Fire and Frost, Fist vs. Fist!

HW KODKAN DOJO

Soon arrived on a Gx Rhino truck at the Kodokan Dojo, Mai was supposed to just go there and practice a couple of hours a day, however after the first class she told Soon she would stay a while longer. that while longer suddenly turned into a week, which then turned into a month. and now, after a full month, Soon was finally gonna see Mai again.

As the gates of the dojo opened the esper felt the pressure, even though she could not use ki, there was a heaviness in the air, the suspension of the truck visibly lowered almost instantly, what kind of freaks were in there?

The first person to walk out the door was a rather slender woman with black hair and blue eyes, she was wearing a white Gi with a purple belt and was carrying a massive sports bag of sorts, she quickly ran up to meet Soon

"Hello, you are here for Mai, correct? she'll be here soon. Let me introduce myself, I am Yui Shimatsu, the grandmaster's granddaughter. I'll be going as second for Mai"

Soon simply nodded, she didn't even know what to say about the situation, but one thing was for sure, that woman was in a completely different level.

the woman went back inside the dojo and  waved at someone, after a few seconds Mai finally came out...

"Hi honey! did you miss me?!"- Mai said with a big smile on her face as she waved at Soon in the truck.

"What the hell happened to you?"- Soon replied in shock.

---

HWBC EVENT

As the doors opened the Musashi team went in. Soon was floating as usual next to Yui, and following behind was Mai, although nobody would recognize her if they compared her to her poster.

The Musashi was wearing a purple gi with a white belt on her waist, her white hair was now long, almost resembling a lion's mane, but that wasn't what was shocking about her. her height, she was almost 6'4, clearly muscular but not completely ripped like in her perfect warrior mode, and now she had a scar on her left cheek?

Mai walked casually looking at the crowd and whistled impressed.

"phew, looks like there's plenty of fans of this thing...You know? I'm kinda worried I have to represent both Kodokan and the Musashi at the same time"

Yui turned around and smiled

"Well you are a great example of what our white belts can do, plus your name will surely bring us more students"

"Ehh...not sure there's many out there who can survive that fucking hell, wouldnt be surprised if you lost all the people interested after the first day"

As they finally moved deeper into the place, Soon recognized Dan in the distance, she flew towards him to say hi.

"Hey, good to see you again...is...Qiang doing ok?"- She asked him with a bit of fear, knowing the last time she saw the kid, he had been kidnapped.

"Sorry for the gloom talk, in any case, your opponent is here, good luck with that, i think you are gonna need it...she's been eating well clearly"

"Sup, ready to go?"- Mai told Dan in a friendly tone as she arrived, this wasn't so different from any other fight she had up until now, so why even be worried?

Normally, opponents did not approach one another so openly right at the beginning of the interviews, but it was always a delight when they did. The cameraman was forced to make an instant decision of who to cover. Alexis and Arthur seemed spicier, but Dan and Mai were the actual main event. Quickly he made his choice, focusing on tonight’s main fighters.

“Qiang’s great. He’s with Cosmina tonight. He doesn’t like fighting. I don’t know where I went wrong.” Dan drew a light chuckle from the journalists. Good, he was winning the crowd. For now. Holy hell, she didn’t look this big on the poster. He hoped he wasn’t blushing. His face felt hot, so he probably was. The last thing he needed was Alexis piping in and telling him not to treat the HWBC as a dating service again, but luckily, she was distracted. He didn’t do that at all, there were just a lot of attractive women.

“I’m always ready to go. But I, ah, hope everybody’s performances tonight inspire us to be the greatest finale possible!” Everything sounded stilted coming from his mouth. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe it. He actually was excited to see everybody else fight. Those words just weren’t his. They weren’t warmups, they were their own little events. He would throw down with her right in this room, no other fights at all, then go to watch them. He was paying fleeting attention to several of them as he spoke, and noticed Laura out of the corner of his eye. It was a shame he never got to fight her. She was incredible. But right now, she was making the oddest face. Stone cold killer’s eyes, fixed right on Mai. What was up with that?

Not far away, Alexis wasn’t finding such difficulty expressing herself. She looked down at Arthur when he mentioned her height and didn’t say a word for a moment. She just brought her hand up to her head like she was saluting him, then extended it until it was right over his head to emphasize the difference in their heights. “Don’t bring it up if you compare poorly.” Was all she said. This was Arthur, eh? He wasn’t much to look at. Dan said he was short, but he might have been understating it. Of course, she knew damn well that appearances didn’t matter in the world of magic. She was a slender wraith. She shouldn’t have the power she did, going by basic physics. In the Iron Soldiers, sometimes small was good. It was harder to hit a small target. She looked forward to showing off her aim.

