten about the settled on time for the spar, but the moment she entered the training facilities the cold hit her like a rude wake up call. She didn't say anything as she threw her jacket to the side and stood about thirty feet away from the kid. It'd get heated soon enough, Jaz thought as she stretched her arms. Several explosive crackles danced along her arms as she got into a stance, showing next to no openings or weaknesses in her posture.

"Ready," was all she said. She didn't feel like making conversation. The sooner they got this over with, the better. 

Words: 410

- The Pride -

Frankly this bullshit that Maxi pulled did surprise her. Then again it was obvious to her that that was all it was: bullshit. Maybe he was trying to be smart. Maybe he was trying to get her even angrier than she already had been. The only problem was that things like that didn't and wouldn't piss her off. Honestly all this did was make her chuckle at his piss poor attempt. Jasmine didn't know this kid that well, but she had seen plenty of people he was trying to imitate. He didn't fit the bill of someone like that. Sure, he came across as a dumb and spoiled rich kid who didn't know what an appropriate social interaction meant, but she was pretty sure he wasn't this dumb.

Especially when their quirks were so different. Oh wait. Nevermind. That's exactly what he was doing. The sarcastic voice in her head made her want to roll her eyes on instinct.

"Try being a little bit more subtle next time, kid," Jasmine said with a shake of her head and a sigh. Was this really the only plan he had? It was... kind of disappointing. But then again she knew better than to underestimate someone. Surely he had something else under his sleeve, right? Right. And, heck, not taking this seriously would be insulting to both of them.

Thus Jasmine dove into the bag of tricks she had been filling up with more stuff. After several of the fights she'd had all over the place, she had learned the specifics of her quirk - her limits; she now knew the extent of her explosions at her current level and how much focus she needed to be able to emit a specific type of explosion. Thus she hurled her hands back and opened up with an explosion just a little bit smaller than what her maximum was, sending herself hurling towards Maxi from up above.

The speed at which she advanced was pretty quick and likely unexpected considering the reply she gave the male. When she was close enough, she pointed both of her arms towards him, releasing an explosion that would likely inflict some damage on him provided he didn't defend. And if he did, the added 'bounce' from the explosion would send her flying upwards, avoiding a possible counter-attack.

This momentum thing... she needed to practice it more. With any luck she'd be able to get it down to the T in this fight.

Words: 412

Maximillian Tychus Kane

- The Pride -

Her previous attack worked just as she had intended. Maxi, as surprising as it was for her, had decided on a full frontal assault, attacking her with a fist encased in a gauntlet made out of ice. She realized very early on that she had the advantage in this fight; the heat her explosions generated no doubt screwed with the male's ability to properly attack her, essentially meaning that her quirk itself countered his. The possession of this knowledge led Jasmine to one single stable conclusion: Maxi would have to outsmart her. Which he, admittedly, tried. The only downside was that his attempt was pathetic enough to actually backfire. The thought itself made her want to chuckle.

But the fact that he went from using his head to simply attacking her face first had made her raise a brow. Wasn't this kid a little smarter than that? As soon as Jasmine unleashed her explosive attack, the momentum that it created made her bounce up into the air a few meters, enabling her to avoid her opponent's fist. A fist that probably wouldn't have dealt much damage anyway considering Maxi basically ate her explosion with his face. That was... dumb. If it was her she would've focused on defense instead of offense. As it stood now, Jasmine was fully in control of this fight and her movements were fully in rhythm. The best way to counter her would be to take her out of the comfort zone she had established for herself. Slow her movement down, cool down the area around her to make her uncomfortable. Eventually, an opening would present itself.

But then again Maxi wasn't doing any of that. And, unfortunately for him, she had already developed his plan for him in her head, meaning that she had a way to deal with that as well. Or at least try to, anyway.

As soon as her momentum began slowing and she reached the peak height of her jump, Jasmine extended one arm to the side. Focusing as she began descending, Jasmine released a large number of explosions - not her strongest, but enough to create even more momentum, gradually increasing her movement speed the more of them she released. The trajectory of her explosions affected her whole body, making her spin rapidly as she came down upon the boy. As soon as she was in reaching distance of him, she extended her leg, intending to unleash a devastating kick to the side of his face.

Words: 416

Maximillian Tychus Kane

- The Pride -

It wouldn't be wrong to state that Jasmine had briefly underestimated Maximillian. She had wound up for an attack without expecting him to counter her somehow, which was mostly brought on by the belief that he wouldn't be able to recover from her initial attack that fast. She was ultimately wrong. Maximillian was ready for her attack and she was nowhere strong or fast enough to cancel a move of that scope. She was already spinning too rapidly and changing her trajectory would've been impossible in that split second that the wall of ice was raised right in front of her leg.

