2013.04.24 - Thunderdome

The Danger Room.

Because Jocelyn rarely ever -bothered- with most pop culture references, Doug had far too much fun playing up scenarios that she'd probably never have seen for -her- training sessions.

Although after a recent incident, he'd made sure to pick something less... frilly than "My Little Pony." Those poor ponies, after Jocelyn was done with them...

Today's imaginative pop culture reference was simple.

"WELCOME TO THE THUNDERDOME!"

The crowd begins chanting. "TWO MEN ENTER! ONE MAN LEAVES!"

But Jocelyn was a woman! How can this work?

Okay, snarkiness aside, Jocelyn was scheduled for a danger room session, and apparently Doug was at the controls. She'd learned to be prepared for just about anything in this place, and so she made it a point to bring what she considered to be her usual combat mission gear. She was dressed in her X-Suit, which contained a variety of useful items in it's pockets. She had a sheathed blade at her side. And really, that was just about it.

The tall woman entered the Thunderdome, so to speak, as a the crowd begins to chant. Raising her eyebrows slightly, she glances around the area, taking it in, waiting to see what Doug was going to unleash upon her.

And if there were any ponies, she was going to be eating horse meat tonight.

The Thunderdome was packed, with people climbing the grid of the Dome to watch to watch.

"The Challenger... HOLD ON TO THAT DIAL, it's... JOCELYN STREAM... CHANNEL!"

Odd how that voice sounded like Michael Buffer. Doug'd been tinkering.

Flames flicker, as the dome's door opens once again, admitting a tall redheaded woman, muscular, stacked, and armed with a fierce look.

"And the reigning champion... from parts unknown... Katrina Van Horn... THE MAN-KILLER!"

Oh, lovely. Jocelyn had already made sure to have herself charged up for the fight, but this was going to be interesting. There weren't too many women taller than her, but while Jocelyn didn't know it, this woman could likely easily out-tall her. She was certainly fierce-looking enough to be a challenge.

The woman shifts into a defensive stances and studies her opponent, looking for any obvious signs of energy use while waiting for the announcement that the battle was to start. Also, she wasn't particularly interested in making the first move here. The Danger Room knew her well enough from her time training that it made more sense to see what was going to be thrown at her first before deciding on exactly what she was going to do.

Already standing in at seven foot tall and weighing in at 282 pounds, it was a safe bet that Man-Killer was loaded for bear. Heavily scarred, looking quite feral, she looked every bit an Amazon as did Jocelyn herself. More so, perhaps.

"And now... let's get ready.... to RUMBLE!"

The roaring of the crowd grows, and Man-Killer is already advancing. No apparent energy powers, no exosuits... it was all her. A bundle of kinetic energy that praactically explodes at a drastic curve as it approaches... strength for strength? Not necessarily - whatever this woman was, she was an experienced -brawler-, exploding with elbow strikes and knee strikes as she approaches.

And over the din of the crowd plays Julie Brown's "Girl Fight Tonight!"

Having superhuman reflexes sure helped in a fight light this, and Jocelyn finds herself moving quickly, bringing her arms up to deflect those elbow strikes. The first couple knee strikes are dodged, though the third catches Jocelyn in the stomach. There is a slight grunt from her, but the woman doesn't step back, instead moving to the offensive and bringing the full force of her strikes against the woman. First she launches a punch at the woman's midsection. That's followed by an attempt at an uppercut/sidekick combination move, where she tries to unbalance the woman the uppercut and then send her flying back with her sidekick.

She hasn't broken out any energy powers yet. Part of training, in her mind, was improving herself, and she'd only bring out powers other than physical enhancements if necessary.

Hell of a six-pack that woman was carrying, judging by the resistance the blows to the mid-section has, although it must be gratifying to hear some audible grunts as the blow is taken.

