The Witch and the Prince (Mock Fight: Jade vs Demetri )

[Demetri Malius]

This was a strange place indeed. Though the thief had to admit, he wasn't sure what he expected to find on the moon.

Scattered across the stage were numerous frog-like beings, prancing around like jesters in a court. The audience was still eyes glazed over and staring indefinitely towards the performers.

The single girl in the crowd stood out among the amphibious creatures, though she wasn't exactly "normal" herself. She sat with a smile on her face, clearly intrigued by the act before her. She wore a black cloak with a weird, swirled insignia on it. Demetri recieved the odd feeling that the symbol was significant, but couldn't quite put his finger on the reason why. She also wore thin, circular-framed glasses, and fluffy white ears protruded from the top corners of her hood.

Demetri had to admit, the whole ordeal felt oddly hypnotic, but he needed to stay on task. His client was counting on this mission, though it seemed rather ridiculous. Planets the size of pebbles? Impossible, but this world continued to surprise him. He learned to not doubt anymore possibilities.

The thief weaved between the seated audience, ever so cautious of touching even one of the fazed beasts, as he had information that they emitted a screeching wail when interrupted during their so-called "ballet recitals". Luckily, that task was rather easy to do with his slender and flexible build, and the light gravity of the giant rock gave him even more freedom of his body to curve around any and all obstacles. The metal buckles in the thief's black leather armor shone with the soft light illuminating the moon as he moved ever so elegantly, closer to his unsuspecting target with each step. His shrouded cloak fell close behind him, a personal shadow in his wake.

Soon, he found himself closing in on the Prime. The tips of the thief's fingers tingled and they knew what to do next. Softly and swiftly, in and out, no mess. A master pickpocket at his work. The low footsteps came to a halt as his hands continued to reach forward to the distracted girl. Just a little more...

Light fingers grasped a small handful of pebbles, which seemed to be rather heavy. Very heavy, actually. Once his hand cupped under them, it felt as if someone dropped a suit of armor on him. He looked up in alarm as his hand smashed into the girls lap, who then turned to him with a confused look before realizing his actions. With a quick pull he rushed away with the supposed planets, weaving back through which he came, carefully tossing them into his satchel, the girl's shouts behind him.

Sorry for any typos, most of it was done on phone :frog:

[Jade Harley]

Jade pursues the dirty rotten planet stealer around the widespread assembly of seats, mindful of the others in the audience who are still viewing the ballet performance on-stage. The surface of the moon beyond the arrangement of seats is pock-marked with craters steeped in gritty shadow, and a faint glimmer of moon dust kicks up under her feet as she races after the fellow who has so deftly pilfered her most prized of possessions.

With quick, measured footsteps that have all the prowl and lankiness to them as an ink-stippled leopard, the figure running ahead of her disappears backstage behind the velvety plume of an overhanging curtain. Jade ducks behind the curtain as well, into the stuffy and dimly-lit private wing of the lunar auditorium. Her snowy white dog ears graze the satin-smooth fabric as it ripples back into place, the briefly disturbed gloss of midnight black drapery smoothing over once more.

Pausing to catch her breath with huddled shoulders and a sense of rising panic scintillating in her breast, Jade turns her chin upwards to see that the thief has stopped only a few paces away, the satchel that bears her planets clutched firmly in his grasp. He glances over his shoulder at the Frogon performers, indecisively shuffling away from the enraged Witch but not exactly favoring the alternative.

Jade advances on him, sparking all over with green-yellow sizzle-pops of energy, the electrical charge causing her hair to rise as the ruffled nape of a wolf might when it is about to lock jaws with some other fearsome beast.

She wags a finger at him, teeth bared and her ruby red slippers striking severely against the floor. “You sneak! Give me my planets back right now, pal, and maybe I’ll reconsider kicking your ass!”

The thief before her assumes a sullen, arrogant expression, standing both passive and rigid, head tilting exactly in ratio to the speed of Jade’s footsteps. He knows that he will not be easily caught. Ah, but you will have to catch me first!

As Jade barrels forward, intending to gain momentum one step at a time, he is suddenly gone— quicker than thought, faster than any plans of escape which might have appeared in her mind in the very next instant.

A chain slithers around her ankle and in a single, swift movement sends Jade crashing into the ground with a startled bark. Whirling around violently, similar to a spitting wild cat wrapped up in the coils of a snake like in one of her grandfather’s old hunting yarns, her fist swings out in a glancing blow that just barely scrapes against the side of his jaw. The unshaven stubble there scratches against her knuckles like razor wire, but he is thumped backwards by the hit.