As soon as her foot and shin made contact with the cold icy surface of Maxi's constructed wall and shattered it into a hundred different pieces, she immediately hissed as a jolt of pain coursed through her body. Her leg burned with pain as she landed, stumbling as her leg was in too much pain to be able to land correctly. In that mere moment that the blonde lioness fumbled, her opponent came down on her swiftly, surprising her yet again.

Maybe this kid wasn't as bad as she initially thought he was?

Maximillian immediately grabbed her wrists and raised them above her head; he must have realized that she could only use her quirk through her hands. That was smart. He likely also knew that she was physically stronger than him, so gluing their limbs together with cold ice was the only option he had to buy himself time. She was pleasantly surprised to see how much control the boy had over his element as well. The shards of the wall she had shattered had seemingly come to life and began attacking her, their onslaught ranging in the dozens and even hundreds. They sliced through her torso one by one, making her hiss again as she felt the cold puncture through her clothes and eventually skin, drawing first blood.

Her interest was now piqued. Her excitement almost palpable. Maybe this would be a proper challenge after all. The competitive grin that spread across her face was as sinister as it was intoxicating and borderline contagious. Maximillian's attack served to fuel her adrenaline further as she struggled to get out of his icy grip, yet she quickly figured out that wasn't going to work. Her leg also still burned with pain, but that was her only choice at that particular moment.

Using Maximillian's weight as a counter-balance, Jasmine pulled herself up while hopping in place at the same time. Pulling her knees and shins in front of her chest, she used them to temporarily block the onslaught of ice, a split second long enough of a reprieve for her next maneuver. Immediately thereafter, Jasmine countered with a strong double drop kick to the male's chest, the force of which, while a little diminished due to her legs being in pain, would still hopefully be enough to knock her opponent back and subsequently free her from his grip.

All the while, Jasmine was releasing a large number of small explosions from her palms, trying to heat up the air around them to mess with Maxi's temperature control, trying to weaken the icy shackles on her wrists at the same time. With any luck she'd get out of his hold. Albeit painfully since she knew she'd see herself flat on her back if she escaped, she banked on the fact that she was fast enough to prepare for a possible counter. And if she wasn't... well, she'd figure something out. She always did. And, heck, maybe the kid would surprise him again. She was already considering him an equal despite their obvious difference in experience. All he had to do was keep trying.

Words: 623

Maximillian Tychus Kane

- The Pride -

In retrospect, Jasmine knew that this was going to hurt in one way or another. Then again she knew that it was better that than succumbing to a continuous assault. A small sense of relief washed over the blonde when her kick made contact and, indeed, the force behind it, coupled with how the heat her explosions generated weakened Maximillian's ice, was enough to break the shackles the boy employed against her. She had prepared for the pain that she knew was sure to come - she did 'kick off' of her opponent, after all. Yet, despite bracing for it, the backlash she felt hitting the ground was enough to temporarily knock the air out of her, making her groan in pain. Her leg also twitched, still burning from having broken through a goddamn slab of ice at high speeds. That wasn't the brightest thing she'd ever done, that was for sure.

She stayed on the ground for a few moments, staring dumbly at the sky above. What the fuck was she supposed to do now, she wondered. On one hand, this had become infinitely more bothersome considering that Maximillian was now actually putting up a decent fight. Or, well, starting to put one up, anyway. On the other, Jasmine actually welcomed the challenge. She was happy that, as it turned out, Maxi wasn't just some pushover. At the very least he was going to make her work for it, which she was whole-heartedly grateful for.

She didn't have a lot of time to linger on her thoughts, though. Before she knew it, Maximillian had recovered from the initial impact behind her kick much earlier than the blonde lioness had expected him to. Acting fast, the boy sent a flurry of icicles her way, hurling towards her like a swarm of hornets much too alike Vespa's ability. The thought itself made the muscles in her back spasm painfully. Never fucking again.

As a response, Jasmine realized she needed mobility. She also realized that she wouldn't have enough time to actually get back up on her feet before the ice hit her face-first like a freight train. So, instead, she chose the next best - and also likely very painful - option. With her back still firmly on the ground, Jasmine extended her arm to the side, detonating a relatively large explosion. The kickback to her shoulder was enough to make her hiss, but the generated momentum was definitely enough to get her body moving. The ice that Maxi had sent towards her impacted the ground violently, denting the ground below with their vicious onslaught.