But how often, exactly, as Jocelyn tried to pull an uppercut on someone -taller- than she was? Because it took a lot longer time to get up there, and in that time frame, Man-Killer moves her head to the side to avoid it, taking advantage of the attempt to sidekick to grab at the leg, and -yank-, going down to the ground as she does so...

Bloody hell, she -was- trained for brawling too, with those moves...

Meanwhile, up in the Danger Room monitoring room...

Doug arranges a bowl of popcorn, a two liter bottle of Coke and a glass, and settles in. Stuffing a few popped kernels into his mouth as he drinks his Coke, Doug props his feet up on the console and watches, pausing to speak into the speaker, "Hey, Joce? I didn't mention she was the Ultimate Brawling Champ, did I?"

Well, Jocelyn had a mix of martial arts styles, and a history of brawls on her side, so the manuever isn't completely foreign to Jocelyn. As she gets pulled down, Jocelyn shoots her other leg out behind her and comes down in the splits, maintaining her balance in the process.

"Always wanted a title shot," the teenager responds back to Doug as she brings a pair of punches with her left hand down, attempting to strike the woman in the chest once and in the neck once. If she misses, the floor is probably going to enjoy some simulated cracks in it. But this woman had superhuman toughness, so Jocelyn wasn't worried about striking with too much force. Certainly not lethal force, not unless she busted out her weapon.

Grunts are audible, as the blows strike home, but yes, the woman was supernaturally tough... had Jocelyn actually looked up -potential- foes? She didn't seem too surprised...

But the opponent still had a grip on her other leg, and given the split position that Jocelyn was in, it would be a simpler matter to prop Jocelyn's seized leg up on Man-Killer's shoulder, and start -pushing- back against the other split leg.

Doug winces, as he pops more popcorn in the mouth. Somehow he didn't -think- Jocelyn would appreciate her legs coming together -through- her body. He didn't think the human body could bend -that- way...

Not really, but it was a simple deduction to make. The Danger Room wasn't going to give her a foe that she could drop in one blow unless the exercise was to avoid killing the opponent or something that wasn't combat focused. Also, given the size and build of the woman, combined with the strength of the woman's own blows, Jocelyn could deduce that information very quickly. She might not be the quickest in the classroom, but this was her area of expertise.

As the woman starts pushing against Jocelyn's leg, Jocelyn focuses her leg strength into resisting that. The legs were inevitably stronger than the arms, so she'd likely be able to put up some resistance, but not for long. Planting both of her hands on the ground, she pushes herself upwards to get out of her current situation, not wanting to be held in the split position like that for long.

She isn't going up very high, however, only a couple of feet, before she starts coming back down, and she attempts to slam her feet at full force into the stomach of Man-Killer before flipping off the woman and landing in a defensive stance.

It was a risky manuever, but the force of the strike, she's hoping, combined with the punches she'd already landed there, might at least slow this woman down.

Sent flying backwards by the two-footed kick executed by Jocelyn, Man-Killer crashes against the curved wall of the Thunderdome, as spectators fly off the cage. The crowd's roar only grows louder as Man-Killer growls.

Circling Jocelyn angrily, the jeers grow, until Man-Killer spins, grabs ahold of a man, and -yanks- him into the unforgiving wall of the cage. As the man slumps down on the outside of the Thunderdome, falling back, Man-Killer grabs the door of the Thunderdome. Sinews strain, and then she rips the door off its moorings, before turning to stalk Jocelyn,trying to corner her against the dome in such a manner that she could trap her between the door and the Dome...

The two women were, from what Jocelyn could tell, about evenly matched in strength. The question was going to be who was going to take enough damage to get knocked out first. Jocelyn made sure to keep some distance between herself and the wall as the woman stalked her.

"So, you have to resort to weapons first, huh? Can't beat a teen bare handed?" she taunts, just to try and get the woman to lose focus a little bit.

