Flying Too Close (Open)

With the rolling punch a success, she hopped back and stomped her burning feet into the ground, feeling her white-knuckled hands almost draw blood as she clenched them so tight. Lottus's words were compliments, at least ones out of respect for the sheer might and fury on display and little else. The remainder was a reminder of what she was. 'An Earthling'. She was above the rest, and that was good for her station. This would piss anyone off, but it was exactly one of the many specific complaints she had about the state of the world. Earthlings got the short end historically. Always relying on someone else to bail them out when powers like this came knocking. They were kidding themselves to think otherwise.

At least, that's one of the darker thoughts that plagued Jackie's mind. Yet, she refused the notion. Again, she raised her voice and yanked her arms at her sides while preparing for Lottus's own assault. It was a sudden splash of ki that would wash over the kami before she could find a way around it. To even brace against it. Lottus would see her form swallowed in the sudden thick energy, forcing searing pain and burns along her body that end in a sudden explosion of blood from several newly opened cuts. Several long gashes that run around her shoulders, abs, legs. Ripping what clothing got in the way.

"I'LL SHOW YOU THE STARS!"
She bellowed as the deadly energy washed over her, a shift in the way her jagged orange aura moved around her growing suddenly with a change in her energy flow. The aura surrounding her turns to a literal flame that keeps its abundant size around the kami. Her muscles tense and bulge ever so slightly as more ki is channeled through her; The bleeding wounds that covered her, as quick as they came, started sizzling. Like a scarless cauterize, they would burn out and leave her body pristine. Bloodloss- Minimal. The only sign of Lottus's attack remaining is the torn clothing and ki burns covering her.

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Her booming voice shook the ground around her as she suddenly launched herself toward the now exposed Lottus, using her entire flaming body to reel back explosive punches in quick succession. Still remaining mostly unimpeded by the overwhelming blasts that should have been making her think twice about rushing him again by the sheer difference in power alone. She finished the assault with a wild kick to his temple as she flew her entire body up at him.

---

    Lottus' grin widens with wicked amusement as he watches Jackie endure his blast. The Earthling was quite resilient it seemed - which was wonderful. The longer she lasted in this combat, the more enjoyment he would get from the battle! His blast explodes - blowing away a swath of the forest behind and around Jackie from the intensity of it.

    And to Lottus' approval, the human stood firm; even looked as though the damage had only gone so far against her.

    "Keheheh!! Good!" Lottus cackles. "Don't disappoint me now!"

    And she indeed came at Lottus with all she could - Lottus strengthens his body, and accepts the assault with impunity. Blow after fiery blow, Jackie pummeled into the Saiyan warrior. Blood flicks from his brow and mouth, and finally the whirling kick catches Lottus upside the head. Lottus reels back, crashing into the ground so hard as to make it break apart, causing yet more trees to fall as the Saiyan's momentum carves across the forest floor.

    But that was not the end to the destruction - missiles from the other foe came raining down upon the landscape, showering Lottus in their flames and scattering plumes of smoke and debris into the air. For a long moment, there is no discernable motion from the smoke plumes where the Saiyan was now hidden from view. But any power detection device, or sensing abilities, would certainly put a halt to any notion of his demise.

    "...Heheheh... KAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" came a rasping cackle from the thick, billowing smoke.

    Through the smoke and raging flames, Lottus stepped back into view, his face, arms, and legs bearing bleeding lacerations and numerous bruising. Lottus looks up at Jackie, and smiles a cruel smile.

    "Better. Now, it's my turn. I suppose I should start taking this more seriously. Let's get rid of the rabble!" Lottus says, his voice dripping with venom. Lottus flies high into the air, and splays both hands wide! From his palms, two thick beams of crimson and black energy roils forth, surging towards both Jackie and Sen!!

---

Jackie didn't back down from the manic laughing and imposing large saiyan as he spilled his story with a dangerous glee. Like he reveled in telling his enemies of it. It was a darker story, one she didn't get from most would-be world busters. Many had nothing in the first place, their feelings either a natural malice instilled in them by programming or tenuous misfortune that could be sat down and talked about. The so-called 'one incident'. but this man had several strings of a miserable life. One where you'd not fault someone for being flat-out unstable and unwell enough to get a psychiatrist. No doubt the Saiyans' ways didn't help.

For the first time, the wounded kami had a moment of clarity after speaking to readily hear what the man said. Just shakes her head and raises a slouched hand.

"Reconsider? Justify yourself? Nobody can get that through to you other than yourself. We've all had our bad histories, and those that don't are mindless entities meant to be overcome by the living. I just wanted to know your damage. To care for nothing, to have no course of action other than to fight? There's no greater weakness. It's pathetic. The disregard for anything is the antithesis of intelligence."
That raised hand traps the side of her temple as she muttered the last line, her body relaxing as the flame roiling off her head calmed some. A dim glow started radiating from her body as she nurtured herself in a moment of calm, under the full might of Earth's sun. Glistening off her sunkissed skin, many visible burns started washing away with another sizzle, not too different from the cuts that closed up on her prior.

"Continuing on this path will result in nothing but indifference from the cosmos. You'll get your short-term, primal kicks and then be fucking wiped from the universe like a stain, where no one will recognize you among countless others of your cloth. "
She sounded a whole lot less amused, and considering she was able to even hold conversation right now it was a miracle she didn't just jump him.

---

Jackie fell back into her guarded stance as Lottus arrogantly guarded his station as the 'only' one of his type. It was worse than her faltering-tempered mind could comprehend. The kami grit her teeth and watches the time pass, the energy of the surroundings tremble as Lottus pooled energy over an open palm. A terrifying amount that she's not had to deal with yet. Her fury and instinct start blanking her mind again, but she holds onto some semblance of response.