Jasmine, on the other hand, hissed once again through grit teeth as her back slid across the ground, leaving burns and bruises on her back as a result. Yet she didn't stay on the ground for very long. Quickly tapping her hand against the floor, she released an explosion that sent her bouncing into the air, spinning into a barrel roll. Still highly mobile, Jasmine relied on several more explosions to center herself, yet she never halted her momentum. The ice was chasing her a distance from Maximillian, so she needed to close the gap between herself and him while avoiding his attack at the same time.

Her grin returned; perhaps she had underestimated him wrongly. Then again one could argue that said underestimation was Maximillian's own fault. It was very clear from the start that the kid had no confidence in his own abilities. Sure, her quirk was the complete antithesis of his and gave Jasmine a borderline unfair advantage against him. But that was exactly that. A simple disadvantage for him. Disadvantages could always be fought through in one way or another, and Maxi was doing exactly that. He was fighting against her to the best of his ability, actually inflicting damage on her and forcing her to think outside the box. Hell, she had actually stopped underestimating him at some point. She now looked at the stupid pervert as an equal in battle. An opponent she could go all out against. Whether that meant that he dug his own grave or not, Jasmine simply hoped that he didn't give up before everything was said and done but instead kept fighting. That would undoubtedly benefit the both of them.

Flying through the air, Jasmine corrected her trajectory so she began advancing on her opponent. There were several theories in her head about how Maximillian's quirk worked. First of all, he had used the ice that he already created beforehand to attack her instead of molding a new construct to utilize. That might've possibly meant that he could only control a select piece of the cold element at a time, or, rather, his control only spread so far. In the back of her mind she wondered: if she forced him to employ another construct for defensive purposes, would that mean he'd lose control of the ice he had chasing her? That was a very curious thought that had actually begun gnawing at her.

Her advance towards Maximillian had left a trail of heat behind her, possibly weakening and slowing down the ice chasing her. As soon as Jasmine was in front of him, she faked a jab with a relative short wind up motion. Instead of actually attacking, she detonated another explosion below her, 'bouncing' over Maximillian's head before settling behind him. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Jasmine swung her arm upwards in an uppercut motion, releasing a series of sizable explosions at the boy's behind. 

Now she wondered - how far did his defense and control extend to? Because at this particular moment, she had an explosion threatening to blow his ass up and the flurry of icicles that had followed her were about to shred his face. Decisions, decisions. 

Words: 969

Maximillian Tychus Kane

- The Pride -

On some level, Jasmine had started berating herself for underestimating this kid. The initial thought that he was a weakling was still very much in her head, but she had begun seeing him in a new light. A new light that had gotten her a little too excited for the new opportunity that presented itself to her - she'd be able to have a fair fight. Or, at the very least, a fight where the opponent didn't go down in two or three hits. That excitement had gotten her a little bit too giddy; too daring. And she rushed forward, thinking that she'd be able to attack freely without any thought of a possible counter. Then again, surely enough, her instincts were in play, counteracting her mistake. Her excitement did indeed make her vulnerable, but the wild instincts that had flared within the blonde were just enough to keep her from getting herself knocked the fuck out.

It would be a far cry to say that the blonde lioness was taken aback by Maximillian's counter-attack. Sure, she hadn't entirely expected it - this perhaps showed some form of experience from the male's part - but it wasn't anything ground breaking. Her prior movement and the pattern of the uppercut she had used against him had left her grounded, the generated momentum keeping her feet firmly locked to the ground. So when Maxi swung sideways, erecting a pillar of ice crashing into her side, Jasmine acted out of pure instinct.

She lowered her other arm, and bent her forearm closer to her bicep, flexing her muscles and strengthening the limb as much as she could, using it as a shield of sorts so her torso didn't take any direct damage. As soon as the ice impacted, she felt a cold, painful sensation all throughout her side, jerking her sideways as she very barely hopped up, the attack sending her skidding away from the male a few feet.

No, as excited as she was, she couldn't keep attacking him blindly. At first she thought to prolong this fight by using her quirk to attack less frequently - in this way she'd generate less heat and open up the opportunity for Maximillian to actually fight back. Now that she knew that he was more than simply a capable fighter considering his stature, Jasmine knew that giving him leeway might have meant that she'd lose. And that thought alone was simply humiliating to her. It would be humiliating to him, as well, since Jasmine knew that, if their roles were replaced and Maxi went easy on her, she'd be more than just a little pissed.