The chain loosens and Jade regains ground, scrabbling to her feet against the smooth, marbled floor that is just a touch cold. She hisses as her ankle smarts against throbbing quivers of pain.

Her opponent has disappeared once again. The young Witch panics, whirling around with her lips twisted and eyes glistening from the fiery hot eddy of thwarted fury stinging around their edges, and then with a sudden, impulsive jolt, she comes to a halt. Jade’s eyes widen, looking much like twin springtide green moons behind the large lenses of her glasses.

Oh, the impudence of this scoundrel! Out across the stage, which is wide and flat and gleams with the reflective light of a thousand kaleidoscopically interwoven stars, five quartets of dancers effortlessly sweep into smooth dips and bows, subtle and chaste flicks of their wrists heightening their movements as their arched feet skim across the cosmically resplendent platform.

The Frogons, as unsavory in appearance and character as they are with their prickly, amphibious faces and squashed noses, have accentuated their costumes flawlessly, and it is almost a dream to look upon them as the curled ribbons affixed at their waists glisten languorously with each dizzying twirl. They dance, wholly oblivious to the impostor dodging expertly around their fluctuating bodies that glisten with sweat and muscled exertion.

This thief moves like a dancer, gracefully placing his feet so as to give the impression of a swan’s elegantly curving neck. His coat is dark, dabbed here and there with shiny sparks of cool silver that glints in the low stage lighting. Against the dark backdrop of the lunar surface, he appears almost as some strange ephemeral vision. A building crescendo of flight marks every pirouette that he faultlessly executes, and Jade cannot ignore its call.

Now, Jade is not exactly one for grace, and she has never quite developed an appreciation for the gentle pluck of harp strings or that sudden, thunderous raindrop of ivory keys being struck. She is all jazzy swings, ecstatic be-bops, randy whistles, zazzle-zangs, and the enthusiastic movements of a besotted red-breasted robin in the springtime— she delights in spontaneity, the joy of being alive; whoops, ho-hums and echoes resounding all throughout the radiant and rosy harmonic countryside. She cannot hope to match this level of finesse, this impeccable sense of style and blue-tinted passion rising to fever pitch.

Still, she wastes no time in leaping into the fray with an energetic bound, the dark plumes of her dress flowing about her grey and white-striped stockings as burgeoning water does around rocks in a stream. Her red-slippered feet kick out instinctively as she drifts off the gleaming floor, hands thrown out to catch herself against empty air, but she recovers quickly enough to sway out of bounds of a dancer who whirls past in a silent gust. Which is totally silly, because the moon doesn’t even have wind!

With a buoyant flounce of her starry skirts, Jade swoops across the stage towards the thief, her movements mirrored by the murky silhouette swimming across the floor beneath her. Once her feet touch gently upon the ground again she is within just a few strides of him, just a little closer now—

1000 words exactly on wordcounter.net

Jade basically used her Physical Strength to punch Demetri.

Demetri used his Chains to trip Jade up. Yeep.

[Demetri Malius]

The Witch of Space took a dive for her target as the distance between approached near nothing, however, as soon as she reached out to grasp the thief's cloak, it vanished right in front of her eyes, his complete image a dispersed illusion. She quickly rolls back up to a standing position, her outfit shining even more with the moon dust that stuck onto her.She began to panic as the shadowed miscreant moved further away,her breaths rapid and short as she thought of ways to stop him.

With an idea coming to mind, she came to a halt, summoning a white and blue launcher of some sort, taking a deep breath to relax as she calmed herself and focused her aim. A plop of snow flew our of the barrel with each pull of the trigger, a few seconds between each shot. The thief turned in surprise and caution as the shots hit the stage floor in front of him, struggling to avoid the splotches of ice it created. As elegant in his movement as he was, the Prince of Void had not completely adjusted to the gravity of the revolving white rock, and manged to catch the final patch patch of clumped ice.

With the slip of his foot, the thief began to collapse, his momentum now working against him as he slid between the performing frogons. Quick as he could, he shot his chain into the wooden stage, the chain extending as he continue to slide towards the audience. As gave a sigh of relief as he skid to a stop at the very edge, a few snowflakes of ice kicking off and floating away into the audience. The thief cursed himself for not being more careful, turning to see the woman still rushing towards him. Before he could stand back up, he felt a tug on his chain as one of the performers tripped over it, and the thief's eyes widened in fear. A boiling wail echoed and rang past the stage, the frogon flashing red and blue while creating this loud display.