"Obviously I meant it as a compliment. Smaller enemies are harder to hit, you know." Arthur suddenly became a blur and disappeared. "Especially the fast ones." He was sitting on an ice platform behind Alexis, now at eye level with her. "I hope your fans aren't too disappointed if you don't even land a hit." Arthur gave a cheeky smile. One thing he'd mastered in his job is projecting an image of confidence even when he was nervous inside. And he had good reason to be nervous. She didn't look big and tough, but Arthur could tell her magic potential was more dangerous than any brute he'd come across. Geez, did she really need to have an elemental advantage over him?

"Ah, sorry to interrupt, but have we met before?" Hazel pipped up. "You look really familiar."

Loveline, who'd finally joined them, realized why instantly. "Oh wow, you look just like Amelia. You two could pass for twins."

Mai was somewhat weirded out by Dan, it appeared he didn't know what she was famous for. As he finished talking Mai carefully let go of Soon and she floated away as Musashi moved until she was right in Dan's face.

"Oh please, do fucking resist, not that it will make a difference but I need to make this entertaining"- She said as she looked down on him literally. Mai shook Dan's hand only applying a quarter of her strength, which was still enough to turn a brick into powder. She let go of his hand as she turned around and walked away while holding hands with Soon.

"Well, if you excuse me, I'll go get something to eat while the other guys are fighting. what do you think Soon? maybe there's a steakhouse or something nearby we can order food from, I'd kinda like that"

The Musashi team began to walk away, it wasn't long before Mai felt her feet wet, making her lift one leg as she looked below

"The fuck? who's the idiot who left a chunk of ice dripping in the middle of the lobby? what is this?"- She said as she finger flicked the platform, shattering it to bits.

Dan didn’t flinch when Mai showed off her grip. He just smiled, displaying an almost frightening level of delight at the flex. “Heh. I like the confidence. Keep that, even if you lose today.” He returned the favor, exerting his own considerable strength. “That way… we can have a rematch when you’re a real fighter.” He finally gave the cameraman what he wanted and turned away, noticing Laura by the door on his way out. He adjusted his tie quickly, glad that Haruko had convinced him not to wear a pink suit to anything decently official (the tie, however, was fair game).

“So, you’re fighting Aroha, right? I hear she’s tough.” Thankfully, he could be normal talking about fighting. Relatively normal. Laura had been rather bemused the first time he had struck up a conversation with her, but she seemed to put up with him at least out of professional courtesy now. “I’ll win. My healing should be quick enough that little scratches don’t bleed enough to set her off. I’d say my blood is the wrong color to strengthen her at all, but I used to date her brother. Turns out the color doesn’t matter.” She smiled, then sighed. “This is about my reaction to Musashi, isn’t it? I’m over it. It was a year ago. I just wasn’t prepared to see her again. Forget it.” She waved it off and he shrugged, walking on to the door. “Oh, hey, Drake. Good luck. You don’t get to be the headliner every day.” She seemed to be looking past him, but he took the well-wishing in stride anyway. Chest puffed, he walked off to the changing room.

---

Alexis had already arrived in hers. She flexed hands wrapped tight in black cloth. Today was a day for black. No other color on her body. Top, shorts, and coat all dark as night. A sorceress stood in the mirror, smiling back at her. She had this. No way she didn’t. She’d melt this little ice mage. And if he thought he could take this into punching range, well, she had a surprise for him there. “Yo! Alexis! You’re up!” Her coach’s voice came from the door. “Alright Alexis, showtime.” She pointed a finger gun at the mirror and clicked before leaving for the arena.


Inside, every light was snuffed, leaving a totally dark arena, and her song kicked on. The crowd’s cheers began when Alexis’ burning form appeared, the only light in the room the thin flickering blaze around her. “I reign with my left, I rule with my right!” The song went and she responded with a flash of flame and the flick of her barbed whip. The crack echoed in the halls, audible even over the crowd.

“Randy Howard of the HWBC here, broadcasting live from Vorpals Stadium. We've got an amazing lineup for you today, not a single unwelcome face. The new one is certainly welcome, but she won't be seen until the end of the night! In fact, here comes Alexis Primrose, #34 in the Iron Soldiers and our first fighter tonight! I bet the sadists in the audience are thrilled to have her and Aroha both fighting in one night, eh? What do you think of her chances tonight, Ragnaros?” An old cyborg, silver arms and golden voice, spoke at the announcer’s table.