However, that door wasn't going to work for a shield for long. Jocelyn moves back towards a wall, letting the woman close in. The girl jumps up and plants her feet against the wall briefly before launching herself forward, arms covering her head, right at the door. The intent is to break through the door much like a missile. If she does, Jocelyn is going to use the momentum from the launch to try and catch the woman by the shoulders, flip over Man-Killer, and then lift her opponent over her head and slam her downwards into the floor.

Perfect. The jibes rolled off the Mankiller's back, as she drops the door, falling downwards as she meets the charging Jocelyn with what might be an aikido hip-toss.

"Oooo," Doug winces.

Man-Killer'd been taking the pounding for a while, and now it was her turn, as she rolls onto Jocelyn, trying to lock into position for a ground and pound.

Getting locked onto her back, Jocelyn is going to take a few blows. Some to the face, some to the stomach, and all rather painful. It takes the girl a few seconds to formulate her next strategy, so to speak, and she was grateful suddenly for those years of training and pain tolerance that they gave her.

With her arms pinned, the girl suddenly presses down into the floor with both arms, breaking through the flooring and attempting to, as a result, pull Man-Killer downwards due to the grip she has on Jocelyn. As she does so, Jocelyn attempts to slide forward to hopefully provide Man-Killer a nice, hard surface to bash her head against as a result of being pulled downward suddenly.

The sand floor isn't going to break, but it does allow for smooth gliding. But the same smooth gliding also meant a relatively soft cushion. It does a great job, however, of forcing the Mankiller to splutter and swipe at her eyes, temporarily blinded by sand. A moment's distraction...

"Aw come on, Jocelyn, you're beating the Ultimate Brawling Champ?" Doug exclaims, leaning forward. Did he misprogram it, or was she that good?

Well, when the champ was just a brawler, finesse tended to beat brawling when strength was equal. And Jocelyn didn't really care what titles the woman had. She'd analyze her chances later, when she wasn't in the fight. When she was in the middle of the actual fight, the only option Jocelyn had in her mind was to win. Doug's statements are heard, but not responded to. She was a touch busy.

Neatly standing and turning, Jocelyn moves over towards the blinded woman and goes for the head once moere, striking directly at the woman's face. Yeah, the woman would be super tough, but it would hopefully rattle her enough for Jocelyn's next move

Jocelyn then attempts to slip around Man-Killer and put her in a choke hold, trying to cause her to pass out. Even super strong individuals needed to be able to breathe, and the classic choke hold was effective on just about everyone. As she does so, she attempts to drag the woman down to her knees in the process.

"Hell..." Doug notes, as Man-Killer's head is wrapped into a sleeper hold. Coke forgotten, popcorn scattered over the console, Doug watches, eyes wide, as Man-Killer slumps down for the count.

One...

Two...

Three!

And out...? Yeah.

The crowd roars its approval, before chanting, once more, "TWO MEN ENTER, ONE MAN LEAVES!"

Jocelyn releases the hold. Yeah, if this was real, the woman would live. She wasn't trying to kill, and she'd done the fight without resorting to any fatal moves, not for the level of this fight. Jocelyn notes the crowd and offers them a couple of bows before she exits the Thunderdome, heading out the door, or rather the doorway, since the doors had been ripped off.

"Good scenario Doug," Jocelyn says as she heads out. She's rather beat up, but most of what she has are deep bruises and such. There didn't appear to be anything broken, aside from some scraped knuckles or things of that nature that were the typical injuries from a fight like this.

Then she waits to see if the simulation ends, or something else happens.

And she wasn't even the best fighter on the Young X-Men.

And as Jocelyn steps out of the Thunderdome, the scenario fades, followed by a shake of Doug's head. "Damn it, Joce!" exclaims Doug as he starts sweeping off the popcorn from the console. "You weren't supposed to beat that scenario yet!"

Running a hand through his hair, Doug considers. "Maybe I got the stats wrong. Hm..."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Jocelyn says. "You said she's a brawler? She definitely lacked much finesse. She had pretty decent anticipation, but she always relied on brute force. That was her problem. We were equal in strength, and she didn't seem to know how to deal with the fact that I could absorb her blows. If she'd held onto both legs early on, I think she'd have gotten me". Of course, Jocelyn was tougher than she was strong, and if the two were of equal strength, then that would just turn the fight into an endurance match.