She was shaken from the previous attack as she slid to a halt. Her arm and leg hurt, but while they were in quite a reasonable amount of pain, they were still usable. Out of the many things she had learned growing up, it was to fight through the pain. If she had succumbed to a broken shoulder, a torn tendon, or whatever the hell it was, and didn't do her best to save herself, she knew she wouldn't have made it as far as she already had. Thus she kept fighting, analyzing the situation before her to come up with the best way of dealing with Maximillian to maximum effect with as minimal effort as humanly (or, inhumanly, in this case) possible. Her previous uppercut had landed quite the blow on the poor lad, likely chipped a tooth or two. But she couldn't go easy on him. He wasn't just some stuck up kid with a perverted shtick anymore. In the lioness' eyes, he was a threat.

And she always dealt with threats without quarter.

As soon as she stopped sliding backwards, Jasmine erupted into a spring towards her opponent, banking on the fact that her previous attack had generated enough of a backlash to knock the boy out of rhythm. Her next business endeavor would be to heat the air around him in order to minimize his usage of his quirk, and, subsequently, maximize her own. Based on how much she'd been moving around, Jasmine surmised that she still had around five or six usages of her strongest blasts before her shoulders really started to hurt. That's when she calculated the numbers in her head. This had to work.

She was about four meters away from Maximillian when she swung her hand upwards in the form of an uppercut again, yet, instead of resorting to a close range explosion, she released a 'wave' of two of her strongest explosions right at the boy, intending on damaging him without letting him counter-attack her while subsequently heating up the air around him. Then, using all of her strength, she leaped upwards, using several small explosions to propel her above Maxi. The camouflage of dust that her wave of explosions raised would likely be enough to keep her from sight, and thus she used that to her advantage. Descending, she hurled both of her arms forward to where she remembered Maxi stood, detonating a large explosion from either hand right at the boy's face, intending on blowing him into another planet.

Her arms started to hurt but, just as she thought, she had one or so more in her. She'd have to make it count or, worst case scenario - fight through a very dangerous level of pain. A level of pain that, coupled with the injuries she had already sustained, meant that she wouldn't be able to fight on for very long, if at all.

Words: 926

Maximillian Tychus Kane

- The Pride -

Despite the growing pain in her limbs, Jasmine was still ready to go. Granted, she was now much slower and way less powerful than she had been at the start of the fight, but her self-preservation instinct and the desire to win were still burning brightly in her. There was just one thing wrong. Her bombing run completely missed its mark. At first she thought the kid had enough strength in him to dodge by himself, at which point she thought she was fucked. But a sense of relief - and, at the same time, dread - washed over her when Jasmine saw Maxi's body skidding through the ground a good ten meters away.

As soon as Jasmine landed on her feet, her instincts were still yelling at her to keep her guard up. Breathing heavily, the female used the back of her fist to wipe away the dust from her eyes. Her knees were bent as the blonde lioness centered herself, ready for a possible counter-attack to come. Her body had already braced for some kind of ice to come hurling at her, eyes glistening a bright crimson as her wild nature went into overdrive.

Alas, nothing of the sort ever came.

Instead, when the dust settled, Jasmine bore witness to the sight of Maximillian and how injured he was. His arms looked like a complete mess, charred almost to the bone from her attack. Her eyes widened in shock as she immediately picked up her phone and called up a teacher for help, stating that one of their spars had gone a little too far, "Yes, yes, I get it. We need to be careful because our quirks are dangerous. Message fucking received. Now can you get some fucking help over here?!" She said angrily, hanging up and pocketing her phone before rushing over to her downed classmate.

Despite the fight, despite the injuries that followed, what shocked Jasmine the most was the way Maxi still tried to get back up and fight. In a way, that reminded her of herself. She recognized the drive to win. The undeniable refusal of accepting a loss. The sheer drive of a survival instinct and the need to keep fighting. It... it made her reconsider how she saw Maximillian. Sure, he was still very much a perverted, stuck up rich kid but, clearly, he wasn't some simple pushover.

Ending her sprint with a slide, Jasmine ended up by Maxi's side, inspecting his injuries with worried eyes, a sense of urgency very clearly visible on her face through the sweat and dirt, "I called one of the teachers. Help is on the way," she said, her eyes, which had immediately turned back to their usual lilac, inspecting the burns on the boy's arms, "Fuck..." she said, "Just... stay still. We'll get you patched up, alright?"

Even if she didn't like the kid, which was fairly arguable by this point, she surely didn't want to hurt or, worst case scenario, cripple him. She had already ended one life on pure accident, she wasn't about to ruin another.

Words: 514

Maximillian Tychus Kane