“I think she'll win, Howard. She has the brutality of a true devil and the fire to match. I admire that kind of carnage. But I’m not going to write off Cromwell. He’s one of the most dangerous in the Iron Soldiers when it comes to close range. Really likes the two swords, which is one of my top 50 ways of killing people.” Something like a blazing suit of armor with katana blades for horns sat next to the desk in a summoning circle, head high enough to speak into the microphone for its position, kept attached to the body by a long chain. “Primrose really hasn’t proven herself at close range. She lost her first match when her opponent got in on her whip’s range, if you recall. That’s really a risk against somebody as fast as The Frost Wolf, even if I find his elemental choice much less tasteful.” “So you’re saying it won’t necessarily be a cold day in hell if he wins?” “That’s highly offensive, Randy. Many people died when hell froze over.”

Alexis walked down into the arena, a shallow pit nearly as long as a football field. Each side of the arena had a trench and two sections of wall for cover, both of them set to move as soon as the match started to keep them on their toes. She had everything she needed besides Arthur. It was time to burn.

Alexis glanced back at her coach. She looked an awful lot like Alexis, and even more like Amelia. The grey sweatshirt she wore hardly made her look less like a celebrity and more like a coach, not helped by the fact she had worn ruby earrings and flawless makeup to go with it. The hoodie itself was embroidered with a bright red rose and the words “Primrose Gym”. They didn’t have a real gym of course. Alexis just used their mansion’s state of the art workout room and sparred with partners on the grounds. Coming from wealth had advantages.

Alexis wasn’t thinking about any of this of course. She was just rolling her eyes to her mom in response to the song. “Be polite.” Angela mouthed and Alexis straightened up with a snort. “Bad move, puppy. You admitted I’m in charge, and the house always wins.” She muttered under her breath as the buzzer went off. She tuned out the announcers and raised her hand. From her finger came a swarm of tiny fireballs, spreading, then arching inwards at Arthur. See how he handled this, then initiate step two.

Her first attack blocked without effort, Alexis nodded. He could make his own walls. Good move. She jumped behind one of her own walls and let it pass, catching the frostball hiding behind it. Clever. If she wasn’t saving energy, that would have really been a problem. Back to the wall, she lobbed a single fireball over like a mortar shot. It was aimed in Arthur’s general direction, loose enough that the explosion should catch him at least a little. She didn’t mind if it didn’t; it was just a diversion. As the fireball sailed through the air, her shadows were moving along the ground. Little lines zig-zagging across the floor, creating a pattern of branches as they approached. The moment they touched Arthur’s foot, they would spring from the ground and entangle his leg, and in an instant, that speed he was so excited to show off would be gone.

Alexis leaped over her wall the moment she felt her tendrils get hold on Arthur, but before her next attack was prepared, he was already freed and diving right for her. Two frisbees were headed right for her, two others going unnoticed on the sides. A snap decision drove her hand up and a massive plume of fire came from her palm. The disk aimed at her head was vaporized and it carried on towards Arthur. The other disk continued unimpeded until it embedded itself in her tibia. She let out a hiss through her teeth and fell back against the wall, supported while she commanded the shadows once more. The ice disk was yanked out and thrown away and the wound wrapped in bandages of blackness within a second, but she had no time to rest.

She launched another flurry of small fireballs and rolled to the side, covering herself to reposition in the center of the stage. With him flying, cover didn’t matter. She needed room to move. Her leg ached, but she could force movement long enough to win. Besides, if her plan worked, he’d be more limited in transportation too in a minute. Mixed in with her regular small fireballs were a few blazing with far greater heat, aimed at the tips of his wings. Hot enough to turn ice into steam, hopefully with enough force to crack apart the whole structure. She loved it when people provided stuff to blow up. Made it so much easier to bring them down.

“Good, I prefer it when they struggle.” Alexis fired off another close-range plume of flame, aimed to catch Arthur, but only striking the platform he had just thrown at her. She was turning to follow when the frostball flew through and struck her. Spikes of cold stabbed through the air, turning it immediately into ice. Alexis stared in shock for a moment, feeling nearly gone in her lower body. She was halfway embedded in ice, trapped for Arthur’s barrage. She spent mana again shielding herself, a plume of flame melting the raining ice shards. Arthur was wearing her down. She could keep going a while yet, but if he kept this up, he’d eventually slip something through. Luckily, he was finally within range of something that didn’t cost. She grabbed her whip from her hip and lashed out, seeking to dig its barbs into his shoulder. Shadows expanded in the ice, trying to break her out with as little mana as possible.