"Besides, she beat me the hell up," Jocelyn points out. She's got a pretty bruised up face from those face shots, with some swelling, and her stomach and chest were likely equally banged up. Just because the safeties were on didn't mean you couldn't get hurt. You just weren't going to get too badly hurt. Plus the system knew Jocelyn could heal herself afterwards.

"I'd say make her a bit stronger and quicker and she'd probably get me, or if she could realize when to not turn the fight into an endurance match". That was Jocelyn's critique of the fighter. "To be fair, two weeks ago I'd have probably lost that fight".

"Don't tell me I've got to be on you just about every minute," Doug moans, as he checks his program. She -was- right, it was based on stats from the last time he'd tested her. "Well, then, I guess I should be projecting a bit more... assuming I know what you've been up to when you're not around. There anything you want to tell me? C'mon up, and we'll go over this..."

"Well, you didn't account for this bit, though it wasn't an impact to the fight". Jocelyn releases her stored energy and closes her eyes. The bruises on her face, the scrapes, and other visible injuries heal up as she works the life energy through her body. "Can't do this during a fight, but I can do it afterwards," she explains to Doug as she heads up.

"I'd say projected it out based on me spending about six to ten hours a week training with Captain Marvel and the other regular training I do, both Danger Room and the gym work I do". Being the martial arts and actual time in the gym. "Might toss in some of my old videos to give it projected progress based on dates, if you haven't already," the teen suggests.

"Besides, even if I'm not supposed to beat the program, my belief in a fight is that once I'm in the fight, the only thing I allow to enter my mind is that I'm going to win. If I let myself think I'm going to lose, then I've already lost, end of story". The teen shrugs at that.

"Healing -now-?" Doug wrinkles his nose, as he looks towards Jocelyn, running a hand through his hair. "Okay, I can see you're advancing pretty fast. You think I can talk Scott into putting you on the main team, if you're ready?"

"I can't do it during a fight," Jocelyn explains. "Requires too much focus, and I've found that if I have myself physically strengthened, there's too much energy running through me and it just doesn't go". Jocelyn shrugs a little at Doug. "I can heal others too," Jocelyn adds. "I'm still working on getting quicker and better with it, but I can do it when I have to". She fixed Kate up a bit when she was hurt during that big fight in Times Square.

Then she pauses and blinks at Doug. "You think I'm actually ready? I mean, Laura is way better than I am in the simulations, and Cessily and Jubilee have been here longer," Jocelyn points out, a little surprised at Doug's suggestion.

"Well, you're moving quickly," Doug says. "You've got the raw power, you're better trained for physical combat than the rest, you've already got the foundation. All you need is control, and you're getting there."

Running his hand through his hair, Doug grins. "And if I understand this right, you've also taken on -extra- courses outside, so I'm betting you're getting far more training crammed in than the rest of the group. As to the other students... their evaluations really isn't any of your business, you know."

"Your evaluation of them isn't any of my business, no," Jocelyn says. "But my evaluation of them is important, because I work with them and need to know what they're able to do, like they need to know what I can do. In the middle of a fight, if I don't know that Laura can heal from just about anything, then I might abandon whatever I'm dealing with to go and try to protect her when she's probably the last person who needs protecting".

Yes, that was actual team strategy coming from Jocelyn's mouth. Maybe she'd hung out with Scott too much?

"I do a lot of training and coursework, so to speak, Doug. Could you be a little more specific?" Jocelyn asks casually. She's certainly excited by the possibility of being made a full team member. Maybe a bit nervous, but that was natural, too. All the classic body signs were there, if her voice didn't give it away.

