“YEAH!!!” Harley exclaimed, before managing to throw Joleicia to the ground successfully. “Easy does it!”

Joleicia fell flat on her back, as she stumbled back up and tried to regain her composure.

“Jeez, I didn’t even stand a chance…three rounds of failure…” Joleicia let out, still pretty dizzy. “I thought my training was starting to pick up…oh boy…”

“It’s cool. Most people can’t compete with all this.” Harley bragged, flexing impressively, before pointing down at Joleicia’s legs. “Also, your footing was way off balance. Knocking you down shouldn’t be that easy.”

“I’m a sniper. My arms are built, but my legs…they weak.” Joleicia insisted, before shaking her head and staring starry-eyed at Harley. “Can we do this again sometime?! I’ve already learned so much just from this bit of sparring!”

“Absolutely!” Harley grinned, only for Joleicia to try tripping her up in return, which Harley narrowly avoided. “And nice try.”

“Another sniper trait. I love surprise attacks.” Joleicia assured, just as her tablet buzzed in her pocket. “Oh, team time! I gotta get going!”

Joleicia held up her fist, as Harley fist bumped her back, before waving her off as she headed back into the dorms happily, leaving Harley on the training grounds by herself.

“She’s so fun.”

Suddenly, Harley felt the presence of someone looming, as she looked around in search of who it was.

“Heh…not bad…”

Hearing a voice from one of the dorm balconies, she looked up and noticed someone staring down at her, lying on the railing in a cocky pose, wearing red, needlessly lavish clothing and grinning.

“You might actually be an interesting fight…” He stated, as Harley rested her hands on her hips.

“…hi. My name’s Harley.” She said, before indicating back to him. “Now you go.”

“…Tigre.” He said, standing up on the railing, before flashing his red cloak. “Also known as the leader of Team Tigre.”

Harley blinked. “You named it after yourself?”

“You know it. Now i-“

“And the rest of the team was cool with that?”

“Yes. Now it’s time w-“

“Also, you should get off the railing, that’s pretty dangerous. I know a fall wouldn’t be deadly or anything, but still.”

Tigre sneered, before flaring out his cloak and jumping down anyway, landing on the ground with a loud thud, as he held his menacing pose.

Harley noticed him holding it for a little too long, however, as she cocked her head.

“It hurt, didn’t it?”

“…perceptive, I see.” Tigre let out, trying to stand up, even as his legs shot out in pain. “No matter. I just saw your match. It seems like you need a real opponent.”

“That was just a sparring match. I’m actually friends with her.” Harley explained, dampening Tigre’s spirits a bit. “Like, we can have a match too. I’m free at th-“

“Then prepare yourself, Harley!!! For the most powerful fight of your life!!!” Tigre declared, revving Harley up.

“Oh, hell yeah! Let’s do it!” Harley let out, bashing her Buster Knuckles together, as Tigre held out his hands.

“Try to keep up, if you can handle even one of my attacks!” He cried, before holding out his hands, as cold light started to form in front of him, spinning into a deadly vortex.

Harley braced herself for the oncoming attack, ready for whatever her opponent could dish out, only for the vortex to approach and, despite its epic buildup, only reach about her ankle.

It smacked into her over and over, not really doing much damage, as it spun around her, Tigre still holding out his hands while sweating profusely.

Light continued to gather around him as his power charged up.

“Prepare yourself for…Tigre’s Requiem!!!”

Harley kinda just stood there, not really needing to fight back, as Tigre held on as best he could, looking like he was about to pass out from how intense the fight was on his end.

“Heh…you never should have challenged me…you may think you’re the top dog around here, but this academy’s my domain. Now submit to…Tigre’s AGONY!!!”

The vortex spun a little bit faster, as Harley could feel her legs getting kinda sore, letting Tigre smirk at his clear victory.

“Well then, had enough, Harley? Or is your rival just too tough for you?”

Harley stared down at the vortex in disappointment, before rubbing her face.

“Really, dude?”

Tigre broke a sweat, as he poured all his strength into maintaining his Whil. “What? Too scared to fight such an intimidati-“

“I’ve fought, like, seven Wailing already. That’s clearly not what’s happening here.” She said, staring down at the vortex again. “Like, this is it? I thought you’d at least be cool to fight.”

“You’re…not even scared?” Tigre managed through clenched teeth, before turning away from her. “What’s with this girl? Every other opponent usually gives in by now…could she actually match my skill?”