The sound pierced both of the players ears, though the woman had more protection due to her earmuffs. Demetri barely could stand as the creature bawled, struggling to find his balance as he noticed the ice that had formed around his leg. Such an aggravating inconvenience. Fortunately, the Witch was not entirely unaffected, and had slowed as well. With a slight limp the thief hurried away, summoning his sword-breaker and hacking at his crystallized limb.

Jade winced at the horrible sound, though she was glad that her earmuffs blocked out most of the decibels. She trudged on, as it felt as if the sound itself was pushing her back. She could see that the rotten planet thief had just as much trouble, worse even. Now she was not only going to get her planets back, but give this man a good butt-whooping for disrupting this wonderful performance. Her eyes narrowed with determination, and she began to pick up speed. This was her chance.

it was now the thief's turn to panic, using all of his might as chunks of ice fell to the floor. At this rate she would catch him, unless he interfered somehow. With a glance he looked at the frogon nearby the woman, and raised his hand. The space player's face turned, her eyes widening in horror as the blade sliced the frogons skin, causing it to stop in its tracks. She covered her ears and braced herself as the frogon bellowed like its fellow performer, the shock-wave of sounds sending her flying of the front of the stage and tumbling into the audience. Luckily for her, she had not hit any more of the creatures, but slowly sat up and was dazed from the blast.

Demetri smirked and continued to free his frozen leg, prying off more chunks of the cold ice. He wedged the blade into the solid ice, twisting and bending the steel until a satisfying crack allowed the ice to chip and go flying to his right, where another frogon kicked into it while preforming a complicated and amazing combination of ballet moves. The Prince-thief had not a chance to shield himself as he too was blasted off, his ears ringing with pain while he tumbled off the stage. He lay upon the small cratered floor groaning as his hearing was impaired from the previous blasts. He could sense the woman calling our to him, most likely accusingly, but he had no way of knowing the words. Small droplets of crimson blood dripped from his ears, his mind slowly coming back to its senses as he stood, holding his head with a hand as he did so. These creatures really were quite a bother.

The thief then turned to see more sizzling green energy emanating from the woman's hands. Another shot was heading his way. The thief tried to locate and pinpoint where exactly she was aiming, but he was still dizzy from his own frogon encounter. Like a drunken cutthroat, he swayed back and forth, the audience before him splitting into multiple vision and the green light blurring across it. The sudden burst of energy came towards him, and he tried to duck to his right. The energy burned into his left shoulder, causing great pain as he failed to dodge, managing only to stumble and grab the edge of the stage to retain his balance. His vision soon restored and he gritted his teeth, staring at the woman.

"Fortune has been kind to you this battle, but now I must make my escape... "

The thief gave a pained smile as he split himself into five mirrored entities, all of them, including himself, scattering into the crowd and stage and causing the woman to growl in anger. Her eyes burned with fiery determination, sizzling with confidence and justice. She swore to protect those planets and would not allow them to be taken from her.

1000 words according to wordcounter.net

Demetri used deception.

Jade used Little Sn0w.

Demetri tripped a frogon, causing damage to himself and discomfort to Jade.

Demetri attacked a frogon, blasting jade into the crowd.

Demetri accidentally attacked another frogon, causing himself to be blasted into the audience.

Jade shot Demetri in the shoulder with Bang!

Demetri used Split Tactics, 1 sp used, 2 remaining

[Jade Harley]

Getting blown clear off the stage had been awfully painful, but Jade wasn’t one to give up so easily. Still, she was mighty peeved when the vile planet thief split into five separate entities, each one choosing its own wildly different path to follow.

Her eyes were daggers against their retreating backs, her teeth gritting against the pain she felt after being tossed such a great distance. If only she had been watching closer, she might have seen the true thief clambering up onto the glittering stage with a great heave and a huff.

Hardly wasting any time, Jade climbed atop a seat row and began to awkwardly clamber from one plush cushion to another in pursuit of her chosen duplicate. The theater was dim, but she could see his fluctuating cloak— there one millisecond and gone the next. Jade’s knees knocked together inelegantly as she leaped over the seats, but her steps were buoyant and vigorous.