"Hrrr... It doesn't sound like no one cared ever. No, it sounds like you never really tried. The Easy Road, just letting yourself go and destroying anything around you at your whim. You let your losses control you and you don't even realize it. And let me rip this band-aid off for you- There are plenty like you with a disregard for peace and life. I've burned some of them to cinder. You. Are not special."
She was not really ready or able to prepare herself for what came next; Lottus dropping the crimson light down at her. It was a bulbous bud of ki, exemplifying just how Lottus stole the room with its sheer presentation alone. it ripped the natural lights of the environment out and left everything in an angry shade of red. The only thing keeping natural light in its presence was Jackie herself.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Her arms came up to brace against the large ball of crimson. Hands out to slow its travel against her. At the moment of contact, her hands burned and her body shoved back feet by feet across the dirt. The overwhelming power put behind the ball made the task herculean at a bare minimum. What was worse was that it wasn't stopping anytime soon. She just couldn't. her hands were giving in, partway sinking into the blast and feeling boiled at the nerves. She wouldn't allow this to be the end, she can't!-

The ball eventually consumes her. A wave of pain washing over her furious form caused her to lash out in one final, desperate attempt to knock the ball away. But it was far too late. Dragged good ways by the crimson ki, she eventually fell victim to its explosion. Like some of Lottus's previous attacks, it should have been more than enough to put her down. Their strength was hardly comparable, her speed barely able to keep up in melee or otherwise. So why then did the dust and debris from the blast suddenly stop expanding? Why was her presence suddenly surging back to full?

Whatever energy was imparted in the blast, what remained of that momentum heading out as shrapnel, was sucked into the epicenter where Jackie remained standing. A bright orange glow parted the swirling dust as soon enough the damage that was done to her still-standing body was revealed. Her left arm is torched, hanging limp at her side as if nerves were shot in it or bones broken. Blood crawled out of a few orifices, her blazing eyes and mouth sporting trails of the stuff as she stared onwards. Her right arm was held back in a fist, with a burning bright swirl of orange and red flame surrounding it. Unlike the previous times the saiyan had seen her cover her limbs in flame, this one looked much more solid.

It filled the landscape with even more sunlight. Burning plasma from her spirit as well as the surrounding energy latent from Lottus's blast come to form a dense power centered entirely around that fist and forearm.

"IF YOU CAN'T SCRUB IT, BURN IT!"
With what energy she had left, she'd leap into an awkward forward-armed rush. Having to balance keeping momentum and speed together with just one arm functioning for her; The striking arm itself. On her approach, she tries smashing the fist dead-on into the bigger man's chest. Imparting into it and with some rebound taken herself an explosion of energy and elemental plasma. The raw power of the sun baby!

---

"D-damn... It!"
The force of the blast was incredible; Enough to throw one of the combatants onto their ass while the other is flung from her own energies. Tossed from the recoil in an exhausting state that left her crumbling back to earth with a groan. Picking herself up was hardly something she wanted to do, with an arm bent out of shape and her passions running at an all-time high, but it was all she COULD do. Lifting her battered head to hear Lottus cherish the beauty of annihilation surrounding them. The field was a mess of cracked dirt and wounds upon the Earth. Jackie herself found it hard to see where Lottus took his stance.

Words. It was hard to tell just what she was getting through all this. Either from the dazed state she was in or the clouded mind of a near-dead phoenix raging on. Her fire hair continued sputtering on, defiant of her own injuries and loud groaning. She took no pride in being called a 'Saiyan'. A magnificent warrior at that. She wasn't there to impress the maniac on fire. With greater effort, she pulled herself up to her feet with blood pooling around her feet. Whatever energy healing her wounds earlier was losing its grip as she was beaten within inches of her life. The bum arm hung as she watched this illusion of malice appear from the Saiyan. The energy from Lottus split into two, and her ire had to be split if she wanted to do anything else in this state.

"Hrrrrr... Aughh..."
Her good arm raises itself at the defensive, eyeing the true Lottus and keeping herself upright. She would be overwhelmed quickly if put on the defensive. Unable to go out like this, the kami started gathering what power she had left in her body to push into her forearm. Rather than approach, Jackie swings this blazing arm out in an arc toward the battered Saiyan. Trying to throw fire at his face before he got to throw a pincher maneuver on her.

Her attack wasn't making him stop. It wasn't making him just DROP. Jackie strained to reel her hand back away as her own flames started hurting her from a faltering focus. Her fury was only being halted by her physically beaten body, and it wasn't something she took kindly to. The fire on her head whips and sputters into a larger plume for just a second as she tries drawing onto whatever she has left in her. Lottus and the shade had plenty of time to capitalize on their advantage.

Guarding with just a single arm and the occasional lifted leg, Jackie was beaten over and over again. Feeling her body bruise and muscles crumble and fail to keep her upright. She bobbed and swayed with a fading consciousness. Her face is forced aside several times. Her jaw and brow busted open. Her sunkissed body was sent through this cycle for a good few seconds, unable to defend herself. It'd be easier if she just let it happen.

But she refused.

Like with Megis before him, her vision grew into a blinding light, and there was that violent urgency for life in her kicking in. As blood was thrown and she felt it cake her body, flew into one last desperate attempt to shake her assailant off. Lottus, in his attempts to grapple a leg, one that looked dislocated by the knee at the time he tried grabbing her, would find it lit aflame. Drawing directly from that dimming light atop her hair to throw back as much energy as she could into him and his burning body again.

"FALL!"
Jackie would roar as she let loose a kick upwards, seeing it as her only option while being mauled. She did her best to recover soon after by taking a kneel. Reducing her available options even further despite trying to keep fighting. Panting and drawing hefty breaths, she wasn't hard to continue hitting if that phantom kept letting loose.

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