“Hey, I can hear everything you’re sayi-“

“I’ll have to up the ante to prove to her just how much I run this school.”

“I’ve never even heard of you before.”

“…well then, it seems you’re more powerful than I thought.” Tigre insisted, pulling his vortex away, before flicking his wrist, as shape of the vortex changed to be slightly bulkier. “Let’s see if you can handle…MARK II!!!”

The vortex charged at Harley again, as Harley humoured him and braced for impact, only for the exact same thing to happen, except a bit slower due to the added bulk.

“As the wind current picks up around its shape, my strength added to its already spinning velocity increases its power tenfold. It was strong before, but with the structure of Mark II, it can withstand even more wind pressure, letting it build up further strength as its rotation increases with every hit.” Tigre explained, breathing heavily. “Now…do you submit?!”

Harley cocked her head, as she mouthed the word ‘submit’ to herself, before snapping her fingers.

“Oh my gods, that was the show!”

Tigre looked confused again, still holding out his hands. “What’re you talking about?”

“‘Now, do you submit?’ That was from the villain in Top-Fighters: Revolution Revolution.” Harley confessed, as Tigre’s concentration broke and his vortex completely disappeared. “I loved that show as a kid.”

“…N-No! That’s…that’s a coincidence! My Venator catchphra-“

“And the vortex was like the spinning tops they used to fight!” Harley remembered. “You even had the changing vortex like how they changed pieces of the tops!”

“Wait, you actually watched it?” Tigre realised, blushing a little, as he watched Harley have fun recalling this pleasant memory from her childhood, the entire notion of this being a sparring match between so called rivals completely gone by this point.

“I know how stupid the whole ‘let’s save with world with spinning tops’ thing was, but I still liked it. The characters were fun at least.” Harley admitted.

Tigre held his tongue, not wanting to admit to any of these connections more than he already had, just as footsteps came out from the dorm behind them.

“Hey, Tigre? Did you try jumping out of the balcony again? You gotta stop doing that.” A guy behind him said, notably much more built and well put together compared to Tigre.

“W-Winston, please. Not right now, I’m in the middle of a very important match.” Tigre insisted, right as Harley noticed Winston and had to do a double take, immediately straightening her back and making her was over.

“Winston, huh? Have I seen you around campus before?” Harley asked, quickly eyeing him up, as he patted Tigre’s head.

“I’m Tigre’s teammate.” He answered, before eyeing Harley up. “Forgive me, but you’re absolutely stunning.”

“Appreciate it. You’re not too bad yourself.” Harley said, punching his arm playfully. “Feel like grabbing a drink at the campus bar?”

Winston grinned back at her. “I’d be a moron not to. Opportunities to appreciate beautiful people shouldn’t be wasted.”

Feeling pretty left out, Tigre tried sticking his head up.

“U-Uhh…hey, can I join you guys?” Tigre asked, only for his legs to finally give out as his fell to his knees.

“You should really head to the infirmary and get those checked.” Winston insisted, slinging an arm around Harley.

“Could you at least walk me the-“

“You’re the one who jumped.” Winston insisted, before pointing back at Harley. “And…come on, man.”

Harley and Winston started heading off, leaving Tigre to his devices, only for Harley to stop and turn back around, jogging over to him.

“Hey.” She called out, grabbing his attention, as she crouched down to him on the ground. “You don’t have to try so hard, you know?”

“H-Huh?” Tigre let out.

“I know you think the whole act is cool, but you’re doing yourself a disservice with it.” Harley admitted, tilting her head, as Tigre admitted she was right in his head.

Harley grabbed his shoulder. “That Whil could really be something if you trained it right.” Harley suggested. “I’ve got some free time tomorrow if you wanna meet back up. I’m not a Whil user, but plenty of my team are.”

Tigre looked up at her in awe, as she smiled and stood back up, before jogging back over to Winston.

“Just a suggestion!” She called back, waving. “We could also try more balcony jumping, if you want!”

Tigre stood back up and stared at them leaving, before finding his heart racing in his chest, as he forced himself to pivot toward the infirmary and ignore the blush creeping across his face.

“You didn’t have to massage his ego like that.” Winston pointed out, as Harley rested her hands behind her head and shrugged.

“He just needs some help.” Harley noted, before grinning. “And I’ve found encouragement from hot ladies usually goes a long way…”