"My control has gotten better. I can heat things a little more reliably now with thermal, and my aim with blasts and bursts are getting more precise," she agrees. She knew how to evaluate herself, that much was for certain.

"Outside the academy, Joce. Not everyone gets to train with Captain Marvel," Doug notes dryly. "And yes, but Laura has other reasons for being on a team besides her skills. I'd say you're the most well-rounded one outside of the team too." Smiling a bit, Doug motions for Jocelyn to sit down. "Still, you're pretty young, so... we'll see." He tilts his head. "Although really, that you're three years older than you started? I'm pretty sure that's a record for a few months... ah well, all in a day's work with the X-Men, I suppose."

"Fair enough," Jocelyn says. Or Stargirl, for that matter, but Jocelyn didn't have to mention that bit. Letting people know that Stargirl was also one of Carol's trainees seemed out of place for her to reveal.

"I'm good with whichever, Doug. If you and the team think I'm ready to 'graduate', then I'm okay with that". She grins. "Though, yeah, three years in the span of a couple months is probably good for second place". Illyana is probably first on that aging list.

She takes the seat, however. "I'm probably going to try and pass the GED this year. Being a sophomore or junior or whatever and being possibly twenty just doesn't sit right with me," she adds to Doug.

"So go for it. I had to do the same thing when I came back," Doug smiles. "Spent -weeks- reviewing all the material. Tip for you... sleep. Lots. Don't even try and pull all-nighters."

Reaching out to ruffle the top of Jocelyn's head now that she's sitting down, Doug grins. "Let's see what happens on the field missions. You already went on a few with the main team. Show your stuff."

Pause. "And no wardrobe malfunctions, all right?"

"So, you mean, unlike a certain sparkler, wear a belt," Joceyn responds with a small grin. "And yeah, that's kind of my plan. I make sure to get whatever sleep I can. I learned that a long time ago," Jocelyn assures Doug. "And I think I've done okay on the field missions so far. Not perfect, but not badly either," the woman says. Nobody had come to yell at her about her performance, at the very least, so she counted that as a victory. Though she seemed to do better when she was on non-team missions for whatever reason. Probably just chance of who they were dealing with at the time.

"I don't even know what that is about... how does Jubilee keep losing her pants? Does she just keep getting skinnier and skinner so that the pants fall off?" Doug rolls his eyes. "I swear, I should be doing a belt check every time..." Doug pauses, looks down at Jocelyn's pants, and shakes his head. "You need one too."

Running his hands through his hair, Doug gives two thumbs up. "Good. And if all else fail, I'll tutor you. It'll be a piece of cake... every one of these standard tests have their own 'language', so you'll have fun with multiple choice and fill-in-the-blanks."

"In the X-Suit? I've got a belt," Jocelyn points out. It held her awesome supplies! "And I know perfectly well how to wear pants with or without a belt anyway. I'm not one of those who is going to go and lose five inches overnight for no good reason. Though I just don't understand why Jubilee does. She doesn't get skinnier as far as I can tell". Jocelyn shrugs. "Maybe she was cursed at birth or something," the woman offers with a shake of her head.

"Well, if I could read the language of the test, that would be helpful. I could do my classic 'Pick A for every answer'. Almost guaranteed of getting at least a twenty-five percent on the test. Which wouldn't work for this one, I'm guessing".

"I'm pretty sure it wouldn't," Doug grins. "Give Cess a call too, see if she'll help you study. Just don't let her stress over it."

Passing Jocelyn the two liter bottle of Coke so she can finish it, Doug adds, "Get Jubilee a new belt, too. Tell her she's just bringing out the pedophiles."

"Sounds good. And while I don't have much cash, I think I can scrape together a Jubilation Lee Belt Fund," Jocelyn says to Doug with a grin as she takes the Coke. The girl takes a swig from it. "Anyway, I think I'm going to go get a few things taken care of," the woman says to Doug. "Thanks for the session again," the woman offers. She did appreciate it, honestly. And if not detained, she'll head out.