Her fingers had scarcely wrapped around the fabric of the thief’s cloak when a hand from behind tangled in her hair and tugged. With a muffled shout, the blood roaring in her ears and over her burning scalp, Jade toppled backwards, taking the thief with her.

They fell into a flummoxed heap of scrabbling limbs, fabric, and metal; the Witch of Space felt the rubbery drag of her nails across skin, the painful, jilting elbow that dug into her ribs with a vengeance.

It ended with one of the clones having receded into nonexistence, and Jade soon found that her fingers were wrapped tightly around the fluttering throat of the other, her nostrils flared as she jammed the dastardly thief against the craggy dirt. Pale grey eyes stared up into hers, shifting like silvery-white clouds over a winter sky.

Jade stared back, and for a brief second was stricken with a horrible, unmistakable impression— that these limbs were her own, that she was committing to a heinous act so vile and unlike anything she ever wanted to be.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped, and released the doppelganger as if she had been burned. “I didn’t mean to—“

The man phased out of existence in a haywire tilt of shadow and tossed moon dust. Jade’s hands grasped at nothing, seeking purchase against something palpable, but unexpectedly a sturdy weight struck the side of her jaw and sent her reeling over the seats.

This third mimicry of a person smirked at her, and Jade felt all of her earlier ire come flooding back to her in a sweltering wave. It was tempered, however— hardly the volcanic rage she had nearly let erupt, but just enough to make the raw feeling of her fist colliding with the shade’s face that much sweeter.

As it dissipated into nothing, Jade’s eyes roved the theater for any sign of her target, the muscles of her legs drawn bowstring taut. A fluttering of movement drew her attention, the sweep of a cloak and the delicate descent of a dark curtain, and before long Jade was after her foe again.

Her chest heaved as she arrived backstage, the velvet curtains and wooden props spread around her in a heady blanket of stuffy air and congealed greyish-white dust. She tossed her hair back out of her face, cheeks pock-marked with stinging red, and squinted upwards.

It was almost as if she were staring up through the insides of some massive beast, a fragile skeleton of gleaming steel made further evident by the widespread cavities of empty blackness interspersed between. Distant stars blinked in the gloom, like the fog lights of ships through a wavering maelstrom of sea and spray.

A sweep of murky fabric, like the tumultuous wave of a ship’s sail, briefly seeped out of the darkness only to quickly recede again as if swallowed up by a monstrous, inky black swell. Her teeth ground together in determination, Jade seized ahold of the nearest metal scaffold, the bottom of her dress swaying quietly about her legs as she clambered up into the dark canopy above.

There was a feeling of breathlessness that overtook her as she reached the top; when she dared to look down, pinkish crescent moons swirled as if across the surface of a shadowy pond, the dancers still carrying out their performance. The Frogons seemed so different from up there, the warts and hog-nosed expressions difficult to discern from such a dizzying height. They drifted languidly beneath the steel mesh of the catwalk beneath her feet, their movements measured and rife with significance.

The dog-eared girl narrowed her eyes at the shadowy form slinking ahead of her, quiet as a serpent through water-logged reeds. She made her way towards him, quick footsteps feather-light and empty space swinging between them like a pendulum.

Her hands had just scraped along the edge of his cloak when he disappeared, as if he were simply a smidgeon of dew along a glass pane that had been swept away. Jade felt a weight drop onto the catwalk behind her with a resounding thud.

Startled, she turned around. The thief stood there, hands held carefully at his sides, unclear shadows shaping fancifully about his grimacing face. Jade was actually surprised to see a small mark marring his cheek from where she had failed to fully sock him in the face, along with other scratches and burns here and there.

Jade glared, raising one hand into the air. A medium-sized light fixture nearby began to move, metallic and grating shudders becoming gradually noticeable as an eerie green light gathered around it.

Her fingers convulsed and curled lightly, the bulb whisked through the air in a spray of white-hot electrical sparks. It came to rest beside her outstretched palm, suspended in the air as if it were weightless.

“By the way,” the Witch said, her fingers slowly clenching into a fist as hissing lightning sketched about them. “Fortune is totally fake.”

With a sharp flick of her wrist, the hot, still-sparking light went hurtling directly towards Demetri.

1000 words according to wordcounter.net.

Jade takes out three of Demetri’s clones with her Physical Strength! The fourth clone simply vanishes.

Jade uses her Telekinesis to toss a light fixture at Demetri’s head.

