Private Finished Tournament Arc: Xera vs. J

"Care to go back to the basics? A spar, no abilities, just what we can do," J proposed, stepping into the ring. She had a feeling that some people in the tournament were also interested in simple spars, but she didn't have the leisure to just gamble at the start of every match. Instead, she would just ask.

She took up a versatile upright stance as she waited for a reply, and if they didn't want to comply, then she could still use her ace.

"If you won't, then I won't," J said, mentally noting that unless there were weapons involved, she wouldn't harden herself either for offense or defense. "A fair match."

Seeing that Xera went with a boxer's stance, she too switched to the hitman stance for boxing, noting that she had a little bit of a reach disadvantage. But she had the speed and the experience to get in if she needed to.

The match started out and she threw out a few quick flicker jabs, more probing than anything heavy, but still enough to put on a little pain if they connected clean. More than doing damage, she wanted to see how her opponent would react and what of her styles would be good to transition into.

So her enemy was more trained than her previous one. There was technique there, as opposed to the previous round's gut punches.

The feint didn't quite catch, but she reacted a split-second too late and the follow-up landed, just not as squarely as it could have. As she realized it was going to connect, she back-stepped to make the hit shallow, only for her enemy to do the same after.

Since she wasn't hardening herself, she had to be better about mitigating damage.

The smallest hint of a grin formed on her face, and she threw a few more jabs that were subtly leaving an opening. She was waiting for a counter. The moment retaliation came, she intended to grab onto the hand and strike at the elbow joint with an upward elbow.

So she didn't take the bait.

No matter, she thought, dodging the incoming blow to her side. After all, her enemy had done the same.

J decided to cede the momentum of the match to her opponent, stepping back into the center of the ring and taking up an orthodox MMA stance. She was waiting to see how her opponent would break into her defenses without any clear openings, and waited for a chance to counter.

J responded to the jabs by dodging and throwing her own in the intervals, her stance and movements compact, not letting a single motion go to waste. But her blows weren't heavy - they were more just meant to land than do any damage. She was still in the probing portion of the fight, and kept her moves light.

Her enemy went low, and instead of jumping or raising her leg to dodge, J seized on the opportunity to drop herself on top of the now-lowered Xera, forcing her way into a mount.