[Demetri Malius]

With a shower of sparks blurring across the thief’s vision he knew he was at a disadvantage. The witch seemed to be increasing her abilities and powers, an interesting turn of events. He was now ad a disadvantage, his thoughts planning his next movements as he watched the light fixture come his way. Time almost seemed to slow as he assessed the situation, glancing over at the woman whose eyes burned with a desire to put him down. Not enough to maybe kill him, but enough to incapacitate him if he wasn’t careful.

Against the risk of opening himself to a second attack, Demetri to a step to the side before jumping into a rolls the floor he once stood on bursting into flames and more sparks scattered across him and the surrounding area, giving a flash of yellow and orange. Between the flames, sparks of green sizzled in the air, as the Witch of Space prepared her follow-up attack. A flash of green buzzed behind Demetri as he attempted to roll again, his speed being used to its full extent, before the Witch disappeared in front of him. A green hue ie up the area in front of him from behind, and he felt a sharp jolt of pain in his spine, literally shooting up his backside as he called in pain.

The thief fell to a knee before looking back at the girl. “ A well-played tactic. I see that it will be more difficult to escape than I thought.”

As the thief turned to face his victim he spoke again. “I ask of you, what significance do these tiny planets have to you. It is quite bizarre for you to be carrying such things.” The girl was motionless aside from the movement of her chest while she breathed heavily. It was hard to keep up with the thief.

“Those planets have my friends, and I am not going to let you take them from me. I swear on my life.” Her words cut the air like sharp knives, straight to the point and sincere. Her fingers glowed with her green energy, clearly s hot ready to be fired. As Demetri thought for a moment he thought he saw one of her canine-like ears twitch. She was set to her word.

“I see. And as unfortunate as it may be, I am afraid I’m in no position to simply hand them back to you. And since you have sworn your life to protect them, I will have no choice but to deal with you first. My apologies, but I will no longer attempt to flee this battle until you are no longer able to stand against me.”

Dirt kicked off the thief’s feet as he broke forward, the girl pulling the trigger in the same instant. The green energy whizzed by, scarcely missing the thief’s head as it burned a line across his cheek. In the next instant, the thief swung his fist upward, plunging his knuckles into the witch’s stomach, smashing the air from her lungs as she growled. However, the dog-tier girl was not incapacitated. The weak-muscled thief’s fist was not enough to take her down, and she quickly retaliated with a kick to her assailant.

The thief was taken aback by the girl’s attack and groaned once more before continuing a combo of punches that sent the Witch of Space back step by step. A single punch was not enough to deter her, but after the first few she started to feel the pain in her continually assaulted gut.

“Get away from me!” She barked, moving her hands tear at the floor beneath them. The wooden stage splinter as the thief tripped forward, and closed his eyes as he saw the fist coming straight for his face.

KAPOW!

The thief felt as if his jaw had just been crushed as the girl slammed her clenched fist into his face, releasing a satisfying crunch. She will get her planets back. All of them, just as soon as she was done kicking this guy’s ass. Then she would go ahead and return all the other stolen stuff he had in his little satchel. In fact, he was about to learn a lesson he will never forget. Don’t underestimate Jade Harley

As the thief was jolted back into a backward somersault, the girl then grabbed his arm and swung him over herself and down to the floor. Now that is how you make a combo. after giving another coughing fit and spitting blood on the floor, the thief stood and faced the girl, her fists still clenched and ready for another round.

Another clump of blood flew from the thief’s mouth. “ I have to say you are damn well strong enough to defend yourself. Far more than I anticipated.”

The witch was silent. She was tired of this guy’s bullshit. This time, it was she who ran forward and reared back her fist, only to pummel it into an afterimage of the thief.

Facing her up close was not ideal, as he has just learned. From the side, Demetri shot out his chain again and tripped the witch.

“Stop doing these LAME TRICKS!” she howled at him.

“It is part of my expertise, you should expect such from a thief.”

Grrrrrr…

The witch was up on her feet again before she vanished in a green dust, appearing again before disappearing once more. It seemed that this dog just learned some new tricks. The thief’s eyes wavered back and forth as he struggled to predict her next move before he found himself with a punch to the gut. He lay sprawled out on the ground as the witch stood in front of him. This was not going well...

984 words according to grammarly

[Jade Harley]

A gaseous halo burst behind the thief as another light fixture shattered, his gritted teeth fluorescent, sickening, and slick against the flare. His feet slid gratingly across the metal, a song sighing close to Jade's ear as he ducked and attempted to weave around the infuriated Witch. Attempted being the key word, for her knuckles would surely leave a nasty bruise on his lip for weeks afterwards.

The chain that slid around her feet was a living thing, alive and sifting through a thin sheen of stirred moon dust. As it curled and warped in a hum of icy metal, making to strike at her with all the viciousness of a venomous snake, Jade's feet swept up from the ground as she disappeared in a streaking flash of green light.

Her heart leapt into her chest as she reappeared before the thief, and in a hurried, sloppy exchange of blows the viciously entangled pair went crashing over the side of the catwalk. A few scant wires strung across the ceiling were pulled along for the ride, pop-sizzling sparks snapping behind them in searing bursts as the two went hurtling towards the stage below.

But, they were lucky; their perilous drop was interrupted by another platform of similar make, which Jade's left side slammed into with incredible force. She yelped, the surface below her shifting at a perilous angle and sending her sliding down its grooved edge. Parallel to where she was, the thief likewise scrambled against the side of the precariously tipping platform, hoping against all hope that he would not fall to his doom.

Green energy latched onto the fulcrum that held the precipitously turning surface aloft; Jade's hand twisted, her forehead creased as she concentrated on stabilizing the series of metal bars and hexagonally-intertwined mesh. It could be torn like spider-webbing, she knew, but destruction was not what she desired— the delicately drifting, amphibious dancers below, with their soft steps and whirling pirouettes, were not to be touched.

This thief, however, she had no qualms about roughing up a bit. As the ground became flat beneath her slippers once more, she watched angrily as her opponent took off like a shot across the catwalk, sharp metallic tings marking his footsteps.

"Come back here!" Jade snapped, immediately giving chase. The moonlight redoubled the artificial lighting as she ran, beams of white cycling past like lightyears, her focus zeroed in on the retreating figure's back.

"Oho! As if I would do that!" The thief called over his shoulder, quite content to flee. His footsteps were swift, his strides perfectly measured so as to achieve maximum velocity. Nothing could stop him now, not the sharp pain building in his skull nor the horridly slow child struggling behind him. The planets were now his and his alone.

Something rang dully underfoot. A split beam, a coil of aged ore that threatened to give out, he wasn't exactly sure of the cause. Whatever the case, it quickly fell out from under his feet until he, too, was falling into the abyss— that is, until a hand latched onto his wrist.

Shock blanching his features, Demetri looked up from his dangling, helpless position to see that the young Witch had rescued him from certain death. Her stormy expression, however, was anything but benevolent.

"You idiot!" She yelled at him, her fingernails digging viciously into his arm as she tugged him upwards. "You almost got yourself killed!"

Not one to be outdone in insults, the planet stealer quibbled something rather unkind back under his breath, already beginning to formulate a new route of escape. One chain strung out from his wrist in a glinting arc before wrapping tight around a metal beam that was approximately across from their location. He glanced down, gulped minutely at the daunting height, and then wrenched his wrist out of the girl's grip with a quick tug.

Jade watched open-mouthed as the thief swung like Tarzan across a quarter of the stage's length, his buckled shoes dipping dangerously close to a froggy ballerina's forehead before the chain whisked him up onto a higher platform. He landed, stumbled a bit, and then with a sly wink over his shoulder vanished behind the cover of the stage curtain. It was totally infuriating, to say the very least.

Letting out an angry huff that was more akin to a bark in both sharpness and volume, Jade wrenched herself off of the ground in a rippling tear of green flame, appearing seamlessly upon the other side a moment later. The thief, having thought he was in the clear, chanced a brief glance backwards, performed a flawless double-take worthy of an Oscar, and then tried to run.

He didn't get very far, although the chain that glanced off of the Witch's brow in retribution was anything but weak. In fact, it hurt a whole lot, more than that one time when Jade tripped and busted her lip on a concrete step. Tears pricked at her eyes as she tried to shut it out, but happy thoughts alone couldn't drive away that persistent, fractured ache in her skull.

In a whirlwind of trailing stars and sparking green, Jade drew away from the thief to get a better grip on the situation even as he did much of the same. They both glared at one another, calculating even while wounded, and for a short, beating moment, the roar of combat was all but gone, replaced by nothing but the faint whining of string instruments.

Then, in an instant between one and the next, it all came rushing back with renewed vigor.

934 words.